I just lost my rain of thought

Dark and early Saturday, April 5, my sister and I tumbled out of our beds to get to the local train station on time so as not to miss this month’s Metro Art Tour. Neither of us had ever used the rail system in LA and I don’t believe my sister had ridden any Metro vehicle since she was a kid going to Chinatown. We got on the Gold Line to get to Union Station, excitedly staring on the windows on both sides of the train, ready to absorb whatever images we could and making a mental notes about a couple of the stops. We finally got to Union Station and I stupidly ran to the first machine I saw, not reading what was written on top and blindly buying another two tickets for our next ride on the Red Line, our Metro fares for the day totaling only to five dollars between the both of us. When the tickets came out, I noticed they said Gold Line again and I felt so stupid! We headed towards the Red Line stop anyway, hoping they’d understand if we showed them the tickets we bought at the first station, and waited for the subway. As we came down the stairs, the subway we were supposed to board sped off without us, so we had to wait quite a while for the next one. We were rather anxious, because we didn’t know how long it would take to get to our destination at Hollywood and Highland, and we didn’t want the tour to leave without us. Luckily we got there with minutes to spare and there were some people who came even later than we did.

There was one particular moment that was pretty funny on the Red Line ride where this older gentleman walked in who looked sort of like Santa Claus if he were one of the Blues Brothers, sunglasses, hat and all. He was holding this bag with his arm straight up in the air, but the subway was not crowded and no one was in his way. As soon as he sat down, the arm closest to the pole near him shot up and stayed that way until he got off the subway. He did not exit the subway with his arm up, though, so my sister and I figured it was a ploy to make him seem less than sane so that no one would mess with him. I, in fact, saw him get out of an elevator as we waited for our tour to begin and he looked perfectly sane again. Well done, sir.

For those of you who don’t know (probably most people because it’s not very publicized), on the first Saturday and Sunday of every month, Metro puts on free tours for about two hours where docents talk to tourists about the different kinds of art in some of the rail stations. You are given a sticker that acts as your free Metro pass and the Metro system is all yours for the rest of the day. It’s pretty cool and according to the site, “Metro is the first transit agency to benefit from such a program.”

Our particular tour took place in more of the Hollywood-ish region and we looked at about four stations or so. The Hollywood/Highland station was pretty nifty because the inside of the station is shaped like human ribs. Next we went to the Universal City station, which was very colorful. The columns were covered in stories with pictures. The artist actually wrote on the tiles with a chopstick and on each column, one side of the is in Spanish and the other side is in English. The columns are sort of made to look like trees, with leaves all over the background and branches popping out above. You can take that particular station to go to Universal Studios or City Walk. After that, we went to the Hollywood/Vine station, which had to be the coolest one, because it leads you right across the street from the Pantages Theater, which is housing Wicked at the moment. Woot! The tourguide mistakenly called it Enchanted, even though there were Wicked signs everywhere. Psh. After that, we headed to the Vermont/Sunset station, which wasn’t super exciting but kinda. There’s some sort of strange astronomy/medical theme going on. I’m not totally sure where the astro theme comes in, but the medical theme is because Kaiser is right outside the exit and I believe they put in a lot of funds while this station was being built. The solar system is scattered around on the floor of this station and what is special about that is that there are actually models of bacteria on the planets. It’s kind of random. That was where our tour ended and the rest of our day began.

Anyway, like I said, the Hollywood/Vine station was the coolest station, not only because Wicked was right outside but also because of the inside. It totally has a Hollywood theme, with the whole ceiling of the inside being covered with old movie reels. There were also ancient cameras in there that Desi Arnez’s old production company had donated. They were supposed to be used to project images onto the walls of the station that had been made to look like movie theater screens, but the ceiling needed more support than they realized so the palm tree columns got in the way, but the theater walls still add to the whole Hollywood ambience of the station. There are also scattered yellow tiles all over the floor, because originally, the artist who designed this station wanted to use all yellow tiles to make it like the Yellow Brick Road, so while it was being approved, in anticipation of making this yellow brick road, she bought all the tiles. Unfortunately, the owners of the rights to The Wizard of Oz turned it down, so the yellow tiles are spread out so that the floor is not totally yellow but you still kind of get that Yellow Brick Road feel. What also made this station the coolest were the benches that had different types of motorized vehicles on them. My sis and I had a little fun with that. The walls were also pretty cool because many of the tiles were decorated by kids with some sort of Hollywood/car theme. I wasn’t totally sure what it was and I don’t think the tourguide knew either and he made up something about the kids decorating the tiles with their favorite movies, only I have never heard of any of those so-called movies, so I don’t think that was true.

After the tour, we went exploring. We headed back towards the Pershing Square station to get to downtown. On the way there at the Wilshire/Vermont stop, we were deciding whether we should get off or not, because I always see that stop across from where I get off the bus to get to my sister’s work, but neither of us had ever been to it. At the last moment, I said that we should get off so I jumped out the door and the door shut between us. She was stuck inside the subway and I was on the outside and we just stared at each other with looks of horror on our faces. I noticed the girl behind my sister laughing at us hysterically. For a good few seconds, I thought the subway was going to leave with her on it and me stranded in the station, but the door opened again, because I guess the cameras that are located all over the stations came to our rescue.

According to the tourguide, the stations are full of state-of-the-art gadgets that have the ability to zoom in so close with such clarity that they can see the tiny timestamp on our Metro badges. He told us this story about how this one lady’s bag was stolen and the man got on a subway and the people watching were able to act so quickly that within the couple minutes between the stations, there were a bunch of cops waiting to arrest the guy. I found the super zooming thing to be sort of not totally believable, but I’m sure the cameras can at least see when someone needs the door to open up again, especially if she is knocking on the door. In retrospect, that incident was so classic but when it was happening it kind of sucked. haha

After snapping a couple photos, we were on our merry way again to Pershing Square. First we went to Central Library, the hotspot for all the hipsters. Not really, but it’s still pretty cool. After that, we were on a hunt for the Grand Central Market. Armed only with our street smarts and a couple photos we had snapped of a large map of downtown when we emerged from the Pershing Square station, we naturally got a little lost. Well, not lost per se, but we did a little more walking than we really needed to. We stopped by the outside of MOCA and took a gander at the Disney Concert Hall. Finally, we found the market and it was full of so many good smelling things. We kind of wanted food but we kind of wanted to save room for sushi in J-town but we kind of thought that maybe if we filled up here we could save money on sushi… Eventually we decided to just eat some desserts to stave off the hunger for the time being, buy some strawberries for 75 cents, and then eat sushi later.

One of the main reasons my sis wanted to go downtown that day was to see the Bradbury building, which turned out to be right across the street from Grand Central Market at 3rd St. and Broadway. From the outside, it already looks kind of exciting because it’s like something you would see in a movie from the early 1900s or something (it was built in 1893). And apparently you may see the inside in movies. The interior was used to shoot a scene from Blade Runner, to name one of the many. The interior is really, really cool looking. When I walked in, it felt like I was walking into a fancy ship like the Titanic. The elevators are the kind with the levers and such, but unless you’re on some sort of tour, you aren’t allowed to go in them, or even go anywhere above the first landing. And by the way, we totally met Charlie Chaplin here. He’s pretty great.

After that, we were on a quest to Little Tokyo for the Cherry Blossom Festival. There were all sorts of people, big and small, modeling traditional kimonos in a fashion show, and then there was some not-so-traditional garb donned by some interesting characters. Apparently, to some people, any sort of gathering for Japanese traditions calls for cos play, or dressing up like anime characters. There were lots of stands selling crafts and other merch, but some of the stuff was a little too pricey for my taste. We were really there for food, so we went into a plaza to a place called Frying Fish, which has conveyor belt sushi with the chefs in the middle laboring away and ready to take special orders. I am no sushi connoisseur (seeing as I equally enjoy California rolls from Costco; please don’t throw things at me), but I thought their sushi was delicious. The tastiest sushi I had was fried eel, but as far as raw fish goes, salmon and tuna seem to be the best. The one I definitely did not like, though, was the squid sushi. It was sort of covered in this gooey film. Not too tantalizing.

We were pretty pooped after that, so we walked to the Civic Center subway station to begin our journey home. We were told earlier that this station was supposed to be really amazing, so thanks to the tourguide, it was hyped up and we felt a little disappointed. He had told us that the artist chosen to design this station had absolutely no idea what he was going to put in it and then one night he had a dream that he could fly and so designed it to reflect this dream, I guess? I don’t know, I tried looking it up to confirm this story that the tourguide told us and found nothing. Well anyway, there’s several people flying near the ceilings, all made to look like the artist, Jonathan Borofsky, and every once in a while, you can hear birds chirping. They aren’t real birds, it’s just a recording that resonates throughout the station. Don’t get me wrong, this station was still cool beans, but the way it was described to us made it seem like there was a full on sky in there or something.

So we boarded on the Red Line to Union Station and right away noticed a giant puddle of barf near the front of the car we got on. It was an ungodly sight that made me want to upchuck a little myself and it reminded me a little of My Sassy Girl. That scene had almost made me throw up when I was watching it because it came out of nowhere and I was totally eating a sandwich at the time. Anyway, we moved towards the back as far away as possible, but the image was etched in my mind and a hint of it wafted back towards us. Luckily our destination was only one stop away so we jumped off the subway ASAP and went to check out the awesomeness that is Union Station.

I felt kind of bad when we went to the main waiting area, because my sister didn’t think it was as great as I said it was, but she shot some pictures to make me feel less bad anyway. I still think it’s rather grand. I’d really only been inside twice before that day, once going to San Diego and the second time coming back, but I still thought it was cool. For some reason, when I walk in, I can picture it being a really busy place in like the 20s or something. Union Station is a hub for several rails and such, but it’s not really super busy like the image in my mind. It could be if people would utilize other forms of transportation besides cars a little more.

We got on the Gold Line towards home, leaving the city for the suburbs. We got off at the Mission stop to check out the area, because it looked pretty cool from inside the train when we were heading towards Union Station that morning. It turned out to be one of the fancier areas of South Pasadena and it seems like a really cute place to go for dates and such. After snapping some photos, we headed back to the train before the sun went down. Who knows what crazy things take place when that happens? We got back to the Sierra Madre Villa stop and the sky was the same color it was when we started our trip in the morning. Having looked at a Metro map at Union Station earlier, we figured we could take a certain bus home but could not seem to find it. When we did find it, we found out it only ran once at the top of the hour and we missed it by 17 minutes. The Metro system is tricky like that. So we just walked on and then gave up and called our dad to pick us up at the DMV. When we got home, we eated some strawberries and they turned out to be kind of sour. haha. ‘Twas a fun day overall.

So I am in my second week of school already. Craziness. Time is flying by so fast! Last week felt like it lasted a really long time, but maybe it was because of the little sleep I got. I had quizzes every day in Chinese and for the first time in my college career, I was scared poopless by my Chinese class. It is so intense! They talk so so so fast and I catch maybe 75% of what’s being said. My paper writing skills, as illustrated today in another class in addition to Chinese, are dismal, and I am in need of drama watching so that I can keep up with the Prof’s and the TA’s motormouths. When I go into class, I feel like my heart is going to explode because I have to listen so intently that I feel stressed. I don’t think a class has ever done that to me before. I also feel like my TA and professor are the same person but different genders, because they both have some funny mannerisms that I can’t explain.

Because Chinese is so scary and I am also taking a writing intensive class, I was having trouble deciding if I should keep my fourth academic class. I was afraid I wouldn’t graduate in time if the class happened to interfere with another class I needed next quarter, as it did this quarter. Some days I would think I’d be okay, but then the next morning, I’d walk into Chinese and realize I must be crazy. Then I’d go to English and think about how bad I am at organizing thoughts. After half a week of thinking really hard about it, I decided not to keep the class, comforting myself with the thought that if my classes did interfere with one another, I could always graduate and then take the last class in the summer and be dunzo. That still costs monies! But it’s better than having to stay another quarter. Yep.

Anywho, Wednesday night I became a rock star at Hyperion Tavern in Silver Lake. Not really, but it was a fun place. It was one of the 27 things my sister wanted to do before turning 27, so my roomies and I traveled from afar (not super far but traffic kinda sucked for a while) to hangarang with her and her friends. Wednesday nights are Rockband nights at the quaint little bar from 9pm to 2am and people get on a little stage and rock out. People are very supportive and never boo but instead cheer you on whether you can’t keep a beat if your life depended on it or you are the most tonedeaf person in the world, so don’t be afraid to try it! My first time up I played drums, which was okay. I’ve never been too good at that whole multitasking thing with the pedal and such, but I think that should stay my instrument of choice. The second time I went up, I tried my hand at singing Celebrity Skin by Hole, only to realize, Hey I sang this at my neighbor’s last time and I didn’t really know it, why did I choose it again?? but it was too late and I had to keep going, failing within a few seconds. I was then saved by my sister’s friend, forcing me to continue on, butchering every other line except. As horrifying as that was for me, since I have massive stagefright, I still wouldn’t mind doing it again so I can conquer my fear! Yee! If you’re interested, look up Hyperion Tavern and you will find plenty of writings on it, many of them a little outdated. Just substitute Guitar Hero Nights for Rockband Nights.

The next night I went with Michelle and her peeps to Sugar, where I was assaulted on more than one occasion. The first incident took place when a more than tipsy acquaintance hit me in the eye while rushing to hug Michelle for no apparent reason. I was then hit by hair several times as well as pushed away from the circle during this strange routine they call dancing. Later on, I was sitting on a couch, when someone sitting on the back of the couch elbowed me in the chin. He must’ve had a physical tic or something because that’s the only reason I can think of for his elbow coming at my face with so much force. Who moves their elbows like that? I don’t go around swinging my elbows, especially when there’s someone sitting behind me whose face is elbow-level. He apologized but I was in no forgiving mood, so I just gave him a dirty look. After that, I went back to the dance floor and it seemed like that’s when all the creepers came out from hiding or something. Overall, the club was okay. The highlight was probably talking to some cute guy I will never see again, but that was followed almost immediately by uncomfortably talking to some creeper who wanted to buy me an overpriced drank, which I declined. That was what propelled me back to the dance floor. I feel like the idea of clubbing gets exponentially worse with each time I go, but at least this time I wasn’t harrassed by my own friend. So I think that was it for me. The next time I go is when Katlyn finally gets an ID. haha.

Friday morning I had class at 9 but didn’t get up in time, so I continued to sleep for a couple more hours. I had an interview across the street, which did not go as well as it could’ve. haha. I have to be one of the worst interviewees ever. Still not sure if the job is mine, but if it is and I like it, maybe I’ll just quit my other one, even though there’s less than a month left.

On Saturday, I went on the Metro Art Tour of Los Angeles, which was super fun, but I want to devote a whole post to it, so that will come next. Sunday I went to Rose Hills for the Chinese Grave Sweeping Holiday to visit my grandpa. It’s sort of a strange event to outsiders who do not practice such rituals but don’t be surprised to see Asian people eating next to their loved ones’ graves on this holiday each year.

As for this week, it’s been going by really fast. I had two papers due Monday, both of which I did horrible on. I also had a quiz, which I did not score that high on, because I was late and the TA refused to repeat any words for latecomers. I was late because the shuttles are wack at that time. They take forever, so the crowd grows and grows. Then they only let a certain number of people on and shut the doors on everyone else. The funny part was that the guy in front of me, whom the doors closed on, had let his friend get on before him. What a nice guy. So we had to wait for another shuttle and even then, there were some people left behind. I ran partways to class and eventually gave up because I was lugging around a textbook in my messenger bag, thinking I’d get rid of it early in the day, but my book’s buyer did not pick up her phone so I will be receiving my payment of scoliosis. I had pulled almost an all-nighter Sunday night to finish all my junks so after I finished some reading in the morning, I decided to take a 13-minute nap. I set my alarm and napped the longest nap ever. I kept wondering if I had really set my alarm and if I actually slept past when I wanted to wake up, but I did not want to open my eyes, because then I’d really be awake. Then I started dreaming, daymaring is more like it. I daymared that I was late to class, which was to have a quiz. Because I use scratch paper to take notes, I panicked because I could not find a single suitable piece of paper to take my quiz on. My professor kept reading off words and not waiting for me, so I was even more flustered. I then woke up out of fear a few seconds before my alarm went off. ‘Twas crazies. Other than that, I have done nothing this week, but Amy did come to visit that day (to use me for my awesome library privileges! haha jk) and we ate lunch at Chipotle. Yummm!

That is all! Here are some pics as promised:

At approximately 6:20am Saturday morning my break began at full throttle. I kicked it off by going to sleep and waking up sometime before 2. I had come back unannounced Wednesday night/Thursday morning, but break was yet to be official. I spent the next couple days procrastinating, rewatching the part in Enchanted where Patrick Dempsey sings over and over again, rewatching some of my other favorite chunks of the movie but mostly the one previously mentioned, attempting to work on my project, eating, transcribing my interview with my dad, and sleeping. I went in to work late because I thought I could finish in time on Friday, but alas, I gave in to time and decided making money for Europe would be more beneficial. As soon as I came home, I worked on it nonstop until I finished, turning it in several hours late but having it turned in nonetheless. It would have been a little sooner but I had a massive headache, which are rare for me. I don’t know what caused it but I wanted to break my head open and hope that a little Athena would come out, but I’m not immortal so the consequences could have been not so great. I got some great pictures out of doing my project, which I will post soon. My project was about my dad’s immigration story, which was very exciting, but he didn’t want to go too into detail.

So on Saturday, I went to Friendest’s house and we watched all the Smallvilles we haven’t seen, which were crazies. Then we went to President Thai with friendlies. The service is very good and the dinnerware was rather fancy. Thai food does not quite strike my fancy, but for those of you who like Thai food, that is a pretty good place to go. But I do not recommend the Larb. haha. Just because it has a funny name doesn’t mean it tastes as lovely. One of the dishes we ate was so spicy it made me cry a little. I couldn’t taste anything for a good ten minutes so I just drank water and nibbled on rice for a while. I had work at 9 so Daryl took the extremely long way to the mall and we got frozen yogurt at Se Fiore, which was pretty good but no Pinkberry. Next time I will order something that is non-Pinkberry-like, because they’ve got other fancy things.

Sunday I hung out with my sister and her friends. They went to check out the Body Worlds Exhibit at the California Science Center, but I had seen one of them a few years ago on a field trip in high school, so I decided not to pay to see it again. I feel like once you’ve seen slices of people and every system inside of them, you don’t really need another look. Some people would say otherwise, but that’s just my opinion. I instead hung out at Exposition Park and drifted in and out of sleep on a bench like a bum. After a while of sleeping, reading, and finishing off my box of dimsum, I decided to venture into the California African American Museum. It’s not very big, but they have some interesting things in there. There’s a little section dedicated to ex-mayor Tom Bradley, whose name has been branded all over Los Angeles with all his achievements and such. The international terminal of LAX bears his name, for instance. His section in the museum was right next to Ella Fitzgerald’s and there’s one picture in that area with the two of them, when they first met, I presume.

The reason I was there was because we were supposed to go airdiving afterwards at Universal City Walk. It was not until we got there that we realized how lame it was. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be cool to float in that tubey thing, but the way it’s set up versus what I had imagined totally did not see eye to eye. As put by my sister’s friend Wing, I did not want to be watched like I was a zoo animal. It’s basically this large conical tube with air blowing you upwards from the bottom and it’s all outside for everyone to see. There’s an instructor who is in there with you and you just float around for two minutes. As cool as it sounds, I didn’t think it was worth it. So we pretty much drove to Universal and paid for parking so we could get Jamba Juice and leave. At night, I put my telescope to use and looked at the moon. That was actually really, really cool, but I feel like that’s all I can use my telescope for astronomy-wise. Looking at planets and stars is pretty useelss, because they’re just slightly brighter and bigger dots in the telescope than they are viewed by the naked eye. Dar and I decided to drive around and see if there was anything cooler to look at (not as creepy as it seems ok) but found nothing so we went to his house and watched last week’s episode of America’s Best Dance Crew, which I found to be preposterous. America voted, and frankly, I think they made the wrong choice, so America, I am very angry with you. One of the last routines done was just ridiculous and I don’t know what the heck they were thinking. A clown theme should never be thought of as cool when it comes to dancing.

After that, I went home and called to see if I had jury duty for the first time. I still haven’t gotten it yet but with my luck, something inconvenient will happen. I don’t want to say any more because I may jinx myself.

Monday was rather uneventful. I woke up late, watched TV, ate, and went to work. Tuesday, I woke up a little earlier, ate dimsum with my mom, aunt, and grandma. My brother’s girlfriend called me when I got home and we hung out in Old Town until dinner time. We hit the usual spots but did not really buy anything. I just bought a fun penguin shirt from Urban and Steph ate some stuff and spoiled her appetite. haha. We also spent some time at Barnes, where she tried out her Cantonese skills. Then we went to Target to pick up some stuffs. We then joined some Freundinnen but not at Green Street Cafe, where we were waiting for them. We ended up eating at Cheesecake Factory at the mall, which isn’t really that great, I noticed. Their food is subpar and it takes forever to come out, even when it’s not extremely busy. The only thing I would go there to eat is, well, cheesecake, and I’d rather not wait years and years for a slice of deliciousness so I wouldn’t even go for that. We all happened to order pasta dishes and nobody finished. I had to work so I bade them farewell and embarked on another fantastic voyage of updating a store I don’t even like, but I happened to get my black card that night. hahaha.

My strawberries finally started growing the other day. I’m very excited about that. My radishes have been doing quite well, also. I will have to switch them over to a different container soon!

Here is a short list of things I had compiled prior to my break’s beginning. I have taken the liberty of crossing out things I have accomplished so far, which is not much:
.use telescope
.Smallville
.craft/knit
.watch Enchanted again!
.guitar
.read
.chipotle
.rearrange room

There are, of course, other things I want(ed) to do, but this was the list I made in anticipation of all the relaxation and freedom I was going to experience. It’s hard to get a lot done when you’re sleeping in all the time and then have work at night, though. haha. I don’t want break to pass me by!

By the way, Helen’s Etsy, Sheer Whimsy, is finally up and running! Everyone order a cute case for your gadget from her! And check out her crafting blog!

I got absolutely nothing done this weekend besides my FAFSA. I hate filling out the FAFSA because it’s at such an inconvenient time. It’s nearing finals and my parents haven’t done their taxes yet, and knowing them, answering simple tax questions turns into an argument. That’s just how my family is; we all have amazingly short fuses. This year, I just tried to get through it as quickly as possible, so the yelling would cease a little faster.

On Friday, my sister was too sick to go to work but not too sick to go shoppang! I had nothing to do, so I followed her to Walgreens to pick up her drugs and we didn’t have any plans the rest of the day so we decided to hit the town–Old Town Pasadena, that is. Woot! We stopped by Jamba Juice to get her a Coldbuster and then went off to Urban Outfitters. Wasn’t much there, so we went to the bestest store in Old Town, Forever21. Normally I just walk around in there aimlessly, sort of glancing but barely, but we were in need of some cheer so we tried on a bunch of clothes. I wanted to look for a dress for my birthday and I tried on a couple nice ones. One of the ones I grabbed wasn’t the look I’m going for, but when I tried it on, I fell in love with it. Unfortunately, it was the only one I saw and it was too big. I was very determined to find another one, so I looked throughout the whole store–all two giant stories of it. I couldn’t find it, so we asked some employees and this one girl, my savior, found a smaller one for me. I was practically skipping to the fitting room. I think the only time I don’t dread shopping is with my sister. She’s just great to shop with. Oh how I love cute dresses. It’s rare for me to find an occasion to actually wear them, but when that occasion comes, you know I’ll be prepared! And yeah, my sister bought some goodies too. hahah.

Saturday afternoon, we traveled to the faraway land of the County of Orange. OoooOooh. There was a little fashion show going on in OC at the Art Institute, so we tried to dress up and still ended up being underdressed. The reason we went was to watch Everybody Else, which was a really awesome, intimate little concert. They played after the runway show on the runway, so during the last couple songs, the lead singer told everyone to get up and go crazy so all the boppers (and us…haha) bum rushed the stage and got all up in his grill. it was pretty scary because I don’t think that runway was meant for so many people and I kept getting scared I’d fall of since it’s sort of small. I felt pretty claustrophobic in the crowd. I can’t imagine what he must feel like, especially because some of those girls were stanky. After the show ended, all the high schoolers ran around giving the band hugs and taking pics and getting autographs. Meanwhile, I helped my sister nab some souvies. hehehe. She wanted to get them autographed but I made her stop because it was too shady. After she settled on not getting the stuff signed, we drove to Sprinkles to get some cupcakes, because she really wanted some and I had never had them. I must say, they are quite delicious but very rich and almost sickening. haha. We didn’t really have appetites after that and ended up eating dinner really late.

Lazy Sunday, my fam and I went to eat dimsum. I got a few things done, packed, and then went to fly my fish kite!!! I’ve been waiting to fly that baby since I bought it in China over the summer! We walked over to the track across from our house and flew for a while, probably an hour or so. We made the fish dance and bob to the music we brought with us on our phones. It was pretty great. I love that something so simple can bring about so much calm and glee. Watching the kite soar so high made me wish I could be a kite sometimes. haha. It reminded me of this Chinese movie called The Promise, which I didn’t really watch but I saw the part with the human kite and thought it was sort of funny. My sister said it wouldn’t be that great though, because I’d be hanging on my wall most of the year, waiting for that perfect windy day. Boo. Anyway, flying kites is sort of like fishing from the sky. haha. It’s really an art form. I guess I can understand why people like to go fishing, but I don’t really want to try because I do not enjoy the stench that comes with it. This analogy wouldn’t work as well if I had bought the other kite that I wanted, which was this even bigger one with one of those scary Chinese masks on it. haha.

Overall, my weekend was loverly. And I came back to my loverly roomies. I really want to wear my new dress. Someone invite me somewhere dress-worthy!

PS I planted some strawberries and radishes today.

PPS Thursday was like the highlight of my life because there was free Chipotle in Westwood. <3

I hate the way I fuss over such minute problems in my life while there are bigger things going on around me. For a couple weeks now I’ve been flying without wings, but for some reason (that I know haha), I sort of plummeted this weekend. I was alone, bored and I just wanted to get out Friday night, but no one was around to save me, so I did some random stuff and eventually got tired and went to sleep feeling okay. But for some reason everything about Saturday just seemed off. I’m not in the indifferent state I was in before, at least, but I’m not filled with the glee I was enjoying earlier. Minor setback, I’d say.

I suppose it didn’t help that my cousins were talking about relationships and such, and, both of them being married already, were saying college is prime time to meet the mens, because, as said by one of them, “it’s all slim pickin’s from then on.” I mean, all my married cousins met their hubs in college. What can I do? I’m no social magnet. It made me a little scared, like I was behind in my schedule of life. I would prefer not to be an old spinster, but if that is my fate, I suppose I’ll have to accept it. But uh, if anyone wants to help a sister out, I’m open to suggestions (and introductions!). Nothing shady.

As for the greater things going on around me, I hate feeling like I can’t help those around me. I feel so…helpless, for lack of better words. I’m one of those people who just wants to fix things all the time and make everything better, but I can’t. I’m totally ready to get my superpower of making miracles happen, yo.

On a lighter note, some relatives visited from SF this weekend. I went with two of my cousins to Old Town Pasadena for some retail therapy today. And some Pinkberry. Thinking back on that, I…feel kind of good now. hahaha. I love frozen yogurt. It was really good hanging out with them and talking with them and earlier on, my other cousin, Cherry. Helen and Mary got to try Pinkberry for the first time today, so life’s got new meaning for them now, of course. haha. Anyway, didn’t see a lot of things I liked today, but Mary got me a coat from H&M and that filled me with some materialistic joy. Yee!

Writing this down has actually made me feel better, so kudos to blogging. My heart (and foot) goes out to others who are not doing so well. I’m sending good thoughts their ways.

Hello all! Things have been uneventful around here. It’s nice to relaxi-taxi, but I’m scared I’m going to go insane due to lack of social contact. I went snowboarding again last Friday and it was suh-weeet. The snow was all powdery and awesome, aside from the occasional rock. I don’t know why Mountain High always has rocks. The weather has been a little colder, so I guess the snow they make has been able to keep its form and not become ice. It was freezing when I went and I guess that got me a little sick. That and the diseases floating around work. Yuck. Anyway, I’m getting better at carving, but I still can’t snowboard on my toesies. On my last run, I was working on it and then panicked and while trying to turn back to my heels, I fell. Really hard. On my right cheek. It was one of those falls that just vibrates throughout your whole body and shakes your organs. I had to sit and recollect myself and allow my organs to settle back into place. Aside from that, it was a really fun because I was progressing and felt less sucko. haha. What was somewhat funny were the many ways I eventually fell from coming off the lift. I would usually make it off okay and then at a certain point, luckily not so much in people’s paths, I’d kind of just keel over. There was one time that was pretty great though, because I fell back and somehow ended up sitting on my board and arriving safely out of the way of others. I couldn’t recreate that stance though. Bummer.

I had to get home before 7 so that I could get ready for my grandmama’s birthday dinner. I think she turned 81? Lunar calendar birthdays confuse me. From my knowledge, you get three extra years added to your life. I just don’t quite know when. Dinner was delicious. The appetizer was freaking great. It was like this crab stew or something and there was a huge pot left so I kept going back for more because we are frugal people and do not like to waste great things. The rest of the dishes were pretty good, too, but that soup…yummus. My very preggers cousin did not attend because she was feeling sick, but the rest of my maternal family was there. By the way, my cousin gave birth on January 2nd, I think. She seemed kind of grumpy when I went to see the baby so I don’t know what the name is so for now I shall call it Baby Wong, because I also do not know her husband’s last name, which is pretty sad because I was a bridesmaid at their wedding. Bahaha. Baby Wong is super cute and tiny and pink. haha.

The next day, I went to watch I Am Legend and Juno, both of which were awesome. I Am Legend was nuts. Will Smith is a great actor and he can never do wrong, even when he decided to get jiggy with it. Na na na na na na na. I just think it’s funny that in practically every movie he’s in, he’s gotta show off his muscular physique. Yes, I understand he mostly does action flicks, but I don’t see Harrison Ford walking around shirtless. I haven’t seen Pursuit of Happyness yet, but I’m sure they found a way to include a scene of shirtlessness. You say no, but I think it was probably just too quick for the human eye to catch. The zombies in I Am Legend are so scary and unpredictable. If what happens in that movie happens in real life I’m going to be so scared and will probably be gobbled up right away, after I pee in my pants from being so scared, of course. They have like superhuman abilities for some reason and they shriek with their elongated mouths, which I suppose they use to eat people whole. There were several instances in that movie that made me cry and it wasn’t only because I was feeling emotional that day. Will Smith’s character’s life is so sad.

Juno was freaking great. I laughed. I cried. I was disgusted. I basically expressed all my emotions. All three of them. haha. I guess I have others, but these are the primary ones. I’m no movie critic, so anything I say will do it no justice, but I loved this movie. I love Juno the character, because she is adorable and just awesome and I totally want her burger phone. It is such a cute movie and I wish I had that kind of love story, minus the pregnancy thing. I want someone who thinks the sun shines out of my butt. haha. I just feel like I can relate to Juno a lot (once again, minus the pregnancy). I really like the soundtrack, too. I’ve been listening to it nonstop these past couple days. I don’t really know how to give a summary of the movie, so just look it up or watch the trailer or something. Two thumbs up from me, though, mang.

After that, my days were somewhat dull. I just sleep in and do nothing most of the day. Sometimes I have work, where I also do very little. I have not had much contact with people outside of work, but no one talks to me there. For New Year’s Eve, I sat at home and had some hot chocolate that I got from my SS. My stomach was sort of on fire from the lavender milktea I got earlier with Friendest so that wasn’t too fun. I just waited for midnight to come and watched performances and such on like five different channels before the countdown. I stuck to the traditional one with Dick Clark. It was quite the party. haha. The next morning, my mom woke me up so we could get Shanghainese food at this place we like to go to called Shanghai Noodle. Their dumplings are freaking delicious. I love dumplings, mang. You can ask my roommate. When my mom gave dumplings to my cousin to bring back to school for me, I was elated. And every meal that I had them, I was just so happy, every once in a while exclaiming, “Man, I love dumplings!” Dumplings are my favorite well-balanced food. After eating dumplings, in order to get all my basic food groups covered, I’d only have to walk a couple blocks over to Pinkberry and get my fro yo on.

Anyways, here’s some pics of stuff I’ve talked about previously…

I looked up Boxing Day once and there were several different explanations for it. I guess in days long ago, it was the day poorer people carried boxes to work and received little bonuses from their bosses, which I imagine was always a treat. At least it’s not the fighting type of boxing. I would be afraid to go outside then…in Canada, at least, because it’s not celebrated in the US.

Christmas was typical this year, yet it felt different. I love the holidays, but I don’t really celebrate. I just love the spirit of it all, despite the crowded parking lots (though I found my way around that at the mall. Muahaha) and vicious shoppers. I tend to tune them out and just listen to the Christmas music they play in stores. I didn’t do much Christmas shopping this year, though, so little time was spent doing so, meaning little Christmas music was heard by these ears. Sadness. I did, however, spend more time than necessary at the mall, because of my intense work shifts that went from 9pm to roughly around 7:40am last week. I stayed relatively cheery for at least half of each shift, then after a while I got really cranky because I just wanted to be in my warm, toasty bed, dreaming about Leehom, and not in a poorly lit store, breathing in dust bunnies. I applaud the managers for being able to stay in that store for so many hours on a regular basis, because I would probably consider strangling myself with a sweater if I had to be in the store that long. Anyway, after the shifts, I’d go straight home and sleep until afternoon. I can’t remember what I did after I woke up. I sort of lost track of the days and forgot that Christmas was coming up.

At some point during that week, though, I went to Office Depot and bought an external hard drive of 500 gigs. I’ve been debating since then whether it is better to have a portable or regular, but now I’m trying to convince myself that I don’t need a portable one, because the only reason the portable is appealing is because I have the option of moving it around, but I know I really don’t need to. I have my new flash drive for that. Space beats portableness in the long run anyway.

So on Friday, I went over to Susan’s to have a little baking party. We cut out butter cookies, baked them and then decorated. It seemed to be a contest of who could make the most…interesting cookie. haha. We had some shabu shabu beforehand and it was delicioso. I’m glad I don’t have Susan’s mom, or Susan as a mom for that matter, otherwise I’d be gigantor. They make such good food. Afterwards, Hayley and I headed to Pomona to visit Jayder and others because he was throwing a little party. Rather than being party folk, we plopped down on the couch. Hayley fell asleep first and then I dozed off, only to be rudely awakened by a clap in my face from Grant moments later. We played his little voodoo card game once again and it was scary because my results were about the same as last time I did it. Eep.

Saturday was the Freundinnen gift exchange. I hadn’t really had time to finish my shopping, so I had to strategically plan out what I was doing up until I met up with them. Sadly, my homemade gift paled in comparison to everyone else’s, plus it refused to finish in time. I don’t understand why :(! I received an awesome gift from my secret Santa. I can now be a traveling guitar player, not that I can actually play, because I got a guitar strap! :D!! I also got a cute cocoa/tea set thingy and a gift card to Best Buy. I do love them electronics. After the gift opening, we watched Superbad. I finally got to see it (after missing it the night before my last final, sniffs.) and it is so funny. Oh but before the gift exchange and all, we went to Green Street Cafe. Never a complaint about that place. It’s so yummy. It also provided me with lunch the next day. haha. I don’t know why, but I can’t seem to eat as much as I used to. I guess that’s a good thing.

On the day of Christmas I did not do a whole lot. I woke up to get dimsum with the famaree. My cousin told me he was going to go snowboarding today. I had been planning to go too, but it’s his board and I’ve been the only one using it, so I figured I should let him use it for the first time. haha. It was a little weird, because he wanted to borrow all my stuff. First he asked for the pants, then I lent him my mittens, because my pass was attached to them and I didn’t want to cut it off, then my mom insisted that he try on my boots, which didn’t really fit but he was going to wear them anyway (which I do not suggest doing. I warned him repeatedly, but he did not listen.). As I was leaving the house, he asked my mom what kind of eye protection he should have and my mom said that sunglasses were fine, but I had goggles so I brought them down too. I warned him that all my stuff was girl stuff, but he didn’t care. I guess he’s confident enough about his masculinity to wear my gear…or he’s just super cheap. After that, I went to hang with G-face and watch episode after episode of Smallville, because I hadn’t seen any of this season’s eps. Man, they’re so crazy but weird. And that was my Christmas… Exciting huh?

My dad has a habit of buying random things “out of necessity,” and then getting sick of them soon after. His latest purchase was a laptop the night I last went back to school, which was about two weeks ago. Surprisingly, he’s still using it…to the best of his abilities, at least. There are two problems. Number one, my dad’s English is not super great. When it comes to his work, he knows all sorts of jargon I don’t understand, but English overall is not his forte. Number two, he’s totally computer illiterate. The menus that pop up when he right-clicks something by accident freak him out a little. I started him out with a Mavis Beacon typing game and from what my sister told me, he was doing that for quite a while, but, as with most things, he got tired of it. Now he’s trying to figure out how to use other stuff people have helped him install on there, but I think he gets kind of annoyed when he doesn’t know how something works and it’s hard for anyone to explain things to him when he won’t let them touch the computer while he’s on it. I’m hoping that he’ll take some adult school classes for it or something, because I don’t want him to give up on using it, since he bought it for business purposes. It’s time for the parentals to learn to compute!

Most of my daddo’s impulse purchases do not come cheap, since they are usually fancy electronics. One of the earlier ones that I can remember was a digital camera before they got popular. It was probably about the same price (and same weight! JK :P) as his laptop. My sister and I used it more often than he did because he went back to using his film cameras not long after. He also bought a camcorder around the same time. I think he used it maybe two or three times and now it’s sitting in his closet with his other camcorder he never used. Sometimes he takes it on family trips but he doesn’t actually use it. I think maybe two years ago he decided suddenly to get a CD player in his truck, but he didn’t actually have any CDs…like, at all. He asked me to make some for him and I got to learn about his taste in American music. It’s not too bad, really. I kept some of it for myself. I suppose after he started getting into CDs, he decided that his office needed a CD player too, so he bought this huge, fancy stereo system that I don’t see him use too often.

Sometimes my dad disappears out of the blue and he comes back with some sort of gadget or tool. It’s pretty funny. We (besides my mommer) don’t really question him about it, since he pays the bills and all. I guess it’s just one of his many quirks.

Ello loves. It’s time to thanksgive. There’s a lot to be thankful for this year. First and foremost, I am really, really, really, extremely thankful that my grandma is okay and back to normal. A little less than a month ago, she lost her memory. Talking to her made me want to cry. Whenever we said anything to her, she just kind of repeated what was said to herself. My first thought was that she had Alzheimer’s and I was really mad at my family because they weren’t doing anything about it right away. My aunt was the worst because she kept repeatedly demanding that my grandma say people’s names and of course she didn’t know who anyone was, so it probably stressed her out even more. She just sat and looked confused all the time; it was seriously heartbreaking and my eyes teared up every time I greeted her and she looked at me as if she’d never seen me before. I was especially scared because my cousins told me that this happened to their other grandma right before she passed away.

Finally, my mom took her to the doctor and then she had to be admitted into a hospital. The first time I went to see her, she still didn’t quite know who people were and I’m pretty sure she couldn’t remember anyone who wasn’t her child. I think she was slowly remembering faces but gradually she got better and better and the next time I went to visit her, she knew I was her granddaughter. I’m not totally sure what was wrong or what caused it, but from what I gather, I think she had a bruise in her brain. She’s been in the hospital for a few weeks, where they’ve been giving her physical therapy to help exercise her brain and such and just making sure she’s okay, and she finally gets to come home this Saturday!

I am thankful for the rest of my family as well, of course. I love them dearly and life would not be the same without them. We’re not close-knit and whatever like other families, but I know they will be there for me no matter what, because blood is thicker than water. I feel bad because it seems like I’ve spent so much energy and time putting friends first, only to realize that all I really need in life is right here at home. I know in the end that they still have my back no matter what stupid thing I’ve done or said, which I can’t really say about most people in my life. AND I am also thankful for the snowboarding boots my mommer bought for me!! I’m going to the slopes this year even if I have to hitchhike!!! Just kidding, I would never hitchhike. Are you nuts?

Last but not least, I am thankful that my apartment is so home-y and that I get to share it with my real hats. We haven’t had a lot of time to just relax and hang out or go on outings, but I feel really blessed to have met them and to be able to share my college experience with them. <3

PS I love and am thankful for Pushing Daisies, because there’s finally a show about a love that isn’t all about lust. :D!

I’ll post up a picture of our “costumes” soon. I’m kind of bummed I don’t get to go trick-or-treating anymore. I’m always a fan of free chocolate. Maybe I’ll just buy a bag for myself. It’ll be cheap within the next couple days. haha.

So some of my family members are coming from China tonight! I’m pretty excited for them because they’ve never been here and my cousin is going to stay behind after his parentals leave. I’m not sure if he’s living with us or my aunt. Probably with my aunt because we’re not really the close-knit family he’s probably used to. Or maybe he’d like that… Anyway, what I’m not excited about is them seeing my room in the state that it’s in. It is probably the worst it’s ever been, especially since I moved my bunk to school so now I only have one layer of bed to put things on and that’s not very space efficient. I think I might have to give up my room for him while his parental units are here, which really sucks because there really isn’t anywhere to put my things, so I’m thinking I have to move more of my stuff to school. I think I’ll bring Chance, my guitar. Maybe that’ll force me to learn more than one chord.

So on Monday I was pretty upset for several reasons and I just didn’t want to do anything but get frozen yogurt. I couldn’t get anyone to go with me because everyone was freakin’ busy, so I walked the scary streets of South Central Westwood alone for a WHOLE TWO BLOCKS. It’s really not that scary, but the homeless people and the crazies tend to be concentrated in that specific area, so I was a little scared, but it was so worth it to dodge them and throw my money down the drain for some Pinkberry. This is not a trendwhore-ish move, my friends. It is indulging in a healthy treat of yogurt and fruit, in order to cheer myself up. Wee!