archives
click here for all posts from a certain month.Sunday, August 31, 2008
"without you"
it was exhilarating.
spectacular. awesome. breathtaking. "Without You". wow.
I'm glad I treated my self out to such an excursion. It was a nice, "me" time sort of day; I went by myself on bus, no interruptions or anything, to the south side of town (an exciting adventure in itself).Dressed in black, ready to go, got to City Theatre (that's what it's called), got ticket at will call, waited for seats to open up, went upstairs to be seated.
Seat B-3. Thought I would have some sort of middle-section seat with B-3, especially since it was a full house and I ordered my tickets Saturday, but I was okay with that, cause it was only a 200 person seating capacity. Boy was I wrong. There were two halves of the theatre: one half was like movie style seating, the other half was small round tables with two chairs on each side. Kinda like cabaret seating. Section A was the first four tables, almost right up against the stage. B was the rest of the tables, but where B3 was, I was smack right in front of the stage, between two Section A tables. One of the best seats in the house! Boy was I lucky--pretty much right in front of the stage!Anthony Rapp was spectacular: he sang many songs, most of them from Rent, went through Seasons of Love (525600 min), Rent (the theme song), Finale B ('07 Talent Show ending song..."no day but today"), etc. etc. It was his autobiography, also titled "Without You" in story form, live, and told from the voice who was meant to tell it and sing it, interweaved with songs, expressions, anectdotes and impersonations.
He ended with talking about his mother's funeral, singing the song "Without You" from Rent, and to end the entire performance was "Seasons of Love". People were mouthing the lyrics (I was...how totally expected), clapping. When it was over, people gave one of the longest standing ovations I've ever heard, and for a 200-person audience, the applause was roaring.
And I stayed around for a bit, and...Anthony Rapp did autographs and meet&greet! That was really awesome--I got to meet the Broadway star who's probably most similiar to myself in ways-- in his childhood he was Oliver and sang "Where is Love?" (what a coincidence!) And, of course, I brought the bag that Kristen made me (<3 the bag) and got that signed! How cool is that--my favorite bag now has my favorite character and actor from the show's autograph! :D
So I got the bag autographed, and the program autographed. Coming back, I met a group of drama students from Carnegie Mellon and waited for the bus a very long time, and I think we were lost. For some reason a limo came by and offered to take us back to the University, and charged us $30 for it. I know what you're thinking--how dangerous! I guess it kind of was, but I was with a group of like 18 other students, and limo drivers are licensed and display their information, so I wasn't as nervous. Just probably won't tell my parents about that experience--they'll probably think I'm an idiot, and I probably sound like one, but trust me--I was safe--probably safter than staying alone or walking around in the South Side of town--not the best place to be at night. And now I realize that I sound like an obniouxious little jerk just talking about this performance and this night and nothing else, so I'm really sorry if I sound like that or if I'm totally boring you with all this talk about Rent crap, but right now I'm really really elated after the best one and half hours of my labor day weekends ever. I'm like a little kid bouncing up and down after a sugar high.So anyhow, hope to hear from more of you guys soon (yay Jeannie posted!) and I think Gealina promised to post once she's done moving in this week, and you UC people are going to school (soon)!
as always, peace and love, and I'm certainly missing life "without you". XD
Labels: Anthony Rapp, Bernard, Rent, Without You
8:01 PM
Shirttails Video.
I found the Youtube of my Shirttails dance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvQMr4H7f6g
So, it's really unclear, but that's the best there is.
Labels: Richard, Shirttails
11:27 AM
USC Madness
Hey guys! It's so cool reading about your college experiences! I don't have a camera, so I can't post pictures now, but I'll try to get one ASAP!
So, right now I'm swamped with homework. I'm taking Chem, Bio, Writing, Political Science: Environmental Challenges, and a freshman seminar called Bread and Vodka (which is by far my favorite class! No, we don't actually drink vodka. It's a class about Russian food culture and how food is related to personal identity).
My suitemates are awesome; one is from Indiana, my roommate is from Arizona, Shao is from New York, Elizabeth is from Northern California...and I don't remember the rest. But we have a lot more asians that I thought we would, and two are half-korean or half-japanese!
The food is good, but getting a little old now (NOOOO!!!!). I'm getting used to the campus pretty fast, too. I met some awesome international people, and I've actually had the guts to always meet someone new at a meal. I just can't stand sitting by myself, watching other people sitting by themselves too. So I just pick a random person and sit down with them. It's a little awkward...ok, it's plenty awkward, but I think it's worth it. I've met a lot of different people, and not all of them are freshmen.
I should really get to chem hmk now, so I'll end this here. Good luck with everything, guys! And have fun! =]
-JEANNIE
Labels: Jeannie
10:19 AM
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Shirttails and OK Go.
Today was the culmination day of my week of painful dance practice, and the concert of OK Go.
So! Let me begin with the dance practice. Although I might have said that I would never ever do another event again, I was really angry. But I think I'll stand by that statement. But the dance competition itself was indeed very fun. I had such an adrenaline rush preforming it, and if you ask me in the near future, while I still remember the dance, I might do a bit of it for you. My body also felt like it shouldn't be moving after the adrenaline was out of the system.
Afterw
ard, I went to eat at McDonald's with the roomettes, and proceeded to the OK Go concert. It was great fun, and I can't describe it because it was a concert, and you really had to experience it.But I'll try anyway, with my limited writing ability to convey my feelings. The songs at the beginning weren't pumping me up, but at the 5th song, which had a good bass line, I was bouncing and everything. I was starting to sweat and everything, but I was having a good time. Apparently the lead singer is pro-Obama and pro-voting. Also married. And the bassist smokes, and has a massive electric bass.
Labels: Concert, Richard, Shirttails
10:30 PM
i'm so retarded, i know.
so today I went to go watch "the house bunny" in theatres!!! i dunno if anyone here is into that sort of comedy thingymabobber, but i reallyyy love comedies so i went to see it and it was THE FUNNIEST THING EVER. so drop any judgments and SEE IT cause i was rolling all over my seat in fits of laughter!!! QUOTES BELOW:
House Mother: "This is not a brothel."
Shelley: "Oh, I'm not looking to make soup!"
Shelley: "'d like the mahi mahi but could I only have one mahi because I'm not really that hungry."
Shelley: "I want to be your girlfriend more than protons need electrons."
9:03 PM
more features!
Hello again!
Well, I'm really sorry to hear Richard's case of darned activities. :( Sorry Richard. Hope you don't experience something like that again.
But some good news! The first week of school is over! And a Labor Day weekend! (It's not as good news as for those of you who can go home, but I'm happy all the same). And for Labor Day weekend, I'm treating myself (somewhat as a belated bday present to self...how egocentric) out! I got tickets for this Sunday's "Without You" by Anthony Rapp.
OK, in case you're still confused, it's a performance (with music and a 4-person band) based on his autobiography, also titled "Without You" (which I have also read). And, of course, the reason why I'm so excited is because Anthony Rapp is the actor/original Broadway star who played "Mark" on RENT, and "Without You" is a retelling of his experiences on Broadway and working with Jonathan Larsen, the composer of RENT.
So, being the big RENT-head that I am, I'm really super excited to get to watch this performance (awesomely exclusive to Pittsburgh; how lucky am I?) for a lovely student discounted ticket of $20, retail being $40. The asian-ness kicks in when I save money.
My first week was pretty long. All these classes aren't terribly hard, but the workload is actually pretty intense. I'm still not done with the first week of homework. And I've been working all day -_-" (OK, in between I've been playing around, watching TV, etc., but STILL). Oh, and I downloaded the iPod 2.0.2 software and I'm so happy! I can finally use the internet again with my iPod (Pitt uses a WAP encryption that wasn't supported by 1.0 firmware), and I downloaded a lot of cool apps and games, so now it's like I have a little DS or PSP or something. I feel more like a gamer.
It's also been really fun to talk to people and get to know them. There was this intense chat that started at 7 on Thursday night when we were just hanging around (this group of people that I hang out with: Julie, Hannah, Christina, Sam, Brian, etc.) and talking in Julie's dorm room, where we ALWAYS are because she has Snafu (I guess we're the Snafu group...Snafu is this board game that's kinda like mousetrap/labyrinth with a marble...it's really fun! I want to buy it and play with you guys some time) Anyhow, we were supposed to leave at 8:30 to go work on HW and study, but as we were leaving, we just came across this conversation. And then more people started to come back in and participate in this crazy deep conversation about college, literature, religion, abortion, depression, society, and all this other nerdy stuff, but it was actually kinda cool because everybody was so into and it wasn't awkward at all and we just talked (all of us) until 12am.
And last night, we were listening to music (and dancing! and singing!), playing more Snafu (Sam and I can beat Snafu in under 30 sec now), watching Dr. Horrible the musical, eating Italian bread and garlic oil w/spices (the BEST late night snack ever that Christina brought), eating Life cereal (because Julie has these boxes of cinnamon Life cereal) until 2AM. I'm not a party animal -__-". We don't party, but it's actually kind of fun to be random, and it does take off some of the monotony. And I'm sorry I don't have pictures of life here yet, I keep forgetting to bring a camera up cause it's always so late at night. I promise I'll take pictures tmrw for "Without You" and for the next Snafu gathering.
So it's been pretty exciting so far :) I miss you guys lots! I wish I could come home for Labor Day to just hang out, but oh well.
Some more good news! This is more about the title: more features! I figured out that we can have multiple authors; meaning: you can log in with your gmail account and not have to sign out of gmail to publish on The Daily Amoeba. Yeahhhh isn't that just great? No more logging out and logging in! And we can have our work authored and listed! It's exciting for me :/
Where is the rest of amoeba? I want to hear from you guys who haven't posted (I love listening to Richard, Kristen, Timo, and Ashton too!) If you don't post, we'll be sad. And you wouldn't want that would you? Haha just kidding.
For Tim, Jeannie, Kristen, Richard and anybody else who started school already but I'm not thinking clearly--hope your first week in class was a blast :)
And best of luck to all of you starting school soon!
...peace & love
Labels: Bernard, features, snafu
4:19 PM
Friday, August 29, 2008
HATRED.
So, I've been doing practice for a dance competition, as I believe I've told many of you. After bitching at us for the whole week about how we weren't doing the dance properly and telling the whole group to not get wasted the day of the dance, our hall council tells us that he has a special surprise for us. One of my roommates and I, hoping beyond belief that it was food, went with the rest of the people to see what it was. At a stump or a log, he tells us of how our hall has history, tradition, and a bunch of other shit, finishing by pouring some beer on the ground. Then, after telling us to not get wasted, he pulls out 5 bottles of what seemed to be vodka or something really hard, and passes them around for us to drink. We both didn't drink, but I never plan on doing anything related to my dorm hall ever again.
7:48 PM
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tales From the Evil Twin!
So I was calling Zichard today, and I told him many a hilarious tale.
Tale One!
So, when I went to buy stamps to start my art battle with Zichard off, I asked the lady, "Can I buy stamps here?" The lady responds with a yes, and I proceed to wait to hear what my options to buy are. "Maybe I'll buy the most stamps, since I'll be using a lot," so I thought. Meanwhile, I continue to wait, and the post office lady continues to get more and more angry till I simply ask for one stamp. She takes my money, and hands me my stamp.
Tale 2wo!
There are many euphemisms for "getting drunk" here on my campus. For instance, take "getting shitfaced" or "getting fscked over." Now, let's look at those carefully. They don't sound fun, and my roommates didn't think so either. So when we went out to Sonics, we made fun of it. "Who'd want to get poop in their face?" "Let's go back to our room, and eat a lot of Warheads!" "Let's go get Warheaded!"
My roommates are cool, and they remind me of the Amoeba and Southside Tables.
Tale Three?
During my orientation trip, I was with some...friends(?) and they were asking me about my ethnicity, as always happens. After telling them I was Thai, someone said "You don't look Thai." There was a general agreement around the room. I suddenly had a thought, which I proceeded to put to these people. "Have you ever actually seen a Thai person?" There was a general agreement, that in fact, no one there had ever actually seen one, and proceeded to simply say that I was Hawaiian.
Tale One!
So, when I went to buy stamps to start my art battle with Zichard off, I asked the lady, "Can I buy stamps here?" The lady responds with a yes, and I proceed to wait to hear what my options to buy are. "Maybe I'll buy the most stamps, since I'll be using a lot," so I thought. Meanwhile, I continue to wait, and the post office lady continues to get more and more angry till I simply ask for one stamp. She takes my money, and hands me my stamp.
Tale 2wo!
There are many euphemisms for "getting drunk" here on my campus. For instance, take "getting shitfaced" or "getting fscked over." Now, let's look at those carefully. They don't sound fun, and my roommates didn't think so either. So when we went out to Sonics, we made fun of it. "Who'd want to get poop in their face?" "Let's go back to our room, and eat a lot of Warheads!" "Let's go get Warheaded!"
My roommates are cool, and they remind me of the Amoeba and Southside Tables.
Tale Three?
During my orientation trip, I was with some...friends(?) and they were asking me about my ethnicity, as always happens. After telling them I was Thai, someone said "You don't look Thai." There was a general agreement around the room. I suddenly had a thought, which I proceeded to put to these people. "Have you ever actually seen a Thai person?" There was a general agreement, that in fact, no one there had ever actually seen one, and proceeded to simply say that I was Hawaiian.
10:48 PM
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Days 1-3
Factoid 1: I am deathly afraid of driving in unfamiliar places.
(this is why i am not currently home, locking myself in my room.) (this is also why i am not visiting timothy.)
Factoid 2: My great books teacher graduated from Harvard. and then he graduated from Yale. <-- i know, right?
Factoid 3: My political science teacher was a plumber for 15 years. It's his first year teaching. I dropped the class. (statement 3 is not directly related to statement 1)
Factoid 4: PASA is short for Pepperdine Asian Student Association. Jeannie Park from 07 is the treasurer. I did not know this. Also, at the PASA meeting, I met a girl named Calif. (as in California, without the ornia - but it is pronounced Khalif, like Khalif Boyd)
Factoid 5: I eat lunch alone. And I am totally okay with it. I sit outside and I watch the ocean. It's nice.
Factoid 6: I did NOT see Jihan/Eiichiro/Charles yesterday. For the first time in a long time. But I will see them tonight at the PASA BBQ. :D
Factoid 7: Joel and Katherine visited yesterday. Katherine hugged me, and it felt SO GOOD. I didn't realize how much I missed hugs, from people who care. I treated Kat to lunch. Visit me at school, and I will treat you to a meal. Promise. ;) <-- incentives are important!
Factoid 8: Joy Dai from church visited at night time from UCLA. She brought Diddy Riese cookies! She even consulted with Calvin on what kind of cookies I like. USC and UCLA people need to go get those cookies. (there's only one location, in Westwood)
Factoid 9: I got my first care package today! I was expecting my textbook to arrive, but the lady at the mail room gave me this humongo box and i thought 'this is not my book'. It was from my aunt. It said 'wine rack holder' on it. It was not a wine rack holder. I had to lug that heavy box all the way across campus to my room. It was full of food! <-- yes! But it looked like she just went to her pantry and emptied it, because some stuff was opened already. haha! She also sent me arts and crafts done by her two little kids. I put one on my wall.
Factoid 10: I am already behind on my reading, so I'd better get back to that :(
P.S. i am attaching a picture of our school mascot. he freaks me out. say hello to willie the wave!
(this is why i am not currently home, locking myself in my room.) (this is also why i am not visiting timothy.)
Factoid 2: My great books teacher graduated from Harvard. and then he graduated from Yale. <-- i know, right?
Factoid 3: My political science teacher was a plumber for 15 years. It's his first year teaching. I dropped the class. (statement 3 is not directly related to statement 1)
Factoid 4: PASA is short for Pepperdine Asian Student Association. Jeannie Park from 07 is the treasurer. I did not know this. Also, at the PASA meeting, I met a girl named Calif. (as in California, without the ornia - but it is pronounced Khalif, like Khalif Boyd)
Factoid 5: I eat lunch alone. And I am totally okay with it. I sit outside and I watch the ocean. It's nice.
Factoid 6: I did NOT see Jihan/Eiichiro/Charles yesterday. For the first time in a long time. But I will see them tonight at the PASA BBQ. :D
Factoid 7: Joel and Katherine visited yesterday. Katherine hugged me, and it felt SO GOOD. I didn't realize how much I missed hugs, from people who care. I treated Kat to lunch. Visit me at school, and I will treat you to a meal. Promise. ;) <-- incentives are important!
Factoid 8: Joy Dai from church visited at night time from UCLA. She brought Diddy Riese cookies! She even consulted with Calvin on what kind of cookies I like. USC and UCLA people need to go get those cookies. (there's only one location, in Westwood)
Factoid 9: I got my first care package today! I was expecting my textbook to arrive, but the lady at the mail room gave me this humongo box and i thought 'this is not my book'. It was from my aunt. It said 'wine rack holder' on it. It was not a wine rack holder. I had to lug that heavy box all the way across campus to my room. It was full of food! <-- yes! But it looked like she just went to her pantry and emptied it, because some stuff was opened already. haha! She also sent me arts and crafts done by her two little kids. I put one on my wall.
Factoid 10: I am already behind on my reading, so I'd better get back to that :(
P.S. i am attaching a picture of our school mascot. he freaks me out. say hello to willie the wave!
Labels: Kristen
2:58 PM
quote/unquote working
Hey guys :)
Alright, first of all, quick tidbit on the blog itself: label yourself at the end of the post with your FIRST NAME ONLY capitalized. If you look on the left hand side, people who have posted already are underlined because if you click on their name, then it'll link you to all of their posts.
Just more fun with coding with blogger.
I *should* be working right now on one of my numerous assignments, but I feel like writing this first since I only have like 20 minutes to work on stuff anyway.
Monday was an insane day, partially because it was so long, and partially because of Chem Lab, which is 4 hours already. Then we jumped right into the lab, and after 2 years of no chem, that was not the best experience. But it was fun, just because we got to make things explode (thermite reactions!).
My Calc teacher is this Chinese guy with a thick accent, and I really don't get what he's saying (like at ALL) and this is all second sem Calc BC material with Delgado! I'm trying to transfer out or to another professor, or I might just skip Calc 2 altogther since I can skip it anyway with AP credit.
My honors elective is "Government and Politics in Contemporary China", and that's also taught by a Chinese guy, but he's super understandable and pretty cool too (graduated with a PhD at UChicago and taught there as well...pretty smart I guess). I'm really excited for that class, just cause we get to talk about stuff. Just stuff about China and modern society and international relations. Which is fun, if you compare it to all the other science/math stuff that's my entire required courseload.
Chem itself is fun. I just had the class an hour ago, and our professor is Dr. Siska. As with all the other honors classes, the teachers are pretty darned amazing--this guy wrote the textbook that we used based for the Honors Chem I class, and it's the same book that's (apparently) used at Berkeley. And he used to teach at Harvard. Meanwhile, my Physics teacher used to teach at Caltech. I'm kinda scared of these guys now cause they don't seem to give grades all that nicely :/. Anyhow, we've done really fun experiments in Chem and Physics (exploding hydrogen and oxygen today in Chem!).
So that's it with classes. In the meantime, I think I'm getting sick (on the third day of classes- what is wrong with me?), but probably because I'm not used to taking showers so late at night (but that's all because of 6-10PM chem lab X_X) So right now I'm just drinking lots of fluids. Oh, and it's getting colder fast. The native Pittsburghers said that after this week, it would start getting the dreary fall weather that Pittsburgh is infamous for, and lo and behold, the weather's changing already. I hope it doesn't rain on Labor Day.
I've been trying to talk and socialize with people around, but with my crazy Mon-Wed schedule, I'm not sure how feasible that's going to be. But I've met some cool people who share a lot of my classes :). And that's always fun. My floormates are pretty cool for the most part, but I don't think I'll ever adjust to college life or be "normal". Some of the guys on my floor chipped in for a hooka. They smoke it outside, cause they're not allowed to inside. Maybe it's cause I've always had allergies and my throat dies (like how I'm feeling right now when I have a somewhat sore throat!) whenever I smell/breathe/inhale/am around smoke, so I guess that's what detracts me from it. Not my thing. Whatever.
The funny thing is, I haven't had that "transition" period between home and college dorming life...it just seems like something that I'm used to already. Maybe because of last year's month in Ningbo away from family and devoid of all friends and mostly lacking sane people -___-". Not that the kids were insane, but the American "teachers" were. So maybe I'm used to be alone, but I certainly don't feel lonely. Maybe I'll get a bout of homesickness next week. But I do miss you guys! I'm certainly out of my comfort zone, but right now, I'm still pretty comfortable, even though everything that I hold dear is pretty far away...
I'll upload a couple of pics later, but I don't have too many because of all these classes (again! I have to find better excuses ... haha), so I'll see what happens. Thursday's my free(-est) day so contact me then! If not, then the weekends :)
Hope to talk to you guys soon. Get more people to post on amoeblog :D!
With tired eyelids but always with love and virtual hugs,
Alright, first of all, quick tidbit on the blog itself: label yourself at the end of the post with your FIRST NAME ONLY capitalized. If you look on the left hand side, people who have posted already are underlined because if you click on their name, then it'll link you to all of their posts.
Just more fun with coding with blogger.
I *should* be working right now on one of my numerous assignments, but I feel like writing this first since I only have like 20 minutes to work on stuff anyway.
Monday was an insane day, partially because it was so long, and partially because of Chem Lab, which is 4 hours already. Then we jumped right into the lab, and after 2 years of no chem, that was not the best experience. But it was fun, just because we got to make things explode (thermite reactions!).
My Calc teacher is this Chinese guy with a thick accent, and I really don't get what he's saying (like at ALL) and this is all second sem Calc BC material with Delgado! I'm trying to transfer out or to another professor, or I might just skip Calc 2 altogther since I can skip it anyway with AP credit.
My honors elective is "Government and Politics in Contemporary China", and that's also taught by a Chinese guy, but he's super understandable and pretty cool too (graduated with a PhD at UChicago and taught there as well...pretty smart I guess). I'm really excited for that class, just cause we get to talk about stuff. Just stuff about China and modern society and international relations. Which is fun, if you compare it to all the other science/math stuff that's my entire required courseload.
Chem itself is fun. I just had the class an hour ago, and our professor is Dr. Siska. As with all the other honors classes, the teachers are pretty darned amazing--this guy wrote the textbook that we used based for the Honors Chem I class, and it's the same book that's (apparently) used at Berkeley. And he used to teach at Harvard. Meanwhile, my Physics teacher used to teach at Caltech. I'm kinda scared of these guys now cause they don't seem to give grades all that nicely :/. Anyhow, we've done really fun experiments in Chem and Physics (exploding hydrogen and oxygen today in Chem!).
So that's it with classes. In the meantime, I think I'm getting sick (on the third day of classes- what is wrong with me?), but probably because I'm not used to taking showers so late at night (but that's all because of 6-10PM chem lab X_X) So right now I'm just drinking lots of fluids. Oh, and it's getting colder fast. The native Pittsburghers said that after this week, it would start getting the dreary fall weather that Pittsburgh is infamous for, and lo and behold, the weather's changing already. I hope it doesn't rain on Labor Day.
I've been trying to talk and socialize with people around, but with my crazy Mon-Wed schedule, I'm not sure how feasible that's going to be. But I've met some cool people who share a lot of my classes :). And that's always fun. My floormates are pretty cool for the most part, but I don't think I'll ever adjust to college life or be "normal". Some of the guys on my floor chipped in for a hooka. They smoke it outside, cause they're not allowed to inside. Maybe it's cause I've always had allergies and my throat dies (like how I'm feeling right now when I have a somewhat sore throat!) whenever I smell/breathe/inhale/am around smoke, so I guess that's what detracts me from it. Not my thing. Whatever.
The funny thing is, I haven't had that "transition" period between home and college dorming life...it just seems like something that I'm used to already. Maybe because of last year's month in Ningbo away from family and devoid of all friends and mostly lacking sane people -___-". Not that the kids were insane, but the American "teachers" were. So maybe I'm used to be alone, but I certainly don't feel lonely. Maybe I'll get a bout of homesickness next week. But I do miss you guys! I'm certainly out of my comfort zone, but right now, I'm still pretty comfortable, even though everything that I hold dear is pretty far away...
I'll upload a couple of pics later, but I don't have too many because of all these classes (again! I have to find better excuses ... haha), so I'll see what happens. Thursday's my free(-est) day so contact me then! If not, then the weekends :)
Hope to talk to you guys soon. Get more people to post on amoeblog :D!
With tired eyelids but always with love and virtual hugs,
Labels: Bernard
7:38 AM
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Ugh, So Crazy!
college is so intense! i'm so tired. i need a planner. i need money. i need to find the bank. we have our first project for architecture and i'm so completely confused its not even phunny. acually, i'm not really confused. not too confused. i'm just kind of not wanting to do it. i need a digital camera.
i feel so free. i'm really glad my parents don't call like 5 times a day (one of my suitemates, i won't name names, is getting REALLY annoyed because his mom calls so often) some days, my parents don't even call! so i call them. in a way, its better like this because then i appreciate them calling. i like talking to them when they call because they don't call so often. i'm glad.
my towel stinks.
i like breton crackers. i have to finish my milk (expiration date: 8/31).
i put up a sheet of butcher paper on the wall next to my bed; i want to draw something. actually, i'm thinking about experimenting with ink and brush. i'm too chicken to do anything yet, so for now its just a blank white paper on a blank white wall.
i brought my birthday pillow, amoeboogers. i like reading it sometimes.
i'm having a love/hate relationship with architecture. today we had an art class. wow. it was the most amazing class of my life! we were given a passage from Arabian Nights, and we read it. then we had to draw from it. two hours of just drawing. it was soooooooooo fun you guys wouldn't even believe it. i totally got into it; it was epic. and then, in line, people were complementing it. that made me feel accomplished, because i know it wasn't even that good. i have to stop comparing myself to christie or i'll never get anything done. but maaan, it felt good to draw again.
i also brought my three-in-one cup. and a floor lamp (but no lightbulb D:)
i love asian people! :D i feel so comfortable with them. i know, i know, branch out and all that stuff. be diverse! but i've actually begun to be myself around certain new asians, but usually when there is another whitney person in the mix.
i can't wait to go home this weekend. i love the feel of my bare feet on my almost all carpeted house. i don't like wearing slippers around the suite, especially in the bathroom. putting on slippers after i get out of the shower? not my thing, cherubs.
i have no classes on wednesdays. i'm going to devote my whole day to my architecture project (which is due on thursday btw).
you ucers come visit me! we'll have fuuuuun! today, maya, regina, sophia, AND sherry came to visit! why can't you (or you or you or you or you or you)?! i'm close! reg even took the metro over here! its possible!
kristen, i'm not having a lot of time to read the host. i don't think i'll be done by labour day weekend. D: so so soddy.
i need to find a christian fellowship. luckily, one of my suitemates needs to do the same thing! but i don't talk to him that much, even though he's super nice.
this is the longest post of the century. at least, i think. i'm having thought spasms. thats why its so all over the place!
i want to eat my easymac, but i'm saving it for some special occasion.
i need a planner. right now i'm sticking all these post-its to my desk shelf to remind myself on stuff i need to do.
i have our prom picture on my shelf, only because WE DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER PICTURE ALL TOGETHER AS A GROUP YOU LAMEBUTTS!
i miss the amoeba. i miss everyone! and once i go home and get my digital camera, i'll take all sorts of pictures of my dorm, my desk, my studio, and myself! :D
i missed the closing ceremonies. because i have no tv. i could shoot myself. or someone else.
wanna eat with me? i thought of this brilliant plan to eat meals long distance! (only for mac users, so so soddy) eating...through ichat! :DDDD its kind of a hassle for you out of staters, though, with the time fart and all. again, so so soddy.
soddy? why am i saying this? i have no idear. whats wrong with my speech?
MAN! i wanted to do program board (which is kind of like asb) but i can't because architecture rules my vida. did i tell you that i have all asian roommates except for one brazilian? que chevere!
this is too long. but this is real. this is me. i'm exactly where i'm supposed to be. now. adios my amoeboogers! i'm so glad to talk to all of you again!
Labels: art is lurve, asians, boogers, brazil, lamebutts picture, soddy, the call, Timothy, visit me already
11:13 PM
I'm sore.
So I've been doing a lot more physical activities! I checked out swim team, which seems way more fun than back in high school, though, they weren't really going for training. I am now on the fence for doing swim again. Though, I might not. I need to have fun swimming again, I need to remember why I wanted to swim in the first place. The team is cool, and as I've said, I'm taking Judo.
We're learning how to fall so that when we get thrown, we don't die. I'm in a dorm vs. dorm dance competition, and the two hour practices are really tiring. Today, I did water polo for the first time in two years, really fun, then went to judo class. Then was the dance practice.
THE WHOLE ROOM WAS SWEATING. It was so tiring. I sore from it, and in need of one of Sen's massages, which I hear are really good.
My fellow Amoebeings, I miss you! So start blogging, I don't want to alone in blogging. It'll become a Xanga.
9:29 PM
Monday, August 25, 2008
Dancing and Classes
So I've gotten my classes, and done one today. More or less, today, has been pretty good. So I'm taking Chem 110, Cell Bio, Intro to Psych, Journeys (Which appears to be a series of lectures/discussions on various philosophies.) and Judo! So, I'm totally ready to be thrown on the floor, but not as ready to begin reading again. Books cost me $650, I mean seriously, that's a lot.
My current Journeys is on Confucius (Confuse-us, as the lecture was rather confusing.) Tuesday and Thursday are my lab/rest/study days. My hall really is party central, but it's okay, the doors are thick. Studying might be painfully hard, but I'm going to do it!
Met some new people at
my orientation trip, and we're getting along well. I've met some g
eeky people (Such as in the picture. It's didgeridoo that is being played.), some "normal" people, and I'm hanging out with them. I'm not dealing well with normal jocks, being used to our academic attuned jocks, but I don't talk to many of them. I get the feeling I might get a Texan accent, because I hang out with a lot of Texans.And yes, the white folk do seem to prefer their own to us folk, who are actually minorities here. But vice-versa seems to be true also.
This is one of my roommates. He had some funny experiences I might tell you about.
Labels: Richard
9:17 PM
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Peppy-dine
Hi Amoeba!
(pics of my dorm are on fb ^-^)
Sooo... I'm going to a beach school, right? So i brought all my shorts and t-shirts and like... 2 pairs of jeans... and 2 sweaters. Anyway I forgot that it's actually COLDER at the beach. So all you UCSD people... Don't forget that beaches are windy! It's pretty warm out during the day, but at night it's pretty darn freezing! Also, Pepperdine was built on a hill, so there are some crazy stairs and hills - like EVERYwhere. You know what I realized? Whitney is COMPLETELY FLAT! (whoa!) So my legs are getting a serious workout. I don't think the freshman 15 is going to work on me... we'll see. I will organize this post, because I am an organized person.
Social Life
It sucks! I am really bad at meeting new people. REALLY BAD. Like when I meet someone, they will tell me their name, but I won't really even hear it because I'm thinking about how firm their handshake is. x.x So far, most of the people whose names I actually remember are Asians. The white people I know are... few. My suitemates and very few others. I have like this honing device where I can spot Asians out so fast! I recognize almost every Asian's face now (in c/o 2012) but the white people still tend to look the same to me. Especially the guys. The Asian people I actually know are even easier to spot. In a class of 2,000 people I can spot Eiichiro and Jihan and Charles just like that. Amanda Shen and her taiwanese roommate managed to make a bunch of Asian friends and went clubbing the other night. I think I will be friendly with them, but I doubt that I want them as close friends. They're KP-esque. Wangster/Hollister types. You know. I think it's true that everyone is a little bit racist. Well, most people are. White people tend to... not be QUITE as friendly to Asians as they are to their own kind. <-- haha their own kind. Maybe because a lot of people are from CO or TX where it's not as diverse as in so cal. I'm getting along with my roommate decently well. It's hard. Privacy is impossible here. There are pretty much people everywhere.
Yes, I went to the dance. It was awkward. Peppy is a christian school, so a lot of people were like... we're allowed to dance? So they'd just stand there and sway back and forth. But on the other side of the spectrum, there were people freaking/grinding. I danced in a circle with some of my asian fwends :D There was also an event called MyTie where girls get a random date by picking a tie out of a box and the guy finds his tie/date. I got a sunburnt white guy from CO. ok, most awkward 3 hours of my life. I don't want to talk about it. But everyone got to go to the president's (of the university) house, which was SUPER nice. duh, malibu.
Academic Life
So I want to switch my major already. From Business to Integrated Marketing Communications. But I can't switch to that particular major until I have 24 units and maintain a 3.2 GPA. So I'm still a Busines major but I switched a couple of my classes. Which means that instead of my earliest class being at 11, I have an 8am class on Mon and Thurs. URGH! I hate waking up early! On Monday I have class from 8-6, with a 2 hour break for lunch. Hate mondays. I have 4/5 classes on monday! The nice thing is on Tuesdays and Fridays I only have an hour of class, from 11-12. My calc class is every day but Weds. I am taking 18 units. :( Gonna dieeee! They're all pretty hard classes. I have hw and the class hasn't even started!
Random
There is NO CHINESE FOOD in a TEN MILE RADIUS!!! I hate that there is nothing here but rich people stuff. The nearest Target is a 20-minute drive. <-- WTF! And gas prices are pretty insane here! I'm filling up in Cerritos. And seeing how there isn't much to do here... I'm guessing I'll be home every other weekend. At least. lol. I did bring my car but since I suck at freeway, I still feel stuck here. The long drive home is pretty terrifying to me. I am considering studying abroad in Shanghai next year, maybe just one semester though. I really don't like being away from home. I'm getting used to being here at school, but my first night - I cried myself to sleep. I just wanted to go home, where it's safe and easy and people I love are close. The second day I cried too. But since then I haven't let myself, and it's been better.
I miss you guys a lot! I will see you guys ASAP :) I brought our prom pic and that WF pic of just the guys (my boys!) so I can admire you all every day ;) Love y'all! (back to reading the iliad... x.x)
- k-sen
Labels: Kristen
3:05 PM
ILLEGAL POST...maybe?
Haylooo everyone! I'm not sure if my post is allowed since this is supposed to be about college and I'm technically not a college student yet -____- but hey give me a break I'm dying here in this last month before school starts! But I guess Bernard can delete this post if it's not allowed ^^
So lately I've been having a loooot of fun and doing a lot of new and great stuff. I went to eat Cuban food today yummmy pan con lechon and diet coke with tiramisu to finish it off mmmm. I've also been watching a bi of Olympics and Season 1 of Gossip Girl on DVD. Alsoooo PS3 WOOOO!! Yesterday I went to the Garment District in LA and visited the "Alley" where a bunch of hispanics hang out and it was super fun!!! There are so many knock offs of purses like Chanel, Coach, and Brighton there that I'm surprised they don't get caught. I bought a cool jewelry stand thingymabobber that is this creepy woman's body and you hang your necklaces on it...it's so tacky and I love it!!! I'll put a picture of it here:
Mannn I can't wait to go get a job when I go to college cause I'm spending money like it's water it sucks!!! Since I'm going to try to get a fashion internship during the school year I realized I need to get some more polished and professional looking clothes- I can't exactly show up to work in boy's boxers and an oversized American Apparel t-shirt ><. So it's black suit jackets and v. v. prof. looking skirts for me! Black is the new... ummm black? I'm also saving up for this beautiful Marc by Marc bag:
I'm also going to be setting up a fashion blog at chictopia.com so I'll link you guys when I get it set up! Please comment because it will really help me! My mum is being really supportive about my fashion career hopes now so it might actually happen sometime in the future and I'm really excited ^^. But in the meanwhile I'm still pretty hyped for environmental engineering! Who knows, maybe the corn you will be eating will be grown by yours truly, on THE MOON?!?!
I'll be posting again soon! I'm going to the good old SanFran in a couple weeks and I'll be sure to post pics! I'm going to be touring the Berkeley campus yet again... the school I might be transferring to for my sophmore year! ::CROSSES FINGERS::
I love y'all and hope everyone is well healthwise and happy-ness wiseeee
PEACE OUT,
ashton k. <3 style="text-decoration: underline;">
Labels: Ashton, fashion, food, illegal post, travel
2:52 PM
Richard's First Post.
Hey guys, this is gonna so cool. First off, yes, Bernard, I did take that stupid UCLA survey. It was LONG.
So, for me, my orientation week has been fun, and just finished my orientation trip, and got b
ack here. The orientation trip was a group trip to Branson, Missouri. We went to Silver Dollar City, sort of a pseudo Disneyland in my opinion. Met some new people, who were cool, and I'm pretty sure, have not seen too many Asians. During the trip, I more or less hung out with about half of my bus, while the other half did the same. I'm not really sure how many friends I've made, at all, but I do know people I would not mind sitting with or staying up really late with (which I did, and am now somewhat dizzy from), so I suppose that counts.I plan to make a normal sleep schedule as soon as possible. The school is supposed to be academically rigorous, and I plan to actually study now, so this might be a bit hard on me. Truthfully, I'm extremely tired of academic rigor, I want to go to a school where I am only remotely challenged. But then I'd never get into the medical field, so it's all good.
If you guys didn't know, I'm in the party dorm. I'm not exactly happy about it, but it won't affect me, being on the fourth floor.
My roommates, though, are extremely cool/nice guys. They also brought everything you could want in a dorm, and I am pretty chummy with, considering I've only known them for a week. I don't plan on drinking, because I'm just not that kind of guy. I've been wondering about my tolerance levels though, as my dad can't drink much more than a cup without becoming really sick, while my mom, apparently, can take the hard stuff.All in all, I'm doing good guys. Really missing the Amoeba, home, and the dry weather. I will be back in California, mid - Oct, so if you want specifics, call me. This still is the internet after all.
And some interesting orientation trip pictures. (Chubby Bunny, freaky gas man statue, a stereotypical Southern patio band.)
Labels: Richard
12:59 PM
The Second Post
Well, it seems that I have the second post as well! I've had some coding problems, which is why this blog layout has taken me so long and still looks so simple--the left side is supposed to have pictures, but I still haven't found a good Javascript that can handle multiple slideshows to the way I want it, so hopefully I will find it soon and I'll update the template so it looks better.
I also realize that this layout is really effeminate. I don't know how it turned out like that. The background started out as gray, then turned to a faded green, then turned to purple. With butterflies. I don't know what I was thinking over the past week. Must have been all the orientation activities getting to my head (a lot of those were really really really really boring).
So, so far, life at the University of Pittsburgh has been pretty cool. The plane trip over here was really turbulent. We stopped at Cleveland and then we took this tiny little plane to Pittsburgh, which was pretty cool. It even had those side propellers. Smallest plane I've ever been in, but it was mostly pretty neat. And kinda scary.
There is a Trader Joe's here, a Chipotle, Cold Stones, and other cool places to make Pitt seem more like Cerritos. I don't know if I'm going to be used to the non-Asian food. There's a really good Taiwanese place a block away from my dorm (thank goodness), but the first Chinese restaurant we went to (known as the Sesame Inn), we ordered three dishes, all of were drenched in the oriental red sauce of sweet and sour, and surprisingly enough, tasted the same. And it didn't even taste good! Now that I found good food, I'm happy. And so close to campus!
I had to fill out this looong UCLA survey about myself (did you guys have to do that too?):
Apparently I'm not the only Asian here though, contrary to what I assumed. I'm also not that short! That's really cool, 'cause I'm not shorter than most girls around here, so I don't feel as much of a Napoleonic disorder.
There's a lot of exchange students from China, one from Korea. Some guys are from Guangzhou or Shenzhen, so they can speak Cantonese as well :) Mandarin's good practice too, though.
So yeah, the c/o 2012 is 4,000+ strong, which is kinda intimidating cause I'll never ever ever finish meeting the entirety of the class. In some cases, I think that's a good thing. The people here are really nice, and I've met a lot of people from all over the place (not just asians)!
School starts tomorrow for me and here's my list of courses:
Chem 1 Hon
Phys 1 Hon
Calc 2
Engr Ana (aka Programming)
Govt and Pol of Contemporary China (Humanities Elective)
Engr Sem Hon (no credits but it's 2 hrs/week)
I'm not trying to kill myself, that's the required schedule for freshmen engineering -__-" But I'll probably end up dying anyhow.
Love you guys and miss you all.
~bernard
Labels: Bernard
8:35 AM
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
First Post
Well here we are with the first post for the amoeba blog!
Brainchild of Ashton Yoon and everybody else...well, yesterday.
Things revolve around fast, and we hope that we all have a chance to write something in here.
Cheers, kudos, and best wishes for this school year. Can you believe that it's coming up so quickly? We're going to school (most of us) in less than two weeks!
I'm not ready.
~bernard
Labels: Bernard
8:55 AM