Beauty meets Brains: Graduation Photography

Hi all! I hope this week has treated you well. Today's blog is a bit of a follow up to my blog from last week. Last weekend, I did some graduation photography with my friend, Tammohawk Photography. He's also one of my cosplay photographers.  He's a very versatile photographer and will make sure to get your best side. The main reason I chose to get graduation photography for my Master's Degree is because I didn't have the opportunity to participate in graduation as an undergrad. I lost the motivation to walk the next school year (2013-2014),  they wouldn't let me walk with my graduating class, 2013. This time,  I finished on time and was able to walk with my friends from my cohort. As a result, I became motivated to walk and took celebratory photos. So I'd like to share some with you. I hope you like them! I had to add braid hair to my hair because my grad cap wouldn't fit on my natural hair, otherwise. Hopefully, it doesn't look that bad. It's been over seven years since I last added my own braid extensions..S. My grad cap should also be able to glow in the dark if I did it right.  I'm going to put that and my tassel in a shadow box.

This dress is by American Rag if anyone is curious and my medallion is from the honor society - Phi Beta Delta.

It took about four tries to get this photo right.

In international phonetic alphabet, I.P.A, this says: "What we think, we become" (A quote from Buddha)

That's all folks!

I hope you guys liked my photos. Also, if you're about to graduate soon too, congratulations! For those in the midst of final classes and exams, finish strong and enjoy your summer vacation! In the comments below, show me your grad caps!

Update: We graduated on Sunday, May 21st, 2017! We're M.A. recipients!  Being M.A. recipients, we had to be hooded on stage so we took photos with our hoods on before knowing that and then took them off when our procession began.

A selfie of my friend Bao & I before graduation/hooding ceremony.

M.A. Linguistics - California State University, Fullerton - 58th graduation ceremony - C/O 2017 - Photography Courtesy of Nina G.

Till next time!

-Hachi

Time Travelling Letters

Hi all! Today's blog is a little bit different. I am teaming up with Earnest, which is a S.F. based tech-enabled student loan refinancing company, to reminisce about my college days in the form of a letter to my past self. It was almost 10 years ago since I was a freshman at UC Riverside, and now, in just 10 days, I will be participating in the hooding ceremony for my master's degree from Cal State Fullerton. I am both excited and nervous because I did not get the opportunity to walk with my friends for my undergraduate graduation. As a result, I did not participate in it. This time around, I get to walk with some amazing people from my graduate cohort. Anyway, I hope you enjoy my letter!

Dear 18 year old Dawn,

Hi there! Would you believe that you are almost 28 years old now?! Time sure flies! I cannot begin to tell you about all the interesting people you will meet and things you will do with your life. You will have many fun experiences in college, some of which will dictate how you live out your life until this very day.

You were never much of a party animal, but as soon as you turned 21, kickbacks with friends became a weekly thing. You would invite everyone over to your apartment to play Super Smash Brothers Brawl and drink blended margaritas. You really thought you were a good bartender/hostess those days. You went on road trips to Laguna Beach, Long Beach, Los Angeles, and many other places. You saw Salvation Mountain with once close friends and visited their family.

Unfortunately, like many instances in your life, friends came and went, but you always cherished the good times despite that. Some of your friends you made in college, you still will spend time with.  Did you know that you took over two and a half years of Japanese classes as an undergraduate and grad student and picked it up pretty well? You also became a Conversation Partner and made many Japanese and Korean friends from this program as well that you still connect with. You're still as into anime and manga as always, and even got more into cosplay. Through this, you made life long friends that you meet up with at every convention. Also, can you believe that you have gone to FanimeCon over 12 years in a row, and that you would be volunteering for Comic-Con International going on 5 years now? I bet you didn't expect a hobby like that to extend throughout your young adult life.

You felt like you would be tired of school many times and that you would stop with just your bachelor's degree. Well believe it or not, you are now about to receive a M.A. in Linguistics with specialization in Disorders of Communication. Congrats to you! You persevered, changed majors once, stayed one extra year & a quarter, and still embrace the scientific/analytical side of your personality. You are a seasoned researcher that has both presented at and been invited to several different research conferences in many states and one country. You are a smart young lady! Never forget that! There were many challenging classes you'd take as an undergraduate and despite not having the ideal GPA, you still got into graduate school and thrived! You're in a prestigious international honor society and one of the top students of your graduating class of grad school. Be proud of all your accomplishments and all you have went through and will go through. You have the passion of a highlander with the strength of a titan and you will overcome all obstacles. Nothing can stand in your way.

With love,

27 year old Dawn

18 year old me vs present day me. Do I look that much different? Haha

I hope you guys like my letter to myself. This actually isn't the first time I have done this. If I remember correctly, one of my undergraduate classes had us do this as an assignment. It was either an English class or a Japanese class.  Have you guys ever written a letter to yourself? Let me know in the comments below. *Random factoid: Travelling is the British English spelling, while traveling is the American English spelling. I tend to write using both dialect styles.*

Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Beginning of Summer Life Update

Hi all! It's summer vacation, finally! You know what that means! It's time for me to write some blogs! School and work got in my way the whole time so I am seriously lagging in the blog department. I will however be making plenty of blogs now set to post this week so I can make up for being late. This first semester of graduate school was something else. I made one really good friend and a handful of pretty neat acquaintances. I got pretty good grades (3.9gpa) this semester, and this is the highest I have ever gotten as both a cumulative and semester/quarter gpa. I am not sure why, but I feel a lot more motivated and encouraged to thrive at this school. That does not go to say that my alma mater was bad. I met plenty of amazing individuals there, and I keep them close to my heart. I think the primary thing to take out of that is that the way UC systems and CSU systems operate is very different. I came from a CSU family, starting out at a UC and getting my undergraduate degree there, and then going into graduate school at a CSU. The cool thing is, one of my childhood friends from elementary school also goes to the same CSU as me, so I see her periodically. I am also planning on moving soon! It'll feel good to get a new type of scenery outside of the Inland Empire. I have been here far too long, I think. I know this post is a little bit boring and lengthy, but I promise the rest will be more interesting. I would just say this is a beginning of summer life update. Stay tuned for more cosplay posts, fashion posts, travel posts, recipe posts, product reviews, and generally random ramblings. :)



Till Next Time!

-Hachi