1.14.06-- Oversexed in the City

Greetings from the Big Apple! Or Big Banana?

(Well, there goes my shot for the presidency.)

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated my site. As you can see I was trapped under the patriarchy. Actually, this picture is from the "erotic art" on display at the Playgirl Launch/ Raunch party in New York City where I'm at right now. I'm staying with my best friend Melisa who lives in Queens with her husband.

Funny how "erotic art" is actually code for "porn pics but in black and white" or "porn except with leather" or or "porn with more candles and uglier people" or "porn but created by women, thus feminist."

Anyway, it's been a great time here in NYC. I've met up with a Foundation that has approved a grant for my new show, a publisher, and plenty of friends.

Since I contributed to the March "humor issue" of Playgirl, they invited me to their launch party of their February issue which was held at "Happy Endings" in Chinatown-- it's actually a massage parlor that has been converted to an event space, which is why the walls are tiled with the original sauna tiles.

I've never been to a porn party before, and how fitting that it was this one! I've never seen so many radical feminists and gay boys in the same space. I said to one woman, "Wow! I never knew I could see this much crochet at a porn party!" I felt right at home being around these totally smart ladies.

And check out these goodie bags we got! There were like four vibrators in this bag and this book about toys. Also all sorts of wipes and vodka samples. Oh my innocent eyes! My innocent mind!

Playgirl is perhaps one of the few porn ventures that is struggling. Porn mags in general, thanks to the internet aren't doing too well, so imagine how much harder it is for a magazine that is really for women. There aren't many ads in Playgirl, so they depend a lot on subscriptions. I, of course, read it for the articles.

And my makeup looks so funky because I did it on the subway on the way to the party. So don't hate.

I don't know if I could live here. There's something about NYC that is very "upright"-- always moving, always standing. And it's so dirty. LA is really busy, but at least we somehow work yoga into it all the time. So tell me... how did this pizza got in the middle of the subway rail like this?

Last night we went to a gallery opening in Chelsea and ran into Scott who I went to college with. He is like a senior designer at MTV now.

Here are my friends from Playgirl-- Jess, Gina and Colleen. They are perhaps some of the most whip smart, sassy, crocheted, down-to-earth, not damaged women you'll ever meet who work for a porn mag. We were teasing Gina because the bag she is carrying is filled with the sex toys and that kind of paraphenelia that she had to bring home to photograph for the next issue. It's so funny to hang with women who talk about vibrators and gadgets so casually.

Colleen and I are going to Home Depot in Brooklyn later today. She is writing an article on trying to pick up on guys in unlikely, non-bar, non-club settings. And I am going to be her "wingwoman." Of course, I am the best to do this. Just ask Miles, Vince and Bernard what a good wingwoman I am!

Bringing the heat to Vermont

Well, another year, a new semester, and my last semester of school for a while. Last week I spent eight inspiring days in Vermont working on my novel. I think I finally know where it's going. Because lemme tell you, I really didn't know before what I was doing.

Things are looking so bright, I think I won't be back to school until things slow down. Don't be fooled that Goddard is this ethnically diverse by the pics, I just happened to take pics with every person of color on campus.

Me, Synnika (a poet) and of course, Tupac.

It wasn't too cold in Vermont. And it's quite warm in January here in NYC. Ahhh... global warming is on our side. Never mind the cancerous tumor that is slowly forming on my scalp.

Yay! The Asian American Student Union doubled this semester. Meet Jackie, a creative non-fiction writer from Queens! She will be taking over the "club" when I go on leave next year. When I first saw her walk by I screamed to someone, "Oh my god! Was that a mirror? An optical illusion? Or did I just see another Asian girl on campus?"

Look at this strange and abstract painting I did in the design center.

Snow angel or snow dork? What's so amazing about the snow in Vermont is it falls in actual snowflake form. I had never seen that before and would walk through the campus with wonder admiring the snowflakes that landed on my sleeve.

Christmas break in SF

Oh, I forgot to tell you! I got a ring on New Years from my partner!

Well, it's plastic actually. The bar we went to for New Years gave them out before midnight. It's a new year's tradition that I've never heard of, but I guess you give them to the person you want to spend the year with. When he put it on my finger I had a weird "oh my god oh my god" moment. Then ten minutes later I lost the ring and we got ready to go home.

And what Kristina Wong visit to the Bay Area would be complete without tearing up the Karaoke machine at the Serra Bowl in Daly City?

Oh Christmas plant.... oh Christmas plant....

Since my brother and I are old enough to get married and have kids, my parents don't bother with a tree and just stick ornaments on the houseplants and put the presents under the one in the living room.

Philly next week

Next weekend I am going to Philadelphia to work with the Asian Arts Initiative and other artists around the country on a gentrification project.

And why? Why?!!?

Also, can anyone explain to me why I've been watching the following shows obsessively? I'm supposed to be some kind of anti-big media activist...

The Flavor of Love
America's Next Top Model
Project Runway
The Surreal Life
All the pop culture countdown shows on E! and VH1
Celebrity Fit Club

Why do I know more about Paris Hilton that the war in Iraq?

More later,

Kristina