Welcome back to reality Kristina Wong. In the 72 hours I've been back in Los Angeles, I've spent at least $800 (on props, personnel, groceries, fuel, bills etc), got rehearsals for my shows up and running, and just now... a big ass earthquake. I totally forgot what to do during an earthquake. I was at the REDCAT when the building started shaking and just stood next to the glass cabinet in the lobby waiting for it to be over... dumb! Lest I forget that I was alive for the 1989 San Francisco quake?

Luckily, everything is fine. A bottle of lotion fell in my bathroom. No biggie. Otherwise, everything is ok.

It's a bit stressful getting this show going. It's a very different for me... as every new show should be. I'm going through all sorts of pre-premiere anxiety. And I screamed "motherucker" at least 100 times this morning as I was going through my lines.

Oliver is sitting on my lap. He's happy that I am back. I wonder if he realizes I am doing a show on him.

Labels: cat lady, my mind in los angeles

This update is dedicated to all the great findings here in the last days of my residency.



My new fishing buddy Aaron is perhaps the youngest living male in the City of Englewood at the ripe age of 27. Too bad I'm married huh? This is the snook he caught this morning. Because they are protected (spawning season), he threw it back.



Here's a snapper we caught! A bit small but still good to eat! It was the first fish that I have eaten straight from the water. I don't know why Aaron's shorts look like they are falling down like that in this picture. I don't remember them doing that in real life. (Oh the mockery of this cat lady. Oh the mockery.)



But boy, do I love having all these adventures with my wife! She's so much fun!


But it was no easy task to clean a fish! Yuck! Check out this video of him cleaning the fish.... That thing wouldn't die!





Before cooking....



After! The snapper was actually very small and very bony. So we got all of two bites of fish in each filet.



I'm still kinda crap as a fisherwoman. My new show, CAT LADY that premieres next week uses a lot of fishing (a great way to excuse all this leisure time as "research"). Here is some once live bait I used that got a huge bite on it's side. I'm all bait and no bite I tell you.




We also got a great full moon sunset out here where the tide was so low that sand dunes appeared. Places where the water normally goes to your waist or higher, you could walk right through.


Watch as I narrate the sunset. On full moon nights there is a rare burst of green light that appears when the sun goes down. You can't see it in the video but it's still gorgeous to take in everything else you can get from the video.





See how low the water gets?


I thought this was a good picture of Sonja doing what she does best. Photography!

Later that full moon night we went looking for sea turtles laying eggs. We thought it best to split up and each patrol in a different direction. I saw two fresh sea turtle nests and Sonja saw one. But we didn't see the turtles. It's nuts because they lay eggs in holes that they make at least 18 inches deep and then they cover them before going back to the water. So they must have worked fast because we totally missed them. I think I saw a turtle as she was leaving the nest she made. I think I saw her back as she disappeared in the tide.




This is what a fresh sea turtle nest looks like! You can see two sets of tracks (one going from the water, and one going back to the water). The little mound is where the turtle dug, laid, and buried her eggs.



In the morning, Sonja and I woke up super early to watch the sea turtle patrol dig up nests that were past gestation. The patrol is made up of cool volunteers who dig up nests, then count the numbers of non-viable eggs and hatched eggs. They also keep track and protect the area around new eggs. Sometimes they find live or dead baby turtles in the nests they dig up.




Here are the eggs they dug up. A lot were not good, but the ones that still might hatch are reburied closer to the surface where they will get more heat and the babies will have an easier time digging their way out.


When a new nest is discovered by the patrol, the nest is marked by a stake that records the nest number, date of laying, and the initials of the people patrolling. This is the nest Sonja found the night before. The "KW" is yours truly!


Here are two geckos, mocking me with their lovemaking.

Here is a video I made of them. It's not very clever. And moves as much as the above photo. Gecko penises are red btw.



Sonja knows how to handle my camera better than me. Here I am in the gulf with the Hermitage House behind me. Today the water was so clear we could see our feet at the bottom.



I also have made a lot of crafts while here. The local wildlife has inspired a lot of new animal shapes.



If my fishing skills suck, at least I can improvise!



Here is a dead mouse I'm using in Cat Lady.


And of course! Sea turtles! If I can't spot them live, I can at least make them. This is for the woman who nominated me to come here.



Come on, you know you want to see another sunset photo! It feels like every sunset is so different here.

Labels: artist life., cat lady, cat pee, crafty, hot people, i'm kristina wong, oh my god, rednecks, road wong, sex is unnecessary when you have yarn, the secret, vision

The LA Times Article on my new work and the NOW Festival at REDCAT came out.....

Folks had requested I do another one of these but there were no roaches to kill... except for a brief cameo tonight... Short but sweet, and now I have another artist to help me shoot!

Labels: artist life, cat lady, cat pee, the pick up artist, to catch a predator

I hit a grumpy moment when my cell phone charger conked out just a couple hours ago. It's inexplicably wet on the inside. I have no idea how. But it is. There's no puddle or leak in the cottage, it just stopped working and was all wet inside and plugged in nowhere near water. Nature most definitely has turned against me. First, it was my keyboard ($185 to restore the F key!). Now my phone charger. Next it will be... my other electric powered vices....

It's her way of saying, "Time to not have a cell phone for a few days and blog about your wedding which you never told your readers about."

The Wedding of Kristina and Kristina! June 4, 2008


Yes, it's true. I am married now as of June 4, 2008. Our ceremony was at the Merkato Ethiopian Restaurant in LA. And surprisingly, the first wedding ever to happen there. I even have changed my status on myspace and facebook to "married." It's serious. Who is the lucky guy, girl or tranny you ask? Me! Kristina Wong! I know, it was very sudden. But when you know someone is so right for you, you can't help but dive right in.

I vowed to love and cheerish myself forever. Unconditionally. I had some cold feet but thanks to the encouraging words of friends and an Ethiopian guy dining at the adjacent table, I am learning that love is ongoing. It is a process. It is "survived" (in the words of my poet friend Kelly Tsai).

The Wedding of Kristina and Kristina was officiated by Reverend Marcus Kuiland Nazario. My Man of Honor/ Ring Boy was Pete Lee. My friends and other restaurant patrons and staff were my witnesses.

Here are some highlights from the ceremony...


It is customary for the bride to spank her guests. My friend Yi, got me a riding crop as a wedding present!



At this wedding, we ate first! This is one of my favorite restaurants in LA. I always order the fish.



I asked friends to give to my favorite non-profits as part of my "gift registry." I did get some plants though! Here is a money plant from Daisy Lin Shapiro who did the "Yours Truly, Miss Chinatown" documentary that I am featured in.


There was a pretty funny moment when I got to the "altar" and looked both ways... and yep, nobody else was coming. Just me and me!



Reverend Marcus makes me look at my wife. Though this mirror looks like a birth control container.


Nurit, who directs a lot of my work, offered the advice of "not being so tough on Kristina when you get married to her."


My friend, Ellen Switkes said to not go to bed angry. What great advice. We really have listened to it.


My best friend Pete Lee offers some loving words of advice for the couple.


My ring was a plastic heart. "With this ring, I me wed." Of the ring I said, "This is the everlasting circle, and like the plastic this is made of, so our love last as long."

I also put on a necklace that had a jade pendant from my grandmother, and another jade pendant from my mother as symbols of the women before me and the love and nagging that fuel my spirit.



Cutting the wedding/ birthday cake. This was a red velvet one from Susie's. When I went to pick it up they were like, "You are buying your own birthday cake? How sad."

"No, not sad. Awesomely awesome," I said as I left.



Oh those crazy newlyweds feeding each other cake!


What's a wedding without a bouquet toss? This one was for men and women!


Shameka gets married next to herself!

WEDDING VIDEOS!!





My friend/ reverend Marcus officiates by offering his words of wisdom for the bride and bride. I also do my own vows.




Reverend Marcus leads the group vows. He's very creative.


So that's it. That's the report from married life. I am still learning the ropes of self-love being a Newlywed a month and a half later. It's hard to learn to live with someone forever... even if it is yourself. I actually do look over to my pink plastic wedding ring and feel what a lot of married people feel: "Wow, look at that, there's someone out there who is committed to loving me. And I'm with her all the time!"

Labels: a shot at love with kristina wong, marriage grown up crap, sex is unnecessary when you have yarn

I know I must seem annoyingly utopic to read, especially if you are at your day job when you read my blog and I'm here on the beach being artsy.

"Damn that Kristina Wong for getting to go to Florida to be an artist."

I'm sad it will be over soon, I will have to head back to LA in less than two weeks, and I have to go back to my life of squeezing creative time between administrative errands that afford me the creative space. When I return, I am committed to changing my habits so that I really make more creative space in my life and don't get drowned in the particulars.

Add to my new crack-like addictions (which already included crafts, knitting, bikes and VH1)--- my new addiction to CNN. CNN is much easier on the eyes with Obama running for office. But watching so much CNN can cause panic about the future.

How am I going to fuel my vegetable oil car!? How will I survive this economy? How will I afford to eat if we run out of food? What about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and Indymac?!?! What will I do if the arts world dries up and there is no more milk for this little kitty to lap?

PANIC PANIC PANIC!!!

No friends, we can't panic. We just can't. I don't know what the answers to all this crap of the world are... BUT we must have vision and look at the future and be creative and say, "How can we find ways to still be happy and enjoy ourselves in the midst of this panic?"

For me, I like to sew things. And it makes me happy. And I've gotten to read a lot of books. I'm also reading a book my friend Danielle gave me many years ago called "Succulent Wild Woman" by Sark. Sark talks about learning to live with and without money. And not letting your money define your identity. She talks about how women should get married to themselves (sound familiar?) and having tea parties for other great women.

The other artist here Sonja and I have become great friends. She's my best friend here besides Bruce the director of the Hermitage. Yes, there are just three people here. And I love them.

Sonja wrote a nice blog about me.

Little things are great things that make life great. So don't be scared of the future Kristina, you can handle anything!

Labels: crafty, i'm kristina wong, road wong, the secret, vacation?, veggie oil car, vision

I feel like when I am walking around here, big font that says "AWAKE!" should show up in the upper left hand corner of the sky. And on the lower right hand corner it should say, "The Light and The Way."

Great news, I finished a script for "Cat Lady"-- the piece going up at the REDCAT at the end of the month. It's a little tricky to work on performance while here since generate performance work so interactively. But I'm really amazed at what I could string up on paper and how I was able to work by phone with people. It's a nice departure from what I've done before. It's about loneliness and pick-up artists, and my cat Oliver. And I swear it is socially important. I am using fishing rods in the piece! Inspired by the fishing I have been doing and watching here.



look what i have!!!

Labels: drunk white people, i'm kristina wong, road wong

Hey riends, my f key is still out, so this update is mostly video and pictures.


Kristina Wong-- Fishing with Crackers Videoblog 7/5/08 from kristina wong on Vimeo.
Summing up my day with the redneck dad I never had.


Me showing my rod.


This is what I almost caught except like mine was over two feet long.


Another snook.


Iguana under the house.


This is Larry, my redneck Daddy, casting a net.


An unpublished videoblog from last week.


The Fireworks at the Beach! Right where I am staying.


Shark teeth that are ancient and wash up on the beach. There is also a manatee rib.


A guy caught a shark at sundown. A little baby.


But too small.


I am so lucky.


Yeah.

Labels: artist life, i'm kristina wong, moon, road wong, The New Tweens, the secret, uck you, vision

Oh, that was a bad idea to drink all that wine by myself.  I am here with crackers (the kind you eat, not the kind that live in Florida) trying to make this headache go away.

Labels: artist life, i'm kristina wong, marriage grown up crap, rednecks, road wong

perhaps, blogging under the influence of several many glasses of wine is a bad idea.  but i always think wine is a great way to step outside my body and look at my world.  ok.  so right now, i am on facebook looking at my friends from college, and they are all having babies.  this is totally nuts, because i am married to myself and drinking wine in florida.  i've not had much of a desire to reproduce.  but i did think lately i should adopt a kids from china when i am in my 40s.  and i will give her a name like "awesome wong" or "hell ya wong"

Labels: artist life., marriage grown up crap

Letter down! Letter down!

argh! I was so excited because it looked like my f key (i had to cut and paste that "f") was as easy to ix as a squirt o air rom these computer guys in Sarasota who ixed it ree o charge by just cleaning under the key. But screwed again because I was here typing and it went out again.

Anyway. I think the ghost is back. The fan is shaking in a creepy way. And weird things tend to turn on when they shouldn't. But I don't care anymore about being spooked in the house alone. I just want my f back. I also bought a can o RAID which makes me eel saer to walk around with.

Looks like I may have to pay $80-$150 to get a new keyboard and scream "UCK YOU!" to all my bloggers in ull orce. Man oh man.

In other news, I just did an interview with the LA Times today about my new show "Cat Lady" which I premiere as a work in progress at the REDCAT when I get back to LA. It's a departure rom my other work that tries to save the world all the time. It's about... being a cat lady and cats. This is perhaps a bad sign when an artist starts doing work on their pets. But also it's about pick up artists, cat psychics and loneliness.

"You mean this show will be all about your conquests and non-conquests Kristina Wong?"

No dummies. I am much more creative and interesting than that. Though it would be another great way I could cockblock mysel on stage. It's about loneliness and human communication. But the great news is that one o my avorite reality tv stars is going to help me with part o the show. I just conirmed yesterday. I can't wait. Let's hope it goes well. I've never collaborated with a reality show star beore. I am not sure i he was reaked out at irst, but a little coaxing and I got him on my side.

Today I was doing some research on Pick Up Artists. And I was reading about this "Bait Reel Release" methodology they use. This idea that women are these ish and they chase the lure i it moves around. And I got excited because not only does it tie into some o the Animal Kingdom metaphors I'm trying to use, but it also gives me an excuse to learn to use a ishing rod and see i that will be a good analogy or using in the show.

So I went into the garage here and got out the ishing rod and started to pretend to ish in the Gul o Mexico. It was awul. The hook was going all o one oot rom the rod. I asked an older man to help me and the line got all tangled. So I am trying to learn how to ish online. These youtube videos are not very helpul.

I'm thinking maybe asking other ishermen on the island to help me ish will help me meet some ellas my age. There are quite a lot o guys here who ish. It's so deceiving though because I'll be in the cottage and see what looks like a hot guy ishing (because I can only see him rom behind) and then I'll go down to the beach to take a closer look and the guy ends up actually being 12 or 80 rom the ront. Which just makes me eel ilthy. UCK!!!

Anyway, I can't blog without use o all 26 letters o the alphabet. So it's time to go. Why did that key have to go out? Why couldn't it have been a Q or Z? I have no use or those.

Anyway, enjoy these pics o my handicrats.



I made a giant roach to leave behind here. It's pretty cute. On the back side it looks like scales but it really spells out "Hermitage" in wide letters.

Labels: artist life., crafty, hot people, sex is unnecessary when you have yarn, the pick up artist, uck you, Vh1