First thing's first: Happy Chinese New Year!!

I didn't do anything to celebrate this year, as New Year's was actually the first day of classes here. No Chinese food. :( I DID however, write an article for Arts&Living because they were desperate on the traditions and history of the LUNAR New Year.. Brian was very upset that everyone assumes it's Chinese because, apparently, Koreans are important too. Haha, of course they are. :)

Classes have started! I'm taking:
-The European Enlightenment
-French Literature in Translation
-Madrid
-Introduction to Economics

I LOVE the first three. My history professor is SO knowledgeable, French lit is so amazing (until we get to Sartre..) and my Spanish class scares me but hopefully will be good. Econ is not quite so exhilarating, but given that I've never taken econ before in my life, I feel like I should at least know some basics, and who knows? Maybe I'll like it! *fingers crossed*

It's nothing but snow here, which is very pretty. It's not as cold as I imagined, though of course, I stay bundled up. I feel so poofy in my big coat and it's rather annoying having to bundle up before going outside, but I like it nonetheless. I spent dinner today talking to Ethan about movies, since he is the ultimate movie buff. He might just put Sayak to shame... and that says something. Ethan has a LIST.. like a SPREADSHEET listing all the movies he's seen.. ever. It's slightly insane. And he runs a pool every year for Oscars and whoever wins their predictions gets the money. I'm just picking "Slumdog Millionaire" for everything. :)

Must go read econ now!

It's really interesting but slightly freaky when you search for someone on Facebook and end up with all these people with similar names that have a bunch of mutual friends with you. It makes me think about the Six Degrees of Separation theory and if that's really true, and all the people that I might meet and have someone in common with. For example, I played basketball with a couple of Brian's friends today and when I searched one of them, we had more friends in common than Brian. Isaac's new girlfriend from NYU also had a mutual friend with me that lives down the hall from me at Amherst. It's crazy!

Brian took me to this place in Hacienda Heights that is basically the top of a really tall hill and has an amazing view down on LA County. Sadly, it could not be captured on camera as well, but it was breathtaking. As I looked down on all the shining lights, the different colours indicating whether it was a home, a store, or a restaurant, I was awed by the sheer size of humanity. It seemed like such a wide expanse, so many people, so many lives, stretching beyond the eye, yet it is but an infinitesimal fraction of all of mankind. When I was little, my mom used to always talk about the "view" and she wanted a house with a "view" and I always despised the array of golden lights that to me signified the death of wildlife and the corruption of the nature. But looking down tonight, I suppose that mankind is beautiful too. :)

Haven't updated in a while merely because not much is going on. Sarah came over on Sunday and I realized once again how awesome she is. She looked at pictures of Amherst on my "fancy new computer ooo" according to her. Her job beforehand was to think of something for us to do, but she failed (as usual haha just kidding), but that didn't matter. I don't think we need to have anything to do. Movies would just get in the way. I think Sarah and I could just sit there and keep talking forever. We went to Coldstone and ordered lovely ice cream and then spent almost two hours wandering around in Borders commenting on every single thing there. Sarah wanted a Borders Rewards card, but we realized once we got to the register that you have to buy something to open an account, and so she bought three truffles. She was then really embarrassed when they asked her for her email, which involves Pinky and the Brain. As we walked to In-N-Out, Sarah devoured her two truffles and then DEMANDED that I eat mine so she didn't feel like a pig, but I insisted that I'd eat them after dinner!

We headed back to my house after delicious burger and fries because Sarah had to use Photoshop for her English project, which I had but she didn't. It was only supposed to take a second, but because of the inevitable screw-ups that always happen in group projects, she had to rewrite everything and then wait for other people to do stuff and ended up staying till 11. I didn't mind though!

Vicki and I hung out today. I drove to Chapman in the afternoon, which really amazed me as to how many places in Southern California, and even the immediate area, that I've never been to. I was so completely lost and feebly trusting my Mapquest directions. Once I got there and parked in the football field parking structure, Vicki came to get me. I finally gave her her birthday present that she left at my house last year and I met one of her roommates, Sasha, and their friend Justin, who were engrossed in "The Virgin Suicides." Vicki's room is huge!! Even for a triple, it's pretty roomy, and they have their own, huge bathroom. The entire dorm was really nice, with computer lounges and study nooks on every floor that looked a lot newer than ours.

We drove to the Block and roamed around, where I was a "bad influence" on Vicki by dragging her into stores that said SALE and then watching her spend exorbitant amounts of money on cheap things while not spending any money myself. :D I DID buy candy! I was very upset at Bath & Body Works for daring to have a sale of basically everything in the store, but not having any scent that I liked. Grr. And I was also very upset with Wet Seal for not allowing you to return anything unless you have the original receipt. Not even an exchange. Stupid butts. What am I supposed to do with oversized clothes that people bought me for Christmas? Grr.

After walking around the entire shopping complex, we headed back to her dorm, where we then watched... SPACE JAM!!! AMAZING FILM!!! I hadn't seen it in YEARS! Why don't they show the Looney Tunes anymore? Maybe if they had good kids shows, such as "Boy Meets World, "The Looney Tunes," and "Hey Arnold!" these days, kids would stop watching the trash that is "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical" and watch good cartoons instead!

I drove back during rush hour, which is always a smart idea. I got off the freeway as soon as I knew how to take surface streets, which means I got off at Chapman and took State College all the way back, which essentially meant that I was going home from Troy. As I turned onto State College, everything became familiar again. I smiled as I saw the sign for "Drug Emporium," remembering the times when I would ask if they sold drugs, and Yogin would always answer me impatiently. Chipotle, of course, is amazing, but the place with the most memories was, of course, Starbucks. :) As I drove past Troy, it seemed like I was just pulling out from layout and going home, and I thought about how stressful yet fun that was. Passing Danielle's house, this wave of nostalgia crested, as the memories of filming our numerous videos rushed back to me. Matthew's amazingly bad acting, Danielle and Yogin's fight scenes, all the laughter and the jokes, the pizza, the fruit that Danielle's mom cut up and brought up to us in her cute trays, and Danielle's insane amount of food. I kept driving, of course, and passed Kristina's house, which reminded me of all the sleepovers and all the time we spent there preparing for dances. Craig Park was the site of many pretty pictures for homecoming, and Shayne's house is the home of tea time. :) Finally, the last stop on this road of reverie was Jen's house, which brought back "The Princess Diaries" and our love for Michael. All these places looked the same and felt the same and were home to so many wonderful memories, which made me really realize how much I loved my four years at Troy and how important they were and are to me. Most importantly, it reminded me of how important and wonderful the people I met there are. Despite all the stress and the insane amount of work, Troy was a great place because it brought together a bunch of insecure, dorky, nerdy kids that were unique and came up with jokes and had conversations that could only have existed amongst such people. A bunch of people I've talked to all miss the environment Troy provided, the aura of intelligence yet idiocy. I was going to say that Troy kids were unpretentious, but that's untrue in the sense that Troy kids (and I'm obviously generalizing when I say 'Troy kids') were very aware of their own intelligence and knowledge and were very arrogant towards lesser beings. But I think we were unpretentious in the way that we all, through all the hardships and the stress, understood each other more or less and accepted each other's shortcomings and quirks. I miss the aura of acceptance and light-hearted frivolity in such an academic atmosphere. I guess I just miss the nerdiness. :)

I haven't done much in the past few days. We had guests from China over for the past few days so I've been mainly helping my mom entertain them. Otherwise, I've been reading Khrushchev's Memoirs, reading Chinese, and learning Chinese. I've gotten into a habit of stalking the sunshine in my house. Wherever the sun seems to shine the most, usually downstairs, I take my book and follow it. So day I spent an hour sitting on the staircase and then moved later to the floor right in front of the television in order to stay in the sun. I really love the feeling of the sun on my skin. I never appreciated it before.

I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" with my mom the other night. She's gotten into a habit of holding me hostage with guilt trips lately in order to get me to spend time with her. Sigh. But yes, excellent film! The only problem was.. I saw it with my mom, who spent the entire time prodding me every five seconds and saying, "Oh my goodness! HOW many people are there in India?" or "Oh my god! There's SO many people in India!" Thank goodness there were other five other people in the theatre since it was a Monday night, but seriously, someone who comes from the most populated country in the earth should really not be making comments about how another seriously overpopulated country should use birth control, especially during a movie that I was enjoying. And then, at the climactic moment, when Jamal and Latika finally reunite and are about to kiss, right when I was overwhelmed by emotion and wanted to cry out of joy and was experiencing my catharsis, my mom hit me and asked, "DID HE WIN THE MONEY?!?!!""

OY! So typical of my mother. Only cares about money.

My dad and I had Subway tonight. Right after we ordered our sandwiches, the line got really long and went by really slowly because the guy immediately after us ordered four foot-long sandwiches. As we sat there in line, all the people in the line, from the pregnant, middle-aged Filipino lady with heavy-set lines across her face, to the blonde woman in her mid-40s, they were all really agitated and impatient, hurrying to get to their next destination. Yet the last two in line, a young Filipino couple who, deducing from their lanyard, went to Cal State Fullerton, were completely oblivious to any impatience and were completely content to while away their time in line. Yet this was only the case because they were together. The girl was about a foot and a half shorter than the guy, so every time they kissed, and there were many of these times, the guy had to duck down a lot. They were either hugging or kissing the entire time, and they started dancing to the song on the radio. At one point, they were waltzing and giggling, and the guy said, "I can't dance!" and the girl slapped him on the stomach. His reaction was to pull her arm up as if about to twirl her, but instead lean down to kiss her. It was both adorable and disgusting.

Continuing with the love theme... I just saw on Facebook that Keith got engaged!! YAY!! Keith is a guy who lives upstairs at Amherst. Pretty nice guy from Missouri that Shannon and I talk to from time to time. We were talking to her a couple months ago in Val one day and we asked him how his girlfriend (from back home) was doing and he was telling us about her. Shannon asked, "Where do you see the relationship going? Like how far?"
And he said, "Let's put it this way. If it weren't for me coming here, I would have already asked her to marry me."
And apparently he just did!!
Cute as it is, Shannon and I were shocked. I mean, good for them that they are already so certain that they want to be together for the rest of their lives, but even if I had decided that, I wouldn't want to get married at 18 no matter what. I just wouldn't feel ready or even be able to grasp the concept of it. So many things still seem foreign and far away to me, jars stocked up in the highest shelves labeled "adult" that I am still too young to reach and open. I wonder when I'll stop feeling like a child and begin feeling like an adult. I don't doubt my maturity level or my ability to deal with things, but it's just that feeling that I still have of being a child, of still being allowed to be irresponsible, of being protected, and of being under a parent's authority.

I stole this idea from Andy and toyed with it for a while.

Review your blog posts for the past year. Copy the first sentence that was written at the beginning of each month, and string them all together to form a new paragraph.

So for 2008:
I'M DONE WITH APPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Current favourite songs: "Il N'y a Qu'un Pas"--Gregory Lemarchal. Birthday list!!! (Since Kristina's demanding it). Wow it's been a while. Hmm... I think it's because I'm so ridiculously tired all the time nowadays that I kind of just sit and stare inanely at my computer (usually Facebook) rather than actually think about my day and write. I guess I should announce this once and for all. I shall be spending the next four years of my lovely life at Amherst College, located in Western Massachusetts. :) Hello!! It's SUMMER!!! I am officially a high school graduate. Piano playing is amazing, just to let you all know, as is basketball playing. Today is August 1, a fact that very much frightens me. First off, NO, I have NOT yet gone to a college party. We're all sitting in the common room and Jorge starts coughing really badly like he's choking. I was opening a 1920s film on my computer so I could watch it for seminar. Here we are at the end of the semester... already.

Interesting... well, mostly related to college. The one about Jorge pretty much sums up the craziness of life at Amherst! I think it's fitting that the first post for December was about the end! Conclusion: must blog more!

To follow through with my New Year's resolution #1 to blog more, here we go! I hung out with Kathleen and Andy today, since they will be leaving for UCLA and London, respectively, very soon. We met at Borders, which was having a huge sale, which induced Andy to spend money, of course. We wove through the stacks of $3.99 books, the stationary (since Andy wanted to write people from London), and CDs, and finally, after each buying something, we bought coffee at the Seattle's Best within Starbucks. The girl who got her drink before us got a gingerbread-related drink, which meant that she got a tiny gingerbread man on top of her whipped cream. This practically sent Kathleen and Andy into convulsions since they both wanted one really badly, so when it was Andy's turn to get his drink, the barista gave him his drink with only whipped cream, and so Andy asked, "Do I not get any of that stuff?" pointing to the box full of confectionary goods, from gingerbread cookies to white chocolate to peppermint.
The low-voiced barista responded, "Sure. Like a chocolate stick?"
Standing behind Andy, I said, "Don't you want a gingerbread man?"
The barista then told us that technically, he could have anything he wanted, which he really shouldn't have said, since Andy then had him load his coffee up with a gingerbread man, peppermint, a chocolate stick, and lots of other goodies. Andy then helped himself to the chocolate syrup and then the caramel. This monster is pictured below:



I felt bad asking the barista for a lot for our drink, but Kathleen happily also got her gingerbread man. :)

We then had to leave to pick up Justine and take her to piano, and Andy spent the whole car ride almost making Kathleen crash out of hysterical laughter by doing his old lady version of the Kathleen accent. IT WAS SO BAD!! It was so bad that when he stopped, Kathleen doing the Kathleen accent no longer sounded as horrendous!!! Halfway through the drive, I said I was going to die because of their bad accents, and Andy, sitting behind me, reached up to choke me, and discovered that he apparently likes my neck. CREEPER!!! HE KEPT TRYING TO STROKE MY NECK!! Apparently it's very smooth and nice... umm.. Thank you?? KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF!

After dropping Justine off, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up cabbage for my dad, and then headed to In-N-Out for Andy's dinner. Kathleen and I finished our fries long before Andy even got his meal, which was huge, of course. We bid our farewells shortly after Andy stuffed himself, since Kathleen had to go get Justine and my dad was summoning me. During this whole time, I would randomly lash out at Andy. Think, hysterical Elaine shrieking, "I HATE YOU!!! AHH I WANT TO GO TO LONDON!!!!!" So when we were bidding farewells, my last words to Andy were, "AHH I HATE YOU!!!!!!" He then yelled back, "ARE THOSE YOUR LAST WORDS? What if I DIE?!?!" Of course, then I had to tell him I loved him. GRAH. WHY CAN'T I GO TO LONDON?!! I had a vivid dream last night in which I was in Cambridge. I got the names of all the colleges right and the geography that I remember. NO FAIR!

At night, my dad and I drove to Shayne's house and dropped off his Christmas present. We sat in his kitchen and talked about The Office and Twilight (HOW HORRIBLE IT IS) and life and enjoyed each other's company. I got him a 365 day Office quotes calendar and he got me.. the BEAUTIFUL "Letters from Father Christmas" by JRR TOLKIEN!!! AHH I LOVE IT!! *HUGS*

So saddening.. everyone's leaving!!!