Great birthday, first day of work

Deliriously tired... such a great weekend. Just finished my first day of work.

My birthday dinner was fabulous. Held it an all you can eat korean barbeque place simply because I wanted yakiniku! I had wanted small get together so a friend booked a private room for 20... and about 50 people came! Luckily, it was huge restaurant and they could fit us all in the public dining, though not all in the same area. It was fun, nice to see how my network has grown since my first birthday last year when we went ice skating.

It feels so odd finally being 21. I always thought I was old... now perhaps I really am old. =P I did all my illegal activities before the age of 18, I did all my drinking and partying before the age of 21, what now? I mean, it's no fun to rent cars before the age of 25...! ;)

lol I wrote a popular blog once about why I didn't care to celebrate birthdays, especially my own, because I think people you care about should be treated special everyday so I never advertised my bday much. Well now days with Facebook, it's impossible to be discreet about it! I received couple hundred comments and messages, not including texts, calls and emails. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't flattered. It was very sweet, thanks everyone :) I guess I can now understand all the birthday hoopla a bit better =P But it'd still be nice if we all treated each other that way, every day, wouldn't it? =)

Went hiking @ Griffith Park the other day. It was great! What an adventure. Think we completely missed the trail and ended up trespassing in the old deserted zoo. Climbed through some creepy places where they used to keep animals! The park is gorgeous and there are several different hiking trails.

My YUMMY birthday cake, thank you so much Sean!! It was so good.. once again you can see we weren't expecting a big turn out... I mean, who knew I even had so many friends?? =P

Miki and I made gyoza from scratch using my mom's recipe. SO GOOD!! Almost as good as my moms and just like hers, it doesn't need sauce. yuummm I just had some tonight.

One of my friends just got off the plane from a long trip to asia before he got to my birthday party. Had to give him my knew number and I thought it was hilarious he has a collection of my phone numbers. I didn't even realize I've changed my number so many times! hahaa. My 323 number is permanent though now, thanks to Google Voice ;) I would like to ask my friend though... why doesn't my name have a ":)" next to it!?? Is it cause there's so many of mine?? lol

Work was great. My first day in Corporate America... sigh! It was actually kind of fun. I enjoy being given tasks and completing them, it motivates me to do more! When I'm lazy and bumming around it just makes me more lazy and unmotivated. I didn't know Newton's laws applied in these ways??

I just have to figure out what to do for lunch breaks now. I don't usually eat lunch but I guess maybe now I'll skip breakfast and have lunch instead? There's no good restaurants in Santa Monica though! I'll have to bring home lunch and that creates the problem of what am I going to make that's still gonna taste good reheated?? Or maybe I should just eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches... haha. If I had good company to go to lunch with, I wouldn't mind eating icky American food.. however, the lack of good food and company in Santa Monica is one of the reasons why I moved out of there in the first place! haha ahh.

I work Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9-6. I thought 9-5's ended at 5?? Hope to get some good PR experience =) I really think I may like it. It incorporates many of the things I'm good at: graphics, writing, talking to people and selling. Or in PR terms: "pitching".

Going out this weekend and using my own id for once ha. It may take a while to shake off the slight feeling of nervousness every time a door man checks "my" id. It's going to be "girls night out" at a Korean booking club, which I've never been to yet. Should be fun!

As I develop more "real" responsibilities, I'm starting to understand the appeal in partying once again. I haven't had the urge to party in almost a year but I have no stress other than school. Being at home is pretty relaxing. All day of work and sitting in a chair... makes you want to go out and party because it's such a relief and a different environment from work!

 9:30 and I'm pooped. Waiting for a friend then going straight to bed! zzZzzZzz

Landed My First Internship

I am having an amazing week. I've been lightly job searching in an attempt to fill up some time, learn something new and find a new mentor. I answered a couple ads on Craigslist not expecting much because I've already done this several other times, never finding something I was interested in and honestly, very doubtful of Craigslist. Well, this morning I was woken up early by a phone call. The lady on the phone mentioned something about being a PR/marketing firm dealing with social networking and asked when I had time to come in for an interview. My half asleep mind tried to recall my schedule for the week knowing I had a pretty packed schedule. After several seconds I groggily offered to come in today after class and got the address to the place.

I drove over to the office, which is a mere 5 minutes from my school and arrived about half an hour early. Went upstairs, the interviewer Alison sat me down on a round table and began to ask me questions about my history and thoughts on social networking. We talked for about 10 minutes til she asked when I'd be available to start. "Well, I can start immediately if you're interested in me". She said that by a look at my credentials that yes, they would be. I gave her my schedule and she put me in to start next week Tuesday.

Cool, I thought, that was pretty easy! Now I have something to do 3 days a week. I took Miki around to do some errands and we went shopping for business casual clothes in Hollywood. Came home and decided to do some research on the company.

WOW.

The company is one of the largest private PR firms in America with clients like Epson, Pokerstars.com, Kodak, SixFlags, Microsoft, Dell and Sega! I recalled her saying something about how the CEO was Bill Gate's first publicist. Holy crap! I did not think I was doing an interview for such a reputable company... in fact, my response to their cg listing that clearly asked for a resume began with "I don't have a resume but I think I'm highly qualified for this position" before naming what I've managed to accomplish that I thought was related to PR in one way or another such as my high traffic blog, Youtube partnership & graphic design business.

I'm almost glad I didn't know beforehand because I might have been nervous doing my interview! I came in with black skinny jeans, SANDALS and thankfully at least threw on a collared blouse before I left the house earlier that day for school. I'm so glad I landed the internship!! Yay!

Can't wait til Tuesday to start. I believe the hours are something like 9AM-6PM. Wow. That means I have to wake up at 7:30. What! lol. Tuesday is also the day after my birthday. Makes me feel old... my first day of work in corporate America. Included in the bag of work attire I bought today was a skirt which length is longer than most dresses I wear. Hahaha.. "Man.. Is this what my future looks like?" I asked Miki while I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

I'm really excited. Got a good feeling about this and it perfectly coincides with my major. Who knows, maybe I'll end up being a major public relations manager in a few years. ;)

Social Net-worth-it?

I'm having a modern day identity crisis. On one hand, it's fun having a facebook full of friends and updating people on what's going on in your life and getting comments. On the other hand... not everyone needs to know everything!


I think it would be nice to just delete social networking accounts all together and update people as you see them... but at the time same time, social networking is such an easy way to get to know and inform your friends and make new ones. I'm having a hard time weighing out the pros and cons and it's hard to keep an even keel. Not sure which would be more beneficial.

In the past few weeks I've been reconnecting with MANY old friends. It's quite interesting how they're all appearing all at once back into my life: a childhood friend who I've wondered about for many years because he one day disappeared - we used to hang out everyday. A man who made significant influence in the bettering of myself as a person and treated me so well while I was too young to appreciate or realize - I'm glad I'm getting a chance to show him my gratitude. A family friend who I also grew up with that seems to have gone down the wrong path in life since I've last heard from her. 2 of these 3 were found/found me via Myspace or Facebook. Another reason why I am unsure whether they're more bad or good to health and life. Oh, and a bunch of acquaintances who are really rather insignificant to my life whom I either went to school with or met at one time or another. Also an ex boyfriend and I have recently begun conversing more again though I'm not sure if you can call that "reconnecting" since we never really lost touch or contact information.

The one I'm really excited about is the 2nd one. I met him purely by chance at a strange time of my life. He's rather special to me because of all the people I have known throughout the years, he is one of the ones that stood out the most. We lost contact and I thought about him periodically which is very out of character for me. He gave me great advice and a much needed reality check. I always regretted losing touch because I really wanted to thank him and also to apologize for the way I was at that age... didn't think it was likely I'd ever bump into him again! I actually dug through old emails to find his and was ecstatic to find that not only did he still check that email, he was happy to hear from me! Thank you universe =) As chance would have it, he's in LA at the moment so I will see him and give him a great big hug!

When I told my ex about how I found my friend again and how thankful I was to him, my ex confided to me that one of my greatest assets had always been to recognize good advice, absorb it and make use of it. I guess what a sales or marketing company would call "coachable". I only wish is that I knew more people out there with knowledge that cared enough to share! When it comes to advice: most people either don't know what they're talking about, don't care enough about you to speak up, or tell you only what will benefit themselves. That doesn't just go for life advice.

Within Reach

I want to perfect my Chinese and get better at reading and writing it. I want to pick up basic Korean reading and writing. I want to learn more Japanese. I want to move to China and submerse myself in her language and culture. I want to be obsessed with working again. I want passion, I want freedom, I want love. So many things I want to do, school has put my life on hold.

At least within reach right now is SNOWBOARDING! Oh gosh, I can't wait. The seasons already begun @ Big Bear but the snow is still slushy. I attended Skidazzle this past weekend and picked up my first board! Ohhh baby ;). It's amazing that a mere hour drive away is Mountain High and just a bit further is Big Bear. Granted, neither is considered amazing snowboarding locations but hey! LA-er's can't be choosers =P.

I've already booked my trip to Pennsylvania and New York this winter. There's snow nearby there as well but I'm not sure if it's worth it to carry on my board to snowboard in what would basically be - in my opinion - ice. Actually, Pennsylvania is the first place I ever went snowboarding about 3 years ago. I absolutely HATED it when I went! I pretty much rolled off the mountain on my butt and was sore for 6 months from tumbling down and tripping. I thought I'd never go again but the next time, at Big Bear, I took a lesson.... AND THAT HAS MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE, hahaha.

A family friend has also invited me to Colorado to snowboard since her friends are all ski instructors. As much as I'd like to go, I'm taking winter session for once and already have a full traveling schedule. I could fit it in on a weekend but I'd rather another time and take my time exploring new territory :). I usually migrate for winters since I'm used to tropical weather but to finish my 60 units before transferring in fall, I must pack on the classes... so that my Spring semester will be breezy :)

Last nights dinner was one of my first perfected recipes: Garlic pasta... with a twist of spinach, mushrooms and grilled marinated pork. Yum!

Dessert was chocolate chip cinnamon oatmeal cookies. OMG! First time I've made oatmeal cookies and oh, it was delicious! I love the texture!! Thank god too, the only oatmeal I will consume by itself is steel cut oats.... I bought a whole jar of quick cook oats to do facials and don't know what to do with the rest! Sometime this week, after I buy some honey, I'm going to make honey oatmeal bread. Yummm =)

Wiser

I can't believe it's only days until my 21st birthday. I've never been big on birthdays but I do believe that your 21st is the last birthday people look forward to. Well, maybe your 25th so that you can rent and insure cars for less but that's not so exciting, is it?

I've done everything a 21 year old can do way before I turned 21 so I pretty much ruined it for myself. Being 21 is almost synonymous with partying. I've been partying in the hottest places all over the US since I was 16. So much so, that for the last year I've been partied out and turned to a grandmotherly-like homebody complete with a newly found knitting hobby. I'm much more excited to learn new things, eat good food, dine at fine restaurants, listen to good music, explore new places, and do new things. Not to mention that not only am I allergic to alcohol, I also dislike the taste and feeling of alcohol. I'm naturally euphoric!

The only thing turning 21 really means to me is that I no longer have the "I was young and dumb" excuse. I've made a lot of bad decisions in my youth - though none were in vain because I learned from it - but no matter what I did, I was 17, 18, 19... barely a young adult. It can and has been all forgiven. In my view though, time is running out and I no longer have as much time to fuck around and need to start seriously thinking about my future and the type of person I'd like to be.


We're all kids inside and no one really grows up completely, we just get wiser. For me, it's time to start really being an adult. No more wasting time with frivolous things or ahem, people. I'm constantly told by more than a handful of close friends that I remind them of their mother so I suppose that means I act a lot older than my age as it is but there are a few things (or maybe just one) I still hold on to that I know I need to stop. I've been blessed and don't have many problems - I love my life - but the worst of my consequences always seem to derive from this unwillingness to change that part of me. When I was younger, it's okay but as I get older, I really think this one thing could make or break the difference between success and failure. Or at the very least make it a lot easier or a lot harder on myself. It's really not even a hard thing. I can do it =)

It's 2:30AM and I'm deliriously tired. Not used to staying up this late. Guess I'll wake up tomorrow and deal with typos hahaha.

Twitter Sucks

It's amazing how much things can change in a mere 2 and a half years. I'm browsing through an old email account in attempt to find an old friend. Wow!

Among one of the many things I've found is some old blog posts. I am now even more convinced that Twitter/Facebook is ruining it for the future writers of America. We have now all been trained to put our thoughts together in a few short sentences thanks to character limits... I miss Myspace/Xanga days of unlimited space! I can't even believe some of the posts I've written. How did those things come out of my head! No wonder my blog was so popular ;) hahah.

I remember being able to just jot down thoughts at any moment in time. Paragraphs and phrases would run through my head throughout the day and I would put it all together every night on kittycaht.com... Now days, give me a blank piece of internet posting space and all I can give back is a equally blank stare! Darn. Better work on getting that back.

Is it just me or is Twitter just not as fulfilling as a social networking site as Myspace once was? Facebook doesn't do it for me either. They're okay... but not lets-go-on-and-surf-for-8-hours-straight-without-getting-bored great. YaknowwhatImean? ;)

The problem with blogging is that most people don't LIKE to write. So if you're writing all this stuff and none of your friends are participating... it's no fun! Sigh, is blogging a lost art? ;)

Today is Halloween and instead of being out partying I am at home writing my first thoughtful blog in a while. I did go out earlier in the day to pick up a friend at the airport then take him and my roommate out to Brentwood Village to go costume shopping:

=




I've confided to close friends of mine that I miss my old blog dreadfully. Whenever I speak of it, I always mention of how one of the stupidest things I've ever done was to let it die and not renew it. They usually reply with something like: "Well, why don't you just do it again?". Well.... honestly, I could but it would take a commitment and passion for blogging that I seem to have lost over the years. As I grow wiser, I want less of my personal thoughts out in the open. Especially in a dangerous town like LA ;).

I started my blog with no intent of fame or followers but they came because of the passion. I believe passion in anything leads to success. Do what you love, that's the way. I've been attempting to love blogging again but for one thing, I am no longer as vain as I once was... ha! Photos were probably a huge part of getting people initially interested. Great content was what got them to stay. (Kinda like women). Sadly, I don't have the will to take photos of myself religiously everyday... not to mention my life is not as exciting as it once was with the lack of freedom I experience from school! The aforementioned problem of everyone moving on from blogging is also a problem. Oh well, if it is meant to be, it will happen one day, right? It's not to say that my life isn't exciting anymore, it still is, events are just spread thinner which makes for a shitty daily blog haha.

Man, what can I write about now? =P