LACMA

For months now, I've been itching to visit the King Tut exhibit at LACMA. After countless, "no thanks Rowena, not my thing," replies from friends I've invited to share this experience, I finally said 'screw it' and made the 1+ hour drive out to Wilshire yesterday morn'.

I paid $22 and wasn't very impressed. While the thought of "wow he held that staff" entertained me for a few seconds, I've seen Egyptian relics that have tickled my fancy on a much greater level. The exhibit itself wasn't very big. There were way too many people pushing, smacking their lips, and begging their children to 'please stop crying'! While the structure of the exhibit meant to force the flow of paying visitors through the rooms swiftly, I found the placement of certain artifacts to be quite haphazard. It was way too crowded.

I probably would have been more impressed had I not seen Mummy: The Inside Story just last year. Now THAT was a good exhibit. For £4 (??), I watched a 3D film, saw more than one royal coffin, and was able to view a plethora of Egyptian relics. Sure, viewing King Tut's bling was a cool and new experience, but overall, the exhibit was so-so.

I spent the next three hours walking around LACMA east, visiting permanent exhibits and other temporary ones like Japan goes to the World's Fairs (boooring) and Renzo Piano and Building Workshop: Selected Projects (super impressive! highly recommend. Ends in 5 days!). The European portraits, nostalgia! The Korean gallery, nostalgia!


Photo: Contemporary art gallery.


Photo: Freakin awesome 3D model.

Sleepless in San Bernardino

True to form on a sleepless night, I’ve been dissecting every fine detail of my life ~ and I’ve come to conclude that as I am nearing the ripe old age of 23 (sarcasm), I have been so fortunate that my proverbial-world-crashing experiences do not extend beyond things that I can overcome with passing time. I am extremely fortunate. Upon these epiphanies emerging in the wake of recent events, I find myself humbled (and a bit weathered) ~ knocked off of my high horse and brought down to earth a bit wiser. I am a better person in spite of it all.

Tree of Life

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)

Peetah

Chicago was never the same after Peter Cetera left.

Imperfect

People are too ashamed to deal with the fact that during their stay here on earth, they’ve fkd up a few times. We screw. We get screwed over. We lie, cheat, and get our asses kicked by karma; but to discredit our past by not appreciating it, bullocks!

1-2 Step

Step 1: Fall into a genuine-shake-you-to-the-core kind of love.
Step 2: Love like you’ve never been hurt before.

Turning Tides

Society frowns upon the idea of compromising who we are in order to please our [potential] partners, and simultaneously applauds the phrase “she makes me strive to be a better man”? Is it not the same thing? Is not “wanting to be better” a form of change, of self-negotiation? We are a public filled with hypocritical cynics.

Who’s to say that the tide you’ve turned isn’t what’s best for you?

Look Back

Society is wickedly bent out of shape with its hyped up ideals about ‘letting go’! While I concede that it’s quite irrelevant to dwell on an entity that cannot be changed, it’s perfectly okay to think/talk/laugh about it! Why must we be so eager to ‘let go’ and ‘not look back’?

And how does this pertain to me? Because I haven’t been able to make peace with my [borderline mentally unhealthy] emotions ~ resulting in a guilt that has already begun to fester within me. I can only be thankful that I have enough willpower and common sense not to let said emotions drive me insane.

What I feel today, right now ~ I cannot change. These emotions are the vehicle which will move me into the person that I will be tomorrow.

"So you left your job?"

“What’s next for you?”

*CUE DEFENING SILENCE NOW*

Soul searching is my natural modus operandi. I’m never afraid to analyze or admit to anything. I never pretend to reflect the state of the average 22 year old woman, and have enough self security to state that I am not the mirror image of a contemporary alpha female.

So when faced with the above-question (on more than one occasion within the recent days might I add), how is it that I still can’t bring myself to say “I’m not exactly sure” without feeling as though my self worth is in a steep decline and downward trajectory?

I’m doing it all with gusto – moving forward and trying to have fun in the process. But still, there’s a vast and black-hole infested gap between spending my time wisely and spending my time wisely and getting paid ish-loads of greenbacks!

I remain optimistic. All I can do is send out a gajillion copies of my resume in hopes that a great company is in need of a sleep deprived college grad who speaks broken Tagalog. I found a great listing in the Times the other day ~ unfortunately, I do not speak fluent Hebrew. Damn.

In terms of job-seeking, I am committing the equivalent of The Full Monty starting tomorrow. I mean, I’m gonna be no-holds-barred man. So to the club of early-twenty-sum Asian American professionals, pull a chair out for Rowena ~ because here the ---- I come.