So Long, Hollywood Sign

That’s right, the Hollywood sign may soon be gone forever, and will be replaced by luxury homes. A symbol of hope and dreams that welcomes aspiring actors may very well be shattered by the dreams of land developers. Fundraising has raised millions already to attempt to preserve the land around the sign, and although we’re hopeful, there’s a possibility the sign may soon be torn down. So, my friends and I decided we should hike up to the sign and see it one last time before it goes.

Yay, so picturesque.

Hollywood Sign, 10x Digital Zoom

We hiked to the top, and we were rewarded with a splendid view.

UPDATE:  The sign is saved! By a $900,000 donation by Hugh Hefner. In total, $12.5 million was fundraised to save this hunk of land, all 138 acres of it. The question is, however, where will all that money go?!

¡Mis Amores y Yo en España!

…..y otros países. ¡Fuimos a Francia y a Italia también! Teníamos mucho divertido y queremos ir a Europa otra vez.

Phew, four years in high school and three quarters in college of Spanish, and those sentences took a lot of brain power to construct. Anyway, my best friends and I decided to travel to Europe when one of us, Jenny, decided to study abroad in Spain, and naturally, the rest of us saw this as an opportunity to travel, no less accompanied by the best people in the world. There is just so much I want to say about this trip, yet I know I often write unnecessarily long essays on this blog, so I’ll try to keep it short and sweet. What can I say, it was a wonderful trip (in retrospect)! First of all, we’re broke college students that just spent a fortune on the plane tickets and the hotels alone. We didn’t dine at expensive restaurants or take taxis everywhere we went, but we used our street-smart skills to navigate each city we visited, and I think we did a pretty good job, considering the type of budget we had. We saw everything we wanted to see (well, almost everything), and occasionally ate at some nice restaurants. What I will miss most, however, is spending time with my girls, goofing around in our hotel rooms, and cracking jokes on the Metro (the Metro subway in each metropolitan city we visited was BOMB, it took us everywhere we wanted to go). Also, we discovered a love for kebabs, yummy savory sandwiches that are basically the fast food of Europe.

Essentially, the cities we visited: Madrid, Barcelona, and San Sebastian (Spain); Paris (France); and Milan (Italy). Originally, we wanted to visit Rome or Venice, but it was pricey at the time we booked everything, so Milan was a cheaper choice. Anyway, enough of my rambling words, enjoy this brief gallery of our trip:

Jumping for joy in Madrid!

Plaza Mayor

Barcelona, with Mani the bartender

Paella!

MNAC

The best kebab sandwich I’ve ever had! *drool*

Sagrada Familia

San Sebastian, reunited with Jenny! Goofing around, after hitting a couple bars.

Moulin Rouge, Paris (the show was fabulous!)

Louvre

Mona Lisa

Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Tower and my girls

Café des Deux Moulins

My 22nd birthday at Le Train Bleu

Duomo Cathedral, Milan

Corso Como, trendy nightclub spot

Happy Hour at Brera! The best!

Climbing Sacro Monte, Varese

Parque de Atracciones

Coming home to my baby, who gave me a nice surprise

I know, that’s a lot of pictures, but I wish I could add more! These 20 photos do not do our trip justice, but it’s enough to give you a little taste of Europe.

Kollaboration 10

Kollaboration, an annual Korean American talent show, was founded in 2000 by Executive Director Paul “PK” Kim. It is not only a talent show, but an organization and a movement to showcase Asian American talent. This year, performers such as Sam Hart (“Mario Kart Love Song”), Jason Yang (YouTube sensation/violinist), Bhangra Empire (Indian dance troupe), and Clara Chung (Best. Singer. Ever. ) graced the stage with their soulful, energetic, and out-of-this-world performances. Judges included Bart and Joe from Just Kidding Films, Michelle Phan (YouTube make-up guru), and KevJumba (YouTube comedian). After the show, we all got our drink on at the after-party, but what I really want to talk about is the fact that I met Clara Chung!

She’s so tall!

She said I’m cute and that she likes my hair! Easily the happiest moment of my life, being complimented by the best girl ever! I had never been this excited to meet a celebrity before, not even when I saw Tobey Maguire or Megan Fox. CLARA! CLARA! CLARA! Oh, did I also mention that she won Kollaboration 10?

Check out my favorite Clara C song: “Fool’s Gold”. Amazing!

Pasteis de Nata

I made Portuguese-style egg custards. That is all.

My first batch. Not bad, huh?

My second batch, because Ray likes them burnt.

Mmm, burnt goodness.

Learn how to make them HERE.

Birthday Babe

Happy 22nd Birthday to my boo!

That is some yummy cake.

That’s right, I got my baby a pressure cooker. Best. Present. Ever.

I love you babe!

Sun Nin Fai Lok!

Pardon the use of my ghetto-ized romanization of  新年快樂, but literally, it means Happy New Year in Cantonese! Happy Lunar New Year, to be more politically correct. Oh yeah, and Happy Valentine’s Day, too, I guess.

I came home just for New Years! My mom made “nian gao” (年糕)(“year cake”), fried a fish, and burned incense to pray to our ancestors.

You can’t get any more Chinese than this.

Looks like someone wants to run off with his moneys.

My mom’s 年糕. I assure you, it is very YUM.

Eat a lot, do well in school, be prosperous, keep up your good health, and don’t anger your ancestors! Pray to them with fried fish, 年糕, plenty of fruit, and most importantly, a chicken. Don’t forget the chicken.

Getting Past the Bunny Slopes

ZOMG I LOVE SNOWBOARDING LOLZ!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!11111111

The first time I went snowboarding was with my best friends, a few years ago, and surprisingly, I was not scared one bit. I climbed the bunny slopes and snowboarded down. I walked away without incident. Unfortunately, no one taught me how to properly snowboard, so I had been left in snowboard limbo ever since. Then, about a year ago, on a ski trip organized by Hong Kong Student Society, I decided to give snowboarding another shot. I will not go into the details, but I left that trip very frustrated and vowed never to step foot onto another snowboard ever again.

Lo and behold, I received another chance from the snowboard god. This time, I got smart and took a beginners course on how to snowboard at Mt. High; while the boyfriends ran off and played on the advanced slopes, us girls stayed in the bunny slopes area (a cute name for slopes that are basically for wussies). I learned a lot, especially about the most important thing: how to stop. After the hour-long class, I felt a bit more bold, ready to tackle a bigger slope! No more bunny slopes for me! This time, I’m tackling… the beginner slopes! One step at a time, right?

We have gone snowboarding at least two more times after that, and I’m hooked. I even bought myself a snowboard and gear to match!

Cute, eh?!

I’m in love… with snowboarding! Just talking about it makes me miss my snowboard. I wish I could sleep with it like it was my teddy bear (now I know I’m going a bit too far). I’ve even moved on to intermediate slopes! Still, I need to work on my skills, because I still can’t S-curve my way down a slope just yet. I’ve been working on switching from heel to toe and vice versa, so one baby step at a time. I’m excited to go again! And, I can’t wait to take my snowboard up to Washington, and Canada, too. More on that, later.