I love words.

Patience.

There's always enough goodness and positivity to go around for everyone.

The ability to get married should be my right.

When my body wants to stay awake, all I can do is go along for the exhausting ride.

I was able to check out Venice Beach for the first time today. 

Any grown ass adult who deliberately tries to act cute always seems to accomplish the exact opposite.

"Maybe it's her countenance, every bit the cat who got the cream."

From the article, Cult of Cara, by Frances Kan in the April 2013 issue of Vogue.

It's such a sunny and beautiful Sunday morning here in LA.

"What kind of fuckery is this?"

From the song Me & Mr. Jones by Amy Winehouse. 

Content does not equal news or facts.

Show me the facts.

Hi.

"We can fly away... fly away together like in the movies and shit."

From the song After Love by Clazziquai.

"I'm out for Presidents to represent me,
I'm out for Dead Presidents to represent me."

From the song Dead Presidents II by Jay-Z featuring Nas.

Crazy ain't cute.

"I was freein' my hair."

From the song Hair by Lady Gaga.

It's all bullshit.

"하루 하루
조금씩 나아질거애."

From the song 비밀의 화원 by 이상은.

Words can't describe how much I miss eating Bangkok's street food on a daily basis.

Here I am taking refuge from a downpour with the warm goodness of Thai food a few years ago while still living in the country's capital.

Relevancy.

Picking up the pieces of your life sometimes takes time.

It's just you and me...

Sigh.

Chuckle.

Sigh.

Chuckle.

Small things can trigger major issues.

Food always tastes so much better when it's cooked in an oven.

"Don't let it bring you down... it's only castles burning..."

From the song Don't Let It Bring You Down by Annie Lennox.

Liar liar, pants on fire...

It feels good to be back in L.A., and with my friends Jenn and Daniel again.

Looking out the window into the nighttime lights of L.A. on the plane ride here definitely felt different than the first time a few months ago coming from Asia. Going back to New York and having been able to spend some quality time there really helped me feel like my old self again. The past month just flew by and it was good to be back in the pace and comforts of home. I feel like I learned so much more about a lot of my friends too, which I didn't think was possible even after more than a decade of friendship. Overall, returning home after three years and being able to celebrate my 30th birthday there was an absolute dream, and I feel excited about whatever it is that's to come next.

Most of my friends live in Brooklyn, so I basically couched surf between Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, and Downtown Brooklyn. Being able to walk from place to place was nice because I hadn't ever really explored that part of the borough much by foot, so I was able to get a better sense on how the neighborhoods are. I also got to go to Astoria again to crash at my friends Susy and Ricky's place, which was a good reason to go check out my old neighborhood.

Since I'm perpetually broke, I ended up meeting up with friends and eating in Chinatown a lot. I've never appreciated that area of town so much, and can't wait to go back and discover some new places. Eating chicken over rice a countless number of times was also great, because man I always can't help but salivate every time I pass by a halal food cart on the streets of NY. I also had a lot of $1 pizza, which always hits the spot as well.

Getting a cellphone again in NYC was also pretty helpful, and I also learned that so much has technologically changed within the past three years. Everyone I know seems to prefer texting over email now, which is odd because I never thought email would be on the road to becoming obsolete. I myself prefer writing emails on my computer any day, and find it difficult to correspond and communicate by phone because typing away on the small keyboard just doesn't seem practical. On my last day in NYC, I met up with my favorite college professor again and he mentioned that he always prefers to stay in touch by email as well, so it's nice to know that there are others out there like me.

But now I'm back in sunny L.A. and ready to keep moving forward with my life. My next step is to find a job here... anyone know of places that are hiring?

Life isn't always just about rainbows and happiness.

"Believe,
Believe in me..."

From the song Tonight Tonight by the Smashing Pumpkins.

You're too old to over exaggerate your stories.

Fuck.

I took the Metro North from Grand Central. While there, I also had to buy a new Metrocard, and this was the card that came out of the machine. Cooool.

Enough is enough. After ten years of earnestly trying to date in my 20's, it's either time to consider some completely different approaches, or at least move on from the ones that obviously just don't suit me.

It's a new day.

It's possible to have literally nothing in the world---yet feel like you have everything in the world thanks to hope and the wonderful people around you.

Peel away the layer of magic.

I LOVE NY.

Sincerity.

Where are all the good guys at?

Out of sight, out of mind.

Hope.

"If this sounds familiar, that's because the situation resembles what many straight couples faced in trying to end their marriages before the wave of recent reforms that standardized no-fault divorce throughout the country. Same-sex couples, Sommer estimates, are operating in a divorce environment similar to the one that existed for heterosexual couples a hundred years ago."

From the New York Magazine article titled, "I Do" to "I Don't" by Jesse Green. March 4, 2013 issue.

I'm happy for you...

It's not just about yesterday, right now, or tomorrow---but the entire story instead.

"Hans Castorp enjoyed listening to the dialect, and also enjoyed Fiete's answers, likewise in Plattdeutsch, delivered while serving from the left and bending around behind his master to speak into his right ear, out of which the senator heard considerably better than the left."

From The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. Page 19.

I'm in love with this.

"Hustle, hustle, hustle,
Grind, grind, grind..."

From the song Hussel by M.I.A.

What an amazing day.

Why do people complicate such simple things?

Standing on Greene Street in SOHO with the construction of the Freedom Tower in the background.

According to some of my friends, I'm way out of touch with technology and how people communicate with one another in these current times...

I guess now I'm trying to figure out that fine line between normalcy and efficiency.

I'll make my own damn path.

When the only thing you lost while drunkenly celebrating your 30th birthday until 6 in the morning was Chapstick, then it was more than an awesome night.

Thank you to all my friends for such a memorable birthday back home in NYC.

It's already almost 5am, and I can hear stores on the street rolling up their metal gates.

"I guess we're just going to go back to using the original Internet---magazines."

Said by the character Betsy Punch in the sitcom, The Mindy Project. Season 1 Episode 11.

Even at the age of 30, on most nights I just don't know how to fall asleep.

Look pass the bullshit.

"And what it all comes down to,
Is that I don't have it figured out just yet..."

From the song Hand in My Pocket by Alanis Morissette.

"I'm broke but I'm happy."

From the song Hand in My Pocket by Alanis Morissette. 

"And if you don't know that by now,
Then I feel quite sorry for you,
I'm sorry for you."

From the song Pocket by Sam Sparro.

Gratitude.

There's no better way to start the day than with a cold glass of NYC tap water.

Okay 30, let's do this.

It's so great to be home.

Smile.

Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection.

Thirty is looming... HAHAHAHA.

Nobody understands.

As much as I hate sounding like a 16 y/o, it's true...

"This is the only reason me and Sonia are in Hunts Point, because this is literally right now the best heroin in all of New York City."

Said by Erik in, Sonia: Hunts Point, Bronx, from the online series, Faces of Addiction. Published Oct 14, 2012 (HERE).