F.I.N.A.L.S.

It really is a shame that the holiday season gets overshadowed by finals season. Remember in grade school and high school, how the school would make an effort to look festive? And sometimes they even had us make ornaments and do crafts like that? Oh, how I miss those days.
I think Saturday finals should be outlawed, especially 8am Saturday finals. It seems the more crucial and imperative the task is, the more distractions there are. I should probably be paying more attention to my remaining finals, but I'm actually thinking about what I need to pack and how I am going to make this 8am flight and what I'll do once I get off the plane. But you see, I've been here since June, and I'm over it. The sun and the warmth and the northern California and the sun - I'm over it. Maybe they can't tell it's the holiday season because it's still in the 60's with people gallivanting in shorts and sunshine up your butt.

When work gets overwhelming, remember that you're going to die.

Happy Birthday Joyce!

Happy Birthday!
Congratulations on being one year older Joyce! I remember when I was little I always wanted to be old and time just flew and look at me ... already in college. The next thing you know I'm gonna be getting a job and then getting married and having a family of my own. Although it does seem a little sad how quick we grew up imagine all the things that are planned for us in the future. All the joys and happiness of life are awaiting us!!!! Sooooo hope you a wonderful birthday yesterday and enjoy life one year at a time! =)

Turkey Days at school

This Thanksgiving I am at my apartment in Berkeley. My roommate is with me. The other two are gone. J and I are positively ecstatic to have it to ourselves. But that's another story. So why am I not at home? On this 4-5 day weekend? Why am I not waking up in my own bed as the sunlight streams through my dusty curtains and hits my pile of mail that has been accumulating since June? Yes, June. That was the last time I was at home. Why am I not getting a waft of that turkey that I will not eat anyway (but I'm sure my parents will try to get me to eat it). No, that's another story too.
One of the great things about being 2,000 miles out-of-state is that you get real familiar with how much a flight should cost. And I know that $800 (though I'm sure rates did not stop there) is ridiculous for a flight home and I'm not going to take it. As much as I enjoy dead bird, I'm afraid I'll have to pass.

Being social

I no longer live in the dorms. But I'll admit, it was a grand ol' time. The people on my floor were a very good bunch and we still stay in touch now. There were about 20 of us and we were secluded enough from the rest of campus to spend a significant amount of time together. You see, our dorm was on the North side of Berkeley, and everything else was on the South side. By everything, I mean everything. The shops, restaurants, frats, dorms, hobos, - everything. But we grew to become very close And all of it revolved around cake.

No, our cakes never looked so spectacular.

But there was a whale one time from Carvel (on the South side). Thanks to this nifty little tool called Facebook, you can get your birthday announced to the world a few days in advance. There were purchased cakes and made from a mix cakes. There were cupcakes and multi-layer cakes. Chocolate and vanilla and ice cream. It was wonderful.
Food really does bring people together. Everyone gathered in the common room or a dark closet to wish someone happy birthday and then eat cake. It was delicious. And we would be so discreet about it too. "Um... we have to go somewhere... for some undisclosed amount of time or until springy and firm when pressed... to do something... We'll be back... so you should definitely be here when we get back..." As we march out of there holding cake mix and cake pans. So stealth, we were. Like James Bond.

Tourist season

It's that time of year again. As you walk around campus, you see all these large groups of obvious foreigners. No, they aren't even trying to be discrete. They've all got cameras in their hand and these eager expressions on their face. They're listening intently and asking questions while they struggle to stay at the front so they won't miss any of it.


They're excited because they know it's only a little while before they're out of high school. They're excited because they know they have a test coming up, but aren't going to study because they're seniors and almost out of the house. They think college is going to be this wonderfully magical place where the whole world is going to be at their feet. They're convinced their lives will begin once they walk out of high school with that diploma. They're convinced college will be a blast and that they're so ready to be over with high school.
They've got all these grand visions and impressions of college. Oh, they don't have a clue. So naive. So. Not. Envious.

Grades are in

How green is your campus? Check this out.

GreenReportCard.org tells you how sustainable your college is. It provides a way to inform students and faculty about what works and what doesn't. "Its aim is for schools to learn from each other's experiences, enabling them to establish more effective sustainability policies." Grades were based on 43 indicators in 9 main categories. Click here for more on methodology. It is an individual funded through grants and donations from generous individuals. There is no cost to schools for inclusion in the survey.

I roll old school style

Me and my friend were singing old school songs over the weekend such as Backstreet Boys, NSync, Savage Garden, BBMak and others. It made me miss those golden olden times. Don't you wish you wish you could just turn back time and relive those younger times.

Savage Garden - I knew I loved you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69Z9rkmEcPE&feature=related

They don't make music like this anymore.

Hold on tight, you're in for a ride

Oh, the things I would do with a bike...

• get to class on time.
• run over pedestrians trying to get to class on time.
  
• own a bike basket.
• bike on Embarcadero (not as cool as LSD, but it's the best I've got over here).
• ride precariously alongside traffic.
• walk uphill with it because it's uphill and annoying.
• ride downhill at a terrifyingly fast rate precariously alongside traffic!
• paint it red and decorate it with cool stickers.
• ship it home for a ridiculously large sum after I graduate.
  

Time of your life

They say college is supposed to be the best time of your life. Perhaps I will waver on the more skeptical side. I don't see what all the hoopla is about.
Anybody frequent PostSecret?
This was a secret from around the beginning of school last year.
What's your secret?

Lazy like Sunday morning

Somewhere in the fumble and tumble of life, Sundays became homework days, which really just translates into procrastinating. It seems all the procrastinating you spent the week procrastinating on piles up into Sundays like the entertainment at the circus. There are really so many more moments in time when you can be so much more productive, ie. waiting for the bus on the way to class while trying to cram in last night's reading, the 10 minutes right before class when you have just found your lab partner who just finished the lab (!), or the night before the paper is due on your 5th cup of java.
I mean, as much as we want to finish that long and growing list of assignments early, as much as we know we could finish early -- we won't. When it all comes down to it, we want it to come down to it. We like the pressure. It works for us, or rather, we work for it.

Greetings from DC

Well the homesickness has been wearing away but I do terribly miss all of you guys. I constantly talk about the things that you guys do. How Rekha is always indecisive (a maybe probaly means a no) especially with college choices. =D But glad that things worked out at the end. And how Ying always says hoe hoe. haha And how Conny and I tried to be ghetto. ghettovallalicious. woot! and finally how chris would always shoot rubber bands at people. When I get back to Chicago we need to meet up and chillax like old times.

Angel (AKA Tanisha) is a really awesome roommate and I am SO glad I roomed with her. She is really nice and loads of fun. She does go out partying sometimes, but she doesn't drink which is a relief. whew! we both share a disgust for drinking and people getting drunk. I took the alcohol education test online and they said that I could drink 1 normal portion of alcohol (ex. 12 ounces of beer or 5 ounces of hard liquor) within 3 hours without becoming drunk and sickish. haha if I do start drinking I would become such a mess!

Anyways I didn't get a chance to take a pic of Eric. that would have been a little bit stalkerish. so a pic of george omalley will do for now. angel says that he is a cross between Valiant Lowitz (spell check?) (WY class treasurer) and George OMalley from Grey's. More like Valiant than George though. He's really nice, but I'm starting to wonder if he is always this nice. Too nice can be a problem. He seems not to show a lot of emotion, but that might be because he's shy. Anyways he plays the guitar and he's really good. We watch a lot of Grey's Anatomy cause Angel brought her season 1 disks. I point out to him that George is his character. And today Angel said that Eric reminded her of Chris which I thought was pretty wierd. She says that he talks like Chris and looks like a combination of Valiant and George. When is he ever just Eric (and by that I don't mean Eric Huang)? lol Man! what is with this name Eric?

well...

carmen-

i heard you were terribly homesick. =( and too much partying over there at georgetown is just not for your palate. well, mingle and jingle my pretty lover.

made any new friends? tell us all about your classes! rekha says her new dorm is incredible! and that she has sooo much room. i'm totally jealous. (my bed is so high up, i hit my head on the high beams and that has led me to bubble wrap the entire thing. its ridiculooous.)

however, i don't have my camera w/ me at college so i haven't been able to take any pictures. =/

on another note, I BOUGHT AN IPOD TODAY!

aaah, life is working itself out well. well..ish. there have been complications with my classes, and the fact that some things are SO STUPID. UGHHGHGHGH.

Newbies

So what's up with no one on here?

Happy first week for those who survived. For those of you who didn't - you're better off anyway.