Anti Nostalgic

The End of an Era?

2009-12-08T12:49:00.001-08:00

So I've been seeing, one by one, all of my friends drop from the intarwebs as they get on with their lives without blogging. I'm not sure, but I think I'm slowly getting to that point as well. I really don't have much to say, I suppose, and when I do, I'd imagine that updates to this blog will be few and far in between.

A lot of people ask me, "how's the married life?" My usual response is, of course, it's like having a roommate, I guess. I'm not sure how to describe it, really. I mean, it really is like having a roommate, except I love him and he's my soulmate, so I guess it's actually quite a bit different.

As for future work, I haven't really gotten around to getting my portfolio under control, and I haven't really revamped my website yet. And my bleeding heart apparently has resurfaced, so I lack the resolve to leave my kids in the middle of the school year. As long as my funds hold out, I think I'll keep this job until June when my kids graduate.

See? I even call them "my" kids. Wow, I didn't realize I could care enough to claim a class of kids and call it mine, but I really like my kids, even though after work I always complain. I just can't help it, even after all the crap they give me, the little good things they do really make up for it. I get HUGS!

Oh well, I suppose this will be my semi-sign off, since I'll still keep this blog up and alive, but it shouldn't be updated that often anymore. Sigh. The end of an era, indeed.

Still Alive

2009-11-09T10:21:00.000-08:00

So it seems that I really don't have free time to post on this blog, or rather, all my free time is spent hanging out with my friends, since I live with them now. It's a little surreal, living with Sharon & Woodson, but at the same time, it's nice. I'm probably getting a little complacent, and not getting my act together to become an architect nearly as quickly as I should be, but at the same time, I really enjoy this laid back life, and the knowledge that I can do that whole architecture thing later because I already got my degree is comforting enough.

Or maybe it's the meds talking. Yes, once again, I am sick with a stupid cold that just wouldn't go away. I thought I got rid of it last week and got off easy, but nooooooo, it had to come back with a vengeance, and now today I am stuffy nosed, sore throated, and feeling crappy. Good times, surely.

I suppose I'd better do something for my cold, like drink some orange juice and go back to sleep...

Officially MARRIED

2009-10-19T23:40:00.000-07:00

YES! Finally Will and I are officially married. We're going to go ahead and drop off the face of the earth for a few days starting tomorrow. Don't try to find us.

Off the Face of the World

2009-10-09T00:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I've been hiding and not posting. Why?

WEDDING PLANNING IS A BITCH.

Okay, okay, it hasn't been THAT bad since Joanne took over a large portion of the logistics. But I've just been busy and haven't had that much time to post anything really.

I'm sure once I'm actually married, I'll have some free time again. Until then... woo.

10 days until the wedding...

Found!

2009-09-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

A few things:

One, my bottle was found the following week, by one of the kids who sits at the desk in which the bottle was hidden. So the bottle was just hidden. Not stolen. But they still get to do respect lessons everyday, because they don't pay attention to instructions, and they don't respect my authority.

Two, in case I hadn't already mentioned, I have a car now. It's a two-door Chevrolet Cavalier, and it's shiny gold. Or I suppose beige. I'm picking up the plates tomorrow morning, because they finally came in.

Three, I'm still waiting for my UCLA diploma. Come on, how long is it supposed to take? 6-8 weeks is the norm, so I guess... another three weeks, and I'll really start complaining.

Suspicion

2009-09-04T23:53:00.000-07:00

So today I told the fifth graders that I watch over that they couldn't play in the corner of the classroom anymore due to arguments from the previous day.

Within the hour, my water bottle disappears. Coincidence? Hell no. But I can't blame anyone outright, so I'm just going to use academic blackmail. They get to do respect lessons over and over until it's found.

Not that I care that much about the bottle, but it's the principle of the thing.

More Complications

2009-08-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

So I've been trying to figure out whether or not I should get some outside coordinators/waitstaff for the wedding day. I hear it costs a lot, and it'll probably pull another $1000 out of my budget which I'll have to pull out of something else in order to pay for that. Or maybe I'll just get the caterer to put the sandwich platters on the right tables, and then we'll be set.

My original plan was to get people to help out with stuff, but then I realized that they probably just want to have fun, and I don't want to get in the way of that.

Ah, oh well, we'll see.

Finally Something Good

2009-08-15T01:08:00.000-07:00

So I have a job now! A part time job, sure, but a job nonetheless. It's an after school instructional assistant gig, which I suppose I'll do until I get a full time job. Not sure how long that will take, but at least I can make some cash until then.

Other news: finally pushing forward with what I'll be doing with the wedding planning. I'm going to get up tomorrow morning and make a list of what I need to do, and then try to get as much done as I can in the next few weeks before things get too hectic. I definitely want to have as much prepared as possible so that when early October rolls around and I have all the RSVPs, I can prep the table seating chart, the wedding favors, the catering, and all that jazz in an efficient manner.

Of course, I suppose the first thing to do would be to describe what the wedding looks like in my head to Will, and then to the others. I've been pretty bad about describing it, so I'll need to write it all down, and then tell everyone at once (after I tell Will personally, of course).

So much to do, and yet I'm still just damn glad that I got a job now!

Wedding Stress

2009-08-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

Augh, okay, it's starting to get to me. Just a little bit. I'm not quite sure what to do at this point, because a lot of the stuff requires me to wait until I have a solid guest list. I've sent out the invitations, now I'm just waiting for responses.

It's really harrowing to not know how many people will actually come for the wedding. I sent out about 35 invites, and a good number of e-vites, to the total of 102 estimated guests.

I know of a few people who probably aren't going to come (out of state not-quite-relatives and parents' friends), and I know a couple of people who definitely aren't making it (because they're out of the country).

But then some of my solo friends want to invite dates. There's some people who I anticipated would have dates, so those people I'm not worried about. But other people who have suddenly told me in the past week that they might be bringing someone... Since I'm catering sandwiches, it isn't too expensive. But then I have to worry about wedding favors and special napkins, because I only have 100 of each. I could buy more, I suppose. But honestly, I'd rather not. I hate spending more cash than I have to. And I hate having to re-order something. That's just a pain.

On top of that, the future mother-in-law has other people she wanted to invite that she didn't tell me about before hand.

Now the estimated guest list is about 109 or 110, and I had not anticipated that.

Argh. Just... argh. I am THIS CLOSE to just eloping and being done with it.

I know I wouldn't, because I've already bought most of the stuff for the centerpieces, I've already sent out invitations... I don't know, I guess I just need to buckle down and finally get a hardcore plan and to-do list together. Otherwise I'll never get anything done.

RAWR! To WORK.

Between Jobs, Literally

2009-08-13T09:16:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, I'm in a rather tough predicament. I have been offered a part-time job at an elementary school, but I'm also waiting to hear back from another school for a full time teaching assistant job. I want the full time job, but they seem to be taking their sweet time.

Should I just take the part time job, since I have to give them an answer by tomorrow? Or put my hopes on the full time and just wait?

I don't know what to do, I need money now, but I also know that waiting for a full time job will get me more money later.

Decisions, decisions...

A Return to the Old Days?

2009-08-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

So lately I've been basically on hold, waiting for a phone call so that I can get a job. I've been sort of hired by Express Professionals, an employment service that, with any hope, can get me a job as a teaching assistant in a local charter high school. I called them yesterday and they told me that the school really liked my resume, so I think I'm pretty high in the running, but of course, as with the whole Lego thing, I don't want to get my hopes up too much.

What? Apparently I hadn't mentioned the Lego thing yet, so allow me to explain. Earlier this year, Legoland Carlsbad announced rather discreetly that they were holding a competition to hire new model builders. I came across this ad on craigslist, so I meekly applied, thinking, "pfft, I probably won't hear back, but it sure would be cool to work at Legoland!"

Lo and behold, I get a call. Apparently my resume and portfolio made it past the initial slew of applicants to get into the semi-finals, held on June 24th. Later I heard that there were 150 prospective applicants for the semi-finals that they were looking at, not to mention the hundreds that probably applied initially and were cut outright for whatever reason. Anyway, I think to myself, cool, but now what? Well, I had to go and compete with a toymaker, another architect, and several other smart and funny folks who I got to know during the team competition, and had a grand old time.

Let me explain. There were two sessions of the semi-finals with 12 contestants during the morning, and 12 in the afternoon, although one person didn't show up to the afternoon session, the one I was in. I also heard later that one old guy showed up for the morning session, couldn't succeed in the first test, and just left. We were all ushered into the Human Resources building at Legoland and corralled into a conference room. We were each seated at a table with a base plate and a box of bricks. The semi-final itself was split into three parts: the copy and build portion where we were given a Lego sea horse and asked to copy it with the parts in the box, the team build where we had to scale up a Lego person into a larger version in bricks, and then an individual free build where we were given access to many bricks, and then had to build anything we wanted. I built a lizard-chicken. We were also given a free ticket to Legoland, which I have yet to use because no one wants to come with me.

Afterward, we're sent home, and promised that we will be called that very night by 6PM to see if we made it to the finals the next day.

It's 6:30pm, and I've pretty much given up hope, and packing my bag to go to Will's house. Then suddenly I get a call: I've made it into the finals!

So I do a bit of research for the next gig, which is basically a two hour competition to build something related to the new Dune Raiders attraction. Also, as a bonus for getting into the finals, we're given a tour of the design building which is out in the business park, a little bit away from the Legoland park itself. There were TONS of bricks and accessories, I almost had a Lego-gasm. I say almost, because I'm not into Lego as much as I used to be, which was probably a big factor in my losing the finals. But more on that later.

After the tour of the design facility, we were interviewed one by one by the HR folks and other designers. I should say now that there were 18 of us who made it back into the finals from the 22 from the semi-finals, so there really wasn't that much of a cut. So during the morning when we first arrived, half of us stayed behind in the HR building to be interviewed, and half of us went on the tour.

So after all that, we were taken to the park itself to have lunch, which was rather nice, and then we also had a little bit of free time to explore the park. I made friends with Daverick, a guy who also visits Pair-a-Dice Games, David, a guy living in Temecula who has a young daughter and an immense love for Lego, and some other people whose names I've forgotten but I remember their faces. It was a strange and surreal two days, but somehow, I didn't feel like it was a really cutthroat competition. We were all helping each other, even during the competition.

Anyway, so after chilling in the park a bit, we're taken to the Dune Raiders section, where I quickly come to realize that a) the competition is publicly viewed, and b) there's media from the local TV and newspapers. I freak out a little bit; I didn't think this was that important. Part of that pressure, on top of looking around me and seeing people with amazing Lego designs while mine was... not so great, I just faltered at the end. I did my best, don't get me wrong, I tried, but I think I realized about an hour into the two-hour competition under the hot California sun that I probably didn't have that high of a chance of beating all these talented folks. I still kept hope though, and continued on.

I wanted to point out one thing. Before the competition even began, we had an hour to search for the bricks we would need for our design. We were all helping each other out, giving people bricks that we didn't need but someone else needed, helping each other find things, and general all around friendliness. It was a very nice, very camaraderie sort of atmosphere, and that helped take some of the edge off.

So in the end, when I didn't get chosen as one of the nine lucky winners, I still didn't feel too bitter or sad by it. David, who really needed the job, got one of the positions, and I slapped him on the back and told him it was great, and that his daughter and friends would be really jealous of him because he gets to play with bricks all day. I was actually happy for him, and that was a good feeling, to be so positive about the experience even though I didn't win. Sure, I was a little disappointed, but I still felt good about the whole thing. It was definitely a fun and fantastic experience that few have had, and I feel lucky to have participated. Besides, I made it into the finals completely blind and not knowing that this was a NATIONWIDE search. So I feel a little proud about that.

Anyway.

The whole reason behind this post was that I wanted to say that I can feel myself going back to the creative part of me, the art, the writing, and even the gaming. I've started playing Kingdom Hearts, I've actually started a sketch in my sketchbook, and I'm thinking about writing a blog for That Guy With The Glasses. Of course, I should be high-powering the job hunt, but considering I've been rather busy the first two months with wedding planning and job hunting, I haven't had time for a real break yet. There's always been stuff on my mind, even when I was hanging out with friends.

But I've called the caterers and got a good chunk of details, I've got my dress picked out, purchased, and now I'm exercising and eating right so I can fit properly into the Chinese dress (I apparently filled out a little bit during finals), and I've sent out invitations. Now I need to figure out decorations, build the centerpieces, figure out sound and other electronic logistics, and probably a few other things that I can't really think of at the moment. But things seem to be going alright, and I want some time to relax and let me muse slowly, ever so slowly, come back to life.

I still want to write that fiction book, I still want to improve my art style. Once I get a job, I think my muse will finally crawl out of its hole, because then everything will be set.

I'll probably do some more job hunting next week. This week is pretty much more wedding planning, and then I'm going to Palm Springs with Sharon on Thursday night, to return Sunday night. A mini-vacation might help my brain a bit.

Wow, I haven't written that much in a LONG time. Hopefully I'll blog a little more often now.

Another Day, Another Hunt

2009-07-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

Yup, so basically my day to day is this:
- Get up, exercise by walking or lifting weights
- Job hunt until lunch
- Wedding planning or more job hunting
- Will gets off work, comes to get me, and we hang out and I relax

Of course, that's not counting the slacking that I do, which is probably about the same amount of slacking I do during the first two weeks of studio (so, about one hour of slacking to every three or four hours of work).

Sigh. Even with all this time, I still haven't been able to find a job that matches my skills. Most of the jobs out there now are retail, senior administrative, or other things that I don't qualify for, like nursing or engineering.

Hopefully things will turn up in the next month or so. I need a job soon!

Adamantium RAGE

2009-07-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

Heh, my title is liberally stolen from a quote by Linkara...

Anyway, the reason for my rage is simple. I'm walking around Costco, getting items for my mom. When I find her again, an old lady is talking to her. I rapidly conclude that she's trying to cheat my mom out of her mango juice coupon, spilling the lie of "you only need one coupon for all items."

Lies. I know better, and when my mom is about to hand her the coupon, I tell the hag, "We'll let you know if they don't use the coupon at the register." The old woman just smiles and walks away. But I know. That bitch tried to scam my mom!

Afterward, my mom tells me she was going to give her the coupon to get rid of her, because she knew that the old lady was spewing lies, and just didn't want to be bothered with her. But I don't think that's right; after all, that's like letting the bitch win, in my opinion.

Woosh'd

2009-06-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that three years have blown by, and now I officially have my Masters. When I went into grad school, I believed that I would be coming out with a job offer and going into a happy life.

Now, I have no job, still no car, and I'm living at home with the parents once more.

Not cool.

Oh well, I'm trying to make the most of my enforced vacation by de-stressing from the most intense final I've ever had to prepare for. I've done some clearing out of old things, and I'm making plans for how I'm going to manage my online presence, mainly my portfolio and website.

Yup, I have things to do, but I also want to make time for relaxing, doing things that I've wanted to do for some time now. Such as play video games, or read, or hell, I might even get back to drawing.

Okay, maybe not the last one. I've decided that drawing is no longer something I can really do with the intensity I once had. But with everything else, yeah, I can play video games and read, sure, those are low-intensity things.

Anyway. I'm going to try to just live my life, and not worry too much about that pesky job thing just yet. I'll worry about it more in mid-July. A month off to recover from a burn out that's three years in the making isn't too much to ask for, right?

A Quickie

2009-06-18T00:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, I haven't posted since I graduated, I know. I think I'm still trying to work things out in the post-graduate haze that is the first week of coming back and adjusting to restricted life once more.

In the meantime, be amused by this:

Apocaluck.com

In a nuclear apocalypse
my home town
will be:
WRECKED (6 of 10)

Shockwave

Blasted

Heat Blast

Charred

Fallout

Glowing

What happens to your city?

A New TimeSuck

2009-05-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

So I recently got DOSBox, a DOS emulator for Windows, and lo and behold, I got a copy of Sim City 2000, TIE Fighter, and Star Trek 25th Anniversary, and played those for a bit.

I still suck at TIE Fighter. Nothing will ever change that.

But I'm kicking ass at Sim City 2000 for once. Making money, keeping the citizens happy, and expanding at a good pace.

And Star Trek... I played for all of 3 minutes before I gave up because I knew it would suck me in and I'd get nothing done today.

Sigh. I wish I had more time.

xXxHolic Update

2009-05-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh, Yuuko, noooooooooooooo!

*tear*

Oh, damn. Well, we still don't quite know who she is, because she didn't say much, but I have some pretty darn good guesses. I think it's safe to say that she's gone from the series in the present, although CLAMP may do some kind of flash forward or something, after they do the big finale for Tsubasa. Given that the two are EXTREMELY linked now, I'm expecting some more of Yuuko in Tsubasa to make up for her lack of exposition in xXxholic.

So she was already dead to begin with... so weird!

Anyway, sorry for my weird manga rant that pretty much no one will understand. Next post should be back to my normal self.

Dual Monitors

2009-05-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

So on Thursday morning, I went ahead and ordered myself a new monitor from Staples. Friday it came in. Saturday I spent all day enjoying myself, actually doing schoolwork because it was much easier to have my work spread out over two screens. I could see all the information I needed to see at once!

And then today, I'm having some anxiety because I'm going to have to tell my dad eventually. I sent him an email with this photo last night:

So I suppose he'll know soon enough. I just don't want to get flack for a decision that I've been researching for a few months now.

Still in joy over having a dual monitor system now though. GLEE.

Senioritis with a Vengeance

2009-05-14T18:50:00.001-07:00

Ah shit. Well, I've reached a super low in terms of senioritis. It's hit me with a vengeance, and I don't know how deep the slacking trench will go before I will actually get off my lazy ass and do work.

I SHOULD be writing my outline for my theory paper, I SHOULD be working on studio.

But for some reason, I can't bring myself to do it. I'm just too damn tired.

Maybe I just haven't been able to sleep well lately, and that's starting to affect me.

Maybe I'm just tired of school.

Maybe it's all these things combined. Either way. School ends in four weeks and some change. And I can't fucking wait.

Almost Here

2009-05-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

So my computer will return to me this Saturday, hurrah! In response to someone asking me why I didn't just take the hard drive out of my computer and stick it in the backup computer, it's because ultimately my dad didn't know exactly what was wrong with the computer, even if the diagnostic lights said that it was the motherboard. He said that it would be better to take the whole computer and check it out, rather than take out something that might actually be the culprit. Eventually he found out that it was my video card, so he got me a newer, better one on eBay.

So yes, new video card, and my dad said that I can keep the backup computer here anyway so that I can render AND work on AutoCAD drawings at the same time. Woohoo!

Of course, this also means that I will have all my games back, specifically World of Warcraft... sigh. Oh well, it's not like I was being all that productive anyway.

Midreview was Monday, May 4th, which, apparently, was also Star Wars day (May the 4th be with you, get it? Get it? Har har har...). I got a mediocre critique, which means that I have a relatively boring project. Oh well, I got nothing to complain about; I came down and pinned up my work on time, I had all the requirements, and though I presented in a relatively haphazard manner, I still got some good points about my program, which is socially responsible (affordable housing and elderly housing). Hurray.

But unfortunately, I haven't done any work since then. So... it's been about 3 days now, and I haven't really touched my studio project. Guess I'd better get on with it.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

2009-04-23T18:19:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I took a nice mini-vacation up to the Bay Area for Wednesday's construction class field trip to ConXTech, Swerve, and the Academy of Sciences. I flew up on Tuesday early, because the itinerary gave only 1.5 hours for the Academy, and the ticket was $20. Screw that, I thought, I'd go up early on Tuesday, take a few hours at the academy on my own, and just chill for that hour and a half on Wednesday when everyone else was inside. Anyway, I got back this morning, and then I had class, so now I finally have the time to sit down and write about my wonderful, nostalgic trip.

So Tuesday morning I went to LAX for my flight at 10AM. I had a strange string of early arrivals; I arrived early at the airport, early at the terminal, the flight arrived early in SFO, and all the public transport I had to take during this entire trip had arrived in an eerily timely fashion. So when I landed at SFO, I took the BART to Civic Center, took the bus over to Golden Gate Park, and explored the Academy of Sciences all on my own. It was a wonderful experience, definitely one the best museums I have ever seen in my life. Almost worth that $20 ticket. So I ran around, went through the rain forest, saw the extensive green roof, and then I left after two and a half hours of fun. Steph let me know later that the planetarium was also free, which I stupidly didn't realize. Oh well, that gives me a reason to go back.

After I left, I took a bus back to Civic Center all the way to Berkeley, where I walked through campus to Steph's work, and then we walked back to her place in Ashby (a nice, posh place!), where we called Angie for dinner. We decided to go to Zachary's on Solano, which I later heard wasn't as good as the one on College. Oh well. Good times were had, and I finally got to meet Angie's boyfriend, Tony. We also got to wedding talking in, and some valuable information was exchanged.

After dinner, we headed over to Steph's place to play a game called In a Pickle, which was pretty fun. We also had some delicious cupcakes; I had a matcha green tea cupcake which was pretty darn awesome. After Angie and Tony left, Steph and I went to bed, because she had work the next morning, and I was really tired from walking around all day.

So Wednesday morning, I headed out to Berkeley with Steph, and after she took me to the roof of Campbell Hall, I left to meander around Berkeley campus. It made me happy to know that even after three years, I still could go around the lesser known pathways and not get lost. I felt as if my body knew the way, even if my mind was preoccupied by the sheer nostalgia I felt at just walking around on campus, smelling the fresh air (as compared to smoggy LA), and listening to bluebirds and remembering how damn annoying the Stellar's jays were in the morning in front of our window at Foothill.

Eventually I made my way into the depths of Eshleman Hall to grab a couple copies of Bezerk, the magazine that me and Alf created. I wasn't that surprised to find the doors unlocked and gained easy access to the publishing section in the basement. After that, I walked down to the BART station and went to Hayward station, where Caren and Ryan picked up me and Ian.

And so the rest of the day was filled with the construction field trip. A good chunk of my construction class actually managed to come along, which was nice. We went as a class to ConXTech first, then Swerve, and then our car decided to head into Berkeley to grab some Cheeseboard pizza and swing by the campus, since Ryan had never been there. Led by Ian, we eventually meandered into Wurster and up into one of the grad studios where I saw Rene again, somewhat to my dismay, since he hadn't given me a recommendation and I was still feeling a little resentful about it. Then we realized that we should probably go to the Academy of Sciences, since it was getting late and I belatedly realized that it closed at 5pm.

So we flew down the Bay Bridge and arrived at the Academy in only 20 minutes, and then they had to hassle a guy to let them in because apparently the ticket office closes at 4pm, but they had already bought their tickets. So after 15 minutes of useless waiting, they were finally let in, and I stood outside and waited for everyone to get back out.

Then instead of driving by the Federal building, our car opted to go straight to the bar on Valencia called Zeitgeist. It was not my kind of scene, but with a couple of hard ciders in me and a tasty burger made by a shady cook, it was alright, an interesting experience to say the least.

Afterwards, Alf and I made our way back to the BART, where I got off at Ashby back to Steph's place, and then I pretty much went to bed after taking a nice long shower to wash the stench of bar and smoke off me.

Next morning, got up at 5:30am, out to the BART and off to SFO, and took an 8am flight back to LAX, where I took a shuttle back to Westwood, meandered back to my room, had a bite to eat, transfered my photos, and then headed off to class. Then I went to Ralphs for some milk and bread, and now I'm back in my little room. Sigh.

Oh, how I miss Berkeley.

F*CK!

2009-04-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my computer died this morning. I should have seen it coming, since it was starting up rather funky yesterday morning, and being slower than usual. Turns out that my processor died, so my dad was kind enough to drive up here today and switch out my computer for one of his back up computers. So now I'm using a slightly slower computer, but at least I have one at home now, so that I don't have to spend all of my time in studio.

On the flip side, I don't have any of my music, games, or files from after two days ago. Which means all the work I've done in the past two days... Gone. Sigh.

Well, I shouldn't say gone, more like inaccessible for the next month while my dad repairs the computer. And unfortunately, there's a pin-up tomorrow and an essay due in less than two weeks, and I now have nothing for either of them. Fuck.

Normally I back up my stuff everyday, but last night, I thought it'd be okay, that I could just work some more on Sunday and back it up then. Why is it that the one time I decide not to back up everything, my processor gives out?!

Oh well. Time to regenerate some work for tomorrow.

Sigh.

Inspiring!

2009-04-18T09:40:00.001-07:00

Okay, I don't have a television or anything, so I'm usually late on getting any kind of news (I suppose there's always the front page of MSN, but that's usually just headlines of general things). But if you haven't heard of Susan Boyle and you haven't seen this clip yet, then dammit, go watch it. It's so awe-inspiring, and it really makes you think twice about judging people before you get to know them.

Anyway. I'm inspired and awe-struck.

Officially Booked

2009-04-13T22:41:00.000-07:00

Yup, I just booked my flight for San Francisco, and strangely enough, it was cheaper today than it was yesterday by a whole $12. It was weird, but hey, cheaper is better.

So anyway, I got a flight for Tuesday around 10am, and then coming back Thursday around 8am. Which means on Tuesday I have to leave my room by 7:30am to catch the shuttle to LAX, and then on Thursday I have to get up around 5:30am and catch the 6:04AM or 6:17am BART from Ashby station.

So why am I going so early on Tuesday? Because I don't want my $20 ticket to the Academy of Sciences to go to waste on a mere 2-hour run through. I want a full 3-4 hours of exploration time, and since there won't be enough time on Wednesday, I will go on Tuesday afternoon on my own. Sure, I'll be lugging my backpack around, but I'm going to pack as light as possible so it won't be too bad. And after my Europe trip, I have a pretty good idea how much I really need to pack. Anyway.

Good times! I still haven't figured out what I want to eat Tuesday night though...

Bay Area?

2009-04-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

There is a possibility that I will be visiting the bay area for a one night trip for the construction class that I'm TA-ing. It'd be on April 22nd, and I guess I'd carpool with someone on the 21st, which means I need a place to stay that night. Steph? Alf?

Not sure what's going on yet, but we'll see what happens with trip planning and carpool arrangements; it might be better if I stayed with the group so that carpooling won't be so bad the next morning. It's not as if I couldn't get to SF on my own from Berkeley, I know how the BART and the buses run. Come on, I used to live there too, dammit.

Oh, but it would be SO nice to go back up there...