9.30.04
Cute wedding cake made up of Hostess treats. I have fond memories of eating Hostess cupcakes as a little kid. I also have a penchant for Snickers bars too. Mmm, I wonder if it's because my mom used them as a bribe to keep us still while she gave us haircuts.

9.29.04
Oooh, there's a small possibility I might visit Taiwan this December. *Crossing my fingers*

9.28.04
Happy Mid Autumn Festival. Mmm, mooncakes, I think I like the pineapple filled ones or the red bean kinds the best. My cousin Michelle just visited Taiwan and brought us a box from a hotel in Taiwan. The packaging was so pretty and elegant; they came in this little wooden carrying case.

9.27.04
I can't wait to watch Phantom of the Opera when it comes out in movie theatres this December 2004.

9.26.04
Crissy and I went to a family get together in Pleasanton with lots of yummy food prepared by our aunt. I need to figure how to broil sea bass, very delish. =d Anyway, on the drive there, our grandma was telling us all these stories about our mother when she was in high school and college. I understood about 3/4 of it and none of it when my grandma would switch to Mandarin. I would be like ahhh, switch back to Taiwanese, I have no clue what you're saying.

I loved the story how after an important exam, my grandma would always ask my mom how well she did. My mom would always reply, I did ok I guess. And then when exam results were available she would always have the top score. =p Man, I wish I had my mom's intelligence. She went to National Taiwan University, which is super competitive to get into. When she was deciding over MBA schools she was choosing between Columbia and New York University. Wow. *Lena in awe*

All in all, I feel guilty about all the hardships my parents had to go through when they first moved to the United States. Meanwhile, my sisters and I live spoiled lives compared to what they had to struggle with.

9.25.04
I love going through my mom's closet. When she was my age, she was a lot more slimmer than I was. Bleh, that's what you get for growing up on American food I suppose. Anyway, she has all these cool vintagey clothing that's very in right now: retro sweaters, cute wool skirts and pretty belts. I like how every thing is fitted and slim cut. I hate how the 80s and early 90s consisted of a lot of baggy, gaudy, and unflattering clothes. I need to find a good tailor to alter my mom's wool skirts into low waisted skirts and mebbe shorten the skirt to just below the knee (a more flattering cut).

9.24.04
First it was craft blogs that I was addicted to, now it seems like fashion blogs are just as good. Here are some favorites:

Closet Therapy
stylebakery.com
stylediary.net

9.23.04
Sigh, another quarter. But I'm almost done. Most likely I can graduate in March 2005. We shall see and then visiting all the places I want to and then on to better things.

9.22.04
I just finished reading Jennifer Government which gives readers a glimpse of what our future might be like, where consumerism rules our lives and corporations dominate (this already exists now to a certain extent). Frankly, it's a disturbing vision, probably because it's entirely plausible. Anyway, I recommend the book if you like Matrix or Minority Report.

9.20.04
I had dinner with Jason at the Old Tea House. I had this sweet, baked chicken rice dish. Anyway, he's moving to Tokyo in two months, to work at Goldman Sachs as a programmer. It's exciting to hear when people land their dream job. But can you imagine how hectic it is to have to move to another country? So much stuff to take care of.

9.17.04
I was at Barnes and Nobles and I was totally drooling over this dessert cookbook. It had colored photos and 1000 pages of recipes. Anyway, I had dinner with Ken, Kent, and Vee at Ajanta on Solano. I usually don't like Indian food but it was pretty good. Even though the portions looked really small, everyone was sufficiently full afterwards. We were craving for some gelato and visited Gelateria Naia. I had a Tiramisu and Ferro Rocher gelato.

Gelateria Naia
2106 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley
510-883-1568

We chilled at Kent's and played Clue and reminisced about favorite childhood board games.

9.16.04
I had lunch with Stephanie at Thai House, lots of catching up and chit chatting. =) She's living in Emeryville now and super busy with her job, traveling lots. I always admire people who have a passion for teaching. They have so much patience (something I totally lack) and drive.

9.15.04
I had lunch with Noel at Pasta Pomodoro.

9.14.04
I watched Say Anything starring John Cusack. It's an 80s romantic comedy about high school kids who just graduated. Cusack's character is so enduring, adorable, and honest.

9.11.04
I went to the Cal Football game with Sandy and her friends. It was fun; I haven't been since I was a freshmen. However, I'm not a hardcore football fan like my sister who has a season ticket.

9.07.04
I took Windy to the Legion of Honor. It was a gorgeous day so we could see the Golden Gate Bridge perfectly. I love it when the water is a perfect blue. There was a disturbing exhibit called the Child which featured works by Gottfried Helnwein. The images were creepy. However, I was impressed by the works that looked like photographs but were really oil paintings.

We met up with Crissy to view the Geisha exhibit at the Asian Art Museum. I liked this one photograph of a geisha in full costume and an adjacent photograph featured her in normal day to day dress sitting on a couch reading a novel. All the different scrolls and woodblock prints were interesting to look at.

Afterwards, we had lunch at Cha Cha Cha in the Haight. It's a good place if you want to try something different. They serve Caribbean tapas. We ordered Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Fried Plantanos Maduros, Fried New Potatoes, Spicy Pork Sandwich, and Caramel Flan. The flan was the best but I think it's cuz I have a sweet tooth.

9.06.04
Mmm, I had some yummy sandwiches for lunch today. Mark drove us to Montclair to Grinders; some people have likened it to the Soup Nazi. Haha, this quote from the article cracked me up: "Sir, I am sorry, but you are too stupid to order here." I ordered a Typhoon which is a sandwich with smoked turkey, avocado, bacon, and jack cheese. So good. =d Ordering wasn't too stressful because there was no line and I knew what I wanted. It's cool cuz they store your order in a computer to make repeat visits more efficient.