oblivious nerd girl
hood chronicles

Audrey is one of my favorite cat people. I am always envious of cat people because I am deathly allergic to cats and cannot have one. I would be the bestest cat lady too. Audrey also is an amazing bread maker. They make awesome breads. If I had a bajillion dollars I would have a bakery in my home. I would have my own bread maker on staff. It would be carbolicious. 

When Audrey isn't baking bread or herding cats. Audrey is also a writer who writes at audreykuo.wordpress.com. Audrey is also a community organizer who can help you raise money if your organization needs money. Besides baking bread and writing, Audrey also has a talent for holding animals, both baby animals and adult animals. That is a super awesome talent as well.  

Audrey also happens to be the new Executive Director for API Equality-LA. I was so excited to see this press release in my inbox yesterday. I can't wait for all the dope and exciting things Audrey will do at API Equality!

Oblivious meets Audrey Kuo

On this Oblivious Interview, I "meet" my good friend Isabelle aka Ish aka 1belle. Random friend fact, Ish has been on almost every continent on the globe. I find that super cool. 

<- This is one of my favorite pictures of us. We were at a Clippers game and we pulled a "tita" or "auntie" by stuffing our purses with all the plates, utensils, etc in our purses. It was hilarious and I couldn't believe we got away with it. The best part was Ish's mom was like "DO IT! LEAVE SOME FOR ME!" Notice the awkward smiles. This is how we pose in pictures because we don't know how to take normal pictures. 

Her blog 1belle.tumblr.com highlights her experience in grad school, random food moments, and currently her UN internship in Nairobi! Before I go on and on, I say meet her yourself!  Oblivious meets 1belle

Patao Pop Up is this week! Get your tickets now if you haven't done so. Scratch that. PATAO is now sold out!! 

And once it's happened, please share food posts with me because I can't make it!  I will have to live vicariously through your instagram posts people!  

In today's Oblivious Interview today Oblivious meets Patao which is weird to say since it's like I'm meeting my cousin Tony! I'm really happy to have this opportunity to do this interview with him since it's always rad learning new about folks you've know for a long time. People can always surprise you! Like in this interview Tony mentions Cat Dog! Which I absolutely loved growing up!  I still wonder how Cat Dog went to the bathroom. This is a question that has perturbed me for eternity!

But I digress. Enjoy Oblivious meets Patao!

When I first had the idea for Oblivious Interviews I wanted to get to highlight folks I knew from my oblivious nerd girl elementary and high school days.  The school I went to wasn't exactly the best private school in the valley. And at times it felt like many of us wished we were at some other school.  But for some reason those of us who graduated from that school in Panorama City have moved on to do really cool and awesome things!  Eric Solidum is one of these folks!

I remember Eric as one of the new kids.  He didn't go to elementary school with us, so if you didn't go to the elementary school next door there was kind of this divide.  There were the lifers and the then there were the kids who went to high school.  The lifers had crazy stories that we would frequently rehash, while the kids who didn't go to the elementary school next door would just nod their heads and wonder what the hell is wrong with the St. Gen lifers. At least that's what I imagined they would think.  I technically was not a lifer of this school.  I transferred in the 4th grade. But I spent enough time there, that I was put in the lifer group.  

When I moved to Orange County and did my college thing, I would occasionally see folks from high school when I would go out.  Eric was one of the kids I'd see.  He would hang out at the same spots and we would always say hello and catch up here and there.  Eric now runs Keep It Rooted out in the South Bay area.  If you need some new Spring Break gear, definitely hit them up!

Oblivious Interviews: Oblivious meets Eric Solidum at Keep It Rooted

Alfie is my fellow Virgo sister. She's the historian of our group of friends, always taking pictures and documenting our lives.  When Strawberry Farm Boy Mike and I got married and we needed pictures for our slideshow I told Mike he could simply ask Alfie for them because she had so many!

I heart this woman so much. She's an amazing artist who has a show, "All The Right Weaponry/She Verses I" opening up this Friday, Feb 21st at The Artform Studio (701 E 3rd St, Ste 120, Los Angeles, CA 90013).

She took time out of her busy schedule to do an Oblivious Interview! Check out Oblivious hearts Alfie Ebojo

I met Maya when she moved to LA a few years ago. She was friends of friends and Strawberry Farm Boy Mike mentioned that she was a part of Isangmahal, this spoken word collective we were both fans of, which was based out of Seattle.  At Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Maya's work with Form Follows Function was screened in the program "Remapping LA." Remapping combined Maya's architectural background with visual storytelling. The results reminded me of the architecture books I would thumb through as a barista at Borders.  Beautiful buildings captured in film form with the added bonus of the history and people surrounding them.  

Maya and our friend Joel Quizon, who was one of my early Oblivious Interviews, have a kickstarter campaign (The Cotabato Sessions Kickstarter Campaign) to complete their latest project.  They are four days away from raising their $15,000 goal! Check out the Oblivious Interview: Oblivious meets Maya Santos to learn more about Maya and this beautiful project. 

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!