Coffee Keeps Me Young

It's that time of the Quarter Again!

What time of the Quarter you ask?

MIDTERMS!

So naturally college students here at UCSD and all of the other colleges/universities on the quarter system are lounging around in bum clothes, downing espresso shots, and losing sleep while surrounding themselves with books and lecture notes and listening to podcasts.

Not an overreaction

But luckily for me, I have two awesome friends that showed me the best study spot I have ever come to know: Young Hickory

And to be honest I don't even know if I should be talking about it on such a "public" place because its very underground and hipster as some have described it, but you know what, I have been so productive there and love it so much I MUST BLERG (Translation: "mispronunciation of the verb "to blog") ABOUT IT.

That's my friend! She's probably gonna get really excited that she is in this post

                                     

These are some shots of the interior which is really cool, the chalkboard is really well designed, and the music is very relaxing but still just gives off a cool college vibe (super cheesy I know but I don't care).  The place is not very small and has a lot of tables, but it does tend to get pretty packed ... but it's only probably because it is such a great space.  Also, the workers/baristas are very kind and helpful and if you walk in looking distraught seeking a table, they tend to help direct you to an open table so that's nice.

And so yea that's the environment, but you're probably wondering about the coffee right? You know, since it is a coffee shop and all haha

The coffee is delicious and the food is on the same great level.  My usual is a Vanilla Latte and an Acai Bowl which comes out to a nice $12 and I probably have made that purchase every single time that I have been there, and I probably need to be more adventurous in trying out new things there ... but what I get is just so good

$12 of delightful satisfaction

My friends showed me this place at the end of last quarter during Finals Week (my other favorite time of the Quarter) and I ended up going literally 4 days in a row.  I have never been so productive in my academic years.  The first day I went we were there for a good chunk of time and I was able to crank out most of my 10 page Visual Arts Paper that I originally had no motivation or no idea where to start.

(Me before finding Young Hickory)

(Me once I found this haven)

The next few days were also JUST as productive and it is officially my choice location for studying. And ANOTHER cool thing is that you can open a tab!  Now some of you may think this is not a big deal but I have never done this before so when they first asked me "Would you like to open a tab?" I tensed up and had no idea what to do and said "No Thanks" but man did I regret it.  I have never done anything so foolish again haha and now every time I go I open a tab and I feel so legit it's cool like now I am just ranting about it but I felt like an adult doing my thing just drinking coffee and keeping tabs open and what not... But then I get my tab back and turns out I downed 3 Vanilla Lattes, an Acai Bowl, and a Brownie woops

But anyway, back to studying

A lot of people are different, and so if you are still a student and can't seem to find that one place that really allows you to get those juices flowing in your brain, try out a new spot.  Try getting away from your friends if they distract you.  Try bringing them with you if you don't like studying by yourself.  TRY SOMETHING NEW - you'll never know what the results will be, I did not expect to have this place be so great and now I love it 

P.S. I am going back there this weekend to study 

 (There is something so satisfying about this gif)

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What's the Buzz?

So it's been a month and A LOT has happened so far in my life, but because this is the internet I must attend to your needs and interests so I thought I would share the greatest craziest thing that has happened to me

ME AND MY ROOMMATE MADE IT TO THE FRONT PAGE OF BUZZFEED

Like seriously, what just happened?

Here is the link if you want to see:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/paulyj/student-turns-roommate-into-a-variety-of-disney-ch-k8xw

If any of you saw it beforehand, now you know, that was me

Basically for a while now I have been taking snapchats of my roommate throughout the year .... and drawing him as different Disney characters... and putting dirty captions on them .... without him knowing.

But I mean, I did end up telling him what I was mass sending to 15+ people at a time.. just, you know, after I had drawn it and sent it to everyone and even posted it on the "MyStory"

Anyway, so basically for a while people would make comments on how much they loved the Snapchats I would send and how its "BuzzFeed-worthy" but I just didn't know how to become "BuzzFeed-Official" you know?  So I went on BuzzFeed, found out you can make your own article, and then it posts on BuzzFeed Community.  I thought nothing of it and then just thought it was for fun... then I got an email

The email quickly told me how my article had made it to the front of BuzzFeed Community .... then I got another email within the hour that then read:
YOUR ARTICLE HAS JUST BEEN POSTED TO THE FRONT OF BUZZFEED

WHAT

(How I Imagine People's Reactions Were Looking at the Article On Mobile)

In less than 24 hours, my article hit more than 100,000 views and I could not believe it, everyone was telling me "Oh, you better not get a big head from this"... but honestly, I could not even figure out what had just happened to me.  Anyway, to be honest I am not typing this all out just to show off or get more views on my article (Did I mention I posted the link above and you should check it out? haha) but rather to prove to people that taking chances can be a lot of fun and can add awesome memories to your lives.

Because I took the risk to post this article (with my roommates consent), we can both officially use the sentence:

"Hey, remember that time we made it to the front of BuzzFeed?"

Can You?

Maybe you have an even cooler sentence to say and that is awesome, PROUD OF YOU!

"Nurse! Quick! Hand Me the Vagina!"

Yep, you read that title correctly

Sorry if that made you uncomfortable or if you deem that title (and possibly the entirety of this post) unnecessary, but it definitely pertains to my blog post for tonight.  So if you think that the word is weird or disgusting or inappropriate, please read up on my interpretation of it all.

(Talk about "Vaginas" that is - apparently)

It's not usual for the word "vagina" to come out of peoples mouths or even come up in conversation and the whole reason I am talking so much about it is because I just recently saw UCSD's rendition of The Vagina Monologues.

The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play created by Eve Ensler.  As Wikipedia describes it (and although it is Wikipedia, I believe the summary of the play is accurate):

"Each of the monologues deals with an aspect of the feminine experience, touching on matters such as sex, love ,rape, menstruation, female genital mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the various common names for the vagina, or simply as a physical aspect of the body.  A recurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a toll of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of individuality."

I first went to The Vagina Monologues last year with a few of my friends and was not sure at all what in the world to expect.  All that people were telling me about it was that, "it's about female empowerment" and "its just feminists complaining about men."   But I kept an open mind and thought it would be a good experience to go and see the show, I mean its college right? The time of your life to go out of your comfort zone and learn not just about yourself but about others right?  Well, I am definitely glad I went.

The play was held in a ballroom in the hub on campus and there was a row of tables outside the entrance with a bunch of offices expressing the different resources they have for students to become more comfortable with themselves whether it be due to previous sexual assault or other traumatic experiences.  Walking past these I was starting to get nervous.  What did I just sign up for? 

We entered the ballroom and inside were some merchandise tables where The Vagina Monologues crew were selling T-shirts with "Vagina Warrior" or "Vagina Lover" on them, panties with "CUNT" boldly written on it, as well as "P*ssy Pops" which were little chocolate lollipops in the shape of .... you guessed it, Vaginas.  Naturally at this point, as a straight male, I was preparing my will in my head and readying to just have a woman come up on stage for the performance and call out me and every other man for being a man and not being a woman and being wrong and nonsense.

-Me-

But boy was I wrong.

The show was spectacular.  The play consists of an array of monologues performed by an amazing cast of UCSD women who speak on serious matters related to their vaginas and how it was about time that the word vagina was no longer deemed as BLASPHEMOUS or anything. This is where my title actually comes into play where in one monologue, the women on stage list off not only all the different nicknames a vagina has, but also just about how disgusting and uncomfortable the word naturally sounds.  Humorously they say how it sounds like a medical device shouting "Nurse! Quick! Hand Me the Vagina!" ... they then say how even in sexual encounters, at the mention of the word, all hotness is lost, "Oooooh yes, now touch my vagina".... uuuuuh no thanks.

Some monologues are funny.  Some monologues are just straight up fact.  Some monologues are hard to listen to.  Some monologues are gut-wrenching and teary-eyed.  

But all the monologues are real.

Although at first I could not understand why the crap I was there...

But by the end, I could not wait for next year to watch it for I plan to watch this show every year.  This play is so powerful and such an important message to not only women but men too.  This year I went again and brought some more friends that had not seen the show because I knew deep down that they needed to see the show.  Also! I had a quite a few friends that were on the cast and knew how much it meant to them.  

At the end of the show we waited for the cast to come out and congratulated my friends on their performance not only to prove that we went, but to share with them that we are all there to support them because choosing to be in this show means that the powerful & important message it sends, means something special to them.  You can never have too many people supporting you in life.

The play may not necessarily be everyone's "cup of tea" but I think it has an important message and definitely opened my eyes to the reality of ... well, reality.

Mother Knows Best

Need a new TV Show to binge watch that not only is on Netflix but is coming back for its second season on Monday March 3rd and is really good?

BATES MOTEL

Done.

But seriously, this show is awesome, it is super intense, has some crazy twists and turns you would never expect, and the actors/actresses completely sell me on being in the mind of their characters... who actually are out of their own mind.

In case you don't know where "Bates Motel" comes from, here's the low-down.  Basically the thriller drama is a prequel to the 1960 Hitchcock Classic Psycho but told in modern day so theres iPhones and such!

But seriously doe, it starts off with Norman Bates, played by Freddie Highmore (the kid from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and his mother [if you watch the show, you will know why I say "mother" and not mom], played by Vera Farmiga, (starred in Up in the Air) who buy a motel in a new town to START A NEW LIFE.  Little do they know that, well, to put it simply, sh*t goes down incredibly quickly.  I can't say much without giving it away but there is a lot of plot twists and incredible subplots that all tie up nicely at the end.

And Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga are incredible actors in this show and you honestly never know who is more sane ... or if either is actually sane at all...

Max Thieriot, Olivia Cooke, Nicola Peltz, Mike Vogel, Nestor Carbonell, and Keegan Connor Tracy also star in this series and I just HAD to mention them all even if you don't know them because all the characters are super important and just when you think you understand on of them... HOLY CRAP ARE YOU WRONG

The lack of understanding the intentions of each character though I think is perfect since it is a prequel to Psycho.  I just watched Psycho actually the other day, crossing off another movie from my list of 250 movies to watch [Shameless Plug-In: go check out my tab Just Add Popcorn] and it was really good!  It may be in black and white and the acting may not be completely the best to today's standards but it is still really good.  Like honestly, a part of me wishes I could have been in the theatre when this movie first aired in the 60's because I really feel like people were flipping out and this movie really was groundbreaking.

I definitely recommend not only starting to watch Bates Motel, but watching the original movie ESPECIALLY since just about everyone knows about the iconic scene ... Somewhat Spoiler Alert but the girl gets stabbed...

Anyway, I had always wondered what the context of this stabbing scene was all about and now that I saw it I GET IT! And theres A LOT more story behind it.

Basically, the whole Psycho franchise is blowing up, and for good reason, so watch this awesome series before its got a lot more seasons and everyone else tells you to watch the 7th season of it.

          

Taco Tuesday? Tacos Every Day!

Funny story.  When I went back home my friends and I were eating some Mexican Food and they made the comment how they wished they had some good legit Mexican Food near their campuses (they study in Washington & New York) and I agreed with them not really thinking it through to which they were not happy.  "YOU GO TO SCHOOL IN SAN DIEGO LITERALLY ONLY A FEW MILES FROM MEXICO WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" ... woops

It was then that I had realized my friends and I HAD had some Mexican Food like Vallarta's Carne Asada Fries but had yet to find a traditional taqueria and taken advantage of being so near Mexico to have real good Mexican Food without having to bring a passport with us for a meal.

So yesterday some of my friends and I needed some comfort food and found this great Mexican place that was delicious and magical and all that we needed and will be going there a lot more often I just know (and hope). Not only was the food good, traditional, and cheap... it was FAST!

I mean as soon as we passed the place while looking for parking we knew we made the right choice driving to this restaurant.

Mmmmmm $1.95 tacos

Maria's Mexican Cocina is the name of this delicious Mexican restaurant in Downtown San Diego that my friends and I thoroughly enjoyed!

        

First off they kicked us off by giving us some chips and salsa AND even some Queso Fundido which is basically like a cup of melted cheese delicious for dipping and its like some NACHOS for appetizer with no extra charge.  I also ordered an Horchata to test out just how authentic the place is and it was delicious! Not too cinnamony and not artificial.  It was Good!

For our main dish I got a plate of fish tacos and my friend got a chicken tamale and they were both amazingly delicious.   The fish tacos were fresh and crunchy and super savory.  I actually do think I enjoyed my friends' tamale a lot more than mine but they were both really good.  The tamale was fresh and homemade and not super filling but just right .... she finished the whole thing and is a very small individual so the fact she finished it says a lot about how good it was.

So in summation, my friends and I will be enjoying a lot more authentic Mexican Food more often - and I am excited! NOTHING IS HOLDING US BACK TO EAT MEXICAN FOOD!

Not So Precious but Not So Bad

So if any of you remember one of my earlier posts or if any of you have checked out my tabs (Just Add Popcorn), it has been my goal to watch all 250 movies from IMDBs list of top 250 movies of all time.  I have been trudging through very slowly and when I can I burn through a movie and happily cross it off my list.

One of those movies... or actually, four of the movies on the list... are the three Lord of the Rings Trilogy movies as well as The Hobbit (the first one so far).  I mean, of course they were on the list after so many Oscar nominations and wins but admittedly I had not sen any of the movies.  NOW HOLD ON DON'T FREAK OUT! 

(this is a LOTR representation of how people usually react when I would say I had not seen any of the movies ... me being the elf lady)

I finally watched all four of them and surprisingly enjoyed them.  We went up to Lake Tahoe during my Winter Break and while we were there I burned through the first two and then watched the third one once I got back only to end up watching The Hobbit the following night.

Anyway, the main point of my blog post is that I think people should actually give the movies a chance.  A big reason I was very hesitant to watch any of them was because I found them to be geeky, weird, and dumb.  And I apologize.  The second one was actually my favorite one too I should add! Even though Gollum was in it who as a kid scared the begeezus out of me and still grosses me out (I feel like he is just cold and clammy and ew)

Ew

But essentially I gave in, realized I would eventually have to watch them since they are on the list and fully enjoyed then.  So I guess all I am trying to say in this somewhat short post is that no matter how weird or "not your type of movie" a movie may seem, you should give it a shot ... at least if they have good ratings.

No matter how out there they may seem...

Aca-Mazing

WOW I HONESTLY SERIOUSLY TERRIBLY APOLOGIZE TO YOU ALL FOR NOT POSTING THIS IN SUCH A LONG TIME I AM A HORRIBLE PERSON AND LOVE YOU ALL AND AM BACK!

Well now that that is out, I must share with you all in the holiday spirit since I am super excited for Christmas! Whether you celebrate or not (Happy Channukah a few days ago respectively to those who celebrate), I want to share my latest obsession.  

Acapella is amazing and I am a big fan of all of the music from "Pitch Perfect" and any other acapella groups but the greatest acapella out there (at least that I know of) is PENTATONIX.  They won NBC's "The Sing-Off" which I did not watch but I have watched almost all of their videos and love just about all of their renditions of their songs.  And to make it even better, THEY RELEASED A CHRISTMAS ALBUM - I KNOW RIGHT!??!!

My greatest obsession on the album is their rendition of "The Little Drummer Boy" which I basically binge listened to on my drive from San Diego to LA which is probably unhealthy but I was able to learn all the words and each time I sang it I sang different parts and was basically a one man acapella group.  Also it should be noted I played it so loud in my car that I sounded super good and basically sounded just like them which is unusual because I don't sing well but for this song I sounded amazing.

HERE IS THE LINK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ_MGWio-vc

You all should listen to it it is amazing, although my sister and my friend did not like it for some reason but that don't even phase me because I still listen to it at least once a day and sing it in the shower and know all the right tones and melodies to hum along to I am just awesome basically haha

Aside from their holiday music they also did Radioactive with LINDSEY STERLING 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE2GCa-_nyU

AND OF Royals - AWESOME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9XQ2MdNgKY

Medley of Daft Punk - SUPERB

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MteSlpxCpo

And they did "Somebody that I Used to Know" (this is the song that made me fall in love with them)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOKuAigsrec

But yea if you have not heard them check them out I promise they will NOT DISAPPOINT 

Side Note: definitely listened to them while writing this post , ITS GOOD TO BE BACK

who knew it would be during Finals Week that I would find time to post on the blog again?

Straight Up Muggin' It

Shopping for Birthday gifts most of the time (at least I have found them to be) can be one of the most difficult things to do especially when you want to express to someone you care about how awesome they are.  Typically what happens to me is that I realize it is someone's birthday soon and then I think, "OK, what is it they like? Well, they like that stuff so much they ALREADY have everything they would want from __________ .... well maybe I can give a gift card? But typically family members you don't speak with on a regular basis give those....shit."

[This is what I look like, LOOK I EVEN SIT DOWN TO THINK ABOUT WHAT TO BUY]

Perhaps a lot of you go through the same thought process, or maybe you are actually awesome at buying birthday gifts, and if so I envy you.  If you are more like me and struggle sometimes, I have a solution... at least for one gift.

Starbucks actually has this cool mug you can buy that you can draw whatever design you want on it, bake it for like an hour or something, and then the design stays imprinted on it permanently.

LOOK! Isn't that cool?

And since Starbucks is in just about every city across America, I am sure you could easily find the nearest Starbucks location and pick one up.  It's really fun designing whatever it is you wanna make for said birthday person (or Christmas person since that season is approaching too) ((Or whatever holiday you wanna celebrate, everyone could use a good mug))

Anyway, it comes with a double sided pen with white ink to draw on the lower black region, and on the reverse side of the pen is black ink to draw on the upper white area.  I actually bought one as you could guess and made one for my sister for her birthday!  It was a little nerve wracking since it is kind of marker that I was drawing with but I found that you can first draw with pencil and it easily erases by wiping it with your finger.

So if you could not guess from the design I did, my sister loves Disneyland and all things Disney so I put a popular quote from Walt Disney himself "It's Kind of Fun Doing the Impossible" and I even looked up Walt Disney Font online and was able to draw it by looking at a template.

I was nervous at first and it definitely took me some time to figure out what it is I was going to draw but I was really happy with the end result and think it summed up Disney and my sister fairly well.. my favorite is the Pocahontas at the bottom on the back of the mug

I tried to capture the majestic beauty in her hair which admittedly was really difficult, I mean look at those locks, but I managed to do it and had a lot of fun doing it.  Also, I guess I forgot to take a picture of it but I drew a star on the inside of the mug so after finishing a drink she could see the evening star/ wishing star/ second star to the right/ pretty star.

But yea, I honestly had a lot of fun and might even buy another DIY (Do It Yourself) mug and make one for someone else but I am not officially sure.  I definitely recommend it and think that someone will love it especially since making something homemade shows a lot of love.  It shows a lot of effort in my eyes, and would love a homemade gift since you realize that when that person was making the gift, they literally saved time in their day to work on something FOR YOU.

Pretty Much Pretty Patties

What do I love almost as much as food you ask? That's easy ... Dessert!

Let's be serious for a moment, dessert is a whole separate category from food because you eat food for meals and for snacks and what not, but you can never be too full for dessert.  Like when you are at a restaurant and you are stuffed full of delicious FOOD ...and then that rapscallion of a waiter/waitress comes over with the dessert menu because they saw into your eyes that you have an on-again-off-again love/hate relationship with sweets and just know you cannot say no.

OR WORSE! When they actually bring the freaking cart around that has the example desserts and you know they have been sitting there for a while because every server uses it to tempt every customer into desserts but yet it all looks so good.

ANYWAY! I am not even talking about desserts at restaurants in this post but that was my rant about sweets/desserts and now to the best part.

1. Macarons are amazing. 2. I think they look like "Pretty Patties" from Spongebob Squarepants. and 3. I think if I ever went to Europe and tried legit macarons I would probably cry, then die, then come back, stuff my face with macarons, cry some more, and then die again - in that order.

[Look at that, these things are so good the gif is bugging out]

I do have one place in particular I must talk about though that sold me some awesome macarons and that is Dolcissimo Bake Shop.

Located at:

13885 City Center Drive, Suite 3010

Chino Hills CA 91709

Ph: 909.591.3646

Store Hours:
Monday to Thursday 10am-8:15pm
Friday & Saturday 10am-9pm
Sunday 11am-7:15pm

At the Shoppes at Chino Hills (North of LA) in California my sister and I were walking around and found this little shop on side of the shopping center, went in, and were super happy with our find.

Now we unfortunately did not get a chance to try everything since we had just eaten BUT if you understood what I was ranting about earlier, we did buy some macarons without too much guilt. 

YEP, YOU READ THAT RIGHT, NUTELLA & FRUITY PEBBLE FLAVORED MACARONS

and not only were the Nutella macarons flavored like nutella, the insides were creamy nutella spread

... you know, maybe it wasn't even nutella flavored... but I just know that they were delicious.  At that moment I really wished I had not eaten lunch and rather we had just gone straight to Dolcissimo and filled ourselves with macarons and cupcakes.

So if you are around the area or visiting LA or maybe even just in some part of California... Go to Dolcissimo and you will not be disappointed.