Epic & Getting to Know

Well. Survived the first week of school! What a crazy week.. I don't quite know what to say about it. It was what it was!

Living off-campus is different, but I'm pretty sure I like it better. It's a little bit less convenient. I now have to get up two hours before my classes to take the bus to campus and it takes about half-an hour to get home. It's okay. I do like relieving the feeling of not being at school all the time. It feels nicer, and I like the feeling of living in a real home.

School and life is as busy as ever. It's hard for me to believe that just last week, I was back home sleeping my days away. My brain is starting to work hard again, and I really hope that it speeds up soon. I need it! I know that I haven't been functioning well these past couple of days, but I believe that had something to do with the lack of proper sleep as well though.

Tonight, PCE had it's first event, inviting new members to our club called "Getting to Know." It's basically a social and gave a little preview of what's to come. I met a lot of new people, but I probably can't remember a lot of them yet. Hopefully I'll see them around more and I'll remember them soon! It's so exciting! I just wish that I could do all the things that I did last year (and probably more), but the pressure is on and I realize that I can't keep putting off my studies for more social time. It's a lot of fun though! We'll see how it goes. I would probably be really tired all the time, but it was really fun last year! I don't regret doing everything last year, but it's time to grow up a little bit more and pick and choose which events are worth going to.

First days of school

I can't believe it's my third year in college! Even though it's only been two years, I feel like it's been so much longer! Is that a good thing or not? Eep.

I say it's a good thing. Looking back on my past two years, I feel like I've been able to do a lot. It's definitely been a very full two years and I'm about to start another one. It's been a crazy blur but a very fun one!

I'm starting school tomorrow! I should really be sleeping but I'm filled with excitement and worries that I might forget something. Hoping to get an early start tomorrow though. Get things ready for the new quarter. It's looking like a tough one, class-wise, but definitely looking forward to being busy and productive again!

Okay so..

I really don't want to complain about anything, but I guess this will be more of a 'what makes me really sad' post.

It makes me really sad living off-campus without a car. Even though my roommates and my friends all have cars, it's so inconvenient not having my own. If I need to go out to run errands of my own or need to be somewhere, I don't want to ask them to take me, especially if they don't need to be there. I feel so bad! All my roomies have boyfriends too, so they're not home too often. I knew this was coming, that I'd be home by myself a lot. I just didn't expect that I wouldn't be able to go out when I wanted.

So.. here's to the many days and nights spent inside my room! Pictures soon! I'm still tidying up. =]

Oh man

Lesson learned. Don't upgrade to iTunes 9 or iPhone 3.1 just yet. O jeez.

I'm afraid that if I sleep now, I won't wake up in time to pack my things up for SLO in the morning. But I guess if I put it off longer, I might crash even harder later on.

Farewell to my family and friends back home! I hope to see you soon! I'll try to keep this blog updated as much as I can. I'm a little tired for a long post right now. =/ Hopefully tomorrow night!

Because this song makes me feel good

while I'm trying to fix this mess that I'm in.. updating my brother's iPhone...

Wanna be starting something

Tomorrow, I'll be away for a weekend at the beach with this year's staff! No phones, no Internet. I'll have my laptop with me though. I have those privileges this year! It should be a nice break from being unplugged as well.

This past week has been fun, being able to chill with friends before the hectic and demanding schedule of the school year starts. I'm still settling into my house and my room, but it's been great so far! It's nice having a place off-campus. Surprisingly enough, my friends and I still live close to each other, which is nice! Not too close but not too far away as well.

We also got Cable and Internet on Tuesday and the TV has been on all week all day. It kind of makes me sad, actually, to have such things. The two days that I was here without being plugged in was nice. People were over and we didn't need such things to have a decent conversation. I guess our conversations still remain the same, but background noise just increased. I must admit, though, that the Internet helps us communicate with others in a faster way.

Well, what do I have coming up this weekend? Staff retreat with lots of fun and bonding! It should be great and I'm getting really psyched for this year to come, in terms of PCE. Afterwards, I'll be back home for a week to spend just a little more time with family and hometown friends. :)

And so it begins...

Tomorrow, or later today I should say, I'll be going back to San Luis Obispo for more than a weekend visit. Though I'll be coming back home soon after a week away, I'd like to say that this is when my third year of college will start to commence. A lot has changed, and more will continue to take place. I'd like to say that I've learned a lot from the past two years of college, but I know there is still more to learn.

Even though I'm not quite moving away just yet (I still have a few more trips back and forth before I go home for a while), I'm feeling more like I did back in the summer before college: excited to go to school and experience new things, but sad to leave friends and family behind. I really wish everyone I know and love just lived in the same place! But right now, I'm letting everyone go their separate ways, as I should be doing as well.

Let's meet again, in one year. I'll try to post more during the year!

Something that I want to try soon

Homemade Ice Cream with One Ingredient

courtesy of The Kitchn, sister site of Apartment Therapy

<3

34 A recent find

Okay... I keep way too much stuff from the past to not make a scrapbook. I only wish that I had started it earlier! Omygoodness. -_-

We recently moved and I'm trying to unpack all of the boxes that I have in my room. I'm uncovering a lot of things that I've kept all the way from elementary school. I'm a pack-rat and I have a problem. I love keeping things that may not necessarily be important, but I keep them anyways. I have collections of old letters, postcards, and birthday greetings. I keep all of my movie stubs and fortune cookie fortunes, no matter how silly they are. I keep all kinds of ticket stubs and airplane tickets and stickers that I like... I keep some old homework assignments and projects because I remember I worked so hard on them. But now, they aren't useful to me. I no longer need to know about every single section of the Constitution or every department of the government or the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Yet I can't seem to throw them away... What should I do with them though? =/

33 Definitely bookmark this

www.wolframalpha.com

I think it's a nice link for reference. It's kind of like Wikipedia and Google combined. You can perform calculations and find out quick little tidbits about anything. Look up your birthday and find out exactly how long you've been living! You can also find out what your expected lifespan would be, but I forget how to do so... When I find that other link where I found out about Wolfram Alpha, I'll be sure to post it up! :)

32 Update

Yesterday, my mom and I went out to the mall to get our free mini facial at Origins. I guess that it wasn't a limited time promo. They had small postcards at the cashier area advertising free mini facials everyday and another one for a free mini spa day with an option to get your make-up done! I sort of wish that we had gone for the mini spa day instead, but it's alright. My mom was right and they of course sold us things. I made it out without opening my wallet, but my mom didn't! We came out with a facial scrub and mask, but also with refreshed faces. It was a nice, little relaxing treatment to get in the middle of the week. Gotta hand it to my mom though, to be polite and give them some business in exchange for their mini service.

Another free thing!

Not sure how many of you are coffee lovers, but in case you are, get a free sample!

Some friendly notes about signing up for things online, or at least here's what I do:

- Use a nickname or a fake name. Some forms check the length of the last/first name, so I usually go for two letters for my last name instead of an initial.

- For e-mails, use a fake e-mail, making sure there's an "@" symbol and a ".com" or ".net" or whichever. Or if they verify e-mail addresses, use an e-mail address that you don't mind getting junk mail in, or make a new one.

- Don't check the box that asks you if you would like to receive more information/future offers (unless you do want to hear more from them).

- Don't type in your phone number. I don't know about you, but I don't like getting random calls on my cell phone about promos. I'm just a little wary of getting calls from phone numbers that I don't know.

- If they ask you to sign up for other free offers, forget it. It's just a waste of time and you'll just end up with more junk than you want or need.

- Most importantly, never give away your social security number or credit card numbers if you're supposed to be getting a freebie!

Hope that helps! I apologize that I'm not posting up free offers everyday. This is just a blog for fun and not completely dedicated to finding free things. I assure you that there are many other blogs that do just that. It's just up to you to find it! I'll make sure to post ones that I like. :)

31 Oh, Recession...

Inspired by a recent Tyra Show that my sister saved, I've been looking around to see if I truly can live my life accumulating free things and free services. As I browse through the Internet and get free stuff, I'll post about them and share the "wealth."

In the past few days, here's what I've accumulated:

- a free T-shirt from Yogurtland -- they had a grand opening here in San Ramon and my friends and I lined up early to score one. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the T-shirts, they ran out of normal adult sizes. My sister and I ended up with youth mediums, which fits her perfectly. I'll have to do something else with mine, haha.

- a free pint of Starbucks ice cream -- they had a promo over Facebook and were giving out coupons for free ice cream. Sorry if you didn't see it! It was a while ago and I could only send out one. I sent it to my mom. :)

Until August 3, Origins is giving away free mini facials! I called the store nearest us today and scheduled an appointment for me and my mom on Wednesday! She's pessimistic and says that they'll probably try to sell us some stuff, which is probably true, but I'd just like to get my free mini facial. We'll see if I can make it through without taking my wallet out!

McDonald's also gives away free ice Mocha samples on Mondays, but I'm not sure if the ones nearest us are participating stores. =/

30 Trying to refrain

Oh how quickly the weeks go by... Trying to figure out what I'd like to do with my time during the summer. I guess it's nice to lounge around, but I don't think I'm the type to do that, at least not for extended periods of time. I should stop... haha, random post.

Currently reading

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

It was a hard decision to put the book down! I would still be reading it if I didn't start to feel bad. I was up at 2 reading very slowly when I could be packing up all the junk in my room like I meant to do all weekend.

Enjoying the read so far and amazed at how quickly I got engrossed in the book and the man's life and accomplishments. Blogging to say I'm still alive despite my reclusion away from the outside world!

My iPhone has taken over

Wow this is amazing. So long as I have Wi-Fi, I can pretty much do all that I do online on my iPhone! There seems to be an app for everything... Twitter, AIM, Facebook, ... I can pretty much use anything Google ... Now I can blog too?? Haha. Oh technology... How easy it is for you to keep me at one spot for endless hours at a time...

26 Some time...

... for total and internal reflection. Thank you for your support, especially to those that I've been talking to lately. I swear I'm okay! I've just lost focus and need to regain it back. You know how it goes. =]

25 Is it really me?

It's been about a year since the idea of once again keeping up a blog came about, but in all honesty, this hasn't been updated as much as it should've been. I'm starting to wonder whether I should continue with this blog. I've been so busy and I wish that I could've documented everything that's happened. At the same time, and I know this is weird to say, I wonder if my thoughts and experiences are even worth documenting. I think this is one of the reasons why I haven't been able to keep up with one blog throughout these years. Even though all the thoughts I've sent out to the world are mine and mine alone, there's some part of me that feels like such a poser, as though I'm only doing things so that I feel like I'm part of something cool. I feel like I'm just imitating thoughts and art that I see instead of learning from them and creating something that is mine.

And so summer begins. This is really the first time in a while that I've been able to sit down and reflect with a keyboard and a piece of electronic paper.

24 Getting back

These last few weeks has been a rollercoaster. Actually, this whole year has... Sorry that I'm so vague right now. I only do so because I don't have much time to write it all out right now. I'll come back to revisit though.

I just feel like school should just end now. I deserve summer vacation after these past crazy weeks.. haha. But anyway, I'm seeking for advice. How do I get myself back into school mode?? This weekend has been filled with BBQs, pancakes, and sleep, something I've been lacking. But now how do I stop?? It seems now that I've relearned how, I can't keep myself in a living state!

23 20th Annual PCN

22 4 AM Unsucessful unraveling

don't hide behind that camera lens.

you may see the world from a different perspective,

often times drawing from a more positive light

than those around us.

please don't lose it.

keep that iso setting on high.

other people see life in black and white

and never get around to developing their negatives,

but you, you see the world in full color,

so vivid and never ending

with just enough contrast to distinguish each color

and blend them together to create something unique.

don't hide behind that camera lens.

despite all the bright flashing lights emerging from your little machine, people aren't blind.

they can see you, just as you see them,

even when you think they're not looking back in your direction.

i can see you, just as you see me,

though in a light that's different from yours.

i see you and all your genuine colors,

your various tones and peculiar shades,

hidden from everyone, even from yourself.

they blend together to create one

and expresses an indescribable beauty.

don't be afraid to be placed on the other side of the lens,

to be the object of subjectivity.

you are life and life is art,

and it never ceases to create something unique,

like you.

21 The Light

Ah. I truly want to talk about my Spring break, but I know that it will take me forever to do so. Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

We visited the Grand Canyon! It was truly amazing to see. I hope to come back again and see it from the view of the river. =]

Before we left, we visited my brother in San Francisco for his portfolio showing. He graduated! Yay!

He's so handsome! I'm so proud of him. ahha. I look horrible in the picture, having been sunburnt and darkened from the previous weekend. =_= So sad.

Well, I'm back at school. While I'm excited to start a new quarter, I can't believe how tired I already am. It's crunch time for our upcoming Pilipino Cultural Night and there's still a lot of things to do. I'm already starting to stress out, but I'm pushing through! I'm not too tired yet. Come to our show!! It's on April 17 and 18. Please send me a message if you can come down for the weekend!!

At this point in my life, I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do, realizing my goals in life. I'm also feeling more comfortable with myself and understanding my personality better. I know what I do and don't enjoy. Yes, it's good to explore and try new things, and if I like it I'll continue with it. I'm really grateful for good friends and family. I love how they understand and I'm glad to hear from them that I do have my head on straight and that it sounds like I'm thinking through things the right way. <3

20 I should be packing

I should be excited for this trip, but I don't know what to expect. Though that should just add to the fun of it, I guess I'm starting to expect for it to be just like our other Vegas trips where we spend most of our time doing nothing inside the hotel room. Mm.

I've been a little pessimistic lately. I don't mean to, but it's really just within myself. I'm at a loss once again. I think this happens every time I go on break when I find myself having free time, enough to contemplate about life and everything around me. I thought I had it all figured out for a while, but now, I don't know again. I don't know what I want to do in my life. It's weird to not have a set path. I guess you can say that I do: finish college, get a job, start a career. But there are so many detours that I can take along the way and I'm just having trouble figuring it all out. I also feel like there are so many things in my life that are holding me back. People can say "Don't let them," but they're important to me. =/

19 Time likes to pressure me

Ah, it's finally Spring Break. Though I welcome this time with open arms, I can't help but feel pressured for time at the same time. Most of my break will be spent at Vegas and Grand Canyon starting Wednesday night. I'm so excited, but I know I don't have much time to hang around and chill out with my hometown friends. Oh well, there will always be time for that later. I'm trying not to let it get to me. But we'll see.

I'm really trying not to let little things bother me as much, but I think I'm just having trouble sorting everything out. There are things that I just don't say out loud. They're unecessary thoughts, but they're still thoughts that sometimes just dwells inside. I wish I could compartmentalize a little better. Everything just comes together and combines into one big pile of mush.

Anyway.. goals check up:

• keep blog updated - well, doing my best.

• get fit - I got sick for a month and gave up last quarter. I know it shouldn't be an excuse! Plus this whole last week, I ate really unhealthily. I can feel myself being unfit. x_x I'm going to start back up in Spring. Hopefully I'll get my beach body by summer hahaha. But if anything, I just want to get stronger, for real.

• read books - fail! =[

• be more outgoing - oh goodness. I say I've been doing well on that. Besides going out on certain events, I've also been putting the effort in hanging out with people that I don't normally hang out with. It's been fun getting to know them more. Even if we're not doing anything in particular, you learn a lot just by observing sometimes.

• take more pictures - check! It's been fun and I love looking back at them =]

• better in school? - not sure yet. Classes were tougher than I expected and I'm still waiting on grades to come out. I'm starting to take it easier, even though I know I will end up being behind in my flowchart and it's getting harder to get classes now. I just want to take random classes or work towards a minor soon. I feel like college is going by too fast, and I just kind of need to slow it down a little bit. I want to be able to enjoy more of the little things and little moments.

18 Billy's Balloon

17 Since I last posted..

A few random trains of thought following an English midterm/final and a can of Monster I've been saving for that special occassion...

-----

Last week, I attended a SLO Film Festival event that they had on campus. They showed three short films at the library and they give out free tickets for on-campus residents (w00t!). So I got three but could only get one friend to come with me. "The Last Page" by Kevin Acevedo was my favorite. I'm not sure if it will ever be released online, or anywhere actually, so I'm sad that I can't share the film with friends. In the meantime, I'll continue to look for it.

This Friday, I hope to attend the festival again. It's so hard finding fellow art enthusiasts among my group of friends here at Cal Poly!! I guess it's expected when you're surrounded by engineers who seem to have a disagreeable attitude towards liberal arts.. Hopefully we'll be able to take a study break and watch "Love Conquers Paul,"which looks funny and interesting. I hope that it'll be an enjoyable enough experience that more people will come next time.

-----

Yesterday, I bowled the best game of my life, thus far. 117!! It's the first time I ever scored over a 100 and gotten strikes and spares! I always scored in the 30-50 range before. I improved so much with the help of my friend Ryan, who is currently taking Bowling and gave me tips throughout the afternoon. I was so excited; I had them print out my scores.

-----

A look into our classrooms... This was one of the classrooms where I spent 3 hours per week last quarter. 

It has no windows, so someone had to draw one in.

16 Untitled

15 Some time to reflect

Ah, I decided not to spend my free hour working on homework, so I'm writing this post... First, let me update you on what's happened. But where do I begin?

Long story short, I've pushed myself to a limit. Not the limit, but a limit. I first meant to say 'exhaustion' but it wasn't really. I guess it was some form of it. I've just had a tough quarter, though I didn't think that it would be at the beginning. It's just that so many things came up all at once two weeks ago. Midterms, labs, homework, club work, some work from home, drama, etc. I really think that I would've been fine had I not been ignoring my health for more than a month... I tend to do that a lot, I know. I bet other people do too. What can you do when everything else seems to be a much higher priority than yourself? But I've learned. Well, we'll see. I finally went to our health center last week and came out with a bag full of medication. I'm doing much better after sleeping in for two days (not in a row, but within the week) along with medicine. 

Some things that I've been aching to get out of my mind... just not having found the right person to talk with, though I've tried.

I'm trying to find a place to live next year, and I'm getting a little antsy about the decision that I need to make. I'm happy to live with my roommates now, don't get me wrong. And I probably wouldn't mind living with them again next year. I know how it is, what it's like, etc. It's just that I'm afraid that I'll end up not liking them/hating it. Sometimes I feel like it'd just be better to live with a stranger or by myself or just with people that I don't mind, if that made any sense.. So many things are changing around me and I just want a place where I can really feel at home. I know that I have places I can run to whenever I don't, but I also want to feel comfortable when I'm just by myself with my own stuff. I guess. Hmm. I don't know. I just want a sense of control, of ownership. I want to be able to walk around and do whatever without feeling like I'm in someone's way. I'll have to think about it some more and see what my options are.

It's been weird lately. Or I've been weird lately. It feels like I'm back in middle/high school, not knowing where the hell I fit in. There isn't one constant group of people that I hang out with. I mean, I guess you could say I hang out with PCE a lot, but there are so many "groups" that I can define within it. I know in my heart that it's good that I can hang out with so many different people, but at the same time, I feel like I don't quite strongly belong with any certain people. It's weird not having that sense of belongingness. There also aren't any people that I'm always with either. Like, you know how when you see one person, you automatically associate them with each other because you see them together all the time? There isn't anyone like that with me. It's just a weird feeling, to realize that I stand so alone amongst a big crowd of people that I know. It's good and it's bad. I'm just at a loss sometimes.

Staring into the camera faces

check out my sick dark eye circles...

14 Breakdown #1

Ah, so... I finally had my first breakdown of the year last Saturday night. Oh jeez... A great combination of friends drama, midterms, interviews stress, pressure from family, and being sick all came together and finally blew up in my face.

More details later. I'm about to go home from the library and I know that I should sleep when I get home.... We'll see if I end up doing that. Probably not, though I know that I should.

13 Varentine's

I'm so glad to be home! But at the same time really bummed that I missed out on my classes today! I missed my Psychology lecture and discussion, and I was so excited to go since my discussion teacher was presenting this week. Our lecture was on emotions and our discussion section supposedly talked about Craigslist personal ads. Ah, just in time for Valentine's. Alas, I missed a really cool lecture after a series of boring ones.

Anyways, I'm glad to be home. It feels so comfortable. I love lying down on my big, comfy bed. And it's so warm in my room. I haven't been home in a while. It's a little sad. It was a bit unfamiliar for me walking around my house in the middle of the night, trying to find the light switches. I had forgotten...

Looking back on my previous post... It's weird how I anticipated Valentine's so early on in the month. I guess I've been wondering how it'll go this year? I don't remember doing anything last year. Not like that's different from any other previous years..

I'm so excited for the weekend! I have so much to get done, but I'm really excited. Quick post, because I woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep. =]

12 Under the weather

I've been under the weather lately, but I've been keeping my spirits high! It's sad. I hate being sick, but I've been taking advantage of this in a different way. Since I've been sick, I've considerably slowed down with all of my activities. I'm missing out on PCE-related events this week (besides the one that we have coming up on Saturday) and I'm missing out on going to the gym (it's my second week and it makes me sad, but I have to get better!). Despite this, I took my time today to take advantage of what Cal Poly has to offer and attended school-wide events.

This week, Cal Poly is hosting a series of seminars and workshops around campus called "Focus the Nation." This year, it's about creating sustainable economies. I went to a workshop with some friends (and it was also a class assignment) and got some free tea that didn't come from tea leaves? It was yummy! Aside from that, I learned about a special type of block that people make and use to build houses in Thailand. I forgot what the block is specifically named, but they worked like Legos! The second part of that session also talked about the Real Food Challenge, issues on organic farming and how it should be promoted. With this session, I knew that all throughout my college career, sustainability will be a prevalent issue.

With the Real Food Challenge and reading Fast Food Nation, I feel like I know a lot about the food processing industry. I'm not really sure if it's affecting my diet now, but I'm sure that it will. But I have a feeling that if I continue to read such books, I'd eventually eliminate everything and limit myself to such small portions of organic food since it's expensive.

Another cool thing that Cal Poly has is our Multicultural Center. They promote diversity on campus and hopefully, I'll get the chance to work with them more later on in my college career. On the first Wednesday of every month, they put on a Poetry Slam show, usually featuring a poet who is of a certain ethnicity. I wasn't quite sure how to make that comprehensive, but here's an example. Because it's Black History Month for February, they featured a Black poet. They would do the same for the other months...

Tonight, I saw a poet named Prentice Powell. I didn't get to stay for the whole show, but I enjoyed his poems, as well as those who stood up for open mic. I knew a couple of people who went up for open mic and I applaud them! I wish I had something cool written out and the courage to do the same. hehe. It's also fun going to these shows because I find out more about friends who are into it too! It's really cool. I will leave you with a video, not from Prentice, but a classic Def Jam poem. =] + for Single Awareness Day coming up.

11 Video post!

Thought it would be easier if I made a video with a bunch of visuals and thought it would be faster than writing out my thoughts.... Sorry, I look SO crappy!

Some pictures though =]

NWC: The Race Show: http://nwclive.com/

We're the last ones to see the show with the original cast! Hopefully they'll continue the show or make it into a movie. It was a great show, about stereotypes and racism, debunking the myths about them. It's kind of hard to go into much detail. Through all the laughs, there was still a message that the only real race is the human race.

Amazon

I'm so excited for them! I really want to work for them. They have so many great opportunities that I could go with, if they decide to pick me, of course. I need to brush up on programming! Anyways, their software development internships are located at their Seattle headquarters. They pay for everything and room us all with each other! I think it'd be an awesome opportunity, to be able to live in Seattle and gain more experience bei

ng out on my own and working in the industry. I know, I feel like I'm going farther and farther away from home when I don't have to, but I need to learn. What's also great is that they have a subsidiary, CreateSpace.com, located in California. They have an office right here in San Luis Obispo, where a lot of Cal Poly students intern or work part time over school. I think that would be really awesome if it worked out that way.

These guys keep me at the top of my game. I hate them! Again, I look really bad haha, I was pretty sick that night... but I hope I still made a good impression. But they're the reason I went to the Career Fair and signed up for this dinner. I really wasn't looking for an internship for the summer. I was hoping to take a break and just stay for summer school. -_-

Culture Party:

Last night. It was really fun! But I'm glad I stayed home afterwards instead of going out. I really needed rest. My friend is so tall...

10 Mind poop

I have so much that I want to let out! It's not that I haven't been wanting to, but there just hasn't been any time or anyone to talk to really. Don't worry! It's not that I don't want to talk to you. I just haven't been able to. We're all busy, it's understandable. But be prepared for some mind poop, some time over the weekend. =) Sorry, it will probably be a long post.

9 Before I lose this feeling

Despite it having been quite a gloomy day today (weather-wise), I had a pretty bright day, so far. Things that made my day (I swear this list will be a short one):

• Went to Career Services today and got help on my resume. The lady that I met with was so nice! She helped me out a lot. She was so proud of me after looking at my resume! "I'm so proud of you right now! And I don't even know you!" haha. =) That made me feel better, after not knowing what to write down on my resume and being so unsure of myself and what I've done. Ah, that was just a great confidence boost.
• Met with my marketing group for PCN. It was a chill meeting, but I suppose it could've gone smoother... I didn't really have a set list of things to talk about, but we're doing something! I'm excited.
• Instead of working on homework and other things afterwards, I ended up tagging along with some friends in the hopes of being able to play around in the music room. People were practicing though so we couldn't. In the end, Ritchie and I just ended up playing around with the piano in one of the music rooms for half an hour. Time well spent! It was so fun. Both of us hadn't played in so long, so we were just playing random bits and making up songs or making up interpretive dances to Mozart's Sonata K. 545. hahaha ^^ I have a video, but I can't figure out how to get it onto my computer right now... =(

8 Physics and clutter

Ah, Thursday morning. Even though we have a short school week this week, I still have just as much, if not more, to think about. I'm going to stay up a little more to study for Physics, but for now, since I can't think straight, here's a list of random thoughts that have been going through my head these past couple of days.

• Wow, I have a lot to do.
• We have a black president! How crazy! It was really difficult to get a copy of the New York Times today, and I failed to do so.
• Job Fair is coming up soon. I need to work on my resume.
• I'm sitting with Amazon next week.
• I wish I understood physics better.
• I want to go shopping for a dress for Winter Formal. Am I even going? I don't know yet.
• I don't feel like I'm working on my school work as much as I'm supposed to.
• It's funny seeing other people stressed out. Everyone is starting to study for upcoming midterms and preparing for jobs and interviews. I used to be like that. I would always just stay home and study. I never went out to parties. Well, we'll see how my grades turn out this quarter.
• I think part of the reason why I'm not stressing out is because I don't really know what I want to do. I'm just going along for the ride.
• I'm now spending more time in the gym than at the library.
• My guy friends are starting to become really lame. They're never up for doing anything anymore. They're so anti. Anti girls, anti going out of their way to hang out with others. I associate it with laziness and being antisocial, but they like it. I'm kind of tired trying to change everyone's minds.
• I need to pay more attention to deadlines.
• I should apply for more scholarships.
• I don't think I can think about studying abroad right now. There's too much going on.
• I'm having a dilemma about being active in PCE and working on school. I know that I should really be more focused on school, and I hope that that still hasn't changed, but I just feel like it has. There's just so much to think about, but I really should prioritize and stop accepting more responsibility. If I continue to do so, I think I will eventually fall apart.
• I have a lot of goals this quarter. It's going alright so far. I'm managing my time, not too many nights spent staying up working yet. 
• Some relationships, I still feel are strained. But it's okay. For now. It's bad, I'm still angry sometimes, and I fuel it. But it's just thoughts. I'm more indifferent, or I say that I am.
• Looking at my calendar, I feel so accomplished, but I'm not really. I think it's just because I fill it up with stuff that I might need to know. 
• I want to watch Slumdog Millionaire, read and watch Coraline, and finish another book. It's kind of hard to get into a book right now, with so many other thoughts going through my mind.
• Valentine's day is coming up. Why am I even thinking of this when it's still three weeks away?
• I haven't reached my goals yet, and I know that I still have a long way to go. But I'm more hopeful now. I can see myself reaching it.
• I miss home, but I'll be back to visit soon enough! =)

7 Weekend in Pictures

Sorry, I haven't had time to blog. I sure have been thinking about it though. Just never had the time to write anything down. Here was my crazy weekend before I locked myself up in my room to do homework.

UTS & Jones @ Cayucos + playing with swings at the beach

View from not even halfway up Bishop's Peak, night hiking x_x

My favorite grade vortexes, oh jeez...

Hopefully more to come later! I know I always say this, but it's true...

6 Gentlemen

Quick update at 4:30 in the morning...

I'm currently in better spirits compared to my previous post. Thanks for checking up on me. =]

I recently caught up with my good friend Tam. I met him last year at the dorms and he still only lives down the hall from me. Even though we're even closer now, we see each other less. So this is the first time since I've talked to him in a while. It was nice to catch up with him. I missed those times when we would just hang out at each other's rooms and talk. I had forgotten how randoms our conversations are, but they would always flow. Not a lot of time wasted in silence. The topics would also vary from serious to light-hearted ones. It's different with him and I've missed that. 

Before we ended our talk (I was cleaning up and doing laundry), he went downstairs to the laundry room with me and came back up to drop me off at my room. I just thought that that was very courteous of him. From there, I continued to think about how some of my guy friends last year used to drop me off at my dorm hall's door when we said good-bye. Haha, it's so different now. Perhaps it's because we now live closer and it's inconvenient for them to come up simply to drop us off at our rooms. Oh well.  I wonder if it would ever be like that again.

Hopefully another update later with pictures! =]

5 Optimism

Back to school. Schedule is pretty tough, but the week is not over yet. Basically, I have three long days in a row but followed by two chill days. Oof. Well, workload is not quite certain yet. It's only the first week. We will see how this plays out...

Coming back to Cal Poly over this past weekend, I was filled with optimism and enthusiasm. I was so excited and kept thinking how this quarter will be so great. New classes, new teachers, new people to meet, a continuation of getting to know those I met last quarter... After two days of classes, I'm still excited but admittedly not as much as I used to be. It's weird how quickly emotions could change. But that's a different topic.

I want to accomplish so many things this quarter. I know that I'm being ambitious in all the activities that I want to participate in and all the work and effort that I want to put into my classes. I'm confident that I can handle it all and I'm being careful about choosing which projects I want to continue with or not. This quarter is already proving to be much different. I've been spending more time by myself. I told myself that that's what I wanted last quarter. It's a good thing. I want to be more independent and it's easier to get things done since I don't have to rely on others. But now, I'm spending a lot more time with my thoughts, which I've already decided is a bad thing. My thoughts so easily make their way to more serious matters or self-doubt and self-hate and I just end up sulking.

My question to you is how do you keep yourself in good spirits and optimistic?

4 SLOBound

Ahh! I will be heading back to San Luis Obispo sometime today. I don't think I'll have the time to write a real entry today, though I know that I will probably lie awake in my bed tonight, anxious for the next day's schedule. Ah, back to the busy life...

Well, I meant to put up a YouTube video on here, but embedding is disabled. So here's a link to a song that I think is cute. The video is cute too. =) Enjoy The Show!

3 End of break

Last night, a few of us went over to Teresa's house, and to our surprise, she laid out a fancy dinner for us!

She even wrote our full names on our cups! Thanks for a lovely dinner! Here's our chef in action along with a couple of pictures from our evening:

haha, Christine... <3

Teresa and I watched The Fountain yesterday. What a weird movie! There were some interesting concepts throughout, but we were both glad to have watched it in the comfort of our own homes where we could say things aloud. It was fun watching it with each other too so we could bounce ideas off of each other. haha.

Today, I finished The Mayor of Casterbridge and thus exceeding my goal to read a book over break. Haha, I finished two! Hooray! All in all, it was a good read. I was afraid that it might be boring at first, but so many others have recommended it that I just read on. I felt like I was following the main characters as though they were celebrities, as the background characters of the book probably had done.

Tomorrow, I go back to SLO, officially ending my break. I had a pretty good break overall. Rest from school is always welcome. There were quite a few things that I wasn't able to do, a few people that I wasn't able to see, but it's okay. I think I balanced my time between family, friends, and myself quite well. Getting together with people is always a problem over break. Everyone is doing their own thing and our paths don't cross as easily anymore. That's why I'm so grateful to have spent time with friends, even if only for a couple of hours. =)

2 Friday

Look! I'm keeping up with my resolutions, a second update this year! =)

For Christmas, I got a new digital camera. It's a Canon Powershot SD770IS. It is so nice and cute! Last night, I made a little case for it. Too bad it won't really protect my camera, but it's sort of cute, er at least I tried..

front view

back view

I wanted to make it look like my camera, but it just turned out kind of plain. I do like the button in the back, though, and I've fashioned the little "screen" in the back to be a small pocket to hold SD cards. Alas, there's my attempt at making cute things like Teresa. hehe.

Well, my winter break is nearing its end. I go back to school this Sunday. I'm not really ready to reflect yet. I think I'll save it for tomorrow's post. =)

Tonight, my friends and I are getting together for a movie night at Teresa's. Nothing's really quite set, but hopefully ice cream will be involved?? This will be the last time I'll get to see them for a while, especially Christine who'll be taken away by her Navy boy soon enough... hehe <3

1 Some resolutions...

Well, it's 2009. Can you believe it? How quickly time flies!

Of course, with the start of a new year, one should make some resolutions. So here are mine, in no particular order:

• Keep this blog updated
• Lose ten pounds! (haha)
• Get back into reading books
  
• Be more patient with others and myself
• Be more outgoing
• Optimism!
  
• Be less of a pack rat
• Learn how to make crêpes
• Do better in school (compared to last quarter x_x)
• Take more pictures =)
  
• Eat and live healthy

I have a lot more, but they are more specific to myself. Also, I'm not quite sure how to distinguish between goals and resolutions and things that I just need to do...

The reason why I've been losing sleep over break: PCE SLO
Oh man. This was a huge project. I always thought that it was going to be simple making a website for a club as I had previously done with Cal High NHS. But the difference was that I didn't have a team to work with on this one. Nevertheless, I feel pretty accomplished. By no means is it complete yet. There are still a couple of things that I'd like to change/add, but it's functional for now. I learned a lot!

For your viewing pleasure:
This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.