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!