[12] Surrender To The Splendor Of The Bike Fender

I went over to Kelly's today to shave the back of her head.

Unfortunately, it was raining heavily for the whole day, so I had to bike through the wet streets when going home. Never have I ever been so thankful for my bike in Chicago. These fenders saved my ass from getting soaked!

[11] Illinois Bar & Grill - "Best Burger in the U.S.A."

My cousin Darren brought Becky and I to Illinois Bar and Grill. Its pretty well-known for its burgers and on its website, it even boasts "Best Burger in the U.S.A."

It's just like a regular burger with nothing really special about it---Buns, burger, condiments, toppings, and grilled onions. Even though it's not a unique burger, it's a burger done right...and I loved it!

When I want burgers, I just want the classic cheeseburger ...easy enough... but it has to be good. IBG does that perfectly. Great size! Great price! Greasy--yes....but it was gooooood.

Definitely memorable and in my top 2 burgers places.
#1: Lockdown Bar & Grill.
#2: Illinois Bar & Grill.

Maybe I should just look for places with "Bar & Grill" in its name.

[10] Iowa Somewhere By Starved Rock...Fishing

My family (excluding Becky who was in MN) and I drove out somewhere to do some major fishing!

First, we went to Starved Rock, a beautiful tourist attraction, but we ditched that place quick after using their bathroom and then met up with some family friends who I've never met before. They were really, really nice though and they came out looking like super pros. We just followed them to some sketchy-lookin', closed off, leafy, muddy path off the side of the highway. There was a very big sign saying NO TRESPASSING but yo, they came out with a cooler, trollies, fishing lines, baits, all kinds of hooks, fishing nets--the whole shebang! They got major cred; I wasn't about to protest with them. They probably knew what they were doing.

We walked all the way through until we got to a river that was perfectly sheltered by a bridge. Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that it was pouring. The rain benefited those fishing because it helped attract fish while the bridge benefited those not fishing because it helped keep us dry---and we were able to play frisbee and dance and whatever. 

It was hilarious watching Danny and Jerry fish. They've never done it before so watching these noobs was delightful. After putting together the fishing rod, Jerry made up this hilarious horse stance technique for throwing out the line. He practiced this over and over throwing his line into this field and getting his hook caught on stems and leaves...my mom, Judy, Lisa, and I just laughed our butts off. It was so funny!! And for Danny, it was just hilarious because the rods are so tall and he was so small. It was funny to watch a little kid carry something taller than he is--especially when there was a fish on the other end. Every fish was like the length of my forearm, so I imagine they're pretty heavy. This poor guy would use all his might just to pull it out and keep the fish suspended above the ground while his dad took the fish off the hook. 

In the meantime, I taught Judy and Lisa this tutting thing that my friend Kelly taught me:

A few hours later

Everyone was done fishing and check out all the massive fish.

I taught it to Jerry too! 

Did a little grilling on the grill. Not the fish though... just other grub. We were HONGRY!

[9] Dave & Buster's

The most amazing thing.

Saw a little girl play this game.

She chewed her gum loud as eff.
Stacked all the blocks one-by-one.
Reached the top.
GRAND PRIZE.
Tickets pouring out for literally 5 minutes.

OTL.


I'm done.
I'm done.

The most amazing thing.

[8] WY AAC Show 2013

As a yearly tradition, I always make it out to my high school's Asian American Club (AAC) show. Since graduating 4 years ago, I haven't missed one yet and I don't plan on missing any.....especially not when the shows are getting SO! DARN! GOOD!!

I go there to support the students and see the product of their creativity and hard work, but this year they really, really impressed me. Seriously, I was completely blown away by the talent and charisma of these young students. I thoroughly enjoyed literally every performance. I don't know whether to admire them or to hate them for being so darn good! Yeah, I haven't made up my mind yet.

Besides being blown away with their talent, I love coming back to Whitney Young to see their cultural performances. Cultural dances are losing momentum in a lot of cultural shows ironically, but I think WY's AAC makes a great effort to keep it alive. Every year, the traditional dances are performed so beautifully I want to cry. Haha. They always do something innovative with the dances but still manage to keep it traditional. This year was no exception. And they even added a new traditional dance:

Buddha

Here are a few more of my favorite performances of the night!

Soran

Chinese Fan & Ribbon

Girs K-Pop

Thank you, WY AAC 2013 for putting on a hell of a show! 

[7] DT w/ AK-n-HAF

I don't know why I felt I had to make the title so stupid-lookin', but I like it.
Downtown with Annie K. & Helen A. F.

Yep! Looks good to me!!

This was one of my first times biking again in the city, and it was oddly cold. It was pretty hard planning this hangout day. It was like, "Yes! We made it work and here we are all together but shooooot, does it have to be this cold?" Seriously, it was winter weather. Helen and Annie had their winter gear out. The weather kind of limited what we could do, but it was really great nonetheless. I couldn't care less about having an eventful day. It was just kinda great getting to hang out and chill and stuff.

I had some alone bonding time with Helen in the beginning when we were waiting for Annie. Then, all together, we wandered around and went to one of my favorite places, Halo, and I had the Spicy Crazy Chicken. Afterwards, Helen had to leave and I got to have some alone bonding time with Annie.

[6] Bibimbap, Balderdash, Bananagrams

That's what it is, man. We made bibimbap [pronounced bee - bem - bop] with the boys (Shi Yu, Kent, Law, Kwan, Michael Chan, Kelly and Amy). I liked eating it with cream corn, but no one else did, so I had to finish the whole can of cream corn myself. It was horrifying!

Mike brought over Balderdash, and we had good fun playing that game. I can't remember the rules anymore, but it was a lot of fun. It was a very creative game! I know for some of the challenges, we are given an acronym and we had to make up what it meant. It was sooo obvious whenever it was Shi Yu's. For example, the acronym could be ....

Nevermind. I don't want to make up an example. Shi Yu's were obvious because they were always very crude. HAHA!

We also played a lot of bananagrams. I can never get sick of that game. At the same time, I was trying to incorporate some GRE vocabulary in there. I can have fun AND study. I'm so good at multi-tasking, right? The best was having a fob round. HAHA! I think Law won.

[5] Sushi Para M

Made another trip to Wicker Park this afternoon to Sushi Para M with my cousin Darren. It was totally random. I was just taking a walk, then I saw Darren driving by, gave him a ring, and decided to just join him wherever he was going. He was driving around looking for something to eat, and we just went to get some sushi buffet.

Man, in the last week, I think I had sushi buffet like 3 times already. If I'm still having it, it means I'm not sick of it yet...which means I didn't eat enough. "Tsk tsk, Henry"

Meh... today was the same. I only ate till I was normal-full--not sushi buffet-full. Sushi buffet-full is when you eat so much, you can't move, hate life, and swear off sushi for like half a year. The sushi was delicious though!

[4] Dye Hair Purple, Sultan's Market

Dye Hair
Earlier in the school year, some lady was promoting hair dye products I guess and was handing out boxes of free hair dye. Free... "Sure! I love free things!" Purple hair dye... "Sure! I love trying new things. It ain't gonna be that noticeable on my black hair anyways!" I was so excited to dye my hair, and I guess today was as good as any. I went over to Kelly's early in the morning and she helped me with the dye job. At this point, Kelly's my hair lady; I go to her whenever I wanna do something hair-related---fade #1, fade #2.

Sultan's Market
I had a catch up day with Bridget at our favorite place, Sultan's Market in Wicker Park. This was like the best of both worlds: I get to hang out with Bridget who I haven't seen for like a year and eat my Baked Zatter Fettia and Egg & Cheese Fettia, which I haven't had for like a year.

After graduation and on the car ride back home to Chicago, Jeff and I were talking about some of our most memorable moments of our undergraduate years. I was surprised, yet not surprised, to realize that many of those moments included Bridget.

Since high school, Bridget was one of my best of best friends. Then, in college, I had the privilege of dating one of my best of best friends. In my eyes, it was a very beautiful relationship despite some obvious issues we had and unfortunately, we eventually broke up. It was such a rough break up and many parts of it was very unpleasant. Not only did our relationship end, our friendship ended in many ways too.

This was a friend that I kept in touch with like everyday. We went through everything together as friends and boyfriend/girlfriend. Not even in my wildest dreams could I ever imagine us not being in each other's lives. However, a true fact about life--things change. It's actually still eerie to think that in the last two years since we broke up, we haven't really talked or hung out.

Fortunately, this summer, we set a date to hang out at Sultan's market and I'm glad that we followed through. I was so happy that we were able to just talk and joke and laugh like we always did. I guess some things just don't change. I don't know if I still consider her one of my best friends, but I definitely care about her and wish her the absolute best as we both go down our separate paths in life.

Maybe a few years from now, we can have another catch up day.

[3] It's Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

Today, I ran a bunch of errands with Shi Yu. For some reason, I didn't have my bike, so we both just walked wherever we needed to go. I'm glad we had time to walk around too because otherwise, I wouldn't have run into so many familiar faces from grade school and high school. Whenever I'm back home in Chicago, I always feel so darn happy. I really do. I'm away at Urbana-Champaign for so much of the year though that sometimes I feel out of place coming back. So many things change.

When I first got back from school, I see the garage door is broken and our car's not there. We still have the Geo though, which has built up significantly more dust since the last time I saw it. I enter the house, and it smells a little different. Heck! It even looks a little different like I don't recognize where I live anymore. Joe comes to greet me and gives me a few polite licks. As usual, I whisper to Joe and rub his head and play with his mustache ya dee ya dee yah. Cute, little doggie with a cute little mustache. When I'm away for school, I grow to love (or maybe miss) Joe more and more, but it feels like we grow further and further apart the longer I'm not home. I don't like having to get reacquainted with my own dog, but that's the reality of it. Just as I have to get used to Joe's dander whenever I'm back for holidays or vacation, Joe has to get used to me too. After playing with Joe for a little, I go to check the fridge just to peek inside. I find we don't buy whole milk anymore, but we have almond milk and Ensure in the fridge instead. Haha. But the strawberry shortcake popsicles are still sitting in the freezer since forever long ago. I head to the living room to put my things down and get ready for bed... except I sleep on the couch... I want to be close to my family and also, maybe that night, Joe will sleep beside me. Or I can sleep in long enough so when everyone's awake and he still wants to sleep, he has no choice but to go to me. Hehe.

The next day, as I walk or bike around the city, I feel a little lost. "Where am I again?" "Am I going north or south?" I have to re-familiarize myself with the streets and routes. I remember walking to Cermak Produce with my mom and at some point, my mind is just spinning because I have no mental map of where the heck I am. And wherever I go, there are more changes. Some roads are shoddy as always while others are newly paved. I discover old shops that have closed down and new shops that have opened up. Sometimes, I don't know what to do in my own city.

A wise friend of mine once taught me that change is the only guarantee--it is inevitable. While this is true, and I've definitely accepted that things change and people change and relationships change, I'm not always perfectly okay with it. I'm extremely grateful though that throughout the three years I've been gone, I don't feel like my friends and family have changed that much. Yeah, I haven't seen or talked to them for so long (some more than others), but I'm confident that they still love me just as they have before--and they come through for me. That's when I realize that I'm in the right place. This is my city, my home.

[2] Smoque BBQ

Alrighty, I'm going to do a little plug for Smoque BBQ.

This is my first Chicago BBQ experience, and damn was it a good one!
I don't even know how to describe how great it was. It was juicy and tender and tasty and mouth-watering.
Whatever, man.

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Smoque BBQ
3800 N. Pulaski Rd.
Chicago, IL 60641

(773) 545 - 7427
Open Tuesdays - Sundays (11am - 9pm/10pm)
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Just go. Make sure you order the chopped brisket. And bring me back some, okay?

[1] GRE - Verbal Reasoning

Along with my friend Carmen, I am attempting to restart the [365 Blog Post Challenge]. It's probably not called that, but I will just to make it sound super cool and more legitimate. A short orientation to this challenge -- post in your blog everyday. That's about it. Let's start!!

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Today was my first day of studying for the GREs, a standardized test for graduate school. I'm taking it the end of July, so I can apply for graduate school. Yes, I should've started studying early but hush! Anyways, I started with vocabulary, which is soo hard. So many of the words I've learned in the past semester and I recognize, but I keep forgetting what the actual definitions. Hopefully a few mnemonic devices can help me out...

Here are a few words and how I'm trying to remember them.

• Enigma (n.) - A person or thing that is puzzling or difficult to understand







• In the Batman comics, The Riddler's name was Edward Nigma, or E. Nigma.
  
  
  
  
  




• Dessicate (v.) - To dry out; to make dull







• Silica Gel, also labeled as dessicant, commonly found in food packages remove excess humidity in the bags that would spoil the food product
.

Okay, the rest of the words just involve me breaking down the prefixes, roots, and suffixes... and that's boring, so I'll spare y'all.