好白 (hǎo bái)

Everyday the sun rises is another day for us to do something with. Lately, the sun has been rising. Some of you may know that I recently had my 27th birthday. Most of you do not know what I did on my birthday. I walked down a cat walk. There I was, fashioning some clothes that a friend of mine designed. Just wait till you see the pictures down below. I actually had to attend some modeling classes for a few weeks to help my posture and walking. Interestingly enough, I found out that I'm not an ambi-turner, just like my role-model Zoolander. As nervous as I was, I still couldn't help but laugh at myself. Is this really what models put themselves through to walk the way they do? It almost feels unnatural. No, it does feel unnatural. That's kind of what helped me figure out if I was walking correctly or not, I just asked myself, "do you feel comfortable?" And that seemed to help. Rachel said I did a good job. I think she did a good job of all the pictures. I spent the whole show back-stage, so I didn't get to see the "real" show, but I did get to see some out-fits before the models had to walk onstage. Rachel said she liked the show very much. She drained our camera's battery with all the pictures she took. It was actually a race to see which would go first, the memory card or the battery. The battery went first, but not before Rachel snapped some 500 or so pictures. So without further ado, here's only a few pictures mostly of me (maybe later we'll publish an album for you all to view). 

Well, first things first, it was my birthday, so Rachel made me a delicious peanut butter pie. This picture was shot right before we finished it. Did I mention it was deliciouso?

Meet the designer. His name is Gary and he's a really cool guy. Here, he's just getting a feel for how he wants my hair.

He then passes me off to the hair guy to complete that task. All the while, the arteest is gathering his thoughts, saying to himself "left, right, left, right . . ."

Next comes the make-up. 

And then comes the finished product. I know I look a little pale, but they like white.

And this is the out-fit my friend designed. I was a little worried when he originally showed me his sketches for my out-fit, but that was replaced by sheer fear when I actually saw the out-fit. When I was backstage getting ready to walk, all suited up, a female model looked at me and said, "Hǎo bái"(好白), which literally translates to "good white". I said she also was "hǎo bái", to which she replies, "xiè xie"(thanks). In Chinese, white is good. Funny enough, that kind of help ease a few nerves.

More hǎo bái-ness

These are another designer's clothes who needed a model. Needless to say, I was happy to put on some pants.

And that sums up my end of the fashion show. I did have to put on my friend's clothes again and go back onstage for the end bit where all the designers come out with a model or two and receive the applause of the crowd. Let's just say this whole experience is not one I'll easily forget.