FO·MO
ˈfōmō/
noun
informal
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- anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website.
- “I realized I was a lifelong sufferer of FOMO”
Urban dictionary definition: The fear that if you miss a party or event you will miss out on something great.
My definition: DON’T MISS THE EVENT.
Luckily, I’m here to provide you with all things you’ve missed, in this popping city of Los Angeles. My name is Shirley Ju, and I live, breathe, sleep Hip Hop. Coming from the Bay, I grew up to the hyphy movement. That being said, turning up is all I know. This will be a weekly recap of the dope events that I myself felt like I couldn’t miss, and you guys wish you were at.
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Monday, December 26
Happy day after Christmas. I found myself wanting to say Merry Belated Christmas to people, but realized that wasn’t a thing. I had no idea today was a national holiday. I guess that’s what happens when Christmas falls on a weekend. Today, my family and I drove back to Sunnyvale after a short weekend in Carmel, CA.Getaways in nature are always the move.
So, my best friend just got a gun, a pistol to be exact. I couldn’t help but think of Soulja Boy getting locked up for having a Draco in his crib, and me wondering what the hell a Draco was for the longest time (I had no service to Google). Tonight, we were hitting the shooting range: Reed’s Indoor Range in Santa Clara (home to Levi’s Stadium where the San Francisco 49ers play).
Reed’s Indoor Range in Santa Clara, CA.
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Yikes. I can proudly say this experience solidifies that shooting and guns are not my steez. Don’t get me wrong, I had a blast (with the homies). But I think the gun owned me more than I owned the gun. This wasn’t my first rodeo either. I had gone to a shooting range in Long Beach before (shout out Groupon), but that was many years ago. Plus, this time, we were on our own. No one was there to show us (me) how to hold a gun or give us the rundown on how to shoot.
Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum revolver.
Homeboy (with the pistol) literally set everything up in less than two minutes. Even the paper human target hanger was pulled back by the time I looked up. He had picked up more ammo right before. It still baffles me that anyone can own a gun. That’s scary. I shot my first five bullets, which weren’t so bad. We rejoiced when I hit one straight on in the head.
And then, he offered me the “more intense bullets” (.357 Magnum), which was the only description I was given. My understanding is. . . these bullets will kill you faster. I wasn’t ready. I legit pulled the trigger and the recoil hit so hard that my hand was cut open. I was bleeding. Mayday. I felt so pathetic going to the guys at the front and asking for a band aid. Even they were surprised.
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We did a couple more rounds until I realized every shot just irritated my wound (cut) even further. White flag. I’m out. Let’s not get into the terrifying deer heads on the walls.
I had some time to kill so I hit up Valley Fair to make some returns, standard post-Christmas behavior. This Westfield mall in San Jose is my absolute favorite. I grew up here and worked here throughout high school (RIP Bakers Shoes). Since then, they’ve remodeled and it’s beyond glorious. If you thought the food court was poppin’ before, wait until you see it now. There’s everything you could ever think of: Mrs Field’s Cookies, Starbucks, Häagen-Dazs, IT’SUGAR candy (yas), gelato, boba, smoothies, the list goes on.
I stopped in this new store and found the cutest pin ever. Need.
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Tonight was my brother’s last night home before heading to Europe, so of course, I ask him to hang. The options pretty much come down to “What movie do you want to see?” Not much else to do on a cold Monday night in the Bay. We chose Why Him? starring James Franco, Bryan Cranston and Zoey Deutch. All three were phenomenal.
This is a comedy if there ever was one. I can honestly say it’s one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a very long time. We hit the 9:45 p.m. showing at AMC Mercado 20 in Santa Clara, and walked into a theater with every seat taken. After a couple minutes of awkward standing, I went ahead and asked a family of four to shift one seat over, so we could sit together. My brother joked that he would never have the balls to ask. We ended up front row center, the best seats in the house. Shout out to the “Go Gettas.” Cue Young Jeezy.
The movie sees James Franco playing his usual clueless, awkward party boy role, but this time he’s also a Silicon Valley billionaire boyfriend to Zoey Deutch. Bryan Cranston comes in as Zoey’s father who is appalled with the thought of his daughter marrying this clown. The jokes were endless. We were lol-ing in our seats. I was actually sitting next to a mom, and could literally feel her uncomfortableness.
Even after the movie, we discussed our favorite/funniest parts. I almost forgot: Keegan-Michael Key (from Key & Peele) plays James’ butler and is an absolute riot. Shout out to Steve Aoki and KISS for the cameos. Yes, the real band KISS.
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Go see this movie. So we can discuss your favorite parts.
Tuesday, December 27
Christmas never ends. Especially when you have a White Elephant kickback. I definitely was lacking in Christmas spirit this year, so I was excited to partake in some festivities. This was with my favorite homegirls back home, four to be exact. I was going to say party, but I didn’t feel four sufficed. If it was five, maybe.
I was cracking myself up because I brought these cookies and tried to tell everyone it was homemade, with the boxes sitting right next door. Reckless. My homegirl resides in the coziest house in Mountain View, one of those poppin’ Silicon Valley cities. It’s home to Google. That campus is lit.
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It was so nice to catch up with them. My Bay Area girls are real-est. Storytelling over cookies and cheese and reminiscing on old memories. We threw the same White Elephant party last year, but we had a lot more heads. I feel like this year, everyone is boo-ed up. It’s hard to coordinate.
White Elephant is when you each bring an anonymous present, and you throw them all in the middle. Then you write the numbers one through however many people are in attendance on a piece of paper, and have everyone draw. The person who gets one gets to pick the first gift. The catch is, every person after that gets to steal any of the gifts prior. Of course, I drew number one.
The most epic present to date.
My girl stole my present. I was mad (jokingly). It was incredible: a mug and bong, all in one. You could drink coffee and take a hit, at the same damn time. Say what? Yeah. My girl stole that. But she’s let off the hook for two reasons: 1) She let me steal her plush Golden State Warriors blanket last year and 2) I ended up with a really cute pipe (from her). That’s what happens when three out of the four participants are stoners.
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By the way, you can cop that item from Therapy, a boutique in downtown Mountain View.
Wednesday, December 28
Tonight is my last night in the Bay. Tear. Sad about it. The visits are never long enough, ever. Tonight, the Golden State Warriors took on the Toronto Raptors at Oracle Arena in Oakland. Not going to lie, I bought my flight back to L.A so I could mob to this game. Did we go? Negative.
We were trolling Stubhub every day to see if ticket prices would go down closer to the game; Womp-womp. They were only going higher. The cheapest tickets were near $200. I wouldn’t be surprised if the stadium was filled with a bunch of empty seats. My 20-year-old self would have probably said YOLO and done it. But, my 26-year-old (birthday in less than two weeks) remembered rent was due soon. Sigh.
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Dope pool table screen.
We decided to hit this sports bar in San Mateo called Golden Gate Tap Room to meet one of our mutual friends from high school. Solid move. This place was adorable. It was playing nothing but the game on multiple projectors surrounding the place, so no matter where you look, you’re able to see. The displays were huge too, no squinting at a small TV.
My favorite part: everyone decked out in Warriors gear. I’m so used to L.A. where you find that one other person from the Bay at a bar and you guys automatically bond. The Dubs won, of course. It’s still so interesting seeing Kevin Durant in a Warriors jersey but hey. Homeboy is good. Steph, Klay, Draymond. . . we love you.
The other reason I wanted to push was because I thought Drizzy might be there. But then again, he’s probably with Jenny From The Block.
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DJ Snake’s Pardon My French merch.
Thursday, December 29
May or may not have come back to La La Land for this show. I’ll let you guess. DJ Snake’s Pardon My French tour at The Shrine. This was most definitely sold out. Plus, all the kids were on winter break (The Shrine is across the street from USC). If you guys aren’t familiar, DJ Snake is DJ/producer from France. He’s behind a lot of the hits you hear but probably didn’t know the name.
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We pulled up around 12:20 a.m. Tonight was nuts. More turnt than Zeds Dead, that’s for sure. It was a similar scenario, though: the PLUR/rave vibes were everywhere. I can’t tell you how many people I saw rolling (they’re usually chomping on their gum). They were definitely feeling his set a tad more than we were. DJ Snake is also a tad bit more on the EDM side. He’s the man behind “Turn Down For What” with Lil Jon. I can’t stand that song lmao.
Pardon My French.
I couldn’t figure out what Pardon My French meant, I thought it was referring to some event in France. Me being me, I asked someone. We were education: it’s his mantra. Sort of like. . . let the good times roll. Shout out to DJ Mustard in the building. I thought that was cute.
If you guys slept on it, DJ Snake’s last album Encore was fire. He’s got features from Jeremih, Thugger, Swizz Beatz, Travis Scott, Biebs, etc. It also contains my favorite track “The Middle,” which he closed out with. It was 2 a.m. but no one wanted to leave. Other standouts include “You Know You Like It” featuring AlunaGeorge (my girl), “Here Comes The Night” at which point he makes everyone take out their lighters, and “Let Me Love You” featuring Justin Bieber, which he humbly announces is the number one song in the nation right now. Salute.
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The song I came to see tonight: “Lean On” with Major Lazer. I had all types of feels. Shout out to DJ Snake having the lyrics displayed on the screen to the chorus on each of his hits. Clutch.
Friday, December 30
Super excited for this one: Kaytranada at The NOVO in downtown L.A. I missed his last show in Hollywood because I let my boss take the tickets (you still owe me). That being said, I was really excited to see him live. I walked in to find the venue the most sold out I’ve ever seen it. It was packed all the way to the back, and all the way up top.
Ended up backstage, which I enjoyed because I was able to see the crowd and their reactions. They were genuinely enjoying his show every time I glanced over. I loved it. Sometimes, the crowds at these shows are bougie and don’t react any type of way. This was what a concert should be.
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Wikipedia describes him as a Haitian-Canadian DJ and producer. All I know is, he’s adorable. His little dance moves throughout his set (11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.) were everything. We definitely fell in love with him, music included. His ability to blend so many genres into one is mind-blowing. “Glowed Up” with Anderson .Paak had the crowd screaming.
ICYMI, Kaytranada’s last album 99.9% was fire. He played a good chunk of that. My favorites were tracks with Vic Mensa (“Wimme Nah” and “Drive Me Crazy”). I thought it was hilarious because the entire set, I was wondering what he was sipping on in that red cup. Later on, he pours a brand new water bottle into it. He was drinking water. . . out of a red cup.
“Girl” with The Internet is one of his best. He followed it up with “You’re The One” featuring Syd (the lead singer of The Internet). That girl’s voice is to die for.
