August Recap!
Its already that time of the month!! Well maybe I'm two weeks late, but time for an August Recap!!
I can't believe that summer flew by that quickly, and now I'm back at school!! Actually, sadly, I ended up being hospitalized, so I'm finishing this post a few weeks after I started, but...
August was a very, very eventful and busy month as I rushed to fight against time and try to finish a couple of things before summer ended.
Started the month really into biking. My mom had recently invested in a Citi Bike membership, so I decided it was going to be my mission to make the most out of it.
This was one of my first times biking alone in NYC, so navigating the streets was kind of difficult and scary. But I ended up on this bike path that goes all the way down, following the Hudson, and found myself down in Wall Street.
Cute photo that I took along the way. 100% recommend biking by the Hudson. It was kind of very rainy that day, but that's part of the vibe.
My initial goal was to bike the Brooklyn Bridge, but that ended up being scrapped along the way.
Not only did I bike and explore Wall Street. I also started to bike Central Park. Every day, I would take the same loop of Central Park, entering from the Upper West Side.
After managing to survive the steep hills of Harlem, during the ride back down to Midtown, I would snap a sunset picture.
I always timed my bike rides to be around 8:00 pm; therefore, I never struggled with catching a pretty sunset.
I think biking really helped me de-stress, and my rides around Central Park were something I always found myself looking towards.
It was the 30 minutes of peace where the only person I was talking to was myself and my inner thoughts.
A large part of August was just filled with me working on my art portfolio/solo exhibition.
This was a photo my mom took of me, but I poured concrete on the base of a foldable chair to mimic the rocks at the bottom of a waterfall.
I think my happiest moment this summer was when my dad and dog came to visit.
Meet Brownie! He's approximately 3 and a half and genuinely my favorite little doggy boy ever.
It was his first time in NYC, so for the next two weeks my dad and I would chit-chat while touring Brownie around New York at night.
I think it's pretty safe to say that Brownie is now a true New Yorker! He even knows how to Jaywalk and knows all the different scents of Central Park.
He also had such a fun time interacting with big dogs, which are pretty uncommon in Korea.
Here's a small update on how the cranes are going along. Honestly, a lot of my progress has slowed down, especially since I ran out of gum and didn't have the opportunity to buy some more.
However, I really missed folding them, and so I might need to find a gum wrapper supplier.
One of my biggest joys in life is to make cards for people. Therefore, when I realized my mom's birthday was coming up, I made it my mission to make her the best handmade card ever.
I came across this TikTok about a flower bouquet card and got inspired. While most people use watercolor for the flowers, I decided that I wanted to do a pen-and-pencil flower situation.
I ended up writing a really meaningful letter on the side, and even the front was embellished with a small collage of photos we have together.
To top it off, for my mom's actual present itself, I ended up getting her matching Roller Rabbit PJs with me.
This is honestly just a silly photo I took of the other kids at my mom's birthday party.
They were seeing who could last the longest while trying to slide down the staircase.
This month, because of how busy I was working on my art, whenever I had a chance to act with people who were around my age or younger, it made me feel so much happier.
The Jang/Jung boys always manage to bring a smile or laughter to my face.
So, something I decided I wanted to practice this month was solo eating.
This interest all started when I once had to go eat dinner alone to avoid the sudden torrential rain that came.
During that dinner, my phone was dead, and I realized that when I eat alone and just try to immerse myself in the present, I can take in so much.
I would overhear people's conversations, see the expressions on their faces, and just feel really connected with my surroundings.
That experience led me to take on this new challenge where every week I would just go to a new restaurant and eat alone. This led me to eat Drunken noodles alone at a nearby Thai restaurant.
During this month, I also cheffed up pancakes.
This all started during my dad's visit when he bought a bunch of pancake mix and suddenly became obsessed with perfecting the fluffy pancake recipe.
It caught on pretty fast in my household because soon enough not only was he making pancakes, but I also joined in.
These pancakes in particular were some of my proudest creations because not only did they come out perfectly golden, but they were the airiest and fluffiest pancakes ever.
For some reason, during August I found myself waking up earlier than normal.
Usually in the summer, I find myself waking up around 10 am. However, suddenly I started waking up at 8, which then turned to 7, which finally led to my 6 am wake-ups.
At first I was unsure what to do with all this extra time, but soon enough I discovered morning walks to the pier.
I had already enjoyed walking to the pier at night, but in the morning it was a whole other vibe.
You could see the pinkish hue lingering in the sky and all the early birds on their runs.
Also, just seeing the vast New York City skyline glistening in the morning sun is a feeling that I wish I could experience every day.
Another fear that I was able to overcome was taking photos on the street.
I always think that someone is looking or judging when I'm out on the streets. But this summer, for my portfolio, I had to go outside to take photos wearing one of my sculptural pieces.
The thought of this terrified me, and at first I was so unsure of what to do.
However, after getting a few compliments from strangers, I realized that honestly nobody really cares, and most people were actually amazed and impressed by my sculpture.
This photo is from my solo exhibition. I hosted it at my house over the summer.
Initially, when my mom brought up the idea of maybe having an exhibition of my artwork, I was terrified and 100% against the idea.
However, as I started working on my art, I realized I wanted to at least share it with people because of the time and effort I put in.
In the end, as I started playing with placement and creating the pedestals, I could feel the whole exhibition coming together.
This was one of the last photos from New York. As my summer came to an end and it became time for me to go back to school, the NYC Mitten members and I decided to host our last drive and donation for the center.
We ended up collecting over 150lbs+ of clothing, which we then donated to St. Mary's clothing drive in Brooklyn.
This happened during one of my last days in New York, and it ended up being a great end to my summer.
If any reader is interested in donating more clothing, reach out to @themittenorg on Instagram!!!
On a sadder note. The end of August and my first week at school ended up being traumatic.
I found myself in the ER after experiencing intense stomach pain for a couple of days.
The doctors were unsure if I had a really bad case of stomach flu, appendicitis, or some sort of GI disease, and so for the next few days I was put on a no-liquid-and-food diet and just had to pray while the doctors determined what was wrong with me.
In the end, it turned out to just be a really bad case of the stomach flu, but what a start to senior year.
I ended up missing the whole first week of school, spending it at the hospital folding cranes instead.
Those few days were terrible, but I ended up getting out of my system as quickly as it came.
This was just a photo of flowers that one of my awesome friends sent me while I was hospitalized.
I think that getting flowers really made me realize that my friends cared about me, and even though they weren't with me, they were continuously thinking about me.
Oh yeah, you can also see the amazing coloring I was doing in the hospital.
During those few days, I really learned how to keep myself occupied, especially when I am in a small, tight space.
I spent my days watching cable TV, which was the first time in a while. I also ended up folding a lot of origami, which kept my hands busy.
Wow, that's the end of my August recap. I know it's already mid-September when this post comes out, but I hope you enjoyed an insight into what August was like for me.
Hope to see you in the next post!!
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