Surfing!

woohoo!  So today, I went surfing for the first time with Tiff, my friend from Berkeley, and her brother, and my sister.  It was pretty fun and I learned a lot, even if I only managed to stand up properly once.  haha.  I think that was my workout for the week though – for the month, really.  Tiff’s brother totally owned all of us.  I still learned a lot and I hope I can go again one day.  Or maybe I should just stick to boggie-boarding.

I really have to exercise this summer when I get back to Berkeley because I don’t think much will motivate me to exercise here.  Tiff and I are ready to work out (cross fingers)!!

Except of course, if my sister chases me around the housing demanding that I learn the Charleston.  That dance is pretty hard to do.  I’m having issues with the hand/foot coordination.  It’s a really cute dance though. 

I got into my major!! yay! one less thing to worry about, which means I will definitely beheading up next weekend to Berkeley to move in and start summer school :(  I’ll be using the weekends to explore San Francisco and Berkeley and get fat on pastries and such while exercising, so that’s the only thing I have to look forward to.  The national parks are free some weekends too and I won’t have a car.  boo. 

sorry if all that stuff i just wrote was slightly incoherent.  I’m tired.  and sore.  I’ll be in pain tomorrow.  speaking of tomorrow…

Graduation tomorrow!  congrats to all the MC seniors who were my little froshies not too long ago.

done!

woohoo.  One more year done.  Time goes by so fast - I'm half way through with college already :O

unfortunately, I don't think my finals went all that well.  GPA is definitely going down this semester :(  And this is the one semester I needed to do well in too if I wanted to get into my major.  Hopefully my music classes will help me a little.  A very little.

Oh well, I'm looking forward to going home still.  One more day.

2 weeks

So much left to do and so little time.  I can't wait though.

Unfortunatly, I have a CS project due next Monday, an EE project which my partner and I are totally screwed for due next Tuesday, an essay due next Thursday...

Now that I wrote it all out, it's scarier than I thought :(

All this, and I'm not going to be at school this coming weekend because I'm going to my uncle's house for his 60th Bday down in Fresno.  At least I'll get to see my parents there.  

But at least there's only 2 weeks of instruction left, and then finals, and then home!  

Time to get started on the above list!

Wicked!

Ok, I know I haven't updated in a very very long time.  But I am now midterm free!! and have time to write.  Finally.

So last night, I went to see Wicked at the SF Orpheum.  It was amazing.  The set was really well put together, especially when they go to the Emerald City and everything was green.  So many green lights.  They had two different people play the two main characters, Elphaba and Glinda, but they were still really good singers and actors.  Unfortunately, I went in with a headache and it didn't get any better. :(  During the second act, it got pretty bad, but I still managed to enjoy myself and the music.  Flying monkeys!

So...spring break was 3 weeks ago, I know, but I shall tell you some of the things I did in New York:

- saw Lion King - the costumes were beautiful.  We sat at an aisle seat in the orchestra and I almost got hit by one of the elephant tusks as the animals were making their way down the aisles in the opening scene.  haha.

- caught the jay-walking bug.  sigh.  everyone jaywalks there.

- saw the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  We managed to get into the base of the statue even though they had run out of tickets.  long story.

- had gelato.  It was so delicious.

- bought real mozzarella cheese

- went to Chinatown, Little Italy, SoHo, NoHo sorta (haha, NoHo), Greenwich Village

- went to the top of the Empire State Building twice.  Once during the day and another time at like midnight :D

- saw an opera at the Met.  Cav/Pag.  good music.  sad stories.

- went to a lot of museums.  a lot of museums.  There's so much great art there.  We saw van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Picasso.  The list goes on and on.  The best museum definitely had to be the Metropolitan Museum (also called the Met, but the Met Museum i think generally).  That museum is huge.  I think I could stay there for a week and still not see everything.  They had moved an entire Egyptian temple into the museum.  and part of a pyramid.  I wish we could have spent more time there.  It was so hard to tear ourselves away though.  We also went to the Guggenheim.  Oh modern art, how I don't understand thee.

- briefly went to Grand Central Station.  The ceiling is really high and had cool artwork.  

- went to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  they have like half a dozen or more daily masses.  !!  It was really nice inside though

- went to Rockefeller Center

- ate the best cupcakes ever.  Even the frosting was delicious.

So even though our flight coming home was delayed forever, it was still totally worth it.  I want to go visit again one day.  I don't think I could live there though.

I signed the lease of the apartment for next year with two other girls I know.  It's not too far from where I'm living now, and I get my own room ^_^.  That will be a nice change.  Unfortunately, my classes are on the other side of the campus.  Buses.  taking buses.  Maybe I'll bring my bike up too.

I'm still waiting to see if I got into the major I want to switch into.  CS is being a major pain in the butt though.  I'm just hoping for a B in that class.  

3 more weeks of school!

Next week

Midterm Wednesday night.  

Midterm Thursday morning.

Half a essay due Thursday afternoon.  sigh.

 

:(

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!!!

was sooooo awesome!! I can't believe I actually got to see Peter Sagal, and Carl Kasell, and Mo Rocca, and Tom Bodett, and Paula Poundstone.  LIVE!!  It was amazing and so funny.  I was laughing the entire time.

So, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should go online, find your local NPR station, and listen to the show Wait Wait Don't Tell Me this weekend.  Or you could download the podcast.  It's a really funny show about odd and not so odd news from the past week.  It is the "oddly informative weekly radio show."  They went to Berkeley today and are here again tomorrow for a taping of another show airing later on in the year.  

It was really interesting going to a taping of a show.  There is so much more that goes on behind the scenes that gets edited out, and it's not until you go to a taping that you realize how hard editing is and making everything flow correctly.  They also did this understandable, but still bizarre thing at the very end where they had the host, Peter Sagal, redo all the lines that were unclear.  The famous guest that they have on everyshow to play "Not My Job" was mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade. She was a pretty good guest-star. It was funny cause they were calling for her to come onto the stage, and they didn't know where she was, and she turned out to be in the audience listening to the show.  haha.  It was a lot of fun listening to the interview with her though, especially when she started talking about the old days of fur-wearing, fruit plate throwing divas.  

I hope they come back soon!  Listen to this week's episode!

1st Week of Decade 2...

...had quite a memorable start, mostly in thanks to my suitemate who claims to be antisocial and claims that she had nothing to do with it. It being a surprise dinner for me with a whole bunch of our friends from our old floor last year and Kevin's floor.  We went to the new sushi place near campus that had a karaoke thing too, but we didn't "k" too much.  It was still a lot of fun though, and the restaurant gave me this cool fruit thing with a pineapple that was carved to look like a bird and there was a chocopie on top :D.  Thanks Flor!!

Other things that have happened over the last week:

- Booked plane flights to NY over Spring Break for a trip with Steph!!

- Booked a hotel that actually let people under 21 check-in

(What's up with that anyways?  All of the places we found were like you have to be 21 except for that one.  WHY?!  oh well, we found a nice place in a pretty safe area - and there are subways everywhere.  SO EXCITED)

- saw part of the New Years parade in SF including the waking of the huuuuuge dragon.  It takes like 6 people to carry it's head and 100+ people to carry the rest of it.

- finished my first CS project at like 3 in the morning, or rather, gave up at 3 in the morning and continued finishing it when I woke up.  I really don't like that class.

- saw the rest of the Wong Fu short series "Up in da Club."  I saw the first half when I went to go see them last semester and was excited to see the rest.  I really want to buy the HK One Days DVD and their new 加油 shirt.  hehe

I'm excited for tomorrow because Amanda's coming to visit me!!  You other people, why aren't you visiting me.  :P

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!  We were going to a chocolate factory to take a tour, but since they're closing down (sadness) we're just going to a place nearby to eat breakfast and then maybe go to the factory see what they have.  sale.  please have a sale.  Although that might not be such a good thing cause I'm a chocoholic.  If you're ever bored and want to check out how other people are describing their love/heartbreak in six words, NPR has a very interesting article with people commenting and creating some of their own six-word phrases.  Some of my favorites include:

"He was a dark and stormy knight"

"It makes calculus look like cake"

and my suitemates personal favorite for me is

"Two celestial bodies in perpetual orbit."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100510986

go check it out.

Long Day

This week was definitely not a fun week. The only plus side to it was that I got to see my parents, but that was for a very sad reason. Last week, my dad's cousin died of cancer, so they came up to go to his funeral service today in San Jose. He always used to be really nice to my sister and I, always giving us stuff and entertaining us. I hadn't seen him in quite a few years, but I will miss him. He'd been suffering for a while, so it's good that he is now in peace. So, yeah, my family came up for like yesterday evening and this morning. We stayed at my aunt's place and drove to San Jose from there. I also got to see my little cousins there, which was cool.

People should not smoke. My uncle had not smoked for years, and he still suffered for 2 years with cancer. At least he had the excuse of they didn't know better. People today know a lot better and they STILL DO IT. It smells and it's really annoying and why bother? I don't understand. I start gagging or just hold my breathe until someone who smokes passes. sigh.

And I have weak lungs. Which has made itself known to me again because I started coughing again over the last week. It's always this time of the year. My mom found out and she made me go to the doctor. Turns out I have some viral bronchitis. My only symptom is coughing at night. I'm fine otherwise, although I did start coughing more in the day today, so it's a good thing I went to the doctor I guess. I had to get 3 prescriptions, one of which was unavailable, so I have to wait until Monday to get that one.

And now, I guess it's back to work. Or sleep. hmm...

Super Bowl Sunday is tomorrow! That might be the reason my dad wanted to leave right away. haha...daddy.

One Week Down, 14 more to go

It's really amazing how time flies by so fast - like the past week, but seems slow at the same time when you look back. And then there's the terrible times when you're in the middle of something boring and it just drags by - like in the middle of one and a half hour lectures. That's basically how the last week was like for me. Slow when I look back over it, but I can't believe it's gone. Kevin lives so close, and yet I hardly knew where he was the last few days. That's how hectic things have been. But I got to see him today :)

All in all, the first week went by pretty well. I got into all my classes, they start at good times, and I don't have any insane blocks of class which means I can actually have a lunch!! I went to Safeway back on Monday and got bread, cheese, meat, lettuce and mayo. All the makings of a good lunch sandwich. yum yum.

Unfortunately, I have quite a bit of homework to do. I don't even know how to submit my homework for my computer science class. That might be a problem. It's a good thing I know some people in the class. Hopefully, I can figure it out before Monday at noon, which is when the darn thing is due. One of my music classes currently has me writing out scales. SCALES. gah. I thought I was done writing scales. I guess not.

I just finished an application for a summer internship at some NASA facility. I don't know if I'll get in, but it was worth a chance. I was able to get my resume looked at today, which was good. I was able to learn a lot from it.

The weather here has been pretty bad. It's been raining, but not. It was a mist type rain, which is really annoying because it gets everywhere because it is so light. I am very glad I invested in those skinny jeans though, cause it's very convenient for boot wearing, and boot wearing keeps my feet both warm and dry. No more putting wet shoes on a radiator for me! Unless I accidentally step in a puddle after it stops raining, that is.

Done ranting. Have a good weekend!

Semester 4

After a much needed break, I find myself back in Berkeley with only one more day of freedom left until I get to start my fourth semester of college. Time seems to always manage to go by so fast, especially when school begins with the endless lists of reading, assignments and stressing for midterms. However, here I am, sitting in my room, slowly sorting through all the stuff I have. Every semester, I am determine have less stuff, but I think the amount of stuff might actually be growing :( oh dear.

And so I shall continue unpacking and lamenting on all the stuff I have and how I have to deal with it come May, but that's another day.

Ah, so tired. I think I shall sleep soon. Much to do tomorrow.

New blog title needed

Since no one seems to know what stuffies are, and stuffed animals was too long, I need a new title for my blog. Any suggestions?

I am currently getting ready for tomorrow. I'm almost all packed, I think, but I still have a lot of music to scan. Carrying music books back and forth from school gets tiresome and paper is not light. My goal of learning Debussy's Claire de Lune by the end of break did not really work out. I think I got about half way through, which isn't too bad considering all the time I wasted this break.

I have so much stuff to bring back - mostly clothing. I'm glad I decided to have all my textbooks that I bought shipped straight up to Cal. Hopefully they shall be there and waiting for me when I arrive.

Today, I spent most of my day helping my mom prepare for dinner. We had our neighbors over because it was the mom's birthday, so we made lasagna for dinner and the cake was made last night. The neighbors are currently being entertained watching the second Pirates movie. I still have yet to see the third one even though we own it. Some day I shall watch it. It probably won't be until this coming summer though. I'll have to satisfy myself by making Flor watch the Incredibles since she still has not seen it.

Hopefully all goes well tomorrow. Next week will indeed be a week for the history books.

End of Winterbreak

Only a few more days until I must go back to school, sigh. Despite not seeing my Christmas tree until after Christmas and not properly decorating it until New Years (haha), it was a pretty fun and eventful break.

I really must get my act together this semester and start exercising. Just walking to class is no longer going to be my excuse as my exercise. I will now walk more. How much more is dependent on a few factors: time, motivation (or lack thereof), weather, etc. My goal: to not be tired from walking from the GBC to Foothill. For those of you who don't know where that is, let's just say it's very sad that the last time I tried doing it, I was very out of breath by the time we reached the top of the climb where Foothill was. In my defence however, I was carrying a backpack with a few heavy books and my laptop.

Looking back, these last few days would have been a very good time to go ice skating. It's been so warm down here in SoCal. Hopefully the Bay Area weather will be more mild, not to say that I don't enjoy the sunshine. It probably would have helped if I had brought a pair of shorts down with me. I've lived here too long to use that as an excuse though. I should have known better.

Currently playing is Lion King, which reminds me that I really want to go see it if I go to NY over spring break. That's a big IF right now but I really want to do it. I've never been there, so it would be a great trip if it happens. Oh musicals.

Shout out to Ruth and Rox! They have been my inspiration to write today. Hopefully we'll all inspire each other in the future.