so sweet.

michelle took this lovely picture of
a sunrise in kyahktiyo.

"tourism is destroying our natural environment...

so quick, book your plane tickets to

see it before it disappears.

yeah, we are fucked."

-hari kondabolu

@ an event i went to last week.

+ + +

matt swiped me into the dining hall before the show

and i ate 7 bowls/plates of food!

he was impressed.

 monterey bay aquarium!

gender in korea,
science-magic-religion,

anthropology of food,
 & pilates!

yesterday i had planned to go to the

kindergarten i volunteer at on tuesdays.

(susie, who actually reminds me of mrs. frizzle,

says i can come and go whenever i want.
i like her a lot. she is super creative
and is maaagical with young children.
she talks with them like they are
little explorers of the world
and is never condescending
and i like her outlook of:

"be firm...and kind.")

but after some thought, i decided i

should spend the day at the library working

on upcoming assignments.

later, i learned that a shooting occurred right

outside the school (lockdown & everything).

i would have been walking home at the same

time along the same street where

the 3 people were killed.

all it takes is "being 

at the wrong place at the wrong time."

is this what it has come to?

"you'd be happy there"

 june said to me.

hello daffodil season.

“Remember, life is kind of like a party.  You invite a lot of people, some leave early, some stay all night, some laugh with you, some laugh at you, and some show up really late.  But in the end, after the fun, there are a few who stay to help you clean up the mess.  And most of the time, they aren’t even the ones who made the mess.  These people are your real friends in life."

"i feel i know your face so well, what's your name?"

-what a professor i worship from afar

said to me today :)
he contemplates moral economies
and indigenous environmental knowledge
of mexico.

also my favorite professor, june
added me on linkedin, haha!
i love/admire/respect her so much.
i want her to be my
life adviser and teach me more about the
education systems, history, genocides of
asian countries
(she's been to every single one,
except malaysia). but after
showing her my pictures, she
and her husband are now planning a trip to KL.

my dream life/career would be designing

sustainable & educational toys and books,

cakes, cards, NGO posters, and being a part-time
accessible inclusive alternative education teacher,
part-time travel blogger
who drives a green jeep,

has an urban garden, cuttlefish aquarium tank,

and dog named Pavlova
(named after new zealand's national dessert)

and more!

"oh, is that rasquache domesticana?"
yesterday, michael and i went to see las cafeteras.

they sort of sound like a mexican
mumford and sons to me ["LATIN INDIE"].

the stage was so whimsical; it had

twinkling fairy lights and tissue flowers.
we had a really really really good time.

our professor, olga, was there too and she

smiled at us as she waltzed away with her husband.

michael "was the class clown for a while"

growing up. but now he just likes to

give out puppy tattoos and

eat wasabi pretzel balls.
- - - - -
then today, i saw an octopus. 
i was so mesermized by the way
it glided through the water,
bathed in the bubbles
and changed colors so perfectly.

i watched a tap dance to

passion pit's take a walk.

so cooooool!

after tutoring someone today,

i had an existential breakdown.

just listening to someone talk
for 2 hours about their deep feelings
about the world, cognition and learning.

something about that was so
overwhelming for me.

as we drove over the hills and through the woods,

we stopped in the tiny town of Pescadero

and split a freshly baked blackberry pie
between 14 people. we all got a fork
and devoured the most delicious pie
on the side of the street.
i got a blackberry stain on my !new! fleece
but i licked it off...heheh..

we also bought avocados (8 for 99 cents),

blue, straw and rasp berries,
then pet and fed carrots to horses.

3 day backpacking trip in pescadero!

 we tramped through the woods, slumbered in tents,

filtered creek water, hunted for fungus,
played games cuddled by the fire,

and drew ember pictures in the night sky.

it was really refreshing to get away
from santa cruz (as so many
upsetting and disturbing events
have happened in the past 2 weeks).

zucchini

leah sent me a birthday/valentine's day package!

everything was so perfect,
aesthetically packaged + wrapped in hair-yarn
and dragonfly paper~*

i *really* liked the card she painted.

reading it made me so happy 8)
t h a n k  y o u !

this is the strangest headache

i have ever had.

its lasted for over 12 hours.

starting at the tip of my skull,

it slowly made its way down

the side of my face, through my

neck and had nestled into 

a spot at my neck

where it throbs and pulsates.

Social before Birth: Twins First Interact
with Each Other as Fetuses

a perfect day for tidepooling at

natural bridges state beach!

新年快乐!

umm totoro isn't a chinchilla..

he is a forest spirit.

today i took a midterm exam, came home

& found that my acorn slippers arrived in the mail!

now i shall no longer have cold feet!

one year ago, i was in queenstown^^
we rode horsies around
where they filmed scenes of LOTR
and everything looked like a painting:

lobelia, feverfews, viola, purslane

day no. 9

i can't believe sally is 20 years old.

she finally grew some hair.

 kindergartners *really* like this necklace.

they stare and grab at it.

melaka & tanah rata; malaysia.

purslane day no. 6

feverfew day no.6

for my cyborg anthropology class,
i am writing a paper on virtual pets and
exploring how children's engagement with them construct new possibilities for morality, intelligence and intimacy in an increasingly digitized consumer world. i'll look at the process of how young children develop cognitively, socially
and emotionally and make sense of reality
as they interact with and nurture "techno-intimacy"
with creatures that transgress the fluid
boundary between technology and biology.
(with an emphasis on the agency exercised by virtual pets).

"i don't play with it, i take care of it"

-a preschool girl in finland,
referring to her Tamagotchi.

10 beautiful things created by animals

purslane day no.4

the best and simplest cake.

:)