A peek of life in LA ... SHY boy

My Disastrous Hair Cut (now it turns out to be pretty ok)

Finally, a personal blog. I would not have started this if not for the requests for the photos of my recently disastrous hair-cut and my life here in LA. Rather than sending photos in batches of emails, I decided to do it with a blog, making it easier for everyone. I have a few other blogs but all of them are group blogs and organizations blogs.

Just a quick summary of what I've been up to: Name's Sern Hong. (for those who happened to chance upon this blog and wonder who this person is). Last name is Yu. Since I came to Los Angeles in 2005, people have started calling me You (yu), Sern, Hong, Hongie, S.H.Y boy. I did my BA (Arch) at the National University of Singapore (2000-2003), worked for 2 years in an architecture firm in Singapore. In 2005, I mustered the courage to go overseas for further studies despite the unknowns and risks involving financial and career matters. With the grace and mercy of the Lord, all turned out well and with many pleasant surprises.

My Home in LA >>

The apartment where I stay with 2 other housemates. The living room is where I have been in for the past 2.5years. I think I have grown to like the living room so much, I don't think I can get used to my own room in the future. Natural alarm clock every morning when my housemates go to work. haha...

I graduated from SCI-Arc in 2007 Sept, and currently working at 5+Design Inc, based in Hollywood, working mainly on large-scale projects based mainly in the Asian regions. I stay in Koreatown, about 10mins drive from Downtown Los Angeles. Besides working, I am involved in ReallyArchitecture, re:act, a group I co-founded that does special projects, workshops and research-based endeavors based in Singapore. I am currently doing an architecture competition outside of office. The group is a unique one as it is made up of 6 people from 4 different offices and 3 different disciplines, all with the same passion for design. Passionate enough to make time to meet up every Sunday afternoon. I will elaborate more as I go along. Here goes the galore of photos.... Enjoy!

My comfy couch which I got it free from a friend. Now 'populated' with my clothes and crap.
++ I gotta elaborate on my haircut. I just wanted a normal trim. But in my spirit of stinginess, I decided to go to a nearby hair salon that charges just 7 bucks. Just 30 secs into the salon, I have already regretted my decision. Run by 2 hispanic ladies, they do not speak English and I do not speak Spanish. Hence the major miscommunication and my resulting haircut. haha...


My thesis boards are placed against the windows to stop people at the common corridor from peeking at me having my beauty sleep. Notice my tiny fish tank? The gurgling from the filter provides a nice, soothing effect to put me to sleep.

My housemate, Tien (top) and my former housemate's bro (Samuel) playing Pro Evolution Soccer! We have championship nights every once a while. Tien, from Vietnam, is the reigning champion. Calvin, my other housemate from Singapore, and I just can't figure out how to beat him! We think he rigged the settings!

My new fish tank. 29 gallons!

New Fish. 2 African Chiclids. Quite aggressive ones.

The apartment is #2. Here's the entrance door. Wala! see my laundry basket greeting first at the door.


There are about 8 2-3room apartments. Our landlady is this hispanic lady who is super difficult to contact. Our neighbour at #3 are Kenyans. Very friendly. The ones on the 2nd floor... they are our natural alarm clocks in the morning. They seem to have a wrestling match running around and making noises as early as 6am almost every day!




Views of the neighbourhood




Usual scenes from my car on my way home from work. Jam Jam Jam!


5+Design Inc, the office where I work currently. This is the studio where I sit. There are about 90 people in the firm. I sit on the right front table. The plants are real by the way.


Hard at work with 2 cups of coffee and a snack.


One of the few nights where my team gotta work late. Due to the rush for time, we got mac for dinner. I tried to make it healthy by gorging on a box of strawberries. And a bottle of sparkling water to counter the 3 cups of coffee (2 of which were refilled a few times already).

Yeps, the photo galore stops for now. Will put up more posts. Hope you enjoyed it.