Before deadlines and all-nighters...

This post is picture-heavy.

Hello!

I finally got to update my blog, again. It seems pretty hard doing so since I'm in an art school now and everything really gets hectic, especially with all the label of "top design school" and what-not. Well, actually life isn't always hectic, but it does get hectic most of the time. Catching up with deadlines and meeting standards are always the top priorities. I have expected my life would be dominated with continuous all-nighters, but apparently it's not as bad as I thought. I managed to organize my time. It sometimes works, it sometimes doesn't, but when it doesn't, the effect itself isn't that bad either since I could still catch up with my assignments and turn them in on time, but it's better if it works.

Nothing much to tell these days except I'm struggling to balance my two demanding classes: Design 1 and Motion Design 1 before Thanksgiving break starts. I need to turn in 3 different art directions based on my midterm projects for final project this Tuesday, and on Wednesday, I need to show my final Motion Design 1 project progress (like the storyboard and the animatics). I'm telling you, Motion Design is fun because you get to do something different and make your designs - literally - move, but the process is a PAIN.

Ever since I moved here, my life revolves around art for almost 99%. Other than that would be just sleeping, napping, eating, and watching horror/thriller movies for adrenaline rush. That's my only exercise.

So looking back, I had a great time spending some time with my new roommates and dad when I just got here, back before all the deadlines and all-nighters took up most of my life. Miserable, yes.

My first meal in Pasadena. My dad and I just arrived after a long flight from Indonesia. Treating ourselves with two hot-plates of steak with jalapenos at Denny's sounds legit!

Pasadena City Hall

A view from the lobby of my new apartment. I'm actually liking the fact that it's in a neighborhood area!

Fancy welcome Korean BBQ for dinner provided by Han

Then we had a quick trip to LA to look for some furnitures. We drove down to Koreatown as they have this store that sells appliances for very good deal!

Bibimbap after shopping!

LA Downtown

Then we went to Little Tokyo to get a taste of its famous Shabu Shabu house for dinner!

This musician guy, after knowing that my dad and I are Indonesians, proceeded to sing Bengawan Solo. Dude it's epic!
He could actually pronounce Indonesian well!

Then we drove to Santa Monica to have a taste of authentic Indonesian food at Simpang Asia, with a little Western touch!

Es Kelapa Muda! I love the little blue umbrella for the final touch there.

Soto Betawi with actual French Fries! Nice touch up!

After we were done buying the furnitures, Han had to go home for a few days to her parents' home. Elaine, my other roommate, wouldn't arrive in Pasadena until three days before orientation starts. So my dad and I had a couple of free days to spend before he has to go back and school starts calling.

Anyway, we decided to go to Downtown Disney in Anaheim. I initially wanted to go to Disneyland for a day but the plan came up too sudden and I was thinking to save my Disneyland trip for holiday season. So we just went to Downtown Disney. Although it might not be as exciting as the Disneyland itself, my visit to Downtown Disney was fulfilling! The place was filled with promising dining places and branded stores. I took a peek to a Fossil store where I spotted this nice handbag, too bad it was too expensive. Now I'm torn whether to spend the money I would save for Disneyland or this fancy bag.

 

As for dinner, we were actually looking for a cheap place to eat, but since we were too hungry, and there weren't much to choose, we decided to go to Rainforest Cafe, a fancy yet unique cafe taking the theme of...well...rainforest.

I'm actually really stunned how my dine went that night. It was such an extraordinary experience. The restaurant's lighting is dim, complete with realistic plans and trees growing all over the place. The walls, the ceiling, everywhere. The restaurant is located on the second floor, where in addition to the plants and trees, they have animatronic animals at some corners. I was kinda hoping we would get seated near one, but instead, we got seated quite far, but at least we still got a quite close look of the gorilla.

The waitress came and told us that there would be a storm coming every 30 minutes. I was like "huh", but the waitress assured me that while the storm is going on, we could eat like normal. The storm was just added to strengthen the sense of being lost in the jungle or something like that.

Even more excitingly, the animatronic animals came to life (no, not literally. We're not talking about Night at the Restaurant or some sort) and made sounds

As for the food, I had Tropical tortellini, which consists of three-colored cheese tortelinni with sun dried tomatoes and Alfredo sauce. It's actually really good!

On the way out after dinner, I spotted an aquarium and look who I found.

DOR-EEH!!

A few days after, Elaine got here and we had another homemade yet fancy dinner! I also bid farewell with my dad as he was going back to Indonesia.

After the orientation, my roommates and I made some new friends. Meet Po and Jessica!

Then on the first weekend before school starts getting hectic, we hung out to Koreatown for noraebang. It was funny how each of us chose a song to sing in our ethnic language. Han surely sang a couple of songs in Korean. Po and Elaine attempted to sing in Cantonese; Jessica and I tried to sing in Indonesian. We actually did find some Indonesian songs...except they are all old songs.

I'm only familiar with the tune, not with the lyrics. I'm guessing all those songs must have dated back in the 70s to 90s. Anyway, Jessica found a song she was completely familiar with, and that is Yogyakarta. Seeing that Yogyakarta is her hometown, I could totally feel how she must have really missed it while singing the song :'D

Have a great Thanksgiving week, guys!