OakMonster’s Den

We got our group pictures taken today to be used on posters and other PR materials for our final “My Own Story” performance. We got to do all sorts of silly things for the camera, but I’m sure it’ll be awesome when it comes out. You’ll see the final poster and stuff here eventually.

I have my Geek Girl shirt on. Although I don’t think it’d come out…

This is also the first time since the Final 7 are together in the same room. The past 2 weeks, we kept missing a person. We have a great group with some interesting stories to tell. So when you come to the show, prepare to split your side and bring tissues for the tears.

On that note, tomorrow night I’d have to get working on some of the pieces I started writing in the workshop. Saturday morning, I will meet with Alex to form my final piece. Scary!

A dream realized.

HMM…FOOD…GOOD - A food blog

Hmm…Food…Good is like the garage version of American Test Kitchen where all the recipes actually have been made and tasted. You know how one recipe could look so delicious on paper, but when you make it, it doesn’t turn out as well? On HFG, you’ll have to trust our contributors’ culinary skills and taste buds as we post our favorite recipes as we go along.

Contributors include the circle of friends and trusted fellow bloggers. (Send me an email to join in the fun!) Of course, we will also be chit-chatting about food and food-related items.

Keep us on the dial for your next inspiration!

Coleen, the creator of the wonderful writing project Februarium, is walking for boobies with others in Philadelphia this September. Click away and help Coleen raise some funds!

Because my hubby went to sleep while I was watching Stargate Monday, and I’m too full to go to sleep.

(Almost) 100 little things about me
courtesy of Joe from Brandon’s work

1. Full Name: Varavarai Oakley Boren
2. Your nick name: Oh+ (you’d pronounce that like “Oh?”), Oakz, Oakster, OakMonster
3. Birthday: November 16
4. Place of Birth: Bangkok, Thailand
5. Zodiac Sign: Scorpio
6. Male or Female: Female
7. Grade: Masters of Arts
8. School: USC
9. Occupation: Communications Manager.
10. Residence: Long Beach, CA
11. Screen Name: Hmm..gee…what do you think that is?

__Your Appearance___

12. Hair Color: black
13. Hair Length: medium-long
And there is no 14-15 for some reasons
16. Height: 5′ 0″
17. Braces?: Will get another one soon as I get dental insurance from work. Too many them teeth.
18. Glasses?: Unfortunately, blind as a bat over here
19. Piercings: Regular ear piercing, and one on upper left cartilage
20. Tattoos: G clef on my right ankle
21. Righty or Lefty: Amphibious

___Your ‘Firsts’___

22. First best friend: As I remember it, Tammy (Tum)
23. First Award: Oh dear god. Um…English award in kindergarten?
24. First Sport You Joined: Ballet. If that doesn’t count, then it’s swimming lesson.
25. First pet: Some gold fishies.
26. First Real Vacation: I’d say Hong Kong at age 7.
27. First Concert: A kid’s music show like Barney, but he’s was a green bumblebee…or something like that. As for a real music concert by an artist YOU would know, probably Tina Turner when I was 10. I only knew her as the leggy lady with big hair from the Pepsi commercial.
28. First Love: Fabian “The Shark” Keber of Germany. Age 11. There’s a story about him on this blog somewhere.

___ Favorites___

29. Movie: Fine, I’ll pick the favorite of the moment. Kill Bill 2.
30. TV Show: CSI
31. Color: Blue
32. Rapper: I don’t listen to rap. So I’d say, Snoop?
33. Song Right Now: The Widow, Mars Volta
36. Candy: Twix
37. Sport to Play: Disc Golf.
Oooh no 38 either
39. Favorite brand to wear: Stuff from the street side stalls in Thailand doesn’t usually have a brand.
40. Store: Kohl, Target, and occasionally when I have a break down, Forever 21.
41. School Subject: English and performing arts
42. Animal: Anything but lizards and snakes
43. Book: Memoirs of a Geisha
44. Magazine: Maxim and Real Simple

And 45-48 also went a-missing

___Currently___

49. Eating: Nothing. Last I had was some mango before I brushed my teeth.
50. Drinking: Water
51. Typing: this survey
52. Online?: Nah. Trying to wrap this up and go to bed
53. Listening To: the hum of my mega computer
54. Thinking About: Comfy bed
55. Wanting To: win the lottery
56. Watching: the clock
57. Wearing: t-shirt and sweats.

___Your Future___

58. Want Kids?: Uh. No.
59. Want to be Married?: Not sure. Haha, gotcha. Of course I do! I love being married.
60. Careers in Mind: full-time marketing/business manager for Boren Consulting.

Ditto 61-66

__Which is Better With The Opposite Sex___

67. Cute or Sexy: Sexy
68. Lips or Eyes: Eyes
69. Hugs or Kisses: I’ll take both.
70. Short or Tall: Tall
71. Easygoing or serious: Easygoing
72. Romantic or Spontaneous: Spontaneous
73. Fatty or Skinny: In between.
74. Sensitive or Loud: Sensitive…but seriously here, folks. Sensitive men?? And straight??
75. Hook-up or Relationship: Relationship
76. Sweet or Caring: Caring
77. Trouble Maker or Hesitant One: Trouble maker. Look at the antichrist I married. I LOVE trouble!

___Have you ever______

78. Kissed a Stranger: No.
79. Had Alcohol: Absolutely
80. Smoked: Yes
81. Ran Away From Home: Not since I was 5. Didn’t really ran away. I hid under a desk and no one could find me for hours.
82. Broken a Bone: No. But a collasped left lung once.
83. Got an X-ray: Chest x-ray galore over here. And a few for my stomach ulcer thing.
84. Broken Someone’s Heart: Apparently I did even the dude dumped me first. Go figure.
85. Broke Up With Someone: See 84.
86. Turned Someone Down: Nope.
87. Cried When Someone Died: Yes
88. Cried At School: Yes

___Do You Believe In___

89. God: Like the Christian God? She’s alright.
90. Miracles: Yes
91. Love At First sight: Yes
92. Ghosts: Yes
93. Aliens: Yes
94. Soul Mates: Yes
95. Heaven: Yes
96. Hell: Yes
98. Kissing on The First Date: If you like the guy, yes.
99. Horoscopes: Not the ones in the papers. If the readings are from one of the fortune tellers my mom goes to in Thailand, hell yes.

___Answer Truthfully___

100. Is There Someone You Want But You Know You Can’t Have? We’ll see. Jen just filed for divorce so Brad is back on the market. Now I just have to get out of MY marriage… HAHAHA!

Background:

We want to put together a short PowerPoint presentation slideshow with music to be used, first of all, at an investor meeting. And then, this PPT may get a spot on the website and perhaps be emailed around as a promotional material.

Questions:

1. If it is just for the presentation at the meeting, do I need to get permission from the record company?

2. If it is to be put online, I’m sure I will need to get a permission for that. But is there a catalog of available music I can use? Or maybe a royalty-free sort of thing like they have with photos?

Any comments or links to more resources would be much appreciated.

Just got back from Easter lunch at my friend Nora’s house. Her entire family plus the relatives were there. A house full of folks! I used to go down to the Jans’ functions a lot when I was single, and a few occasions with my ex-boyfriend. They’re like my surrogate family. Well, they’d let me attached myself to them that is.
Once in while, I crave being with a family. Obviously, mine is not conveniently close enough, so I have to bum the family off of other people. The Jans are the only one intact family I have to crash.

Thank you, Mr. & Mrs. Jans, Sarah, Ellen (and Joe), Colin, and of course, my precious princess Little Foot, Nora!

On that note, I just added a link to Colin Jans’ band, Sic Waiting.

We have the date for the final performance of “My Own Story” workshop.

Thursday, April 21. The Village Gate Theater (by USC). Probably around 7 p.m. It’ll be me and 6 USC students (gosh do I feel OLD!), and perhaps a few MOS alumni and maybe even Alex himself, telling our own stories about our lives as Asians/Asian Americans. Read more about MOS in USC Daily Trojan.

We should have the formal poster, press release, and full details in a few weeks. (Next week is our photo session.) Will have that posted here too.

If you’re in the area, or feel strangely compelled to come see the show, come on down!

Now that I know how to get the pictures off of my phone…

Happy Easter, y’all.

And here’s another one from March 4 from the 34th floor Downtown LA. The one moment of sunshine I had before Mother Rain let it rip for days on end.

1. I left the local Long Beach Sav-On at 8:05 a.m. I arrived at my parking lot in Downtown LA at 8:30. Perhaps it’s spring break. Perhaps it’s the traffic window I’ve been searching for. We’ll find out in a few weeks.

2. My left eye lid is twitching. Yesterday the left eyeball felt weird when I looked up. Like how you can’t turn your head when you slept wrong. Today, no pain but the damn lid is twitching!

3. My brand new compilation CD tells you about my taste in music:

• Battle Without Honor or Humanity - Tomoyasu Hotei (from Kill Bill)
• Galvanized - Chemical Brothers
• Starry Eyed Surprise - Paul Oakenfold
• Musicology - Prince
• Hey Mama - Black Eyed Pea
• A Girl Like You - Edwyn Collins
• Cinnamon Girl - Prince
• Vertigo - U2
• I’m not okay (I promise) - My Chemical Romance
• Enter Sandman - Metallica
• Dragula - Rob Zombie
• Tainted Love - Marilyn Manson
• Little Nikki - Foo Fighters
• Bring Me To Life - Evanescense
• Hysteria - Muse
• City of Blinding Light - U2
• Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
• Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
• Daughters - John Mayer (whose music I absolutely adore, but I can NOT stand watching him on television. Something about his face makes me want to punch it…)

Also currently on rotation: The Killers, soundtrack from Garden State, and Carole King.

The bald, bad mofo friend of mine, Christopher E. Long, is now a certified professional comic writer. He recapped the signing of his comic book Easy Way at Wizard Con in Long Beach over the weekend.

My favorite quote:

My name was announced over the P.A. when I signed copies of my book. However, I told the announcer that I wanted him to read: Now signing at IDW Publishing’s booth, Christopher Long - the guy whose last name is a description, the master scribe, and the badest mama-jamma at this convention - writer of the critically acclaimed “Easy Way.” Needless-to-say, the asshole didn’t read the card the way I gave it to him.

You go, baldy!

And oh yeah, this is like the day I blogged the most! Craziness.