Oblivious meets Yumi Sakugawa

I first met Yumi when she was volunteering for Tuesday Night Cafe. It wasn't until years later that I found out we had a random connection. She actually was in a Asian American theater group with my bff Jen called LCC. 

I've been a big fan of her work for quite some time. In fact I didn't know this but I had a piece of hers hanging in our staircase/art gallery section of our house.  I won a painting of Yumi's through a Tuesday Night Cafe silent auction!  She's an awesome artist who's currently on a Valentine's Day book tour for her book "I Think I Am In Friend-Love With You." The book is amazing and you should definitely pick it up at your local bookstore and mayhaps an Urban Outfitters!

Without further ado here is my Oblivious Interview with Yumi Sakugawa!

---

Name(s): 
Yumi Sakugawa

Affiliations (arts org, fun things you do, etc) : 
L.A. Zine Fest exhibitor and part-time volunteer, comic contributor for The Rumpus, former volunteer now lurker of Tuesday Night Project 

What's the one word you are guilty of using too much?
It's a tie between "awesome" and "like." I'm a So. Cal gal. 

How did you end up doing what you are doing now?
Years of doodling, reading comics, worshipping Sailor Moon, breathing in way too much Sharpie ink pen fumes and being a mediocre art school student. 

Which member of the Wu-Tang Clan best describes your personality?

I am so embarrassed that I don't know how to answer this question. I will say, however, that out of all the Sailor Scouts in the Sailor Moon universe, I'm totally a Sailor Saturn and if I had to choose between Rei and Asuka, I am such a Rei. 

Dogs or Cats, who wins? Why?
In a war for my love and affection, dogs win hands down. Because I need lots and lots of unconditional love.  

What is the best part of any given day for you?
Anytime I am in a mindful flow and completely accepting of the present moment. It is cheesy but it is completely true. 

---

Favorite Buzzfeed list or quiz? Why?
This is the easiest question for me to answer. Because NOTHING, NOTHING can ever top this BuzzFeed list on The Baby-Sitters' Club:
The Definitive Ranking Of All 131 Baby-Sitter’s Club Cover Outfits (link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/the-definitive-ranking-of-baby-sitters-club-cover-outfits) 

In a zombie apocalypse who would you want on your survival team?
My partner David. Because without him, I would probably be eating a lot of contaminated food and drinking a lot of contaminated water without knowing it. This applies for non-apocalypse scenarios, too. 

What is the last thing you searched for on google?
I momentarily forgot how to spell "fumes." For some reason I kept thinking it was spelled "humes." I think it was all those adolescent years of breathing in Sharpie ink pen fumes. 

If you could talk to your high school self, what would say?
I think I would have a list of all these aspirational things I would want to say, like "love yourself" and "don't be so hung up about finding your soul mate," and then I would take a look at my high school self, completely forget everything I had planned to say, and then simply give her / me a big, long, wordless hug while she / me cries into my shoulder. 

What is the best thing or meal you ever ate?
Pretty much anything my mom makes is the best thing or meal I've ever ate. As far as non-homecooked meals go, right now I am way too obsessed with the tsukemen ramen at Tsujia Annex on Sawtelle. 

What is a memorable project that you are working on or have worked on?
Right now I'm working on a short comic story about a young woman who is nervous about telling her parents that she had just gotten very intensive cosmetic surgery. I'm hoping to get that all done by L.A. ZIne Fest. 

---

I completely agree with Yumi on her Babysitter's Club buzzfeed list choice. It is pretty spectacular and I believe all of Claudia's outfits should win all the awards. 

If you have the chance to check out on her tour, please do! But if you can't make it out to your local bookstore there is always the internet! You can pick up "I Think I Am In Friend-Love With You" on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.