AAA Presents.. CultureShock!

So last Friday and Saturday was one of the most interesting experiences to date.. The Asian American Alliance's CultureShock! Fashionshow.

Around 2 months ago, I randomly popped by for auditions for the show with Fan and Alara, and got in.. TO THE SWIM SCENE.

V Steam.

Anyway, after much putting off and hoping for the best (ie berms over speedos), it finally dawned upon me the gravity of the situation one lunch when Dike and Elliott were joking about how my speedo was going to snap cause it was too tight and hit some pregnant woman and cause a miscarriage.

I walked into our full dress (or lack thereof) rehearsal Friday night, seeing the assorted collection of swimwear available. Berms!! Woo!

Unfortunately, Robyn our scene coordinator, had much bigger (or smaller) plans for Nathan and I, the only 2 asians in our scene. I was given a pair of maroon-coloured trunks, whilst Nathan was chucked the super tight light blue speedos. Relief, much?

Nope.

It was quite chilly during rehearsals, and worst of all, our scene was immediately after formalwear, resulting in what must be quite a shock to the audience. The girls had it worst, as the total amount of material making up their swimsuits was probably the same as Nathan's speedo.

I was paired with Lauren, a super cool and cute girl (who had an Asian boyfriend!!). The other people the scene were all happy and crazy, and with 'Bad Romance' being the final walk song, they were fengdiaoing and doing all the relevant Lady Gaga zombie dancing.

Once Friday night was over at 130am, it was 6 hours of sleep before rehearsals began in earnest Saturday earry earry. We had 4 or so runthroughs, before our break.

Alara Fan Min Me, and later joined by BC Ruya Myrsini at Le Monde for such a fantastic French breakfast that albeit being in the swim scene, I could not resist and ate a crapload.

We played card games in Carman9 to wile away some time, before BUM BUM BUM it was makeup time.

I had guyliner! Haha so reminiscent of army days, with the camouflage cream not being washed off properly.

Then.. there was BABY OIL.

It was so funny we had to stand on liquid hazard spill mats, while we lathered each other in oil for the shine. The first few scenes were already up, and tensions were building to a climax.

And it was us!

We were rather... FANTASTIC lah. Like Mr Fox. Before we could release our breath, it was over! We all celebrated and became crazy and lost all manner of self-consciousness. It was great, and was definitely something I wouldnt have done back in Singapore (or pre-AW).

The night was followed by Pinkberry, and then with Alara BC Dike Me heading down to Brick NYC for the afterparty.

All I can say for the afterparty was that WOOWOWo it was the best party ive been at since coming here. Booze + Shiny happy people + NO INHIBITIONSZ = a very memorable night.

That's all, folks!

ALSO, is very amusing how all the Singaporean frens are being fengdiao on my facebook hahaha.

Nov W3: Cultureshocking

Nov 13th Fri

The Nuyorican!

Nov 14th Sat 15th Sun

Found out that Will.I.Am was DJing at a club the night before. Pffft. Its a homework-centric weekend spent studying. Theres a meet-up with Shao and some frenetic running-around-trying-to-get-to-the-correct-train-station as well, before its 2 hours in the comic store reading up on the latest releases.

Nov 16th Mon 17th Tues 18th Wed

Gateway Modelling Midterm! Bombed bombed bombed. Tuesday and Wed arent anything spectacular, oh ok save writing my final PoA essay. That class is now effectively OVER for me woot. These essays they kill me and yet make me stronger each time.

Nov 19th Thur

Cards night! Oh and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Elliott, continuing with our Thursday night movie tradition.

Nov 20th Fri

Gym in anticipation of the dreaded swim scene, before its rehearsals (and a maroon semi-speedo) before the night ends in Min's room with a final massage.

Nov 21st Sat

Cultureshock! Followed by the best party night in Columbia yet.

We Study

Yes, this is us studying. 15th Nov, if i am not mistaken.

Nuyorican

The Nuyorican.

Last Friday 13th Nov, a bunch of us headed down to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Derion organised quite well (by that i mean a good ratio heh). The crowd was Isabel Alie Amanda Uchenna Nana and we were joined by Elizabeth in middle of her Lower East Side neighbourhood and queued outside in the freezing rain.

After an hour or so, we finally got into the cafe!

It was, as the website put it, one of the most diverse places in NYC. There were people of every race and colour (mostly hipsters, i'll bet) and we arrived in the midst of the selections for the Poetry Slam Semi-Finals. Out of the 3 battling poets there, only 1 would make it up.

There was a small middle-aged woman with the dramatics of an A-lister, a gay white man with words as wispy as his character and a hispanic dude who looked exactly as you'd imagine Pitbull to be.

All of their 'poems', if you could call their fantastic ability to twist and manipulate and articulate words so seamlessly and meaningfully that, were terrific. I particularly enjoyed the hilarious Southern Baptist Church and the touching and depressing Superpowers one.

By the end of the night, the hispanic won! And very deservedly. Elizabeth and I managed to get a final photo with him (with the brick pillar that they stand in front as the backdrop).

To finish the night on the best note, we had great pizza and authentic sodas at a nearby pizza parlour. It was WOWOW and I had an olive mushroom spinach masterpiece. And it was cheap! Damn that Columbia gentrification.

Truly a NYC experience ;)

Nov W1/W2

Ok, I am slowly losing interest in keeping this blog updated haha.

But for the most part:

Oct 30th to Nov 3rd - SAN FRAN!

Nov 4th 5th - Same old school, with a LOT of work to catch up on.

Nov 6th Friday:

Gateway Site visit. Pfft. Hearts and cardgame marathon with Min Kasey Khalila and Beky. This looks to be an ongoing trend wahaha. Hearts rocks, and its thanks to the iPhone app that my flame for it has been reignited.

Nov 7th Sat:

Woke up late and stayed in for the workwork (and the impending Gateway presentation midterm zomg).

Nov 8th Sun:

Met up with Guang at Ippudo and got a haircut! Much drama around the haircut, and its end result was my getting a very OCS-looking one. There was a Pomeranian in the train on the way back, which also had its hair recently cut to look like this:

Sort of my style, but much much cuter. Hah and the owner said that when it grows out, Nikko will look like a fox!

It was a mad Gateway rush once returning, before the night ended off with CultureShock practice.

Nov 9th Mon:

Gatewaaaay, which went superbly well. I was damn impressed and amazed at our group, and final score in: 139/150! Thats above 90% woot. After that it was a fulfilling gym with Elliott Dike before the typical repetitiveness of school resumed.

Nov 10th Tues:

Walked with Elizabeth down to collect CALL OF DUTY for her brother. What a great sister you have, Frankie! I forget what tends to happen on school nights, but it generically follows this:

Lunch with Uchenna Derion Elizabeth and co.

Gym on Mon Wed Fri just before dinner with Elliott Dike

Random hangzout with Fan Min

Pinkberry with BC Alara

Random hangzout in Mudd labs with Alessandra

Nov 12th Thurs:

No Chem class! And I overslept Physics because of the 230am calc muggin the night before. Calc midterm, before it was a happy final few classes and the weekend. At night, it was BASKETBALL MANIA with free towels (no beanies) and huge queues and slightly awesome performances. It was cards night once again after all this, with Min BC Kevin Kevin Derek Harry Beky. We went crazy with Hearts Arsehole Kemps and a whole bunch of other geeky activities till 4 in the morning.

A Feng Diao Sot Diao Halloween

As per Carol's photos on Facebook...

Halloween '09.

The night started with much H'ween prep. Carol Xueling Jess came over to Jerr's, with makeup all done up and ready. Jerr and I had just came back from the city, and after the food-coma BART trip, made it to a hat store minutes before its closing.

With inspiration from the Jerragon, I bought a... BEANIE. The propeller types. Hurhur and it was multi-coloured and its green blades matched the lime green polo I was wearing. With a bit of modification (suspenders, makeshift bowtie and super red blush), I became A LITTLE BOY!

Jess went as.. an exotic bird. Of sorts. Xueling was a fairy, complete with wings, and Carol was an acrobat with the oddest of accessories: A disco ball. Jerrine was a Ballerina, and after they all donned their expensif false eyelashes (and I had my candy apple), it was a quick walk to catch the PARTY BUS.

This party bus was the first part of the fengdiaosotdiao. We sat at the back, and with the 4 girls squeezed into the 3-seater, I was forced to sit on the floor right next to the bus toilet. The wholeee trip people kept going in and out of it (sometimes even in 2s), which was damn irritating.

There was a bunch of people in front of us being all drunk and getting it on, doing the bumping and grinding and being all manners of gross. Toopid Americans. There was this 'Dane Cook' and 'Aladdin' who was hooking up with this catgirl and other various slut things. Bah. We conservative Singaporeans stared on in semi-amazement, semi-horror.

When we arrived at the warehouse for the 'Twilight' party, there were many other costumed peeps in line, and not long after, we were inside the cavernous arena. It was quite empty at first, which was a bit disappointing, but as the night went on, the alcohol levels went up and the place filled..

WITH RATHER INTERESTING CHARACTERS:

Pac Man and his ghosts. Damn uber funny they were chasing each other all over the dancefloor, and then the ghosts abandoned the Pacman to grind some racequeens.

Busty Cop (feng diao sot diao)

A Milk Carton!

Life of the Party Meter

Red Ranger! Who was grinding Catwoman. O.o (fdst)

The alcohol we got was moste potente - Long Islands that effectively had 5 shots apiece. After our first 4 cups, we were already quite bouncy and happy, but that didnt stop the next 2 and then 1 cup (1 got knocked over by earlier Dane Cook).

The music was a mix of hiphop, dance, techno and almost everything clubby. By this time, it didnt matter. It was so interesting being in a club in shorts and watching randomly-clad people bouncing all around (unlike Zouk, where there is no space for people to bounce at all).

Midway through the night, i finally succumbed to the fdst and became shirtless o.O

Haha never again can one be in shorts and topless and be dancing in a club. So shiok now I want to go to beach parties.

There was MUCH ensuing madness, such as Jerr's ballet dancing clearing out the vicinity, and sneaky attempts to get some girl-on-girl kissing going on. Heh.

Finally, the FDST pic of the night:

Wear My Party People Hat

The night ended early (145am) as we had to head to the party bus back. The sudden stop from bouncing around to sitting in the party bus made me all queasy and sick, and the ride back wasnt the best of times.

Thankfully, its the photos which will cement what happened in memory. Oh, and daylight savings kicked in so we all got an extra hour of sleep! Hah!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL.

Next year I'm going as a Pharaoh haha.

SF: The City!

Over Saturday and Sunday, I went down to San Francisco city!

On Sat, Jerr and I took the long BART down after the tanzing to meet Boey!

We arrived at the fabled Katanaya Ramen stall, and proceeded to tuck into sashimi and then TWO bowls of ramen apiece.

Ok, it was because they screwed our orders and hence gave us a brand new bowl each, whilst letting us eat the initial order :) so cool i never knew of restaurants who did that.

The soup was miso based, and was good but not as thick and meaty as I would like it (ie tonkatsu).

We stopped by a cool semi-hipsterish shop, and I was slightly more enlightened over this culture of hipsterism.

After this, we proceeded to walk around Chinatown in search of egg tarts (which were closed) but found instead AWESOME bubble tea (i had a mango smoothie, Jerr had the aloe), Little Italy and a salt-water taffy shop.

The Candies:

I marveled at the architecture of SF, in the way the buildings were all built to accommodate the slant of the hills.

After passing the Scientology and Trans-America buildings, it was a very food-coma trip back on the BART just in time for Halloween.

On Sunday, I left for the city to meet up with Boey for a proper catchup. Jerr also had to study for her midterms.

There was some drama aboard the authentic tram-ride, as a woman accused the driver of trying to cheat tourists of their money, and the tram was stopped at Pier 39 while a cop came on board to interrogate the accuser and carry her indignant self away (to much applause). Haha this America.

While waiting for Boey, it was SEALS!!

So awesomezz they fight for sunning space on the floating platforms, and wiggle around and grunt at each other when their space is threatened. Hehe so nua.

Alcatraz island could be seen in the distance, and well.. it was a rock.

Mustang!

Boey came in time for a fantastic streetside breakdance before we headed to roam the pier. We sat outside Ghiradelli Square and inhaled the wafting chocolatey scents, before heading back for some authentic Clam Chowder!

Unfortunately, it wasnt as good as hyped, and I left quite disappointed. The fried calamari and chips helped much though, and soon it was the lonely BART back to Berkeley.

When back, it was ICI! For the greatest ice cream in recent memory :)

On Mon, I dropped by Amoeba Music, an independent record store, and snagged 6 CDs and a zombie shirt! Fwah! Dizzee Rascal, Keak Da Sneak, 3EB, MGMT, Busta and ODB. I am constantly amazed at how cheap the things in SF are compared to NY. Haikkk.

SF: The SUN!

WOO!

Berkeley has the BEST sunning weather. There was not a cloud in the azure blue sky, and the cool dry air and its accompanying winds made it perfect to just lie down next to the pool or on the lawns of the university itself.

On Sat, the last day before the pool closed for the winter:

There were these 2 kids, one which was kid-sized, and the other kid-sized relative to the other kid! Haha super cute. I purposely (and pedo-ly) walked by them so Jerr could get a shot of the size scale.

Jerr was chastising me for wanting to lie on the concrete, and said that no self-respecting Californian would. They would rather lie on the moist damp gross grass. Yucks stupid Americanz.

In the end, the concrete won though, and Jerr was squished onto the tiniest of towels.

On Mon, I went to lie in front of the Tan Kah Kee building (its the same TKK as Singapore) at the UC campus for over 1.5 hours, watching as the students briskly sauntered by in-between classes.

Hai I will not be getting sun for a looooong time after this. Now I understand why the overseas peeps always want to swim when they're back.

SF Day 1: Berkeley!

I took my first intra-USA trip over the previous weekend to San Fran!

To get there however, involved much much travel and travails. There was the 2 hour Metro ride, the 6 hour flight on horribly vertical seats and the 1.5 hour BART.

The BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) btw, is the coolest shit ever! It's the equivalent of Singapore's MRT, and I recognised it immediately as the setting for Universal Studio's Earthquake ride. SO COOL! I have loved that set in particular for forever.

Once in Downtown Berkeley, it was on to meet Jerragon! I walked aimlessly through campus before she finally picked me up, and we went to a quaint (and cheap!!) Thai place for my late lunch. The meals this trip.. Super sporadic and/or alcoholic.

For our first bout of 'outdoor adventure', which was not available in NYC, we climbed Berkeley hill to the Big C! The significance of this big C eludes me, but the sights were great and the weather was sunny and cool, and we met the Germans Bela and Nina.

A bit of fence-hugging left us 2 hours too early to see the sunset, and we wound up trekking down the steep black-slope hills for a cool drink at the iHouse.

Next up was dinner at local French tapas place with Carol Jess and Xueling, where we had the greatest most alcoholic mussels, tuna tartare and this form of bread with figs which was awesomez.

And the hype of Halloween reaches a boiling point:

Fall Break Begins!

The last week of school before fall break was spent oversleeping many many morning classes (Tues and Wed, to be precise). However, once Thursday came, it was time to let loose and partay!

Classes ended at 830, and I came back to the room to catch Fan and Min hangzing out with Elliott, before we headed to Hamdel to grab some grub.

We then headed to my new adoptive suite Wallach 3 and met Fernando Chris Rebecca Zeb for some Halloween candy and pre-TV tv. I came out of the TV coma to a pizza call by BC, and I find him outside Carman and we link back up with Fan Min for Koronet and Pinkberry.

Then.... RUSH HOUR 3!

The hugest turn-out ever included Elizabeth, Kendy Dike and Mila on top of everyone, and we struggled for lebensraum. It is so funny how the Rush Hour trilogy features interactions between an asian, a black and french people. Just like me Dike Rebs!

Once that was done, it was some fooling around before the C9ers and Hartleys headed to Pam's CEOs and Office Ho's party and boozed it up some.

All of us then ended up in Campo, where I ran into Pon Kevin Aless & Co. The night did not end till after I was all packed and ready for SF!