january

I just realized I haven't blogged in forever...

January was such a fun month! My parents shuttled off to China/Hong Kong for three weeks, leaving the car and money behind. bwahahaha. Diane and I enjoyed our dose of long-awaited freedom. I think my culinary skills have improved...





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January:

1. FREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOM. Freedom to go anywhere, buy anything (well, grocery-wise), sleep anytime, wake anytime, hang out with anyone. I've never felt so unrestricted in my life.


2. tons of driving. Alllll over the Bay Area. Berkeley to San Jose to Fremont to San Jose to San Francisco. Tons of driving to Fremont BART. Tons of exploring. And two almost-accidents heehee.


3. I realized that I'm a closet clean freak. I get irritated when people leave their trash in my car, like when they finish a food item and stuff the wrapper in a crevice of my car. THAT IS NOT A TRASH CAN. REPEAT. THAT IS NOT A FREAKING TRASH CAN!!!!


MY CAR IS NOT A TRASH CAN


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On a side note, I should make some rules if I schlep people around.


a) Feel free to change the music if I don't care... but as driver I get the ultimate say in choosing the station. muahahaha fair enough?


b) Eating in my car is fine. I'm totally okay with that. Go ahead and put your wrapper/beverage/whatever in the cup holder after you're done eating. I only ask that you remove your own trash!!! It is only common courtesy!!! I dislike cleaning up after the people that I've driven around. IT IS ONLY COMMON COURTESY ugh.


c) I don't mind if you are sopping wet from the rain and you get into the car. It's only water; it'll dry. I do mind, however, if your shoes are completely caked with mud. Please try to scrape some mud off before entering the car!! I am eventually going to have to clean after you.


d) Mmm...that's it. lol. Anyhoo before I get sidetracked again...
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4. all the cooking!! I loved the lasagna I made! Even though it's so fatty, I want to try it again. I loved trying the dishes that I've always wanted to make but never had the opportunity to try out.

5. Badminton, badminton, and more badminton! Tons of practicing, preparing, and getting in shape for the upcoming tournaments. Next week is the berk winter tournament, in which I am playing C's and D's doubles with Jenny and C's mixed with Trevor. In February, there's the Racket Supply tournament (haven't asked anyone for that one yet) and the Irvington tournament (doubles with Jenny and mixed with Chrispy). Victor tournament (march?) I am playing D's mixed with Ian. I've been trying jump smashes, backhand smashes, crosscourt net drops, and kills with Jonas. I think we've been doing fairly well with them, but my jump smashes/backhand smashes are pretty pathetic. haha.

On top of preparing for tournaments, I'm going to be doing some assistant coaching for PHHS. I actually haven't done very much so far besides attend a conditioning day and help out at their badminton clinic. Come February/March though, there'll be a lot to do. I only hope that I'll have time to help out as much as I want to; school will take up a large chunk of my time. I'm only going to be able to help out on Tues/Thurs though.

The coaches and tryout judges. L-R: James, Rose, Aaron, Vinh, me, Emily, Michelle, Alex

6. HOUSE PARTIES!!!! What else can I say???

7. new developments heehee. ;D

i hope the rest of the year will be this fun!

where's the integrity?

Tiring, exhausting day! I've already finished dinner and it's only 6pm. Today had its high and low points... especially low points.

I'd stayed up to 4am editing my photos and whatnot. Today was my printing slot and I was the very first one in the class to print, and surprisingly my pictures turned out pretty well. Even my "tough love" photo teacher told me my prints looked great. I'm pleased. I wasn't pleased at 4am though... I'd tried to move all 110+ photos (even the edited ones) to a CD because that was part of the assignment. Moving everything took about 15+ minutes. However... as soon as it finished, Windows announced that there was an error with the pictures. My heart sank. I looked at the folder on my computer, and it was completely empty because I'd just moved all the pictures in it to the CD. I clicked on the CD... it was completely empty because of the error. I freaking panicked for a minute, but luckily I'd made backups. THANK GOODNESS. I still lost a substantial amount of photos (about 30 or 40), but I have most of them still. I'd kept my five edited pictures open in Photoshop, so they weren't lost. THANK GOODNESS!!!! Those were the ones I was most worried about.

For 2D, we had to expand a square. I totally started this at 11pm and finished at 12:30am. :) My first one was pretty nasty, so I started over and did another one. Much better! It got a pretty positive reception during critique today, so I'm happy.

But... while we were painting squares for the value scale, I got a text from Francis. He said that he'd checked on my bike (I'd left it on campus, locked next to Dudley Moorhead) and the seat was gone... and did I have it? Dismay hit me... shootles. I'd had too much faith in the integrity of mankind and assumed that no one would touch my bike. I mean, if I hadn't had my bike locked, of course I would expect it to be stolen. However, I wouldn't expect someone to like, steal the seat of my bike... Too much faith.

While I'm on the topic of integrity, I'd like to talk about something that disturbed me this weekend. Someone I know picked up and kept two items that weren't his, because supposedly they had been "left behind." When his motives were questioned on two separate occasions, he answered 1) "Because someone took my birds, so I'm taking this tube in retribution" and 2) "Because I've always wanted a bag like this." Personally, I was more than a little disgusted. Why?

1) You don't know who took your tube, yet you chose to punish someone (who is most likely innocent) by taking his half-full tube. Furthermore, you stated that your tube only had one bird in it. Why is that grounds for taking someone else's tube? What if someone stole a half-tube of birds from you?

2) You picked up someone else's bag and kept it for yourself? I don't exactly know the situation behind this, so I don't know if you found the bag empty or not. I don't know where you found it--it could have been in the trashcan or on the floor next to someone's badminton bag. I'm thinking that most likely someone accidentally left it behind. Instead of trying to find the owner or giving it to the tournament director for lost and found purposes, you kept it to satiate your own desires.

3) I would just like to rant about one more thing. I'm really cranky from lack of sleep right now, so maybe that's why I'm so rant-y today. Anyway, I digress.

You need to CHILL. If I am giving you a freaking ride, speeding and driving dangerously in order to get YOU somewhere in time for YOUR benefit, I do not need to hear you cursing and complaining in the backseat while I: a) slow for red lights, b) accidentally take a wrong turn, c) want to pull over to check the gps, d) brake to avoid a collision. I am NOT your chauffeur, nor are you even paying me. I am doing you a freaking favor. If you don't like the ride (and you don't appreciate that I'm doing you a favor), then you can get out because I will NOT be driving you anymore. Furthermore, and probably most importantly. I will NOT listen to you when I am in the furthest left-turning lane and you're telling me to go straight. Are you crazy? If you want to drive recklessly, drive your own freaking self. Don't try to tell me to do something illegal, stupid, and dangerously reckless just to get your butt warmed up for a better chance of winning your games. That is just so incredibly selfish.

I really doubt you will read this and I am honestly not too sure if I want you to read this because you'll probably get all butt-hurt, but I want you to realize how idiotic you were.

Anyway, enough of that. But on a similar topic... badminton. Badminton warms my heart :) The tournament on Saturday was so incredibly fun. Trevor and I got to D mixed semifinals and C mixed quarters. Unfortunately he had sprained his ankle and I couldn't really cover him haha. I made him bring his sleeping bag because I wanted to use it, but I was actually very wide awake during the tourney :( sorrrry! Truman and I just used it to sit on to watch games. haha.

Jenny and I unexpectedly played C women's doubles, and got 2nd. Not much of a victory because a lot of girls dropped out of C's out of sheer exhaustion, but still! It was pretty awesome. I think when I get really warmed up, I can jump smash a bit. I've always wanted to jump smash :D I just don't think I'm getting the form right, haha. Oh well. As long as the smash is angled and fast, I'm happy.

On Friday, we're completing more challenges for the SJSU club. Leo and I have some more mixed matches to go because it's double elimination. Eva and I are #2 for doubles, and I hope Leo and I can get #2 or #3 for mixed! This Saturday is a dual-meet against Berkeley, and I know they're going to be tough... oh well. More experience!

Anyway... on a negative note. My mom told me that my dad got laid off today, and I was really shocked. I just hadn't been expecting it. We'll be okay for a while because of savings and whatnot, but I don't want to drag us down with unnecessary expenses. I'll manage my finances better and try to cut down on expenses, I guess. Oh, I must find a job!

self-portraits, upcoming week

I'm having an amazing week :) The best things are unexpected.

Tuesday is a furlough day, so I'll probably use that day photoshooting for my self-portrait. I already took some ridiculous ones...haha. Well, we have to take 100+ pictures and choose the best three, so i think I want to use three concepts.

I was going to go with something like this, but after some more thought, I want something thought-provoking and serious. Not something this simple/fun... I guess I want something surreal? Or emotionally charged? I'll think of something. Besides, they aren't even really in focus... too bad :P

Tuesday - furlough day! Study/photoshoot/clothes-altering day.

Wednesday - Have homework for 2D Concepts done? Shootles... what's the homework..? I have to go and check. Oh, and have concepts for my self portrait.

Thursday - Meteorology midterm! Must study. Turn in onion sketch, and sketch something else. I love drawing class! It's so chill.

Friday - SJSU badmin club! More challenges, especially in mixed. I don't know if there are any more girls doubles besides us and another pair.

Saturday - Santa Teresa tourney! I'm really looking forward to this.

Sunday - Finish 2D concepts assignment #2, and do the assigned reading. Oh, and have self-portraits ready for printing! My printing slot is 12:30-1 on Monday.

So far that's all I have planned.

Upcoming Badminton Stuff

It's just so difficult finding a compatible girls doubles partner .. it's crazy!! I miss playing with Meiyi, haha.

On the other hand, lately mixed girls have been in demand. Diane and I (and probably a lot of other badmin girls) received a lot of partner requests for Berkeley's Smashapalooza. I've already got mixed partners for three upcoming tournaments (Santa Teresa - Trevor. SJSU Open - Thanh L. Bay Area Open - Trevor). But... I have no girls doubles partner at all!

Well, I'm playing girls doubles and mixed doubles for SJSU. Luckily I was able to find a (last-minute, albeit) partner for girls doubles. It was super easy to find a mixed doubles partner... someone asked me if I was playing mixed and I said that I hadn't found a partner yet. A few minutes later, I've got a mixed partner. Haha.

Not enough girls in badminton :(

Santa Teresa tournament!

Yay for another tournament! I personally had not done so well in my first tournament (Smashapalooza) last week, so I was excited to hear that there would be another tournament at Santa Teresa in September.

I will play C and D mixed doubles with Trevor. Haha, haven't played with him in forever, ever since our SJCC days. I hope I don't suck, or at least don't get him mad. In junior year or something, Alex would always get super pissed off at me for messing up in games. There was one memorable time (i posted this on xanga...) he stalked off the court after one of our games, and I refused to talk to him even though he went to my house and tried to apologize. Haha, good times. But yeah.

One time the mixed girls and I were talking, and we were complaining about cocky, chauvinistic male partners who would blame us for messing up a game. Like we were the ones to blame for their shots going out or into the net! Stupid suckers. But yeah, anyway. Didn't mean to go off onto a tangent. I don't think Trevor will get pissed off at me like that, but I'd understand if he did if I'm totally off the mark and hitting out for every shot. Especially in a tournament game. It'll be fun practicing with him for the tourney! Like old times.

Anyway, I want to play girls doubles too, but I can't find a partner. Diane will be in Berkeley and I think Meiyi will be in LA. I don't know about playing with anyone from Piedmont because I've just been playing with guys there whenever there's open gym. Hopefully I'll find a partner soon... the girls doubles entries are capped at 16!

Driving!

Driving is so freeing!

Now that my mom trusts me with the car and I have insurance, I've been driving around every opportunity I can get. :) SO AWESOME. It's just so easy getting from one place to another now. Say for example I had to get myself to Great Mall. I would have to give myself about 45-60 minutes to get there, because I would have to walk to the bus, wait for the next one (and sometimes the buses are waaay off schedule) and sit on it. If I drove, it would only take me like 10 minutes after I'm out the door. So awesome.

"Training" for smashapapoopoo is really fun... I wouldn't have imagined that I would be looking forward to a tourney, but I'm glad I signed up. It's my first one! Plus it's gotten me used to feather birdies. I really hate plastic ones now... I don't know how I ever could have played with plastic in high school! I think I've mentally converted to 21-point scoring now. 15-point scoring seems odd now.

I hope we aren't sandbagging :(. I'm playing D mixed with mikeypoo and D girls doubles with Diane.

daily rantings

My Tide To-Go stain remover pen SAVED MY LIFE today. Seriously, Diane was very unsupportive of my purchase and she said it was a waste of money. IN YOUR FACE :D I found it difficult to use at first, but it's actually very simple once you get used to it. Really, I think there's a cheaper way to go about making your own stain remover pen. The marker tip of the To-Go pen is just a sort of button that you have to press down to release the liquid inside the pen (maybe hydrogen peroxide as a liquid will work as well?). All the marker tip does is sweep away the stain. But still. IT SAVED MY LIFE. Combine a ruffly white skirt with girl issues. -_- Every girl needs this pen.

But anyway. (I hope only a few people read my blog or I'll be mortified. lol.)

I. CAN. DRIVE NOW!!! Well, slightly. My mom still doesn't completely trust me with driving by myself. However, I've got car insurance!! I say give it a couple more goes behind the wheel and you'll see me whizzing on 280 in no time.

I feel so fat and lazy, but I don't want to exercise. Sigh. so sad. I do like badminton, but I hate those days where I just can't move/hit. Like, I'll swing my racket arm, and I can't get full power. Plus, I want to keep in good standing with my parents, and going out just about every day of this week won't do that. But I do want to get better in time for Smashapalooza at berkeley. -_- Badminton is an expensive sport. Diane spent $250 on birds yesterday and I'm going to buy the next set of birds after we use up this one. I spent $25 to string my racket a few weeks ago and I'm waiting on $22 from chris. After checking my bank accounts from which I've been steadily depleting money without replacement (no job...), I'm trying to limit my spending. BUT IT'S SO HARD :( So, I've been trying to put myself on a no-buy... or at least a limited-buy. lol. I think it's helping a bit with my money management. Like, when I actually do go shopping nowadays, I carefully look at what I'm buying to see if I really am going to wear it a lot and if I really do need it--otherwise I'm putting it down.

I think when I go looking for jobs... Tutoring would be a nice option. It'd be easy $. I kind of wish i'd stayed at SJCC just so I can tutor. haha. Hey, it's $15 an hour! I wonder if there's a tutoring thing at SJSU... I don't know. I don't really want to privately tutor, though.

Then again, it would be really fun to work with a friend. Like Thanh and I want to work at a restaurant together.. that would be fun :D No more retail. Well, retail is okay, but it's actually a pretty exhausting job. I just like the discounts... if I actually did use the discounts at Tommy Hilfiger more often.

ah.

june update

wow guys, I haven't blogged in the LONGEST time. Anyway, I'll make this nice and brief.


What have I been doing for the past month? Well, I had a summer class at SJCC in the afternoon. It was so awesome because for the past year I've been killing myself waking up early in the mornings to go to class (30 mins - 1 hour bus ride sucks) and for Oral Communications, I could wake up at noon!!! Awesome. Of course this totally messed up my nice sleep schedule, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.


I had an awesome professor for this class. She was really nice and fair and just overall very friendly (if you are going to take coms20 at SJCC, get Leslyn McCallum. Her classes fill up very quickly, so you'd have to hurry). I just really loved this class! I know I sound like a nerd but I don't care. I actually enjoyed writing and giving the speeches, and the activities in the class were really fun.

The people in my class were also really cool and interesting--totally not your typical classmates. For example, the guy who sat on my left is currently going through a three-year-long child custody settlement with the mother--a girl who he never even liked. The guy who sat on my right is a reformed gangster. The girl who sat at the table behind me was in drug rehab for a number of years and has been clean for three years. Fun, huh? I love my classmates! :D

For my informative speech topic, I actually gave a speech about perverts on public transit. I loved that speech :P Oddly enough, the inspiration came to me when I had a pervert encounter on the bus the day I had to write the speech.

So, the pervert encounter? Yeah, I was on my way to Walmart from SJCC to pick up some junk. So I'm sitting in the upper division of the bus, near the back. The bus stops to pick up some people, but I'm not paying any attention to them. Then I notice this 40-50 year old Indian dude who has taken a seat diagonally across from me. Normally I wouldn't have paid him any attention, but his entire body was turned around in his seat and facing my direction. My gaze flickers over to him and I see that his gaze is turned in my direction. Well. Okay, whatever. Maybe he's looking out the window. My attention flickers back to the view out the dirty window.


A little bit later, the bus stops to pick up a whole group of people. I'm taking up two seats, so I scoot over to the window seat to make room. Bad move. The Indian guy seizes the opportunity to claim the seat next to me, like he thought I was offering it to him or something. A tall, slightly chubby Asian guy about my age fills his vacated seat.

Hence begins the usual hitting-on proceedings (and this guy was being a LOT more obvious than most), except that unlike most other pervs, he takes up 1.5 seats. I'm scrunched as close to the window as I can get because he's basically invading my space and I don't want my leg to touch his (ew). I'm trying to make it as clear as possible that I'm super disgruntled and uncomfortable so he will go away.

So out of the corner of my eye, I'm aware of the Asian dude looking at us and getting up to move to another seat somewhere behind us--but I'm barely paying any attention to this because I'm so focused on staring resolutely out of the window and wishing for my stop to come. Then when I finally see my stop coming up, I make these not-so-subtle getting-off-the-bus movements (zipping my bag, hoisting it over my shoulder, etc.). Indian dude offers his hand for a handshake. I gingerly clasp his hand (out of politeness) once and let it fall. As I get off the bus, I see the chubby Asian guy sitting right behind the seat where the Indian dude and I were sitting. I don't know exactly why he chose to sit there--I was wondering why he chose another seat--and here are the possible reasons I came up with:

1. He saw the debacle and wanted to view it from a better vantage point. (Sort of like entertainment on TV. Sheesh, I hope not.)

2. He didn't like his seat and wanted the seat behind us. (Maybe, but generally no one takes those side-facing seats unless the whole bus is like packed. I sat in those seats a couple of times and every time I got thrown around whenever the bus jerked to a stop or accelerated quickly).

3. He saw what was happening and positioned himself behind us to intervene if the perv tried something beyond perv-ness and into perverted-ness. (Maybe he was genuinely a good guy! The Asian guy, not the perv dude.)

If it was because of #3, I would like to maybe thank him the next time I see him (which is probably never). Not keeping my hopes up.

Anyway, tons of girls get hit on when taking public transit. I'm glad to think that the majority of people on VTA are nice people, and there are only 1% or so of perverts.

So in my speech, I talked about:

1) Recognizing a perv. Note that VTA pervs are generally of the flirty type and not so much of the really creepy physical perverted types. I'm thinking it's because we're in the Bay Area. Heh. Anyway, most of the pervs I've seen are either in their twenties, or 40-50 years. And totally not to be racist, but they are usually Hispanic. I don't know why. Perv encounters don't just take place on buses and lightrails, but also at bus stops and just walking to bus stops. There's always some sort of association with public transit..lol.


2) Dealing with the perv, should there be a confrontation. Resist giving out personal information, such as phone # (never, never ever). Usually a perv confrontation begins with a request for my name. I find it's hard to lie about this, so I don't think giving your name is a big deal. And I always, always say that I'm taken, even if I'm not. This step particularly will save you a ton of grief. The perv will usually back off at least a little.

Out of all of my female friends, I find that I take public transit the most because I take it everywhere all year. So, I've found it particularly handy to carry around my pepper spray!! I found it for $8 at Walgreens completely by surprise. But honestly, if any girl decides to take public transit, she would be subject to a possible perv encounter. It's just so easy for pervs to pick up girls on public transit, ya know? Being forced to take public transit as I am now, I had to learn to deal with these pervs. They really aren't so bad--they're just being friendly and trying to pick up girls easily. But if they are clearly at least 40-50 years old, their jeans zipper is unzipped (...) and they offer to drive you somewhere... that's when caution should be taken.

Okay, enough about pervs. I got an A in the class! Yay. OH, SPEAKING ABOUT GRADES. I GOT AN A- IN ART HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DUDES, I worked my butt off for this stupid class (which I now, absurdly, love). I was so scared, heehee. Okay, here's an easy list view.


Color Theory: A
3D Concepts: A-
Art History: A- (whooOoOo!!)
Art 01 - pass.
Social Problems - dudes, I still have no idea. The prof is pretty absentminded, so grades are reeeaaally delayed. I have the feeling that I got a B, though. Oh well. Don't care.
Creative Writing - A




And for Fall semester, here are the classes I want to take and have signed up for (two are waitlisted):





I can't wait! Heehee. I'm afraid I might get overwhelmed with three studio classes, but I'm not going to have to worry about Piedmont badminton in the afternoons anymore. Now I'm taking BADMINTON on fridays! And I'll be joining the club. Funnn!




I've really been playing a lot of badminton these days at Smash City and once at Bintang. Like, Diane and I go about 2-3 times a week or so. It's pretty cool because we're both improving. Diane can get fast shots in the front a lot better, and I feel that I can move around a lot more.


I give the credit to Truman because I hecka pushed myself in that mixed game at Bintang with them. I felt so breathless (not tired breathless, but BREATHLESS breathless) and just so beat up after that game. I really felt like I gave it my all. Now I'm applying that same feeling to the games I play now...I hope. I'm thinking girls doubles with Diana or Jenny next semester, and mixed doubles with either Leo or Truman (if he needs a mixed girl).


Truman asked me to play mixed with him for the Berkeley tournament but I'd already said I was going to play with Mikey-poo! Darn. Oh well, I want to play with Mikey! I don't feel stressed out when I play with him. I'm thinking I want to play girls doubles with Meiyi for the tournament too, but I still have to ask her. We haven't played together in forever.





Pictures with Thannie from the little reunion get-together at Cataldi!

I love her! And that shopping day at B&BW was hilarious. This really nasty pumpkin lotion had erupted all over our COOL CITRUS BASIL bottles, which were all the way at the bottom of the big blue buckets. We hecka dug through all the mess to get to the bottles, and then we had to rinse them off at the sink. Haha. So obsessed...

-_- I was GOING to make this short and brief. oh well. I have so much to write about still (1. mini-reunion with ANDREW VO, 2. car insurance, 3. bipolar mom) but I honestly don't want to type any more. I shall resume tomorrow?

davis dual-meet

I have been having strange dreams lately.

1) Last week I dreamed that I painted a large depiction of a tulip. The colors of the tulip were monochrome and desaturated--sort of like sepia-toned. Apparently it was hanging in a student gallery in SJSU, and two wealthy old white women viewed it and loved it immediately--so much that they offered me $25,000 for it!!! lol. I was so happy and excited. Anyway, for some reason my family and the two women and I went out to eat at a fancy restaurant to celebrate my painting sale. Halfway through the dinner, my mom started badmouthing me to the old women. After hearing so much bad stuff about me, they decided not to buy my painting after all. :( :( :( :( :( :(:( :( :( :( :( what a horrible dream..haha.

2) Last night I dreamed that I was walking on the road. The beach was a distance off to my right, and the sky was an intense combination of colors-- bright reds, oranges, pinks, and purples all streaming into the dark blue of the night sky. It was a color explosion and I just had to take a picture... but unfortunately I didn't have my camera. I ran off to find it, which took forever... I ran back to the beach to take my pictures, and luckily the colors were still there, albeit a touch darker.

So... I guess we do dream in color!

Well, anyway.. yesterday I spent my Saturday with the SJSU badmin ppl for the Davis dual meet. It was actually not as bad as I thought; I met some pretty cool and nice people. I played mixed (changed at the last minute from singles) with a senior guy who covered a ton of my shots. heehee. We won that game. Then I played doubles with Jenny, which we lost. The girls weren't bad, but not undefeatable; Meiyi and I would probably have beaten them by just clearing to them. I guess Jenny and I were both still tired from our games--my mixed one, and her singles one. Overall, we lost 5-6 to Davis.

It's really tough switching from plastic to feather. I would smash the feather bird, and it'd go totally out or into the net. I would drop, and the feather bird wouldn't go over. I would clear, and it would go several feet out. Geez. Along with birdie difficulties and the fact that we play to 21 points, I feel like I'm a freshman JV player all over again. But oh well...

When we went home, I switched cars because I needed to get home earlier and Jenny was staying for a few more hours. It was such an awkward ride because 1) other than the driver guy, the other two girls basically ignored me, and 2) one girl kept talking the entire two hours, making snotty, rude comments about people driving next to us (there was a half-hour traffic jam). It was unbelievable. Maybe that's how she just is, but she was just... unbelievably immature and stuck on herself being better than anyone else. "Oh, my God. Is that guy listening to MEXICAN music?" (Why should you care what he listens to?) "I lost to a girl named Fanny. If I had a name like that, I'd change it immediately. Why the **** would you want to be called Fanny?" (Um, my cousin's name is Fanny. If you don't like it, move on. Geez.) "With a traffic jam this bad, there had better be an oil spill."

Two hours of torture listening to this girl spout her mouth like an arrogant ten-year-old kid...luckily I fell asleep for half an hour. I know I can't judge her after only two hours stuck in the same car with her, but she seriously gets on my nerves. Whatever. Maybe she's just callous like that. I have better people to talk to.

nearing the close

Finals are coming up... projects and papers are swarming in like crazy. I've got to put together two portfolios, finish my blog entries for art13 (not bad, these are kind of fun), complete two more art14 projects, one more art13 project, re-do another art13 proj, write two papers for social problems (these will be super easy), and write a 5-pg paper for art history (not so easy...).

I got an A- on my midterm for art history!!!! I'm especially happy because my professor said that if 1) we attend all lectures and 2) score a whole letter grade higher on the 2nd midterm than the 1st midterm, he will decrease the weight of the first midterm from 20% to 10%. Sorry if that was confusing.. but that just means my first midterm (a B-, ugh) will be worth less in my final grade! I totally was not expecting to get 91%... but technically I didn't really, heheh. I actually got 84%, but he curved it for our class to 88%, and THEN he brought up everyone's grades by 3% because he saw that the other classes did so poorly. Thus... 91% :D I guess all that studying really did help. But there's still the final, which is going to be much harder than the midterms... so I will be studying for the full week beforehand again, I guess? I don't think I will get an A overall, but at least I might be able to scrape a B+.

OMG GRRRRRRRRRR I KEEP GETTING A POP UP LIKE EVERY TEN MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It'll pop up RIGHT in the middle of my typing, so I'll miss a whole sentence of typing when that happens. Plus, it really slows down my computer when the stupid ad tries to pop up. WHERE'S MY POP UP BLOCKER

anyway.

I'm going to be playing doubles with Jenny and singles (ugh..........................) in the sjsu-davis meet on May 9th. dangit. I definitely don't mind playing doubles, but SINGLES? Hello incoming bagel...lol. I would play mixed instead of singles, but the positions are already taken and Danny's injured so he doesn't come to the practices. Oh well... more exercise for me, yeah??

my shirt!

a cool cloud

earn your respect.

Why does the Silver Creek assistant coach have to be such a butthead? I was watching GD #3 and BD #3, with my attention diverted to BD, when suddenly I hear him complaining loudly to the Silver Creek head coach lady, "What are they doing having such a long conversation?" I stare at him as he storms over to GD #3, who couldn't have been debating over service issues for THAT long (my attention had only just been diverted). He goes over to his girls, while I go over to Maria and Eileen to see what the problem was.

Maria tells me that one of the SC girls were serving in the wrong box, but they had disagreed. Then suddenly SC assistant coach starts saying, in a rude and arrogant tone, that the players should keep track of their own serving. He yells at the scorekeepers that they should pay attention to the game, and he angrily reprimands Maria and Eileen for not knowing if the opposing side has 13 or 14 points. He's screaming all of this, by the way. I wish I could say that I'd said something to him, that he was being totally rude and going way overboard, but my mind was blank with disbelief.

Why? What happened to civility, to respect? Is he trying to make himself look big and threatening so he'd feel a rush of power over everyone else? So insecure that he has to resort to belittling other people? Or is he really such a jerkwad?

Anyway, the dude storms over to the head coach lady and immediately begins to complain, LOUDLY, about Maria and Eileen and the whole situation. It was so stupid. The head coach just stood there listening to him. I couldn't believe how such a nice person like her could listen to him rant on and on about such a little thing. He didn't even bother to keep his voice down; just kept gesturing wildly and complaining at the top of his voice, RIGHT behind the GD #3 game.

Maria walks up to me and angrily asks me to tell him to shut up, because he's distracting them all. So I go over to the SC coaches and say to the dude, "Excuse me, could you please quiet down? My players are getting distracted." He whips his head around to look at me and snarls, "ALRIGHT, just HOLD ON."

How can the SC coach stand such a rude jerk?

^ BD #3. I wasn't really that intent on their game.. heh

Aaaaannyyway, pictures from last weekend's excursion to San Francisco's Legion of Honor.

^ gooooorgeous

^ i shall write my 5-pg paper on this painting

^ a golden sedan!!!

^ shopping

dirty hypocrite

Today's home game against Andrew Hill (we won, 10-5) would have been really fun if it hadn't been for one thing. Two, actually. Two of the assistant coaches (well, I'm only sure that one of them is the assistant coach, the other might have been his friend or something) from Silver Creek came to our game today.

I was watching Jessica's and Michelle's game when I noticed two guys wearing red standing a couple of yards from me. I thought, hmm.. these guys look kind of familiar. Where have I seen them before?

Then I was like, OH MY GOD, SILVER CREEK. The guy who must have a stick up his butt because he's so anal about rules is here. We can't kick them out even if we wanted to (and yes, we wanted to) because after all, the game is a public event. Spectators can come in and watch if they want. But they did more than spectate...details later. Apparently Silver Creek had a game with Indy today and lost 5-10 (hah), so the assistant coaches must have decided to come over to Piedmont and spy on spectate our game with Andrew Hill.

I suspect that the mean assistant coach (Red Jacket) looks down on me and Alex (me, especially) because we're in college, almost fresh out of high school. Dude, it's not like we can help our ages; would he rather have Alan here? Oh, actually, he probably would prefer Alan.. considering they're so much alike. 1) condescending w/ younger people 2) anal about rules 3) no respect for the other team 4) bad sportsmanship.

Want examples?

I was watching Camille and Mariah when Alex calls me over. Andrew Hill had called for a service judge for the mix#1 game, so he asks me to do it. I'm kind of unwilling because I've never done service judge before, but...okay, who else would do it, you know? As I get a chair and clipboard from Alex, Red Jacket comes over and asks me if I "know the rules for service." Um, I'm pretty sure I do know the rules, dude. Well, apparently I don't, because as I sit down in the chair and ready the clipboard (I've seen the Indy coach doing service judge for one of my games before, so I think I know what to do), I see Mary and Trung looking expectantly at me. I tell them to tuck in their shirts, forgetting that they've probably never had a service judge before. Okay, then Red Jacket comes over and tells me exasperatedly, "You've got to explain the rules to them." He, the assistant coach for Silver Creek, strides onto the court and proceeds to tell them to tuck in their shirts, faults, etc., while I stare at him in disbelief.

I might be overreacting, but I think he completely stepped out of line. He's allowed to be in the gym because it's a public event and spectators are allowed, but I don't think spectators can take it upon themselves to go onto the courts and did what Red Jacket just did. I'm actually shocked that Red Jacket would overlook this, seeing as he's so anal about rules and guidelines (he was the one who tapped his watch and yelled at me+aaron when we apparently went over the 90-second coaching session between the first set and the second of Chris's and Angela's game at Silver Creek). It would have been much more respectful (and much better sportsmanship) of him to have given me a short explanation of what I was to tell them, and then let me explain to them, instead of completely undermining me, since I'm the assistant coach for the HOME team. I mean, I know that the Silver Creek coach (Red Jacket is the assistant) is the chair for the whole MHAL league, but I really don't think Red Jacket should feel privileged enough to take things into his own hands.

This guy needs a good swift kick in the ...

[did I say anything? *whistles*]

After the game, I brought the chair and clipboard back to Sarah and we sat there and complained at length about the two Silver Creek assistants there. Right before Samuel and Aaron went to third set, we saw their two Andrew Hill opponents getting water a couple of yards from our table. Red Jacket strode over to them and began giving them advice in their game against Samuel and Aaron ("You should hit to blahblahblah"... I heard him, so you can't say that he was merely cheering them on).

Hey man, I didn't know spectators could give advice to players, even if they happen to be an assistant coach for another school. I didn't know coaches could give advice to players who are not even on the team for which they coach, even if the said coach happens to be connected to the chair of the entire badminton league. Watching Red Jacket conferring with the Andrew Hill coach... I felt like they both wanted to bring the Piedmont team down. I'm not going to make any claims that can possibly be used against me. This is just the feeling I took from this scene.

Cool! Hey, does that mean I can come to Silver Creek's home games now and help coach the players of the away team? not that I'd want to... just saying, as obviously Red Jacket would say it's okay. It might not be against the rules, but that is extremely bad sportsmanship. Red Jacket was completely belittling to me and Alex and the fact that he took advantage of the loopholes in the rules (which he inflicts upon others, yet bends for his own benefit) shows that he has extremely poor sportsmanship. I hope he understands this, though I really don't expect him to.

p.s. The fact that he graduated from Andrew Hill and helps coach them from time to time does give him incentive to help out the Andrew Hill players... but he forgoes his own careful administration of the rules. Only the coaches and captains from each team can coach their players. Note: FROM EACH TEAM. Red Jacket is neither the coach/captain from Andrew Hill nor Piedmont. He is the official assistant coach for Silver Creek. I would think that he would remember this rule because he's so anal about having only coaches/captains, not players, coach in other games.

the deteriorating team

People are dropping out of badminton like crazy. When I got to the practice, I was unpleasantly surprised by the small amount of people in the gym. Okay, there are a few people who have excused absences... but the team is seriously teeny. This is not good. The people who have quit are SENIORS, and high-lvled varsity players. What are they thinking... tsk tsk tsk. They can't take a few running practices? This is making me mad thinking about it. There are people who would give anything to be on the team, yet they got cut. Everyone who got on the team took up a spot on the 40-person team, pushing out someone else who might have wanted that spot. Now those seniors are just throwing away their positions, after being with the team for their past three years in high school. They're also letting down their teammates. The seniors who quit played in varsity doubles positions... the people who are affected most are their own partners. Thus, everyone has to be switched around and moved up.

I mean, I would understand if badminton were making their grades slip... but their reason for leaving is because they think they run too much in practice. Oh come on. This is the preseason and we're making people get in shape. They ran a whole month for TRYOUTS alone, and they quit now. What a waste. Oh well...it's their decision.

anyway.

Today I trained the mixed girls.. there were only three of them, so it was rather easy. I went through serving, dropping, killing, driving, etc. with them. It was really kind of fun. The only thingis that I wish I had more time with them-- I had to rush through everything, and I noticed that they needed more practice with the hitting, yet we had to move on with the new drill things. Hopefully next week we will be able to work with the doubles. I have a couple of drills in mind for the doubles people. The first game is coming up pretty quickly...

on the other hand. I love that it's still bright at 6pm :) love it.

badminton tryouts

Yesterday we had the final hitting tryouts for the badmin kids. It was fuuun. The freshman time slot was at 3-4, sophs from 4-6, and juniors/seniors from 6-7. The freshmen warmed up for a while, and then Alex started evaluating them one by one, with Aaron hitting opposite the freshman. It got to be really late (3:45 and still most of the freshmen hadn't been evaluated yet), so Sarah hit opposite half of the freshmen and I evaluated them. I think our grading was pretty fair because we assigned scores out of 5 (5 is excellent, and 1 is terrible) for clearing, dropping, net dropping, driving, smashing, and rallying each.

As expected, there were some who could only 'dink' the birdie; they received 1's. And then I yelled for Tim Ngo, and he started out with some good clears. I marked down a 5, thinking, "Hmm, his clears are good." Then I yelled for him to drop, and he did well. I put down a 4. And then when I yelled for him to smash, he was KILLING THE BIRD LIKE A FREAKING MONSTER. I put down a 6... LOL. And then when he and Sarah started rallying, he immediately smashed the birdie really hard and hit her. Geez. I was like, "OKAY alright already, you're done!! Go home!" lol. Crazy kid. Alex yelled, "We're cutting you! You're too good!" I heard later that he's a Bintang elite player and he's not allowed to go to Smash City.

Later, as Kimmy was putting together the list of freshmen who scored the highest, I noticed that some cool freshmen were cut... some of them because of MY evaluations :( Ah well...all's fair.

Then the sophomores came in, and they did their court challenges and stuff. We just meandered around and pigged out while we waited for them to finish their matches. lol. Sarah and I wandered outside of the gym into the little lobby area and saw all the juniors and seniors assembled there, waiting for 6pm to roll around. I walked outside to look at the rainbow, and CHRIS LOCKED ME OUT. grrr. So I made them open the door for me and I stole somebody's racket in retaliation. Turned out it was Samuel's, so he then retaliated by shoving me into the boys' bathroom. -___- I'VE BEEN INSIDE THERE WAY TOO MANY TIMES BEFORE! T__T (the first time was last year when Yuchii pushed me in and made me smell the nastiness and gunk of the guys bathroom...) I was pleasantly surprised by the clean and freshly-remodeled bathroom. The urinals had like little pink/red pillow things. Anyway, I was kind of grossed out, so Samuel and I both pushed against the door to get out, but someone was leaning against the outside. lol. STUPID.

But yeah... I don't think I mind their bathroom as much anymore. It's clean, no poop piles in the corner, the urinals are pretty, etc..

So then the juniors and seniors played their matches. Near the end, Vinh and Michelle challenged me and Alex to a game, so we played them. My hair was flopping all over the place because I'd forgotten a hair tie >_> Then Clinton and Kevin played us. GEEZ, they're insane. They both kept dropping and I kept missing them. lol. gahh. I was pleasantly surprised by how many smashes I could return, though... I think I just might have to thank Trevor for his help last semester. Alex and I lost 16-17... but we'll get them next time D:

It is SO sad cutting people :( You get used to seeing people around and assuming they'll be on the team, and suddenly they're not there anymore. I think a few exceptions have to be made for some people, however. We absolutely need them.

Individual interviews tomorrow with them; that shall be fun :)

Bwahaha this is so sad and mean. Found this somewhere.


anyway.

I had packed my bags beautifully last night, but I got to the locker room 5 mins before badminton and i'd forgotten to bring along my P.E. shorts!! ahh! Sucks. I had my badmin shoes, my laundered socks, my t-shirt, my new grip, racket, water, everything... but no shorts. And of course I can't play in my skirt. So I decided to skive off badminton and do homework in the library :( :( So bad. Oh well. A trip to Smash City will make up for 2 tardies/absences! The thing is, I think I need to make up like 4, because I keep running late for badminton. heheheh. I need to hit up Smash City.

At 12:30, I headed to English and we listened to some presentations. I got my in-class essay back...

WOOTWOOT!

So messy and nasty looking, but I still scraped a 92. :) :) :) :) I thought I'd gotten a B, or a C.

Then Spanish at 2:15. As usual, it was a long 3.5 hours... but we got our tests back. Luckily I'd managed to get 87/90 because I forgot some stupid accent marks.

I guess I need to focus on Stats a little bit--I mean, I got 45/53. ARGH. And I missed the supereasy problems, like accidentally computing combinations when I'm supposed to do permutations. That's 8th grade math!! ARGH!!! Luckily we have another test coming up, for which I must study.

Badminton is iffy - I'm going to have a B or a C if I don't get over to Smash City twice. LOL. Sad, huh? Karate -- I just need to memorize the seisan, but I suck at it. Microsoft Word - well, I'm on Chapter 2 and I have three more weeks to finish the book. I'll just have to do a chapter a day or something. Microsoft Excel - I just need to take the unit test. Then I can get my expert's qualification! :D

Tutoring was ok today. Lindsay felt so overwhelmed :( I guess I was going too fast. We just did review today, and I tried to go really slowly. Argh. Must keep myself in check next week.

Anyway, I was reading the SJCC newspaper today and here's what I saw:

LMAO that is SO sad. I would be so upset/embarrassed if I were on the SJCC football team.

"Agony is Finally Over; Jags football team ends its painful 3-7 season."

dude man, that's not exactly painful... painful is 0-10. I don't know why the journalism staff decided to write that; that's so mean! The newspaper has a lot of typos, too. They need Mr. Crowther as an adviser!

Off to do hw.

Come play badminton with me! I'll be free this Sunday :) anyone?

A great day!

Can this day get any better???

I woke up at 8, rushed, and got to the bus stop at 8:35 while the bus idled there at the stop. I ran onto the bus and the familiar bus driver was like "Don't worry, you still have some time" with a nice grin. Cool. So I sat down and watched movies/mv's on my ipod the whole trip, which was surprisingly fast. I looked up and the bus was already like 5 minutes away.

Badminton was awesooome. I got there right on time and with some time to spare. Unfortunately I had just missed witnessing Trevor trip over his own feet as he did footwork. sucks. Oh well. Then we played for like practically the whole time, and won all our games :) I had no idea why I couldn't smash at all. Like, I would smash, and Carl + his partner would drive my smash back at us. Ugh. And then after our games, Trevor and I "practiced" smashing... or rather he goaded me so I could work up some anger into a nice smash that would actually get past him. He kept returning my smashes with his racket between his legs. However, with one minute left of class, I got really frustrated, screamed, and smashed with everything I had. He couldn't return it :D bwahahaha.

And then after badmin, I went to the library to meet up with my group members for the English presentation. We got a key for a study room, and went up to the third floor. We discussed coordinating the presentation until 12:30, when we went to English. The first group that presented gave us candy for answering the questions :D My chocolate fix right there. Then we went up. It was kind of daunting because the first group that had went was pretty good, so we were all a little nervous. I presented my fallacy first, then Jenny, then Tipi. I guess our presentation was good; people actually answered our questions and laughed at our Youtube clips. Cool.

But the best part! We got back our take-home essays for A Separate Peace, and I actually got....














an A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!








an A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





YEAH!!!!! So cool. Pathetic really, I haven't gotten an A on an real English essay/paper ever since junior year. My professor asked me if she could make copies of my essay to show the class an example (with my name blacked out, of course). That made me pretty happy. I haven't felt smart since 8th grade. So sad, I know. At last, a decent essay!




Compare. Ugh, horrible.

At 4, I went running around the track and up/down the bleachers. Hace frio, but it was alright.


It was pretty sad; I died on the first lap. I stood there dying by the fence until I got mad at myself and ran around and around and around and up/down the bleachers. Total track time: less than 45 mins. I'm sadly out of shape.


All nasty and sweaty:


The prettiest time of the day.


Geezus. In my experience, college guys are so much more forward with girls than high-school guys. Seriously. In high school, I found that most guys are really subtle and won't tell girls straight-out that they like them, unless pressured by friends or after a period of time. In college, most guys flirt easily and obviously--sometimes as soon as a girl walks past them. It's kind of funny/annoying because it's so completely shallow. I mean, it's so hard to find out if someone you meet genuinely wants to be your friend, if they are obviously flirting. I guess that's why I support the idea that a good relationship begins with a good strong base of friendship. Relationships that start right off the bat --like within a week/month of meeting the person-- generally don't make it very far.

I wish this great day would never end. Alas, it seems to be coming to a close; i've got a ton of math hw to do!!





ETA: My mom went to Costco and bought SO many goodies! Two huge boxes of Cup Noodles, a huge box of fruit snacks, and cereal! yumyumyum

choices

I had an amusante jour avec Curtis today. no details :P No pics either, I didn't have my camera. :(

Anyway, on the way back from SC, I was thinking about what I should major/minor in! I mean, of course I'm going to major in graphic design, but then what about double majoring? Or double minoring? I'd love to work for a magazine!! Either writing or designing is fine. But then I'd also love to do work for a design firm. Or work in the sociology field. Or as a teacher. SO MANY OPTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Majors/minors I'm considering:

1. Graphic Design, BA or BFA
2. Mass Communications/Journalism
3. Sociology
4. Psychology
5. And teacher's credentials...dunno what specifications

SO MANY CHOICES!!!!! Sucks!!!! Maybe I can be a super-super-super senior. I don't mind not graduating with my class. Well, I don't mind now; I might mind later. lol.

Anyway, PEOPLE (COUGH) have been pressuring me to get a new racket, like the armortec or the whatever new one is called. Arcsaber? Sounds very.... uh... Inuyasha. Supposedly my old racket doesn't let me smash hard enough.

I don't know. I mean, of course I want to do better in badminton.. and smash harder! No one wants to play lower than their potential. But I've had my current silver racket for so long. It's been with me through the tough times: league finals, ccs, three years of varsity :( I even kiss it!!!! And paint it with nail polish after it's been painfully chipped. How can I give it up for a newer, shinier, more famous, worshipped, powerful, cliched-name racket?

This reminds me of Harry Potter! He was entitled to the most powerful and sought-after wand, but he chose his trusty and faithful old wand over that one.

But then again, change is good, right?

I don't know!!!