Year 25...you know while 2008 itself has gone by so blazing fast (seriously? july already?), I feel like so much happened in my 25th year. Without going into detail, and as just one of the things I've worked on this year is to not concentrate so damn much on the past, not to sound cliche, but I think I did a lot of changing (growing up even maybe?) this past year. It was a year where I at one point was at the lowest of lows, but put myself back together, and just through the various things that have some along the way (job changes, graduate school) I do think i'm a more confident person. Which to me is actually this totally foreign thing, that sometimes I don't quite know what to do with it. I've never had much self confidence in myself, anyone that knows me will attest to that, and cause of that I've never been able to believe it when people have told me I'm <insert positive adjective of choice>. I'm sure much to do with it has been the culture I grew up in, where nothing you do can ever be "good enough," but I've accomplished a lot this year where okay it may not be good enough in some people's eyes, but I've certainly proven that I can achieve something. And while I still do have a hard time believing positive adjectives in myself, I don't spend as much time questioning them as I have in the past. At the very least now I don't always expect failure, which hey was a big step for me. Things that have come along I have so far been able to tackle, grad school for example I have so far been able to handle pretty well, which I think has also reflected in me actually caring more than I ever did in undergrad. It's still a weird new feeling to me, but hopefully as I keep building on the accomplishment I have already achieved I can continue just, going with the flow, as they say. Finding yourself is a continual process but it's something I've slowly built on this year and as I head into the 2nd quarter of my life I think I bring with me a more, I'm not quite ready to say positive, but a more open minded ready for what may come un-negative, outlook than I have in any other years.
That all was a lot more coherent in my head a few hours or even days ago...
Yea, I know i'm like 800 days late in posting thing. Hey, if there's one thing I know how to do well it's procrastinate... Actually tho, these days I tend to post more on my Livejournal
I actually had a semi eventful Memorial Day, it left me Monday night wishing I had another day to actually just rest.
I started it by leaving work early on Friday to indulge in All You Can Eat Sushi with co-workers, who then indulged in what else but, Sake Bombs
Later that night I went to Saddle Ranch to finally meet Eva after 6 years. Her drink, my drink: ha, kidding. But it was fun watching all the drunk people attempt to ride the mechanical bull.
I spent all Saturday cleaning the house cause my mom was coming up. After the house was all clean, my friend came over to test out the Wii Fiting and we unlocked a lot of the stuff. I don't care if people say it's a Nintendo Gimmick, I was actually sweating a bit after all of jogging, hula hooping, yogaing.
After the belated mother's day breakfast for my mom on Sunday, she then wanted to go to Santa Monica. Where she made our poor dog sit on a cannon: he wasn't very happy about it.
Then wanted to take a photo on the pier, see the family resemblence? Yea, I don't either.
But her boyfriend is a horrible, and most of the photos he took ended up like this:
After my mom spent nearly 1.5 hours at GUESS and didn't buy one single thing, we traveled all the way across the freakin city to Old Town Pasadena for dinner. Where CD sat and ate with us:
Ended the night with getting my mom on the Wii Fit, which was freaking hilarious
On the actual memorial day I went to Melissa's for her family BBQ. The chicken was super duper awesome. The kids kind of hijacked the Wii Fit when we attempted to play it, but they were hilarious to watch playing it. Running was so much more fun when you were 8 and didn't know it was exercise.
So pretty much 3 weeks into the whole Full Time work + Part Time school I decided I am definitely getting out of LA and going somewhere for Spring Break. Ended up going to Seattle for a few days to hang with friends, eat lots of seafood, and attempt to not break my neck snowboarding.
Day 1: My friend Jo was very nice and picked me up at 5am for my 7am flight out of LAX. I got to fly on the new LAX-Seattle route on Virgin America. Which was not only super cheap but also has the Red Interactive screen. I pretty much had me a Top Chef marathon right after I was seated and didn't even realize the plane had taken off. You know the airline is hip cause they get gay boys with D&G glasses that call you sweetie when you ask them for something. Right from Seattle airport we went straight to Pike's Place Market. Omg, Seafood Galore. Lookie the size of the Lobster Tails, oh how I wish I had money to buy them:
I seriously walked past the stands a good 3 to 4 times before I just succumbed and bought me a single 3/4 pound king crab leg for my lunch. It was huge, and one of the smaller pieces too!
And filled with oh so very very yummy big juice pieces of crab
as if that wasn't enough seafood, I also had a bucket of steamed clams and mussels...as dessert:
And naturally followed with a trip to the "first ever" Starbucks, where they throw cup orders (cause apparantly they like to throw things in Seattle???) I later found out this actually wasn't the real first Starbucks, and felt very jipped and sad cause it's the only reason I decided to get a coffee there. Lame!
Seattle has interesting architecture, even their Public Library is fancy schmacy:
And of course, the known Space Needle:
with pretty views as you go up:
and at the very top:
It was super awesome cause I love scenic views, then you add to that water, and then with mountains with snow in the background. We never get snow in LA. It was exciting for me. I even made myself one of those 50 cent souvenier pennies, which I have since misplaced... whoops. It was actually a very very hot day in Seattle, which I was told was an oddity, must of accidently brought the California with me as I landed. Since I had been up since 5am I was tired so we went back to Jill's house to chill. But first we got smoothies: Emerald City! Yea so I'm an idiot and never knew they called Seattle "The Emerald City" I kept having Wicked moments whenever I saw stuff saying that.
Day 2: I brilliantly let my friend talk me into Snowboarding which I had never ever done in my life. Have to admit that even though I spent the vast majority of my morning falling on my ass (and the rest of the trip hurting and aching from it all) I managed to pick it up pretty well by the afternoon, I even avoided falling into the lake:
and well...the rest of the experience, can probably best be described with the following awesome independent film:
Yes, i'm awesome, I know. But dude, one day learning curve!
Day 3: So day 3 was pretty much a big ole touristy day. We started off going to Tully's, since Jill didn't know where the closest Tully's was we ended up going to the one by the University of Washington. They have a cool fountain on campus: unfair, all my campus had was a Library that looked like a UFO.
We went across this bridge and the views on both sides were just amazing, then it started raining, like, a lot
But we eventually made it to Snoqualmie Falls, where, seriously, just amazing. It was rainy out and rather foggy so that kind of sucked a bit, but still the views were amazing. There was this lodge atop the waterfalls that I'm sure is expensive as hell. That im sure if I ever had the money one day I'd so totally go there. Apparantly there is a hike surrounding the area and you can get to the bottom of the falls. Too bad we A) didn't find this out till we left and B) it would have been too cold and wet to do. Return trip I guess! Course naturally as we were driving away from the falls, the weather picked up and it started to get sunny again.
We went back into the city were we went to the piers on the waterfront and went into the souvenior stores so I could pick up cheesy souveniors and then did a walk through the rain down a few piers. Since I was hungry and Wings weren't till night we stopped to get a bite to eat at a Seattle Local called Ivars, hmmmmmmmm Fried Oysters, where some annoying lady kept feeding the seagulls outside so they kept making noise and coming towards the windows. Seriously, the number of seagulls, it was freaky.
We then did a mini Ten Things I Hate About You filming locations tour, first at the Fremont Troll. Where I was being a dork (shocking I know): Can you tell which scene in 10 things it was in? and then to Gasworks, where Julia and Heath did Paintball Balloon Throwing. Where I was also sad to discover, there is no Paintball Balloon Throwing place there!
But the views of Downtown Seattle from across the bay were pretty awesome, you know, through the fog:
The "Park" itself was pretty interesting. Just there with a bunch of pipes and gas stuff. I think I was more amazed that we didn't have to pay for parking and there were security guards or anything around. I know, LA has so jaded me. Course maybe they should have guards around so people like me don't do this...:
After all that sightseeing, I went with Jill and her 9 bazillion (or maybe just 9) friends to partake in Wingdome's 59cent/wing Monday night special. Since we had such a large party it took us a while to get a table. Once seated, Jill's roommate, Des and I decided we'd challenge ourselves to the "7 alarm hot" wing, where its so hot it will make you cry, but if you eat it you get to be on their flaming wall. Just because there's more hot sauce than meat on the wing doesn't mean anything... Tho once again, the wing experience can probably best be described with the following video:
we got through it! tears and all..., course we looked much happier in our "before" photo...: I will give Wingdome credit, those were some seriously hot wings! 4 celery sticks later my mouth was still burning
Day 4: Last day. So after figuring out that my flight ARRIVED at LAX at 5:45pm instead of LEAVING FOR LAX at 5:45 from Seattle, there wasn't that much time left for Seattle. So naturally I wanted to head back to Pikes Place Market for the amazing seafood. Cause Seafood is my happy place, happy place for my tummy, unhappy place for my wallet. First tho I wanted to stop by Fred Meyer cause I was just fascinated by the store. It's like a grocery store + department store in one. Like SuperTargets but actually a place to go grocery shopping, and then if you happen to want to go do some clothes shopping, its there too, and then if you just happen to want to pick up Rockband, there's a full electronics section. Yes, it fascinated me, and yes i'm amused by little things.
Then off to Pikes place where the big giant dungeness crabs just kept calling to me. Seriously, they were huge
They just kept calling out to me, eat me...eat me...so I did. And it was yummy steamy goodness. And actually at $9/lb it was a really good price. $15 for a 1.5 lb crab, all to myself.
There were also lots of yummy desserts
Since those didn't really travel well, I got sidetracked by this Cheesecake place where I picked up a few delicious Cheesecake Truffles for my roomies & company, while induling in a cheesecake to myself on the plane ride home. It was super yummy. I ended up having the row all to myself on the plane ride home, it was super awesome. So I had one Red screen watching TV, the other playing music, and another playing a game, while taking the window seat to partake in the views They were pretty as we left Seattle and headed away from the islands. I arrived into LA where Sam picked me up then went to dinner with Diana and Matt who was up to celebrate his end of tax season with a trip to Magic Mountain on wednesday. More on that later once I actually get photos. Seattle was super fun though, I made a great new friend, and it was awesome to get away from LA and see somewhere new. Snowboarding was super fun, tho painful for my body, but challenging and exciting, I think I may have to try it again next snow season.
Well guess that begins my new years resolution list, doesn't it. Classes begin January 2nd, eeps. Better make this holiday season count as I will not be having any kind of non-work/school for the next two years afterwards.
And now begins the process of financial aid and begging the government to help me further my education, this part is gonna be FUN!
This is much delayed, but being me i jumped right back to work the next day and haven't had much time to deal with photos and such as I spent the day at Disneyland yesterday.
Friday, August 31 Due to a late shuttle and LA traffic we missed our flight. The good news: they booked us on the 8:45am flight. The bad news: it cost $100 to change the flight. The slightly better news: We ended up with better seats in the Economy Plus section, which had more leg room. The slightly bad news: There was no window so didn't get to see much of the pretty coast as we flew in around 11:30am the next day
Saturday, September 1 After waking up at 6am to catch our 8:45am flight, we arrived in Lihue at around 11:30am. Found a random restaurant for a quick lunch then proceeded to do a driving tour through the South then Northwest coast. Our planned route was "drive until the road ended," which resulted in the locked entrance of a magazine field. After a failed off roading attempt (in our rented Pontiac G6) through a unnamed state park we finally drove up Hwy 550 to venture through Waimea Canyon were we saw the prettiest views.
Views of Waimea Canyon such as these:
which only got prettier as we drove up the road.
Which only got prettier and prettier, until we got till the end of the road and came across the last 2 lookouts, of probably the most beautiful thing i've ever seen...The Napali Coast. I nearly fell over in amazement, I kid you not.
After venturing back down the canyon we stopped by Costco, at 5:55pm. Only to be shooed out as they closed at 6pm, on a Saturday. Apparantly Kauai has no night life and everything shuts down by 8pm, 9pm if you're lucky. So we ended up with some chicken, lots of water, bread, and the boys got loaded up with more booze. We drive-thrued dinner at Burger King and finally arrived at our rented condo, which was a cute little 1 bedroom apartment. Somehow we managed to stay up till 10pmish Hawaii time, which is 1am PST. Amazing feat considering we had been up since 6am.
Sunday, September 2 We spent the morning enjoying a leisurely breakfast (oh the benefits of having a stocked kitchen) and trying to figure out what to do and reserve what needed to be reserved. Then finally set out to view some pretty waterfalls, do hikes, and enjoy the pretty BLUE water of the Hawaii beaches.
We first saw Opaekaa Falls
then attempted to find another waterfall via a hike, which resulted in just a very fruity smelling muddy trail, that at least gave us pretty views such as these:
we did finally find Wailua Falls
while noting the view important sign
then after a quick picnic lunch, we soaked up the sun at the beach with a swim area surrounded by rocks. Which was so pretty when the waves would crash on them:
Then we cooked dinner in our condo and enjoyed some boozing at home (again, lack of nightlife) before heading to bed early for our early ventures.
Monday, September 3 The boys went on a helicopter ride (hungover, which was later found to be a bad idea) while Sam and I went horseback riding through the Princeville Ranch (my first time on a horse) and got to see lots of pretty Cliff views such as these:
even the mountain views on the other side were gorgeous:
I got the added up close and personal with a tree tour when my horse (Rusty) decided he wanted some guavas and walked me through some trees in attempt:
But at least I didn't fall of my horse... After meeting up with the boys we, had a local Lunch Plate of Chili Pepper Chicken, that I still think we one of the many many chicken roaming around the island (and one that was stationed by our window, waking us up in the morning):
then drove till the end of the road (naturally) while encountering confusing 1 lane bridges, until we got to Ke'e Beach and snorkeled here:
but not before I ventured down the beach, only to turn and see this:
After a couple hours of snorkeling and relaxing in the sun we made a couple stops before going home to get cleaned up. First was the Hanalei Lookout (no its really a real photo, not a painting):
And the Kilauea Lighthouse/Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge lookout:
We then ventured home to get cleaned up before having dinner at the Polynesian Cafe. We had missed out on a Luau cause it got booked up so we gave ourselves our own Polynesian treat. I had an Ahi Seared Tuna with Mac-Nut Pesto on top (yummy!).
Tuesday, September 4 Another of firsts for me today, Kayaking. We met up at 9am to go over to the Wailua River drop off and get in our kayaks. Poor Sam had to do double duty trying to paddle and keep us on course as I attempted to get the rhythm of the paddling with the kayak.
We managed to survive the first half of the tour (kayaking part) without falling over:
then hiked about a mile or so to a secluded waterfall:
and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the surrounding rocks while everyone pretty much took turns taking photos under the waterfall:
There was actually someone more clumsy than me in our group who first, flipped over in her kayak (when we werent even moving), then later slipped on some rocks and hit on her (who got up immediately like it was a normal occurance for her).
We then hiked back to our kayaks and kayaked back down the river. A long 5 hour trip, where i learned that my legs really do burn in the sun:
We then went home and got cleaned up then ventured out for some souvenior shopping for friends, co-workers, and i even bought myself a few bracelets (i know!). Then in an attempt to catch the sunset, we drove through Poipu to see the Spouting Horn. Which was this natural sprout formed by rocks above the surface where a hole in the bed would push out a giant stream of water when the waves hit, it was pretty cool. The magnificence was hard to capture on filme, but of course i tried:
As the sun set behind us:
Then we raced to Walmart to drop off Sam's film, buy some more goodies, and then enjoyed an authentic Hawaiian dinner at Pizza Hut.
Wednesday, September 5 Last day...and I so didn't want to leave. We spent the morning touring the Na 'Aina Kai Botanical Gardens & Sculpture Park. Our tour guide ended up being the horticulturist of the grounds who actually doesn't usually give tours. So we got to see some things that werent usually on the tour and she gave us lots of extra insight on things around the gardens.
Afterwards Sam and I indulged in a massage of the Hawaiian specialty, Lomi Lomi, after our hard week of work...vacationing... The masseuse was very nice and gave me a thorough deep massage while not hurting my sunburns. A perfect way to end an enjoyable adventure filled vacation. We then attempted to eat and drink as much of our groceries in the condo as possible, napped, cleaned up a bit, then off to the airport for our red-eye flight.
All in all a very enjoyable, first official vacation for me. Did lots, saw lots, and it was so nice to just get up and enjoy the day without other worries. And even more shocking, I came out of the week of physical activities without injuring myself! I think I definitely appreciate this stuff much more now that i've had the "real world" experience a bit. It was so hard to wake up on Thursday and drive through LA. The house felt so big and everything outside felt so loud. I'm already wanting to go on the next vacation.
I haves i haves! And additional Wii-mote & nunchuck as well. Haven't really decided if its worth it for me to get a 3rd & 4th set yet (plus, money). Brought my old college 13" tv to my room, got an RF modulator from my friend, and set up my own little Wii corner in my room, as to not drive my roommate completely crazy.
It's kind of odd to like not have any upcoming deadlines. I was so emersed in GMATs and then procrastinated, but finally did my UCLA app that now that it's just sitting back and waiting for the letter (before having to pull out the Pepperdine application and complete that if necessary) that I don't know what to do with myself with all this "free time." Coming from undergrad when there were classes, tests, deadlines. Then trying to find a stable job and always looking during freelancing. Now that I got my 9am-6pm, I almost don't know what to do with myself with my nights and weekends. I certainly welcome the freedom right now, cause once business school starts, I'll have no life for a good 2-3 years. Work, school, work, school, many a deadlines. It's just odd, to be almost pressureless for a while. My HOAs went up $83 a month, due to a "earthquake insurance premium," which i'm very unhappy about. Expenses are hard enough to cover as it is. I'm pretty much in the situation where without any overtime at all, I'm just short of covering monthly expenses, meaning I've been racking up the overtime a lot so that I can have spending money. Especially since I very much want to do a Hawaii trip in September. I'm looking to try to get into volunteering with Special Olympics, cause really I'm tired of having no life. And really there is only so much Food Network a person can watch.
heh, still alive really. It's amazing how time just passes by so quickly when you're working and just looking forward to the weekends.
GMAT score: 600. which isnt great, but isnt horrible. Decent, so we'll see what happens with this round. Funny thing was I got a 5 out of 6 on the analytical writing part. I can apparantly still BS good essays after all these years. Now to write essays about myself for the applications, meh, hate that part the most.
Was going to go to san diego this week, but then there was a mandy moore concert at this small venue in hollywood so i stayed in LA to do that instead, I am an awesome daughter. I did send her Edible Arrangements on Friday to her shop tho, cause I figured, she A) loves fruit and B) loves flowers. Now a normal person would at least say thank you for a thought. Instead, I get a call Friday after work "how much did you spend on the Fruit? They did a horrible job with the design and it looked horrible, I was not pleased at all. It looked nothing like the picture in the brochure they delivered the fruit with. yada yada yada" Not once even a, thank you for the thought, anything at all. I was on the phone trying to hold back tears, i mean geez, if you werent happy go complain to the company, I didnt make the design. You could t ell me it wasn't as pretty as the picture, but to like rip ME apart for going out of my way to have something delivered to you for your bday that I thought would be nice for you?
Less than 18 hours till the friggin GMAT test. Practice tests have hovered around the mid 500s which does not bode well for the perfect 800 score and a close to 700 mark to be "acceptable" for good schools. Dinner break for now and will continue to chug away. Think of me tomorrow as most are enjoying your 3 day weekend and feel free to throw prayers, lucky rabbit foots, and other items my way. Come 6pm tomorrw I am drinking! Hopefully the drink will more be in the whelm of celebratory and less in the drown my sorrows kind of way.
ha, but not one of those kind of dates. February 19, 1pm, GMATs. Not quite at panic time yet, see me next weekend for that. Also have somewhat of a plan for applying. I will try to the fall 2007 UCLA year, tho now i've screwed myself real well and pushed myself into a time constrant that puts my application into the pool of vast majority, failing to give myself that extra needed edge had I applied earlier. If UCLA rejects me, I will try for the Spring or Summer 2007 trimester at Pepperdine, who I hear, has a really good Fully Employed MBA program. And now...back to studying... I hate the GMATs, why yes, i would love to give you $250 of my money for you to torture me for 4.5 hours.
yep, still a little sick. The rest of me seems okay, but i'm still all coughy. So, so far on them resolutions...I've accomplished: -Splurge on myself once in a while As I've spent nearly $100 on frames (darn Aaron Brothers and their Buy 1, 2nd for 1 cent sale, and me having nearly too many movie posters) Another $100 on the Buffy Chosen Set (which considering 7 seasons, 40 discs, not a bad deal, but still lots of money) Doing so very very bad on the GMAT studying thing, which in turns lessens the chance of the Business School thing as people are already sending in apps and the pool is dwindling as I type this. The working out hasn't been happening cause last week I looked like a walking coughing swollen tomato and this week i've been lazy and haven't felt up to it. Yea, go me, I am awesome. On another note, I am starting to get more responsibility at work, which could result in props and may help with the above Business School thing. Or prove to be disastrous if i screw up big time. Woo pressure! Really got to get my ass on the studying thing, 3 day weekend coming up, must study. No movies for me this Sunday unless I study tonight and all day Saturday.
Happy New Year! a new layout for a new year. starting the year off with a sore throat, woohoo! (i blame stephen for coughing on my new favorite jacket that i lent him when he complained of the "cold" that was san diego)
07 Resolutions: -Start working out again -Get a good score on the GMATs -Get into business school -Splurge on myself once in a while -Relax more
After an exciting, then very boring, and once again exciting 5 days in San Diego it's back to the real world of LA and work. 10 years, i can't believe we've actually kept up the sleepover tradition for 10 years. I don't know if its great or kind of scary that the same amusing pasttimes still amuse us the most. It is comforting to know that even tho a year can pass, long conversations can still be had with those you dont see everyday, and it's still the oldest and truest friends that you can talk about anything with. At the same time, I almost feel like there is this divide between my SD life and my LA life, but I will for once not think about that right now, and just soak up the fun and awesome that was this past long extended weekend (well counting out those boring days in the middle). For now, Free Willy!
4 days till 2007...scary to think about that. Well have to save the 2006 to 2007 post for later I guess
on December 25, 2006 | you know you're asian when...
so we went to this chinese restaurant we use to frequent but obviously since college I havent gone with my mom out to eat often. And the conversation went something like this: waitress: hi! haven't seen u in a long time. your mom said you're working in a studio now me: yep, up in L.A. waitress: that's great. it's been a long time, you got fat. and she said that, while smiling, like she had paid me a compliment.
back in san diego! ya.......okay maybe not quite yay. but looking forward to the annual sleepver on the 26th! All shopping is done as well. Tho have to make a trip to petco tomorrow as mom's gift turned out to be a bust. I'm free saturday (23rd) night if anyone wants to hang! I may very well be free the 24th as well, tho those who actually do family things will probably have a life. Same goes for the 25th. heh, well maybe i'll get some GMAT studying done then.
yay! now im just waiting on a couple items to come in and then I can wrap and be done. As a person who normally hates the mall, i hate it even more during december. Just the crowds man. Yes Amy, I am a people hater Now if only I was this efficient about my GMAT studies...
speaking of xmas, wishlist posted per request: Amazon Wishlist
Really, is it already December??? geez, it feels like this year has gone by so fast. Yay to seeing old friends sooner! Boo to hitting the crunch time of GMATS and still on the math portion of studying!
I am an awesome daughter. I did send her 
