Lazy Saturdays are very necessary.

"I will love you unconditionally,
There is no fear now,
Let go and just be free,
I will love you---unconditionally."

From the song Unconditionally by Katy Perry.

We all deserve to have a companion in life.

Always see for yourself.

I need a career.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, I'm thankful for so many things.

It's funny how I spent the holiday completely alone last year in Bangkok, and now I'm back home in NYC surrounded by my friends, and planning to go to a holiday dinner with my sister and brother-in-law tomorrow at a relative's place.

One thing all this has truly taught me is that no matter what rough or challenging period of life you're going through, it will pass. Whether it be physically or mentally, you will at one point no longer be in that exact place or situation, and that alone is usually enough to keep me going through any trials of life.

It's really so great to be back for the holidays, and I hope everyone has an enjoyable Thanksgiving with lots of food, gratitude, laughter---and even a little bit of obligatory family dysfunction.

Happy Turkey Day!

"I thought I found a way to enter,
It was just a reflector..."

From the song Reflektor by Arcade Fire.

Heart.

I'm currently living in Greenwich Village for a little while with a friend named Thomas.

His entire 18th floor apartment overlooking the old St. Vincent's Hospital is really amazing---and even the living room alone is enough to invoke so much emotion.

Thank you, Thomas.

Hello.

This moment is fleeting, and I can't figure out if that's good or bad.

I'm here to listen.

Put the crazy-volume on mute.

"It is easy to drive past Willets Point, the 62-acre tangle of auto shops, car parts and grease covered mechanics tinkering with automobiles, that sits hard by the Unisphere of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Passing by is far easier than driving through: The streets that cross each other at odd angles here in the glossy shadow of Citi Field looks as if they has been blasted by land mines. They are pooled with dar, oil-slicked water or rutted with knee-deep holes that suck in a car's tires. The chalkboard scrape of chassis meeting pavement sounds through the air here with the regularity of a bell tolling the hour."

From the November 23, 2013 New York Times article, The End of Willets Point, by Sarah Maslin Nir.

The room is still spinning...

*Mental Cartwheels*

I sure do appreciate the weekend.

Triple Stack Pink Supermans.

Whenever I come to Queens, it feels like I'm back home.

Dear friends,

My first food story for VICE magazine was published earlier today.

Please give it a read if you have the time: SOJU IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SOUTH KOREANS PASSED OUT ON THE STREET

Thank you very much.

best,
thwany

Mutter. Utter. Stutter. Butter?

You've got to grow up and try.

Some people's version of reality is so deluded and over dramatic---you really just can't trust idiots like them at all.

Hot yoga at 6:30am makes me feel sane.

It's only Tuesday?

Family Meal is the best.

Requisite.

"Do you dance, do you dance?
To the beat of life..."

From the song Beat of Life by Anything Box.

"Meanwhile, millions of American live tenuously close to hunger, which is barely kept at bay by a food stamp program that gives most beneficiaries just a little more than $4 a day."

From the November 16, 2013 New York Times opinion piece, The Insanity of Our Food Policy, by Joseph E. Stiglitz.

Referring to yourself as a foodie doesn't mean shit.

Thick skin.

Now that I think about it, I made a lot of mistakes while dating in my 20's.

Being able to learn from life lessons is so humbling.

It doesn't exist.

Last night was one of those Saturdays with endless bar-hopping and fun. Too bad I stopped taking pictures after stop 4.

"Beloved, when did all this become okay?"

Said by Iyanla on her OWN show, Iyanla, Fix My Life. 

I was just at Woorijip in Koreatown to get some breakfast about an hour ago, and the only other customers in the store besides me was a young Korean couple. It's funny because they were getting some food, and then proceeded to sit down to enjoy it with a bottle of soju, even at 10 something in the morning.

Seeing them together made me feel really happy that they had each other.

My terrible hangover this morning was way worth it. 

Here is Judy and me getting our Wednesday-night drink on yesterday at Sweet & Vicious. 

Oh and sometimes, I let her text shady people from my cellphone.

Functioning drunk.

The past few weeks or so.

Sometimes when I witness absolutely inane behavior, I can't help but wonder if the people are clueless, or just really desperate for attention.

One of the best things about NYC is running into old friends and acquaintances while just walking around the city!

Is it just me, or does the quality of Blue Ray and some forms of HD television totally ruin the magic of the experience? 

The speed, movement, and sometimes clarity of watching things this way just seems so off.

"I am the blank page before you."

From the song Stay Awake by London Grammar.

Hi.

I've been at the library for 3 hours trying to write, and all I've turned out are 2 paragraphs.

Is it time for a drink yet?

Sometimes, a single Philip Glass track seems to tell an entire story.

Create.

The most prominent things visible when walking around TriBeCa in the daylight hours are beautiful architecture and children with their nannies.

The weather in NYC suddenly got cold today.

It makes me want to spoon a bucket of pasta.

"I'm tired, 
from exploring you."

From the song Dark Blue by No Doubt.

그때 참 좋았었는데...

It's hard to believe that I've been at my job for over a month now.

I started working in the office of a restaurant downtown in TriBeCa, and I've really been enjoying it. The small team that I work with is really nice and so awesome at what they do, so being able to learn from them has really been great. I also can't stress how nice it is to not only be working a job with regular office hours again---which is a first for me since '09, but also back in the pace of a NYC working environment! I so missed being surrounded by efficient people who give a shit about what they're doing, it's seriously just wonderful to have coworkers like this again.

The restaurant I'm working at opened this past summer, so it's still somewhat new. I feel fortunate to have been hired when I was because within the weeks that I've been there, it feels like a lot of good stuff has happened, including getting reviewed by major NYC newspapers/publications like The New York Times, New York Post, The Village Voice, etc. Being a part of the staff and having the chance to contribute to the restaurant's operations makes me really proud and happy, and I hope my bosses and colleagues feel the same way, too.

Besides work, everything else is fine. Today I made a trip to Jackson Heights by myself to run an errand, and walking on Roosevelt Avenue underneath the tracks of the 7 train really made me think of my childhood. Since the weather was so nice, I decided to stroll from 74th Street to 90th Street and back, and the energy along the streets really pumped me up. There's so many ethnic restaurants, bars and stores along Roosevelt, and seeing people out and about on a Saturday evening was nice. The rumbling of the 7 train overhead felt so familiar too and in a way, comforting as well. I popped in a few food places and tried some things here and there, and was pretty stuffed by the time I hopped back onto the F train to come back into the city.

I haven't really been doing much else as of late. I hang out with my friends, get drunk with them every now and then, and if I'm lucky, eat some quality food at some cheap spot or at a nice restaurant. Now that I actually have weekends off and like a normal person don't end work in the late-night hour, I've been trying to find more ways to take advantage of my work hours. I'm always trying to keep busy with my new schedule and look for new activities or things to try, but I haven't been very successful at it though. Usually, I just end up walking around the city or just people watching somewhere alone, which is generally fine for me. However, I would like to do new things and meet some different people every now and then. Oh well, I guess all that will happen with time. As of now, I'm pretty content with life. That's not to say that all is perfect, but hey---no complaints from me. I'm working on things one thing at a time...