New Year

Ten Memorable Things You Did:
10. 4.0 GPA
9. snowboarding
8. discovery of vintage clothing and denim pants
7. two car accidents
6. won NCAA Final Four betting pool
5. diving into the engineering world - internship, XE, Engineering In Training certification
4. Viterbi Woman of the Week
3. sorority president
2. iPhone.
1. I voted in my first Presidential election. hope has come to America.

Nine Places You Went:
9. San Francisco, CA (football trip!)
8. Pomona Fairplex
7. Northridge
6. Los Angeles Colosseum
5. Redwood Bar
4. Anaheim, CA
3. Las Vegas, NV
2. USC Galen Center
1. Austin, TX

Eight People You Want To Thank:
8. parents
7. friends (all of them)
6. professors
5. engineers
4. sorority
3. USC
2. Barack Obama
1. democracy

Seven Things I Regret Doing:
7. I
6. never
5. have
4. any
3. regrets
2. at
1. all

Six Phrases I Overused:
6. huffy
5. indie
4. bullshit
3. ridiculous
2. liberal
1. jesus christ

Five Favorite Songs:
5. "Love That Girl" Raphael Saadiq
4. "Disturbia" Rihanna
3. "Let It Rock" Kevin Rudolf
2. "Low" Flo Rider
1. "Electric Feel" MGMT

Four Changes:
4. jobs. SI Leader to KPFF intern to Parsons Intern
3. residences, from sharing a room with three others to my own room
2. phones. sidekick to iPhone 3G. then broke iPhone, thus a new iPhone
1. Barack Obama. democracy emerges

Three Things You Got Addicted To:
3. digg
2. Perez Hilton
1. denim pants

Two Good Deeds I Did:
2. president
1. voted

One Resolution For Next Year:
1. figure out my career path. also, fall in love luv wuv



Happy New Year!

I GOT A 4.0!

I GOT A 4.0!

2008's Finest Songs

without hesitation, my top ten most played songs of 2008

10. "Love That Girl" Raphael Saadiq.
9. "Lights Out" Santogold.
8. "Disturbia" Rihanna.
7. "Warwick Avenue" Duffy.
6. "What You Got" Colby O'Donis.
5. "Let It Rock" Kevin Rudolf.
4. "Low" Flo Rider.
3. "Paper Planes" MIA.
2. "Just Dance" Lady Gaga
1. "Electric Feel" MGMT.

shock me like an electric feel

2008's Finest Albums

me = huge music snob
amount of digital music = 46 gigs
most dominant genre = indie

here is my list of 2008's finest albums, as indicated by their play counts

1. Duffy, Rockferry
2. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular
3. Raphael Saadiq, The Way I See It
4. Santogold, Santogold
5. TV on the Radio, Dear Science
6. Bloc Party, Intimacy
7. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
8. Sugarland, Love On The Inside
9. Brazilian Girls, New York City
10. Ra Ra Riot, The Rhumb Line

more to come, including my song of the year....

College Dropout

is pretty much one of the best albums ever when you need to feel
independent

today I am going to the apple store to buy a $300 replacement for my
cracked screen I hate myself

Sent from my iPhone

Black Friday

yesterday was Thanksgiving. in this shiteous economy there are a lot of things to be thankful for. namely, a house. food. family. bla bla bla. even my education, though the lovely construction industry has gone down the drain and taken any post-graduation job prospects with me. and the horrid fact that I have to go to grad school after I graduate. which I still haven't begun applying for yet (not panicking....yet)

still in mourning over the loss of beautiful iPhone. still blaming my clumsiness. it fell through the pocket of my sweatshirt when I was going to get hotwings, and then I promptly got hot wings on my jacket. mind you, this is the 200$ Free City Superstore jacket, so I was really kicking myself and causing so much damages. at least the hot wings were good

so today was Black Friday, a discount-heavy, free-for-all spending extravaganza that usually brings out the spending animal within me. aaand sure enough, it did

victories / casualties of Black Friday:
1. C&C jacket (don't even asked how much I "saved")
2. American Eagle wide legged trousers (22$ from 60$!! cheapest I have ever spent on a pair of pants. and they're pretty awesome too)
3. American Eagle shirt (11$ from 50$)
4. heels. did I mention that I'm attempting to wear heels now? not very successfully at least
5. Express editor pants (those are the BEST)
6. Express party shirt / dress (it's a shirt, but long enough for me to wear it as a dress with some tights or something)
7. FREE Express sweatpants (I had a coupon)

I tried to lobby for a Victoria Secret scent because my current scent had expired (the last time I used it the liquid burned my neck I looked like I had an unzexy rash), but no dice. they were giving away free totes too. and then when I came back home and coma-ed on the couch with MTV on a program came on titled "True Life: I am a Compulsive Shopper." coincidence?!?! I hope not

but I also did get a lot of homework done, I finished the remaining schoolwork for one of my courses, and I'm going to work on another one tomorrow, along with several papers and another semester project. and then there's applying for grad school. yuck

I BROKE MY IPHONE

THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL MY WORLD HAS ENDED

Things I Hate: Packages in the Mail

Shopping on the Internet is one of the amazing wonders of technology,
but it is horribly staggered by the inefficiency of the parcel
system. I hate the package mail industry.

I purchased something online two weeks ago. Yesterday the driver came
by to my apartment to drop it off but I wasn't there, so they left a
note. I made the special arrangement to pick it up from the center,
and they said I could pick it up tomorrow aka today. Well right now I
am sitting in the mail center and they said they did not pull the
package from the truck, which means that I will either have to come
back to the center again and I'm going to miss the goddamn package
again for a second day in a goddamn row. And I only have a week to
get my package before it gets sent back, increasing the urgency with
my package.

I HATE UPS

Sent from my iPhone

Revival

currently listening to: "Revival" by the Allman Brothers Band

just started my application for graduate school at the University of Texas - Austin. and it's looking very much like I will be applying for the dual master degree, a Masters in Public Affairs and a Masters in Engineering. it will take a very long / short two years, and I am resigning myself more and more to the laurels of higher education. at least I will get dual masters' degrees?

this weekend I was at an all-paid Transportation Seminar near home at Santa Clara. there, I got to mingle / network / whatever you want to call it with transportation and planning bigwigs. I had as a mentor the veep of an esteemed engineering firm. I was like...please tell me how to get your job. it was great because I got to mingle with other civil engineering students from across the state of California (not to mention swag), but I got to experience firsthand the intense subject of bidding

Election Day came and went...the 44th president of the United States will be Barack Obama! the people have spoken! I am BEYOND thrilled that he emerged victorious against his Republican opponent. I remember hearing his modest conference announcing his intent to run and just feeling very inspired. I had confidence in him since his first day, even as he trailed other Democratic candidates until he finally won. I thought it was also fairly amusing, considering the buildup and anticipation of this event, how relatively ho-hum the ending was, a landslide. I was in class the entire election night, following only with my cell phone! definitely after the results were finalised, my friend and I went to the communications school on campus, which was a media nuthouse. later, my classmates and I went on an election bar night, tearing up downtown Los Angeles with drinks for democracy and America and justice and such. God Bless America!!

WINNAR

I am really really happy. I finally got a copy of Jermaine Stewart
"We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off." I finished one test
already. Now if I can only fix my computer...

Sent from my iPhone

iPhone test

ZOMFG HUGE NEWS

current mood: headaching

Another Way To Die

currently listening to: Graduation, Kanye West

go big or go home. sometimes I feel like this is all I have

I wish I had seven hundred billion dollars

Disturbia

the Olympics just ended. for the last two weeks, the world was delighted to the greatest gathering of athletic spectacles, and boy were we delighted. it's pretty interesting that the most popular Olympic sports are the ones that are in the media spotlight only because of the Olympics, but I am not complaining! from the Olympics we are treated to a new batch of athletic heroes

the athletes' passion and zeal for the Olympic medal never ceases to amaze me. for me, the best part of the games are the athletes' reactions after competing. of course, the gold medal winners have the best reactions, but just the fact that all of these athletes giving their utmost effort is the best

I stayed up late last night to watch the US Men's Basketball Game finally be shown live, and they did it! Redemption. brilliant. the team could not have been a more professional team, both on and off the court, and their medal reflects their superiority

for these games I was probably the most interested in the indoor volleyball teams. I'm not very inclined to the sport, but maybe it was from all the times I watched TV at the gym, or from catching as much of the Olympics as possible, or the tragic stabbing story, but I think I watched most if not all of the M & W volleyball games, including the quarterfinals women versus Italy (come from behind), and men versus Serbia (close one)

school starts tomorrow. am I excited? absolutely not. I suppose I should "get it over with," though, and thus have compiled the mandatory list of goals for the year

- make use of my yoga mat
- make use of my trumpet
- read more books leisurely
- score well on the GRE
- get into good grad school with financial aid
- anything else?


currently listening to: "Run The Show" Kat Deluna

Handlebars

so lately I've been running. now, I suck at running. godawful form, limited physical endurance, lack of a physical build. but I got sick of the ineffectiveness of the elliptical, and I can't really swim either (heck, maybe I'll work on that next, but I can't flip turn decent enough to save my life). thus I started running. and I've slowly been building my speed, going from 5.2 MPH (pathetic, I know) to 5.7 MPH to 6.2 MPH, where I stand now. I guess I want my goal to be at least a solid 35 minutes averaging 7.0 MPH or more

but the downside of running is I'm starting to get sore around my ankles again, primarily my right foot (I've always had an uneven gait; I use my left foot more than my right). so I've turned to bandaging my ankles, makeshift braces to limit unnecessary mobility. they've been working quite well. but now I look kind of ridiculous because I have little rubber booties. I took them off today, but they've been hurting, so it looks like I'll be putting them back on

did I mention that I have a developing bunion on my left foot. I think it is because I put a lot more weight on my left foot and use my left foot more. I am quite obsessed with it

today was my last day of work. it was quite nice. I really grew to like the company. they treat their employees well and they are very knowledgeable on engineering. I hope to one day be able to work for a company as nice and legit as that one. but I'm flying back to San Francisco for a break before school starts. I hate school. I don't want it to start. I'd rather spend all day watching the Olympics. bah

my feet feel worse bahhh

currently listening to: Daft Punk "Too Long"

Stronger

currently blasting - Daniel Powter "Bad Day", Kanye West "Stronger"

jesus fucking christ. today was a REALLY BAD DAY. and I'm not exaggerating - today was just godawful. probably one of the worst days of my life. see, there's no such thing as a "somewhat bad day" or a "so-so bad day." no, a bad day is when everything around you just falls apart. when one moment you think everything is fine in la-la land with fairies and birds and lollipops, and then the next moment you are strung out, cast out and thrown at the mercy to the lions of society. yes, a bad day is when society unfairly fucks you over for no reason at all, other than to mess with your mind

where one day you're thinking about what activities you are going to do this weekend, and then you are suddently thinking about how can you even do those activities in the first place. where you get played, shafted, short-changed, and there is hardly anything you can do about it

oh, damn wheel of fortuna!

okay, among the people I know, there are some people who seem to NEVER have a bad day, where life is just laid out perfectly for them, where they barely have to break a sweat and they get everything they want. these sunavabitches coast through life. they have it made. they always get the perfect hand. everything in life comes super easy; all they have to do is stick out their hand and it gets filled with riches. the perfect people

currently listening to - India Arie "Video"

on the other hand, there are those who aren't as fortunate. who, for some reason, always seem to be playing with a losing hand. people that desperately want to join the winners' circle, but seem to always fall spectacularly short because of the hand they are dealt. these people try to make the best of their situation, "play with the cards they have," but who are they kidding the cards don't lie. everything is a struggle for these people. these people understand the value of their remaining chips. they keep this number in their mind. often times, they ask themselves why they are even playing the game in the first place. do these people have the choice to walk away from the table? can they stop playing? why are they playing in the first place?

do we ever have a chance to truly do whatever we want?

now listening to - Augustana "Sunday Best"

life is not fair. jesus christ, life is unbelievably unfair. ask the civilians in Georgia and Saint Ossetia. look at the pictures in the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times. did they ever do anything to have their homes devastated, everything that they own destroyed? WHY IS LIFE SO UNFAIR?!

we were never truly masters of our own destinies. life just APPEARS to be controllable, but in the end we are all God's little sock puppets. or in a darker way, we are all fate's bitch (that brilliant little insight came from Wonderfalls, my favorite show). I don't even know why we try to assert ourselves, we're just going to get fucked anyways. and by such I mean the "unlucky" ones. perfect people never get fucked

so now I'm fuming over my superbad day, and I'm a whirlwind of emotions, some angry, some sad, a lot confused

I feel like I am NEVER, EVER truly appreciated for anything I do. that my labor is taken for granted, and I end up as a casualty of society. after all, I never had much worth anyways. oh sure, I was useful when bitchwork needed to be done, but any other time? nah, she's pretty useless. easy to dispose

jesus fucking christ. what a fucking bad day


EDIT: and I also twisted my ankle. physical and emotional distress. nice

Black & Gold

currently listening to: MGMT "Electric Feel"

I passed the Engineering In Training (EIT) exam! I got the results when I was in Texas (yes, I was in Texas!), and was very pleased. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't pass. well, I would obviously re-take it, but I wouldn't be very pleased with myself about it. the experience was forgettable enough; airplane hangars are for airplanes, thank you. but what this means is that I get to play engineer for the next several years until, with three Professional Engineers' recommendations, I go back to the hangar and take the Professional Exam. and then if I pass, then I can be a licensed engineer. yay!

XXIX SUMMER OLYMPICS. holy shit. I love the Olympics. I love how it only happens every four years, how the entire world watches, how it displays human physical performance at its best. I love the Parade of Nations (although I have yet to find Burma in the past three ceremonies), the elaborate performances, the surprising victories.

Shake It

thank god for Garfield Minus Garfield to get my mind off things

currently listening to: Sam Sparro, Black and Gold

oh my god! the Bloc Party new song "Mercury" sounds like shit! geez!

so I have a couple of new favorite obsessions in my life that I would like to sing about. my first obsession is with vintage stores. who knew used clothes could be so exciting, cheap, and fun?! for me the thrill comes from scoring that unique find or look. and because what I wear is always changing on a whim, cheap, trendy clothing is a must. it was only appropriate that I was introduced to vintage goodness on Melrose Avenue, since it has been THE place for me to hang this summer. the stores I discovered include Wasteland, American Vintage, and Crossroads. I'm still on the lookout for good vintage stores, such as Buffalo Exchange and American Rag Cie, so keep a heads up for future posts on adventures to these stores

I guess I'm experiencing yet another major style shift. okay, I'll confess. I used to be into a little store called Abercrombie and Fitch. god. I would spend a lot of money at that store because I thought it was "cool" and "mature." looking back on the trend it was even a bit embarrassing because I would try to own as many different zip ups and t shirts and jeans as possible. yikes. and then I...stopped. I guess the overpriced sweatshirts and the huge ABERCROMBIE letters across the chest just got to me

UPDATE: today Los Angeles and the Southern California area experienced a 5.4 magnitude earthquake (initially reported as a 5.8, downsized to a 5.4). I was in the Pasadena office when I felt it and was like fuck it's an earthquake! all the workers got super giddy because being structural engineers we work a lot with preparing for earthquakes. everyone prairie dogged their cubicle and was like "IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!" it started out with a sharp jolt, followed by a longer, more powerful vibration. immediately I went onto the USGS website, and sure enough, fifty "refresh" clicks later, a huge dot appeared. the news wires went nuts, the phone lines were jammed. I was lucky to send out a quick text to my brother telling him to let my parents know I was okay

it was fairly interesting to see people's reactions. a lot of the coworkers immediately began checking for structural damage. we found one wall panel had been knocked askew, and peered into the building. we discovered the column in the office was not properly seismically braced. hah hah. for some people, this was their first EQ experience, and it definitely unnerved them. they were very excited, nearly hysterical. as I hail from the also earthquake prone Bay Area, I was nonchalant about the EQ. it was pretty exciting and made the day more interesting, as it happened right before lunch. we felt a small aftershock afterwards, which was nice. the most amusing part for me was the countless status updates on facebook: "-- just experienced their first earthquake!" "-- is safe from the earthquake!" "-- felt the earthquake!". holy fuck, it's not that big of a deal. unimpressed

so there's a 1:20 chance that a major earthquake will strike in the next twenty four hours and a 1:100 chance of it happening in the following week. hooray for tectonic stress releases in the form of seismic energy

anyway I'm actually tired from blogging. I'll continue bitching about clothes another time. since you know, that's all I ever talk about anyways

Mr. Pitiful

if you can't tell from the date, this is the Dark Knight weekend. I've already seen it twice. and the only other summer movies I've watched are Iron Man and Wanted. it is quite a good movie. arguably the coolest part of the movie is the use of sonar from cell phones and such to create a map for Batman to scope the vicinity. it's fucking echolocation! another way to tie Batman to the bat animal. and yes, Heath Ledger was amazing as the Joker. it's so hard to believe that under all that is an Australian young man!! also extremely underrated was Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent / Two-Face. I know all the attention's been on Batman and the Joker, but AE nearly steals the show with his own transformation

I watched the movie twice. the first time was at the Landmark theatre at the midKNIGHT showing (har har). it was super swanky, and most of the crowd were young hipsters. EVERYONE had an iPhone (seriously? is it really that cool?). I sat in the fourth row from the front, so it was a ridiculous three hours. before the movie even started, they had a movie worker "announce" the movie, which I found utterly pointless. the audience cheered and clapped when HL first appeared on the screen, then whenever there was a new twist, and when his name appeared in the credits. definitely the first time was to get the storyline out of the way, and for me to think about things for a bit. the second time was at the uber-ghetto UV theatre. the people next to me were downright nasty for a no good reason ("we don't have to answer to anyone!") and some idiot family brought their baby, which of course cried through the entire three hours. ugh. but I enjoyed watching the movie both times very much

unfortunately the midnight showing left me with a mere four hours of sleep, so I was very tired the next day at work. but I was able to work through it

the weekend I didn't really have an agenda, so I went to the Glendale Galleria and Americana again. I kept buying frozen lemonades and slurpees. they're cheap and tasty! probably loaded with more sugar than I would need for an entire weekend, but that's the tradeoff you get for such deliciousness. I bought....a lot of clothes. I went back to Melrose Avenue, but this time I hit up the famous Wasteland. Wasteland is a vintage used clothing store where people bring in their old clothes and receive cash back. because it is LA and it is located on Melrose, all the clothing is riduclously trendy and heavily labelled. I found a NEW zip up jacket for eighteen bucks that I had seen at the USC Library (the on campus designer store). I also swooped on a zip up hoodie. I also found some amazing old school style, but I had already made some earlier purchases at other stores, and thus refrained from them. I was extremely impressed though with the clothes because it is very similar to the stuff I am trying to project. I am DEFINITELY going to check out this place again; it's amazingly cheap and you score some seriously good stuff. when I was making my purchase, the hipster cashier kinda sneered at me because I asked if I needed to wash the clothes (how was I supposed to know! I've never bought vintage!), but then he laughed at me when I threw my ID at him. sigh

there was also a huge Urban Outfitters sale of an additional fifty percent off sale items and I found the right shoes of some attractive sandals, but couldn't find their left counterpart, so I was extremely disappointed. and speaking of shoes, I think my beloved gladiators are finally wearing down; I wore them all day Saturday and was hobbling when I made my way upstairs back home. I don't know how I got so addicted to shoes this summer!

Leavin'

currently listening to: Jesse McCartney "Leavin"
currently reading: Seabiscuit
currently watching: Los Angeles Dodgers

go blue! so I watched three home Dodger games in last week, one against the Atlanta Braves and the other against the Florida Marlins. the first night the pitcher Kuroda throws a near perfect game - a one hitter shut out, with the hit coming in the 8th inning. it was an amazing athletic feat. it was also pretty cool to check out Dodger Stadium for the first time. I was pretty impressed with the venue. the second night I went with the company, and that was another similar yet different experience. everything was paid for, I still sat in upper reserve (aka nosebleed), but the Dodgers lost. then on Friday I went to another Dodgers game and it was a nice warm evening with a fairly large crowd but they lost again

I've also been having fairly shoddy car woes. this last week I raked up near four hundred dollars on my car. fifty dollars went to a parking ticket because I apparently parked during street cleaning (I suck at life - I moved it to avoid the street cleaning but moved it into another street with cleaning at the same day and time). and then I needed an oil change, but when I went to the store they said I needed to change my brakes and everything else, thus costing me even more in repairs

work's been pretty steady. I'm enjoying it. I'm also keeping up with the gym, so that's nice. I recently switched my routine from an inclined speed walk to a full out 35 minute run on the treadmill. my feet muscles have started to act up again. but I definitely feel like my legs are a lot more toned now

mmm there's nothing else I can really post on this public blog, so I'll leave it here for now

Just Dance

currently listening to: "Just Dance" Lady GaGa. Jermaine Stewart "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off"

it is RIDICULOUSLY HOT in Los Angeles! Southern California is embroiled in a heat wave. temperatures in downtown Los Angeles are above 90 degrees.

meanwhile, bugs are eating me alive. seriously. I woke up one day and found four bites on my leg. the temptation to scratch was unbelievable, but I resisted and dabbed anti-itch cream on them multiple times a day

I've also gotten into the MTV show America's Best Dance Crew. the crews are so sick. last year's winner was this group called Jabbawockeez. the fact that they got their name from the legendary Lewis Carroll poem "Jabberwocky" only makes them even better. I tivo-ed an entire ABDC marathon just so I can watch their performances. hah hah

Vidéo

finally! a post that offers some insight into the eccentrically eclectic music tastes of yours truly

www.holytaco.com recently listed the 14 songs you should never play from a bar. judging from the excellence of the list, it is safe to say the author probably has never experienced a bar. the list is

14. "All I Wanna Do" Sheryl Crow (okay, he can get away with that one)
13. "Mr. Brightside" The Killers (ABSOLUTELY WRONG. one of the best group sing-a-longs for this generation. the author even goes on to say that it's only played by the wannabe hipster. wrong again)
12. "It's the End of the World as We Know It" R.E.M.
11. "Dancing Queen" ABBA
10. "Sweet Home Alabama" Lynyrd Skynyrd
9. "Don't Stop Believing" Journey. (uh....no. truly, one of the few songs that everyone knows the lyrics to)
8. "Smooth" Santana and Rob Thomas (meh)
7. "Hotel California" The Eagles
6. "I Will Survive" Gloria Gaynor
5. "Paradise By The Flashboard Light" Meatloaf
4. "Bawitdaba" Kid Rock
3. anything by the Beatles. (HAH! Beatle music and bars belong together like baking soda and vineagar)
2. "Piano Man" Billy Joel. (I think this song didn't make my generation. but a lot of older people know - and love - it)
1. "American Pie" Don McLean

sheesh. that is a pretty harsh list. while some of those songs deserve to be on the list (Kid Rock), most of these are actually just fine to play at bars. they allow you for some good bar bonding time, albeit superficially. therefore, you can find the courage to talk to the cute stranger screaming "DON'T! STOP! BELIEVING!" with "Journey is the BEST BAND EVER!!!"

continuing, I feel like I'm mired in mediocrity right now. it's summer, which is awesome, but everything has boiled down to a routine

Message In A Bottle

if I had guitar hero at home, I don't think I'd ever find / need an excuse to interact with people again. seriously, I am saving my paycheck to buy a console and guitar hero. then my life would be complete

currently playing: Guitar Hero

The Little Things

currently watching: Penelope. (James McAvoy. one word: Wanted. sums it up nicely)
currently listening: Journey, 'Don't Stop Believing'

went to Melrose Avenue (again), this time with my roommate. I was sorely tempted to get another Free City sweatshirt, but thankfully was talked out of it. I did score some sweet sandals from Urban Outfitters that were sixty percent off. I think I'm slowly turning into a shoe fanatic. Urban is really upping their shoe section! I saw an entire division, with gorgeous sandals exclusively making up one of them. seriously, strappy sandals are in full force, especially gladiators. I saw amped versions of them for near one hundred dollars. I wonder if I would ever buy a hundred dollar pair of sandals one day

the other chief turn in Urban's trends has been towards v-necks. I remember when I used to get the Urban catalog, and the most prominent shirt option would be screen prints - screen tees. now the trend has shifted to screen printing on v necks, and unlike the tees, the v necks do not cling to your form, but instead hang boyishly. so there's no curve, but for many people (including me), this is perfectly fine. androgyny is in?

oh man. while writing this I was looking at online jeans, and I found a pair of Diesels whose price has been reduced from 180 to 120

the week is going to start again. I believe this is the first week for the reinvented SCEC UseIT program, which was my summer activity last year. changes: instead of 10 weeks, the program is 8, although the people are still getting paid the same amount of money. this year is also the first year that previous interns did not automatically get to do it again. from what I hear, some people got rejected. wow

stay fly

Who Gives A Fuck About An Oxford Comma?

haven't really written in a while, I know, but chiefly because I haven't really had anything too remarkably interesting to write about. this entry's been in "draft" for such a long time, and as my title is usually the song I'm currently listening to, it has changed from "Acting Like A Fool" (Matt Costa) to "Dance 2Night" (Madonna) to "Who Gives A Fuck About An Oxford Comma" (Vampire Weekend). so here I go

currently listening to: Kansas

the gym's been going pretty well. I've tried running on the tread, but I end up getting really sore and looking even more like a dumbass next to the super-athlete going 9 MPH

work is going really well. I've been carpooling to work with some USC students, so that is really helping on the gas prices. seriously, I haven't used my car for anything else but work and groceries. okay, and maybe the occasional froyo bucket trip, but even then I just feel like I'm bleeding money. but the carpool is great because you get to enjoy other people's company, and you don't have to drive every day! in addition to this I'm getting to know the other interns. some of them are from far places in the United States. today a group of us went out for lunch, and we talked about our classes and ASCE. you know, typical civil engineering stuff. hah hah

ever since I've turned 21 I haven't really had the chance to take advantage of its privileges and 'rites of passage.' that started to change last week, because Tuesdays after work all the USC interns gather for a happy hour. this week, I went to that on Tuesday, followed by another happy hour on Thursday. it was at a pretty crowded bar that reminded me of Rosarito, and the basketball game was showing. of course it was the first half, so everyone was super excited because the Lakers were dominating Boston. saw the rest of the game at the gym though...wow. what a comeback

I have a routine: wake up, shower, work, gym, dinner, teevee, crash

I don't know what I am going to do this weekend. gah

Tessellate

I've been really tired lately. I guess it's because I've been in a cycle of work, gym, read / watch teevee, sleep, restart. example tonight it's barely 10 PM and I'm pooped beyond belief

I am officially in love with my Free City zip up. I've already worn it twice this week, and want to continue wearing it. I think it's because the zip ups are well designed and soft and unisex. I prefer unisex, loose shirts. if I had the option (and the money) I'd totally buy another sweatshirt

I need to make a "Wish List" with my paycheck money. I've decided to save about 75% of my paycheck and spend 25% on whatever I wish. so far my list is (somewhat in order of desire) - iPhone, Guitar Hero III (which unfortunately means I would also have to buy a console), Free City sweatshirt number two, more denim jeans, gladiator sandals

currently listening to: "Dance 2Night" Madonna. The Shins. Duffy!

yesterday was my mother's birthday! I sent her a card, it is quite nice. she ate noodles, a symbol of long life

the weekend's coming up again. I don't really know what I'll do this weekend. I want to go swimming or to the beach because the weather's supposed to be really good. however, the beach is somewhat far away, and with the current gas prices, hitting the pool appears to be a better alternative. maybe I'll take the dash downtown to explore Little Tokyo

Los Angeles Is Burning

So...remember that $175 Free City zip up hoodie that I endlessly praised from several months ago? I tried to buy it online, but it was sold out, so in my depression I bought two pair of expensive jeans?

I GOT THE SWEATSHIRT!!

(yes, it really was $175)

how did my fortune change? you ask. where did you find the sweatshirt? I found it at the one and only Fred Segal on the legendary Melrose Avenue! (well, technically there's two Fred Segals; the one on Melrose got sold to the Ron Herman brand, and the true Fred Segal is on Santa Monica Blvd, I think. it's complicated)

yeah so today I, being bored and fairly unproductive, decided to wander to Melrose Avenue and check out this legendary Fred Segal. researching the nearby area, I found an American Apparel and a Target nearby, so I made some errands, such as purchasing stamps and replacing lightbulbs.

I set off on my adventure, driving the short distance. I brought along my new handbag that my mom had bought me before I left San Francisco. it was a very sunny day, and I drove on the freeways, windows down. I was fortunate to find parking, and even more fortunate to find the meters and time limits unenforced. once I started walking down Melrose, I was amazed to see the number of clothing shops and boutiques with such familiar names. the brands I saw on clothes at the mall were the name of stores. I don't know if it was a good or bad thing that I recognized about 90% of the store / label names

Diesel. Nanette Lepore. BCBG Max Azaria. Fred Segal. Ed Hardy. theory. American Apparel. Urban Outfitters. Aldo. Marc Jacobs. Agent Provocateur. Versace. Betsey Johnson. Miss Sixty. The Original Penguin. heck there was even a rainbows sandal store. AND a surf store. man I want to learn how to surf

probably the most pleasant surprise was the Sunday fair at the Fairfax high school. every Sunday there is a flea market where people come and sell stuff. you can get vintage t shirts for very cheap here. I plan on going back another weekend, as I did not carry any cash with me when I went

currently listening: Duffy!
currently watching: The Forbidden Kingdom

Mercy

currently listening to: Duffy
currently watching: No Country For Old Men, Netflix

I love Duffy! Duffy is a newcomer from Scotland whose power vocals are reminiscent of belting neosoul of the sixties. at first, she was passed off as a "squeaky clean version of Amy Winehouse" (the vocal comparisons are there), but listening to her CD Rockferry needless to say I was tremendously blown away. one song in particular stuck out -"Warwick Avenue". the way she sings "You think you're loving / but you don't love me / I want to be free / baby you've hurt me" gives me shivers. this girl definitely has talent. breathless

other albums or songs that I have on repeat: Madonna, Hard Candy (listen to: "Dance 2night"), Cheap Trick "Surrender" (NEED GH NOW), Coldplay "Viva La Vida", Jason Mraz We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things

I also acquired the Justin Nozuka Holly CD. truth be told, it's a disappointment. from his "After Tonight" video, he was seriously trying to pass as a Jack Johnson type (which I am definitely fine with), but the album's kind of a mess. I feel like he spends a lot of his time trying to establish a sound

all your music are belong to us

seriously, I listen to so much music at work that I should start blogging about "what I listened to at work today"

work playlist: Duffy, Justin Nozuka, All Time Low ("Holly Would You Turn Me On"), Portishead, MIA ("Paper Planes"), Oasis Stop The Clocks, Tegan and Sara The Con (BIG bust....wow)

work is going well. tomorrow's Friday already. fast. I want to wear my gladiator sandals soon. I still need to get my pants altered. next Tuesday we're organizing a USC CE intern Happy Hour at Two-Dollar Tuesday. I watched The Office season finale today. it was pretty good (Kevin as mentally challenged? hah hah hah!). Jim and Pam ! Jim and Pam!

I need to find a Jim Halpert

Viva La Vida

currently listening to: Coldplay Viva La Vida. Amber Pacific Truth In Sincerity
currently reading: Time Magazine

I have to study for the GREs. gross. it'll be like the SAT all over again. memorizing words, practicing problems, bla bla bla. but it's got to be done if I want to go to grad school, and it's looking more and more likely that I am. I'm still intrigued by the University of Arizona, although my parents keep insisting that I would be bored out of my mind if I went there

today was the first day of work. it wasn't bad, I was given stuff to do, so that's always a booster. this summer I'm carpooling to work! very exciting - I feel like this is the most I've done for the environment since working at the zoo

I also returned to the gym, after stopping when I went home. I feel my legs getting sore

I MISS GUITAR HERO

Carry On Wayward Son

I am obsessed with Guitar Hero. there. I said it. at home, I played it (Guitar Hero II) endlessly because I had nothing better to do. started on Medium, then played upwards, until I left today at the threshold of mastering Hard. songs of choice: "Surrender" Cheap Trick, "Message In A Bottle" The Police, "Carry On Wayward Son" Kansas, "Miserlou" Dick Dale

okay, so I wasn't at the point of mastering Hard, but I can definitely play those songs at that level. point is, I MISS IT. I'm already having withdrawals. and I DON'T want my skills to deteriorate!

which means that when I've saved enough money from my paychecks, the first things I will buy are either a PS3 or an x-box 360 and GUITAR HERO! well either that or the ubiquitous iPhone

yes! I am back in Southern California! I start work tomorrow. and I return to the gym. siiiiigh. today, when coming back from the airport, I pick up the second of my Nordstrom denim orders. when I get home I eagerly rip off the plastic and unfurl the jeans, only to find them NOT the petite I ordered, but the regular (which in reality is LONG; denim sizing is seriously for tall people), which was too long. so now I have to get my pant legs altered

currently listening to - Holly, Justin Nozuka
currently reading - The Dive From Clausen's Pier. I finally finished Foucault's Pendulum!

Ain't Nothing But A G Thing

GLADIATOR SANDAL SUCCESS! I've acquired what I set out to get since coming home

currently finishing: Foucault's Pendulum
currently eating: In & Out

tomorrow Memorial Day barbeque. yesss!!

Surrender

Currently listening to: nothing. I haven't touched my IPod since getting home
Currently playing: Guitar Hero II, Level Hard

I've been home for over a week, and I haven't been on the computer for a while. I'm STILL reading Foucault's Pendulum. there are some paperbacks from the library that you can return when you are done, so I am bringing those with me. the hunt for gladiator sandals has not been good. it made me depressed enough to buy a pair of Diesel jeans to feel better. I never owned a pair of Diesels before, but they are very comfortable - I approve

I have a weakness for nice jeans

Memorial Day weekend, so barbeque? but flying back to Los Angeles on Tuesday. starting work on Wednesday

Living On A Prayer

Finished reading The World Is Flat, Alan Weisman! Something Blue, Emily Griffin! Just about to start Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco!

Currently listening to Ray LaMontagne!

I am on a current MUST HAVE craze for gladiator sandals. The ones at Aldo's cost $30 but only have the ones on display. The Steve Martin ones are $80 but don't have my size. Mark my words, I will have a pair before I return to southern California

Live, love, learn

Feel Good, Inc.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

First good news I got for the day was that I got the second highest score in my Linear Circuits final exam. With a reported score of 97/100 and the highest score being a 98, this made me feel pretty sweet about the class. I could have at least tied the highest score - I forgot to put "Active" in my description of the filter

This good news was countered by my somewhat lackluster score of 89/200 on a Engineering Economy final exam. Entering that test, I was actually doing very well, with a very high score. After the test, I definitely dropped spots, but I still have a very solid hold above the class average. Or maybe I don't really care otherwise

Maybe I am destined to be an electrical engineer, not a civil engineer. Hah hah

Summer reading options. So I came across a link of the "100 Books Every Man Must Read" (or some title like that). It was a list of familiar titles, including Crime and Punishment, Brave New World, The Stranger, The Master and Margarita, Moby Dick, On The Road, The Prince, Self Reliance, The Great Gatsby, Ulysses, Confederacy of Dunces, etc. I was pleased to recognize 90% of the titles, and to have read 60% of the books on the list. There were a lot of repeaters, including Hemingway and Steinbeck. As this was a required reading list FOR MEN women authors such as Jane Austen and Toni Morrison were left out. But I was able to scribble down some titles

Summer 2008 Reading List:
The Count of Monte Cristo
On The Road
Foucault's Pendulum
White Noise
Slaughterhouse Five
Catch 22
(more to come)

Currently listening to: K-Os

Wow! I'm 21!

Don't Stop Believing

A 95% final percentage for the class is an A right? Even if there is an unusually high class average? The professor isn't going to curve DOWN is she? It BETTER not be an A-

So the Boston Globe, a "veritable" paper, recently made a list about why our generation is the dumbest generation. It lists, amongst others, that we are "Jaywalking" targets (which I guess means that our stupidity often times puts us at the mercy of Jay Leno's dummy jokes), that we don't read, we can't spell (and therefore write), we buy lots of video games, and that our teachers don't tell us that we are dumb. Quite frankly, this is a very dumb, ignorant group of arguments. I myself am very offended to see this "writer" say that my generation does not read. I know plenty of people that list reading as an enjoyable pastime, and I myself can list off a very respectable list of conquered novels, including but not limited to Anna Karenina, The Stranger, The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Empire Falls, An Interpreter of Maladies, every Jane Austen novel, Beloved, and COUNTLESS MORE. Concurrently, I view myself as a very apt speller and grammacist, although I guess I can see the argument for some of my peers (one of my 21 year old friends still spells like this - and I kid you not - "SpEsHo" how are you going to get respect from that?!)

The article also says that some of the best writings can be found on WIKIPEDIA, and that any young adult who attempts to channel their creativity into their myspace (seriously? who's still on myspace) only ends up getting ridiculed by their friends. Also, the article shamelessly slams GTA IV's first week record-breaking sales successes ($500 million) as a sign of our moral emptiness. No mention is made of the brilliance of the game, the storyline, the construction, the design, the programming. But seriously. These "writers" need to research their material before they actually write the trash, because they only end up sounding ignorant and getting a very nasty backlash from the people they attempt to condemn. Don't fuck with our generation

So. Summer is nearly upon us. I in fact do have some summer reading I'd like to do. Will make up list and post shortly

Happy Mothers Day! One of my classmates JUST gave birth. She's a mother! That is incredibly crazy

currently listening to: "Since U Been Gone" Kelly Clarkson
birthday countdown: THREE DAYS!!

Lights And Music

currently listening: Portishead, Third
currently watching: Ugly Betty
birthday countdown: six days

So after a five second self-imposed Ugly Betty hiatus, I've begun to watch the show again. And the show has definitely gotten better. FINALLY the ridiculous Henry-Betty storyline is over. And in next week's previews, Gio finally kisses Betty! (post-haircut Gio = hot). There's a new gym teacher love interest for Hilda, and he has the best butt ever (the show kept pointing it out, so we couldn't help it)

Today I took the final for my EE 202 Linear Circuits class. While I'm glad that it is over, I must say that it was probably the class I enjoyed the most this semester. For one, the professor was really good, and he actually got promoted to the Dean of Engineering at Duke University. Also, I was actually doing really well in the class too, which was sweet. Funny how my favorite class was a non-civil course. Maybe I'm a true electrical engineer at heart. Although I jest that since the brother is also an EE major, I should have waited until second semester senior year to take the course so that we could take it together to see who'd score better (me)

So apparently your keyboard is one of the dirtiest places in your house. I can't help but keep that in mind as I blog

Tomorrow I have internship work for the last time as "part time," because I'll go home for a while, and then I'll start the full-time internship. I'm really looking forward to it because I'd like to be assigned to a full-on project

This summer is looking to be pretty interesting. I'll be interning, of course, but I know some people that are going to be in town, so you know there will be plenty of summer LAdventures. I think I'm going to be heading over to Texas at the end of July, and possibly Arizona some time over the summer

Okay so I hope that this mega-blog satiates you for a while. I still have two more finals to study for; I hope to kill those as badly as I did this EE test. Whoa

So Here We Are

daaaaaaaaamn it so much TENSION with X why doesn't it go SOMEWHERE

I think I have a foot fungus on my right foot. Athlete's foot: moccasin type to be exact. GROSS

currently listening to: Bloc Party, Silent Alarm Remixed

Understanding A Car Crash

Currently wishing I was listening to: Justin Nozuka, Holly. I think I'll actually buy his album! Partially b/c he's cute, also b/c there aren't any torrents of the album

Really listening to: Gavin DeGraw's new album which doesn't get released until later this month

So a Cal engineering student on the brink of graduation was stabbed Saturday night in a sorority parking lot. His fraternity was fighting with some Berkeley locals. The story is intense enough that it's garnered front page for the "California" section of the Times (also he was from socal). In particular, the article that fascinated me the most was the one about the class strife, which can also be seen at USC. The article talked spoke of an "elite" frat row which the flatland locals despised because these fellas seemed to have it all, good looks, cars, girls, etc. And they wouldn't let the locals into the parties either. Kind of sounds like guys not being allowed into frat houses on the row

Oof

Flashing Lights

As you may or may not know, on Wednesday I was hit by a car. I was rear-ended on the way to work. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the guy admitted it was his fault. However, I have been experiencing back pain since then. I hope it will subside

This week was the last week of classes. Next week start Finals and such. I must not allow myself to get distracted. Weekend plan - Saturday, finish last homework assignment, attend bridal shower with sorority, do more homework, go to the gym, watch movie? Sunday - lots and lots of studying to do, work with classmates, attend initiation and dinner

My last day of finals is on May 13. My birthday is on May 14 (exciting!). However, I think my parents are coming down that day to help the brother move out of his dorm room. So there is a very likely possibility that I will be spending my 21st birthday carrying stuff out of the brother's dorm room. It's not a big deal, really, since I'll be at least spending it with the family and such. I'll be going home for a while, from the 14th to the 27th, since I haven't been home since spring break. To be honest, I could have stayed in LA, but it would be nice

Currently listening to: Les Savvy Fav. Augustana

Nice Guys Finish Last

It's pretty damn true: nice guys finish last. They get pushed aside by the people that "assert" themselves and act like they're the boss of everything. When you're young, you see these people and think, "wow! They're sooo cool! Those are the popular kids! Gotta be just like them," and you end up shafting your family, your friends, yourself. You volunteer yourself to do things because you want to, and soon everyone starts dumping all of their stuff on you

And then you realize that wow, you are the boss of yourself and that you should be doing the things that you want to do. You shouldn't have to please everyone just because you desperately want them to like you or to hold on to them, but you should instead be thankful for the ones that like you the way you are. As for the others, you might as well forget all about them

Currently watching: PS I Love You. It's actually not that bad! A lot better than 27 Dresses, that's for sure. But the lead actress, Hillary Swank, isn't soft enough to play a romantic lead!! Sheesh. Better casting, people

So I'm kind of in a dour mood. But it's hopefully going to erase by tomorrow when my AMAZING electric cigar box gets tightened and tuned and gets its own teenie little effect (distortion) and such. I'm sick of carrying it around everywhere. Bah

Saturdays: Hot Weather, Doldrums, and Missed Swimming

The weather outside must be at least 85 degrees. Across the street the Shrine Circus is going on, so there's a lot of families and their children. I also saw a truck that says "Animal Control," which means THERE ARE ANIMALS AT THE CIRCUS. I hope they're monkeys. I also hope they're not dying from the sweltering heat. Since I used to work at the SF Zoo, I guess ideally I'd want them to be in the best environments, with trees and enrichments and such, but I understand their appeal and profitability

Today I tried to go to the pool at 3:30 PM, but they close at 4 PM (so it was pointless). I thought they closed at 5. It is like ninety degrees today, without a doubt. Hot weather FTW

So my plan to paint my electric guitar a glorious color failed when I couldn't get any (free) paint. Misery. I am a failure

This coming week is the last day of classes

Coachella is going on right now. And I actually know 3/4ths of the bands performing

Currently listening to: Flight of the Conchords

Depreciation?

Currently watching: 27 Dresses, but barely. It really isn't that bright of a movie, despite a dreamy James Marsden

I am tired. Tired of school and just wanting the summer to begin. But at the same time, I don't want the school year to end because there are some things (and some people) that quite honestly I still want to hold onto. Ever have that feeling?

I think I want to move to Arizona

It's less than a month away before I turn 21. And there's a lot of things I need to do before then. I need to renew my drivers' license. Gah

Paper Planes

Currently listening to: M.I.A. "Paper Planes"
Currently eating: Wonka Nerds!

Today I made the neck for an electric guitar. For my linear circuits class, the final project is making an electric cigar-box guitar. So we have these 2" x 3" planks that we are basically designing, cutting, sanding, and making into an electric guitar. My partner wasn't in class today, so I became very worried and I made an entirely new guitar neck out of scratch.



Look at that sweet neck. Yeah, I band-sawed that thing myself!

After that, I worked like a (diligent) storm on my homework. Got some nice human interaction with X. Found out that I got a BIG FAT ZERO on a quiz, even though I've taken every single quiz! (obviously a TA error, there's no way that I could have gotten a zero on a true-false quiz)

And I thought I bombed a test, but I only got the class average. Which means that the final will be FIERCE

And last, but not least, I am doing my laundry. This week hasn't been THAT bad. It's definitely pretty smiles for me

Four Twenty, 420, or For Twenty Years of My Life

So today is April 20th. I believe it's Bob Marley's birthday. And the unofficial-yet-official Light Up Day. Is yours truly lighting up? No. It's not that I've never lit up before, it's just that this year, I am unsure of any consequences, and as such, am withholding myself from any hoopla. Trust me, it is very hard

This weekend was amazing. It was the first weekend that I did not have any obligations to fulfill, and such I took full advantage. On Friday there was the sorority boat formal, which was AWFUL (gross music, gross food, gross boat). Saturday I finally washed my car and went out for food with my friends, followed by the roommate's 21st party. Today I basically...slept a lot. Spectacular

Currently listening to: Colby O'Donis feat. Akon "What You Got"

Wheel of (Mis)Fortuna

Ack. Today was pretty ridiculous. Long, uncomfortable, and not very pleasant. The Wheel of Misfortune was definitely spinning its finest

There is a certain person in my life. Let us call him Mr. X. I come into very close encounters with Mr. X. We interact a lot, often times on a personal basis, at all times of the day. We exchange a lot of phone calls, text messages, conversations. I find Mr. X very attractive. In fact, I have found him to be extremely attractive since I first met him, freshman year. For the most part, I have accepted the "look, no touch" concept, as we talked. But of recently, Mr. X and I have gotten close. A lot closer than any of the past experiences at USC. And yet NOTHING IS HAPPENING

Why can't I be close to Mr. X?!?!?!

Maybe I am doomed to be a spinster for the rest of my life. Probably. Oh Wheel of (Mis)Fortuna!

So, I don't know if you've kept up with the news today, but there was a HUGE eruption over this Yale art student's senior project. Apparently, she declared that her project had been her documenting herself inseminating herself, and then injecting herself with abortive medicine, over and over again. Not only so, but her project display would be various videos showing her injections, video of her bleeding into a cup, and a hanging cube which would be enclosed by tape covered with Vaseline and her own blood from the abortions

HOLY FUCK. That is disgusting

This came out on Thursday, and it has erupted everywhere. The school is trying to do ridiculous damage control. It issued a press statement saying that the artist stated it was all fabricated and that she had told this to two deans. But an even later article says that the artist was NOT faking it, and that she really had performed all those abortions and inseminations and documentation

Hoooooly fuck

Currently Listening To: The Go! Team

Engineers! To Arms!

So this past weekend I took the first precarious step towards a (hopefully) promising engineering career (in the near future, at least) by taking the EIT, or Engineering In Training test. It was held on the Pomona fairgrounds in a complex that used to be an airplane hangar. There were at least six thousand people taking this test. It was eight hours of rigorous testing, with four STRAIGHT hours in the morning, and then a lunch break, and then another four hours in the afternoon. You were given a reference manual to use equations and such. The test covered EVERYTHING scientific. Statics, mechanics, chemistry, electricity, ethics, economics, and the devil incarnate, thermodynamics. I do not think that I will ever fully grasp the concept of entropy

Anyways, now all I can do is sit back and fret for the results, which are mailed to you in thirteen weeks. That's right, it takes thirteen weeks to scan a scantron, figure out the normal distribution curve, and determine who passes and who fails. USC is amazing and has a passing rate of 90%, but that means there are still some who don't pass. Crossing my fingers for thirteen weeks

Life's been pretty good. The weather has been ridiculous the past several days, making me shweat and such. Work's been fine. Four-twenty is this Sunday. Tax day is tomorrow. Oh my

Currently listening to: Jermaine Stewart (RIP), "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off." The inspiration for Gym Class Heroes' "Clothes Off"

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

The 2008 Men's College Basketball National Champions are the Kansas Jayhawks!!!


One Shining Moment


Oh yeah, and I just won all my brackets!!!

Unimpressed

EXTREMELY UNIMPRESSED and DISAPPOINTED that the Final Four will be all number one seeds. Dull. That's not March Madness, that's just uninspiring basketball

Weekend was really tiring. I forgot my tooth brush on the sorority retreat, so that was kind of gross, but I was able to get some mouthwash

From Wednesday - Friday I will be in Northridge participating in the American Society of Civil Engineers Pacific Southwest Regional Conference. It should be fun! Will have pictures

Currently listening to: Mariah Carey, "Touch My Body", E=MC2

Another Goal Attained

As I go through my college experience, I often times find it crucial to make a list of "Things To Do Before I Graduate." Many parts of this list are added on the spot as they arise, but there are definitely some that I am determined to accomplish. Today I am proud to announce that I have in fact accomplished something on my list

Today I got a frat shirt

USC is teeming with Greek life - fraternities, sororities, the like. I am pretty indifferent to them, but I had decided last year that I was going to get a frat shirt some time before I graduate. Today in my class my friend was selling them as a philanthropy fundraiser, and I bought one hah hah. So I can officially scratch that off my list

Currently listening to: Mariah Carey "Touch My Body." If you haven't watch the music video. It's priceless. Has instantly shot to the top of my faves list, right behind Kanye's "Good Life" video. Also, saw the Alicia Keys music video today for her latest single, was pleasantly surprised to see my favorite artist Common in it wowow

I Am Wrong

Currently (re)listening to: Panic At The Disco Pretty. Odd. also, Ella

Okay, I was wrong when I said that PATD's new album is a sucker. I re-listened to it again (and again), and I must admit that the album grows on you. A lot of reviewers label it as PATD's Srgt. Peppers, and I can see where they are coming from. Good songs: "That Green Gentleman," "9 In The Afternoon," "Folking Around"

Hell yeah

San Francisco Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival

August 22 - 24

Lineup:
Radiohead
Jack Johnson
Wilco
Beck
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
Manu Chao
M. Ward
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Regina Spektor
Matt Nathanson
Lyris Born
Goapele

Hooooooly shit

Currently listening to: Amber Pacific Truth In Sincerity

Lazy Days

Currently listening to - illegally obtained copy of Gnarls Barkley's upcoming CD, titled The Odd Couple; also, Panic At The Disco Pretty. Odd. (note the absence of the "!" from "Panic! At The Disco" of their debut album. this is a deliberate omission by the band to firmly establish themselves as a different brand of musicians)

Happy Easter! I know it's been a while since I've demonstrated any sort of doxology, but I am seriously considering returning to the religion circuit. As many know, I went to a Baptist middle school and a Catholic high school. I went to church pretty regularly during high school, staying for Sunday school even if the other kids didn't like me much or didn't act very welcoming to me. I am very familiar with the Bible. I think my religious side is starting to come out because of a certain decision. Several days ago, I decided that I was no longer going to consume either drugs or alcohol anymore. It's not really a big deal. I haven't done either in a pretty long time. I think everyone should be able to experiment because for most people, the stuff is not really for them anyways

Today was glorious. The weather was about 85 degrees. I picked up Lawrence from the airport, and we ate a nice lunch at Eat Street. Afterwards, I went home to watch some more NCAA basketball (Georgetown out - failed to reach the Sweet Sixteen after a Final Four last year, Hibbert not contributing at all; Memphis nearly losing but surviving - a common theme, Miami surprisingly nearly unseating Texas). Even though my bracket is very pulverized, all my final four selections are still intact. Ehh

Did I mention that today was the last day of Spring Break? Yes, it is time to return to the books, albeit for another eight weeks. I had a great time interning, gyming, swimming, and watching movies. It was the first time I lived by myself, and while it was a bit daunting at first, it was a beneficial experience. My biggest frustration was that I was not able to clean my car, even though I cleaned the house and got a lot of paperwork sorted. But my parents sent two rolls of quarters with my brother, so I will be able to go to a car wash and finally get the poor moto cleaned. I did all my homework yesterday, which is how I am able to swim today and leisurely eat lunch and watch the games

I think I watched approximately fifteen hours of college basketball between these two days. The number would be a lot higher had I not gone to work on Thursday and Friday, but during those days I "refreshed" the ESPN mobile on my phone over 200 times. Glorious

And last, but not least, I found this cute "Favorite" list from DJ info page on a local radio station's website. So, enjoy! (how did it feel to finally see something on this website besides damn college basketball?! hah)

Oh, before I forget, I hope you enjoy the new picture. It's a picture I found on flickr of downtown Los Angeles. I believe that is the 110N. My previous picture, while an amazing shot of a bridge's truss system, was not from Los Angeles. There was a conflict of interest: while I am involved in civil engineering, the picture wasn't an accurate LAdventurous portrayal.

Without further ado, my favorites:

Color: black

Scents: vanilla, chlorine, banana muffins

Flowers: lilies (surely you must have seen that one coming), the bird of paradise

Board games: SCRABBLE. and connect four

Sports to play: softball, basketball, dodgeball, swimming, and I'd rather be surfing

Sports teams: USC TROJANS, Oakland Athletics (thinly)

Outdoor activities: learning to surf this summer, "hiking," I can't ski or camp for my life

Bay Area hangout: Westfield San Francisco

(added) Los Angeles hangout: Westwood

Place to see a concert: on TV because I'm too short to enjoy the concert experience!

Music: Common, Kanye West, Sugarland, VHS or Beta, Gym Class Heroes

TV shows: Wonderfalls (cancelled, sigh), Futurama, The Office, Scrubs

Movies (all time): Amadeus, anything Pixar

Actors: John Krasinski (The Office!)

Actresses: Anne Hathaway

Magazines: New Yorker, Time, Modern Steel Construction, Reader's Digest......US Weekly

Books / Authors: The Stranger, Austen, The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Lahiri, Snow.....Kristin Gore (Al's daughter, wrote the Sammy stories)

Cereals: pretty much anything cinnamon. or with almonds. or frosted. or honeyed. NOT Trix

Fruits: mangoes, watermelon, oranges, honeydew. NOT grapes

Snack foods: cereal, carrots, yogurt......guilty pleasure - Cheetos and cookies

Cookies: pretty much anything from chocolate chip to M&Ms to snickerdoodles to gingerbread

Candy bars: snickers

Favorite animal: red tailed hawk, desert fox, box turtle

Pet's name: no pets!

Vacation spot: the South. or Arizona

Fluent in other languages: Chinese, four years of HS Spanish (I know, doesn't count as fluent)

If you were a spice, which one would you be: cayenne because I put it in everything heh

Hometown: DALY CITY

Your hero: anyone that's made a positive difference in someone else's life

Sparkling or still: I have no idea what this means. water? fashion style? I guess I'd choose still because sparkling kind of irks me. hah


In closing, the new Gnarls Barkley does not disappoint, but the Panic At The Disco severely does. Save its It'll-Grow-On-You single "Nine In The Afternoon," the album is a mess. Be prepared

My Bracket Is Destroyed

It's over. My bracket is done. With wins today by West Virginia over Duke (I should have known better after last year's VCU performance) and Washington State over Notre Dame (ND looked so good on paper!), my bracket lines have seriously asphyxiated. Now, for better or worse, I can watch each game pretty much not being forced to root for the team that I've picked to win. Such as tonight, in which UCLA narrowly defeated Texas A&M. UCLA is too....good. How I loathe them. And yet they are clutch enough to make the shots when they need to

And I hate to be a very wet blanket, but I was reading today in the Times and the sports section was discussing return scenarios of USC's biggest impact players: OJ Mayo (probably not), Davon Jefferson, Taj Gibson. I hate to say it, but if two of those three leave, then USC is not looking very good next year. A big problem we had this year is our lack of post players and a legit bench. It doesn't look as if the bench problem will be solved any time soon, as only 2 - 3 commitments look to truly be impact players. As a comparison, look at our bench versus UCLA's bench. SIGH

What happened to Washington State? How were they able to stifle the Fighting Irish? I had both teams picked, but I thought that Notre Dame's reputed high-octane offense would be able to overrun WSU and that since WSU is all defense, this would only detriment anything on the other end. Instead, WSU shames Notre Dame, winning by twenty points to easily coast into the Sweet Sixteen. That's not supposed to happen! Again, reducing me to "enjoy" each game for the game itself

I spent the whole day with the telly on CBS, watching each game, although I did fall asleep on the couch during the Purdue - Butler game to wake up to Stanford's clutch OT victory. Stanford I must begrudgingly admit is pretty good, but then again, any team with two seven foot post twins would be pretty damn dominant

I saw an excellent Gatorade commercial that featured black and white profiles of college teams of various sports practicing / performing their famous clutch plays, with the words "Cinderella doesn't exist" or something like that. I think the ad was trying to say that Cinderella teams aren't a fluke and that, for that one game, the "underdog" team turned out to not be the underdog team after all. The teams featured included Boise State practicing their Statue of Liberty Play and I believe George Mason and the Final Four run, though I'm not sure on the latter

I don't know who I am cheering for now. I guess for the "better team"? Of course, there are teams that I will always cheer against, such as UCLA and Duke, but I guess Kansas would still be nice to cheer for even if they are a number one seed, as I would still like my bracket to be vindicated with correctly picking the overall tourney champion

So today was a good day for college basketball, an extremely horrendous day for my bracket. And as today was such a nice day, I think I will go out tomorrow (90 degrees weather! crazy). But there are still plenty of epic games to watch, including the two 12-13 seed meetings for Sweet Sixteen Bragging Rights

Maaaaaaaaaaaarch On!

Upset!

What yesterday lacked in upsets today's round of games completely made up for it. As a result, whatever dominance I had in my pools completely disappeared as my brackets take their worst beating to date. My day's bracket successes were about.... 3 / 16. Dear lord. With both Drake and Clemson out, two teams I had projected to make the Sweet Sixteen if not the Elite Eight, I am looking at the bottom of the rankings in both pools, after staying in first and second place all of yesterday

Upset victories:
1. WESTERN KENTUCKY OVER DRAKE. Buzzer beater
2. San Diego over UConn. Yes, the same USD that beat Gonzaga to win the WCC Tourney
3. Siena over Vanderbilt
4. VILLANOVA OVER CLEMSON.

I had Drake and Clemson in my sweet sixteen! Clemson was fucking FIERCE in the tournament, beating Duke to play UNC! Damn it

But, yes, this is truly the March Madness that last year's was lacking. For the first time ever, there will be TWO 12-13 matchups in the battle to the sweet sixteen. Also, all these upsets took place in Florida. Man, talk about an upset city! My facebook status: "Lily is UPSET!" Of course, I was talking originally about USC's upset to Kansas State, but yes, Cinderella did finally decide to show up to the Big Dance after all

Best moment: the WKU bench (players and coaches combined) running onto the court, arms waving, papers flying in frantic madness over the game winning shot

Currently listening to: the entire Ella Fitzgerald discography

HOLY FUCK

HOLY FUCK USC LOST! We were upset by no. 11 Kansas State. Oh my god!

my bracket is busted. and up to that point I was doing so well too! I was 6 out of 7, tied for second place. UGHHGHGHGHG

currently listening to:
the entire Ella Fitzgerald discography

and in another twist of cruel fate my expen$ive ear buds, which I purchased at such price because I assumed they last until the second coming of Christ (or apparently until USC can start playing like a decent college basketball team), and around the same time as I started receiving wireless on my good-for-nothing-except-in-life-threatening-situations-such-as-these cell phone and began to witness the Fall of Troy, one of my ear buds stopped working. and I am one of those people who cannot listen to something only in one ear

I also need to get gas

Bracketeering

After forty eight hours, two paper brackets, three different accounts, the bracket is complete. I only make one bracket, and I spend an intense amount of time agonizing and scrutinizing possible match ups, weaknesses, and strengths.

ESPN.com and Yahoo Sports quickly became my most frequented sites (although I also visit the NY Times' "The Quad" blog fairly often). At work, I have a taped up printed bracket.

Thank god this is happening during spring break and not during the school year

My pick for the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Champions?

Kansas. It has been twenty long years

Let the games begin

Hrmph my gym woes continue

the Big Dance versus pretty much everything else

Here we go!

The NCAA tournament field of 65 was announced hours ago. Yes, USC is in, with a number 6 seed (we were expecting a 7 seed, but probably for the better). First round match up is versus Kansas State and another spectacular freshman, Michael Beasley. Mayo vs Beasley. Omaha, Nebraska. Midwest Conference. Also containing Georgetown and Kansas, who we almost beat pre-season. UCLA got a number 1 seed in the West. The Pac-10 got six out of the seven projected bids - UCLA, Stanford, WSU, USC, Arizona, Oregon - with Arizona State probably being left out because of one little Cinderella - Georgia, the team that only won four conference games, only to come back and win its tournament

Speaking of underdogs, we have Winthrop. Xavier. GEORGIA. And yes, George Mason

It is estimated that every year approximately nineteen billion dollars in productivity are lost as a result of the NCAA Final Four. Betting pools, water cooler talks, the works

I love it

I've been following all of ESPN's so-called "Championship Week," where all the conference tournaments were featured. Talk about Georgia. Talk about Hanesborough (and why UNC is the team to beat for the tourney). And of course, talk about USC. I haven't even started thinking about what to set for my pools yet. Tonight I'll be placing a preliminary table out, and then snipping and editing along the way until Wednesday, when it'll be sealed and fated for victory

I'll pretty much be thinking March Madness this entire time

Function Generators

MARCH MADNESS. MARCH MADNESS. THE BIG DANCE

I AM RETURNING TO THE FACEBOOK FOR THE BIG DANCE BRACKETOLOGY

Spring Break is here!!!

Analog To Digital Conversion

Listening to - the entire discography of Belle & Sebastian, Dallas Green aka City and Colour

Spring break is coming! It's the week after next, and I am NOT going home. Instead, I'll be in LA, interning, making as much money as I can. I figured that I might as well get the experience, since I'd probably loaf around at home anyways, without any gym fitness. I think one weekend I'm going to drive to Arizona though, just because I've never went there. I'm going to look into how much it costs to go to Tuscon for a couple of nights, maybe Friday and Saturday night

The splurge bug has bitten again. After being tremendously rejected by Free City Supershop for their $175 jacket, I've ventured to Nordstrom's, where I bought two pairs of pants. For about four hundred dollars

FTW

So I decided to finally "splurge" on my intern income and purchase a $175 Free City Supershop zip up jacket (for those wondering, yes, it is a mere zip up hoodie jacket costing one hundred and seventy five dollars). I got excited, only to find that it is out of production hrmph

Would YOU ever spend one hundred and seventy five dollars on a zip up jacket? I spend about the same amount on jeans!

Currently listening - City and Colour

1100100

I GOT A HUNDRED ON MY ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING LINEAR CIRCUITS MIDTERM!!!

Yes, the civil engineer. The first day of class, the professor went around asking everyone what majors they were, and most of the kids were electrical or biomedical. He asked if there were any other people whose majors he did not call and I raised my hand, saying "civil engineer." He asked what a civil engineer was doing in his class, and I told him that we had to take one of two courses, and everyone else took the other one. Needless to say, everyone in class knows who I am. "I'm the civil engineer" "Oh yeah! I remember you!" Well-known in a way

But I surprisingly pull off the 100 in the class, answering correctly questions on operational amplifiers, comparators, and Thevenin circuits

Currently listening to: Quietdrive "Time After Time"

Integrating Circuits

Currently listening - City and Colour, Bring Me Your Love

USC lost today to ASU, a team we beat at home. We just played awful. AND our starting five deliberately fouled out. Gah. Mayo was a BEAST, tearing up the court for countless times for something like 37

RECENTLY, my (white) friend linked me to this blog entitled "Stuff White People Like," where the (white) author humorously deadpans things that, well, white people like. Currently, he's blogged near 80 various things that white people like, and the list includes Barack Obama, recycling, and standing still at concerts. HOWEVER (and my brother showed me this), number 11 is fairly interesting and probably the most controversial. Stuff White People Like #11 is Asian Girls. Here I quote the blog entry itself

"95% of white males have at one point in their lives, experienced yellow fever. Many factors have contributed to this phenomenon such as guilt from head taxes, internment camps, dropping the Nuclear bomb and the Viet Nam War . This exchange works both ways as asian girls have a tendency to go for white guys. (White girls never go for asian guys. Bruce Lee and Paul Kariya’s dad are the only recorded instances in modern history). Asian girls often to do this to get back at their strict traditional fathers. There is also the option of dating black guys, but they know deep down that this would give their non-english speaking grandmother(s) a heart attack.

White men love asian women so much that they will go to extremes such as stating that Sandra Oh is sexy, teaching English in Asia, playing in a coed volleyball league, or attending institutions such as UBC or UCLA (please note that both schools’ colors of “blue” and “yellow” are intentional also the “A” in “UCLA” stand for “Asian” while the “B” in “UBC” stands for “Billion” try and figure out what the rest of the letters stand for). Another factor that draws white guys to asian women is that white women are jealous of them.

Take for instance the fact that asian women well into their 30s and 40s retain teen / college girl looks without the help of botox, yoga or a trendy diet (future posts). Asian women also avoid key white women characteristics such as having a mid life crisis, divorce, and hobbies that don’t involve taking care of the children (also future posts). Should white guy / Asian girl marry, they produce hybirds that are aestically pleasing, but are very annoying. This practice is also a means by which white people can catch up to the Asian peoples in the population race, as most of the hybirds often act white rather than Asian." (taken from stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com).

Hah hah hah oh man how do I even respond to that

Crash

So for the past three weekends I have had at least some sort of automobile accident. Three weeks ago it was fender benders on each end during a snow excursion. Last week it was swiping someone at a gas station. This week it was me on my bicycle crashing into this man's pimped convertible. He was so pissed, I swear he was going to kick my ass. But the guy was just too angry and then he jerked his hand and said "go - just go," and I hauled my ass out of there. Now my knee hurts, but I'm not complaining

This week is just awful. I have exams today and tomorrow, and I am constantly sleep deprived. This past weekend I went on a Rebuilding Together project, and while I got a free t shirt and a free lunch, I shredded my muscles landscaping. We had to weed and uproot the entire front lawn for eight hours. I voluntary got up at 6:45 am (the night before I was at the "amazing" Viterbi Engineering Ball until 2:45) to go and upend a front lawn. But it was worth it because now I can say that I've "landscaped," plus I have the sore muscles to prove it

I know, I haven't updated in a while. I guess because there's nothing really to update much. I continue to acquire a vast music collection. I am currently listening to Sufjan Stevens' The Avalanche, and I finally succumbed to peer pressure and got the Colbie Caillat cd CoCo. Yesterday was the Academy Awards, and I was severely disappointed that Enchanted (the soundtrack which I actually purchased, hah) lost in Best Song to "Falling Slowly" from Once. To be fair, that soundtrack is phenomenal, but I would have still loved it if "That's How She Knows" won or something. And who knew that Jon McLaughlin - "So Close" - was so attractive? Certainly not me

Anyways, I need to continue reading and studying for quizzes and such. I'll post sooner, I promise

Blue Screen Of Death

Currently listening to - "Time" Timbaland feat. She Wants Revenge

Oh man. What a weekend. President's Day did NOT disappoint. Over the course of the weekend I went to a basketball game, tour of an aerospace company, loafed around, and homework of course. And I got into another car accident. God. I scraped this lady's car and she was understandably upset. Thankfully, after I pulled over and explained to her that I was completely at fault and that I would definitely own up to it, she calmed down, even telling me (in a rather matronly way) that I should be more patient. Maybe I should make her some brownies or something

Sheesh. Talk about the wheel of fortune. The moment you are riding a tremendous high, everything comes crashing down, only you emerge from the ashes, relatively unscathed but nonetheless very perturbed

Recent Activity

Soooooo three day, President's Day, holiday weekend. Glorious. THANK GOD. That means I can fuck around (not that way) on Saturday and not have to suffer the consequences the next day. But the weekend is pretty epic. The schedule pretty much looks like this -

Friday: Go to work and do things mundane to the common civil engineer but are incredibly interesting to the intern. Die in rush hour traffic. Purchase blank cds to encourage my ridiculous music habit. Eat PB&J for dinner. Go out with friends to UCLA to stir up trouble. Just kidding, we went to get frozen yogurt. Watch movie on laptop. Collapse on bed from exhaustion

Saturday: Go to beach for clean up, a requirement for Date Auction. Meet people from SWE. Pick up bottle caps and cigarette butts, but stay clear of the syringes and condoms. Realize it's a warm day and you're on a southern California beach, one of the best places in the world. Go for brunch in a restaurant reminiscent of the Rosarito restaurants (with the prices to match!). Have lots of fun. Spend time writing on blog (right now). Go to gym afterwards to burn off 5000 calories ingested from the "Baja Burrito." Be a Rock Star while drinking wino and cavorting to 21 Choices in Pasadena. (MAYBE) Stand in line for the UCLA USC game the next day

Sunday: Stand in line for USC UCLA game. Watch USC UCLA game

Monday: Attend Northrupp Grumman's Shadow Day (out of curiosity). Have meeting for E-Week boot camp

Yes, E-Week is next week! Finally! I need to send a reminder to our supplier for the liquid nitrogen ice cream, as well as purchase supplies and make sure everything is organized. I'm really excited for the whole thing, especially because this is the first time that I've been so actively involved in its coordination. And of course, yours truly is being auctioned for the Viterbi Ball this Thursday. That should be interesting. For the event, we were supposed to choose three songs to be playing while we are being auctioned

Lily's three songs that she is being auctioned to -

1. "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" also known as the Kill Bill theme song
2. "Sensual Seduction" Snoop Dogg. Because apparently sex sells
3. "More Than A Feeling" Boston. Guitar never sounded so good

Runners up - "Danger Zone" from Top Gun, E-40, "Good Life" Kanye West, "Relax Take It Easy" Mika

I'm pretty excited. Not only because I'll get to go to the Viterbi Ball for free, but because I'll have a date!

Valentine's Day was on Thursday. It was nice. I went out for the first time ever with my friend. We ate burritos (very romantic) and saw a bunch of couples walking around holding hands. It was nice

If you can, download Timbaland featuring She Wants Revenge "Time." It'll blow your mind. Anyways, I'm out to the beach now. Live the good life!

Outlook Express

Grooving to: "Sunday Morning" K-Os

Happy Valentine's Day! I have one love in my life - my incredible music collection

I consider myself a very lucky person. Lately there's been a million things happening to me that at the time just made my life look like the embodiment of Murphy's Law, but somehow everything turned out okay. For example, the two fender benders in the course of twelve hours. No one was hurt, and even better, the situation has been calmed. And in another case, I thought I had lost two hundred dollars for the sorority (and would have to pay for it out of my own iPhone pocket fund), but I ended up finding it (so the fund is still intact). Two days ago, I thought I would absolutely die from the homework and obligations that I still had to do (I was and still am carrying around a receipt with a massive sixteen point To Do list on the back), but I managed to survive that, and tomorrow / today is my last school day for the week, so I can relax

Maybe I'll sneak onto campus and watch 27 Dresses using the computer's fast T3 ethernet to satisfy the romantic in me

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. As I mentioned, I've been running around completing my To Do list on my receipt. A couple of the things I have had to do (as read from the list): buy shampoo, Valentine's Day Cupid gift, return Smart and Final, clean car, clean room, laundry, return brother's snow pants, Arup homework, mail letter, you get the picture. But I do have some highlights

Let's see. The sorority is going well. I try to run a tight leash, but not too tight, and I've been getting positive response from everyone. There's still the drama regarding the class naming thing, but the active members have already voted and are done with it, so all the alums can do is bitch and moan about how we "disrespect" them, which we DON'T because we have done nothing wrong from the constitution and the bylaws. We are having a plethora of events. Tonight a bunch of us went to In & Out for dinner (in the golden land of southern California, I&O is king). This weekend we are going shopping (I will not be there, but instead will be cleaning beaches and scrubbing sand). Then on Sunday we are going to the basketball game with Sigma Phi Delta, which I am really excited. We're playing UCLA! But our starting point guard may be out for the rest of the season. The game starts at 7:30. I'm getting in line at 5:15.... but I may go earlier because I hear that people are

Now listening to Simple Plan, Simple Plan. Yes, the newly released album. And I actually like Simple Plan! "Welcome To My Life" is my anthem. Their new album is actually pretty good. The cover is downright hot. "Your Love Is A Lie," which I'm listening to right now, is a royal musical mess though, sampling hip hop, country, and pop beats

Next week is the uber-cool Engineering Week! This is the first semester that I am pretty involved in its organization. Since I'm president of the sorority, I have to go to Viterbi Student Council meetings. We are doing a liquid nitrogen ice cream event with another organization on Wednesday and on Friday. On Wednesday, the event is for the school and on Friday, the event is for 300 confirmed middle schoolers coming to develop an interest in engineering. There is no way that we are going to be able to make enough ice cream for 300 people. But it'll still be there

OH. For Engineering Week, the council throws a formal dance party at a secret club, and YOURS TRULY (me) is going to be AUCTIONED as a DATE. It's being thrown by the Society of Women Engineers, and the whole thing is to raise money for charity. You can find the link to all the auctionees here . Yes, that is me at the top. Try not to laugh too hard, my (male) friends have been snickering for the past week and a half. At least I get a free ticket to the Viterbi Ball wheeeee. God

Okay, I'm done, I'm going to finish listening to Simple Plan and then hope to have a simple rest of the week

Log Off

Album in situ: Gorillaz, D-Sides
Last album listened: (tie) Kate Nash Made of Bricks; Step Up 2 OST
Songs on playlist: "Is It You" Cassie; "Nobody's Perfect" Hannah Montana

I finished a linear circuits lab today, with minimal help from the electrical engineers. The labs involve one of the scariest, foreign things known to man, the proto-board. It's this huge white board with about five hundred holes lined up in them, and you have to attach wires and maintain voltages and attach resistors. The whole concept of parallel and series becomes confusing and in short, whack. But my BME friend and I were able to finish it between each other, although she admittedly did more work. I'm learning though, so give me a break

Man, the weather is perfect. At least seventy degrees again today, and it's supposed to be winter. This reaffirms why I'll definitely be staying in southern California upon graduation. What, Northern California is my home? Unlikely. The weather is unimpressive. If this weather maintains, then I can definitely hit the beach this weekend

Ugh. Today was also quite unimpressive. I have a monster to do list (at least ten to-dos) and I've done probably four of them. But I'm determined to get through most of them

Speaking of unimpressive, yesterday's Grammys was whack. I mean, Herbie Hancock? Are you serious? The LA Times said it perfectly: "What, did Amy and Kanye's voters cancel each other out?" Both of them KILLED their performances. Especially Amy. That is true talent. And who knew that was really Daft Punk? I didn't. But they looked good. And "Hey Mama" is always a good song. I'm a huge fan of Kanye, the man can do no wrong with his music, style, and attitude. He was especially wronged for Album of the Year, and I'm sure he knows it

Okay, work time!