It reminds me how fortunate and privileged I am to be able to go anywhere in the world. While on my adventures, I become engrossed with meeting new people — fellow travelers, locals, and transplants. Being able to chat with strangers even for fleeting, short-lived moments, are opportunities to build connections. There’s so much to learn from other people, and so much joy that can come from just a few exchanged words.

Smile, have fun attempting to speak a foreign language, and laugh a lot. These were tricks that helped me have a fabulous time in Mexico. I’ve been rediscovering myself in the process, and I’ve also been revisiting the key reasons why I love traveling: new sights, new tastes, new perspectives.

Phew! It feels good to get that out of the way first. Umm… yeeaaahh. I’m pretty sure I said that exactly 10 years ago when I got my acceptance letter for UCLA, btw. Well, I just got accepted into the Art Center of Pasadena’s Illustration program for this Fall, and I’m moving down south again!

I’m ecstatic about the things to come, about fully concentrating on making art, meeting other movers-and-shakers who are equally thrilled about creating brilliant work! Is Brent coming with me? Undetermined! Do I know what I’ll be bringing with me? Not really! Do I know where I’m gonna live? Nope! Lots of uncertainties, but I’m absolutely certain that there is much to look forward to!

I feel like I’ve been going through a metamorphosis these last few months. My body’s gone from being broken and dysfunctional, to healing almost completely, then taking a few steps back to being frail, and now back on the road to recovery. Compared to others’ situations, I know mine isn’t that bad, but using my hands IS my livelihood. I can’t remember what it FEELS like to not worry about picking a heavy-ish box, not to question how long I can sit at a computer, not to constantly remind myself to take a break, take a break, take a break. This is all for the good, though. I know it.

In the last six months, I feel like my body’s been taken apart and slowly coming back together. With the repetitive strain injury in my shoulders/hands/wherever the hell it is, in conjunction with getting pretty sick last week and my ever-shifting teeth with braces, I’ve really come to value my body in ways I didn’t appreciate before. This is the only vessel I have for the rest of my life — I really can’t risk messing it up any more than it already is. Like anything else I cherish, I’ve been learning to nurture my body more. Along the way, I’ve come to understand that my stress is carried out throughout my body and one of the keys to healing is to just.chill.out.

1. For starters, I’m taking regular keyboard breaks. Everyone always recommends this, yet it’s sooo hard to develop the habit to take breaks. Not taking breaks regularly is what put me in this mess to begin with. Nothing at work/on the internet is worth breaking my body further. For every 30 minutes that I’m on the computer, I take 10-15 minutes to break away from the keyboard, doing some stretches and exercises to activate muscles I don’t use enough.

   This helps me break away from stressful work, get some good air into my bloodstream, and take some time for myself. One of my favorite breaks is to lay on the floor for 15 minutes, literally taking some weight off my shoulders — a great rejuvenator!

2. I swimming at least three times a week. I’m not that good at it but I love it! It’s incredibly therapeutic for me to calmly flow across the water. I concentrate on regulating my breathing and working on some of my stroke techniques (heh heh).

   This helps me calm my mind while working out my entire body. The regulated breathing takes me away from the stressful to-do lists that exist outside of the pool. When I’m in the pool, I only concentrate on swimming and being in the present. I love swimming.

3. I’m surrounding myself with positive people and thoughts.The power of happiness and laughter can work wonders. I’m certain that seeing the good things in life will help my body heal faster. Cuz we are the champions. No time for (emotional) losers. Nor negative nancy’s.

   This also includes making time for fun! And also means I’m trying to bitch less, and be less judgmental of others. No good for nobody.

4. Acupuncture.Ugghhhhh! I absolutely don’t like it at all. At this point, I’m open to trying it out to see if it’ll help stimulate my body a bit more to heal more successfully. It’s not that I’m scared of needles. I just don’t like how it feels.

   I’m seeing my family acupuncturist twice a week, with about 30 needles per session. :/ I don’t like the ones that go in my hands. On the plus side, the doctor only speaks Mandarin. So, I’ve been learning to hear Mandarin, and am learning some new phrases!

5. Speaking of fears, I’m doing more things outside of my comfort zone. Acupuncture, for one. (Attempting) to let go of things that are no biggy. Eating foods that I don’t usually like (onions, runny eggs — YUCK!). Trying not to be scared about flexing some of my language skills, no matter how minimal it may be. I might even try a roller coaster again.

   I believe acknowledging these boundaries/restrictions I create for myself is a crucial step seeing the things that are prohibiting me from growing. The next step is to challenge myself to address those discomforts, face my fears, and do something about it.

6. Making sure I smile more! It’s the easiest path to happiness and to spread the love to others~ Really. Smiling is contagious and is built into our nature!

My body’s been going through a roller coaster, but this healing process has become much more than just fixing my body. These last six months have been dedicated to fixing MY SELF — body, mind, soul. I’ve loaded the upcoming few months with travels and outtings that will be full of laughter and many, many smiles. Like all challenges in my life, I know this chapter is something I’ll totally overcome, and this will serve to be a crucial lesson to learn from.

Lucky for me, I’ll get to carry this out into my next chapter — attending my dream art school in Pasadena!

I’m incredibly optimistic about this year and the things to come. I’m revisiting some of my favorite hobbies. This year, I’m making an effort to take more pics, write more, and etch out much more time for family and friends by planning fun events. Can’t wait! ^_^

Here are some recent pics that make me happy. Enjoy!

Brent and I at visiting the wonderful aquarium at the SF Academy of Science in late-December

Taking Phuong out to pig out at my favorite burger joint at the moment, True Burger!

New Years Eve with some of my favorite peeps from high school at The New Parish

I love these ladies. This totally captures our energy!

Cutie!

How could I resist?

Mussels from Slow, an incredibly delicious restaurant in Berkeley that supports "slow food" (opposite of fast food), uses local organic goods, and is still very affordable. My hidden gem in Berkeley!

Homemade smores from Phil's Sliders in Berkeley. Comes with a glass of milk! Mmmmmmmmm good!

An intriguing building at 16th & Carolina St. in SF

Lights at the club turn on. "THAT'S what y'all look like?"

Sesame creme brulee at Yoshi's Oakland. Yum.

Baking again! Made some Maple Syrup Pancake Muffins (per JoytheBaker.com). We'll see if they're tasty :o

Hallo, love. <3

Siiiiggghhh, if only it were true! Sadly, I’ve been stationed at home, merely bitten by the travel bug, longing for the days of traveling again. As fun as that sounds, I’ve been working feverishly on many goals.

Discovering My Creative Process

I took an art class last semester that pushed my growth as an artist — I loved it! “Critique and the Creative Process,” the class was called. The class was led by Seth Eisen at Berkeley City College (along with three amazing TAs). It was certainly the most challenging class I’ve taking through the Peralta Colleges. I learned a lot about my own creative process, like:

• I need my work area to be CLEAN before I start working. I need to start with a clean slate around my canvas (only to make it all messy while creating!)
• It’s really hard for me to work with no music. Lack of music is very distracting for me, and the type of music I listen to can vary depending on my mood. Though, 80′s and 90′s hits are always a win in my books!
• Writing is a huge part of my creative process. I didn’t realize this before. I need to do “brain dumps” of all my thoughts and ideas. (When I realized this portion, I knew I had to start blogging again! My writing is so rusty!) From there, I pull together the points I find most intriguing, and then begin sketching compositions that unify the main ideas.
• Sketches of the piece are general guidelines. Leaving room for change and modifications is very helpful for me, and encourages me to go with my gut instincts while painting.

I created many new pieces that I’m very proud of! Check out my Portfolio to see if you like them, too!

Working on My Portfolio for Art School Submission

This has been something I’ve been planning for a while. Even while I was still working at Embark and taking night classes, I knew I wanted to pursue art/design/the creative field. It’s something I was very scared of doing when I was younger: afraid of rejection, scared of criticism, an overall fear of not being enough. Since 2008, I’ve been building my technique/skills and knowledge to be much more confident in my artwork.

I recently found my old notes from my unemployed months of 2009, plotting my path towards art school!

This is my art school bulletin board. Notes, to-dos, plans, and checklists!

Finding a job in the web design field was the perfect medium for me to move from a front-end programming job into something that was more focused on visual design. I picked up a tremendous amount of knowledge from the team at Waxcreative, and it helped me hone in on my design skills overall.

I recently attended National Portfolio Day and I received GREAT feedback from several schools! The admissions counselors were impressed by how professional my portfolio was presented. Phew! I spent a lot of time on making my portfolio clean and tidy, so I’m very grateful that it received very good feedback.

• I had professional pics taken of my art pieces (by Dana Davis Photography, Ringler Studios, and the fabulous Brent Tam)! Good pics of your pieces go a LONG way!
• Had the option of creating a printed portfolio. I just recently saw that Noah Bradley had his portfolio books printed through Blurb.com, so I went with them. I loved the results! (Also received much extra help from Eugenia Man who has plethora of knowledge with printing photo books as part of the fabulous photo packages she provides!)
• Received invaluable feedback from my friend Henry Kim-Han who also went through this same portfolio-building process. Immensely helpful to get input from people who have an eye for which of your pieces are stronger!
• Had all the titles, captions, chapter pages, artist statement proofread by several people.
• Plus, it helps to have one of the best partners in the world. Infinite thank you’s to Brent, who made all the meals and put up with all my messes (tangible and emotional) during my crazy days. Never got angry at me, always understood I was under pressure, and 100% supportive. <3 x 9999999^999999999

Combating a Repetitive Stress Hand Injury

I place this last on my list because I really want this to take last priority. But I can’t deny that it greatly crippled my abilities in the last three months. And I’d be a complete liar if I said these weren’t trying times.

In mid-October, I suddenly felt a sharp pain on my right hand’s middle finger joint while working at the comp. I assure you it’s not from flicking people off–I’m really slow at singling out my middle finger, I promise.The pain began to creep up towards my wrist, I started feeling the pain in my second and forth fingers. There was a weird tingling behind my elbow. And my shoulders became as stiff as rocks.

I began seeing a doctor and physical therapist. They said I had a repetitive stress injury from keyboarding/mousing. More precisely, my lower cervical and upper trapezius muscles had been overworked due to reaching too far for my keyboard and mouse, and my nerves were extra sensitive (thus the pain, tingles, numb feelings). In addition to completely revamping my work station by an ergonomist, I was on a modified work schedule. For a while, for every 30 minutes that I worked, I had to take a 30 minute break, for a maximum work day of 4 hours (which meant I only worked for 2 keyboarding hours). I was instructed to lay down during my breaks to ensure that my neck had breaks — literally taking the weight off my shoulders.

From October through December, I felt pretty incapable, insufficient, and my morale was at the lowest its been in a while. It’s not like my brain was cloudly like we often are when we’re sick. My brain was fine, I was still thinking the same, running through the many lists of things I needed to do. All the things I COULDN’T do. My brain was running 10,000 times faster than my body could keep up with. There were days where I couldn’t even use my right hand to lift a manila folder. I couldn’t eat with my right hand, couldn’t drive with it, and I couldn’t even put some papers in my backpack because my right hand couldn’t hold the bag open. I couldn’t work at work, I couldn’t cook or clean at home, I couldn’t work on my portfolio, I couldn’t work on any kind of art without my right hand. During the lowest points, I felt like I was a waste of space, and that the injury would last forever and I would never have my right hand back again. I spent many days vegetating on the floor, watching films I’d been meaning to watch, and regularly slumping at the local bar at 11AM.

A "get well soon" letter from my left hand to my right hand. Woohoo for learning how to write with lefty!

I became religious about my physical therapy exercises. I began to look on the bright side of things, and I started to train my left hand to do a lot of things. (Left hand is so much better at driving now; I can do most chores with left hand; I’m still trying to figure out how to hold chopsticks with my left hand. Btw, noodle soups are extremely difficult to eat if you don’t have a dominant hand to use……) Slowly but surely, my injury was getting better, and my muscles were getting stronger. I was slowly able to work on my portfolio and art again.

I don’t think not many people really understood what was going on with my body and my emotional state at that time, but I am very grateful for those that were unquestionably supportive and for keeping my chin up. A million thank you’s. Additionally, I wouldn’t have been able to make it through without Brent, who helped me through all my whirlwind states of insecurities, whether it  manifested itself as anger or intense moments of panic attacks. I love you, and thank you for letting me lean on you when I needed help the most — even though I kicked and screamed when refusing any help to preserve any sense of self worth.

Even through all this, I eventually got my portfolio done, printed, and reviewed with flying colors. Not to be self-boasting or to build my ego, I’m very proud that I was able to complete my portfolio the way I envisioned it to come out, with even better reactions than I expected. It’s a testament to really putting one’s mind to something and doing everything possible to make it happen. (Okay, maybe I wanted to boast a little. Oh well, I humbly think I deserve a little mini-ego booster after all the hurdles that overcame.)

So, now I’m writing my essays, finalizing everything for my applications before I send them in. *fingers crossed!* Wish me luck! (A thousand thank you’s to Tarrin for helping me with revising my essays and making it all spiffy and presentable! <3 you!)

Oh yeah, this new design has been a project I needed to finish before sending applications off, too. Take a peek around and enjoy! <3

I’m super proud of myself. I found some anti-slip tape, like the kind you put on your stairs so you won’t slip when its wet. I cut a thin strip and then into tiny little rectangles for the two main keys. And ohemgee. I love it. The rough texture makes it SO easy for my fingers to find the keys. I realized I’ve been making and fixing hella typos lately simply because I kept on positioning my hand in the wrong spots. Yay for fingers being able to see again! ^_^

… I also got a little tape-happy and put one on the “0″ at the top row because I go up to that area a lot. w00t.

(Totally sounds like I got hacked, huh?….) Time to do some plugin/file clean ups~

My mom always used to tell me to use my retainer.. but… ah well….

A couple of years ago, I started noticing that my teeth were moving. And I’ve been on and off the last few years about whether or not I should get my teeth realigned. After many decisions to put it off and revisit again, I finally bit the bullet. In fact, I think I committed so quickly that I didn’t really think about the (social?) repercussions.

My boss pointed out that people will FOR SURE think I’m a teenage once I get braces back on. Siiiggghhh. Annnddd I didn’t think too far about the events I’ll be attending this summer (two weddings! Other type things!) where I’ll have to SMILE?! Sigh… I totally forgot what it’s like to have metal teeth, but I guess I’ll be remembering very soon.

Your mind will be blown...

I went to the orthodontic office today, thinking I was just gonna get xrays done. Turns out I did my teeth molding, xrays, and I also got separators put in too. Plus I made a new spunky friend at the ortho office (she’s so cute and energetic)! Umm… so… I guess I’m getting braces next week??? *pannissss*

FAQ:

Why get teeth realigned again? Cuz I miss having straight teeth. :( I’ve noticeably seen my teeth moving the last couple of years.

Are you getting Invisalign? / How come you’re not getting Invisalign? I’m cheap. Invisalign is $1k more. I’m saving mah monies.

How long is the realignment procedure? 1.5 to 2 years. :(((

A little before and after shot

It's like holding my own amputated body part...

Huzzah!

Goodbye (or hello?), my dear human scarf

My hair weighs 95 grams! (0.21lbs/3.35 oz) I swear it feels like 5lbs with gravity...

A little over 22 inches long!

Donating my hair again to LocksofLove or some other sort of wig-making charity to benefit people going thru chemotherapy. Yay! Haven’t had short hair since 2007ish. Very excited to play with different hair styles again~! :))

Thanks to Tarrin for the hairstylist recommendation: Robert at Spank Salon in Alameda was super detailed and in the zone while cutting my hair. Love him! And thanks to Brent for taking the pics and support, as always! People are gonna think that you’re dating a teenage boy now~