The Dawesomest of all Blogs

2012-01-26T00:04:00.000-08:00

I called 911 for the first time today after seeing a kitchen fire on Kittredge. I was sure it had already been phoned in, but after taking so many psych classes this shit has been ingrained in my memory

More resolutions

2012-01-16T18:07:00.001-08:00

-read all the books I have waiting for me on my shelf

-listen to more NPR

This must be it, welcome to the new year

2012-01-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

2012 Resolutions:

-Go to the gym 3 times/week instead of just two

-Stop being foolish (accompanied by drinking less, I think)

-Find my hus-bun (jokes)

-Finish my college career strong and find a job

-Be a champion

Today I am grateful

2011-11-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

I am happy that when I reach out for help from others (who are practically strangers to me!), people respond and go above and beyond my expectations. I love it when things I am planning fall into place and help me see that final result that much more clearly. I am glad I have a such a great faculty sponsor for my thesis that always makes me feel better about my progress. I am looking forward to Jeopardy and eating pizza and finally getting all of this French reading done.

Sidenote: It can be pretty terrible being forced to talk in French class when you haven't read any of the novel. At all.

Me: With his actions, he is denouncing religion and those who believe in the word of God.

Prof: Actually, his actions are in the name of God and religion...

Me: Wait, what?

Now if only I had my concert buddy in America. Hey Marseilles is playing next week and I think I might go by myself because I don't even know who I would ask.

Take me out to the baaaalll game!

2011-10-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

Now that baseball season is officially over (RIP), I guess now is as good a time as any to reflect and recall its greatest moments. I decided to capitalize on the fact that this is my last guaranteed full season in the east bay by going to as many games as I possibly could, which amounted to 26 (holy shit, I just realized that's more than $100 in BART fare alone. crap!!). My total record was 10-16, which is a .384 win percentage. That really sucks, considering their overall win percentage was .457 and at home .531. Guess I am truly badluck for the team. In any case, here are some season highlights:

After completing a crazed week full of finals in May, Jess and I decided to go out and celebrate the only way we know how - by watching a baseball game! Fortunately for us, Ray Fosse and Glen Kuiper were broadcasting that game from the Value Deck, right in front of where our seats were. We accosted the security guard at just the moment tha

t Glen was entering, and so we took advantage of this serendipitous opportunity by meeting him. Before taking a photo, Ray asked the infamous question: "Have you been drinking?" I told him no, we were just excited to

meet him, but I may have been half lying.

Labor Day weekend my parents got a box behind the left field bleachers for all friends and family to celebrate the A's. We got lots of nachos and Aquafina, but even better was that Brandon McCarthy not only pitched a complete game, but also got the win (too many complete game non-wins for that guy this season). It was wonderful spending time with so many nice people at one of my favorite places in the world.

And of course, my 21st birthday was one for the record books. Had my first legal drink (bud light), got sung to by the grilled cheese lady, met Kara, won some free tickets, got a foul ball, was on the jumbotron, and ate chocolate cake! It really does not get any better than that, let me tell you.

I also got a lot of free things, including but not limited to: fleece blanket, Atleticos baseball tee, Atleticos hat, gold Suzuki jersey, white kid's cap (for those 12 and under), 2 hot dogs, Moneyball t-shirt, 4 fireworks shows, gold beanie, Ray Fosse bobblehead, white A's t-shirt, 4 field level tickets, and even more that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

All in all, it was probably the most games I'm ever going to see in a single season, and I enjoyed them all so much. Even though the A's may have not made it to the post-season, or even made it to .500, they were number one in my hearts. Is it April yet?!

I DON'T WANT NO DRAMA

2011-10-23T22:25:00.001-07:00

Of course I update my blog on the Sunday evening before a week holding 2 midterms, infinite French reading, and lots of thesis work out in front of me. It's so difficult to find motivation to do anything academic after blocking school out of my mind during the always-too-short weekend.

Between Paranormal Activity 3 (for free!), getting my own tap card at Raleigh's, learning the true meaning of 'creeper' at Kip's, celebrating my beautiful Monica's birthday at the club with some of my closest (and sweatiest!) friends, and winning a Cal football home game and throwing confetti with my azn tutoring pal, this weekend was one that I will definitely be looking back on fondly amidst the chaos of these next five (or more) days.

It's funny because now that it's (at least) the middle of my penultimate semester of college, time seems to be going by so quickly but at the same time so slowly. Why does the first week of classes seem as near as yesterday, but Thanksgiving seems as far away as forever? I need to make sure I am enjoying as much as I can these moments, and taking advantage of every opportunity.

Buona fortuna, Francesco!

2011-09-30T00:05:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting experience working in the advising office yesterday. At about half past one, two guys with matching blue dress shirts came in (one reminded me of The Situation with his gelled hair and sunglasses indoors, but I don't want to come across as being the type of person who stereotypes). After about 10 minutes of garbled English, I learned that they came from Italy to San Francisco to start up a website where people can find psychotherapists and video chat with them (??????????). They decided to stop by Berkeley to get opinions of professors about their ingenious idea. There were some entertaining bits in the middle of all of this confusion.

Italian guy: Do you speak Italian?

Me: No. Do you speak French?

Italian guy: No.

Me: Do you speak Spanish?

Italian guy: No. Do you speak Latin?

Me: LATIN IS A DEAD LANGUAGE.

Italian guy: NO IT'S NOT.

Me: Wait, so why exactly are you in Berkeley again?

Italian guy: The guy in San Francisco told us to come here because of the intellectual vivacity. Vivacity? Is that how you say in English?

Me: I think vivacity is a word, but I never hear anybody say it. How about fervor?

Italian guy: Ah. Fervor. Okay.

Italian guy: Why do we speak English but you don't speak Italian?

Me: Why are you here?

And then I went to class. I never did exactly understand how they ended up here and what they were truly looking for. But whatever it was, I hope they found it.

Lessons learned in Chicago

2011-08-10T18:16:00.000-07:00

Chicago TSA Agents are people too (and have the same terrible jokes as everyone else)
TSA: (looks at ID) oh haha, are you related to Mike?
Me: Yeah, he's my uncle.
TSA: Oh whoa....I was about to make a wisecrack, but I bet you would get me with that right jab, huh?
Me: Totally

If you don't know how to use a revolving door, you won't get anywhere in Chicago. Not even 7-11. And don't try to scurry in the same section as the person before you...they won't like you.

You should wear some kind of shorts under your dress. They didn't get the nickname 'Windy City' for no reason, let me tell you.

The Chicago Fire was a fire, but it's also a soccer team (keep an eye out for #6 Jalil Anibaba. I met him outside of Chick-Fil-A).

You can't laugh every time you hear a weird Midwestern accent. It gets old fast.

If someone says something is the best, make sure you find out who. For example, I'm pretty sure whoever decided Al's has the best beef in Chicago is not a credible beef source.

If something is called The Water Tower, it's not going to look like a water tower

It will be beautiful weather the whole time you're there, except for when you're trying to see a Cubs game.

Midway Airport is not midway between anything (except for maybe an abandoned building and an old train yard).

Buildings are always further away than you think they're going to be when you're walking toward them (you think I would've learned from Anti-formal I and the GG Bridge...).

On me dit que nos vies ne valent pas grand-chose

2011-08-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

In approximately 25 hours, I will be landing in Chicago, navigating the Tee or El or whatever their subway system is, and arriving at the apartment of one of two favorite brothers, Gregory H. Tyson.

Plans for today include lots of laundry (since my buffoon of a landlord still hasn't had washers/dryers installed), picking up more books at the library, and putting all of this sweet music my mom gave me on my iPod (and of course she's got Carla Bruni). Seriously though, my mom is so hip now that she has to give me music tips.

I've never been to Chicago before, except traveling through O'Hare, but I hope to eat a hot dog with mustard/onions, become best friends with my brother's girlfriend, and catch a Cubs homerun (hope Steadman's on the mound!).

Freshly baked cookies!

2011-06-19T20:05:00.001-07:00

On the way home from getting dolla scoop with Kareem, the incense man on Telegraph stopped me so he could introduce himself. He gave me a hug, called me a sweet angel, and told me that I smelled good. This interaction left me wondering how exactly he knows me and why he felt the urge to make my acquaintanceship. In any case, guess I know where I'm buying my rasta hats from now on.

Then I turned onto Regent and Isi Sofele and his kr3w were blocking the sidewalk so I had to dodge them nimbly.

First day with the children tomorrow, and also the first of appx. 30 days of waking up at 6 AM!

First day

2011-06-13T21:22:00.000-07:00

Today I officially started my summer job at First Graduate (click if you're truly interested). I had more butterflies in my stomach this morning than I did on the first day of college, and that is saying something. My role is a college student mentor, which means that hopefully I'll be able to tell you exactly what that means by the end of this week of training.

The school at which we are stationed is located in the Presidio of San Francisco, which amounts to quite a long commute for me. And because I can't not arrive anywhere super early, it makes it an even longer trip. As a result, there are many early mornings in my future, and so I plan to go to bed early as well. Last night I bet I was asleep before my grandparents (although I don't know how late they stay up, but if the fact that we eat Thanksgiving dinner at 3 PM is any indication, I bet it's not too late)!

There are many many nice people all around, and a free lunch is provided four days a week (I wish they'd told me that before I stocked up on string cheese). I will be working with and hopefully empowering the youth of the greater San Francisco area, while maybe making a few friends in the process. It'll be a lot of work, but there is no feeling more satisfying than waking up with the sun (not really), heading out the door with my briefcase (JanSport), and picking up my morning brew (Frappuccino) on the way to work, knowing that in the evening I'll be bringing home the bacon (figuratively).

Vamos los Atleticos!

2011-05-05T20:22:00.001-07:00

Today at the baseball game two elderly women specifically picked Jess and me out of the crowd to give us their free hot dog vouchers. Did they like all of the A's gear we were wearing? Did we look hungry enough to eat two hot dogs each? Or maybe they saw a little bit of their younger selves in us. In any case, the hot dogs were wonderful, as was looking at Ryan Sweeney's butt from straight-up center field. Let's go Oakland!

I had the craziest dream last night! Tom was my boyfriend!

2011-04-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

I have just had an excellent week so far, so I will list the great things that happened so I can remember them for as long as I live:

-I made an appointment with a professor for the first time ever with my favorite current prof, and it was awesome. Next thing I know he's going to be inviting me over for dinner

-Speaking of dinner, I had the most delicious veal parmesan and carrot cake at Ihouse with my old library friends

-I put on a panel on Human Resources, and all of the panelists were nice and people even showed up to listen which made me happy

-I went to the grocery store today and got milk AND juice

-A's won the series against the White Sox

-Met with my French professor to talk about my paper and I am feeling hopeful about my results in the class

-I'm going to meet the Lonely Island on Saturday and I can't wait to ask Jorma to rip off my arms and break my legs with them

-My brother helped me come up with an awzm subject for my next sociology paper

-I've been eating a lot of dip lately, and it's been delicious

It's been a long time

2011-04-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

Since I have blogged! I feel as if my life rarely stops moving and when it does (like right now), nothing about it seems significant enough to recount. Either that, or I've realized that anything interesting can be fit into 140 characters (cause I now have a Twitter account. I'm one of those!).

Spring break came and went, and the semester picked right up where it left off after the temporary respite of vacation. I only have three more weeks of class, then dead week, and then finals week, and junior year will be completely over. I'm starting to feel a bit nervous about my summer plans (because there aren't any), but knowing that I'll be around here and I'll have a place to live is kind of nice.

Despite the stress of papers, my psych workshop, finding a job, and my final talk for research, not to mention finals in the distance, I feel pretty okay about things. I think it's because it's finally baseball season.

Wait, a Cheeto, or a Cheetos puff?

2011-02-21T19:36:00.000-08:00

My weekend, by the numbers

Number of days in the weekend: 3

Number of movies I watched: 5
Number of movies I saw that scored more than 75% on Rotten Tomatoes: 3 (The Machinist, 127 Hours, and Dear Zachary)
Number of movies below 10%: 1 (The Roommate)

Number of speeches I judged: 14
Number of speech kids who shook my hand: 4
Number of speech kids I wanted to shake my hand: 0
Number of speech kids with clammy hands: 2 (a more accurate count would require further investigation)

Number of over-time men's basketball games UCLA won: 0
Number of points scored by Jorge: 34
Number of times I yelled 'you're fat' at a UCLA player: 2
Number of times a UCLA player yelled 'you're fat' at me: 0

Number of times I got unintentionally drunk: 1
Number of times I got on-purpose drunk: 0
Number of times I wished I were drunk: 3

Number of meaningful conversions had with a brother: 2 (100%!)
Number of macaroni and cheese balls made for me by Travis: 5
Number of facts about the male reproductive system shared by Monica: >25 (it's for class though!)
Number of cafes at which I attempted to study but were too full: 2
Number of paper extensions I got: 1
Number of pages I read: too many
Number of curly fries eaten: not enough

Leslie with no wink is like a pie with no ironing board shape

2011-02-19T11:06:00.000-08:00

Judging speech is awesome! Kids in fancy clothes have spent all day trying to impress me, and some even shook my hand after the end of the round! And they were so polite! I am looking forward to my next round!!

Main Stacks on a Saturday morning, however, is much less exciting. And less crowded.

I'm Canadian, what do I know?

2011-02-08T15:53:00.000-08:00

I tried really hard to do my French reading today but all I could do was look at recipes on bettycrocker.com. Bacon double cheeseburger casserole? How does she think of these things?!

I think I've thrown up on 3 out of the 4 people here

2011-01-31T22:58:00.001-08:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted, but it's because I haven't had time to ease into the semester at all.

Before I forget, I had the greatest winter break of my life. Besides seeing Dizzy Balloon and having an awzm Christmas, I also had family movie nights (Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings), got some strikes at bowling, saw my first ever professional basketball game (go Warriors, lol), rang in the new year with some of my best friends, and so much more. I also went on a mini-vacation to LA to visit Tiffo which was something I'd been wanting to do since freshman year. I also learned that I'm not a very good competitive dancer, except for Bollywood style. I am a very good Bollywood dancer.

They couldn't leave dead enough alone.

Fast forward to January 12th and I'm back in Berkeley! I started off the semester by getting the stomach flu from my favorite baby, but other than that everything has gotten on without a hitch.

Old picture, but I couldn't stay mad at this flu-infested baby for long!

My classes are actually really extraordinary this semester. Developmental Psych has a really nice and interesting professor who talks kind of fast but has many worthwhile things to say. French is AWESOME (I'm going to have to present on a reading about hermaphrodites later in the semester) and the prof is funny and a good teacher, for an American anyway. Developmental Psychopathology has been a lot of information, but the professor seems very knowledgeable and somebody told me he might be famous? Gotta look that up. Sociology started out unpromising (I think my prof's ponytail was the indicator), but it has ended up being kind of interesting. And it doesn't hurt that everyone and their mom is in this class. I'm also taking notes for Anthro 1, which means I type as fast as I can everything the professor says. I might get carpal tunnel, but for $25/hour it might be worth it. Will keep you posted.

Cal basketball is becoming even better with Pac-10 play. I didn't think I could yell at the TV more than I do when I watch Jeopardy, but Cal bball that goes down to the buzzer takes the cake. Speaking of Jeopardy, I am the champion.

Azn tutoring hasn't started yet, but classes plus note taking plus advising and research have been keeping me busy. I ran my first subject in the lab today by the way. Let me know if you want to participate in my experiment! It'll be really fun, I promise.

It has been fun being back in town with all of my friends again. I've been eating a lot of great food (no curly fries yet though O____o), staying up very late at night, watching good movies, and discussing the most scintillating of topics such as whether there are black people in New Zealand, fried catfish, and the effects of iPhone auto-correct on Rosie's texting ability. I'm also on a 2-game trolling streak which is quite pathetic, but also a clear indicator that I need to hang out with Anoop more.

Spring semester has been quite the whirlwind so far, but the kind of whirlwind that picks you up and spins you around and makes you feel happy to be alive.

This must be it, welcome to the new year

2011-01-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

It's my third annual year re-cap, and in pondering the ups and downs of 2010, I can confidently say it has been a year to remember. For one thing, I blogged 50 times which helps with the remembering. This post feels kind of self-indulgent now that I'm reading over it again, but what do I care.

After a kind of shitty Fall 09 semester, I said to myself, Spring 10 is going to be the best ever! And it was! Except for maybe Fall 10. It's hard to say. Classes ended up being pretty bomb, and because of them I now know many different types of primates as well as their ear structures and tooth formations. It was my best possible semester academically as well, so I'm pretty proud of that. So is the Dean, whoever he is.

I started doing research which was mostly organizing Excel spreadsheets, but it made me feel like a productive person. I also saw a lot of concerts (Dizzy Balloon, Album Leaf, MC Lars, Hey Marseilles) which helped me get my internship at Live 105, which I guess is a big deal. It was fun and I got a cool ID badge, and on my last day Broken Bells played in studio which was a nice send off. Yaeli came to visit me and meet all of my Berkeley friends, and Cal Basketball won the Pac-10 and I felt like crying. Yeah, it was a pretty incredible semester.

Summer started out relaxing because I watched a lot of Arrested Development and babysat some kids who kind of got on my nerves. But it was all worth it cause then I went to PARIS!!! My conversational French got pretty effing good and I made a lot of friends (both American and French, lol). I also wrote down a lot of interesting quotes, mostly said by my teacher. I got so close with the girls I traveled with and climbed so many tall things. Oh and did I mention I visited Yael in Israel? Cause I did and it was amazing. I don't know how I'm ever going to top this summer, but it ignited the adventurous spirit within me and I can't wait to someday go back to France AND Israel.

Fall 10 was pretty good too. I adjusted to apartment life with my lovely 3 roommates, and as a result ate a lot of pigs in a blanket. My classes were okay, and I learned that I'm not terrible at statistics and that 1830 was a pretty depressing year despite what the July column might signify. I went to the last A's game of the season with my long-lost twin, and Cal football sucked but I devoted myself to the team and Isi Sofele anyway. I started as peer advisor for the psych department and told people which classes to take, got good at research (seriously tell me if you want to see my final presentation, there are graphs involved) and bonded with my small Chinese children.

I can't imagine 2010 being much better, so I'm really excited to see what 2011 will be like. My semester will be pretty effing busy with 4 classes plus azn tutoring, 6 hrs of research/week, peer advising, plus I'm going to be a notetaker for Anthro 1 but I like being busy so it's aiite. I'm excited to maybe exercise more, hang out with friends (esp those graduating) more often, do more roommate things, have more parties, and maybe vacuum my room more often.

Enough with this text business, here's a photo recap of the year.

Ringing in 2010

I love guidos

Great Valentine's Day Massacre

Sunny days, son

Best friend before Spring Show

Sick nazzzty

Love me some Dallas Braden

Gay Pa-ree

Israel!

Tour de Frat, Part I

My birthday space odyssey

Halloween

Deutsch reunion for Court's bday

Cal football Saturdays

Well, here's to the new year!

Young love, you're the one

2010-12-31T19:48:00.000-08:00

RIP Dizzy Balloon

Whoa, I need to put google safe-search back on

2010-12-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

It's the day after Christmas and I'm sitting on my bed in the middle of the afternoon, full from leftover apple pie and feeling happy to be home for the holidays. Finals week went pretty well, and I'm overall satisfied with how I did this semester. I guess I could have studied more but I was too busy eating tater tots at late night to care. Actually, today's title is from when Will and I studied in 159 Mulford and then found some girl's lost cell phone and then went and picked up a free iPad. It was very productive indeed.

Yesterday was a very nice Christmas. I won $3 from a lotto scratcher, ate some scrambled eggs, laughed at my Republican grandparents' jokes, made a chocolate cake that didn't even taste too horrible, and took a nap squished between my two gigantic brothers in the backseat. My grandma told us a story straight out of Steig Larsson: some relative of ours decided that he didn't want to be married to his wife anymore, so he bribed some doctors and had her committed to a mental institution. Some nurse finally realized that this relative was not actually insane, so after three years of being held against her will the nurse helped her escape. ISN'T THAT CRAZY?

It's hard to believe that in approximately 2.5 weeks I'll already be back at school. I haven't even started learning karate or reading War and Peace yet!!! There are some things to be looking forward to during break, including post-impressionism, pro and college basketball, a last-concert-ever, white elephant, and beyond.

Well, gotta go figure out what to buy at those post-Christmas sales and write a letter to my grandma thanking her for the stocking full of banana chips!

You're just jealous cause we're young and in love

2010-12-09T21:01:00.000-08:00

I've been listening to the album Your Favorite Weapon by Brand New a lot this week. It reminds me of hanging out in Yael's room during freshman year of high school. We were so emo.

Oh also, the nurse practitioner who prescribed some stuff for me at the Tang Center today kept singing the 30 Rock theme song while he was writing my info down. Guess I know what he was doing during his lunch break.

How's this for a wet dream?

2010-12-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

It's dead week and as I told Katie, I am going bonkers. And it's only Monday! I seriously attempted to be productive today, and I kind of was, but for the most part I just ate curly fries for a while.

Traveling back in time, Thanksgiving weekend was pretty great. I had some delicious pie. I also bought many noisemakers with Tiffo, went hiking with N8, and watched Nightmare On Elm Street Part 4: The Dream Master with some of my favorite people (thus this post's title. It's such a Freddy thing to say). Unfortunately we didn't have time for family game night or family bowling competition fun, but I guess those can wait for winter break.

I watched the movie Kramer vs. Kramer and I wished that my dad were Dustin Hoffman. Just kidding, real dad!

The other day in social psych class I started coughing and I said to Shoelace, "oh man, all my cough drops are gone!" THEN some person I had never seen before apparently overheard and gave me one! I'm pretty sure it was my guardian angel.

Oh yeah, I'm sick again/still. But it's probably my own fault.

I wore a shirt with sequins on it and I'm pretty sure it gave me hives on my arms. But this really nice homeless lady told me she liked my shirt when I walked by, so I'll probably wear it again very soon. Maybe with some long gloves.

I went to Safeway for frozen pizza and pigs in a blanket ingredients (duh) and this is what happened when the checker handed me my receipt.
Man: You saved $5.36 today Ms...Tyson
Me: Thanks!
Man: (Pause) You sound like a boxer
Me: Oh, haha...
Man: You know, like Mike Tyson
Me: Yeah. He's my uncle, actually.
Man: Oh really?! You must get that a lot then.
Me: I guess. Bye.

I went to a Hanukkah party this weekend and there were no latkes. I'm still upset about this.

Thursday I have my lab presentation, Friday is my French final, and then the following Thursday is my psych final. And then I'm done for the semester wow.

This post was kind of lame and lacked any pictures, so here's one unrelated to anything.

I lied that was two photos. Back to studying (ie reading anoncon)!!!

Kill

2010-11-28T18:53:00.000-08:00

Trust Jimmy Eat World to say it better than I ever could.

Well, you're just across the street
Looks a mile to my feet
I want to go to you
Funny how I'm nervous still
I've always been the easy kill
I guess I always will

Could it be that everything goes 'round by chance? (chance?)
Or only one way that it was always meant to be (be)
You kill me, you always know the perfect thing to say (hey hey, hey hey)
I know what I should do, but I just can't walk away

I can picture your face well
From the bar in my hotel
I wish I'd go to you
I pick up put down the phone
Like your favorite Heatmeiser song goes
It's just like being alone

Oh God, please don't tell me this has been in vain (vain)
I need answers for what all the waiting I've done means (means)
You kill me, you've got some nerve, but can't face your mistakes (hey hey, hey hey)
I know what I should do, but I just can't turn away

So go on love
Leave while there's still hope for escape
Got to take what you can these days
There's so much ahead
So much regret
I know what you want to say
(Know what you want to say)
I know it but can't help feeling differently
I loved you, and I should have said it
But tell me just what has it ever meant

I can't help it baby, this is who I am (am)
Sorry, but I can't just go turn off how I feel (feel)
You kill me, you build me up, but just to watch me break (hey hey, hey hey)
I know what I should do, but I just can't walk away

Cabin Fever

2010-11-14T19:31:00.000-08:00

The only time I emerged from my apartment today was to get some Ben & Jerry's from Roxie. My paper doesn't actually suck that much, but I'm going nuts! That's kind of been the theme of this entire weekend. Work on homework, feel bad for not working on homework, Cal football, and then today.

Well, still have to make final edits and then start my other paper, so I shouldn't waste my literary genius on this silly blog.

I see you don't like yelling, but it is NOT ILLEGAL TO YELL!

2010-11-09T22:35:00.000-08:00

Today I used math in a useful and cool way. No, not during my stats midterm, but in programming an experiment in my psych lab. It made me happy.

In other news, let's go bowling on Thursday!

You should go as Sigmund and Freud

2010-10-31T22:12:00.000-07:00

As you can probably tell from my previous post, Halloween weekend started with a bang, but finished with a bland (and no grammatical sense). Luckily the middle was awesome so everything pretty much balanced out.

After the craziness of Thursday night (Kirkland and I went 5/6 in beer pong), Katie, Winnie, and I chilled on Friday by ordering pizza and watching Halloweentown 1 & 3. It was very fun, but next time we should really go for something less Kimberly J. Brown and more Jamie Lee Curtis. I'm just saying.

Although now that I look at it, both are pretty frightening.

Saturday was a full of sports woes. Cal suffered a loss so tragic, even cheese fries couldn't mend the pain. And I love cheese fries. The Giants did end up losing, but they already won Game 4 tonight, and I don't actually care that much so nothing's gained from that one.

Saturday night worked out pretty well though. I dressed as Little Red Riding Hood and most people guessed right. Some people did think I was Robin Hood, which I guess is somewhat correct, but actually completely wrong.

Mon hasn't put up pictures yet, so this will have to suffice for the time being.

The night consisted of 2 Antoine Dodsons, a ghost on a wire, Courtney feeding me Swedish Fish, rapping to B.I.G. twice, ghost riding the whip, my neighbor the bag of skittles, and rounded out by a plate of chicken nuggets carried in my basket down to J-nev's room. I really can't think of anything that would have made it any better. Err - maybe tater tots. Definitely tater tots.

Today was Sunday. I read some boring things and watched Robert Greenwald's documentary on Wal-Mart because I didn't want to clean my room. And now look where I am. In any case, it was a very fun weekend and after tomorrow I'll hopefully feel better about the week. Tomorrow I am also starting on medicine that may cause water retention, increased appetite, acne, sensitive teeth, nervousness, and stretch marks. So if you see me, you might want to check yoself.
PEACE.

2010-10-29T03:14:00.000-07:00

Oh man. Halloween weekend has started off with a bang. Thanks Kirkland for going 5/6 with me! Plus the other band boys of course. And Chris.
Hope the rest of the weekend helps me continue loving life

Well, we're watching Food Network, so...

2010-10-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

Today my research supervisor told me about her life in college:
"Every day I would wake up at 6, take a bong hit, and then do some math problems."
Wow, that sounds like my life, except for none of it.

I'm getting pretty excited for this coming weekend, but I have a silly French quiz tomorrow about a book for which we are assigned too much reading to do in one night. But besides that, I'm excited for France reunion, volleyball, 90's, football, circus, social network, and probably nothing academic. Unless Edward Rosie Hands attacks me, see you Monday!

Tedford touched my hand and I wanted to lick it

2010-10-13T22:14:00.000-07:00

Well, it's October now, and hotter & busier than ever.

I don't really have much to say, except this blog is dedicated to Griffindor, who recently bookmarked me.

You look like my little brother when he gets a diaper rash

2010-09-20T20:23:00.001-07:00

Since my last post, you are reading the words of an older, wiser version of Natalie. Here are some things that have happened in my life since September 1st:

Football season began! Yeah, yeah, we lost our first away game on Saturday, but my optimism levels are at an all time high (that's a lie. I think they were higher before we lost this game). It is exciting eating free hamburgers and seeing the games with my roommates/other gr8 friends, but it'll be fun to chill with rally comm at the homecoming game. Who else would I rather pick up post-game trash with?

I did my first kegstand ever. While wearing pajamas, no less! I think for the future I'd prefer to not let Courtney have ultimate control over the amount of beer that goes in my mouth, but I guess it's a true college student experience. And I'm a junior, took me long enough!

I've been working on a new project for research, dealing with the topic of boundary extension. Even though I complain about going down to that lab twice a week, it's kind of neat. I'm getting to start from the very beginning of the experiment, so I've been taking pictures of objects around campus that we're going to show to subjects and ask them to recreate. Ask me if you're really interested in the details, but here's an example of my handiwork.

And oh yeah here's a big one...I turned 20! My parents took me out to Fenton's, I got to hang out with my favorite band people, and I worked on a French presentation all day until my roommates surprised me with a beautiful chocolate cake :) I also had a space-themed birthday party. Here's Masis (a purple monster from outer space) and me:

Basically all my favorite people in my life (almost all, anyway) congregated in my apartment where we danced, played games, and set off firecrackers (what?). We only got yelled at by our building managers twice! And seriously, did I mention how much chocolate cake there was during this birthday? It's like people know what I love, even the people who don't know me!

Well, that is my life right now. I also do schoolwork and read books for fun and eat dollar scoop and wear sillybands and advise psychology undergrads and listen to Landed by Ben Folds nonstop, but those are the main points. It's been a great kickoff to the greatest semester ever, whazzup!

An alien, a meteor shower, Buzz Lightyear, and a star, in case you were wondering. Also check the economy size package of paper towels.

Today at CVS

2010-09-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

Him: have a great day, and enjoy your cartridges!
Me: thanks, I really will.

Also, no matter the weather or how much sunblock I put on it, my nose gets sunburned everyday.

Shalom, lo ivrit

2010-08-07T06:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I've updated, but can you guess where in the world I am now. I'll give you a clue: they eat schnitzel here. Second clue: it's very hot. Third clue: I am with my best friend Yael Avinun. Give up? I'M IN ISRAEL.

I will give a real update later when I feel like it but basically Israel is great.

bye

Pretty Natalie, I kiss you

2010-08-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

I understand, I am currently blogging from my hostel in Barcelona, but I must finish my update on my last week in Paris because I think it is really worth sharing.

Monday we had our second all day field trip to Giverny, a town northwest of Paris where Monet lived until the end of his life and produced many famous works including all of his lilypad/pond paintings. The trip itself consisted of a metro, train, and busride, and that was just so we could arrive there. We had reservations to eat a nice lunch all together, but the restaurant messed up our orders so in order to make up for it they served us as much alcohol as they could get away with. As in a whole bottle of red wine, a carafe of white wine, and glasses of champagne, just for our table of four.

Once we were sufficiently drunk enough to appreciate some art history, we got a chance to look at Monet's house and most of all, the gardens surrounding his house. All in all it was beautiful and so nice to walk around. It was easy to see how you could be inspired to paint by a place that was just so breathtaking with its flora. I'm so glad I got the chance to go because it's something I wouldn't have done had I not been a part of this program.

Tuesday evening we went and saw the play the Cantatrice Chauve by Ionesco. It was fun because we read the play in conversation class, so I kind of knew what to expect and had an idea of the plotline which made it easier to understand. It was in a very small and cramped theater but maybe that added to the experience, who knows.

Tuesday I also went on two dates, both with the same person. Remember that future husband I met at the Bastille on Saturday night? We met up Tuesday before the play and after, and it was surprisingly very fun. This blog post title is actually from a text he sent me (French sign things with "bisous" which means kisses, so his texting in English doesn't make as much sense as it would in French.) Olivier is a nice guy who was fun to be around but mostly was good for practicing my French and spending a fair amount of time with a real French person. He informed me that after I finish my studies I'm going to come to France and we are going to get married, move to the Bastille, and he'll get me a job washing dishes at Hippopotamus, a restaurant right outside of my hotel. Sounds like the life for me! But in reality it was a fun experience that was definitely not taken as seriously for me as it was for him (Natalie, I love you. Do you love me?). Even though we spoke mostly in French, it was fun for me to try to decipher his broken English (see: blogpost title). Luckily we are not Facebook friends so he won't realize I am blogging about him.

Okay well I am now in Spain but I am too tired to give an update on that right now. Also, I finished the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and now I'm starting my next book so I'm excited to read on the beach tomorrow.

Sweet clouds in my mouth

2010-07-30T13:57:00.001-07:00

Holy crap, I'm leaving Paris tomorrow. 5 weeks flew by so quickly. And now, onward to Spain. Next blog will probably be coming at you from somewhere in Israel.

My pelvis is a little too large for that

2010-07-28T00:40:00.001-07:00

This is mostly a continuation of last post, broken up into 2 so that if you need an intermission you can take one.

The weekend was pretty awzm. We decided to finally go back to Notre Dame and climb the towers there. We got to see the bells (which are not longer operated by a hunchback with ropes because I know you were going to ask that) and see a great view of the Seine and its ponts high up from the Ile da la Cité. Sasha you were right, it is probably my favorite view of Paris.

That night, I was not invited on the triple date with the two teachers, so Jill and I had a date of our own and got dinner in Le Marais. It was delicious and we had good wine as well. It was nice to have some one-on-one time with my favorite Schweinsteiger.

Saturday was probably one of the single best days I have spent in Paris. First I went and walked around the Eiffel Tower. I was supposed to meet Schenk but I could not find him for the life of me, but it was still nice having a peaceful morning to myself on the Champ de Mars. After that we went to the Catacombs, which is basically ancient Roman tunnels beneath the city filled with bones from overflowing cemeteries. It was creepy and drippy and eerie but all in all pretty cool. I got to touch a real human skull! It could have been Hardouin-Mansart's for all I know!

After that, we decided to go back to Montmartre and actually walk around. We ended up climbing the dome of Sacré Coeur which gave us a beautiful view in every direction. It was also fun to see all of the street artists and musicians and interesting people everywhere we looked. We decided to go back to Refuge de Fondue to try the meet fondue instead of the cheese. It was just as fun as last time, which the celebataire owner being silly and crazy as usual. After dinner we walked down to Moulin Rouge and took some pictures in front of it after passing numerous sex shops.

Later that night we went out to the Bastille. I was supposed to meet up with the French Jonas brother, but unfortunately he didn't show up. Fortunately, I met my future husband (according to him at least). I'll share more about him later. All in all, it was a very fun night, and I almost won at pool! Except not really.

Sunday we got up early to go shopping at a cute flea market kind of across the city from where we are. There were lots of antiques and weird things like magazines from the 50's sold by a bunch of old people. It was quaint, even more so than the Cupertino flea market (first Saturday of the month, yo). After that we stood by the Champs-Elysees for 3 hours to watch the Tour de France bike by for 3 seconds. Anti-climactic to say the least, but at least I can say that I saw it in case I ever want any bike enthusiast to be jealous of me. We capped off the day by going back to the Marais but this time for falafel, which I surprisingly really enjoyed.

Well, that's my weekend. I'll include more on the week hopefully sometime later today if I can manage.
PS Ryan Heller is so funny

That's like monastic retreat!

2010-07-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

Like my mom reminded me in an email, I have not blogged in a long time, and I have an entire week of crap to catch up on. Luckily I've written about each day in my French journal, but hopefully this blog will be slightly more interesting than the version my professor reads. And will be in English.

Let's see...I left off last Monday when I wrote about my weekend in Nice. Monday afternoon my program went to Institut Pasteur which I didn't think was very interesting, especially because I had not slept on the train very much. Probably the best part was going to his tomb and seeing a guy with rabies on the ceiling as remembrance of all he had done for the disease.

Tuesday evening Tiffany decided to have a date and 'prendre un verre' in the Latin Quarter with just us. All the bars were closed except for one with 3 old men clapping at us so naturally we went in. They ended up being pretty nice, and gave us wine for a very cheap price (/rhyming). I was very proud because Tiffany did a very good job practicing her French. At 1:30 we were definitely on our way home, but we randomly met some guys with whom we went to a bar til 5 in the morning. Honestly it was very random, but so fun, and worth the whole not going to sleep til 8:30 thing. That's one of the things I'm going to miss about France - making friends in the most bizarre ways possible.

Wednesday our program went to Musee d'Orsay. I think I would have enjoyed it more had I gotten a real night's rest (noticing a trend here?) but I still liked it better than last time I think. Pictures weren't allowed in the museum, so I think that gave me a chance to better appreciate the art, as cliché as that sounds (my professor gave us a lecture on this exact subject not that long ago. I hate when he's right).

Thursday we had class again, and then went to Ladurée for macarons. Jill and Tiffo had been talking about this shit since the day we got here but actually it was probably the most delicious thing ever. We continued onto this restaurant my parents and I had gone to last time we were here (I led us and we didn't even get lost!) and had escargots which was great. Later that night we decided to go out with some of our other friends to Le Marais, which is the Jewish district (except I think we were in a gay district as well?). It was a very interesting night in which we made enemies with a mustachioed man and got home by way of metro when it reopened at 5;30.

Shoot, this blog is turning into a big list. I'm going to end this now and begin anew from the weekend on. Stay tuned!

I am not an animals!

2010-07-20T02:06:00.000-07:00

The 5 of us decided to take a weekend trip to Nice, on the Côte d'Azur. Here is a map so you can visualize exactly where I was.

We got there on Friday evening and checked into our hostel. I had never stayed in a hostel before, so my expectations were low. As in, sixth grade science camp type of deal low. Boy was I wrong! We had our own 5 person room, with our own private bathroom, free breakfast, cheap dinners and 1 euro beers, not to mention helpful desk staff. There were people from all over there, including some Germans who were surprised I knew the capital of Norway because "all Americans are stupid". Fools didn't realize I won the geography bee in 6th grade! The front desk man who checked us in, I noticed, looked exactly like Marcell Jansen from the German soccer team. I feel like I am now a true German soccer fan now that I can recognize players' doppelgangers in the south of France. Anyway, from then on he was known as Jansen.

We went out and had some dinner and walked along the coast and ended up sitting on the rocky beach right by the water. We met a guy who looked just like Wallace (& and Gromit) in a fluorescent pink shirt whose name was coincidentally Wali, a guy with a myspace girlfriend who told us that we were much stronger than girls from Nice with our rock-throwing abilities, and a guy who decided Katie was named Yoko and was his best friend, and Yoongi was his wife. I realized that I need to get better at resisting giving my number to people when they ask for it. When Wallace told me "I am not a bad boy" and "I think I found my soulmate" I felt too guilty not to! Luckily there is the ignore call function on my phone.

The next day we wanted to find a beach that was more sandy, so Jansen directed us to a beach with "smaller rocks". Works for us! The train plopped us right on the beach at Villefranche and it was absolutely beautiful. The water in the Mediterranean is so warm and clear and there aren't any giant waves or tangles of seaweed to overpower you. Tiffo and Katie and I met some interesting people hanging out by the buoys. I decided that it's much easier to make friends on the beach than on the street, so it was kind of fun talking to random people, especially in French. When I asked one obnoxious guy how's it going, he replied that it was going zippy, and then asked us why we were so flaky. I love it when French people try to talk to us in English.

The night after dinner at the hostel and ice cream at Chez Blandine we decided to go for a night swim. After a cheap bottle of champagne, the water felt great and we met some friends who were speaking in loud English about sharks in the sea, trying to get our attention. I could imagine myself doing the exact same thing. It was great until all of a sudden some people started throwing rocks at us for no reason and one hit Tiffo in the head. Our new friends told us "American girls get out, it is not safe here!" so it was kind of scary because we had no idea why these boys on the shore were bothering us. We confronted them when we went to pick up our stuff to leave, and I used my angry French vocabulary to ask them what was up. I think that's been the best use of my French so far because I didn't even make any grammatical mistakes and I think I got my "we hate you because you are mean" point across.

After leaving the beach we went and hung out with our new French friends including a girl named Frosting and a boy in love with Scooby Doo, who I don't think had ever met American girls before. It was cool seeing a French apartment and meeting nice people our own age after mostly talking to French people of the creepy/rock throwing variety.

The next day we went to the flower market and our close beach and relaxed before taking the night train home. I don't understand why they felt the need to blast the air conditioning on an 11 hour train ride, but they did and I got as little sleep as I ever have in a night. Made for a great day at the Pasteur Institute the next day! In any case, the Nice trip was an awesome vacation from Paris and it was so nice to see another part of France. We got to meet some cool people, eat some good food, and I didn't even get super sunburned (only kind of sunburned). Glad to be back in Paris, but loved this very memorable weekend.

Is that Bloodhound Gang?

2010-07-19T01:52:00.001-07:00

In just a week an infinity of things have happened, so I'll just jump right into it. Monday after class we took a stroll down the Champs-Elysees, and went up the Arc de Triomphe. I had gone with my parents 2 years ago, but it was just as fun this time. Maybe even more fun, because there were 100% more jumping/Eiffel tower as a penis pictures. For some reason my parents weren't really into those.

Tuesday we went on an all-day field trip with my entire program to Versailles! I had also gone here with my parents before, but this time the gardens were all summery and beautiful, and I was able to walk around and see almost everything. I also got to see Marie Antoinette's special farm area where she pretended she was a poor person and stuff like that. It was a very long and tiring day but pretty magical. That night we went to a Fireman's Ball which was a giant free dance party with a band and lots of house music (think Jersey Shore status) and lots of weird people. All of a sudden one guy, along with 10 other dudes helping him, started taking off his pants and underwear and then disappeared. People are whack, but I kind of love it.

Wednesday was Bastille Day! I was expecting some kind of grand display of French nationalism overflowing in the streets, but it was rainy all morning and afternoon so those dreams were out. Luckily it cleared up in the evening, so we went to the Louvre (which was open but all the exhibitions were closed. wtf.) and took a stroll through the Tuileries before settling by the Eiffel Tower to watch the fireworks, which were probably the best I've ever seen. Sorry De Anza college!

Thursday we took a field trip to the Garnier Opera House, which surprisingly enough I enjoyed a lot. Our tour guide was cute and used both French and English in our tour which was perfect, and she really made it interesting and engaging. This is the place that the Phantom of the Opera was inspired by (the place by which it was inspired, rather), so we got to see the Phantom's compartment and stuff. It was cool, if you're into that kind of thing.

Friday we went to Nice but I think I'm going to put that in a separate post that I'll do tomorrow morning. Can you handle all dis blogging?

Neil, stop trying to make Allemagne happen!

2010-07-12T02:32:00.000-07:00

It has been a jam-packed past couple of days, beginning with a quiz in my conversation class and a midterm in my French history class. I pretty much learned everything about France from the Romans all the way to the Revolution in one day. Ask me anything, I bet I'll know the answer.

To celebrate being done with studying, we went to a Fondue place on Montmartre. I guess this is one of those places tourists go because not only is the food good, but the people are strange and interesting, and it makes for an experience you can tell your friends about so even more tourists will come. Between the wine in baby bottles and the strange waiting staff, not to mention the giant bowl of hot cheese on our table, it was a fun evening. I also learned that 'ching ching' is not being racist, that's the sound the glasses make when you toast someone.

Friday we went to the 20th arrondissement for a project Jill and I have to do for conversation class. We went to the famouse Pere Lachaise cemetary and walked on a lot of cobblestones. We also headed to Notre Dame, and got some awzm ice cream with Sam.

That night we went out to Club Rex, a French discotheque. Let me say...French people dance so strangely. Kind of like a mix of Elaine from Seinfeld and the one guy in the corner of the gym at middle school dances. It was amusing, but more culturally shocking than expected.

Saturday was laundry day and then we watched Germany vs. Uruguay with Neil. I'm glad my boys on Germany won that 3rd place spot cause I would've cried if Suarez and Bald Eagle got it. Later that night we went back to the bars at the Bastille. Remember my French Jonas brother friend? We saw him again and he remembered me! And I think I've got the French two cheek kiss thing down by now. It's like I have a real French friend in my life. The guy I went on a date with doesn't count because he ended up being creepy. Like, visiting my hotel and asking for my room number creepy.

Sunday we went to the Louvre and I got my year long pass for only 15 euros. My membership card is legit, it has my picture on it and everything! I can't wait to go back here, especially to visit the room with all the David stuff in it. We then tried to watch the World Cup finals at the Eiffel Tower, but it was too effing crowded, so we found a nearby restaurant and walked around along the Seine afterward. If people on the street were this excited about Spain, who knows what it'd be like if France were in it.

Excited to embark on a new week, but I hope it stops raining cause I gotta climb stuff!

Moment of Eclairity

2010-07-08T05:30:00.000-07:00

Whoa! Talk about meat!

2010-07-07T01:06:00.000-07:00

These last couple of days have been pretty relaxing, especially compared to our exciting 4th of July, which we tried to celebrate as American-ly as we could. This included going to McDonalds, visiting the Rodin museum for free, cooking hot dogs and drinking beer, and going to the Eiffel Tower at night. It was a pretty magical day.

Unfortunately, there is still schoolwork to be done so lately I have been trying to focus on studying for my Thursday afternoon midterm. Yesterday was pretty exciting though.

After conversation class, our program went to Sainte Chapelle and the Conciergerie. Sainte Chapelle is a beautiful Gothic style church, built by Louis IX to house holy relics of Christ that he purchased from Venetian merchants. Even though I came here with my parents 2 years ago, the stained glass was still magnificent. I was TO'd I didn't know my Bible stories better because then maybe I would've recognized what was going on in the window art.

The Conciergerie is a palace turned prison that housed over 2,500 people before they were guillotined during the Revolution. Many famous people spent their last hours here, including Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI, and Robespierre. The contrast between the medieval architecture and the dark and cramped cells was interesting to say the least. All in all an educational and worthwhile field trip.

After that, I went on a date. Let me explain - a fruit seller at the market had been trying to talk to me the last few times I went to buy produce, so I decided to let him "prendre un verre" with me. In all honesty, it wasn't so bad, even though he had the deadly chest hair/shants (manpris) combination. If anything it was a good way to practice my French because he didn't speak any English. Actually I was pretty proud of myself because I think my jokes made sense to him about 50% of the time (which is about how often they are successful in English too).

Probably my proudest moment of the rendez-vous was when he asked me if I had a cell phone and I said I didn't. He then did this thing where he pulled down his eye socket skin kind of (I don't know how to explain it). It brought me back to freshman year of high school when Madame LeMeur taught us all of these weird French expressions/hand signals. I thought they were a waste of my time, but I understood that he was calling bull shit! I felt so happy, and truly French(ish).

Oh by the way, today's blogpost title is a quote from the French 1 teacher Neil. He went with us to a restaurant to watch the World Cup and he was actually very funny and entertaining. I guess you have to be if you agree to go on a trip and stay in a hotel with 40 rambunctious college students.

All in all, a most enjoyable and interesting day.

SUCCESS

2010-07-05T02:16:00.000-07:00

I finally got the Bachelorette to load! Awzm! Megavideo ftw!

SO. NICE. FACE.

2010-07-03T02:21:00.000-07:00

It seems to be that each day I do not blog, a mountain of things to write about just builds and builds. Another thing that is bothering me: I already have way too many pictures. I have about half an album for an entire week, that's like one album for 2 weeks, a 7 week trip means 3.5 albums. I feel like that is absurd. I may need to reconsider the significance of individual photos before I put them up.

Well anyway, Thursday was a field trip day and we went to the Cluny Museum, which houses a bunch of pieces from the middle ages. To be honest it's really not my favorite kind of art (or even top 3) but I suppose it was an educational experience. We looked at tapestries that we had studied the previous day in class and stood in a real Roman bath! Highlight of the trip? Toss up between being offered in audioguide in either French or English (that means I'm not bad at French!) or being called a whore by a girl on the street.

That night the five of us hit up the Bastille to hang out with my favorite and yours, Samantha Wang. Wet met a typical USC engineer and then headed out around the bars in the area. I decided to try harder to make French friends, however, during the process I got shoved by a suspicious girlfriend (rofl), annoyed by an Andre the Giant-type bouncer (rude), and punched by a clear glass door (not my fault). Besides that, I talked to a lot of different French people including a kind girl named Liz, a French Jonas brother named Nicholas, and a social worker named Jean-Sebastian. All in all a successful night, even including the long walk home. Also I am working on learning the art of the 2-cheek departing kiss. Will keep you updated on the progress.

Yesterday (Friday) we went to watch the Brazil/Netherlands game on a giant screen right by the Eiffel Tower. Going into it I was all for Pays-Bas, but the Brazil mob mentality definitely got to me. We left at halftime because all of a sudden it started pouring rain. We concluded the night with some steak-frites (even more delicious considering I had been eating mostly bread and carrot sticks).

Today was a shopping day, and then we're going to a bar later to watch more futbol!

The one with the bun is free

2010-07-01T01:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Wednesday) was more relaxed. We ended up having a picnic on the banks of the Seine after finding the Jardin des Plantes closed. I think it was better this way, actually.

After eating and drinking, we found small groups of people dancing, playing games; we even found a band playing music. All on a Wednesday night!

How cool is it that we can just do stuff like this? The answer is very.

A bush or la bouche?

2010-06-30T01:08:00.000-07:00

Bonjour! This will be my first post written from "le gay Pah-ree". I am going to try to keep up with documenting my adventures here because I want to remember my time spent as an American in Paris forever and for always. Additionally, I feel like my blog may be somewhat repetitive when compared to Tiffo and Katie's, but luckily, my parents will probably read mine and not theirs so at least somebody will be surprised.

Getting here was more tiring than expected, but I didn't really feel any jetlag. After arriving Sunday afternoon, it took a very hot RER/Metro ride to get to our hotel. Luckily, when ascending from the Metro, some very nice young Frenchmen helped Jill and me with our baggage. Maybe the French aren't so bad after all!!1!

We're staying at a Citadines right by Place d'Italie in Paris: .

It's a pretty great area with nice little restaurants, etc. After we arrived, we explored the streets adjacent to our hotel and ended up in a bar to watch the World Cup with some great and cheap white wine. I felt so cultured. After our big meeting with the whole program, Katie, Yoongi, Tiffo and I walked around and found a park by a hospital to hang out in. On the way, some old man told us that we were "de bonne taille", or good sized. That French charm comes into play again...

On Monday classes started which weren't so bad. We then went to the Metro to get our monthly pass for July, and the man who worked there basically had to go step by step with us to figure it out, but he said my French was good which made me happy. 7 years not wasted!

Then we went to the Jardin de Luxembourg, which is right by where I stayed when I visited in 2008, yet I had never gone before (as far as I can remember). We felt very Parisian and managed to find an exciting basketball game to watch. Tiffany will tell you otherwise, but the guy with orange shoes was the best.

On our way home, we met some other people in our program on the street so we went to the Quartier Latin with them and celebrated happy hour with $3 Stellas, Paninis from the street, some Kill-Kenny beer, and a soccer game on the cobblestones with obnoxious but entertaining French people.

Yesterday (Tuesday) morning we went to the outdoor market just around the corner from our hotel and got some cheap and delicious produce (my dad would be so proud). Jill and I went back later for a scavenger hunt for class, and realized that middle aged French men are very helpful if you need them to be. I also realized that guys are not shy about wanting to get your "numero", and are very persistent.

We had our first program field trip which was a boat ride down the Seine, which was nice to see, albeit quickly, the sights of Paris. Definitely going back and getting a closer look at much of what I saw. From there we wandered around by the riverside and found ourselves hanging out at the Louvre fountain. We then cooked our first meal at home, had some awful grocery store wine, and I even tasted some stinky cheeses (again, for you dad). In fact, my whole room kind of smells like cheese now. Great. Apres ca, we went to a Spanish bar and got some Spanish beer while watching the World Cup.

Okay so I just realized that this blog post is super boring. Maybe I'm now better at being funny in French instead of English? Regardless, I'll try to update more often so I can say more thoughtful and interesting things rather than have a giant list.

In summation, Paris is awesome and I love it.

Maybe he's getting a drink...or a collect call

2010-06-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for SFO in approximately 2 hours. I can't believe this Paris trip is happening NOW! To be honest, I'm hella nervous, which isn't surprising because I worry about everything.

This first section of summer has been really fun, actually. Somewhat relaxed during the first part, and then once Monica and Courtney came home it was a whirlwind of fun! I am so lucky to have such great roommates and friends. I'm digging the new apartment too. We can have people over! And cook food! And fill our refrigerator with jello! Between CalSo's, photoshoots, Hey Marseilles and Dizzy Balloon concerts (where Monica's quote about the angry Carrot Top look-alike occurred), dinner parties and party parties, new friends from around the world, and the Little Mermaid, I'll be missing Berkeley during these 7 weeks for sure. I know I'm going to have a lot of fun in Paris though, plus seeing Yael in 5.5 weeks!!!

Okay well, I have to go make sure my suitcase doesn't weigh more than 50 pounds. I'll be updating this blog with all sorts of Parisian adventures so keep it locked.

Fuck, I have so many funny t-shirts at home!

2010-06-13T23:50:00.000-07:00

I have not written anything in a while because I have a discovering a life of deeper meaning and fulfillment. Just kidding - I've been lazy!

The last few weeks have been pretty great. I am done babysitting which is a relief, and has quite possibly provided a means of making money sporadically in the fall. I finished my language learning study and passed the test with flying colors (I don't actually know how I did, and I don't think it was possible to fail because they would've had to pay me anyway). I saw MC Lars and it was great, went to 3 A's games (all of which were lost. My season record has dropped to 3-5. Gotta see more games before I leave!), bowled over 100 for the second time in my life, been to 2 CalSO closing ceremonies, and ate dollar scoop multiple times.

Tomorrow my 2 weeks of French classes begin before I go off to France. I really need to make friends because I don't want to have to go see the Eiffel Tower and shit alone if Tiffo and Katie and Yoongi ditch me. I'm getting nervous about traveling! I haven't gone anywhere since I saved babies in Guatemala.

PS the title was almost "Natalie, I hear you like getting on big screens," but it sounded too...suggestive.

It's SO nice to use good equipment

2010-05-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

Lazy Friday, wake up at 10 in the morn. Look out my window but the car's already gone. Watch TV all day and eat some brownies. Cash Cab and A's game keep me from feeling frowny. Play some uke and go to Safeway with my dad. Summer 2010, it's the best I ever had.

That was a summary of my day. Recite it to yourself while imagining a sick beat in the background, maybe Monica beatboxing. Speaking of Monica, check out this split screen of Mon and Genie the feral child. The similarity is uncanny:

I decided that I would give a recap of thoughts on my Spring semester. Basically, it was the best yet. I made the distinct decision to have the best semester ever before it began and I really did. My classes were awesome. I really enjoyed my two psych classes, which makes me excited for semesters to come because luckily...I'm a psych major! I also enjoyed my French class more this semester than last, and even made some friends, which is shocking enough in itself. Anthro started out interesting, got boring, but overall was not bad. And now I am addicted to Kathy Reichs books because of our freaking fiction novel assignment.

My grades really couldn't have been better this semester either. I am pretty proud of how hard I studied (shout out to Ryan and Masis, my favorite library friends) and it paid off. I guess next semester I can aim for all A+'s, but I know I shouldn't press my luck.

Research was successful, but not super interesting. However, I get more say in my project next semester and hopefully more time spent on research means I will learn more and take charge of whatever I am working on.

Asian tutoring was fun this semester, and I was glad to have Vivian and Rebecca in my group because it is always nice having friends. I am definitely going to try to continue for my 4th semester; hopefully it will fit in my schedule.

Live 105 was fun, probably good for just one semester. And on my last day Broken Bells came and did a studio session so that was nice to have as a send off. I pretended they were there just to commemorate my last day. And I will miss working with Kat, the afternoon DJ, because she was very nice to me even though she didn't have to be.

I feel like I also got closer to my friends this semester, especially newer ones. I tried to do more fun stuff and it's silly to think about the weekends where I felt so unproductive and guilty about being hungover because it really didn't have a negative effect on my grades. Imagine that!

Basically, I loved this semester. However, after last summer's worst summer ever, I am determined to have the best summer ever this year. While currently at home home, I am spending most of the first 6 weeks of summer in Berkeley. Babysitting has been okay, but sometimes I get so frustrated with the kids. I'm also doing psych experiments for money. I'm doing one right now where I go in every day to learn a fake language and then they test me at the end, and soon I'm doing one where I have an MRI and they test emotions or something. All I know is that it pays $50.

I can't wait for my travels but before that spending time with my family, seeing Berkeley friends, starting my French classes, getting settled in my apartment, going to concerts (MC Lars, Hey Marseilles, maybe Hot Hot Heat), seeing more A's games (I'm 3-2 so far for the season) and all that stuff.

Before I end this post, let me say: RIP Gary Coleman, but mostly RIP Arnold Jackson. I feel like Greg and I lived off of his show.

North Reading Room

2010-05-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

I feel like Napoleon Dynamite in his afternoon class, sitting here in the library sneaking tater tots from my backpack (at least they're not in my pocket).
I hope no bully asks me to give him some, and subsequently kicks my backpack and crushes all my tots. However, considering that there are zero other people sitting at my table, I don't think it will be a problem.

We're a colony of armpits

2010-05-03T23:22:00.000-07:00

I am in the midst of dead week, which means I will probably be blogging much more than usual. And since usually I don't blog, just posting anything at all is an accomplishment. I wish I kept up with this more because I truly do have a lot to say.

Usually my past dead weeks have been pretty empty except for long hours spent trying to sneak donuts in the library, but this week is pretty nuts. I started my six week babysitting job today, which is three afternoons per week. I have an orientation meeting for my summer session abroad program on Wednesday. Thursday I am seeing Iron Man 2 at midnight (lolz). Friday I have orientation for working at commencement and then my radio internship. Yes, I did create this paragraph by listing things from my google calendar. What I'm trying to say is, with all of the other things happening in my life, it's hard to focus on studying which is what I'm really supposed to be doing.

I have three finals next week, and my two psych ones are back to back so hopefully I can handle that okay (they shouldn't be too long). And then on Thursday afternoon I have my anthro final and then I'm done! I have a lot of studying to do, but I am feeling satisfied with my progress so far during the semester, and confident that I can conquer these finals and be successful overall! I am also kind of excited to spend a lot of time in the library, but I'm running out of music to listen to. I like listening to full albums when I'm studying, and I've already covered all the good ones. Somebody send me some music! If only I were in Santa Clara County so I could go to the library and pick up some sweet CDs.

Besides academics, I have been having a lot of fun lately. Perhaps too much fun. But probably not. Thanks to the Icelandic volcano, Yaeli got to come visit me last weekend! It was like BFF weekend part 2, but even better than the first one cause we ate hot dogs! But seriously, it was the best time and I was happy that Yael got to at least meet basically all my best friends from college.

It's weird to think that this semester is coming to a close. I am feeling okay about it though, even though I'm sad that all this fun stuff is ending. Research ended on a good note in that my name is being published on a poster about all of the data I've helped organize for the semester. Asian tutoring ended well too and I made all the kids give me hugs on the last day. I'm finishing up at Live 105 in a couple of weeks so if I'm going to make my mark on the radio industry, I'd better do it soon. Aaron still hasn't played any Hey Marseilles though. Oh, and I hope they give me a free ticket to BFD because really, it's the least they could do. Sort of.

I think part of the reason why I am not TOO sad the semester is ending because it is looking like I'll be having a pretty awzm summer. After finals, I am spending four weeks in Berkeley, moving into my new apartment and doing my babysitting job. I am excited to get everything set up in my new frickin sweet crib, hit up a bunch of A's games, visit Sterling in Napa and Davis people with Monica over Memorial Day weekend, and maybe even see my family a little bit (rofl). I also am hoping to work at a commencement for $$ and do some psych experiments for $$ because I am 1) cheap and 2) poor. Then I have two weeks of French classes for my summer session abroad program which will take up a bunch of time during the day. Then I am spending 5 weeks in Paris!!! I know, right?? It's going to be great! Then I'm spending a couple days in Barcelona, Spain before I go spend a week and a half in ISRAEL with my best friend Yael! Then I'm home for like a week and then I come back to Berkeley for a week and then school starts!

Actually, fall semester is looking not too sucky either. I got a position as peer advisor for the psychology department which I applied for last semester but didn't get so I'm super stoked about that. I'm getting more freedom with research and so I get to choose my project and I'll probably be doing more hours per week on that. And, maybe my classes won't be too bad, but I am taking stats which is going to suck ballz.

I'll probably do a real semester recap after finals or later in the week or something, but that's basically everything that's going on in my life right now. Here are some funny quotes:

Monica: Isn't it john of all trades?

Ryan: I found that under the table. And then I put it in my mouth.

Hermes: Instead of pulling down your pants, pull out your phone number (great advice...).

Yael: Eating when drunk is the best feeling a girl could have!

Ryan: But I hadn't shaved...and my breath smelled like milk...and I had to go to the bathroom, so I didn't make a move.

Monica: It's not CHILL-EE. It's CHILE. It's kind of beautiful.

Yeah so anyway...I'm also looking for new TV shows to watch. I'm starting to watch Modern Family which is pretty funny but I think I can snooker in another TV show since I've got all the rest of dead week. Plus I finished all the episodes of America's Psychic Challenge.

WELL...BYE.

Clip Clop Clip Clop

2010-04-27T16:54:00.001-07:00

You have loud boots. Much too loud for this silent study area of Mainstacks.

Yael eats 100 waffles

2010-04-12T23:58:00.000-07:00

I don't blog anymore. I feel like it's not even worth it to recap my life. I guess I'll just make a list.

I have been home for the last 3 weekends: end of spring break, Easter, BFF weekend with Yael. All of them have been very good reasons for being home but I am happy to be not going home for the rest of the semester. I need to start being productive on weekends again.

Speaking of BFF weekend, it was the best. Just in case I needed any reaffirmation of best friendshipdom, this weekend was it. Now I can't wait til August when I am going to Israel! After spending 5 weeks in Paris and then a week traveling Europe! This summer is going to be great. Now I just need to figure out plans for the first month of it and I am set.

There are fewer than 3 weeks of instruction left. I'm not ready for this semester to end. I think I love it too much. This is a stark contrast from last semester. Maybe if I tell myself that Fall 10 will be even better than Spring 10 just like I did with Fall 09 it will be so.

So much to do in my life. My stickies are full of day to day schedules, homework lists, longer term chores to do and errands to run. It is going well. Sababa, in fact (did I use that right?).

Eh...the pancakes were alright

2010-03-29T23:43:00.000-07:00

Good habits I am putting into effect during the second half of the semester:

floss/use mouthwash every night
turn off my computer when I am not using it
exercise three times per week instead of just two
read when I have free time
utilize google calendar more
do awzm things to impress aaron axelsen!
don't let my Saturdays go to waste

2010-03-15T23:38:00.001-07:00

Please be easier this time around.

"General" Platt

2010-03-12T20:57:00.001-08:00

Kathy and I won second place in a pop culture trivia challenge.

I'd like to think it was my knowledge of the singer of "Pants on the Ground" that really put us over the edge. That, or what Kate Bosworth's eye looks like.

Don't drink and fish

2010-03-09T00:19:00.000-08:00

I have been feeling sort of stressed lately, which I guess is to be expected. I didn't realize how much I'd miss having a free Friday, but I am really glad I've got this internship. Finding the perfect apartment on top of schoolwork, research, Asian tutoring, and everything feels like a lot, but I still feel good. On Sunday I realized just how fast the semester is going - it's already half over! I don't want it to end! I think summer will be good, but I need more time to figure things out.

Also, what are some good bands that nobody has ever heard of? I want to impress Aaron Axelsen and I don't think my ID badge will be enough cause he has one too.

Lie lie, just a little lie

2010-02-28T22:27:00.001-08:00

First of all, Cal Basketball = PAC 10 CHAMPS!!! For the first time in 50 years! Nothing can explain how I felt after that game Saturday afternoon. Sadness at first because of the five seniors leaving, but then pride and joy after that end result. It seems strange that I feel so connected to a sports team, but after going to every home game and watching most of the rest on justin.tv, I like feeling that I was a true witness in everything that lead up to this accomplishment. Kind of makes me frown upon these fair weather fans. Up next, Stanfurd on Saturday!! I will be there!!

Transition: this really should be two separate posts but...I'm just going to glom them together.

I have seen five concerts in the month of February. That's one concert every 5.6 days.

The Album Leaf at the Berkeley Art Museum, Bowling for Soup at Slim's, Motion City Soundtrack at the Regency Center, MC Lars at Bottom of the Hill, and Dizzy Balloon at Bottom of the Hill.

I guess this is a good thing; starting my internship at the radio station makes me realize that I need to be more musically aware and adventurous in my musical explorations. Seeing Dizzy Balloon today was so amazing; the whole experience was so much fun, and I was lucky that Katie was willing to go with me. Never have I seen a band that seemed to be enjoying themselves so much, and this positive energy was transferred effortlessly into the crowd. And of course, ending with a Jackson 5 cover didn't hurt. The best part was probably talking with the singer afterward and chatting about random goofy things. I realized that I'm really not shy (and mostly kind of weird) when I really make an effort to be outgoing. I like this.

I'll post the picture that the singer asked Katie and me to take with him if it appears online like they said it would.

Also, this $7.30 for every trip to SF is going to really add up soon.

Okay well I guess that's it. I have a bunch of psych reading to do after not doing any work during the weekend. Hopefully I can be productive this week because I have a lot I need to get done these days.

Are you embarrassed? Cause everyone thinks you're a whore.

2010-02-17T23:11:00.000-08:00

I have been blogging a lot this month. I hope this is okay, because usually I like it when other people blog a lot. However, if someone starts blogging too much then I start ignoring them. Gotta find that in between place.

Last night I saw one of my favorite bands Motion City Soundtrack. It was magical and so fun and they played "Even If It Kills Me" which I love.

I got some beautiful valentines in the mail today from my favorite 1 and 5 year old girls. It was just what I needed after a sucky midterm.

Oh and by the way, I'm the new Friday intern for the Bay Area's alternative radio station, Live 105!! Wasn't expecting to get this at all!!! No idea what's in store for me, but I am excited.

Valentines

2010-02-15T12:00:00.001-08:00

Best Valentines day of my life. I love my friends so much.

Need to remember that this day of amazingness was worth it when I am studying for personality psych tomorrow.

Crepes, movies, comfy chairs, photoshoots, chinatown, bomb potstickers, pillowfight, scattegories, games, scootering, friends, love.

Love, love love.

(Written at approximately 4:09 AM)

Back up, WOMAN!

2010-02-13T11:16:00.000-08:00

Best part of my last night: dissing some creepy french guy in FRENCH! I better get into summer session abroad. I think I could handle it.

Quick Update

2010-02-09T22:39:00.000-08:00

I've been obsessed with the Postal Service lately, specifically "Nothing Better". Beautiful and sad duet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gv7OLPfEiM

I was told by my supervisor at research today that my name is going to be published on a poster showing what we're working on currently and all the people who have contributed. She said it's pretty great considering I'm only a sophomore. This is nuts!! I have something to put on my resume!!

I have my first midterm tomorrow for clinical psych. I've been studying pretty hard, despite the fact that I am currently writing this blog post.

Things that make me feel good: productive studying, clean laundry, talking to Yael, the library, knowing the exact answer on my qualifying test for Jeopardy (Fences by August Wilson, AP Lit whaddup!).

Mermaid length hair

2010-02-07T19:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon.

Just kidding, it's actually more like Sunday evening. I watched the Superbowl today but started falling asleep at the onset of the fourth quarter so now I am in my room writing this blog. I went to the library this afternoon so I haven't been completely unproductive, but I feel kind of guilty because of all the reading I have to do.

I finally started psych discussions for both my classes. They are back to back on Monday mornings starting at 9 which kind of sucks, but they seem like they'll be interesting so far. Also, I'm not afraid to talk which is something that surprised me. And even though reading all this stuff is kind of a hassle, I really like the subject material. It makes me more confident in my choice of major.

I can't deal with this paragraph business, so here's a list.
-I had my interview for an internship at Live 105 on Thursday, and I'm not feeling that confident. However, out of 31 applicants only 10 got interviews so I guess I can feel good about that.
-Lately I've been really enjoying my friends, and I want to spend more time with them.
-I helped a blind man onto BART.
-Kathy and I went to see Bowling for Soup at Slim's and they were really good. Shoelace and I watched the Album Leaf at the Berkeley Art Museum and they were also good.
-I have my first midterm of the semester on Wednesday. It's time to get serious.
-I applied for the France summer session abroad program. Wish me luck.
-I've also been writing more, but just for myself. It's really helpful.

Things to look forward to:
-Cal basketball being at home this weekend
-Day off next Monday
-Asian tutoring starting soon hopefully
-Judging Speech/Debate tourny for Yeshar
-Motion City Soundtrack and MC Lars
-Getting this band started

Today's title is brought to you by Griffindor. He really likes blue M&Ms.

Here's some quotes, mostly from Monica.
Yeah he's cute but...he kind of reminds me of Voldemort
WUTEVA
This tastes like Durant Avenue in the rain
I'm going to capitalize on this moment cause I'm touching you and it's FINE
My tongue is too big for my mouth
GIVE US YOUR MONEY
Cherry chocolate fudge. And you know what the worst part is? She wasn't even sweet
That was when we went to throw hand grenades
If I had to pick a fake name it would be Julietta (pronounced Hoooolietta)

Well, I guess that's it. Hopefully my ego will take control this week and I will be productive, efficient, and intelligent.

Guzzler

2010-02-02T22:50:00.000-08:00

Good things about today:

I talked in French class and didn't sound totally stupid.
Successfully passed out 3 calpirg fliers for Courtney.
Did not fall asleep in Anthro lecture.
Learned a lot of useful and semi-interesting things in research.
Finally got my free Betty Crocker wall calendar in the mail.
Set up my interview for internship.
Chocolate cake at Crossroads.
Spur of the momently saw a concert at the Berkeley Art Museum.

Okay none of these are really very exciting but there's an additive effect here.

Ode to Shun Kin

2010-01-28T21:33:00.000-08:00

Shun Kin, Shun Kin, sitting all alone.
Who could you be talking to on the telephone?
Work all day swiping college kids at Peet's
Then head over to Crossroads to enjoy some good eats.
Your smile and your voice and your round little head
You have brightened my days with every word you've said.
Maybe you will come to 504 to visit us all
And see your receipts we've collected on our wall.

2010-01-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

Come stop by and eat these sour gummy worms with me
I bought them with my meal points today at the GBC
I am going to keep eating them until my belly squirms
So please come over and I will share these sour gummy worms

Get crazy, get wild

2010-01-26T00:40:00.001-08:00

There's a lot to love about life. Sometimes I need help remembering that.

Do you want to play Ninja Warrior?

2010-01-20T23:16:00.000-08:00

My Facebook page is down for site maintenance, so I guess I'll blog now. I'm back at school for the spring semester, and I think it's going to be way better than fall. I was thinking about this earlier today: I think Fall 09 was my least favorite semester of college, but Spring 09 was my favorite (I know, I know. I've only had three semesters so far). Maybe that's why 09 felt so up and down. However, I think Spring 10 will be the best yet. Here's my first impressions of my classes.

French 103B:
Compared to last semester of French 102, I have the same professor, in the same room, the same days of the week, at the same time. And I think there are something like 8 of the same people as last semester. However, I am optimistic. My professor remembered my name without prompting (didn't even call me Paige!) and I sat between two people from last semester that I know so I practically have friends! Bad news: I took a risk and talked during the first class (something I pledged to do) but I talked about how I didn't want to talk, so now my professor thinks I'm "Passive Girl". Pretty sure he's going to refer to me as such for the rest of the semester, but hopefully it'll make him remember me during grading. In any case, I feel like this is a continuation of last semester, but I think I'll do even better and have even more fun.

Guess which one I am.

Anthro 1:
Shoelace and Masis are in this class so that will definitely make it more worth going to. It sounds like it'll be kind of intense but the subject of the class is biological/evolutionary anthropology, which as a subject sounds pretty cool. It's also my last lower div requirement for Psych major so very soon I will be declaring! I should go see my advisor. Anyway, I haven't met my GSI yet but my professor is an Indian woman who has kind of a weird voice but is at least pretty easy to understand. I think this will be hard, but worthwhile and I really hope I learn a lot.

Lololol.

Psych 130:
Clinical Psychology aka studying weird psychological abnormalities, which sounds really really cool! The professor is a nice Australian woman who seems like she'll be really good. I think I'm most excited for this class. I don't know anyone yet, but maybe I'll meet people in section. Probably not though.

My professor probably wouldn't think this was funny.

Psych 150:
All this time I was taking Social Psych but this is actually Psychology of Personality. My teacher isn't a professor exactly but some really young guy who works in my other psych teacher's clinical psychology lab. He has a PhD, but he is a lecturer and not a professor. I don't really know what the difference is, except this guy looks about Greg's age but he said he graduated college more than 10 years ago. Maybe he was a prodigy? Anyway, he does not seem very knowledgeable about psychology of personality, but he seems nice and personable and eager to do a good job, so I bet this will still be a worthwhile class.

Overall that is 14 units, but I'm also hoping to take OASES (aka Asian Tutoring) for 1 unit and hopefully get 1 unit for research.

Oh yeah! I have a research job! I'm working in a visual perception lab with a graduate student and I'm going to help run experiments and organize patient files and basically other stuff that I don't really know yet. I am excited to learn a lot and I feel lucky to have found a job. It's only 3 hours per week too which is nice.

I applied for an internship at Live 105 (the radio station) and they are going to be getting back to me about an interview. I hope I get it. That's basically it.

I am excited for babysitting (hopefully!) some new people, 6 more home games for Cal Basketball (I wish I could go to Pac-10 tournament too), concerts (BFS & MCS hopefully), music, new friends, plus exercising and everything.

Also, today's blog post title is brought to you by Marissa, the 5 year old that I babysit.

Like this, but instead our challenges consisted of crawling across the kitchen and balancing Tinker Toys on our hands.

It was going to be "Can I grab that?" (Jamal Boykin talked to me at the GBC when I was blocking the water refrigerator), but I don't want to seem too much like a fan. Here's some more quotes, mostly for my own personal entertainment:

"Ew, there's cheese in my bra."
"She kind of looks like a Jewish Zoya."
"One time I tried to put as many [Monopoly] houses as I could in my mouth."

These are all from Monica, BTW.

Well, that's all for now. I am feeling extremely optimistic. Let's see how long this attitude lasts.

This must be it, welcome to the new year

2010-01-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

I imagine that for every first post of the new year for years to come I will use this same title. Two years and counting!

I can tell that I haven't written anything for a while because it took me about five tries to write that first sentence and it still doesn't sound right to me. I guess my brain hasn't been getting much of an exercise over break. I've been reading more and trying to study my old Psych 1 notes to prepare for this semester, but I guess I'm not really in the right mindset. Give me a week, and we'll see.

This break has consisted mostly of hanging out with my family, seeing friends, watching movies, reading, and watching Cal basketball. So overall, not too bad! Very relaxing, but I'm starting to feel kind of guilty about how unproductive I am.

Last year I did a big recap of 2008, and to be honest I'm not sure how 2009 really compares. I have always (easily) come to the conclusion that every year so far has been the best year yet, and it's not the same with 2009. I guess overall it has been a pretty great year, but definitely more ups and downs than any year previously. For the most part, I feel like I have learned a lot, met a lot of people, and have become a better person (okay, not so sure about that last one...).

Instead of dwelling, I would like to look forward toward my goals for 2010. I decided that I am going to:
-exercise at least twice a week (I was thinking about even maybe taking a class at the RSF, but perhaps 5 minute Beatles dance parties will suffice for now)
-take all my medicine every day (Can't stand to get sick at all. Also need to remember to take vitamins)
-drink more milk and eat more vegetables (But still eat lots of cake, especially of the birthday variety)
-go the library more (Preferably with Masis. So then as a reward I go and can beat him at Wii Bowling)
-be friendlier, make more friends, etc. (And go to floor dinners)
-get better at ukulele and singing and rapping
-write more letters and call people more and send in for more samples

I can't really think of any more ideas, but if I do I will add them in later. I'm actually pretty excited for this semester. I'm taking my last lower-division requirement for psych, and taking two upper-div psych classes so I think I'll enjoy classes a lot more this semester, which would be good because I really need to get better grades.

Since summer of 2009 wasn't that fun, I am hoping to do something awzm and exciting for this summer. I might take psych 101 over the summer and get a job in Berkeley, or I might do summer session abroad in Paris! Also, I am applying for an internship at the Maury show in New York because from a psychological perspective, I think it would be extremely interesting.

Overall, I am looking forward to the future and especially this spring semester. 2009 was fun and my regrets are few, but 2010 will be even better.

Last year I concluded the 2009 version of this post with some lyrics from "Together We'll Ring in the New Year" by MCS, but they're kind of pessimistic which I kind of like, but I need something more optimistic for 2010. So instead, here's "Rio" by one of my new favorite bands, Hey Marseilles:

Set your sights straight now
Don't forget pain
Drink 'til the morning becomes yesterday
Think of the shorelines you have yet to see
Men who will hold you with eyes you believe

On the way I will go
Where the days left to breathe
Are not gone, are still long
I am traveling on

2010 IS GOING TO BE AWZM!!

Upcoming

2009-12-23T20:44:00.001-08:00

Note to self: need to find people to go see Dizzy Balloon in January and Motion City Soundtrack in February.

Did I give you permission to do that?

2009-12-16T13:02:00.000-08:00

So, I'm sitting in the North Reading Room of Doe Library (again), and so far the second tour group of this morning is trooping through there. One woman just spun around the room in the aisle between the tables and videotaped people studying in the library. Specifically, me studying in the library. What if I don't want you to show people in your homeland a video of me learning about fisheries and four different types of zooplankton?

Less than four hours til my Oceans Final!!

Do you believe in love at first sight?

2009-12-15T00:52:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to write something so I could put that as my title. I don't actually have anything to say except for that I have studied in Doe library and eaten at Foothill dining commons, both for the first time, in the past week.

One Oceans final and then I'm done for a month! Help me think of fun things to do over break.

I must look trustworthy

2009-12-10T16:59:00.001-08:00

Two separate people asked me to watch their things while they went to the bathroom. Good thing I am a nice person.

1 research paper and 2 finals and then I am done

Skyping is fun!

2009-12-06T23:59:00.000-08:00

Today's blogpost title is brought to you by Stephanie D. Tyson, aka my mom. We skyped for the first time this afternoon and she thought it was awzm. She's going to be so excited when she sees this blog...

I actually tried to find a picture of my mom but instead found one of Papa G.

Anyhow, greetings world! I feel like so much has happened since the last time I blogged. Classes ended on Friday and so now it is our week of review until my first final on Saturday and I have a bunch of papers to do as well.

Good news! I am now enrolled in 10 units instead of just 4! I got into both the psych classes I wanted, so now I just need to wait for French and I'll be good. I don't know why I'm writing this here. It is very boring. PS In class on Thursday my French teacher (in English) said something about "Disney-fication" and thought it sounded like "fornication". I don't think we've ever gone through an entire class period without him making some kind of sex joke.

Thanksgiving break was very fun, and very short. I spent a lot of time with my family (I think I bowled an 84) and saw a bunch of friends. And we had an ASB 07-08 sleepover at my house after watching Precious which was everything I wanted it to be and more.

Greatest people ever.

This weekend was pretty interesting. Friday night we had an unofficial sixth floor reunion at Chi Psi, so it was great hanging out with everyone. Before that, however, Kirkland and I waited outside for two hours to try to get into the free advance screening of the new Michael Cera movie but they closed the doors before we could get in and then someone pulled the fire alarm and the fire department came. Dang.

Can't believe I missed out on this.

Anyway so it was really fun hanging out with all my favorite people. Anoop and I DOMINATED at beer pong, and I reconnected with Ralph, who I met in Dwinelle at the beginning of last year when he showed me all of my classes. How random.

Yesterday was a Cal Basketball game. My brother sent me this text during the game: "Max blocking shots, Jorge slam dunking, you on tv, pretty good game so far". That basically sums it up! Also, Oski slapped my butt during the game. That was kind of strange.

Then after the basketball game Laurel and I paraded around Berkeley all night. I ended up meeting Jahvid Best on the stairs of Sigma Nu (random, right?) after breaking through is protective barrier of protectors. I also saw Jorge and his hair looked really beautiful.

Today I wrote a 6 page paper and ate curly fries. What a let down.

Here are some quotes:
I played sweeper...I could clear that thing for miles! They called me "monster"...
I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with horses
It looks like you got henna on your hand but then it got sweaty
Today I almost parkoured in Wheeler
Courtney you would love him...he doesn't eat beef
Officer body shots!

Totally random, but I was looking ahead to January today and I am pretty excited. Motion City Soundtrack is coming out with a new CD, lots of good conference basketball games for Cal, and Hey Marseilles, Dizzy Balloon, and MC Lars are all playing shows in San Francisco. I should not be looking at the new year and instead should focus on Alessandro Manzoni. My bad!

What a stud right here.

Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining

2009-12-05T14:40:00.000-08:00

Anoop and Monica are fighting with a toilet-seat cover in my room.

MCLQVIN

2009-11-22T23:08:00.000-08:00

What an awesome way to end a very very tiring week.

Yesterday was the Big Game. Which was nuts. All week I had been not sleeping and doing various Rally Committee requirements. Friday was Bonfire which was just as cool as I remembered from last year, and I got to wear an awzm backstage pass. Much much more happened, but let's just get to the good stuff.

After we won back the Axe last year!

Basically everyone was so ready to say that Cal was going to lose, and that's what made the win that much sweeter. From the car ride there, to standing next to band and the rest of the student section, awesome offense and defense, the greatest interception ever, rushing the field, meeting my favorite player Tyson Alualu, eating dinner at an old Rally Comm-er's house, celebrating afterward. It was all so awesome. And WE HAVE STILL GOT THE AXE!!! It was probably the most exciting Cal game I've been to, and it felt awesome knowing that all the work from the week was so worth it.

Can you find me in my mustard colored cap?

I definitely did not sleep enough last night, and thus was very unproductive today. I have a 10 page paper (a rough draft only) that I feel like I've complained about to everyone, but have made very little progress on. Actually, I know what I'm writing about now so tomorrow I've just got to pump it out and get it done. And I'm definitely not afraid of staying up late anymore, that's for sure.

Basketball game Tuesday night, then going home Wednesday for a Thanksgiving hopefully full of family, friends, and Pretty Pretty Princess.

GO BEARS!

Kathy said something really funny yesterday

2009-11-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

But I don't remember what it is. If I do remember, however, I will edit it into the title of this blog post.

This weekend has been kind of nuts. Friday night was so random and ridiculous and eventful, but not necessarily full of good events. Overall, though, it was still pretty fun. And mostly funny.

Yesterday was probably the most exciting football game I've ever been to. The most exciting part was when I got to do card stunts for the first time. Or maybe it was when Giorgio made a tackle. Either one.

Today I got up early to work on an essay. It is 11 AM-ish and I've already written like, a page and a half. This is nuts!!

Big Game Week starts today. I am going to be so tired.

Things, as of lately

2009-11-08T16:50:00.000-08:00

Last night I played beer pong against Syd'Quan Thompson. My team lost.

Yesterday while waiting for my curly fries order, one half of the UC Men's Octet passed by on the street. I asked them to sing something for me, so they did.

At a Halloween party I was singing along to a Black Eyed Peas song and someone told me that I had good tone.

After watching the movie, Monica now thinks that the Orphan is living in our suite.

I feel like I should have five things here, but I can't think of anything else.
Oh well. First basketball game tomorrow!!

WHITE SUPREMACY

2009-10-18T23:18:00.001-07:00

First of all, I'd like to let it be known that I am NOT a white supremacist. I enjoy people of all backgrounds. Sometimes jokes get told that are not exactly politically correct, and I'm sorry. Moving on...

I haven't done a true blog in a while. Lately things have been weird with the onset of unsettling idleness and an influx of intense emotions. However, I am feeling optimistic; things can only go up from here, right?

Lately classes have been pretty good. Oceans class stinks, but sometimes it's entertaining. We got out midterms back and the mean was a 74. For a 2 unit class what a joke!! I really need to start making an effort because if I get a bad grade it will be very embarrassing. Also, perhaps I should read the book (just a thought). It's tough having one really good professor and one really boring professor. I think I would prefer just one somewhat decent professor, for consistency's sake.

Robert Rhew: So much to love

Jim Bishop: His teaching abilities are questionable

Italian Studies R5B is not to terrible. The books we have been reading are fun and interesting because they are all murder mysteries. The worst part of this class is the fact that it is at 8 in the morning. Not feeling it.

Google Image Search: "crime fiction". Creepy!

French class is getting better. It seems that the worse I feel about the paper I have just written for this class, the better grade I get. Our last assignment met some extremely bad timing and I basically half-assed the whole thing, and ended up getting an A. I'm still kind of wondering what I was even talking about in my "argument". My professor is still the most random person in the whole world, almost to an unfollowable extent. For example, the other day he started talking about when that reporter threw his shoe at George W. Bush and he ducked to avoid it. Had nothing to do with anything we were talking about, but somehow he felt the need to bring this up. Gotta love it.

Couldn't resist using this .gif again

Sociology is fun. The reading isn't too unbearable and my GSI is nice too. He told me he likes the way I read. I recently have begun sitting with my friend from section in lecture, and it has ended up biting me in the butt. Friends are overrated: one day in lecture the prof asked us how our days were. Now, anyone who has been in 155 Dwinelle with me knows that sometimes I just can't control my outbursts in a crowded lecture hall. So naturally, I shouted "Great!". My professor laughed and moved onto the next question: what did you think of Monday's video. I continued the trend and shouted "Great!" again, confident in my anonymity. Unfortunately, my professor started looking around asking who keeps shouting great. I sank lower in my seat, but I knew that my professor wouldn't be able to know it was me. Much to my dismay, my so-called "FRIEND" started pointing at me and ratted me out to the professor! Then she started asking me questions about what I liked so much about the video!! Luckily thanks to my battle rapping skills I am easily able to think on the fly, but it still made me feel very uncomfortable. I thought it was over, but later, while trying to finish the day's sudoku, she all of a sudden jumps back to me and asks me what I think of Asian children. She's going to be sneak attacking me all effing semester now!! WHAT THE EFF.
Okay but seriously, I still like this class.

No real reason for the Wonder Girls being here, but they are Asian just like the girls in the picture shown in class?

When I'm not in class, I have been trying to exercise more. I've been hitting up the elliptical downstairs which is fun, but the other night I went and played light up ultimate frisbee in the dark on Memorial Glade with band people. It was so awzm seriously I have never run so much. Once, someone threw the frisbee to me and I caught it. And then I threw it to someone else and they caught it!! I'm getting the hang of this! But yeah, it was awesome. I need to play sports more or something.

This weekend (well, Thursday-Saturday) I went home!! It was pure bliss. I hung out with my parents whilst eating pigs in a blanket and chocolate satin pie, I helped my mom in her classroom and got to meet all her students, I watched the game against UCLA, and even got to see some great friends, if even for a short time. It was probably the best visit and it went by so quickly, but it was just what I needed.

Imagine this but with cheese, and awesomeness oozing out, served on a platter of relaxation and lightly seasoned with love. That was my weekend.

I came home yesterday evening so we could start celebrating Monica and her turning 20!! Yay Monica!! Also, I am still a Taboo champion in case any of you haterz were doubting.

I realized that I do have a lot to look forward to. Tomorrow we're going to see Owl City at Slims, Friday I'm going to go hear Michael Lewis speak, football on Saturday, basketball open practice the week after that.

In closing, don't you love it when you hear some song lyrics that just totally and absolutely encapsulate what you are feeling at that moment? From my favorite album ever Transatlanticism,

"There's no blame for how our love did slowly fade
And now that it's gone it's like it wasn't there at all
And here i rest where disappointment and regret collide
Lying awake at night"

-Title and Registration by Death Cab for Cutie

Is the world falling apart

2009-10-18T04:34:00.000-07:00

Or is it just breaking down
Is it me, or does it seem like it's turned upside down

yeah, pretty sure it's me. wow, once i think everything's okay, it's not.

real update tomorrow, i swear.

Hahaha great night

2009-10-11T02:20:00.000-07:00

Hahaha great night

Tides

2009-10-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

I don't really know how to articulate what I want to say without it sounding stupid, so I just won't say anything.

One day at a time.

Even If It Kills Me

2009-10-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

I’m not saying that I’m giving up
I’m just trying not to think as much as I used to
Cause "never" is a lonely little messed up word
Maybe I’ll get it right some day
For the first time in a long time I can say
That I want to try
I feel helpless for the most part
But I’m learning to open my eyes
And the sad truth of the matter is
I’ll never get over it
But I’m gonna try
To get better and overcome each moment
In my own way

Open Poll - Please Respond

2009-09-30T22:20:00.000-07:00

Question: Is it acceptable to look at naked pictures of yourself on your laptop in a lecture hall full of people?

A. Yes
B. No
C. Maybe (Please specify)

Maybe it's my own fault for looking at what other people are doing in class, but I sure got an eyeful today in sociology. IS THIS NORMAL???? IS THIS WHAT PEOPLE DO DURING CLASS???

Observation

2009-09-28T23:16:00.001-07:00

I always have stuff in my teeth, but nobody ever tells me.

TODAY

2009-09-25T23:44:00.000-07:00

I have no class on Fridays. Today I:

-left my dorm at 8 AM to go to San Raphael to watch court proceedings for my sociology project involving observing authority.

-went to a review session for Intro to Oceans and actually learned how to do things I didn't know how to do.

-visited my godfamily in Oakland with Alex and played with cute baby Evan.

-watched Big Spike which Cal won in a close 5 games.

WHOA.

Sickdiculous

2009-09-21T22:52:00.000-07:00

As requested by Alexander J. H. Ochoa, ye faithful readers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuBBT6sPAcE

If you're feeling like you don't have time to watch the whole 5 minutes, just skip to 1:05. This is probably the second best youtube video featuring me, with number one being Neri and me playing Pork and Beans, obviously.

LOTTERIA!!!

2009-09-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

It has been a really long time since I've written a real blog post. I have been meaning to do one about classes, life in my new dorm, and various new school year musings, but that can wait.

Last year I wrote an entry about the greatest birthday ever, and I will continue this tradition because now I've had a new greatest birthday ever!! I'M 19!!!

Birthday weekend started on Friday aka Family Fun Day. Alex and I had lunch with his parents, and then dinner with mine. Both were really fun, and Alex's mom gave me some cookies. My family took us to Fenton's, the greatest place on earth, and I had some delicious ice cream.

I didn't get this this time.

That night roommates + Anoop and I went to a party and they all sang to me amidst the crowds of people at midnight, which was kind of embarrassing but mostly just nice. We made some interesting new friends and I got to have a birthday song of my choice, so obviously I chose Ghost Ride the Whip, a classic.

Apparently people don't like this song anymore?

The next day it was time for some Cal football. We had to get there hella early for Rally Comm, but I gave the team some very exuberant high fives during March to Victory. One box of cheesy sticks later, we were beating the Eagles and Katie and I were ogling Giorgio Tavecchio.

I left the game early so I would have just enough time to change my clothes in order to go see THE KILLERS!!! I didn't think I was that big of a fan of the Killers, but Alex and I went and man it was amazing. Their performance was so engaging and it was so fun dancing around and singing along to the songs I knew. My official birthday ended with a cheeseburger and a Neapolitan milkshake at In-n-Out.

THE KILLERS!!

This birthday has made me appreciate my friends and family so much! They are so nice to me! Courtney and Monica, followed by my favorite first years both left me very melodious songs on my Facebook wall, I got some gifts from my parents, the greatest birthday card ever from Alex, some balloons from Roz and Anoop, and a sultry item of clothing from Wet Seal from the best suitemates ever. And now the big cement section of my wall has a beautiful paper chain that I will keep forever.

One Year Ago.

I feel like this blog post is not that great, but it's mostly for my own memory so I can reminisce when I go back over these blogs when I'm an old lady. After mostly focusing on having fun this weekend, it's time to get back to reality with my classes, unfortunately.

Best Quote Ever: "I had a cold...and i went on WebMD and I thought I had anal cancer," can you guess who said it??

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!

2009-09-12T03:01:00.000-07:00

I'M 19!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOO!!! so far being 19 is awzm!!!

Blehhhh

2009-08-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

I hate being sick.
I hate having so much reading to do.
I seriously am just hating everything at this moment, and it is not a good feeling in the slightest.

Last weekend before move-in

2009-08-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

And I am getting very excited to be heading back up to Berkeley for the semester! I feel like I have so much I need to do to get ready, but there is really no sense of urgency. Maybe there will be by Saturday.

Just when being home was getting so boring I couldn't take it anymore, I had a pretty great weekend. Friday was my last day of babysitting, I got paid, and now I feel very relieved it's all over. And accomplished for not giving up on the girl too early. I think she ended up having fun with me which is surprising considering how unfun I think I am, especially for a 9 year old. In any case, I'm glad that is over with.

Then I went up to Berkeley to visit Alex, which is always awzm. Saturday we watched I Love You Man which was even better the second time around. Sometimes I forget how funny jokes are the first time, and then the funniest mixed with the being reminded of the funniness just makes it doubly funny, you know what I'm sayin?

I came home Saturday evening and went and got a Tartini Twister with Hermes. I have definitely been slacking on my Tartini eating duties.

Today I went to the A's game with my dad and Greg and I got a free throwback 1929 A's jersey. I ate a frozen strawberry lemonade (which is one of my favorite things ever) and the A's won with a walk-off solo homerun by Mark Ellis. Yell about that, loud obnoxiously annoying White Sox fans sitting behind me!

I am counting down til Sunday so I can move in, but I do have a bunch of stuff to get done this week so hopefully it will go by quickly.

FUCK FACEBOOK!!!

2009-08-03T20:57:00.000-07:00

I want to tell you all about the greatest weekend ever.
It started on Friday.

I drove out to Ceres to visit Alex Ochoa at his house. We went to the Modesto Mall and ate orange chicken with his family on their couch. I love orange chicken and malls! It was awesome!
Then I drove back home just in time to see (500) Days of Summer with Kath, Sam, and Nate. It was such a cute movie and I enjoyed it very much.

Saturday I got to sleep in!
Then my family drove out to Oakland for my godbrother Evan's first birthday party. He is the cutest baby I have ever met and I love him and his family so much!

After that we went to the Coliseum to see Rickey Henderson's number get retired. It was a nice ceremony with lots of famous old time players who are too old for me to have seen play. The A's ended up losing the game (surprise, surprise) but at least they made it exciting at the very end, and I got to see Scutaro play. Also, I had the most delicious hot dog I have ever eaten in my life.

Sunday morning I did 38 Spanish activities and a practice test. That was not much fun.
But then after that I went up to Berkeley to hang out with Alex Ochoa again. Twice in one weekend! We saw the movie Funny People, which is where the title of this blogpost came from (I actually really like Facebook a lot). It was so fun hanging out with him and I got a lot of gr8 bro time in.

This morning I felt super sick to my stomach, had to babysit, and went to the most pointless Spanish class ever. All good things must come to an end.; all amazing weekends must lead to a terrible Monday.

You didn't just touch a hermit crab...

2009-07-24T23:40:00.000-07:00

you held one!!

I forgot to mention this before, but on the tracker of my blog it tells me what search terms people use if they find my blog from Google. Someone searched, and I quote, "is it ok to like wearing a jockstrap?" and stumbled upon my blog. In case anyone else is looking for the answer: yes, it is okay. I believe in you.

That was pretty much the point of this post. I love amazing days like today.

edit: I just googled the same query and went through 30 pages of results...and my blog still didn't come up. I guess this person really was having trouble finding the answer he (she?) was looking for...

You look like you're on fire!

2009-07-22T23:47:00.000-07:00

Today's blogpost title is brought to you by Nina Wang, upon seeing my sunburnt body.

I've felt like I have needed to blog for a long time, but I just have not gotten down to doing it. Summer is starting to do better.

I like my friends. So You Think You Can Dance is probably the best part of the week, even though it is not the same with Yael being gone. Today I ate some delicious pot pie and apple slices. Also, last weekend I went to a Korean BBQ place with Hermes and others where you cook your own meat at your own table!! Who knew such a thing even existed! I ate pork belly!!

That'll do, pig. That'll do.

Babysitting the girl is not so bad. We went to the library on Monday and I felt like such a mom telling her about good books she might like to read. I even helped her with math facts and encyclopedia skills!

Spanish has been okay. Some of the people in that class are kind of funny, but it sure gets boring after a while some days. Only 2.5 more weeks left!! By then I'd better be fluent cause I don't know how much longer my patience will last.

I have also been visiting Alex (Ochoa) in Berkeley a bunch. I even made an excursion to "The Valley" for the first time in my life to meet his family. It was very hot there. Also, I introduced Alex to the awesomeness of Rookie of the Year, and he very much appreciated the dramatic electric guitar music when Chet Steadman's pitching arm started giving out during the division championship game.

This kind of spoils the ending.

I am still looking forward to going back to school, for sure. Only one month until move-in day! Until then, I really gotta work on my ukulele/trumpet one woman band.

License, registration, and proof of insurance, please.

2009-06-28T21:49:00.001-07:00

Thursday night, on the way home from Tim's, Yael decided she wanted Fourth Meal from Taco Bell. After passing the one on De Anza, which was closed to our dismay, we headed towards the one on Stelling and Homestead. As I made that fateful left turn, a flash of blue and red lights appeared in my mirror. I was being pulled over for the very first time.

Don't tase me bro, I thought to myself.

My hands shook as I handed over the correct papers. Heart beating swiftly, palms (and stomach) sweating profusely, my mind raced. What could I have possibly done wrong?

The reason for my unfortunate police encounter? The plastic covering of one of my brake lights had broken off, and so the humorless policeman wrote me a fix-it ticket. Note to self: don't joke around with a sedate and serious policeman when you have been pulled over. He told me that in order to get my ticket checked off, I could find any policeman and get him to sign it. I quipped, "well then I guess next time I'll be pulling YOU over!!" He then went into all the reasons why it would be bad to follow a policeman around. I somberly cut in that I would just head to the police station like a normal denizen. After crossing our Ts and dotting our Is, the policeman and I bid each other adieu and parted ways.

The drawn out encounter rumbled our bellies so much, Yael and I headed to Jack in the Box for curly fries, which just happen to be my favorite zesty potato side dish. It wasn't Fourth Meal, but it was an acceptable end to a traumatic night.

I couldn't lie about a love like this.

Do you have my number?

2009-06-15T04:23:00.000-07:00

Summer has been getting better.

Yael, Sam, Liz, Tom and I went to BFD on June 6th and it was pretty amazing. The best part by far was seeing MC Lars again and listening to his amazing set and talking to him afterward. He finally remembered my name this time, and was very excited to see Yael back from Israel. He gave Yael and me his number and we chatted up his rapper friend and his dad. All in all, a very good Lars experience.

Commemorating my 8th time seeing him

Last week I went back up to Berkeley again. I got to eat a delicious lunch with Courtney and she told me all about her life as a CalSo counselor. Then the greatness continued and I took Alex to his first ever major league baseball game. Okay, so the A's did lose, but the hot dogs still cost only a dollar! It ended up being a really great visit.

I will someday own this vehicle.

This weekend my family and I went down to San Diego to watch Greg graduate. There were a lot of people graduating. I got to hear all of their names. That's pretty much it.

I don't start my regular babysitting job until next week, so one more week of who knows what. It's ukulele time!

PS This post is very odd. It is 4:27 AM.

It's Cracker Jack time!

2009-06-12T03:45:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have a day that seems perfect? Yesterday was like that for me. It was a very good day.

It is 3:45 AM. Don't want to sleep.

Are you wearing a jockstrap or something??

2009-06-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

Hello, world.
I am currently sick, lying on my bed in pajamas at 4 in the afternoon. I am getting tired of sitting at home all day and feeling unproductive. My estimated time of recovery is tomorrow evening so I hope to be off and out doing exciting things once again!

I decided that I will not be doing an end of the semester recap. I did an end of the year one and honestly, that is enough reflection for me.

It did feel kind of sad leaving all of my college friends for home, and I definitely miss them. I know that I will be seeing at least Courtney and Kirkland this summer which will be very fun, but still. It's not the same!! I will also miss Joey and all of the funny things he says. Not long ago he told me I remind him of a shoebox full of retarded goats. Who couldn't miss that?

Coming home to a brand new house was also super weird too. I had only been to it once, and that was before my parents had everything remodeled. At this point it feels more normal, but I definitely have like 5 boxes I haven't unpacked plus more in my grandma's garage, so I'm still working on that. Once I get all my crap put away, and my autographed picture of Patti Stanger is on the wall I think it will feel complete. Oh, and also the life-sized poster of MC Lars.

I don't have any super big plans for summer. I'm going to be babysitting my family friend's daughter who's going into 4th grade while her mom works, but she doesn't finish school for about a week and a half. I'm also taking Spanish at De Anza M-Th 6-8 PM for 6 weeks, and I'm kind of looking forward to it. I just hope the class isn't full. I'm staying home for the whole summer, except one weekend my family's going down to SD for Greg's graduation. We are all so proud.

Some fun stuff has already happened this summer. First of all, YAEL IS HOME!!! Okay, so I've only seen her once so far, but still, this summer is going to be great now that my best friend is back. I've started watching So You Think You Can Dance with Liz, Sam, and Kathy, and it is a pretty fun show to watch. I've hung out with Neri a couple times and Nate and Arjun once and they are all very fun. Sam, Liz, and I all went to a party at Ram's frat at Stanfurd (Ram in a frat?! Crazy, I know!!) and it was probably one of the most fun nights ever. I stole a rabbi hat and made some great new friends, like Butters! I went and visited Alex (my boyfriend, not my brother) in Berkeley over the weekend and it was very nice as well :)

I'm looking forward to a lot of things this summer. I've already been to 6 A's games this season, but I am looking forward to dragging my friends and family to even more. I have been trying to be more musical and learning the ukulele and relearning the trumpet. I'm hoping to duet with Monica once we both get back to Berkeley in the fall. Yael and I are going to BFD and Death Cab, and maybe more this summer! I'm just looking forward to doing all sorts of things with Yael, including play her first game of beer pong with her. I'm excited to hang out with Alex in Berkeley and have him meet my friends and family here in the 408 (and the 650, since that is technically where I live now). I can't wait til I get better so I can hang out with all my friends again, including those who are not yet home from college. I am excited to be going to the library and reading a lot and watching movies and stealing new music.

So yeah, that's where I am right now. I almost put that's where I am at, but I didn't want to leave a hanging preposition. God forbid!!

I am in Moffitt Library

2009-05-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

I just got chastised for trying to eat a donut. I am so hungry!

Dead days

2009-05-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

My last day of classes was today. I have finals on Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday. I'm going home Thursday, most likely, but that's still up in the air.
What a semester it has been. The only thing that is getting me through the end of all this is Chain Rxn. And also pints of ice cream, purchased with my surplus of meal points.

I still don't want this year to end, but dead week makes me just want summer.

Oh, also: today I played frisbee on Memorial Glade and it was the greatest thing ever. Note to self: Cherry Coke, while delicious, does not quench immense frisbee-induced thirst.