I've spent most of my time daydreaming about Samoa since I've been back, and last night I got this wicked craving for some pagi popo (Samoan dish- coconut bread) after I watched an episode of "Bizarre Foods" on the Travel Channel.
So I whipped some up.
This morning I got up, half-awake wandered into the kitchen, and just as I got there my mom breezed past me with with a plate of the pani popo yelling behind her "I've made a new friend for you!"
Still half-asleep, still confused, I take out my retainer, pat down my hair, and follow her into the living room to find an unmistakably Polynesian man eating the pani popo.
"Talofa lava," he said. I tried to carry on with him in Samoan, but then realized he was Tongan. I felt stupid, but I had just woken up, alright? Anyway, after we talked for a while about our experiences eating pig, who's nicer between Samoans and Tongans, and other various topics, we reached the conclusion that I need to go stay with his Mom in Tonga.
So I guess he was next door at the neighbor's house... and my mom saw him and invited him over? I'm still confused. Inviting a total stranger into your house to feed and then introduce to your daughter- makes me think my mom might be more culturally Samoan than I am.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
ACL recap from someone who isn't paid for their opinions but dishes them out anyway
Last weekend I went to what might be my final ACL fest. I've been every year since the very first one (minus last year), but they're just getting more and more congested with people, and I just don't do crowds. It's hard to get lost in your favorite song when you've got people yelling over the music, when you're staving off a case of the black lung from all the dust, and all of Zilker Park is essentially a big fat sweaty mosh pit.
With that said, here are some ACL highlights:
What Made Milwaukee Famous.
Friday I went with my friend Astrid (from Germany) and it was her first ACL fest, and this was the first show we saw. Since it was in the middle of the day, we basically walked to the front and watched the show with plenty of standing room. It was a pretty awesome show too-- the lead singer's got some pipes! And later we even met the drummer and guitarist.
Sultan- What Made Milwaukee Famous
Vampire Weekend.
They're just adorable. I think they're like the Jonas Brothers for grown-ups.
Campus- Vampire Weekend
Gogol Bordello.
They blew the metaphorical roof off of Zilker Park. Everybody likes to dance to gypsy music and that's fact.
Start Wearing Purple- Gogol Bordello
Erykah Badu.
Okay, so I had forgotten about Erykah for a while, and was expecting to just enjoy her music if only for nostalgic purposes. But Daaaayuhn! I mean, she was pregnant... and she was on FIRE!
Tyrone- Erykah Badu
Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet ft. Bela Fleck.
Okay, so when I say all this, I really mean a highlight was Ben Sollee (3rd from the Left). I was so disappointed when I didn't see his name (as a solo artist) on the lineup, but then when I went to this show and saw that he was a part of this awesome quartet, I nearly dropped a load. Plus I got to meet him later, which was another highlight!
A Change is Gonna Come- Ben Sollee
Mason Jennings.
I mean, yeah he's one of my favorite music artists, period. But it was also a really good show.
Plus, I have always wanted to be in a crowd of people singing and dancing to "I love you (and Buddha, too)"
The funny thing about that song is that it reminds me of the "Charismatic" Church (think, the Pentecostal church in Borat) I went to when I was a young'n. And we'd sing and dance and all that jazz. But I have since been turned off by that kind of church because of its exclusive beliefs and other reasons. This song sort of helps me reconnect with my severed past... in a really cool way. Maybe I should just stop talking and you should just listen to the song... maybe you'll see what I mean.
I love you (and Buddha, too)-Mason Jennings
With that said, here are some ACL highlights:
What Made Milwaukee Famous.
Friday I went with my friend Astrid (from Germany) and it was her first ACL fest, and this was the first show we saw. Since it was in the middle of the day, we basically walked to the front and watched the show with plenty of standing room. It was a pretty awesome show too-- the lead singer's got some pipes! And later we even met the drummer and guitarist.
Sultan- What Made Milwaukee Famous
Vampire Weekend.
They're just adorable. I think they're like the Jonas Brothers for grown-ups.
Campus- Vampire Weekend
Gogol Bordello.
They blew the metaphorical roof off of Zilker Park. Everybody likes to dance to gypsy music and that's fact.
Start Wearing Purple- Gogol Bordello
Erykah Badu.
Okay, so I had forgotten about Erykah for a while, and was expecting to just enjoy her music if only for nostalgic purposes. But Daaaayuhn! I mean, she was pregnant... and she was on FIRE!
Tyrone- Erykah Badu
Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet ft. Bela Fleck.
Okay, so when I say all this, I really mean a highlight was Ben Sollee (3rd from the Left). I was so disappointed when I didn't see his name (as a solo artist) on the lineup, but then when I went to this show and saw that he was a part of this awesome quartet, I nearly dropped a load. Plus I got to meet him later, which was another highlight!
A Change is Gonna Come- Ben Sollee
Mason Jennings.
I mean, yeah he's one of my favorite music artists, period. But it was also a really good show.
Plus, I have always wanted to be in a crowd of people singing and dancing to "I love you (and Buddha, too)"
The funny thing about that song is that it reminds me of the "Charismatic" Church (think, the Pentecostal church in Borat) I went to when I was a young'n. And we'd sing and dance and all that jazz. But I have since been turned off by that kind of church because of its exclusive beliefs and other reasons. This song sort of helps me reconnect with my severed past... in a really cool way. Maybe I should just stop talking and you should just listen to the song... maybe you'll see what I mean.
I love you (and Buddha, too)-Mason Jennings
On living at home...
"As a general rule, we detest what resembles ourself, and our own faults when observed in another person infuriate us....It is because the similarity is too great that, in spite of family affection, and sometimes all the more the greater the affection is, families are divided." - Marcel Proust, The Captive.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Year of the Rat
Just as a heads-up, at 1 am on a Friday night I might not be in the best state to write. But here it is, nonetheless.
I don't consider myself to be a superstitious person... BUT... okay, yes I am and I secretly believe in a lot of silly unfounded things. Secret's out. In my previous post, I referenced that this is the " year of the Rat". In the Chinese Zodiac, the story goes that the emperor at the time held a race among 12 animals, and the order of the race determines which year that animal is associated with. My animal, the water buffalo let the rat and the cat hitch a ride on its back across a river. The rat knocks the cat into the water, and just as the buffalo is about to cross the finish line, the rat leaps off its nose and finishes first. So in short, the year of the rat is associated with schemers and "rat races" while all "water buffaloes" will come far and then fall short in the end.
Anyway, things just haven't been going my way lately. First, after getting strung along by Survivor and signing contracts that essentially sold my soul to CBS, I got cut. And this has been really hard-- just because in a job/school search if you get rejected it's usually because of a lack in qualifications or something like that... but being rejected from something like this is more like getting dumped from a romantic relationship-- they didn't want me because there's something inherent in my personality that they didn't like. The whole audition process forced me to think SO much about who I am and how I could be "type-cast", and just be very conscious of who I am. Now I'm just feeling really insecure.
So then I start to move on and I get more serious about my job hunt (Disc Jockeying on the weekends just hasn't been bringing home enough bacon for me to move out of my Mom's house). I find a job opening at an outdoor wilderness program for troubled teens as a Wilderness Field Instructor. I started getting really excited about this and was even talking about going out to train for the entirety of the following week... that is until I received an email saying I hadn't graduated yet (this was about 3 days ago). I've been in hysterics... especially since I sent several emails to the registrar while I was in Samoa to make sure that I was on track to graduate on time, and they told me I was. Apparently, I just lack 2 hours of upper-level electives, and my Samoan language course counted as a lower-level elective so it didn't transfer in (but they had my course list when they told me I was good to graduate! they should have known! GRR).
Okay... so to bring things to a full circle... I started to realize how negative my thoughts have been lately. I'm just depressed. In my head, I've said "just when I think things can't get much worse, they do". The funny thing is, the last time I literally said this was in 1996. I don't know why I'll always remember that year... but any time I hear one of Fiona Apple's song from the album "Tidal" (which came out that year) all these bad memories re-emerge. I was looking back at an old journal, and I had written I feel like I'm living the life of Job*... like just when I think things are as bad as they could possibly be, they get worse. And just tonight it occurred to me that 1996 was a rat year, just like this year is.
This is the year where the water buffaloes (my animal) will come SO close to the finish line -- and then fall short (almost being cast for survivor and getting cut/ being 2 hours of upper-level electives away from graduating). The funny thing is, the things that happened in 1996 were probably more sob-worthy than the petty things I'm worried about this year, and I made it out ok. 1997 was much better. And so 2009 will be.
At least, according to Badly Drawn Boy, it will be...
*Point of clarification... I was a religious kid growing up. Job was my favorite book. Depressing?
I don't consider myself to be a superstitious person... BUT... okay, yes I am and I secretly believe in a lot of silly unfounded things. Secret's out. In my previous post, I referenced that this is the " year of the Rat". In the Chinese Zodiac, the story goes that the emperor at the time held a race among 12 animals, and the order of the race determines which year that animal is associated with. My animal, the water buffalo let the rat and the cat hitch a ride on its back across a river. The rat knocks the cat into the water, and just as the buffalo is about to cross the finish line, the rat leaps off its nose and finishes first. So in short, the year of the rat is associated with schemers and "rat races" while all "water buffaloes" will come far and then fall short in the end.
Anyway, things just haven't been going my way lately. First, after getting strung along by Survivor and signing contracts that essentially sold my soul to CBS, I got cut. And this has been really hard-- just because in a job/school search if you get rejected it's usually because of a lack in qualifications or something like that... but being rejected from something like this is more like getting dumped from a romantic relationship-- they didn't want me because there's something inherent in my personality that they didn't like. The whole audition process forced me to think SO much about who I am and how I could be "type-cast", and just be very conscious of who I am. Now I'm just feeling really insecure.
So then I start to move on and I get more serious about my job hunt (Disc Jockeying on the weekends just hasn't been bringing home enough bacon for me to move out of my Mom's house). I find a job opening at an outdoor wilderness program for troubled teens as a Wilderness Field Instructor. I started getting really excited about this and was even talking about going out to train for the entirety of the following week... that is until I received an email saying I hadn't graduated yet (this was about 3 days ago). I've been in hysterics... especially since I sent several emails to the registrar while I was in Samoa to make sure that I was on track to graduate on time, and they told me I was. Apparently, I just lack 2 hours of upper-level electives, and my Samoan language course counted as a lower-level elective so it didn't transfer in (but they had my course list when they told me I was good to graduate! they should have known! GRR).
Okay... so to bring things to a full circle... I started to realize how negative my thoughts have been lately. I'm just depressed. In my head, I've said "just when I think things can't get much worse, they do". The funny thing is, the last time I literally said this was in 1996. I don't know why I'll always remember that year... but any time I hear one of Fiona Apple's song from the album "Tidal" (which came out that year) all these bad memories re-emerge. I was looking back at an old journal, and I had written I feel like I'm living the life of Job*... like just when I think things are as bad as they could possibly be, they get worse. And just tonight it occurred to me that 1996 was a rat year, just like this year is.
This is the year where the water buffaloes (my animal) will come SO close to the finish line -- and then fall short (almost being cast for survivor and getting cut/ being 2 hours of upper-level electives away from graduating). The funny thing is, the things that happened in 1996 were probably more sob-worthy than the petty things I'm worried about this year, and I made it out ok. 1997 was much better. And so 2009 will be.
At least, according to Badly Drawn Boy, it will be...
*Point of clarification... I was a religious kid growing up. Job was my favorite book. Depressing?
My Survivor Audition: a Video!
So I deleted this post before because I signed all this stuff on Survivor saying that I wouldn't post or leak any information to anyone that I was a potential contestant. But now, that is not the case. I may post more on the casting process later...
I joked about trying to get on Survivor... but now I think, why not?
I thought it would be easy to get on the show...
A) How many people would want to be stranded at a remote and desert location?
B) The show is in its 16th season... how many people still watch it?
But apparently, the show still has a cult following... and CBS still receives truckloads and truckloads of audition tapes. And here is mine
Other reasons why I should be on survivor:
1) All my friends back at USP in Samoa are from all over the south pacific (Tonga, Fiji, Solomons, Vanuatu), are extremely knowledgeable about agriculture and their land, and could give me a crash course on local vegetation (what's okay to eat/what's not)
2) It's the year of the rat! Therefore, it's a good time for me to participate in a rat-race.
3) Cause I don't have a job.
For the Record: In the Chinese Zodiac, I am an Ox. The Chinese Zodiac tells a story of 12 animals trying to cross a river. The Rat is the first to cross, but only because it jumps on the back of the ox for a ride. Foreshadowing? I hope not.
I joked about trying to get on Survivor... but now I think, why not?
I thought it would be easy to get on the show...
A) How many people would want to be stranded at a remote and desert location?
B) The show is in its 16th season... how many people still watch it?
But apparently, the show still has a cult following... and CBS still receives truckloads and truckloads of audition tapes. And here is mine
Other reasons why I should be on survivor:
1) All my friends back at USP in Samoa are from all over the south pacific (Tonga, Fiji, Solomons, Vanuatu), are extremely knowledgeable about agriculture and their land, and could give me a crash course on local vegetation (what's okay to eat/what's not)
2) It's the year of the rat! Therefore, it's a good time for me to participate in a rat-race.
3) Cause I don't have a job.
For the Record: In the Chinese Zodiac, I am an Ox. The Chinese Zodiac tells a story of 12 animals trying to cross a river. The Rat is the first to cross, but only because it jumps on the back of the ox for a ride. Foreshadowing? I hope not.
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