and may begins

hello! although I wrote just a week ago, it somehow seems like such much more time has passed. a very eventful week.

I spent a lot of time studying in the sunshine of the community rose garden near my home. it feels like a safehaven to me and makes the processing of work hard more pleasurable. things with palestine picked up last week with the ucla encampments, so that took a lot of emotional energy and processing. I went on a site visit to the community nonprofit that I will be working with and it was inspiring to hear about their mission and excitedly imagine our collaboration. and I got to spend quality time with my new friend from shanghai!

I presented my talk at the mental health conference, which went very well. I met a lot of exciting new connections and people to collaborate with in the future. overall, I’m quite proud of what came out of the fellowship project so far and am happy to be able to put it slightly at rest for a bit so I can focus on my licensing exams.

one of my oldest childhood friends came to visit me from miami, and shared the exciting news that she will be moving to saudi arabia for marine biology and ocean conservation research for one to two years. we excitedly chatted about creative collaboration ideas we had about the project, and hope that I can visit next spring as an artist in residence for a project! although we both had a lot of work to do, I took her to salazar for a delicious courtyard lunch of fresh seafood tacos and ceviche, a stroll by the LA river in frogtown, a few hours at the rose garden in heavy water, another few hours at homage brewing (she tried orange wine for the first time!), dinner on the patio at lasita for artistic filipino fusion food (we had crab omelette, roasted chicken inasal, scallop crudo with a minty creamy green sauce, roasted sisig mushrooms, and garlic rice), and an evening visit to the riverside wine bar justine’s for a last glass of orange wine with cozy amber ambience with her friend who joined us. 

overall, a very jam packed yet refreshing weekend. I am now back in the zone studying and hoping to finish preparing my slides for my last upcoming talk this friday, which my partner will attend! and I am looking forward to an exciting artist/activist exchange event taking place this saturday between little tokyo and skid row, which my partner will attend with me as well. and the following weekend, a visit to new york!

other great news - my brother received acceptance to a wonderful medical school in southern california, so we will be neighbors again. although there is so much pain and suffering in the world right now, I am trying to remain grateful for the blessings that I am given every day, and look hopefully towards the future, while keeping up the courage to work as hard as I can everyday. 

until next time~