May 2013 ~ Dashi Panda

LOL Tournie & Night Market

Quite a few bits of things from STL to post~ Let's begin with the on-campus LoL tournament and AAA night market! ... but first, a picture from the iPhone!

I didn't know the battery would turn red. AHH my iPhone looks so angry at me for not keeping it charged :(

Jeff was playing in a LOL tournie, and he made it to finals. We ventured into the arena~

Totally tempted to steal this poster

Debra and Josh among the spectators

Jeff's team concentrating..

Until we go and attack him!

LoL friends :) And champions! They won! Congrats~

Then a walk back to the South 40...

Oh? AAA Night Market is just getting started!

Lots of familiar faces selling yummy foods to promote their cultural groups

And cute ones noshing on nom noms too :3

TSO sold bubble tea!

WU Cypher performed their annual mock battle

Lots of shows for people to enjoy while enjoying the street / nightmarket-like atmosphere

And enjoying freshly made food

Here's TSO's stewed pork, made by head chef XY :)

Trying out new foods is fun :D

Here is deep fried tteokbokki drizzled with gochujang and honey-- nice ^^

Also, I was organizing my photos and files, and I found this video that I made last winter break. Did anyone want to see Balto and Bacardi in live action? Here they are! ^_^ My brother and sister~

No comments Wendy

And even now

He hesitantly asks a question. Such a simple question, yet full of earnest. She groggily answers and confirmation, and within seconds, she falls into slumber.

In the morning, she glances at his curled up form tangled in the covers. He's so tired, she thinks. After a successful rummaging for breakfast in the kitchen, she plants herself in the leather chair at the dining table. Just last night, the two of them enjoyed a meal together. He had prepared one of the meals she wished to try the most, and she was delighted.

Probably... she ponders, This is probably my last meal here. A sense of remorse gnaws at her core, and she pushes herself away from the table and walks back to his room.

Soft, uneven snoring. She grins, her face close to his while she kneels next to the bed.

Minutes melt into hours, and she finds herself constantly glancing at the clock. A flutter of happiness lifts her doubt when she sees him shuffling towards the kitchen.

A big yawn and an exchange of words reveals that he is perched between fatigue and sleepiness. He steps towards the hallway and vanishes into his room.

A half hour later, she glances up from a card written in his writing to dismiss the third alarm on her phone and tiptoes back into his room.

Still lost in dreamland.

Unable to take it any longer, she wades onto the sheets and watches his eyes snap open.

Oh my God. I had a dream... he mumbles, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and failing. that I was in school... and I was miserable. She laughs, placing her hand on his chest and nuzzling into his neck, jesting with him that she probably saved him from a few hours of torture. And within a few minutes, she realizes that she lost him to sleep's grasp yet again.

~*~

And then it is time. Time to go. Time to leave. Time to depart.

And she is torn. It is a happy day. It is a sad day. It is a day when she is unable to discern what storm is brewing within.

Your question. I haven't fulfilled it. Nor have I spent enough time with you this morning. Panic.

She attempts to keep the spring in her step and the laughter in her voice as he washes his face to get ready. She looks around his room to take it in, to bury it somewhere deep. And then they step out the door together. But the door closes with an emphatic click.

They stop by a quaint little shop for lunch. She enjoys a large concoction of cream and chocolate for lunch, and he savors a similar confection for breakfast. They share a few smiles between spoonfuls. But the smiles seem deflated and quiet.

~*~

The car pulls up to the parking spot, and the two step out to grab the luggage from the back of the trunk. When all of luggage bags are out, the two face one another. A tight hug. She closes her eyes, wanting to say so much more than she does, but unable to. Their bodies detach and their eyes meet. Both were dreading this very moment, but they lean in. Pressing, but gentle. Moving, but not fierce. Emotional, and sad. And when they open their eyes and look at one another, they both think the same five words.

Is this the last time?

Dragging her baggage behind her, she looks back at the car and smiles. He waves goodbye as the doors slide shut behind her.

~*~

A day later, she feels brave enough to take out the card again. Her eyes wander through the small print written by his hand, gliding over the curves of his u's and n's and tumbling over the slightly messy bits. She notices a few grammar mistakes, and the corners of her lips tug upwards a little. Taking a breath, she tucks the card back into its envelope and spreads it onto the carpet with six other memories: two cards, an index card, an apple slice-shaped Post-it note, a Gundam figurine, and a small stuffed dog.

It's enough, she tells herself, realizing something. Few, but meaningful. And there are others too. One that will remind me that he didn’t know much about me at the beginning. One that will inspire me at medical school this year. One that will keep me warm when it’s cold. Just the way he did.

Her thoughts flash back to his question on the last night. His face tilted upwards, not looking at her. Embarrassed, or shy. Quiet and softened.

At that moment, I was there, she thinks, But now...

She imagines him laying and staring towards the ceiling, asking the same question, but by himself. His words are still quiet, yet they are loud in the silence of his room. So lonely and sad. Her vision instantly blurs as a dam breaks with the weight of gushing tears.

I'm so sorry, she says, directing her words at the stuffed dog. Spots on the dog's coat become matted into clumps as her tears slowly glide down, linger on her chin and then pummel down onto its synthetic fur.

He did it last time, so he will be able to overcome it again, she reminds herself, unable to do anything but stay in place. She smooths the fur and looks into the small dog’s eyes. Hi, Cream. She hugs the small thing towards her chest with an everlasting tight squeeze.

No comments Wendy

Splash of sunshine

The girl's head emerges from the water as she takes a much needed breath after finishing strong to the wall. Another girl in the same lane at the wall looks at her questionably.

"Have I--" she begins, as the other girl also blurts out something. A slight pause. A round of shared giggles.

The girl already resting at the wall stops her laughter and says, "You are soooo graceful!"

The other, who was rinsing out her goggles with the pool water, looked up in surprise and her face burst into an immediate smile. "Oh my gosh, really?"

"Yeah! I'm just watching you, and I'm like, 'Danggg, this girl!'"

Laughter. "Thank you so much. That actually really makes me happy! Even if the stroke looks pretty, it doesn't mean it's fast though!"

"No wayyyy... And that back-to-breast flip thing you do. Is that a thing nowadays? Because I see it all the time, and it looks really cool."

The girl, happy to take an excuse to rest from her previous set, immediately replied, "Do you want to learn how to do it? It's actually really easy-- just takes some time getting used to it. My name is Tori, by the way. What's yours?"

A look of surprise flutters across the other girl's face, but it quickly washes away with a grin.

"Nancy. Nice to meet you! That would be awesome!"

From afar, it seems like the two girls had planned to come to the pool to swim together, one watching the other as she attempted to learn a back flip on the wall, and the other breaking through the water's surface just after bouncing off the wall to listen for corrections. The lifeguard walks past as he does his rounds.

When they finish, the teacher says to her student, "I used to teach little kids how to swim, so this... kind of reminds me of it. What a happy feeling..."

They chat, getting know one another just a bit more and end up sharing tips on classes and life. After swimming a few laps next to one another, one of the girls glances at the clock.

"Well, I have to get going. Thanks for teaching me!"

"No problem-- it was fun! Hope to see you later!" They wave, and the girl still in the pool takes a breath before submerging back into the water.

Graduation is soon... I'll probably never see her again, she thinks, as the pool's tiles fly beneath her, but I'm glad to have met her.

~*~

Here is one of the cakes I made last month :)

And my first attempt at stirfry noodles-- mmm, broccoli~

No comments Wendy

Flood

That hurt, she thought, concentrating on taking one step forward at a time. Telling me that I probably thought you were worth nothing...

The first time my heart felt tight and actually ached. I was a shell, and it was hard to breathe. The first time I felt like my world was going to end because I caused tears to flow. The joy I had making someone happy just by showing up. The first time I could hold a hand in public or take a hug without pushing away in embarrassment or in fear.

And you still think I didn't feel anything for you?

She walked away, only aware of the cars racing towards her when she was already several steps into the road crossing. She hurried to the nearest sidewalk.

I can never do anything right.

Wetness. The girl looked up at the gray clouds overhead as stray raindrops danced lightly on her skin. They added to the ones of her own that were threatening to spill over.

Perfect. I deserve this.

No comments Wendy

Spring Break- LA Day 5

Last post of the LA Spring Break trip!

Let's wait in line~

Waiiii do I have to wait in lineeeee

To get on the train, yo!

Yep, so everyone parks somewhere and then takes a train / tram to the Getty Museum!

This art museum is free for the public!

And it's huge!

Nestled onto a California mountain side

An actual, REAL Vermeer!! O_O *remembers studying it in class*

Lots of school kids there too :)

The weather was so nice too~ Sunny and breezy ^^

Look at the view!

And the smog... haha~ =o=

Quite an amazing site for a Texan girl like me-- roads between mountains @_@

Pretty cool, eh?

Back to the center of the museum~

I ventured into the rooms to seek out my favorite section: Greek & Roman sculpture ^^

Caracalla, how can I forget? Suspicious and fearful of assassination, always looking over his shoulder

A mother dressed as Athena to protect her son~ Motherly love!

Looking Up!

Fountain thingie in the middle-- I like the infinite edge instead of gutters :)

There are also gardens!

But I didn't know how to get down, haha~ STUCK IN THE BUILDING NOOO

Standing in the shade made it feel 20 degrees cooler :P

Oh my gawsh, seeing all these works that I've studied before :O I don't think this one's an original either~

We went on a tour! ... I ended up not listening ^_^''

This sculpture is made of wood with gilt gold. Really creepily realistic!

Hyung is tired... needs a rest, haha! (Actually, I was pretty tired too @_@)

ZZzzz~

Sean, Anna, and Elaine join in!

After the museum, everyone was starving! So we found a place that Debra recommended (because Yelp recommended it, hehe). It's called Lares! Mexican food! In California! I'm so excited! It must be great! Okay, I'll stop with the exclamation marks! Okay, no, really I will... haha~ It was so late, I think almost 4pm, so we were all about to topple over from lack of energy.

Cute outdoor dining

Rustic little sign

AND FRESH WARM CHIPS. OMG. *inhales whole basket*

Elaine so purdy~~~

The interior was really nicely decorated :)

Sean and some.. soup thing. (real specific, right? :P)

Anna and tilapia!!

Debra ordered burrito and taco :D

Wow, genuine smile O_O Hehe, steak! ... at a Mexican restaurant, durrr~

Had to put another one on, too cute! :D Oh, shrimp rice soupy dish thing. Also very specific. :P

BEHOLD. MY LUNCH. Chilaquiles ^^

Pretty much a delicious mess of tortilla chips smothered with sauce, cheese, and chicken :) Super yum! I love the combination of slightly crunchy and chewy, and of course cheese is always delish~ And who doesn't like refried beans?!! You don't? Well... TOO BAD *steals your refried beans and eats them* Om nom nom :3

After lunch, we headed to the beach for some nice sun time! And then the world ended:

This is Anna and Sean on the beach.

Haha! Surprised?? It's California and it's March, but it was soooo cool in the area for some reason, so the low pressure caused a lot of fog and cold drafts to roll in. Thus, we were surrounded with an eerie fog that I could have sworn was the coming of a zombie apocalypse @_@'' But to the beach we went! Go forth and conquer!

We look like we're fleeing from some far away land instead of playing on the beach XD

Beautiful and trendy beach styles, eh?

Even though it was cold (shivvvvver!), I was really happy just to see the ocean. I don't know; maybe it's because I'm from the Gulf Coast, but I really miss seeing large bodies of water once in a while, especially after being cooped up in the Middlewest :( Too bad we couldn't play in the ocean since it was too freezing... maybe in the future! I walked and ran up and down a small stretch of the sand, because I would lose sight of the group~

We went to an outdoor mall (think of a multi-story mall with no ceiling), which would have been amazing in warmer weather, but with the fog enshrouding everything, it was cold and kind of gloomy looking.

But they had these really cool parking lights! They would turn from green to red when someone parked into a space, so it saves people from driving around. They can just look for green lights. We watched a few cars parked with some "Ooooooh's" and "Ahhhhh's" before heading towards the mall entrance. The lights change a few seconds after someone parks, so they're triggered by motion sensors.

How come Texas can't have one of these?? Oh wait, duh. It's 108F during the summer.

Anna and Sean disappearing into the crowd

And pointing the way! Or at the advertisement? I don't remember.

Josh found his Taeyeon peas :) Turns out they're from Toy Story!

The three gals buy the three brother bears from Brave. Cute ^^

For dinner, we ate with Alex, a TSO alumni, at The Father's Office. He said it's really popular, and the burgers are pretty good. So off we went~ It's a bar / burger place, and you have to be 21 or over just to get in. Our IDs were checked~

Ooooh. Office...

And it's super dark x_x

Really crowded! No one seats you, so you basically stand behind a table until they finish eating. Awkward... haha~

Alex!! Wait, I can't see him... One sec.

Alex!! *blinds him with the flash*

*then proceeds to do it to everyone else*

The Father's burger

The menu is really limited, although there are steaks, appetizers, and salad. Most of their stuff consists of the drinks, and people come here to hang out and yell at each other over the noise, haha~ Debra and I split a burger, since we were still so full from our super late lunch. I like their bun-- it was really soft and buttery, dense and chewy. The gruyere cheese, caramelized onions, and smoked bacon had a lot of flavor and hid the bleu cheese flavor (hooray! I don't like bleu cheese) for me. Noms!