Drowning in Tea

I've been overflowing with nostalgic feelings and at first I welcomed them because it was fun but it's become quite overwhelming. I think it's the changing of the seasons that kicks these feelings into motion. I don't know how to explain it so I'll share some photos from over the weekend instead. Had a packed weekend with friends and with plenty of strange moments. Highlights were going to the Korean Spa (we shared a table with the dude that played Eric Forman), tea shopping in Chinatown, and eating ramen in Little Tokyo. Sunday night was a mini reunion with old friends. It was nice - we are planning a camping trip for February~ Overall, a memorable weekend.

Post-September Update

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September comes and goes way too fast. I've been so incredibly busy, but I'm not complaining. This past month was filled with lots of happy and sad moments. Here's a random compilation of phone photos I took the last three weeks.

This photo is my "thing" now. I can't explain it, but it fills me with so much joy. 

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YAY WORK.

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A present from my mom for my birthday. It's very cozy.

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My dad's birthday was also this month!

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Thank you so much, Ethan~

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Birthday muffin surprise in the middle of the night from my friend ~

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We have a weekly tradition now: go to Shin Sen Gumi after work. 

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My little sunflowers are growing.

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MORE WORK YAY!

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Got this little guy as a present. He is always with me.

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Keeps me motivated.

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So here is the sad news. My professor that I went to India with, Nick, passed away a week ago. It's the most surreal feeling knowing he's not there anymore. We were just emailing each other a few weeks ago, keeping in touch. I've been watching videos and looking through photographs remembering all the wonderful memories. Life is too short and anything can happen at any given moment. I'm happy I got the opportunity to get to know him. <3

cachuma lake

I went camping over the weekend at Cachuma Lake with a fun group of people. It was great...it felt like we had taken over the place. I hadn't been around a huge group of people like that in quite a while. When I used to go scouting, this was something that would happen several times a year so it was something I always expected and looked forward to. When you become busy with your own life and get sucked into school, you tend to forget about the things that go missing. It was a warm feeling...to be around so many loud and funny people again. Friendships like these are what I treasure the most. We might not see each other for long periods of time...but when we do meet again, we pick up right where we left off. I have camped at Cachuma many times before but it had been a while since the last time. It's a beautiful camp ground with a beautiful lake and lots of cute little birds and lizards. During the day the sun was out and it was hot (my face is peeling as I type this...) and the nights and mornings were cold. I was freezing Saturday night. It was ridiculous and embarrassing on my part as I was wearing five layers of clothing plus someone else's jacket. I had been sitting next to the fire for so long that when I finally showered when I got home, I could still smell the smoke in my hair afterward.

**Sidenote! The night sky was so beautiful. I couldn't believe it.

mustache days

Last night our internet went down. It was frustrating because I had some job related business to take care of. Our router is located upstairs. Upstairs is this strange bedroom turned office that we have neglected over the summer since it tends to get extremely hot. As I was making way up, I saw that my dad was already at the top of the stairs. We both wanted to see if we could fix the problem. While we failed to get our internet back, I found an old photograph of my dad sitting on one of the many bookshelves. Then my eye caught a stack full of photographs and I grabbed them....and so we spent forty minutes on the floor looking through old photographs. Photographs of my sister and I in sweden, photographs of my parents when they were students, etc. Long story short....we forgot about the internet.

My dad developed these. The first two photographs are of my mom walking around in the snow in Umeå, Sweden. That's where they went to university and that's were I was born. My dad during his mustache days. And finally a photograph of a drawing of Parouyr Sevak, my mom's favorite poet.