dae han min guk

Yes, you got that right. I'm off to Korea for the week with Minsoo and his family.

best.textmessage.ever

I received this photo on my cell from a co-worker who's at a policy conference in New Orleans, which I couldn't go to because I have family in town this weekend...



Yes, my friends, it is Wenda11 P1erce aka BUNK from themostawesomeshowihaveeverwatched thew1re. This photo came with the following message:

"...He says he wants to meet with us when he gets back to LA -- I said our Research Coordinator would be the best point on that." -- Research coordinator?! That's ME!!! The BUNK is interested in the work WE do?!

on the phone with CA politcal celebrity (sort of)

Work has sucked lately so I haven't been motivated to post.

Work still sucks, but right now I'm on a conference call with Ph1l Angel1des, the guy who lost to the governator. I'm geeking out a little bit. I voted for him!

hope is not a crap reason to vote for a president.

Really cool video from B1ack Eyed Peas' Wi11.i.am. plus why he recorded this video, from the huff1ngt0np0t. Sums up a lot of how I'm feeling about all of this and why I think the "experience" vs "hope" thing is a load of crap:

I was sitting in my recording studio watching the debates...
Torn between the candidates...
I was never really big on politics...
and actually I'm still not big on politics...

The outcome of the last 2 elections has saddened me...
on how unfair, backwards, upside down, unbalanced, untruthful,
corrupt, and just simply, how wrong the world and "politics" are...

So this year i wanted to get involved and do all i could early...

And i found myself torn...
because this time it's not that simple...
our choices aren't as clear as the last elections ...
last time it was so obvious...
Bush and war
vs
no Bush and no war...

But this time it's not that simple...
and there are a lot of people that are torn just like i am...

So for awhile I put it off and i was going to wait until it was decided for me...

And then came New Hampshire...

And i was captivated...

Inspired...

I reflected on my life...
and the blessings I have...
and the people who fought for me to have these rights and blessings...

and I'm not talking about a "black thing"
I'm talking about a "human thing" me as a "person"
an American...

That speech made me think of Martin Luther King...
Kennedy...
and Lincoln...
and all the others that have fought for what we have today...

what America is "supposed" to be...

freedom...
equality...
and truth...

and thats not what we have today...
we think we are free...
but in reality terror and fear controls our decisions...

this is not the America that our pioneers and leaders fought and
died for...

and then there was New Hampshire

it was that speech...
like many great speeches...
that one moved me...
because words and ideas are powerful...

It made me think...
and realize that today we have "very few" leaders...
maybe none...

but that speech...

it inspired me...
it inspired me to look inside myself and outwards towards the world...
it inspired me to want to change myself to better the world...
and take a "leap" towards change...
and hope that others become inspired to do the same...
change themselves..
change their greed...
change their fears...
and if we "change that"
"then hey"..
we got something right...???...

1 week later after the speech settled in me...
I began making this song...
I came up with the idea to turn his speech into a song...
because that speech affected and touched my inner core like nothing in a very long time...

it spoke to me...

because words and ideas are powerful...

I just wanted to add a melody to those words...
I wanted the inspiration that was bubbling inside me to take over...

so i let it..

I wasn't afraid to stand for something...
to stand for "change"...
I wasn't afraid of "fear"...
it was pure inspiration...

so I called my friends...
and they called their friends...
in a matter of 2 days...
We made the song and video...

Usually this process would take months...
a bunch of record company people figuring out strategies and release dates...
interviews...
all that stuff...
but this time i took it in my own hands...
so i called my friends Sarah Pantera, Mike Jurkovac, Fred Goldring, and Jesse Dylan to help make it happen...
and they called their friends..
and we did it together in 48 hours...
and instead of putting it in the hands of profit we put it in the hands of inspiration...

then we put it on the net for the world to feel...

When you are truly inspired..
magic happens...
incredible things happen...
love happens..
(and with that combination)

"love, and inspiration"

change happens...

"change for the better"
Inspiration breeds change...

"Positive change"...

no one on this planet is truly experienced to handle the obstacles we face today...
Terror, fear, lies, agendas, politics, money, all the above...
It's all scary...

Martin Luther King didn't have experience to lead...
Kennedy didn't have experience to lead...
Susan B. Anthony...
Nelson Mandela...
Rosa Parks...
Gandhi...
Anne Frank...
and everyone else who has had a hand in molding the freedoms we have and take for granted today...

no one truly has experience to deal with the world today...

they just need "desire, strength, courage ability, and passion" to change...
and to stand for something even when people say it's not possible...

America would not be here "today" if we didn't stand and fight for
change "yesterday"...
Everything we have as a "people" is because of the "people" who fought for
change...
and whoever is the President has to realize we have a lot of changing to do

I'm not trying to convince people to see things how i do...
I produced this song to share my new found inspiration and how I've been moved...
I hope this song will make you feel...
love...
and think...
and be inspired just like the speech inspired me...

that's all...

Let's all come together like America is supposed to...
Like Japan did after Hiroshima...

that was less than 65 years ago...
and look at Japan now...

they did it together...
they did it...

"We can't?...

Are you serious..?..

WE CAN!!!

Yes we can...
A United "America"
Democrats, Republicans and Independents together...
Building a new America

We can do it...
"TOGETHER"

Thank you for reading and listening...
will.i.am

take that chuck n0rr1s!

Let's talk about what really matters in selecting a new president:

Favorite TV show?
Wai-Ling: The Wire
0bama: The Wire (Apparently 0mar is his favorite character!)

Left handed or right?
Wai-Ling: LEFT and proud (in more ways than one)
0bama: Lefty

Favorite Pro-Wrestler?
Wai-Ling: Hulk Hogan (okay, okay, so I only know one)
0bama: Hulk Hogan (who said he supported 0bama)

Can't wait until next Tuesday...

obscure LA post

n1c harc0urt read my name on the rad1o!
n1c harc0urt read my name on the rad1o!
n1c harc0urt read my name on the rad1o!
n1c harc0urt read my name on the rad1o!

I am DEFINITELY supporting kcrw next year. If nothing else, to hear n1charcourt read off my name on the radio.

I think I've decided that morning becomes ec1ectic is one of, if not THE best thing about Los Angeles. If you're not here, you're missing out.

my heart is heavy

On Sunday, I found out that a couple in my married couples small group is going through a contentious divorce under really strange circumstances. We are shocked, saddened and most importantly, fearful for the spiritual well-being of one member of the couple. There's a serious spiritual battle going on so we're praying for power from above. I've been in desperate prayer this week for my friends.

I also just found out that one of the kids that was a part of my afterschool program a few years ago (well, like 5 years ago) died in a car accident in Campbe11 this week -- at the same intersection where I was involved in an accident that totaled my car over 4 years ago. She was such a sweet girl. I found her legacy page on the local newspaper's website and it was heartbreaking to see condolences written to her by other students that were part of our program. She was 16 but I will remember Jessi as a cute, rambunctious 11 year old.

Sometimes I don't even know how to pray for the things that weigh my heart down.

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." - Romans 8:26-27

i may be someone's enemy

I think someone has made me their office enemy.

I'm getting some weird vibes from the executive assistant to our exec. dir. -- whom I rarely work with and don't know well at all.

So why should I be getting weird vibes?

A few examples:

1.She has a high pitched shrilly voice when she says hi to everyone. When she sees me, she waves and says nothing.

2. At the holiday white elephant gift exchange, she told my co-worker she stole my gift "just because." She didn't really want it, she just wanted to take it.

3. When she leaves the office, she walks by and says "Bye Gloria!" -- even though I share the office space with Gloria.

Am I just paranoid? Or do I have an office enemy... or rather, someone has chosen me as THEIR office enemy (because I don't have any office enemies)

And if I've been tagged as the woman's enemy, why?? I'm probably nicer at work than I am any other place in the world, not joking.

post-post remorse

"In Chino, a 25-year-old woman was swept to her death in a flash flood early Saturday...She was traveling east about 1 a.m. when her pickup truck was swept away by 8-foot-high waters."

Now I feel kind of bad.

week in review

unrelated to each other, but all relevant to me right now.

1. "Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it." -- Damn you, 0bama. Your politics aren't as progressive as white-boy Edwards, but man, your speeches always get me. I'm so glad you stomped on h1llary in Iowa. I can't wait for November.

2. Season 5 of the-show-that-rocks-my-face-off starts on Sunday. "The show would instead be about untethered capitalism run amok, about how power and money actually route themselves in a postmodern American city, and, ultimately, about why we as an urban people are no longer able to solve our problems or heal our wounds...a show that would, with each season, slice off another piece of the American city, so that by the end of the run, a simulated Baltimore would stand in for urban America, and the fundamental problems of urbanity would be fully addressed."

"I’m from Baltimore and I’ve got some s*** you f***** need to see, people! Put down that CSI s*** and pay some heed, motherf******!"

"My standard for verisimilitude is simple and I came to it when I started to write prose narrative: f*** the average reader...The average reader, as they meant it, was some suburban white [cable] subscriber with two-point-whatever kids and three-point-whatever cars and a dog and a cat and lawn furniture. He knows nothing and he needs everything explained to him right away, so that exposition becomes this incredible, story-killing burden."

"Most smart people cannot watch most TV, because it has generally been a condescending medium, explaining everything immediately, offering no ambiguities, and using dialogue that simplifies and mitigates against the idiosyncratic ways in which people in different worlds actually communicate. It eventually requires that characters from different places talk the same way as the viewer. This, of course, sucks."

-- Why the W1re rocks my face off. Quotes from Creater-Writer David Simon in an awesome interview with Nick Hornby.

3. "DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF FLOOD WATERS. ONLY A FEW INCHES OF RAPIDLY FLOWING WATER CAN QUICKLY CARRY AWAY YOUR VEHICLE." -- The warning from the national weather service website... the image it conjures in my mind makes me laugh, I don't know why. I wonder if any of the drunk Hollywood "It" girls will be driving out tonight. If only...

obligatory new year's post.

It's 2008. It's going to be a long year.
There, I did it.

you can see the joy on his face

Guess what movie inaugurated our new 42-inch LCD tv:

His choice, not mine.


Good bye panason1c 19-inch. You served me well. Through the various bay area moves, getting drenched with water after my ceiling collapsed, you remained faithful. Thanks for the memories.

today's union commentary...

"NO JUSTICE, NO NOODLES!"
- NYC Chinese restaurant workers who are protesting the blacklisting effort against workers who are trying to organize.

vs.

"Don't be ugly, don't be petty, You won't get your Ug1y Betty!"
- WGA members

I'm not sure which is more compelling.

speaking of corporation greed...

Tonight, Hannah represents her 'hood against the evil developers near her neighborhood who want to build a parking lot facing their house.

I'm so proud of you, Hannah... not only for speaking up but also for spending almost 4 hours sitting in a planning commission meeting. Yay for streaming online commission meetings!



... and a guest appearance by AhBuhNim

Minsoo & I had stopped paying attention by this point, until we heard him say "My daughter hannah y..." and we were like OH SNAP, DAD TOO! REPRESENT YU!

damn you merid1th grey

fine. no more tvontheinternets.

stupid corporate greed.

[see youtube video put out by the wga titled ourfriendsfromgrey.]

tvontheinternet rocks (corporate green sucks)

I've been challenged by someone on my tvontheinternets habit despite my so-called support of the writers' strike. My response: I continue to watch tv online as a way to be counted as part of the online viewership so the writers can continue to make a case of why they need to get paid... and of course, I haven't gotten a memo saying to ban tvonline. But rest assured when I do, I will stand in solidarity, I promise.

quarantined

I'm at home, quarantined by my boss who refused to let me come into work. I've watched all of the past episodes of survivor (by the way, eating 1000 yr old eggs is not the most foulest thing in the world, JeffProbst -- people here in the US eat that stuff, go out and get yourself some culture), did as much laundry as my quarters would take me & checked my email 20 times.

I'm so bored.

Here's a tidbit about the neighborhood where I work. I've been reluctant to post anything about it because it's not like this everyday:

2:30 pm Monday. The corner of West Slauson and South Western. Over 200 people watch as a brawl between 30 women ends as one drives her convertible into the melee. Two women were injured. One, Shontae Blanche, a 22 year old pregnant woman, is killed.

One witness, who asked not to be identified, said the driver hit the pregnant woman with her car, dragged her nearly 10 feet until she fell off, then backed up and ran over her again.

That's the corner where I go to get my starbucks fix. Usually, I go in the afternoon, but I had a meeting on Monday. Guess it's good I didn't go.

give 'em their money!

I'm a believer in the power of unions to help maintain the middle class and protect workers rights. I know there are "bad" unions out there that make it hard for businesses, but I know A LOT of unions that have made sure teachers get paid, service employees get their due and port workers can keep their heads above water (see thebestshowintheworldthewire).

I know hollywood is a souless place, but the writers strike is legit. The Office writers have a great youtubevideo (go to youtube dot com and search for theofficeisclosed, with spaces).

Industry, give 'em their money! Reality TV sucks.

anti-social internet user

I joined one of those new fangled online networking sites recently. I don't know why, given that I'm very paranoid about having my stuff out there. I did it just because it seemed like a safer place than my-whatchamacalit and it seemed legit.

By joining this networking site, I was hoping to stay under the radar and just monitor the landscape. Silly me. The madness is already beginning... And by madness, I mean the "unwanted adding"... I mean the friend requests from people who I've been trying to avoid for a decade (at least).

Dang it. I don't want to add them. But I can't NOT add them. They'd know, right?

And once one of them adds me, then everyone else sees me on their list and then wants to add me. And then I got a whole bunch of unwanted adding. Soon, my "list" will consist of more non-friends because I'm only adding people who find me and most of my friends know I'm adverse to these sites. [I typically only add friends who request to be on my list first.]

What do I do? What do I do? I wish I wasn't so anti-social on the web. I'm seriously considering erasing my profile. I'm think I'm going to go erase my photo from my profile right now.

i live right there.

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