Today, I went to the happiest place on earth...sort of.

     We woke up at 6:30 am to get ready. I was proud of myself. It was weird walking out to dusk because we’ve been leaving when the sun is high up in the sky, burning us away. When we arrived in Anaheim, it took us about an hour to get there, which was odd because I remember it taking about two. But I wasn’t complaining! The great start of my day was when I received my Disneyland pass for $70, $22 cheaper than the original price. Score!

Asian Girl: Have you guys already bought your tickets yet?

Panda: Um, no.

Asian Girl: Oh, well I have this pass and I can’t use it. I want to sell it since my boyfriend couldn’t come. I promise that it works! I’ll even come inside with you guys just to prove it!

Asian: Well, I only have $70 in cash.

Asian Girl: I’ll take it. I can come with you guys just prove it works?

Asian: It’s fine. I see that expires today. I can take your word for it.

     So I pretty much took a leap of faith with this girl. But I’m glad that I did. I paid a cheaper entry fee that was valid as a PARK HOPPER! Which meant I saved like $67. I was a happy camper indeed. Then we entered Disneyland half an hour early; the lines were getting long.

     Throughout the day, we went on rides, saw shows and was just entertained. We made all but three rides, only because I thought it was closing at its usual time; midnight. Because it was Labor Day weekend, the park closed one hour earlier. Now, there were some rides that just didn’t seem fitting for the land we were in; Fantasyland.

Roger Rabbit

     The ride itself was a very entertaining ride. I actually wasn’t freaked out by it. Panda told me about how she was troubled by this ride when she was younger and I couldn’t understand why. Then we got to these two very large, clown cutouts the hovered over us.

Asian: See, this ride isn’t so bad?

Clowns

Asian: Mm, that was questionable…

     Other than that, it wasn’t all too bad. This was definitely a good ride to end the Toon Town/Fantasyland adventure.

Mr. Toad’s Wild Adventure

     This was only a two person ride. So everything was fine. At least, so you think! Like Snow White, you thought everything was just peachy. I thought that we had made it to the end of the ride when the Judge is sentencing someone. NOPE. Instead, we entered hell.

Asian: Well that was a nice ride!

Panda: Yeah. It wasn’t as ba–

The doors opened to what we thought was the end; Hell

Asian: What is this?! Why is there a devil in front of us?!

………

Asian: Where are we?!

………

Asian: I thought this ride was over?!

………

Asian: no! No! NO!

     Needless to say, this ride was scary, but I don’t think as bad as Snow White.

Snow White

     The first ride we went on was Snow White’s Adventure. We made it to the end of the line and these two girls in front of us wanted to sit in the front, but had to sit in the back.

Girl 1: I want to sit in front.

Girl 2: Yeah, me too.

Girl 1: Do you guys want to go in front of us?

I immediately responded with

Asian: Nope.

     Not the answer they were looking for. They weren’t young enough for me to allow them the pleasure of sitting up front (teens). But why any sane parent would allow their child to sit in the front of this rode would be beyond me.

     As we got on, they just went ahead and didn’t seat anyone behind us. It was both a good and bad thing. Bad because there was no one there to experience what we experienced, good because they didn’t experience what would have happened in front of them; us, particularly me. Everything was all Honky Dory until we got to when Snow White’s Stepmother changed into the haggard woman. Everything went dark, the trees had horrifying expressions, it felt like they could reach out to you and there was one point when the holographic image of the witch was in your face.

Asian: OMG!!!! What is going on?!

………

Asian: What is this?!

………

Asian: Why is this so terrifying?!

………

Asian: AHHHH!!!!!!

………

Asian: THIS IS NOT A CHILDREN’S RIDE!!!!!!!

     And then we made it out. I believe that the 15 seconds of horror I experienced on this ride was mortifying than the 5 minute experience at the Haunted Mansion.

     Another highlight of the day was when we went "canoeing". Now, it's been awhile since I've rowed, but I'm not that bad. I don't know what happened, but Panda and I were stuck behind two children, toddlers I suppose I should say. We had made it our goal not to get wet; that didn't happen. The children, just kept splashing water on us and somehow, the girl behind me splashed the guide in front of me. Now, I wouldn't blame it on the children. In actuality, it was the mother who splashed all three of us. She was "helping" her kids, but was instead splashing us. He literally showed everybody how to handle the paddle and stroke. She obviously was not paying attention.

     Other than that, I had a very enjoyable time with Panda in the burning, sweaty 100 degree weather that Disneyland had present us. Seriously, sweat running down my back. On top of which, I had people greeting me happy birthday AND one of the employees remembered me. Mostly because I had the birthday button, TBA Shirt, and adorable hat. But we can also say that it was my dashing good looks as well.

I had to shrink

Man or Woman?

On point recreation

Soaking wet; half of my body!

"My Prince"
Why yes, yes I am

Today, I professionally auditioned and was lost (in amazement).

     The birthday weekend did not come to an end. Oh, the fun continued! On that day, I had my first professional dance audition. This audition was for Diamond White, a Top 5 contestant on X Factor, searching for young looking backup hip hop dancers. I was scared out of mind. First of all, I wouldn’t call hip hop my strongest style, but I am good at one it’s derivatives: jazz funk. When I entered the room, I was terrified of the competition because there were some amazing poppers, breakers and hip hop dancers. Then there were some that shouldn’t have been there…

     When we got to learning choreography, I picked it up. Parts were choppy, but I was able to follow along. Luckily, I had my butt handed to me for three years when I was in high school by a lovely choreographer: Webster. This man pushed me and made me learn three minutes worth of choreography within one hour and fifty minutes. So learning a minute’s worth of choreography was a piece-of-cake…sort of… There were some moves that were harder to execute than others, but I did fairly well with rhythm. Near the end of audition, I started to die.

     My idiotic self forgot bring water in the one hundred degree weather; I was in that audition for an hour and a half. So we danced and we were split into groups. I was feeling pretty confident about the choreography. Then they told us to freestyle. Kill. Me. Now. If there’s one thing I can’t do, it’s freestyle hip hop. So I did what I did best: the splits, with some flourishing turns and such…Oh! And being sexy! When we did the final round of auditions, I was put into the group of dancers that were actually really good and I knew that I was doing something right!

     At the end of auditions, they were impressed with my dancing.

Diamond: You did really well! How old are you?

Asian: Oh…I’m…22 hahaaa…

Diamond: What?! Oh my goodness you look so young! I thought you were younger!

Diamond’s Aunt: Mm! I know! I couldn’t believe it! I saw your age on the audition form and was like, “Uh uh! He is not!”

Diamond: Well, you look great.

     I’m happy to say that even if I don’t get opportunity to be her dancer, I can at least say later on in life that I auditioned for a star…and she liked me. After the audition, I drove home and Lux, Philly, Panda and myself all went to The Last Bookstore.

     Now, this bookstore was breathtaking. When you stepped inside, it felt so peaceful, calm, and serene. The art was intriguing and we got to experience “The Labyrinth”.  What was interesting about the set up was that it was an actual labyrinth and some of the structures were held up by force! They still have shelves to stock and areas to complete, but it’s a pretty amazing place. When we finished out grand exploration of the amazing bookstore, we got hungry and decided to walk around ‘til we found a restaurant that piqued our interest; it ended up being Blossom Restaurant.

      This restaurant, my friends, was one of the worst experiences I have had since moving here. The service was bad, the food was so-so/the portions were ridiculous and the staff members were laughable.

Service: The moment we entered through the door, there was no happy greeting. Instead, we were greeted by drones that did not function properly and were just reciting words. When an order was incorrectly made, they didn’t make an attempt to offer the food to us, rather, they told us they were taking it home for themselves. The least they could have done was be a bit more sly about not giving us the food.

Food: The food wasn’t all that amazing. It was tasty, but it wasn’t something I was dying to go back and eat. On top of which, I didn’t understand why the portions were so small! The portion was enough to feed a child, a first world child. Third world children would have suffered starvation. The food was set in to be a taste; the gimmick was to have people buy more. Let me tell you, this food was NOT cheap. Prices were reasonable, but for the amount of food we received.

Staff: They just didn’t seem like they wanted to be there. They just sounded like they hated their jobs. I don’t care how tired you are or how pissed off at the world you are. You are working in a customer service industry where the customer comes before you. We all have problems, deal with it and face it on your own time. I may sound crass, but I am saying this out of experience. Furthermore, they never once came to check on us to see how our food was and the only reason why we even had a refill on our water was because I was making fun of how we only had one glass of water for the evening.

Asian: So…is this all the water we’re going to get?

Philly: Yup.

Asian: Awesome.

Less than a minute later, a server comes by to refill our glasses.

Asian: Thank you.

Server: …

Philly: I guess they heard you.

     Needless to say, they did not receive a good tip from me. We have this theory that the reason they didn’t come to us was because I had the Book of Mormon out on the table. In my defense, I had nowhere to set it and if I did, I would have forgotten about it. And no, readers, I am not Mormon. I just find religion to be a fascinating thing and like to read theological material. It broadens my perspective about how others may think.

     It got a little late and Lux couldn’t join us for karaoke bowling. So she went back home and we decided to go to All Star Lanes. It was pitiful. The karaoke was located in the bar, which meant that Panda wasn’t allowed in there because she was too young. By months by the way! Boo. So we hung out there, hoping they wouldn’t check IDs. Boy, were we wrong. When it got close to karaoke, this guy goes to a table a booth away from us and says that he’s carding people. Immediately I told Panda to scram and hideout in the bathroom. Instead, she decided to sit in a chair in a dark corner of the already dark arcade room. This guy was on a search. He literally went around the entire bar and in and out of it in search for someone. We were pretty sure that he was after Panda. Well, Philly and I rocked out our songs and were crowd favorites and left with Panda when we finished. It was a very interesting evening… With that entire debacle behind us, Panda and I prepped ourselves for the happiest place on earth: Disneyland.

I felt bad for asking Diamond to take picture with my sweaty self

An example of the art

All done by pressure

Apparently the reason service was horrid

So small...

Today, it was my birthday.

      Today is my 22^nd birthday, but I didn’t feel like I got older. To be honest, it feels like I turned 21 again. Since high school and beyond, my birthday has for some reason been a really rainy day. I never minded though because it didn’t really make the temperature colder; it was bearable. But in Cali, whole other story!

     To begin, I woke up at 7:30 am. That’s early. I got ready and borrowed Panda’s car so that I could visit some family in Whittier on my birthday. When I stepped outside of my apartment doorway, I could feel heat. At first, I hadn’t thought it to be all that bad; just a tad warmer for my taste. Then I stepped outside of the apartment complex. It felt like I stepped into a human oven. Within seconds, my wet, just showered, hair dried. I was astounded. I got into the car and saw that it was NINETY-EIGHT DEGREES! When I got to Whittier, it bumped up to ONE HUNDRED AND TEN DEGREES! I was amazed I didn’t end up with a heat stroke. I endured it though so that I could hangout with my family.

     After that, I headed back into town so that I could get Panda to her taping of Make Me Over on the Youtube channel AwesomenessTV. It. Was. Amazing. It was amazing to see everyone set up the area for the shoot and the clothes that were picked out to help represent the style she was going for. I had to leave so that I didn’t witness her “transformation”; it was supposed to be a surprise. When I came back, I met up with Luxembourg, Philly and another one of our new friends, Vietnam. They eventually brought the four of us on and we got to see her transformation. It was definitely a transformation to behold. So many things that I can’t describe.

      Then Lux, Philly, Panda and I all headed to Boba Time. There, I was treated out for my favorite boba as a birthday treat! From then on, I just spent the rest of the evening relaxing at home.

Today, I auditioned.

     It’s been a fulfilling week with auditions, friends, my birthday, and fun. Since moving here, I have been able to achieve things that I could only imagine. This just pushes me even harder to be better. Not just with my crafts, but in life.

     To start off, I had my first ever audition for a paying gig in California. It was singing. So I convinced Panda to audition with me. Now, vocally, I’m not the strongest singer. I’m still learning on trying to make my voice sound more mature and have the sound emote to the audience. Neither of which I would call close to perfect; I’d say it’s almost elementary. Anyway, the moment I walked into the audition room, this sassy African-American woman looked at me:

Judge: You’re Cruz…right?

Asian: Umm…yes ma’am?

Judge: Haven’t you already auditioned for me before?

Asian: Uh, no, ma’am. I just moved here…

Judge: Oh…ok! Then just sign-in and take a seat please.

     Then we started. The first girl was tap dancer. In my head, I was thinking to myself, Why the heck didn’t I audition as a dancer?! I’m gonna FAIL this singing audition. Then I listened to the other singing auditions… Let’s just say that my confidence was boosted exponentially. Then Panda turned to me and whispered:

Panda: You should just audition by yourself.

Asian: Really? Should I?

Panda: Yeah, it’d be better!

     I didn’t really put up a fight. So I agreed and decided to sing solo. This then raised my nerves exponentially as well. There was so much running through my mind with making sure I knew the lyrics (since I memorized it 4 hours before), how I was going to show and make her feel my stage presence, etc. Then she called me up. I just remember going up nervous. She was already smiling as I was getting my music and self set up. I’d like to think that my polite attitude wooed her. Then when I sang my song, What a Wonderful World, her smile showed some teeth!

Judge: That was nice. And very beautiful. You have a lovely voice.

Asian: Oh, thank you so much ma’am!

Judge. You’re welcome. Now, just email me your headshot and I also want to talk to you also about September 8^th.

     For me, this was an honor! Because this event I auditioned for was scheduled for September 29^th; she wants me to do another gig! Now, keep in mind, I gave her a physical headshot and resumé. She just wanted it emailed as well. But after that, I’d like to think I booked my first paying job in something I love to do for fun! I just have to wait to hear back from her. Oh the pain of auditions… But, Panda treated me to our favorite boba place, Boba Time, for a well-deserved Oreo Shake with boba (my favorite) for doing my first audition.

Terrified. I was absolutely terrified.