Oblivious meets Edren Sumagaysay

This is Edren. He is either writing or gaming.

Edren Sumagaysay is not someone I went to high school with, but is related to a couple of people who went to St. Gen's with me. In fact that was our common point of conversation when we first met a really, really, long time ago.  When we were in college Strawberry Farm Boy Mike was the coordinator for a API conference. He invited Zero 3 to perform.  Zero 3 was a 3 person performance group that consisted of Edren, Traci Kato-Kiriyama, and Kennedy Kabasares.  Due to unusual circumstances Zero 3 did not perform at the conference. Instead they were tabling and hanging out.  Somehow this led to hanging out at The Anthill Pub (similar to how I met John Castro). 

Through that gr818 valley connection we figured out we are related in that Filipino way where everyone is related through marriage, etc etc.  Our friendship formed over hanging out at Tuesday Night Cafe, drinks at the now closed Weilands, drinks at Bar Nirvana, ballroom dancing lessons, and conversations about writing.

Edren has always been a quasi writing sensei for me. In grad school he convinced me to join The Writers Workshop. In our conversations I shared that I would always pick up and put down writing.  Edren challenged me to write for an hour each day. It didn't matter if it sucked, all that mattered was that I write.  The Writers Workshop was writing as practice, honing skills. I accepted and ended up writing Laughing Through The Tears through that first session. 

While I don't participate in The Writers Workshop now, I do write. And I have Edren to thank for that!  Edren is also part of The Park's Finest who will be featured on Diners, Drive In's and Dives with Guy Fieri tonight. Check your local listings and catch the show!

So here's the man, the myth, the legend himself: Edren Sumagaysay

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The guy behind the guy, that's Edren. Also that's Johneric and Christine. And STEVIE WONDER picking up some delicious The Park's Finest bbq!

Affiliations (arts org, fun things you do, etc) :
-Today, I'm the Public Relations/Social Media Manager and Human
Resources for The Park's Finest. I'm also the Executive Editor of
theundeniables.org. In the past, I've been a Case Manager for SIPA, a
ballroom dance instructor for Cotillion Creations, a writer/performer
for zero3, an actor for hereandnow, a manager of a strip club (can't
name them because of the NDA), and a dancer for Sarindiwa. An
ex-relationship on the romantic tip didn't find these affiliations to
be 'boyfriend' qualifications, so she said 'I love you, too' and left
me. What a bitch.

What's the one word you are guilty of using too much?
 Bitch.

How did you end up doing what you are doing now?
I'm pretty sure that everything on Monday plays a part with what
happens on Friday. Even waking up a minute after the alarm goes off.
Sends a person down a direction that wouldn't have happened had a
person woken up a minute earlier. The little innocuous things on
Tuesday has inadvertent influence on Saturday, and so on. Fucking
butterfly effect, yo. For me, I dropped out of high school, but I
still wanted an education. So I'd read a lot books, I tried a lot of
new and different things, and eventually, I am where I am because of
my Monday.

Edren reading at Cheryl and Wizard Cy's wedding.

Dogs or Cats, who wins? Why?
Dogs will do anything for food and friendship. They are extremely
loyal. Some would even die for their owners. For us humans, that's a
rare quality to find. I still like cats better, though. They're
selfish, lazy, and manipulative. Cats are more familiar to me. They
remind me of us.

What is the best part of any given day for you?
The morning. The few minutes before I wake up. It's the starting
gate, ready for action in consciousness with motivation from some
weird dream in unconsciousness. It's also the time when I'm the most
happiest.

What is the last thing you searched for on google?
Porn. But I use Mozilla for that. So if we're talking Chrome, I
searched for "that China Beach episode that went in reverse". And I
found it! It's called, Holly's Choice and it's about a red cross
volunteer, played by Ricki Lake, who had an abortion and how she and
her friends dealt with it in the middle of the Vietnam War. But it was
done in reverse! Like the movie Memento. I saw that episode when I was
a kid and the way they presented the story was amazing to me. Made me
believe there are a hundred different ways of telling the same story.
And that is why there are so many artists.

What is a memorable project that you are working on or have worked on?
theundeniables.org and The Writers Workshop. It started off with a
couple of drunk dudes in a corner booth of a bar that doesn't exist
anymore and somewhere along the lines turned into an international
writing group. We gutted it recently because we wanted to keep it
close to the hip, but to see how it grew without us expecting it to,
that was memorable to see. I would even go so far as to say, The
Writers Workshop had a tiny hand in this Obliviousnerdgirl's
conception. It's what happens on Monday, you know what I mean.

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In a zombie apocalypse who would you want on your survival team?
 Just someone who knows how to farm and someone who is a mechanic.
Because killing zombies is easy. But creating food and creating
utilities is invaluable.

What is the best thing or meal you ever ate?
After a three day session of Dungeons & Dragons, where we were
sustained on potato chips and soda, we went to Beef Bowl to get some
beef bowls. That beef bowl was the best thing I've ever eaten in my
life.

Aren't you glad you got to know Edren? Wouldn't you want him to be your neighbor? Your awesome writing, Dungeons & Dragons playing, ballroom dancing, badass reading neighbor. He's got lots of things going on. Besides The Park's Finest BBQ gig and theundeniables writing; Edren's also the other half of the podcast 3AM with Jenny & Edren.  If you like drunk shit talking then their podcast is perfect for you! 

Know someone I should talk to? Email me at obliviousnerdgirl [at] gmail [dot] com and send me their way!