previous installments of the beno journal: 2002 | 2001 | 1998-2000 | the beno manifesto, pt. ii | the beno manifesto
859a: didju hope i'd have an entry on new yr's day? prob'ly not, but i hoped i'd have an entry on new yr's day. i didn't. however, on new yr's day, i werked on modifying the layout (just a teency weency bit) to accomodate the fact that it's now 2003 not 2002. it sure is. well, how r u? how was ur new yr's? ne new yr's resolutions? me, yah, i might have 1 or 2. *shrug* the 1 i can think of right 'way is that i resolve to ingest less. :-o "whuh?" yah. i think i'm eating 2 much. "dude, what kind'f freak r u?" *shrug* i just think i gotta watch what i eat a li'l more. actually, it's not so much what i eat but how much i eat. i just wanna make sure i don't stuff myself silly as often as i have been lately. *shrug* maybe that's the feeling every1 gets 'round this time, huh? cos'f all the holiday feasts... oh well... i just don't believe that real men have curves. i'd rather be a lean, mean, journal.writin' machine! ne other resolutions? hrm... *shrug* maybe, we'll c.
well, how was ur new yr's? [didju] do nething fun? what did we do? well, i was really tired on tues (new yr's eve) cos i woke up early 4 werk. @ lunchtime, i came home. the beautiful kaela kang made us some lunch: fried spam lite, kimchi, n' instant kalgooksoo. oh yah! on my way home, i stopped by to get some eggs n' green onions from safeway since kaela asked me to. man! when i went into safeway, which was somehow decently crowded on a drizzly new yr's eve early afternoon, i realised, "man! i haven't gone grocery shopping in ages!!!" back when i lived in berkeley, whether as a bachelor or when i lived w/ kaela, i did sooo much grocery shopping. there were times, i was really into cooking, u know? besides that, i shopped like a guy: u c, gurls r more likely to stock up on groceries, while men tend to go grocery shopping right b4 they cook n' get just what they need 4 that nite. well, that's only partially true; there r 2 kinds'f guys: 1) the kind that likes to cook n' likes to "go to market" right b4 preparing his masterpiece n' 2) the kind that just stocks up on frozen hot pockets from costco 1nce every 2 months. ha! yah, in a collegetown like berkeley, u get both. i mean, actually, i think i was more into cooking back when i was in college than after; so u can say sumpthin' like it's just collegeboys that do that costco hot pockets thing while yuppie guys wanna act on shmancy pantsy n' cook. nope, that's not it @ all. sorry! well, neway! i was @ safeway, got the green onions n' eggs, n' then i also figured i'd pick up some bud lite. 1) i wondered if i was gonna go to ne kind'f new yr's eve house party; n', if so, maybe i should bring some beer. 2) well, i decently like beer, so i figure it'd be ok to have some in the fridge. 3) i've always sed that a good host always has beer in his fridge. i didn't get carded 4 the beer @ the checkout. sometimes, i get carded, sometimes i don't. i walked thru the drizzly, misty parking lot to my car n' drove home. @ home, we ate lunch n' watched some buffy season 2 dvd episodes. i took a nap in the late afternoon / early eve. then we went over to ken n' grace's n' had dinner w/ them n' bert n' allison @ chili's. it was a fun dinner. then we went back to ken n' grace's n' just talked n' "chilled." it was a very mellow new yr's eve! after midnite, we pretty much just went straight home.
new yr's day: well, kaela woke up really late, 'round 100p. i drove her out to the eastside hills, up mt. hamilton rd, to c the beautiful so bay view. ah, it was sooo beautiful. even tho' the silly valley air was a bit hazy cos'f the moisture in the air (it wasn't smog; white, not brown!), we could still c so much of the bustling santa clara county n' much of southern alameda n' san mateo counties up to the great san francisco bay. what a beautiful day! we saw lots'f nice mansions in the hills, lots'f horses, n' some goats n' cows. kaela mentioned that the way the east san jo neighbourhoods r set up remind her of anaheim. yah, i can imagine. well, after driving back down the hill, i drove us past eastridge mall, to the gym. we werked out 4 a while. i had a really good werkout. then we went home 4 dinner. my mom cooked some bbq spareribs, salad, corn, n' yams. man! what a hearty dinner! i was very full. 'member? i resolved not to stuff myself. *sigh* well, after dinner, we went to the movies. we went to amc saratoga n' watched chicago. wow! i had such a good time! u gotta go watch that movie! it was so much fun. since we had amc moviewatchers cards, we got free popcorn @ the concession stand. heh, we didn't really need more fud, but ok.
recently, i thought 'bout sumpthin': some of my friends r real akademics, went to cal or else some "big name" preppy college n' then went on to grad skool, to a hi paying job, or else to do not much. so there's that group, which is comprised of "akademia," yuppies, n' scholarly artist types... n' then there r those who maybe just went to j.c. (junior college) or some smaller name state university n' then went on to pursue a decently successful career. often, i feel that these 2 types don't mingle much; but i know i encounter both. i think there is a bit of a polar split btwn "akademia" n' the "fast bizness" world. i think maybe the "akademics" sometimes look down upon those that didn't go thru as much or as highly.esteemed of an education. u know what tho'? i think that's pretty unfounded. some ppl didn't go to fancy shmancy preppy colleges, yet u know what? just by going thru life, they pick up plenty of wisdom. u really gotta give ppl credit 4 that.
*sigh* i really wonder 'bout my life, how life'll change this coming yr. as u know, i'm getting married this summer. i'm not unsure @ all 'bout wanting to get married. i very much wanna marry kaela! :-) what i'm wondering more 'bout is my career stuff. i'm wondering when i'll be able to start taking on a part time career job. after next semester, as long as nuthin' goes wrong, i'll have 18 units. i only need 30 units to get my master's degree. [oh shoot! i just noticed that they skeduled me in to werk on sat 1000a - 200p. i guess no tahoe trip on sat! i'd better remember that i gotta werk this sat morn.] this'll be a bizzy summer w/ the wedding n' all. i obviously can't take summer skool. neway, they don't offer many mechanical engring grad classes over the summer. then in the fall... hrm.. i guess i'll hafta take 'nother 3 class courseload, huh? n' then the following yr's spring term, i can finally just take my thesis/projekt class n' werk. hopefully, i'll find a job by then. hrm... b4 i thought 'bout it, i thought i'd be able to just take my projekt/thesis class n' be done w/ my other classes by next fall. heh, i guess that'd be 2 few classes, huh? so next fall, i'll be a full.time grad student still.
so... this sat we can't be in tahoe cos i gotta be in milpitas to werk. well, that's fine. maybe i was meant to take a break from tahoe. man, last weekend was a disaster. well, i sort'f wanted to go this weekend, n' as the weekend approached, i more n' more wanted to go. 1) ol' berkeley folks wanted to make a trip... 'least they sed they wanted to go, but then i didn't hear much after that. also, mark from taekwondo (who is actually also a berkeley, just not of the same clique) told me he n' his friends have a cabin reserved 4 this weekend. *sigh* since i hadn't heard nething from the berkeley p.crew folks, i started thinking this morn, that maybe we could just go w/ mark. however, now that i c i gotta werk on sat, maybe not. :-/ could we still go up just on sun? yah, maybe... however, i'm just a li'l bit starting to get just a li'l bit weary of driving up n' down 4 daytrips. i wanna make some weekend trips, 1s that don't involve driving back n' 4th from san jo to pick up replacement contacts. :-( *sigh* u know i really like snowboarding. the weather'll prob'ly be pretty good up there this weekend. however, i know that there'll be way 2 many li'l skoolkids n' their parents up there. that's some big dissuasion, lemme tell u. well, some of our friends'll be out of town this weekend; but maybe, kaela n' i stay in the bay area, that'll give us a chance to catch up w/ our other friends. oh yah, next week, linda's coming to visit kaela n' support her w/ buying her wedding dress... well, not financially! ha! X-D no no no, just moral support!
yah, wedding planning. i'm planning to "ramp" that up a bit in the upcoming months. actually, i would've thought more of our friends would want to get involved w/ helping us plan the wedding... cos i think all of ur friends'll get married eventually! so gettin' a li'l involved w/ our wedding planing'd let them get a glimpse of how planning a wedding is much more difficult than planning uc open or wutc! ha. seriously!
well, the things i have on my to do list 4 the wedding right now r:
1 thing that i told kaela that really frustrates me 'bout wedding planning is this: when u go talk to those wedding vendors (sleazy scoundrels! each n' every 1 of them! [besides when i'm a wedding dj... n' our wedding fotographers cm to be nice ppl...]), they always tell me some b.s. like "oh! i'm sooo glad to see a groom that wants to help in the wedding planning! that's so rare! you're a swell guy..." etc. ugh! that is so sugary, sweet fake talk!!! u know, i c right thru it! 4 the most part, they don't want me there! the c it like this: the groom is always gonna be the "treasurer," the "accountant." the bride, they can get her all riled up n' excite her w/ lots'f sparkle sparkle n' then she'll be more willing to $pend, $spend, $spend. the groom, no matter how rich he is, he's not gonna be so riled up or easily moved by their sparkle sparkle. sure, he's gonna be more likely to think (even if he doesn't say it aloud), "yah, this is really nice... but *sigh* if possible, i'd rather not so much 4 this... etc." the groom's gonna be more likely to say that the expen$es r getting out of hand, etc. lemme tell u, in reality, the wedding vendors (those slimey ba$tards) don't want the groom there! if they can convince the bride alone to $spend $$$ on sumpthin', then she can go home n' convince the groom. but if the groom is there in person, he's just an obstacle btwn the wedding vendor n' "cha.ching! i'm rich!!!" ever since i contacted the wedding caterer, she cms to be avoiding me. i think it's cos i'm the groom n' she's thinking that i'm gonna be such a hassle to werk w/ cos all i'll do is wanna bargain w/ her this n' that. i'm thinking this might be the case n' this might be cos we 1st off told her what kind'f fud we want n' since it's korean n' taiwanese it's not fud they can cook so we'll be buying it elsewhere but just having them serve it. i'm thinking she's thinking that maybe they think this'll decrease their profits. argh! don't worry! u'll find a way to rip us off in the end. don't worry!
so it's 1047a now. over 1.5 hrs till lunch. b4 coming
in to werk, after parking my car, i was tempted to go to j.box to pick
up a breakfast jack n' oj 
; but nope, i resisted n' just went
in to the office. i ate a yogurt covered granola bar thingy n' a
li'l snack size payday bar so far. i got into the office a
li'l early 2day, but not that much. b4 werk, i went to the
gym n' had a very quick werkout. i'm guessing we'll go to the gym
2nite to do spin class n' ab lab. 2day is thurs. can u
believe that?
922a: this morn, i didn't wake up as early as i have been waking up
these days. i didn't go to the gym b4 werk, but i did
still get to werk early. i didn't leave the house till almost
830a. when i got to the office, 'twas 851a. i ran over to
j.box to get a breakfast jack combo w/ oj
instead of coffee. it was quite a good deal, i
think. i think it was cheaper than mcyukyuk's 
. 1 thing
i really like 'bout this j.box is that they have hot sauce on the
counter. mmm... i think maybe they get lots'f mexican n' asian
customers who like spicy fud. well,
geez! the should always have hot sauce on the counter. it
was good hot sauce. :-)
so i'm sittin' here @ the receptionist desk w/ a copy of the milpitas post's "2002 guidebook and community resource directory" with its "best of milpitas: readers' choices of the city's top food and services." dude, u know it's best not to let the readers choice "the city's top" when they vote taco bell as the city's best tacos!!! i mean, geez! 1) we live in cali4nia where we have sooo many choices 4 mexican fud! n' 2) we live in the bay area where we have sooo many choices 4 mexican fud! milpitas has a decent mexican population. how the heck could the readers have voted taco bell as the top place 4 tacos?! well, i'm not totally dissin' taco bell... yes, their fud is often tasty. i like their gorditas now n' then; n' their chicken soft tacos r a very healthy choice as far as fast fud goes. ok, who were the 4 runner ups or honourable mentions? una mas, los reyes taqueria, la fuente, n' baja cactus. i know una mas; it's a franchise or 'least a chain... eh! i'm pretty sure it's a franchise. i've enjoyed many burritos @ the now extinct una mas in berkeley, which used to be on euclid ave. in northside, where there's now a sorabol, unless that disappeared. una mas is decently good. well, having amerikan mexican fud is still diff from going to a truly authentic mexican place. sometimes it's nice to go to 1 of those.
well, these readers voted starbucks as their best coffee. *sigh* yah, that's kind'f bound to happen. even tho', since i lived in berkeley so long, i like to c ppl patronise nonstarbucks, indie (or indy) cafés, i know ppl in the burbs don't realise they have alternatives to starbucks. maybe some ppl call starbucks "the buck." wouldn't that be an interesting piece of folkspeech. after all, the starbucks corporation is really raking in the dough, u know? neway... i gotta admit, even tho' i like the idea of indy coffeehouses; yah, starbucks provides reliable coffee; u know what to expekt. yah, that's the whole advantage of franchises. when u go to mcyukyuk, u know what tastes n' flavours to expekt when u finally read fast food nation, u'll learn that this is cos'f all the research the companies have put into flavourings; not necessarily "artificial flavourings", just "flavourings." u'll learn that all these franchises use plenty of flavouring. sooo much research goes into creating flavourings; it's a whole teknology. n' man! u should hear what the diff btwn "artificial" n' "natural" flavourigs is. sometimes, it's better to have artificial flavourings instead of natural flavourings, u know that? really!
neway, sometimes it's best not to let the readers pick the top fud n' services, i gotta say. even in the sf weekly (or was it the sf bay area guardian?), the readers picked nordstrom's as the best place to buy men's clothes, shoes, n' other stuff. well... then 'gain, even tho' nordstrom's ain't some li'l locals' best kept secret, i guess they do have quality merchandise n' supposedly good customer service. *shrug* 'least the bay area guardian, sf weekly, n' the daily cal'll have good categories like best sex toy shop, best s&m parlour, best porno shop... heh, it's not that u gotta say i'm a pervert; it's just that it's nice to know that ur town's open 'bout these kinds'f things. i don't think the milpitas post 2002 guidebook and community resource directory has those kinds'f things. however, 1 thing i do applaud them 4 having is these 2 distinct categories: 1) best ethnic music store (as opposed to the other category "best 'american' music store," n' 2) best ethnic food store. good job!
well, what did i do yesterday? 2day is fri! :-) yesterday was thurs. well, after werk, i picked up the beautiful kaela kang n' went to the mall 4 lunch. i had a healthmex chicken burrito from rubio's n' some fruit punch. kaela got some chicken noodle soup n' 0.5 a chicken breast sandwich from boudin. we browsed 'round the mall a li'l. after i dropped kaela off @ werk, i headed home. i stopped by best buy to get a cat-5 ethernet cable cos i recently bought a hub from fry's to get my 'puter netwerked to kaela's. when i got to best buy, i noticed the parking lot was pretty crowded. i thought, "wow, there must be some good sale going on." nah, there wasn't. i guess ppl just like going to best buy, n' they also had gifts to return/exchange. after i got the cable, i went home. originally, i thought i was gonna take a nap in the late afternoon, but i didn't. i stayed awake. fedex came n' delivered my 3 tires, which i gotta get mounted 2day or else 2morrow morn b4 werk. @ 'bout 530p or so, i headed off to the gym. 'member? i sed i'd prob'ly go to spin class n' ab lab w/ kaela. well, i did. the gym was decently crowded, most likely cos ppl made new yr's fitness resolutions. after the gym, we came home. my mom cooked neuromien. we ate that. i wanted to go to bed earlier, but i didn't go to bed that early.
well, this weekend: i guess i'm gonna werk on sat, n' then we'll go meet up w/ mark @ the tahoe cabin he n' his friends rented. *shrug* we'll board sun, i guess. i hope this is ok. it sounds like fun. this morn, i found grace's mitten (mark's grace) in the backseat of my car (from the daytrip we made w/ them). 'least i can return that to her on sat. i dunno what we'll do 2nite. it'd be fun to meet up w/ some friends, maybe go c a movie or sumpthin'. *shrug*
new yr's resolutions: well, i sed that 1 of my new yr's resolutions this yr is to eat less not necessarily eat better just eat less. well, i don't mean to say i support the idea of just eating whatever unhealthy junk but just not eating much of it. u know, i still don't support the protein diet theory. what i meant in saying that i resolve to eat less not necessarily healthier is that i figure i already try to eat healthier, but right now i think my best way of reducing caloric intake is just to eat a li'l less. seriously! i don't support anorexia! i'm just saying that there r times when i stuff myself silly, but i shouldn't. *shrug* that's all. well... hrm... lemme think: i had 'nother new yr's resolution. what was it? :-/ *sigh* oh yah! i know u all think this sounds all fruity n' all (which means u all can go skrew urselves 4 all i care! ha ha j/k), but i resolve to take better care of my skin. :-o geez, that does sound so much fruitier when i type it out. *roll eyes* neway, don'tchu think we should stop saying "fruity"? there is absolutely no reason to use terms which demean homosexuals! >:-( listen! i drive a subaru forester, a middle age lesbian's car. :-)
[later] 1024a: ooh! i saw a good produkt in the microcenter circular
(a circular is 1 of those weekly sales adverts that a store sends out):
the compacttrio 3.in.1. adapter. it converts sd, mmc, n' memory
stick to compact flash type ii. kewl! it sells 4 $49.99 @
microcenter.
1012a: 2day is sat. this morn, i woke up sort'f early to go out n' get my 3 tires mounted. i got them mounted @ the local chevron station. i went there yesterday, as i sed yesterday, but i was there 2 late in their werkday. well, yesterday eve, after the going to the gym 4 pilates class, the beautiful kaela kang n' i came home, ate some chips n' salsa, n' cooked some fud 4 dinner. after dinner, we watched xxx on my 'puter. earlier this week, i dled it w/ kazaa. i thought i dled the dvd version, but no, it was 1 of those cheesy camera.in.theatre versions. *roll eyes* neway, xxx was not a very good movie! :-( i kind'f sensed it wouldn't be. it just had a bunch'f stunts n' the rest of the movie was just weak excuses to get from 1 stunt to the next. funny, the basis 4 the movie is just like gen x cops, but 'least gen x cops is funny.
well, this morn, yah... as i sed, i got my tires mounted. i helped myself to a 0.5 cup of their comlimentary coffee since i figured i was paying them so much 4 their services. heh. u know, i rarely drink normal coffee, as opposed to espresso. well, w/ 'nuff powdered creamer, it wasn't 2 bad. i walked 'round the strip mall, passed ken's san jo store, n' then read a copy of the wave mag. heh, this is the kind'f community magazine/newspaper i like; better than the almaden times or the milpitas post. well, i got to werk a li'l early 2day, despite the auto service n' all. i went over to albertson's to pick up 2 bagels n' oj. sumpthin' was disconted via that albertson's savings card. i don't have 1, but the ca$hier used hers. i got a blueberry bagel n' a sesame 1. i werk till 'least 200p 2day, so i figure i'd better have some fud 'round since i can't have lunch till late.
pigeons: do u like pigeons? lately, kaela really doesn't like pigeons. me, i'm still ok w/ them. 'member: i really like burdies. i sometimes think ppl'd like pigeons better if they think of them as doves cos that's what they really r. i believe a pigeon is also called a "rock dove." well, how 'bout calling it a "jipbidoolgi," a "house dove." i s'ppose cos'f their fast rate of reproduktion, u can aktually classify them as vermin or pestilence or whatever. :-( yah, pigeons r horny. they reproduce like crazy, n' they don't mate 4 life!!! 'member: burdies such as ducks n' geese n' beno mate 4 life! pigeons r down 4 the 1 nite stand. yah, they get 'round. ever tried to talk to a pigeon 'bout this? they always go, "u'S juSht'A pLaYa hAtah! u'S juSht'A pLaYa hAtah! i dOn't nEedjU hAtin' oN mE! whY U B hAtin' oN mE?!" pigeons r promiscuous. i told kaela, if only we could get them to use birth control, we wouldn't have such a prob. :-( pigeons r doves, as i keep saying. if more of them were white or brown n' white, maybe we'd realise that; but most'f them r "traditional" black n' grey w/ a li'l bit of white n' irridescent purple 'round the neck, right? [i just found out i'm actually werking 1000a - 500p 2day!] now what if we tried to breed or genetically engr pigeons to get more white n' brown n' white pigeons? i think some ppl'd like that better. however, other ppl'd say it's genocide. weird to think 'bout, eh? neway, i don't think ne1'd fund such projekts as breeding pigeons to be more varying in colour, dying pigeons' feathers to make 'em of more varying colour, or making pigeons use birth control. oh well.
so yah, i'm werking 1000a - 500p 2day! crazy! c, i wanted to have a mellow nite last nite n' sleep early cos i knew i'd have a long day 2day: changing my tires, werking, n' driving to tahoe to meet up w/ mark, grace, n' their friends. ok, this is an eventful time, isn't it? linda (kaela's friend) is coming to visit us next week. it's 1 thing after 'nother.
[later] 1220p: hrm, is it lunchtime? since i ate bagels, maybe i'm not ready 4 lunch; but i should eat lunch eventually. days when i don't eat lunch r bad. [later] 134p: i haven't written that much so far 2day. could it possibly be that i'm just finally all talked out 4 the time being?!?!?! lately, i've been writing quite a bit here. *shrug* i'm just a li'l tired 2day, i guess. *shrug*
actually, i had 1 thought recently that i guess i'll mention right now: u know, (actually, 4 a while i've thought 'bout this), ... [interrupted]
[later] 336p: i checked my grades: 1 class reported in. i got an
'a' in that class. i'm not sure which class that is. i don't
know yet 'bout the other 2 classes. i'm really disappointed right
now cos @ 1st, i looked @ the screen n' thought i got straight 'a's.
well... i s'ppose it's still possible, but i wish it were just plain true.
:-(
947a: i'm @ the gym by myself on a tues morn. 955a: right now, i'm stretching.
on sat, we drove up to tahoe, yes. we stopped @ the vacaville in.n.out 4 burgers (dinner), no fries. in placervile (ol' hangtown), we stopped to get the beautiful kaela kang a toothbrush from rite.aid n' a vanilla latté from starbucks. then we drove up to south lake tahoe to the cabin mark n' grace rented w/ mark's ol' homestead hi skool friends. we ate some n' played poker n' blackjack. i didn't meet every1 cos they were 14 very tired ppl, but i particularly 'member van (who knew my friend elbert thru tennis), lori (who will hopefully someday get me a nice job @ lockheed), n' james (who deals poker pretty well).
on sun morn, we packed our stuff back up to go to sierra@tahoe n' go home. on our way out, we met ruby, the across.the.street neighbours' doggy. she was very friendly n' obedient. we took some pics of her that i'd like to show u someday. we took them w/ a disposable camera i had in my car. yah... i sort'f feel guilty taking pics w/ some1 else's doggy w/o their knowledge or permission... but the doggy cmed pretty consenting! she looked @ the cam 4 all the pics, u know! well, boarding @ sierra was great! we got nice parking; so nice, that @ the end of the day, i didn't believe we were in lot "b," thinking we must be in a further lot; but no, we actually were in lot "b." we had such a full day of snowboarding 'cept 4 'bout 0.5 hr spent waiting on the lift when the backside el dorado lift broke down. :-( we spent most of the day on the boardercross trail. it was fun. boardercross trails don't have big jumps or ramps, just li'l rollers. i sort'f gave myself a sore back from taking those li'l roller jumps. sometimes the landings were 2 flat, so that compresses my back a li'l 2 much if i don't compensate correctly. neway, it was fun. after the backside el dorado lift shut down, we headed off to westbowl 4 some pure downhill riding. well, it was a very full day! we did stop 4 lunch thai veggie potstickers n' garlic fries. on our way home, we stopped in vacaville 4 quizno's. :-)
on mon, i woke up early to drop my car 
off 4 service. then i walked from stevens creek subaru
to the bally's gym on the corner of meridian n' hamilton.
well... i knew it'd be a decent walk, but it was a li'l longer than
i expekted. lemme look on y! maps 2 c exactly how long it is.
ok, it's 'bout 3 miles... but i took a diff route from what y! maps gave.
it took me hrm... a li'l less than an hr. so i walked 3 miles
to go to the gym just to get on a treadmill n' walk 'nother 3 miles.
ha ha. X-D i had a weird werkout: i did the rowing machine,
then treadmill, then stretching, n' just a li'l lifting. my left
tricep is sore from snowboarding somehow, so i didn't do ne bench press
type exercises. well, kaela n' jerome met me @ the gym 'round
noon. jerome came down from the east bay. well, we all went
to ken's milpitas store 4 lunch. ken ordered a x.large king arthur's
supreme pizza from round table. it was good. kaela wanted
sumpthin' soupy instead, so she got some tempura udon from the japanese
restaurant next door. i got some minute made valencia orange soda from the liquor store next door.
it takes like the old minute maid orange soda,
i think! well, after lunch, kaela went back to werk, n'
jerome drove me up to the east bay, where we picked up laura from csu
hayward, dropped her off @ home, then went to jerome's old apt, which is
now just andy's 'partment. we just hung out. jerome packed up
some odds n' ends. i asked him 'bout the song from the commercial 4
the disney video game kingdom hearts. he told me it was utada
hikaru's "simple and clean," an english version of a japanese song she has.
he showed me the video to the japanese version, where she just
washes dishes n' lipsynchs to the song. the video is shot from
1 angle, as if we're just watching a webcam or sumpthin'.
:-o geez... that's a low budget video! *shrug* then he
showed me the video game. geez! kids have the funnest video games
these days! :-( it's like a rpg game but w/ lots'f nice anime graphics n'
some disney characters. weird. the graphics look so kewl.
well, we picked up laura n' alice, n' alice drove us down to san jo.
we met up w/ a big group 4 dinner: 'twas ken, grace, billy, linda
(whom kaela picked up from the airport), cynthia, alice, laura, jerome,
kaela, n' me. we ate @ geumbonghwan (golden phoenix) on winchester
blvd near hamilton. they give u lots'f fud. since it was the
dinner after some of the bridesmaids went to look @ bridesmaid dresses n'
the last time i'd get to c jerome 4 a while, i picked up the bill 4 dinner.
also, ken n' grace tend to pick up the bill so often, so u know...
well, after dinner, the east bay ppl went back up, but linda, kaela, n' i
went over to ken n' grace's to meet their li'l miniature pomeranian mimi.
she's sooo small!!! 'bout the size of a li'l bunny!!!
it's crazy! she's very hyper n' fun! we like her!
grace has a ps2. she doesn't cm to have kingdom hearts, but
she has crazy taxi. man, ken n' grace's place is such a fun
place now! X-D
we didn't stay up late last nite, no. this morn, i woke up 'round 700a or so. @ 'round 830a, i went to the gym. i did some typical cardio things. then, i took a step aerobics step n' did some side to side jumps over it. u c, @ berkeley taekwondo, we used to have 1 person duck n' cover his/her head n' then the other person'd jump side to side over the person on the ground. i did the same thing but w/ the step aerobics step. man, i got tired much faster than i expekted. *sigh* berkeley taekwondo was such a good werkout!!! dang, it's 1214p now! i'm @ home. we gotta get some lunch! y! news's kpix local news sed that "an east bay rock star" was arrest 4 dui. when i read the headline, b4 i clicked on the link, i knew it'd be billie joe of green day.
so it's gonna snow @ the end of this werkweek, meaning 'round thurs/fri.
shoot! maybe we'd better go to tahoe this weekend! like, i
was sort'f thinking of taking a break, but i know that i'll
hafta take a li'l break later this month. there'r some hotel
rooms in reno that sleep 4 ppl that r going 4 'bout $50/nite. ne1
wanna split a hotel room in reno this weekend?! this'd be
sooo dang kewl!
1250p:
so... linda's been staying here. uh, where did i leave off updating? mon nite, eh? well, 2day is what? wed? yes, 2day is wed. how was tues? tues, i went to the gym in the morn, came home, n' then the beautiful kaela kang drove me n' linda out to valley fair, where we had lunch @ cpk (cali4nia pizza kitchen). we had 0.5 a provencal salad, some shrimp n' scallop marinara pasta, n' a thai chicken pizza. then we looked 'round the mall a li'l. then kaela dropped me off @ the subaru dealer to get my car. kaela n' linda went to a bridal store. me? what did i do?
[later] 923p: ok, i was interrupted. uh... now it's eve... or nitetime, i s'ppose. well, what did i do yesterday? after picking up my car, i went to the atm to depo$it a check, n' then i went back to the mall (valley fair). i was looking 4 that jack black facial lotion, but i didn't find it. 'member i discussed how i got free samples of it @ the nordstrom down in socal, n' it's werked ok, n' u know i have that new yr's resolution 'bout taking better care of my skin etc. well, i also wanted to use my structure fastca$h: $25 off a $50 purchase. i tried on some jeans, but i didn't like either of them. then i just sat on a bench by the fud ct n' talked to roland on the fon. it'd been a while since i had talked to him, so we had to catch up. while still on the fon, i left the mall, filled up gas, went to the bascom longs drugs to drop off a finished disposable camera, n' drove home. i got off the fon w/ roland cos supermike called. supermike wanted me to order him some martial arts equipment w/ my wholesale discount. later, 'round 730p, ken picked me up to go to grace's (ken's grace) b.day party @ the pruneyard buca di beppo. (the pruneyard is on bascom ave. so i was back to the area i was earlier. kaela n' linda were already @ the pruneyard, conveniently, cos they were looking @ bridal dresses @ trudy's. we had a really fun dinner @ buca 4 grace's b.day. :-) kaela n' i gave grace a set of lotion type stuff. we had tons of fud: calamari, clam linguine, spaghetti n' meatballs, chicken parmigiana, spicy sausage n' shroom pizza... mmm... it was all so good! 1 of the spicy sausage n' shroom pizzas was cheeseless. that was pretty good 2. we had some pitchers of hefeweizen. it was good n' fun. who was there? grace, ken, tim chen, chas, nelson, mike, mike's gf vivian, kerry, kerry's gf tami, bert, allison, linda, kaela, n' me. after dinner, most ppl left. kaela drove linda home, but i rode w/ tim back to ken n' grace's house. oh yah, earlier on the way to the party, ken picked me up, but we ended up riding w/ bert, after ken dropped off some stuff @ his house. tim, ken, n' i went to hollywood video to rent barbershop on dvd. we went back to the house. i got to play crazy taxi a li'l on the ps2. then we watched the movie. allison brought over jessie her bichon frise. man, a bichon is a pretty small doggy, yet it's like 4 times as big as mimi the miniature pomeranian! barbershop was pretty funny n' entertaining. nelson drove me home.
this morn, kaela went to werk. me, i drove linda to the 24 hr
fitness sport on hillsdale n' (i think) leigh. then i went to the
hamilton n' meridian bally's. we both werked out, n' then i picked
linda up n' brought her back home. then kaela came home. that
was when i started this entry, 'member? then i drove us out to lunch
@ myuhngdong soondubujip. we had a great lunch! :-) i had gobchang
soondubu. :-) mmm... that's spicy tofu stew w/ intestines.
then i drove us over to our wedding site. we looked 'round n' talked
to 1 wedding coordinator person. then i drove us home. this
eve, while linda took a nap, kaela n' i went to pilates class @ the capitol
bally's. i can't believe i've been going to so many pilates classes.
it's pretty weird, huh? well, lemme tell u: my main
motivation 4 going to pilates classes is to exercise muscle control.
1 objektive of mine, as a martial artist, is to strive 4 complete muscle
control, to be able to make my body do whatever i want it to, however i
want it to. u know what i mean?
1050a: how r u? it's thurs 2day. i woke up @ 500a to drive linda to the airport. a few drops of rain fell on my windshield on the way back. after dropping off linda, i just drove home. last nite, i thought i'd drop off linda n' then go to the gym early, early in the morn. when linda actually woke me up this morn, i just figured i was waaay 2 groggy to werkout. *shrug* *sigh* maybe i should've gone to the gym, but *sigh* nuts. during this winter break time, i've had several days where i went to the gym 2ice in a day, huh? i figure, 2nite, i'll go to the gym w/ the beautiful kaela kang 4 spin class n' ab lab. *shrug* i should go to taekwondo practice, but after a long break, i'd prefer not to go back 1st on a sparring nite. i'd rather resume next tues w/ nonsparring stuff. *shrug* i'm so split 'bout going to tahoe this weekend or not. i really wish we had 2 more ppl to go w/ us in order to split the co$t of a hotel room. :-(
check out the crap i gotta deal w/ when posting on the dumb snowbomb msg boards. *roll eyes*
dang! last sun, we tried to go to sierra, but they had a power outage. u know, i bought the double whammy pass. i used it 1nce @ northstar. then, i tried to use it 'gain @ northstar, but the parking lot was full. then i tried to use it @ sierra, but the power was out.
re: sierra power outage
by: rip-it
1/2/2003 8:59:17 PM
Too many asians there as it is.
re: sierra power outage
by: beno
1/5/2003 9:47:22 PM
n' not enough uneducated bigots. *roll eyes* anyway, let's get back to talking 'bout boarding... isn't this what this site's supposed to be about?
lame@$$ anonymous flamers! u know, we spend so much time in tahoe, that sometimes i feel like a local, u know? i think, cos we don't act like out.of.towners, sometimes ppl think we're locals. like that day when we were bummin' 'round truckee n' went to panda express n' saw those doggies in the back of a truck n' started petting them: the owner asked if we were from 'round here. i think he actually sort'f thought we might be... even tho' we're asian. heh, maybe we own panda express or sumpthin'. ha ha. 'nother time in placerville, cos kaela had her season pass on, the ca$hier asked if she was instructor @ sierra. yah, i think we just don't act like out.of.towners. like, maybe we look like bay area ppl cos we're asian, but like... we go to biznesses that locals go to, n' we rn't like lost, u know? however, i know when we leave the bay area, we're more likely to run into folks that just don't like to c nonwhite folk. *roll eyes* i really want to think that as long as i'm in cali4nia, i won't hafta encounter so many ppl like that. un4tunately, that's not true. however, man! if i lived in the deep south or sumpthin'... man, i guess it'd be 'lot worse. this summer, when we went to d.c., that really renewed my faith in 'merikans outside of cali. *sigh* i dunno...
check out this recipe i found in the feb 2003 issue of fud & wine; it osunds pretty darn tasty:
chicken with
riesling
active: 30 min; total 1 hr 10 min
4 servings
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
one 3.5 lb chicken, 1uartered
salt n' freshly ground pepper
1 large shallot, minced
2 tablespoons cognac
1 cup dry riesling
6 ounces white mushrooms, sliced 0.25 inch thick
1/3 cup heavy cream
1. melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet.
add the chicken, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat
until slightly browned, about 4 minutes per side. add the shallot
and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. add the cognac and carefully
ignite it with a long match. when the lames subside, add the
riesling, cover and simmer over low heat until the chicken breasts are just
cooked, about 25 minutes. transfer the breasts to a large plate and
cover with foil. cover and simmer the legs until cooked through,
about 10 minutes longer. transfer to the plate.
2. meanwhile, in a medium skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter.
add the mushrooms, season with salt and pperp and cook over low heat
until the liquid evaporates, about 7 minutes. increase the heat to
moderate and cook, stirring, until browned, about 3 minutes.
3. in a bowl, blend the flour and the remaining 1 tablespoon of
butter. stir the cream into the large skillet; bring to a simmer.
gradually whisk the flour paste into the cooking liquid and simmer,
whisking, until no floury taste remains, 3 minutes. season with salt
and pepper. return the chicken to the skillet, add the mushrooms and
briefly reheat.
serve with noodles, spaetzle, rice or boiled potatoes.
wine a complex riesling with some body will blend with the cream and
echo the wine here. try the 2000 lucien albrecht from alsace or the
2001 framingham marlborough classic from new zealand.
crazy recipe, huh? sounds really good :-) n' not very lo fat. :-( next time u cook this dish, lemme have some, k? :-) thanks.
since i'm wasting space right now w/ recipes n' other nonsense, lemme please post some song lyrics that i recently thought 'bout:
"suburbia" by the pet shop boys from their album please
lost in the high street, where the dogs run let's take a ride, and run with the dogs tonight break the window by the town hall let's take a ride, and run with the dogs tonight i only wanted something else to do but hang around it's on the front page of the papers let's take a ride, and run with the dogs tonight take a ride, and run with the dogs tonight run with the dogs tonight
roaming suburban boys
mother's got a hairdo to be done
she says they're too old for toys
stood by the bus stop with a felt pen
in this suburban hell
and in the distance a police car
to break the suburban spell
in suburbia
you can't hide, run with the dogs tonight
in suburbia
listen, the siren screams
there in the distance, like a roll call
of all the suburban dreams
in suburbia
you can't hide, run with the dogs tonight
in suburbia
i only wanted something else to do but hang around
i only wanted something else to do but hang around
i only wanted something else to do but hang around
this is their hour of need
where's a policeman when you need one
to blame the colour tv?
in suburbia
you can't hide, run with the dogs tonight
in suburbia
in suburbia
in suburbia
in suburbia
you can't hide, run with the dogs tonight
in suburbia
in suburbia
you can't hide
in suburbia
in suburbia
in suburbia
in suburbia
in suburbia
is the suburb an amerikan invention??? i know in england there r suburbs. ppl 2 often, when they think of england or newhere else in europe, think of only the big city, metropolitan life. nope! there r suburbs in europe. believe me. i've stayed in them b4, back when i was in england 4 my san josé youth symphony orchestra trip.
i'm so happy that joon's back online!!! :-) as he sed on his journal recently; yah, we got to chat online yesterday. joon signed my gbook a while 'go. c, joon's a good person.
[later] 110p: 4 lunch, kaela cooked these things... uh, i dunno whatchu call them. we bought them from 99 ranch a while 'go... last week? they're like the tsungyobing green onion pancakes, but they're much thinner. u fry they coated in egg. we ate these in taipei in that li'l breakfast joint down the street. :-) mmmm... yummy.
so... yesterday, i started thinking more that i'm only gonna take 3 classes next semester. the reason r that 1) i wanna get good grades, of course (straight "a"s) n' 2) i'm worried there'll be more stress in my life as the wedding approaches. *shrug*
[a li'l later] 133p (my 'puter clock is slightly ahead, i think.): so i finally changed my gbook questions. please sign my new gbook!!! :-) well, it's not a new gbook but a new version of my gbook w/ new questions. this time, i won't answer the questions 1st. i wanna give u a chance answer the questions 1st, n' then i'll answer them soon 'nuff.
dude, i can't believe i haven't left the house yet 2day 'cept 4 when i
dropped linda off @ the aeroport.
1036p: hi. how r u? it's fri nite. the beautiful kaela kang r
home right now. yup, totally home on a fri nite. oh well.
i guess we're a bit worn out. notice we're not in tahoe right
now? nope, we sure rn't. well, yesterday was thurs. i
updatedchu a li'l earlier in the day, like 'round noon, right? well,
the day got worse n' worse. i really didn't leave home all day, not
until eve. that's when kaela n' i went to the gym. we were
s'pposed to go to spin class n' ab lab. we missed spin class.
we had our own werkouts n' then went to ab lab. after the gym, we
went to amc mercado 20 n' watched lord of the rings: two towers
b4 the movie started i went to the snack bar n' got a combo #3 w/
the 50 cents off ne combo coupon i got from the amc moviewatchers card.
combo #3 is a hotdog n' a large soda (4 me, sprite 
. man, movie
theatre fud ain't cheap, nope. well, kaela n' i shared the hotdog.
man, i was definitely still hungry. i went back to get my
free small popcorn, also from a moviewatchers card coupon. the movie
was very long, of course: it was like 'least 2 movies in 1. it was a
pretty good epic... u know, like a star wars film. why do
wars make such good movies? however, fantasy world or sci.fi wars r
maybe better than real wars... well, maybe old, old wars... 20th century
wars don't make as good of movies, i think. of course, i've
always thought pre.ww2 asia makes a good setting. neway, yah,
lotr: tt was a good movie. what was w/ that creature thingy?
did it come from harry potter? ha ha, j/k. hrm,
some scenes did remind me of attack of the clowns.
:-/ however, of course, the settings were totally diff.
neway, we came home pretty late cos 'twas a long movie. kaela had a
bad headache, so we were up later than that.
so 2day was fri. 'gain, we stayed home during the day much later
than i wanted to. we ate some radish/turnip flour cakes 4 lunch
(chaitaogwei). then we went out to vallco. i wanted to go to
sears to try to exchange a pair of land's end slippers that grace n' steve
gave me that r a li'l 2 big. well, i went to structure to use me
fa$t ca$h ($25 off a $50 purchase). a while 'go, i tried to use it @
the valley fair structure, but i didn't find nething i liked. i
don't think structure jeans fit me 2 well. hrm, i used to
have a pair of structure jeans that i wore sooo much. hrm,
*shrug* i dunno why i can't find structure jeans that fit me well now.
my favourite pair of jeans right now r a pair of kenneth cole jeans
(good ol' kenny). i bought some nice dress shirts, n' some other
stuff just to make $50. fa$t ca$h can be a good deal. 2day @
structure so much stuff was 60% off the already marked down price.
crazy! neway, sears didn't have the slippers i needed to exchange.
after vallco, we went to the bascom ave. longs drugs. i
picked up my pics n' some other stuff. then we uh... where did we
go? hrm... oh yah! we went to trader joe's on the way home. i
bought some groceries there. then we went home, got our gym stuff,
n' went to the gym. i had a pretty decent werkout. on the
way home, i drove us to the monterey rd tapioca express, where we got a
couple'f boba drinks 
when we got home, we cooked some spam lite
fried rice. mmmm! :-) we ate it w/ some canned smoked oysters.
later, we had some of the choco soy aisukuriimu
i bought from trader joe's. oh! do some ppl call trader joe's "tj"?
yah, i bet they do.
well, r we gonna go snowboarding @ all this weekend? *shrug* maybe, maybe not. i dunno. we could always drive up 2morrow n' get a hotel room 4 the nite n' board on sun. <:-/ *shrug* i dunno; maybe we shall.
oh, i think 2day was peter park's (bronx) b.day. happy b.day, peter. he's had a lott'f stress to deal w/ lately w/ bronx's junkyard lately cos some stoopid kids r giving him a hard time. *roll eyes* i hope he can just hang in there cos so many of us really appreciate all he's done 4 the fans of asian entertainment w/ his website.
heh, we're watching will n' grace, n' jack (on the show) is drinking a sobe. 'member when i used to drink so much sobe? ha.
it's still winter. it doesn't feel so much like winter cos christmas n' new yr's passed.
however, really winter has just begun. it's been really
drizzly in san josé lately. it's not terribly cold, just
drizzly.
759p: 2day was sat. how was ur sat? when u get a chance,
please sign my gbook n' let me know how u'r doing. me, i'm ok.
2day was sat, as i sed. i tried to relax. i didn't
even go to the gym 2day. lessee, 2day, the beautiful kaela kang n' i
started off our day by going to cost plus. kaela bought this black kitty print. 
(the preceding image is just a cute ikon. the print doesn't
look like that!) it's a famous image: it sez sumpthin' like "la
tournée du chat noir" or sumpthin' like that. i've cn it in
a café near sjsu b4. i think the café is called the black cat café or sumpthin' like that.
funny, earlier, on our way to cost plus, we saw a black kitty. *shrug* i looked @ all the kewl wines n'
beers that cost plus has. i also looked @ those prints. wow,
art. i haven't taken 'nuff time in recent days to sit back n'
appreciate art. i wish the opportunities came up more often.
uhm, i s'ppose i could always go to cost plus n' look @ prints or look up
pics online. *shrug* neway, after cost plus, we drove out to the tk
noodles out by de anza college. it was a good, pretty cheap lunch.
then we went to check out the amazingly beautiful hotel, in which
our taekwondo classmate joon werks @ n' which we might have our wedding
guests stay @. no, not joon kim! joon... uh... i 4get his last
name. :-( neway, he werks @ this wonderful hotel. well, if things
werk out right, we can get our guests a good rate thanks to joon's help.
the rooms r amazing. this hotel's only been 'round 4 a few
months, n' it's the best in silicon valley. after the hotel, we went
to look @ flower shops. we tried to find this korean flower shop
called c n' c or sumpthin' like that. ('member c n' c music factory? u
know... what the gay steel mill werkers dance to on the simpsons!)
neway, i think that place is actually more of a wedding planning
agency than a flower shop. we just saw an office, no flowers; n'
they were closed 2day, appeared. we then went up el camino to
conroy's flowers, where the polite salesperson gave us a pretty good
description of what they can offer. then we went to a nursery.
then we went to kimm's flowers (yah, 2 "m"s... *shrug*), a korean
flower shop. the woman there was pretty nice n' offered us a pretty
good estimated deal. we'll c. after that we drove 2ward's
fry's but stopped @ the wolfe rd 99 plaza to get some boba drinks : i got a frosted lychee boba 4 myself n' a hot taro milk w/ pearls
4 kaela. we looked 'round @ stuffed bunnies, n' then left 4 fry's.
:-( the fry's parking lot was a awful place. some stoopid guy
scratched kaela's car trying to pull into a space that he couldn't possibly
fit into cos the person on the other side parked way beyond the border of
his/her spot. :-( ugh.
well, after fry's we came home. we're tired. the 2nd 0.5 of this week, we've just been so worn out!!! :-( as u c, we're not in tahoe right now. we came home. my mom had some jiajiangmien sauce ready. i think kaela cooked some noodles to go w/ it. we just ate a good dinner. 2morrow; 2morrow'll be a diff kind'f day. we're gonna drive up to tahoe early in the morn. then after snowboarding, we'll drive back but only to sactown. we'll stay there overnite in a hotel. mon, kaela'll go to sumpthin' 4 her werk program, n' me? hopefully, i'll drive right back up to the slopes. i've never gone snowboarding alone, but i have driven up to tahoe by myself to meet up w/ other ppl 4 boarding. i hope i can board 2 days in a row. it'll be kewl! :-)
man, i can't believe next week's my last week of winter break. in many ways, i'm looking 4ward to returning to skool. dang, i'm back w/ a vengeance! i'm gonna get straight "a"s next semester!!! my 3 class'll be a cad theory class, a mechatronics class, n' a precision machine design class. they don't offer many grad classes. i'm not sure if precision machine design is a big interest of mine, but who knows? maybe i'll love it. as i've sed b4, my main emphasis in mechanical engring is automatic control design. i'm really into math. :-/ in the end, it's good to have math skills, but u also gotta be able to apply it to sumpthin'. *shrug*
next week, i think we'll go back to taekwondo practice. hopefully, that'll be fun. i'll try to werkout plenty next week. fri eve was a good werkout 4 me. i think i am building up upper body strength from lifting. heh, i wish it'd show more, but :-/ oh well, 'least i feel a li'l stronger. *shrug*
oh yah, i have some pics to share w/ u!!! 'member ruby, the tahoe doggy from my entry last mon 2003.01.06 "ruby n' mimi: every dog has her day"? well, here r some pics of us w/ ruby in tahoe n' 'nother pic of us @ sierra:
beno w/ ruby
kaela w/ beno
these pics came from that disposable cam i recently developed.
937p: right now, the beautiful kaela kang n' i r in rancho cordova, a city right next to sacramento, cali's state capital. this morn, we left san jo early to go snowboarding @ sierra@tahoe. on the way, we stopped in vacaville to go to j.box 4 breakfast. we stopped in sacramento on folsom blvd 4 gas on the way. we noticed some korean biznesses. i sed that it looked like the area we stopped @ a coup'lf yrs 'go w/ kaela's publik health skool group on our way home from river rafting. that day, we stopped @ a strip mall. kaela n' i went into some small korean grocery store to get some drinks. well, yes, it turned out that the neighbourhood we were in this morn was that same neighbourhood. well, we went up to sierra@tahoe, got there 'round 1000a, i think. there was lots'f fog in the north east bay n' the sacramento valley... that whole stretch of the/hwy 80. that slowed me down a li'l, but i got us to sierra@tahoe pretty quickly. we had a really full day of snowboarding. we rode the boardercross run over n' over n' over 'gain. then we took castle (a black diamond run) down to the front side. then we rode the nob hill lift up to ride upper/lower main a few times. upper main has a terrain park. i had some embarassing bails on a rail n' on a boxslide. since every1's always watching u in the terrain park, i tried to make up 4 those bails w/ some decent airs on the ramps. i'm better @ aerial tricks than railslides, but i really wanna get better @ railslides. well, it was a very full day @ sierra. on our way back west to our sacto hotel, we stopped by placerville to go to starbucks 4 a grande nf hot choco n' rite.aid 4 a bottle of advil.
now we're in a courtyard by marriott room in rancho cordova. u c,
kaela has'ta be in sactown 4 her werk program 2morrow, n' me? i'm on winter
break, so i think i'll hit up sierra@tahoe 'gain, as i mentioned b4.
we checked into our nice room w/ a king size bed, sofabed n' office desk.
we showered n' went out to look 4 fud. aktually, b4 we looked
4 fud, we went to target. kaela only
brought her slippers, no shoes. she needs shoes 2morrow cos she
can't wear her snowboarding boots to the office, right? she bought
some shoes there. then we went down folsom blvd. to look 4 those
korean restaurants. we went to this seoul shikdang (서울 식당: 9336
la riviera dr., sacramento, ca 95826; 916.369.0600), a galbijip restaurant,
sort'f a smalltown version of koryo sootbool (that restaurant that's
sooo popular w/ berkeley students.
kaela ordered the dolsot bibimbap, n' i ordered the yookkyeijang.
man, being @ that galbijip reminded me of how i haven't been to brother's
bbq (형제 갈비) on geary blvd in sf in a very long time. this
restaurant was decent, 'specially since i didn't 'pect much from
sacramento, but *sigh* it wasn't as good as brother's or koryo. :-(
there surely wasn't many customers there on a sun nite! neway, we
stuffed our faces, stuffed ourselves silly. now, we're back in the
hotel room watching the people's choice awards on cbs.
1040a: 2day's tues, but 'tis very hard 4 me to convince myself it ain't mon cos just yesterday i was snowboarding all by myself @ northstar. yah, i ended up @ northstar instead of sierra. right now, i'm @ the meridian/hamilton bally's gym.
so yesterday, we woke up in our rented room @ the rancho cordova
courtyard by marriott. we drove thru the neighbouring mcyukyuk to pick up 2 egg
mcmuffins 4 $2.22. then, i dropped off kaela in sactown 4 her werk
thingy. since i could get on the 80 instead'f the 50, i went to
north tahoe instead'f south tahoe. i got to northstar a li'l b4
noon, all by myself, n' parked in lot h "hornet's nest." i got to
ride a gondola all by myself. since i got my double whammy season
pass, i didn't need to buy a lift ticket. @ the midmtn lodge, i
locked my board n' used the restroom. then i boarded the empty
"pioneer" lift to head up to "lookout mountain." i rode martis, then
prosser; 2 awesome, groomed, black diamond runs.
i liked them! a good downhill riding warmup 4 the day.
then i went down 1'f the mogul runs. really! snowboarders shouldn't
bother w/ mogul runs! i never saw a snowboarder really rip it
up on a mogul run. in fakt, i very rarely c a skier properly
ride moguls!!! last season, a coupl'f andy's friends convinced us to
go down that exact same mogul run. they sed they loved moguls.
whuh? what's to love?! they didn't ride fast 'round the moguls! they
didn't catch ne real air going off the moguls! all i ever c
snowboarders do on moguls it go a li'l then stop, go a li'l then stop!
most skiers do this 2! if ne1 jumps off a mogul, he/she only
gets like 2-3 inches of air! shoot! off terrain park ramps, 1 can
get like 3-4 feet of air! moguls r such a waste'f
time n' energy. however, i told myself to go down the mogul run n'
ride it, steering 'round or over the moguls the best i can. i told
myself, if i were ever in nature, riding 4 my life's sake, i'd never know
what kind'i bumpy terraiu i'd encounter. so i rode the mogul run
purely as a practice of survival skill. after the mogul run, i rode
groomed "prosser" a couple more times, just trying to go as fast as
possible. i was riding alone n' the "lookout mtn" slopes were pretty
deserted on a mon. it was just me, the mtn, n' god. "please
keep me safe n' not let me slam into a nasty death!"
after i had my fill of downhill riding, i rode the shorter 0.5 pipe like 3-4 times, hiking back up in btwn runs. 'twas a li'l 2 soft'f a pipe. i headed up "vista express" to ride the terrain park n' longer 0.5 pipe over n' over, 'gain n' 'gain. phew, no embarassing bails @ all on mon. the boxes, rails, n' ramps were all good.
[later] 257p: now i'm home. i'm so tired these days. :-( winter, u know? hey, ppl signed my gbook! joon, clarence, n' kaela; they r all kewl! :-)
well, after my werkout n' shower, kaela picked me up from the gym.
then we drove out to sjsu. i bought a coupl'f textbooks.
we ate lunch @ tapioca express on san carlos. i got a crispy
pepper chicken bento box w/ a pearl milk tea, n' kaela got some hot n' sour
soup w/ a mango boba. it was pretty tasty. tapioca express: i
like them, not so much 4 their boba, but 4 their crispy pepper chicken.
i think
fantasia has better boba. life plaza down in rowland heights has
good boba 2. mmm... sweetheart café! they have good boba
drinks! :-)
ok, here r some pics from last week, last mon nite when we 1st met ken n' grace's miniature pomeranian mimi:
 meet mimi. |
 beno holds up mimi 4 u to c. |
 beno n' mimi |
 mimi's just a handful. |
1115a: i'm on precor right now. i walked 'gain from stevens creek subaru to meridian/hamilton. [later] 1132a: now, i'm stretching. this morn, i didn't just walk from stevens creek subaru to the gym. i walked from subaru to the valley fair safeway, to n' thru valley fair, to the bank, down stevens creek to bascom, n' then off to the gym. it was quite a walk, but walks like this give 1 a chance to think 'bout n' reflekt 'pon life. i really wanted to n' tried hard to stay out of the sun's damaging, poisonous rays. "dang! i sound like my mom," i thought to myself. when i was a kid my mom always tried so hard to stay out'f the sun n' keep me out'f the sun. then, i thought it was ridiculously dorky, but now i always wear sunscreen n' avoid sun exposure. on my walk, i tried to find shaded paths. i thought to myself "if u always live in some1 else's shadow, 'least u'll have healthy skin!" ppl in the gym r discussing 49ers coach mariucci's getting fired. even tho' i don't follow futbol much, i'm a li'l disappointed cos he was a cal futbol coach b4. neway, back to talkin' 'bout my long walk to 'member.
i wondered, while walking, what life in cali was like b4 cars. in the 1800s, if i had to travel the same distance i walked 2day, would i walk or ride a horse? man! i wonder how long it took to go from san jo to berkeley by horse n' by foot. i walked thru the ebay parking lot. i confirmed that there r indeed 2 starbucks @ the intersektion'f bascom n' hamilton. on hamilton, i saw a sparrow. "cute sparrow," i thought n' wondered if sparrows ever look @ humans n' think, "cute human!" earlier, when i was @ safeway, i bought an everything bagel, a cranberry nut bagel, a big bottle'f h2o, n' a pack of trident white gum.
these past coupl'f days, i've had some bad stomach aches. the beautiful kaela kang told me not to eat spicy fud, just clear broths. :-( do i like ne nonspicy fud?!?! if it's not spicy, i add hot sauce. what do i eat that isn't spicy?!?! [later] 1246p: (i've showed n' am waiting 4 roland to pick me up w/ kaela.) so what nonspicy stuff do i eat? (n' stuff that i don't put hot sauce on) boba, bagels, smoothies, some fast fud (spicy chicken sandwiches r never spicy to me!) (in.n.out burgers r good tho' nonspicy.), some salads, ... [interrupted]
[later] 1132p: so we had a kewl day w/ roland. we aktually stayed in the mall the whole afternoon w/ roland. we ate lunch @ the cheesecake factory. the 3 of us shared mahi tacos n' louisiana pasta. eh! it wasn't spicy. it was kewl to hang out w/ roland.
this eve, we were s'pposed to have dinner w/ ken n' grace, but ken 4got that he had a pool tournament 2nite. in the early eve, kaela n' i hit the gym n' pilates class. i think that'll be my last pilates class 4 a while. i feel kind'f bad cos it was really crowded 2nite n' some ppl almost didn't get to come in. me, i get plenty of exercise. altho' pilates is sumpthin' i like to do now n' then 4 the reason i stated b4: 1 of my objektives as a martial artist is to try to have complete control of my body, to be able to make it do whatever. however, i feel bad cos some ppl... it's like i know if they don't go to the pilates class, they won't exercise @ all. me, u know i'll find exercise elsewhere. i don't wanna take 'way from them. neway, since we didn't go to dinner w/ ken n' grace, we went to amc saratoga n' watched the 25th hour a spike lee joint starring edward norton n' rosario dawson. wow, it was a pretty good movie. in the beginning, i thought the acting was bad. however, the story more than made up 4 that. it turned out to be a pretty touching story, i s'ppose. @ times, i think edward norton could've been a better actor, but the guy who played his dad n' the guy who played his nerdy friend did pretty well, i think. i think edward norton's best acting was his monologue which i guess'd make a great speech 4 d.i. (aka dramatic interp aka dramatic interpretation) as long as u'r 'llowed to swear 'lot in hi skool speech tournaments. i think u'r 'llowed to. *shrug*
neway, i still got a bit of a stomach ache. i didn't really eat
dinner just popcorn n' sprite... n' a bite of
kaela's movie theatre hot dog.
1001p: these r the classes i'm taking this coming semester:
me 250 me 265 me 285
precision machine design. principles of precision machine design. exact
kinematic constraint. error motions of a machine. integration of mechanical
design, materials, sensors, and metrology for precision applications.
computer-aided mechanical engineering design. an integrated approach to cad
including: overview of cad; numerical techniques for cad; computer graphics
and design; principles and management of design database systems; finite
element analysis and cad; design optimization; computer-aided linkage
design; integrated cad systems.
mechatronic systems engineering. introduction of mechatronic systems for
mechanical engineers. combine hardware, software, interface, and system
integration to make an intelligent system, subjects include basic circuit
analysis, logic gates, opamps, encoder/decoder, dc and stepper motors, c
language, a/d, d/a, interfacing and control. hands-on lab practices
construction and tests of working systems.
2day, i tried to relax since my stomach still hurts n' my body's a bit
sore. normally, i would've hit the gym in the morn or afternoon, but
i didn't. i stayed @ home. @ lunchtime, the beautiful kaela kang n' i
went to "hand pull noodles" restaurant (부만루 505 w. capitol expressway,
san josé, ca 95136; 408.448.2188) to get some fud. kaela had
jjajangmyuhn, n' i had the palbochae lunch special (happy family). i
liked kaela's lunch better. i didn't eat nething spicy since kaela told me not to cos'f my stomach ache.
:-( we got some dandanmien to bring home to my sister grace cos she was
over w/ my nephew mason. heh, mason smiles 'lot when i look @ him.
i hope he likes me. well, in the afternoon, i stayed home,
werked on the 'puter on some wedding stuff. in the eve, kaela
brought me to stevens creek subaru to pick up my car. after that, we
went to the gym. the subaru guys washed my car 4 free. i like
it when they do stuff like that. we didn't go to spin class cos we
missed it. we did precor stuff then went to ab lab. then we
stretched a li'l. i lifted weights a li'l. we got ready to
go. we got some smoothies. i picked up the wave
magazine, which has a feature story on pro.anorexia websites. man!
isn't that interesting!!! yah, lemme tell u: anorexia's a bad
thing! >:-( we came home. my mom made some fried noodles.
i resisted the temptation to put hot sauce on it n' ate it.
my stomach still hurts a li'l. my theory is that i have an ulcer in
my stomach that burned into a complete hole in my stomach n' that there's
stomach acid spilling on my intestines. :-(
915a: i've had weird dreams lately. a coupl'f days 'go, i dreamt that i was staying over @ jerome's house. in the morn, i woke up b4 jerome n' went out. somehow, i ended up meeting ses (the korean gurlpop group). i came back to try to wake jerome up. this morn, i had 2 dreams: 1) i dreamt i had to go to take grad skool classes @ my ol' middle skool. whah? yah, i guess it's cos i feel that when i'm @ skool, i c such young undergrads, like they're kids. 2) i had 'nother dream that i had to dj a party; but the party was in a barnes & nobles or sumpthin'. i was using those listening stations they have as cd decks n' somehow had a mixer hooked up btwn them. *shrug* it was very hard to mix w/ those listening station cd players, of course, but i was barely managing.
[later] 1259p: the beautiful kaela kang gave me a haircut. she was s'pposed to much earlier, but we fell back asleep. that's when i had yet 'nother dream. this time we were hrm... going to bellagio (the korean niteclub), i think. i drove my family's old blue 1986 volvo 740 gle, the car i picked kaela up in the very 1st time i met her back in 1996. neway, i drove it to the niteclub, but the niteclub was hrm... more like a hotel. there was valet parking. the valet took my car. then i went in. yah, it wasn't a niteclub really... it looked like a hotel. i 'member i dropped a quarter, n' it rolled 'way from me on the carpetted floor. i chased after it. *shrug*
[later] 252p: grace came over 'gain w/ mason. my mom came home w/ some takeout fud from a vietnamese place. i ate a spring roll, some leftover jjajangmyuhn, some leftover fried noodles from last nite's dinner, n' some red bean soup. heh, right now, i'm watching as one's "day by day" musik video 4 the 1st time. X-D ha ha ha, kaela has'ta c this 1 cos she loves her bunny so much! X-D funny funny. she has'ta c it; no choice!
oh yah, my stomach ache cms to have subsided. 1nce in a while, i feel sumpthin' down there, but it's not nearly as bad. last nite, i realised that lately i've also been getting rashes... n' a li'l acne. :-( i don't like these things.
[later] 500p: here's a pic of that kitty print that kaela bought @ cost plus. i discussed this on 2003.01.11 in my journal entry "꽃집".
i can't believe i'm been inside @ home all day! this is my last weekend b4 skool resumes. 2day's fri. mon's kaela's n' my 3rd anniversary! :-) it's also mlk, jr. day. this weekend, phil n' his gf tanya'll be in town. kaela n' i were s'pposed to meet up w/ our friends jason n' darren 2nite. i think we still will, but i'm not sure cos if we go to sf 2morrow to hang w/ phil n' tanya, maybe we should combine those trips, u know? *shrug* n' ken n' grace, since we didn't get to hang w/ them last week, ken asked yesterday if we can hang sometime this weekend. this is my last weekend b4 skool starts. i should make better use of my time than sitting 'round home. @ the same time, honestly, i'm starting to get in that mood where i don't wanna go out 2 much cos i saw my credit card bill 4 this past holiday season. :-( heh, i think many ppl r prob'ly feeling the shock right now, huh? in this sense, i feel conflikted.
while i deal w/ this, howzabout fillin' out my gbook? it's
more fun than u think! :-)
1159p: oh, it's almost time 4 2morrow's entry! we've been
hanging out w/ phil n' tanya. (2day was sun.)
1202a: it's now the beautiful kaela kang's
n' my 3rd annivesary. :-)
1043a: ha ha, 2day's foxtrot comic is so funny. paige, the older sister skates a figure 8 in the ice. the li'l bro jason (who's a brainiac) carves the symbol 4 the square root of 64 into the ice. paige sez, "you are such a geek." jason sez, "why, thank you." ha ha.
2day's my "last day of freedom." *roll eyes* really, grad skool is not torture 4 me. grad skool is great! i enjoy being a grad student. the spring semester begins 2morrow, n' 4 some reason i feel like i've been living it up like crazy this past mlk, jr. weekend. i've been so... uh... what's the wurd? what's the wurd 4 when u enjoy life irresponsibly??? sumpthin' related to "debauchery," but more of a greek wurd, i think; or was it latin? "bachanalian"??? no, i think it was a less complicated, more common wurd than that. :-/ neway! i feel so bad, so guilty! it's like, as i've mentioned b4, the original concept of the joy luck club. the original concept (from the book) involves a bunch'f housewives using all their precious, scarce resources to party in the midst of wartime depression. they'd gather all their nicest fud, put on their nicest clothes, n' party even tho' they knew they did not have the means to do this... they were living above their means 4 an eve(ning). i feel like i'm doing that right now. as i sed a few days 'go, after cing my holiday credit card bills, i feel... very poor. yet, this weekend, we've been going out, having fun... well... *sigh* honestly, it's not that i've been really spilling $$$ left n' right... it's just that we're getting out of the house, cing ppl, having a good time, n' trying to make the best of our days, u know? *shrug* it's been so eventful these past few days, n' the beautiful kaela kang n' i r gonna go watch cirque du soleil varekai 2nite w/ ken, grace, ryan, n' tiffany.
i don't feel i have 'lott'f time to update right now cos i've gotta get outt'f the house n' live life. i think i'll just haft'a sort'f make a list of what's been going on.
it's 1131a now on tues morn. i really gotta do stuff 2day. i should go out to campus if i know what's good 4 me. i should check if there'r either more books 4 me in the bookstores or some in the library. i have an overdue library book i really gotta return. i wanna hit the gym. *sigh* i feel a bit frustrated cos there r so many things i wanna do 2day.
my life? these days... well, skool starts 2morrow. i feel ok, 'cept kaela's career is really stresses me out n' depressing me to death. :-(
darren, kaela, n' cortney, thanks 4 signing my gbook. if u haven't signed this version yet, please sign it! :-) cortney's msg 'bout eric chang, that's very interesting! :-) i'm trying to find eric 2. i haven't talked to him in ages, but he was a good friend of mine in college on sun eve, i got to talk to fahad on the fon 4 a bit. that was good. i always believe "now is the time to make old friends. fahad's doing well. i'm happy 4 him! :-)
[much later] 1110p: kaela n' i just came back from watching cirque du soleil varekai. it was really kewl w/ all the physical feats n' all. it was very entertaining. b4 the show, ken n' grace went to do dinner w/ us @ florentine's. (kaela n' i shared a prawns n' chicken marsala.) we originally were gonna go to the olive garden, but it was 2 crowded. then we stopped by starbucks on the way to the show. man, we barely got there in time.
i c joon signed my gbook. he offered some terms that he thought i was thinking of when i wrote earlier 'bout how i felt i was living carelessly or whatever i sed. well, those r good terms, but i was looking 4 sumpthin' more classical. *shrug* thanks, tho'. thanks 4 signing my gbook. i still gotta fill out those questions myself.
854a: 2day's the 1st day of the spring 2003 semester @ sjsu. 2day's wed. it's a partly sunny day here in san jo. i had some dreams this morn. a few days 'go, i had a dream that didn't have 2 much of a plot, but i was w/ some friends watching mtv. i saw some gurl singing on tv, n' i thought it was 1 of the olson twins (from full house, but it was avril lavigne. (these kids r getting so young!) now, i either talked 'bout that in real life, or i had a dream this morn that i talked 'bout it. *shrug* i had a dream this morn that i was @ some kind'f taekwondo stretching clinic hosted by some korean taekwondo students from some prestigious place like yong.in daehakkyo. i really wanted to stretch well, but there were some really flexible ppl in that class. i guess i feel insecure 'bout my flexibility after watching cirque du soleil last nite. hrm, i had 1 other dream; what was it?
[a li'l later] 927a: 
when i stress 'bout life, i think, "wow, johnny chang has a nice
window title 4 his webpage: 'let me have my simple pleasures.'" [a
li'l later] 948a: "exely" from the bronx's junkyard forums sed to me "the things you ate sounded so scrumptious too, i
swear you should quit grad skool and be a food critic...or do it part
time." yes, that thought really has occurred to me b4!
i really do like the idea of being a restaurant critic.
u know what? there just rn't enuf asian.am
restaurant critics!!! i really don't like that! i
mean... in the bay area, there r sooo many asian.ams, n' there r so
many asian restaurants. shouldn't there be some asian.am
restaurant critics giving their opinions of these restaurants?
it's not that non.asian ppl necessarily have bad standards 'bout
asian fud; that's not what i'm saying. it's just that asian.ams have a diff
background from which to refer when describing fud from asian restaurants,
u know? :-( well, we'll c. maybe someday i can do this.
[later] 1233p: i still haven't left the house. it's cold in here. it's cloudy outside. i gotta go to the bank. i'd love to go to the gym. i gotta go to campus eventually. my class is 530p - 645p.
[later] 513p: now, i'm sitting in room 329 of sjsu's engring bldg, waiting 4 dr. youssefi's cad theory class. hrm, i know that's not the real class title, but it's basically a class 'bout theories behind cad programs, n' i 4get the real course title. the classroom's filling up. earlier this afternoon, i went to the bank to depo$it a check; then i went to the gym 4 a good werkout.
[later] 948p: class was short. we just discussed logistics, no
actual course material. so this afternoon, i had a kewl werkout, in
that i did cardio, stretching, weights, n' swimming crazy, huh?
then i went to campus, got a jamba juice; the 1st of jamba juice
of the semester. after class, i stopped by the library to get a
book on mechatronics. then i drove home. there was plenty of
rush hr traffik. i came home n' ate tons of salad n' put the
tenderloin in the oven. when i ate my 1st slice of tenderloin, i
spilled tenderloin juice all over my tender loins. :-/ does that
make sense? ha ha ha. well, actually, i spilled beef juice all over my
khaki jeans. :-( what a carnivorous dinner!
116p: 지금 체육관의 주차장 차에 앉아고 있어요. 여러분 어떠세요? [a li'l later, in the gym on a reclining bike] i'm not having a great day 2day. i feel pretty miserable. [later] 153p: [stretching] i worry my life hasn't made 'nuff 4ward progress.
[later] 557p: now, i'm sittin' in a san josé state university (sjsu) classroom, waiting 4 a class but not my class, the beautiful kaela kang's class, a health professions class. this afternoon/evening, i went to 1 class, my "precision machine design" class w/ dr. buff furman. my mechatronics class w/ dr. du was cancelled due to a power outtage. man! classes r sooo crowded! the power outtage caused a bit'f chaos on the sjsu campus as all the bldgs were evacuated.
yesterday (thurs [2day's fri.]), kaela told "the publik" on her
web journalat she quit her job on tues. :-/ yah, it's been
making her miserable, as she sed. she wasn't doing the things she
expekted n' hoped to do @ this job. it got me thinking: 
cos kaela got
that job in san jo, we moved to san jo. cos we moved to san jo, i
started grad skool. if we hadn't moved, if we had somehow stayed in
berkeley, i would've continued to look 4
engineering jobs in the east bay or sf. imagine if kaela hadn't gone
to publik health skool. in that case, we could've moved out'f
berkeley back in 2000, n' i could've
started grad skool @ sjsu back in 2000. now, would that have
happened? no way! life was "2 good" up there back then.
just think: 'twas such a chain'f events n' set'f
circumstances that led us to our "fate" here. "fate"? is that
the right wurd?! let's not say "fate" but say
"situation" instead! life is so crazy.
2nite, i bring kaela to the airport so she can fly to portland, oregon
to visit some naturopathic "alternative" medicine skool there. she
sez she might want to go to an "alternative" medicine skool; but they r
only in seattle, washington; portland, oregon; n' vallejo, cali4nia.
:-( i don't want to move to ne of those places! :-( *sigh* i have
1.5 yrs left'f grad skool here @ sjsu; i've just barely started!
well, kaela sez, if she goes to 1'f these skools, she'd wait till i
graduate. still, it's not so simple! :-( i'm @ sjsu, n' i'm trying
to get into the engring industry here in the silly valley. :-( :-( i
don't like this situation @ all. :-(
[later] 1054p: i'm home now. after kaela's class, (which i admit
was pretty interesting), i dropped her off @ the airport. then i
drove home. @ home i ate some chicken curry my mom cooked.
1152a: 금요일 아침예요. 아직까지 별로 행복하지 않아요. 어쨌든 난 학교의 도서관에 가야 되요. 책을 비려야 되요. 체육관에 가겠지 잘 모르겠어요. it's fri morn. i'm still not that happy. neway, i should go to the library. i need to borrow some books. i dunno if i'll go to the gym.
can u believe they have this stuff now? made by frito-lay, munchies combines mini doritos, mini sunchips, mini cheetos, n' rold gold pretzels! crazy, huh? get some 4 ur superbowl party, raiders fans! or don't... i don't get paid to advertise 4 them! it doesn't matter to me.
1216p: earlier, i ate some chinese chicken salad @ home 4 an early lunch, late breakfast, or brunch. *sigh* what a day! :-/ it's pretty dang grey n' gloomy outside. heh, some days, i enjoy cloudy weather n' say it's not really gloomy. 2day? i just feel bleh. dangit! it's fri!!! i gotta cheer up! i gotta! it's fri!!! *sigh* ok, i resolve to cheer up from this sec on, k? i'll get on w/ my day!
hrm, sometimes i wonder if u readers miss some of the stuff i tack on to the end of some of my entries. u know, sometimes i write an entry n' then go back to it later n' add more. well, in case u missed nething, u can (but don't hafto) check the beno journal archive. u know that, right?
[later] 104p: dangit, i can't believe i still haven't left the house. :-(
[later] 345p: now, i'm @ the post office, finally sending to phil the
cellfon charger he 4got @ our house. i finally made it out'f the
house 2day. i felt sort'f depressed as i brought the garbage can
in b4 driving off to start my day so late in the afternoon. as bringing
in the trash can reminded me of my youth, i thought: am i doing now @ age 27 what i thought as a kid i'd
be doing @ this age? would i, as a kid, have ever thought i'd
find myself @ age 27 leaving this house to start my day @ 'bout
330p! of course, as a kid, i wouldn't've ever imagined the
internet n' how u can get so much done w/o leaving home cos'f it.
in the 25th hour, edward norton's character has a great monologue / soliloquoy (the beautiful kaela kang not 2 long 'go reminded me that in a monologue, the speaker has an audience in the story while a soliloquoy is spoken only to the audience.) in this soliloquoy / monologue (u'll c why i give it both names when u c the movie.), he rags n' rants on his beloved hometown of nyc n' everything / every1 in it. in recent days, i sometimes feel like cursing out my ever.so.beloved hometown of san jo: what has it ever done but tease me? or taunt me... when i 1st lived here, i had no $$$ cos i was a kid. then i moved up to berkeley n' made sumpthin'f myself! now, i find myself back in san jo, 1nce 'gain a nonwerking, full.time student. 1nce 'gain the economy stinks w/ a bush in the whitehouse creating war to take our minds off it. the silly valley has such nice things, but i'm just a student. when i'm in san jo, i feel i don't have control'f my life. #!@$ that! i'm gonna graduate w/ a master's degree in mechanical engineering. i'm gonna make sumpthin'f myself 1nce 'gain. i'm gonna take advantage'f the sweet, juicy opportunities silly valley offers. b4 silly valley was silly valley, it was orchard valley. the land is fertile. it wants to give. it loves. it gives love. it gives loving. sometimes i feel like i don't have a partner. sometimes i feel like my only friend is the city i live in, the city of josés, lonely as i am, 2gether we cry.
519 p: now, i'm @ the sjsu library on a fri eve. 'member? i'm a nerd now!!! i'm a friggin' mechanical engineering genius!!! u'd best respekt my mechanical engineering skillz! u'd best show me love! i'm m.e. fo' life!
man, the h2o in the library h2o fountains tastes awful! >x-p
i'd 4gotten how bad it tastes! i'm so thirsty! it's
not delicious ebmud h2o. like poison it tastes!
348p:if u live newhere near santa clara county, check out this .pdf file: "usgs field-trip guide to the southeastern foothills of the santa cruz mountains in santa clara county, california"
earlier 2day, i was in the sjsu library, doing my hw 4 prof. furman's "precision machine design" class. well, i did most of the hw yesterday eve, but 2day i was werkin' on an easier part of our hw, a questionnaire that asks us both 'bout our engineering knowledge thus far n' 'bout ourselves as ppl. i'll talk more 'bout that questionnaire later cos it was pretty interesting. i had to go to the library to return a "reserve" book by noon. i was 'bout 0.5 hr late. i stayed there 4 'bout an hr @ most, i think. then i went home, ate some chicken salad. did i mention i ate chicken salad yesterday 4 an early lunch; i think i did. i'm sure i did. 2day is sat.
last nite, after leaving the library, i drove to ken n' grace's house. a big group of 10 of us went to dinner @ golden garden chinese restaurant in the mervyn's plaza btwn blossom hill rd n' kooser @ meridian ave. 10 ppl! it sort'f made me reflekt 'pon the old p.crew days. 10 ppl: ken, grace, billy, ken's employee jay, jay's gf pamela, ken's employee amanda, amanda's husband jerrod, amanda n' jerrod's son brian, jason lee, n' me. yah, jason drove down from sf to hang out w/ me a li'l to talk 'bout that projekt that i sed i dunno if i should talk 'bout here. *shrug* after hanging out, i had to go pick up the beautiful kaela kang from the airport cos she came back from oregon, 'member? *sigh* yah... well, that was last nite, fri nite. not much else.
2day's sat. hrm, it's much 2 lazy of a day. i'm not that
satisfied 'bout that.
1028p: sorry, since this whole oregon biz got brought up etc. i just
haven't had much motivation to do nething. i feel so... blah... so
not happy. i haven't felt like writing much. :-/ 4 the
past 0.5 hr or so, i threw myself into some studying to help me 4get all
this crap. :-/ it's good to study. i don't feel much like
talking to ppl. i feel antisocial. *sigh* i got alotta crap
going on in my head. i thing i keep yelling to myself in my head is
that i'm just so pissed @ the idea that i'd get kicked out of san
josé after grad skool. i'm so bitter. there's all
these ppl who grew up n' went to skool outside of the silly valley, then
they move here just to reap its benefits. but then what if i had to
grow up here, go to skool here, hafta put up w/ the friggin' hi co$t of
living while i have no $$$ as a full.time student w/ no job, n' then i get
kicked outt'f here b4 i get to find a nice silly valley job n' enjoy the
silly valley life w/ all its benefits etc. >:-( i'm so mad 'bout
that. neway... i just feel like crap, n' don't feel much like
writing... even tho'... thru.out the day, i have all these ideas that go
thru my head, stuff i wanna write in my journal... but then when i find
time to write in my journal, i just don't feel like writing. :-/
i'm not happy.
939a: 2day's mon. "i see a ship in the harbour. i can and shall obey." (new order's blue monday) i slept on my face last nite. i 'specially don't like that cos i drool. :-( now that i've been temporarily thrown back to the "modern rock" days of my youth, lemme post the tab (which is guitar tablature, but actually, this isn't tab!!! it's just fakebook chords!!! but misin4nmed ppl on the net call it "tab.") 4 james's song "sit down," which was popular to the live 105.3 crowd back in my sr yr of hi skool or so. that'd be 1993. (yah, i'm not just posting lyrics but the tab.)
james - sit down
e e e e now i relieved to hear the wisdom that i seek now i've swung back down again oh sit down those who feel a breath of sadness in love in fear in hate in tears oh sit down
i sing myself to sleep
a b
a song from the darkest hour
e
secrets i can't keep
a b
inside of the day
i swing from high to deep
a b
extremes of sweet and sour
e
hope that god exists
a b
i hope i pray
drawn by the under tow
a b
my life is outa' control
e a b
i believe this wave will bear my weight so let it flow
oh sit down
oh sit down
oh sit down
a b
sit down next to me
e a b
sit down down down down down in sympathy
that you've been to some far out places
it's hard to carry on
when you feel all alone
has been found in the strangest places
feels a lot like love
that i feel for you
and it's worse than it was before
if i hadn't seen such riches
i could live with being poor
oh sit down
oh sit down
sit down next to me
sit down down down down down in sympathy
sit down next to me
those who find they're touched by madness
sit down next to me
those who find themselves ridiculous
in love in fear in hate in tears
in love in fear in hate in tears
in love in fear in hate
oh sit down
oh sit down
sit down next to me
sit down down in sympathy.
u can find guitar "tab" like this from www.guitaretab.com. i aktually borrowed this from http://www.csn.ul.ie/~mel/hobbies/guitar/sit_down.php. james isn't/wasn't a 1 hit wonder group, but that was prob'ly their most famous song.
can u believe that the raiders lost the superbowl in the same "season" as the giants lost the world series?! also, the raiders lost to the tamba bay buccaneers who had never won a superbowl, n' the giants lost to the anaheim angels who had never won a world series! crazy, huh? even tho' i'm not that into bay area sports, i gotta say: geez, bay area morale must'f hit an all.time low this season. :-/ didju know that i didn't watch ne of the superbowl?!?!?! i thought i'd watch some'f it, but i didn't. i'm not sad 'bout it, but i wish i had cn those ever.talked.'bout superbowl ads!!!
maybe waking up this morn, i'm a li'l more able to talk 'bout normal things instead of depressing things. man, i feel sorry 4 being so antisocial this weekend. i was s'pposed to return jason lee's v.mail that he left on sat morn, but i was just 2 depressed all weekend to do nething like that. :-/ sorry. i didn't get a chance to updatechu on all the things that happened this weekend. :-/
on sat, hrm... what happened? :-/ c? i'm starting to 4get! that's what happens when i don't update my journal! >:-( well, i think the most important that 'bout this weekend is that yesterday (sun), i bought the beautiful kaela kang's wedding band. well... lemme try to talk 'bout this weekend. on sat, kaela n' i drove 'round a li'l in the afternoon thru los gatos n' saratoga. then we went to meet up w/ my dad n' his gf sue in milpitas. we ate @ hot pot city. my dad asked us to go to the taiwanese lunar new yr's party in hayward that i used to go to all the time as a kid. i just had 2 much on my mind to go to sumpthin' like that. 'member? i felt so antisocial this weekend. i drove us straight home. i felt like i smelled like bbqed meat, so i took a shower. then we watched the movie 친구 (chingoo). i've had the dvd 4 a long time. i bought it from yesasia. if u ever buy nething from yesasia, please use my link, so i'll get a li'l, li'l, li'l kickback from ur purchase. i bought the "int'l" version of the dvd cos it has no region code n' can play in amerikan dvd players. i meant to hack my mom's dvd player, but i'm not sure if i accomplished it or not. [a li'l later] 1026a: oh! i just found a site that might have the hack! www.dvd365.net hrm, that was the same hack i saw last time! i just tried it. i can't tell if it werked or not. i guess what i need is a non.region.1 dvd to test it out. neway, we watched 친구. it's a very critically acclaimed, very popular korean movie. it came out like 1-2 yrs 'go; more like 2, i think. it's 'bout 4 hi skool friends' growing up to become well u'll c how they turn out when u watch the movie. there's this song i've had from 1 or 2 mix cd compilations. it's called "아 옛날이여" ("ah yeitnaliyuh") by dj 처리 n' 이선희 (dj chuhri n' lee suhnhee). (the title basically means "ah, the old days!") that song's available on the 2002 summer mix mag cd. neway, in the middle of that song, there's a break. in that break, there's a dialogue from a movie. i didn't know, b4 i watched 친구 that the dialogue was from this movie! now i know. as i was watching the movie, i recognised the lines. neway, that was sat nite.
sun, i woke up in the morn n' went to the gym myself. then i came back home, changed, n' picked up kaela. we went out to joy luck place in the cupertino 99 to meet my mom, grace, steve, n' mason 4 dimsum. man, it was very good fud. 'member? just last week, we went to ton kiang 4 dim sum. man, ton kiang is expen$ive, n' their portions r small! however, ton kiang is definitely a diff culinary experience cos it's the only hakka restaurant i've been to on this continent! after dimsum, kaela n' i went to buy her wedding band. then we stopped by fry's on the way home cos i wanted to c what robotics kits they have. i gotta get used to fiddling w/ those robotics kits cos'f my skoolstuff, u know? well, fry's only has really kiddy stuff. :-( i bought some nimh rechargeable batteries. when we came home, we didn't do much. we watched some simpsons episodes, both on my 'puter n' on tv.
[later] 1226p: i'm still @ home, in my pajamas. i don't like this kind'f life. i should've left the house this morn, gone to the gym then to the library or a café to study!
| location | 25th %ile | median | 75th %ile |
| in san josé, ca | $62,599 | $67,395 | $74,455 |
| the u.s. | $54,058 | $58,199 | $64,297 |
[later] 141p: 2day, i shaved w/ a razor 4 the 1st time in ages. why the heck am i still home?! >:-( [later] 156p: a while 'go laura chan 4warded me an e.mail w/ the greatest idea i've heard in a while: when telemarketters call u, say "hold on please," n' then put down the fon n' walk 'way 4 the next like 10 mins!!! of course, if u'r using ur precious cell mins, this might not werk so well. however, if it's ur land line, this is great! :-) oh! 'nother idea the e.mail mentioned is this: when u get an advertisement in the mail that has a pre.paid postage envelope, send it back stuffed w/ ads from other places!!! :-) woo hoo! aktually, i have done this in the past! :-) i like these ideas! :-) now, if there were only a way to eliminate spam! [later] 306p: dangit! why am i still @ home?!?! kaela cooked some 비빔냉면 (bibimnaengmyuhn). we just ate noodles, sauce, n' some boiled eggs. however, uhm, the boiled eggs didn't boil all the way, so we tried to cook them more in the microwave after deshelling them. that doesn't taste good! >x-p [later] 314p: i'm a li'l amazed that it's still jan(uary) right now. it feels like this month's old, that winter's old, that more time has passed since *shrug* i dunno... christmas, i guess. man, i'm so glad i don't live in berkeley right now cos i'm further 'way from that senseless looting that happened after the superbowl! it doesn't make ne sense. on an unrelated note, just think, tho': if it weren't 4 kaela's getting her job in san josé, we'd still be living in berkeley. if i never got 2gether w/ kaela, i'd most likely still be living in berkeley, honestly! strange, huh?
[later] 433p: in the study lounge area of the 2nd floor of the sjsu
engring bldg, i'm sitting, typing on my handspring. man, i've had
this handspring visor edge 
4 quite some time now, n' i've really made use of it,
huh? i finally made it to campus! geez, it feels like i just
made some kind'f grand exodus. :-/ maybe that's not the wurd.
does "exodus" imply that i travelled w/ a big, big group? or is that
just if i say "mass exodus"? in ne case, it feels like i went
thru quite 'lot to get here. why did it take so long to get out of
the house 2day? no motivation? :-( i dunno. what was i
doing @ home? i didn't get ne studying done 2day @ home, not really.
that's why i don't like attempting to study @ home: cos i know i
won't. i did do some housekeeping on my 'puter, meaning i got
'round to burning lots'f big files onto cd n' deleting them from my hard
drive. i'm in need of some cd wallets, not so much to carry musik cd
but more 4 storing data n' video cds.
1 thing i was thinkin' 'bout this past couple'f days is how i found an old usa today newspaper in my car's trunk. i got that newspaper from the hotel, kaela n' i stayed @ in rancho cordova (that li'l town by sacramento). 'member? we stayed in sactown 1 nite, i snowboarded 2 days in a row, n' kaela went to some werk thingy. then i felt sick the rest of that week, 'member? neway, that newspaper had some article called "dumb and dumber," in which an author bags on the 2 tv shows joe millionaire n' the bachelorette which started this season. hey, i've thought of reality shows including but not limited to these 2 as insipid, boring, n' unintelligent 4 a long time, yet i don't get to write an article like that in usa today! >:-(
joe millionaire: i almost kind'f like the idea of this show cos it, in a way, mocks the other reality love/marriage tv shows that have come out. i think this love n' 'specially these marriage reality tv shows really cheapen the idea of romantic love. i would say that i'm offended by these shows, but i'm not the kind'f guy that gets offended, right? heh. well, i like that joe millionaire, in its way, puts these other shows in their places, n' sort'f tries to show that so many of these gurls that go to these "who wants to marry a millionaire" shows r gold diggers n' there4 bad ppl. >:-) however, i can't say i love joe millionaire (neither the guy nor the tv show) cos 1) i don't watch it n' 2) it's still a reality tv show.
the bachelorette: i feel that maybe it's cos i'm a guy that i don't like shows like "the bachelor." hrm, the netwerk ppl cmed to think that maybe they could win me over to reality love/marriage tv shows by reversing the forumula n' have a bunch'f guys swoon over 1 gurl. hrm... now the guy:gurl ratio is switched... n' it's not even in the direktion i as a heterosexual male prefer! if i didn't like watching a whole bunch'f gurls on these kinds'f tv shows, how could a bunch'f dolled up guys win my affektion?! i don't find myself relating to the prize guy in shows like "the bachelor," n' i don't relate to the desperate contestant guys on "the bachelorette." who's the netwerk to say this prize guy is such a prize?! #!!@% jfk, jr! i'm the most eligible bachelor in new york!!! or i would be if i weren't engaged... n' if i lived in new york. X-D
i don't like the characters on most reality tv shows cos they don't represent the kind'f ppl i c in daily life. it must be that i just always wanna c more asian on tv n' am just gonna whine that there rn't 'nuff asians on tv, this that. no, that's not it! granted, the set of contestants/characters they have on these shows r waaay 2 skewed to the imaginary white/black bipolar amerikan demographic that only exists in tv land. however, even if i overlook that, these ppl on reality tv shows r such stereotypes! 'bout 80% of the cast must be of the "greek" fratboy / sorority gurl preppy stock. that's the golden rule, apparently. now what to do w/ the remaining 20%?! well, lessee: let's get 1 aspiring punkrock star from l.a. he can't be the norcal punk type, only the l.a. punkrock type takes good enuf care of his physique to appear on netwerk tv. then, let's grab a black guy... no, not afrikan.amerikan; he's just gotta be black n' represent what tv land wants "black" culture to be. he should be pretty athletic, well.built, into r&b muzik (maybe hip hop but mostly that soulful "i wanna sex you up" stuff), n' definitely must be very vocal 'bout how he's willing to do ne of the women on the cast. to even it out, they'll prob'ly cast a female counterpart 4 him; that's bound to create some formulaic enthnogender sexual tension! it's possible that there'll be a similar duo, which'll be latino/latina instead of black. in that case, the guy's allowed to be a li'l less athletic maybe, but only if he spends most of his week werking on racecars or car stereos. hrm, maybe we need a cowboy/cowgurl, some1 from texas. n' then a thoroughbred white new englander w/ lotsf $$$. these shows find such stereotypes 4 their cast that i find these characters less believable than those on fictional shows!
as u know, i can tolerate some programs on amerikan tv, as i aktually like buffy the vampire slayer. i think those characters r more believable than the characters on most reality tv shows!!! u know that?! i feel ppl 'round me; my friends, ppl i hang out w/, ppl i encounter on campus; r more like the ppl i c on buffy than the ppl i c on reality shows. take a look @ xander: he's a decently nice guy. he's not extremely nerdy, but he's not a preppy fratboy jock. spike: he's british n' more of an "alternative" type guy. his muzik on the muzikal episode? i can believe i'd hear songs like that on the radio. buffy: she's strong.willed yet multi.dimensional; more like females i encounter in real life. willow: she's... well, she's a lesbian... i don't hang out w/ many lesbians but i c 'lot more of them in real life than on tv, i think. she's also hrm... well, maybe she's a li'l bit geeky.... n', yah, i do c that in real life... but that's not the most believable part of her. perhaps what makes me like her character more than reality show charcters it that she has magical powers, n' we all know gurls in real life have magical powers! these stoopid reality show gurls don't do ne witch craft! *roll eyes*
k... what really makes me think characters on buffy r more realistic than reality tv show characters it that they r better looking!!! seriously! ppl on reality shows rn't very good looking! it's not just that my standards r raised by airbrushed models! it's that ppl i encounter in real life r better looking than those i c on reality tv shows!!! these reality show ppl, as far as looks, r below avg! really! i'm not speaking 'bout myself, but hey! my friends r good looking ppl! :-) heh, even ppl i don't like but encounter in real life r better looking than ppl i c on reality shows! u know... 1 thing: maybe it's cos i live in cali4nia... u think? maybe it's just that cali4nians look better than the amerikan avg. :-/ i'm 'member supermike used to insist this's true. *shrug* nah, that's prob'ly not it. u know who r the most beautiful ppl in the world? beno journal readers!!! much better looking than usa today readers. well... i guess u can c why i'll never have an article in usa today i dunno how i manage to use all these paragraphs n' not really get to a pt.
[later] 950p: i had "computer aided mechanical design class" w/ dr. youssefi. the class is sooo crowded! i think we were s'pposed to have only 25 ppl, but now we have like 64 ppl! :-o it's crazy! dr. youssefi split the class into 2 lab groups, so i volunteered to be moved to the 200 - 430p lab sektion (on wed) instead of the normal 530 - 645p sektion (also on wed). after class, brian told me 'bout a job fair in berkeley on wed n' thurs. i'm gonna go w/ him. i gotta find some kind'f internship 4 this summer or some kind'f engring job!
after i left campus, i drove local rds to the gym. i didn't go to
pilates, but kaela came n' went to pilates. i did a li'l
cardio werkout, lots'f stretching, n' a li'l bit'f weights. i saw
the kwando strike/spar class. it looked like so much fun. i
miss doing more taekwondo. :-( after the gym, we came home.
my mom had cooked some broccoli beef, tomatoes n' eggs, n' some taiwanese
sausage.
1159a: continuing w/ my last century "modern rock" theme from yesterday, i got these lyrics from petshopboys.net:
i've got the brains
you've got the looks
let's make lots of money
you've got the brawn
i've got the brains
let's make lots of...
i've had enough of scheming
and messing around with jerks
my car is parked outside
i'm afraid it doesn't work
i'm looking for a partner
someone who gets things fixed
ask yourself this question
do you want to be rich?
i've got the brains
you've got the looks
let's make lots of money
you've got the brawn
i've got the brains
let's make lots of money
you can tell i'm educated
i studied at the sorbonne
doctored in mathematics
i could have been a don
i can program a computer
choose the perfect time
if you've got the inclination
i have got the crime
oh, there's a lot of opportunities
if you know when to take them
you know there's a lot of opportunities
if there aren't, you can make them
(make or break them)
i've got the brains
you've got the looks
let's make lots of money
let's make lots of...
money
you can see i'm single-minded
i know what i could be
how'd you feel about it?
come and take a walk with me
i'm looking for a partner
regardless of expense
think about it seriously
you know it makes sense
let's (got the brains)
make (got the looks)
let's make lots of money (oohh money)
(let's) you've got the brawn
(make) i've got the brains
let's make lots of money (oohh money)
i've got the brains (got the brains)
you've got the looks (got the looks)
let's make lots of money (oohh money)
money
all the love that we had
and the love that we hide
who will bury us
when we die?
[later] 304p: 
in this day n' age, maybe it's more important to be hard
werking than smart. there was a time when smart but lazy ppl could
live large, but not now. i'm kind'f stating the obvious, huh?
229p: i have class @ 400p. i've been very bizzy lately! i guess i'm making up 4 time i lost while being depressed last weekend. i'm catching up on life. yesterday, i went to a job fair in berkeley, n' i aktually left feeling very good. not only did i score lots n' lots'f kewl freebies (like @ job fairs in the good ol' days), i aktually felt like employers will want to hire me.
my last entry was pretty cheesy ("they want us to go back to the good ol' days of 80s greed."[2003.01.28]): i just put up some pet shop boy lyrics that i think i put up b4 in the past. *roll eyes* greed, huh? i was also gonna put up lyric's to wax's "money," which isn't a 1980s song, no. however, i guess it sort'f sounds like it could've been a 80s new wave hit in korea. *shrug* here's a sample:
|
money 로 뭐든 다할수 있고 행복한 삶을 살수도 있어. money 로 예뻐질수도 있고 사랑도 쉽게 얻을수 있어. |
w/ money u can do everything, and you can live a happy
life w/ money u can be beautiful, and you can easily get love. |
1020p: who started this ascii drawing (shown below)?
so i totally have not been updating u ppl. lately, in my car, i've been listening to my jaurim true (live) cds. it's a 2cd set of live concert stuff. 1 song i really like is "미안해 널 미워해" ("mianhae nuhl miwuhhae," meaning "sorry, i hate u"). jaurim isn't the asian bubblegum many ppl have come to expekt. no, it's korean alt rock. this cd set is not new @ all. i've had it 4 a long time, 'least a yr, i think. however, it comes in an nonstandard shaped package, so in the past i've avoided bringing the cds to my car. last week or so, i made back up copies of lots'f my cds. now i listen to the back up copies in my car.
so where did i leave off updating u? i wrote that cheesy short entry on tues. tues... i went to class. i have 2 classes on tues/thurs ("precision machine design" n' "advanced mechatronics") n' only 1 on wed ("computer aided mechanical design"). on tues n' thurs, i go to taekwondo practice @ 730p. i get out of class @ 645p. it feels so much better not having so much dead time btwn class n' taekwondo! :-) of course, sometimes, i'm in a rush, as i was 2day. tues nite, i went to taekwondo by myself, as in w/o the beautiful kaela kang. she was off in sf buying her wedding dress w/ laura copenhaver. sounds like they had a good time, n' i know kaela returned really happy cos she found her dream dress. yah, it sounds like its gonna be quite an outfit! :-) on tues, i told mark lee @ taekwondo 'bout the job fair in berkeley. when i got home, i ate dinner. what did i eat? uh, some leftovers from the nite b4 (which was broccoli n' beef n' tomato n' egg) n' some shrimp w/ beans (sumpthin' similar to lima beans) n' onions. my mom cooked it. it was very good. i werked on my résumé. i was up much later than i expekted, werking on my résumé n' chatting w/ friends online. man! i really gotta update the version of my résumé that's on my website!!!
well, wed, i woke up early. i wanted to wake up earlier, but oh
well. i left the house 'round 840a. i had a bunch'f
résumés. i printed out some 4 my classmate friend
brian cos he sed his printer sucks. nelson dropped off some'f his
résumés cos he talked to me the nite b4, i told him 'bout the
job fair, n' he asked me to pass out some of his résumés, if
i could. *shrug* the opportunity didn't come up, in the end.
neway, i drove out to the sjsu park n' ride shuttle lot. brian
picked me up from there n' drove us up to berkeley. cos we were hungry, we stopped @ dixon
landing n' got burger king breakfast. 
i
bought brian's breakfast cos he was driving n' all. i had decaf
coffee w/ my croissanwich. i drank it black. 'member? i don't
usually like normal coffee, only espresso! well, eh! it's not like
i'm gonna get espresso from burger king. i aktually was fine w/ the
normal coffee. *shrug* when we got to berkeley, we felt the sidewalks were much emptier than
we expekted. *shrug* we figured it was just the middle of the hr, so
students weren't walking to class. it was midmorning... no,
late morn. it was like 1030a or so. we had a really
hard time finding street parking, so we eventually resigned to [interrupted
by nelson's fon call but now back, 1114a] parking in the durant.channing
garage. b4 going into the job fair, i stopped by the asuc (student
union) to buy a professional looking portfolio. i already have 1, a
really beautiful 1 that my sister n' steve gave me 4 my graduation, but i
don't know where i put it. it's prob'ly in a box in the garage.
i knew these things'd be kind'f expen$ive tho' i didn't know 'xactly
how much till i bought 1. i bought a black 1 cos the 1 i already have is brown. i like having a nice portfolio to bring
to interviews. in the past yr, i'd been using manilla folders to
carry my résumé n' paperwerk to n' from interviews. :-(
i'm sure that was unimpressive. :-( well, we went to the job
fair. i had a great time! i talked to lots'f
companies, prob'ly passed out 'bout 15 résumés. i just
honestly had a good time. the recruiters aktually gave me lots'f
hope. i feel good 'bout my career prospekts right now. i
really think i'll find a decent job in the silly valley, n' dang! i really
need it!!! it was just plain fun "hangin' out w/ the guys" in berkeley. @ lunch, a bunch'f us went to steve's
bbq: mark, his roommate john, roland, brian chi, brian cheung (my
classmate), n' me. earlier, we saw wei (from demo team) @ the job
fair, n' roland pted out that we could put on a demo right there!
X-D ha ha ha! ah, it was good to have steve's bbq 'gain.
i ordered chicken bibimbap. i know joon'd
understand how i felt having steve's bbq after all these months!!!
like, we all know steve's is not the greatest korean
restaurant, no matter what the daily cal sez in its "best of
berkeley" readers' poll. (these readers just
don't know korean fud. *roll eyes*) well, really... steve's is not
the best korean restaurant, no; however, man! where else can u get
decent galbi @ such a good price n' so conveniently?! sure, there's
the sorabol franchise, but joon sez "there's just no love there," n' he's
sort'f right. :-/ like, i've never had a really good experience @
a sorabol, but i've had many good experiences w/ steve's! when brian
(cheung) drove us thru northside to drop off roland, i saw that the euclid
sorabol is now "asiana garden" or sumpthin' like that. i'm sure
it'll be better than sorabol. b4 we left the parking lot, we needed
to buy sumpthin' from the durant.channing alleyway to get validation.
i bought a box 4 $5 from the postal annex. a box 4 $5?!?!
yah, i need to use it to send off a shedrain umbrella, which has a
lifetime warranty but broke. well, it was cheaper 4 me to buy the
box n' get validated parking than to pay the unvalidated parking fee. :-(
[i was on the fon w/ roland 4 a while. now i'm back. 1157p]
we drove back down 880 n' went to our cad class.
after class, i went home. kaela was home. we ate dinner. my mom cooked some fried rice n' some shumai she got from costco. after dinner, kaela n' i went to romeo 5 art café n' bar in sf j.town to meet up w/ jason lee (betelnuts), darren (idigu), john pai (gulid), hyun (dj krazy) n' some other ppl to watch some of jason's movies. man, romeo 5 was a really kewl venue!!! i had never been in there b4. heh, it was funny to drink japanese shochu instead of korean soju. they make asian.fusion cocktails there. [dang, now it's 1201a on 2003.01.31.] the movies were really kewl. after that, i drove kaela 'round north beach cos i was s'pposed to find her some coffee. *sigh* everywhere was closed! :-( we drove back down 101 n' went home.
2day (which is now yesterday) was thurs. i was @ home much later than i wanted to be. i was werking on my hw 4 my "precision machine design" class. the thing is: nowadays, since i feel ca$h is scarce, i opt to stay home 4 lunch more often. however, i really hate it cos i know i don't get my skoolwerk or studying done @ home. there r 2 many distraktions!!! i know i have a much, much, much, much more produktive day when i pack up my skoolbag n' head off to a café or the library to study. sure, i hafta shell out a few bucks 4 lunch; but i gain sooo much produktivity!!! :-( cos'f my skrewed up skedule, i feel i've gotten a rotten start to the semester. :-( i really need to get back into the routine of leaving the house in the morn n' hitting the books n/or the gym during the day b4 class. that really made me a good student, u know?
neway 2day (which was yesterday), i got to class barely on time. :-( i went to my 2 classes. in btwn, i went to the library to pick up some books, then i met kaela in the student union. there, i quickly got a jamba juice b4 heading off to my "mechatronics" class. after class, kaela was still in her class. i went to taekwondo practice. 1st, i had to buy some gas @ the stoopid, overpriced chevron on santa clara st. i only bought a 0.5 tank. as i drove down santa clara 2ward compaq arena, i felt like i was driving thru sf or oakland 4 a sec. the tall bldgs just gave me a flashback of sorts. santa clara st was crowded cos'f a sharks game. last tues, it was the same case as i was also driving off to taekwondo practice. when i got to taekwondo practice just barely in time, i was surprised to c that we jumped right into sparring w/o a warmup. wow. well, it was a good practice. man, earlier 2day i was pondering how i just don't put on a hogu n' get kicked n' kick as often as i used to. man, back in berkeley, back in 1999 when i was on the taekwondo "competition" team, i put on hogu every nite, pretty much... 'least every weeknite. well... even tho' i get less practice, i feel a li'l more... focused while sparring these days cos i feel like i have much less stressful politiks on my mind than i did while practicing back in berkeley in our final days there. hrm... some ppl @ our skool here cm to think mark n' i r the best fighters. :-o heh, i feel so weird. yah, mark, he's really good! i definitely do think he's the best fighter @ our skool. however, me?! i never felt that great back @ cal. 'least not in a long while... honestly, ppl @ cal train really hard. it's true. hey, u should visit our taekwondojang's website!!! http://www.us-tae-kwon-do.com ha ha, 2nite, after practice, we had a funny conversation 'bout how all the good domain names r taken n' how ppl pay crazy prices 4 domain names.
after practice, i came home. kaela was home. we ate some fud my mom cooked: pan.grilled chicken breasts, corn on the cob, caesar salad, n' chili. after sparring practice, i felt great eating.
now it's 1216a on 2003.01.31. hrm, i think i'll go 'head n' end
my entry here.
1236a: since i've been putting up song lyrics lately that
talk 'bout $$$, u prob'ly think i'm just becoming sooo $$$ driven,
huh? yah, @ the job fair, i felt really good that the job outlook
appears closer to decent than i would've otherwise thought. 
it's not that i'm getting greedy 4 $$$, really! it's just
that, geez! just how long do u want me to go b4 realising i
can't pay off my bills?! i've gotta care 'bout $$$ some,
right? it's not that i'm doing engring just 4 the $$$! *roll eyes*
i have genuine interest in my engring studies. however, i
do plan on using my engring skillz to find myself a com4table
living situation. 
[later] 210a: ken n' i stayed up 2 late having an online conversation.
[later] 1052a: my domain name server (or whatever u call them, the domain name registration place) has had some probs lately. sorry. maybe u've had some probs accessing my website, ending up in 404ville. they say they'll have these probs resolved soon, like w/in the next 24 hrs. [a li'l later] 1103p: i just ate a banana n' some leftover chili. i drank some apple juice. i wonder if we'll go snowboarding 2morrow. a bunch'f friends r going to a cabin 2nite, snowboarding @ sierra 2day n' @ northstar 2morrow. us, we have our double whammy season passes, so we really shouldn't go to northstar on a sat, cos that's the 1 day we can't use our season pass there; but we can use our season pass @ sierra ne day of the week. as $$$'s tight, we can't be renting hotel rooms so often, n' i hear the cabin's 2 full, so we'll hafta make a daytrip. if we make a daytrip, well... it's hard to do northstar instead of sierra cos 1) we hafta buy lift tix there, 2) northstar's parking lot fills up faster, n' 3) the snow's beter @ sierra right now. man, this is 1 funky snowboarding season. it was really good snow 4 a while, but now it's just totally warm n' snowless. :-( cos the weather's so good in the bay area, so sunny; i haven't been so much in the snowboarding mood. yet, when ppl talk 'bout snowboarding, i get a li'l excited. b4 these past 2 weeks, we'd been going sooo regularly! 'member: to us snowboarding is not a luxury resort experience!!! it's a sport. some kids play soccer every sat. we go snowboarding every weekend. same thing. i really like snowboarding, u know!
[later] 1145a: i just uploaded a updated version of my résumé. please have a look. :-) i sure would like a nice job! :-)
[later] 824p: so in the early afternoon, the beautiful kaela kang went to werk @ her job 1 last time. while she was in the office, i took her car n' drove over the the pruneyard mall. i studied @ the campbell roasting co. i had a very good study session there, a nf cappuccino, n' a blueberry scone. i'm glad i patronised this li'l asian.am.owned bizness instead of a megacorporation. (the owners r korean.) i studied well. i took 11 pages'f notes, i think. it was good. it felt good. then i went to fry's to return the handystitch that kaela had me buy a while 'go, just cos she wanted to switch it w/ the 1 she already has. it's not that we did nething bad!!! u c, the thread on this handheld sewing machine came off... n' she didn't know how to loop it back in, so she just got frustrated n' had me buy a new 1, so she could start over. of course, since it's just a sewing machine, u'r s'pposed to be able to loop the thread back in netime u want. i think kaela figured it out now, but i dunno. u c, my mom threw 'way the box earlier, so she couldn't just go n' exchange it. complicated situation... well, after fry's, i picked up kaela. we went to the gym 'round 500p. aktually, 1st we went to rite.aid. i did a li'l cardio, lots'f stretching, n' then a li'l bit'f weights. kaela went to pilates class. when we got home we ate mandoo / guoteh n' shumai. we watched on channel 28 this gameshow thingy called "happy together." there was hyori (from fin.k.l) teaching john from 5ion how to speak korean n' some other guy teaching annie (of tashannie) to speak korean. funny; i didn't realise so many korean gasoo r korean.amerikans. i mean, i knew j is... n' park junghyun (lena park)... n' of course, dave kim talked 'lot 'bout jini from kiss.
well, i guess we'll be leaving 4 a tahoe daytrip early 2morrow morn. depending on how early it is n' how we feel, i figure we'll pick btwn a free day @ sierra w/ our season passes, or a day w/ gotta pay 4 @ northstar but w/ a bunch'f our friends who r already up there. we'll c.
this weekend is the real lunar new yr, tho' my family
aktually sort'f celebrated last weekend. in mandarin, ppl
say, "gongji fae chai." i think that means "rooster flying
vegetable." X-D
1043a: >:-( probs w/ my domain name registration server persist. >:-( that's really frustrating. i just wondering how many of u get to my page using www.benomix.com n' how many use www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~beno. i prefer u use benomix.com cos i pay 4 that service. however, the service has been very flaky lately. the song "flake" by jack johnson frequently plays on the radio nowadays. i can't believe it's feb already!!! :-o
so yesterday the beautiful kaela kang n' i made a daytrip to sierra@tahoe. [much later, 913p] i called this entry "hippity hoppity" cos i was proud to c kaela doing li'l jumps yesterday on her snowboard! :-) so proud! so we left san jo early in the morn, we stopped by carl's jr. somewhere near fairfield 4 breakfast. we snowboarded @ sierra. 'twas free cos we have our season passes. we had lunch @ the west bowl smokehouse. we had a bowl of adobe chicken w/ toasted corn soup n' a ft long hotdog. mmm, it was so good. it started snowing while we were @ lunch. we snowboarded 4 a li'l more in west bowl thru the snow, then we headed back to the front side to ride the li'l baby terrain park 4 a while. lemme tell u... on rails, i can 50/50 grind 'em (riding them straight on), but i aktually haven't gotten the hang of frontside or backside railslides (where u straddle the rail). also, i only ride pretty small rails, i gotta admit; no big 1s yet. well, after a good day of snowboarding, we hit the road, which was now a li'l bit snowy. i stopped 4 gas in cordelia, n' we pretty much just went home.
aktually, b4 we went home, we went to safeway to get some groceries. @ home, kaela cooked portabello shroom n' asparagus pasta. we watched one hour photo on vcd, which i dled. we were watching national velvet on kqed 9 (pbs) but fell asleep.
2day, we went to sf j.town. i guess kaela had some talk to go to
that had to do w/ that skool of alternative medicine or sumpthin'. *shrug*
she didn't really explain to me what she went to cos she knows i get all
pissy when she talks 'bout those skools cos i don't wanna move to oregon or
washington. :-( neway... :-( thinkin' 'bout it depresses me, but i'm
getting better 'bout not thinking 'bout it. :-/ while she was @
her thing, i met up w/ jason lee n' this gurl courtney who's werking on
that projekt jason has w/ us. aktually, b4 i met up w/ them, i was
hanging 'round the bookstore, where i realised that 1 thing i really like
'bout japanese ppl over other asian ppl is that japanese ppl aktually
snowboard!!! like, i mean... in japan... like, i guess
taiwanese ppl in taiwan don't snowboard cos there's no snow in taiwan.
i hear korean ppl in korea just sort'f snowboard n' ski 4 the look
of it... they just do the whole preppy, "après.ski couture" thing.
in japan, i know they really do snowboarding w/ all the freestyle
tricks n' airs, not just riding 4 the sake of saying they ride.
that's good. neway, i met up w/ jason n' courtney. we talked
'bout the projekt 4 a while. we got some crêpes from sophie's
crêpes. i just had a li'l strawberry 
jam crepe
cos kaela n' i ate lunch @ home (leftover pasta). aktually, b4 jason
n' courtney got there, i had a nf cap from café hana. when
kaela joined us, she went n' bought a dozen takoyaki balls from the stand
outside of benihana. aktually, last nite, we saw a bit of a japanese
television show, where the kids kept eating takoyaki. it was kewl to
try it out. 'round 500p, our li'l mtg broke up. kaela n' i
went to the greeting card store. then my classmate friend dave came
by to drop off the textbook i lent to him. then we went home.
4 dinner, my mom prepared hot pot, what many ppl call shabu shabu. @
home, we call it hwuh gwuh in taiwanese... uh... i have no clue how to
romanise it! :-( (nuthin' looks quite right!) i'm really sleepy
right now. i just realised on fri, when i was studying, i took
13 pages of notes, not just 11. i was really bizzy, u know.
oh yah, earlier 2day, this morn, kaela n' i watched some of espn's
x.games 7 on abc kgo.7 while doing laundry.
1051a: i'm still @ home. i dunno if u realise how much i don't like being @ home. u know why? cos i don't study well @ home!!! i really need to be in the library or in a café! badly! i need to get out n' study in a library or café!!! *sigh* like, i feel pressure to eat lunch @ home to save $$$, but it's just bad 4 my studying n' skoolwerk, u know? >:-( i feel so trapped. :-( 1 distraktion i've had so far this semester is that i find my mind wandering 'lot more 2wards thinkin' 'bout $$$ n' career, u know? last semester, i didn't worry so much 'bout it, but this semester i have. 'least my classes this semester r more "hands.on" n' "industry.oriented" instead of more theoretical like last semester. in this case, it makes more sense 4 me to think 'bout engring jobs etc. :-/ well, i gotta werk sometime!!! every1's gotta werk sometime! :-/
right now, i'm listening to an old 박혜경 (park hyeikyuhng) cd. the beautiful kaela kang n' i have this dilemma: we buy "cute" postage stamps, but then kaela doesn't wanna use them cos she sez they're 2 cute. :-/ i tell her: if we don't use the cute stamps, the usps'll stop making cute stamps, they'll just make plain ol' flag stamps. :-(
4 the past coupl'f weeks or so, the furnace pilot lite was out. it wasn't so cold 4 a while, but this morn was really cold. i relit the pilot lite.
[later] 114p: sometime last yr, a long time 'go, i was in a pissy
mood. i wrote a few lines on my handspring but never posted them.
when did i write these lines? *shrug* i believe it was maybe like
in aug or sept. *shrug* since i mention 92.7fm, it must've been
the day after i wrote an entry 'bout 92.7 fm. *shrug* when was that?!
*shrug* neway, i ended up never posting these lines, i just felt they
were 2 pissy. b4 i left the house 2day i felt really pissy.
now i'm in the sjsu library, studying. throwing myself
into my books helps me 4get all the stressful crap i think 'bout.
neway, here r the lines:
not only is it better to
give than to receive, it feels better to give than receive.
generous ppl r greedy ppl.
every1's either passive aggresive or else an out in the open @$$hole.
b4 92.7 was tekno radio, it was just 'nother ksjo frequency.
do u 'member when i wrote some comments 'bout some dumb article i found on the net some kid wrote criticising 92.7fm as a radio station that just plays cds that out.of.werk dotcommers left behind in the bay area? i must've written those lines back then. hrm... sometime not 2 long 'go, i 'member hearing sumpthin' on tv on some fictional show where a woman was arguing that helping ppl is greedy. that's not a new idea. it's been discussed in literature n' film 4 decades n' centuries. i believe dostoevsky's crime n' punishment discussed this idea. i believe the movie grand canyon discussed this idea. what 'bout the idea that all ppl r either passive aggressive psychos or flat.out @$$hole jerks? yah, i sometimes believe that. lemme tell u, if u'r passive aggressive then u'r manipulative n' deceitful. if u'r a flat.out @$$hole jerk that makes demands of ppl, then ppl hate u more than u think n' they'll exact their revenge in due time. talk 'bout pessimistic talk! geez, just what kind'f pissy mood was i in b4 leaving the house 2day?!?!?!
i'm just 1nce 'gain not happy. i feel dissatisfied w/ life. how can i study when i feel like this? last semester, i had my studies all focused. so far this semester, i feel like crap. what?! should i just drop out of grad skool?! grrr! when was the last time i was really satisfied w/ life? has it not been since like 2000 or so? no, that's not true. i think i was decently satisfied w/ life last semester. life has its ups n' downs. i don't want so many ppl to envy my life, but i guess there've been times when i managed to find bright spots in dark times. i can be optimistic. right now? i don't feel as optimistic, no. i have mood swings, yes.
of course, all this talk 'bout oregon n' washington has set this off.
it's more internal conflict than external conflict. i
don't think ppl realise that. they think it's just me not letting
kaela pursue education. no, it's not that. i'm off hating
myself 0.5 the day. after weeks, a bunch'f 0.5 days add up, u
know. what kind'f fiancé doesn't let his fiancée go
to college?! it's not like she didn't go thru 7 yrs of berkeley n' came out w/ bachelor's degrees from 2
depts n' a master's degree! it's not like i'm saying women
shouldn't go to college, they should just graduate from hi skool n'
become housewives. obviously, i'm not saying that. but how
can i keep twisting n' contorting my life just so that kaela can go
'round collecting degrees?! i'm so not happy. :-(
100p: sorry, i haven't updated in a while. i'm ok, i guess.
how r u? i have "cad" lab @ 230p. hopefully, i can
write more later. uh, in the meantime, if u need beno journal
entries, u can always read my archive n' sign my gbook.
1207a: now it's 1207a on thurs morn / wed nite. on mon nite, after class, i went to kinko's to make some fotocopies of some reading material i need 4 skool. then i went to the hamilton/meridian gym to werk out 4 a while. i got to watch more of winter x.games while werking out. i came home. the beautiful kaela kang n' my mom already ate dinner. i ate the same thing: some aidell's habanero chicken/turkey sausages n' some salad. tues, i drove kaela to some integrative health clinic where she sed she's gonna volunteer to werk as a receptionist to learn more 'bout the bizness. i hung out @ borders bookstore in santana row 4 a while. then i picked up kaela. we ate lunch @ valley fair's fud ct. i had a healthmex mahi.mahi burrito from rubio's, n' kaela had mongolian bbq from great khan's. we found some crazy good deals @ br on winter clearance stuff. i bought a pair of nice, nice merino wool gloves 4 $6.99. kaela got some really kewl stuff 2. we went to campus n' studied in the café 4 a while. then i went to my classes, n' kaela went to her old office to clear out her things. she came back, picked me up, n' we went to taekwondo practice. it was fun. there wasn't many ppl there @ all. we sort'f had an open werkout. i got to werk on lots'f "demo" stuff. it's funny to call it "demo stuff," cos i know i'm prob'ly not gonna do a demo in a while, but eh! they're "demo techniques," u know? fancy stuff... then we came home, ate some salmon w/ black bean sauce, vegetables, n' tomato n' egg.
2day was wed. kaela n' i ate lunch @ home: steamed shaolongbao. ("small dragon buns..." some ppl call them postickers, i guess.) then we went to campus. i had class @ 230-430p cos i switched from the 530-645p sektion to this sektion. thus on wed, i have lab from 230-430p, n' then i'm done. on mon, i still go to lekture @ 530-645p. we picked groups 4 our lab projekts 2day. i thought i'd end up grouping w/ brian, but it didn't turn out that way. i'm grouping up w/ 2 new guys: rami n' payam. they're both iranian, so i'm the only non.iranian in my group. heh, funny. oh yah, during my class, kaela went to get a haircut. after class, i couldn't reach her. i wandered 'round the campus trying to figure out what to do. i guess i sat in the library 4 a while n' checked my e.mail etc. then i went to the atm to get some $$$. i was gonna next go get a drink from the student union, but i ran into kaela! :-D funny! so funny! we went to the health center n' both used our university health insurance to skedule free physikal checkups, since we can. then we went to sunnyvale 4 a cake tasting w/ a baker. well... i thought the cakes were all very beautiful... but i wasn't so pleased w/ the texture of most'f the cakes: 2 dry n' heavy!!! i prefer asian style cakes w/ lite, airy cake n' plenty of fruit! well, i'm glad the baker was very straight4ward n' honest. heh, 1 thing... the helper that greeted us; she didn't even acknowledge my presence when i walked in w/ kaela. she was only interested in speaking to brides not grooms. crazy. already, i've sensed that wedding vendors resent grooms. 'least this woman was more honest 'bout that. heh. well, after eating all that sugary, fattening cake, we drove thru sunnyvale, got on the hi.way, n' went to the capitol expwy. gym. we werked out 4 a long time cos kaela was watching the bachelorette. while i waited 4 her to finish her show, i saw part of star dates w/ gary coleman. man... <:-( i sort'f feel sorry 4 him cos he cms to express that ppl don't take him seriously, n' he cms to be rather unhappy 'bout that. :-(
oh yah! phil was recently quoted in an ap national news article! check out: "opinions change over a military draft," by david crary on y! news. go phil! :-)
recently, phil's sister vicky n' a guy name tsu moua signed my gbook n' showed us that they r kewl. :-) u can 2, u know. :-) sorry 'bout my domain name being all messed up still... 'member... if u have probs accessing nething on benomix.com, just replace the "www.benomix.com" w/ "www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~beno/", n' that'll fix it. :-) teknical difficulties, u know? sorry.
[much later] 233p: it's still 2003.02.06, still thurs. i have
class @ 400p. i have 2 hw assignments due: 1 4 my "precision
machine design" class n' 'nother 4 my "advanced mechatronics" class.
i'm typing up my "precision machine design" hw right now. i
haven't left the house 2day. kaela n' i ate buffalo wings n'
smoothies 4 lunch; strawberry.banna smoothies. 
[later] 1024p: how r u? :-) i'm ok. i'm @ home right now, typing on my handspring. i'm trying to spend some time 'way from the 'puter cos man... i spend 2 much time on the net on the 'puter. :-/ so i went to class 2day. it was ok. in btwn classes, i found kaela in the market café in the fud ct. there, i got myself a nonfat cappuccino. after class, i went to taekwondo practice. since it's thurs, 'twas sparring nite. my legs were pretty dang tired. on my way home, i got some gas (4 my car, not in my stomach). when i got home, i ate baby back ribs, beans, n' salad. we had buffalo wings 4 lunch n' baby back ribs 4 dinner. it's like we live in chili's! :-) that's what i jokingly told kaela, but we liked the fud.
oh yah, this morn, i had a dream that there was this machine that could find out what u dream 'bout n' display it on a screen. weird n' futuristik, huh? weird to dream 'bout dreams, right?
well, 2morrow's fri. u know what'd be kewl, if kaela n' i drove
up to tahoe 2morrow, snowboarded, stayed overnite, snowboarded sat, n'
came home. well, it was a thought i had earlier this week.
*sigh* it doesn't look like it'll happen tho'. :-/ i'm thirsty.
1111a: how r u? :-) u gotta tell me, u know. u can sign my gbook to let me know! :-) i haven't yet answered those gbook questions, eh? :-D well, no1's bugged me 'bout it yet. :-)
last nite, i stayed up 2late... sort'f. i wanted to go to
sleep earlier, but i was watching tv. last nite, i avoided the
internet! can u believe that?! i didn't turn on my 'puter @
all yesterday! i used my handspring to type the last part of
yesterday's entry. ('member: u always gotta check my daily entry to
c if i added stuff to the end. :-) ) i watched tv w/ the beautiful
kaela kang.
u know she watches so much more tv than i do, right? i
watched some of the simpsons of course. then i saw most of 2
episodes of will and grace. u c, kaela kept flipping the
channel to er, so i might've missed a li'l of all these shows, but
maybe just a li'l. i watched an episode of 3rd rock from the
sun. even tho' i wanted to sleep, star trek voyager came
on n' the episode "dark frontier" was just sooo interesting!!! 
it must've been a season finale cos it was
sooo elaborate w/ the special effects, etc. in this episode
captn. janeway get ambitious 'bout taking advantage of the borg.
man, i dunno if they'll show the continuation of "dark frontier" 2nite on
upn44. i dunno if i'll be home to watch it @ midnite. i
wonder if i should find out what the name of the next episode is n' try to
dl it. *shrug* uhm, is searching the net to find the name of star trek
episode i wanna download just a li'l 2 nerdy? <:-( 
(worst... episode... ever!!!)
here's a mugshot of me being arrested 4 being 2 much'f a nerd:
[a li'l later] 1151a: so i'm gonna try to use the internet less 4 a
while. i dunno. it cms like i've been online 2 much lately.
i don't wanna be a nerd. :-( just nerdy 'nuff to be a good
engineer. :-)
109a: i'm so shaggy. :-( i badly need to be sheared. :-( i need a haircut so badly! :-( *sigh* oh well. well, it's either fri nite or sat morn, depending on how u look @ it.
2day... 2day, i drove the beautiful kaela kang 'round hicks rd, which loops 'round almaden valley's famous quicksilver park. 4 the past few weeks or months, we've been talkin' 'bout this green patch on 1 of the hills that is cn from almaden valley, which is the neighbourhood we live in in san jo. we used to think the green patch was on mt. umunhum, but then we realised it's not. it's on 1 of the closer mtns. i drove 'round hicks rd. we went up to sierra azul preserve. it was so dang beautiful there. we saw how the vegetation changed as we got to the higher altitude. up there, it looks like the landscape on the thunder mtn. railroad ride @ disneyland. it's beautiful.
well, after driving 'round hicks rd, we went to talk to cake vendors. whuh?! that's how we spend our fri daytime nowadays?!?! yah, really! that's what we did! we went to some bakeries, looked @ their goods. as i sed, on wed nite, we went to a bakery. that's what some ppl call an "american" bakery. it's really "european.american..." 2day, we went to asian or asian.am bakeries. we bought some buns from sogo bakery. we ate them. oh yah, b4 we left, we ate some baby back rib leftovers 4 lunch. after visiting 2 bakeries, we got espresso drinks from starbucks.
after visiting our 3rd bakery, we went to the gym. we werked out 4 a while. while @ the gym, i read the wave magazine n' the metro. i like those publikations! :-) i read some really funny articles in the wave. in the metro, i read 'bout david choe's graffiti art exhibit @ gallery anno domini @ 800p 2nite. gallery a.d. is located @ 150 s. montgomery st in san jo.
well, right after our werkout, we headed out to c this exhibit. it was pretty kewl. i think the dj that was spinning @ the exhibit went to my hi skool, this guy matt ro. if that's who i think it was, he was in band w/ me n' skateboarded w/ me a li'l. the exhibit was really kewl, n' i felt "@ home" there. like, i felt like i fit in w/ the art... more so than the other ppl who came to view the art. i didn't talk to the artist. we didn't stick 'round that long.
we drove over to tony & alba's @ the main street strip mall. we ordered a linguica pizza a la gilroy (w/ garlic n' jalapeño). while waiting 4 the pizza, we walked over to albertson's n' met up w/ ken n' grace. we got some drinks, caesar salad, n' anchovies. :-) we picked up the pizza n' headed over to ken n' grace's. we ate n' watched the banger sisters.
have u cn the proposed designs 4 the cali state quarter? check out: "california quarter design - poll". the voting's over. i didn't get to vote. which 1 do u like best? hrm, which 1 do i like best? dang! so many goldrush designs, n' #3 looks like disney's cali4nia adventure! i do like the idea of having a bear on it tho'. the golden gate bridge's important since sf's the world's top tourist destination. coin #13's kind'f cute cos there's that cuddly bear wading in the water right next to the miner. :-D hrm, maybe #13'll be the winner. #16 has a quail, n' i do like burdies. does ne1 know the winner yet? *shrug*
u know... 2nite i found out that those naturopathic doctorate programs that kaela's applying to r 4 4-5 yrs. :-o all this time, i thought they were just 1 yr. that really stressed me out. :-( i dunno... u know me... i'll just try not to think 'bout it... :-/ i'll just... *sigh* i'll just do sumpthin'. :-(
i'm frickin' 27 yrs old. :-/ how come some ppl
can be young n' restless n' do it so gracefully... yet every1 'round me...
well, so many ppl 'round me... it just isn't the "rebel w/o a cause" life 1
would expekt?! :-( *sigh* what do u think'f the whole bipolarity of yuppie
life v. starving artist life? well... aktually... is there a
bipolarity? or r ppl of my generation trying more to bridge the gap?
i think the whole internet age sort'f changed that. now, u
can be a young punk n' yet be pretty dang geeky! that wasn't the
case in the past, right? *shrug* heh... i'm not saying we're all geeky
punks... :-/ geez! what the heck gives me the right to be
so dang self.righteous all'f the sudden?! absolutely nuthin'!
sometimes, tho'... i just think that i used to be a more intersting person
n' kick myself 'round 4 that. don't 4get: after doing taekwondo 4 a
while now, i can kick pretty hard.
am i just gloomier these days? <:-(
*shrug* it goes off n' on. i dunno... what'd make me happy?
<:-/ i dunno... i'm just more pessimistic now, eh? well, if
i sit 'round thinkin' that i'm gloomier these
days, i get more depressed. :-/ what can i do to think more
positively? :-/ u know... i think yesterday i had the idea 'bout
spending less time on the net n' maybe trying to get more back into djing.
what happened to my ol' zeal 4 muzik?!?! yah... i dunno. yah,
i'll try to get back into more djing stuff. i think i shall.
well... we'll c. :-(
119p: my legs have been sore this past week. i'm typing from my
home 'puter, so i'm not in tahoe snowboarding right now, nope. i'd
like to be, but we didn't go to tahoe. 1 reason i didn't go is that
my legs n' back have been so sore lately. i've been getting a decent
'mount of exercise lately. i guess i've been exercising every single
day: either going to the gym or taekwondo. that's a good thing.
my back, it originally got sore early in the season from doing
stoopid li'l jumps on sierr@tahoe's boardercross trail... what is
that run called? smokey, right? neway, i always say that small jumps
hurt me more than big jumps. big freestyle ramps have a decline on
the other side of the ramp, u know? it goes takeoff, table, then
landing. some of the li'l jumps i go off of when i'm
not in the terrain park, those jumps r just li'l jumps w/ a pretty
flat landing. in these cases, when i land, 'lott'f the impakt gets
absorbed by my body. u c, when u have a decline on ur landing, u
land n' go fast, but ur back n' knees don't take so much impakt.
man... all this snowboarding talk makes me wish i were in tahoe. :-(
we're definitely going to tahoe next weekend w/ ppl from taekwondo.
i hope we can go to tahoe 2 weekends in a row. u c, i feel sort'f
bad 'bout going to tahoe now cos i'm trying not to make 2 many
daytrips now n' do more overnite trips. however, in that case, we
gotta rent lodging, n' i feel bad spending $$$ on lodging, u know? i
mean, since we have season passes, we don't hafta buy lift tix, n' that's
so kewl!!! however... we still gotta pay 4 gas, lodging, n' fud. :-(
well, i hope we can go 2 weekends in a row; n' i hope it snows this
week. 
i gotta keep reminding u that
snowboarding to us isn't a luxury resort experience; it's just an athletic
activity.
what's been going on lately? i haven't updatedchu in a while... a while, meaning some span of time btwn 1 n' 24 hrs, right? *shrug* no, i think it's been longer than 24 hrs since my last update. right now it's sun. it's early sun afternoon. yesterday: what happened yesterday? well, yesterday was sat. what did we do? well, we weren't in tahoe. we uh... we had lunch w/ the beautiful kaela kang's grad skool friend n' my hi skool friend margaret leung. she was in band w/ me when i was a sr n' she was a freshman. we both played clarinet. we went to olive garden 4 lunch, n' i had the seafud uh... uh... seafud portofino pasta! i had peach iced tea. wow, so much seafud, so much fud! then kaela n' i went to valley fair. i had some jewelry biz to do... by jewelry biz, i mean this: i had to go to a jeweler to get my mont blanc belt (which kaela gave me 4 our 3rd anniversary) adjusted. then i had to get my esq watch's battery replaced. the belt adjustment was free. the watch battery replacement was $10. i didn't buy nething, but we looked 'round the mall 'lot. then ppl 4 jason's "projekt" met up in valley fair. john pai (gulid) 1st met up w/ us. then jason n' his fellow film maker buddy aaron showed up. we hung out in the fud ct 4 a while. man, i'm so excited 'bout the upcoming asian.am film festival. jason gave us some literature 'bout it. i wanna go c some of these movies. in the past, i also wanted to go; but i never got to. :-( i told aaron 'bout how my sister grace n' steve know the film maker of "kung pao chicken." aaron knew the movie. he told me we can watch the film on ifilms.com. yes, i did find it; it's there. well, it's aktually linked on ifilms.com to some atomfilms.com site. *shrug*
after hanging out w/ the "projekt" group, kaela n' i went to the gym.
we went to the capitol/aborn 1. we werked out 4 a while.
i did cardio, stretching, n' weights, as usual. i got a
decent werkout, i think. after werking out, i took a shower there.
u know, it really helps me to take a shower @ the gym after lifting
cos it keeps my muscles warm, u know? if i lift weights n' then go
right out in the cold winter air, i get so sore n' stiff. :-( after
the gym, we went home. we ate dinner: beef n' broccoli, shrimp n'
beans. it was pretty late by then, but i didn't realise how late it
was. nelson called me during dinner to ask me some teknical
questions. then he proposed going out to do sumpthin' social n/or
fun. yah, after kaela showered, we went out. as i sed, i
didn't realise how late it was; so, even tho' we discussed watching a
movie, there weren't really many showings left @ that hr. we were
kind'f late 4 ne ~1030p showings, n' we didn't wanna stay out 4 those post
midnite showings. no movies @ the amc theatres were starting 'round
1100p. that would've been fine. we drove out to downtown san
jo, parked @ the pavilion's free evening garage. we went to e&o
trading's lounge. it was only open till midnite. when we got
there 'twas already 1100p n' last call 4 drinks. nelson bought us
some drinks. i had a "guava god." kaela had a "kiwitini," n' nelson
had a kewl, diff chocobanana rum drink. we sat 'round n' chatted. it was fun to talk to
nelson. i hadn't cn him a while... i guess, not since grace's b.day
(ken's grace).
i have some random tasks to do 2day. man, i really sort'f wish i were in tahoe snowboarding. :-/ well, i gotta rest sometime, right? *shrug* kaela n' i ate some microwave minipizzas n' salad 4 lunch. man, this semester... i sort'f miss those theory classes. i had just gotten so used to doing paper probs, n' now i'm 4ced to do more hands.on projekts. yah, it's kewl... those r fun things... but hrm... it's major flip.flopping from theory to hands.on. well... i guess the rest'f grad skool'll be more hands.on stuff... but hrm... that's why i sort'f wanna write a thesis instead of doing a "projekt." we in the msme (master of science mechanical engineering) program have a choice of doing a projet or thesis. *shrug* 1 thing that bothers me is that these more conceptual classes... i gotta stay @ home n' do the hw on my 'puter instead of just taking my engineering pad (engr's graph paper tablet) to a café n' doing my hw there. in some cases, i can just type my hw on my handspring. that werks out ok 2. however, if i'm @ home typing on wurd, using the ms equation editor, then yah... i don't like that so much cos home has 2 many distraktions. i don't like it. it has distraktions n' makes me feel like a bum. that's sooo discouraging!!!
[just a li'l later] 212p: hrm, i'm trying not to end my journal
entries on negative notes. lessee, what can i say positive? uhm,
i'll just leave w/ a pic of mashimaro (aka "the bunny"):
[later] 1004p: dang, i ate so much 2nite. :-( kaela n' i ate salad,
baked ziti w/ meat sauce, n' boisenberry pie. dang, i ate so much,
n' aktually... no exercise 2day. :-( 2day, we got out of the house
so late! 'round 400p, we went out to target... but not the 1
closest to our house, the 1 in westgate mall. man! that's a big
target. i guess the 1s in newpark mall n' in that san mateo area
mall (i 4get the name) r pretty big 2. these r 2 story targets.
after that, we went to the pruneyard trader joe's, which 'gain
isn't the 1 closest to our house but bigger.
1214a: it's late sun nite or early mon morn. do u know 'bout happy bunny? happy bunny is a series of drawings by some guy named jim benton. on sat, when the beautiful kaela kang n' i were walking from our car to valley fair mall thru its parking lot, we saw a car w/ 2 cute li'l air freshners taped to its rear windshield. 1 was happy bunny pointing to some red lip prints on his butt cheek, n' the other was happy bunny pinching his nose n' saying "you smell like butt." we both thought these drawings were very cute.
i think i found this copyrighted image on jim benton's website: www.jimbenton.com. no, aktually, i think i got it from the website that markets his paraphernalia (stickers, t.shirts, air freshners, lunchboxes, patches, etc.): www.blackjackinc.com (very much not to be confused w/ www.getjackblack.com, where i bought some manly men's skincare produkts a while 'go.
well, earlier
2nite, i was thinking 'bout what my "ideally yuppie"
life'd be. k, do u know what i mean by that?!?! i mean... u
know i have my "yuppie scum must die" influences, as well as my "why
don'tchu cutchu'r hair n' get a job?!" influences. u get what i'm
saying right? basically, i'm not saying i was thinking 'bout how i'm
dreaming of some ideal yuppie life. i was more
imagining if, in a parallel universe, if things had werked out diff'ly, how
i could be living some ultimately yuppie life @ age 27 instead'f being a
grad student, right? like... what if life were like this: i'm 27.
i may or may not have gone to grad skool, but i definitely have my
bsme (bachelor of science mechanical enginerring) n' werk 4 some big
corporation which prob'ly makes missiles... or they could make 'puter
chips... who knows? k, let's say i have a decent engring job that
pays 'bout $70k - $80k... hrm, or should i say $60k - $70k? :-/
hrm, which'd be more realistik? :-/ well, let's say $60k - $80k
then. imagine i had that kind'f job. i drive to werk thru
commute traffik every day; eat a burrito @ lunch. let's say i bought
myself 'least a condo if not a quaint li'l house. what kind'f
neighbourhood? *shrug* hrm... well, a nice 1... not 2 snobby but not
ghetto. i drive from that (li'l) house or condo to my werkplace
every single morn. maybe i drink coffee. let's say kaela n' i
r married or not, but we live 2gether, just the 2 of us, in that condo or
house. we have mtn bikes. we ride them every so often.
we travel now n' then to somewhat "exotic" locations... or well... 'least
to places like europe n' whatever tropical destinations r hip these days.
well... since i've got a nice engring job n' own my own dwelling,
we've got a doggy. what kind? oh, i dunno... a lab, golden
retriever, husky... sumpthin' not 2 wimpy but fun n' not menacing.
well, the house... it's not 2 big... since i'm a young
yuppie, i still dream of bigger n' better things. i've spent $$$ on
a decent tv, digital satellite, nice furniture... nice kitchen... we go
out to eat nice fud n' drink nice wine almost 1nce a week... yah, we
travel, as i sed... but maybe not that often... like 1nce a yr...
but we, as young yuppies dream of doing more in the future.
we don't have kids yet cos we're young yuppies, but we want them
sometime down the line. we shop @ nice grocery stores, buy gourmet
fud now n' then... but still watch our budget... cos we're young
yuppies. so yah... imagine if that were the case.
:-/ u know... like, living in san jo, i c how that life
could happen... i won't say could've happened... cos i guess
it still can happen... but the pt is that right now, in the
present, i was thinking how things didn't turn out exaktly like that.
like... i guess i thought 'bout that while we were in trader joe's
last nite (which was just like 5-6 hrs 'go). i was thinking how
well... dang, what if i wasn't in grad skool right now but werking, making
bucks. yah, maybe we'd have our own nice place. we'd have a
kitchen. we'd go out to trader joe's now n' then get some innovative
frozen n' jarred fuds. maybe we'd have a doggy. maybe
it'd eat fud from trader joe's.
u know... my grad skool program only takes 2 yrs... then i'm outta there. i hope to find myself a nice silly valley job. it's such a dramatic change in lifestyle 4 an engr to be in grad skool or werking, i guess. geez, i really hate how the silly valley keep tempting my mind to think materialistically. it's so evil! >:-( but... but all i want is a decent job, a home... n' not cos i'm so dang hellbent on owning property... but just cos if we have our own house we can own a dog! that's my motivation! man, u all roll ur eyes @ me. :-/
u know... i'll always have some spite 4 those college kids who'd question my motives 4 studying engring; ppl who thought all engring students just study engring cos they wanna make big bucks. @#%# all'f 'em!!! so how r they thinking now?! now we're frickin' 27, n' every1 wants a job that'll permit a com4table life... don't tell me only engring students were sellouts! edukation 4 edukation's sake... that's what college was s'pposed to be 'bout, eh? well, dang! i do enjoy engring... @ the same time, i think 'bout career n' finances now n' then. maybe my line of edukation n' my career just sort'f go 2gether more than ppl who pursued other fields of study. so what?! we all gotta think 'bout both sometime... n' that includes the latter: career n' finances. it's fun to be in skool... 'least... it was fun to be in skool.. back when we were young... man, now it's really diff. going to skool past ur b.s. @ this age... it's not the same as doing ur undergrad fresh from hi skool. ppl always say u'r losing so much $$$ while being in grad skool instead of werking, n' they're right. in the end, is it worth it?! well, 4 me... just 2 yrs to get my masters... that's all i'm trading in... i've committed to it. i've committed to it, n' i've gotta stay strongminded n' focus on my studies instead'f feeling all frickin' whiney 'bout how there r such nice things in the silly valley, but i'm stuck being a full.time grad student. i tell u: i'm a dang good engr!
|
come on baby 세상을 내게 맞추고 말고 난 할 수있어 두렵진않죠 꿈이 있는한 당신앞에 나를 봐요... forever i wanna be a star. |
come on baby, the world was made for me and i can do it. i'm not afraid. right in front of dreamy you, see me... forever i wanna be a star. |
i'm not a parapara queen, but i'll be a parapara king! :-) uh... i think... what's a para para queen or king? *shrug* maybe it has'ta do w/ that video game para para paradise. <:-( *shrug* that's a ddr (dance dance revolution) type game where u also use ur hands. well... i don't play para para paradise or ne ddr.like game... but i'm gonna make it in this world! :-)
earlier 2day, i reflekted on a philosophy i developed during college 'bout big fun v. small fun. u c... i know lots'f undergrads have this kind'f prob of not being able to distinguish btwn big fun n' small fun n' not knowing which's better. k, lemme tell u what big fun n' small fun is. dang! i feel like robert kiyosaki talkin' 'bout rich dad v. poor dad on late nite infomercials w/ mike rowe from evening magazine popping up to support my box set of cds (or cassette tapes) n' video tapes. k, big fun is stuff u really kind'f go all out to do... it's what is a bit daring but rewards w/ lots'f good times. small fun is the somewhat fun stuff that doesn't take 2 much "risk" but doesn't really pay off that great in the end. let's differentiate the 2 (take the differential? <:-( no!):
| small fun | big fun |
|
|
|
so... the things that r small fun... they're more like things we do to procrastinate! we do them quickly... but then we don't feel fulfilled... then we do more of them... then more n' more of them. pretty soon, we're filing our lives n' our whole daily skedule w/ small fun n' not getting our necessary tasks done such as skool or werk.
now the things that r big... oooh, they're kind'f risky! they take a li'l 4thought... or u think they 'least should. they prob'ly take a bit more $$$. u gotta sort'f commit to these things. 1nce u'r @ a party, u'r not gonna break open the books n' study 4 o.chem!!! these things take resources, but u know that they pay back in fun! u come home from snowboarding 4 a week or from clubbing 4 a nite, n' u've had tons of fun... u've made memories... u feel refreshed! u've given urself an experience of the good life. now... now u'r back @ home, back in the skool library, back @ werk; n' u'r ready to buckle down n' werk cos u know u've had ur fun!!! there's a certain dosage of fun every person needs, n' u'r better off getting it all in 1 shot instead of wasting ur time trying to accumulate it thru.out the whole week!!!
u got that? u understand my whole dang sermon?! i didn't
even ask 4 a donation 4 that wisdom! :-D i mean... i don't mean to
call myself a wiseman cos i'm not... but i know that developing that
philosophy during my undergrad studies really changed my akademics
n' my life. :-) ok ok ok... if u really feel obligated to give me
$$$, feel free to send some $$$ to my e.mail address via paypal! :-) u can
also e.mail me to get my mailing address 4 checks! X-D
1244p: how r u? i'm ok. i didn't update yesterday. sorry... the day b4's entry was pretty lengthy, right? i sort'f wanted to leave that as the most recent entry as long as possible cos i real wanna emphasize my pt 'bout "big fun v. small fun." i really think that's an important concept. "don't procastinate. either play or werk; don't try to do both @ the same time. don't underestimate or undervalue ur need to have fun now n' then! we rn't robots." that sums it up, right?
2day's wed. yesterday was tues. lessee, what happened
since my last journal entry? :-/ hrm... i woke up on tues
sometime... uh... i stayed @ home n' ate leftover ziti n' salad 4 lunch.
hrm... i stayed @ home much later than what's good 4 me. i
hope u ppl understand that it's really bad 4 me to be @ home n' eat lunch @
home. i really need to be out of the house n' in 1) the library, 2)
a café, or 3) the gym. those places make my life produktive.
sitting @ home makes me feel like a tree stump. the bad part
is that i know that eating lunch @ home saves $$$ 4 me. :-( however, it
really ruins my produktivity n' motivation. :-( oh well... well, i
went to my classes. ater my classes, i drove over to the cupertino
99, where i picked up the beautiful kaela kang, who
was waiting in her car in the parking lot. we went to taekwondo
practice. we went back to the cupertino 99 to go to fantasia to get
a coupl'f boba drinks. then we went home n' ate sausages, beans, n' salad.
this morn, we woke up to rain. it's raining here in san jo, maybe
in all of the bay area. *shrug* i hope it's snowing in tahoe! :-) we
had to rush to campus cos we both skeduled dr apptments 4 this morn.
our university health insurance gives us each 1 free physikal a yr, so we
wanted to exploit that. i drove us to campus in kaela's kia.
the road
was slippery, n' i sort'f wished i had driven my subaru w/ its awd instead. :-(
oh well. we managed not to crash. traffik was horrible.
our apptmnt's were 4 1000a 4 kaela n' 1015a 4 me. since i
know the parking garages r full in the morn, we had to park @ the park n'
ride shuttle lot. kaela rode the shuttle 4 her 1st time. we
hurried to the health center. the nurse sed we were 2 late 4 kaela's
apptmnt, but they'd accept me. i hadn't had a physikal in a very
long time... maybe since i was like 5 or so? ...so i went 'head n' did it.
wow, i never go to the doktor, so i was pretty not used to these
procedures. oh well, i got everything done. i didn't eat
breakfast 2day cos they told us to fast 4 10 hrs prior to the apptmnts.
since they wouldn't c kaela, she took her keys n' left. i'm
been trying to call her, but can't reach her. when i got out of the
health center, i was really hungry. eventually, i got lunch: i went
to the student union cafeteria n' got a eggplant panini. it was
pretty good. i've had it b4.
now it's 101p. i have my cad lab @ 230p. i've gotta remind myself to go to rm 333 not rm 213. i've been sitting in the engrng bldg's lounge area on the 2nd floor, studying. i gotta go pee badly, but i don't wanna leave my seat cos i'll lose it. oh well... i guess i gotta go sometime.
lessee, nething else i wanna talk 'bout? well, what's going on? this weekend, we'll go snowboarding w/ taekwondo ppl... taekwondo ppl from u.s. taekwondo academy, not ucmap... 'cept mark is also from berkeley like us. we're heading up to tahoe on sat n' coming back on mon morn (presidents' day).
[later] 119p: whoa whoa whoa! rewind!!! whiiiiiir... wo wo worrrgh... i made a big mistake in my recount of this week so far!!! i skipped mon! mon, i went to campus by 'bout noon. i studied 4 a li'l... just a li'l. then kaela picked me up from campus 4 lunch. i had a stoopid idea: since, on sun, we went to westgate mall's target right 'round the time the mall closed, we didn't get to explore the mall. thus, i suggested that we go there 4 lunch. since kaela had some kind'f morn snack, she wasn't hungry yet. we looked 'round michael's, the craft store. we were there 4 quite a while. then we went into the mall. we got an orange julius. u know what that is, right? b4 smoothies were so popular, there were orange julius joints in malls, li'l shops that sell fruit flavoured drinks, hot dogs, n' fries. i 'member going as a kid w/ my sister to oakridge mall n' getting orange julius fries n' eating them w/ malt vinegar. uh... i went w/ my sister, right? i think i also did that w/ some friends. *shrug* neway, that wasn't lunch. we looked 4 fud but didn't c ne good, appropriate options. [later; i was on the fon w/ kaela 4 a while; 156p] we ended up @ carl's jr. after lunch, i went to class. after class, i went to the gym. kaela was there, but she was in an "ab lab" class. i saw her, but she didn't c me. i did my cardio, stretching, n' weights werkout. i caught kaela on her way out. i told her to go on home cos i'd stay to lift more n' shower. @ home, we ate fried rice, salmon, n' asparagus. k, so that was mon. :-)
2day's wed, as i sed. 2morrow's thurs. i have hw due 2morrow 4 both "mechatronics" n' "precision machine design." i finished my "mechatronics" hw a while 'go, but i still gotta do my "precision machine design" hw. that assignment includes making a cardboard model. crazy, huh? do i have ne glue? i haven't had an assignment to make stuff w/ cardboard, glue, n' toothpicks etc. in a while. i hope i have glue.
[later] 213p: i checked my mail, using my handspring connekted via gomadic cable to my v60c. i dled 17 msgs, all spam!!! i aktually felt a li'l depressed by that. don'tchu hate getting more spam than real e.mail? i know spam marketing's increased like 1000x in the past yr or so.
[later] 939p: well, i went to class. after class, kaela met up w/
me on campus. we went to an engring 'puter lab to print out some
skool stuff. then we went to the gym, the capitol/aborn location.
i werked out... not 2 hard. kaela did powerflex n' ab
lab. we came home n' ate pork chops, leftover salmon n' asparagus,
tomato n' eggs, n' some leftover hot n' sour soup that kaela bought as a
snack yesterday afternoon from the cupertino 99. i really hope to
get a haircut 2nite from kaela. i'm so dang shaggy. i don't
like being shaggy. :-(
1010a: it's ken's b.day 2day! :-D heh, this guy's 28 now! man, crazy, huh? happy b.day, ken! :-)
i have hw due @ 400p 2day. i gotta do my hw. last nite, the beautiful kaela kang did indeed cut my hair. phew! i feel much better. :-)
[later] 1202p: kaela n' i ate some red bean soup.
[a li'l later] 1241p: 
so
earlier 2day, i was thinkin' 'bout this upcoming war that i detest so much. the press tells me that the
terror alert is high this weekend etc. *sigh* well... u know, the 1
thing dubyah is doing to stimulate the economy is to make sure the u.s. is
the most hated country in the world; that way every1 wants to kill us all.
in that case, why save $$$?! just go out n' spend, spend,
spend! problem solved.
a long time 'go, i had 'nother thought. c, i don't come up w/
thoughts that often. X-D u know, some ppl go 'round saying that
the u.s. hast'a go to war cos the iraqi government is mean to their ppl, so
we gotta do sumpthin' 'bout it or else the rest of the world won't respekt
us. >:-/ well, the way i c it, that's like justifying this situation:
teacher: tyrone, why did you hurt miguel?
tyrone: miguel sed my mom was a 2 dolla' ho, n' all the other kids
were laffin' @ me, so i stuck a skrewdriver thru his hand to make him
shuddup!
if ppl r supporting the war cos'f human rights etc., how come the ppl promoting the war effort rn't like amnesty int'l types? how come i don't c arab.americans totally rallying 4 war? i mean, i do know arab.americans. i don't necessarily know that they're totally 'gainst the war, but i certainly they're not the 1s totally promoting the war.
[later] 226p: i guess i'm done w/ my "precision machine design" hw cos i made my model of a kinematic clamp. that was the 1st part of our hw, but i saved it 4 last. (save the best 4 last.) i had to construct a model out of cardboard n' uh... stuff. me, i used drinking straws n' air freshener beads. i had to find glue. yes, we do have a bottle of elmer's glue, which was sitting in a drawer in the eating area... the uh... the room adjacent to the kitchen which isn't the dining room but the casual uh... some ppl'd say "breakfast nook," but i won't call it that. here's a pic w/ me n' the bottle of glue!
i've thinking that i'll skip taekwondo practice 2nite to let my back
rest since we have the big taekwondo snowboarding trip this
weekend. 2nite's sparring nite. i really like how
i've been able to go to taekwondo pretty consistently lately. oh
well. well, my classes end @ 645p. maybe i'll hit the gym
really quickly. after that, i can come home n' cook dinner.
kaela's class doesn't end till 845p.
1039a: happy v.day! 
353p: i don't have that much time to write/type cos we're gonna leave to tahoe w/ mark n' grace in 'bout an hr, n' the beautiful kaela kang n' i still gotta pack. kaela's bizzy doing sumpthin' on her 'puter, but i dunno what. i think it might have sumpthin' to do w/ our wedding invitations; i'm not sure. neway, she won't even come over to this room to look @ the amazingly ridiculously cute thing on my desktop. it's the windows media player visualization called "softie the snowman ii." it has this cute snowman dancing in falling snow to the beat of the song u play. his heart lites up, n' his scarf flaps. :-) it's fatally cute! dled it from the korean windows site. i dunno if the amerikan 1 has it or not. *shrug* u've gotta c it!!!
'nother thing that's terrifyingly cute is cellular teddy.
i gave kaela a cellular teddy 4 v.day. it looks like this: 
it's a cellfon speakerfon. u plug ur fon into
it, n' then u talk to it. it's head n' mouth move when it talks to
u. i like. i hope she likes it.
yesterday, 4 v.day, i took kaela to carmel. we had lunch @ anton & michel's. kaela had red abalone, n' i had sand dabs. we also shared a single artichoke, a bottle of jekel riesling, n' a cherries jubilee dessert 4 2. after chillin' in the restaurant n' walkin' 'round town a bit. we went to 17 mile drive. it's beautiful. @ nite, we drove back to san jo. i took kaela to a movie @ amc saratoga 14. we watched gangs of new york cos it's got all those oscar nominations. man, it was so violent. :-(
this morn, kaela n' i went to some presentation @ the center 4
integrative medicine (cim). this lady talked 'bout uh... uh... i'm
not sure whatchu call it... she just talked 'bout healing ppl thru like...
uh... touch, etc... kind'f like massage... but not really... she
mentioned stuff 'bout pull on ears n' sending energy from 1 hand to the
other thru a body part. she also talked 'bout scanning 4 ailments w/
ur hand. well... they do that on
star trek w/ that li'l elektronic device thingy. well... i'd like to
be the guy to invent that scanning thingy!!! after the presentation,
we went to the wolfe rd cupertino 99 to get pho 4 lunch @ superbowl.
we got boba drinks @ fantasia after that. then we
went to vallco mall. kaela went to order her bridesmaids' dresses.
then we went home. in 'bout 0.5 hr we're gonna leave 4 tahoe
w/ mark n' grace, as i sed.
i like softie the snowman. a long time 'go, i heard that some guy
had a winamp skin w/ seunghee lee dancing to the beat of the musik.
i never saw it.
1155a: 지금 명동순두부집에 점심 먹고 있어.
[later] 135p: now, i'm in the sjsu library. 2day, i had lunch w/ the beautiful kaela kang @ myungdong soondubujip n' then brought her to the airport. she went to visit 'nother skool of integrated medicine, this time in seattle. i'm in the library n'll be here till class @ 400p, i guess.
this was a very fun weekend. we went to tahoe. on sat afternoon, mark n' grace came over to our house. then we got in my car n' drove up. on the way, kaela realised she 4got her helmet n' goggles. marked convinced her to get a pair from a sporting goods store n' return them after this weekend. we were in fremont @ the time, so it would've been pretty hard to drive back home to get those things. we stopped in concord @ sun valley mall, where there's a copeland sports. we ate dinner @ cpk asap. (that's "california pizza kitchen a.s.a.p.," an "express" version of california pizza kitchen.) kaela n' i shared a portabello shroom pizza n' some white corn tortilla soup. the pizza was small. we 4got that cpk asap, which is also in the sjc mineta airport, serves personal size pizzas. after our dinner, kaela got an almond pretzel from auntie anne's. well, we were off to sactown. c, i booked a room 4 the 4 of us in the sactown la quinta inn, in the northern part'f sactown, right off the 80. i figured that'd get us to northstar on sun morn the fastest. it was an ok hotel, n' they gave us complimentary breakfast w/ fresh made waffles. i didn't know my snoring's still that bad, but mark n' grace told me it is.
sun was kewl. we met up w/ shim sabuhmnim n' "julie," (whom we usually would've called kang sabuhmnim, but she told us to call her julie.). dangit! the northstar ppl were being jerks n' didn't let us use our season passes cos they sed it was a holiday! grrr! sun wasn't a holiday! mon was presidents' day!!! >:-( however, they sed it was on our contrakt, blah, blah, blah. kaela n' i had to buy lift tix. neway, it was such a great day 4 snowboarding. the powder was so fresh n' pretty deep. it wasn't a freestyle day, not a terrain park day, just a powder n' downhill day. i had to do lots'f riding w/ my nose up, u know? that's how u plow thru deep powder. it was really fun! we did mostly black diamonds. we had lunch @ the top of the mtn. shim sabuhmnim bought us lunch. it was really delicious stuff from the bbq: grilled portabello shrooms, chili, cornbread, salad, garlic bread, clam chowder... mmm! dang, the resort was so crowded tho'. well, it was most noticeable @ the cafeteria, where it was impossible to get a seat inside. it was ok; we ate outside. it was a li'l cold, but no big deal. we had a great day, n' i got to show every1 else how fun it is to ride back to the car using homerun. if we had more time, i would've wanted to hit more of lookout mtn. i got to ride the 0.5pipe 1nce, but i didn't hit the terrain park @ all. it's ok. it snowed on us a bit. it was the kind'f snow w/ snowflakes! :-) after going back to the car, i drove us to reno.
we checked in @ the atlantis hotel. mark made the reservations, n' i didn't know we were aktually gonna be staying in the adjacent motor lodge not the main hotel tower. well, it was cheap; so that was kewl. it's a weird arrangement tho'. i guess atlantis bought out whatever used to be the nearby motor lodge n' sort'f annexed it. @ dinner, we went to downtown reno n', heh, ate pho. funny, huh? i'd cn that pho restaurant b4 a long time 'go but had never been there. u c, 1tym, when i went boarding w/ supermike n' eric johnson, we stayed in uh... either the silver legacy or circus circus; i 4get... neway, when we got to the hotel (that time), s.mike kept saying he wanted pho. i kept telling him, "there's no pho in reno!!!" instead we ate @ the silver legacy's restaurant. i 4get if it was the buffet or some other restaurant there. neway, in the morn, i opened the hotel room's curtains. what did i c right 'cross the street, down below? in big letters, "pho." ha ha ha X-D so that's how i discovered that downtown reno has a pho restaurant. it makes sense; lots'f vietnamese ppl werk in the casinos, so there's gotta be some vietnamese fud in reno. well... heh, shim sabuhmnim bought us dinner. we felt really grateful n' guilty 4 such good treatment. after dinner, mark, grace, kaela, n' i went to the circus circus casino. kaela n' don't have much luck w/ gambling, 'ccording to her aunt's palm reading, so we don't gamble much. we just played a li'l slots. we were in the casino 4 hrm... maybe 'bout an hr. then we went back to the hotel.
in the morn, we got up kind'f late. mark n' grace hit the casino, but kaela n' i just had a li'l snack @ the café. then we checked out n' left. we stopped by the panda express in truckee 4 lunch. there was plenty of returning vacationers' traffik on the way back to the bay area. geez! the whole bay area was in tahoe 4 presidents' day weekend! aktually, presidents' day wasn't a holiday @ sjsu. well, my prof 4 my only class, didn't really have class; he just told us to meet w/ our projekt groups. i got to san jo just in time to meet w/ them.
ken had kaela n' i come over 4 dinner after my group mtg. we had pizza. kaela n' i brought over some soda n' beer. heh, we watched the finale of joe millionaire. u know i don't really approve of reality tv or much tv @ all, but i watched it n' was mildly entertained.
2day's tues. wow, in a way, i guess time is flying by fast this semester. i'd better stop writing this stoopid entry n' get back to studying! >:-( *sigh* it's crazy crazy crazy how time's flying by this semester. :-/
oh yah, this weekend was kind'f special in that i got in touch w/ a coupl'f old friends. while we were in copeland's, elbert called me from japan. we talked 4 a while. he's in a cell physiology graduate program in a japanese university now. on the slopes @ northstar, i ran into hannyu chang. she heard mark yelling "beno" to me. she was standing next to mark. she's in minnesota w/ her bf, werking. i believe she's doing 'puter stuff. i knew her from leland cos she was in band w/ me. then she also went to cal n' did taekwondo there 4 a li'l. she told kaela, back in 1995, to order taekwondo sparring 'quipment from me, who had a connektion from ken. that's how kaela encountered me the 2nd time. :-)
well, what else has been going on? *shrug* it's 207p on tues
afternoon, n' i really should get back to studying. >:-( right now
i'm typing on my handspring
.
i've been telling myself to spend less time on the 'puter, less time
online. since we have dsl, i feel i should get my $$$'s worth from
it, n' i guess that's sort'f a subconscious pressure or 'least
justification to be online more. tv's evil, yes; but internet, it's
not that great either, i s'ppose. it's better than tv but
still not that great. 'member the good ol' days when
companies'd pay u to be online? ha ha ha X-D what a concept, huh?
what 'bout being paid to watch tv?
1222p: i'm sitting in a cushioned chair on the bottom floor of the sjsu student union. when i look up from my chair, i can c 2 staircases n' some wooden artwerk that resembles the skeleton'f some sort'f prehistoric creature. sunlite flows in thru the skylite. it's a partly cloudy, partly sunny wednesday. i wish i had gotten out'f the house earlier, but i was printing out a job cover letter n' some class notes. 'member how i had a physikal checkup a week 'go? please c "a doktor a day keeps the apples 'way," from 2003.02.12. in a few mins, i have some sort'f follow up 'ppointment where, i guess, the drs.'ll tell me whatever results or whatever. *shrug* 'member: i never go c drs., so i dunno what to expekt. *shrug* however, i guess i do expekt it to be a really short apptmnt.
on my drive in 2day, i had several thoughts. 1 thing i thought 'bout was how my undergrad yrs were... 'specially in comparison to how my grad student life is. i'm sure many ppl who used to read my journal quit due to getting so dang sick'f hearing whine 'bout being a "poor grad student." don't worry! that's not my topik here! i just thought 'bout my undergrad yrs n' tried hard to 'member what they were like, tried hard to pikture in my head a scene from a typikal day from those yrs.
in doing so, i 'membered 1 funny incident from my undergrad yrs. back in those yrs, most'f us didn't have cellfons. sure, some "rich kids" did, but back in like 1995 or 1996, most'f us berkeley students didn't. sure, many had pagers, n' that includes me; i had a pager. now, if some1 paged me, what did i do? well, in those days, usually when some1 paged u, u'd either go find a payfon or ask to borrow the house fon; 4 example, if u were studying @ a friend's place. well, brilliant, brilliant toby came up w/ an ingenious solution, great 4 answering pages while on the berkeley campus!!! he figured out how to make off.campus calls from campus fons!!! [1248p: in health center waiting room] this involved dialing some extra #s n' finding sekret codes or borrowing a dorm.residing student's sekret code. toby hunted down sekret codes by trial n' error; it was sort'f "hacker" style, but neither'f us r hackers. campus fons r, or 'least were, located all over campus. [112p: my medikal report was perfekt, according to the doc. now, i'm in the market café eating a mediterranean vegan sandwich w/ baby spinach salad.] besides the normal, wall.mounted, "handset n' base" type rotary or dial tone fons, yellow, "emergency call box" campus fon provided us w/ a way to exploit toby's method. whenever some1 paged me while i was on campus, or whenever i wanted to call some1; i could use a campus fon. i had 1 restriktion, in that we could not make long.distance calls, or else our unauthorised use of the codes'd be discovered n' the codes'd get cancelled. as long as we didn't make toll calls, we weren't doing nething wrong. in slight contrast, some'f our friends had homemade elektronic devices which emitted sounds that permitted free calls on payfons. that method was a bit more in the direktion'f illegal aktivity, i guess.
sometime in 1996, pac bell (now sbc, the local fon carrier) granted all home customers a free month of *69 (star sixty.nine) service. *69'd letchu call back the person who last calledju w/o needing to know the fon #. back then caller i.d. was not very available. toby n' i came up w/ an idea: we called my home fon from the yellow box by sather gate on sproul plaza, the bizziest entrance to the berkeley campus. then we went to my apt n' dialed *69. that let us broadcast our voices to a big crowd'f berkeley students. we sed some silly things like, "help! help! i'm stuck inside this yellow box!" etc. some students got kicks from our silly antics. 'nother time we did a similar stunt but w/ a yellow call box by barrows hall. i 4get, either hannyu or elaine or maybe both recognised our voices n' talked to us. funny.
well, it's 142p. 'member: i have lab @ 230p. i'll go to the lab soon. so... my medikal report was very good. the dr. sed my diet n' exercise habits must be great. i'm so happy that i don't smoke!
[later] 822p: we just ate steaks 4 dinner. argh, i overcooked them! :-( u know me: i'm fine w/ eating raw beef. i shouldn't've cooked 'em so long! what was i thinking?! well, i went to class this afternoon. i guess i'm learning this cad program pretty ok. i would've expekted to use pro/e in this class, but we use unigraphics. after class, i went to the gym. it was crowded. after that, i picked up kaela from the airport.
right now, kaela's watching the bachelorette. even tho'
i'm not a fan'f either, i was more entertained by joe
millionaire.
1051p: 2day's the beautiful kaela kang's n' my 37th monthversary. :-)
'pparently, it was jeanna's b.day a coupl'f days 'go. happy
b.day! :-)
1125a: i'm sittin' on a bench in front'f the jumbo safeway on almaden expressway near branham cos i dropped my car off 4 an oil change @ the nearby "precision auto care." while killing time, i browsed thru marshalls n' safeway. this marshalls aktually has some really good buys 4 men n' home. 2 bad i'm not in the mood to waste $$$. i did buy some glucosamine from safeway... n' a blueberry vitamin b monster odwalla.
yesterday, the beautiful kaela kang n' i woke up early to do a fri daytrip to northstar (snowboarding). it was crowded. 1nce 'gain, the whole bay area was in tahoe.
[later] 918p: i'm sitting in theatre 6 of amc mercado, waiting 4 the
950p showing of daredevil starring ben affleck n' jennifer garner.
this afternoon, i spent hrs washing, waxing, n' vacuuming my car.
2 much sun exposure! i started waxing our (snow)boards.
kaela took me out to dinner @ menar morrocan restaurant.
we're stuffed. the dinner was complete w/ stewed lamb, stewed bunny,
couscous, n' bellydancing.
1231a: i sleep quite a bit these days, so it feels like i'm up pretty late right now. back in the good ol' days, this didn't feel late. so i put up a animated .gif depikting what i look like snowboarding. the beautiful kaela kang took that movie on fri w/ her digielph. it's not a big jump. don't go 'round thinking this is what i consider crazy, wild snowboarding. it was just a li'l bump off of the prosser trail on northstar's lookout mtn, right b4 u hit the ski lift. keep in mind that we didn't visit the freestyle terrain park @ all on fri, so there rn't pics of ne big jumps. fri was totally a freeride day... not a freestyle day. it was fun tho'. i rode fast n' got to catch a li'l air off of ledges n' small hits here n' there. heh... there was 1 incident where i really used my helmet!!! i took a ledge that i thought would be like 3 ft or so... it turned out to be more like a 10 ft ledge. i jumped... looked down n' thought "oh dang!" i landed but not @ a good angle n' soon my helmet hit the snow. "wow," i thought, " that would've been my bare head!" i barely felt nething thru the helmet, but i guess i would've been sort'f stunned if i were just wearing a beanie. phew.
so it's mon now, but a few mins 'go it was sun nite w/ the grammy's n' all. man... :-( so these past few weeks, i've been trying to cutback on my internet usage, thinking it'd increase my produktivity. *shakes head* man... no no no. instead i've been watching more tv, n' my produktivity's prob'ly gotten worse. :-( i'm very disappointed. :-( well, i know more 'bout the world of tv. 2nite (which was aktually yesterday nite), i saw norah jones sweep up on the awards @ the grammy's. i'm sure michelle branch, avril lavigne, vanessa carlton, n' john mayer would've preferred it if she shared a li'l. i have a copy of norah jones's album, which i played @ dave n' emily's wedding. personally, i'm not totally in love w/ the album, but *shrug* i never heard these other young artists' albums. :-/ (i've only heard their singles.) cos'f cutting back on internet n' watching more evil tv, i know a li'l 'bout i'm a celebrity - get me out of here! u know i don't love reality tv... but i'm sort'f interested in this show cos it reminds me of gilligan's island. i remarked to kaela yesterday that tv is turning out like what was shown in ed tv n' the truman show. oh man... have u cn are you hot? hey! they aktually had an asian guy on. way to go! :-) i saw bits'f 2 episodes of the jimmy kimmel live show. i kind'f like that he's a bit more daring than some other late nite talk show hosts... like he's willing make a li'l more irreverent jokes w/ his guests n' is still pretty funny. *sigh* tv, tv, tv. :-(
so on sat nite, as i mentioned b4, kaela took me to dinner @ menara morrocan restaurant. it was 4 our 37th monthversary. this time, she took me out. :-) she mentioned in her journal a bit 'bout the background behind our date: u c, a while 'go, when we were in sf... prob'ly the nite of jason lee's romeo 5 movie screening thing, kaela sed that we'll never get to go to a moroccan restaurant cos we never go to sf nemore. well, i told her there's moroccan fud in san jo. she didn't believe me. i sed, if i could find a moroccan restaurant, then she'd hafta take me to dinner there. she agreed. well, i found it, n' she took me to dinner. oh yah, the belly dancer that we saw looked like our friend erin. i mean... heh, it wasn't her, but both kaela n' i thought so.
so sat was a day 4 chores 4 me... both kaela n' me. sun: we just went to the gym... uhm... i've been having some severe back probs these past coupl'f weeks... uhm... u'r obviously tsk.tsking me cos "how can u go snowboarding n' do taekwondo like that if u've been having back pains?! >:-(" well, i didn't think it was back probs... i've been feeling the pain in my hamstrings. kaela read some self.care health book on sat n' told me that it's aktually back probs. :-( well, now i'm gonna take it easy... but i did go to the gym on sun. i did treadmill... i stretched a li'l. i lifted weights, but i took it easy: i didn't lift all that much n' less weight than usual. after the gym, we went to valley fair 4 kaela to return the stuff she bought from copeland's. we were there 4 a while, i guess. we came home n' ate hot pot w/ my mom. oh yah, on sat, while i was washing my car 4 so many hrs, kaela cooked a nice vegetarian linguine 4 lunch. we ate those leftovers 4 uh... breakfast, i guess. b4 going to the mall on sun, after the gym, we stopped by the monterey rd. tapioca express (which is such a li'l kid hangout!) n' had some boba drinks w/ crispy pepper chicken.
2morrow... uh... i mean... 2day, i gotta check out some résumé clinic @ the sjsu career center. there's a career fair next week. yah... as u c, i still keep thinkin' 'bout getting a job. why should i be thinking 'bout it? i need 1! *sigh* it's 4 the experience, n' it's 4 the $$$. i mean, shoot! who r we kidding here?! i do need $$$. u know what? i aktually put up a classified ad on craigslist saying that i'll wax snowboards 4 $25. i did that on sun. no customers so far. i'm willing to do it tho'. man, lemme tell u... if i were able to open a snowboard shop, that'd be kewl. :-)
sometimes i think 'bout the economy n' how crappy it is. i sometimes think that this country's headed in a direktion totally diff from where it's been 4 the past few decades. maybe we'll just turn into a society that's more 'bout subsistence werk... uhm... i guess i don't really mean to say that we're all gonna be living in shacks growing vegetables n' hunting ferrel animals 4 survival... but i mean... i'm thinking that things rn't gonna be so luxurious in this country in yrs to come. :-( perhaps more n' more'f us'll be "just getting by." *shrug* i dunno... maybe that's just a really bleak view... yah. until the country turns into mad max, i guess we can just sit back n' watch reality tv. they need to put more footage of my snowboarding on tv.
oh yah, i gotta 'member to buy tix to watch the asian.am film festival
next month!
317p: it's tues. i'm in the sjsu library studying w/ dave n' brian.
[later] 1102p: i had class. then i met up w/ the beautiful kaela kang @
taekwondo. we had a lite werkout w/ basic techniques, poomsae, n'
self.defense. i was very happy to do exercise that doesn't hurt my
back. we stopped by fantasia on the way home 4 boba drinks. kaela had a
frosted mango, n' i had hot grass jelly w/ pearls n' taro balls. mmm! :-)
when we got home, we ate the neuromien my mom cooked.
this afternoon, i realised how infuriated i am that the msme (master of
science mechanical engineering) program's so overcrowded!!! it
really pi$$es me off that it's so hard now to talk to our profs cos there r
2 many students. i'm switching into full.on berkeley mode! >:-( no more mr. nice guy! i'm
gonna kick all my classmates butts this semester! total cut
throat... that's berkeley mode n' how i'll be 4
the rest'f the semester! i'm out 4 blood! >:-( grr! i'm a
damn good engineer, n' the world will know!
1244p: it's wed 2day. i got to skool early 4 a labview software package seminar. our "precision machine design" prof told us to come, but i noticed very few students showed up. 'twas 900a - 1200p but ran overtime a li'l. the beautiful kaela kang sed she'd come pick me up 4 lunch. i had to park in the park n' ride shuttle lot this morn.
on mon, kaela came w/ me to campus; she drove us to campus. @ lunchtime, we ate @ tengu sushi in downtown. it was decently good n' affordable. on mon, i went to a résumé werkshop @ the career center. did i already mention this? mon nite i "revamped" my résumé. on mon nite thru tues, i applied to many jobs online. i really want a job, u know. i neep a silicon valley job, sumpthin' in biotech, chips, or aerospace/defense. if ne other interesting industry comes up; yah, i'll consider it. yah, sumpthin' w/ digital imaging or optiks is good 2.
[later] 636p: i'm home now. after class, i tried to go to the post office to mail off sumpthin' but they were closed. i just walked to the nearby downtown post office. after that, i went to camera 3 to buy tix to watch crouching asian, hidden cheese n' charlotte sometimes on march uh... march... 16? no, march 15. after that, i walked back to the bus stop to get my car n' go home. i didn't go to the gym or nething.
right now i'm listening to a mix that roland made 4 the cal taekwondo demo team. :-) pretty good stuff! heh... trance/tekno... well, he sed some of the transitions rn't his own, but the whole thing sounds pretty good so far. softie the snowman is dancing to roland's mix! :-) do u 'member softie the snowman? if not, please refer to "dance to the musik" from 2003.02.15. i'm thinking of clearing my entries off of the "recent" entries page sooner, so i hope my readers (that means u :-) ) check the "archive" page often. :-/ well... i hope my journal's not 2 boring.
oh yah... if u r reading this, u ought to be kewl like kaela n' sign my gbook. i know i wanna be kewl like kaela, so i'll answer those gbook questions now (i'm gonna post my answers here not on the aktual gbook.):
name: 비노 황
e.mail: beno at benomix.com
homepage url: http://www.benomix.com
what will u make 4 breakfast? (chorizo n' egg breakfast
burritos, strawberry
crêpes, red bean filled buns, sweet love to beno, or rice
porridge) strawberry
crêpes
what kind'f exercise do u regularly do?
taekwondo 2ice a week; gym werkouts
almost everyday (when i'm good) that include 20-35 mins of cardio werk
(precor, stairmaster, rowing machine, treadmill, etc.), 10-15 mins of
stretching, n' ~30 mins of weights (usually machines); snowboarding on
weekends (in the winter n' spring n' fall); occassional swimming n'
walking
what's ur theme song this week? maybe roland's mix? :-)
what's the best deal/bargain u've gotten
recently?
kaela's wedding band... :-) not
that it was that cheap... but a good deal! b4 that... a while
'go i bought some clothes @ structure that were on super, super, super
post.holiday clearance. i also used structure/express fa$t ca$h on
that purchase 4 an extra discount... i saw lots'f post v.day sales... but uh... i
didn't buy much, right? uh... when did i buy those br merino wool gloves?
that was b4 v.day, right? they were really cheap.
what would be / was ur 1st dance song @ ur
wedding?
nuthin' cheesy or cliché!
sumpthin' classy... we'll c.
additional comments:
sometimes i think i used to be a
more interesting person. then sometimes i think i used to be more
interesting cos i was even more of a loudmouth then than i am now.
some ppl'd think i'm rather reserved; yet some ppl prob'ly think i talk 2
much. *shrug* i think i talk more when i'm happier, right? *shrug* @
the same time, i tell myself not to be such a loudmouth but to give others
a chance to talk. i think maybe when i was a really fat kid thru.out
hi skool etc., i used to talk 'lot... n' maybe ppl put up w/ that cos they
thought "hey, that beno kid's so fat, i feel bad 4 him. he talks 2
much, but i'll 4give him cos i feel sorry 4 him." *shrug* do i think ppl
thought that? do i sound superficial 4 saying that? hey! i'm
not saying that's how i think... i'm just wondering if that's how
other ppl felt 'bout me. i try not to be so
egocentric, u know? but it's still a conscious effort, i think.
:-/
[later] 915p: i've been doing a li'l msging (instant msging). 2nite, i talked to dave, jerome, laura, n' uh... kaela. ha ha ha X-D
[later]1149p: i wasted some time putting some new apps on my handspring.
:-( geez, this sounds so geeky, huh?
730a: not 2 long 'go, i woke up to a weird dream, where the beautiful kaela kang n' i were having our wedding rehearsal... but it was a dress rehearsal 4 some reason... n' all the guests were invited to watch 4 some reason. *shrug* well, the interesting part 'bout the rehearsal was that, yes, kaela came out in her gown... n' what's more interesting is that, in my dream, i saw that her back had tattoos. :-o ...n' they were like asian gangster tattoos! X-D hrm... come to think'f it, it's like sumpthin' out of scott jeongkang liles's drawings! check out medeasin.com!
922a: i've got lots'f hw to finish by 400p. :-( i can't believe it's
almost march.
957a: it's march. 2day's sat. how r u? i feel i've kind'f fallen behind in updating recently, eh? :-/ well, i've had skoolwerk, etc. man... i still have lower back pain. :-( i haven't been exercising all that much. i skipped taekwondo on thurs. we're aktually not snowboarding this weekend @ all... so yah... i am trying to rest n' relax to help my back... *sigh* well, sometime in the next 2 weeks, i'll prob'ly just make a dr. apptmnt 'bout it. next weekend, tho', we will go snowboarding cos 1'f our friends has a timeshare available, so we'll stay there etc.
so... where did i leave off updating? i left off on thurs morn, when i still had hw to do, eh? (please refer to "깡패 신부" on 2003.02.27.) ok. lessee... how did thurs go? well... it was a hektic day cos i had hw to turn in, n' the beautiful kaela kang had a midterm. i had to build some structural models 4 my "precision machine design class." more cardboard n' glue. this time i used a hot glue gun. i always have such trouble finding stuff cos so much'f our stuff is packed 'way in the garage... but i managed to find my sister's old glue gun. kaela drove us to skool. we had to sit in our parking space 4 a while cos her parking pass isn't valid till 330p. i showed kaela to the student union bookstore so she could buy a scantron. there, i bought some puffed corn snacks... like those quaker mini puffed rice n' corn cakes but some other brand, some organic brand. i ate some, gave the bag to kaela, n' went to class. 1st i went to "precision machine design class," then i went to "mechatronics" lab. lab ran late as usual. after lab, i went to the market café to wait 4 kaela. i bought a "mini loaf," sumpthin' like an elongated muffin. i also bought a bottle'f h2o. i waited. then when kaela got out, we went to the gym. i just had a lite werkout: precor, stretching, lite weights. i aktually felt better after doing some back exercises... *sigh* like, the pain isn't in my back; it's aktually mostly in my left butt cheek. after i sit down 4 a long period'f time, when i stand up, i'll feel a s#arp stinging pain in my left butt cheek, n' it'll shoot down the outside'f my hamstring like a muscle cramp. well, we came home n' ate fried pork chops that my mom cooked; that n' string beans.
fri, i werked on this "nsf grant proposal" hw assignment 4 my
"mechatronics" class. originally, it was due thurs, but our prof
extended the due date cos it was a bit'f a tuff assignment. we met
w/ my mom by noon @ her office cos kaela wants to learn 'bout real estate
sales n' investment to find some kind'f career in that direktion. my
mom drove us to a house in east san jo. we drove thru the silver
creek hills neighbourhood. wow, i'd 4gotten it looks like such a
hidden paradise... cos u drive thru an industrial area, up a hill, n' as u
go over the hill, u c this valley filled w/ very beautiful track homes.
yah, i know... some ppl really had track homes n' gated
communities... but they r really nice homes. the house we
went to was a li'l older than those in that neighbourhood. it
was 19 yrs old, i think, but very beautiful. the owners gave it a
very modern decor. we took pics of the house to make a flyer 4 it.
while we were there a korean woman came to look @ the house, n' my
mom had kaela talk to her. after the whole house thing, we went to
lunch @ some east lake chinese restaurant. it was pretty good; their
lunch specials were huge. i ordered the kungpao chicken lunch
special. after lunch, my mom drove us back to the office.
kaela n' i got in my car n' drove off. we were gonna go to the
bakery to order our wedding cake. kaela sed she wanted some wedding
cake pics, so we went to target to get a wedding mag. when we got to
target, i went to the snack bar to buy a white cherry smooshy. 
(not as good as squishees! >X-P) ok, it was aktually an "icee,"
but if u'r as much'f a simpsons fan as we r, u can play 'long!
kaela looked @ some facial soaps, @ some calla lilies in the garden
center, n' @ some other things. then we went to the bakery, but the
wedding cake baker 'gain wasn't in. we'll go back on tues, i guess.
we went home; i werked on my "grant proposal" hw. in the
evening, we went to u.s. taekwondo academy (our taekwondojang) to judge
promotional exams. we were late. i felt bad walking in late
in front of all those kids n' parents. it was fun tho'. we
hadn't judged promotional exams in a while. well, we'd never judged
so many kids. it's diff from judging more adults, as we did @ berkeley. @ the end of each test, we'd ask the
students some questions 'bout taekwondo, 4 which they had memorised
answers. funny. however, it's good they learn 'bout
philosophy, history, n' other background info 'bout taekwondo. after
the exam, shim sabuhmnim's wife brought pizza from costco, n' some
student's mutha brought some veggies n' cake. i ate 2 slices of
combo pizza. it was interesting to meet sabuhmnim's wife cos, altho'
she's also korean, she's much more "americanised," as mark told us right b4
we met her. after all the students left, we cleaned up, n' the black
belts went next door to 안전지대 (anjuhnjidae), the hof next door.
john (who's aktually also a taekwondo "master," but it's funny to say
"master yoon," since kaela n' i think'f our ol' berkeley instruktor...) ordered a bunch'f bbq meat n'
some soju n' maekjoo. kaela had a bad migraine headache, so we
aktually left b4 we ate, but dang... we already ate pizza, so it was ok.
aktually, originally, we were s'pposed to go to a party after the
taekwondo exam... ken's employee amanda, who we've hung out w/ a few times,
her husband jerrod's in the army. he's leaving 4 iraq 2day.
we were gonna go to party 4 him. well, i called ken to tell him we
couldn't make it, but they didn't have a party neway; instead, they went to
watch a movie. amanda n' jerrod r really young but they have a kid
brian. 'member? i talked 'bout that time ken, grace, kaela, n' i
took brian w/ us to dinner, n' it was kind'f interesting cos we were all
asian 'cept 4 li'l brian who's totally blue.eyed blond. (please
refer to "labour n' horror" on 2002.11.10.)
it's 1107a now. i really wanna update my index page sometime. it's so out of date. :-( i just don't find time to do that kind'f stuff. sometime soon, i gotta go get fitted 4 my tux 4 ken n' grace's wedding. hrm... i never know if i should type "ken n' grace's" or "ken's n' grace's." now that i look @ it, i think the 1st choice is right, but so often i type "kaela's n' my." ??? :-(
[not really that much later] 1121a: check out the "make a flake" link on starkdavingmad.com (david kim's page), on the february 28, 2003 entry! it's so kewl!!! :-) this is mine:
[later] 913p: i'm waiting in l... [later] 1149p: we just saw how
to lose a guy in 10 days
209p: can u believe it's the 2nd day'f march already?! it's sunday, 2day. i'm sittin' in the capitol/aborn bally gym's lobby area. 2day, i'm a li'l happy n' plenty pissed n' frustrated. [later] 449p: now, i'm @ the café in the santana row borders, studying.
[later] 948p: so i try so hard to updatechu from all diff places, eh? i've thought 'bout it b4, n' rn't i the online journal writer that updates u from the most varied locations? i wonder how many other bloggers out there use handhelds. every1 should! well... some ppl think i spend 2 much time writing my online journal. the thing ppl need to 'member is that i type fast. when i have long entries, it doesn't necessarily mean i don't get other things done! i type fast. i don't spend the whole day updating my journal! >:-( as i've sed so many times in recent weeks, i'm trying to spend less time online. i'm spending less time on trillian (instant messenger), less time on forums, less time surfing the web. i don't wanna spend 2 much less time werking on my webpage, but... :-( as i keep saying, i really wanna update my main page n' stuff like that. i wanna fix the pages other than this online journal.
so what's been going on? 2day was sunday, n' yesterday was saturday. yesterday, the beautiful kaela kang n' i stopped by my mom's open house 4 the nice house in east san jo that we saw on fri. then my mom told kaela to help her enter the property into the real estate board 'puter. we went to her office. however, on the way, we stopped @ the beautiful new lunardi's w/ a peet's coffee inside. it's on ruby ave. it's beautiful! kaela wanted coffee, so she got a caffé freddo from peet's, but we quickly browsed the store. the wine cellar manager told us to stop in their wine tasting room to try some monterey vineyard's wine. we went in, n' the representative 4 the winery was very eager to talk to us. *shrug* maybe she was just bored... we mentioned that we're getting married n' would need wine 4 our banquet. she sed she just got married, so we talked 4 a while. she was very nice, but i felt bad cos i knew we needed to get to my mom's office. well, we got there. kaela entered the stuff into the 'puter. then we went to vallco. there, i had to go to the tux shop to get fitted 4 a tux 4 ken n' grace's wedding. i mentioned that b4. i got fitted, then we walked 'round the mall just a li'l. i still don't feel like spending ne $$$ these days, so i didn't buy nething. we went to the car n' pondered what to eat 4 dinner. well, we drove out of the parking lot n' then decided to drive back to the mall to go to todai. yah, we went to todai n' had asian sushi/seafud buffet. it was really good. then we went to amc mercado to watch how to lose a guy in 10 days, as i sed b4.
that was an interesting movie. mark n' grace saw it a while 'go n' sed it was "a guy's chick flick." yah, i was thoroughly entertained. when it started, i dreaded it cos i found the acting n' dialog to be sooo unbelievable. but the plot got decently interesting, so i enjoyed it. u know... i really like movies that deal w/ love n' relationships. in fakt, i don't watch many movies that don't have sumpthin' to do w/ love n' relationships, right? 4 example, i don't like war movies... i mean... i guess i like star wars movies n' lord of the ring movies... but i didn't watch black hawk down or behind enemy lines. i guess i did watch saving private ryan. ("saving ryan's privates..." X-D) i watched harry potter movies, n' they don't have much to do w/ love or relationships, i guess. however, most movies i watch have sumpthin' to do w/ love n' relationships.
2day was a beautiful day. what made me happy was my back didn't bother me so much 2day. after my werkout, i felt pretty "darn" good. on my way out of the gym, i picked up some silly flyer that w/ the title "back pain: black belt magazine reveals new treatment that revived shamrock's career." the flyer advertised the services of dr. matt n' mike janzen who perform "active release treatment, a.k.a. a.r.t." well, it sounds pretty kewl, but i hope i don't need it. listen to this: how does active release work? when an injury occurs to a muscle, tendon or ligament, it tends to become tight and inflamed. the tight muscle develps [sic] microscopic tears, as well as constricts blood flow to healthy tissues. the body's natural response to the inflammation and reduced circulation is fibrosis and adhesion (scar tissue). this fibrosis and adhesion glues together the muscle fibers and surrounding structures, leading to pain and improper function. the muscle becomes tight, leathery and bound-up with a higher probability to injure again. the pain comes and goes and each flare-up being a little worse than the previous. hence the cycle continues. yah, i can imagine everything they r saying is true. the flyer goes on to say that a.r.t. drs. find the spots where u have adhesions, which r scar tissue, n' then "make it move in a way that breaks it away from the tissues" with their hands. i imagine it's sumpthin' like a massage. well... i can imagine it werks, but *shrug* i dunno 4 sure. the flyer has a coupon 4 a $40 special that includes a consultation, exam, 1 active release treatment, n' 30 min massage. well, as i sed, i hope i don't need stuff like this, but i find it somewhat credible. yesterday n' 2day, i took naproxen instead of advil or generic tylenol. 4 the past couple'f weeks, i'd been taking advil off n' on. then i switched to generic tylenol this past week. this weekend, i switched to naproxen, n' it cmed to have done some good. *shrug* i dunno... i hear it's important 4 me to stress less, n' that help my back the most... *shrug* what i've been hating is the fakt that i've been cutting down on my exercise cos i've been feeling my back needs the rest, but dang! i don't wanna get out of shape! i need to be fit.
ok... so what else did we do 2day? ok, so we went to the gym, as i sed. dangit, i left my bath/shower towel @ home. i needed to shower, so i brought in a 2nd hand towel from kaela's car to use as a shower towel. :-/ usually, i prefer to wrap my big bath 'round my waste to walk to/from the shower. 2day, instead, i had to walk to/from the shower just holding that li'l hand towel just sort'f covering whatever it could. eh! whatever. *roll eyes* u know, i think in most'f asia they don't use big ol' towels like they do in amerika. i know in korea, ppl mostly use pretty small towels to drive off after showers n' baths. amerikans just have that fixation w/ size... so we got all these frickin' gas guzzlin' trucks n' monster suvs. *roll eyes* (why am i rolling my eyes so much in this paragraph?!) well, after the gym, we drove thru east san jo to get to a strip mall across the street from eastridge mall. i had thought that there was a quizno's there, but there wasn't. there was just togo's, panda express, coldstone, albertson's, n' 2 starbucks. 'member that the renovated el cerrito plaza has 3 starbucks. well, this strip mall only has 2, but it is a much smaller strip mall. taking that into acct, isn't this the better strip mall? ha ha ha. X-D well, we ate lunch @ togo's, shared a bbq chicken sandwich on whole wheat w/ a bag of wow! chips n' a sierra mist. after lunch, we quickly looked in the beauty store cos i'm looking 4 a haircutting cape... the cape u wear when u'r getting ur hair cut. then we got some aisukuriimu @ coldstone. well, i insisted that we get frozen yogurt instead... 4 health reasons, i guess... i just can't bear to eat full fat aisukuriimu! we got cheesecake yogurt w/ black cherries n' crunch bar in a waffle bowl; a regular size. it was good. then we drove across town to santana row borders, where we studied 4 a bit. santana row is pretty nice. this is so crazy! san jo is getting more of these shopping areas that look more like ol' european style towns, eh? the shopping area where lunardi's is on ruby ave. also looks like a classy, european village. i do like it, i guess. man... is it just 2 yuppie of me???
c... what really frustrated n' stressed me
out 2day was the thought i get every so often of this: i'm 27 yrs old.
shouldn't i be living the yuppie life? shouldn't i spend my
weekends taking kaela to trader joe's to buy fancy cheese n' gourmet pet
fud 4 the doggy we would have if we were living the yuppie life?
then that makes me question the whole idea of my being in grad skool.
what if i were simply to drop out of grad skool n' take whatever
dumb job i could find in the sucky economy... whatever dumb job... just
sumpthin' that'd pay me whatever $$$ just 'nuff to rent some stoopid apt
somewhere in silly valley. it wouldn't be 'xaktly what i want... but
u know... i'm in grad skool. i'm not werking. since i'm not
werking, i can't buy a house or pay rent, so kaela n' i gotta live w/ my
mom. u know... u hafta understand that's a bit'f a morale blow,
right? i mean, i know it's pretty fine in asia 4 a guy to live w/
his family right up till he gets married etc... but in amerika it's so dang
disrespekted 4 a 27 yr old guy not to be out on his own w/ some bachelor
pad or else a place to live w/ his gf/fiancée. u gotta
understand how this has been buggin' the heck out'f me since we moved to
san jo. back in berkeley, we had our own
place. we went to safeway n' andronico's, bought groceries, cooked
dinner, did the things that young cohabitating couples do, i guess.
but then, the economy turned $#!++y, we moved to san jo, it wasn't like we
could afford a place on our own 4 what it's worth, n' then i started grad
skool. i've felt like i lost so much control of my life.
however, that's just how life's turned out. :-/ i've been trying
so hard these past few weeks to apply to as many engring jobs as i can.
i'm much more motivated than i was b4 to apply 4 jobs, i guess.
since i'm in skool full.time, i guess i still can't afford to take
on a job w/ the notion that i wanna just take whatever job to earn $$$ in
order to rent a place 4 us 2.... but i do very badly want to get
back in the whole career world, u know? me n' my stoopid whining.
don't i ever get sick'f myself. don't worry; i do.
oh yah... 2day, b4 we went to borders, we stopped by a korean catering place. i had discovered it 1 time while walking from stevens creek subaru to the gym. 'member those long walks this past winter break? X-D yah, those were kind'f ridiculously long walks, but i had a good time, i guess. well, i pted the place out to kaela, n' we saw there were ppl in the parking lot loading up vans, so we stopped by to talk to them. i thought it was a good talk. they have lots'f good fud. i think it sounds good. heh, in a way, i'm glad the woman didn't make 2 big'f a deal that i'm a taiwanese guy that speaks korean. some ppl just totally freak out. i mean, sometimes they think it's pretty neat or whatever; but :-/, i mean, after a while, i just feel like a freak. like, i'm glad the ppl @ taekwondo've accepted it decently well. neway, kaela did most'f the talking. i didn't wanna tell the woman to speak slower, but she lost me a coupl'f times.
[a li'l later] 1110p: 2nite, when we came home, my mom had a rotisserie
chicken 4 us 4 dinner. heh, it was really good. oftentimes,
kaela n' i c rotisserie chickens @ safeway n' say they look really tasty,
but we don't get them. well, 2nite we got to eat 1. we
do really appreciate this. *sigh* isn't that a philosophy
i've had in life? i've tried to tell ppl to appreciate things that
happen in life 4 what they're worth. sure, u might not have the
ideal life that u dreamed of. maybe it's just not yet.
so... well, maybe u'll attain that dream life in just a few more yrs or
even just a few more months. till then, just appreciate ur current
situation 4 all the good things it has to offer. :-) u might miss them
when these times pass.
151p: dangit! maybe i should've waited till 303p to update my journal. i'm just quickly sitting @ a table outside the student union cafeteria b4 mtg w/ my me 265 lab group. me 265's my "computer aided mechanical design class." i aktually woke up @ decent time this morn, took my naproxen pills n' went swimming @ the gym. the pool was rather empty, n' i like it that way. i hafta exercise, don'tchu know? since the economy's so $#!++y, i'll hafta get a job as an erotic dancer @ a strip club 4 women. i can't be 2 out'f shape. since all amerikan men age 18-25'll soon be drafted to go to iraq, more n' more women'll come c me @ the club. uhm, i never saw the full monty; is that what it's 'bout? X-D n' i thought the tv show are you hot? was 'bout designing air conditioning systems. ok, what a silly paragraph full'f lame jokes! "farms in berkeley? mooooo!!!!" hey, u'r alright!
after the gym, i got gas @ some "usa gas" station, $1.939/gal. gas's so dang expen$ive. there's a rite.aid right by that gas station. i quickly ran in to look 4 a few "free after rebate" items i wanted, but ppl'd already ransacked that store. i shouldn't waste my time in drug stores! >:-( that's procrastination! i stopped by a post office to send a letter off to korea but realised i didn't have ca$h to buy a book'f stamps from the machine n' didn't have time to stand in the line to buy a single stamp from the counter. i went home. i ate some leftover beef n' onions my mom left in the fridge. [now i'm sitting inside the engring bldg cos it was cold outside, n' some lame.os were smoking, so it stunk.] the beautiful kaela kang didn't want to eat so much beef, so i cooked some "ling ling" brand potstickers (만두) 4 her. after lunch, i washed the dishes [dang! it's raining now! i'm so lucky that i just came inside! wow!!!] i drove off to skool but made 2 stops. i got $20 quickca$h from the atm, n' went to the post office to buy a book'f 5 80 cent airmail stamps from the machine. my $16 of change came back in susan bs n' saccajaweas, 16'f 'em. i felt i was winning on a reno slot machine. when i got to campus, i found a nice parking spot on the 5th floor'f the garage. i got a jumbo raspberry iced tea from the student union cafeteria, paid 4 it w/ 1 dollar coin n' 2 dimes, n' got 1 penny back as change.
2day's mon. wed's the big sjsu job fair. i gotta get my stuff ready. i need a job!
[later] 321p: i'm in 1 of the engring lab rooms, but my lab
group's not here. i didn't do an update @ 303p.
nuts.
1157a: i woke up in the morn n' got lots'f things done. i'm on a roll, i guess. well, hopefully, the beautiful kaela kang n' i'll order our wedding cake 2day. i was s'pposed to have lunch w/ bernard huang, but sumpthin' came up 4 him, so nope. i have class from 400p to 645p. then, i guess, kaela n' i'll go to taekwondo practice. 2morrow's the job fair. uhm, should i say, "eeek?" or is that 2 much of a gurly thing to say? i'm kind'f anxious 'bout it. *shrug* thurs, i have my "mechatronics" lab report to turn in, but i don't think i have ne "precision machine design" hw to turn in. lemme check the website 'gain. so far, no hw. this weekend, we're going to tahoe cos our friend has a timeshare there 4 the week. i'm thinking of driving us up there on thurs nite, if possible. we can leave right after kaela's class, crash there, board on fri, board on sat, board on sun, n' then come home. i dunno... my friend has'ta get back to me 'bout whether or not kaela n' i can stay there on thurs nite. i'm looking 4ward to this weekend. 'member a coupl'f weeks 'go i started waxing our boards but didn't finish? i put on all the wax, but i have yet to scrape it off. well, obviously, i gotta scrape it all off b4 we hit the slopes. i hope i can scrape it off right now. a long time 'go, steve (my bro.in.law; my sister's husband) told me to store boards over the summer w/ wax on them. that keeps the moisture out. i think some articles i read on.line also told me to do this.
this morn, 1 of the tasks i accomplished was to "retype" this korean
catering menu... u c, kaela thought the menu they gave us (the paper) was
all gross n' stained etc. so she told me to type it up 'gain n'
print it out. well, i did it... but the prob is that kaela's printer
sometimes has this prob where when i print sumpthin' from my 'puter, it
gets stuck n' keeps printing out that document... so i ended up printing
out a whole bunch'f copies of the menu... n' i also so i had some typos on
it... but the thing is... cos there was extra space on 1 corner, i added 1
of those ascii bunnies to it.
(Y)
(-.-)
(")(")
1 of those! so it printed out like... *sigh* *shrug* like 50 times
maybe? now, i have a whole bunch'f scratch paper w/ a korean
catering menu n' a bunny on it. should i print out my
résumé on the flip side n' hand 'em out 2morrow @ the job
fair?! X-D no, i'd better not.
neway, i gotta keep being produktive, so i don't have time to be updating my journal right now. aktually, 1 other thing i accomplished this morn is that i updated my gbook, so there r new questions there now. please sign it! :-)
yesterday, i received a package in the mail from jack black, the manufacturer of men's skincare produkts.
they asked me to try out this elektric razor preshave gel or
sumpthin' n' fill out a survey 'bout it. that's kewl. man, i
really wanna update my index page. :-( u know, if i wrote an entry a yr 'go
2day, i could've entitled it "020304," just like i entitled yesterday's
entry "030303."
532p: so 2day was wed n' the big job fair. man! it was
sooo packed! i only talked to the following companies:
lockheed martin, applied materials, boston scientific, northrop grumman,
lam research. after that, i just gave up. man, it was so jam
packed. my lab partner payam keeps saying i got the applied
materials job cos he sez the hiring manager responded very well to me etc.,
but i dunno... we gotta c. i'd love to werk there. i got to
the job fair 'bout 1000a... a li'l later. it started @ 1000a 4
holders of express passes, which u had to have gotten from the career
center. otherwise, u couldn't come in till 1130a. dang! so
many ppl had express passes. there was such a line. b4 i left
home, i ate a croissant. my mom bought croissants from costco, n'
she left 1 in the oven. when i got to campus, i parked in the
shuttle lot n' rode the shuttle to the main campus. the job fair was
in the sjsu events center. i met up w/ my lab partner payam there,
n' then afterwards we werked on our "computer aided mechanical design" hw.
b4 going to the lab, we stopped by the student union, so i could get
a chicken pesto uh... what do u call those italian sandwiches? oh
yah, panini! i had a chicken pesto panini n' a large hawaiian punch.
after class, i went to the soda machine on the 2nd floor cos
i was thirsty. i was gonna buy a bottle of hawaiian punch, but the
machine spit out an mandarin orange slice. yah,
it did that to me b4. i should've known it'd do it again. why
am i drinking so much hawaiian punch? *shrug* well, i just feel like it's
healthier than other sodas cos i think it has vitamin c. maybe not.
hrm, i just checked their website, n' there's no info. :-( http://www.hawaiian-punch.com/index.cfm
hrm, 'nother page tells me that it does have 100% of my rda
of vitamin c: hawaiian
punch. "i wanna go back
to my little grass shack in kealakekua, hawaii." -- 
krusty the clown in "insane clown poppy," episode babf17 of the
simpsons.
it's nice to be home earlier 2day. i felt like i was just a regular werkin' guy, coming home from werk. i wore a tie 2day 4 the job fair. i wasn't sure if i was going to, so i carried it to skool in my bag. i used my over the shoulder yakpak bag instead of my green adidas bag cos somewhere i read that students should avoid carrying backpacks to job fairs cos it makes them look unprofessional. my yakpak is more of a briefcase, even tho' it's a young guy's briefcase. well, sort'f... neway, when i got to the job fair, 1nce i got into the events center n' walked down the bleachers 2wards the floor, i pulled away from the stampeding herd n' put on my tie. i didn't have a mirror on the wall in front of me; i was just standing in the bleachers, u know? i put on my tie. i knew it didn't feel right, so i took out a li'l pocket mirror i got as a freebie from target @ that stoopid bridal expo we went to last yr. guys don't use li'l pocket mirrors much, but i was checking my tie not putting on makeup. after the job fair i took off the tie. neway... yah, driving home @ a decent hr, 'round 530p, n' being dressed 4 werk made me feel like a regular werkin' guy. heh...
well, i really hope i do get a job. last nite, we went to taekwondo practice after class... oh yah! b4 class, kaela n' i ordered our wedding cake, like i sed we would. man, yesterday was the most produktive day i'd had in weeks! :-) 2day wasn't 0.5 bad either! i'm on a roll! :-) well... i hope to keep it up. :-) so yesterday, we went to taekwondo practice. my back was ok. i haven't jumped 'round in a while. i tried to do a li'l more jumping stuff. we took out the heavy bag n' hung it on its hook 4 kicking. i did some flying side kicks. i haven't done stuff like that in a long time. it felt ok but far from great. in general, my back feels better these days, but it still needs to rest a li'l. we're going snowboarding this weekend, tho'. it's no big deal cos snowboarding doesn't really hurt my back. things like bending over to tie my shoe hurt. we'll be going to tahoe on fri morn, not thurs nite. our friend doesn't have the cabin till fri nite, n' then he has it 4 a week or sumpthin' like that. neway, i gotta go to skool on mon. last nite, when we came home from taekwondo my mom had some fish n' spinach 4 us.
well, kaela's home now. it's 606p. we gotta go to her real estate licensing class now.
[later] 1150p: b4 kaela's class, we stopped by taco bell. kaela got a monterey chicken quesadilla combo (quesadilla, taco, n' jumbo drink), n' i ordered a chicken baja gordita n' a bean burrito. i ordered cherry pepsi as the drink. we took it to go n' ate it in the hotel lobby. the class was @ a hotel. we ate in a rush. kaela pretty much only ate the quesadilla. i didn't finish the whole bean burrito n' threw some 'way. neway, when we got home we ate some chips n' salsa n' some fried rice.
230p: i'm still home but have been pretty produktive 2day. i don't like being @ home till the afternoon; but since i've been produktive, it's not as bad. i've been writing my lab report 4 "mechatronics" class n' writing thank u letters 4 yesterday's job fair. i made a compilation hip hop cd 4 the beautiful kaela kang. i made smoothies 4 breakfast n' ling ling brand wonton soup 4 lunch. [later] 251p: i was listening to the sheryl crow / kid rock song "picture." how many of u like sheryl crow, like the song, but never really liked the whole concept of kid rock? i sort'f feel like that. [later] 302p: so how r u? :-) make sure u sign my gbook n' let me know! kaela did cos she's kewl. :-) isn't it funny how windows media player 9 dls album cover art 4 u when u play mp3s? (well, it werks 4 amerikan/european musik, not asian musik.) softie the snowman's dancing to the red hot chili peppers' "the zephyr song." in general, my back feels so much better these days. i just still feel a li'l tingle in my hips n' hammies (hamstrings), a li'l twinkle in my hammies; just my left side, of course.
 softie 춤을추다. |
 눈이 와. |
[later] 720p: i'm sitting in the market café. i ate 0.5 of a 0.5 priced apple fritter (cos pastries r 0.5 price in the evening) n' drank most'f a nf single latte. i usually get cappuccino, but i have latte 2day. u know latte is more of a kaeladrink than a benodrink, right? :-) i'm done w/ classes 2day. on the tv, the cafés playing extra, that entertainment tonight type show. they were just talkin' 'bout dresses stars'll wear to the oscars or sumpthin' *shrug* well, i had my "precision machine design" n' "mechatronics" lectures 2day. in "mechatronics," we had a guest lecturer, a chem e. (chemical engineering) prof. we'vef had lots'f guest lecturers this week. in "precision machine design," we had a guest lecturer, sort'f... but the guest lecturer's a student in our class, a "continuing edukation" kind'f guy, u know? the same sort'f thing has happened in our "mechatronics" class. >:-/ so... how r we s'pposed to do well in a class when we're competing 'gainst the instruktors of the class?! >:-( i don't like that. 'emmber: my classes r big, n' well... i want good grades! it's more competitive than u'd think here.
i've had a produktive week, i guess. 2morrow, we drive up to tahoe n' snowboard 4 the weekend. it's so kewl that our friend's letting us crash @ his timeshare. we really appreciate it! we'll be hanging out w/ those absolute dragons dragonboat ppl. we're not dragonboat ppl but lots'f other taekwondo ppl r.
so what else has been going on? hrm, i feel like there was sumpthin' type here into my handspring, but i 4get. :-( our "mechatronics" guest lecture was 'bout biosensors, did i mention that? i've been going to sleep earlier these days n' waking up earlier; but kaela's been waking up later n' staying up later. it's like we're taking shifts or sumpthin'. :-/ it's almost 730p now. i gotta go to the library to return an overdue library book. :-( did i mention that my back's pretty much ok these days 'cept 4 the occasional mild to painful tingle in my leg? yes i think i have. yah, every so often, i'll sit the wrong way or stand up after sitting 4 a long time, n' i'll feel a "cramp.like" spasm/pain in my butt/leg. other than that, i feel pretty good. u know, right b4 the biosensors guest lecture, i ran (or jogged) to the bathroom. that felt good, u know that? it's lke my leg really wants to c some aktion, u know? *sigh* ok, well... i'm gonna do some stuff like return my overdue library book. i'll prob'ly continue typing later. do u ever stop to think 'bout how i updatech'u from so many diff places? as i've sed b4, every on.line "journaller" or blogger needs to have a handheld to write journal entries from newhere. :-) oh, is that show i'm a celebrity - get me out of here done? who won? chris judd? it's just that access hollywood is on the tv now. does it sound like i'm typing after drinking caffeine? i feel like it sounds / reads like i'm typing after drinking caffeine. *shrug*
[later] 803p: now i'm typing on a 'puter center 'puter in the 'puter center of the 2nd floor of the sjsu library. i got a surprise 4 kaela li'l while 'go. she's in her "complementary integrative/alternative medicine" class. when i walked to the library, i could c into her classroom. well, i have a surprise 4 her. i hope she'll like it, n' i think she'll like it.
well, as i was walking, i realised 1 thing i wanted to write 'bout in my journal. right after class, i was talkin' to dave n' brian outside our classroom. this other mechanical engineering grad student came up n' was waiting to talk to 1 of us. he was in my "finite element analysis" class. he aktually wanted to talk to dave, but i thought maybe he was waiting 4 me cos i aktually knew him from way, way long time 'go when we were kids playing soccer. i recognised his name. he was surprised when i told him who i was. "didn't you used to be fat?" heh... yah, i get that 'lot. X-D he used to be dave's cowerker.
man, i really think more 'bout career these days... i mean... well, the job fair was yesterday... hrm, should i call it the "job fair" or "career fair"? :-/ neway, i was telling dave n' brian after class how i feel like i feel more pressure to find a niche industry these days. like, i used to werk in biotech... sort'f... n' b4 that i werked in the h2o (water) industry. well, i think i've pretty much burned my bridges w/ the water industry now. :-/ well, i wouldn't mind werking w/ the water industry... but i think i'm now more suited 4 more of a "hi.tech" industry. as i've sed b4, yesterday i talked to biotech, aerospace/defense, n' 'puter chip companies. i don't have as much experience w/ the chip industry as some other students in the silly valley, u know? i mean, some students went to sjsu 4 undergrad n' had chip industry internships or moved to the silly valley 4 a chip industry job n' then came to sjsu 4 grad skool... me, yah... up in the east bay n' sf, there rn't as many chip industry companies... what do they have?! sort'f a mishmash, i s'ppose. :-/ definitely some biotech in the emeryville/berkeley area as well as in south sf. there surely isn't much aerospace/defense up there... unless u'r specifically doing some kind'f research 4 a prof @ berkeley maybe. hrm... what other kinds'f companies have i heard of mech engrs werking @ up in the east bay or sf? uhm, i guess i've heard of some 'puter hardware startups... there's process control stuff like pharmaceuticals n' ebmud... n' whatever faktories or breweries or whatever r around... hrm... *sigh* neway, i'm boring u w/ this mech engring industry talk, eh? heh. i dunno... i just want a job!
i'm happy i had a produktive week. i don't feel bad @ all sort'f rewarding myself w/ this tahoe weekend. i feel good. i feel like i've been able to "keep on top of the ball" this week. i've been getting up earlier, going to sleep earlier, n' wasting less time on the internet n' watching less tv. don't 4get that the internet n' tv can be really evil!
oh yah... i 'member sumpthin' i was thinkin' 'bout earlier 2day... this is more of sumpthin' i wanted to write 'bout in my journal: beno's management philosophies!
ok... *sigh* well... i've never managed ppl @ werk b4... but i've been
put in positions of authority b4 4 various projekts... perhaps mostly
martial arts related in the past decade. i know @ times i had probs
delegating werk. u know... i think i learned from those
experiences tho'. 1 important thing i learned is this: u can't both delegate werk n' be a control
freak! if u r gonna delegate werk n' ask other ppl to help u w/
tasks 4 a projekt, then u can't be so nitpicky n' critical of the results.
that's counterproduktive. if u'r gonna give such
discouraging wurds to the ppl who r werking w/ u, then they will, in
return, refuse to cooperate. this doesn't mean u gotta be a
pushover or accept sloppy, substandard werk. what this means is
that, if u choose to delegate, u must also agree to encourage ur
delegates. is that whatchu call 'em? if u don't accept this,
then u'll be doomed to be a control freak who is 4ced to do everything
himself or herself. it'll either be that no1 wants to werk w/ u or
that u rn't ever satisfied w/ other ppl's werk, so u'll take it upon
urself to do everything; 1 or the other. well... that's the 1st
lesson from beno's skool of management! :-)
645a: i'm in tahoe. i just woke up from a dream in which i killed
a deadly spider. it was called a "cerzoid's spider." in the
dream, i was werking on the beautiful kaela kang's
'puter which is in my sister's old room. in the dream, i looked down
@ the floor by the chair n' kaela had some public health paper on the
floor, n' it talked 'bout this deadly "cerzoid's spider." later, i
looked down n' there was the big tarantula.like spider, sitting right next
to a picture of itself. i pondered over whether i should capture it
in a clear, plastic bucket or kill it. i decided to kill it.
i went to our room n' got 2 tennis balls. i repeatedly threw the
balls @ the giant. black n' brown spider, while chasing it 'round the room.
each hit took off a leg or 2, but the spider was hard to kill. oh
yah, b4 all this happened, kaela was telling me 'bout the deadly spider, n'
i was boasting to her in a macho tone, "oh yah, i've killed those b4,"
while i wasn't sure if i really had cn 1 b4. i guess it was a sort'f
"that's whatch'u get!" situation.
1120a: so we were in tahoe from fri thru sun. the beautiful kaela kang n' i snowboarded 4 3 days in a row!!! crazy. have we ever done 3 days in a row? last yr, w/ raymond, we did 3 out of 4 days in a row. i liked snowboarding this weekend, of course. it was spring conditions; that's not totally a good or bad thing. it's good cos u don't get as sore from cold muscles, but u also don't go as fast, n' the snow isn't as predictable n' consistent as well... maybe freshly groomed winter powder, i s'ppose. also, the jumps, ramps, n' 0.5 pipe get mushy when it gets warm like this. that's not a good thing cos u want to take off from a pretty solid surface. well, it's been a pretty good snowboarding season, eh? i totally 4get how many days we've spent on the slopes this season, but i know it's in the double digits. snowboarding does mean 'lot to me, n' i always wanna be the best snowboarder i can be. how have i improved this season? well, i know i spent several days doing more freeride n' downhill than freestyle. i think i've just plain gotten better @ fast downhill riding on steep slopes, i guess. i've gotten better @ freeride jumps, i think... by that, i mean those jumps u take off of steeper black diamond slopes where u don't have a real pre.built ramp, just some natural li'l hit or ledge or whatever. i 4get who it was who sed this, some professional snowboarder... i think it was stephen duke or gian simmen... i 4get... neway, this guy sed he figures the pt of snowboarding is to practice tricks in the terrain park n' then go out n' per4m them on natural slopes. maybe so. i feel the time i spent in the terrain park this season, i've spent more on riding rails. so far i really only do 50.50s on rails, but i really wanna get 'round to doing frontside/backside railslides. i haven't spent so much time riding the ramps in the terrain park this season. @ sierra, both kaela n' i spent most of our time riding the boardercross run. :-) i'm glad kaela got 'round to jumping this season. :-)
i guess i've been kind'f injured cos'f my back thingy... in taekwondo, i haven't done my usual demo, jumping, spinning kicks in a while. i'm worried that there's a natural progression of: "i can't do it cos i'm injured" to "i can't do it cos i haven't practiced it in a while" to "i can't do it cos i'm 2 old." :-( please don't let that happen! it's funny cos even tho' i feel my taekwondo has stayed stagnant cos'f my back injury, i've been able to do plenty of snowboarding n' do better stuff than b4 cos i'm practicing that. *shrug* why does kicking hurt more than jumping on a snowboard? i guess what sort'f hurts my back is making contact on a kick. like, the nite we were kicking the heavy bag, that kind'f hurt. well, 2day, my body is a bit sore from all this snowboarding, i gotta admit. nothing hurts, my body is just generally sore from exertion, u know? i know i played hard this weekend, i s'ppose. i didn't get all that much rest cos well... it was big group of young ppl (all 'bout our age), so u know... things were kind'f loud. i felt like such a party pooper cos i kept wanting to go to sleep way earlier than every1 else. i really wanted to be social! it's just i knew i came to tahoe to snowboard n' yah... i just take snowboarding a li'l 2 seriously sometimes. on sat nite, i ate a lot 4 dinner. i had like uh... maybe 4 pieces of chicken?! i also had 3 beers on sat nite w/ my dinner. i just felt like they had bought so many beers n' not that many ppl were drinking them. we also had pasta n' salad n' edamame. lots'f fud. i felt, since i was snowboarding so much, maybe it was ok to eat a li'l more than usual. crazy, so much fud.
neway, this weekend was very fun. so the group we were w/ was the absolute dragons snowboarding team. u can check out the absolute dragons website (http://www.absolutedragons.com). we stayed in a timeshare in stateline, nv, right next to heavenly ski resort. there r lots'f timeshare condos out there. i didn't realise there were so many! c, the reason we could go w/ this dragonboat team is that many of the dragonboat team members r from taekwondo or hapkido, etc.; so we knew many of them... maybe most of them? *shrug* it was very good to hang w/ berkeley ppl 'gain. :-)
heh, u know how kaela n' i have spent so much time on the slopes lately? we've gotten so used to eating snow resort fud. X-D garlic fries, hot dogs, chili, adobe chicken w/ toasted corn soup (@ sierra's west bowl)... last season we had plenty of portabello shroom burgers @ alpine. :-) mmm... those were good... sure... some ppl (like andy or jerome) would say it makes no sense cos there's no dead animal inside... heh, but we're ok w/ not eating meat! :-) that chicken adobe w/ toasted corn soup @ sierra's west bowl smoke house is really good! we never get ne of the smoked meat sandwiches altho' they sound good. aktually, on sat, some'f the ppl w/ us got them, but they didn't like them 2 much... 'least they sed the pork was 2 dry. maybe the beef is better. *shrug*
2day's mon. i had a dream this morn that i was weightlifting @ the aborn/capitol bally's gym w/ roland n' an ol' friend chen cheng. chen's a really big guy, a body.builder. he went to hi skool w/ me n' hung out w/ ken n' me in our early days of college @ cal.
2day's mon. what's the plan this week? well, we won't go snowboarding this next weekend, prob'ly... instead, we'll go catch some of the asian.am film fest, which is happening right now in sf but will make its way down to san jo by this weekend. i have some employer "info sessions" to attend this week: lockheed martin n' applied materials. [a li'l later] 1222p: well, i want to have as produktive of a week as i did last week. aktually, i have a midterm on thurs 4 "mechatronics." i gotta study 4 that. just cos i'm still home @ 1223p on a mon morn doesn't mean i'm not being produktive. i've been doing some skool.related n' career.search.related stuff this morn.
oh yah, while we were @ northstar on fri, it was the us national collegiate ski n' snowboard competition. we saw college kids from all sorts'f college from all over the country w/ their ski n' snowboard teams. i was a li'l worried cos i 4got to bring my snowboard lock n' our boards have big cal stickers on them. i didn't want the stanfu team to steal our boards while we weren't looking or sumpthin'. heh.
[a li'l later] 1233p: uhm, i usually mention like everything i
eat on my journal, huh? well, on our way up to tahoe on fri morn, i
drove thru the mcyukyuk drive.thru n' got some breakfast burritos.
on fri nite, we ate some ling.ling potstickers w/ jeff n' kathleen @ the
cabin. kathleen also made some garlic bread. on sat, ppl made
eggs n' bagels 4 breakfast @ the cabin. @ the resort, we ate @ the
west bowl smoke house, as i sed: adobe chicken w/ toasted corn soup n' a ft
long hot dog. 4 dinner, we had all that chicken, pasta, salad, n'
edamame. on sun, breakfast was eggs n' pancakes. we didn't
really have lunch, but drove.thru in.n.out on our way down in the early
evening. when we got home my mom had some roll sushi n' miso soup.
the roll sushi was more like kimbap, i s'ppose. it had tuna
fish, lettuce, n' egg in it. *shrug* it was good.
1246p: oh yah, on thurs i sed i got kaela a surprise. i never
toldju what the surprise is. well, i got us 2 tix to watch erasure's
concert on march 21 @ the bill graham civic auditorium in sf. it'll
be the day right after our 39th monthversary. the next day'll be the
uc open in berkeley. erasure is 1 group
i've liked thru.out all these yrs. i'm glad kaela likes them 2.
:-)
630a: i had a dream. i think it may've involved some snowboarding in the beginning, but i'm not sure. i do know, in my dream, i killed a guy. in my dream, hrm... the beautiful kaela kang n' i lived in some kind'f communal house or sumpthin'. we lived w/ a bunch'f ot other ppl, including nelson. many families, mostly if not all asian, lived in this communal living space. my mom lived w/ us. in my dream, some punk teenage kid, an asian kid, stole kaela's wallet. it wasn't her current wallet but her old wallet. i got the kid w/ the stolen wallet. when i found out it belonged to kaela, i stabbed him multiple times in the chest w/ a sharp knife. it was pretty awful. somehow, the cops came n' sed the kid died of natural causes. however, 4 some strange reason, some coroner type guy sed he had to "drain the body" of its blood n' needed 1 witness present. i think some1 else, maybe nelson, was s'pposed to go but was 2 squeamish, so i volunteered to go instead. [later, 1012a] s'pposedly, the coroner guy had to bleed the body to prove that the kid died of natural causes. *shrug* of course, that makes no sense, but it was all just a dream!
well, let's c just how psycho i am! >:-) jerome talked 'bout some psycho test. u can find it @ http://www.4degreez.com/misc/personality_disorder_test.mv
| disorder | rating |
| paranoid: | low |
| schizoid: | low |
| schizotypal: | low |
| antisocial: | low |
| borderline: | low |
| histrionic: | moderate |
| narcissistic: | moderate |
| avoidant: | low |
| dependent: | low |
| obsessive.compulsive: | low |
so s'pposedly my 2 biggest probs r that i like attention n' am
self.centered. n' burdies go tweet! tell me sumpthin' i
don't know! i've been making an effort in recent yrs to avoid
being in the spotlite 2 much or talk 'bout myself 2 much. of
course, having an on.line journal doesn't help that situation, right?
heh... no, it does. i mean, if i didn't have an on.line
journal, maybe i'd be off sending every1 i know a copy of each day's
journal entry, instead of making it so ppl only hafta read my journal if
they aktually come to my site. heh. neway... u know
i'm a leo, right? u know what they say 'bout leos: egotistical,
egocentric, need to be in the spotlite, attention.loving, blah blah blah.
u c, @ the recent absolute dragons snowtrip, we had a "white
elephant gift exchange." 1 of the presents that roland gave 'way was
a book called how
to spot a bastard by his star sign
.
it talks 'bout how leos r so egotistical, this that.
*roll eyes* i'm not that bad! neway, i wonder. u know
how ppl say ppl have diff types of personalities based 'pon their star
signs? well, maybe it's that we all have traits of all the star
signs, but when u find out some1's a leo, u focus on those leo traits,
etc.; u know? like, maybe i also have traits of the other star
signs, but ppl just don't wanna think 'bout those traits as much 1nce they
hear i'm a leo. *shrug*
neway, i don't have time to blab blab blab 'bout these things. i got a midterm this thurs, so i gotta study 4 that. 2day's tues. my midterm's on thurs.
yesterday, what happened? yesterday was mon. we ate lunch @ home, leftovers of that tuna, lettuce, egg kimbap/sushi roll n' miso soup. then kaela drove us to my mom's office where she had to pick up some books. on our way to campus, we stopped @ the tapioca express on monterey hwy. it's never very "express" there; the service takes so long! we ordered a milk tea w/ small pearls, a #8 (spiciness level 8 out of 5 or 10, i'm not sure) squid balls, n' a latte snow bubble. &bnsp; the milk tea n' squid balls r a combo, combo b. well, we sat there waiting in the shop w/ a bunch'f li'l asian kids. as i've sed b4, that place is such a kids' hangout. yah, i feel pretty out of place there. oh well... well, kaela dropped me off on campus. i werked on my "computer aided mechanical design" homewerk in lab. i went to lekture. after that, i went to the library to wait 4 kaela cos she was s'pposed to pick me up so we could go dinner w/ mark n' grace. kaela went home to shower after going to the gym, n' then she'd come pick me up. while in the library, i checked my e.mail n' phil sent me an article:
From: CAIR MUSLIM UNIVERSITY STUDENTS THREATENED IN CALIFORNIA
(SAN JOSE, CA, 3/10/2003) - The Northern California office of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NCA) said today it met Friday with the
FBI about threats made against Muslim students at San Jose State University
(SJSU). The threats took the form of expletive-laden graffiti scrawled at
locations around the campus. One threat stated: "Muslims will be shot on
San Jose State University campus on March 10, 2003."
After being informed of the threatening graffiti by the campus Muslim
Students Association, CAIR-NCA Executive Director Helal Omeira called for a
meeting with SJSU police, the local FBI Hate Crimes Unit, the San Jose
Police Department, and the university's Office of the President to address
the security concerns of Muslim students. Participants in that meeting
mapped out a plan to deal with the threats.
"It is encouraging to see that law enforcement authorities are taking these
threats very seriously and are doing all they can to ensure the safety of
San Jose State University students. We appreciate the quick response and
the professional manner in which the Muslim community's concerns were. .
.
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 16:30:20 -0500
To: islam-infonet@cair.biglist.com
Subject: ISLAM-INFONET: Muslim Univ. Students Threatened in California
CAIR meets with FBI about threat to shoot Muslims on campus
well, the e.mail got cut off there. *shrug* neway, from my 'puter, i looked up n' saw a security guard standing 'bout 10 ft 'way from me visually inspekting all students walking in the door. ah, maybe that's why that guy was there even tho' he usually isn't! man, war sucks! u know, the other day on meridian ave, i saw some bozo in a van w/ a coupl'f homemade bumper stickers: "war in iraq? yes, in my name." n' "visualize no liberals" *roll eyes* what a @$#$er. well, on our way up to tahoe, on the 80, i saw a young guy in an ol' pickup truck w/ a big cardboard sign strapped to the back of his cab that sed sumpthin' 'bout no war in iraq n' "god is king. bush is NOT!" good 4 him! he's got it right. as i passed him, he gave a peace sign. i just gave a guys' upward head nod, but if i wasn't so concerned 'bout having both hands on the wheel, i would've returned a peace sign. 'round the sjsu campus, i've cn these dumb flyers posted 'round the engring bldg that read: "cost of peace: war. cost of freedom: priceless." stoopid. neway, i had not cn the anti.muslim graffiti myself, but i'm very ashamed that it was on the sjsu campus. *sigh*
well, after kaela picked me up, we met up w/ grace n' mark @ 황제순두부 "fusion korea" restaurant in cupertino, near sunnyvale. (황제순두부; 20956 homestead rd., #a.1; cupertino, ca, 95014; 408.366.1367) it's a korean.owned restaurant that serves korean, chinese, n' japanese fud. pretty kewl! i didn't c till when we left that the korean name is "hwangjei sooondubu" (mark just sed the name was "fusion.), so their soondubu must be their specialty. neway, it was very good to c mark n' grace. i ordered 돌솥비빔밥 (dolsotbimbimbap, stone.pot mixed rice). it was pretty good. every1 else ordered chinese fud (korean chinese fud, some ppl'd say.): 짜장면 (jjajangmyuhn) n' 짬뽕 (jjambbong).
well, i don't have time to talk, so i'll go now. 'member? i wanna make this week as produktive as last week!
oh yah, 2 things: 1) as i sed b4, i'm gonna be clearing entries of my
"recent" page more frequently, so i hope u check my archive 4 entries u may
have missed. 2) i'd sure like it if u signed my gbook, the
latest version of it! :-) thanks.
1217p: i'm on the 3rd floor of the sjsu library. i was s'pposed to go to an employer info session in the student union @ 1230p, but it got cancelled. heh, in the student union right now there's this really cheesy taekwondo demo by tae yun kim's jungsuwon skool. heh, the demo team members r wearing headbands! i saw them setting up, but i didn't stick 'round to watch cos i'm very short on time this week. this is a crazy week. no time 4 journal entries, no time 4 exercise, no time 4 nething. it's a week full of midterms, projekts, n' jobhunting! it's anti.fitness week, i guess. i really wish i could go to the gym, but i've got so much crap to do! :-(
yesterday, i went to an info session 4 an aerospace company that i won't name here, i guess. man, i was sooo disappointed! it cmed like such a waste of my time 'cept 4 i got to have refreshments: chicken skewers, bbq chicken wings, n' black bean quesadillas. do u know what happened @ the info session?! they just advertised the company's produkts, mostly fighter jets n' missiles, n' all these military fanatics totally kissed @$$ to the recruiters by asking all sorts'f inane, lame questions 'bout fighter jets. therer was barely ne discussion of aktual employment or careers @ the compoany, just a bunch'f ppl akting like 8 yr old boys playing w/ $@%ing transformers n' g.i. joe! *roll eyes* 1 of the recruiters sed sumpthin' sooo offensive 2. k, some wannabe military bozo asks, "do you sell the exact same plane to foreign countries as you do to the u.s.?" the recruiter sez, "to canada and to britain, we sell pretty much the exact same planes. of course, to the uae (united arab emirates), we sell a dumbed down version." n' all the boneheads let out hearty laffs. wtf?! did we just not deal w/ a bunch'f anti.arab hate graffiti on our campus on mon, n' this guy wants to make a joke like that?! i was very unamused. i'd be willing to werk 4 an aerospace company, even a defense contractor cos they get to werk w/ very fancy technology. they have funding. however, i take some'f these big picture issues a li'l more seriously. where there's war, there's death. this isn't a sci.fi movie. i'm extremely interested in engineering concepts n' werking w/ cutting edge teknology. i don't like death. neway, that info session kind'f put me in a bad mood 'bout the whole job search thing. if i werk 4 an aerospace company, will i definitely need to put up w/ a bunch'f these war freaks? if i werk 4 a big company, do i definitely need to be surround by a system where kissing @$$ gets u promotions while real skillz doesn't? *sigh* :-( it really frustrated me, but i'll try to refind my sense of hope.
well, since 2day's info session was cancelled, i got a jamba juice n' am on the 3rd floor of the library ready to study on this wed afternoon.
yesterday, after the info session, i pretty much had to go straight to
class. after classes, the beautiful kaela kang
picked me up. well, she was sort'f late, so i went to the market
café n' bought an energy sobe n' some cajun snack mix. when
kaela picked me up, we went to taekwondo practice. wow, taekwondo
practice hasn't felt so good in a long time. i mean, my back hasn't
felt so good during taekwondo in a while. i'm well on the way to
recovery. :-) i still gotta take it sort'f easy n' not go all out 4
a li'l while longer. on the way home, kaela n' i got boba drinks
from
fantasia. when we got home we ate some shrimp n' scallop noodles my
mom cooked.
326a: i had a wedding dream just now!
[later] 954a: so what was my wedding dream 'bout? uhm, it was the wedding day. :-) however, things weren't going as planned. :-( in my dream, we were getting married in a hotel... a decently nice hotel. however, i guess we were having the wedding there n' then having the reception @ the place that we're really getting married. well, it was a hektic day but exciting. very few ppl came... it wasn't a very big wedding. what was really wrong was that we had the ceremony set up, but we didn't have the reception organised, so we weren't sure what was gonna happen next. well... things were pretty frantic, but i think we both knew that, even tho' everything was hektic n' frantic, the beautiful kaela kang n' i both were very, very happy to be getting married to each other. :-)
well, i hope things r much more organised than that @ our real wedding. n' i hope our guests do show up. <:-( i really want it to be a fun wedding... w/ lots'f muzik n' dancing n' laffter (laughter)... smiles, lots'f smiles! it should be pure celebration! :-)
well, sorry i haven't been very uh... respondent? is that the wurd i'm looking 4? no, i think i'm looking 4 "responsive"! i'm sorry i haven't been very responsive. some ppl have e.mailed me personal e.mails, but i haven't had so much time to reply cos i have 2 midterms 2day... well, 1 midterm n' 1 quiz. i have a presentation projekt due next week... plenty of homewerk... etc. i guess the semester is just naturally progressing. neway, i haven't had so much time to keep in touch w/ every1, n' i don't have time to be updating my journal right now. 'member? yesterday, i sed i don't have time to update my journal or exercise this week. it's pretty awful. u know, i really need to keep in shape, right? well, i'm just glad that my back is healing up ok.
yesterday, i studied on campus most'f the day. i had that aloha pineapple jamba juice in the morn. in the afternoon, i got lunch: a "salsa chicken chiquita burrito" from the burrito place in the sjsu student union cafeteria. i also had uhm a diet pepsi. yah, i've sed i gave up on toxic diet sodas but now n' then i have 1. i werked on my "computer.aided mechanical design" hw w/ my lab partner payam 4 a very, very long time. it was a good experience tho'. i wanna make sure i have 3d cad skillz cos employers really care 'bout that. after skool, i just went home. i ate some mabo tofu n' snow pease w/ shrooms that my mom made. she was watching "가을 동화" ("gaeul donghwa") dubbed into mandarin. i've never cn it in korean or in mandarin b4. apparently, it starts out w/ the story of 2 middle.skool gurls who were switched @ birth. 1 has parents that spoil her, the other has a mom that is really mean to her. the rich family gives their daughter lots'f fuzzies. kaela should've cn it. when she came home from her realty license class, i told her 'bout the fuzzies n' the show. she sed her parents have watched that series. hrm, yah, i think i did c that they had the tapes, didn't i?
2morrow, i think i'll be heading in to sf in the morn to do some research 4 our "precision machine design" presentation. i'll be visiting an ol' cowerker who now werks @ the sf general pathology lab. i gotta check out the microtomes there. in the eve(ning), i think we'll be watching a movie from the asian.am film fest in san jo. on sat we have tix to watch crouching asian, hidden cheese, which is a compilation of shorts, n' charlotte sometimes, which gets its title from a cure song.
has this week been as produktive as last week? yah, pretty much so. it's got more stress n' pressure than last week, tho'. i hope i go to the gym on sat during the day. i gotta go to the gym eventually!
2day is thurs. i c jerome signed my gbook. i like his idea 4 a reality tv show. :-D it's funny. every1! please sign my gbook! i think that "reality tv" question prob'ly puts a li'l pressure on u, huh? u might feel u gotta come up w/ sumpthin' really, really creative. :-/ eh! just write sumpthin'! u can always come back n' give a diff idea, u know? please, sign my gbook n' sign it often! X-D thanks, jerome! (or jet...)
the album to buy from beno's yesasia associate link n' listen to this week: 박지윤 6집 (park jiyoon 6jib) yes, i like it when ppl buy produkts thru the "associate" links i have on my webpage. :-) 2day's the 13th? thurs the 13th, heh...
[later] 1142p: well, i'm typing my journal entry addition here @ my home
'puter. how r u? didju sign my gbook yet?
:-) how was ur day? me, i went to campus. i studied.
then i took a lunch break. i contemplated getting a salad from the
market café, but the line looked 2 long, so i headed back out the
door, thinking i'd go to the cafeteria. then, i saw bernard huang in
line @ bk. i sed hi n' joined him in line. the gurl
btwn us in line let me cut to stand in line w/ bernard. i ordered a
chicken whopper meal w/ uh... diet pepsi. i made the meal medium
size; otherwise, i think they make it large size. bernard n' i ate
outside @ a table. it was good to catch up w/ him, but i felt kind'f
bad cos it cmed like i talked so much 'bout myself. :-( i
don't wanna be so egocentric. i had left my cellfon in my car, so
after lunch, i went back to the car to get it. then i went to the
library to study w/ dave n' brian. time flew. we went to our
"precision machine design" class n' took a quiz. kaela brought a
boba drink 4 me. she didn't realise that i'd be in class by the
time she got to campus. she waited outside our classroom till after
the quiz. when the prof told us to hand in our papers, kaela rushed
in n' handed me the boba drink in a bag. heh, i wanted to make it
discrete, but i heard from brian later that, as i was trying to hide the
drink down on the floor by my bag, the prof was so intently watching,
trying to figure out what it was that i was trying to hide. brian
sed it looked sooo funny. X-D ha, i had no clue.
after "precision machine design," brian, dave, n' i had to head upstairs to
take our "mechatronics" midterm. it was aktually pretty easy.
i felt i sort'f lucked out 2day. on both exams, there were problems
i just luckily had the answers to... man, maybe it was just the
grace of god, i tell u. like, a few questions, i didn't feel i knew the
answers 4 them, but i had a weird "gut feeling," n' i later found out that
those answers were right. :-o weird, huh? *shrug* what do i
say? i was just very blessed 2day, i guess; is that what i say?
*shrug* well, after the "mechatronics" midterm, the prof discussed how
we'll hafta do projekts soon. after class, brian, dave, n' i
pondered going out to celebrate; but brian sed he was gonna go to bible
study. well, we went to the library, so brian could check in w/ some
friends, n' then we could discuss it more. we were kind'f talking
loud in the library, so i felt kind'f bad; but it was pretty late in the
evening, almost 730p, so there weren't that many students studying.
(the mirriam.webster online diktionary (http://www.m-w.com)
sez both "loud" n' "loudly" r correkt adverbs. *shrug*) well, 'round
730p, i convinced dave to go have a beer w/ me @ the market café, n'
i convinced brian to come watch us have beers. heh! i got a pyramid
hefeweizen. man, the beers there r really small! oh well.
well, after we finished our beers n' talked a while, we figured we
had to leave. brian n' dave left, but i stayed on campus. i
walked over to kaela's classroom n' just hungout nearby 4 a while. i
talked to toby on the fon 4 a li'l, but he was watching a knight's
tale on dvd, so i didn't wanna disturb him n' betty. eventually,
kaela got out of her class, n' we went home to eat dinner.
man, lately, i've been having probs w/ my handspring. :-( lately, it's been crashing 'lot, 'specially
when i open up eudora or avantgo. :-( *shrug* i dunno why. is it
just getting old? :-( well, really... there rn't ne handhelds that i
really want right now. the superduperkewl sony clié that has
the built in keyboard, 2.0 megapixel digital camera w/ flash, mp3 player,
n' wireless internet connektion is waaay 2 bulky, n' the palm
tungsten doesn't have a built in digital camera. :-( someday when
either the palm tungsten gets more features or the superduperkewl sony
clié shrinks in size, i'd consider getting 1 of those; but not yet!
>:-( i dunno what's wrong w/ my handspring. i know 1
app i added lately is really kewl: quickbits. it doesn't overclock
ur cpu, but it makes other adjustments that make ur palm os based handheld
go faster. :-) i like it. i don't think that's what's
crashing my handspring.
oh yah, more tech troubles: 2day, i was trying to use my muvo mp3
player, n' i couldn't get it to power up. :-( man, 'member? it broke b4
like this, n' i had to send it in to get fixed. :-( *sigh* what's up?!
i'm glad, i still have my soundsgood handspring mp3 module as a
backup! 
that's a really good produkt! :-) it's never given me
much problems n' is so versatile! well, 1 thing: i wish it had
expandable memory, but eh! oh well.
601p: i'm in sf on a rainy fri eve. i've been waiting 4 the
beautiful kaela
kang 4 the past 2.5 hrs. i can't find her, n' she's not picking
up her fon.
1054a: it's a lazy sat morn. the sky is very blue w/ big, white, puffy clouds. it's a beautiful, "after the rain" day in san josé! :-) lemme tell u, yesterday was a disaster of a day. i dunno whether to talk 'bout it here in my journal or try to shove it deep, deep, deep into the back of my brain n' try to 4get it. it was pretty awful! :-( well, now that it's sat n' i've had more time to rest n' relax since yesterday, i guess i feel ok 'bout it 'nuff to talk a li'l 'bout it.
yesterday, i went to sf to visit my ol' cowerker rodney @ the san
francisco general hospital (sfgh) cos i need to investigate microtomes 4 my
"precision machine design class." the beautiful kaela kang n' i
left later in the morn than we planned of course. originally, i was
planning to get to the hospital by like 1100a or so. i wasn't sure
where i was going. rodney told me to page him when i was ready to
come over. i always knew where the sfgh was cos kaela used to
volunteer there. well, when rodney talked to me after i paged him
while on the road, he told me to go to 1000 parnassus. when i got to
sf, i figured he must werk w/ a lab associated w/ sfgh @ ucsf. i
drove to ucsf on parnassus, but i couldn't find 1000 parnassus. i
circled 'round a few times. it was lunchtime, n' kaela n' i were
hungry. well, i paged rodney; he called back n' apologised profusely
cos he had sed the wrong street name. he meant "potrero",
not parnassus. that made sense cos that would bring us back to the
main sfgh campus that kaela volunteered @. of course, it takes a
while to drive a short distance cos it's sf. however, the scenery is
gorgeous cos it's sf. we got to the hospital n' eventually found
rodney. he showed us the equipment, but man... the timing wqs awful.
like, rodney earlier sed we'd go to lunch 2gether, but his werk got
2 bizzy. well, i had to drop kaela off @ her bridal store, a li'l
boutique on maiden lane in union square (basically, the rodeo drive of sf,
i guess). she was really stressed 'bout making her 200p apptment w/
the boutique. we grabbed a quick, stressful lunch @ noah's bagels @
portrero center. i hate eating while stressed, so i just focused on
the cheerfully hopping sparrows outside. they r really cute! :-)
i had a roasted "toikey" on marbled rye w/ cole slaw. kaela
had a hot pastrami, i think. we shared a jumbo bottle'f odwalla
oj. i
dropped her off @ union square. i told my classmate brian to meet me
@ sfgh w/ some screwdrivers so we could examine the microtome. well,
i was @ sfgh, looking @ the microtome from like 200p till 'bout 300p @
latest. i really appreciated rodney's help. brian n' i put
the microtome back 2gether n' left sfgh. i told brian i planned to
pick up kaela n' then drive down hwy 1 back to san jo n' go watch a movie @
the asian.am film fest. well, i left the hospital. i went
back to the portrero center to safeway. i bought 2 sobe drinks: 1
sobe lean 4 me n' a sobe green tea 4 kaela.
then i went to union square to find her. as u read yesterday,
i waited 4 her 4 2.5 hrs. i meter maid chased me away from a no
stopping spot that was very com4table. i saw him/her getting out of
his/her li'l cart, n' i started up the engine n' zoomed 'way. that
spot was outside the northface store on post btwn grant n' kearny.
even tho' that was a no stopping spot, can u believe it took me 4ever to
find that spot?! i mean, all the no stopping / no parking
spots were occupied! crazy! well, after zooming off, i drove
'round a bit more. i drove kind'f aimlessly. i had to go pee
so badly. i found a parking spot outside of j.town (japantown).
i went in just to use the bathroom. then i went back to the
car n' sat in the car a li'l longer. that's when i wrote yesterday's
short, li'l journal entry. i ate the rest of kaela's pastrami
sandwich. i drank the rest'f my sobe. toby called me right b4
i found that parking spot n' visited the bathroom. i told him 'bout
my situation n' sed i couldn't talk right now. 'round 605p
or so, i drove back to union square. i parked my car across from
where i was chased 'way by the meter maid. after 600p, it's ok to
park there. i went to kaela's wedding store to ask 4 her since i
knew it was a small, small store. they sed they had cn her but that
she had left "forever ago." i had hoped i would've found her there.
i was so dang worried by then. i knew it was a bad, bad,
rainy day, so i started worrying that maybe a skidding, out'f control car
ran her over, n' that i should just return to the sfgh to look 4 her there.
:-( i left so many text pages on her fon, several v.mail.
earlier, while waiting in my car, i wanted to kill time by surfing the net
on my handspring , but
avantgo crashed. 'member? i've been having such a hard time w/ my
handspring lately. :-( neway, i dunno why i'm mentioning that now...
back to the story! so i left kaela's wedding store w/ no clue where
she was. i just ran 'round in the rain in the union square shopping
area hoping i'd run into her. dang! so many gurls have coats similar
to hers on a rainy day. i was getting very soaked even tho' i had an
umbrella. it was cold. the day had started out so beautiful,
but then the rain came, u know? finally, 'round 630p or later, kaela
called me. she sed she had been studying in borders, had lost
track'f time, n' didn't hear her fon ring. *sigh* well, i knew we'd pretty
much miss the movie @ 700p in san jo.
right b4 i picked her up from borders, jason called n' sed he had
overslept. c, he was planning to go watch the movie w/ us @ 700p.
man! that was so weird that both he n' we were 'bout to miss the
movie! well, i proposed that we all just hang out in sf instead,
since we were all there. well, in the end, we decided to just try to
head down to san jo to catch whatever part of the movie we could n' attend
the opening nite gala 4 the film fest. it was a rainy day on the rd;
dangerous. i had to drive carefully in kaela's kia. i
made my way to 280s. i drove locally to avoid the 101s commute
traffik. i didn't take the most direkt route cos i was just a li'l
bit disoriented. it was frustrating. eventually, we got on
the freeway, n' i guess i was very thankful there wasn't much traffik.
aktually, there was pretty much no traffik on 280s. i drove
carefully. i pulled off the freeway in menlo park to get gas.
it was so expen$ive of course. jason beat us to san jo. he
went into the movie n' told us it was prob'ly 'bout 0.5 done. we
got to san jo a li'l later. when we got to the theatre, kaela
realised she didn't have the tix w/ her. man... it was such a mess.
*sigh* i tried to salvage the situation by taking us to dinner @
inca gardens, a simple, li'l peruvian restaurant on san fernando near 3rd.
wow, that restaurant was really empty. it was 'bout 830p, i
guess. we ate peruvian fud: ceviche pescado (i 4get the exakt name),
some marisco rice n' some marisco pasta. we had some peruvian juice
drinks 2. well, jason called us right as we got our fud, n' i told
him we'd meet him @ the reception event 4 the film fest. it was a
cold, drizzly nite. we drove the short distance from the restaurant
to the d.p. fong art gallery @ 383 s. 1st street. it was a pretty
neat art gallery. jason had explained to the staff that we 4got our
tix, so they let us in regardless. we hung out there 4 a bit.
then the event wrapped up, so we tried to find a place to hang out n' talk,
but i wasn't doing 2 well w/ finding a place. lots'f running
'round... *sigh* we just decided to call it a nite.
well, yesterday... it was a real disaster... but then 'gain, i should try to look on the brite side of life. let us try to find 5 positives 'mongst yesterday: 1) the day started out so beautifully in sf; i mean the weather was pretty ok earlier. 2) i got to catch up w/ my ol' cowerker. 3) the sparrows outside'f noah's bagels were so cute. :-) 4) sf is a beautiful city. 5) the asian.am film fest opening nite gala reception gave out free beer, wine, drinks, n' cake from aki's bakery. mmmm!
u know, u can get free magazine subscriptions? if u go to my links page n' sign up 4 mypoints.com, u'll get these offers 4 free trial magazine subscriptions. if u cancel w/in 6 months, u'll get all ur $$$ back. i've been doing this 4 a while. i get lots'f magazines, n' i don't pay 4 them in the end. well, my favourite magazine of the day is men's health. wow, it really has lots'f good info! i really like it. this month's issue has an article on back pain. i like that. it has lots'f articles on eating right. u know, we should all avoid hi fructose corn syrup. it skrews w/ ur metabolism, give u so many calories, n' makes ur body store it as fat. apparently, aspartame is a very good, nontoxic alternative! from now on, we must check all our fud labels to make sure hi fructose corn syrup is not 1 of the top ingredients!!!! we must get rid of hi fructose corn syrup!!! it's so awful. i tell u, men's health is a really good magazine. :-)
some other magazines i've read lately 4 free r: wired, pc magazine, computer shopper, time, budget living, discover, popular science, popular mechanics, gq, fud n' wine, travel n' leisure... it's kewl to get free magazines! :-)
i'm pretty frustrated that my handspring n' muvo have had so many probs
lately. :-( man, don't i miss the days when i had a decent job n'
could go out n' buy gadgets now n' then? that was the yuppie life,
huh? yappie? have u ever heard'f that term??? "young
asian professional"...
do u know what time it is? it's 1158a on sat. we oughtta get started w/ our day!!! [a li'l later] 1200p: the burdies singing outside, it's so beautiful!!! i c lots'f cute sparrows. the wildflowers r beautiful! not only do we have thousands of li'l white daisies popping up in our backyard, we also have a handful of cali4nia golden poppies! :-) this morn, i had a dream that kaela had a doggy.
[later] 1219p: this journal entry up until here, i typed on my handspring. now i'm on my 'puter. lemme tell u: 1 of the nicest things 'bout my handspring is that i have that targus stowaway keyboard n' can type on it. really, it often does the job of a laptop, u know? if all u wanna do is type a document, u can often get 'way w/ just a palm os based handheld n' a targus stowaway keyboard! this good cos a palm os handheld uses less power than a laptop.
[later] 1239p: joon's kewl cos he signed my gbook. r u kewl?
[later] 204p: i'm so frustrated cos we're still @ home! >:-( i
wanna be outside. i have errands to run, n' i should've gone to the
gym 2day! do u realise how long it's been since i went to the gym?
i'm not happy 'bout that! >:-(
931a: yesterday, the beautiful kaela kang n' i went to watch 2 showings from day #2 of the san francisco asian.american film festival in san jo @ camera 3. well, the day started out really slow, as u may've read from yesterday's entry: "the sekret to long life, happiness, n' prosperity? cut out hi fructose corn syrup! (2003.03.15). in the mid.afternoon, i finally got out of the house, went to fry's, n' bought a few things i need. i came home, n' kaela n' i got ready to go to the movies.
we saw a series of shorts (short films by diff film makers) called crouching asian, hidden cheese. they were mostly pretty funny. then we watched a feature drama called charlotte sometimes. u should check out that movie's website: http://www.charlottesometimesthemovie.com.
'bout the shorts: lemme just borrow from an e.mail i sent out a few mins 'go, since i don't have much time: "the shorts: they varied in quality. i was disappointed w/ movies that still beat on the issue of 'finding ur asian identity.' as i've sed b4, i think that's been done way 2 much already. in this category, there was a short 'miwon,' it was pretty amateurish n' yah, i felt it was all about this 'finding ur asian identity' n' sort'f immature. . . i think the best films were well... prob'ly some of the sillier films: 'how to do the asian squat' n' those japanese culture explanation 1s. both sort'f pretended to be documentaries as a vehicle to amuse the audience."
sorry, since i really don't have much time right now, lemme borrow 'gain from that e.mail to describe the feature charlotte sometimes: "_charlotte_sometimes_ was a pretty good movie, _i_ thought, definitely a character.based movie, as the film maker declared it was. . . charlotte/darcy's character was kind'f confusing. i didn't feel that duality 'cept 4 in the motel scene where u c her next to her reflektion. i gotta admit 1 thing 'bout the sexuality in the movie: by principle, i really like it cos i _do_ believe asian.amerikans need to be portrayed as more sexual n' _in_a_healthy_way_. obviously, we have the whole 'me love u long time,' exotic, sexuality; but movies need to show more asians being sensual n' sexual w/ each other cos it further 'proves' that we r human. it's only human to be sexual. n' so, i want to promote media that further humanises asians; take them out of that exotic, zoo animal realm, n' just shows them as humans but 1s that just have diff n' sometimes separate culture. eric byler (the film maker) was saying that he had a tuff time getting funding cos'f the all.asian cast, that potential sponsors were saying that the characters didn't do nething that really required them to be asian, so he should just make them nonasian. i'm so glad he didn't cos i really want to promote the fakt that yah: sometimes we asians do things that rn't necessarily 'asian,' but just 'human,' but maybe we sometimes do them w/ other asians."
check out the movie's "mission statement": http://www.charlottesometimesthemovie.com/mission.html. i guess the movie just plain set out to do what i just sed i'd like to c asian.amerikan cinema do. it also entertained me that the film maker during the q&a session sed that he used the cure song "charlotte sometimes" cos he feels many asian.ams that grew up in the 80s n' 90s felt sort'f isolated n' ostracised, so they turned to the musik of groups like the cure, the smiths, n' depeche mode as sort'f a way to find com4t, i s'ppose... cos these groups were more the musik of marginalised communities or sumpthin'... ('least in amerika it turned out this way... even tho' these r british groups.) in a way, i guess that "finding ur asian.amerikan identity" issue is just a li'l bit still there, but i just feel movies like charlotte sometimes really show a much more mature n' developed side of asian.amerikan culture.
after the movie, i took kaela to dinner @ kubota. we had sushi. we hadn't eaten much yesterday. btw, yesterday was sat. we ate microwave minipizzas 4 brunch, i s'ppose. then we shared a latte n' a lemon bar @ the movie. after dinner, we were still hungry. X-D we went to ben n' jerry's to get aisukuriimu. i didn't order frozen yogurt but real, full.fat aisukuriimu cos men's health told me to avoid hi fructose corn syrup by ordering aisukuriimu instead of frozen yogurt. later, i thought 'bout it n' concluded that a fine company like b&j prob'ly uses real sugar not hi fructose corn syrup (aka hfcs). oh well.
ok, i have bizzy day 'head of me, i'll talk to u later! :-) til then, please sign my gbook. thanks! :-) i hafta admit, i've been pretty pmsed lately; but i'm trying to be a nice guy. :-/
[later] 1025p: it's not that late, 'specially 4 a 27 yr old guy
like me, but i'm a li'l tired n' 'bout ready to hit the hay or whatever.
2day, kaela n' i went to the monterey bay aquarium w/ ken n' grace.
well, lemme tell u how our day went: 1st, kaela n' i went to the
closest starbucks to get coffee n' tea. kaela ordered a tall nf
latte 4 herself. i ordered a tall nf tazo chai 4 myself n' a grande
caramel macchiato 4 ken. then i drove us to ken n' grace's house.
i parked my car across the street from their house, n' we jumped
into ken's m3. ken drove us to los gatos, where kaela n' grace
looked @ a bridal store. ken n' i took a stroll. we went to
sur la table n' looked @ kitchen stuff. a middle.aged woman asked us
to attend a demo 4 some cooking equipment. i told her i wasn't sure
if we had time. then she asked us if we were single cos they have
singles' cooking classes on evenings. i sed, "no, we're getting
married... uh... not to each other... our fiancées r down the
street..." yah, that must've sounded awkward! btw, u know the
erasure concert kaela n' i r going to on fri? apparently, ken n'
grace r going 2. kewl. well, after we left los gatos, ken
drove us down 85s to 101s. we stopped in gilroy (i almost sed
vacaville!) 4 in.n.out. i got a #3 hamburger meal animal style n' a
cheeseburger animal style 4 kaela. we drank 7up despite how it has
horrible hi fructose corn syrup! ken drove us down to monterey.
it took us a li'l while to find a parking space n' some more to find
a trash can to throw 'way our in.n.out garbage. we had a fun time @
the aquarium. the otters were very cute, of course. i really
like the aquarium. looking @ sea creatures n' the ocean really
relaxes me, i think. man, all the fish n' shellfish looked so
delicious!!! i wanted to eat almost everything! the only
thing i ingested there was a li'l apple.shaped, glass bottle of
watsonville.based martinelli's 100% pure apple juice, which i shared w/
kaela. i really like the waterfowl exhibit n' don't particularly
want to eat those burdies. :-o @ the end of our visit, we
watched a video 'bout being conscientious consumers of seafud: we shouldn't
support irresponsible overfishing but rather consume seafud which is caught
in a manner that doesn't so much adversely affekt the environment.
they gave us a list of seafuds that r ok to eat, 1s to be careful 'bout, n'
1s to avoid. kaela n' i got to pay student price to visit the
aquarium, but geez, it's not that cheap to visit. well, ken drove us
back to san jo 4 dinnertime. @ 1 pt, kaela was asleep in the car, n'
then i fell asleep n' accidentally bonked my head on hers n' woke up.
she didn't wake up but just shifted. ken told me to go 'head
n' take a nap. i sort'f resisted but quickly fell asleep 4 a good
'mount of time. we went to dinner @ the fish market on blossom hill
rd. i had their "world famous" cioppino. kaela had grilled
tilapia, which is on the "good" list. i had sooo much fud!
man, i really feel the fat growing on my body from this past week of
physikal inaktivity! :-( seriously, it's not good. i gotta take
care'f my body. after dinner, we went to ken n' grace's house n'
played w/ their miniature pomeranian mimi. she's very cute.
she's grown a li' but is still very small.
1137a: 2day's mon, st. patrick's day. the big news everywhere is that "the u.s. is on the brink of war." everywhere u go, "brink of war," "brink of war," "brink of war..." this morn, i woke up n' drove to the gym @ a li'l b4 900a. i did 'bout an hr of precor n' saw plenty of news headlines scrolling 'cross the screen 'bout "brink of war" on the tv. i also saw colin powell n' kofi annan plenty. i saw christina aguilera's "dirty" video. i saw last weeks top 10 basketball plays. man, this 1 guy stole the ball from the other team, dribbled down 0.5 the ct, jumped, did a 360 n' slam dunked! that was only like play #10 or sumpthin'. i guess basketball fanatiks r more impressed w/ the plays that sink a ball right @ the buzzer. :-/ personally, i liked that 360 better. heh, can i say, "i'm all 'bout style"? maybe that sounds dorky. well, i did 'bout an hr of precor, stretched 4 a while, did some back sit ups, did some situps or crunches, n' did just a teency weency bit of lifting, just a teency weency bit. uhm, aktually, i think all i did was 3 reps of biceps curls on the machine. i plan to hit the gym 'gain 2nite, i think. well, after th gym, i came straight home. it was like 1100a or so, since i had to take some time to take a shower @ the gym. man! when i got to my locker in the locker room, there was a friggin' cockroach on the bench in front of my locker. i killed it w/ my shower sandal, but man! that's gross! why r there roaches in the locker room?! i thought roaches just liked dirty kitchens. :-(
it's pretty certain bush's troops'll go to war. dubyah sed he's
giving saddam 72 hrs to leave iraq, but eh, i don't c how that'd be an
option 4 saddam. so here we go 'gain, 'nother war. *sigh* on
my drive into the gym, i was thinking: back @ jeff's tahoe cabin on the absolute dragons
snowtrip, i saw andy play some video game w/ some other ppl. i 4get
what it was called... time sliders? time loopers? time
killers? time wasters? it wasn't time cops, but it was a
game where u went back in time n' *shrug* penetrated military bases or
sumpthin'. neway, i saw andy n' the other player kill lots'f those
pawn guards that u always c in video games n' movies. what is it
like to be 1 of these pawns that get killed off so easily?! isn't
life so dang meaningless in that case? u never get to have a full
life, raise a family... that's the possible fate 4 so many soldiers
n' gang members, u know? u get sent out to do some1 else's dirty
werk n' get shot n' killed on the 1st day on the job. i feel like i
wasn't born to be a pawn. is this nietzsche's superman? or is
that sumpthin' else? on my drive to the gym, i was driving on
branham ln n' saw there's a street called "new compton drive." why
wouldju name a street "new compton" when u know compton's so famous 4
streetgangs? maybe a bunch'f compton gangstas immigrated up to
norcal n' settled in that neighbourhood n' named it "new compton."
heh, i guess i'm just kidding.
[later] 1256p: ken invited us over 4 dinner, so i guess i won't
get to hit the gym a 2nd time 2day. oh well. i'll hafta wait
till 2morrow morn.
1127a: i'm waiting 4 the shuttle bus to campus on a sunny, sunny, breezy tues late morn. i made a super.super.quick visit to the gym this morn. it's impossible to find gas cheaper than $2/gallon, n' the news channels talk 'bout the upcoming war like a futbol pregame show. (that's amerikan futbol, not soccer.)
[later] 1223p: 2day's a li'l bit'f a frustrating day so far. i rushed to campus to meet w/ 1 lab group, but the guys sort'f cancelled that mtg. well, i had 'nother lab group mtg @ 1230p, but that got pushed back to 100p. i have other things to take care of. :-(
[much later] 1118p: i got my "mechatronics" test back 2nite. i aktually did ok. woohoo! man, i just spent like $250 on mechatronics parts... i dunno if these parts'll be 4 my class projekt, 4 my masters thesis projekt, or 4 what... i just figured it's 'bout time i started tinkering w/ things @ home. crazy, crazy, crazy.
2nite, i missed taekwondo practice cos i got out of class kind'f late n' had to take the shuttle bus back to my car. the beautiful kaela kang also missed practice cos she lost track of time while shopping 4 wedding things @ michael's. instead'f going to practice, i went to fry's. yah, that's where i bought some mechatronics parts, but i also had to do an exchange'f sorts there cos ('member?) my muvo broke 'gain. well, i had to exchange a part of it, but aktually, i'm not sure if it's that part or sumpthin' else. i think maybe when my muvo breaks (i hope it doesn't break 'gain), i need to format the memory n' reload all the mp3s. maybe that's the trick. *shrug* well, i switched out the part neway. i also bought a few other things... including a cheap laser pointer 4 our "precision machine design" presentation on thurs 'bout microtomes.
man, what a day 2day. i felt pretty groggy. i wish i had hit the gym earlier. *sigh* my group 4 the "precision machine design" presentation got some werk done when we went over to brian's apt after lunch. 4 lunch, i grabbed a salsa chicken chiquita burrito from the cafeteria. i found out i can get a "spartan value meal" n' get that burrito, chips n' salsa, n' a large soda 4 $3.69. i didn't know that b4. 4 soda, i had diet pepsi cos i'm so 'gainst hi fructose corn syrup right now.
well, i don't wanna stay up 2late 2nite. i wanna wake up early
2morrow n' hit the gym. i gotta werk on my "computer aided
mechanical design" projekt w/ that lab group n' on the "precision machine
design" presentation w/ the other group. thurs, we have our
presentation. fri, kaela n' i'll go to sf n' watch erasure in
concert. toby sed we can spend the nite over @ his place cos we
wanna go to the uc open taekwondo tournament on sat. 
crazy, huh? eh, not that crazy. next week is
spring break!!!
why don't i have a job yet?! i heard applied materials is laying off lots'f werkers soon. :-( does that mean they rn't hiring? i was telling my "computer aided mechanical design" lab partner how we gotta take our job hunt in stride: the problem is that we go in spurts; hunt like crazy 4 1 month n' then get burnt out. we gotta pace ourselves out.
i'm pretty disappointed that we missed taekwondo practice 2nite. i really need to practice taekwondo. :-( 2morrow morn, i gotta go to the gym.
i talk 'bout some really nerdy stuff on this journal when i'm talkin'
'bout my skool stuff, huh? 
i'm gonna be fiddling w/ the parallax basic
stamp 2sx controller. that's what i spent a bunch'f $$$ on 2day...
well, that n' some other things.
what i'm listening to these days: 환상의 가요 리믹스 (hwansanguy gayo remix), a 4 disc set.
there r only 2 interesting personalities in amerikan pop culture right
now: yao ming n' jin tha mc. i saw jin tha mc on mtv this morn @
the gym. he's the chinese.amerikan rapper that got every1's
attention last yr by winning all the freestyle rap battles. i think
he has an album out now or sumpthin'.
1024a: i wish i weren't still @ home. this morn, i woke up ready to go to the gym but then realised that i had a bunch'f werk to do 4 our "precision machine design" presentation on microtomes. i 4got that i told the guys that i'd resize, edit, n' label all the pictures. last nite, i was 2 bizzy trying to find info 'bout my former company resolution sciences, which werked w/ microtomes. it's much harder to find info 'bout the company cos it's now defunct. :-(
well, i hope i can go to the gym as soon as this cdrom of microtome pics finishes burning. i wanna werk out. then i'll go to campus n' meet w/ my "computer aided mechanical design" projekt group. shoot, i really gotta get out'f here! this morning really started out slow cos'f the microtome pics.
earlier, i was thinking how it'll soon be "wartime" 4 the u.s. maybe we'll hear phrases such as "wartime economy"? like when studying history, u hear often hear "wartime" in reference to ww2 since ww2 was such a popular war. were there anti.war protests b4 ww2? obviously, there were anti.war protests 'gainst vietnam, n' there's anti.war protests 4 this upcoming war.
2day's andy
wang's b.day. happy b.day, andy. u know that andy drew
the art 4 benomix4집, right? 
yesterday, a macy's ad came in the mail 4 the beautiful kaela kang.
i saw that it advertised lots'f spring fashion. crazy, crazy, crazy.
it really will be spring pretty soon. in fakt, we'll be
springing our clocks 4ward an hr very soon, 2 soon. well, that'll
mean we'll have more daylite in the evening, right? *sigh* crazy,
crazy, crazy. while thumbin' thru the macy's ad i was reminded that
maybe i could tell ppl that we have a wedding registry @ macy's.
s'pposedly it's really tacky to tell ur guests that, but eh! i figure it
helps every1.
323p: i'm in the sjsu library's 'puter lab. no time to type!
i have my "precision machine design" presentation in like 0.5hr.
i just wanted to say that 2day's the beautiful kaela kang's
n' my 38th monthversary. :-) i'm very happy she's stuck w/ me n'
that we're getting married.
1042a: it's fri morn. yesterday was thurs, of course. i'm sitting @ the kitchen table typing on my handspring. 'member: a handspring is more energy.efficient than a 'puter, so when i just hafta type, i might as well use my handspring, right? 2nite's the big erasure concert in sf. right now we have war in this world. dubyah's troops r @ war w/ iraq. *sigh* u know how i feel 'bout it now? i really hate war n' don't like this war or the reasons we're having this war. however, @ this pt, i just want them to get it over w/ as fast as possible. just get it over w/! >:-( erasure: i think in england, they pronounce it like... let's say u take an eraser n' erase sumpthin'; then u'd have an "erasure." in amerika, ppl tend to say "erazure." *shrug* since amerikans brainwash well, i've been accustomed to saying "erazure." this morn, i woke up early n' went to the gym n' came home. last nite, i went to the cheesecake faktory w/ brian n' dave after finishing our "precision machine design" microtomes presentation. well, after that presentation, we had lekture 4 our "mechatronics" class. an m.i.t. professor came to talk 'bout "binary mechatronics n' future space robots." after that, we went out. i text msged the beautiful kaela kang n' told her to join us after her class, but she didn't get the msg :-o our neighbour's li'l white doggy just ran past our backyard sliding door! since the fences got knocked down by storms, they sometimes go thru our backyard. kaela sez she saw the big, brown doggy run by the sliding door a coupl'f days 'go. i 4get; lately, i've had thoughts in my head that i wanna write in my journal, but i've been 2 bizzy to write.
[later] 1158a: i'm just trying to figure out where to park n' if we should take some publik transportation to get to the concert cos i don't wanna get stuck cos'f the anti.war protests. hrm, should i call them "anti.war" or "pro.peace"? "pro.peace" sounds better. i'm not 'gainst these protesters cos i don't support the war, but *sigh* i think it's pretty futile. we sort'f gotta accept that we live in a diktatorship n' if we protest dubyah's war, we'll get thrown in jail. heh... is that a good way to put it? *shrug* i feel pretty ashamed that right after the tv showed anti.war protests in sf, it showed "support our troops" rallies in san jo. *sigh* r they trying to portray san jo as the conservative, wholesome amerikans?! grrr! well, they did mention that there were anti.war protesters near the "support our troops" ppl... but they didn't talk 'bout it much. as u can c, i don't feel all that much 4 "supporting" "our" troops. sure, i hope no1 i know in the military gets killed; that's obvious... n' i do know ppl n' have friends in the u.s. military. geez, "some friend i am," it sounds like, huh? well, i really want them to live, n' i'll support them... but i just don't feel the whole "support our troops" craze... u know? sorry, but the fakt that we r @ war... it's serious... not just a matter of cheering 4 our team... altho' dang! while i was @ the gym n' watching the news, man! the news does quite a good job of providing sports.coverage.like play.by.play aktion! it's great! it's like, "i just wanna c stuff blow up!" maybe there r guys who'll get 2gether 2nite, get a keg, n' watch the war. as i sed, i just them to get it over w/! since there's no stopping it, just get it over w/ fast! >:-(
k, i wanna give u all the details 'bout all the fud i've eaten lately n' all that stuff, but i don't have time. i'll hafta get back to u on that. 2nite's the erasure concert. 2morrow's the uc open. oh yah, as of yesterday evening, it's now spring break!!!!! i guess i'll fiddle w/ my new basic stamp microcontroller kit a li'l over spring break. i hope we can go snowboarding some. we'll c. i told kaela earlier 2day, when i wake up in the morns these days, it's so brite outside. pretty soon, we'll be springing our clocks 4ward. that'll make the war 1 hr shorter. ha ha ha. X-D
[later] 6.48 pm: i'm sittin' on the floor, maybe 6 ft from the stage of
the bill graham civic auditorium, waiting 4 erasure.
818p: i had waaay 2 much caffeine thru.out the day 2day. this morn, toby gave me a cup of coffee. @ dimsum, i drank plenty of tea. @ the uc open, 심사범님 (shim sabuhmnim) bought me a cup of coffee. 2 much caffeine! now, @ home in san jo, i feel caffeine crash. :-(
1 thing i've been wanting to talk 'bout 4 sooo long here on my
journal is a coupl'f car commercials. 1st off, how do u like that
mitsubishi outlander commercial where the young afrikan.amerikan fellow
drives 'round thru diff eras of his life while télépopmusik's "breathe"
plays in the background. i feel that guy in the commercial is me,
driving 'round in my forester. my forester's been w/ me for a few
phases of my life in the past few yrs, n' i feel it'll c me thru many more
phases of my life. in the commercial, the guy starts off as a single
guy. he meets many interesting friends, drive them 'round town, goes
clubbing w/ them, goes to concerts w/ them, this n' that. then he
gets a gf. he takes her on dates. then he marries her.
then they h ave kids. then he drives a fuzzy, jumbo teddy bear
'round... i can picture my life like that, u know... however,
un4tunately 4 mitsubishi, i don't need to buy their car. the 2nd car
commercial i wanna talk 'bout is the latest saturn ion commercial w/
pachelbel's canon in d n' all the couples getting married. u know
the series of commercials: it started off w/ childhood, then the prom, now
they're up to marriage. well, u know that i can relate to the
wedding commercial cos i'm getting married. life, u know? i'm
living life.
speaking of weddings, i'm wondering what i'll say 4 a best man's toast 4 ken. :-/ i've definitely had ideas, but i still gotta think more.
so how's life been? me? uh, ok, i had a bizzy week w/ my presentation n' all. on thurs nite, i went out to the cheesecake faktory w/ dave n' brian. i had the uh... chinolatina chicken 4 dinner. since beautiful kaela kang couldn't make it (cos she didn't get the txt msg), i brought home 0.5 my entrée n' a slice of kahlua coffee cocoa cheesecake. that's how we spent our monthversary.
however, on fri, i took her to the erasure concert. i had planned that to be more'f an monthversary event. we didn't leave san jo till later than i expekted, not till the early afternoon, i guess. we ate some leftover fud @ home 4 brunch. oh yah, i went to the gym early on fri morn, as i sed b4. we went to sf. yah, there was lots'f protesting. i went to gingiss formalwear to get back a $10 depo$it i gave to them @ that not.so.great bridal expo back in 2002. (please refer to "bridal expo" on april 21, 2003.) that gingiss formalwear was on sutter street. the block was blocked off by buses full of cops waiting to break up protests. it was pretty crazy! i took some pics of the cops lined up by the crocker galleria. well, the gurl werking @ gingiss sed she couldn't give me a refund cos only her manager can do that. *roll eyes* typikal bureaucracy! i expekted they'll make it hard 4 me cos i know now that those bridal expos r full of scoundrels waiting to snatch up $$$ from innocent, young couples. >:-( neway, since the road was blocked, i pulled over into a loading zone space. i told kaela to wait in the car, cos even tho' there was protests going on, i really worried 'bout leaving my car parked illegally in front of hundreds of uniformed cops. :-/ i guess i was being silly, but *sigh* really! wouldn't that make u nervous? well, when i got back to the car, kaela was gone cos she went to buy coffee n' a cookie from briazz. the blockade disappeared 'bout the time kaela got back. we drove to the bill graham civic auditorium. it was 'bout 400p by then. we saw that there was only a small line'f ppl waiting 4 the erasure concert. since it was pretty early, i decided we could scout 4 some fud. we went to an early dinner @ cpk (california pizza kitchen) on van ness. i ordered the jambalaya pasta, n' kaela ordered the tricoloré salad pizza. it was good. well, 'round 500p, i parked my car in the civic center garage, n' we got in line. i was a li'l surprised that the ppl lined up were almost mostly asians. i dunno... i guess i should've expekted that, but *shrug* i dunno why i simply expekted a diff crowd. i guess it's just that i'd never been to an erasure concert b4, n' the erasure crowd is slightly diff from the depeche mode crowd, a li'l more diff from the cure crowd, still a bit more diff from the nine inch nails crowd, n' pretty diff from the green day or juliana hatfield 3 or lollapalooza or primus crowds... heh... yah, the erasure crowd consists of mostly pretty "clean.cut" ppl, definitely not so much "rockers." well, while we were in line, the peace protest marched past us 2ice n' the cops chased them. it was a racially diverse protest crowd. u just know i'm gonna make a dumb comment like "there were lots'f asian.amerikans protestors" or sumpthin' like that, n' yah, there were. heh, i know it sounds pretty stoopid that i'd comment on that... but *shrug* u know me, i just gotta keep track of asian.amerikan issues, etc. well, the doors opened to the auditorium @ a li'l b4 700p. nuts! kaela had run to the car to put 'way her vogue magazine. well, she came back n' the sekurity guards were nice 'nuff to let her cut back in line right as i was entering the door. well, yah, we got to be very close to the front n' center. we waited quite a while 4 the concert. ken n' grace came n' joined us. we saw the opening act: "cooler kids." they were interesting; 3 nyc (new york city) teenagers (maybe a li'l older but not much) prancing 'round while sort'f per4ming 80sish pop. there was a big break btwn the cooler kids n' erasure which was oddly filled by some old radio drama. *shrug* the audience got pretty restless. well, the erasure show started 'bout 900p, i think. vince clarke came out in a shiny tuxedo.like suit. andy bell came out in a victorian, black dress. they had 2 female backup singers. it wasn't the big, big produktion that i heard the abbaesque tour was, but it was very entertaining. the set was a victorian parlour w/ a framed mirror that was aktually a widescreen tv that showed random artistic clips including shots of a greyhoundish dog sniffing the camera lens during "always." they started w/ some newer songs, which many ppl in the audience including me weren't all that familiar w/. they moved in to older stuff which so many'f us loved, stuff from chorus, crackers international, wild, the innocents, circus... n' of course they played "oh l'amour" from wonderland, their original big hit... uh, hrm... wasn't that their 1st hit? or was "who needs love like that?" 1st? well, neway, "oh l'amour"'s their most famous track ever neway... i realised that many of their ballads r kind'f depressing like "ship of fools." when i'm depressed, i sometimes think 'bout the lyrics "why is life so precious n' so cruel?" oh, heh... of course, they played their current hit cover of peter gabriel's "solsbury hill." apparently, their latest album other people's music also has covers of elvis presley's "can't help falling in love" n' the righteous brothers' "you've lost that loving feeling." some other songs i 'member them playing include: "sometimes," "victim of love," "breath of life," "chorus," "love to hate you," "piano song," "chains of love," "a little respect," "piano song," "blue savannah son"... hrm... there were more, of course. they had 2 sets n' a 2 song encore. during the 2nd set, they wore suits made of fabric that had the fox racing logo all over it. interesting. since we were so close, my neck got a li'l strained from looking up the whole time. oh yah, while waiting 4 the show to start, kaela got us some earplugs from the rock medics n' a bottle'f h2o. that was good. even tho' i've put my ears thru 'lot from all the concerts, elektric guitar playing, n' djing; i guess i've gotta take care'f my body more now. :-/
well, we got to toby's 'round midnite, i guess... no, maybe a li'l earlier... b4 going to toby's, we stopped by party safeway on college ave. n' picked up a 6.pack of pyramid hefeweizen n' some trident white gum. @ toby's, toby, betty, kaela, n' i talked n' watched galaxyquest.
this morn, we woke up b4 900a. i guess, we woke up @ 830a.
we all had to shower. then we went to dimsum @ hong kong east ocean
in emeryville w/ betty's friend betty... betty cho (instead'f betty yeh).
it was such good fud n' so much'f it. the view was beuatiful!
after dimsum, we dropped toby off w/ his tutee (the young teenager
he tutors). then we went to the ucopen. :-) we watched 4 a
while. it was 'bout lunchtime now, but we were so full from dimsum,
of course. we sat w/ the u.s. taekwondo academy ppl 4 a while. jason lee
showed up n' hung out w/ us. he was interested in cing some
taekwondo. kaela helped the 2 u.s. taekwondo academy students warm
up. then we watched 1'f them reggie win 1 match. then we went
to ref. it was pretty fun to ref, i guess. this was the 1st
time i reffed (how do u spell the past tense of the verb "referee"?) w/ the
new rules. there r just a few small changes. it was fun to
talk to so many'f our old friends! :-) *sigh* i do really
miss berkeley ppl!!! the tournament was
much smaller this yr than most yrs. the wurd was that it was cos
there were no paper applikations, only on.line applikations. yah,
many parents these days still rn't used to using the internet to register
their kids 4 taekwondo tournaments, n' tournaments like the uc open usually
have sooo many youth competitors! oh well... i think
the tournament ran very smoothly, n' it ended much earlier than it
usually does. well, kaela n' i wanted to stick 'round to party w/
every1, but we were tired n' came home to san jo. i'm really sleepy.
:-(
724a: a few mins 'go, i woke up from a bad, bad dream. i dreamt that the beautiful kaela kang n' i were gonna go on a trip w/ the absolute dragons dragonboat team to disneyland. well, heh... of course, that was the good part'f the dream. in my dream, the war was on, as it is... unless the war ended while i slept last nite. in my dream, i was getting ready to go meet up w/ the absolute dragons ppl to go on the trip. then i found out that terrorists had messed 'round w/ some system that navigates passenger airplanes, so airplanes were crashing all over the country. i heard that a plane flew into a hi skool. i then found out that the plane n' hi skool incident happened in l.a., n' that it was an isolated incident... but the country was still panicked. i drove over to a condo that, in my dream, jeff wang owned right along the runway of the san josé airport. i 'member, i was trying to find kaela but couldn't reach her on the fon n' couldn't find her. i went home. i think my mom was home. i started giving myself a haircut but wasn't doing 2 well. then kaela came home. she was able to fix my haircut, n' i was just plain so happy to c her. :-)
what a dream, eh? well, as u c, i woke up pretty early 2day. i wanna go to the gym. originally, i was thinking of going a li'l later in the morn, hoping kaela'll go w/ me. however, i know she's not feeling 2 good, n' it's better that 'least 1'f us go than if both'f us don't go. :-/ last nite, we ate a 비빔밥 (bibimbap) that i salvaged from the uc open tournament's v.i.p. room when sung, clarence, n' i were cleaning it. well, sung, clarence, n' this other dude, they knew what they were doing. i tried to help but didn't know what to do, so ended up mostly standing 'round eating tangerines. well, i'm so glad we got to go to the tournament n' hang out w/ ol' berkeley friends! i'm so happy. :-)
[later] 903a: a while 'go, i was telling kaela 'bout hrm... a philosophy
i have... which isn't even much of a deep thought... n' i dunno why i say
it's a "philosophy." :-/ let's just call it "a thought."
neway, i was telling kaela 'bout a thought i have. there r 3 kinds of burdies: 1) burdies that r always
2gether w/ a big flock (like sparrows, coots, sometimes pigeons, blackburds, seagulls), 2) burdies that hang out by
themselves (like most burdies of prey, maybe blueburds...), n' 3) burdies that r always in pairs
(like geese, ducks, n' some other water fowl). 
[later] 953p: yesterday nite, kaela n' i watched ymca 야구단
(ymca soccer team) on dvd @ home.
1229p: i've been awake n' active since 730a. 2day's mon, the 1st
weekday of spring break. isn't it nice to know i'm produktive during
spring break? :-) what have i done? uh, well, i caught up on some
e.mails i needed to respond to. i opened my basic stamp2sx
microcontroller n' started reading the manual. i polished my shoes.
well, when i was polishing my shoes, i dropped a li'l shoe polish on
the hardwood floor. nuts! i panicked. i tried to clean it up
w/ mop n' glo. it sort'f came out. then i went to the
garage n' got the goo gone that i use as snowboard base cleaner. i
prayed that it would get everything out. woohoo! it did!!!
goo gone is so kewl! i used it to clean off the grease from the
uh... the hood above the stove? what do u call it? i wanted
to call it a fume hood right now, but that's whatchu call the thing in the
chemistry lab... well, u know... the fan hood overhang thingy... i
cleaned off all the grease from it. goo gone is so kewl!
basically, it's citrus oil cleaner.
yesterday, when i went to the gym, i kind'f uh... pulled my left pec muscle. it's strained. i put an ice pack on it this morn. i was lifting 135lb on the barbell cos well... i usually use the bench press machine, but guys feel the pressure to use the free weights cos *shrug* that's what guys do. *roll eyes* well, i was lifting fine, but then i felt a bit of a pop in my muscle. ugh. :-( it's not really bad, but it still hurts... basically, i must've just pulled the muscle. geez... i feel like i'm old or sumpthin'... my back... my joints... my muscles... ugh. i'm not old! >:-(
man, when i left the gym yesterday afternoon, the antenna fell off my
v60c. 
i gotta go into ken's store 2day to get a replacement fon, a
loaner (i guess) until i can send my fon in 4 warranty repair n' get it back.
yesterday evening, the beautiful kaela kang n' i did a li'l acting to help jason w/ his film class homewerk. heh, we've gotta werk on our acting a bit. <:-/ well... we'll c. heh... neway, b4 we did the filming @ ken n' grace's house, jason, kaela, n' i ate dinner @ florentine's pasta shop. we had a pretty good dinner. they had this dinner special, a dinner 4 4 ppl... well, there were only 3'f us so we had plenty of leftovers. the dinner included fried calamari, a medium cheese pizza, n' clam linguine. it was a pretty good price 2. neway, we ate so much. as a film prop, i bought some salad from safeway. kaela n' i really liked the spinach salad.
oh yah, this morn, i saw this burdy n' squirrel fight in my backyard.
i think they were fighting over red
berries. *shrug*
1006a: wow, this is turning out to be a very uneventful spring break, eh? heh... X-D u expekted better of me? *shrug* oh well... well, i woke up this morn 'round 630a, but i fell back asleep. 2day, i'd like to go to the post office, go to the gym, n' go to the tux shop. sound good? we'll c. oh, n' 2nite, i'd better go to taekwondo practice; no excuses!!! >:-( antonia, thanks 4 signing my gbook! u r kewl. this morn, i sort'f had a dream. i 4get it tho'. i know i was in a job fair @ the end, but it was a really bad job fair, n' i got there as it was closing. i think the beginning of the dream had more to do w/ skool or sumpthin'. :-/ hrm, maybe i should eat some leftover pizza 4 breakfast. pizza n' grapes maybe? [a li'l later] 1021a: ok, i ate a slice of pizza n' some grapes. :-) [later] 1033a: i'm looking into some wedding ceremony musik stuff. [later] 1103a: i wish i weren't still @ home. :-(
so what's been going on? yesterday, was a beautiful spring day
here in san jo. :-) uhm, lessee; the beautiful kaela kang n' i
went to the gym, werked out 4 a while. then we headed over to
milpitas to ken's store. i needed to get a loaner fon while i have
my fon fixed. i mentioned that yesterday. i bought a 32 oz.
"energizer" smoothie from the gym's pro.shop b4 we left. b4 we got
to ken's store, we stopped by huong lan vietnamese sandwich shop in
milpitas to get some'f those tasty vietnamese sandwiches. i bought a
bbq chicken sandwich $ $1.50, but i'm not so sure it was chicken; it looked
more like pork. *shrug* kaela had some uh... rice flour dumpling things
filled w/ meat n' uh... shrooms, i think. *shrug* we also got some boba
drinks. :-) i hung out @ ken's 4 a while. kaela went to officemax
to get supplies 4 wedding invitations. after we left ken's store, we
went to officemax closer to our house. then we went to michael's.
then we went to office depot. there, we ran into bernard huang.
then we came home, ate leftovers from florentine's n' some orange
roughy my mom made n' some costco potato salad n' grapes. i was
pretty tired. we watched the miss usa pageant, but i was so
sleepy i barely watched it. u know, i think the miss usa contestants
r better looking than the miss amerika contestants. do u think so?
still, some r rather unattraktive, i think... like, i don't
think miss alabama should've been the 1st runner up. i don't think
she's all that. ugh, texas sed the stoopidest thing; she sed it's
wrong 4 hollywood stars to protest the war cos we should support the
president. *roll eyes* she got all the lame-os in the audience to cheer cos
the pageant was in frickin' san antonio, texas. whatever!
is the situation w/ the war nething near what it was like w/ the vietnam
war n' peace protests in the 60s??? i wonder; i really wonder.
is it @ all similar? me, i just haven't felt all that
enthusiastic about nething as far as the war. as u know, i
don't love it. heh... that's a nonstatement, isn't it? X-D
like, i don't feel that compelled to join the peace protests n' get
arrested; @ the same time, i don't have all that many great, so.called
patriotic, militaristic feelings. i don't feel all that moved by the
"support our troops" movement. i definitely do not like
dubyah; never did, never will. i get sort'f excited in that
stoopid, li'l 8 yr old way when i c footage of explosions on tv.
it's like playing star wars action figures, u know? ...or
transformers. like, if i really think 'bout the politics, i don't
like the war 1 bit. if i think like a stoopid, li'l 8 yr old, i like
cing explosions. heh. well, let's say i were more'f an anarchist.
then i'd say i want both sides to totally kill each other n' have
maximum death, maximum carnage. i don't think i really feel that,
i'm just saying if i were more of an anarchist or whatever. i
sort'f wish dubyah'd just flat out say this whole war is 4 the u.s.'s
benefit, that we're just fighting 4 cheaper oil. i mean, hey! i
don't like paying over $2/gal 4 gas! >:-( would i support the war
then? well, no... but i'd feel that we'd be a more honest
country if that were the msg. sometimes i c signs that say "it's all
about oil! israel!" i'm not a very politically
savvy guy. in fakt, i'm pretty stoopid, so i don't really understand
what the whole israel stuff is about or palestine. well, maybe i'll
find some answers @ "the arab-israeli conflict: a brief history" a site i
found on ask.com. well, it's a pretty nice site, but i didn't get to
read it in depth yet cos *sigh* i have other things to take care'f, i
guess. :-(
[later] 1226p: i ate 'nother slice of leftover pizza, the last 1. i also ate some potato salad n' grapes. i made some chicken noodle soup from a can 4 kaela.
even tho' the asian.am film fest came n' went, there is still asian.am cinema to watch: check out this article about better luck tomorrow on the koream journal website.
[later] 443p: "better luck tomorrow," that's how i feel right now.
i'm @ home. i did go out 4 a brief moment; i went to
the post office to buy stamps n' send off some mail. then i came
home. i feel so unproduktive 2day. u read what my goals 4
2day were, n' all i did so far was go to the post office. :-/ it's
445p now. i'm not happy 'bout that @ all. i just tell myself,
"better luck tomorrow." geez... i woke up @ 630a this morn. i
should've just driven off to the gym 2 that pt; i really should've.
757a: hey, i woke up pretty early 2day. all the things i didn't do yesterday, i wanna do 2day. :-) i really wanna have a produktive day 2day. i am not a shut.in! >:-( yesterday, i was thinking, from my last credit card bill, it appears that i've managed to cut down spending a li'l lately. well, i already knew since we moved to san jo n' in w/ my mom, i stopped spending on rent... but my credit card bill still stayed higher than i would've expekted. i mean, i haven't had ne real werk since well... maybe last spring... i mean, this past summer i had some werk, but it really wasn't much, now that i look back. so yah... considering that i didn't have a steady paycheck, i was definitely spending 2 much. this past fall, i thought i cut back on spending; but i still spent a bit more than expected on going out to dinner n' lunch. then i 'gain thought i cut back on spending but then christmas, anniversary, n' valentines came n' went. those required $$$, u know? also, snowtrips co$t a li'l $$$. well, in the month'f march, i guess i aktually managed to cut down a li'l on spending! :-) however, w/ the wedding coming up, i'll be dropping more n' more bills. like, when i bought our wedding insurance (yah, they aktually have wedding insurance these days...), i dropped a whole bunch'f $$$. when i bought my basic stamp microcontroller n' all those elektronic parts 4 edukation's sake, i dropped a li'l $$$. i haven't done nething like clothes shopping in ages, n' that's a good thing 4 me.
in the car, i've been listening to 환상의 가요 리믹스 (hwansanguy gayo remix). it's a 4 disc set that has songs from as early as 1995 (or earlier) to near present. some of the older songs remind me of the 1st times i went dancing @ korean clubs. back then, the sf korean niteclub was cairo, which was located where nv is now. a coupl'f the most memorable songs from those nites r clon's "꿍따리 샤바라" ("ggoongddari syabara") n' dj doc's "여름 이야기" ("yuhreum iyagi"). back then, ken's exroommate was the ksa president, so we'd sometimes get to go to the club on ksa party nites 4 a free or sumpthin'. i 'member back in 1999, i was driving jerome, efren, n' karuna to the western taekwondo collegiate championships weigh.ins, the nite b4 the tournament. i had some korean 가요 ("kpop") playing in the car, n' karuna remarked, "my friend told me that korean musik is still stuck in the 80s. they're still in that "wake me up before you go go" wham! era." yah, in a way, he was right. groups like sechskies put on really whamish songs! also, so many female vocalists have that laura brannigan. r u kids old 'nuff to 'member laura brannigan?! she had a song uh... i guess it was called "self.control." i guess she had some other decently well.known danceable songs in the 80s. i guess she was sort'f a club diva back then, sort'f. also, lots'f korean male vocalists have that rick astley sound. u kids old 'nuff to 'member him?!?! he was popular when i was in middle skool... 'round 1987 or so... he had a hit song "together forever" n' 'nother "never gonna give you up." he had others, i guess. neway, geez! these r really 80sish singers! X-D however, korean musik has much more variety of sounds than that. i'm just pting out a coupl'f ways some somewhat recent korean pop musik does sound kind'f 80sish. aktually, many'f these artists tend to borrow from the 80s europop / sythpop tradition, u know? u got some songs that have more'f that depeche mode or erasure sound. heh, on a unrelated note, i 'member driving from weigh.ins that nite to dinner @ a korean restaurant in hayward that linda picked out. efren was so annoyed w/ some of the remarks from uh... some1 in that car that he was off kicking dumpsters. ha, all that from a coupl'f car rides! heh, u had to be there.
well, it's spring break. what's gonna happen? u c, since i didn't go to taekwondo @ all last week, i feel pretty obligated to go both tues n' thurs this week. 2nite, the beautiful kaela kang has her real estate class. i told her we should go watch a movie either b4 or after her class @ the amc mercado 20 cos we get free popcorn on weds cos'f our moviewatchers cards. :-) neway, cos'f these things we gotta do this week, we can't make a long midweek snowtrip or nething. :-( we're thinking of going to northstar 4 a daytrip on fri. we'll c. if we're gonna do that, kaela's gotta wake up early.
[later] 903a: i wrote up a martial arts equipment order 4 mark n' this kid paul. i'll try to fax it in 2day. last nite, i was looking 4 jobs. i submitted an application to 1 recruiter (headhunter) 4 an unspecified aerospace company. i got back a reply this morning that sed: "Looks good, I will do what I can" :-/ i often get nice wurds from recruiters, but i still don't have a job. it would be nice if i really could get this job. *shrug* well... i'd like to go to the gym this morn. i'll go 2ice 2day if i have to. i wanna buy some kind'f plastic bin box to keep my electronic parts in. if all goes right 2day, i'll go to the tux store. hrm, i wonder if ken or nelson'd wanna go w/ me. *shrug* [later] 925a: dangit, i gotta get out'f here!
[later] 756p: so i reserved my tux 4 the wedding. heh, it feels good to be making progress 2ward the wedding, pretty exciting, i guess. :-) @ oakridge mall, in sears, after doing the tux biz, i bought a divided bin box 4 my elektronik / mechatronic parts. :-) oh, i also bought a pair'f wire cutters. the tux group rental package gave me a free 2 nite hotel stay @ the worldwide travel center. man, now we have 3 vacations to take, since we got 2 other vacations from buying that royal prestige cookware way back then. well, we should use these vacation certificates someday.
so this morn, i went to the gym. i did some precor, stretching, n' a li'l lifting. i did lots'f crunches n' stuff like that. btw, 2day's wed. did i mention that already? after my werkout n' shower, i went to my mom's office so she could help me do my taxes, since i'm shamefully clueless 'bout these things. i faxed n' called gingiss formalwear n' got my $10 back. i faxed in the martial arts equipment order 4 mark n' paul. i went back home 4 lunch. i was starving but didn't want to waste $$$ on buying some fast fud. [a li'l later] 827p: my calves r a li'l sore. hrm, is that cos we went to taekwondo last nite or cos'f the gym this morn. *shrug*
[later] 1045p: now i'm home typing on my home 'puter. earlier, i
was writing on my handspring , while in
kaela's real estate class. it went later than i expekted. i
was sleepier than i expekted to be. we were s'pposed to go watch
cradle 2 the grave after her class; but it was late, n' i was tired.
we drove 2wards home, hungry. we stopped by a j.box
drive.thru in willow glen. i ordered a chipotle chicken sandwich
meal w/ curly fries. kaela got the 5 chicken breast pieces w/
frank's red hot sauce. it was a good lite dinner,
i s'ppose. well, now we're home. i sorted my elektronic parts
into bins in the box. geez, spring break is flying by fast!!! 2 fast!
ppl signed my gbook! ken, grace, n' pk r such kewl ppl! :-)
well, i wonder what i'll do 2morrow. @ nite, i'll go to taekwondo sparring practice. during the day? i s'ppose i'll hit the gym 'least 1nce, if not 2ice. it's just that i can imagine i could go 1nce b4 kaela wakes up n' 'gain w/ her. *shrug* maybe i'll werk on more of my personal mechatronics projekts. *shrug* here, here's a pic of me w/ my basic stamp "board of education" kit:
1 prob w/ late nite drive.thru fast fud is that u often don't c whatchu'r eating, n' i feel it might taste better if i saw it. :-/
:-) i may have found us some musicians 4 our wedding ceremony! :-)
1017a: i wish i weren't still @ home but already @ the gym werking out. geez, what a spring break, huh? i feel that i'm spending my spring break doing more like random tasks n' errands than wild spring break partying. however, that's just the way life goes cos i'm not a 20 yr old undergrad or nething. spring break? ha! that's 4 kids. i'm not a kid; i'm an adult! well, i hope i go to the gym 2day. my ideal plan's to go to the gym asap (hopefully, w/ the beautiful kaela kang), go to lunch, uh... do other stuff 4 the rest'f the day, n' go to taekwondo sparring class in the evening. kaela sed she wants to do a daytrip to tahoe 2morrow, but i'm not so sure she can wake up cos she's been going to sleep n' waking up so late. :-( we'll c. i wanna remindju always to check my previous entries in case i added stuff @ the end. like, yesterday, i ended up adding a whole bunch'f stuff 2wards the end of the day, u know? u can always browse my archived entries.
[later] 1102a: well, i spent the last 0.5 hr waking up kaela. i think we can now go to the gym n' then go out to lunch. she sed she stayed up till 500a, updating our wedding gift registry @ crate n' barrel. i'm picking up songs to include in our "wedding soundtrack," both musik to be played during the "cocktail hr" n' dinner as well as musik to be played during the boogie boogie dance time.
[later] 636p: what a day! :-/ man, what a day. we went
to the gym, had a pretty complete werkout. after werkout, i bought a
32 oz. berry fit smoothie w/ soy protein. the smoothies @ the gym r
pretty dang overpriced, but they gave me 2 entries to win a portable cd
player... which i don't really need, but hey! it's nice to win
stuff, i guess. kaela went to the temp agency. i walked over
to radio shack across the street n' got a stereo rca female to 1/4"
standard male converter, a gold.plated 1. then i browsed 'round
tower records 4 a while, listened to some trance cds. then we went
to look 4 lunch... even tho' it was like 400p. we 1st tried hand
pull noodles on capitol, but they were closed. we went to union
chinese restaurant on the corner of union n' bascom n' had chaomamien
(짬뽕) n' jiajiangmien (짜장면), a very late lunch. then we browsed
'round cosentino's market. we saw all sorts'f fancy, gourmet
groceries. we got some strawberries n' some
clover brand uh... organic (?) milk (nonfat). i went thru all
sorts'f produkts on the shelves, checking 4 evil hi fructose corn syrup.
really! u gotta check! if u have a choice btwn 2 brands, 1 w/ hi
fructose corn syrup n' 1 w/ sugar or some better sweetener, go w/ the 1 w/o
hi fructose corn syrup!!! please! do urself a favour n' boycott hi
fructose corn syrup! well, now i'm home. i should leave to
taekwondo practice pretty soon. why the heck am i typing a journal
entry?! i gotta be getting ready!
[later] 1006p: i'm in our room, typing on my handpsring while watching the simpsons episode where apu has an affair w/ the squishee lady. i went to taekwondo sparring practice 2nite. man, lemme tell u: the men's health article 'bout back pain told me to take 800 mg of ibufrofen (advil) 3 times a day, that's 4 advils 3 times a day. lately, i've been taking 4 advils 2 times a day, sometimes 3 times a day... very rarely. neway, this morn, when we were @ the gym, man! i felt great! i thought maybe my back pains were gone 4 good! :-) but then i didn't get to take my 2nd dose of advil 4 a while... when i got to taekwondo practice, man... my back hurt. i took advil right b4 going cos well... i didn't have time, 'member? i came home from cosentino's etc. n' then i had to hurry off to taekwondo. the advil didn't have time to take effekt. :-( i felt like such an old man! :-( it was bad 'nuff that i haven't sparred in ages i didn't do well @ all. :-( there was this young kid, a ucla freshman. he's 0.5 taiwanese, 0.5 korean.... like kaela's n' my future kids. heh... or else ken n' grace's... neway, i felt so old w/ my back pain. i benched 1 set. my left pec still kind'f hurt.
when i came home, i ate some prawns my mom cooked. i think they were tiger prawns or sumpthin'. they tasted like li'l lobsters! :-) kaela made smoothies just now, but i think we should go to sleep soon. :-( we're s'pposed to do that tahoe daytrip 2morrow morn!
lately, i've had a thought: it used to be that many'f
my friends (both guys n' gurls) agreed that guys make friends w/ each other
better n' more easily than gurls do. it was agreed that gurls r
maybe more "catty." well, lately, i've noticed that i have guy
friends who don't get 'long. i mean, me, i wish every1'd just get
'long. however sometimes i find myself in btwn friends who don't get
'long, who don't like each other. :-( what to do, u know?
u know, this morn, i had this dream, where uh... my exroommate n' i were friends 'gain. weird. n' in my dream, he asked me to live w/ him 'gain. i sed ok... but then i told him since we ended up in such bad disagreement after living 2gether b4, we shouldn't live 2gether 'gain. weird.
neway, when i was friends w/ my exroommate, i did have a li'l bit'f hard times w/ troubles btwn my friends n' him. i often tried to mediate or keep the peace, but eventually, i got fed up w/ him n' blew up. u know, even tho' i don't mean that ppl gotta be conformists, i gotta say that if every1 has problems w/ u, then the problem isn't necessarily not u. u know what i mean? i've always been a proponent of introspektion. ppl who always think their philosophies n' aktions r right w/o ne 2nd thoughts r simply often very unpleasant ppl.
ok, on to a diff topik!
1003p: i'm waiting to watch about schmidt @ amc saratoga 14.
well, i guess some things happened since my last update. on
fri (2day's sat), we made a daytrip to northstar. the snow wasn't 2
good (mostly ice), but u know i try to board thru all conditions.
2day, we werked out n' got some gift shopping done @ valley fair.
i hadn't been @ the mall in sooo long! well, it was
crowded. 2day, valley fair was obviously "the place to be."
it was nice to be @ the mall 'gain.
336p: it's such a warm cesar chavez day! 2day's mon, n' it's cesar chavez day. i may or may not have class later 2day; i'm not sure. the prof sed sumpthin' 'bout having class 2nite, but the university webpage sez the campus, including the library, is all shut down. :-/ *sigh* i wish i knew. it's cesar chavez's b.day; we should take the day off. well, spring break is over. how was spring break? *scoff* spring break?! i'm 27 yrs old! there's no such thing as spring break 4 me! i'm not an undergrad! no trip to cancun, ensenada, rosarito... no! no way! i'm just glad i could squeeze in 1 daytrip to tahoe. other than that, what did i do this spring break? well, i guess i did lots'f wedding planning. it's not a simple wedding, as u know. well, it's not like we're inviting a whole lot'f ppl. it's not that big; it's just uhm... well, i dunno... there r just lots'f things to do to put it on, i guess. :-/ neway, i guess over this spring break; i got my tuxedo stuff squared way, i got some ceremony musik stuff resolved, n' i guess we got some catering stuff resolved 2day. ppl who haven't participated in putting on a wedding wouldn't understand @ all what it takes to put on a wedding. :-/ it's lot'f werk.
*sigh* neway... how r u? u can sign my gbook n' let me know. even if u've already signed this current version of it, u can sign it 'gain. :-) 2day's mon. it's so warm! this whole weekend has been extremely, unbearably beautiful! it's crazy. it's the end'f march, n' it feels like summer here. what's been going on? i haven't really updated this weekend. yah, i guess i haven't felt as much like updating lately. maybe it's the war; maybe the war depressed me. it depresses shoppers, u know? that is, s'pposedly, ppl rn't $pending these days cos'f the war. that's a shame. hrm, it cms to me, if u wanna support our country, instead'f going out on the street corner n' waving a flag 'round to get ppl to honk 4 u, u should go into the mall n' $pend, $pend, $pend! i won't honk 4 u if u wave a flag. but if u walk out'f a mall w/ arms full of purchased merchandise, i'll honk if u want me to! X-D yup, we're a nation @ war. no, i'm not talkin' 'bout the war in iraq. i think there's 'nuff disagreement just w/in this country itself. i don't feel there's tolerance. i feel uncom4table. i feel ppl rn't getting 'long. :-( do u know what i mean? do u also feel this? maybe u don't, n' u just think i'm crazy.
right now, i'm sittin' in my car in a parking lot, the parking lot of the "main street" strip mall on the corner of santa teresa blvd n' blossom hill rd. i'm waiting 4 the beautiful kaela kang. right now, she's in an interview @ manpower temporary services. i'm sitting in my car. it's so warm, n' i wish the sun weren't shining on my so much. neway, it's good kaela's talking to the temp agency. right now, the economy sucks big time. u cannot be picky 'bout what kind'f job u werk. if u c ne opportunity to earn some $$$, just take it! lemme tell u, right now, we really don't have the luxuries that we had a few yrs 'go. in a way, i really do miss the 1999-2000 yrs. right now, it's hard 'nuff to find a job in an industry that's totally practical. u just gotta do exactly whatever pay$, u know?
my back, it's been better 2day but not totally better. u c, whenever i tell myself i should go c a doktor 'bout it, then my back'll get better just long 'nuff 4 me to think that i don't need a doktor nemore. :-/ it's the frog that won't dance if i try to show it to my friends. well, if that's the analogy, i don't want this frog to dance. i want it to give up dancing 4ever! i'm looking @ the men's health article 'bout back pain. lemme quote a few lines from it:
back spasm, or what [some doktor] calls "weekend-warrior syndrome, " can humble a grown man. he sees hundreds stagger into his clinic begging for mercy - and rightly so. if your back hurts, life sucks.
[this patient]'s doctor-recommended plan of medication, hot and cold packs, and gentle exercise (stretching and light weight lifting) is the best starting point - and usually the ending point - for any man with muscular back pain. "the majority of patients on this type of program respond in 72 hours," says [that doktor]. "after that, they just have to be careful doing what injured them in the first place."
as for [some patient], the doktor says there's nothing wrong with his trip to the chiropractor, other than timing. [the doktor] and his colleagues at texas back institute usually reserve chiropractic treatment for those patients who don't respond to [that 1st patient]'s style of treatment, which is the first line of offense. and why pay a chiropractor when the cheaper self-treatment usually works? that said, [the doktor] fully supports chiropractic care. "one knack chiropractors have is getting patients out of pain quickly," he says. "my only caveat is that i there's no improvement in 2 weeks, something else needs to be done." it could be physical therapy, or it could be a consultation with an orthopedic surgeon to see if the injury involves more than muscle.
['nother patient]'s self-prescribed rest and ibuprofen could help him, [the doktor] says, but not nearly as quickly as ice, heat, and exercise would. and he's doing nothing to strengthen his back to ward off another injury, which is bound to happen. . . bottom line: when back pain strikes, one of the things you don't do is nothing.
man, it's 406p. it's so hot in this car, sittin' in this parking lot. i'm wearing blue jeans n' a black shirt. it's hot. 2day, i didn't take ne advil. did i yesterday? i 4get. if i did, i didn't take much.
so, i wonder where i left off updating u w/ my life? :-/ hrm, i
totally 4get. i mentioned the daytrip to tahoe. we woke up in
the morn. it's easy 4 me to wake up early these days cos the sun
shines in thru the window. we stopped in cordelia n' got some
mcyukyuk's 4 breakfast we got to northstar 'round 1100a.
the snow wasn't very good. it was a beautifully sunny day but
chilly. the slopes were totally covered w/ ice. there wasn't
much snow, mostly ice. however, u know me; i say i want to be
able to board in ne condition, so yah... i accepted the challenge.
we had lunch in the early afternoon, ate chili w/ cornbread @ the
lodge @ the top of the big mtn. well, we went home. we ate
uh... i think we ate dinner @ home, right? i guess we made pasta;
simple pasta, just thin spaghetti w/ some jarred sauce n' frozen veggies n'
canned shrooms, nuthin' fancy.
sat, what happened on sat? uh, heh... i guess we tried to go to
the caterer to talk w/ them, but they were bizzy, so we skeduled a mtg 4
this morn. then what? uh, we ate lunch @ khanh's garden. man,
whenever we go there, i never order the right thing. this time, i
ordered some "vietnamese sausage" in thin rice wrap or skin or sumpthin'.
it wasn't what i expekted. it turned out to be a certain dish
that u can always buy @ those cheap vietnamese delis. i dunno how to
describe the dish, it's sort'f like potstickers or wontons... but it's
diff. neway, i felt a li'l ripped off, but the fud was
decently tasty... just overpriced. well, after lunch, we went to
valley fair n' did some gift shopping. we also updated our wedding
registry @ macy's, n' that took 4ever. after leaving the mall, we
went to dinner on el camino, @ 소공동 순두부집 (sogongdong soondubujip).
it was ok, but i still prefer 명동 순두부집 (myungdong
soondubujip). after dinner, we went to the theatre to watch about
schmidt. (please refer to "waiting to watch about schmidt from
2003.03.29.) 'twas a thoroughly entertaining movie. like, @
1st, i found it sort'f depressing. when u have a movie that's
s'pposed to portray "realism," n' it's pretty much 'bout depressed,
unattractive ppl... :-/ it's sort'f depressing. heh, i know
that remark sounded really superficial, but i'm just speaking from a
filmviewer's pt of view. neway, well... it turned out to be a fun
movie... i mean... like, if u have fun watching movies like american
beauty, then u can enjoy a movie like about schmidt... u know?
like, these movies sort'f follow a character thru life... maybe thru 1
particular crisis period... do u know an old robin williams movie
called the world according to garp? i 'member watching it on
tv a long time 'go, but i 4get what it was like. even tho'
i'm trying so hard to boycott hi fructose corn syrup, i had to buy a large
sprite @ the theatre.
sun, ken n' grace had a bbq @ their house. kaela n' i went to safeway to get some . . .
[later] 427p: i couldn't stand it; i had to go pee so badly, n' sitting in this warm car w/ the sun hitting my guts n' crotch really wasn't helping. i ran into the nearby albertson's n' used their urinal. i didn't buy nething, altho' i could use a cold beverage. well, please allow me to continue sun(day)'s story.
kaela n' i went to the neighbourhood safeway to get 1 head'f green leaf lettuce, 2 red tomatoes, a red onion, a jar'f dill pickle relish, 2 bags'f mixed salads, n' salad dressing. the bbq was pretty fun.
[later] 1031p: uh, it's much later now. lemme still keep going w/
talkin' 'bout sun: well, the bbq was fun. we ate burgers, those
sinai kosher hot dogs, n' chicken kabobs. mmm... we ate
sooo much! also, nelson's bro mike's gf vivian made a good
strawberry cheesecake! it
was good. we watched some movies: maid in manhattan n' sum
of all fears. after the bbq, kaela n' i went home to get our gym
stuff n' hit the gym. oh yah... on sat, we went to the gym 2.
on sat, we went to the meridian / hamilton location instead'f the usual
capitol / aborn location. i had a very thorough werkout on sat.
i was pretty sorer all the way till 2day. on sun, we had a
very quick werkout cos it was pretty late. the gym closes @ 900p on
sat n' sun. i didn't realise that. after we came home, we ate
some leftovers. we watched 접속 (contact, a korean
romance movie. it was a very clever movie. i liked it.
i have it on vcd. i got it a long time 'go, but we didn't watch it
till last nite. yah, i really liked it. u know, i think 1 of
my favourite korean movies... maybe 1 of my favourite movies period is
카라 (calla). uh, i mention this not just cos
접속 n' 카라 r both korean movies but cos they both have to
do w/ some1 trying to find some1 they're obsessed w/. neway, i like
both'f these movies.
well, now it's 1048p, n' i'm sittin'; in our room w/ kaela watching will n' grace. 2nite, we went to the gym. i didn't have class 2day, but i went to check. i saw my "mechatronics" professor, n' she was wondering why i was on campus. i told her our "computer aided mechanical design" prof sed we had class but apparently we didn't. well, kaela n' i went to the gym.
hrm... wait, how did this day start out? uh... oh yah, we 1st went out to meet w/ that caterer. after that, uh... we went to lunch, right? yah, we went to lunch @ 비원 (biwon). i ordered 짜장면 (jjajangmyuhn), n' kaela ordered 잡채밥 (japchaebap). i felt like i ate so much w/ all the 반찬 (banchan) n' all. after lunch, we stopped by the bank. then we went grocery shopping @ 한국 마켓 (hangook market). oh yah! there was a sparrow in the market, flying 'round! :-) i really liked that! :-) somehow, it got ahold'f an open package of 뻔튀기 (bbuhntwigi) n' was eating it. she was a female sparrow. well, hrm... kaela n' i thought we heard 2 sparrows. i only saw 1. well, after grocery shopping, i dropped kaela off 2 the temp agency. i went home to get a few things: kaela's gym clothes, kaela's skoolbook, n' my targus stowaway keyboard 4 my handspring. then i went back n' sat in the parking lot. that brings us back to the beginning of 2day's entry!
so i guess lots'f ppl consider grace adler, played by debra messing, of
will n' grace is the best dressed woman on tv. maybe
so. 2nite, @ the gym, i did a bit'f treadmill. then kaela n'
i went to pilates class 4 the 1st time in ages. when we came home,
we ate costco rotisserie chicken.
310p: i'm sittin' on the 3rd floor'f the sjsu library w/ classmate dave doing our required reading b4 the guest lekture in "precision machine design." i'm sooo sleepy on this tues afternoon, our 1st day'f skool after spring break. we have so many projekts to do this month, soo many projekt! [later] 317p: it's a grey.skyed tues afternoon. it rained last nite. it's s'pposed to rain 'gain 2nite n' on fri. this morn, i did 'lot'f hot/cold treatment on my lower back. i put an ice pack on it 4 a while, then switched to a microwaved aromatherapy heat pack, n' then repeated this cycle a few times. my back felt pretty good 4 a while after. now, it hurts a li'l. i took 3 advils b4 leaving my car in the parking garage.
[much later] 1055p: check out dave leip's atlas of u.s. presidential elections (http://www.uselectionatlas.org). wow! i had 4gotten how much'f the latter 20th century amerika spent under the reign of republikans! i was just thinkin' 'bout politiks cos'f all the politikal diarrhea certain ppl have been spewing on the bronx's junkyard forums in the past few months. of course, that webpage only talks 'bout presidential elektions, not congressional elektions... (it also talks a li'l 'bout gubernatorial elektions.)
[later] 1118p: ok, i just took a shower. well, what happened
2day? well, last nite, the beautiful kaela kang
gave me a haircut. my hair had gotten sooo long. i
was way past the pt of caring, u know? i just figured i'd just have
shaggy hair. :-/ there's a real threshold pt, u know? i
mean... u either have short hair or shaggy hair... n' then u can have long
hair... but that takes 'lot longer, of course... 'member when i
used to have pretty long hair? please c: http://www.benomix.com/hair.html
1209a: 2day (meaning yesterday), i was driving to skool 'round 230p. i saw snow on mt. hamilton. i couldn't believe it. i kept staring @ it. there was a muffler on the rd. luckily, i didn't hit it. crazy! snow on mt. hamilton on an april afternoon!
2day (meaning yesterday), i went to the gym 2ice. in the morn, i went to the gym. i came home 4 lunch. the beautiful kaela kang n' i ate leftovers from tues nite's dinner. it was wed yesterday (what i've been calling "2day), n' 2day's thurs. on tues nite, i went to taekwondo practice. i've sort've gotten to know the younger guys now. when i came home, my mom had tuna fish kimbap/sushi rolls n' miso soup. 4 wed's lunch, we ate leftovers. i went to class, which was more'f a lab group mtg that lasted from 230p till 700p. now that spring break's over, it's totally crunch time 4 all my class projekts! after class, i went to michael's n' target to shop 4 wedding candles in the rain. it was a li'l stressful, so i went to the gym to sort'f "blow off steam." dave (yee) sed he werked b4 his wedding 'lot to blow off steam. maybe i'll just be like him? *shrug* well, i got home 'round 1030p or so, i think. so did kaela. we ate some bbq rib that my mom bought n' some beans, caesar salad, n' cherry pie. sounds like quite a meal, huh? yah, i gotta be careful! i wanna be buff or cut, not flabby!
[later] 1100a:
 my artwerk! :-) |
 beno @ target, looking down @ his targus handcam w/o much expression |
do u 'member the snl skit called "sprockets" w/ mike myers? here's a webpage that talks a li'l 'bout it: http://www.gawth.com/~desolate/sprockets.html. i 'member that owen used to really like "sprockets."
last nite, after the gym, i badly needed gas. i went to the chevron on the corner of capitol n' silver creek. it was $2.059/gal there. i figured it was $2.059/gal @ rotten robbie, usa, n' world 2. those r my usual gas stations these days. i figured i might as well get ritzy, designer, brand.name gas 4 the same price. i filled up. as i drove up capitol, i found out usa n' world now sell gas 4 $2.019/gal. oh well. i think rotten robbie's still @ $2.059/gal. well, if u need 89 or 91; usa, world, n' that chevron all sell them 4 $2.159/gal n' $2.259/gal respektively. in that case, u might as well get the designer brand gas, right? @ nite, when i was watching the kpix nitely news now shown on kbhk upn 44 @ midnite (as a rerun), i heard that the gas prices in cali should drop below $2/gal by the end of this week. do i believe it? :-/ i dunno.
a few weeks 'go, kaela n' i noticed some sparrows had built a nest in the uh... rafters? is that whatchu call it? well, the sparrows built a nest on a beam underneath the roof overhang that only covers the front part of our house where the 1st story sticks out extra. we c the nest when we walk out the front door n' look up. it's a very, very cute li'l nest. 2day, i peeked out the window thru the shutter blinds n' saw the li'l female sparrow sittin' in the nest. i really like that! :-)
u know, yesterday, i took 2 showers @ the gym. i'm clean, rn't i? :-/ i woke up late this morn, so i didn't go to the gym. i plan to go to taekwondo sparring practice 2nite, while kaela takes her midterm. i want to werkout as much as i can. i want to be fit.
if u go to http://www.m-w.com n' look up "rafters," u can follow some links to an illustration that explains what "rafters" n' "ridgepoles" r: http://www.m-w.com/mw/art/ridgepol.htm. so uh... i guess a rafter isn't what i thought it might be.
over @ the bronx's junkyard forums, as i sed, there's been some
ppl saying some pretty dumb politikal stuff. there's this 1
closed.minded, ignorant conservative that has 4 an avatar, a usa flag
covered by the texan flag. as a satirical retaliation 4 all his
stoopid remarks that all liberals suck, darren (idigu) changed his avatar
to a texan flag covered by a french flag! X-D good job, darren!
:-) seriously, from what i've cn lately, i have a very low opinion
of texans... n' i know that's not fair... but geez! if so many
texans r aktually proud that dubyah's a texan... *shakes head* well,
a while 'go, i made a special cali state flag that i like:
130p: i'm sittin' in the university computer center on the 2nd floor of
the sjsu clark library. i feel a li'l queasy in the stomach.
i hope i didn't get some foodbourne illness. :-( well, i wrote a
li'l bit of an entry yesterday on my handspring , but my
handspring crashed n' lost my data. i had to back up the system
when i got home last nite. so what's been up? *shrug* where
did i leave off updating? on thurs nite? prob'ly.
2day's sat. fri, the beautiful kaela kang
spent the day @ this real estate investors' seminar. aktually, it's
a 4.day program. she's there right now. i was there w/ her
this morn, but i'm @ skool now. it's crunch time w/ my projekts, u
know? neway, yah, yesterday, we were @ the seminar all day.
ugh, i was so tired by the end of the day. 4 lunch, we went to
katanaya ramen in sj j.town. we luckily didn't hafta have a
dinner break n' then more class, even tho' that's what was on the skedule.
the class voted just to listen thru the dinner break n' go home
early. still, it wasn't that early! kaela n' i didn't
go home 4 dinner. instead, we drove over to the willow glen
neighbourhood n' went to willow street pizza. aktually, there was a
bit'f a wait 4 a table there, even tho' it was past 800p. i guess
it was fri nite, so it was a bit bizzier, right? well, it cms like
a very popular place! kaela n' i shared this asparagus n' goat
cheese salad n' this salmon n' spinach pizza. (btw, 4 lunch, i had
a udon combo w/ chicken katsudon, n' kaela had this mapo tofu ramen.)
after dinner, we just went home. we didn't do much b4 going
to bed.
2day, we woke up in the morn, went back to the radisson hotel 4 this seminar thingy. well, aktually, the 1st thing we did there was get on a bus, n' they showed us some houses in the san jo / santa clara area. it took a while. then they dropped us back off @ the hotel @ lunchtime. kaela n' i searched 4 fud in that airport hotel area n' found some chinese fast fud joint called ume chinese fud or sumpthin'. we ate there. as i sed, my stomach feels sort'f queasy. :-( neway, i'm here @ the library.
so what is this crazy seminar 'bout? well, they basikally just teach u some rules 'bout real estate investing n' like keep reinforcing that it's a good idea. i like hearing some of the bargaining philosophies they have but can do w/o some'f the fast talkin' they do. like, i think all they teach is pretty legit(imate), n' when u talk to the instructors in a smaller group environment, they sound pretty "real," u know? some'f what they talk 'bout is 'bout buying really crappy, rundown houses n' fixin' 'em up 4 resale. some of what they talk 'bout is buying certain kinds'f properties that they say lots'f other ppl r willing to buy off of u 4 a bit more soon after u buy it... i dunno... it's somewhat interesting.
u know, sometime this week, joon was talkin' 'bout c.s. lewis's chronicles of narnia book series on his journal. as i read his journal, i looked up from my 'puter @ my bookshelf n' saw the complete chronicles of narnia series that my mom gave me 4 christmas when i was a kid. when i got that as a christmas present, i was sooo excited! :-) well, the next morn, i was back @ my 'puter. i looked up @ the shelf n' realised that my mom had taken away all'f my childhood books from my shelf including the chronicles of narnia set. *sigh* oh well... like, i know i prob'ly wouldn't've reread them... not really... i just hoped that she donated the books to somewhere nice instead'f just recycling or throwing them 'way. :-/ i dunno what happened to them. i'm not necessarily mad 'bout it... like, if i were a kid still; yah, i'd be absolutely furious... oh well. well, i just let it go, i guess. however, the next morn, i had a dream that my mom took all my dj equipment out of my room, disassembled it, n' put it in the garage. it was a nightmare! a really scary dream! i felt so helpless in my dream. when i woke up, i ran to my room... phew, my dj equipment was still there. i need it more than ever these next few months cos i gotta record some premixed cds 4 the wedding reception!!! man, i was so panicked but then felt relieved. u know the feeling. well, later that morn, i went into my closet to get clothes n' noticed my mom had removed my spare mixer from the closet shelf. i dunno where she put it, probl'y the garage... if i were more immature, yah, i know i'd be furious. @ this pt, i'm just relieved that my nitemare wasn't true, so i won't complain... it's just my spare mixer, what i use in the case that my real mixer breaks down... which has happened b4. *sigh* :-( it's... it's such a situation, i guess... :-( like, i really appreciate being able to move home while i'm in skool... but... :-( *sigh* i dunno... :-( i really appreciate it, but... :-(
neway, i'm in the library now. now, it's 151p on a sat
afternoon. i wanna do some werk on some projekts despite the fakt
that i'm locked out of the mechanical engineering 'puter lab. i
need access to some cad n' fea (finte element analysis) software. i
need access to solidworks, pro/e, n' pro/m. also, i need matlab to
werk on my "mechatronics" lab. well, aktually, heh... i'm quite
skilled @ matlab, (if i don't say so myself. heh heh...) so what i plan to
do 4 the next coupl'f hrs or so is just type up some matlab code either
here in the 'puter lab or on my handspring... well, i'm a li'l worried
'bout my handspring's crashing since it crashed yesterday n' lost my data.
:-( i dunno. neway, my classmate friend dave is s'pposed to meet me
on campus to borrow a copy of the matlab software from me. uh... heh, :-)
that makes no sense, huh? why is it that i'm complaining that i
don't have matlab to do my lab report; but i'm 'bout to loan out a copy of
matlab to my friend. heh, if u have the patience to put up w/ my geeky
nerd talk n' think 'bout it, then u'r prob'ly sort'f dumbfounded.
well, it's just that i never installed matlab on my home 'puter cos i
figured i'd have access to matlab in the 'puter lab n' didn't wanna
clutter up my already cluttered hard drive. i really gotta spend
some time n' move all my movie n' muzik files from my hard drive onto
cd.rom. i try to spend time doing that, but then every1 just thinks
i'm goofing off if i'm werkin' on my 'puter. :-( *sigh* really, since
matlab is 1 of my specialties as an engineer, i ought to have it on my
home 'puter, right? right. *shrug* well... we'll c. later, i
gotta return to the real estate investors' seminar, 'least to pick up
kaela if nuthin' else.
oh yah, this morn, when we left, i 4got my fon (my cellfon), so u can't
call me 2day.
912p: daylite saving time has begun. it's called "daylite saving time," w/ no "s"; that is, it's not "daylite savings time." it was very hard to wake up this morn. i wanted to sleep earlier last nite, but saturday nite live hosted by bernie mac w/ good charlotte as the musikal guest was very fun to watch. what could i do? :-(
just a while 'go, i managed to find the mitsubishi outlander commercial,
which i like so much, online. u 'member which 1 i'm speaking of?
it has that afrikan.amerikan dude driving the car thru diff periods
of his life: thru lots'f partying, thru a date, thru more partying, on his
wedding day, to the hospital w/ his pregnant wife, n' w/ his kid in the
back. as i sed, i really feel that my life is like that, n' i live
my life w/ my car, etc. "the millenium forester," 'member? X-D
that's what some p.crew ppl called it back in the day cos i put it thru so
much like han solo did to his spaceship. neway, if u wanna dl the
commercial, u can go to http://www.mitsubishicars.com/tv_ad_popups/.
well, u can watch it there. if u wanna aktually dl (btw, dl
means "download.") it, u gotta use hi.net recorder, like i do. :-)
i learned 'bout hi.net recorder from jerome n' bronx's
junkyard.
910a: i'm eating great grains cereal. i'm @ my home 'puter.
last nite, i burned all my gayo mp3s ("gayo" is the korean wurd 4
"pop" muzik.) to cdrom n' deleted them off my 'puter to clear up space.
i also did that to my gayo videos. i'm trying to clear off
space on my hard drive. maybe i'll install matlab on my home 'puter.
*shrug* neway, i wanna clear all the mp3s off my 'puter n' then gradually
load all the muzik files i need 4 the wedding on, so i can start burning
cds to play 4 the wedding reception. i have a 37gb atlas 10k ultra
160 drive. 37gb just isn't 'nuff these days. if i ran an ide
system, i'd go out n' get a 80 - 120 gb drive. it'd be cheap if i
had an ide system, but i run a scsi system. 
since i cleared off all those mp3s, i don't have as much'f
a muzik selektion to listen to on my 'puter while i type this entry.
i accidentally didn't burn my direktories that have videos 4 lee junghyun,
finkl, or shinhwa. luckily, i caught that mistake b4 i deleted
those direktories. well, since i need muzik, i'm playing the video of lee
junghyun's "아리 아리" ("ari ari"). i finished my cereal. the
beautiful kaela
kang is off @ her last day of that real estate investment class.
it's a 4.day course.
i only went to less than 0.5 of the
course. 1 thing i realised from it, tho', is that i really
should've bought a house in albany back in the days when i aktually
contemplated buying a house. like, after i stopped making $$$ @ my
last job, i guess i kept saying i was so glad i didn't buy a house n' have
a mortgage to pay off. however, now i realise that i really
should've bought a house back then purely cos real estate is a such
a good investment n' when i found out i wasn't gonna have a steady income 4
a while, i could've just sold it off. it wouldn't have been the
end'f the world! paying rent, that was just throwing $$$ down the
toilet. :-/ i realise 1 prob i had back then was i just was unsure
of myself, in that i thought i was 2 young to own real estate.
geez... looking back on life, like when u'r 25 or so, u think u'r 2 young
to do this n' that. certain thing sound like "grown up" things, n' u
wonder if u'r still 2 young to do those things... but now that i'm 27 n'
turning 28 this yr, i'm thinking, "geez, when did i think i'd be
grown up 'nuff to do those things?!" there r certain young@heart
things i wanna keep doing 4 life, but those things shouldn't prevent me
from doing the "grown up" things i need to do in life in order to make
progress!
do u believe in luck? i've sed b4 in this journal that i think luck is more a matter of ur perspektive on ur current situation: if u choose to focus on the bad things in ur life, then u'll eventually come to the conclusion that u have bad luck. if u choose to focus on the good things in life, then u can come to the conclusion that u have good luck. last thurs nite, i was thinking that i'm having bad luck lately... since i've had bad things happen to me lately... like, how i don't cm to be finding a job, how my back had probs these past few months... stuff like that... i started thinking 'bout how in elementary skool i came up w/ a theory that every other yr i had good luck n' then bad luck, u know? i thought i had bad luck in 4th grade cos i felt i had lots'f issues, social issues... like, i didn't get 'long w/ some kids in my classes. then in 5th grade, i felt i had good luck cos i did have lots'f friends in my classes n' got 'long great w/ lots'f other kids. then in 6th grade (middle skool), i felt so awkward started middle skool n' being thrown 2gether w/ lots'f kids from other elementary skools. i felt unpopular n' clumsy, so i felt i had bad luck. maybe things shaped up in 7th grade... or aktually, maybe i just stopped thinking 'bout this good luck / bad luck every 2 yrs thing. then i think in college... i think in my soph yr, my mom told me i was having a bad luck yr, i think. then when i had my big car crash in 1999, i think maybe i heard i was having a bad luck yr... i mean, definitely, ppl sed i was having a bad luck yr 4 my car. in 2000, my cellfon kept breaking down on me, so ppl joked that i was having a bad luck yr w/ my cellfon. aktually, recently my current cellfon has been breaking down on me 'lot, right? the antenna... neway, lemme entertain this silly idea 'bout good luck / bad luck every 2 yrs. lemme plot out which yrs were good yrs n' which were bad based upon my theory back in 5th grade:
| 4th grade | bad luck |
| 5th grade | good luck |
| 6th grade | bad luck |
| 7th grade | good luck |
| 8th grade | bad luck |
| 9th grade (freshman yr of hi skool) | good luck |
| 10th grade (soph yr of hi skool) | bad luck |
| 11th grade (jr yr of hi skool) | good luck |
| 12th grade (sr yr of hi skool) | bad luck |
| fresh yr of berkeley | good luck |
| soph yr of berkeley | bad luck |
| jr yr of berkeley | good luck |
| sr yr of berkeley | bad luck |
| 5th yr of berkeley (1997-1998) | good luck |
| 1998-1999 | bad luck |
| 1999-2000 | good luck |
| 2000-2001 | bad luck |
| 2001-2002 | good luck |
| 2002-2003 | bad luck |
| 2003-2004 | good luck |
k, lemme analyze this table:
| 4th grade | bad luck | yah, i felt unpopular. |
| 5th grade | good luck | yah, i felt popular. |
| 6th grade | bad luck | yah, i felt unpopular n' awkard. |
| 7th grade | good luck | *shrug* maybe i felt better luck. *shrug* |
| 8th grade | bad luck | no, i aktually felt pretty good in 8th grade. |
| 9th grade (freshman yr of hi skool) | good luck | hrm... no, i aktually felt i had better luck in 8th grade. maybe i flipped these 2 yrs. |
| 10th grade (soph yr of hi skool) | bad luck | *shrug* maybe, i dunno... aktually, this was the only time i got straight "a"s in hi skool... n' i started going to church n' got an elektric guitar. :-/ it was a pretty good yr. |
| 11th grade (jr yr of hi skool) | good luck | yah, i felt pretty lucky. i passsed all 4'f the ap tests i took that yr. also i a national merit scholar. |
| 12th grade (sr yr of hi skool) | bad luck | how could i possibly feel bad luck in my graduating yr of hi skool? well, some mis4tunes happened, i s'ppose. :-/ i 'member feeling pretty stressed 'bout cliqueishness... n' my grades slipped in my final semester cos i already was accept into berkeley n' had senioritis. |
| fresh yr of berkeley | good luck | no, i aktually had pretty awful luck freshman yr! |
| soph yr of berkeley | bad luck | yah, i had very bad luck soph yr! |
| jr yr of berkeley | good luck | yah, i had a pretty good jr yr. i got really pretty good grades n' had lots'f fun... lots'f fun!!! |
| sr yr of berkeley | bad luck | hrm... i dunno, i thought it was ok. i got a co.op internship n' stuff. |
| 5th yr of berkeley (1997-1998) | good luck | yah, i felt it was a pretty good yr. i graduated from college n' had a job lined up. |
| 1998-1999 | bad luck | well, i definitely had bad luck w/ my car; but i had decent luck in that i had a decent job. |
| 1999-2000 | good luck | yah, i had good luck! :-) this is the time period in which kaela n' i got 2gether! :-) |
| 2000-2001 | bad luck | hrm... how was that period? i guess i was still living in the hillegass apt n' had that big explosive conflikt w/ my ex.roommate. :-/ those were fun times, but the apt situation sucked. |
| 2001-2002 | good luck | well, i had lots'f fun, felt i was living a pretty good life. however, the economy real sucked n' my company started to have all those probs, so my job situation turned really bad. however, since kaela n' i got engaged, it was a good time. :-) |
| 2002-2003 | bad luck | well, this is right now. i'm glad i'm in grad skool. life in san jo is ok; it has its ups n' downs. i was really stressed w/ kaela's career situation 4 a while. i had some car troubles, but they rn't 2 bad. the ekonomy sucks, there's a war, n' i don't have much luck w/ finding a job. :-( on the other hand, i'm gonna get married @ the end of this akademic yr. (notice i'm using akademic yrs here!!!) planning the wedding is plenty of stress, but i'm glad we're having the wedding! |
| 2003-2004 | good luck | well, we'll hafta wait n' c. i'll hopefully graduate w/ my master's @ the end of the 2003-2004 akademic yr. hopefully, i'll be able to get a nice job during this time, n' kaela n' i can get ourselves a nice home n' a doggy. |
ok, so that's my analysis. i really like to say i don't believe in this luck theory, 'specially not nemore. however, i worry that since i spent all this time typing that junk out that i must believe it. what's worse is that the idea of self.fulfilling prophecy, u know? i shouldn't go 'round saying i have bad luck, or i will. hrm, or is saying that a self.fulfilling prophecy in itself?! i should say, "just cos i say that sumpthin' bad'll happen, doesn't mean it will happen."
*sigh* neway...do u know what time it is? it's 1025a. i wanted to go to the gym this morn n' then go to the 'puter lab to werk on my class stuff. i dunno... i might just hafta skip the gym @ this rate. i'm not sure. u know, i haven't been to the gym since last thurs!!! :-( :-( :-( last week, i had such a good routine going w/ the gym n' all. u know, when i exercise, my back feels better. this weekend, w/ the real estate investment course n' everything, my werkout routine just went downhill n' disappeared. well, i've been measuring my weight n' fat content. i was like 155 lbs n' 6.0% body fat a coupl'f nites 'go. this morn, i was still 155 lbs but 7.8% body fat or sumpthin'. :-( i want to be lean, u know? lean but muscular... "cut," u know? *sigh* meway... geez... i hope u appreciate this journal entry cos i really wasted 'lot'f time typing it up! :-/ when u get a chance, please sign my gbook. it's not a new verusion or nething; the same ol' questions still. i have yet to answer those myself. i'll do that eventually.
what have i been eating lately? yah, i usually talk 'bout that,
huh? well, on sat nite, i cooked 순두부 찌개 (soondubu jjigae) @
home after that real estate investment course. aktually, earlier in
the afternoon, during the aktual "dinner break," i drove kaela over to
huong lan vietnamese sandwich shop in milpitas, n' we got some'f those
sandwiches n' boba drinks. aktually, i didn't have boba, just taro milk
w/o boba. kaela had some pearl milk tea. neway, that
nite, i aktually cooked soondubu myself. :-) even tho' u know i cook korean
fud now n' then, i aktually had never cooked soondubu jjigae all by myself.
sat nite i did that. on sun, i ate leftovers of that 4 lunch.
@ dinner time, i cooked some string beans in black bean sauce n'
some grilled tilapia. i'm eating fine. it's mon 2day.
it's 1033a now.
better luck tomorrow is that asian.am movie that's gonna open @ amc 1000 van ness this fri. u should check it out! it opens in san jo a week later. if u don't live in the bay area, check ur local movie listings. if u c it listed, go watch it! :-)
[later] 242p: i aktually did manage to make it to the gym. i had a quick werkout. i did some treadmilling, quickly stretched, n' lifted some weights. i made it a pt to bench some. even tho' i don't go as all out w/ the 135lb bar as i would w/ the taekwondo guys 'round to spot me, i guess it's better that i bench w/ the free weights like this, instead'f the machine, just to get more n' more com4table w/ using the free weights n' bar instead'f the machines. i also made it a pt to do back exercises. after i showered, i went to my car. wow, it was pretty warm outside 2day. i got in my car n' drove 2wards skool. 4 lunch, i stopped by a vietnamese sandwich shop on tully to get a ham, headcheese, n' pâte sandwich to go; just $1.50! :-) well, i went to campus, found parking on the 5th floor n' came to the mech engring 'puter lab to meet w/ my lab group. i'm here in the lab right now, werking on my matlab image processing stuff 4 my "mechatronics" class. 'member: i'm a matlab genius! always was, always will be... heh, how's that 4 confidence? ha ha. seriously, i've werked w/ matlab 4 a long time, so i really like it, n' would like it if i could find an engring job where i could use it. we'll c.
[later] 340p: i'm still here in the lab, werkin' on matlab. @ 530p, my lab group has a li'l presentation 4 our "computer aided mechanical design" class. [a li'l later] 352p, now it's 352p. [a li'l later] 401p: now it's 401p. as u c, i'm not saying much. i guess i'm aktually pretty bizzy w/ this matlab stuff.
[later] after my "computer aided mechanical design" class, which ran
way over cos ppl had long presentations, i went to the gym. i tried
to werkout hard on the precor. i wanted to push myself till i was
'least breathing hard, u know? i felt like back when i was training
hard in taekwondo @ berkeley, i much more often
werked out the pt of breathing hard, panting; but lately, i haven't.
:-/ well, i tried to push myself harder. i stretched,
did some crunches, lifted a li'l. i showered n' came home to eat
some costco rotisserie chicken. heh, i've been eating that 'lot
lately, huh?
149p: i'm in the mechanical engineering 'puter lab. 154p: i'm
werking on matlab n' also chatting w/ roland on y! msgr. [later] 236p:
still werking on matlab n' chatting w/ roland. i wanna do a really
good job w/ this matlab assignment cos i'm a matlab genius! :-) [later]
258p: i'm still doing those 2 things...
1037a: i'm in line @ the post office to pick up a package. a few weeks 'go, i bought a korean movie dvd on ebay from a seller in hong kong. i have other errands to run, such as going to the bank to depo$it a coupl'f checks. oh yah! the big news: i have a job interview next mon morn!!! i'm very happy 'bout that! :-)
[later] 1122p: @:-/ ne1 who thinks i just spend my days werking out @ the gym, dling muzik n' videos, drinking boba drinks, n' snowboarding all weekend; u r very unappreciated right now. i spent the past 9 hrs or so in the mechanical engineering 'puter lab! >:-( i was there werking on my "cad" projekt w/ my group n' on my matlab assignment till 'bout 1100p; no dinner, just a diet pepsi n' a kitkat big stick.
this afternoon, the beautiful kaela kang n' i had lunch w/ roland @ 부만루 hand pull noodle chinese restaurant. i ate some 짜장면 (jjajangmyuhn/jiajiangmien). it was pretty good, n' i was so stuffed! i guess it was a good thing since i had to skip dinner. u know, i am a full.time grad student!
hey, kaela signed my gbook 'gain. she's kewl. u can sign my gbook 'gain 2.
:-)
~100a: i found this on the net: November 06, 2002 CHICKEN : Hey, uh, I got a question... How are you guys so cool and
relaxed all the time?
Personally, I'm ahh-um more the active type.
(the cows sit still and silent, staring at the chicken)
CHICKEN : Silence, OK like a zen thing. I get it grasshopper, I'll work
on that.
COW 1 : (underwhelmed) Wow.
COW 2 : (chuckling) Yeah, Poultry...
from "capsaicin commentary: bob and weave"
(http://www.habanerosalsa.com/MT/CapsaicinCommentary/archives/000106.php)
Bob and Weave
There is this commercial for California cheese / happy cows that is
hilarious. The voice of Bobcat Goldthwait was accompanying a chicken who is
talking to two cows on a grassy plain, and it goes like this:
(cluck)
You know, bob and weave, bob and weave...
(his head is swaying from side to side)
Where you guys just hang out all day in the sun, you're all like mellow
- what's your secret?
(the chicken runs off into the distance)
[later] 311a: i finished my "mechatronics" lab report. i also have some "precision machine design" hw to do n' a quiz to study 4 in that class. really, i'm a hard werking student, n' u gotta understand that! >:-(
[later] 757a: i just woke up from a dream. in the end'f the dream, the beautiful kaela kang n' i were looking @ some developed n' printed fotos; yah, the ol' fashion way. we were lookin' @ pics we took @ some amusement park... but in the amusement park, u got dressed in clothes of like 18th century europe n' like pretended u were living in that time n' place.
[later] 958a: i can't believe jet li's cradle 2 the grave has already been taken out of amc mercado 20. it had so much hype when it was 'bout to be released, n' sooo many ppl went to go c it opening nite. the ratings from critic's shown on y! movies say it stinks. :-( i checked y! movies 4 local showtimes. the only place that's showing it now is milipitas's cinema saver 10. over there, they're also showing catch me if you can, which kaela n' i missed but which i've been dling from kazaa 4 the past week or so. i've been dling 2 diff versions of it, a version that's burnable to vcd, which is the (dvd viewer), n' a version that's s'pposedly the full dvd version, which won't fit on a vcd, but'll fit as an .avi file burnt onto a cdrom. i c cinema saver 10's also playing view from the top, the movie w/ gwyneth paltrow n' mike myers. i wanna c that 1. it looks really funny, but lemme c what the critics say. whoa, it got pretty bad ratings 2. the user ratings r worse than cradle 2 the grave's. hrm, i wonder how shanghai knights is. like, these martial arts movies w/ big names, i guess i'd rather rent the dvds than dl them from kazaa cos i kind'f aktually care 'bout them (heh), u know? lessee what the critics say 'bout it. eh, so so. well, yah. i can imagine renting shanghai knights n' also cradle 2 the grave on dvd someday. heh, there rn't 'nuff martial arts movies out right now; 'least in comparison to how many military war movies there r right now. :-/ geez, basic, tears of the sun? ok ok, maybe there r only 2... but it cmed like there were many. maybe that's cos i sort'f count the core as a military war movie since it's such a armageddon type movie... which, heh, doesn't make sense 4 me to say cos it's not like armageddon was a war movie! ha ha. neway... the next movie i wanna c is definitely better luck tomorrow, as u know.
[later] 1228p: every so often i have this thought: do u ever think some particular chapter of ur life was worth making a movie 'bout? or maybe writing a book 'bout... or maybe writing a comic book 'bout... *shrug*
[later] 1051p: r u excited 'bout the matrix reloaded. last
nite, i read 'bout it a li'l cos it was featured in wired magazine.
i hear they'll have the matrix 3 coming out this nov!
crazy, huh? neway, how was ur day? :-) me, my day wasn't bad, i
guess. i felt pretty dang stressed as i started my day; but by the
time i got to skool i felt like... well, do u know the popular saying
"everything's coming up milhouse?" if u don't, then u gotta
getchurself edjukated!!! u'd best check ur local tv listing on yahoo! to
find out when syndicated reruns of the simpsons 
come on in ur area!
neway, yah, everything was coming up beno it cmed. well, i guess i
just felt good cos i managed to find a parking space as soon as i drove up
the ramp to the 5th floor. a car was pulling out. yah, that
really brightened my day. on my way to skool, i stopped by rite.aid
to get some advil on sale n' some folders. the advil was pretty
cheap cos i had a coupon from the ad n' a coupon from the box. when
i got to campus, it started to drizzle. it was just a li'l warm
spring sprinkle. i didn't mind cos i had my nice, big umbrella in
the backseat. :-) c, everything was coming up beno! :-) (in
case u don't know, this is milhouse: 
) i went to the library n' did my "precision
machine design" hw w/ my classmate friends dave n' brian. we went to
class. we thought there'd be a quiz 2day, but i guess the prof
decided to postpone it till next thurs. well... like, they r
teknically "pop" quizzes, but like most'f us have figured out his
skedule... or so we thought! we just had a normal lekture.
on sat, april 19, the class'll take a field trip up to lawrence
berkeley lab. :-) sure! i like going to berkeley! :-) after that class, we had 1 more
class. then i went to taekwondo sparring practice. it was a
pretty lite werkout since lots'f students r gonna compete @ the chabot
college tournament on sat. me, i'm definitely not gonna
compete, but kaela n' i'll go watch, coach, cheer, whatever. we'll
be glad to c some old friends from berkeley 2!
:-) 2day was thurs.
after practice, since i felt everything was coming up beno, i went 'head
n' stopped by fantasia to get a boba drink. i got a
frosted mango, pretty much our favourite there. i got that on tues,
when kaela n' i went. on tues, kaela had a frosted red bean boba
drink. that was aktually pretty good. i figured out from a
sign that was written in chinese that they're giving out double stamps on
their frequent drinker's card (buy 9 get 1 free) 4 certain boba drinks,
including mango. :-) c? everything's coming up beno! :-) i
drove home. i felt happy, felt really good. since i don't do
drugs, i'm not sure what ppl really mean by feeling "hi." maybe, i
felt hi, but *shrug* i dunno. i just felt happy! :-) oh
yah... this afternoon, b4 leaving to skool, kaela cooked some fried rice w/
spam lite. :-) i like spam lite. :-) in the morn, i ate a breakfast
of honey bunches of oats w/ strawberry. i mean,
this version of honey bunches of oats cereal comes w/ freeze.dried
strawberries already mixed in! it was very
good. neway, i came home n' ate a li'l bit'f dinner. my mom
had cooked kongching chai (the hollow tube veggie) n' some cold tofu w/ 1000 yr old egg. :-)
i ate that w/ rice n' some cashews n' some leftover beef stew from
uh... last nite or 2 nites 'go, i 4get. this beef stew isn't
amerikan beef stew. it's taiwanese beef stew w/
daikon/무/radish/turnip/chaitao/lohboh/"whatever u call it" n' carrots. kaela n' i watched the 138th episode
of the simpsons (syndicated rerun of course).
ha ha, oh yah, 2nite i found in the mail some aarp (amerikan association
of retired people) membership kit 4 me! ha ha!
625p: i'm sittin' in the lobby of the capitol/aborn bally's gym, waiting 4 the beautiful kaela kang. how r u? e.mail me sometime. i like getting non.spam e.mail! :-) otherwise please sign my gbook to let me know how u r!
2day's fri. it was a pretty nice day. it started out
pretty warm n' sunny. it got sort'f cloudy, but it didn't get 2
cold. this morn, we dropped kaela's kia off @
the nearby chevron station 4 a l.o.f. (lube, filter, oil change) n' tire
rotation. we had an ad from the local pennysaver. . .
[interrupted]
130p: i'm writing while riding @ stationary reclining bike @ the capitol/aborn gym. i had a job interview this morn. the ppl were very nice. i'd really like to werk there. it was such a nice place! after the interview, which went a li'l longer than skeduled, i drove to east san jo. 4 lunch, i got a vietnamese sandwich from huong lan (i've been eating way 2 many'f those! they're just so cheap. <:-() n' a bottle'f apple juice.
[later] 159p: now i'm stretching. the beautiful kaela kang sed she'd meet me here @ 200p. how was ur weekend? please sign my gbook or e.mail me. there were some b.days this weekend. happy b.day to laura n' the 2 jeffs. i heard there were some b.day parties 4 them. we would've loved to celebrate their b.days, but we knew that there was already other stuff planned n' that we weren't invited. oh well... neway, we were up in hayward all day on sat 4 master yoon's chabot college taekwondo tournament. it was sooo kewl to c master yoon n' his family, sam, n' christina kim; all'f whom we haven't cn in ages. of course, it was also kewl to hang w/ the u.s. taekwondo academy bunch 2. i'll be up next sat 4 a class field trip to lawrence berkeley lab.
so what did we do this weekend? on fri morn, we hired a florist 4 the wedding. we spent most'f the afternoon in lab w/ my "c.a.d." class projekt groupmates. i ate a pesto chicken panini 4 lunch. later, we went to the gym. oh yah, on fri, kaela got an oil change. please c "kaela gets an oil change" (2003.04.11). in the eve, we ate @ yas persian restaurant n' watched shanghai knights @ saratoga amc 16.
[later] 527p: i'm sittin' in a classroom waiting 4 my "computer aided mechanical design" class to begin. i spent quite a while @ the gym this afternoon. after 'bout 1.5 hrs there, kaela showed up.
[later] 937p: i'm pretty sleepy. 2morrow morn, i'm s'pposed to go to a labview seminar @ some silly valley hotel. i 4get which 1. :-( i'd better figure it out 2nite. neway, didju know that phil's a kewl guy cos he signed my gbook recently? well, he is. phil's a kewl guy. u can be kewl 2! :-) please sign it when u can. :-) right now i'm listening to an mp3 of helene rolles's "je m'appelle helene." it's a li'l elevator muzik ditty. i've been trying so hard to get this song. a long time 'go, i managed to dl it in .wma format, but i want it in .mp3 format. this mp3's only 96kbps, n' i prefer bit rates of 128kbps or higher. oh well, this is the best i've found so far. neway, this is a bit of elevator muzik, but i like it. u know why? well, besides the fakt that it's in french, i like it cos it's from the movie 카라 (calla). 'member? i really like that movie. heh...
2day's mon. uhm, this is sort'f a disorganized journal entry, huh? :-/ oh well... on sat, when we got to the tournament, we got there right @ lunch time. yoonsabuhmnim n' shimsabuhmnim saw us n' sent us straight to the v.i.p. room to eat lunch. ha ha. mrs. yoon was there managing the potluck buffet table. we quickly ate n' went back to help w/ the tournament. i reffed 'lot. kaela corner judged 'lot. wow, some'f these li'l kids r pretty good. heh. n' well... w/ some of the really li'l kids, man! scoring is quite diff from when u'r scoring adults! u gotta give'm a pt if they get ne good clean shot to the scoring zone, u know? w/ adults, u don't give'm the pt unless u got that n' decent impakt, u know? oh yah, right after we ate lunch, we saw this exhibition match btwn master sergio cardenas n' mr. gila. (i hope i spelled the 2nd name right. :-/) neway, i recognised the name "cardenas" n' eventually connekted it to joon! that's right! he's joon's taekwondo instruktor these days. after the tournament, yoonsabuhmnim told us to go to the v.i.p. / volunteer banquet. mrs. yoon had cooked all this korean fud!!! it was crazy! well, she cooked it w/ some church friends, she sed. neway, it was very good, n' she had us take home so much'f the leftovers. on the way home, kaela n' i stopped @ target @ newpark mall. there, we ran into my ol' apartmentmate cathy. i run into her @ weird places. the last time i saw her was @ that bridal expo last yr, but she was there 4 a friend's wedding not hers.
neway, lessee... sun... what happened sun? oh yah, kaela's friend n' bridesmaid cynthia came down from berkeley to visit us n' help us w/ our wedding invitation assembly (assembling our wedding invitations). we took her to lunch @ 명동 순두부집 (myungdong soondubujip), my favourite soondubujip 'round here. :-) i aktually had 회냉면 (hwenaengmyuhn; cold, thin buckwheat noodles w/ raw skate fish meat [spicy]). after lunch, i dropped the 2 of'em off @ some bridal trunk show in ol' town campbell. during that time, i went to fry's elektronics n' office max. i picked them up, n' we went back home to werk on the wedding invitations. cynthia left b4 dinner. 4 dinner, we ate some tilapia, spinach, n' egg n' tomatoes that my mom cooked. we watched the simpsons n' ate this delicious fruit tart from costco. :-) heh, in last nite's simpsons, homer moved out to live w/ 2 gay guys.
[later] 1030p: oh kewl! while, i was off watching the simpsons (syndicated rerun, the stampy episode), my kazaa dled a 128kbps version of "je m'appelle helene." kewl! :-) yah, it's a really wimpy, flowery piece of elevator muzik, but i like it. heh. 'nother ballad i've liked lately is "without you" by kiss (the korean gurlypop group, not the 70s glam metal group).
ok, so 2morrow morn, i gotta be @ the hilton hotel (4949 great amerika
parkway) 4 my labview seminar. man, i doubt they'll give us free fud
or even free coffee, huh? oh well... bizzy bizzy, i tell u!
it looks like i'll hafta skip taekwondo praktice 2morrow to assemble our
wedding invitations. heh... it's a good thing i exercised 'lot 2day,
i s'ppose. [later] 1058p: just in case u don't know, labview is a piece of
engineering software. it especially helps w/ interfacing electronic
equipment w/ a pc.
1127a: this morn, i missed the labview seminar. last nite, i really started feeling a sore throat. this morn, i woke up feeling decently sick. i stayed up till 300a writing follow up letters 4 my interview. i really want that job, u know? the office bldg there was so nice! it had water fountains n' ponds all 'round it! the ppl were really nice, n' the office environment was very organised; i liked it. i hope i get the job. :-/ neway, yah, i missed the labview seminar this morn. it shouldn't be 2 big'f a deal. i'm going to 'nother 1 next week or so @ san josé state. oh yah, this morn, i dled the saturn ion wedding commercial. :-) i've been dling all the commercials i like, huh? :-) i dled the mitsubishi outlander commercial, the bob n' weave cali4nia cheese commercial, n' this saturn ion wedding commercial. what other commercials do i like? well, i like the j.box commercials n' the boost mobile fon commercial w/ the old asian man talkin' like a young, streetracin' punk. ha ha. X-D oh yah, yesterday nite's fear factor on nbc had 2 asian.am contestants: a really short korean gurl (4'9") n' a pilipino guy. un4tunately, they both got eliminated 1st. oh well... wouldju do fear factor? lemme tell u, if my back were totally healthy, i'd be up 4 most'f the physikal challenges, but man... the fud challenges r really gross. X-P last nite, they ate live slugs. slugs r prob'ly pretty tasty when cooked since cooked snails r pretty good; but on fear factor they're always eating raw, live things. i dunno, i hear raw, live octopus is pretty good. n' i hear raw, live lobster is good.
[later] 1238p: ok, the beautiful kaela kang n' i just ate lunch @ home. we ate the leftover 잡채 (japchae) that mrs. yoon made. apparently, my mom bought a huge costco pack of mango flavoured mochi aisukuriimu! :-) yummy. *sigh* so i think i'll be missing taekwondo practice 2nite to assemble our wedding invitations. *shrug* i should go to office depot n' buy a big paper cutter. [later] 1253p: i should go to campus now. man, packing my skoolbag / backpack feels like such a big task right now.
[later] 240p: i'm in the sjsu mechanical engineering lab. i'm so
frustrated n' pi$$ed 'bout how i have sooo many class projekts
right now n' $@#!# it's just 2 @#@#$in' much! so much $#!+ to do.
n' it's not just individual $#!+ where if i just @#$$@#in' fail the
projekt it doesn't affekt ne1 else; i've got lab partners depending on me.
849a: we've had some funky weather lately up here in norcal. i can't believe there's 60-124 inches of snow @ northstar n' 84-132 inches of snow @ sierra yet both resorts r s'pposed to close their doors 4 the season this coming easter sun, (which is this sun). yah, i had a feeling our last day on the slopes (please refer to "waiting to watch about schmidt" from 2003.03.29.) would be our last day 4 the season. :-/ oh well... yah, it's kind'f good 4 me to give my back a rest... even tho' snowboarding hadn't really been hurting my back. no, like jumping n' doing tricks n' stuff was not hurting my back. the stuff that hurt my back was stuff like tying my shoe, turning n' reaching to the back seat from the driver seat of my car, sitting in a chair 2 long, standing up from sitting in a chair 2 long... sometimes sneezing'd hurt my back or bowel movements. heh... i just know u wanted to hear that. i'm just rehearsing cos i'm gonna c a doktor in less than an hr, so i wanna be able to say w/ a straight face that bowel movements have been hurting my back. the things is that my back really doesn't hurt all that much now. i really feel, in general, prob'ly cos'f exercise, my back has been getting better. however, it's not 100% like it used to be back in my heyday (like, when i was off in d.c. doing taekwondo demos every single day). also whenever i'd think 'bout going to the doktor 'bout my back, my back'd magically heal, but then whenever i 4got that thought, it'd start hurting 'gain. thus, i went 'head n' skeduled this doktor's apptment since i needed to convince my back i'm really thinking 'bout going to the doktor, so it'd just keep healing instead'f flip.flopping! neway, i don't have much time to type right now cos i've gotta get out'f my pajamas n' into some real clothes to head to campus.
last nite, nelson n' cynthia came over to help us assemble wedding invitations. wow, we aktually got quite a bit done, n' it was pretty fun to have these 2 over. cynthia drove all the way down from berkeley. yes, we really do love it when ppl come n' visit! :-)
yesterday, 4 dinner, we ate some costco sushi that my mom bought a coupl'f days 'go. i think it would've been better fresh, but it was still pretty good. it didn't have ne raw fish or nething, so it was ok to keep it 4 so long, i guess.
u know, lately, i've been thinking 'bout how it's my left side'f the body that always has this stoopid li'l (really li'l) injuries. like, 'member a coupl'f weeks 'go, my left pec hurt, so i couldn't really bench press? n' then earlier this week, my left deltoid kind'f hurt from sleeping on it bad. often, my left ankle feels funny from that snowboarding skid out on the castle run @ sierra last season. my back injury: i don't feel it in my back; what i do feel is a slight sting in my left hamstring, which i'm believing is caused by sumpthin' wrong in my back. u know that? neway, it's so weird that the left side of my body's always doin' this to me. :-( strange, huh? u know, how there has been that worldview of the left side being the sinister side? i mean, hey! check this out: look up the wurd "외로" ("wehro") in a korean diktionary n' this is whatchu'll find: "leftward; to the left; to the left hand; in the wrong direction; to the wrong path; to an evil course." funny, huh? last nite, after assembling invitations, i felt really sleepytired n' lazy. i couldn't go to sleep right 'way, maybe cos the tv was on as the beautiful kaela kang was watching tv. i just watched it n' relaxed. u know me: i usually think watching tv is such a waste of time! however... i just told myself to chill n' relax. u c, i've had a bit'f a sore throat lately, so i wanna make sure i don't get really sick, u know?
1 last thing 'bout snowboarding b4 i sign off 4 now (it's 907a.): these past few months i had this thought 'bout extreme sports that what really is the objektive of extreme sports is to do tricks that putchur body in a position where u show that u don't have control n' then being able to regain control from that position. u get what i'm saying? like, let's say u'r on a snowboard. u jump. n' then u can do sumpthin' like... let's say u pull a method air, a good ol' 80s trick. u pull the board behind u'r back n' then grab it w/ ur front hand. in that position u r in no position to ride off in control, right? but then u put the board down, land, n' u r in control. n' w/ some more contemporary tricks, u jump, bone out the nose, tweak ur body, contort this way n' that, n' yet land in complete control. n' like railsiding: while u'r sliding on the rail, u don't have the ability to really steer ur board, u just hafto have jumped on @ the right angle n' speed. i'm totally not into the motorcross scene, but i guess it's been roped into the extreme sports scene. those guys have crazy tricks where u jump, lie back on ur motorcycle like u'r lying on a reclining chair (lazy boy) n' then regain control to land. neway... just a stoopid thought i had sometime in the past few months... aktually, it's all just stating the obvious.
[later] well, i hope i don't lose this portion of this entry.
i'm typing it on my handspring n' plan to send it to my unix acct via palm
eudora. however, sometimes palm eudora'll totally crash my
handspring, n' i'll lose all my memory. man, i really hope that
doesn't happen 2day cos i have 2 big e.mails on here ready to send off.
i think if i send off the e.mails b4 receiving ne e.mails, i'll
be ok. i hope so.
well, i went to my dr. apptment earlier. of course, i was totally hurrying to it. i hate how the sjsu health center is sooo strikt 'bout apptment times. u gotta be there 15 mins early, n' if u'r late -- even if the dr. has time -- they'll tell u to reskedule n' prob'ly charge u a fee. neway, they were aktually nice 'nuff to me even tho' i was a few mins late. the dr. sed i prob'ly just have a back muscle strain, not nething serious. she's having me go to a physikal therapy apptmnt 'least 1nce. however, she thinks i'll heal soon 'nuff. i hope so. i had to get an x.ray. i had x.rays done back when i had my full physikal. i hope i'm not getting 2 many x.rays. the x.ray teknician was the same as last time: this middle.aged, caucasian woman who lived in taipei n' likes to talk 'bout taiwan to me n' speak to me in mandarin. i uh... don't always understand what she's saying, not cos she doesn't speak mandarin well, just cos i don't totally understand mandarin. earlier, while i was sitting in the dr.'s office waiting 4 the dr., i saw that she had surfing fotos up on the wall. i started thinking 'bout what'd it'd be like to take up surfing. after all, i've been snowboarding 4 a long time, n' i used to be a skateboarder, right? why not? well, we'll c. i'm glad the dr. didn't tell me nething like don't go snowboarding cos yah... that's the last thing i'd want to hear. i'm 27. i'm still young. this back injury (which is really getting better) is just a temporary thing. i've got many exciting adventures ahead'f me!!! really! like, watching fear factor the other nite, i thought 'bout how i totally wanna do exciting things... n' yah, i shall!
it's 1156a. i'm on the 3rd floor of the sjsu library. i sed i'd study 4 a while here n' then go get a burrito from la victoria or sumpthin' 'round 100p. yah, i've gotta study 4 my "precision machine design" quiz, which will be this thurs. i know last thurs, i panicked cos i thought we'd have a quiz but we didn't. well, we really will have a quiz this thurs.
really, i'm not the kind'f projekt group member who panics. u c, i'm usually a cool.headed guy. i believe in keeping a cool head n' werking hard. w/ projekts n' projekt groups, it never helps to panic n' stress out the other group members! stressing out, nervousness, panicking, it's all counterproduktive!!! instead'f wasting energy w/ panicking n' stressing out, channel ur energy 2wards produktivity! i'm not a lazy guy. when u c a cool.headed, laid back guy, u might think he's lazy. no! i'm very produktive n' industrious. i just understand that panicking, freaking out, stressing out, etc. r all counterproduktive aktivities. in other wurds, i'm always being way 2 produktive (even when i look laid back) to stress out or freak out or panic. cool head beno.
[later] 1215p: shoot. my handspring did crash cos'f palm eudora. luckily, i did send out my journal entry n' e.mails b4 checking my mail n' thus b4 my handspring crashed. phew. neway, it does sort'f suck that my handspring'll be useless 4 the rest'f the day now. now, it's just a useless elektronics device, sittin' in my backpack. oh well. right now, i'm typing on a 'puter in the sjsu library 'puter center. when i get home 2nite, i can sync my handpsring n' get all the data back from b4 this morn. however, i gotta remind myself to re.enter the dr. apptmnts i put in this morn. i have a physikal therapist apptmnt next fri morn. however, i might reskedule that if we end up skeduling our engagement portraits 4 that day. i just gotta call 24 hrs in advance if i wanna reskedule. i have a follow up dr.'s 'pptmnt on may 7 @ uh... 1130a. the 'pptmnt next fri is @ uh... 1030a. heh, it's obvious u don't need to know this. i'm just typing this out 4 my sake. ha ha.
[later] 111p: ok, i went to lunch @ la victoria's, had a regular
chicken burrito n' a strawberry agua fresca all by myself, n' walked back, trying to keep my head under a roof
to avoid rain by walking thru bldgs instead of outside. it was warm
yet rainy outside both while i was walking to la victoria's n' on my way
back. on my way to lunch, i stopped by the post office to mail off
a rebate form. when it started raining, as i left to lunch, i
paused 4 a moment wondering if i should just get lunch @ the student union
cafeteria. "eh," i
thought, "i shouldn't let a li'l
rain keep me from having the lunch i want." heh. u know that
i never eat lunch by myself in a sitdown restaurant, but i'll go eat fast
fud by myself. i usually consider a taqueria fast fud.
still, i felt kind'f weird eating by myself in la victoria's cos every
other table cmed so social. :-/ oh well. neway, it was a
good lunch; i'm very full.
as i sed, on my way back, i walked thru bldgs instead'f outside. i walked thru what used to be the main gymnasium. the magnificent san josé state events center replaced it yrs 'go. neway, since i walked thru the old gym, where the human performance dept is, i walked past the gym in which i attend a taekwondo tournament back in 1994. i was a green belt back then. @ that tournament, i broke my hand. that was almost 10 yrs 'go now... almost. neway, things have really changed since then. man, i am really not the same person i was then. some ppl'd be surprised to hear that i was a taekwondo green belt back in 1994 cos they think i've done taekwondo longer than that. no, i started in college. however, i practiced nonstop, pretty much... i mean, i never really took a break. i never took a semester off or nething. the longest breaks i had were over winter breaks. there was 1 short period over a summer when i was a red belt where i was sort'f lazy, i know. however, other than that, i really werked out hard n' tried to improve. well, in comparison to all those yrs, maybe i'm a li'l lazy these days. :-/ nah, not that bad. *shrug* even tho' i only can go to taekwondo practice 1nce or 2ice a week, i try to go regularly to the gym, u know?
so right now, i'm typing from the mechanical engineering 'puter lab, not my handspring. grr, i'm a bit annoyed that my handspring crashed 2day. i think i'd best uninstall n' reinstall palm eudora. :-/ *shrug* i dunno if that'll help, but it's the best i can think of right now.
[later] 255p: i'm still in the mechanical engineering 'puter lab. listen! no time to waste! go direktly to: http://www.falafeldog.com. go now! >:-( do not waste ne time!!! this is urgent!!! when i get home, i gotta dl http://www.falafeldog.com/falafel.swf, the shockwave file. this is very important.
do u 'member back in the 2001-2002 snowboard season when kaela n' i'd
always c a "falafel" doggy sticker on a post of a ski/snowboard lift @
alpine meadows? that sticker always made us so happy.
922a: i'm up, awake, n' on the beautiful kaela kang's
'puter printing out some lekture notes 4 my "precision machine design"
class n' updating my journal 4 u. :-) i definitely have a quiz in
my "precision machine design" class 2day; no doubt. that's my big
task 4 2day, to get a good grade on this quiz. it's pretty wet
outside but not raining as far as i can tell. last nite was funny
weather. it was drizzly or else rainy all day yesterday but not 2
cold. we've had 'lot'f that "tropikal" weather lately. well,
last nite, after class, i went to the capitol/aborn gym. when i got
out of my car, it was drizzling but not raining. i wasn't sure
whether to bring an umbrella or not. i can stand some rain,
u know? well, i werked out 4 a decent 'mount of time, showered; n'
when i left, i was very glad that i brought my umbrella cos it was raining
pretty strong. phew. i drove home in decently strong rain.
when i got home, i ate dinner my mom prepared, stuff from costco:
some chicken w/ wild rice entrée n' some egg rolls (which were
either from costco or trader joe's, i 4get.) neway, it was all
pretty good. it was almost 1000p by the time i got home, so i took
dinner up to our room n' watched simpsons, the episode where lisa
finds a rival in the new gurl alison taylor, played by
winona ryder: "lisa's
rival (1f17)". 2wards the end of this episode, ralph wiggum
sez "i bent my wookie" 'bout his star wars aktion figure.
heh. that's a classik. *shrug* i dunno some'f us just get
such a chuckle from that line.
neway, didju visit http://www.falafeldog.com yet? "falafel dog" sounds like a great vegetarian dish; but no, it's not referring to fud. u need to check it out! falafel doggy! oh yah, the site had a li'l tendency to crash my internet explorer if i wasn't patient 'nuff to let some'f the stuff fully load. well, don't let that stop u from visiting the site. it's such a good site! :-)
lately, i've had a sore throat. i've had it since mon or so. 2day's thurs. it's not a full.blown cold, but the sore throat doesn't go 'way. :-( well, i'm done printing out my lekture notes, i think; but earlier, i started a scan disk on my 'puter, so i still can't use it n' hafta use kaela's 'puter. yesterday eve, kaela asked if we could go snowboarding on fri cos it's gonna snow in tahoe this whole week up until fri. well... do u realise how much i'd love to go snowboarding?! however, :-( i don't think i can go snowboarding these days cos'f all the junk i gotta get done. :-( i have sooo many projekts to werk on these days. as i've sed b4, each class has a projekt; n' that doesn't mean they don't also have hw, quizzes, n' midterms. :-( all this stuff is due in early may, i guess; it's gonna be really crazy!!! i still gotta turn in my major advising form. u know what i mean by a "major advising form"? like, every semester, u'r s'pposed to get faculty advising 'bout the classes u pick 4 the following semester? well, i gotta turn my advising form in. i haven't turned it in yet cos i'm not sure what 1 class is "me 296b." i definitely do not need to take it cos the only 2 class i need to take still r me 281 n' me 283, 2 controls classes. the skool's only offering me 281 next semester. me 283'll be next spring (spring 2004). i also gotta sign up 4 my thesis (me 299) or projekt (me 295a) class. however, b4 i sign up 4 my thesis or projekt class, i need to come up w/ a projekt or thesis idea. i don't even know if i wanna do a thesis or projekt! :-( i'm so lost on that subjekt. :-(
[a li'l later] it's 1001a. i should get on w/ my day.
[later] 1039a: i had like 20 pieces of spam e.mail in my inbox this morn. >:-( i hate spam e.mail! >:-( oh yah, last nite i got 1 piece of good e.mail. check this out:
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 07:43:32 -0800 Hey Beno-
Very cool that you found my sticker on Scott chair at Alpine (if I
remember correctly) and took the time to look us up! I look forward to you
joining the FOF crowd. I will be sure to send your permanent FOF card out
soon. If you would like to have a falafeldog.com email address
(beno@falafeldog.com) it simply means if you ever choose to use the
address your email would be forwarded to your current active account
(benomix.com). Let me know if you are interested.
Take Care!
Falafel (and Jessie)
wander about
Subject: Falafel here
From: falafel
To:
http://www.falafeldog.com falafel & friends
http://www.falafeldog.com/jessie paintings
i like getting that kind'f mail. :-)
well, what's gonna happen this weekend? i'm wondering if maybe kaela n' i'll go watch the 18 might mountain warriors' theatre show on fri nite n' then go watch better luck tomorrow on sat. better luck tomorrow's playing @ camera 1 here in san jo. i c from y! movies that it's still playing @ amc 1000 van ness in the city! kewl! it's also playing @ shattuck cinemas in berkeley. hrm, how come it's ok to call sf "the city"? u know, san jo's a big city 2! in fakt, it's a much bigger city! >:-( well... heh... i know no1 agrees w/ me here on this 1. X-D sf's the world's #1 tourist destination. i'm just thankful we live close to sf here in san jo. check out the 18 mighty mountain warriors website. they're playing in san jo on fri n' sat. sun is easter. sun is april 20; there4, sun is also kaela's n' my monthversary. :-) well, on sun, kaela n' i'll cook easter uh... brunch? lunch? *shrug* we're gonna cook some stuff. heh. kaela's pretty excited, n' she's gotten recipes out of 3 cookbooks including the chez panisse cookbook n' this vegetarian cookbook phil gave to us. :-)
ok, it's 1052a. hrm. how can i get a move on 2day? i
gotta pack my bags. as i sed, that's such a chore. i gotta
pack my taekwondo gear n' my skoolbag. ok... the 1st step to
getting a move on 2day is to stop writing this journal entry. u
know, i haven't put up a pic of myself on my journal in a long time.
well, i'm not gonna 2day either. heh. i was just thinking
'bout how i haven't; that's all.
1243a: :-) i'm happy that the beautiful kaela kang n' i could celebrate our 39th monthversary last nite. i took her to helios in cupertino. i'll tell u more 'bout it later, but here r some pics:
 kaela by the fireplace (helios is located in the cypress hotel in cupertino.) (the fireplace is in the hotel's lounge area.) |
 kaela thru the looking glass |
2day's easter sun. yesterday was sat. during the day, i went to berkeley w/ my "precision machine design" class 4 a tour of the advanced light source facilities @ lawrence berkeley lab. it felt like when i was a kid n' my dad'd take me to asme (american society of mechanical engineers) tours. i drove 2 classmates up from sjsu n' 3 back. on the way up, we stopped 4 gas. we got to berkeley a li'l early, so i took my 2 classmates to sufficient grounds (on durant) 4 some morning coffee. i got a single nf cappucino n' some kind'f healthy.looking berry scone. the tour went 4 a coupl'f hrs. we saw lots'f hi.tech stuff. after the tour, my carload ate lunch @ bongo burger on euclid. after that, i swung by the eggster taekwondo demo to say hi to the demo team. un4tunately, i couldn't hang cos i had my carload to bring back to san jo.
on fri, i spent the 1st 0.5 of the day werking on my "computer aided mechanical design" projekt w/ my 2 lab partners. we had vietnamese sandwiches from cali deli 4 lunch. in the afternoon, kaela n' i went to costco w/ my mom to get fud to cook 2day 4 easter lunch. after that, kaela n' i went to trader joe's, safeway, n' pw super to get even more ingredients 4 our crazy crazy easter lunch. we ate costco sushi 4 dinner. i was exhausted.
on sat, after the tour, after i dropped off my classmates @ skool, i
came home n' washed my car. then i took kaela to our 39th
monthversary dinner @ helios restaurant, as i sed. heh, our friend
joon from u.s.
taekwondo academy (not joon kim), who werks @ the cypress hotel, where helios
is located, hooked us up w/ the best "couple's" table in the house! woo
hoo! that was so kewl! even tho' the restaurant wasn't totally
crowded when we got there, it got crowded later. we had a nice
dinner. we shared a baby greens salad. then kaela had this
scallops risotto, n' i had soy ginger sea bass, a fusion dish. we
had this coffee toffee parfait 4 dessert, a bottle of 1998 domaine
schlumberger alsatian riesling, n' espresso drinks. after dinner,
we had to go to safeway on stevens creek by lawrence to get even more
ingredients 4 this easter lunch. crazy crazy. on our way
home, we found out that there's a yeitnal jjajangjip on stevens creek. :-)
we like that place. 'least, we like the berkeley (oakland) location. there's also 1 in
sf, we know; but we've never been to that 1.
234p: right now, i'm in the lobby'f the gym, waiting 4 the beautiful kaela kang to come down. yesterday was easter sun; 2day's mon. yesterday, kaela n' i cooked easter lunch 4 my mom, grace, n' steve. we cooked lamb w/ white beans (from the chez panisse cookbook), stuffed artichokes, n' mushroom ragout. kaela also made a fruit compote n' an asparagus n' arugula salad w/ walnut vinaigrette. phew, that lunch took quite a bit'f preparation. i hadn't cooked like that in ages! back in college n' right after college, i was really into cooking. then i stopped cooking so much... or aktually, i only stopped cooking fancy european dishes. in more recent yrs, i've been more into cooking asian dishes. yesterday eve, kaela mentioned we didn't cook nething spicy. i then realised maybe that's a big reason i sort'f turned my back on european style cooking, that i've been more into cooking spicy fuds. *shrug*
yesterday eve, kaela n' i went w/ ken n' grace to watch better luck
tomorrow @ camera one theatre on 1st st. it's a great movie; u
should go watch it!
1148a: 1nce 'gain i'm waiting 4 the beautiful kaela kang in the bally's gym lobby. lemme tell u tho', if u think all i do all day, all week is hang out @ the gym, i really despise u right now! >:-( last nite, i was werking on my "c.a.d." class projekt w/ my lab partners in lab till 1000p. that's just the life'f a college student. i am a full.time graduate student! this is how my life goes. college students stay up late n' werk on projekts 2gether. that's just how it is! i gotta stay up late n' werk. i have hw due on thurs n' a midterm in my "mechatronics" class. in the next 3 wks, i gotta finish 3 term projekts!
[later] 903p: i'm in the mechanical engineering lab n' 'gain very mad @ ppl who don't realise that i'm a full.time grad student n' have to stay in lab late @ nite!
[later] 1057p: 2day, 4 lunch, kaela n' i ate @ the green burrito on cottle rd. u know what the green burrito is, right? it's a mexican fast fud restaurant that's part'f carl's jr. yah, this the green burrito is inside a carl's jr. kaela had a 2 fish taco combo. i had 2 "big spicy tacos": 1 chicken, i steak. they weren't very spicy. :-( however, the fud in general was pretty good 4 a fast fud franchise.
from 200-400p, i was @ a labview seminar. then i had class. then i werked on my hw in the lab as i skipped taekwondo practice. :-( kaela got us a salad from the market café, a thai tofu salad.
schroedinger, thanks 4 signing my gbook! u'r kewl!
[later] 1130p: oh yah, 2day was earth day. didju c the cute
google banner? heh. does ne1 else 'member the dramarama song that
went "it's april 21st, and everybody knows today is earth day. merry
christmas. happy birthday to whowever's being born"? i 'member it.
apparently, the song's called "what are we gonna do." i'd
4gotten the title. i found out @ http://www.cybercomm.net/~flem/drama/lyrics/vinyl.htm.
i thought ben n' jerry's'd be giving out free aiskuriimu 2day.
i sent kaela off to get a free cone, but she reported that they're
gonna give out free aisukuriimu exaktly a week from 2day. :-)
946a: i guess i'm not going to the gym 2day. i should get to campus n' werk on my "mechatronics" hw n' study 4 my "mechatronics" midterm 2morrow. hrm... maybe there's a minute chance that i can go to the gym this evening. *shrug* i'm so bizzy w/ skoolwerk these days. i missed taekwondo practice last nite, as i sed yesterday. well, u know what? the beautiful kaela kang n' i r planning to make 1 last trip on fri to sierra@tahoe b4 it closes 4 the season on sun. that'll be 1 last day of snowboarding 4 this season. it'll snow on fri. it'll be cold. i hope this werks out. werk hard; play hard. u know that's my werk ethics.
this morn, i had a weird dream where jason lee (betelnut) n' mark lee (from taekwondo) knew each other n' came to visit me down here in almaden valley. we walked 'round by my old middle skool talking 'bout stuff. i dunno... just life stuff; i 4get. i 'member, @ 1 pt some kid rode by on a mini skateboard n' mark borrowed it 4 a sec to ride it. i wanted to 2. do u 'member? a yr 'go or so, i kept having dreams 'bout skateboarding. heh, not lately.
[later] 1037a: shoot. there's sumpthin' i'm looking 4 in my ol' bedroom / 'puter room that i can't find: it's an elektronics kit. 'member over spring break how i got into some mechatronics projekts? like, i bought this kit from fry's that'll be a musikal light controller; it makes a set of dj lights turn off n' on to the musik based upon the frequency of the sound. *sigh* i can't find it now. i want to build it in time 4 the wedding, etc. grr!!! [later] 1200p: shoot, it's noon. man, why does it cm like i can never get all the things done that i wanna get done? grr! grr! grr!
did i ever discuss how, 4 the past few months, i've been thinking, "what'd life be like if we had mtn bikes?" heh, i'd like to have a bike, so i wouldn't hafta drive if i wanted to go to the nearby safeway or post office. if i ever get a bike, i want a bike helmet that has built.in stereo speakers. i've cn them. i like muzik when i drive. it's aktually illegal to wear headfons while operating a vehicle. well, someday, i'll get a bike. it's sort'f a wishlist item, s'ppose. shoot, i have a midterm 2morrow. i gotta study!
oh yah, this morn, after that earlier dream. i had a dream that i
woke up in bed but i had slept on my cellfon n' broken the antenna off of
it. aktually, u c, right now i'm using a loaner fon w/ my
titanium antenna that i got from ebay. in my dream, i broke my real
cellfon, the 1 that got repaired by motorola on a warranty repair order.
it has the new motorola antenna on it.
*sigh* shoot. i just got my rejektion letter (e.mail) from my interview last mon. :-( *sigh* it's so discouraging. this sort'f puts me in a foul mood... but i'll resist being in a foul mood. i'll try to channel this negative energy into sumpthin' positive. :-/ :-( u can understand this'd be discouraging, right? :-/ *sigh* i put so much energy into this stoopid job search. it's really frustrating. :-( oh well... i don't have time to wallow in my own pity. i have this frickin' midterm to study 4 n' hw to turn in 2morrow.
the quote in 2day's title is from depeche mode's "shake the disease."
[later] 201p: i'm in the student union cafeteria, just got to campus, ready to study "mechatronics" 4 'bout 0.5 hr b4 mtg my "c.a.d." projekt group up in the mech e 'puter lab. i have my muvo n' headfons on. i was just enjoying kiss's "without you," which i talked 'bout a li'l while 'go. b4 i left the house, i was a li'l depressed, thinkin' 'bout how i felt much more optimistik 'bout life last semester: when kaela was werking @ the publik health office, i had such a good daily routine going. i really liked it. i liked going to the gym or studying @ a café in the morn, mtg kaela 4 lunch, n' then going to campus. it was a good routine; i liked it. does that make me a "creature of habit" etc.? i know lots'f ppl (either young ppl or ppl who think they're still young n' hip) like to bag on lives w/ prediktable routines. "why werk a 9 to 5?! fire ur boss!" i get tons'f spam e.mail promoting "careers" where u can leave the "9 to 5" behind. well, shoot! it's also nice to be able to depend on getting a good, solid, steady paycheck every 2 wks so u can pay the bills! do i like unprediktability, excitement, surprises in life? well, hey! i always like a pleasant surprise! i like excitement like bulleting down a black diamond. last semester, i had hw due in my classes on a regular, weekly basis. this semester, i have less'f that n' more long.term projekt assignments. now that the semester's winding down n' 2 of my 3 profs already had our classes fill out their evaluations, it's crunch time. it's not even a good kind'f crunch. kettle corn, that's a good crunch!
the real reason i started writing this current passage'f 2day's journal entry's that, on my drive out to campus from home, i saw a male mallard duck sitting in the shade on the green lawn'f a neighbouring house, 'cross the st. that house's currently vacant n' 4 sale w/ a "sale pending" rider atop the "for sale" sign. i like ducks. what time is it? 220p.
2 more songs on my current muvo mp3 playlist that i particularly like n' that u already know i like: boa's "no. 1" n' swi.t's "let me be the one."
[later] 353p: i'm in the mech e 'puter lab, been here since a li'l after 300p. 4 lunch, i ate a metrx protein bar, chococovered roasted peanut flavour. that was 'lot'f protein; i feel it in my stomach. i s'ppose many ppl'd say that isn't a proper lunch cos it comes in bar form n' isn't a warm meal served on a plate or in a bowl. whatever. i haven't thought 2 much 'bout my diet in the past few months. i haven't been trying to "make weight" or nething. back in the days, back in 1999, when i was on the cal taekwondo team (the sparring collegiate competition taekwondo team), i was trying to "make weight" as a feather weight n' had to keep my weight under 147.1 lbs. these days, i just wanna be fit. i've been consistently staying in the 155 - 158 lb range 4 the past yr or so. u know i lift weights. i've gained some muscle, not a whole lot but some. i want to gain muscle n' minimize fat. i know i'm not fat, far from obese; but i still wouldn't [interrupted, now 722p] mind losing some fat. u know. like many guys, i want to be "cut." neway, what i'm saying's these days, i haven't been watching what i eat, not as i did in the ol' days. these days, i usually just eat whatever i feel like, often whatever i can find @ home. it's not a good diet, no. i just depend on getting 'nuff exercise to keep me in shape. well, i'm starting to think that i'd better watch more carefully what i eat n' how much i eat.
[later] 1122p: so i spent much'f the afternoon to early eve werkin' on
my "c.a.d." projekt w/ my group. then we took a break. we got
some fud. i got a strawberry dreamin' jamba juice. then i
went back to lab n' werked on my "mechatronics" matlab hw. i werked
on it till like 930p. then i drove home. i'm always @ skool
late these days, it cms. :-/ i came home. i ate this
costco wild rice n' chicken thingy that my mom baked n' some corn.
1041p: the midterm was killer! :-( it was really hard! no1 finished the whole test, i don't think. well, maybe some1 did... like, even tho' san josé state's not like berkeley, there'll still be like 1 genius in every class. that's aktually diff from berkeley. in a class of like 30 or so, in an engineering class'f like 30 or so, u'll end up w/ like 5 geniuses. (maybe in a lower division, undergrad class w/ like 100 ppl, u'll get like 10 - 20 geniuses.) @ san josé state, in a class'f like 30 or so, u'll get 1 or 2 geniuses... n' maybe 1 of those ppl isn't taking many other classes, u know? some1 who's just really focused on that class. neway, sjsu's a good skool, better than some ppl think. however, well... heh... i gotta admit that berkeley's a much more prestigious skool... heh, no contest there.
funny. i think 1 of our friends has an e.mail virus that's trying to spread itself by sending off bits'f his personal mail to all his friends. heh. weird. i get these e.mails w/ like a short bit'f a paragraph. aktually, i think the e.mails r coming from his dad's e.mail address, but i figured out who it is from the context of the passages.
[later, after a shower] 1126p: ok, sumpthin' totally silly:
whah?! "u like to be pampered and treated like the queen that u
are"?!?!?! whah?! shoot! some1's in 4 an @$$ kickin'!!!
>:-(
[later] 1110p: 2day the beautiful kaela kang n' i had a daytrip to sierra@tahoe 4 likely our last day'f snowboarding this season, last'f many. u should've cn the conditions! it was december in late april! it snowed on us, n' we had plenty'f fresh powder. it was awesome... awesome but cold. i felt real sierra mist. snowboarding warmed me up, but i got splashed by plenty'f gusty winds full'f snow. it was like taking a shower w/ ice cold h2o. the soft drink should have ads that describe it to be just like what i experienced 2day. sierra had a kewl li'l terrain park off lower sleighride that they put in since the last time we were there. the terrain parks were fun.
on the drive to sierra, we stopped by bridal veil falls, right off the 50. i got splashed by cold h2o there 2.
931a: my favourite amerikan muzik video right now? "american life" by madonna! i dled it last nite. i haven't dled the mp3 cos i sort'f feel like i ought to support the song by aktually buying the cd or sumpthin'. u know? it's just that the amerikan gestapo's really gone 2 far these days. :-/ u know what i'm talkin' 'bout. like, i was glad to hear that 1 of the dixie chicks announced @ a concert that she was ashamed that george w. bush came from texas. however, i was disappointed to hear she retrakted the remark after criticism. it's really just a hard time in amerika to speak ur true opinions 'bout the government if u don't go 'round saying u love the president n' rebulikans sooo much. >:-( of course, gestapo'll say that we r still a free country, after all i'm allowed to have this journal n' talk smack 'bout the government here. *roll eyes* it's not like i'm a celebrity or nething. the country is surely not as tolerant of a place as it used to be, n' it's not as friendly'f a place as it used to be. things just sure ain't what they used to be. i 'member the good ol' days when ppl were nice to each other... the days when u wouldn't get shot just cos u don't have a star spangled banner flying in front'f ur house... they say the economy's the worst it's been in 40 yrs. :-( everything's just bad. now we've got sars 2. it's ruining the asian economy n', of course, giving an excuse 4 the gestapo to persecute asians. 'ccording to the gestapo, arabs r all terrorsists n' east asians r basikally lepers.
[later] 1050a: when u have time, please check out this article 'bout better luck tomorrow from the silicon valley metro newspaper: http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/04.17.03/blt-0316.html. the article mentions how the characters in better luck tomorrow rn't necessarily "positive" asian role models or "positive" media portrayals, in a sense... well, basically, the characters do break 'way from the whole "model minority" role, n' that's great. i mean, it's un4tunate that u gotta c all this negative stuff like drugs n' violence, but well... the important thing is that these images challenge the amerikan audience. do u get what i'm saying?
[later] 1207p: heh, this site is really funny X-D : kim jong il (the ilmmatic)'s journal. ha ha ha.
[later] 748p: i'm in the gym lobby, waiting 4 the beautiful kaela kang. so my favourite amerikan muzik video right now is madonna's "american life." stating that reminds me'f s.e.s.'s "u" video. a long time 'go phil e.mailed me an article that discussed south korean youths' rejektion'f amerikan culture that used that video as evidence. @ that time i aktually hadn't ever cn that video, only a "making of the video" video clip. funny, huh? however, i liked the song, put it on benomix4집, n' eventually dled the muzik video via kazaa. yah, in the video, the 3 pop princess, in 3 individual scenes, [1048p], getting revenge on scumbag "amerikan" [1120p], male chauvinistic bosses. those r some real k.grrl moments! :-) yah, many koreans think the amerikan military should get out'f south korea. north - south relations cmed to be getting better, 'specially w/ pres noh, if it weren't 4 dubyah n' his whole axis of evil fantasy. *roll eyes* dubyah better not start $#!+ up w/ korea; i spent the whole afternoon researching our jeiju-seoul honeymoon!
i tell u, i gotta admit 1'f the reasons i like
voyager better than enterprise is that the enterprise
captn reminds me 2 much'f dubyah. how can i possibly cheer 4 him?! i
say take linda park n' the vulcan chick (who's s'pposedly really hot when
she's not a vulcan) n' blow up the ship!!! ha ha. j/k. toby
sed ppl used to say he looked like scott bakula from his quantum
leap days. *shrug*
the amerikan gestapo persecutes all those who don't fly the red, white, n' blue in front'f their homes or bizness establishments. well, i know from my cub scouts days that it's unpatriotik to fly the flag on rainy days, but nowadays i c plenty'f star spangled banners getting soaked in these spring storms! it's just wrong! >:-(
in the 80s, we loved the concept'f a futuristic, post.apocalyptic setting. take mad max 4 example. i loved pro skateboarder christian hosoi's account, in rolling stone magazine, of a post.apocalyptic future where skateboards r the primary mode'f transportation cos petroleum would be all gone. i also loved the tv series max headroom. maybe the post.apocalypse'll have plenty'f tekno hacker culture.
neway, since dubyah's caused the world to fall 'part into shambles,
maybe this is the apocalypse! back during bush sr's persian
gulf folly, my mormon friends sed it was the apocalypse cos the apocalypse
should have a battle in the middle east. many'f my christian
friends sed n' thought so 2. why rn't ppl making a bigger deal 'bout
the apocalypse in relation to dubyah's war?! i'm pretty sure
dubyah's the anti.christ. doesn't it all make sense? the
whole father/son thing, it cms to make so much sense! we might've
thought bush sr. was the anti.christ, but bam! surprise twist! it's
aktually the son!
235p: so far, 2day's such a crappy day. it's sooo
beautiful outside, but i've been stuck inside. why? i dunno.
i hate it. >:-( i wanna go out n' live life, not be all cooped up
indoors! i hate it! what a way to waste such a
beautiful weekend day! >:-( in fakt, i was indoors @ home most'f
yesterday 2! grr! i hate this!
1234p, gym lobby: what's 4 lunch? i haven't talked 'bout fud so
much here lately. what have we been eating? on the way up to
tahoe on fri (2day's mon.), we got some mcyukyuk's 4 breakfast: 1 egg
mcmuffin value meal [127p]w/ large coffee + 1 extra egg mcmuffin. @
sierra, we shared a "the bomb," which's a chili dog; a pina colada
smoothie, n' a blueberry yogurt. [423p] 4 dinner, @ home, we cooked
angel hair pasta w/ bell peppers. sat: . . .
[interrupted.]
850a: do u know 2day's b&j's free aisukuriimu day? go getchurself some free aisukuriimu right now!!! if u already knew that 2day's b&j's free aisukuriimu day, then didju know that 2morrow's b&r's free aisukuriimu day? (by "b&r," referring to baskin robbins.) go getchurself free aisukuriimu 2 days in a row! :-) uh, then we'd better all go werkout, huh? heh...
so my journal entries the past few days have been of pretty low quality, i gotta admit. i'm sorry 4 all the incomplete entries. i've just been so bizzy w/ life n' skool projekts, i s'ppose. well, i wonder if i should continue talkin' 'bout fud. ok.
2day's tues. on sat, what happened? we went to the gym. what did we have 4 lunch? *shrug* uh... maybe we ate lunch @ home. hrm... :-/ i wish i could just look in my journal archives n' find out what i ate on sat, but well... i'm writing that journal entry right now apparently. :-( hrm... if i 'member correktly, we didn't leave the house 4 the gym till later in the day, right? so we must've eaten pasta leftovers 4 lunch! yup, i'm right. the beautiful kaela kang had some real estate class in the morn, so i stayed @ home. we ate leftover pasta. then we went to the gym later. after the gym... uh... is that when we went to picasso's tapas? hrm... hrm... i guess so. i guess we originally planned to go watch bend it like beckham @ amc mercado 20, but well... it was already so late. it didn't feel late cos the sun stays up later now. we ate dinner @ picasso's tapas. it was delicious. we had uh... ensalada de picasso (or sumpthin'... their special salad w/ anchovies), gambas ajillo (garlic shrimp), n' their paella de mariscos. we also had a carafe'f sangria. heh, the owner there is really funny n' friendly. he knows lots'f languages apparently. he's sort'f like pat, but an old man, n' i don't think he's studied nearly as seriously as pat but just plays 'round. he spoke to us in korean n' a li'l bit'f mandarin to me. i mean, he's not a totally fluent speaker but pretty impressive! picasso's tapas is a more casual tapas place than most'f the 1s u find in sf. most'f those r aktually more sf yuppified, if u know what i mean. i mean, picasso's tapas has a diff feel from thirsty bear. neway, i like both. :-) after dinner, we walked over to starbucks n' had some drinks: kaela had a latte, n' i had a chai tea. man, when i was in berkeley last weekend n' stopped 4 coffee @ sufficient grounds, i realised that coffee's so much cheaper in berkeley. as i keep saying, ppl say that berkeley has the most cafés per capita in the world 'cept 4 paris. i dunno where i heard that, but i believe it. well, that was sat nite. sun, we ate some leftovers 4 lunch/brunch. 4 dinner? oh yah, we came home n' ate chicken curry rice. we spent the afternoon @ best buy, fry's, n' barnes & nobles. @ best buy n' fry's, we looked @ camcorders. u c, we have some credit card reward pts to spend on some elektronics, so we're thinkin'f buying a camcorder. (we have lots'f pts!) i'm considering the sony dcr-ip5; the small, small micromv camcorder. it's really small. i like that. the sony dcr-ip55 has a bigger n' thus better lens, but i don't like how it's a bigger package n' also more expen$ive. well, we'll c what we get. i think there r a coupl'f things on my wishlist these days: a camcorder n' maybe a mtn bike. neway, it's not like the good ol' days. i can't just buy stuff like i used to. :-( well, on sun afternoon, @ barnes & nobles, it felt good to read. i hate feeling illiterate all the time. i read stuff: i read digital fotography magazines, i read wedding books, i read snowboarding magazines, i read asian.am magazines... i bought a copy'f the latest koream journal. it has an interesting article on the l.a. garment industry. lemme tell u, i try not to buy clothes made in mainland china cos i know their manufacturing processes r horrible! i'm talkin' 'bout the labor conditions, etc. the article discussed how much'f cali4nia's garment manufacturing industry is run by koreans in l.a. back in the late 1990s, some korean manufacturers got in trouble 4 labor issues. then the state passed a law 'bout labor conditions in garment factories, n' the industry cleaned up 'lot. i also read the latest issue'f giant robot. geez, they're so obsessed w/ harisu. i guess hot topiks from the muthaland take a while to break into asian.am media, u know? like, these publikations rn't like bronx's junkyard. even tho' bronx's site is run in english, it talks 'bout much more recent topiks as far as aktual asian pop culture. man, i notice that koream journal has a major l.a. flava to it cos, i guess, it's mostly based in l.a. reading it sort'f made me miss hangin' out in socal. it's a slightly diff world down there. sure, i gotta admit that the sobay / silly valley has more'f a socal feel than sf/berkeley. however, u gotta admit the sobay /silly valley has much more sf/berkeley flava than l.a. does! heh. i guess that's stating the obvious. heh. hrm, when was it? sometime this weekend i missed living in berkeley 4 the value'f being able to hang in sf so readily. i started thinking how it must feel to live aktually in sf. i thought: geez, whenever u just casually go out, u'r driving on world famous streets past world famous historical sites. the places u casually hang out in r just sooo grand! yah, honestly, no city in socal or sobay can beat that, i gotta admit.
mon: mon, we went to the gym 4 our personal training apptmnt. yah, last week, i signed us up 4 personal training to get in shape 4 our wedding n' our engagement portraits. i really wanna be fit, u know. heh. u'd better know that cos i say it sooo much here! X-D heh. well, after the gym, we looked 4 lunch. i wanted to take us to the yeitnal jjajangjip on santa teresa blvd. when we got there, i was so amused by their signs advertising that they make jjajangmyuhn as well as freshly baked pizza! X-D the oakland location didn't make pizza! however, i guessed that the silly valley location must'f 4merly been a pizza parlour, so the new asian owners must'f kept the pizza ovens n' continued to sell pizza 'long side their jjajang n' jjambbong. well, u know what else surprised me besides the pizza? apparently, they're closed on mons!!! shoot! well, i started to drive us to el camino real but realised we could patronise 황제 순두부 (hwangjei soondubu), which is called "fusion korea" in english n' is located @ the corner'f homestead n' stelling in cupertino. 'member? we went there w/ mark n' grace a while 'go: please refer to "i'm 6 ft from the edge, n' i'm thinkin, "hey, we sound like pearl jam!" on 2003.03.11. kaela got some bizness fon call, so she went outside to talk on her cellfon. i called the waitress over n' ordered 2 jjajangmyuhn ($3.99 each) n' an order of soondae ($7.99). mmmm.... soondae!!! 순대를 많이 좋아해!!! of course, the soondae's not nearly as good'f a deal as the jjajangmyuhn, but it was really fresh n' tasty! :-p after the nice lunch, we drove 'round cupertino a li'l. it started to rain. then we went to target to get some toiletries. then i drove to skool, dropped myself off, n' let kaela take my car. i stayed in lab late, of course. i werked on my "c.a.d." projekt w/ my groupmates. then kaela picked me up in my car. at home, we ate my mom's sushi, which is more like "taiwanese kimbap." i was really sleepy. really sleepy! i wondered if i should turn on my 'puter n' get stuff done, but i just lethargically laid there in bed watching tv. then i went to sleep relatively early. i figured i could just wake up in the morn n' get stuff done, as i'm doing now. :-)
right now it's 947a. i sort'f wished i went to the gym when i woke up @ 730a. it's just i'm never sure if i should go early on my own or wait 4 kaela to wake up n' go w/ her. 2nite, after class, i'd better go to taekwondo practice. i'm guessing i'll hafta skip on thurs to werk on my "mechatronics" projekt. have u cn my hair lately? i'm sooo shaggy!
oh yah, yesterday, b4 going to the lab, kaela n' i got boba drinks
from tapioca express on san carlos near the sjsu campus. man,
tapiaco express is not nearly as good as fantasia!!! >:-(
sure, i like tapioca express's crispy basil pepper chicken snacks n' their
squid ball snacks... but man! i'd rather get fantasia's boba drinks neday!!!
oh, it looks like kaela woke up. :-) i wonder what'll happen 2day. i told my lab parnters i'd meet them in the library @ 200p. i hope kaela n' i can go to the gym 2day. :-) then we can get free aisukuriimu later! :-)
[slightly later] 1009a: oh yah, i had a dream this morn that kaela's
family was up here 4 the wedding n' that i ran into an old friend that had
turned into a drug addikt.
1240a: if u can read korean, it is imperative that u visit http://www.dogphoto.co.kr right this instant! if u can't read korean, u should still go to that website n' try to navigate ur way 'round however u can! i'm sitting in my room, after a shower. i'm so shaggy. >:-( i hate being so shaggy! i'm just gonna sit here n' look @ pics of puppies all by myself! >:-(
1006a: good morning. it's wed 2day. what's gonna happen? well... shoot, i know i gotta werk on my "c.a.d." projekt w/ my group. i'd like to go to the gym, n' i wish i could get a haircut. 2day is baskin.robbins's free scoop day. oh, i just checked the baskin.robbins website: teknically, 2nite is free scoop nite! the offer is only from 600-1000p!!! hrm, that complicates things, yes. i was hoping to sneak in a free scoop while all the kiddies r @ skool. shoot, now the lines'll be longer cos all the kiddies n' employed ppl'll be waiting in line. hrm...
oh yah, thanks, vicky huang 4 signing my gbook. u r kewl. right now, my domain name server thingy's acting up 'gain. just a reminder: if u ever have a problem w/ a url that involves http://www.benomix.com, please substitute "www.benomix.com" w/ "www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~beno". then all should be fine. 4 example, to reach my gbook, u can also use "http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~beno/gbook.html" instead'f "http://www.benomix.com/gbook.html". myself, i haven't answered those gbook qs yet. u know how i always answer my own questions b4 changing them. hrm, should i do it now?
name: 비노 황, 황명록, beno hwang, bernard lloyd hwang
homepage url (don't 4get to use http colon slash slash!): http://www.benomix.com
what's the 1st site u check when u get on.line? (dont 4get to use http colon slash slash!): http://www.kaela.com (ha ha! X-D just kidding. u'r only allowed to visit that site if u'r 18+.)
what r some ways u waste time? 1) please refer to http://www.bjunkyard.com/page_forums/index.html, the bronx's junkyard forums. 2) writing my journal entries. 3) i used to waste time by going to longs drugs, target, walgreens, etc. n' shopping 4 housekeeping supplies, but i don't nemore. 4) back in college, i wasted time by cooking elaborate meals when there was no need 4 them.
imagine u r in charge of making a reality tv show. please describe it: i liked the idea roland 1nce discussed 'bout making a reality show 'bout the ucmap black belt candidates n' showing all the torture they gotta endure n' cing if the crack or not. heh. i guess he proposed that idea back when fox had some bootcamp reality show. i guess that show was 2 much just military stuff n' not sexy 'nuff, so they haven't pursued that kind'f stuff lately, huh? well, they could have naked amerikan idol! X-D ha ha. i dunno if i'd want to watch that, but i guess it'd be sexier than whatever that bootcamp show was. of course, it'd be even better if it were just naked female amerikan idol! X-D
can u read the hangeul (korean text) on beno's page? ( 1)네; 읽수 있지!, 2) i can c it; but i don't know what it means., 3) i just c garbled up characters. )1) 네; 읽수 있지!
do u ever eat over the kitchen sink to avoid using dishes? ( 1)all the time!, 2)yes, 3)no ) 1) all the time!
what r some mundane things u do on an ordinary day? i drive to campus. sometimes, i hafta fill up on gas. i brush my teeth every day. i take 'least 1 shower every day. i try to go to the gym every day, but that's not 2 mundane. i think filling up on gas is definitely a mundane aktivity. oh yah!!! 1 definitely mundane thing i gotta do pretty much every single day is delete spam from my inbox!!! grrr! >:-(
additional comments: i wanna thank every1 who signed my gbook this past round. i plan to change the questions soon, so get ready to sign it 'gain!!! :-)
'member how i sed some things i'd like to have these days include 1) a teeny, tiny camcorder n' 2) a decent mtn bike? well, 1 other thing that i sort'f want that the beautiful kaela kang wants more is the cybersonic 2 elektric toothbrush that vanna white advertises on tv. i'm gonna watch ebay 4 a good deal on 1. they retail 4 $99.99 on tv n' in stores (in stores, u don't pay the extra s&h.); but they cm to go 4 'bout $70 on ebay! n' ppl r constantly selling them... uh, i hope these r all new n' unused! ... [later] 1054a: shoot, my 'puter keeps crashing n' sez its due to my ati all.in.wonder graphics card. i'm wondering if the fan on the graphics card chip is stuck n' the graphics card is overheating or sumpthin'. i have the all.in.wonder 128 pci. when i bought it a long time 'go, i thought i was buying the agp version, but i goofed. i was wondering how come it was so cheap. oh well.
:-0 i just received by e.mail the contract from the catering service that is serving our fud. u c, the ppl preparing our fud (aktually cooking it) r from this korean catering company, n' they're fine. they're kewl. they're not really gouging us. shoot! this fud service company, which we gotta use cos they're on the ceremony/reception site's preferred vendors' list, they're totally gouging us!!! >:-( grrr! the wedding industry is sooo evil!!! geez! these ppl need to be slayed!!! *sigh* 1 thing i dunno what to do 'bout is this: beverage service comes either as a flat fee per person or a fee per beverage. i guess i originally thought we'd get a better deal by going w/ the "flat fee per person" charge... but hrm... i dunno... i mean, if i can get every1 to drink as much as possible, then i can make it more worth it... but i dunno... i gotta reconsider that part'f the deal. altho' lots'f my friends enjoy beer n' wine, i don't really have that many totally alkoholic friends. :-/ neway, they still charge 'lot 4 just soda, i think. these ppl r so vicious. i hate it.
well, there r 2 site i wantchu to visit: http://www.dogphoto.co.kr n' http://www.falafeldog.com.
1023a: it's may, huh? 2day's thurs. right now, i'm boarding the parking shuttle bus to campus.
1103p: i spent all day n' nite, werking hard @ skool. i werk hard, u know. :-( really... it's kind'f depressing how i've spent all day n' all nite the past few weeks werking on my lab projekts. *sigh* this is just my life as a grad student, i tell u!
heh, on the nbc 11 news they're talkin' 'bout how dubyah did some dumb, publicity stunt 2day landing on an aircraft carrier. *roll eyes* that was so self.serving. geez... oh well...
so what's been going on? well, i've been in lab all day, all nite, as i keep saying. hrm... what's been going on besides that? *shrug* where did i leave off? *shrug* well, 2day i didn't go to the gym. i woke up, did some werk on my 'puter @ home, took a shower, n' then went to skool. it didn't rain 2day, n' it didn't rain yesterday. i wore short sleeve shirts both days. 4 lunch, i managed to sneak 'way from lad 4 like 10 mins to run over to buy a ham n' pate vietnamese sandwich from cali deli 4 n' a soy bean milk n' bring it back to lab. later, when my "mechatronics" lab group went to radio shack to buy some parts, i got a "spicy" chicken sandwich, which of course wasn't very spicy. when i got home 'round 1030p, i ate some rotisserie chicken that my mom got from costco. i put it in a warmed up tortilla w/ some mixed weeds (fancy salad). uh... wait a sec... oh yah, wed 4 lunch, the beautiful kaela kang n' i went to la victoria taqueria 4 lunch. heh, every1 loves la vic's orange hot sauce. :-) it's kind'f spicy, i guess... un4tunately, i think it must be kind'f fattening. :-( on tues, kaela n' stopped by lee's sandwiches after going to the gym, b4 she dropped me off @ skool. un4tunately, @ lee's, i ordered the wrong kind'f sandwich. i was so eager to try their baguette sandwiches, but i ordered their amerikan style ham n' cheese sandwich, not their vietnamese sandwich. *sigh* oh well... next time. ok, 'nuff 'bout the fud i've been eating lately.
hrm... what else is there to talk 'bout besides fud n' all the crazy engring projekts i have due these days? oh yah, the company that rejekted me last nite has 'nother position open... i mean, the hiring manager from the last position aktually e.mailed me 'bout 'nother position open, so i'm applying to that position now. man, i really hope this werks out!
hrm, there was sumpthin' else i wanted to talk 'bout? i 4get. i know i'm really shaggy right now n' badly need a haircut. what else? a while 'go, cos i had all these credit card reward pts (tons!), i bought some sharper image merchandise. my shipment arrived 2day: a handheld steam cleaner n' a sonic jewelry cleaner.
u know how i sed that my 'puter keeps crashing? 1'f these days asap, i should open up my 'puter n' vacuum it out. i bet there's lots'f dust in there.
oh yah, i managed to buy a cybersonic 2 toothbrush kit from ebay yesterday. it was a really good deal, n' well... kaela 's been wanting 1 4 a very long time. i'm pretty fanatikal 'bout brushing my teeth u know. i wonder how life'll change now that i'm getting an elektric toothbrush.
well, it must sound funny that i made these purchases. it's as if life is like the good ol' days, back when i got a steady paycheck n' could just buy things whenenver... it's not like i was ever that reckless w/ $$$. really! well, the sharper image merchandise was almost completely paid off w/ credit card pts. the toothbrush kit was cheap.
2morrow, kaela n' i have our personal training @ the gym. my back muscles r kind'f sore. oh, i'm not talkin' 'bout backpain!!! i'm talkin' 'bout aktually muscle soreness from getting good exercise, u know? like, i guess i've been exercising my back pretty well lately. 2nite, i skipped taekwondo practice to werk on my skoolwerk. *sigh* oh well. geez, all this talk'f buying things n' gym werkouts: it's like madonna's "american life."
oh yah, i 'member the very important thing i had to say: even tho' maxim magazine sometimes has pics'f hot chicks, it's aktually a very unbearably immature magazine! honestly, i don't like it 2 much.
1227p: it's fri; i'm waiting in the gym lobby 4 the beautiful kaela kang after our personal training werkout. i love feeling "werked out." i mean, my muscles r sore, but from a good werkout, not injury! i feel healthy. it's cloudy n' maybe "off n' on" drizzly in san jo 2day. in tahoe, alpine meadows has 200 in of precious snow. i'd love to be snowboarding there @ their $20/day rate, but i got 2 much stuff to do, of course.
oh, no doubt's "running"'s playing on the sound system here. do u like that song? i do. i wonder what's 4 lunch. i know we have leftover costco rotisserie chicken @ home, but i got to go to skool in the afternoon. aktually, i have a physikal therapist apptmnt @ the campus clinic @ 200p to discuss my back probs, which definitely have toned down since winter; but i just want some expert advice. i surprisingly don't have ne group projekt mtgs 2day or 2morrow, but i gotta meet @ the lab @ noon on sun. grad skool's 'lot'f werk!
so what else has been going on? a couple'f nites go, kaela n' i
conversed w/ joon on the fon, using the cellular teddy! it totally cracked us up! it
was 2 cute to listen to a teddy bear discuss his werk history. i
really wanna visit socal sometime this spring. hopefully, we can c
joon, jerome, n' supermike!
ah, 2day's sooo relaxing cos i don't have ne lab group mtgs! i feel much more relaxed n' free. last nite, my "c.a.d." group finished our projekt.
[later] 153p: now i'm waiting 4 my physikal therapy apptmnt @ the sjsu health clinic. oh yah, kaela suggested that we lunch @ lee's sandwiches on story rd, so we did. man! i've eaten so many vietnamese sandwiches this week! i wonder if i ate more'f them this semester or last. >:-/ *shrug* i wonder just how unhealthy they r 4 me. :-( i just know they're cheap!
[later] 207p: i'm still waiting. i thought my apptmnt was @ 200p,
but i guess that was the check.in time. *shrug* oh yah, 1 thing i've been
meaning to say here: cos the amerikan gestapo, back a few months
'go was so anti.french, i think we gotta make it up n' patronise some
french restaurants n' drink some french wine. i ain't touchin' no
"freedom fries"!!! >:-( skrew that! i'll have some pommes
frites, thank u! we should be nice to the germans 2! eat some
wienerschnitzel n' bratwurst n' drink some german hefeweizen! if u
gotta boycott a country, boycott mainland china cos'f their bad labour
practices or their failure to recognise taiwan as an independent country.
oh, remind me to buy my sjsu parking permit @ http://www.thepermitstore.com next semester. i gotta enter "san jose state" as my parking destination. i guess that's just a li'l reminder to myself. hopefully, i'll 'member. *shrug*
[later] 505p: when i got home, i found a package 4 me in the mail from
glendale, cali. 'twas a cdrom from jerome w/ the .avi file'f our
wutc martial arts demo! 
:-)
woohoo!
933a: i'm sitting in the parking lot of the meridian / hamilton gym (as
opposed to the capitol / aborn gym). 2day's my "day off." no
class, no lab group mtg. yesterday was also a "day off" in that
respekt, but 2day's being sat makes it even more relaxing. *shrug* hrm,
that brings up a good question: do u like fri or sat better? or i
could ask: "what's ur favourite day'f the week?" 4 me, it used to be
fri more than sat, i think. do u know why? it was cos on
fri, u'r rewarded 4 "a job well done." if u'r werking
full.time, u prob'ly go to werk on fri. then @ the end'f the day,
u'r rewarded w/ a fun nite or evening out on the town. back in my
younger yrs, that meant a fun nite'f clubbing in "the city" (sf, of course)
or 'least a big, social dinner n' movie w/ the ol' p.crew. (maybe
u'r scoffing or rolling ur eyes @ me right now 4 still being stuck
in that particular past. "move on, buddy!" u say.)
back when i was werkin' full.time yet young 'nuff to party like i did, fri
nites on the town were "da bomb" or even "da bomb diggity"! after
all, saturday, i didn't feel so much i was being rewarded 4 "a job well
done." no, instead, saturday was a freebie served to me on a
platter. 1 doesn't werk all day sat n' then reap the benefits; not
the usual full.time career dude. sunday: sunday, the weekend ends!
sometimes that's really depressing! sun nite, u can't stay
out late if u'r a full.time werking dude (or a full.time werking
chick/gurl). u can only have a li'l fun on sun. u can
have more "wholesome, family fun". u can do fun stuff, but more in
the daytime, not so much @ nitetime. @ nitetime, u can watch the
simpsons.
:-) well, i gotta admit: sometimes back in the good ol' p.crew days, on fri
evenings, i was really worn out n' beat from a long werkweek, so i'd feel
irritable, grumpy, n' grouchy on fri nite; especially, if we had stayed out
2 late on thurs nite after taekwondo practice.
[later] 1152a: now i'm @ the meridian willow glen post office 4 the 2nd time this morn. i came earlier, b4 going to the gym, but the sales window was closed. i need to buy lots'f stamps 4 wedding invitations. @ the gym, i had a very lite werkout: 30 mins'f precor n' then lots'f stretching; 'specially back stretching, including exercises the physikal therapist assigned me.
u c, the whole personal trainer n' physikal therapist thing is kind'f new to me. i hadn't been so used to have others care 'bout my physikal fitness. when i was growing up, all ne1 cared 'bout was that i studied, got good grades, got good s.a.t. skores, got good a.p. test skores, prakticed piano, didn't stay out late, didn't do nething dangerous, didn't hurt myself, n' stopped dyeing my hair purple. it wasn't till i got really involved w/ taekwondo in college that i found myself 'round ppl may've that cared if i were physikally fit or not. u know, the sedentary student's n' engineer's lifestyle's is sooo unhealthy! the silly valley, 'pparently, has had the biggest population'f back pain sufferers cos it's got so many 'puter programmers. back pain n' wrist pain r obvious results'f sittin' in front'f a 'puter all day. it's awful! nerdom n' teknogeekdom rn't all that they're cracked up to be... uh... not like teknogeeks n' nerds get respekt. look @ tv: only drs, lawyers, cops, n' soldiers get respekt... maybe politicians, sometimes, cos the west wing exists.
the post office's a mess 2day cos there're all these "operation yellow ribbon care packages going out." i've been waiting 4ever. >:-(
[later] 237p: kaela n' i lunched @ yiasoo greek fast fud restaurant. c, she's @ this real estate exam werkshop 2day. it's across the street from yiasoo, on bascom. while i was in the post office right b4 lunch, the partly sunny weather turned into torrential pouring. why is san josé so tropikal this yr?! it's like living in hawaii! ...i think. i've never been to hawaii, so i can't really say. i think i s'pposedly was there 4 a short time when i was 2 yrs old; a stopover btwn the continental u.s. n' taiwan. i dunno. well, right now i'm in the pruneyard mall parking lot, in my car. b4 this, i was @ valley fair strolling 'round. i still don't have $$$ to spend on clothes, so i just browsed.
[later] 409p: i'm sitting in the parking lot'f the real estate skool.
it's close to the pruneyard mall, really close. @ the
pruneyard mall, i went to trader joe's n' then barnes
& nobles. @ trader joe's, i bought some protein
bars, a 6.pack'f bottled carmel microbrew hefeweizen 
, n' a trader darwin's strawberry
protein drink. u might think i'm weird 4 buying all this protein fud.
do u think i'm on a protein diet? well, i'm not! i'm
very anti atkins diet. i used to just eat
carbos n' no protein. [519p] i used to eat lots'f bagels n' stuff, 'member?
i didn't eat much protein. in those days, i lost lots'f
weight. lemme tell u: from my personal experience, eating carbos
n' no protein makes u lose weight. however... i want to gain
muscle these days. back then, i was really skinny. i didn't
have ne fat, but i also didn't have all that much muscle. lemme tell
u, if u wanna lose weight n' be skinnier, u should just eat carbos, a
decent 'mount'f them. don't starve! just eat carbos n' get plenty'f
exercise. if u want to gain muscle, eat a balanced diet which
includes but isn't limited to protein. u know, guys rn't
allowed to be 2 skinny... i mean, they're expekted/required to be muscular
n' strong, but they'r not allowed to be flabby. they're expekted n'
need to be "cut." gurls, on the other hand, rn't so required to be
muscular. so, like, gurls can get 'way w/ just being skinny w/ no
fat n' no muscle; but guys, they're s'pposed to have no fat, but they also
gotta have some muscle. there4, i think: every1 should be
vegetarians, but guys should eat lots'f tofu. well... :-/
we all know that's not gonna happen... but oh well.
so i'm @ home now. it's 529p, n' i've been typing on my home 'puter since that part that has the time as 519p. uh, u know what i mean, right? well, shoot. i left my blue n' black express ("express for men," formerly known as "structure") sweatshirt @ the gym! :-( i'm talkin' 'bout the 1 that makes me look like a starfleet officer! shoot, i gotta go back n' get it sometime; sometime soon! i don't wanna lose it. 'member? i don't have $$$ to buy new clothes!
remind me to check out http://www.taekwonline.com/movie/mov_match.php?kind=01&page=2
sometime. u c, i think that site has some video footage from last
summer's wutc in berkeley! the
prob is that the i have lots'f internet sekurity stuff on my 'puter which
isn't letting me watch those videos. hrm, maybe i can adjust my
internet options. u c, i use cookiecop to block pop.ups. the
videos from taekwonline.com r s'pposed to pop up, but well... i block
pop.ups. :-/ if i can get the url to the .wmv file, i can
use hinet recorder to dl the videos to my 'puter n' watch them from
my hard drive. cookiecop (aktually, cookiecop2) is a pretty
good piece'f software, despite the fakt that it causes li'l probs like this
1. also, hinet recorder is 'nother great piece'f software.
oh yah, i never finished talkin' 'bout the pruneyard. after
paying 4 my manly groceries @ trader joe's, which is sometimes called tj's,
i went over to barnes & nobles, which i
don't think is ever referred to as bn's, but *shrug* who knows?
well, there, i read a stoopid li'l tourist book 'bout seoul: the
lonely planet's guide to seoul. some ppl r so clueless 'bout
asian culture yet get paid big bucks to write 'bout it. *roll eyes*
that annoys me. well, the reason i wanted to read the book was,
(well, besides figuring i should c what kind'f crap tourist authors write
'bout seoul), that i wanted to get acquainted w/ a map of seoul, so that
when we get there, i'll hopefully know our way 'round... altho', heh, that
is a hard task, i know. i think seoul's like taipei, in that
only the big, big streets have names, while the rest get cryptic numbers.
apparently, that was a system created by imperial japan; so i guess
that's why both taiwan n' korea have it. after putting 'way that
book on seoul, i went over to the nature sektion to read a book on wild
burdy behaviour. i read 'bout some mating rituals of canadian geese,
mallard ducks, seagulls, pigeons, n' sparrows. lately, when u drive
by almaden lake park (@ almaden expwy n' coleman), u c some canadian geese
w/ a bunchf' goslings! it's very cute! the goslings r so
fuzzy! :-) i really like it. i wanna go there n' take pics of
the goslings, but i never do. 
i like geese. i like ducks.
[later] 635p: u know what? 2day hasn't turned out to be that great'f a day. :-( like, 2day... 2day was s'pposed to be my big "day off," but u know? it really ended up being a typikally stressful day, u know? *sigh* i really wanted to enjoy 2day. i guess i really got my hopes up, n' *sigh* got let down. :-(
[later] 649p: yesterday, i noticed from the theatre's marquee that better luck tomorrow is still playing @ camera 1 on 1st st here in san jo. i noticed just now from y! movies that it's now playing @ amc mercado 20. kewl deal! :-) oh yah, last nite, kaela n' i watched some movies @ home: we watched punch drunk love n' catch me if you can. i got both from kazaa a while 'go. i guess i expekted punch drunk love to be more'f a typikal, hollywood, formulaic romantic comedy. nope. it's interesting but different. hrm, while browsing y! movies, i found out that there's 'nother korean movie by im kwontaek playing in the u.s. right now: 취화선 (chihwasuhn). in case u don't know, im kwontaek direkted 춘향뎐 (choonhyangdyuhn). i guess u can find out a li'l 'bout this new movie here: http://www.kino.com/chihwaseon/. btw, better luck tomorrow's ranked #18 in the nation right now, according to y! movies. kewl.
[later] 712p: the sky is the strangest colour right now... i mean, there's bright sunshine coming from the west, but the eastern sky is totally drab n' dark grey. i can't believe we had such bizarre weather 2day.
[later] 749p: in case u don't realise it: i got 2day's journal entry
title from the cure's "friday i'm in love."
927a: 2day, i return to the lab. it's like my prison furlough's
over. these days,i have a sad existence. on my 2 days off, i
really did nuthin' special. :-( really nuthin'!
959a: happy cinco de mayo! it's mon.
i'm sittin' in the beautiful kaela kang's
kia , waiting 4 her to get her bloodwerk done @ the sjsu student
health, part'f the regular check.up she got last week. i spent
pretty much all'f yesterday in lab. i have no life!
[later] 413p: really! i have no life. right now, i'm back in the
mechanical engineering 'puter lab. i've been here all
afternoon.
1134a: i'm waiting 4 the beautiful kaela kang to get her stuff ready, so we can leave the house. as expekted, i was werking on my "precision machine design" projekt late last nite. yesterday, my other lab group had our presentation 4 our "computer aided mechanical design" class. so much skool stuff!
[later] 155p: i'm waiting 4 kaela, downstairs, @ the gym. 'member, the lobby's downstairs, here. the pools downstairs, the kids' room's downstairs, but the gym's upstairs.
i wish i had more exciting stuff to talk to u 'bout these days; but sorry, my life these days is just skool, skool, skool. i'm a qreat engineer tho'! <:-) really! i can say that!
2morrow, i gotta drop my car of 4 90k standard
maintenance,1 other big prob, n' several small probs, which i want
fixed under warranty. the big prob: the front'f this underbody panel
ripped off on sat, i guess, when i drove thru a big puddle. *shrug* my car
needs repairs.
how r u? i've had a new version'f my gbook 4 a while (a couple'f days now). please sign it! :-)
*sigh* is my life boring u? <:-( [later] 309p: now i'm back in lab. kaela n' i got some ben & jerry's aisukuriimu @ the b&j's right by the sjsu campus b4 fighting 4 parking in the sjsu garage. i had cherry garcia low fat frozen yogurt. (they make that flavour in full fat aisukuriimu n' in "low fat" frozen yogurt.) i'm really sleepy, but i don't want ne1 to say nething stoopid to me like "go to sleep earlier" cos shoot! i'm a grad student! i've got crap to do!
oh yah, yesterday; our cybersonic 2 came in. that's excitement! heh. we get to brush our teeth w/ it 2nite! :-)
yesterday, i had a presentation. 2day, i have a presentation. next tues, i have a presentation. next thurs, i have a final. the following tues, i have a final. then i'm all done w/ my 1st yr'f grad skool!
*sigh* i dunno what to do 4 a master's projekt or thesis. worse yet, i dunno whether to do a projekt or a thesis. s'pposedly theses r harder. however, i kind'f wanna do a thesis, so i can have a published engineering paper. aktually, i already have a published akademic paper, but it's 'bout taekwondo folklore.
[later] 1040p: >:-( if ppl don't stop stressing me out w/ crap,
while i'm in the middle'f submitting all these frickin' projekts n' 'bout
to start my finals, i will catch a cold. i know it!
that's what happens all the time! >:-(
935a: how r u? i'm sitting in the market café, here @ san
josé state university, eating some mixed melon. this morn, i
dropped my car off 4 service @ stevens creek subaru. i gave them a long list'f stuff to do. 2day
should be a relatively kickback day cos i finally don't have
ne presentations. well, i have a presentation next tues 4 my
"mechatronics" class. then i have a final that thurs n' then my
other final, my last final, on the following tues. then what?
then it's summer break, summer vacation. i can't take summer skool
cos they just don't have ne mechanical engineering summer skool classes,
definitely no graduate level mechanical engineering classes. i just
hope i can get a job. that's what so many young ppl want so badly
these days, huh? i have all this wedding biz to take care'f.
it's may now. ken's wedding's already next month. n'
then ours is the next month. crazy, huh?
well, i'm on campus now, as i sed. i have a dr.'s apptmnt @ 1100a. it's just a follow.up apptmnt. it'll be short, n' it's aktually kind'f ptless. i mean, this apptmnt's regarding my back. last time, the dr. had me take x.rays, n' then had me go to physikal therapy. so far, i've only had 1 physikal therapy session. did it help? *shrug* it was kind'f like doing pilates, i guess. the physikal therapist sed i prob'ly don't have a sciatica prob, but an "s.i." muscle strain. uh, i 4get what s.i. stands 4, but it's sumpthin' pretty normal... uh... hrm... shoot, i 4get. i've been doing the exercises she n' her assistant told me to do. i do them @ the gym. i guess i mostly need to stretch my lower back a li'l more. *shrug* ok, i have like an hr till my dr.'s apptmnt now, i guess.
2day, my 1 n' only class is from 530p to 645p. i have no car, so i guess i'm just sort'f stranded on campus. that's fine; whatever.
heh, last nite n' this morn, i got to brush w/ our new cybersonic 2. hrm, would it be 2 pathetic to say that the most exciting part'f my day is brushing my teeth? >X-D heh, that would be pathetitc, huh? well, it's not really true: i do lots'f exciting engring stuff, but u readers might find my engring stuff boring. in that case, u might consider brushing my teeth to be the most exciting part'f my day. u wanna try brushing my teeth? ha ha.
*sigh* i do miss the good ol' days. i miss the days when the ekonomy wasn't all skrewed up. hey, the matrix 2 comes out uh... next wed? yes, i believe the 15th is next wed. 2day's the 7th. oh! then the 15th is next thurs. 2day's wed. that's strange. why is the movie premiering on a thurs?! usually blockbusters premier on weds, right? neway, all the billboards say "05.15," don't they? heh, they use periods to separate the date, like i i would! :-)
it's aktually a nice sunny day 2day. we hadn't had a sunny day in san jo in a very long time... hrm, no that's not true. the weather's been funny. i think we had a sunny day here n' there in the past month or so; but then we've had many days of clouds n' pouring rain yet mild temps. it's been very strange weather here. i hear it's gonna snow some more in tahoe. it's s'pposed to rain some more in the bay area this week, n' then we'll have a sunny weekend, s'pposedly. it's sunny. maybe i should be outside. i don't want to sit in the sun (sunlite, direkt sunlite). it's just nice to get some fresh air.
so, uh, yah.... how r u doing? yah, i have a new version'f my gbook. who'll be the 1st to sign it? : -)
last nite @ taekwondo, we practiced 특공무술 (teukgongmoosool). yah, lately, every tues, we practice 특공무술, n' thurs r still sparring. do u know what 특공무술 is? it's a "special" kind'f korean martial art. u know the "moosool" part'f the name is the same as "wushu" in chinese. well, we practice falls, rolls, some self.defense (호신술, hoshinsool), n' some forms. some'f the stances r really low, so that part reminds me'f wushu.
what time is it? it's 1006a. i just don't feel relaxed these days. i'm stressed. i don't feel that great. :-( i just wanna get 'way from "it all." what's "it all"? *sigh* *shrug* i'd almost say "life sucks," but i just don't say that kind'f thing. u know me, i don't wanna use my journal as place to whine 'bout my life. i'm sure u, as a reader, appreciate that i don't just whine, whine, whine, here... or do i? neway, i know that it'd would be very unpleasant n' just plain wrong 4 me to whine, whine, whine here. i don't feel life is all that great. it's like... i feel i'm in a period'f life, where i "just wanna get it over w/." u know? i'm just "trying to hang in there," just "bearing it." endurance. i'm trying to endure. "hang in there." i'm trying to have patience. what can i do? some things in life r out'f my control. i need to take care'f the aspekts i can control n' just be patient w/ the aspekts i can't control. :-/ sometimes, it just feels like there r so few aspekts i can control n' so many i can't control. controllability. think: what r the control variables? as a control systems engineer, i gotta deal w/ the concepts'f controllability n' observability. heh, that should be my master's thesis: writing 'bout controllability n' observability n' how they relate to the pursuit of the perfekt life. ha ha ha! this is my life here, the current state. n' then i have a desired state, up here... how can i control this system? *sigh* i guess the basik question, in non.engineering terms, is "how can i be happier than i am now?" geez, that's a self.centered question. sorry, i'm just being all self.pitying right now, huh? *sigh* i could just bounce btwn self.pity n' self.criticism, right? "my life sucks." "i shouldn't whine 'bout life." "my life sucks." "i shouldn't whine 'bout life." "my life sucks." "i shouldn't white 'bout life." . . . an infinitely repeating sequence. what can i do? what can i do? what can i do? i'm frustrated. no, i'm not a happy beno. :-( neway... i'm not gonna sit here n' whine 'bout it! >:-(
u know what makes me happy? cing geese when i pass almaden lake park. 2day, i didn't get to c geese. however, i did get to c a baby sheep on the hill 'cross the street from the lake. i like that. yah, animals make me happy, i guess. i got to c a male robin w/ a worm in it's mouth this morn. later, on campus, i saw 'nother male robin hunting 4 worms by the fountain. those r nice things. do i just need to spend more time in nature to be happy? *shrug* it's not necessarily nature; it's animals. i like animals.
can u believe last weekend, i really did nothing special? when was it? sat nite?! sat nite, i just plain went to sleep @ 800p, then woke up 'round midnite, then went back to sleep like an hr later. i was just so frustrated w/ life. i just tuned out n' went to sleep. it was like i was sick, but i wasn't sick. i know when i'm sick, i try to get rest n' sleep like that. i feel i have a decently strong immune system. however, when i get stressed out, it doesn't werk as well. i really gotta be careful right now! i don't wanna get sick! really, these days, i feel unhappy... n' well... like, sometimes i just feel depressed. other times, i feel like punching n' breaking things. i don't, but i feel like it. while walking 'round campus, all i c r things i wanna kick n' destroy. i want to smash things. i'm so "mad @ the world." anger, anger, anger. geez! why am i such a basketcase these days?!?!?! really, i'm going quite nutty! i really am! don't pity me, just fear me! >:-( no... don't worry: i just like li'l fuzzy things, like squirrels. i like squirrels. i like geese. i hate ppl who hunt them! i wanna hunt ppl who hunt geese!
pretty much every1 'round me sez this semester's been a bad semester. i don't think it's just skool. maybe it's the war. maybe the war really got ppl down. *shrug* i know my life was just less structured this semester. (of) course, a structured life isn't necessarily ideal! yah, i fully understand, as i've sed b4, that sometimes "variety's the spice of life..." n' all that jazz. that's why i got an overpriced box'f sliced melon 2day instead'f a jamba juice. this box'f melons is s'pposed to keep me from going insane. i dunno. did it help? does ne1 care? do i care?
it's 1034a. in a li'l bit, i've gotta make my way over to the health center. i should be there to go c a shrink not a physician, right? :-/ in all reality, i don't think a "shrink" could say nething that'd help me! really! maybe the source'f my insanity is this journal. maybe, as soon as i stop writing this journal, i'll find eternal happiness. possible? nah; i don't think so.
so what's gonna ameliorate my life? maybe i just need a vacation. *shrug* that could be it; i dunno. originally, i was thinking that the beautiful kaela kang n' i could go to eugene, oregon 4 phil's graduation; but i dunno. this past week or so, cos'f stress, skool, n' $$$, i'm thinking we can't go. *shrug* i dunno... i just don't know. maybe i should stop writing this journal entry n' go out 4 a walk. yes, a walk sounds good. i should go 4 a walk, just a li'l walk!
[later] 139p: i'm in the library @ a cubicle desk on the 3rd floor. i guess it's not really a "cubicle," like an office cubicle; it's just hrm... u know... it's a library desk, w/ hi walls on each side of the desk. neway, i'm here. i ate lunch. i realised, when i got to the library that i'm simply having 'nother 1'f my classik 0.25 life crisis moments! :-) that's all. it's as easy as that.
well, i went to my dr.'s apptmnt. i guess i got there really early. i waited 4 a while. then i finally went to the dr.'s office n' waited there a li'l longer. when the dr. arrived n' talked to me, she sounded pretty annoyed w/ me. i think she was annoyed that i only went to the physikal therapist 1nce, when she expekted that i would've gone like 6 times by now. i explained that the physikal therapist is really bizzy, totally booked; it's hard to get an apptmnt w/ her. i guess the dr. felt i was complaining/whining n' not doing 'nuff to take care'f myself. take note: the dr. n' the physikal therapist both think there's nuthin' wrong w/ my exercise n' aktivities. i just wanna make it clear that, when u have back pains, u should exercise! 'lot'f misinformed ppl think that u need to rest n' stuff. that couldn't be more wrong! sure, i shouldn't do stuff like running, but my gym werkouts n' taekwondo r 100%, totally fine! that's fakt! neway, the dr. preskribed 600mg of ibuprofen 4 times a day. already, i've tried ibuprofen; but, u know, i just didn't have the guts to take such a large daily dosage. u know me: i'm quite against medikation n' drugs! i did try 600mg n' even 800mg doses 4 a while, but i just couldn't convince myself to stick to those doses 2 long. the dr. told me to do ibuprofen 4 2 weeks straight, that it's like anti.biotiks; i gotta take it consistently. in case u don't know, the ibuprofen is not 4 pain relief! it's 4 anti.inflammation. neway, after the apptmnt, i went downstairs to skedule 2 more physikal therapist apptmnts (next week) n' then buy my prescribed ibuprofen from the health center's pharmacy. i guess they're aktually pretty cheap!
after that, i continued my walk. 'member? b4 my dr's apptmnt, i went 4 "a walk." yah, i walked b4 my apptmnt, walked a li'l. after my 'ppointment, i walked more. i walked to downtown. i walked past pizza my heart n' ben & jerry's. i walked past camera 3 cinemas. i walked past quizno's n' the light rail station. i read the light rail map to figure out how i'd ride the light rail back home to almaden if i ever needed to. over there, i saw 1 of the bally's gym personal trainers walk by. i guess he also werks @ the nearby, related pinnacle gym. this guy morris approached me last week in the locker room n' asked when "the big day" is. i was a li'l surprised cos i didn't know him, but i later found out that the personal trainers all talk to each other 'bout kaela n' me. i don't mind; i was just surprised. heh, i figure it's like being famous... but it's not. ha ha. neway, i walked 'round downtown. i thought 'bout getting lunch @ quizno's or pizza my heart, but i also wondered if kaela was gonna meet me 4 lunch. i just walked n' waited 4 her call. i was hungry, but i just kept walking. i realised i had no ca$h cos i spent all my ca$h @ the health center, even tho' i had just gotten ca$h right b4 i went to the health center. the atm scared me cos it stalled up while i was selekting how much ca$h to get. i was freaked: what do u do if the atm crashes w/ ur card in it?!?!?! it was kind'f scary. u gotta admit, u'd be skared 2... cos these atms on campus don't have an aktual bank branch right there. they're just stand.alone atms! neway, i walked back to the atm, which is on the complete opposite side of campus from where i was. i hadn't walked 'round campus so much in a very, very long time! i got ca$h. i tried to call kaela, but her fon automatically went to voicemail. :-/ i wondered if she turned it off, or if maybe she didn't want to talk to me. :-/ neway, i wandered semi.aimlessly 'round the student union / fud ct area of campus. i kept thinking 'bout getting fud @ a place n' then changing my mind. the student union was having a special steak bbq outside: 4 $6.95 u can get salad, veggies, n' a nice big steak! i thought 'bout it, but no. then i walked 'round the fud ct. *sigh* i wasn't sure what to get. this was my dilemma: i felt like i needed to break out'f routine cos, u know, i get so much pressure from all sorts'f place to avoid routine. however, i also didn't wanna eat unhealthily! my normal routine is healthy n' somewhat affordable; so if i break out'f my routine, i'll eat unhealthy n' expen$ive fud. :-/ well, i wandered n' wandered n' wandered. i started heading off to quizno's, i guess. however, i soon changed my mind n' went across san fernando st. to peanuts café, which i heard 'bout many times but never patronised. the 1st time i heard 'bout peanuts was from bernard. 'member, i'm "beno"; bernard huang is "bernard," altho' he cms to go by "berny" now n' then. i knew he did in hi skool, but i wasn't sure if he still does, but i guess he does. neway, bernard told me 'bout peanuts: he sed it was a korean.owned place n' served sandwiches. i dunno, from that, i thought it was a quiet, li'l, quaint, delicate sandwich shoppe. 'nother time, my lab groupmate rami sed he wanted to get some big cookie @ peanuts that looked really good. hrm, from that, i figured it was a quiet, li'l,, quaint, delicate café. aktually, it's more like kip's in berkeley. it serves more like burgers n' beer, n' has lots'f frat boys. i ordered a jumbo hamburger to go n' a hansen's apple nektar. lemme tell u, just cos peanuts isn't a quaint, li'l, delicate sandwich shoppe n' café by no means means that i wouldn't go there. i would however say it's more'f a place i'd go w/ "the guys" 4 beer than a romantic, li'l date spot. it really reminded me of kip's. ("the guys" could be a co.ed group.) i took my burger n' juice n' sat on a park bench in front of the library n' ate. geez, that was a big burger! i felt like i was in texas; it was so much beef (dead cow)! well, that meal wasn't very healthy: a giant burger w/ steak fries. well, i got protein, i guess. i worry, tho', that i should watch my blood pressure. i know it used to be lower. could my blood pressure've rised cos i eat more meat nowadays?!?! or does it only mean that i've got so much more stress in my life nowadays? :-/ *big shrug* well, right b4 i sat down to eat my lunch, i thought to myself: maybe the reason it's so hard 4 me to break out'f the routines that i do keep is that those routines r so healthy n' good 4 me. basikally, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" i'm not saying i'm always right, but perhaps 'bout things like diet n' exercise, i should just keep everything up! after all, the dr. that analysed the results from my last physikal sed i was doing things right. *sigh* *smaller shrug* i dunno; i really dunno.
i know the 1 thing that ppl really persecute me 4 that i maybe should consider changing is my reluctance to travel. as i sed earlier, maybe i should take a vacation. however, thru.out my life, i've never been 1 to lust after travel. i mean, u know lots'f young ppl really want to travel. i didn't take ne european backpacking trip in college. in fakt, i didn't take ne real vakations in college. i went to tahoe plenty, of course; n' i visited my dad in washington after my freshman yr. granted, right b4 college, i went to england/scotland 4 almost 'bout 2 weeks w/ the san josé youth symphony orchestra. right after college, i visited taiwan n' hk (hong kong). in 1999, of course, i went to korea 4 2 weeks. kaela n' i went to cancun. then we went to tawian. then we went to washington, d.c. i'm trying hard to plan our honeymoon in korea. ppl sometimes cm to question that: why would u want to go to korea 4 ur honeymoon?! shouldn't u go somewhere like hawaii or europe? well, u know what? i aktually do wanna go to korea. it's not so much that kaela has family there. it's just that i like it there. i like travelling in asia. sure, someday i do wanna c continental europe: like, france, germany, italy, switzerland, spain, greece... i'd like to visit some parts'f canada: both vancouver n' the french part. of course, i want to c hawaii someday. i did have a good time in cancun. i'm totally not into the fratboy, mtv spring break resort scene; but i do enjoy beautiful beaches w/ clear water n' fine grain sand. *sigh* many times, i've sed i hate being a tourist; if i visit a country, i want to get an authentic experience, hang w/ locals, hang where the locals hang, etc. that's why i liked korea n' taiwan so much. in those places, i got to hang w/ the locals. aktually, i n england, i really got to hang w/ the locals 2 cos the symphony set us kids up w/ homestays, when we didn't have hostels. i guess that was kewl 2. however, we were kids back then, so we couldn't do as much. i guess what i liked best 'bout england was the cd stores!!! :-) neway, 1 nite when i was chatting w/ ken 'bout travel, he pted out that if i refuse to travel cos i don't wanna be a tourist, then it'll be really impossible 4 me to travel to nearly as many destinations as i could! he's right. i mean, heh, it's not like i know ppl in all that many countries, right? i have friends in france. someday, maybe i can visit them there. lemme tell u, it was really kewl to be able to meet up w/ fahad n' wendy in d.c. c? there's a locals connektion! :-) i guess i have a friend in canada, a friend in japan. however, i don't think i know ne living in greece, italy, spain, or germany, etc. travel: travel co$ts $$$. it's hard to travel when u'r young cos u don't have as much $$$ as u do later in life. right now, obviously the economy sucks. it's hard to plan travel when u know u just don't have as much $$$ as u feel u should have.
ha! that's funny to say, huh? when is it that u feel u have as much $$$ as "u should have"? ha. well, shoot! honestly, in the days right after college, when i 1st got my last job, i really felt very, very blessed. i was very grateful. that was a time when i could think thoughts more like "wow, i can't believe i'm making this much $$$." c, back then, i was more prone to giving $$$ to panhandlers on the streets of sf. i did! now n' then i'd give out a dollar bill to a panhandler. i felt blessed n' felt i needed to share my 4tune. ha! i haven't felt like that in a while, huh? *sigh* lemme mention, when i left the atm the 1st time 2day, i thought 'bout a thought i've had b4: if u had more $$$, wouldju take more $$$ out on ur routine visits to the atm? 4 1 thing, u might have bigger spending habits. 4 'nother thing, maybe ur time n' effort in making the trip to the atm is worth more than the extra interest u get from keeping the extra $$$ in the bank 4 the extra time. uh, did that make sense? like, if u have more $$$, then u fel ur time is better spent doing things other than making frequent trips to the atm. *shrug* how much ca$h do u withdraw from the atm on each visit? heh, of course, i don't expekt u to answer that; n' if u do e.mail me an answer, i shall not post it on the internet! ha ha. well, just think: some ppl withdraw a $20 each time they visit the atm, while others take out $40 each time. still, there're most definitely ppl out there that take out $60 - $100 each time they visit the atm. ever thought 'bout how much u normally withdraw?
well, it's 235p now. i wonder when my car'll be done 2day. i wonder if i'll even be able to pick it up 2day! i have class form 530p to 645p, 'member? i'm sure they close @ either 600p or 700p. maybe i'll just hafta pick it up 2morrow. hrm, n' if they do open till 800p or even 900p, how will i get over to the shop? i guess i could take the bus. hrm, but i dunno which bus. i have this valley transit pass that all san josé state university students get. i ought to use it sometime! heh, that's definitely 1 thing i've learned from travelling: amerikans drive 2 much, n' that's a bad thing! i can't believe i ate so much dead cow 2day. heh, aktually, to many guys that really wasn't that much beef. how much was it? was it a 0.25 lb? hrm, no, i think it was more: maybe 0.33 lb. i don't think it was more than that. have i ever eaten a 0.5 lb burger? well, i have eaten a double whopper b4.
[later] 317p: i'm in lab. b4 coming to lab, i bought a diet pepsi from the vending machine. @ lunch, i had that apple nektar, but nuthin' washes down a burger n' fries like diet cola.
if i wanna take the bus from sjsu to stevens creek subaru, i gotta take 65 to 23. to go home on the bus, i'd take 65, 64, or 13, i think.
[later] 329p: 1 yr 'go 2day, we were @ the ucmap banquet, i think. u should check out my archived journal entries now n' then.
[later] 413p: had a phone call... now i'm back in bad mood mode.
i wanted to smash things. no wonder my blood pressure's higher now
than in the past!
917a: brrrr!!!! it's... so... cold... it's may! it's so sunny outside. why is it cold?! u c, my mom left the stove on yesterday n' burnt sumpthin', so we're airing out the house to get the smoke smell out. it's sooo cold! neway, i dunno where to start updating u cos i feel i haven't updated in a while, but the truth is: i just skipped 1 day, but the thing is that my entry from 2 day's 'go was just sooo long! whoa!!! i just discovered how to change from roman alfabet to 한글 (hangeul) on my 'puter w/o using the mouse!!! (i've been using win xp's language toolbar.) i'd always tried using alt+shift but that just basikally turns on/off the korean language feature. the prob w/ that was that i had to 'least click this 1 button on the screen w/ the mouse every so often to get that mthod to werk. now, i discovered what i gotta do is use the alt+shirt, but on the right side of the keyboard, not the left! wow! ok... neway! i was just interrupted. i had made that discovery completely accidentally!!!
neway, dude, where's my car? i dropped my car off @
stevens creek subaru on wed, right? right. it's fri now. u c,
on wed nite, i took the light rail home. however, i got to the
almaden stop so late that the last bus already left. u c: i had
gotten off the wrong stop on the chynoweth/almaden shuttle light rail, so
i walked from oakridge mall to the almaden light rail stop, n' then i guess i
missed the last bus. the last time i had been on the light rail, i
think, was in hi skool... it was sophomore yr, n' some guy friends n' i
went to great amerika. we got chewed out 4 putting pennies on the
tracks. heh... as u c, that was a long time 'go! however,
where's my transit pass?! i couldn't find my transit pass yesterday.
it's not that i need so badly to take the bus or light rail
2day. it's just that it's such a great thing! san josé
state gives all its students a transit pass that lets us ride all the
valley transit buses n' light rail trains 4 free. my current transit
pass is valid till september. i dunno where it is. i thought
i put it in my skoolbag yesterday, or else my pocket, but i couldn't find
it. dude, where's my bus pass?!
[later] 956a: the pinchies have arrived! :-) u c, w/ my credit
card pts, i bought 3 1-lb, live lobsters from lobstergram. i had to
use the pts b4 the expired. fedex dropped off the pinchies.
i put them in the garage cos i figure it's cold there. *shrug* [later] 1002a:
we opened the box to look @ the lobsters (or "lobbies"). 1 of the 3
is really aktive n' responsive. *sigh* i didn't want to look @ them
2 long, or we might get attached. :-( u know 'bout homer n' mr. pinchy, right?
if not, proceed to http://www.snpp.com (springfield nuclear power
plant) n' read 'bout episode aabf03, "lisa gets an 'a'," which originally
aired on 1998.11.22!
yesterday, i did a hack to my 'puter that changed the internet explorer progress ikon from the default boring microsoft windows ikon to a moving pic'f the beautiful kaela kang. i'm talkin' 'bout this pic:
i called stevens creek subaru. the service advisor sed he'd call me back. uh, i hope i can get my car 2day. my bus pass, it's just a li'l, clear plastic sheath into which my student id slides. on the plastic sheath, every semester, i'm s'pposed to put on a validation sticker. i hope i can find it. btw, i think my diet's been extremely unhealthy these past 2 or 3 days!
[later] 126p: i'm waiting 4 kaela @ the gym. what's annoying me the most 2day's that i smell like a smoker cos'f yesterday's kitchen mishap! >:-( every1 'round me must think i'm a smoker, but i'm not! my towels really smell like smoke, n' i had to wipe myself w/ my towels. there4, i smell like smoke! :-(
my car's done, so i gotta pick it up 2day. i have this grad student projekt mtg 2nite from 500-700p. after that, i'll hurry home to eat pinchy! :-) :-( it'll be very tasty but very sad. lemme tell u: i like getting free stuff from credit card pts.
on tues, i ate lemon meringue pie, ben & jerry's frozen yogurt,
n' a boba. can u believe it?! on wed, i ate that jumbo
burger 4 lunch n' then sbarro's pizza 4 dinner w/ my "c.a.d." class
groupmates. wed nite, i took the light rail. yesterday was
thurs. lunch? uh... i guess i ate leftover chicken n' broccoli @
home. 4 dinner, i ate 2 tacos @ la vic's: 1 chicken, 1 carne asada.
also, i had a pineapple agua fresca. on our way home, kaela
got a quizno's sub, n' i had a few bites'f it.
1226a: it's late nite / early morn. it's always weird to update an online journal / blog @ this time, right? ...cos u don't know what date to put up. as i've sed millions'f times b4: i never feel like the day turns to the next day until the sun comes up. midnite is still the previous day to me... but oh well...
i wanna thank jeanna 4 signing my gbook. she's kewl. u should be kewl 2! :-)
i can't believe that a friend'f mine who got engaged this past winter got married recently. crazy! like, as 4 us, over 1 whole yr later we're just sittin' 'round stressed as hell that our guestlist is way overbooked n' ppl still trying to get other ppl on our list. *sigh* shoot! i really would love to have every1 who wants to come get an invite, but man... we just don't have the budget! geez, the whole wedding industry n' everything... :-/ neway, u know where i go w/ this... so i won't bother ranting 'gain. *sigh*
well, 2day, we went to the gym. then we lunched @ 옛날짜장 (yeitnal jjajang). mmmm!!! it was really good! well, lemme tell u: honestly, i feel the 짜장면 (jjajangmyuhn) was better @ the oakland location, but i'm just so glad they have a new location here in the sobay! :-) it's so funny cos they serve koreanised chinese fud, n' then they serve pizza. whuh? well, i think the location that they have used to be a pizza parlour, so they kept all the pizza making equipment n' make pizza 2. *shrug*
after that, we went to longs drugs on stevens creek. then we went to 한국마켓 (hangook market) on el camino. then we went to safeway on stevens creek. then the beautiful kaela kang dropped me off @ stevens creek subaru to get my car. i drove to san josé state university to go to this mtg where the prof who's prob'ly my future "advisor" had her grad students present their projekts as a rehearsal b4 their real presentations. they had some dinner thing 2, but i had to skip out cos we were having pinchies @ home! :-)
kaela cooked this lentil soup from complete scratch n' made this thai seafud salad (w/ prawns, scallops, n' octopi) n' also made this mango sherbet. crazy, huh? me, all i really did was throw 3 live, innocent animals into a pot of boiling water. it was sad. yah, they moved in the pot, they really did. :-( they were tasty, tho'. everything was very tasty. :-)
i really think 'bout buying a mtn bike, as i sed b4. i've been looking on craig's list 4 a used 1. however, i really don't know what to look 4 in a bike! why do i want a bike? *shrug* maybe i'm just being silly. i cm to accumulate material things so much better than i used to. :-( well, i just feel it'd be fun n' a good way to get a li'l more exercise. *shrug* i dunno... maybe not. it is more environmental than a car, right? heh. *shrug* well, i thought i could get a bike helmet w/ built.in stereo speakers, but apparently, they only make those 4 kids! :-( why?! i dunno, but i'm guessing they prob'ly don't werk 2 well. *shrug* maybe someday i can design n' make my own. heh. there's lots'f projekts i can imagine but only 4 the distant future. i guess i think'f projekts where i don't know where i'd start... n' it's hard to start simply tinkering cos i'd hafta go out n' spend $$$ on parts. :-( like, i totally dream'f doing all this home automation stuff... however, i don't own a home. :-( yah, that's kind'f a prob, huh? heh. i guess i could design gadgets that'd werk 4 my car! *shrug*
u know, i was thinking 2day how 1nce my warranty on my car runs out, which'll prob'ly be this yr, i'll hafta get used to doing more car repairs myself. ...cos there're lots'f things that could go wrong that just rn't worth paying a shop to do. right now, i can get all the stoopid, li'l things repaired cos i have a warranty. later, that won't be the case.
i'm really worried that i have hi blood pressure. hrm, we have a blood pressure measuring thingy downstairs. i should go check, huh? heh, silly me. well, i am worried. oh yah! on fri, which was yesterday (n' 2day's sat), kaela n' i had this physikal fitness test w/ our personal trainer @ the gym. i scored excellent on flexibility n' muscle endurance (pushups). i aktually skored below average on cardiovascular!!! i can't believe that! i do so much cardiovascular exercise!!! i think it's just that i have hi blood pressure now! i think that's what it is! :-( they did a body fat analysis 2. i'm 10% body fat right now. *sigh* 'bout the blood pressure thing: really... it's uh... pretty obvious i'm stressed these days. u know what's worse tho'? geez! how long has it been since i simply had a relaxing nite out w/ friends?!?!?! do u realise that last sat nite, i slept all evening?!?!?! that's so pathetic!!! i'm 27 yrs old! i need to get out! :-( i really don't like this! *sigh* how did my life turn into this?! i dunno... :-/ now i'm really making myself depressed. :-( i should talk 'bout sumpthin' else!
maybe i think that if i get a bike, i can go out n' ride n' that'll relax me. u know, outdoors... exercise... it sounds like a good combination. geez... heh, it's that never.ending search 4 happiness thingy. neway, if i go 'round talkin' like this, i'll be the target 4 every religious cult out there! X-D don't 4get, i always like quoting from the machines of loving grace's "butterfly wings":
dude! i can't believe there's still 216 inches of snow @ alpine meadows!!! they only have 2 lifts open. crazy, huh? they only plan to be open till may 25. i guess that means we're done snowboarding 4 this season. if so, i should seal the bases of our boards w/ wax. that's what steve (my bro.in.law) told me to do to keep moisture from penetrating over the summer. basikally, i start a hot wax job but don't scrape off the wax till the next season.
:-( i can't help but keeping going back to thinking how pathetic my life has become in that i never go out n' never hang out nemore. :-( "when did i become such a loser?" that's just stinkin' thinkin', i know; it's just trash talk. *sigh* if only i could have outside contakt... if only i saw friends now n' then... :-( it's paxil time! (that li'l bouncing, floating dot [in the commercial] is very cute!)
[later] 210a: it's late. i'm sooo tired, but i'm so
frustrated cos i can't figure out where my dj doc cd is! i
hate not being able to find my stuff. :-( i'm looking 4 my dj doc
compilation set that has the "summer" and "winter" cds n' then a vcd.
did i loan it out to some1?!?!?!
1118a: 2day's mutha's day. it's sun. happy mutha's day.
[later]1139a: how r u? u can sign my gbook n' let me know. it's sun 2day. it's a weekend. *sigh* this semester tho'... man, the end'f the semester is more painful than last semester's, i tell u! i gotta go werk on my "mechatronics" projekt 2day. it's due on tues. man, i'd be happy if i can make it to the gym 2day, but i doubt it.
yesterday, the beautiful kaela kang n' i went to sf to relax. we ended up
just driving 'round, but the sights were beautiful. originally, we
went to treasure island to check out this korean 한마당 잔치 (hanmadang
janchi), s'pposedly this big korean festival advertised in the korean
newspaper. uh... no, it was not very big. we felt more
like we crashed some1's church picnic! it was just a bunch'f kids
playing soccer n' a singing contest. it was funny: i guess the event
was required to hire cops 4 security. i think those cops must've
been bored out'f their minds n' felt tortured by the offkey singing.
ok, so it wasn't really a hip event, but i'm sure the families involved in
aktually putting it on had a great time. well, we drove 'round sf.
we went to the castro, into the safeway strip mall, where we got a
jumbo size strawberry dream'n. then we went
to safeway to buy some snacks. man! that's a nice safeway!
lemme tell u, while in the castro safeway, i realised just how diff sf is
from the 'burbs of silly valley!!! wow, i'd sort'f 4gotten how metropolis
is. i mean, san jo isn't a really conservative city or nething...
it's just that u got... hrm... like, ppl in the 'burbs fall into their
societally.defined gender roles more than they do in the castro. ha ha ha.
ok, that's the understatement'f the century.
506p: 2day's mon. in the morn, i went to the gym. on my
way to skool from the gym, i got gas @ the quikstop @ the corner'f story
n' uh... i 4get what the other st is. 4 lunch, when i got to
campus, i got a sandwich from the cafeteria. it co$t $4.50 n' was
really good. :-) it had ham, provolone, n' asparagus on a whole
wheat roll. @ 230p, i went to my physikal therapist's
apptmnt.
915a: it's a beautifully sunny day outside. i'm in my room, typing on my 'puter. i've got some kewl tunes playing on the 'puter's cd player. there's a nice cool breeze coming in thru the window. ah, this is a nice break from the stresses of skool. i just submitted my advising form to the grad student advisor. that's what i gotta turn in every semester in order to register 4 classes. if i don't, i'll have a hold on my registration. i might hafta go in n' talk to the prof later 2day cos i know sjsu has some probs w/ my records, such as how they say i haven't completed my english competency requirements, but i have (@ berkeley).
oh yah, i might have a job interview 2morrow morn. this 1 software company talked to me yesterday. however, the job doesn't pay nearly as much as i would want... 'bout 0.5 of what i was gettin' b4. however, that's better than nuthin'. the job involves testing 3d modelling software... not so much intense engineering werk, but they definitely appreciate my background in mechanical engineering. i mean, it is engineering software, but more on the "industrial design" side than what most mechanical engineers r used to, i guess. i also got a fon call yesterday morn 'bout an optomechanical engineering job, but the company's in napa, so they sed they don't think it'd werk out since i'm still in skool @ sjsu. true.
last nite, i werked on my "mechatronics" projekt w/ classmates brian n' dave. we were @ brian's house in north valley in san jo. it's a real bachelors' pad, i guess. it really reminds me of well... both johnny's (johnny tien) n' jerome/andy's place. the living room is just full'f 'puters, 'least 1 4 each person who lives there. these guys r sooo into 'puter games n' internet stuff. that's how college guys r these days, i guess. these guys r a bit younger than me. i mean, brian's a fellow grad student, but the other guys there r undergrads. yah, they're quite a bit younger than me. however, i'm used to being 'round younger ppl since i was 'round lots'f younger ppl @ berkeley. on sun eve(ning), when we were all there werkin' on the projekt, brian decided to put on a bbq 4 his friends, so we ended up eating hot dogs n' hamburgers. it was really good fud! we also had bbqed corn n' yams! the beautiful kaela kang even came to join us after her gym werkout that day. well, last nite, we didn't have a bbq. yesterday, i was @ skool. then i left 4 brian's house, but dave n' i met up to have dinner b4 going to brian's. we went to a chinese restaurant near brian's house called kk café on the corner of mckee n' white. it was decent fud: big portions 4 the cheap price. dinner specials r $4.50 there. i got a sautéed string beans dinner special w/ a red bean icy, which was $1.85. yah, it was quite a good deal, i think. we stayed till like 1140p werking on the projekt. i gotta go back this afternoon to do more.
man, i have this "mechatronics" projekt presentation this afternoon. thurs eve, i have the final 4 this class. aktually, the final is 2 parts: 1st this exam n' then a take home assignment. ugh! yah, then i have my "precision machine design" final on the following wed. i may've sed b4 that this final's on the following tues; but no, it's on the following wed. *sigh* finals, finals, finals.
[later] 943a: kewl, the prof e.mailed me back w/ "your hold will be cleared." kewl. i was worried 'bout this advising thing 'least a li'l lately. u c, i was mostly worried cos i thought i had to submit a projekt/thesis proposal right now. i guess not really. on the form, i put down "machine vision control of robot" as my projekt title. really, i dunno if i still don't know 4 sure if i'm gonna do a projekt or thesis. yah, a projekt is easier, but only a thesis is a real "published" paper... n' i dunno... i guess it's just 4 my own self.esteem, i feel like i need to have a published engineering paper. i dunno... in reality, it's really not worth it: i mean, it's not really worth it to write a thesis 4 a master degree; 4 a ph.d., yes, but not 4 a master's. :-/ s'pposedly, a thesis is much harder than a projekt. i dunno, we'll c.
well, the house smells 'lot less like smoke, i think. yay! i really hated that smoke smell. we'd been airing the house out so much. good, it werked. i used lots'f febreeze 2.
on ebay, i've been bidding on this "roll a hose" 4 my mom. a "roll a hose" is 1'f those "as seen on tv" inventions/produkts. it's this (s'pposdly very durable) flat hose that rolls up into a case n' is made'f some fiber instead of just rubber. it's s'pposedly more similar to the design'f firehoses instead'f garden hoses. ebay, ebay, ebay; how much do u ebay? i surely haven't ebayed as much as i used to since i don't have $$$. ha. of course, i did buy that cybersonic 2 recently, so i can't say i totally don't spend $$$.
[slightly later] ok, well it's 956a now. i gotta get dressed. i gotta go to the gym 4 our personal training werkout w/ maria. oh yah, kaela's now werking as the receptionist @ the realty office just like i did over winter break. she'll take a break to go to our personal training werkout. then after that, she'll hafta go back to werk, i guess; n' i'll hafta go werk on my "mechatronics" projekt w/ dave n' brian. someday, we'll both have full.time jobs. we've been very lucky this semester to be able to spend so much time 2gether in the middle'f the day. heh, i know... i've complained that this semester has been really awful cos'f skool, but i know i'm 4tunate to have been able to have a skedule where kaela n' i could spend so much time 2gether. :-)
oh, b4 i go, i guess i should finish my update on sat in sf since i didn't do that b4. well, we went to that 한마당 잔치 (hanmadang janchi) on treasure island, which was such a letdown. however, 'twas such a beautiful day in sf. we just drove 'round, stopped @ some sights. then 4 dinner, we went to uh... uh... some 순두부집 soondubujip. i 4get the name, but it's in the location that used to be occupied by heavenly hot, the taiwanese hot pot restaurant n' buffet. this soondubu restaurant was very crowded on a sat nite. we got there just in time to beat the rush. in the evening, we tried to meet up w/ roland n' some other to watch firewerks on the pier, but it was impossible cos it was so crowded n' we didn't have warm clothes. we then tried to have coffee in north beach, but that was also impossible cos there was 'gain no parking. we just drove home. :-/ we went to the starbucks on el camino near lawrence 4 decaf espresso drinks. on sun, we went to sweet tomatoes in south valley (in san jo) 4 mutha's day lunch w/ my mom, grace, steve, n' mason. ha, mason's such a cute, fun kid; he always makes me smile! :-)
ok, ok, i gotta get dressed n' stuff.
1158a: 2day's dead day. that means there r no classes n' no exams. it's our 1 "day off." classes r over, but exams haven't started yet. we only get 1 dead day. exams start 2morrow. my exams start 2morrow. 2morrow, i have my "mechatronics" final. (ok, more specifically, i have my "advanced mechatronics" exam.) skool has really stressed me out lately, as u know. 2day, i have a physikal therapy visit @ 100p or so, n' then a job interview @ 300p. it's a tight skedule. if the physikal therapist can't make the apptmnt a fast 1, then i might just hafta cancel it. :-( i wonder if i've mentioned this job interview b4. it's 4 a job that, well, 1st off, pays 0.5 the salary i'm used to n' would like. it's a summer internship @ a software company. my job would be, w/ my mechanical engineering background, test the software; i guess, per4ming functions that a mechanical engineer user would do. i do wish it paid more, but i sort'f just gotta take what i can get these days. it's better pay than i'd get werking retail, i guess.
well, yesterday's "mechatronics" presentation went better than i expekted. i guess i sort'f panicked, but so did all the group members @ some pt. i'll tell u more 'bout it later. right now, i'm kind'f in a big hurry. as always, u should check my journal entry to c if i add stuff! :-)
[later] 654p: right now i'm in the lobby area of the westin hotel. the beautiful kaela kang just went in 4 her real estate class. me, i'm sitting here studying 4 my "advanced mechatronics" final 2morrow.
so yah, i had an interview 2day. it cms like the interviewers liked me n' knew i had the right set'f skills to accomomplish the jobs that they would need me to do. we'll c. i guess i won't say 2 much now, but i'll mention that they received 500 applications 4 3 openings n' sed i must've been w/in the top 20 in order to get an interview. crazy. it sure isn't like the good ol' days! my interview was @ 300p, but i got there a bit early. b4 that, i was @ my physikal therapy apptmnt. since it was dead day 2day, the physikal therapist sed she'd give me an easy session, not 2 many exercises. they did ultrasound on me. then i did some exercises. then they gave me "stim n' ice." i don't really get the "stim" part. they connekt some buzzy things to my back. oh yah, the physikal therapist also put this tape on my back to prevent me from slouching while i study. she did that cos she knows i'll be studying 4 a long time n' thus sitting 4 long periods of time. well, after the physikal therapy session, i went into the bathroom n' changed into interview clothes. i drove to santa clara via local streets, following the direktions i got from yahoo!. it was a hot day, n' i turned on the aircon. i got to the interview a li'l early. i sat in the empty conference room 4 almost 0.5 an hr. the receptionist gave me some trade magazines to read n' a paper cup'f water to drink. after the interview, i wasn't sure where to go but knew i had to study. i started driving 2wards the stevens creek area, what i consider basikally the heart'f san josé. i tried to find a place to study in the starbucks café in the barnes & nobles @ the intersektion of stevens creek blvd n' san tomas expressway. the café n' the bookstore tables were all occupied. i used the restroom n' left. i stopped by the bank to depo$it a check into the atm. then i drove to borders in santana row, but kaela called me back. i had called her earlier, but she was in the gym @ that time, swimming. we agreed to meet 4 dinner. we met up @ the mercado @ 101 n' great amerika parkway. i guess, the mercado is a mall. *shrug* it's where the big amc mercado 20 is. it has micro center (a fry's like 'puter store), ben & jerry's, jamba juice, world wrapps, mexicali grill, sushi lovers, some burger 50s nostalgia diner called taxi's, n' a casual italian joint called tomatina. oh yah, n' it has a starbucks, of course. we ate @ tomatina. i had a turkey piadine, which is a sandwich/salad on a flatbread. it's like that salad pizza @ cpk (california pizza kitchen). it was very good. kaela ordered this mediterranean pizza, which was very healthy. it had eggplant n' tomato but didnt'r eally have ne cheese. i thought the fud was pretty good. then we went to starbucks n' came here to the hotel. over @ the mercado, we saw ppl lined up to watch 2nite's midnite showing of the matrix reloaded. man, those ppl r so lucky! i wish i could go watch the matrix reloaded, but no way! i've got this crazy, crazy final 2morrow! dave (my classmate) sed he might go watch it 2morrow nite, after the final, in sf. (he lives in sf.)
man, i'm right in the heart'f silicon valley. u know, all the companies i've interviewed w/ lately have been in the heart'f silicon valley, right? yah, pretty much. heh, yah, sittin' here in the hotel, i can tell all these men walkin' 'round r like sales or applications engineers. they just look it! u can tell they're not from cali4nia n' r just in town 4 bizness. u know, i'm really glad i live in cali4nia!
[later] 1153p: i'm home, on my 'puter. argh! i can't believe i have this
final 2morrow!
124a: oh yah, earlier 2nite (or last nite), when the beautiful kaela kang dropped me off @ mercado after her real estate class in order 4 me to pick up my car since we carpooled from mercado to her class, i noticed that amc mercado 20 was shoing the matrix reloaded on all 20 screens!!! crazy, huh?
u know, the smoke smell isn't 100% gone from our house, so we still gotta air it out. 1 thing i hate is sooo many'f those superduperjumbojumbo mosquitos r getting in! the huge, huge 1s r aktually slow cos they're so heavy, thus they're really easy to kill. i can't believe we get sooo many of these superhuge 1s that look like some kind'f prehistoric, ancient ancestor of modern jumbo mosquitos. i usually take my slipper n' smash them w/ that. they look nasty. i'm unclear on if these aktually bite or not. i always heard the big 1s don't bite... but they buzz 'round annoyingly n' *sigh* ('tho i hate to be superficial) they just look nasty! :-( i think it was the ultrawet spring that we had that bred these gigantic monster mosquitos. i guess april showers bring may mosquitos! :-(
ugh, i can't believe i have a final 2nite!
1159p: the final was fine. we watched holes n' a mighty
wind 2nite. we bought tix to a mighty wind but snuck into
holes. this was @ amc saratoga 16. we tried to
watch xmen 2 @ mercado, but the place is showing matrix
reloaded on 10 screens still n' got rid'f xmen 4 that.
857a: this morn i had dreams. they had some similar themes. 1st i had a dream that i was in a hotel casino. i think i was there w/ ucmap ppl or sumpthin'. i guess i was gambling, but then i got in trouble 4 somehow cheating; i think 4 like counting cards or sumpthin'. some1 announced over the loudspeaker that i was not allowed to play nemore but that i needed to go to some office to pick up a $50,000. s'pposedly, since i was winning so big thru whatever my method was, they figured they'd be better off paying me $50,000 n' telling me not to come back or sumpthin'. well, i went to the office, but i was also suspicious that they were just luring me there to like arrest me or sumpthin'. i took a sneakier route n' was like going thru the emergency staircase n' stuff. in the staircase, i ran into a sjsu classmate. as i exited the staircase, i ran into dr. ur from ucmap. uh, in the dream, dr. ur was drunk n' 2 gurls were trying to keep him from stumbling. 'member: this was just a dream. then i had a 2nd dream. in my 2nd dream, uhm... shoot! i 4get, but it involved counterfeit $100 bills. i think i was pulling off some sort'f counterfeiting scam. hrm... geez, semi.exciting dreams, huh?
can u believe the la lakers r aktually out
of the playoffs?! i don't follow nba basketball much @ all, but i
saw that on the news. my personally guess is that the lakers had gotten 2 arrogant. i know that's a
common theme in sports, that some team or player gets 2 confident n' then
takes a big fall. i suppose the giants @ last yr's world series were
sort'f like that. on the news, b4 the commercial break, they sed 1
cali4nia team was out of the playoffs but 1 was still in. i was
totally sure it'd ben the sacramento kings
that'd be out. nope. funny: the lakers played san antonio, n'
the kings played dallas. there's a consistent cali4nia v. texas
thing going on. hrm, in the past few months, i've sensed sort'f a
cali4nia v. texas vibe. maybe that's just cos a certain
ultraconservative bronx's junkyard forums member's so proud to be from
texas, while many'f those who argue w/ him (since they aktually got their
heads skrewed on right) r from cali4nia. it just cms that texas
represents all that is conservative (n' evil) n' cali4nia represents all
that is liberal (n' good). however, i know texas can't be all
that bad cos 'least the dixie chicks made their big statement that they're
ashamed that dubyah came from texas. this is what amerikan rock
legend bruce springsteen sed 'bout the dixie chicks on his website
according to rolling stone magazine:
"the dixie chicks have taken a big hit lately for
exercising their basic right to express themselves. to me, they're
terrific american artists expressing american values by using their
american right to free speech. for them to be banished wholesale
from radio stations, and even entire radio networks, for speaking out is
un-american. the pressure coming from the government and big
business to enforce conformity of thought concerning the war and politics
goes against everything that this country is about - namely freedom.
right now, we are supposedly fighting to create freedom in iraq, at the
same time that some are trying to intimidate and punish people for using
that same freedom here at home. i don't know what happens next, but
i do want to add my voice to those who think that the dixie chicks are
getting a raw deal, and an un-american one to boot. i send them my
support."
i definitely agree w/ bruce almighty!
this morn, i found in my inbox, a spammail from "hrsev@lycos.ru", titled "
... and Satan has blessed America!", w/ an attachment titled
"Answer_to_Bush_Hitler_1a.jpg". the .jpg has a pic of dubyah, a pic
of hitler, pics of tombstones, n' ikons that tell us to boycott all
amerikan produkts. *sigh* u know? i'm not gonna comply
w/ that msg. i shall buy amerikan produkts. it's
dubyah n' the amerikan gestapo that i'm refusing to support, not amerika
itself! i want the united states to get out'f this economic
depression. i do like this country. u know why
i like this country? it's cos w/in a few mile radius, i can get
decent korean, chinese, persian, indian, mexican, n' vietnamese fud!
in what other country can u do that?! what makes this country
special n' deserving of love is its diversity! amerikans come in all shapes, sizes, n' colours! they also come in varying politikal flavours!
yesterday, i received my tax refund checks. :-) it was good amt, but i know it'll all go straight into the wedding! oh well. heh. i hear a big tax cut got passed yesterday. i heard that the oakland skool distrikt had to cut many, many jobs cos'f funding. *sigh* me, i'm a produkt of the publik edukation system n' very proud of it! yrs from now, i don't want to be sending my kids to private skools! i want to put them in publik skools... if they still exist then! it's scary.
do u realise that there's a cali4nia independence / secession movement?
i don't fully understand it myself. maybe u can check out http://calrepublic.tripod.com. be careful!
it's a tripod site, so watch out 4 popups (if u don't have cookie cop, like
i do! :-) ) "free the bear!" they say. that is
a cute slogan/motto, but i'm not sure if this movement has ne other hidden
agenda. like, r they a libertarian, anti.government type group?
*shrug* the website has its own cali4nian declaration of independence.
the faq page sez: 1) they promote "peaceful independence," so
i s'ppose they rn't advocating a civil war. 2) they r "encouraging
greater self-government for the people of california," which makes me
wonder more if they're a libertarian organization that believes that the
governement doesn't have ne responsibility to take care'f its ppl.
3) it is not a "reconquistador organization," which (according to
them) is a "violent, socialist, and racists [sic] movement among a group of
latino/chicano activists." uh... their lack of a spell
checker* n' haste in calling ppl "socialist" do worry me.
ha ha ha, the website boasts that "californians' [sic] created these
restaurant chains - mcdonald's, carl's jr's [sic], ihop, planet hollywood,
bob's big boy, sambo's, wolfgang puck cafe, claim jumper, basin-robbins,
the green burrito." heh, proud that calis created a restaurant chain
called "sambo's," r we? ha ha. i thought that restaurant disappeared
long 'go when ppl realised that it's not so nice to give restaurants
racist names. ok, i think i've had 'nuff 'f that website n' have now
closd my browser! lemme tell u, i really love living in cali4nia!
i really have cali4nia love! take a look @ my flag! 
i think cali4nia's the greatest state
in the union! :-) i would love to live the rest'f my life in
cali4nia. the best things come from cali4nia, no doubt! (including
no doubt...) however, my love 4 my homestate does not extend
into ne kind'f politikal beliefs that we don't have a responsibility to
take care of 1 'nother.
some ppl say 'bout cal4nia that u can snowboard n' surf in the same day. true, u sure can. however, i get the feeling u can prob'ly do that in a few other places in this big, big world. however, is there ne other place where u can snowboard in mtns as nice as tahoe's n' then go to sf style clubbing that same nite? well... maybe in japan. cali's got the city by the bay - sf, the city by the lake - lake tahoe, the city by the sea - carmel, the river city - sactown, n' uh... the city over there next to the backyard swimming pool - union city. it's all 'bout water, h2o! :-) on tues, when i went over to brian's house in north valley to werk on the "mechatronics" presentation/report b4 skool, i stopped by the 7.11 there to get a bottle'f water cos it was a very hot day n' i was very thirsty. the beautiful kaela kang n' i had eaten lunch @ panda express across capitol expwy from eastridge mall after our personal training werkout. since i'm avoiding hi fructose corn syrup, i got a bottle of dole 100% oj 4 a bev instead'f soda. it wasn't a very big bottle, so i really needed sumpthin' to wash down the grease. i bought the cheapest brand'f water 7.11 had. 'twas 7.11's house brand. yuck! it was really awful water! it sed it was bottled in the southern cali4nia mtns. whah?! why would i want to drink socal water?! as much as i really don't hate socal as some ppl think i do, i do know that ebmud water can kick socal's water's butt neday!!! maybe 'bout a coupl'f months 'go, sf announced it's planning to bottle its own municipal water 4 sale. yes, sfpud water is good 2! marin county municipal water is also good. santa clara water? eh... not that great... however, it's not poison, i tell u! :-) i've just been spoiled by living in ebmud territory all these yrs. mmm, 'least it's not as bad as contra costa water, i think. of course, when we're in tahoe, i know the tap water's great! :-) there've been times when ppl thought i was more'f a socal guy than a norcal guy. what do they mean by that?
so yesterday... what happened yesterday? well, i rode w/ kaela to werk. then i took her car n' went to the gym. i had a lite werkout there, n' i studied while stretching. then i drove back to kaela's werk. oh yah, i noticed that gas is $1.73/gal @ the world gas station n' 1 other gas station, both @ the corner of capitol expwy n' story rd. the chevron out there is still expen$ive. gas is so much cheaper now! i 4get what prices were like b4 dubyah's war. do u 'member? it cms like prices rose from $1.50 to $2 n' beyond so fast! i think in this area, we pay a 29.1¢/gal tax on gas. do i resent that? well, heh... i'd always like to pay less taxes; but *shrug* if it's necessary, it's necessary. ppl should buy hybrid cars from now on neway. we gotta support hybrid cars n' alternative fuels. i really want my current subaru forester to be my last internal combustion engine car... well, hrm... u think that might be wishful thinking? ok, well, how 'bout its just being my last nonhybrid, petroleum fuel burning car? the whole "last internal combustion engine car" makes it sound like i'll be driving a steam engine car sometime in the future. :-/ well, i still ponder if i should get a bike. let's agree not to buy gas guzzlers from now on!
ok! so where was i w/ my update'f yesterday? ok, uh... after i drove back to kaela's werk, i sat in the parking lot studying. then kaela came out. we went to lunch. our diets from the personal trainer stipulated that we were s'pposed to eat tortillas n' chicken breast. uh... *shrug* i figured we could find some mexican fud in downtown. well, whadya know? we ended up @ thai fud @ uh... i 4get the name'f that thai restaurant in the pavilion shopping centre area. (don't they spell "centre" w/ an "re" there? maybe i'm just imagining that.) the restaurant is siam sumpthin' or sumpthin' siam, i 4get. neway, i've concluded now that that place isn't all that: the fud is rather mundane n' overpriced. i'm gonna avoid it from now on, now that we've been there 2ice. 4 thai fud in sj, the place to go is krung thai, right? ...on winchester! they have 2 locations on winchester just a few blocks from each other. well, after lunch, we got espresso drinks from starbucks. then we went to campus. i studied. b4 my final, we (along w/ dave n' brian) went to look 4 snacks n' drinks. i got a sobe adrenaline rush drink. man! was i ever caffeinated!!! i felt so artificially energetic thru.out the exam! it was a short final n' felt more like a quiz. i worry i missed a pt here or there, but i'm sure i scored in the hi 90% range. *shrug* man, man, man! i really wanna get good grades this semester! the prof 4 this "mechatronics" class originally sed the final'd be 2 parts: the exam n' a take.home assingment. she cancelled the take.home assignment, n' we were all so relieved! i didn't wanna be stuck in lab this weekend!!! i have my "precision machine design" final on wed of next week. dave, brian, n' i sed we'd go to dave n' buster's 'gain after our last final, like we did last semester.
"let's go out and have some fun!" sings bernard sumner in new order's "perfect kiss." yes, indeed; "let's go out and have some fun!" this weekend is an oasis, i think. really! i've made attempts to relax n' unwind during short breaks in my studies in the past month, but almost all'f these attempts failed! :-( this weekend, i shall not fail! i am a man on a mission!
after our finals, kaela n' i went to amc mercado in hopes of watching x2: xmen united. the parking lot was sooo full of the matrix reloaded viewers. we couldn't find a spot. then kaela dropped me off to check the showtimes. that's when i discovered the matrix reloaded was still playing on 10 screens there n' had bumped off x2: xmen united. i can understand since neo's the kewlest superhero since the crow! really! spiderman? eh! as much as i didn't hate the amazing spiderman movie, *sigh* it really didn't do all that much 4 me. as i sed, 'least daredevil was a more 3.dimensional character who's not so wholesome, goody goody, but has a darker side on the inside. the crow was definitely kewl as far as comicbook movies go, but i also enjoyed the semi.goth backdrop of batman ii. batman ii did have siouxsie n' the banshees on their soundtrack; but, overall, the crow's soundrtrack wins. there was a sequel to the crow, wasn't there? however, it fizzled, right? yah, w/o brandon lee, i s'ppose the movie would have quite a diff feel. neway, i s'ppose it's all 'bout neo as the superhero now, eh? perhaps he's the best dressed superhero the silver screen's cn in a while, right? ha ha. true. the matrix (the original) was a big fashion show that really set fashion trends 4 the next coupl'f yrs. i s'ppose watching the matrix reloaded is more like attending a fashion show than watching an action movie, eh? it's true that all women should dress in shiny, black, tight, leather/rubber outifts. >:-/ ok ok ok, it's not true that all women should dress in shiny, black, tight, leather/rubber outfits... but i'd like to c it more often on those who indeed should be wearing that kind'f stuff. >X-D after all, catwoman's outfit's a definite reason batman ii's a good movie. hrm, i wonder if supermike saw the matrix reloaded yet? "flowing," he sed. he repeatedly described the fashion of the matrix as flowing, over n' over.
well, after we gave up on watching a movie @ mercado cos'f the over.capacity parking lot, we trekked over to amc saratoga 14. i don't think i mentioned here b4 that mercado reminds me of supermario 3's 2-d setting. if u'v ever been to the mercado n' played super mario 3, don'tchu agree?!?! it's the 2.dimensionalness of it all, n' the palm trees... n' the colour scheme, i s'ppose... n' the way the sky above looks quite big n' blue w/ an occasional puffy, white cloud. ok, the last condition varies w/ weather, but... *shrug* neway, we trekked over to saratoga. on the way i checked moviefon (777.film). as i listened, i was horrified w/ our choices, which were mostly very juvenile! ugh! what was going on?!?!?! how could amc mercado 20 have the kewlest movies, including better luck tomorrow, while saratoga 14 had all lame kids' movies 'cept 4 a mighty wind, the dancer upstairs, n' identity, which we can't watch cos kaela can't watch horror movies. neway, of those choices, i definitely preferred a mighty wind n' the dancer upstairs over identity. holes, the lizzie maguire movie, what a girl wants? man! they sound really childish! well, we found dinner @ sushi boat @ the westgate shopping mall. i 4got that sushi boat is the korean.owned sushi chain w/ a location in valley fair. we were very pleasantly surprised to find out most the sushi dishes were $1.98/plate! :-) the fancy sushi was only $3.94/plate 4 stuff that'd normally go 4 $6 n' up! :-) kewl! they had green tea cheesecake as 1'f the items floating on the boats! we had it, n' it was pretty good. everything was pretty good. :-) i love raw fish! :-) we ate n' went to the theatre early. the theatre was a ghost town!!! we had plenty'f time b4 our movie. kaela convinced me to sneak into holes b4 our showing of a mighty wind. holes was playing next to the lizzie maguire movie, n' i figured li'l gurls go watch lizzie maguire n' li'l boys go watch holes. well, holes proved to surpass my expektations by being a decently entertaining n' interesting movie. it's based on a children's book, i believe. we missed the 1st 20 mins, so i'm a li'l cloudy on some'f the background'f the plot. i'd like to find out someday. cos we watched the remainder of holes, we missed the beginning of a mighty wind, but i figured it was the kind'f comedy that would still be very funny n' entertaining if we walked in @ ne pt! i think i was right. the movie's website is pretty kewl n' makes me think i can expekt some'f the same content on the dvd in the future.
well, i'ts 1120a now. our personal training session's @ 300p 2day. kaela gets off werk @ 1230p. [a li'l later] it's 1129a now. it's a beautiful day outside... uh... i think. the shutter blinds n' closed, so i don't know 4 sure. heh. "i believe it'll be a nice day 2day." how 'bout that? :-) i gotta get out! maybe i'll update later. ttyl!
[later] 1154a: do u notice when u hear a new, diff burdy in ur backyard? well, i do. i heard a call w/ which i was not really familiar. i looked out into the backyard. i saw a li'l burd w/ a bright red head walking on the side'f the wooden fence, defying gravity. i knew right 'way what i was looking @! woody woodpecker!!! it looke kind'f smaller than 1s i've cn b4, but i'm pretty sure i was looking @ a woodpecker. 'member? woodpeckers r good @ clinging to trees!
* yes, i do realise that i don't use capital
letters n' that my spelling of my homestate's name contains a number!
>:-( however, i also won got 2nd place in my skool's 1st grade
spelling bee, so i have every right to criticise their spelling error,
which is aktually a grammar error, not a spelling error!
920a: i'm sittin' @ my 'puter, sort'f doing some dj remix stuff. right now, i'm checkin' out some classic new order tracks that i wanna mix up w/ some other songs. u know, 1tym when i was @ my classmate brian's house (the bachelor pad place w/ all the 'puter games etc.), i noticed that his housemate andrew had a joy division cd on his desk. in case u rn't versed in "modern rock," as it was called in the 1980s, joy division was the precursor to new order. after the lead singer of joy division died (i think he committed suicide, but i 4get.), the rest of the group formed new order. neway, i was very surprised to find out that college kids 2day still listen to joy division. i mean, sure! when i was a college kid (undergrad), i listened to joy division, but wow! i thought all these li'l kids just listened to 1) rave, 2) hip hop, or 3) this neo pearl jam stuff that's s'pposed to be "altrock," while it's really more like "classic rock." yesterday, while i was @ the gym, right when we went into the locker rooms, i realised they were play the cure's "the perfect girl" on the stereo system. i was very surprised. "strange girl"'s from the cure's 1987 kiss me kiss me kiss me album, n' i don't think it was even a single. i wonder who decided to put that in the mix! u know, that album was the 1st cd album i ever owned! the 1st cd i ever owned was the cd5 (maxi.single) of depeche mode's "personal jesus."
934a: so lessee, where do i pick up updating u? *shrug* yesterday
afternoon, we went to the gym. that's where i heard the cure track,
'member? we thought we'd be doing our personal training werkout w/
maria, our trainer; but she had to cancel on us cos'f some mtg or
sumpthin'; so we did a similar werkout but on our own. after that,
we came home. (i saw that gas @ the capitol expwy world gas n' usa
gas r $1.69/gal now!) then we went out 4 a real "evening out," u
know? finally! finally, sumpthin' to keep me from going crazy
from all this skool stress n' wedding stress! we went to dinner @
bella mia in downtown san jo. we've been there 1nce b4.
please refer to "snow expo: day 2" on 2002.11.24. 4 dinner, we
shared a walnut n' gorgonzola salad; then the beautiful kaela kang had
linguine cacciuti, n' i had chicken foresta. mmm... the shrooms in
my chicken were so good! :-) i had this "south georgia lemonade"
cocktail, which is rum, lemonade, n' triple sec. kaela had a glass'f
a syrah wine. well, the reason we went downtown was to meet up w/
ken, grace, n' some others to watch a comedy show @ the improv!
apparently, bobcat goldwaith was doing a comedy show there. heh, we
didn't know much 'bout bobcat goldwaith, so we didn't expekt much, but he's
aktually really funny! in fakt, our entire 1st time @ a comedy club
was a pretty entertaining experience. we expekted corny comics w/
nuthin' but racist n' sexist jokes. sure, they had some, but
aktually, they did find innovative things to joke 'bout. not
bad. 1 could tell bobcat was much more experienced than the opening
acts cos he really came up w/ jokes on the spot, it cmed. do u
'member bobcat goldwaith from the police academy movies?
well, he's like 40 now, n' he lost a lot'f weight. u can tell
it's him, but he looks really diff! ha ha; his opening line was: (as we
applauded his entrance) "thank you! thank you! yeah,
you look different too!" it's nice to c ppl take care'f
themselves. :-) it's 2 easy just to say "yah, i should exercise, but
i don't" n' try to say that exercise n' healthy diets don't really mean
much in the end, that it's not that important to be in shape... but
u know, it is important to be healthy! neway, we had a good
time @ the comedy show. then we went home. it was nice to
have free parking in the pavilion lot, as always on an evening or weekend!
:-) i'm glad ken invited us to this comedy thing. otherwise,
i really doubt we'd have gone! we're glad we did.
1016a: it's mon morn. how r u? when u get a chance, please
sign the current version of my gbook. the beautiful kaela kang n'
i spent sat afternoon @ valley fair mall. earlier, we went to the
gym. then we had lunch @ falafels drive in on w. san carlos.
we browsed 'round the mall. as always, i miss the days when i do the
whole clothes shopping thing more often. oh well. i didn't
buy nething, of course, since i'm much more "on a budget" these days,
right? well, heh... the whole "i don't have a job" thing sort'f
discourages me from buying clothes n' stuff like that. we had a
coupl'f auntie anne pretzels tho'... heh, n' a jumba juice! (strawberry dream'n ) we came
home n' watched donnie darko on my 'puter. that movie has a
kewl soundtrack w/ muzik from joy division, the church, tears for fears, n'
others.
sun, we went to sf to watch the absolute dragons dragonboat team race @
lake merced. on our way up, well... we didn't go very far to stop @
trader joe's. we bought some lunch n' snacks there. kaela had
this shiitake shroom roll, n' i had this salmon wrap. we also got
some pitas n' jalapeño n' cilantro hummus! yum! very tasty.
well, i stopped by the bank next to depo$it some checks. then we
drove 85.280.1 to sf. it was sort'f messy getting to lake merced cos
the lack'f opportunities to make left turns; but the scenery was gorgeous
as ever in sf, n' (altho' 2 wrongs don't make a right) 3 rights make a
left. we were happy to find parking @ the lake's boating area.
we saw lots'f water fowl n' their excrement. 'twas kewl to c
our ol' friends who r on the absolute dragons dragonboat team. they raced
really well. 'twas the 1st time kaela n' i had watched a dragonboat
race. 'twas really fun. 1 absoulte dragons member dave had a
doggy named pebbles. we played w/ her a li'l. she was so
cute! she had an injured foot, so she had to wear a sock on that
foot to keep her from licking it, but she kept taking off the sock.
she's very clever! after the races, kaela n' i went to the nearby
stonestown galleria mall to use the restrooms n' walk 'round. we got
a "sleekdae" froyo (frozen yogurt) parfait. it had vanilla froyo,
strawberries n' blueberries. then we went to emeryville's new
bay st mall 4 the 1st time to eat w/ our friends n' watch the matrix
reloaded. we ate @ cpk (california pizza kitchen). we saw
the 830p showing of the matrix reloaded. wow! what a
aktion movie experience! i hadn't gone to a movie w/ such a big
group'f friends in a long, long time. it was very much worth
watching the matrix reloaded in a theatre w/ a decent sound system,
a giant screen, n' stadium seating! it was awesome! i won't
spoil the movie 4 u guys, but i shall tell u to stay past the
credits 4 a surprise! :-) the movie had pretty good special effekts.
i'm still, sadly, a li'l disappointed w/ some'f the digital special
effekts. i know they'll improve in the future. sumpthin' just
looks fake w/ the timing n' the skin texture when they go into digital
mode. like, the amazing spiderman, i felt, had really bad
digital effekts. it really looked like a cartoon or video
game whenever spiderman soared thru the air. w/ phantom
menace, it was pretty bad 2. oh yah, harry potter n' the
sorceror's stone had some pretty obvious digital effekts parts.
i think the matrix reloaded shows tremendous improvement, but i know
technology can still be improved. it's funny tho'... now that i've
werked w/ more 3-d modeling software, i can really imagine all the math n'
computing that goes into producing the digital effekts. like, i know
the finite element analysis software i've been using can simulate an
objekt's getting distorted due to some force place on it. of course,
the effekts they do in the movies r much, much more spektacular than what
i've done in classes 4 design's sake (not entertainment). well, if i
manage to get this summer internship, i'll get to werk w/ software used 4
both design n' movies. well, after the movie, kaela n' i drove home
to san jo down 880. i had to fill up on gas @ union landing.
well, it's mon now. it's now 1045a. i've gotta get back to studying 4 my "precision machine design" final. wow, it was a fun weekend. heh, do u realise how many malls i was @ this weekend? valley fair, stonestown galleria, bay st. (which is like santana row), el paseo (the mall that amc saratoga 14's in), mercado... well, the last 2 r barely malls, i guess...
oh yah, it's charles chang's b.day 2day. happy b.day,
dude.
1044: 2day's the beautiful kaela kang's n' my 40th monthversary! :-) i had 2 dreams this morn. both dreams involved my final, but 1 also included kaela's taking me to some surprise monthversary celebration. heh. she took me to some strange chinese restaurant inside a buddhist monastery n' she had brought w/ her a whole bunch'f letters i had written to her or sumpthin' like that. heh. in both these dreams i was stressin' 'bout my final, but instead'f being a "precision machine design" final, 'twas a "finite element analysis" final. (i took "f.e.a." last semester. 2morrow's final's 4 "precision machine design.") well, i can't do nething 2 special 4 kaela 2nite cos i have my final 2morrow afternoon, as u know. however, we shall celebrate soon. :-)
[later] 1128p: 2day, i studied. 2nite, kaela n' i went to
taekwondo practice. i gotta have some aktivity other than
studying... just a li'l, u know?
1108p: 
2day's thurs, but yesterday was wed; n' i finished my finals
yesterday! :-) woohoo! i had my 2nd n' last final 4 the semester,
the last 4 this skoolyr! :-) that was my "precision machine design" exam.
it's been a bizzy coupl'f days, so i can't really guarantee the
quality of this journal entry. i'll just sort'f hafta brush over
what's gone on. the important things r:
well, i'm really glad i'm done w/ finals! i'm even more glad that i have a summer job! :-) phew! out of 500 applicants, i managed to snag 1 of 3 spots! :-) phew! the final: how was it? it was ok. like, i really wish i could say i totally aced both my finals; but, altho' i feel i prob'ly scored in the 90% n' up range, i can't help but sort'f beat myself over the head over the few pts i might've missed on each 1. i really want to get good grades this semester. u know why, right? it's cos i started putting my gpa on my résumé, so i wanna make sure i can keep putting my gpa there, u know? man, oh man! well... now i've finished almost all'f my coursewerk 4 my master's degree. i have 2 more courses next yr n' my master's projekt to do. well, heh... w/ finals done, my hunch that i did pretty ok this semester, n' my job offer; i feel like life's picking up. also, kaela's been werking pretty steadily now 2. i really feel life's been picking up. :-) it's summer vacation now! :-)
[later] 1154p: i gotta enroll in my fall 2003 classes on 2003.06.02.
wow, i can't believe the next time i'll be in class, it'll be fall
'gain. *sigh* seasons r crazy, rn't they? heh, the next time i'll be
in class, i'll be a married man! X-D crazy, huh? u know, i
also start my job on 2003.06.02. crazy, crazy, crazy. well...
i feel very 4tunate; i really do. 4tunate or blessed...
305p: waiting 4 the beautiful kaela kang @ the gym. hey, i just read in the wave that jewel's gonna have a new album out on 2003.06.03, n' it'll be more'f a "lyric-driven," techno album. kewl! i gotta check it out when it comes out. the brief review in the mag isn't 2 hopeful, but i'd still like to check it out.
i was thinking, while watching the matrix reloaded how
superheros end up eventually getting married or @ least in permanent
relationships... cos sometimes the hero does get the gurl, n' then,
well, life progresses n' moves 4ward, develops.
406p: waiting 4 the beautiful kaela kang @ the gym after swimming... no time 4 a real entry, so just an update:
[unfinished entry]
502p: waiting 4 the beautiful kaela kang @ the gym after the last'f our personal training sessions. no time 4 a real entry, so just an update:
1248a: i'm up relatively late (we don't stay up as late as we used to.), trying to figure out a way i can commute to my new job via publik transportation (the santa clara valley transportation authority, or "valley transit," as we've called it b4). is there a way?! maybe a combination'f light rail n' bus'll get me there. 'gain, i'm really thinkin' 'bout getting a bike. i put up a "wanted" ad on craigstlist.org. yah, i saw @ target, i can get a cheap bike r $65. as i've sed b4, i'd prefer to get a better but used bike 4 a similar price. neway, i'm crazy, huh? we just bought a camcorder... which we won't aktually have in our hands till thurs cos the blossom hill rd good guys was out'f stock. well, as i sed, that camcorder'll be teknically free, as long as the credit card rewards properly go thru. man, that was a good deal, tho'. that camcorder was sellin' 4 $2000 @ magnolia hi.fi! we told them good guys was selling it 4 $799 - $50 memorial day discount. magnolia hi.fi sed that they could only go down to $1200, so we might as well hit up good guys. 'least they were honest. magnolia sed, if they sold it @ good guys' price, they'd be selling it below their co$t. *shrug* i guess if i were a hardcore bargainer, i'd say, "hey, man! butchu gotta cut ur losses. i'm doing u a favour!" or sumpthin' dumb like that; but u know... they'll find some1 to take that camcorder from them 4 like $2000... someday. it's a nice, tiny camcorder. yah, aktually, it is getting discontinued n' replaced by the sony dcr-pc105, i think. that's the same camcorder but in an even tinier package. nething smaller is micromv, i think. (micromv isn't as good'f a video format as minidiv.)
neway, let's not talk 'bout these material things n' get back to talkin' 'bout publik transportation!!! let's talk 'bout saving the environment n' providing mobility 4 the masses!!! :-) well, i wonder if i can light rail down from almaden up to 1st n' santa clara, then can i take the 304 express bus to basikally the intersektion of bowers n' scott? would that werk? yah, the 304 express n' the other express buses have very limited number'f runs. hrm... :-/ the 58 goes near my werkplace, but it starts over @ west valley college, nowhere near my home.
111a: neway, shoot! in all reality, i prob'ly won't use publik transportation... 'specially not right away. on mon, i definitely gotta drive to werk 4 my 1st day. shoot, how will i do that? traffik's of course gonna be horrendous! i'll prob'ly just take local streets, not the freeways, right? i dunno; it's pretty far! like, when i drove from berkeley to my job in sf, how far was it? according to y! maps, it was 15.1 miles. when i started werking in corte madera but was still living in the ol' hillegass apt, it was 19.8 miles. when we moved to the north berkeley apt, it was 16.5 miles. my new commute, based upon y! maps, is 17.5 miles but will s'pposedly take only 27 mins. nope! not in rush hr traffik!!! the hillegass to sf commute easily took an hr each morn, fighting bay bridge n' sf traffik. it really isn't a long drive to cross the bay, but the bridge traffik really slows u down. out here in the sobay, stuff is spread out. yah... that's 1 thing that makes the sobay like socal. u know when i sed some ppl say i'm more of a socal guy than a norcal guy? i guess they don't realise that all'f norcal isn't berkeley, sf, or oakland. yah, the sobay suburbs do have some similarities to socal, i admit. still... u gotta admit: socal traffik is still worse than norcal traffik! sure norcal drivers don't quite know how to drive n' do stoopid things like drive slow in the left lane, but in socal, u get traffik jams @ the weirdest times'f the day... even on weekends! in norcal, most traffik jams r pretty explainable.
[later] 147a: i'm tired. this coming weekend's ken's bachelor party. don't worry; it's gonna be pretty tame (meaning none'f the stripper/sex stuff u hear 'bout when ppl talk 'bout bachelor parties). we're just taking him to tahoe 4 a weekend'f fishing w/ the guys, u know? heh. 6 guys in a cabin n' in a boat. well, it should be fun. it's ken's last hangout w/ the guys, u know?
jerome (jet) signed my gbook a few days 'go. thanks, jerome! i'd like it if u'd sign my gbook! :-) man... sorry, my domain name service has been really flakey lately, so u might need to substitute "http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~beno" in place of "http://www.benomix.com" in some'f the links, files, or urls on my website. sorry! i dunno what's wrong w/ that company. :-(
[later] 200p: i'm @ kaela's werk, waiting 4 her to finish up. i
guess she's s'pposed to be done @ 200p, but her replacement isn't here
yet. this morn, i dropped kaela off @ werk then went to the gym 4 a
long but easy werkout. then i went to hunt / forage 4 lunch.
i ended up @ ken n' ryan's store in milpitas to talk to ryan 'bout ken's
fishing trip 4 a few mins. i got kaela n' me some carl's jr. fud 4
lunch.
118a: it's fri now. 2day, we're taking ken on his bachelor party. by "we," i mean "the guys." it'll be ken, me, ryan, billy, danny, n' godon. 6 guys going up to tahoe to go fishing! yesterday, i went to sportmart n' bought a fishing pole: $29.95 - $20 rebate = $9.95. not bad, i guess. i'm glad to c that fishing poles n' pool cue sticks r 2 pieces of equipment that can't really get that fancy. i was telling the beautiful kaela kang 'bout this yesterday evening. like, w/ snowboards or mtn bikes or cars or even skateboards, u can be really picky 'bout getting nicer n' nicer components. after a while, it's like these sports, hobbies, or interests r more 'bout the equipment than skillz, etc. well, it's sort'f nice to sometimes find a hobby where things r sort'f "basik," u know? *shrug* neway, even tho' i'm going to tahoe to fish this weekend; heh, i'll never go to tahoe more to fish than to snowboard!!! i really like snowboarding, u know!
on wed, i visited my classmate friend brian's cousin. u c, brian told me 'bout his cousin clay who's a chiropractic student doing his internship n' needs patients. so yah, i went to c him @ palmer chiropractic skool. it was interesting. he gave me a long physikal checkup, pretty similar to what physicians do, i guess. then after all this examination, he sort'f "cracked" my back, n' that took like 30 secs. ha ha ha. neway, that was an interesting experience. i'm s'pposed to visit him a few more times.
well, what else has been going on? lessee... i've gone to the gym pretty much every day this week, i think. on wed nite, 4 dinner... like, kaela had to go to her real estate class, so we foraged 4 fud in santa clara, near her class, @ the nearby mercado shopping center. i got a thai chicken wrap from world wrapps. i got kaela 6 chicken potstickers to go. while i got fud there, she went over to jamba juice to get us a coupl'f smoothies. oh yah... heh heh... i 'member wed! u know what i did on wed? i drove by my werkplace 3 times! yah, i'm a li'l enthusiastic 'bout starting my new job. i just wanted to get a feel 4 the place. i drove by 1nce 'round 700p or so. i noticed there were 2 ppl in a conference room. i think they noticed my doing a drive by n' staring. then i drove by later on my way back from hangin' @ barnes & nobles, on my way to pick up kaela from her class. then after i picked up kaela, i drove over to show her the werkplace. ha ha. on tues, i also did a drive by after dropping kaela off @ werk. u c, i'm trying to get a feel 4 what it's like to werk right in the heart of silly valley! wow, i've never done this b4!!! it's really exciting. :-)
so this past week has been my summer vakation, i s'ppose... well, i mean, it's the break btwn skool n' my internship. it should've been relaxing, but well... i dunno... i spent 'lot'f time rushing btwn places n' driving waaay 2 much. i spent some time helping my mom w/ yard werk @ that rental property in north valley. yesterday, i went to the house to cut some plants. i met john yoon's bro.in.law chan. john yoon is 1 our friends from us taekwondo academy. john n' chan own a painting bizness, n' my mom called them up 4 an estimate. i guess john couldn't make it. while i was in the backyard trimming plants. i heard a mourning dove, so i did my mourning dove call. (i already told this story to kaela.) i heard this rustling n' chattering from the trees above. i kept doing my mourning dove call. i kept hearing this angry chattering... some animal. i assumed it was a burdy. well, i saw some movement. it was a squirrel! it stared @ me 4 like 5 mins. i guess it was confused to c a person doing a mourning dove call. maybe he likes to chase 'way mourning doves but then wasn't sure what to do w/ me. *shrug*
on thurs (yesterday), i had a la salsa grande chicken burrito 4 lunch, while @ the great mall, after buying my fishing pole. i thought my burrito was big, but the guy after me ordered some crazy monster burrito... i think it was called the "el champion" or sumpthin'. *shrug* every1 was staring @ him as he ate it.
yesterday, we did a site visit of our ceremony site. wow, i got pretty excited inside, knowing this wedding aktually gonna happen! :-) all this planning's gonna really culminate into sumpthin' big! :-)
4 dinner last nite, we had tk noodles cos we were on east side (of san jo) cos kaela had a house she wanted to look @. after dinner, we went to target, where i bought a folding chair (4 the fishing trip) 4 $10. i didn't know those collapsible chairs were so cheap. not bad!
[a li'l later] 200a: oh yah, did i mention that i found out 1'f
my grades from this past semester? i got an "a" in "mechatronics."
:-) i hope i can get more "a"s! :-)
454p: i came home from the fishing trip bachelor party a li'l while 'go... i guess i got home 'round 415p. *shrug* phew, i'm really tired. funny; i dunno why i'd be tired cos fishing doesn't sound really tiring, n' i got plenty of sleep last nite!!! plenty!!! well, how was fishing? heh, well, the answer to the question u'll prob'ly ask is: "no, we didn't catch ne fish." well, that made it a very animal friendly fishing trip, right? X-D well, some earthworms were hurt. :-( 'twas a weekend full of red meat n' beer. ugh, i feel so unhealthy! i don't think i wanna eat ne red meat 4 a long time! :-( i mean... it was tasty, but wow! heh, that sure was guy fud, i guess. but really... we guys can't eat like that all the time... i mean... i know jerome n' andy do... but they shouldn't... but they don't need my saying that, i know. well, it was a bachelor party. it was a bunch'f guys out in tahoe. there wasn't ne raunchy sex stuff, which ppl cm to expekt bachelor party should have. last nite, we were all beat n' just ate n' watched martha stewart, inc. (that mudslinging most likely very unauthorised biography) yah, as far as i know, that was not kinky n' sexual. it was a fun weekend tho'. we played cards 'lot. ha ha. we played this game called "13." i guess i had played it b4, but i 4get card games fast. the cabin was nice. oh yah, ken rented this huge lincoln navigator 4 us to drive. it was huge! it had this kewl gps system 2!!! altho' i really don't wanna ever own a gas guzzler like that myself ever; it was kewl to have 4 this trip.
so... on fri, ken picked me up from our house in the "navi." then he went to do a coupl'f errands. then we picked up gordon from his nice, nice condo in downtown san jo. wow, i haven't cn a single guy live in such a nice place many times b4!!! then we went to the milpitas store to pick up billy n' ryan. we got some mcyukyuk's drive.thru next. i had a 0.25 pounder w/ cheese meal. i guess that's where the red meat started 4 me this weekend. we drove up diff way than i'm used to 4 going to tahoe!!! instead'f the 87.680.80/50 route i drove so many many many times this past snowboarding season, we went (87).680.580.205.5.50. crazy, huh? it took us thru tracy. according to the gps system this is the faster route. y! maps sez my usual way is faster. *shrug* personally, i like the 680.80/50 route better cos we drive thru... hrm... like, nicer cities. personally, i don't like driving 580 past pleasanton. it's so ugh! boring out there! yah, i'd rather drive past walnut creek n' concord than tracy! i tell u: lots'f ppl talk 'bout how land n' houses r so cheap in tracy; but me, i'd never wanna live there, really. i guess i'm just a "city boy." however... ppl from sf or oakland'd say, "no! u'r a suburban boy..." but then, u know what? ppl from li'l boonies towns like tracy'd say that towns like tracy r suburbs n' cities like san jo r big metropolitan cities! well, they r sort'f right, i gotta admit. like, in socal, there r lots'f suburbs that look like tracy; n' u can't really call these kinds'f cities "booonies towns." these r aktually, i guess, the typikal amerikan suburbs. i think most amerikan suburbs look like tracy. cities like san jo fall in some other kind'f category. neway... so we drove up to tahoe. we stopped somewhere cos ken n' gordon wanted to get a snack @ taco bell. when we got to tahoe, i picked up the keys from the realty office. then we went to the cabin. then we went out to look 4 some fishing gear. we got our fishing licenses n' some other stuff from kmart @ the "y," (where 89 hits 50). we ate dinner @ hoss hog's bbq ribs. wow, that was an interesting place! even tho' it look like a really ol' fashion place; i could tell it was really more'f a snowboarders' hangout in the wintertime, u know? i mean, that nite, there were more like lots'f old men eating there, but i'm sure during snowboarding season it's more'f a young ppl's hangout. they have live bands in their bar. when we got home, while flipping thru the channels, we saw some ramones cover band (dubbed "the marones) playing on some like local or publik access channel. i sed, "hey! that looks like hoss hog's!" some'f the guys chuckled thinking i was joking; but then we looked clower, n' i was right! it was! X-D ha ha ha! we watched sumpthin' on tv; i 4get. we drank beer, ate beef jerky (more red meat), n' played cards. oh yah, @ hoss hog's i had bbq beef ribs (more red meat). i ordered that despite the fakt i had a chicken option cos i figured it was ribs joint, so ribs'd be their specialty. after ordering, i realised: "wait, @ a place w/ a name like hoss hog's n' pics'f pigs everywhere, maybe their specialty is pork ribs, not beef ribs!" oh well. well, we went to sleep early cos we knew we had to wake up early on sat 4 fishing @ cave rock near zephyr cove. oh yah, after dinner, b4 going back to the cabin, we got groceries from albertson's.
sat: we woke up @ 'round 400p. ryan cooked breakfast burritos. they were really good. we made sandwiches to take 4 lunch. oh, did we make those sandwiches the nite b4? i 4get. no, i think we made them that morn, yah. we packed up our gear n' headed out. we got there early in the morn. we had to hike out on rocks along the shore to get to our 1st fishing spot. ryan showed us how to tie knots to make our fishing "rigs." then we learned to cast. man! the 1st time we each got our hooks caught/snagged on rocks, we each thought we caught a big 1! nope. we used powerbait, the manmade bait stuff. well, after a while, we gave up on that spot, n' hike back 2wards the car to fish near the car. we stayed there 4 most'f the day. by 830a, we had some beer just to make it a bachelor party in that we could say we drank beer @ 8:30 in the morn. ha ha. *sigh* well, we cast our lines many times, snagged rocks many times, waited, n' waited. it got sunny n' hot, altho' the day started out so cold. @ times, i just left my line out n' went to the car to get out'f the sun. by the late afternoon, we gave up on that spot n' walked somewhere in btwn the car n' our 1st location, right by the boat launch ramp. we fished 4 a while there, but man! i was so mad that the boats were causing so many waves. i knew no fish'd wanna come to our spot w/ all those powerboats going by! ryan went to get some earthworms to replace our powerbait cos some women who were fishing nearby sed they had no luck w/ powerbait but got some bites w/ earthworms, altho' they didn't catch nething. earlier in the afternoon, ryan pointed out some baby rainbow trout in the nearby, shallow water. we saw them pecking @ crumbs of powerbait. well, those were the only fish i saw the whole day! ha ha. i saw lots'f geese. :-) i think every1 but me got really sunburnt. i tried so hard to stay covered n' wore so much sunblock. phew! i really don't wanna get sunburnt, u know. i'm so anti.sun right now! already, this season, i've gotten 2 much'f a tan from the sun hitting my arm while i'm driving. i don't even like that! neway, by like 600p or so, we called it a day n' left. we stopped by safeway to get some (ribeye) steaks n' (chicken apple n' italian turkey) sausages n' corn. (on the cob) we bbq those things back @ the cabin. we were all so tired!!! so yah, we just ate our store.bought animal flesh, watched some nbc autism comedy fundraiser thingy n' then martha stewart, inc. i had cn parts'f that martha stewart made.4.tv movie a coupl'f weeks 'go, when they originally aired it n' the beautiful kaela kang was watching it. this time i watched the entire movie w/ all the guys as we played more "13." we sed we'd wake up sun morn to try more fishing, so we went to be relativly early.
sun (2day): i woke up @ 430a to the blare'f the alarm clock. i had done 1 load of coloured laundry the nite b4, so i went to put it in the dryer. i fell @ the bottom'f the stairs cos it was dark n' i was so muddleheaded n' sleepy. i put the clothes in the dryer. i saw that most'f the guys were still asleep, so i went back to bed. sometime, ken n' ryan walked into our room to try to wake us up. oh yah, the sleeping arrangement was ken in the room w/ the queen bed, ryan in the living room on the couch, n' the rest'f us (billy, gordon, n' me) in the bedroom w/ a bunk bed n' a twin (i got the bottom bunk [which was a full bed], billy got the top bunk [which was a twin], n' gordon got the individual twin). the triple room felt like a dorm room! X-D or else, it felt like camp! ha ha, yah, billy, gordon, n' i talked 'bout how we all used to go to taiwanese.amerikan youth leadership camp (tayl). ha ha. yah, it was sort'f a weekend to revert to being boys, right? sort'f... neway, ken n' ryan, i guess, tried to wake us up; but i guess ppl were much 2 dead to fish, so they gave up. sometime 'round 730a, i went to start the white load'f laundry. well, in the end, we slept in till like 900a. @ that time, we packed up, cleaned up, n' got out by like 945a. we returned the key to the realty office n' then went to caesar's palace to gamble a li'l. i don't gamble much, but i was happy to win $50 2day by playing quarter slots. we didn't stay @ caesar's long @ all. we only tried our luck 4 a short, short while. then we figured we'd find lunch on our way out'f town. we got burgers (more red meat) @ izzy's burger spa right on the main strip of south lake tahoe city. i had the "onion orgy," a burger "smothered w/ grilled onions." yah, it was pretty good. man, these r all the li'l joints in the city'f south lake tahoe that i always c on snowboarding trips but never patronise cos well... i usually am in my right mind n' care 'bout my health 'nuff not to eat so much meat. ha ha. oh well! if there ever was a time to eat so much cow, i s'ppose this was the weekend to do it... altho' we were s'pposed to eat fish, i s'ppose. ha ha. well, after lunch we just headed back. i really had to go pee, but i just held it till we got to some gas station somewhere on the 5 btwn sacto n' tracy. @ that gas station, i took over driving 4 ken 4 the remainder'f the voyage home. i drove us to the milpitas (cell fon) store (wireless dimension @ 71 s. abbott). then billy drove me home from there. it's hot in san jo 2day!
[later] 552p: some pics!
 i really liked this goose, who came to hang out w/ billy n' me 4 a while. |
 same goose, closer view |
605p: when i got home n' returned to the internet, i found this interesting story on y! news: "over time, people 'catch mood' of friends, lovers."
now, kaela n' i gotta go pick up our camcorder from good guys.
kaela went to this natea sars conference 2day that my dad told us to go to.
natea = north.amerikan taiwanese engineers association.
723a: i gotta be @ werk @ 900a. 2day, mon, is my 1st day'f werk. :-) i wonder what i should wear. i think the guys who interviewed me were all wearing jeans. :-/ i'm not gonna wear jeans, 'least not 2day. i'm gonna leave the house very early to make sure i get there on time. i had a dream that i had a bike, n' that we still lived in berkeley or 'least i was a still student @ berkeley. in my dream, hrm... i dreamt that i was trying to get a lock 4 my bike but didn't know what to do w/ it while i went into the store to buy the lock. bikes get stolen so often in berkeley, u know. neway, hrm... what a weird dream.
well, yesterday eve, the beautiful kaela kang n' i went out to good guys to pick up our new camcorder. while we were there, they had the ice age dvd playing on a demo car in.dash dvd player unit thingy. neway, have u cn ice age? have u cn the ice age dvd? it has this animated short film on it, this award.winning artsy animated short called bunny. of course, w/ a name like bunny, kaela had to watch it. we stood there watching it 4 quite a while. whoa... it's a pretty intensely emotional cartoon!!! i don't think kids should really watch it, i guess. :-/
well, we brought the camcorder home. we watched simpsons, ate some fruit, ate some batzang (seasoned rice steamed in leaves, a taiwanese specialty), n' watched some other tv, including a time to kill. i wanted to get a haircut last nite, but i ran out'f time. we tried to sort out our plans 4 the honeymoon. i still haven't figured out all the features of the dcr.pc101. it's small!!! when the good guys sales associate handed me the box, i was shocked @ how small it was! i don't even have a minidv cassette to use w/ it yet. i guess i gotta get 1. the camcorder came w/ a 8mb sony memory stick. wow, i'm so used to compact flash but have never used memory sticks.
pk, thanks 4 signing my gbook, u r kewl! :-) ne1 else wanna be kewl?
well, shoot, i guess i gotta stop this entyr here n' start my scary commute! :-) wish me luck!
[later] 533a: well, i'm nearing the end'f my 1st "werkday" in a while. :-) the company's a nice place. lemme tell u, 1 cowerker (funny; now i have "cowerkers" 'gain!) put it well in saying this company's a reincarnation of the pre.teknobust era. i mean, 1 thing he meant by that was that the atmosphere feels like the ol' teknoboom days... it sort'f feels a bit dot commie. u know what i mean? there's guys coming to werk @ 1100a w/ shorts n' hawai'ian shirts on. me, i guess i'm a li'l overdressed in my khakis n' button down shirt. *shrug* well, it was a nice day @ werk. the whole company went to the nearby pedro's mexican restaurant 4 a late lunch.
what is a nurb? a nurb is a nonuniform rational b.spline.
i do need a haircut. :-/
335p: i'm @ werk.com. i've spent many hrs in front of the 'puter 2day. [later] 605p: i'm almost done w/ my 2nd day'f werk. it was 'nother warm day in san jo / silly valley 2day. 2day's tues. last nite, after werk, i drove locally to the meridian/hamilton location of bally total fitness (our gym). i werked out there 4 a while. then i showered. the beautiful kaela kang was studying @ the barnes & nobles @ almaden plaza (@ the intersektion of alamden expy n' blossom hill rd). i picked her up from there cos she sed she'd take me to dinner. it was very hot yesterday eve. i couldn't really think 2 much 'bout dinner; i just wanted aisukuriimu or sumpthin' like that. well, i figured we could maybe get some thai fud, but i didn't know'f a good thai restaurant 'cept krung thai on winchester blvd, so i started driving off to there. well, on winchester, we saw that new "modern vietnamese" restaurant citronelle. we've read good things 'bout it... or 'least i know i have. so i asked if we should go there, n' kaela sed yes. wow! it was a really good restaurant!!! we had a great dinner: this appetizer sampler (spring roll, chao gio [li'l fried egg rolls], satay chicken), this vietnamese shrimp crêpe thingy, crab n' asparagus soup, n' this seafud mélange curry stew thingy. mmmm! it was all so very delicious. this service was good 2. we saved room 4 desert: manga n' coconut aisukuriimu. :-) it was all very good.
well, it was a very warm eve. lemme tell u: back when i was in hi skool, i really loved driving. thru.out college, i liked driving. well, like after college, when i started having to do a daily commute n' all, i started to like driving less than b4. however, u know what? i still really like driving on a warm summer eve w/ the windows open n' loud muzik. i like that. i've always liked it. u know... driving's not good 4 the environment, so i don't think it's good to like driving, but well... this particular experience/feeling... i like driving on a warm summer eve w/ the windows rolled down n' loud muzik playing. i like it.
i've always liked warm summer eves. like, it's a good reward after a hot day, u know? san jo's good 4 this kind'f weather. san jo has very good warm summer eves, u know that?
well, 2day during lunch, i had to go fill up on gas, then i went to get
some burger king drive.thru really quickly (chicken whopper jr. meal).
i went to the bank to depo$it some $$$. then i went to the
post office to send sumpthin' off, but i didn't find the post office, just
a mailbox. i'm still not totally familiar w/ this santa clara
neighbourhood. my werk's right in the heart of silly valley.
i like this. this is really an experience. :-)
958a: i've been @ werk 4 an hr now. yesterday eve, i went to
taekwondo practice. well, as i sed, we're aktually practicing
teukgongmoosool, not so much taekwondo. after practice, i went to
fantasia to get a strawberry boba .
then i went home n' ate some leftovers. i was up until like
200a, trying to catch up on e.mails, etc. i feel bad that i haven't
had time to e.mail or call my friends so much. :-/ oh well.
i try to get my life organised. i try to read my magazines
b4 my mom throws them away. it's hard to find things like the
electronics kit i bought to build a musical lights controller. that
was s'pposed to be a big engineering projekt 4 myself. now, i can't
find it. i hate these kinds'f probs. >:-(
[later] 549p: 4 lunch, 3'f us from werk went over to huong lan on serra blvd in milpitas to get some vietnamese sandwiches. in the afternoon, i went to visit clay the chiropractor (brian's cousin). wow, i heard my neck n' back pop plenty! it was interesting 4 me to drive btwn santa clara n' the part'f north san jo near milpitas that palmer chiropractic college is. heh, i'm still so excited 'bout werkin' in the middle'f silly valley, i s'ppose. funny, i guess i didn't think b4 that it would be a really happy place to werk, but i dunno... it is pretty pleasant! :-) now i'm just wondering if there's a way i can ('least 1nce in a while) take the light rail to werk instead'f driving. i realised yesterday that i could light rail to great amerika, but then i'd hafta walk from there to my werk... it's not superfar, but it's more than i'd want to walk all the time, u know? well, i could try it sometime. *shrug* i think the light rail'd take like 'bout an hr or so.
oh yah, yesterday, i found out my grades via the automated fon service. i got the same grades i got last semester. my gpa remains the same. well, they r pretty good grades, but u know, me? i'm just not all that satisfied. i felt i werked harder than my grades show. man! i really wanted to get straight "a"s! 18 units done; 12 to go. as i've sed b4, i just need 2 more classes n' my master's projekt.
[later] 632p: well, it's 'bout time to go now. i've thought 'bout going to best buy in mccarthy ranch (milpitas) to buy a 3.pack of minidv tapes 4 the camcorder, since i don't have a single video tape 4 it. that's kind'f lame, huh? to have a camcorder but not a single tape 4 it... i'd like to go to the gym 2nite / this eve. we'll c. how r u?
last nite, besides catching up on my e.mail, i was reading my hi skool
10 yr class reunion webpage. i guess it's sort'f interesting to
read what ppl r doing now. originally, i heard that the reunion'd
be in july. if that were the case, i sed i was definitely not goin
cos'f our wedding's being so close. well, now that i know it's in
august, i'm wondering if maybe i'll go. *shrug* maybe. i did
have many friends in hi skool... but i dunno...
1045a: yesterday eve, i went to the gym after werk. i tried to call the beautiful kaela kang after werk, but i had 4gotten that she had her real estate class. funny, her class is so close to my werk! neway, i aktually drove past the hotel that her class is in cos i drove to milpitas to go to best buy to buy a 3.pack of sony minidv video tapes. after that, i drove to the east san jo, capitol/aborn gym. i had an easy werkout. my body's a li'l sore from weightlifting, n' my butt's a li'l sore cos i slipped n' fell on some boulders while fishing on sat. i thought i was gonna fall into lake tahoe, but i managed to stop myself. neway, yesterday eve, i went to the gym. eh, it was sort'f a not so good use'f time, i sort'f think cos i didn't have that much'f a werkout, n' i know i have so many "organizational" tasks to do @ home. i think i went to the gym cos i just didn't wanna go home. i don't really love being @ home. i guess, in the past few yrs, i've just become less n' less of an "@ home" kind'f guy, u know? also, i was just sort'f pi$$ed. *sigh* like, the whole thing 'bout not being able to find my musikal lights elektronics kit... i'm just so mad that i go out n' $pend my money on stuff, bring it home, n' then the next thing i know it disappears! >:-( i'm so pi$$ed 'bout that! like, what's the pt of life then?! shoot! if i werk hard, earn $$$, n' the go spend it on stuff; but then the stuff disappears as soon as i get home... grrr!!!! i don't like that! i don't like it @ all! it makes life so meaningless!
neway, on my drive into werk 2day, i thought 'bout life. i drove almaden expwy to 87 to 101 to bowers 2day instead of a completely local route. neway, i was thinking 'bout wavelets compression, a topik we studied in my "mechatronics" class. wavelets theory states that all signals can be broken down into a summation of a bunch'f li'l "wavelets," which r uh... like a small waveform signal... but then u take that waveform signal n' scale it or stretch it out or shrink it, etc. well, i was thinking 'bout how i can apply that to life. u c, u can use wavelets to reduce the amt of space some signal or dataset takes. since u know that the signal or dataset is composed of these wavelets, u only need to 'member what u've done to these wavelets... hrm... i know i'm not explaining this well; n' yah, part'f that is cos i don't know everything 'bout wavelets yet... we just started to learn 'bout wavelets; i'm not an expert. neway, i was thinkin' 'bout data compression, n' i came up w/ this everyday life analogy: when u drive from home to a destination, u don't need to remember how to drive, how to make a left turn, how to make a right turn, how to stop, how to go... u automatically 'member these things! to get from pt a to pt b, all u need to 'member is where to make the left or right turns, u know? u don't tell urself, ok, i'm gonna step on the accelerator for 530 seconds, then i'll start rotating the steering wheel counter clockwise by 60 degrees at a rate of 5 degrees per millisecond... or whatever... no! u just 'member "ok, take a left @ blossom hill rd.; take a right @ santa teresa blvd.," etc. neway, so i was thinkin' 'bout how i can simplify my life by exploiting wavelets theory or some kind'f data compression! well, i got so far in my thinking as to think: i gotta figure out what r the patterns in my life. ok, what r the hi frequency events (going to the gym, going to werk, going to skool, werking on the 'puter), n' then what r the medium frequency events (going to taekwondo, cleaning up, grocery shopping), n' what r the low frequency events (going shopping, going out, getting a haircut)... neway! this is just a ruff, ruff draft... i dunno... somehow i think there must be a way to organise n' simplify thru this method of thinking.
[later] 204p: during my lunch break, i cruised on over to milpitas
'gain. i had to change my cellfon over from the loaner fon ken gave
me a long, long time 'go back to my original motorla v60c fon which i got
back from warranty repair sometime, like, over a month 'go or so. i
stopped by the bank 1st, then went to the carl's jr. drive.thru to get a
charbroiled chicken sandwich n' an order'f fried zucchini. i hadn't
had fried zucchini in a long time. i know that's 1'f the things
i've always liked 'bout carl's jr. in berkeley, there isn't a carl's jr. there's 1 in
a srot'f "baD" neighbourhood'f oakland, which most berkeley students never go to. i know i
never went to that carl's jr.! from fast food nation, i know
that carl's jr. is a very politikally conservative company; maybe
that's why they don't have a location in berkeley. *shrug* neway, i went to the cellfon store
n' jay changed my fon over really quickly. then i cruised on back
to santa clara via 237. i gotta start bringing lunches more often
instead'f just buying junk fud!
[later] 606p: so i'm heading into the final stretch'f my 4th day'f werk. the dilemma i've been pondering all day is: should i go to taekwondo practice 2nite or not? <:-/ i'm so torn! i really want to get exercise, and i really want to go to taekwondo; but i know i have lots'f stoopid, stoopid organizational crap to do @ home. :-( i know i hafta clean up some things @ home. there r those things i need to find, like that musikal lights controller kit n' my broken fishing pole that i want to send in 4 warranty repair. a li'l while 'go, ken called to ask if i want to go fishing. he asked that on mon 2. i told him, no cos 1) i don't have time, n' 2) i don't have a pole. ken apparently likes fishing after this weekend. me, i never really loved fishing n' still don't really love it. however, i do want to find my broken pole to send in 4 warranty repair cos shoot! i paid good $$$ 4 that pole, n' it's not fair that all my posessions that i buy just disappear all the time! >:-( i'm really pi$$ed 'bout that!
neway, i dunno what to do 2nite. :-(
952a: i'm @ werk. on my way to werk, i stopped by the atm n' the post office. the stoopid stamp machine wouldn't take my $1 bills, so i had to buy stoopid flag stamps instead of snowmen stamps. :-/ i'm not dissin' the flag stamps cos i'm "unamerikan," or nething. i just think the snowmen stamps r more fun, u know? sorry, but the flag stamps r kind'f boring. my saying that doesn't make me unamerikan or a terrorist!
well, last nite, i didn't go to taekwondo, n' i didn't go to the gym. i didn't mention this, but yesterday morn, i did pack all my taekwondo stuff, all my taekwondo sparring equipment in my trunk. i really wanted to go; but things just didn't werk out, i guess. instead, i went to feed the beautiful kaela kang @ her werk. i got some takeout from tomatina italian restaurant: an arugula salad n' a chicken piadine (a flatbread sandwich). the salad was good, but the piadine was admittedly better. the salad was very not filling! i was still hungry after we shared those 2 dishes, so i ate kaela's lunch leftovers, some vietnamese chicken dish, some kind'f grilled chicken w/ some noodles n' some veggies. after eating, it was 'bout time to go home. i went straight home, but kaela went to michael's to buy some wedding stuff. *shrug* i'm not sure what.
well, when we got home, we were both so tired. u know that i'm sooo shaggy right now, right? i badly need a haircut!!! i was hoping to get a haircut, but eh! i had a good feeling it wouldn't happen. oh well...
u know, on uh... wed nite? (2day's fri. tgif.) on wed nite, when i went to best buy to buy those minidv video tapes, i saw that best buy had jewel's latest album 0304 on sale 4 $9.99. i really considered buying it, but *sigh* the temptation jut to dl it was 2 great. :-( well, last nite, i kazaaed it, n' u know what? i really like it so far. i listened to some'f it on my drive into werk this morn. critics in uh... some local newspaper (i 4get which) sort'f dissed it as being 2 poppy. uh, do u know what i mean by "poppy"? ("pawpy"?!?!) basikally, they're saying it's 2 mainstream n' maybe 2 upbeat. *shrug* well, they sed it was more tekno than ne of her previous werk, n' they were right. personally, i like that! i really do like this album. like, it's 1'f these cases where i aktually really regret dling the album instead'f buying it to support a good artist w/ good talent n' good philosophies, u know? it's just that $$$ just isn't so plentiful these days. will it ever be? *shrug* neway, can i 'least sort'f help my conscience by telling u to go out n' buy the album? ha! i guess that's not exaktly a "good deed 4 the day," but *shrug* yah, lemme just say that i do rekommend the album!
[later] 1015a: hey, do ne of u friendster? if u wanna be my friendster, the e.mail acct i use there is my "benoburdy at yahoo dot com" address. (i wrote it out like that to attempt to avoid spam. i'm sure u've cn ppl do that b4.) well, i notice 'lot'f my friends r starting to friendster, so *shrug* maybe we can be friendsters. :-) u know, isn't this pretty much the same thing as the old "six degrees of separation" site? *shrug*
oh yah, yesterday morn, i had this weird dream where somebody was making me play guitar n' sing in front'f an audience... but i wasn't sure what song to sing n' play. he didn't tell me what song but left it up to me, so i was just all tied up in trying to pick a song.
[later] 1052a: now that i think 'bout it, didn't bend it like
beckham have a kewl soundtrack? i 4get what songs they played
in that movie, but i sort'f 'member there were kewl 1s.
[later] 129p: i went to c clay the chiropractor during my lunchhr (lunchhour). after that, i stopped by the rivermark plaza on montague expwy to grab a sandwich to go @ quizno's. dude! that place is crazy!!! it's 1'f those turn'f the century, modern mega stripmalls... kind'f like what el cerrito plaza wants to be... this megaplaza has quizno's, baja fresh, peet's coffees & teas, coldstone creamery, n' some fancier restaurant called piatti coming soon. there's also a huge safeway there, n' of course there r plenty'f other li'l shops i'm not mentioning... 4 example, i'm sure i saw 1'f those "pure beauty" stores. it's crazy crazy! i wanted to take a pic or video'f it, it was so crazy! i mean... whoever developed this megaplaza was sooo smart to put it plop in the middle'f the heart'f silly valley! quizno's was sooo crowded! there were so many silly valley engr/programmer types there!!! lemme tell u, the lunchtime atmosphere in silly valley really differs from what i saw in marin county! ha. i'm sure it differs sooo much also from the sf financial lunchtime atmosphere. there wasn't a suit or tie to be cn, u know? just lots'f engrs w/ sekurity badges/cards hanging from their belts. that's silly valley 4 u!
well, rivermark is 1'f these developments where they're trying to integrate shopping n' housing. there r some nearby condos or aptmnts. it's a jumbo sized version'f what they have over in silvercreek, i s'ppose... w/ that lunardi's? i know in sf, they're sort'f trying to do sumpthin' like that by putting these albertsons in the middle'f housing developments... wow, this is turn'f the century life!
[later] 419p: @ werk, we had a mtg in the afternoon. after the
mtg, we had cake, this strawberry cream/mousse cake.
oh yah, what did i have 4 lunch? @ quizno's, i got a small spicy
monterey club sandwich on whole wheat n' a bottle'f dole apple juice.
i had to eat in the car. i've done that 'lot this week.
i guess that's kind'f sad. :-( well, next week, hopefully,
i'll bring lunch more often, so i won't be eating in the car so much; i
hope.
2morrow eve's our "wedding shower." i hope i have a haircut by
then.
1035a: i'm so shaggy n' need a haircut! so 2nite's the beautiful kaela kang's n' my wedding shower. :-) *shrug* i have absolutely no idea what to expekt since the wedding shower is sumpthin' the wedding party plans, not sumpthin' kaela n' i plan. after all, the wedding's what kaela n' i have been stressing so hard planning, u know? heh. oh man, oh man! i can't believe times flown so much! crazy, crazy!
well, yesterday, after werk, i met up w/ kaela @ valley fair. i had to do a li'l gift shopping. then i just followed kaela 'round as she did some shopping 4 the wedding. it was very fun to be @ valley fair on a fri eve after a werkweek! :-) yah, this is how life's s'pposed to be, right? |-D *shrug* it just felt so good, u know? so relaxing! we were there right up until the whole mall closed @ 930p! crazy, huh? geez, it's funny to say, but going to valley fair is sometimes therapeutic. lemme tell u, i say that in a completely heterosexual way! ha ha. i dunno; i know saying that "shopping is therepeutic" sounds totally effeminate, but geez! get past those narrow worldviews! guys can enjoy a trip to the mall 2! not everything masculine's 'bout sittin' in the woods w/ a bunch'f guys huddled close 2gether waiting to shoot some poor, defenseless animal! neway, i didn't really do ne shopping 4 myself, just gifts. i didn't even look @ stuff 4 myself much @ all. well, after the mall, i took kaela to dinner @ this 해장국 haejanggook restaurant on el camino. huh! it had like 3 diff names on the outside "평양 시내 서울 해장국 (pyungyang shinae seoul haejanggook)", "sui tofu (in english n' apparently in chinese or hanja, which translates to '수두부 (soo dubu)' in korean unless the '수 (soo)' [4 water] turns into '순 (soon)' as kaela was wondering... which'd make the sign say "순두부 (soondubu)," which'd make sense. *shrug*)," n' uh... yah, it cmed to have more than 2 names... maybe that's cos i dunno why the 1st name refers to both seoul n' pyongyang. *shrug* neway, the specialty they pushed us to order wasn't 행장국 (haejanggook) but 김치찌개 (kimchi jjigae). we ordered 김치찌개 (kimchi jjigae) n' 비빔밥 (bibimbap) cos i sed i was hungry 'nuff to eat all that. i knew the 김치찌개 (kimchi jjigae) was huge n' was really 'nuff 4 both'f us 4 a meal, but i just felt daring, i guess. man! i was so stuffed! n' yah, the 김치찌개 (kimchi jjigae) really was all that! :-) man, that was a good dinner! i hadn't eaten like that all week! well, by the time we got out'f the restaurant it was well past 1000p. we got home 'bout 1130p.
right now i'm listening to the mp3s of jewel's 0304 album on my 'puter. u know? i really like this album!!! it's so awesome! u really gotta go out n' get this album! i definitely say it's the best amerikan / english language album of the yr! (well, i mean... 'least so far this yr!) it's a really kewl album. yah, sure it's pop; it's even a li'l bubbelgum pop in the lyrics @ times; but i'm totally fine w/ that! i mean, 'member how toby 1nce ripped on me 4 listening to the taiwanese group ipis, saying that their english lyrics r so bubblegum n' lame? well, shoot, yah, lots'f asian pop's that way. lots'f the gayo or "kpop" that i listen to is very bubblegummy in lyrics. well, aktually, me, i personally do seek out the korean musicians / musikal artists / singers that per4m less bubblegummy muzik usually... but it's true that most'f the ppl on bronx's junkyard forums n' most'f the young amerikan fans of "kpop" prefer the more bubbelgummy stuff, the muzik more based upon image than artistic talent n' skill. however, it's also true that i often enjoy this bubblegum pop - both the asian language n' the english/european language kind! (phil's told me in the past to stop making distinktions in muzik by language but shoot! let's be real, it's not like there isn't a separation in these 2 markets n' industries... i mean, personally, i wish there wasn't, but well... *shrug*) well, roland has sed that sometimes it's so therapeutic to listen to bubblegum pop whether u can understand the lyrics or not. he sed that during a werk commute, u don't want to think 2 hard! some non bubblegum pop (much'f amerikan muzik scene) is so depressing, he commented. he's right. whether u'r listening to altrock or hiphop, yah... some'f those lyrics n' tunes r way 2 depressing! it's true! sometimes bubblegum pop is so much fun, u know? the thing is sometimes it's so brainless, but u know what? jewel's 0304 puts the brain back into bubblegum pop! it's bubblegum pop 4 the thinking person!!! :-)
toby dissed my asian pop cos'f lyrics like "ooh, baby! i wanna be w/ u 4ever. i wanna spend the rest'f my life loving u," etc. (heh, those rn't aktual lyrics, i just made them up. however, they're representative'f what he was dissin' on.) those might've been the english lyrics, n' well... i gotta admit often the asian language lyrics to those kinds'f songs rn't much less cheesy. please refer to "couple" by sechskies 4 further edukation on this topik: "oh! love (oh! love) 왜 이제 서야? 많이 외롭언 나를 찾아온거야. oh! love (oh! love) 너를상해. 이젠 모든시간을을 나와 함께해." translation: "oh! love (oh! love) why r sad now? when it's very hard come find me. oh! love (oh! love) i love u. now u'll be w/ me all the time." uh.... whuh?! that was sooo cheesy! however, u know what? sometimes that's all u need to enjoy muzik!!! a nice catchy tune n' some pleasant lyrics u can sing 'long to whether u understand them or not!!! well, u kno what? some'f (but by far, not all'f) jewel's 0304 songs have lyrics almost similar to those. :-/ butchu know what? i know i'll enjoy them while driving to n' from werk!
check out this cbsnews.com article from 2003.05.27 'bout jewel's new album: cbs news article: "jewel's 'intuition'". some interesting clips from the article:
the video 4 "intuition" (the 1st single) is also kewl, n' reminds me'f
the magazine adbusters! u should check out that magazine n' escape
the corporate world!!!
1028a: i'm @ werk. i aktually have a journal entry from
2003.06.07 (sat... 2day's mon), which i did not post up yet. i just
haven't had time on my home 'puter lately. yesterday (sun) was an
extremely lazy day, n' we did not even leave the house! in the
early afternoon, i chatted on the fon w/ phil in oregon.
432p: i'm @ werk. 2day's my sister grace's b.day. happy
b.day! it's tues 2day. i've had a pretty bizzy day.
yah, werk keeps me pretty bizzy. yesterday, i stayed @ werk pretty
late. aktually. i stayed much later than i had planned cos the
beautiful kaela
kang was s'pposed to call me to tell me where to meet her, her sister,
n' her sister's friend christine 4 dinner; but she never called me, so i
just stayed @ werk. then i finally just called jeanna, her sister.
well, by then it was 2 late, so i just went to the gym instead.
of course, it was really crowded. it's always crowded in the
eve after werk. i werked out till like 930p or so, then showered.
i knew i wanted to go to safeway to buy some stuff to make
sandwiches 4 lunch cos i'm so sick'f fast fud. i was so hungry
after the gym werkout; but, 'gain, i'm so sick'f fast fud, so i couldn't
really find nething to eat. i had to stop to get gas @ the world
gas station on the corner'f capitol expwy n' senter rd to get gas @
$1.599/gal. i drove to our home neighbourhood n' went to safeway to
buy some stuff. i went home. *sigh* i didn't really know
what to eat. on the drive from safeway, i ate 2 slices'f fat free
amerikan cheese. @ home, i picked @ some beef my mom had stewed.
i ate a batzang (taiwanese rice steamed in leaves) w/ some j.box
hot sauce from some ol' leftover packet. i was still hungry, so i
ate some lunchmeat turkey n' a yogurt. *sigh* what a pathetic
dinner. :-( neway... i'm so sick'f fast fud!
yesterday @ lunch, i went out to mercado to get a small bombay
chicken curry wrap n' a tropical storm smoothie from world wrapps.
u c, i figure it's nice to get out'f the office 4 lunch, so that i get
fresh air, etc. however... i dunno... it's sort'f not worth the
co$t, u know? thus, i'm trying to bring lunch instead.
however, so far i've been unsuccessful. 2day, i didn't bring lunch.
i had an apptmnt w/ clay the chiropractor, so i knew i couldn't
really eat in the office... or 'least i knew i'd hafta be out'f the office
@ lunchtime. after that, i swung by ken's store to pick up my cds
that i left in the car after the fishing trip. then on my rush back
to the office, i swung by the burger king drive.thru to get a chicken
whopper. 
i ate 0.5 on the
short drive from bk to the office, n' the other 0.5 in my office.
the company went into the conference room to watch the 1st segment of
animatrix on dvd: "flight of the osiris." as u c, our
company has that late 1990s, teknoboom, startup feel! it's a young
company... i mean, the employees r relatively young. i didn't want
to eat nemore fast fud 4 lunch, but i had to. :-(
2day's tues, so i plan to go to taekwondo 2nite.
[later] 1130p: *shrug* man, i dunno what's going on! the dsl's been down 4 the past 30 mins or so. :-( i don't like having dsl probs. we pay so much 4 dsl, so why do we hafta put up w/ probs still?! >:-( lemme tell u... someday i'd like to switch to a wireless lan n' have a laptop w/ a wireless lan card, so that i can roam 'bout the house n' still do all the crap i gotta do on a 'puter. someday... a wireless lan'd also eliminate all these messy, ugly wires running 'round the upstairs'f our house. nelson did tell me to go wireless when building this current netwerk, but i was 2 cheap. *sigh*
well, i went to taekwondo practice 2nite, yes. heh, it's really 특공무술 (teukgongmoosool) practice. as i sed, we've been practicing 특공무술 (teukgongmoosool) on tues 4 the past coupl'f months. well, 2nite was the last teukgongmoosool practice cos the instructor's going back to korea. we had 2 young instructors teaching us: 1 went back yesterday, the other 1's going back 2morrow or sumpthin'.
[a li'l later] 1140p: ok, the dsl's back up. finally! [a li'l
later] 1150p: ok, now that the dsl's back up n' everything, i finally
uploaded my entry from 2003.06.07, "more 0304 muzik talk". yah, please go
back n' read that even tho' it's just more of my blabbing 'bout the latest
jewel album. u c, i feel so guilty 4 dling the album instead'f
spending my $9.99 + tax on it. i 'member that the big thing 'bout
jewel's that she was 1nce homeless roaming 'round finding place'd that let
her per4m 4 a living. i just feel that my dling her album'll put her
right back out on the streets. ha ha... well, obviously, that's not true...
but if i go out n' spend $9.99 + tax, i'll end up out on the
streets! :-/ ok, we know that's not true either... n' i
think my joking 'bout homelessness is very tastless. perhaps many'f
my much appreciated readership comes from the homeless community... cos
every1's got wi.fi 'cept me! :-/ geez... now i went from
tasteless humour to nerdygeekykorny humour!!!
oh yah, after taekwondo/teukgongmoosool practice, i went to fantasia to
get a coupl'f boba drinks : a frosted lychee 4 me n' a frosted mango 4 kaela. i
came home n' ate neuromien.
it's now 1159p, according to my 'puter, 1 min until... upes! it's now midnite (1200a, 2003.06.11). if i gotta be anal (retentive), then i ought to start a new entry, but i won't 4 now... no. well, here r a coupl'f pics of me in my office:
 |
 |
940a: i'm @ werk, of ocurse. on my yahoo!, i was reading the comic strip foxtrot that i like so much. :-) on that strip, they were talkin' 'bout how the music recording industry is trying to hack into ppl's 'puters to delete audio mp3s. is that true? scary.
i want to thank antonia (mirei antonia of bronx's junkyard forums 4 signing my gbook! :-) thank u. also, some anonymous gurl signed looking 4 an ol' college friend'f mine. geez, i notice that gurls really like my ol' college friends!
[later] 1103a: oh yah, some1 recently stole 1'f my credit card accts n' registered the domain name "doglover.com" using regsoft.com. this person used the fake e.mail hwang1517@doglover.com. his fon number is s'pposedly 540.841.3352, but i dunno if that's real cos my old fon number was 510.841.3358. the ip address from which the order was placed was 67.112.141.160, which refers to adsl-67-112-141-160.dsl.sndg02.pacbell.net. man, we should get some revenge on this guy!
[later] 1131a: well, i still didn't bring lunch. i wanted to make a sandwich n' bring it, but the beautiful kaela kang took the bread to her office n' left it there. i'll hafta go out 4 lunch 'gain. man! i don't want to eat nemore fast fud! i'm so sick'f fast fud!
[later] 453p: well, i did eat more fast fud drive.thru 4 lunch 2day. :-( i had to go to the post office during lunch to get more stamps 4 wedding invitations. after that, there wasn't much time 4 lunch, so i just swung by the taco bell drive.thru n' got 2 chicken soft tacos, the healthiest thing i know they have. they weren't very filling. there r sooo many good places to eat nearby on el camino real, but they r mostly sit.down restaurants, n' u know me: i don't like to go to sit.down restaurants alone. well, in the late, late afternoon, kaela came to visit me @ werk.
[later] 647p: i'm still @ werk, but i should leave soon. kaela'll be in her real estate class soon, which is aktually very nearby. well, i guess i'll go to the gym this eve. i think i was a li'l sad 2day, dunno why... lately, i've been more cheerful inside cos i managed to land this job, u know? *shrug* i dunno; i just tell myself life'll all werk out. someday, i'll be able to get us a house, n' then we can have a doggy.
[a li'l later] 655p: oh yah, i wonder how hillary clinton's
book is.
323p: 2day's been a pretty good day. i had a good breakfast n' a good lunch. how often can i say that these days? last nite, after werk, i went to the gym. i barely had energy to werkout; i felt so lackluster. after my werkout n' shower, i was really hungry. i was planning on joining the beautiful kaela kang @ ken n' grace's cos ken wanted to talk 'bout real estate. well, i had a li'l time to kill, i figured, cos kaela was in her real estate class. thus, i went to the safeway on capitol ave. (eastside san jo) to buy sumpthin' to eat n' some milk 4 cereal. i bought some overpriced turkey sandwich n' a super protein 2003 odwalla drink. in the parking lot, in my car, i started eating. then i felt strange eating in a parking lot so late @ nite. it felt kind'f depressing. so i started driving off to ken's. i thought, "man! i sure have eaten a lot'f meals in the car lately!" i called up ken n' told him i was coming over a li'l early. then i got there. i started playing pool w/ ken. they have a pool table @ their house. then kaela called n' told me she already went home cos she thought it was 2 late to meet w/ ken. oh well. i finished my game'f pool w/ ken n' went home.
this morn, i ate some post blueberry morning cereal b4 leaving 4 werk. @ lunch, i went to clay the chiropractor n' then had lunch @ baja fresh in the rivermark mega strip mall. i had a 2 taco combo: 1 fish, 1 shrimp. that was a very good lunch. it felt good to be out'f the office n' not eating in my car.
[a li'l later] 425p: last nite, while eating in my car, i thought, "u know, 4 a guy that eats 'junk fud' 4 every meal, i guess i do eat pretty healthily." u know what i mean? when i got home, i flipped thru my men's health magazines, n' thought 'bout how many times i've wanted to tell u that men's health is a pretty good men's magazine n' maxim, despite the acceptable selection'f nice pics of women, is a really lame, immature magazine that cms to be written by lame, immature frat boys 4 lame, immature frat boys... not that i hate every male who was in a fraternity... however, there r those that just akt so immature, u know? ...even 4 undergraduate college students. heh, neway... i'm 27 now, so i don't think 'bout thos issues so much. the last issue'f maxim i read had some stoopid article dissin' france cos it didn't support dubyah's lame war. as u can c, i don't like maxim's politikal agenda. similarly, i don't like the politikal agendas'f popular science or popular mechanics. as far as men's magazines, men's health n' details r better than maxim, altho' the pics in those mags rn't as pleasant 4 heterosexual guys like me. as far as science n' teknology mags, wired is the best i've cn lately, but even discover's better than popular science n' popular mechanics.
[later] 631p: i'm still @ werk. kaela sez she's coming to c me.
[later] 1156p: so after werk, i went to taekwondo sparring practice n' got a good werkout. man, i was so winded! i need to get back into shape... i mean, going to the gym n' doing the precor is decent, but man!!! a gym werkout does not compare to a taekwondo sparring werkout!!! after werkout, mark organised a li'l dinner thing cos his friend ernest n' ernest's gf joyce were visiting from stanfurd taekwondo. b4 mtg them 4 dinner, i swung by fantasia to get a passion fruit squishee w/ pearl. i was thinking we might go to like a korean bar or sumpthin', so i wanted to make sure i got hydrated b4hand. however, aktually, we just went to korea house (한국의집), a very tame, run'f the mill korean restaurant @ the corner of el camino real n' san tomas. as mark sed later, it's not a real korean restaurant. ha... well, yah... it's not... it's not really authentic, u know? it's more a korean restaurant that's used to catering 2wards chinese.amerikans in the area. there r a few'f these kinds'f restaurants along el camino. funny... i guess it's like how certain chinese restaurants cater to koreans... 'cept those r more often owned by koreans. neway, we ordered some 김치두부 볶음 (kimchi dooboo bokkeum, stirfried kimchi n' tofu), 돼지 불고기 (dwaeji bulgogi, pork bulgogi), n' 된장 찌개 (dwenjang jjigae). apparently, joyce's a regular there so the manager there really likes her, so i guess that's why we went there. kaela joined us after her gym werkout. then brian chong joined us. he used to spell his name cheong, but i noticed he's switching to chong. well, personally, i think jung is the optimal romanisation'f that name, but oh well...
neway, it's now 1206a, so i should teknically not be writing yesterday's journal entry! here's a pic'f me from 2 day's go now... (or "yesterday," if u pretend it's still the 12th right now.):
1026a: i'm @ werk. i'm waiting 4 an operation on a large dataset
to finish. i have a pretty slow 'puter here: a p2 dual 400.
since i don't wanna bog the 'puter down ne further, i'm writing this text
on my handspring
. hey! palm, inc. recently bought out handspring, right?
isn't that crazy? well, back when my visor edge was pretty
hot n' it's competitor was the palm m505, i really liked handspring, the
company. however, after handspring ditched the springboard module
concept, i lost a bit'f fanaticism 4 them. the treo's look ok, n' i
c my boss has 1. however, right now, i think the best pda 4 its size
is either the palm tungsten or the palm zire that has the built.in camera;
the hi end zire, not the cheap 1 - altho' that looks like a pretty
good produkt to clue the general publik in on the fakt that every1 needs a pda.
last sun nite, the beautiful kaela kang n' i were watching sun nite fox television programming. we viewed that somewhat new fox show oliver beene, which somehow believes it's not the wonder years altho' it is. on that show, the title charakter's dad's a dentist, so i think'f jerome when i watch the show. his dad's named gilbert as is mine. well, on the episode aired this past sun nite, dr. beene visits some ol' college buddy. upon cing dr. beene 4 the 1st time in yrs, the college buddy yells out, "beene-o!!!" i was taken aback! whuh?! how was my name being blurted out on nationwide netwerk, primetime tv?! @ 1st i was just utterly confused till i soon realised the dentist's nickname came from his last name. me, i'm "beno," not "beene-o" n' not "beano." the syllables r divided into "be" n' "no"; altho' guys like ken n' nelson like to say, "hey, bean!" it has nuthin' to do w/ beans!
on my drive in to werk 2day, i thought 'bout a commute concept that i've
thought 'bout on multiple occasions in the past: when u'r in intense
commute traffik (imahine rush hr traffik), n' u'r in the crowded, crowded,
backed up exit lane; there's likely to be a "cheater" attempting to "cut"
in line, right? do u "close the gap" or let him/her in? or r
u more often the "cheater"? (if so, don't be 2 ashamed! i do it 2
sometimes, most often in commute traffik, in which i figure, "all's fair.")
well, if u often "close the gap," don't u observe that 90%'f the
time, the "cheater" just zooms on further up n' cuts in @ better spot in
the cue? i've noticed this! blocking a "cheater" from
cutting in line @ a freeway exit must be a group effort, a
collaboration. every1's cooperation's needed. otherwise, to
make the "cheater's" life "harder," maybe u aktually should open a
gap in front of u, so he/she takes the opening n' thus cuts in line
less ahead than he or she could've, right? doesn't it
dishearten u 'least just a li'l to c that cheaters win? well, in ne
case 2day'f fri, so let's 꿍따리 샤바라, shake our booties, n' not
stress over these things! that's what mondays r 4!
X-D
1212a: well, i wanted to meet my deadline n' fit all that i'm 'bout to
write into yesterday's journal entry. i wrote yesterday's
short journal entry during dead time while waiting 4 stuff to process, as u
know. i didn't write much, n' i should've posted it earlier in the
day cos that entry was 'bout fri, so it'd make more sense 4 u to
read on fri, not sat. well, now it's sat, n' since i missed
publishing the passage i wrote earlier on fri, i was 'least hoping
to include all that i'm 'bout to write in order to make it worth the fakt
that i didn't publish the earlier fri passage on time.
do u get what i mean? "catfiche?" (simpsons reference well,
it's now sat morn, teknically... so let me tell u 'bout fri nite.
("friday night" is a song by g.o.d. (groove overdose)" u can find
that track on benomix 4집.)
i stayed @ werk a li'l late. i don't mind puttin' in a li'l extra effort, u know? earlier this week, i was thinking 'bout how the beautiful kaela kang n' i r both werking now; n' i was thinking, "we're now werking harder 4 less $$$." well... then i thought to myself, "but i always werked hard!" on thurs nite @ 한국의 집, mark pted out that himself, brian, kaela, n' i were all unemployed just a few months 'go, n' now we're all employed! yah, that makes me more optimistic 'bout life 4 sure! 2nite, after my werk, i met up w/ kaela @ san josé's great santana row. it already impressed me a few months 'go, but man! it's now just plain unbelievable!!! already, when it originally opened after being setback by a fire, it was beautiful n' classy. however, now... aw, man!!! it's bustling n' lively!!! it was so hard to find a parking space @ 735p on a fri nite... n' i loved it! u know why i loved it? it just went to show how the silly valley economy's making a comeback! grey skies r gonna clear up! put on a happy face! new restaurants n' a bar/niteclub have opened up. there were many young ppl out to have fun. the place was really crowded! it was great! :-)
well, in the afternoon, i had made reservations 4 kaela n' me @ cazuela's mexican tapas restaurant. man, the restaurant was crowded, so we were very glad i had made those 800p reservations! it was a great tapas meal: guacamole w/ tortillas, ceviche de pescado, some sopa de hongas (shroom soup), some portabello shroom dish, some ensalada de nopales... n' then some crepas w/ aisukuriimu 4 desert n' espresso drinks 4 dessert! mmm... it was great to find such a cultural, exciting restaurant outside'f sf but still in the bay area. :-) man... *sigh* i know u all get sick'f me talkin' 'bout how much i love being in the silly valley, but :-( i really do! well, after our big dinner, we went 4 a stroll 'round santana row. here... lemme show u some pics:
 kaela @ cazuelas |
 again, kaela @ cazuelas |
 |
 |
|
*sigh* it's been sooo long since we took a neoprint, n' this is
not a neoprint! it's a pic from my targus handcam springboard
module 4 my handspring, as u may realise. all the pics u've cn so far in
2day's entry were taken w/ my targus handcam springboard module!
this is kaela n' i in a bright, very well.lit alleyway in santana
row. |
|
the following pic hasn't much @ all to do w/ santana row:  have u heard'f mypoints.com? well, i'm part'f this thing. i agree to get their spam mail. when i read their offers, i get points, which i periodically ca$h in 4 macy's $50 gift cards. this is my 3rd macy's $50 gift card in the past coupl'f yrs! :-) u should join, n' u should use my link when u do! i'd really appreciate it. neway, as i sed, this pic doesn't have much to do w/ santana row (as the others 2day do), but i'll prob'ly spend this $50 gift card @ the macy's @ valley fair mall right 'cross stevens creek blvd from santana row! heh heh. as i say in the mouseover alt caption 4 the pic, "fri really was payday 4 beno!" :-) |
well, it felt nice to have my 1st real (sort'f) paycheck in a long time. didju know my state funded unemployment insurance payments ran out just in time? man, i can't believe i got so lucky. well... lucky or blessed? u know, how i always talk 'bout that. well, i felt very blessed, 4tunate, n' optimistic 2nite. 2nite, good feelings were in the air! :-) sure, the roads still rn't paved w/ gold. neither success nor even a com4table life come w/o hard werk. we shall never 'gain be the prodigal sons'f the dot com boom. uh, was i ever that?! *shrug* i'm just saying that, it's not that i feel like i just won the lottery, no. rather, it's that i c light @ the end'f the tunnel. i know that if i push hard, i can succeed... but yes, i must 1st push hard. nuthin' beats a hard werkout, u know? :-)
[later] 126a: man! it took a while 4 me to 4mat 2day's entry properly.
it's not a very mobile device friendly layout, but not a single 1'f
u cares 'bout that, i'm sure. only i care 'bout stuff like
that.
1112a: hi. how've u been? sorry, i haven't written in a while. i guess... hrm, well... heh, i sort'f liked my last entry from [later, 1123a] sat. (please refer to: "nasaro" from 2003.06.14. in a way, not 2 much superexciting has happened since sat, n' i've been pretty bizzy w/ werk n' wedding planning, so i've semi.regretfully've been neglekting my journal entries. oh well, i just got things to do. however, i do value ur readership; don't get me wrong! heh. well, i like last sat's entry, which was mostly 'bout last fri eve, cos it has lots'f pics. :-) i wish i could always post up lots'f pics, but eh! i don't always have the time, etc. *sigh* so yah, what's been going on?
sat, i pretty much stayed @ home all day, all nite. funny: now that i'm werking full.time 'gain, i aktually sort'f enjoy relaxing time @ home... sort'f! i'll always be more'f a "going out" guy, as opposed to a "stay @ home" guy. i usually want to be out, u know? man! 2day's wed already?! n' i hadn't updatedchu since last sat?! man, i'm bad! i'm sorry. ok... so sat, we stayed @ home all day n' nite. the beautiful kaela kang went to werk in the earlier part'f the day. then she came home. i thought we'd go out to the mall or sumpthin', but we didn't. we just stayed home. in the evening, kbhk upn 44 had their father's day simpsons marathon, so we just stayed @ home n' watched that. i cooked some fried rice w/ spam lite! mmm.... spam lite! sun? uh, 'gain... we didn't do much. i guess we went to the gym, didn't we? yes, we did. then we went to macy's to do a quick, short wedding registry update. then we ate dinner @ the cheesecake factory. later, we strolled 'round santana row just to walk off the big dinner. oh, 4 dinner, we had some luau salad n' jamaican black pepper shrimp... n' then banana cream cheesecake. hey! i never mentioned to u that there's a fantasia boba café in santana row. wow, it's the nicest looking'f the 3, very upscale. however, the drinks r more expen$ive @ this location, of course.
later, we met up w/ our friend jason to discuss his movie projekt. we 1st talked @ main street (@ the intersektion of blossom hill rd n' santa teresa blvd) starbucks, but it was 2 loud there cos all the bratty kids on this side'f town go hang out there. we went home. 4 his movie projekt, he needed to interview kaela w/o my being there, so i just werked on some wedding.related stuff on my 'puter.
mon... what happened mon? uh, i went to werk, werked all day, then came home 4 dinner. i bought some lo carb, whole wheat tortillas from trader joe's n' some habanero salsa (which is pretty good n' sort'f spicy but not nearly as spicy as the name "fire in the hole" implies, in my opinion). i also bought some mango salsa in case kaela didn't like the habanero salsa. i bought ssme other groceries. well, i came home n' ate the tortillas n' salsa w/ the costco rotisserie chicken my mom brought home on sun, but which we didn't get to eat. my mom's gonna give me a costco card! :-) heh, that' aktually makes me really happy cos i haven't had access to costco in a while. well, after dinner, i just watched tv n' fell asleep. i felt so ugh! so werking man, domestic... ugh! i don't like that kind'f life. u know me! if i had my choice, i'd go werkout n' then go party after werk every nite! heh heh... n' then ppl'd scold me 4 living such a reckless life... yah yah yah, i know i can't do that nemore... times've changed, i know, i know.
tues, i went to werk... oh yah! on mon, a new guy started @ werk. we were s'pposed to have a lunch 4 him, but it got postponed, so he n' i went to a nearby thai restaurant 4 lunch. it was so.so. on tues, we were s'pposed to have the lunch 4 him, but it got postponed 'gain till 2day. 1 guy @ werk, to make up 4 it, went to hoang lan in milpitas n' brought back lots'f vietnamese sandwiches n' spring rolls 4 us. :-) 2day, we're s'pposed to have that lunch @ the nearby sweet tomatoes. well, tues... @ 500p, i went to c clay the chiropractor. his treatments aktually cm to be werking. now, i gotta pay $5/visit; but that's aktually really cheap 4 chiropractic visits. on my way back to werk (cos i felt i had to werk more), i got a protein berry pizzaz jamba juice w/ energy boost @ the jamba juice in the rivermark mega strip mall. after werk, i went to taekwondo practice. it was really nice to hang w/ brian n' mark 'gain. it's been a long time since all 3'f us practiced 2gether! after that, i came home n' ate more chicken n' tortillas. heh.
[later] 638p: well, it's almost time to leave werk. u know,
lots'f ppl'd say "it's almost time to go home," but i usually
don't go home right after werk. i go werkout. well,
i don't have a whole lot exciting to talk 'bout. :-/ i'll say
last nite's taekwondo werkout was quite a werkout; i got lots'f exercise.
what else? well, the wedding planning stuff... it's all kind'f
wrapping up, i guess. as of 2morrow, we have 1 month. crazy, huh?
can u believe ken n' grace's wedding's next weekend? crazy!
well, there's 1 sort'f exciting thing i ought to talk 'bout, but i
don't really wanna talk 'bout it 2 much: kaela n' i r going to las
vegas this weekend. it was such last min planning 4 me. i
bought the tix w/ my southwest airlines free trip voucher on sun
nite. i fly out fri nite n' come back early mon morn. i'll
hafta park my car @ this nearby airport shuttle lot. u c, i werk
pretty close to the airport neway. yah, it sounds from this
that i live a pretty wild, wild life. well... yah, i'll try to
enjoy this trip. the reason we're going is aktually cos a long time
'go, kaela signed up 4 this real estate investment seminar thingy in
vegas... n' well... i guess i'll just tag 'long. i do wanna
c vegas, n' i know i don't 4ce myself to go on vacations often
enuf, but... i mean, i know ppl'd think i'm pretty uh... hedonistic? cos
i mean, shoot... we have our honeymoon next month neway. :-/ of
course, i'm looking 4ward to that! :-) n' well... i'm sort'f excited 'bout
cing vegas, but i guess i'm playing it down a bit cos well... *shrug* i
dunno.
649p: well, it's almost time 4 me to head out'f the office. man, i can't believe that it's almost just 1 month till our wedding. some ppl'd say "eek," but i won't say "eek." however, i gotta admit i do feel nervous. some guy friend'f mine, i 4get 'xaktly who it was, asked if i'm nervous, n' i sed, "i'm not nervous 'bout getting married, but i am a li'l nervous 'bout the wedding itself." he sed that's good; n' yah, i'm glad i'm not some guy who's not sure if he wants to get married or marry his bride. me? i'm very sure i want to marry my bride n' that i want to get married. i'm just a li'l, i dunno, "jittery" 'bout the aktual wedding ceremony n' events. *breathe* *breathe* *breathe* i mean, shoot; we've hyped it up 4 the past yr n' a half... now the big day's finally almost here, just a month 'way. grrr! (i'll say "grrr," but i won't say "eek." however, my "grrr" isn't an aggressive or hostile "grrr," it's just a nervous energy "grrr.")
r we ready? almost... i mean... *sigh* man, oh man! like, u know, we could always, w/ more time, make it an even bigger n' bigger produktion, right? i mean, if we planned 4 2 yrs straight, we could put more energy, werk, n' $$$ into it, right? n' if we had 3 or 4 yrs of planning n' saved up $$$, we really could make it more elaborate, right? however, i think we'll have it 'bout just right. however, i think we'll have it just right. after all, there's definitely a big curve function... i mean, like, if we had more time to do werk n' save up $$$, just how much better'd it be? tss, not much, i'm sure. we really've done wedding planning... ok, kaela (the beautiful kaela kang) has done lots'f planning... this is gonna be the wedding to end all weddings! ha ha ha. just kidding.
well, next weekend's ken n' grace's wedding. *sigh* wow! i can't believe their wedding's already here. man, oh man! i'm getting 'nuff nervous jitters just 'bout their wedding since i'm the best man n' all. i mean... i'm not "nervous" as in worried. no, i'm just "nervous" like "nervous energy." i guess, same goes 4 our wedding. *breathe* it's the kind'f nervous where u just gotta take deep breaths b4 u feel all light headed n' dizzy. or is it the deep breaths that make u light headed n' dizzy??? oh man, i'm so nervous i don't even know nemore. ha ha ha! just kidding.
man, oh man, oh man, oh man! i just wish ppl'd send in their
rsvp cards!!! n' man! we haven't even sent off all the invitations
yet!!! so the rsvp due date 4 the invitations already passed, but
we haven't sent out all the invitations! that makes no sense, huh?
however... heh... oh man... that's just how it is! it cms to
me that it's mostly kaela's relatives who haven't rsvped yet... r
they coming or not? there r so s'pposedly so many'f them, but
like... when i check response list, i don't c ne... :-( n' cos we had to
save so many spaces 4 them, we had to hold off on inviting other ppl that
we want to invite... :-/ man, do u know how messy wedding
invitations r?!?!
209a: it's fri now, but well... i'd rather say it's thurs nite,as u know... since the sun hasn't come up yet or nething. neway, after werk yesterday (as in thurs), ken n' i met up to figure out what to do 'bout audio equipment 4 our weddings. well, luckily, our friend chas's gonna let us borrow his speakers n' amp 4 our weddings. what a nice guy. neway, ken n' i met up @ guitar showcase near the intersektion of bascom ave. n' camden ave. we were there 4 a short while right b4 the rental dept closed @ 800p. well, ken wanted to hang out a li'l n' asked if i wanted to go hang out @ oakridge lanes. "bowling?" i asked. he sed they have darts there. ok, well, we went there, got a pitcher of mgd n' borrowed some darts from the bar. i went over to the snack bar n' ordered a grilled chicken sandwich 4 myself (cos i was sooo hungry) n' a large order'f hot wings to split. later, ken, not knowing that i'd ordered all those hot wings, also ordered some nachos. well, we drank beer, ate unhealthy bar fud, n' played lots'f elektronic darts. the particular dart game we played was "tic tac darts." we won 'bout equal number'f games. it was fun. it was a real "guys' nite out," i guess. *shrug* i dunno what a "guys' nite out" is s'pposed to be... i mean, well, we guys go more 4 the "pg" version of a "guys' nite out." i know lots'f other guys have lots more debauchery on a "guys' nite out"; but this is all we need. it was really fun.
| to drink beer, we had to let the old man bartender put these bracelets on our wrists after checking our ids to make sure we're over 21. man! we're both almost 30! i took this pic using our sony dcr-pc101's memory stick foto mode to 'member this simple but kewl nite out. my eyes look really lite cos i used the nightshot feature since the lighting's not 2 brite in our house. weird looking pic, huh? |
so the beautiful kaela kang's in vegas right now. i'm meeting up w/ her 2nite. as i sed b4, she originally planned this vegas trip cos she signed up to go to this real estate investment seminar thingy that she was more into b4 than now. well... we had to go cos she put $$$ down to attend that seminar. u know what? they messed up n' told her the seminar's this weekend in vegas; but it's aktually next weekend! well, they'd better give her her $$$ back! well, i'm still going to vegas on my free southwest airlines plane tic. now, it's gonna be just a complete vacation... no real estate seminar or nething... wow... how often do i aktually take vacations?!
now that it's the 20th, it's aktually kaela's n' my 35th monthversary! :-)
[later] 713p: well, i'm @ my company bbq right now. i spent a bit'f time this werkday assembling our company's new bbq gril. heh heh. wow, this is fun. we're having good steaks n' sausages, drinking beer, n' playing ddr on the psx2. man! this is a fun company!
[later] 955p: i'm on southwest flight 1232, nonstop service from sjc to
las. well... i mean, the flight hasn't taken off yet.
this 737's still sittin' @ the terminal. i got "boarding group a"
n' was 1'f the 1st to board. i guess life is sort'f crazy.
how r u? i c stephan pak n' elaine m. signed my gbook.
thank u. more'f u should sign my gbook! :-)
504p: whoa, i dunno what to say. life is pretty fast paced these days. can u believe the beautiful kaela kang n' i spent a weekend in vegas just like that *snap fingers (maybe?)* n' already came back, n' it's tues now? crazy crazy. heh. life is fast paced. this coming sat is ken n' grace's wedding! wow, talk 'bout whirlwind. wasn't whirlwind the greyhound @ the race track that won the race when bart n' homer picked up santa's li'l helper? wasn't that the premiere episode of the simpsons? man, oh man! life is fast paced; but heh, i guess i should just enjoy the excitement but make sure i get a li'l sleep here n' there. heh. wow, wow, wow.
so how was vegas? lemme tell u: when i got there on fri nite...
well, i landed @ the airport. i had never travelled alone to a
destination like vegas. i've flown into ontario (cali) b4, but then
kaela'd pick me up there. i've flown into lax by myself b4 n' had
supermike pick me up... this vegas flight was a diff kind'f
experience. well, i had to pick up my baggage n' then pick up my
rental car. wow! the only other time i've rented a car was when i
crashed my forester. wow. well, that was a new experience. from the rental lot, i drove to the hotel to meet kaela, but i took a wrong turn here or there n' ended up driving down
the strip. man, it was just a big, hektic frat party out there!
i realised the quarter term skools had just gotten out. it
was so crowded. well, i got to kaela's hotel. i was pretty
tired. we pretty much just went to sleep.
in the morn, we checked out'f that hotel. we went to paris to hang out. we ate crêpes @ the overpriced crêrie. i was annoyed upon discovering that fud's so overpriced in vegas. i concluded, @ this pt, that vegas has all the bad things 'bout l.a. n' reno w/o ne of the good things 'bout those 2 places: it's overcrowded w/ irresponsible, selfish ppl, yet it doesn't have l.a.'s lower co$t'f living. it's got smokey casinos but no snowboarding slopes! grr! i was really annoyed w/ it. kaela had booked us 4 this couple's massage/spa treatment @ the paris hotel's spa. we went to that. it was really nice. after the massage n' spa treatment, i sat in the sauna 4 the 1st time ever. well, after that, what did we do? well, i had made reservations 4 us to eat @ the paris's mon ami gabi french steakhouse, so we figured we could go explore 'nother hotel @ this pt. thus, we visted bellagio. we walked 'round n' then had some gelato. then we walked 'round some more n' went back to paris. kaela went to fetch some things from the locker she had @ the spa, n' we went up there eiffel tower. up there, we had a big panic cos kaela had left her ring @ the spa. we rushed down to get it. big, big panic; but we got it back. phew! after calming down, we went to our reservation @ mon ami gabi n' had a nice dinner: steaks. i had had steak 4 dinner 2 nites in a row cos'f the company bbq! crazy, huh? kaela had the filet mignon, n' i had this big, rare new york strip. i was sooo full. we walked 'round paris a li'l more n' then bally's n' then went to our hotel. since the other hotel (the alexis park resort hotel) was full, i'd gotten us 'nother room @ the doubletree. the next morn (sun), i drove us down the 15 (back 2wards cali) to visit this outlet mall, which disappointed me. kaela found a nice dress, so that's good. we went back to vegas n' had dinner @ tsunami in the venetian. tsunami's an excellent asian fusion restaurant. i really liked the tuna tartare, the oven.braised duck w/ sweet potato croquette... mmm... lots'f good fud. ne we shared this tropikal drink 4 2. somehow, i ended up drinking all the bacardi 151 rum in the drink n' felt really dizzy from all'f it. the nice manager gave us a free chocolate ganache torte cos we're getting married next mpnth. :-) we went to go ride the gondola. man, while waiting 4 the gondola, i felt so dizzy from that drink! well, the gondola ride was pretty neat. in fakt, i think it was the best attraktion in vegas. i mean... i guess vegas is kind'f like disneyland now, right? so, well, i guess i feel the gondola ride @ the venetian's the best ride. heh heh. well, we hung out @ the ventian, listened to some musicians... i'm glad vegas has some decent musicians. i guess that helped me have fun. well, kaela drove us back to the hotel, n' i packed up my stuff 4 my early, early flight back to san jo. i was so worried 'bout missing my flight that i barely slept. i slept thru the whole plane ride. when i got back to sjc airport, my cowerker doug picked me up n' drove me to werk.
after werk, i went to pick up kaela from the airport (cos she had a later flight). i got to the airport 2 early, so i pulled into this bizness park's parking lot to take a nap. shoot! when it was time to go, my car wouldn't start!!! u know why? cos i hadn't driven it all weekend n' then sat in it parked w/ the cd player on!!! argh! i called up ken, n' he came out to help me out w/ a jumpstart. phew! well, i picked up kaela n' we had dinner @ myungdong soondubujip. it was very good. :-)
2day, @ lunch, i took my cowerkers doug n' paul out to lunch @ nearby thai thai 4 giving me rides to/from the airport.
funny. check out this y! news article:
"Playboy
Models' Curves May Be Sign of the Times"
According to researchers, a comparison of the faces and figures of
Playmates of the Year from 1960 to 2000 suggests men may prefer
stronger-looking women in hard times, and softer, more vulnerable types
when bull markets resume.
"In short, we want someone to have fun with when times are good, and we
want someone to take care of us -- and themselves -- when times are bad,"
said psychology researcher Dr. Terry F. Pettijohn II, of Mercyhurst
College in Erie, Pennsylvania.
1027a: 2day was the 1st morn i felt i aktually had a bad commute. there was construktion on 87 (or "the 87," if i wanna speak socal talk) by the aeroport. :-( i sat in stop n' barely go traffik 4 a long time. 2day's thurs. this week has not been all that great but not all that bad. the prob w/ this week is that i've been eating unhealthily n' not getting 'nuff exercise. i hate that. also, i've been werking extra in order to take fri afternoon off 4 ken n' grace's wedding rehearsal. i leave werk sooo drained! i don't like this kind'f life. :-(
oh yah, these days my 'puter @ home's been crashing 'lot. i think it's the hot weather. i need 'nother fan in my case or else... well, i wish the house were just cooler. my 'puter'll hang up as if it overheated, so i guess it overheated. the bad thing is this: cos the 'puter's been crashing, it aktually lost a bunch'f my recent e.mails!!!! in this day n' age, that's horrible!!! luckily, i had synched my destop eudora w/ my palm eudora (on my handspring), so what i did was 4ward all those lost msgs back to myself using palm eudora. *sigh* it's crazy tho', huh? really, it sucks to lose e.mails... 'specially when u'r a person like me, as i like to save all my e.mails... well, 'cept 4 spam, of course.
the past 2 nites, i've been going over to ken n' grace's to help a li'l w/ their wedding stuff, since i'm ken's best man. their wedding's this sat! 2nite, i'll pick up my tux. crazy.
tues nite, the beautiful kaela kang n' i both went to taekwondo practice. after paddle kicking, we werked on some demo stuff. man, i really gotta get back into the swing'f things now that my back's starting to heal up.
cing all the stuff ken n' grace have been doing this week has got me thinking 'bout our remaining tasks, such as making the ceremony program n' my big task'f getting all the musik, not just organised, but artistically mixed!!! *sigh* man, oh man. all the while, i gotta make sure i get 'nuff exercise n' stay healthy. *sigh*
[later] 1140a: yesterday, @ lunch, my company had 'nother bbq. man, i've been eating so much meat lately, n' it's not even lean meat. :-( it's easy 4 a guy like me to get caught up in peer pressure when it comes to unhealthy carnivorism, u know that? like, i won't smoke, won't do drugs, but if "the guys" ask me to eat steak, burgers, or hot dogs; i'll eat steak, burgers, or hot dogs. it's bad! :-( back when i was living w/ fahad in berkeley, i didn't eat much meat, but i sed i was a "social carnivore," when i was out w/ other carnivores who wanted to eat meat w/ me, i'd eat meat; otherwise i wouldn't. i mean, back then, since fahad was a total vegeterian n' so were lots'f my friends, we just didn't keep that much animal flesh 'round the apt.
[later] 1225p: so... well, what's life like these days? *shrug* how r u? michelle martinez (mnm) n' perry seto, thanks 4 signing my gbook. i'd like ppl to sign my gbook n' let me know how they're doing. e.mail'd be fine 2.
me? yah, werk has sort'f exhausted me lately, 'specially since i've been trying to werk extra hrs these past few days. i guess the las vegas trip used up a bit'f energy. it was fun, but very energy n' resource consuming, i s'ppose. eh, most vacations r, right? so often ppl say they need a vacation after their vacation. well, i could be my ol' normal self n' never take vacations, but... *sigh* i s'ppose that ain't no way to live. i s'ppose if u just always think logically n' "resourcefully," not only will u be a very boring person, but... well, that's no way to live, i s'ppose.
@ the same time, yah... i do want to save $$$ here n' there, if i can. sure, i like to go out to dinner now n' then, but i think more these days 'bout how i gotta save up 4 a house n' stuff, u know? as i sed b4, i hope i can start bringing lunch to werk to save $$$. i dunno... it sort'f sucks cos i'm near el camino real n' thus near lots'f good restaurants. however, usually ppl don't wanna go out to lunch w/ me, so well... u know, i don't go to restaurants by myself, not sit.down restaurants. it's a bit'f a shame. like, sometimes i say it's best to go out to lunch all the time so that you get out'f the office 4 'least a li'l, u know? it's good to get some fresh air! however, yah... going out to lunch every werkday sure can add up!
hrm, lemme think back to when i was an intern @ ebmud (the h2o company). i think there was a time where i'd always bring lunch, but then i'd go out 4 a nice walk outside after lunch. i guess that was sort'f a good way to get out a li'l. out here in silly valley n' back when i was in marin county, i don't n' didn't really have a place to walk tho'. back in corte madera, i sort'f could walk along this path by the creek. back in sf, i could walk thru clement st. or geary. i liked that ok. 1nce, i also walked to the presidio.
[later] 238p: well, @ lunch, i went to c clay the chiropractor. then on my way back, i figured i'd get lunch. 'gain, i stopped off @ the rivermark n' went to quizno's. i had this tuscan chicken sandwich, a regular size. man, i should've just stuck w/ a small. i was so stuffed. i eat 2 much these days. i don't like that.
[later] 305p: t.a.t.u.: have u heard'f that muzik duo? of
course u have! they're really famous cos they're this pair of
russian teenage gurls that sing pop muzik n' akt like a lesbian couple on
stage. guys get all turned on by that, but then there's a rumour
they're just faking their lesbianism in order to boost their popularity.
funny, huh? neway, i heard all the hype 'bout
t.a.t.u, but i had never realised i had heard their muzik until last nite.
i mean, up until last nite, i went 'round saying i had never heard
t.a.t.u.'s muzik, but i was wrong. aktually, 4 the past few months,
kaela n' i had been hearing some song on mix 106.5 fm that we liked but of
which knew neither the artist or title. last nite, while testing
out sound equipment @ ken n' grace's house, i found out the song is
t.a.t.u.'s "all the things she said." i didn't know.
1241p: last nite, after werk i went to vallco to bay area bridal,,, i mean... new things west... to pick up my tux 4 ken n' grace's wedding 2morrow. i tried everything on there. even tho' i know a wedding dress takes a very, very long time to put on, i gotta say, putting on a tux isn't like just throwing on a pair'f shorts n' a t.shirt. heh. i tried it all on. man, it felt so weird... cos i know next month, i'll be putting on 'nother tux, n' that 1'll be 4 my wedding!
by the end'f the werkday yesterday (2day's fri, yesterday was thurs), i felt a bit sick in the stomach. was it quizno's? *shrug* yah, i felt sick. after picking up the tux, i went to the gym n' had a decent werkout. man! i hadn't werked out all week! vegas was so bad 4 my health, i tell u! grr! since i went to try on n' pick up the tux, i had to miss taekwondo sparring practice.
well, in just a li'l bit, i'll be taking off from werk 4 the wedding
rehearsal.
808p: believe it or not, i'm @ the gym, waiting 4 the beautiful kaela kang. "huh? wasn't 2day ken n' grace's wedding?!" yes, it was. it happened. it was beautiful. i was the best man, n' it was an exhausting day; an exhauting, hot day! man, oh man! what a day to bake in the sun, wearing a black tuxedo! it was fun, tho'! i had never been a best man or groomsman b4! :-) what a day!!! very exciting!!! weddings r pretty exciting, i ggtta admit right now! heh...
i woke up nice n' early. ken picked me up from his home n' drove me to his house. he had stayed @ his parents' house the nite b4 to let grace's family have their house, i guess. i tested n' troubleshot the wireless mic system. acoustic feedback in the early morn... then i drove ken's store van to his store to pick up ryan n' some gear. he drove us in the van up to the ceremony site. we stopped @ albertson's on mission blvd in fremont (btwn 880 n' 680) to get some supplies n' snacks. when we got to the ceremony site, a few'f us groomsmen set the sound system up outside to use 4 a short poetry reading during the ceremony. we also assembled some canopies to protekt guests from the evil sun. 1nce we got all sweatty, we had to change quicklh into our tuxes 4 pics n' video shots. we were running behind skedule. the bridesmaids n' grace arrived b4 we were really ready 4 them, but no big deal.
well, the ceremony? it went well. hot! i hope i didn't get sunburnt! i
put on plenty'f sunblock. grace n' her parents rode in on a horse
drawn carriage. a harpist n' flautist provided the muzik. wow! it
was pretty kewl to stand up there next to ken.
320p: i never really finished talkin' 'bout ken n' grace's wedding.
yah, life's been sort'f bizzy n' hektic lately w/ the wedding
(our wedding, the beautiful kaela kang's
n' mine) coming up. yah, u've prob'ly noticed i haven't had so much
time to update. hrm, sometimes i wonder if my journal entry style
has changed a bit over the yrs. i dunno how many "longtime" readers
i have. i wonder what they think. :-/ i 'member, back in college, i think i wrote less 'bout the
things i did n' wrote more 'bout stuff like relationship issues or
guy/gurl issues. i think, maybe, i wrote less 'bout politiks or
current events n' didn't cite online articles as much... prob'ly cos there
weren't as many back then, heh. i know i wrote more 'bout asian n'
asian.am issues... well, i think i did... but hrm... maybe that's
cos many asian.ams typikally go thru some kind'f identity.finding phase in
college. i always thought i had those things sorted out by college,
but *shrug* maybe not. as i sed a sec 'go, i wrote more 'bout
relationship n' guy/gurl issues back then; n' i think i wrote in a way
that reflekted that i wasn't so happy w/ my relationship back then.
like... it's not like my gf @ the time physikally abused me, heh; but that
i honestly, deep inside wished she was something other than she was... something more like what i
would consider ideal. :-/ u know? like, i've sed b4 here
n' there, 4 that relationship, i think i really settled... made
compromises... like, didn't really go 4 what i really wanted.
well, that's not the case now. :-) well... after college, in
those p.crew days; yah, i think my journal entries were quite diff.
there was a period when my entries were just full'f "shouts out" n/or
"shout outs" to friends n' long roll calls listing of every single person
who attended whatever social gathering happened the nite b4. yah...
i really value friends. yah, that was definitely a time i felt
surrounded by friends n' cohorts. *sigh* well, my life has gone
thru changes; chapters begin, n' chapters end. in a few weeks, i'll
begin a new chapter'f life.
do i sound sappy? i know i've been a li'l sappy lately since, on mon when i drove the newly built 85 to 87 onramp to werk, i almost cried over the beauty of it all. X-D how can ppl say i'm such an insensitve male? >:-( *sigh* i guess commute drives have often gotten me a li'l emotional. i 'member how depressing some evening commutes were from sf to berkeley, when i'd sit 4 almost an hr in parked traffik w/ plenty'f time to make analogies btwn the pace @ which i was moving in my car to the pace @ which i felt my life was progressing.
well, have u noticed that in the past few weeks, i've found myself not thinking so much that growing up is a bad thing? i think there were times ppl felt i was so immature. cos'f berkeley taekwondo, i hung out w/ college kids way past my college days. personally, i think it was fine; it was fun; they were good ppl. however, i know some ppl thought it was an immature scene; that i was approaching my mid.20s, so i should've been more focused on my career n' getting a beer belly. :-( well... now i'm a bit far from that college scene... but i am a college student! ha, funny, huh? i'm getting married n' think more 'bout how i've gotta save $$$ to buy a house... hopefully as soon as possible... whenever that is. obviously, living @ "home" makes me feel like a kid... a helpless kid... n' obviously, i don't like that. :-(
last nite, tried dj remixing 4 the 1st time in ages. not to brag or nething, but i was happy to c, even w/o practice, i can get right into mixing just like that *snap fingers*. i'd like to think that's the result'f yrs of experience... over a decade'f experience! i really gotta do lots'f djing in the next few weeks, in order to create the prerecorded soundtrack 4 our wedding banquet/reception/party.
on sun (2day's tues), when kaela n' i went to vallco fashion plaza (what a fancy name 4 a dead mall!) to return my rented tux 4 ken n' grace's wedding, i stopped by men's express to check out their sale. i bought some things, including a pair'f faded grey jeans, sumpthin' i've been looking 4 4 a long time. now that i'm wearing them 2day, i sometimes can't tell if they're grey or brown. :-/ neway, i'm ok.
on sat, after the wedding, after kaela n' i went swimming, we met up w/ the rest'f the wedding party n' affiliated guests @ santana row. originally, we were s'pposed to eat dinner @ the new "blowfish sushi to die for," but it was way 2 crowded, so we went to citrus on the 3rd floor of the hotel valencia. man, santana row sure is a hip place to hang on a weekend nite! how do all these somewhat young ppl look like they've got so much $$$? do u figure it's that there's tons'f $$$ to be made in silly valley or that these somewhat young ppl r just spending their parents' $$$? *shrug* do these ppl who drive flashy cars n' wear flashy clothes also own homes? nice homes? *shrug* i honestly wonder. (flashy homes? n' do they flash the hi beams of their flashy cars when they get home to their flashy homes? n' then do they step out'f their flashy cars in their flashy clothes, outside their flashy homes, n' flash their neighbours? their flashy neighbours?) [by "flash," i do mean "to expose 1self.]
oh yah, on sun, after vallco mall, we went to werkout @ the meridian/hamilton location of our gym. earlier that day, they had some family fun day w/ pony rides 4 kids. honestly, both'f us would've liked to c the ponies, but we were much 2 late. the gym was pretty empty, n' we only had 'bout an hr to werkout.
yesterday, after werk, i went to party amerika to buy some wedding supplies. after that, i quickly stopped by valley fair n' then went to the gym. i was on the treadmill 4 10 mins when kaela came in n' sed she had 4gotten her gym clothes; so we went home. i ate some boiled fish n' chive dumplings 4 dinner. uh... u can call them mandoo, n' some chinese ppl'd say "jow-ze," but i don't call 'em that cos we don't call 'em that in taiwanese; we call them "drwee giao" or uh.. however the heck u romanise it... :-/ this morn, i cooked more'f them, n' both kaela n' i took them to werk 4 lunch.
where's my house n' dog? on thurs, when i was picking up my tux, ken's employee sid asked me how much i make @ my job, n' i got so depressed when i told him n' realised 'gain aloud that i made more as a college intern when i werked 4 ebmud. it's not like i don't have a job; i'm not unemployed. however, i really should be making more than 2ice what i'm making right now. :-( i dunno what to do @ the end'f the summer. the whole motivation 4 ne'f us 3 interns @ this company is the possibility that we'll get hired on full.time @ the end'f the summer n' get a real salary. it's like we're not so much werking 4 the pay but werking 4 the hope that we'll get a real job from the company in a coupl'f months. i dunno... it's still not certain, but we hope, n' they say it's a possibility. i understand companies don't spend as recklessly as they did in the late 1990s. when the summer ends n' i return to skool to spend 1 more yr to finish my master's program, i'll have to weigh the faktors: will i be paid enuf to make it worth sacrificing study time? will i be able to werk part.time n' also go to skool? iwll i be able to werk even full.time n' also go to skool? will i be able to find a better paying job elsewhere? *shrug* i s'ppose life is sort'f exciting cos i don't have ne clue 'bout the answers to these questions right now. however, u gotta understand that i have the conflikt of: 1) i know i need to save up $$$ 4 a house (so that we can have a dog), but 2) i gotta finish grad skool.
a coupl'f yrs 'go, my longtime readers saw my journal transition from a bunch'f "shout outs" to friends who hung out w/ me the nite b4 into a bunch'f reviews'f fancy dishes n' wines i experienced w/ kaela @ romantic restaurants. hrm, is it that these days i talk more 'bout how i gotta save up to buy a house? :-( butchu gotta make $$$ to save $$$, don'tchu? well, as i sed b4... it's not like i don't make ne $$$ or am unemployed. wasn't there a time when i was very sure all my readers were very pi$$ed @ me cos it cmed like i was always spending $$$ n' then complaining that i didn't have $$$? u can't have ur cake n' eat it 2. when was that? hrm, i sure have been writing this journal 4 a long time.
well, the time now is 547p, but i have not been writing 4 3 hrs
straight. i've just been typing now n' then.
1018a: last nite, i aktually slept a relatively long time... almost 8 hrs... not quite... but almost... i guess, more like 7.5 hrs. neway, in relative terms, altho' ppl generally say u need 8 hrs'f sleep, that's a decent 'mount 4 ppl my age. neway, despite the fakt that i got a relatively good amt'f sleep, somehow i woke up sooo sleepy n' groggy last nite. some how i got a good quantity'f sleep but not a good quality'f sleep. in the past, i used to get bad quality sleep cos my head'd be near my 'puter (back in the ol' hillegass apt.), n' i'd sometimes hafta leave my 'puter on overnite. that was then; these days, my 'puter's in a totally diff room. even in our last berkeley apt, the 'puter was in a diff room, the living room. well, last nite n' this morn, i kept having these bad dreams, in which i recklessly overspent on luxury items way beyond my means. :-( i dreamt the beautiful kaela kang n' i racked up a $45,000 bill @ some fancy hotel in downtown san jo. my dream also involved wedding planning. i had to ride in a car somewhere w/ some snobby middle.aged woman, who was some kind'f wedding coordinator woman. *shrug* also in my dream, there was sumpthin' 'bout my credit card being declined... prob'ly 4 that $45,000 bill @ the hotel. n' somewhere in my dream, kaela drove me to that area in the almaden hills uh... sierra azul. in my dream, i realised that we had 1nce owned a dog, that we had 4gotten 'bout it, but then i found it 'gain. yah, i had a dream like that 1nce when i was a kid 2. in that dream, my family had owned a dog, but we had stored it in a box in the garage. laster, i found the doggy in the box, n' it was all fine n' ready to play. neway... this dream, overall, was pretty disturbing n' stressful, n' i wonder if that's why i woke up in such morbidly awful shape even after a decent 'mount'f sleep. :-(
last nite, we went to taekwondo practice. it was fun. we
might not have taekwondo practice 4 the next couple'f weeks cos shim
sabuhmnim's going to korea. neway, we've got wedding stuff to do.
this morn, i was really tempted to drive to a starbucks n' get a
cappuccino or sumpthin'. i didn't tho'. i brought a sandwich
4 lunch 2day. lately, i have been able to bring lunches to
werk. :-) that's such a good thing, cos my going out to buy so.so, ho.hum
fud 4 lunch was such a waste'f $$$; altho' it did 4ce me to
go out n' get some fresh air 1nce a day.
948a: yesterday, after werk, i went to vallco mall to pick up the
mikasa wedding cake knife n' cake cutter (spatula thingy) from things
remembered where i had left them the day b4 to get engraved 4 the wedding.
when i got to vallco (last nite was wed nite), i was pretty hungry
cos it was well into dinner time. i knew i wasn't gonna go home 4
dinner cos i planned to go to the gym n' then meet up w/ the beautiful kaela kang @
ken n' grace's to talk to ken 'bout our wedding tasks n' to werk on the
some'f them. well, @ vallco, b4 going to things remembered, i went
to crêpes café to get a chicken n' shroom crê n' a chai
w/ pearl. it was sort'f not what i 'pekted cos the chicken was
just land o' frost lunchmeat n' the shrooms were canned, but i still
enjoyed it very much! i went to pick up the knife n' cake cutter,
but they had 4gotten to put the wedding date on the knife, so i'll be
picking it up 2nite.
after vallco, i went to the gym, the hamilton/meridian location. i werked out 4 a good while. it was past 900p when i finished, so i had werked out 4... *shrug* 'bout 1.5 hrs, i guess. then i called ken, but he didn't answer. i went to the neighbouring rite aid n' bought a 6 pk of aquafina h2o, 3 cans'f spam lite, n' a choco milk chug. i was thirsty, yet wanted a drink w/ protein. i 4get what it is that is healthier 'bout chocomilk. is there such a thing as flavanoids that r good 4 u? sounds like some gimmicky thing they'd market to kids. well, after that, i went to ken's. kaela met me there soon after i got there, after her real estate class. jin lee, our ol' leland hi skool friend (who also went to cal w/ me, was there 2 to get a new cellfon. kaela n' i werked on a coupl'f signs 4 the wedding, signs that'll eventually direkt guests to the ceremony site. this is the kind'f thing that i know most couples prob'ly put off till the very last week, so i figured i'd knock it out just a li'l earlier than that. we made 1 in korean hangeul n' 1 in chinese hanja, but we still gotta make 1 in english. ah, skrew english; we'll make it en français! honh honh honh! u know i was a vp 4 our hi skool's french club, right? heh heh. well, i guess we still gotta make 1 in english. :-( 'least i gotta more'f a variety'f fonts 4 roman characters. on my home 'puter i have several diff korean fonts, but... i know i can get more sonewhere.
this morn, my mom made strawberry.banana
crêpes.
wow! 2 crêpe meals in a row! i really am
french! well, i definitely do wanna visit france someday...
not just paris in vegas. :-/
[later] 1134a: oh yah, i've managed to bring lunch to werk these days. yesterday n' 2day i brought sandwiches. 2day's thurs, n' 2morrow's a holiday! :-) 2day's the b.day 4 many, many ppl! i always had many b.day parties to go to on july 3rd. i know it's sam lee's b.day 2day. it's also brian chong's b.day. it's also alex kim's b.day n' also the b.day'f my ol' college friend eugene kim. hrm... i just realised: how come all these ppl r korean? hrm... sumpthin' going on w/ july 3rd n' koreans. >:-/ or calculate 9 months b4 july 3rd... well, happy b.day, all'f u!
2morrow's the 4th'f july. member? i used to give it some gen.x name like 4jx2000 etc.? heh... this'd be 4jx2003. heh. to get ready to celebrate, allow me to post the lyrics to jewel's song "america" from her 0304 album:
CHORUS
We are living in America
Everywhere I go, seems like Bush is on TV
Take the bad with the good
We are trying in America
We are trucking in America
Take the bad with the good
CHORUS
We are trying in America
We are getting tan in America
10 million served in America
Walkin' 2 the corner of Main Street, USA
Look at the good people, hear what they gotta say-uh-huh
All right
See a sexy girl with her long black hair
See a preacher man sporting Abercrombie wear-uh-huh
All right
Walk into a corner store
A man says, "This is what I'm fighting for"
We're giving in America
We're tripping in America
We shed blood in the name of liberty-uh-huh
All right
The circus tents are dead, but the sideshow is doing well
The Osbournes and Anna Nicole are too freaky 2 tell-uh-huh
All right
I wanna change it, but I wouldn't leave it if I could
We're spying in America
Getting high in America
We are laughing in America
We're crying in America
We're dying in America
We are f**king in America
We are lucky in America
We are breaking ground in America
Just another town in America
We are breaking down in America
I wanna change it, but I wouldn't leave it if I could
We're spying in America
We're getting high in America
We love Spam in America
Polanski's banned from America
Have u heard in America?
We're crying in America
We're laughing in America
We're living in America
i think that's the most patriotic song 4 the usa these days. :-) the most patriotic thing u can say here these days is "take the bad with the good. i wanna change it, but i wouldn't leave it if i could." obviously, the next best song 4 2morrow's holiday is madonna's "american life."
american life
i live the american dream
you are the best thing i've seen,
you are not just a dream
r u gonna do sumpthin' fun this weekend?
1031a: the past 2 nites, i haven't gotten 2 much sleep cos i've been staying up till 'bout 400a to werk on the wedding reception muzik. u know what i'm doing, right? i'm premixing muzik n' burning it onto cds, so that some1 (s'pposedly supermike) can just put the cd in the player, n' we can all just dance. i'll be djing while not djing. heh. *breathe* but it sure is quite a task to do this all this weekend. i want to have it all done by... well... like sun/mon, or so. *sigh* neway, i'm listening to the fruits'f thurs nite's labour, n' i'm very happy that it turned out really good. :-) however, i only have 15 mins'f mixed muzik so far. :-( yah, quite a bit'f werk just 4 15 mins'f muzik. i'm just happy cos the mixing really turned out pretty good. :-) man, even tho' it's sort'f werk doing all this dj stuff, it's really fun n' maybe rejuvenating to jump back into it! :-) oh yah, so yesterday (fri) was the 4th'f july. 2day's sat. what did we do yesterday? well, even tho' i wanted to sleep more, the beautiful kaela kang woke me up, n' we went out... uh, where did we go? uhm, 1st we went out looking 4 lunch. we ended up @ the pruneyard @ this ol' fashioned mexican restaurant called el burro. they served sooo much fud! kaela had this crab enchilada, n' i had this steak torta. man! it was sooo much fud! i had already eaten a li'l bit'f fud @ home, so man! it really felt like a lot! afterwards, i almost didn't wanna move. we managed to walk to the nearby barnes & nobles to browse thru magazines 4 a while. it got late, n' i knew shops'd close early cos'f the holiday, so we went over to valley fair to look 4 tops to wear 4 2morrow's engagement fotoshoot. yah, we managed to find clothes. i'm glad i didn't hafta resort to the $180 shirt i saw @ ted baker @ santana row. u c, i saw some nice shirt that'd be great 4 the fotoshoot there, but man! yah, $180! well... @ club monoco, i found a very similar shirt 4 a lot less. u know... when it comes to a mission critical event like this; it's not like i can totally say i'll just go w/ whatever's cheapest; but it's nice to be able to trim the budget a li'l, u know? i wonder if it would be possible to buy n' return clothes 4 the fotoshoot! heh heh... hey, u know? i could always rebuy the clothes when they go on clearance sale! ha ha. *shrug* that'd be kind'f cheesy! i guess i'll think 'bout considering it, but most likely my ethics won't allow me to do that. *shrug* we'll c.
oh yah, so yesterday was the 4th'f july. after the mall, we stopped by fry's to browse @ mice cos kaela's microsoft optical explorer intellimouse is starting to die. u c, these mice ('least the old 1) have a big weakness: the wire fatigues n' breaks!!! u know? like, they put a nice optical tracking device to eliminate the roller ball, but then the wire fatigues n' breaks @ some critical connektion w/in the enclosure. well, the wireless version of that same 5.button mouse just co$ts a few bucks more. it's still kind'f expen$ive @ $43 instead'f $40 4 the wired version, but that sure is cheaper than tne $70 pricetag when the wired version 1st came out. kaela saw some logitech wireless mouse that she liked, but it was pretty expen$ive, so i told her to shop 'round. well, since all the elektronics wer 2 expen$ive, we only bought turkey jerky, a bottle'f h2o, n' coke in this cute 8.4 oz can... it's like a red bull can, but it's coke n' has a nice label. kaela really liked it. it reminded me'f soda cans in asia. ppl consume fud n' drinks in more reasonable quantities there. well, after that we swung by hoang lan vietnamese deli on tully to get a coupl'f packs'f spring roll type stuff n' then headed 4 the east san jo hills up by alum rock. we got a nice view from the hills n' got to c an emu farm on our drive up the hill. after the sun went down. we saw paramount's great amerika's firewerk show. it was kind'f a distant, small view; but we got to c it all. we could also c some firewerks from san mateo or so. we drove down the hill n' spotted that downtown san jo had a beautiful firewerk show. we drove past that n' got great views from the car, altho' i kept my eyes on the road. heh. the traffik out'f the downtown area was bad, but we managed to get home 'ventually; we just had to make a big detour over to meridian.
well, back to my dj stuff: i realised this weekend that i've been werking more w/ "pop" muzik than trance/tekno in the past coupl'f yrs. i 'member @ andy's bro's wedding, some cousin'f andy's or some young guy told me he was surprised that i played muzik other than rave trance cos every asian guy he knew wanted to be a rave trance dj. i mean, he meant it as a compliment, in that it's good that i'm diff, but... *shrug* well, it's true... most wannabe djs try to spin either rave trance or hip hop, u know? it's awful how many kids'll throw lots'f $$$ 'way on a pair'f t1200 vinyl turntables n' come out unable to mix worth crap. :-/
terminator 3: the rise of the machines debuted yesterday.
we didn't c it, but we saw long lines 4 the show @ the pruneyard movie
theatre. wow... i originally saw return of the jedi @ that
theatre as a kid w/ my mom n' sister! X-D wow... that was a long
time 'go. u know, it really meant sooo much to me as a
kid to c return of the jedi!!! well, i'm sure it meant quite
a bit to many kids... 'specially boys. i 'member we watched a
matinee show, n' my mom packed us peanut butter sandwiches.
206a: these days i stay up late mixing muzik 4 the wedding. i dunno how many'f u understand what goes into djing. it's not just picking out songs; it's much more than that. in case, u'r just totally clueless, lemme tell u that what i do as a dj is take songs n' sort'f splice them 2gether artistically n' well... of course, there's much more to it than that... really! in case u'r totally clueless, u ought to know that these days djs r just as important as the original musicians, etc... neway... i've been up doing dj mixing 4 our wedding recpetion, the dance part'f it. lemme tell u: it's gonna kick @$$. really! i have over a decade'f dj mixing experience, n' i'm not gonna let it not show in our wedding dance muzik! yah, it should be good. we'll c.
well, the big thing yesterday was that the beautiful kaela kang (soon to be the beautiful kaela hwang) n' went to our engagement portrait fotoshoot w/ philippe lee of jade photography. u really ought to check out their stuff! it's really impressive!!! n' that's why we chose them as our fotographers... (really! check out their homepage right now!) we went w/ him to half moon bay 4 the fotoshoot. it was a bit cloudy but not cold @ all. we took pics outside the new ritz calrton resort! it was such a luxurious n' natural setting. i really liked it. after the fotoshoot, kaela n' i went to check out the ritz n' had a small lunch @ "the conservatory" restaurant there. aktually... it's really funny: we didn't really eat in the normal dining room. instead, we chose to eat in this li'l parlour room they have there w/ a fireplace n' bookshelves n' leather seats n' all. wow! it was really nice! :-) *sigh* well, that was our day. then we came home. there sure were 'lot'f cops out on the freeway! i'm very thankful i didn't get a speeding ticket or nething cos they were obviously out to get ppl! well, we came home. we werked on wedding stuff n' ate some neuromien. oh yah, on our way back from 0.5 moon bay, we picked up some fruits from a fruitstand. we didn't get 2 much cos, man, it wasn't really that good'f a deal... :-/ well, lessee... what else's been going on?
oh yah, yesterday? yesterday, i went to pick up kaela's camera @ ken n' grace's wedding site. we accidentally left it there. then i met kaela @ her werk. we planned to go to the gym, but she 4got her pants, so we stopped by the great mall to get a pair'f cheap werkout pants 4 her. we went to the gym, werked out till it closed. then we came home. i cooked some spam lite fried rice, n' we watched this really funny korean movie 조폭 마누라 (jopok manoora), which is titled my wife is a gangster in english. it's a really funny movie!
so... i have 2 mix sets done 4 the wedding reception. i'll need to do like 5 more or so to make the nite complete. :-/ hrm, is that possible? hrm... well, lemme tell u... u c, i used to mix like... i'd play most'f the song n' then mix out to the next song. well, in the last yr, 'specially w/ benomix4jip, u know i accepted the challenge'f mixing really fast. it's just that i knew ppl who know r really into djing want to c/hear a dj mix in / mix out really fast. that's the whole pt'f dj competitions, etc. n' yah... so when i recorded benomix4jip, i was really hyped to show off my "skillz," u know? the thing is, back in college when i djed parties, i got lots'f comments from ppl @ parties that they liked my djing cos i did play more'f the songs n' didn't just mix in / mix out just to show off, u know? eh! well, my pt in discussion this right now is: well, if i do more flashy mix in / mix out mixes, then i'll hafta do 5 more sets. if i do more sets, in which i play more'f the song instead, then i won't hafta make as many sets. u understand why, right? well... in case u still don't get it, my pt is that if i play more'f the song, then that eats up time, right? n' we have a finite amt'f time. well... i think u get it now. neway, wow! i haven't done this much djing in a long time... i'm having real flashbacks. man! i 'member when i used to have 1 live dj gig a month back in college. man, imagine if i did get a normal gig @ club n' had to spin every weekend!
[later] 10115a: happy mon morn. how r u? i 4got to gel my hair this morn. i woke up kind'f groggily since i stayed up sort'f late last nite, as u know. earlier, i was reading this spam mail from helios restaurant 'bout a "farm tour with the chef." interesting: 4 $45 they take u to a farm where they get their produce 4 a tour n' then they feedju breakfast n' lunch. it's funny cos the tour happens on july 19, 2003. heh heh, that's our wedding date. u know, helios restaurant is located in the cypress hotel, n' many'f our wedding guests'll be staying there. heh, hope they don't go off on the farm tour instead'f our wedding! ha. just kidding.
[later] 1101a: u know, i really like li'l cute graphical ikons... like on webpages n' stuff... well... i sort'f like them... when they rn't annoying... neway, i saw this 1 li'l cute ikon on my y! mail page. it was 4 some li'l text ad 4 jfax; it was some li'l red, white, n' blue popsicle. here's the link to that li'l ikon: http://us.a1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/a/jf/jfax/efax_pop_july.gif.
[later] 1134a: well... *sigh* it's crazy that the wedding's less than 2 weeks 'way now. *breathe* crazy, crazy, crazy. man, we really gotta wrap things up, i guess. last nite, i found our passports. good. we'll need those! heh heh. last nite, kaela finished painting the aisle runner. uh, that's hard to explain, so u'll just hafta c later. i'm trying to wrap up the musik asap. what else? programs? yah, we gotta werk on those... 2nite, ken n' grace r gonna come over, they sed, to help us w/ wedding stuff. yah, we'll really appreciate that. kaela sed she had some tasks that they could help w/ me, my mind's all on finishing up the musik. really, i'm really happy w/ what i've done so far. it's just that i got quite a bit more to do still... it's not necessarily the difficulty'f the task, just the quantity.
uh, i cm to keep telling u to check out this article n' that article. well, here's an article. check it out if u want... or don't. Hollywood's Box-Office Slump Continues it's from y! news, of course, n' talks 'bout how ticket sales have been relatively bad so far this summer. i heard t3 wasn't ne good. *sigh* lemme tell u, while reading this article, i kept wondering 'gain why spiderman did so well in the box office. i mean, it wasn't a bad movie, but really! there've been better comic book movies! i can't believe it sold better than attack of the clowns. i liked attack of the clowns much better! the article mentioned the great number'f sequels this summer. yah, i've remarked 'pon that b4.
*sigh* wow, *breathe* our wedding's in less than 2 weeks. the
sun sets @ 826p on july 19, according to historic records on weather.com.
*breathe* *breathe* *breathe* *sigh*
1019a: yesterday, the beautiful kaela kang got her last 3 wisdom teeth pulled out. i was so worried 4 her. i have 2 wisdom teeth on the bottom n' none on top. the top 1s never came in. neway, i've never had my wisdom teeth pulled, altho' i've had 4 bicuspids pulled when i got braces. i've observed that the extraktion'f wisdom teeth is quite a procedure, in that ppl cm to have a li'l bit'f trouble 4 the next day or so after the operation.
well, i had mtgs pretty much all day yesterday. it was crazy, a really hektic day @ werk. however, i felt good to be produktive; i s'ppose these mtgs made me feel more important 'round here. i've never really discussed where i werk on this journal. i guess i've read all sorts'f warnings 'bout talkin' 'bout ur place'f werk in ur blog or journal. however, u know me: i really don't have much to hide. also, i really like my company's produkt n'd like ppl to know 'bout it. i mean... it's not an unknown produkt; pretty much all the major manufacturers of nething use it. altho' the company started as a start up not 2 long 'go, it got bought out by a big belgium company last yr. the company produces hardware n' software 4 scanning 3d object into the 'puter n' then converting to data into files that manufacturing n' special effects programs can use. it's used quite a bit in reverse engineering applications. well, here... the company's website is http://www.metris.com.
well, right after werk, i headed home, instead'f going to gym or nething, since i knew kaela was suffering after her dental procedure. i stopped by trader joe's in our neighbourhood to pick up a variety'f mooshy fuds. i got some spiced apple sauce, some double rainbow choco sorbet. jalapeño-cilantro hummus, carrot juice... n' i got some bread 4 myself, to make a sandwich 4 lunch 2day. it's an interesting bread: some kind'f low carb / hi protein no wheat bread. *shrug* still, i'm not an atkins protein diet advocate! i just know i'd like to get more protein to "build muscle" n' consume less calories; while i don't totally avoid carbs, no way! yesterday eve, i tried to help kaela, but well... 4 the most part she was just passed out. i was really tired from a long day @ werk n' staying up late every nite the past few weeks in order to werk on the wedding muzik. i dunno, i prob'ly dozed'f 4 a bit yesterday evening. later, i ate some corn on the cob n' some scrambled eggs w/ basil 4 dinner, which my mom cooked. later in the nite, i werked on more dj stuff 4 the wedding specifically, i werked on mixing some hip hop muzik.
[later] 1120a: this morn, on my commute in, i saw this blue honda cr.v w/ a kewl sticker on its tire case: it was a starbucks logo, but the mermaid had a starbucks beverage in each hand, n' the text was changed from the usual starbucks text to "consumer whore." hrm, i wonder where that guy got that sticker. there's a website @ http://www.consumerwhore.biz hrm, that looks like a cybersquatter page, but aktually... hrm, i can't tell... neway! i found the graphic online on a page that describes it!!! http://www.illegal-art.org/print/popups/consumer.html so... i guess those rn't 2 starbucks drinks in her hands. 7nbsp; in 1 hand, it's a starbucks drink; in the other, i guess it's some kind'f drug needle/syringe. *shrug* wow, didju read the article in the linked webpage? wow! the artist who made that image got sued by starbucks!!! crazy! neway, i think it's a kewl graphic.
on mon, after i ate my lunch in my office, i stepped out'f the office to go to nearby microcenter to pick up some supplies 4 our wedding favours. on my drive there, i had the ghetto boy's "damn, it feels good to be a gangster" playing in my cd player. it was a real office space moment, driving from my software job thru silicon valley!
hip hop muzik: i realise that i hadn't mixed w/ hop hop muzik in a while. as i sed a few days 'go, in the past yr, i've mixed more w/ pop muzik than i had in the past. i've also gotten back into mixing rave tekno, i s'ppose. when i 1st started to dj professionally, my real specialty was tekno, eurpop, n' house, u know? i n the early 1990s, house was all the rage, u know? house n' then rave tekno. >:-/ silly kids 2day think that rave tekno's a late 1990s invention. *sigh* geez, how little they know! do they really think rave tekno didn't exist b4 alice deejay's "better off alone"?! well, last nite, i really focused on hip hop. i dunno; maybe i've avoided hip hop cos'f how negative some'f the lyrics r... also, i just hate the whole poseur scene, u know? all the frickin' suburban kids that bump hip hop in their rides, trying to akt all gangsta n' $#!+. maybe it's easier 4 females, in that if a cute, benign gurl bumps hip hop in her ride, it's cute n' no1 minds. however, if i guy's bumpin' hip hop in his ride, he'd best be able to back dat $#!+ up, right? yah, i never understood some elements'f quasi hip hop culture, u know? well, some ppl just really enjoy hip hop. 4 example, my ol' friends shingo n' clarence started up "students for hip hop" back @ cal. i guess that was pretty kewl, a very posi+ive environment 4 hip hop muzik. also, our ol' cal taekwondo buddy mike shea's really into hip hop, n' it cms like a very good thing 4 him 2. i dunno... as i always say, it's not that i don't like hip hop muzik; i just don't like it as much as some other muzik n' not as much as some other ppl do. i know dj krazy (hyun moon) has some similar sentiments to mine... i think.
so what's w/ beno n' all this anti.consumerism, such as his fascination w/ this "consumer whore" sticker?!?! yah, i dunno. 'member how i like the jewel song "intuition"? it cms to be sort'f an anti.consumerism song, but then i read on my plane ride to vegas that jewel's letting advertisers use her song to advertise "intuition" women's razors. sometime last week, i saw the ad on tv. nbsp; strange, i dunno what to make'f it. maybe it's an exercise in irony? *shrug* i guess i have faith that jewel did it as an artistic thing, not 4 the $$$... right? *shrug* then 'gain, shoot! if all these punks r dling her album off kazaa instead'f buying it 4 $9.99 @ best buy... u've cn the magazine adbusters, right? maybe u have, maybe u haven't. in ne case, please check out their website: http://www.adbusters.org/. it's apparently a vancouver.based publication. but neway, what's w/ beno n' all this anti.consumerism?! well, u know? i want ppl to go out n' $pend $$$!!! i want the usa to get out'f this current econimic depression! (yah, i know i sound like a moron 'bout economics cos i call this extended recession a "depression," but *shrug* it's the worst recession i've lived thru... n' prob'ly u 2! so why not call it a "depression"?!) we should all go out n' buy stuff n' stimulate the economy! yes! well... there r still some elements'f society that i just don't have as much appreciation 4, such as some elements'f pop culture... such as lots'f what's on amerikan tv these days, etc. it was already pretty dang obvious that "corporate rock must die," n' then fox tv comes out w/ "american idol." whah?! (n' then there's beno off mixin' pop muzik all the time.) support ur local small biznesses! i miss bezerkeley.
[later] 235p: i'm drinking starbucks coffee right now. some1 made the effort to brew up a pot'f coffee in the office kitchen. we have this coffee machine that grinds n' brews, n' we have a bag'f starbucks coffee beans. [later] 309p: lemme tell u, i drank that coffee, not cos i needed the caffeine, but cos i like the taste'f coffee. :-)
[later] 451p: how many'f u were friendstering b4 it started being unavailable pretty much all the time? heh, that was such a phenominal fad... 4 like 2 weeks! ha ha.
roland: i did c that u signed my gbook a while 'go. thanks! :-)
[later] 634p: so what's been going on in the news lately? i heard that the iranian, conjoined twins that they were trying to separate in singapore died. :-( that's aad. :-( 1'f the big things in the news these days is how dubyah started his big war on false news that iraq tried to buy uranium from niger. yah, that's prob'ly the topik'f many politikal debates these days. what else? i hear that the amerikan fud industry's gonna start labeling transfat now, since it's so deadly. also, researchers r now saying that u shouldn't brush ur teeth right after drinking soda; u should wait like an hr or 90 mins or sumpthin'.
*sigh* i checked the weather on weather.com that gives a 10 day 4cast. i can almost get the weather 4cast 4 our wedding day. by 2morrow, i can. thinking 'bout that really makes me very nervous, i gotta admit. as i sed a few times b4, i'm not nervous 'bout marriage @ all. i know i made the right choice. i'm just nervous 'bout the aktual wedding cos it's such a big, hyped up event. from ken n' grace's wedding, i know weddings r like uc open taekwondo tournaments, as i suspekted all 'long. they r similar cos u'r bizzy all day doing all sorts'f random tasks... n' u got to worry 'bout lots'f li'l details n' logistics... but then 'gain... weddings r just pure celebration, as i've sed in the past. wedding, graduations, n' baby births r all pure celebration! pure joy! <:-/ but i'm still nervous. :-( *breathe* *sigh* i gotta avoid panic mode n' stick in straight4ward, efficient mode. i know what tasks i need to do; so if i just keep a straight, clear mind n' get them done, i'll be fine... we'll be fine! sometimes i think 'bout how we're leaving on our honeymoon the following night after our wedding, so i know we hafta pack up everything very well. we can't 4get stuff. well... i gotta keep a straight, clear head n' just get stuff done. no time to panic, u know?
[later] 730p: i'm the absolute last person to remain in our office
2nite. the 2nd to last guy left a while 'go. this is weird.
back @ my last job, i was always the last person to leave; but
here, ppl arrive @ werk much later, so they stay later. wow, it
feels weird to be 1nce 'gain the last guy to leave the office!
204p: last nite, i werked hard on a hip hop mix set. i had a pretty good mix set, teknically, as in, i think my dj technique was good... however... i was unsatisfied @ the end'f the long nite cos, as i sed earlier in an e.mail, "but then i sat back n' listened to my hip hop mix set, n' realised... shoot, every other wurd is 'f*ck ho b!tch n!gga c@ck s@ckin' d!ck @$$ c@n+'..." *sigh* n' yah... i dunno if that's necessarily good wedding muzik, u know? it was really discouraging, but 2nite i'll finish up that mix set.
as for ceremony muzik, i'm really happy; i think that's really falling into place w/ the string quartet. lessee... what else? program? uh, gotta get crackin' on that! n' uh... thank u cards... so many ppl have given us such nice gifts, n' we need to make some nice thank u cards 4 them. :-)
oh, i just noticed that some guy named chuck signed my gbook! :-) thanks, chuck. wow, he's gonna visit the artic circle; kewl. yah, i'm sorry my gbook has so many pop up ads. it didn't used to be like that, n' i didn't know 'bout these ads cos i use cookie cop. i hate pop ups 2. well, someday i'll migrate my gbook to a better server or sumpthin'... someday. i can't say that's on the top'f my to do list right now... what w/ the wedding being next week n' all. heh.
[later] 248p: well, weather.com sed that it'll be "partly cloudy" on our wedding day w/ 0% precipitation. to that, i responded that it'll be "partly sunny," not "partly cloudy," n' i'm very happy 'bout the 0% precipitation, of course. :-) what's kewl, is there aktually is a chance it won't storm in jeijudo the whole time we're there, according to weather.com.
[later] 526p: the past 2 days, i brought coldcut chicken sandwiches 4
lunch. last nite, 4 dinner, i ate some chicken strips -- costco
chicken strips. did i mention that on tues i got my windshield
replaced? some glass company came to my office in the afternoon n'
replaced my windshield. it was a very bizzy day full'f mtgs.
that was tues. 2day's thurs. i can't believe this week's
really flown by. these past few days, i couldn't werkout @ all
cos'f wedding biz. wedding tasks... i gotta pick up some supplies
after werk.
1109a: so last nite i stayed up till 400a werking on the hip hop mix. it's done, n' i think it's a pretty good produkt. however, i'll spend some time 2nite or 2morrow editing out as much'f the cursing as i can. :-/ it's a decently long mix aktually. as i was werking on it, i really went thru a range'f emotions. of course, i was frustrated @ times. i prob'ly sounded pretty frustrated n' discouraged 'bout it in my entry from yesterday. well, as i was mixing on my cd turntables, i really felt sleepytired n' was @ times really frustrated n' almost bitter w/ the projekt. like, it really felt like werk, u know? as ne professional dj'll tell u, even tho' we love djing, sometimes it feels like "just werk." of course, this projekt isn't a paid gig or nething; but i do know the feeling. there've been times where i djed a long party, n' the hrs feel like they're dragging on. every1 on the floor's havin' a good time, but me? i'm just plain tired. isn't that funny? dj culture. (do u know that pet shop boys' song?) well, last nite, i was up late djing, spinnin', mixin'... yah, @ times, i really did not enjoy the muzik. it's almost ironic... in that alanis morrissette not so ironic sense, that improper use'f the wurd sense. heh. like, sometimes djs r spinnin' party muzik, but, inside, they feelin' like nething but partyin', u know? heh. i was just like puttin' on tracks, n' then waiting 4 the song to progress, so i could mix on to the next track. i started thinkin' "dang! why is hip hop muzik so slow! i wanna get this over w/!!!" well, after a while, my sleepiness made me delirious; so i started enjoying the muzik 'gain. crazy. that state'f deliriousness really helped me mix! i aktually finished the mix in 1 flawless recording. crazy. i mean, i gotta admit, usually, i have 1 or 2 mess ups b4 the final take... i mean... since i'm the dj, i notice every li'l blemish, u know?
neway, so 3 mix sets r done. now, i'm thinkin' bout the 4th. 'member, to fill the nite full'f dancing, i'll need like 8 mix sets! or... well... we'll c.
my company's having 'nother bbq this afternoon. fun, huh? :-) wow, i can't believe it: it's fri, n' it's almost just 1 week till the wedding! alright! our weather 4cast has been upgraded: now weather.com sez "mostly sunny" w/ a hi'f 85f, a low'f 54f, n' still 0% precipitation! :-)
[later] 1233p: yesterday nite; ken, grace, nelson, mike, n' vivian came over to help us w/ some wedding tasks. we really apprciated their help! :-) u know, nelson n' mike told us that there had been some house burglaries on our street recently. :-o ken replied that he wanted to get a coupl'f rottweilers to watch his house. hrm, geez! that's true!!! we really need a doggy... 'least to watch the house! *sigh* i'm very worried that our house isn't safe unless we get a dog!
[later] 343p: @ lunch, my cowerker paul n' i went out to milpitas to huong lan to get some vietnamese sandwiches n' spring rolls 4 lunch 4 the office. i was really hungry. when i got out'f the car (both @ the sandwich shope n' hen we got back), i felt really lightheaded n' weak. i told paul 'bout this n' how it's definitely happened b4 when i don't get 'nuff fud. he asked if i'm diabetic. well, i told him i never thought 'bout it cos, as far as i know, my family totally does not have a history'f that. *shrug* does it sound like i'm diabetic? i really wouldn't think so. *shrug* the beautiful kaela kang'd know. later, paul asked if i had lo blood pressure. i told him 'bout how i used to have low blood pressure b4 all the wedding planning started; now it's almost hi.
[later] 400p: well it's 400p on the 'puter n' 406p on my watch. i hear
some1 opening up the bbq grill! :-)
459p... now aktually, 504p (my werk 'puter's clock is slow!): have u noticed many burdies u c out in the wild (or just simply outside) r so bizzy doing such random things? 2day, in a parking lot, i saw this sparrow trying so hard to fly up the grill in the front of a jeep's hood n' perch on some part'f it... it was trying so hard, but couldn't get a good grip or good angle or sumpthin'. why?! why would it want to sit there?! yesterday, while loading some junk into my car to bring over to ken n' grace's house to werk on random wedding tasks, this 1 brown burdy came hopping into our garage. why? what did it want to find in our garage? it was just curious maybe? *shrug* last nite, as the beautiful kaela kang were leaving ken n' grace's house, after werking on many random wedding tasks, there was some burdy in a tree across the street totally chirping its head off! some burdies r nocturnal, u know? this was 1 loud nocturnal burdy. it sounded like a car alarm!!!
well, we've been very, very, very bizzy w/ various, random wedding tasks. ken n' grace have been the biggest help!!!!! nelson, mike, vivian, n' billy have also been really helpful! wow, they're great! i can't believe how much these friends have helped us! :-)
this weekend, i finished so much muzik stuff. last nite, we did most'f the assembly 4 the wedding favour thingy, which i'll talk 'bout later. we made a bunch'f other crafty decoration thingies 2. *sigh* it's crazy. yesterday was a very produktive day. (yesterday was sun; 2day's mon.)
oh yah! toby n' betty r getting married! :-) i'm gonna be 1'f toby's groomsmen! :-) wow! kaela's n' my wedding planning is coming to an end, n' their's is just starting! :-) wow, life sure is exciting, huh? :-)
2day, @ lunch, kaela come over to my office, n' we went to myungdong soondubujip. aktually, i didn't eat soondubu there; i had dotori naeng kong gooksoo (cold acorn soybean milk buckwheat noodles). kaela had it 1nce b4. i wanted it 2day cos it's a pretty warm day. it was very good. :-) man, i had a cup'f coffee this morn in the office. after lunch, i got a tall nf cap from the starbucks drive.thru. crazy. last nite, i went to sleep earlier than i have in a long time, since we got so much done. also, i had to give my mom a ride to werk this morn, so i knew i had to sleep. oh shoot! i haven't showered in a while! i just realised that. :-( i haven't showered since... well... yesterday morn? *shrug* neway... yah, the past week n' 0.5 or so, i've been going to sleep every nite @ like 300a or 400a! yesterday nite was asleep by like *shrug* 130a or 200a. i had to wake up just a il'l earlier, but it was the most sleep i've gotten in a long time. it sucks, but that's what it takes to put on our wedding. the bad part'f the lack'f sleep was how i kept having these awful headrushes these past few days, where i'd pretty much blackout, go blind, n' not be able to stand... heh... sounds pretty bad, huh? *sigh* yah... i guess it's not 2 good... *sigh*
oh yah, last week, clarence lao signed my gbook! thanks, clarence! wow, we haven't cn clarence in a long time. can't wait to hang out 'gain, clarence!
oh yah, last fri or so, we got our engagement portraits back... well, our fotographer (philippe lee from jade photography) put them online 4 us to c. i guess these r just the proofs. neway, i dunno if i'm 'llowed to post them online, but i did manage to sort'f werk my way into the server in such a way that i could dl the pics as .jpg even tho' the webpage tries to make it so u can only do a .bmp screencapture'f them. *shrug* wow... our wedding! it's really gonna happen!
this morn, i talked to the gurl who's in charge'f the string quartet that's gonna play @ our wedding. that's all put into order. *breathe* it's crazy! it's all gonna werk out! :-)
i need a haircut, tho'... :-/
1055a: it's tues morn. how r u? i didn't go over to ken n' grace's yesterday, but i had planned to after resting up after werk @ home. ken told me just to stay home n' rest since i've been so worn out. well, i werked on some other wedding stuff. i wanted to go to sleep by 200a but stayed up till 'bout 300a. if ne1 has the guts to say sumpthin' stoopid to me right now like "you should've done this stuff earlier," i shall serious rip his/her head off! >:-( u know, it's like my skool projekts. some #@$!ers could really say $#!+ like "you should've worked on this stuff earlier." well, !$@#! it's not like i wasn't werking on stuff earlier! u just don't understand how much werk this $#!+ takes! [a li'l later] 1109a: neway, i must sound quite stressed out, n' i am... a li'l. however, ken n' grace've been the biggest help!
neway, ken just called me, n' i feel so much more relieved. seriously! i can't emphasize how big'f a help he n' grace r!!! i aktually still have a bit more muzik stuff to do 4 the wedding. do u realise how i've wanted my wedding to be very musikal? have u noticed how inconsistent my spelling'f "muzik" or "musik" is?! neway, my pt is: i guess musik's always been a big part'f my life, so yah, i really care 'bout the musik @ our wedding... well... i guess i'm focusing more on the wedding reception/banquet/party. the ceremony: yah, i care 'bout that 2, but the musicians'll take care'f that.
last nite, the big stressor n' waste'f my time was sorting out the table seating 4 the dinner reception. frick! that was the worst gre logikal problem nightmare. i had to figure out how to arrange ppl by who likes whom, who doesn't like whom, what languages do ppl speak, what interests do ppl have, where do these ppl live, etc. neway, if ne1 complains 'bout where he/she sits @ the dinner, i shall rip his/her head off! >:-( have u noticed how i shall be ripping lots'f heads off?
[later] 1219p: my cowerker paul wants to go get pho 4 lunch. i guess i'll go. i had brought a costco chicken bake w/ me to lunch, but maybe i'll just save it 4 an afternoon snack later... or an early evening snack. (notice how i don't abbreviate "evening" to "eve" these days? i was just worried 2 many'f u were getting confused. *shrug*) *sigh* i know i need to relax n' unwind a li'l, so i figure going out to lunch'll be good 4 me. these past coupl'f weeks it's been nonstop werk: werk n' then wedding stuff, werk n' then wedding stuff.
[later] 1226p: wow, u know, next week's my nephew mason's 1st b.day. can u believe that? it's been a yr. he's a really cute li'l boy. i can't wait to c him 'gain.
[later] 347p: y! weather sez it'll be 56-87f on sat, "mostly sunny."
[later] 529p: can i read off my handspring while "reciting" my vows? :-(
[later] 608p: shoot! i gotta get out'f here n' go buy some vellum paper 4
the wedding ceremony program! :-o ken told me that store closes @
700p. :-o later 2nite, i gotta werk on more muzik stuff. i hope i
can make more mixes as well as make the muzik 4 the "cocktail" hr n'
dinner. <:-/ ugh, i'm getting that freaked out feeling in my
stomach. maybe it's the pho. altho' i like eating pho
('specially w/ plenty'f sriracha hot sauce), i do often get
stomachaches from it. :-/
230p: i'm very anxious; i've got a jittery feeling in my stomach. i only have 1 more full day to prepare 4 the wedding. running 'round, running 'round; trying to prioritise tasks, so that we 'least hit the most important. :-o panic? urgh, i'd like to say i'm as kewl as a kewkumber, but uh... yah, i'm a li'l nervous... nervous? well, i usually say "anxious," not nervous. i feel "nerves," yah; but i don't like to say i'm "nervous," no. so many random tasks, u know? n' on top'f all this, we gotta pack 4 korea. crazy, huh? 'member the last time i went to korea? i had time to think 'bout what i'd pack etc. now? uh... i just gotta sort'f grab what i can. luckily, i managed to make a run over to brookstone during my lunchtime n' grab a foreign voltage converter. i bet i could've gotten it cheaper somewhere else, but i had to go to valley fair to get some other things neway, n' i knew 4 sure that brookstone had them, while i don't have time to run 'round searching diff stores 4 the absolute cheapest price, u know? :-/
so what's been up? uh... obviously wedding planning. yesterday, i stopped by ken n' grace's after werk. they fed me some yummy chicken w/ shroom sauce that grace cooked. ken n' i went to our house n' werked on the program, while i werked on some muzik stuff. u'd think i'd be done by now, but really! as far muzik, i still have some very important tasks. as u should know by now, muzik is a very important part'f the wedding to me. oh yah, b4 i went over to ken n' grace's, i stopped by a nearby salon to get my haircut... i mean, a place nearby to my office. i was gonna have them cut n' colour my hair, but they only take ca$h, so i could only afford a haircut. then i swung by a place to get some other stuff 4 the wedding n' then drove to ken n' grace's. later, ken n' i returned back to his n' grace's place, n' the beautiful kaela kang joined us there n' werked on programs w/ ken, grace, n' billy. really! ken n' grace've been the biggest help! it's unbelievable!
well, what tasks r left? 1) gotta finish the reception muzik cds; 2) gotta gather up all my dj equipment including lights, extension cords, etc.; 3) gather up all the decorations, etc.; 4) pack 4 korea; 5) clean up the mess, so that relatives can stay @ our house... *sigh* grr!
[later] 456p: as i've discussed b4, right now i'm going thru a cycle'f emotions... i go from briefly relaxed to jittery in the stomach to sleepy to jittery in the stomach to briefly relaxed... *sigh* i feel really queasy, i think. we have a company bbq 'gain in 'bout 0.5 hr. i didn't really eat lunch, just had a mango tango boba drink from bosion delight, the boba place in valley fair. originally, the bbq was s'pposed to start @ 400p, but they postponed it. argh! i guess i really do think i'm a ball'f nervous energy. :-/
[later] 704p: so my company had our bbq. in honour of my
wedding, they had champagne. we ate lots'f tri.tip steak n' then
had cake: just steak n' cake, nuthin' else. well... steak, cake, n'
champagne. what a meal, huh? well, i gotta go pick up my tux
soon.
939a: 오늘 제가 장가 할게요. :-) 2day, i'm getting married. can u believe that? this is the last day i can refer to the beautiful kaela kang.
1134p: i'm @ lax, gate 105, waiting 4 korean air flight 012 to incheon
w/ the beautiful kaela
hwang. :-)
717p pdt / 1117오전: 지금 the beautiful kaela hwang 하고 제가 제주도부터 브산시까지 가는 비행기에 타고있어요. 제주도에서 많이 재미 있었어요.
[2003.08.03, translation added] right now, the
beautiful kaela
hwang n' i r on a plane from jeijoodo to boosan city. we had
lots'f fun in jeijoodo.
1253a: the beautiful kaela hwang n' i r in seoul now in the lotte world hotel. i need a pair'f nail clippers n' a 때수건 ddae sooguhn, an exfoliating towel. i dunno where to start this update cos i know i haven't done a real update in a long time, but i hope u can 4give me since we're on our honeymooon n' all... heh. well, we were in 제주 jeijoo @ the beginning'f our korea trip. right now, we're finishing up this tour package that started @ 제주도 jeijoodo n' travelled north, mostly along the east coast n' then west to 서울 seoul. there's so much to talk 'bout. i really dunno where to start. well, most importantly; yes, we've been having a good time. let's c, what else? uhm, well... we've been taking lots'f pics n' lots'f vids. someday, when i can be more confident that every1's using broadband n' that internet bandwidth isn't such an awful prob, i'd love to put more vids on my journal instead'f just text n' pics. yah, that'd be kewl, i guess... even tho' writing isn't the same thing as speaking, u know? if i had a video journal, i'd be speaking, not writing. if i even had an audio journal, i'd be speaking instead'f writing. i dunno. i don't think my readers'd be interested in an audio journal, so i don't really purue that. would u readers be more interested in a video journal tho'? *shrug* well, neway, my pt was that we have lots'f pics n' lots'f video. well, we visited lots'f nat'l parks or 공원 gongwuhn... korean nat'l parks. we've been in lots'f nature. well, in jeijoo, we got to stay/lodge in a wonderful, magnificent resort hotel, the 신라 shilla hotel. ooh, right now the korean movie j.s.a. is on tv. maybe i'll watch that instead'f writing my journal entry!
[later] 812p: jang sabuhmnim's gonna come c us soon. 2day, we went to 용인시 yongin city to visit the korean folk village. i'd been there back in 1999. we were s'pposed to visit 경복궁 kyuhngbokgoong (the palace n' the museum), but it was raining decently, n' we didn't have umbrellas, so the tour group voted just to go back to the hotel. in the late afternoon, kaela n' i walked over to lotte mart to buy lots'f li'l things n' a bunch'f water. we ate jjajangmyuhn in the lotte mart basement. man, i have such fob stories 'bout 2day, in that i'm such a fob here! i didn't understand the ordering process in the lotte mart fud ct. i went straight up the jjajangmyuhn booth n' tried to order. upes, i found out i was s'pposed to go to the central cashier to order fud from ne of the food booths. then, i went there to pay n' got a receipt. we waited n' waited 4 our fud. shoot! i didn't know we were s'pposed to give the receipt to the booth! that's how they get ur order, u c. we were just waiting 'round 4 nuthin'! well, the ppl @ the jjajangmyuhn booth had a good laff @ my expen$e, i s'ppose cos they saw me waiting 4 nearby @ the table... i mean, i was just clueless... n' i guess they had no way'f knowing i was waiting 4 fud or what.
yesterday, we found fud in the basement of lotte department store. lotte department store is ur typikal asian department store: they sell really expen$ive designer clothes in a bunch'f li'l areas devoted to each designer, n' they have a fud area in the basement. that's pretty typikal'f asian department stores. aktually, i know the sf union square macy's sort'f has this arrangment 2, i guess, huh?
man! as i sed b4, i dunno where to start updating u!!! we're pretty much finished w/ our tour... now it's just vacation. we went to 제주도 jeijoodo, 부산 busan (pusan), 경주 gyuhngjoo (gyeongju), 설악산 suhlaksan (soraksan), n' finally 서울 suhool (seoul). we stayed in what r korea's nicest hotels... but aktually, they really vary in quality from our observations. man! the shilla hotel in jeijoo is really nice! every morn, in each'f these hotels, we had buffet breakfasts that had lots'f euro.amerikan fud as well as some asian (korean, chinese, japanese) fud. 4 lunch n' dinner, the tour brought us to diff very traditional korean restaurants. in 부산 busan (pusan), we skipped out on the tour group dinner n' just went exploring the city, kaela n' i. that nite, we ate 떡볶이 dduhkbokki n' 김밥 kimbap. we also got some 팥빙수 patbingsoo from dunkin' donuts. heh, funny, huh? the only other 팥빙수 patbingsoo we've had was from popeye's chicken! ha ha. funny, huh? of course, i've been really happy when the hotel has mnet (korean musik channel). un4tunately, in the lotte world hotel, we don't have mnet or kmtv or nething... i 'member back in 1999 in the olympic parktel, we had both mnet n' kmtv. does kmtv still exist? i'm sure it does!
we've been 'round lots'f nature. well, now we're in the city. thru.out our tour, i've been exposed to lots'f diff 사투리 satoori, provincial korean accents. 2day, this tourist man @ the folk village asked me to help him w/ his camera. of course, my korean isn't 2 great, so i already had trouble understanding him, n' then he had a really, really, really thick, funky 사투리 satoori. @ times, i couldn't tell he was speaking korean... it sort'f sounded like japanese or sumpthin'. *shrug*
coffee here in korea is usually served in very small cups, kaela sadly learned. well, we have yet to visit a starbucks, n' i did c a woman w/ 2 starbucks style/size cups sometime yesterday or some other day. i don't think they were from starbucks but from some other café. *shrug* i dunno.
well, when we don't have mnet, we can still watch dramas n' sitcoms. we've watched some episodes'f bodyguard, nonstop, screen... what else? *shrug* some other shows... we also c some news magazine shows, some korean english gameshows on arirang... some musikal or variety shows... as i mentioned earlier, we watched j.s.a. last nite (or early this morn).
1 nite in jeijoo (i think it was the last nite in jeijoo), we went to the nice bar/lounge n' had cocktails n' 항치 hangchi (squid, dried squid). it was a very nice place.
2day's mon, n' lotte department store was closed, but lotte mart was open. most'f the mall was closed.
every hotel we've been to has an extremely overpriced minibar, which we never patronise. on our wedding nite, in the cypress hotel, we did use a big bottle'f fiji water, which co$t us a whopping $4! :-/ well... it's better than not having water, u know.
the traffik 2day was really awful. it was really a mon(day). on sun, the drive from suhlraksan to seoul was pretty bad 2. it was like an end'f a vacation commute from tahoe to the bay area. lots'f families had headed 4 the summer weekend from seoul to suhraksan. in suhrlaksan n' gyuhngjoo, we saw lots'f historical buddhist sites, i guess... that n' lots'f nature. @ all these tourists spots, i realised that there were many, many other korean.amerikan tour groups like ours. i kept hearing korean kids speaking total amerikan english over n' over. it was quite an interesting experience! i guess we hit all the really touristy spots. now that we're in seoul, we don't hafta do so many touristy things; we can do things more like the locals do. i've always liked that better, 4 the most part, as u might know.
1 interesting thing 'bout this korean.amerikan tour group is the reminder i got that korean.amerikan culture n' the korean.amerikan community r sooo tied in w/ the christian church, u know? we had 2 pastors in our tour group. 1 was a much older man, more'f a 할아버지 halabuhji... but since he's a pastor, we called him 목사님 moksanim. the other was a middle.aged father w/ 5 kids. he brought 2 sons w/ him. the 1st moksanim was more the kind'f pastor i know i've looked 4 in a church... not that the other pastor wasn't also a nice guy. the other moksanim was more'f a conservative.thinking guy, u know. when the 1st moksanim left, he sed sumpthin' very good to kaela n' me: he encouraged us to find a church n' go to church... but more important to me, he sed that it was ok it's sort'f ok that single ppl don't go to church, but now that we're married, we'll hafta raise a family n' it's more important now that we go to church. i mean... that might sound kind'f weird to some ppl: some ppl'd think a pastor should never say it's ok not to go to church... others just plain disagree w/ the idea that church necessarily equates to good family values... but i personally just appreciate his levelheadedness n' logical reasoning, etc. u know? the funny thing is that his church is in ontario, pretty close to kaela's parents' home. well... i had all this re.exposure to korean.amerikan christian church life... n' @ the same time i had all this exposure to ancient, traditional korean buddhist culture... it was quite a juxtaposition!
thru.out this trip, i really saw over n' over more proof that korea n' taiwan have so much in common. i've expressed this opinion many times b4... but man! it's really true... i mean, the obvious diff is that the language is diff n' the fud is diff... n' yah yah, there r many, many things that distinguish the 2 countries, but yah! there's also sooo much in common. thru.out the countryside n' in the cities, like, i c lots'f scenery that support my opinion. 1 thing, i noticed that i thought differentiated korea from taiwan is how i realised that the korean language borrows from english even more than i already knew it did. u know what i mean? like, u might c a wurd in 한글 hangeul, n' well... if u can read hangeul, it looks @ 1st like a korean wurd. if u can't read hangeul, u just assume it's a korean wurd. then if u can read hangeul n' know what's going on, u realise the wurd is just an english wurd koreanised into hangeul, u know? @ 1st, i thought, wow! that really differentiates korea from taiwan. however, later i realised... maybe in taiwan they do that 2... but i can't read many chinese characters, so maybe it's just that i don't realise that chinese also borrows wurds from english. *shrug* well... *shrug* maybe, maybe not... well... i guess i Still believe that korean n' japanese borrow from english more than chinese does, but i dunno.
oh! speaking of chinese/korean... there was this elderly couple on the tour w/ us, where the 할머니 halmuhni was a korean woman n' the 할아버지 halabuhji was a chinese man who lived in korea. i 1st clued in on this when i heard the halmuhni say to the halabuhji "ni yao bu yao huh shwei?" (do u want to drink water?) later, i heard them speaking in mandarin 'gain. then i noticed that his name was 4 hangeul characters, not 3... n' that it was cos he had a koreanised chinese name... a chinese name phonetically spelled out in hangeul. later, during a lunch, we heard the halmuhni answer her rented cellfon n' speak 4 a long time in mandarin. kaela asked her 'bout it n' she sed she learned chinese from her husband n' that he was a chinese man who lived in korea. interesting. oh, n' this whole time the tour group just assumed i'm ethnically korean n' just have trouble speaking korean now n' then cos i was born n' raised in amerika. yah, sometimes i feel weird letting ppl think i'm korean, but u know what? i really don't like it when ppl stress so much in trying not to speak korean to me cos they think i won't understand when i know it's easier 4 us to communicate in korea, u know? however, i know some koreans just plain feel weird speaking korean to some1 who they know isn't korean... so well... like, yah, all that makes me conclude that i don't mind if ppl just go 'round thinking i'm korean unless they're know me well 'nuff to know that they can just go 'round speaking korean to me even tho' i'm taiwanese. 4 example, the u.s. taekwondo ppl n' yoon sabuhmnim r like that.
more 'bout korea/taiwan: while @ this 1 tourist spot, this boat dock by this waterfall in jeijoo, i heard a whole bunch'f tourists speaking taiwanese. i told kaela that the scene could've been really reminiscent of our wedding, which had been just a few days 'go. after all, that was 1 event/place where u could've easily heard lots'f korean n' taiwanese conversation both @ 1nce. of course, ken n' grace's wedding would've been 1 other event where u would've been able to hear that! neway, yah! @ all these korean tourist spots, there were lots'f taiwanese tourists.
it's now 915p. jang sabuhmnim's stuck in a traffik jam, but i guess he'll be here soon. it's mon nite. we're here till sat... we're in korea till sat, but 2morrow we're leaving lotte hotel to stay w/ kaela's cousin. s'pposedly she lives in gyuhnggido, not seoul... *shrug* we're a li'l confused. 용인시 yong.in city's in gyuhngido.
[later] 1136p: well, jang sabuhmnim came n' hung out 4 a while. he brought w/ him this really good cake, a bottle'f red wine, n' the cutest gift: a pair'f mashimaro dolls, dressed in taekwondo gear (w/ sparring headgear), which kiss when u put them 2gether. can u imagine that?! like, earlier 2nite, kaela n' i saw a taekwondo mashimaro doll that sed sumpthin' (i 4get) when u squeeze him, but we did not ever c a pair of kissing taekwondo mashimaro dolls! crazy! well, jang sabuhmnim n' we talked 4 a while n' had a good time. he werks hard as a taekwondo n' p.e. instruktor. he prob'ly really badly needs his sleep, so he didn't stay 2 late. kaela n' i r s'pposed to go to 동대문 dongdaemoon 4 "morning shopping" @ midnite or 100a w/ a couple'f the moms from the tour. "morning shopping" is sort'f like "nite market" in taiwan n' hk, but well... it's aktually diff. i think "morning shopping" in seoul is more just clothes shopping, if i 'member correktly... it's clothes shopping n' it's really cheap, i think. last time, in 1999, when i went "morning shopping," i didn't buy nething, but i 'member it was fun. i s'ppose if we rn't staying in seoul after 2morrow, then this is our last chance.
right now on tv, there's this celebrity game show on. there's this 1 woman; i think... i'm pretty sure she's totally korean, but she has totally blonde, short hair n' 4 some reason doesn't look that asian, altho' she's totally speaking korean. (i dunno why i'm saying "totally" over n' over... :-/) i dunno who she is. 4 some reason, when i 1st saw her, i wondered if she was the gurl from the muzik group cool (or kul or the cool or the kul), but she's not. i dunno why i wondered if that was her. *shrug* i feel like i've cn her n' this show b4. when the celebrity answers a question wrong, he/she gets blasted in the face w/ a blast'f compressed air. *shrug* it's on sbs. from where i'm sitting on the hotel bed, i can't clearly read the name'f the show, written funkily in the upper left corner'f the screen: 야심만만 yashimmanman??? *shrug*
oh yah... heh... i have a funny story: as we boarded the bus to leave soraksan the other day (i guess yesterday, in the morn), this 1 아줌마 ajoomma travelling by herself, she asked me "saeksi uhdiyo?" i was confused. "sexy uhdiyo?!" i thought. "moouh?" i asked. "saeksi! saeksi uhdiyo?" she repeated. "noogooyo?" i asked. "saeksi! wife! uhdiyo?" "oh! olgeiyo." kaela was using the restroom in our hotel room but was gonna come down soon. still, i was confused... was this old woman calling my wife "sexy?" i mean, sure... she is, but i was really shocked. heh, later, i looked up "saeksi" in the korean.english diktionary, n' realised that "saeksi" is aktually a wurd 4 bride or wife. "aah! i c!" heh...
1046a: we're in our lotte hotel room right now. we're not gonna be here much longer. we're just waiting 4 the beautiful kaela hwang's cousin to pick us up. we're just watching tv, etc. last nite, i was unable to wake kaela up 4 "morning shopping" in 당대문 dongdaemoon, so we didn't go. neway, it was raining pretty decently, so well... oh well. heh, i sed last nite that it was "raining pretty decently," i think. it's just that it's not pouring; it's just raining enuf that u can really say it's raining not sprinkling or nething. aktually, right now, it's not raining. earlier this morn, it was raining. maybe it won't rain 4 the rest'f the day. we'll c.
so what else interesting is there 4 me to talk 'bout right now? well... i hope we have a 불고기 버거bulgogi burger somewhere sometime. i know both 맥도날드 maekdonaldeu n' 롯데리아 lotteria sell them. some places also have 새우 버거 saewoo buhguh (shrimp burger). maybe we can try that 2. *shrug* man, it's all 'bout fud, huh? yah, when travelling to asia, there's sooo much good fud. it's sooo available n' usually cheaper than in amerika! really! i'm eating sooo much here. u know, i really like korean fud! :-) i eat more rice here than @ home. i mean, especially since in the past yr, @ home, i've tried to balance my diet out w/ more protein, so i've consequentially eaten less rice. however, here i'm eating as much rice as i used to, back when i was trying to eat more carbs n' less protein.
what else can i talk 'bout? i know i haven't talked 'bout the aktual wedding yet. yah... that'll take a long time to discuss, so i figured i'd save it 4 later. *shrug* well... here, there's lots'f cute things. sometimes we get to c cute doggies, n' we really like that. in asia, there lots'f cute logos n' trademarks. we really like that! we hate how in amerika there r so few cute logos, trademarks, or mascots. in amerika, companies try 2 hard to have real "dignified," "strong" images. *roll eyes* they're afraid to be cute. in asia, companies rn't afraid to be cute, so they have cute logos. we really like that! :-) *big smile*
1138a, 서울 (seoul): 오늘 벌써 7월 31일 예요. 난 믿얼 수 없어요. 내일 8월이 시작할겠어요. 아이... 믿얼 수 없죠. i can't believe it'll be august 2morrow. right now, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i r waiting to take traditional korean wedding portraits. right now, kaela's getting her hair done. next, they're gonna put make up on me! crazy, huh? whatever it takes to get some good pics.
yesterday, we hung out in seoul w/ jang sabuhmnim n' kaela's cousins yoonjoo n' heejin. we're staying w/ kaela's cousins yoonjoo n' taehoon in 일산 (ilsan).
[later] 1210p: 아직도 기달고있어요. the salon's currently playing
this kewl acappella cd. some acappella group's singing don mclean's
"american pie." i'm sure toby'd like it.
오전 321 (321a), 일산 (ilsan): wow, 2day (2nite), we return home. we came home from clubbing just a while 'go. the beautiful kaela hwang n' i were a bit disappointed cos we couldn't go to a real korean club. her cousin took us to the 홍익대 (hongik dae) neighbourhood, where apparently more 4reigners hang out. we couldn't find a club there that didn't play amerikan/euro musik. :-(
[잠시후에, later] 오후 930, 930p: 지금 대한항공 011펴 타고있어요. [잠시후에, later] 오후 1005, 1005p: 비행기에서 저녁을 먹었어요. 이전하고 이제 비빔밥 먹었어요. 2주전에 서울에 비행기 타고 있을때 비빔밥 먹었도. 오늘 비빔밥을 다시 먹었어요. 아이고... 한국 떠다면 많이 섭섭해요. :-( 미국에 돌아와고 싫어해요. :-( 그럼... 아무든 나 우리 많이 재미 었었어요. 우리 한국 많이 좋아해요.
와! 오늘에 우리의 결혼식부터 2주가 지났어요! 미들 수가 없어요! [later] 1043p: the flight attendants peddaling duty.free merchandise bumped into me, n' i spilled a li'l coffee on myself. they didn't notice, but i asked 'nother flight attendant 4 some napkins. kaela went to the restroom, so she didn't c that happen. 우무래도 우리으 겨혼식브터 2주 지냈어죠. 으리의 미국있는 생활을 잘 기억하지 못해요. 우리의 매일 하는걸잘 기억 안해요. 우리의 daily routine를 좀 잊었어요. 그렇지만 지금 미국에 돌아오기후에 결혼식의 준비 하기 필요 없잖아요! heh, 그래서 생활 다르겠어요. 정말요! 와! 많이 시간더 있겠어요. @ least,난 그걸기대요. 두고 보자. 매일 제육관에 가볼게요. 혹시 사실은 매일 갈 수 없겼어요.
[잠시후에, later] 우후 227, 227p (pacific standard time): i've travelled back in time! heh heh. 아무튼 중단되었어요. i was interrupted. kaela 다시 약혼 반지 하고 결혼 반지 잃었어요. 못잦잤어요. 잠시동안 못잦았어요. :-( 다시 화장실에 남기었어요. 이제 누구 애기가 잦았어요. 반지 이뻐때문에 애기 간직하고 싶었어요. flight attendants 좀 announcement 방송했어때 애기가 반지를 돌아주었요. 그러지만 she didn't want to be identified. probably scared... she didn't know they were valuable, just thought they were really pretty. 좀 힘들었어지만 지금 다괜찮아요. @:-/
정말 한국 떠나기때문에 많이 섭섭해요! 미국 생활는요? 매일밤 simpsons을 볼 수있겠어요. 다시 매일밤 simpsons 볼 수 있어요. 한개 좋은 거 에요. every time i visit a 4reign country, i come back really disappointed in amerika 4 its irresponsibility, egotism, narrowmindedness... ppl r so much more responsible in korea. honestly, there's a much better sense'f community. ppl take care'f each other better there, n' werkers r so much more responsible! i know it sounds really bad to say, but it's like ppl r just smarter there than in amerika. like, even the 맥도날드 maekdonaldeu/mcyukyuk werkers r so diligent n' responsible. in amerika, that's so unheard'f! *sigh* also, kaela n' i'll of course miss how cute everything is there! 귀여운것 많이 보고 싶겠어요! 1 thing i had to get myself used to on this trip was having ppl speak 존대말 jondaemal, speak 4mally to me. u know, like, there r often times where i hafta speak 4mally n' deferentially to some1 else, but i wasn't so used to the complementary case, the reciprocal case. especially since we got to stay in nice hotels, staff ppl spoke so nicely n' 4mally to me, n' @ 1st, i was so unused to it n' had an even harder time comprehending them. however, i sort'f got used to it. 이 여행에서 많이 존대말 하고 사투리 들었어요.
s.e.s.의 김유진의 solo 데뷰 노래 "the best" 많이 좋아해요. 그 노래를 많이 들었어요. 그리고 서연의 어떤 여름 노래... 이름... 아니... 제목을 잊었어요. 그리고 퍼니 funny의 노래 하고 주월리 jewelry의 노래 많이 들었어 하고 비디오 (아니면 비디요) 를 많이 봤어요.
(2day's tues.)
231p: sorry 4 the lack'f translation 4 my last entry so far. i'll get to that eventually. i was hoping to post up some pics from the wedding n' honeymoon, but i also have yet to do that. sorry. uhm... in the meantime, check out this article! starbucks stores vandalized in san francisco from y! news. apparently, 17 starbucks were got hit by these ppl who put up "for lease" signs and letters that sed the stores were closing. @ many'f the stores, "the windows were soaped up and locks were jammed, leaving empolyees waiting outside to start their shifts." "one flyer posted outside one store said, ' we are moving over and making room for local coffee bars, our last best example of our commitment to fine coffee and local culture that got us into the business in the first place.'" heh heh... pretty interesting! u r prob'ly confused: do i like starbucks or hate it?!?! *shrug* well, i hate the concept'f starbucks cos it's a jumbo megacorporation dominating an industry that ought to be run by lots'f li'l indie (independent) biznesses, like those u find in berkeley. however, i end up going to starbucks 'lot cos they r so prevalent n' convenient n' cos the beautiful kaela hwang cms to like them ok. :-/
[later] 503p: 2day, @ lunch, i went to hangook market on el camino n' got some soondae n' kimbap to go. when i got back to the office, kaela kang met me there to give me some ca$h that she got from exchanging my korean won 4 u$ dollar$.
well, i guess i'll finally talk 'bout the wedding n' slowly put some pics up! :-) well, the wedding went great. lemme tell u, we'd planned 4 over 1.5 yrs, right? we planned sooo many things. some'f the things didn't happen or didn't turn out right, but i guess since we supersaturated the event w/ bells n' whistles, in the end ppl didn't notice n' didn't know that we aktually had more planned than what aktually turned out, u know? li'l things got 4gotten, got left undone, or got messed up. however, they were just li'l things, n' in the end i guess i can say it was a beautiful wedding! man! it was a beautiful wedding thanks to all the help we got from friends! :-) 'gain, i can't emphasize 'nuff how much ken n' grace helped out!
the wedding wasn't until 400p on saturday, july 19, 2003. in the morn, i woke up @ home, alone. kaela spent the nite @ the hotel w/ her friends ling n' jennifer. we had been up pretty late neway on fri nite after the rehearsal still werkin' on stuff, 'specially flowers n' the muzik (since i had discovered my final mix set had a big problem.) ken came over in the morn cos we planned to steam a bunch'f shao mai (dimsum thingies) as part'f the hors d'ouvres. in the end, my mom did most'f that cooking. by noon, ken, grace, nelson, n' i were off to the bakery to pick up the cakes. i can't believe i drove my own wedding cake from aki's bakery to our ceremony site, villa montalvo. i wish we had that on video or foto, but i don't think we do. it's crazy! how many guys drive over their own wedding cakes?! well, when we got to villa montalvo, after ken had bravely n' dextrously moved the cake out'f the car n' onto a pushcart, the guys setup the dj equipment while the gurls setup the banquet n' ceremony areas.
i tried to budget my time n' the groomsmen's time well. i was worried we'd be totally behind skedule, but aktually, it turned out 'bout just right! :-) @ some pt, i told all the groomsmen to drop what they were doing n' to hand off the dj setup duties to other guys like mc joon n' (pseudo)dj supermike. :-) @ that pt, all the groomsmen n' i headed upstairs to groom ourselves n' get dressed.
as i was shaving, i tried to relax. i thought to myself how i wanted to do a very thorough job, to give myself a really close, clean shave, but not to cut myself @ all. i tried to relax n' not panic. i really wanted to look good on this most important day'f my life.
the gurls had been getting ready all morn n' into the afternoon.
well, i'm a bizzy guy, as u know, so i can't afford to tell u the whole story all @ 1nce. u'll just hafta keep checking my journal to read more. :-)
2nite, kaela n' i'll go to taekwondo practice. it'll be the 1st
time in almost a month, i guess. crazy.
(in order to continue my wedding story, i gotta keep deleting the previous entry from the recent entries page in order to keep the recent entries page short 'nuff 4 viewing on older palm os systems like my handspring, so u'll hafta visit the archive to read the previous chapter, if u r reading this from the recent entries page.)
1048a: 2day's foxtrot n' boondocks r really funny. as 4 real news, check out: "Sen. Dianne Feinstein's statement on the gubernatorial recall" from kpix.com.
well, i should translate my entry from 2003.08.02 ("icn.lax"), the parts i wrote in korean:
"930p: now we're on korean
airlines flight 011. [later] 1005p: we ate dinner on the plane.
last time n; this time, we ate bibimbap. 2 weeks 'go on the
plane to seoul, we also ate bibimbap. 2day we're eating bibimbap
'gain. aigo, i'm really disappointed to leave korea. :-( i don't
wanna go back to amerika. oh well... neway, we had lots'f fun.
we really like korea.
wow! 2day, 2 weeks've passed since our wedding! i can't believe
it! ... [ok, some english parts...]
neway, 2 weeks've really passed since our wedding. i can't
really remember our amerikan lifestyle. i can't remember the things
we do everyday. i sort'f 4get our daily routine. however,
when we get back to amerika, we don't need to prepare 4 the wedding!
heh, thus life'll be different. @ least, i hope so.
let's wait n' c. every day, i'll try to go to the gym. of
course, aktually, i can't go to the gym every day.
really, we're so disappointed to leave korea! how's amerikan
life? every nite we'll be able to watch simpsons.
again, every nite, we can watch simpsons. that's 1 good
thing. [lots'f english here...]
on this trip, i heard lots'f jondaemal (4mal speaking). i really
like s.e.s's kim yoojin's solo debut song "the best." i heard that
song 'lot. also, we heard some "summer" song by suh yuhn 'lot.
the name... i mean... title, i 4got. also, we heard funny's
n' jewelry's song 'lot n' saw their videos 'lot.
that's it. i didn't saw ne bad things 'bout u! :-)
[later] 1124a: man, i have so much credit card spending to pay off right now cos'f the wedding. i mean, i haven't let ne of it go into financing, but i'm gonna make a big payment in a few days. this wedding was... well, expen$ive. there were so many li'l co$ts that added up. u know, like if u try to calculate the co$t'f this wedding, it won't add up to the amt we $pent cos u'll miss all the li'l co$ts that really added up! i won't be buying myself nething 4 a while.
skool starts in a coupl'f weeks. crazy. [a li'l later] i so badly need a haircut. [later] 259p: @ lunchtime, i went to great clips on el camino in santa clara n' got a haircut. afterwards, i got a turkey n' avocado sandwich from java city next door, to go. i ate it in the car on my way back to werk.
[later] 403p: oh, 'nother song we kept cing the video of in korea was lim changjung's "soju hanjan". the video's a li'l depressing. :-/
[later] 442p: ok, time to resume telling u 'bout the wedding. heh... were u waiting 4 the next installment? :-) or maybe u don't wanna hear. *shrug*
well, lessee... i left off w/ our getting ready. well, as i sed, things were more on skedule than i expekted, but only cos i expekted worse. "asian time," u know? i figured we'd be like really late cos we'd be on "asian time," n' we'd stress out the site coordinator, but no! we weren't that bad! :-) right on time, a li'l b4 400p, we were all lined up!
as we stood there lined up, i felt kind'f weird cos things were going so on time. i just wasn't used to that, heh. i felt like we were 'bout to do a taekwondo demo, all lined up. it felt like the uc open taekwondo demos or the wutc taekwondo demo. the afternoon b4, when we were standing in those exakt spots 4 the rehearsal, we were very, very tardy; n' i felt really nervous. i was really nervous cos i was worried that the site coordinator was really pi$$ed @ us. our rehearsal was really rushed cos there was some big, famous concert @ villa montalvo that nite, so we were getting kicked out early.
i had hired a string quartet from the san josé youth symphony orchestra to play 4 the ceremony. do u 'member? i used to play bassoon 4 the san josé youth symphony orchestra back in my sr yr of hi skool. well, to the musik, the processional started. if u know me, u know i'm sometimes a really 4mal guy. if u really know me, u know it's sometimes hard 4 me to be casual. some'f this is due to my martial arts training, some'f it maybe has to do w/ how i was in marching band in hi skool sooo many yrs 'go, if u 'member. some ppl, when they talk to me, tell me to relax cos they c me standing so straight, etc.; but it's just my nature. so often, when i'm just standing 'round in a clothing store, ppl come up to me n' ask questions cos they think i werk there; i guess that has to do w/ how i stand so 4mally. even in korea, this happened to me! this gurl came up n' asked me if i had some shirt in size small. the beautiful kaela hwang laffed, pulled me 'way n' told the gurl that i didn't werk there. i think the gurl was very confused n' hurt, thinking that even the employees @ the store don't want to talk to her. neway, my pt is that i tried walk up the aisle to the alter very dignified, yet tried to look somewhat friendly. i wasn't marching off to war, u know. in marching band or in taekwondo demos, u gotta have a very serious face as u walk in step. well, i tried to get my groomsmen to walk all in step, but i knew that didn't mean i shouldn't smile. "one arms length apart," the site coordinator told us. well, we all got up there ok.
i 'member @ dave n' emily's wedding, where i cued up all the muzik; i couldn't c what was going on from where i was trapped inside the bldg, so i didn't know when to start the bride's processional muzik. i waited 2 long, so dave was really nervous cos his bride wasn't coming out. however, emily wasn't coming out just cos i hadn't started the muzik. i hadn't started the muzik cos i couldn't c if dave n' the groomsmen were all lined up or what. well, no matter what; i s'ppose the groom, standing up @ the alter w/o his bride always has to think 'bout how, in so many movies n' tv shows, the groom gets left @ the alter alone. originally, kaela n' i had planned to c each other a li'l b4 the ceremony so that the fotographers could take pics'f us 2gether. however, it werked out that we didn't c each other b4 the ceremony, n' i knew this is the more traditional way'f doing a wedding... 'least by euro.amerikan traditions, right? so i stood @ the alter, facing the audience n' the aisle, not knowing what my bride'd look like, altho' i heard so many ppl tell me she looked really great.
the muzik changed to from "ode to joy" to "jesu, joy'f man's desiring" 4 the bridesmaids. i gotta admit, they looked great. it was nice to c that the wedding was going well. then the muzik changed to pachelbel's "canon in d," n' i knew it was the big moment. :-) well, 1st julia the flower gurl walked up the aisle dropping rose petals. then just as rehearsed, kaela came in w/ her dad.
when i shook kaela's dad's hand, i could only do it asian style, n' i heard all these ppl laffing; but that's just how i am... i know some taekwondo ppl think it's just from taekwondo, but no... as i sed, i know i'm just a li'l bit 4mal.
mary gave the speech she told us she'd give. then we had to say
our personal vows, which we had not heard from each other until then.
i felt kind'f bad when i saw kaela whip out all these pages.
all, i had was a measly li'l, li'l notecard. i dunno how to
describe what kaela sed, but it was definitely sumpthin' i'll 'member
4ever. i wonder if my vows r still on my handspring. hey,
they r! i wrote some of it while waiting to get a haircut on thurs
eve. oh wait, it was wed, not thurs. i tried to make
my vows timeless, despite my simpsons reference. cos'f the
simpsons reference, i had to say some spanish wurds, n' i never
took spanish.
next, mary started talkin' 'bout doves. that prob'ly confused every1 since the ushers 4got to pass out the programs b4 the ceremony. well, kaela surprised me by planning a dove release 4 our wedding. this old man come up to us n' handed us each a white dove. he told us to hold it a certain way. they were so soft n' warm. i looked @ mine, n' it looked back @ me. i wanted to hold on to it longer, but well... ppl didn't come just to watch us hold onto doves. :-)
since we didn't rehearse the ring exchange, i wasn't sure who was s'pposed to 1st. after all, "ladies 1st," right? however, does that mean kaela speaks 1st or receives her ring 1st? *shrug* well, she spoke 1st. she had tied the rings onto the pillow very tight to make sure they didn't fall off, but it took us so long to untie them, that we had to proceed w/ repeating the ring blessing as we untied the ribbon. oh well. heh.
well, pretty soon the ceremony came to an end. i guess mary prob'ly asked 4 ne objektions. i 'member darren joked that he'd objekt, but i'm glad he didn't! heh. well, it was time to walk down the aisle.
since u've been waiting so long to c more pics'f the women, i'll conclude this chapter w/ their pic. :-)
[later] 'bout time to go home from werk: (btw, 2day's wed[nesday].) in a few days, i think i'll shrink the pics from their current size. 1) i always need to conserve diskspace n' bandwidth, n' 2) i 4got that these images r aktually copyrighted by jade photography n' i only have 'em cos i sort'f went thru the back entrance into the server they store our pics on. :-/ neway, i feel sort'f bad having all these semi.stolen pics (even tho' they're of us) so blatantly displayed on the net, so i'll prob'ly shrink them soon. there r more chapters to our wedding story to come, lemme tell u!
heh, i was just thinking 'bout my "saeksi" story from my 2003.07.28 entry "in korea, my wife is saeksi!". if u like my store 'bout how "my wife is saeksi," then u should check out the index page'f bronx's junkyard right now cos peter posted 'bunch'f those korean/english/konglish pun jokes. n' if u like those, then u should just hang 'round jerome cos he's full'f them!
i ate 2 packets'f southwest airlines peanuts just now cos i'm hungry.
i plan to go to the gym 2nite. it'll be the 1st time since
b4 i got married!
morning: so arnold schwarzenegger has declared he's gonna run in the ca gubernatorial recall elektion. that's the big news this morn. i don't want a republikan governor. i read on y! news that he's "expected to bow out" to 4mer republikan l.a. mayor richard riordan. however, i s'ppose if there's no choice but to have a republikan governor, i'd prefer arnold cos 'least he was s'pposedly involved in getting kids to be more physikally fit. *shrug* i definitely would prefer to have a democratic governor, but i'm pretty sure there's no hope @ this pt. there's this car insurance commercial on tv (on upn44), where they show some insurance salesman name gary sumpthin'. he looks like gray davis, n' when i read the name 2 fast, "gary" looked like "gray."
[later] 701p: man, it's time to leave werk. i came in earlier 2day, so aktually... i'm here werking an hr more than i'm s'pposed to! neway, b4 i leave my office to go to taekwondo practice, i'll post up a coupl'f pics to continue my "결혼식 이야기 (gyuhlhonshik iyagi)." :-)
morn: recently, i've been scouring the net 4 the muzik videos that i watched in korea, n' 2day i saw that jerome posted them up on bronx's junkyard. it could've been as easy as just dling them from there! oh well...
yesterday, was a sort'f down day @ werk cos we interns were basikally reminded'f our temporary status. like, aktually, 4 me, it's not 2 bad cos i do hafta go back to skool n' also would rather have a more mechanical engineering job. however, it was just sort'f depressing to hear, u know? well, that was in the morn, n' i told myself i'd go 4 a nice lunch. the beautiful kaela hwang came over, n' we went to yeitnal jjajang. i had jjambbong. i was thinking 'bout warm jjambbong as i sat in the freezing cold conference room, earlier. after werk, i went to taekwondo sparring practice. it felt really good. on wed nite, the cali state lotto jackpot was $70 million, n' no1 won. after practice, i figured i should do sumpthin' nice 4 shim sabuhmnim since he lets me n' kaela werkout there 4 free, so i went 'cross the stree to 7.11 w/ brian chong n' bought him 5 lotto tix. i hadn't bought lotto tix in so long. while standing @ the ca$hier's counter, i was thinking aloud 'bout how many tix to buy. the ca$hier thought i was a teenage kid nervous 'bout illegally buying cigarettes, so he asked 4 my i.d. i was confused. he asked, "u'r buying cigarettes, right?" brian n' i laffed. "no, i'm buying lotto tix." "well, i still need to c ur i.d.," he sed. whah? yah, he insisted, since u need to be 18 to buy lotto tix. brian n' i laffed 'gain. brian sed i'm old n' married. i had put my wedding ring in my coin wallet during practice. i took it out n' put it on to back up what brian sed n' also emphasized that u need to be 18 to get married. the ca$hier sed, "no, not if ur parents say u can..." ha ha. well, i took out my i.d., asking, "u just wanna laff @ my i.d., huh?" neway, it was more'f a humourous scene, not an annoying 1. i know some ppl w/ less'f a sense'f humour'd be all pi$$ed off if a 7.11 clerk asked them 4 i.d.s to buy lotto tix, but eh! whatever! it was thurs nite, n' these days thurs nite is the party nite, right? so just ggoongddari shabara ba ba ba ba!
last nite, i woke up in the middle'f the nite n' had to go pee. i felt so awake when i woke up. ppl @ werk were talkin' 'bout jet lag yesterday n' sed it takes a week to get over it. i guess my body felt more like i had taken a 2 hr nap in the middle'f the day or sumpthin'. i had dreams last nite: in 1 dream, i was really buff, like that chinese dude shao (?) @ the rsf whom some ppl apparently call triangle man, cos his upper body's a perfect upside.down triangle. heh. in 'nother dream, i went bowling. i was s'pposed to meet some1 there... i think it was mark lee or some1... maybe that's cos he wanted us to go bowling 1nce. *shrug* i was waiting, n' while waiting, i was gonna bowl 1 game by myself. i couldn't find a bowling ball that'd fit my fingers, most were 2 small. also, many'f the balls were deformed, not perfekt spheres. i felt really self.conscious @ the bowling alley. i felt there were teenage kids looking @ me funny n' laffing. i felt very unliked. :-/ strange dream. the extreme fear'f being unpopular as a teenager cms sooo silly to adults, but i 'member it.
well, the weekend's coming up as 2day's fri. this is the 1st real weekend we've had in amerika in a while.
[later] afternoon: kaela came to meet me @ my werk 4 lunch. we ate @ myungdong soondubujip n' then went to the dmv cos i had to renew my license, n' kaela lost hers. 4 lunch, i ate bibimnaengmyuhng. kaela had kalgooksoo. well, i'll have 'nother, new license. i just changed my license pic like 0.5 yr 'go or so.
i wonder what we'll do 2nite. on wed, ken called me while i was @ the gym after werk. he wanted to hang out n' drink beer @ his place, etc. i told him i had to postpone till fri cos i need to stay on top'f things @ werk. well, 2nite's fri nite. on wed nite, i went home after the gym. i ate some fried rice my mom cooked. i did feel like having a beer, so i took 1'f the li'l 12 oz o.b. beer bottles from the fridge. i bought those from hangook market a while 'go, b4 our wedding. i never got to drink ne'f them, but i guess some'f the guys had a couple back when they were over helping us prepare 4 the wedding. that's totally kewl by me, no prob. i was so happy to find o.b. in li'l, single serve bottles. most asian beers ('cept japanese beers) r only sold in big bottles cos asians don't usually drink straight from the can/bottle; instead, we pour our beer into glasses cos it's more polite, u know? well, i know the korean markets sell o.b. in cans, but over the yrs, i've started to dislike canned beer... or 'least prefer bottled beer over canned beer. i don't like the aluminum taste, u know? i guess i like tapped beer best tho', right? isn't tapped beer the best? well, i guess it depends... cos keg beer can be really gross sometimes. then 'gain, i don't think keg beer counts as tapped beer. i'm talking 'bout real "on tap" beer. that's the best way to serve beer, isn't it? *shrug* yah, i like ordering tapped/tap beer better; but *shrug* maybe some ppl like bottled beer better. *shrug* neway, 2nite's fri, n' i wonder what we'll do 2nite.
re: the wedding, u want to c more'f the lovely women:
now 4 the men:
some'f our guests were prob'ly wondering where the wedding party disappeared to 4 so long. well, we were off gettin' our pictures taken. i wonder how the hors d'ouvres n' the "cocktail hr" muzik went. *shrug*
[a li'l later] still afternoon: i just read michelle (mnm)'s account of our wedding. :-) it's so fun to read 'nother person's perspektive'f the event; i literally mean "perspektive." it's really neat. very early in our wedding planning, i told kaela that the thing i 'member most 'bout weddings is the muzik ('specially the party muzik more than the ceremony muzik). u can ask me what flowers they had, how the decorations were, n' i sed that i wouldn't 'member but that i would 'member the muzik. well, i read that michelle really hated the britney spears song "sometimes" that i threw in there. heh, 1 thing 'bout that song is that josh my ex.roommate played it nonstop 4 a coupl'f days some many yrs 'go. however, the reason i did put it in is that i 'member that they played it @ bellagio 1 nite when we had a good time; some long time 'go. *shrug* i made all the slow dance songs english songs cos i figured it's hard 'nuff to get ppl to slow dance, so i'd better increase the odds by not making them korean songs. during the cake cutting break, there was a chinese slow song... sang by the korean group baby v.o.x. the dinner muzik as well as the "cocktail hr" muzik was a mix'f muzik. of course, the dance muzik was a mix'f mostly korean n' english songs... neway, now i'm jumping ahead in my telling'f my wedding story! >:-( i only got to the pre.dinner part!!! oh well, i might's well continue then.
well, after we spent a long time taking pics, we finally made our big entrance to the banquet. our entrance muzik was dj sammy's "heaven." i really like that song, u know. well, we took our seats, had more pics, n' then... i guess we went to get fud. *shrug* it's sort'f a blur to me, u know? i know guests were really hungry. :-( then kaela went to the restroom n' didn't come back 4 a long time, n' some family guests got really upset cos they couldn't get fud till she got back. wow, it looked like some'f kaela's older family members were ready to start a fight w/ the caterering service staff or sumpthin'! heh... i asked catering service staff if it was ok to let the elders go 'head, but they sed the bride n' groom must go 1st. upes. well, eventually we all got fud. i'm glad i didn't take 2 much cos i heard we ran out'f fud. :-( oh yah, some unplanned extra guests came to our wedding; so there were more ppl than we planned 4. mark sed grace didn't find her namecard, so she was worried she wasn't invited, but no! they found her card stuck to the bottom'f mark's. i read that michelle's card sed "mr. michelle martinez." :-( upes, we're very sorry!!! i wonder if johnny's sed "ms johnny tien" then. >X-D the table settings or place seatings or whatever were s'pposed to be set a certain way, but i dunno... i guess ppl really juggled, n' also since extra ppl came things got shuffled. i guess some'f our friends wanted to trade seats. aktually, i had set the seating up 4 our friends so that it'd be very coed. oh well.
well, ken made an abridged toast. then linda made a quick toast. ken aktually had 'lot more to say, but we ran out'f time. kaela's dad n' my dad made toasts, n' i made a rushed, short groom's toast. ppl were snickering cos i basically was just saying "thank u" over n' over. kaela's dad made sure we had time to make our rounds. we planned to toast each table, but it turns out that every table didn't aktually want to toast. in the end we 'least greeted each table. as we greeted each table, the wedding party followed behind us passing out our kenomix mix cd wedding favour. we do have a few extras, so u can e.mail me if u might want a copy.
i should've "given props" to jade photography's philippe n' soojin on the cd cover, since i used the fotos philippe took 4 our engagement fotos. during dinner, they took kaela 'way to take extra fotos'f her. i guess 1) they didn't have as much time to take fotos'f her b4hand n' 2) it's more important to have pics'f the bride than'f the groom! heh.
laura copenhaver asked me later in the eve(ning) if i liked kaela's dress. i gave an emphatic yes. she went w/ kaela to pick it out from ginger's on maiden ln in sf near union square. the above pic also shows the necklace kaela had custom made.
after all the rounds n' a li'l, li'l chit.chat; we went inside the mansion 4 our 1st dance. our 1st dance song was "my romance."
(taking a break from "결혼식 이야기 (gyuhlhonshik iyagi)" 4 the weekend. i'll resume that on mon.)
250a: 2nite, as in last nite (it's sat now; yesterday was fri.), the beautiful kaela hwang n' i watched tomb raider 2. it was just ok. :-/ it was like watching xxx: all aktion shots w/ not 2 much plot... n' the aktion shots rn't all that great; lots'f fake stuff, trick camera angles, n' obviously fake cg. :-/ i think the 1st 1 was better. well... not a horribly great movie, but i guess there r worse ways to spend an evening.
@ lunch 2day (as in yesterday), we went to 평창 순두부집 pyungchang soondubujip., as u know. upes! we went to 명동 순두부집 myungdong soondubujip! 평창 순두부집 pyungchang soondubujip's in berkeley/oakland! (i'm just having flashbacks cos i was discussing berkeley korean fud on bronx's junkyard. well, 4 dinner, we aktually ended right back on el camino real @ 대복 daebok, even tho' this was kind'f unintentional; very unintentional. u c... 'member yesterday, i was saying that i thought we'd be hanging out w/ ken n' grace? well, i aktually drove over to their house right after werk, but when i got there ken apologised cos he had 4gotten to call me to tell me they were having dinner w/ his parents n' that they had to spend the rest'f the nite packing 4 their honeymoon. well, after i left their house, i met up w/ kaela who was studying @ the pruneyard starbucks, which is attached to the barnes & nobles over there. it's sooo inconvenient how our neighbourhood is sooo far 'way from nething fun or interesting. :-( that's always such a prob. :-( well, i picked her up from the pruneyard, n' we went to look 4 dinner. @ 1st, we were gonna go to citronelle, that kewl, new contemporary vietnamese cuisine restaurant. wetried, but it was 2 crowded. aktually, b4 kaela suggested citronelle,we were gonna go to krung thai. well, after we found out citronelle was way 2 crowded, we headed off to krung thai #2. (there'r 2 krung thai locations, both on winchester blvd, very close to each other, each 'bout a block 'way from opposite sides'f valley fair.) we'd always gone to krung thai #1 in the past, so we wanted to check out krung thai #2, the newer location. well, on a fri nite, krung thai #2 was so packed we couldn't get into the parking lot. we saw billy walking out n' called him over. he was w/ an ol' leland classmate of his, raymond tsai. there was also 'nother leland guy, i think. both'f those 2 guys were w/ their wives, i think. wow, lots'f married couples nowadays. billy told me to take raymond's parking spot, so i was gonna... but then we realised that even after taking his precious parking spot, it'd take 4ever 4 us to get a seat or fud, so we thanked billy 4 his consideration n' headed further north/west to el camino real. really, stevens creek blvd n' el camino real r the 2 places where nething happen in the silly valley, if u ask me! well, we went to daebok, the korean fish restaurant, n' shared an order'f agoo jjim (stewed monkfish). it was a good dinner. hrm, do u think we're eating more korean fud since coming back from korea? well, my motivation 4 hitting more korean joints this week is just cos i know i won't be werking @ this company 4ever, so i wanna exploit its vicinity to el camino real! ("vicinity" was the right wurd there,right?) i was really full after dinner, but maybe that's cos i also ate lot'f rice. i like soft rice, as u might know if u know me well. i know as a kid i preferred long grain rice, but not nemore. i prefer mushier rice now.
didju know there's an in.n.out now @ the mercado?! well, we watched the movie @ amc mercado. after that, i had to bring kaela back to the pruneyard to pick up her car. then we drove home. i left w/ kaela, but i lost her. she took the hiway, i took local. it felt good to drive the local rds; *shrug* i dunno why. well, 4 me, i guess i like driving the san jo local rds cos i get nostalgic. still, it might be fun 4 ppl who didn't grow up in san jo to drive the san jo local rds 2. *shrug*
skool starts aug 25. my class starts aug 26, aktually. i have 1 class, n' i gotta werk on my master's projekt. i have yet to determine how much time the projekt'll take. *sigh* i'm not sure right now how i'll balance werk n' skool, but we'll c.
oh yah, when we came home, some nbc carson daly show was on. hrm, honestly, i find it to be a pretty annoying show. i feel celebrities like carson daly'r sort'f a nat'l embarassment; but oh well... what can we do? i don't watch this show on a regular basis; that's 4 sure. neway, @ the end'f the show the donnas per4med. phil has always cm kind'f proud that we saw them open 4 green day under the name of "the raggedy anns" back b4 green day or the donnas were famous. that was back in what? (19)93? (19)94? down on lower sproul... in berkeley. a week or 2 later, green day got famous after live 105 started playing their corporate label debut album. well, i gotta admit, it's quite a story how we got to watch green day n' stand right in front'f billy joe since there was no audience cos so few ppl knew who green day were. honestly, i didn't know who they were yet; i just heard the muzik, liked it, n' stuck 'round to listen to it w/ my foot on the li'l stage. the flyers promoting the concert, as i always say when i tell this ol' story, advertised "the raggedy anns featuring secret green guest."
do u also feel pretty broke these days?
(4 the weekend, i've taken a break from my "결혼식 이야기 (gyuhlhonshik iyagi / wedding story)." i'll resume 2morrow. please keep in mind that the pics i've posted up so far r only proofs, totally unretouched. in a way, i feel worse now 'bout posting them up cos i'm not showing the full potential'f our excellent fotographers, since pretty much all wedding pics r touched up 'least a li'l, u know?)
222p: how r u? i'm ok. last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went to 안전 지대 anjuhn jidae (safe zone) w/ jason lee, brian chong, n' julie kang. [later] 1035p: we had dinner n' 소주 soju. i treated every1 cos brian n' jason helped w/ the wedding videography. well, jason's doing most'f it (all the editing n' stuff), but brian, sophia, n' doug kim did some'f the camerwerk. then we went to noraebang @ arirang. all these things r on or else very close to el camino. man, i really wish we lived closer to this neighbourhood, somewhere more central, u know? i was really frustrated 2day: i needed to do some errands, but i was thinking, "geez, all the store locations in this area (where we live) suck! i'd rather go to the locations in other neighbourhoods where the stores r bigger." :-( i went to target to look 4 replacement brush heads 4 our cybersonic 2 toothbrush. i'm pretty sure the stevens creek blvd target near de anza college has them, but the 1 close to our house sure doesn't. i went to fry's to look 'round. i went to the 1 on hamilton. all i bought was a pack'f 20 sheets'f foto paper 4 99¢ n' a pack'f 200 sheets'f college.ruled binder paper 4 25¢. wow! that was such a small purchase 4 fry's, eh? (well, i don't have $$$ to spend on other things.) earlier, i went to the rite.aid by our house to look 4 binder paper, but i can't believe all they have is wide.ruled binder paper. what kind'f stoopid kids hafta use wide.ruled binder paper?!?! >:-( well... just kidding... i know all kids start w/ wide.ruled, but geez! i'm not gonna use wide.ruled binder paper as a grad student!!! after fry's, i went to the gym @ hamilton n' meridian to werkout 4 a while. of course, this location'f our gym isn't as nice as the east san jo 1. :-/
all my dreams lately've been bad dreams, i think. no, i guess i
sed a coupl'f nites 'go, i dreamt i was really buff. well, this
morn, i dreamt 'bout being on some vakation, where i had some sort'f bad
hotel rooms. i was on a trip w/ some guy friends. i also had
a dream that i crashed my car off the hiway, off a cliff, into the ocean.
that's a bad dream. however, the not so bad part was that i
was able to tow the car back to land, just by grabbing onto it n' swimming
to shore. huh??? well, dreams don't make sense sometimes.
morn: 2day's the day that my big, big credit card bill due to the wedding's due. :-( it's kind'f depressing, but i've had time to try to get over it.
[later] 1124p: @ lunchtime, i went to fry's to buy more 99¢ fotopaper (20 sheets/pack). 4 "lunch," i had a "juicy in the sky with diamonds" smoothie from the café inside fry's. c? the sunnyvale fry's is so much better than the campbell fry's! *sigh* in the late afternoon, the beautiful kaela hwang came to my office, n' we went to costco to pick up pics n' other stuff... like a spindle'f cdrs n'... what else? eh, just li'l odds n' ends... since i was out'f the office 4 a li'l in the afternoon, i stayed late, past 800p. oh yah, b4 i went to costco, the office had b.day cake 4 1'f the programmers. i had a slice'f chocolate, burnt almond cake. "burnt" almond, right? yah, i think that's what they call it. it's not just "toasted" almond; it's "burnt" almond. well, kaela stayed w/ me late @ werk, then we went straight home, ate dinner, n' did nuthin' good or worth talkin' 'bout. kaela took her realtor's test 2day in oakland. we thought 'bout going out to celebrate the fakt that she's done w/ the test, but well... we're broke. :-( oh well... our b.days r coming up.
back to finishing up the wedding story n' pics?
well, we had our 1st dance, n' then some dance dancing... u know... party dancing. well, the 1st set was my 1st set from the kenomix cd. after the 1st set, we had the cake cutting, the bouquet toss, n' the garter toss.
mike yee (nelson's bro) n' romy caught the garter n' bouquet. romy sed the bouquet would've hit jeff wang in the face if she hadn't caught it. from the pic'f the garter toss, i saw that most guys didn't try @ all to catch the garter. we stipulated that only men n' women'f marrying age could participate in the garter n' bouquet tosses; only single men n' women'f marrying age. we'd cn way 2 many li'l kids pick up the garter n' bouquet; so even tho' some ppl think it's cute... we've cn it waaay 2 many times. thus we had to make sure it didn't happen @ ours.
mike had caught the garter @ ken n' grace's wedding, if u 'member...
well, the rest'f the nite was dancing, dancing, n' dancing. well, gradually the less hardcore ppl trickled out. the ppl who lasted to the end were the true partiers! my last mix was a special 1. it was a medley of new order's bizarre love triangle n' h.o.t.'s candy. i did it cos they both mean 'lot to the asian.amerikan community as dance classiks n' cos ppl on bronx's junkyard forums sed it couldn't be done; so i had to prove them wrong. heh... i sort'f wish i could've included that mix on the kenomix cd, but eh... it'll hafta be reserved 4 a future benomix production.
[later] 1205a, 2003.08.12 (in other wurds, i'm into overtime.): well, the cleanup or "takedown" 4 the wedding was quite a task. we had so much stuff to pack up. we're so grateful 4 those volunteers who stayed late. heh, sounds just like uc open; n' it was like uc open. weddings r like uc open taekwondo tournaments. volunteers, the wedding party, kaela, n' i stuck 'round to clean up n' pack things up. friends decorated my car w/ flowers from the ceremony n' other odds n' ends... n' soda cans tied to the rear bumper... n' "just married" written 'cross the rear windshield. after we determined everything was packed up, we got ready to leave. i took out some ca$h from this ripoff atm @ villa montalvo cos i worried i'd hafta do valet parking over @ the cypress hotel. it was a real ripoff atm. :-/ well, we were off. ...then we drove right back 2wards villa montalvo cos we realised that no1 had taken down the wedding direktion signs we put up 'long the rd. already, i figured it was common courtesy to remove the wedding signs after the wedding, n' i also figured a conservative community like that 'round villa montalvo prob'ly wouldn't like my multilingual signs lingering 'round. oh well... what can u do, u know? well, after that, we were off to the hotel. however, i was so exhausted, i took all sorts'f wrong turns, n' it took me 4ever to get us to the hotel.
when i got there, there was no valet present. kaela was passed out in my car. well, i just ditched my car right in front'f the lobby n' carried her up to the room. usually, the groom just does the honeymoon carry 'cross the threshold, right? i went up uh... several floors n' then to the room n' over the threshold! heh. jerome n' laura surprised us outside'f the hotel n' followed us up... i guess they helped us carry some stuff. then we got to our room. well, i really carried my bride over the threshold! :-) then a whole bunch'f our friends surprised us! :-o
well... u know i take 'nuff heat from ppl who think i've ditched my taiwanese heritage n' just taken on all korean traditions w/o ne care @ all 4 my ancestors, etc. whatever. even if the wedding had more korean influence, our friends put more'f the taiwanese/chinese tradition back into it that nite by doing that tradition made famous in ang lee's movie the wedding banquet. they made us get under the bedsheets, n' they wouldn't leave the room until all our clothes came off n' were thrown out'f the bed... n' they videotaped it! yah, wild n' crazy... that's the tradition. heh, it was fun... we were exhausted, but it was fun. well... uh... the clothes did come off n' our friends left. the rest'f the nite? well, it was our "honeymoon nite," i guess u could say... so well, i hope i don't hafta tell all 'bout it.
the next morn, i went down the hall to kaela's friends' room to ask 4 her glasses back that she thought she left there. when i came back, kaela's family was in our room, giving us our honeymoon tix n' itinerary, n' getting ready to head back down to socal. it was a li'l awkward cos our friends had made us throw all our clothes all over the floor the nite b4, so... neway, after that, we had to rush over to mason's 1st b.day party 'cross the street @ hong fu restaurant. luckily, nelson, mike, n' vivian came to help us pack up. well, we had lunch w/ my extended family. i wish i had more time to talk to ppl, but well... it was bizzy bizzy, like the day b4.
after lunch, we hurriedly finished our honeymoon packing. wow, it's hard to believe that was so long 'go now. *sigh* wow, i really loved our wedding... <:-) u gotta admit, weddings r more 'bout the bride n' thus more'f a bride's thing; but wow... that really was the biggest day'f my life!
"huh?" those'f u who were @ our wedding may be confused... whuh? what wedding was that?! what wedding were those pics from?! u don't 'member those pics, n' u shouldn't. i'll tell u more 'bout those n' more later!
until i get the finished pics back from the fotographers, i s'ppose
that's sort'f where i'll leave off our 결혼식 이야기 (gyuhlhonshik
iyagi). in ne case, i'll never stop talkin' 'bout it, n' u'll be
very sick'f it soon 'nuff! n' now i get to talk more
'bout our honeymoon! :-) heh...
afternoon: if u read the online journal'f an ol' friend, u'll c the small picture but not the big picture. i was just reading a li'l'f johnny chang's web journal, n' i read 'bout some'f his recent random thoughts, but i don't understand what city or continent he lives in/on. i realised, the same goes 4 if an ol' friend read my journal. :-/ jeanna pted out on her journal (le-artiste.blogspot.com that my main index page is sooo out'f date! very true. i've sed 4 such a long time that i've been wanting to update it. *sigh* well, it's 'bout time, isn't it? well, i've prob'ly been saying "it's 'bout time" 4 a while now, huh? but, seriously! now that i'm married, i think i can make 1 huge update to my main index page, right? right. aktually, i've considered 2 things lately: 1) making my index page contain my recent blog entries (in a frame) or 2) making my index page more'f a benomix productions bizness page. the beautiful kaela hwang's father, a while 'go was telling me to make my webpage more professional cos he figured i really could get benomix going as a professional thing. :-/ well... yah, lemme tell u: if some1 paid me 'bout $100, i'd be willing to make a personalised mix cd 4 him/her. so i guess that's maybe the going rate. of course, live gigs r more expen$ive... but it's funny cos aktually recording a mix cd is much more werk than a live gig. i dunno if u know that, but it is! however, i think the going rate 4 a live gig'd be more like $500 a nite. whoa! now i sound like a gigolo! :-o yah... i've joked 'bout the idea in my journal b4 of riding out this ekonomic great depression by being a male exotik dancer, but uh... if i ever were to do nething like that, i'd rather have a female audience; n' as much as i'm not a homophobe, i'm worried if i really were to do sumpthin' like that (which i wouldn't), it might not be that kind'f audience... <:-( how 'bout live nude djing 4 $600/nite? woohoo! there's a bizness plan!!! big $$$, here i come! (can i sell u a personalised mix cd n' promise i'll record the cd naked? X-D)
neway! so the question is: should i make my index page a real "benomix productions" page or else a really personal page w/ my journal attached to it? well... no, i think i'll pass on putting my journal on my index page. well, ppl come to my site mostly 4 either my pager code page or else my journal. however, i know i should've focused more energy into a professional dj career in the past. yah, it would've been fun; n' i am a good dj. (daily affirmation w/ stuart smalley!)
2day, i drove my cowerker w/ me over to san josé state to buy our textbooks. he's a really pessimistik guy n' was discussing the obviously crappy job market n' ekonomy. he depresses my other cowerker 'lot, i think, w/ his talk 'bout jobs n' the ekonomy. me? yah, it's depressing to hear, n' i really am more'f an optimist; but i guess i know the ekonomy's stinky n' the job market's also stinky... so *shrug* sometimes, we gripe 2gether. neway, what can i say 'bout the ekonomy? 1st off, ppl gotta quit thinking that the davis recall elektion is such important news. what's more important to think 'bout is recalling bush! why is it that we "recall" a governor but "impeach" a president? i guess "impeachment" happens thru congress, huh? neway, u know... when smart ppl pt out that the ekonomy sucks cos bush came into office; bush supporters always say, "the economy would've been bad nonetheless, whether bush or gore became president." n' then they stop there! they never go on to try to give evidence to back that or to try to say that the ekonomy's in ne better shape cos'f bush! why would the ekonomy be better if gore had gotten to be president as he was s'pposed to? well, the ekonomy really plummeted after 9.11. 9.11 happened cos the whole rest'f the world hates amerika right now. n' the whole rest'f the world hates amerika right now cos'f bush. sure, we were headed 2wards recession b4 9.11; but u gotta admit, it got so much worse afterwards. n' this stoopid war doesn't help either! maybe ppl don't think it's the "end'f the world as we know it." most ppl who answered that question on my recent gbook say it's not. however, i think it's the end'f some things; in other wurds, things just won't be like they used to be, not 4 a long while. like, i was telling my cowerker 2day in the car, that i think permanent employment is going the way'f the wired ethernet netwerk. pretty soon, n' 4 a while, all there'll be is contrakt, short.term employment. we'll all be hopping from job to job, just picking up whatever paychecks we can. the whole idea'f a "permanent" job w/ health benefits etc. i'm not so sure that's gonna be available 4 a while. well, we'll c. maybe i'm wrong. hopefully, i'm wrong. hrm, isn't that sumpthin' pessimists prob'ly say 'lot? they sort'f gotta hope that they're wrong! "we're all gonna die! ...hopefully, i'm wrong."
[later] still afternoon: yah, the whole idea'f a wired netwerk is getting obsolete fast. i sort'f wish i had just taken nelson's advice when we 1st moved to san jo n' gone w/ a wireless netwerk instead'f buying a wired router n' cables. of course, i can't totally wish i had taken nelson's advice cos wireless netwerk equipment co$ts a bunch, n' it co$t even more back then! right now, we're still borrowing 1'f ken's laptops, which we borrowed right b4 the honeymoon to use 4 our digital pics. laptops r great! n' now they're cheaper than they were in the past. last week, my cowerkers were talkin' 'bout how u can get a good laptop 4 under $1000 these days. this week y! news sed the same thing. it used to be that laptops were such a luxury item. they were never worth their price. i've been saying that the falling laptop prices r prob'ly due to the recent abundance'f lcd screens. in the past, when laptops were so much more'f a luxury item, the lcd screen price was prob'ly the faktor that kept their prices so hi. now, so many ppl have lcd flat panel monitors on their desktop 'puters. i hope to someday get a laptop. 4 the past few yrs, my palmtop has been able to help me fill that void. aktually, a palm 'puter'll always be useful cos u can't stuff a laptop into pants pocket n' whip it out @ the while standing in line @ a ca$h register. i s'ppose the only thing that'll make palm 'puters obsolete is how they'll eventually completely merge w/ cellfons. i mean, i know already handspring n' some other companies have made palm os based fon/pda combos... but they surely rn't mainstream right now. @ 1st, i sort'f didn't like the idea, but i guess eventually that's where we're headed... i guess. soon, we'll all have cellfon/pda combos that have built in internet, mp3 player, n' digicam! is this just materialistik, gadget.lust talk? no! i'm just talkin' 'bout progress.
notice i haven't been talkin' much lately 'bout wanting to buy this n' that? "u just sed u wanna buy a laptop!" yah, but that's later... honestly, u gotta admit my gadget.lust n' ne thoughts'f $pending have sort'f died down, right? i used to talk so much 'bout wanting to buy a mtn bike, 1 4 me n' 1 4 kaela. nowadays, i don't think 'bout it @ all. however, i'm glad that my gas expen$es decreased last month since we were in korea n' not driving. in a normal month, on my credit card bill, i'm reminded that i waste so much $$$ on gas. publik transportation n' human powered transporation: i wish i could use those 2 things.
[a li'l later] still afternoon: my 1 class next semester: "digital control system design."
2day's tues. u know, thurs (08.14)'s kaela's b.day. mine's a week after. i figure ppl won't think 2 much 'bout our b.days cos we just had the hugest celebration'f our lives less than a month 'go. now our anniversary's in summer, not winter! we used to celebrate 01.20, but now we'll celebrate 07.19! funny, huh? :-)
[later] afternoon: now kaela's here @ my office. she brought
over some shrimp spring rolls 4 my late lunch. [later] early
evening: oh, my class, me 281, is "advanced control system design,"
not "digital control system design." however, i guess the main
topik'll be digital control system design.
morn: y! news sez, shoppers boost economic recovery hopes." "u.s. shoppers spent freely on a wide variety of items in july, fueling the biggest advance in retail sales in four months..." yah, i sure spent 'lot on a "wide variety of items," all sorts'f random odds n' ends that it apparently takes to put on a wedding; things that no bachelor'd ever imagine it'd require to put on a wedding!
[later] afternoon: during my lunchbreak, i ran some errands. 1'f the places i went to was target on stevens creek to buy replacement brushes 4 my cybersonic 2. the prob w/ the cybersonic 2 n' the company amden that makes it is that the customers who need the replacement brush heads can't find them n' yet the 1s who subscribe to the free monthly replacement brush head program have 2 many n' don't want them. (if u get the free monthly replacements, u still gotta pay s&h. [shipping n' handling]) target was so crowded. i was thinking, "geez, don't ppl werk during the day nemore?!" how come there r so many ppl out shopping in the middl'f a werkday??? 4 lunch, since i was pressed 4 time, i got 2 chicken soft tacos from the target snack bar, which makes taco bell n' pizza hut fud, in addition to typikal snack bar fud.
[a li'l later] still afternoon: do u know'f places where u can get free stuff on ur b.day? last yr i looked, even tho' we were down in socal; but hrm... i 4get what i found. i know u can get a free meal @ todai. i thought there r some carwash places in the bay area that give u a free wash on ur b.day.
[later] still afternoon: while searching 4 free b.day stuff, i found out that the metro newspaper is having it's best of silicon valley 2003 survey right now. i gotta voice my opinions! if u live in the sobay, make sure u vote 2!
:-o @ snow summit, down in socal, u can ride (snowboard or ski) 4 free on ur b.day!!! man, we gotta take ppl w/ winter b.days there on their b.day! jerome? [later] still afternoon: i can get a free video rental @ hollywood video on my b.day, s'pposedly. what else?! oh, ok. i found a list @ heydennis.org: todai, fuddruckers, rubio's, red robin (free cake), baskin robbins (free "ice cream treat"), marie callender's (free dessert), bob's big boy (free hot fudge aisukuriimu), carrows (free b.day cake), n' hometown buffet (free b.day cake). hrm, out'f those, i think todai's still the most worth it, don'tchu? still... i thought there's somewhere that'll give me a free carwash on my b.day. :-/
[later] still afternoon: u know, there still isn't a new mashimaro cartoon.
i thought there'd be a new 1 by
now.
oh yah! just cos i sort'f sed i'm done w/ my wedding story doesn't mean i won't continue to post wedding pics on my journal! now n' then, i still shall show u a new wedding pic!
910a: 오늘 the beautiful kaela hwang의 생일 예요. 생일을 축하해요! happy b.day, kaela! we'll go do sumpthin' special 2nite.
[later] early evening: man, we had a big lunch! i took kaela out 4 her
b.day lunch @ sushi o sushi on el camino real. it's a korean.owned
sushi place. we ordered 1 hweduhpbap n' then some sushi. 2
much fud! after that, we went a few doors down to the korean.owned
café called "coffee?" n' had patbingsoo cos i promised her
patbingsoo b4 we went in 4 sushi. man! so much fud!!! n' i'm taking
her to dinner later. well, b.days only happen 1nce a yr, right?
heh... 1nce a yr per person...
morn: so last nite, i brought the beautiful kaela hwang to spiedo ristorante in beautiful downtown san jo :-) 4 her b.day. it's so nice to be able to find easy, free parking in an urban area! we weren't that hungry cos'f our big sushi lunch n' patbingsoo. what did we have? we shared a spiedo salad. kaela had this seafud pasta, n' i had anitro arrosto (a duck dish, w/ creamy polenta, red cabbage n' blueberry "demi"). what's "demi"? *shrug* it was some kind'f sauce. i guess game poultry like turkey n' duck go w/ sweet fruit sauce, like cranberry sauce, right? we also had a bottle'f pinot grigio n' a pesche panini (peach tart) w/ vanilla bean gelato dessert... n' espresso drinks. it was good. we were stuffed. up until the entré, i thought i'd be ok w/ the amt'f fud; but the entré was bigger than i expekted. i had 4gotten that italian restaurant portions r bigger than french restaurant portions n' that san jo restaurant portions r bigger than sf restaurant portions. after we loitered in the restaurant till past 1000p or so, we walked 'round downtown san jo a li'l. it's so lively on a thurs nite, u know? well, we didn't stay out 2 late. when we drove back home, i got kaela's present out'f the trunk. i didn't have time to wrap it. it's cuisinart aisukuriimu maker. lately, she's been so into kitchen appliances altho' we don't get the chance to cook often 'nuff. we like to; we just don't get the chance.
[a li'l later] still morn: so lots'f ppl r supporting a boycott
of the riaa, the recording industry association of amerika.
wow, interesting. understandably, ppl r really pi$$ed cos'f how the
riaa recently subpoenaed kazaa users. check out www.boycott-riaa.org n' this article "riaa hit list" on techtv.com. interesting,
huh?
513p: @ hamilton ave gym, waiting 4 the beautiful kaela hwang... last nite, johnny, michelle, roland, brian, kaela, n' i went to malibu castle (soon to be called "boomers") in redwood city to do a li'l sumpthin' 4 kaela's b.day. we drove go karts, minigolfed, n' played video games (n' ticket games). it was fun! after that, we ate a late nite snack @ the nearby denny's. it was late.
oh yah! yesterday, i ate lunch by myself. i went to the hangook market deli to get some 떡볶이 (dduhkbokki). funny; i saw kaela's aunt, uncle, n' cousin there.
i think i left my (cell)fon in kaela's car when we came to the gym this afternoon 'round 330p. last nite, my fon fell out'f my back jeans pocket, n' i didn't realise till we'd left the racetrack n' walked to the snackbar in the castle by the minigolf courses. i walked back n' got it. it had slid in btwn the cushions, under the seat. i'm a li'l hun...
[later] 954p: @ amc mercado, screen 18, waiting 4 kaela to come back
from starbucks. we'll be watching le
divorce. i thought it'd be a bit'f a morbid movie 4 a newlywed
couple to watch, but i guess it's just a comedy. we shall not ever
get a divorce.
156p: it's late in the day, n' i haven't really gotten started w/ my day
yet. earlier, i was watching bits'f espn's x.games 9 on kgo abc 7 w/
the beautiful kaela hwang. yesterday afternoon, we were @ this
home buying seminar @ century 21 alpha's bascom classroom. i wasn't
sure if the majority'f the audience was aktual home buyer's or else new
realtors. u know, kaela got her realtor's license now. she
passed her test on mon. :-) so now she can buy n' sell houses, etc.
she'll be werking w/ my mom @ century 21 alpha. neway, the
real estate teacher talked a li'l to the new realtors 'bout marketting
themselves, n' that got me thinking 'bout how i need to market
myself better as an engineer looking 4 jobs. why not take the
realtors' approach? why not make eye.catching flyers hi.liting my
skillz n' positive traits? of course, it'd be tacky 4 an
engineer to put his/her pic on such an document, but hrm... i could put
colourful graphics from my cad, fea, or image processing werk! so
yah... i gotta do sumpthin' like that... cos also, yesterday's home buying
seminar really reminded me how badly i need to get my engineering career in
better shape n' get the good jobs, so we can buy a house n' get a
doggy.
morn: my entry from sat was kind'f messy. i got cut off in the middle'f a wurd. i sed, "i'm a li'l hun..." i was 'bout to say, "i'm a li'l hungry." right after the gym on sat, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went to the cheesecake faktory @ valley fair to meet up w/ my mom, steve, grace, n' mason. my mom took us all out to dinner there 4 our b.days. what did i eat? i had some kind'f blackened chicken pasta... u know, cajun stuff. kaela had this "symphony salad." we shared a tiramisu cheesecake. it was a fun dinner. :-) as i sed, afterwards, kaela n' i went to watch le divorce @ amc mercado.
2day's mon. that was sat. on sat, while kaela was @ werk
in the morn, i went to valley fair to do a li'l gift shopping. that
was my 1st time @ valley fair since getting married, since the honeymoon,
etc. valley fair's been such a regular hangout spot 4 me/us since
we moved to san jo. can u believe it's been almost a month since
our wedding? 2morrow's our 1st monthversary! on my
handspring , i just changed our recurring monthversary date from
the 20th to the 19th! :-)
early on sun morn, my mom left to alaska 4 a cruise. now, kaela n' i r home alone. it's funny, cos now we sort'f have a chance to imagine we're just a typikal married couple living in a house by ourselves. u know, in asia, it's very typikal 4 a married couple to live w/ the groom's parents, very typikal. however, in amerika, it's pretty shameful. :-( such a difference in philosophies, u know? yah... that was just 'nother bad part 'bout coming back to 'merika after our honeymoon, coming back to this amerikan reality, u know?
i 4got to mention, i think, that on sat, in the afternoon, btwn kaela's werk n' our werkout @ the gym, we went to a "home buying seminar" @ century 21 alpha's bascom classroom. hrm, no... i think i did mention it sometime... maybe in my entry from sat. *shrug* well, we did. i dunno if that seminar was really more 4 aktual homebuyers or more 4 new realtors like kaela. *shrug* neway, we could be both... if i were more ready to buy a house. *sigh* so many times, i beat myself over the head telling myself i really should've bought a house in albany back when i had the chance. i was stoopid n' kept thinking that i was 2 young to be buying house. why was i so immature?! :-( i really should've just done it. :-( now, since my werk situation's diff, i'm sure it's harder 4 me to buy a house. *shrug* that seminar really drilled into my head 1nce 'gain that i've really gotta get my career in order, get a better job (better paying job), so that i can progress in life n' save up to buy a house. really... it's not that i'm such a @#$!in' "keepin' up w/ the joneses" guy!(or... i'd much rather say "keepin' up w/ the lees" to make the phrase not so ethnocentric! since "lee" could be a asian or a european last name, u know!) i'm not such a "keepin' up w/" nebody type'f guy! it's not that! it's just true: i need to progress in life. i know, berkeley counterculture sort'f taught me to hate $$$, hate consumerism, n' hate the idea'f settling down n' building a family, etc. n' u know what? berkeley counterculture is right n' smart n' wise n' everything! it really is! "keepin' up w/ the joneses" ppl suck! they really do. however, we all gotta balance that w/ a li'l dose'f progress n' "life must progress" kind'f philosophy. there's a diff btwn "sellin' out" n' "growing up." un4tunately, many yuppies don't know how to distinguish the 2 n' end up sellin' out instead'f just growing up. however, i know i must grow up n' progress now n' then. "sellin' out" bad. "growing up" sometimes good.
so neway... as i think i sed on sat or sumpthin'... hrm... u know what? i must've started writing a journal entry yesterday (sun, 2003.08.17) n' never finished it n' never posted it! ah, that's why it feels i've sed some'f the things i'm 'bout to say b4. i c. yah, well, i've been thinking recently how to market myself better as an engineer. u know how i recently sed that maybe so.called "permanent" employment may be a thing'f the past now n' that maybe "contrakt," short.term employment is how it's gonna be from now on? well, in that case, yah... maybe i do need to market myself more along those lines... i gotta really think 'bout advertising myself as the good engineer i am. i've had the idea'f putting more time, resources, energy, $$$ into advertising myself as an engineer 4 hire, u know? how 'bout making colourful flyers? flyers w/ big catchwurds, big buzzwurds, n' colourful pics/graphics? *shrug* u think? or is engineering still such a traditional industry? could i put an ad in the pennysaver? what kind'f decent engineering employers'd look there? if i were to advertise in ne real engring publikations, it'd prob'ly be really expen$ive. *sigh* n' man... i gotta finish grad skool. i really do. i need to get out'f skool n' make real $$$. as i've sed many, many times: my main motivation 4 werking in engring n' studying engnring is not the $$$! >:-( just think how much damage the ppl back in berkeley who accused me n' other engring students of that did to my career! >:-( like, i spent 2 much time worrying 'bout whether i shouldn't be doing engring cos it may be a $$$ driven career that it kept me from making more progress in my life, u know? >:-( maybe that's 1 thing i don't like. *sigh* *shrug* however, in the end, i guess i should just have more confidence in myself that i'm an engring that has his head on straight n' has morals, etc. <:-( *shrug*
well, on to a lighter topik (if i were to spell "lighter" in a manner consitent w/ my spelling'f "lite," "liter"'d look 2 much like the volumentrik measurement unit!): since my mom's out'f town, maybe we can watch dvds on the downstairs tv more this week. *shrug* u think? i just looked up on google the top dvd rentals 4 this week n' ended up on boxofficemojo.com. earlier 2day, a cowerker sent out a link to boxofficemojo.com cos he was talkin' 'bout how j.lo n' ben affleck's movie gigli set a new box office record as the movie that had the biggest decrease in ticket sales btwn the 1st n' 2nd weekends of its release! ha ha ha. u know, it's kewl to mock ben affleck cos he's such a hollywood celeb now engaged to j.lo n' all... however, we should all take a step back n' 'member that he did do 'lot 4 legitimate cinema when he did movies like chasing amy, etc. oh well... neway, what r the top dvd rentals these days? 1. bringing down the house (maybe i'll watch that cos i saw so many preview trailers 4 it cos we watched lots'f movies this past winter n' spring that i guess i've been brainwashed to believe it might not be as bad as it prob'ly is.), 2. daredevil (there u go: ben affleck.), 3. what a girl wants (no, thanks.), 4. final destination 2 (well, i could watch it, but kaela can't; so no.) 5. agent cody banks. (if i had wanted to, i could've watched that on the flight back from korea; but eh. *shrug*), 6. solaris (yah, i'm curious 'bout this 1.) 7. shanghai knights (saw it.), 8. phone booth (yah, sort'f interested altho' colin farrell's just 'nother 1'f those waaay over.publicised hollywood celebrities these days.), 9. the life of david gale (ah! now there's a movie i'd like to c! i saw preview trailers 4 it; then i 4got 'bout it. whenever, i heard the title, i didn't recognise it.), 10. how to lose a guy in 10 days (saw it.) the list goes on from 1 to 20; but i won't go on, i guess. kangaroo jack? no way! old school maybe. basic no. i realised this weekend that we still haven't watched t3!. however, since republikan arnold's running 4 governor right now, i guess i'll boycott the movie 'least till after he loses the elektion or whatever. i just figure we gotta do whatever we can to stop all this stoopid hype, u know?
yesterday, @ macy's we bought an espresso maker. we have this $500 gift card to spend from our wedding that our uncle jack gave us. the espresso maker was originally $79.99 n' on sale 4 $69.99, but we put it on our registry right b4 buying it n' registry items 4 us r 10% off; n' then i had 'nother 10% off coupon from the paper. yah, so we had those discounts, n' they gave us a coupon book full'f albertson's freebies 4 making a macy's cellar purchase over $50. kewl. well, after shopping @ valley fair yesterday, after strolling 'round santana row after that, we drove back home to almaden valley, where we went grocery shopping @ safeway. *shrug* yah, maybe we should've gone to albertson's. *shrug* it's pretty rare 4 us to go grocery shopping these days since we live w/ my mom. man, it used to be such a common thing. it's so weird how our life cmed more like s'pposedly typikal married life back when we weren't married, eh? ha, weird.
since my mom's gone, i have more housechores. i gotta do all the watering the garden/lawn kind'f stuff n' all the cleaning. it's diff; n', as i sed, it's like we can imagine that we're living the typikal amerikan married couple life, u know? but then the reality is that we still need our own house, n' we need a doggy. *sigh* i really gotta finish up grad skool n' get out!
[later] afternoon: i met w/ kaela @ hangook market 4 lunch. i had bibimnaengmyuhn; she had oodong (udon). we bought some groceries.
i 4got to mention that, on sat, b4 the real estate class, i had to grab a quick lunch, so we went to the j.box drive.thru on bascom near hamilton. i got a turkey jack combo meal. turkey jack: that's the 1st turkey burger marketted by a big fast fud franchise, right? *shrug* it's pretty good. :-) i don't wanna eat 2 much fast fud tho'.
[a li'l later] afternoon: oh yah, i 4got to menion sumpthin' much more important than ne turkey jack!!! there's this mutha sparrow w/ a nest full'f baby sparrows right outside our front door! i love it. i caught a .mpg video'f them (w/ our camcorder) thru the living room window yesterday. she was feeding her kids. there's like 5 kids or so. they r very cute. the mutha must've laid her eggs while we were in korea.
[later] evening: *sigh* i can't believe summer's almost over. skool starts next week. crazy, huh? on sat, @ the cheesecake faktory, i was telling grace n' steve how i'm so amazed that i've managed to scratch up my wedding ring/band so much in less than a month. i mean, i don't have ne major damage, but u can really tell it's been worn, u know? i wear it almost all the time... i mean, i do wear it all the time... uh... i dunno how to say it cos ppl often say "all the time" meaning "almost all the time," but i wear it literally "almost all the time," so *shrug* i even wear it when i werk out @ the gym. n' when @ the gym, i shower w/ it on. i take it off to do taekwondo, i guess.
u know sumpthin' sort'f sad to me (in a very small way) is that i think
i lost my favourite stylus pen (by stylus i'm referring to palm stylus) in
korea. i think i left it @ yunjoo n' taehoon's place. :-( i don't
think ne'f them use pda/palms, so i dunno if they'll have ne use 4 it.
i really liked that stylus pen. it was nice n' hefty, a
really nice looking pen, really professional looking. :-( i might hafta go
out n' spend some $$$ to buy 'nother nice, hefty stylus pen sometime...
sometime.
1238a: 오늘 우리의 결혼식 첫 monthversary 예요. :-) 2day's the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 1st wedding monthversary! :-)
[잠시후에] 오전 117: 좀 신혼여행 시진을 좀 보여줄게요. i'm gonna show u some honeymoon pics:
kaela n' some flowers.
i almost always carried my camcorder.
kaela n' some jeijoodo fon booths... tourist location, u know?
a li'l waterfall. (uh, aktually, this pic
isn't from jeijoodo but from later on in the trip.)
[later] morn: 1'f my cowerkers fwded out a funny e.mail:
The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility. French is never taken seriously, and thus was never a real possibility.
As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k".This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.
By the 4th yer peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it tzi tu understand ech oza.
Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru. Zen ve vil rul ze world!!!
my german cowerker replied: "That is nasty! Go into your corner now!" heh, well, i didn't find it funny @ the expense'f germans; 'least not @ 1st... i thought it was funny cos i already spell like that... sort'f... u know... i get rid'f some'f the unnecessary letters n' replace some "c"s w/ "k"s, etc.
have u ever visited the y! news msg boards? like, i'm sure u read y! news now n' then; every1 does. neway, u know the msg boards r really stoopid; full'f ignorant, immature ppl. i don't read them much n' almost never post on them. neway, while browsing y! news yesterday, i read that the founder'f dunkin' donuts passed 'way. on the msg board 4 that article ppl fought 'bout whether dunkin' donuts r better than krispy kremes or not. 1 person made a comment, which i gotta say is true. he sed that krispy kreme donuts r only good when they r fresh n' still dripping w/ grease, while dunkin' donuts r still good the next day. that's totally true! we used to have a dunkin' donuts in san jo @ the corner'f camden ave n' union ave, but it's long gone now. my family used to buy dunkin' donuts all the time cos we picked up the habit from our early days in the midwest. they have dunkin' donuts in korea. every mon morn, my company gives us krispy kreme donuts. yesterday, i ate 0.5'f 1'f the unhealthiest donuts possible: it's this filled donut; a caramel.filled donut w/ chocolate n' toffee chips on top! crazy, huh? caramel.filled! i ate 0.5'f 1 yesterday morn; n' this morn, i ate 0.5'f 'nother. it was better yesterday, of course. funny, in the immature debate on the msg board, ppl started using the acronyms "dd" n' "kk." i hadn't noticed that b4.
[later] still morn: last nite, after werk, i went to the gym. i had a quick werkout. i ran 1 mile on the treadmill. it took me a li'l less than 8 mins. i didn't really push myself; it was a good com4table pace. after my mile, i stretched, did some crunches, n' then lifted. the lifting felt like a good werkout. after that, i showered n' went home. we cooked curry spam 4 dinner. i realised it's really silly to make curry spam cos spam's already so salty, so why do we throw it into a dish that's already so salty? *shrug* it's just convenient, more convenient than dealing w/ dangerous, raw chicken. :-/ spam's tasty.
[later] 'bout noon: i was just looking @ www.krispykreme.com: man! these donuts r unbelievably bad 4 u!!! i mean, i know donuts r unhealthy, but whoa! how do they squeeze so much unhealthiness into such a li'l donut?!
[later] li'l after noon: @ this pt in the day, i feel really lousy. :-( really lousy.
[later] still afternoon: i can't believe my 28th b.day is coming up on
thurs. 2day's tues. *sigh* it's not so much cos'f my
b.day; but i've been very frustrated n' depressed 4 the past coupl'f hrs.
[later] still afternoon: lately, i've been sending out lots'f resumes. i really need more $$$. i'm depressed that i don't have $$$, n' i'm depressed that i've let myself be so focused on getting $$$... uh... that "focused"??? yah, that makes it sound like i'm really trying hard to get $$$, like i'm out pulling scams n' stuff. no, i'm not. *sigh* well, i dumped more than 0.5'f my life's savings into this wedding, n' my current job doesn't pay worth squat... :-( i wish i could look 4 a better paying job more intensely, but i also know that i gotta finish grad skool. :-/ i still don't wanna hear 'bout get rich quick schemes that won't werk. i just wish i could find a good job, 1 that pays better than the 1 i've got right now. on fri, after malibu, when we went to denny's the waiter talked to brian cos he recognised him. u c, brian, as a tax accountant guy, goes to some restaurant to pick up their tax documents. that denny's waiter sed he werks @ denny's, that other restaurant, n' also 1 more. he has 3 jobs. makes me think: how come i only have 1? maybe in order to get the income i need, i should be werking this job... n' then as soon as i get off this job, i should go werk @ a kwik.e mart or sumpthin'. :-/
[later] still afternoon: 4 lunch, earlier 2day, i ate 3 slices'f
leftover frozen pizza from sun nite: chicken pizza. b4 lunch, i
went 4 a walk 'round the bizness park... i guess that's what u call
this kind'f place, right? "bizness park"? "bizness plaza"?
it feels more like a "park" than a "plaza." *shrug* i've
obviously been in that depressed, contemplating life mode/mood. just now, i
went out 4 'nother somber walk. it's good to walk; it's bad to
be in the sun. it's hard to walk 'round the bizness park n' stay in
the shade. on my earlier walk, it was really hard cos it was
'round noon. on my later walk, it was easier. the paved
space behind our office is pretty desolate. if i were still a
skateboarder, i could have so much fun back there. i just wanted a
quiet place to stand in the shade n' reflekt on life. hrm, i dunno
if that's really what i wanted, but that sure is what i found back there.
it's sort'f quiet. u hear cars passing by on nearby central
expwy. there was a slight breeze, so even tho' it was very
sunshiney, it wasn't hot. summer's coming to an end.
[later] still afternoon: oh yah, i got my new driver license yesterday. i think it's the best driver license pic i've had yet. i'm glad it has my right weight n' height 4 1nce. *sigh* since i haven't been bleaching or dying it, my hair's pickin' up that german shepherd look 'gain: black & brown. i want to dye or bleach it, but i'm just lazy. :-( *sigh* @ this moment, i just don't feel much like nething. :-(
[later] almost evening: in an attempt to feel not as bad 'bout being a grad student instead'f a guy who can simply focus on making lots'f $$$, i browsed pages 'bout mechatronics projekts. i saw this 1 particularly cute projekt: gopher madness from a northwestern university group. (more projekts from this class r found @ http://lims.mech.northwestern.edu/~design/mechatronics/2002/.) of course, it's not a really original projekt, since almost every arcade in the 1980s had a whack.a.mole game; but the projekt group's website sure has some cute pics! :-)
[later] still late afternoon: *sigh* u know, i'm an older
grad student, relatively speaking; rn't i? how would life be diff
if i were a younger grad student; 1'f those kids that went straight from
undergrad to grad skool? @ this moment, i feel those kinds'f
students have so much less to worry 'bout: they can just be normal
students, think 'bout skool stuff. guys like me? we gotta think
'bout getting our lives in order as well as doing skool. i 'member
the feeling'f starting undergrad college back 'round this time in 1993: it
felt like i was off to 4 yrs'f summer camp. *sigh* really! the
undergrad, young college student's life is so much less stress, isn't it?
heh... easy to say that in retrospekt, yah... u know, all my stress
these days just boils down to 1 issue, i guess: the fakt that i gotta buy
us a house asap; but there r so many things in the way. *sigh* yah,
basikally that's the big thing.
[later] evening: ok, i guess i'm done whining. the 2 best fons
available 4 verizon r the lg vx6000 n' the samsung sch.a530. maybe
i'll overstrike all the text above where i got 2 whiney.
오전 1237 (1237a): 오늘 수요일예요. 어제밤 퇴근후에 태권도 연습 갔어요. 기본 동작 같은것 연습했어요. 좋았어요. 태권도 연습후에 fantasia café 가고 보바 음료 받았어요. 그때 집에 돌아왔어요. 만두를 좀 먹었어요. (2day's wed. last nite, after werk, i went to taekwondo practice. we practiced basic tekniques. it was good. after taekwondo practice, we went to fantasia café n' got boba drinks. after that, we went back home. we ate some mandoo.)
[later] morn: u know, when ppl sign my gbook, i usually give a li'l shout out to 'em, right? well, yah... i know i've been really lazy n' bad w/ that lately. :-( well, odd43/redoubt n' antonia, thanks 4 signing my gbook! man, i should answer those gbook qs (questions) n' change 'em. :-/
oh yah, 2day's dave yee's b.day. he was born a day b4 me. happy b.day, dave... altho' i'm sure he doesn't read this journal... eh, it's ok. i hope he's having a good b.day.
appliance count: we have a bread maker, a juicer, an aisukuriimu maker, an espresso maker... of course, we have a toaster n' a blender. of the new appliances (bread maker, juicer, aisukuriimu maker, espresso maker), we used the juicer n' espresso maker on sun nite n' mon morn respektively; we haven't used the bread maker or the aisukuriimu maker yet; but we really want to soon.
lemme tell u 'bout 1 thought i had after coming back from our honeymoon: 1'f few good things 'bout being in cali4nia instead'f korea is that we have tahoe n' snowboarding here. of course, there's snowboarding in korea... but my gut feeling's that it's harder to go snowboarding; i mean, it doesn't look as convenient. i could be wrong. well, it's summer right now. if u wanna go snowboarding, u prob'ly would want to go south'f the equator. 1 funny thing's that i left my snowboard rack on my car all spring n' summer up until the week we came back from the honeymoon. that makes no sense, huh? well, i didn't want to remove the rack till i cleaned it w/ a carwash. i never got a carwash until the week'f the wedding. then i figured i wanted the rack on top'f my car as we drove off after the wedding; cos it'd be more pikture perfekt... altho' no1 aktually took ne pics'f us driving off. :-( yah, i wish some1 had. n' i really wish some1 had taken a pic'f my driving my own wedding cake to my wedding... of course, w/ the help'f grace (ken's wife) in the back nervously holding onto the box. :-) heh.
this week, as the beautiful kaela hwang n' i r living in the house by ourselves, i'm remembering that taking care'f a home is so much werk; so many chores! now, i 'member how it was living in the northside berkeley apt. here, i have more chores cos it's a bigger home, n' i've also got 2 yards (front n' back) to take care'f.
[a li'l later] still late morn: b4 u buy nething, u should always check ebay, i say. u know, apparently in singapore, mcyukyuk's gave out mashimaro plushes as like happy meal toys or sumpthin'. i saw them 4 sale on ebay. crazy, huh? ironikally, yesterday, while bored on the net, i was browsing the korean mcyukyuk's page to c what happy meal toys they had in the past 3 yrs, hoping to find mashimaro happy meal toys. nope, not in korea; only in singapore, i guess. *shrug* never 4get: kaela really loves the bunny! some counterfeit bunny stuff looks really stoopid tho'. :-(
how come on craigslist.org, ppl r selling n' giving away bikes, saying they're great 4 burning man? do u need a bike to go to burning man?
[later] a li'l after noon: kaela sed she's taking me to lunch @ straits café in santana row cos'f our monthvesary yesterday. heh. ok. :-) this should be fun. btw, u should still visit n' sign up on dine.com.
man! there r sooo many virus e.mails going 'round!!! i got sooo many virus e.mails this morn!
[later] evening: so kaela took me to straits café. we met up there in santana row. we got to santana row @ the same time n', even tho' the parking lot was a mad house, we aktually got to park right next to each other. it was funny. well, we ate lunch: a apple n' prawn (w/ cilantro, carrots, n' mint vinaigrette dressing) salad, a uh... this indian stuffed roti thingy w/ beef inside n' curry sauce [upon consulting their website www.straitsrestaurant.com, i 'member that dish was called murtabak.], n' then the "laksa" paella (w/ prawns, mussels, clams, li'l baby oktopi, salmon, sea bass...). it was very good. i had this really good wheat beer 2. i don't really 'member the name'f the brewery; some1 i hadn't heard'f b4... franzisten? frankenstein? i 4get... it was sumpthin' i hadn't heard'f b4, n' it was very good. after that huge lunch, 'twas back to werk. santana row is so nice.
[later] 1118p: my mom told us to water the front n' back lawn n' plants every day after sunset. well, i'm never home @ sunset. i've toldju many times: we live so far 'way from all the places i go, so i don't come home till late. perhaps the neighbours think it's funny that i'm always out w/ the garden hose watering the plants @ a time that's past when they put their kids to bed. *shrug* oh well, that's the only way to do it. :-/ "gardening at night" is an r.e.m. song.
after werk, 2nite, i went to the hamilton/meridian gym. after that, i had to buy a few groceries @ the albertson's on meridian b4 coming home.
오전 1223 (1223a): 오늘이 내 28번째 생일예요. 2day's my 28th
b.day.
오후 326 (326p): 어제밤 the beautiful kaela hwang 날 저녁 먹으로 todai에 데렸어요. 내 생일 때문에요. 이 식당이 손님의 생일에서 무료의 저녁식을 줘요. 사실는 지금 무료의 저녁식을 주지 않아요. 그 대신에 상품권만을 줘요. 생일 있는 사람 밖에 저어도 지르는 손님 한 분이 필요해요. 다음 3개월 이내에 상품권을 사용하야 되요.
morn: y! news had an article 'bout red wine's prolonging ur life: "study: red wine molecule shown to extend life."
[later] early afternoon: on fri, my friends took me to citrus on the
3rd floor of the hotel valencia in santana row 4 my b.day. citrus
is a fancy tapas restaurant. we had tapas n' sangria. who
was there? nelson, mike, vivian, jason lee, brian chong, mark lee, roland,
toby, betty, the
beautiful kaela hwang, n' me; 11 ppl... the "executive chef"
came out n' sed he'd just bring out fud to feed us. he told us to
stop him 'bout 3 dishes early. it was good fud; lots'f
it.
121a: we're having some very strange weather here in san jo right now. i'm talkin' "george w. bush is the antichrist, n' this is the end'f the world" strange!!! 2nite, we're having these beautiful lightning storms. @ 1st, all we could c from almaden was lightning, no rain. no, 'bout an hr after the very frequent lightning started, rain started pouring. it's beautiful. it's not usual 4 cali4nia, i gotta admit... 'least not 'round here. i feel this kind'f weather happens in the midwest more... maybe in montana, wyoming... or maybe arizona... yah, it sort'f cms like desert weather. the sky is so beautiful lit up. i can imagine being an ancient person, watching the sky light up like this n' thinking that it's the end'f the world. it sure looks like it. we've had sooo much lightning. maybe w/ each lightning bolt god is striking down an unrepetant sinner. the lightning is far 'way now, n' it's approaching. r we saved, or r we sinners?
[later] late morn: i finally filled out my gbook questions. please sign my gbook asap b4 i change the questions 4 the next version! :-)
name: beno hwang
e.mail: beno at benomix dot com
homepage url (don't 4get to use http colon slash slash! http://www.benomix.com
what's sumpthin' u borrowed recently? a nice compaq laptop 'puter from ken
tell me 'bout 1 of ur favourite commercials: i'm surprised no1 mentioned victoria's secret commercials! ha ha. well, what do i like? obviously, i like that mitsubishi outlander commercial w/ telepopmusik's "breathe." i never shut up 'bout it! u know how the commercial goes. i talked 'bout it so many times in my journal! however, have u cn the full length version?! i dled it a while 'go, u know. yah, let's call it "the director's cut." ha ha.
in what order do u put on ur clothes? i try to delay putting on clothes 4 as long as i can sometimes. i don't like to put on clothes right after a shower cos then i'm still wet. then i feel sticky n' gross. i obviously put on my underpants 1st. then, i usually put on my pants n' then my shirt. sometimes i put on 2 layers'f shirts, right? n' sometimes i have a jacket or coat over my shirt(s). n' somelimes i have goggles n' helmet on. n' sometimes i gotta put sparring equipment on. heh heh... neway, michelle's (mnm) answer was really kewl! :-)
please tell me 'bout a kewl place to hang out (why it's kewl): 4 out'f town guests to our wedding, i had written a document 'bout what to do in the silly valley (silicon valley). however, in the end i didn't pass it out cos i just am a harsh critic'f my own werk, u know? i just deemed it not worthy'f publication, basikally. :-( neway, i compiled a whole list'f kewl places to hang out in that document! well, i won't go thru the whole list now. obviously, santana row is the kewl place to hang out these days! that's pretty obvious, i'd say. it's the hip place, where young, "financially loaded beyond all decency" types go to flash their humvees n' mercedcs roadsters n' bling bling till every1 else is all green green w/ envy. well, all materialism aside, santana row's still ahe kewl place to hang out... just cos'f its beautiful, yet still somewhat artificial, architecture.
is it the end of the world as we know it? (nod head or shake head) nod head (the current world will come to an end to yield an even better world full of magikal bunnies, fuzzy puppies, n' warm doves. n' there'll be a boba café.)
what will u do this summer? what did i do this summer? i married the love'f my life! :-)
additional comments: i really like it when ppl sign my gbook. :-)
so this past weekend was somewhat'f an emotional rollercoaster. is it cos i just turned 28? *shrug* well, i had sooo much fun @ citrus w/ friends on fri nite! :-) on sat, i followed the beautiful kaela hwang to werk. she werked in my mom's office, not as a receptionist, but as a real realtor. don't 4get, both my mom n' my wife now sell houses, so if u'r buying or selling real estate, u gotta go thru them! it's fun to say "wife," huh? ha ha. well, i went w/ her to werk. i sat n' played on the laptop, the laptop we borrowed from ken 4 a very, very long time. i finally returned it late on sun nite. however, we realised that we really need to buy a laptop 4 kaela's werk.
after her werk, we ate lunch @ tk noodles n' got a almond boba from tapioca express. then we just, i dunno, killed time. we looked @ some houses just 4 fun. then we went to valley fair. we went to copeland's to buy kaela new swim goggles cos her old 1s (not that old) broke. oh yah, 4 my b.day, kaela gave me a tennis racket, so we can go play tennis 2gether. i was never good @ racket sports... 'cept maybe ping pong.
oh yah, i got other b.day presents 2. i really appreciate them all! :-) the tennis racket from kaela... jason gave me a dvd'f falling down w/ michael douglas n' an indie rock cd, a local asian.am band called "for 100 we try harder." :-) that's 99 ranch's motto, u know. toby n' betty gave me a cooler/warmer 4 the car... like, a cooler that can hold drinks... it plugs into my ligher adapter n' cools drinks or warms fud, etc. i've pondered getting 1 in recent months, but u know... it was 1'f those things i would've bought if i were spending more freely. thanks 4 the gifts!
well, sat nite, we stayed @ home. we didn't really have a normal dinner, just ate odds n' ends, random leftovers. we tried to make green tea frozen yogurt w/ the aisukuriimu maker i gave kaela 4 her b.day. uhm, the results r uhm... well, we haven't really tried it yet, so i dunno how best to describe the dessert.
now sun was a very special day. we woke up, tried to clean up a bit, n' then rushed off to church. that's the 1st time either'f had been to church in a very long time. that was the 1st time we went to church 2gether. we went to san jose jeiil gyohwe on arques n' lawrence right by fry's. ppl from our taekwondojang go there. we met up w/ brian chong there. the pastor / moksanim talked to me n' kaela 4 a while after service, since we're new. i can't say 4 sure we'll be going there regularly, but it cms to be a kewl place. during the sermon n' all, i realised just how diff my life is nowadays from yrs 'go... spiritually... if u read my old, old journal entries, u'd know... u know, i dunno what to say 'bout if i was "a better" person back then... or if i did less bad things or whatever... what was more on my mind is that i sure ask 4 help from god less than i used to. i know lots'f nonchristians'd think, "shoot! now that beno's gonna go to church 'gain, he's gonna get all preachy n' make us feel bad 4 not going to church!" *sigh* no, i really don't want to or plan to do that. i won't do that. i just realised that i have so many stresses in my life these days: finances, career, skool, job, house... :-( however... i deal w/ it so less constructively than i used to... n' that's cos i don't have the spiritual life i used to. true. i've gotten really whiney in recent yrs. u've heard me say that many times. i'm so sorry. :-( it's a big jump btwn "i've gotta do everything myself; i'm so stressed out, so stressed out, so stressed out" to "i'll trust that god'll take care'f me." wow, in my past, i really did have a "i'll trust god'll take care'f me" philosophy @ times. well, don't ppl say that sometimes after u've tried everything else, maybe u should just trust god? *shrug* neway, as i sed, i'm not out to become a judgemental person n' force ne1 to take on my religious beliefs. i just know i need to take on my religious beliefs.
well, after church, after talking to the pastor, kaela n' i went to fry's to hang out n' wait 4 brian. brian went to teach hi skool sunday skool, n' julie went to the korean service. funny, it must sound like we do stuff w/ those 2 'lot, it cms, but they r not a couple. julie, brian, brian's friend mindy, kaela, n' i went to bamboo garden 4 dimsum in sunnyvale's old town n' country shopping neighbourhood. it was a pretty good dimsum lunch. nelson recommended that restaurant.
after that, kaela n' i headed up to sf to hang w/ jason. we hung out in j.town. we ate dinner @ uhm... that korean.owned sushi place 'cross the street on post? sanppo, i guess it's called. on the way to sf, kaela n' i stopped in east palo alto ("east pally") to get a starbucks frapuccino. that area sort'f reminds me'f emeryville, n' it also has an ikea, which opens next weekend, i think. after dinner, we went to jason's house to watch video footage from our wedding. that was fun! :-)
btwn sun n' mon, i was very depressed 'bout my career situation n' how i'm still stuck in grad skool even tho' i sometimes wanna be more'f just a full time werking guy who can bring in $$$, so we can buy a house n' get on w/ our lives. i was really discouraged when i heard the mechanical engineering department (@ san josé state) is trying to cancel my 1 class this semester. i have 2 classes i need to take btwn now n' may to get my master's degree. i don't want ne obstacles like that. i wanna get my degree in may 2004 n' get on w/ my life. i got really discouraged. then i realised that yah... back in the days when i was a more spiritual guy, i trusted god, n' god took care'f me. i know that sounds sooo cheesy, but it's true. i had some really, really bad situations... but i got out'f them, didn't i? :-/ "poor man's panacea," that's what nelson called religion, quoting his ucsd humanities professor. i never understood why ucsd has a "humanities" department... shouldn't "humanities" be many, many diff majors n' departments?! i dunno... isn't $$$ the poor man's panacea? "if i only had some $$$..." ppl say, right? u've heard me whine 'bout not having $$$, but u didn't hear me whine 'bout not having religion, right? *shrug* well, there's 'nother side to the whole "poor man's panacea" thing: nelson also quoted his prof in admitting that ppl who have a religion survive terminal illnesses better, which means... sure it's the "poor man's panacea," but well... it sort'f werks 2. i mean, we can ridicule relgion as being the way'f the weak, stoopid, n' lazy... but well... what if sometimes u can do some things w/ god n' belief in god that u can't w/o that belief? :-/
neway, religious n' nonreligious ppl'll both scream @chu if u just go to church cos u'r down on ur luck n' then just pray to ask god to give u a nice job n' house n' all sorts'f material things. some spiritual mentor 1nce sed not to pray 4 things, instead pray 4 wisdom n' guidance. ppl say not to test god. u don't pray just to "c if it werks." it's not s'pposed to be superstition. it's not s'pposed to be "now that i've tried everything else n' that that didn't werk; i'll try to pray to god n' ask 4 all the things i want... n' if that doesn't werk, then..." christians n' the bible tell u not to do that. don't pray to god just to ask 4 things to c if his power werks, etc. n' then nonreligious ppl'd say, "of course, u'r not s'pposed to pray n' ask 4 material, physikal things! that's cos those things r 2 tangible! u'r s'pposed to pray 4 immaterial things, so that believers can always say there's a god cos there's no physikal evidence that there isn't!" eh! ppl can argue 4 hrs... gee, that makes me sure miss berkeley!!! however, as soon as i step foot on sproul plaza n' hear religious debates, i'd want to be out'f there asap!
neway... 'nuff 'bout that... yesterday, i went to werk. @ lunchtime, kaela come to my office, n' we went to lunch @ the new in.n.out burgers @ mercado (@ 101 n' great amerika pkwy). it was a simple n' fatt'ning lunch. in the early evening, i went to talk to my advising professor 4 my masters projekt. she gave me some cdrom documents to read. it took 4ever to get back to my car in the parking shuttle lot! after that, i went to the hamilton/meridian gym. kaela met me there.
2day, i have class... unless the class gets cancelled. :-( i'm werking, n' then i'll go to skool. after skool, i'll go to taekwondo.
[later] afternoon: kaela come over, n' we went to lunch @ myuhngdong soondubujip. we aktually both had naengmyuhn, no soondubu. kaela had mool naengmyuhn. i had bibimnaengmyuhn.
i know i haven't put up many pics lately. i'll try to post some
pics soon; perhaps sumpthin' non.wedding / non.honeymoon related.
or else, i'll put up more wedding or honeymoon pics. who
knows?
late morn: i have such a dilemma now, as far as my skool stuff. yesterday, i went to campus n' found out 4 certain that my "advanced control system design" class is cancelled. :-( *sigh* i really wanted/needed to take that class. well, aktually... i thought i needed to take the class, as a requirement 4 my masters degree, but apparently it's more'f a suggested class, not necessarily a required class. neway, it looks like i'll be taking "spacecraft design & controls" instead. that's aktually an aerospace engineering class, not a mechanical engineering class. :-/ well, i have a dilemma now: should i still just take 1 class this semester? or should i take 2 classes n' get all my graduate program coursewerk done @ 1nce? if i take 2 classes this semester, all i'll hafta do next semester is my projekt. then i can most likely werk full time, no prob. if i take 1 class this semester n' 1 class next semester, i can't say 4 sure i can werk full time either semester, tho' i can prob'ly still werk part time. however, i would only take 2 classes this semester if i know 4 sure that they won't offer ne control systems classes next semester, u know? if that's the case; yah, i might as well take other classes n' take them all now n' get them over w/. :-/ i dunno what to do!!!
yesterday, i left my office in the late afternoon to go to campus. then i found out that class was cancelled. i hung out w/ dave n' brian 4 a bit talkin' 'bout skool. we talked to the dept chair 4 a while. we talked to other msme (masters of science mechanical engineering) students. then eventually we took off. i went back to my office until taekwondo practice. we all agree that this semester's started out kind'f discouragingly cos'f these class cancellations. it's cos'f budget cuts. it's really sad. i'd never been this affekted by budget cuts. :-( *sigh* it's so sad: what if students start their msme programs n' then don't get to finish cos'f budget cuts?!
[later] afternoon: i brought lunch 2day n' ate in the lunchroom @ my office. i've eaten some pretty bad.4.me fud this week, n' i didn't bring my gym stuff w/ me 2day, so i won't be werking out 2nite, i guess. :-( i dunno why i did that. :-( i should've brought my gym stuff. i just thought i need time to catch up on my own stuff. u know? do u realise why i don't have time to sit 'round n' watch tv @ nite? i don't! i have many projekts i need to werk on... besides skoolstuff or werkstuff... :-/ many projekts... however, i wish i could go to the gym 2nite. :-(
[later] 4.53p: i'm on campus now. my aerospace engineering class starts @ 530p. i'm crashing the class. right now, my skedule's officially empty since the dept cancelled my "advanced co>trol system design" class. i can't sign up 4 my masters projekt class till i submit a proposal in a few weeks, a 2-3 page proposal. 2morrow morn, i have a job interview. heh, that's good news, u know! the position sounds great: it deals w/ robotics in the semiconductor industry. altho' i have yet to werk in the semiconductor industry, well... shoot! here i am in silly valley! i'm a mechanical engineer; that's what i'm s'pposed to do! interview! wow, i feel good. i really want the job, since it's really right in my field. there's some mechanical engrs that r more into structural or thermo or fluids, but me? i'm a controls, automation, n' robotics guy, u know? i oean, shoot! my masters projekt is s'pposed to be some kind'f machine vision controlled robot! i'm glad i got that call 2day 'bout this interview. i guess... i guess, this is the kind'f instance where i say, "yah, god does take care'f me." :-) i can be happy, u know?
wow, it's now 504p. this aerospace engring class starts in less
than 0.5 hr. hrm... even tho' i haven't done much w/ aerospace
stuff... like, this class is "spacecraft dynamics & controls."
i'm a controls guy. that's why i'm taking the class. i
am curious 'bout the spacecraft design part 2, tho'. well...
i hope i can do well!
morn: cos'f the sobig.f virus, i've cn so many random e.mail addresses... n' these r real e.mail addresses, versus spam e.mail addresses. it's just interesting to c the diff e.mail addresses n' domain names, etc. funny, 1'f these days u could get a sobig.f virus e.mail from some1 famous, u know?
[later] afternoon: the beautiful kaela hwang
had lunch w/ me @ tomatina @ mercado.
i'm wearing a white shirt 2day, n' i splashed some tomato sauce on nit just now @ lunch. :-( i had the
spaghettini. if u read the menu (in .pdf
form) on their website, u'll know it's spaghetti w/ chicken, spinach, n'
red onion tomato broth. kaela had the turkey piadine n' soup.
on my drive into werk this morn, i brought some coffee in a travel mug. i made the coffee @
home. yesterday, i made espresso; 2day, i made just coffee.
the coffee was aktually pretty good, i thought. usually, i
don't like normal coffee so much, just espresso. neway, i put some
coffee in this smithsonian national zoo travel mug that kaela got from the
washington, d.c. zoo. that travel mug has a prob: it has 2 layers'f
plastic w/ some space in btwn 4 insulation, but some seal broke, so liquid
get into that space btwn the layers. the outer layer is clear n'
has pics'f pandas on it w/ the zoo's logo, but u can c a shiny layer
behind that. well, since liquid n' moisture get in now; the mug
sort'f stinks. i mean, it smells bad. neway, i used that
mug. i was worried while driving n' drinking my coffee that i'd
spill some'f my black coffee on my white shirt, but luckily i didn't.
2 bad i got tomato sauce on it now.
:-( i enjoyed the coffee. i drank it in the car n' ate this quaker
brand granola bites thingies. uhm, they were strawberry flavoured, i think. those flavours tasted good
2gether: sweet n' rich bitter. i thought 'bout how some fuds taste
good w/ beer 
.
well, i guess some fuds taste good w/ coffee. :-/ i don't
wanna be a coffee addikt. think 'bout barney gumble : he used to be
addikted to beer, n' then he got addikted to coffee. well, i'm not
addikted to beer or coffee, but i enjoy both now n' then; not 2gether.
yesterday, @ lunch, kaela came over, n' we went to that yangpyuhng shinae seoul haejanggook place on el camino real @ bowers/kiely in santa clara. i had konggooksoo, n' kaela had dolsot bibimbap. : afterward, kaela got a green tea latte from "coffee?" next door. i didn't have ne drink cos i was 2 full from lunch.
u know how i was talkin' 'bout the sobig.f virus a few paragraphs up? don't 4get that this virus sends out the e.mails w/ the infektious .pif n' .scr files using other ppl's e.mails. there4, just cos ur friend sent u the virus e.mail, it doesn't mean he/she aktually has the virus. it just means some1 that he/she knows has the virus. the infektious files r the virus organisms n' the e.mails r the vektor? is that correkt? *shrug*
so yesterday's interview: the interviewer sounded posi+ive. i
hope he really thinks all he sed. me? i really want this job.
it's better experience, n' i'm guessing it pays better 2.
well, more importantly, it's better experience... i mean, it's hard to
werk on my master's projekt as well as a job that isn't related @ all to
it, u know?
오전 908 (908a): 월요일예요. it's mon. 노동절예요. it's labour day. 요즘에 많이 시간없어요. these days, i don't have much time. 항상 바빠요. i'm always bizzy. i spend so much time just deleting sobig.f virus e.mails! >:-( on sat, i spent 'lot'f time washing my car. the beautiful kaela hwang always thinks it's so funny that it takes me so long to wash my car. aktually, what takes sooo long is waxing my car. i'm thinking'f going to kragen n' buying an elektric car polisher 4 $15. *shrug* i dunno... i know i can't just buy things whenever like i might've used to. *shrug* neway... i spent quite a bit'f time on fri morn thru afternoon washing n' cleaning up my car. personally, i think i did a really thorough job n' that it was pretty much worth the time i put in. i used our sharper image steam cleaner, to steam clean my floor mats. that really made a diff, u know? kaela went to a class 4 her werk (real estate) but came home after that, n' it was in the morn. other than that, we both spent the entire day @ home. @ nite, we went to santana row 4 nelson's b.day. originally, we were s'pposed to go to citrus 'gain; but @ the last min, nelson changed the venue to pizza antica, which is also in santana row. ("venue"'s such a buzzwurd these days!) it's a bit more'f a casual restaurant, an italian pizza place instead'f a contemporary spanish tapas place. of course, it was a big party. nelson has a big circle'f friends, u know? we had lots'f pizza n' other italian fud stuff. they have several really good pizzas @ pizza antica. i like their pizza w/ tomatao sauce n' garlic w/o cheese! it's healthy n' delicious! :-) they also have this "heirloom" potato pizza that's great. ("heirloom" [in description of fud]'s such a buzzwurd these days.) they also have some good pizzas w/ their italian sausage, like 1 w/ italian sausage n' portabello shrooms. i like that. u know, re: pizza, i really don't like pepperoni n' avoid it. if i gotta have those typikal amerikan pizza toppings, i'd rather have sausage than pepperoni. pepperoni n' salami r just so fatt'ning! (is it "salami" or "salame"??? i don't get why we're so confused w/ certain italian wurds like that! it's not like italian doesn't use the roman alfabet! >:-( tomatina spells "piadine, while pizza antica has "piadini." *sigh* i mean, it's 1 thing to argue whether it's "kimchi" or "kimchee, but shoot! italian uses the roman alfabet just like amerikan english, so what's the confusion?! i guess the pt is that amerikans just can't spell :-( that's not good.) neway, after pizza antica, most'f us went to the v.bar, which is on the 3rd floor'f the hotel valencia along w/ citrus. u know nelson: he's still very much the swingin' single guy, now @ 29 yrs'f age. heh. so aktually the hotel valencia has the v.bar n' citrus on the 3rd floor, n' that area on the 7th floor's called cielo. ah, i didn't know that b4 sat nite.
i didn't mention that on fri nite, we went to watch bad boys ii w/ ken, grace, billy, n' jay @ amc mercado. it was a pretty fun movie; lots'f aktion, much more than the 1st movie.
sun, we went to church in the morn. it was a very small english congregation. we thought we were going to sf w/ the church cos the announcement sed sumpthin' 'bout a li'l picnic or field trip to sf well, 'pparently, most'f the english congregation went on some kind'f "casual retreat" to lake tahoe, n' there wasn't a sf picnic. oh well. well, kaela n' i went on our own li'l field trip. i drove us out to 0.5 moon bay. we got some picnicish fud from the safeway in 0.5 moon bay. then we drove out to a very, very beautiful lookout pt. ah, we were so 4tunate, lucky, or blessed. we got the perfekt parking spot w/ perfekt weather!!! much'f 0.5 moon bay was quite cloudy, but our spot was beautifully sunny. we hads a great view'f the ocean water, the beach, n' surfers. it was amusing to watch the surfers. we ate this s'pposedly greek sandwich from the safeway deli, some fruit salad, n' some "mediterranan" pasta salad. it had some very cute, li'l tomatoes. we also had some spinach dip n' baguette. sounds like a lot'f fud, eh? heh, i guess. ah, 0.5 moon bay was so beautiful. don't 4get, we took our engagement portraits in 0.5 moon bay @ the ritz carlton. that day was much cloudier than sun was. (yesterday was sun; 2day's mon.) i didn't plan to have us stay in 0.5 moon bay the whole day, so we got back on hiway 1 to drive off to sf. what i had in mind was to hit the sf asian art museum, n' we did. :-)
after taking a bit'f time to find parking, we went into the museum; n' they were having this javanese dance demo. ever since the big smithsonian festival last summer (where we did all those martial arts demos), i've had a much deeper appreciation 4 cultural exhibitions. i much better understand all the werk that goes into them n' the motivation 4 doing them, etc. after that, we went to look @ a whole bunch'f uh... oh yah... indonesian hand puppets. the exhibit is called "warrior kings and divine jesters: indonesian puppets from the herbert collection" n' apparently (from their website) ended yesterday. wow, i guess it was nice that we saw it right b4 it closed. after spending the whole afternoon @ the asian art museum until it closed, we realised that the art museum sure has a very, very, very strong bias 2wards buddhism n' religion. it's not that we've got that silly, skrewed up mentality'f "oh, we're christians, n' we just don't wanna look @ art that's from other relgions"! no, that's completely not my pt! my pt is that not all art is religious, so why is it that 'bout 99%'f the museum is religious pieces?!?! >:-( (it) cms like everything's buddhist or else hindu, muslim, sikh, or jainist. not much is secular. hrm... someday, they ought to have a asian pop culture exhibit or entire wing... w/ lots'f mashimaro n' stuff, u know? n' they can have asian pop muzik n' stuff. heh... someday.
well, we stayed until the museum kicked our @$$es out. then we just drove aimlessly 'round sf 4 a bit. we ended up @ haight ashbury 4 a li'l. i felt sooo out'f place. i was all dressed in khakis n' a button.down shirt cos'f church on sun morn. i felt like such an out'f place yuppie. i felt like keanu reeves @ the beginning'f sweet november.
[잠시후에, later] 오후 219, 219p: kaela n' i watched 고양이를 부탁해 on dvd a li'l while 'go, but i can talk 'bout that later. so yesterday... after we went to haight ashbury n' walked 'round. we went to look 4 fud. we went to the international noodle house on van ness. it's a li'l pan.asian joint... well, it has chinese, vietnamese, n' thai fud. we each had a green tea latte n' then a noodle dish, n' shared an order'f vietnamese spring rolls. after that, we drove home. sf was sooo foggy, but the san jo nite was still kind'f warm. we got home 'round 930p; but it felt much, much later to me. i fell asleep pretty early. well... relatively early!
2day's labour day, as i sed. it's a very lazy day. i do have hw to finish by wed nite. :-/ besides my classwerk, i've got tons'f stuff to do 4 my master's projekt. some'f it is bureaucratic paperwerk; some'f it is more research stuff. the master's projekt stuff kind'f scares me. :-/ honestly, i'm considering telling my company 2morrow that i don't have time to werk on non.mechanical engineering stuff, that i'm gonna quit werking 4 them... that i don't have time to werk cos'f skool, unless it's mechanical engineering related stuff. :-/ i dunno. i thought 'bout that last week after my interview... if i had thatjob, i'd definitely werk full time n' go to skool... cos it's all related, u know? but the job i have right now, it doesn't pay well n' takes my mind off my studies. :-/ dunno.
neway... 2day, we ate some costco rotisserie chicken n' tortillas n' salsa n' watched 고양이를 부탁해 (goyangi bootakhae). the english title 4 this movie is take care of my cat. since the dvd i bought on ebay was some kind'f foreign release, it has chinese packaging, n' i can tell the chinese title sez sumpthin' diff... sumpthin' 'bout young women. *shrug* i can't read 2 much chinese characters, so i'm not 2 sure, but i know the last 2 characters. neway, this movie's 'bout a group'f 5 young women n' their lives shortly after hi skool... it's a really good movie. in a way it's the female counterpart to 친구 (chingoo) cos it's a movie 'bout a group'f gurls sort'f growing up 2gether... sort'f, right? but eh! not really... it's a good movie tho'.
[잠시후에, later] 오후 855, 855p: 오늘밤에 우리는 정구를 치러 나갔어요. 내 목교 중학교에서 테니스 고트를 찾았어요. 사실은 그전에 내 목교 고등학교에서 테니스 코트를 찾아봤지만 저기 모든 코트는 바빠서요. 2nite, we went out to play tennis. we found a tennis court @ my old middle skool (bret harte middle skool). aktually, we tried to find a tennis court @ my old hi skool (leland hi skool), but they were all bizzy. funny, all the tennis players @ leland were either asian or black. @ bret harte, all the tennis players were asian 2 (korean n' japanese). it's just interesting cos i was reading an article last nite in the san josé mercury news where a woman criticised the usta (united states tennis association) 4 promoting blonde, female tennis players to mimic anna kournikova instead'f seeking more ethnic diversity 4 the sport. she pted out that the williams sisters got so many young gurls to start up tennis n' that nowadays 1 out'f 3 new tennis players r of minority ethnicities. u know 2nite was the 1st time i played tennis in a very long time, n' i haven't played many times in my life. really! u c, it always cmed to me, when i was a kid that all the asian kids in my neighbourhood played tennis, so i prefered to be diff n' just skateboard etc. i didn't wanna do ne racquet sports. well, kaela really likes tennis n' played tennis in hi skool. i've been curious 'bout trying it just cos i'm a more athletic person now than i was back in those old days, u know? u know she bought me a tennis racquet 4 my b.day this yr. well, we went out n' played. it was fun. when i hit the ball over the fence, it flew into the bret harte middle skool grass field. i went to retrieve it right 'way, so that it wouldn't get 2 wet from the sprinklers. as i stepped onto the muddy grass, i realised sumpthin': the last time i stepped foot on that grassy field ('cept 4 1tym when kaela n' i went to say hi to ryan n' tiffany who were flying a kite out on the grass, while the rest'f us played roller hockey), i was a really fat kid who couldn't run a mile even given 30 mins. :-( i was a really fat, unathletic kid!
a while 'go, michelle asked me to e.mail her some pics from kaela's b.day party. well, i'll e.mail a bunch to her, but i guess i'll go 'head n' share 1 here 4 my friends:
now, i'll share a pic from my b.day:
i'll try to share more pics w/ u now n' then!
late morn: can u believe it's sept already?! crazy. i guess 4 kids, now it's back.to.skool. 4 college students n' grad students like me, back.2.skool was last week, but 4 those skoolkids, back.2.skool's this week. 4 college students going to 0.25 system skools, back.2.skool'll be in a few more weeks, i guess. crazy. do u know what my skool skedule's like this semester? i just have my aerospace engineering 245 class on wed nites from 500 to 800p n' then my mechanical engineering 295a class on fri afternoons from 400 to 515p. that's it. most'f my time'll be spent on independent research, s'pposedly. *sigh* i'm a li'l nervous 'bout this semester, as i've sed b4. i need to submit my projekt proposal n' get a whole bunch'f paperwerk done by 2003.09.19. there r projekt proposal presentations on 2003.09.12 n' 2003.09.19. *sigh* i really need to know whether or not i got that job i interviewed 4, huh? well, shoot! i hope i got it. <:-/
[later] almost noon: r u happy? i know the crappy ekonomy's gotten many'f my friends down. of course, @ times, it gets me down; but i know that ppl don't wanna hear me whine, so eh! theere's only so much i can say 'bout it. i know a few'f my friends r managing to prosper ok during this crappy ekonomy, n' i sense that they would really hate hearing their friends whine ne more 'bout the crappy ekonomy, u know? i know; there's only so much 1 can whine 'bout n' only so much whining 1 can listen to. :-/
earlier 2day, i was writing an e.mail to jerome re: life in general etc., n' i started wondering what my life'd be life if we never left berkeley i mentioned how, even tho' i love berkeley, it was such a bad influence. we all know that.
[later] early afternoon: i'm glad we played tennis last nite. i guess it was sumpthin' refreshing, sumpthin' to take my mind off'f all the bad things in this world. it's good to get exercise. i'm very disappointed that i haven't been able to go to the gym in several days. i really don't like that. i like to get exercise.
neway, back to what i was talkin' 'bout in the paragraph b4 the last 1: i really feel ppl r getting fed up w/ me n' my talk'f the crappy ekonomy. i dunno... do i talk 'bout it that much? i mean, obviously, i talk 'bout it here; but in person, do i talk 'bout it? :-/ i don't think i do. i know, tho', that hangin' 'round a person that just talks 'bout the crappy ekonomy all the time can really bring a person down n' just *shrug* make a person feel yucky. i know; i understand.
[later] afternoon: i just got back from visiting the graduate
coordinator 4 the mechanical engineering dept @ sjsu. *sigh* it was
quite a trip, driving out from my silly valley office to campus n' back.
i dunno; i just have lots'f issues going on in my head; n' no, i
don't feel so great these days. i dunno what to do, n' yah... i
just sort'f took my time driving to n' from campus. it's quite warm
outside. @ lunchtime, the beautiful kaela hwang
came over, but i didn't have much time left b4 my mtg, so we just went to
the nearby mcyukyuk's to get some salads. it's pretty obvious that i've
been having some mood swings lately. i dunno if u can really call
them mood swings. :-/ i've just been kind'f moody. *shrug* hrm,
maybe that sounds even worse. *shrug*
[later] a li'l while 'go, i changed my gbook questions. please visit n' sign my gbook!
[later] early evening: what do u do these days? hrm, that
would be a great gbook question, but it's not a question from the current
version'f my gbook. when i call a friend that doesn't live nearby,
i often ask, "what do u do these days?" hrm, so what do i do
these days? well, i go to werk. i werk full.time @ my
internship. i go to classes on wed n' fri nite, i guess. i
go to taekwondo practice, 'least on tues nite n' sometimes on thurs nite.
i try to go to the gym on other evenings. on weekends, i
like to be out'f the house. sometimes, we hang out @ the mall or
some place like that. we go out to eat; we watch movies. is
that a good description'f life these days? i think life is better
n' more fun than that description makes it sound. [later]
evening: yah, i really have moods these days. i get depressed n' wonder when
life'll be better. hrm, now i sound like i'm whining 'gain. :-(
ok, better strike that out.
아침, morn: yesterday, i left werk pretty depressed 'bout life.
i don't like werking in software development when i'm s'pposed to be a mechanical engineer. i don't know much 'bout software development, but i'm a good mechanical engineer. werking a job that isn't what u planned to do, not ur forté can be really discouraging, i know. @ the same time, u know what else is discouraging? being 28 n' still living w/ ur mom! of course, in asia, that's very typikal; but in amerika, it's just plain embarrassing n' humiliating. thus, i know i gotta werk whatever job i can get in order try to have a chance @ saving up to buy a house, since i guess i'm not allowed to rent. it's a very disheartening situation; n' no1, not even u, wants to hear me whine 'bout it nemore. n' thus i left the office yesterday (tues) in a really down mood. i wouldn't say "foul"; i was more depressed than angry.
well, i went to 한국 마겟 hangook market to buy flour 4 the beautiful
kaela hwang
to make 파전 pajuhn. 집에 밀가루 없어요. we don't have ne flour @
home. 밀가루를 사고 두유를 샀어요. i bought the flour n'
some 두유 dooyoo 
(soybean milk). 그때 태권도 연습에 갔어요.
then i went to taekwondo practice. 주차점에 개이라가 날 만나고 했어요. kaela would meet me in the parking lot.
태권도 연습에 모든것이 변했어요. @ taekwondo practice,
everything changed. all'f the sudden, life cmed so much more
worthwhile. @ practice, we got ready 4 a demo in oktober
(2003.10.12), a demo 4 the parents, friends, family, n' audience'f the
skool's next promotional exam. i think it'll be outdoors @ a
park in sunnyvale. while preparing 4 the demo, all'f the sudden
life had meaning 'gain. yesterday, during the day, i was thinking
'bout how i spent so much time in doing taekwondo @ berkeley, how maybe doing taekwondo n' being in berkeley was such a "bad influence" on my life cos it
kept me from doing all the things that s'pposedly mature ppl do n' kept me
from being a so.called mature person. shouldn't i have been able to
get my career in order n' have saved up $$$ to buy a house n' $#!+ like
that?! i really beat myself over the head 'bout this crap all day
yesterday. then @ nite, @ taekwondo practice, i had a big
revelation, (or an epiphany, whichever is the more hip buzzwurd these
days): it wasn't that i need to throw out all the things in life that keep
me young in order to be a boring, $$$.minded, greedy, bizness.oriented,
career guy! no, instead, what i needed to do was to maintain variety in my
life n' have fun, be young @ heart, etc. taekwondo has always
helped me keep my sanity, u know that? i did taekwondo thru.out
college: it helped me stay focused on my studies cos 1) it got all the
excess energy out, n' 2) it got my mind much more disciplined. even
tho', yah, i gotta get my career in order n' get my skool stuff in order
so that i can hurry up n' get my @$$ out'f grad skool (w/ a degree
not w/o!); it's still good to run 'round, jump, kick, punch now n'
then, u know that? we can't be just boring, career.minded ppl, etc.
no, i was reminded that taekwondo, even tho' i'm not a "master," is
some kind'f calling in my life. even tho' i'm not gonna open my own
skool etc. n' make it my profession, i was meant to do taekwondo, n' i
should. that made me happy.
[later] afternoon: someday, i'd like to try out this recipe i found on cheftochef.net:
(1 servings)
instructions:
slice bananas into blender; process until pureed (1-1/2 cups). add eggs; process to blend. pour banana mixture and remaining ingredients into ice cream freezer container. stir until sugar dissolves and mixture is blended. freeze according to manufacturer's directions. makes 1-1/2 quarts.
someday. aktually, i was searching 4 a recipe 4 banana mocha (blended
drink, frappé) when i found this aisukuriimu recipe. there r also many
recipes 4 banana mocho cheesecake. i saw that we have lots'f
bananas @ home 
this morn.
we have an espresso maker n' a blender. maybe we can make some
banana mocha frappé drinks as delicious as those @ bosion delight
in valley fair. some'f u might know this guy mike from my hi skool
(leland hi skool). his site www.ocliw.com ("wilco" backwards) has
some reviews'f pearl tea cafés. i stumbled 'pon his review'f
bosion delight in my google search. check it out: wilco's bosion delight review
morn: wired! i'm absolutely wired! 2 much caffeine! i can't even type straight, i'm so wired!!! my fingers r just fluttering like crazy! u know how the beautiful kaela hwang n' i got an espresso maker? 2day i made us some espresso... 2 much espresso! i gave her 2 shots into a latte, n' man! i took the leftovers: 4 shots'f espresso! 8-o it's crazy crazy! i got plenty'f sleep last nite. it's not that i need to the caffeine to stay 'wake! whoaaaaaaaaaaa! i'm so wired!!!! bloo bloo bloo blee blee! blah blooh blooh blah blee blee! woo woo! chunga chunga chunga! 2 much energy!!!!! somebody stop me!!! vrrrt vrrrt vrrrt vrrrt!!! waaaah! woonga woonga! goo goo goo goo goo goo goo goo! wat wat! wat wat! chooga chooga chooga! zrrrt zrrrt! mwap mwap mwap! my mind's racing a mile a minute! 2 much caffeine!!! 1 thing's bad 'bout this... well, there's lots'f bad things 'bout this, but 1 really bad thing is that i'm scared i'll have a big caffeine crash later, this afternoon or so. :-x X-< 2 much caffeine!!! maybe we need to get some decaf espresso beans!!! u think?
this morn, i got plenty more sobig.f virus e.mails, as usual. however, i got a particularly amusing 1 this morn:
keep in mind that the sobig.f virus sends out e.mails w/ addresses n' names other than the person who aktually has the virus. do u get what i mean? like, just cos u get sobig.f viruses from me, doesn't mean i have the virus. it just means somebody who has my e.mail address (n' many ppl do! 'specially spammers!) has it.
oh, just now i 'membered sumpthin', since i'm so strung up on caffeine or whatever u call it when u'r wired as i am now. i changed 1'f the gbook questions cos i meant to have this question in this current version:
take a look @ the following series'f pics:
now come up w/ some captions 4 each frame! come up w/ some dialogue! think'f it like a comic strip!
that should be fun, right?
morn: "cheer up," i tell myself. it's fri, u know. it's fri; it's the start'f the weekend, sort'f. "cheer up. think'f happy things. u can't always be down. u can't always be negative!" how r u, my friends? it's sept. sept is well underway. it's sort'f autumn since labour day passed. in all practicality, it's autumn. if u'r anal n' teknical, it's still summer till... till when? sept 20 or so? *shrug* sept 21? ?:-{ i dunno. *sigh* "cheer up," i tell myself. in this day n' age, we could all sit 'round n' talk 'bout negative things; but eh! let us now n' then, instead, "count our blessing," right? let's now n' then just shake our booties n' not think so negatively... 'least now n' then. enjoy each season 4 what it's worth. :-) we were not put on this planet to suffer n' be miserable. our misery comes from the fakt that we often want things that we don't need. this isn't a sermon. i'm just observing... n' reminding myself not to be so negative.
i need to focus on the fun n' happy things in life. focus on what i have, not what i wish i had. do u know what it means to focus? to focus on sumpthin'... it doesn't mean the things u rn't focusing don't exist, no. however, it's a conscious effort, it does take effort but not a whole lot. in fakt, it doesn't really take effort; it just takes will. it doesn't take a whole 'lot'f effort or energy, u just gotta want to do it. isn't that nice? so many things u can't attain just by wanting them, but if u want to focus on the good things in life, then all u gotta do is want to, n' u'll be right there, focusing on the good things in life. :-) smile.
2 often life cms to be a whining contest. who can whine more? who indeed has the worst life out'f every1. why? why do we do that? there is absolutely no prize 4 being the 1 who whines the most! there is absolutely no prize 4 being the 1 who has the worst life! however, there is a prize 4 the 1 who instead thinks 'bout all the good things in his/her life! yes, the prize is that a good attitude brings to u the good things in life! misery loves company, n' a bad attitude'll bring u more bad things to put u in an even worse mood. vice versa, a good attitude'll bring u the good things in life n' well... in a nutshell bring u happiness. :-)
wow! what's w/ all this humanistic spirituality? all this "feelgood" or "feel good" philosophy? is beno now a "motivational speaker"? is he gonna start a dianetics type cult? X-D ha, no... i'm not preaching ne religion here. u know me: i, personally, believe in god, a god as described in the bible n' jesus. however, i know ppl don't agree on religion, no; but in ne case, ppl can change their attitudes nonetheless.
i admit/confess; i've been in a lousy mood the past 16 hrs or so. however, the weekend's almost here, n' i can't be in a lousy mood 4ever! it's fri. ('member? ggoongddari shyabara ba ba ba ba!)
[later] afternoon: yesterday, since my right (mousing) wrist started hurting so bad (since my job as a qa test engr requires me to mouse 'round so much), i started mousing w/ my left hand, like a left.hander. i'm still mousing w/ my left hand 2day. back when i was doing pro/engineer training 4 my last job, my right (mousing) wrist hurt really badly 2. i just need a break. back @ my last job, 1 programmer sed he moused w/ his left hand even tho' he's a right hander. i mean, he normally mouses w/ his right, but he was temporarily 4cing himself to mouse w/ his left. he sed it was stimulating his right brain, n' he could feel it tingling! X-D *shrug* dunno if that's true, but heh... i do wonder if this left.handed mousing's stimulating my right brain, my creative side. *shrug*
[later] afternoon: i gotta admit, i've had lots'f anxiety 2day.
i feel my heart beating harder n' faster. :-/ i feel my whole
future depends on 1 fon call that i was s'pposed to get but don't cm to be
getting so far. man, i really gotta just sit back n' relax;
chill. do u know how i feel? i know pretty much every1's had
this anxious feeling b4. it might've happend while waiting 4 a
grade, waiting 4 a test result, waiting 4 a medikal test result, waiting 4
a romantik interest to call back, waiting as a hi skool sr to hear if a
college accepted u, etc. maybe u feel like u'r gonna pee in ur
pants... or worse. well, i don't feel like i'm gonna pee in my
pants, i don't think.
morn: how r u? i'm sorry; but i feel i just haven't been
writing very good quality journal entries lately. :-( i dunno;
maybe i'm just apologising to myself, but i wish i were documenting my
life better than i have been. *shrug* this past week has been an emotional
roller coaster. this past summer has been an emotional roller
coaster. this past yr has been an emotional roller coaster.
all'f the above statements r true. :-/ i guess the
most true statement above would be "this past yr has been an emotional
roller coaster," since hrm... i dunno, i think it really describes my life
the best, right? right? *shrug* i mean, not that this past week n' this
past summer haven't also been emotional roller coasters, but i just
think "this past yr has been an emotional roller coaster"'s the best
umbrella statement, right? *shrug* back in my freshman yr'f college, i
aktually sed that life in hi skool was an emotional roller coaster but
that life in college (@ 'least up to that pt) did not provide all that
much excitement as far as drama, etc. i mean... isn't it weird to
ask 4 bad things to happen? i mean, if u have no "drama" in
ur life, then that also sort'f means there r no bad things, right?
well, yah... i can't believe i aktually sed that. i guess, i was
saying that in hi skool, there was much more social drama, n' in my life
in college 'least up till that pt in freshman yr, i felt there wasn't ne
social or romantic drama, just akademic drama, if ne; n' that, i dunno, is
just sort'f boring, right? *sigh* dunno. did i just use a run.on
sentence followed by a sentence fragment?! >:-( now that's
drama! grammar drama! grammatical drama... the nat'l
grammar rodeo! 
as i was saying, i wish i were documenting my life better these days. i wish i were recording all the things i eat, like i usually do. *shrug* maybe there's just 2 many other things going on in my life, so it's just hard 4 me to think 2 much 'bout what i've been eating, etc. wouldn't u expekt a guy w/ not much else going on in his life to write 'bout every single thing he ate every single day? n' a guy w/ many things going on in his life wouldn't have time 4 that, right? *shrug* i dunno; i try to dokument that stuff, usually... it doesn't take much time.
2day's mon; a sort'f "typikal" mon cos i had to combat traffik pretty fiercely to get to werk this morn. u know how it is: combatting commute traffik can be really depressing as i sed many times b4. after all, let's say u'r on ur way to a job that u don't necessarily like n' that isn't necessarily even benefitting u much. i mean, some ppl'd say it's ok if u love ur job but it doesn't pay well n' doesn't give u much social status or career status crap. u know: there r those that'll cheer, oh yah "it's great that u'r being an artist, a free spirit. u've completely ditched the notion'f the rat race n' financial obligations n' responsibility, have become a free spirit, n' love whatchu'r doing. good 4 u." then there r those that think ppl should only have so.called "professional" jobs: u should be an engr, lawyer, or doktor... or "biznessperson"; that's it, nuthin' else! why? cos those jobs pay well n' r respekted. n' then there r those that say u should just do whatever to get $$$; "there's $$$ to be made so go out n' get it!" as we all know, many'f us fit in none'f those above categories these days. :-/ all i can say is... man, to ne1 who judges others by what profession or career or job those ppl have: !@#% u! u know that? @$#% all'f u! hrm... that was pretty rage.filled, wasn't it? it's just that in this day n' age, i don't have much nice to say 'bout ppl like that. >:-( just take a look 'round: bush has totally destroyed the amerikan ekonomy; there's no room 4 stoopid notions 'bout careers n' status like those these days. all that can be really sed is: we're all just trying to get by.
u know what that really means? it means we all need to just wait n' have patience. now more than ever, we all just need to wait n' have patience.
2day's mon; yesterday was sun, n' the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went to church, where i heard a sermon that i really needed to hear w/ current state'f things. sometimes, u just gotta let god do his werk. sure, we all think there's so much we can do to help our current bad situations; but in the end, sometimes the best thing we can do is what some ppl'd criticise as "doing nuthin'." sometimes, all u can do is pray to god 4 help, n' that's it. :-/ moksanim sed in his sermon that u can necessarily run 'way from ur problems but should just find refuge in god. i think it's true that no matter where u physikally run n' hide, running 'way really won't solve ur probs. unless u r aktually being opressed by a government, etc. most'f life's probs r more internal things. i 'member back in iv (intervarsity christian fellowship) ppl sed to pray 4 wisdom, patience, etc. pray 4 strength n' courage. don't pray 4 physikal, material things; not even physikal, material solutions to ur probs. instead, pray 4 some strengthening'f ur own character to overcome ur probs. sure, we could all pray 4 $$$; cos it sure cms like a li'l $$$'d definitely solve our probs. however, ppl told me not to pray 4 things like that. basikally, pray 4 intangible things. :-/ the prob w/ that is that ppl could argeu that i'm told to pray 4 intangible things cos god doesn't really exist n' can't provide tangible things cos he doesn't exist. :-( yah, u know ppl say stuff like that. what if god does exist but just has a strict policy'f not "granting wishes" 4 mat'l things? i mean, 1) god isn't a "magik djinni (genie)" n' 2) jesus did say in the bible not to test god... so the whole idea'f praying 4 tangible things just to prove that god exists... s'pposedly god doesn't like those things, so he basikally *shrug* sort'f ignores those kinds'f insincere prayers, right? *shrug* faith is sumpthin' that ppl who don't have it just won't understand.
i'm sure many'f u r really sick'f my always talkin' 'bout spiritual matters on mon after going to church on sun. *sigh*
oh yah... kaela n' i got a used sony laptop from a connektion thru ken. it's a p3 850 w/ a 15" screen n' a dvd/cdr+rw drive. i like sony vaios cos they got those multimedai bells n' whistles such as the built.in 1394 port, etc. well, it's a cheap, used laptop. these days, i surely cringe @ spending $$$ on these 'puter things n' 'lektronic gadgets, etc.; but i know kaela's needing it 4 her werk as a realtor. some ppl say, "it takes $$$ to make $$$," u know? :-/ let's just not talk 'bout $$$ @ all 4 a few paragraphs, shall we? <:-(
i drink 2 much coffee these days... or
'least this past week. last nite or so, i saw this funny comic in
the silicon
valley metro: some character that drinks so much coffee that the artist draws his head in the shape'f
a coffee cup is drinking lots'f coffee thru.out
the werkday. then his cowerker tells him he should drink less coffee n' drink sumpthin' else, so the coffee guy leaves werk n' heads straight 4 a bar to
drink beer! >X-D ha ha, a total barney gumble thing!
*sigh* i haven't drank beer lately. u know i like beer, not cos'f
the alkohol but cos i aktually appreciate the taste. i like how it
goes well w/ certain fuds. however, i haven't drank beer lately.
i know this past summer n' past yr, i've had lot'f beer, i think.
i think my friends down in san jo tend to drink beer n' other
alkohol more than my friends up in berkeley.
ironik, isn't it? i think many ppl'd think it'd be the
other way cos berkeley's a total
university town, so ppl should be more up 4 partying, 'specially 4 beer.
however, i think it's just that so many'f my friends up @ berkeley r so into taekwondo that, well, they
basikally don't drink beer cos they think it'll make'm gain weight n' go
up a weight class in taekwondo sparring. *shrug* then 'gain, there used to
be owen w/ his beer diet. the other thing 'bout my berkeley friends n' beer is that many'f my taekwondo
friends up there r younger, so... well, either they haven't gotten that
appreciation 4 beer yet (since i learned in hi skool bio that ppl, as they
mature, physiologikally gain a liking 4 bitter tastes such as coffee n' beer) or r perhaps aktually even 2 young to
drink alkohol. well, out'f my berkeley
friends, i know there r some that will definitely enjoy a beer w/ me.
of course, guys like sung will; n' i know toby will. also, i
know the "senior" taekwondo crowd'll go out 4 beer now n' then.
funny to think, how if i were still up in berkeley, i'd be 1 more step closer to being part'f
the "senior" crowd maybe. not all'f berkeley taekwondo is bunch'f young, under 21 college
kids!
well, 'bout beer n' drinking: ever since last week, i sort'f thought 'bout drinking beer less. u know why? 1) well, it co$ts $$$, n' 2) i thought that i should make sure i only drink when i'm happy. do u know what i mean? i think alkoholics drink when they r depressed in order to attempt to escape so.called reality n' depression. i mean... i say "so.called reality" cos depressed ppl rn't necessarily depressed cos'f reality but r more often depressed cos'f their dismal interpretation'f reality! neway, i obviously don't wanna be an alkoholic! no way! i'm just a guy who likes beer n' wine w/ fud n' an occasional cocktail w/ friends, colleagues, or cohorts in some kind'f festive celebratory environment. (uhm... that was a very nerdy way'f saying i like to party now n' then!!! man! what was that?! geez! that was sooo geeky!) neway, i've decided i'm gonna make a more conscious effort to make sure that i don't drink when i'm sad, that i only drink when i'm happy w/ friends. i need neither to be an alkoholic nor to grow a beer belly.
wow, i managed to avoid whining 'bout $$$ 4 2 whole paragraphs by instead going off on alkohol! woohoo! :-) have i earned the right to resume talkin' 'bout $$$ n' finances, etc? i hope so. well, what i'm gonna do now is annoy u by going back to talkin' 'bout spirituality in some relation to finances. heh heh, really threw a surprise, sneaky shot @ u, eh? yah, it's sumpthin' that becomes instinkt after doing taekwondo 4 a long time, u know? :-)
@ church, we hear that we need to ask god 4 help in our bad times, that we shouldn't be afraid to ask god, that 2 many ppl refuse or just don't think to pray to god 4 help w/ their probs. we learn in church that god never puts us into situations that we won't survive, that even tho' our current situation feels absolutely awful, god will provide us w/ a way out when the time comes, that he has a definite, good plan 4 us, a bright future, but that he's just having us go thru some tuff times 4 a reason. i think 'bout what i hate 'bout my current situation, how i don't have the income i need to buy us a house to move us out'f my mom's house, etc. this sun, i think i've realised what's going on: i could be all mad @ god n' yell, "why the $#@! r u torturing me like this?! i'm stuck living @ home as a 28 yr old, n' i absolutely hate this situation! why r u torturing me?!" however... i think i realised sumpthin' yesterday: the reason god hasn't provided kaela n' me w/ the income to go out n' buy a house to escape living @ my mom's house is that he knows we lust after owning a house cos we think it's the end.all, cure.all solution! he knows we've got this "faith in material things" attitude 'bout wanting a house 4 ourselves. most'f all he knows that our eventual owning our own house won't be the end.all, cure.all solution that we cm to be making it out to be! if i god were to do the magic djinni thing n' grant us our big wish n' we got to have some magnificent dream home, he knows that someday, we'll realise it's not end.all, cure.all solution n' 1nce 'gain be miserable. he wants us to learn our lessons now; he wants us to find the real solutions to our probs. in our lust 4 a house, we're really hoping to runaway, not solve our probs. we're hoping to find refuge in some kind'f material objekt n' some kind'f physikal location. we're not trying to find refuge in god. thus, he's not doing the magikal djinni thing n' granting our wish... not till we come to terms w/ our real probs. now, i know; now, i understand.
sometimes we don't get what we wish 4 in life, n' it's 4 our own good cos if we r just handed everything we wish 4 on a silver platter, we won't learn from our trials n' won't grow as humans! almost always, there is a lesson in the trials we're given in life.
[later] afternoon: hey! didju c google 2day? oh, wait. didju c
korean google 2day? go to www.google.co.kr. 4 choosuhk (moon festival),
they have a really cute google banner!!! the 2nd o is a moon w/ a
rabbit in it! :-) that's cos some asian cultures say that u can c a rabbit
grinding rice into rice powder in the moon. u know how
euro.amerikans so that there's a man in the moon? well, in asia, i
guess they say there's a rabbit grinding rice in the moon. well, if
u'r reading this late, u'll need to visit the url 4 the graphic: http://www.google.com/logos/kr_thanksgiving03.gif.
it's very cute. the whole rabbit in the moon concept is how
we get mashimaro
(the bunny) w/ his plunger!
afternoon: this morn, i left 4 a werk just a li'l later than usual. i figured: shoot, if traffik's bad, i might as well leave later cos i'll get there @ the same time neway. i also left late 4 a coupl'f other reasons:
when i left the house this morn, i put in the cd that jason lee gave me 4 my b.day: ee's for 100 we try harder. indie rock... since jason's into indie movies, listening to the cd made me feel like i was in an indie movie. ("indie" or "indy" = "independent," often used to differentiate from musik/movies produced by large corporations.) when i left this morn, the sky was beautiful. it wasn't totally blue/azure, but it was a mostly clear day. i could c the hills all 'round silly valley. ah, it was a beautiful day in san josé!!! i listened to the ee cd, thinking 'bout how this band is from san jo, n' how i'm listening to san jo musik in san jo. i think this group is from san jo... cos asian man records, their label, has a monte sereno mailing address (a ritzy li'l village near saratoga n' los gatos) n' @ 'least 1'f their members is from a band called korea girl that was partially comprised'f alumni from my hi skool. b4 i hit the bad traffik on 87n, while i was on 85s, i enjoyed the musik n' the natural scenery.
then i hit the 87n traffik jam, which looked like a big parking lot. i felt like i was in la (el-ay, l.a., los angeles). i felt like i was in socal; but i know traffik in socal's still much worse than up here in the silly valley. i know i only face this bad'f traffik 1nce in a while, but that i've cn traffik like this pretty much every single day i've been in socal. not to keep bagging on socal or nething, but what makes norcal bad traffik better than socal bad traffik isn't just the lower frequency'f it but also that when u have bad commutes in norcal, 4 the most part, it's 'least 4 a shorter distance. in socal, u hit bad traffik all the time, n' it's 4 a long distance. neway, i'll stop bagging on socal, k? however, while sittin' in the bad traffik on 87n n' listening to ee, i started thinkin' 'bout all the li'l indie bands down in socal... socal's more 'bout power punk... sort'f skate punk n' surf pop... however, some'f the musik on the ee cd reminded me'f some'f the musik in some skate videos i've watched. (by the way, in an earlier journal entry, i mistakenly sed the group's name's "for 100 we try harder," but now i know the band's name is "ee," n' the album's title's for 100 we try harder.)
the whole indie rock scene: i hope u know better by now than to assume sumpthin' so ridiculously stoopid like that i'm @ all new to the indie rock scene. heh... well, i know i'm not @ diff rock/punk/ska clubs every nite or nething, but don't 4get what kind'f guy i was in my early yrs'f college @ berkeley. well, while listening to the cd i started thinking how i could tell from the sound that this was a indie band v. a corporately mass.produced pop band. 1st off, the most obvious give 'way is the sound mixing: indie bands usually have the instrument volume up n' the vocal volume down. this ain't no karaoke contest! u know, who cares 'bout kelly clarkson n' american idol?! we don't care who amerikan tv viewers vote as the best singer! instead, we want to listen to muzik per4med n' sang by artists who r aktually in touch w/ the muzik! we don't care if these indie band singers don't always have the most teknical proficiency in their singing; we like the fakt that there's true emotion behind the wurds n' notes. that's what indie rock's more 'bout. well, what else is diff 'bout indie rock? well, sometimes the instrumentation's diff. the standard rock band has'ta have a guitar, bass, n' drums. do u know the group kicking giant, which was featured in the soundtrack to the movie yellow even tho' their album was released many yrs earlier? that group just has a guitarist n' a drummer, both who sing. c? that kind'f group never really makes it mainstream cos zombie radio listeners r so conditioned to listen 4 standard instrumentation. well, while listening to the instrumentation on the ee cd, i realised that they sometimes use banjo. ok, that's not what i expekted. i expekt that more'f a folksy, alternative, mature group like r.e.m. they use mandolin sometimes. i notice that some'f their songs sound sort'f cure.ish cos they use flanging on their lead guitar. the cure uses flanging effekts all the time. not all'f their musik sounds cure.ish @ all; by far, no. in fakt, most ppl won't even think it sounds nething like the cure... i'm just a big cure fan, so everything gets tied into the cure.
while listening to the album, i was thinking 'bout how musik reviewers compare a new band to some old band. it's so common to allude to the velvet underground cos they're considered the grandfathers'f modern rock / alternative rock. funny funny. 2day's musik critics still keep droppin' the velvet underground's name in articles, n' i wonder if 2day's kids have even heard velvet underground's musik? there's this 1 korean movie we watched where this guy n' gurl r somehow obsessed w/ a song from the velvet underground. neway, musik critics write a review n' then mention the velvet underground, n' all'f the sudden they're that much more intelligent 'bout musik, u know? if u wanna sound intelligent 'bout modern korean pop, drop the name seo taeji: all'f the sudden u'll sound like u'r just such a longtime, diehard fanatic. X-D well, 'nother popular group 4 musik critics to drop the name'f to sound more intelligent is joy division. i can't believe 2day's kids do still listen to joy division, as i saw a joy division cd on my classmate friend brian's ol' housemate's 'puter desk. in case u don't know these kinds'f things, joy division later become new order.
well, @ lunchtime 2day, i brought over leftover haemool pajuhn (from sat nite) n' a leftover hot link sausage (from sun afternoon's church picnic) to kaela's office. i took a slightly diff route to her office from what i'd normally take, to c if it was faster. was it? :-/ i think it was; but *shrug* who knows? it was just a li'l faster, so it may've just been faster due to random conditions n' faktors, u know? in other wurds, it might've been just luck. (u know i tend to use geeky wurds now n' then.) oh yah, i also brought over some leftover mojji dduhk (mochi), which we bought on sat. i ate 1. i thought it tasted kind'f sour or fermented, but i ate it. afterwards, i told kaela n' she told me she ate 1 yesterday n' wondered if it was spoiled. 8-o yuck, i think i ate a moldy mojji. :-( it did sort'f taste like moldy oranges smell! :-(
2day's tues. 2nite we have taekwondo practice. on last thurs nite, we went to practice, n' mr. kim (kim sajangnim) brought a li'l jindosgae puppy. it was very cute. kaela had a ball! :-) after practice, kaela n' i went to dinner @ chili's w/ mark n' grace. that was fun.
[just a li' later] still afternoon: sometime during my morn commute, i started thinkin 'bout how so many'f the dreams i have in my sleep r 'bout buying things. 1'f my most common, frequent dreams is 'bout buying a skateboard. i've had that happen in dreams sooo many times. i mentioned that sometime in the past month, i had a dream 'bout buying an elektric guitar. what do these dreams say? well, it sounds like i'm desperately trying to cling onto my youth, huh? it sounds like i wanna be all "extreme" n' "kewl" 4 as long as i can... but that i also know i have many so.called "mature" responsibilities to take care'f these days. i think maybe that's what they say. do these dreams say that i'm materialistic? *shrug* i dunno.
'bout skateboarding: on sun, the park in sunnyvale where we had the church picnic has a publik skatepark. i saw a few guys like my age riding skateboards. it looks like fun, but i know i prob'ly'll never skateboard 'gain till maybe when we have a kid n' he/she wants to learn to skateboard. 'least i can still snowboard.
*sigh* that reminds me: i'm having a crappy time trying to find all the hardware 4 my snowboard rack. 'member when i finally took my snowboard rack off my car this summer? it was sometime right after the honeymoon. well, i took it down, then kept it in my trunk until that day i washed my car recently. then i put the rack in our garage. sometime last week, i noticed some'f the hardware to mount it was still in my trunk cos it had fallen off, while the rack was sliding 'round in my trunk as i did my daily driving. grrr... now i'm not sure where all my hardware is. i found some'f it in my garage n' some'f it in my trunk. >:-( i take the rack off my car during the summer to save $$$ cos the rack isn't that aerodynamic, so it causes drag, n' then i waste gas. well, shoot! if i can't find the mounting hardware by winter, then i'll need to buy new mounting hardware, n' then there goes all the savings! don'tchu hate situations like that?!
[a li'l later] still afternoon: 2day started out w/ really nice weather, but the sky turned overcast by lunchtime. the whole afternoon, it has looked like it would start to rain. (uhm, were the verbs in that last sentence in their appropriate tenses?)
[later] still afternoon: funny, u know how yesterday i talked 'bout coffee n' beer? well, on y! news 2day there were articles 'bout a proposed beer tax n' a proposed espresso tax! funny (in seattle).
[later] early evening: from my office desk, i smelled a very familiar smell, that of fresh rain. i looked 'bout 20 yards 'way to the nearest window. that window's very tinted, but i could c that it possibly could be raing. i walked over to the window n' saw that it is raining right now. i opened the nearby backdoor n' stuck my head out to enjoy the fresh, sprinkling, misty rain! :-)
i was reading the digital version of the july 2003 computer shopper magazine just now, n' i saw an ad 4 a really cheap laptop 'puter. the slogan read "it only looks expensive." i read the specs n' thought, "it only looks like a good laptop."
[later] evening: wow, it's really fall, huh? *sigh* crazy. i
like summer. the only good things 'bout summer's ending is that
it'll be snowboarding season soon. *sigh* but i gotta find the
hardware to mount my snowboard rack. :-( where do these things go?!
:-( neway...
morn: what's up? how's it going? *sigh* man, this morn, i opened my inbox, n' as often is the case, all i had was spam n' maybe some virus e.mails; no real e.mails. :-( yesterday evening, just b4 i left werk, i started worrying 'bout my bad gums (dental gums). i've always s'pposedly had pretty good teeth, but my gums rn't very healthy. i wish i had dental insurance, n' i extremely regret that i didn't take more advantage'f the dental insurance @ my last job. :-( what was i thinking? why was i so irresponsible w/ my life like that? i should've gone to the dentist more. :-( now, i don't have dental insurance. i wish i did.
[much later] late afternoon: well, i had to rush over to campus from
werk late this morn to take care'f some administrative, bureaucratic
paperwerk junk. i thought this profssor from whom i needed a
signature was gonna be in her office till 430p, but then i re.read her
e.mail n' realised she was leaving @ 1230p. this paperwerk's
regarding my english writing requirement 4 my degree. since i took
teknical communications (e190) @ berkeley, i
don't need to take sjsu's teknical writing class. neway, after i
finished that biz, i went over to the beautiful kaela
hwang's office, where i got us a togo's bbq chicken sandwich combo
from next door. i started installing ms office xp on the sony
laptop b4 leaving. it's funny cos, in a way, she gets a
laptop, but i don't... well, that's cos 4 her real estate bizness, she'll
need a laptop really. right now, @ her job, she doesn't have a
'puter @ her desk... but most likely, 4 me, whatever job i werk, i'll have
a 'puter @ my desk. it's really convenient to have a laptop, i
gotta admit. however, i'm getting by just having my handspring.
after lunch, i went back to werk. i got class soon, so now i've gotta
bust out'f here. it's wed 2day. i'm still mousing w/ my left
hand @ werk. has it changed me @ all? does it make me more'f
a lefthander? :-/ no, i dunno; but maybe i'm better w/ lefthanded
mousing than b4. *shrug*
i'm sorry my recent journal entries still rn't very good. :-( i dunno.
i personally think they're not very good. i feel i'm
not really talkin' 'bout much interesting stuff. well, i'm very
bizzy these days: both w/ werk n' skool. i guess i'm s'pposed to dj
a party 4 the absolute dragons dragonboat team on sept 20, but :-(
i'm very worried that i'll hafta back out on them. it's a
fundraising party, n' i really wanna help out my friends, but i'm just a
li'l 2 bizzy w/ werk / career matters n' my skoolwerk ('specially w/ my
projekt proposal deadline coming up soon!) to think 'bout djing. in
a way, it's sad that i gotta throw out the things in my life that r
s'pposedly the fun youthful things in order to help promote my career.
many ppl'd call this "selling out," u know. *sigh* n' then
there r those that have no sympathy 4 these things: they think i really
should "grow up," as they'd say. *sigh* whadya gonna do, eh?
some ppl r just so narrow.minded: they think young adults only need to get
their careers in order n' stuff like that. don't they know that
kind'f thining is a sure.fire recipe 4 midlife crises later down the
line?! >:-( i worry 'bout my receding gumline. i don't
wanna hafta have a gum graft! :-(
morn: it's the 2nd anniversary'f 2001.09.11. well, i s'ppose we could look @ what i wrote that infamous day: 2001.09.11 beno journal entry.
[later] still morn: i was interrupted by a fon call from phil. it was very good to hear from phil 'gain. he had mentioned he would stop by the bay area a coupl'f weeks 'go while moving back from oregon to irvine, but he didn't. he's done w/ law skool, done w/ the bar exam. he took a trip to germany n' now is back in cali. it was good to talk to him.
let's talk 'bout the weather, shall we? it's s'pposedly gonna be a scorcher 2day n' get even warmer this weekend here in the bay area. these nites, u c a beautiful "harvest" moon. that's why it's choosuhk n' moon festival right now. google.com (in korean) still has that cute bunny logo/banner! :-) i just tried www.google.com.tw n' www.google.co.jp, n' neither'f those have the cute bunny logo. :-( it's only korean google that has it. so is the rabbit in the moon a totally korean thing only? well, these days, it's a beautiful full moon. uhm, on mon nite, i saw a big, full moon. tues nite, it was cloudy, i think. last nite, i saw a small full moon. the beautiful kaela hwang told me that her astro prof from berkeley told her class that the moon doesn't get closer or further to the earth, it's looks bigger when it's lower in the sky cos u can compare it to other objekts. :-/ no, i don't believe that statement; i think she must've heard him wrong. :-/ i think what he really was trying to say is this: the aktual moon doesn't get bigger or smaller (in volume), it just looks bigger when it gets closer to the earth n' smaller when it's further 'way. true? after all, that's what they call parallax, right? some days, the full moon looks sooo big n' orange ('often b4 an eclipse). other days, the full moon looks sooo small (in comparison). hrm... shouldn't we get to the bottom'f this? well, the big astronomy news the past month is that mars is closer now than it has been in 600,000 yrs. when it was really big in the news a few weeks 'go, i didn't go out n' look; but i saw many beautiful pics on y! news'f mars n' the moon. in the past coupl'f weeks, i have looked up @ the nitetime sky n' saw beautiful mars up in the sky by the moon. *sigh* it's peaceful. i gotta say: i like how in san jo, we can c the stars @ nite even tho' we don't live in the boonies. :-) part'f that's cos uc santa cruz's lick observatory is here, n' so the city streetlites r all sodium lamps. when u come to san jo, @ nite, u'll notice all the streetlamps glow orange. u'll be curious, i think.
last nite, i didn't have dinner. :-( i left my office in a hurry but was hoping to get fud sometime b4 class, since my class is from 530p - 800p. i didn't. after class, i rushed over to the gym 4 a hurried werkout. i was hungry, very hungry; but i went over to ken n' grace's place to try to make a 50' cat.5 cable to connekt the laptop to the router, while we're in our room down the hall. well, ken n' his friend hogan tried to make it, but we couldn't get it to werk; prob'ly cos the cabling that ken had, which he got 4 free, was 2 cheaply made to support such a long length'f cable. :-( *sigh* well, i went home after a while. i was so hungry. as u 'member, my mom's redoing the kitchen these days. thus, there isn't much fud 'round the house. i was really hungry. i ate some cashews n' some watermelon; that's all. :-/ i eat 2 much neway.
[a li'l later] early afternoon: i'm gonna meet kaela @ the great mall 4 lunch @ florentine's garlic grill. u c, kaela bought these coupon cards from some1 selling them. they give u all sorts'f discounts to the restaurant, so we gotta use the card. i guess we'll be visiting florentine's more. they have really good bread! :-)
[later] afternoon: ah, we had a great lunch; n' yah, it was pretty cheap w/ kaela's discount card thingy. good stuff. kaela ordered this grilled prawns pasta, n' i had this grilled chicken salad; n' we shared an order'f crab cakes. w/ the discount card, all we had to pay 4 was 1 entrée! it's buy 1 lunch, get 1 free + free appetizer! kewl, huh? so they cross out the special deals on the card as u use them. 1'f the special deals that we can use is 50% off the entire bill up to $100. 1'f these days, we gotta round up a whoooole bunch'f ppl n' go to florentine. the 1 we went to was in great mall, n' it's called florentine's garlic grill there. other locations'f this chainr r just called florentine pasta shop, i think. there r several locations 'round the south bay: great mall, almaden / blossom hill, winchester blvd (near santana row), cupertino (on de anza blvd), saratoga... n' s'pposedly mtn view. man, back in college, ed, vince n' i went to the florentine in blackhawk. do u guys know where blackhawk is? it's 1'f the ritziest neighbourhoods in the bay area... it's in the east east bay, over by pleasanton. that florentine was very, very nice... but i think it closed down. it had this beautiful pond in the back. yah, prob'ly 2 nice'f a place 4 3 single, young college guys to be hangin' out @ on a fri nite. heh. back then, we had "friday nite dinner club"! X-D ha ha, those were the days.
well, on my way to the great mall n' on my way back from
the great mall, i accidentally took wrong turns. :-( on my way there, i
accidentally started up 880n to fremont. on my way back, i missed
the onramp to 880n back to 237w to shortcut thru the heart'f silicon
valley to get back to my office. well, instead'f shortcutting thru
the haert'f silly valley, i just drove right thru its surface streets.
i passed cisco n' palmer chiropractic college, where clay used to
adjust me 4 $5 a visit. (that's really cheap 4 chiropractic
visits.) i passed an office 4 sun microsystems n' saw a big banner
w/ the slogan i've been cing lately on a billboard off 101s on my way to
campus from werk. it has some quote on it: "show the world what you showed me, and sun will rise
again." when i 1st read that quote, i was like, "wow, that's
such a grand quote; it reads like scripture!" don'tchu agree?
that quote sounds so kewl! do layppl know what sun
microsystems does??? i know i 'member the days when i used
to do engring computing on sun microscystem sparc werkstations instead'f
windows 2000 werkstations! i sure do. 'member how i'm
the matlab
genius? well, when i 1st learned matlab, it was on a sun sparc
werkstation!
[later] late afternoon: oh yah, earlier i wanted to pt out that both 2day's boondocks n' 2day's foxtrot comics r pretty funny. in case u don't know, those r the 2 comics i put on my "my yahoo!" frontpage, u know?
[a li'l later] early evening: i 'member some nite this week, i was sitting @ a stoplite @ the major intersektion nearest to our house, n' i was thinking 'bout what life'd be like if i had pursued a career in law en4cement instead'f engineering. not that i ever considered it... but why not? i'm a person'f decent physikal strength n' moral character, a responsible person, right? n' isn't that an industry not so affekted by the ekonomy? i mean, by "law en4cement," i'm referring to being a cop, u know? could i have been a cop? i think i could've done it. now, would i rather be a cop or in the military? :-/ hrm, yah, i dunno... neway, if i had to do either, i'd do it; but i've never really wanted to do either that badly. this morn, i was driving to werk n' some guy on a motorcycle zoomed by riding on only his back tire. hrm, now why would he do that? it cmed like he figured if he only rode on his drive wheel, he'd go faster. *shrug* less friktion? maybe... neway, i was just thinking 'bout how i have aktually often wished i could ride a motorcycle... but i guess it's just a li'l. i don't like the idea cos i wanna do nething crazy or race down the hiway, poppin' wheelies; but just cos i figure motorcycles r fuel efficient... n' u get to ride in the carpool lane during commute hrs. oh well.
[later] evening: i'm so tired here @ werk, n' it's almost time to leave
4 the day. i'm gonna go to taekwondo practice 2nite. by
september 19, i hafta submit a master's projekt proposal. can u
believe that? that's the current big, big deadline that i worry
'bout in life. september 19 is also kaela's n' my 2nd monthversary,
u know? can u believe that?
morn: i mentioned here b4 that while we were in korea, i lost my favourite stylus pen. it was a pilot pentopia. it has a stylus, black pen, n' 0.5-mm mechanikal pencil, all in 1. i was a li'l sad that i accidentally left it @ yoonjoo n' taehoon's place, but i was even sadder when i realised yesterday that those pens retail 4 $20 - $30! :-o they r nice pens! i'm sure i didn't pay that much 4 mine. in fakt, i'm pretty sure it was like free after rebate @ compusa! i sure would like a new 1.
i never found my sunglasses after losing them @ tennis on this past labour day. i looked 4 them in my car, but they must've fallen off'f my pants, my shirt, or wherever i put them that evening. :-(
i surely don't like losing things. i gotta admit: when i 1st lost those things, i didn't feel overly devastated. i had more feelings like "@ least i'm still alive" or "@ least i didn't lose sumpthin' really expen$ive like my my car or sumpthin'." i figured, i needed to replace my sunglasses cos they were all bent n' scratched up. however, it's a much diff home ekonomy these days. a coupl'f weeks 'go, when i bought that san josé mercury news from the machine outside the safeway in 0.5 moon bay, i noticed an article talkin' 'bout how ppl need to make adjustments to their daily, personal spending habits cos'f the crappy ekonomy. i know the beautiful kaela hwang had a chance to read that article b4 the paper got recycled, but i didn't. lemme tell u, tho'... while thinking 'bout how i lost my beautiful pentopia stylus pen n' my polarised sunglasses, i was reminded'f the scene in episode 1f18'f the simpsons entitled "sweet seymour skinner's baadasssss song", where principal seymour skinner loses his job as the principal of springfield elementary skool. there's this 1 scene where skoolyard bully jimbo jones comes into a laundromat n' steals skinner's underwear right out'f his hands:
Skinner: Hey!
Jimbo: [taunts] We got Skinner's underpants! And there's nothing you can do about it, Mr. Ex-Principal.
Skinner: That's not true. I can buy a new pair! [checks his wallet] No, I can't. I needed those, I really did.
a recipe 4 pumpkin soup from men's health, aktually s'pposedly taken from pumpkinnook.com:
in a large pot, combine the chicken broth, onions, carrots, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and pepper, and simmer uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes, until the carrots are soft. put the vegetables and broth into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. add the canned pumpkin and evaporated milk, and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. serve topped with sour cream and bacon bits, if desired.
[nutritional info] per serving: 125 calories, 8 grams (g) protein, 20 g carbohydrates, 1.5 g fat (11% of calories), 1 g saturated fat, 3 g fiber, 372 milligrams sodium
1144p: man, i'd like to try that recipe sometime! :-) fall is here, apparently.
2day was sat. it was a hot, hot day. last nite was fri.
last nite, we ate dinner @ citronelle, that great
contemporary, somewhat fusion vietnamese restaurant on winchester.
that's such a great restaurant! :-) we had this grilled chicken
salad, turmerik fish (wrapped in lettuce w/ rice noodles n' other veggies
n' peanuts), n' tofu steamed in banana leaves. we had a demi
bottle'f this 2000 hugel alsatian riesling. it was really small,
but it was really good. we also had some vietnamese iced coffee n'
fried banana w/ aisukuriimu dessert. ah, it was all so good! :-)
afterwards, we went to amc mercado to watch once upon a time in mexico on its oepning nite. man, it was such a happening place. the beautiful kaela hwang sed it felt like wheller hall @ uc berkeley cos it was a huge, huge, huge room full'f seated college.aged kids. man, we hadn't been to a premiere.nite movie showing in a long time! it was fun.
2nite, we had dinner @ santana row's blowfish sushi to die for.
u gotta try the cucumber cooler cocktail. it's great! we had
some sushi n' then this awesome "free range spring rolls" dish; it's
freee.frange ostrich egg rolls! it's served so creatively.
we hung out @ santana row on such a warm, lovely san jo nite! man!
the weather's beutiful; absolutely beautiful!!! lemme tell u, even tho'
the ekonomy's not as good as back in the good ol' days; let's not think
'bout that! instead let's think 'bout how beautiful the weather is here in
san jo! ah, santana row was so awesome on such a warm
nite!
1108a: wow, it's this late already?! this morn, we missed
church, :-( were just so tired. we didn't stay up really
late on sat nite. it's just that i didn't get 'nuff sleep several
nites this week. small things can add up. on thurs nite, we
were up a li'l 2 late watching the joy luck club. that was
my 7th or 8th time.
morn: it's mon, n' the weekend's over. weekends "sure ain't what they used to be." it cms like 4 the past few weeks or 4 the past month or maybe ever since the wedding, our weekends, w/ the exception'f a few b.day party weekends, have been overwhelmingly mellow. we've spent many if not most'f our fri nite since coming back from the honeymoon, by ourselves @ home. often, the beautiful kaela hwang just plain passes out when she comes home on fri evening or afternoon. if she passes out in the afternoon, sometimes she doesn't wake up 4 a long time, so the evening's over by then, etc. i guess lately, kaela's been werking on weekends 'least a li'l if not all'f sat. yah, a coupl'f weekends, i 'member we were @ her werk 4 the whole day on sat. well, 1 good thing 'bout doing nuthin' 'cept passing out n' werking on weekends is that it makes 4 a frugal weekend, right? after all, when we go out all sorts'f fancy places on weekends, we gotta $pend a li'l $$$, n' by "a li'l," i mean "a lot." in our recent past, we spent 'lots'f time hanging out in malls, as i've sed b4. hanging out in malls is aktually fun 4 us, n' it's teknically free, right? u don't pay to go into a mall. if u'r shopping in union square, u gotta pay 4 parking; but if u just go to valley fair, santana row, or even stonestown galleria in sf, u don't pay 4 parking. u can shop/browse all u want n' not $pend much. sure, u might hafta buy lunch, a drink, or a pretzel; but u don't gotta shell out a lot'f $$$. personally, i like shopping even if i'm not buying nething. however, there r those times, when browsing thru malls just gets me depressed cos i think 'bout how i can't buy all sorts'f things. it's funny. looking @ nice things that i don't buy makes me happy. looking @ nice things that i "can't" buy makes me sad... sometimes. there's no use in being sad 2 often, u know? sure, if u get sad now n' then it's ok; but we shouldn't aim to be sad. honestly! 2 often ppl aim to be sad, as if there's a prize to be won 4 being the saddest person in the world!
neway, back to the topik'f our recent weekend habits... we honestly haven't had much social interaktion lately. the last time we were 'round a big group was @ nelson's b.day party @ pizza antica n' the v.bar on nelson's b.day. (please refer to "nodongjuhl" on 2003.09.01.) the last time we really hung out w/ 'nother couple was that thurs nite @ chili's w/ mark n' grace. (apparently, that was thurs, 2003.09.04.) in the past few yrs, we've definitely had 2 kinds'f social events: 1) events w/ big groups'f friends n' 2) activities w/ just 1 other couple. aktually, sometimes we also do things w/ a small group'f friends... often just us 2 n' 1 other friend. yah, that's been more common in the past few yrs. well, lemme do that list ove 1 more time then. in the pasf few yrs, we've definitely had 3 kinds'f social events: `) events w/ a big group'f friends, 2) events w/ just 1 or 2 friends, n' 3) activities w/ just 1 other couple. neway, lately we haven't done much'f ne'f these. this weekend, i told ken that kaela n' i just haven't had that much social interkation w/ ppl lately. he sed it's just married life. u think? *sigh*
i guess when i hear that, i wanna say this: i wanna be forever young. i know i can't be immature forever. i don't wanna be immature forever; i just wanna be young forever. those r 2 diff things. knah whadahm shayin'? (that meant "do u know what i am saying?" but u know kids 2day... they just say "knah whadahm shayin'? yeea yeea." n' stuff like that. just ask toby! as a hi skool math teacher, he's in w/ all the latest slang, u know?)
neway, our weekends sure've been diff lately. we've been going to church on suns (sundays), 4 1 thing. however, yesterday we missed service. u prob'ly expekted me to do my usual regurgitation'f what i learned in church on sun, since it's mon morn, right? no, not 2day. we didnt' go to service cos we didn't get up on time. however, we did go to couples' bible study in the afternoon @ jipsanim's house in a beautiful neighbourhood'f saratoga. (the wurd "jipsa" means deacon. [my guess is the wurd comes from "house" n' "(esteemed) person."])
shall i do a weekend wrap up thingy? where i talk 'bout all the details'f all the things i did this past weekend? would my readers like that? *shrug* i dunno what my readers want cos i don't even know who read my journal nemore. :-/ i mean, always, as an online journal writer, i worry if i'm just boring the heck out'f u ppl. i never know.
fri nite: as i sed b4, we went to citronelle on winchester blvd n' then to amc mercado to watch once upon a time in mexico. that movie really reminded me'f the tarantino movies'f the 1990s. do ppl still watch those?
sat: i followed kaela to her werk where she has this mtg thing every sat morn. well, i just sat in my mom's office n' studied, while kaela was in her mtg/class. then where did we go? uh, oh yah! we went to the skool library, where i tried to study some more, but i got 2 distrakted by trying to setup our laptop to use the library's internet connektion. :-( the new library is beautiful, n' that was the 1st time kaela n' were there 2gether. then we went to a coupl'f open houses in sunnyvale; open houses 4 houses 4 sale. the 1st place saw was a nice li'l 2 bdrm 2 ba condo in sunnyvale. it was listing 4 $350k, i think, right? i aktually liked it 'lot: it was simple; it had 2 li'l yards accessible from 2 diff sliding doors (1 from the master bdrm, the other from the dining room); it was in a good price range; it was in very good shape... i mean, sure, it's not a house, n' u don't really own much land... but while @ the open house, i started thinking that all we really need is a condo: a place to call our own; enuf outdoor space to have 'least a small doggy; a nice location central to all the fun stuff in silly valley as well as potential werkplaces... i know it's good to own aktual land instead'f just a condo; but aktually the idea'f not having to take care'f a yard etc. really appealed to me as i looked 'round that condo. i mean, why stress over a price we can't afford 4 stuff we don't want or really need? if we can afford a condo but not a house, why not just get the condo? the most important thing is 4 us to have a place we can call our own.
maybe i've forgotten the name and the address
of everyone i've ever known
it's nothing i regret
save it for another day
it's the school exam and the kids have run away
i would like a place i could call my own
have a conversation on the telephone
wake up every day that would be a start
i would not complain of my wounded heart
i was upset you see
almost all the time
you used to be a stranger
now you are mine
i wouldn't even trust you
i've not got much to give
qe're dealing in the limits
and we don't know who with
you may think that i'm out of hand
that i'm naive, i'll understand
on this occasion, it's not true
look at me, i'm not you
i would like a place i could call my own
have a conversation on the telephone
qake up every day that would be a start
i would not complain of my wounded heart
i was a short fuse
burning all the time
you were a complete stranger
now you are mine
i would like a place i could call my own
have a conversation on the telephone
wake up every day that would be a start
i would not complain about my wounded heart
just wait till tomorrow
i guess that's what they all say
just before they fall apart
the 2nd house we looked @ was 1 quite a bit 'bove our price range, but we just stopped in cos we saw the sign n' were curious. it was a ranch style, 1.story house w/ a decent.size plot'f land. the backyard was mostly paved over, but it had a li'l bit'f a lawn n' some cacti. it was very nice; but eh! i'm just thinking these days, maybe it's best to buy just a small place, only what we need 4 now. :-/
after those open houses, what did we do? well, we really weren't
sure what to do w/ a li'l free time on a fri afternoon/evening.
we sort'f drove 'round aimlessly but ended up @ campbell fry's to
buy a few necessities. then we went to santana row. as i sed
in my entry on my 2003.09.13 entry (please refer to "beautiful
fall weather".), the weather was sooo beautiful on a warm, san
josé late, late summer evening/nite. *sigh* really, ppl; this is
what makes life so wonderful! u had to have been there to
enjoy the combination'f beautiful, beautiful weather, wonderful,
architektural scenery, n' fun, lively atmosphere! yah, as i sed b4,
we ate dinner @ blowfish sushi to die for. that's the
trendiest, hippest (yet classy) sushi place u'll find. i mean, it's
not a traditional japanese restaurant; nope, not @ all. it's
totally a flashy, cali4nian type joint. u gotta c it to
understand... or 'least i'm just not a good 'nuff writer to give u a fair
idea'f what that place is like. well, after dinner, we walked
'round. kaela bought us some ben n' jerry's aisukuriimu. b4
dinner, we had been walking 'round, n' we shared a toffee crunch boba
drink from santana
row's classy fantasia café.
sun, after missing church, we packed up some wedding gifts that we needed to return to macy's. we had an apptmnt w/ a wedding registry staff person @ 100p. we were there on time. we got back over $1000 in macy's credit cos'f the stuff we returned. it's 2 bad they can't just give us ca$h, cos :-/ well... right now, i think we have close to $2000 total'f macy's credit on gift cards, don't we? well, somewhere btwn $1500 n' $2000, right? neway, it's always better to have ca$h instead'f store credit; but oh well. we didn't return all'f our gifts or nething... after that, we ate lunch @ rubio's in the fud ct. i dunno if u 'member, but rubio's sent me a $7 gift card 4 my b.day! :-) i like it when company's do stuff like that! :-) kaela n' i shared a lobster combo, which is a lobster burrito, a baja fish taco, chips, n' beans. well, we browsed 'round the mall really quickly (mostly just pottery barn, i guess) n' then we went to our bible study. yah, lately, if we're ever in a mall; it doesn't cm like we look @ clothes, just home furnishings, etc. on fri, @ santana row, we only went to z gallerie n' borders bookstore.
well, the bible study was really kewl. i'm glad to know that our church really does cm so far to be a good church. :-) ppl r friendly, they rn't all strict strict strict, "cast the to hell" type ppl, u know? they're really understanding n' compassionate. they're genuine. n' they're interesting. i like it. we couldn't stay 4 dinner tho' cos we were going over to grace n' steve's 4 dinner w/ them.
my nephew mason walks now! he's always so cute. heh. yah, he walks. he's 1 yr n' almost 2 months old. he's big. he's really fun.
well, my sister cooked beef n' broccoli, eggplant, n' gyoza. it was a good dinner, n' i was stuffed. my dad n' sue were there 2. i guess i haven't mentioned it much here since i've been such a lousy journal writer n' bizzy etc., but my dad's now back in san jo, werking here. it's been so long since all'f my immediate family lived in the same state. last sun also, kaela n' i had dinner w/ my dad n' sue. funny, to the bible study, we brought some aisukuriimu bars that we hurriedly bought from the pw supermarket near westgate, near saratoga. on our way to grace n' steve's we picked up some gourmet aisukuriimu pints from safeway to bring over. the funny thing is that we didn't get to eat ne'f this aisukuriimu we bought n' brought. i mean, we didn't have the aisukuriimu bars @ the bible study nor the aisukuriimu @ dinner. funny. i mean, it's no big deal; we wanted to bring stuff over; it's just funny, that we didn't get to eat ne'f it. funny; not really disappointing or sad or nething.
well, i was telling kaela sumpthin' 'bout our social life right now: so we haven't had much social interaktion lately. we didn't go out w/ friends on fri or sat nite. the same goes 4 last weekend, right? neway, i was telling her that if we complain on mon morn that none'f our friends wanna hang out w/ us, then by fri of this week, all'f our friends'll call us up n' ask if we wanna go out. the prob is that fri is our monthversary. so we'll hafta tell our friends that we can't go out w/ them cos it's our monthversary. then our friends'll be all upset n' think "geez! why do we even bother inviting them to do stuff w/ us! they always just wanna be by themselves!" it's purely crappy timing. absolutely, horrifically crappy timing!
u know, laura was asking if i can still dj the absolute dragons' party on next sat. i mean, i don't need to spin the whole nite, just put in a set or 2. i told her that i'm 2 stressed out w/ my master's projekt proposal due this fri to think 'bout djing. well, she called yesterday n' asked if i can just come n' play whatever, not really have a good set planned. :-/ i dunno what to say... i mean, i guess i could just throw on whatever... but u know... it's like being asked to do a taekwondo demo on the spot. like let's say u know u can do some flying, jump, quadruple kick if u have time to practice... but let's say u'r asked to put a demo on right on the spot. u might be able to do sumpthin' nice but not nearly as fancy... but it's such an ego blow to know that ppl'll still assume whatever u show 'me must be the best that u can do. :-( i hate that feeling. as a per4mer, i hate that feeling. as a performer, musician, dj, martial artist, i hate that feeling. i don't like ppl to c my werk which is nething less than the best i can put out. it's really ironic cos here i am publishing on the web writing that is absolutely unedited n' which is obviously not the best i can put out. :-/ somehow, w/ writing i don't care if u c all my mistakes, etc. however, w/ musik n' taekwondo demos etc... i dunno... i don't want an audience when i practice; just when i'm ready to perform. however, since so many'f my good friends r involved w/ the absolute dragons dragonboating team, i shall help them to the best i can, if they reall need the help. i really don't wanna be a person who begs 4 help all the time (like w/ the wedding) but then disappears when my friends need my help (this party).
newsflash: the oktober 7 cali gubernatorial recall vote has been postponed by the u.s. appeals court! wow, that's big news! it looks to me that www.bayarea.com's a good place 4 me to get local news. *shrug*
[a li'l later] almost noon: i told kaela that in the past decade or so'f our lives, prob'ly since we went to college n' maybe a li'l b4 that, we don't go to bed like we did when we were kids. uh... what i mean by that is this: when u'r a kid, ur parents put u to bed, n' u lay in the dark in bed thinking, pondering. 1nce u'r older, u watch tv or stay on the 'puter till it's late. then we walk over to ur bed, crash, n' pass out. :-( we don't spend as much time, lying in the dark. well, last nite, i tried to go to sleep b4 i was so tired that i would just pass out. i couldn't. instead, i started reading magazines (men's health n' pc photography) n' stuff. is it possible 4 me to just lie in bed in the dark like i must've done when i was a kid. as adults, we feel so "unproduktive" if we ever take time off to relax our minds. time b4 bed, lying in the dark can be time 4 meditation, reflektion, or prayer. uh... true, it could also be time 4 fantasies'f the flesh... but hey! i'm trying to write feelgood stuff right here! >:-( ("i'll show u 'feelgood'!")
[a li'l later] early afternoon: this weekend, i managed to find most'f the hardware 4 mounting my yakima snowboard rack back on my car's roofbars when snow season resumes. i'm still missing 1 bolt n' am afraid that i just plain lost it. i contakted yakima's customer service online. they gave me some info, but i think that peron's a li'l unin4med 'bout machine parts... but i think the part i'm looking 4 is a 1/4"-20 x 2-1/4" carriage bolt, which is part # 92356a551 @ mcmaster.carr. to order that part from mcmaster.carr, i gotta buy a 25.pack 4 $6.26, n' i think shipping'll be quite a bit... prob'ly more than the co$t'f the pack'f bolts! *sigh* well, i'll look @ some hardware stores sometime, w/in the next coupl'f months.
well, my stressors this week r:
[later] still relatively early afternoon: i ate some leftover cheese pizza 4 lunch. i drank some ocean spray cranberry juice cocktail. my office has no shortage'f fud right now. there's lots'f snacks.
hey, have u ever cn alexa.com? try this link: http://www.alexa.com/data/details/main?q=benomix&url=http://www.benomix.com/. u can write a review'f my site sometime!
[later] midafternoon: why don'tchu sign my gbook? if u r here, reading my page, u might as well sign my gbook!
hrm, i wonder if, by reading my journal, u get a feel 4 how my life is.
do u? i wanna put some more pics on my journal in upcoming
entries. i hope i can get 'round to it. i guess i do
have quite a to do list.
morn: here's sumpthin' semi.humourous to a selekt few ppl - 1'f the y! news bizness news headlines 2day reads "Ex-BoA Broker Faces Fraud Chrages." that's humourous to korean gayo n' jpop fans cos the young, teenybopper gasoo kwon boa spells her name "BoA," n' i never realised that some ppl read "BoA" as "bank of amerika." X-D well... only those bjunkie types'll find that @ all amusing.
last week, the big news in amerikan tv news was that aktor john ritter passed 'way. he was only 54, but he died'f a heart condition that was due to a defekt he was born w/. was that on fri? i think i read it on fri, so it must've been on thurs. on fri morn, i also read that late nite talk show host david letterman's having his 1st child @ age 56 or sumpthin'. man, i wonder how young his gf (the mutha'f the child) is!
[later] very early afternoon: last nite, after werk, i went to the sjsu library, which is now combined w/ the san josé publik library. as i've sed b4, it's suuuch a beautiful library!!! uhm, 'member that i did c the berkeley publik library 1nce b4 we moved out. hrm... honestly, i think the san jo library's better. :-/ of course, it just sounds like i'm all "san jo pride" n' just off saying san jo is better than everywhere, but no... that's my objektive opinion... i mean, i like both san jo n' berkeley, n' i think they both have nice libraries... but i think san jo's is a li'l nicer. *shrug* maybe, maybe not. it's true that i haven't cn the berkeley publik library in a while.
after the library, i went to the east san jo, capitol/aborn gym 4 a short werkout. *sigh* i surely miss the days when i could werkout much more regularly. :-(
[later] evening: so i quit my job 2day. man, that's sumpthin' u can't say every day... 'least u'd better not say it every day! ha ha ha... i visited my new company 2day to talk 'bout my master's projekt, n' they were able to inform me that they'll be asking me to come back 2morrow to sign my offer letter, etc.
[later] 1042p: weird, we're watching the show king of queens on rerun on kbhk upn44. it's funny cos ray n' deborah barone from everybody loves raymond r visiting the couple on king of queens. i never really watched king of queens b4, n' i didn't know that these 2 shows r related.
well, we went to taekwondo practice 2nite; then we went to fantasia to
get boba drinks. @
taekwondo practice, we got to play w/ kim sajangnim's gangaji max.
(gangaji = puppy.) :-)
morn: i saw a slightly interesting story from kpix channel 5 on y! news: "move to sell booze at sj gas stations. apparently, 4 the last 18 yrs, it has been illegal to sell beer n' wine @ san josé gas stations cos it s'pposedly encourages drunk driving. now, since merchants r complaining that ppl can buy beer n' wine @ gas stations in surrounding cities neway, so the city might as well lift the ban. apparently, the measure passed. wow, there r changes in san jo, i guess. i read yesterday or the day b4, that san josé opened a new skatepark in eastside... or north valley... *shrug* i'm not 2 familiar w/ that geography, so i dunno if u call that area north or east or what... uh... then 'gain... is it south? ha ha ha. i saw the map, n' i know it's east, n' i think it's somewhere in the northeast, but maybe it's the southeast... neway, i 'member how steve caballero complained in the wave magazine that san jo has done nuthin' good 4 skateboarders, that sunnyvale built that nice publik skatepark n' milipitas has the vans skatepark in the great mall but that all san jo did was ban skateboarding from publik streets. well, 'least now san jo has a skatepark! now, i just browsed thru www.bayarea.com to find an article on the san jo skatepark but instead found an article 'bout mcdonald's adult happy meals: mcdonald's to launch adult happy meals. aktually, i think that headline is very misleading! >:-( the article describes how mcyukyuk's is planning to launch a "go active meal," which'll have a salad, an exercise booklet, n' a pedometer. :-/ i'm really happy that mcyukyuk's has been doing more to promote healthier diets, but the headline made me think they'd be selling meals w/ sandwiches, fries, a drink, n' some kind'f fun fun toy, u know? or... maybe by "adult," they woudl really mean "adult." X-D i 4get... somewhere, @ some "family fun" restaurant like t.g.i.f or somewhere, they kept calling cocktails "adult beverages," n' i thought it was sooo dorky. i mean, shoot! does the drink come w/ lots'f nudity, sexual situations, violence, n' strong language? what makes those beverages so "adult"? after all, i sort'f understand what makes certain movies "adult movies," right?
just a li'l after noon: i was just thinkin' 'bout how we sold off most'f our furniture when we left berkeley. we used to own a nice kitchen table n' chairs n' a nice loveseat sofabed. we sold those off to friends when we left. someday, when we buy our own place, we'll be buying new furniture, right?
2day, i gotta go to class. btwn 2day n' 2morrow, i gotta write my master's projekt proposal n' presentation. i've got lots to do these next coupl'f days. it's crazy. fri's my last day'f werk @ this company. i'm uh... s'pposed to get a call from my new employer to come in n' sign some dokuments, n' the fakt that they haven't called yet 2day makes me nervous, u know?
[later] still very early afternoon: u know, i haven't cn a sobig.f virus e.mail in a while! yay! i s'ppose the prob's contained then? *shrug*
[later] afternoon: the beautiful kaela hwang n' i lunched @ myungdong soondubujip. i had suhkkuh soondubu (combination), n' kaela had buhsuht soondubu (shroom). mmm, it was very tasty. hey, don't 4get: if u'r ever bored n' need sumpthin' cute to read, please visit www.falafeldog.com. it's a very cute site! :-) (when i read the falafel gazette, it sometimes mentions places in sf. even tho' i'm always talkin' 'bout how every single morn, as i walk out'f the door in beautiful san jo, i'm so glad i live in san jo; sf is definitely such a beautiful place 2. who could disagree? sf is beautiful.)
[a li'l, li'l later] still afternoon: woohoo! i got that call i've been waiting 4 all day. i'm gonna go to my new employer's @ 900a 2morrow morn n' sign the offer papers. :-) *sigh* life progresses, u know?
[later] 1153p: ugh, i'm trying to write my master's projekt
proposal.
just a li'l after noon: how r u? i hope u'r doing fine. me, i'm ok. life sure is bizzy. lemme tell u: i find that if i sit back, lay out all the things i need to do in the next few days, etc., n' look @ them; then i realise how much stuff i really need to do, n' my produktivity goes up. if i don't take time out to realise how much stuff i hafta do, then i just c a narrow pic'f the task @ hand, get lost, n' then my produktivity goes down. have u exeprienced n' observed this 2? i'm sure u have. i'm sure u know the feeling: let's say u'r werking on a small but diffikult part'f a larger process. u focus on the details'f this small but diffikult part, then get frustrated, n' then just sort'f surrender to wasting time instead'f tackling the prob. well, don'tchu find that when u take time out, sit back, n' look @ the big pic; u end up realise just how much stuff there is to do, that u can put aside the current small roadblock n' werk on some other thing cos u sure have plenty to do. that's how i've felt this week.
last nite, i stayed up just a li'l late, werkin' on my master's projekt proposal. i didn't finish last nite, n' i continued to werk on it this morn. i want to submit it 2day but i've only gotten approval from 2 out'f 3 profs. i need 3 profs to be on my committee. 2 have sed yes, but 1 wants more proof that my projekt's a valid use'f his time, u know? that's understandable, n' i guess i prob'ly didn't give 'nuff detail in my original msg to him. just a while 'go, i just e.mailed my proposal to him, so that he could c all the details. neway, i know this skoolstuff talk's boring u readers. well... yah, i have lots'f skoolstuff to werk on. this week is sort'f an "engineering hell week" 4 me. i have lots to do btwn skool n' werk. i stayed up late werking on my proposal last nite (wed nite); n' this morn (thurs morn, of course), i left the house earlier than usual cos i had to visit my new employer to sign a bunch'f documents, etc.
oh man! i'm so relieved!!! i'm finally getting an income that is closer to what i was used to getting. granted, i have never received the kind'f compensation that salary.com n' other resources say that i ought to be paid as an engineer w/ my particular education n' experience in this particular region'f the world n' country, but eh! i know i'm a relatively cheap werker. i know that, but i also know i compete 'gainst the whole outsourcing trend 2, u know? i'm sure u've read in the news how employers have been outsourcing werk like crazy in recent yrs. amerikan employers have been hiring so many foreign contraktors to do werk overseas cos it's cheaper there. :-/ well, shoot! my sales pitch has got to be "don't outsource! u can hire me 4 cheaper than u'd expekt, n' i can provide better quality werk than outsourced engrs!"
[later] afternoon: i met up w/ the beautiful kaela hwang 4 lunch @ sushi lovers in the mercado plaza off 101. it's very near my current office. i was only so.so hungry cos i ate a bunch'f pound cake that my cowerker baked n' brought in this morn. neway, we had lunch. i showed her my employment packet thingy i got from my new employer this morn. *sigh* it's sooo diff to be werking 4 a big, big, big corporation. i've never werked 4 a publikly traded company, u know? on next mon morn, i hafta show up @ 800a 4 new employee training. wow, this is diff! i haven't even werked 4 a company that has a sekurity desk 'cept 4 east bay m.u.d. back in the day. wow. yah, i'm pretty excited... n' happy that i'll have health insurance 'gain, it looks like.
well, i'm happy 'bout the new job, but i'm a li'l stressed 'bout my master's projekt cos i need to turn in my proposal w/in a coupl'f hrs, n' i haven't yet heard back from the 3rd professor i wanted on my committee. :-( i need to put down 3 names, n' i got 2 confirmed professors... now i need that 3rd. shoot, i gotta just print out my form n' turn it in a.s.a.p. :-/ maybe i should just head off (from werk) to campus now. *sigh* yah, i don't really know what to do.
u know what? while cleaning up my 'puter her @ my office, i discovered that some1 installed a keylogging program on my 'puter this morn. ?!?! that bewilders me cos if some1's trying to spy on what i type, then why would they wait until my last 2 days to do it? :-? *shrug* oh well... as i've always sed, i'm a pretty publik guy.
[later] evening: @X-P phew, i'm beat! i went to campus in the afternoon thinking i'd quickly get some signatures 4 my master's projekt proposal. instead, i had to wait, wait, n' wait n' then be told that my proposal needs to be rewritten. then i rewrote it n' managed to get 2 of 3 required signatures. i guess the 3rd'll hafta wait till 2morrow. i also gotta do a presentation in front of my peers n' some faculty 2morrow. it should be like a 10 min presentation, i guess. i'm a li'l nervous as i've admitted to the faculty that my projekt's a li'l behind skedule cos i'm collaborating w/ my new employer on it; but the progress'll soon jump far ahead as soon as i start werking there next mon. i didn't anticipate, tho', that werking on an akademic projekt in conjuktion w/ a private corporation would bring up some "can'f worms" type issues. i guess i was foolish not to realise i'd soon hafta deal w/ all sorts'f intellektual property issues. :-/ i dunno, i was just hoping 4 the best, i guess; but the faculty's expekting the worst... or 'least reminding me to be prepared 4 the worst.
on my tardy drive back to campus (i aktually went to the mechanical engineering 'puter lab n' rewerked my proposal 4 a while after sittin' sort'f depressed in a chair in the engineering bldg 4 a while b4 going to a prof's office hr to get a signature), right b4 i got back to my office, i had a big thought... sort'f a msg from god, i'm thinking. now that things r sort'f finally falling back into place 4 me (n' some ppl'd say i'm very lucky), i need to beware; i sure do. it sure cms like i'm getting all the things i've wished 4 4 so long. however, i must beware! soon, i'm gonna want other things. now that i've got a decent job... if i can buy a house 4 us... n' all these things fall into place... i may not be satisified n' may want other things... why? cos it's just humankind's sinful, greedy nature. i need to beware. i need to 'member the past yr, the unpleasant situations i endured, n' not take my better situation 4granted! i need to be grateful. "count ur blessings," ppl say. yah, i gotta do that... every single day.
[a li'l later] evening still: some'f u know jeongkang (scott liles) of
www.medeasin.com
fame; or maybe u just know of him. neway, in a recent blog
entry, he totally fooled me. in the beginning'f the blog entry, he
akted like he was building up to saying he was getting a divorce. i
was so shocked. i didn't get it. i knew he n' his wife had a
baby boy (named sunsoo) a li'l over a yr 'go, n' they always cm to be
fine. i started thinking that maybe it's cos'f all the strippers he
talks 'bout on his journal n' how he puts all these pics'f naked women who
rn't his wife on his journal. after being in shock 4 a
while, i scrolled down further n' realised i had been fooled. the
big announcement that he was building up to w/ the intention'f fooling
us was that he n' his wife r gonna have a baby gurl very soon.
ha ha ha. well, i'm very happy 4 them; n' yah, i was very
fooled!
just a li'l b4 noon... no! aktually, noon: it's the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 2 month wedding anniversary 2day. :-) our 2nd monthversary, now that we've restarted our count... heh...
2day's a very bizzy n' important day 4 me: 1) it's our 2nd monthversary. 2) it's my last day'f werk 4 my current employer. 3) i gotta officially submit my proposal 4 my master's projekt, present my proposal to the entire class n' some faculty, n' make absolutely, positively certain that i sign up 4 the projekt class by 2nite; otherwise, i won't be enrolled in the projekt class n' thus won't be able to graduate!!! :-o so much to do!!! life sure is hektic! it really is; but i could also say that it's very exciting, n' i do! i really do! i shall say that i'm excited. i really am. good things r happening, n' i like it.
i was up until past 400a last nite / this morn werking on my projekt proposal presentation. i know annoying ppl could tell me i should've werked on it earlier; but they'd be ignoring the fakt that i was werking w/ a very hard time skedule cos my projekt relied upon info i needed from my future employer, n' that was very hard to plan, u know?
[later] afternoon: i went to lunch w/ all my cowerkers. well, not all my cowerkers r in town right now, so i went w/ a group'f 8. they took me to sweet tomatoes off'f lawrence expwy by costco. wow, i'm gonna be packing up all my stuff n' leaving that door 4 the last time in a matter'f mins. i enjoyed werking @ such a fun environment, where it still felt like the start.up environment'f the good ol' days. i'll miss the bbqs n' beer. heh...
as i sed earlier, 2day's a big day, n' i've got lots'f things to take
care'f. i gotta go do my presentation, hopefully surive that, n'
then go pick up kaela to go celebrate our 2nd monthversary!
:-)
747p: it's sun eve (evening). do u know what it's like to wake up in a hot, hot, dark room, in a bed, drowning in ur own spit? i mean... it't hot here in san jo 2day. since i was so tired from random stuff, i let myself sort'f drift asleep on our bed; but i woke up choking, or teknically drowning since it's liquid (right?), on/in my spit. *sigh* what's been going on? well, shoot. it's re...
[later] 901p: since it's so hot in my room 2nite, my computer crashed, as u 'member i used to tell u 'bout all the time. when it gets 2 hot, my ati pci 128mb all.in.wonder graphics card crashes n' takes everything w/ it. it's a awful prob, n' i've been hoping to someday by a new, bigger power supply n' case fan to solve it. :-( someday...
well, so what's been happening? i haven't updatedchu since fri. i was s'pposed to do my presentation 'bout my master's projekt proposal on fri eve; but the class ran out'f time. it was a very annoying prob cos what was happening was that 2 many smart@$$ students were asking presenters not so much legitimate questions out'f curiosity or true desire to help but just to skrew them up, u know? i hate that! >:-( i hate when students get all competitive n' try to make each other look bad w/ intentionally troublesome questions after presentations. there really should've been a rule that only profs could ask questions! >:-( neway, we ran out'f time so 4'f us hafta present next fri. :-( it's sort'f good cos i'll have better info to present by next fri; but it still sucks cos 1) i had stayed up past 400a getting my slides n' presentation ready n' 2) now the profs won't know whether i was just not prepared or if i was prepared (n' i was) but got unlucky. *sigh* what i mean is: there were some students who were prob'ly very relieved we ran out'f time cos they weren't yet ready; not me! i wanted to get it over w/! i had my slides ready. i had gotten dressed up 4 the presentation... i wanted to get it over w/! >:-( oh well... there is a bright side to going next week (besides having more concrete details cos i'll have been werking 4 a few days @ my new employer who's providing support 4 the projekt): my advising profs'll be present. my "committee chair" was out'f town, n' my 2 other "committee members" left early.
neway... 'nuff 'bout the talk 'bout skool etc...
on fri nite, i took the beautiful kaela hwang out 4 our 2nd monthversary. i took her to 7 restaurant & lounge (754 the alameda, suite 10; san josé, ca 95126 fon: 408.280.1644 fax: 408.280.1818) we had a nice dinner w/ a dj spinnin' some nice house/trance lounging musik. it was a very hip environment!!! we had some oysters, a wilted arugula salad, skate fish (kaela), n' scallops (me). no room 4 dessert! the place is... *sigh* perhaps the most sf restaurant/lounge i've cn outside of sf!!! do u get what i mean? like, altho' the hip hip hip joints in santana row r really hip n' happening; this place feels much more like sf (san francisco) cos it's a much more urban environment, i s'ppose. u gotta check out their website n' c what it's all 'bout. it was a fun nite.
on sat, i werked very hard thru.out the semi.stressful day to get musik ready 4 the absolute dragons 6 degrees of absolute party. it was @ the lake merrit sailboat house, a very nicely planned event. i lined up tracks all day 4 the event but still didn't quite have 'nuff time to organise the musik to my standards. my standards have risen in the past coupl'f yrs, my standards 4 myself. u know the whole story: i felt much more pressure to be a really "battle dj" n' have super sets full of quick, quick switches... 1 secs of 1 song... 1min 30 secs of the next... 1 min of the next... 45 secs of the next... switch switch swich! i know jerome, back then, 1nce sed to me sumpthin' 'bout how the djs @ bellagio switch songs so fast, this n' that... so yah! i felt rather like "well, then! i gotta beat that then!" u know? it was a very ego.driven thing... n' then hyun told me 'bout the dj competition @ bellagio that never happened... but u know how it went, i made my benomix 4집 album. i dunno... i'm not going 'round saying i'm the ultimate best dj in the world; but shoot! i do gotta admit that i do have quite a bit'f experience; n' yah, it does show... i mean, shoot! i'm not some newbie young dude that thinks all he needs to make good mixes is a pair'f record players, that vinyl's the ultimate solution n' thus the only thing it takes to be a good dj. obviously, i'm really sick'f that kind'f mentality. so many untalented, unmusikal ppl think that if they just shell out some $700 - $800 on a pair'f t1200s n' 'nother $100 on a mixer that they'll automatikally be totally rippin' it up! *roll eyes* ok... neway, b4 i went on my rant; where was i? oh yah... so i spent the day trying to get my musik organised... after all, i knew i wasn't gonna be playing korean musik 4 this kind'f party but that's what i usually listen to n' what i would normally mix w/. i did squeeze in 1 boa track n' 1 utada hikaru track to put some asian representation in the mix, u know?
neway, i had to drive kaela to pick up her car from the shop in the early eve, then brian chong got to our house, n' we packed up the stuff to go. man! we left sooo late!!! :-( however, we made it there... just barely in time... n' i just got really lucky w/ the traffik. it was really hektic setting up in a hurry. i was gonna be the 1st of 3 djs n' of course the only 1 using cd turntables, which i had to bring up myself. n' i soon realised i was the only dj spinning nething other than hip hop. i was surprised cos when u got a pretty yuppie, asian.am, professional crowd... u know... don't ppl also like tekno, trance, europop, house, or 'least freestyle? well, i felt really nervous cos i've been doing my werk n' skool stuff all week n' had 0 time to prep 4 this... so i was glad to go 1st n' just get it over w/. i did my set, not during the aktual dance party part but during their speed dating time. yah, interesting, huh? the single ppl had speed dating. u know what that is, right? i think it was depikted in uh... what's that movie? oh yah, bridget jones's diary! right? neway, i played musik. heh, i don't think ppl even noticed i was like mixing the musik, etc... they were prob'ly all 2 bizzy w/ the speed dating, n' very understandably so. i figured i was like the dj @ 7 (the restaurant); i was just providing background musik. well, it was fun. when speed dating was up, my shift was up; so i told the next dj he could start. the rest'f the nite was hip hop. yah, i heard that some ppl wanted me to go back up n' play stuff other than hip hop (n' like old skool funk prince n' the revolution stuff, but eh! it cmed fine... i mean... it was a fun party neway, u know? i was just really happy to chat w/ some ol' berkeley friends. i was telling andy that since the party's name was "6 degrees of absolute" n' that it was s'pposed to be a "6 degrees of separation" type thing that i was s'pposed to run into somebody i knew that other absolute dragon ppl wouldn't know i knew; n' yah! funny, we ran into carol liao. i was right. well, kaela, brian, n' me, since we had to head back to san jo, wanted to duck out a li'l early; but the other djs were hooked in thru my mixer, so we couldn't leave till the party ended a li'l after midnite. we were really hungry n' contemplated going out in the middle'f the party to forage 4 fud; but then i dunno... i didn't wanna miss the chance to chat w/ ol' friends. we ate some junk fud, n' roland was so nice n' gave us a coupl'f leftover wendy's cheeseburgers. heh. well, as soon as the lites turned on, we packed up my stuff n' jammed home to san jo.
this morn, kaela n' i went to church. then we drove by a coupl'f houses we'd like to buy if we can. then we went to barnes & nobles @ the intersektion'f san tomas expwy n' stevens creek blvd. kaela got a starbucks chai latte n' was very upset that a chai latte is just tea n' milk n' not tea, espresso, n' milk. i told her that she'd hafta go to fantasia 4 that cos i know fantasia makes drinks w/ tea, coffee, papaya, n' milk, etc. i think cafés like starbucks r way 2 purist 'bout coffee n' tea to consider mixing them into the same drink, u know? well, i asked kaela what she wanted 4 lunch. i had a feeling she'd ask 4 dimsum, so we went to canton delights to get some dimsum. then we went to valley fair. @ the intersektion'f winchester blvd n' stevens creek blvd there were some old ppl rallying 4 middle east peace n' dubyah bush's impeachment. good. i'm glad. i'm happy to c ppl w/ good politikal beliefs in silly valley! :-) ah, it's nice to have a li'l berkeley in silly valley, eh? good, sane, logikal ppl! :-) well, we hung out @ the mall 4 a li'l while... 4 *shrug* a coupl'f hrs? then we went to albertson's to get some groceries w/ these free coupons i got from macy's when i bought the espresso maker back when. we got tons'f free stuff from albertson's. then we came home. it was 2 hot.
i wanted to play tennis 2nite, but it was 2 hot to get motivated. i'm really sad cos the past 2 weeks or so, i've gotten very li'l exercise n' have not been watching my diet. :-( i'm very displeased! :-(
2morrow, i start my new job, my 1st job @ a big, major, huge corporation. in case u don't know where i'm werking, well... basikally every modern elektronic device these days has a chip that was produced w/ 1'f the machines made by my company. it's a big company, n' it's the 1st publikly traded stock company i've ever werked 4, i realised. i guess ppl somehwat gauge how the semiconduktor industry's doing by watching my company's stocks. wow, this feels diff, u know? i haven't werked 4 a company big 'nuff to need sekurity badges since back @ ebmud. i gotta show up 4 new employee orientation @ 800a. man, it's 951p right now n' sooo hot. i hope i'll be able to sleep 2nite! :-/
ha ha ha! 2morrow's boondocks comic is sooo funny!
ha ha ha!
1227p: 손님, 여러분 어때요? how r u? sorry 4 the lack'f updates. yesterday, 2day, n' 0.5'f mon (2day's wed), i've been in corporate orientation classes/mtgs/training. man, i've never werked 4 such a big corporation b4, as i sed! i've listened to h.r. type ppl n' did lots'f teamwerk exercises n' objekt lessons, u know? they gave us some nice freebies w/ corporate logos, u know? much better than job fair freebies... 2day, i have safety/sekurity training; n' hopefully, i get my sekurity badge / cardkey 2day, so i don't gotta keep waiting 4 ppl to let me in thru doors.
on mon 0.5 my day (morn) was spent @ "mini orientation," n' then i went to my office 4 the afternoon. the beautiful kaela hwang came to my office, n' we had lunch in the pretty nice company cafeteria. on tues, i had training/orientation all day; so 4 lunch, i drove over to 한국 마켓 (hangook market) to get 순대 (soondae) n' 김밥 (kimbap) to go. 2day, during my whoppin' 2hr lunchbreak, i went to the nearby carl's jr. to get a charbroiled bbq chicken sandwich, a side salad, n' a small soda n' sat there studying 4 my "spacecraft dynamics & controls" class, which i have on wed eves. yesterday, btwn my orientation n' taekwondo praktice, i went to campus to discuss my master's projekt w/ 1'f my committee profs n' then study.
on mon eve, after werk, i went to the hamilton gym. there, i ran into nelson, who's doing a free trial membership. later, kaela n' i did spin class. man! bike seats hurt my butt. :-(
this is gonna be a ruff semester. i know i gotta stay focused!
열심히 공부해야돼요. i gotta study hard. full.time werk
combined w/ 6 units'f grad skool, it's not easy! 정심
jipjoong 있어야돼요!
[much later] 1131p: well, after my orientation @ werk, i went to class, my "spacecraft dynamics & controls" class. it's not really easy mat'l, i gotta say! after class, i went to the gym. my right knee's been hurting cos i think i lifted w/ bad form on tues nite @ the gym. :-( i didn't do ne cardio. i did some crunches n' lifting. i came home n' ate some sushi n' chicken salad that my mom had 4 me.
well, finally, i'm gonna show u some new pics!!! 마침내 내가 새로은 사진을 보여줄게요.
from our 2nd monthversary @ 7:
 kaela@7restaurant.us |
 beno@7restaurant.us |
from the absolute dragons "6 degrees of absolute" party:
 kaela took a pic'f beno djing. |
 kaela took 'nother pic'f beno djing |
here's a future noraebang song 4 me prob'ly. if u go to noraebang w/ me, u know i sometimes sing gurls' songs. well, here's a gurl's song, a really cheesy, mooshy lovesong. heh... (it's not a really new song. it's a song from this summer, n' i toldju that we heard it 'lot in korea this summer, on our honeymoon.)
|
"the best" - 김유진 you are the best thing in my life
어려서부터 혼자인
you are the best thing in my life
잠시 날 떠나갔을때 슬픔속에
따뜻한 그대 손을 처음 잡던 날
you are the best thing in my life
너무나 아픈 상처 숨겨왔지만 you are the best thing in my life
영원히 함께할 꿈이되길 기도할께요 |
"the best" - kim yoojin (eugene) you are the best thing in my life
in my difficulty,
you are the best thing in my life.
when you left me for a while, in sadness,
as your warm hand first grabbed mine,
you are the best thing in my life
i came to hide such a hurtful wound, but you are the best thing in my life
i will pray that this is dream of together forever will come true. |
103a: it's early in the morn / late @ nite. it's fri nite or
else sat morn. i've now finished my 1st week'f my new job. :-)
yay! burdy! yay! also, i finished my master's projekt
proposal presentation. so what's been going on? i 4get where
i left off. uh, lessee... what happened on thurs? well, @
lunchtime, the beautiful kaela hwang came n' picked me up from werk. we
drove up el camino to look 4 fud n' went to china china, the brand new
restaurant opened by the owners'f geumbonghwang (golden phoenix) on
winchester blvd near hamilton ave, where kaela n' i had our wedding
rehearsal dinner. yah, geumbonghwang's a great chinese restaurant,
so we wanted to try out china china. this restaurant has a buffet.
i dunno if the buffet's just 4 lunch or also 4 dinner.
neway, it's really good. they have chinese fud, korean fud, n'
japanese fud. they had lots'f those walnut prawns... but no
walnuts... still good tho'. they had some other good chinese fud n'
some good sushi. they also had japchae n' l.a. galbi. it
wasn't a really huge buffet, but good quality. i know
they're new, but i hope they keep it up. well, as we tried to
leave the restaurant, kaela's car battery was dead! :-( i tried to
get these chinese men sittin' out in the parking lot to help us, but they
didn't speak english. i went back to the car, grabbed the jumper
cables, n' asked 'gain. phew, this time 1 man was willing to help.
it's nice to know there r good ppl. :-) well, i went
back to werk. @ nite, we went to taekwondo practice n' practiced 4
our oktober demo. on our way home, we stopped by fantasia to get
some boba drinks. :-)
fri: i went to werk. @ lunch, kaela came to get me. we
tried out gaesuhng dubuok on el camino near scott. we didn't have
soondubu. i had yookgyeijang, n' kaela had mandoogook. i was
happy to have warm, spicy soup cos i was so cold
cos the office was a li'l cold. then kaela dropped me off @ werk.
then i went to skool to do my presentation. as expekted,
this 1 old dude, this aerospace engineering student had to ask troublesome
questions'f almost every1 just to somehow boost his ego or sumpthin'.
well, i think i did ok. i knew his question was comin', but
i aktually expekted the dept chair to ask it. he asked me 'bout the
intellektual property rights involved w/ my projekt since i'm werking w/
my employer on it. neway... this guy wasn't even nice when he asked
his troublesome questions. like, he asked his questions w/ such a
know.it.all tone, u know? whatever... whatever boosts his ego.
seriously! well, after my class, i met up w/ kaela in santa clara
to look @ a house 4 sale. it was pretty nice, but the owner
obviously smoked, n' i could smell it. yuck. then we went to
'nother house that kaela wants to show a client 2day. there, she
met this chinese or taiwanese woman who was just curious. we talked
to her 4 a while. after that, we went to dinner w/ mark n' grace.
we went to chelokebabi on el camino. heh, we went to a
restaurant on el camino that's not a korean restaurant! however,
after our dinner'f kebabs, we went to get some soju 
@ anjuhn jidae, next
to our taekwondojang.
[later] 126p: i'm sittin' in the wolfe rd 99 ranch havin' lunch by myself. i'm really hungry; this fud's really tasty! :-) i'm eating plain, steamed white rice; some seafud w/ veggies; some spicy eggplant; n' egg soup; all 4 $4.01 after tax! :-) [later] 137p: ah, i'm getting full. i was eating so bizzily as i wrote the past few sentence, n' so i had a very hard time writing. 2day kaela's off showing a client some houses. since her car battery's been having so much trouble, she took my car n' left me here @ the wolfe rd 99 mall. in the morn, i had a hot milk tea w/ taro balls @ fantasia n' sat @ that café 4 'least 2 hrs, studying "spacecraft dynamics & controls." then i walked round the outdoor mall n' chatted on the fon w/ toby, ken, n' roland. now i'm done w/ my lunch @ 99. sure, some ppl harass me 4 being so korean instead'f chinese; but i'm getting a full dose'f taiwanese/chinese 2day! i loitered @ fantasia so long on a single purchase. i wonder how long i can loiter here! however, my seat's right by the trash bins, so i don't really wanna loiter that long!
this morn, 'twas so overcast, cloudy, n' cold outside. now the sun has come out; but i don't want more exposure the sun's skin.damaging rays. this summer, up till the wedding n' thru the honeymoon, i avoided sun exposure pretty well. however, this yr in cali, we had such an "indian summer"! it's been much harder to avoid the sun now that skool's resumed! :-(
'nother thing 'bout the past couple'f months that i've meant to discuss 4 a long time now: unusual gas pricing... 'round our wedding, i think gas was 'round $1.89/gal or so 'round here, 4 87. ...i think. when we came back from our honeymoon, i think it had fallen to like $1.57/gal! (i think.) then, in august, the tv had plenty'f pics'f burning oil in iraq, n' gas price shot back up well over 2 bucks / gal. luckily, in the past month n' 0.5, they've come down a li'l. however, gas pricing in the past month has been very weird!!! usually, designer name brand gas co$t more than no.name brand gas. also, usually gas in the ghettos co$ts less than gas in ritzy areas. usually, gas near freeways co$t more thas gas tucked 'way in an area further from freeway access. in the past month, all these rules've cmed to go out the door!!! on a regular basis, i saw union76 gas in nicer areas co$t less than rotten robbie gas in ghettos. funny, kaela asked me a week 'go or so, "how did we become such fans'f rotten robbie?" ha! true; here in san jo, we use lots'f rotten robbie gas. the location on hamilton ave btwn winchester blvd n' hwy 17 / bascom ave has an attached convenient store called mrs. robbie. i had definitely cn that b4, but last time i was there, a couple'f weeks 'go or so, i took note'f the fakt that they sell beer there cos i had recently read that kpix ch5 article on y! news 'bout how san jo gas stations'll soon be 'llowed to sell beer n' wine 'gain, as a long.standing ban was lifted. then i realised i was in campbell, not san jo.
205p: i've got $4 ca$h in my wallet (+ 3,000 wuhn, which i always carry, as u know) n' a sjsu student santa clara valley transit association pass in my left pocket. i could leave this cupertino 99 village, but i dunno where i'd go. this morn, i contemplated going to my office. however, my sekurity badge's in my car w/ kaela n' her client. i want to be a good employee n' a good student.
[later] 227p: now i'm outside, in the chilly shade in front'f chung chou city, which sells dried, preserved fuds n' herbs next to shengkee bakery. it's a li'l chilly here in the shade, but i s'ppose that it's better than skin cancer n' that i'm glad the major heat wave's over. my big dilemma is whether to stay or go. :-( if i leave, (there will be trouble) where shall i go? valley fair? by bus? (n' if i stay it will be double.) can't bus to my office w/o my sekurity badge. shall i bus all the way to the sjsu / san jo city library? i admit: things r more spread out here in the so bay / silly valley, which's a kingdom'f free parking compared to sf or berkeley. if i wanna go deeper into the so bay / silly valley pride thing, then i'd pt out that things rn't as spread out here as in socal.
[later] 322p: i'm still sitting in the chilly shade. i've been trying to study, but it's a li'l 2 cold. i wanna go into 99 ranch n' get h2o or some other beverage to stay hydrated, but i'm worried that kind'f drink'll make me colder. i could return to fantasia n' get some kind'f warm coffee or tea drink, but i worry 'bout the excess sugar, milkfat, n' the fakt i'm low on ca$h. i've pondered leaving via bus, telling myself i gotta lose the pathetic suburban fear'f publik transportation, but then i realise that it's most likely more fun here @ cupertino 99 village than ne place else i'd end up @ by bus. i'd better hang on to what i've got! hrm, that last sentence reminds me'f some 1980s heavy metal power ballad'f which i 4get the title. "we've got to hold on to what we've got. doesn't really matter if we make it or not." hrm, i've gotta do a google search when i get home, maybe. somehow, i don't have my handspring internet cable w/ me right now. *shrug*
[later] 352p: i spent $1.64'f my remaining 4 bucks to get buy a bottle'f arrowhead h2o n' 2 cans'f some strange mango drink. hrm, now i don't have 'nuff ca$h to buy a boba drink @ fantasia if i wanted to. hrm, i'm sort'f stranded here like a shipwreck survivor on an island. heh, that's not true; that's just the stoopid suburbanite talking! i could always hop onto that bus n' ride 'way. can't they make a tv show out'f my current situation?!?! survivor: 99 ranch cupertino village
[later] 1131p: well, kaela picked me up after finishing her werk. then we picked up the taekwondojang key from julie @ her werk. then we sort'f lazily practiced taekwondo w/ brian. then duk came, n' julie came, n' we started to practice 4 real. after practice the 5'f us went to pho hoa to get pho. funny; all'f us go to the same church. we ate dinner kind'f late.
[later] 1155p: some pics from the past few days:
 kaela@us-tae-kwon-do.com |
 now, this is just a fun pic! :-) |
 bunnies ready 4 halloween!!! |
 it was a beautiful day in cupertino. |
월요일 아침, mon morn: 내할일들의 목록, my to do list:
[later] very early afternoon: that wasn't a very good, complete list!
>:-(
tues morn: 1'f the big things on my current werk/skool agenda's werkin' out the intellectual property issues btwn my employer n' skool, as my master's projekt'll involve both. so, what's going on these days? life's bizzy, of course. 많이 바빠요. werk, skool, taekwondo, werking out, home shopping... the beautiful kaela hwang n' i really need a home! *sigh* 2day's tues; taekwondo practice 4 our demo... 2morrow, wed, i have some sort'f intern lunch mtg thing. 2day, i have a dept mtg, this morn. this morn, i dropped my car off @ stevens creek auto imports 4 service n' rode their shuttle to werk. the shuttle driver ed drove 2'f us in an isuzu odyssey; just me n' some middle.age man in a shirt n' tie. i assume he's well.paid; but i guess i never know.
[later] early afternoon: stevens creek auto imports called back.
man, their level of service has really fell off the cliff! >:-(
they gave me an outrageous estimate 4 the brake werk, n' they refuse to
cover some really basic things under warranty that ought to be covered.
i'm gonna complain to subaru 'bout them. >:-( they used
to be decent... not great but decent. i think i always
got better service from albany ford subaru back when we lived in berkeley. from now on, i'm just gonna bring my
car to auto service shops that rn't car dealerships. that's just
gonna be how i'll do things now.
wed morn: morns r often beautiful. 'least that's what i'm noticing these days. altho' i experience some commute traffik, i'm glad the morn sky's so beautiful. often, when i'm on vacation n' get up n' out early, i experience beautiful morns; like in taipei or seoul. morns in int'l, cosmopolitan cities r beautiful cos u witness the cities' waking up. u c shops open, delivery ppl deliver things, breakfast fud vendors sell fud... i enjoy observing that kind'f hustle n' bustle. maybe that's only when i'm on vacation, witnessing the hustle n' bustle 2ndhand, u think? i dunno; morns in san francisco sure were beautiful when i werked there 4 resolution sciences corporation / advanced pathology systems over @ the cali4nia pacific medical center. back then, i crossed the historic bay bridge every single morn. i'm sure morns in paris n' tokyo r beautiful. morns in cosmopolitan metropolises sure r beautiful; but so r morns in lake tahoe, etc.
speaking'f lake tahoe, this yr's san josé snow expo'll take place in late nov. i feel that's a li'l late but'll be very happy to go. they'll give 'way free lift tix 'gain. this yr sierra@tahoe n' northstar r 'gain selling their combined double whammy season pass. this yr sugar bowl n' kirkwood r selling a combined sugarwood season pass. what do u think?
of course, i hate living so far from everything, driving so far to werk / skool / gym / taekwondo /shopping n' then driving so far home after i'm all done. we gotta admit, tho', that's the suburban element'f san jo / silly valley. things r more spread out here than in a pure metropolis such as sf. the silly valley't a hybrid. (ppl unedukated 'bout silly valley geography think it's just 'nother cali4nian suburbia, but it's not.) yesterday morn, i thought 'bout if we lived in socal. imagine this: we live in chino; i go to werk in el segundo; we go to taekwondo in garden grove... that's an awful lot'f time stuck in gridlocked freeways! ("there he goes 'gain, talkin' that 'ish'!!!")
can u believe it's oktober already?! this weekend, i have a few tasks:
[later] a li'l b4 noon: 2day, i have my intern lunch mtg @ noon. i dunno what we're s'pposed to talk 'b out there. *shrug* this other intern in met, who's a sr. in industrial engineering @ uc berkeley, told me that the last intern lunch mtg was @ sushi o sushi. i told him how the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went there 1nce.
now, i werk in a cubicle. @ my last job, i shared a big office in the back'f the bldg w/ the 2 other quality assurance guys. @ my company b4 that.... man, i moved 'lot: 1st, in sf, i was in a li'l office btwn the lab n' my manager's office. then, when we moved to corte madera, i 1st had a big, big office. then, i moved into a cubicle. then, i moved into a nice but smaller office. then, i moved into 'nother cubicle, where i stayed 4 a long time, i guess. i had sort'f 4gotten 'bout the 1st corte madera office, the temporary cubicle, n' the 2nd office corte madera office. i mostly 'member werking in the cubicle. cubicle life... my cubicle isn't very big here, but that's fine w/ me. the idea'f cubicle life sort'f reminds me of office space, but really that's not the case here. u c, office space really couldn't happen in 2day's silly valley... maybe the silly valley of the 1980s, but definitely not the post .com boom silly valley! i know many ppl would mistakenly assume that office space could happen in the silly valley just cos the main character's / protagonist's job has sumpthin' to do w/ 'puters n' programming etc. even i've alluded to office space b4 while discussing the silly valley, i know. however, office space's setting is definitely not silly valley; u know why? cos in office space, the only place to hang out is tgif's! c, that's not silly valley. instead, that's what happens when some silly valley company relocates their engrs to colorado springs, co or some place like that, u know?
so what movies were set in san jo / silly valley?!?! obviously, way 2 many movies r set in new york. i don't like that but hafta tolerate it. there r worse places, i'm sure. i'm jujt happy 'nuff when movies r set in sf, instead'f ny, la, chicago, etc..
[later] 915p: ugh, i'm so beat. i'm very stressed. i have
a take.home midterm 4 ae245 "spacecraft dynamics & controls." i
gotta admit: the class is not easy 4 me. i'm not an
aerospace engineer! i'm a mechanical engineer!!! @:-( <--
is that emotikon 4 a flustered person? *shrug* :-?
thurs morn: yesterday nite, during my "spacecraft dynamics & controls" lecture, i really wanted to drop the class; but my classmates told me the drop (deadline) date passed 2 weeks 'go. i was thinking: if i talk to the dept chair n' graduate studies coordinator, maybe i can just werk on my projekt this semester, then take 1 class next semester n' finish my projekt, n' then come back next fall to take my last class. well, now that i know it's not possible to drop w/o extreme begging n' pleading, i'm trying to tell myself not 2 stress 2 much since this class' grade's based only on 3 take.home midterms. *sigh* this $#!+'s hard!!! really! this isn't a mechanical engineering class; this really is an aerospace engineering class!!! this mat'l's waaay diff from stuff i've done in the past!!! >X-( i feel pretty skrewed, but i'm trying to tell myself not to freak out...
[later] still morn: so this morn was kind'f diff. u know what i did? well, i tried to get out'f the house n' to werk as early as i could, altho' it wasn't as early as i hoped. then i went to the company gym, which is just a cubicle 'way from me. it's not quite as big as i had thought. i guess when i 1st peeked in, the mirrors tricked me into thinking it was bigger than it aktually is. however, it's still a very nice gym. i ran a mile on the treadmill, stretched just a li'l, n' then lifted weights a li'l. that's all i had time 4, n' then i showered n' got right to werk. this is very convenient.
last nite, after class, i went straight home, ate dinner, n' tried to take a short nap. yah, i know it's funny to nap @ nite, when i ought to just stay up a coupl'f more hrs n' then go to sleep @ a s'pposedly "decent" hr, but whatever! i'm both a college student n' a werking guy; i just gotta do things whenever i can find time! i've got things to do.
oh yah, speaking'f being a college student n' a werking guy... so i went to that intern lunch mtg yesterday in the cafeteria. eh, it really wasn't much. it wasn't a mtg, 1st'f all; it was more like, let's have lunch 2gether to get to know the other interns. there r lots'f other older guys like me, i noticed. yah, interns sure rn't just young, 20ish undergrads. i was an intern @ ebmud when i was 20, wasn't i? :-? or was i 21 by then? *shrug* i'm kind'f confused.
while i was trying to nap; i don't think i aktually achieved sleep. however, i felt like i was in a sensory deprivation chamber n' just relaxed in the dark w/ my eyes closed. i've sed this b4; ppl don't do that 'nuff, not ppl my age. as i sed b4, we tend just to stay up as late as we can n' then hit the hay n' pass out. well, shoot! there's 'lot'f things we want to accomplish. this is a tuff semester, no doubt. however, i'm noticing that as i've taking on so many tasks, aktually my produktivity as really shot up!!! i noticed a big jump in my produktivity. i'm relaly getting more stuff done these days: both 4 my career n' 4 skool. i'm glad. it's tuff; but i'm sort'f satisfied w/ my produktivity. we'll c... this whole "spacecraft dynamics & controls" thing is really stressing me out; but i'll really try to survive.
[later] almost eve(ning): well, i did some physikal labour @ werk this afternoon, setting up a lab. i guess it's pretty expekted that mechanical engrs gotta do a li'l physikal werk now n' then. *shrug* i did physikal werk now n' then @ my last, last company. b4 that, i went to lunch w/ the beautiful kaela hwang. i drove over to milpitas n' met her @ the florentine's over there.
2nite, i'm skipping taekwondo practice to werk on my aerospace
engineering exam.
fri late morn: jerome, thanks 4 signing my gbook. i really appreciate it n'd like it if more ppl did. r my current gbook questions 2 hard? does the caption question put 2 much pressure on u? i hope not, but please let me know. i value ur fdbk.
i skipped taekwondo practice last nite to werk on my take.home midterm.
[later] a li'l b4 noon: i really like watching the wafer.handling robots my company makes. some remind me of snakes. others remind me of spiders. there r these 2 robots that remind me'f 2 kids tossing a ball back n' 4th.
[later] a li'l after noon: in my office, this 1 manager has, mounted on the wall'f his office, a stuffed bull's. it's not a real bull's head but rather a cute, cute, stuffed animal toy. it's pretty much life sized. i like it. if it were a real, taxidermed bull's head, i wouldn't like it.
in my company's coffee stations we have 3 kinds'f coffee each day: columbian, columbian decaf, n' french roast. u know the diffs btwn columbian n' french roast, right? french roast's a very dark coffee. columbian's not as dark n' rich, but i think there r many much liter (lighter)coffees. so didju c what jerome wrote in my gbook re: the coffee question? yah, ed park used to go 'round saying, "i like my men like i like my coffee: strong an' black!" of course, ed's not gay but just joking. well, i suggest a variation to his joke: "i like my men like i like my lemonade: sweet n' pink!" does that even make sense?! how 'bout: "i like my men like i like my rum: sweet, hot, n' fuhlaaming!"? neway, i say all this liteheartedly, in good humour. i'm not a homophobe.
[later] afternoon: re: the upcoming elektion, no on recall, yes to bustamante, n' no on 54.
[a li'l later] last nite, i filled up gas @ the delacruz blvd costco 4
$1.75/gal. of course, there was a long line.
1128a, sat morn: 읽는 여러분 어때요? 오늘 토요일이지만 지금 내가 직장/사무실에 있어요. 시험을 하기때문에 나 여기 ^彬어요. readers, how r u? 2day's sat, but i'm in my office right now. i came here cos i'm werking on my test (take.home midterm). i should go use the gym that's a cubicle 'way. these days i eat 2 much n' exercise 2 li'l. >:-( if u don't say that i've gotten pudgy since the wedding, u'r only lying. u don't wanna be a liar, do u? it's a tuff semester, as i've sed b4; n' it's much harder to find time to exercise. since we're preparing 4 the demo next sat @ taekwondo practice, i gotta admit it's not as much exercise as it could be. when it comes down to rehearsing 4 a demo, taekwondo practice is 'bout as much exercise as ballroom dance, i guess. c, ballroom dance isn't not exercise; it's just not as much as say... playing a full game'f soccer, u know? what's been going on? well, i still sure would like u to sign my gbook! yes, i would like that. well, yesterday was fri. i went to werk. @ lunchtime, the beautiful kaela hwang came over. we went out to lunch @ 서울 곰탕 seoul gomtang. kaela had 비빔냉면 bibimnaengmyuhn, n' i had 선지없는 해장국 haejanggook (w/o the blood cubes).
after my class, i met up w/ kaela in santa clara, where we looked @ 2 houses. the 1st 1 was very cute. it was a nice, decently sized house w/ a decently easily maintained landscape, n' it had a studio cottage in the back 4 rental. isn't that crazy? it was very nice. like, if we buy it, we can rent out the back studio cottage 4 like $400 or so? it's a really nice place. the front door is on a semi.bizzy street, but the garage is in the back on a li'l quiet street. it's such a quaint neighbourhood out there. it's sort'f close to santa clara u. the 2nd house we saw was in more'f a typikal suburb. it was also a beautiful house. it felt much more spacious, n' much more conventional. i mean... sure, that sort'f isn't as much fun as a cute house in a more lively neighbourhood... but i guess it's more what ppl like us who grew up in the 'burbs'd expekt. this other house was very big, n' a bit more expen$ive. 1 weird thing 'bout this house was there wasn't really a master bdrm, just 3 almost totally equally sized rooms. if we buy this house, it would be most favourable to rent out a room or 2 in order to cover the co$t... but it's harder to rent out rooms when u gotta share common space, u know? w/ that 1st, cute house, the renter'd stay in a totally separate living area. i like that; more privacy. *shrug* dunno... what wouldju rather have? cute but old or convenient n' big? hrm... those descriptions rn't good. well, the 1st house... the things we didn't like 'bout it was the detached garage, the old bathroom, the basement that sort'f scared kaela, the fakt u have a bizzy street on the front door side'f the house, n' the fakt u gotta walk from the garage to the house 'cross the backyard. the 2nd house... it was more expen$ive, didn't have a big master bdrm, n' had this big but weird bonus room which was an addition. i don't like how lots'f the houses we 've looked @ have these added.on bonus rooms... where like it sort'f messes up the floorplan'f the house... after all, who wants to have the bathroom window open to a bonus room? u'r s'pposed to open ur bathroom window to vent out the stinky fumes to the outdoors... but w/ the bonus room, u'r just venting the stinky fumes into the bonus room! >:-( however, what we really liked 'bout this house was how the 2.car garage leads u right into the foyer n' kitchen area, right by the front door. that makes much more sense, we agreed.
*sigh* i dunno... really, ppl need to understand our desparation, that we've gotta move out'f my mom's house as soon as possible. this isn't the kind'f life married couples in amerika live, u know? we gotta have our own place; whatever possible! in this case, time is an issue. sure, i wanna get a good deal n' the nicest house 4 the $$$, but we can't wait 4ever. i told kaela last nite 'bout sumpthin' i've been thinkin' 'bout 4 the past month or so: if we're gonna buy a house, in order to afford it, we've gotta cut back to only 1 nice (extravagant) meal a month (which'd be our monthversary). if we have our own house, of course, we'd eat @ home 'lot more... n' that'd save us $$$. however, it's a really bad in.btwn situation right now. like, since we don't have our own home, we gotta eat out more in order to have a normal relationship, u know? however, eating out more often is an expen$e that does (to some extent) affekt our ability to buy a home 4 us to live in, etc. we've been in an "in.btwn" state 4 over a yr now, in a way, u know? really, this whole living @ my mom's can't be a permanent situation. now, i've got a decent job 4 the 1st time in over a yr. this i'm really thankful 4. this is such a blessing. it's not that $$$'s the answer to everything or nething... but look, we just really need to get a home 4 ourselves... n' yah... my finally having a decent job 'gain'll definitely help us get there. ... well, nuthin's "definite," of course... i mean, i of course gotta werk hard n' make sure i don't get fired, etc.
mon morn... upes! i mean mon early afternoon: last nite, i had the best werkout in weeks! we went to taekwondo 4 special demo practice since our demo's this sat. neway, in warming up w/ paddle kicks, i had a really good werkout.
otherwise, this weekend has been the most stressful time 4 me since the wedding. :-( yah, i dunno how else to put it 'cept it was very $#!++y. :-( i've experienced plenty'f frustration this weekend. i dunno if i even wanna talk 'bout it or what. i'm pretty frazzled n' hate to whine. why should i subjekt u, who r so nice as to visit my journal 4 reasons other than to make sure i don't talk $#!+ 'boutchu, to whining? whining is annoying, n' discontent as well as depression is contagious, i know. morrissey sang, "it's so easy to laugh. it's so easy to hate. it takes strength to be gentle and kind." well, it's so easy to whine; it's so easy to complain; it takes strength to be cheerful, grateful, appreciative, n' happy. what does that mean?! well, it's pretty much ur responsibility as a human being not to complain n' whine n' thus make life miserable 4 others. ain't that #!!@#in' insensitive?! yah, it sure is; n' so it's a bad philosophy. so instead we should believe that every1 has the right to complain n' whine 'bout everything they wish they had tut don't? *sigh* i dunno; i really dunno.
what r u thankful 4? i didn't ask "what r u unhappy 'bout?" but that doesn't mean i don't care. it's just that u do gotta answer the question "what r u thankful 4?" 'least 1nce in a while.
[later] 1058p: after lunch, i felt a li'l better. the beautiful kaela hwang n' i had lunch 비원 biwuhn on el camino in santa clara. i had 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn, n' kaela had 잡채밥 jabchaebab.
"be careful," jesus warned them. "watch out
for the yeast of the pharisees and that of herod." they discussed
this with one another and said, "it is because we have no bread."
aware of their discussion, jesus asked them: "why are you talking about
having no bread? do you still not see or understand? are
your hearts hardened? do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears
but fail to hear? and don't you remember? when i broke the
five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you
pick up?" "twelve," they replied. "and when i broke the
seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you
pick up?" they answered, "seven." he said to them, "do you
still not understand?"
tues morn: i voted this morn: no on recall, else bustamante, yes on 53, no on 54. my almaden valley neighbourhood's way 2 conservative, n' i don't like it. u know, the list'f voters had our party affiliations on it. i suspekt the pollwerkers didn't like me cos i'm listed as a registered democrat. oh well.
did i talk 'bout what we did on sat? in the morn, i werked on my "spacecraft dynamics & controls" take.home midterm in my office. then the beautiful kaela hwang n' i luncheoned @ 명동순두부집 myungdong soondubujip. (maybe i already mentioned this in an earlier entry. i have 1 entry stored on our laptop, 1 that i haven't yet uploaded.) i guess we spent the afternoon looking @ houses. then we drove up to berkeley to pick up mats from roland. we had dinner w/ him @ mama lan's on gilman. we had that vietnamese crêpe thingy, some crab n' asparagus soup, a li'l bit'f sea bass, tiger prawns, n' some saigon chicken. we didn't stay late cos we just don't party like we used to, u know? on the way home from berkeley, we stopped @ the union landing starbucks to get a grande nf hot choco. i was so shocked to be reminded what a typikal cali4nian suburb union city is! compared to union city, san josé is new york city!
[later] 
i found out last nite that i need a smog
check in addition to my previous list'f auto maintenance items. last
fri, i figured i'd go to mark's favourite auto shop sometime.
[later] we haven't been to the gym in a while, by "the gym," i'm referring to bally's. i especially have not been to bally's in ages. i need to tho'. sun nite's taekwondo werkout/practice was great. i need to werkout like that more often. u know, back in berkeley when my cardiovascular endurance was good thanks to lots'f taekwondo training, i could werkout really, really hard n' my muscles'd get tired, but i'd still be breathing fine. nowadays, i'm more like typikal ppl n' my lungs get tired b4 my muscles do. i need more cardio werk. there's a way to freeze my bally's membership if i don't plan to go 4 a while, but i don't know it. we should've frozen our memberships during our honeymoon.
did i mention that, on fri nite, kaela n' i went to the cheesecake factory @ valley fair? the new, improved oakridge mall opened this weekend. it also now has a cheesecake factory n' is also now part'f this westfield shoppingtown company.
[later] puppy doggies, boba drinks, n' plush bunnies ...
[later] just after noon: how do i tuck my shirt in just enuf? i don't wanna tuck my shirt in 2 much n' look anal, yet i don't want to "blouse it out" like a flamenco dancer, right? 2day, i'm wearing, a buttoned shirt w/ jeans. i've tucked in my kenny cole shirt into my kenny cole jeans. i've been drinking columbian decaf.
[later] early eve(ning): werk's gotten a bit bizzier. skool? still
bizzy... i don't lack things to do; i really don't. 4 lunch, kaela
picked me up, n' we went to 한국 마겟 hangook market's deli to eat 김밥
kimbap, 떡볶이 dduhkbokki, n' 순대 soondae. heh, on the printed out
receipt it sed, "kimbob" n' "sundae." ha; yah, romanization can confuse.
b4 lunch, supermike called me, n' we chatted a bit.
목요일 아침, thurs morn: g.morn. how r u? i'm ok. i'm a li'l relieved cos i turned in my "spacecraft dynamics & controls" take.home midterm yesterday nite. i still have plenty'f things to occupy my time, energy, n' mind; but this is, believe it or not, now a relatively lower stress time 4 me. *sigh* when u've acclimated urself to hi, hi stress levels, sure, a time like this sure feels like a break. still, i have plenty'f tasks to do @ werk. i have my master's projekt to werk on. we have this taekwondo demo on sat @ serra park (that sounds like a korean gurl's name!). househunting is killing me cos it's on the same stress level as wedding planning was. this is a bizzy time 4 me. i really won't have ne kind'f break till christmas break. right now, it's halloween season. i haven't been to the gym in ages. sure, i miss the times last yr when i'd go to the gym every day, sometimes eve 2ice a day! however, u gotta admit that my life's more produktive right now w/ my job n' all, i guess. however, it's no good to werk all the time n' neglekt health n' fitness!
so now, arnold schwarzeneggar's the cali state governor. ppl'll
need to learn to spell his last name. they can't just say "join
arnold!" 4ever! he does have a last name. well, cali
has indeed elekted sideshow bob as opposed to diamond joe quimby personally, i think arnold's a good person, but he cms to
be a puppet 4 the republikan party, just like sideshow bob.
the 1 good thing 'bout arnold's that he s'pposedly cares 'bout fitness.
well, then he should give fit ppl a tax credit! i'd like him
to make every overweight person in cali pay a tax that would be given to
all fit ppl in cali.
[later] neway, i'm just talking silly. it's just not right that cali 1nce 'gain has a republikan governor. why do we hafta be like those other states? the bay area was the region most opposed to the recall, i.e. the most intelligent region. compare that to socal. shame, shame!
[later] "short skirt, long jacket" by cake... sort'f funny song... [later] u c, i've been listening to my company's own intranet streaming radio. we have several stations, but i choose modern rock n' hear lots'f socal power pop punk; blink 182 kind'f stuff. [later] ha! now the donnas r playing on the intranet streaming radio! ha ha! bay area, not socal... ha ha. apparently, their big hit song's "take it off."
[later] 1115p: the beautiful kaela hwang
n' i had lunch @ hana roll sushi. they have a pretty good deal on
lunch specials there. it's @ the corner'f el camino real n' bowers /
kiely. after werk, i went to taekwondo practice. we have our
"big" demo on sat. heh, it's not big compared to our ol'
berkeley demos, but it really means 'lot to us
here, so well... it's "big" 4 us. :-) after practice, kaela n' i got
boba drinks @ fantasia of course. we usually do, u know. i
had taro, n' kaela had green bean.
yah, i'd like to go to the gym 'gain some time. u know, the sjsu newspaper some time this week had on the front page a pic'f a couple who got married last weekend in the university's engineering bldg. crazy, huh? some time b4 the elektion, i saw this article on y! news that was waaay 2 biased 2ward the republikans to be real news. i can't believe y! prints crap like that. i werk very hard @ werk, u know.
oh yah, chuck! thanks very much 4 signing my gbook! :-) i hope more ppl'll do so soon! :-) i wondered recently if ppl have avoided signing my gbook cos they don't like the questions 'bout friends... :-/ ppl, please don't think so hard! it's just a gbook!!! i'd like to hear from u! :-) well, chuck... sounds like u'll be having a fun vakation soon! kewl.
wow, it really is a bizzy semester! sometimes, when i look
@ my life, i can't believe all i've gotten myself into... it's mostly cos
i'm werking full time n' going to skool... however, it's really what
i need to do: 1) i need to finish my master's degree, 'specially since i
started it n' am almost done; n' 2) i need to werk n' werk lots so
we can buy a house. u know? *sigh* it's just the way it is, u
know? as i sed, it's ok; i'm finding that i'm pretty produktive
these days. i really waste less time n' get more werk done. i
mean... i pray that i don't burn out, of course... however... yah, it's
sort'f like turning over a new leaf... not that i was ever a
slacker... but... well, i do feel produktive. :-/ heh... i
can stop saying that now, can't i?
금요일 아침, fri morn: 읽는 여로분 어떠세요? 잘 지나고 있어요? someday, after the beautiful kaela hwang n' i have a house, i'd like to put in some automation stuff. back when i werked @ ebmud, i installed a software produkt called scada!arm @ 1'f the water treatment plants. scada!arm'll page or call operators when sumpthin' goes wrong. also, operators can call scada!arm to check on the status'f sumpthin' or turn sumpthin' on or off,(using their touchtone fons). that's kewl! i'd like to someday have sumpthin' like that in my house. i'm sure companies make plenty'f produkts like that 4 home use, as opposed to industrial use.
i dunno if it was last nite or the nite b4, but i recently had a dream 'bout fishing w/ some guy friends. traffik wasn't 2 bad, coming into werk this morn. 2day's fri.
[later] just after noon: yesterday, during my lunchbreak, i broke the shoelace on my right shoe. these r the black, italian.made, leather shoes that i got from j.crew, using a gift card kaela's younger siblings jeanna n' jay gave me last, last christmas. 'member? these r the shoes i wear almost every day... as they r pretty professional.looking yet hopefully decently hip n' pretty com4table. neway, after werk, b4 taekwondo practice, i stopped by rite.aid on el camino real, near bowers/kiely, n' bought a pair'f black, athletic shoelaces, since the "dress" laces r those really skinny laces 4 shoes like those wingtip shoes. well, last nite, after taekwondo practice, i replaced my right shoelace. i had planned to replace my left shoelace 2day, but when i looked down, just a li'l while 'go, i saw that it's in pretty good condition. now why did the 2 laces wear @ such differing rates?
[later] 340p: now i'm on campus. i feel like i'm always the 1st 1 to get to my projekt/thesis class, n' there's never ne1 else here. 2day, i showed up @ the classroom, n' yah, it was all empty n' locked, as it always is, so i went 4 a very short stroll outside, 'round the eng bldg, over to the student union, n' back. *sigh* it's fri. i feel very full right now cos kaela n' i lunched @ una mas; 'twas a late lunch cos we looked @ a coupl'f houses w/ my mom b4 that. yah... i gotta admit: househunting can be pretty discouraging, but *sigh* *shrug* whadya gonna do? as i drove from my office to campus, i passed the aeroport, as i always do now. i saw the planes n' they immediately made me think, «planes r symbols'f "getting 'way from it all," or running 'way. however, running 'way never solves ur probs. u can run all u want, butchu'r probs'll follow u. u need to solve ur probs, not run 'way.» u know, i feel i really did 'lot'f growing up this yr... sure, much'f it's cos'f the wedding, u know? but *sigh* i dunno... what a yr, huh? it's oktober right now. soon it'll be halloween, then t.giving, n' then christmas. then the new yr'll start; it'll be 2004. hrm, how has life changed from a yr 'go? well, i've been werking full time 4 the past how many months? it's been since june, right? right? heh! that's only 4 months! ha ha. i make it sound like it's been 'least 6 months, or 'least i feel like it's been 'least 6 months. i guess my bank acct doesn't feel like it's been 6 months. ha ha. neway, u know what? yah, we all gotta smile n' laff some time. it's the only way to make it thru life, u know that? smile, laff, n' think 'bout the good things. i gotta go to class now. c u.
[later] 615p: i'm @ home now. we have taekwondo practice @ 830p
2nite to practice 4 2morrow's demo. [later] lately, i've gotten
lots'f strange spam from random e.mail addresses @ hotmail.com. the
spam just says hi. i think some1's sending fake mail from
hotmail.com, hoping ppl'll reply n' then they can send more spam to those
addresses, right? also, some1's sending fake mail using fake e.mail
addresses from my benomix.com domain. i was getting these bounce
back e.mails from various servers, n' the "to:" addresses were random
weird wurds "@benomix.com."
1223a: 8-O mcyukyuk's really turned up its youth n' young adult
marketing! i just saw pro skateboarder tony hawk on a mcyukyuk's
commercial on abc kgo 7! also, earlier, i saw 'nother mcyukyuk's ad
that looked like a musik video.
[later] 433p: whoo! what a day!!! what a day! it was our taekwondo demo 2day, u know... this morn, somebody called me 'round 800a. :-? i don't recognise the fon number; it's some1 i know; but she must've moved from somewhere else to sf n' changed her fon number. this person also 1nce text msged me, but i didn't recognise the fon number. however, this person is obviously 1'f my friends cos she knows me. hrm... :-/ i can think'f a couple'f gurls who moved to sf in the recent past, so *shrug* :-? neway, that was 'round 800a. we got to serra park a li'l after 900a... more like almost 920a or so? *shrug* neway, yah... we had to practice a li'l, warm up... help out w/ the belt promotional test (심사)... the beautiful kaela hwang hurt her back, so she sat out n' rested; but yah... we did our demo. well... heh... was it all we wanted it to be? well... i'm glad we did it. sure, some things went wrong, n' honestly! i really knew there were things in our practice methods that should've been changed to make it a really super demo; but hey! it was fun to do, n' well... it wasn't a bad demo. heh... that's a funny thing to say... but yah, it was a good experience 4 every1, i think. like, b4 this, many'f the adults @ our taekwondojang (taekwondo skool) hadn't done real demos, i gotta say... i mean... *sigh* it's hard to explain just how intricate berkeley taekwondo demos got in the past 5 yrs or so. n' berkeley taekwondo demos r very much modeled after the kind'f taekwondo demos that have gotten really popular in the past decade in korea. neway, basically, this was the 1st exposure to "demo taekwondo" 4 many'f the adults @ our taekwondojang. so yah... it was a good experience. from the beginning, i knew ppl here didn't have the patience to practice the way the berkeley taekwondo demo team did 'least when i was leading it, n' i assume that the team practices pretty similarly nowadays. i mean, some ppl don't know that "demo taekwondo" is really a different breed or sub.breed'f taekwondo. it's just a li'l diff, u know? so... yah, if u wanna really do it, u'r gonna have to put a bit'f time into it n' really practice demo taekwondo. oh well... neway, as i kept saying, it was a good experience... n' i really mean that! of course, 심사범님 shim sabuhmnim's special demo was awesome. he did a spear hand strike thru 2 thick boards, a round house kick speed break thru 3 red (thin) bricks, n' a side kick thru 3 or 4 (?) big (8" wide by 16" long by 2.5" thick ???) stepping stones.
ok, so we did our demo, n' then we continued to help w/ the rest'f the belt promotional test... or aktually, i guess @ that pt, it was the belt promotional ceremony! yah, 1 thing that berkeley taekwondo ppl prob'ly don't really understand's the concept'f having a belt promotional ceremony right after the test. up in berkeley, u take ur test @ the end'f the semester, n' then u wait till the beginning'f the next semester to find out ur results. no, @ many private dojang, it's much more'f a simple procedure... no long waiting period. neway, after that we cleaned up, took some pics, n' had some fud. the kid students' parents had put 2gether a potluck picnic. man, i was sooo thirsty n' dehydrated from being in the unusually scorching oktober sun. well, after the picnice, we packed stuff up to bring back to the dojang. then sabuhmnim took us out 4 lunch @ 명동 순두부집 myungdong soondubujip. kaela n' i just shared a 비빔냉면 bibimnaengmyuhn cos we did eat a decent 'mount @ the picnic unlike others. like, sabuhmnim's wife had bought us some mcyukyuk's 4 breakfast, but we didn't touch it b4 the demo cos we didn't wanna puke from eating 2 much, u know? after the demo, we totally dug in!
well, 2nite, brian, julie, kaela, n' i r gonna go clubbing @ whisper. that's the plan. we haven't been clubbing in ages, of course. [just a li'l later] wow, i found out the party we're going to is the ucsf dental skool frat party that tiffany hsu was asking if i could dj a while 'go... but i never really got back to her on that since life got sooo hektic n' all. well, what a coincidence! heh, i was thinking that tiffany's party was next weekend. i guess this makes sense. [a li'l later] so this party is put on by the party promotion group element n' is a fundraiser 4 this ucsf dental frat. apparently u can buy the tix online to save $9. kewl.
[a li'l later] 519p: so on a more serious note... phil 4warded me a disturbing article from y! sports. check it out!!! "Stephenson: Asians 'killing' LPGA Tour" crazy, huh? in this day n' age... well, then 'gain... the usa is more conservative now than it's been since the 1950s, so it's no surprise that a professional golfer can go 'round making racist remarks 'bout asians n' have a y! sports article aktually not treat it as seriously as it ought to be treated! >:-( u know that? the article really ought to pt out better how wrong it was 4 her to make such a remark. instead, it just concludes w/ a south african golfer agreeing that asian golfers rn't friendly. listen, u've really got to check out the article. here's some snippits:
ppl get 'way w/ making comments like that?! n' then if the victims'f the remarks speak up, these celebrities just say, "oh that's not what i meant..." or "the media is just running a smear campaign 'gainst me," n' all is 4given. sure! it's allllways the media's fault!!! u know what's really going on is that the media's on their side cos 1nce the media publicises that the celebrity sez that "the media" is just running a "smear campaign" then the celebrity's popularity skyrockets, u know? it so stoopid. this jan stephenson knows how the game werks so well, that she even began her racist statement w/ "This is probably going to get me in trouble, but..." perfekt! if i ever wanna make a totally immature, offensive remark on my web journal, all i gotta do is preface it w/ "this is probably going to get me in trouble, but...", n' all'll be ok, right? *scoff* as if! i'm not a celebrity, but i know even i gotta be thoughtful 'nuff not to say stoopid things like that. i mean, if she didn't "mean it like that," then she shouldn't have sed. if she did mean it, well then... lemme tell u: the reason the asian golfers don't speak english 'round her, in her particular case, is cos yes, they r talkin' $#!+ 'bout her cos she deserves it! why should the asian golfers speak in english or ne other language to some1 so narrow.minded n' racist? she's not worth their breath.
back in korea, 1'f kaela's cousin's, (1'f my cousin.in.laws), was saying that she hates how many amerikans expekt every1 to speak english. she questioned why english should be considered the universal language. really! why should it?! listen! english isn't that great'f a language, honestly! upes! i mean... >"this is probably going to get me in trouble, but... english is not that great'f a language!" the amerikan culture, by definition, is a mix'f cultures from other countries... a mix'f that n' native amerikan culture. is that not true? that is true, n' so english is not that essential to the culture of this great country'f ours, which i love so much.
u know, this neoconservatism... this is what's wrong w/ amerika 2day! i 'member the good ol' days when amerikans cared 'bout 1 'nother.... X-D ha ha ha... i shouldn't be going out to a dance club 2nite; i need to be sittin' in a dark, british pub talkin' drunk politiks w/ fellow beatniks! ha ha ha... i'm just saying that cos i was reminded'f an experience in durham, england, back when i went w/ san josé youth symphony orchestra. the teenage musician in my host family there brought me to a british pub, where they had beer n' i respekted the us law prohibiting those under 21 from drinking beverages'f an alkoholik nature n' drank coca cola while some goateed man @ our table, when he heard that i was from cali4nia, sed, "cali4nia?! what're u doing in the shakespeare [the name'f the pub], u should be out surfing!" yah, i know... i should be, but i don't know how to surf. i only know how to snowboard.
this overly sunshiney, oktober weather is giving us cali4nians waaay 2 much evil, harmful sunrays, n' it's not bringing the snowboarding season to us ne faster! >:-( well... *sigh* i'm scared to think 'bout how li'l we'll snowboard this yr cos we're trying to save up 4 a house n' all... it's frightening. i wonder how life'll be now that this taekwondo demo's over? it's definitely grrrrrrrrreat to get it over w/, so that i have 1 less so.called obligation in my life. honestly, i wouldn't ever dream'f not doing taekwondo, but i'll definitely feel less pressure to be @ taekwondo every single nite, practicing 4 a demo. hopefully, i'll 1nce 'gain make it out to the gym now n' then. i don't plan on ditching all the thurs nite sparring practices, but i gotta admit that i prob'ly will skip a thurs nite sparring practice now n' then to go to the gym w/ kaela instead, since kaela doesn't much like sparring.
[later] 742p: wow, i notice an "eric" has signed my gbook. i know several erics, so i'm kind'f confused which eric it is. i'm prob'ly gonna guess it's eric lynn, but i might be totally wrong. neway, "eric," thank u very much 4 signing my gbook!!! i very much appreciate it! i gotta say: i am very much enjoying ur captions 4 the bear pic. here, lemme post the bear pic here 1 more time:
lemme share w/ u a coupl'f pieces'f weird geek e.mail spam i've gotten
in the past coupl'f months or so... these 2 geek e.mail spams r
really weird:
From: spears@cc.gatech.edu (Chris Spears) Hey are you willing to take 40k for the chain boots and the cloak of flames?
Thanks,
Subject: For Sale or Trade
To: beno@OCF.Berkeley.EDU
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 10:01:48 -0400 (EDT)
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL6]
X-Status:
X-Keywords:
Chris
ok, this 1st 1, i don't know 4 sure is e.mail spam... maybe it's a sincere offer. :-? u know me, i used to play mud (multi.user dungeons [& dragons]) back in college, the online game. since i was 2 scared to go out n' party, this was the way i had fun; but we all know now that that kind'f "small" fun is very detrimental to college studies cos, while the ppl who go out n' party come back by sun nite n' study, the guys who lock themselves in their rooms n' play 'puter games cos they think partying'll ruin their grades'll keep playing 'puter games 'way past the pt where the party students have started studying cos they got the itch 4 fun out'f their systems. neway, yah... @ various stages'f my life, i was very into dungeons & dragons type games. thus, i don't mean to offend by using the term "geek," cos dungeons & dragons stuff is genuinely kewl... however, i'm bewildered by this e.mail cos i wonder if my ol' mud character owns sumpthin' worth $40k in really life. if so, chris! please take my chian boots n' cloak'f flames n' paypal me that $40k, 'right?
now 4 the 2nd piece of bewildering geek e.mail spam:
From: "" Hello,
I'm a time traveler stuck here in 2003. Do not reply back directly to this email as it will only be bounced back
to you.
Thank You facilitationb lutygtorgne gn lwtqwtiofhrpjftp w
To:
Subject: Dimensional Warp Generator Needed j ytzes xl
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 03 22:05:41 GMT
X-Mailer: eGroups Message Poster
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 29 Aug 2003 04:11:56.0843 (UTC)
FILETIME=[AFA66FB0:01C36DE3]
Upon arriving here my dimensional warp generator stopped working. I trusted
a company here by the name of LLC Lasers to repair my Generation 3 52 4350A
watch unit, and they fled on me.
Since nobody in this timeline seems to be able to deliver what I need
(safely here to me), I will have to build a simple time travel circuit to
get where I need myself. While it might be hard to find parts in this time
to build anything decent, I need easy to follow schematics from the future
to build one which is safe and accurate that will not disrupt the time
space continuum with both forward and backward capability accounting for
temporal location settings (X, Y, Z, n), which can be built out of (readily
available) parts here in 2003. Please email me any plans you have. I will
pay good money for anything you send me I can use. Or if you have a
dimensional warp generator available, and are 100% certain you have a (safe
secure) means of delivering it to me please also reply with a secure way to
contact you. Send a separate email to me at:
webmaster@custompaintshop.net
Brian Appel
rne hnb ljyyz
dasnxytdwtcwvfhzpmhxpmjuzx
this 1 is more definitely spam n' not a genuine e.mail letter. 1) it advertises 4 custompaintshop.net, n' 2) it has all that garbled garble that spam often has. neway... weird stuff, eh? interesting, eh? spam mailers want u to get curious n' then e.mail them back. then, they'll have ur confirmed e.mail address!
1 more interesting bit 'bout recent spam mail aktivity: u know that nigerian widow or heir scam that's been going 'round 4 the past few yrs? it's gone multinational... in that, the story isn't just nigerian nemore. i've cn several european versions, n' recently i received a korean version:
(just an excerpt...)
During my brother's regime as president of South Korea, we realized some
reasonable amount of money from various deals that we successfully
executed. I have plans to invest this money for my children's future in
real estate and industrial production. . .
My name is JANG DOO-HWAN, The brother of Mr. CHUN DOO-HWAN, the former
President of South Korea who seized power in a military coup in 1979 and
who ruled from 1979 to 1987. My brother was pushed out of office and
charged with treason, corruption and embezzlement of over 21 billion won.
He was wrongly sentenced to death but fortunately AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
stepped in
and commuted the sentence to life. We thank God that he has finally been
released though still under house arrest in the sense of the conditions of
his freedom.
(blah blah blah...)
@ that pt the letter starts looking pretty much just like the nigerian heir
scam. i don't fully understand how the nigerian heir scam werks.
let us do some web research. . . ok, here's 1 really good link i
found right 'way: nigeria - the 419 coalition website. apparently
the scam is simply known as "the 419." neway, it's been going on
since the 1980s. here's 'nother website i found 'bout the 419 scam:
"Quatloos! Nigerian 4-1-9 Scam."
oh yah, some ppl've told me that my benomix.com e.mail address has been bouncing lately. :-( i don't know what the prob is. i was trying to switch my domain name service away from enom.com cos they had some very flaky service this past yr. however, they went 'head an autorenewed my domain name b4 i had a chance to switch. :-/ the service isn't really horrible, but neither is it good. toby suggested a better, cheaper domain name service provider, but i didn't have a chance to switch to them. u pay 4 domain name service by the yr, n' it's not terribly expen$ive.
right now i can't cm to telnet into my server, so i can't post up this
journal entry till later. it's 809p on sat nite right now.
월요일 아침, mon morn: 2day's mon. on my commute in to werk, the traffik was very lite. i wondered why then realised 2day's a bank / postal / state(?) holiday: it's indigenous ppl's day, or what some genocide condoning imperialists call "columbus day." why is it that altho' most companies r giving fewer n' fewer holidays, the post office n' banks still take the same # as b4 or more? i wanna get mail 2day.
2day's mon. yesterday was sun n' overloaded w/ caffeine. b4 we left 4 church, to make the beautiful kaela hwang happy, i brewed some sumatra coffee n' put it in the smithsonian nat'l zoo panda bear travel mug w/ some 두유 dooyoo (soy milk). we went to church late. we had bible study after service. our "beginners" bible study group is just us 2 along w/ 'nother taiwanese/korean couple david n' youmi n' chung moksanim. after bible study, we stayed to eat lunch in the church cafeteria w/ david n' youmi. we found out they also had philippe n' soojin'f jade photography 4 their recent wedding fotography. wow!
after church, we visited an open house 4 a beautiful santa clara house w/ lots'f stuffed animals n' 3 bunny rabbits in the backyard. wow! then we went to the el camino / lawrence starbucks to meet my mom n' kaela's clients. there, kaela bought a frappuccino. after they left, i stayed to study. i had a tazoberry to justify my presence. afterwards, my mom took us to a very early dinner @ 청기와 chungkiwa (blue stones) my mom n' kaela both had soondubu (소고기/sogogi/beef n' 버섯/buhsuht/shroom respektively), n' i had 세끼미 비빔냉면 seiggimi bibimnaengmyuhn, which is naengmyuhn (cold buckwheat noodles w/ hot sauce) w/ both raw skate wing n' beef (cooked). sounds good, huh? yah, this is korean cuisine other than the bulgogi / kalbi stuff that amerikans typically know.
well, afterwards, ken told us to stop by their house (ken n' grace's) to hang out just a li'l since we hadn't cn them in ages. we aktually planned last weekend to return roland's mats last nite, but man! we were way 2 beat to drive up to berkeley w/ mats on top'f our heads. we'll try to do that on fri or so this week, if roland's kewl wid it. we chatted w/ ken n' grace 4 a while. ken suggested we go to starbucks 4 coffee drinks. we went but had a tazoberry instead, my 2nd 4 the day. we brought the drinks back home to ken n' grace's. ken's li'l sister karen dropped off ken's new doggy, a black german shepherd named moona, which rhymes w/ ken's parents' doggy's name luna. :-) moona n' luna r both females. kaela ptd out that "moona" could be a korean person's name "moon-ah", after all, kaela's korean name's "sun-ah" (or "son-ah"). they're sisters. ha ha. not that "sun" aktually means sun or "moon" aktually means moon...
[later] 1156a, lunch break: mmm! i'm having a really good company cafeteria lunch: vegetarian indian curry 4 $2.99; not bad! their attempt @ naan still needs werk tho'.
[later] early eve: so on sat nite, we went to the element party @ club whisper, which was also a fundraising party 4 tiffany hsu's ucsf dental skool frat. yah, it was fun. brian drove the 4'f us up in his suped up nissan altima. his car has a dvd player / gps system. we watched swingers, which julie, kaela, n' i hadn't cn b4. the party was kewl. we ran into laura n' brandie. we also ran into brian cheung from my grad skool. sam sa was bartending. oh yah, we ran into bernard lam (blam or blammo). i saw some other ppl that i recognised from the past. we hadn't been clubbing in a long time. these days, i'd really rather go somewhere w/ more tekno n' less hiphop. i dunno why i sound like hyun. this party had mostly hiphop.
[later] 624p: while @ church yesterday, i thought 'bout how stoopid, foolish, n' inconsiderate it is 4 a person to is 4 1 to write lists'f stressors. instead, ppl should write lists'f prayer items. instead'f whining, pray.
[later] 931p: i went to the gym after werk 2nite 4 the 1st time in ages! i did spin class. it felt good. then i lifted a li'l. kaela went to the gym 2, but she didn't have her shoes, so she did yoga instead. afterwards, we came home n' ate some leftover bbq pizza from willow st pizza that my mom gave us n' some asian chicken salad that my mom made.
jeanna, thanks 4
signing my gbook! yah, i was gonna mention that the names
on that korean version of the nigerian scam were messed up but 4got to get
'round to it.
tues early afternoon: i just realised that 2day's the 2 month
anniversary'f the beautiful kaela hwang's b.day: 10.14, 2 months after 08.14.
well, we can't really celebrate that every month, huh?
well, how r u? please sign my gbook when u have a
chance. as i usually do these days, i'm writing on my handspring.
[later] eve: whew! i'm pretty tired from a long day'f werk. @ lunch i had lunch w/ kaela @ fresh choice @ the great mall. i spent the rest'f the day doing some pretty physikal werk. as i sed b4, mechanikal engring often requires physikal werk, n' i guess that's good.
u know what i've been thinking 'bout bay area real estate lately?
we've all gotta buy some asap. i'm realising real estate in the bay
area'll soon be like new york city real estate. u know how it's sed
that most ppl in nyc rent not own their homes? i'm thinking in the
next decade'r so, normal ppl won't be able to afford to buy bay area
real estate. most "normal" ppl'll hafta rent n' only really
rich ppl'll be able to own. thus, it'll be much more typikal to
rent.. n' yah, i think we've all really gotta buy now. that's
what i've been thinking.
wed morn: how r u? u can always sign my gbook n' lemme know. otherwise, u can e.mail me. if my benomix.com e.mail bounces cos'f my enom.com domain registration service, then try beno at ocf dot berkeley dot edu. i'd love to hear from u. i know i haven't been so diligent w/ responding to e.mail lately. sorry. i've been bizzy. i'd like to hear how u'r doing.
i recently spoke/wrote 'bout "prayer items v. stressors." well, sans doute, my biggest prayer item right now's the house hunt. it's been very heartbreaking @ times. we rn't very rich n' houses already do co$t quite 'lot. however, i know that they're only going up.
[later] early afternoon: i should go get lunch. the beautiful kaela hwang isn't gonna meet me 4 lunch 2day cos she has other stuff to do. it's harder to motivate myself to eat when i'm by myself.
really, this house hunt's a real prayer item 4 me cos it's a real emotional roller coaster. 1 moment u feel on top'f the world, the next, worthless. i get happy when we find a house we like. i get sad when i realise we can't afford it. however, we can't give up cos we really need a place 4 ourselves, n' it really is a good time to buy real estate in the bay area.
[later] during my late lunch break, i went to fry's to buy some cd.rs.
i don't need more cd.rs, but i really need to give 1 to my classmate
friend gilbert wong to get a copy'f matlab 4 my skoolwerk. 'member:
"i'm the matlab genius," but i don't even have matlab installed on my home
'puter. yah, gilbert's name's similar to my dad's, n' they even werk
@ the same company. funny. after fry's, i got a #10 value
meal from the mcyukyuk's drive thru, (which they call "mcdrive" in korea), w/ a diet
coke. 
i
drove by my old werkplace cos it's in btwn my current werkplace n' fry's.
yesterday, i was @ 'nother 1'f my company's many bldgs, so i was
'cross the street from my old werkplace.
last week, i ran out'f hair gel. on sun, b4 kaela n' i visited grace n' ken; we killed some time @ rite.aid. i looked 4 some'f my usual l'oreal mega gel, which was on sale; but they were out. instead, i bought some trèsemmé gel, the strongest they make. un4tunately, trèsemmé's not as cheap as l'oreal, but it's not tested on bunnies, which's nice. i also bought some shaving gel 4 $1, n' some nivea men's double action face wash, which was also on sale. i noticed that the men's skincare sektion was pretty sold out, n' kaela sed guys r taking better care'f their skin these days.
a coupl'f nites 'go, (i guess on mon nite unless 'twas sun nite), i made a cd'f some recent tekno songs. sometime this weekend, i went thru the 92.7 fm playlist n' dled (or rather kazaaed) mp3s i didn't have yet. i looked 4 some song by laura pausini cos it was on the playlist. i didn't find that particular songs but found others. i particularly like 1 spanish pop balled titled "se fue." it sounds like she's singing "safeway." [benoedit, 1146p: oh, i found out the song's in italian, not spanish. yah, i didn't think "pausini" sounded very spanish.]
[later] late afternoon: look 4 our wedding announcement in this sat's san josé mercury news!!!
[later] 839p: i'm @ the gym right now. earlier, i went to my "spacecraft dynamics & controls" class. i fought lots'f construction traffik by the aeroport to get to campus. i might've considered a snack, if it hadn't been 4 the delay. we got our midterms back 2nite. i got a 100/100! :-) i was very happy! :-) i was so skared'f that test cos i'm not an aerospace engineering student, as u know. "only by the grace'f god," i thought to myself. i was happy n' pumped up to learn more in class. the hard, totally unfamiliar part'f the class is over, i think. i never really studied orbital mechanics etc., but i have studied vibrations n' plenty'f controls. i hope i'll have an easier time w/ the remaining 2/3s'f the course.
after class, my mom called me n' told me the house kaela n' i saw on sun n' liked so much got sold. i felt so crushed. i toldju: home shopping can be a very heartbreaking experience. it's not like buying a tv or even a car, cos houses like these r 1'f a kind: we're not looking @ brand new houses, where 1 looks just like the next. when u c a good deal on a good pre.owned house, u never know if u'll c as good'f a deal ever 'gain. ppl outside the bay area prob'ly don't have a clue just how valuable bay area real estate is. it's a whole diff world out here! neway, when u can't cm to afford nething, it's really frustrating n' makes u feel worthless n' stoopid 4 all ur bad choices in life. i never got paid my aktual worth @ ne'f my jobs! why wasn't i greedier n' more materialistic?! there r ppl my age buying the houses i'm looking @ cos they've got more $$$ than i do. the area i'm looking @, lots'f younger ppl my age wanna live there; n' if they can outbid me, they'll get these houses, u know? n' it's not like tvs, cars, or hamsters: if they get the 1 i wanted, there isn't 1 right behind it on the same shelf. when i c a good deal, i just gotta go ballz out, have some guts, n' take that huge bay area size price tag... cos everything's gonna sell 4 sooo much more as time goes on.
[later] 1054p: i'm home, i didn't eat dinner, n' i just don't feel like talking nemore.
[later] 1124p: life is such a roller coaster. 2day's just been 2 much. :-/ i was 1nce the person telling ppl to enjoy the simple things in life, etc. all'f the sudden i'm this guy who wants to buy a house n' stuff, n' i know i'm not appreciating the simple things in life. i dunno. what happened to the happiness that 100/100 on my midterm gave me? that's not even such a simple thing, not @ all! i was happy to hear that the newspaper's gonna run our wedding announcement this sat. it'll have a pic n' everything. :-) *sigh* just 2 much emotion 2day: yah, good stuff n' bad stuff. *sigh* like, do u ever experience so much emotion in 1 day? like, i feel it'd be easier if i got the portioned it out better n' got the good news on a diff day than the bad news... or even got the good news @ a slower pace... 1 day, 1 thing; the next, 'nother... instead i got bombarded w/ tons'f good n' bad news. *sigh* this is how it feels to be alive, right? u know... there were times in my life when i felt there wasn't ne drama... well, i've got plenty'f drama, i guess... but it's not like "drama" that they make tv shows 'bout or nething... it's just real life, i guess... but i don't say that pessimistically or cynically. after all, good stuff did happen 2day 2. n'... well, it's like... that good stuff is the good stuff that happens in real life that they don't make tv shows 'bout... 'least not in this country...
let's say i wanted to buy a certain house really bad, but then i didn't
win the bid, basically. what if a coupl'f weeks later, the house
burned down or sumpthin'. then i'd be glad i didn't buy it, right?
well... i'm not hoping that happens, nor do i expekt that to
happen. also, i don't plan on lighting nething on fire, no.
n' what if nuthin' good comes out'f my not buying the house... then
what? then i just say that life is very confusing. there's a
plan 4 each n' every 1'f us... that's just what ppl like me say when bad
things happen, right? n' then every1 wants me just to shut the #!!@#
up. how do i feel right now? well... as i keep saying, i
should be very glad 'bout that 100/100 on my midterm... after all, i was
majorly freaking out that i'd get like 0/100 b4. 'member? i was
really wanting to drop the class, i was so freaked... even tho' if i were
to have dropped the class, i would've had to talk to the administrators
etc. i still haven't eaten dinner, n' i don't plan to eat dinner
2nite. ha, it's like i'm fasting or sumpthin'. ha. i'm on a
hunger strike. *sigh* dunno... i should be happy: our wedding
announcement'll be in the paper on sat. on most ne day, that'd make
me very happy. that combined w/ a 100/100 on a test i would've
thought i could've bombed would surely cheer me up! how do i
feel? well... i'm not faithless; i know that. i know 2day had
good things n' bad things; n' i know there'll be better days.
early thurs afternoon: i know i shouldn't say this, but so far i'm having a really, really crappy day, all cos'f that house issue from yesterday. yah, it's really stressing me out.
[later] afternoon: i realised that i'm not explaining my recent situation well @ all. u readers prob'ly think i'm just off whining 'bout $$$ 'gain. no!!! c, the prob isn't that i don't have $$$ to buy a house. i do have a good job now, n' i like it. they treat me well here, altho' i'm very bizzy. the problem isn't so much lack'f $$$. the prob's that i had a good deal on the perfekt house n' then lost it to reason beyond my control.
[later] 4 lunch, i had a banaberry bliss jamba juice w/ protein
boost.
1234a: it's my father's b.day 2day. happy b.day!
i've been listening to 'lot'f 92.7fm type tekno lately, as u know. 1 song i like is "love bites" by q.e.d. "q.e.d." is some kind'f latin math term or sumpthin', sumpthin' mathematicians put @ the end'f proofs. some teacher, gsi, or prof of my in the past joked that "q.e.d." means "quite easily done." i aktually believed him/her, until some1 told me that's just a joke. neway, i thought that song sounded like a tekno cover'f a 1980s heavy metal power ballad. maybe sumpthin' by poison? or would it be roxette? >X-D roxette doesn't qualify as heavy metal!!! dude! u r sooo lost! ha ha, well, it's just that the q.e.d. cover is sung by a woman who sometimes sounds like a man (such as cher), a man who sometimes sounds like a woman (harisu? ha ha, just kidding... that's not nice! >:-( respekt transgender ppl!), or a man n' a woman. well, doesn't roxette have a man n' a woman singer? *shrug* i 4get... however, after doing some important web research, i found out that the original version'f "love bites" was by def leppard. yah, i had a very strong suspicion it'd be def leppard. poison? nah, def leppard! u know? that not 2 old t.mobile ad talked 'bout def leppard n' their song "pour some sugar on me," which the husband in the ad thought was "pour some sugar ramen." now, who would aktually think there'd be a heavy metal song called "pour some sugar ramen"?! that's ridiculous.
right now, i'm typing on our sony vaio laptop. weird, the hard drive just stopped spinning to conserve battery. it's sooo quiet now! yah, i'm just typing on my telnet window, so i'm not accessing the hard drive @ all. weird! well, it's nice to save energy.
2nite (as in last nite; 2day's now fri; yesterday was thurs.)
after werk, i went to taekwondo sparring practice. late in the eve
@ werk, i went to the vending machine n' bought a bag'f pretzels 4
75¢ cos i was hungry, as i only had a jamba juice smoothie 4 lunch.
@ practice, kim sajangnim's jindosgae gangaji (puppy) let us pet
him. b4, he'd run up n' lick us, but he wouldn't let ppl pet him.
he was a weird 1, but now he let's us pet him. i think he
got neutered, but i dunno. i didn't check cos i thought that
wouldn't be 2 nice. after practice, the beautiful kaela
hwang n' i went to get boba drinks @
fantasia. i had mango, kaela had "green"
bean. then we went to ken n' grace's cos ken asked kaela to show
him some investment properties. oh yah, kaela got her realtor's
license yesterday. billy was there. later, an ol' middle/hi
skool classmate sheng chiu stopped by. there's often lots'f ppl @
that house. it's a very social place, i guess.
[later] 144a: i've gotta go to sleep. neway, phil, thanks 4 signing my gbook!!! thank u very much. others, please be like phil. i'm flattered phil liked my 2003.10.15 entry "hi frequency response". i thought i was just whining... :-/ i don't necessarily that that's the best way to keep an online journal, but... *shrug* maybe phil's noticing how like... the whole 100/100 on my midterm thingy... that sort'f cms like sumpthin' from 1's youth... n' the whole house hunting crisis is more'f sumpthin' from adulthood... so *shrug* maybe he thinks that really shows life @ 28. *shrug* yah? u readers do understand what i meant by "hi frequency response," right? it's not 2 much'f a control systems engineering concept, is it?
[later] fri late morn: how r u? yah, i still like it if u sign my gbook. [later] yesterday, i saw a matrix revolutions billboard ad on a valley transit bus. agent smith has sure gotten plenty'f exposure, huh) the slogan on the ad sed, "everything that begins has an end," "all things that begin have an end," or sumpthin' 'long those lines. neway, it opens on toby's 28th b.day, wed 2003.11.05.
[later] very early afternoon: my cowerker eric e.mailed me a link to
the funniest pic! check it out: http://www.arcaholics.com/blogfiles/engineer.jpg it's
hilarious!
831a: i'm used to waking up @ the same time every day, so i've been wide 'wake 4 some time now on this sat morn. i was reading phil's blog 4 a while: oc exile. he called me yesterday, while the beautiful kaela hwang n' i were 168ing w/ roland. we went up to berkeley yesterday nite to return his martial arts mats to him, which we had planned to use 4 our recent taekwondo demo but didn't since we scrapped the self.defense skit when kaela hurt her back that morn. when ppl call me on my cell fon n' i'm w/ friends, i usually give the person who's w/ me in person priority. altho' i totally support modern teknology n' cellular teknology, i feel it's only common courtesy. i'll call phil back 2day.
just a few mins 'go, i was reading david kim's online journal (starkdavingmad.com) n' looking 'gain @ his excel spreadsheet re: how the diff cali counties voted on the recent ridiculous recall elektion. his spreadsheet pretty much tells which cali counties r smart n' which r stoopid. i'm a li'l ashamed cos santa clara proved not to be as smart as i had hoped, but 'least it's not as stoopid as certain others. the best counties r (obviously) sf (w/ only 20% voting 4 the recall [maybe a good chunk'f that were aktually green party voters.] n' an intelligent 80% voting 'gainst it), alameda (w/ 30% 4 the recall n' 70% 'gainst it), marin (surprise suprise!) (w/ 32% 4 n' 68 'gainst), santa cruz (w/ 34% 4 n' 66% 'gainst), san mateo (w/ 37% 4 n' 63 'gainst)... the list goes on... the worst counties r orange (w/ 73% 4 n' 27% 'gainst) n' san bernadino n' riverside, both w/ (70% 4 n' 30% 'gainst). well, u should just check out dave's site to get all the #s. neway, it's such a diff btwn bay area n' socal + sacramento. it's really crazy!
recently, i started wondering when i started supporting so.called liberal politiks. i didn't always, u know. back when i was in 8th grade, i 'member fitting in w/ other almaden valley adolescents n' supporting (as well as 8th graders can) bush sr. over dukakis. i guess it all started sometime in hi skool... 'round the same time i started to make my own decisions 'bout philosophies n' spirituality etc. maybe 'lot'f my beliefs were shaped by leland hi skool's excellent history program. ('least it was excellent back then; i hope it's still good, but i dunno 4 sure.) (aktually, it wasn't just excellent; it was "most excellent," à la bill n' ted's. ha ha.) i 'member studying diff religions'f the world w/ mr. sullivan in freshman world cultures. even tho' that yr long class taught us quite bit 'bout a variety'f cultures, i gotta admit it was still eurocentric. in fakt, intelligent mr. sullivan (a berkeley alum) himself admitted the course was eurocentric @ the fault'f the amerikan skool system or sumpthin'... meaning, if it were up to him, he would've rounded it out better. neway, we did learn 'bout many diff religions n' cultures in good detail. he explained well the diff btwn 2 kinds'f buddhism, but i don't 'member the names'f the 2 kinds nemore. yah, he did a good job emphasizing that every religion has diff faktions or whatever: often, u have a conservative faktion n' a more contemporary faktion. yah, i 'member that he showed that was true thru his discussions'f judaism, christianity, islam, n' buddhism. funny; i just thought 'bout sumpthin': ppl've killed in the name'f judaism, christianity, n' islam thru.out history; but have ppl ever killed in the name'f buddhism? i mean, by that, i'm not promoting buddhism as the ultimate religion, but i'm just wondering. i 'member also covering taoism, shintoism, hindu... n' of course, the ancient egyptian, greek, roman, norse, aztec, n' mayan gods... in soph yr, as some kind'f short continuation'f that "most excellent" world cultures class w/ mr. sullivan, we had some kind'f history class (which i honestly don't 'member 2 much'f) 4 1 semester w/ mr. kane. in jr yr, we went into leland hi skool's famous u.s. history class, which the u.s. history dept tried to teach like a college course, w/ lektures 2 times a week (w/ rotating lekturers) n' discussion sektion 3 times a week. that was a really good class. my discussion sektion teacher was mr. wright, but we had 3 rotating lekturers. b4, there were 4, but mr. sullivan retired right b4 our classyr started our jr yr. neway... i was talkin' 'bout what influences may have shaped my beliefs... i guess it just goes to show that good teachers r very important.
915a: well, i'm out'f time 4 writing right now. (upes, i almost typed
out "write now.") i'll try to continue later. i also have an
addition to yesterday's entry, so please check back 4
that.
516p: i'm @ the capitol/aborn bally's gym. it's a sunny, warm
sun(day) in mid.oktober. it's much warmer than u'd expekt.
it's been a pretty bizzy weekend even tho' i tried so, so, so, so hard just
to relax n' unwind. nuthin' else.
mon morn: how r u? please sign my gbook n' lemme know. i tried to talk on the fon w/ phil, but i kept being bizzy w/ random stuff. :-( i know phil's not all that happy w/ being cooped up in orange county right now. he's in the cali county that most voted 4 the gubernatorial recall. how could the area that gave us the rock group no doubt be so lame?! [later] so how r u? "how am i?" me? i'm ok. thanks. what's been going on? well, whether u know it or not, yesterday was the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 3rd wedding monthversary. however, 'twas sunday, n' i told kaela i was planning to take her out next fri instead, after my master's projekt progress report presentation. time flies.
we got married on 2003.07.19. wow, that was quite a day! it's especially impossible 4 me to 4get the doves. :-) i didn't plan that. kaela did.
[later] b4 noon: ... [later] a li'l past noon: during my lunchbreak, i gotta go to the nearest post office to get i moneyorder. i'm a li'l hungry. what should i eat? <:-? i'm not sure. i'm hungry. what have i been eating? k, on fri nite, we 168ed w/ roland. on sat? on sat, in the morn, i went w/ kaela to pruneyard mall. she was going to go to this realtors' class/mtg @ her bascom ave office, but she missed it. we went over to the campbell roasting company. we shared a blended green tea latté. it was very good, but u know what? it wasn't very cheap, nope. oh yah! @ the café, we found the saturday san josé mercurynews. in the "family and religion" sektion (is that what they call it? i sort'f 4get.), we saw our wedding announcement on the back page! that was the 1st time i've been in a newspaper since being quoted in the new york times re: alllookssame.com. b4 that, the last time i was in the paper, i think, was that san francisco chronicle east bay edition article 'bout uc berkeley taekwondo. 'member how we (the demo team) only got goofy pics in the paper?! they had plenty'f chances to take pics that would'f made us look kewl n' tuff; but instead, they took a pic'f the demo team males doing an impersonation'f the rockettes dance group or sumpthin'!!!
neway! back to the topik'f sat(urday)... i tried to study @ the campbell roasting company. i needed to use the restroom, but theirs was broken, so we walked over to the starbucks attached to barnes & nobles. i was having such a hard time studying, so i gave up. we went to the car (kaela's kia) to eat fud i had packed: a dozen cali4nia rolls my mom got from costco n' a couple'f slice's'f costco aram sandwich. then we went to the mall, valley fair mall. we just browsed; we didn't $pend... cos we've gotta save $$$ 4 our house, u know? my mom n' her friend cary saw us there. then kaela n' i went to my dad's 60th b.day dinner @ royal garden chinese restaurant in santa clara on de la cruz blvd near trimble. we got there very early, b4 the 500p time. we're not always late, u know.
[later] 759p: @ the gym w/ kaela, stretching...
1231a: i have several journal entries stored on my handspring that i have yet to post here online. that's bad. right now, i'm telnetted in on the sony vaio laptop. well, what's up? well, i was thinking a sometime last week this: "have i really grown up sooo much this yr? or is it that this yr has really aged me?" when the end'f december comes, this yr, i'll have quite a bit to look back 'pon. it's been a really dramatic yr. so much has happened. i wasn't married @ the beginning'f the yr, but i sure am now. by the end'f 2003, i'll definitely be able to say that 2003 was 1'f the biggest yrs'f my life... the biggest? possibly. i mean... can i really pick a yr in my life so far that meant more? not really.
1 sad thing i found out this past weekend is that the 1 class i'll take next semester, "advanced control systems design,"'ll be on tues/thurs nites 700-820p. :-( that means i'll hafta miss taekwondo practice. do u realise i've never gone a whole semester w/o taekwondo since aug 1993 when i started college?! in fakt, i've barely missed even a whole month or so w/o taekwondo since then!!! i dunno... i'll c if there's ne way i can practice on some other nite or sumpthin'... it would really make me unhappy to hafta not do taekwondo 4 a whole semester!
[later] a li'l b4 noon on tues: i've been bizzy n' not a good online journal author. :-( yah, i'm very bizzy these days, no doubt. werk's bizzy, skool's bizzy, house stuff's bizzy... sorry 4 not keeping in touch.
[later] evening: well, i shouldn't be @ my office right now; i should leave soon. i werk very full days. i try to werk hard, n' i think i do. i really do. i want to do a good job n' well... have a job. kaela told me n' i've heard from other sources that even tho' the ekonomy's been picking up jobs have not. so i guess companies r still very conservative n' cautious in their hiring. well... i gotta admit: it'll never 'gain be like the carefree late 1990s w/ companies hiring ppl by the dozen, ppl w/o qualifications or even good character or responsibility. however, me? i really believe i'm a good engr. i really hope i'll always have a job... but yah, i gotta werk hard to prove myself sometimes.
well... i'll try to summarise what happened this weekend, since i still haven't done that:
yesterday was mon. 2day's tues. yesterday, @ lunch i went to the post office to get a money order 4 an ebay auktion. i had to buy kaela a palm zire 71 cos her ol' handspring visor deluxe pooped out a coupl'f weeks 'go or so... n' she needs it now more than ever since she's more into bizness, u know? i went to find the main santa clara post office... which is near santa clara university. since i was in the neighbourhood during lunchtime, i figured i'd swing by cluck u to c my pic on the 911 challenge wall of fame. i pulled up to the restaurant n' realised it was a total college kids' hangout joint, so i felt really awkward. i went in. it was totally remodeled... they had took down all the 911 winner pics n' have started over w/ just 2 or 3 pics up. :-( my claim to fame!!! gone!!! :-( man... that was sort'f a "face it! u'r an old man now!" kind'f moment, u know? instead'f "i used to play hi skool futbol," it's "i used to eat insanely hot chicken as a college student type prank... even after i had graduated colllege." eh... well... whatever. i felt awkward there, so i ordered fud to go. i realised pepper spray strength hotwings don't make good car fud, so i ordered some bbq chicken sandwich n' a large diet coke to go. i waited 4 my order n' realised there was a table'f career engrs sitting down 4 lunch, so i wasn't the only older.than.college person there... private skool kids r diff from publik skool kids, n' i think i might've felt more com4table if i were sitting in a sjsu hangout instead'f a scu hangout... after all, i'm a spartan now, right? n' the uh... scu... uh... what is their mascot?! trojan? :-/ (gee, that's a way to wanna be usc!) neway... scu's sjsu's arch.rival, i think. i'm not sure what scu's mascot is... neway, i took my sandwich n' ate it in the post office parking lot. it aktually wasn't bad! :-) it wasn't spicy tho'. :-( neway, after i finished my lunch, i realised i had no ca$h to buy a money order! X-o i drove to the bank n' back n' then waited in the long line. *sigh*
after werk, i went to the gym n' met kaela there. i had an easy werkout.
2day's been tues. 4 lunch, kaela n' i tried out this korean joint @ the corner'f bowers n' el camino real called 길목 gilmok (corner stone). i ordered 떡볶이 dduhkbokki, n' kaela ordered 새우볶음밥 saewoo bokkeumbap (shrimp fried rice). we were stuffed. 2nite, we go to taekwondo practice.
[later] 1123p: we went to taekwondo practice n' then had boba drinks @ fantasia. oh yah, last nite, kaela gave me a haircut, so i'm not shaggy nemore! phew!
i think scu r tritons not trojans, right? :-?
*shrug*
~noon: i just got a flu shot here @ werk. how r u? this morn on my commute in, i thought 'bout how often i think 'bout writing 'bout morn/eve commutes but don't. i guess these days, i experience morn commutes, but i don't really experience eve commutes. that's cos i rarely go straight home after werk, pretty much never.
[later] afternoon: do u like coffee? according to recent gbook entries, many'f u don't. me? sure! i like coffee; i like beer. why is it that so many'f u dislike both? last week, i managed to avoid coffee the whole week. yesterday, i had some french roast. 2day, i've had some columbian decaf.
[later] 908p: i'm home n' sleepy. after werk, i went to my "spacecraft dynamics & controls" class. class got cut short cos'f a power failure. when i went to the garage to get my car, it was sooo dark! honestly, it was kind'f creepy. i drove home. my mom had bought some costco rotisserie chicken, n' i ate 'bout 0.5 the burdy 4 dinner. last nite, after taekwondo practice, i had steak 4 dinner. man! talk 'bout serious protein n' carnage! hey! so, didju catch our wedding announcement in last sat's sj mercury news? 1'f my profs did, n' he e.mailed me 'bout it. what a nice guy! the administrative office manager person in my office saw it n' cut it out n' put it up on the office bulletin board! :-) 2 bad i don't werk in that part'f the bldg, but i saw it when she put it up cos my group was over on that side'f the bldg 4 a mtg.
2day, @ lunch, the beautiful kaela hwang
picked me up from lunch, n' we went to 비원 biwon 4 some korean chinese
fud. interesting thing: @ lunch, i was telling kaela 'bout how i saw
an ad this morn on korean tv 4 강남 순두부집 gangnam soondubujip on blossom
hill rd n' santa teresa blvd. that location makes it the closest
korean restaurant to our house. the interesting thing is that when i
came home 2nite, my mom was telling me that she went there 4 lunch 2day.
what a coincidence! it's funny: now that we'll most likely be
moving out'f almaden valley soon when we get our own house, the area is
finally becoming a li'l fun. 4 1 thing, oakridge mall has now
gotten its total rebirth thanks to the westfield shoppingtown company.
it now has a cpk, cheesecake faktory, sushi boat, mega theatre,
borders bookstore, n' starbucks. it looks
nice... i gotta admit, tho', it sort'f reminds me'f stuff i've cn in
socal. ha! u'd think i'd be the absolute last to admit that,
but *sigh* yah... i gotta admit it does... n' yah, it looks pretty
nice. my mom sed it's not as nice inside as valley fair, n' she's
prob'ly right. after all, it doesn't have kenny cole, tiffany &
co., coach, louis vuitton, club monoco, etc., right? man, i'm sure
in 'nother few yrs, it will. as i passed by 2nite, on my way home
from skool, i thought 'bout what life was like last yr when i was just
going to skool n' not really werking. i had so much free time, i
guess. that was sort'f a vakation 'way from relaity, i gotta admit.
sure, giong to skool as a full.time grad student isn't a
total vakation, but it's more'f a vakation than werking full.time n'
going to grad skool is. life is really bizzy these days.
that's just how it is.
thurs morn: i admit that, yesterday, i was pretty drowsy the whole day. however, last nite, somehow, i got plenty'f sleep. :-) i fell asleep while the beautiful kaela hwang was shopping online 4 shampoo. i woke up @ 630a to go urinate. i pondered getting dressed 4 werk, going in early, n' using the company gym; but i knew i'd be @ werk late 2nite werking on my master's projekt progress report presentation 4 2morrow. instead, i decided to rest up. i do feel very well.rested. i didn't take a shower. i haven't taken a shower since tues nite. some amerikans say this is eurostyle. *shrug* is that true? i dunno.
i'd like to party 'least a li'l this halloween, as it's finally on a fri 'gain. as a kid, i really lucked out cos halloween was often on fri or sat. :-)
|
1980: fri 1981: sat 1982: sun 1983: mon 1984: wed 1985: thu 1986: fri 1987: sat 1988: mon 1989: tues |
1990: wed 1991: thu 1992: sat 1993: sun 1994: mon 1995: tues 1996: thu 1997: fri 1998: sat 1999: sun |
2000: tues 2001: wed 2002: thurs 2003: fri 2004: sun 2005: mon 2006: tues 2007: wed 2008: fri 2009: sun |
in college my freshman yr (1993), ppl in my intervarsity christian fellowship (ivcf or just "iv") small group (foothill/bowles/stern dorms) sed halloween's a satanic holiday. :-( some sed, when they have kids, they don't know if they have their kids do halloween cos it's satanic. hrm... well, shoot! if it's a satanic holiday, it's surely a commercialised, hallmark 1. some christians, nonchrisians, n' anti.christians complain that christmas's a commercialised, hallmark holiday. true. can u believe dept stores now begin marketing christmas in early oktober? soon "8워의 크리스마스 / christmas in august"'ll be a reality! neway, if society's commercialised celebration'f christmas makes christmas less christian, then doesn't its celebration'f a satanic holiday make that holiday less satanic? also, why is halloween satanic? how is it satanic/demonic? ghosts, ghouls, witches, goblins, n' vampires, eh? *shrug* didn't i hear a gay guy 1nce say that halloween's the 1 big gay holiday? i s'ppose that comes from the popular belief that on halloween u should dress up as who u want to be not necessarily who u r. i s'ppose some gay ppl often hide their sexual orientation cos'f societal pressure n' discrimination. in that case, i s'ppose the idea'f halloween's being a gay holiday sort'f makes sense cos they can maybe flaunt their sexuality more on that 1 day. *shrug* (i sometimes think all women might's well be bisexual in that lite beer fountain.wrestling kind'f way.)
even if halloween's now a gay holiday, it's not necessarily a satanic or demonic holiday. i think many bay area christians have realised that homosexuals r also god's ppl, that homosexual sex may be prohibitted by the old testament but so is unmarried, heterosexual sex, n' that paul the apostle sed it's aktually holiest to be asexual, not necessarily heterosexual. after all, can we really say "jesus was a hetero"? no, not really...
neway, it's easier 4 childless college students than 4 family men/women to condemn halloween cos they'll just be giving up a kegger or nite in sf's castro/soma as opposed to their children's fond memories. some say halloween n' christmas (n' maybe even easter) r really more 4 kids than 4 adults. easter's the more important christian holiday as it's the day jesus rose from the dead. ne1 can be born 1nce; few can be born 2ice. "i don't believe in reincarnation because i refuse to come back as a bug or as a rabbit!" exclaims an angry chinese woman to a caucasian, male detektive in new order's "bizarre love triangle" muzik video, to which the detektive sarcastically replies, "you know, you're a really up person." "bizarre love triangle" is the asian.amerikan anthem, yet most asian.amerikans prob'ly have not cn the muzik video n' don't know that quote. this morn, on my way out to werk, i saw a run.over bunny rabbit on almaden expwy. if u insist on being reincarnated as an easter bunny, please don't come back as 1 like that! :-(
[later] ~noon: it'd be fun to party it up 'least a li'l this halloween. kaela bought us costumes 2 yrs 'go, but i haven't worn either'f the 2 she got me. next yr, maybe we'll be handing out candy to trick.or.treaters that come to our own house, eh? i have not done much @ all 4 halloween since i was a kid.
[later] 1110p: <:-o i'm very worried; i think i might've been scammed on ebay when i bought that palm zire 71 4 kaela! :-o i just checked the ebay site 4 info on the seller, n' it sez the user was suspended! :-o oh crap! if so, i gotta file an ebay fraud complaint n' get back my $$$ - a $25 service charge! :-o man! i went thru so much trouble to buy that palm! *sigh* :-( :-( :-( i dunno 4 sure that it was a scam, but that, i gotta admit, is a very bad sign. :-( i mean, i'm very glad there's ebay fraud protektion, 'least...
i was @ my office till 944p 2nite werking on my presentation 2morrow 4 my master's projekt progress report.
[just a li'l later] oh yah, 'nother thing that sucks lately (besides worrying 'bout this possible ebay scam) is that my 'puter keeps crashing lately, n' i ended up losing a bunch'f my old sent e.mails in eudora. eudora cms to lose old data very easily when ur 'puter crashes! :-(
2morrow @ werk, we have a company bbq. then i gotta do my
presentation @ skool. later, in the eve, i'll take kaela out 4
dinner. hey, didju ever go back n' read the text i wrote later on
2003.10.17?!?!?! i really like that funny pic.
X-D it 'minds me'f stuff dave kim puts up on his blog.
fri afternoon: i had a big, big company bbq 2day: 2 much meat, 2 much sun, but fun. i really wanna stay out'f the sun!
i wanted to comment on 2day's passing 'way'f chiang kai.shek's widow,
but phil
sort'f beat me to it w/ an early morn group e.mail. i heard 'bout
this news on npr (nat'l publik radio) as i woke up this morn. 1'f
the things i 'member the most from yrs'f taiwanese.amerikan youth
leadership camp (tayl) is a quote from some silly skit: "chiang kaishek?! what the heck?" i think the skit had
to do w/ some slacker teenagers' travelling back into taiwanese history or
sumpthin'.
840a: i'm @ skool (sjsu) 4 an asme (amerikan smechanikal
engrs) "short course" on gd&t (geometric
dimensioning & tolerancing). i'll be here
all day. they're even feeding us lunch! :-) they already gave us
doughnuts.
mon morn: socal's burning. that's the big news this morn.
[later] ~noon: this wknd was pretty packed, i guess. we gained an hr w/ the end'f daylite saving time. if i 'member correktly, it is daylite saving time n' not daylite savings time.
on fri eve, i took the beautiful kaela hwang to dinner @ willow glen's vin santo 4 our 3rd monthversary.
[later] eve: lately, on the company's intranet streaming radio, i've been listening not just to "modern rock," but jazz. kaela's been playing more jazz radio in her car, n' i'm somehow simply getting used to it. normally, i only listen to rock, tekno, pop, hip hop kinds'f musik, u know? *shrug*
on sat nite, brian chong brought us to a 1yr anniversary party 4
tamarine restaurant, @ the restaurant in palo alto (stanfurd country. it was a ritzy, ritzy
party.
tues morn:
yesterday was a bad day, i gotta admit. some days r better than others... and some days' muthas r better than other days' muthas.
the awful day started awfully w/ an awful parking tic. on sun afternoon, i helped nelson move his sister's old mattress from santa clara to his family's house in almaden valley. from nelson's house, i drove a back way (a backroads way) back to our house. cos'f that, i arrived @ our house approaching @ the opposite'f my usual direktion. recently, i read an online article 'bout saving gas. it told me to park in a direktion that eliminates the need 4 u.turns when i start up my car to leave. thus, i parked facing the "wrong" direktion, on the left side'f the street. i figured, we'd be heading out pretty soon to the gym on a lazy sun afternoon neway. when i came home, the beautiful kaela hwang was passed out, n' we never made it to the gym. there4, i never moved my car. i never park on the left side like that, but as i approached my house on sun afternoon, i noticed many cars parked in the wrong direktion; so it cmed like a safe idea. on mon morn, we all had $25 parking tics on our windshields, on our cars, parked outside our own homes in the quiet, li'l suburb'f almaden valley. parking tics happen in the urban jungles'f berkeley all the time, but they're not s'pposed to happen in the quiet, li'l suburb'f almaden valley. some1 decided it was time to shake some $$$ out'f the com4table suburbanites. maybe it was, but i'm not an almaden valley landowner, just guilty by association.
that's from some recent comic strip, maybe non sequitur or bizarro. i 4get which. despite that mildly humourous thought, stealing from the rich n' giving to the poor's still a somewhat heroic aktion, if done right, i s'ppose. we don't need to be greedy or gluttonous. (how 'bout glutinous?)
don't u hate trying to save 25¢ in parking meter change n' ending up w/ a $35 parking tic? try saving 2¢ in gas n' ending up w/ a similar parking tic. it's just not worth it! >:-(
our cali state s'pposed gov elekt arnold schwarzeneggar sed that every1 can get in shape as it "doesn't cost a dime" to do a pushup. true, very true. exercise doesn't co$t a dime, but skipping a trip to the gym co$ts $25.
[later] earlier, i was responding to an e.mail: «however, i do hafta make sure i get out 'nuf... to make sure i don't wake up 20 yrs later in the middle'f a mid.life crisis. being a werking careerman, soon to be paying mortgage puts me in great danger. i don't wanna fall victim to the emasculation'f hard werking careermen who take care'f their families n' loved 1s.»
there4, "ride to live, live to ride, n' rock on, bro!" (by "ride," i mean snowboard.) werk hard, play hard. disco ball drops. "everybody dance now! *dan dan* *dan* *dan* *dan dan*"
someday, i'd like to have a banana mocha boba drink from bosion in
valley fair 'gain.
wed morn: yesterday, 4 lunch, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went to 청기와 chungkiwa ("blue stones"). i ate 뜩배기 아구 매운탕 ddeukbaegi agoo maeoontang (spicy monkfish soup in a clay pot), n' kaela had 비빔냉면 bibimnaengmyuhn. after werk, we went to taekwondo; but, b4 that, i had a quick preliminary werkout in the company gym.
speaking'f my company: man! our stock's doing sooo well right now!!! i wish i had invested in this company back when i was 1st hired! really, i could've made sooo much $$$!
[later] this morn, my company had a halloween potluck. i feel a li'l bad cos i didn't bring nething; but there was plenty'f fud, n' i gave a $1 donation to the 2nd harvest fud bank. i ate some costco sushi, some fruit, some spinach dip, guacamole, etc.
2day's wed, so i have my "spacecraft dynamics & controls" class 2nite, 530-800p. i wonder if i'll go to the gym afterwards. i'm afraid i won't cos i need to go home n' search 4 my halloween costumes. as i sed b4, kaela bought us halloween costume back in 2001. i never got to wear either'f the 1s she got me, but i really hope i can find them this week 4 fri! i hope! otherwise, i'll hafta go out n' waste $$$ on new costumes.
[later] 4 our bible
study class (the beginner bible study class, not the couples bible study
class), we need to try to memorise the books (titles)'f the bible: uh...
genesis, exodus, deuteronomy, uh... leviticus? ecclesiastes? psalms,
proverbs, song of solomon (sex book), isaiah?
[later] lunchtime: @ rivermark plaza yan can w/ kaela... i was
reminded'f an old. . . [interrupted]
thurs morn: i woke up n' left early to use the company gym b4 werk. i'm here @ the gym right now stretching after 15 mins on the stationary bike. when i got here, the 1 precor was taken, so i didn't use it. now, it's free.
neway, how r u? u can still use my gbook to communicate. i'll try to switch out the questions in the near future, but feel absolutely free to resign it..."re dot sign," not "resign"... else "re-sign"... [later] "resign," that's what dubyah should do to make way 4 some1 qualified, like clark, dean, lieberman, kerry, ... , sharpton!
yesterday, @ werk, i got a brand new super.duper, hotrod p4 2.8ghz!!! this is the fastest 'puter i've ever gotten to use @ my own desktop! :-) [later] whoa, i just realised it's got a 101gb hard drive! kewl!
u know, i have sumpthin' i've wanted to discuss here 4 a while now: on
sat, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i were walking up n' down palo alto's
university ave in stanfurd country
w/ julie from our taekwondojang (us taekwondo akademy). we were talking 'bout
restaurants n' stuff, n' julie mentioned that it'd be nicer if she had a
guy or bf to go to nice restaurants w/ etc. she sort'f asked if we
knew ne guys who'd be a good match 4 her. we thought n' thought.
i always thought i knew lots'f young, single men; but i dunno... i
couldn't think'f a good match... 'least not really 1 who's still single, u
know? so many'f my guy friends (who r all such hi quality gentlemen) r
taken: either married or engaged or else 'least in dedicated long term
relationships (1 each; i only made that last noun plural 4 grammatikal anal
retentiveness). i know i have a few single, guy friends, who r
undoubtedly quality men, but they're mostly not in the area. [later]
a prob i c, tho', is that many guys in their 20s r still kind'f immature.
that's a really judgmental statement, i know; but *shrug* it's just
my observation. 2 many guys in their 20s r absorbed in their cars,
video games, watching sports... those r all nice, but i feel guys should
spend more time picking up some culture or else more creative n' aktive
hobbies/interests. how 'bout cooking or wine tasting? foreign
movies? c, the prob's that guys think these things r "gay."
after all, there's the show queer eye for the straight guy.
well, guys cm to spend so much time on aktivities to try to bond w/ n'
impress other guys. how 'bout bonding w/ n' impressing gurls?
after a while gurls r only so impressed w/ suped up cars, right?
n' suped up 'puters? well, things like cuisine n' art r
considered froofy, n' guys don't wanna be known as the guy who just does
everything to impress gurls. guys gotta "keep it real." after
all, what can we say 'bout the young guy in a red french
beret, swirling red wine in a goblet 4
2 hrs w/o drinking it while all the other young ppl 'round him try to have
a lively party? yah, the wurd "poseur"'s still 'round. right?
some young guys say they just want a gurl who's 1'f the guys. i feel
i hear that 'lot, prob'ly more often than it's aktually true.
[continued on "halloween" on
2003.10.31]
[continuing from yesterday 2003.10.30 in "hotrod 'puter"]
"the girl all the bad guys want" by bowling for soup... check out the lyrics @ http://universound.ca/chansons_francais/girl_all_the_bad_guys_want.htm. i dunno why the lyrics r en français as well as en anglais, but that's kewl... très kewl! neway, that's just a funny song i hear on the company's intranet streaming radio, n' i think it's a funny song. i wonder why so many socal style pop.punk songs r 'bout being a guy who can't get gurls. *shrug*
back in 1998 or 1999, supermike had 'nother 1'f his many grandiose
bizness ideas: he suggested setting up a special engineering student guys'
dorm in northside (the engineering side'f uc
berkeley), where instructors would teach social skills to turn nerds
into 007s, as he put it. he also suggested paying beautiful, young
co.eds to visit... just to talk, nuthin' else... yah, u know what? i
think 'lot'f s'pposedly nerdy guys... [interrupted, continued in "wm v. kg" on 2003.11.01]
338p: how r u? [later] 517p: how r u? how was ur halloween? i'm sorry; i've been soo crappy 'bout updating lately! :-(
[cont'd from "halloween" on 2003.10.31] i think 'lot'f s'pposedly nerdy guys were bullied 'lot in their pasts, so they feel a big need to prove to other guys that they're kewl, etc. as i was sort'f saying, what impresses gurls's often diff from what impresses guys.
neway... 'nuf'f that dumb topik. i tried to write a coherent
piece 'bout gender issues n' mating habits, but i guess i've got bigger n'
better things to do, take care'f, n' "stress over." no, we
shouldn't stress. the most u can do sometimes is pray n' try ur
best. *shrug* werking man v. kewl guy conflikts still conflikt me n' w/
good reason: primarily, i don't need a midlife crisis.
sun morn, 951a: we're late 4 church. i have so many journal entries stored on my handspring, 1s that i haven't uploaded 4 ur reading yet. right 'bout now (2803.11.02), u think i haven't written nething in ages, but i have; i just haven't uploaded nething in ages!
it's now chilly in the bay area n' in pretty much all'f cali, i hear. up until last wed or so, it was pretty much a heatwave, maybe a record.breaking heatwave; i dunno. now, it's cold. halloween came n' went n' was chilly cool/kewl. how was urs. we went to buca di beppo @ the pruneyard, the v.bar @ santana row, n' club miami in downtown san jo; 3 venues! it was fun to be young n' alive in san jo, in the sobay. sure, there's a chance we can't akt like kids 4ever, but... well, in my head, i hear the tune "one more time" by daft punk. that song has the kewl robotech/macross anime video
[later] 358p: how r u? i get very li'l real e.mail these days, mostly spam mail. i have a very low s/n (signal to noise) ratio. however, it's my fault cos i've been very bad 'bout writing to other ppl. i know; i haven't communicated much lately. :-( just now, i tried to call up a coupl'f friends, but neither picked up. hey! yesterday fahad called me. the beautiful kaela hwang n' i already knew that fahad n' wendy got engaged the same day's us, but now they've finally set a wedding date! :-) what more, i'm gonna be fahad's best man!!! this is really kewl! i'll be in 'least 2 wedding parties next yr: fahad's n' toby's! kewl! :-) happy, happy things!
oh, since i haven't talked to u journal readers in a long time, n' since i never have time to tell u 'bout what i'm up to, i never got to pass on some very important news: we're really buying a house. that house i sed we lost, we aktually managed to get it back! it's a really crazy life, but yah! crazy, huh? it's a big financial commitment, but yah... as i sed, bay area / silly valley real estate's such a good investment right now. ha! funny right now, on the radio on kcsm 91.1 fm, some jazzman's singing random names'f san josé street names in a bluesy voice. talk 'bout san jo pride! ha ha! i wonder what song this is!
yesterday, kaela n' i went to talk to farmers insurance agent richard so (pronounced "suh") 'bout homeowners insurance. he's a pretty straight4ward, nice guy. after that, we had a late lunch @ 장터 순대 jangtuh soondae. mmm... soondae!!! u know what soondae's, right?! it's a korean rice/noodle/blood sausage. i really like soondae! it's not super cheap there tho'. :-( it's much cheaper @ 한국 마켓 hangook market but better @ 장터 jangtuh. neway, we ate soondae n' 쫄면 jjolmyuhn. a chewy noodle served in spicy sauce. ah, it was all so tasty! :-)
after lunch, i drove us locally up to the east palo alto ikea. driving locally was a big, big mistake cos'f the stanfurd futbol game! :-( there was sooo much traffik 'round where el camino real hits university ave. the traffik sucked, but we got to c some very nice, expen$ive palo alto homes! :-) they looked so new englandish, preppy, etc. classy, tho'... ikea was sooo full'f young families! so many babies n' li'l kids! they played lot's 80s tunes 4 the early 30s crowd! it was amazing! they really know how to werk the early 30s young family crowd!!! really crazy! we looked @ couches, dining tables, n' beds. uh, we're guessing it's more important to get a couch than a dining table... since we can eat in front'f the tv... altho' i s'ppose 1nce we have kids, we shouldn't do that nemore, right? it'd be a very poor example, non? *sigh* there's 'lot'f furniture to get, but we have a dilemma: what'll complement our house well? c, back in berkeley many apts r honestly so crappy that most furnitures make them look better. however, when u own a house, of course, u'r gonna make sure it's a beautiful house, so what furniture do u get to maintain the look'f the house instead'f bringing it down?!?! upon arriving @ ikea, i used the last $ in my wallet to buy a vanilla, nonfat frozen yogurt. later, 4 a small, cheap dinner in the ikea restaurant upstairs, kaela n' i shared an open.faced shrimp sandwich ($1.99) n' a bowl'f vegetable beef soup (99¢ ). yah, i know the soup's aktually kind'f a ripoff cos a can'f campbell's vegetable beef soup in a 6.pack from costco co$ts how many cents?! however, it was nice n' warm, came w/ some kind'f herb bread roll, n' completed this budget meal, eh? we ate our li'l modest meal, while kids n' babies 'round us screamed, cried, n' banged toys on tabletops. why r babies so obsessed w/ banging toys on tables or each other? they cm to love percussive noise. *shrug* we browsed ikea n' took notes but bought nuthin' more than edibles.
afterwards, i drove us back down to silly valley via 101 rather than local roads. we decided to catch a flick: we watched the human stain @ amc mercado.
the next paragraphs a spoiler. skip it if u plan to watch the human stain. now that we know that sir anthony hopkins is aktually afrikan, he'll be costarring w/ ice cube in the day after the next friday. ha ha ha, just kidding. end of spoiler
there. . . [interrupted]
[later] 1026p: i'm getting sick. i'm catching a cold! :-( this sucks!!! it's cold now, i tell u!!! 2 cold!!! :-( i'm wearing 2 sweaters right now!!!
it's funny, it's quite diff going to ikea now. u know, lots'f college students go to ikea to buy their 1st furniture 4 their 1st apts. it's funny how 1 feels sooo grown up when he/she 1st move into his/her 1st apt, but in retrospekt... we really weren't grown up @ all back then. heh, thinking 'bout that, i'm so happy that i am fahad's best man 4 his wedding cos we lived in our 1st apt 2gether. *sigh* ah, the memories. heh. back then, we didn't have no stinkin' ikea! @ best, we had a store called home express... like, down in socal, they already had ikea... n' over on the east coast, they had ikea... but up here in norcal, we didn't get ikea until after i finished college.
oh! have u noticed that i haven't yet sed "i can't believe it's already nov"? well, i can't believe it's already nov! i 'member how in the nov of 2002, i was unemployed n' a full.time student. i'd go study @ starbucks n' hear christmas muzik right @ the beginning'f nov. i wonder if i'll start hearing lots'f christmas muzik starting 2morrow! :-? hrm, funny to think.
neway, 1 thing kaela n' i gotta pray 'bout instead'f stress over is what to do 'bout t.giving weekend. originally, we planned to rent a car n' drive it down to socal. however, my mom told us we'd be moving into our new home that weekend. so... well, we didn't reserve a rental car yet... but that made us wonder if we should try to buy plane tix to fly down 4 a short while. however, do u know how much a t.giving plane tic co$ts now?! $200/person!!! so... should we still try to rent a car or what?! this really sucks cos we do need to go to socal cos kaela's parents have this gift certificate 4 me to get a free suit from a store down in l.a., n' i need to do that. also, kaela's parents won a dvd player that they're gonna give to us, so we gotta go down n' pick that up. :-( we need to go down to socal. we haven't been down to socal in ages. there r so many friends i need to catch up w/. i really wanna go down... so should we just go 'head n' rent a car? the reason we wanna rent a car is just cos we don't wanna put so much wear n' tear on our cars. :-/ i dunno... we're really confused what to do, but... :-<
1 thing that has upset me inside but i haven't blown up 'bout is that
my 'puter keeps crashing n' has made me lose many, many'f my e.mails.
i mean... i've lost outgoing n' incoming e.mails! :-( i really like
to keep copies'f both my outgoing n' incoming e.mails. :-( u c, the prob
is, i think, that i have a really cheap, old 230w power supply running my
'puter w/ 2 scsi drives n' a bunch'f hardware... my 'puter keeps
crashing, as i've sed, n' i really hate it... but i dunno... like, i
figure i gotta save all my $$$ these days, so there's no way i'll go out
n' buy a new power supply, u know? :-/ then 'gain... it's like
those parking tix: u shouldn't end up spending $35 to save 25¢!
*shrug*
mon morn: man! my company's stock's doing sooo well! i wish i had bought their/our stock! when i started werking here it was barely $18. now, it's over $24!
[later] support u.s. troops! impeach bush!
on last thurs nite, i went to taekwondo sparring practice. afterwards, i went w/ the taekwondo gang to 옹고집 onggojip w/ benjamin n' dennis, these 2 bruthas who r both in the u.s. army. aktually, i guess benjamin, the older bro's out now; but i think dennis's going back to iraq now. i mean, they're both hearty, tuff, competent guys; but it really sucks that guys like them gotta be sent to dangerous iraq just cos our pres dubyah's 2 stubborn n' proud. there's no good reason to send our young friends to iraq. neway, we ate lots'f grilled meat: 삼겹살 samgyubsal (3 layer meat - bacon), 차돌배끼 (marbled meat), 안등심구이 andeungshimgooi (inside back steak)... lots'f meat. i don't really eat samgyubsal cos it's got 2 much fat.
[later] eve: i'm really tired n' sick. :-( do u realise how badly i need to go to the gym? instead, i'll prob'ly just head home n' go to bed. i don't like being sick. i'm wearing 2 layers'f sweaters, just like last nite; in fakt, the same 2 sweaters. :-( i'm sick.
*sigh* i just dunno what to do 'bout t.giving. now that i think
'bout it, i feel our only choice's to buy those expen$ive tix. :-( we gotta
go to socal eventually!
tues morn: a good news story - "video games are addictive - scientists" from y! news... "what do u have so much 'gainst video games, beno?" u ask. i reply, "oh, i don't hate video games! no. i enjoy playing a console game @ a friend's place now n' then. i enjoy arcade games @ dave n' buster's. i kill time w/ silly li'l, simple games on the pc, on my handheld pda, n' on other ppl's fons. i do think that many video games r addiktive, tho', n' lead to great wastes'f time. sometimes i wish i hadn't played m.u.d. my freshman n' sophomore yrs'f college, but i know it was somewhat socially interaktive. thus, i realise that 2day's starcraft. counterstrike, warcraft, everquest, ultima, etc. r also 'somewhat socially interaktive. however, in general, we all should sort'f 'be all that we can be' n' make sure we're produktive members'f society n' well... 'worthwhile' ppl... right? so yah... when video games become addiktive, we gotta know when to say when."
last nite, on the local ch 11 news, i watched a story 'bout this young 20 yr old gurl killed in aktion in iraq in the u.s. army chopper that was shot down on sun. it's so sad. this stoopid war has really made war a reality instead'f some glorified movie.
i'm very sick w/ a bad cold. altho' i badly wanted to join the beautiful kaela hwang @ the gym last nite after werk, i simply drove straight home n' went to bed. i napped until kaela came home. then, i just mindlessly watched nbc tv programming n' ate fish w/ eggplant n' some kind'f green squash/melon that my mom cooked. we watched that las vegas show. it's so trashy, but i was 2 sick to care. then we watched the average joe. i hate reality romance shows, but i sort'f tolerated the idea'f the 1st joe millionaire, n' i sort'f like the idea'f the average joe. as u c, i can pretty much only tolerate the 1s that sort'f mock the more serious reality romance shows. fear factor's more'f a game show, not so much a "reality show." i sort'f watched some'f the bachelorette n' mr. personality last semester while werking on skool projekts w/ brian n' dave... but only cos they wanted to; heh.
[later] early afternoon: i'm still sick. i've got a sore throat. sometimes, my nose runs.
wow, stocks r really up nowadays. besides my company... other companies' stock have risen quite a bit in recent days, weeks, or months.
u know, we oughtta get in the christmas mood, don'tchu think? "why?" "why not?" "it's just a commercialised, hallmark holiday!" [later] 'round here, it feels like summer turned straight into winter, skipping over autumn/fall. u know that? it's decently cold outside. this morn, i looked out our bdrm window n' so white frost on the roof shingles. believe it or not boreal opened last sat 4 snowboarding.
[later] last nite, i went 'head n' bought our tix to socal 4 t.giving. we fly out on wed nite n' come back sat eve. i pray 4 a safe, easy trip. i really don't want ne mix.ups or delays! :-(
how do i feel 'bout socal? ah, i never hated it. yah, norcal has a special place in my heart: i appreciate the culture, the architekture, the nature, the fresh air, the less chaotic traffik, the less attitude, the ... i dunno... the list goes on. nelson sed he was talking to some bigshot real estate investor, some rich dude that invests in bizness real estate or sumpthin'... i 4get... maybe it was residential real estate; but whatever it was, it was s'pposedly in big amts. 'least that's what nelson sed. neway, nelson asked him what he thought of postboom / postbust silicon valley, (what i'd rather call post.apocalyptic silly valley). the s'pposedly supermegarich dude sed he did lots'f research cos he thought silly valley was all dried up, tapped out. spent, n' dead. however, he did s'pposedly lots'f research n' found that silly valley's gonna survive quite well cos, s'pposedly, the best n' britest engrs come from berkeley n' stanfurd n' they don't wanna leave the bay area! what the 1990s teknoboom prospektor who immigrated into cali n' left after the bust don't know is that the bay area has a beautiful culture'f its own n' that some out'f towners from the rest'f the country r just 2 uncultured to appreciate it, n' that's why they left. s'pposedly the best n' britest never left. uh, how did i manage to hijack this paragraph 'bout socal n' turn it into 'nother pompous glorifikation'f norcal?!?! it's a real case'f: "but enuf 'bout me... how 'bout u??? what do u think'f me?" "but enuf 'bout norcal... how 'bout socal??? what does socal think'f norcal?" *shrug* i can't say 4 sure. i s'ppose some wurds that socalers/socallers/socal'rs'd use to describe norcal r: boring, not glitzy 'nuff, nerdy, 2 intellektual, 2 quiet, 2 urban, not suburban 'nuff, no parking, n' overpriced, overpriced, overpriced. we're not glamourous 'nuff yet 2 pricey. we're 2 cultured n' nerdy n' not hollywood 'nuff. our lifestyle's 2 expen$ive, but we're not beverly hills. we're 2 mellow n' toned down but not suburban 'nuff. oh! n' ugh, we're so d@mn environmental! why don't we walk all macho w/ our arms out? why don't we talk all macho 'bout being pimps w/ plenty'f b!tches? why r we so d@mn self.righteous? -- eh! i was never a socaler, so i dunno 'xaktly what socalers think'f norcal! the biggest, most popular complaint i hear from my socaler friends 'bout norcal's that "it's 2 expen$ive!" however, i know that's more just the ppl i hang out w/. i think other ppl groups have complaints 'bout norcal other than "it's 2 expen$ive!", "u can't drive everywhere", n' "there's no parking!" (which is really only true in berkeley, sf, n' oakland). i think other ppl complain: "it's 2 liberal!", "the gurls r ugly!", "the guys r gay!", "there's not 'nuff showbizness!" i'm not in showbizness; i'm not gay; i managed to marry a socal gurl; n' yes, i am 2 liberal.
cali4nia love: why don't we just stop comparing norcal n' socal, n. just start loving all'f cali4nia 4 the great state it is?
when we go to socal 4 t.giving, i wanna c all my emigré* friends. i wana go eat some good asian fud @, i dunno, 90% the co$t up here? i wanna drive the famous freeways n' c the city/suburban lites @ nite. i wanna go to life plaza in rowland heights n' get a boba drink late @ nite. if time permits, i wanna hang out in k.town... or else 'least garden grove... i'll c gargantuan strip malls w/ monstrously huge parking lots. it'll be some 6 - 10 °f warmer than here.
i 1nce drove from berkeley to garden grove n' back w/ raymond n' johnny. we spent 1 nite in a ramada inn. we ate @ norm's, 북경 bookkyuhng (garden grove's famous korean chinese restaurant), n' kenny rogers' roasters.
[later] 1116p: we went to taekwondo practice after werk. we went to get boba drinks @ fantasia after taekwondo practice. upes, no... we didn't have boba drinks; we both had hot milk tea w/ taro balls! heh. i realise that my 'puter keeps crashing cos'f my dumb, ol' ati all.in.wonder 128 pci graphics card. why the heck do i have a pci graphics card? well, back when i bought it from buy.com, i was so eager to buy an all.in.wonder cos i wanted to capture video. now that we have a mini.dv camcorder, the idea'f video capture via an all.in.wonder is sort'f obsolete! i accidentally bought the pci version cos buy.com had it 4 very cheap. i didn't realise it was a pci not an agp until after i bought it. :-(
"it's all good from diego to the bay. your city is the bomb if your city making pay. throw up a finger if you feel the same way." [middle finger? thumbs up? pinky up?] beno puttin' it down 4 cali4nai.yay!
* aktually, "emigré" has sumpthin' to do w/ a person's
being forced to move cos'f politikal reasons.
thurs morn: yesterday, 2003.11.05, was toby's b.day. happy b.day, toby.
[slightly later] after werk, after my "spacecraft dynamics & controls"
class, we watched the matrix: revolutions @ oakridge century 20.
the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went w/ brian n' julie, but we ran
into nelson, mike, vivian, n' eric. i had invited nelson n'
mike yesterday afternoon via verizon wireless txt msg, but neither'f them
received my msg: mike's fon's 2 ancient to receive txt msgs n' nelson's fon
doesn't alert him when he receives a txt msg. when i saw him n' told
him i had txt msged him, he checked his fon n' saw that i had indeed txt
msged him. that was my 1st time in the new n' improved westfield
shoppingtown oakridge mall. it's rather beautiful. the aktual
biznesses rn't nearly as classy as valley fair's or santana row's,
but oakridge's definitely a nice place 4 teens n' kids!
[slightly later] i got to oakridge ~830p 4 the 1030p movie. it took me a while to find the theatre. in the afternoon, i bought 4 tix via fandango.com 4 julie, brian, kaela, n' myself. i had parked right by borders bookstore, in an excellent parking spot. i entered the mall n' eventually found my way up to the theatre. there, i saw billy. i had also invited him via verizon txt msg, but he apparently already had plans to c the earlier, 855p showing w/ some ol' friends. i was very hungry n' went down to the new fud ct. i wondered what to eat. i considered the indian joint. un4tunately, indian fast fud joints never do well in mall fua cts cos, i guess, many mall patrons rn't sophisticated 'nuff 4 indian fud. that's really 2 bad. well, un4tunately, i didn't help that cause or situation. in my delusional, hungered state, i simply opted 4 panda express cos'f the cute, fuzzy black n' white pandas, i guess. i had kung pao chicken n' broccoli beef. such typikal. everyday choices, huh? *shrug* i thought, «gee, i could eat chinese fud @ home... but if i had gone home, i couldn't study.» after eating, i went to the car, got my binder, n' went into borders to werk on my takehome midterm exam 4 my "spacecraft dynamics & controls" class. then kaela showed up. i packea up my skoolstuff, dropped it off @ the car. n' walked w/ kaela 2wards the theatre. i went up to the theatre, while kaela went to the fud ct to get dinner. as i approached the ticket taker guy w/ my fandango printout, i saw that there was quite a line forming 4 our showing! :-o ! earlier, the theatre looked so dead n' empty; but looks sure can be deceiving, as this theatre has patrons line up inside, in the hallway, not outside like amc mercado. brian n' julie arrived. i gave 'em 3 tix, n' they waited 4 kaela to come back w/ her dinner, while i stood in line w/ lots'f kids (hi skool n' local college students). kaela came back w/ fud from rubio's; altho', aktually, they gave her the wrong order: chicken nachos instead'f pesky's combo. wow, mall fud ct fud... that's sumpthin' really suburban, huh?
"all's fair in commute
traffik"i noticed that, these days, commute traffik's quite a bit worse. i figured out the reason: silly valley ppl have jobs 1nce 'gain!!! check out this y! news article: "jobless claims plunge, productivity soars". [later] early afternoon: when i say "all's fair in commute traffik", i mean this: in commute traffik, i often drive in the right lane; when i pass an onramp, i switch to the rightmost lane, which'll soon merge to lane i was just in, n' pass lots'f cars. as i don't cross solid white or yellow lines but only broken white lines, i'm a perfektly law.abiding driver. this taktic werks pretty much only in areas that use metering lites. i'm not overly rude in my commute traffik, but i am a li'l more ambitiously aggressive. 1 needs to be.
[later] afternoon, after lunch: i sort'f have diff blue jeans 4 winter n' summer; sort'f. i really need to pack up / box up my summer clothes. in general, it's time 4 us to box up n' clean up in order to move out in a few wks.
[later] eve: fahad recently told me that he tried to e.mail me @ my beno at ocf dot berkeley dot edu acct n' that the e.mail bounced! :-o whah?! why r e.mails from my friends bouncing, while i'm getting plenty'f spam mail?!?! well, friends; if u try to send me an e.mail, n' it bounces; please keep trying! :-) please! here's 1 other tip: well, try to cc: my other addresses. the addreses i prefer to use r beno at benomix dot com n' beno at ocf dot berkeley dot edu. i believe beno at ucmap dot org still werks, amazingly. also, i have a new 1: benoburdy at alumni dot berkeley dot edu. now all'f those addresses aktually just mirror ur e.mails to my beno at ocf dot berkeley dot edu mailbox. neway, i aktually do have other funktional e.mail addresses that i would aktually prefer not to use, but i do receive e.mails @ these addresses. the next best alternative to the 1s i listed already is benoburdy at covad dot net. if u e.mail me at that address, i'll dl ur e.mail via pop mail @ the same time that i get e.mail from all those other addresses. aktually, 4 a while, i was mirroring my e.mails to benoburdy at covad dot net, not beno at ocf dot berkeley dot edu. in fakt, most'f my outgoing mail aktually is sent from the covad dot net server cos'f some sekurity conflikt w/ my ocf server. *shrug* neway, i have other alternate e.mail addresses: benoburdy at yahoo dot com, which i check very regularly but reserve 4 e.mail more like spam mail. like, when i sign up 4 mail from some company, i give my yahoo address. still, i check it regularly cos sometimes companies n' biznesses send somewhat important mail, u know? ok... finally, u can also e.mail me at my werk address, if all else fails. uh... my werk e.mail is my full, official first n' last name w/ an underscore in btwn at my company's server: bernard underscore hwang at amat dot com. heh, i never really mention where i werk in my journal nowadays cos it's such a hi profile, big, famous company; so i dunno... since i hear disasters 'bout ppl getting in trouble w/ their employers cos'f stuff they write in their online journals, i haven't really mentioned my company's name. however, if u'r smart, u'd just go check my online résumé! it's not a sekret where i werk... i'm just not all into mentioning their name right here in this dokument. *shrug* eh, even then, i might say it someday. it's not a curse or nething! ha ha.
neway, the pt'f that last paragraph is: i want to get e.mail from u (not spam mail). also, if u ever try to e.mail me n' the e.mail bounces, please try the methods described 'bove! :-) altho' i say i'd love to get e.mail... :-( i know i'm very slow @ responding to e.mail these days cos i'm just sooo bizzy cos'f werk n' skool. :-( sorry.
[later] 1137p: on my way home from the gym, i saw an ad on a vta bus 4 105.7fm, a spanish language pop muzik station. kewl. not all spanish language muzik is that traditional stuff. after all, not all 'merikan muzik's country, thank goodness!
u should check out this interesting article in the silicon valley
metro 'bout "new urbanism": "New Urbanism, Mon
Amour!" this dude writes 'bout evergreen village n' how
it's aktually somewhat'f a 1950sish idea. even if u don't live in
the silly vally, u really should check out this article, just cos it has to
do w/ contemporary life, u know?
fri morn: ah, fri... wow, 'nother werkweek / skoolweek just flew by! my nose is stuffy. 'least, i don't have a sore throat nemore. i'm in the last stage'f my cold. of course, the "last" stage sometimes lasts a very long time.
check out this y! news article: "payrolls surge, third straight
rise". does it cm like i keep asking u to read y!
news articles that say the ekonomy's getting better? uh, do u
aktually read them? it'd be nice if u did; but no, i can't 4ce u.
yesterday, i asked u to read a y! news article. i hope i got
the url right; the domain/server/whatever should be
"story.news.yahoo.com." i worry that i omitted the "news."
if so, i'll correkt it later. personally, i feel much better
'bout the ekonomy. i believe that, in the next yr, every1 who's
competant n' wants to werk'll be able to find a job. of
course the "wants to werk" is a big contingency, as always.
n' as always, a big akademic degree .ne. job. (".ne." = "not equal
to")
sat morn, 920a: i gotta go werk on my "spacecraft dynamics & controls" midterm 2day. how r u?
[later] 1018a: earlier this morn, i was writing on the bronx's junkyard forums 'bout san josé n' the silly valley. u c, some dude "crimerica"'s visiting san jo n' wants to know what there's to do. hyun was semijokingly saying that san jo's just a big suburb. "!" >:-o u know that'll get me talking!!! nou, i totally respekt hyun's p.o.v. (pt'f view) cos he spends 'lot'f his time in sf, so yah... compared to the country's best metropolis (never mind nyc; altho' the beautiful kaela hwang n' i really wanna visit someday.) i know jason lee also sez the sobay's just a big suburb; n', 'gain like 4 hyun, i respekt his opinion, 'specially since he lives in sf etc. u know 1 thing i say: i really hate it when socalers come up to berkeley 4 college, never leave the campus, graduate, n' then leave the bay area, saying there's nuthin' to do here. geez, it's not the bay area's fault if u insist on being a loser, homebodyshut.in!
last nite, after my class, i came home to pick up kaela. brian
chong sed he was gonna take us out to dinner @ maggiano's little italy
in santana row.
i tried to make a reservation yesterday afternoon but apparently
only succeeded in leaving a confusing v.mail 'bout maggiano'f 4 some gurl
named veronica cos i had the wrong number but really thought i had the
right number. geez, how stoopid'f me! i even had a kewl $10
off coupon ready to go. well, brian n' duk kyung got to maggiano's
n' found no reservation n' a 3.5 hr waitlist! :-o santana row was
sooo crowded! man, what a bad parking nite! well,
brian took us to dinner @ chili's in santana row. kaela n' i shared
chicken n' ribs w/ a side salad w/ avocado ranch that didn't taste much
like avocado. julie also joined us there. after dinner;
julie, kaela, n' i got coffee @ santana row's fantasia café.
'twas a fun nite!
sun eve, 744p: how r u? it's sun nite. well, it's sun... uh, i sed that already. lessee, what can i say here right now? should i talk 'bout this weekend? fri? oh yah, fri we went to santana row's chili's. sat? sat, i spent the whole day werking on my aerospace engineering "spacecraft dynamics & controls" midterm. in the morn, i went w/ the beautiful kaela hwang to her mtg. i just sat in my mom's office n' waited. b4 i went to campus, kaela n' i went to lee's sandwiches on story rd n' picked up some vietnamese sandwiches n' drinks. it's so funny: i used to eat vietnamese sandwiches a whole lot back in the 2002-2003 skoolyr. nowadays, i never eat vietnamese sandwiches. well, it was very tasty. the funny, weird thing is, when we came home 2nite, my mom had bought some vientamese sandwiches from lee's sandwiches 2. funny; it's not like we eat them often @ all these days.
well, after i werked on but didn't finish my midterm. kaela came
to pick me up from campus. she had gone to this bead show during the
day. we had dinner @ the almaden expwy / blossom hill rd
florentine's pasta. 'member? we get buy 1 get 1 free meals @ all
florentine's. :-) the place was so packed; partly cos so many kids were
there cos'f the leland hi skool homecoming. u know that i graduated
from leland hi skool, right? oh yah, it started raining really hard
in the afternoon. when i went to skool, it was pretty ok weather.
in fakt, kaela really liked the weather as we ate our sandwiches in
her car. by the time i left campus, 'twas pouring. we went
home after dinner. we watched a korean movie on dvd 연애 소설
yuhnae sosuhl("the lover's concerto," in english).
mon eve: how r u? i keep saying i'll soon change my gbook qs (questions), but i still haven't, since i still haven't answered them myself! :-( well, i hope i do soon. i've just been a really bizzy guy lately, u know. i'm sorry that i haven't been able to upload my journal entries as consistently as i used to. u do realise that i still write journal entries pretty frequently, right? i just don't get a chance to upload them as soon as i write them these days... not necessarily. sometimes i can; but often, i can't. i really appreciate ur continued readership! :-)
this weekend sometime, i started thinking 'bout what it was like 4 me to be a cub scout when i was a kid. i was telling the beautiful kaela hwang this on our car ride back from lunch. yah, i sort'f 4get why i was thinkin' 'bout this, but i know i usually think i have a good memory; but my memory'f what it was like to be a cub scout during 3-5th grad is sort'f fuzzy. i 'member mtg in this room @ the almaden valley community center, a room that was used in the earlier part'f the day as a pre.skool or daycare or sumpthin'. *shrug* i 'member having "den mothers," who led the li'l group 1 afternoon a week. then, 1 nite a month, i think, we'd have a pack mtg, where scouts'd get their badges. i 'member i was 1st a wolf cub w/ a yellow scarf, then a bear cub w/ a blue scarf, then a webelos scout w/ a plaid scarf. *shrug* i 'member doing pinewood derby, building li'l wooden racecars w/ my dad. i 'member going to daycamp a coupl'f summers: 1nce down here in the bay area, n' 1nce up in washington, where my dad lived. what else? yah, as i sed, my memory's sort'f fuzzy. i think we went hiking a coupl'f times in the almaden quicksilver park. i think we went to round table pizza 1nce n' made our own personal pizzas. i 'member doing lots'f crafts, lots'f arts & crafts type'f stuff.
yesterday was sun. in the morn, we went to church. btwn
church n' couples' bible study, we went to costco, the 1 by lawrence expwy
in sunnyvale. i hadn't been to costco in a long time. bible
study was @ jungho n' michelle's place. it was fun. 1 couple
told us that their place was recently burglarised. that's awful!
they're moving soon neway. they say they're gonna get dogs to
protekt their house when they move. i 4got that that's aktually a
good idea. after ken's family learned that houses were getting
broken into in almaden valley, they got a dog.
tues lunchtime: bizzy bizzy, of course... werk (plenty'f it), my "spacecraft dynamics & controls" take.home midterm, my master's projekt... oh, man! i feel the pressure!!! this day honestly started out pretty crappily as i got out'f the door kind'f late. i left my cellfon @ home. there was so much traffik probs cos the stoopid city government ppl figured that since it's s'pposedly veterans' day 2day, they should do road construktion cos the commute traffik should be fine. grrr! what imbeciles!!! what companies aktually give employees veterans' day off these day?! no 1!!! only the post office, banks, n' maybe k-12 skools. grr, these bank n' state holidays that don't really exist 4 me really annoy me: veterans' day, columbus day... there's 1 big piece'f good commute/traffik news these days: the part'f 880 near 101 finally got widened!!! 4 (for) yrs now, that part'f 880 was such a despised, evil bottleneck!
[later] i'm
really bizzy these days; bizzy n' produktive.
908p: 2day was quite a day. i'm @ the gym right now, but
sumpthin' really crazy happened 2day: i was charging a camera battery this
afternoon in my cubicle, n' i found out later that it blew up!
:-o i received tons'f calls during my "spacecraft dynamics &
controls" lekture. finally, i went out n' answered. the
emergency team sed they needed me @ my bldg right 'way, so i went.
i left class.
1133p: this morn, on my way to werk, i had to make a turn @ uh... lincoln in santa clara, where there's the city hall n/or civic center, where the big ol' statue'f santa clara is. u know that statue? well, shoot, if u'r not from 'round here, u prob'ly don't. it's not quite yet a landmark on the level as the great wall'f china, the tour eiffel, the golden gate bridge, the statue'f liberty, or the egyptian pyramids; no, no quite yet. neway, that statue usually has a pigeon on her head, usually just 1. she always has lots'f pigeons @ her feet. there's oftentimes a coupl'f duck in the pond that surronds her. well, this morn, as i was making the turn from el camino real to lincoln, on my way to werk, there was 'bout 21 pigeons @ the corner on the sidewalk, on that ramp area by the cross walk. they were all lined up, facing the same direktion, like soldiers. as i made my turn, they all simultaneously took off in flight, very synchronised! wow, i had a 21 dove salute! my very own dove release! i felt so honoured! the flew over my car. personally, i thought it was very beautiful. not a single 1 pooped on my car!
oftentimes, when i passed that area, which has lots'f pigeons, i wondered if there'r more pigeons or ppl in this world. well, i asked the beautiful kaela hwang 4 her opinion, n' she thinks there r more ppl. yah, it makes sense; ppl live longer than pigeons. i sed each person in the world could have a pet pigeon! well... that's if there were as many pigeons as ppl.
it's sad, but i do sort'f prefer the 1s that rn't the usually grey n' black pigeon colour.
yah, honestly, i prefer the 1s that r *shrug* all white, brown n' white, or more speckled. :-( i must
sound very racist to pigeons. i'm sorry.
fri morn, almost noon: how r u? i'm ok. i'm in a weird situation @ werk cos the safety ppl gotta decontaminate my cubicle cos'f that battery explosion. it's a really weird n' interesting experience.
it's fri; the weekend's gonna start soon. ne fun plans 4 the weekend? i told toby i'd take him n' betty out to dinner sometime 4 his recent b.day. that'll be on sun. what else? *shrug* a home inspektion thingy, i think... church... *shrug*
on wed (the day my cubicle blew up), i left werk 'round 415p to go talk to my master's projekt advising prof. b4 that, after i parked my car in the sjsu 10th st parking garage, i went to c chuck wu @ his office as he had a cd'f sort'f indie muzik 4 me. he called it a "cd sampler." i guess he didn't wanna call it a "mix cd" cos it's not a continuously mixed, dj thing, u know? he gave me the cd n' the latest issue'f the berkeley alumni magazine... uh, i think it's called california monthly or sumpthin'. i 4get cos i don't look @ the cover, just 1 page on the inside which announces my marriage as a '98 alum to "kaela kang '00 mph '02." heh. go bears!
fast food nation: last nite, @ the gym, i quickly read a silicon valley metro article titled "fast food nation" 'bout ppl who fast 4 spirituality, politiks, glamour, or health. i didn't get to read it thoroughly but hope to catch it online sometime. funny; yesterday, i skipped lunch cos i had to go sign some escrow papers. on my drive back to werk, i ate 2 fortune cookies n' a small bag'f chips i found in my car. the article sez ppl find spiritual enlightenment n' more often just a more alert, focused mind when they fast. u know, sometimes i don't eat just cos i'm 2 bizzy w/ werk, etc., n' yah... i think i do feel more focused. then 'gain, that really sounds like anorexia talk, u know? well, last nite, i had a big dinner. we went to 옹고집 onggojip n' had some kind'f 닭갈비 전골 dalk galbi juhngol type thingy. it was very good, tho' i guess ppl thought 'twas a li'l salty? it was 심사범님 shim sabuhmnim's b.day. 2day, just now. i ate most'f some yucky, overpriced personal pizza i bought from the company cafeteria. i bought it cos i saw red hot chili pepper flakes by it n' thought 'bout how much i like spicy fud. un4tunately, 'twas a nasty pizza, far from worth my $3.95. :-( i thought 'bout just skipping lunch, but i know u gotta eat to stay a good, alert werker sometimes. *shrug*
[later] 621p: i'm waiting 4 kaela @ the pruneyard. i had mz
master's projekt class earlier. some days i wish the mechanikal
n' aerospace engineering depts were separate here cos our fields cm
sooo diff; but my taking that 1 aerospace engineering class helps me
understand it a li'l better.
1110a: i'm typing from my home pc. man, honestly, i rarely use my home pc these days. :-( several reasons: 1) i'm not home much, even less cos i'm werking full time n' still going to skool. 2) when i amhome, i usually use our sony vaio laptop instead cos the beautiful kaela hwang doesn't like me to disappear into my ol' childhood bedroom where my 'puter is, while she sits in our bdrm n' watches tv. u know me; i don't like to watch tv that much, but it's nice to spend more time w/ ur spouse; so yah, i compromise by using our laptop from our bdrm instead'f my home desktop pc. 3) my home pc keeps crashing! 'member? i whine 'bout it now n' then. there's a prob w/ the power supply, the video card, or both. i'm sick'f losing my old e.mails. :-( i really wanna have archives'f all the e.mails i receive/send. *sigh* neway, i'm rarely on my home pc these days. i imagine, when we move, i'll use my home pc more 'gain. i'm not sure. u know when there's a big event that u eagerly anticipate, isn't it that it never turns out 'xaktly the way u picture it in ur imaginative head b4hand? i've heard ppl say this b4, i think. i don't think that was an original benothought or nething. i'm not sure. c, when i was a teenager, i'd look 4ward to parties n' dances, u know? of course, i still sometimes look 4ward to parties, but... yah, when u'r a kid, the idea'f dancing to pop muzik is just sooo novel n' sooo kewl, so i really looked 4ward to parties n' dances. the days b4 the dance, i'd always imagine in my head in great detail how the nite'd be. however, i started realising as yrs passed, that the aktual event'd never be 'xaktly as i imagined it to be. not that i'm saying nething like "don't look4ward to nething, kid; u'll always be disappointed." heh. u know me! i'm not that kind'f person! some ppl'd say i'm an optimist. in ne case, i'm not saying that things don't turn out as nice as u'd like them to; no! i'm just saying that sometimes u imagine a future event in great detail; then, when it aktually happens, it doesn't look nething like the picture u had in ur head. so i've imagined what life'll be like when we move into our new house. however, i know i'm wrong. i dunno.
last nite, after my class, after i picked kaela up from her werk, we went to santana row cos i had to feed kaela sumpthin', as we say. well... we looked 'round crate n' barrel 4 a while cos kaela sed she'd be willing to put off eating 4 crate n' barrel, even tho' she sed she was sooo starving. she showed me lots'f expen$ive nice furniture that i can't imagine buying, but *shrug* i dunno... what willwe have? brian chong told us just to get used furniture off'f craigslist. yah, of course, craigslist is awesome. however... i dunno i know we gotta be really picky w/ our furniture, n' i dunno... *sigh* i think our attitude 2wards furniture buying right now is that we'll try to buy somewhat nice stuff... but if we can't afford it, we just won't buy nething @ all n' do w/o until we can afford it; i guess. neway, i told kaela we could go get tapas @ citrus 4 dinner. when we got there, tho'; i was totally surprised! citrus no longer is a tapas restaurant! :-o it's this amerikan chophouse type restaurant. i was flabbergasted! honestly, i was rather disappointed. it's a very beautiful, dimly lit restaurant... but it's obviously much more "domestic" now... n' :-/... it already was a sort'f pricey restaurant; but now it's aktually really expen$ive. i didn't realise the change in the restaurant until after we sat down n' were given menus. i didn't recognise nething on the menu n' then soon figured it out. *sigh* well, personally, i eventually just tried to make the best'f a sort'f disappointed situation. i mean... if u find urself in a really nice restaurant... i guess i should just stop stressing n' try to enjoy the nice fud. i couldn't help think how we were literally eating our furniture. :-( kaela sed the dinner could count as our monthversary dinner, since our monthversary is on the 19th. well, yah... i did pretty much promise to myself that we would not have more than 1 extravagant meal a month. i gotta stick to that promise, u know? kaela had a filet mignon, n' i had halibut... no, they were out'f halibut, so i had sea bass. oh yah, i guess my meal got that much fancier right there, as sea bass is a fancier fish than halibut, right? *sigh* neway... after a while, i just convinced myself to enjoy the moment. the ekonomy's gonna come back, n' we'll all be able to find jobs soon, right? more n' more'f my friends r finding decent jobs now, n' i'm happy 4 them.
heh, funny i mentioned crate n' barrel cos michelle joo signed my gbook recently. while @ crate n' barrel, kaela n' i kept talkin' 'bout michelle n' jungho's furniture cos they got some'f it @ crate n' barrel. we were @ their place just this past sun 4 bible study. thanks 4 signing my gbook, michelle. also, "teazemetea," thanks 4 signing my gbook! i really appreciated that u answered the bear pic q!!!! :-) well, i think it's time i answered my own gbook qs. i just ate some instant, microwaved 잣죽 jatjook (pinenut porridge), am sort'f warm, n' can type 4 a li'l, so here we go:
name: 황명록
e.mail: beno at ocf dot berkeley dot edu or beno at benomix dot com
homepage url (don't 4get to use http colon slash
slash!): http://www.benomix.com
in which'f the following places do u sing? (shower;
car; bathroom, on toilet
noraebang; church; rock group; acappella group): car, church (when we aktually get there early
'nuff)
which phrase best describes ur social circle/situation?:
(loner/individualist, belong to 1 clique/posse/gang, leader'f 1
clique/posse/gang, float from crowd to crowd, just a few close
friends): honestly, "float
from crowd to crowd," altho' thru.out my past, i think i've been leaders'f
several groups... but usually did not like cliques.
how do u want ur coffee or espresso?
i like espresso straight up.
otherwise, cappuccino... nonfat... otherwise, @ home i make cappuccino w/
korean 두유 dooyoo (soybean milk... thicker than the chinese/taiwanese or
amerikan kind) also, i very much like the banana mocha frosted boba
drink @ bosion in valley fair!
what's 1 way u r young @ heart?
taekwondo
what's sumpthin' u do 1nce a month?
take kaela out 4 a nice dinner!
:-)
view
www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~beno/journal/2003/pictures/20030723kaelabearweb.jpg.
now come up w/ some captions 4 each frame!
1. bear: 곰표 밀가루... 2. kaela: 에? 3. kaela: 밀가루 필요 없어. 4. both: 김치!!! ^.^~~~~
additional comments: u need to update more often. i'm sure u will so, i'll check
ur webpage very often!
1219a: the beautiful kaela hwang n' i aktually did not get out'f the house until pretty late 2day. crazy. most days, weekdays or weekends, we're out'f the house b4 noon, right? that sounds reasonable, right? well, after we move, maybe we'll spend more time @ home, since we'll really love n' cherish our home, right? *shrug* @ the same time, i don't wanna be antisocial or nething... so i hope our friends'll come over often. i hope so. yah, i've never liked the whole "homebody" thing, as u know. however, we'll live closer to the aktion, so yah... we'll prob'ly spend more time @ home cos we'll spend much less time on the rd! our biggest expen$es every month r fud n' gas. gas is sort'f fud 4 our cars; so man! we just eat, eat, n' eat! we gotta feed our cars, like ppl in the ol' days fed their horses, right? horsies n' horseys.
2nite, we went to dinner w/ grace, steve, mason, n' my dad @ buca di beppo in the pruneyard. we picked that place cos we figured it's got a lively, family atmosphere. we ate family style of course, as is expekted there, n' had a caesar salad, chicken marsala, n' a small uh... uh... sumpthi'n aglio olio... basikally, spaghetti w/ garlicky olive oil. after dinner, after the others left, kaela n' i checked out the pruneyard theatre 4 a movie, as we wanted to watch love actually. we had just missed a showing, so we went into the campbell roasting company to get some espresso drinks b4 going over to amc mercado 20 to try to catch the movie there. i called moviefon, while kaela ordered our drinks. she knows i prefer that we patronise this li'l, independent, korean.amerikan owned joint instead'f a evil, megacorporation! ha ha ha. well... not all megacorporations r evil... now that i werk 4 a big corporation n' all. in case u'r just oblivious, i'm being a berkeleyite in the middle'f silly valley giving starbucks a hard time 4 its bovine growth hormonial ways. heh... aw, i'm just kiddin' n' playin', as we all know it's impossible to avoid buying a tall grandé venti now n' then. pbs tv chef rick bayless advertises 4 burger king's new sourdough chicken baguettes or whatever they r. it's hard to avoid franchises in amerika.
well, after kaela got our drinks, i discovered that amc mercado's next
showing'f love actually was aktually later than the
pruneyard's: 1030p v. 915p. well, we decided to support this
independent film house instead'f megacorporate amc. (the camera
cinemas'f san josé r some very fine movie houses!) i
realised when i got to the box office that the camera cinemas only charge
students $7. amc charges us $7.50, n' syufy century theatres (very
prevalent in the sobay) charge us $9.50 (normal adult price). yah,
when we went to watch the asian amerikan film festival @ camera 3 n'
better luck tomorrow @ camera 1, we only had to pay $7 as students;
that's right. kewl! well, we had time to murder, so we went
to megacorporate barnes & nobles to use their
library. aktually, san jo has a beautiful, new library. we
san joséans don't need b&n to fill in as a
library as it does in less literary cities. oh yah... we were in
campbell, not san jo... heh, neway, i hear santa clara's building a nice,
new library. we'll just hafta c. the san jo city / sjsu library's pretty dope;
no diggity. (it's da bomb.) (it's even the bomb
diggity!) (...diddly.) neway, we browsed. we
looked @ books on doggies, fud, wine, houses... all sorts'f stuff.
on our way out, we spotted this superkewl book called... (trumpet call)
dun dundun duuuuh! extraordinary pigeons!!!!! dude, u gotta
c this book! dude! dude! dude?!?!?! duuuuuuude...
it's such a kewl book... n' u don't even gotta be literate to enjoy it; u
can just check out the kewl pics! u know how i feel 'bout
burdies... even pigeons... which r really just a kind'f dove. it's
a neat book. well, we were running late... sort'f... so we left n'
i pried kaela 'way from some shelf'f jane austen books. u 'member
my sophomore english 1a class @ berkeley?
ah, of course u know the story!!! i showed up a li'l
late to the 1st day'f class, n' the graduate student instructor was
talkin' 'bout jane austen n' how heterosexual men might wanna think 2ice
b4 continuing w/ the class. i was confused n' thought i might've
been in the wrong class, so i checked w/ some1; but yah... it was the
right class, n' i was just 2 much'f an engineering student to know that
there's such a thing as a semseterly english dept announcement that tells
u which english class sektions have which specialised
topiks. 'pparently, my sektion was the women's lit
sektion. *shrug* kewl. i had a great time. no
diggity. on our way back out thru the attached starbucks thru which we entered, tim fong, whom we
knew from ucmap saw us, got up from his seat @ a table
studyin' 4 his usf law skool classes where he met darren wong, n' sed hi
to us. wow, these days, i'm sort'f amazed when ppl i haven't cn in
the past few months recognise me n' say hi. *shrug* i guess i'm
just 2 used to cing ol hi skool classmates walk by me 'round san
josé never realising that i spent so much time w/ them in the past.
some ppl just don't recognise me. (u better
recognise!) (ne1 else gettin' sick'f my 1990s hip hop talk?
a'ight, laterz homes!) well, we talked to tim 4 a while n'
then had to hurry to our movie. luckily, the long line we saw was 4
the box office, not our screen! phew. we got decent seats. i
aktually went out to get some popcorn n' a sprite . we watched the movie. i thought how this
was the theatre where i saw return of the jedi w/ my sister n' mom
4 our very 1st times. uh... this is the original pruneyard
theatre, right? they didn't tear down an old 1 n' then build a new
1, did they? heh, i sort'f have a feeling they might've, in
which case this was not the theatre where i saw return of the
jedi w/ my sister n' mom4 our very 1st times, where my mom brought
peanut butter n' jelly sandwiches in w/ us. back then it wasn't so
ok to bring in ur own refreshments, unlike these days where they
strategikally place starbucks right next to
megaplexes, fully intending to letchu bring ur tall grandé venti
into the movie.
as we sat down 4 the movie, i was confused 'bout what love actually was 'bout. i was thinkin' it was some movie w/ george clooney n' what's her name? t.mobile woman? uh... uh... that welsh woman! uh... u know... michael douglas... chicago... that drug movie... uh... she pretends to be chicana now n' then... uh... shoot! why'm i drawing a semi.blank? [i'm gonna take a shower n' come back to write more.] . . . [100a, back from the shower] catherine zeta.jones. do u know what movie i'm talkin' 'bout? it has billy bob thornton 2, right? n' it involves some divorce n' a woman gettin' it on w/ her divorce lawyer? neway, sometime btwn the 1 preview trailer n' the end'f the the opening credits i realised that i was 'bout to watch a hugh grant movie n' starting thinkin' it'd be some movie that was all 'bout hugh grant n' just sort'f glorified him in the way that russel crowe movies r all 'bout glorifying russel crowe. was i gonna watch 'nother bridget jones's diary or else 'nother notting hill? well, as the movie progressed, i realised that this movie also had colin firth from bridget jones's diary but didn't focus so much on hugh grant, altho' he was playing a relatively young, single english prime minister. love actually was aktually a really beautiful n' cute movie, n' i do recommendju c it if u like love (or love like). it's got almost all the british movie stars u can think'f... as long as u rn't really a brit.
back in my undergrad college days @ berkeley, sam myoung lead conversations 'bout how, in korea, christmas was un4tunately more a holiday 'bout love n' romance than the birth'f a saviour. it's more like valentine's day, he sed. recently, while kaela n' i were talking to julie, she agreed. neway, love actually is a total christmastime romance, love movie. 'member when bridget jones's diary came out? wasn't it 'round christmastime? i know nicolas cage's family man came out 'round christmas, n' it's 1'f the movies i like more. when u have time, remind me to tell u 'bout li'l article in this month's men's health that talks 'bout family men. it's a really good article, i think! it's really already christmas time. all the malls say so, n' so does starbucks.
[later] 824a: it's quite chilly this morn! i hope kaela wakes up sooner rather than later, so we can get to church earlier. neway, i toldju that i really wanna share w/ u this men's health article: it's called "say yes to saying no."
> say no. "you can have it all, but not unless you're willing to say no to people," kahn says. "my father couldn't do that. i work with some very succesful, productive men who, come 7 p.m., say, 'no, i have to be with my family.' these are the men i really admire most."
mon early afternoon: werklife's pretty much "back to normal."
they're safety.minded n' safe here but efficient. [later] late
afternoon: 2day, i've been drinking 2 much coffee.
tues afternoon: it's really gonna be christmas soon. how do u feel 'bout that? personally, i'm kind'f happy cos christmas's a happy, relaxing, cheerful time'f yr, n'est ce pas? i look 4ward to all the bright lites, winter greenery, shiny decorations, spicy aromas, cute fuzzies... of course, u pt out it's not even t.giving yet! true. worse yet, t.giving's always been a horribly stressful time 4 me... akademically!!! it's just @ 'least a li'l hard to think 'bout skool when there's pepppermint n' christmas sales in the air. the air outside turns chilly n' brisk. the air in the mall gets warm n' stuffy. soon, we'll hear the same ol' christmas tunes over n' over. already, just thinking 'bout it, i'm particularly dreading "jingle bell rock."
oh, so as'f 2day, i'm a homeowner. crazy. mortgage n'
taxes, mortgage n' taxes. the beautiful kaela hwang
n' i don't move in till 12.03 (dec 3). we're currently renting the
house back to the 4mer owners. we'll be home 4 christmas. we'll be
home 4 mortgage n' taxes.
wed lunchtime: it's the beautiful kaela hwang's
n' my 4th wedding monthversary! :-)
[later] 849p: 지금 제육관에 있어요.
thurs late morn: of course, there's never enuf time. i
wish i had time to sit down n' chat w/ u, but i don't. i sure
don't. :-( i wish i had time to gather up some christmas muzik to burn to cd
or load onto my mp3 players, but i don't. i've had the same muzik on
my soundsgood 4 ages, n' i haven't
used my muvo in a while. i really would like to buy some new
cds sometime.
[later] ~lunchtime: some days'morn commutes go better than others. 2day, it felt like i kept picking the wrong lane. u ever get that feeling? of course u do! as soon as u switch into a lane, it slows down n' the ppl who were behind u in the old lane zoom past u.
[later] still ~lunchtime: i'm really bizzy these days. sorry.
[later] afternoon: did i mention i'm really bizzy?
[later] 오후 1058: 태권도 연습후에 마크 하고 벤하고 같이 팬태이찌야에서 좀 보바 음료를 마셨어요. 남자만의 밤이었어요. ha ha. after taekwondo practice, i went w/ mark n' ben to fantasia to get some boba drinks. i told them it was a guys' nite out 4 me. the beautiful kaela hwang doesn't like to go to sparring practice, n' thurs'r sparring practices these days. ben is 1'f the 2 bruthas who were in the army. well, he's out now, but his brutha's still in the army n' in iraq. it's crazy.
i've been very bad 'bout logging what i eat these days. what can i say? usually eat asian fud... sometimes we go to florentine's to get 2.4.1. italian fud... what else? uh, on sun nite, i took toby n' betty out 4 their b.days. i took 'em to todai cos they needed to experience it 1nce, n' i wanted also to use my gift certificate b4 it expired. heh. it was a good meal, n' we were way 2 stuffed. earlier, while betty was trying on wedding dresses, i took toby to bj's brewhouse in oakridge mall 4 some beer. apparently, he likes ipa (india pale ale). if u know beer, then u know that's a type'f beer not a brand. me, i can sometimes drink ipa, but i prefer hefeweizen, no doubt. sure, since it's winter, i hope to have a stout 1nce or 2ice in the next few months. otherwise, some kind'f lite lager'll do.
my hair's getting so shaggy.
what else do i want to talk 'bout here? well... this n' that... i dunno where to start cos i never update 'nuff nemore. :-( i'm really frustrated w/ how my home 'puter always crashes. my werk 'puter's a really hotrod: a p4 2.8ghz w/ 2gb'f ram... it's kew. my home 'puter's really not that shabby, but *shrug* there's just some prob w/ the power supply n/or video card. :-( i'm so sick'f its crashing. :-( *sigh* it's a really, really hard time'f yr cos'f the akademic skedule. i've got lots to do.
this weekend is the san josé snow expo. r u going? u should! it doesn't co$t much to get in, n' they give 'way free lift tix!!! didju know that the news sez that snow resorts r having a price war this yr? yah, it's s'pposedly kind'f cheap to go snowboarding this yr. that's good to hear, but in case u haven't noticed, it's gettin' 2wards the end'f nov, n' kaela n' i haven't hit the slopes 1nce this yr... not 1nce. of course, we're trying to save $$$ to pay 4 the house, obviously. we have 1 snowtrip to go to right after christmas... that's w/ some friends. that's all planned out n' all... however, 'member? we usually go snowboarding like 20 days a season or so... well, it's scary to think that might not happen this yr... n' don'tchu go off thinking we're just a bunch'f luxurious ski bum types! $@#! u, if u think that. u know when we go snowboarding, it's a real sport n' we go to really board not to be a bunch'f rich@$$ poseurs wasting ca$h, so it's not a luxury thing 4 us. really... i've been snowboarding 4 a long time now, n' i've snowboarded very often 4 that long time... n' honestly, i'm pretty good n' think it'd be a shame if i just totally stopped snowboarding, u know? as i keep saying... like, what's there left to life if u just become a pathetic werkin' guy that just werks n' werks to pay the bills n' no1 frickin' appreciates u neway? that's just the typikal road to midlife crisis neway, n' we all know it.
uhm, don't i have nething interesting to talk 'bout???
well, what do u want 4 christmas? there's lots'f 10% ~ 20% off "friends n' family" discount coupons floating 'round the internet these days! man, u gotta take 'vantage'f those, u know?
so yah... i wanna burn some cds'f musik that gets me in the winter
mood... not necessarily christmas muzik, just songs that 'mind me'f winter, etc.
uh, sometimes i write "musik"; sometimes i write "muzik."
fri morn: hey, what's goin' on, yo? it's fri. 금요일 이지.
무슨일이냐? whasshup? oh yah, yesterday nite, i
changed the gbook qs! u should go fill out the new
gbook qs! (by "qs," i mean "q"s, as in "questions," where "q" =
question n' "s" make it plural.) yah, i really like hearing from u!
slowly, i'll try to write back when u write to me or sign my gbook.
maybe over winter break i'll have more time. (winter breaaaaak!!! yeah!
... well then, when _r_ we gonna get rowdy?) i owe some ppl some
e.mail replies, very overdue 1s. i'm sorry.
as i've sed in earlier entries, t.giving time's a very bizzy time'f yr cos'f the semester system's akademic skedule. i've never attended a 0.25 system skool.
i do look 4ward to our upcoming socal trip. it'll be short, but i hope we have fun n' go places. i wonder how the weather is down there.
oh yah! heh heh... lemme tell u a li'l story that take a li'l while: 2nite, the beautiful kaela hwang has some dinner party thing in palo alto (stanfurd country) 4 her werk. cos'f that, we carpooled this morn. we drove my car to my office; n' then kaela took my car to her office. as i got my green adidas backpack out'f the back seat, i saw a grey bally's fitness sweatshirt, also in the back seat. i asked kaela 'bout it while she switched into the driver seat. she sed she asked the bally's staff to give me 1 cos they were s'pposed to give me a gym bag last holiday season as part'f some promotion.
[later] ~lunchtime: i c that my server (ocf.berkeley.edu)'s gonna start using a blogging program: "movable type." coincidentally, i had just read 'bout movable type a whice 'go in some bizness magazine. i think they're blogger's main competitor. in ne case, i personally do not think i'll start using the blogging program cos i'm much more into this whole html programming thing... not that html's really a programming language; as by definition, it's only a mark up language.
[later] 618p: i can't believe this semester flew by so fast. time
flies. i had the 2nd to last mtg'f my master's projekt class just a
li'l while 'go. apparently, there's a good charlotte concert 2nite @
sjsu, n' the teenagers r lined up from the events center past the
engineering bldg. right now, i'm in the engring bldg, waiting 4
kaela to get ready. all these teenage gurls keep walking in to use
the restroom.
748p, sat eve: i'm sittin' in theatre 11'f amc mercado 20, waiting to
watch mike myers in the cat in the hat. 4day, we went to the
san josé snow expo to get free lift tix. then we went to
valley fair. we had dinner w/ grace, steve, mason, my dad, n' sue @
옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang. i tried to watch mason 4 a while n'
lharned that he has sooo much energy after eating.
wow!
mon morn: how r u? i don't think ne1 has signed my new gbook yet. i mean, it's the new version'f my gbook, w/ new qs, not a totally revamped or nething...
on fri nite, after my class, we went to stanfurd country 4 the beautiful kaela hwang's company dinner party, where they served tri.tip n' chicken n' had 2 few tables n' chairs. julie came out n' hung w/ us. we went to the el camino real starbucks to chill. i'm not sure, but i think that's the kewlest starbucks in this country. it's the starbucks, @ which i've heard the least english spoken... in this country. also, it has a drive.thru. starbucks in korea has green tea frappuccino, n' that's impossible to beat, but this el camino starbucks is the kewlest in amerika. wanna hear sumpthin' funny? i just sed that starbucks is kewl cos u hear the least english there; on fri nite, there were 2 silent tables communicating in sign language! both tables were big. groovy, huh? well-we hung out 4 a long while n' chatted 'bout life, culture, n' relationships over espresso drinks.
sat, we went to the snow expo, then valley fair macy's, then옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang, then the cat in the hat @ amc mercado 20. sun, we went to church, then hung out in the silly valley w/ roland. @ church, after service n' bible study, ... [later, afternoon] we (the english ministry) served t.giving lunch to the korean ministry. it was aktually pretty fun.
[later] 905p: 제가 지금 어디요? 확시 제육과에 있잖아요! of course, i'm @ the gym right now? i was @ werk past 800p, of course; then i came to the gym. i considered using the company gym, which's just a cubicle 'way from my cube (or "cubie" as some corporate werkin' folk call it, but not me); but i wanted to come to bally's to stamp my new holiday fitness challenge card. some certain #'f stamps earns u a t.shirt. :-/ eh. last yr the gift was a kewl (but cheap) gym bag. u know the whole story'f how kaela got me a bally's sweatshirt last wk, right?
neway, after serving mashed potatoes (me) n' gravy (kaela) @ church, we met up w/ roland @ 길목 gilmok. ("corner place" is its english name.) we ate 떡볶이 와 굴파전 dduhkbokki n' gool pajuhn ("rice pinkies" n' oyster "green onion pancakes"). we hung out, went to fantasia 4 boba n' roasted chestnuts, went downtown 4 the snow expo, day 2. the alpine meadows snow doggies (ginger n' trevor) were absent. on sat, while kaela talked to some chiropractor @ his trade show booth, trevor came up to me n' leaned 'gainst my leg waiting to be pet. obviously, trevor (as well as ger) is a golden retriever! :-) my ol' cowerker's g.retriev'r dusty did the same. after sun'f snow expo visit, the 3'f us cruised thru the rivermark preplanned modern urban living development. then we hit up v.fair. we hung there 4 quite a while then got our grub on @ udupi palace veggie indian restaurant on el camino. it's cheap n' good. beware'f monster.sized portions! be afraid. be very afraid! however, it's relatively cheap.
san jo n' most'f cali's cold these days. chilly n' brisk...
tues early eve: 2day, the beautiful kaela hwang
received via ups the palm zire 71 handheld pda i bought 4 her on ebay cos
her old handspring visor deluxe died on her a couple'f months 'go.
that visor deluxe... i bought it 4 her 4 christmas back in 2000,
right? yah, i think so.that christmas, we went to dinner @ that li'l french restaurant in sf's soma. we keep 4getting
that restaurant's name. [later] eve(ning) after doing a search on dine.com, i
realised the restaurant's name's fringale. neway, i was talkin'
'bout that palm zire 71 handheld 'puter aka pda. (i mean, some ppl'd call
it a "handheld computer," some'd call it a pda... depends on how much'f a
geek u r... geekier folk call it a "handheld computer" to flaunt the
fakt that it really can do many'f the things that a laptop or even
desktop 'puter can do.) u know, i bought it 4 very cheap on ebay,
but i gotta say... i sort'f wish that i had just bought it on buy.com instead. right now, they're selling it 4 $259.99,
n' if i or u use my website link to buy that or ne produkt, i get
some small percentage'f a commission. u know, i have a bunch'f this
commission.paying links, right? yah, check out my sponsors page sometime. if u buy stuff from ne'f
those companies, try to use my link, so i can get that small, tiny
commission kickback. i'll appreciate it. soon, i'll be adding
more'f these commission links, including macy's, so yah... i wish i had
macy's as a commission link back b4 our wedding... then i could've told ppl
to buy our wedding gifts thru my link, right? i'm sure u'll be doing
lots'f christmas
shopping soon. kaela sed that this palm zire 71 can be her christmas present from me,
but i told her that she wouldn't let me do that. heh... *shrug* neway, i
was saying that i wish i had bought that pda from
buy.com
, not just cos i wanted to advertise the fakt that u can
buy thru my links to gimme commission, but cos my recent ebay experiences
have not been that good. u know what i went thru to get this palm,
right? i tried to buy it 1nce, n' the seller totally ripped me off,
scammed me; so i filed a ebay buyer's protection claim on that purchase to
get my $$$ back. basikally, it's like insurance. the 2nd
seller, who aktually sold me the item, took 4ever to ship it...
but i'm glad kaela received it 2day.
well, it's nov 25 2day. 2day's been tues; 1 more werkday n' then it's t.giving. can u believe that? *sigh* neway, i'm realising that t.giving's a really bad holiday cos it makes students procrastinate @ a very dangerous time. we should be werking very, very hard on the projekts that r due @ the end'f the semester. instead, we go visit family n' eat, eat, eat. it's bad. it's very bad. what r ur favourite holidays? i realise that some ppl really hate christmas cos they say it's a commercialised holiday; n' yah, i know it is. others really hate christmas just cos they hate christians n' christianity, u know? those ppl most likely also hate easter; it only makes sense. some ppl really hate v.day cos they either hate love, r bitter 'bout love, or 'gain just think it's just 'nother commercialised holiday... n' it is. some ppl hate columbus day cos it sort'f promotes imperialism n' genocide. i'm sure some ppl must hate lunar new yr cos they hate asian ppl. *shrug* cinco de mayo? yah, there'll be racists that hate all the holidays that relate to certain ethnic groups, but *shrug* then 'gain... why do u gotta hate like that? *shrug* it takes so much effort, doesn't it? *shrug* well, lessee, what other holidays might ppl hate? *shrug* well, some ppl might hate 4th'f july, memorial day, veterans day... i did say that those pseudo.holidays that gov't employees n' banks take that we real ppl don't take annoy me; but i don't necessarily hate them. oh, i sed some ppl hate halloween cos they say it's evil n' satanic. however, halloween's not a real holiday cos no1 gets the day off 4 halloween, right? however, if they call veterans day a holiday n' i don't get veterans day off, then we might's well call halloween a holiday, right? neway, why all this negative talk? i didn't mean to ask what holidays u hate! didn't i ask, "what holidays do u like?" *shrug*
well, howzabout u fill out the new version'f my gbook?
what did kaela n' i eat 4 lunch 2day? we went to galleria market.
i had 육계장 yookgyeijang, n' kaela had 떡만두국 dduhkmandoogook.
we also shared a pack'f 감자 떡 gamja dduhk (potato dduhk).
galleria market n' hangook market both have nice "deli" lunch areas, where
u can get pretty cheap, good fud. lots'f moms bring their li'l kids
to eat @ galleria market's fud area, i noticed. lots'f moms w/ kids
n' then groups'f guy engr types.
wed morn: it's wed morn. [later] lunchtime: i gotta go to campus to talk to my master's projekt advising profs. no time 4 a sitdown lunch, but i told my cowerkers i'd meet'em 4 a quick bite @ kfc. [later] afternoon: i'm waiting outside 1'f my advising professor's office.
[later] 11.34 pm: @ ont.
305a: 추수 감사절 줄거워요. we arrived in socal fine. while waiting 4 our southwest airlines flight out'f mineta san josé aeroport, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i each had a gordon biersch blonde bock @ the gordon biersch bar in the aeroport. it was very good, but it made me sleepy on the flight. i fell asleep n' missed the distribution'f peanuts n' chocolate but woke up to order my complimentary beverage, 4 which i chose bloody mary mix, no vodka! just the mix, which is just spiced up tomato juice, i guess. in ne case, it's not like really spicy on my scale or nething, just barely spicy. earlier... oh it's thurs now... teknically thurs morn, altho' i consider it wed nite. it's t.giving now. happy t.giving! neway, earlier (on wed nite), after werk, i went to costco to get some things. 2'f these things were: a sandisk 256mb sd card 4 kaela 's new palm 71 zire, so we can watch videos n' listen to mp3s, n' a sandisk memory card reader, a 6.in.1 device.
2morrow (as in fri) 'll be the day after t.giving, which was historically known as the bizziest, biggest shopping day'f the yr, cos s'pposedly ppl start christmas shopping. hrm, funny... does it not cm that store r trying to make christmas earlier n' earlier, yet shoppers r doing their christmas shopping later n' later? it cms like that 2 me! lemme tell u: the ekonomy is getting better, but we still gotta dump dubyah! neway, some ppl'd call this upcoming fri "the bizziest shopping day'f the yr," but some other ppl call it sumpthin' like "buy nuthin' day" or sumpthin'. *shrug* while on the sjsu campus 2day, i saw flyers up 4 this, flyers that asked ppl not to buy nething on nov 28, this upcoming fri, the day right after t.giving, s'pposedly "the bizziest shopping day'f the yr." some ppl r anti.consumerismists. u know that, right? if u don't, then u r, i'm sorry to say, sort'f clueless or maybe even ignorant. some ppl really hate commercialism n' consumerism. they're right in saying that amerika consumes 2 much. yah, they're right. that's no good. we shouldn't waste so much, no. however, personally, i think we do gotta stimulate the ekonomy. u know what i mean? i keep telling u: it's not right, despite being in these tuff, tuff times, to try to spend nuthin' n' earn nuthin'. instead, we should spend n' yet try to earn. i know; it's not very possible 4 all'f us. yah, i understand; it sure isn't. however, *shrug* it's just a basik idea, u know? of course, it's not gonna werk 4 every1.
oh yah, kaela 's right 'bout my gbook, n' i'm so sad: i made all these new qs (questions) 4 u to answer, but i must not'f saved my settings; so now we're back to the old qs. :-( i'm sorry. well, u can answer those 'gain. when i find time, i'll try to get the new qs back. when stuff like this happens, i feel a li'l discouraged.
be thankful 4 whatchu've got. i think san jo's christmas in the park exhibit opens 2nite in that downtown park on market st by the fairmont hotel. personally, i like christmas in the park, despite some'f those scarily deomonic looking dummies that pretend to sing to recorded muzik, etc. uhm, in case u don't know, christmas in the park is sort'f uh... it's an exhibit. think'f jumbo, life.sized dioramas. else, think'f parade floats that r stationary, 1s that don't move. yah, imagine those 2 things. it's got a whole bunch'f christmas exhibits, lots'f christmas trees, n' a good amt'f cute, fuzzy things. i'd enjoy winter more if i got to snowboard more.
on wed, i went to kfc w/ my cowerkers, 3'f them. it was kewl to talk w/ the guys, but i felt sort'f weird cos i'm not as much into futbol as they r. they're really into collegiate futbol. it's really bad, but i started talkin' 'bout taekwondo cos we were talkin' 'bout collegiate sports. i didn't mean to hijack the conversation, n' i hope ppl were genuinely interested n' not just humouring me. do u think i'm a self.conscious guy? sometimes i think back 'bout recent past conversations n' wonder if i put my foot or fut in my mouth. in the afternoon, i went to visit a prof, but he wasn't in; so i went to visit 'nother prof. i had to wait a long time.
how r u? i hope u have a good... no... great t.giving. u know what's gonna happen soon, right? u'll start cing less orange n' brown n' even more red n' green than u've been cing since oktober. obviously, we haven't cn much orange n' black lately.
hey, speaking'f all these colours... u've cn this experiment b4,
right? say aloud the colours u c: blue --
-- orange -- -- brown
-- -- yellow -- -- pink -- -- grey -- -- white ... uh, i 4get 'xaktly how the experiment
goes. right now, i'm typing on my handspring visor edge .
u know that handspring n' palm merged to form "palm one," right? u should
know that. crazy, huh? me, i still have my ol' handspring
visor edge, n' yah it's still a good produkt. sure, i love
the hi res colour display'f the palm zire 71 n' it's built.in mp3 player n'
digital camera (which i like to call a "digicam). i like how it's
sooooo fast!!! it's much faster than the
handheld 'puters'f back in 2001/2002. man, it's really kewl.
u gotta check it out! u should buy 1 thru 1'f my affiliate
links! heh heh. yah, u should buy, n' i should earn!
it's a great ekonomy! heh heh. yah, right...
seriously, no1 but kaela n' i ever buy from my links... oh 'cept
jerome bought from my yesasia link a few times b4. i think brandie did
2. did roland? i'm sorry, i 4get.
[later] 1001a: when i went to kfc w/ my cowerkers, i had this honey bbq chicken sandwich. it wasn't very good. :-( however, i like that u can use credit card @ kfc. i know u can use credit card @ j.box. kaela n' i don't eat much fast fud these days cos we haven't been snowboarding in ages.
i'm sort'f watching the new york city macy's t.giving parade. some group called simple plan was per4ming a song while riding on the m&m float, n' the singer messed up. matt n' katie called them a punk band, but socal pop punk scene has made punk style muzik so mainstream that it's hard to call these groups punk groups. to an amerkan kid who lived thru the 1980s, it cms that punk groups were what punk kids listened to instead'f journey or van halen. think'f the sex pistols n' ramones.
oh, speaking'f fast fud, i just saw a family.target mcyukyuk's ad that publicised their newly revamped mcnuggets that r made'f all white meat. up until now, it has cmed to me that mcnuggets were made'f some kind'f fowl spam .
now stacie orrico's singing some pop song on a float. i had that she was a club diva / teknosinger cos i guess the 1 track'f hers i've listened to is some tekno remix'f 1'f her songs. *shrug*
*breathe* i gotta 'member to study some this wkend. did i mention
that i 4got to bring ne underwear down w/ me?! :-( i'm hoping to hit
up wal*mart asap.
824a: sat morn... i've been awake since 700a. how was ur t.giving? good, i hope.
[later] 331p: waiting @ ont aeroport 4 swa flight sumpthin' sumpthin' sumpthin' sumpthin' from ont to sjc. it's sat, yah. of course, 2morrow's sun. 2day, we visited jeanna's starbucks n' met up w/ linda n' kevin. i stopped by my aunt's to pick up some shiitake shrooms (표고). we went back to the beautiful kaela hwang's parents house (nearby) n' ate lunch. we packed the car w/ our luggage n' went to la. u c, on fri (yesterday, altho' it feels like day 'go), we went to la's italian uh... 이타리양복점 italy yangbokjuhm... i 4get it's english name, but it's a famous korean suit store, aktually patronised by all sorts'f ppl, that custom makes suits from imported italian fabric. some1 (*shrug* i dunno who) gave me a gift certificate to that place 4 kaela's n' my wedding (back on july 19, 2003; if u didn't know). on fri, they measured my body n' had me pick out a fabric n' style/shape. 2day, they had me try on the preliminary scaffolding'f the suit, so they can make alterations. the suit, altho' far from finished, looked good. :-) we fought socal traffik to get from the city'f angels to ontario.
last nite, we ate dinner @ 북경 bookkyuhng ("peking gourmet
restaurant" in cheezy fortune cookie english). after dinner, we
met up w/ joon @ 부루노트 비어 크럽 blue
note beer club in garden grove just like 북경 bookkyuhng.
after we drank beer, watched 가요 muzik shows, n' ate some 안주와 떡볶이
anjoo (bar snacks) n' dduhkbokki; joon gave us a tour'f his nearby alma
mater pacifica hi skool, where he played tuba n' futbol. then we
went home.
458p: hrm, i wonder how shopping.com is.
[later] 1019p: 2day, church, grande nf no h2o chai latte @ el camino / lawrence starbucks, costco, lunch @ porridge place @ wolfe rd 99 mall, westgate target, home to pick up some things, bevmo to browse, grace n' steve's 4 dinner...
we move in on tues, but i've really gotta study.
mon morn: commute traffik wasn't 2 bad this morn, n' i 'membered to stay to the right on 87 1nce i passed capitol. some'f u have heard me say that i suffer from sads. what's sads? uh, i don't really 'member... but it's also known as "winter depression." when the days get shorter, i get depressed n' a li'l bit lethargic... just a li'l bit... well, it depends on the yr. it's really bad 4 my skoolwerk, i know. maybe when i'm werking, i don't feel the effects of sads as much cos i'm in an artificially.lit officespace. *shrug* well, i dunno. in ne case, this yr, i vow to combat sads full.force. i declare an all.out war 'gainst sads! >:-( sads, u'r going down! >:-(
i'm @ a slight "handicap" this yr, i know, cos i lost 1'f my major weapons: most yrs, i can just hit the tahoe slopes to combat sads, but this yr, i'm not allowed to go to tahoe newhere near as much as usual. that's really bad. it was 1'f my greatest weapons. well, instead, i'm gonna hafta do other things to fight sads. 1) i gotta still get 'nuf exercise. 2) i gotta get 'nuff artificial, indoor lite to make up 4 the lack of real, natural lite. 3) i gotta make sure i take vitamins. 4) i'm gonna allow myself to consume a decent 'mount'f caffiene... just to combat sads. :-( i really don't like to drink 2 much caffiene, but it looks like i have no choice this yr, if i'm gonna win this war 'gainst sads. sumpthin's got to give. hey, isn't that the name'f the upcoming jack nicholson movie where he dates some really young chick who has a mom 'bout his age?
w/ some regards to sads, i wonder what i should do 'bout christmas shopping. should i dare visit malls this winter? if so, i'll go to valley fair, of course. if not, shall i try to do most'f my christmas shopping online??? i'm considering that. *shrug* whatchu think?
hey, btw... i did now update my gbook questions, so please go answer the new batch. i know the beautiful kaela hwang answered my last batch'f qs 2ice cos i mistakenly told every1 that i had new qs b4 i aktually did. well, i still appreciate that. i always say that u can n' might as well sign my gbook multiple times.
[later]
"anti.sads defense initiative operating system" = "a.d.i.o.s." ha ha.
starting tues, kaela n' i don't hafta go out to restaurants 4
lunch. instead, we can cook n' eat @ home. our biggest
expen$es each month r fud n' gas; n' both should soon signifikantly
decrease.
tues morn: somewhere, i c a store (i think) called "tuesday morning" but have no clue what it sells. last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i slept on an air mattress in our new house. we moved a li'l bit'f stuff in. i don't have time yet to pack n' clean cos'f skool. being in our new house reminded me'f the feeling i got from moving into our north berkeley apt. we're on our own, just us 2.
[later] still morn: we have stuff to move, stuff to buy, stuff to sell, stuff to clean. ne1 wanna buy an rca direct tv dish n' receiver w/ remote? i know some1 does.
[later] afternoon: during my lunchbrk, kaela n' i went to the
sunnyvale costco to buy some home things, stuff like a welcome mat,
another mat 4 the foyer, fire extinguishers, carbon monoxide detector,
trash cans, ... 2nite, i should go buy some rice maybe. *shrug* it's an
exciting time'f life, no doubt. it's interesting that we're
moving @ christmastime. this makes it even more
exciting.
450p: i'm now waiting 4 my aerospace eng class. i was on campus earlier 2day to discuss my master's projekt w/ a prof. back n' 4th, back n' 4th... the semester's winding down, n' life is so much diff 2day from 1 yr 'go from 2day. the beautiful kaela hwang n' i r now married n' living in our own house. life is very fast.paced, eh? i now have autumn leaves to rake off a lawn. i need some gardening gloves. a yr 'go, life was full.time skool, wedding planning, n' snowboarding.
thurs morn: dude; someday, when i have time, i totally wanna set up some home automation stuff in our new house. i wanna pc that'll call me if nething happens. i wanna be able to call the pc to check if lites r on, if the heater's on, if doors r locked. i wanna be able to control the thermostat, lites, n' maybe locks from a fon. 'member, in the past, i werked w/ a faktory/plant automation software called scada!arm. 4 the home, it cms that homeseer phone's kewl.
[later] still morn: last nite, i went to my class very on.time. 'member, i had to visit campus 2ice yesterday.
fri morn: some ppl say "tgif, thank goodness it's fri." how r u? how'm i? yah, how's life in the silly valley, eh? obviously, bizzy bizzy... i wish i had more time. i wish i had more time to communicate w/ my friends, reply to old e.mails. i want to move more n' set up our new house, but i have sooo much skoolwerk! :-(
[later] 636p: i 'member, in the 1980s, we had service merchandise, best products, n' gemco. now, we have target, best buy, n' costco.
141pm: sun afternoon: this is 1'f the bizziest semesters'f my life. next semester'll also be really bizzy. this is 1'f the bizziest times'f my life cos'f werk, skool, n' moving into our own house. plz 4give me if i don't promptly respond to e.mail.
tues, circa lunchtime: no internet access @ home; take.home midterm to do; 1st semester msme projekt to present 2morrow... [later] not much time to talk; no time 4 full sentences; still slowly getting settled; n' when i mean slowly, i mean slooowly... i really wanted to go to restoration hardware w/ this 20% off friends n' family e.mail my cousin sent me to buy these clay burdies 4 the yard/garden, but i didn't have time, n' it's better not to waste $$$, u know? if we don't absolutely need it, 4get it.
thurs, almost noon?: no time 4 nething nemore... :-( well, yesterday was my 1st semester master's project presentation. image processing for machine vision based auto-calibration of wafer-handling robots is my project's title. it's dec. in fakt, it is jerome's b.day, either 2day or yesterday... i always get confused but can check my calendar, here on my handspring. well, on my calendar, i have it down 4 2day.
[later] lunchtime, @ home: "the turning point of a career in korea being insincere..." r those really the wurds to the 1980s depeche mode song "everything counts"??? ever since i was a kid, i thought so, but r they? that doesn't really rhyme.
fri morn: how r u? me? still bizzy bizzy w/ no time to communicate, worse than ever as far as my lack'f presence on the net.
tues morn: i accidentally woke up early 2day n' left 4 werk @ 600a. by now, u all think i'm just 'nother blogger who gave up, but i'm not. i just don't have internet access. :-(
634p: i'm in my office right now, @ the end'f a werkday. it's been 2 long since i last posted here cos i have a ton'f entries stored on my handspring right now, but i can't post them cos i don't have internet access yet @ our new house. life is very diff... or life has been very diff the past few weeks. what i mean by that is that life has been very hektic!!! really! it's been tuff werking the typikal 10 hr werkday while trying to finish up my semester'f skool. do u know what i mean? it's the end'f the semester, n' i had a lots'f werk to do. i had a big presentation 4 the end'f the semester 4 my master's projekt. i had this big take.home midterm #3 4 my "spacecraft dynamics & controls" class. man, life has been very hektic.
u prob'ly thought i disappeared, that i quit writing my online journal. :-( yah, i think many'f u gave up on me. didn'tchu read my gbook msg? i signed my own gbook cos that was my only way to communicate to my much appreciated beno journal readers; the only way. i have a whole bunch'f journal entries from the past few wks. i'll try to post them up here 2morrow or so. please tune in 'gain, n' resume tuning in frequently. :-) thank u. i appreciate ur readership.
so... what has life been like from t.giving till now? well... we moved into our new house. well, it's not a new house... it was built in 1955; but we love it. we've moved in, n' i'm happy 'bout that. however, i've been more stressed lately cos'f all the pressures'f full time werk combined w/ grad skool. i feel that my life's been tuffer this semester than ever. what do u think? uh, i dunno if u spend that much time thinkin' 'bout my life; but i, as an egotist, do. i really missed posting in my journal cos it gave me a chance to think 'bout my life. i realised, these past few wks, that if i were to give up my online journal, it would be very bad 4 my psychological health!!! do u know that?
these past few wks may become 4gotten wks since i didn't get to document what happened. :-( i hope not. *sigh* it's been so long, i dunno where to start. well, these days, i go home during my lunchbreak n' eat lunch @ home. i realised these past coupl'f days that there's perhaps 1 thing i gained from my time as an unemployed full.time grad student. scary 4 some'f u to think, i prob'ly did trim my budget a li'l during the past yr. of course, it still sounded like i wasted tons'f $$$, n' yah... i'm a li'l ashamed'f that, i guess. however... not to sound ridiculous, it could've been worse. now that i'm employed full.time, i still gotta live like i'm unemployed cos most'f my paycheck's gotta go into the mortgage n' stuff. we've gotta live a frugal life.
u know, fri'll be the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 5th wedding monthversary! :-) it'll be our 1st living in our new house. kaela likes our house, n' i'm glad. i really feel more pressure these days w/ the skedule i have, but i appreciate her more than ever, i think.
i hope i can tell u all 'bout what's happened the past few wks. 1 sat, we went to volunteer @ my company's food drive, where we packaged up food 4 needy families. later that sat, ken n' nelson helped us move stuff from my mom's house to our house. hrm, what else has happened? yesterday, phil visited us. i told him it was like how nelson used to visit me in berkeley during finals week (cos ucsd, on the 0.25 system, gets out b4 berkeley n' then complain that my friends n' i don't party 'nuff, etc. well, no $#!+, it was finals week!!! well, aktually, "finals week" isn't a good wurd cos berkeley has finals 4 2 wks or so. what else has been going on? lots'f church stuff, i guess. we had a couple's bible study @ 1'f the young couple's house. they had just moved into their new house a bit b4 kaela n' i moved into ours. kaela did lots'f shopping 4 house things @ places like target. we went to big lots! last fri nite to get some home things. that nite, we aktually ate dinner out @ afghani house on el camino. u know how we used to eat out more? well, we don't eat out much nemore. that's fine. that's what it takes, u know? last sat nite, we had a church christmas party @ 1 couple's/family's house in saratoga. hrm, what else? i dunno; i've just had lots'f studying n' skoolwerk lately, nuthin' much else. :-( we haven't been going to the gym... i haven't been to bally's gym in ages! i've gone to my company gym a few times lately, but not regularly or nething. i feel a li'l bad cos my skoolwerk n' studies really robbed me of the whole christmas experience. it really did. i feel bad. last sun morn, b4 church, kaela n' i finally got a christmas tree. we don't have ne furniture in our hosue yet. heh. funny... well, not that funny; it does sort'f stress me out. heh... *shrug*
i really miss being online n' writing in my journal. i'll try to
get my updates in asap. in the meantime, please sign my gbook!!!
mon noon: my manager
gave me a pager, so werkppl can find me netime. obviously, that's
good n' bad, heh. i hadn't worn a pager in ages!
so how r u?
tues morn: it's the day b4 the day b4 christmas. how r u?
i'm sure many'f my longtime readers don't even know yet that i'm
back online. on sat (last sat), i hooked up our home dsl.
[later] as i've sed quite a bit lately, life's been hektic. :-/
very hektic. i need to get a smog check. [later]
life's hektic. who knew "settling down"'d be so unsettled?!
on sun afternoon, i raked leaves off our front
lawn n' met our neighbour bill. does my life sound domestic
or suburban? well, these thing, added to my werk skedule, really
exhaust me. on sat morn, as i was getting ready to start my day, i
sneezed hard n' hurt my back. :-( i sneezed! that's all!
last thurs nite, i didn't do taekwondo, i didn't go to the gym.
instead, we bought furniture @ people's furniture. it's an affordable, nice
furniture uh... it's not really a store, just an office that'll
order u some cheap furniture from their catalogs n' deliver it 4 free.
it's a very low overhead kind'f operation. it's run by a
couple'f young russian guys. funny: it's called people's
furniture, its slogan is sumpthin' like "everybody deserves good
furniture," n' it's run by guys from a formerly communist country. heh, i
didn't think'f that semifunny connektion till now. neway, they sell
nice furniture 4 cheap. u should check 'em out n' tell 'em we sent
u. also on thurs, i got my car new brakes n' an oil change from
this young korean dude that runs an auto shop called ace auto on el
camino, right by our house.
오전 1010a: i'm @ the meridian/hamilton bally gym, stretching. ah, what a crazy yr it's been, eh? crazy crazy! 정말 미쳐. [later] 1100a: still @ the gym... i got a smog check this morn. i didn't shave this morn, nor have i yet showered.
[later] 446p: i werked out, showered, went to my mom's house to pick up stuff, ate a frozen personal pizza there, brought stuff home, put 2gether a beautiful coffee table... speaking'f beautiful, i never talked 'bout the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 5th monthversary.
오후 1038p: 메리 크리스마스!!! last sat, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i had dinner @ 금봉환 geumbonghwan w/ my dad. geumbonghwan's also known as golden phoenix @ their winchester blvd location, else as china china @ their more convenient el camino location. 2nite, my mom took us there.
353p: on our way to tahoe 4, believe it or not, our 1st snowtrip'f the whole season!!! i'm sitting in my car in a parking lot'f staples in vacaville... traffik, as i expekted, really sucks 2day.
1225a: so here we r on the last day'f 2003. i have several journal entries, from this past month, which i have yet to upload. look 4 them... however, since 2day's the last day'f 2003. 2morrow, i shall be forced to start a new "version"'f my journal. u'll hafta look in my "2003 journal archive" to find those "lost" entries. heh, do u 'member when the cure had a special cd called lost wishes? it was sort'f a "secret" cd. i think u could only get it by mail ordering it; u couldn't buy it in stores s'pposedly. c, it was called lost wishes cos it immediately followed their wish album. semiclever title, eh?
the beautiful kaela hwang n' i spent 2003.12.26 thru 2003.12.30 in tahoe w/ mark, grace, n' their friends. it was fun, but it was very odd in that we only snowboarded 1 day. ?:-/ yah, weird, huh? u know me: i go to tahoe 4 1 reason... to snowboard. well, *shrug* this time, the weather didn't cooperate. after the 1 day'f snowboarding on 2003.12.27, we just lounged 'round the nice cabin. mark got such a good deal on that place! it was awesome. on mon, we watched some movies that i rented from blockbuster: dumb and dumberer and legally blonde 2. i had also rented solaris but ppl opted to play mafia instead'f watching a 3rd movie. tahoe was very crowded. we stayed in south lake tahoe, right by heavenly n' the casinos. on the 1st nite, we went to a casino. i don't gamble much, as u know; but i played $1 on the slots n' won $25. that was kewl. i mean... i made $25 pure profit. &nbs; i'm glad. even tho' it would've been kewl to win more, i quit right 'way n' just kept the $25. as i've sed, i'm not much'f a gambler. i hate how ppl'r 'llowed to smoke indoors in nevada. >:-( geez, if all these smokers r allowed to annoy me w/ their smoke, i really ought to be allowed to do sumpthin' to annoy them... but *shrug* what would that be? sure, i could say that i should be allowed to fart in their faces or sumpthin', but that's just plain crude.
2nite, kaela n' i watched paycheck. that was the 1st movie we saw since the cat in the hat. 2nite, 4 dinner, we ate @ myungdong soondubujip. i've been trying to limit how much we eat out, but *shrug* we ate out 2nite. [later, after a shower] 103a: so life's been diff this past month...
new paragraph... life's been quite diff this past month, this last month'f 2003. it's been very diff. i've had diff tasks, diff things to worry 'bout / werk on / ponder... we really moved into this house, u know. i'm not kidding u! we live in our house. i had a bit'f pressure @ werk n' in skool. i was very bizzy in december. i had to try to find time to move stuff from my mom's house to our house n' time to organise stuff, to rake leaves, to clean, to do dishes... it's been very diff. i didn't have time to write journal entries so much. i didn't have much net access... i can't telnet into my unix server from my office cos'f sekurity stuff. i wrote several entries on my handspring but can't upload them cos my home pc is very skrewed up right now cos i don't yet have a new power supply. i bought 1 4 very cheap on ebay, but it hasn't come in yet. sadly, my home 'puter is sort'f 0.5 decommissioned @ the moment, but maybe i'll put it back 2gether 2morrow. we'll c. it caused me 'lot'f probs this past yr. it's sad. my home 'puter crashes all the time cos i don't have a good power supply. the laptop werks well but often crashes on startup. kaela's 'puter... it's ok, but its keyboard really annoys me; it has a tendency not to werk right. i dunno which is more stable the laptop or kaela's 'puter... i think it'd be kaela's 'puter. however, the laptop's very convenient.
neway, that's 'nuff 'bout 'puters; time to start a new paragraph. so how was this yr? very exciting, very hektic. &nbs; how was it 4 u? obviously the most important event'f this yr 4 me was kaela's n' my wedding. allow me to list off the most important events'f 2003 4 me: 1) kenowedding, 2) buying our house, 3) getting jobs, 4) hrm... going back to church? sure, why not?, 5) our honeymoon (i count that separately from the wedding n' wedding planning n' other wedding events... but should i?), 6) hrm... what's next? well, the taekwondo demo was pretty big... that? well, shoot... 1nce we get past like #3 order really doesn't matter... so well, let's make a better list, where everything after #1, #2, n' #3 r just sort'f tied! 1) wedding, 2) homebuying, 3) employment, 4) going to church, honeymoon, taekwondo demo, my dad's extended stay in san jo (as it reunited my entire immediate family in san jo), master's projekt, trip to las vegas, halloween, ken's wedding (n' all that went 'long w/ it), christmas, back injury n' treatment (doktor visit, physikal therapy, chiropractic), asian.amerikan cinema (charlotte sometimes n' better luck tomorrow), tahoe trip w/ absolute dragons, djing 4 that absolute dragons party, santana row, rivermark...
some unnecessarily overused terms in 2003: 1) outsourcing, 2) metrosexual male, 3) recall elektion / governator, 4) weapons of mass destruction, 5) paris hilton, 6) las vegas, 6) wingman, 7) fo' shizzle, izzay, etc., 8) rustic / artisan
in 2003, i was happy to c the beginning'f the end'f suburban sprawl (thanks to "new urbanism"), nonhybrid cars, n' the notion that chophouses n' so.called "comfort food" qualify as cuisine. i was happy to hear that corporat fast fud's finally trying to sell healthier fud. 2004'll be a yr 4 long awaited change. i feel it, n' i mean change in a good way. let's look optimistically 2wards 2morrow.
do u have ne new yr's resolutions? well, shoot! after sitting 'round a snowed in cabin 4 the past few days (n' eating more than my normal amt each day), i sure could hit the gym. however, i dunno how to make a resolution out'f that. i spent more time in the gym this past yr than i did in previous yrs. i hope i can keep it up. i guess i resolve to make this house'f ours a nice home. yah, i sure we can pull it off. i hope we can clean it up n' keep it clean. i s'ppose we gotta make that a resolution. i resolve to graduate w/ my master's degree. how's that? i resolve to... *shrug* there r lots'f things that r sort'f vague: i resolve to be a better husband, better in my career, better spiritually, a better son, a better friend... *shrug* the list could go on n' on!
lemme thank all the ppl who've signed my gbook lately: vicky (did i mention her b4), kaela, phil, n' kris. kris asked: "what tips do you have for saving up for a house?" my answer: honestly, i don't think i did the best job in saving up 4 a house. honestly, i think i really could've done a better job @ it. :-( however, what young ppl ought to realise is that they can afford a house even if they're young... as long as they have the $$$... hrm, by that... i think what i'm sort'f really saying is that there r ways that young ppl can save up $$$ 4 a house, n' they involve... well... like not wasting as much $$$ on the things that young ppl 2 often waste their $$$ on... however, that sounds like stuff parents say, n' honestly that's not always good advice. u know why, right? 'member? this whole yr i've talked 'bout how we've all gotta avoid mid.life crises n' that prevention needs to start as early as possible. i know this: i could've wasted more $$$ if i continued living like i did in my earlier 20s w/ going out w/ big groups'f friends to dinner, aktivities, clubbing, etc. every single weekend nite. it's sad to say, but not doing those things do save $$$. however, those things r all part'f having fun while u'r young n' if u give them up completely, u'll find urself doing sillier things @ a later age, i'm sure. *sigh* maybe 1'd conclude that "moderation"'s the key. *shrug* yah, maybe... but i'd never admit that. i've never cn "the spartan mean" as a good philosophy... i'm more'f an idealist n' an extremist. i'd rather go to the extremes than split the difference, usually... *shrug* kris's next question is: "how long did it take?" my answer: i'm 28 right now. when did i start saving up 4 a house? *shrug* well, i've often, in the past yr, wished i had invested in a house long 'go... in this past yr, i thought back to when i thought 'bout buying a house in albany (the small city north'f berkeley). i had a decent job then... decent, altho' i know i could've made more $$$. *shrug* i dunno... $$$ really wasn't a driving faktor in the early days'f my career. my berkeley edukation really taught me to care more 'bout principles than $$$. i know that sounds self.righteous, but *shrug* really... i didn't have $$$ so much on my mind thru.out the 1st few yrs'f my career, right? i werked hard yah... but i was just grateful to get ne $$$ @ all. i honestly did not try hard to find higher paying jobs or nething... instead, i used that kind'f energy to do things like taekwondo, snowboarding, djing, n' having an aktive social life. do i regret that? hrm... sure, i could've made more $$$ in those yrs... but *shrug* i think i had a good experience. as i just sed: it's not like i didn't werk hard in those yrs. what 'bout now? do i have $$$ more on my mind than b4? *sigh* honestly... i think i worry 'bout it more than i did back then... however... i don't think i'm ne more avaricious. gee, that sounds awfully self.praising! i dunno... i really feel i just try to werk hard n' hope / pray that things turn out right 4 a guy who werks hard. :-/ i dunno; i believe myself when i say that. if u don't, eh! it's no loss to me... 4 the most part. in ne case, that isn't a good answer @ all to that question, but i'm still trying to get to the real answer; which still isn't a very good 1. back when i started my career, i did go out n' waste $$$ on going out, etc. however, my rent was very cheap back in the ol' 2520 hillegass apt. it was very cheap. also, back when i was single, altho' i spent $$$ on going out w/ friends, i didn't spend $$$ on things like nice dinners n' gifts, right? heh... it's not like being single's a "good way to save $$$," but it was just the way my life was back then. my 1st manager sed that engrs make lot'f $$$ n' don't have time to spend it. that was sort'f true 4 a while. it was sort'f good just to werk n' sort'f put the $$$ in the bank n' 4get i had it. i guess it's hard 4 me to say how long it took 4 me to save up 4 a house cos i don't necessarily think i did the best job'f doing it n' definitely know i'm lucky my parents have helped me out so much thru.out the yrs. in general, i'm glad i've managed to avoid debt 'specially credit card debt. yah, i ought to spend less but i only use my credit card as if it were a debit card. however, i use my credit card instead'f a check card cos credit cards give u freebies thru pts etc.
ok, it's 222a now. i'm gonna sleep a li'l...