making a comback;

I guess I'll try to do what Britney Spears is doing right now since I haven't been on this for quite a long long time. Comeback time!

So the reason why I haven't been on this is 'cos my life has been ridiculously busy, and I don't even have a slight minute to turn on a computer and check my e-mail unless I'm on campus. Luckily, today I brought my laptop, so I'm good. I got a job and the end of the semester is in about 3 weeks, next week being my last official week of classes before finals week.

Nothing much special has happened in the past month, other than seeing Lykke Li on the 3rd, which I must say was an amazing show. The first two opening bands were pretty good, but Friendly Fires just had an amazing set. After the show, I couldn't get enough of them. Before the show, I had only listened to Paris, but after wards, I got hooked to every song they played. And must I add that the lead singer, Ed McFarlane, is quite a handsome dashing dancer.




When Lykke Li came out, it was simply amazing. Everything about her performance was amazing. And lastly she topped it off with her Can I Kick It? encore, chanting O-B-A-M-A at the end of her set.

There's more pictures on my flickr.
Here's a short clip I took before one of those pesky security guards made me turn off my camera.




The show ended off amazing. I can't wait for Lykke Li to come back to LA, which I believe is around February. So for those of your who would like to witness an amazing show and admire the presence of Sweden's best, save your money to see Lykke Li at The Glasshouse in Pomona. I believe that the tickets for that show are much cheaper than last month's show.

And if you didn't catch the MTV Woodie Awards, here you go.

The 2008 mtvU Woodie Awards

And I thought this was pretty wicked too.

The 2008 mtvU Woodie Awards

Oh Ezra Koenig, you're such a charming fellow.

Speaking of Vampire Weekend, they're actually playing at KROQ's Almost Acoustic X-Mas with The Killers, Death Cab For Cutie, and surprisingly enough, The Cure. I'm not that big a fan of the two other bands and the other bands that are playing, but as soon as I heard that The Cure and Vampire Weekend were on the lineup, I set up a mission to win tickets due to my financial state right now. [Note to self: never leave car keys in car again.] So if you want to go ahead and see them, save your money, and leave me to try an win them. (= I keed...

Christmas is in 22 days and I couln't be more excited. I love the holidays. (=

sleep sleep sleep

If you haven't checked out my links, then maybe you haven't heard about Wooster Collective. Wooster Collctive is "a celebration of street art", in blog form. Aside from going to their page to look at political satire in street art form, you can also find some interesting videos of art exhibitions and street art, which is pretty cool when you see people's reactions to some of the stuff on the street. Like this one:


STEALING FROM THE RICH from ABOVE on Vimeo.

Anyways, international graff artist Banksy has come out again with another exhibition after his last show here in LA where he painted an elephant the color of room it was in.

This time he's having his exhibition in NYC, in a little place called Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill. According to Wooster Collective, the pet store is located in the West Village of NYC in 89 7th Avenue between West 4th and Bleeker Street. So if you're anywhere around there, you should get your camera packing and go visit Banksy's pet store 'cos it's only going to be there until Halloween.

Here's a little preview of what's going on in there. To me, it's just amazing.

NOTCOT: Banksy's Village Petstore & Charcoal Grill from Jean Aw on Vimeo.

Boy, do I wish I were in New York. California is killing me, and New York would just make me the happiest camper ever.

Mundanity at it's best;

Finally I have time. Last week midterms were so close to shredding me to pieces, but luckily I made it out alive. Thursday was my worst day, because when I was leaving to the train station in my mum's junky old Land Cruiser, the piece of crap decides to break down on my in the middle of the street. Luckily for me it was 6:30 AM, and there was no traffic. Still, I hated the fact that I was put in that kind of lucky situation. I called my dad and he picked me up to drop me off at school. I didn't think I was going to make it on time for one of my midterms, but I made it almost a quarter before 8 AM. If only making it early to class helped me on my midterm, I would've been the happiest girl ever, but I know it completely owned me. Blagh, at least this week is here and I don't have to deal with stupid stress.

Halloween is almost almost here! There's so many things to do, that I just don't know where to go. I want to go to Halloween Horror Nights, Knotts Scary Farm, and Shipwreck at The Queen Mary just to have random strangers in horrific costumes scare the living shit outta me. I'd also love going to some of the parties that are going on here in LA. If you don't have a clue on what you want to do Halloween night, check out Metromix's 08 Halloween Party Guide.

And for you 21+ people, you should check this out.

I hate that it's 21+, that it's free, that it's in The Natural History Museum, and that it's right on Halloween night. What does a 4 year difference mean? Come on!

For those who are like me, I guess what we can only do is listen to Treasure Fingers and Midnight Movies, and maybe some Minitel Rose just to spice it up a bit on Halloween.

MP3: Treasure Fingers - Cross The Dancefloor
MP3: Midnight Movies - Love or a Lesson
MP3: Minitel Rose - Business Woman

Enjoy!



P.S,
I hated to categorize my new issue of Nylon as junk mail today. For shame, why Paris? I just cannnot put myself to admire her one bit. And in the America Issue? I hate that she was even chosen to represent America in the issue. Nylon, I love you, but you have disappointed me.

Brought to you by a busy life

Some interesting things have happened since I last blogged, and it indeed has been a while. Plus, there's more interesting things to come. School has kept me at an all time occupied-mode, and the thing that sucks is that I don't have much time to socialize since I'm one of the many commuters of Long Beach state.

Goal: Write a real blog this week. No more leaving it off at 'til the next week.

CIAO & a merry rest of the week!

As for now, I'll leave you with my definite source of entertainment as soon as Tina Fey came back on SNL.



& also,



Oh Sarah Palin, you betcha!

I'm a gamer/non-gamer.

I have never really been intrigued by video games, nor am I video game fanatic.We only have an X-Box 360 'cos my little brother is a gamer, and we thought it would be a more fancy DVD, and plus, we could hook it up to our iPods. Now with the uproar in musical video games (i.e, Guitar Hero, Rock Band), I have been addicted to playing hours of the same songs again and again until I can finally play a song on hard and eventually on expert. Right now I have Guitar Hero 2, but now it's time for an upgrade.

This past week, CSULB had a Guitar Hero World Tour stage set up on campus, and everyone could come play and get free prizes. I went there out of curiousity, and as one thing led to another, I sang Living On A Prayer infront of tons of people with complete strangers. I triumphantly got a shirt and water bottle.

Some of the other songs on the set list that caught my eye were Everlong by Foo Fighters, Float On by Modest Mouse, Love Me Two Times by The Doors, and Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar. Still, I thought that Guitar Hero World Tour was a complete ripoff of Rockband. (I'm biased on this subject.) I decided to look up some of the details of Rockband 2, and I'm convinced that I'm going to spend $190 on it. The setlist looks so much better, and it even has some of the songs that Guitar Hero 2 has.

Here's some of the songs on the setlist that I can't wait to play:
Interpol - PDA
The Donnas - New Kid In School
Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue
AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
The Go-Go's - We Got The Beat
Joan Jett - Bad Reputation
Motorhead - The Ace of Spades
Rage Against The Machine - Testify
Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl
Foo Fighters - Everlong
Bon Jovi - Living On A Prayer (Also on GH World Tour)
Smashing Pumpkins - Today
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away
Billy Idol - White Wedding
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
Blondie - One Way Or Another
Elvis Costello - Pump It Up
Beck - E-Pro
Devo - Uncontrollable Urge
Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know
Duran Duran - Hungry Like The Wolf

There's tons of more songs, but here's a preview of what to expect from Rockband 2. All I know is that soon I'm going to have an excuse to bring people over to my house and spend all day in my living room.

Reporting live from the mind of a college student;

This life is expensive, to say the least. I used to complain about spending at least $80 per school year on books and at most $50 for uniform, and I guess I had nothing to complain about before. I guess financial aid is okay, but I've already blown away half of it in less than 2 weeks, and it's still going away. Now, I've become so frugal, I won't even buy food even if I'm on the verge of passing out while riding my bike to class. Nope, I'll wait to get home. Basically, for everything other than food, college has made craigslist, ebay, thrifting, and sales my best friends.

And the commute is ridiculous. Driving a total of an hour, and sometimes even more depending on traffic back and forth to school makes me the most grumpiest person when I arrive home, and my parents are always complaining about my frequent naps. I should be dorming; really, I should, or at least live in an apartment here in Long Beach, Seal Beach, or by Belmont Shore.

Yesterday after class I stayed on campus for a while, and found la.cityzine.com. I feel kind of late because probably everyone else has taken a look at the site, but I guess I'll catch up soon enough. Anyways, they're having free ticket giveaways to see Tokyo Police Club and DeVotchKa. Hopefully I get at least one or the other. Basically, all you do is reply to the post, and for DeVotchKa, you have to write which is your favorite instrument. If you don't recall DeVotchKa, you might have heard some of their tracks while you watched Little Miss Sunshine.

Speaking of shows, I have to buy my tickets to see Lykke Li...

I'm a happier camper now. Fall is right around the corner, and Southern California has become much much chillier. No more sweat, no more hyperventilation after riding my cruiser to class, and more layers to wear! Finally, I can wear my coats,sweaters, and scarves that have been stored in my closet. Cold weather, oh I have missed you so!

A good song for a good mood and the good weather:

Theatre of Disco - YOA
(click YOA for download)
Theatre Of Disco is one of my recently discovered bands from Australia. Their electrically delicious track that I've been hunting down from DJ Lady Byrd's Live at Robot Rock Mixtape (click for download), which is also pretty snazzy as well, is a new sound that has played on repeat on my head since I first heard it. Give these tracks a listen, and you'll be a happy camper just like me. (Disclaimer: Happy camper-ness not guaranteed.)

"Be clear to where you are going..."

I'm an environmental science and policy major. I love it. But before I told Long Beach State that I was going to major in that, I wanted to major in fashion design and merchandising. Yesterday in class I got a flyer on what are the opportunities that are in for fashion majors, and I found out that it's such a versatile major that can get you into many jobs. I think I'll take my first year to find out what I want to do, or many even my second, because my professor told me that in average, a college student changes their major about 3 times. Good thing I'm narrowed down to two. I also found out that there's going to be an intership week, and BCBG Maxazria is going to be recruiting interns from school. Maybe I'll give that a look.

We watched a study abroad video in class today also, and in that instant, I made up my mind abut studying abroad. I don't know exactly where, but I know I have to do it. Sweden? Japan? Brazil? Argentina? New Zealand? Who knows...but I'm going no matter what.

I've already got my cruiser for school, and I've been riding it a lot in my neighborhood. Tomorrow I'm going to get my basket and my lights, so I'll pretty much have a pimped out ride.
This is her....I just still need to name her.

From time to time, I'll take the train and my bike to school to avoid traffic and parking. Eh, I proabably should have took the train and my bike yesterday on account that Lykke Li played at Amoeba last night. I'll just have to wait til November to see her live, and maybe see her in Sweden if I decide to study abroad over there.

Here's her new video. Something different from the regular Lykke Li I've seen:


I had to pick up my mail this past weekend, and I found the two recent Nylon magazines in a 10 pound stash of US Postal Service mail. Apart from looking through all the credit card offers, I was glad to see that Lykke Li was in the August issue. That girl deserves some good publicity.

I set up a Lookbook account, but I don't have any looks to post up due to my lack of a digital camera. I don't want to flood my dad's camera with my camera-whore moments, and I haven't developed any of my film rolls, which has added up to almost 10 rolls. I need money for that, and the job hunt hasn't gone so good. This weekend when I was at a picnic by LB State, I dropped by Yogurtland to drop in my number so they could call me back for a job, and yesterday I passed by Trader Joe's to apply. I felt confident with the application and everything, until I realized that I had missed one math word problem and forgot to put my previous employer's number while I was driving back home. Waste of time right there. Now, I'm going to see if I can get hired at the Jamba Juice in Carson or Gardena, or at Starbucks. Wow, I'd imagine having the same job as my mom. "Wow! Baristas run in the family!"

Coming to America

I've finally found time to blog. For some reason, blogspot wouldn't load in Nicaragua, but now I'm good. Get ready for a big one.

Last days in Nicaragua were allright, but nothing too fancy. I either spent them at home, at my dad's farm, or at my grandpa's farm, or around town. Either ones weren't so fun, but at least I didn't spent them wasting time staring into a white wall and I got to take a pretty cool picture at my grandpa's farm.



Tall grass like that is hard to find here in LA.

The airplane ride here was okay but extremely exhausting. In my original seat from El Salvador to LA, I was put in between two girls form UC Irvine that had gone to Ecuador to visit churches across the country with their church ministry. I was hoping I would be put with someone who would at least be friendly and not drool over my arm while they fell asleep, and my wish was granted. But with my little brother being sick, I moved back to his aisle, and said aideu to the girls. Airplane food was good for once, and I was forced to watch spanish dubbed movies once more, but it was 27 Dresses, so it was allright.

Ever since I came until my parents came here to LA last Wednesday, I was running errands like nobody's business, catching up on what I had to do for school, taking care of my ill little brother, buying food, buying stuff for college, and cleaning up my house like crazy. I even went to the Collective Souls yard sale with Jaime in Downtown LA and bought a new pair of shoes, lots of shirts, new skirts, some accessories, and a popsivle from the Hearts Challenger ice cream truck. I finally wasn't idle anymore and I felt glad that I was actually doing sometime with my time. When I cleaned out my closet, I found tons and tons of clothes and stuff I didn't need anymore, so I'm just going to give it to Goodwill or something.

I went to CSULB on the day that I had to pick up my parents to buy my university 100 textbook and met up with Ivan and Andrew, whom I met off of Facebook. We chit chatted, walked around campus, drove Andrew to his apartment and drove Ivan back to the train station. It's really been a new experience meeting all these new people and getting new friends because in the begging of high school I really wasn't confident meeting new people. Now...whole different story.

When I picked up my parents around 2AM, I freaked out when I saw my dad in a wheelchair with a cast on his foot. My mom had told me that he was involved in an accident where a taxi knocked him off his motorcycle, but she said it wasn't that bad. Well, it was pretty obvious that it wasn't that bad after I saw my dad throw away his cast as soon as we got home. Simply an excuse to get pulled around in wheelchair throughout all the airports he passed to get here to LA.
I haven't been able to do much since my parents came now, but I'm hoping this week will be better. Sure, my summer was a complete trainwreck, but just because summer's over doesn't mean that I shouldn't give up on doing everything that was on my summer to-do list.

Take a gander:

I guess it's the only video that's closely related to this blog. Hearts Challenger? HEARTSREVOLUTION?

Today was my first day of school at Long Beach. As soon as my professor walked into the classroom, I was stunned by how quick he was on starting the class. He just passed out the syllabus and some handouts, wrote his name on the board, and started talking about what the class was about. Everything was so quick, and the professor dismissed us an hour early. We were somewhat startled by everything he was doing, that we just left back home in confusion. Since I had an hour left til I needed to get home, I went to Trader Joe's to apply for a job. People there were nice, and awkwardly enough there was a 5th grade math test on the application. I answered all of them, at least I thought so, until I was driving back home that I realized that I missed one word problem. Great. Waste of time right there. Tomorrow I'm going to go drop off my application at Jamba Juice, so hopefully I'll get that one. Ugh...I hate job hunting.

"looks like the Gods are shining upon you."

I'm still stuck in Nicaragua, and lately I couldn't be happier. I think I'm going through a happy phase. I've found a better bike to buy and then fix, applied to Free People at Del Amo and the Apple Store in Manhattan Beach, I'm nearly done with reading The Alchemist, I might (emphasis on the might) be getting a new puppy, and I'm leaving back to LA in 9 days. All this is simply making me a very happy camper.

Coincidentally, today I found a new song that should be put as a background song for my life right now. If you're into Danish Pop female male harmonies, and feel like you belong in a happy dancing corny movie scene, Alphabeat is just the right band for you.



Don't some of those girls in this video look like the ones from that Nair commercial?

I found a better looking bike in Long Beach on craigslist. It's a 1949 Philips, not sure of what model it is, but it's indeed an eye catcher. I'm good for paying $75, and I just need to give it a total overhaul. After that, this is what it's going to look like, only that it comes with a basket on the back. =)



Don't I have a reason to be excited? What would just make me jump off my seat would be getting an interview for a job at the Apple Store. I'm crossing my fingers for that one. [crosses fingers]

Plus, I'm excited for this:


Life's good.

P.S,
Happy HAPPY Birthday to my one and only love jitterbug, Jordan Laurence Digby!

to do list for the rest of summer (updated):

-Get a fixie bike or beach cruiser

-Go to Blow Up LA

-Go to The Heist

-Get new bookshelf

-Get a job

-Go to the beach with Karla and Luly to eat Cuban pastries

-Have a bonfire with Andi

-Visit Andi at Fuzziwigs

-Go to Sunset Junction

-Continue dieting

-Shop for new clothes for college (mall, target, and thrift shops)

-Go watch The Dark Knight in Imax

-Go watch Pineapple Express with Geni and Priscilla

-Hit a visit to the LA River

-Visit MOCA and LACMA

-Go to Little Tokyo

-Visit Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier

-Get a Macbook for college

-Draw all the ideas I came up with this summer on charcoal

-Make clutch bag

-Finish painting my homage to Audrey Hepburn

-Visit Amoeba not just for their free shows

-Try and get down to 130 lbs.

-Meet strangers at parties and become more sociable

-Go to We the People Festival so I can see Flying Lotus and go to a show again with Edwin

-Network more

-Start saving up for a dj set

-Find new artists to listen to

-Buy a new sketchbook

-Go to as many parties as possible

-Start running and play tennis again

-Get a trim

-Start walking Mamimi more

-Get retainers

-Shop in Downtown LA Saturday mornings

-Visit The Lab

-Paint room new color

-Apply for more scholarships


Who knows if I'll do all of these things before I start school, but I've already wasted enough time over here in Nicaragua. I've been too idle over here, so it's just right for me to come back to LA with plans of doing all the things I can't do here.

"I have my anti-diarrhea pills, so I guess I can eat that..."

I couldn't be happier with the fact that Nicaragua has Subways over here. My parents always decide to eat fast food which I don't even eat back in the states with the exception of In N Out. As I was waiting for Rodney to check in his flight to leave back to LA, I went to go buy a footlong, and I just had to be put in line next to this lady who said the funniest thing ever. "I think I'll take the tuna footlong. I have my anti-diarrhea pills, so I guess I can eat that." I'm pretty sure this lady was so comfortable with the fact that at most of the places she had been here in Nicaragua nobody spoke English, that she thought it was the same at the airport. Maybe I should have ordered my turkey footlong in English instead of Spanish and saved her from that awkward moment...


So I've noticed that I've developed some sort of obsessions, particularly with Demetri Martin and Lykke Li. Thank you Flight of the Conchords for introducing me to the charming, witty, palindrome obsessed, and ambidextrous Demetri Martin. Thank you MTV2's Subterranean for introducing me to Lykke Li.

Here's some of my favorite videos from Demetri's live shows. Oh please Demetri, please come to LA soon. I'll be eternally greatful...





And as for Lykke Li, I've already introduced her in my last post. As if I wasn't amazed enough by her unique performances and talent, she comes out with this.



Who'd thought I'd see the day when a Swedish girl would be making A Tribe Called Quest cover of Can I Kick It?

Also, The Black Cab Sessions got Lykke Li to do a little performance of I'm Good I'm Gone. I just love how every performance she does is different.



There's a big red circle on my calender for when Lykke Li comes to perform at El Rey Theatre November 3rd.

Moving on...there's a new movie that's coming out that I'm definetely keeping my eye out for. And no, surprisingly it's not Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I already have that one on my checklist...



Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is coming out this fall, and it's the film adaptation of the novel. Unfortunately, I've never read it, so it's going to be another one of my summer books. The movie looks cute, and plus, Michael Cera is in it. ;)

Phew, that's a lot of blogging to digest.
Enjoy!

Ciao...

Don't try too hard to have everyone like you.

Every time I have a dream, the ending always relates to how I wake up. I don't excatly remember how my dream ended today, but my dad started rubbing my nose because I unconsciously twitch it when I hear noises that are waking me up. Around 5am my nose began to twitch, and I had to hurry to get dressed immediately because we were heading to my dad's farm. My dad invited my other family from Miami to actually be there when the goat would get slaughtered. It's really sad to say that I've gotten used to that because since I was little, my dad has always had a special day at his farm where he invites the family and kills some sort of animal, be it a pig, cow, chicken, or goat. I stayed away, and took pictures of the week old piglets that run alone in the farm and the calves.

When we came back to my house over here, the town was in cahoots over the saint that they praise by dancing, drinking rum, and popping fireworks every July. This time, I decided to join my sister in the dancing parade, but I could not stand the vile stench of vomit from drunkards blended in with musty sweat and everyone pushing everyone around. It was a moshpit headed around town, and I just had to leave before I punched someone in the nose.

The firework show was ridiculously awesome. I cannot go about looking at a firework show without cracking my neck in a 90 degree angle and smiling the entire time. These fireworks over here were much bigger than the 4th of July fireworks in the states, and they had the whole town in "ooos" and "ahhhs" because they had never seen such fireworks. I'm upset I couldn't have taken my camera. Curse you pocket pickers.

We ran into my cousin Carlos on the way back home and decided to take him to the block party with us. For 20 Cordobas, which is a dollar over in the states, you could get into the party and get a free beer. The thing about Nicaragua is that there is no exact age limit to drinking, or even gambling. You can be 14 and buy a Pina Colada with as much alcohol as you want. You can gamble when you're 18, but if you look old enough, you're good to go. Either way, it didn't matter because I despise the taste of beer, and I'm a penny saver too.

Don't try too hard to have everyone like you.

I got that in my honesty box on Facebook today. Call me egoistic, call me a narcissist, call me what you will, but I'm pretty sure I don't try hard to have everyone like me. If people like me, then that's on them. I cannot force them to like me. And why would I care if someone didn't like me? I have it confirmed that there are people that don't enjoy my presence for whatever case, but that doesn't bother me one bit. I'm perfectly fine with that. I think I'd be scared if everyone liked me. I'd probably be more anti social than I already am, which is another reason why I don't think I try hard to have people like me. I need that balance I guess. I think I'm actually pretty selfish when it comes to what other people think about me. I just really don't care. I don't know about you, but that's the way I see it. And if I fail to see that I actually do try hard to have everyone like me, then I guess I'm condemned for a life of ignorance...


Song of the day:
Lykke Li - I'm Good I'm Gone

One of my favourite live performances that she has had.
Enjoy.

Since I was a child...

I'm starting a new chapter, and possibly a whole new book in my life. More than a month ago, I was dealing with my last finals I'd ever take in high school, writing in yearbooks, and walking the stage to shake the school principal's hand and take my diploma. Next month, I'll be driving down the 405 in it's intense traffic to attend my first official college class at CSULB.

Childhood is a thing of the past now, and I'm now on to bigger, maybe smaller, but definitely better things. It's just right to start off this new stage in my life by starting a brand new blog. It's not my first time blogging. I've blogged on Xanga since 8th grade, but it's been more of a personal journal that I'd like to keep "on the down low".

In this blog, I'll just write down my little and maybe exciting adventures that I have, missions that I bust, art I'm digging, tunes I'm listening to, clothes that make me want to shoplift, and the little things that I find amusing. Basically, anything I think is blog-worthy.

To start off this blog, I'll put up some pictures from my trip to San Juan Del Sur for your viewing pleasure. It's this lovely beach town smack dab in the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. If you stay there, all you would see are American, German, and Canadian tourists. I stayed at this nice resort a minute away from the beach shore with my fam bam, and it was truly a sight to see. I'll only upload a few because the wireless internet over here is MEGA slow. >_<






toodle-loo...