oblivious nerd girl
hood chronicles

Today is Strawberry Farm Boy Mike's 33rd bday. I called it his "jesus" birthday since that's the age jesus did that whole dying for our sins business.  Other folks have called it "Kareem" birthday for the great legendary Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  It's been Mike birthday month. 

I consider our DC confercation his birthday trip.  We did dinner at Blue Bayou at Disneyland last Saturday.  He had the Steak Strip and I had the Herb Crusted Rack of lamb.  We both agreed my entree won for yummy-ness. In fact we were supposed to share, but then I didn't want to share anymore. That's how good this rack of lamb was.  

Thanks to Game Stop trade ins, coupons, and some cash from me, Mike picked up the latest Google Nexus 7 tablet.  He had been debating on picking it up, but we also have an ipad mini and an hp tablet in the house.  In the end a boy wants his toys, so I indulged him.  Also it meant that the ipad mini is now officially my new toy, so score for me! I can read, write, and gallivant with me.  I shouldn't say gallivant, since it really is supposed to assist me with my writing productivity, but if I'm being completely honest I use it for reading and facebook. :-p

What do you get for the guy who typically buys everything he wants before you can surprise him?  Well tshirts that he didn't know exists! 
 So the three shirts I picked up from Red Bubble were a power glove from The Wizard. 
"I love the power glove. It's so bad"

Rad Racing from the movie RAD. Full disclosure. I find this moving appalling. The old hifi roomie Paolo and Mike shared a love for this movie that I could not understand. I hated when this movie was on the tv.  I hate the song "Send Me An Angel" because of this DUMB SCENE.  Yes that's Lori Loughlin bmx bike dancing with the lead of the movie. UGH

And finally a shirt from Mike's most favorite video game of all time, Earth Bound.  He actually just bought it for Wii U and was playing it recently.  I knew that I had found the perfect shirt when I saw this design. And he can wear it to Dodger games because I got it in Dodger blue!

Another part of his gift was something I put together where his friends and family could share memories and give him birthday greetings that I put in a green moleskin notebook.  It was the "card for his present."  Mike does so much for so many people that I wanted to be able to let those folks share how much he means to them. 

As the founder of Sessions LA, Mike has been there in some way to support the program in some way shape or form.  Sessions LA has hit their goal of $5k in one month, but how about you help them raise a little more? In honor of Mike's birthday donate what you can here: SESSIONS LA Summer Institute Campaign. 

Also today's Oblivious Interview is with the current Director of Sessions LA Phatrick Huang aka DJ Phatrick!  Support good music. Support the youth. Support Sessions LA!

On Oblivious Interviews today meet Jaffar Osmam aka Hookah Papi. Jaffar is a former Sessions LA student turned instructor. This kid has gone from a verse on the original mixtape to hosting Sessions LA's monthly showcase Freestyle Fridays.



I'm super excited to get the chance to highlight this dude.

Strawberry Farm Boy Mike does not let me indulge in my randomness sometimes. I can be a bit silly. I'm in DC to gallivant. He's here to work. Thus the term "confercation." 

It's been a hectic two days. We went from a Friday night wedding straight into a 6am flight. Then it was tourist mode!

The last time I was on the east coast was 2007. DC has changed so much since then. We're staying in Chinatown and I remember the neighborhood feeling like a Chinatown. Somewhat shady with random tchotkey stores. Now it's full on gentrified. My marker of gentrification? Urban Outfitters is across the street from Walgreens.

We've already been to this Dunkin Donuts two days in a row. Yes we've only been out here for two days. Yes I plan on going there again. I heart their delicious breakfast sandwiches. I've finally learned my lesson and am trying, desperately trying not to eat dairy out here. I used to be good about my lactose intolerance, but I've been tempting fate lately. No bueno when out of town.

Many thanks to Dee, one of our UCI homies and one of Mike's grooms women. Her and her gal took us out to dinner in the ktown of Virginia and have us an evening tour of DC. Things I've learned here:



* You are not allowe to cook your own meat at kbbq. Aunties in fancy uniforms do it for you on a hot plate style grill. They don't use the grill set up in the table!



*I am not used to greenery. When I was in Irvine this also tripped me out. My home equals concrete jungle and some palm trees. Seeing so many trees and foliage trips me out!



There will be more posts to come. My goal on this trip is to add 20,000 more words to the draft of a novel I've been working on for the past year. Let's see how this writing business goes. Internet is spotty so I will try to chronicle my oblivious adventures and thoughts!

On Oblivious Interviews meet Ali Bhai. He's an instructor for Sessions LA!  Sessions LA is currently in the middle of their Summer Institute indiegogo campaign. They need to raise $5k in 1 month. Can they do it? With your help they can! 

Support Art. Support Youth. Support Good Music. Donate Here: Sessions LA Summer Institute 

When I was a kid I lived life fearlessly oblivious.  Living this way scared the crap out of Mom and Pops.  In fact I was a bit of a wanderer. 

This really should have been my childhood anthem. As a child I would get distracted and slip away from my parents and walk off. 

Once, while we were shopping at the old Adray's in Van Nuys, I was playing with a bouncy ball. One of those balls that cost a quarter and come from a grocery store toy machine.  The bouncy ball slipped from my fingers and rolled into the driveway of the store.  I ran after my ball and picked it up, just before a car braked and stopped before hitting me.  I smiled as I picked up the ball. So happy that it was back in my possession. On the other hand, mom and pops lost a year on their lifespan because I nearly got smashed by a car.

Our family loved going to Redondo Beach. The uncles would bbq. The aunties would hang out. The kids would play. My version of play would include wandering off.  At the Redondo Beach Pier something caught my eye, I'm not sure if it was something shiny or a bird, but I followed it.  One moment I was hanging out with all my cousins, the next minute I was gone.  

My parents found me in the middle of the boardwalk people watching.  I wasn't afraid. I wasn't scared. I was simply milling about.  Poor Mom and Pops. They lost another year on their lives because of this incident.  If those monkey leashes had been invented back then, I'm fairly certain Mom and Pops would have had me on one of them.  It would have prevented them from a lot of worries. 

As I grew older and got a few knocks on me I learned to be afraid. I learned to be weary. Essentially I learned to fear.  Which sucks.  When it came to writing I would get so daunted with the whole process and stop before I even started. STUPID FEAR. But these days. I choose to not let it win over me. 

In a conversation with bff Jen, she lamented how summer was halfway over. Our summer started in mid-June, since the university we work at had graduation on Father's day weekend. So really it's early in our summer.  But to her summer meant she was going to get on track with her artistic endeavors.  The current month of July meant she'd done no work towards her art.  It reminds me of fear. Her laments sound familiar.  They sound like mine when I would freak out over the writing process and sabotage my way into doing nothing by dwelling on the time that has passed.  

It reminds me that fear sucks, but we either choose to let it get to us. Choose to let it prevent us from getting our dreams OR we choose to push forward. Choose to work towards those goals.  Have I worked on that fictional novel? Not in a while. Does it bug the crap out of me. ABSOLUTELY.  But other projects have come about and I am excited with the pieces that are coming out of those projects. But I will not let the fear stomp out my novel goal.  I will find that little kid that liked to wander. She  is still somewhere inside of me.  She still likes to wander. She's still obliviously fearless.  She still likes to stand on the armrest in a Jane Fonda outfit and leg warmers like it ain't no thing.  

Fearlessly Oblivious Forever.

The Monday after a long holiday is always rough, but this Monday is an exciting day. Why? Because it's the day The Park's Finest BBQ will be featured on Diner's, Drive-In's and Dives!!

Pretty soon we won't be able to get a table at the restaurant, but it's all good because it's the culmination for all their hard work!

I'm also excited because my 2nd Oblivious Interview has gone up!  Oblivious meets Edren Sumagaysay.  When we first met we were fellow valley folks who knew the same Filipino kids. He didn't really like me then, but it's probably because I was an annoyingly earnest college student. Since then we've become friends and I've gotten to know him. He's a cool dude. 

Edren helped push me to embrace my identity as a writer.  Before our conversations I was someone who dabbled in writing.  I am now the writer I am today through his strong words of encouragement aka our many "JUST WRITE" conversations.  Well here I am writing and here is Edren Sumagaysay!

Send Sessions LA some love. I am super proud of a former Sessions LA youth/instructor who is my first mentee and now a college grad. 5 years ago Laurent thought college wasn't for him, but too many folks in the community wouldn't let him fail.  This past June Laurent graduated and although I couldn't be at his graduation because I was working one for my day job, I  am ecstatic.  Yes Laurent is a Sessions LA success story. A knucklehead like Laurent stayed off the street by hanging out in Strawberry Farm Boy Mike's old SIPA office by being the first Sessions student learing how to dj on Mike's turntables.  

They are currently raising funds for Sessions LA Summer Institute.  What is that? Here's what's listed on the Indiegogo campaign:

What is the Sessions LA Summer Institute?
Sessions LA's Summer Institute is a 3-month intensive summer music program organized and run by Sessions LA.  It is targeted to youth ages 15 to 20 years that have either some musical training or have participated in our Fall & Spring Sessions program.  The Summer Institute's goal is to draw from and build upon the beginner & intermediate level DJ, Production, Recording, and Writing / Vocal Performance skills learned in our Fall & Spring Sessions to produce an original album focused around the theme of "Roots".  Through this process, we hope that the young artists can not only improve upon their music performance and technology skills, but also will find a stronger voice in using their artforms to tell the stories of their community.

Support more success stories like Laurent. I currently have a deal with Jaffar, a former Sessions LA student turned Instructor, that if he graduates from college I will cover a ticket to Disneyland. At least 2 other folks are in on this deal (I'm looking at you Ali and Bev!)