Kimchi Weekend #2 2008 (In order to fulfill my curiousity in how men go to the bathroom)

Okay, so the hose is nowhere near my crotch...but somewhere in my deranged, off-center thought process, I could envision while standing there for about 30-45 minutes holding that hose in my hand in a slightly downward position that this would be, in fact, the closest thing to being a man standing at a urinal. That is, if that said man were 300 lbs and had a bladder the size of the Lochness monster. Ahh, a girl can wonder, can't she?

The past weekend marked the 2nd "Kimchi Weekend" at Laura unni's house and proved to be just as fun, and even more rewarding than the first time I went. There is definitely something to be said about cooking collectively that brings a group of people together in an amazing and surreal way. It seems so subtle and sort of ridiculous - the idea of standing in a kitchen together, slaving over the stove, peeling and cutting vegetables, filling big tubs of cabbage up with water - but I have never felt more connected with four women in my entire life, almost as close as the first time that I ever learned how to cook any Korean dish in a Korean kitchen.

See all those bottle tops there? Awww yeah, you're not seeing things - that is all alcohol, baby. Let's just say the first night was our attempt at making mandu that ended in four or five drinks later, a girl pow-wow outside on the porch curled up together chattering until 6 AM and absolutely no mandu made at all.

Every time I go to Laura's house, I feel like I get closer to a part of myself that I had never exposed before. Sometimes a part of myself that I didn't even know existed. It's a comforting and blessed thing to be able to have a place to go with nothing holding you back from being completely yourself and to be surrounded by people who only encourage and facilitate your inner soul to grow and emerge as a stronger person.

As horribly stereotypical as this is going to sound, I felt like I was in a scene of the Joy Luck Club. Or Soul Food. Or The Ice Storm. Five women in a kitchen until 5 AM, talking of life, love, loss, pain, perseverance, courage, bravery and being scared shitless sometimes. It was like the scene of a movie where you know this is the pivotal point, this is where the epitome of the movie is coming from. This wholly collective togetherness that is encasing around these five individuals.

I was left with a lot of wonderful, somewhat scary, and yet poignant thoughts to ponder when leaving Laura's house. And I also took away with me some amazing new friendships.

The Resurrection of the Internet

So I learned last night while walking down the pathway to my place that the Internet has now been rerouted. This time there is a pass code though. Which is good, I agree, for safety reasons, etc. etc. (Because I really would hate to think people were trying to steal all the porn on my hard drive.)

I didn't, however, get the passcode just yet. I didn't get home until around 10 pm or later, having spent the night eating dinner at my parents' house and catching up with my siblings that I don't get to see much of anymore. It's weird how going back, you realize how fast your siblings are growing, and how their internal worlds are spinning just as fast as yours is.

My sister is on her way to being the next "musical prodigy" (aka J's little brother). I went home last night to find her tapping away at piano keys, all self-taught. Hammering out tunes such as "Over My Head" by the Fray, "It Ends Tonight" by All-American Rejects and "Apologize" by OneRepublic. It amazes me how fast she is growing, and I can't get over how much of a teenager she is starting to look(she turns 13 in February). Sorta freaks me out and stings a little. I guess because I have that big sister complex, wanting them to stay little forever. I am so proud of who she is becoming though, and love her deeply.

My little brother is also hitting a milestone age this year, the big 1-8. I don't have anything bad to say. He's become everything that anyone could've ever asked for and more. I love him to death, and he is an amazing spark in my life, and one of my closest confidants. We grew up together, only 5 years apart, but I still see him as my baby brother. I told him I'd take him wherever he wanted to go this year. Now that I have my car, we can wreck havoc across the city together in celebration of his birthday. He deserves a little fun with everything he's been through.

So now that the internet is back up, you all will get an overload of posts with pictures that have been long overdue. Something to take up my time in my free moments over the weekend (ha, ha, ha)

V Fest Day One Review (In Pictures): Part 2

Continued of Day One:

We decided after getting some shade and hearing the horrible Cheap Trick, that we would head back over to the North Stage to hear Amy Winehouse:

Of course, she kicked ASS!! I love new artists and seeing them live while they are still new. Mainly because you know that every single song on their album is going to be what they will perform because that's the only one that they have out!!!

Amy Winehouse rocked the house. I danced like a crazy woman despite the heat, it was so awesome to be able to hear her voice, and hear her singing. It sounded just like the album!

The next to come to the stage was Incubus. J and I were super lucky that the two people that we wanted to hear were back to back on the same stage. And just look how sexy Brandon Boyd is:

Just then, as we were rocking out to Incubus - this girl that I had met over the Yahoo Forums for Virgin Festival, E, met up with me and we took a ton of pictures. This is the only one where I don't look 200 lbs in the face though.

After Incubus, J was ready to head over to what he had been waiting for all summer: The BEASTIE BOYS!!! They fucking rocked!!! I was so happy that we were able to make it in time because we had walked around a little bit to check out the festival and then headed back over to the North Stage again to check them out. We had also gone to check out LCD Soundsystem with E but without their synthesizers, they turned out not to be so good live.

The crowd for the Beastie Boys by the time we got there was INSANE. And J and I were too exhaustEd (hehe) to walk any further into the crowds, so we just stayed behind - which was totally cool because again, the sound system was so amazingly clear that even being far away, we were able to hear everything as if we had had the seats that we did at Amy Winehouse and Incubus. Since I am short, I just raised up my camera to take a picture of the stage, and of the massive crowd in front of us and the pictures turned out pretty dope.

J was pretty stoked too.

Can you believe the size of those crowds? A couple of times when J and I caught sight of the crowd, we were like "Omgosh!!! I can't effing believe we are part of this!! This is soooo cool!!!"

To end the night, The Police closed out and boy did they ever close out. Sting hasn't aged a bit (unlike Cheap Trick) and he sounded as good as he did if you listened to the first Police record. They did encore after encore, and me and J rocked out to "Roxanne", and "Every Breath You Take".

The pictures didn't turn out as well as I liked because I am still trying to figure out the best way to take pics with this camera that DJ G gave me for my birthday.