Twenty-Four

[UPDATED]

The Tonight Show Cast Party: I'm feeling 22(+2)!
August 9, 2014

A certain fabulous Elaine Su and I hosted a "Tonight Show Cast Party" and used my birthday as an excuse. It was also a hipster party. And a celebrity party. And a bad pun night party. And a lip sync battle party.

First order of business: I have to gush about the gorgeous Elaine who offered to host the party at her apartment. I don't know what I would have done without her! How can someone be so crazy smart and fashionable and pretty and a great baker and a good friend all in one? I HAVE NO IDEA but she is all that and more. She even hosted another party the next day at her apartment for which she was able to make fruit tarts and rose-lychee macarons. Yay for an awesome BioE PhD friend! <3

Okay, now that I've finished gushing.....

Clothespin Name Tags

House rules stated no shoes and you must wear a name tag. Anticipating friends from high school (at least those who happened to be in the Bay Area), from MTM, from M.Eng, and from the BioE PhD program, it was necessary to make sure the ice could instantly be broken.

What better way than to make people have bad punny gag names? This easily gives people something to talk and laugh about. 

Note: The use of clothespins was a creative take I had on hipster name tags. The use of pun names was inspired by a friend's "end of the world" party I attended in Hong Kong.

Among many others, here are some of the names that were used:

- Sarah Bellum (a nerdy science crowd favorite <3)

- Anita Mann

- Anita Job

- Alec Bond (have you met alec bond?)

- Nick Bond (do you know nick bond? io nick bond! - okay, this is a stretch... I tried...)

- Joe King

- It Sake

- Robin Banks

- Mary A. Richman

- Justin Thyme (J.T.)

- Justin Case

Attire: Hipster or Celebrity? I'm confused.

You know, I think I was a tad too ambitious about the theme. Maybe I just wanted to add more appeal by saying you could also dress up as a hipster. Or a celebrity hipster. Or I made it easy on people by telling them to dress smart casual. In any case, I'm not a stickler about themes (though I think being picky about it is necessary in some cases) - I just wanted to see people and have fun.

Note: People love dressing up as hipsters.

 

Lip Sync Battle

(Inspired by Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show lip sync battles)

I ascribe to the idea that one should strive to:

Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching.

It's overquoted, but I think it speaks to being unabashed about who you are in all your combination of awkwardness, awesomeness, and uniqueness. For me anyway, lip syncing is a way to embrace that.

We implemented this by going around before the first round of actual battle time and asking them what they wanted to lip sync. Then, I added the lyric videos onto a youtube playlist (Round 1). I went first! Then other people (possibly inebriated) went. By popular opinion, Round 2 was implemented after a few minutes of "intermission" - during which more people signed up and re-entered.

I wish I had provided prizes on the spot. But alas - better late than never... here are my selections!

Lip Sync Battle Champions by popular vote/cheer/laughter during the contest (the ones that get bragging rights)

Slim Shady and Justin Thyme aka JT (Phillip and Eric) sealed their victories with a collaboration of The Lonely Island's (ft. Justin Timberlake) "Dick in a Box (Uncensored)"

--- Awards---

[Best Dramatic Balladeer] Mary A. Richman (Greg) takes this with his performances of "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid and Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You"

[Best Duo] "Let it Sync In"'s (Britta and Julea) with their sync of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"

[Best Syncer] Andrew with his syncs of Rebecca Black's "Friday" and Will Smith's "Getting Jiggy Wit It"

[Best Collaboration] Anisha, Hector, Julea, Britta, and Andrea as the Spice Girls for "Wannabe"

[Most Underperforming] Truman during the Oxnerd sync of Taylor Swift's "22"

[Most Spontaneous] Slim Shady (Phil) gave a hilarious sync of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady"

[Most Crowd Pleasing] Sasha Grey (Lisa) with her rendition of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" (she actually sang along!)

[Most Sung-Along-To Sync] Tied between Eric's sync of "Call Me Maybe" and Jenny and Eric's "I was forced to do this and ended up doing the whole song" sync of "Let it Go" from Frozen 

[Most Heartwrenching Sync] John's  sync of Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls"

[Most Fitting to the Party Theme Sync] Lisa, Han, Truman, and Andrea (Oxnerd sync of Taylor Swift's 22)

Celebrate your success and find humor in your failures. Don't take yourself so seriously. Loosen up and everyone around you will loosen up. Have fun and always show enthusiasm. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song. - Sam Walton

Obligatory Birthday Reflections

Yup, I'm definitely a 24 year old female.

What a crazy ride 23 has been: starting and finishing my master's in translational medicine, from being in a relationship to being single, from being insecure to learning confidence. I think I am most proud of the personal growth I've had through 2014: it's been a long process of self-betterment, leveling up, and conscious image crafting.

One of my favorite lessons from my 23rd year of life has been to stop taking myself too seriously. I used to think that I had to be the best at everything or that every silly/foolish thing I did was the most embarrassing moment of my life. I used to feel inadequate and insecure. Now I don't care too much about what other people think (within reason - you have to be conscious of the image your project in the workplace, for example). Life is too short to try and fit the mold.

One thing I am grateful for is having many friends who aren't afraid to be themselves. People who are unapologetic for being nerds, working hard, having ambitions and passions; people who stick to their guns. With them, it's easy to laugh at myself and ourselves. It's easy to be myself. We work to make a difference in the world but life is to be enjoyed along the way! Heh, I feel so sappy. :')