The Daily Amoeba

home!...soon

2010-04-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

i come home saturday. :)
-bernard

2010-04-07T09:57:00.001-07:00

if anyone ever comes here anymore
let's hang out this summer :)

Visited Whitney! And College Was Alright.

2009-12-21T16:34:00.001-08:00

It was real weird to be back in Whitney, like a place I had known so well was so foreign. This is the last year I'm coming back I think, because I don't really know any people below this year's senior class and I wasn't all too close with any teachers.

I talked with Mr. Andy Perry about Arkansas and I said "I always have a chance at fresh meat every weekend." He replied that "I can't believe you just said that." I was personally referring to the hunting of animals, but I have recently realized what other implications that holds. Just thought I'd share that with you guys.

Summary of second year of college:
Classes? O-chem sucks and Chinese is an easy language class (emphasis on class). Alcohol? Don't like it.
Romance? What's that?
Fun? Managed it with a lack of things to do ever.
Heat? Where'd it go!

hi guys

2009-09-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

so i'm like... IN CHINA. wtff mannnng!
and i guess ive been meaning to write here but its a combination of laziness and not knowing what to say and doubting that anyone reads this and not wanting to double post things on tumblr AND here. i'm much more regular on my tumblr i swear :)

kris0ten.tumblr.com

okay?!?!?! see i thought i was super clear about that site but then david was like... you have a tumblr? so i reiterate :)
people have been saying that the inevitable split of amoeba is nigh. (insert timothys NOOOO!)
i dunno. i wont label it. it is what it is! :) but in general i still love and feel loved by amoebans so alls well.
so i'll talk about china! i forget what i've said to who already. and i'm so lazy i dont like to repeat myself. but i'll do it. just for youu thats how much wo ai ni :D <3
i made friends with James on the plane. he looks sooo badass with his piercings and his almost adorable penchant for beer, but he's real nice so he really entertains me. the flight wasnt bad, i slept 10/14 hours. stopped over in HK and then flew to shanghai. the place im staying is beautiful, part of the general foreign concession area and built in like... 1937? but remodeled by pepperdine. i pretty much live in a mansion. i room with amanda, cherie (her roommate from last year), and calif (in my religion class last year) - we are 4/5 asian girls in the program right now hahaha and we're all in one room :) but its chill we still hang out with everybody and we're in the central room with the balcony that everyone walks by so people stop in and its fun. everything i do here is an adventure. finding my way home, finding something to eat, shopping for essentials - every time i complete a basic task that i take for granted back home, it feels like a huge victory. this is not as frustrating as i expected. so far we've mostly been attending orientation sessions and being led around and exploring and stuff. the people are fun in general. i dont get why everyones idea of fun is drinking.... - -' i mean its legal and all, but every dayyyy everyones like lets go to a bar.... and i'm like... dudddeee... hahaha isnt there anything else to do.. but i'm being sociable! i go with them and its pretty fun, they dont overdo it thankfully. and ive had a sip or two. i havent decided if id want to try more. it tastes nastayyy. the food is pretty good - not quiiite what i'm used to at home, but way way way better than pepperdine food! and its dirt cheap too! mmm delicious :) if i get freshman 15 at all, now is the time! hahaha

intensive chinese classes start in the morning and then we start real classes thursday so i'm kinda waiting for the homesickness to hit me and the honeymoon/vacation feeling to wear off. i dont want it to hit! for now i'm just having fun and i like it. i dunno. i hope i still do well when routine kicks in. update later i suppose ^-^ i hope you guys are rocking/will rock sophmore year!
hugs!

2009-09-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I don't know if anyone really checks this anymore, but for those of you guys who still have faith:

I'm really excited about sophomore year! It feels really nice to come back to campus and be familiar with the people/places/food/etc. Plus, I have a single room this year, which is pretty nice.

I can't believe that another summer has come and gone (where does the time go?) I had a great time in China (if you look at the attached picture, you can get a good idea of how well my brother liked it too. He's eating ice cream at this really really incredibly awesome restaurant that we went to. And no...we did not spend ALL of our time eating with family members...we also...took showers...and slept...and took taxis to go from one restaurant to another...err....)

Anyways, I hope your summers are going great, and for those of us in school already, have an amazing second year!

See you guys around!

Jeannie

boo! :]

2009-08-29T14:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, totaaaally lagged in my posts here. so sorry :[ but it seems as if everyone got pretty busy too.
anyways, i'm not sure how often you guys check this but hello everybody! :]
I know a bunch of you are already back at school and maybe thats just what it takes to get back into the habit of checking up and posting on this thing. you know, like part of a routine. but yeah, we'll see ehhehe :] i miss you guys a lot.
i'm kind of bored here in the summer, just kind of waiting for september to roll around (which is actually in a couple of days). I've been figuring out stuff for when i'm going abroad, so like bank, phone, visa, etc. its quite stressful, but i am sure excited. :]
let me know how you guys are doing! :]
keep in touch. <3 you all.

-kat

Thailand!

2009-07-22T02:25:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Looks like I wasn't the only person to stop posting!

As you may or may not know, I was in Thailand for the past two months! I didn't actually do very much outside of working in the lab, so it wasn't too interesting event wise.

Travel Recap!:
- Flight there was long. Sat next to an old man who didn't know how to use the mini-TVs. (He was very enthused about my help though, it was nice). "Handsome Suit" is a neat Japanese film. (One of the minor characters was played by an actor from Kamen Rider Kabuto!)
- Three things about the lab I worked in: 1) Really nice bunch of people, 2)Three guys out of 23, 3)Everyone had tiny hands.
- Three things about lab work: 1) Cleanliness is next to good quality control, 2) Bring something to do or PCR (of any sort) is really boring, 3) It's tedious at times.
- Apparently, there's a five day string of Buddhist holidays in July. I got a vacation. Went to a floating market (doesn't really float in any sense of the word), visited a mountain (saw a wild elephant, some deer, bunch of monkeys), had a boat ride down a canal( and saw fireflies), visited eight temples (and set 4 turtles free). On the way back to Chiang Mai, had the comfiest bus ride ever.

That was a good two months! Hope everyone going abroad will have as good an experience I did.

amoebating

2009-06-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

daphne's greek. tomorrow in long beach
meet at heritage at 6:30
hope to see you there :)

Donated: 16in

2009-06-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

I cut my hair and donated 16in to the American Cancer Society. It's short now. Weird.

amoeba fun list

2009-05-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

i seriously cannot wait for all yall UCers to finish school because here is what you have to look forward to!

a little bit of old, and a little bit of new!

-amovieba, of course
but ABSOLUTELY NO MORE MAGNOLIA. estevan, i still have your movie.
-amoeba sleepover: camping edition!
we will play flashlight tag at le park east, toast marshmallows, play games, have fun, NOT watch the olympics haha, and then sleep in tents in mah backyard (maybe) and theeeeeen the next day we will go to
-amoeba beach trip!
the traditional ruby's diner dinner. of course
-amoeba sports festival
with a theme! theme pending...
-poo party v. 2.5
remember that great ol' inflatable killah whale and donut raft!
-amoebowling
bowling is great. we are great. bowling is fun. we are fun. STRIKE! SPARE! TURKEY! wii bowling is way different from real bowling haha. im a pro at wii bowling. not so much in real life.
-plus general fun stuff ahkaaaaaay?

i'm working, as in work. its killing my summer. but at least i value weekends most! SUSHI IS SO GOOD. both richard and kristen posted on this, but it was my first time eating sushi. and i really really like it. my favorite is unagi. ooooh my unagi is so good. wow. so good.

my tamagotchi is sleeping

2009-05-21T01:27:00.000-07:00

this might be a problem. i want to play with it NOW but its sleeping. when it wakes up, I will be sleeping. gah. maybe i should set its clock off a few hours.
anyway.

hi.
i could not find a job so have been rather bored lately. but not TOO bored. i wash the dishes and help out around the house/with my siblings since my dad's back gave out (herniated disc. disk. disc?) and i clean my room and go window shopping and harass calvin (he's still in school...) and play computer games. next week i'll start voice class at cerritos college, after that i have political science and marketing (next session).
i've been exercising lately. (gasp!) got a membership at the cpe fitness ctr, calvin and i go 2x a week to do cardio and some muscle stuff. i am so unbelievably sore right now!
the most exciting things that have happened so far this summer... eiichiro came over for a few days before peppy sumer session started, so i showed him around. he was so shocked when i took him to whitney, since he went to school in indiana. he thinks its WRONG how many asians there are there :3 hehe. i helped out with a concert at church, bought food for the band and re-labeled some water bottles for them. yeah i was THAt bored... but i got a shoutout from them during the concert because of the awesome water bottles haha. went to Taiko sushi with kenji kenny richard and timothy... its the real deal, not that korean/american sushi. it tasted exactly like the sushi i had in japan! not cheap though. :P

i realized/was reminded lately of how different we all are now. some differences are good, some are not so good, and some are just... different. like how tim learned to treasure sleep... the hard way. or how richard now talks like a white guy from the midwest xD. or that one girl who joined a frat and has wayy too much fun ;). or how david got all assertive :D. or me... i think the biggest change for me was learning to LIKE going out and trying new things. my adventuous side woke up i guess. but anyway. what does that mean for amoeba? it means we're still us, but we're now more grown up versions of ourselves. so when we all get back together it might be a bit challenging to adjust to the new dynamics of the group and to NOT REVERT back to the person you were last summer. (unless thats a better person - i hope not.) but i think at our core we are still who we were in high school - good people who share(d) good times. i think thats (mostly) what made us click, and i believe that is still the case. just dont be disappointed if things arent exactly how you remembered them - theyre not supposed to be. (<-- still learning this myself.)

Summer's End

2009-05-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

Foo Fighters song. Chosen mostly because, I'll see you guys again at summer's end.

As a recap, I went to Austin, Texas on the 6th to stay with a friend who lives there. Went to comic book shops, saw his high school, meet his friends, played video games, mostly stuff I could do here. We went to downtown Austin at 4 am, walked around, met a crazy hobo, and went back to his house. I'd actually consider living in Austin if I needed to go out of state.

Asides from that, I've been chilling at home since school got out.

Went to sushi at Taiko with Kenny Yao, Tim, Kristen, and Kenji today! I had a good time; it was good food.

Yesterday was the first time I had ramen, went to someplace in Torrence I think.

Even though we're going our separate ways, I hope we can all manage to meet up every once in while. Going to college, not everyone out there is sincere. But our Amoeba has been there during high school, and I'd like to hope it'll be there for college.

Because it's hard to imagine life sans Amoeba.

jumping jumper

2009-05-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

ankles strapped and secrets they watch
break you, wakeup, feels just like you're
leaving nothing, freely speed up
landing, stepping, jumping jumper

I NEED TO LEARN TO FOCUS. prioritize!

i need to rediscover the importance of academics and not have so much fun. LOL that sounds wrong, but true.

my birthday

2009-04-27T11:46:00.001-07:00

didn't really feel like one. thats not necessarily a bad thing. it just felt like a family vacation day haha.

it scares me that i'm getting so old that my birthday isn't THAT big of a deal anymore. when i was a kid, i couldnt imagine not caring! it was like one of the 2 best days of the year! but yesterday i had to keep reminding myself that it was my birthday and i was turning 19. - -' fail...

back to studying for finals!

barthelona

2009-04-27T08:10:00.001-07:00

as of friday, school was officially over.
i know, i know you guys are jealous ;)

so anyhow, after two weeks of final project and final exam hell, i am done with freshman year! took a lot of strength to get past that last stretch...

anyhow i am currently in new hampshire, 10 hours away from pittsburgh (!)

i will be heading to barcelona, spain in a matter of days. O_o. barcelona! gaudi, picasso, beaches, seafood, gotic, la rambla, etc. remember the good ol' days of spanish class when we would learn about the wonnerful ciudad de barthelona! con el ceceo.

and after being in barcelona for a couple of days, i will be heading off to munich and augsburg, germany!

i'll be back home may 18th

rah rah rah!

2009-04-27T00:23:00.000-07:00

we can do it.

hello all,
crazy last stretch of school ey? yeah. we sandiegans are now entering 5th week out of 10 for the last quarter of our freshman year. cuhrazay!
how are you guys?
for me i've been so caught up in school and lost in the work that i've been really tired recently and actually haven't talked to high school friends in a long time. this blog is no exception.. i'm not gonna lie, i haven't had time to get online to check this in a while. =\
anyway, i find myself a lot less on aim. i mean i always knew it coudln't be the most efficient way to spend my time but yeahh, now that i done with my writing requirement, i dont need the computer so much for long periods of time. so i just check my email, school account, and maybe facebook and thats it for the day. it kind of kills off my high school connections though. that's bad.
it's sad how i was afraid of losing all my high school friends when we all move to college and how everyone kept saying we'd keep in touch.. but when it comes down to it, everyone's pretty overwhelmed with the new we dont always tend the old. and this isn't really directed toward you guys btw ahha. you guys are different..even though this blog is pretty slow communication between us i feel like we still have an underlying conncetion..that when we meet up its like we never left, yano? like that glue that keeps us together is always there even when you dont always make sure its still sticky..or like when you think back it's like, yeah i guess we didnt keep in touch liek we were supposed to but if i were to come to any of you today with a problem, you'd be there for me. and not just like a friend but someone who's known me for years, knows who i relly am, yah? and thats what makes us different and who we are. <3 but yeahh.
anyways, i just heard back from the EAP (education abroad program) office and they selected me to go to england next year! i know this is kind of shocking but i applied a couple months ago and decided if i got accepted, i'd make my choice from there. the drop deadline is may 10th. i'd be starting school oct 4 and get back for winter break and end school mid june. i wanted to get into a london university, king's college london in particular, but the spots were full (i came in as a late applicant but not by a big gap) and i got offered the university of sussex. its about an hour train ride from london but a little less international and urban. which could be a good thing since i've never lived in an urban city before. haha from cerritos to san diego isn't such a big change i blieve. xD anyway, it's pretty set right now, just waiting back from the university to confirm. so i suppose there's still a chance i might nto go xD i'll for sure keep you guys posted though.:]
what else? oh! my college here is hosting a semi-formal (kinda like a winter formal) and i feel liek im in high school again - -'' i guess its kinda cute but yeahh. ahha im already hearing about my friend wanting to ask my other friend and stuff ahhah good stuff but eh sick of it kinda. xd
the school year's flying by. trying to enjoy it while i can, but i've been having a tough time recently. struggling with a lot-faith, direction, friends, and definitely school work. :[ i dropped one of my classes so hopefully it'll ease up a little bit.
anyhow, that's it for me this time. i hope you guys are diong well. i do miss you guys terriby :[
i have to wake up at 8 tmrw :[ (it woulda been 7 if i didnt drop it.. thank goodness). i love you guys<3
-kat

Summer Heat

2009-04-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

It's been a while. Things seem to have slowed down a lot, at least on the blog front. The weather's turned really nice over here. Well, today it's a whopping 93 degrees... so Scott and I are going out to Longwood gardens to admire the beautiful nature-ness and weather. Last night was pretty sweet. We sat out on my driveway and watched the stars. It was gorgeous. And we did some cloud watching too. This was at like 3 in the morning while we were doing laundry at my house, but we could still see everything. I was wondering why it was so easy to see the clouds, even during the dead of night. Is it because of the light pollution? that's really sad... while we were able to see a lot of stars (we had trouble finding the little dipper, but the big dipper was easy), it was still difficult to see a lot of them. Either way, it was a warm night and it was so nice just sitting out on the driveway admiring the stars. We even fell asleep out there... whoops. But I guess that's just one of my midnight adventures out here.

Updates on summer plans and etcetera. I got the position as a Russell Fellow and Orientation Assistant so I'll be living with Freshmen again next year and working at the University this summer! I'm really excited cuz this is my first real job. What I do as an orientation assistant for the Honors program is take the new honors freshmen around and help them plan their schedules, answer questions, tell them all about my exciting time at the university... it'll be a lot of fun. And then as a Russell fellow i'm basically the liason b/w the freshmen and the honors program so i remind them of requirements, plan programs for them, get them involved, etc. I'm looking forward to it. And hopefully i'll be getting a single next year! So no roommate drama to worry about.

Speaking of roommate drama, things b/w Kelly and I have sizzled to the non-existent. I've pretty much moved out of the room and i'm staying with Scott full time now. It's nice, being able to be with him as much as I am and not be sick of him. This summer we'll see how we do without each other. But i'm hoping to take him with me to California, so hopefully you'll all get to meet him! But no promises yet.

Other than that, things are going well. Classes end the 20th and then we're out of here by the 30th. It'll be a fun and busy summer, so i'm looking forward to it! I'll definitely be in California sometime in August, so i'll catch you guys then.

Stay cool!

here, here, and here

2009-04-22T23:45:00.000-07:00

by meg & dia.

hi guys. i only have a week and a half left of school.

*pauses for a moment of gloating*

so i've been relaxing lately because there isn't too much work to do. its nice. finals are next week, riiight after my birthday. but i'm not sweating it too much because i have a paper, project, test, and final. each class is different. paper and project = a lot easier to BS. yep.

i cant wait to get out of here. i think i'm getting sick of pepperdine because i hate it a little more each day and i really cant wait to get out of here. doesnt help how freaking NASTY the weather was monday and tuesday. omg. unbearable. i hate not having AC on days like those.

hooray for freshman year almost being over. i'm so done here.

You'll Need Those Fingers For Crossing

2009-04-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

Los Campesinos, a band. They visited Threadless once. There were videos. (The titles of most of posts are the titles of songs, good twin. The band's name is usually in the first paragraph.)

Oh my goodness, it's crunch time. Two lab practicals (Botany and Chem 2), two science tests (Botany and Chem 2), a 7 page film essay. All happening this week, I'm going to explode. After my finals, I'm going down to Austin for a few days to hangout.

It's been a long while since my last frenetic posts. So, the diamond mine thing did not pan out that weekend, but we went the weekend after. Spent a good 5 hours digging and sifting dirt in the giant dirt field that was the "mine". The hole ended up being 5 feet deep, and maybe 5 feet wide. I forgot my camera, so no pictures. All we ended up finding was some jaspar and volcanic rocks.

On the way there, we saw a bunch of tanks! They were on back of some cars, and missing the cannon barrels, but still tanks. I do have pictures of that.

We also saw a sign that said "Warning, God is approaching." It was hilarious.

We ate at a buffet that day. It was great, since I had not eaten anything for the last day and a half asides from ramen. There was sushi, frog legs, etc. I had 3 plates full, maybe more.

School has been going marvelously for once, getting A's on recent tests in Chem 2 and Botany. Which is good, as I need them. Film and French? I'm flailing a little, but managing B's hopefully. I can do better I hope.

This past weekend, went up northwest to Fayetteville, AR. Met the parents of two of my friends, Matt and Casie. Casie had a house that was like Joseph de Jesus's, and Matt had a sprawling Wesley sized house. He even had a guest house! Though he had no neighbors. Really nice parents.

One of the parents, as we were walking in (note: that it was very dark), said "...I made some funky Asian food..." As I walk into the house, I hear Casie say "Oh! He's Thai!" Her mom, very enthused, had me try her own Thai cooking, a soup and a Thai beef salad. The soup was like a more flavorful version of what I get at home (it had ginger, mushrooms, shrimp, some basil, maybe a bit of coconut milk, pepper(?)). The salad was like a salad. Eh. So while I was eating, she ask me where I come from, and I respond "Calfornia."

She says, "You're not a real Thai then!" Hopefully you guys can imagine my reaction, as I find it hard to describe. She later explained, that as a nurse, she has many patients, and the Asian patients she gets are never raised as in the culture, which really is quite understandable, being in Arkansas.

We went out afterward, us and some of Casie's friends,down some long winding country roads, and to the town square. Later on at the Main Street, which has so much hustle and bustle it reminded me of L.A., we went into a hookah bar. I didn't try any, neither did Matt and Tate, and I don't really plan on doing anything involving purposefully inhaling smoke. Played some pool while we were there, and it was nice having a not shifty table.

We went out for pizza after the hookah bar, at a place called "Mordour's". It was pretty good pizza. Went back to school after. Then went out to a friend's lake house for the rest of the weekend (Saturday night to Sunday evening). It was nice,
beautiful. It was nice just chilling with some friends.

I also got a bunch of Threadless shirts. My first ones! That I bought myself!

got it!

2009-04-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

amidst much peer pressure from a very specific peer, i am now the proud owner of a tumblr! it sounds like a kitchen electrical product, but its really not. a blog.

timblog.tumblr.com

check. it. oooooout! and get a tumblr yall. now three out of amoeba has it (unless there are more i dont know of) GET IT NOW!

AnyStar

2009-04-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

by lee hyori.

oh my goshhh hello, you beautiful people who i love so so so dearly.
i just want to hug you all!
hmm i don't really know what to say, there's just this FEELING of restlessness. i really want to spend time with people that are effortless to be around. so my heart aches for my amoeba x.x
maybe i should just be totally honest. hmm...
1. i want to drop great books because i really hate how much work it is. i dont know if its even worth it anymore, ugh. but i already took 2 classes out of 4! so to drop it now would make me behind on my academic plan
2. sometimes i wish i was going to usc or ucla... i imagine getting to see timothy or ashton every day and i wish i could... i can totally imagine me and ashton getting into 'fights' where we disagree, but we would have so much fun too! i just wanna be me. with eiichiro and jihan and them, i am too boyish to hang out with the girls, and too girl to hang out with the boys so i'm in a strange in-between. at church too! i am away too much to be 'in' but back enough to not really be missed too much. at the garden church i am familiar enough to not be treated with a lot of attention like a newcomer, but still not... 'in'. i am a floater and it sucks. it causes a lot of anxiety. i know that if i neglect to talk to an amoeba member for a while, we'd still be friends and itd take a lot for us NOT to be friends. but with all these other groups, i have to try really hard to maintain a friendship.
3. who am i? where is my life going?
4. i still really dont like white people. i really dont know what it is. maybe it is their general lack of proper-ness and grace. but its especially white boys. i cant relate on ANY level! to me they just seem ... retarded. okay, there is one (and a half) white guy(s) that i consider myself friends with. but a lot of times i wish i just went to uci where i can be with all the other asians. i know diversity is supposed to be good for me but i dont really like it.
5. i freaking hate sharing answers with people, especially on study guides for tests. i worked hard to make it, and then someone is going to leech off me because they were too darn lazy to do it themselves. so i say no when someone asks me to see my lists. THATS RIGHT. NO.
6. i am so scared of studying abroad its not even funny. I AM SO SCARED. everything can go wrong, and i cant escape home! i dont want to be away from calvin or my family, and i dont want to face the expectation for me to know chinese just because i look like one... i worry about it all the time even though its months away

i'm going to cry if i keep going like this. i think its time for a change - i'm going to be honest, but not like... deep-feelings-from-deep-in-my-heart honest

7. i'm sad that the korean drama i was watching is finished now! but i guess i will have 2 extra hours of free time now... x]
8. there was mexican food in the cafeteria every day this week. i am so frustrated with the caf its not even funny. i'm starting to know what estevan feels. im hungry but i dont want to eat anything here!!!
9. ONLY 3 MORE WEEKS OF SCHOOL! I WILL BE GOING TO CERRITOS COLLEGE AND HOPEFULLY WORKING THIS SUMMER! its the normal college experience! i am excited about it!
10. i buy too much fobby stuff on ebay, so much so that i told calvin that i wont let myself buy anything this week, and from now on i have to get his approval to buy things. this way no more impulse buys! (but everything ive gotten so far has been an excellent deal!)

can we please hang out so much this summer? like... a LOT? maybe we can take that weekend vacation we talked about at the end of snr yr!

Vietnamese Food!!!

2009-04-03T16:04:00.001-07:00

Hey guys!!! How are your quarters/semesters going?

Soooo...this week I went to downtown L.A to have lunch with my New Vietnam class, and we went to this little place called Blossom Cafe. We had like 24 people, and our professor had convinced USC that the place was pretty cheap, so we got funding for it and it didn't cost us a cent! Woohoo for free food! I ate with Ariana, Kim, and Elaine. They're Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese/Chinese, and they're really cool. I had vermicelli with vegetarian egg rolls (sooo good!!!) and fish sauce. Only I didn't know it was fish sauce until MUCH MUCH later....O_O...I didn't taste anything fishy, so I'm kind of suspicious now. Anyways, all the servings were really really HUGE, so we got to take some home for dinner (yay for more free food!). And of course, we got lost on the way back to campus because none of us thought that we would be terrible at reading maps/navigating the streets...I had to make this really mad dash to get to chemistry lab on time. =]

So now I'm in my dorm, thinking about how to get back to downtown again. Maybe I can catch a bus later...

Sorry for the random spiel about food. I was just really excited =].

I hope you guys have a great weekend!

Love,

Jeannie

a clean slate?

2009-03-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

hello all!

it is finally spring quarter. kind of a new slate, academic wise. haha, i duno about you guys but my winter quarter grades are not that great =\ kinda scared about this quarter cuase i'm taking upper-div econ classes, and i keep hearing that they're pretty difficult. but i guess it's not too scary since technically nothing's happened yet..yano? the beginning's always the best. i mean the difficultly is still there but theres so much you can do about it. so much potential to be something good.. like you haven't messed up but you haven't excelled yet so there's just a good feeling about it..if you know waht i mean. haha but its gonna take a lotta work so i'm pretty psyched about it, but according to last quarter that fire burned out real quick. :[ hopefully i can hang in there this time.

how's everybody?
we just got off of spring break and it felt good. i got plenty of sleep over break, didn't realy hang out with that many people, it was mostly with family. which is good too.

april 4th, admit day! for ucsd at least. i'm kind of excited to see all the new excited freshers coming into ucsd! our lion dance troupe is going to be putting on a show for them and this is my first real time drumming for us so hopefuly i don't mess up. i'm pretty nervous though but. yeah. hahaha

what else, oh books. man text books are expensive.

i have 8 am mwf! which sucks, becuase its an important class. but hopefully my sleeping schedule is a lot better so i wont arrive so sleepy all the time. and i think its easier to wake up since its not as cold as winter quarter xD

hmm, can't really think of much to type yet, i'm just getting pretty nervous yet excited for spring quarter. :] i can't believe its our last quarter too! time went by really fast and i hear that it only goes by faster. =\ noo! i wish there was a pause button for life.

anyways i realize i always think about 'what if' instead of thinking about 'what is' and that probably could be my downfall.. if you know waht i mean. hahah time to focus! rahh haha

okok. that's it for now, i love you all <3

-kat

KOGI

2009-03-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

tonight, i ate something beautiful. two somethings beautiful, actually.

it came from a truck, but wow. kogi. please, find the kogi truck. order their korean short rib taco and korean spicy chicken taco. TACO. KOREAN. SO GOOD.

i could eat that stuff forever.

short ribs taco

spicy chicken taco

oh my. just the smell alone was good. but WOW SO GOOOOOOD. i was so happy.

but now IM SAD BECAUSE I HAVE A HISTORY MIDTERM TOMORROW AT 8AM! time to study.

KOGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Don't Stop Me Now

2009-03-24T21:27:00.000-07:00

Queen!

Later that day...

Hey! I'm not that tired. Slept 3 hours? Closest I've been to an all-nighter so far. I can't believe I procrastinated that much (I had about 3 weeks including spring break to finish) and I am rather disappointed with my inability to change myself.

So, anyways. There hasn't been been much going on in my life. Apparently, the roommate I shot still has the bullet in him. He's getting surgery to remove it, but he'll be okay.

The outing I'm planning is to go to a national park where you can mine for diamonds. We're going to try to go in costume, i.e. overalls, etc. It's gonna be cool.

a thing for me

2009-03-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

by metronomy

it's getting harder and harder to make time to write here! unorganized things floating around in my head go here.
eiichiro and mirim aren't together anymore. that was fast.
i modded my wii.
i got a videocamera.
jp and joel visited pepp and we went to the beach! my first time at a malibu beach, and it was a good beach day so it wasnt that bad. ( i dont like the beach in general)

ugh. i'm not feeling so fantastic. i've been extremely moody lately. i have exposed my claws (ie my hot tempered side) to people who have never seen them before. that must be scary for them... i haven't really had a super-overwhelming amount of work to do, but theres always STUFF to do, you know? like administrative attend this finish that stuff. and its very strange. the past couple days, around 8 or 9 pm, i shut down. i get emotionally scattered, i want to do work but i cant bring myself to, and i get frustrated with myself. this lasts a couple of hours and usually ends up in a nap to make it all go away. then i can be productive again - but i stay up till 3. hopefully this is just a very short phase.
i hope usc had a good break, and that uc's are having a good one :D
i have to figure out what i'm going to do this summer. cerritos or cypress? job or no job? plus all the little things in between (family vacation... vbs... etc) i like to have things all figured out ahead of time, that's who i am. but it's causing me all sorts of anxiety because theres a lot of things i just can't decide on so early... but i still worry about it. i worry about summer and i worry about being in china... i worry about what i'm going to do for my birthday (riiight before finals - stay at school or go home?)
money worries:

(international programs: add $3,000 to the total)

despite a 10% budget cut for all departments and cancellation of the thailand international program, tuition rates will rise 2.95% to $37,730 for the year. Room and board charges will increase by 3.95% to $9,900 for the year with a basic meal plan.

i lost $100,000 in stocks last year. (i THINK thats what it was…)

(counting my blessings: 75% renewable scholarship on tuition! a big part of why i picked peppy. but i cant believe that most of us are paying full price!)

and to end on a happier note: (talking about my tokidoki wallet i got off ebay)
K: it smells
C: why?
K: cigarette
C: you should demand that you get money back
+ and slap them
+ and post on their profile
+ that smoking causes Mphaseema

and... whats a "bracket"?

Oxford Campus

2009-03-24T03:49:00.000-07:00

Another Vampire Weekend.

Hey guys, I haven't exactly been weekly with my updates like I thought I would. Right now I writing a 5 page essay analyzing a scene from Do the Right Thing, and I having an incredibly tough time. It's too artsy for me, and I just can not phrase anything in a good manner. This was happening when I was not lacking of sleep, so that isn't it.

Anyway, it's a rough week. I've got to deal with housing, planning an outing on the weekend, an as-of-the-moment depressed friend, tax forms, my school specific Odyssey paperwork (I'll tell you more if you ask, but it's not supposed to be everywhere.), and this essay I'm failing horribly at. I can barely hit 4 pages, and I need 5.

I want sleep, but this is my fault anyway.

sometimes i like to change

2009-03-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

aaah i feel so bad i totally forgot to post here for the last two months! but i tried to comment on posts so people check your posts~! i love the new layout btw bernard eheheh ^o^

so you guys probably dont want to hear me ramble on and on about my life so i'll try to keep it short...

1. things have been super crazy as per usual since september. im finally getting a breather cos im on spring break now! my grades aren't too great...some courses here are ridiculously hard even when you put TONS of effort into the class. The best grade ive gotten here is an A- in my film class ehehe d(^_^)b

2. next quarter i am going to be taking tennis. yoga, and pilates courses to work on my new years resolution of exercising more~

3. im not wearing nail polish anymore

4. someone pointed out to me how different i look compared to high school and i realize its true. i think my priorities are a lot different now too, just like my interests.

5. Kgotboda namja is sooo good! watch it. even if you're a guy. you will like it!! pic of kim sang bum, the cutest man ever, is above.

6. current videogame: okami

7. current japanese drama: one pound gospel

i miss you guys a lot! ive met TONS of new people, made friends with a lot of people, and become close to a few. does anyone ever feel like some of your relationships are so superficial? like you talk to them, but there doesn't seem to be a true connection between you two and you dont seek out time to spend together. i dont really know how to explain it well, but it makes me really sad. i would say ive only made about 5-6 new friends that i feel really close to, like i could tell them about myself and we could share with each other...

i have wisdom tooth surgery in 10 hours! wish me luck~!

v(^.^)v

we lost.

2009-03-22T16:23:00.001-07:00

and i am filled with grief. WHY! WHY WHY WHY!!!!!!! we were not supposed to make it, but we did! and we werent supposed to win in the first round, but we did! i was filled with such hope! and we were so close! and then in the end, we lost.

all i can say is, gooooooooooooo pittsburgh! bernard, i'm rooting for your school!

Tears of joy?

2009-03-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

I like the new layout. Just thought you ought to know. The tree is cute.

Have you ever wondered why you cry? When you cry? How you cry? Who you cry for? These are all obviously rhetorical questions, but sometimes we all need a cry. I don't know about you gentlemen and how often you shed any tears, but personally it feels good to cry sometimes. There are those days where everything just builds up and overwhelms you and swallows you up and crying just pours it all out of you. Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's just my lack of sleep that's messing with my system. Maybe it's all the work and my procrastination and just the stress that i realize could easily be avoided. Who knows. Who knows...

Life is going well, for the most part. It's been a while since I wrote in here but nothing has changed much. The family is gone to New Zealand to visit my family, also for vacation, and they've left me here in Delaware to take care of the house. It's not like they didn't want to bring me, it's just that Kallen has spring break now and I don't... so what are they supposed to do? I spent the weekend with Scott at my house. After we drove my parents up to the airport and dropped them off, we just hung around and slept and cooked and watched movies. It was wonderful to laze around and not have to worry about anything. It's those times that make these stressful times so much more stressful in comparison, and these stressful times that make those relaxing times so much more satisfying.

Would you prefer to be happy or content?
To me, there's a certain level of happiness to contentment, so I'd rather be content. Content, to me, means that there's nothing more you could want in life. That life is perfect the way it is at that moment. That's when happiness isn't all about laughing or giggling, but it's that warm feeling in your stomach that glows and just makes you smile gently. Maybe i'm taking it the wrong way, but that's what it means to me.

This weekend is Distinguished Scholars weekend. It's the weekend i came to Delaware a year ago to compete for the duPont scholarship. So we're getting next year's potential freshmen and hoping that these cream-of-the-crop can strut their stuff. I'm very excited, because this weekend was such an important pat of my decision making process and it's such a memorable part of everyone's experiences. All the Dischos I know remember this weekend, so it gives us something to connect with and talk about. I hope i can make it memorable for my people too. We've got a couple girls staying the night, so hopefully Kelly and I make a good impression.

I love technology and it's ability to let you communicate with people over long distances.
Like you guys.
Love you guys. :)

Gealina

new layout

2009-03-16T17:32:00.001-07:00

woot woot.
new layout...hope you guys enjoy it. i also don't know why the "older posts" link at the bottom of the page is gone, but i'll see if i can fix it within the next couple of days.

world wide lag.

2009-03-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

So, here I am in O'Hare International Airport, with my flight to Pittsburgh delayed for an hour, in a random hallway with disgusting elevator music interspersed with announcements and advertisements very much like the ones at 99 Ranch:
"The TSA Security Level today is: ORANGE. Keep your baggage safe by..."
"Calling Kenneth and Gweneth Page to Gate F2 for boarding and lost item..."
"Chicago is proud to be a candidate city for the 2016 Olympic Games..."

Clearly, not life-changing excitement.

The entire plane ride from John Wayne to O'Hare, I was sitting next to this older Chinese guy who just kept mouthing words to himself and shaking his head and writing invisible words with his hand. I just tried sleeping for most of the three hour flight and hoped that nobody would think that he was my father.

I want to upload pictures, but unfortunately I left my camera cable at Pitt.
It was a fun week for spring break. It was nice seeing you guys (and not nice not seeing some of you *ahem*Andrew and David and Ashton*ahem*).

I suppose that even though I don't want to get back to work, I do want to go back to Pittsburgh. Spring break needs to be longer though. I just can't wait for the end of this year. Barcelona, Munich, and Augsburg are waiting for me.

Because Engineers don't wash their hands

2009-03-13T23:32:00.000-07:00

Hi

I completely forgot about posting and stuff.
I don't have much to say, since I've been trying to give up complaining for lent.
Well umm yeah... so school has been pretty whatever, I haven't gone to physics class since the first midterm (I actually ended up doing better on the second midterm), haven't opened any textbook, and I've been sleeping late for no reason. This probably standard college stuff hehe. I'm changing my major from mechanical engineering to computer engineering, see if I like that any better. Before signing up for my classes I went and met up with my faculty advisor (department makes us do this) and we did alll the routine stuff where he asked me (and some other mexican kid who was fulfilling his requirement too) if I was failing any classes, and at the end he was like "any questions?" (in his horrible accent) and I was like "yeah, why did YOU choose to be a mechanical engineer?" and he laughed and said "I don't know, well... I think the question *mumble* *mumble* why you choose engineering?" and I was like " because out of everything offered here i hated engineering the least, but why mechanical?" and again he mumbles and turns to the kid next to me an asks "why did you choose M.E.?" and the kid was like "uhhh... i like engines....."

well i figure i like computers better than engines.

hopefully, one day, i'll run into someone on campus who actually knows what they're doing and is doing it for a reason other than money . or maybe one day I'll be obsessed with money and then i'll be satisfied with what I'm doing. for now I'll just continue to wander the campus in my ever increasing weirdness.

Oh! happy stuff! Kristen, Kristen's Calvin (lol), Richard, Bernard, Jeannie, and I went out and ate! Japanese food (at tc.. if that counts, lol). yay. Bernard and Jeannie left right after lunch. Kristen and Calvin left later, Richard and I watched the watchmen. good movie. awkwardly long sex scenes. worst good ending ever. the ending was very well done, but I hated it a lot. if you saw it already, you know what i'm talking about. go watch if you havent. just be prepared for the awkward sex scenes. take a ds, lol.

umm I miss you guys.

well I'll leave you with a list of things that i've learned since entering college:

-frats: where you go when you need to buy friends (jk hahaha people always get pissed about this one.)

-people don't flush the effing toilet

-people don't wash their hands

-everyone cheats. EVERYONE.

-quiet hours are a joke

-tredmills are a joke. i can run 3 miles under 30 min on tredmill like nothing and i can't even complete two laps in real life.

- whenever something is free, people will always cut the line for seconds even though it's obvious there isn't going to be enough for everyone

-where the heck is the R.A.?

-Orange chicken is by far the most popular item in Panda Express

-if facebook were to change its layout so that it granted people's wishes and spat out free money, people would still complain about the horrendous change.

-There are no bears in riverside (so why is our mascot a bear?)

boys before flowers

2009-03-05T01:15:00.001-08:00

I AM SO SORRIEEEEE I DID NOT POST IN SOOOOO LONGGGGG!!! wait i have to go check and see what i wrote last time {saves draft}
alright, whats happened since jan 27...
I interviewed for Student Media Coordinator in Shanghai and I got the job :) (amanda shen got the RA position!)
I made lots of Valentines and bought lots of stamps to send them!
I applied to/did all the paperwork for Cerritos College this summer (um... its really ghetto. for some reason i wasnt expecting that. AND theyre not offering chinese! but... calvin is really happy when i'm there...)
I went to Kollaboration!!! YAY it was totally weird and totally cool - i had jihan lynn and charles sitting on my left... and i had timothy and ashton sitting on my right! it was a good time. <3 BoA! and jane lui! and all the acts were pretty good ^-^ saw a lot of whitney people too. why are the 09'ers such party animals huh? when we were seniors we didnt hang out in LA and shop at marc jacobs. i want to tell them to enjoy being a kid for as long as possible! they'll get plenty of chances to act grown up later. i dunno i guess it just made me kinda sad to see that. i'm glad that we, in all our immaturity, lived out our minor-hood to the fullest! hehehe
My dad was on TV! it was funny, he sounded like he was on Home Shopping Network hehehe
Eiichiro and Mirim are together now, and Lynn and Charles are ... friends with benefits. so its kinda awkward being aroud them. oh well.
I've been doing really well academically, but thats because I'm a hermit ^0^ But last week was midterms and it was BASICALLY hell. i had a midterm on weds, a midterm on thurs, and a paper due friday (this is right after the weekend of kollaboration + jakes bday...) my midterm on weds was pretty easy, because i studied hard. (i was on self induced lockdown all week but i took a break to play rock band in the caf. the only reason i got up in front of people to play was because i wanted to win the ipod touch. i got 95% on expert :D but i dont think i won the sweepstakes) my test on thursday was ridiculous. Example questions: The two main components of public relations are ___________ of ______ and ______ ___ ________ and ___________. (yeah. what???) orrrr True or False: There are 3000 Ad agencies and 700 PR agencies in the world. Okay there were 25 of these types of questions, worth 200 pts total towards the 1000 pts for the semester. we alllll died. literally F-. Well, i did get the extra credit question, which was: "what is chris browns excuse for allegedly assaulting rihanna?" freaking retarded. i wrote my prof a respectful letter on the back of my test.
then i stayed up till 4:30 am writing my great books paper about hell. (dantes inferno) i love the book but it was bad timing. sigh. its the latest ive ever stayed up. (its impossible for me to pull allnighters...)

ANYWAY now im on spring break, and its great!!! i get to see calvinnnn! (we had a rough patch in early feb, but we pulled through. i love him very much. sorry maybe i'm tmi-ing, but i couldnt help saying it...) its kinda hard though. the week isnt long enough. all my grandparents are here for my sister's baptism this sunday, so i have to balance conflicting interests. I want to.... 1. spend as much time with my boyfriend as possible.... 2. spend as much time with my grandparents as possible... 3. catch up with people i usually dont get to see. I think i have been balancing it all pretty well up till now, but its still a major stress-area. my schedule is so unpredictable and i dont like that. So far i've been hanging with calvin, eating lots with my family (tofu house sooo gooood), and visiting mommies with babies (my former tutor and my youth pastors wife). ooh, also, david estevan and timo visited my house post-talent show. (i wasnt interested in paying $13 to see a lot of people i dont know - the people i was interested in seeing were the people ATTENDING.) the rest of the week looks like it will be... hanging out with calvin, visiting UCSD on friday, and eating lots more. i am going to be so fat.

recent interests:
- boys before flowers. ashton gets me hooked on all sorts of korean things. :( but its so cheesily delicious. cute asian boys ftw. except my sis tells me that the kp's at whs are obsessed with it too, and that makes it wayy less appealing to me. ah well, i'll just ignore that fact. (cognitive dissonance theory, look it up)
- jia jyun myun. i dunno if thats how you spell it. i really want to try this korean noodle. i'm going with calvin tomorrow!! SO EXCITEDDD
- hoodies with ears - kekekeke i am turning into a fob! i ordered one (hope it will fit..) on....
- ebay! - i bid on stuff in class. x.x so cheap... but i've been really good so far. i've only had buyers regret ONCE.
- threadless thursdays - i am kind of obsessed with these hourly giveaways on the fb threadless fan page. and yeah, i finally won $25 gc. if you see fb updates that are me commenting on videos, pls ignore.
- FML! ahhhhhh so obsessed. its added to mymomisafob and mydadisafob on the list of "must read everyday and check like a maniac" links. fmylife.com (only go if you dont have much homework, i'm warning you.)

okay that concludes mysuperlong post. please dont give up on this blog! i check it regularly even if i suck at updating.

AND. OMG. VISIT ME. ON YOUR SPRING BREAK. OKAY? I HAVE VISITED MOST OF THE SO CAL PPL ALREADY. TIME TO RETURN THE FAVOR NOW, KIDS. (i have too many meal points........... T-T)

BYE GUYS I LOVE YOUUU

The Kids Don't Stand a Chance

2009-03-03T19:55:00.000-08:00

Vampire Weekend, good stuff!

So my past few weeks have dragged on, but lots of fun moments here and there.

Two weekends back, I believe, something horrible happened to one of my roommates. He was shot. By a pellet gun. By me, not knowing the gun was loaded. The bullet hit his shoulder. Luckily, it was not that deep, and he should be fine.

I made a Lucha Libre wrestling mask out of a t-shirt. I sewed it together.

SNOW! OMG SNOW!

2009-02-28T15:56:00.001-08:00

IT"S SNOWING HERE! I'M SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS. SNOW!!

13 hour

2009-02-27T14:38:00.000-08:00

so, after two nights of little to no sleep (wednesday night was an hour, thrursday was zero) and a killer review (bad kind of killer, not good) i slept for a grand total of 13 hours.

and it was vonderful.

i remember after dinner i tried to do physics hw, tried to watch some tv, i kept dozing off. so then someone told me i should just take a nap, so i was like, ok. i'll just nap for a bit. i ended up sleeping the whole night. i woke up at 4 something and was like whaat. i was still in my regular clothes. so i changed and went into bed. and slept! i went to "nap" at 9 woke up at 10:30. 9PM. 10:30 AM. IT WAS SO GREAT. i couldve slept more, but i had a lab at 12 and i didn't want to go back to sleep and not wake up in time. but 13 hours?! man, it was amayzing.

AND THE BEST PART IS...i dont have a project to work on for monday, so MY WEEKEND IS BASICALLY FREE! AUGHAUGHAGUAHGAGHGUAGGHAAUGAHGAHGAUGUAHGHAGAAUGUAHGAUGHA! i'm so happy. AND TALENT SHOW! so this will probably be a great weekend.

ahoy!

2009-02-22T00:25:00.000-08:00

hello all,

long time no talk :[
i'm glad to know that you're all doing well :]
and thank you again, kristen, for the cutest letter ever<3 i'm looking forward to your visit here! <3 !

so, updates in my life:
-i realize that 24 hours in a day actually isn't as long as i ever have considered it to be before. therefore, i have been pulling all nighters like nothing. =\ not a good thing.
-i am failing music class.
-it is too easy to cheat in stadium seating classrooms.
-cereal is my best friend.
-people aren't as good as you'd expect them to be.
-planning on taking "naps" past 9 pm just end up becoming an early bedtime.
-i've been reintroduced to the 5th grade phrase "uh durrrrrrr" (include hand motion).
-God is good.
-treadmills hurt my feet and i can't burn off my winter break tummy weight. :[
-i've been sucked into the texting world. (darn you, unlimited..) but hey, its fun. :] anyone that has unlimited text me randomly! i've been able to keep in touch with people, so overall i'm happy.
-i miss you guys.

how's everything with you guys?

i dont know about you guys, but san diego weather is still pretty nice. haha there was liek a week way back when there was rain and coldness and crazy wind chill, but besides that, i'm not really feeling the winter weather. xD ahha i wish california would have weather changes but i'm pretty sure i'm just saying that. :] it's pretty awesome to have pretty much sunny and safe weather all year round. i'm definitely a california baby xD

waht else..ooh, i'm signing up for classes soon (this thursday). it went by so fast! can you guys believe before we know it, we have like 1/3 of the year left (for those on quarter system)?! it blows my mind. where did the time go? is this how life is going to be like from here on out? i guess people weren't lyign when they say time only gets faster as you grow up. haha, i remember when i was younger it would feel like forever to wait 20 minutes for like food or someone to come or something.. but now, its like hey ok 20 minutes, thats how long it takes me to get to class. bah! :[ do you guys feel that? or is it just me? xD

oh right, i was talkign about classes. ahha i'm taking econ 100(more microeconomics), math 20f (linear algebra), music 2c (its gonna be hard), poli27 (ethics and society..but i heard its hard to get into becuase the whole school has to take it and me as a freshman proly woudlnt get in :[.. darn!), and probably a ge class, like cog sci or something. big whoop!

anyways, thats enough about me. hows everything with you guys? :]

love always,
katherine junus

Resolve

2009-02-08T15:26:00.000-08:00

Foo Fighter's song.

So last night at around 3:00 am, one of neighbors pounds on the door. He was drunk and high. He ended up kicking the door in. The door is totaled.

I'll let you know how this goes later.

UPDATE

One of the roommates called the cops to ensure that we don't have to pay for the door. They came by and took a statement. The guy who did it says he'll pay for it though.

I put in a work order to have the door fixed, and as far as I know, no money was exchanged.

Current Location: Delaware, USA!

2009-02-06T08:55:00.000-08:00

Oh it's good to be back. So much to share!

Of course there are all the big adventures where we go to visit the Temple of Heaven and Shanghai and that sort of thing. Sorry I didn't write about Shanghai! Internet there was very sketchy. You'd think that one of the most developed cities in China could afford free internet, but apparently not. It was like 8 bucks a day to use the internet. Lame!

So let me start there. A couple of the memorable things about Shanghai...

They had the best 小笼包 I have ever had in my life. omg so delicious! I wish i had more... mmm...
Two guys came up to me when we were looking at the Bund (basically the port in Shanghai) and asked me to take a picture with them. I was so flattered! They spoke very good Chinese, but I didn't get to practice Chinese with them very much. Oh well. That's okay.
I started hanging out with Scott a lot more. Scott is a guy in my Chinese class (IR major) and I just got to know him a lot better. We get along very well and he takes good care of me. More about him later.
Scott and some of my idiot friends dropped a jar of honey out a 14 story window. Like i said... idiots.
We did lots of shopping. Fun stuff!
We visited Old Shanghai and lots of gardens and things. They're all so beautiful. Can you imagine having your own personal lake in your backyard? God gorgeous.

Then we returned to Beijing where we celebrated the New Year! Oh how exciting it was. Chinese New Year in China is quite the experience. On New Year's Eve we set off a bunch of fireworks outside our dorms. There were so many different kinds and it was so beautiful to see them go up. We went to HouHai Lake which was frozen over. We hung out at a bar till it got close to midnight and then we went outside and watched the fireworks. We jumped into the middle of the frozen lake and watched the fireworks go up all around us nonstop for at least a half an hour. It was breathtaking. It was just amazing to stand there and see the physical evidence of people's happiness that there was a new year approaching. It was just gorgeous to see the sky lit up with dots of colored light and so many people running around and celebrating the beginning of something new. Scott didn't have a wonderful new years... he fell into the lake as we were jumping down and was soaked from his knee down. Now remember that this is the middle of January and it's freezing. So his feet and pants were frozen the poor boy! But he stayed out there. And then I proceeded to crush his heart by turning him down... but things have worked out in the end. Now it's something we laugh about and something we'll do better next time.

After New Year's evening, we just went back and got ready to celebrate the actual New Year's day. We went to the temple to pay our respects, but it was too crowded and you had to pay to get in so we just ditched it and decided to go to the Olympic Stadium instead. Scott and I just walked around and talked and admired the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. They look very cool in person as well. Quite the feat of Chinese engineering. Then we just spent more time together and talked things out. The next day, my aunt took us out to lunch at a delicious buffet. We went ice skating with her friend's son Jack who was very accomodating towards us. That was fun. And then the last couple days in Beijing were just filled with class, hanging out, visiting the last few places we hadn't visited before (Temple of Heaven), and last minute shopping. I really loved my time in China but I'm definitely glad to be home too. It's so nice to be able to understand people and not have people expect you to speak Chinese just because you look it. Whew!

So my love life (again) has changed significantly. Steven and I broke up about a week and a half ago. I told him I could potentially be interested in another guy and he was upset and didn't want to have to deal with me and my indecisiveness anymore. So he broke up with me. And that's all for the better. Scott was chasing after me and while I was with Steven, I couldn't say yes to him. And although the timing was really bad since it looks like I'm just jumping from one boy to the other or maybe that I'm cheating on my boyfriend or something, that's not the case. Steven and I had our problems that we never really approached head on, and now they're not problems anymore. Scott really cares about me and he's so much better for me than Steven ever was. There's just the difference in the way he cares and takes care of me and makes me feel better about myself instead of making me feel guilty all the time.

Scott is such a sweetheart. He's completely different from Steven. He's much more confident and self-assured, and I have no idea why he likes me. I'm just completely baffled. But he does, and he shows it in his actions, the way he teases me, his words... he makes me happy. He treats me well and while the timing is completely wrong, we're going to try a relationship. We get along very well and I love his family. They're from Argentina so they're very physical and boisterous. It's a lot of fun to be around them. He gets along well with mine too; my parents like him which is such a change from Steven. He gets along with my friends, another big change since Steven would never really try to get along with the other people I loved. While he's an IR major and i'm a Biology major, we have enough in common to get along and our personalities compliment each other very well. We talk things out and he's a very honest and trustworthy man. There's so much I could tell you about him, but I'm sure you don't want to hear about that. Just know that I'm happy. :)

The spring semester starts in a couple of days. I know you guys have all been in school already, but it's just about to start for me. I've got a busy schedule with 18 credits, Freshman Fellowing, Dupont-ing, and general hanging out-ing. Busy busy busy!

Miss you guys! Hugs and kisses all around

~Gealina

totally tfs but

2009-02-03T01:02:00.000-08:00

i really need to tell someone this. my threadless shirt is coming on friday! i'm so excited, because its like the perfect ending to this really stressful, really bad bad week. my reward for getting through this week (if i get through it)

so my project requires wood. modeling out of wood. requiring going to the woodshop and using their power tools. power saws and everything. i used a jigsaw today. it almost killed me. anyway, so i cut all my wood pieces. it takes me 3 hours but i cut it all. i was so happy because i knew what i was going to do for my six wood models and i had everything cut perfectly. i go back to studio with my box of wood. i talk to my instructor, and just like that he tells me its all wrong. i have to add something to it, that i basically have to add to all my models. meaning all my measuring, all my cutting, all my planning wasted. i was crushed. i died. and he didnt even help me figure out what to do. because he left. he came back later on, which i guess was nice of him seeing as how studio had been over for an hour or two. he said to me, oh i was worried that i may have freaked you out. and i was like YEAH. i'm not going to say oh, its ok. it obviously isnt. i was mad i was so mad. he says some lame stuff to me, basically repeating himself, and then he has to leave because his wife wanted him home. so i'm stuck. project due on thursday, i won't see my instructor at all anymore until then. kill me this is killing me i really dont know what to do.

so hopefully things will work out, and then on friday when class ends at 2, i'm going to go straight for the mailbox and get my shirt. i'll probably eat lunch first though, but when i open it up, it will be amazing. and i will be so happy.

wouldnt it be ironic if the shirt gets held up coming from illionis and i dont end up getting it on friday. that would kill me.

my shirt, though oh man. UV INK! mr. roboto goes sightseeing

have a great week amoebooties.

My Year In Lists

2009-02-01T19:18:00.000-08:00

So, I don't think I've posted in forever. Or I have, but I had said I'll post about my Winter Break.

Well, a month later, all I remember of winter break was that I wish I could have hung out more. But I'll try anyway. I came home to a surprise birthday party, my first party since 4th grade! And people at my house for the first time in ever. It was so nice to see almost everyone again. Thanks you guys!

A couple days later, at December 24th (?), I went to Joshua Liong's Christmas Eve party. Saw David, Estevan, other South Side people. It was a good time.

For the next two weeks, I don't recall what I did specifically. I visited people, meet up with Allen, Michael Fan, Justin Sy, and Gary for go-karting and really really good Korean BBQ. Saw Michael Sok for Korean BBQ after 6 months of saying we're gonna go eat it. Went with family to do stuff, and had lots of good food.

In between all this, somewhere I went biking with Tim to try to stay somewhat fit. Pictures are facebook. It was fun, visited anyone still in Cerritos. Biking makes your butt hurt. A lot. That's about it for my winter break.

Back at school, not much. Went to Fayetteville for a day last weekend. It was fun. Besides that, connecting with my geeky friends, letting my stomach readjust to the change in the age of the food. One dinner was "Beef Stuffed Bellpepper" and the next day's lunch was "Bellpepper Steak with Oriental Beef". Seriously?

Missing home, missing the Amoeba. Toughing it through this semester to hopefully a 4.0.

Happy February!

2009-02-01T17:42:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it! January is over! This year is rushing by fast! Summer will be here before we know it!

I've been trying to think more positively these past few weeks. I think it's really working...on some level. =]

Who else here wants to live life like Calvin and Hobbes? To never grow old? ...he doesn't exactly have friends, but we'll ignore that part.

Anywayz...i just wanted to say that I REALLY MISS YOU GUYS!! I hope your have a great rest of the weekend!

-Jeannie

I CROSSED!!

2009-01-29T16:58:00.001-08:00

I am officially an active member. Months of work have paid off!! pictures to come...

deja whoa

2009-01-27T17:32:00.000-08:00

funny story. so today i went to check my mail, and i started turning to my whitney locker combo - -' that has never happened before! and i know it wasnt just a lil oopsie, because 43 is very far away from 22.

in other news, i am sick. symptoms include body ache, coughing/phlegm, fluctuating body temp, lack of energy, difficulty breathing, and scratchy throat. dont catch this one, kids.

Spring Breaks! (from what ive gathered so far)
Feb 28 - Mar 8 Pepperdine
Mar 7- Mar 15 UPitt, Hendrix
Mar 14 - Mar 22 USC
Mar 21 - Mar 29 UCLA UCR UCSD
Apr 6 - Apr 12 Cerritos College

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

2009-01-25T22:05:00.001-08:00

Hey guys! Happy Chinese New Year! It's the year of the ox!!!

Hope your new semesters are going well =].

elvis parsley!

2009-01-23T10:57:00.001-08:00

check it

2009-01-22T20:17:00.000-08:00

hey guyys :]
it's week three for us here, and midterms are coming up next week. :O
i'm not gonna lie, i've been pretty overwhelmed. its 9:00 pm annd i know i have stuff i have to do. but i feel like just kickin it..and going back and being around people i know wont change. friendships that will always be. andd, what better place then to the people who know me as i am..who just get me? hahaa. i know its been pretty difficult for me to juggle everything.. trying to stay in touch with old friends ( i'm not going to lie.. i'm doing a horrible job), meeting/getting to know new friends, plugging myself into academics (im doing pretty poorly there too haha), having a social life, finding a church, lion dance practice and a job.. just LIFE. hahaha xd
overall i'm glad though, it seems like everyone's doing pretty well. college.. is still interesting eyy. ahha
So just two pretty basic things going on in my life: school and church :]
this 2nd quarter of school only proves that college is gonna get tougher (well its not like i ever doubted that) but yepp i just like to state the obvious i guess xd
yeah i dont know. i know what this requires of me.. i just gotta commit more cuase my classes are getting pretty tough. music is actually pretty difficult.. aahh. writing.. i just gotta sit down and think. econ.. its econ. but midterm coming up! and math.. is pretty anoying. i hate vectors! but midterm coming up too.
CHURCH: i've been church hoppping (its a phrase we use here.. i duno if you guys use it) which is like checking out diff churches to see which one you'll settle down at. and i guess its kind of hard for me since i'm trying to choose between two i really like. my sister attends one of those churches, life, and im just trying to see if i like that church becuase my sister is there.. or if i really like that church. on the other hand, the other church, hope, i just attended a retreat with them and i like it too. HMM. hope or life? hahaha
its hard to maintain old friends and make new ones. (again with the whole stating the obvious thing xD)
cafeteria food is getting old.

overall, life's good.

I REALLY MISS YOU ALL.

are you guys going to homecoming?
check it so i was totally down to go to hc and i was talking to my mom and i reminded her like hey whitney hc friday night so i wont be home (i'm going home htis weekned) and she was liek wahtt we have a family dinner type thing .. and im liek wahtt :[ so yeahh hopefully if anyhting i'll come late to the game hopefully thats aight xd hahaha

MKAY. payce loves :]

-katherine

what is green and sings?

2009-01-21T11:49:00.001-08:00

Current Location: 西安，中国

2009-01-17T05:15:00.000-08:00

Hello from the ancient capital of China: Xi'an!

I've only been in smoggy Xi'an for a day and a half now, but it's been fun. We went to see the terra-cotta soldiers today and boy are they a sight to see. It's amazing that they built ~8,000 lifelike soldiers individually for one emperor. Granted, this guy is considered one of the greatest emperors of Chinese history since he was the first to unite all of China, but still. That's a lot of work. We went to the National Factory where they make real replicas of the warriors with the real terra-cotta clay and fire it the same way and whatnot so now I know how they did it. The head is made separately from the body, so the bodies are usually made from a cast and then the heads individually carved. It's really cool to watch, plus to see how much they invested in the protection of an emperor during the afterlife.

In a couple of days we'll be going to Shanghai, which will be lots of fun!

I'm not going to lie, I feel like the party going member of the amoeba group. I don't mind hanging out with people who drink (people are hilarious when they're drunk) and I accept people who smoke although I don't approve of it myself. I've probably had more alcohol than all of you (this is an assumption, feel free to prove me wrong) and i've been exposed to so much second hand smoke since we got here in China. Darn the people who love to smoke, even in tiny rooms such as bars, cafes and elevators. Who smokes in an elevator?!? I would never smoke, but I've tried a couple of drinks. I had an apple pie shot, and sips of a couple of mixed drinks. It's not my thing, and I like being in control. Plus, I can act drunk if i want to so it's really not much of a problem.

I've been getting along very well with pretty much everybody in the group. It bothers me a little bit when people talk about others behind their backs, criticizing them and whatnot. Because I just don't see what a lot of other people see. Maybe i'm just naive and ignorant, or maybe i'm more accepting, i don't know. It does really annoy me when people don't respect their surroundings and the culture. I'm all for being loud and obnoxious, but there's a time and a place. Usually not in a historical site. We're here to learn about China, not to ogle the little babies and make fun of their relics. Thanks guy, you're really representing America here.

Oh and it's also embarrassing/funny when people really think I'm Chinese (which i guess i am) and think i can speak it and go straight to me when i'm with 3 other white guys; all who speak better Chinese than i do. >< Laaame... but that's why I need to learn. So i can live up to those expectations that people have of me. I've got the pronunciations down, it's just the flow and the vocab that I need to work on. So i'm working!

I agree with Kristen; about not knowing where your home is. I had that problem when I moved to Delaware. My heart was still in California, but my physical being was in Delaware and it was much more difficult to maintain relationships with you guys from that distance. And now that i'm at college and it's even more difficult to keep in touch, you spread yourself even thinner. But I've found that home is where the heart is, and magically that can be in a lot of places. I still consider myself a SoCal girl at heart because that's where my roots are, but I have connections and history in Delaware now and i'm proud to be from there (it doesn't hurt that i go to UD and it makes it easier being from Delaware). I have my family from SoCal (you guys) and my family from Delaware (Steven), and although you guys are all far away so i can't see you physically, I can still talk to you and maintain those bonds. And then there's the college family; friends who know what you're going through in college and who you spend most of your time with, but who don't quite know all of your history and how you were 5 years ago when you wore bandanas as your fashion statement. You can't make the same jokes or references, but at least you have that with someone else.

Having several families is a good thing; you can pick and choose who you want to be with as long as you work to maintain those relationships. Being friends isn't easy, and I'm so lucky to have great friends like you who really invest in a relationships and work hard to keep it up. I wish I could come back and visit more often, but with so many exciting things going on in college, I might not be able to visit till August! Maybe not even then; who knows?

So that's my little lecture for the night. I'm thinking i'm going to go out tonight because one of our really old but loveable professors is going to go out to a bar and that's something I don't want to miss. I'm a little sick right now (which isn't fun) so i'm going to try to come back early, take some medicine and get some good sleep. Ugh, my nose is stuffed up like a clogged drain. Disgusting.

Wish me well!

~Gealina

But, Honestly

2009-01-16T21:02:00.000-08:00

But, Honestly by the Foo Fighters! Last one was Muse.

Okay, so we are at Target, and we're walking around the toys. Yes we do that. I even found the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Megazord, the one from when we kids.

There is a section with a bunch of somewhat realistic animals, and Alex says "These things are just a little too realistic." And I hold up a sow, complete with nipples, and agree. I look up at a unicorn Pegasus, and lo and behold, it's got all the parts. All the parts.

Caleb walks up and I'm holding the unicorn and I ask, "What do you notice about his unicorn?"

"Its got junk."

Holla Back

2009-01-16T15:47:00.000-08:00

I've been putting off an amoeblog update for several reasons, among which are lack of time and the overwhelming prospect of recounting my life since the accident. (That sounds a bit more melodramatic than it should.)

.... It's actually still a bit too overwhelming. I lost my loquacity just now.
Here are some fun things that happened over break:
1. Got a rental car, insurance is paying for it
2. KARAOKE WITH YOU GUYS!!! sooo funnnn~
3. Calvin's birthday. Dude, he is old.
4. Rock Band. (lots of rock band.)
5. Amovieba! (Magnolia sucked, but being with you guys was awesome)
6. Christmas parties
7. Hanging out with family
8. Christmas! (new phone, camera, clothes, etc)
9. New Years Eve, calvin coming back just in time
10. Hanging out with Amoeba members randomly (tim and richard biking, ashton ucla, andrew mac)
11. Church retreat

And here are some things I've been struggling with:
1. Where is home? School isn't home. Church isn't home. Home even isn't quite home. Things keep changing while you're not there, it's not a vaccuum that stays frozen till you get back (like Toy Story). Who are my real friends? What do I need to do to keep those real friends? Which friendships should I be investing more time and energy in?
2. How will I even find the time and energy to do all that? I dropped a class this semester because all the work was overwhelming (18 units+TA job down to 14 units+TA job). But STILL, every spare second of the day I am reading for class. All my classes are small and have heavy reading assignments, and I spend all my energy trying to keep up. i do try to go out with people and have some semblance of a social life, but it makes me fall behind in reading, so i always feel guilty. Meanwhile, I have lost the ability to carry on a decent conversation on AIM. It makes me feel like a jerk when I realize I've been ignoring people while I was reading for class. And I wish I could ask all these people "How are you doing?" and be invested in them, but I am scared to doubleclick their names because I know I'm just going to end up making them feel ignored! To top it all off, Calvin has been jetlagged from HK for quite a while now, and I know he's trying to fight it, but he falls asleep on me fairly regularly. And his classes are when I don't have class. So it's hard to have a good conversation, even with my boyfriend. The whole thing is really frustrating, and I don't know what to do.
3. Smoking and drinking. Well, I know I don't want anything to do with either of them, so this isnt necesarily a struggle, per se. But I struggle with what to tell my friends who do it. They know I disapprove and I try to communicate that with love. But it's surprisingly difficult to be the party pooper. I am encouraged by the fact that each time they spent the night doing that stuff, I ended up happier than they. I admit a tiny level of curiosity - but I am 100% sure that it's not worth it to find out. I've been spoiled - I've only ever had close friends who are model children. (you guys lol) And I loved that we could have SO much fun, and not need any of that crap to help us have fun. As I told ashton the other day - All I need to have fun is good friends and bad jokes. So its been a very interesting process becoming friends with people who are slightly deviant :P

Alright I am totally not going to be able to finish my advertising reading today x.x But it was worth it. You guys, please keep posting here, so I can stalk you :) I care about how you are, and all the little details of your life.

hugs~

random reply to bernard

2009-01-16T13:58:00.001-08:00

um, my psychology class is about 150 students...it's definitely not small =p. We're in this humongous lecture hall, which I think is kind of nice. Small classrooms are sometimes too stuffy and make me feel claustrophobic. You should see my bio lecture hall though. We're stacked like books on a shelf.

I had astronaut ice cream today! I bought it at the California Science Center! Anyone else had it before?

-Jeannie

Happy really really belated New Years!

2009-01-15T13:59:00.001-08:00

Hey guys! I can't believe that it's the start of a new semester already! The weather's been warming up here at sunny USC, so it's a great start so far. I'm taking psychology this semester, and it's really fun! My professor is just so enthusiastic and hilarious, so it makes the lectures really interesting.

um...what else? There hasn't really been much.

I moved out of my old dorm; my new room is 2011B. Long story short, I couldn't sleep while my roommate snored =P.

USC has an anime club and an Asian Film Club! I just found out the other day, and I got really excited! AHHH!!!

Well...that's pretty much it. Hope to see you guys over spring break!

-Jeannie

Greetings from 北京，中国

2009-01-13T19:56:00.000-08:00

你们好！

It's been over a week since we arrived at Beijing Normal University and since then we have been going non-stop with classes, sight-seeing, and of course shopping. We've hit most of the big places so far, with only a few more to go. We climbed the Great Wall (and man was it great), walked through Tiananmen Square and marveled at the Forbidden City. We've shopped at 王府井 which is a major shopping district, Silk Alley, and visited the Antique Market. So far, I've discovered I am awful at bargaining and have now designated other people to do it for me. :D In addition to these trips we've had people come to teach us calligraphy, brush painting, play traditional music, and watch movies together.

Classes have been going fine, except it's a lot of work to pile on in such a short time. Talk about cramming; a whole semester of learning crammed into 15 days? I don't know if it's possible. So we had a test two days ago and we've got another one tomorrow. Not to mention quizzes inbetween. Plus all the activities we've been going to and that leave little time for anything else, although we manage to do it all anyway.

Yesterday was a friend's birthday (he turned 21!) so we celebrated by ordering a cake and going out to a club. That was a lot of fun. And luckily, women are free on weekdays. Who knew it was so good to be female?

So basically this trip is a whirlwind of fun, socializing, cramming, drinking (not on my part, but plenty to make up for it) and getting to know people better. It's difficult to keep track of things on a day by day basis because things go so quickly and i have lost all sense of date and weekdays. I'm meeting a lot of new people and getting to know this group much better. It's like having my own family, I already think of two boys as older brothers. They take care of me. So I'm in good hands, although I miss everyone out there and wish there were an easier way to communicate! I have oovoo and skype (and obviously internet) so i can keep in touch anytime. The time difference is 13hrs ahead from the east coast so 16hrs ahead from SoCal.

Have a great second semester everybody!

~gealina

eprops

2009-01-13T17:34:00.001-08:00

to whomever (whoever?) can name the play that this is from

"Traino, I burn, I pine, I perish, Traino"

and the movie that its quoted in as well

eprops guys! i really like this line.

btw, blog para mi? si o no?

PUblic Service Announcement

2009-01-11T19:57:00.000-08:00

I have not posted on this blog in forever! Mainly because it was nearing finals and nothing happened. I'll blog about Winter Break soon, but I'm tired.

Why? Because the flight back to Little Rock was ridiculous. I woke up at $:30 to get to the airport. I get there alright, try to go up the first-class escalator, security went fine (I had to take off both my jacket and my hoodie!), then when I board the plane, the plane waits in the gate for 30 minutes.

I didn't know there was an escalator only for first class passengers.

So I get to Chicago, and have about 15 minutes to get to my terminal, and I make it in 5. The Chicago International airport is nice. It has McDonald's, unlike the Memphis one, which I don't like. Anyways, 5 minutes prior to boarding, they announce that our plane is at a different terminal. I have to walk there and wait another 30 minutes to board the plane. On the plane, the pilot announces that the plane needs to be de-iced, and it would only take 10 minutes. An hour later, we finally take off.

I'm tired and didn't eat till dinner. Oh well,I'm gonna sleep now.

Here's to a fantastic new semester! I'm not being sarcastic, and let's all do our best!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand

2009-01-11T17:03:00.000-08:00

i'm back!

at school, of course. just want to say break was super fun with yall and lets go back for homecoming! hooray!

and to those far far away, i pine for your return.

stress

2009-01-05T21:26:00.000-08:00

it's actually been a while since i posted here, hasn't it?
well i'm taking a break after my first day of classes back. it's been a long day.
mostly cause i don't think i'm used to being back to school, and there's a lot of things going on in life right now.
i'm looking for research here at pitt and also applying to internships for the summer (it's like college apps all over again--CVs and essays and letters of recs and transcripts and OMGAUGGGHHHH...hahaha jk about the last part, i'm not dying *just* yet).
trying to get some things taken are of on this side of the coast. it seems while gealina's away in china, i'm the only one left on the east coast. o_o. wow.
more apps and essays to take care of--i'm planning to visit germany this summer for two weeks with the school (and along with that, friends here at pitt). hopefully i can also arrange for stuff because a group of us also want to visit spain (barcelona?...o con el titheo! barthelona!) that's all the way in april...but apps due next week, and after that, housing apps for next year. wow does time move by quickly.

and speaking of time...happy new year! it's been a memorable year.
OH EIGHT!
jan-feb/homecoming, finishing up apps, hearing from colleges.
mar/visiting pitt, sadies, livin' la vida for senior year.
apr/robotics world championships in georgia! prom: hollywood premiere!
may/senior retreat!
june/grad night, graduation!, sunset, grad parties.
july/teaching, more memories.
aug/sports festival, funny business ;), farewells and goodbyes, 18
sept/pitt, new faces
oct/rave, fallingwater!
nov/thanksgiving, college memories
dec/finals :(, more crazy nights, coming home, FRIENDS and FAMILY.

i loved 08. it was certainly a great year.
and now for 09--all this stuff to do now is all prep for something, right?
jan/inaug
feb,mar/school! more stuff...
apr/end school, spain
may/germany
june,july/internship?
aug/ last year as teen...
sept,nov/more school
dec/hk <3

To new beginnings!

2009-01-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! It's been an eventful year for us all, I'm sure, what with graduating from high school and our first terms in college. I don't know about you all, but 2008 has carried some very precious memories for me.

January was the beginning of a new year and a couple of deadlines for colleges. I'm so glad that period of our lives is over and don't envy the seniors going through the process now. In February I helped put on our winter show: The Foreigner, which was a hit and I had a great time stressing out over college admittances and tech week all at the same time. In March I was able to go to Okemo, VT with Steven and some friends and we had a great time skiing and bonding in the snow. Trips with your friends are always more fun, and this couldn't be truer. April was the beginning of tennis season which was a lot of fun; I moved up to 3rd singles and had a great time getting closer to the tennis girls. May was testing and decision time, figuring out which college to go to and taking our final APs. I was debating between Wellesley and UD (since UCs would've been out-of-state tuition) and eventually decided on UD where I am very happy. And finally June, the end of our senior years. It was a happy and sad time. Time to say goodbye to all the great friends you've made in high school (although I've kept the best) and the next step on our journey through life. My graduation ceremony was bearable, our speaker (Scott Falin) wrote an amazing speech and once it was over I couldn't get out of Tatnall fast enough. I flew to California to see you guys where I shed a couple of tears watching everyone walk up and receive their diplomas. Congratulations to everyone who survived multiple years at Whitney High!

Finally the summer. After four long years of high school, a summer with practically nothing expected of us was quite welcome. I spent my days hanging out with Steven, reading, trying to stay cool, volunteering at a lab at UD... all that good stuff. August brought about another trip down to SoCal where I finally gathered the guts to cut my hair and get bangs (which I can't believe I didn't do sooner) and drive up to NorCal to visit family. We gathered for our family reunion and then flew back to begin the first term of college. Scary! I went with Steven to UMich to help him move in and say goodbye. It was a tearful departure, but I'm glad I was able to see him off.

Packing up everything was quite the chore, but by September I was all ready to move in and start classes. I met a lot of people and miss many more, but college is definitely a great time of our lives. By October, college seemed like a breeze, getting into a routine and everything. Every week I kept getting to know more people and the same people in different ways. I love my floor and hope that the atmosphere keeps up into next term next year. Then November was momentous with the Presidential election and as a time for family and friends to get together again. I was very lucky this year and was able to spend the holiday with some of the people I love most! Jefe and my floormate Lisa came with me to Steven's house where we cooked and talked and played games. Steven's family was gracious enough to accept us into their festivities like family. I only wish I could do that every year. And finally December... with finals for everyone and Christmas and presents and seeing old friends again! I got to see Jeannie and Yi and spend time with people from the past as well as say goodbye to many of the new friends i've made in college.

Now it's the New Year. 2009! Woah! We're old. Do you remember when it was 2000? Y2K? We've come a long way since cell phones and internet. Now we've got the iPhone and Skype and all that good stuff.

I'm going to be in China for the next month, from Jan 3 till Feb 3, but I'll be using Skype [username: gealinadun] (and maybe Oovoo [gealinadun]) and AIM [gealinadun]and gtalk [gealina08]. I would love to hear from you all anytime (although I guess the time difference would be a little difficult. Oh well.) I'll try to keep the blog posted on my adventrues. With pictures too!

Happy New Year to you all! And good luck with the upcoming term! I hope you've had a wonderful vacation and I miss you all. Hugs and kisses!

~Gealina

so magnoia...

2008-12-28T21:56:00.000-08:00

is a lame lame movie.

andrew showed up first. and then my mind goes blurry and all i can say is bernard, kathrine, no bernard, kristen, bernard, and estevan are at my house. andrew brings chips, salsa, and an american eagle bag, which he forgot. bernard brings cookies and ice cream and a box of goods. kristen brings movies, one of which is the lamagnolia. kathrine brings nothing but herself. richard brings apples to apples to go! estevan brings the dark knight.

which he left at my house. you should come pick it up.

we eat. my madre makes strawberries (!) and we eat them. we eat. and play apples to apples to go! kathrine wins. richard had the afro card, estevan had winston churchill, kristen was laughing so hard at nothing and wanted painkillers. kathrine wins amoebas aaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. we choose a movie.

andrew has never seen a walk to remember.

but we choose magnolia. and waste a good three hours of life. lool. raining frogs was the creeeeeeepiest part. close second was when jimmy or danny or whatshisname the quiz kid falls on his teeth. AUGH! the bart or brad or something the bartender with braces was pretty creepy too. creepy!

estevan leaves in a hurry, during the dark of the movie. doesnt tie his shoelaces! forgets his movie.

andrew's phone rings at funny moments and his ringtone is funny too. he leaves, and the movie ends. right at the same time

i finally open bernards card. WOW! tanks barnyard. geode too! you're like the geodude. geodude. did you know if you turn geodude upside down he looks like an old man? pokemon go!

i'm sad that people are leaving. but i'm glad for who showed up and suffered through the lame lame magnolia.

i've been thinking about what i would do if i were in stanley's situation. i think i would just run off stage and go pee. in the bathroom. i felt sorry for him.

thanks for bringing fun you guys. made me so happy.

WILL MOST OF US BE COMING BACK FOR HOMECOMING? i hope so.

and estevan, come get your movie before it gets mixed up with mine.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2008-12-24T21:16:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to one and to all!

I hope you all had the opportunity to take this break and season to spend some quality time with family and friends, for what is Christmas but the season of giving, love, and family?

You guys are all my family, so I'm disappointed to be unable to spend the season with you, but you're all in my thoughts and wishes. I hope you are all in good health and high spirits and receive everything you hoped for plus more.

Love you all! *HUGS!*

Greetings from a Winter Wonderland

2008-12-22T21:54:00.000-08:00

Hello! (says Gealina). Hello! (says Jeannie).

Jeannie: Hey! You can't shove words in my mouth!
Gealina: Well I've got the computer. So HAH yes i can.
Jeannie: We can change that.
Gealina: Not without a fight. NYAAAAAH :PPPPP
Jeannie: I change my mind.
Gealina: Good choice. Now let's get down to business.
Jeannie: To defeat the Huns.
Gealina: Did they send me daughters
Jeannie: When I asked for sons?
Gealina: You're the saddest bunch i've ever met
Jeannie: But you can bet before we're through
Gealina: Somehow I'll make a maaaaaan out of you. HAH!
Jeannie: I have nothing to say.
Gealina: ...
Jeannie: Hahahaha *giggles*
Gealina: ...
Jeannie: Umm... Hi guys?
Gealina: Greetings everyone! We bring tidings from the far East of Utah.
Jeannie: We tried building a snowman but it looks like a tree stump.
Gealina: I had no part in this matter. I was asleep.
Jeannie: *snort* Like always. Until like... what midday?
Gealina: Hey shush. I like my beauty sleep.
Jeannie: And yet you're wasting your time here when it's 11pm.
Gealina: Eh who needs sleep?
Jeannie: Um... well it's kind of important.
Gealina: Naaaaaah.
Jeannie: What's exciting that has happened?
Gealina: Nothing. It's been snowing a lot though. And cooking... and just the general familial-ness of having everybody together.
Jeannie: Familial-ness?
Gealina: Yeah. It sounds about as cool as probabilistically.
Jeannie: Numb3rs!
Gealina: We've totally become addicted.
Jeannie: You type really really fast man.
Gealina: It's a skill.
Jeannie: Oh great.
Gealina: Yeah. I can pretty much keep up with your speech. Or at least i think i could if i tried.
Jeannie: Oh yeah do this. Oh darn i wanted to say something really really long but it just doesnt work that well. Well the other day i saw this porcupine and then a deer came up and it was eaten by this wolf... umm... show-off.
Gealina: I try. Don't worry, that was just a story guys. No animals were harmed in the making of this dialogue.
Jeannie: How do you know? You weren't there.
Gealina: Honestly, how many porcupines do you see in Utah?
Jeannie: A lot okay!? I was the one who drove here in the car on the car trip, okay?
Gealina: Okay. Fine. Back to the topic at hand. We're here to enlighten the other amoeba-ians of our going ons.
Jeannie: I like that word. Amoeba-ians. We should have our own currency.
Gealina: I like that idea.
Jeannie: Amoe-dollas
Gealina: I like it. We shall trade in stories and amoe-dollas.
Jeannie: What happened to the topic at hand?
Gealina: You're too distracting. Ahem. So. Life is good. Jeannie?
Jeannie: Yes.
Gealina: That it?
Jeannie: You want more? We're having a great time. It's snowing... and we're bored. We're so bored that we're posting this extremely long conversation.
Gealina: Yup. This is what we do to keep busy.
Jeannie: I think this conversation has died.
Gealina: Okay. Bye guys! We'll kill it while it's still only almost dead.
Jeannie: That's our motto?
Gealina: Yup.
Jeannie: *nervous laughter*
Gealina: We'll post more when we're bored again.
Jeannie: Like now.
Gealina: No we're done now. Remember? Killing it?
Jeannie: Okay okay fine.
Gealina: Now say your goodbyes Jeannie.
Jeannie: Bully. Goodbye.
Gealina: Ciao. <3

guess who is heeeeere!

2008-12-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

guess. GUESS!

and my world came tumbling down

2008-12-10T19:58:00.000-08:00

kick butt on finals, guys. finish your FIRST semester of college STRONG. and then come home to me! :)

fyi, i am happy. i finished finals, did well on all of them, and finished my paper early today so i could go home before everyone else!

its just that... everything around me is breaking! my bro threw my laptop at the wall a few wks ago so now it stutters sometimes when it starts up. my camera suddenly stopped turning on a couple days ago. my phone battery isnt holding charges and the 9 button has trouble. [as in, today i called 9-9-9-9-9-9-9-1-1] and then, the icing on the cake. (or the anvil dropped on the cake.)
i was happily driving home, since i left early enought to avoid traffic, but there was still a little traffic on the 10E. stop and go. sooo all of a sudden the lady in front of me brakes, and i break kinda hard, but i stop in time - it wasnt even a close call. but as soon as im stopped, i hear SCREEEECH and then BANG! i pitch forward, my gps falls, everything falls, my hand hits the dash knob, and i didnt even realize until like 10 seconds later that i'd been rear-ended. i was in shock, i started shaking uncontrollably x.x since it was in the middle of the freeway, i was like crap i gotta get to the side. the car in front of me started pulling to the side and i tried to follow but i pushed the accelerator and it didnt do anything! my engine revved. i was like ohhh craaaap! but then i tried again and this time the car moved. there was no shoulder on that freeway so we were in an actual lane. apparently when the car behind me hit me, it pushed my car into the car in front of me. dude.
so we all got out, and i was shaking, and the guy who hit was like 'ARE YOU OKAY??' and i was like 'yyeeahhhh' and he said 'well, thats good. thats the most important thing.' and i asked the lady in front of me 'did i hit you?' and she said 'yeah, look!' and there were scratched on her bumper that were an outline of my license plate x.x but she was pretty sure it was cuz he hit me, it wasn't my fault. when i got out of the car, i walked back and my bumper was totally off. except for it held on by 2 screws on one side. so we exchanged information... license, insurance, name... but i forgot phone number/address :( my mom scolded me later for that. i was so shaky, i just got whatever info they wanted from me back from them. and they didnt ask me for my phone #! i called 9999911, and they connected me to CHP, who sent people. that came like 45 minutes later. so the three of us were just chillin. good thing that my first accident happened with pretty nice people, not hysterical or accusing or anything. the guy in back of me, his car was totally dented in the front. the highway worker guys showed up and blocked off that section of the freeway and then moved us further to where there was a shoulder. then they wired my bumper back on so i could drive home. the police did a report, and asked me a lot of questions that were kinda hard, like 'how fast were you going' and 'were you stopped when he hit, you, or stoppING' my brain was in a blur though. but yeah they were pretty cool, stopped traffic to let me back out and all. sighh. then, since the lady had given me some water because i was shaky, i had to pee. so i stopped at the next exit to find a bathroom. a mcdonalds. in the MIDDLE of LA. mm shady. and i got out of the car and this black homeless guy approaches me and i'm like 'sorry!' and i ran into mcdonalds. i didnt want to deal with more. asdfasdkalsdjalsdfa.
i finally got home at 5, really hungry and tired of sitting in traffic. [i was going to eat lunch when i got home!] i had to straighten everything out in my car...

but i'm glad to be unhurt but for the bruise on my hand. i'm glad my car is sturdy and protected me. i'm happy to be home and be done with my first semester of college!
i love you guys, cant wait to see you all! (will you drive me around? xD)

Ode to a missing roommate

2008-12-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

So how are finals going for everyone? We don't start finals until this Friday. I have on at 8 in the morning. Loooovely...

Well there have been a couple of major events going on around here. First, I switched roommates. No longer am I Tracie's roommate, I am now Kelly's roommate! And things are great. There was a lot of drama in the beginning because kelly and i wanted my room cuz it was on the more social end of the hallway and it was just better in all ways possible, but we've adjusted very well to her room. And lots of people come in here now just to talk to us and it's such a good feel. And the layout is different so we've got more room and we still have the chairs! So people still come in to talk to us and chill. It's great. I love it. And kelly and I just get along better, we understand each other better and we're more outgoing so it just works. I was a little bitter at first because I was the only one that lost things, like Tracie stayed in the same room and got a roommate that has more similiar habits, Lisa got away from Kelly and also got a better roommate, and Kelly got me. And altho I love Kelly, the room isn't as good and I kinda felt that I (although I brought up the switch) was pushed out of my room. And i was made to be the bad guy. So that didn't feel good... and for a while I didn't want to see tracie or lisa. So i went home. My mom went back to China so I went home to spend some time with the family, but i was also able to get away. I missed a lot of people coming to visit us and the new situation, but i just needed the time off. In the meantime, Kelly wrote me a whole poem! It was so sweet and very long. I mean how can i not love my new roommate who writes me a poem when i go home for the night?

There have actually been a bunch of roommate problems surfacing at the end of the semester as people realize that they can switch roommates. The problem between Kelly and her roommate Lisa was resolved cuz we switched but others have problems with roommates and alcohol usage, boyfriend usage, and just general crabbiness. It's very sad really... because some people are trying to switch but their roommates dont want to switch or move or anything and so they can't force them to do it... so they might just be stuck. Which sucks. Stuck sucks. Rhymes.

Second, I'm back together with Steven. I don't know if you all cared about that, but I'm just gonna let you know about my love life anyway since that's usually a topic of curiosity. We're doing fine as a long distance couple so far, and he's coming home for the holidays before I leave for Utah so I'll get to see him for a while! And then we'll spend New Years' with his family so i'll get to see him before I leave for China too.

Third, umm... picking class schedule? I'm going to be taking 5 classes (18 credits) and two labs. oh boy fun... i have Chinese III, Chem, Bio, Stat, and English. Fun fun fun... I have 8 oclocks on tues/thurs and then 9 oclocks on MWF... oh what have I gotten myself into? But i end by 2 every day, so that'll be nice. Then i'll nap and wake up for dinner. Hehehe... at least that's the plan...

Fourth, study abroad trip? Can't wait! I can't believe the semester's almost over and I wont see a lot of these people i've come to know and love for 8 whole weeks. That is a loooong time... and then when we come back we'll have different schedules and it'll almost be like starting over again. At least it will be in terms of meeting people in the classes. I'd like that though. I need to get out and away from this floor more.

I'm getting a new laptop! This old one i've had for ages and it's almost falling apart on me. It's been loved to death... poor thing. I'm not thrilled about getting a new laptop because i love this old one so much, but the props about the new one will be a working microphone and integrated webcam! So i'll finally be able to talk to people online. Especially when I'm in China and the phone bills are expensive, that'll be so useful.

Oh by the way, I'm totally into writing letters to people in college. So if people wanted to give me their addresses I will definitely write you a letter.

Happy Holidays everyone! Give more than you receive, and it's the thought and heart put into a gift that count the most.

Love to you all! <333
Gealina

lula, girl of my dreams.

2008-12-04T18:07:00.000-08:00

my nails are crazy. love it.

LAST WEEK OF CLASSES

2008-12-02T15:42:00.001-08:00

Hey friendlings! I can't believe it!!! It's the LAST WEEK OF CLASSES!!! And this is my...second post =[. Yes, lame, I know. I've been reading all your entries though! Just couldn't find anything...to top your stories =]. I've attached a picture though!!! Yay! It's a photo of Kam Tam (I think that's his name) at the marine intertidal zone we visited with our bio class...ages ago. It was so fun! One of the guys, Kinyan Woo, found a shark egg! The professor cut it open and an actual shark slipped out! It's the orange spotted thing in the second photo. So beautiful!!!

Aaand...i should go finish my WRIT 140 essay now. Good luck on finals, guys! Can't wait to see you guys over winter break!

-Jeannie

100th post?!?!?!

2008-12-02T14:12:00.000-08:00

the weather. [chilly, foggy, gloomy]. it is soup weather. it is nap weather. it is scarf weather. it is NOT studyaheadoftimeforfinals weather.

i had a really fun thanksgiving break. monday went out for crepes with family. tuesday hung out with calvin and peeled veggies for soup (i love peeling veggies btw.). wednesday went to south coast plaza with mom to get our macs fixed (neither of them were fixed. but we got stuff from H&M and ann taylor so i guess i cant complain :P). ALSO went to see twilight with calvin tim and andrew. yay andrew! (i forget what day it was, but i think it was wednesday. ashton and richard dropped by my house without warning, so the doorbell rang at 11/12 at night and i thought it was a serial killer and that i was going to get shot, so i hid and waited till my dad answered the door. lol.) thursday we cooked, played with cousins, and ate. ate a lot. friday family+calvin went to buy a christmas tree! we always buy a really big real tree. i love how it smells. calvin and i did most of the decorating because my sister decided to take a nap. most of the christmas decor went up as well. at night there was a potluck at my house so i, being antisocial like i am, decided to ditch after a while and retreated to my room with my computer and a new episode of Vampire Knight. Then calvin texts me asking where i am, and i said 'upstairs hiding from the noisy party' and he said 'im downstairs' so the night turned out well after all. i love surprises. saturday i went to ross with my mom and sis. dress for less! :D found a leather jacket (imitation but feels very real) for $10. chyeah. went to old navy for a bit. went with calvins family to dim sum. then when we were almost done, my family shows up and joins our table. ahaha random. awkward. fun. everyone speaking canto :/ but i understood most of it.... in context. paul and torrence were messing around and got half the tablecloth soaked. but the employees didnt mind. calvins famil always gets special treatment because his dad is a canto pastor. we played bball at the park with calvin and his bros and some other guys from church. after one game, calvin got bonked on the head, scratched on this nose, and he sprained his ankle. yyyeeeeahhhh. sunday went to church and brought crutches for calvin. ditched sunday school and went to lunch with calvin channing and tim mok instead. dropped channing off at home, stopped by fancy box to buy a pencil, and then watched half a season of scrubs at my house. drove back to school at night and stayed up decorating the suite/room.
pictures, you ask? why, of course! (also included - one hookah picture. im not allowed to post them on fb! they dont want anybody to see them smoking. so dont tell, okay?)

lack of a first person pronoun

2008-12-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

it's snowing again.

miss you all terribly.

it was a bit sad not being able to see you guys on thanksgiving.
life is difficult, yet fun. finals are coming up next week, so time will fly by, hopefully.
it'll be fun to come home for the holidays (december 14--just can't wait!).

thanksgiving was quietly enjoyable. there was thanksgiving dinner with my parents, which was ordered from the supermarket, so it wasn't as good as homemade food, but there are no complaints.
you guys all deserve thanks for being such awesome friends, and blessings and best wishes for collegiate life and for finals.

thanksgiving break also consisted of:
eating out with parents at applebee's and india garden.
fixing danielle's laptop because she spilled water on it at 1 am thanksgiving day. talking to friend tom online after fixing laptop until 6am.
eating with danielle at lulu's.
cooking and eating homemade chinese food (dumplings, rice, baozi, sausage) at the honors dorm with friends.
spending over 24 hours at the honors dorm (not dorm of residence) working on a paper, studying, making two powerpoints, and mostly talking to friends (mainly tom, danielle, and kelvin).
sleeping.

once again, miss you all.
wonderfully.

Final Stretch

2008-12-01T11:50:00.001-08:00

Welcome back to school!

Not.

I woke up this morning at 9 am got got 3 1/2 pgs of a 10pg rough draft finished. And i skipped my first class to do it. I know i know... i'm not a good kid. Good thing it's only a rough draft. As the semester has been going on, my work ethic has diminished exponentially. Which is the inverse of the amount of work and value of the work i've had assigned. :| oh well.

Happy (belated) Turkey Day my friends! It's been a long weekend and oh so unproductive. I'm sad that I wasn't able to see all of you, but I had a wonderful Thanksgiving nonetheless! I'm so grateful that I have all of you wonderful people as friends, friends who are willing to make the effort to keep in touch and maintain this bond of friendship even thousands of miles apart. Amoeba is like a living thing, each of us is an organ (do amoebas have cell structures?) and we all work together to make an amazing organism. :D We're all so lucky to have such great friends and families and the opportunity at a great education!

Keep it up and keep in touch!

-Gealina
P.S. That was my lame attempt at sounding profound and thoughtful. Did it work?

what day is it?

2008-11-27T15:55:00.001-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING MY FUN(NY) AMOEBOOGERS!

i am so thankful for each and every one of y'all because i know that if i hadn't met you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you, then six years of my life would have turned out veeeeeery differently. who knows what could've happened? i could have turned into a thug or something :D

even though some left early (ahem) and some came in late (ahem ahem) i feel so happy and lucky to be able to call all of you mis amigos fantasticos. hooray! hooray amoeba! hooray!

thank you recently, ____________________, for...
andrew: going to the movie yesterday. i haven't seen you in so long!
ashton: that one time we talked on oovoo for a long time
barnyard: not coming back over thanksgiving. it makes me anticipate your return and winter break even more!
david: that time you called me thinking i was tim mok. loooooooooooool
this van: being like the only other art class taker in the amoeba. even though you chose the inferior one...
gealina: posting on the amoeblog so i can feel like i know whats going on in your faraway life
hilean: being so elusive. now you can tell me all about your life when i see you
jeannie: a hug every time we see each other in parkside
kathrine: putting pictures on facebook to give me something to look through when i feel like procrastinating :D
kristen: visiting me ( the ONLY one) and introducing me to my new love, strawberry c. i think about you whenever i buy one! twilight laughs too!
zimothy: frequent hilighter letters between twins and a hendrix mockingbird in your hair!

what a great group of guys and gals! tanks for being you!

electric feel~

2008-11-24T23:57:00.000-08:00

what happened in the last 14 days? phoooo.....

- i registered for classes. this was stressful. i woke up at 6:30am and was refreshing my registration page at 6:59. thankfully i got all the classes on my list. (of course, "list" refers to list #5. i had to revise a billion times as classes filled up.) next semester i'm taking greatbooks2, theater appreciation, intro to advertising, communication theory, and religion101. NO 8am CLASSES! < that is pure beauty, right there.
- i went to retreat with the garden church. it was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. but i had a really good time, met a BUNCH of new people (mostly from ucla), and enjoyed myself thoroughly. they play the insane-est games. we also did a musical skit competition, mine is uploaded on fb. timothy loves it.
- i played basketball with charles eiichiro and jihan. i suck so bad compared to them, but it was fun, i played hard (not like a girl.), and i was sore for 3 days afterwards. wimp.
- did well in school. i did decently well on Econ, so i am now done with that class. yay for no final! i am doing excellent in calc. my teacher really likes me because i am a good student. for one test, i overslept and got there half an hour late, and i still scored a 96%. the class avg was 50something%. that is why i am home right now. i got to drive back early since i dont have to take the retake tomorrow! nerd ftw!
- i went to the counseling center. i'm not depressed, i just had the blues. but it was so nice to just tell her everything, especially since she knows what she's talking about. :D
- i went bowling from 10pm-1am. (i now have sore arm, and sore left buttcheek[tmi sry]. WIMP.) and then eiichiro says 'i dont want to go back. lets do something else'. so they decide they want to go hookah - -' 2am, we went to this sketch gypsy cafe in westwood (SOUNDs sketch, doesnt it?) and they had hookah, i got a mango smoothie. but they brought me raspberry by mistake. so i got to drink both. :D i did try the hookah. i figured, why not. its legal and i definitely wont get addicted. my grandfather passed away from lung cancer of course i will not be a smoker. it was alright. i handled it well because since i have an inhaler i am used to having stuff in my lungs that is not... air. tasted pretty good i guess. but not worth the health risks. did you know that hookah is just as bad as, if not worse than, cigarettes? people think its less harmful because its filtered in the water, but that is a very common misconception. ironically, at the end of the night, i was the happiest out of the group. everyone else was lightheaded and felt like crap. :D we got back to school at like 4am hahaha.
- i went to Agape Lunch with the garden church. they basically split the whole church into smaller groups that are hosted for lunch by the couples. my host family made KILLER turkey!!! i hate turkey, but i discovered that its because turkey is very hard to make, so the only turkey i ate tasted bad. i also got to talk to a lot of the adults. they had very interesting things to say! most of the families/young couples are VERY successful in this church (own companies or work for fortune 500s), and the people i talked to were very willing to be resources for us young folk. yesssss :D connections!
- i did other stuff too. stuff that i am forgetting. stuff that is not reeeally worth writing.

oh. if you have a favorite flavor of odwalla, do let me know! i have a gajillion meal points i have to use up. (visit me so i can treat you!!)
peace out.

N-N-N-NEW YORK GIRLS COME ON YOU KNOW YOU'RE HOT.

2008-11-24T21:45:00.000-08:00

Haylooooooo everyoneee! im so happy people are posting on here again i felt like the only one for a while.... ahahaa so i havent updated in a while cos ive just been reallyyy busy...right now i should actually be writing a paper due tomorrow ahahahaa....but im blogging so here we gooo

so kristen visited me here at uclaaaa!! she was beautiful as alwayss and i got to see pepperdine which is soo different from ucla in a good way. it's so peaceful, you guys should visit her there!! i cant wait to see you guys im so excited for break I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN MYSELF WOOOOT!!

so ive been really busy with a lot of frat stuff tooo... I got my Big a few weeks ago and we went to dinner after Revelations and they made us take an olive oil shot...which is supposed to be bad but I thought tasted really good!! the people here are so great! i went to tina's bday party and everyone was so crazayy it was so fun to be able to hang out with them outside of official frat activities!! I've been doing a lot of fellowships and service too. tomorrow im going to sushi at yamato's which is supposed to be really good and cheap! i went to LGN too which is called looking good night. basically you dress up and eat dinner then there is an afterparty... i chaired an interchapter event at the getty last week which was purtayyy hectic but okay and then the day after went to UCR for Miss APhiO, basically a fundraiser where guys dress up in drag and dress in lingerie and dirty dance ahhahaahaa that was fun!! we're also doing something called airband, which is pretty much a 6 minute dance routine. we're doing hip hop, swing, chinese dancing, cheerleading, and a lot more! it's super fun and physically taxing. yesterday i got dropped on my head while doing a backflip i thought i was going to pass out but thankfully i didnt >"<

the picture of my knees up above is a pic after ice skating last saturday! i went ice skating for the first time and i fell A LOT but all my brothers helped me to learn to skate and so im so grateful!! you cant see the bruises but they are pretty baddd ahahaaa the morning after it was so painful to move my legs.

i signed up for courses last week! next quarter im taking math 31b, chem 20b, and intro to american film!! that's a 4 hour long class twice a week, so its pretty grueling but im sure it's gonna be great. its for my film minor. my next pass is on friday at 7:30 am so i have to wake up early the day after thanksgiving!!!

for thanksgiving my usual family get together isnt happening cause the usual hosts are gonna be in sanfran so im going to a sushi bar instead how sad, huh?? anywayyss what are everyone's thanksgiving plans?

im going to be doing my nails reallyyy crazy soon, so ill post pics! im so exciteddd

so i cant wait for winter break! college is great and everything, but i just need a rest. there are always people everywhereee and always stuff to do. lately ive had absolutely no time for studying or homework because by the time i get back to my dorm its really late and im exhausted...above is a pic of my calendar! its crazayyyy

what does everyone want for christmas? please respond i want to start shopping now!

i love everyone and i hope you're all doing well~
xxx
ashton

The Most Amazing thing happened today

2008-11-24T15:19:00.000-08:00

The most amazing thing happened today, no, it wasn't an opportunity to transfer out of here... but it was something almost as awesome! Starbucks spelled my name right! WOWOWOWOW. It says Estevan! No Esteban, Estefan, Esteven, Steven, Estaban.

yeah that was it.

I thought it was pretty epic.

That's really the face I made when I got my cup. I'll make it my facebook picture in celebration.

O and by the way, eggnog latte is pretty darn good, it tasted a lot better than I expected it to. Pumpkin spice latte is also very good, it tastes just like pumpkin pie yummmmmm

Want To Break Free

2008-11-22T16:01:00.000-08:00

It's a Queen song! Queen is awesome.

It's been a while since I last posted, three weeks in fact. Wow, I never noticed that. Sadly, not particularly much to fill you guys in on.

The biggest thing that has happened was when I went to Texas with my roommates and our friend Lauren. I drove part of the way there, and it was really nice to be driving again. Texas freeways are nowhere near as clogged as L.A. freeways, but there is some jamming. Arkansas freeways are almost never bigger than 2 lanes per direction.

We got to Alex's house, and his house was massive. And he lives in the small part of town apparently. We passed by a massive house, and it was like comparing Whitney to a normal high school. It had its own fountain. We went to Whataburger, which is not as good as In n Out, Chipotle, which was great, and Luke's house. He visited us earlier in the year, and we stayed the night. We made breakfast that morning!
On Saturday, we went to a giant book warehouse. It was great, like a Costco full of books. I was like a little kid in a candy shop.

We went to an Irish pub, it had really cool music. I didn't drink though. We alos went to a mall that day, and sat in a bunch of massage machines.

I entered myself into a Sword Club assassins game, where you have to "kill" everyone else on the list to get points. I'm not winning.

I'm coming home soon, so I'll see everyone then!

Third Wheel

2008-11-21T21:11:00.000-08:00

Har-row!
That's how we greet each other in the hallways. It's kinda cute. We have a cute hallway. But enough about that.

Tonight I'm spending the night in Maryland at my roommate Tracie's house. She brought along her boyfriend Derek (whom i lovingly call Der-Der). Therefore, I am the wonderful third wheel.

I don't know how many of you have roommates or suite-mates with boyfriends/girlfriends out there or whether you yourself have a boyfriend/girlfriend who comes to visit you/whom you go to visit... but maybe you can understand how I feel. Tracie and Der-Der sleep together every night either in my room, or in Adam's room (Der-Der's roommate). So Adam and I feel like kindred spirits when it comes to sleeping arrangements. It's not that we don't like our roommates, it's just that since they're so.....cuddly.... it's a little bit awkward. It's like sleeping in a room with a married couple. Uncomfortable. We're both afraid of walking in on something (i'll let you use your imagination there) which makes things awkward and uncomfortable for everybody. I need new adjectives besides awkward and uncomfortable, but that's what it is.

The other day Adam and I were talking in the hallway about who was going to get "the kids" that night. He had them the past three nights, so I offered to take them. It was like striking a deal. "I'll take monday thru thursday if you give me the weekend off." "Deal." I felt kinda bad talking about them like that. But that's kinda what the situation has become. It's uncomfortable to be around the two of them because you get the feeling that they just want to be alone and you feel as if you're invading on their private time. It'd be so much easier if they had their own room... But Tracie and I had a talk about it... and honestly it's fine if they sleep together, but it's mostly the walking in on something i'm most worried about. I mean i really don't want to see my roommate in the throes of passion. That's just scarring.

I guess what i'm trying to tell you lovebirds out there is please be respectful of your audience. It's great that you're in a happy relationship and cozy and in love (i'm actually quite jealous that you can be that close), but think about how it makes other people feel too. If you want to make out, get a room. Holding hands and hugging is cute; smacking lips and steaming windows is not. I dont want to be a hypocrite because I know i've been cuddly with my beau, but you've got to understand the boundaries of public and private. If you're one of those with a significant other, talk to your roommate to see if it bothers them. Even if they say it doesn't, come up with a system that'll let them know "i might be busy..." whether it's a tie on the doorknob or the curtains pulled closed. It might be a little embarrassing to admit that you're getting action and your roommate isn't, but it'll save you a lot of trouble in the long run. And don't take advantage of your roommate. I've heard stories of people getting sexiled and having roommate's boyfriends over every weekend with no reprieve... it doesn't make us happy. We just don't bring it up.

Other than that... enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It's the holiday season, time for love and happiness and thankfulness all around.

<333 Gealina

Just another rant from the biggest (actually the smallest, lol) whiner in Amoeba

2008-11-20T12:44:00.000-08:00

SO I'm back, and I'm ranting. What about? Food. Yes, food. No I'm not going to preach some false PETA driven vegeterian this or that and how all you meat eaters should repent from blah blah.. It's just simply about people taking my food.

So today I went through my standard OCD routine: I wake up at 6:30, go running/exercising, eat my cereal, go to class and then after class I head to the convenience store to buy my vegan hummus sandwich (which is the only real vegetarian option there). So ya, it's 11:00 and it's time for my scheduled meal (i've scheduled meals cuz if i eat when i'm hungry i'd prob go days without eating and because i'm ocd like that and because in rare occasions if i don't eat at the specified times i get super hungry and binge eat and go through hell..) so I walk to the C-store (as it's called here), go in, walk towards the back, and guess what? NO MORE VEGAN SANDWICHES. so in my head i'm like ready to have a panic attack because I know that every time this happens I end up starving, binge eating, and going through hell (i've found that what i call 'hell' closely parallels what most pple call anxiety attacks..). so I think, quick! what are my options? so i look around and I see, tuna sandwhich, turkey cheddar, roast beef, and turkey cheese blt. so im like '...'. but then I remember, the salad bar, there is a freaking' salad bar! so i go over there and like a small salad is like $5.. and I only have like $3... so like I'm already starting to feel hungry and I'm like quick! grab cheapest sandwich before i go into binge-eating mode so i grab the tuna and a banana and get in line... the line wraps around the whole store.. wtf. so while standing in line i ask myself, wait, there are like NO vegans at riverside.. why the hell are we out of vegan sandwiches? and then I start to think back of all the times I bought a sandwich, and started to think about all the other people who were grabbing the sandwiches and realized.. they're all girls! non-vegan girls! (they would always carry a non-fat yogurt, or milk, and a lot of them would have some sort of hot dog or something) so naturally, i came to the most negative conclusion: a bunch of stupid girls who are either fat or think they're fat are taking all my vegan sandwiches so the can feel better about themselves! WTF! so by the time i'm out and in my dorm (like 1 hr later) I am sooo in binge eating mode, so i rip the package off my tuna sandwich and take like 3 huge bites before i feel like i'm about to puke, of course I already knew this because meat digesting enzymes which humans develop after eating meat for so many years disappear when turning vegetarian (because these enzymes are not inherent in human beings cuz apparently when looking at our evolutionary history, meat-eating is a relatively new phenomenon) so I throw the sandwich in the fridge and I down the banana in like a second and then continue on to a microwaveable rice packet which I had stashed in my dorm and when I'm done (like 30 sec later) I still feel hungry, but now I feel bloated, nauseous, and get friendly visit from my good friend, chest pain.

So this brings me to my rant, why the hell would you freaking (i use freaking in place of more colorful vocabulary to not offend you all) take vegan sandwiches if you're not vegan? I mean, eating a vegan sandwich after you downed a giant chillidog is not going to make you loose weight. This applies to the salad bar too, eating a salad after you ate 1/2 lb. steak isn't going to make you skinny you stupid.. person! Stupid people taking my only source of nutrition so that they can feel better about themselves and then have an excuse not to go to the gym and workout. So next time I see a fat (or actually more times than not, skinny) girl taking a vegan sandwich I'm going to be like 'thanks a lot you fat ..person! thanks to you, i have to skip meals. you're fat and hopeless so quit taking my food and go run to your dorm and cry while you eat cookie dough because you're not a frkn vegan and you shouldn't be taking the vegan sandwiches and making vegans starve or how about working out once in a while? why don't you just go to the gym, go on the treadmill for 5 minutes and tell yourself you're making some progress to feel better just like everyone else here and quit screwing over my life?' Of course, I would never actually say that (because the girl would probably eat me on the spot, jk n_n), I would just shyly smile at them and go on about my business and continue going through the same inescapable cycle every frkn week.

so next time you girls are thinking of eating a salad even though you're craving a steak please remember that later on some starving vegan is going to run in looking for his salad and will end up eating the stupid steak and end up puking and... ok i'll stop now. but seriously, none of you are fat, not even close, so quit taking the vegan options and eat your steak!

o that brings me to another thing, I will no longer identify myself with vegetarians or vegans. I'm sorry if this offends anyone but a lot of the vegetarians I meet are hypocrites as in they went vegetarians for the animals yet they still eat dairy products which are a result of torturing cows to a higher degree than they are when they're slaughtered for meat. And as for vegans, they've all just been plain crazy, I really don't understand them. I talked to one vegan who was so don't hurt animals and what not yet she was still pro-choice, I didn't feel like arguing because I know that generally the highly intellectual, open-minded, pro-choice crowd do a 180 and begin to resemble their pro-life counter parts whenever discussing abortion (with the shouting and yelling or irrelevant phrases and all that good stuff), but I just failed to understand why you wouldn't eat honey cuz it kills bees but you're ok with stopping a beating heart. well, as my college experience progresses so does my understanding of the world, although I'm starting to think it's a very skewed understanding, one which resembles that of Holden Caulfield's (which btw, funny story, I was in the bathroom the other day and i found someone tagged 'McCain is a racist!' and other... more interesting stuff.. haha). so with that I will leave you guys again, in my crappy mood, to start on my art history hwk because my calc professor thinks it's funny not to post homework until two days before it's due.

i miss you guys :(

i love proper punctuation

2008-11-19T01:27:00.000-08:00

Dear John I want a man who knows what love is all about you are generous kind and thoughtful people who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior John you have ruined me for other men I yearn for you I have no feelings whatsoever when we are apart I can be forever happy will you let me be yours Gloria

can be intepreted in TWO ways...

WAY ONE!
Dear John, I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, and thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. John, you have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we are apart. I can be forever happy. Will you let me be yours? Gloria

BUT WAIT! THERE'S STILL WAY TWO!
Dear John, I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, and thoughtful people who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. John, you have ruined me. For other men I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we are apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? Yours, Gloria

wow! oh the powers of little dots, curvy things, curvy things with dots, and capitalized letters. hooray punctuation!

lol.

2008-11-18T16:57:00.001-08:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

jake made this of eiichiro and charles. let me introduce you to my new friends - -'

SNOW!!

2008-11-18T14:18:00.001-08:00

It snowed today!

just thought i'd share the love. <3

Gealina

Good Morning America, It's FRIDAY!

2008-11-11T18:58:00.000-08:00

WAHOO!!!

Slash not. It's a Tuesday...but that's what came into my head at the moment.

Soooo... life! Lots of things going on this weekend and last weekend and next weekend and the week before that and the week after that... lovely eh? So what's been going on with life? It's halfway into November but I haven't talked to people in ages... since before Halloween at least! So let's go chronologically shall we?

Halloween:
Fun night. Beforehand I went out to dinner with Keith, Lisa, Tracie and Derek all from my floor. It was so much fun... Lisa's dinner ended up throwing up onto the sidewalk (no she didn't throw up... the leftovers decided they didn't like the bag and proceeded to spill everywhere). And Keith and I were doing high knees and butt kicks on the way up to Main St. What a workout! And then at the restaraunt there were people dressed up and one was Sarah Palin! hehehe funny. Afterwards I went out as a cowgirl with my chicas Kelly and Carley and Edgar Alex Petras (who goes by all three names so I never know what to call him) to Petras' theater party. It was fun. There were several gay guys there and it was so entertaining to see them. Two were Adam and Steve (instead of Adam and Eve. Clever!) and another was Britney Spears. He pulled it off so well! I wish I had more gay friends out here... they're always so much fun. After that us three girls left and headed to the Frisbee House, a major party house. That was all right. There wasn't really any dancing anywhere which was very disappointing... but the next night (Saturday) there was Fright Night which was dancing! So we danced the night away. That was definitely a lot of fun... it's so much more fun to dance with your friends than drinking or anything.

Friends:
Blech... anyway my friend kelly is amazzzzing. with the extra z's too. She wanted me to write that. :D I've definitely gotten closer to a lot of the people here. I've had several nights staying up late just talking to people (Keith, Carley, Kelly, Krissy, Sarah... it's been great!) Kelly has become one of my best friends, we always hug and cuddle and stuff and then just girl talk is such a relief all the time. She's a poli-sci major but very down to earth and very passionate about politics. She's a hard core democrat so she has a lot of the same principles as i do. I've also gotten a lot closer to Keith who's also a democrat. But he's a music vocal major and he's got a beautiful voice. He's funny and such a performer, i love the kid. I've gotten a little more distant with Eddie, he's just too busy all the time and we're just too alike and too different in all the wrong ways. But at least we're still friends. I've gotten to know people through Kelly such as Carley and Sarah and Krissy and other amazing people. It's just cuz Kelly is so cool that i get to meet all these super cool people. But i also feel like i need to go into Harrington B and meet more of the people there. I'm trying to branch out! So the friend life is good. Keeping busy and everything... too busy sometimes!!

Hiking:
Last sunday i went hiking somewhere in Pennsylvania. it was 9 miles of chilly leafy rock stepping which was a lot of fun actually. I went with 7 of the dupont scholars and it was just good conversation, strenuous exercise, and beautiful nature. The views out there were gorgeous and the changing colors makes for a spectacular view. So that was a great day, I felt so accomplished! Climbing to the top of a hill will do that to you.

Legend of Sleepy Hollow:
Last Friday i went back to Tatnall and saw my friends in their show. It was a children's play and very cute. It was definitely good to see everyone again. I also brought my friends (Keith, Lisa, Derek and Tracie again) and showed them our amazing theater. So that was fun! Then afterwards there was a Decade Dance which was even MORE fun than the halloween one because there were more fun people there! Too many people were out partying on halloween but this week the people there were cool and fun! It was great.

Voting!:
Tuesday was voting! as everyone knows... I went back to Tatnall (again) because it's my polling place. It's also Joe Biden's polling place and i had juuuuuust missed him! Such a shame. But a lot of students got to see him vote and go into the booth and everything and there was a whole crowd outside the school cheering for both Obama and McCain. It was fun to watch and the school was getting a lot of publicity what with all the reporters and cameras around. So that was quite an eventful day. To say that Biden voted/s at my old high school! pretty coooool. And then the results of the election? How awesome is it that we get to say that we were a part of that momentous moment in history? It's like being alive for the first man on the moon or Martin Luther King. We're alive (and got to participate!) in the election where we elected the first black man to the presidency. No longer is it a white male dominated field... even women and african americans are stretching that stereotype of American Presidents. Quite amazing. Kelly (aka hardcore democrat) was soooo excited. She was running up and down the hallways (meanwhile i was completely knocked out cuz i was so tired) and there was even a mob going around outside celebrating the victory. Oh not to mention what a landslide! Hopefully Obama can live up to his expectations... because America definitely expects and hopes for a lot from him.

RAD:
Rape Agression Defense class. It's a self-defense class that teaches women techniques to help them protect themselves from getting raped. It's very interesting and while a lot of it seems like common sense, it's still good to know and have these things in your belt. I dont know how usefull it'd actually be... but hey. it doesn't hurt to know this stuff. So we've learned defensive stances, different kicks and strikes and how to throw someone off you if you're on the floor and what kind of techniques to do if someone's choking you and that kind of thing. Next week is simulation and then we're done with the class! So those stalker boys out there had better watch out cuz i'm armed and ready!

Past:
Ahhh... so what else has happened? Well tonight I had a DiScho dinner where we cooked Jambalaya and cornbread (delicious!!). A couple weeks ago i got together with the dupont freshmen and we all baked cookies for the Honors department and Dr. Munson (a chem prof who hosted a bbq for all the duponts and alumni!). That alumni stuff was a lot of fun. All the DuPonts have done so much stuff it's very intimidating what we have to live up to... but it definitely pushes me at the same time so that's one of the reasons i'm glad i came here. Otherwise i'd just be an ordinary jane... but here i have someone to emulate and things to work towards and i have a sense of community i dont think i'd get anywhere else. I love it. <3 Mmmmm... so we made the cookies for them and it was a great success! Hopefully we get even more perks and therefore will make more cookies for them. hehehe. :D I've been working on crocheting a blanket for Drew (also on my floor) but i think i'm going to keep it for myself. Last last week on wednesday i was a UPenn for an interpretive dance company. it was an interesting performance and I wish i had gotten to see Jefe... but it was just not to be. He's coming over to my house for Thanksgiving so that's very exciting!

Future:
I've got a lot of committments and plans for these next few weeks and until the end of the semester. It just seems that everything and everyone's getting so busy! This weekend is Keith's Opera so we're going to see that. Then Saturday my arts forum is going into New York and going to the Met (i've never been there before) then we get the day free before we meet up again to see Osage County. It's supposed to be very good so i'm very excited. And I hopefully get to meet Kelly's friend from Yale and Chris is a New Yorker from Staten Island so he wants to show me around too... excitinggg!! Then I have a lot of things to do for my China study abroad trip... and then the weekend before thanksgiving i'm going with Tracie down to her house to see her high school's show! That'll be fun too. Then there's thanksgiving when Lisa and Jefe will be spending the weekend at my place. How exciting!! I can't wait to hang out with a Whitneyite again... dangit i miss you guys so much. I'm working on being myself and doing what feels right and i'm building a friend base that will let me do that. so yay! And then december there are a lot of things planned too... but you'll have to wait till then!

Whew what a long post. I should post more often so the entries aren't as long... but there's just no time! I'll try again next month at the latest.

GOOD NIGHT AMERICA, IT'S TUESDAY!

--Gealina

2008-11-11T02:42:00.000-08:00

ok. ok. ok. ok. ok. ok...... ok.
so i'm posting yayy. Amoebans rejoice because I'm so important!!
so it's been a while and through Kristen's wrath, I've been convinced to post. UCSD is really interesting. you know, university of the socially dead. So big events past.. halloween, midterms, stuff. well i've been listening to a lot more music. so many types out there i've realized. i kinda miss a lot of people. new people are great and all, but yano... i've also realized i'm getting worse at formulating sentences as my writing teacher pointed out when he gave me my grade on my last paper. frick... Oh. i've practically stopped cussing, random slips here and there but it's to be expected, i may be Korean but i'm only human. I owe thanks to Tim Mok who'll never read this post but might as well. k so halloween, i dressed up. yay. half-arsed costume i wore. See, my initial plan was to dress up as Kim Jong Il. Then I needed a jumpsuit of the right hue, more fat on my face, glasses, poofy hair, etc. Too mach wark. So instead I went as an abused husband. Had a bruise under my eye and sunglasses to wear during the night to cover it up. ahahahah =D. comment on this post congratulating my creativity!

Midterms were fail. that's all I have to say.

Ey guys, remember how i posted a blog once that one time long ago? well if you don't remember I don't really care. What I DO care is I can't find it again. ok random rant.

SD is really chill. Not only is there nothing to do, I also get to meet hobos! at bus stops! at night! yay! he tried to talk to me. i have this tendency to make eye contact with random people, even when i don't want to. ok. ok. ok. ok.

well i know this was a horrible post. and.... i should think stuff through before i type. k night.
knight ahaha. -.- i'll post a more coherent post soon enough.

strange things go on around here...

2008-11-10T16:52:00.000-08:00

this is just random but I had to post it. SO today I was like going to the restroom and I go and well ya know, grab the wax paper cover or whatever when I hear chewing. yes, chewing. WTF? there are only two toilets in the restroom (what I always hate about guy's bathrooms) and they're right next to each other so I'm there and i can see from the guy's feet that he's sitting down.. and he's chewing.. quite aggressively... so I kinda walkout quickly. who the hell eats while they're... sigh, nvm. sometimes I think I'll never understand other people.

that reminds me of another thing, I think that vegans should get their own restroom. I seriously don't see why I have to suffer from the smell that meat-eaters produce in the restroom. seriously. wtf. it's amazing what comes out of these people..

O another weird thing that happened today some random girl (/woman? she looked kinda older) went up to me and shook my hand and told me that i looked like someone she knew (haven't heard that one before...) and then she said 'nice to meet you' and walked off without even introducing herself..wtf? you can't say nice to meet you if you just exchanged two words and didn't give a name..

so yupp, strange things.

Danza Nohtenki For Clarinet, Harpsichord And String Quartets

2008-11-10T01:10:00.000-08:00

what? thats a perfectly legitimate song title. from ouran soundtrack. ouran ftw.

sighhh. i feel really icky right now!!!! like i remember i was a very happy person yesterday... i dunno what happened. today i just feel blah. i miss home, i feel like crying, i'm bored, i dont want to do any work, not hungry, my mouth hurts from my huge kankersore, i feel lonely.... sighhhhh. maybe i'm just being moody. but maybe its good. ive been having so many good days lately, maybe i need a bad one to encourage me to appreciate the good.

i had a good week/end.... scored some brownie points with my great books prof by visiting his office after class, figured out next semesters schedule (no morning classes. period.)

friday i went home, took calvin and my sister to the mall, and scored free underwear from aerie (that place is POSH. the dressing rooms are SO nice!!! ofcourse its ridiculously overpriced too.) because calvin/my sister bought stuff at american eagle. (using gift cards, and buy one get one 50% off for sweaters. heck yeah! what a good deal :D) watched scrubs with calvin. that show is teh awesome. so is pushing daisies. WATCH PUSHING DAISIES OK.

on saturday i took calvin and his brother to the la palma parade. parked at my aunts house and saw my cousins (cuties.) whitney placed 1st cg, 1st dm, 2nd band. they are good! mr england recognized me - once i said something to him. i sat next to mrs kesinger during competition block. also passed jensen and verrett as i walked next to the band. walked them allllll the way down to kennedy! said hi to adrian, tirona, andrew j park... caught arcadiaHS - have a friend from church who plays trumpet. they are good! ate lunch in the park.

drove to UCLA to see ashton! had some trouble finding parking. (FYI, the way it works is u go to information/parking booth and buy ticket. then u use said ticket to park in any parking structure. ok i didnt know that. so i got a parking ticket for my overexpired meter. should i pay it? :P) ashton and i walked to westwood and shopped at buffalo exchange and urbanoutfitters. i got a michael kors vest and an american eagle collared shirt for $15 total. what a steal! (estevan, the shirt is guys xs - i dont really need it, do you want it? haha) i tried on this xl rvca guys shirt, and it didnt look right. instead of looking like a dress that i could cinch with a belt, it looked like i got knocked up by a fat guy who wears rvca. haha gag. poor ashton still getting over being sick.
walked back and had dinner at a dining hall. so tasty! imo, better than USC. and there is no such thing as a 'guest swipe'. a swipe is a swipe! UCLA has killer apple pie, btw.
then i took a nap in ashtons awesomely decorated bed while she packed her overnight bag. then i took her to peppy with me. we did hw and she ended up knocking out on the floor. i covered her with a blanket once i realized it wasnt going to be a "nap". this morning i showed her more of campus and we ate lunch in the caf with eiichiro charles jake and mirim. ashton is the first of amoeba to meet them! then i took her back to ucla. (its much closer than USC actually)

ugh i still feel like crap. i'm going to try and sleep it off.
seriously lets play. thanksgiving. you down? :P i think we should iron chef potluck. (its college! the best time to experiment with cooking! and it will be funny because i KNOW we will end up with some fail-dishes.) anyway - we dont have to. we can always meet up at yogurtland, because you know you miss yogurtland the most.

songs of the week:
muse - supermassive black hole
boa - girls on top
mutemath - spotlight

PS - i hate aristotle. well i hate having to read nicomachean ethics. its literally his lecture notes. never meant to be published! and now i suffer greatly. ask andrew, he knows this pain.

random rant?

2008-11-09T22:40:00.000-08:00

Hi there people, I'm posting cuz I never post yay. Soooo for those of you who are wondering under which rock I've been hiding this whole time, (I've been hiding under a really ugly hot one by the name of riverside) and what I've been up to, I've been doing nothing (yay?). So ummmm yeah, I took the re-take of the first calc midterm and got a B on it :( (I was pretty sure I had mastered the material..). The average this time was like 60%, so I guess we're keeping these scores eventhough I'm pretty sure the average was brought up by the AP calc kids in our class who don't belong there... Umm my other classes are boring (art history and anthro >.<). People went crazy over the whole new half-white president, happiest bandwagon I've seen in a while. As for me, I was quite indifferent seeing as how McCain sucked too, I was just amused at the fact that the first time america elects a president in terms of their skin color they choose black haha. So I don't know what Obama's victory will mean for me, as for now I'm hoping he doesn't screw up the whole healthcare thing up because I'm really tired of the idea that how healthy I'm allowed to be is entirely up to how much my parents earn (hey maybe I'll finally get to see a specialist for chronic chest pain? yay). Ummm what else... O, according to my parents I am getting better at looking homeless and shady (no fair, super sensitive skin+ shaving= ouch). It smells here, like it stinks like hell and I'm kinda ocd so this isn't working out. I think it stinks beacuse people don't vacuum or clean, even eugene kinda keeps his trashcan (which is a giant cardboard box) completely full for like a week before he throws it out... I have three Midterms this week, and they all suck... O and people at Riverside are crazy cheaters (even better than whitneyites! *gasp*) I mean it's so smooth and casual, it's like they've been doing it for years (probably have..) and they like to cut the lunch line (which ticks me off... like large groups of people cut at one time). Ummmm O another thing to rant about, so on the first day of class i went to dining services to apply for a work study job and they said they were already full but i've been noticing that there are atleast 2-3 new people every week working at our dining hall so the other day I go back there to ask them if the have jobs and they tell me the same thing and i tell em' "o ok.. cuz i've seen atleast a dozen new people" and they say 'o maybe your schedule didn't fit in then' which is a bunch of bull because I only hav 12 units (the least i can possibly have) but whatever, the word is a lot of pple already in dining services are kinda putting their friends in there so I get owned. The good thing is that my loan is running out thanks to the university thinking that it's funny to give $2,000 short of funds to someone who has an expected family contribution of $0, and even better news is that the university will give me less and less money as time goes on, so thank God for good old american ideal of screwing the poor (an oh so very christian ideal, of course).

haha beyond all the sarcasm and ucr hating and what not I'm actually doing ok haha. I miss you guys though, A LOT. and ignore my flawed politics/hating, I mean it isn't really reasonable that the government force the rich to give to the poor (i mean it's not the rich's fault that the poor didn't make it big), and I shouldn't really expect the government to pay for a specialist when I really didn't do anything to earn it. and McCain doesn't suck, palin does (jk.) and I don't think people voted for Obama cuz it was the cool thing to do (they just did it cuz everyone else was doing it haha) or cuz he's black (they voted for him cuz he's light brown). and.... ok i'll stop now haha. but i seriously don't mean it. ok, i should be studying for calc. I'm so failing. ugh this sucks. it really does stink here. hey when are we hanging out?

o and to tim, i've become a fan of van gohg, the man who shot himself with a shotgun out of the frustration of inferior art (jk haha). but seriously, his stuff is pretty insane, I like his sketches a lot better than his real paintings.

i didn't bother to check spelling or grammar. tired.

2008-11-08T13:37:00.000-08:00

A: in the barn with pa's cow!

ha ha you such a jokah!

2008-11-07T01:13:00.000-08:00

Q: where is moscow?

rainy san diego :[

2008-11-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

GUYS.
i haven't posted on this thing.. since.. the beginning of school . oh bother. woow so i've caught up on the previous blogs and it seems like everyone's having fun in college:] ahh we're all so grown up. hahah kristennn! sometime during witner break we shoudl finally record so close.. ahhaha like we were suppoesd to in the summer.. >< ahh. haha
anyway, i should catch you all up with waht's going on here with meee.
hum.
we just finished round 1 of midterms annd i actually did well on econ.. but pretty badly on math.. even though it was all pretty much ap calc stuf.. sigh :[ but its ok i guess.. hopefuly it'll motivate me to work harder for the upcoming tests. ahha oh but i ahve another econ midterm this friday. wowow that went by quick. annd! enrollment for 2nd quarter is coming up soon.. or they've been sending out emails for that. so that was pretty quick. anwyays, academic life is aaalright.. oh i got a B on my first paper which is actually pretty good buut. i duno if i just got lucky on that one xD OH and i stayed up till like 8 olcokc AM to finish my 2nd graded paper (my class is at 3:30 so i still got sleep no worries xd) AND THEN i get to class and she's liek oh actualy its due thursday. im like WHAT your'e kidding me. :[ but yeahh. i had to walk back in the RAINNN and i got super soaked. buut it was all in good fun. :]
social life.. i relly cant wait for winter break and cant wait to see all you guys:[ i do miss having people who've known me for .. forever.. around. ahha but its pretty fun too .. to meet knew peoplee and stuff. xD so yeah . hmm i havent relly told anyone but some of you proly have heard it but me and joel have broken up so thats pretty tough.. its been over 2 weeks but yeaah. aaanyways..
home life!.. i've been home about three time since school's gotten in i think. or was it twice. but yeah i jsut went home last weekend and i brought my laundry (wahahah) annd i brought more to sd than i brought back to home.. its like i was moving in again. -_- but yeahh. i shoduls top takign stuff from home.. OR i shoudl jsut bring my tanktops and shorts back home since its gonna be cold soon. i cant wait for witner! i love it xD
church.. i've been church hopping, visiting a diff church every sunday but since my sister's here already her church makes me feel the most welcome xD wahaah but we'll see how that works out:] its always fun. oh! i went broomballing with a fellowship not too long ago.. that was pretty fun xD
halloweeeeeen.. i dressed up as a gangstaaaaa xD it was pretty spontaneous since me and my sis were supposed to be going home but we stayed for friday so i dressed up as taht XD OH . and the weekend before halloween a couple of whs people (mark alwood justin) come down to SD and most of the WHS people from SD ( DAVID CAME! :] ) got togehter adn we went to HAUNTED TRAIL .. its like knotts scary farm but better i think.. and without the amusement park thing. its liek a foresty thing and they scare you adn you go through different structures/houses (like a meat factory.. or dollhouse..or schoolbus) . but yeah it was pretty carzy xD ilean was supposed to come but she was busy:[ so only david came from amoeba people haha
WINTERBREAKKKKK. AMOEBA GET TOGETHERS kayy? dude i miss you guys and i'm relly sorry taht i havent been on this thing since forever :[ it is one of my tabs so i'll be on it moreee:]
i love you guys to death and it feels good to know taht theres always you guys that relly know me.. that have been with me since forever! haah i know i havent been online as much or on this blog as much so i dont relly talk to most of you so much anymore:[ but i'm relly glad i do have you guys<3
you guys are awesome and one of a kind<33 and it suonds like everyone's having fun in colegio:] YAAAY .
winterbreak is waht i'm looking forward toooooo <3
oh it sucks that i didnt go to the krn bbq thing :[ siigh.
anwyays, you all take careeee I LOVE YOU GUYS

politically depressed.

2008-11-04T19:21:00.000-08:00

sorry its dark. if you cant tell, its a row of deerbutt.

i'm sad about the way our country is going. theres so much democratic majority its scary. president, house, senate - and then the president will be appointing a bunch of new justices (for life zomg.) it makes me very fearful because our country needs checks and balances!!!
i also fear that i will be poor. change and equality sounds good, but it doesnt work out. the reason the doctor gets paid a lot more than the gardener is... because the services the doctor provides are worth more. if doctors get taxed so much that they can only keep what a manager would keep, then there is no point in investing tuition and years of study into being a doctor. might as well be a manager. so right now i feel a lot of despair for the next 2/4 years. i think that the country will change in a lot of ways i won't agree with.
hence my political depression. i am glad i can say what i feel to you guys even though you may not agree.
i'll feel better if prop 8 passes. if not, i think i'll go to bed early today....

what have i been up to? getting good grades, partaying with the trio+jake... we went to six flags and topanga mall. i went to H&M and bought stuff - i love EVERYTHING this season!!! i want to buy the whole store. <-- poor college student. no job. :P calvin and i were salt and pepper for halloween. i was surprised some people couldnt figure out what we were. it was an easy costume :D also lunched with tirona. oh i got into the shanghai study abroad program for next year! i'm looking forward to it! :) so i discovered that i act strangely with the trio/jake. most of the time its because of jake though. crazy white boy. last time we hung out at his dorm, we played the cup game. and then last night in eiichiros dorm we danced. the macarena. cha cha slide. jake taught eiichiro some of thriller. jake taught me ballroom cha cha. we also did weird things with our hands, tried to cross our legs in weird ways/do a pretzel... and it was totally fun! i stayed until like 11. i really like how its so much fun and its 1. not spending money and 2. totally clean. makes me feel like i do with you guys. so chill 8) and weird. and random.

calvin and i found a cheap, fun activity to partake in together! old photo albums! i was a weird kid. like WEIRD. i made all sorts of strange faces. but yeah i was also adorable, well-behaved, and funny. i noticed this time around that darin is in a lot of my preschool pictures. (darin lam.) hahaha and channing is seriously grumpy in ALL of them. what a bitter child. my mom wonders why i befriended her. and tim ho is in a couple. he was much smaller than i at 3 yrs old. :P jaundice babies ftw! it was fun going down memory lane. i probably had more fun than calvin did.... ^-^'
miss you guys! lets get together over thanksgiving and christmas break, neh?

COMPUTERS WIN

2008-11-03T10:06:00.000-08:00

you guys are spooftacular as always :)

so as i promised ashton, i would post, because nobody had posted in a while, and lo and behold, ashton, richard, and tim come to the update rescue! but here's mine as well.

hope you guys had a fun and safe halloween. i'm a little bit sad that i won't be joining you guys for thanksgiving break, but i'll be back home 2 weeks later :)

haha well i guess i'll post some of my little things here too.
so many things have been happening lately. i almost want to describe it as overwhelming, but it's not.

fallingwater was amazing. i loved it. awesome scenery, amazing design. awesome.
and there was a bunch of other things. michelle obama rally (our physics teacher canceled class so people could go). homecoming (we lost to rutgers. it was sad). bday dinners (yummy italian food). halloween (didn't dress up or go partying--but i watched 'the shining').

ooo yeah and rearranged my entire room on saturday all by myself and now i'm sore. apparently moving furniture around is more of a workout than i imagined XD.
but the reason for moving everything was this:

i have a 19" LCD Sony flatscreen monitor in my room now (dual monitor with my macbook), because this rich kid on my floor didn't want it anymore cause it was old. soo...woot. :) what can i say? i'm a techie, i'm happy.

OH YEAH go vote tmrw! no matter what/who/where/why/chunky you're voting for, do it!
OUR FIRST ELECTION-- GO VOTE

IT PROCESSED!

2008-11-03T03:50:00.000-08:00

in case you don't have a youtube account and never upload videos that are large, the happiest thing ever is when your video is done processing. seriously, that step, the FINAL step, i might add, takes fooooooreeeeeeever. and you know you're so close to it being done, but its just that one gigantic elephant that refuses to cross the street and completely blocks all traffic, you know what i'm saying?

but this is my project for architecture. i mean, besides a report, but i don't think you'd want to see that. BOOOOOOOOOOORING. :D

if you watch it, i will be happy! hooray!

video go!

i was so confused at what to do, i really didn't know. i mean, i wanted to do the whole stop motion drawing thing, but i didn't think i could do it! and wow! i'm so pleased with the result. i really hope i get picked for most creative. at least in the top 5. that would make me so happy, you know? would make me feel like its all worth it. because seriously, some people just talk and put pictures on a slideshow using the ken burns effect (WHO IS KEN BURNS?!) but i really put in a lot of effort. a boatload, i might be so inclined to say.

now i can sleep.

my sick status: coughing. eyes still a bit red, but don't hurt (i went home yesterday and put some eyedrops in, but i didn't go home just to put eyedrops in) coughing. uuuuuuugh. -_________________-but i'm done! and i'm sleeping now, so adios amigos!

One of a Kind

2008-11-02T20:58:00.000-08:00

It's a Breaking Benjamin song, dedicated to my costume choice of WARIO! NYAH~!Not much has happened between this post and last post. I was supposed to go to Texas with my roommates on the Halloween weeked, but that plan fell through, and I needed a costume fast. So some of my friends who were going as Mario and Luigi (they're twins) lent me some overalls, and I tried my best for the rest. It turned out decent, I think, for a short notice costume. The idea of being Ryu didn't work out, I don't have the large and defined amount of muscle mass to pull it off. Ended up spending Halloween in a dorm lobby with friends watching Dr. Strangelove, as I didn't like the dance music or atmosphere. I don't think I'll ever full out dance without you guys.

I bought some stuff from ThinkGeek, a mini crossbow thing and irregular Rubik's cubes. The crossbow thing is a bit of a rip off, as it was only 100 yen. The cubes are ridiculous hard, and can not solve it.

I've found someone who will want to watch Chinese Kungfu Dramas with me, my friend who always wears the Domo-Kun shirt. There's a picture of him in on e the earlier posts.

I've been playing my Susan G. Komen DS, as I just got the screen protectors (I've supported the breast cancer thing! It's a white ds with a pink ribbon on it). It's great, but it is such a distraction. The new Castlevania is fun!

Thanksgiving is rushing up real fast, so I hope to see everyone again then.

cause me pain, hedi slimane.

2008-11-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

so a triple post is a record i think. haha i am such a loser while you guys are all out doing stuff im blogging >"< so here is my halloween makeup/hair/costume. you cant see my costume though...

how was everyone's halloween? i hope you stayed safe ^^

is anyone interested in an amoeba + close friends get together during winter break? please respond so i know how many people want to come! ASAP please ahahaaaaa cause otherwise when i get really busy in a couple weeks it'll be hard to plan.

QUESTION OF THE DAY:
what is your favorite part of the opposite gender's body (i.e what attracts you the most?)

try to keep it tasteful people -____- just curious! for me it's the guys hips ahahaaa...

weeks :)

2008-11-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

hope everybody had a great and safe halloween!

there's been so much going on that i really don't know where to start, but i guess i'll just say a couple of things.

our physics teacher canceled class one day when there was a michelle obama rally. that was pretty cool, cause it was really spur of the moment, but our physics teacher is a nice guy who's pretty chill about things. he also dressed up as captain jack sparrow for halloween.

so don't forget, whoever you're voting for, to vote THIS TUESDAY. first election in our lives *wooot*. how exciting.

okay i think thing #2 was fallingwater: it was magnificient! and it was so much fun!
here is a picture of fallingwater with me in it:

chanel vs. no name

2008-10-31T01:53:00.001-07:00

i just bought the closest version to the 1.5k chanel glasses that I will ever find. for $75.

always remember to never forget your goofiness.

2008-10-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

little big planet comes out tomorrow! in case you didn't know, it's a game for the ps3 that's going to be epic. i think tim would really appreciate this game. anyways, i preordered it but i wont be able to play it for a while :<

its been really hard to manage school wih all my other stuff and some days i literally have no time for homework. but i got a really good score on my calc midterm so im happy about that. im completely screwed for chem because of quantum mechanics and im really stressed about that right now. also today i had a huge fiasco with an online chem exam that completely messed up my quiz average and i was depressed about that but i feel a little better now.

i love getting closer to whitney people here like jenny and shivani and sometimes the three of us have really great private conversations. the kind where its not outright stated, but you know it'll be kept between you and those other people. it's really great knowing people like that. im also getting to know a lot of cool people in apo! im going to be getting my "Big" soon, which is basically a big buddy. it's a huge deal in apo so im really nervous and excited to see who will want me (they have a preference list). i just came back from camp out which was really fun and embarrassing at the same time. i wrestled three girls in the sand at the same time (resulting in bruises/scrapes), slept like a sardine with 12 people in a 6 person tent, and didnt shower for three days. We also had to play this game called "caterpillar" where you get ito teams and sit in the sand. then you link your legs around the waist of the person in front of you and have to propel yourself by your butt/arms and race to the finish line. very hard. and my shorts/underwear got full of sand. plus they made us sing the frat toast song the whole time. some people weren't singing and they yelled at us ahahahaa...im still sore!!! but im making a lot of new friends which is always great.

ive been really into japanese nail art lately, and i do it to myself but i want the really crazy kind. regina's sister can do it, so im going to pay her to get it done maybe! i want the kind where a charm hangs off your nail (see picture at top)

so im going to be an 80s prom girl for halloween! im prolly going out with friends they said they want to party. ill post pictures! what is everyone else going to be? what are your plans?

<3 ashton

This Is Not The End

2008-10-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

The Bravery! I like their songs. And this is not the end of the semester yet! I must try harder!

So my Fall Break was great. It was so nice to be back home. As the plane landed all I could think was "I'm home, oh my god, I'm home." Had I wanted to, a tear could have dropped from my eye. It was nice being at home, sleeping in my bed, driving my car, being with my family.

And it was great to see everyone on Saturday (Tim, K-sen, Calvin, Estabs, Daveed)! WAAAH! Love you guys!

I went bowling yesterday, it turned into cosmic bowling midway. I didn't do very well.

ZOMG

2008-10-22T15:30:00.001-07:00

SORRY FOR THE DOUBLE POST. AND THE CAPS. BUT YAY I MET MY FIRST CELEBRITY (i have yet to experience a spontaneous sighting, but i'm in malibu! it will happen eventually!)

jon mclaughlin performed at peppy! it was free, and we got chapel credit for it yesssss
i was in the superfront :D
i tried to record the last songs/medley he did but my camera ran out of memory :( it was so awesome to hear 'so close' because the last time i did - i was singing it. i miss katherineee
but heres the vid anywayyy
edit: my friend got a complete one! here, hopefully u have access.

i want nobody, nobody but you!

2008-10-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

someone from amoeba (a guy.) showed me this awesome song from the Wonder Girls. I am generally not a big fan of korean things, but I really like the Wonder Girls. Their music is so catchy! One day, when I am bored, I will learn the tell me dance. ^0^ (Other Korean things I like: calbee, kimchi, beansprouts, pickled... stuff, the garden church, and David)

I have been trying harder to be spontaneous (read: not hiding in my room). Last week on a thursday night, even though i had homework, i went out with the trio+jake+lynn and had tons of fun! [see fb for pictures, i am so lazy!] we took pics with a lambo we discovered in the parking lot. and we played the cup game. [see fb video] i started my homework at 11:30pm lol. but i think it was worth it. i can be a good student AND go crazy!

oh, i finished heroes season 1. and then i kind of kept going into season 2 even though i was semi-resolving not to. um but i'm not watching it addictively anymore. thankfully.

some highlights since the last time i posted...
calvin and derek came to visit pepperdine, and we also went to santa monica (third st promenade, and the pier). [pics on fb lol] it was so exciting! i love going to new places! theyre opening H&M AND American Apparel at third st. I have a feeling I will be going there quite often. It was really windy though.
SPEAKING OF WIND. I HATE THE SANTA ANA WINDS. they are so nasty and evil. they make scary noises, cause me to walk slow, blow crap in my eyes/hair, AND they're hot and dry. its been alright this past week, but last week for like 4 days i was miserable and i hated going outside. then i went home and retrieved all my winter clothes! lol. OH and then there were fires in the valley so it was dust and ash and wind and BLEH. i wonder if there will be fires this year. i wonder, if there are, will i leave or stay? it is safe to stay on campus, but do i really want to stay in all the ash and smoke? only thing is, they say that last year they wouldnt let you back on campus for a while. i wonder how much i care. we'll see!

ANOTHER highlight is... amoeba semi-reunion krnbbq! i was the only girl hahaha. there were like... well half of amoeba. richard david estevan tim me and calvin. [pics on fb] it was fun, and expensive, and fun. we went to the garden buffet because they had stuff estevan could eat. dude, for people who dont know how to cook, we did excellently. and i came out smellin like meat. haha ew. but yeah i love amoeba :D

if you didnt know, i'm applying to study abroad next year, in shanghai. i will be learning mandarin (even though EVERYONE knows cantonese is much better. ;D) and 'getting in touch with my roots' or whatever. i am def. looking forward to the food. but of course i will miss home a lot. but i dont really want to think about that quite yet.

the garden church is so awesome! one of the seniors is mentoring me now. the thing that sucked about fecc was that there are few/no female mentorish people. like, they were either too immature or unwilling... or they were married with kids. and there were always other girls who were more needy of that guidance, that were constantly chasing after them. ('them' includes my own mother. honestly, i dont like sharing her. but what can you do, yaknow?) i dont know if you even understood any of that. but ANYWAY the point is, i now have my very own mentor! and she's really smart/talented/mature. <- like me! jk :) we meet every week. the garden church wants me to eventually be a leader. we'll see...

oh i gave up on my resolution not to show andrew my haircut. there were so many picture i wanted to upload! haha. and then he didnt show up to krn bbq. bah. but at least now he has his mac. (btw i think the new macbook is rather unattractive.)
last week was midterms and i was mostly crabby. lack of sleep. then i got behind on regular hw. sigh! but this week will be better. being a good student has been very manageable - nothing less than an A so far!
calvin and i are going to be salt and pepper for halloween (probably). you know, theres never been a year when i didnt dress up for halloween. (for calvin, pretty much the only years he dresses up is when i hand him something to put on)

what a rambly, disorganized post! sorry about that.
take care of yourselves! <3

ps - what do you think of this video? i've been going through all the propositions with calvin, very slowly - they are so complicated! and its so hard to know what the right thing to do is. 1a was especially tricky.