Food Friday #023 — Toss Noodle Bar

This post is long overdue, and if you can't tell, it's been posted retroactively. It has repeatedly occurred to me that no one can tell if a post is retroactively published or not, so there's no point in mentioning it. I always feel sneaky when I do it so for the sake of transparency I mention it anyway. Also, I don't know why I bother with these retroactive Food Friday's. Maybe it's just for the sake of posterity so I can look back one day and tell how I felt about a place and if I'd ever eat there again. Or maybe it's just a weird thing where I have to finish all my old posts before being able to work on new ones. Mental baggage.

Anyhow, Toss is a sort of have-it-your-way noodle bar where you order by picking each part of the noodle making process to create a bowl. Pictured above is the soy sauce chicken hokkien noodle, which was very much a "play-it-safe" choice, but delicious nonetheless. The portions are huge, as most portions are for me, but I managed to finished all of it except the onions, which were a little undercooked for my taste. The decor is on point, with succulent shelves and mason jars, but the establishment does have a bit of a fly problem. Still, it's quite popular, so in the event that the seats are packed, take out is just as good (and you can avoid the flies). ◊

#obsessed: Say My Name (ft. Zyra) – ODESZA

I recently started watching a show on Netflix called Nikita about a rogue assassin trying to take down a corrupt secret government agency called Division. She makes friends along the way, eventually turning one of her former managers to her side, and together they save the world (an oversimplification, but it'll do for the purposes of this post without revealing too many spoilers). For some reason this made me really sad; as I explained to my friend, "It's the spy shows that get me, the whole mutual trust to the death type thing. But that's not necessary here and now, and I don't think it ever will be necessary." This is referring to the fact that even though I have my academics and extracurriculars and housing matters all sorted out, and enough friendships to be content with my life, it's still missing something that society tells me is necessary: a significant other. On one hand, I don't need one, but on the other, I can't help but wonder if it's an experience at the very least that I'm missing out on.

The problem is, and has always been, that the timing is off or expectations don't line up. I have yet to like someone who also likes me back, and vice versa. I don't know how to lower my standards and I feel like if I were to do so and simply settle, it wouldn't be fair to either person.

Back to the song, I had it stuck in my head a week or so ago, and it was absolutely miserable because I only had the interlude stuck in my head, which is the EDM part, so I couldn't look it up online despite how catchy it was. Luckily after a nap, I woke up with the next few lines which had the words, "I wanna dance, I wanna dance, I wanna dance with you," which I searched up and found. The rest of the lyrics remind me of every person I've ever liked but never reciprocated:

"So what’d you say, When you gonna let me know, If you give a damn about me.
‘Cause you got my hands tied, in my defense, I always fall for confidence, your compliments look good on me."

It seems easy for everyone else so it feels like there's something wrong with me, but in all likelihood that's not the case. Nevertheless, I'm apprehensive about how to approach the topic in the future. It doesn't surprise me that my one regret in high school was about a boy, and I hope that's not the case with college too. ◊

Baes at the Bay

Last Thursday was Sail Away, an RHA event that's basically a dance on a boat to celebrate the end of the year. I was working most of the event as staff, at coat check or at the raffle table, but in the bits where I wasn't responsible for anything, I did learn how to play poker and I ate many brownies. The boat was nice, but to be honest, I didn't enjoy the event as much as I should have. That was my own fault, because I was tired and dances just aren't my thing. I did enjoy the chance to dress up (Gatsby theme) and get out of Berkeley for a while, even if my face looks exactly the same in every picture. I don't know how people have so much energy and excitement towards being in the middle of a sweaty crowd (the entire third deck was so humid from sweat) jumping up and down to repetitive music. To each their own? ◊

Clinton Global Initiative University 2016

Being a Berkeley student means a boundless number of events on campus and venues to meet world leaders. This weekend, I volunteered for CGI University and attended a plenary where Bill Clinton spoke. He also held a discussion with several innovators, including the founder of MuslimGirl.net, the co-founder of Pinterest, and the founder of Khan Academy. On Saturday and Sunday, as a volunteer with CREATE, our work was to sketch murals for a local elementary school and then lead a team to paint the murals. Despite the narrow time frame, we finished all of the murals, but I didn't have enough time to take pictures. I'm still exhausted from all the work we did, but it was an amazing opportunity to be a part of a greater cause. ◊