As she embarked on a journey to the southern end of the state, she stopped by a convenience store to stock up on snacks. The store was within 2 blocks from her departure point, her second home. She picked up 2 salty snacks, 1 sweet snack, and a cold brew coffee in a bottle. Food to munch on, caffeine for the 8hr drive, and a receipt for her assignment. 12hrs of frustrating traffic later, she had lost her mood for food, left the caffeine untouched to skip bathroom breaks, and realized she had crumbled up and tossed her receipt out of habit. But even this realization couldn’t keep her awake for a minute longer when she finally arrived at her destination, her first home. It was a slow start to a long Thanksgiving.

Follow your dream.

This is my friend’s bedroom. Last year around this time, after having a late brunch with her at Pacific City Mall, I went back to her house for the first time. My friend, whose parents were immigrated from Laos, lived in a suburban city in Arizona. She has 3 siblings, who all quit school and started having kids since they were 17. They were still relying on her parents for support.

She decided that she need to go to California and follow her dream. She said if she stayed, she will become like one of her siblings. She needed to get out of the nest, spread her wings. One day, 7 years ago,  she left her home around 3 am, drove from Arizona to Orange County in California. All she had were on the photo. Her room was still the same after 7 years. She is saving for her dream.

Follow your dream, and work towards it.

A Thanksgiving Eve poem for our neighborhood cat. We have named him George.

(Based off ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’)

Being vegan is great. Really, people never believe me, but I feel so much better being vegan. I’m healthier, I lower my carbon footprint, and I don’t hurt adorable innocent animals. I mean, really, who can look at an adorable black and white calf, or a baby lamb and want anything but a wonderful life for them? But when those cravings come, they come hard. There’s nothing like a steaming bowl of mac and cheese, a piece of pie topped with a creamy sweet swirl of whipped cream, or a cup of hot cocoa with those little baby marshmallows—all things vegans don’t get to have. Vegans everywhere wish they could just go to their local grocery store and pick up vegan substitutes to fill those sad desperate cravings, but that would be too easy. Off to the local health food store we must go. Good luck if you can make it out of there with a dime left in your bank account. It’s all worth it though to get home and have that delicious treat that you usually don’t get, that fills that craving, no animal products necessary.

Spicy Hot Pot Soup and Coffees

When I drink a piping cup of coffee, I feel like a mermaid, swirling in cream, vanilla, sugar, bitterness, completely enveloped in warmth in comfort.

When eating piping hot pot, I feel like Te Ka, the goddess of fire and destruction, ready to punch the cold in my bones into the next century.

 

 

Different markets have different roles

Receipts say it all…

 .          .         

Wait, but there’s more…

Will one store rule us all?

How come there are more festivals when seasons change?

Green Lake Park, Seattle
Saturday, November 24 | 4:37 pm

…and then she says to me, ‘I’ll take a gander if I want to!’

Mmm hmm.

Yeah, she was a real firecracker. Name was Cayenne, if you can believe it. You ever been in love, Carl?

…have I been…say, don’t you want this piece of bread?

That’s what I like about you, Carl. No nonsense. Get right to the point. People these days have got too many choices. Slows them down. Tires ’em out. I grew up next to a farm. You know what those farmers in Ottawa drank, Carl? Milk. Just the good ‘ol fashioned white stuff. Nobody thought about whether they wanted 2% or fat-free. I don’t gripe over whether somebody’s got sourdough or whole-wheat. Someone’s giving me bread, I’ll eat it, Carl. No questions.

…ah, yeah, well so, I can hold my hand a bit lower if it’s not easy for you to reach…

You’re doing great, Carl.

Can I get some down here?

Waddles, don’t be greedy. You ate that kid’s waffle cone earlier.

I’ll just, uh, drop it on the ground here and you guys can sort it out.

Waddles…don’t even think about it. Anyway, bread is bad for the duck gut.  I read it on Huff Po.

Fancy you saying that, Mr. bread-is-bread.

…I’ll just, uh, leave you two and…

You leaving that bread, too, Carl?

I think I should take up fishing.

I had originally written a story about a man walking down a crazy forest path though weird obstacles relating to my purchases, but then i reread the instructions, and it is supposed to be related to my project 2 site, so I had to make some modifications. I think it turned out OK.

 

The man opened his eyes, he was in a strange and unfamiliar place. He looked to his left and saw several buildings and storefronts, and on his right, a large sign that read “Desert Ridge Marketplace.” He was shocked to suddenly find himself in some strange place he had never seen before, and briefly wondered how he got here, and how he should get home. Thinking of home reminded him of his wife, and their small cabin in the woods, and their time spent together laughing and talking in front of their fireplace. He also remembered her spiced peaches, it was one of his favorite recipes that she had introduced him to only a few years ago, and now his mouth watered just thinking of them. Looking around once again, there was a clear pathway through the buildings in front of him, and a dangerous looking road behind, so he started walking. He first walked past a small green field with a large fountain in the middle, and seeing this reminded him of the flower fields near his home, with their running creeks and buzzing bees gathering nectar to turn into honey. He continued walking down the pathway through the buildings, and came to a long corridor, with palm trees running down the middle, and nothing inside any of the buildings flanking it. It was such a nice path that, for there to be nothing along the sides seemed strange to him, strange like a mild salsa. “Why even get salsa if it’s not going to have some spice?” he would always ask. And here he asked a similar question, “Why even have this path if nothing comes off of it?” He shrugged his shoulders and continued down the path towards a large clearing in the buildings. In front of him was a big round pad of concrete with several small holes in various places. As he stepped closer to investigate, the holes suddenly shot water into the air, and the man stepped backwards in surprise. As quickly as it came, the water left, down a small drain in the center. The man felt himself strangely drawn to stand on the pad, and to let himself get drenched in the water he guessed would return. He moved forward, and got to the very center of the circle. The small drain beneath his feet. Nothing happened. He looked around as if to ask the air “what now?” when as quickly as it came the first time, all the water jets turned back on, and sprayed water towards the sky. The man was buffeted by water and air as the jets sprayed, and he instinctively closed his eyes. Just as before, the water stopped as quickly as it started, and the now thoroughly drenched man opened his eyes. Only now before him, was not the slab of concrete, or the buildings he walked past, but a familiar cabin, with smoke puffing gently out of its chimney, and its two windows wide open letting the evening breeze roll in. Somehow, he didn’t understand it, but somehow, he was home, and looking down at himself, he was completely dry. The image of those spiced peaches passed through his mind again, and with a wide smile, he opened the door, and walked through.

She is very busy. She spent the day at work, but it felt like a ghost town. It was the day before Thanksgiving, also known to some as Thanksgiving Eve. She had too many things on her mind. The loudest and most recurring thought was “I want to go home.” She can’t go home. After work hours ended, she checked her school work and assignment due dates. She gave thanks for the lack of assignments due in the next couple of days. She walked out the office doors and realized she didn’t have time to bake or cook anything for a Friendsgiving dinner she agreed to attend that night. She opened up her frequently contacted numbers and chose the best restaurant to order a “homemade” dish. She decided to order cornbread; multiple orders of cornbread. Nathan wasn’t working at the restaurant that night, a shame since he always snuck extra butter packets into her orders. Dave picked up the phone and he was okay. He did his job. He told her it was going to be an hour before it was ready for pickup. An hour wasn’t enough time for her to do something significant, so she decided to go home, get dressed, grab a few tupperwares, a knife, and drive over to the restaurant. She walked in and asked the hostess for the status of her order. They needed a couple more minutes. She paid and sat in the waiting area, alone with her phone. Level 1037 on candy crush was calling her name. Unfortunately, a staff member also called her name to tell her her order was ready. Another day, level 1037. She grabbed the bag, went into her car, turned on the heater, unpackaged the cornbread, sliced them, transferred each piece into the tupperwares, and closed all the lids. She drove over to her friend’s house and greeted everybody, with tupperwares in hand. “Yes I made this”, she said.

My mappings site was Downtown Santa Monica, near the pier. Locals usually go there to eat, shop and have a good time. One of my personally favorite things to do is go and watch the sunset (overlooking the beach) after having a drink with friends. The following narrative precedes Friendsgiving and what happens after my experience at the grocery store…

In a sleepless daze, my friend tells me that I need to bring pie to the party. Pie? What should be in it? Should it be savory or sweet? As I battle another driver in the Whole Foods parking lot for the last space, I prevail after realizing that I make amazing pie crust. Walking in, there are carts galore. I should have brought a hand basket instead of lugging around this huge metal bin on wheels. I do not try to explore, yet go in knowing exactly what I need to get to make this pie spectacular. Ground nutmeg, organic pumpkin puree, half-and-half… wow, this is going to be good! For all of my vegetarian friends, I have to opt for coconut shortening instead of the tasty stuff: lard. Fast forward to the party in Venice. Celebration time! The best homemade pumpkin pie dolloped with whipped cream and a glass of champagne to wash it all down. Let’s all ride our bikes to the beach and watch the sunset over the Santa Monica mountains.

 

Receipt

Here’s my receipt from Whole Foods. Take a look at this narrative video I made about everything I was thinking about around the time I got this.
After that, go watch this video of this dude living his best life at my mappings site. Enjoy!

I sit and wonder why I’m here, posting a receipt,
while pursuing a degree, one that’s quite ‘elite.’
“Creative writing?” Nope, not quite! Wouldn’t that make sense?
Design it is! “Wait, what? That’s odd, you must feel pretty dense!”

It’s true, I do, for after all, I’m paying quite a bit –
That $50k is awfully big, my wallet took a hit!
But here it is: my grad school work! Posting a receipt.
“I’ll write a poem, it’s pretty bad…my degree’s quite ‘elite.’

It’s for clothes.

EN ROUTE

Bellevue, Washington

Winter is coming and with it the rain and darkness.

Suburban living, condo life. Rely on your ORCA card and the whims of the public transportation schedule to commute, catch a barre class, shop. On foot, it is too far to downtown and a 45-minute walk to the nearest stores.

At least there’s the discount grocery – good place for cherry tomatoes and kale. But it’s winter now, and the major food groups are chocolate, cookies, and peanut butter.

It was Friday morning I left my kids in the playground with their favorite nanny whome they call Aunti Zahra. I was supposed to feel relaxed. It was what I looked for. Spending a few hours in the morning with my husband without worrying about kids. It felt weird. We are not used to not having these two little monkeys around. “Let’s go get coffee,” I said. ” we can get coffee together when we picked up kids from the park, you know how much Daniel loves Starbucks. How about we go have lunch” he replied. “lunch, are you kidding me, without kids” I said. Then we both started laughing. I think we get so much used to having kids around that we miss them everywhere we go. In the end, we decided to cook to the day. Since we both hate to look for parking spaces we decided to go to Whole-foods across the street from our home. We stopped by whole foods to grab a few things. “do you want me to grab a cart” my husband said to me. “no I just need 2-3 items” I replied.  W enjoyed the Christmas music and decorations in the grocery store. I left Whole-foods with chips, Kombucha, eggs, tomatoes, two large one-gallon milk, steak, and fish. We could barely keep our balance holding all these items in hand. My husband turned back to me and said: ” I’ll never trust you when you say you don’t need a cart”. I think overall I really enjoyed my date with my husband, I think we should plan more of such fun days together;) .

Hope everyone enjoy a great Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving and long weekend! On the day before Thanksgiving, I wanted to celebrate the long holiday weekend and decided to get some dessert for myself. I was going to go to my observation site and the Union Market located at the site but I wanted to get a cheap, fast and delicious types of dessert that night. I love Union market and all the food and dessert in there, but I didn’t want to drive up to there to get a luxury dessert for that night. So I ended up going to a Korean supermarket near my house, wandered around and bought a bunch of snacks. And luckily, I found my favorite ice cream, watermelon ice bar! It is super tasty and is only $5 per box (it contains 6 bars!). I was happy with my choice of going to the supermarket and to be able to buy a variety of desserts in a short time. (I got 2 boxes of ice cream, 3 different snacks, coffee, and more) I express my happy and satisfying feeling using my 3d avatar.

 

Next Customer Please

She couldn’t move.  Tired and achy she knew exactly what was making her feel like 50 pounds of bricks were balancing on her back and stomach.  Good thing she was in the comfort of her apartment which made this familiar monthly feeling somewhat tolerable.  She’s felt this way before. She’s a pro but that doesn’t mean she’s always ready.  This was one of those times. It was too soon to be feeling so awful and she was definitely not prepared.

As the pain in her back and stomach throbbed she contemplated how she was going to obtain her essentials for getting through the next week. Good thing she didn’t need to go far to get what she needed. ” I need to go to the store” she moaned to herself.  She took a deep breath, flung herself up, pulled her long curly tresses back, and with one swooping movement, rolled the black scrunchy off her wrist, twisted her hair up and put her hair in a bun.  Off to the neighborhood store.

After grabbing her keys she paused to look around her apartment. ” What else do I need? ” she thought to herself.  “Ugh, I don’t feel like carrying a whole bunch of shit back since I am walking, so I need to get only what I need right now. Hmmm,  I do need to scour the sinks, so I will pick  up some Comet, but that’s it!”

She made her way out her front door and down her shaded block,  kicking large brown dry leaves that had met their fate after falling from the tree’s she passed along the way.  She thought to herself,  “Do I go to WholeFoods or CVS?” Both happen to be equal walking distance. ” Remember, you’re not trying to carry a whole bunch of shit back”, she reminded herself with a smile.  “Yup”, she confirmed out loud and proceeded to walk to CVS.  She had remembered her history of over speeding at WholeFooods.

Every. Single. Time.

To ensure she would only pick up what she needed, her tired and achy self-elected not to get a cart or a crate and proceeded to walk to the proper section and grab her monthly essentials. “Buy one get one half off” she read.  With no hesitation, she picked up to packs.  As she exited the aisle,  she stumbled across a familiar bottle shape she had only seen at specialty stores. When she realized that it was indeed the product she had only purchased out of state previously at a store that sould Island goods,  she picked up the bottle of Florida Water, which is often used to help with healing and aiding skin. ” Oh, I need this” she whispered out loud to herself as she picked up the bottle and tucked it under her arm.  “Focus!” She yelled quietly in her head.

Remembering she needed to scour the sinks she made her way through the aisles to pick up some Comet but soon realized the store only carried Ajax and settled for just  1 can of that instead. All done.

But just when she was about to walk over to check out,  a display for bottles of Rose Champagne at the end of an isle caught her eye, her favorite. Just then the 50lbs of brick she was feeling shifted to feel like 70 pounds piled on her back and stomach.  It was just the discomfort she needed to give her the permission to pick up not just 1 but 2 bottles and then proceed to the checkout.  “1 bottle for each location of the pain”, she chuckled to herself.

As she proceeded to the checkout, Richard a CVS employee called out,

“Next customer please.” ”

“YES!” She cheered in her head.  Her in and out, then get back home time was about to be super fast. Just what she needed and expected.

Without missing a beat, she put the two bottles of Rose, the buy one get one free pads, the Ajax and her Florida water onto the conveyer belt.

” Did you find everything you were looking for today”, Richard cheerfully asked.  Glancing quickly at his CVS nametag pinned to his vest, she smiled back and replied, ” Indeed I did, Richard.  Indeed I did, thank you. ”

She managed to get the essentials she set out to purchase and limited the number of items to be able to handle getting back to her apartment.

After her quick walk back to her apartment, again kicking the piles of fallen leaves scattered up and down the sidewalk,  one the Rose bottles was promptly opened to soothe her discomfort and she settled back into her home feeling accomplished.

” I really appreciate being so close to everything.” She said smiling to herself.

‘Now what’s close by to eat?”

Peter the Anteater, this is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.

Choose the Hawaiian pizza, and you’ll wake up on the sandy beaches of Oahu, believing whatever you want to believe.

Choose the Supreme pizza, and you’ll stay at UCI to fulfill your destiny as The One, our supreme mascot.

Remember, all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.

 

It’s Friday November 16th and the smoke in San Francisco is worse than it’s ever been. The Camp Fire rages to the North devastating entire towns, and here I am at Safeway complaining about the air quality. I am going to Tahoe this weekend to escape the city and celebrate Friendsgiving with my friends from Sofar Sounds. I am thinking about how I can observe this group further for my 281 project, as this organization is also the subject of my research; however, I decide to actually enjoy this weekend for once.

I’m really looking forward to my time in Tahoe, but first, I must deal with the smoke and the fact that I keep forgetting ingredients for my Friendsgiving dish! I had spent the day before gathering ingredients to cook a bacon and green bean dish as well as baking supplies for a cranberry dessert. Today I realize I forgot sugar, and I’m also not quite sure if the cabin has a baking pan. When Saturday rolls around, I find that there are PLENTY of sugar and baking pans, so I didn’t really have to sacrifice my lungs.

As I walk to Safeway I snag a mask to shield myself from the smoke, but it turns out it actually has no filter. As a result, I still have a terrible feeling in my chest and I begin to feel more and more lethargic. I reach Safeway, dying a little bit, and search all the aisles for these supplies. Why is this specific Safeway so confusing and small? Will I actually find these items before I feel like I have to pass out?

I end up getting everything all right and make my way to Tahoe, each mile driven gets less and less hazy. In the end, I get a clear view of the lake and a great time with friends eating some amazing food.

 

“Friday night, long week at work. I just want to go home and stress eat in bed with my cat. I guess I can stop by Ralph’s on my way home. Ralph’s sucks, but I can’t deal with Whole Foods right now. Ugh, I should be healthy though. This works, right? Close enough. CICO, IIFYM, whatever that means.”

As I was checking out at Mitsuwa supermarket, the cashier, a girl looks at her 20s,  with a great smile on her face looked at my items, and started to chat with me.

 

 

I was driven today, by the absence of office forces in my life, to travel to Gilbert, Arizona and visit my friends there. I am not working this week, I took this whole week off, to catch up with the world of homework, maps, friends, and lastly, but not Least, family, during the Thanksgiving weekend 🙂

One thing I noticed here in Gilbert is that the force of vegetation is somewhat lacking, or at least, it is not as exuberant as it is in north California. So, if I was representing this force in a map, it will be different than what you see on my map today. Vegetation will take the least prominence. But their supermarkets are the same as in North Cal., that is why I came to Target, to get some of the necessary things we needed for our friend’s early family-Thanksgiving celebration. The force of parking was very prominent at Target. If I was representing this in the final map, it will take the greatest dominant color, may be RED, as red is a strong color used to show agitation. Because it was so frustrating to find parking here today! There were so many cars here, it reminded me of a rock concert I’ve attended 35 years ago, you’ve been in one of those probably as well. Concerts where you can barely move, completely compressed by people all around, shouting, jumping, and dancing. Well, imaging that, but with cars now, minus the strobe-lights, the music, the rock & roll band. Well, I don’t know why it reminded me of the rock concert, but there were cars waiting to get in, forming a line, other trying to get out, people hurrying to get in and take any available spot; you get the picture. But inside the store, the human traffic was better than I expected, getting to where the chips were, took us weaving through the maze of isles all the way to the end of the store. Mapping this would have been very similar to my human traffic force in my final (which is not final yet) map. Then, we went all the way forward again to the soda drinks isle, this is the only water-flow force I can identify for this assignment, Arizona is pretty dried. All in all, we did this shopping happily, knowing that there was amazing food waiting for us at the house. All the thanksgiving goods, turkey, mash potatoes, sweet mashed potato, salads, pies, and my favorite one, homemade bread, and many other mouthwatering goodies. The lunch was to die for! Now, to bring this all back to the receipt, we got drinks and chips for a force of 50 people. Everyone contributed by bringing something. The host family provided the home-made turkey and my favorite home made bread. It was so nice to be there with friends and family, all enjoying a good time and good food, for the sole purpose of being thankful with each other’s company and relationship. Happy Thanksgiving or Frindsgiving week to all!!!!

A typical night after work in Japan:

“Wow it’s not even that late and I feel really tired…but I’m hungry.
I should probably cook food… *Enters Family Mart convenient store* Oh wow there’s a salad with TOMATOES. That’s healthy. Why is it so expensive to get tomatoes in Japan…okay now I’m just going to give up making food. I’ll at least choose something healthy. Okay there’s soup and…oh are these individually packaged boiled eggs…? That’s so cute. Ah, but I’m afraid of heating it up and something going wrong so let’s play it safe with just the soup.”

*Checks vitamin section*

“Wow there’s always so much when I come back at night. I guess it’s for people who’s about to pull an all nighter?”

“Ah there’s always room for dessert right? Ah red bean flavor Häagen-Dazs…or a cream puff! It’s less than 120 yen!? (1 dollar) But the seven eleven cream puff is better…Nevermind. Healthy today. I’m going for healthy. *Cashier rings me up* That comes up to be 636 yen (5-6 dollars) for a salad and soup… It’s not much…but I’m sure it adds up. Okay time to go home.”

“Oh, I’ve been a cashier here for some 5 years now, going on 6, but just part-time at this Safeway. Working in Financial District pays more – even though I do this commute from Hayward, it’s worth it. I also do performances at local theaters – musicals, you know? I sing, yeah, and I dance and act. That’s been my life since I was in high school. I was one of those theater kids, you know? I mean, I guess I still am, but the actors life is hard. I’m still not equity, no health insurance, and no guarantee I’ll get a gig, but I love it. It’s my passion and I know I have to do it because if I don’t, I’m not being true to myself, you know. My truest self is when I’m on that stage performing for all these people. That’s probably funny that that is my truest self, since I’m acting as a different character but really, that’s when I feel most alive. I recently did this one musical out in El Cerrito – Allegiance, have you heard of it? It’s a story about Japanese internment during World War II. George Takei wrote it. I played one of the Japanese prisoners, a minor role, but I got to learn how to hold one of those old-timey guns while also dancing! [laughs] It’s funny because all the male cast are gay, including me, so it’s just a bunch of gay men pretending to know how to work a gun [laughs]. Ah, crap you got me talking so much, I got distracted. I rang up red cabbage instead – that has to be voided. Gotta call my manager over, I’ll be right back, okay?”

Thanksgiving is such a joyous time of year. There’s a lot to be thankful for. I’m grateful for a wonderful relationship, good health, friends, family, employment, and a great cohort to do my Masters degree with. Every year, I celebrate in at least one Friendsgiving, which is basically a second Thanksgiving but mostly with friends instead of family. This year, I was in charge of the main dish but with one caveat. I had one friend who was strictly vegetarian and another, vegan.

First of all, I’m not a big fan of Thanksgiving foods. Turkey is dry. Mashed potatoes and gravy are only good with butter in them. Overall, the food is bland. Was I going to subject myself to creating tofurky for the sake of this holiday? I wrote a poem about this dilemma and what became of it. Please enjoy.

In today’s day and age,
People live far from their families,
When Thanksgiving comes around,
Some don’t make it home, tragically.

Friendsgiving is a pseudo-holiday,
That brings together friends,
They celebrate holiday cheer,
They consider it a godsend.

This year I was asked to cook the main meal,
Two vegetarian friends made me consider something meat-free,
What could I possible cook that’s festive and veggie,
Is taste taken into account when considering tofurky?

So I sat and I thought aimlessly,
Could I roast vegetables or throw something in a Crockp – Oh!
My mind was filled with a delicious, but non=traditional idea,
Would my friends mind if I made the humble taco?

So I ran to Safeway and gathered ingredients,
I bought onions and tortillas and potatoes galore,
The purpose of Friendsgiving isn’t about turkey,
It’s about celebrating friendship and holidays and good tidings and more.

I frequently get a boba milk tea before running errands. My narrative poem takes place at Trader Joe’s after I’ve gotten some milk tea from my site. It’s a common enough scene of me doing some shopping for food. However, the twist is that the story is told from the perspective of the food item I’m shopping for, which is cookie dough.

A major theme I explored with this project was the themes of false hope and unmet expectations. We often create stories for ourselves of what something will be like which often turn out false. In the case of our poor clueless cookie dough, the harsh realities are not only disappointing but horrifying and painful, ultimately resulting in its death. 

Poem transcribed below:

She drinks milk tea as she walks near
When she sees me, a smile appears
She reaches out and pulls me close
I can’t believe I’m the one she chose

Taking out her pouch, she checks me out
I hear the sound of freedom’s bell
Some may call this luck, but I call it fate
Beyond the sliding gate, a new life awaits

Blue skies and a warm sun that shines
Replace cold mist and artificial light
She gently puts me on her seat
In that moment, I’ve found my peace

An engine whirs, the world blurs
She’s taking me on an adventure
After a few, calm is restored
She brings me through a dark red door

Something in me begins to stir
As she grabs a pair of large scissors
Cutting me across the top
Horrified, I beg her to stop

I speak in tongues she cannot hear
Filled with sorrow and despair
She places me on a silver tray
This must be some kind of mistake

Locked within a scorching inferno
Please don’t tell me this is how I go
My chocolate skin begins to melt
I think to myself, this must be hell

This can’t be my fate
No! Wait!

Too late

I’m baked

I visit my site once or twice a week entirely out of necessity.  On most occasions I stop by Woodbury Town Center only to grab what I need as I am always pressed for time.  Lately, my motto has been quick, easy and on the go.  Dine in, dine out or have a picnic at the park, a sandwich should do the trick!

Landscape image is royalty free: Pexels.com

I happened to buy ingredients to make homemade Moscow Mules on my way back from taking a walk to my field site, Pan Pacific Park. There are countless places to get a drink close by, but sometimes it’s nice to make something that’s healthier and more cost effective.

I wrote a tongue-in-cheek series of haiku poems to narrate my walk from the park, to Trader Joe’s, and then to my house to make the cocktails. For the actual recipe, go to www.theholistichoo.com.

Grad school is stressful
Went for a walk to relax
Stopped off at the park

Tried to close my eyes
Too many observations…
My brain can’t shut up

Ugh… I need a drink
So many places close by
But… school is costly

Hmm… maybe just one…
But one is fourteen dollars
LA’s expensive!

Off to Trader Joe’s
To find some ingredients
For a Moscow Mule

Hmm, but what to use?
Ginger beer’s too sweet…
Must. Make it. Healthy.

Ginger, lemons, limes
Vodka and kombucha too
And some mint will do!

Now, the recipe
Muddle a sprig of mint leaves
Until it’s fragrant

Add one shot vodka
Or be bad and add some more
Kill all the demons

Time to add some fizz
Kombucha is so LA
But makes gut happy

Add some sliced ginger
A squeeze of lemon and lime
Stir, and stir some more

Pour in copper mug
Fill the mug with lots of ice
Garnish with some mint

Mmmmmmm, so delicious
Energizing and cooling
Tingles my taste buds

My site is an outdoor mall, and I wanted to connect my receipt to the idea of shopping and fashion. I know there were times, especially when I was younger, that I have gone shopping and I would find myself not trying clothes on because I thought that in order to pull that particular look off, I needed to be thinner. So there is this idea of wanting to look a certain way that is influenced by what we see strolling past the mannequins in the window displays. My recent receipts show that I am buying a lot of lean meats and green vegetables, in a personal effort to live healthy and stop with all the Taco Bell runs. So, in this collage I have the dumbbells, the yoga, the runway and clothes rack all meshed with the receipt unifying the separate images. And of course, the girl’s expression because sometimes that is what it feels like when shopping, eating healthy, or being told to do burpees at the gym.

All images used are royalty free with no attribution required: Pexels and Unsplash

My observation site was a park. People regularly bring food to this location to relax and enjoy themselves. One of the forces I observed, recreation, manifested itself in an interesting way. There is a pseudo-regular individual who sells moonshine at this park.

When given a receipt as part of the assignment, I thought about how most places are BYOB – bring your own booze. So I flipped it around to be bring your own food as moonshine is already available at the park. I then stitched the receipt and photo together as an advertisement for Dolores Park.

Photos are royalty free with no- attribution needed. Obtained from pixabay.com here and here.

– By Q aka Alex Duong

While going through some receipts I realized that I impulse shop at grocery stores so I wanted to write a narrative around that. On one receipt I had bought a lot of healthy items and was pretty proud of myself until I saw at the very top of the list, I managed to slip some chocolate candy into my basket. This reminds me of my observation site I chose because that area is surrounded by delicious pastry shops, chocolate boutiques and famous ice cream creameries. It is almost impossible to visit that area without leaving with something delicious!

I began this assignment by thinking about how it feels to walk around a grocery store, picking up all the items that later appear on a receipt. I’d always rather be somewhere else, so I started daydreaming about what it might be like if my mapping site, a wildlife refuge and park, were interwoven with the grocery store experience. Wouldn’t that be nice?

It somehow turned into a song this afternoon. I’m not sure what happened and I’m very embarrassed. But since I did the thing I guess I have to share the thing.

Lyrics & chords:
A F#m E7

Grocery store
Why am I so bored

Grocery store
Just another chore

Let’s can the morning breeze
That whispers from the seas
Save it for yourself

We’ll gather all the leaves
And vacuum pack the trees
Then pluck them off the shelf

Bottle up a birdsong,
Now it can be heard long
After it flies away

And package every feather
Nestled in the heather
And floating along the bay

Grocery store
The products I adore

Grocery store
Buying more and more

I’m walking down the aisle
And I can’t help but smile
At lizards in the sun

I’ll watch them for a while
Then storks in single file
Lift off one by one

And when we reach the checkout
We’ll pay with a high-tech trout
Get our change in mice

A happy band of crickets
Check our parking ticket
What a paradise

Grocery store
I’m sitting by the shore

Grocery store
Let’s go explore