No name

Ug, lectures again. During last Friday's CS discussion, another TA didn't show up, so the people from that class came to our class. So it turns out Daniel was one of those people and isn't actually in any of my lectures or discussions. Damn! But I guess it was a pretty chance meeting then (since we 1st met him at Open House). So I basically had no one to talk to in CS...though I tried to talk to one girl who wasn't responsive at all. Next time I'll try to talk to the popular-looking guy who was nice enough to talk to me last time, I swear I will! The hour break in between class was hell. Hungry from not eating breakfast or lunch, I wanted to buy some chips, only to find that I only had 70 cents in change and the cheapest thing was 75 cents! What the hell is wrong with my luck today?! Then math was boring/confusing as usual (apparently I'll need to read 2 more sections to catch up ><), and the next hour-long break was just as bad. At least I had Lin to talk to in Microbio...but I was still falling asleep in that class nevertheless.

After all the lectures, I was feeling really bad a/b my horrible luck, but I guess the rest of the night was OK. We went to the Tawianese club (we're posers, yes, since we're from mainland, tho Charles says we look like we might be from Taiwan ^^;;) with Charles, Lin, and Henry and met Victoria/Cynthia, Karen/Eric, and Carlus/Terrance there. I put the slashes here to indicate the people who usually seem to be hanging out together (like Chen/me). We were already 1/3 of the way there when Chen told me that Daniel also wanted to go, so I tried calling him but it didn't work (or else he picked up his cell, thought it was some crazy person, and hung up). Curse my funky free cell phone...it never works. If he had gone, then pretty much everyone we know at this school would have been there (hmm, and they all happen to be Taiwanese). Anyway, there were soooo many people at the meeting, all there for the free boba. They put on some awkwardly semi-funny videos and skits and stuff, and then we left early b/c the line for boba was soooo long. Then I had dinner w/Lin b/c no one else was hungry, and then we left to rally for Charles' election.

That's right, Charles is running for floor president. Even though he has no experience/qualifications. After the other candidate gave a speech about being the president of a billion different organizations and wanting to arrange more activities for us, Charles gave his sad sad speech, which involved him saying, "I don't think you should vote for me. I don't think there should be that much work involved with being president." And he also gave his planned (and I emphasize planned) "joke" about how it's not good to win or lose b/c winning would get a girl mad at him or something like that. Basically, very very bad. Well, we voted for him anyways, and I think Chen convinced some other people to do the same, which makes 6/30 people...not bad given his lame speech. Afterwards, the 4 of us on this floor went to Henry's room to watch some "funny" commericals he downloaded. Henry had all these detective books, so he like mysteries too^_^. Plus he has a *drool* 200gig harddrive (plus the advanced technology for playing games that all guys are required to have).

But now I'm back in the boring dorm again...and I really really need to read more of the textbooks and do homework. It's almost weird how other people seem way more disciplined than I am....Charles left early to go to bed at 10pm and other people seem to be doing homework. And I love it when Charles & Carlus interact with one another (which they don't do often)...it's like seeing a mirror image. Seeing almost completely-identical grown Asian guy twins is oddly cool/amusing, though it might be slightly ironic that I say that.

Spent all day reading (and wasting time in between) today. Math was short, and CS was okay, but microbio was sooo boring >< And it had so many names/facts that I'll never remember....even though it was only the "look isn't microbio cool/useful" part in the beginning. I don't know how I'm going to be able to stay awake in that class.

Ug...~70 pages of boring textbook to read. Today sounds like it'll be fun.

Hmm...Chen went shopping for some notebooks/books today and walked so much that she nearly collapsed when she came back:P And the notebooks she bought were super-expensive, so we're seriously over-budget. While Chen was away, I ate lunch w/Daniel, then went and watched him play DDR in Ackerman. He is soooo unbelievably good that I'm embarassed I even said I "played" DDR. Then I fell asleep reading the math book...and then Chen & I went with Victoria/Cynthia to BJ's (I hate that restaurant's name) in Westwood. Yeah, so nothing interesting today either...

Today was OK...at least better than yesterday...and I think I really lucked out in some respects. Here's a very boring description of it. I went to eat lunch and saw Carlus, so at least I had someone to eat/talk with. Then we met up with Victoria and found out we all had the same lecture together....which is cool, except Victoria of course had much more in common with Carlus (exercise, sports ><), so I felt like a bit of a third wheel. Plus that math class certainly made me feel stupid. Afterwards, I walked around with Victoria, then went to MicroBio6, where I saw Lin, a really nice girl down the hall...so I had someone to talk to in that class as well. CompSci31 seemed like an OK class and was filled with guys^^ (I counted ~20 guys and 5 girls including me). And, yay, at least 2 other people have never programmed before. Two guys were nice enough to talk to me, and, after class, I saw Daniel, a super-nice Asian guy whose parents my parents talked to during Engineering Open House (who'll probably go to play DDR tomorrow...and I'll just be watching b/c I suck). Then Cynthia/Victoria watched some of our scary free Chinese music VCDs and we went over to see one of her DVDs. So I didn't have to walk alone the entire day^_^ Ack, I should really be reading though >< ~ Sunday for HW it is then. Ack, sorry, future me (the only person who reads this blog), for this lame post...I just have nothing to rant about (today).

I'm so bored! So bored!! So bored!!! Today was the 1st day of classes, and all I had was one math discussion that lasted for 40 min (tho it took me 25 min. to get there). The TA had a huge accent, spoke to the board instead of the class, and mumbled everything he said...so I could only understand what he wrote on the board. Hopefully, he'll continue to write down everything he says. The class was filled with SAs and I only got to speak to 2 people, and one of them stopped talking to me after she found someone else to talk to. Aw, I suck. I got back to the dorm at around 2 and have had nothing to do ever since. And no one's online! Damn, why does everyone else have to have lives? Anyway, maybe I'll resort to reading the comp. sci. book. That's how bored I am.

These days at UCLA are somewhat better. There's actually kind of a lot to do, and I don't want school to start~ *sniffle* We went to some more activities/fairs and met some more people, who are generally really nice. We even met these Taiwanese guy twins who are also 1st year EE majors...which is pretty interesting ^^. They're a little weird (and maybe a little delusional?), but all potential friends are good^___^ There's also a misconception going around that there are no girls in engineering...which may potentially bode well for us..haha. Today we went to an engineering meeting thingy where they gave us speeches on how hard the classes will be and how difficult it will be for us to find jobs. And, supposedly, we have to go around to find connections and research opportunities/internships if we want to be hired...which I really don't want to do b/c I'm lazy ><. Then they made us all play brainteasers (which I found to be pretty fun), because, of course, even the non-nerds must be forcibly converted if they want to be engineers. Muahahaha!!! I don't remember what we did the previous nights, but tonight they had most of the floor play Mafia...which I seem to be playing a lot lately (and I always end up being the mafia ><). Somehow, one game took an hour....but at least I got to kill off some semi-annoying people. Muahahaha...I'm so evil! Oh, and more people recognize me now too^^. And we also hung out some more with the people we met at orientation and those other twins...yay for potential friends! That's pretty much it (not too interesting, huh?). Classes start tomorrow...I'm scared...especially after those speeches...

Second day at UCLA...and it's been depressing. I haven't talked to a single person. Apparently, most of the ice breaker activities are already over, and I don't know if it'd seem weird if I started talking to random people in the hall. Everyone's outside anyway, going to parties in their already-formed cliques.

Mom and Dad stayed at a hotel last night and came over this morning with some stuff we forgot to get, like 2 LAN cables for the 2 computers (yes, somehow, we brought thermometers and umbrellas, but not this). Afterwards, they insisted that Chen and I go with them to pick up 2 things we needed: thumbtacks and dry-erase markers. Little did we know that this would end up taking 5 hours. You see, when we got out to the parking lot, both Mom and Dad's cars were given $42 parking tickets. So then we had to go to another place to argue it, but there wasn't parking anywhere, and we tried to just drive around while one person was out doing stuff, but that didn't work, so we ended up parking next to some meters ($.25 for 8 minutes, ugh!), and after a lot of waiting the tickets were reduced to $7 parking fees. Next we drove to a mall, realized that there weren't going to be dry-erase markers there (duh!), ate at Panda Express in the food court (I feel like such a traitor! They're always stealing the Grill's business.), drove to Rite Aide, drove to Radio Shack, drove to Office Depot, drove to the bank, and finally went back to the dorms with our thumbtacks and dry-erase markers.

And I took a quiz I saw on a friend's blog. I think it has something to do with Persona, but what the heck:





Are You A Good Kitten Or A Bad Kitten?

Oh well. I looked at the source afterwards, and apparently, you're a "bad kitten" if you like Final Fantasy or know Japanese very well. Also for the question "I like Penguins: (a) In sushi (b) Damned straight! (c) Stupid ugly birds", you are a "bad kitten" if you choose 'C' but not if you choose 'A'. I'm confused. But it probably has to do with Persona or something else I'm unfamiliar with, and I'm just ignorant.

So today was college move-in day. It took us all day yesterday to pack all our crap into boxes and load them into 2 cars. We set out together, yet Dad's car managed to get 40 minutes behind ours because he somehow got lost numerous time. The whole trip took about 7 hours, including rest stops and unanticipated difficulties.

Mom and I were in the same car and we stopped at this horrible rest-stop where half the gas pumps didn't work, the squeegee (sp?) was broken, and the entire place (including hot dog stand and bathrooms) was swarming with flies. When we got back on the highway, we noticed a fly in our car and cracked the windows to let it out. Only, because of the force of the wind, the window on my side came off its track and the entire window fell into its slot (which meant the window was entirely open and couldn't close). I had to hold down everything in the car so that they wouldn't fly out of the window (though the window cover still did...). We finally found a mechanic who got the window out of the slot and pushed it up with his hands until it closed (but it's still broken).

When we arrived, some people loaded our stuff onto a truck, drove about 50 feet, unloaded the truck, and just had us drag everything upstairs ourselves. Very nice. And since we came 2 days late (b/c my dad needed time to pack so that he can go to Vegas?), we missed out on ice-breaker activities and people probably already formed their own cliques here >.<

I decided to just put up some pics I drew in the past few months just for the hell of it. Most of these are sooo bad, but I won't have a scanner/camera in college, so it's now or never. Eek, I can't believe school starts in 2 days >.<

On the plane headed for Japan, I drew a picture of the Sandman (Neil Gaiman comic I read a while ago), and Chen suggested I do a series of mythical/fantasy characters. I pictured some really cool stuff in my mind, but, as usual, they turned out pretty gross on paper because I can't draw. Hehe. And the scanner is still having problems, so I had to use the digital camera, which made the pictures gray and even more disgusting. Well, enjoy. (In order from most recent to least recent. Click to enlarge.)

1.                 2.                 3.

4.                 5.                 6.

And I just noticed that, in my attempt to make the pictures less gray (b/c of the shadows in the photos), they have actually become kind of multi-colored. Semi-cool!

1. The Mad Hatter - I just always thought he was a cool character. What I was going for was a evil biseinen holding a cup of tea. But I got bored with it along the way so I never finished the drawing ^^;;

2. Nataku - The one from Chinese mythology, not X. He appears in both the original novel and manga versions of Journey to the West (Saiyuki Gaiden?) and Housin Engi. Since he's usually portrayed as a kid (and is played by female actors in the Chinese shows -_-;;...except for one Chinese Houshin Engi adaptation where he was played by a pretty hot guy...yay!), I wanted to make him older-looking and cooler. Also gave up on this one along the way. Oh, and those things at the feet are supposed to be wheels of fire...I know they look like weird blobs.

3. Cain - The best of the lot, I think. This was inspired by the sheer ugliness of the Cain character in that Sandman comic. I mean, he has such great potential. Anyhoo, I think the hair & hand are actually okay in this pic. The knife is only so small because a larger one wouldn't fit >.<

4. Death - The Grim Reaper, I guess. Did this one on the plane to Japan. I was going for a beautiful man (b/c that's not what one would expect of Death), but this is just embarassing. And you thought the first two were sad. It was so unfixable that I couldn't finish it either.

5. Lucifer - The dark angel. Also done on the plane. I was going for a beautiful and vulnerable Lucifer, but this is really ugly. I really really hate this one. And the saddest and most embarassing part is that I couldn't think of any symbols to identify him as Lucifer, so I had to use a snake and an apple, since Genesis is the only Bible story I know. Ack, lameness!

6. Dream - The Sandman drawing I first did. The person is ugly (com'on, he was ugly in the comic book), but I'm actually kind of proud of how normal the hands look, since I can't draw hands for beans, as is exemplifed by the other drawings. There are supposed to be 3 items that the Sandman always carries: a red jewel necklack, a bag of sand (that stuff in one hand is supposed to be sand!), and a mask (I turned the mask into a staff b/c it's too ugly).

I added some "Literary" fanlistings, which is very humorous to me because I hate reading and almost never read for fun. That's why the section is very sad, as you can tell. Oh well, it's just for prettiness anyway ^_^ And I managed to fill that annoying gap from before. Hehe, obsessive-compulsive me.

Out of infinite boredom, I decided to go around and join a bunch of fanlistings so that I'd have some pretty stuff to put on the left side. Yes, I'm just that pathetic. Anyhoo, I'm not too satisfied with a lot of the icons...I mean, these people look cooler than that! Right now I'm especially hating the Count D and Sanosuke ones...and the Katan one looks weird too... And I couldn't find listings for stuff I wanted to add, like KOF, JTL, etc. And I wish I could put Dante closer to the top, but I wanted to keep the different categories separate. And, oh yes, I have 4 for Saiyuki, because I like it just that much (though, when I reread it, I thought it was quite mediocre). And that last Asian Music one is completely used as a space-filler...though I should also add one more filler...but I can't think of anything else. That's right, I'm racking my brain over the organization of the little icon-thingies. Which is perfectly normal, of course.

And Chen didn't yield to a pedestrian yesterday, so she'll have to go to court/traffic school, plus pay a fine of $340-$500. Ugh, a whole summer's worth of earnings tapped dry!

Hmm..haven't posted in a while, but of course that's because nothing's happened. But today I thought I'd put down what went on today because it's the first time I've ever seen someone come close to dying (or maybe actually dying...I hope not. If so, I'd be the last person he talked to...).

It happened at the Grill, about twenty minutes after Chen left (we both worked that day). I was passing out samples as normal when a mall security guard came over and asked Steve (owner-guy) to call 911. It was not until then that I noticed that a man had passed out in his seat, while eating our food! Just ten minutes before, he had bought a lot of food from us and, I remember, ordered two bottles of Pink Lemonade Snapple from us. As more and more security guards (and rubbernecks) gathered around the man, a lady (probably a shopper who happened to be a nurse) came over and started to do CPR on him. After a few minutes, peramedics arrived and began to give him shots, IVs, electric shocks, etc. in attempt to revive him. About thirty minutes later, the man (who was still unconscious) was carried away in a stretcher (while people were still doing CPR on him), and the security guards surrounded all of the tables in our section with police tape. I hope the guy was okay.

Of course, during this whole ordeal, we couldn't pass out free samples or sell food (since everything took place right in front of our stand), though every other stand still had a lot of business. And I had planned on buying some of the Grill food (which smelled really good, actually), but decided against it after what happened. At first I thought the guy might have choked on our food or something, but then I realized that he probably just had high cholesterol and our fatty chicken might just as well have pushed him over the brink into a massive heart attack. Or maybe it was a stroke...I don't know. Anyway, not very many people bought our food after that.

Everything else in life has been the same. I finished a few more adventure games...which brought me out of the interest-in-adventure-games-phase. Now I'm more in a detective phase, and I've bought a Consulting Detective game, a Clue VCR game, and also read a few of the Poirot novels that I hadn't read before. Curtain was dubbed "Poirot's last and greatest case", and I guess it was one of Agatha's best surprises, since the murderer turned out to be [spoiler]both the murdered people and the detective.[/spoiler]. In some other Agatha's novels, the murderers turned out to be a group of people, the person narrating the story (not found out till the end), someone who did a series of pointless murderers to throw off suspicion from the one murder he had a motive for, and just almost always the least suspected character.

The Grill is lame as usual...though i do like the owner's random albeit interesting stories. And I like his business ideas, which usually involve stereotypes that are, sadly, true for the most part (ex. A parent who won't let his child have what she wants is definitely from mainland China; We should not give free samples to Hispanic kids because they usually don't have money).