Well hello there guys =)
Been a while since I've posted here... But I've been working on this slideshow. It was a rather sad thing to look through the pictures from the year and see how long it took before I met all you guys... But there were lots of wonderful memories of which this video can only scrape the surface of.
It'll be a bit of a time commitment to watch...
-Alex
"Scarborough Fair/Canticle"
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt:
(On the side of a hill in the deep forest green)
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
(Tracing of sparrow on snow-crested ground)
Without no seams nor needlework,
(Blankets and bedclothes the child of the mountain)
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
(Sleeps unaware of the clarion call)
Tell her to find me an acre of land:
(On the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves)
Parsely, sage, rosemary and thyme;
(Washes the grave with so many tears)
Between the salt water and the sea strand,
(A soldier cleans and polishes a gun)
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather:
(War bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions)
Parsely, sage, rosemary and thyme
(Generals order their soldiers to kill)
And gather it all in a bunch of heather,
(And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten)
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.
I'm sure most of you have heard this song by Simon and Garfunkel; if you haven't, please find it. I've always loved it, thinking it quite beautiful, but I feel that I'm only just discovering it now. I realized that the main lyrics (the ones not in parentheses) are underscoring the impossibility that she will ever be his true love, because the requests he makes are impossible to fulfill. How is it possible to make a shirt without using needlework or seams? How can land be between the saltwater and the sea strand? It can't happen.
Also, I finally bothered to look up the lyrics, since it's hard to understand the parentheses sometimes (they're so layered with everything else). And, suddenly, the song is an anti-war song! They gradually turn it into that, too--they start with lines that elaborate upon the requests, and then through the use of "silvery tears," they can suddenly talk about the atrocities of war.
Newfound respect for these guys...
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt:
(On the side of a hill in the deep forest green)
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
(Tracing of sparrow on snow-crested ground)
Without no seams nor needlework,
(Blankets and bedclothes the child of the mountain)
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
(Sleeps unaware of the clarion call)
Tell her to find me an acre of land:
(On the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves)
Parsely, sage, rosemary and thyme;
(Washes the grave with so many tears)
Between the salt water and the sea strand,
(A soldier cleans and polishes a gun)
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather:
(War bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions)
Parsely, sage, rosemary and thyme
(Generals order their soldiers to kill)
And gather it all in a bunch of heather,
(And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten)
Then she'll be a true love of mine.
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.
I'm sure most of you have heard this song by Simon and Garfunkel; if you haven't, please find it. I've always loved it, thinking it quite beautiful, but I feel that I'm only just discovering it now. I realized that the main lyrics (the ones not in parentheses) are underscoring the impossibility that she will ever be his true love, because the requests he makes are impossible to fulfill. How is it possible to make a shirt without using needlework or seams? How can land be between the saltwater and the sea strand? It can't happen.
Also, I finally bothered to look up the lyrics, since it's hard to understand the parentheses sometimes (they're so layered with everything else). And, suddenly, the song is an anti-war song! They gradually turn it into that, too--they start with lines that elaborate upon the requests, and then through the use of "silvery tears," they can suddenly talk about the atrocities of war.
Newfound respect for these guys...
HEY KIDS.
SO I'm sorry about not responding to emails and stuff, I've been really sick! I was in the hospital all night (which was brilliant, they were wondering why my arm was going numb and the IV wasn't working; turns out a nurse left the tourniquet on FOR LIKE TWO HOURS and I couldn't feel anything anyway so it was like way to go, lady).
I've mostly spent my time cooking. My mom's birthday party was a couple days ago, so in three days I made:
- TWO BUTTERMILK CAKES. One had raspberries and blackberries and the other was just strawberries since I was just raiding the fridge anyway. Making buttermilk from scratch can be annoying (I thought about just making butter and using the runoff for the buttermilk but decided that was a little time consuming) but it all turned out OK. This was mostly because my internet and phones were out so I had nothing to do but bake.
I guess I could have read something.
Nah.
Anyway this shit's really easy and quick to make so if you want to know how to make it, I could hook you guys up with a recipe.
- SHRIMP COCONUT SOUP. This shit was delicious but I put in a little too much lime so it was a little bit weird to the younger kids, but the adults-- er-- ate it right up, or whatever. It's really funny watching shrimp turn pink when you're boiling them because when they're all blue and grey they look so foreign.
- VEGAN/GLUTEN FREE CARROT CAKE. I didn't even need to make it gluten free cause my aunt with celiac disease never showed up. I just worked with this one recipe I know for a carrot cake that doesn't use butter... It was really weird dough though and I was surprised it turned into a cake at all. It wasn't all that sweet and I thought using rice flour would have helped that, but I still think it needed more sugar. The rice flour definitely helped on the spongy front though so at least there's that.
- GINGER/GARLIC CHICKEN IN PEANUT SAUCE. Shit was delicious. Making peanut sauce from scratch is really gross though, and I would not really suggest it unless you are OK with smelling vinegar for days after the fact. I will admit that it tastes great when it's fresh, though.
ANYWAY NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT MY CULINARY EXPLOITS
Okay so I know it's terrible, but when MJ died my first concern was with the Beatles' song rights. I'm sure it must break Paul's little heart to hear some bullshit muzak version of Hello Goodbye playing over a Target commercial with some dumbass woman lazily chirping along. It's especially hurtful because MJ effectively stole them from Paul by doing the real-world equivalent of eBay sniping, so I think I'm still pretty bitter about that, especially since MJ and Paul were pretty close before that.
WHY, MJ, WHY?
I've mostly spent my time cooking. My mom's birthday party was a couple days ago, so in three days I made:
- TWO BUTTERMILK CAKES. One had raspberries and blackberries and the other was just strawberries since I was just raiding the fridge anyway. Making buttermilk from scratch can be annoying (I thought about just making butter and using the runoff for the buttermilk but decided that was a little time consuming) but it all turned out OK. This was mostly because my internet and phones were out so I had nothing to do but bake.
I guess I could have read something.
Nah.
Anyway this shit's really easy and quick to make so if you want to know how to make it, I could hook you guys up with a recipe.
- SHRIMP COCONUT SOUP. This shit was delicious but I put in a little too much lime so it was a little bit weird to the younger kids, but the adults-- er-- ate it right up, or whatever. It's really funny watching shrimp turn pink when you're boiling them because when they're all blue and grey they look so foreign.
- VEGAN/GLUTEN FREE CARROT CAKE. I didn't even need to make it gluten free cause my aunt with celiac disease never showed up. I just worked with this one recipe I know for a carrot cake that doesn't use butter... It was really weird dough though and I was surprised it turned into a cake at all. It wasn't all that sweet and I thought using rice flour would have helped that, but I still think it needed more sugar. The rice flour definitely helped on the spongy front though so at least there's that.
- GINGER/GARLIC CHICKEN IN PEANUT SAUCE. Shit was delicious. Making peanut sauce from scratch is really gross though, and I would not really suggest it unless you are OK with smelling vinegar for days after the fact. I will admit that it tastes great when it's fresh, though.
ANYWAY NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT MY CULINARY EXPLOITS
Okay so I know it's terrible, but when MJ died my first concern was with the Beatles' song rights. I'm sure it must break Paul's little heart to hear some bullshit muzak version of Hello Goodbye playing over a Target commercial with some dumbass woman lazily chirping along. It's especially hurtful because MJ effectively stole them from Paul by doing the real-world equivalent of eBay sniping, so I think I'm still pretty bitter about that, especially since MJ and Paul were pretty close before that.
WHY, MJ, WHY?So I'm in the hospital, right, and this generally stoic nurse comes in and he's like "are you feeling better?" and at this point I'm high as shit on the IV painkiller they gave me, so sure, I'm feeling better, capitan. I'm not feeling a whole lot, but I guess better counts as something. And he's all like, "okay, man, I got a joke for you. I just made it up. It's a BRAND NEW JOKE. Do you want to hear it?"
Shit, man, I'm pretty much tethered to the goddamn bed. Even if I didn't want to hear it, trying to get away would risk
a) yanking the IV out of my arm resulting in a saline-and-blood geyser (THIS IS NOT AS FUN AS IT SOUNDS)
b) rolling onto the floor anyway since I can hardly keep my head in the air let alone my feet on the ground
c) letting the entire hospital see my ass since I've failed to the tie the back of my lovely dressing gown
So of course I said "sure."
"Okay. So Farrah Fawcett dies. She goes to Heaven, and St. Peter says she's lived a good life and been a good person so she gets a request. She says, Well, I want all the children of the world to be safe! So God kills Michael Jackson."
There is a pause. It is a tangible pause. It is a delay not just in my thought process but in time itself, and for that devilishly long moment-- to quote The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, which I will get to in a moment-- "no one spoke, no one moved, no one made a sound."
I consider joing Farrah and Michael.
Then it happens.
First the side of his mouth just curls a little bit, which is harmless enough, but that innocuous movement grew into this wretched, wry smile, and pretty soon he is sporting a shit-eating grin, and making a sound that my drug-riddled mind can't understand.
He is laughing at his own fucking joke.
He is the only one laughing, and he's laughing at his own joke, which makes me laugh, which is also a weird sound because I am high and exhausted and my head feels a little bit weird because I'm severely dehydrated so my mom starts laughing and pretty soon this guy thinks he's the funniest bastard on the face of the earth.
In retrospect, the saline-and-blood geyser doesn't sound so bad.
ANYWAY.
So the Mighty Mighty Bosstones (the only band I've consistently listened to my entire life is of course a ska band since I try too hard to reject the indie label) are playing a reunion show in Seattle next month. I'm taking Sam to go see them with me which I'm really excited about! They are good.
I am working on setting up my old music blog again (also with Sam) so I'll let you know when that's up. No matter what you listen to, you'll find something good with us, because between the two of us we span every genre (except thrash metal but I don't think you guys are into it either), and we like talking shit about pop culture (even though we're its biggest fans) so it should be a blast.
I forget how delicious solid food is.
Also have you guys seen the new back of the Sacagewea? It's hilarious. It's like, this Native woman gingerly catering to some plants. Probably corn or tobacco or some shit. She's sprinkling them with something out of her hand. I think we are supposed to assume she's planting something, but it's like, lady, you are in a field full of already-grown plants, are you stupid? And she's like nah, just let me get this last thing.
It's pretty funny looking.
I've talked too much so I'll leave you guys to your vices (in rare cases, virtues).
Oh, and Trytko, lemme know what you thought about Hedwig.
Shit, man, I'm pretty much tethered to the goddamn bed. Even if I didn't want to hear it, trying to get away would risk
a) yanking the IV out of my arm resulting in a saline-and-blood geyser (THIS IS NOT AS FUN AS IT SOUNDS)
b) rolling onto the floor anyway since I can hardly keep my head in the air let alone my feet on the ground
c) letting the entire hospital see my ass since I've failed to the tie the back of my lovely dressing gown
So of course I said "sure."
"Okay. So Farrah Fawcett dies. She goes to Heaven, and St. Peter says she's lived a good life and been a good person so she gets a request. She says, Well, I want all the children of the world to be safe! So God kills Michael Jackson."
There is a pause. It is a tangible pause. It is a delay not just in my thought process but in time itself, and for that devilishly long moment-- to quote The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, which I will get to in a moment-- "no one spoke, no one moved, no one made a sound."
I consider joing Farrah and Michael.
Then it happens.
First the side of his mouth just curls a little bit, which is harmless enough, but that innocuous movement grew into this wretched, wry smile, and pretty soon he is sporting a shit-eating grin, and making a sound that my drug-riddled mind can't understand.
He is laughing at his own fucking joke.
He is the only one laughing, and he's laughing at his own joke, which makes me laugh, which is also a weird sound because I am high and exhausted and my head feels a little bit weird because I'm severely dehydrated so my mom starts laughing and pretty soon this guy thinks he's the funniest bastard on the face of the earth.
In retrospect, the saline-and-blood geyser doesn't sound so bad.
ANYWAY.
So the Mighty Mighty Bosstones (the only band I've consistently listened to my entire life is of course a ska band since I try too hard to reject the indie label) are playing a reunion show in Seattle next month. I'm taking Sam to go see them with me which I'm really excited about! They are good.
I am working on setting up my old music blog again (also with Sam) so I'll let you know when that's up. No matter what you listen to, you'll find something good with us, because between the two of us we span every genre (except thrash metal but I don't think you guys are into it either), and we like talking shit about pop culture (even though we're its biggest fans) so it should be a blast.
I forget how delicious solid food is.
Also have you guys seen the new back of the Sacagewea? It's hilarious. It's like, this Native woman gingerly catering to some plants. Probably corn or tobacco or some shit. She's sprinkling them with something out of her hand. I think we are supposed to assume she's planting something, but it's like, lady, you are in a field full of already-grown plants, are you stupid? And she's like nah, just let me get this last thing.
It's pretty funny looking.
I've talked too much so I'll leave you guys to your vices (in rare cases, virtues).
Oh, and Trytko, lemme know what you thought about Hedwig.
The dentist, among other things
Yesterday I went to the dentist. It was actually rather fun, because my hygienist, Barb, is really friendly and talkative, and quite funny. She was excited to hear about the past year (she's very proud of the fact that I'm going to Stanford). She was giving me all sorts of advice about what careers I might consider. She settled on my being a college professor, because apparently by being a professor I get to live the good life (once I've gotten tenure, anyway)--summers off, being surrounded by smart people, getting a pension when I'm retired, etc. Barb also talks a lot about her kids. I think she sounds like a pretty good mom, but it's always hilarious to hear her accounts of her kids' meltdowns. I'm sure I know much more about them than they'd like. :D
Tomorrow is the rehearsal for that wedding I mentioned. I'm able to play most of the stuff pretty well; I'll be brushing up on it tonight and tomorrow morning. I just need to make sure it all takes up enough time. In addition to "Here Comes the Bride," I need approximately a half hour of music (15 minutes before and after the ceremony). But if I don't have quite enough, probably nobody will notice, or mind, if I play Bach's "Prelude in C" or "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" both before and after.
Also, for your interest, I took a couple of pictures of my house and my yard so you can see (as my aunt would say) "a bit of my world."
A front view of my house, which was built in 1907. That's our German Shepherd, Mikka, in the foreground.
A tree in my front yard. As you can see, we have a gravel driveway.
The view from my backyard.
Tomorrow is the rehearsal for that wedding I mentioned. I'm able to play most of the stuff pretty well; I'll be brushing up on it tonight and tomorrow morning. I just need to make sure it all takes up enough time. In addition to "Here Comes the Bride," I need approximately a half hour of music (15 minutes before and after the ceremony). But if I don't have quite enough, probably nobody will notice, or mind, if I play Bach's "Prelude in C" or "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" both before and after.
Also, for your interest, I took a couple of pictures of my house and my yard so you can see (as my aunt would say) "a bit of my world."
A front view of my house, which was built in 1907. That's our German Shepherd, Mikka, in the foreground.
A tree in my front yard. As you can see, we have a gravel driveway.
The view from my backyard.
Weird Without West Lag
Hi everyone! Sounds like everyone's having a fun and exciting summer.
I'm still on campus, living in Soto. It's weird not having anyone from Adelfa around ... I ran into Corey the other day though. In the gym. The bathrooms in Soto are definitely not as nice as West Lag.
Oh-- I went to Lakeside Dining for breakfast (because Manz dining doesn't open in time for me to get to class), and it was soooo weird not seeing West Lag people! And they had changed all the chairs and things. And then I walked by Adelfa and I felt like it was occupied by foreign invaders. Namely, high school kids at summer college or whatever.
Anyway, it's fun to read about everyone's life! La dee da...
I'm still on campus, living in Soto. It's weird not having anyone from Adelfa around ... I ran into Corey the other day though. In the gym. The bathrooms in Soto are definitely not as nice as West Lag.
Oh-- I went to Lakeside Dining for breakfast (because Manz dining doesn't open in time for me to get to class), and it was soooo weird not seeing West Lag people! And they had changed all the chairs and things. And then I walked by Adelfa and I felt like it was occupied by foreign invaders. Namely, high school kids at summer college or whatever.
Anyway, it's fun to read about everyone's life! La dee da...
scribner anthology of contemporary short fiction
(that is not what i would have chosen to title this post, but that's the title that blogger suggested, which amused me)
alex q. demanded that i post, so here goes. this past week i have...
- spent an evening watching taiwanese dramas with janice, my best friend from high school
- baked four batches of cookies
- reread the neverending story
- saw year one and ran into my best friend from elementary school at the theater
- got a tragic but beautiful postcard from mariel & trac
- been on the receiving end of an interesting phone serenade
- relived my childhood in photo albums
- discovered ben & jerry's half baked froyo
that list was once a lot longer, but then i read back over it and deleted everything that was depressing/cynical/me complaining. so the week hasnt exactly been amazing, but its had its good parts. and thank you to those of you who made me smile this week. also, i am having some of the aforementioned half baked froyo as i write this--it reminds me that the world is full of cookie dough and brownie swirls :)
alex q. demanded that i post, so here goes. this past week i have...
- spent an evening watching taiwanese dramas with janice, my best friend from high school
- baked four batches of cookies
- reread the neverending story
- saw year one and ran into my best friend from elementary school at the theater
- got a tragic but beautiful postcard from mariel & trac
- been on the receiving end of an interesting phone serenade
- relived my childhood in photo albums
- discovered ben & jerry's half baked froyo
that list was once a lot longer, but then i read back over it and deleted everything that was depressing/cynical/me complaining. so the week hasnt exactly been amazing, but its had its good parts. and thank you to those of you who made me smile this week. also, i am having some of the aforementioned half baked froyo as i write this--it reminds me that the world is full of cookie dough and brownie swirls :)
San Francisco
So, we've got relatives visiting this week, and sometimes when we have people visiting, we end up going to San Francisco to do 'the tourist thing'. We still enjoy it when we go, because we really don't go up there very much, even though we're right here. We really crammed the stuff in today - I'm not sure we've ever done so much in San Francisco in one day.
Started off in the morning, meeting Tyler in San Francisco on BART. We got on a cable car and took it to Lombard street. Walked down the stairs to the side of the street - I wanna drive down it some day. We got some lunch at a place which apparently has San Francisco's Finest Pizza. At least, that's what the sign said. There were eight of us, and not a single one got the pizza. Maybe we'll never know....
Then we (obviously) went to Ghirardelli for ice cream. It was goooood. My dad looked excited =P.
After Ghirardelli we headed to Coit tower. Interestingly enough, my dad has never been up there. We ended up taking a lot of the same stairs on the way down that we did when we were headed to Coit tower over spring break.
Walked to the Ferry Building and spent some time there - there's some pretty cool stuff in there. Sampled some goooood cheese (and a bad one, in my opinion...) and some really good olive oils.
Keeping busy, we then headed over to Chinatown, which was a lot of fun. Hard not to buy stuff there. One of the things I bought was a 'wisdom cap'. Expect to see more of this at Stanford. Maybe around finals time. I've offered my family a whole load of 'advice' tonight.
Walked through Little Italy on our way back to the Cable Car. Which didn't stop anyway, so we ended up walking all the way to the Powell BART station.
So... Cable Cars, Lombard, San Francisco's Finest Pizza (without the pizza), Ghirardelli, Coit Tower, Ferry Building, Chinatown, AND Little Italy, all in one day.
We decided to finish off the day splendidly with CHIPOTLE. But the FC Chipotle closes at 9:00, and we didn't get in to the Millbrae station until around 8:50 or so. Not to be deprived of our night's fine end though, my parents discovered that the Millbrae Chipotle is open until 10:00. Chyea. Mmmmmmm.
Started off in the morning, meeting Tyler in San Francisco on BART. We got on a cable car and took it to Lombard street. Walked down the stairs to the side of the street - I wanna drive down it some day. We got some lunch at a place which apparently has San Francisco's Finest Pizza. At least, that's what the sign said. There were eight of us, and not a single one got the pizza. Maybe we'll never know....
Then we (obviously) went to Ghirardelli for ice cream. It was goooood. My dad looked excited =P.
After Ghirardelli we headed to Coit tower. Interestingly enough, my dad has never been up there. We ended up taking a lot of the same stairs on the way down that we did when we were headed to Coit tower over spring break.
Walked to the Ferry Building and spent some time there - there's some pretty cool stuff in there. Sampled some goooood cheese (and a bad one, in my opinion...) and some really good olive oils.
Keeping busy, we then headed over to Chinatown, which was a lot of fun. Hard not to buy stuff there. One of the things I bought was a 'wisdom cap'. Expect to see more of this at Stanford. Maybe around finals time. I've offered my family a whole load of 'advice' tonight.
Walked through Little Italy on our way back to the Cable Car. Which didn't stop anyway, so we ended up walking all the way to the Powell BART station.
So... Cable Cars, Lombard, San Francisco's Finest Pizza (without the pizza), Ghirardelli, Coit Tower, Ferry Building, Chinatown, AND Little Italy, all in one day.
We decided to finish off the day splendidly with CHIPOTLE. But the FC Chipotle closes at 9:00, and we didn't get in to the Millbrae station until around 8:50 or so. Not to be deprived of our night's fine end though, my parents discovered that the Millbrae Chipotle is open until 10:00. Chyea. Mmmmmmm.
First Day of Work
first day of work today, as many of you apparently saw from my status :) it was quite awesome. got up at 8:45 and snoozed till 9:00 (going to bed right after this, i need sleep). work started at 9:30, where the new interns had an orientation for 2 hours. forms, company values, etc.. quite boring. but then we were compensated with "loot" - free copies of all of blizzard's popular games (probably around $200 value), 365 + 90 free days of world of warcraft (although i'm not interested in it, so rest assured my life stays untainted by it ;)), and a blizzard t-shirt (my favorite loot).
then i had lunch with my mentor, and then got to meet the team i'd be working with (a lot of awkward introductions XD none of us are eloquent orators). then i had to configure my computer and set up my new accounts for quite awhile, which was also tedious. at least i only have to do it once. then things became awesome when i got to actually start working, and when i got to play starcraft 2. i won't gush on details because they're uninteresting to you guys (plus it might violate my NDA) hahaha ;). but it was awesome.
i got a bunch of tasks i could work on for the summer, different programming jobs here and there that people were interested in pursuing but put on the backburner because they had to do other things, etc. so i just picked one to get started and started working on it for about two hours. if you stay at the company until 6, you get free dinner, so i did that because it's free and i have no meal plan (gasp, no mom or meal plan!).
once i got home i felt hungry, so i cooked up a fried egg on toast and 肉酥 (shredded pork, or pork floss). the toast came out perfect, which was awesome. the shredded pork was awesome too. but i cooked the egg without oil because i didn't have any.. bad idea. at least it cooked, but the pan got stuff stuck all over it. i managed to scrub it off, but i think i've learned my lesson XD tomorrow i'm going to get oil.
ps. i think we've written enough stuff on this blog to write about 40 pages. that's like 3 minimum-length rbas, or 1 of tia's rbas, and enough pages to write essays for tenyia for about... ten minutes :PP
then i had lunch with my mentor, and then got to meet the team i'd be working with (a lot of awkward introductions XD none of us are eloquent orators). then i had to configure my computer and set up my new accounts for quite awhile, which was also tedious. at least i only have to do it once. then things became awesome when i got to actually start working, and when i got to play starcraft 2. i won't gush on details because they're uninteresting to you guys (plus it might violate my NDA) hahaha ;). but it was awesome.
i got a bunch of tasks i could work on for the summer, different programming jobs here and there that people were interested in pursuing but put on the backburner because they had to do other things, etc. so i just picked one to get started and started working on it for about two hours. if you stay at the company until 6, you get free dinner, so i did that because it's free and i have no meal plan (gasp, no mom or meal plan!).
once i got home i felt hungry, so i cooked up a fried egg on toast and 肉酥 (shredded pork, or pork floss). the toast came out perfect, which was awesome. the shredded pork was awesome too. but i cooked the egg without oil because i didn't have any.. bad idea. at least it cooked, but the pan got stuff stuck all over it. i managed to scrub it off, but i think i've learned my lesson XD tomorrow i'm going to get oil.
ps. i think we've written enough stuff on this blog to write about 40 pages. that's like 3 minimum-length rbas, or 1 of tia's rbas, and enough pages to write essays for tenyia for about... ten minutes :PP
Constant travelling is...crazy
It's been kinda crazy because I haven't stayed in one place for more than 3 consecutive days. I've gone from San Francisco to Hangzhou to Beijing back to Hangzhou to Zhejiang University campus to Shanghai and now back to campus. That is a gross looking sentence.
In Beijing I got to the see the Great Wall (and this little place just off it while climbing it..where you can take pictures with a camel and dress up..I'm not even kidding. It was slightly bizarre.), the Ming Tombs, a bunch of jade factories, get food...all for the lovely price of ~$7 and a lady stalking us for about an hour. We negotiated the price from 160 rmb to 50 rmb after she followed us for an hour. Or maybe more than an hour. I've learned that Chinese people are very determined and persistent. Hm. I also got to visit the Forbidden City...and eat KFC in China. Very Chinese-y, eh? They have these strange Chinese style and Mexican style wraps. And China in general has the strangest flavors, like blueberry lays chips.
Shanghai was nice and there was tons of shopping and bargaining. For some reason, I got better prices speaking English and just saying I'm a foreigner than not; it's really kind of sad. But I brought lots of random little things and I'm still in the process of getting gifts for people. (What do you guys want?) I also visited another club there because Chinese clubs are supposed to be really nice and they are..but also absolutely ridiculous. It was full of neon lights, movies and videos, mirrors, etc. But I didn't do much there and when I left, I found a new version of the iPhone (N2 or something) in the cab. I managed to return it to the owner and he was very happy. :)
I started classes yesterday and today we ended up having a class about remedial massages! I now know how to give someone an abortion by massaging/pushing a certain point...yeah. But I also know how to put a baby back in the upright position while in the womb. Very random.
...Street market food is amazing! 'Nuff said. Enjoy your summers, dears! <3
In Beijing I got to the see the Great Wall (and this little place just off it while climbing it..where you can take pictures with a camel and dress up..I'm not even kidding. It was slightly bizarre.), the Ming Tombs, a bunch of jade factories, get food...all for the lovely price of ~$7 and a lady stalking us for about an hour. We negotiated the price from 160 rmb to 50 rmb after she followed us for an hour. Or maybe more than an hour. I've learned that Chinese people are very determined and persistent. Hm. I also got to visit the Forbidden City...and eat KFC in China. Very Chinese-y, eh? They have these strange Chinese style and Mexican style wraps. And China in general has the strangest flavors, like blueberry lays chips.
Shanghai was nice and there was tons of shopping and bargaining. For some reason, I got better prices speaking English and just saying I'm a foreigner than not; it's really kind of sad. But I brought lots of random little things and I'm still in the process of getting gifts for people. (What do you guys want?) I also visited another club there because Chinese clubs are supposed to be really nice and they are..but also absolutely ridiculous. It was full of neon lights, movies and videos, mirrors, etc. But I didn't do much there and when I left, I found a new version of the iPhone (N2 or something) in the cab. I managed to return it to the owner and he was very happy. :)
I started classes yesterday and today we ended up having a class about remedial massages! I now know how to give someone an abortion by massaging/pushing a certain point...yeah. But I also know how to put a baby back in the upright position while in the womb. Very random.
...Street market food is amazing! 'Nuff said. Enjoy your summers, dears! <3
Also, help needed...
How do you put photos in so you can easily label them/rearrange them without having to hit enter a bunch of times, guessing where it will put your text, and then checking the preview a bazillion times? It didn't turn out how I envisioned it, and it took forever...
The game
In other news, my roommate started playing "I Will Always Love You" while we were making breakfast (I enjoyed it immensely), and I thought to myself, "Man, I feel gay." It was awesome.
Was that a weekend?
I know I should save you the torture of my novels. I hope to keep this one short. I hope...
Once upon a time, when I was a couple o' hundred times more annoying(try imagining that!) and 17 years younger, I had a nanny who looked after me while my mum was busy topping her university in her post graduation final exams. I was a fussy eater(really?) when I was that age, and had a particular distaste for onions and tomatoes - not anymore though. Well, this 'distaste' caused me to throw up during every meal if I so much as thought that a teeny bit of tomato existed somewhere in my mouth. This nanny of mine therefore had a full time job of just shaking her head at the mess, cleaning me up, cooking another batch, adorning me with a new bib, and feeding me.. and watching me throw up, shaking her head, cleaning... you get the idea. And she did it rather well!
Honestly I loved her, and actually remember her(which is quite a bit for a 1 year old with amnesia which would become a full blown affliction once she grew up :P)
This lady heard I was in town and went over to my mum's clinic, waited there for five hours straight and got my mum to bring her home, just because she wanted to see me again after 17 years! That was sooooper sweet and I was very excited to see her.
And then she saw me... and didnt recognise me.
DAMN. I take that as a very bad thing because i was actually cute as a kid.
But anyway we had a good time talking... while she kept trying to find some resemblance to the kid she saw years ago - you know the weird look people give you when they search your face - they squint and scrunch up their noses and peer in your face.. or then maybe you dont..
After that, I went to dance class(with mum and sis who both dance too), expecting my dance teachers to freak out and hug me and ask me how things were and.. the works. But then, both of them just looked at me, and walked right on... then STOPPED, turned and said, "kruthi, why aren't you in your dance clothes?!". I had been mistaken for my sister?!!!!? Ive always believed that that is impossible.. I mean yeah we are around the same height - wont tell you who is taller. But she is pretty, slim and ummm... basically different looking! I mean see for yourselves:
Her, all decked up for school! Yeah we wore ties to school on our uniforms. And got yelled at for not buttoning the collar!
Me on a normal stanford morning, when my mac refuses to save my ihum paper fast enough.grr
AAAND This happens again when we go out to get dessert at this place called the chocolate room(that was a pretty amaaaazing experience by the way - the dessert i mean). My dad's colleague was the one fooled this time. So, people do not recognise me - its official, and i have to deal with it. *sob(but i so love their reactions after they realise their mistake.. hee hee hee)
On to more cheerful things - I met my high school friends at this 'hip' place and it was a BLAST! I conveniently forgot my camera though. The highlight of the evening was when two of my guy friends pulled me out of my seat and danced with me to 'desi girl'!(Nicole, they actually mimcked the real video - it was hilarious!!!. Here's the video of the actual song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATeKpFoX3QU).
Then we bowled and then battled it out on the Xbox. T'was FUN!
I started dance again - the hardcore classical kind! I danced so hard on friday evening that after the class i couldnt feel my legs at all. I actually collapsed on the way to the door, while my dance teachers raised one eyebrow and tut tutted at my form! I said it was hardcore...
My teacher also managed to convince me to take part in a dance performance scheduled for the 29th of august. Let me tell you now why that decision is sooo characteristic of me... in the sense that its actually rabid!
I fly back from Hyderabad, after three weeks of teaching people older than me, at 21:35 hours on the 26th of august. Get to mysore, pack, and do this dance performance till 10pm on 29th aaand then, drive to bangalore and take the 4:00 am Emirates flight to SFO on the 30th of august.
This time, mum may actually manage to convince me against the performance. :(
Also, i managed to get a learner's license after waiting in line for 2 and a half hours(the guy ahead of me with a rather severe itch kept me entertained) and am now allowed to 'learn' driving. psh
I CAN DRIVE. and i proved it to my instructor the other day on the highway, by hitting 80kmph without fatally wounding anyone. Not even the cow i gracefully avoided. Plus, just because i feel like boasting.. a teeeeeny bit, i want to throw out the fact that the cars in india are all stick shifts => the one im learning to drive is one of the worst of that variety. So while my left leg spasms on the clutch, i need to wrestle with a gearbox and then accelerate before the car shudders to a halt - that act alone deserves respect! ;P
Gonna meet some friends, and planning to coax one of the guys to let me ride their bikes. Should be fun. If i don't write to anyone in the next couple of days, it will be because of the cutest little fracture in my arm from falling of the bike. Pray I don't kill myself this summer. Pray.
There... All hope to the wind. But, as Alex "Mr 19 year old who doesnt sleep" says, psh!
Nruthya
PS: My sister force fed me the twilight movie. (I used the "beneath my intelligence" excuse but she knocked me on my head and said - there. that should make you dumber - and sat me down.)
One word - painful. Seriously. Oliver, if you thought bollywood movies and their love stories were bad, and defied logic and reason, you should watch this thing.
I also disowned my sister after listening to her gush about Edward. She took it pretty well. A little too well. hmph
Once upon a time, when I was a couple o' hundred times more annoying(try imagining that!) and 17 years younger, I had a nanny who looked after me while my mum was busy topping her university in her post graduation final exams. I was a fussy eater(really?) when I was that age, and had a particular distaste for onions and tomatoes - not anymore though. Well, this 'distaste' caused me to throw up during every meal if I so much as thought that a teeny bit of tomato existed somewhere in my mouth. This nanny of mine therefore had a full time job of just shaking her head at the mess, cleaning me up, cooking another batch, adorning me with a new bib, and feeding me.. and watching me throw up, shaking her head, cleaning... you get the idea. And she did it rather well!
Honestly I loved her, and actually remember her(which is quite a bit for a 1 year old with amnesia which would become a full blown affliction once she grew up :P)
This lady heard I was in town and went over to my mum's clinic, waited there for five hours straight and got my mum to bring her home, just because she wanted to see me again after 17 years! That was sooooper sweet and I was very excited to see her.
And then she saw me... and didnt recognise me.
DAMN. I take that as a very bad thing because i was actually cute as a kid.
But anyway we had a good time talking... while she kept trying to find some resemblance to the kid she saw years ago - you know the weird look people give you when they search your face - they squint and scrunch up their noses and peer in your face.. or then maybe you dont..
After that, I went to dance class(with mum and sis who both dance too), expecting my dance teachers to freak out and hug me and ask me how things were and.. the works. But then, both of them just looked at me, and walked right on... then STOPPED, turned and said, "kruthi, why aren't you in your dance clothes?!". I had been mistaken for my sister?!!!!? Ive always believed that that is impossible.. I mean yeah we are around the same height - wont tell you who is taller. But she is pretty, slim and ummm... basically different looking! I mean see for yourselves:
Her, all decked up for school! Yeah we wore ties to school on our uniforms. And got yelled at for not buttoning the collar!
Me on a normal stanford morning, when my mac refuses to save my ihum paper fast enough.grrAAAND This happens again when we go out to get dessert at this place called the chocolate room(that was a pretty amaaaazing experience by the way - the dessert i mean). My dad's colleague was the one fooled this time. So, people do not recognise me - its official, and i have to deal with it. *sob(but i so love their reactions after they realise their mistake.. hee hee hee)
On to more cheerful things - I met my high school friends at this 'hip' place and it was a BLAST! I conveniently forgot my camera though. The highlight of the evening was when two of my guy friends pulled me out of my seat and danced with me to 'desi girl'!(Nicole, they actually mimcked the real video - it was hilarious!!!. Here's the video of the actual song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATeKpFoX3QU).
Then we bowled and then battled it out on the Xbox. T'was FUN!
I started dance again - the hardcore classical kind! I danced so hard on friday evening that after the class i couldnt feel my legs at all. I actually collapsed on the way to the door, while my dance teachers raised one eyebrow and tut tutted at my form! I said it was hardcore...
My teacher also managed to convince me to take part in a dance performance scheduled for the 29th of august. Let me tell you now why that decision is sooo characteristic of me... in the sense that its actually rabid!
I fly back from Hyderabad, after three weeks of teaching people older than me, at 21:35 hours on the 26th of august. Get to mysore, pack, and do this dance performance till 10pm on 29th aaand then, drive to bangalore and take the 4:00 am Emirates flight to SFO on the 30th of august.
This time, mum may actually manage to convince me against the performance. :(
Also, i managed to get a learner's license after waiting in line for 2 and a half hours(the guy ahead of me with a rather severe itch kept me entertained) and am now allowed to 'learn' driving. psh
I CAN DRIVE. and i proved it to my instructor the other day on the highway, by hitting 80kmph without fatally wounding anyone. Not even the cow i gracefully avoided. Plus, just because i feel like boasting.. a teeeeeny bit, i want to throw out the fact that the cars in india are all stick shifts => the one im learning to drive is one of the worst of that variety. So while my left leg spasms on the clutch, i need to wrestle with a gearbox and then accelerate before the car shudders to a halt - that act alone deserves respect! ;P
Gonna meet some friends, and planning to coax one of the guys to let me ride their bikes. Should be fun. If i don't write to anyone in the next couple of days, it will be because of the cutest little fracture in my arm from falling of the bike. Pray I don't kill myself this summer. Pray.
There... All hope to the wind. But, as Alex "Mr 19 year old who doesnt sleep" says, psh!
Nruthya
PS: My sister force fed me the twilight movie. (I used the "beneath my intelligence" excuse but she knocked me on my head and said - there. that should make you dumber - and sat me down.)
One word - painful. Seriously. Oliver, if you thought bollywood movies and their love stories were bad, and defied logic and reason, you should watch this thing.
I also disowned my sister after listening to her gush about Edward. She took it pretty well. A little too well. hmph
No Longer @ Home
hey! haven't blogged in awhile because i've been doing a lot of things the past few days.. here goes.
1. thursday i went down to LA where my dad's side of the family lives, in alhambra about 4 miles south of caltech. so i was where tenyia was a week ago.
2. my aunts and uncles were all like OMG ALEX WENT TO COLLEGE AND CAME BACK HE LOOKS SO DIFFERENT. and they were going on about how i suddenly got so much taller - and i haven't grown an inch since last year..
3. while staying there for the night, my aunt and grandma were watching those historical chinese dramas and martial arts movies, and the crazy hairdos the women had reminded me of the wushu movie.. and the wigs.. i think they're forever stuck in my head. (at least they're not stuck TO my head) O__O
4. watched kiki's delivery service, another miyazaki movie. it was really good :) more conventional movie than totoro. characters, visuals, and music were really good. plot was a tiny bit cliched, but still very well done. i really liked the themes of the movie, miyazaki did a good job showing searching for an identity and all that :)
5. went to eat chaozhou noodles in LA, like i always do every time i go down there. yum. pork kidney is awesome (another weird food i eat!)
6. moved to irvine friday afternoon. MY APARTMENT IS AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEE. and i have pictures! a few here:
outside of the apartment
inside
sizewise, it's like maybe 3 lag rooms for the kitchen and living room, and each of the two bedrooms is another lag room. and two bathrooms. i'm in a "wooooow i don't believe this" state right now. i still can't wrap my brain around all of this.
7. after getting in there for like 10 minutes i had to pack quickly to get to kelly's house (a panda) for panda vacation!
8. went to see year one with two pandas while the others were on the way down to socal. jack black and michael cera play the same characters in every movie.. it was entertaining but not that funny.
9. went to eat vietnamese food. Bò lúc lắc (beef cubes) and canh chua (sour soup) were really good :)
10. dessert at guppy house. i wish i had pictures of the desserts but i'll just steal some from some other website.
shaved ice and strawberries and popcorn chicken and brick toast! they give you HUGE portions of the shaved ice and strawberries. we shared 1 for every 4 people and couldn't finish it.
this is brick toast. i'd never heard of it before but it is amazing.
stuffed myself with so much food. i've been feeling bloated for the past few days from all the eating.
11. back to kelly's house, where we didn't sleep until 3 and talked and did random things :) the floor was hard (hardwood floor) and a sleeping bag wasn't much help. but it wasn't that bad.
12. woke up at 10ish, went to eat crepes at this restaurant called la creperie cafe. the crepes were again AMAZING. kelly really knows where the good food is :) i'd never had a crepe before ever, not even at the axe and palm. so i'm glad my first experience with crepes was really good.
13. went to the beach (corona del mar). more fun... buried trac 8D
14. went to korean barbeque. i discovered that i actually like kimchi and that korean barbeque is amazing. i feel like i'm starting to repeat myself so i'm keeping it shorter.
15. went to dessert crepes, but i didn't get anything because i was stuffed from korean bbq.
16. back to kelly's house, where we played contact and took pictures and did other random things until trac's cousin picked me and trac up and took me back to my apartment.
17. woke up today and went to eat with my family, who came to pick me up. Bánh xèo! (deep friend vietnamese crepes) we actually drove within a quarter mile of kelly's house on the way to the restaurant, since it was in the same area hahaha.
banh xeo
18. went to a vietnamese market, where i saw thousand-year-old eggs, soy sauce, and all the other staples of asian food :) got some eggs and some bread so i could cook something if i wanted to.
19. went back to my apartment, where i am now. just unpacking everything and looking at how amazing everything here is. when i play music it echoes through the whole apartment and sounds awesome :)
20. getting dinner in a few minutes with my roommate and another intern.
phew, long post.. i start work tomorrow! talk to you all later :)
1. thursday i went down to LA where my dad's side of the family lives, in alhambra about 4 miles south of caltech. so i was where tenyia was a week ago.
2. my aunts and uncles were all like OMG ALEX WENT TO COLLEGE AND CAME BACK HE LOOKS SO DIFFERENT. and they were going on about how i suddenly got so much taller - and i haven't grown an inch since last year..
3. while staying there for the night, my aunt and grandma were watching those historical chinese dramas and martial arts movies, and the crazy hairdos the women had reminded me of the wushu movie.. and the wigs.. i think they're forever stuck in my head. (at least they're not stuck TO my head) O__O
4. watched kiki's delivery service, another miyazaki movie. it was really good :) more conventional movie than totoro. characters, visuals, and music were really good. plot was a tiny bit cliched, but still very well done. i really liked the themes of the movie, miyazaki did a good job showing searching for an identity and all that :)
5. went to eat chaozhou noodles in LA, like i always do every time i go down there. yum. pork kidney is awesome (another weird food i eat!)
6. moved to irvine friday afternoon. MY APARTMENT IS AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEE. and i have pictures! a few here:
outside of the apartment
inside
sizewise, it's like maybe 3 lag rooms for the kitchen and living room, and each of the two bedrooms is another lag room. and two bathrooms. i'm in a "wooooow i don't believe this" state right now. i still can't wrap my brain around all of this.
7. after getting in there for like 10 minutes i had to pack quickly to get to kelly's house (a panda) for panda vacation!
8. went to see year one with two pandas while the others were on the way down to socal. jack black and michael cera play the same characters in every movie.. it was entertaining but not that funny.
9. went to eat vietnamese food. Bò lúc lắc (beef cubes) and canh chua (sour soup) were really good :)
10. dessert at guppy house. i wish i had pictures of the desserts but i'll just steal some from some other website.
shaved ice and strawberries and popcorn chicken and brick toast! they give you HUGE portions of the shaved ice and strawberries. we shared 1 for every 4 people and couldn't finish it.
this is brick toast. i'd never heard of it before but it is amazing.
stuffed myself with so much food. i've been feeling bloated for the past few days from all the eating.
11. back to kelly's house, where we didn't sleep until 3 and talked and did random things :) the floor was hard (hardwood floor) and a sleeping bag wasn't much help. but it wasn't that bad.
12. woke up at 10ish, went to eat crepes at this restaurant called la creperie cafe. the crepes were again AMAZING. kelly really knows where the good food is :) i'd never had a crepe before ever, not even at the axe and palm. so i'm glad my first experience with crepes was really good.
13. went to the beach (corona del mar). more fun... buried trac 8D
14. went to korean barbeque. i discovered that i actually like kimchi and that korean barbeque is amazing. i feel like i'm starting to repeat myself so i'm keeping it shorter.
15. went to dessert crepes, but i didn't get anything because i was stuffed from korean bbq.
16. back to kelly's house, where we played contact and took pictures and did other random things until trac's cousin picked me and trac up and took me back to my apartment.
17. woke up today and went to eat with my family, who came to pick me up. Bánh xèo! (deep friend vietnamese crepes) we actually drove within a quarter mile of kelly's house on the way to the restaurant, since it was in the same area hahaha.
banh xeo
18. went to a vietnamese market, where i saw thousand-year-old eggs, soy sauce, and all the other staples of asian food :) got some eggs and some bread so i could cook something if i wanted to.
19. went back to my apartment, where i am now. just unpacking everything and looking at how amazing everything here is. when i play music it echoes through the whole apartment and sounds awesome :)
20. getting dinner in a few minutes with my roommate and another intern.
phew, long post.. i start work tomorrow! talk to you all later :)
Highlights of the past few days
I'm sitting listening to the rain on my roof. My room is in the attic, and it's really nice to hear the rain on the roof as I fall asleep. It was really pouring a few minutes ago, but it's stopped now and the only drops are those that are falling off the trees when the breeze picks up. It's been mostly rainy since I've gotten home, which is a big change from California weather. I don't really mind, though, since Minnesota rain beats California rain any day. (It's actually worthy of the word "rain.")
I've been playing piano again lately, which is nice, although it's just been a bunch of really easy Baroque stuff. I'm playing for somebody's wedding this upcoming Saturday. It's funny because everything I'm playing is Baroque, except I have to play "Here Comes the Bride" (or whatever it's called), which is by Wagner. It's pretty out-of-place stylistically. It's awesome though because I'm getting paid $150. :D
Last night my dad, my brother (Kai), my sister (Amelia) and her boyfriend (Nathan), my best friend from high school (Marissa), and I went bowling in La Crosse, WI, which is the town 30 miles away where you have to go to do anything when you live in SE Minnesota. We ate dinner there--Marissa and I each had mini corn dogs and cheese curds (I love my batter-fried cheese curds, I must say), and the others had various burgers or pizza. We bowled as we ate, something I'd never done before. It's not like it was terribly exciting to eat and bowl at the same time, but I did have to be careful to wipe the grease from the cheese curds off my fingers before attempting to pick up my bowling ball. :) We were playing music on the jukebox, which was actually more like a computer and which charged $2 for five credits (most songs being two credits, so the bonus credit didn't do much good). I spent several dollars on the music, but it's alright because we played some awesome tunes (including "Popmuzik" by M, "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees, "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry, and "Beat It" by Michael Jackson; also my brother played "Indestructible" by Disturbed, which was rather incongruous). The second game, I bowled a 131, my best score ever. We ended up playing four games, rather than the three we had planned on, because suddenly at 9 pm it was "cosmic bowling" and the blacklights made everything look--dare I say it?--groovy, convincing us to stay a little longer.
Obviously my form sucks, but I must've been doing something right in order to score a 131! (Kai is in the background.)
Marissa and I
Cosmic bowling!
I've been playing piano again lately, which is nice, although it's just been a bunch of really easy Baroque stuff. I'm playing for somebody's wedding this upcoming Saturday. It's funny because everything I'm playing is Baroque, except I have to play "Here Comes the Bride" (or whatever it's called), which is by Wagner. It's pretty out-of-place stylistically. It's awesome though because I'm getting paid $150. :D
Last night my dad, my brother (Kai), my sister (Amelia) and her boyfriend (Nathan), my best friend from high school (Marissa), and I went bowling in La Crosse, WI, which is the town 30 miles away where you have to go to do anything when you live in SE Minnesota. We ate dinner there--Marissa and I each had mini corn dogs and cheese curds (I love my batter-fried cheese curds, I must say), and the others had various burgers or pizza. We bowled as we ate, something I'd never done before. It's not like it was terribly exciting to eat and bowl at the same time, but I did have to be careful to wipe the grease from the cheese curds off my fingers before attempting to pick up my bowling ball. :) We were playing music on the jukebox, which was actually more like a computer and which charged $2 for five credits (most songs being two credits, so the bonus credit didn't do much good). I spent several dollars on the music, but it's alright because we played some awesome tunes (including "Popmuzik" by M, "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees, "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry, and "Beat It" by Michael Jackson; also my brother played "Indestructible" by Disturbed, which was rather incongruous). The second game, I bowled a 131, my best score ever. We ended up playing four games, rather than the three we had planned on, because suddenly at 9 pm it was "cosmic bowling" and the blacklights made everything look--dare I say it?--groovy, convincing us to stay a little longer.
Obviously my form sucks, but I must've been doing something right in order to score a 131! (Kai is in the background.)
Marissa and I
Cosmic bowling!
BUSY!
Hellooooo everyone!
Ive typed out and deleted introductions to this post thrice now, and am annoying myself. So lets just get at it from the beginning.
On the 15th, the Alexs and I had the most amazing skype conference call which immediately prompted that email ordering y'all to get yourselves on skype. When I signed off of the call saying I had a lunch date(with my mum before you get any ideas:)) I was speaking the truth.. or so I thought. Amma(that's what I call my mother), called me, asked me to shove as much food down as I could in five minutes. She then dropped the news that she had enrolled me in a driving school and sent the instructor over, all in a span of the ten minutes before this phone call!
First of all lets get one thing straight - I can drive. How? MY WAY! and apparently that isnt safe... grrr
Anyway, after this great display of faith in my (in)ability to maneuver a vehicle on indian roads(trust me - none of you could and i will bet on that!), I pushed off to driving school. Ive been attending this 'school' for three days now and find the entire exercise absolutely hilarious... and interesting. First of all, the guy sent to pick me up defies every law that exists with his vehicle. He hit a cow, drove off the road, kissed the butt of a bus and had me, yeah ME, begging him to go slower! After this I reach the center where they feed me 'the theory of driving(WHAT?)' through videos of this guy, hair slicked back,driving his sedan the 'right way' to the tunes of 'A New Day Has Come' by Celine Dion! So its just me, cracking up real hard, in this dark room with the projector on. I love my life... and im not even being sarcastic.
I graduate to actual driving tomorrow. wish me luck! I need all that I can get, what with driving on a different side of the road, following traffic rules no one else seems to remember on a potholed road with cows mooing me along! If I kill someone - trust me it wont be my fault!
Now on to the other ridiculous thing i had to face over the last couple of days - relatives. Everyone suddenly wants to see me now that I am 'US return'(a term used for people who spend a month or more in the US, come back in tank tops, skinny jeans and a mouth full of gum, with a full blown yankee drawl - hell yeah I fit all of those descriptions!). So anyway, everyone is curious to see if i have metamorphosed.. Some even wanted to know if ive got any fairer!!!
So every evening I have been visiting or visited by relatives, with the same questions(are americans crazy? hehe kidding about that one..). I love people, but not what they do sometimes.. Ive had my cheeks pinched by old aunts, been surprised(to an extent none of yu can comprehend) by sudden pecks on my cheeks by the same species, patted on the back(heavily) by uncles and had to face AWKWARD situations i shall refrain from explaining. Tell me guys, am I five?
Anyway, the good stuff that happened was that I started on yoga classes and as a result, wake up at 5:15 am everyday - the freaking sun isnt up then.. just for those who have never seen the hour. But Yoga and meditation is making me only more giddily happy with life and basically putting me on a constant high! Also, yesterday, I had this amazing 2 hour conference call with my team for the summer program at hyderabad. We were all literally in different parts of the globe - thailand, india, stanford, texas, international airport at South Africa, Paris and Uganda! THE INTERNET!!! - thats all i have to say about that, besides the goofy smile I get when i realise i have my hands on fantastic technology. :)
I surprised my best friend from high school, yesterday, by plonking myself at her place when she didnt expect me to be back yet! It was pretty sweet with our tomboyish handshakes and cool talk(we were tough back in high school yknow? :D). Then said hi to my two new cousins - a pair of twins so small and cute I could carry both of them at the same time - one in each arm(till mum - also brilliant pediatrician- shushed me and said i needed to disinfect myself from head to toe to carry them any longer.)
The food has been transporting me to culinary heaven at every meal(and in between). Im sleeping for 8 hours straight after 7 months. I have some brilliant books to read - the one im at now lets you anticipate something nice.. but i hope it disappoints me in the end by not giving me what i want from it. That would make it so much better! And I have your posts - just all i need!
There Nicole - I trust that was enough detail, even for you!
Im usually on skype when im awake and at home, so buzz me if you wanna chat.
I am loving this summer. Hope each of you are too, just a little more than me :)
love,
Nruthya
PS:this was a pic i had to send you guys.. It begins with a - One evening, in Nicole's room...(like most stories will next year - whatsay roomie?)
Alex and Trac - aw
Ive typed out and deleted introductions to this post thrice now, and am annoying myself. So lets just get at it from the beginning.
On the 15th, the Alexs and I had the most amazing skype conference call which immediately prompted that email ordering y'all to get yourselves on skype. When I signed off of the call saying I had a lunch date(with my mum before you get any ideas:)) I was speaking the truth.. or so I thought. Amma(that's what I call my mother), called me, asked me to shove as much food down as I could in five minutes. She then dropped the news that she had enrolled me in a driving school and sent the instructor over, all in a span of the ten minutes before this phone call!
First of all lets get one thing straight - I can drive. How? MY WAY! and apparently that isnt safe... grrr
Anyway, after this great display of faith in my (in)ability to maneuver a vehicle on indian roads(trust me - none of you could and i will bet on that!), I pushed off to driving school. Ive been attending this 'school' for three days now and find the entire exercise absolutely hilarious... and interesting. First of all, the guy sent to pick me up defies every law that exists with his vehicle. He hit a cow, drove off the road, kissed the butt of a bus and had me, yeah ME, begging him to go slower! After this I reach the center where they feed me 'the theory of driving(WHAT?)' through videos of this guy, hair slicked back,driving his sedan the 'right way' to the tunes of 'A New Day Has Come' by Celine Dion! So its just me, cracking up real hard, in this dark room with the projector on. I love my life... and im not even being sarcastic.
I graduate to actual driving tomorrow. wish me luck! I need all that I can get, what with driving on a different side of the road, following traffic rules no one else seems to remember on a potholed road with cows mooing me along! If I kill someone - trust me it wont be my fault!
Now on to the other ridiculous thing i had to face over the last couple of days - relatives. Everyone suddenly wants to see me now that I am 'US return'(a term used for people who spend a month or more in the US, come back in tank tops, skinny jeans and a mouth full of gum, with a full blown yankee drawl - hell yeah I fit all of those descriptions!). So anyway, everyone is curious to see if i have metamorphosed.. Some even wanted to know if ive got any fairer!!!
So every evening I have been visiting or visited by relatives, with the same questions(are americans crazy? hehe kidding about that one..). I love people, but not what they do sometimes.. Ive had my cheeks pinched by old aunts, been surprised(to an extent none of yu can comprehend) by sudden pecks on my cheeks by the same species, patted on the back(heavily) by uncles and had to face AWKWARD situations i shall refrain from explaining. Tell me guys, am I five?
Anyway, the good stuff that happened was that I started on yoga classes and as a result, wake up at 5:15 am everyday - the freaking sun isnt up then.. just for those who have never seen the hour. But Yoga and meditation is making me only more giddily happy with life and basically putting me on a constant high! Also, yesterday, I had this amazing 2 hour conference call with my team for the summer program at hyderabad. We were all literally in different parts of the globe - thailand, india, stanford, texas, international airport at South Africa, Paris and Uganda! THE INTERNET!!! - thats all i have to say about that, besides the goofy smile I get when i realise i have my hands on fantastic technology. :)
I surprised my best friend from high school, yesterday, by plonking myself at her place when she didnt expect me to be back yet! It was pretty sweet with our tomboyish handshakes and cool talk(we were tough back in high school yknow? :D). Then said hi to my two new cousins - a pair of twins so small and cute I could carry both of them at the same time - one in each arm(till mum - also brilliant pediatrician- shushed me and said i needed to disinfect myself from head to toe to carry them any longer.)
The food has been transporting me to culinary heaven at every meal(and in between). Im sleeping for 8 hours straight after 7 months. I have some brilliant books to read - the one im at now lets you anticipate something nice.. but i hope it disappoints me in the end by not giving me what i want from it. That would make it so much better! And I have your posts - just all i need!
There Nicole - I trust that was enough detail, even for you!
Im usually on skype when im awake and at home, so buzz me if you wanna chat.
I am loving this summer. Hope each of you are too, just a little more than me :)
love,
Nruthya
PS:this was a pic i had to send you guys.. It begins with a - One evening, in Nicole's room...(like most stories will next year - whatsay roomie?)
Alex and Trac - aw
!!
hi all!
i'm in a really good mood today because i hung out with cousins and friends, listened to good music, ate good food, and talked to a lot of people. i apologize if i sound a little crazy.
i'm heading down to socal tomorrow, staying at my grandparents' house for a day. they have dialup internet, so i'll basically have no internet until sunday. saturday i'll be spending with pandas at the beach or disneyland, not sure which yet.
past few days have been good.. finished totoro! CATBUS!
it shoots light from its eyes btw, the picture doesn't show it.
i also got like 250 of joe hisaishi's songs, and have been listening to them all. i think he's my favorite composer now...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5tTiYT1cgU
every time i hear this song i want to wave my hands to the music... i need to see him live once before i die... or he dies.. >_>
had banh trang with my mom's amazing salmon fish today. we made goi cuon (spring rolls), and they were delicious. home food! :D
i need to pack for the trip down tomorrow. writing this post has been a pleasant way to procrastinate.
movie/tv show watching list:
up
the departed
sin city
cowboy bebop
every miyazaki film i haven't yet seen
the prestige
hope you all are having awesome summers! miss you all. 3 months and 3 days?
alex
ps. after rereading this post i realized how different my writing style is when i'm happy o_o i use really short sentences, and i just sound perpetually giddy and happy... it kinda freaks me out.
i'm in a really good mood today because i hung out with cousins and friends, listened to good music, ate good food, and talked to a lot of people. i apologize if i sound a little crazy.
i'm heading down to socal tomorrow, staying at my grandparents' house for a day. they have dialup internet, so i'll basically have no internet until sunday. saturday i'll be spending with pandas at the beach or disneyland, not sure which yet.
past few days have been good.. finished totoro! CATBUS!
it shoots light from its eyes btw, the picture doesn't show it.
i also got like 250 of joe hisaishi's songs, and have been listening to them all. i think he's my favorite composer now...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5tTiYT1cgU
every time i hear this song i want to wave my hands to the music... i need to see him live once before i die... or he dies.. >_>
had banh trang with my mom's amazing salmon fish today. we made goi cuon (spring rolls), and they were delicious. home food! :D
i need to pack for the trip down tomorrow. writing this post has been a pleasant way to procrastinate.
movie/tv show watching list:
up
the departed
sin city
cowboy bebop
every miyazaki film i haven't yet seen
the prestige
hope you all are having awesome summers! miss you all. 3 months and 3 days?
alex
ps. after rereading this post i realized how different my writing style is when i'm happy o_o i use really short sentences, and i just sound perpetually giddy and happy... it kinda freaks me out.
WHAT UP BITCHES
Hi young folks (whose style I don't care to talk about),
Yeah, yeah, it's been a while. I know it. Poncie was right though when she said you guys need to get out more, I have no idea how the blog is already so... populated! Then again, I'm one to talk; I've spent the last few days doing nothing but playing House of the Dead and Resident Evil with Alex. I don't think I've gotten dressed this entire time.
I know I have to upload pictures, but the stylizin' shit on blogger is really awkward and I'm used to a different method of formatting. I also have upwards of two hundred pictures so it'd be a huge problem for me. I'll probably set it up on deadjournal (which will also lead to something pretty fun later on this month so I'll let you know about that).
Basically for the past few days I've put myself in a planning period! I am working on:
1) SECRET PROJECT THAT NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW ABOUT BUT IS DEMANDING TOO MUCH TIME SO THE REST OF THE LIST WILL SEEM RELATIVELY SMALL, SORRY I MENTIONED IT, OKAY
2) A comic!!! You guys can read this if you want but it's not a serial so it'd be weird to show it strip by strip.
3) A PHOTO PROJECT TO TAKE OFF LATER THIS MONTH! I tried this last year but it didn't work out due to growing health issues, mostly, but if you want to see how last year's went, see here
4) Mom's birthday is coming up. Planning major dinner.
5) CHILLIN' W/ MAH VILLAINZ
In short I don't have a lot to say. Terribly exhausted, will get back to you guys when I get pictures up.
I have pretty much abandoned this blog. I think I have a tendency to abandon my ideas. Sorry, I will write about stuff when I have stuff to write about. Lata'.
Yeah, yeah, it's been a while. I know it. Poncie was right though when she said you guys need to get out more, I have no idea how the blog is already so... populated! Then again, I'm one to talk; I've spent the last few days doing nothing but playing House of the Dead and Resident Evil with Alex. I don't think I've gotten dressed this entire time.
I know I have to upload pictures, but the stylizin' shit on blogger is really awkward and I'm used to a different method of formatting. I also have upwards of two hundred pictures so it'd be a huge problem for me. I'll probably set it up on deadjournal (which will also lead to something pretty fun later on this month so I'll let you know about that).
Basically for the past few days I've put myself in a planning period! I am working on:
1) SECRET PROJECT THAT NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW ABOUT BUT IS DEMANDING TOO MUCH TIME SO THE REST OF THE LIST WILL SEEM RELATIVELY SMALL, SORRY I MENTIONED IT, OKAY
2) A comic!!! You guys can read this if you want but it's not a serial so it'd be weird to show it strip by strip.
3) A PHOTO PROJECT TO TAKE OFF LATER THIS MONTH! I tried this last year but it didn't work out due to growing health issues, mostly, but if you want to see how last year's went, see here
4) Mom's birthday is coming up. Planning major dinner.
5) CHILLIN' W/ MAH VILLAINZ
In short I don't have a lot to say. Terribly exhausted, will get back to you guys when I get pictures up.
I have pretty much abandoned this blog. I think I have a tendency to abandon my ideas. Sorry, I will write about stuff when I have stuff to write about. Lata'.
Lalala
So today was the day that I finally cleaned my room. Crazy how many pieces of paper you can accumulate over the span of a year. Went through and decided what I wanted to keep and what could go... had a huuuuuge pile of textbooks that I wanted to try to store in the garage. Since I was gone for most of the night I'm not quite sure if they're still just sitting out in the family room or not. But anyway.
Went to my friend's house to go swimming today. The water was epicly (epically? I know we had this discussion a few weeks ago too...) heated, which was quite nice. But I was rather cold when we got out. Then we had a nice group dinner at a place called Little Sichuan - lots of good stuff. Adam ordered something that was quite spicy (to the point that even the waiter warned us about it). It was spicy. But goooooooooooooood.
Then Brian decided that he didn't feel like going home yet, so we decided to party it up at my house. Which meant watching the Dr. Horrible commentary and ADVENTURE TIME. Good stuff.
Unfortunately, some of the biggest laughs of the day may have been 'you had to have been there moments'. But alas...
I hope you people all had a good number of things to make you stop and smile today. =)
-Alex
Went to my friend's house to go swimming today. The water was epicly (epically? I know we had this discussion a few weeks ago too...) heated, which was quite nice. But I was rather cold when we got out. Then we had a nice group dinner at a place called Little Sichuan - lots of good stuff. Adam ordered something that was quite spicy (to the point that even the waiter warned us about it). It was spicy. But goooooooooooooood.
Then Brian decided that he didn't feel like going home yet, so we decided to party it up at my house. Which meant watching the Dr. Horrible commentary and ADVENTURE TIME. Good stuff.
Unfortunately, some of the biggest laughs of the day may have been 'you had to have been there moments'. But alas...
I hope you people all had a good number of things to make you stop and smile today. =)
-Alex
blog post #2! yay!
hellooOOooOOOoooOOoo...hehehe
nothing much has really happened since i last posted, but i'm posting anyways, just for fun. since getting back home, i've fallen into my old summer routine of waking up around noon and whiling away the hours until i have to get on the metro to get to wushu. sidenote, the metro still smells funny. anyways, it makes me so happy to be training at my old wushu school again with all my old teammates. they've all been preparing for tryouts for the US team, which is happening this weekend in cupertino. (still bitter that i was just over there, and now i'm over here. but whatever.) so its been good training with them again, since they makes me work hard. nicole and quach are probably shouting at me right now for killing my ankle. and i dont really have a good comeback for that at the moment, but i'm working on one.
in other news, my sister is moving to nyc this weekend, so the non-wushu portions of my day are dedicated to helping her get all her stuff together. we spent an afternoon sorting through her clothes, picking out what to bring and what to leave behind. i might have a few odd additions to my wardrobe, from the leave-behind pile. though i dont think my sister's fashion sense is quite up to that of nicole's mom. ew that sentence was awkward. but i'm too lazy to make it better. and i dont have to, because it's summer! and i leave you with that thought.
miss you guys~
My First Blog Post EVER
Hey guys. So I'm so new to this blog thing (don't worry, I at least knew what a blog was) that I had to go to the "Help" page to figure out how to even post to the damn thing. But here I am posting! Finally. :)
I'm sitting here listening to Beethoven's sonata for violin and piano, Op. 47 (the Kreutzer sonata). It's pretty much the most awesome piece ever, and I really hope to play it. Andrew and I are planning on learning a piece separately and putting it together next year, so maybe we could do this one. It's really an amazing piece, so it would be really fun to play, even on my own without a violinist.
So I left on Friday morning. I lugged my bags onto the Marguerite, where I saw a girl with about twice as much luggage as I had. She asked me if we were going to "make it in time." I told her I was taking SamTrans, so if she was taking Caltrain I had no idea whether she'd be on time. She asked what SamTrans was, and I told her, and she decided to join me since it's so much cheaper and because she probably actually would have been hardpressed to make her flight with the Caltrain times being what they were. She followed me to the SamTrans stop, taking two trips to bring all her stuff. She then sat at the stop trying to consolidate it all (she had two giant suitcases and several bags, two of them paper). She had a bunch of food in one that she felt bad about throwing away, so she gave me some of it. I got two energy bars, a bag of jelly beans (which I am finishing right now, haha), some weird gluten-free crackers (which turned out to taste really effing weird), a banana, a Propel, and a thing of yogurt. I ate the yogurt right away, not having had breakfast. She was grateful to me for helping her get rid of some stuff, and I was grateful to her for the opportunity to eat something. We lugged our stuff onto the SamTrans when it arrived; luckily, there was this guy on the bus who helped us move our heaviest things. He looked like an ex-convict, at least when you saw the sketchy tattoos (oh man, sorry about that unintentional, and terrible, pun) on his arms, but he was actually very gentlemanly.
The girl (whose name, I found out on the bus, was Georgia) and I parted ways at the airport at check-in. I lugged myself and my bags to the plane and flew to Minneapolis. I sat next to this guy who was very quiet the entire time, either reading or looking out the window. When the plane landed, though, he started doing something really strange. It totally sounded like he was making fart noises with his mouth. I couldn't believe it, and I actually was staring at his mouth for quite some time trying to figure it out until I realized it was the four-year-old kid in the seat in front of him who was making the sound. I had a good inner laugh at myself.
Then I caught my plane to La Crosse (in WI, but only 30 miles from my house). Everybody on the plane had a wonderful midwestern accent, which made me quite happy. (I believe I even texted Alex Trytko about it, since he always makes fun of my accent/talks about Fargo with me.)
My mom picked me up and drove me home, where I said hello to my dad and my little brother Kai. My sister, Amelia, was asleep, since she was taking the ACT early the next morning. My dad and my brother were arguing about whether he could eat Frosted Flakes for supper (backstory: they had gone to a Mexican restaurant after Kai's baseball game, but Kai had refused to order anything, so now he was hungry. My mom was going to let him have Frosted Flakes, since she had eaten granola for supper, she said. My dad said it was fine if he ate granola, but not if he ate Frosted Flakes. My brother was questioning this logic. [This is a prototype argument at my house]). I found myself actually smiling listening to the argument, which I figured proved how happy I was to be home. :P
I've been busy the past couple days working for my dad, who rebuilds Steinway grand pianos in a shop at our house. I was leveling a keyboard. To explain briefly, the keys pivot on pins that you can't see because they're back behind the fallboard (you can only see the first 1/3 or so of the keys; the rest is hidden inside the piano). To make sure they're level, I had to put all these paper punchings of various thicknesses around the pins for the keys to rest on. It takes several rounds of doing this to have everything exact.
Well, I think I might go sightread a Beethoven sonata! Looking forward to reading the next few posts!
I'm sitting here listening to Beethoven's sonata for violin and piano, Op. 47 (the Kreutzer sonata). It's pretty much the most awesome piece ever, and I really hope to play it. Andrew and I are planning on learning a piece separately and putting it together next year, so maybe we could do this one. It's really an amazing piece, so it would be really fun to play, even on my own without a violinist.
So I left on Friday morning. I lugged my bags onto the Marguerite, where I saw a girl with about twice as much luggage as I had. She asked me if we were going to "make it in time." I told her I was taking SamTrans, so if she was taking Caltrain I had no idea whether she'd be on time. She asked what SamTrans was, and I told her, and she decided to join me since it's so much cheaper and because she probably actually would have been hardpressed to make her flight with the Caltrain times being what they were. She followed me to the SamTrans stop, taking two trips to bring all her stuff. She then sat at the stop trying to consolidate it all (she had two giant suitcases and several bags, two of them paper). She had a bunch of food in one that she felt bad about throwing away, so she gave me some of it. I got two energy bars, a bag of jelly beans (which I am finishing right now, haha), some weird gluten-free crackers (which turned out to taste really effing weird), a banana, a Propel, and a thing of yogurt. I ate the yogurt right away, not having had breakfast. She was grateful to me for helping her get rid of some stuff, and I was grateful to her for the opportunity to eat something. We lugged our stuff onto the SamTrans when it arrived; luckily, there was this guy on the bus who helped us move our heaviest things. He looked like an ex-convict, at least when you saw the sketchy tattoos (oh man, sorry about that unintentional, and terrible, pun) on his arms, but he was actually very gentlemanly.
The girl (whose name, I found out on the bus, was Georgia) and I parted ways at the airport at check-in. I lugged myself and my bags to the plane and flew to Minneapolis. I sat next to this guy who was very quiet the entire time, either reading or looking out the window. When the plane landed, though, he started doing something really strange. It totally sounded like he was making fart noises with his mouth. I couldn't believe it, and I actually was staring at his mouth for quite some time trying to figure it out until I realized it was the four-year-old kid in the seat in front of him who was making the sound. I had a good inner laugh at myself.
Then I caught my plane to La Crosse (in WI, but only 30 miles from my house). Everybody on the plane had a wonderful midwestern accent, which made me quite happy. (I believe I even texted Alex Trytko about it, since he always makes fun of my accent/talks about Fargo with me.)
My mom picked me up and drove me home, where I said hello to my dad and my little brother Kai. My sister, Amelia, was asleep, since she was taking the ACT early the next morning. My dad and my brother were arguing about whether he could eat Frosted Flakes for supper (backstory: they had gone to a Mexican restaurant after Kai's baseball game, but Kai had refused to order anything, so now he was hungry. My mom was going to let him have Frosted Flakes, since she had eaten granola for supper, she said. My dad said it was fine if he ate granola, but not if he ate Frosted Flakes. My brother was questioning this logic. [This is a prototype argument at my house]). I found myself actually smiling listening to the argument, which I figured proved how happy I was to be home. :P
I've been busy the past couple days working for my dad, who rebuilds Steinway grand pianos in a shop at our house. I was leveling a keyboard. To explain briefly, the keys pivot on pins that you can't see because they're back behind the fallboard (you can only see the first 1/3 or so of the keys; the rest is hidden inside the piano). To make sure they're level, I had to put all these paper punchings of various thicknesses around the pins for the keys to rest on. It takes several rounds of doing this to have everything exact.
Well, I think I might go sightread a Beethoven sonata! Looking forward to reading the next few posts!
Yawn...
It's shameful how sleepy I am at 9:20pm. But then, I was up at 5:30am!
That should speak for what kind of a holiday I am having - B U S Y. What was supposed to be a lunch date with my mum turned into yet another time commitment for the 35 days I get to spend at home... I promise a full fledged account when I dont have to shake myself awake after every word I type :)
ROw ooooh,
Nrutgvikabjrehnw
PS: I lost patience after the first few letters. YAWN
That should speak for what kind of a holiday I am having - B U S Y. What was supposed to be a lunch date with my mum turned into yet another time commitment for the 35 days I get to spend at home... I promise a full fledged account when I dont have to shake myself awake after every word I type :)
ROw ooooh,
Nrutgvikabjrehnw
PS: I lost patience after the first few letters. YAWN
A Not-So-Fun Summer Update
So my summer has been............I guess a mix of good and bad so far. Unfortunately mostly bad. :(
I moved most of my stuff home on Wednesday and because my mom was out of town I got away with dumping it all on my kitchen table and then taking a nap. Then I had some chipotle with Elise, and we started planning a roadtrip to LA in July, which should be awesome. Except then Thursday happened, so the roadtrip might not work out after all......
On Thursday I went back to Stanford to get the last of my stuff. Then I had an appointment with doctor #8 about my mystery hip problem (for those of you who have not seen me limping around campus at various times this year, it's a really long 5-year story).
Pro #1: Doctor #8 thinks he knows what the problem is.
Con #1: Said problem will require surgery on both hips, one at a time, and recovery time is 6 months for each hip. So I may be getting around campus by golf cart for a while next year :(.
Con #2: Doctor #8 wants to do another arthrogram (the very very uncomfortable procedure I had done in February that essentially dislocated my hip on purpose) to confirm. So that will not be fun.
Pro #2: It looks like I will be catching up on movies, books, and TV shows this summer!
Pro #3: I preemptively offer you all rides in my future golf cart :)
The rest of the week and weekend I spent catching up with friends, helping my mom set up for a block party, hanging at Boronnes (though James Franco was sadly not there), snuggling with my two kitties, and SLEEPING.
This morning I had to get up at 6:30 (which is not even a legitimate hour during the summer) to go to SF and get some passport stuff worked out, because on Wednesday I leave for Belize and Guatemala with my family! With the exception of spending 11 days with my trouble-making brother and teen-angsty sister, I think it should be a pretty fun trip. Though I think my mom has organized a very non-tourist excursion, because today at dinner she handed me an anti-malarial prescription with my name on it. She also casually mentioned that we are foregoing the Yellow Fever shots that we're supposed to get because we're short on time. Hmmm........my mom is a little more adventurous than I am......
So that has been my summer so far. And the rest of my summer is currently completely up in the air. I trying to take the opportunity to get better at going with the flow and just rolling with things.
I will post an update of my trip when I get back, if I don't die of Yellow Fever and I'm not kidnapped by Guatemalan drug lords. :)
I hope everyone's having a great summer!
-Eliza
P.S. I just reread this post and it is kind of depressing. Sorry about that. I'm going to blame it on the anti-malarial medication, because it is making me really nauseous. But reading all of you guys' posts definitely cheers me up!
@ Home 2 (how original)
everybody's posts have been amazing to read :) i feel so grateful that mariel came up with the idea, i don't know what we would be doing if we didn't have the blog! email conversations, facebook messages, wall posts just don't cut it. and btw you and your mom are an awesome pair together mariel. i didn't get to meet your mom at parents' weekend so i only just realized that. just saying.
anyways, i've just been at home still. moving down thursday or friday, not sure.. work starts monday :) i'm excited to get out of the house and back to doing something. hung out with friends most of friday (by friday i mean the part of friday where i was awake, a bit less than half :P).
i've been watching hayao miyazaki films for the past few days, after several people (including tenyia) forcefully demanded that i see them.. so i saw spirited away last monday, ponyo on the cliff by the sea on wednesday, princess mononoke yesterday, and now i'm watching my neighbor totoro. the movies really are good! they make me wonder how i could've missed out on them for so long, and they make me wonder why other movies can't be as good. the visuals, the music, the plot, the characters are all SO GOOD! (i'm not a film critic - i can't be as eloquent as they can be when describing movies... so i'm just going to repeat myself) i'm already trying to learn how to play some of the songs on the piano, like this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ni1sVCgEk). so beautiful and poignant :) no tragedy though!
i got a huge surprise about 30 mins into totoro when the totoro theme started to play.. because when i was like six, i was in this daycare and we learned to dance to the totoro theme lol! my parents recorded it on a videotape and i don't know how to get it onto something more modern or i would show you guys. you'll just have to come to my house. anyways, until now, i was always curious what the song that i danced to was when i was six, but i had no idea where it came from... until it all of a sudden started playing and i had this massive flashback to that dance. pleasant surprise!
my mom made one of my favorite dishes today.. oyster fry! 蚵仔煎 or 煎蠔餅. something like "aw luah" in chaozhou.
it's like oyster fried in eggs like a omelette stir fried, with starch to make it slightly chewy and salty/peppery sauce on it. love it so much. also got to eat some awesome <trac voice>egg tarts</trac voice> (蛋撻) on saturday. that ends my segment on asian food..
besides eating and sleeping and hanging out, i've been working on this database for a non-profit organization for children with special needs, like my brother, who's autistic. i've been helping out there since i was seven, first as a member, then as a helper, and now as a tech person. they needed someone to help them build a database to keep track of everything, like donations, members, program enrollment, etc. running an organization is complicated! i've been working on it on and off since senior year.. to be honest i haven't dedicated much time to it but it's been hard with school and stuff. i feel guilty whenever i know i could've been working on it but did something else. but now it's almost done! i'm just fixing a few minor things, and it should be hopefully mostly done, unless they come to me with more requests for features..
now i'm having a skype call with alex and tia! and it is making my night :) hope you're all having awesome summers and many many more great days!
anyways, i've just been at home still. moving down thursday or friday, not sure.. work starts monday :) i'm excited to get out of the house and back to doing something. hung out with friends most of friday (by friday i mean the part of friday where i was awake, a bit less than half :P).
i've been watching hayao miyazaki films for the past few days, after several people (including tenyia) forcefully demanded that i see them.. so i saw spirited away last monday, ponyo on the cliff by the sea on wednesday, princess mononoke yesterday, and now i'm watching my neighbor totoro. the movies really are good! they make me wonder how i could've missed out on them for so long, and they make me wonder why other movies can't be as good. the visuals, the music, the plot, the characters are all SO GOOD! (i'm not a film critic - i can't be as eloquent as they can be when describing movies... so i'm just going to repeat myself) i'm already trying to learn how to play some of the songs on the piano, like this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ni1sVCgEk). so beautiful and poignant :) no tragedy though!
i got a huge surprise about 30 mins into totoro when the totoro theme started to play.. because when i was like six, i was in this daycare and we learned to dance to the totoro theme lol! my parents recorded it on a videotape and i don't know how to get it onto something more modern or i would show you guys. you'll just have to come to my house. anyways, until now, i was always curious what the song that i danced to was when i was six, but i had no idea where it came from... until it all of a sudden started playing and i had this massive flashback to that dance. pleasant surprise!
my mom made one of my favorite dishes today.. oyster fry! 蚵仔煎 or 煎蠔餅. something like "aw luah" in chaozhou.
it's like oyster fried in eggs like a omelette stir fried, with starch to make it slightly chewy and salty/peppery sauce on it. love it so much. also got to eat some awesome <trac voice>egg tarts</trac voice> (蛋撻) on saturday. that ends my segment on asian food..
besides eating and sleeping and hanging out, i've been working on this database for a non-profit organization for children with special needs, like my brother, who's autistic. i've been helping out there since i was seven, first as a member, then as a helper, and now as a tech person. they needed someone to help them build a database to keep track of everything, like donations, members, program enrollment, etc. running an organization is complicated! i've been working on it on and off since senior year.. to be honest i haven't dedicated much time to it but it's been hard with school and stuff. i feel guilty whenever i know i could've been working on it but did something else. but now it's almost done! i'm just fixing a few minor things, and it should be hopefully mostly done, unless they come to me with more requests for features..
now i'm having a skype call with alex and tia! and it is making my night :) hope you're all having awesome summers and many many more great days!
Helloooooo! =)
So, I'm happy to report that I have actually been doing some stuff the past few days, so the break has been getting interesting. I met up with a friend that I haven't seen in a long time to go for a walk and catch up. It was nice - we plan to do some running this break (she apparently went to Crystal Springs last week, which is one of the courses we used to run for cross country. I'm sure that I will go there this break and I'll take pictures). We walked along the levee and there were some nice Foster City views =)
LALALALALALALALALLALALALALA.
The above line of singing is not very important, I just didn't want to type much of anything in a color that's so hard to read. After getting back from the walk, I went with James and Adam to Tapioca Express. It was quite nice. They mistook my order, but it wasn't a big deal because what they gave me was good anyway. It sounds like Adam will be staying around this summer, which I'm happy about. James will be around too - so we'll make sure to have stuff to do.
Last night I went with a bunch of people to see UP!! In 3-d! Hehe. That was enjoyable. We also went to Heidi's Pies afterward. It's a place on El Camino that has food and lots of pies and things, and it open in the wee hours of the morning. Which is nice, because this is a rather quiet area and there are perhaps not a billion options of where to go if you feel like hanging out at 1 in the morning. (Which is a bit strange after getting used to the Stanford bubble. I also realize that I will look slightly strange if I decide to go running at 1 in the morning. But... since when has looking strange been very good from stopping me...? [As showcased by the below picture - we looked pretty snazzy in those 3-d glasses. I also went through the movie wearing both my glasses and the 3-d glasses]).
Blue, Indigo, and Violet are rather close for text colors. So today I was in bed until 2:30 or something. I'm really taking advantage of all this time to catch up on sleep. I've been reading a book written by one of the presenters from Top Gear about some of the most important progress of the 20th century. It's kinda like a textbook, except it's awesome. (NERD EMPOWERMENT!!). I've also got some other novels and shows and things lined up.
Anyway, hope you all have been enjoying your first week of summer =). Keep being awesome.
-Alex
So, I'm happy to report that I have actually been doing some stuff the past few days, so the break has been getting interesting. I met up with a friend that I haven't seen in a long time to go for a walk and catch up. It was nice - we plan to do some running this break (she apparently went to Crystal Springs last week, which is one of the courses we used to run for cross country. I'm sure that I will go there this break and I'll take pictures). We walked along the levee and there were some nice Foster City views =)
LALALALALALALALALLALALALALA.
The above line of singing is not very important, I just didn't want to type much of anything in a color that's so hard to read. After getting back from the walk, I went with James and Adam to Tapioca Express. It was quite nice. They mistook my order, but it wasn't a big deal because what they gave me was good anyway. It sounds like Adam will be staying around this summer, which I'm happy about. James will be around too - so we'll make sure to have stuff to do.
Last night I went with a bunch of people to see UP!! In 3-d! Hehe. That was enjoyable. We also went to Heidi's Pies afterward. It's a place on El Camino that has food and lots of pies and things, and it open in the wee hours of the morning. Which is nice, because this is a rather quiet area and there are perhaps not a billion options of where to go if you feel like hanging out at 1 in the morning. (Which is a bit strange after getting used to the Stanford bubble. I also realize that I will look slightly strange if I decide to go running at 1 in the morning. But... since when has looking strange been very good from stopping me...? [As showcased by the below picture - we looked pretty snazzy in those 3-d glasses. I also went through the movie wearing both my glasses and the 3-d glasses]).
Blue, Indigo, and Violet are rather close for text colors. So today I was in bed until 2:30 or something. I'm really taking advantage of all this time to catch up on sleep. I've been reading a book written by one of the presenters from Top Gear about some of the most important progress of the 20th century. It's kinda like a textbook, except it's awesome. (NERD EMPOWERMENT!!). I've also got some other novels and shows and things lined up.
Anyway, hope you all have been enjoying your first week of summer =). Keep being awesome.
-Alex
Ooooohh Boy
Whirlwind!
So I got home on friday, unpacked, repacked for college (I'm getting back pretty late in the summer, so I wanted to be ready to hit the ground running and head to Stanford), packed for India/Germany, and packed for summer camp. I am going to staff training at the most magical place on earth that isn't Disneyland. I'm not sure if I'll be able to work there, I might have to volunteer, or I might have to go home after training. Not because I'm a bad staff (I think) but because it's a bad economy. Oy! So here's where I'm going. That was a link.
It's pretty much the home of my heart. It's where I recharge my love-batteries every year! Basically, lots of kids come to a circle of tipis in coastal norcal, clown around, sing the Beatles, learn to juggle, and generally work on living in peace and harmony. And I, as a staff, would teach them to write poetry and try to keep them from going down the waterslide in the wrong direction.
So on Saturday I saw my friend Alexandra and we went to my other friend Henry's apartment. He lives in this gorgeous one-room thing above a café in Oakland's Rockridge area. It feels more like paris though. He is an artsy type, and his apartment is very minimalist, but very snazzy.
"I'm sorry," he says as he makes a lemon twist to drop in our Pellegrino water, "I wish I could offer you some food but all I have is cheese and liquor. Do you want some absinthe?"
We decide to bake some bread first. It was supposed to be norwegian coffee cake. But we added some dates and it became more like Moroccan Sweet Loaf. Quite delicious. But it takes so long to make bread, I had no idea! You have to let the yeast rise for a half hour, three times over... so I only ended up having 10 minutes to enjoy bread and absinthe at the end. Then I biked home. (I had only a few sips of the liquid green jewels, don't worry.)
Then I went to a classical Indian vocal concert with this woman from Delhi named Karunamayee. She was so funny! She kept making these really hilarious expressions at the tabla player. It was as if she were challenging him to a duel, then acting like a shy teenaged girl, then getting really meditative, and then back again. I love how Indian music is so interactive! It's not like one person plays their part and then the other plays theirs.... it's like a sport almost. There's playfulness to it.
So that was fun. I had a lot of spiritual insights. I guess I always do when I listen to live music. I can't remember them anymore, but I'm sure they've changed me for the better.
I think I should start carrying around a notebook.
Yesterday I stressed about packing, argued with my mother a lot, then went to have organic ice cream with my friends Abby and Liz. I got molasses and bay laurel flavors. Welcome to the Yay.
Then we had steamed soy milk and ate up that date bread from the day before. We discussed summer plans, school years, and boyfriends (Abby has been with her boyfriend for 4 freakin years (!!), Liz with hers for 6 months. And me? I'll find the love of my life in France, I just know it.)
We ran into 5 people we knew on College Ave. Our neighborhood is the greatest! I love how it feels like a small town even though it isn't.
Mmmm...
Today I woke up and took the car to the mechanics. Everything is alright! I can safely drive to camp now.
Which I am about to do. So, without further ado, I wish you all an excellent week, I'll be back on the interwebs sometime next sunday ish.
Love to everybody!
INDIYEAH!
(Fullerton Hotel, Singapore)
Dear 'A2 that aint getting outta mah head',
After my 'independent woman' time at Singapore and making a fool of myself at the airport by skyping my mum and having loud conversations with my computer, I quietly packed myself into my flight to bangalore and passed out yet again.
(PIC: I even got pretty good at taking pictures of myself, and found this one especially funny!-this is me after 15 hours of flying and the ridiculous heat of Singapore)
I finally got home at 9:37pm IST on the 13th and was greeted by the best Indian weather imaginable - the rain! The rain in India is different - it's just the right temperature and smells beautiful. Precipitation, my friends, is a personal favorite! I managed to clear immigration (they stuck a thermometer in my ear to check my temp), and customs and literally skipped to the doors of the airport. Then spotted dad, left my baggage in the middle of the arrivals area and flung myself at him! Trust me, even I was surpised by my reaction.. or maybe not. Then we drove back to Mysore, and I allowed my poor tongue not a second's rest, all the way. Reached home at 2:00am, and even before I rang the doorbell, my mum opened the door. (remember spring break talk about a mother's intuition? need more proof?)
Dinner at 2:00am with mum and dad watching me hog, and then (*drools) real mangoes for dessert - Thanks to that plus a certain innate mental instability aggravated by travel, I felt myself choke up(the teary kind of choking.. not the other one!). That night i slept(on a real bed, in a real room! ;P) better than ever.. ever.. ever...
Woke up, taught my sister set theory and oxidation numbers(she had a test in physics, chem and math that sunday morning!) and then got down to clicking some pictures of my room and my house, so I could send it to you guys. Well, its pretty amazing how i felt looking at all of it again, and it had just been six months.
Here are a couple of pics then! To see the rest, you guys have to come home!!!
(my room is completely done up in turquoise and yellow.I told my parents that if we had even an ounce of pink in our house I would not live there.. It worked! It is in the present state simply because I dont live in it anymore. Ah in its days of glory, you could barely see the sheets under the books and random crap! )Then unpacked, read blog, did evals(uhh mariel, you should have read the one i wrote for Garth! And Nicole.. the one for Bob - priceless!!). Then yapped with Mariel and Alex(s), and had a three hour long 'heart to heart' with my sis..(God, I can talk!). Told mum and sis about the 'ice fight' and how we once planned to drown nicole out of her room! They already love each of us. I mean living with wacky little me for this long, would make any craziness endearing, wouldnt it?
Then stuffed my face with mum's great cooking and the vadas(an indian fried snack - like that helps make it any less vague!) she made. Then went shopping! Shopping in India is a very different experience. I went to an arts fair and that is basically this plethora of tiny shops set up under this huuuge waterproof tent. You elbow your way through the thick crowd, fight over favorable pieces of jewellery, or silk, haggle over the prices and then emerge with the absolute satistfation of a 'true shopping experience'. the best part - the most expensive thing i bought was worth 4 dollars!! I drove my mum crazy with - "this will look great on Nora... Mariel will love this... This says Tenyia and Tiff all over it... and a lot more of the same sort!" You guys will never leave me alone this summer will you?
After that, it was lights out at 9 freakin pm!! And then up at 8 am today.. Now I should scoot off and work on my Australian visa. Well I guess if I do include any more detail, you guys will get my neck for it, in September!
Love you all(a little too much, i realise...;P)
Nruthya
smile! its summer! :D
hi everyone! its been so much fun reading all of your posts. and now its my turn...
so my summer so far has been a nice melange of high heels, awkward small talk and yummy food. fun stuff.
on thursday i flew to LA for my sisters graduation after some last minute storage nonsense and airport craziness. there was a reception dinner that night for all the graduates and their families, where i figured out that making small talk on 2 hours of sleep is quite difficult. so is keeping your balance. but the three-flavor mousse cake was really really good!
friday morning was commencement. the weather decided to cooperate and give us some rain to keep the bouquets alive. highlight of friday was stephen chu's (US secretary of energy) speech about sustainability and the importance of science and being the change you wish to see in the world and nerd empowerment and all that good stuff. but no, seriously, his speech was amazing. (i just cant remember how exactly he phrased things right now, but it was better than that.)
that night was dinner with my great aunt and great uncle who i didnt know existed until maybe 5 years ago. theyre very sweet, even when deploring the fact that i didnt end up at pomona because they live in claremont, maybe two minutes away from campus. but i told them that i wouldnt have met all the awesome people at stanford if i had gone to pomona, and then my life would have been a huge gaping void.
saturday was dedicated to helping my sister pack, and getting lots of yummy japanese food. apparently the newest food fad in SoCal is roll sushi with lots of stuff/sauce piled on top and an exotic name, like the "heart attack roll" or the "kamikaze roll." yay for food with morbid names. though i must admit, some of them were very good.
now its sunday and, one extremely bumpy plane ride later, i'm finally home! tomorrow i go back to my old (wushu-ful) life. i'm excited to see my old friends again, and i can't wait to see you guys even though thats not gonna be for a while. in the meantime, keep the posts coming :)
W.O.U.
Hey kiddos,
FIRST: GIVE ME YOUR ADDRESSES. Email me at captainmondegreen@gmail.com
Mariel here. Trac is reading my RBA (after a lot of very non-subtle pressure) and we're mostly chillin' out for the next twenty or so minutes before going to sleep. We've had a really eventful weekend and are already in the mode where our bodies are trying to get us caught up for the copious all-nighters we pulled in the past few weeks, so don't expect coherency out o' this post.
As you all know, we started home on Wednesday night and ended up somewhere in NorCal where we proceeded to hit up a lot of places yadda yadda fuck I don't even remember and I probably won't remember until a) I sleep and b) I look at the pictures, which are soon to follow. It's just that Trac is only here for a few days so we're making the best of our time while he's here. He has already made friends with my cat and my grandmother despite having absolutely ridiculous hair.
It's nice seeing you guys have posted and it's especially nice seeing Quach's design-- you guys should give him major props because shit's pretty intense. We haven't really gotten to read anything since we haven't had internet access for a while, but I'll upload pictures once Trac has escaped from the confines of my VICEGRIP. Tomorrow is a long day so they'll be late, for which I apologize, but like I said. No time.
Got you guys postcards, by the way.
I am supposed to humiliate him but I'm really exhausted so I'll leave you guys with nothing but the mental image of Trac's painted toenails.
Catch you later (with substantial update), hope summer's treating you well.
FIRST: GIVE ME YOUR ADDRESSES. Email me at captainmondegreen@gmail.com
Mariel here. Trac is reading my RBA (after a lot of very non-subtle pressure) and we're mostly chillin' out for the next twenty or so minutes before going to sleep. We've had a really eventful weekend and are already in the mode where our bodies are trying to get us caught up for the copious all-nighters we pulled in the past few weeks, so don't expect coherency out o' this post.
As you all know, we started home on Wednesday night and ended up somewhere in NorCal where we proceeded to hit up a lot of places yadda yadda fuck I don't even remember and I probably won't remember until a) I sleep and b) I look at the pictures, which are soon to follow. It's just that Trac is only here for a few days so we're making the best of our time while he's here. He has already made friends with my cat and my grandmother despite having absolutely ridiculous hair.
It's nice seeing you guys have posted and it's especially nice seeing Quach's design-- you guys should give him major props because shit's pretty intense. We haven't really gotten to read anything since we haven't had internet access for a while, but I'll upload pictures once Trac has escaped from the confines of my VICEGRIP. Tomorrow is a long day so they'll be late, for which I apologize, but like I said. No time.
Got you guys postcards, by the way.
I am supposed to humiliate him but I'm really exhausted so I'll leave you guys with nothing but the mental image of Trac's painted toenails.
Catch you later (with substantial update), hope summer's treating you well.
