I'm really bored...

1. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
“Dream A Dream”—Charlotte Church

2. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
“Sixteen Going on Seventeen”—The Sound of Music
Hmm… I don’t know what this means. Hopeless romantic? Young? Immature? Let’s go with the first.

3. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
“You Belong To Me”—Kate Rusby
Hmm… such a pretty song which consists of this woman singing about her love traveling the world, seeing its wonders without her, sending her photographs and souvenirs, but always remembering that he belongs to her. Interesting.

4. WHAT IS 2+2?
“Johanna”—Sweeney Todd.
I hate this question. Doesn’t make any sense.

5. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
“Requiem Mass”—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
DON’T DIE KATHLEEN!!!!! If you did, I would not be talented enough to write you anything close to the genius of this piece!

6. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"Vincent (Starry Starry Night)"--Josh Groban
That doesn't make very much sense. I understand his artistic frustration?

7. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
"My Heart Will Go On"--Titanic
Near, far, wherever you are! Oh yes, I shall persist!

8. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
"Help!"--the Beatles
I don't think the future bodes well for me...

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"Your Ex-Lover Is Dead"--Stars
Great song, but I don't think that bodes well either. I'm not sorry I met you. I'm not sorry it's over. Hmm... it's over with your previous relation so you can be with me?

10. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
"You're Timeless To Me"--Hairspray
Umm... I'm just going to take that as unconditional love.

11. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
"La Marseillaise"--national anthem of France
Does this mean I'm going to marry a Frenchman??

12. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
"Somewhere"--West Side Story
Wasn't this more appropriate for the previous? And I'm an atheist. I don't think I believe, in the context of death: "There's a place for us, somewhere a place for us."

13. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
"Ocean Avenue"--Yellowcard
This makes no sense.

14. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
"Take It All Away"--Ryan Cabrera

15. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
"On the Street Where You Live"--My Fair Lady
Yes, I really love you that much.

16. WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
"Crashed the Wedding"--Busted
Yes, that might be bad.

17. HOW WILL YOU DIE?
"Maria"--West Side Story
That makes no sense whatsoever.

18. WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
"Betrayal and Desolation"--Braveheart
NOO!!! I shall not be Robert the Bruce!

19. WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
"On the Wings of Love"--Clay Aiken

20. WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
"Drink With Me"--Les Miserables
Aww.. that is a sad song.

21. WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
"Come Back"--Atonement
Oh, this bodes well.

22. WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
"Petit Caillou"--Amelie Les Crayons
A small, French pebble scares me. I don't know what the rest of the song is about, so I can't tell you!

23. DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
"She Has No Time"--Keane
Yes, I am very busy?

24. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
"Home to Stay"--Josh Groban

25. WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
"Set Yourself on Fire"--Stars
Yes, that would hurt.

I suddenly was struck by a realization of why Shannon's such a great friend (and roommate). Camille, her, and I were walking back from Val one night after dinner and we passed a guy that I used to harbour a small, extremely shallow crush on. He was walking towards us, and as he saw us, he called out, "Hey Elaine!"
I responded, "Hey. How are you?"
Without a response, the exchange ended. I wasn't sure if I was the only one who felt the ensuing silence a little awkward, and after a few long moments, Shannon said, "Fine, Elaine! HOW ARE YOU??" The three of us then giggled all the way back.

Such a little thing to say, but it made all of us smile and lessened my.. not exactly sadness, probably slight disappointment, at the anti-climactic nature of the exchange with very-good-looking-guy. Shannon always keeps talking to herself when no one answers her questions. It's really funny. If a lot of people are in the room and she asks an unanswered question, she talks aloud to herself about it until someone answers. Haha. Or when she asks people how they are when walking by, and people most of the time never answer, she says, "Oh I'm great! How are you? Oh, thanks for asking. I'm great too!" :)

In about ten hours, we shall usher in a new year, which is very strange. It doesn't feel like a big deal, just another day in the life, but we are almost done with the first decade of this millennium! 2008 was a great year, I must say, but now we're on frightening terrain. I don't think I've ever thought past 2008 and my 18th birthday. I didn't think it was possible for me to get any older than 18 , which is of course ridiculous. But even though I registered things like, OH LONDON OLYMPICS 2012!!!, there really was nothing more in the future than 2008. Olympics, 18th birthday, election, European Championships (football), college--life seemed to plan itself to 2008, and that was it. I really can't believe I'm already 1/8 done with my college education, even though I feel like I just got there. But the only thing we can do now is to stop contemplating about what will come and just be ready for it! To make this sound less disgustingly existential, which was not what I meant by any means, I shall add: Whee for life! :)
(Take that, Hemingway!!!)

MY YEAR IN REVIEW: 2008
-I spent the beginning of the year finishing college apps and awaiting in trepidation for my fate, which finally came in April. Amherst was actually the first school to accept me, and they sent me an email a week in advance to invite me to go visit them. Wow this feels like so long ago. Yay for schools that pay your plane ticket! :) I stayed in the same dorm that I live in now, in a room now inhabited by Simon.. Poor room.
-I accomplished a personal goal and got the exact same grades second semester of senior year as first semester, which means I did not slack off! Mwahaha! Yes, pathetic Elaine goal, I know.
-We made a bunch of very fun videos for a variety of classes: Spanish music videos, telenovela, and global video. Good times, which include many murder scenes, me shrieking, Yogin thinking he's gangster, Danielle the assassin fighter lady, and Danielle with the mustache. :)
-I fell in love with Gregory Lemarchal. Thank you, Vicky Ge! I can't believe I lived for so long without his beautiful voice, which I am listening to at the moment! RIP Gregory.
-We went to all the crazy dances at Troy, even winter formal, so I completed my goal of going to every single dance.
-Vicki and I went to Pasadena one day and spent two hours in Barnes & Nobles reading children's books aloud to each other. It was refreshing to know that I can do something so simplistic and really, silly, and still have so much fun, and I loved reliving the memories.
-Kathleen, Robin, and I went to Starbucks on an almost daily basis and fell in love with Brian Ian Adam (also known as Mitchell, to the deluded of the world).
-I went through all the Oracle strife and wanted to kill someone and came away with a plethora of stories that could fill a book. I should write them down. At Amherst, I then decided that I hadn't had enough stress and pain and joined the newspaper, which made me realize that, like cross country and other crazy activities, journalism is something you really have to love in order to do it, because otherwise it's just too much pain to be worth it. This means, I really do love journalism, a lot, which is terrible because the industry is seriously suffering. But this is a year in review, not a Elaine-worries-about-her-future post!
-One of the notable Oracle moments was when Amy Zhu, me, and Yogin left Sawaya's class (with his permission, of course) to do inserts all by ourselves because the staff consisted of a bunch of lazy pigs.
-Matthew spoke Spanish in our telenovela, and we realized that, after four years of Spanish, he can't pronounce "muy."
-I discovered Bollywood films. Saif Ali Khan!
-I practiced my German accent as Albert Einstein. :D
-I learned a lot from a relationship that was wonderful while it lasted.
-I graduated from high school, obviously!
-Europe and ESPN decided to give me a present and let me watch Euro2008, which was glorious! And my two favourite teams made the final, and SPAIN, with FERNANDO TORRES y XABI ALONSO y mucho más WON MOST GLORIOUSLY!! And Torres scored the decisive goal!!
-I played basketball almost every day with Connie, Jo, Stella, Sam, and Jeff! I miss the Australians!! Those days were so much fun and something to look forward to every day, and good exercise! Connie and I made random "WALL-E" noises all around the court and I bonded with my "sister" Stella, and of course, good old Con Con.
-Sarah and I went to Chicago and went crazy.
-Andy, Kathleen, and I explored LA and laughed over the most ridiculous things, such as Chagusto and Houman Mahboubi.
-Stella, Connie, Jo, and I went around as stalkers searching for Sam on his birthday.
-I moved to Amherst and met the wonderful people that are Shannon, Camille, Brian, Tim, Ethan, Greg, Trevor, Robert, Jaclyn, etc. Shannon is the best roommate I could have asked for and life is wonderful!
-Camille and I loved Pierre Pumpkin, and I started my crazy French-alliteration naming scheme. Pierre Pumpkin, Henri Hat, Cosette Cactus, François Frog, Marcel and Mathieu Monkey and more!
-Shannon and I played RISK for the first time and were soundly defeated after lasting for many hours against Greg, the Pink Dragon Emperor of Doom.
-Shannon, Camille, and I obsessed over "Bet On It" and Dream Street, amongst other musical groups of impeccable taste. :)
-I voted!!! And Obama won!!!
-Jorge, Brian, and I visited Vicky Ge and Boston over Thanksgiving Break.
-I went to CVS more times than I think I have in the previous 17 years of my life combined. Sadly, tis not over yet. That store is the only major one in town, sadly!
-I fell in love with a lovely boy.
-I came back home and realized that my friends at home are amazing and that despite the distance and the time apart, we come back together and fit like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS! (Just to make this post even longer)
-Blog more so I don't forget the lovely events of my lovely life.
-Get perfect grades.
-Spend more time outside of South first floor and get to know more people better.
-Become fluent in Spanish and learn French!!
-Exercise more.
-Be less attention-seeking.

That's it for now, people! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The last two days have been really fun. Elsa arrived in the afternoon Monday, after driving in a huge circle because she thought she was going the wrong way, asked me what to do, and I, without making sure that she was actually lost, told her to turn around and caused her to go back. Eek! Whoops! She texted me, "I think I'm going the wrong way. Any ideas?"
And I just assumed she was right and said, "Turn around??"
Sigh!! Bad Elaine!

Anyway, she texted me that she was getting off the freeway, at which point I quickly signed off AIM, threw my stuff in a bag, and made for my mom's house. As I turned onto Chino Hills Parkway, I ended up behind this car that wouldn't drive through a yellow light, drove below the speed limit, and made a full stop at every stop sign. I knew it had to be Elsa. See! People who don't drive in California all day have safer driving habits! (Until Elsa meets the freeway and traffic, but more on that later.. *shudder*) I pulled onto my driveway and looked back to see if this mysterious white car (what Elsa refers to as "crappy piece of plastic") would pull up after me. It WAS Elsa, and in my excitement, I dropped my keys on my car seat, ran out of my car, slammed the door that I had already locked shut, and greeted her. I was going to park somewhere else so she could park on the driveway, but then realized my idiocy and had to climb into the van from the back. And then realized that the other door was unlocked. Silly me. She was laughing at me the whole time. BUT YAY!! ELSA WAS FINALLY HERE!!!!

We went into the house, where my mom greeted her most exuberantly. My mom loves Elsa, and Elsa, as she often informs me, "loves her!!" Oy. Elsa met Mickey, whom she loved, and we sat down on the couch and started talking. Every few comments or so, my mother would most unnecessarily interject with something from the kitchen, and as I was showing Elsa pictures of my dorm, my mom came over and was like, "LET ME SEE!"
"MOM! You've been there! Why do you have to see the pictures?"
"So? I still want to see!"
Geez. She's like a five-year-old that has to have everything that you touch. Grr. And she thinks she knows everything that happens in the dorm just because she came to visit me and stayed for two days and refused to go back to her hotel room and ended up laying on bed for like five hours. RAWR.

We decided, after great agony and indecision, to go to Chipotle, which Elsa had never had before, for dinner. I'll miss Chipotle!! And then, since it's Elsa, and Chipotle's at the Shoppes, we spent like an hour in Forever 21, where I spent too much money and saw Ben Shih from junior high. He had always teased me about my height, ever since the sixth grade, Elsa was looking at this shirt, and she motioned me over, and right as I touched the shirt, some male voice says, "God. Don't you just hate tall Asian people?" And I was about to get offended and I looked to my left, and it was Ben!!
It was like a sauna in that store and the lines seriously took twenty minutes. I don't understand why they can't just turn on the air conditioning. Elsa's hilarious. She has self-diagnosed ADD, because she'll be saying, "Look at that!" and then completely look at the shiny sign in the opposite direction. And she HATES lines. We were waiting in line for the dressing rooms and I swear to god, she wouldn't stop twitching, playing with her phone, playing with whatever was nearby, and just bouncing. It was so funny. I hate sales. They force you to spend money (appealing to the Asian-ness inside of me that tells me to save money but spending money). Grr. I bought a pretty shirt and jeans there.

Then we went into Bath and Body Works, which has a huge sale going on. I went in there and seized every black raspberry lotion I could find, which wasn't many, sadly. It reminded me of the days in Calc BC with Kathleen. Every single day, about halfway through the period, either I would ask or Kathleen would offer, her black raspberry lotion to me, and we would make the class smell nice, and hopefully, awaken some poor souls from Mr. Koci's wrath. A couple of times, Matt Tims, who sat behind me (Kathleen sat next to me) would sometimes ask us for the lotion because he wanted to smell lovely too. And then Mr. Koci would ask us what the smell was!

ANYWAY, TANGENT ASIDE, we finally got back from too much money spending capitalism, and I introduced her and my mom to... LES CHORISTES!! PIERRE!! They loved it, and then Lane comes downstairs at the very last scene and starts asking, "Wait! What's happening? Why is he going away? Why was he fired? Does he have money? What's going on?"
"LANE! WATCH THE MOVIE!!"
Haha. Then we put in Phantom, of course, and started singing away! Whee! We went to my room afterwards, around 12:30 at night, and ended up talking till 4 AM. It was crazy. I told her the epic story of my life these past few months, how Brian happened, how Amherst is, etc. She told me about her life, about living on her own (not in a dorm), working four jobs (CRAZY), school, boys, and her future plans. It's crazy to see how radically different her life is from mine. She didn't want to deal with dorm life, which I love (and have to live in regardless). I don't work, but she works at Panera, at a school job, as a quasi-secretary, and as an on-call caterer. It's crazy. East Tennessee is definitely different than Western Massachusetts in every way. Their school newspaper consists of letters to the editor about religion, of all things, and all the articles just go on and on about religion. I couldn't deal with that. I'd go insane. Secularism, please! We also argued over politics. Grah. Elsa referred to the former Republican presidential candidate as "John" and shook his hand as part of the Straight-Talk Express. Goodness gracious. SHE CALLED OBAMA THE NEXT HITLER!! But anyway, crazies! Other than the political misguidance, I really look up to Elsa in a lot of ways. She seems really independent, confident, and she knows exactly what she wants and how to hopefully get there. After graduating from college, she plans to join the Air Force and finally fly (yay!) before going into politics.

This morning, I woke up later than Elsa because I'm not crazy and spend an hour fixing my appearance (just kidding! You look lovely dear!) and we set off to pick up Brian and then go to the Puente Hills Mall, Elsa driving because my car was blocked by Lane's Prius. BAD IDEA. BAD MOVE. Not only does Elsa literally, rock out, like fake microphone, dance moves, air guitar, etc, while driving, she also gets really frustrated in traffic, and also doesn't like to BRAKE EARLY. And after listening to me screech every time I felt like we were going to run into the car ahead of us, she started braking really fast sporadically just to freak me out. RAWR!! It's really hilarious listening to her though. She flips out at the other drivers. For example, this huge tractor trailer turned into our lane in front of us, and she was flipping out, "What! What do you think you're doing? What is going on here?" and then right when she goes to change lanes, the tractor trailer changes lanes as well. "OH. So that's what you're doing. Fine. Fine. Whatever!!"

We finally picked Brian up and headed straight for Starbucks, where Elsa's drink took FOREVER. Then we went across the street (driving instead of walking because apparently my suggestion failed because there wasn't any crosswalk) and into the mall we go! We walked into the men's department at Macy's, where the first thing we saw was an unnecessarily unclothed David Beckham picture. Grr. Poor Brian put up with like... looking at every single piece of clothing in the mall, and I bought two more tanktops. STUPID SALES. Four for $10-- I couldn't help myself!! I resisted buying the polos though! They had two for $10, but I only wanted one and Elsa refused to buy the other one.
But anyway, after lots of shopping, including a massive colour-coded store that dazzled us (and I refused to enter the pink section), a Japanese store that astounded Elsa, and a futile attempt to get Elsa away from the Hollister store, we sat down in the food court, where Elsa used the facilities. Brian seemed to get along with Elsa pretty well. He started making the typical, difficult comments right away, like when we were trying to find the Starbucks, the two of us saw it, but Elsa, who was driving, didn't, so she was like, "WAIT! WHERE IS IT? I don't like being lied to! Don't lie to me!"
"It's on the right!!!" I kept telling her. "Right there!"
And Brian felt the need to add, "You know that sign that says 'Starbucks Coffee?' Yeah. That's Starbucks Coffee."

But we didn't even end up eating in the mall, driving to In-N-Out, and after an epic search for parking and a long wait for Elsa's fries that took forever (just like her Starbucks), we sat outside, eating the Californian burger and basking in the absolutely gorgeous weather. Sitting there, I really fully appreciated just how lovely California is. Regardless of the traffic that takes forever and all the people, I really do love California. There's no place like home, if I may, and I don't know how I'll feel when I have to leave again in a few weeks to go back to the cold. I mean, I love Amherst, for the people and for my life there, don't get me wrong, but it made me seriously think about where I want to live after college and how much I've taken for granted. But that is all still in the distant future, even with the new year rolling in, and I shall worry about that later. Europe still awaits me, anyway!

Elsa and I dropped Brian off at a basketball court where he was going to play with his friends, we headed back for my house, singing "Wicked." I confiscated Elsa's phone because she kept texting William while driving, and I really didn't want to die. She left soon after we got back, which saddened me, but it was really lovely to see her again! I really do love her, even if she admires Sarah Palin. *shudder*

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!
:) :) :) :)

I feel so overwhelmed! Everyone's home and everyone's leaving a lot earlier than me and thus they all want to hang out in the next few days!! AHH! So many people to see!! I feel so loved! :)

Lauren and Erin had an Asian party tonight. I hadn't really seen them in a while and kind of dreaded going beforehand, but it actually turned out really well. It was really cool because we were all different ages, Kathleen 19, me 18, Lauren 17, Erin 15, and Justine 12, but we all hung out really well together. Wow. All girls. Disgrace to Asians! You can see the age difference in the picture below:


Lauren declared herself "The Punisher" and talked the entire time. She had to explain each of her actions before actually doing them, and while everyone else was having their own side conversations, she just kept talking the whole time. It was amazing. We also went to Starbucks, where Erin made us play this weird game where we had to make animal gestures and noises. It was ridiculous. I think they kicked us out because of the ridiculous noises and hysterical laughter that kept breaking out instead of their "closing hour." Erin was a rooster, Kathleen a snake, Justine a rat, Lauren a goat, and me a horse. We went by the Chinese Zodiac. I wish I had videos of each person's actions... it was hilarious!! Kathleen had a salted caramel hot chocolate a la Andy and forgot to think up a ridiculous name and had to settle for her real name. What a shame. No addition to the memorable list of Hoshi, Sheniqua, and Chagusto. Oh well. Next time. They then dragged us to Albertson's and stared at all the food instead of eating it, something Kathleen said she should do more often. Go to a grocery store and just look at the food instead of eating it... Strange beings. Then, Lauren, who just had a ridiculous amount of food at the dinner party, a bunch of Thin Mints, and a Starbucks drink, DRAGGED us all to McDonald's and bought fries. HOW MUCH CAN YOU EAT WOMAN!?

The adults made me play piano and Erin play cello for them and tried to get us to duet. That kind of failed, but oh well! It was fun! Lauren subjected me to "John Tucker Must Die" over dinner, and we played an hour of Majong. Kathleen is now addicted and going to practice with her grandparents. Ridiculous. But all in all it was loads of fun, which was really nice. It's so awesome how everyone's growing up and thus the age difference seems to shrink, as we all have more in common. Derek kept destroying the Majong table (and everything else). It was Kathleen and Justine's first time playing, so Huang Pei (my uncle)'s dad helped her. He sat between the two of us, helping her, but occasionally looking at mine and giving a word of advice. THEN, Kathleen was about to play the piece that would have made me win, and he TOLD HER NOT TO BECAUSE THAT WOULD MAKE ME WIN!! BETRAYAL!! TREASON!! NOT COOL!!!

Going to lunch with the Troy group tomorrow! YAY!! I wish Vicki could be there!! You're there in spirit, Vicki!!

I visited Troy today!! It was amazing! It really made me appreciate my friends more and appreciate that wonderful, torturous school (yes, both. tis a paradox). More details tomorrow when I'm more awake, but I picked Shayne up at his house in the morning, and the first thing I said to him as he climbed into the car was, "I think you made me pick you up so I couldn't attack you on sight!" I succeeded in forcing Shayne to a Christmas rally.. I still can't believe he didn't go to any of them all four years AND he didn't do Elf Dance.. RAWR!!! I think we should go back to Troy and suffer through another four years just so Shayne can do Elf Dance.. GRR. I WILL HAVE MY VENGEANCE!! We squeezed out of the gym with Alison in tow. YAY! (LOOK FOR THE OPEN SPOT SHAYNE!) We lost Alison en route to the rally and I told Shayne in great distress, "GASP! Now we'll never be able to find her in the crowd!!!" And he told me, "It's easy. Just look for the open spot!! The void in the crowd. :D" Oh Shayne.. how amazing you are. :) I visited lots of teachers, particularly Dickey, whose room I found myself in three times today. Donnelly asked me if it was strange to come back and nothing changes. I actually thought it was strange to come back and things do change. I think we expect, or at least I expect, that everything will remain the same when I'm not there, probably out of egoism, to think that the world does not carry on without you. My locker was in use! Everywhere you looked, there were people from my class. At one point, there were more of us than actual students in Dickey's room, and during 4th period, the entire quad was filled with us. It was ridiculous, but awesome! :)

More details tomorrow. Sleepy time now!

It's a little late, but I guess some semblance of a Christmas wish list is needed, if only because I do it every year! I really can't think of much this year, probably because I am isolated from the world and thus do not listen to new music or see new movies.

-Lotion.. I'm looking at my dry hands and my empty stock of lotion and being sad. Raspberry scented, if you please!
-"Wall-E" DVD
-"Les Choristes" DVD
-cute socks
-"The Promise"--Il Divo
-pretty messenger bag
-printed pictures of all your pretty faces, actually!
-BOOKS! :D

Wow I'm pathetic... at least my material desires are lessening? COMMUNISM!! Just kidding! I just can't ask you all for a plane ticket to Europe, that's all!

I'm visiting Troy tomorrow!! yay!! Will let you know how that goes! This means I should get to bed so that I am capable of driving tomorrow.

I miss Brian... :(

I was always intrigued with these lists of things to do before I die, and since Brian just made one, I might as well steal. In no particular order and just as they come into my head.

1. Go ice skating at an outdoor rink at night. Halfway through skating with friends, it starts to snow.
2. Watch a Liverpool match at Anfield.
3. Write a successful novel.
4. Be published in the New York Times.
5. Visit every European nation.
6. Live in France, England, and Spain.
7. Speak French.
8. Play Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1.
9. Watch a sunrise at the beach.
10. Read all of Shakespeare's plays and memorize my favourite passages.
11. See "Romeo and Juliet" done professionally on stage.
12. Go to a Backstreet Boys concert.
13. Be on the other side of a waterfall.
14. See a shooting star.
15. Skip down the Champs Elysees.
16. Be pushed into a pool in a fancy dress.
17. Re-enact the "La Vie Boheme" scene.
18. Attempt to play the bagpipe.
19. Have a snowball fight with a dozen people.
20. Bake a chocolate cake.
21. Make my dad proud.
22. Skydive.
23. Sail on a boat.
24. Come home to a loving family after a long day's work.
25. Take a bubble bath.
26. Jump into a lake.
27. Be good enough at Chinese to read my dad's book.
28. Cook good Chinese food.
29. Combine reality and my imagination.

That's it for now! Some of these really aren't very hard to do... take a bubble bath, etc.

Quote of the day happened at Kathleen's Asian party.

May Li (who is 12 years old): OMG, I was watching this movie, and like, I always come in at, like, the wrong parts. Like, always! So I come into the room and this guy is like... ON TOP OF this other girl, and they were like... *silence*... HAVING A RELATIONSHIP!!!

From then on, I kept asking Kathleen if she wanted to "have a relationship" with me. And then I asked Justine if she was going to go tell her whole school on me, since she keeps going on about her teachers' sexual orientations... Ergh.

If you haven't heard by now, I'm HOME!!!!

... after the longest plane ride EVER. Brian, Shannon, and I got up bright and early at 7 to go to breakfast and then see me onto my shuttle at 8:20. We got to Converse around 8:15 and sat there for 30 minutes before I finally decided that it was getting ridiculous and that I was going to call them. Turns out, they changed it to 9 AM!! And we stood there for 50 minutes in the freezing (literally) cold!!! Finally, the shuttle came, and, after hugging Shannon and kissing Brian, I got on the shuttle. The only other passenger (leaving a whole week early) was a sophomore from LA who was meeting her mom in Atlanta and then flying to Nigeria to visit her extended family. We talked about the freezing weather and the Twilight series (though I was falling asleep) and soon enough, we were at the airport. Once we got there, we both couldn't find our flight (which was the same one), so we asked the attendant and he said that our flight had been CANCELLED!!!

We both panicked. Her flight had been rebooked to the next morning, and she was MAD. I was slightly preoccupied to pay attention to her plight, however, and got myself rebooked on a flight an hour and a half later. I sat around Hartford airport, which thankfully has free wireless, and talked to Camille and called sleeping Brian. I finally boarded the plane, which was 30 minutes late in taking off. This meant that it landed at 3:50 instead of 3:20 like it was supposed to, which meant that it just might be difficult to get to my connection at 4:10. I got off the plane by 4 PM, RAN for my life, squeezed into a tram, battled my way off, ran up two escalators hitting people the whole way, and finally got to the gate at 4:05. AND IT WAS FLIPPING CLOSED. AND IT HAD CLOSED TWO SECONDS AGO. RAWR. So I had to wait for the 5:30 flight, which was FULL, and hope that someone couldn't make the plane the way I had. AND THANKFULLY, THEY DIDN'T!! YAY!!! And then that plane was another 50 minutes late to get to LA. BUT YAY! I'M HOME!!

And since I'm home, I eat LOTS OF AWESOME CHINESE FOOD!!! WHEE!!!!! Andy and Kathleen came over last night to my mom's crazy homecoming Asian party she threw for me. And it was awesome! I love them so much. It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside that no matter how long or far we've been apart and how much has gone on in our lives without the others, every time we just pick off exactly where we left off as if we didn't leave off at all. That's the mark of true friendship. :) We watched the last half of "Hairspray" with my cousin Hetty, talked about our respective schools, and mocked Kathleen's concerned creeper face. :) As tradition goes, we went to Starbucks, drank coffee, and did ridiculous jumping pictures outside. All is well in life. :)

Tonight, I dropped by Matthew's house after dinner. That felt the same as well. Matthew is still ridiculous and mocking, still telling me about all the hot girls he sees, freaks out about what he looks like, made me look at the expensive clothes he wants to buy from Express, and mocks Liverpool. Yup. Matthew's the same.

Yay for seeing friends!! Though I do miss Amherst kids lots! :( It's weird because they're all still there, so when I webcam with Brian and talk to them all, I feel like I've left them behind and that life there is still continuing without me. That's alright. I'll be back there soon enough, and Brian will be home soon enough. Yay!!

Here we are at the end of the semester... already.

I have my last class in an hour, which is a frightening notion. Where has the time gone? It feels like both such a long time ago and just yesterday that I left home. But then again, I've realized that I'm not the only one who feels this way, and this isn't the only time that I've felt this way. Time always flies, and we the humans in its inexorable path, must accept it instead of questioning its speed and thus losing more of the precious time granted to us.

Alright. Done waxing philosophical. It's still weird to me that I'm leaving more than a week earlier than everyone else and then I'm not coming back for Interterm, which means that I won't be living in this space with all of these people for a month and a half!!! I'm kind of afraid of going home because I don't know what it will feel like. Camille and Shannon were telling me how it's really weird because you feel torn. Amherst feels like home, but home does too, just one that you haven't been at for a while.

I need to go Christmas shopping!! GRR!! It was really funny this morning when I woke up (barely actually... I woke up halfway through the McFly song. I just incorporated the song into my intense dream about running away, as usual), and in my groggy state, trudged across the hall to the bathroom. I came out slightly more awake and in the four steps it takes me to get from the bathroom to my room, noticed something unusual on my door: a huge white sheet of paper. ¿Que es eso? I thought.
"To Brian:
Pulled all nighter.
Need sleep.
Turn in math homework for me?
-Simon"

And behind it, Simon's math homework. After Shannon and I laughed about it, I reflected on how everyone just comes automatically here to look for Brian. Sam always pops his head in asking for Brian when he wants to play video games, and Jorge pretends to come see us to check if Brian's available for video games. Ew video games. Disgust me. Such a waste of life.

Over break I think I'm going to write character sketches of all the people I live with. For fun, yes. Just because I haven't done any non-essay/journalistic writing for a very, very long time, and I miss it. And why not capture reality so I can remember these people vividly as well?

Last night, Shannon, Jaclyn, Ethan, and Keith were sitting in the study nook, and I went out to go say hello. Jaclyn was talking about her mother (using the low demonic voice, as usual) and she was telling them about how her parents wanted to kill her for choosing Amherst. They were first beyond ashamed that she didn't get into an Ivy League, and after she decided to go to Amherst, her dad wouldn't speak to her for a month. It was only till they got here that her dad decided, "Fine. Amherst is an okay school." Her mother has decided that she can only be successful if she majors in business, learns Chinese, and becomes the CEO of a large corporation. This is not what Jaclyn has in mind for herself, so she's double majoring in history AND economics because her mom threatened to stop paying her tuition if she didn't major in econ. RIDICULOUS.
Shannon had a similar story, though for different reasons. Her mom wanted her to stay in Iowa, and Shannon was determined to leave. So she and her dad chose Amherst without telling her mom, and when her mom found out, she flipped out and told her, "Shannon, since you're going far away anyway, you should just get out of the house right now," and then wouldn't speak to her. Sigh. Parents. I would want my kid to go to the best possible school and see the world instead of staying in the same place forever.

Must go to history now!! Post more later!