I Am A College Graduate!

And so four years have concluded. Graduation was an amazingly fun day. I managed to wake up and make it to both the main commencement ceremony and the Thornton satellite ceremony. I'm really glad I made it to the main ceremony! I loved the traditional hob nob, courtesy of USC - everything from flags and stately processions to live music and a lovely release of doves at the very end of the ceremony. I'm really glad that I went.

The satellite ceremony (and adjoining reception!) was a lot of fun too. It was so amazing to be surrounded by friends I have known since the beginning, as well as supportive professors who have stuck by me throughout the years.

It was great to see my family so happy as well... and word on the street was that I looked pretty happy myself!

Thank you to my family and friends for coming to support me. I'm so glad that I will have so many amazing memories from graduation to last me a lifetime. It's unlikely that one day can justify four years, but if that one day were to exist, it would be my graduation day. :)

Pictures from my camera are up on Facebook. Still waiting for a few more cameras to get uploaded... but until then, here are a few highlights:

Lining up for the main ceremony.
John, Jack, and Alex's hand...
Emilie and Adrian!
Devin is taller than me?!
Brian and Derik!
Nate and I, still the same haha.
And last but not least, my family :)

Accomplished Exhaustion

Man, I'm exhausted. But it's a good exhaustion. One that comes as a result of a week of fun and a week of accomplishments. Today I was recognized by the Thornton School of Music at their annual Honors Convocation as a Renaissance Scholar (a University wide recognition for graduating students who excelled in two areas of contrasting study). I was also awarded the Order of Troy by the University in THEIR Honors Convocation, although I can't help but think what I could have accomplished had I less to deal with these past two years. That's another story for another time, though, and honestly not that important. I'm thankful to have been recognized at all, and WOW some of our graduating class is accomplished! I was repeatedly blown away by the amazing things some of these people have done, all the while excelling in their multiple majors, minors, and leadership positions (often in service organizations). It was pretty inspiring.

Afterwards, my dad (who came up for the ceremonies) and I had a nice, relaxing lunch.

Yesterday I swung by Irvine to get a haircut (I was *long* overdue, har har), have a belated birthday/Mother's Day lunch with my mom, and do a large handful of graduation related errands. I eventually finished up in Orange County and scurried back up to LA for an entertaining/tasty dinner at a Thai restaurant in Sherman Oaks in which I blabbered too much, as usual.

A few days ago I had tea with an old professor and two dear friends at an awesome little cafe called Brick's and Scones. What makes it awesome is its location. It's on Larchmont, but more importantly it's tucked away from the street in this amazing building with high ceilings and a decor that's rich in color. Oh and the whole thing is surrounded by TREES. Trees in LA = love at first sight for me. I don't know how so many people survive in a city that's 90% concrete and pavement. Anyway, I'm looking forward to going back sometime!

Also this week I had a really nice dinner with a much missed friend. :)

Over the weekend I spent a fun day in Pasadena, which included a meal at this cute little restaurant called Mi Piace (in which I had some tasty butternut squash ravioli that was almost as good as [but not quite as good as] the butternut squash ravioli I get at Il Fornaio). I also walked around Old Town, which was enjoyable in and of itself. Pasadena is a really cute area. It vaguely reminds me of parts of Orange County, especially south Orange County, which is really nice because parts of south Orange County are just fantastic.

I guess I'm specifically thinking of Dana Point. I LOVE Dana Point.

Before all that I spent an evening with Emilie (complete with tasty sushi!), watched the lovely Katie sing a very entertaining recital, and scuffed up my leg at a party by falling through an old wooden chair whilst trying to climb over a patio wall to get to a neighboring apartment... hahaha.

Ah I'm actually having trouble keeping my thoughts coherent, and this entry has turned into a picture-less recap of my week. Whatever. I'm pretty exhausted. I've been losing sleep these past few days, all in good fun of course, but still. I'd better stop rambling and get started on some work I need to finish up, because I need to sleep early tonight so I can wake up early tomorrow and be on time to my graduation.



Oh yes. That's the other big news. I'm graduating tomorrow!!! :D

Neglect!

Yes, it's been a while. Apologies. I've been busy finishing up projects and papers, studing for finals, and organizing my life so I'll be ready to GRADUATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

I'm pretty excited.

But there's a lot to catch up on. Some of these things probably require their own entry, so I might just post multiple entries. We'll see. Maybe I'll just talk about HAPArt and ignore everything else and let all you curious stalkers remain curious about my life. I have yet to decide. But first...

HAPArt was a success! The hapa art held it's own surprisingly well against the eclectic art of the Hive. We were able to put up everything and keep it visually interesting. Our fantastic musicians all played great, intimate sets. Our talented live artists were a hit. We had a lot of people come through, of which the majority were LAers! Apparently some of our widespread LA marketing actually worked, haha. The best guests, however, were my friends and family. Thank you all SO much for coming! :) All the pictures in this post are from my camera:

As for what else I've been doing, I guess I'll just do some highlights of the past week or so. They include: completing my final drawing project, watching the 88 and yOya, sharing a pirate's chai milkshake, eating sushi in Little Tokyo, hanging out with Jimmy, singing in a recital, attending Formal Dinner (my last hapa event!!), celebrating my birthday, wandering the Descanso Gardens, enjoying a picnic, eating Peruvian food, visting with Ann, making friends with a lovebird, experiencing Fight Club, turning in my final orchestration project, dining at Cole's, conversing over mango green tea boba, receiving flowers, receiving more flowers, enjoying POMx iced coffee, and taking my last three finals of my undergraduate career! It's been pretty eventful, and it's SO nice to be done! Wow I'm indescribably excited for life.

Tonight should be a lot of fun too, but I'll save the details for another post. And maybe later I'll put up a few pictures from my month of absenteeism. We'll see!

Interlude

Hi! It's my last week of undergrad. I'm excited. HAPArt went really well, pictures to come soon. But for now, I've got a paper to finish so I have enough time to start/finish my final drawing project, both due tomorrow. Ahh procrastinating. Ahh school. Ahh LAST week of school. Ahh!!

Rain Makes Me Happy!

So I was sitting in my room, pondering how I should best tackle the mess that's accumulated over the past week. I decided to motivate myself by listening to one of my favorite Genius playlists. Halfway through the second song, I suddenly hear a new noise. What can this be? Somebody cleaning the courtyard? No! It's raining!! And not only is it raining, it's raining a gorgeous, grey, peaceful, calming, soothing rain. The perfect backdrop for the perfect music. I'm so happy. :)

Rain
+
All I Want - Joni Mitchell
Field Below - Regina Spektor
Both Hands - Ani DiFranco
Tiger Mountain Peasant Song - Fleet Foxes
Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk - Rufus Wainwright
Sweet Baby James - James Taylor
Oh! You Pretty Things - David Bowie
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - Bob Dylan
Shadow Boxer - Fiona Apple
Little Green - Joni Mitchell
Little Plastic Castle - Ani DiFranco
20 Years of Snow - Regina Spektor
Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left - Andrew Bird
Holland, 1945 - Neutral Milk Hotel
Poses - Rufus Wainwright
Meadowlarks - Fleet Foxes
Something In The Way She Moves - James Taylor
Postcards From Italy - Beirut
Gotta Have You - The Weepies
Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl - Broken Social Scene
My Old Man - Joni Mitchell
Such Great Heights - Iron & Wine
Hotel Song - Regina Spektor
Heroin - The Velvet Underground
Fake Palindromes - Andrew Bird
=
Love

Traffic Lights

In less than a month I will be a college graduate.
I'm SO excited!! :D
I've always felt that college life constricts my personality, and I can't wait for the freedom to soar.

In other news, this week was busy as always, highlighted by a handful of delicious dinners. My favorite would have to be my belated celebration of Emilie at the West Restaurant and Lounge on the top floor of the Hotel Angeleno. We had a window table, and wow what a view. You can't tell at all from my picture, but we were basically sitting next to an endless expanse of various shades of light speckling darkness. It vaguely reminded me of when I was a teenager and would seek out spectacular views and sit and watch the traffic lights change. So peaceful, so serene.

The food/live music was pretty good, too. :P

I've rewritten my list of things I would like to do (short and long term goals and the like). It's an ever evolving list that I always like to have on hand so if I ever get to a point where I'm not sure what it is I want to do next, I can refer to it and go from there. Or refer to it, make some changes, and go from THERE. It's all on hold until I graduate though... which means I should stop daydreaming about the (quickly approaching!) future and get back to work on my paper/projects!

Relay for Life, Mostly

This was another eventful weekend. I went home on Friday to pick up my tent for Relay for Life, take pictures of the house (it's getting repainted at the moment), and clean up a few things. I also had dinner with my mom and the boy.

The majority of Saturday and Sunday was spent at Relay for Life, where for 24 hours I alternated walking around the track, watching over my team's campsite, and napping/trying to nap.

For those of you that don't know, Relay for Life is a 24 hour fundraising event for the American Cancer Society (ACS). Teams are supposed to have a representative walking or running the track at all times, representing the harsh reality that cancer never sleeps. There are also events within Relay, including the Survivor Lap (in which team members line up around the track and high five survivors as they do a lap) and Luminaria (in which the lights at the track are turned off to showcase illuminated white paper bags lining the track, honoring or remembering a loved one). There's also music and food, but above all else, Relay for Life is a fundraiser. Each team member is encouraged to raise at least $100 for the ACS, ultimately for cancer research. I ended the event with $415 in donations, which isn't bad.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy Relay for Life as much this year. It was my second year participating, my first as a team captain, and I was very disappointed. While all the elements were there (I'm pretty sure the student organization that runs Relay for Life at USC gets something akin to a "Relay for Life Kit" at the beginning of the year with all the instructions/information on how to put on a successful Relay...), they were executed quite poorly. Everything was disorganized, and at times it seemed as if the student organizers of Relay didn't understand that most of the people who were participating had a personal connection to cancer and took the event very seriously. Meaning, it seemed as if some of them did NOT take the event that seriously, which was pretty insulting.

For example, during Luminaria (one of my personal favorite moments of Relay, and generally extremely moving), there was a guest speaker - a survivor. Her story was touching, and it was nice to hear. But then the organizers of the event had her read off of a script that she clearly had never seen before, in the dark, with no flashlight (until halfway through - remember the lights are off at this point). Worse was that the script was WRONG. It seemed to be something out of the "Relay for Life Kit" because the speaker began to read a line about a "ribbon" connecting all the attendees (which did not exist...) before an organizer stopped her and told her to skip that part and read the next paragraph.

Um. Great. The disorganization during the Luminaria presentation was so distracting it took away almost all the meaning behind Luminaria itself.

Another example has to do with the food. If you raise $100 or more, you get a blue wristband (versus a red one) and are able to eat free food at the track throughout the entirety of the event. The thing to keep in mind here is, if you expect to have food provided for you, you're not going to bring your own food. And I didn't. So I was sorely disappointed to find out that from 12pm-6pm on Saturday, all they had for us were semi-stale bagels (with no cream cheese after around 2pm), goldfish crackers, M&Ms, and water. Absolutely NO protein of any sort, or anything with any nutritional value.

And what did the Relay for Life committee have for themselves?

Apple juice, cake, muffins, and other delightful goodies that weren't available for the people who were walking.

Fan-freaking-tastic.

Anyway, it's still a great cause and while it was disappointing that it was run so poorly this year, I'm still glad to have been out there doing my part in the fight against cancer. It was a pretty exhausting 24 hours for me, but I still think it was worth it.

What wasn't fun was having to clean up on Sunday and then come back and work on two projects, both due today.

On the plus side, I finished both projects and made it to my first class (basically) on time. And then I got some new drawing supplies and had a moment to myself on campus, complete with an earl grey latte. And now I've got to run and get ready for my date with Emilie tonight - I'm taking her to this restaurant that's supposed to have an amazing view to complement their amazing food as a belated birthday gift, and it should be fun!

During the Survivor Lap.

HAPArt: Art, Music, Food and Philanthropy

Finally, I'm able to talk about this! Months ago I alluded to a project that I was working on, but never ended up talking about it. Well, this is it: HAPArt. Presented by HapaSC, it's an exhibition featuring contemporary art, live music, and food/refreshments. We've also set up another on-site bone marrow drive (like at Mixed and Matched last year) where attendees can register for the National Bone Marrow Registry on the spot, courtesy of A3M.

Until all our musicians and food vendors are confirmed, I'm not going to discuss it (although I'm EXTREMELY excited about both!!).

For now, you can learn more about the show at the Facebook Event or at the HAPArt website. If you're in the Los Angeles/Southern California area, please schedule this in your calender/try to make it out! Also, invite your friends and family! It's going to be a fantastic event, and I really hope you all are there to share it with me :)

Pink's Sucks

So I mentioned a little while ago that I'm starting to write Yelp reviews again. My most recent was for the infamous LA hot dog establishment, Pink's. I'm cross posting it on my blog just for kicks, but if you want to read it in it's original form you can do so HERE. (And from there you can find some of my other reviews). I apologize for being a wordy writer in advance. If I were to sum up my entire experience with one word, it would be "nauseating." But anyway, on to pictures and the review...

I can't believe I'm actually giving a 1 star review to Pink's, but I am. There's no way around it. The food here is utterly disgusting.

Before I begin, though, I'd like to say that it's worth going to Pink's once in your life just because it IS a Los Angeles staple. The service is good, and the ambiance isn't horrible. If you do go, get something basic like a regular chili dog with onion rings (although Weinerschnitzel has a better, cheaper chili dog). For WHY I say this, read on...

The boy and I went for dinner today because we figured, regardless of the reputably horrendous wait time, we ought to go try the LA phenomenon known as Pink's. Our assumption was that at the very least we'd have a decent meal.

Wrong. So wrong.

The wait wasn't that bad. The line was pretty long but it moved quickly and with good company it wasn't really an issue. At first glance, the hot dog creations looked pretty good. All of them had similar ingredients in different combinations: chili, mustard, onions, tomatoes, pastrami, cheese, nacho cheese, guacamole, bacon, lettuce, etc. They also have hamburgers and "specials" which included such things like a Bacon Burrito Dog (two hot dogs, chili, onions, cheese, and bacon all wrapped up in a "large flour tortilla"). I opted for the Ozzy Dog (a spicy polish sausage with guacamole, nacho cheese, cheese, grilled onions, and tomatoes), the boy got an America the Beautiful Dog (a 12" jalapeno dog with pastrami, bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes), and we shared chili cheese fries.

It was fun watching them make our hot dogs. It's such a small kitchen, and it's interesting to see how everything goes down.

When we finally got our food, it was pretty impressive. And by impressive, I mean huge. The American the Beautiful Dog was BIG, and both our dogs were piled high with toppings. The chili cheese fries were less impressive, but Pink's has a reputation for delicious chili so I figured it would taste good anyway.

Wrong again.

The chili was thick, but almost too much so and the flavor was just not there. It definitely wasn't close to being the best chili I've ever had. What made it worse was the absolutely disgusting french fries - at first I thought they were slightly orange because they were seasoned. Nope! They were orange because they were soaked in cheap (read: bad for you AND bad tasting), disgusting grease. SOAKED. After we got through about half of them, I noticed that the fry boat was filled with a layer of orange grease. Nasty!

Worse were our dogs. My first bite wasn't that bad - I actually thought something along the lines of "considering the portions, ambiance and service, I could give Pink's 4 stars on Yelp!" By my second bite, however, I brought my initial reaction down to 3 stars. And by the time I was half way through, I was at 2 stars. 30 minutes after my meal, I settled with a whopping 1 star. It was just that bad. Here's why:

THE BUN
The bun tasted like stale wonder bread, shaped like a hot dog bun, left out near a sprinkler on a humid day. It was flavorless and slightly damp, with a less than appealing texture.

THE DOG
My spicy polish dog had a little bit of spice, but the texture was pretty awful. The casing was too thick and/or overcooked, and the meat itself was dry. (If you've had Wurstkuche [or any real sausage/dog], it'll be a huge disappointment. If all you've had are Weinerschnitzel or Costco dogs [or even Ball Park or Oscar Mayer dogs that you make yourself at home], it will STILL be a disappointment).

THE TOPPINGS
The guacamole was, in the boy's words, "guacamole inspired goop," the nacho cheese was only slightly spicy but somehow completely overpowering and by the time I was half way through utterly disgusting, and the grilled onions were flavorless chopped onions that had been thrown on the grill to burn for a minute (which, by the way, was SUPER disappointing because I LOVE onions).

Needless to say, I couldn't finish my hot dog. The thought of doing so was nauseating. It was also unnecessarily messy, as in all the sticky, goopy toppings were constantly falling over my hands. (I don't mind mess for something that tastes good, but mess for something that's as nasty as my Ozzy dog is just excessive and cruel).

The boy didn't finish his either. The pastrami was just poor quality meat, and he later said the best part was the lettuce and tomatoes.

Bottom line? This was one of the worst meals of my entire life :(

More pictures for your viewing pleasure...

The line.
The dogs.
The chili cheese fries. Yucky yucky...

Drawing Dilemmas

"Passage" by Amy Cutler. Oh, if only I were half as talented...
I just finished up the final touches of my latest drawing project. It... didn't turn out quite as I hoped it would which leads me to believe that I still suck at drawing and I will need many more hours of practice before I can get the worlds in my head transfered accurately on paper.

In any case, this particular project was to be anything inspired by one of 50 or so artists. I chose Amy Cutler, whose style of fine art is illustrative and somewhat bizarre. I like it a lot. My drawing is neither illustrative (it borders on cartoonish...) nor bizarre. Well that's a lie. The concept behind my drawing I actually like a lot, and it is quite strange. Just not as out there on paper as I had imagined it to be in my head :/



And when did it get to be 4:40 in the morning?? Aughh...

An Update

This week I had delicious Thai food in Glendale. I also had dinner with Kim at the 2-9. Kurt visited, which was a lot of fun. We went to Wurstkuche before picking up 6 40s and playing Catchphrase/Guesstures/Scattegories. Kevin and friends stopped by, which was entertaining. Zombie Flux followed. Then I baked a cake. The highlight of Friday was Kim's birthday dinner. I drove myself and friends to Newport where we had an extremely tasty home cooked feast (no joke), and played such things like pool, Mafia, and some game called Pyramid. I'm looking forward to an upload of polaroid pictures from the party - some of them were pretty fantastic. Saturday was spent mostly at the Mission Viejo Lake where the highlight was chasing aquatic birds while kayaking. Blokus occurred as well. Contented lazing filled in the gaps. That night I had an adventure picking up Jimmy from Union Station, and then I got hardly any sleep (such is the trend lately) before waking up at 6:45am to drive 2.5 hours to go snowboarding. Again. After snowboarding, I stopped by KSCR Fest (which was awesome, yay Emilie [and friends]) before eating a late dinner and crashing. I was exhausted.

I'm still exhausted.

I'm also waiting.

The picture is from the drive back from Big Bear. I don't feel like putting up more at the moment. Maybe later.

Day By Day

It's been a rough few weeks.

On a happier note, Spring Break was pretty spectacular. My favorite moments include a spontaneous trip to California Adventure, breakfast with my Dad, a beach day with Ann, dinner with my Mom, hang time in beautiful Irvine, and a whopping seven hours of no-break snowboarding. I'm not exactly enthused to be back at school, but this tends to always happen after Spring Break so I guess I should be used to the feeling by now. Oh well. Seven more weeks, then it's onwards with life I go!

I Love Tucson

My second trip to Arizona was, although different from the first, just as fun and probably more relaxing.

Highlights include a lot of hiking, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, 4th Avenue, hanging out with Emilie's family, Book Stop/thrift shopping, movie watching (The Informant and Bottle Rocket), Auld Dubliner, and a plethora of delicious homecooked fare. We also ate out a few times, namely at Guadalajara Grill which was both fun (they make their salsa tableside) and delicious (homemade tortillas and unusual menu items = win), and Bumsteads where I, the pretentious sandwich eater, had a delicious sandwich.

There's so much to love about Tucson. Like how welcoming Emilie's family always is and how it's never hot when I visit (on this particular trip it was borderline chilly and all of Tucson's usually drought ridden rivers were full/flooded). I also love the flatness of the landscape and the fact that the region is surrounded by mountains - everywhere you look the view is scenic and beautiful.

With that said, it's good to be home. Jimmy picked me up from the airport and we swung by Wurstkuche for a late, tasty dinner. The next day I took my time leaving for Irvine, stopping by the pool before even reaching my house. The plan was to go out for St Patty's Day, but when I finally got home my mom was really sick so I ended up doing errands and helping her out instead. I did head over to Lollicup for a bit, eventually.

Today was going to be a beach day, but it's so peaceful in my house right now. Los Angeles is always noisy. Irvine isn't. Irvine is quiet, calm, and serene. I love Irvine. I think I'm going to spend my afternoon working on my orchestration project instead. :)

Here are a few Tucson pictures. Most of the pictures I have are from the hikes/Emilie's backyard so there isn't much variety!

Emilie's backyard.
Hike #1 - Sabino Canyon
Hike #2 - Ventana Canyon
Hike #3 - Wasson Peak

LA Art Walking

So a few days ago I stopped by the LA Art Walk, starting at the rooftop of the Independent. It was a lot of fun! The art itself is pretty hit or miss, but the atmosphere is great. For dinner I ate at Blossom, a Vietnamese restaurant I had heard about via Yelp and randomly came across while going from gallery to gallery. I had Bun, Tom, Cha Gio, Bo Nuong (aka Vermicelli with Shrimp, Egg Roll, and Steak) - one of my favorite dishes that I usually get at Thanh Binh II. Superrrr tasty. Super super tasty. I was a fatty and finished the entire bowl. And then I was more of a fatty and got a huge cup of frozen yogurt at Yogurt Land. It's fun being a fatty sometimes. :)

Tomorrow I'm flying to Tucson for the first half of (my last) spring break (ever). I'm excited! It should be a lot of fun. For now, here are some more pictures from the Art Walk...

Live art by Robert Vargas

On Flowers and Dogs

I hate them. They're a weakness. I automatically smile when presented with flowers, and I get giddy with joy when I see a dog. The fluffier the dog, the more joyous I become. The more unexpected the flowers, the happier I feel. And then people use it against me. And I can't help but smile. :(

Almost Crunch Time

Three Objects of Interest (Pen and Ink)
So apparently there are less than two months left this semester. That blows, especially because I haven't been able to practice voice for the past two weeks. I usually enjoy losing my voice (huskiness is fun!) but right now I'm anxious to get it back. Plus my throat still really hurts. Maybe I'll go to the health center tomorrow to make sure nothing serious is up...

Yesterday (Saturday) Emilie and I drove up to Snow Summit. We took four hours total of snowboarding lessons which I personally thought were REALLY helpful. I'm also glad that I had snowboarded a few times sans lesson, though. It made it so I wasn't nervous during the lesson(s), just excited to learn.

Our first instructors were an interesting juxtaposition of super chill and informative/mildly condescending. Our second instructor was a nice combination of chill and informative, without the mildly condescending.

And now I'm semi snowboard obsessed. Granted, I have been wanting to snowboard for years (a decade? How embarrassing...) now, and seeing myself progressing quickly (it comes pretty naturally for me) gets me extra excited to get really good. Good enough to do (double?) black diamond runs, at least. Maybe by the end of next season? Now THAT would be cool.

I'm trying to figure out what the most economical way of learning how to snowboard would be. I'm debating a season pass (if I get one after the 15th it'll be good all of next season as well), but they're pretty expensive. I'm definitely going to get gear... but I'm going to hold off until I try skiing (on the off chance that I love skiing more than snowboarding).

Ski poles kind of scare me, though.

I posted a really awesome snowboarding video on my Tumblr. The first girl in the video (Victoria Jealouse) is REALLY good. Super inspirational. Yay!

I just finished my drawing project for tomorrow (headphones, snowboarding gloves, and my purse - in case you couldn't tell) and an orchestration quiz. I need to seriously start reading The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk for lit... but it's an intimidating (albeit interesting looking), fat, hardcover book and I'm really, really tired. As soon as I'm done with this post I'll go do that but there's a high risk I will just fall asleep. Which would be bad. Because I need to read it.

Gah I'm really excited about snowboarding. Once I master the basics, I plan to learn a little bit of freestyle and what not so I can ultimately be a better freerider. I'm a little worried about freeriding because I hate heights... but maybe I'll get over it by then. I found a board I really like. It's supposed to be a really good board to learn/progress on. I think I've picked out some good/decent bindings to go with... and for boots I'll have to go try some on. I already have outerwear, goggles, and gloves so that's no big. I might get a new beanie. The one I have is a little bit small/thin (it isn't really made for snow).

But like I said - I will try skiing first.

I also came across an awesome looking 11 day ski/snowboard tour (!) in New Zealand (!!) during their winter season (August/September) complete with helicopter lifts (!!!)... but that won't be for this year. That's for next year, after I've gotten the basics down and have risen to an intermediate level of sorts (hopefully), and after I have money to shell out on the trip.

Ahhhhh but snowboarding! In New Zealand!!

Anddd now I'm done.

EDIT: Changed my mind about the bindings. Going to get these instead :P