LA

Reasons I love LA:

(1) the weather
(2) it's so lovely to take walks where I live
(3) cats just hanging out, beautiful and sweet cats that I can pet
(4) my spacious apartment
(5) veggie grill
(6) quiet
(7) farmer's markets
(8) beach -- though I really do need to go more
(9) yoga --as a moving meditation... not just something to fit into your schedule
(10) hills

NYC

I miss you NYC. Even when I felt lonely there, it was beautiful, special and meaningful. Being lonely in LA is just being lonely. But like all new things, it takes time to get used to so while I  will keep missing NYC, I'll be open to my new home.

East meets West?

I decided today that I'm going to leave my blog open while I'm at work. I have all these thoughts and it's nice to get them out. I carried around a notebook for awhile but it's hard to whip it out when I'm at work. Typing into my blog is easier to hide because I can just minimize the window if I hear someone walking by.

I ate a butterscotch See's pop and then I had some Asian candy (matcha/milk chewy thing and a menthol lemon hard candy). They were so different and I can't say what's better. That's how I feel being Taiwanese but born and raised in America. I like both sides of my cultures and I can't say if I like one more. I guess that's good. I like embracing all of me.

If it makes you happy...

"Happiness" has been on my mind a lot recently. I'm not saying I'm a mind reader but I'm hypersensitive to people's feelings. I can always pick-up on someone's sadness, anger or unhappiness.  Sometimes when I talk to people and see them, I feel like I'm watching from afar and watching in slow motion. A lot of people in my life are so unhappy. The sad part is they act like they are. The thing is they spend so much time and energy proving to the rest of the world that they are happy. Why spend time and energy on the facade of happiness when you could just as easily be happy?

I'm not saying I myself  know the key to happiness, but what I do know is that putting happiness on hold by saying, "I'll be happy when I find the right guy/girl, finally get into shape, learn to make a souffle, buy a house, get that dream job, make X amount of money, have kids, etc. etc" is just letting someone or something else give you happiness. You should really be giving yourself happiness. This is a lesson I've been learning for the last 1+ year and I'm grateful to say, I think I'm getting it.

Must focus! That's all. I let myself rest too long. It's time to get back to all my life projects!

I have been watching the following lately:

1) All 5 seasons of "Mad Men."
2) Season One of "Downton Abbey."
3) The Masterpiece Theatre version of "Wuthering Heights" with Tom Hardy.
4) "True Blood" Season 4

All of these amazing shows have made me love acting again. It's so exciting to know that great shows are being written and that talented actor are out there working! I'm not sure if it means I will act myself in the near future but I am glad I can still love something I'm not currently pursuing. People have asked me if I watch TV/movies like an "actor." I don't know if I do. I think I watch them in a way "normal" people do. If it's good, I enjoy it. If it sucks, I get bored. But I guess I have a lot of respect for the "art" of acting and sadly, I'm not sure most people in this country do. So maybe that makes me different.


Here are some other great things I saw this year that I feel compelled to mention:

1) "Mildred Pierce" with Kate Winslet.
2) "30 Rock" (this show embodies all of my comedic aspirations)
3) "Game of Thrones" Season 1
4) "Boardwalk Empire" Season 1 (not the season finale because our free HBO ran out... no spoilers please!)
5) "Sons of Anarchy" Season 4
6) "Nikita" Season 2
7) "Desperate Housewives"Final Season

All of these are TV. For movies, I really enjoyed the movie "Greenburg" with Ben Stiller. I have it DVRed and have seen it 3 times. There are so many moments in that movie that I sometimes replay in my head because they're so genius. And I'm utterly in love with Greta Gerwig who coincidentally went to college with my cousin and her husband and they said she was always really nice.

That's about it for now. I'm not really into reviewing things. My rating system is like this:

(1) Loved it.
(2) Liked it.
(3) Meh.
(4) It's CRAP.

And I LOVE everything I mentioned above.

30!

I got the job! I know I don't want to do it forever but I feel good because (a) hard work paid off (b) a little more money and (c) I'm working with a nice group of people. Also, today I realized I really like being 30.