Mariel's Life in Pixels

This weekend isn’t possible to even define at this point because it was all this one sleepless blur. Friday, after physical therapy in Claremont, I drove back to La Verne before heading straight to LA to pick up decorations for ze paddle~in preparation for initiation.

Turns out that one of my best friends, Carinah, attended school down the street and was at USC at the time. We walked down Frat Row as I drooled over the sorority houses that my school will never have because—surprise—they’re considered brothels. Yay.

Afterwards, I met up with Oppa in Santa Monica at my favorite French restaurant. There are a plethora of things I love about it (and I wish I could give you its name but it escapes me and I don’t think it’s coming back). 

• 1.) Their food is so fresh and organic
• 2.) The restaurant is literally in the middle of the street and I always have to sit on the outskirts of it because it makes people watching ten times more enjoyable than it is
• 3.) I’ll stop here before I start craving it again

Parking was a nightmare. I was trying to pull my parking ticket from the machine and after trying to stick my head out the window, I accidentally let the car roll. In attempt to slam the break, I hit the gas instead and broke the metal gate off its hinges. Let the Asian driving jokes begin.

Luckily for me, after an hour of running back and forth to the concierge and security, they let me go. I totally thought they were going to charge me hundreds and plunge me further into debt than I already am. Someone is definitely watching over me.

We shopped around Third Street Promenade and I bumped intoYOSHI SUDARSO from APARTMENT 210. If you know PETER ADRIAN(Lookbook phenomenon), that’s his brother. After running out of the store I walked into a heavily influenced Indian parade that consisted of a handful of colorfully dressed strangers and started prancing about amongst them. I’m happy to have made their days.

After strolling around on the beach, we drove to Venice for the America’s Ninja Warrior filming to support NDTITANLADY. Luckily, we were able to get in for free; lights and cameras galore. She said she was gonna be there after 6, but the filming didn’t start until 8:30, which lasted until 6 am. We were there until 1 and were able to see 3 people successfully beat the course before heading back to Santa Monica and then KTown.

We stopped at this 24 hour Korean cuisine restaurant that was home to the late night drunks. In the midst of a birthday greeting to Jason, someone stepped out of their car and started puking next to me.
Oh, LA.We walked in waiting for a table when three girls were on their way out. All shamelessly drunk, but two of them seemed to be more sane than the one they were carrying, who fell flat on her face in the middle of the restaurant.

After failing at my attempt to down Mool Naem Myeung, I didn’t feel so hot and begged Oppa to look for tea. We drove around LA for an open cafe at 5:30 in the morning, only to end up at Denny’s with elders who were wide awake for flapjacks. By 6:30, we went our separate ways and I didn’t get home until 7 in the morning.

I fell asleep at the wheel twice but woke up driving perfectly straight. Thank you God. I came home to guests who stayed the night for Spotlight Weekend to see what the school was like, only to leave the impression that I was on something.
I promise I wasn’t.

I was so delusional and sugar high from downing copious amounts of sugar-tea that my floor mates had to carry me to my room and forced me to sleep. After waking up the next day at 3, I drove to Covina to finish my shopping for initiation and got treated to KBBQ by my floor mate. It was the first time I used Korean in a restaurant by myself too. I usually rely on my Oppa or Dongseng. Despite my lack of fluentness, they still appreciated the fact that I was able to converse.

I ended up sleeping at 5 in the morning, waking up at 7 to pick up Jairian to do my hurr and makeup for initiation since my paddle drained every inch of energy from me. After initiation, which is very hush hush, I treated my Sapphire and Jairian to KBBQ yet again before spending hours playing Speed and Spoons with my floor mates, doing chores and attempting to relax before my floor mates attempted to drag me out of bed and stuff me in the dryer. I’ve never been so grateful to be a black belt.

I’m sorry this is so long.
That’s what she said