Elementary School Lane

Something I always enjoy doing at home is looking through my old stuff - usually high school. Today, however, I felt extra inspired (maybe because I worked extra hard during the day) to go a bit further back. A few snap shots, obviously, are in order:

2nd Grade

I really liked animals. Especially horses.

3rd Grade

If I had 3 wishes, when I was 8, I would wish for a dog with puppies, a computer, and a holy bible for kids. Clearly not much has changed.

4th Grade

Introducing.. the Cola Pop! But that's not all; invention, just as Innosight states, is a process. What's a great invention like the Cola Pop without an invention log to go along with it? Before the cola pop I had also proposed: something to make opening water bottles even easier to open, a spinning lollipop, a dartboard of a picture of someone you hated, a soccer ball that told people they sucked when kicked (my teacher wasn't so fond of this one).

Oh, and yes, the mint chocolate chip ice cream was pretty weird inside a coca cola popsicle. What were you thinking 10 year old Kat. Should have pilot tested along the way.

An old bag of jewelry. For some reason it holds much sentimental value.

5th grade

Why, yes, I used to watch baseball (Rli, this one's for you) and football.

Even wrote commentary on the games (AJT, this one's for you, thought you'd get a kick out of seeing how I USED to know something about football).

Also, pretty sure I'm allergic to dust. All of that digging around has got me feeling somewhat sick. But before I head off... A and I made sushi yesterday. Check it out.

Totoro, sushi, and green tea. Can't be beat.

Japanese what?

Today dinner was to be at a Japanese izakaya (aka Japanese bar/tapas). After convincing my begrudging father that, yes, dinner was necessary, we drove over and found parking right away. See, parking at Mission Hills in San Diego isn't impossible!

Once our table was set up we were brought into a smaller side-room which sat one large party, us (party of 5), a party of 3, and a party of 2. And it. was. loud. The large party was celebrating someone's birthday and within 2 minutes my brother asked ".. are they drunk?" (I think the answer was no... didn't see any indication of alcohol except a giant unopened bottle of belvedere which looked like a gift... and no one was glowing... too rare for a table of 10 asians) and my dad turned to me and ask "are you ever like this??"

Was I ever that loud and obnoxious in a large group while totally disrespecting other patrons of the restaurant? Not that I could remember... but the perpetrators usually don't notice.

When the large party left, toward the end of our meal, the other tables (the party of 3 and 2) and my dad all burst into applause. Literally. The waitress, who was cleaning up after them (nope, no signs of alcohol) looked confused.

"Good thing to know we weren't the only ones who were bothered by them"

"So rude eh, so loud"

"Finally, they're gone"

Now I'm wondering if I was ever in a group of people so loud and obnoxious that the entire room applauded when my group left. Other than the times in high school when we all thought it was hilarious to spike each other's food and drinks with salt and taste nasty concoctions of left-over-everything, I can't think of any. I hope.

Kat and the Mystery of the Disappearing Glasses

At 2pm, in broad daylight (though it was a bit overcast), Fiona T. took off her glasses at the San Diego Zoo and attempted to put on a tiger mask. Her mother took pictures of her brother, Alex, and sister, Kat, who had also donned masks of different animals. Fiona unfortunately did not get her mask on in time to be in the photograph and her mother, noticing Fiona's unhappiness, decided to create another photo opportunity for her with stuffed animals. Fiona happily made it into this one and all was right with the world... until she realized her glasses were missing.

Within the 7 minutes that this scenario played out, where could her glasses have gone? Fiona had no recollection. We checked pockets, bags, the mask stand, the cashiers, everything. Nothing.

Then a thought entered Kat's mind. What mattered most in a case: evidence. Where did we have evidence: the camera. Excited, she flipped through the camera to look at the pictures of herself and Alex. There was Fiona in the background, glasses still on looking at a mask. Then a picture with her glasses off somewhere off to the left, getting ready to get into the shot (but not quite making it). But in between those two images... a picture of Fiona off to the very side on the right. Why would she need to go to the right - the mask stand wasn't there, nor was that where she wanted to enter the image... it could only be to...

Kat ran over to the bracelet stand which was to the far left of the masks and there, hidden under the stand were Fiona's glasses.

Evidence win.

Detective'd.

Being at home is...

Almost more work than being at school; I end each day exhausted (and under my covers trying to catch up with my Pokemon Soul Silver - so woefully behind!).

For the first time ever my family has decided (with a lot of pushing from me) to have a real festive Christmas. We've bought a huge tree that makes our living room look like a doll's house and I managed to spend over a hundred dollars on ornaments to do some ornament decorating! Somehow I didn't consider that orb ornaments all look kind of similar though.... A and R came over to help out with some decorating and we made orb bunches, orb aliens, orb wreaths.... running out of ideas.

What did we used to make as kids?

- Candy Cane Reindeer

- Popsicle stick frames

- Cotton ball snowmen?

They were always haphazardly made with glue trails running all over the place and paint outside the lines, but somehow wonderful, magical, and fun all at the same time.

Anyway, it's a good holiday season thus far. Pictures of tree/ornaments to come!

Semester's end

It's been a while since I've updated. There's almost too much and too little to say.

First Semester Senior Year is drawing to a rapid close with only 2 weeks, 1 paper and 1 project standing between me and 1.5 months of unadulterated bliss.

By bliss I mean I am going to:

- take house dance classes and choreograph for Cultural Rhythms

- cook at least twice a week, probably more

- relearn how to drive (whether or not I get to do everything else might be contingent on if I survive this)

- kick it with friends

- play Skyrim (seriously!!)

So close I can almost taste it.

Tales of Halloween

Halloween has always been an interesting time of year for me.

My first Halloween [age:5]

I had just come to the states and was trying to make friends in my elementary school. For some reason I ended up with a pumpkin costume for Halloween that my parents thought was adorable. All the other girls were princesses and cute witches and I was a round, bright orange pumpkin. Mortified, I considered not going out for Halloween, but the lure of free candy (despite not liking sweets, or perhaps I did at the time and the dislike developed later) was too much for young Yun-Yun to withstand. Needless to say that night I ended up knocking on the door of one of the most popular girls in my grade who nearly screeched with laughter "Oh my goodness.. are you.. a... pumpkin??" Never again.

Trick-or-Treating with Siblings [age: 13]

I had been looking forward to Halloween. Middle school had been a difficult time for me and found myself thinking I could get through things by looking forward to going trick-or-treating with old friends... and my little brother (and their little brothers). This was his first Halloween ever and it was my job to make sure he had a good time. I was getting to old to trick or treat alone anyway (hah, right) so we used our siblings as an excuse to go for candy. Things were going relatively well at first as my brother was still trying to soak in the glory that is receiving free candy from strangers. However by the end of the night the novelty had started to wear off. Soon he was noticing other things like... the old lady who answered the door "Trick-or-treat! Hey! You are an OLD girl, why are you look so old?" or the smell of the Indian house-hold "Trick-or-treat! Oh! It is STINKY. Why is it smell so bad??" Seriously, never again.

Trick-or-Treating in a Gated Community [age: 15]

Cons: Houses are way too spread apart; contrary to popular belief, uber-rich people actually give out less candy; why do rich people always live on hills/mountains??

Pros: Many who did not plan to give out candy feel bad and give out money instead, uber-win

Trick-or-Treating Senior year [age: 17]

See you can never be too old to go trick-or-treating. Senior year t&t was awesome. Clearly, the older you get, the more awesome Trick-or-treating gets.

Part of a speech for class

I'll write out the whole speech at some point, but for now part of the idea generated this website.

Creativity through Limitations

Sometimes total freedom does not foster creativity. Restriction fosters creativity.

Three summers ago in Japan I took a freestyle dance lesson that consisted entirely of ways to restrict yourself in order to foster creativity: don't take your hands out of your pocket until a pivotal moment, keep your left foot at the same place on the ground during an entire set, dance with your eyes closed, only move what's above the waist.

Yet it wasn't until today that I realized restrictions can foster creativity in other areas as well. For photography for instance, restrictions could be: take exactly one minute looking at an object and framing it before taking a shot, every day at 5pm take a photograph, don't use the zoom, don't look at the viewfinder and take instinct shots.

I have yet to flesh this idea out entirely, but I'm already excited to try some of these out. I have also started to look at light and lighting as a very tricky and difficult (for me personally; despite taking photo classes I still have no idea how aperture and shutter speed really work) but interesting project to pursue.

Lots o'media

Drawing is fun. You should draw too! :D

No matter how fast you are...

He will always catch you...

For those of you who don't understand (shame), the game of my childhood can be downloaded: here

I can't make you love me

Turn down the lights

Turn down the bed

Turn down these voices

Inside my head

Lay down with me

Tell me no lies

Just hold me close

Don't patronize

Don't patronize me

Cause I can't make you love me if you don't

You can't make your heart feel something it won't

Here in the dark

in these final hours

I will lay down my heart

and I'll feel the power

But you won't, no you won't

Cause I can't make you love me if you don't

Hello Apathy

If you were stuck in Widener (library) for a day what books what you read?
If you were in a room and had some paper put in front of you and were told to "do something creative" what would you do?

Thinking about it, none of my answers to these questions match up with the path I'm projecting myself on right now. But what would? There's a tendency to want to do what we're good at. But who's to say that we're good enough to do it, or that what we are good at is valued in "the real world".

Mid-first-semester-senior-year-of-college-crisis

Mothers iPhone emails cheer me up best

Hi Kat,

I got your message knowing you will have busy and stressful weekend. But for my point of view I think some time people handle stress well that will change to motivation. How do you think? When you are doing things just as your own ability what you can do and having some confidence about yourself. Remember every time when you face challenge your mom always say to you"Jia You!".

This morning our only he chicken starting try to coo. Also it become very bossy and greedy around three of them. What we can do? Specially he is going to cooing. So this weekend Daddy and Alex will get rid of him. Poor thing! The picture show three our chickens.

Because you are busy this weekend So I wouldn't call you to disturb.
Wish you have a peaceful mind and good luck!!!

Love!

Mom.

Sent from my iPhone

She laughed again, and as she did she leaned into me and I turned just enough that our mouths were lined up and she kissed me, a soft wet movement of flesh that sent a tingling all the way up to my toes. Her fingertips moved like raindrops over the peaks and valleys and plains of my puzzled-together head. The wind lifted her hair up on each side of our faces, leaving us, for a moment, in a small contained space, the only sound the moist friction of our lips.

She pulled away and scooted a few inches away from me on the steps. I felt as if I had no strength in me at all and I wanted to let myself fall into her, like an exhausted man falling into a feather bed, but somehow I managed to keep myself upright. For awhile, neither of us said anything. We looked out into the blue darkness and listened to the wind.

- The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint

Some great email clips I've received lately

On my proposed fellowship in Japan - from a Japanese professor at Tohoku University:
I want you to make two promises, however. One, make learning Japanese language (especially reading) your number one priority for you will find a lot of local publications that you must read here. Two, do an "old style" ethnography without overtheorizing; forget all the images you now have about the disaster and just "look" and "listen" when you
come.

On following my passions in design - from a design blogger working (one of my) dream profession(s):
Toward the end of college I had the chance to meet a local design hero of mine. I asked him, “How can I do what you do?” He looked me straight in the face and said "you can't teach self creativity." To say I was shocked is an understatement. He sounded like he was telling me - you've either got it, or you don't. His choice of words was harsh and at first I was taken back by his honesty. I've lived with this moment in my head for more then 6 years and have not yet come to a conclusion whether he was correct.
I worked for an ad agency for 5 years and now work at a design consultancy. Not all of the work I do is glamorous but I do my best to make it fun. I am a firm believer that you can make something cool for every project. Whether it's hiding your initials in the background of an illustration or embossing the cover of a book with gold leaf. There is always a way to find something small to love about every project and finding that piece is so important.

On performance and dance - from a dancer who has far outstripped me in talent and dedication (:
I was just looking at the video of last night's performance. It reminded me of sophomore fall when I was super scared and intimidated of freestyling, but I watched you freestyle in Lowell Lecture Hall, and I thought "I want to do that. I want to be like Kat." And I just realized that I never told you that you were my main inspiration for wanting to freestyle. So yea, maybe I wouldn't be out on stage or even be so involved with the breakers if it weren't for you.

On the partying lifestyle - from a hilarious and (light weight) friend:
The 151 was somehow way too much...that one shot had me and my girlfriend feeling crappy until like 3am. =[ So I am definitely only staying at today's pregame for a little...haha.

and a bit later

Oh! Never mind, I got confused...that pregame was yesterday. Wow, I might still be drunk.

Senior year freshman mistakes

Today I walked into a nearly empty class (I thought the criminal law class was lotteried? I'm in luck this year!) and sat down only to realize that my grave error. Projected on the screen was something that looked like .. numbers... planets... and equations. Hello astrophysics class.

As the professor went on about copernicus and ptolemy I squirmed uncomfortably in my seat only registering the sweat marks on his shirt. There was a big splotchy one up top on his back and another by his abdomen, how did that one get there?

At the 30 minute mark I couldn't stand it anymore and bolted out the door before he had a chance to pace over to block the entrance.

Freedom.

Summer Analyst Kat: Day Done

And I'm done with my internship.

I guess I should spend some time reflecting on what I learned from that experience. Except that fellowship applications have just hit me in the face.

More later, sleep now.

Summer Analyst Kat: 14 Days Left

Exactly two weeks before I pack my bags and head off to a whirlwind Southeast Asia adventure. Well, hopefully I will have my bags packed before then as I am getting kicked out of my apartment next weekend. Bummer, need to bum around on someone(with airconditioning??)'s floor. Hopefully figuring that one out soon.

I've been a delinquent about posting food pictures. I've also been losing steam on the cooking front so luckily there isn't too much to update.

Kat's last stand:

Pita bread things. They were yummy albeit not too to my taste.

My Chinese side will never see Mezes as the equivalent to a meal, no matter how much I like jalapeno-cilantro hummus.

Marinated and grilled shrimp (yum) and Indian cauliflower.

The cauliflower was definitely the more difficult of the two, nearly coughed my lungs out from all the spices!

Shrimp fried rice.. ah so good. Fried rice is so comforting; also made a lot better than what I did last time. The key is to make a well in the middle of the rice to put the egg in (no need to beat ahead of time) and let it cook just a little bit before breaking it up into the rest of the fried rice.

Veggie week: Balsamic tofu veggie stacker (bottom up: grilled zucchini, bell-pepper, tomato, tofu, and mushroom) .

Never appreciated zucchini before making this. Pretty darned juicy.

Mother's recipe. Always good (:

Beef and bell-pepper in some magically delicious seasoning

Lately this is what it has come down to. Lots of instant noodles.

(Thanks to A and K for being providers for the last 2 days!!)

Trying to survive for a week on 50 dollars - time to cut down that decadent lifestyle!

Work life realizations

Today during work I realized how sad it must have been for a telephone company caller to hear, through the line, a ten year old girl's voice quavering while trying to speak of matters beyond her years while an older woman spoke a mix of broken English and Chinese at her in the background.

Touchy Penguin

Yesterday was amazing. From the moment I woke up everything was fun...and free!

Summer outing with the company was a great time. K, my "little breaker brother", was my guest for the day. We started off by catching up and walking with a group of interns to the New England Aquarium. A super-filling lunch with some wine and good company later the day was already looking splendid. Add to that mix one photograph with a touchy penguin (M: His flipper was touching my ass! It was so ridiculous I didn't say anything), a boat ride on the Codzilla that soaked me through and through, watching penguins try to climb mountains, taking pictures of K throughout the Aquarium to make RYE jealous, free drinks + apps at happy hour and come out with one super fantabulous day.

Topped it all off with free tickets from M to the last Harry Potter at the 9pm showing (whatever happened to midnight showings being at midnight?). Even though I had been complaining about how everyone and their coworker (literally) was talking about the show it was pretty cool being offered a ticket last minute and seeing the end of an era.

This weekend is looking to be epic.
3 booked restaurants (hello restaurant week!).
1 wine bar.
2 speakeasies.
1 club (so far) w/free tickets (see, it's a trend I'm telling you) to see Cosmic Gate.
1 food flea market (smorgasbord, it even sounds cool)
1 mp3 experiment
& tons of friends

Super excited (:

My heart is turgent and my intransigence won't take no for an answer

R and I learned some GRE vocab for kicks today by picking 2 flashcards (courtesy of R's roommate) at a time and coming up with pick up lines. Pick up lines are difficult to come up with!

The summer has been slow as I was put on hold regarding an assignment to Singapore. Turns out I'll be staying here. Oh well, let the good times (continue) roll(ing).

Summer days Kat: Week x (scrubbing documents)

Vegetarian week continues this week with Grilled Veggie and Tofu Stack with Balsamic and Mint; Grilled Pitas with Tomatoes, Olives, and Feta; Indian BBQ Cauliflour; a spinach and egg concoction; and an actual camera.

Exciting stuff, folks. Running to wholefoods for exercise.

Happy Independence Day

July 4th contained a good mix of friends, food, and festivities. Hung out with the guys in DeWolf, grabbed a dinner with the girls, and hung out with new friends at 7 idontrememberthenamenow street.

Although the fireworks were largely hidden behind a bunch of trees and one largely annoying pine, it was still an enjoyable time.

The walk back with N, my summer roommate, was hilarious as this random indian man who was walking within a few feet of us started to make conversation. He told us his name at the end but we were so incredulous I forgot. Let's just call him R, for rando.

R: [walks up to us and attempts to strike up a conversation] Hey... so what year are you?
Me: [shocked] Uh.... seniors....
R: In high school?
Me: [more shock]... no... in college
R: Oh, what college? I could have sworn you guys were in high school? You look so... younnnggg....
N: We're from BU (Boston University)
R: Oh really? Not from Harvard? I'm from Harvard, you know. From the grad school of education.
Me: Oh. cool.
R: [insert awkward comments/questions here about our backgrounds; where we're from, etc etc]
Me: [awkward half truth/terse answers]
R: So, where do you live?
Me: By Sommerville [false, I live in the square]
R: Cool I live by Garden Street. You should know where that is.
N: [whispers: I think he's onto us]
Me: Uh, we need to go this way..bye!
R: Nice to meet you, my name is aoijfseil;safjkdald, you?
Me: [super awkwardly long I'm-clearly-lying-to-you pause] ..... Ann
R: And you?
N: ..... uh, Mary
R: Ok. Bye
Mary & Ann: ..BYE!!

As he walks away and is still within earshot N and I absolutely crack up laughing. Awkward pedophile pick-up lines? Mary? Ann? Mary-Ann?? We clearly need to get better at this. All in all a hilarious cap to our 4th of July.

Happy Independence Day y'all!

I drew a picture

This happens sometimes - when I'm moody (and don't realize it). But I'm too lazy to polish artwork so it is what it is.

Gym Class Heroes - good song (:

The things you do at 2 am

And the morning after

KS: clenching my teeth makes them a little tender feelin
could've been those weird jerky packets
they were really stale
i kept eating them
weirdddd
me: oh my god
those things were like rock hard
how did u even eat it?
KS: idunno
i just chewed really hard
me: hahahahhahah

Long/Fun weekend = short post

Another weekend has flown by, as they always do. The two birthday parties definitely made it a more memorable non-memory type of weekend. The best.

I'm lazy and tired so I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The one type of pancake-like food I CAN make. Omelet! With parsley & bacon, smothered with cheese. Yommm.

Cupcakes made for J's bday party (: SO MUCH SUGAR. I cackled (seriously, ask my roommate) as I poured the cups and cups of sugar, butter, and more sugar and butter into the mixing bowl. Also made a chocolate ganache cake that required 16 oz (that's an entire bottle) of chocolate syrup. Dear lord.

This week it's.. vegetarian week! And what better way to kick it off than with Chinese food? Chinese food has too many sauces to measure them out and throw them in with measuring spoons. Especially when you forget to put down the previous sauce as you're pouring your new table spoon. OOPS, can we say 1tsp salt and a whole ton of soy sauce? (See eggplants to the right) Still good though. No worries.

Leftover mini cupcakes. This is really going to help my diet. A lot.

Summer Analyst Kat: Day 13

And I have officially been shuffled around to 4 projects - yikes.

Something is brewing/in the works. I won't post about it until it's official but could you do me a favor?

Look at both of your hands
Now take your middle fingers
Place it over your index fingers
Squeeze
And send some positive hopeful vibes my way

Otherwise it's been pretty fun here in ol' Boston. It's great hanging out with people I don't have time to hang out with as often during the school year. Continue for photojournalism:

First time making flank steak... margarita flank steak! ...it was ok. The prosciutto wrapped asparagus was definitely the winner here. Lesson learned was not to cook flank steak for too long.

Next up, shrimp! Pretty darned delicious. I'm so bad at assessing when something is fully cooked. The shrimp was really tender so I assume it was cooked?? The potatoes were pretty dry/bad. Have to work on potato cooking skills.

Snack status. Putting soy sauce in the egg and sprinkling paprika too was a stroke of genius.

Ladies night on monday! 5 dollar Oggis & wine. Also made my own honey garlic vinaigrette, pretty darned good; mopped it up with the pizza crust

Flank steak attempt #2. Except this time I definitely UNDER cooked the steak. Didn't realize until I decided to flip my steak around to where I was cutting and noticed a blood clot. Quickly downed another glass of wine to kill bacteria.

And then yesterday I found out that we have a supply closet with practically everything I had bought... including that 30 dollar blender that hardly works. SIGH!

Yesterday's meal was honey garlic pork loin chops & green onion mashed potatoes w/bacon. The mashed potatoes was yum -- T & R came over and polished them off before I could pack them for lunch, bah!

Today's meal. Pancakes, I swear, are my mortal enemy. I've made seafood pajeong, tortilla patatas, scallion pancakes, pancakes of all cultures and I can NEVER get it right. Poppycock.

Oh well, the apple/onion sauce for the pork loin chops came out very delicious at least.

But sometimes I wonder if all this cooking is worth it. Especially because I grated my index finger knuckle and soapy water really doesn't do much to help.

&Next week it's vegetarian! Look forward to it after adventures this weekend.

Email from Dad

Kat: Is your dad an engineer or manager?
Enjoy it.

A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He
reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon
further and shouts: "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised my friend
I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man below says: "Yes. You are in a hot air balloon, hovering
approximately 30 feet above this field. You are between 40 and 42
degrees N. latitude, and between 58 and 60 degrees W. longitude."

"You must be an engineer" says the balloonist.

"I am" replies the man. "How did you know."

"Well" says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is
technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your
information, and the fact is I am still lost."

The man below says "You must be a manager."

"I am" replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well", says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you are
going. You have made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and
you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are in the exact
same position you were in before we met, but now it is somehow my
fault."

Summer Analyst Kat: Day Six

Day two of trainings. Things are getting rough, but at least breakfast and lunch are provided. I need to stop waking up so darned early thinking I have to cook eggs and toast. My bread already molded anyway (after 3 days! Oh the humidity!).

After arriving home today I decided to make Teriyaki steak after the success of my previous steak endeavor on Sunday (marinated & grilled, picture below).

A grilled steak with cheese & jalapeno potatoes as an accompaniment. Pretty darned good. Today, however, the steak wouldn't go quietly.

R came by with a bowl of uncooked ramen looking for some hot boiled water. He came in as I was about to place my steak in the pan and so I let him in quickly and put a pot of water on the stove for him, but critically forgot to close the door. Soon after my steak was sizzling away happily, if not very fervently. Too fervently, within minutes a loud, obnoxious noise permeated through the apartment complex. An alarm? A fire alarm? But mine wasn't going off. R reassured me it was definitely someone else's, somewhere down the hall. However, within minutes a loud angry knock came at the door that I only closed minutes after the noise came on (had to shut it out after all, it was annoying and not my fault!).

It was (or maybe it was my fault, how'd they know it was me) a fireman.

"Are you hurt?"

"No.."

"Can I take a look around?"

"Sure"

".... you're... cooking... oh look, there's the food"

"Yup"

"Well, leave the window open next time (it was) and the door closed"

"Thanks sir, sorry about that"

And my sauce got burnt. No more faux asian for me. I'm grillin' all the way.

Luckily, "burnt" is one of my favorite flavors.

Summer Analyst Kat: Day Three

Hey, even interns can be lazy some times. Also, I have left 2 sets of tupperware at the office. I think I'll just leave 5 sets in the office and then pick them all up on Fridays. I mean, why not.

Summer Analyst Kat: Day Two

By day two I have already learned so much

1) Don't think you did a great job your first time around -- you probably didn't

2) Wear flipflops until it is absolutely necessary to wear formal shoes

3) BandAids are your friends

4) The world is ending/thunderstorms that are too close for comfort are not fun

5) George Foreman is a boss and I am a believer. See below for hands down best meal ever.

Grilled chicken skewers and a grilled cheese sandwich

There's no cutting board to be found so a baking sheet it will have to be. Janky but an intern's gotta do what an intern's gotta do. Anyway, who knew salt, pepper, chili, sugar, and oil could be so delicious? I'm grilling everything from now on. Just look at those grill marks! You know it's gotta be good when it's got lines of burnt-ness on it. (And the pesto sauce came in handy -- it's covered in cheese on the second picture)

R came over after dinner and we both feared for the ending of our world as we knew it. To combat our fear we had G&Ts and watched Mad Men (what else would you be doing when the world ends?)

Summer Analyst Kat: Day One

The shuttle shook and shuttered as it took me from Harvard Square to my workplace as it ran on what sounded like a flat tire. Upon arrival I eagerly rush out, across the street, and into the building elevator of my workplace. As I step out of the elevator into the office, the first step I take brings ...pain. The backs of my feet are already rubbed raw. The start to a long summer, I think to myself.

Luckily, things only got better from there. Who knew an off-handed mention of my InDesign skills (USG sub experience, I knew it would come in handy) would label me as a prized possession and land me on my first day in a team working on a case with the biggest bank in the world. Fun!

But here's what really summarizes my first day:

This pesto was probably the most difficult thing I've ever cooked/made. In the span of a short half an hour that blender (in the background) became the bane of my existence. Who knew you had to put liquids in a blender to make it work? Hmm??? Who knew it would just whirl things around pointlessly otherwise forcing you to try to mortal and pestle the pesto with a rolling pin (also pictured) and a small milk jug? Who knew??

Anyway, it eventually got made and placed in a container to eat the next day. Of course I had to take a picture to celebrate. And of course I then forgot to put it back in the fridge.

(And yes I ended up eating it for the next 2 days for lunch anyway, it was fiinnnee)

Yahoo Answers

Kat:
Oh snap, I'm completely dumb and forgot to pack my towel and I've just moved into a new apartment. It's late. I need to shower. How do I dry off? Halp.

Kat's friends answer:
KS: Dry yourself off with your own clothes. I did that once at a friend's house and my friends kept saying it was gross and they called it a poopy towel. I don't get it. Or you can try airdrying. Airdrying is efficient. It's green and you don't waste time drying or putting on clothes. Win all around.

BC: Air dry? The final day at school I had no towel either because I had packed it. So I used a couple of sheets of bounty.

JK: you do a boom boom shake shake on the aircon and roll on ur bed. u know the song?

Best Answer:
AT: Hahahahaha, just don't shower. Ever. Nbd. Or run around in a circle for like 20 mins, no one will be around, so whatevs.

Car ride to SFO

Brother: how do you spell azn?
Me: ...A. Z. N.

Said goodbye to chicks today. After a turbulent check in finally waiting to board a flight to Newark/Boston.
Wearing bright yellow ramen t shirt, grass green hollister sweats, blue flip flops, and a maroon Harvard sweater. Even the security guard gave me the twice over before marking me as a non-security threat.

Party Rocking

The past few days have been pretty exciting.

Yesterday I shot a glock. It was exciting except that I got burned by a stray shell. Afterwards, went to Berkeley to meet up with A, the PR Director from the WorldMUN Singapore host team. I recognized her from a mile away with her gorgeous wavy black hair and a sense of style that challenged the haggard UC norm. We walked from the international house down to Sproul Hall and chatted on the steps near a couple who looked like they had fallen asleep on one another in the lazy afternoon sun. After speaking a while we decided to wander down telegraph where we ran into progressively stranger and stranger folk.

A guy and his friend sat on a curb and hollered out at us, "Hey girls? Do you like my jeans? Hey... hey do you like my jeans?"
Another guy and his girlfriend sat on a curb and the guy pleaded "Hey girls. I know I'm a bum. But. Can I have a dollar?"
As we walked further we passed 2 guys walking towards us. Their (extremely loud) conversation went "You can't beat the p-ssy, you gotta kill the p-ssy, you gotta kill it."

At that point we decided to turn around as we had probably gone as far as it was safe to go (10 blocks). Had a lovely dinner at a beer garden called Jupiter (though A and I ordered wine, hah). Dropped A off and went up to Berkeley hills with L and her boyfriend M. Super windy up there but we climbed a whale and a DNA strand so it was worth it.

Today I went with my parents to go wine tasting in Napa. Got a call from Sherry at 1pm and she joined us an hour later at Beringer. Went also to Rubicon Estate and Robert Mondavi - Napa is so much better when you're actually 21!

Tomorrow is work/pack and get ready to leave. Boo, relaxation's too short. (I wonder if I can pack in one more trip to the pool)

Summer Vacation

Summer time... and it feels so good. Too bad my relaxation period is almost already over.

Got to hang out with old friends (people I haven't seen since my sophomore year of high school) yesterday from early morning to well past midnight. Also bought my entire summer get-up in one go - swim suit, straw hat, new summer scent. People have grown taller and bigger but yet changed so little.

Also had home made crawfish while drinking corona with lime and salt before the alleged judgment day. Would have been a good last meal.

Things to look forward to: cooking today (pics to be up soon), beating my brother at some Mario Kart (though rumor has it he's beaten my rainbow road record?? Noo....!), going shooting tomorrow, meeting up with a friend from Singapore, crashing at Berkeley, going wine tasting in Napa with parentals, and then... heading back to Boston for commencement/work.

When they say spring fever..

+1 day of miserably lying in bed, blowing my nose and doing work due to fever.

3 down, 2 to go

ALMOST DONE.

I can feel the sweet sunshine of summer calling. Just 4 more days of sitting in Lowell dining hall

Pre-summer breakups

It's that time of year again. Problems are compounded as distances starts factoring into the relationship equation.

I just want to give people good advice. Things always work out for the best!

Sunshine in April

As the weather gets better so does my mood.

My workload has lightened up (but 5 papers/projects are on the horizon, should get on that soon) as well so I've been taking some more time to sleep in and go out to eat meals.

The other day I was at Garden at the Cellar eating delicious truffle rosemary fries with S when I saw an old lady out of the corner of my eye walking in. Boston is full of characters so when she started yelling loudly I dismissed her as another one of those. However, after a few seconds I realized there was something about that raspy tone that reminded me of.. my grandmother. After listening more attentively to her cries of "pisa! piiisa!" I informed the waitress, who was standing there looking rather flustered and confused, that the old lady most likely wanted pizza.

S and I finished our meals and got up to leave right as the pizza arrived. Since Garden at the Cellar is a rather nice place, its pizzas are of the flatbread small serving variety and the old lady was rather confused.
"Bu yao zhe me xiao de, tai xiao, yao da yi dian de pisa! Da de pisa!" I got up and went over,
"Do you have any larger pizzas?"
"No... this is our only size" the waitress responded. I told the old lady as much and she looked surprise there was a stranger speaking to her in Chinese. The old lady insisted that she needed a larger pizza and asked me to tell the waitress this.
"Is it possible for her to return this? I'll take her to the Dominos down the road"
"Yeah! No problem." She was about ready to get the woman out of her hair.

I walked with the old lady down the block to Dominos, all the while she told me about her family, her life, and her quest for pizza.

The woman was 89 and her husband was in his 90s. Usually on Sundays her grandchildren, who all went to Beijing University, would bring her and her husband food. She never ventured outside. However, today they could not make it and so she thought she might as well go out on her own and get them food for the week. This was the only place they ever went though so she didn't know anything else. She also didn't speak english so that made getting around quite tough. She wanted pizza because, honestly, at this age the palate is so worn out there's no point getting good food! Any food will suffice. But she was thankful she had found a kind spirit in all of this.

Due to my poor Chinese I could only understand 2/3 of what she was saying and communicate 1/3 of what I wanted to say (maybe more like 1/5 since she was pretty hard of hearing), but seeing her gratitude at the end was worth all of the effort.
In the end, I walked away wondering if she would be able to carry the pizza box back with her to her home.

I hope her grand children will visit this weekend or whenever that box of pizza runs out.

My life from now on

Today we had a final dinner with the 2011 team for WorldMUN.
The founder of the conference was there and she gave super sweet gifts to everyone. Everybody got mugs, a Starbucks gift certificate, and a flashlight/watch. The seniors got a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne and a personalized note. Reihan got this amazing plaque with a glass globe. I got a Swarovski crystal Singapore orchid.

All the gifts aside... another year of WorldMUN draws to a close. Except next year it's on me and an amazing team of 30 to yet again pull off a stellar conference. It's amazing what responsibility will do to a person to make them feel and act more accountable on all fronts. Now that I realize I get to pull the shots, I'm really prioritizing differently. And I was only officially elected Thursday.

4 years later, after running my first conference for 400 people I am now once again running another conference for 2,000+. These 4 years have taught me a lot about how to work in and with a team. How to manage my time. How to live a little more. I would not trade my experiences with WorldMUN, breakers, blockmates, South Africa, Japan, friends, family, etc. etc. with anything.

I can only hope that next year will be not only just as phenomenal, but so much more. And that so much more may not be objective. Clearly conferences take on the personalities of the people who lead them (and I'm curious to see how THAT will turn out!), and so by so much more... I already know that through the work I put in... the conference will be so much more to me. I'm anxious. But excited.

This year's not over yet (and the summer has yet to begin) but I'm already looking forward to the future. Here's to living another day.

My week in electronic communication & then some

From Mom:

Hi Kat,

According with your busy schedule I hardly find right time to call you.But as a parent I have couple things like to know what is in your mind.

1st: As a secretary general that will be great experience for you. How do you thought about it? What a long term would effect to you?

2nd: Be a secretary general that mean you will have very busy senior year. What is the impact for your academic performance? For your own future either go law school or graduate school or even looking for job after college. I hope you can keep your GPA. That may be challenge for you. I still remember when you chose junior classes in high school I thought 5 AP classes was too much for you but you said:"some junior can do it I can do it too". I hope you still have that spirit.

Wish can got your response soon. Have nice evening!

Love!

Mom.,

Sent from my iPhone

---- the most impressive thing is definitely that she wrote this all out on her iphone. Must have taken her ages!!!

From Dad:

Kat:
Mom told me this good news. I was looking for a good reason to go to
Black Angus, and this is a pretty good one.
Join us if you can, we will do it some time this week.
Thanks.
Dad

---- cute. Black Angus is a steak house my parents would take me to everytime I did something well in highschool (get straight As, 5s on APs, etc). Haven't been rewarded with that in a long while :p

Random convo quotes:

AJ (She hates that but it works here): why'd you curse yourself for the two weeks leading up to nmun?
me: oh because I had to prepare so much stuff that I hadnt yet.. haha
my AD was like I thought the committee might not happen
and I was like shush u
I haz worldmun stuff to do
AJ: you are going to be saying those last two lines so much for the next 11 months

me: wompwomp
this candidacy statement is going to be like 30 pages... sigh
AJ: right. like a thesis substitute
me: and then no one will read it
AJ: LIKE A STUDY GUIDEEEE


And to top it all off a quote from my awesome best friend who I haven't been able to see as much lately because of WorldMUN/random shiz.

RL: What is this white stuff falling out of the sky?
S: .... snow!??? Where have you been??

(:

My week has been like

Tuesday: Arrive back from Singapore, meet S, my bff from home who's visiting for the week
Weds/Thurs: Take her around, go out chillax, try to catch up on work
Fri: Wake up to txts about friend puking all over bed. Wash sheets. Go to class. Go to NYC. Arrive in NYC, go to dinner, bar, lounge, club. Lose friend. Eat korean food. Go to sleep in deflating air mattress.
Sat: Wake up at 10. Swimming in deflating air mattress. Terrible nauseating hangover. Go back to sleep while feeling guilty about not doing work. Wake up at 2. Find friend. Go to Times Square. Go to MoMA. Look for friend's lost iPhone. To go Ippudo Ramen. Pack. Wait for bus for 45 minutes in 20 degree weather. Get into bus. Defrost.

Sun: Write SecGen Candidacy Statement for WorldMUN from midnight until 3 am. Sleep from 3-4 am. Wake up. Take cab home. Wash up. Sleep from 5-8 am. Wake up at 8 am and walk to quad. Speak with 5 Quadlings about candidacy. Walk to River at noon. Speak with 10 some odd people from Lowell to Eliot to Lowell to Kirkland back to Eliot. Go to friend's place at 1145. Eat Bonchon chicken. Play 2 rounds of beerpong. Go back to room. Fall asleep at 3 am.

Mon: Wake up with a fever. Spend entire day writing 5000 word/13 page Candidacy Statement.

Tuesday: A normal day.

FWPLove

Why does it always take such situations for us to open up to each other?

Tell me more more often, you know I love you AT (:

Singapour

Singapore is humid! And food is cheap!

I've been sleeping under 5 hours for the past few days and it looks like this trend is going to continue. Unlike last year, my job is not over with the passing of the first day of registration. The pressure is just beginning to set in.

I trust everyone to do a fantastic job this week. I hope everyone has a good time. I'm kind of jealous of those running a committee - committees are so much fun (especially after my awesome NMUN experience). I'm sure being a USG will be rewarding as well. Either way, looking forward to it!

Stop here to avoid sappiness.

Things are pretty busy but still going through the days with a tinge of melancholy. I think this song sums it up pretty well, don't you?

You are the earth beneath my feet.
You are my gravity.

Peace out cub scouts.

2 Weeks in Singapore

Leaving in under 24 hours for Singapore. This 2 week romp is going to be so epic. The social events sound awesome already:
Night Zero - delegates who arrive early get to party with us in da club, woot.
Global Village - 30 teams bring food, drank, souvenirs from their home countries to share with everyone; ends in a dance party (soo much fun)
Glo - black light party at some swanky club
ASEAN Night - eat in Singapore's famous giant food court & dance after
Cabaret - We need to get our dance down for this... womp. Ends in an outdoor dance party (in 80 degree weather.. ahh)
Farewell party - party on the beach. Cannot wait. Always epic.

Then there's the post conference trip on a beach in Bali. Spring break is going to be so baller. (Work hard during the day, party hard at night, try to wake up at 6 am the next day, repeat)

Also super excited for the WorldMUN Spirit. What does that mean? Well it's different for everyone (and this is something we ask people who interview to be a part of WorldMUN so keep it on the DL) but for me it definitely resides in the interactions you have with people. Last year when I came back from WorldMUN I felt like speaking to everyone who just so happened to be around me; and let's face it, that type of random interaction doesn't happen often at Harvard. But being with people from around the world who want to interact with you makes you open up more than you would normally be comfortable with. There are people that I met from last year who have been messaging me all year telling me how excited they are for WorldMUN.
Conversation and interaction in both serious (read: committee) and relaxed (read: party) settings, being open to people at all times and having fun - That's the WorldMUN spirit.

Sherry's coming to visit after all that. I'll have a ton of work to do but... hopefully will still be able to show her a good time (despite the jet lag).

Media and Anthropology

"The bird has no choice, you can do nothing with the birds but attack the pigs. The birds can’t dance, they can’t do anything but kill the pigs and die."
- Professor Steedly on Angry Birds

So overworked

I haven't been blogging lately because I've been busy.

Busy with a million and one things. Yet in all this time I don't feel as though I've actually accomplished anything. This trend cannot continue.

Requiem

During the movie S and I try to figure out where the characters in Requiem for a Dream are.
K: Where ARE they?
S: I don't know, bumblefuck?
K: Hahahaha! Hey maybe it's Boston, look at the architecture.
S: Whatever, they live in the middle of bumblefuck.
Right then a Taxi drives by with the writing NYC on its side.
K: So... where do you live?
S: QQ, bumblefuck!

newbs cont.

Now my dad's getting an iPhone too. Niiicee.

To all you newbs without smart phones

My mom came home today with a free iPhone.
Can't imagine how she's going to use it, but I think I'll teach her how to text.

I hate Januarys

They always get me down.

Quotes Continued

Today I was accosted and forced to drive a van after recently having just started driving again. I had to drive my friend's mom to her house (without accident, whew) to drop her of and then drove us to a store. As I was driving I noticed the mirror was pointed down to somewhere around the backseat and point out "man, your mom is short!"
J responds matter of factly, "that's because you're wearing heels"
"... I'm sitting DOWN!"

J whilst scrubbing dishes (there's something about J that just inspires my mom to make us do manual labor. I never wash the dishes when any other friends come over. Just him) "you know what feels really good? Using a bobby pin to clean your ear"
"Yeah!" I respond enthusiastically "having your ear cleaned by someone feels soo good. I remember when I was a little kid I saw the parents of my friend cleaning each others' ear and I thought to myself 'that is true love!'"
My mom scoffs loudly while cleaning in the living room.
J turns around, "was that your brother?"
My mom pops her head in to comment, "I just thought of.. two gorillas, picking each other's flies, heheheh"

Thanks mom.

Kat's Kitchen: Home Edition

Wolfgang Puck's Lamb Chops Chinois:

et voila.

Family Snapshots

My family is sitting in the car on our way back from a family friend party. My siblings and I are in the backseat discussing our dreams. My little brother tells one of his particularly horrifying ones. "There was this one where I was on this small green island. And I looked down, and next to my feet were these words. They spelled Africa. And I was like 'NOOOOOOOUUUU!'"

My sister, while eating oranges. "Oh! My tooth fell out! I almost ate it because I thought that it was a seed!"

My father, moves the wine glass away from me. "This one's for mom."

My mother, after S visited. "He was such a sweet boy, he made his bed"
"Uh, his own bed?"
"No he made your brother's bed!"

Five days until I'm back at Harvard.