rice-a-roni
january 12, 2006
back in september 2005, i was going to write about all these things but with work being at the height of its insanity, i didn't get a chance to share any of it with you. so before i forget about these pictures that have been sitting there in my september folder, i'll just write a mini blurb about each one and smash them all into this entry. call it my rice-a-roni entry...a little bit of this n that.
food cart: you see carts like these throughout the so-called wholesale/toy district in downtown LA. they serve food from these carts because there are really no restaruants in the area unless you walk to little tokyo. plus there is hardly any parking and the streets are narrow with plenty of delivery trucks. my friend used to have a store in this area and i can attest to this. it's also not the safest place in the city as the homeless mission is there and i once saw an african american man dancing on a corner with his pants (no underwear) down around his ankles and a brown paper bag bottle of something in his hand. from what i can see flopping around, he had a really big one.
cookie monster: sometimes i get into the mood to have cookies. fresh baked cookies to go with milk. i always undercook them by a few minutes and they will finish cooking while out of the oven. they always turn quite tasty and is a nice treat for friends who drop in. i mean, i'm no nigella lawson who whips up grandiose meals for her friends but a cookie is always a nice comfort food. it's also a very very good bribing tool for my niece.
anchor woman: i was shopping for clothes quite a bit back in september. i guess it was my therapy during lunch hours to get away from the chaos of work. i didn't realize it then but now i think this looks kinda anchor-womanish. you know what i mean? i love the cashmere cornflower blue tank underneath but it was kinda itchy. the jacket was nice too but i ended up not buying this in the end.
i love ombre: there's something about ombre prints that i love. how it flows from one color to the next. this particular shirt is from nine west and i got it on sale for around $30.00 at nordstroms. and plus, it has my fave colors of green & black and some yellow in it. way cool. too bad it's too cold to wear it now.
the bowl: it's funny how in LA you take a lot of photos from the car. it's inevitable that you won't get too many photos from walking around because nobody walks in LA and everyone is in some sort of moving vehicle. [except for the african american man mentioned above with his schlong bouncing around]. and when you're in a moving vehicle, behind the wheel, it's hard to exactly get the perfect angle of a shot. or even a shot that is clear & sharp. since it was my first time ever attending an event at the hollywood bowl this year, this billboard sign advertising it on the outskirts of little tokyo caught my eye and so i took a shot of it. the nice blue sky made a nice backdrop. i somehow think that taking photos from a car is an essential talent that we angelenos have come to grasp. it's a necessity really.
arrival: i haven't touched on this subject at all because in some sense i'm afraid to air out my views knowing that certain family members are reading this. but maybe in the future, i'll write about it. my in-laws arrived in early september to get their green card. my MIL and FIL finally got their approval and made their way to the states. of course they aren't staying here (?) longterm and will be going back to hong kong after getting their greencard. but it's been a whole different level of assimilation for me to have them here and to get to know them on my turf as opposed to say....when i go back to hong kong and visit them on theirs. i half expected them to be more open minded and to be more receptive to the culture here as, well...they ARE getting a US green card afterall. but i've found them to be very much to be stuck in a streak of stubborness that just won't relent. the sad part of all this is that they are good people and genuinely kindhearted but oh-so-backwards, anti-social and refusing to even attempt to learn english. in their minds, they really aren't immigrating but just here to "go through the motion" of getting their greencard and then the hell out of dodge, so to speak. in that sense, their mentality has never/will never be truly accepting of a new lifestyle or the american lifestyle/culture/thinking in general. it's made for a very difficult few months for me thus far. i feel sad knowing that their other daughter in laws will never have to go through this type of situation with them. it's almost unfair to say this but i will never be as close to my in-laws as my sister in laws are because they only experience and know them in a totally different environment and i only know them through this awkward time in their life. ok, i've said too much already. :x
vice: like with clothes, or shopping in general, i get into this craze of just buying. maybe that's why i'm so poor. and then i don't buy for a loooonng time (i'm in that phase now). makeup is always a purchase i hide from TGILW. he thinks it's frivolous and that i don't need anymore. BUT BUT BUT.. you know us girls and how it is. new colors, new palettes, even a new lip color changes the way we feel about ourselves. guys will never understand because they don't have freakin fluctuating hormones like we do. and for those who love makeup as much as i do (from l-r): clinique colour surge eye shadow duo in coffee shop, clinique almost lipstick in black honey, bobbi brown shimmer wash eyeshadow in sapphire & bone.
currently listening to: ryuichi kawamura, glass
