Who is...
CALEB CHONG
Caleb Chong /
21 /
San Francisco, CA /
Film and Graphic Design
#22: What have you tolerated in the past that you no longer have tolerance for?
Umm, let’s see………. I don’t know, there’s not much I have tolerance for if I’m being honest. When I was like—even up into high school I would tolerate a lot—because I went to small schools and ya know there’s not a lot of different variety of people in small schools, so if you’re not friends, you’re not going to find any other friends outside of school. So, I would tolerate a lot more, but now that I’m in college, I just like—there’s every kind of person here, even at a small school like CBU—so even if someone has a like, if they’re creating—I don’t care if people have drama, everyone has drama at some point or always—but if you’re creating a little bit of drama, I’m going to step away a little bit from you. I don’t have that much time ya know, double majoring, doing design for a magazine, I have my own projects I want to do…it’s not great! I run away from a lot of relationships that I could put time into and cultivate, sometimes I feel like other than like two or three people maybe, all of my relationships are pretty surface level. So, I’d say drama. But my other answer is that I just don’t have tolerance for a lot *laughs*
#21: What would you tell your 12-year-old self?
Ugh man…. umm, relax, yeah. I’m always too stressed, I’m such a tight ass all the time. I’m always so worried about everything—there are times when I look back and I wish I just enjoyed more instead of just worrying. Yeah like, look I know, as a sixth grader sixth grade is like the hardest thing, but I look back like “yo that’s the easiest shit ever.” Wish I just chilled out and hung out with my friends opposed to…worrying so much about the future. Yeah, chill out and do the things you love! Oh my gosh…. I was so worried…. about wasting my time, as a sixth grader. Like, what the fuck, you have time! Well—I’m sure I’ll be sixty years old and look back now and thing “wow you had so much time.” But, yeah…there were so many things that I wish I kept doing that I stopped doing because I wish I had more time. Like I stopped drawing, which SUCKS because that used to be my life. Yeah…. it’s sad. So yeah, just chill out and draw shit!
#38: If you could switch lives with someone for a day who would it be?
Oh my goshhhhh. I—is this anybody in time??? I’ll do one of the Beatles at like the height of their tour. I’ll do George, because he like, he’s got a lot of sick guitar solos. But one of my fantasy dreams, if I could be anything in the world that I want without any hard work, it would be a rockstar; a rockstar in a band…. because I want to feel what it’s like to be—this is going to sound really hedonistic—but to be in that sort of…glorified in a stadium, and you’re just so lost and even if that entire audience is there, you’re just so lost in the music, and still able to play so well technically. That’s a feeling I would love to feel at some point in my life. Any rocker, even like Freddie Mercury when they did Band Aid, or Beatles. But yeah, one of those.
#12: What does your phone wallpaper say about you?
I don’t know what my phone wallpaper is—oh it’s just a film photo I took. It was on my way, on my drive to Georgia. There were no cars so I just stopped, and I just took pictures of the road. I don’t know what that says about me. I don’t really like phone wallpapers! I think people put too much weight on it, so I just purposely choose a random picture I took.
#24: Something that brought a smile to your face this week?
This week…. actually, what made me smile was probably the picture with my nipples in it *laughs* I was using two strobes—which are giant flash photography lights that have like a stand and a circle—and they weren’t syncing to my camera and I was so mad because this was the only thing I was going to do in quarantine—because I got COVID—, and I love being in a situation where I’m stuck by myself and have to be creative, that’s like my favorite setting to be in. So, I was excited about quarantine, because I was like ooh I’ll get to be able to be creative. But I couldn’t get these strobes to work, and I was like trying for four hours, and I got so mad. Turns out, the strobes don’t work if your screen is on. And so, I got it to work and I was really happy.
#8: What is the last note you wrote on your phone?
Oh my goshhh. Probably homework, I’m always…..”Metolis”—I know that’s the wrong spelling, I know exactly what that is. Metolius chalk. Um yeah, I’m getting into climbing! Yeah I was asking Grayson, and I was asking him how much was chalk bags and chalk and he told me that and I ordered it.
#32: What’s your favorite part about yourself that isn’t physical?
Thank God, cuz I don’t really have much that’s psychical. Ummm……...I like to think that I’m open minded, there’s not much that will irk me. Yeah, no, I like to think that I’m open minded. I grew up as a weird kid, like I knew from a young age that I was pretty feminine and I was okay with that…. used to wear a lot of skirts *laughs*. Yeah, but no, I think that’s one thing I’m very good with, I’m very okay with people being different and people being weird. As long as you’re not being morally degrading or derogatory to anybody, I’m generally fine with most things.
#6: Have you ever been fired from a job?
I’ve been let go, or voluntarily quitted. Okay—so you know the Ninety-Nine Ranch Market? Yeah, so I used to—oh my gosh COVID days! I used to…. when COVID hit my parents weren’t here so I had nowhere to go, so I had to house hop for about…seven months. I had to go house to house and I didn’t have a car, I didn’t have money either. So, one of the places that I stayed for a bit of a longer time, for about five months—um, the guy was so nice, he goes to my church, I owe him my life! But he, he would drive me to work every day. And I needed a job! So, I went to Ninety-Nine Ranch and they were hiring, so I went, and it was the easiest job I’ve ever got. I was like “are you hiring?” and they were like “yeah, you speak Chinese?” and I was like “yeah I do,” and they were like “okay you got the job.” Umm, but here’s the thing. So, you know full time is like forty hours? So, they MAKE you work 36 hours, so *laughs* so they ring you dry without having to pay you full time hours. Umm, so you’re forced to work 36 hours or your fired. So, I worked—oh man—I worked 6 hours a day for six days a week, for about two months, for part time pay. Oh my, it was the worst! I felt like killing myself every day…cuz you’re just working—with other jobs, even Amazon, it’s more chill, you get benefits—but this is an Asian market…they don’t give a shit about human rights. So ya know, I would get there at five AM, get off at three or something. But…...yeah, oh my gosh yeah! I cut my hand, cutting an avocado! And they were like “oh you need to have a doctor’s note for every time you miss,” and the doctor can only relieve you from work every three days. And I’m not going to go to the doctors every three days just to get a doctor’s note, that’s like thirty bucks each time I go! And they were like “well if you can’t do that, you’re fired” and I was like “okay I quit.” Anyways…. that’s it. And dude, I owe that man at my church my life. He’s…. he’s great. He…. yeah, I owe him my life. I do stuff for him for free, whenever he like—like I took his engagement pictures—um…...yeah anytime he needs ANYTHING, yeah, I just do it for free.
#5: If you were stranded on an island, what are three essentials’ things you would bring?
Ugh, is this for like survival or fun??? If it’s three things it’s gotta be like a Brita filter or something *laughs* umm…...three things?? Assuming I had my survival stuff, *sigh* I would probably bring…. ugh, I was going to say a computer, a camera, and a generator to take pictures and edit because I could do that all day. Ya knows what, yeah! I’ll do that! A computer, a camera, and a generator. If I’m not hunting, I’m going to be doing something for fun. The kind of camera??? Probably digital, let’s be practical *laughs* I don’t have like fifty different things to develop film with.
#13: Have you ever been in love?
Umm…. yeah….ugh……yeah she was, she was just…..she liked being alive….which is a weird way of putting it, but I don’t know. The way I default—like, I LOVE living, but sometimes I see it as like a hassle, it’s such a hassle to just live. But she, she loved life and she loved things. Um…yeah, she liked the small things, and I was just, I really loved that. And maybe I was trying to feed off of that energy a little bit. Um…yeah, she was cool. But she was surrounded by—oh my gosh yeah—she was surrounded by a lot of weird people. She had this like weird relationship with this male teacher that like threatened me…it was weird, so it kinda turned me off. But yeah…she was cool.