So it has officially been over a year since I took a crack at this here blog nonsense, which none of you actaully read. Therefore I have decided that it will simply be for my own cathartic reasons that I continue to post here.

For those of you that have not seen me in awhile I just got back from Mexico where both my blackberry and I pod were stolen. By my maid. In my hotel. yeah. way to go mexico. I also got food poisoning while I was there. Despite these minor setbacks it was still an awesome time and I hope to be traveling with some of you this summer, which will no doubt be amazing.

Right now its 1:36 am and I am still up, and its only Monday. This is becasue my schedule is wack and I work a night job. As many of you know I am a cocktail waitress at a wine bar. This means I have to talk to customes in both a witty and charming manner in hopes that they come to view me as not only their wine server but also their friend. Then, after a few hours of small talk, hand shakes and / or hugs goodbye I return to my sanctuary behind the bar and ultimately talk shit about the entire conversation we just had. The first question from my fellow cocktail waitresses is always: how much did they tip? The second statement is always dependent on the answer to the first question. Its either "wow, they were really cool" or "what a douchebag!". This sounds mean, and in no way am I trying to convey that you should pay your bartender for good conversation. There are a few customers I legitimately enjoy talking too...so please don't cry yourself to sleep thinking that any waitress that was ever friendly with you was just trying to get a bigger tip and had no interest in you as a person what-so-ever (that only applies 70% of the time...feel better).

Ha ha, I am only kidding. But in all seriousness some people are really difficult to carry on a conversation with, and I have discovered that in these situations it becomes necessary to simply smile, nod in agreement and repeat the last sentence of everything they say. For instance, they are talking about...well i obviously dont remember becasue I wasn't interested so lets just make something up:

Customer: Blah blah blah...and that why I am pissed, because she totally left me in the bar waiting for that guy by myself.

Me: Yes, you should be pissed becasue she left you in the bar waiting for that guy

Customer: Exactly! You totally get it!

Me: AND you were by yourself...see I totally get it...why cant she!

Customer: OMG you are soo right.

This is how you make people believe you are listening even when you are not. OR how you make people you are following what they are saying even if they are making no sense at all...becasue they are drunk.

Another tip for those of you in BLOG world NOT reading this: When you are drunk and having a conversation with your bartender...you are NOT funny. You are drunk and rambling. If they keep walking away to clean a glass or type something on their fancy POS net computer take it as a hint to shut the fuck up and go back to your friends. They basically would rather wash dishes then hear you talk. :)

I am not sure how this turned into a rant about my work environment (probably becasue I just got off work) but lets change the subject.

Tomorrow is the second performance of my Play LITTLE WOMEN. If you are in the LA area please come see it. It is a really corny, cheesy adaptation of the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. It was not until I booked the play and actually read the book that i realized the original work itself is a corny, cheesy, novel that is written more like a journal than a book, and in today's world probably would not have been published, becasue in reality it would have just been the BLOG of Louisa May Alcott. However, I love doing theatre, this play has been really fun and I have thoroughly enjoyed the organic nature of the stage- unlike film which is repetative and seems to at points stifle creativity. More on the de-evolution of Hollywood in my next post. Stay tuned and get excited.

updates..yay!

It has been brought to my attention (by myself) that this blog has more or less failed. I blame everyone (meaning all of you) except for those of you that contributed. Now, everyone should get off their sorry asses and say hello. I know you all have lots of friends in your respective, new and fun cities but really...lets not forget the little people.

Recent updates:

I still live in LA
Apparently Christos may or may not come to NYC in March
I may or may not be there as well
Dre: A little bird told me you got into YALE ...nicely done. However- i think cali needs you :)
Jayson got accepted to TFA Chicago and will be in LA for three months (yay!)
John smells
Teddy is working for some guy who may or may not be the next president ( i forget his name)
I hung out with Johnny Tenan in LA (hahaha to all of you...see ppl live here)
Carrie is still awesome
I dont really have updates on the rest of you...thus the need for the blog. Get it done people!

Fire Fire Everywhere!!

As many of you know I saw EJ the other day. Classically we went to a bar (which closed @ 2am...stupid LA) and then headed off to watch the art of strip dancing...and by that i mean we drunkenly stumbled into a purple and pink neon looking "titty bar" on Sunset. Great times LA. It was followed by eating ginormous burgers at the famous Mel's drive in...also on sunset. mmm delicious. I had to wake up and go to work the next day which was not as fun. some of you already heard this story. if you are one of those ppl then just skip ahead to the fire story. thanks.

Anyway, i thought you should all know that california is burning down...from LA to San Diego. the fires even officially jumped the freeway in my hometown of Temecula so the valley is covered in ash and ppl will have to evacuate some areas. Right now LA is totally on fire...but its mainly malibu so only the rich are losing their homes...so im not sure then how bad i feel for them. Last night driving from Temecula to LA was insane. Winds were up to 70mph and there was so much dirt and smoke in the air that i could not see 10 ft in front of my car. I thought it was going to blow over. I was in chino though so there was no way in hell i could stop and wait it out. I made it home alive...barely...but it was fucking insane. I hope you are all having fun in your respective cities...write in the blog more losers!!!

love, T

The Champ is Here

Hey guys,
Sorry for sucking and never writing. I miss yall. Oh, before I move on to another paragraph and forget, Carrie, how's the Latina seminar going? Lot of real women with curves? It sort of makes me think of my relationship with Jennie, bc white as I am, I'm definitely more into Asia than she is, and it seems like you may just become the mamacita I never was nor will be.

Um, so I guess I'm supposed to tell everybody about Japan. Anyway, the nuts & bolts shit first: I'm here at Tokyo University for a year or thereabouts as a "researcher," which just means that I can float around and do nothing, or play in the library and read many things, or audit classes and so on. It's a pretty sweet deal, but I'm trying to audit 3 classes (on Japanese foreign policy, domestic politics, and some other poli science shit TBA later) while I research. I think the deal with this fellowship, like the whole raison d'etre for my trip, is that I'm supposed to eventually TALK to people about the project. There's like a talk next week w/ the Japanese ambassador to Korea, so I might try to nag him into being my friend. To help me on my journey, I have a professor advisor, who's awesome - he studied at Berkeley and is like totally Americanized and slouchy, plus he has a ridiculous office stuffed with books and pictures of monkeys and the Blues Brothers -- and anyway, I also have a "tutor," a UTokyo grad student who's supposed to be like something between a guardian angel and a babysitter. His name's Yuki, and he's tremendously nice and polite, and seems like quite a dork. There's probably little danger of me jumping into a passionate affair with him at present, but if shit gets boring and I do something rash out of desperation, I'll let you guys know.

As for the less academic shit, I'm going to take some dance classes at the gym, probably will take a part time job teaching English to little kindergarten brats, and I'm trying to find some cooking classes. I live in this ugly dorm, located on the 2nd UTokyo campus, so it's like an hr commute to the main one, switching trains 3 times in the mad rush of suit-wearing dudes and girls w/ silly outfits and weird haircuts. The room is so small that they decided to make a bathroom with a swivel sink - so if you're on the toilet it swings right, against the opposite wall, and if you're showering it swings left to cover the toilet and leave you some space to stand. It's ingenious but horrifying at the same time. There's a mini-kitchen in the room with one burner, but I just bought a rice cooker, so my future looks rosy.

I've been going out to do random errands with my friend Dan (the one Taryn and Carrie thought was obsessed with me last year, but was really just on his way out of the closet) almost every night, which works out well, bc we usually stop for drinks, sushi and other crap along the way, so for sight seeing it's worked out really well. I do wish there were more people here I knew -- the other exchange students are mad weird, no surprise -- but we'll see how the situation goes as the year progresses and all that shit.

Hope everybody's well, you're most definitely missed!!!
Love
Teppa Maki

NYC Christmas:)

hey guys,

i am coming to NYC on december 28th and staying until january 3rd....everyone clear your schedules and make time to hang out with me upon my triumphant return to the east coast!!
let the countdown begin...

Ni-men Hao Ma

Hehehehe....I thought I might try a whole post in Chinese, but that would be cruel, a grave waste of time, and would expend basically all the 20 words I know in Chinese. I suck. Oops. I have to run now, but I'll post later, and make it totally Asian.

Does anybody watch So You Think You Can Dance, btw? My efforts to watch the finale yesterday were cruelly stymied, and I'm dying to find a copy of it.

Sucky post. I'll make up for it later. How's the house-warming party? Ohhhh it sounds like such cuteness. Miss you guys :-P

ID THEFT BLOWS

I GOT A LETTER!!! We should have known...if someone was gonna get fucked it would def be us!! Stupid yale losing my identity. Apparently no we have to call all our CC companies etc. LAME!

Cape Cod sounds fun Carrie...I am at work right now and still bored. I don't know how I feel about Hollywood and celebrity representation. I'd say more but CAA would kill me...seriously!!

If anyone talks to Dre tell her to write in the Blog!