I just lost my rain of thought

Always having been interested in crafting, I have become even more so being around my extremely crafty roommate, Helen, who is world renown for her whimsical creations! Well, our world, at least! Though I am not nearly as creative as she and seem to have been condemned by technology–I got in a fight with her sewing machine, and it won–I do occasionally enjoy busting out the ol’ needle and thread, which can be a very relaxing activity. My first attempt at revamping a t-shirt was semi-successful. Due to my haste and lack of skill, the seams are visibly flawed, but my princess-sleeved TGIF (YEAAH, Green Initiative Fund!) t-shirt is still wearable and I wear it proudly. Working on it did cost me a good grade on my Chinese test, though. Oops.

When I go to bookstores, I either head for the travel section, or I check out the DIY/craft books. I like to look at knitting ones a lot (though that is a skill I still need to work on so I don’t want to get ahead of myself), as well as general DIY books that teach you how to make things with household items and whatnot, but lately I’ve been looking more and more at ones that involve sewing. My sister once bought a book called Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt, which illustrates what the title says it does. She was pretty excited about it at first but hasn’t really done much since her initial creations, some of which she has tossed into our donation bin. I never got around to trying any of the designs out because they’re more of a punkish style, but perhaps I will try them out this summer. I’ll split my time between crafting and pimping my bicycle! YEE!

Anywho, I stumbled upon this nifty little book while at a bookstore in Little Tokyo and the stuff in there is SO awesome! The book is called Cute Stuff and is a part of a series called Let’s Make Cute Stuff by Aranzi Aronzo. It shows you how to make all sorts of things like tote bags, bottle warmers, tissue holders, and much more. It was a little pricey at that store and my funds are rather limited, especially with my trip coming up, so if anyone wants to donate to my summer ventures, feel free. I’ll try to make you something from the book! Tempting offer, isn’t it? And if anyone else wants to throw in a sewing machine, that would be cool too. Either one would be nice, preferably pre-loved! I also wouldn’t mind if someone could offer me a job after I get back, but maybe I’m getting too carried away now.

Three posts within two hours? Your lucky day! I just wanted to come back before I forget. Last week’s freak weather made me really want to go snowboarding, but all the resorts are closed. By all, I mean all the ones I checked, and by that, I mean Mountain High. I heard it snowed in Baldwin Park, which is pretty close to where I live, and apparently there were tornadoes going nutso over in Riverside. It was weird enough that there were tornadoes in Colorado but for them to move over and attack us in California? Nah-uh girlfriend. We’re only supposed to get earthquakes and be plagued with only two seasons (I wouldn’t call it a plague to its face because I love our weather).

Okay, so it’s time for an update! I will start off with spring break. I didn’t really do much, but I did do all the things on the list besides rearranging my room. I flew kites one windy day. My fish kite flew very easily, but my new kites, though made of fancier materials than my old kites, seemed to only have like 20 feet of string so they couldn’t catch as much wind as my fishy. I went with Friendest on a hunt for kite string, only to fail miserably. Apparently, no one carries kite string alone. Our kite string hunt is to be concluded…

I had work every single day of my break besides Sunday night, because it was Easter and I guess Hell doesn’t stay open on Easter. Rumors had been floating around these past couple months that my position was being phased out due to the company no longer being as popular as they once were and losing monies, but they won’t ever admit that. We found out last month exactly what day we were getting the ax, May 3rd, and then one day during break, they told us we were being removed over a month early. I was a little unhappy that they told us with such short notice but at the same time pretty relieved. Later on that week, it occurred to me how much I wouldn’t miss that job and I probably would not keep in touch with anyone there except maybe one or two people, even though I have been there the longest. At the end of the week, my manager texted me and said that we were actually getting removed the Monday after the upcoming one, so I had another weekend of work to dread, which was this past weekend. I was so excited because it was going to be my last day of work there ever, but all of a sudden, my bubble was bursted. Towards the end of my supposed last day, I found out I’m being held captive for another month. Apparently, my manager “forgot to tell me.” He forgot to tell me that my job is never going to die, that this is actually my own personal hell. I’m thinking they are going to keep telling us on our alleged last days that we have been given an extension, so that I will continue to think, Oh well, what’s another couple of weeks? You can’t see this, but I am shaking my fist.

Anyway, with my kind of luck, I was called on the very last day to jury duty. I had only had about two hours of sleep and, with a purse full of reading materials, games, and Enchanted on my mp3 player, was dropped off near the courthouse a little before 8am Friday morning. I was confused about what to do, but the rest of the potential jurors and I were eventually herded into this large waiting room, where I would waste a large chunk of my day pretty much doing what I would’ve been doing at home during most of those hours anyway: sleeping. I situated myself on an uncomfortable but cushioned bench and waited and waited. I fell asleep (because I can pretty much sleep under any circumstances) almost instantly after attempting to read, occasionally waking up to hear what the guy on the PA system had to say. Each time a group was being called, the whole room tensed up. We all waited to hear our own names, hoping that they would never be read. Those who were called looked defeated, as if someone had just kicked them in the groins. When we were let out for lunch, I followed the rest of the cattle out the building and expected to somehow figure out which bus would take me to Little Tokyo so I could get some curry or ramen but found myself very disoriented. After all, though I do not live super far, I’ve really only been downtown a handful of times. I walked around in circles and upon giving up very shortly on hopes of Japanese food, I decided to go to the LA Mall. It took me quite a while to figure out how to get in because I kept arriving on the rooftop park area no matter what I tried and saw no food court in sight. I had to call my sister to ask her how to get in and after several more attempts, I finally found the entryway to Unauthentic Ethnic Foods Central. I spent my lunch on that rooftop park area that taunted me earlier and ate my salad gleefully, but eventually I had to return to the courthouse. I slept through the rest of it, waking up occasionally to see if I was picked and luckily, I was not! Yays. This one guy nearby was so excited at the end of the day that he jumped up and high fived everyone around him. It was quite obvious that he didn’t want to be there, because in the morning, I saw him walking in and grumbling, “Jury duty sucks!” And every single time they called names, the annoyance he emitted was almost palpable. So I was free from jury duty, and not only that, I was also one of the first few people called to leave. Yays! Somehow, I got stuck in the stairwell, though, and I kept trying to figure out how to get out. The first floor door seemed to be stuck and the second floor door wouldn’t even open, so I had to walk up to the third floor and take the elevator down. I wasn’t sure which was was north when I got out, so I just took the first bus I recognized to get home, but for some odd reason, it didn’t take me home. It stopped several miles early in Alhambra, even though that bus is specifically supposed to go to Arcadia, so I sat outside the Renaissance theater until Friendest came to get me. We went for celebratory drinks at Boba Express and I did not have to worry about jury duty anymore. I’m free for a year! Yee!

That was pretty much the rest of my break. It was nice to not be in school but it was way too short. I love vacations. This summer shall be a lovely one!

Unfortunately, this took longer than it should’ve, so I shall continue my updating (hopefully) tomorrow. There will be pictures too! Yeah! And by the way, both our bathrooms are occupied and man do I have to pee.

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

Most peoples have one date for Valentine’s Day, but I got to share it with these two lovely ladies. Our date consisted of a night out on the town in Westwood Village, where we shared a romantic dinner at Corner Bakery and then caught Definitely, Maybe afterwards, stopping occasionally to take some pictures. We also made a pit stop at the local thrift store on the way to the movie, because I guess no Westwood outing is complete without going to Thank You Mart.

Definitely, Maybe was a lot better than I expected. The storyline sort of keeps you guessing, which is good, because romantic comedies usually have the same predictable story. Of course, you could sort of guess what this happy ending was going to be, but they used a different approach in getting to it. The actors and actresses were pretty good and Abigail Breslin is so cute! I just had trouble with Ryan Reynolds age and appearance. His love story starts in like ‘93 or something while he was in college, which would make him about 37 or so, which is kind of unbelievable, unless he and all the other characters just look super good for their ages. Other than that, it was really funny with a cute plot. Overall, it was a loverly night with my two dates. <3

I’ve been spending this long weekend relaxing and having funs. Friday, I didn’t really do anything. Had pho with the fam. Hung out at home, played with my awesome new dictionary, as sad as that sounds. haha. My cousins just came back from China and they bought me this dictionary that I can’t really understand because it’s made for people in China, not people learning Chinese. haha. It makes me feel like what I’ve learned so far is useless, especially since I can’t even order food, the most important purpose of learning a foreign language. Anyway, it is sort of a mini entertainment system on top of being a dictionary. It’s built like a PDA and you can watch movies and listen to music on it, so it’s pretty awesome.

On Saturday, I went snowboarding until my pass ran out of points around 8pm-ish. I still haven’t gotten my carving down, but I’m like…1/3 of the way there, I feel. My shoulders hurt a lot, because I landed funny when I fell coming off the lift. I found that dismounting is probably the worst part of each run, because I never knew where I was going to end up, not that falling while snowboarding doesn’t suck as well. That pain probably lasts even longer. But the anticipation of possibly falling while getting off the lift is always quite nerve-wracking, especially because I could potentially take down several people at once.

After snowboarding, I ate dumplings from this place I like to go to called Shanghai Noodle near where I live and then I went with my friend to watch Jumper. I can’t say that I thought the movie was super great, but the effects were really awesome. The power is really, really cool and it totally made me wish I had it, but the story itself wasn’t fully developed, which Meeshella and I discussed, and the acting was not the best. I think they are probably making a sequel, so maybe that’s why they decided to show off Hayden Christensen’s character’s gift and maybe later they’ll resolve everything? I was pretty amazed by what he could do with his power but was not totally intrigued by his story. There were some pretty funny parts, though; some intentional, some not. One of the parts that stand out in my mind was this expression that Samuel L. Jackson made, sort of like a “Oooh, you got me. That was a good one.” face, towards the end. I think I would watch the sequel, if there is one, just so I can see where they take it and to be amazed by his powers again.

The rest of my weekend was filled with bumming around and not leaving the house much. I went out for a little on Sunday to accompany my mom and brother on a shopping trip, but that was about it for my weekend at home. When I came back to my apartment, I sat for quite a few hours talking to Katryn about lots of stuff, Heren and Meeshella joining in randomly. I love procrastination talks! Not that I don’t love to converse with my roomies under other circumstances.

I finished my first week of winter quarter and I must say, my classes this quarter are really cool. The one I look forward to most, though, is gospel choir. This style of singing is just amazing. You let the music take over you and just sing as loud as you want. I love it! The other choir I was in was too formal, ugly dresses and all. In this one, they want us to move and get a feel for the music and no uggo dresses! Unfortunately, I confirmed this week that I have no rhythm. I have no rhythm and I don’t know how to let music move me. haha. Because it’s gospel music, we’re supposed to “tell a story with hands,” but I don’t know what to do. I have always had a lot of trouble multitasking and it had never been so apparent until we stood up and had to move with the music. I found myself always out of synch with the others and swaying in the wrong direction, so I’d have to catch myself as I was trying to remember the lyrics as I was singing (since it was only the first day and we ran through the songs quickly) and watch other people to make sure I was going the right way, all well telling a story of some sort with my hands. I’ve been watching videos of gospel choirs on Youtube to try to figure out what I should be going for, because I felt pretty awkward doing what I was doing and after a while, I forgot and was just rocking left and right, no storytelling whatsoever, every once in a while bringing one hand up and then back down. My remedy? I’m going to stand at the end so I stand out less when I’m going the wrong way. And do NOT try to take my spot, because I WILL resort to biting.

The quarter system is tough because it goes by so fast and everything is packed into these ten weeks so my workload is already pretty full, even though it’s only been one week. I already had a quiz Thursday and have tons of reading I’m behind on, which I should be doing instead of updating. Meh.

Last Sunday, my roomies and I reunited and it feeels so good! But we haven’t really had a lot of time to hang out and talk to each other because we had to jump right back into school mode right away. We did, however, get to do our gift exchange Sunday night and we are pretty cool giftgivers, if I may say so myself, and I believe I just did. We did sort of a 99 Cents Store/Dollar Store/something similar Christmas and found some nifty stuff. I love us and keeping the simplicity of Christmas! I will put up pictures when I get them from Heren.

Friday morning, I woke up earlier than I would usually on a day of no school to go a-snowboardin’ with a couple buddies. I had every expectation to knock all of them down as I got off the lift, but lucky for me I barely fell this time coming off, except a couple times where Jesse and I took each other down. haha. Not lucky for me was all the other times I fell, because for some reason, I wasn’t in snowboarding mode or something and I was pretty much helicoptering left and right. I tried to devote this trip to learning to carve toeside when possible, but it didn’t quite happen the way I would have wanted it to. There were a couple brief but successful attempts, but for the most part, I ended up eating it. Just gotta let go of my fears, a mantra I should apply to my life in general. Snowboarding is always fun, though, even when I can’t move the next day.

So I went from looking like a big, gross puff ball in the morning to getting dolled up to go clubbing at Avalon for my friend’s birthday at night. The transition is quite tough, because I usually look like crap. But, you know, every once in a while I’m capable of looking like a girl. What I don’t understand is why club wear is synonymous with as little clothing as possible before it becomes underwear. I’m sure they enjoy the attention from the creepers, but some girls do it up a little too much. I’ve only gone clubbing once before for Nat’s birthday and it was pretty fun, because I ran into my childhood best friend there and it was a night out with the girls. I wasn’t sure if I liked clubbing or not, so Friday night was the deciding factor. I’ve decided…not for me. I’d probably go again with a group of girls, but I’m not a huge fan of the environment. I don’t like being crammed into a sardine can full of sweaty people who are grinding each other to mostly crappy and unbearably loud music. When did that become dancing? I know for a fact that I can’t dance, but I will not resort to freaking. I’d really rather learn to ballroom dance or hip hop or something, because at least those are forms of art. I don’t care if it’s easier, I don’t want anyone’s grubby hands or wee-wees anywhere near me or my bum. If I were to go clubbing again, I’d want to go to a club with a cool theme like ’80s Night or something, hopefully where random people will not come up behind me and attack me with their crotches, and maybe somewhere less packed. I’m not saying that clubbing sucks or anything, it’s just not for me. There was one guy out there who was actually a pretty good dancer and he was just kind of rocking out by himself. More people should dance like him. The coolest thing I ever saw on a dance floor, though, was my friend in high school waltzing to hip hop at homecoming.

At one point, we were in the lobby. I don’t quite remember what we were doing there. I was just standing around and this guy tapped me and looked like he was holding something and said, “Excuse me, you dropped your smile.” Taken aback by this, I was unsure of what to reply with, so I pretended to take it back from him and put it back on my face and said, “Oh thanks.” Then he said something like, “There it is!” and poked me in my dimple and walked away. Weird.

So, a recap of things I learned:

1. I lack rhythm
2. JP aka Cinnamon Bunz dances like a Chippendales dancer
3. My smile has the ability to fall off.
4. Try not to do a shoving motion when you’re trying to catch your balance when coming off a ski lift, because someone might be on the receiving end of that shove, which is what happened to my poor friend, me being the shover.
5. People will dance to any dumb song that has some type of beat, no matter how stupid the lyrics are, and they will sing along.
6. Some janitors and kitchen workers and stuff could actually be like engineers and doctors, but their foreign degrees aren’t recognized here and so they have to start at the bottom in the work force.
7. Ralphs gives you a discount of five cents for bringing your own bag! Think about it, if you were to use a bag you got for a dollar 20 times, that baby would pay for itself!
8. The Subway near my apartment is open 24 hours.
9. Some people pronounce “pin” and “pen” exactly the same.
10. A set of twins got married. I didn’t actually learn that last week, but I wanted to share it.

Pictures to come soon…

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…