Videos of the international collaboration mentioned in yesterday’s post.
korean american collaboration from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
Posts Tagged ‘experiences’
TEDxUCLA CultureHub
laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: events, experiences, performance, videos
19
June
2011
0
TEDxUCLA
laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: events, experiences, pictures, ucla
18
June
2011
I attended the very first TEDxUCLA today! I’m really glad I went, since there were some fantastic presentations and the vibe there was just awesome. Here are some pictures to walk you through so you can feel like you were there too. 🙂
Check out their site and their Facebook page if you’re interested and maybe I’ll see you there next year!
A very simple, yet very cool design!
Speaker Rebeca Mendez shares her fascination with a bird that circumvents the earth annually, flying from North Pole to South Pole and back again.
Speaker Leonard Rome shares a fascinating little thing in our bodies - vaults (no, not the bank kind) - with the potential to save lives.
Lunchtime!
They may look like an innocent arrangement of benches and tables...
...but don't be fooled! The aerial view provides a brand new perspective.
And from here it really just looks like a place to eat.
Speaker Jimmy Lizama shows how he'd like the world to be.
Watch out! These presentations can get a little crazy. Speaker Michael Newman prepares to shoot the audience with a Nerf gun.
Yay, for a stretch break, we get to play around with those beach balls from earlier!
In addition to having two musical groups performing simultaneously in Seoul and in front of us in Los Angeles, a DJ in Seoul collaborated with a dancer (Mike Song) in LA for this performance.
I managed to snag my very own TEDxUCLA swag. 🙂
Happy hour
laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: experiences, friends, opinion, work
17
June
2011
Tonight I went out to dinner with a few coworkers and their friends. Initially, it was supposed to be a happy hour sort of thing, but two of the guys got caught up with work, so we didn’t leave until about 6:30. We were also going to celebrate one guy’s birthday and his pending departure to go to business school. It turned out to be a great meal and it made me wish that our company organized some happy hours for coworkers to spend time together after work.
I have a friend who goes to happy hour with her coworkers nearly every week (or at least has the opportunity to) and I think that’d be a nice thing for my office too. I mean, we do have lunches together pretty frequently, but there’s always a time constraint and people can’t really unwind like they could on a Friday after work. Plus, people seem to bond better over alcohol and the whole nighttime scene makes things feel more intimate. I mentioned this to one of the coworkers who was out with us and he thought it was a good idea as well. Perhaps I’ll try to arrange something and start a new office tradition!
My, how the years fly
laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: experiences, friends, observation, opinion
14
June
2011
This weekend, a bunch of my friends graduated from UCLA. It’s a reminder of how long it’s been since I first crossed paths with them and I find it almost inconceivable that we’ve finally reached this point. When I first met this group of friends, they were all first years living in my building. I was already a 4th year, with a year and a half left before graduating. It seemed like so long before they would ever graduate themselves, but now the time has come! Has it really been two and a half years since I graduated? While so much has happened, it all seemed to go by really quickly. In a blink of an eye, here I am, well into my life as a working professional.
I still remember the carefree nights we spent chatting into the wee hours, or the stressful nights we spent studying into the wee hours! There were plenty of meals to unite us and random gatherings in the hallway. Ah, the hallways that drew us all together. I really enjoyed the people I encountered just by living where I did, and while we’ve drifted apart since the time we were neighbors, they will always have a fond place in my heart and hopefully we continue to find time to meet up when we can. It’s hard to believe that everyone is moving on to work or grad school (or trying for one or the other). I still feel like I’m 21 and they’re all 18. It seems that I might feel that way forever, no matter how our lives change and mature.
Thinking about those relationships also reminds me of the ones I built while studying abroad in England. One of my best friends from that time has had an opportunity to visit me here and now we’re planning his next visit! Has it really been two years since we’ve seen each other? It definitely flew by before I knew what happened. I guess it was because I managed to get a job a few months after he left and that has kept me pretty busy ever since. I’m already coming up on a year and a half at my company! That one feels like longer, since so much has happened, yet it still feels fast, since I can remember so much of how I felt when I was just starting.
Let’s not even talk about high school anymore. Freshman year was ending a decade ago! Boy does that make me feel old. It’s just baffling how fresh those memories feel, even when so much has happened and a lot of time has gone by. Our perceptions of time were never really very accurate, were they?
Rex the Rabbit
laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: animals, experiences, pictures
12
June
2011
Is it just me or do animals get super lazy and fat in the care of humans?
Cathartic cry
laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: behavior, experiences, observation
08
June
2011
I’ve been watching Criminal Minds and today I got to an episode that was particularly heart-wrenching. I found myself bawling my eyes out and surprisingly, it actually felt kind of good. I guess every now and then it’s nice to have a release like that. I actually found myself crying harder than you might expect for the level of sadness in the show, but I suppose it was just because the floodgates were finally opened. I can’t remember the last time I cried, so I wonder if I’ve built up a lot of emotion to release or if it was just because I thought of how terrible it would be if I had to endure such a hardship.
My eyes are overworked from that and I’m pretty tired. Crying is hard work! There was a lot of tear-wiping, sniffling, and nose-blowing for about 5 minutes. It feels like I did some vigorous activity – suddenly I’m hungry, thirsty, and drained. Thank goodness I have no plans this upcoming Saturday, so I can finally sleep in way later than I should and recover from a lack of restfulness this week. I’m glad that the show was able to bring out some of the stronger emotions in me, since I haven’t had much need for intense joy or sadness the past couple of months. There have definitely been ups and downs, and this allowed me to cry out some of the downs. Funny how the human body and psyche work.
Bella Bella
laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: animals, experiences, pictures
06
June
2011
Meet Bella, an adorable little poodle pup!
She's so small and cute!!!
Back east, eventually
laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: experiences, future, opinion, panda
05
June
2011
Today Panda and I finalized plans for me to go out to DC again and I’m really excited! This time it will be a long weekend for the 4th of July and I’ve been told the fireworks at the National Mall are fantastic, so I definitely plan on going to check it out. Ultimately I’m just really looking forward to having a little vacation and traveling a bit. I miss the east coast and the weather out there, especially since LA has been brisk most days and we’ve barely had a summer day in the past two years. I’ve almost forgotten what a 90+ degree day is like.
I’d actually like to have a thunderstorm during one of the days I’m there. It’s been so long since there’s been a torrential downpour with lightning brightening the sky. There’s something very comforting about staying inside, dry and warm, as the world outside blows around and everything gets wet. That’s my favorite time to curl up with a book, blanket, and hot drink. It’s been so long since I’ve read a book! I tried to get back into it awhile ago and borrowed one from the local library, but I ended up returning it a few weeks later after only getting through a few pages. I don’t really have the patience for a lot of books now. Perhaps I should get around to listening to the audiobooks I have that have yet to be completed.
But I digress. As I was saying, I’m looking forward to returning to the eastern side of the country and I’m actually looking forward to living there again at some point. I think that Panda’s long-term future will be there, even if in the short term he takes some opportunities to work elsewhere. As much as LA has to offer, I’ve been here long enough that I’m ready for a change again. For now the best I can do is little spurts of vacations out there, but in a few years I’d like to go to school out there for my MBA and then live there after graduating. I may be the only one who enjoys humid, hot weather! 😛
Body Scentsation
laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: experiences, opinion, products
02
June
2011
I’ve been obsessed with my newest body products – Body Scentsations body butter. I found them at Fiesta Hermosa and went for the 3 of the 2-oz size for $15 deal. As you can see, I got the Acai Berry, Pineapple Pomegranate, and White Ginger. They had so many great scents and everything is natural and made locally in Ventura. Pretty cool brand. I love the way the body butter greases on without actually staying greasy. It melts with your body temperature and seeps into your skin, making it so soft and smooth.
As they say, a little bit goes a long way, so you’re encouraged to use the body butter sparingly since it is ultra effective. I love it on my elbows, heels, and around my nails. Unfortunately, a skin condition I have has flared up, so I keep rubbing it in, but it hasn’t gotten rid of the redness and slight swelling on my fingers. Other than that, I’ve enjoyed it a lot (currently working on using the Acai one) and it gives me great joy just to get a whiff of it when I open the canister. Shea butter is supposed to be good with eczema and psoriasis, but whatever I have is neither of those so I don’t know how to treat it.
But anyway, that’s not the point – I’m just really excited to have these new products to enjoy and I can’t wait to start using the other two scents as well. When I get through these, I’ll probably want to try some of the other fantastic smells that this product line offers.
Symbols in the sky
laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: events, experiences, holiday, los angeles, observation, pictures
31
May
2011
We kept seeing these all Memorial Day weekend - there was a second line drawn later crossing the first one.
