Bryan.

In case you wanted to know what he looks like:

Bad blogger.

Wow, it's been nearly a month since the last time I wrote?

Well, this is what I look like today / these days:

My hair has gotten longer, I just recently bought a couple of new plugs so I can stretch up a size (yeah, I'm still doing that thing) and I look happy because the sun is out and I am getting tanner everyday. Sweet.

The picture was just taken on my computer in the library on campus because.. oh yeah, I still had homework to do! I didn't really want to talk about this for awhile because I still felt so embarrassed that I was not done with school. But I finally got focused, forced myself to sit in libraries for long periods of time and just get it over with. Typical. Of course that's how I would finish college, right? Well, today I dropped off my last papers and though they are by no means the best writing I've ever done, I am done. (If you ever want to read the best thing I've written for school, ask me for the 66 pages I wrote for one of the courses I did for Cambodia).

Campus is beautiful today. The hot sun, the wind in the trees, the sparse amount of people congregating about. I'm sitting outside right now, my Pandora is blasting at high volume and I am now finally feeling that incredible sensation of... oh, what is it? Freedom. It took me a little while to get here but hey, we all have to go at our own pace.

I've been working full-time now, officially. 40 hours in the restaurant/service industry takes its toil on you, believe me. But there are delightful moments. Like free cookies. And when a wealthy man old enough to be your grandfather comes in everyday telling you that he's crazy about you... giving you his business card and then saying, "I want you to put this under your pillow so we can be together every night." I'm entertaining the idea of mentioning my upcoming 23rd birthday to him and seeing if he'll shower me with gifts. Say, a new laptop or much coveted cool hipster European bike.

Hmm... what else is going on?

I have a few living prospects coming my way. Whatever happens, it seems very likely that I'll be moving to Los Angeles. It will just be easier on me, since I spend most of my time there anyways. I love the city a lot and am discovering more parts and corners that I find myself going back to but it is still a place that leaves me conflicted...

Dating is still a great adventure, full of highs and lows. And lessons. Oh the lessons. It is everything East meets West.

Oh yeah! I should say that I finally saw Chris Pine at Lamill Coffee the other week! He is as beautiful in person as on film! And Ellen Pompeo from Grey's Anatomy came into my work and we chatted about the new season. I liked her a lot.

Well, everyone who still reads this, thanks for sticking around.

Wen

I should start getting used to this.

I had no idea that I'd end up dating a boy with such random connections to Hollywood. Again, another post about celebrities - it's getting old by now right?

Every time I open up my favorite celebrity gossip site, I see daily photos of Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto walking about in the neighborhood that Bryan lives in. Kirk gets his coffee from a place that is literally down the hill from where he lives. And Spock walks his dog on the same street that we have walked his. I went to Bryan's dodgeball game the other night and saw Donna from That 70s Show also there to support her friends. I really wanted to go up to her and be that dorky crazed fan because that is one of my favorite shows but I didn't want to be "that girl". I shared a dinner table with one of his teammates who I later saw on a youtube video singing Journey with Ellen Page. His roommate is also the producer of the Tim & Eric show and produces music videos for Ok Go and MGMT. He also eats at a cafe that Nick Lachey likes to visit. Wait, didn't I just see Nick on One Tree Hill?

Brenda from 90210 knows about my restaurant. (She's very tiny in person.) The celebies are just slowly trickling in. All these people I've grown up watching on my little television set are now suddenly real, connected to my place of work or possibly knows my boyfriend.

Life has yet to cease to amaze me. I write about all these random celebrity sightings and connections not to sound cool (ok, maybe a little cool?) but because I mostly find them very strange. I almost need to stop reading blogs and celeb news because now it's like I kind of know some of them. If not individually, at least their world.

I guess that's what happens when your boyfriend is from a hip part of town and works in Beverly Hills. And I myself, now working at a 10-million dollar restaurant in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

How has this become a part of my life?

L.A. is a strange strange, confounding place.

And I am in the midst of trying to find myself (again.. or always?). I have no idea. I'm looking for a new place to live because sometime this year, I must move out. But where to? And with whom?

I am also looking for an adventure. Perhaps dating someone who comes from a drastically different social and cultural context is adventure enough for now. We are so similar in some great ways but we've also been raised really differently.

So yeah. I never thought that running into famous people would have to become a normalized part of my life.

I'm a dork.

I got new glasses today! They cost me $19.50 from American Eagle and have no actual prescription. But they do offer UV protection. I'm so hipster, I wear these with my contacts just to be cool!

Downtown is the new Hollywood?

West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Malibu, Toluca Lake... that seems to be where celebs hang these days so whenever someone famous comes into my work, I still get a little a surprised.

Needless to say, I still get star-struck.

Shannon Elizabeth kept a low profile when she ate lunch the other day. I wanted to shout, "American Pie girl!" but you know, I kept my cool about it.

And today, I helped with a $600+ order for the writing and production staff of Mad Men.

I also found out that our executive chef used to be the person cook for Mark Walhberg and that elements of his personality are incorporated into the characters of Entourage.

There hasn't been anyone that I would pee in my pants to meet yet, though.. but I'll keep my eyes out for them.

Famous people who have eaten at my work recently.

- Leonard Cohen
- George Harrison's son
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus
- Ashley Tisdale
- Jeffrey Sebelia (Season 3 Project Runway winner)
- Santino Rice (Season 2 Project Runway, not a winner but a legend in his own right)

Also, my boyfriend shared a dinner table with Tim Roth after he bartended an art opening that Roth hosted.

It is weird to know people who know people who are famous.

And I did not meet any of these famous people. Not even Mr. Leonard Cohen who came in today and sat in the market for over an hour! Where was I? Oh, too busy doing my job. Doh.

A life update.

So, I graduated.

These photos are courtesy of Julie Chow. If you want to see all of them you can go here.

I know I haven't really blogged in a while. What can I say, life has trumped the internet these days. But I've been meaning to get back on here, to sit down and work on freshening up the place and give it a new look for this new season. And indeed, it is a new season. For one, summer is finally settling in. Warmer days, more dresses and a darker complexion. All things that make me happy.

And two, I guess it feels okay to say this on here now: I am dating someone. Whoa! It is very new, very exciting, wonderful and completely terrifying. But perhaps in the best way possible. He is the person I mentioned a few entries back. We met at work but he's wrapping up his time at BL to continue other endeavors. He's lovely. And for the first time in a long time, I feel happy. I'm not used to it. I know I wrote about being intentionally single but this thing sort of happened and for once, timing is being so generous with me by giving me a person who is a great match. I wanted to push this away at first because it feels so foreign to have a good thing come into my life. These beginning days have been great but not without their own challenges and bumpy moments. We're learning about each other, trying to understand each other's worlds. It's a pretty big deal for me to open myself up in this way to anybody because I have never felt more vulnerable.

This experience is so different from anything in the past. There was no months/years of melodramatic torture or pangs of unrequited love. No back and forth or questions of "does he like me? I don't know!". He likes me. A lot. And I could go on and on about how often he tells me I am beautiful or that he is so happy to have me in his life. Since we started out as friends and co-workers, we have a really good, natural rhythm.

So yeah!

These past few days, I've been up in a town called Paso Robles in Central California. I was a bridesmaid in one of my best friend's wedding. It was beautiful but exhausting. But many days of merry - I can't really complain. I'll post pictures once the photographer has them up. Being away from the city for a few days was interesting. I always forget that people live in different places, very different from L.A. Everywhere we went, I would point to things and just shout, "Country!" Like seeing a horse. Or some haystacks. The town saloon. Or stars in the sky. It was so much fun to be with my friends for a weekend and celebrate love.

But I'm back now and trying to get ready for another week. I still have some papers to finish for school (I know, I know - don't judge me - this was a hard semester!), I'm still easing into working full-time but restaurant business is so irregular. One week I worked 5 days, last week I worked 1, this coming week I work 3... But I'm not quite ready to be doing a consistent 40+ hours every single week. It takes its toll on you. In the meantime, I will be looking for a worthwhile internship at a local non-profit.

Life is a balancing act. There are lots of things going on and lots of self-reflection to be done this summer.

Stay with me, I promise to write more as soon as I feel a little more balanced.