Who would you be if you remembered more? What could you do if you could learn skills faster than your peers? How much of your life is affected by forgetfulness and how different would it be if you almost never forgot?

Would you learn learn that language you’ve been meaning to learn finally?

Would you be a better, more attentive friend, parent, partner, coworker… bad-ass boss?

How far could you go if you truly tapped into the full potential of your mind?

This summer you’ll learn just how amazing your memory can be in only four weeks, doing things from day one that you would’ve previously thought were impossible for you to ever do, be and achieve.

Why are we limiting seats?

We are working toward our dream of having the best school in The Art of Learning How to Learn in the world and that means we need to make sure everyone who signs up is offered the maximum benefit of learning creative memory techniques. By limiting the number of seats we make sure that each and every one of our students feel that they get as much time as they need to try the courses out, give us feedback and benefit as much as possible.

TL;DR – WE WON BOTH PEOPLE’S VOICE AND THE JURY’S VOTE FOR BEST SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN. WOO-HOO. Thank you for voting and thanks to BBH Singapore, Facebook Southeast Asia and IKEA Southeast Asia as well as the Webby Jury for making it happen!

Before the party

So for those who know me closely, I sometimes suffer from social/performance anxiety, it stems from growing up the only brown face in a very white place (a.k.a Sweden). Whether it’s performing on stage on Sweden’s Got Talent or 最强大脑 or just greeting others during holidays and traditions like Tsagaan Sar or Christmas, I will try to find any excuse to get out of it because of an overwhelming feeling of I’LL BE WEIRD AND EVERYONE WILL KNOW. But when I’m finally there, at the party or on that stage, it is as if all the nerves dissipate and I feel immense love and appreciation for everyone no matter how things go. Before the event, it’s all about me and my nerves and during an event it’s all about everyone else and how they are, which is comforting.

Before the Webby’s, I was nauseous. For a host of reasons, I was the only person out of the IKEA Human Catalogue crew who could make it. I’d be going to a place where I knew absolutely no one.

I played video games all day in Emilia’s apartment (The Binding of Isaac) and binge-watched episodes of Hot Ones with Sean Evans.

I had low expectations, wore something simple and put light make-up on myself and had no hair stylist. Worst case scenario for the show I’d eat the food, have the drinks and people-watch.

To calm my anxious brain I listened to Jimmy O. Yang’s “How to American” on the subway ride there, it helped a little.

At the red carpet

I arrived at the Wall Street venue in my red heels. Luckily the Jeffrey Campbell’s I got have a big enough heel that the cobblestone streets didn’t hinder me too much from getting Cipriani’s. When I got there I saw Jarrod from photoshoot day and I felt a little better, I knew one nice person at least.

I stood in line for the red carpet and as I was looking around I felt like I was the only one who had arrived alone. I got fidgety and started vlogging for the YouTube’s and as I was vlogging, I saw in the corner of my eye that the next person to walk that carpet was Sean Evans. The guy I had been binge-watching all day! No filter, I waved at him and gestured to ask if I could take a picture of him. He took it as me wanting a selfie, which makes more sense when you think about it.

I asked him to say something in Swedish for my vlogs, he didn’t like that. Either that or he had to go walk the carpet. He had date night vibes, like he couldn’t wait to get out of there because he had a date after the Webby’s or something. Maybe he’s dating Tyra Banks? They had mad vibes during her episode of Hot Ones. I’d be in a rush too if I had a date with Tyra.

ANYWAY.

I got to the red carpet, had my pictures taken, one of the Webby women held the Isabel Marant coat I’d borrowed from Emilia for me, which made me panic in case I forgot to get it back.

Opening cocktails

Walked in to the venue and my Gawd. The first party venue I’ve ever been to in the US that hasn’t looked a little sunkigt to the sober eye, Spegelsalen at Grand Hôtel in central Stockholm vibes. Ushuaïa at Ibiza vibes, minus the naked dancers flying through the sky on a dragon-shaped blimp. I usually don’t like club/event parties because venues look a little gross when you’re sober but damn it was pretty.

Tiarra Monet told me my hair was pretty. I took pics with two cool women working on secret fandom stuff for Tumblr, was an honorary member of the purple Wayfair gang.

Award show dinner

After the opening cocktails I went to my table for the award show. I was lucky enough to sit next to fellow Europeans making incredible documentaries like Flint is a Place, two funny dudes from HBO and two women from Google working on VR.

Many of the contemporary women I look up to were there. Mitchell Baker from Mozilla, Kara Swisher, Susan Fowler, Laurie Segall, Naomi Wadler and FKA Twigs all had great speeches. FKA TWigs said her 5-word speech in ASL and Laura Linney said “Kindness is not a weakness”.

Former president of Mexico, David Letterman, Liam Neeson, Adam Sandler, David Chang and the super hot half-Swedish guy from Grey’s Anatomy were all there to get special awards. I learned the Grey’s Anatomy guy’s name is Jesse Williams and he’s actually a super activist, not just a pretty face.

View from where I was sitting…

After party

My bordsherrar Chris, Guillermo, Frederik and I took a cab to the after party where DJ Funkmaster Flex was… flexing? It’s strange seeing all these people you’ve only heard/read about for years from two feet away. THEN JIMMY O. YANG FROM SILICON VALLEY WAS NEXT TO ME BY THE BAR. I fangirled and got a selfie. Screw making authentic connections when you can make things awkward and piedestalize people you might be good friends with otherwise.

I got some advice from April Reign (creator of #OscarSoWhite) and Jamie Broadnax (creator of Black Girl Nerds) during a SXSW Q&A that you shouldn’t take selfies with people you look up to if you want to befriend them. I’ve decided against this advice, it’s much more fun to fangirl.

The humble brag fest continues because life is hard, always, there are always things that pain me and make me sad but in these moments I remember that there are moments when I’ve achieved something, that I’ve temporarily outplayed life and luck and destiny.

On another note, I’ve been thinking a lot about sharing my struggles since there’s always the complaint from high-achieving bragadocious people that they’re not sharing their real selves. Firstly I don’t think it’s possible to fully know a person even if you know their bad side. Second, I don’t think people actually feel better when seeing others be sad. And last but most importantly, I don’t think seeing someone’s negative or sadder aspects of their life means that is their true self.

We all have this tendency to be enamored by others up until they show us their “true selves” i.e. when they do something negative. How come we never do this when they do something positive amidst all their other negativity? Do we comment in equal gotcha manner that we’ve now figured them out? A-HA they’re actually positive and happy people?

Anyway, philosophical questions and morals aside, if you enjoy anything or everything I’ve posted, talked about or inspired you with, please feel free to vote for us. It would mean a lot to me.

AND I HOPE WE WIN!

The last week of March is here! MADNESS! The first three months of 2018 have been so slow and so fast at the same time… I’m so excited, Remy (my sweet puppy) is also excited! This excitement is contagious y’all!

I’m excited because I vlogged, specifically about the memory book that changed my life. Vlogging is one of those things I really love doing but I haven’t developed the habit of doing fully… yet. One idea about how to start developing a new habit is to combine it with a habit you already have (according to professor BJ Fogg at Stanford University). I’ve noticed I have a little lull in my time every Saturday where I watch YouTube videos and think about one day shooting videos… Now, I’ve decided to link that time with filming as well. In addition, using the added incentive of external accountability will help (saying publicly that you’ll post every week and creating the expectation of new memory videos every Monday) and linking with alliteration makes most memories much more memorable! Memory Monday! #MemoryMonday, so far a hashtag only championed by me…

I’m hoping to be able to post one video answering your questions about memory every Monday at around 9 am in the morning in the Americas (meaning during the day in Africa + Europe and at night in most of Asia).

I’m also excited because I’m going to work in Asia next month and have made some time to go on a vacation as well while over there… エキサイティング！We’re also hopefully shooting the last scenes of the documentary I’ve been filming on and off since 2015… Bittersweet to say goodbye but hopefully the start of a different part of our journey together once it reaches film festivals!

On Wednesday we have the Swedish book club meeting, so far I’ve read half of this month’s choice – Linn Ullman’s De oroliga – and it’s been a tough read in not the best way so far… I’m really excited about hearing what the others have to say and catch up with them as well though.

I am also preparing to participate in at least three memory competitions this year, starting a mini bootcamp today. I’ve been training minimally in 2018 because I have been reading a lot and have had a more introspective period in the past months with just the occasional training matches online on Memory League… I have to work harder now, even though I placed 1st in my division this season, being in division 1 is hard even if you are ranked second in the leaderboard for a moment… I’ve got some catching up to do if I want to be sure I can finish strong. Also, let me know if you want to join The Memory League! The first weeks are free and after that I’m pretty sure I can get you at discounted annual membership and we can play against each other if you want!

We might be having a potluck and I’ve made vegan brownies, recipes and all that will be shared soon enough on instagram.com/yanjaa.

On Sunday I’ll tell you all about a very controversial book about a very controversial topic – The Selfishness of Others – by Kristin Dombek, I’ve enjoyed reading it so so so much. It’s about our fear of narcissism and self-absorption, what we think of it as being and how we relate to it, react to it and what the reality of it might be instead…

I’m hoping to be able to get my fortune told through tarot card readings sometime this week, because even if you’re a skeptic I think it’s good for you to try different things out… like LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE! This was totes prescribed by Krista Suh who wrote DIY Rules for a WTF World.  About a week ago I wrote about it extensively in the previous post without editing myself.

As for working out I’m hoping to go swimming, climbing and rollerskating with friends this week after work… Even if plans don’t work out I’m kind of hoping I’ll be zen enough to deal with all of the unexpected. I hope you have an awesome week!

Duh.

<3

“One of the ways in which we lose our power is simple, we’re made to feel guilty for finding ourselves fascinating”….

As ambitious women, especially ambitious Asian women of a certain kind, we might feel like the world is ending if we’re not smart, beautiful, kind or whatever else enough. We are enough even without achievement, we are enough even without external validation, we are enough as we are.

So many of our ideals, what we should be, are not even our own ideals! They are often constructs of ideals and messages we’ve absorbed from the media or other places outside of ourselves. The idea that what we like is what we like simply because we like it is sometimes a slight oversimplification. I think Tom Vanderbilt writes about this at length in “You May Also Like”, how taste and morals are relative to many aspects and not just inherent reactions. I also know, on TV and some places on the internet it looks like I am a badass who rides motorcycles and speaks many languages and I can look very intimidating, but that is not what I spend most of my time doing. I spend a lot of my time just hanging out, walking my dog and thinking (too much) about morals or feeling lost. Not very badass, but I embrace it, I’ve learned slowly that there’s down time and there’s On time.

An On period for me is much like September last year when I was doing press conferences for the IKEA campaign in three countries, filming a documentary in two cities and competed at the Asian Memory Open in Hong Kong – all in a span of two weeks. The off period came later, when I spent two entire months in October and November last year spending 99% of my time sitting at home learning, studying, memorizing and hanging out (1% was the weekend I did my first long lecture at the Polyglot Conference in Iceland and appeared on Steve Harvey for the first time).

The good thing about the slow periods is that you can help friends and loved ones, be supportive. Be the one who cleans at home, pays the bills, says words of encouragement and you can go all in on being a supportive role. I never thought I’d enjoy this but seeing my family and friends grow is a passion I never realized I had until recently… it might actually be more interesting than personal growth.

When I started competing in memory I struggled a lot with whether I should write about my achievements (and non-achievements) online. The choice was made when I realized this is a sport dominated by (at the time mostly) white and Asian men and it was sometimes an isolating experience when sexist comments and other micro (and macro) aggressions happened. I knew women could do better than them if they saw more women competing, I knew I would’ve started competing earlier if I had had a woman who encouraged me to enter. I knew representation mattered, and since none of my rivals would say anything nice about me, I started writing nice things about myself. Then the Mongolian mogul that is Khatanbaatar Khandsuren wrote positively about me and then author Erkhembayar Baltsukh wrote about me and since then things have spiraled. When I started, 1 out of the top 10 competitors was a woman. Now, 4 out of the top 10 (including myself) are Mongolian women. 1 of the 17 world records were by women when I started and now 6 of them are held by Mongolian women. Representation matters. Choose who you are representing and who you are speaking to.

This idealism is probably also thrown upon us from various magic mentors seen in movies (Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid, Mushu in Mulan, Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and the list goes on). So far I’ve found it’s better to just be friends and occasionally give kind advice to one another, rather than to go out looking for this idyllic Mentor Person.

Which leads me to this ^, my mom and other loved ones are always telling me to get an agent. I have tried to go hunting for an agent, which has always led to lots of uncomfortable exchanges… Which reminds me that most of the time when amazing things have happened, the opportunity has come to me. I’ve been fishing (doing my part to put myself out there) but not hunting (not actively seeking opportunities). The go-getter in me does not like this, but it is astoundingly clear that the best collaborations I’ve worked on have come out of a place of relaxation.

I’ve also learned to give very stern No’s when I’ve felt the wrong opportunity came into my inbox. I’ve started to learn to give No’s without giving a reason. Women should be able to just say no without having to spend all this time apologizing for not doing a gig.

Sometimes we say no because it doesn’t feel right. Which feels crazy! We should have flow charts and statistics for why, right? No. I said no to a lot of money last year (and this year) just because it didn’t feel right. I understand that it’s a big act of privilege to say no to opportunities and money that look great from the outside, but would’ve made things worse for many if I had participated. There are hidden costs to everything and some things are worse than others. Despite the big checks I said No to last year, I’m trying to trust that there’ll be more opportunities for me to do something that both looks right and what feels right intuitively.

I have so many ideas for everything from apps to art projects to movements on an hourly basis if I’m not meditating or working on a project (this is why I meditate and work on projects all the time so I don’t get sidetracked). I let most of them go, saying “Thank you for visiting me but I’m not your gal” to the idea (I know this sounds cray-cray but this is what I have to do to stop it from developing and occupying my mind). There are a few ideas that I let go into the theoretical “ideasphere” and they keep coming back… and maybe it’s because we’re meant to work together? (The Ideasphere and this whole rhetoric I speak of is heavily influenced by Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic which I’ve talked about before).

I have a sneaking suspicion that the ideas that keep coming back to me are doing so because they are something that I truly and deeply want and need, but there’s great fear attached to it. According to Krista, this is where the magic happens. I have a sneaking suspicion that my creative dreams are what I’m truly meant to pursue, but still a little (fearful) voice in my head says… what if I’m wrong?

I know better than to do gigs that feel wrong but pay well or look good, even if some might perceive it as conceited and I should know better than to act out of a place of fear.

The point is, and this has been hard to accept and I still struggle with this, some people will always see you in a negative way. It’s not about your personality, your looks or how you take your tea… they just don’t like you and they’ll never figure out why and you shouldn’t try to either. Once at a memory competition, I gave encouraging words to a fellow competitor. He snapped at me, thinking I was being sarcastic, that I was mocking him even though my intention was the exact opposite. No matter how many positive encounters we have had since, he always sees me in a negative way. That’s OK, I’d rather choose to spend my time with my sisters with whom I share mutual admiration, respect and love and whom I always assume have good intentions.

Another former friend of mine would complain that my vlogs were bad back when I started vlogging, but I didn’t listen and within a few days one of them had more than half a million views on Facebook. If I had listened to him, I wouldn’t have been able to reach out to so many people. No wonder we’ve drifted apart, he’s a perfectionist and I’m ok with doing things way, way, way earlier than that.

I asked dumb questions the first time I competed at a memory competition because I just threw myself at it, now I’m more of a well-rounded competitor but I’m still not perfect. Perfection will never come, I can strive for it but I don’t let the absence of it keep me from trying my best. I know so many people who have said for years that they were going to compete, but the fear of not being perfect keeps them from even starting… which is a little sad.

My time in the memory community has been messy, full of mistakes and definitely inconvenient to others. Not necessarily because I did anything wrong, but as previously mentioned, a guy and girl can exude the same confidence and competitive spirit and people will label the dude a “level-headed guy” and the girl can be seen as “shrill and obnoxious”. I still have to remember that they dislike me no matter what because I’m not a quiet modest mousey woman. In the end, the best revenge is to just be OBVIOUSLY better than they are, which is easy enough when competing since there’s an objective winner with points and all. No mirrortocracy can keep the points down.

I don’t blame the women who choose to minimize themselves. There are often many consequences to speaking your kind and speaking your mind. To be completely honest, I used to roll my eyes when my friends Johanna and Emma talked about feminism when we were 18-19 years old. I felt like I just couldn’t relate to any of their anecdotes and theories at the time…

But then as I started waiting tables, hanging out with dumber men (long story), going to business school and started competing in memory… something in me snapped. Clients at the restaurant would grope me and the police to whom I reported it would say it comes with the job. My opinion during group projects would be overlooked while a guy could say the same thing two seconds later and be praised for his deep insight. I started to feel like I was going crazy since most of my friends (who at the time were 99% white men) just didn’t see it, even when I pointed it out as it happened. I felt like we were living in parallel universes, I thought I was going mad. It’s only after extensive discussion with sisters and woke brothers that I’ve realized, nope, the patriarchy is a thing and I’m not crazy. At least not when I notice sexism.

Woman reports a predator anonymously.
“Anonymous accusations aren’t credible!”
Woman reports under her name.
“She just wants fame and attention…”
Woman reports years after the attack.
“Why did she wait so long?!”
Woman reports immediately.
“What was she drinking/wearing/doing?”

— Laila Lalami (@LailaLalami) 4 december 2017

What I like is important because I like it and I like writing long posts about how I related to the beautiful books that have impacted me deeply.

The exercise that I call “Finding Two positive friends for your Negative friend” has really been working for me and my friends as we’ve tried it on something we find negative in our current lives. Try it yourself when you have a primary negative emotion (fear, anger, Trump), try attaching two positive emotions to it, first just one and then build another one from that one.

I am lucky enough to pursue what I know and feel in my heart is fun. Sometimes people get jealous because it looks like I’m leading a glamorous life of travel and doing fun entertainment stuff… which is not entirely false but also not entirely true. It takes so much persistence and perseverance to get a world record (who would’ve known?). But sometimes I wish I could just say, yeah it’s fun! I’ve been working on trying to live my best life since I was six years old and I first picked up self-help books. I STAND BY MY JOY AND THAT I’VE WORKED SUPER HARD TO NOT WORK SUPER HARD. There’s shame in leading a good life for some reason.

I don’t know how many times I’ve asked people to donate to various causes, people and charities and there’s always someone who supposedly knows a better way to help who complains about my efforts to help (WTF?). There’s always something I should’ve donated to or helped more than what I choose in the moment, which has lead to me donating and helping causes for the past three years in the privacy of my own mind and life instead of sharing it with the public. That’s wrong, starting this year I’ll share it publicly with people.

In reading this book I’ve realized I’m really not too cool for anything and that’s great! I don’t mind asking basic questions because I’m not too cool to sound dumb which means I’ll learn forever!

The most interesting people I know are people who are both incredibly scientifically inclined and deeply woo-woo spiritual. My best friends are people who understand the statistical improbability of winning the lottery, but understand the psychological positive effects of thinking for a second that you could become an overnight billionaire.

The most relaxing people to be around let go of their self-identities. There’s always friction when someone is overly insistent on something being their personality trait (i.e. I’m the funny one or I’m the clever one or whatever).

A lot of my time is spent at home, working on building things, sometimes things that don’t seem to have a clear end in sight. When I first started competing in memory many of my peers commented that it was quaint, none of us thought it would become my first real career (OK, to be honest I had a hunch but I didn’t want to say it at the time for fear of seeming conceited).

But be aware, if you announce that you are doing something with a goal in mind, people might comment negatively. Just deal with it if you really want to share your goals, or keep your goals to yourself.

One good reason to keep goals to yourself is that sometimes, the world (seemingly) has other plans for you, no matter your intentions and wishes. It helps to believe in pronoia, the idea that the universe is conspiring for you, trying to make your life experience better, even if it looks far from it in the moment when it seems to withhold what you want.

Ah, I want this space I have online to be even prettier now that I’ve got some social validation that it’s OK to be passionate about making a beautiful space for people to visit you online. Krista’s website really is pretty too!

PREACH!

The irony of all of this is that I’ve learned we learn better when we hear personal stories than we do reading non-fiction and facts. In which case being personal is an act of rebellion, being personal can cause a revolution and being personal can at the simplest level make someone else out there feel less alone in their feelings and thoughts and that is a revolution in itself.

For my friends who talk about not wanting to make things because they don’t have a following, this rule applies. You get a following because people want to follow what you make, you can’t expect people to follow you if you don’t make anything in the first place (unless your royalty or a Kardashian baby from birth). This makes no sense, please think about this dear friends. To get a following, people need something to follow. If you want to be in movies, go to movie people events (?) and if you want mail, send mail (also I get super happy when I get physical mail for some reason, am I the only one?).

AND MY SWEET SISTERS THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING! DREAM BIG! It’s not about reaching your dreams, sometimes you reach them and it feels fine and sometimes you don’t but you find other things on the way that you’d rather do.

My outlandish dream that I have no shame in sharing with others right now is that I DEFINITELY WANT TO PLAY A FEMALE SUPERHERO IN A SUPERHERO MOVIE OR TV-SERIES OR BOTH SO UNIVERSE LET’S GET TO IT!

I love you my sweet sisters. また、明日ね

Tonight, after a day of working at home, I have a much anticipated game of table tennis in town. My goal is to become one fifth as good as the legendary matriarch known as “G” in Nashville…

Sometimes I have S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound). This is fine and applicable to certain things like “Become good enough at table tennis to win every fifth match I play against G by June” is specific, measurable, attainable (hopefully?), relevant to my skills and there’s a time limit for when I can achieve it.

There are lots of theories about goals, the evidence behind the success rate of different techniques used when trying to achieve a goal or whether goals are needed at all… I think the best thing is for each individual to try what works for them and try one technique at a time and evaluate whether it went well or not.

I think it’s nice to have a goal just to have a sense of direction, but just because you are headed in one direction doesn’t mean you can’t change course along the way. Some people think they want to be actresses but backstage they realize their passion for costume design. It’s OK to have goals and it’s ok not to, it’s OK to make your goals S.M.A.R.T. and it’s cool if they aren’t. Most of the best things I’ve achieved I’ve recently realized have more to do with me following my passion and then putting time and effort into loving it and showing that I care about it… Not so S.M.A.R.T. maybe, but hey your sister’s got a pretty nice life so far!

Hope school and work stuff is fun today! また、明日ね

So back in January I was flown out from Austin to Stockholm to help make a public service announcement series for SOS Alarm (a Swedish state-run company that operates the emergency number 112 as well as 11313, 11414) created by the content marketing agency Spoon and hosted by the serial comedian, actor, father and soon-to-be author Kodjo Akolor.

Everyone in Sweden knows the emergency number 112, yet more than a third of the calls are wrongfully dialed and take valuable time away from those who really need emergency help. Our series intends to help Swedes make the right call at the right time.

Our first shoot was at a middle school, spending hours with 20 first-graders. It was chaotic, fun and a learning experience. There was crying, laughing and many recipes for slime was shared (Matilda had very deep knowledge of what bicarbonates to use for which types of slime… she was basically a chemistry prodigy. A Swedish Marie Curie!).

As expected, this first segment was both fun and chaotic. I memorized all the kids names in a minute or so, then we taught the class different mnemonics, they wrote sketches, performed plays and had a dance party. There was a lot of laughter, some tears and drama. The kids drew pictures to remember the right numbers to dial. Emelie drew a picture of me as a fairy (because the Swedish word for 11 sound the same as fairy I made this mnemonic for the number 1177 intended for non-emergency medical services and help).

At one point the kids stood in line to hug Kodjo (… and so they could get launched into the air). I wanted to join but I have the density of pure lead so no matter people’s effort to lift me these feet stay on the ground. On the other hand I could’ve helped minimize the line… but I’m scared of throwing humans since that time at preschool judo when I hurt Jessica and was thus the only kid in my age group who didn’t go home with a yellow belt…

Our second location was at a hip restaurant på söder. In between the two shoots we discussed diversity and comedy in Swedish media. Kodjo is deep y’all. And tall. Way way taller than he looks on TV! After the crew was done rigging we had a nice Swedish fika and discussed memory techniques on camera… if I recall correctly.

Two days later we shot our final segment at a mall. The game was to challenge shoppers to a memory duel – think David Blaine with his street magic but instead of magic it was memory techniques and instead of saying twaa everyone was like “oh ok”.

The reactions were wonderfully calm and collected with an appreciative nod. We also had some chilly outside segments, despite it being cold AF… We endured the Swedish weather for you guys so I hope you like the end result.

The campaign officially launches on Feb 28th local (Swedish) time! Here’s the first sneak peek!

Wednesday Feb 14th Austin to LA – Valentine’s day… I flew from Austin to LA and was in my hotel room near Universal by noon. I spent most of that day catching up on American tv-shows so I was fit and in “English-speaking mode” the next day… Ordered a veggie pizza, some groceries and then put hair treatment in my braids, tweezed my eyebrows and watched the second special of the HBO 2 Dope Queens series!

Thursday Feb 15th – Full day in LA – woke up and saw Sigin texted saying she couldn’t make it out to the shoot. Bummer since I only had a chance to talk to her for short bursts at the St Gallen Symposium in Switzerland (since she was always surrounded by people wanting to talk to her)… BUT her movie “Silence” is making its rounds at film festivals this year and since I might be attending a few film festivals this year (promoting a project I’ve been working on since 2015…) I will try to catch it there when I go! See it if you have the chance as I’m sure it’s excellent!

Steve Harvey shoot

After arriving at the studios I had a pizza party by myself since I got my own dressing room… Patrick helped prep for the memory segments and kept me company with anecdotes about Americanisms and Hollywood.

The segment went well and we had a lot of fun shooting it and everybody got a gift card! After about three hours there the car took me back to the hotel room where I took a bunch of selfies and then fell asleep.

Friday Feb 16th – tsagaan sar / lunar new year from LA to Nashville

The car picked me up at 6.45am… LA traffic is no joke… at one point we had been driving so long I thought he was just showing me all the available real estate in LA. After six hours of travel we greeted each other at home in Nashville in both Western fashion (hugs and cheek kisses) and Mongolian style (zolgoh). Grandma has come to terms with me being a vegetarian and had made me fruit buuz! <3 Also, my awesome friend Jonas’ episode of Sweden’s Got Talent aired!

Saturday Feb 17th – tsagaan sar in Nashville

Slept in late because honestly TV stuff is fun but exhausting, but even more exhausting (sometimes) to do in a language and culture that’s not your native one… In the afternoon Mongolian family friends came over to celebrate The New Year of the Dog with us!

Sunday Feb 18th – hanging out with wax celebrities in Nashville

I took selfies with most of them. You can tell it’s fake because I’m actually more than 2 inches taller than Beyoncé in real life.

Monday Feb 19th – Black Panther in Nashville

We saw Black Panther and life was hype and IT OUTLIVED THE HYPE! I couldn’t sleep until 3 am because I was in hype mode…

Tuesday Feb 20th – MY SEGMENT ON STEVE HARVEY AIRS and I fly back home to Austin

We watched it like a proper modern family. After it aired we played “I spy” all the way to the airport. My flight was delayed but I had my Tropico 4 island to keep me company so I didn’t mind…

It took some time to for us to brainstorm the next episode, but we made it happen thanks to Shareen who takes care of me and pitches like no other. Because it’s a show and not a competition, there’s lots of little things to consider to make it work visually. TOTALLY WORTH IT since I think we outdid ourselves this time!

So this time we memorized the audience names and 10 pictures of Vegas! The TV edit was way longer and more in-depth, so sorry if you missed it… Here’s an even shorter edit!

I feel very blessed to work with #TeamSteve. It is so much fun filming at their studios. The people working to make it happen every day are the most chill yet effective people EVER! Big thanks to the Q-like Erin and superwoman Shaniece, Mike for turning me into Yanjaa with the good hair, Tracy for making me look like I don’t wear pajamas 365 days per year, Angela for being a stellar artist who enhanced my features instead of hiding ’em and Patrick who made sure there were no hiccups and made me laugh and forget my nerves. Vita for being the boss and Ran for making sure we were on time. And to everyone else whose name I might not know or have forgotten who made me feel safe and free to be me. A production, even just a single segment of one episode is always a team effort and y’all are the best.

When you spoil Black Panther but your friend can’t stay mad

Ett inlägg delat av Yanjaa • yen • dja (@yanjaa) 21 Feb 2018 kl. 7:46 PST

The audience was great and had the best energy, I felt very supported by all of them including Stephanie, Thomas, Brooke, Anissa, Alissa, Marie, Ayan, Adam, Emily, Anthony, Tasha… Also Jenny who came in with Bola I LOVE YOUR HAIR! Thomas’ reaction in this one shot is the best haha.

I’m hoping next time will be either language related or that WE’RE GOING TO VEGAS! I’ve never been to Vegas…