2/2/05

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve updated this thing. I guess I pretty much skipped over all of IAP, and man did a whole lot of shit happen. Especially in the 23 suite. Man look what happens when we don’t have psets and tests to keep us busy. One couple broke up, and a few days later, another one hooked up. And they’re “neighbors” too. Actually both are. Drama-rama. At least things were interesting around here. And some fuckers stole the projector. A few weeks before the Superbowl too. Booo. Hockey has been keeping pretty busy, and otherwise I’ve just been hanging out on C3.

Semester started yesterday and now that I’ve been to every class I think it’ll be a pretty good term. I’m so psyched about 2.007 and Slocum is awesome. We got drills and boxes full of aluminum plates, metal rods, motors and all kinds of fun stuff. 2.004 isn’t gonna be too bad. Psets are optional, which is probably bad for me because I need them to learn the stuff, but I’m innately very lazy. But we spent class today doing F=ma so maybe it won’t be that hard. I dropped Intro to Western Music for Fundamentals of Music which seems cool. It went really fast and it’s the smallest class I’ve ever been in here at MIT (probably around 20-25 people). It’s a nice break from big lectures. Then there’s 6.071. I got to the classroom in Stata only to find that it was moved to NW14 way the hell out there. So I trek out there and find the building to find it mostly deserted except for a few construction workers because it seems to be under renovation. The room number on the board was wrong and we end up in some dirty, deserted room and only stumble upon the class on our way out. The class itself feels disjointed and unorganized and I’m worried it’s going to be very confusing. I think I’m gonna make it exploratory. I’m thinking of adding another class too, maybe a 9 unit Edgerton class. OK, time to attempt being productive. Or at least I’m gonna play with motors.

1/3/05

(So sad that no one here at school will get these...)

You know you're Filipino when...

Your middle name is your mother's maiden name. (yep, Nicola Reva PAYOS Tan)

Your parents call each other "Mommy" and "Daddy." (true)

You have uncles and aunts named "Boy," "Girlie," or "Baby ." (one of each)

You have relatives whose nicknames consist of repeated syllables like "Jun-Jun," "Ling-Ling," and "Mon-Mon." (some distant relatives)

You call the parents of your friends and your own parents' friends "Tito" and "Tita." (oh yeah. Heck, at home, even the white kids did this, or at least used Auntie and Uncle)

You have four or five names. (no)

You greet your elders by touching their hands to your forehead. (yes)

You always kiss your relatives on the cheek whenever you enter or leave the room. (maybe not every time I enter the room, but when I enter/exit the house)

You follow your parents' house rules even if you are over 18. (yes)

You live with your parents until and at times even after you're married. (I doubt I will be, but this isn't uncommon at all)

You decorate your dining room wall with a picture of the "Last Supper." (you mean your's isn't?)

You keep your furniture wrapped in plastic or covered with blankets. (at the sac house yeah)

You have a Sto. Nino shrine in your living room. (actually no, but everyone else does)

You have a piano that no one plays. (no)

You keep a tabo in your bathroom. (used to)

You use Vicks Vapor rub as an insect repellant. (no)

You eat with your hands. (yeah)

You eat more than three times a day. (yes)

You think a meal is not a meal without rice. (definitely)

You think sandwiches are snacks, not meals. (true)

Your dining table has a merry-go-round (lazy Susan) in the middle. (no)

You bring baon to work everyday. (back in high school)

Your pantry is never without Spam, Vienna sausage, corned beef, and sardines. (at home)

You love to eat daing or tuyo. (no)

You prop up one knee while eating. (sometimes)

ou eat your meal with patis, toyo, suka, banana catsup, or bagoong. (sometimes)

Your tablecloths are stained with toyo circles. (no)

You love sticky desserts and salty snacks. (sticky desserts no, salty snacks definitely)

You eat fried Spam and hot dogs with rice. (yes)

You eat mangoes with rice--with great GUSTO! (no)

You love "dirty" ice cream. (huh?)

You love to eat, yet often manage to stay slim. (do I?)

You put hot dogs in your spaghetti. (yeah)

Everything you eat is sauted in garlic, onion, and tomatoes. (mmmm)

You order a "soft drink" instead of soda. (no)

You hang a rosary on your car's rear view mirror. (no, but very common)

You get together with family at a cemetery on All Saint's Day to eat, drink, and tell stories by your loved ones' graves. (no)

You play cards or mahjong and drink beer at funeral wakes. (no)

You think Christmas season begins in October and ends in January. (no)

Your second piece of luggage is a balikbayan box. (all the time. all the time)

You've mastered the art of packing a suitcase to double capacity. (oh yeah)

You collect items from airlines, hotels, and restaurants as "souvenirs." (haha...used to)

You feel obligated to give pasalubong to all your friends and relatives each time you return from a trip. (of course)

You use paper foot outlines when buying shoes for friends and relatives. (my grandma does)

You're a fashion victim. (I'd like to think not)

You can convey 30 messages with your facial expression. (probably not)

You hold your palms together in front of you and say "excuse, excuse" when you pass in between people or in front of the TV. (haha...yes)

You ask for the bill at a restaurant by making a rectangle in the air. (yeah)

You cover your mouth when you laugh. (sometimes)

You respond to a "Hoy!" or a "Pssst!" in a crowd. (yep)

You'll answer "Malapit lang!"--no matter the distance--when asked how far away a place is located. (no)

Goldilocks is more than a fairy tale character to you. (true true)

You refer to power interruptions as "brownouts." (my grandparents do)

You love to use the following acronyms: CR for comfort room, DI for dance instructor, DOM for dirty old man, TNT for tago nang tago, KJ for kill joy, KSP for kulang sa pansin, OA for over-acting, TL for true love, BF for boyfriend and GF for girlfriend. (only OA)

You say "rubber shoes" instead of sneakers, "ball pen" instead of pen, "stockings" instead of pantyhose, "pampers" instead of diapers, "ref" or "prijider" instead of refrigerator, "Colgate" instead of toothpaste, "canteen" instead of cafeteria, and "open" or "close" instead of turn on or turn off (as in the lights). (I say rubber shoes)

You use an umbrella for shade on hot summer days. (my mom was known at my elementary school for this)

You like everything imported or "state-side." (no)

You love ballroom dancing, bowling, pusoy, mah jong, billiards, and karaoke. (karaoke!)

You have a relative who is a nurse. (practically ALL my relatives are nurses)

When you're in a restaurant, you wipe your plate and utensils before using them. (depends on the restauant)

You can squeeze 15 passengers into your five seater car without a second thought. (yeah)

You wave a pom-pom on a stick around the food to keep the flies away. (in the Philippines)

You always ring a doorbell twice, assuming that the first ring was not heard. (yeah haha)

You let the phone ring twice before answering, lest you appear overly eager. (guilty)

Your other piece of luggage is a balikbayan box. (didn't you say this already?)

You use a rock to scrub yourself in the bath or shower. (no)

You're proud to be Filipino - and you pass these jokes on to all your Filipino friends! (sure)

1/1/05

Happy New Year! I hope everyone out there is having a rockin good time, because honestly, my New Years has been shit. I was already pissed I had to come back so early, but I was willing to make the most of it anyway. So our hockey team was having a team party at the captain's apartment. But apparently I never got the email saying when and where it was, so I was just bumming around until 10 when I finally emailed her to find out what's going on, only to find out I've been missing out on the fun. So I get there and have a good time for maybe 30 or 45 minutes playing poker and exchanging gifts. But then I guess a bunch of people decided to go to a bar so the under 21 people head over to DU, one of the frats nearby. So we get there, which is an interesting ordeal in itself because some of the girls are too drunk to walk without getting distracted within a few feet. But we're at the door and one of the girls is calling her friend to let us in, and apparently the house is empty. So we wait around for some the get back to let us in, but obviously there's no party or anything going on in there. Some people start playing Beirut but I hang out downstairs just talking on the phone instead. Midnight comes and goes. We leave a few minutes later, catch a saferide back, and I'm back at Burton Conner by 12:45. Lame.

I was gonna do a reflection on 2004 and resolutions, but I'm in too shitty of a mood, so that'll have to wait.

*** *** ***

It's 8am and I can't sleep. Is this a bad omen for the new year? I'm superstitious and I'm afraid it might be. I was up for a while putting up videos, but I tried to go to bed but couldn't fall asleep, so I read for a while, and I'm still wide awake. I thought it was the rum and coke I had at the party because caffeine can definitely keep me up all night, but that was 8 or 9 hours ago. Oh well. At least I don't have class and practice to get through today. Anyway, since I'm up, I figured I might as well write about the new year, or actually, the past year. I'd say 2004 was a very good year. The school year was definitely eventful, but the highlight was definitely this summer, which dare I say, even outdid summer 2003. So now I present to you, the top ten events of 2004:

10. Philippines OK, so I generally did not enjoy myself on this trip, but I did get to fly first class and go shopping almost every day.

9. Conner 3 80s Party So we finally got our act together and put on a party, rocking out in scrunchies, big hoop earrings, and puffy sleeves. It didn't matter that our party was mosty C3 anyway, and we had to call the Bombers over to drink the alcohol (I don't think we'd have that problem this semester...)

8. Beach Though it wasn't the same as our Last Hurrah in the summer of 2003, it was a ton of fun boogieboarding, barbequing, and bonfiring. Plus, three words: Italians in speedos.

7. Danielle's sleepover So Danielle and Eillen kidnapped me this summer to get me drunk for the first time, and it was such an event that they even called over Meghan and Anne as witnesses. Well, it turned out that starting out on Bacardi 151 isn't a great idea and, well I pretty much avoided alcohol until Maine with the Bombers.

6. Hockey That's right ladies and gents, I finally joined a team and stuck with it--at least up to this point. MIT Women's Varsity Ice Hockey. It was definitely something that was missing in my life. Now there have been rough times, but I've been able to ride it out and I might actually start to be getting better at it.

5. Antonio's house party House party? At Antonio's? You better believe it. OK, so maybe it wasn't the party from Can't Hardly Wait, and I was practically trying to make some drama ("So...what happened between you two last summer anyway...?") but I think the fun was just in all the good kids trying to be sneaky ("Yeah mom, I'm sleeping over at Meghan's")

4. Summer soccer Gotta be the best part of what I can only call an amazing summer. We played a lot more this year and I was starting to actually play some good soccer (highlight of the year has gotta be when Jamal, who actually played on the Bellarmine team, told me I was pretty good).

3. Agape near death Oh man was that a traumatic experience. We were all huddled in the backyard of some empty house trying to give a description of Eillen, in her Asian rice farmer hat. THANK GOD we all made it though that. Can't trust the mean streets of the the East San Jose suburbs.

2. Oh boy...oh boyfriend So after heartbreaking in 311 and then being summer fling-less (even with all those soccer boys), I get a boyfriend at the time when I wasn't even looking for one from someone I never even expected. Go figure. It all started when Levi decided to make a list of his top three dates and the rest is history.

1. Red Sox win the World Series Oh man that was insane. What an awesome comeback, I still remember watching game 4 against the Yankees in Phil's room with the window open and hearing the cheers from Fenway. For two weeks, no work would get done. Then the riots and the parade. The curse was broken!

And for New Years Reolsutions. So I went 50% for last years--went to class (ok so I didn't stay awake, but I was there!), got involved (BC social, FSA, and hockey), and read more (though most of it was Harry Potter). Not bad. Better than nothing. So resolutions for 2005:

I think my focus is on doing better in school because I think I could be doing better than I am right now. I get distracted too easily. Living in the 23 suite can't be helping my grades at all.

12/30/04

Well I've been back to school for a few days now. My last few days at home were pretty uneventful. We went to Fry's after Christmas and picked up a new camera and two hard drives for our movie server. Then my cousins from Fresno came over and stayed with us for a few days. Danielle and Eillen came over before I left and we watched Love Actually (it was the second time in a week and third time in less than a month, and I'd still watch it again. In fact, I'm listening to the soundtrack right now!).

The first night back here sucked. I didn't know how to deal with the quiet and emptiness. Seriously, I freak out when I haven't seen my roommate for a day, what do I do when there's no one around at all? Luckily, I managed to fill the quiet with the West Wing on DVD. Amy T also came by for but a fleeting second too to pick something up from her room or something. But she same back today and we got to talk for at least a little before I had to run off to practice yet again. But since hockey practice started, I've filled my days with eat, practice, eat, sleep, practice, eat, TV, sleep. Repeat. So it was supposed to be 2 two hour practices for two days and one on the third. But the last practice was cancelled because the rink is closed on New Years Eve, so I swear my coach has been trying to make up for it with extra long practices. Bah. I could barely move between practices today and it was painful trying to climb onto my bed just a few minutes ago. But its over! At least until Sunday. What's with this Sunday practice anyway? It's Niners vs. Patriots, which me and Phil were gonna try to go to. But noooo. Well at least its only two hours of practice, not four or five like its been. And we have New Years off. I still can't forget that time I had a JV basketball practice at 10am on New Years Day, and varsity was there at 8. Yikes.

Well since I now have some free time, I've been reading this book Pledged: the Secret Life of Sororities. Basically, every stereotype you've heard about sororities is probably true. I still gotta do laundry, clean my room, get groceries, get my hockey secret santa gift, and wash dishes. I don't even have enough quarters to do laundry and no one to borrow from! I have a whole video tape from rush and the first part of this semester to edit and upload too. Anyway Phil and Erica get back on New Years day and people start rolling in after that, so hopefully things won't be quiet much longer. Still I miss my friends. My home friends and my school friends. I missed Saba's birthday hookah party and I'm missing Antonio's birthday/New Years party. And no soccer either. Seriously, I have awesome friends. I love you guys.

 

 

12/25/04

Merry Christmas everyone!

The Christmas party a few days ago was awesome. Lots of people came, they talked, they ate, they played pool, they took lots of pictures. It was fun to see everyone together again, and for once almost everyone came. I just wish I had more time to hang out and talk to people, but at least I got to see them all. Pics and video are up if you wanna check it out. Then went to Sacramento for Christmas with my cousins up there. The kids were cute, I wish I could experience Christmas as a 6 year old again. Oh man those were the days. I got clothes, which as unexciting as that is (c'mon, no Vespa?) I really needed. Anyway, my dad is taking me and my bro shopping tomorrow morning to hit up the after Christmas sales for our gift. Score! I might actually get a new camera after breaking my old one.

Anyway, only two more days at home :-(.

 

12/23/04

So went to Monterey with Kailin, Eillen, Kailin's friend from the academy Shareef or something like that (he's a Sri Lankan exchange student), and finally got to meet K's new bf Kelly. Anyway we drove down with the help of Gertrude, the GPS system in K's car and made it down to Bubba Gumps for some good eating and then to the Monterey Bay Aquarium where I haven't been in ages. It was a lot more fun that I remember it being when I was I guess 8 or 10. I don't even think we saw the whole place. Then hung out at the wharf for a bit. Drove back to SJ to see Christmas in the Park. It was pretty crowded, esp for a Wednesday night. I'm pretty impressed with how it drew a such a big crowd though. Ran into Maria and Emilio, and then I saw Jonathan from school. Then back to K's house for some chocolate cake and watched Napoleon Dynamite and waiting for Janice to come, cuz she was "taking a short nap." Hah. Anyway, then ensued lots of gossip, girl talk, and guy bashing until the wee hours of the morning. It was decided that we should be like animals and just mate, no more relationships. Haha. OK, so maybe that might not work. But yeah, it was fun. I miss just hanging out with the girls. There are some things my college friends just don't get about me that these girls do, and some things I just can't tell other people. I didn't get home until 4am last night, and I have to skip out of the soccer game because I haven't been home and my family is making me feel soooo guilty. Hopefully, I'll see everyone at the party tonight. Man, I'm so bummed I'm going back to an empty school in a few more days. Still good to be home.

Hey, its almost Chirstmas!

 

12/21/04

My Christmas Wish List (hey a girl can dream can't she?)

- new video camera
- IPod
- Vespa scooter
- new desktop with two flatscreen monitors and good video editing capabilities
- new bike for Boston
- trip to Europe
- new memory card for my camera
- shopping spree for new clothes

12/21/04

Busy day...woke up early to try to get this jury duty thing straightened out. I'm still waiting for a letter from MIT, but I might not need it after all. Bought some fancy new sunglasses and got my eyebrows done. Then went to watch Briget Jones at Cinema Saver with Eillen, Angela, and Danielle, though she couldn't find us. I don't really like Rene Zellwelger, but I liked the movie a lot. Gotta love Colin Firth. And Colin Farrell too (sorry, I just watched The Recruit the other day, and I'm obsessed with that movie. Maybe I should name my kid Colin. Its seems to be a good name.). Hung out with Danielle and Eillen, shared some gossip. Headed over to Danielle's, where her mom filled us in on all the ND gossip. It's so funny how news gets around the ND moms. Something I told my mom, she told to another mom, who then told D's mom, who then got mad that Danielle didn't tell her. Haha...classic. Meghan came over and then we all headed down in her ghetto car to King Egg Roll. Mmmm good stuff. I had to pick up my bro and bring him home, then met up with the girls at Valley Fair. Good times catching up with El some more. Man, I miss that girl. She's not coming to Boston anymore though, cuz Justin will be in London and I'll have class during her spring break. It's ok though. We already have our summer fun planned and I can't wait. Funny how all the high school drama I missed out on in high school is starting to catch up on us. Things will be interesting the next few days...

12/20/04

Back home! Been spending most of the last few days hanging out at home with the family, eating and sleeping and watching football, but was finally able to get out today. Went running at good ole Rancho San Antonio with El. Nice and easy up Backwards, and I feel sore anyway. Its a good sore though. Then after bumming around downtown for a bit, went to visit Chew and the girls at the ND soccer practice. Man, only three girls on the team now were on it two years ago when I played. Still had fun hanging out. I might drop by later this week with cleats so I can play. I miss the old soccer team. I was watching the goalie and missed it a lot. Probably because I could do so much better ;-). Anyway Elisa was telling me that Matt keeps telling some story about some incredible save I made that will never be topped. Too bad I don't remember any such save, but I'll take his word for it. Good to know I'm not forgotten. Except most of the team doesn't even know who I am cuz they're all young'uns. I'm so old. The little freshmen from when I started are going to college next year. Dude. Apparently some girl from ND got in already on early action or early decision or whatever it is. I dunno how I feel about that. It was kinda cool being the only one from ND to go to MIT. ND has definitely raised its profile in the last couple of years though. I remember when all the smart kids would go to Santa Clara. Anyway, my parents started freaking out about a jury summons that I got last week and didn't take care of today, so I couldn't really get out since I didn't want to piss off my parents more though I wanted to visit Kailin since she just back home. But Danielle and Chris came over and hung out. Actually I tried to get out, but they wouldn't let me. I was gonna meet up with Chris at like Denny's or something at 10 o clock and they said to have him just come over here. And the other night when I went out to the movies, my mom nearly freaked out as if I've never gone out of the house before. Grrrr...its so hard going back home. My parents stress me out so much sometimes. HOpefully, I'll get out for a while tomorrow. It's $1.50 Tuesday at Cinema Saver after all!

12/17/04

First semester is over!!! Whew, I made it. Man, I miss being a freshmen. I swear, we never did any work. Not that I get much work done in the 23 suite anyway. Good times, good times. I’d say it’s been a pretty good semester. Made a bunch of new friends, joined the hockey team, and even got myself a boyfriend! (Mostly) survived taking real classes, and didn’t get any Cs (though I wasn’t awake for a whole lot of them). No more 2.002 ever! I just wish I could really celebrate the end of term. Everyone was pretty much done yesterday, so everyone was hanging out and partying, but I had a fucking Friday final. Apparently they were up til like 7 at least too. By the time I was done, almost everyone was gone and I had to go in less than an hour.

So I know this hasn’t been updated much since I’ve started school, so hopefully I can fix that over break and IAP. I have a bunch of videos to put up, from orientation to Maine w/ the Bombers and the Red Sox riots. Unfortunately, I broke my camera just after the Sox won the World Series, so nothing after that. Depending on how much cash I can get for Christmas, I might invest in a nice, new one though I should probably save my money since I don’t have a job. I’m looking forward to break and hanging out with my homies. I didn’t get to see a lot of them over Thanksgiving. I’m gonna be back at school hella early though, which is gonna suck. But I’m hella hella excited about IAP, though I’m gonna be hella busy (notice I’m trying to bring back my use of hella). I have UPOP the second week 10-5, 2.670 the third and fourth weeks 9-4, and of course hockey. So that leaves one week to get the following things done:

-clean BC social room

-plan movie contest, talent show, karaoke night, and trivia night

-make I3 video

-make my website cool again

-find a summer job

-get a spring semester UROP

-stay up all night and sleep in all day

-watch lots of West Wing, Sports Night, and movies galore

-play lots of Porter Room soccer and football

Then second semester with 2.004, 2.007 (I’m so psyched!), and probably 6.071, some HASS D or course 11 HASS, and a LEGO seminar. Hopefully a cool UROP in the Media Lab too.

Ok, I think that’s all that’s going on in my life. You know, I miss it when everyone was doing Xangas daily and I reported obsessively about my life. If I have time, I might go back to doing that. But for now, I’m out!

 

 

11/3/04

Wow. So for only the second time all semester that I can remember, I don't have anything to do. No psets, labs, prelabs, papers, tests, projects... nada. OK so I have a test on Friday, but that's still two days from now. So, update time!

Election day yesterday. I woke up in this shittiest mood, and I still can't believe this is happening. I simply can't understand how so many people can vote for Bush. It's incomprehensible. There are so many reasons I can't stand that man. There are lots of people that I don't agree with, but whom I can at least respect and understand where they're coming from. No so at all for Bush. I don't like him personally, and I don't like him ideologically. Everything thing he does just pisses me off to no end. I can't believe enough hicks from the South voted for him to give him the win. How do people feel safer with him as president though he's put us at war, and most of the world is pissed off at us? And don't even get me started with social and economic issues. I just wrote an essay on Bush and Kerry and what they said in the debates, and you can't understand how many times I just wanted to break something seeing the things he had to say. I felt so cheated last time, and it was a long four years. Now four more?! Agghhhhh. That's it. I'm moving to Spain with Danielle.

OK, deep breath. At least Megan is coming next week. I'm so excited. I've already made a list of places to hit up in Boston. It'll be interesting to see what she has to say about people here. Sometime I forget how weird people here are...but if there's anyone who'd love it, it's Megan. One week!

Hockey is just getting into full spring. There still some ups and downs, but I've made it this far. At first, there were a bunch of people that were new to hockey, but it seems that they're not around at practice a lot and it seems to be just me and Corinne a lot. The last two days have been really tough and I've been exhausted, but apparently they were supposed to be hard practices, which makes me feel better. It's never a good sign when you're looking a the clock and it's only 30 min into practice. But hockey is still so badass, and I'm slowly getting better I think. We already have our first game next Tuesday, and against a really good team too. Damn. Maybe I won't have to play. I know that's kinda sad, but it's a lot like how I was my first year of soccer and even my first year on varsity volleyball. Both times, I never wanted to play, but in the end, those were my favorite teams.

And in case you missed it, the Red Sox won the World Series! I know that's kinda old news by now, but I still have to share it. Went to Kenmore again after they beat the Cards, and I went to the parade this weekend and stood 30 feet from Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, Pedro, D Lowe and the rest of the Sox. Manny had this great sign that said "Jeter is playing golf this Friday. This is better." Too bad half the team are free agents. Still can't believe they did it. What a way to end the season.

10/22/04

[ok, so I wrote this, but never fnished it and never posted it, so sorry it's a little bit of old news]

Woohoo, time for another update! Really, I’m sitting in 1.00 and need a distraction to stay awake. Let’s see, what’s new and exciting over here in Boston? Oh yeah, THE RED SOX ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!! Wow, I still can’t believe it. Greatest comeback of all time, and I witnessed (most of) it. I have to admit, I didn’t hold out much hope by game four, but there they were, tying the game in the 9th and putting it in extra innings. Actually in the 9th, Phil pointed out you can hear the cheers from Fenway, so we opened up the window. And there is was, bottom of the 12th, almost 2 in the morning, and you can hear the cheers from Fenway a few seconds before you can see it on TV. That in itself was an pretty cool experience. But then, it happened the next day and again and again. Thank goodness it was a fairly light week because it was absolutely impossible to get any work done this week. Four straight days of Red Sox making history. After Game 7, we went to Kenmore Square by FenwayPark and there were masses of people celebrating. There were riot police around, but mostly it was pretty joyful and everyone was just there to celebrate with everyone else, giving high fives to random guys on the street and cheering on honking cars. Luckily we missed the real rioting that apparently happened a little farther down. They’re going to the World Series. Wow. IF they win, I don’t think this city would survive.  Can believe how lucky I am to be in Boston right now. First the Pats win the Super Bowl and are now on a record streak, and the Red Sox just came back from a near inevitable sweep to the Yankees to win the pennant. Now Danielle was giving me a little bit of a hard time for abandoning the Giants and the NL, but I’ll be the first to admit that I became a Sox fan for the party when they win. So, let’s party!

 

Other stuff…real live ice hockey practice started this week. I played in two IM games last winter, but I forgot how hard it is. I also think I overestimated how good of an ice skater I am. It’s been really frustrating at times, but really cool at others. Actually, it feels a lot like when I started playing soccer, when I want to do it, but I feel guilty about being so bad and holding up drills at practice, etc. So for now, I’m gonna stick with it. And I definitely enjoy it more than ultimate frisbee.

 

And last weekend, we had a Conner 3 girls sleepover. It was a great bonding fun. Chick flicks, nail polish, and gossip. Oh the gossip. It reminded me a lot like Agape Lovefests, but even girlier and with twice as many people. Moment of the night was definitely when Nick and Mike arrived all dressed up as girls. Absolutely hilarious. And then Roe came in to see what was making all the noise. Anyway, it should be a new floor tradition.

Last weekend was Maine with the BTB. It was really nice to get away. There was a lake nearby where we could go canoeing, and the we sat on the dock of the lake for a while and just sat in the beauty of nature. As much as I love the city, it was so refreshing to just sit in quiet and watch the ducks. Of course, once night came, gone was tranquility, and it was party time. It was pretty much what was expected when you go for a weekend with the Bombers, but they were pretty cool, and I met some new people. There was a great girly moment where all the C3 girls were sitting in a room putting on makeup and gossiping (it's what inspired the all girls sleepover).

10/7/04

OK, well it's been a month since I updated this, so I do that instead of doing homework. So the last month has been pretty busy. I'm taking only four classes, but they take up a ton of time. 2.003 and 2.003 are a ton of work because of psets, labs, prelabs, and tutorial. 1.00 is pretty cool, after Kendall taught me how to do stuff. Intro to Public Policy is cool too, but I need to work on speaking up more. Moreover (that's a fun word to use), I need to work on staying awake for all my classes. I stopped skipping classes, but I'm still not awake for them. Also, I've stuck with hockey so far, although it's still only been conditioning. We hit the ice next Friday, so we'll see how that goes. Weekends have been pretty eventful. Went to Six Flags with Burton Conner. Saw Abby and Justin. ZBT Soiree and karaoke. Sausagefest 2004. Birthday party with Gemma with lots more karaoke and liquid nitrogen ice cream. BC photosafari. Freshman dinner, with everyone all dressed up to go to the Cheesecake Factory (the guys are so hot in jackets and ties). IHOP. Ig Noble imformal lectures (we met the guy who invented karaoke and the most expensive coffee in the world). Lots of Aaron Sorkin goodness. Went to Maine to go whitewater rafting. And going back to Maine this weekend with the Bombers, and two weeks after that, I think I'm going to Montreal!

9/8/04

First day of school. Not too bad, except I have a 9:30 class. 2.003 seems OK, but I was already falling asleep in 2.002 (and already quite lost, probably because I was falling asleep). But Intro to Public Policy is gonna be the bomb diggity class. I'm so psyched about taking it. Too bad the had to add a 7pm Thursday night recitation because me and this other girl couldn't make any of the others, but it's so worth it. Still don't know if I'm gonna stick with French. I just couldn't get myself to by the $175 in books for that class, and I don't really need it for anything. Then after class, I almost decided to "quit" the hockey team, but I dragged myself to the meeting and I think I might stick with it. The coach seems really cool at least. But I had to sit through an hour of completely pointless speeches for the athlete's meeting. Study break went well. Then some good ole times hanging out on C3. The tennis balls are back! And we got some awesome frosh from rush. Sweeeeet.

 

9/1/04

Finally back on Conner 3, and way excited for rush to start in a few hours. I feel like this is where the real spirit of MIT comes through. There was a huge party for the frosh in the Stata Center with life size human chess, laser tag in the basement, mini golf somewhere up on a roof or something, casino games, build your own obstacle course, music, dancing and of course free food (sushi!). Today we had the East vs. West campus water fight. Burton Conner alone had something like 1,000 or 1,500 water balloons, but I think we were still outdone by EC. We put up a good fight though.  But the real fun starts tonight with a huge Jello fight, midnight sports, tours, and hanging out with the frosh. I heard East built their own roller coaster, but the car keeps flying off on one of the hills. Classic. And then a whole day of fun tomorrow!

Oh yeah. The Alumni volleyball game was tons of fun. We had an all star team show up: Kristen, Abby, Amy, Camille, De Palma, and Coach D. We won the first game, but then was laughing too hard to play that well. Kristens mom and her aunt Heather were coaching, and Heather was yelling at the ref and taunting Bob as usual. Just like old times.

8/30/04

Off to MIT in a few hours! I'm excited, but I started to get a little sad about leaving. I'd just like to say that I have some amazingly awesome friends from home and that I love you all. You guys have lifted me, inspired me, made me laugh (and cry), and walked with me along every step of the way the past few years. You guys and girls know who you are. Thanks for everything.

8/29/04

Well the Olympics are over. A few thoughts:

Though I think I would've been a nice gesture if Paul Hamm gave up his gold, I totally don't blame him for not. Bad calls happen all the time, and not just in gymnastics. You just gotta figure that if their innocent mistakes, that it evens out in the end. For the South Korean guy, yeah he should've gotten an extra tenth on his starting value, but also should have lost two tenths for an extra hold that they didn't catch.

Still, I believe it would have been an enduring gesture if Hamm did give it up. Look at Micheal Phelps. His six gold medals are almost a second thought after he let Ian Crocker swim for gold�and a world record�in the medley relay. And one of my favorite images is of Hicham El Guerrouj from Morocco finally winning the 1500m, and the guy he beat giving him a hug while he lay in disbelief.

Still not to take anything way from Hamm, to come back the way he did was just amazing and inspiring no matter what. He didn't give up, even after near crashing into the judges, but kept his head off and kept competing, kept fighting.

How cool is it that the Olympic marathon was actually run on the ancient route starting in Marathon, Greece and ending in Athens?

As an former 400m, I really enjoyed watching Jeremy Warnier run. He just has nice flow, and a light swift stride, and he looks so relaxed on that last 100 that's usually a killer. Allison Felix looks really good in the 200 too. Almost makes me want to start running again. Almost.

Speaking of Warnier and Felix, it's sort of depressing to see athletes my around age in the Olympics, and winning too. I still wish I could one day compete in the Olympics. The pole vault gold medalist is 31 years old, and the triathlete who won bronze has a 2 year old kid (whom she carried with her on the medal stand, it was very cure and touching) so there's still hope. I still need to find that obscure sport to break out into. I'm thinking team handball, but that's only because it's the only sport in the summer Olympics I don't know about, and the US didn't even qualify. I tried looking it up online, but I could only find the kind of handball that you play against a wall. In the winter Olympics, there's curling I guess.

Can you believe than it was only in 1996 that women's soccer competed in the Olympics? The most popular sport in the world didn't even have women's competition until 8 years ago. And back then, something like 40 of the countries didn't even send any female competitors. Today, only 2 (Saudi Arabia and I forget the other) countries didn't have any women athletes and 40% of total competitors are female. Since Title IX, women's sports have blossomed, and it's awesome to see it now spread to the rest of the world.

How did I not know that the next winter Olympics are going to be in Italy? That would be pretty awesome to go to, and I've always wanted to go to Italy. Anyone wanna come with me?

I wish I could be a Brazilian right now. After winning both the basketball and soccer golds, and after not winning gold in 52 years, there's gotta be quite a party going on.

The real dream team is the US women's softball team, who completely dominated their opponents, holding teams to only 1 run for the entire tournament. It almost wasn't fair, and they really don't get the press and coverage they deserve.

Thanks to the women's soccer team for everything they've done for women's soccer and women's sports in general.

It's pretty pathetic that the US baseball team didn't even qualify. Whatever happened to our country's pastime?

I've been a Kerri Walsh fan since I was 10 years old and she was a senior at Mitty, and followed her from Mitty to Stanford to the indoor national team to the beach circuit. Smart move quitting to women's indoor national team. They lost in the quarterfinals, and so didn't even get a chance to compete for a medal. The guys team on the other hand did very well to even make it to the semis and eventually lose in the bronze medal game, considering the were 0-5 four years ago.

Biggest dumbass of the Games: the American sprinter who got caught for marjuiana. C'mon, he got caught with the drug thats gonna make you slower.

Athens really pulled through in hosting the games. And I loved all the coverage NBC gave. I'm gonna miss it. Only 500 or so days until the 2006 Winter Games.
 

8/26/04

Finally, I'm back from the Philippines. I couldn't wait to get back. The shopping was awesome, but that's seriously all there was to do. Shop and eat. And it was hot and muggy. Yuck. I'd rather have winter in New England than that. And now I'm broke and fat. Unfortunately, when I got home, I realized that almost everyone was already gone or working. So I was surfing the net and watching the Olympics all day and night (since I was jetlagged and couldn't sleep) until yesterday when I went to Berkeley with Kati, Tyrone and Antonio. Gotta see the boys' new apartment. Now I'm back at home, surfing the net and watching Olympics. I can't wait to go back to MIT. The only reason I'm still here is to play in the ND volleyball alumni game, and it turns out there are only gonna be four alums there. Oh well. Five days til I'm back. I can't wait.

8/16/04

Summer 2004: on man what an adventure. It was the summer of soccer, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz. It was the summer of summer school for some, Valley Fair for others, survival training for Kailin, and science camp for me. It was the summer of sleepovers, birthday parties, and cheap movies. It was a summer I can’t forget. I cannot even begin to express how eternally grateful I am to have such great friends. Even though so much has changed in our lives this past year, some things have changed at all and our friendship hasn’t skipped a beat. I’m so glad everyone was able to make it back this year, but saddened to think that this may just be the last time to have the whole gang together. Thanks for one hell of a summer.

Soccer: More than anything else this summer (besides go to work), I played a soccer. Every Monday and Wednesday, Columbus Park, 6PM. What started with a couple guys from Bellarmine kept growing. There was Team Italy. Then Team Korea, who just happened to have some goals just sitting in his truck. And Antonio’s debate friends. And sometimes the random guys off the street. I was usually the only girl, but I like to think that I held my own. I wasn't the worst person there at least. Still…all those guys right at my fingertips, and no summer fling? I guess there’s always next year.

Beach: So spending the past year in Boston perhaps has made Justin and me just a little obsessed with the beach. Just a bit. In our first two weeks back, we went to the beach four times, already doubling the times we went last year. There were picnics, sandstorms, sunsets, boogie boarding and of course bonfires made completely from wood me and Justin collected from scraps on the beach and lighters from kind strangers. And there was 65 cent night at the boardwalk with multiple rides on the Giant Dipper, bumper cars, spinning things, and the haunted house. Finally, however, came Beach Day 2004, once again at Seacliff. We had to change the date, not once, but twice (and then almost changed it again), but it finally happened, thanks to the tedious efforts of Chris (arriving at 7am to claim tables), Antonio (micromanaging from the Bellarmine parking lot), and Alex, whom I still don’t really know (bringing meat). Friends and food, what more can you ask for? Oh yes, Italians in speedos! It was one of the highlights of the summer, looking at Kailin’s pictures of wilderness training, boogieboarding, playing volleyball, having a bonfire, and eating s’mores.

Work: So I spent 6 weeks as a counselor at the Tech Museum Summer Camps. It was mostly a lot of fun, and the kids are adorable for the most part. I got to spent four weeks playing with Legos, another learning Flash, and another building marble roller coasters. The staff was cool, but we all couldn’t stand the camp director. And there’s only so long that you can spend with 9 year olds. It was fun for a while, but next year I need a real job.

Sleepovers: Isn't it ironic of all the sleepovers with no adults around, it's the one with parents in the house where we find trouble. Or trouble finds us. Anyway, I already talked about Agape in another entry. But there was also getting drunk--and sick--for the first time with Danielle and Eillen, and fondue and Tina sized closets at Saba's apartment in Berkeley. There was having Janice, Kailin, and Eillen over one last time, and, of course, Antonio's, I mean Anne's...or was it Meghan's? Or my house? Haha, oh the lies we weave!

Parties:  Fourth of July at my house was cool, although no one brought food. We mostly just hung out and played DDR and air hockey, then drove to the Milpitas Sports Center to watch fireworks. Tina had a pool party for her birthday, but it turned into a hot tub-panty party. Haha…I think I’m gonna leave it at that. Tyrone’s was the next day, and I got him a cigar, Playboy, and condoms. There were a lot of St. Victor people there. But the highlight party of the summer was easily Antonio’s wild raging drunken orgy house party. OK, well it wasn’t quite that wild, though Anne and Meghan tried. There were a lot of people who ended up coming too. The post party slumber party that ensued, and Antonio appearing out of nowhere in the dark. Fun times.

San Francisco: I made it to San Francisco a record six, count em, six times this summer. First there was the time Eilled picked me up and we took Caltrain up to the city with her family, and hung out in Chinatown and Union Square. Then there was my very first Giants game with Leah and Danielle, as they beat the Dodgers to take 1st in the NL West. Bloomsday, which Antonio talked me, Kati, and JT into although none of us have read Ulysses. And the Gay Pride Parade with Meghan and Kati. Hairspray with Meghan and Tina. And the Lion King with my aunt and cousin. All I need to do is drive across the Golden Gate Bridge in my dad’s new convertible and I can die happy.

7/11/04

Scariest fucking night of my life Friday @ agape lovefest part 2. So we (Anne, Meghan, Meghan, Tina, Emerald, Eillen, Kati, and me) were chilling on the blacktop of Anne's elementary school around 3am when we saw some idiots doing donuts in a van in the grass. They turn toward us, and we start running toward some portables. The van starts chasing us, so we run out onto the street. The van couldn't get through the portables, so one guy gets out, and yells "Why are you guys running?" Well, we don't wanna get run over/abducted/raped etc you asshole. We run down the street and the guy runs back into the van. Unfortunately, we ran into a dead end and could hear the van coming, so we run into some backyard. We could hear the van pull up slowly and I think some guys get out then back into the car. Meanwhile, we realize that Eillen was missing. Three of us are trying to call 911, but all operators were busy. Finally, Tina gets through, but it seems to take like 20 minutes until they could find the place and send a cop. While we were waiting, we could hear the van driving around the nearby streets, so we didn't want to leave the backyard. Oh my God, I've never been so scared in my life, especially when we couldn't find Eillen. Finally a cop arrives and Eillen calls to tell us she's safe. She jumped into the bushes at the school and hid under a blanket she had with her, then walked back to Anne's. Thank God we're all fine. Anyways, that's one night I won't be forgetting in a while.

Self Defense Tactics Please read this!

7/9/04

SUMMER FUN:
Monday: work, ND volleyball open gym, soccer
Tuesday: work, $1.50 tuesday @ cinema saver
Wednesday: work, soccer, cinema san pedro
Thursday: work, staff meeting, music in the park, IVL volleyball
Friday: work, rancho (if I've got nothing else planned), weekend!

SCORECARD:
Santa Cruz: 5
SF: 5
Berkeley: 1
sleepovers: 3
shots: 6
goals: 4?
soccer: 5
volleyball: 5
running: 1
concerts: 2
cinema saver: 3
blockbuster: lots

STILL TO DO:
+ big beach day, surfing
+ make it back to rancho
+ watch Fahrenheit 9/11
+ agape lovefest part II

 

7/8/04

Johnny won't read. It's scary how many Americans don't, not can't, read.

7/6/04

Internet Connection. How the internet brings the world together.

Imperial ways of Japan clash with present. Things are not all equal in the world yet.

A new social scene. It's depressing how familiar some of this sounds.

Nationality is very much in the eye of the beholder. I'm Filipino. I'm American.

How do you cope without a car in S.J.? Seriously, how do you?

7/2/04

What a crazy week. Out every night this week until today. Slept over at Danielle's on wednesday with El. They finally got me to do what a lot of people have been trying to get me to do for a while. Ahh peer pressure. Then went to SF again to watch Hairspray with Z and Tina. It was great fun. Day in the Meadow concert tomorrow and party on Sunday! It's nice being busy again. I'm off next week except for Monday, so call me if you're doing anything. Next week's to do list: Boardwalk and maybe beach, Berkeley, SF, Camera 3 (dude! it's closing next Friday!), and of course soccer, volleyball, and Rancho (Rancho...hah. I'll put it down anyway). Still gotta watch Fahrenheit 9/11 too. Wow I can't believe it's July already. Happy 4th of July!

March Madness Coverage of the Gay Pride Parade we went to.

Female athletes still wait to cash in The highest paid woman in sports is still not even in the top 50 overall.

6/27/04

Summer update: well after a slow start, summer vacation is starting to get good. I'm working as a counselor at the Tech Museum summer camps, basically playing with Legos all day with kids. It's an absolute blast, and I'm having a great time. I went to my first baseball game ever, and saw the Giants kick the Dodger's butts and take over first place in the NL West. I'm playing volleyball once a week and hopefully soccer twice a week. Went to Frisco for both Bloomsday and the Gay Pride Parade. Took Janice out to ComedySportz for her bday. A little filth is just what she needed. Coming this week: 65 cent Tuesday at the Boardwalk, soccer, BBQ @ Danielle's, volleyball, Rancho, my grand return to poker, and of course, the 4th of July!

6/15/04

Pistons victory would be good for NBA So awesome to see real teamwork beat a bunch of bratty superstar individuals.

6/11/04

Dodgeball fires up, with a vengance. It's a slow news day when dodgeball is the front page news story.

Famous names from O.J. Simpson trial: Where are they now? Wow, remember some of these names?

Xanga. What the hell? If you're that bored, read about my senior year of high school.

Adventures in Indiana. Then read about my summer after junior year at engineering camp with Anne. The link to the original is the in the links section, but I reformatted it here to go in order as it happened. Yeah I'm bored.

Enjoy the reading. Then leave a message in my chatterbox. Make me feel loved.

6/10/04

Freshman year is done. Summer is here. Nothing spectacularly exciting. Lots of beach trips, with a little volleyball, running at rancho, soccer, and just hanging out thrown in. The rest of my summer has pretty much involved sitting around the house watching West Wing and Full House reruns, reading Harry Potter (yeah I'm hooked), and surfing the internet. In a spat of madness, I even joined facebook, but I got bored of it pretty quickly. Geez, I don't know what all the fuss is about, it's as lame as I thought it would be. Be my friend, don't be my friend, I don't care. I thought I'd update this, but I didn't wanna bore you with all the minute details of my life. The I figured I could journal my thoughts and stuff, but it'd pretty much be whining about how bored I am at that moment, since I only work on this when I'm bored. So, option #3 is to put in some articles and stuff I've come across in the last few weeks, since if you're reading this, you're probably as bored as I am. So here, read some of this stuff:

Cheating at Saratoga. a big front page expose in the Mercury News. When I checked out who got into MIT this year, most of the kids who got in from my area either go here or Harker.

Dating, Cultures Collide. This definitely hits home, though much more so in some of my friend's lives (remember MW's prom date fiasco?)

New Kids on the Block. An essay by Marilee Jones about how the new generation of MIT students compare with the past

Hacking Las Vegas. A short summary of the book Bringing Down the House from WIRED magazine. You should read the book though.

Black admissions drop at UC Berkeley.  A look at the effects of the end of affirmative action

Economists find no link between sex, money. Something random to read if you've made it all the way down this list.

Republican Survivor. I figured I know at least a few people who might enjoy this.

More to come when I come across something worthwhile.

 

3/24/04

Man I haven't written in this in a while. I guess mostly because there's not much to say, and cause I'm lazy as hell. I think partially because I know I'm gonna look back at this and realize how stupid I sound. But on the other hand, I like looking back at my old blogs and xangas and seeing how things have changed and how I've changed. Like how many times I used hecka (not hella though). I'd like this to be more of a reflection of thoughts and deep stuff, but it's easier for me to rant about my day, which is just boring and annoying to read. But right now I'm in a fairly reflective mood, so here are some of my thoughts on random stuff.

Friends

As much as I love my friends in college, I definitely don't feel as close to them as my friends in high school. I spend more time with my college friends but I sometimes I feel it's not the same "quality" time I had with my high school friends. But then again, the dynamics are also very different. I probably have more guy friends than girl friends in school now, and that definitely makes a difference. But even when I talk to my girl friends, I feel like so often the conversation revolves around guys and relationships and stuff (actually that happens a lot with the guys too). And there's nothing wrong with that, but it seems like there's not much else to talk about (besides sports). At first when I got to college, I felt screwed by going to an all girls school, but then I realized that the fact there were no guys around helped get closer to my friends. But thank god I'm not going to an all women's college. At the same time, it's getting harder and harder to keep in touch with old friends. Everyone, including myself, is moving on and there are just fewer and fewer things to talk about. And what's with my best friend hooking up with the star basketball player and not telling me?! :-P That's cleared up now though. And there are some friends I've hardly talked to since I've gone to college.

Guys and relationships

Well I mentioned that this topic seems to be something that keeps coming up. There's something in water or something on Conner 3 I swear, but damn near everyone is hooked up. In high school, this was almost a non issue, because of the whole all girls school thing. Even when my best friends all had relationships going, I never felt like I needed to be in one too. And over the summer, while I got to know all those Bellarmine guys, there wasn't any pressure to get with any of them (though the fact that everyone was leaving for college might have also affected that). In college, that changed. Maybe it was leaving all my friends at home and needing someone to be with, or just seeing everyone else together, or having too much time on my hands. But suddenly, I felt like I needed to be in a relationship. I felt so insecure and that bothered me a lot. And it took me a while to get past that, but I finally am.

School

Am I lazy or just burnt out? I've been trying to figure out what I can't seem to get involved in stuff at school. I was always busy in high school, but suddenly, I just stopped getting involved. It was nice having free time to hang out and stuff, but I think I needed to get more involved. And I'm starting to, but not at the same level. I'm enjoying the free time and actually having time to get through my homework, but I feel so unproductive sometimes. After break I'll be back to playing volleyball, and I'll see how it goes playing sports and going to practice again. But as it is right now, I don't see myself playing volleyball in the spring, even if I could. I've already quit so many teams, mostly with the feeling that it's more work than its worth. And even though I feel unproductive at times, overall I'm having fun. Classes are a lot harder than last semester, plus the fact I'm on grades, mean I'm up late many many nights, but there are always at least a few other people to stay up with, which is one thing I love about MIT.

Nerdiness

I wasn't a nerd in high school, really! Or at least not to the extent I've become. Look at the humor section of this site and how much of it is engineering related. It's sad. Danielle and Kailin, it's all your fault! But I guess there's no going back now. When I tell people at about my friends at MIT, I say when I first met them, they seemed a lot cooler than I expected, but the more I got to know them, I realized how nerdy they really are. It's a culture really, and being surrounded by it almost leaves you with no choice. But what am I gonna do? Join a sorority? hah...hell no.

New Years Resolution Update:

 

1/9/04

So I woke up today and said to Kendall, "Man, it's like 2 degrees outside." Then I realized that for once that I wasn't even exaggerating. In fact, I was being optimistic. It was a whole 1 degree outside. It's 1:30 right now and it's warmed to a whole 4 degrees Fahrenheit.

1/1/04

New Years Resolutions for 2004:

12/31/03

Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Moments So Dear
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do you Measure - Measure A Year ?

In Daylights - In Sunsets
In Midnights - In Cups Of Coffee
In Inches - In Miles
In Laughter - In Strife
*
In - Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure
A Year In The Life
*
How About Love ?
How About Love ?
How About Love ?
Measure In Love
*
Seasons Of Love
Seasons Of Love
*
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Journeys To Plan
*
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure The Life
Of A Women Or A Man ?
*
In Truths That She Learned
Or In Times That He Cried
In Bridges He Burned
Or The Way That She Died
*
It's Time Now - To Sing out
Tho` The Story Never Ends
Let's Celebrate
Remember A Year In The Life of Friends
*
Remember The Love
Remember The Love
Remember The Love
Measure
In Love
*
Measure Measure Your Life In Love
*
Seasons Of Love ...
Seasons Of Love

Man what a year it's been. More than anything, I think it's been a year of friends: reminiscing with old ones, meeting new ones. Here's a recap.

Winter

Not much to say. The year started off in the Philippines with the family. We set off all kinds of fireworks to celebrate New Years. Flew back home and finished first semester and became a sexy second semester senior. Soccer went really well. I finally figured out what the heck I was doing, and our team was pretty good too. We got second in league and almost made it to CCS, but lost in a shootout. I was actually really sad to see the season end, which surprised me because I had only done it for two years, unlike volleyball and track which I had done for like half my life. Not much else I can think of happening, so let's move on.

Spring

Ahh, now the good stuff. First, after weekends spent at Jackie's and all the planning, drawing, cutting, painting, repainting, and plaster-of-Paris-ing  Spirit Week came...and I was in LA visiting colleges. Apparently there were some early week disasters (look what happens when I leave town for a few days!), but the seniors put together an amazing come from behind victory to win for the second year in the row. OK, so we bought the win, but I'm proud to see the class come together. Went on Urban Plunge and Camp Anytown, both of which were awesome experiences. Both had significant impacts on the way I view the world. Went to SF for the day getting such essentials as crotchless underwear and herbal joints for Eillen's birthday scavenger hunt bash. Heard back from colleges, and I got rejected from my first choice school, Stanford. That probably worked out all for the better because I ended up at MIT, despite the fact that Danielle and Kailin were in charge of specifically making sure that I did not go there. You guys failed miserably. But then I almost didn't make it to college because senioritis hit, and man did it hit hard. My grades were seriously low enough that I might have had my acceptances revoked, which needless to say, would suck, big time. I wasn't too far from failing English, since it was at the end of the day and I just wanted to get out of there. Luckily I made it, though no small miracle. Track started out pretty well, and I had a pretty decent chance of taking the 200, but senioritis hit there too and I stopped working. After a while I couldn't even stand track. The season didn't end very well for me personally, but we did win another championship (barely), my 4th in a row and 7 in a row for Notre Dame. Club volleyball wasn't any better. I've never had a team I've hated so much, and we were just really bad, which was sad because the talent was there. We regularly finished last or second to last in tournaments. I bailed on the end of the season because even though I loved volleyball, I couldn't stand to play anymore with those girls. It was just a waste of my time. Also, finally finished my Senior Service Project, an disaster barely contained. All I can say is that I'm glad that was over with.

The end of the school year was chock full of memories. Prom was a success. We had spent the week before trying to find Megan a nice Chinese boy to go with after her mom made her go with one, going though like 20 guys, including at least one Canadian who looked like he could be half Chinese. Had dinner at Il Fornaio with Anne and Justin, Meghan and Darren, Rachel and Danny, and of course Antonio. I can't forget Meghan's face when here "ensalada," I mean three slices of tomato, arrived. Oh man it was classic. Walked over to the Tech and had a ball, though spent way too much time waiting in line for pictures. Afterwards, had the post-party at Kailin's. Mother Daughter Luncheon survived a freak mid-May rainstorm. Got to miss school and went to Catalina Island for the day to get taped for a Channel 7 commercial. And we got to do a real cap toss, since it's a :safety hazard" and Notre Dame wouldn't let us do it. Grad Night was everything it was supposed to be. Yearbooks, sing alongs and click flicks, and all kinds of junk food on the bus, the a few hours of free play at ESPNZone. Then at midnight, the Happiest Place on Earth. Running around from ride to ride with some dancing in between. Here's a tip: do not ride Pirates of the Caribbean at 4 in the morning. As the sun was coming up around 6am, we were exhausted and made our way to the bus, which was, no joke, in the farthest possible corner of the parking lot. And Disneyland has some pretty damn big parking lots. And it feels even bigger when you've been running around for the last 6 hours like you were a 5 year old when the rest of the world is sleeping. Oh, but it was so worth it. Then came Senior Class Day and our skit reliving the Miracle of Life, the homeless guy living in the mansion, and the gas leak. Pretty funny, I'd say but I'm still bummed Mrs. Morris made me take out the audio clip of Miracle of Life we were gonna have. Geez, they show it to freshmen religion classes, so it's not like we all haven't seen it. Oh well. And finally, it came...Graduation! So long Notre Dame!

Summer

The best part about graduation (besides no more school) was the parties. Mine was actually the week before, when my brother graduated 8th grade. It was huge, I swear everyone I met was there. And of course we had the house all decked out with a bounce house, trampoline, cotton candy machine, and of course the air hockey, pinball, foosball, and slot machine. It was great watching my friends try to kick my brother's friends out of the bounce house and then my brother's friends being punks. More parties the day of graduation and beyond. That day, we just went party hopping, I think hitting up 5 different parties. Then Monday right after, I hopped onto a plane with Eillen, Janice, Kailin, Chris, and Danny to LA, where he boarded the Monarch of the Seas. Man that was one sexy cruise ship. Anyway, spend the next four days eating, gambling (ok, so some of us weren't 18 yet. shhhhh!), working out, visiting San Diego, snorkeling in Catalina Island, and shopping in Ensenada, Mexico. Next year...Hawaii? Came back, and had the AGAPE LOVE FEAST, our take on the final night of Senior Retreat. That's one night that will live in my heart forever. Lots of candles, hugs, and tears. A few days after that, it was time to say our first goodbye, as Kailin headed off to Basic Training at the Air Force Academy. Man I'm so proud of that girl.

The rest of the summer was kind of a blur. I had a job for the first time, but I hated it. I looked at maps and building plans for sewer systems and storm drains all day. I hated it, but at least I was making some money. Not enough money, but it was better than minimum wage. Went to the beach and hung out with friends and some Bell guys. Started playing soccer with some of the guys at Columbus Park. Some of them could play, some couldn't, and it was all pretty kick back and a lot of fun. That was definitely one of the highlights of the summer. Went to Santana Row and Valley Fair a couple times, but never really bought anything. Spent some time exploring the erotica section of Borders with Meghan and Kati...interesting stuff. Went running at Rancho. Ran Tour de Rancho (almost 9 miles!) for the first, and probably last time. Went to the drive in with friends a few times, hiding under the seat to save a few bucks.

Finally, before everyone else went off, we had out Last Hurrah at Santa Cruz. Went surfing for the first time, but there were barely any waves. After finally giving up on that after a few hours, bummed around on the beach. Headed to the boardwalk for 60 cent hot dogs and sodas. Yay for cheap dinners! Went on the Giant Dipper twice (that's gotta be my favorite roller coaster) and maybe some others, I don't really remember, before heading down to make out bonfire. But then we realize that we left the marshmallows! So we call Jackie and tell her to come over and bring some, while we go and set up a fire. Luckily for us, there wan an abandoned fire that was still burning. Score! Hang out for a while until we get kicked out. Apparently the beach closes at 10pm. Boooo. And just as we are getting back into our cars, Jackie appears! A few minutes too late with our marshmallows. Too bad. So we head back to the Boardwalk and spend the rest of our tickets until things start closing and finally head home. All in all, one fun day. Just before I leave, I throw one more party, then I'm off!

Fall

Wow...college. Unfortunately, it didn't start so well, with my getting cut from the volleyball team. But I did get to hang out Kendall and end up being roommates with her. Orientation seems to have sped by. I probably didn't do as many things as I would have wanted to then. I was in kind of a rut after volleyball. Classes started. Definitely very different from high school, but nothing I couldn't handle. My parents flew me home for my birthday, which landed on a Suicide Prevention Day, so it was a three day weekend. Luckily Anne and Meghan were in town for Profe's wedding, and Emerald was still around, and Tyrone and Chris were around too, so I got to see them and hang out. Also, there was a volleyball game, so I got to see the girls again. But my birthday itself was spent visiting teachers at ND, which was weird to say the least. When I got back though, my John, Chris, Kendall, and Yiou made this awesome birthday dinner for me. Other highlights included watching Margaret Cho, going to a Blue Man Group show, IM soccer and hockey, tennis ball fights, and Spooky Town for Halloween.

School went ok. Actually, I'm getting a lot more sleep in college and I'm a lot less stressed than I was in high school. But I really didn't get involved in much since I've been here. I tried out for the field hockey team and then quit the next day, and tried pole vault, and quit the next day for that too. I ended up doing Ultimate Frisbee, but I'm not as into it as I'd like to be. School was nice being on pass/no record. I was totally content getting Cs in classes, but I know that needs to stop soon. On the plus side of not doing much is that I had time to hang out a lot, which was nice. I love the people on my floor and I have a great time just chilling with them. When I first met them, I thought, hmmm well they're not as nerdy as I thought they would be. But then after a while, I realized that they are as nerdy as I thought they would be. But its all good. They're an awesome bunch. We play a lot of late night sports. We used to play butts up all the time, until it started snowing. Also, some soccer and football. And I've been watching a ton of movies.

Winter

Man you should have seen me the first time it started snowing in Boston. I went nuts. It was actually the first time I'd seen snow fall. I have seen snow, but it was usually hard and icy by the time I got to it. I got everyone out for snowball fights and snow football, and after an hour or two, I was busy convincing the other California people to go in with me. It's only been snowing for less than two weeks when I flew back home, so I'm not sick of the snow yet. Back at home for vacation, I visited ND again, hung out with the gang, saw some old ND people again, saw some old SV people again, had a Pride and Prejudice Party, lots of shopping, sleeping, and watching TV.

12/26/03

Things I need to do before January 3:

Alexa's cotillion, Pride and Prejudice party, New Year's Eve party, alumni soccer game, Sports Night marathon with THE WONG, running at Rancho, more soccer, visit the Great Mall and reunite with my asianness, and hunting down and hanging out with certain people I haven't seen yet

12/26/03

Christmas gift roundup:

Plasma ball, snow tube, Lion King DVD, lots of clothes from my mom (most of which I will never wear but will brag along to Cambridge nevertheless), wool socks and thermals (gotta get ready for winter!), more clothes from my aunts, wireless router (I know I know, it's  totally nerdy gift, but keep in mind that I didn't buy it. Heck I didn't even ask for it!), West Wing season one on DVD (which I'm watching right now), and Sports Night complete series DVD (coming in the mail!)

Judgment: Pretty damn good

12/24/03

Hey everyone! Well I was bored over winter break, so I made this. There's not much on here right now, but check out the videos. And leave a message on the chatter page (click on the phone).

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!