melc307's Xanga

Boo!

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:51:53 GMT

Did I manage to scare you all? Haha! I know that was silly, but hey, it's Halloween and I'm in the spirit. No pun intended. Seriously though. I noticed a lack of Halloween spirit these days. Yes, there are quite a few who dressed up in their scariest or naughtiest(is there such a word?) costumes and went trick or treating around the streets, but I used to see more when I first came here. Has everybody "grown out" of Halloween?

In my opinion, you can never be too old to dress up and be someone you're not(or secretly are) for a special day like Halloween. Even if you're living in a country that doesn't celebrate it, such as Malaysia.

I didn't really celebrate Halloween the fullest(aka trick or treating), but I did dress up for the day and night. That's right. 2 different costumes in one day. That day happened to the the day before Halloween. I dressed up in my usual witch costume to work and class. It was a little uncomfortable wearing a costume to college though. For those who had never seen me in my witch costume, here's a picture of me on Halloween 2 years ago:

Yes, that was me with my lovely broom in the background two years ago.

No pictures were taken for this year though. Partly because nobody else in the store dressed up for the occasion, except for Jessie who opened the store as a postal lady. Like I said, lack of Halloween spirit.

After class, I went home to shower, and check my mail and Facebook before getting dress for Maureen's Halloween Birthday Bash at the cigar bar. Maureen was told that they were going to check IDs outside the bar after 9pm, so all I had to do was wear a lil revealing dress, dab some makeup, and get in before that time. Despite getting a little lost, I managed to arrive 7 minutes before 9. And just to curb your curiosity, I was dressed as a Latin Ballroom Dancer. How befitting considering the fact that a live Salsa band would be playing that night.

Handed Maureen her gift(Ferrero Rocher and Chamomile Tea. Who could resist them?). Besides, I'm always reminded of upper class English ladies with straw hats and frilly white dresses drinking tea with their pinky finger sticking out whenever I think of her.

I was introduced to the rest of her friends at the table, minus Drew and Ben since I already knew them. As the evening went on, I got a little bored. Everybody seem to have somebody they could talk to, while I'm just sitting there like a party pooper, eating quisadiles(somebody please correct me if that's not how it is spelt), and choking on the smoke coming from the cigars around the courtyard.

And then, the live Salsa band started playing inside(Our table was at the courtyard)! Jeng Jeng Jeng! All I needed was a little nudge from Ben, and then I took off my coat and hoodie before heading towards the dance floor, albeit a tiny one.

I was a little worried that I might be dancing alone for the rest of the night, but I did not have to. Pretty soon, I was dancing with one man after another. Some were real good, while some were trying too hard to be hot, if you catch my drift.

Being on the dance floor, I felt like the life of the party. Now that's what a party should be. To have fun. And boy, was I having fun. The only downside was that the place was too crowded and the dance floor was too small. Some drunk spilled her cocktail on my dress and the floor while dancing. Who on earth carries their drink while dancing?

The Salsa band took a 10-15 minute break, which felt like an hour. I was back to being Ms. Party Pooper Who Was Being Ignored at the table. That was when I miss my Malaysian friends. Texted a few and only received a reply from Tsing. Thanks for consoling me, Tsing! Jose came later. Yay! Finally someone to talk to in my dance breaks.

Take one. Failed.

Take two. Jose and I with bunny ears courtesy of Ben and his girlfriend, Hitomi. Barely pass.

Sorry guys. No head-to-toe picture of me in my favourite dress. It feels awkward to take a picture of self among your friend's friends. Maybe some other time.

And like Cinderella, I left the party at midnight, except with no glass slippers or Prince Charming left behind. Jose walked me back to Market Street before we parted at the train station. Aww...ain't he sweet? It pays to have a gay friend sometimes. Alright, most of the time. Haha!

And that was my not-so-spooky Halloween story of this year! On the actual Halloween Day, I experienced a headache and did nothing. Was supposed to go out with Oscar, Gilma, and Anna after Gilma gets off work, but it was too late and we couldn't think of anything to do at that time. Which was kind of sad since Gilma and I were kinda excited that we would be doing something that night. Oh well.

I'm gonna go back in time now. What am I talking about? The last Salsa in the Square party of the year, of course! This time, I invited Maureen since she wanted to learn how to Salsa. She came late an hour late with Jose, but they still managed to have some fun before the party ended.

Overall, it was a fun night. Did Mambo for the first time(and won't be trying to do so anytime soon), got led into a dip(which was freaking awesome!), learned a little LA style Salsa and a different version of Cha Cha(let's just say it was like learning how to dance all over again).

The insides of Macy's are already decked out with Christmas decorations.

Apart from Salsa in the Square, I had my midterm voice recital a week ago. I was the 6th in the program, but was the 2nd to go because the first 4 did not turn up. I sang They Were You, which was performed by the Fantastiks and Over The Meadows, a Czechoslovakian folksong.

I tried to tap more into my emotions in this performance and it showed. Yee Wen is probably gloating right now since I already told her I was thinking of her while singing Over The Meadows. =.=" As for They Were You, there's no question that I had to think of someone I like since it's obviously a love song.

I'm going to be a little emotional from here onwards, so you guys can click the x button now if you want to stay happy.

PMS have been forcing me to think a lot this whole weekend. Don't laugh, but I realized that ever since I was a little girl, I had always wish to be a princess. Not the fairy tale kind, but a princess that came out of a fantasy book.

I would always imagine myself in a foggy mystical forest with beautiful sunlights streaming down through the trees and fog. Then there's me me dressed in a beautiful white flowy dress sitting on the grass, filled with pretty flowers. I said don't laugh! Not even a snicker!

I guess that's one of the reasons why I like classical music. The music makes me feel like a princess from my imagination. It temporarily removes the guard from my heart that I always have to protect myself from the harsh reality of life.

It also made me forget about how I sometimes feel about myself: selfish, unintelligent, immature, pessimistic, bitchy, boring, and et cetera... I know. Horrible thoughts of myself, huh? It is unfair to me to insult myself. But I bet everybody feels the same way to themselves at some point of their life.

Whenever I feel negative about myself, I have the tendency to go to my love(or loveless?) life. Everybody wants to be loved. Same goes for me. I want to feel comfortable being myself around a certain someone. I want a certain someone to be there for me through happy and sad moments of my life. I want to be loved by a certain someone. I want to love a certain someone. Unfortunately, I have not met a certain someone.

I have the tendency to fall in love easily, even though I warned myself from the beginning to not fall for the same trap again. But I always ended up having my hopes too high and get myself heartbroken each time. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever have a certain someone. I don't believe in Mr. Right, but just a certain someone whom I can love and be loved. Is that considered selfish?

By the way, that's just my PMS talking. I know some of you wanted to know what's really been going on with me emotionally and I admit I haven't been writing much about it. I always blog about the surface because I want to seem tough and mature. But I guess it made me sound like a robot instead. So I guess this post should be a little refreshing.

A random picture before I sign off,

Taken from a classroom at City College.

You know you love me(reading too much Gossip Girl lately),

It's October Already?!

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:01:47 GMT

Hey, guys! If any of you are still making it a ritual to visit my blog despite my almost 2 months of disappearance, that is. Haha! I must admit, I kinda miss blogging. So many things had happened for the past 2 months.

First of all, my laptop is currently rebelling against me as some of you know. It refused to be turned on by me. What? Am I not sexy enough? I'm just kidding about the sexiness part. Haha! But yea, it refuses to turn on, so I have been using the public library computers for the past 2 weeks. Yes, you heard me right. 2 weeks. Not 2 months.

Apart from my sad heartbroken love story with my laptop, I have been really busy at work and school. Midterms is approching next week and my grades are just too average for a perfectionist like me. As for work, my shift took a 3-week vacation off to visit Taiwan. This meant I had to work harder and more hours in order to ease my manager's burdens. Not to mention the Starbucks VIA sales.

Speaking of VIA, the company is currently promoting Starbucks VIA instant coffee in the States. Our company's coffee beans were micro-grind and pulvarized directly from our beans, so the taste is closest to real coffee beans in comparison with other instant coffee brands.

The promotion will last for 7 weeks and being the top store in the city, my store was pressured to meet impossibly high goals. Instant coffee is a new idea to the consumers in the States, so it was insane for the higher people to expect us to do that.

But you know what? We achieved the impossible goal and even sold enough to have a Christmas party! Woohoo! Our VIA sales is currently Number 1 in the whole Northern California!!! Now we can fianlly shut up about VIA. I was exhausted from talking so much about it to customers. It's kinda sad that the company has reached to a point that they're setting a certain number to achieve in sales to survive the recession instead of selling VIA as the product itself.

That's all for now. Just a quick update to let you guys know I'm still alive and well. A huge storm is currently taking place outside the library. The worst of the storm will take place in approximately an hour and a half. And I wanna make it home safe, so adios for now.

August Babies

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 03:50:20 GMT

Is it just me or does August seems to carry alot of babies? Anyways, the first shouout I would like to give is to the youngest member of our gang: Pei Li!

PL is the one in the middle. Sorry Pei Li! I don't have a pic of you with longer hair. This is the most recent pic I could find in my folders. We'll take new pics when I see you.

Don't let her age deceive you. I think that she's the most mature one in our gang. She thinks about alot of stuff deeply, more than people her age normally would. And yet, she is able to act like her age whenever she's with her friends. I really admire that. Maybe it's because she mainly surrounded by people who are a year older than her. See? Our gang's maturity rubbed off on ya. Haha!

Pei Li, I'm not holding any grudge against you for forgetting my birthday. I was only afraid that you people had forgotten about me. I guess I shouldn't have worried about that. I'm just glad I'm still in your memory, even though the memory includes my embarrassing moment in our Bio class back in high school. =.=

I don't want this post to be too long as I just had my medicine and it's going to take effect soon. So, I'm just gonna wish ya Happy Belated Birthday!

Next up in the list is none other than my best friend, Tsing Yie aka Sinki.

Our braces days. Hahahah! I can't believe I still have this pic.

Best friends for 7 years and still counting. Distance is not an issue for us(Well, not much anyway. Just can't get hold of you often). Enuff said.

Woman, like I said in my text message, be good and don't party too much just because you're in KL, okay? I can't wait to visit you in Sabah and KL, though I don't know exactly when I'll be back.

SELAMAT HARI JADI LEWAT, TSING!

Fall semester has begun and I'm currently taking American Government, Voice, and Beg Conversational Spanish. So don't be surprise when I greet you guys "Ola!" instead of "Hi!" when I get back. Spanish class starts tomorrow. I wanted to add Bio too, but unfortunately, all the Bio classes are already full. Same goes for Intermediate Algebra. Oh well.

For the past 3 months, I've been attending the Salsa party at Union Square. I never thought that I would have the courage to ask strangers to dance with me. And no, I did not have the chance to dance with lengchais at all. However, I still had fun.

Here are a couple of pictures taken during the party on June.

I attended the most recent one 2 days ago. But surprisingly, I had more fun at dinner, even though it was at the food court in the mall. Maybe it's because I was with the right companion. =3

Cold and Foggy Summer

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:54:17 GMT

Sorry for the MIA again. I guess I'll be only updating my blog every 2 weeks from now on. The past couple of weeks were full of ups and downs. Feels like an emotional roller coaster ride.

Four weeks of Voice class finally ended on a nice note 2 weeks ago. Although it had only been a month, it was crazy what with me facing my fears of performing in public and meeting new people(the good and the bad). The final 2-days recital went pretty well despite a few mistakes. I bobbed my head too much(a bad habit I developed from my choir days) and missed my cue on the 2nd verse for the first song on the first day of the recital.

On the last day of the recital, students were allowed to bring guests, so there were many unfamiliar faces in the audience. I got so nervous that I stopped breathing at times and ended up breathless for higher notes. I still considered it an achievement though because I did not begin to cry or run away like I would in the past. Instead, I ignored my mistakes and went through my performances til the very end, no matter how embarrassed I felt.

My teacher and classmates' encouragement had been very helpful through out this whole experience. Their support gave me courage to sing again after the Jessie bitch brought my confidence down to the gutter a few years ago. I thank them for it from the bottom of my heart.

Here are a few awesome people from my Voice class I would like you guys to meet.

This is Kristin. She's one of the two closest friends of mine in the class. Extremely nice and silly. She's also a Mezzo Soprano like me and loves beer. Haha! She took me to this German bar and restaurant, and boy, can she drink. By the way, German beers taste so good. Lol!

My other closest buddy in the class is Karen. She's in her late sixties and yet, she has the energy of an eight-year-old. I met her in the fall semester last year when I took a beginning piano class. She's awesome on the piano. Karen cracks me up everyday like no other with her craziness.

Put three of us together and we will drive you to the mental institution faster than you can say insane.

This is Arnel. Has an amazing singing voice and fun to be with. He's crazy in his own right.

This is Cheng. Don't let her petite and quiet-ness fool you. She can pack quite a punch and has a very beautiful and mesmerizing singing voice. Another Mezzo Soprano too!

We all have one thing in common. We are definitely fans of Ms. Hubbell. She was also my piano lecturer in the fall semester.

These pictures were taken from Kristin's camera on the last day of our final recital. We had potluck too. I cooked basil fried rice and brought it over to the recital. By the end of the day, nothing was left in the container. They love it! Kristin brought salad with a dressing that she made. I don't normally eat salad, but Kristin's salad was so darn good!

Voice class aside, I had a birthday dinner with Jackie, my friend from dance school, at Benihana a couple of weeks ago. The food was delicious especially their fried rice. I'm planning to go back there again some time in the future.

The waiter and waitresses at the restuarant are really nice and friendly. They came to our table and sang happy birthday to me after Jackie told one of them that it was my birthday(late birthday actually. Haha!).

Taken by a waitress. Yeah, complete with a neko statue and a birthday candle. Lol!

By the way, message me personally if you really want to know what's going on with me on the down side. I used to be really open about my emotions in my blog, but I feel uncomfortable at the knowledge of everybody being able to see the vulnerable side of me now.

P.S. Congatulations to Derek for winning the Most Wanted Ruumate!

The Big Apple, 4th of July, and My Birthday

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:21:25 GMT

I see cobwebs hanging all over my blog. Eww! Time for some summer cleaning? I have been so busy for the past 3 weeks, so I apologize for allowing cobwebs to grow in here. So many things had happened during this short space of time.

For instance, I had already dropped my Ballet class, followed by Math. This means that I'm only taking 1 credit for this summer, which is Voice class. I realized that working 30 hours a week while being a full-time student during the summer is too hectic. 6 credits on a normal long term is actually very little, but summer is short, so the classes are everyday.

My schedule then was to work at 4am, go to class at 11am, and get off class by 7.45pm. It was crazy. I never had enough sleep, and I couldn't really pay attention at class. In addition to that, I had already missed 4 classes for Math and Ballet each because of my trip to New York. It's not worth it if I'm already failing the class. After much pondering, I finally dropped my Ballet class with full refund and the Math with a 'W' notation on my record. I'll take those 2 class in the future.

For Voice class, my lecturer, Ms. Hubbell(she was my piano lecturer back in fall term last year), checked my voice range and said that I am a Mezzo Soprano!!! Whee~! The 2 songs that I picked for my final voice recital are The Water Is Wide and Beautiful Dreamer. It's not easy for me to sing in front of the hall as many of you know that I have a terrible stage fright. My main objective in taking this class is to conquer this fear. We'll see how it goes during the rehearsal next Monday. =S

As I had mentioned before, I went to New York City at the end of last month to attend my brother's high school graduation. Greg, my sister, and I took a few days off from work to fly to the Big Apple. I was very excited to see my brother as I hadn't seen him for 2 years.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest. WARNING: Heavy loads of pictures coming your way.

Sunset at Oakland International Airport

My lil bro in his graduation robes.

First pic together after 2 years

The two graduates, Chester and Alvin

His picture was on the screen!!

Graduates filling up the seats

Ryan(my cousin) and I

Something to be busy with through the hundreds of speeches given.

It was finally my bro's turn to get his scroll

My blur lil bro who doesn't know where his seat was.

Salsa performance by the graduates

The siblings

Alvin: Yeer...the pic doesn't look nice with flash on la.

Me: Okay then. I'll take it without the flash this time.

Me: *Snaps*

Alvin: *Blinks*

Me: Gotcha! Hahhahahahahaha!

Rockefellar Center

The Chrysler Building near the Grand Central Station

Grand Central Station with Alvin and Ryan

Malaysian Queens Restaurant!!!

Yummy satay! I wanted to take a pic of their Hokkien Mee, but it was so good that I finished it before I realized I wanted to take a pic of it. =.="

Hanging out at Ryan's room

Nothing like a good dose of Starbucks wherever I go

At the Starbucks store that Ryan works at

Brooklyn Botanical Garden

Japanese Tea Garden

Celebrity Path

Outside the Conservatory

Mosquito plant?!

*Quack*

Squirrel!!

We wanted to go Purnima, an Indian restaurant, for dinner since Chester watched his favourite chef, Gordon Ramsey, who did one of his episodes at that restaurant before. However, we had a weird feeling when we saw the building next to it being torn down and in shambles. We were right because Purnima was closed. =.=" In the end, we decided to have our dinner at a Japanese restaurant in the middle of nowhere.

Food was okay, but with the right people, it made up for the taste of the food.

Chester and I outside the underground Apple store with a glass elevator.

For more pictures, go to my Facebook album "The Big Apple '09".

I went to Rossmoor at Walnut Creek on the 4th of July with Greg and my sis. There was a fair at the area where Greg's parents live. It was a typical fair with food and game booths. They had 2 stages too: one was an adult stage and the other was for children. It was quite fun. We met up with Greg's parents and Lyndsey at their picnic table.

After playing all the games there(not to mention all the prizes she won), Lyndsey got bored, so we headed to the Liu's house and played the board game "Life".

Fake tatoo. Ain't it pretty?

Lyndsey and I in the car on our way to the Liu's house. Yea, she got a tatoo on her cheek.

The uncle and niece playing with each other.

Miss Lyndsey playing with the ball.

Guess what? A waitress mistook me as Lyndsey's mom! =.="

You see, Greg drove the 3 of us to Jack London Square to see the fireworks that evening. Greg and my sis bought cheeseburgers from a stall for dinner since my sister was craving for one throughout the whole day.

As Lyndsey and I didn't feel like having burgers or hotdogs, I took her around the area for some food. We stopped by at Hibachi and took a look at the menu. Lyndsey saw something she would like, so we went in to order takeout. After paying the waitress with my debit card, I told Lyndsey to wait where she was standing while I headed to the restroom. When I came back, Lyndsey told me that a conversation took place between her and the waitress.

Waitress: Where is your mom? When she comes back, please give this to her. *hands over the bill to sign and my debit card*

Lyndsey: *nods*

Lyndsey didn't even deny the fact that I wasn't her mom! =.=" She found this hilarious and began telling everybody about it. Lol! She's so cute.

As many of you didn't remember, it was my birthday last Wed. Yes, nobody wished me on my actual birthday except for 3 people: Tsing, Yee Wen, and Moon Ting. Not even my parents. I'm not upset by it, but I can't deny that I was very surprised and a lil disappointed. Thank you to all the belated wishes and gifts! I'm still grateful for them. Thanks, Derek for the design! Arigatou, Ryan for being the first to wish me. Terima Kasih, Chester for reminding peeps at New York of my birthday! And Mucho Gracias, Tsing and Yee Wen for the special posts! =)

On my birthday, I dropped my Math and Ballet class and skipped my Voice class. While I was bar-backing during the morning rush, my shift supervisor brought out a chocolate cake and started to sing happy birthday. I was really touched. Since we were still in the middle of the rush, I had no time to make a wish before blowing out the candles. I cut and ate the cake later. It was delicious! Thank you, Vivian! Even though she won't be reading this.

For dinner, Greg, my sis, and I ate at Hotpot City. It has been years since I last ate Hotpot(or better known as Steamboat in Msia). The soup was bland but the experience was nice. We were all so stuffed by it. Haha!

And then yesterday, I had dinner with a few of my partners at Borobudur to celebrate my birthday since my birthday was on a weekday. The atmosphere was good, the food was great, companions were awesome - what more could I ask? Too bad my camera battery went dead with me, so no pictures.

Mountain Hike

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 06:50:07 GMT

I'm finally back to my blog! I've been really busy for the past month, so I apologize for the lack of updates.

I'll start with the BIG MOVE. Haha! For those who had no clue what I'm talking about, I moved to a new home about a month ago. The new crib is still in Sunset District though. However, I moved from Inner Sunset to the Outer Sunset, which means closer to the Pacific Ocean! Woohoo! The Pacific Ocean is just 2 blocks from my new place!! How awesome is that?

On the moving day, I got Jackie, Eugene and Oscar to help me move. I had to donate 4 bags of clothing in order to lessen the load. But it was still a lot of stuff. I have way too much junk. =.=" But I just couldn't bear to donate any more of my precious clothes away!

I share the unit with 2 new roommates: Chris and Helen. Both of them are around my age. Just a tad bit older. Helen moved in to her room a lil later than me, but we finally got to meet each other. She's really friendly and nice. She loves cooking too, which is great because we get to share each of our own cooking. Her pasta salad is so good!!! By the way, Helen is a Berkeley graduate!!! Can you believe that?!

Chris was enlisted in the Navy, so he traveled a lot and was often not at home. But he's a nice guy judging from the few moments we see each other. He just recently got off from the Navy, so he is planning to go back to school.

A few days after moving in, I went over to my sis's place to stay overnight. Next morning, Greg drove us to Mt. Tamalpais for breakfast since my sis recommended an inn's breakfast menu. Before we left the house, my sis suggested that we might as well go hiking in the mountain. I was not quite dressed for hiking, but I decided to go along with the idea. I had to call Mark to cancel our lunch at Borabudur(an Indonesian restaurant).

I think the pictures will do the talking from here onwards.

Having my brunch. The food really was good.

Told ya I wasn't dressed for hiking. Haha!

It got really warm after a few minutes of hiking down, so I took my coat off. First layer gone!

We reached the bottom of the mountain! The white hoodie had to come off by then. Second layer gone!

We had reached back to the top of the mountain. As you can see, no pictures were taken during the hike back up. The hike going up was treacherous.

Halfway up back to the top, I had to take off my sweater. Third layer gone!

Enjoying a cup of black tea lemonade after the hike. How refreshing!

Very happy Chong sisters. The sun even peeked out of the clouds to match our happiness.

For more pictures, go to my Facebook album "Let's Take A Hike".

I'm currently taking summer classes, so that I will have 6 credits done by this coming Fall semester. I should be able to graduate faster that way. I chose Intermediate Algebra for Math to meet the graduating requirement, Beginning Voice, and Beginning Ballet.

It's going to a very hectic semester this whole summer. Since the semester will only be 6 weeks, everything will be crammed and taught fast. Not to mention you don't get to choose the days you want to go to college. All the courses I'm taking is every weekdays. Meaning I'll be opening the store at 4am, get off at 10am, take the train to college, and stay there for classes til 7:30pm. T_T

I just had my first Math test since SPM 2 days ago. The test was easy, but I couldn't remember a thing. Get my drift? Everything I learnt in Saujana flew out of the window. XD I hope that I get a C for it at the very least.

Apart from the hike and class, I had also attended the grand opening of the SalsaCrazy SF dance party, which was held at Union Square. It's awesome that they decided to use Union Square as their location because I have always wanted to dance at that place.

Since I couldn't find the people that I had invited over there, I went around asking random strangers to dance. I got rejected on my first try. He said that he's waiting for his friend. What a party pooper. I came over to dance, not to watch people dance, so I looked around for others. I hit jackpot on my 2nd try though. Since then, I did not even have to ask. The guys are the one who start coming up to me for a dance.

Overall, I had so much fun. They will be holding this party every third Wednesday of a month, so I'll be looking forward to attending the one on July.

Rum? Room? Most Wanted RUUMATES!

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:12:35 GMT

Just for your info, Ruumz is a social-networking site. Recently, Derek has been nominated and become one of the 10 finalists for the site's contest, Most Wanted Ruumate.

Yea, that's him.

The grand prize are:

Exclusive Feature and Photoshoot with FACES magazine.
Acer Aspire One Netbook + Free 24 months WIGGY subscription(up to 10Mbps) with P1 W1MAX (worth RM 4,000+)
Samsung 32" LCD TV
Samsung M7500 Emporio Armani
RM 500 worth of apparel and RM 500 voucher from Mooks
B! 3,000 Blings! (RM 300)

Each finalists are given weekly tasks to be completed by the voting deadline, which is on June 30.

Task 1 was to show a day in your life with photos and videos.

Here's the link for Derek's vid for his first task:

http://derekyap.ruumz.com/Videos/View.aspx?id=28875

To vote for him, register yourself at Ruumz and vote at:

P.S. Derek, ya satisfied? XD

Ambigrams and Pointy Ears?

Mon, 18 May 2009 05:04:16 GMT

Despite the fact that I almost apologized in every posts for not updating as often as I had promised, I'm still going to say I'm sorry. =.=" For the past 2 weeks, I have been really busy physically, as well as emotionally.

My finals have begun since last Wednesday. Hip Hop was the first course to be tested. For the finals, we were all divided into 5 groups and were to perform one of the routines that were taught throughout the whole semester.

My team of 7 decided to do some freestyle at the end of the routine for extra credit. One guy in our group wanted to breakdance as his freestyle, which means he wants a solo. In our(the rest of us) eyes, that means he wanted the spotlight on him. Which also means that it was unfair. Why should he get the spotlight when it was supposed to be a group performance? It's not like he was our leader.

The rest of us girls then decided to choreograph a routine while he did his freestyle. We met up last Tuesday afternoon outside the dance studio where we usually had our Hip Hop class. Amanda and Daisy, who were good dancers, choreographed a short routine for the rest of us. It took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to learn and improvise the 2-minute-routine. =.="

But all was good on the day of the finals except for a fleeting blank moment. In fact, the teacher liked the freestyle addition(including the guy's breakdance) so much that she made us performed twice! She made a couple of other groups perform their routine twice too. I hope I get an A for this because I doubt I can get an A for my other courses. >.<

My English and History finals will be on this week. Wish me luck because I'll definitely need as much luck as I can possibly get.

Anyways, I went to watch Angels and Demons last week.

For a movie that was based on a book, it was awesome! Watching Angels and Demons reminded me of why I love the book so much. It's amazing that the story timeframe was only 4 hours and yet, so many dangerous things could happen within that time. I'm not telling you anymore than that. Go read the book or watch the movie. If you wanna do both, that's an even better idea.

In addition to Angels and Demons, I also watched Star Trek IX in Imax.

Unlike many people, I have never watched any Star Trek series or movies before. It just wasn't the type of thing I would watch. However, Mark invited Jessie, Anna, and I to watch it with him and Ben yesterday after our lunch at Penang Garden restaurant. By the way, Ben is a major Star Trek fan. So anyways, I agreed to watch the movie with them.

The movie was more awesome than I had expected. We watched it in Imax, which means a bigger screen, louder sound system, and almost 3-D like. I felt like I was in space myself. It was fine that I never watched the series before because the story was comprehensible enough for me to understand. This movie is definitely a must-see, especially for those Star Trek fans.

How on earth did I manage to watch two movies within a week when I'm so not financially stable?

Again, I did not take this picture. It was taken from Yahoo! Images.

It was all thanks to the $25 AMC gift card given to me by a customer as a token of appreciation for the friendly service I gave him and his wife in the morning for the past couple of years. He was laid off from his job a fortnight ago. Him and his wife are really nice people. And he is just one of the many who got fired as a result of the economy recession.

Because our store is located in the Financial District, most of our regulars are business people. I have seen our regulars in the streets and they have this rigid and strict "business" look on their face. However, their "business" look faltered and replaced with a sincere look in them whenever they come to the store. Their own personality shine after the look crumbled. It makes me happy, knowing that my smile and friendly gestures bring a genuine smile to their faces.

By the way, I managed to find a place to rent today. It's very convenient for me in terms of public transportation and the laundromat. And you know what is the best part about the place? It's right next to the Pacific Ocean!!! Woohoo! I'll probably be moving in on the first day of June, or maybe even a little earlier than that.

I shall end here as I need to get up for work in 3 hours.

P.S. I so need to get a new camera.

Nature Walk

Sun, 03 May 2009 00:12:39 GMT

I have to admit that I had forgotten about nature as I fret about lil things like assignments, exams, rude customers, and rent for the past few months. The realization hit me when I got a C minus in my recent essay about nature and read my other fellow classmates' essay. Therefore, I decided to take a walk around the Golden Gate park today to feel closer to nature again.

It was pouring rain since yesterday and I had my doubts about going to the park in the rain at first. But a miracle happened. The heavy downpour was reduced to a drizzle when I came out of my house! I'm glad I went ahead with my decision to go to the park.

I did not feel anything during my first 5 minutes walk. I was wondering to myself why am I not feeling the connection with nature. Later, I found out why it wasn't there. The connection was missing because there were too many tourists near the entrance to the park. =.=

I began to feel nature's presence when I went deeper into the park. I felt like I was walking in a forest except that there was a road for trams and bicycles.

I did not take this picture. My camera is not being friendly to me at the moment.

I don't know how to describe my feelings at that time. I did not feel alone at all as I was walking. The breeze, the trees, the flowers, the grass, and even the rain were my companions during that peaceful walk. I even abandoned my umbrella halfway through the walk. It was refreshing, to say the least. I felt absolutely beautiful spiritually.

The best part about walking around a huge park is not knowing where you are going and getting lost with nature. I was very tempted to abandon the main road for the small paths that branches out to somewhere even deeper. However, I was afraid that I would get robbed if I was too alone. See what people had done to this world? They created unnecessary fears that prevents others from fully enjoying the beauty of nature!

The park has benches along the stretch of the road. What's fascinating about them is that each benches have names carved on it along with the dates these people were born and died. That is something like a tombstone except that it's in the form of park benches. Interesting, isn't it? It's much less scarier than tombstones. In fact, it seems more peaceful.

After my awesome walk in the park, I went to Hotei, a small Japanese restaurant, for lunch. Nothing like a good Japanese meal with fresh seaweed and a cup of hot green tea(not the teabags, but with matcha powder instead. It's fresher.) to end my lil adventure. Add a scoop of green tea ice cream and you get the icing on top of an already delicious cake.

We're always so busy with our hectic lives that sometimes, we forgot about the simple pleasures of life. I really recommend you guys to take a walk in a park or even just get away from the hustle and bustle of the city as nature is everywhere. Time just stops when you're around something bigger and more wonderful than you.

In a serene state,

This was taken a month ago

P.S. I have the sudden urge to go backpacking away from the city now.

20 Percent Angel and 80 Percent Devil

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 05:15:22 GMT

I apologize for my very late update, guys. I have been really busy meeting deadlines for the past 2 weeks. There will be many pictures in the post. You have been warned.

Let's start with the dinner with my partners at California Pizza Kitchen a fortnight ago in conjunction with Petros's belated birthday and also as Lenny's farewell party. Lenny had been the store's assistant manager for less than a year. Recently, he was promoted to become a manager of another store, so this means he was leaving our store. He had already left for his new store last Friday. I'll let the pictures tell the rest.

Ben and Mark. Ben is currently Mark's boyfriend. He used to be a manager of a Starbucks store near ours, but he decided to quit. Now both of them will get to spend more time with each other.

To the left are Oscar, Petros, and Berta's children

Adrian and his girlfriend, Kate

Tommy and Brenda

My Raspberry Iced Tea next to my Starbucks Vanilla Creme. Nice shot, eh?

A blurry picture of Anna. It was a candid shot since she refused to let me take a picture of her.

A weird picture of Vivian, Jessie, and Berta

Mark, Lenny, and Oscar

Brenda and I

I'm still waiting for the group pictures from the other partners' camera.

As I was walking along Powell Street one day, I spotted this:

It was a protest march and guess what it was about? Education! These people were continuing the march that I did to Sacramento a month ago! Yeah! Go education!

I managed to spend some time with my sister and Greg last weekend for dinner and dessert. I had not seen my sister for 2 months even though we worked in the same city! I guess maybe it is because her office has been moved to Portrero Hill, which is way too far from where I work.

After dinner at Bangkok BBQ Thai Noodles, we decided to grab some dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. We doubt that there would be a table available at all for us since it was a Saturday night, but it was worth a try.

The place was too crowded as we had predicted, but the view from the balcony outside was superb.

In the end, we went to the lower level of Macy's for Ben and Jerry's ice cream instead. Their ice cream was delicious. I enjoyed hanging out with my sis and Greg that evening. It was really nice to see them again.

As I had said before, I had many deadlines to meet for the past couple of weeks. And one of those was filing for tax returns. I did not get my W-2 form til the very last minute, so it was a race against time.

Enjoying a cup of Vanilla Rooibos Tea Latte at Greg's store, while going through the tax forms. And yes, that's my cellphone, by the way.

I was so relieved by Wednesday afternoon because I was done with all the deadlines, including my English essay. Since my deadlines were met and the weather for this weekend was predicted to be very warm, I treated myself by going to the Cherry Blosson Festival at Japantown.

Food stalls, accessories stalls, and what not...

I got myself a plate of Yakisoba

There were a few girls like her who wore yukatas

Live performances

Auto display

I'm not sure if those are cherry blossoms, but they're pink and pretty though.

The pagoda

Buchanan street had suddenly turned to Osaka Way at Japantown

Hello, Shiseido! It's been awhile since we last met.

I was bored while waiting for the bus to take me back to downtown, so I took some piccies.

Once I was back at Downtown, I went to the Metreon to watch Fast and Furious since the dance party was cancelled.

I watched all 4 sequels of The Fast and the Furious, and I must say, the fourth one is awesome!! I'm just upset that one of the lead characters died. T_T I'm not gonna reveal who it is though ,as to not spoil the movie. I so love Vin Diesel as Dominic and Paul Walker as Brian. The movie was mainly about revenge for the deceased character. I love the racing part and the cars going on top speed to get away from the enemies. I like movies that involves street racing. I enjoy playing racing games too. But I don't even know how to freaking drive in real life. =.="

That's all for now.

Drifting off to dreamland,

P.S. The title is a quote from the movie.