Day 01: Annyeong haseyo, Mr. Gatsby!

I woke up at 8am. The same person who wanted to buy my microwave wanted a reschedule. We were due to meet at 9am. I held off my morning grouchiness, for the sake of dealing with people in the morning. But she chose to cancel our appointment last minute because her car malfunctioned. There was hardly time to lose my temper as I prepped myself and hurried out the door. SoraK was already on her way to the Inner Harbor.

The bus came late this morning, making the wait at Barnes & Nobles excruciatingly painful. I wasn’t physically harmed in anyway, but the clock was ticking away with every passing second and my body was nowhere near downtown. I really hate being late for anything. But I stopped agonizing after finding out from a fellow passenger that he had been there an hour ago, waiting for the same bus. If he had the patience to deal with the situation, I bet I can do better. Stupid ego.

At 10.30am, Sora texted to tell me she reached the Gallery, our meeting point of the day. That place only came into my range of eyesight at 11am. Although I was late, I could tell she had her fill doing window shopping. “I was inside Banana Republic,” she said. Funny, I don’t remember seeing that store ever despite my countless rendezvous to the tiny mall. Onward to Bonaparte Bakery.

It had to rain. It wasn’t any light shower either, way passed the amount of water your pipe at home can carry. I should say waterfall. The umbrella was no use, for we were soaked. The jeans felt like sandbags, and the winds dropped the temperature to chilling point. After a good thirty minutes’ walk, we entered the café and was dying for some warm pastries.

Old style interior decoration and pastries equals Win! 

My first experience with Bonaparte Bakery was met with mixed feelings. On the good scale, the quaint café, located at the historical Fells Point, forms a blanket-warm ambiance for hungry travelers. And those people at Yelp were right; the chocolate croissant is to die for. Unfortunately, service was sub par. The man who took our order made no smile, didn’t bother to double check on our orders and screwed it up to boot. Wow, did I mention no apologies despite the hiccups. I am all for sympathizing with having to deal with people in the morning, but this isn’t how you serve your patrons mind you. 

Lack of chocolate filling. But the fluffiness of the croissants made up for it.

Chicken salad, as arid as the Sahara desert.

Determined not to give up on a good day out, we headed to Pitango for some mango sorbet. And it doesn’t fail to deliver. The sweet tang of the tropical fruit gelato brought much happiness, as though the mango itself wants to carve its existence on your taste palate. Uh, right. The rain was still pouring and like mouse running for shelter, it led us to the Landmark Theatres. I cannot control rain, but I can evade it right? Two hours of The Great Gatsby ought to do the trick.

It wasn’t enough. While we had fun with the movie, it was time to head outside again. Mom would have been mad, since we stopped by Starbucks to kill some time before dinner. Sora wanted dinner to be at an American diner near Charles Village. This time, we were accompanied by HJ and Panda. The Lost City Diner is a place out of this world, even the menu takes time to go through. I had the Little Starboy Deluxe while Sora ordered The Original. The names don’t tally the food, but the place is definitely worth a second visit.

A fan boy/girl's dream come true!

The burgers here are designed to send you out to space!

The day ended with all four of us inside my apartment. So we each had a bottle of beer each, and part ways soon after. Sora had a deep meaningful conversation with me. I was glad to help her untangle the roots knotted inside her, no more ill feelings between her and friends.

Calculated risk,
Vonnie S.

Q: Rendezvous pitch made me happy.

You remembered this right? I am going to talk about this from time to time to remind you of this wonder. My uploaded drawing hits 1,130 favorites on Deviantart today. This time round next year, it may go up to 1.5k. This small achievement makes me proud, reminding me of my ol' glorious doujin days. 

Adrift,
Vonnie S.

Q: I just feel sorry for your sheet.

SoraK will be coming over for the first time tomorrow. The girl will continue to stay on for the next two nights and leave on Sunday. There seems to be no end with plans, and I have no resistance against such worldly experience. We’re probably walking around downtown for starters, then catch a movie, only to end up at Penn Station area for dinner. Honfest will be on Saturday, and it would most likely take half the day. She needs to go to church on Sunday, which I will walk her to the one near Wyman Park. Hmm…it would be better if I sleep in a little more today. But then, there’s the floor to clean and trash to throw. I’m pretty pathetic when it comes to keeping up with house chores. At least, I do them periodically enough to be neat. Better than someone who told me, “ you can see my room is like a trash can, and I never shower.”

New contract,
Vonnie S.

Q: It has to get worse before it gets better.

I learned that another high school friend will be tying the knot soon. At 24, questions about one’s life partner seem inevitable. I choked on my own saliva at such curiosity of people around me, an attention undeserving for my lack of ambition in refining that aspect of my life. Needless to say, I often caught myself replying rather timidly, “No, I don’t… Er, too busy with studies…”

Sheesh, that’s not true. I lied again. It can’t be helped that the keys wouldn’t fit the lock for some reason. And I don’t mean it in a sexual way, okay. No chemistry is the word; or rather I have high expectations of others that weren’t met. This is problematic in my mother’s opinion. No, or should I say in any mother’s opinion. What about procreation and fulfilling a woman’s duty? My head is too big to wrap around this right now with grad school taking much of my concern.

So, love life’s gonna take a back seat again. Whatever the case is, I am still searching for the right one.

Along with dawn,
Vonnie S.

Q: Well, that makes it two people who got my gender wrong this week.

Tis the season of the Altador Cup. Some crazy bloodshot eyed Techo wants you to rapidly finger punch your keyboard. A Chia goalkeeper taunts your kicking skills and yet its undying tenacity impresses you. Those slushie machines have been on duty nonstop, quenching thirsty fans that flood the stadium 24 hours. I’ve heard about it, that the teams don’t every sleep, toiling hours on end to prove their years’ worth of training. The responsibility to perform well is but a duty these players serve. It’s their time to shine! Move out of the way school work. You too, house chores. I have to punch in 1000 goals a day, a promise I sworn by the name of Darigan Citidel. That in reflection to reality, is but two anime episodes I simultaneously watched while delivering my points. But from the looks of things, we might end up with third placing, since both Altador and Tyrannia are doing exceptionally well this year. Perhaps it’s finally time I win an actual placing trophy on top of those prizes from points. It would certainly suck to be a mere participant, especially since I’ve reached a higher rank this time.

Rank 5,
Vonnie S.

Q: Quite an imagination he had...

I wished farewells are simple. But they never were. When I left my parents at BWI airport, my mother got into the cab with her eyes all watered up. As I watched CarmenS left Baltimore to Harvard, her two best friends wrapped each other tight and sobbed waterfalls.  The straight-faced me stood stoic in both situations, convincing myself that I shouldn’t cry because there I’ll see them again. I shouldn’t cry because I have to be strong for others. It takes multiple mental simulations and a whole lot of patient coaxing to get to that state of mind. Once I am in that zone, I carefully put a halter over my emotions and hold it steady until I decide where to let it loose again. Most often so at a private place, away from anybody’s line of sight.

However, my last bawl was ironically, in front of my parents. I had an intense argument with mom, over my brother’s life decisions (this I won’t cover because it’s another story altogether). One thing led to another, and we both cried. I was feeling very strongly about my thoughts at that moment, that I left the tear gates unchecked. That was when the walls cracked and the waters gushed out, freeing themselves from stagnant pools. It has happened before, but the numbers are not more than ten. I remembered dad walking over to hug me. I couldn’t hear anything but my own wailing. I couldn’t see anything because the tears were in the way. Couldn’t smell anything since my nose was clogged up. Scary shit huh? It was a moment of vulnerability, in my opinion, a time that I lay out my helpless side. The same thing happened when I had to give up a best friend, and when I had to fight to be where I am today. Tsk, the tears are coming again. I am such a baby.

I can’t tell you exactly why I hate crying, especially in front of others. But I can tell you that it is relatable to a lot of my friends who share similar sentiments about this topic. Despite all that, sometimes I wish I can learn to be more honest with my feelings.

Saman again,
Vonnie S.

Q: I hope everyone is having a productive month!

I don’t have to tell you that June is already here. It is marked so on calendars. Heck, the month declared its temporary stay as part of your phone’s wallpaper. In other words, we’re half way through 2013. That also means I am a second year now. After summer, I have but under a year to complete grad school. Such thoughts depress me much and I’d hate to pour such energy into this one blog post, especially since it’s a first in a while.

Hm? You wanna know what happened in May? The month was both bittersweet, like a dish of stir-fried bitter gourd seasoned with sweet soy sauce, and beneath all that Chinese flavor, a hint of red date. To paint it into feelings for you, the events left me exhausted yet satisfied. My brother (finally) graduated from college but he still has till the end of the year to complete his academic requirements. My parents came over to the States, spent two weeks travelling across five cities and went home safely. I completed my second semester successfully by finishing up on presentations and final exams. The whole ordeal demanded utmost attention, from planning to executing, that by the end of May, I felt my soul doing a throat-climbing skywards with my mouth as its exit door.

So I am backed up with readings, postings, and music. What the hell am I going to do now?

She says,
Vonnie S.