Friday, December 30, 2005

Southwest U.S. trip report

Christmas break is off to a good start as my family went to the Southwest U.S. just after the semester ended. We left on the 23rd and got back last night. It was one of our best vacations ever!

Day 1

The first leg of the trip was a long drive to Las Vegas. This was pretty exhausting as we did it all in one stretch. On the bright side, the traffic along the way was mostly smooth.

Our hotel for the next two nights was Treasure Island Hotel & Casino. One thing I loved about Treasure Island was the "Battle of Buccaneer Bay" that took place in the evening. However, the show has been replaced with one called "The Sirens of TI." Perhaps I'm old-fashioned, but the old show was better. It was kind of sad to see that the pirate battle was no more. I guess sometimes change is inevitable.

The other thing is that Internet access was expensive. I didn't feel like spending an extra $10 per day just to browse the web and decided to go without the Internet for the next two days. If only I knew how to use a cell phone as a modem...

Day 2

I was watching TV after breakfast when an infomercial for foot pain relief products caught my attention. One of the stores happened to be in the area. We decided to get a quote as Mom is still recovering from a foot surgery in spring. She ultimately wasn't interested because the prices were very high. The manager was visibly upset even though we merely said we needed time to consider. Damn, people are greedy these days.

The three of us went to the Las Vegas Strip in the afternoon to check out the new casinos as well as revisit old ones. The Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas and the Fountains of Bellagio were especially impressive. I also had a great time browsing the shops. The only downside is that the prices were insane.

Day 3

The main stop of the day was Flagstaff. Though it was well past noon when we arrived, most of the restaurants were still open. There was an Italian restaurant that immediately caught my eye. I wanted to have lunch here, to which my parents agreed. The food was pricey but delicious, especially the squid ink pasta.

It was then time to see what the rest of Flagstaff had to offer. I really enjoyed checking out the shops in the downtown. Other than that, the evening was uneventful aside from a trip to the supermarket for groceries. We had frozen meals and rice noodles dinner before calling it a night.

Day 4

Dad took us to Petrified Forest National Park after breakfast. The place is named for its large deposits of petrified wood. They were a fascinating sight.

The plan was to visit Meteor Crater next. But having been there before, all of us wanted to go somewhere else instead. So we ended up stopping at the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site in Ganado. The trading post was a cozy little place, although we were short on time and didn't stay long.

Our hotel for the night was in Chinle. I hate to say this, but the evening sucked. To save time, my parents and I had dinner at the on-site restaurant. However, the food was absolutely terrible - it was dry and barely had any taste. I don't think any of us were able to finish what we ordered.

Back in our room, I checked my grades and found out I didn't do as well in Music 26AC as I had hoped. The grade for Math 53 was better than expected, but still. To top it off, the malfunctioning heater it hard to sleep. I'm not going to lie - we briefly considered going home at this point. :-(

Day 5

Canyon de Chelly National Monument awaited us in the morning. The Jeep tour was a great way to see the canyon up close. At one point during the tour, two Native American girls came up to sell their crafts; though they didn't have anything we needed, Mom gave them a few dollars as encouragement.

The three of us headed back to Flagstaff after the tour. The dinner at Coco's Bakery was far better than what we had at the Holiday Inn in Chinle. This was overall my favorite day of the trip. It definitely cancels out what happened the day before.

Day 6

Aside from another quick stop in downtown Flagstaff in the morning, the day was uneventful as we had to drive 350 miles to Barstow. It was quite late when we arrived at the hotel. On the other hand, my parents and I had an excellent dinner at a Chinese buffet restaurant after checking in.

Day 7

One thing that surprised us is that there was almost no snow anywhere. Dad took a detour to Yosemite National Park in hopes of seeing the winter landscape, but there wasn't much snow in Yosemite either. I'm guessing the weather is just too dry this year. Yosemite was nevertheless a lot of fun; my family had a great dinner at the Mountain Room Restaurant before heading out. It was almost 11 p.m. when we got home!

Conclusions

The Southwest U.S. is one of my favorite places. The Jeep ride at Canyon de Chelly was highlight of the vacation. That was just an amazing experience. Though the fourth day kind of sucked, the rest of the trip was awesome. They say nothing is perfect. I can't argue with that.

In other news...

The distributed computing project GIMPS recently discovered the largest known prime number. This is exciting news as prime numbers are one of my interests. For those curious, the number is 2 raised to the 30,402,457th power minus 1 - a whopping 9,152,052 digits!

Currently listening to: "Gamble Rumble" by Move

Historical note: Pictures from the trip are available here.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

done with fall classes + upcoming family vacation

I finished my finals last week and am now relaxing at home. This is definitely my favorite time of the year!

However, the exams didn't go without a hitch. While they were all quite challenging, the more serious issue is that I almost missed the Physics 7B final because of a misunderstanding.

Prof. Liphardt had kindly allowed me to take the exam in a separate location due to my request for a low-distraction environment. Yet the proctor was nowhere to be seen when I got to the designated room. I had to walk all the way back to the regular location on the other side of campus to find out what was going on. By the time I got there, I was completely wet from the heavy rain. That certainly didn't help.

In any case, I'm glad the semester is over. The nice thing is that my family is leaving for the Southwest U.S. tomorrow morning. This is super exciting because the Southwest has always been one of our favorite travel destinations. Speaking of which, I'm off to pack my luggage. :-)

Currently playing: The Incredible Toon Machine

Wednesday, December 7, 2005

got 99 firemaking in RuneScape again

I just got level 99 firemaking in RuneScape a few moments ago. Click here for the screenshot!

You may remember that I got 99 firemaking in RuneScape Classic last year. Though I was mostly a RuneScape Classic player, I moved on after Jagex removed the free version in August. Seeing that I was already 95 firemaking in the main game, I figured I might as well go the whole nine yards.

The thing about level 99 stats is that they take many hours of grinding. Burning all those logs was extremely tedious, but my perseverance paid off. Speaking of which, I should probably spend at least as much effort in my studies. ^_^

Currently playing: RuneScape

Sunday, December 4, 2005

report of Friday's dance

"If you want to slow dance, you can do it in your room upstairs." -- the DJ

So there was a dance at Bowles called the Black & White Affair. It was kind of close to the finals, but what the hell. The event was all right but wasn't extraordinary by any means either. Here is my review of it if you're interested.

One thing I've noticed is that college students don't seem to like slow songs very much. Case in point, the crowd booed when the DJ decided to play one. The dance ended up not having any slow songs at all. While I believe the DJ should play what people want to hear, slowing down the music once in a while isn't going to hurt. After all, there are already plenty of fast tunes!

Some people did complain about the lack of slow songs as the dance ended, to which the DJ joked that they could slow dance in their dorm rooms. I'll have to admit that it gave me a good laugh, although it probably sucks for those who wanted to dance with that special someone. I guess people shouldn't have gotten so upset when the DJ tried to play a slow song. :-)

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

I just won a mountain bike!

Our residential hall at Berkeley holds a meeting every Tuesday to plan student activities, such as dances, movie nights and fundraisers. To encourage attendance, raffle tickets are given out at every meeting to anyone that shows up.

Well, today was the last meeting of the semester and the raffle. The grand prize was a Mongoose mountain bike. I was told that I had seven tickets while the runner-up had five. Armed with this information, I bid six tickets when the bike was put up for auction. Instant winner!

This is definitely really exciting. I still cannot believe I won such an awesome prize. A quick Google search suggests that similar bikes cost around $200. I'm hoping it doesn't get stolen before I could take it home. *crosses fingers*

Thursday, November 24, 2005

a Thanksgiving without a turkey (well, almost)

Thanksgiving was pretty fun as my aunt Cynthia invited us over for a hot pot dinner. It was a great meal even though we didn't have a turkey this time. I'm sure PETA would be proud. :-)

The party was overall quite enjoyable. It was definitely nice to see Connie and Cathy again. Only a few more weeks until Christmas!

On second thought, I just remembered I still have that turkey sandwich I bought at Berkeley the other day. So this wasn't really a "turkey-free" Thanksgiving. Sorry, PETA. :P

Monday, November 14, 2005

Veterans Day weekend report

The midterms are finally over. It was great to get some rest over the long weekend!

Speaking of which, I slept in on Friday and didn't get up almost 1:30 p.m. That was incredibly satisfying. Even though I got up very late, my family still went hiking in Stevens Creek County Park after a quick bite.

Having had lots of rest, I didn't get up too late on Saturday morning. Therefore, my parents and I took a stroll to the Starbucks in downtown Mountain View for coffee and snacks. The three of us also checked out the nearby mineral shop; this reminded me of our family vacations as mineral shops are quite common in tourist areas.

The highlight of the weekend is that our family friend Mei invited us to her house for dinner in the evening. It wasn't just us as the Lees had several other people over. All of the kids loved playing The Incredible Machine 3 on my laptop.

The Veterans Day weekend was overall quite enjoyable. Oh yeah, and there are less than two weeks until Thanksgiving. :-)

Currently playing: The Incredible Machine 3

Sunday, November 6, 2005

three midterms in four days :\

It turns out I have three exams in the next few days: Physics 7B tomorrow evening, Math 53 (multivariable calculus) on the 9th and Economics 100A (microeconomics) the day after that. These definitely aren't easy subjects. So wish me luck - I'm going to need lots of it!

On the bright side, there is no class on Friday because we get Veterans Day off. Thank heavens for small favors.

Currently reading: Calculus: Early Transcendentals by James Stewart

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Halloween dance report

I just got back from Freakfest, the Asian American Association's annual Halloween dance. It was all right, but things could have been handled better. For example, the event was delayed for "security reasons" right off the bat. There was no compensation even though the dance started 30 minutes late. The DJ left out the slow songs too. Considering that I paid $10 for the ticket, I can't help but feel a bit ripped off.

I'm keeping this short as it's around 3 a.m. right now. However, here is a detailed review of the dance if you're interested.

Currently playing: RaidenX

Monday, October 10, 2005

officially 20 years old today

I'm now officially 20 years old. The 631 million seconds that have passed since I signed up for that MMORPG called Outside have gone by really fast. I can hardly believe I'm no longer a teenager!

To commemorate the occasion, here are three interesting facts about my childhood:

  1. I once did something bad while watching cartoons with my mother. She got mad and turned the TV off. Three-year-old me then followed the cables and looked into the electrical outlet, thinking that was where the images came from.
  2. I used to think nighttime was caused by clouds.
  3. Some of my elementary school teachers often joked about having special powers, such as telekinesis and the ability to teleport objects to other planets. I actually believed them. Go figure.

So yeah... happy birthday to me and everyone else born on October 10. :-)

Currently listening to: J. S. Bach - Selected Preludes and Fugues for the Piano

Saturday, October 8, 2005

Best. Birthday party. Ever.

So I'm turning 20 in two days. The nice thing is that my parents had a big party for me tonight. The reason for the early celebration is that I'll be at Berkeley on the 10th.

Our guests were the Lee, Lu, Liang and Shieh families. Everyone definitely had a good time. The only downside is that my uncle Dong couldn't come, but that's not a problem as it was already a full house!

I got a whole lot of love and some greats presents. The first is a nice laptop case from Carol. I often take my computer while traveling and will certainly find this useful. Mei knew that I loved classical music and got me a Bach album. I also received a $30 gift card to Borders from my aunt Cynthia. Last but not least, Wen-Juei and Lisa gave me a small crystal figurine. I can't express my gratitude enough.

Before ending this post, I'd like to thank all of my friends and family (especially my parents) for their years of support. They certainly had a big role in my life. Having said that, I should probably get some rest soon as it's rather late here. Take care, everyone.

Historical note: Pictures (and a video) from the party are available here.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

promoted to administrator on Wikipedia

I just became an administrator on the English Wikipedia. I'd like to thank everyone who supported my nomination!

For the uninitiated, Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. The project is extremely active; the English edition currently has over 600,000 articles and counting. Administrators can do things like delete and protect pages, revert changes with one click and block users. This includes the ability to edit protected content, such as the main page and system interface messages. Pretty cool, huh?

Of course, with great power comes great responsibility. One must be cautious when making major changes to one of the biggest websites on the Internet. I'd probably be tarred and feathered if I'm not careful. ^_^

You can learn more about my Wikipedia contributions at my user page. Feel free to drop by my talk page and say hi. :-)

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

losing faith in college dances :-(

I'll have to admit that I love dances. However, the California Dreamin' Mixer on Friday - for lack of a better term - sucked. The music was repetitive and there were no slow songs. The tickets weren't cheap either. This wasn't the only dance at Berkeley that was disappointing; out of the five I've been to so far, only two of them were worth actually worth attending: the '80s dance in February and the Boat Dance in April.

You can read my review of the dance here. College dances seem to get crappier and crappier for some reason. Perhaps this is why many people tend to avoid them altogether.

Currently listening to: "Candy Shop" by 50 Cent

Saturday, September 10, 2005

new ThinkPad T42

I recently got an IBM ThinkPad T42 laptop. It has a 1.8 GHz Celeron M processor, 1 GB of RAM and 80 GB of storage. The laptop isn't quite as fast as the Dell Dimension 3000 desktop but is more than enough for what I need. The ThinkPad T42 wasn't cheap; Dad says it cost him around $2,500. I'm definitely going to take good care of it.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

just moved back to Berkeley for the fall semester

I just moved back to Berkeley as the fall classes are starting tomorrow. For those curious, I'm enrolled in Music 26AC, Physics 7B, Economics 100A and Math 53 this semester. This is my first time taking four classes at once and will probably be challenging. However, I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle. :-)

I've also met my new roommate Alan. He's a cool guy who also loves MMORPGs. It looks we have much in common!

Currently listening to: "Hey Ya!" by OutKast

Sunday, August 21, 2005

one week of summer left

I just moved most of my stuff back to Berkeley in preparation for my sophomore year. The nice thing is that classes don't start until the 23rd. Though there's Welcome Week for the freshmen n00bs, that's not something I need to attend. ^_^

Having said that, summer is essentially over as I need to prepare for the classes. These breaks are never long enough. :\

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Central California was fun.

So my family went on a two-day trip to the Calaveras County area over the weekend. The trip almost didn't happen because most of the local hotels were fully booked, but my parents were able to book one in Jackson at the last minute. The vacation was pretty enjoyable!

Day 1

There were few attractions on the way to Jackson other than an Asian garden of sorts. The reason for coming here was that Mom wanted ideas for her Chinese paintings. The garden didn't have much except for water lilies, ponds and chicken coops. However, the water lilies were beautiful and made for some nice pictures.

Later in the evening, Dad and I watched Behind Enemy Lines on HBO before going to bed. The special effects were pretty awesome.

Day 2

The three of us visited Calaveras Big Trees State Park in the morning. It was really neat to walk through the hollowed-out sequoia trees. Though the scenery was amazing, my parents and I didn't spend too much time hiking given the high temperatures. On the other hand, Beaver Creek was a great place to cool off. I took off my shoes and waded into the water - something I hadn't done since I was a kid!

The other destination of the day was Columbia State Historic Park in the afternoon. We took a stroll through the park before stopping at the Jack Douglass Saloon for light snacks. It was lots of fun to listen to the live country band while enjoying my chili dog and tomato juice. This was no doubt the highlight of the trip.

On the whole, this trip was one of our best ones ever. It was certainly a great way to end summer!

Currently listening to: "Oh! Darling" by the Beatles

Historical note: Pictures from the trip are available here.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

summer school over at last

First the good news: the Math 1A final wasn't too difficult. On the other hand, the Economics 1a final was quite challenging. I hope I didn't bomb it. In any case, I'm glad summer classes are over!

Though there are only two weeks before the fall semester begins, Dad has plans for a road trip to central California. The only problem is that all of the hotels we called were fully booked. I don't know if the trip is possible, but we're still exploring our options. *crosses fingers*

Update: We managed to find a hotel with available rooms after all. Sweet!

Tuesday, August 9, 2005

Economics 1 final + headache = blah

The final exam for Economics 1 is tomorrow morning. This normally wouldn't be a problem, except I have a really bad headache right now from studying too much. I hope I won't bomb the exam as a result.

On the bright side, I'm done with summer school after this. :-)

Monday, August 1, 2005

1,300 skill total in RuneScape

I just reached 1,300 skill total in RuneScape with level 1 farming and slayer. This was a rather difficult goal because I haven't been a member for some time, hence the lack of XP in those skills. You can view the screenshot here.

I can't end this post without thanking Raynebird, Nomar5 and Flea110 for their moral support and encouragement. Reaching this milestone would have been much harder otherwise!

Currently playing: RuneScape

Monday, July 4, 2005

Fun on the Fourth of July

The 4th of July was pretty fun.

To start off, my family went to Pacifica to buy fireworks. This is something we hadn't done in years. We only spent $10 because fireworks aren't cheap in California, but it was more than enough.

Later in the evening, Dad and I cooked some corn on the cob on our rusty old grill that we hadn't touched in ages. However, time had taken its toll: the grill broke apart as soon as we finished cleaning it. Let's just say we probably won't be using it again.

I lit the fireworks after the sun went down. This was the best part of the evening even though we only had a small bag. The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays for this reason.

The not-so-fun part is that I had to return to Berkeley afterwards. It was almost midnight when I got back to Unit 2 because we didn't leave our house until 10 p.m. I'm not going to lie - an extra day off or two would have been nice. In any case, I hope you all had a nice and safe 4th of July weekend!

In other news...

The impactor from the Deep Impact spacecraft hit the comet Tempel 1 this morning. That was definitely really cool.

Currently listening to: The Instruments of Classical Music: The Harpsichord

Saturday, June 18, 2005

summer school at Berkeley

I'm moving back to the dorms tomorrow as summer school is starting on the 20th. For those wondering, I'll be taking Economics 1 and Math 1B.

The nice thing about summer sessions at Berkeley is that they're only eight weeks long at most. On the other hand, they can also be be quite tough because an entire semester's worth of material is compressed into such a short period. The fact that I'm taking two courses undoubtedly adds to the challenge.

That said, I'm confident this is something I can handle. But wish me luck - I'm going to need lots of it.

June 19 update: I've moved into the dorms. Here goes nothing...

Currently reading: Principles of Economics by Karl E. Case and Ray C. Fair

Sunday, May 29, 2005

back from New England

Summer is off to a good start as my family went to New England just after the spring semester ended. We left on the 22nd and came back this afternoon. New England is truly a place like no other.

Days 1 and 2

Our vacation began with an evening flight to Boston. I had heard that red-eye flights are brutal and wasn't looking forward to this. But contrary to the expectations, the flight wasn't all that bad.

The flight itself was actually quite pleasant. One great thing about jetBlue is the unlimited snacks and drinks. I also got to watch The Transporter and Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets on the plane. Transporter had over-the-top action; I didn't know Jason Statham was a martial arts expert.

The plane landed in Boston early in the morning. Fatigue started setting in as we picked up our rental car at the airport. I guess we were too excited to notice it earlier. Having had little rest, my parents and I took a nap in the car before going to downtown Boston. Our day began with a stroll on the historic Freedom Trail. This was pretty fun, although Mom is still recovering from a foot surgery and couldn't do much walking.

The final stop of the day was Bar Harbor. Given that Maine is famous for its lobsters, my family went to a local seafood restaurant for dinner after checking into our hotel. The lobsters were indeed delicious, especially with the melted butter. Dessert consisted of freshly baked blueberry pie. The meal was easily the best part of the trip.

Day 3

Dad took us to Acadia National Park in the morning. While natural places are uncommon in New England, the scenery in Acadia was beautiful and made for some excellent pictures. It's too bad we didn't get to spend much time on the trails. I certainly hope to revisit Acadia in the future.

The three of us arrived in Quebec City in the afternoon. Though a Canadian province, Quebec felt like a part of France as the majority of the locals speak French. The signs were in French as well. However, the language barrier wasn't too much of a problem as people generally understood our questions and vice versa.

Day 4

About 260 km southwest of Quebec City was Montreal. We explored the downtown before doing grocery shopping in the evening. The local snacks looked tasty but weren't cheap at all. I really regret not buying some. :-(

One thing I noticed is that people in Quebec seem somewhat outlandish. For example, many Quebecers like to stand on the streets while waiting for the crosswalk light to turn green - which is also unsafe. I'm glad we didn't run into any jerks or anything. As a matter of fact, one guy was kind enough to point us in the right direction after we got stuck in a cul-de-sac!

Back in our hotel room, I watched EuroTrip before going to bed. EuroTrip is one of those movies that are dumb and hilarious at the same time. I definitely got some good laughs.

Day 5

It was time to leave Canada and head all the way to Hartford. Upon clearing customs, my parents and I checked out the duty-free shop near the border. I bought some chocolate maple creme cookies as the price wasn't too high. They were a bit sweet for my taste but not too bad otherwise. Dad made a brief stop in nearby Champlain so we could get pictures. The waters of Lake Champlain were beautiful.

The scenery in Vermont was amazing too. Of note is that every rest area in the state had free coffee. That made our drive very worthwhile. Speaking of which, my father had at least five cups of Joe - though not without leaving a donation each time. Let's just say we also had to make numerous restroom stops. :P

I saw a cozy-looking restaurant later in the evening and suggested eating here; my parents agreed as it was already past dinner time. The fish and pasta turned out to be really good. This was another memorable experience.

It was around 11:45 p.m. when we finally arrived in Hartford. All of us were pretty tired and went to bed shortly after checking into the hotel.

Day 6

Yale University awaited us in the morning. I didn't apply to this school, but Dad wanted a look at the campus. The place was quite nice despite its aged appearance.

The next stop was a seafood restaurant called U.S.S. Chowder Pot for lunch. I was tempted by the ads and figured we had to eat here. One thing we ordered was Rhode Island clam chowder. Unlike its traditional counterpart, this version is made with a clear broth. Though I prefer the regular type, trying new foods is always exciting. Oh yeah, and the Maryland crab cakes were delicious.

The not-so-fun part is that we blew a tire on a sharp rock upon leaving New Haven. Because this happened in a rural area, AAA took two hours to arrive and tow us to the nearest auto shop. The good news is that the insurance covered everything. Having to pay for the repairs would have certainly ruined our vacation.

Our final destination of the day was Provincetown, located on Cape Cod. A notable stop along the way was the Cape Cod Potato Chips headquarters in Hyannis. The factory tour was fascinating; I was impressed with how such a small company could be one of the biggest suppliers of potato chips in the nation. We had some free samples and also bought a few bags before leaving. Yum!

Having enjoyed the lobsters in Bar Harbor so much, Dad decided to buy two more at a roadside seafood stand. They weren't as good this time because there was no drawn butter and the meat was too tough. Other than that, the lobsters weren't too bad.

The rest of the day was uneventful as Provincetown itself didn't have many attractions. It was good to get some well-deserved rest, especially after three long days of driving!

Day 7

The breakfast at Best Western totally sucked. The food consisted mostly of pastries and orange juice; there were no fruits, bread or anything else. I wouldn't even actually call it a breakfast at all. That stuff couldn't possibly be healthy either.

Of note is that Cape Cod had a creepy atmosphere. There is a lot of fog, not to mention that Route 6A is lined with cemeteries. The experience was reminiscent of horror movies set in small towns.

The three of us arrived in Plymouth in the afternoon. This was where the Mayflower landed in America almost 400 years ago. The town was well-preserved despite its age. The famous Plymouth Rock is said to be where the Pilgrims got off the ship. However, there was trash all over the place. Those people ought to be very ashamed of themselves.

Back in Boston, my parents and I went to the Faneuil Hall Marketplace before checking into our hotel. This one was much nicer than the Best Western in Provincetown. Well, aside from being right next to a morgue.

Day 8

Dad wanted to visit MIT and Harvard University in the morning. The MIT campus was really cool and definitely had that geeky feel. The Harvard campus wasn't too shabby either.

We explored downtown Boston again before heading to the airport to return the car and catch the flight back to San Francisco. I got to watch Descent and Garfield: The Movie on the plane. The flight was uneventful otherwise, although we got home fairly early due to the time zone difference.

Conclusions

New England is a fascinating place, especially with its rich history and famous seafood. On the subject of which, the lobster dinner in Bar Harbor was my favorite part of the vacation. Of course, the rest of the trip was great too.

The biggest downside is that my mother just had a foot surgery not too long ago. Considering that she couldn't walk far, much of the time was spent in the car. Dad did all of the driving and was totally exhausted. That said, this was an incredible adventure that we'll remember for years to come.

Currently listening to: "Dragostea Din Tei" by O-Zone

Historical note: Pictures from the trip are available here.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

heading to New England tonight

Summer is off to a good start as my parents and I are leaving for New England in a couple of hours. This is pretty exciting as none of us have been there before.

The bad news is that the first leg of the trip is a red-eye flight to Boston. From what I've heard, red-eye flights are brutal. I hope it won't be too hard to get some sleep on the plane. *fingers crossed*

In other news...

There is currently an event at LAHS to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the school. The cool thing is that I ran into my old counselor Mrs. Dawson and classmates Rohit and Sara. It was definitely nice to see some familiar faces.

Currently listening to: "We Like to Party" by the Vengaboys

Thursday, May 19, 2005

last day of freshman year at Berkeley

I've finished my last final and am now waiting for my parents to pick me up. I can't believe I actually made it through my first year of college. W00t!

Though the academic workload was challenging, that wasn't the only thing that made my freshman year so difficult. The worst part is that my suitemates Cyrus and Andrew kept harassing me for almost the entire school year. Those are their real names; they have not been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

The trouble began with Cyrus making lewd comments last October. I did my best to ignore them at first. However, he and Andrew soon started stealing my things and hiding them. I reported this to my RA and the resident director, but they couldn't do much due to lack of evidence.

But none of that matters anymore. Considering that school is out, I don't have to deal with those two jerks ever again. It's time to enjoy a well-earned summer. :-)

Currently listening to: "Orinoco Flow" by Enya

jumping on the MySpace bandwagon...

I finally signed up for MySpace after noticing that many people from my high school were on there. Feel free to check out my profile. Though I'm still kind of new to the social networking scene, MySpace looks like a really cool website. Don't be shy to add me as I accept all friend requests. :-)