MinJungKim.com

Ok,

You know how I said I’d be blogging more?
Sorry. I havent’ been blogging more.

Instead I’ve been entrenched in silliness including warcraft, camping, falling down a dried up waterfall and getting a blackberry sized bruise on my backside. (The imagery, I’m sure, is somehow going to turn into a limerick at some point) applying for jobs, working on things, and working on several other things.

Quick life snapshot:

* Interviewing for jobs (Hurray)
* Writing (a little). Restarting up my column with KoreAm Journal. A chapter on my M*A*S*H personal experiences is in the works.(Hurray)
* Jane’s kickoff and cooking like mad was a tremendous success (Foccacia sandwhiches, canapes, chocolate dipped strawberries, inari w/ steamed asparagas, etc)(Hurray)
* AATC Fundraiser was last wednsday. (Hurray)
* Met a cute boy(Hurray)
* Joined a Gym(Hurray)
* Went camping and fell on my ass (Hurray…and then boo but mostly hurray)

And then today — getting bitched out for apparently violating friendships and boundaries with my hugs. My Evil. Awful. Vicious. Desperate. Mean. Threatening. Overbearing. Unproffessional. Feminisim undermining. Manipulative. Sisterhood detonating. Hugs.

And by bitched out. I mean bitched out. In public. In front of my friends. While I was sipping my oolong/chrysanthmum tea.

And it really. fucking. hurt.
So right now.
I’m at home. Just moments after having a good cry. Rubbing my bruise (the one the size of a blackberry) and trying to sort out how the hell my perception of social boundaries could be so cripplingly askew to warrant the vitriol that just blew off my eyebrows. Because clearly. My hugs and lipstick kisses on the cheek are undermining the perception of women in the web2.0 community and I’m also clearly some desperate single whore who just pathetically needs the attention of everyone in the room and stomps thoroughly on anyone’s sensitivities that might get in the way and really and utther completely deserved a harsh comeuppance  like that.
So happy monday.

I start my new job later this week.

The job will be very *non* degrassi and oc. I promise. For Love.Of.Gawd. when did being *me* and being *friendly* become criminal.

Upcoming other goodness:

9/12 – Meet JaneKim.org – Cohost Jackson West. Meet the SF Schoolboard Candidate for the Greenparty Jane Kim who blogs and wants you to know why you should totally vote for her.
9/24 – Workshop on blogging for Apature – with Me! Your feisty host, Alex Choi & Glenda Bautista

10/14 – Lap-Pop 3.0 – because, like the web 2.0 thing is so totally, fricking, 2005.

3/Something – SXSW Panel – How to rock out with your **** out at SXSW. Details in final stages, biyatches.

Top things you must do.

a) Swing by and support your most favorite San Francisco Schoolboard candidate!

Miss Jane Kim is running! Wooot Wooot Wooot!

The kickoff for this event is Friday (Yes FRIDAY – August 18th)

Friday, August 18th
BOCA
414 Jessie St (@ 5th street)
6pm-9pm

This will be an all ages event and the hottest kick off this summer! We promise.

Speakers
Jeff Adachi, Public Defender
Ross Mirkarimi, Board of Supervisors
Dr. Ahimsa Sumchai, Community Leader
Iqra Anjum, Chair, Youth Commission
Karen Zapata, Elementary School Teacher and Parent

Emcees Shannell Williams and Diana Pang, former Youth Commissioners and SFUSD graduates

Good beats, food and performances. More details to come!

b) Can’t make it? Out of town? Don’t even live in SF but like the idea of supporting a mad dope progressive and strong Asian American woman candidate in the pollitical arena? Suffer from yuppie guilt? Have no fear! You can still support Jane by making a handy little donation to her political campaign.

No problems! Paypal some bling to treasurer@janekim.org.

OR use click &pledge to make a 100% secure credit card donation. Click here, yo.
Contributions should be commensurate with your yuppie guilt. Seriously. FYI: All statements here are not endorsed by or authorized by the candidate in question. They’re just statements made by her mean drunk of a roommate. Seriously.

My friend Wes has a ridiculously awesome film

Aardvarks on a Tank here.
OMFG.

Watch it.

Rate it. (100!)

Love it.!

******* from Weskim.com *********
BLANKS ON A BLANK: “AARDVARKS ON A TANK”

The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX, is sponsoring the “Blanks on a Blank” challenge that asks filmmakers to create a parody of the upcoming film SNAKES ON A PLANE based on a randomly assigned animal and vehicle.

I’m very proud to announce that the film “Aardvarks on a Tank” is now available for viewing online at www.blanksonablank.com.

Note: The films with the highest scores from viewers win prizes:
– Third prize is $250
– Second prize is $500
– First prize is an expenses-paid trip to LA to attend the premiere of SNAKES ON A PLANE!

I don’t want to just tell you to VISIT WWW.BLANKSONABLANK.COM AND GIVE A SCORE OF 100 TO “AARDVARKS ON A TANK” BY AUGUST 10!!! But I would appreciate it if you could visit the site, watch the films for yourself, and give them the scores you feel they deserve. But please do so by Thursday, August 10 — voting closes at midnight!

I happen to think the film is pretty darn good, but you don’t have to take my word for it — we just got a mention in the New York Times! Okay, not actually the paper, but the website. And not the news part of the website, but a blog hosted by nytimes.com. But still…! The New York Times!

Read here: http://screens.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=50

So I’ve been feeling a little frail lately. Not physically but in my self-image. I hate the notion of not fitting as well as I would like into my hottie clothes. I hate the notion of having to buy new hottie clothes because isn’t that, like giving up on the possibility of fitting back into my old hottie clothes?

And then there is reclaiming one’s identity and realling letting yourself sync into that identity. The other day, for a brainjams event that Chris & Kristie ran for the NCDD conference, I tagged myself as Mischief. Blogger. and Opinionator. If I were a contestant on Who Wants to Be A Superhero, I’d be Opinionator. As in, I will come from the future and my assessement, snark, and general judgement of you might just kill you.

It’s funny when you allow, intentionally, for your online identity to be adulterated. On social networks it might be by “accepting as a friend” people who aren[‘t really your friend, claiming interests for the sake of cool, swapping up your profile details (ooh… just a few years off the age there, a few lbs off the ass there), or putting up fake profiles or posts for the sake of either a) boredom, or b) research.

There’s something amazingly gratifying about cleaning up one’s online identity when you have to. Pruning your contacts and friends lists, removing silly solicitations, telling that asshole out of Utah that saying Ni Hao to a Korean American girl is totally a) *not* cute b) in fact, offensive, c) hopelessly unatractive.

I responded back with a

” Why, hey, thanks for writing. I appreciate your feeble attempt to be barely charming and distinguished in your message towards me. However, you have failed completely. You have, in fact, come off as a completely ignorant cracker. I’m sorry, but it’s 2006. Do we really all still look so fucking alike to you? Sooky sooky, me no wanna fucky you dumbass. Sorrry, please refrain from sending any more headless crotch shots of yourself.”

And then this,

I’ve had some wacked out dreams of late.

1. Involving me driving towards home and seeing a man fleeing, screaming for his life. I pull into a parking lot and I have a man pointing a gun at me from outside the car. Trying to mug me. I neither a) Drive out of there, b) hand over my car, or c) even reach for my phone. My heart beats too fast during this dream and wakes me up.

2. I am, along with an international crowd of everyday citizens, kidnapped and held hostages on a yacht by a team of scientific terrorists who will sllowly raise the core temperature for specific continents to destroy those populations. They don’t want money. They just want to destroy. Me and the other citizens from all over the world, are the everyday citizens who have to bear witness to this. We have no chance to negotiate with these citizens. A few of us try to figure out what we can do to stop, if at all, these terrorists.

The frenchman, a fatalist, chainsmokes cigarettes and flicks his butts into the sea. “Ve vill all die anyway. Vhat do I care about some silly turtools”

An australian grandmother and her grand daughter feel particularly convicted to do something but don’t know how. The Chinese student is brooding. Kicking his feet along the edge. I, of all people, represent America. I smoke with the French guy. I talk about air currents with the Grandmother and how if one continent is screwed, we all are and it’s just a matter of time. I kiss the Chinese guy on the cheek to get him to come over and talk to us. This is all important after the panicky and wirey dutchman hangs himself out of stress and despair. The woman from Africa. Well. She can’t stop smiling this weary sad grin. She’s been surviving with AIDS since she was 15. She’s seen her parents and siblings kidnapped and/or slaughtered. She’s decided that her fate should be shared by the rest of the world in whatever fashion it has manifested.

An aside note:

According to the dream dictionary:

A tooth falling out within the dream may represent making way for the new, Losing a tooth may represent an inability to get a grip on something, failing to fully comprehend it. If you’re toothless, it may indicate ageing or feeling defenseless

So yesterday, while playing RoboRails with Jason, Jon, and Kevin, I was learning the rules around programming my bot Twonkey when I tapped at my front tooth crown and it popped out.

***plink clatter clatter clatter plink plunk***
as it rattled on the glass table.  As I excused myself to the bathroom “Um. Woops. Sorry there. I think that was my tooth…I may either look like an appalachian hickbilly, or a pirate. Talk amongst yourselves” to the gang.

Just call me Emma Sue.

Ingredients

• 4 Frozen chicken breasts
• 2 Tablespoons Chopped Garlic
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 Onion
• 1 Cup Organic Vegetable Stock
• 1 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 3 Tablespoons of Maple Syrup
• Some Bisquick (Yes, I said Bisquick) & Powdered or Real Milk
• 1/2 Cup of white wine
• Italian herbs & Salt/Pepper to taste
• Serves 4. Or 2 really really hungry people.
• Recommended Bev: Pinot Noir
• Recommended side: Small salad of tossed spinach leaves w/ peeled & chopped oranges & almond slivers.

Instructions

1. Toss sliced onion & garlic into the largets sauce pan you got with Olive Oil and cook on medium until the onions are transparent and the garlic stinks up your kitchen something awesome.
2. No fear on the dethaw of the chicken. Toss it in with the balsamic vinegar, 1/4 of the Vegetable stock & maple syrup. Cook on medium low for 15 minutes. Make sure that chicken breasts are amptly covered in the liquid. Sauce should reduce by about 1/3rd.
3. Remove chicken breasts, toss herbs & salt/pepper to the top to taste. If you’ve done your job right, you will not need any flavoring to add on it. Move them breasts, now totally cooked and ultra juicy, from the pan and put on a plate and kept to warm
4. Make up some dumplings per the recipe on the Bisquick box. No, seriously.
5. To the sauce, add 1 cup water and remaining 3/4 cup veggie stock. Also, half cup of white wine.
6. Cook up them dumplings in liquid
7. Wisk any remaining dumpling bits/starch from the pan into the liquid and reduce to a lovely lumpy awesomelish gravy.
8. Eat. Eat some more. Eat. Eat. Eat.