Bring on 2011

It's that time of year again--time to think up some lofty new year's resolutions that I will find myself having trouble adhering to as soon as February comes around. Yeah, this has never worked out for me. Therefore for this year, I choose to be a little more realistic in setting forth my resolutions so I may actually have a chance of following through with these goals.

Here I go. In 2011, I resolve to:

1) Be a better student.

Okay, who hasn't heard of this one before? It's probably been on my past resolutions lists, so why not include it again. It doesn't hurt to be a better student. I guess this is all pretty self explanatory. I resolve to study harder, to procrastinate less, to attend study sessions and study groups as necessary, and to bombard my GSIs and professors with questions during office hours. Sounds easy enough...hopefully. I slacked a bit this past semester. I guess it's time that I really start fearing school again. I've seen that when I fear school (and failure), I work a little harder. In this case, internalizing a minimal dose of fear can work me wonders. 

2) Have more fun--specifically, be more open and outgoing to trying new things!

All work and no play makes me a dull girl. I have a pretty routine schedule most days: wake up, go to school, come back and do homework, sleep. There's always room to insert a little fun in that routine, right? I'm not the most outgoing person, so I'm usually not down to do or try new things. This year I hope to change that just a bit. I'd like to try foods I've never tried (like that outrageous fried baby octopus up there). I'd like to do some new exciting things. I'd like to have more fun.

3) Carry my camera around more often and take a ton more photos.

Sometimes I just don't feel like lugging it around, and other times I just forget. I will try to carry my camera with me most every day and snap away (:

These goals seem pretty attainable. Let's hope they are.

2010, it's been nice knowing you. 2011, hello.

break!

It's winter break! This is my first extended break since maybe the last winter break? Summer break wasn't really a break because I was in summer school the whole time (note to self: NEVER do multiple summer sessions over the course of a single summer ever again).

This break I plan to sleep in, and most importantly, catch up on my soaps! It's been a good two months since I've watched a full episode of General Hospital. I'm ridiculously behind on any drama that's manifested since!

But having a whole month off of just chilling doesn't seem all that right to me. I don't feel comfortable not doing anything productive. Therefore I will set forth a goal to start studying chem stuff in January. It's been three long years since high school chem, so it's probably in my best interest to brush up on some stuff. I'm totally looking forward to this...not.

Anyhow, I'm home and I see the brother with his awesome Giants cap and it makes me really want one! I'd borrow his, but unfortunately it doesn't fit me. He probably wouldn't let me borrow it even if it did fit...

boy do i miss high school.

I had a dream that I was back here. We're all sitting at the bench gossiping and complaining about school. I really do miss high school and all the friends I used to see and talk to on a daily basis. Yeah, some come to school with me here in Berkeley, but I don't really see them all that often. It's just so strange thinking that three years ago I saw these folks in all my classes for about 35 hours a week (36 weeks a year?). Now, I'm even lucky if I see them once a semester.

Conclusion: Maybe I just suck at keeping friends? (As Jessica would say: "Your problem is friends, mine is boys.") Perhaps, but problems like this can always be overcome, right?

I think I know what I resolve to do in the new year: Rekindle friendships with some old friends. My issue has always been that of initiating conversation. But frick it, this new year, you'll hear from me...I promise.

invierno.

Llueve afuera, llueve de mas. Esta desierta la cuidad.

It's raining. Our skies are gray. I miss the sunshine. Where is the sunshine? Oh wait, it's December. I guess I'll deal with it. I'll listen to my favorite Reik song; it always makes me feel better (:

oatmeal, please.

Round two of midterms has officially ended. All I really have left to complete up until finals are my sociology papers. The papers don't look too bad, so I'm looking forward to a moderately "chiller" next couple of weeks.

I was craving oatmeal the other day so I bought a huge almost three pound carton/box to have on stock. We made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies last night (I made about two dozen and we've already finished them), and I just had oatmeal with bananas, dried cranberries, and chocolate chips for brunch. Delicious! Oatmeal phase, maybe?

our san francisco giants have won the world series!

"It was mass chaos. It was hysteria. It was, 'Throw the final pitch, see what the umpire calls, look around for any kind of emotion.' Then there was just dog-piling and punching each other. I was told I gave one of the guys a bloody nose. I just kind of lost myself there.”

— Brian Wilson, on the last out of the game

Well deserved, Giants. This was the season! I only wish I had been in San Francisco to celebrate with the rest of the city (:

I'm totally looking forward to seeing more of the Giants next season--especially Brian Wilson. He's such a G.

...Okay, now I can actually start my school work. Yay for having to study for midterms during the World Series!

“I hope you guys are going absolutely ballistic cause we’re gonna get on a flight tomorrow and we’re gonna join you. … FACT.”

(all photos taken from: http://sfgiantsbay.tumblr.com)

National League Champions! Let's go Giants! "We're going to the SHIP!!!"

Oswalt--you're funny.

Since my life has really just been ho-hum and routine, I haven't much to update or write. In any case, I just felt the need to post this hilarious .gif here. It cracks me up every time I see it. I promise this blog won't turn into a tumblr...I'm just slumping on interesting things to blog about.

The Giants in 2010

To be honest, I haven't really been flowing the Giants super closely for the past three years or so. Not having a tv around sorta discouraged me from following.

But I remember the glory of 2002. Let's see how 2010 plays out.

Anyway, check out this epicness.

just because i'm losing doesn't mean i'm lost.

When I'm feeling down, I try to cheer myself up. This Monday I decided to do three things I love: take long bus rides, go shopping, and get delicious food to eat. I had a 7.5 hour break in between my only two classes on Monday so I decided to take the BART to San Francisco to get some shopping done, and grab some delicious food--all while giving myself time to clear my head on the long BART ride there and back.

I was really craving cream puffs, and decided to get myself a half dozen Beard Papa's eclair cream puffs. These are my favorite (as is anything else chocolate covered). No worries, I didn't eat all six eclairs. I brought them back to share with my roomies. They were a hit!

Cheshire Mustache

I found a disposable camera in our pantry the other day. I vaguely remembered it being mine. It had a couple more exposures left, so I took it along with me this past week to take some final photos before I got the film developed. After seeing the developed photos, I remembered that the disposable camera was kinda weird in that it added a sort of decorative frame to each photo--like a heart or a mustache. Anyhow, seeing these photos sort of had me missing the good ol' days of big bulky film cameras and film photos. I had loved photography as a kid because I loved the thrill that came with waiting for photos to develop, and finally seeing how they turned out. Maybe I'll go back to film photography for a while. Maybe I'll ask daddy for his film-SLR to play with.

I do really like how some of these shots turned out. I wish the heart photo had come out a little better. It was supposed to be a shot of my awesome Geography professors.

Post to Procrastinate.

Here I am, posting to procrastinate. I have two midterms coming up this week--one on Wednesday and the other on Thursday. I definitely need to study, but I'm not too sure how to do so. My desk is a mess. I've got powerpoint slides here and there. Loose papers (which I totally despise) are hovering around both my desk and my bed. I've got prepared flash cards in front of me, but I just cannot get myself to look through them.

All I can think about is all the television shows I get to catch up on at week's end.

On another note, I've been photographing my bff Whitney for a fashion blog she shares with her roommate. They're really stylish and definitely worth checking out. Anyway, it's been a really great experience practicing my camera skills on her. I still prefer portraiture over all other forms, but this has definitely been a fun run!

hot hot heat!

Holy frickers! It's really hot right now. My trusty weather report tells me it's a scorching 70 degrees right now! I think 70 degrees in the day time is already ridiculously hot, so 70 at night is well, super ridiculous. How will I ever fall asleep? I guess it's shorts and a tee-shirt tonight--sans the comforter as well.

It was hovering around the low-90s this afternoon, which was nice and all, but way too hot for my San Francisco tastes. As such, I've been itching to play with some water guns, or even water balloons. I'd really enjoy pelting a big, plump water balloon at some of my friends (: HAHA.

It's that time of semester again!

I've had a moderately chill first couple weeks of the semester, but as we all know, good things like this come to an end within a couple weeks. It's midterm season. What I most dislike about midterm season is the fact that once it starts, it doesn't seem to end. As soon as I complete my first round of midterms, creeping around the corner is my second round. I have a paper due tomorrow--my first major assignment of the semester--and I'm already feel a bit of strain and stress. Aren't midterms just the best?

On another note, since it's still relatively early in the school semester and midterms haven't truly hit yet (but hey, I should be on my toes and studying all the time) I've tried my best to make some homemade meals instead of relying on microwavable hot pockets. I know that once I'm deep in midterm season, that's all I'll be eating.  There's just no time for anything, but studying. Anyway, I just want to say "Look, I cooked!" I made chicken for tacos!

Oh, something else worth nothing: I obtained a research position with my history professor!

I’ll be digging archives for Black Panther political posters during the era of the Black Power Movement (1960s-1980s) and examining these pieces through the lens of “black cultural politics”. How did these expressive cultural works influence the politics of this era? How did they influence the move to social action? 

I am beyond excited!

another year i claim, of total indifference.

Yep, I turned twenty today. My friends decided to acknowledge this with food, gifts and "happy birthday" messages. Thank you all for everything.

from facebook past

It dawned on me just the other day that maybe I should sift through my old facebook profile posts--examine past months worth of status updates, photo uploads, and comment posts from friends just to reflect a bit upon this past year. Here's some interesting status updates I stumbled upon from my little blast from facebook past:

"Saw a creeper urinating into a trash can in wheeler. ewww." posted May 5, 2010

"Signed up for the wrong class. -__-" posted January 9, 2010 

"Got sleepy and zoned out during a 'fundamentally important lecture'. =[" posted October 15, 2009

"Walked into a closed door in Evans Hall and proceeded to push at it like an idiot for a good five seconds before realizing it had a knob." posted September 30, 2009

"I've always known that I have a pretty badass date of birth." posted September 9, 2009.

"MMM...'ménage à trois'." posted August 28, 2009

Looks like I've had an interesting year. 

Cupcake photo is totally irrelevant, I know.  I guess it's just that I wanted to acknowledge that I have had two cupcakes in one week. Yes, I bought one today and I ate it. 

My roomies rock!

We live right by a cupcakery. I'm a bit surprised none of us had ever tried any of the cupcakes until today. I guess we were all trying to avoid eating baked goodies, especially the scary sugary cupcakes. Today Wendy and Liza stopped by and picked up a half dozen cupcakes--one for each of us. How sweet! I had a red velvet. It wasn't overly sweet, which is just the way I like it.

14 days of summer

My summer break started the minute I took my last final last week. Summer school wasn't bad, but I would have preferred not having gone to school at all if I could. I'm home for a week and I just couldn't help myself but make the journey over to In-N-Out to get some delicious food.

Oh, and North Beach for gelato. I love gelato.

Too lazy to really cook

Cooking takes time. I don't really have the patience for that. That's why I've accumulated a stash of ramen in the pantry and turn to it maybe three-four times a week. Ramen is definitely a guilty pleasure. I feel terrible eating it as much as I do, but it's just so damn delicious.

I've recently discovered this "Neoguri" Korean ramen stuff and it's the best ramen I've had--my current favorite.

It's summer time. My face knows it.

I've had freckles for as long as I remember. They're on my face all year long, but I feel like they get darker and more prominent in the summertime.

On a bit of a tangent, my skin hasn't been doing so great lately. I've been breaking out more and I feel like my pores are getting bigger. This is my excuse to spend exorbitant amounts on facial creams and stuff on sephora.com. I just queried "pore" on sephora.com. Let's see what products I convince myself I need and end up buying...

i need a life.

I'm taking summer classes, but I'm only going to school two days a week. This leaves me a lot of free time. Sure, I could be doing homework and studying, but I don't do that.

In my five days a week of down time, I've been watching the Hills. I got a Netflix subscription just so I could watch the Hills in higher quality. (I'm a total loser, I know.) I've just finished season 5 and started season 6 so I'm pretty caught up and up to date on the drama.

I should go find a job or volunteer opportunity.

it's a lifestyle change

It may be difficult to acknowledge, but denial won't do this issue any good. Here it is: I've gained ten pounds and some pudge around my tummy since I've started college. I know I'm not really fat or overweight in any sense, but just seeing that I've put on some extra baggage bothers me. Although it may be simple and easy to blame this wholly on the dorm food in the dining halls, the rational part of me recognizes that other factors and newly acquired habits have contributed to my weight gain. I have never really been a huge snacker up until the start of college. Bored? I snack. Stress out? I snack like a fiend. I've also been eating out a lot more than I had back home.

So what to do, what to do? Diets do not do it for me, at least all the ones I've tried have failed for me. They've left me hungry, grumpy and lethargic--a total no go for a college student. What to do, what to do? I've concluded that as much work and change as it may involve, the only reasonable and healthy approach toward weight loss is to adopt a healthy lifestyle. This would entail me changing my old lifestyle of overeating, eating and snacking on unhealthy foods at that, and living a sedentary lifestyle. I've been slowly cutting out as many processed junk foods as possible, limiting my sugar intake, eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, and cooking and preparing my own food instead of eating out all the time. Okay, I didn't say I cut out ALL junk food. That's really unrealistic at this point. I still crave chips every now and then (: Chips in moderation though.

That's only one half of the lifestyle change I'll need to adapt to though. The other half? Get off my butt and exercise. I absolutely hate exercise...I guess because I'm so out of shape. Exercising is really difficult too when the gym is so far away and we don't really have access to equipment and such. Karina's a big fan of workout dvds, especially the Jillian Michaels ones. I've recently started doing the dvds with her. Jillian is really motivating! She actually makes me want to work out. The routines and circuits are pretty difficult--cardio, abs and strength. The strength parts of the workout kill me every time. I haven't an ounce of muscle in my body so lifting weights is super difficult. We've been doing the dvds for a couple weeks now and I definitely feel my endurance improving. Comparing myself now to my pathetic self on day one of our workout, I've come quite a long way.

Karina goes jogging and I guess I'd like to pick that up too. I've been jogging with her a few times, but I'm usually too lazy to go every day. The track is pretty far and with school work and other commitments, this doesn't really leave too much time for working out. Oh, I forgot to mention.: we usually do our dvd workouts at 11:00 pm at night. Yeah...

Results? It may be a little too soon to notice any drastic results. If anything, I do feel more healthy, energized, and physically fit. Weight loss and stuff doesn't come quickly or easily, so I know I still have a ways to go to lose weight and tone up. Let's hope that I can keep this up. Maybe one day I'll be able to cut chips out of my diet--or not.

attempting to eat and drink a little healthier

Not having mom make or cook all my meals makes it a little hard to get my recommended daily servings of fruits and veggies. I'm constantly reaching for ramen noodles and cereal--just two of my go-to staple foods.

In an attempt to eat healthier, I've decided to try my best to cut out the unnecessary junk foods and limit my consumption of ramen noodles and cereal for meals. It is a bit difficult though when ramen and cereal are just so convenient and yummy. We made a recent trip to Safeway and to the Oakland Chinatown to stock up on some much needed fruits and veggies. Strawberries, apricots, grapes, cherries, celery, carrot juice, and even chives now fill out fridge!

Now that there's actually fruits and veggies in our fridge, maybe I'll start reaching for this stuff instead of my ramen (:

feels more like a home.

I haven't posted in a while, and I totally have finals to blame. Finals put me in to a total funk and I'm just glad they're done and over with. Grades are out and I guess I'm pretty satisfied. I did better than I expected. This past semester has definitely been my toughest yet and that's why I'm pretty surprised that I actually raised my GPA. I was in "deep struggle," but I did work really hard and I guess it paid off (:

On another note, there have been a bunch of changes to and in our apartment. We had a roommate decide to move out and we've had to deal with the repercussions for the past two months. We eventually settled everything and she went on her way. I moved into a new room after finals!

We finally decided to get a couch for our living room to make it feel more like a living room, and for our apartment to feel more homey. Transporting the couch back to the apartment was a total mission. We were being cheap college students and decided that we didn't want to pay $79 for Ikea to ship it, so we took it upon ourselves to load it to the top of our car to drive home ourselves. The couch looked unstable and to be honest, I was getting a bit afraid that we wouldn't be able to secure it safely enough to drive it home. Karina and I even offered to pay for the shipping at one point. We bought a bunch of straps and took advantage of Ikea's free twine and strung and strapped and wrapped that sucker on top of the car. It took oh...only about an hour or so to secure the couch. Wendy was a bit afraid to drive on the freeway with the sofa up top the car, so we took street roads and drove at about a cautious 5 mph.

We made it and it's here. Oh, and that couch cover was the cheapest one we could find at Ikea. Yeah, it may look a little unsightly at first glance, but we've grown to like it. It's like what Tyra calls "ugly pretty".