Since I have ended my time in ministry with InterVarsity at UCLA, my life has suddenly opened up a significant amount of free time. It was almost frightening.

So what did I do with myself? Nearly killed myself from stuffing my face with fried pastries last month.

Living in West LA has its perks, including hip things for people in this large city to find a cause to gather for. One such thing is the annual (since last year) Donut Summit held at Griffith Park and hosted by some fine people of LA and its blogging community. It’s a good size group of people, about 60-70, who congregate at some picnic tables and share their love for donuts. Here are the details of the event.

I was ecstatic to participate, as my best friend Melanie made sure I attended this year because she and some other friends had a blast the year prior. I brought my share of a dozen donuts, and I knew there was only one place I wanted to bring it from–Stan’s Donuts in Westwood. Within walking distance and rather pricey, I wanted to spoil my fellow donut connoisseurs with some of my personal favorites–the Blueberry Crisp, the Huell (peanut butter donuts), the PB&J, and the Bulls-eye (custard-filled chocolate donut).

As the voting went on and I was on the verge of purging from sweetly fried consumption, the ballots were finally in and the winners announced. And guess what? Yours truly won the celebrity judge category! Actual donut shop owners and bakers from the West LA area voted Stan’s The Huell as their absolute favorite–a chocolate-covered donut filled with smooth peanut butter topped by bittersweet chocolate chips. Now how could they resist?! As I ran up to grab my lovely donut medal, some rather unexpected drama ensued–some dude wanted to take MY medal.

So here’s the sitch: My fellow donut lover brought Stan’s Donuts as well. Okay, I’ll give you that, bro. But did you bring the winning donut? No. You did not. Therefore you did not win. You see, it’s like claiming you won best in show for your pet because you got your cat at the same pet shop when the winner was clearly a dog. I really dislike most animals and so using this type of analogy shows my desire to prove my point. And I think this was kind of a stretch. But all to say–YOU DIDN’T BRING THE FRICKIN’ WINNING DONUT MAN. So sit down and give me the homemade plastic donut medal, you big turd.

As passionately angry as I sound, I fell into pure passivity and I let this guy have it. He heard Stan’s had won, and he took the medal. I stood there in disappointment and reflected on how I spent way more money than this fool’s plain glazed twists and chocolate bars. My friends Melanie and Jonathan weren’t having it and they soon discussed their plan to take the medal and destroy the illusion that this poor sap had won. I knew I needed to calm them down and eventually suggested to just forget it. But as we discussed this more, we realized we were people of justice, and wanted our share of the winnings. We were not going home empty-handed.

And so my brave comrade went up to the judges, and politely explained the situation. While she was explaining, the judges were amazingly kind and said it was not a problem, and that there were extra medals. I grabbed the medal in glory, laughing at how childish we must have sounded to them. “My friend Amy brought the peanut butter donuts but then she didn’t get the medal and I think it’s not fair because she actually won and…” It was like explaining to Mrs. Wilson how Peter took my pudding. And it was the awesome homemade kind, not the Snack Pack crap. Thank God Mel has the balls.

To top it off, there was a haiku/limerick poetry contest surrounding, of course, the theme of donuts. I quickly scribbled down my haiku on paper and turned it into the judges. The judges read them aloud through a megaphone and many were entertaining. I got a good reaction from the crowd, and one of the judges exclaimed, “Damn, that’s sexy!” To my surprise, they narrowed it down to three, and both mine and my friend Jonathan’s made it! To determine the winner, they went the route of cheering noise level from the crowd. I was sure I had it in the bag–but the judges chose the limerick instead. Again, I felt robbed of my achievement. And to make this more legit, four people actually went up to me and told me I should have won and that I had a funny and clever haiku. Affirmation at its finest. I considered being a poet for those short five minutes of fame.

It was a fun time all-in-all, and one day I’ll be sure to tell Stan that his donuts remain the best I’ve had, and that he kicked ass at the summit. He truly deserves the medal, not me, but I willingly admit I am selfish and rather like that shiny, bagel-looking triumph hanging in my room. How strange and sad it is to find self-esteem in a donut contest.

And of course, here is my nearly-winning haiku:

I am a donut
A void to fill inside me
Be my donut hole?

Okay, so my friends got plenty of love in the end from one of the hosts of the event, including for my haiku. Hehe click here.

This is Amy Hu signing off for September 24, 2011.

Working at a Korean after-school as one of two non-Korean people has its moments. Lots of them.

I teach a 4th and 5th grade combination class and its filled with an eclectic bunch of bright students. One such student is Harrison.

Harrison and his sister, Kate, moved to America from Korea not too long ago, and have both been adjusting to life here in the states. For example, Harrison, formerly known as Hubert, had his name recently changed by his parents. I think it was a good move to change his name to match a classic movie star or respected surname, though his classmates are now confused.

Harrison’s adventures in learning the English language have been quite challenging for him as a student, but also for me as a teacher who doesn’t speak his native language of Korean. Despite the difficulty, his language barrier has proved to be surprisingly entertaining as well.

On Mondays, I give a spelling pre-test to my students in order to prepare them for the vocabulary words for the week. After reciting the words out loud and having them do their best to spell each one, they all turned it in for Amy Teacher to grade.

I took these tests home to grade, and was at my friend Michelle’s apartment doing work. When I came to Harrison’s test, I busted up laughing. I showed Michelle what Harrison had written as number one: bigdump.

Me: “Bigdump! He thought I said bigdump! Hahahaha!”
Michelle: “Why did he write that? What was the word?”
Me: “VICTIM.”
Michelle: “HAHA!”

Lost in translation. So very lost. Harrison had put a word he didn’t know in his schema for English words, and hence produced “bigdump.” Let’s use bigdump in a sentence: The bigdump of a crime reported it to the police. I will not be a bigdump of injustice! Oh, one of my favorite shows is “Law & Order: Special Bigdumps Unit.”

Oh man, I’m having too much fun. Poor kid.

This is Amy Hu signing off for July 23, 2011.

I am in a state of transition.

Not so long ago, Saturday night would have been spent either with college students at an InterVarsity conference, event, or the dormitories of UCLA, or off to a café or my apartment to play catch-up on my never-ending to-do list. Today marks a new era.

I have come to Iso Café to simply type away freely in order to fill that void that has widened due to the previous busy season—blogging.

Amy Hu now has nights free to spend on WordPress.com after a couple of years as an InterVarsity campus minister.

But please don’t get me wrong readers—I have loved this past season with InterVarsity. To sum it up and not do it justice, it has been the most life-changing and growing experience. It was worth every minute spent. I have found purpose and calling in my life, and it has led me to where I’m headed next. Look out for a “My Time as an InterVarsity Staff Worker” reflective piece soon under “Tidbits.”

So my friends, I write to you asking to take me back. Too many stories to tell, and so little of your attention span I have (I blame it on 80s music videos and the game of Pictionary). Don’t expect a (0) on your Google Readers or come back to the lame post from a few months ago. The interweb will now receive more search results regarding silly stories about my life, though I don’t think I’d show up right away if you Googled “ridiculous stories about Amy.” I’d actually advise you not to (not that I’ve tried to myself…).

So here’s an update on Amy Hu to preface my return:

Where: Still in Westwood until at least the end of this month. Looking for cheap housing!

Work: Amy Teacher is back at Ivy League Academy for the summer once again to teach my 4^th/5^th class. It’s a wonderful Korean after-school program. Also, ending my time soon as a smoothie-maker at Jamba Juice.
Mourning: My time with InterVarsity Bruin Christian Fellowship (IV at UCLA), as well as Team Prime Time.

And soon I will mourn for my apartment, despite all its substandard-living downfalls, for the community of people and spaciousness was good to me.

What’s ahead: Entering a season of fund raising for my new job with InterVarsity as a production associate with their communications team—twentyone hundred productions. Moving to Madison, WI hopefully by the end of this year. Yes, it’ll be friggin’ freezing by then.
Recent movies watched:“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Pt. II” and “True Grit.” Masterpieces. Also Jeff Bridges had a Mad-eye Moody kind of look to him.

Books I’m working on: Finishing up Bossypants by Tina Fey, one of my greatest heroes. The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. Gospel of Luke.
Music: Greatest Hits of Nat King Cole on vinyl (thanks to my friend Randy Taylor, who sounds just like him). Trying to also warm up to the newest Explosions in the Sky album.
Confession: Watched two hours of “Say Yes to the Dress” yesterday. Even the Atlanta version. Damn you reality TV!
Current annoyances: My eczema acted up and got worse the past couple of weeks. Going to see the doctor on Monday. Also, I hate my new assigned parking spot at my apartment. And the doctor’s of course.

Newest additions to my wish list: The iPad 2 and a melodica.
Most recent recipe: Japanese Miso Eggplant. Inspired by Furaibo Restaurant.
Looking forward to: Going home next week. Finally. Get to be with my family, my best friend Melanie, and hopefully the KKK (Katrina and Kathleen, Kevin left us for Hong Kong. Ugh.). Oh yeah, and it’s Vera’s birthday on the 24^th! My sister is getting old, dayum.
Simply can’t wait for: “Cowboys and Aliens.” Two words: Daniel Craig. He makes me…yeah.

That should be enough context for upcoming material.

It’s darn good to be back.

This is Amy Hu signing off for July 16, 2011.