DC Challenge

Eric smiling at the Arboretum because he caught a frog by the leg and accidentally let him go.

Yesterday, Eric and I attempted the DC Challenge. We were all pumped up and excited to read the 12 challenge clues. Using his smart phone and knowledge of D.C., Eric was able to crack a lot of the clues quickly and offer up possible leads for other clues. We had a bunch of sites lined up and decided to go to the National Arboretum first because of this clue:

"When you visit this garden-within-a-garden, we bet you don't realize you're actually standing on the roofs of several different subterranean galleries. To complete this clue, replace "water" with "moon" in DC scandal lingo and you'll find the name of your objective. Take a photo with your team inside the two 9 foot tall, pink granite namesake objects."

So, obviously, we were looking for a moongate. Eric immediately skipped over all of the other details when he realized where he had seen a moongate near a "garden-within-a-garden" before. I had thought that since it said "standing on the roofs of several different subterranean galleries" that it was probably the bontanic garden instead of the arboretum. However, Eric insisted that it was at the arboretum because the moongate he was thinking of was by a bonsai garden within a larger garden. Okay. Eric has been living in D.C. for longer than I have and I should trust his opinion...

However we got there eventually (it was near no metro, and a very long walk which was suspicious of our inevitable failure because there was a time limit for the scavenger hunt and it was beginning to seem impossible to complete the rest of the clues if one was being asked to walk all the way over to the arboretum) and ran to the bonsai garden. It was so beautiful! Sorry for that intolerable run-on within those parenthesis back there...

Eric led me to the moongate but there was no sign of the "two 9 foot tall pink granite namesake objects (moongate)". Those would be pretty hard to miss. We searched around some more and went to the information desk in a small trailer building to ask a man for help. After some more deducing we looked at each other crazily and realized that we should have been at the Botanic Garden all the long, which would have made a lot more sense because it was much closer to the rest of the items on the scavenger hunt list. So, I was right.

Eric felt absolutely terrible about wasting a couple hours of our time and admitted to me that even though his competitive side felt defeated and embarrassed about not returning to the competition to look for other clues, his logical and nature-oriented sides felt it was probably best to enjoy the rest of the afternoon slowly looking at the flowers at the arboretum because there were eleven more clues and only a couple hours left to make it to the finish line. So, for the next hour or so, we walked through the arboretum hand in hand and took lots of photos of ourselves in front of beautiful trees and flowers instead of in front of random clues in the D.C. area.

Love,

Monica

P.S. Yes, those are blue and orange lizards. Long live the head band.

P.P.S. My fish were adopted this past week by a nice lady with some kids and a new pond. Orange and Julius have both out grown their 55 gallon tank and I no longer have the time to visit them and take care of them (they were living with my parents). Orange was about 8 inches long and Julius was about 5 inches long. Now they are the two biggest fish in their new pond called "home" and have made new friends in three little (comparatively) koi fishies. When Eric and I went to the Arboretum there was a big pond with many, many koi. A lot of them were very big and it made me sad/happy about my two koi. I've had them for almost three years and one day they will be the size of a cat. I had always thought I would keep them and one day make a pond for them. It didn't work out that way, though. I feel good for having given them a chance to live outside in a big pond and I will hopefully get to visit them as they grow bigger and happier.

The Beach

I went to Wilmington, NC with some friends (Elisabeth, Louiza, Corey, Kenny, Mark, Jordan Sk) yesterday (pictures sooooon-ish). We left camp around 9 and got there around 11-something. Got some wine, some sandwich parts and after finding parking, finally made our way to the sandy shores for some pleasure-filled picnic-ing. I also ate seaweed whilst on the beach for irony. It was seaweed that I had payed for, but the best part was that while I was eating, seaweed from the beach (free seaweed) was blowing around me and my feet. Both versions pretty much smelled the same.

In the water we screamed a lot because we kept running into schools of fish and seeing large shadowy shapes with flippers, flappers and fins. A couple people got bit by things or stepped on crabs and what not. We played lots of water games that involved lifting people up out of the water and throwing them. My back got burnt by the sun, I collected lots of seashells and may mail them out to people. We caught baby fish and made sand castles and played frisbee. We moved people's things out of the way when the tide started to come in. We went to the dockside restaurant...I got a delicious veggie burger and even more delicious sweet potato fries. Then we went back to Mark's and tried on his old halloween costume, took pictures and played catch-phrase until the batteries died. Oh, we also made our own delicious desserts by combining varieties of ice cream with coffee and creme brulee creamer. Tasted good.

Then drove home, got back to camp at midnight, hung out in the staff lounge with Jordan Si, Jean and Elisabeth...ended up staying in the staff lounge until 4 a.m. because it started raining really crazily and heavily and couldn't make it back to the cabins.

Woke up (i'm writing in fragments now, by the by) did laundry/am doing laundry and just finished watching/listening to this:

Wish me luck...new camper today. Let week 2 begin!!!!

Love,

Monica

Exhibition I - Art Seniors

Today was the opening reception for the first half of the senior art major class. My exhibition (the second half) will hold its opening reception on May 2nd from 1-3 pm. Anyway, everyone did a wonderful job and I'm glad I finally got to see the finished products (I didn't necessarily know what their theses were going to look like). Above is a picture from today that I snapped just before my camera's battery died. I had intended to document each member's work, but instead just got a picture of a few of the guys small-talkin' 'round Travis' sweet installation. Later (after I charge my camera) I'll be sure to post pictures of the rest.

Love,

Monica

Easter

My cousin, Sarah, came over this weekend to spend some time with me until Easter Sunday. We watched many movies, ate lots of good food and enjoyed the beautiful weather all while getting lots of homework done. I even taught Sarah how to throw a pot on the wheel! Here are some photos from our attempts at making rainbow, hard-boiled eggs for the holiday (without any vinegar):

Sarah, finally sinking her teeth into (and wiping away) the burger she was craving...

Calico Farm

Today, Jenna took me and Stephanie to a place called Calico Farm (I actually saw a Calico cat there.  Inspiration, perhaps?).  Jenna had first discovered the place on a class field trip.  She had since brought back some fresh, homemade butter and milked some cows.  After telling Stephanie and me (two cheese-enthusiasts) that the farm made delicious, melt-in-your-mouth, fresh, homemade cheese we penciled in a quick outing to the farm.  Here are some photos from today:

Their mascot, a little camera shy...

Picking out cheese, Jenna: Fresh feta and ranch dip, Stephanie: Fresh mozzarella and skillet cheese, Me: Cheese curds and Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Cheese dip

Stephanie making a friend

Hungry cows in need of milking

I almost took this little, fluffity guy home with me.

Funny thing

During the past week I was asked by a mother to babysit her children last night.  However, I had too much homework to do so I gave the job to my roommate, Jenna, who gladly accepted.  When Jenna came back she told me how one of the kids kept thinking that she was me.  I thought this was so funny.  I work on Sundays at the nursery and watch both of these kids in the morning and Jenna said that the little girl was so confused that she thought she (Jenna) was going to be working at the nursery instead of me.

This morning, I got to see how confused the little girl was for myself.  When I saw her she gave me a great big hug and said, "I missed you".  I foolishly thought that she was referring to my absence during babysitting the night before.  However, it became clear to me that she meant "I missed you since last night" when the little girl called me Miss Jenna instead of Miss Monica.  The saddest part is that she has known me for two years and Jenna and I don't look alike at all.  I feel so replaceable and disposable.*

Love,

Monica

*By the way, this is the little girl that says she loves me and gives me hugs just to get cookies.  And she tricks me every time.

Better than the superbowl

Irina from Monica Huang on Vimeo.

Weekend Equations

Friday = Jean + Elisabeth + Indian Food + Rollerskating for one and a half hours + Falling down occasionally for about a half hour + Pumpkin pie ice cream + Autism the musical + Sleepover in the living room

Jean + Elisabeth + Indian Food + Rollerskating for one and a half hours + Falling down occasionally for about a half hour + Pumpkin pie ice cream + Autism the musical +Sleepover in the living room = Too much fun!

Friday = Too much fun!

Saturday = Jean + Elisabeth + Waking up late + Going to the grocery store to buy blueberries, blackberries, chocolate chips and pancake mix + Cooking up a mess in the kitchen + Eating pancakes while watching Mozart and the Whale + Jam session*

Jean + Elisabeth + Waking up late + Going to the grocery store to buy blueberries, blackberries, chocolate chips and pancake mix + Cooking up a mess in the kitchen + Eating pancakes while watching Mozart and the Whale + Jam session* = Too much fun!

Saturday = Too much fun!

So, by substitution or transitional theory or whatever:

Friday = Saturday  ?

*Jam session = she & him songs, falling slowly, pricilla ahn and kazoo improvisation and zombie remix

Look what I found

I found this picture of me and one of my campers on the new and improved Camp Royall website.  I thought it was cute and had to share.

I actually just got back from a few hours of wedding-fun with future bride (and roommate), Alexa.  I got to experience, first-hand, the ravenous spirits of moms and bride-to-be's as I climbed and clawed my way through the clumps and crowds at the wedding show/expo.  And it was all to get in (to my tummy) as many wedding cake samples as possible (that cake does taste as good as it looks).  I also experienced my very first fashion show of any kind and saw many beautiful wedding gowns and cute, colored flower girl dresses.  In retrospect, I do very much regret not being the flower girl at my godfather's wedding.  Come to think of it, I regret not being five years old anymore each and every day.

At the end of the day, I was very overwhelmed and began to quit processing any information, likening my appearance to a zombie's as I continued to accept free pens.  That being said, I can only imagine how Alexa is feeling.  She was accosted by many a hungry spokes/sales/planner person and was sent home carrying a giant men's warehouse bag full of all sorts of information.  I do wish her luck as today was fun, yet eye-opening!  Nevertheless, when the day comes, I know she will make a lovely bride.

Love,

Monica

Franklin-stein Street

This past weekend, David, Stephanie and I went to Chapel Hill to visit Elisabeth (from camp!).  We did lots of walking back and forth between cars (because of strict parking rules), hung out at her characteristically-high-ceilinged dorm room, played bananagrams and had dinner at a conveyer belt sushi place all before changing into our costumes.  Elisabeth was a Jedi Knight (probably a young obi one), Stephanie was a sultry devil and David was one of those endangered, yet plump bumblebees.  As his girlfriend, I played his flower counterpart by wearing a flower-printed dress and stapling flowers that I cut out of an old Georgia O'Keeffe calendar to a green cardigan.  All of this was topped off with a flower smack dab in the middle of my head:  

Then we walked Franklin Street...

What I DID NOT know was that Franklin Street is basically a giant party in the road.  Plus lots of drunken girls in small animal costumes and boys wearing anything from pizza boxes to Elvis garb.  

I'm exaggerating, of course, but maybe only a little.  Here are some of the highlights from the night:

Fun for all the ages!

Everyone wants in on the picture!

I am proud to say that I got the cone reference.

These are my friends!

This guy was cool.  He asked me where I was from because he said it was what he asked when people said to him, "Can I take your picture?"

I saw the balloon kid at the very beginning but he got away before I could take a picture.  Luckily, I was OBSESSED with finding him and snapped a shot of him on his way out.

Believe it or not, he was not the only peacock on Franklin Street that night.  And I thought it a pretty original costume.

This guy had a dance-off with himself.

Swim team? or Triathletes stuck in the swimming portion of a triathlon?

Octo-mom!  And Franklin Street isn't just for college kids anymore...

"Oh my gawd!  A Big reference?  It isn't every day that you get a Big reference!!" --really drunk guy who saw the Tom Hanks classic 

First costume I saw that night, and the reason I love group costumes

Oh, and this is what I meant by pizza box earlier.

After all of this craziness and more, we went back to Elisabeth's friend's apartment and watched creative people build halloween cakes for $10,000 in prize money.  We would have gone home after that, but with the extra hour from daylight savings, we decided to watch Corpse's Bride, a movie witch (haha) Stephanie had yet to see and ended up sleeping through.

Now, life is moving very quickly.  I'm busy working, of course, on my thesis and am trying to keep myself out of trouble (and by that, I mean keeping myself from adopting furry little animals).  My dad came to visit yesterday, installing a nice little blinker for night-driving safety along with much-needed new brake pads.  I've got babysitting this Friday for six hours and will be helping out with some kiln firings on Saturday with the other claydogs.  I've also got to greet the jurors that I selected for the Juried Student Exhibition this Sunday .  With all of that on my plate, I can say for certain that I am looking forward to a relaxing matinee showing of Kiss Me, Kate at Elon on Sunday.

Love,

Monica

W-S Burn

Pixie playing her lamp, taken from W-S Burn's myspace

Last weekend, I left camp on my night/day off for a tiny trip to Winston-Salem.  I met up with friends Rachael, Ariella, Nate and Tim (those driving from College Park, MD) at friend Christian's apartment (the boy's all grown up now and writing for a hot newspaper downtown).  After trashing the apartment with our sleeping bags and polluting the stark white walls with ricochets of laughter, a few of us went to travel the nighttime streets.  We were most interested in getting a consultation at the 24/7 fitness center ("Rush") because the consultation desks could be seen from Christian's window.  But before any of that could happen, we discovered a Japanese water/rock garden next-door to the North Carolina School of the Arts. 

While sitting there and egging Nate on to jump 8 steps at once without falling and cracking his skull, we suddenly turned our heads at the sound of crunked voices.  The voices were of a woman and a man in their late twenties [one a fiery, curly redhead and the other a lanky, sexy man (with ponytail) from Maine, respectively].  The redhead woman swooped around the corner and asked if we were in a band ('cause I guess four trespassing youths in revolt seated side-by-side at 3 in the morn constitutes that question).  We said "No" with a little hesitation ('cause Rachael and I once had a band practice in her garage for our 11th grade band named Veritas).  Then I asked, "Are you in a band?"  She sprightly said that she was and requested to sing for us.  I told her to sing her favorite song and that's when the night really began.

For the next 6 long minutes, Pixie (that was her real name) sang an original composition from her band.  It was a mixture of fairy noises and whale sounds.  In other words, her voice was beautiful but a little inhibited by her level of intoxication (especially when she brought the beer bottle to her lips mid-song sentence).  Rachael and I thought the song had ended at least 5 times during the 6 minutes (have you ever clapped before a song was finished?).  Anyway, at the end, we applauded Pixie and she told us that it was better in person; Not only was she the front-woman/singer, but she was also the player of a fabulous lamp instrument pictured above & below: 

taken from here

Pixie proceeded to entertain by talking about the photon belt and the nano virus that the government was going to send through the tap water (with its harmful fluoride contents)*.  She also briefly, and bitterly, ranted about how people shouldn't have to have a baby if they didn't want to.  Therefore, her solution for any individual wanting to destroy a baby inside of them was to sit in a sauna ("nothing can stay alive in that heat").  She left before I could tell her that tap water was used in those ever-so-helpful saunas. 

She also talked a lot about her shoes.  They had so much rubber, she said, that her footsteps could not be heard through the inches of rubber and pleather and manufactured badness.  Pixie warned us not to remove ourselves too far from Mother Nature, suggesting that naked naps in the grass and growing gardens (filled with dark, leafy greens) in order to be self-sufficient were the best stress-relievers from fast-paced quotidian troubles.  The sexy man with the ponytail told me and Rachael that we were very pretty and used the word "homeboy" or "homeboys" to refer to his friend or friends.  It was a night to be remembered.

*She's right, you know.  Fluoride may whiten your teeth or whatever, but I've heard rumors of it worsening your enamel and brittling your teeth instead (which is why I've been off fluoride toothpaste for months).  I'm currently using this stuff.

Blueberry fields forever

Yesterday night, Jean's bff, Amy, had to dogsit/housewatch in Pittsboro (right near camp!).  Amy decided to make a sleepover out of it.  Lyell from Wilmington was also there and the four of us enjoyed an evening playing with the giant dogs, eating pasta and Amy's salsa, learning/teaching Purple Haze on the guitar, youtubing and playing with each other's hair, below:

The best part about my stay with Jean's friends, however, was the blueberry picking.  They were so naturally sweet and, therefore, divinely delicious.  There's just something so perfect about going out into a garden and gathering fresh fruit for yourself.

Blueberries that are a no no to eat

Good food, Hemlock Bluffs and Zen navigation

I spent this weekend going back and forth between Elon and Cary.  On Friday I glazed some platters and made my way over to Cary for delicious Lebanese food at Neomonde.  Dinner with David included a falafel sandwich, beef kabob with tabouleh and fattoush, and two namoura for dessert.  The evening was spent watching Curb Your Enthusiasm while playing scrabble a little too competitively.  

You should know that my days are scheduled around good food.  Waking up around noon on Saturday, we finished our scrabble game and headed over to Bosphorus for Turkish food.  A late lunch with David included an Adana Kabob, Yogurt Kebab, two Turkish teas (refilled many, many times) and baklava and Krem Karamel Custard for dessert.  Leaving around three o'clock, we were able to make it to Elon by four to see Topher's play*.  In a change of pace, late night cravings for steak led us to Outback Steakhouse.  Almost-midnight gluttony with David included 14oz ribeye and 14oz prime rib courtesy of server Bo (who failed to bring us the pumpernickel bread we wanted).

On Sunday**, I woke up and went to work where it was babies, babies and more babies.  Snack time with babies included butter cookies, animal crackers, honey-nut cheerios and apple juice (for the lucky ones).  Then, David and I headed back to Cary around mid-afternoon and discovered that an Indian restaurant, in celebration of mother's day, was putting on their buffet special all day long.  Another late lunch with David included Alu Gobi, Butter Chicken, Tandoori Chicken, Palak Paneer, something goat, various curries, samosas, lemon rice and rice pudding w/ mango puree, Gulab Jamuns and Rasmalai for dessert.  

Afterward, we went to a nature park, Hemlock Bluffs, to ease digestion.  It was nice and shady and bug-bite free.  If I had had my camera, I would have a picture of a really intense spider web to show off.  But instead, I have a story to tell...

In front of David and me, on the creek side trail, was a couple.  They were moving very quickly and we soon lost sight of them.  For the remainder of the trail we referenced them in jokes about walking too fast.  Then, once we had reached the car, we saw them pulling out of the parking lot.  Since we had no good ideas about how to spend the rest of the day, I suggested that we follow them in the fashion of the Zen Method of Navigation, as detailed by Dirk Gently in DNA's book The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.  Before you begin to judge me, you should understand what exactly this method of navigation is:

... he had a tremendous propensity for getting lost when driving. This was largely because of his "Zen" method of navigation, which was simply to find any car that looked as if it knew where it was going and follow it. The results were more often surprising than successful, but he felt it was worth it for the sake of the few occasions when it was both.

"... my methods of navigation have their advantages. I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."

-- Douglas Adams. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soulpp.35, 156  

And, so, we followed them with an allowance of 3-4 cars in between( a precautionary measure modeled after the type of espionage I've seen on the once-popular spy drama, Alias).  In the beginning, I threw out ideas about where they might be going.  I reasoned that because it was 5:30 pm on a Sunday that they were probably going home to spend the rest of their night in.  Because: who would get all sweaty in a park for an hour and then grab dinner someplace?  Also, a lot of places are closed on Sunday or close early.  

If you're still disturbed (but not disturbed enough to have stopped reading by now) you should take comfort in the fact that we were only following them because they seemed to know where they were going.  We, however, never knew where we were going/have gone/are going, etc.  So, by the Zen, we thought that this couple might lead us past someplace exciting or cause us to think of a better place to be.  

They took a very scenic route and they drove for a long time.  This puzzled us because we figured they would have lived close by to the park.  They also drove very quickly and we lost them many times.  David was not too keen on the idea in the first place, but by the middle of our journey he started saying things like "This is exciting!", "Man, we lost them!", "I feel like Sydney Bristow!" and "There they are!  Up ahead.  You're not getting away that easily!"

Basically, we drove for 40 minutes (in a square-ish route, which seemed illogical) until I said "This is going to end at the next red light or if we lose them...whichever comes second".  So, we lost them accidentally (they were just too fast) and then we were stopped at a red light.  Nothing really happened after that.  We drove by the mall and thought about going in, but then we realized that we were just really, really tired.  So, we got on the highway and went back home.  In the end, then, I guess that's where we needed to be.

Love,

Monica

*Topher is writing an original play for his honors thesis.  At this event, we got a preview of three of the songs he had written and composed with his partner.  They were absolutely amazing.  I knew Topher was talented, but I had no idea that he was at such a superb level.  Now I know why we haven't seen him at all this semester.  He's been working so hard!

**As for Mother's Day, my Mother had lunch at Roy Rogers (I just wanted to add this in to go along with all my food mentioning).

Edward McKay

On Saturday, David took me to Ed Mckay used bookstore in Greensboro.  I'd never been before so I was pretty excited.  The day's findings were:

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde - $0.50

Six Great Modern Plays:

-The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams

-All My Sons - Arthur Miller

-Three Sisters - Anton Chekhov

-The Master Builder - Henrik Ibsen

-Mrs. Warren's Profession - George Bernard Shaw

-Red Roses For Me - Sean O'Casey

-$0.50

Rhinoceros & Other Plays (Rhinoceros, The Leader and The Future Is in Eggs or It Takes All Sorts to Make a World) - Eugene Ionesco - $5.00

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - $2.40

Not too shabby.