...dot dot dot...

the many birthdays of jomo

2012-01-23T21:55:00.000-08:00

thiiiiissss guy certainly milked the crap out of his annual day of celebration. 3 nights in a row of food and friends, and that doesn't include a trip to san diego or a joint clubbing venture this friday. jam-packing all my coverage into one post to downplay importance. i'm sure brudder would appreciate it.

------------
first up - the catch to tackle the OMG Burger.

unfortunately there was limited seating available and i've already defeated the beast, so channy gaston cesar and i headed to an argentinean spot for some ribs and sausage.

then back in time for bday candles and wishes

------------
nextly is sushi dinner at kagura with the family. fresh fish and awkward silences abound!
kobe carpaccio / takenoko foie gras

assorted sushi

PRIME assorted sushi

bento / panna cotta

------------
last is KBBQ at goong in k-town

bday kids!

mmmm...sooo meaty...

crazy as it sounds, this was christy's 1st time eating kbbq.

it has the nutrionalogist's seal of approval.

brostache'd

hood stat's

nothing witty about this table whatsoever.

5 stars to this place for having glide-y floors and offering to take the group shot.

then off to R bar to get some drinks and sing background karaoke vocals

take care...

...day care?

steve and jase's house warmth

2012-01-19T21:32:00.000-08:00

stephen and jason recently became the proud new ~~owners~~ renters of a baller condo in downtown LA. three weeks later, they decided it was a good time to have a house warming party. vodka shots, chicken soft tacos, and polaroids for all those who entered. things eventually turned strange with graffiti tagging, donut pranking, and random british party crashers. i wasn't at the top of my photography game, so i apologize for the lack of interesting coverage.

testing out the worst pong balls on earth

preppers and early arrivals

del taco. cheetos. doritos. starburst. hersheys.

health.

#tagged #endo #ginNjuice #grilledcheese #birthcontrol #yolo

non-candids

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT.

happy birthday jomo!!

donut'd x2

superb job of filling out the wall guys.

thanks for having us guys. next time invite john krasinski in.

hansoul's bday at rhondavous

2012-01-19T21:05:00.000-08:00

jomo was right. really great friday the 13th all around. most interesting club i've ever been to. super fun times. happy birthday hansoul!!! thanks for having us!

Morgan Page, Sultan + Ned Shepard, and BT - In The Air ft Angela McCluskey (Mord Fustang Remix)
I think this was the best Friday the 13th in history when I looked across the board for my friends. People were getting their Coachella tickets. I got my 5-year anniversary gifts. Lots of great status updates on Facebook. Just an overall good vibe for the day.

The night had a slightly different vibe... Not in a bad way. Just......

different.

A Club Called Rhonda. Part gay club. Part tranny club. All fun times. A girl initiated conversation with me. Her name was Amanda. ("A man, duh. #dumb) And of course thanks to a few drinks (on an empty stomach), I wake up in an unfamiliar place... Thanks for having us Hansoul!

Preparty crew at Ansonian's.

Pretty standard club.

Birthday girl in a Divita sandwich!

When in Rome... (COME ON EVITA!)

Not highlighting this for Hansoul's highlighter pants, but for that dress in the back...

#LetsGetWeirder

Peace.

Fuck you.

Magnum.

A-Team comic sans Yonten.

I'm farting on D-Ko.

Another classic Anson face.

Team.

Get it get it.

Happy birthday Hansoul!

Dennis, your hair inspires me.

Iris and Chunkie aka Chun-Lee!

Hearts.

Yeah. Ended up in this situation. ::thumbs up::

coconut bay'd

2012-01-16T21:41:00.000-08:00

gathered some friendlies for dinner and to catch up around rowland heights. people were hankering for some thai food and to watch the lakers and clippers games. coconut bay equated to a perfect solution. unlimited thai tea refills also helped.

eileen introduced us to this phone stacking technique to facilitate actual conversations with those around you. everyone throws down their phone. barring emergencies, if anyone were to check their phone then dinner would be their treat.

though we're iphone-centric, i hope people appreciate the diversity of cases.

some shots of the foods.
fried calamari / chicken hainam rice

crispy rad na / pad kee mao

pad see ew / garlic pepper stir fry(?)

exciting overtime wins for both the lakers and clips. twas joyous.

sombrero fiesto

2012-01-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

mexican food and board games were the plan for last saturday night.

at least we got half of it right.

gathered the friends in san clemente because we needed a re-do of their over-before-it-began christmas party. headed down with jomo cesar and dina, got all the cooking supplies, and fired up the grill before the rest of the kids arrived. soon thereafter the lethal combination of friends, alcohol, and cold medication made the whole night a crazy blur that got out of hand in a jiffy. a good chunk of it can be classified as "this never leaves the room and definitely never goes online". thankfully there were more than enough shots to salvage a full on blog post. thank you to dave, dina, and whoever else documented it all while i was off being crazy stupid ~~love~~ drunk.

the cooks/chefs - jolo and cesar

dave goes big

rice hats = mini sombreros

lean like a cholo

cheers and more cheers

preppers and cookers and cleaners and hostesses and all of the above

smile! food is ready!

swooped!

the spread

turn it up!

hood status?

hood status.

the girls definitely got us beat

totally gonna tag cesar's mom in this pic. he was getting paaaiiiddd!

brudders and seastars

random group shots

alex getting introspective

me drunk and taking pics with girls

aaaand special midnight guest appearance by paul uy!

apparently the only time i get in front of the camera lens is when i'm inebriated...fun!!

white wonderland night 2

2012-01-12T23:00:00.000-08:00

kicking off the new year right with no sleep and a free concert. thanks for the posting jomo.

The original gets the nice vocal upgrade here.

Skrillex - Breathe (Krewella Vocal Edit)
After a solid post-JAO clean up session, 4 hours of sleep, a trip to Souplantation, and a nice 2-hour nap, I was ready to just relax and recoup from the previous night's adventure. But with a little convincing, Brian and I took some freebie tickets for Day 2 of White Wonderland. F*ck it, I didn't have work on Monday anyway and I was feeling pretty good and rested! And if we weren't feeling it, we could always leave early. We caught the end of Thomas Gold, AN21 & Max Vangeli, and stayed for the full set for Steve Angello. Yeah, totally worth it!

The only negative was the all white attire. Cool concept, but I didn't have any pockets to carry my camera around. Thanks Kes for letting steal your shots!

There were 2 defining moments of the night for me. The beginning where we all met up on the dance floor, and the end where Angello made everyone sit down and wait for the drop to which the crowd went NUTS! Check the footy.

UNITED!

Warrior Dash horns FTW!

Get it wet wet!

Damn this year is starting on quite a few high notes right now...

back to the JAO

2012-01-09T23:11:00.000-08:00

...ten days later...HAPPY NEW YEARS Y'ALLS!!!!
jomo and i held our second annual new years eve party at our house. a bit more quaint and quiet compared to last year, but that didn't stop us from partying hardy. thanks to all the attendees for celebrating with us, having fun, and keeping our place clean. YAY 2012!!!

neeraj was the most popular kid at the party with his cooking innovations.

congrats sir.

countdown....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

thanks for the cookie cake channy!

mad cute status yo.

taking in the first sunrise of the new year.

from the bottom of my heart, a huge HUGE thank you to everyone that came out and made this one of the best and most memorable nights of my life. here's to another AMAZING year ahead =]

secret elfster potluck

2012-01-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

still playing catch up. more photo non-editations (save for 1 or 2 necessaries).
hooray for more gift exchanges!! this time with high school friendlies and potlucks.
i brought the chicken nuggets and fries of course.

ash inspecting joanna's death rum.

not sure what this was about...something about slutty school sluts?

will did it too, but apparently FBI agents aren't allowed to be portrayed in such light.

joanna screwing up the korean synergy.

and on to secret santa-ing...

that worked out quite evenly.

groupie pics!
normal.

un-normal.

ancestor.

krazy kiddo khristmas pt 3

2012-01-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

the 3rd annual gathering of our generation's filipino clan. once again put on and held by the contreras family. thank you for housing our party fest! i enjoyed how huge this one was, and how it got wayyyy out of hand.

i'm super behind on my updates, so no extraneous text and the shots are straight from the camera...yep. i haven't done a non-post-production blog in...never...i think. (too many negatives in that sentence.) hope this post, or me admitting that i jack up all my photos, won't make you think less of me. and if it does - screw you. make your own memories....loooovvee youuu ❤

2 years ago. last year. and most recently...

malibu creek

2011-12-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

after the previously blogged "winter fantasy", cesar and i would've normally kicked it longer and crashed that night. instead, we headed up north to invade burbank so we could get up bright and early and prep for a hike he/we planned the following morning. left OC around 2, got to the house and in bed by 3, woke up at 7. sounds horrible. it felt horrible. but toughing out those early morning doubts and annoyances was all part of the experience and made it all the more worthwhile. still finding it difficult to describe how awesome it was to be out there on such a beautiful day with our friends. hopefully some photographs will help fill in the blanks.

cesar was the leader/tour guide for the day since he's completely the trek once before.

a couple dozen people excited for the challenge dwindled down to these 5 brave souls.

oh yeah, plus me.

starting it off easy with a dirt trail. simple enough.

and ramping up the difficulty with some rock formations and shrubbery.

"christy, act like you're friends with the guys!"

a shot of the real start - the creek.
to cross, one must traverse across the rock wall on the left.

hard mode - begin!

determination. all up in there.

first wall - conquered

well done team!

skipped ahead of the group to document the action of the second traversal.
SMILE!!...while we're all still in a good mood...

cesar used his muscles to get both him and christy safely across.

this guy...not so much...

I'M SORRY!!!! =(

john looking solid.

~~fast~~ slow forward 10 minutes on the same rock hold...aaaand splash town

check out ligan's face.

john is always a good sport

chris making quick work of the death rock.

second wall - 2 casualties =[

still staying strong!

cesar looks like he's hunting the predator.

john looks like he's chasing a rabbit.

hit a dead end here. then cesar remembered we had to jump some boulders to continue.

stopped at a rock that cesar said was ripe for climbing.

boulder - conquered

no one else decided to follow though =/

the crew making our way up a steep hill. no one was prepared for these heights.

uphill climb - conquered

keep it going y'all!

red ribbons. trail markers or memorials of fallen allies? we'll never know...

cesar propping up the mountain on his back

found a nice couple climbing to take our photo.

though the guy never counted down or told us when to smile...

everyone else went ahead on the path while i did one last traversal/climb to satiate my outdoor monkey urges. cesar came back down the other side to point me in the right direction. he nearly fell on his way down and i nearly fell on my way up. sharp rocks, slippery footing, and no one leading made for an intense route.

bonus wall - conquered

peanut gallery. thanks for the support!

3 hours later, finally back on the main path and on our way home.

malibu creek - conquered

going through that, the feeling of accomplishment was overwhelming. and doing it with our friends made it that much more awesome. thanks again to cesar, john, ligan, christy, and alex for being a part of it. just such an amazing day. and i can't wait to do it again =]

cali christmas

2011-12-28T15:10:00.000-08:00

last friday jomo was on blog duties as we went to see big sean, j cole, and drake with our cousins. big sean was definitely my favorite of the 3 main performers. he just has so much hype and energy. not to mention opening the stage up to all those guest performers...dude knows how to put on a show. here's the rest from jomo's POV.

Out of the 3 concerts I went to this week, this was easily the one I got the drunkest at. Being a long-time supporter of Drake since Comeback Season, I've wanted to see him in concert for a while. And since it was also Cassie's birthday, we made it a family outing! Big Sean brought out the best guests with Wiz Khalifa, Common, Roscoe Dash, and Chris Brown. J. Cole was guestless, but rocked the crowd. Drake brought out the biggest names with Tyga, Justin Bieber, and Lil Wayne. The biggest surprise? How un-hood this 'rap' concert was. But I guess these are the softest rappers out there anyway. I'll take this over a jam packed room full of dudes though. #YOLO #CorralesMorenoCollab #Family #bandSWAGon

H.Y.F.R. x The Motto footage at the top. Marvin & Chardonay, Nobody's Perfect, Rack City, and I'm On One down bottom.

Drake - HYFR x The Motto ft Lil Wayne

Pre'in with Henney and MJ.

Citywalk.

(A little photoshop fun...hah.)

#TheTeam

COLE WORLD!

OVO

They wanna see me pick back up, well...

If Drake had a nickel for every time he said this... #jokes

YEEE YEEE YEEE

Where'd I leave this at?!

Big Sean - Marvin & Chardonay ft Roscoe Dash (Live)

J. Cole - Nobody's Perfect (Live)

Tyga - Rack City (Live)

Drake - I'm On One (Live)

Nguyen-ter Phan-tasy

2011-12-24T18:20:00.000-08:00

major props to lexi and trinh for having impossibly good asian last names to create such a party name/blog posts. minor props to them for being knocked out by the time cesar and i arrived. here are the photos you get when you're 5 hours late, you miss the dinner and white elephant exchange, and the hosts are non-existent to keep the party going. enjoy!

the tail-end of the gift exchange. apparently 2 hours long, yet people were too tired/drunk to allow me in on it. now you'll never get my senor chang bobble head and itunes gift cards i had!

hentai manga and power bombs are par for the course around this time of the night.

"If there is such a thing as a loving version of racism, you have found it."

yvonne flaunting her newly acquired bear feet

girl talk, ft dave forrester.

cardi swag and girly spoon fun time

i'm glad to have met jason that weekend. he was most entertaining.

thanks for having us you two! (i guess...)
totally awesome driving down to san clemente to not see you =D

secret santa christmas fun time

2011-12-20T20:20:00.000-08:00

The Naked And Famous - Young Blood (Dave Sitek Remix) by The Naked And Famous

a memorable year coming close to a close. gathered the bunch of us for a secret santa gift exchange last-last friday. a bit earlier than one would expect, but it was the only time we would all be able to make it. despite this and the fact that it was a friday night after everyone was drained from work, we came together to eat, chill, bask in each others' presence, and bask in each others' presents.

i used a lot of double meanings in that intro...meh. here's jomo's post for double reference.
hope you enjoy the photos. and yes, a good amount of this is "create-your-own-caption" style.

in the lab

i'm seeing double...4 jomos?!?!

bro'd out game of scattergories

fusion...HA

group love!

were you guys chubby bunnying?

lexi kicking off our black panda exchange. reyes catching a whiff of her excitement.

one of my many short-lived presents

... O_O ...

yep. zot hand switching ownership twicely.

"we did it."

and on to the main event: secret santa!!

continuing the cesar tradition of ripping off clothes

and the most romantic proposal to cap off the night...

...kidding. it was a batman money clip.

bonus: a look back at the year that was.
though i'd love to take credit for providing a lot of the material, i must give mad props to the editing, writing, and acting team for putting this piece of art together.

love you guys. here's to many more celebrations to come :)

dim half papa

2011-11-30T20:18:00.001-08:00

one last gathering to cap off thanksgiving weekend. dim sum, boba, and pizza. FOOOOOODDDD!!!

someone's got a new phooooonnne...with 3 dimeeeeennnsionnnss?!?!?!

i totally forgot to take any pictures of the food or people during the meal.
it was all the usual stuff though.

then down the street to half and half. sooo geeewwwdddd....

over to burbank for some coach potato sunsets

ligan downloaded a gang of new content for his kinect.

it's just like real life!

raver glowing drum sticks!

and final meal courtesy of papa johns

great way to end super fat weekend 2011

never ending brunch

2011-11-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

is there a nickname for this group of friends i have? it's so inconvenient to say "my high school friends that are a year younger than me but are still in or near anaheim hills so i still get to hang out with them" crew. not to mention that sounds completely grammatically incorrect.

anyway. we gathered up for a post-thanksgiving hangout on saturday morning at paul's house. what started as a scheduled 2/3 hour brunch ended up being a 13 hour food and game fest. gotta love impromptu day invasions.

most of these shots are courtesy of jeff shooting with both his and my camera. see if you can figure out which ones came from him...hint: he admits to not having a steady hand...which is the opposite of what is needed as a photographer, but i digress...

i brought and cooked spam. a filipino staple. low sodium for health.

racks of taters

fresh OJ...or mimosas if you're nasty.

the 5 early birds grubbing before the food got cold while everyone else slept in.

spam, bason, eggs over easy/medium, salmon, bagel, tots, and fresh fruit medley for round one

people filtered in with more and more food throughout the day.

once everyone was there and some troubleshooting, we finally got the kinect video chat to work and signaled will in. hope you're enjoying albany guy!

new board/card game: ascension. it's a more structured version of magic (i guess...?).

complicated fun is still fun.

dance central battles for the rest of the night.

i only shot these two since they were playing the final song on the hardest difficulty.

swag.

thanksgivers

2011-11-20T16:00:00.000-08:00

i wanted to use alex's debut song break lights, but apparently no one wants to drop box it...
this'll have to do i guess...
First Crush (Featuring Knife City) by Sabrepulse

battle of the blogs. jomo used his own photos for once.

the annual turkey and H.A.M. fest was back in full force in burbank, despite it being a week before the actual holiday. although it's unorthodox, at least we were able to find a night where all our schedules aligned. besides, there's never a wrong time to celebrate the good things in life and to get chubby with your buddies =)

photo shoot for the food spread

may your neighbors respect you...

trouble neglect you...

angels protect you...

and heaven accept you.

a toast for us douchebags.

treat ya'self!

'bows on 'bows on 'bows

cesar's fire water. aka vodka and habaneros.

shots. no chase.

it tastes like...burning...

flip cup. because we're all still in college.

power celebrations

ryan bringing out the youtubes. always with the c-town flashbacks.

plus bonus footy for dko and millar choreography.

thanks to anson for picking up camera duty.

awwwww...

hope you all had a good time and minor-to-nonexistent hangovers the following morning.
big thank yous to those that helped set up the whole thing and to everyone that was able to come out and be a part of the happiness.

childish gambino @clubnokia #CAMP

2011-11-18T14:17:00.000-08:00

another day, another post stolen from jomes.
super crazy good concert.

Exactly a year ago we saw Childish open for Mayer Hawthorne (and SoSuperSam open for Childish too!) at the Music Box. So much has changed in a year. Brian, Fitz, and Alex came over to hang and pre- and then we headed out to the show. Afterwards, we ~~hit the after-party up with our best friend Childish and I got Alison Brie's number and I took her to the after-after-party~~ went to Flamin' Taco for 4th meal and passed out. Instead of posting videos at the bottom, I'll post my 2 favorite songs off Camp at the top.

Thought you knew about the team.

Michael Jordan is judging you.

Downtown bound.

#OccupyTwilight...

Neeraj with his cousin and her roomie. Childish fanatics as well.

Drink of the night. Not bad, but I prefer a whiskey neat...

Cind-ohh! Been a long time dude.

Sam killin' the crowd!

Good set buddy.

OKAY IT'S CHILDISH GAMBINO!

Rappers should display their lyrics more often.

"I'm on my ballin' each and every day. Asian girls everywhere..."

"Put yo team on the map, Blake Griffin on the court."

He keeps gettin' better with every show. (His first.)

DERRICK COMEDY

4th.

Chicken Cali Burrito! Still haven't had a bad meal here.

Back to the crib. This dude just plays video games all day!

sheryl's sharkie birthday

2011-11-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

final birthday post for a while...i think. thanks again jomoooo.

After Jasmine's surprise birthday party (I'm hoping Brian will get that post up soon...), we headed out to Costa Mesa for Sheryl's birthday party at Shark Club. This probably isn't my favorite club to go to, but thanks to Stephen and Adam, lots of memories were made. (Including 1 of several fights we saw that night!) Thanks for the drinks Stephen and Guil.

Birthday girl!

Jasmine's after-party too!

Dancefloor.

Get some Jazzy!

Yeah. Patty cake. That happened.

Pillow cuddlin' in the VIP.

This was 10 minutes before Stephen barraged into the kitchen past the security guards.

And 30 minutes before Adam told off some random chick in the parking lot before getting chased off by security.

Bonus footy: Lunch at Slater's 50/50 with Guil and Als.

Patty melt looked so bomb!

You're learning...

Bonus bonus footy: frozen yogurt from Swirl.

happy birthday, birthday buddy!!
there. that should be the last time i'll be ending a post like that.

eleven 11 eleven

2011-11-17T16:22:00.000-08:00

another birthday??
another surprise birthday???
you guys have some pretty swell boyfriends...

this time we celebrated jasmine turning something something at bruce's house.

never saw it coming

random shots in the backyard. classy.

cute

cake was freaking good

i don't need to make a wish, because it already came true...
- paraphrasing a movie that jasmine didn't quote at all

classic jasmine.

cheers once more for some reason!

happy birthday, birthday buddy!!

stephen's bday!!

2011-11-16T21:47:00.000-08:00

more stealing from x----x.blogspot.blah. thanks bro bro.

Bruce gathered some of the gang to celebrate Stephen's birthday on his visit to SoCal. We had dinner at Ten China Bistro in Costa Mesa, followed by some happy hour drinks at Dave & Buster's at the birthday boy's choice.

Cheers!

Food food food.

Sake.

Neeraj with the toast!

Group shot.

"D&Bs or Sutra! Your choice!"

We proceeded to D&B's Irvine. Thursday nights were the UCI jumpoffs back in the day.

Definitely not so much anymore. Hence, no pictures. Good times!

happy birthday, birthday buddy!!

surprise birthMAY

2011-11-16T18:30:00.000-08:00

stupid me and my stupid portmanteaux...

jason was a sneaky bastard last sunday and completely surprised may with a birthday dinner at gen in tustin that included ~~twenty~~ thirty of her closest friends.

jason coerced her out by saying it was a small dinner to celebrate diana moving to orange county. then BAM. she had no idea what was going on.

CRY!!! (tears of joy.)

mood lighting for the bbq

dead shrimp sad for his beefy brethren

i didn't take many pictures at dinner. all you can will occupy your mind.

post dinner photoshoots

happy birthday hello kitty!

i don't know why the peace signs stopped halfway through the picture...

obligatory yogurtland invasion

happy birthday, birthday buddy!!

bday weekend pt 2

2011-11-15T20:50:00.000-08:00

thanks for another post jomo. lazy blogging is the bestest...

It was a fun, but long and exhausting night at Icon. We followed up with some replenishment at a few different spots on Saturday. First up was Bossa Nova for Brian's Birthday ~~brunch~~ Lunch. Sangria and some kinda tropical slush. The sangria wasn't up to it's normal par.

(Don't mind the color and light imbalances. I was still adjusting my new camera settings.)

Appetizers.

Thanks for sharing your fries, Fry Monster.

CHEESE BREAD!!!!

Traditional chicken platter with plantains! Oh how I missed you.

After some parkin' lot ~~pimpin'~~ loitering, we found Mashti Malone's on Yelp. Mashti sandwich is basically your typical ice cream sandwich, but with waffle cone wafers instead. Cookies 'n Cream, and Coffee flavors were the bomb!

Walking into the sunset, at 4:30pm.... (I'm not a fan of daylight savings!)

I AM a fan however of the temperature drop. Hoodies, beanies, scarves, and jackets!

Then back to Burbank. We found out a lot of us have never tried the McRib, so we made a night of it! All first timers here!

The verdict: for the price it's not bad! But I'd rather get some nuggets.

Hitachino White Ale. Try it!

twenty-fif

2011-11-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

birth. day. text. (stupid song....)

super thanks to everyone that facebook'd/text'd/call'd me on my birthday.
super special extra thanks to everyone that join'd me to celebrate this entire weekend. so fun.
i now know what it feels like to be embarassed by photos on the internet.
i suppose it was bound to happen at some point. courtesy of brudder.

Heartbeat (radio rip) by Childish Gambino

My my, how far you've come since last year. Dive bar to lounge/club. 10 guests, to 25+. Not willing to drink to... drinking. The only thing that remains the same is the dancing and the puking. Many made it out Friday night for the preparty at my temporary accommodations in Echo Park and at Icon to celebrate Brian (and Stephen's) birthday(s). Thanks to Derrick (21XL Events) for taking care of us. Thanks everyone for coming out. With Brian on drinking duty, I brought another replacement camera out to capture moments of the night. Thanks Alex and Jon for taking a majority of the shots. Happy birthday Brian. Hope you enjoy these very embarrassing pictures!

Preparty time!

Dance Central

Ladies Man

Canyon Reunion!

A+BBC

Brudders

What the hell?

Taking the party up a step.

Random girls just kept coming up to BMo to dance!

4th meal at El Flamin' Taco!

house of blues halloween block party 2011

2011-11-01T18:02:00.000-07:00

Kaskade - Turn It Down

in continuation of this past awesome weekend...
headed down to san diego for their annual halloween block party.
i know people are just gonna go through this trying to find themselves in random poses, so i'm skipping any/all captions. feel free to create your own talk bubbles.

thanks to TK/hannah/victory nightlife/HOB for letting me shoot again.
thanks to mark/julz/edric/mindzalike/thecombover for spinning the entire night.
thanks to all our friends for making the drive and hanging out.
thanks to everyone dressed up for being a part of another fun photo post.
thanks to the cute girls that requested to take a picture with me for being cute and requesting to take a picture with me.

i'm out. it's my birthday in a few days and i don't really plan on posting any time soon as i should be spending my time having fun/recuperating. peace.

so long sosupersam

2011-10-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

Coldplay, Swedish House Mafia - Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall

awesome weekend.
friday night, we made our triumphant return to broadway bar for secret public. this one was special though as we were ~~celebrating cry-fest 2011~~ saying goodbye to our good friend, miss samantha duenas. aka sosupersam. she's continuing to live out her dreams and is moving out to NYC to make it big on the east coast. we's gonna miss you girl! don't forget about your peeps back home when you're headlining tours all around the world =)

oh, and before i go on, make sure you download her latest mixtape this way up.
it's a treat for your earballs. and if you end up completely disregarding the rest of this post just to follow the link to enjoy it, then i'll be more than happy to accept that trade-off.

now if you're still here for some reason, on to some photos!

broadway got festive with it

sam and her fam

story time: i knew her sister amanda back when i worked at UCI, but pretty much haven't seen her since 05/06. fast-forward to friday night and she spotted me walking around the bar. was happily surprised that she actually remembered me and my face. chatted for a bit before she pulled me over to "meet" her sister sam. after some fake handshakes, we explained that we've known each other for a while and my presence that night wasn't entirely random. sosillyamanda.

obligatory shot from the stairs

i'm liking the silhouettes i made in the background

taco man.

undead bartenders were hooking it up that night

another one of mark's epic 4 hour sets

donald glover coming out to see sam off before they head out on tour together

i haven't seen him in a while. this is me unnecessarily excited.

these mini cupcakes were friggin bomb.

this is apparently the face sam makes while giving musical requests.

this guy was just enjoying life the exact second i took this shot.

it's like trying to spot waldo in a lounge full of asians...it just can't be done.

sam - i appreciate all the awesome facials.

cuuuuute

SIBLINGS! UCSD vs UCI. *zot zot for life*

...is that the shocker?

indeed. all the bestest! good bye forever sam!!! *tear*

...but first, see you at the concert in two weeks =D

BONUS! footy of mark bawling his eyes out after saying our goodbyes.

kathy's bday costume party thing!

2011-10-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

new song addiction (even though it's over a year old).
can we use this for this year's christmas/end-o-year montage?
Anamanaguchi - Airbrushed (RAC Mix) by RAC

finally got the oh-so-exclusive invitation to kathy's infamous annual costume party. photo booth, beer pong, banana dogs...despite coming late and having the birthday girl knockout waayyyy too early, we had a grand ole time. i took a few too many shots (alcohol) and forgot taking a few too many shots (photos). ha ha ha. PUNS. onwards to the pictorials!

taking teenage mutant ninja noses to the next level

voodoo skeleton, pinocchio, little red riding hoodrat, dangle

alison is totally into your helmet bro.

henny cork shots

was this the one that put her over?

maybe?

i need a setup like this

she's still moving!

intergalactic hanging with friends

yeehaw!

cuuuute! but where's abu?

ahhh, there he is! ben (at marquee) making a surprise appearance back in cali.

battle of the RGB spectrum

we got kicked out but the parents once the celebrants were zonked in the bedrooms.

thriller night.

tita yoly's surprise bday

2011-10-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

haven't been to one of our patented family parties in a long while. and though the party was a month past the actual birthday, it was nice to be able to gather everyone up for the celebration.

cake lollipops!

butt-stuffed pinata

jeff's and trish's baby is super cute

p-nut is jealous that no one is feeding him from a bottle

2 hours late, but looks like we're finally ready to surprise someone.

"happy birthday!!!" that's trish hiding behind the planter on the right.

taco guy was a change of pace from the usual skirt steak and chicken and pancit and lumpia

game time. old school photoshop.

and dave making a quick appearance from the philippines

the end result of trying to feed the bunny to the leopard

pinata smashing for the kids. poor guy got decapitated rather quickly.

mosh pit!

and then it was cake time

cuuuute

delicious

awesome times hanging with the family again.

the proposal

2011-10-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

back from hiatus. in case you were wondering, i've spent the last two weeks watching tv.

last week, jason randomly hit me up to help out with a proposal for stephen's harvard friend. of course i was only in mind because i have an expensiveish camera. still, it was a thursday night, i had no plans, and the proposal was so last second and random that i didn't want to miss out. off to newport we went to invade a house with candles and rose petals...no real details aside from that. i never even got to meet the guy proposing since all the set up was done while the couple was out to dinner. in and out it was. here are some photos to go along with the non-story.

congrats to the newly engaged couple!!!

...i guess...we never got direct confirmation if this actually worked...

secret public

2011-10-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

last time at secret public for a while. thanks as always to mark for having me.

see y'alls around.

nguyenFA's B-Day in SD!!!

2011-10-06T19:34:00.000-07:00

another friend turned another year older.

that sentence was meant to sound mundane in contrast to the exclamatory post title.

paul invited everyones to spend the weekend at his ~~aunt's~~ condo in SD to celebrate his 24th. i never get to really "party" with this crew since we normally just cook obscure meals/eat korean food/play board games, but i must say i had quite the enjoyable time. though maybe it's because the weekend still included playing board games...

soundtrack while i'm recapping in my head. feel free to press play if you so please.
Martin Solveig - The Night Out (Michael Brun Re-Edit)
still addicted to this song...but wanted to throw out some random remix to keep it freshish.
beat kinda reminds me of digital love. hearts all around.

PS i tried editing some shots so it didn't look like everyone was dipped in asian glow, but it was just impossible at times. apologies in advance.

anxious for lunch. thanks kevin for grilling everything!

check out all the pool honeys.

paul massively failing at this flip cup variant

secondary squad hustling the pool tables

intensity in meit's face is intense.

headed back up to the condo where paul found this on the floor

now time for drinking games for the rest of the night

hooray for effing the dealer!

kevin's face was a coincidence.

cocooning with jeff while norbert watches

jeff - never not plotting.

roland - always unposing.

is...THIS. your card?

...but on the real, he totally mindfreaked us.

spoons tourney. began with 12. now down to 4.

the winrar and runner up. i'm pretty sure my pep talk to jeff beforehand gave him the edge.

twinsies!

whilst paul showered, the group was sad/angry that he wasn't drunk yet. so they set up 24 shots of what they call "the force" (beer, vodka, frozen lemonade mix, and anything else unappetizing) for him to take out. unbeknownst to him, ~~some~~ all of the shots were spiked with extra alcohols. he was a trooper though and somehow didn't die on us.

the following candid portraits are courtesy of huy. thanks for stealing my camera while i ate.

i believe paul is retelling the story of a massive dump he took in europe. no lie.

and yes, the group was really that enthralled.

prairie dogging.

birthday cake time!

cleaning ourselves up for the club

test shot!

semi-unready shot!

real shot!

hit up onyx/thin and got ourselves a table plus bottle service. no photos unfortunately, but thanks to all the random nice people that gave me props on my dancing. (i mention it here since that never happens. plus it was a group of black people that commented. *gasp*)

got back to the condo at 1 or 2 ayeemm. ate dino nuggets and cake. brushed teeth. did yoga while the rest of the house slept. i have relatively flexible abductor muscles.

then the following morning, we busted it out...PANDEMIC.

learned it and were "victorious" in the first game with just one move left to spare. YAY!.

...then we read more rules and found that we were cheating the entire time and the game is impossible to win especially when you play at heroic level without knowing it...

round two.

even less sucessful than our first go around. jaundice and diabetes are running amok.

we're still addicted though. you could say we're...infected...with...the urge to play more...?

...unnecessary sepia edit!
good times y'all.

secret public 9/30

2011-10-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

had the pleasure of shooting for mark and secret public again last friday. really fun night to with special guests kanye asada and angie making her debut as the next great DJ out of the combover collective. all of their sets blew my mind. i need more of them in my daily life.

his edits here.

my edits. here.

it's happening again tomorrow night. go RSVP!!

L&O birthday bash

2011-09-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

the guys at loud & obnoxious have been holding it down for the punk/skate/hiphop/~~rave~~/~~hipster~~ scene for the past 4 years and it was that time of the year to celebrate their awesomeness. taking place in their new and humongous warehouse, there was ample space to sling goods at wholesale prices, play bball, skate a rail or box here and there, grill hot dogs, drink energy drinks and alcohol (for the 21+ crowd of course), have a concert, shuffle, and just hang out and chill on a beautiful saturday.

not your grandpa's ~~pogs~~ bottle caps

never not alive

the view at noon

mini skate demo to entertain the onlookers before they open up shop

and the first group gets in!

worth the wait

H.O.R.S.E.

dedication

preston burris

busting trick after trick all day

a few others joined in on the fun

360 ollie over double plank gap

indoors...a beer tasting for their exclusive home-brewed IPA.

sweet label. it'd look great on a poster or shirt.

the definition of hyped

stocked up on all fronts

(yes, i know i'm advertising a competitor to my own company...come at me bro.)

toasts

chuck in the house

who dat?

cARTer in the house!

ballin

TinTin with a closing set

this kid loves my crappy mspaintjobs

so random to me seeing lisa there. you know that means awkward picture time.

brian working on his import modeling. thanks for sponsoring my car you guys!

too much fun for the sun handle

congrats on all your success guys. thanks for everything through all these years.

4 years strong. always going stronger.

night + market

2011-09-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

after the insane fooding the previous day, my sunday plan was to work out and be anorexic. but then an invite was made to hit up night+market. an invite from mikey soh. and i will follow the food snob to any restaurant on earth. jomo and i headed up with stephen and carie to meet with michael and barbara. that was a lot of names in that previous sentence.

ghost bartenders

let me use this space to explain that this was a thai spot and i don't remember the names of most of what we ate. so i won't even try. but all was yummy.

salad

pig tail

thai tea

rice in a cube

dead fish

dessert time! ice cream sandwich...with bread and rice?

mango and sticky rice

we did it!

thanks to stephen for taking us unnecessarily to inglewood, getting us the good/secret stuff by speaking decent thai (while not actually being thai), not starting the car so that we could watch the fight outside of the key club, the amazing mixtape sing-alongs, and driving me home.

hot potty

2011-09-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

diana and evita gathered the peeps for one last gathering at their place before they moved off to new horizons. a superb trip to 99 ranch, hot pot, phat knight 2.0, and bar hops. not to mention a good time to spread germs between all of us.

before all that though, jomo and i had some time to kill so we hit up LA.

the golden state is still the standard for a $10 burger

odd sitter jonah hill them all.

over to divita's. hot pots!

happy consumers

my first time doing this with friends. quite satifying.

saké(酒) and meatball clinks

awesome.

2am. everyone knocked out. good party y'all.

perch. broadway. bcd.

2011-09-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

busy friday night last week. already advertised my shots from secret public, but here are a few quick edits of my own for funsies, as well as others from the rest of the night.

live music at perch. pretty cool.

heading out early to hit my gig at broadway bar. random shot while waiting for valet.

taking over the couches up front

twinsies?!??!?

if you have to ask if their eyes are closed or open, you are racist.

cheers to anson for being featured so hard in this post.

people were yelling for kikes tacos at the end of the night, but they apparently closed down shop. after 30 hours of drunkies arguing and drivers wandering, found our way to BCD tofu.

minus the egg and mixing the tofu.

arcadia stuff

2011-09-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

photobucket works again. time to play catch up with several pics and quick words.
visited the arcadia friends after a long hiatus of not finding time to randomly drive up there.

noodle spot where we just ate rolls and dumplings. soo good.

snowy shaved ice...always worth the trip.

pizza party at ted's place while we watched tennis and football

somehow stole the win after an hour long game

and forza on their massive home made projection screen.

drift harder!!

secret public 9/16

2011-09-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

i've been sick and photobucket has been sucking all week. meh.
shot for secret public last friday. thankfully mark took care of all the edits.

check the rest of the set here.
they're doing it again tonight. go check it out, and don't forget to RSVP!!

labor daying

2011-09-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

i always have my worst night's sleep in san diego hotels. i have no idea why...
packing 11 people into 1 room with 2 beds made for a snug fit, but it worked. after an aMAAAAAAZEing shower and chowing on mexican food at 3am, went to bed to wake 13 more times before getting everyone up to head out at 11 the next morning. off to san clemente to meet up with ryan and alex for lunch at some pier we've never heard of.

human that owns a pet pigeon?

...or pigeon that owns a pet human...

our car left last and got there first. suck it.

roy rogers...on the rocks...

cheese!

alex: never NOT mugging for the camera

fish N chips & chick strip X cold slaw % clam chowduh

you're all welcome for the free lunches...jerks...

dessert!! i miss ice cream...

then it was back to normal ole sleepy life. fun weekend y'all!!

house of blues: labor day block party

2011-09-11T17:24:00.000-07:00

fun night.

thanks to tk for getting me the press pass.
word to it gets better, house of blues SD, and real world san diego 2.0
hope you all enjoyed the pics.

Labor Day BBQ

2011-09-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

last weekend was a blast. body is still recovering from all of it.
started off with janice's birthday on friday which led to a BBQ at burbank.

pre partay at jomo's home away from home

plaid swag

i always wondered what their fire alarm sounds like.

and that's all the pics. check jomo's blog for his coverage.

...the next day...

these skewers look familiar

this burger meat looks familiar too

awwwww yeaaaahhhhh

patty caking

motion blur as a means to convey action

sun tanning/burning while we grilled

yeeeah buddy

food coma. watched piranha 3d. then to menchies for dessert.

kissy faces

ended the night with wario ware, shots, watermelon, and green hornet.

always nice to just relax with the family.

next up: real world san diego (pt 2) vs. a thousand filipinos....

channy & gaston

2011-09-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

they're married!! super awesome wedding times. i have nothing entirely sappy or corny in which to to preface this post, but it was just an honor to be there.

here's jomo's recap for supplementary purposes. now...go pictures go!

congrats you two!!! thanks for the souvenirs!!

cinema saturday/sunday

2011-08-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

a rare case of me going out of order on posts. not that the chronology of my life matters to you people. and not like it matters to me either apparently as all i do is post photos of food. no exception here of course. hit LA last weekend to hang out while some buddies were at pacfest in irvine. plan was to see a matinée of attack the block and see where it went from there.

no real pics of saturday, but the movie was awesome (favorite cinematic experience for myself all year thus far) and i got to chat it up with aziz ansari as he was viewing it in the same theatre. (sorry 30 seconds or less tanked bud.) (this guy DEFINITELY knows what i'm talking about.)

then off to balcones del peru across the street.

lomo saltado. fried egg to top because we beast like that.

plus the waitress hooked it up with some shots of chicha sangria. she was obviously into me.

grabbed some yogurt from menchis and went back to divita's. figured red box would be fun, but ended up going to last existing blockbuster and picking up your highness. then to 7-11 for some movie treats. fun movie and fattening time.

the following noon went to hook burger bistro in burbank.
got the trio as sides for the table. yum.

and their prime burger with bacon for me.

it's well put together, but the burger patty itself was somewhat bland. could get something similar from carls jr for a few bucks less. [/food snob]

thennn back to divita's to be lazy. watched extreme couponing and got more yogurt, this time from a place called chill. random spot found on yelp near their house, but it was my favorite out of the 3 spots i got froyo all weekend (went to yogurtland on friday night too). watched rango. fell asleep during rango. then it was time for sushi dinner at shiki.

pre-dinner snack first - paul's green sauce. it's like magic in a bottle.

i don't remember the names of everything, but they loaded the plates and all was delicious.

in case you were wondering, i gained 7 pounds that weekend.
in case you were wondering, i lost it all by the following thursday.
not healthy(?).

OMG. Burger.

2011-08-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

the catch's 8 pound platter of fattiness.
the group has been trying to tackle this sucker for the past couple of months. with will and cassy getting higher educations on the east coast, it was a good time to gather the troops and attempt to take it out before they left for far off places.

but first, had to get a couple appetizers.
fried calamari...

meatballs...

and then the main course...

4 lbs of meat. 2 lbs of toppings. 2 lbs of fries.

stare down city

the chefs took it back to slice it up

surprisingly, the slices held up very well. even more surprisingly, it actually tasted good.

i salute you, unknown chef

and as a surprise, kevin eric and jenny prepared some cakes for the guests of honor

beagle cake for cassy

burgers/fries/onion rings/country fried steak for will

delicious slider

delicious dog

(it's normal! because we're asian!)

and as a weird tradition, will and cassy made some promise notes.

no backing out now you guys. it's officially on teh internetz.

GROUP SHOT.

all the best on your new adventures you two. (and everyone else in this picture i suppose...)

ligan's bday beach bash benty beleven

2011-08-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

no time to recover. couldn't sleep in after the previous night hard because it was straight to santa monica before noon to hit tower 24 for the yearly gathering of all of chris's friends. except it took the valet an hour to find james' car in their lot. and i was dying of hunger so we grabbed pho and boba in china town with eileen maggie and omar. and belle/vince were stranded due to a dead car battery. then the traffic. and the bathroom stops. and buying of chips and fruit snacks. and cups. and st john's wort....we made it to the sand about 4 hours later.

gotta love that oh-so-cloudy cloud cover

beltran spinning some tunes on his iPad

cheers!

had some epic peppering despite all lack of skill

tower 24 is the place to be

norcal in the house

[deep voice] hello ladies.... [/deep voice]

besties

(plus jomo)

re-enactment from last year

and another one + ligan rape

you're so popular chris

aaaaaand times three

back to k-town for some food with the remaining bodies. people somehow thought we'd be able to get into boiling crab at 8pm. that was a definite no-go (approx 2-hour wait and non-guarantee that they'd even be able to seat us) so we went to our favorite: LA FAM REST AYCE KBBQ

i actually like the non-classy photo better, but thought this one would be better to end with.

HARDly SUMMER 2011

2011-08-10T21:17:00.000-07:00

my first "massive" (that's what you kids call it these days, right?). despite all the drugs in the vicinity, obnoxious ravers, and semi-repetitive bass loops, i surprisingly had an amazing time the entire night. met many a-cool people, listened to some great sets, danced a bunch, and had a shirt that apparently emits massive amounts of light when photographed. also, random big ups to alex wong. sober crew 2011! *high fiving a million angels*

unlike my brother, i didn't wander too much since i knew what i wanted to see. everything was good that night but my order of favorite acts goes as such:skrillex > nero > chromeo > ratatat > destructo
ratatat probably would've scored higher, but it was near the same set from coachella and i already experienced it up-close. still awesome nonetheless. now, go more words and pictures! thanks mojo.

Nero - Promises (Calvin Harris Remix)
We all survived and passed with flying colors. I was able to see everyone I knew that was going. And I probably won't try to do that again. Bad reception, you were the bane of my night. It wasn't perfect, but I still had lots of fun. My favorite acts: Ratatat and Nero. I got to listen to Dillon Francis from the line, Odd Future (meh..), Nadastrom (sick), Destructo (sick), Chromeo (okay), Digitalism (sick), Duck Sauce, James Murphy & Pat Mahoney (surprisingly sick), Skrillex, and Boys Noize. Next time less walking, and more partying. I can't wait to do it over at ~~Coachella 2012 next year~~ Pacific Fest 2011 this Saturday.

Right off the bat, RANDOMLY ran into Jenn again. You know Anson too?! Group pic time.

Food trucks on site.

Sunset x LA Skyline

OFWGKTA

Nadastrom

A-Team!

Also one of the last pictures we have of Cesar's shirt.

DESTRUCTO! Holy sh*t. (love these shots. so visceral.)

Ratatat.

Default shoeboo pic. Tradition!

"Hey I don't know you guys, but you have the same shirt so you must be in the same group!"

No joke, after I took this picture, I wish I got the shirt too...

DKooooooo!!!

It's rare to have so many people together. Massive group pic time.

No photobombers allowed!

Digitalism

NERO! I must see them again...

James Murphy & Pat Mahoney

I think all the acts should use a tent.

Boys Noize. Thanks for the little encore.

Late night metro. Money.

channy's birthday

2011-08-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

so we "surprised" channy by appearing at a birthday dinner that gaston was setting up. "surprised" is in "quotations" because we all came an "hour" late and she appa"rentl"y figured it out. no biggie though. we chilled at the bar area of wood ranch and played with their super cute nieces and nephews...and obviously i meant that to be misconstrued to sound like we got all the 5 year olds to drink alcoholic beverages...obviously.

food. still don't know what that mush is on the right though.

more food. we like our mini tin shots of sauces.

we goin in

gotta love the birthday sundaes

cuuuute

camera timer awkward positionness

now that's love

t-minus 18 days! you two excited?!??!?!

past memories

2011-07-31T16:52:00.000-07:00

last set of forgotten photos.

hadn't seen joanna in years, so it delighted me to hear she was visiting for the week. gathered the friends up to go to mini korea town plaza place last friday for some food and soju. we had many reasons to raise our glasses to say cheers that night, many of which are unspeakable on the blog and/or completely forgotten. good times. appropriate name for the restaurant.

wood tables, orange cups, and low lighting make for horrible tint balance

yogurt soju all night

looks like we got one of everything that night

realized i didn't take enough pictures indoors so got a couple group shots outside

how did will's body stay exactly the same?

(seriously...it's kinda freaking me out...)

and a couple of rounds of bang before taking the girls back home.

not sure what part of the sentence was supposed to sound dirty.

always good to see you joanna. can we not make it another 2 years before we hang out again?

bye bye susan

2011-07-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

so susan gathered peeps to see her off to her asian vacasian. and with the way i've been laggina, she's pretty much about ready to return to the states by now...yay! (via jomes)

Susan gathered some of her friends at Busby's before she left for Asia for a few weeks. The way she built it up made it seem like she'd be gone for an eternity. But we'll take any reason to get together and hang out.

I love it when the sun comes up when I leave...

workout plan

2011-07-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

heeeyyyy....
still been rock climbing and playing a lot of street fighter lately. still going through pictures from weeks ago. apologies for the lag, but hopefully n00d pics + jomo's words will put me in my readers' good graces again. (via xjomox)

Lots of pictures of guys with their shirts off in this post. You have been warned.

(Last) last Friday we didn't do much except drink and pig out on junk food at Bruce's house which was terrible. So Saturday I went on a little hike on Serrano with Neeraj and Brian.

The sun was beating down hard, so the other guys wanted to get an even tan.

Uphill jogging. My favorite...

We're officially breaking the law.

(But there were trails. I don't get it...)

The beginning of the trail leads up to this rock. Photo ops.

Ventured down the other side.

Neeraj always wanted to be an astronaut.

Salute!

More jogging.

More breaking the law.

Sorry my bod isn't good enough to pull the shirtless shot.

Then we headed over to Bruce's for some battle rope training.

Michael has recently been working with a personal trainer.

He looks like the Korean Hulk!

climb. game. EAT.

2011-07-27T22:47:00.001-07:00

heeeyyyy....
been rock climbing and playing a lot of street fighter lately. randomly plugged in my camera into my computer and found these pictures from weeks ago. apologies for the lag, but hopefully food pics + little words will put me in my readers' good graces again.

capitol seafood in the diamond jamboree praza at the recommendation of the le twins.

sweet & sour soup

filet

lemon chicken

honey walnut skrimp

mushroom tofu broccoli oyster sauce thing

orange beef

had a craving for dessert, so we headed to yogi land afterwards

then it was off to bruce's to sit and eat some more

worst 3am idea ever

so i actually forgot how to blog and posted this without placing a title. thank goodies for edits.

independent day

2011-07-13T18:51:00.000-07:00

freedom freedom freedom OY! [/futurama reference]
hung around burbank for the 4th of july last week.
BBQ and poolside fun makes this the most summery summer ever.

mini beat blending rehearsal before everyone else arrived

fired up the grillz once everyone was within proximity

short ribz

bason infused sliderz/meatballz

kabobz

zalad

corn

...on the cobbz

waited 29 minutes before jumping in the pool. tried our hand at playing marco polo.

thankfully jason volunteered to be blindy

check out the couple getting it on in the background. gross.

we were tormenting jason for 10 minutes by grabbing rails and not yelling polo loud enough

he never ~~stood~~ swam a chance....*ZING*

decided to start throwing a ball at each other

doesn't it look like ligan is somehow holding on to the edge of the picture?

they call him flipper

swam back to the house for dessert time

i spread some cookie dough ice cream to complete the perfect s'more

and ended the night with an amazing fireworks display...as broadcasted on NBC

katy perry wasn't played enough this weekend.

backyard bbq

2011-07-10T17:22:00.000-07:00

paul had some peoples over at his house last sunday to celebrate the 4th. guests weren't to arrive till 5ish. but some of us had nothing else to do that day so we came early (some earlier than others) to prep food and play in his backyard.
bbq and beers and another random word that starts with a B. good times!

trampolines without safety nets are the funnest

eric and the ice cream truck came at the same time

chopsticks are less-efficient tong

quick shot of the spread

fruit medley in a carved watermelon basket?? well done guys.

deviled eggs

ghirardelli fudge squares

gouda(?) infused turkey(?) dog

cob

drinking games were the staple entertainment for the night

aka "j-chen games"

flip cup to get the shole party involved

these two have the best/worst/oddest distraction techniques

jenny feeding eric some greenery

homemade fish sangria

dessert later that night: strawberry cream croissants

ate about 6 of these before the night was over

drinky

chilling for the rest of the night while have the party recuperated

and we end with paul singing "friday" for the umpteenth time.

little did we know that his rendition would cause the neighbors to call the cops and tell us to shut up. at this point we turned down the music and hung out indoors. helicopters and card games and ab workouts and penis turtles rounded out the night until everyone headed home or passed out.

thanks again for hosting paul!

beach bums

2011-07-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

after another friday night of bar hopping (read: trying to get into the same bar 3 times because of forgotten IDs and stupid rules about white tees!!!), jack in the box, and more freestyle sessions, we somehow coerced the LA crew to spend their day around orange county for once.

first up was a trip to the billabong employee store thanks to mr rufuku.
stocked up on summer goodies for myself.

summer sun made us want to replenish nutrients. off to cali fish grill at ligan's request.

tacos for jomo

salmon salad for kesarin

buttery trout for ligan

cajun swordfish for me

next stop was supposed to be newport/huntington to meet up with ryan and lexi, but the heat was beating down on us hard and we didn't want to deal with the crowds and traffic. thankfully lauren is awesome and let us in her apartment complex's pool just down the street. no pics for you though.

then off to the spectrum to meet up with others at yardhouse and to catch transformers 3d.

half yards all around

fun movie. imax in the third dimension is super beautiful.

then away we went to plush to end the night with some asian-ness (karaoke)
unfortunately my flash died at this point. i hope you enjoy motion blur.

title was purposefully misleading.....also, it's kinda true, seeing as how we were being bums about the beach by not going...so there you go.

cudi my budi

2011-07-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

went to a concert a couple wednesdays ago. it was cool.
recollections via jomox

cudderisback
This n*gga knows how to perform! Hands down one of the best "rap" concerts I've been to. But maybe that's because his songs are more on the rock or electro side. But I'll take that over a posse of guys ~~rapping~~ yelling over an audio track. A Cudi concert is highly recommended. What's not recommended is that guy Cage. Cudi had to come out and perform All Of The Lights to get the crowd back up. A solid setlist too. I was surprised as to how many Cudi songs I knew. The last 4 songs are epic. Check the video at the bottom.

Pre-fooding at LA Market, JW Marriott.

LA Market Burger. A-!

The Junk Food Platter. More for show as some of the items tasted mediocre.

A Fruit Loop Rice Krispy treat sounded better on paper...

Drinks!

Cudi.

Cudder is back!

Marijuana

He says he quit!

Rage like a cholo.

Closing with Pursuit of Happiness. Proper.

Yonten you always fail.

rustic canyon

2011-07-06T18:31:00.000-07:00

random text/email on monday asking if i wanted to get dinner in santa monica that night...an automatic "no" would've been the standard response, but it was heard that THE michael soh said they served the best burger he's ever eaten...that's something you don't ignore or pass up.

mo bros met up with arine bruce michael barbara at the quaint spot near the beach.

the menu changes on the daily, but i came specifically to devour their the burger.
Rustic Canyon Burger

sharp cheddar, onion fondue, housemade pickles, herb remoulade, farm egg, confit bacon

a second look

and a blackberry tart for dessert

all the happy campers heading out

best meal i've ever had?...quite possibly
best burger i've ever had?...most definitely.
wouldn't mind making the trip again.

sidenote: said wassup to marisa tomei a couple tables away. holler.

lazy saturday

2011-07-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

crazy lag time on blog posts. almost forgot about last saturday. after a night of bar-hopping (read: going to two bars across the street from each other), eating a heck of a lot of jack-in-the-box, and witnessing the greatest freestyles since eminem in his heyday, we woke in a daze not knowing what to do, but agreeing that a hike was out of the question. regrouped for food before figuring out the day.

the burbank breakfast spot: harry's. it was featured in the hangover 2 y'know.

fresh fruits

haven't had corned beef in a while, and never from a restaurant. but harrys didn't disappoint.

eggs, potatoes, and pancakes in the background

rested for a bit. got some beer and slushies from 7-11. said eff the beach and the crowds and headed to the guys' pool that they haven't used in over a year. excellent idea. no pics =/

gourmet'd the dinner to finish off the day

salad, corn, rotisserie chick, ribs, and mini drumstix. yumz.

engaged: jazzy and brucey

2011-06-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

congrats you two. love and hearts all around! =)

pub crawling

2011-06-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

iris's birthday! celebrating in santa monica by trekking through the local bars, hanging out with friends, playing games, and getting drunk. sounds like another grand saturday. sorry we could only stick around for the first stop, but it was fun while it lasted...gooooo pictures!

the brig. pretty sweet spot. has a table just for flip cup too.

everyone was late so they caught up on alcoholism by playing 5 games straight.

round 4: ladies vs fellas

stare-downs are intense

guys are at the anchor. girls...not so much.

please hammer, don't hurt em.

pro status

and in second place (...out of two teams...) - the females!

like a boss.

happy birthday again iris! thanks for having your shindig so dang far from orange county =P

limited pictures from the weekend

2011-06-13T20:07:00.000-07:00

long beach plus adios plus two shots equates to most drunk ever. no pics to display. fell asleep at 5am on saturday morning to wake up 3 hours later and get myself a haircut. no pics to display. then it was off to the actual long beach to hit up roscoes and hang out with hana. haven't seen each other in a long while and it's always great to catch up. apologies to her once again for being so freaking out of it due to the night prior. pics to display.

the eclipse is still the go-to drink for me

waffling

white meats and gravy

the food looks so much better when it's not being beat down with orange lights.

hana likes to eat her breakfast at 1pm

she headed out to hang out with her mum so i hung out with rob and wandered the shops in LA. thanks for the shirt buddy. no pics to display. headed back to anaheim at 7pm and fell asleep twice while driving home. no accidents to display. still, highly unrecommended. kbye.

too much food

2011-06-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

spent the weekend hanging out with friends and just plain being unhealthy. enjoy the f00d.

knights...a greek spot in burbank. these guys enjoy their beer on taps.

greek salad

chicken lentil soup

pita bread. hummus was on the house because they liked us for some reason.

got the lamb combo...yummers

then off to yogurtland down the block to fatten us up even more

graham cracker and thin mint flavors were legit

hit griffin in eagle rock that night. then peeps had the munchies at 1am. came home with this.

group had a stupid discussion over what kind of noodles we liked best. (this obviously being a argument on what kind of asian ethnicity we subconciously appreciate the most.) it came down to pho versus ramen, and neither side would concede....

...but then the following morning we hit up ramen jinya, soooo...go japan!! (?)

salad

gyozaaaaa

shoyu tonkotsu with corn and fresh garlic on the side (plus free egg thanks to yelp!)

the family enjoying the delicious meal

if you get the chance, spring for the shio tonkotsu. the broth is BOMB.

memorious day

2011-06-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

3 day weekend!!!...made use of the last day off by sleeping in till noon, gathering any remaining troops who weren't out of town or working, and hitting LA for a random afternoon.

found the local fast4furious driving range and smacked some balls
after they taught me proper form, found out i was pretty darn good for a newbie (this isn't me)

unfortunately my camera settings were completely messed up and i didn't get many usable pics

headed to the arclight afterwards to watch the second hangover...meh.

then over to anson's for our weekly photoshoot/hangout/AYCE KBBQ fix

"i don't know how to pose!"...good one chris

looks like we decided on looking in the other direction today

LA FAM REST. hopefully we become regular enough that they don't need to card us anymore.

the spread

pouring like a baws

to 3-day weekends!

and then it was back to work the next day...wah wah...

...the afterparty...

2011-06-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

slaters 50/50's bar played host since we love them and they're local.

some peeps were dying for some meat after the veggie meals

excellent shot lindsay

slaters is the new DnBs...except 1003 times cooler

the frik is going on...

...ahh, okay. flaming cinnamon and alcohol over a fruity mix. awesome.

drinking buddy!

look. oversized bowtie.

their secret cocktail menu messed up my brain cells pretty good.
yummy drinks to try the next time you're there: nutty russian, the 50/50, tiger's blood.

pooja & suraj

2011-06-02T20:25:00.000-07:00

wedding event of the year. a fun and beautiful ceremony. congrats you two!
random pictures from the non-pro that shot from his seat in the crowd.

stupid-messy-room-sixteen-year-olds-wearing-sneakers-to-a-wedding-michael-jackson-lean-swag

not showing: matching grey/aqua argyle socks

2 hour drumline party before the ceremony started. so sick.

crowd surfing is a tradition

the patel clan waiting for pooja to come out

bride-to-be

awwwww....

shots during our down time

thugz mansion

mid-ceremony meal time

dance team alum

"we got next"

photo bomb success

hey. when are you two getting engaged?

attached by the neck-rope!

thugz mansion pt 2

haters. gonna. hate.

(michael: please make this your profile pic and attach my corresponding links PLEASE.)

canyon in the houseeee!!!

congratulations again you two!!

kevin's birthdayyyyyyyy

2011-06-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

unnecessary amount of Ys in the title.
semi-last minute gathering for kevin's birthday on friday. hit up past memories for some drinks, where the group has become regulars and is well-known by the waitressing staff.

water was used sparingly this night

soju?...sooooo coooolllll~!!!!

mango flavors because i love that darn fruit

cheeeers!

my first time tasting the korean drink. must say i am a fan.

food...rice noodle with hot dog

and fries?

paul's sad face since he came late and no one wanted to drink with him

on the way home, paul suggested a detour to this spot in anaheim...

this was around midnnight. the line was no joke.

3 hours in a drive thru for 6 blueberry donuts...

...not worth it. anyone else think they tasted just as good the following day?
and nonetheless, thanks for the adventure paul! (black swan...)

kbbbq

2011-05-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

the extra "b" is for birthday. because it was ryan's birthday. and he likes korean barbeque.

but first was a necessary photoshoot atop anton's roof.

what are you looking at jomo?

there must be something interesting towards the right...

seriously. what's so freaking cool that's right outside of the viewfinder?

guess we'll never know...[/pensive] [/emo wrist]

headed to LA family restaurant just around the corner to greet the unexpecting bday boy

fake reactions aside, he was still semi surprised

cheers to ryan!

manning the grill since i'm particular about grilling methods

mmmmmmmmm....

cheers to lesbian drummers!

more selective with our 2nd plate. just stacked up the brisket and bulgolgi.

cheers to hard summer!

cali swag fam district developmental league

corner to corner table clap

cheers to drunken may!

wait. which way is the bathroom anson?

these two make for cuteness. double fisting panda dance go!

all the alcohol cost about the same as the all-you-can-eat meal. beasts.

lured ryan back to anson's to hang out and throw a cake in his face

air-bender. no blowing necessary.

happy birthday BRO.

super choco fun time

2011-05-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

another cooking night at jessica's place last friday. favorite one thus far. and as the title foreshadows/blatantly explains, it was chocolate themed. this is because kevin purchased an unnecessarily large amount of 62% cacao bittersweet dark chocolate from amazon some time back and we wanted to put it to use. every dish had some sort of chocolate element.

jealous?

don't know what these ended up becoming, but i stirred and folded the crap out of them.

eric: master cake bi-sector

these guys had already been prepping/baking/cooking for 5 hours by the time i got there.
alcohol break was well-deserved

part 1 of dessert #2

part 3 of dish #1/part 4 of dessert #2

part 4 of dish #3/part 4 of dessert #1

part 2/3 of dessert #2

okay. done with teasers.

strawberry summer salad with chocolate balasamic vinaigrette

roasted veggies w/ choco balsamic glaze

didn't get individual shots of everything. unfortunate.
baked potato. chocolate rubbed skirt steak and chili. cilantro rice. FRIES.

the happy table

surprise belated-birthday cupcakes!

emily had no idea and actually frosted and decor'd some of the cakes herself. hilarious.

make wish!

chocolate bacon cupcakes

...many card games and hours later...

not-so-surprise early-bday cake!

double layered devils cake with raspberry filling.

we keep it classy

yeah. you're jealous.

dinner of champions

2011-05-24T21:55:00.000-07:00

bruce and bryan are back for summer!! celebration at our old stomping grounds: slaters 50/50.

these guys are cute

ever-expanding beer menu

one mishap and bruce got hooked up with a free cocktail. drink up!

papa's quesadilla for appetizing. mashed tatos, bacon, and cheese.

pastrami 50/50.

triple X special. aka the vin diesel.

new fried chicken sandwich.

two mishaps and got hooked up with a free bacon brownie. arteries were sufficiently clogged.

congrats on the engagement bruce! congrats on stealing yvonne's car bryan!
can't wait to see more of you guys in these upcoming months.