keep an eye out

I'll be spending a great deal of moolah over the week, eating.
I have three dineLA reservations lined up starting this afternoon and there is a strong likelihood that I'll be adding another.

Where will this magical mystery cash come from, you ask? Nowhere that I know of. I might as well be pulling bills out of thin air. My checking account dwindles quickly before my eyes, but all I can think about is food. I, the insatiable appetite, the black hole stomach, eternally hungry.
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Since it's already old news, here is the Oscars recap as short 'n' sweet as possible.

FASHION: A majority of the ladies looked like a sophisticated version of...
BAM! Glenda the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz. Mickey Rourke looked rather spiffy in his unique, white suit. RDJr. looked equally spiffy in his classic black tux. Many men had the satin tuxedo-stripe-down-the-pant-leg action.

AWARDS: No comment, neutral. I haven't seen many of the films so I really can't protest and fuss about undeserving winners or more deserving losers. You're all amazing, putting on probably some of the best facial expressions I've seen when the camera cut or panned over to your faces watching speeches. If only I could have such a convincing face while merely sitting and listening.

SPEECHES: I am belly belly happy too for you, Yojira Takita. Here is the rest of the Departures crew speaking (some of it unintelligible but too darn cute!)


And, of course, sank you my Kunio Kato, for giving da bomb speech of the evening.

PARTIES: I wouldn't know, I wasn't invited for some odd reason. Bruincard isn't accepted everywhere.

THE SHOW: Hugh da man! I already had a longstanding love for him, my music man, but he is "off the hizzoook", for lack of more sophisticated words. Surely most viewers' gag reflexes were worked during this lavish, dramatic, and oftentimes cheesy Oscars, but i absolutely loved it. C'mon, we'd all be much gloomier people without song and dance!
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I always end up blogging in reverse, backtracking on my days. Bummer, unlike Benji Button, I'm not aging in the same way.

Saturday was a fulfilling day. I received another reality slap-check in the face upon picking up two sisters who are both regular campers at Camp Kindle--for children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS and a beneficiary of UCLA Dance Marathon. The home was cramped, far too small to accommodate the girls, their mother, father, two puppies. Appliances were basically falling apart, dusty vent on the floor taking up the whole width of a three foot hallway leading immediately into two cramped rooms. I was promptly reminded of how strong these kids are and just how meaningful the one week at camp each year is, not only for them, but also for their families.

The younger sister has ADHD. Unfortunate, yes, but also one of those situations where the CK family can laugh about it and move on. Let's just say if my car had one of those "eject" buttons, little Z would've been shooting out of my car a minute after she buckled in. Never has anyone pushed so many buttons inside my car over a span of five minutes--lock, unlock; windows up, down; radio stations galore; "What's that?", "a GPS", "Can we turn it on?", "Ohhh not right now, we're two minutes away..."; air freshener open, close. Meanwhile, her older sister sat in the back attempting to comment on the songs as they changed rapidly. The elder is stability and it's sad that she has to be that figure for the family at such a young age.

Anyway, we finally arrived at UCLA for Dance Marathon. I stayed with the Camp Kindle kids and danced for about four hours, ran to the car in Lot 8, drove to the apartment, took the quickest shower, tornadoed my room in the process of getting ready, then was off to Kollaboration, aka a CelebrAsian! All in all, the night was 100% entertaining with talented performers, amazing dance crew sets, my life saver Burger King, a dip in fun with an awful first hour at the after party, but concluding with the usual dance partaaay and me losing my voice singing along.

In related news, BoA's self-titled, U.S. debut album has been pre-ordered and been sitting in my Amazon cart for a while. I'm not quite sure what to make of
Oh! Eye muffs! I guess it's good to draw in the U.S. crowd. After all, she's not 14 years old in Korea anymore. Hopefully she doesn't get distracted and maintains the high caliber of actual dancing skill and choreography that shot her into super-stardom way back when. That was a smart move in deciding to use the American version of the "Eat You Up" MV just for intro/promo clips and release the Korean version as the official video.
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Continuing to read Beloved, Mrs. Dalloway, The Handmaid's Tale, and our film directing book for classes. This quarter is so-so. I'm anticipating the short, but much needed spring break to refresh and recharge.