Halloweening

Some of my friends are apparently getting too old for Halloween. Which is really sad to me. It's the only night you'd get free candy from strangers and get to dress up as the weirdest thing ever.

Ugly Doll or Gumby?

The people who aren't getting too old for Halloween don't dress up in very good costumes... I was talking to my friend about a quote from the movie "Mean Girls" where the main character says "Halloween is the only holiday where girls can dress as badly as they wanted to and not be called *****." Haha but the sad part is that...this is partially true. Girls in my school literally think it's okay to wear underwear-like clothes to school for Halloween. I would feel self conscious showing my butt like that.

But nonetheless, Halloween's pretty fun. I don't really eat candy that much, but it's a really fun holiday. I was watching one of my favorite shows "Gravity Falls" (My friends don't watch cartoons either......so maybe I'm just lame.) and one episode was called Summerween. It was really good because Dipper (the main character) thinks that since he's older he should no longer Trick or Treat even though he and his twin sister Mabel always go together. Then the Summerween trickster comes along and Dipper has to go trick or treating in order to get 500 candies along with Mabel and some friends so they won't get killed.

Summerween episode of Gravity Falls

Anyways. I'm sort of digressing. Okay.  I have this sort of tradition where I make my own costumes. One year, I was a robot made out of cardboard boxes and chopsticks for antenna. Another year, I was a blue recycling bin (I wore 'Heelies' too so I can be wheeled around like a recycling bin). Last year I dressed up as a giant Ugly Doll (but people thought I was Gumby). I also have a tradition of always going with my friend to trick or treat in a neighborhood called Cheviot Hills, which (sadly has a lot of stairs) and even sadder, I have a tradition of tripping over those stairs and not being able to walk very well in my costumes.

This year, I made a Finn hat, and I'm going to be Finn from Adventure Time.

 Hope you all have a great Halloween tonight!

Oh, and I designed some Halloween buttons for our school library. They will be given out to kids who comes to the library in a costume. We only had time to make 200 buttons, so they will be given out on a first come first serve. Our library mascot is a narwhal, so I designed the narwhal in Halloween costumes. I on the library promotion club and of all nerdy names, we're called the "ACRONYMS". Ouch.

Okay now, everyone, go read a good spooky book or watch a spooky show tonight after trick or treating. (Sadly, I have to study for my test tomorrow).

New Shop at Mitsuwa Marketplace

We love going to Mitsuwa Marketplace at 3760 S Centinela Ave, Los Angeles, for a quick bite at the food court there. We can get a bowl of noodles, or curry rice from one of the food stands. While we wait for our food to be cooked, we like to roam around and visit the book store/cafe, or check out this really cute store called Trendy.  It's fun to browse through some manga or Japanese fashion magazines at the book store, or check out or buy some cute gifts from Trendy.

Sadly, Trendy close down lately. There's been an empty space at that store front for a few months. However, today we discovered that a new store opened up in its place a few weeks ago.  It's called Power Anime. In the display case facing customers, there is an awesome giant Mazinkaiser robot (we could be wrong).  Inside, there are all kinds of smaller but cool anime action figures. Apparently Power Anime used to be in the Westside Pavilion, but moved to the Mitsuwa marketplace. It's probably a good move too because we never noticed it at the Westside Pavilion, but here, it's immediately noticeable.

A temporary Marion Crepes place is also open at the Mitsuwa Marketplace, but for only a month, until November 4. So it's only around for another week. Don't miss it.

Neat Freak or Slob?

When I was younger I think I had a slight obsessive compulsive issue. It wasn't very severe, but I just was kind of a neat freak. I was the weird kind of kid who liked to clean when I was little. And I must have been pretty annoying too because I would always sing the "Clean Up Song" whenever I cleaned.

My stuffed animals had to be in an exact order every single time I set them up on my bed. My "OCD" got to the point where when my friends came over and they picked up one of my stuffed animals I'd have to try my hardest to restrain myself from putting it back in the right place. Eventually I would give in and put them back in the exact order, otherwise I would be bothered throughout my play date. My best friend thought I was kind of weird. I needed to sleep with my blankets folded a certain way and my stuffed animals in their exact places. The result is that I have less space to sleep than my stuffed animals.

It's not as bad now. Sometimes after my mom changes the sheets on my bed and the animals order is messed up, I don't freak out anymore.  Seriously though, I know that I will never be able to forget how my stuffed animals and toys are supposed to be set up on my bed, and I'll always know if one of my buddies is missing.


I used to be crazy neat too: I had all of my clothes folded into neat little piles in my drawer organized by long sleeve, short sleeve, tank top, and whatever else. Every time my mom wanted to go through my drawers to donate things that don't fit me anymore to Goodwill, I would get really upset because she would mess up all my neatly folded piles. When she gave up and asked me to pick things out to donate, I couldn't bear the thought of giving up anything. In fact, I would go though what she had sorted out to donate and secretly retrieve my things without her knowledge. The result is, I still have shoes and clothes that date back to second grade which I can't wear anymore.

In middle school, my OCD sort of stopped. I had too much homework to deal with so eventually I sort of just got messier and messier. Every now and then though, I'll get some weird tingly feeling and just think I'm living in this dump of a place and I'll go all out and clean and mop the floor and everything. The problem with that is, I then forget where I put things and get frustrated trying to find the things I squirreled away. These days, I'm more relaxed. My room sometimes ends up a complete mess and I'm not bothered by it.

By contrast, my sister has never been neat, and is in fact, a complete mess. Go figure how we are so different.

My sister's room on a neat day.

Let us know what kind of a kid you are (were): Neat freak, or slob?

Guest Blogging about Kids' Books, and a Few Others Not Just For Kids.

This past summer, we were honored that Pragmaticmom.com asked us to guest blog for the site about the Top 10 best Asian-American books for kids.  You would think this was an easy task, but it wasn't. First, sis and I couldn't agree on the list. Then we got side tracked into wanting to read those favorite books again.  So it took a while, but we think it is a good blog.

We wrote about some of our favorites: Dance, Dance, Amy Chan, by Lucy Ozone Hawkinson, Lon Po Po, by Ed Young Crow Boy, by TaroYashima, Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear, by Lensey Namioka, Millicent Min, Girl Genius, by Lisa Yee, American Born Chinese, by Gene Yang, and a few others. A couple of them were featured in our other blogs. For example, Dance, Dance, Amy Chan was mentioned in a blog we wrote about the Obon Festival, and American Born Chinese was featured in a blog we wrote about Legend of Korra and Comic Books by Gene Yang.


Finally, since I'm in high school, there are a few other books by Asian writers that I enjoyed, but they probably don't belong on a list of books for kids and were eliminated from the final list for Pragmaticmom.com. Here they are:

 


1. Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, the Japanese/British Man Book Prize award winner of 1988 for his other book, The Remains of the Day. This is a haunting book about a society where human clones are raised and bred for their body parts and trained to accept their fate. Told from the quiet point of view of a clone, at first we think of her as a normal young woman, until the novel slowly reveals the devastating world that is her reality, an the truth that is her destiny. The book's scenario is science fiction, yet one can imagine that with all our modern day scientific advancements, it could become real. The book was made into a movie this year starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightly, and Andrew Garfield.

2. The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan. This book is about four Chinese immigrant women who play mah jong together regularly, and about their now grown up daughters. The daughters narrate portions of the book about their upbringing as Asian Americans, conflicts about their self identities, feelings of inferiority, and heritage. The mothers narrate portions of the book about their lives in China, political turmoil, and what they lost and gained in leaving China and coming to America. Ultimately, the rich portrayal of these women's past and present, and their embracing of their lives and heritage is quite satisfying. This book was also made into a move directed by Wayne Wang, who also directed the movie of another one of our favorite books Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.

3. The Choke Artist: Confessions of a Chronic Underachiever, by Dave Yoo. This autobiographical novel about a Korean American guy growing up in a white neighborhood and trying hard to hide his Asian-ness is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. The main character's pathological tendency to lie about himself is painfully and cringe-inducingly familiar to me.  His decision to finally be truthful about who and what he is comes as a relief and revelation. For an Asian American teen, who is constantly struggling with the model minority standard, (check out my blog www.belowtheasianstandards.xanga.com) this book is very insightful.

Also, check out Asian/Australian Shaun Tan's Tales From Outer Suburbia, a collection of short stories are are incredibly and beautifully illustrated by himself. We especially like the illustrated stamps of imaginary places in the Chapter Contents page. Reminds us of an incredible artist, Donald Evans. Donald Evan's World of Stamps.


There are plenty of other cool posts and information about books on the pragmaticmom site too. Check it out. We got good ideas from the site about what books we'd like to read in the future.

Supporting a Good Cause and Fan-girling Do Mix!

Sis and I got super lucky.  If you haven't already heard, KevJumba is hosting The Supply Cup tomorrow night, a charity soccer event organized by The Supply Education Group.  Before I gush about getting to meet our favorite Asian American stars, it is worth noting that The Supply Education Group is a non-profit organization that seeks to raise money to build schools in slums around the world and to empower children who live in slums to change their environments. We think this is a really good idea and a good cause.

Another non-profit we have donated to in the past is Heifer International. This is a non-profit that donates livestock to aid poor communities in poor countries. The animals produce milk, eggs, labor, and food to help communities end poverty and become self sufficient. We've solicited money to buy chickens, goats and llamas for poor communities as a service project since our elementary school days. It's fun to know that we are donating actual animals to communities that need them.

Now, the gushing.

The Supply Cup soccer match is a 4-team soccer game that features KevJumba, WongFu Productions, (Home is Where the Han's Are) and Dante Basco (the voice of Prince Zuko from Avatar, The Last Air Bender! Whaaat?! Chloe is thinking of wearing a shirt with Prince Zuko's face on it to the event) as captains, plus a bunch of other awesome awesome players like the Fung Brothers of (626) music video fame, Arden Cho, AJ Rafael and Just Kidding Films. It's understandable that we gush about these people because they are Asian Americans who just happen to be in our favorite shows, whether on TV, or on Youtube.  Their humor, antics and talents are so Asian American that we as Cool Asian Kids, can really identify with their work.

KevJumba

Prince Zuko

We were lucky enough to score two VIP tickets to the event through Drama Fever's ticket giveaway! How? It's because we watch Korean dramas on TV (we blogged about our favorite K-dramas previously) and followed Drama Fever. When they announced the ticket giveaway, we immediately entered the drawing. (Oh the joy of social media!)  That means we'll have the chance to meet all our favorite Asian American stars.  How cool is that? We're super excited and we'll definitely be sure to update you all about it afterwards!

Witnessing Space Shuttle Endeavor's Final Flight

Yesterday, if you haven't already seen in the news, was the day that the space shuttle, the Endeavour flew over California. This was one of the last space shuttles to ever go to the moon. It was flying from the Edwards Air Force Base to LAX, and would later be located permanently in the California Science Center in LA. NASA's space shuttles were all built in California, so it's nice that one will be stationed here permanently for the public to see.

A lot of kids from my school crowded outside their classrooms because their teachers let them wait for this historic event: Endeavour would come flying over our school on top of a plane. We waited inside for the space shuttle to come because our substitute for Spanish told us that he was following the twitter feed and that it is still in Malibu. Every once in a while one of the kids in my class or from the classroom below would shout "THERE IT IS!!" and then everyone would rush to the window just to find out it was a false alarm.

Our sub said that we would be able to tell when the Space Shuttle showed up because we would hear a bunch of little kids screaming and shouting. While we were in class one of my classmates yelled "IT'S HERE" so our sub said "Let's go!" and everyone started to rush out the door until we found out it was another false alarm. Our sub said that another false alarm and he would send the students to the Dean's Office, because for one thing, this would NOT look like a normal airplane and we should look for a really low flying airplane (NASA would be flying it especially low for everyone to see) with a GIANT space shuttle on top.

While he was explaining to us that there was, in fact, 15 minutes to go until the Endeavour would fly overhead, we heard a bunch of excited screams from below and he exclaimed to us "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!" and we all rushed out of the classroom in a massive heap. At first we couldn't see anything. We saw a bunch of kids crowded on the bridge looking up. It was beautiful weather yesterday, and the sky was so clear, but there was no plane in sight.

Then we spotted it. It was spectacular. It flew right above us. There was, in fact, a giant space shuttle strapped to the top of the plane. It was an amazing moment. It seemed as if time stopped. All of the screams had subsided, while everyone looked in awe and wonder at the amazing sight. You must realize that to calm a giant group of kids that just had a long break was quite a miracle. On top of that, as soon as the Endeavor flew over, all of the kids pulled their phones out of their pockets (which were NOT allowed) to take pictures, but the teachers either allowed it for this occasion, or were too awestruck themselves to notice. A few jets flew after it, and then it was gone as fast as it had come.

Interesting thing was that this event was covered by social media. My teacher followed Endeavour's flight path through twitter, and thousands of articles about when it would fly and where to spot it was all over the news. Plus, if you happened to miss it, you would be able to watch it online or on TV. One of our favorite authors, Lisa Yee was invited by NASA to witness Endeavor's take off from Edwards Air Force Base. She took a spectacular video of the take off from 500 feet away!

I am really glad that I got to witness this historical event live during school. Some people were taking math tests and did not get to see it, or their teachers did not let them out. My mom, dad, and sister did not get to see it either.

Frankly, I did not even know that there was going to be a space shuttle flying over California yesterday, but then again it isn't something you'd expect everyday.

Experience . . . The Teenage Driver!

I'm learning to drive.  That's right, folks, I just got my permit and had 8 hours behind the wheels lesson with Melrose Driving School Instructor Lorena. My mom takes me out to drive every once in a while so I can earn the required 60 hours on the road experience before I take my driving test at the California  DMV-- and boy, is she scared.  She practically clings to the armrest for dear life, and from the passenger side, her foot air pumps furiously on imaginary breaks.  Mom once made the mistake of inviting dad and sis to join us during one of my practice drives.  He ended up blowing up at me and refusing to speak to mom for half a day (presumably because mom allowed him to be in the backseat), and sis declared that she "wasn't prepared to leave her life in my hands" that day.

My favorite comic strip about teenagers: "Zits" by Scott and Borgman

So maybe I'm not exactly a fantastic driver yet, but I discovered that there may be bonafide explanations for this. I read an artical called Teenage Brains in National Geographic about how teenage brains function.  (And we all know that National Geographic is a real authority on stuff like this.) The article lists two main reasons as to why we teens do the seemingly (and sometimes actually) stupid, stupid things we do -- you know, texting while driving, DUI (not me, but teens in general), speeding, etc.  The first: our brains are half-baked!  Of course kiddie noggins don't just poof into adult minds, but evidence of brain maturation can actually be physically seen using brain scans.  My brain is still developing, and while I have more self-control than 6-year-old does, I'm still a bit more impulsive than my parents are.  That means it's harder for me to resist the temptation of checking my text messages while driving. . . Wait. That maybe due to my ADHD.

Another reason cited by the article is that teens are also more inclined to engage in thrill-seeking and risk-taking behavior.  So basically, we are willing to put more at risk for a temporary reward than adults are.  Maybe I brake a little too suddenly at a stop sign, or I don't really break much at all on a turn -- because I like the thrill of waiting to see how far I can push it before applying the brakes? Hmm. That's a stretch.

Whatever it is, teen drivers need to learn to control their tendencies. It is serious business to earn the privilege of driving. Too many teens get into accidents while driving, injuring not just themselves but innocent people too.  When I see a teen in a Driver's Ed vehicle, even I steer clear of it knowing that if the teenage driver in there is anything like me, danger lurks.  It may take me longer than other teens to master the responsibility of driving, but I am determined to practice and practice until I can be a safe driver.

Celebrating 10,000 Page Views with Fan Art of "K-On" Anime

Recently, I've been watching this really cute anime series called K-On on YouTube

I decided to do some fan art of a shot from the anime. (1) I did the line art of an image on Adobe Photoshop,  modified the background somewhat, (2) colored the drawing using Photoshop, and (3) Did an overlay TV effect to make the drawing too like a TV image.

The art work is also posted on my Deviant Art Site here. Took me a few days.

Here it is to celebrate reaching 10,000 page views on our blog and to thank our followers.

Line Art

Colored Artwork

TV Effect

ENJOY!

Towel Animals, Food and Fun on a Cruise

Just before school started, we went on a cruise for the first time to celebrate our grandparent's 50th Anniversary. We went on the Carnival cruise for 4 days to Mexico, with a stop on Catalina Island.  I thought I would get sea sick because I usually get really motion sick on anything that moves, but I didn't this time. I had also expected something similar to The Suite Life on Deck but I realized that the TV show only featured like 3 areas of the ship.

The Carnival Inspiration had about 12 levels. Scattered throughout the levels of the ship were mini golf courses, arcades, sushi bars, a LOT of places where you can eat, a spa/fitness area, a theater, waterslides, casinos, and so much more. You could never get bored on that ship.

Also, surprisingly, the food on the ship was very good. For lunch and breakfast they had different kinds of foods that you could get from different stations in a buffet style. On top of that, if you got hungry in between meals than you could go get pizza, sushi, hot dogs or whatever else they were serving any time of day. Dinner is more fancy. You have to dress up somewhat nicely and you get to choose from a variety of options of appetizers, main course, and dessert. They had everything, ranging from lobster tails, steak, sushi, fish, indian food, to fried chicken, pot roast, and other good stuff. The desserts were amazing too. We especially liked this one grand marnier souffle...

We went to the spa and fitness a few times, because apparently, you gain 1-2 pounds every day when you're on these kinds of cruises! Once, we even ran out of the sauna in our bathing suits to the window to see a school of dolphins swimming alongside the boat. It was really cool. My grandparents really made the most out of the experience. Since they've been on cruises before, they knew what to expect. They would get two appetizers, 5 meals a day, or something like that (even though my grandpa is supposed to be on a healthy diet for health reasons). We soon caught on to the cruising ways.

Our room had a "window" but when we drew back the curtains all we can see was a plastic wall. This is because we had an interior cabin. Our 6 year old nephew would always brag to us about his family's room with a window, so we told him that we had a special window and that we could see mermaids out of it!  I don't think he believed us. The crew also made towel animals for us every night.

On Catalina Island, we stopped in Avalon. We spent the day kayaking, mini golfing, and touring the island in a mini golf cart. It was a beautiful day there. I love Catalina because the water is so much bluer than where we live.

The next day, in Ensenada, Mexico, we went with a tour to check out different places in the area. Ensenada is not the most beautiful part of Mexico, but we had fun horseback riding, walking through an area with a bunch of cool shops, and we ate great churros and amazing fish tacos in the street.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience a lot more than I thought I would. I really thought I would get sea sick but I could hardly feel a thing!  This was a successful first cruise.

Recent Artwork

Okay! It's time to post some of my artwork! I've been drawing a lot lately and getting a LOT better at coloring digitally on photoshop! I'm proud. :) For a e-card I did for mom's birthday, click here:

A Deviant Art follower commissioned me to draw the 10th Dr. Who.

This is sort of when I got good at coloring!

Another Study.

Was planning on making a few pikachu stickers for a friend.

My deviantart account is: www.klokloshoo.deviantart.com

We Actually Put in Hard Work at V3Con.

We wrote in the last post that we went to the opening awards night for V3con on Friday.  We were hoping to do a follow-up post about the conference on Saturday, but we got...busy.  With school, that is.  First day was Monday.

Anyways, V3con was a lot of fun.  We had to get up at around 6 a.m. in order to get to the Japanese American National Museum by 7a.m. which was the time we had to get there to help set up and get ready to volunteer.  Because we hardly ever get to go to events with a bunch of adults without our parents, we felt a little out of place.  So many of the other volunteers there were much more experienced than we are, so it was pretty intimidating to be around them at first, but they turned out to be really friendly and helpful. We created a business card just so we can passed them out to people.

Now, about the actual volunteering: Chloe and I were assigned to a blogging team to post about various panels and tweet about the conference.  We weren't scheduled to write blog posts until the afternoon, so we spent the morning mingling with other volunteers, eating Panda Express, and listening to speakers.  I had a lot of fun tweeting from my new phone (I've never had a smartphone before, and now I realize how convenient they are for social networking) and Chloe used her iPad to take pictures.  

Then we got around to blogging about the panel discussions.  I learned that beyond the mega Youtube Asian comedy stars like KevJumba or NigaHiga, Asian Americans use social media to promote a wide range of causes and viewpoints. I got assigned to some interesting ones: Using Digital Media to Promote Non-Profits, Getting Some Social Media Skills, and Comic Relief: Anime and Manga in the Digital Era.  Chloe wrote a post about how Asian-American bloggers use social media to cover health issues (click here to read it!) and another about social media's impact on blogging.  All of the panel discussions were interesting. I even got to listen to some awesome people I've been wanting to meet for a while, like Lela Lee (creator of Angry Little Asian Girl), Kun Gao (co-founder of Crunchyroll, how cool is that?!), and David Choi (that crazy-good youtube singer!).

We also got some cool stuff from the conference, including an awesome volunteer t-shirt.

V3con T-shirt, McDonald's bag, dragon piggy bank and AARP pen!

That's not to say the whole experience was painless.  Each panel discussion lasted about an hour, and we were expected to be able to complete most of a post within that time frame.  I had 3 panel discussions to blog about in a row -- no breaks in between.  I had an emotional meltdown about halfway through the last one, because I still hadn't finished writing the first post by that time.  I was so stressed out.  I ended up having to stay later to finish the posts while the rest of the attendees headed off to the Bloggers Showcase, including Chloe.  She got to meet all kinds of cool people while I got to finish blogging...  Joy....

Despite the minor trauma, We're really looking forward to going back again next year.  Everyone was so supportive and fun to be around!  We hope to keep in touch with them and to have the opportunity to attend V3con again!

V3Con Reception: Vision, Visibility and Voice (and Food!)

Chloe and I have been invited to volunteer at the V3 Digital Media Conference!  We went to the opening awards reception today at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena to meet fellow bloggers and learn about the conference.  Our job tonight was to tweet about the event. It was a little awkward at first, I'll admit - Chloe and I were the youngest ones there.  It was great for us to talk to the more experienced bloggers around, but that did not eliminate the awkwardness.  Being surrounded by adults I've never met before really got me to realize how much of a kid I really am.

Reception under Paper Lanterns at the Asia Pacific Museum

Not going to lie to you guys here: I had my eye on the food from the moment we got there.  It looked awesome - steamed buns, dumplings, meatballs....  But when we dropped off our stuff in the volunteer lounge, the person who was showing us around told us to feel free to "eat the sandwiches for the volunteers".  Subway sandwiches.  Whoop-dee-doo.


So Chloe and I wandered around, not eating food in hopes of eventually figuring out a way to sneak one of those steamed buns.  Then about an hour into the event, Ms. Shraddha Swaroop  kindly informed us to feel free to eat some of the food at the event, to which I responded, "We can eat the food here?!" I promptly helped myself to the dumplings, the steamed baos and the meatballs. The soft drinks were great too.

Steamed baos at the V3Con Reception

Despite the impressive food at the convention, we got to meet some of the even more impressive and prominent Asian-Americans in the media today, such as Gil Asakawa and Jane Lui (again :D). We even got to see Phil Yu (a.k.a. Angry Asian Man)!  We didn't have the opportunity to talk to him because he was constantly surrounded by people who wanted to chat with him.  Frankly, Chloe and I were not sure what Mr. Yu looked like, and we were afraid that we'd accidentally approach a random Asian man, thinking he was Phil Yu...which is probably the exact thing Angry Asian Man would get Angry about.  We decided not to risk it. Maybe tomorrow. 

We know that we'll meet even more Asian American people in the media tomorrow, and look forward to attending some of the panel discussions. Our job will be to blog and tweet about the event! What a treat to end our summer. Back to school on Monday!

Fashion (or the lack of it), and the Fashion District.

When we were kids, mom, dad and grandma would shop for clothes and shoes for us, and we'd just stay home and be fine with their choices. When they dress us up like dorks, or in really frilly dresses, we were fine with it because we simply didn't know any better.  Besides, we really didn't like to shop for hours in the department store. If we when shopping at all with our parents, we'd just play hide and seek among the racks of clothes.  My sister would look for lost pennies and buttons on the floor to collect while my mom shopped.

The result: Outfits that we wouldn't be caught dead in now. Here are a few examples:

We and our cousins all wearing snowman wear!
Courtesy of grandma!

Visiting DC in oversized jacket and poncho.

This year, we transferred to a private school. All of a sudden, fashion is becoming increasingly difficult for us to ignore because we like to fit in and don't want to be made fun of. We don't want to make the faux pas of wearing the wrong thing for school, or for wearing the same clothes two days in a row.  We realized that it's best not to look like we just rolled out of bed when we go to school.
Luckily during the school day, my classmates dress pretty much like students everywhere: shorts, jeans, hoodies, sneakers, flats, so I don't have to adjust my style too much.

But, this was also a year where I was invited to a few sweet sixteen parties, and sis was invited to fancy bat mitzvahs.  Boy, this is where things have changed from years past. It used to be that the only occasion I'd have to wear a nice dress to was my 8th grade graduation or some other school event, in a pair of flat shoes or sandals.

Going to sweet sixteen parties was definitely the first time I've had to dress formally for a party with my friends, and I didn't really know what to wear.  Semi-formal dresses and heels was the recommended attire--and I didn't even own heels!  In fact, I was (and still am) a little bit afraid of tripping in heels or stabbing other people with them, so I went with wedges instead.  While I didn't look like a bum, it seems I misunderstood the meaning of 'semi-formal', because most girls were dressed like they were going to clubs!  I mean, with dresses that barely covered their butts and 6 inch heels, it's mind-boggling that they could possibly complain about how much their feet hurt and how guys were constantly staring at them. 

Internet cartoon

The boys, on the other hand, were only expected to wear button-down shirts and jeans.  Talk about unfair!

None of this is to say that fashion always comes with a high price tag; it doesn't!  Today, for example, I went with my sister, cousins, aunt, and mom to check out the Fashion District in LA.  My aunt and cousins are from Boston, so they've never been to the Fashion District and were determined to get some back to school shopping done. We checked out the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) Scholarship Store, where they sell brand name bikinis for about $2 a set. That is, if you can find a matching set, of course.  We had to do some digging, but in the end we came out victorious . . . Not that you you'd consider bikinis back to school attire.

Visiting Santee Alley Fashion District, Los Angeles

Later on, we headed to Santee Alley, a pretty dingy alley with hundreds of shops featuring the latest fashions for inexpensive prices, knock-offs of name brands, haggling, and bacon-wrapped hotdogs! It's mildly disgusting, but if you have the stamina to dig through there, you will find some good things for a bargain. We saw some beautiful hand blown glass objects, only to be told that they were for smoking weed!

Whether you like to shop second hand stores, fashion district, outlet stores, department stores or boutiques, don't be a slave to fashion though. You might end up looking like these ladies below and still be made fun of:

THE LAYER CAKE
China Fashion Week 2007

THE BAG LADY
Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring 2012 Campaign

Video Games Girls Play

This summer, I've been playing a LOT of video games. I dug up my old Nintendo DS and played Yoshi's Island . Yoshi's Island is really old (the version we have is for the gameboy), but it's a really fun game... My sister used to just make me watch her play the game until she beat all the levels. I never actually got to play so I really suck at it. I'm just now beginning to play Yoshi's Island along with all of my other games that my sister would steal from me. Anyway, I love the old design of Yoshi, and the soundtrack is amazing. I even made a flash animation with Yoshi in it for my dad's birthday.

Some other games I like to play (well I guess like to watch my sister play... because she didn't let me play most of my games) are Fishing Master, Super Paper Mario, Animal Crossing, Rune Factory, and Donkey Kong. Come to think of it, most of these games are not really violent. They just involve running around, honing a skill (such as fishing, planting, harvesting, animal training, or cooking) and collecting points or money to buy a bigger house, or to extend your life.

My friend recently found an old Nintendo 64 console and we played really old games on it. We especially liked Banjo & Kazooie, Kirby, and Brawl, which involves all my favorite game characters from different games fighting against each other.  Most of the games we play go on forever. (Meaning you never die and you pretty much just do the same routine over and over again, just like real life).

My sister likes all of my games plus Nintendogs and weird games like Saddle Up.  She is really into the animal training video games.  My sister claims that skills she learned from Nintendogs helped her take care of our neighbor's dog Gracie this summer, which is sort of sad if you ask me.

What is even more pathetic is the game we're currently addicted to playing on the iPad: it's called  My Forged Wedding, which involves a girl picking a guy to date or marry for various reasons to help him out.  You can date a teacher, a lawyer, a screenwriter, a comedian, and even  a prince!  It seems like a really pathetic dating game, but we don't like to think of it that way.  To us, it's like an interactive manga with happily ever after outcomes.

Most of the boys I know like to play Mortal Combat, Call of Duty, Starcraft, and Halo on the Xbox. These games are pretty violent and you win by killing or hitting as many people or monsters as possible, in the most gruesome manner too. I just never got into those games, not that I have any of them. Not to stereotype or anything, I think there is a BIG difference between what boys and girls like to play.