:: Bazzooka Network ::

Happy March

2009-03-04T10:30:00.003-05:00

Feeling: Not tired for class for once
Current Love:Royksopp - Happy Up There

Greetings! It's been a month or two since my last entry, I guess mostly due to laziness but also due to the fact that school has been keeping me pretty busy this semester. School has been alright so far. My performance on the first round of exams was surprisingly well, considering my record of doing poorly on first exams. But with good test grades, I haven't been doing optimum in homeworks. I suppose abit too much skipping classes on Friday from being too thirsty on Thursdays... I'm getting better tho, really, but it doesn't help that fluid mechanics is boring.

My new research job via SURF this semester is going well. My work load isn't too heavy, so it's pretty nice making money for not doing much. The apparatus I am currently building will be finished by the end of the week, so I'm excited to see if it will work when I test it this Friday. If it does work, then much good things will ensue.

I guess another big event from the past month was my gig at the Black Sparrow for the first time since summer. It was the day before Valentine's. Apart from some technical difficulties with mHo's Ableton 6, I had a lot of fun with old friends, new friends, and other random folks.

So, apart from all the good thing so far, the bads:
- I still don't know what I am going to do this summer.
- I need to figure out classes for next fall.
- I need to start worrying about grad school/GRE.

Speaking of worrying about the future, my big 21st is creeping up on me. In a way I'm sure if I'm ready yet, but at the same time I want to enjoy its privileges. Since my birthday coincides with spring break, I'm not sure how I will celebrate it yet. Plus, I'm flying out on my birthday to Austin for SXSW(w00t!), so I probably shouldn't go all out the night before.
Or should I...?

Excited! ^____^

New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down

2009-01-06T14:09:00.009-05:00

Feeling: Lazy
Current Love: UNKLE - Restless (Fake Blood Remix)

Manhattan & Brooklyn

Happy New Years! 2009 has been good to me so far, so let's hope it stays that way for awhile. I just returned from my NY trip 2 nights ago, and it was much fun. Christine accompanied me on the adventures that we set out on a snowy new years eve.
I almost thought that we wouldn't make it for nye because the snow storm was ridiculous. It was probably the first time in my life that I hated snow so much. Luckily the snow calmed down somewhat by late afternoon, and my parents drove us down to New Haven around 5. We hopped on the train and made our ways to the city. We met up with Christine's friend, who is generously letting us stay at his apt. He treated us to dinner at K-town before leaving for his place in Queens.
Unfortunately it took hellova long time to get back to his place, because we had to wait forever for the bus. I was getting pretty antsy, because the show we were going to started at 10, and at the rate of our commuting, I was worried that we won't even make it by midnight.
We ended up arriving at the venue, Europa in Greenwich, around 11:45. And to our luck, there is a line outside. I definitely wasn't too enthused at this point. I already felt bad for missing my friend Brad's set, and now we can't even do the countdown? Just then, Christine tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the window. It was Brad, and he motioned for us to come to the door. It totally surprised me, but I gladly followed him in. Just in time!
The American Dream Team rung in the new years (a few minutes late, I'm pretty sure...), and 2009 began!

The rest of the night was a fun time dancing and drinking. TADT has a good set, but there was something about their set that I didn't like. Kill the Noise was good, but I was sad that he didn't drop his CSS remix. AC Slater was meh, and I didn't pay much attention to Udachi's set/left around then. Overall, a pretty fun night.

Happy New Years!

Much of new years day involved recovering. When we did finally wake up, we had lunch at a nice Udon place in East Village. After, we headed for SoHo to do some shopping. Sadly a lot of stores I wanted to go to was closed, so it was rather unsatisfying. After, we grabbed dinner in Chinatown at this Shanghai restaurant. The food was cheap and good, and the people were nice. After dinner, we walked around Little Italy for abit before heading back to Queens and resting up.

On Friday, it was a little snowy and windy. We store hopped around 5th avenue. Initially, we wanted to see the Van Gogh exhibit at MOMA, but not surprisingly tickets were sold out.
We finished shopping around 6 and headed back. Christine's friend cooked us a very tasty Korean dinner, but unfortunately it made us run ate again for the show we were going to at Webster Hall. Just my luck.
The show started at 10, but we didn't get there until abit past midnight because the L train was down. And then we waited at least 30 minutes to get in, and another 15 for coat check. Totally lame.
The main room in Webster is pretty neat. The stage had a cool starry light backdrop. At that time, Steve , the drummer of Soulwax was playing. He was the one I wanted to see for the night. Even though he's not a Dewaele brother, he's still Soulwax.

Did I mention I am still in love with Soulwax? I watched their documentary, Part of the Weekend Never Dies, before I left for NY. All I can is, awesome. The editing makes the film very witty and really showcases the members/band, and the music makes you want to go out, get trashed, and dance.

Anyway, Steve's set wasn't too shabby, but I think he got sloppy towards the end. So Me came after his, and he wasn't too good. On at least two instances he dropped a track completely and came in with a new one.
Several times during the night, we also checked out the "hip-hop" and "indie" rooms downstairs. It's funny how the atmosphere is completely different.

Alright, so much for words, time for pictures!

NYE09 at Europa!

Udon! nom nom.

Macy's at Herald Square.

Steve DJing at Webster Hall.

The city that never sleeps.

A Snowy welcome

2008-12-28T14:28:00.004-05:00

Feeling: Good?
Current Love:The Twelves - When you talk

Greetings from the East! It's been a week since I've made my way home to humble East Hampton, CT. My flight was delayed for an hour and luckily the massive snowstorm in CT had died down by the time arrived. I did have to wait for an hour or so to claim my baggage due to "lack of crew members". It was lame, but I'm just glad to be home. Home looked pretty different but definitely relaxing compared to my small apt on campus.

On Thursday I went to pick up my roommate Christine from the airport. She missed her transfer flight and unfortunately had to wait 3 more hours for the next flight + delays. But other than that, all is well!
grades
We went after Christmas shopping a the "premium outlet" in Clinton. It's the same chain as the one in Michigan City, where I visited for the first time during Black Friday. This outlet tho had better store in my opinion like Barney's and Sak's. I didn't buy much, but I was pretty happy with my loots.

So apart from the relaxing stuff, I was content with my grades for the semester. It's a definite improvement from last semester, but not a 4.0. My B in ME323 probably could have been avoided if I didn't screw up on the first exam. And I thought I was going to do well in the class...ugh.

In other news...3 more days until nyc/nye!

Waaa Finals

2008-12-19T14:08:00.002-05:00

My last final is in an hour, but I don't know what to study anymore. I stayed up till 2 last night studying; maybe I should have managed my time better...

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I promise winter break will be exciting!

Happy Diwali

2008-10-29T01:13:00.002-04:00

Feeling: Full

Lights minus music. Although I don't know awfully much about Diwali, I celebrated it by going to all-you-can eat Diwali Dinner at Pujabi, my new favorite Indian joint. I went with my roommate, and the food was good as usual. I retold her my Diwali dinner adventure from last year, where I went to Khana Kazana, a bigger Indian buffet, and waited for almost and hour to get a seat. The food was ok, but mostly of what I can remember was eating too much and wanting to throw up afterwords, because my stomach felt like it was going to explode.

Today has been fairly productive. I went to the Black Culture Center for the first time on an "cultural experience" assignment for ME290. Some of the information was intriguing, but half of the time I just thought about how our tour guide can talk so much.
Tomorrow my 2nd round of exams commences. Sucks, since I had just finished the 1st round last week. I'm semi-confident about my math exam tomorrow, but I'm nervous about the phone interview I have tomorrow with Eaton.
The company had to cancel their on-campus interviews due to "travel difficulties", whatever that means, so they're only doing phone interviews. This would be my first time doing a phone interview, so I'm not really sure what's going to happen, but hopefully it will be easy. To be honest, I'm not overly interested about Eaton, but I am about Zebra, whom I really do want an internship with. Fortunately I landed an interview for this Friday (Halloween!), so wish me luck.

October Break Party

2008-10-14T16:30:00.004-04:00

"My bridge holds 45 lbs. How many can yours hold?"

Feeling: Distracted
Current Love: Skeleton Boy - Friendly Fires

I should do my laundry. I told myself I would today, but the weather was blah this morning. I have done laundry only twice this semester, both at a friend's place. I would feel guilty asking him again, so I reluctantly am determined to go to the laundry mat..soon. First time is the hardest right? I think I can make it till the weekend...

This weekend was October Break. I was scheduled to fly home, but since my mom is off to the motherlands for 2 month, going home for 3 days seems like a waste. So my 1st home bound trip is rescheduled for Christmas break. I didn't do too much over break. I took the weekend off for work, because I thought I wouldn't be here. My first Saturday not working was not too exciting, maybe even abit disappointing.
To make up for the lack to excitement, I planned my Monday to be semi-productive. I woke up at 10:30 and went to the corec to exercise. Luckily the weather has been warm these past few days, so it felt especially nice to be outside. After returning home, I had a nice brunch and ventured to Lafayette with my roommate Christine. It was the 2nd time I that I had taken the bus to go shopping in the east side. I kind of like riding the bus out there, because I get to see many areas of Lafayette that I have never seen before. At the same time, it reminds me of how ghetto and jank the east side is.

We went to TJMaxx for a pair of converse Christine wanted (which they were sold out of...).We stopped by Sonic for Happy Hour and shopped ahoy. After a few hours of browsing, I only picked up some socks. Granted I found clothe that I liked, but I'm becoming really selective about the things that I buy.
We made it home around 6:30 and made yakisoba for dinner, broke out the Boone's Farm, and watched American Psycho. What a weird movie.

All in all, break was ok. I probably could have used my time more wisely, but whatev.

Happy Chipotle day

2008-09-17T20:05:00.003-04:00

Fancy banner

Feeling: ?
Current Love: Strangers in the Wind - Cut Copy

I'm 3 for 3 on free burritos. Today was Chipotle's annual free burrito day.

I got off of class at 1:30 and scouted out the line. The entrance was clear to my surprise, but then I realized the line was going in the opposite direction. But still, it wasn't too bad. I dropped off my stuff at my apt, luckily only 2 minutes away from Chipotle, and cut in line with my friend Rachel.
I still remember the grand opening 2 years ago. Ironically, John was in line again with us this year. Funny how I wrote about how he didn't talk much, and it being awkward; can't say that things have changed too too much.
After the "event" started at 2, the line moved relatively fast. We got our food probably around 20 minutes later. I think they've improved on the "assembly line" every year, but all the employees seemed like they were attacking you.
The things you do for free burrito.

While waiting in line, I was thinking about why Chipotle do these kind of things. Do they just have too much money to throw around? I don't see it as a very good marketing scheme, seeing everyone who decides to spend hours waiting in line for a burrito must already be a dedicated Chipotle eater. The more logical goal I thought was for statistical purposes. But what can they really get out of it? :ponders:

Forgotten dreams past 10 minutes

2008-09-14T21:42:00.000-04:00

Isn't she lovely?

Feeling: Semi-productive
Current Love: N/A

I can't believe it's almost half way through September already. Despite the fact that first week was slow, these past two weeks flew by pretty fast. I still feel like I'm new to all the classes, but before I know it, it's gonna be exam time...
Out of all my classes, I'm not particularly enjoying my ME design class and partial diffeq. I really looked forward to math before school started, but my professor is kind of boring. Design class is also a big disappointment. I'm not that interested in our problem, and there's a lot of tedious research and memo writing. boo.
ME365, Systems and Measurement, is actually turning out to be ok. The first few lectures were not that enjoyable, and my professor isn't very good at teaching either, but we just started doing some basic statistic and sampling, which brings back memories of my IE stat class. Maybe I miss it alittle, but I think I did myself I favor switching out of IE. In the 365 lab today, we played around with an ADC (Analog to Digital Converter), which basically translate analog signals to bits for the computer can interpret, and the converts it back to the original signal to be outputted. The lab wasn't that interesting, but it was in the end that made everything so great. The TA demonstrated the ADC converter with music. The input was a song playing from a computer, and the signal is monitored on the oscilloscope. The input runs through the ADC and then it output it through speakers. He demonstrated the change in signal by tweaking the sampling rate and adding filters, where all the effects are noticeable by the change in the music.
It was really insightful, because I finally understand what sampling rate meant in mp3s, how hi-pass/lo-pass actually works, and lots of other things. I always hoped that I would learn about this, and now I have.
Science is a great thing.

Speaking of science, this whole week had been pretty busy with all the job fair dealies. I was pretty excited about the prospect of Industrial Roundtable, because I was really looking forward to speaking with some of the companies. Last Sunday I attended "Day with Industries" hosted by PSWE. Basically it was banquet lunch with company representatives followed by 3 seminar sessions hosted by different companies. The lunch was pretty good, and I sat by a BME grad from GE. I'm not really interested in GE, but it was good networking considering the people at my table had some interesting experiences. The seminars were abit boring. They were pretty much the same and talked about how students should prepare for the career fair. I did attend the BP session, where they talked about projects and activities in the downstream refineries.

Tuesday was the first day of IR. I was still a little nervous stepping foot on the fair ground even though I've experienced it last year. I spent about 3 hours on Tuesday talking to companies and loitering around scouting out free stuff. Surprisingly I was able to give away all 10 copies of the resume I had printed off. Not bad, plus the bag full of loot, with half of it being food products from P&G and Unilever. Tuesday night was a pre-interview dinner with Chevron. They pre-screened a lot of the resume before the fair, so I landed an interview with them wed. The dinner was at Maize, and I had a really tasty Brazilian steak. My past 2 experiences at Maize wasn't that great, but I did enjoy it this time. The Chevron rep that sat at my table was a CE. He talked too much, and so did everyone else at my table, but I guess the food makes up for it. I glanced at the bill at the end of the night, and it ended up being a gram (I'd say there were about 20-25 people). Damn cooperates and their monies.
Too be honest, my interest in oil companies is pretty indifferent. I really want to work on a alternative energy project, but that's not available for interns. When I was going to my interview, I ran into a friend/fellow ME student, and he frowned upon the fact that I'm interviewing with an oil company. "I never expected you would want to work for them, oil companies are evil" he said.
I told my interviewer about the story, and asked what his thoughts were. He answered it very well, and concluded with "before you blame others, look in the mirror."
Totally well put.
The interview with Chevron was harder than I thought, and I didn't enjoy it too much. I still did well though, and got a pretty decent backpack out of it. Because my interview was in the afternoon, I didn't get too much time to walk about IR afterwards. I stopped by the companies I was interested in, and went home.
That night, I got a call from International Papers, whose booth I visited on Tuesday. I had an interview with them the following day, and it went well. My interviewer talked a lot about his experience with international projects, and it was so cool to hear all the global opportunities. in retrospect, that's really what I want to do when I graduate, work and traveling.
I'm still waiting to hear from the companies that I was really interested in, but that might not be few a few month. I'm excited about the prospect of an internship in a great city, with great people, and a wonderful company.

Hello 3rd year

2008-08-26T16:44:00.004-04:00

View from atop the $600 apt.

Feeling: Refreshed
Current Love: American Boy - Estelle

Happy 2nd day of school. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the beginning of school, I've felt pretty good being in classes again. I'm only taking 13 credit hours this semester, so my class load is pretty light (minus friday, which I have 4 classes and 1 lab. Totally lame, and I can't switch sections because everything else is full). I woke up monday morning around 10:30, my semi-usual time that I've gotten up for work over the past few weeks. I had a nice breakfast/lunch with my leftover pizza from La Scala, and headed out for my 11:30 class. I took the usual route to campus as I do for work, but this time around, there's a lot more people...a lot more. It felt weird, but at the same time I was happy to see the campus "alive" again. Seeing all the students reminded me of when I strolled around campus as a high school students. I felt pretty intimidated and out of place back then, wishing there weren't so many people...Funny.

ME323 went ok if not abit boring, but that's expected. My 2nd and last class of the day was MA304, which from the looks of it, should be fairly easy. After, I went to work for 2 hours and then to the pool with Kaveh, Bridgette, and Stephanie. We planned the very 1st Podka of the semester, set to be at my place. There wasn't a big attendance, and also lack of "po", and just a bit of "ka". Nevertheless, it was still fun, including the very random party venture into the $600 apt across the street.
I didn't get to bed till 3 or so and woke up with a slight headache. Luckily I only had 2 classes today, both in the same room: ME263 and ME365, my 2 lab courses for the semester. I suppose that's about it for now, hopefully the rest of the week won't be too bad.

Burning Down the House

2008-08-20T16:56:00.002-04:00

Feeling:?
Current Love: None

4 more days until I began my junior year at Purdue. I'm not ready for school yet, deep down. I'm pretty content with my lifestyle at the moment: work, food, sleep, party, movie, etc. Looking through the textbooks for the semester gave me headaches. Maybe I'm a little scared, because I feel like I haven't learned as much I should have last semester, and that everything I learned have already disappeared out of my head. I guess we'll see how things go...
Being a Junior also feels weird. Am I already half way done with my BS degree? In a way, I'm still trying to figure out how everything I learned thus far will apply to my career later on. I'm hoping it'll all piece together soon..very soon.

In other news, I almost burned down my new apt the other day. What seemed to be another day of light lunch cooking turned into a flaming disaster. I was starting to make fried rice for lunch. I heated up the pan very hot and added the oil, unexpectedly, the oil set aflame and was burning like an unstoppable forest fire. I was shocked at first, because I've never had this happen before (granted I was using my roommate's skillet). I was hoping the oil would burn out in a few seconds, but that obviously wasn't going to happen. I panicked and tried to think of what to do. It crossed my mind to pour water over it, but I pictured the aftermath to be a disaster and am glad I didn't do it. I ended up finding a lid and covered up the flame. Soon it died down, but the entire apt was left in a smog of clouded black smoke. The fire detector went off, which didn't alleviate the situation very much. My roommate emerged from her room and was pretty confused. I didn't know she was home, which made the situation a little awkward for me. We did our best to ventilate the place, and after a few minutes the beeping finally stopped.
All the smoke vented after a few hours, and the metal/smoky smell finally went away later, leaving trails of black ashes from here and there. I realize now how people suffocate from fire smoke. Even though my apt wasn't blazing, it was still hard to breath under all the smoke.
I suppose in the end, I'm glad things didn't turned out any worse. I don't want to be homeless right before school starts, plus, I'm taking quite a liking to that little building I call home now.

Breeze from the underpath

2008-08-07T22:43:00.004-04:00

Serene Wabash.

Feeling: Tipsy
Current Love: None

Stealing internets from Vienna, that's what I do after the fall of web2.0 and tonnny. I'm kind of stuck in limbo right now. Most of my stuff are already moved to my new apt, but I can't live there quite yet b/c I'm still waiting for my bed to arrive, which hopefully will tomorrow. Life feels weird without internet, but thank god for free wifi.
Today was my 2nd day of training at La Scala. Things were definitely slower today (for the better), and I got out early too, around 9:30. My trainer, Ryan, was really nice and cool, and we ended up chatting for awhile during down time. She even gave me a $3 tip at the end of the night for helping her out. woot, my first tip.
I'm pretty comfortable with serving, but I'm still shaky about the menu. I'm really scared that someone's going to order something, and I'll be clueless as to what it was. Too much fancy Italian words.
The wine list doesn't worry me as much surprisingly. I'm pretty confident that most people know what they want. plus I know at least the basics to make me sound smart even if I don't know what I'm talking about.
My manager already scheduled me to work next thurs. I had no idea until I looked at the time table. I think I'll be ready by then and start pulling in cash.
I'll take that back. There's not really a cash register at the retaurant. The owner has some weird ordeal with cashing at the end of the night. Ryan tried to explain it to me, but I only somewhat understood. But the bottom line is, I don't really get tip money each night, I have to wait for the owner to write a check every week. Bummers.

Today's weather was really nice, which made the walk back to the west side fairly enjoyable. I sat on the pedestrian bridge for a while; took in the scene and lit up a smoke.
Working late nights kind of makes me wish I can go out to the bars. It sounds great to just get a drink or two after work.

"Vodka vodka bomb bomb!"

Speaking of drinking, Mike had a little shin din at his place this past tues. My new roommate Christine and her friends came over, and the night resulted in beer pong and soju/vodka bombs. We were all pretty inebriated by the end of the night, and somehow what's left of the party ended up at my sparsely furnished new apt. We sat out/laid out in the living room, talked and played truth or dare. The next thing I know, I woke up in the morning to my alarm, passed out on the floor. I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. I wasn't feeling the greatest, so I called work and said I wasn't coming. But the good news was that a few hours later, I got the call from La Scala--- thus began my life as a waitress.

One job and another

2008-08-06T11:43:00.002-04:00

Feeling: Clumsy
Current Love:Great DJ (Calvin Harris Remix) - The Ting Tings

Today has not been a good day for work. Although the sun is blooming outside, I feel rather tired even after 7 hours of sleep. I keeping on messing up at work. Nothing major, but just little things that makes me feel like I'm totally off today.

But in better news, I got hired at La Scala! I put in an application near the beginning of summer, but they said they were full staffed at the moment and may call back later in the summer. I wasn't too hopeful, so I was pretty surprised to have received a call last week for an interview....which I rocked. I came out feeling great, but I wasn't sure if I would get hired based on the fact that I have no serving experience.
Alas, I guess the manager liked me.
Yesterday was my first day of training. I went in during dinner shift and helped set up the tables for a bit. Everything started out pretty slow, and I was just observing, making salads, setting bread, etc. Things got busy around 7 when the 30 some old people came for a surprise party. My trainer commented that it was a really busy Tuesday even for a party, so it was kind of a bad day for training. I was pretty tired at the end even though I didn't do that much, but hopefully things won't feel so hectic once I get a handle of things.
Carrying a tray for the first time was also scary. I definitely spilled this one guys soup all over the saucer, but hopefully he didn't mind too much.
One thing that happened, which I didn't witness but heard, was about this couple that was dinning. The guy just left without saying anything, so the girl had to pay and was crying by the table. Odd.
The restaurant normally closes at 9, but I didn't get out till 10:30 or so. I was planning on eating dinner at Panera on my walk back, but I had to resort to eating ramen at home.

Salty waters

2008-08-02T16:20:00.001-04:00

DSC00882a, originally uploaded by Lainii.

where I want to be.

Welcome to your new home

2008-08-01T16:21:00.002-04:00

I moved into my new apt today (partially) and found this lovely welcoming present. Apart from that, a box of ramen.
I'm in love.

North by Northeast Pt. 6: I Fell in Love at the Seaside

2008-07-21T17:47:00.005-04:00

Bradley Int' Airport

Feeling: Sunny
Current Love: Just a Little Bit - Lykke Li

Hello Indiana. I made it back to good ol West Lafayette this Wed. My evening flight from Hartford went smoothly, except for the $25 fee for an extra checked bag. Seriously, why are airlines being so cheap? I was greeted by Kaveh and Bridgette at the baggage claim, and I cracked a smile--- It's swell to see your friends again.

West Lafayette looked the same yet different. I took in the sight a little differently on my way into town, trying to compare it to the Connecticut country side. Looking back, there are a few things I thoroughly enjoyed out in New England and will miss. Foremost, the ocean.

Since I've been back, things have fallen back to the usual shindings of this summer. Though kickball season may be over, the pool parties are abundant. Ever since the discovery of the Benchmark pool, the entourage have enjoyed much fun by the pool side. I also started working again this morning. Bad news is that I'll be working morning shifts for the rest of the month, but the good news is that my boss doesn't care if I want to sleep in and come an hour later, as long as I work the agreed hours.
Speaking of work, my means of transportation have been cut short. Apparently someone shanked my bike while I was gone, and now it's sitting in Mike's apt waiting for me to save it. I haven't seen the wreckage, but I really hope it doesn't suck.

What I miss:
- The amazing stars seen from my woodland backyard. Unfortunately it's cloudy on most nights, but when you do get to see the stars, wow.
- The calming ocean breeze
- The city
- The non-lacking of crustaceans and mollusks
What I don't miss:
- Wild turkeys pooping in our back yard in broad day light
- Our dog barking

North by Northeast Pt. 5: Cambridge Cardigans

2008-07-16T14:48:00.001-04:00

Feeling: sweaty
Current Love: Talk Like That (Miami Horror Remix) - The Presets

This past Saturday my fam took a road trip to Boston. It was my first time in Boston, and overall it seemed like a pretty nice place. We visited Harvard and MIT first; Nothing too impressive I suppose. Harvard's campus just had a lot of trees, old buildings, and tourists. MIT had some really unique asymmetric metal building/architectures, but its campus buildings are old and jank. (So maybe Purdue isn't that bad) Boston was quite pretty, at some areas, much to my surprise. There's a good night life, and not just the bars and clubs. We visited this square after sunset where it was filled with lots of shops, kiosks, carts, and whatnot. You don't see much of that in NY or Chicago, so it was nice.

Harvard Square. Nothing super exciting, just a lot of people.

Tourists at a Harvard building.

MIT's main building with a really big lawn.

Boston harbor area. Giant reflective pool and a museum(?).

A mall we visited. I forget the name, but it had really nice greens inside and out.

By the pier. Live Nation tent in the background.

Waiting....

wtf Live Nation.

Somehow we manage to drive by the Boston Chinatown, thus we ended up eating dinner there. Pretty good and cheap actually.

Sun setting by the harbor...and skaters.

Just another day by the ocean

2008-07-15T15:06:00.001-04:00

DSC00862, originally uploaded by Lainii.

wave, breeze, and everything in between.

Kids and Seagulls

2008-07-15T15:05:00.001-04:00

DSC00860, originally uploaded by Lainii.

Kids crabbing with drums sticks,
seagulls lurking high.

North by Northeast Pt. 4: New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down

2008-07-09T23:02:00.018-04:00

Feeling:Thirsty...for water
Current Love:Nobody Lost, Nobody Found - Cut Copty

My legs are sore. probably from the 20 or so collective miles I've walked the past 2 days. I had a mini road trip down to New York. Overall, I thought my trip planning was pretty successful. Initially, I planned on taking the Amtrak from Hartford to Penn station, but after some research and talking with friends, I realized it was kind of a ripoff; $33-$47 for a single ride. So instead, I looked in MTA's North-Railroad New Haven line. As the name suggests, it's a train line that goes up and ends in New Haven. The fare is only $14, and I've taken the Hudson line before commuting from Newark Airport in NJ to the city, so it was pretty legit. I then found an express bus that ran from Hartford to New Haven during morning and evening commutes --- $4.30 fare. Perfect.
I went down Tuesday mainly so I could check out the Palms Out Sound show. 19+, $5 cover, and loads of good local and international artists. I made it successfully into the city, and stepped out of Time Square Subway stop around 10. It felt great to be in the city again, and I couldn't help but smile.
I walked around Midtown abit and through the Fashion Ave where bunch of hipster students of the Fashion Institute was taking pictures. I met up with Brad for lunch by his place and had a nice chat. Afterwards, I decided to check out East Village.
St. Marks and East Village
I failed to mention when I was in NY last time, I witnessed a totally weird accident walking down Delancey. The two way street is divided by a curb. The right side traffic was stopped at a red light, then out of nowhere, a car that turned into the left side just drove straight onto the curb and hit a van that was just chilling and waiting for the light. Sux to be the owner of that car. What are the odds? I don't know if that car just sped out of control or what, but it kind of was like something that could've been in "The Happening" (Still haven't seen it).
But what I wanted to get to was that I saw another odd thing walking down St. Marks. A window screen on some multi story residential building just fell off from some stories up, hit a van parked under it, and bounced off onto the street; kind of like a not so exciting "What Now?" commercial.
Anyways, East Village was alright. I didn't really walked around NYU campus much, just check out some shops.

Man rushing to the train at the New Haven Union Station. Futuristic!

I arrived at Union Station and took the shuttle to Time Square. Sanrio was the first store I stopped in.

Saw a Muji store in the area and went in. I wanted to check out the non-linear planner I read on Lifehacker. Pretty neat.

Less than an hour in New York and spotted someone famous. Ninja shot. Guess who?

Tasty Crepe dinner and Sangria with Connie.

Oh Snap! at Santo House Party. Even his hit song wasn't too exciting live.

Disco Laser!

Lismore! Short was wayy too short.

--------------
Day Two - Wednesday

Leaving the city. Shot of Grand Central Station.

Even though I went to bed around 4, being tired and buzzed, I still couldn't fall asleep and wasn't sure if I slept very well. I had to wake up at 9 to leave with Connie. We got off at Union Station and checked out the Farmer's Market there. I walked around the city more after Connie left for work, hitting up stores and the interesting bookstore named Strand. I took the 2:33 train to New Haven and bid my adieu to the lovely city. Till another time.
The bus to Hartford wasn't till 6:45. I planned the time to get a chance to go around New Haven, home of Yale University. Fortunately the train station was only a mile or so from downtown. I initially wanted to take the bus in, but I got tired of waiting. I didn't get shot walking into the city, so that's fine with me.
Downtown and Old Yale campus is actually quite small, I would say only a 1.5 miles radius. After a lot of walking and making a purchase at Urban Outfitters on Broadway, I walked over to the bus stop on Church and Walls and took the Hartford bound Dacco bus, where my parents picked me up from Middletown.

All in all, a very enjoyable trip.

New Haven Greens, complete with 3 churches.

New Haven Greens with the city backdrop.

An Entrance to Yale campus.

More churches!

Broadway Ave., the shopping center.

North by Northeast Pt. 3: I Fell in Love at the Seaside

2008-07-05T23:11:00.008-04:00

Today me and my parents went beach hopping.

The first state park we went to: Hammonasset. It had a pretty nice beach.

We stopped in at some random small town by the shore.

The town beach.

People fishing at some place we stopped by. Long Island in the background.

The water at Harkness Memorial State Park is really clear for salt water. We picked a lot of periwinkles here.

...and crabs.

They're cute, no?

North by Northeast Pt. 2: The Conn State

2008-07-04T18:45:00.020-04:00

Feeling: Tired
Current Love: E-talking - Soulwax

Happy July 4th on this cloudy Friday. It's been a pretty slow day. I finally got to sleep in really for the 1st time this week, but I was woken up by a loud crash and my mom screaming... apparently my dad fell of the ladder when hanging up a picture. My mom took him to the ER, because he bit his tongue (I didn't see it), so I've been watching TV for the past 4 hours or so.

We didn't plan anything for today, because we were all pretty exhausted from the NY trip yesterday. I had fun, and going around seems a lot interesting now that I know the area better from my Y2K8 adventures.

Before I start talking about that, I suppose I should continue from where I left off in part one.

Monday was the closing date for our new house. We only drove about 5 hours through the rest of Pennsylvania and arrived in CT. The town/house was alittle different that what I expected. In my mind I imagined these houses I saw when I was in Hilton Head Island some years ago: pretty and chic, but instead, I got the boonies.
East Hampton is the name of the town, built around southern end of Lake Pocotopaug, southeast of capital Hartford.The population is around 12k. There's one grocery store, a CVS, an Ace Hardware, McDonald's, Subway, Dunkin' Donuts, and some local stores as far as I've seen.

Our new home. 56 East Hambridge St.

Shot from upstairs down to entry way.

Main road into town by Lake Pocotopaug. Cute houses and private docks.

I went to the closing. My first time ever, so it was interesting hearing all the details of the contract and mortgage.

First night's beds in the living room. Our stuff was set to arrive the next day.

Unloading our home.

Huge sign on our neighbor's lawn. Turns out they just wanted to build a shed. Funny how little towns are.

Road by our house deeper into the subdivision towards the lake.

--------------------
Thursday
Yesterday's venture into NY was to renew our recently expired passports. We started early and drove into uptown Manhattan where the Chinese Embassy was located. We were there for about two hours which was annoying mainly because it was kind of boring just waiting around and filling out forms.

We drove down the west coast. Cruise ships are huuuuge, almost sureal.

Pretty church.

BMW dealer with cute compact cars.

2manycops.

View from the 2nd floor of Embassy. Protesters outside wanting to legalize the highly controversial Falun Gong practice in China.

We went to Flushing in upper Brooklyn after business was taken care of. Here's a shot from the inside of a Pinkberry.

Yummy Lamp Kabobs.

Lunch in Flushings. Forgot what the restaurant was called, but it was by the big Hong Kong supermarket.

After leaving Flushings, we drove into Chinatown in Manhattan and walked around here before walking over the Soho where I had a pretty fulfilling shopping adventure, even if it was just 2 stores.
By the time we made it home it was already past midnight. I was way tired and crashed happily on my bed. Good day.

Part of the Weekend Never Dies

2008-07-04T15:23:00.004-04:00

I'm in love with Soulwax.

I'm pretty excited about these Belgium rocker's soon to be released documentary/film of their past 120 some shows. "Part of the Weekend Never Dies" as it is titled, has a really cool splash/teaser site which remixed clips from the film. Check it out.
Also, trailer for the film is here. The end it pretty funny.

"E talking" Music Video:

North by Northeast Pt. 1

2008-06-29T22:16:00.002-04:00

Little Jack.

Feeling: Tired stuffed good
Current Love: Lights and Music - Cut Copy

Road Trip! I officially left West Lala Saturday morning to visit my new home in the great New England country side.
I had work on Friday, and after my parents and I went to our neighbor's dinner party. They got kind of drunk, so I had to drive myself back to the apt. I called X to watch a movie, but we ended up going to a party at Willowbrook that my roommate invited me to. It was kind of what I expected, but wasn't awful. We left around 1 or so and got cigars at CVS, smoked it in the Ufarms park, and went back to his house and played Resistance till 3. We took sake shots whenever someone died, and I was doing pretty good at not dying. Though the game was harder than I remembered. I wanted to play more, but I figured I should get some sleep, considering I was suppose to pick up my parents at 6 (they stayed at my neighbor's). So I went to my apt and took a nap before getting my parents in the morning and hitting the road.
I ended up driving for the first 6 hours. It wasn't bad and the time went by pretty past listening to music, although we did have to make 3 unplanned stops because my dad had to pee...

Austintown, OH

My shift in driving ended in a pizza joint called Wedgewood Pizza. Apparently my dad claims it's "one of the best pizza places in America" from his research on the internets. My dad ordered a pizza sandwich, a seafood pizza, and an "Original Everything" pizza, house special.
It was a lot of pizza.
I only ended up eating one original and a sandwich. I swear the sandwich pizza weighed 5 lbs.

a) Pizza joint's huge open kitchen and ovens. b) The order. c) Seafood pizza: shrimp, imitation crab, clam. d) Sandwich pizza: ham, sausage, green peppers, mushroom. e) Original pizza: olive, peperoni slices and sticks, sausage, mushroom. f) Lovely couch and the one I slept on in our room. g) The humongous king size bed. h) Pretty side table lamp shade with dry flowers in the paper. i) Dinner appetizer: crab cake. j) Pre-entree: Italian ice. k) Twist on the fortune cookie: fried wontons.

Bloomsburg, PA

My dad drove for the next 3 or so hours and reached our stop for the day, a cute bed and breakfast named The Inn at Turkey Hill. There's a very British country style to it. It's the first time we've really stayed at a B&B, so I was excited, especially about dinner as dad had claimed they have a great restaurant.
Before dinner, I took a dip in the 2 person jacuzzi, and it was very relaxing and refreshing. We went to dinner at 7:30, and it was pretty good. Although we did have to wait for 30 mins or so for our entree, because the kitchen was busy. I had roasted duck with mashed potatoes. Mm.

After dinner, I borrowed a movie from the front desk and watched it while my parents went to sleep. The movie was "Identity", and it had an interesting concept, I just wish the ending wasn't so bad. I passed out around midnight and slept for a good 8 hours.

---------------
Day 2 - Saturday

Did I just get Rick Roll'd by a sushi menu?

It was kind of hard waking up, because I haven't slept for so long. We got breakfast at the inn, and I had eggs and bacon. The weird thing was, I had a dream the night before about grilling two pieces of bacon. :shrug:
We hit the road afterward and drove through the rest of Pennsylvania, stopped in New York for lunch at a Japanese restaurant (kind of meh), and finally hitting home sweet home Connecticut.

Glastonbury, CT
For tonight, we're staying at Homewood Suites by Hilton in the greater Hartford area. The closing date for our new home is tomorrow, so we technically are homeless at the moment. The hotel room has a really cute kitchen and stove top; made me want to cook something.
For dinner, who pigged out at the Chower Pot. I haven't had a big appetite these days, probably because I've been eating 3 meals a day while I'm use to one over the summer. Anyway, this place specialized in lobster and ribs, and it was pretty good food, I just wished I was more hungry.

I've been just hanging out at the hotel after dinner, now blogging and watching a South Park episode on a parody of Jenkem. I'm pretty tired, so gonna sleep soon. Tomorrow I'll get to see our new house for the first time. I haven't even seen pictures, so it should be exciting. w00t.

1) Izumi Sushi and Habachi in NY. 2) Huge prison on the border of CT. 3) 2 dozen of clams and 1 dozen of oyster at Chowder Pot. 4) Stuffed lobster!

Doctor's out, let's party

2008-06-27T21:56:00.002-04:00

Last week the crew went down to Bloomington for Sean's party. It's my 2nd time there, and I actually got out to see the town a little and shopped at Urban Outfitters.

I'm too lazy to write all about it, so a picture book will do.

There were a lot going on in town that day like this bike race. Others included the Taste of Bloomington and some carnival.

Since we got to the party around 9, it was still kind of slow, so I went with Kaveh to his friend's shoot. Here they're setting up the bonfire scene.

We got cast as extras in the living room party scene.

"Act natural and party." I was drinking my Sparks.

Bffs dress alike. We got back to the party around 11.

Unfortunately the party got busted around midnight, because someone was peeing outside and the neighbors called the cops. Most people went to the bars, and I hung out with Jason and Leslie. I sat on the roof for awhile, and this was the view from there. Not too scenic unfortunately.

I was just about to pass out when everyone came back around 3. Things got kind of ridiculous. A lot of drunk dancing, warm wiener slapping (the edible kind), cake fighting, and ice tossing.

White boys tuffing the azn.

Everyone went to bed around 6, minus Erica who passed out after the bars. Good morning!

End of the semester evaluation

2008-05-12T18:31:00.005-04:00

School = done. It's been a week since finals week, and I have been enjoying it even though I feel very unproductive. The resulting labor of my last semester as a sophomore didn't look so great in letter form, but it was what I expected, and no surprises this time.

ME200 Thermodynamics
Overall, I liked the materials covered by thermo, because it was very analytical and involved mostly math. I wish I wasn't stuck with such a shitty professor, because I really think I could've gotten an A in the class otherwise. The final was my last one, and I totally raped it, so it left me with a damn good "I'm done" feeling.
The tutorial/help room helped greatly for me to not fail the exams. I went in every Thursday after my ECE lab around 2 and sat in there finishing my thermo homework till about 5 or 6. Kevin is the TA around that time, so it made things less boring.

ME273 Dynamics
Dynamics started out alright, when we were doing kinematics, but it kind of went downhill after kinetics started. I don't know why, but I just wasn't so interested and ended up skipping out on a lot of lectures. The final for this class was the one I was concerned about the most. Overall, I didn't think I had a grasp of the basic concepts and didn't know how to do a lot of the homeworks. Nonetheless, the final was reasonable but took a lot of brain juice out of me. I'd like to think I got a pretty solid B on it.

My favorite part of the class was that we had a course blog which posted homework helps, solution videos, exam prep, etc. The solution videos definitely saved my ass on tests since I didn't goto a lot of the lectures and really had no idea what was going on. I think it's great that classes are pushing for the "HigherEd2.0", because it really utilizes the advancement of web2.0 with education.

EPICS201 Engineering Program in Community Service: Habitat for Humanity
I was looking forward to this class, because of all the great things I've heard about it. Oh boy.
Things started out great. We took a trip at the beginning of the semester down to Atlanta to visit the HFH international headquarters and discuss projects with the personnels. I was really intrigued by my subteam's project "Biotown", which involved building/designing a green HFH home in Reynolds, IN. Unfortunately, things weren't so great, mostly because my project leader sucked. I don't want to bitch about it, but we didn't make much progress in one semester. Let's just say I'm glad this class was over. It definitely was aaaaalot more work than I had expected/wanted to the point where I seriously consider dropping it, because much of it was documentation/presentation/technical crap.
I think I may join EPICS again in the future, but maybe I'll be more careful about my team selection.

ECE201 Linear Circuit Analysis
It was only towards the end of the semester that I started liking ECE, probably because the material was more mathematical with 2nd order RLC circuit analysis, phaser response, and frequency dependence. I wish I had learned the basic materials better, because it really hurt me on the exams and finals. I probably should've taken the initiative to use the tutorial room early on. I liked my professor in the sense that he was really nice, but I didn't think he was very organized in his teaching.

ECE207 Electronic Measurement Lab
After 15 three-hour labs, I can say I'm pretty good at using ammeters, oscilloscopes, and voltmeters, and building basic circuits. The lab was fun at times and tedious at others with the lab reports. My partner was dumb, and I pretty much did everything during each lab. I was pretty happy about getting an A in the class, because I failed my first practical. Fortunately I did decent on the 8 page formal report and aced the 2nd practical. w00t.
I'm not gonna lie and say I like building circuits and playing with different component and instruments; all that technical stuff. But I don't think it's enough for me to want to be an ECE major or take another lab. From what I've heard, ECE gets to be a bitch that make people want to kill themselves.

COM144 Fundamental Communications
Finally, the dreaded but required COM class. Though easy, it was still a pain. Fortunately my teacher was pretty good, and my class wasn't retarded. Our final speech was a good project, and I hate group projects. Somehow I got delegated as the leader and had to guide everyone.
What I'm most disappointed about the class is that the sole reason I received a B was because I missed one too many classes. I have COM 3 times a week at 8:30 in the morning. I had my circumstances for not going to class, and I only have myself to blame.

CGT163 Graphic Communication in Manufacturing
I almost forgot about this class, probably because it's pretty worthless. Sure I learned how to model in CATIA, but I could've done that on my own in a few weeks. It's hard to describe what kind of character professor Miller is, but I wasn't a huge fan of him. Lectures were worthless, and I fell asleep.. a lot. I can talk more about this class, but I really don't want to, so that's the end of that.

I'm Feeling Yummie Head to Toe

2008-05-11T18:22:00.006-04:00

Feeling: lazy
Current Love: HEARTSREVOLUTION - Switchblade (L.A. Riots remix)

Congratulations to me. This will be my first post on Bazzooka network and I'm happy to inform you of my first (as of April 27th) remix. I've worked with Ableton on and off for a year, first starting with Lainii last summer. Since then, the progression has gone solo and was solidified on February 2nd for Ribbon 2.0's first dance party. See 1 and 2. Apart from this party, there has been a number of scattered gatherings which I've donned parts of my Djing skills. The plans for next year are ambitious yet I hope Ribbon 2.0 can fill the void of dancing in Lafayette.

Enjoy my remix. Feedback is always appreciated.
Dj mHo - I touch myself at Night

A Communist Abolitionist

2008-04-21T16:24:00.006-04:00

Lonely Pac Man.

Feeling: Good Inc.
Current Love:U.R.A. Fever - The Kills

Long time no see. I haven't been in much of a blogging mood as of late, and it's probably a result of piles of class work, but today has been a good day thus far, and I'm eager to share my life stories with BN.
Where to start?

School has been a pain the past month. With anything and everything, I've felt like I've have had trouble balancing my social and academic life. I can already rate my academic performance this semester, and it's not good. So much for trying to exert more effort..I don't know why, but I'm just bad at it.
I've also been slacking about going to class and turning in homeworks. The homework part is mostly a result of not going to class. Even though I do them, I don't always turn them in, because I don't goto lecture. I'll probably be hit hardest for COM114, because attendance actually matters, and I'll probably get a B as a result of it.

All of my important dealies are done with, so all I have now are finals. This morning was my COM114 group presentation, which I'm glad is done with. Last week was the exam week madness. I had my ece exams Tuesday night, CAD exam wed. night, and dynamics Thursday night. Unfortunately I missed most of the Roots concert wed. night.
Overall, the scores came back mediocre. Not as well as I had hoped on some, but not disappointing either. I was mostly worried about dynamics, because I missed a lot of lectures/homework, but I guess studying pulled off.

It's kind of weird that this is the last week of school. I feel like the weeks can go on for more. Summer is near, and I have no plans as of yet. shame.

My weekends these past few month have been fun but also tiring. It seems like everything is just one big party. This last weekend was Grand Prix happenings. Friday was relaxing. The weather was great, and I pulled out the tank top for the 1st time in awhile. I started working on my ECE lab report while enjoying an Italian Soda at the Village Coffee house just to realize the report is taking a lot of effort... so that didn't last very long. My night ended up hanging out with Kaveh and Bridgette and watching The Office, Flight of the Concords, and Wristcutters: A Love Story. I stopped by Battle of the Bands/Carnival night by the corec, and conveniently it was very close to Bridgette's apt. I mainly stopped by to see Oh! Discretion and grab some free foods.

I was not expecting to run into Snebtor, Fortress and gang, Eli, and some other kids, so that was cool, but I also didn't like running into old HS people that you don't really talk to but awkwardly acknowledges.
Oh! Discretion was good. I ran into Cody, whose band was apparently playing, but they were scheduled to go on at 1. I said I would potentially come back and listen, but I knew the chance of that happening would be slim, and I would probably not be very sober at that point.
Alas...

----------
Saturday was Grad Prix day and the day that everyone is wasted and Chauncey is trashed. I crashed at the apt Friday night, and Bridgette drove us back around 1 pm. By then, Breakfast Club was winding down, but drunk people and wasted bottles and trash gives a scenic view to the Chauncey bar area. We didn't see any "wow" costumes, just the typical sluts, bros, and wtfs.

Kaveh and I started drinking with Mike and Connie and Luke who joined later, from 2 ish. From then on, the day was just odd/surreal/? as time was lost as a constant.
Somehow we ended up above Von's at a not-so-bbq BBQ. Even though I was feeling great (but tired) at this point, it was still awkward and we left. Somehow we ended up at Qdoba and met up with Shep and his friend that just got engaged. Somehow we started playing Bags outside of the apt with the neighbors. Somehow Kaveh ran off by himself and got drunk piercings that he took out already. Somehow I drunk cooked potatoes that turned out decent, but salty.

By 8 or 9, when everything kind of just happened, I was pretty tired and was ready to pass out, but the night hasn't even begun, and it would be a shame to quit early. I decided to stop by my friend Brian's party that I was invited to. I think we made it over around midnight. Ryan, Curtis, and Justin were the only guys that stuck around; I guess the rest of the gang was too cool to stay. Molly showed up later too, so it was nice to see her. I chatted with Brian mostly. What was left of the entourage headed out to the bars, and I stuck around and hung out with Brian. It was interesting to discover a little more about him, because I really had no idea. He apparently has been reading tarot cards for a few years and read mine. Honestly I don't remember much of what he said, but it did make sense at the time.

Overall, Saturday was fun and different, but I did realize one things: drinking all day is tiring and a hard job.

PS. I like my new w580i Walkman; it takes pretty pictures.

Foodz?

2008-03-12T02:37:00.002-04:00

CIMG5732.JPG, originally uploaded by Lainii.

"Mixed drinks", card games, headstands, talks.

Soiree @ Yimz
03.09.08

Care for a light?

2008-03-12T02:35:00.001-04:00

CIMG5714.JPG, originally uploaded by Lainii.

Drunken Hookah night,
Dancing to Hookah music.

Egyptian Hookah Lounge @ Village
03.06.08

3 Musketeers

2008-03-12T02:29:00.001-04:00

CIMG5566.JPG, originally uploaded by Lainii.

Most epic icicle you will ever find.
Drunk sluts love it too.

Village
02.28.08

Rockin' the Campus

2008-03-12T02:08:00.002-04:00

CIMG5577.JPG, originally uploaded by Lainii.

Good day of catered food and buying teapot at Wal-mart for the Brit.
Mediocre show, red synth, and drunk peoples.
Unfortunate end.

Ben Folds @ Elliott Hall of Music
02.29.08

Tree

2008-02-29T15:38:00.001-05:00

CIMG5534.JPG, originally uploaded by Lainii.

Alone, or maybe not?

River road, West Lafayette
02.10.08

Party Criminals

2008-02-29T15:34:00.001-05:00

CIMG5521.JPG, originally uploaded by Lainii.

Dance Party: Winter Workout @ Stadium Bars and Grill
02.02.08

You only dance when you're 15

2008-02-29T15:31:00.001-05:00

CIMG5498.JPG, originally uploaded by Lainii.

Go Swedish boy.

Dance Party @ The Venue
02.01.08

Sunset

2008-01-29T22:11:00.000-05:00

CIMG5470.JPG, originally uploaded by Lainii.

"I've sat in this exact spot."

Adventure Sunday continued into the warmer shade of winter on top of Prophet's Rock.
Geo Tracker, phone numbers, footprints, zombie movies, burgers.

Battleground, West Lafayette, IN
01.27.08

Ice Luge

2008-01-29T22:10:00.001-05:00

CIMG5458.JPG, originally uploaded by Lainii.

Ice Luge, the next best thing?

House Party
01.20.08

Hoopeston

2008-01-29T22:09:00.001-05:00

CIMG5438.JPG, originally uploaded by Lainii.

"Don't drink and drive now."

Whiskey bound adventure, to the middle of no where.
High school girls swoon; ever seen a model before?
you're not the first, and we're all out of Keys.

Hoopeston, IL
01.20.08

ATL: If this is your final destination, do enjoy the city..

2008-01-17T23:31:00.000-05:00

Omg welcome to Georgia!!11kekeke

Feeling: Comfy
Current Love: Soulwax

Greetings from Atlanta. It's been a fair day of traveling; I'm tired, but somehow I'm compelled to blog. How did I end up miles south? My first field trip I may say.
I'm here with my Habitat for Humanity EPICS team doing some networking and meeting with the headquarter peeps. We'll also be visiting the Global Village which showcases the houses HFH build around the world.
I was pretty excited when I was first made aware of the trip near the end of summer but for the past few days I've had doubt, with the loads of homework I had to finish being the main deterrence. But now that I've got to know my team mates better and am away from Indiana and school, it feels great. (The weather here is also so much better)

The 22 of us, including the "adults", left Purdue at 4:30 and headed to Indy via Lafayette Limo. (My first time riding it!) I definitely wasn't as enthused about flying as usual, probably because the NY trip was only two weeks ago. (Speaking of which I still need to write up about that...) There wasn't much delay at the airport, and we landed in ATL around 9. The last time I've been in Atlanta was back in 05 for the FIRST robotics national. I guess I didn't pay too much attention to the airport back then since I had forgotten about ever being in the ATL airport. I don't know why, but I felt "homely" being in there even though Atlanta isn't even my hometown. I suppose it's the general sense of being down South, since I do miss it.
It look way too long for us to get settled in; At least 20 mins of waiting/paper work at the car rental desk, then another 20 waiting outside for our 3 SUVs in the rental lot. Our hotel wasn't far, but we waited for half an hour to get our keys. Then finally, full sized beds!
I've been pretty happy with the accommodations so far as it has exceeded my expectations. I wasn't expecting to have a bed to myself, but I do, and the full size bed complete with the magical white hotel sheets just makes me want to snuggle and lay in bed all day...but alas, I have to wake up bright and early tomorrow at 6:30.
So, I should get to bed now.

Toliver + AZ @ The Black Sparrow

2008-01-07T20:23:00.000-05:00

My first Lafayette show after NYC felt rather weird for some reason. Perhaps the NYE party set the standards for how parties should go in '08. (More on that later)

Oddly enough, I learned of the show through skimming the TGIF in the J&C.
The lineup was:
AZ - Although I've seen Aaron play quite a few times, it's still interesting to watch.
Toliver - I've heard about this guy as he seemed to started somewhat of an electronic scene in Lafayette way back, but he moved to Cali at some point.
Pixiu - of the Beatkids from Chicago. Played with/met him the first time at AZ's end of semester party. When is the entire Beatkids gonna play?
DJ Ghost - Can't find myspace!
VJ Snebtor - doing his magic on the projectors

I showed up at the Black Sparrow with Mike, Andrew, Jen, and Rob after some delicious sushi at Mike's. The place is a new "hip joint" bar that just opened downtown. They did card unfortunately, but Aaron was able to get me in on the basis that I was an artist/performer. (And I guess he told the bouncer that I spin French House, ha). The atmosphere was totally not what I was expecting. So many old people (and by old people I mean non-college kids) Everyone was sitting, chatting, drinking,and smoking while DJ Ghost was spinning D&B in the background...sooo weird. I definitely felt out of place, and I think Mike did too, but no matters, we came to hear music.

I was interested to see how AZ's set was going to go over with the crowd considering he pretty much does compressor++ distortion beats. Well, I guess the crowd wasn't really paying that much attention to the music, but at least no one was like "this sucks" (as far as I know...)
Aaron's set was short, and Toliver was next. He walked pass me at one point and said "Hey I liked your program on radio Chiguiro." Of course, I've never met the guy before in my life, so it was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately his set wasn't very impressive and fell short of my expectation.
Pixiu arrived around this time, and I could tell that he felt out of place too. DJ Ghost went back on after Toliver, but Mike and I decided to jet. I'm curious as to how Pixiu's mashups went over with the crowd.

Toliver:

Oh, I forgot to mention, DJ Ghost was scratching through the entirety of AZ & Toliver's set. It was interesting, but got a little annoying at points.

So overall, the show was meh, but I don't know if I should even call it a show. Snebtor mentioned that they may be getting regular gigs at the place. I'm not sure if he had fun/thought things went well, but hopefully the shows in the future will be better.

It's the beat.

2007-12-23T21:41:00.000-05:00

Monkey and Doggy

Feeling: ?
Current Love: NY Excuse (justice remix) - Soulwax

My eyes hurt, and it's the annoying itchy lack-of-sleep kind of pain. It's been a week and a day since the fall semester had ended, and I haven't been doing much than sitting around home. which is quite enjoyable.
The last day of the semester wasn't as dramatic as I had imagined or expected from past experiences. After my last final (ME270) ended Saturday morning in the middle of the snow storm, I didn't feel the relief that I should have felt. I was looking forward to finishing finals, but nothing? I suppose ME didn't go as well as I had hoped, but it wasn't terrible either.
My day wasn't quite over yet as I had been scheduled to DJ with Mayowa for AZ and Snebtor's party. My parents picked me up from campus and had lunch with me, but I soon departed to prepare for the night.
Mayowa and I spent most of the afternoon preparing our setup and set. We headed over to the party house around 7. The snow had been falling nonstop, and the road conditions were looking pretty bad. There was probably a good 1/2 foot of snow by the time we arrived. We did a quick soundcheck and went out to grab food and party favors from Wal-mart, which may have been a poor idea considering I couldn't tell which side of the road I was driving on. But we made it back safely just when the party was commencing.

Blackheat was up first. I wasn't sure what to expect of them from their Myspace music which sounded pretty dark and droney. But they DJed a pretty decent set with a lot of French Electro and my favorite tunes with the likes of Digitalism and Midnight Juggernauts.
AZ busted out his beats next as I took over his door duties. Not too many drunk people at this point, but one chick did almost slip off the stairs. Pixiu from Beatkids transitioned into his party mashups right after AZ's set. I thought he was pretty good, but some people complained about his tracks being to choppy. :shrug:
Mayowa and I went on around 1:15. My intro went well, but I freaked out abit when Mayowa's outputs weren't coming through. My song was just looping and I was pretty much like "fuck". I don't remember what I did, but things started working thankfully.
I thought overall our set went better than I expected apart from my Mac freaking out a few times. The crowd seemed to have fun too. We ended sometimes after 3 and packed up. The party was still happening upstairs with some weird drunk jam session.
Drove back to the apartment in the thick layers of snow with Mike, Andrew, and Andrew's friend that I don't remember the name of.
-------------
Looking back on the semester, here's what I have to say about my classes.
Diffeq: I was seriously worried about getting a B in this class mostly due to the fact my failed the first exam. But in the end, the class was pretty easy. Somehow got a 96 on the final, which is impressive, but I don't know if that's before/after the curve. My professor could have been better, but I guess it's not as horrible as mine for linear algebra.
Physics E&M: fuck physics.
Stat for engineers: worse class ever. I'm pretty glad that I switched out of IE, because the department is going down the drain. My professor is horrible. I understand better by reading one paragraph out of the book than listening to her lecture for an hour; and even the book isn't very well written.
CS: The infamous Bill Crums... wasn't too awful, although I didn't learn anything in this class besides how to compile C in Unix. What a waste of my time.
Mechanics: Probably the only class I enjoyed, but sadly my final B average spurred the same jaw dropping wtf as I did for Sociology last semester. The final exam probably got me pretty bad, which is unfortunate. Disappointment, disappointment...

So that's about the end of my meh semester. And what's better to top it off than my last clove? My trusty pack of Black have been with me since the Hookah nights of summer, survived the steaming moshpit of Gregg Gillis, and stuck around for those crazy drunks nights. I smoked the last one last Sunday morning, while I enjoying the snowy view from my apartment balcony before spending half and hour trying to get my car out of the snow. Horrays.

The end of something great, but perhaps the start of something wonderful?

ファイナルファンタジ

2007-12-23T18:04:00.000-05:00

So I've been crazy excited for Final Fantasy Crisis Core ever since it was announced way back when. It's been so long! yet only the Japanese release thus far. No matters, March isn't that far away.
From the reviews thus far, it seems like Crisis Core is A++; so I'm relieved that it's not just another exploit of the FF7 series. The graphic and gameplay seems superb for the PSP engine. Check it:

ZOMG. Actually, I'm not a big Sephiorth fan...

Hot cut scene action.

What is this brat doing here? Also, I wonder if Uffie got her name from Yuffie...

And the trailer for Crisis Core

Can't wait!
Speaking of 7, Last Order is on youtube. It is the animated short of the two critical cut scenes from FF7 in which Crisis Core is centered around.

------------------------------
While we're all things Final Fantasy today, Square had announced a game called Dissidia back in May as part of the 20th anniversary of the FF serie. The game is a 3-D action -fighter type of deal for the PSP. Looks interesting, but I'm not nearly as excited about it as I am with CC.

How is 13 coming along? Haven't heard much.
FFXIII trailer

But lastly, where my Chrono Break at :(

"Oh no you didn't."

Y2K8

2007-12-21T18:11:00.000-05:00

New York Style

Y2k8 will be bumping this year in the Silent Barn aka. the middle of nowhere. Of course, that just makes the party cooler.
I will be kicking out the jams with some "indie disco beats". I'm not 100% sure what that is, but hell, it will be rocking, and grooving. My friend Bradley D, also an organizer of the event, will be DJing his old school pop hit mash-ups (beware of Marvin Gaye...)

I'm looking forward to meeting all the other artists and watching them perform.
I'm expecting Neon Coyote to throw down mash-ups of great electro/house/pop/hip-hop goodness. ( I'm guessing that they play with Ableton)
Lismore reminds me a lot of Metric, mostly because lead singer Penelope carries Emily Haines persona. But, musically, I don't think the two are as comparable as Lismore has a great danceable electronic sound.
To keep the dancing going until end of 07 will the the Venezuelan party jammer Todosantos. They carry the happy electro sound with a hint of Brazilian spice---- a diplofied version of CSS kind of deal. They will also be doing visuals, neat.
Lastly, Ninjasonik will be closing out the night by making everyone's y2k8 tight pants tighter. If electropop rap is a real genre, Ninjasonik would fall under it. Hopefully everyone will not have passed out at this point to rock hard to the last beats.

I'm not too sure what to expect as craziness will likely ensue, but it will be a rocking good time with non-stop dancing.

check it:

Bradley D - "Justice at Roxbury"
Lismore - "Paradis"
Neon Coyote - "I Just Want to D.A.N.C.E. with You"
Ninjasonik - "Internet Bitch"
Todosanto - "OMG We Got It"

vids are great too:

Tight Pants! (Ninjasonik)

"Shake that ass to the beat"(Todosanto)

"It was acceptable in the 80's"

2007-11-28T01:18:00.000-05:00

"I created Disco"

Damn those British and their eye candies. Scotland native Calvin Harris is bringing back the 80s with his beats and most importantly, his fly eyes.

Mix:
Here's a nice remix of Merrymaking by Mr. Oizo of Ed Banger, and a tropical remix of CSS by Harris.

"Merrymaking at my place (Mr Oizo remix)" - Calvin Harris
"Let's make love and listen to death from above (Calvin Harris remix)" - CSS

But mostly importantly, watch and learn from Harris on making those snazzy fly eyes.

"This Thansgiving, arrive hungry... leave stuffed"

2007-11-25T23:48:00.000-05:00

"Put your hands up for Mamaark Ronson"

Feeling: Stuffed
Current Love: Boys Noize - "& Down"

Phew. Thanksgiving is over, end of school is near. It's funny how fast a semester goes past. From my point of view, it doesn't feel like that I've learned very much, but I'm ready for physics and statistics to be over with.
Thanksgiving was much fun. My family had a grand party as usual, although this year I didn't have to cook the turkey. Instead I roasted lamb for the first time in my life. In turned out fairly well for a first attempt, and I received positive feedbacks too. woot.
I made the usual mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, etc. This year I invited my friends, who were either townies or stuck here for the holidays, over for the dinner party too.
They were fairly bedazzled by the amount and variety of foods in front of them. We ate, planned Black Friday, played 360, and learned a Kpop dance.
Oh, how could I forget, we also watched our guests (mostly my neighbors) get intoxicated, which lead to one passing out and , I'm fairly certain, throwing up in my laundry room. I'm pretty sure that's never happened at my house before as far as I was aware, but in the drunk guy's defense, I can see him being the type to do so.
Mike made a comment about how all the adults were getting drunk while we are sober, which is the reverse of what usually happens. Oh irony.

I wasn't so excited about Black Friday this year as there weren't anything I really wanted to get. But I did decide to go out just for the atmosphere. I stayed up all night and headed out around 3:30 AM. Driving through Lafayette made me reminisce about Black Friday two years ago. It's hard to describe the feeling, but it's some kind of peace that you feel within... until you pass Best Buy.
The line was all the way around the building as usual. Except this year, I didn't have to be in it, so I felt nice and warm in my car... until I got out outside of the Mall.
I stopped by Kohl's first since they're the first to open at 4 AM ---- mess.
I felt somewhat out of place just walking around and browsing as everyone else was either waiting in the massive line or rushing to snag items. The line was discouraging. Even if I found anything, I didn't want to wait that long, so I left and meandered around the empty mall.
I've never been inside the mall when it was empty, so the experience was interesting. It was also interesting to see the type of people waiting in front of stores for them to open. Not just that, the type of people walking around too: Teenagers strolling with their best pal in one hand, and a cup of coffee in another; moms already loaded with bags in both hands; and just the most random people who were just there for the hell of it.

I pretty much walked back and forth the two end of the mall, going into stores as they opened. I snagged a mini fondu set at Sears right before the lines got long, and that was really the extent of my shopping besides a sweater.
I headed home around 7 just as the sun was rising. Tired, passed out.

5 PM was when I woke up. I didn't do very much all day except return Jame's 360 and play Halo3 at his place with Mike. Unproductive, but fun.

Saturday was unproductive too, so I won't go into details, but today I went out to Radio Chiguiro again. I was suppose to go in with Mayowa, but I later found out his flight from Cali was delayed.
Leo was there though, and Mike showed up later. The set didn't go as well as I expected, probably because I was still abit nervous... Oh well.
I stayed after to chat with people and drew with Leo till the place closed at 6. Unfortunately today was the last day of the exhibit, so I gave one last look of the radio before it turns back into a bleak white of nothingness. (ok, maybe not that dramatic, but it's a shame all the art will be gone)

"Music sounds better with you"

2007-11-20T14:52:00.000-05:00

Sir Wolf

Feeling: Relieved
Current Love: Mark Ronson ft. Lilly Allen - "Oh My God"

Done!
... for now at least. It felt great yesterday to be done with homework, but today's classes went by sooo slow. After a night of partying and getting roughly 4 hours of sleep, I headed for my 8:30 physics and barely stayed awake; alas, I learned nothing. I wandered off to CS only to find no one present --- oh right, class was canceled. Unfortunately I still had more classes to attend, so I ended up taking a nap in the union.
Physics recitation was at 10:30. My group finished in 30 minutes, so I grabbed food before my CS lab at McDonald's. There, I ran into my friend Kevin, whom I haven't seen since our random bus meet last semester. We chatted for a bit, and he seems to be doing well.
Lab was somewhat frustrating as my partner and I spent pretty much the entire lab trying to fix one function to read data. So that means the rest of the program is homework.

After what it felt like a long long day of class, I can now finally relax in front of my computer and sleep to my heart's content. Also, no work tonight. W00t! As far as Thanksgiving plans goes, I got none. I will probably go home tomorrow and prepared for the dinner party Thursday. Hopefully by then I will have black Friday strategies figured out, if I am not so lazy this year.

Anyways, moving on...

This past weekend was more or less, very spontaneous, but awesome.
Friday's highlight was the "Above Amused" site installation put on by Purdue Art Grad students. I didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be surprisingly wonderful and refreshing. I also got to see and chat with a lot of friends and met some new ones.

I was introduced to Snebtor, who ran a haxxed radio called Radio Chiguiro. Actually, I've seen him at Mike's Zombie dance party a few weeks back, doing visuals for AZ, who also played later in the night. (more on that later) The cool part of it all is that everyone seemed to have a passion for music and art and tries to bring that to the community, which is rare to see in Lafayette.

AZ playing, before PA got all funky

I stuck around till 10 ish to see AZ and Sweet Sixteens play. I got a good look of AZ's setup this time, which included a beat sampler, synth sampler, distortion, and other things. Basically he loop beats and synth, but it sounds really cool. It's really something I would want to do if I had the equipments, but I'll just stick to my laptop for now.
Sweet Sixteens followed after his set was over. Apparently Sara's boyfriend is the guitarist. It's my first time seeing them, and their sound reminded me of Eagles of Death Metal: happy short and rock n' roll.

Photos from Above Amused:

--------------------------------------------

Saturday was a whole another story...I'll spare the details, because I can.
Fast forward to 3:30 pm: Mayowa called me to go into Chiguiro for a live DJ set. I'm not gonna lie, I was not very sober at that point and didn't have anything prepared. After some exchange, he convinced me to go. I figured what the hell, it's all fun and games even if I screw up horribly.
I got ready and headed over to the studio. Snebtor helped us set up, and Mayowa started with his set while I pulled stuff together to make something out of nothing. I was kind of scared, but at the same time I didn't care so much.
My set was ok, but not awesome. After my set, Mayowa and I collaborated with our lappys to end the show. It was hard beat matching manually, (especially with two different programs: he was running Traktor and I was running Ableton), but we pulled off alright. Snebtor seemed to enjoyed, so that was good. He invited us back for next week, and hopefully by then we'll be more prepared.

After finishing around 6, I headed over to Mike's for a Thanksgiving dinner party. It was chill and fun. I played Mahjong with the Asians, ate Turkey etc and cookies, played Wii, and had a blast.

bazz2.0

2007-11-19T20:36:00.000-05:00

Makeover!

Bazzooka Network now has a new face.
This should have happened a long time ago.
Things are still under construction, and suggestions are welcome.

Enjoy!

2000000000???

2007-11-15T11:57:00.000-05:00

Flickr hit 2000000000 (that's two billion) pictures uploaded on the 13th. Yes, that is the picture, slightly modified. It's not that awesome, but I can see it being so much worse.

My last picture post on Flickr was #1698163723 on Oct. 22. If I did my math correctly, there would have been an average post of 13,123,316.4 pictures per day till Nov. 13 to reach 2 billion pics. Impressive.

Congrats Flickr, now give us more space for pictars!

Fall Fall Fall Falling

2007-11-09T16:49:00.000-05:00

Feeling: Still abit sick, but : )
Current Love: "Any Way You Choose To Give It (The Whip Remix)" - The Black Ghost

Yatta! It's friday.
Friday puts in a great mood. Perhaps it's the warm autumn ray trickling through the shades of orange and yellow, or perhaps it's the sense of accomplishment--- another week survived.

The weeks have been flying past very quickly, probably because of the amount of work I have to do/plan on doing. It's nice staying busy, which makes having time to relax feel so much more enjoyable.
The past two weeks have been filled with exams. Physics was abit dissapointing, ME score surprised me... in a good sense. But I'm happy about that, considering that takes off a lot of worries I had for the class. CS was last night, and it went alright, and finally, quiz in IE class today, my last class of the day.

Not sure what the weekend will hold, but we'll see.

"It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!"

2007-11-01T22:38:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Sick.
Current Love: "I Get Around (Midnight Juggernauts remix)" - Dragonette

Runny nose is a bummer, but I seem to get it all the time unfortunately. Homecoming weekend probably contributed much to my current health state, but I can't really complain.
The past few weeks have been fairly hectic; perhaps engineering is finally starting to drag me down. Looking at my schedule for next semester, I don't think things will get any easier. Exams are coming up in the following weeks, and after that will be Thanksgiving, which I'm fairly looking forward to.

Going back to the weekend, it was much fun as it was random and tiring. The weekend was :
A. Purdue homecoming
B. Halloween weekendish
C. Visit from friends/hanging out with friends

A. Even though I didn't partake it any homecoming activities, I did end up going to the game agaisnt Northwestern on a whelm as I was dragged into going. But the great part was that Mike was able to get me in for free, which was impressive in his not-very-sober state. The game ended up being fairly fun, and I was glad that I tagged along.
B. The Muse was set to open Fri., and I was looking forward to it/the halloween party...except it didn't open. I was mostly disappointed because of all the hard work I put in. I won't rant about my boss, but she could be handling things better. Nonetheless, I still got to wear my Nascar-hick turned "Busy E" attire Saturday.
Speaking of Saturday...but I should probably go back to Thursday. Me and Mike's friend Brad came down to visit from NYC, because his parents (Purdue alumni) were in town for Homecoming. Brad's brother Jeff and Jeff's roommate also came down Friday. Anyways, we all went out for Karaoke Saturday night in our costumes. (The best was probably Jeff's banana suit) I ran into Ester, who left for Korean 3 years ago and just came back this semester for college. She called my name, and I turned over to see an unfamiliar face -- she looks completely different! Seconds later, it struck me. I'm not completely sure why, but I realized it was her and gave her a warm greeting.
Karaoke was fun times, but the party was just beginning. After stopping by Morgan's dance party with Connie, we converged later with everyone at Noel's party, conveniently located across from my apartment. Dancing ensued, to the beat of the mixtape I made earlier in the day in a very tired/inebriated/half-asleep state. It turned out ok, but I was mostly happy that people were enjoying/dancing to it, so, mission accomplished.

C. Just because this whole post is not very chronological and most likely confusing, I'm going to go back to Friday.
Friday was Rumi's birthday, so Brad and I joined her for dinner at Asahi along with her entourage. We waited for awhile to get seated, and even longer for a chief to cook for us, and to our luck, we got the overly annoying, slightly homoerotic, Malaysian blabbermouth. The food wasn't as good as I had recalled even though I was starving from all the waiting. Oh well.
Dinner took awhile, by the time we got back to Rumi's, it was already 11ish. She got ready to hit the bars while all her friends flocked in one-by-one as midnight approached.
Around 12:30 am, the masses migrated to the bars, while I stayed behind. John was nice enough to keep me company since he didn't really drink, so we decided to make boba aka. bubble tea at my place. We listened to music, watched videos, debated about Jens Lekman's current home, and had a boba fight. All in all it was fun, but I was pretty dead by 3 and called it a night.

So, that's about it in summary, oh wait.

Now I'm done.

""But we just want to dance..."

2007-10-19T16:44:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Sore
Current Love: "Shadows" - Midnight Juggernauts

Justice.

I have been looking forward to this show for over 3 month, and alas I have to say I came out somewhat disappointed.

I first learned of Justice's US tour Chicago stop the night of Pitchfork. Mike and I were both super excited. We even heard some kid from Ohio talking about it before Klaxons' set Sunday. This lead to another funny story.
Mike got the kid's number and finally called him the night before the show at 2 in the morning. He picked up, and Mike asked him if he was going. He replied yes, and said something along the lines of "can I go back to sleep now?" I was surprised that he was going, but unfortunately we didn't meet up with him before/after the show.

Anyways, the crew (Mike, Cara, John, and I) left West Lafayette around 6:30. The show was at 9 Chicago time, but we didn't make it to the Metro until 8:45 due to several pit stops and delays. (both on the road and in the city)
We made it in just when Midnight Juggernauts came on, and the floor was already pretty packed. Their set was short, and the sound wasn't so great at some point. (the venue's fault). "Shadows" was great live.

I almost forgot. No merch! none at all. I was looking forward to getting a Jugg tour shirt. Why do you hate us...?

Getting back to the story.
We had been slowly creeping up towards the front during Jugg's set and Justice's set-up. The space was getting tighter and reminiscence of pitchfork came back. After 20 some minutes, the metal playing on the speakers finally cut out, and the crowd chanted for Justice.

The duo ascended to their cross throne, and "Genesis" descended upon us.
The crowd went wild when the first chorus hit. Everyone was jumping, including me. Air was slowly depleting and the temperature was rising; I had a good feeling that this is going to be Klaxons all over again.
The girls behind us definitely did not except this.
"What the hell is going on? I just want to dance!" one cried out.
Looking back, I feel kind of bad for them. I think things could have been better if the crowd wasn't so rowdy and didn't have so many jackasses.

Justice's set was also lacking. The overall mood was rather edgy, and I wish they had played more happy tunes like "Just Jack" and "DVNO", and more covers. The encore of Metallica was pretty interesting/odd.

---
It rained the whole way back. We got back around 4 and I didn't get to bed till 5. I had no intentions of going to my morning classes, and I did just that. Got up around 1, ate, studied for my exam at 7, took the exam, and I was home free. What a great day.

Also, Klax in French? I guess they're fitting with the Parisian scene pretty well. I'm not a big fan of the version though, but the Justice remix is ++.

Mooncake, Mooncake

2007-09-23T15:22:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Pensive
Current Love: "Yeah Yeah" - Bodyrox

This weekend has been rather chill. Slow, but still good. After finishing classes on Friday, I studied for awhile in the Union and chatted with Sami after he came over. (Maybe it was more like me listening to him talk about how he got raped by his Physics test) I made dinner, studied more, and watched TV. I was waiting for some calls to make plans for the night, but it was around 11, and I still haven't heard from anyone. Matt texted me to join him at a party, so I agreeded since I had nothing else to do. The host was his old roommate who is hispanic. Everyone at the party was hispanic. I'm pretty sure both Matt and I felt awkward being there, so we left after awhile. We picked up Connie from her house and met up with Andrew, Jen, Raj, and Molly at a party in Jen's apt. complex. Surprisingly, Nikhil was there, and I later discovered he lived next to that apartment. I had a good conversation with him in his slap-happy state. I also got to steal some music from him, which is always a plus. I left around 3 and passed out.

I want to kick the habit of sleeping in super late on weekends. I woke up at 1 Saturday morning, which is an ok time. Mike called, and I went downstairs to make lunch with him. Tasty bok-choi and beef stir-fry. We studied and did laundry before he had to work at 6 at Bea One. I went with him though, because I wanted to talk to the owner about doing graphic works. She was surprisingly young. I think everything went well, so I was pretty happy about that.

More study ensued after I left. Studying never gets tiring, right?
I ate at Panera (ran into Mayowa) and stayed there until 9. I switched locations to the Village Coffehouse but didn't stay very long as I had gotten a call from X. He was studying as well, so I invited him over to my place to have a study party. He brought me chicken curry from his house, which was pretty tasty. I slacked off though and pretty much just ended up watching foodTV. He left around midnight, and I met up with the crew at another party. That party did not have the best vibe, so we left for another, which turned out to be fairly cool.

It was a roof party above Von's with live music and of course, drinking. Mike came after he got off of work around 2, and we had fun watching/stalking drunk people. There was this one guy who walked like a zombie due to his drunkenness. (Also, I learned from this weekend that drunk people can be scary. I don't like it)

Mike and I left abit before 4 as the party died down but had enough time to grab food at the Rice Cafe before it closed. We ordered "Egg Foo Young", which is apparently fried egg with meat and veggies. It was tasty nonetheless. Passed out at 5 and surprisingly woke up at 1.
I went downstairs to borrow a pot and woke up Luke in the process. I decided to make lunch with him, so I pulled out my marinated chicken and veggies and made tomatoe mushroom penne. I was really happy with how the chicken turned out, so I'm excited to cook the rest when I get around to it.

Studied, did more work.

My parents wanted me to come home for dinner, because we had neighbors over, so I agreed and rode home with my dad at 6. Ate dumplings, ribs, tofu, noodles, etc. The usual party food.

-----

I feel like there's so much homework/work I have to do, but in reality, it's really not that much? I don't know. I guess I like having things to do, but sometimes having nothing gives a good sense of acomplishment.
:shrug:

"We dress just like Cid and Nancy"

2007-09-17T02:03:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Exhausted
Current Love: "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" - Daft Punk

Is it the weekend yet? I'm completely exhausted of energy at the moment from lacking sleep in the past 30 hours. But yet, I'm still excited about summing up my weekend at two in the morning.

FRIDAY

I woke up at 9:35 for my Diffeq class and received a text from Matt:
"You want to come to the Threadless opening?"

What.
I have been wanting to go all week, and it was surprising that he was going. Basically, the online/Chicago based company just opened a retail store and was "throwing a party" at the Metro= free shows.
After ironing out some kinks in the plan, I agreed to tag along with Matt and his friend Mike (the driver) for a weekend road trip to Chicago.

I went to my math class at 10:30 and got ready/packed before going to Mechanics at 2:30. I had to skip my 3:30 Stat class since the show was scheduled to start at 6, and we wanted to avoid traffic.
After food, gas, getting lost (solely a fault on my part), we finally got on 61 around 4:30. Lucky for us, there was an accident a mile or so down the road, and the traffic was in congestion for about 15 mins. Some car/truck was flipped on its side by the road. Eh.
The rest of the drive went smoothly and we got into Chicago just around 6. (Chicago time!) The store was a lot smaller than I had imagined from looking at pictures, but the LCD screens were super neat. I took a few pictures but did not buy anything.
The store was in the Depaul area, so Mike dropped his car off at his friend Ben's, whose apt. we later crashed at. Ben came with us to the Metro, but it took him forever to get ready. Taking the train took awhile and getting lost did not help either (not my fault this time; I was actually the one who noticed we were going in the wrong direction). We finally made it to the Metro around 8:30, where the last band, Hey Mercedes, was setting up. I was disappointed that I missed Anathallo, the band I really wanted to see, but I couldn't complain too much considering the show was free.
Hey Mercedes turned out to be punk/emo/whatever, and we all agreed that it wasn't super. We left after 40 mins. and followed Ben to his friend's party.

The party started out small and grew exponentially with time, until it hit the limit, and then decreased. It was fun talking to people, but the highlight had to be the piss-ass-drunkard.
Everyone first noticed him when he locked himself inside the bathroom throwing up for awhile. He disappeared after that, and everyone assumed he left. But later he comes out of no where, stumbles into the kitchen, where I was sitting with others. You can tell that he was about to blow as he tried making his way to the door. I watched in silent and waited for the moment...
BAM! He blasted.
The projection was rather impressive. Red liquid and chucks were splattered all around the entrance to the laundry room. Seeing as the front door was too far, the drunkard dashed for the immediate window in the laundry room and rained down from the second floor.
Oh but it gets better.

Two minutes later, a group of guys walked up from their smoke break, not looking very happy. Apparently, they got hit by the drunk's puke as the window was directly above the front door. Luckily, they didn't get too much on them, but the turn of events is still hilarious.

The hosts freaked out when people started throwing up, so they wanted everyone to leave. Ben was in the pool of people that threw up, and he was pretty wasted. We ended up hailing a cab, because he didn't want to walk, and the cab driver was really dumb.
$10 later, we made it back safely and called it a night.

SATURDAY

Mike and I woke up bright and early Saturday night. We had to pick up Matt from the apt. where we partied, because he ended up staying there for various reasons. Naturally, we made fun of him.
The plan for Saturday was going up to Libertyville, Mike's hometown. The place is about 40 minutes north of Chicago.
On our way there, I dropped into the first "Oasis" I've ever been to. It's basically a consolidation of fast food haven. I wanted to get a Gyro, but Mike recommended a local place. Since we were close to out destination, we left and ended up eating at the Gyro place. I enjoyed it, even though the meat was super salty.
We sat and watched TV at Mike's house for awhile, regaining energy and figuring out our next move. After some time, Mike's light bulb lit up, and he had a surprise in store for us.

I was pretty curious as to where he was taking us. We made a pit stop at Caribou Coffee (my first time to the chain), and ended up in the rich neighborhood. Mike led us to the end of a street, where sets of wooden stairs delve onto a beach and the sound of wave splashing lingered in the air. It was a very pleasant surprise. I had no idea the town was right by the lake, and I have not been to a beach for over a year.

We spent a long time at the beach. Everything felt calm, happy, and peaceful. I imagined how wonderful it would be if I lived in such an area. Everyday, on the beach.
But Indiana, in the end, is just Indiana.

Mike planned a get-together with his friends for the night. His dad bought him alcohol from the store and apparently doesn't care that he or his friends drink in the house. We grabbed food with his friends at a Thai restaurant for dinner, and regrouped back at his house.
The night was also his high school's homecoming, so his sister and friends were hanging out upstairs while "us college kids" partied in the basement.
We danced and raved to Daft Punk (Interstellar 5555), and later Matt taught us to swing dance. We danced the night away, and before long, everyone parted, and it was already 1 A.M. I had work Sunday morning, so I requested that we leave in the morning. Mike planned on staying up, and we all ended up staying up before leaving around 5.
By the time I got into the car, I was ready to pass out. At some point down the highway, I noticed Mike pulling into a gas station. Apparently his car was heating up, so he had to buy some coolant. Problem solved? Except some times later (I really don't remember how long, because I was pretty much drifting in and out of sleep), he stopped again because the car was still heating up. He called his dad and found the problem. Good, we're really on our way now.

I felt a little guilty for having Mike drive all the way back at this hour. I could tell that he was barely hanging on towards the end. I'm just glad I made it back safely.

SUNDAY

After getting back, I showered and got ready for work. The weather was terrific, which made the 20 minute walk fairly pleasant. I haven't gone back to work in over 3 weeks, so I had no idea what's up these days. The hours went by pretty easy as I just had to resort some books. The rest of the time was devoted to ME homework.

The rest of the day wasn't that exciting.
-----

Sooo, looking back, it was a good weekend with fond memories.
Also, I miss Chicago.

Onward, Week Three

2007-09-13T23:52:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Productive
Current Love: Emergency - Passion

Phew. This week has gone by super fast. Stressful, but overall good.

The Industrial Roundtable was Tuesday and Wednesday. Although companies were that enthused about recruiting interns, I had a fun experience and was motivated to look further into getting an internship over the summer. I'm fairly interested in interning with UPS, a consumer company like General Mills, or a tech company like IBM or Motorola. Also, free things are good.

Another time consuming task this week was the interviews for SCC recruits. It was fun to be honest, getting to converse with the applicants and pose questions. I guess the pool of candidates weren't as crappy as I had expected, so that's good. Next week consists of two days of formal interviews. Yay for more work.
Speaking of SCC, there has been some drama/tension lately. I won't go into details, but I find the whole situation amusing. Things will straighten out, I hope.

The weather has cooled down considerably within the week, and it's so nice. I had a productive day today of attending class, finishing homework, stopping by SMEF (Management job fair), and going to work. I received my first graphic assignment of the year and am pretty excited. It's a bit technical, but I think I will enjoy it regardless.

No plans for the weekend yet.

C-A-I-R-O-O-O

2007-09-10T01:47:00.000-04:00

Feeling: ?
Current Love: "Digitalism in Cairo" - Digitalism

Ello. There are a lot of things that I want to blog about, but I have been lazy/wasn't in the mood to do so.

I guess first and foremost: school.

It is now the 3rd week of classes, and everything has been going fairly well. The class I am liking the most at the moment is Mechanics. I've heard good things about the professor, and he is, well, fairly good. The problem I can't seem to overcome is that I am always tired/sleepy in there. Perhaps it's the post-lunch laziness, but the instance I sit down, my eyes do not want to be open. Sitting in the 2nd row isn't alleviating the situation either.
Speaking of sleeping, I also have a tendency to doze off in Physics E&M and C-programming. Physics is more challenging this year, so I'm actually paying attention in class/taking notes. CS has so far been review material for me, so crosswords all the way. The professor Bill Crums is infamous for his hated way of conducting the course. So far it's been ok, so I hope to see soon what the rave is all about.
Sadly, Diffeq has not been as fun as I had hoped. At this rate, I don't know if I want to take anymore classes. And lastly, there's my IE stat class. Our lecturer has a tendency to go off on a tangent about herself, and I get the vibe that majority of students in the class doesn't really care about the class. I'm not a big fan of stats, but I suppose it's getting better now that things are more mathematical, but I didn't do too well on the first quiz/hmwk.

Work.

I'm back in the newsroom now. The first day wasn't very exciting, perhaps because I was composing the sports page. Everything is still pretty much the same. Minus a few familiar faces. I haven't checked in with Follett's for two weeks. I am not really sure if I want to work regular hours over the semester. It's so far away and not the most exciting.

Food.

Cooking has been enjoyable even if I still lack essential cookware. (pots) I have found love in making tasty sandwiches and melts, while experimenting with ingredients, especially meat. (Tasty pastrami...) I have ate out on few occasions. The new restaurant down the street called Rice Cafe has gained much popularity for its taste and late delivery hours. Even though somewhat pricey, the portion is good for two meals. I've visited the place once and ordered a pork noodle stir fry, but somehow I got all other meats except pork. (Shrimp, chicken, and beef). It's rather funny, but I'm not complaining.

-----------

Justice Klax?

I am disappointed that I can't go see Bloc Party this wed. in Indy due to SCC duties. Final Fantasy is opening for them, and damn, I want to see Owen Pallett. : ( But in better news, Justice ticket is on the way! I have already started making my shirt (stenciling) for the show, and it's pretty rad.
Hopeful: Klaxons 10.6.07 @ Metro

Please?

'06 Album Rock Party

2007-09-05T23:19:00.000-04:00

Oh wow, I've completely forgot about this post. It's been almost 3 month since I began writing it, so I'm pretty glad it's done.
Even though it's more than half way into '07, 2006 was still a good year for music, and it was hard to pick the favorite favorites.

All the songs are playlisted. (link on the side bar) So be sure to check it out, if you haven't. Also if you're bored, read my'05 review.
(In order of how my mind flows; but pretty much random; I'm not a fan of rankings.)

-------
Whatever People Say I Am, I Am Not
Arctic Monkeys
Track Pick - "Still Take You Home"

The Arctic Monkeys is blog raved turned UK's "next big thing". Even though they might have turned "mainstream", it doesn't matter, because these guys are still rocking. When I listened to this unknown little band at the very beginning of 06, I knew think they would hit it big. The raw sound, catchy riffs and bass line, the style, and the adorable heavy British accent (I'm a sucker), is what I wanted. I was tempted to list this album for my 05 review, since it was released in Jan. but I refrained. A year and more later, I am even more in love with these guys and the album.

A Lesson in Crime
Tokyo Police Club
Track Pick - "Cheer It On"

"Ask me about being in Tokyo Police Club". My secret love for Canadian bands never seizes; But seriously, they're awesome. These yet legal Canadian kids are making a scene. The 20 min EP has gave these kids ecstatic fans, television debuts, label deals, and gave the world happy dance-punk tunes. TPC's sound is quite unique and distinctive, but very refreshing and of course, dancable.

Professor Murder Rides the Subway
Professor Murder
Track Pick - "Champion"

Champion! EP by another uprising dance-punkers from New York. Rides the Subway delivers much energy while keeping things fun. Afterall, this band has a lot of fun. You can never have too much cowbells!

Writer's Block
Peter Bjorn and John
Track Pick - "Young Folks"

"Young Folks" is all the rave from UK Top 40 to US Top 40 to Kanye West's dub and backup band. But I can't talk down on the phenomenon indie/mainstream breakthrough and debatable "sell out". The tune is quite catchy, and I can't, or at least haven't, gotten sick of hearing it. The Swedish Trio have been around for awhile, but this was their album. In entirety, Writer's Block is solid.

Night Ripper
Girl Talk
Track Pick -"That's My DJ"

Your favorite mash-up DJ Greg is here to please everyone. Honestly, I think anybody can enjoy this album. I can say so much, but I'll just leave it at that. Listen to Girl Talk.

The Warning
Hot Chip
Track Pick - "Over and Over"

I didn't find too much out of this album after the first few listen throughs, but after awhile, I was in love. I'm not use to listening to "soft" stuff, but something about these UK rocker's infectious electro-pop and dance sound beckoned me to listen over and over.

Transparent Things
Fujiya & Miyagi
Track Pick - "Collarbone"

They're just pretending to be Japanese. Fujiya & Miyagi is fairly unique compared to everyone else on this list. Their sound is very chill jazz like electro, but at the same time it gets your feet moving. The lead's voice is also very smooth and jazzy. Classy.

He Poos Clouds
Final Fantasy
Track Pick - "Song Song Song"

Alright, so I might be in love with Owen Pallett, but I respect his musicianship more. Again, this is another album that took awhile for me to pick up. Pallett hones his violent is this dreamy album that can probably dub as a final fantasy soundtrack. You got nothing Patrick Wolf! (jplaying, I like you too).

------

Notables: Here are some notable albums, but I didn't feel it was good as a whole, or for whatever reason, to write a review about it but definitely check them out too!

Robbers & Cowards by Cold War Kids
Scale by Herbert
So This is Goodbye by Junior Boys
The Ship by Danielson
This Harness Can't Ride Anything by Chin Up Chin Up
Yellow House by Grizzly Bear
Wolfmother by Wolfmother
CSS by Cansier der se Sexy
Gulag Orkestar by Beirut
Everything All the Time by Band of Horses
!!! Myth Takes
With Love and Squalor by We Are Scientists
The Loon by Tapes 'n Tapes
Youth for Eternity by The Subways
Pieces Of The People We Love by The Rapture
Bring Me The Workhorse by My Brightest Diamond
Six Demon Bag by Man Man
Return to the Sea by Islands
Let Me Introduce My Friends by I'm from Barcelona

Free Chipotle Day

2007-08-21T21:15:00.000-04:00

Scored: 2 free burritos

So Chipotle had a back-to-school promotion today and gave out free burritos from 11-10. Being a Chipotle enthusiast as I am, I naturally headed out for some. Overall, today was pretty busy with 4 back to back classes (including 1 lab) staring at 8:30 and being at random places. I also had to work pretty much right after classes. Luckily CS lab got out early (even though it sucked), and I found some time to stop by Chipotle. The line was definitely not as ridiculous as it was for their grand opening free burrito promotion last year. Even better was, I spotted some friends in line and was able to get food within 10 mins.

Work was hectic today. I thought Sunday would have been the busiest day, since it's the day before school, but today kind of sucked. Pretty much all the major classes' books are out, and it's a pain trying to find more/explain to people/reserve books for them, etc. Also, refund is annoying; I'm glad I'm not a cashier for that reason.

My day wasn't quite over after getting out of work at 6:30. My first Exponent meeting was today too. And with my lucky with the Gold Loop, I wasn't able to catch the bus. It never came! Tired and burned out, I treked for 20 mins. under the heat and got to see all the happy faces in the office---- It is nice to be back. Work starts Thursday!

After the short meeting, I headed over to Chipotle again in hopes of finding tomorrow's dinner. Luckily, I ran into Sam and people and was able to cut in line again. I couldn't resist the temptation to eat more burrito, So I chowed down half of my steak pinto. Govind joined us soon after, and we ended up interneting at the Village Coffee House. (I still don't have wireless in my apt.) Among the numerous people I ran into today, I saw Lena for the first time in about two years. We had a quick chat and parted our ways. I really enjoy running into people/friends that I haven't seen for awhile, unles it's the awkward half-friend what-should-I-do scenario.

Classes have been meh, although I didn't expect the first week to be very exciting. It rained a lot yesterday. Kind of a downer to the start of a new year.

Animal Collective Poster

2007-08-12T11:46:00.001-04:00

I received an oversized envelope in the mail yesterday. The most interesting part was that it was from Domino Records in NY. As much as I love music, I don't have connections or is famous with the industry. So why is Domino sending me stuff? And what could it be? With much excitement, I frantically opened the package with my Xacto knife to discover a lovely Animal Collective poster printed on watercolor paper.

But like I said, I don't have connections so there is no chance of me just getting random/free things in the mail. The poster was actually acquired through Daytrotter. They were giving away a number of them to whomever responded first and naturally I jumped on the bandwagon.

That was over months and months ago.

I didn't think I got it, since it has been ages, so this was quite a pleasant surprise. I'm not the biggest Animal Collective fan, but free and pretty posters are for the win.

"She is the queen of the castle California, thrill"

2007-08-05T23:53:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Drained
Current Love: Pavement

I have been so tired lately, it's rather sad. I don't really know why or how it started, but I don't like it at all. Sleeping has been hard lately. It takes me at least an hour to fall asleep, because I have too much on my mind, and I end up tossing and turning all night in misery and having weird dreams. It is only around 9 or 10 that I get the "sleepy feel", but by then I usually had to drag myself out of bed to get to work.
Speaking of work, my hours are gradually increasing. Surprisingly, it hasn't been too bad working 6-8 hours a day, but I just feel so tired after I get home. It's a bummer. Next week I have 40 hours, and tomorrow is my only day off. I took some sleep aid in hopes of finding a good night sleep, and I'm looking forward to a productive and fun day tomorrow.

Only two weeks till school. I want to move in already!

Summer B.E.A.T. Mixtape

2007-07-25T23:43:00.000-04:00

S u m m e r B . E . A . T .

Hot of Ableton!
Not really, I finished this a few weeks ago; not sure why I didn't post it then. Anyways, this is my summer mix. I like how it turned out for the most part. Enjoy!

Lainii - Summer B.E.A.T. (51:13 mins.):
Soft Tigers - Heart it Races [Architecture in Helsinki Cover]
Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks (Punks Jump Up Special Disco Remix)
New Young Pony Club - Grey
Architecture in Helsinki - Do the Whirlwind (Safety Scissors/Hot Chip Remix)
Bonde de Role - Solta O Frango
Enon - Tilt You Up!
The Blow - Hey Boy
Calvin Harris - Colours
Yeo - Two Sides of a Door
Tokyo Police Club - Cheer Them On (Trey Told Em Remix)
Junior Senior - Move Your Feet (Djosos Krost Extended Remix)
Justice - B.E.A.T.
The Go! Team - Bottle Rocket
Fox n Wolf - Youth Alcoholic
Le Tigre - Deceptacon
Punks Jump Up - Dance to Our Disco
LCD Soundsystem - North American Scums
!!! - Me And Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard (A True Story)
Lo-Fi-Fnk - Change Channel (Kaos Remix)
Peter Bjorn and John - Let's Call It Off
I'm From Barcelona - Jenny
Streetlight Manifesto - Walking Away
--------

"I know what girls want, I know what boys like"

2007-07-25T22:48:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Lethargic
Current Love: Gegg Gillis:

Gregg makes my heart melt...too bad he's taken.

I'm sad that his upcoming show in Indy is 21+,
but in other news, my favorites new singles at the moment:

Caribou - Melody Day
Liars - Plaster Casts of Everything
(The video is rather interesting. Check it out at YouTube.)

Diary of a Pitchfork Survivor, Part Two

2007-07-22T21:07:00.000-04:00

Hello hello, this a continuation of day one and two of Pitchfork goodness. More music, fun, dancing, sweating, and awesomeness.
Part 1

Day Three - Sunday: Grand Finale, Chicago Style

Saturday wore me out a good amount after the crazy Girl Talk set. Mike, Andrew, Sam, and I woke up around 10 and headed out without much delay. Since it's the last day, I had to drive my car down to Union park, as opposed to riding in Sam's car. We stopped by Osco before heading onto the highway so people can use the ATM and get booze. The liquor aisle was pretty impressive, or at least compared to Indiana's, but Andrew and Mike were not satisfied with the selection, and want to get stuff at liquor stores in town instead. We left the store and headed into the city. Andrew rode with me, and we encountered traffic again. I was following Sam but lost him soon after the first toll booth, which was where the traffic jam began. After 30 mins. or so of being stuck in traffic, Sam called and told me to take the express lane, which was what they did. They got lucky and was able to get off on a good street, but I had already pass the exit for the express lane.
The jam wasn't that congested, and I got off at Ogden not long after...except I got lost. Sam and Mike was already in town and hitting up the liquor store. I drove around abit trying to get my bearing. If there's one thing I realized this weekend, it's that Chicago is not very hard to navigate at all. (but I suppose having a map would be helpful) I finally found Ashland, now a homely street for me, and headed North for Union Park. We waited outside to meet up with the others, but I was really eager to see Deerhunter, and it was time for their set to start, so I ditched the others and headed in.

1:00 - Deerhunter
Even though we actually were on time today, I was still far back for Deerhunter. Bradford wore a gold/sparkly sundress; it's not a bad color on him. The set wasn't very long, so that was disappointing, but other than that, I was happy.
Afterwards, I met up with everyone else, and we waited for Menomena. Again, no one was really a fan of them, but we had nothing else to do at the time.

3:00 - Junior Boys
We were about 3 rows back for the set, and it turned out a lot better than I had imagined. I didn't think their tunes were that dancable, but it was! Standing in front of us were some kids Mike friended at Girl Talk. Bryan, Katie, and Kevin. They were pretty cool, and we spotted them a lot. I also wished Junior Boys' set was longer along with the speakers not sucking.

Afterwards, everyone kind of went their own way, because the next big act wasn't till 7. We ate and explored. The oxygen bar was interesting, but I don't see anything special about it. I begin roaming around and caught some of Jamie Lidell. I was surprised that he DJed half of his set, because I always thought of him as a guitar wielding singer. But it was cool, and I heard him perform "Multiply"; kind of made me wish that I got to watch more of his set.
More roaming ensued, and I stopped to watch Stephen Malkmus. He's still quite a hottie for his age, and he was quite charming on stage. He played a surprisingly amount of Pavement covers, but I guess he did play mostly an acoustic set. I left after awhile to meet up with everyone at Balance. The Cool Kids (Chicago hip-hop ground) were playing, and they did sound pretty cool. I exchanged a quick convo with a fellow Exponent staff, sadly I still don't remember his name even though I've ran into him a few times.
The acts at Balance was running behind schedule, which was a good thing, because it meant more time for us to watch Of Montreal!

7:00 - Of Montreal
Even though Mike and I arrived about 20 mins. before the show, we were still kind of off in the back. Sam and Andrew went off to watch the New Pornographers. I'm not a huge fan of them, so I didn't really care that I didn't get to hear them.
Anyways, Of Montreal was just as fun as I had expected. Wild props/costumes, fun stage present, Kevin Barnes being scandalous. Yum Yum.
I left right after the last song, even though they played an encore. The night's goal was to rock out at Klaxons, and I would hate it if I was left out in the back. Everyone else was pretty much all rushing to Balance, and I was praying that it wasn't packed already. Luckily, the Field just begin his set due to the delays. Mike left Of Montreal early and had a decent spot, so I joined him. The Field had a good DJ set and got everyone moving. I thought it was funny that he did not say a word during his performance; I'm not sure if it was because he's Swedish and didn't know English.
Mike and I were plotting (along with drinking) during the whole as to how to get closer for Klaxons. Right after the Field ended, we pushed our way up just like everyone else; We got up about 4 rows from the stage.

9:00 - Klaxons
The setup/sound check look way long, and everyone was getting impatient. The boys finally came on after god knows how longs, and the crowd went wild. They opened with "Gravity's Rainbow", and the chaos began.
To my surprised, everyone was already going all out for the first song (granted, many of them were probably drunk). Mike and I pushed/jumped out way towards the front, but I lost him at some point. Head banging, moshing, dancing, singing, it was all good. Some kids behind me were trying to start a dancing circle. They weren't very successful at first, because there was no space at all from all the people crammed together. I'm not sure how it went later since I moved up as the the show progressed.
The worst part of the set was that there were barely any room to stand. It became hard to breath, and dusts were flying everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if people passed out. There was a guy (he was old, and I thought he was a staff member at first) who pushed me from the people that were trying get past, and let me stand in front of him. "You got pushed back, and should be up here," he said. It was really nice of him, but I don't know if I should be creeped out or not. I spotted Mike in the second row and made my way up to find him. He let me stand in front of him because he "had already seen them live". It was nice of him too, and I got a better view of Simon!
I'm pretty sure even the Band did not expect all these ruckus, because everyone was wild wild wild. They closed the set with "Atlantis to Interzone", a fitting choice in my opinion. I danced one last song among a crowd of sweaty happy-go-luck kids.

After the show, we didn't have anymore energy to watch De La Soul, even though they sounded good from afar. Rather, Mike was excited about an after party Bryan had told him about where Dan Deacon would be playing. (Unfortunately, Bryan and his friend got there late and wouldn't be let in because of the capacity) Sam couldn't come with us, so I drove and successfully found the place with one attempt. Everyone was really skeptical at first, because the street we were on was deserted, desolated, and janky. We saw someone and asked him about the show, and he said it was around the corner, but the music doesn't start till midnight. We parked and found out way to an abandoned two story apt. like building with a fenced yard filled with random junk. I was pretty confused, and the place was empty. We walked up and talked to the "owner" and got more details about the shows. Apparently they host/have hosted a lot of shows at the house. The inside of the house looked pretty stripped down too, but in a way it was kind of cool. (Fastforward to after the show, I realize it's probably good that the place is kept "janked up", because it was trashed by the end of the night)
It was only 10 at the time, so we decided to run to the liquor store. We drove all over but could not find any places that were open. Somehow we ended up in the ghetto, and it's definitely scarier at night. Empty handed, we made our way back to the venue, where more people have began arriving.
I talked to the guy that stood beside me during Dan Deacon and Girl Talk. I guess he was getting rocked during Girl Talk, so he left during the set. Anyways, there were a lot of performers before Dan came up, so I'm just gonna quickly list them.

Performers:
- Drone guitar guy with interpretive dancer- pretty interesting I suppose, not really sure what to make of it
- Noise guitarist This guy played electric with pedals. He also had 2 TV sets turned on, and the screens would change colors because of the static. It was neat, but the music kind of blew my ear.
- TraktorDJ guy- he screwed up a lot and got cut off by the next band
- Noise band- wtf. We left and went outside
- More DJs
- Light show guy- really interesting. He played and synced lights to his set. His equipment/mixer dealie was also cool

Dan Deacon finally came on afterwards, and it was probably around two at that point. He played pretty much the same songs as he did at Pitchfork, except he didn't get cut off this time and played the epic "Wham City". I had fun but lacked a little energy to dance. That's ok, because the party was just getting started. I soon found out that Deerhunter was playing next. I really had no idea that they were scheduled to play, and it was the best surprise of the night, and a redeeming chance for me to enjoy the music.
Some drunk DJ was spinning in the other end of the room while Deerhunter was setting up. I forgot to mention that the room was set up with two "stages" so performers can alternate playing without wasting time to set up; pretty smart.Anyways, I got a good front row spot and was super excited. I didn't care that it was 3 already, I just want to hear good music.
Crew members formed a new row in front of us. I was bitter at first, but I soon realized it's good that they did...
Much to my surprise, people were going crazy. In my opinion, Deerhunter isn't really the rock out band, but I guess I just didn't realize, because it turned out pretty rockable. I got pushed by the guy behind me a lot, which was annoying, solely because I knew he was drunk, and he stepped on Bradford's pedals when he was trying to go across the room. I felt bad for pushing onto the crew guy that guard in front of me, but I did thank him after the show.
The set was pretty amazing. Everything was just right in front of me, and I truly enjoyed it.
It was probably 4 when we left the house. We were all soaked in sweat again, but that's ok.

Oh, here are the random people I spotted at the party:
Spotted:
- Nerdy bassist from Voxtrot.
- I think she's from Yo Majesty (they had a show that night at the Empty Bottle with My!Gay!Husband!). She sat down by us outside and started talking. I know she was "known", but had no idea who she was at the time.
- A guy with long hair/beard. He looked familiar, and I think it's the guy from Devendra Banhart.
- there was this chick (she might have lived at the house too) that was handing out pieces of toilet paper. Someone said she's a singer in a band that performed the other night.
- Klaxons!! Someone claimed they were performing, but they were stopping by. Mike and I were looking out the window to see them come in. I don't think Simon came in, but James and Jamie came up, and I stalked them. Mike claimed they were just "picking up bitches".
------

Chicago was pretty dead at 4 in the morning. The only cars out were the cleaning trucks. I drove down Lake Shore and got one last look of the city; just magnificent and serene. Andrew fell asleep in the car again. Mike claims he wouldn't, but did not last the last 30 mins. or so of the ride. I wished the sun didn't rise so early, because I liked driving in the dark better.
I finally got home around 7:30 after dropping the two off. I planned on showering, but I decided it was a lot of effort and just passed out, woke up at 12, showered, ate, and went to work.

To Reflect:

Hits:
- Free stickers and pins
- Touching Gregg Gillis
- Touching Simon (Klaxons)
- Given a hug from Bradford (Deerhunter)
Misses:
- Didn't get to catch any of Cat Power, although I hear her set wasn't that great
- Didn't have enough money for a Deerhunter shirt
- Tried to get a Deerhunter shirt after aquiring money, but smalls were sold out
- Lack of Klaxons gearz; also couldn't see their DJ set, because the venue was 21+
- Hot/Burned= ugly tan line
- Didn't visit/forgot about the poster tents
- Random bruises/sore

Final thoughts:
- There are 3 types of people at Pitchfork: the press/crew/artists, indie fags, indie dance fags, the old people
- Chicago is not too hard to navigate without a map
- I've become more "wild" after driving in Chicago
- The ghetto is a bit creepy at night
- Chicago is beautiful at night, and makes me want to live there even more
- Bible Boner loves you
- Pitchfork 08 will rock harder

And thanks Clay Hauck for the images!
---------

PMF 2007 is:

Friday, July 13 (in conjunction with ATP/Don't Look Back):
Connector Stage
6:30 Slint perform Spiderland

Aluminum Stage
7:45 GZA performs Liquid Swords
9:00 Sonic Youth perform Daydream Nation

Saturday, July 14:
Connector Stage
1:00 The Twilight Sad
2:00 Voxtrot
4:00 Battles
6:00 Mastodon
8:00 Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues

Aluminum Stage
1:30 Califone
3:00 Grizzly Bear
5:00 Iron and Wine
7:00 Clipse
9:00 Yoko Ono (with special guests)

Balance Stage
1:00 Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound
2:00 William Parker Quartet
3:10 Beach House
4:10 Fujiya & Miyagi
5:15 Professor Murder
6:15 Oxford Collapse
7:15 Dan Deacon
8:30 Girl Talk

Sunday, July 15:
Connector Stage
1:00 Deerhunter
2:00 Menomena
4:00 The Sea and Cake
6:00 Stephen Malkmus
8:00 The New Pornographers

Aluminum Stage
1:30 The Ponys
3:00 Junior Boys
5:00 Jamie Lidell
7:00 Of Montreal
9:00 De La Soul

Balance Stage
1:00 Fred Lonberg-Holm's Lightbox Orchestra
2:00 Brightblack Morning Light
3:10 Nomo
4:10 Craig Taborn's Junk Magic
5:15 The Cool Kids
6:15 Cadence Weapon
7:15 The Field
8:30 Klaxons

-----------

It feels like Sunday

2007-07-21T14:23:00.000-04:00

(My breakfast this morning...yum)

Feeling: Refreshed
Current Love: Dan Deacon - Wham City

I feel productive. Ever since Pitchfork, my sleeping schedule is getting more off track. It's not a big deal, but I should probably get back into a normal schedule before school starts.

Yesterday, my friend Galana came back from living in Africa for a year, so people were gathered at bw3 for a welcome back party. I miss their wings, and it was tasty! It was funny to hear how he has no idea what's going on next semester. Classes, major, etc. At least he won't be homeless.
Later in the night, I went to the midnight Harry Potter at Borders. It's rather weird seeing familiar high school faces again, because I don't really want to talk to or exchange glances with people that I never talk to...awkward. I didn't get a book actually, just there with friends. I have not read the last two Harry Potter books and is not really that interested in it. :shrug:
After the shinding, everyone headed to Mike's for another night of dancing and singing before he leaves for India.(today) The comedy part of the night was when he drunk dialed Brian from Pitchfork to tell him how awesome the warehouse party was and that he needs to come to Justice.

Speaking of which, I'm excited about the Justice show @ Metro in Oct. There are no details yet, but I'm praying that it will not be at the SmartBar. If it is, then fuck, I'm getting a fake.

Daft Punk/SebastiAn in August! Diplo in September!

Diary of a Pitchfork Survivor, Part One

2007-07-19T21:14:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Sore and Bruised

What a weekend, an awesome weekend that is.
I spent 3 wonderful days in Chicago, discovering new and interesting things about the city, and at the same time, enjoyed the long awaited Pitchfork Music Festival and other goodness. So much happened in so little time, I suppose I will start from the beginning, but it's going to take awhile.

I've been somewhat frantic all day Friday, because I had no idea what was going on trip planning wise. I just got a finalization on the housing situation in the morning and was trying to map/time out everything. After a few hours of research, I decided I should park at Garfield (CTA station) and take the train from there to Union Park. I left around 4:15 to pick up Mike, Andrew, and Ramu who was tagging along to Chicago.
I was the only one with a Friday ticket so I wanted to get to Chicago on time. No offense to Ramu, but he was taking his sweet time and it was a bit frustrating. On that note, I seemed to have been the only one prepared. I had to drive Ramu to his apt. so he can pack. After 10 mins. he comes down empty handed and says that all his stuff is at his friend's. And then I took him to the bank, where he came out 5 mins. later and says "I can't come with you guys, I only have $60 in my account." Me: "Uhhhh..."
After an hour of driving around and going back to Mike's twice, we finally were on our way to Chicago. The car ride was pretty enjoyable and short. We played a few games and arrived at Garfield in 2 hours., but little did I know that Garfield was in the black ghetto. The CTA station looked abit janky. I could not understand a word of the security guy when we tried asking him about tickets. Mike, Andrew, and I crossed the street to a fried chicken place to get change, and I get the feeling that people wasn't that happy about us being there.
We boarded the green line, and all is well. Mike and Andrew got off at Millennium Park to sight see and go clubbing later. I rode on, and was filled with excitement and anticipation. All of a days work, and alas, I'm almost there.
I could see and hear GZA playing right when I got off. Along with a horde of indie kids from the train, we made our way to the festival ground...

Day 1 - Friday: Teenage Riot ain't nothin' to fuck with

Union park was way smaller than I imagined. I could see both stages and the food tents from the entrance, which isn't a bad thing at all. I called Sam to see where he was, but it was hard to communicate among a crowd of fans. GZA was alright, although I would much rather see Wu-Tan in its entirety.
I managed to get some what close to Sonic Youth, but it was far off to the right. I like Daydream Nation, and hearing it live was pretty cool for lack of better words. (As you can tell, I'm not a dieheart SY fan)
After the set, I scouted the merch tent to plot for things to buy, and headed out of the park ground. Apparently Sam parked pretty close on a nearby street. Damn you pithcfork for telling me there are no street parking spots!

Both hungry (even though I had a Chipotle on my way up), we wondered around Chicago trying to find a place to eat. It's such a shock, but everything is pretty much closed by 11, even in the populated districts. We finally managed to find a gyro shop in the eastern part (I think) of the town. At some point, a homeless black dude came up to our table and started talking to Sam. Neither of us could understand what he was saying, and Sam proceeded to say "this bag is empty" (referring to the brown bag our food came in). Then the man started saying no, and pointed in the general direction to my right. I finally made out that he was saying "Can I see that pen?" [my sharipie] I handed him a pen, and he started writing letters/numbers on the underside of his cap. I was a little curious, but I don't think I would have understood him if I asked. At the same time, there was a trolley full of drunk people parked outside.

We picked up Mike and Andrew from clubbing on Erie St. Sam drove me back to the CTA station to pick up my car. I was somewhat concerned because one: it was the ghetto and two: Technically I'm suppose to pick up by car by midnight(no over night parking), and it was two by the time we got there. My car looked lonely in the completely empty lot, but fortunately, nothing had happened to it. After settling down, we drove north for a good 40 mins. to the place we were crashing Mike's friend's place.

Day Two - Saturday: Pump It Up

The original plan was to get to the festival ground by 12, but everyone was unprepared again, and we didn't get in till 1:30 ish after some traffic, lunch, and a long line around the gate. I checked out. Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound at Balance, and they were pretty good. The gang waited for Voxtrot. I don't think any of us really listened to them, but we just got up front for the entertainment I guess. I wanted to watch Grizzly Bear's set but had my priority with Beach House(Where I spotted Bradford of Deerhunter; he looked way taller in real life!) and Battles. Sadly I couldn't stay for all of Battles because of Fujiya & Miyagi. (I was all over the place saturday! I wish the artists didn't conflict..) I originally planned on catching some of Cat Power, but as I assessed the situation at Balance, I decided that I wouldn't be able to get back /have my spot after I leave. So, after F&M's set, I rushed towards the center and creeped my way up through the rest of the night.

Professor Murder came on after F&M. Their set was really fun and got me dancing all the way. The synth guy was really cute. I felt bad for one nerdy looking guy that was dancing, not very well if I may add, by himself, and the guys in front of me were laughing at him.Hey, it's freedom of expression.
6:30
I'm not a huge fan of Oxford Collapse, but the live set wasn't too bad/boring. By this time I'm in the second row and had a good view of the stage. I took pictures pretty much the entire time, and got some good ones. I think the band members were aware that everyone at Balance at that point was waiting for Dan Deacon/Girl Talk, which was my goal too.

7:30
Ahh, finally Dan Deacon comes out from lurking backstage. He surprised everyone by doing his usual in-crowd table setup. Unfortunately he set up on the left side, and I was center. His set was cut short not surprisingly, and he didn't get to play "Wham City". (Although, I was able to hear him perform this, read on to Sunday) After the set, I somehow shifted to the very front. I think the two guys that were in front of me freaked out once people started going cray and retreated somewhere, but hey, I'm not complaining. The people around me all were very cool and excited for Girl Talk, I too, was uber excited. I mean, 1st row, 3k people around me, Gregg will be shaking his ass in front of me, what more?

8:45
Gregg came out for sound check and everyone was already going wild. I spotted Dan, Bradford, Moses (Deerhunter), and Alex (Beach House) chilling back stage. After 10 mins. of patient waiting, Gregg finally came out, pimping in suit/tie and shades. He brought with him a party of VIPs, artists, silly strings, confetti, booze, and damn, what a party is was. The crowd was going insane (at least the front), and so was I. People kept on trying to push their way up front, but I maintained my prime viewing ground. My favorite part was when Grizzly Bear came on stage to sing Knife. I love the remix, so it's really awesome to hear it live. (Too bad Clipse didn't make a guest appearance)
Girl Talk's set was cut short and felt short. I wanted more! Once the chaos ended, I was drenched in sweat, and sadly not mine. (It was kind of gross when someone's totally wet and touching you, and you realize they're not wet from water, but from sweat, but fuck it, I had fun) My knees got rocked by the railing, and the were pretty bruised the next day.
We were pretty much done for the day and decided to head out after hearing screeching with what she calls music.

10:00
I got a flyer from photog Clay Hauck during Dan Deacon. We actually drove to the place after the show but could not find it. (I think Sam was getting worried because it was in a ghetto-esque area) I was a little bummed. (But I later found out that the floor collapsed during Dan's set and he got electrocuted from people spraying liquid...ha)
Once again we scouted for food and somehow ended up in the gay district. It was rather cool, as I never realized or been to that part of town. We hate at a pretty nice diner, and packed up our leftovers for breakfast . We didn't leave town till 3 ish, and I was exhausted at this point. I passed out once we got back and hoped for the best for Deerhunter, Klaxons, Malkmus, and everyone else I looked forward to seeing Sunday.

to be continued...

Mac'd!

2007-07-18T21:51:00.000-04:00

Feeling: w00t
Current Love: Professor Murder - Camron's New Color (Pt. 3)

I slept till 4 today. But it other news, my mac is back from the repair shop! After an unsuccessful trip to Indy for in-store repair, I parted with my macbook for a week. It's rather difficult not having a laptop, even though I still had access to other computers around the house.

I picked it up this afternoon from Lafayette. The keyboard was replaced and is now looking hot. Apparently they also replaced my processor, not really sure why, but I' not complaining.

Can't you feel the knife?

2007-07-09T00:35:00.001-04:00

Feeling: mixed
Current Love: Grizzly Bear - Knife (Girl Talk Remix)

Allo. After a week of shindins and running around, I'm finally able to spend good hours on my computer again. Sunday is the usual slow and lazy end-of-the-week cool down. I still can't figure out why I'm always tired through out the day, every Sunday. I'm pretty sure it's already automated in my brain, so there's not much I can do.
I'm back to my bed-laptop table setup. Maybe it'll be my new once a week lazy-sunday setup. It's quite relaxing, minus the unnatural temperature of my room. I suppose now that I've finally finished my summer mixtape (with unfortunate last minute dilemmas), dual monitoring is just going to be a nice commodity again.

Today was somewhat productive. I read feeds for the majority of the day and was quite inspired by some posts. I've had a goal in the back of my mind for awhile, but I decided now that I am actually going to pursuit it to the best of my abilities. I need to change my lifestyle and give it a major makeover. It's not like I hate how things are currently, it's just that I feel I can do much better in life (productivity, happiness, health, wellness, etc.) if I finally take actions instead of just speculating. Ideally, I should have taken initiatives before summer, so I regret that a little, but I still have the rest of summer to plan out the next school year, which hopefully will harbor much changes once I move into my apartment and start classes. Speaking of which, I'm looking forward to starting school again. I have been enjoying summer for the most part, but it's becoming repetitive, and I need to get out.

My friend Sami came to visit from Bloomington on Friday. I had to work the whole afternoon and attend a usual neighbor gathering with the parents. Luckily it was a quick one. I got in, aloofed, ate, and got out in under 30 minutes. I felt abit bad for not being able to meet up with him until 10 ish for Mike's birthday party . But for the most part he seemed to have enjoyed himself there, so that's good. I ended up staying the till way too late again; got about 5 hours of sleep and was waken up by a call from Sami. We went out to lunch around 11 and had to wait around for the restaurants to be open, which wasn't untill 11:30 He treated me to Basil Thai, which was quite good to my surprise. We strolled around campus for awhile after before I sent him off on the Lafayette Limo. (Not an actual limo, just the name of the bus service ) Actually, funny thing when we were waiting. I picked up a copy of the local newspaper and recognized a person in a pic on the cover story. He was someone from the party on Friday that me and Sami had met. The story was about him being in a libertarian socialist "community" in town, and how they were trying to plant a garden in this empty lost, so, to quote, " everyone can just come by and pick up some food when they're hungry." -----That's cute.

BRB

2007-06-28T00:23:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Meh
Current love: Yelle - Je Veux Te Voir

Sooo, I guess I'm back from my unannounced half year+ long hiatus. For the most part, I didn't really feel the urge to blog, or at least enough "urge" to motivate me to from all the school work I had to do. But seriously, what school work? Looking back, I didn't have too hard of a semester. I was pretty worried at the beginning due to the loaded science and math classes, and I speculated that I would be studying mucho over the semester, but, that didn't really happen. After the happy surprise and much unexpected 4.0 of first semester, I made it a goal to actually exert effort aka study for my classes, because I really didn't till towards the end, when I was sure that I would get a B in Calc 3 and English.
Alas, studying is a lot of effort, and I didn't do too much of it. everything worked out at the end though, minus Chemistry, which was my least favorite class due to the poor quality of the educators. Nonetheless I didn't care much about it and ended up with a B, so whtev. But what did bother me was my B in SOC100, the easiest damn class in my life. I don't even know what the fuck happened, but it really pisses me off. Damn you Hillis!

So yes, it's summer now, and I don't have much to do. I really wished I blogged during the semester to capture the fond memories...good times. I visited Payless (the groceries store) today to pick up some items for my mom. (Unrelated, some old lady complimented on my hair, which made me happy, but it was funny at the same time) Upon browsing the aisles, the job dilemma was going through my head again. Basically, I don't know how I am going to support myself next year. I just signed a least earlier this month, and my parents agreed to pay for half of my rent. I do have a job currently at Folletts bookstore, and will have at least one (Exponent) during the year. But, I've been counting and doing some math lately, and I'm uncertain if I can cover my expenses next year with the rate I'm currently working, which s a bout 15-20 hours per week. I don't hate working at Folletts, but it's not a place I want to work 6 hour shifts everyday. I've looked at other jobs, but none were to my liking. Maybe I;m being too picky? Should I just tough it out this summer? I don't want to, but I don't know what I should do either Not having money is kind of miserable, or at least I've been trying hard not to spend. I want to travel this summer, and I already have a few plans in mind. The money issue is there again, but I'm leaning towards traveling, even if it makes me a starving college kid next year.
Well, that's pretty much my summer so far. I took Maymester with Prof. Morrison for History of Rock n' Roll. It was a fun class, and I wish it lasted longer. On the last day of class, after he finished teaching, he told us about the meaning of life. It was rather touchy and bittersweet, and I gave my empathy. He went through slides of his past, filled with pictures, music, jokes, and heartwarming commentary. He did the same with his daughter and wife. And then he talked about a famous Russian hockey player (I'm too lazy to look up his name) who basically lost it all in a freak car accident. Lastly, he talked about his sister who died from cancer at the age of 24. Basically, the moral was that life is unpredictable. "Play the cards you're dealt with, cherish every moment, because you never know what will happen next." Yes it sounds overly dramatic, but the way he presented and conveyed his feelings left a big impact upon myself, and I'm sure, upon my classmates. I hope our paths will cross again.
Apart from class, sleeping, eating, interneting, I've started playing around with mixing music with Ableton. I suppose it was a result of my recent rising interest in electronic music. Mixing is rather fun, and I've been spending considerable amount of time on my current mixtape. (expect it soon!) The downside to mixing is the frustration of being stuck., much like how I hate writer's/artist's block. Obviously I picked up blogging again, and I'm hoping to pick u my painting that I started a year or so ago. I'm pretty bad at finishing things, especially when it comes to art. Also, I've procrastinated on my album list for 06, considering I made the post back in Jan. I had fun making it last year, so hopefully that will be done soon. now that I have free time---perhaps too much free time.

What What

2006-11-16T19:19:00.000-05:00

Feeling: Meh
Now Playing: "Anna Molly"- Incubus

It's almost Thanksgiving. Tonight's dinner at Hillenbrand was fairly fullfilling. Apart from waiting in line and in the rain, the dinning hall treated me to a Thanksgiving dinner. Although it's only dinning hall quality, it reminded me of how much I enjoy fluffy warm cornbread stuffing and apple roasted turkey with cranberry sauce. So yes, that's what I'm thankful for. I'm looking forward to the food, maybe minus the making food all morning part. Aside from the food, I could use the break, although I'm not looking forward to the English project and math homework due when classes resumes. I haven't enjoyed English since we started White Noise. I liked the book, but I don't know why class is going downhill. The project is a group effort, and it doesn't really help when your group members are dumb. I probably could do better on this by myself even if there is a lot more work involved.

It has been raining for two days straight.

----

Last weekend I was back in Michigan again and drove up with Ian. The motive was the last Broken Social Scene show of their tour (and indefinite hiatus), which I've been looking forward to for a few month. (Although I'm still bitter about Vouge in Indy being a 21+ venue) Of course, I was visiting Clif too, who bought me the tickets, even though I was in Ann Arbor the weekend before.
I was fairly tired on friday, the day we left, for various reasons but mainly a lack of sleep. When I took the wheels for the latter half of the trip, I was trying so hard to stay awake...it sucked, and was a lot of effort. It was just a weird state to be in drifting in and out of sleep. Vision obscured, mind unfocused, time passing slowly, etc. I tried eating and drank the sip of what was left of the coke. Somehow, with whatever it is I did, I was able to "wake up" and drive normally for awhile... until I felt tired again. Then, with whatever I did to make myself stay awake, I drove normally again... it's a vicious cycle.
I made it into town safely and got lost again. The rest of the story isn't very exciting, so I'll just omit that.

After resting for an hour or so, Clif, his roommate and roommate's friend, Ian, and I set out for the My Brightest Diamond concert in the basement of East-Quad, which is one of the dorms. After wondering for half an hour in the basement, we finally found the room. The room was surprisingly small, and the turn-out at the time was low. (20-30 people) Opener Annie Palmer, Pedestrian (whom I looked forward to seeing, and it turned out to be a good set), etc.

After My Brightest Diamond came out and a couple songs later, I was pretty tired. I closed my eyes and kind of drifted into that half asleep state again. Actually, that seems to happen whenever I take naps and listen to music. The music sounds different somehow in this state when I zone in and out. It also makes the time go by slower, which is good in this context. Anyways, I enjoyed her performance even under my condition and the not so cool crowd.

Onwards with Broken Social Scene.

I was pretty excited about the show. The inside of Michigan theater looked rather lavish, but it was flooded by drunk indie fags. (That was probably an over statement.) The opener Do Make Say Think was alright but not the best post rock band out there. Their sound is quite unique from other post rock bands. To sum up the BSS concert, it was great. Although I can't say it was the best concert I've been too. The highlight was dancing momentarily on stage with BSS during "Hotel". ( I think...). The set ended up being over 2 hours, and it was getting close to the curfew. They played some Canadian cover that the hometown fans went crazy over.

Hello Pink eye

2006-10-12T22:59:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Sick in more than one way
Now Playing: The Latest Dart- Ted Leo/Rx

Having conjunctivitis sucks. I was hoping to start the post today with something else, but this just made headlines. I woke up this morning with tons of "gunk" in my left eye. It took awhile to clear out, and my eye was a bit sore. Hoping the minor pain would go away as time progresses, I didn't think much of it. By noon, the situation was not getting any better. I feared that my eye will probably swell up, since this has happened once before, but I did not expect the white pus that mysteriously excretes out of my eye. It's abit annoying, not only the constant cleaning I have to do but also the clouding/irritation in my eye where I can't see very well. After doing some wiking, I found that I have conjunctivitis, of the bacterial kind to my belief. Unfortunately he swelling and redness has gotten progressively worse since then, but I'm hoping the situation ease by tomorrow before I have to visit the school clinic.

In other news, the past week had been excellent setting aside academic. Last Wednesday was the Wilco show tha I've been looking forward to ever since I found out I got into the Student Concert Committee. From the moment I entered backstage at 9:30 in the morning to the time I stepped off the dock around midnight, the experience was wondrous. The whole day was fairly laid back as we just sat backstage for the majority of time after finishing our tasks. It was around 5 that we started watching the upstairs dressing rooms for "unauthorized personnels". At one point, a guy walked up , said hi, and continued up the stairs. It was after a minute or so before I started to think, "wait, that guy looked really familiar..snap, that's the bassist of Wilco." I was confused as to why he didn't go into the dressing rooms, but probably because he got lost. That was a weird first encounter as I had no idea the band was here yet. One by one they came up, including Jeff Tweedy the lead. Seeing him in person gave me a weird feeling that's hard to describe, but kind of excited and nervous at the same time. He looked rather apathetic, and gave a quick monotoned hi without turning his head as he walked up the stairs.
The rest of the time before the show went by slowly. I wondered around and listened to sound checks from Wilco and the opening band Early Day Miners; both sounded very good even though the sound quality from backstage sucked. After having Mad Mushroom pizza for dinner, I went out to the front lobby to help the merchandise guy sell things. That was around 7 when people were beginning to swarming in. Naturally the tshirts, poster, and what not are overly priced, but people still buy them.($25 for a tshirt? lame) Unfortunately, I missed most of the opening act and only caught the last song. As much as I like post-rock, Elliott isn't the best venue for it. Wilco did not come on stage till 8:45. After Ian and Sam left me for Lost soon after, I moved up to the very front, where surprisingly no security guards lurked. Obviously that made the experience exponentially better, and I was able to really enjoy the music.
After the show, I helped to sell more merchandises and conversed with the opening band as they were sitting at their product table next to me. When the lobby cleared, I went back stage to see what's up with SCC. Evidently the band members were outside talking to a small crowd of fans, so I joined the party and got a few autographs. After that died out, the SCC crew cleaned up the dressing rooms and left for our respective homes. I walked back to the dorms feeling pretty happy. The night had been great.

--------

As if that's not enough excitement for one week, I went up to Ann Arbor with Ian over the weekend (October break) to visit Clif. The drive wasn't as bad as I had imagined. We split up the drive, and I ended up with the latter half of 3 hours, including the times I spent wondering around Ann Arbor. Downtown looked pretty cool, which made me wish West Lafayette had one.
I suppose the highlight of the trip would be going disc golfing, the free Ok Go concert for MSU/U-M football game, free food, and other things. I didn't get to go around town/campus that much, but I'm sure I'll get another chance too.
Also, I'm not very good with directions.
I left Monday afternoon and spent an hour trying to get out of the town. In my defense, it was mostly Ian's fault. Apart from that, the drive was the same 5 hours. After getting back to my dorm, I stayed up pretty late even though I was tired. I thought that might have resulted in my irritated left eye the next morning, but maybe not. Sucks.
-----

Last night was the SCC dinner at Arni's. I didn't pick the best entree, but everything on the menu looked/sounded tasty. We went over some meeting business with future concert plans, but majority of the time was spent socializing. Interestingly, Brian, a fellow new member, was also at Ann Arbor last weekend for the game, but he didn't know about the Ok Go concert. After dinner, we reconvened at Mallory, the president's house. Most people didn't show up till late, so the beginning was slow as the 3 of us just played pool for awhile. By 10 or so, the party was well off. Overall, I had a good time and got to know everyone better, especially the old members who I though had their own clique going on already. That was the first night I've really partied on a weekday, but I don't feel too guilty about it since I didn't have any work that had to be done.

One Moore Week

2006-09-27T21:14:00.000-04:00

Feeling: tired
Now Playing: "To our unborn daughters"- Rx Bandits

I told myself that I would immediately pass out after getting back to the dorms today, but somehow I made my way to here. Perhaps I had the urge to write since I know I'll be automating homework later in the night.My eyes don't hurt as much as they did 20 minutes ago, but I can't blame them for failing for only getting 2 hours of rest in the past 24 hour. I stayed up till 5 last night/this morning to finish my poorly written english paper. I worked in the dorm lounge for the majority of the time. There were people I knew that came in and out randomly through out the night, but apart from them there were the 2 people that's always playing World of Warcraft and another couple that was literally making out from 1:00AM to the time I left. As if it weren't awkward enough, they sat in the couch 15 ft. in front of me. By 4AM, it was just me and them in the silent lounge. I had also given up on my paper by that time and left with what I had. I went back up to my room and laid on my bed for 2 hours before my 7:30 english. I was tempted to take a nap after class until calculus at 11:30, but I was afraid that I won't be able to wake up. Being a nice and sunny morning, I fought my lethargy and made my way to Starbucks at the Union to work on math with Brendon. The assigment took way longer than it should have, and I became frustated at numerous ocassions, because the professor never talked about the last section of the homework. I ended up working on math for 2 hours before going to the class itself. I did not finish 2 problems from said section but soon found out it was not being collected "because the professor never talked about the last section"...great. I also got back my exam score, and that was a low part of my day. Speaking of which:

High and Lows of Last Week
High:

Being selected as part of the Student Concert Committee
Finishing my draft for English at 3AM Friday morning and watching lost until 7AM, thereafter going to 7:30 English to turn in draft and returning to sleep until 5 PM
Having a fairly entertaining weekend
(today)Picking up my free tshirt and tickets to the Wilco concert this Wed.
Drinking coffee for the first time in awhile

Low:

Tedious interview process for SCC
Studying for Thursday night math exam and not doing so well on it due to dumb mistakes
Missing 3 classes due to oversleepage which resulted in not turning in 1 math homework
Missing buses, because I fail at reading time charts
Lack of sleep

Apart from being loaded academically, I would say the week went well.

---------------
I had an odd dream some nights ago that was probably a result of not turning in that math assignment. In the dream, I rode my bike to math class, and got into the building at a reasonable time. Upon walking into the classroom, I realized it was a Chem115 class.(no idea why, I don't even take that class) I turned back and went into an adjacent building and realized I was in the complete wrong end of campus. By this time, class would have started by now, so I hurried onto a bus to save time. Somehow, the bus did not stop at where I wanted and ended up taking me back to my dorm/Purdue West.
Frustrated, I rode my bike back onto campus again. There was a shopping mall next to the math building, so I decided to cut through the mall as a shortcut. Not surprisingly, I got lost again. The mall was crowded, so I morphed my bike into a Segway for easier navigation. I got onto an elevator, which I thought took me to the outside, except it lead into a bus that I was forced to get on. I ended up at my dorm again, and I was 15 minutes late by that point. I gave up and woke up or something to that effect.
-----

Regarding the title: I unconciously typed in 2 o's for "more". Thinking about it, I typed a lot of "Moore"'s last night/this morning because he was the author for the book I was analyzing for my paper (V for Vendetta). Kind of funny...I think. (And of course, fall break is in a week)

Gender-Swapping Pop Stars

2006-09-13T18:03:00.000-04:00

What is wrong with people these days.
(click on title)

=|

Movie Review: Lupin III

2006-09-13T17:35:00.000-04:00

The Castle of Cagliostro (Lupin the III) - Special Edition (1979)

I was asked to review the recent remastered edition of the movie. I'm a respected fan of Studio Ghibli/Hayao Mayzai. I've never been too big on "old-school" animes, but the Ghibli classics can keep me entertained hours on end.
Unlike many Ghibli films, Lupin is a more comedic movie rather than a serious moral filled animation like "Princess Mononoke. Being said, Lupin should be enjoyed on a purely entertaiment level. The animation is fresh and withlack of better words, makes me feel light headed and happy while watching it. (The remastered edition does offer more vibrant colors)
I'm not going to lie and say that I prefer the serious productions such as Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, and I never was that big of a fan of Lupin the series, so I might be bias about not finding that much in Caglistro. But I will always be in love with Myazaki's stype, from the cute but not overly anime eyes to the excited floating hair.
As far as plot is concerned, Lupin the master thief joins his gang on a wild adventure to uncover a "lost fortune" from Cagliostro, a small European country. ninjas, scubba divers, vilians, and the princess. All and all, a movie worth adventure.

Lupin is a good film to pick up on those friday nights by yourself or with friends. So please, skip those horrible horror flicks.

Do you have stairs in your house?

2006-09-07T00:25:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Less sick
What's on: "Winter Must Be Cold"- The Apples in Stereo

Week three. I had my first "stay up late and write paper" experience last Thursday night. I procrastinated/got distracted as usual and ended up finish around 4 AM. I was actually content with the ideas I began with, but things started to fall apart when I started writing the analysis. My English class was 7:30 the next morning, and I woke up at 7:30 the next morning. Needless to say, I didn't show up to class and just emailed my professor the paper. I still felt uneasy all weekend because the final paper was due today, and we didn't have classes on Tuesday. I was overstressed about the whole thing, bu when I talked to my professor on Tuesday, I found out things were not as distressing as I had imagined. Meaning, I basically already had the paper done in my draft. That look a lot off of my mind afterwards, and I enjoyed a nice Tuesday morning stroll along the memorial mall.
So I guess that was my first minor screw-up. English has involved a lot of writing thus far, not really something I enjoy doing. Calculus reminds me of the everyday learning experience back in the days i.e. Klumpe's classroom. Chemistry has been a joke thus far; too bad there's still work involved.
Not much happened over labor day weekend apart from disc golf, ice cream cake for Govind's Birthday, pseudo Asian party, "Beerfest",going home, getting yelled at by my mom, sleep, and lazy Sunday. Beerfest was surprisingly decent with an engaging story line and funny mishaps.

Last Wednesday was free burrito day at Chipotle's for its grand opening.(Do we really need 2 more "Mexican gourmet fast food" at Chauncey?) I'm not a big fan of burritos, and the thought of the long line wasn't making me lone for the gourmet burritos. The temptation of getting free things and curiosity finally got to me in the afternoon when I needed dinner. I made John drive me, and we got into the line that ran all the way around the block to Vienna. John didn't really talk, so I awkwardly put on music and prepared to wait for an hour. Sam came around the 50 mins. point and lightened up the scene abit. I talked to him for the rest of the time while we both stood awkwardly beside John who still wasn't saying anything. It rained on and off, but we were in the entertainment of the "sitar man" and friends. I've seen him around the village often with his guitar, and he actually sat in front of me on the bus once...not sure what he was doing there. An hour and 20 minutes later, I walked away from the register with my steak fajita burrito...it tasted, good. I don't know if I need to say much more.

The highlight of last night was the ping-pong tournament held at my dorm. I signed up at the last minute figuring I'm at least decent at an Asian sport and can take on the mediocre whities. I arrived at the "recreation room" which consisted of one ping-pong and foosball table and signed in with the referees. I was the only girl present and felt a bit out of place. Luckily, I knew at least one person there(Josh) and sat by him. The matches started, and the players seemed to know what they were doing. There were a few that just sucked, and made me feel better for not sucking. It was finally my match about 30 minutes into the tournament. My opponent's name was Jared, and Josh informed me that he was pretty good. I had confident in my skills but at the same time nervous for not having played in awhile. I ended up losing the match mainly due to my mistake of being too offensive and hitting out too many serves. Jared wasn't bad, but he wasn't like an Asian mind blowing ping-pong master either.(And I do add, there was one entered in the tournament) I was disappointed for not doing as good as I could have, but at least it was an interesting experience.

Today was a downer. I was looking forward to an easy day of turning in English paper and going to math to end the day. I took a nap before the 11:30 calc and overslept. I rushed out of my dorm to catch the 11:15 bus and made it to class just in time. The problem was, I couldn't find my iPod nano when I got back. I actually realized that it wasn't in my pocket half way to the bus stop on my way to math. I thought it might have fell out along the way so I hasty backtracked a bit. I tried to remember what I did with it from the time I left my room to where I was then, but I could only remember that I put the sleeves back onto the ipod. Hoping for the best, I assumed that I didn't take it out of my room and hurried back to the bus stop. Unfortunately, I was wrong. the nano was not to be found in my room and I have no idea where I lost it or if it's even lost at all. I felt pretty miserable for the whole afternoon and couldn't focus on my homework. I ended up taking a 4 hour nap before waking up for dinner.
In a way, I'm hoping that my ipod would turn up somehow, but the chances of that is unlikely, just like how my "misplaced" 1G Cruzer never turned up---- People like to have nice things. Because this is a $250 device, I figured some effort is necessary even though I technically got the ipod for $50 with my MacBook purchase. I made some flyers to stick in the elevators ,because that's all I could think of doing for now. Under best case scenario, someone will call me within the next few days and tell me that they picked up my nano when they were walking down the stairs. Under worse case scenario, someone is enjoying their free nano right now. I suppose I feel somewhat better than before, but still, this sucks. =
One last thing on my mind... I don't know why everyone is complaining about the new mini-feed from Facebook. Sure I wasn't ecstatics when I first saw the feature, but I don't loath it either. Honestly, is it really necessary to have 200 some anti-feed groups, petitions, and a Facebook boycott day? The argument is clear: too much info/invasion of privacy. I say, people are dumb; everything that is being feed is already available to your friends just not in a collective manner. If you don't want to them to see what you're doing or see what they're doing, why are you even friends with them in the first place?

Stop Making Sense

2006-08-28T21:49:00.000-04:00

Feeling: content
What's on: "Long Line of Cars"- Cake

I was hoping that I would make a post after China, but somehow it didn't happen. (Not surprisingly...) It's been a week since college had started. I was looking forward to moving in but not so much the 7:30 classes every morning. Having already experienced 6 days of classes, I can't say leaning feels too different from HS. College is a lot more effort though: getting to classes, time management, strict policies, keeping track of homework, etc. Even eating is hard. Tthe food is good, but the wait/line, at dinners especially, is a real discouragement for eating. Nonetheless, the college life has been decent thus far. The days still feel longer even though most of my classes end at 12:20. Everyday seems like the weekend, except not. I guess since I don't have parents to keep me from going out during the weekdays, I lose attention span doing homework fairly quick. Although I have gone out for most of the nights during the past week, mostly to hang out with friends still have yet to leave for colleges that are not Purdue. I have been able to mingle academic works at the same time. I'm not sure if finishing assignments the day before it's due is a good idea, but it has worked out well thus far. For my 1st weekend, I was also fortunate enough to experience the typical college weekend, maybe not quite playing the normal role .

Today I hung out with Anna since she will be leaving for Wisconsin tomorrow. She treated me to a Loveshack meal that she had promised a while back as part of my birthday present. Ian tagged along, and we went back to his dorm afterwards to kill some time before disc golf. Like most guys’ dorm rooms, his was the same dark, dirty, and unorganized place he called home with awkwardly placed furnitures/appliances. We played old school Mortal Combat for a while before meeting up with Sam and Govind outside. It has been cloudy/drizzling all day, and Govind seemed rather concerned about rain for reasons I dd not know. Luckily, it did not start pouring while we were out there, and we managed to play through 9-holes and skipping a few losing-discs-here-will-suck holes.
I got back to my dorm around 9 and have been doing random interneting and partially working on writing assignments. (I do note they are not due tomorrow) I'm glad I took the time to post even though I've had my share of writing for the day. I suppose I'll continue documenting my college life and perhaps laugh upon it someday.
(How I end a blog entry...)

Remember that time in Ctown?

2006-06-19T12:50:00.000-04:00

I guess I lied about not being able to post/login. Buuut, I'm right about not being able to view the blog. Still, it's for the better.
I had a late flight in contrast to last year's, where I just ended up staying up all night. My parents and I left the house at 11, abit early in my opinion, since our flight was 3 PM central time. I offered to drive but got turned down; It's raining, my mom said...whatever. I drifted in and out of sleep on the way as the heavy rain poured down, making for a good car wash. The traffic flow increased as we got onto 94, and my dad rear-ended a car. How did it happen? I witnessed the whole thing... My mom always gets tense and start scolding my dad whenever he gets too close to cars on the highway; This was just another one of those times. Our car was awfully close, and the car in front of us breaked. My dad slowed down, but then realized the car wasn't breaking fast enough. He slammed on it as the tired screeched, but it was to late. I was rather surprised that the break failed. Why did it happen? None of us are sure. My parents blamed it on the break being lose going down hills. The car was an Acura, and the driver looked like a mob character; he wasn't looking to happy either. After some exchange of conversation, we headed off again. I believe the guy tried asking for $250 to take care of the deal, but my dad refused.

to be continued...

Vacation Time

2006-06-18T02:08:00.000-04:00

Feeling: drained
What's on: "Swimmer"-Broken Social Scene

Two weeks of summer has past by. Rather slowly, but still productive. I suppose the quantity and qualities of my activities have been better compared to last summer, where my days were consisted of tv dinner/ramen, tv/movie/anime,internet,games, and sleep. For the most part, my sleeping schedule hasn't varied from last summer: go to bed around 3-4 AM and wake up around 1-2 PM. But instead of sitting at home all summer, I've been getting out and enjoying the great outdoors. Much of it thus far consisted of disc golf/frsibee. It's been pretty enjoyable and relaxing.
I don't really have much to say, even though I could be saying much. I guess I could say that I'm flying out of Chicago in 11 hours or so. It's highly probably that I won't post anything until I get back due to the censorship crap in China, at least that's how it was last summer. I'll try to enjoy myself, and until then, later kids.

Hurray for miracles...sort of

2006-06-09T14:51:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Accomplished
What's on:"Walking Away"- Streetlight Manifesto

Last night, I had an epiphany. As I laid in bed, I began thinking about my mp3 player. I've previously stated that I had "misplaced" a connector that's used for updating/charging the player. It's been at least 4 month since the unfortunate displacement, and I haven't used my player since. It hasn't proved to be too much of a problem except for one or two incidents, but I really didn't want to go on vacation for a month with out my music. I guess before I dive into the story, I should note what's going on with the rest of the summer. As of two days ago, my parents had stated that we're leaving for China on the 18th. There were some problems: My "Day on Campus" was the 23rd. They thought about leaving after that and coming back later, around mid Aug. I rejected that idea, because I really didn't want to miss anymore concerts. So to compromise, sort of, I'll leave on the 18th and returning on the 26th of July. As for Day on Campus, I had scheduled an appointment with my Purdue Advisor yesterday afternoon and registered for classes. I think my classes are pretty messed up, so I'll probably end up changing it when I get back.
Now, going back to last night. I thought about all those hours I will end up spending in a plane, bus, car, boat, or whatever. It was boring enough even with my music last summer, so I can't imagine how it would be with out it. I frowned and thought, "that's really going to suck." At some point in the past, I thought about just ordering a new one. That never happened, because I didn't see any for sale, and I was sure it would just appear one day. Well, my days are running short, so it was time to take some initiatives. I was 90% sure that it's hidden in my living room somewhere, but I have been unsuccessful in the past at finding it. While lying in bed, I postulated possible places that I needed to look. I was going to wait until the morning to do the search, but I had this feeling that I will find it and need to take care of it now.
I reluctantly got up and headed downstairs. First I turned the drawers of my coffee tables inside out; no luck. I dived into the couches there after. Then, under the crack, I found a relieving sign---- I haven't been so excited in a long time. I did check the couches the last time I tried looking for the connector, but I guess I wasn't thorough enough then.
My intention of sleeping has now changed to the excitement of updating my player again. Unfortunately, I had some networking problems with the laptop, so I ended up uploading facebook pictures. I got it to work the next day, and now I'm happy to be with my Walkman once again.

What's up snail mail

2006-06-09T00:47:00.000-04:00

Why has stamp prices gone up so much in the past few years? Sure it's to compensate for the hard working laborers, but at this rate, the postal service's future is looking bleak. You would think more money means better service, but no, it still takes the same amount of time, if not slower, for mails to get to places. 39 cents... that's almost half a dollar. I can buy a lot of things with half a dollar money; a nice 32 oz. from Loveshack for instance. If people need to send many letters, those stamp prices adds up like crazy. For instance, what if I need to mail out 30 thank you cards? That's $11.70! I don't need to go on about the possibilities with that much money.
The main reason I wanted to rant about this is because I found a pre postaged postcard from 1995 and a stamp from 2002. Respectively, the stamp rates were 20 and 23 cents. That means stamp prices has more than doubled in a mere 4 years, and the rate of increase has tripled, and... [insert more statistics here]. Shame on you USPS, shame on you.

Hollister has just became 10x cooler

2006-05-31T23:49:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Bloated..too much soda
What's on: "Swimmers"- Broken Social Scene

It's only the 3rd day of summer, and I've already begun to get bored. I hate sleeping in my room during the summer, because it's like an oven when it's sunny out. I usually began sweating and tossing and turning around 10. Somehow I manage to fall back asleep or pretend to sleep until the afternoon, but it's still very uncomfortable.
I didn't have much to do after I woke up today. I sat around my computer for awhile and decided to put on a movie; North by Northwest was soon playing on the upstairs TV while I ate my chicken pot pie. After the movie ended, I was out of ideas again. Usually when that happens, sleep always seems to be a good plan. I played my PSP for awhile but couldn't get a good game going now that I'm done with Earthbound.
I did nothing for about an hour and ate dinner. My night plans were somehow resolved by tagging along with Anna to the mall. We were there for only half an hour since it closes at 9, but progress was still made. As Anna was proceeding to check-out at Hollister, she walked up to a LCD panel on the wall and said something along the lines of "let's play a song". "What?" I replied, and she then explained how customers can pick songs to be played over the intercom/speakers in the store; so basically, it was like a free jukebox. Amazed, I dashed over to see the selections. Surprisingly, there was a good collection of albums, some of my favorites were in the pool too. I began to compile a playlist of songs even though the store was closing in 5 minutes. Nonetheless, I was pretty content since I got to play Phantom Planet, and that's really all I needed to hear.
After getting out of Hollister, we dropped by Dick's Sporting Goods. I walked past the Frisbee discs and stopped to browse the discs. Apparently, Anna thought disc golf was just a made up sport by Ian to get out of swimming, and she was amazed at the number of different types of discs there were. A clerk also came up to her and commented, "If you need help with disc golf, talk to the guy at costumer service, he is amazing." Somehow that just sounds kind of funny.
Afterwards, I convinced her to goto Love Shack instead of Vienna, because I was craving cheese sticks. Actually, the first time I visited that place was with her, but she hasn't frequented it as much as I have since. Coincidentally, Ian walked in right as we were leaving and conversations about disc golf soon resulted.

That's pretty much my 3rd night of summer. I'm a tad surprised that I have gone out 3 consecutive nights already, thought that consecution might be ending pretty soon.(ie. tomorrow night) I really should figure out plans; I'm running out of things to do already.

So it ends.

2006-05-29T23:09:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Sweaty
What's on: "Jumping Fences"-The Olivia Tremor Control

The past week has been hectic, yet it passed by so fast. My finals studying time has digressed one year after another. I pseudo studied for most of my exams the day before/of. For the most part, I thought I did fairly well with the lack of studying. Calc was really easy, I ended up with a 94, but still short of an A for the semester. I wonder if Klumpe would be nice enough to give me an A since he's leaving after this year. My last final was Thursday morning French. I sort of passed out studying after not being home for the entire afternoon. (Disc golf, dinner, lost finale...) I probably would have done better on the final if I was sure about what verb tense to use for what, but oh well.
After that was over, I didn't quite have the "I'm done feeling" like I've had...not really sure why. After taking the 2 hour Purdue placement test, I went to play disc golf again. Sam kept on commenting about how the dark clouds were coming in very fast and will hit us soon; it didn't till we got home. Dinner was taken care of at Clif's. We had a cookout with pork chops, hot dogs, and burgers. I really enjoyed the first time when we did that, so I thought it would be nice to have another before he left. Few more people showed up, and they decided to go bowling. I parted my way to JooJoo's for some good Ol Karaoke fun with the Asians to celebrate Jennifer's Bday.
Friday was more Disc Golf and the beginning of Grad parties. parties continued through Saturday, starting early at noon and ended at 8. Clif and I went over to Sam's afterwards to watch "Pom Poko", a studio Ghibli film about Raccoon's and certain parts of their anatomy that can shapeshift. Cynthia, who came up with the idea, was also there along with Alex and Jonesy. It was fairly interesting, but long, so we ended up fast forwarding to the good parts.
---

Commencement Sunday wasn't as interesting as everything thinks. So we hear speeches, go up and get our diplomas, move our tassels, and throw our caps..so what? If I had a choice of not going, then I probably wouldn't. I would rather have spent my Sunday doing more productive things. Afterwards, it was more Grad parties. I have been doing fairly well at not becoming sick or throwing up, even though Saturday came close.
Later that night, I hung out at Graham's house with people and said bye to Clif as he's taking off for NM for the summer.
Speaking of summer, I should really plan things out instead of sitting home all day and watching TV. This might be my last summer to really do whatever I want, so I should make good use of it. I suppose today was my first real day of summer. I was mostly asleep till 3 and decided I should really do something. I ended up party hoping with Rachana and played basketball for awhile with Sam O. and gang.
I think the next few days will consist of much sleep as I'm in need of some. After that, we'll see.

After the Storm

2006-05-16T22:14:00.000-04:00

There is less than 2 weeks left in my k-12 career. School has actually been slowly lately, leaving me with little to do at night. I'm pretty sure my grades have declined dramatically as of last semester, and my parents will probably scorn me when the time comes. But hey, I'm pretty damn proud of my last semester report card---not that it really matters now---and I deserve the room to slack off.

It's been raining for the past week or so. I don't dislike it in particular, but days after days of continuous rain does get you feeling abit down.
Today was the last tennis match of the season. In all honesty, I wasn't too enthusiastic about playing. I haven't played for a week. Thursday's match was canceled, and Monday's was rescheduled for today.
After a short glimpse of the sun, rain moved in about 30 minutes into warm-ups. In the cold rain,the team stood by the fence while Tim arranged new plans over his cell.
Our match was relocated indoors, meaning more time had to be wasted in transportation. Since it was Senior Night, Tim already stated that all the seniors get to play. (The seniors also received roses and had a printed name sign made for each. I thought the whole thing was kind of excessive, but the flower was a nice gift)I really didn't want to drive 30 minutes to the East side just for a "senior" match playing JV against a crappy team. I could go into details about how I think Tim doesn't know jack about sentiments, but I'm feeling too lazy.

Arg! May update: robo, AP, prom, and other

2006-05-08T23:24:00.000-04:00

Feeling: slightly accomplished
What's on: "Are You There?"- Mono

I've told myself for the past 2 weeks to update, but...yeah, I've been busy. Much has happened since my last post, and I'll probably be missing some good details due to my bad memory retention rate .

To start of, Robotics nationals at Atlanta, Apr 27-29.
I wasn't too looking forward to the trip/apathetic, mostly because of the 10+ hours of bus ride and Comfort Inn as opposed to 2 hour plane ride and Hyatt. Turns out, neither transportation nor rooming was as bad as I have expected. What I have expected though, was the turn out of our robot. Although I did want to be optimistic about competition, we're really a long shot from winning/perform outstandingly. In all, there weren't much interesting events apart from the drama between certain figures that exploded in my room on Friday night. I was just an observer in the whole incident, but I find it interesting and almost funny to be watching this made-for-tv scene. As far as I know, the situation has been resolved for the most part.
Overall, the trip was mediocre. Even though we did win the national award for the website, I still enjoyed Buckeye better (maybe because we did surprisingly well there, or maybe not). Either way, it wasn't a terrible way to end the season.
The Banquet was held last Wed. at school. Before the banquet, the team was suppose to give a presentation to the School Board. This is the part that I can't comprehend: In the announcement that day it read

"All robotics members should meet at the Jr. High Gym at 5:30 for the School Board Presentation; Wear yellow Jerseys."

So okay, I wore my jersey and brought clothe to change into for the Banquet. Somehow, all the guys failed to bring a change of clothing. I debated with the guys, noting it's a norm to dress up for Banquets. Some said that they thought the jersey was for the Banquet---they're dumb for not knowing how to read; others argued along the lines of not needing to/it's stupid, which I deduced to be the fact that changing in between events is not very manly.
Boys.

------

Last week was AP testing. I had Comp Sci o Tueday. and Calc Wednsday. I didn't feel too confident coming out of either (mostly due to poor performance on free-responses), but I don't think more studying would have helped. When I resumed to normal school schedules on Thursday, I felt abit out of place; Perhaps because being finished with testing gets me in the mind set of breakage.I know for sure that I'm ready for HS to be over with. I'm really tired of sitting through tedious French and boring Band when I could be making more productive use of the time. For instance, skipping band on Tues. allowed me to studying for Calc for a good 2 hours; Skipping band on Friday made the day not suck. I convinced DK to skip with me, and Christine tagged alone. As we were walking to my car on Forest Hill, Ang drove past us, and we stopped her. "Take us out to lunch," I said, and soon after we hopped into her car and headed for Pizza Express in Chauncey. We saw many other West Side kids walking around.
On our ride back, Christine got to see her loverboy walking on the streets. Ironically, she failed at catching him last time when we skipped band, when we even exerted the effort to drive around Purdue West trying to spot him. Even more, she claimed that during her lunch prayer that day, she prayed to be able to see him. Oh irony.
To finish out the thus far good school day, we watched "We were Soldiers" in IR and played Trivia in Government, where I received 10 bonus points with the help of Namisha. I left school in a good mood, and prom was another event to look forward to that day...

Prom
Unfortunately being a repeat from last year, I was the last one to arrive at the picture party at Kelly's. I guess I miss allocated some time and ended up running late. I wasn't too content with my rushed hairdo, but at least everything else went smoothly.
Dinner was good, though I'm beginning to think that I should stop going to Heisei's. (Friday marked my 6th appearence there) Ian "accidentally" ordered and extra set of sushi, and his bill ended up being $60 ish, gg.
The rest of the night went well. I really wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out for the better. Clif and I were late again getting to the Union since I had to run home and grab clothe for later. Our group proposed bowling before going to the ballroom, but that never happened, and I gained the pleasure of having a pair of sock in my purse the entire night...
Midnight: Time passed by fast as expected. We left and semi-regrouped at after prom. This year wasn't as boring as last; food was a contributing factor. I tried being more strategic in my winning-raffle-plan this year, but it kind of failed. I ended up "buying" a shoe rack, a keychain flash light, some candies, and 2 gift certificates.

Saturday
I originally planned on going to Chicago with Clif, but that plan was scrapped due to poor planning and tireness. We went to see MI:3 instead in the afternoon. A lot of people commented on it being good; I thought it was mediocre. We met up with people afterwards trying to figure out activities. We started out at Vienna, then Loveshack, Patrick's, BWWs, Payless, and eventually ende up at Ian's for a really poor round of Trivia Pursuit.

Finally getting back to present time...

Today was another Monday, signaling yet another week of school. Fortunately there're only a few more left in my HS career, but the prospect is also abit scary. Tennis resumed for me today; It's been almost 1.5 week since I last played. (Skipped out last week on Mon and Tues due to Calc review afterschool; banquet on Wed; match on Thurs. which I didn't play in) There's only a week of tennis left, but conditioning will probably be tougher till then. Today wasn't too bad apart from scrapping my knees and hurting my arm.

So yes, this post is the most work I've done since AP...I should probably feel guilty for slacking. I don't have any insightful comments to end this post, so goodbye and good night.

Post Pittsburgh

2006-04-26T02:27:00.000-04:00

Feeling: Regret
Now Playing: "Empty"- Metric

I don't recall ever going on vacation with my parents without getting lost. Rest assure, it took us awhile to find our hotel in the outskirts of Pittsburgh. The drive wasn't very interesting except it was raining like crazy for majority of the time; abit scary actually. I wanted to sleep for the most part but failed. It seems though whenever I do drift off, we end up stopping or reaching our destination, and I can't fall back asleep again.
The town we stayed in was called Carnegie, located on a mountain. We finally found Radisson on top of a hill and got into our room around 11. I made some tea and watched Letterman for awhile before my dad turned it off. I had a hard time falling asleep; my parents' snoring being a major cause. After talking on the phone and putting on some music, I was finally able to sleep; by that time, it was probably 3 already.

I woke up at 9 the next morning. After checking out, we headed into Pittsburgh for an exciting day under the rain. We drove down Forbe Ave. and passed University of Pittsburgh and its famous Tower of Learning, the Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Hall, and finally Carnegie Mellon itself.
The building looked janky and was an unpleasant beige color with green trim things. The insides weren't better off either. Pittsburgh, being an old mining town, might contribute to why the insides of CMU looked like the inside of an old factory.
The only good building was the Social Science building, which had nice aesthetic appeals and could pass off as a museum. The recreation/food hall wasn't too bad either. I really liked the wall mural on the 2nd floor, which was an aerial view of Pittsburgh drawn in pencil that extended across the entire sets of walls. Around 12, We had brunch at the 2nd floor dining room; it was quite tasty, but probably because I was starving at that point from not having had any food all day.
Afterwards, we continued our tour of the campus. My dad wanted to go into every building and check out the class rooms. That became very tedious and boring after a certain point, but fortunately the campus was fairly small, and we actually covered all the grounds by the afternoon.
The most depressing moment of the day happened in the dining hall. On my way out after lunch, I picked up a student publication to discover the saddening news:

Friday April 21
concert: Phantom Planet & The Secret Machines, CFA Lawn, 7:30 pm,
FREE!

I've been wanting to see Phantom Planet for awhile, and I probably missed my most perfect chance. Secret Machines is a decent band too for the most part, I probably would have enjoyed them also. But no, life has to be hard.

I was pretty tired by the afternoon; it seemed as though I've been walking around forever. On our way out of the campus, we passed by the Conservatory and decided to stop by since there was an orchid show going on. Walking through the green house and taking pictures of flowers made me feel relaxed and happy. This was probably the best part of the day. Afterwards, we drove into the city and walked around before it started raining again. The rain was a killer, killing off our motivation to do anymore exploring; Off we went, good bye Pittsburgh. I'm not sure if I would be back ever again, but the experience hasn't been too terrible.

The Man The King The Girl The Spider

2006-04-24T04:25:00.000-04:00

Mood:discouraged
What's on: "Take Me Out"- Franz Ferdinand

I really should be sleeping. I've been meaning to post after the match I was so looking forward to playing in. I lost, 1-8. The team lost, 0-5. I felt pretty down afterwards and for the rest of the day even though our performance wasn't too bad. I guess losing is pretty bitter regardless. I lied to Tim about leaving for Pittsburgh early so I could skip practice. I do feel guilty, but I wasn't in a mood to play tennis again.
I wasn't in a mood to go to school either. I skipped band on Wed., because I've been meaning to do so. I dislike all the music we're playing right now. The contest prep has been extremely redundant and boring, and I'm not even going to it. Since I didn't really have a good place to go, I went home and told my parents I wasn't feeling well from eating too many Bremer Cookies (from tennis treat bag). After a bit of nap and food, I returned for international Relations. Diplomacy finally ended after a really long and dumb negotiation. We got the day to rant about the whole ordeal.

Thursday was 4/20, and of course everyone was making lame jokes about it. I skipped tennis practice that afternoon and grabbed food with Clif at Loveshack. It was empty as usual, probably because none can afford the $6 calzones. The weird part was when the manager was dealing business in the table beside us with some food retailer I take it. Doesn't he have an office to do that?
Friday was skip day. I mentioned that I haven't been in a mood to go to school, so I wanted to skip Friday, since I'm leaving for Pittsburgh later and there wasn't much I would have missed. My parents were surprisingly okay with it, so that was a go. I ended up going to 3rd and 4th period, mainly for the calc check. Christine decided to skip band, and we ate at McDonald's before proceeding to drive around campus/Purdue west because she was hoping to catch her college Korean mad crush on the streets---unfortunately, the plan failed.

I spent the afternoon at the library finishing up a government worksheet, which is sad since that's what I would have been doing in class anyways.I didn't get home till 4, which is sad considering that's when I usually get home. So basically, I'm not very good at skipping school. My dad complained about me getting back so late when he never specified what time he wanted me to be back. I took a few minutes to pack for the 2 day trip and headed out: 7 hours of on the road goodness.

To be Continued... (because I really want to sleep now)

Tennis practice gone good?

2006-04-19T00:12:00.000-04:00

Mood: no idea
What's on: "Badd Business"-Phantom Planet

I see Wednsdays as a checkpoint of the week. So far, I'm relieved that I didn't fail my calc test, but doing poorly on the Government test probably cancels that out. Calc is still not exciting as we've moved on to estimating functions with poly. Diplomacy is about the same: bad. Even though we managed to win last week, things are going poorly with the point distribution part of the game as everyone is hating on our coalition. I really want to stop caring and let the rest of my group handle it, but I don't know if that's the best approach to keep the winning title.
I haven't been looking forward to tennis thus far this week. I think I speak for most of our team that running miles suck. With out any warning last week, Tim made us run 2 miles on the hottest day yet during practice. He mentioned the next day that we'll be running again this week. Luckily, we haven't had to yet. Practice today was actually quite enjoyable. JV did 12 min. Round Robin matches for seeding of tomorrow's match against Carmel, apparently a formidable opponent that we're playing for the first time. I played doubles with Christine, and our only real challenge was against Liz and Hannah. As our round began, they got up to 4-0 fairly easily and were quite excited. Christine and I eventually got up and we kept a tight score through out the round. The score would tie, and they would get nervous; they would lead by 1, and start cheering hoping the time was up: It was 10 all, and they gained a point to 11. Tim called time after Liz's failed 1st serve. We had to finish out the point, so this was critical. Alas, 11-11. Best part yet, it was my turn to serve, and I haven't been confident/displeased with my serves lately, especially during the Terra Haute North match that we lost to. Keeping under the pressure, I got a nice and light 2nd serve over, which Liz proceeded to hit out. 12-11, we won.
I could tell they were pretty bitter afterwards, but hey, step aside Freshmen.
I played with my dad for awhile around 8. I wanted to work on some returns, but it was more so that I didn't have anything else to do. I'm actually looking forward to the match tomorrow even though Varsity will probably lose...I can still redeem myself by winning.

Really, it's an educational trip: reflection and other

2006-04-02T23:29:00.000-04:00

Mood: Tired
What's on: "What Does Your Soul Look Like(Part 1)"-DJ Shadow

Spring break part 2 has ended. My overall attitude is positive.
College anxiety is over for the most part. (Still waiting for some financial packets, if that counts). Not surprisingly, Upenn rejected me. I was half expecting that after getting deferred from ED and didn't really bother sending them financial info (I ran out of space on the FAFSA anyways). So, no hard feelings on that. I was surprised that I got waitlisted at Cornell as opposed to being rejected. I figured getting only 2 emails from the time I sent in my application to the time I got my decision was a good indication that they didn't like me. I do note that I procrastinated the longest with Cornell's app, submitting the barely finished not proof-read supplement essays a minute before the deadline. So, I guess I didn't screw up that much.
The only college left was NYU, and I noticed the opened packet along with the rest of my mail. I don't know exactly how I feel about going there. NYC would be an awesome place to live at but intimidating at the same time.

Looking at tasks to be done this month, I would say I'm going to be busy. More days of school are going to be missed for Robotics, not to mention that it is going to be crazy. Though not finalized, I should probably make some college visits now that I have a few more options.Along with that, deciding a college is going to be the biggest task and challenge. I would rather not think about it now, but I'll have to decide soon enough. I guess the contributing factor for my general apathy in the whole process is the lack of "real" incentive.

really, it's an educational trip

2006-03-28T23:03:00.000-05:00

Mood: nonchalant
What's on: "A Certain Romance"- Arctic Monkeys

But really, it's another spring break. The band and orchestra will be leaving for Myrtle Beach tomorrow afternoon. I'm fairly indifferent about it at the moment, but things will probably start looking better soon enough. After hitting the beach, the bus ride will seem like nothing.
Today has been slow and still is. Sorting and packing doesn't seem very appealing, nor is homework and other work, so I'm here blogging.

Diplomacy is international Relations started a few days ago, and things have already begun to heat up. Maybe it's just me, but the situations have been the most problematic for us, Italy. I guess 2 days away from might be a good therapy, everyone is already stressing out; I know I am.

Because I feel bad for forgetting to post before Cleveland, I leave you all with this and part deux. Enjoy it.

Bazz' Album 05 (Part 2)

2006-03-28T22:51:00.000-05:00

(Con't from part 1)

So, 4 month later, it's here. After getting bored of writing reviews, I left this post for awhile and came back ever so often to work on it.
A lot of what I've listened to in the past year has been "indie". It's hard to define the genre since it's very broad. But for the most part, I see experimentation as a key feature in indie music. Through out the year, there has been some really weird albums produced that I can't even began to comprehend let along appreciate. So I guess those fall under the extreme indie genre that I will not touch.
I kind of tried to pick albums from different sub-genre. These aren't in any orders.

(links are good for a week)

Indie love

Worlds Apart
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
Track Pick-"Will You Smile Again for Me?" (6:50)

The band name might suggest an equipment-destroying, I-hate-god-and-you, heavy metal band, but Trail of Dead is considered an indie rock band. Instrumentals, meter and style variations, vocals are among the things that shines throughout this album. The band's sound has toned down a lot since their debut and is more experimental now. There is a pure instrumental waltz track in the middle of the album that makes me a happy panda.

How Strange, Innocence
Explosions in the Sky
Track Pick-"A Song for Our Fathers" (5:44)

This album doesn't fail to captivate me every time I listen to it. Technically, this was first released in 2001 as a limited debut album. Because of the demands, it was remastered/re-released this year. (So, it's still legitimate for me to include this) EITS is a post-rock band. The overall sound is more mellow/emo than their others, but doesn't fall short of the essential dramatic elements that defines the band and the genre.

Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene
Track Pick- "7/4 (Shoreline)" (4:53)

The Canadians are fighting back. BSC is a project-esque band formed by some major indie names in Canada (Metric & Feist to name 2). This was a new band I heard this year that made its mark. There're a lot of depth to each song. Not limited to sound/instruments/effects, but also lyrics. Personally, not as good as their last album, but still grabbed my interest in the band.

Underwater Cinematographer
The Most Serene Republic
Track Pick-"King of No One" (2:26)

Toronto based indie group that shares similar sound with Broken Social Scenes but with less synth and more mello(both are under the same label actually). Because of that, I might've been abit bias judging. Nonetheless, a good post-rock album that's definitely better than some other indie bands. (Reminds me a little of the Postal Service)
More worthwhile bands from Arts and Crafts (the label): Stars, Broken Social Scene, Feist, Apostle of Hustle

Black Mountain
Black Mountain
Track Pick-"Druganaut" (3:47)

More Canadian debut goodness. At first, the name suggested to me a folk band. The vocals do somewhat reflect that, but the sound itself is a rollercoaster ride through sax rips, bass rifts, lyrical rhymes, and experimentation party. Majority of songs are over 6 mins long and does take awhile to develop. Give it some patience, it pays off in the end.

Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus
Cloud Cult
Track Pick-"You Got Your Bones to Make a Beat" (3:02)

These guys are a bunch of hippies. Nonetheless they make some awesome music. I love this album because it's highly experimental. The 25 tracks are all fairly short and displays a distinct style in each one that'll entertain most ADD people.

Akron/Family
Akron/Family
Track Pick-"Lumen" (5:30)

This would be my pick for a top acoustic/indie album. The melodies and vocal are both very soothing, and drove me to sleep when I neared the end of the album.(I'm saying that as a good thing).But under the acoustic guitar, there is more. Afterall, aren't indie music suppose to be out of the norm? Many of the tracks are dubbed with random background effects( bird chirps, sea waves,clicking, etc) The most random has to be the 2 min. track of pure noise/hisses right after a wonderful ballad. I wasn't a big fan of that, but it doesn't deteriorate the album at all.

The Runners Four
Deerhoof
Track pick-"Midnight Bicycle Mystery" (1:59)

12 bars blue, acoustic, distortion, synth, experimental under a hat. First thing anyone notices about this band is the probably the vocalist, who happens to be a jap bass playing chick. (Snap, Asian) It has enough cuteness to shame generic jpop singers, and enough accent to add that edge to the vocal. Just a fun album overall. But wait, for more "jap bass playing girl in indie band", check out....

Lost Marbles and Exploded Evidence
Enon
Track Pick-"Knock That Door" (2:53)

(I wonder if it really is a coincident?) This album is a collection of singles and Bsides, which display a range of styles from the band.The same description can be applied here from Deerhoof, though I like the vocals more here. (Because all the tracks sound unique, it was hard to just pick one, but I couldn't help but feature the cute vocal)

Silent Alarm
Block Party
Track Pick-"Banquet" (3:21)

I have to give props to the Brits for their new wave of indie artists. Silent Alarm has a unique sound that's catchy and makes it stand out from the rest. I don't believe the band has made it big in US yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did soon. The remix album released soon afterwards was some what of a disappointment, even though most of the tracks were remixed by some good big time artists.

Justamustache
Thunderbirds Are Now!
Track Pick-"This World is Made of Paper...Held Together by a Stapler" (3:33)

Garage rock with synth/electronics. I guess there aren't many similar bands, so this gets some recognition. Reminds me abet of Bloc Party, especially some of the riffs. (I also like the covers of not just this, but all of their albums)

That's 3 down

2006-03-23T23:38:00.000-05:00

Mood:Pleased
What's on:"Australasia"-Pelican

School is slowly getting back to normal. I always feel like I have some mass amount of projects/homework due tomorrow or tests to study for, but right now, the only thing I have tomorrow is a calc test and a French assignment. There is like a void, and I try to convince myself that I probably missed something. Of course, I'm not complaining.
The past weeks has been pretty hectic: Robotics, tennis, band, make-up works, end of quarter, etc.
3 days of missed school and I already feel very behind. This might sound wrong, but I would rather have gone to school on Wendsday than gone to the Lawrence Central band festival in Indy. Calc is really the only thing that gets screwed over (besides tests) when I miss school. During the 2 days I missed in Cleveland, we started discussing limits and L'hopital's rule. Reading the book didn't help much (or rather, I was too lazy to look into it), and I ended up giving up on the homework assigned over break.
I was fairly worried about the test yesterday, since I didn't know how to do half of the problems and is not a big fan of limits. But after some mass homeworkage and help from Klumpe, I think I'll do decent, or at least good enough to raise my grade a point or two.

--------------

I didn't get home till 6:30 today even though tennis ended at 5:15 for me. I guess there was miscommunication between me and my mom (I still blame her), which ended with me unintentionally leaving my car at school. I bummed a ride off of Connie to tennis, where we played challenge matches again. The girl I was up against was some Freshman named Hanna. I was already prewarned by Christine, who played her yesterday. And to quote, "Hanna is a byotch."
So the match commenced. I noticed her extreme apathy pretty early on in the game. Later when her friend Katie walked in, she started whining endlessly about how cold it was, or how she wanted to go home, or how much this sucked. She got pretty pissed off when the score evened out to 7-7 after 4 rounds of deuces (though I was positive the score was 8-6) . On the last game, she stopped caring completely and smashed every shot to random places.
It didn't bother me so much that she didn't compliment and was emotionless---the reasons why Christine didn't like her, but the fact that she acted like she didn't give a damn is annoying. It's as if she went out of her way to make sure that I knew that she didn't care. That to me, is some shitty sportsmanship.
After my match was over, I phoned home to find out that my dad was going to be out till late entertaining guests; I then called up Clif to make him take me to school. He was coming back from playing Frisbee golf, so I started hitting with Christine and Connie after their matches were over. It was enjoyable, as we didn't have to care about the team, tim, scores, or anything. Only if the season was like that, then I would like it so much more.

When I got home, I noticed a thick opened envelope from Carnegie Mellon that read "Official Fat Letter". Usually when you receive a "fat" admissions envelope, it's a good indication that you've been accepted: Alas, the congratulation letter. As I sifted through rest of the mail, I saw a regular sized envelope from "Admissions:NYU". Hoping that it's not a rejection letter, I opened it to find it being some crap about National Merit Finalists that was completely irrelevant for me. Relief, at least.

As far as college goes, I'm still indifferent. I haven't looked at half of the stuff Purdue sent me, let along Michigan. I found out a few days ago that I got put on the waiting list for Washington University, undoubtedly my #1 choice. Though it is far less painful then getting rejected, there's really not much of a chance of me going there anymore.
I guess we'll see how things go. There are still a few colleges left to be heard from. I'm not expecting miracle, but hopefully expected outcomes.

So it ends. 1 week of what?

2006-03-20T00:14:00.000-05:00

Mood: blank
Now playing: "Teardrop"-Massive Attack

How spring break ended. It's a shame really, I haven't even begun doing everything that needs to be done, and the prospect of school makes me want to cry.

Robotics were another 3 tiresome days. We didn't do as well as Cleveland, but I half expected that.

On top of robotics, tennis, sleep, and movies, I haven't really done much. I went out most of the nights, and by Saturday, I was bored with the idea and just wanted to go home and sleep (which I did, around 9). There's been some ups and downs, but overall, things went well. Tennis was not as bad as I expected, though I'm still not looking forward to after school practices.

Another short one I guess. Sleeping and not doing calc sounds good for now.

not a very creative title

2006-03-16T01:52:00.000-05:00

Mood: Meh
What's on: "Legs of Bees"- Fruit Bats

I'm in the usual lack of motivation for blogging, so this will be unfortunately short even though I do have many things I can elaborate on.
Cleveland was a fun experience, thought I can't say it was the best way to start off spring break. (For some reason, it just didn't feel right) Speaking of which, it has been an "odd" week thus far. My general apathy and laziness has prevented me from doing anything productive. I'm still upset about my "missing" 1 gig cruizer and mp3 usb port, which is preventing me from uploading music, and better yet, charging the player. On top of that, my phone is still half broken. I did finally talk to a Cingular rep and got a number to call but haven't gotten around doing so.
The mentioning of school makes my head hurt. I try my best to not think about it, but that's becoming harder now that I'm worrying about my non-existent java project.

Moral: School is going to suck hard next week.

Tomorrow is the start of more robotic goodness on campus. I'm looking forward to it minus the getting up early part.

It's almost time

2006-03-07T17:03:00.000-05:00

Days are going by at an alarming rate. I can still remember the procrastination of college apps, and now apr 1st is not that far away. It's been 8 weeks since the semester started, yet I have less than 5 pages of notes in International relations.

I'm leaving for Cleaveland tomorrow right after school. It's finally time to the hours paying of on the robot and the website (hopefully). I guess there's more team spirit this year, perhaps because half of the team is consist of seniors, or perhaps because our robot might not suck this year. Either way, I'm looking forward to the competition even though I won't be able to slack off this year.
Cynthia made fealt costumes for people. (Including Navid's pimp hat and cane, X's pirate hat, Ian's 461 cape, and my Alien hat) Some how people have managed/are starting to bleach their hair for Cleaveland, and color dye for the week after; posing off of the swimmers--- I guess that makes me a possuer too.
I asked Ang to help me with the process last night. we went to pick out dye from Wal-Mart where upon I spent over 30 mins trying to figure out what to get. I settled with a box of blond bleach and deep red dye, which I'm now having seconds thoughts on.
Actually, I haven't gotten the consent of my parents, so I wasn't really sure how they would've felt. but hey, it's for a good cause, so they shouldn't disapprove of.

Time management

2006-02-28T23:53:00.000-05:00

Feeling: intrigued
What's on: "It's a Curse"- Wolf Parade

My goal of being more productive has been failing thus far. Even though I have more free hours now that Robotic is over, I've been using those times to catch up on sleep. The most productive thing(in my opinion) that I have done thus far was retagging my music collection over a period of 3 days, spending 5 hours or so total. Hooray.

Today's sleeping schedule sort of deviated from the "norm". I was working on calc around midnight and decided to rest for awhile, even though I figured I would fall asleep and wake up around 2, by which the time lost all motivation to continue calc and thus continue sleeping. I ended up waking up at 3, which surprised me a little. Regardless, I followed my plan and passed out again.

Band hasn't been very fun lately as we've began drilling music for contest. We had sectionals for the first half of class in which the time was spent with our section complaining and Christine braiding my hair. At some point, Keith started mocking Mr. C's Anger management problems; 10 seconds later, Mr. C walked into the room to check up on things.Everyone tried to keep a straight face as Keith saved himself by a change in topic with a "can you help us with this part?"
Much needed entertainment for that hour.

I took the bus home today for the first time in a few month. I always disliked riding it because it's always crowded, and the people are usually not very smart/idiots. Apparently, a 2nd bus was just added today, so the ride wasn't bad at all. When I got home, the weather impelled me to go for a run, which I've been meaning to do for a long time. Though the reason why I haven't been is out of sheer laziness, exhaustion overtook me this time, and I took a nap infront of my computer...

When I woke up, my first instinct was to check my watch-- 6:27. Crap, how did it get to be morning already. After taking in the situation, I double checked the time and thought about how will fail at school today: IR test, Calc homework, French homework. Great, it's looking up to be another craptastic day. Although on the brightside, I still had an hour before school and could at least finish French that's due 1st hour.

I got up and headed towards my room to change. All of a sudden, I heard my mom yelling for my name from downstairs. This really threw me off, since she never gets up this early. Even though she did start work this week I was still confused as to why she's up or knew that I was up too. I answered, and she yelled for me to come and eat. I guess she made me breakfast really early in the morning?
I sat back down in front of my computer, and it hit me: I'm retarded. As I had double checked the time when I woke up, it clearly displayed 6:27 PM on the monitor, yet my brain was obviously not functioning when I concluded my computer was wrong, and I was right.
I walked downstairs and ate dinner.

In my defense, I lack the sense of time when I wake up, and it looked like dusk outside; although it is sad that it took me 10 mins to realize it's actually dawn.
This is the first time that I confused day with night. I have to say that I'm pretty proud of this feat.

Friday to look forward to

2006-02-17T23:54:00.000-05:00

Feeling: content
What's on: "Superman"-Stereophonics

I almost forgot that it is Friday. When I looked in my docket during 2nd hour, I realized today was not Thursday; and it made me feel relieved. This week has gone by fairly quick, as the usual robotic business and sleep deprivation kept me busy every night.

I made the mistake of passing out on weds. right after I got home from robotics. I figured I could manage my take home test from comp sci and homeworks in school the next day, so I didn't bother opening my backpack and headed straight for bed...

Wendsay was one of the worst days I've had in awhile.
For one, I didn't manage to finish that test in class, and ended up getting around 60% for it.(...at least I still have an A in the class) I went home during lunch to pick up a financial aid letter that was due that day, but lunch ended up being my mom yelling at me. The thing was, my dad was suppose to make a photocopy of my green card, but I didn't know that he had a class that day, and I couldn't get in contact with him until he got off, which was around 6. My mom complained about how I always have to wait till the last moment to do things (ie. college apps/scholarships ), and if I would just have prepared in advance, none of these problems would have appeared. So, whatever, I stopped by the post office after school and mailed what I had.
I'm pretty sure there were other things that added to the lameness of the day, but I can't remember.

Thursday:
Ian jone's toga legacy
Recycling truck's ownage on Alex V.'s car

I don't need to say more.

------

Today has gone by fairly well. I'm still wary about the calc test,and that has been my response after the past 2. I probably should start worrying, but really, I don't feel that sense of urgency. I got out pretty lucky last semester, but it might not be the case on this one.
The tennis team callout announcement appeared out of nowhere today. Surprisingly, many new faces showed up. Actually, I delegated the task of signing up to someone else, but I walked past the lecture hall on my way out to my car and decided to drop in.
Tim is still the same, and he went over the same stuff I've heard last year...except, he's cutting people this year, and by people, I meant the Juniors and Seniors.
As the situation currently stands, I'm seeing the seniors as the ones being cut, considering there were only 4 or so Juniors on the team last year.
Now, I consider myself to be a fairly good player, at least above the average. I don't see how Tim is justifying this action. I'm pretty sure even the worse players of these 2 classes are going to be better than some of the new underclassmen. Sure they have time to grow, but still. Asian consipracy theory: Tim is racist; he is out to cut all the asians.
I guess we'll see how things go, I'll probably be abit nervous going into challenge matches starting on Spring break.

After school, I went to get gas since my parents mentioned recently that the price has gone down. Much to my surprise, it was $1.99; and not to my surprise, there was a mob of cars hungry for a pump. I decided to get in on the fun and drove around in circles until I got a station, which happened about 10 mins later. I'm pretty sure at least 2 pumps went out of service/out of gas, which is kind of sad.

Around 7:30, Connie came to take me to Vienna. Oddly, it was very much deprived of people. After watching her work on scholarship essays, we headed for the Union at 8:30. There was a beach party event going on along with Bean Cellar, so twice the fun in one night. Somehow Clif, Govind, and Ian appeared later, but just in time for the opening band that kind of sucked.(Their groupies were pretty bad at doing their job too) Sadly that went on for almost an hour. By that time, Govind, Connie, and I were the only ones left, until more random people showed up coming from the basketball game.
"No Reasons Given" were on next, and things picked up as the crowd was so much better this time---moshing soon ensued (Oh Ska kids). It's hard to describe everything that went on, but there were some good moments.
After the set ended, everything died down for awhile. We went back to our table and ate the rest of the food from the "beach party", and I lost a fish race against Connie. (though she let me have the fishes) We left when the 3rd band started playing.
It's been so long since my last Bean Cellar, so the night provided to be entertaining. =)

2006-02-12T19:51:00.000-05:00

Now Playing: Bleeding Power-Ted Leo and the Pharmicists

The week has been alright in retrospect. School is the same, but right now, all the classes are going downhill on the fun factor.

There was no school on Wendsday, but I ended up spending most of that time at school anyways. I probably should've used the opportunity to catch up on some sleep, but I stayed up around the general 2 am bedtime again. I woke up to the sound of my alarm at 8 the next morning. Anna and I had made plans to eat breakfast at IHOP, but I was still half asleep. I dialed her up and requested to move the time to 9; she reluctantly refused. I gave in and got up-- it was for my own benefit anyways.
After some problem and confusion with her parents and the car, she picked me up around 8:45, and we got to IHOP, along with Dasha, 40 mins later.
The tech girls (Wallace, Akey, and Pluck) were already there looking awake. I ordered coffee, pancakes,eggs, and hash browns. It was the first time in awhile that I had an actual breakfast, so the meal was very fulfilling even though it left me 8 dollars poorer. After finishing, Anna dropped me off home so I can drive my car to robotics for a fun day of work.

Not that many people showed up that afternoon, but the peace was kind of nice.

to be continued...

Regret

2006-02-11T03:20:00.000-05:00

I often find myself in this state of feeling, more than the normal or healthy level. It has hit me time after time, yet I still can't help but let it take over. I know of the problems, but my attempts to overcome it often fails.
I tell myself, "this is what you're going to do. This, and that.." the plan seems to be perfect, but the execution never seem to happen.

I can think of so many action I've regretted doing or not doing. What would my life be like if I had done this or that..? I still have clear recollection of an event in 4th grade where I regretted not answering to my truest feelings, because I was afraid. 4th grade... I honestly believe my life would be different now if I had taken the other path back then.

But in actuality, I could be regretting taking the other path, but I would never know now; It's a complex cycle.