Happy Memorial Day!

I will spend the day couped inside trying to study, but I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday.

I also want to send out a lot to the people that are fighting for my rights. I greatly appreciate every single advantage I have because of those brave men and women. I don't always understand what is going on, but I trust that they are doing good deeds, and have us citizens in mind. Thank you from the depths of my heart.

Now go out, and have a fantastic day. Maybe even go out to enjoy the great outdoors! :D

Strawberry Fields Forever

Sorry, I had The Beatles' song in my head. Strawberry Fields Forever is a nice song. I am a very big fan of The Beatles, but that is another story.

It's finally Memorial Weekend, and that means that the Strawberry Festival is here. I look forward to this because I do love to eat large quantities of strawberries. Strawberries are finally in season, and that means fresh strawberry pie, and strawberry shortcake. Oh, how I love summers.

M and I spent the afternoon falling in love with jewelry in all the different booths. There was just so many things that I wanted, but I had to put myself on budget. It was quite painful because there were a lot of elephant things... elephant rings, elephant bracelet (which I did end up getting), elephant charms, etc, etc. The fair was after my own heart.

It was extremely warm, but we survived on large quantities of coffee. Seattle's Best were giving out cans and cans of samples, and free stuff are my favorite things.

We ended the afternoon with a large strawberry shortcake that we couldn't even finish among the both of us. Oh how I love the fair. :)

Japanese Gourmet Food Fair

My brother randomly saw an ad for a Japanese food fair the other day, and we decided that we had to go (even though we were both pretty broke). We are fans of Japanese food (it may be our favorite), and knew we had to go when we saw what was going to be sold at the fair.

The first thing we tried were the fish cakes. I used to eat this a lot as a child growing up in Japan. Whenever my parents would take me to the city, we would pass many street vendor that would offer a variety of fish cakes. I've always been fond of them. When I took my first bite, I knew I was in heaven. It was amazing.

Then we proceeded to try a bowl of ramen from Ippudo. IT WAS AMAZING. The broth wasn't too oily or salty, but was extremely flavorful. I've never had such a perfect bowl of ramen. A part of me is in pain because I knew that I won't be able to get another bowl for a long time, if ever. The locations of the restaurants are in Japan, France, and NYC. How can the closest restaurant be thousands of miles away? I will no longer be able to enjoy the ramen I usually eat, and my favorite ramen is not anywhere near me? HOW CRUEL! How I suffer...

We picked up a bunch of mochi (rice balls) that came in different flavors. There were the regular syrup ones, green tea, red bean, and plain ones. They were also really delicious. Squishy balls of deliciousness to be exact.

Takoyaki (octopus rice balls) were chewy and delicious. I really don't know how to describe how this taste except that is yummy in my tummy. You have to google, so you can see what I am talking about.

We bought a pie to take home. It wasn't just any pie; it was sweet potato apple pie. It is the strangest combination, but it goes surprisingly well with each other. It was weirdly delicious, and a fantastic food to end our Japanese food fair experience.

It was so yummy that I can't wait until I am able to go again next year. Going to fairs like these remind me of my childhood in Japan. It's always so sweet to "revisit" Japan once in awhile... :)

One More Week

I just have to make it through the weekend, and then I'll be free after Tuesday. Summer break is just around the corner! I can smell the sweet smell of freedom.

I just have to force myself to study. I've been so unproductive these days, and I should stop. My grades do matter to me, but I can't get myself to sit and study for hours. I end up freaking out and stressing over if I'm going to get an A or not. I admit it, I am slightly crazy. I can't be reasoned. I envy those people that never study and get A+ on all their classes. Why aren't I super genius?

My Historical Geology final will be the death of me, I just know it. I never really excelled in memorizing anything, so this will be difficult. Luckily for me, the topic is interesting. I do love those crazy dinosaurs.

I am going to be doing a lot of awesome things this summer, so I know this is going to be a great summer. I have places to eat, adventures to go on, and people to meet. I just have to make it the next few days.

An Ode to Slickdeals

YAY! I finally saved enough to replace my laptop. My last laptop was stolen, and it's oh so sweet to be finally able to get a new one.

There is nothing really that special about it. It's small, sliver (I wanted a more exciting color), and beautiful, but I think I am in love. Love must feel this way. (I know I'm not suppose to love material things, but I just really, really, really like my laptop.)

It was so cheap, it's almost a crime. www.slickdeals.net is the sweetest website of all times. It has got me some amazing great deals on things I don't need, and a truckload of free stuff. They just advertised a Sony netbook for less than $300 yesterday. An amazing Dell laptop for $500. It's ridiculous how affordable it is!

I love a good bargain, and I definitely got one. I'm happy as a bee.

Random Thoughts

I received a postcard the other day with a question written on the back of it, and it made me stop and think.

Is love a decision or a feeling?

How interesting. I've always assumed that love was a feeling, but now that I think about it, isn't it a decision? Or maybe it's a combination of the two? And what kind of love are we talking about? A romantic kind of love or a love you have for your family and friends?

Each of those factors conclude to different reasons for me.

I think you automatically love your family. No matter how crazy they are, how much you say you hate them or how much they ruined your life. I can't ever imagine not loving them, and I don't think it's by choice. I just feel connected to them. Is love in this case a feeling?

I choose which friends I have in my life. The friends in my life are my friends because I want them to be. I love them, and it's because I choose to love them. Then is this a decision?

Romantic love is where it gets a little more complicated. When you first meet someone amazing, you are wearing rose colored glasses. Everything is amazing, and your heart is telling you that you are happy. As the relationship progress you feel like you are in love, and that nothing can come between your relationship. When the romantic stage starts to wear out, and you are no longer seeing your relationship with rose colored glasses, are you then deciding to stay with the person? Do you then decide that you are going to love this person, and stick to him/her? Or are you suppose to always feel like you are in love, and can not live without them? Does this therefore explain why people stay in abusive relationship or relationships that aren't good for them? Or what about those people that break up because they no longer feel the love anymore?

Maybe different people feel different kinds of love? Maybe some people decide to stay in a relationship, and maybe others are run by their emotions?

I definitely don't know the answer to this one (I don't believe I was ever in love. Maybe I thought I was, but looking back at it now, I know I wasn't.), but I thought it was an interesting thought.

Either way, I like the idea of love. We should all love the people in our lives. :)

Picture Taking

I'm think I've been off for awhile. Either that or I'm been completely busy. I'm not sure which one.

I realized that I don't obsessively take pictures anymore. What's wrong? I used to take pictures of what I eat, pictures of places I would go to, and pictures of almost anything that I found remotely interesting.

I think I'm actually afraid to bring my camera anywhere anymore. I've had a few die on me, a few get stolen, and since this last one was a gift I am trying to be super careful.

But I think I'm going to bust it out, and make sure I get a few awesome pictures this summer.

I just need some subjects. I guess that's why I have friends for... to bug them into taking pictures. :)

A Reward to Myself

Summer vacation is just right around the corner, and I am so ready for a vacation no matter how short it's going to be.

There are a few things planned in my immediate future, and I am just giddy from excitement. I live for vacations, and any vacation I get to take is MAGICAL. Some people may think I enjoy vacation a little too much, but I say they are all crazy.

To prepare for my immediate future I have just bought a mummy sleeping bag. You are all wondering why on earth is she so excited about a sleeping bag? Is it magical? Does it tell jokes? Well, it doesn't do any of that, but it's beautiful, and it's suppose to keep me really warm up to 15 degrees at night.

My last school camping trip was a disaster. I almost froze to death in the middle of the night. I could not sleep because it was so bitter cold. I had the flimsy $20 bags you find at Target, and boy did I regret not thinking it through. It was extremely painful, but I live to talk about it. I will now warn every person I know and will ever meet about the dangers of a flimsy sleeping bag. Yes, I was that traumatized.

But my story shall have a happy ending. I now have a nice sleeping bag that should keep me warm (maybe a little too warm) in my future camping trips. Plus, it was half off, and I could not resist a bargain. It is a win-win situation.

I also wanted a headlamp, but someone laughed at me. She may of also judged me with her eyes. I'm going to get one someday, and I am totally going to rock it. Just watch out.

Actually, I want the whole line of camping gears. Maybe I will get a backpacking backpack (did that make any sense?) next. I've been wanting once since I saw my friend with one. I love camping, and I can see myself doing it all the time. :)

Journals

I realize that since I started blogging on a regular basis, I have stopped writing in my journal. It can sometimes be repetitive to write the same thing in my journal as I would post on my blog.

I don't discuss everything on my blog or write about things that are too personal, and that is why I miss writing in a journal.

I'm too lazy and busy now to sit and write in my journal. There is always something else to do, and so I have been really neglectful towards my journal.

I miss it. I love to write. It's never really anything interesting (Some of my entries were about what I ate. I know... very interesting.), but it was nice to vent out my feelings a lot of time. There were times that I could work out my problem by just writing it down.

These days my problems are bigger, and my life is a little bit more uninteresting, but I think it would be good to write down a few sentences when I feel the urge.

It's always fun (or REALLY embarrassing) to look back at them. :)

www.postcrossing.com

I found the greatest website in all of history. I think it's the greatest idea since the internet, and we all know how I can't live without the internet.

The concept is easy. You send a bunch of postcards to random people all over the world, and then you get a bunch of postcards from around the world. How great is that?

Can you hear my excitement? There is very few things I love more than snail mail and postcards. I have been collecting postcards from people all over the world for the last few years, so it's amazing to finally find a site dedicated to sending postcards.

My postcard collection is decent. I have about postcards from 20 different countries, and now I can broaden my collection. It makes me giddy just to think about it.

There is just something so special about receiving mail where someone had taken the time to write out their thoughts. Seeing their handwriting, touching their letter, and the surprise of getting mail makes me happy.

I've always been this way. I look forward to writing thank-you cards. I enjoy writing birthday cards. I love receiving letters and mail just as much as sending them.

That's why I'm just so excited to have found this website. It will give me endless hours of amusement. I just know it. :)

Ear Wax

I know that many of you would rather not know the details of my inner ear, but I'd like to share with you anyway.

My hearing was terrible in the last few weeks. I could barely hear what people where saying, and a lot of times people thought I was ignoring them. I was simply just deaf for awhile.

It gotten so bad that I went to the doctor today to have them check my ears today. That was then that I was lectured and scolded for using a Q-tip in my ear.

I had no idea that you should never put a Q-tip in your ear. It apparently pushes all your ear wax to the back of your ear canal, and causes you to not be able to hear clearly. You are just suppose to use ear drops and flush out your ear with warm water. How is a person to know this?

The story ends well because I now have my hearing back. I am now much to traumatized to ever want to use a Q-tip again. I fear I will be deaf once more.

Soccer

I'm not a sports fan by any means. I don't really even know how football works (I can hear some of you gasping). I am familiar with how a lot of sports work, but I don't know any sport really well.

You shoot the ball into the hoop. You hit the ball with a bat. You skate on ice to hit a puck. That's all one person needs to know right?

I enjoy sporting events, and I have to been many in the last few years. There's something magical about the food (I have my priority straight). There is also something nice about playing sports with friends.

I just never really cared either way about sport. I know it exists. I know people love it, but I never thought twice about it.

That was how I felt until I had a friend handed me a magazine with a bunch of soccer plays gracing the pages of it. The World Cup is around the corner, and I was getting curious about what the big deal was.

Let me tell you, those men are handsome. Call me boy crazy, but they are very attractive. I was intrigued. I decided to watch some prior games, and I was mesmerized. They move so gracefully, and are exceedingly fast. They are extremely passionate about the game.

Why isn't it that popular in the the United States I'll never know, but you can count that I will be watching a few games with the World Cup starts. It's even in South Africa. That place is on the top of my to go to places.

I Can't Decide...

if I should finally splurge on a laptop. It would be so very nice to have my own laptop, and be able to access the internet from my room. Think of all the movies and shows I can watch from my very own bed. How heavenly.

I currently have to share my computer with my brother. Since he's in grad school, he is always writing a paper, and it makes it impossible to be on the computer whenever I want.

The computer is also located in an area of the house that gets freaking cold in the winter, and freaking hot in the summer.

Having a laptop isn't all that important even though it would be really nice. I much rather spend all my money on traveling. That's my weakness, and if I want to go to as many places as I can, I should be saving every cent.

Oh dear, what am I going to do? I want everything! Budgeting is a cruel thing.

Family Feud

No, I am not having any problems with my immediate family, and I love them oh-so-much.

It's just that I am addicted to a certain game. I can't help myself as I play for countless hours on the computer trying to figure out with the number one answer is.

Family Feud is basically a game show where families play against each other trying to figure how what the common answers are to the most random questions.

They ask things like, "Name the loudest animal in the zoo." What I love about the game is that you just have to try to think what other people would say. It's not about how smart you are or even about general knowledge.

I use to spend hours watching the show wondering who on earth do they ask these questions to. I was fascinated. I would be amused for hours.

And now that I found the game online, you can find me playing it all the times. Sometimes I make my brother help because I get really upset if I don't win.

I wish I could go on the show, but I don't have family members I would take except for my brother. They require you to have 5 family members. How exciting would it be to be on tv?

Oh wells, I can pretend I'm winning real money online. :)

Bed Times

I naturally am a night person. You probably will find me useless if you wanted me to do something in the morning. I always claim that the morning is for sleeping, and that the best time to be up is at night. That's when everything is usually happening anyway! I have proof, Star Trek is on every weeknight at 12:30am. That's how I live it up!

I've gotten so used to being a night person that whenever I have to wake up early for something, I usually fail. I have turned off my alarm many times without me even realizing it until it's too late. I have missed many deadlines and appointments because I am not a morning person.

Last night I tried to sleep at midnight because I knew that I had something to do in the morning. I don't even remember the last time I slept at midnight. I must have been 12 at the time.

It was terrible. I ended up staying in bed for 4 hours. I don't even sleep at 4am usually, but for some reason I couldn't sleep last night. Whenever I try to will myself to sleep, I somehow make it worse and end up sleeping even later. I don't know what it is. It's like my body won't sleep if it knows it has to wake up in a few hours.

I woke up with 1 hour of sleep yesterday morning, and nearly died. It was terrible. I was tired. I was grumpy. I was confused, and wouldn't have been able to tell you my name. The only reason why I woke up was because my mother was hovering around my bed. I had told her the night before to wake me up at no cost. I had to make it to work, and needed her to get me up.

I'm hopeless. Sad, but true. On a positive note, I did end up getting up.

I've always wanted a 9 to 5 job, but I can't even imagine waking up at the hour. I tried to fix my sleeping pattern, but I apparently failed somewhere along the line.

Well, I realize that the failure is because I don't actually go to sleep early. Minor details, minor details...

Coffee Addiction

I drink iced Vietnamese coffee all the time. It may have to do with the fact that I am pretty fond of condense milk. It makes the Vietnamese coffee the right amount of sweetness without taking away the bitterness. I also love cold drinks. You'll never find me asking to drink anything warm (unless it's apple cider). My mouth just can't handle it. Besides, drinking hot things is never as refreshing as a cold drink.

I drink it at least every other day. I have it all the time, no matter what time of day it is. I have been known to drink it in the middle of the night right before I go to bed. I love it, and I am constantly craving it.

The thing is I haven't grown accustomed to regular coffee. I've been quite traumatized.

When I was just learning to like coffee, I made the mistake of adding too much sweetened creamer. I almost died from the sugar. I had not known that the creamer was already sweetened, and assumed it was like adding milk into your coffee. I love milk, and had thought that a milky coffee would taste good. Little did I know that I was adding sugar along with the milk.

50% sweetened creamer and 50% coffee is not a good idea. Trust me when I say it will give you a sugar coma. For weeks I could not bare to think about regular coffee with creamer. I would shiver at the thought.

I decided to be brave yesterday, and made myself a nice cup of coffee. I added a smidge of creamer, and an even smaller pinch of sugar. It was perfect. I was in heaven, and I now know that I like coffee. It's delicious, and with every cup I drink, I grow to like it more. I am not convinced yet that it's the most wonderful drink in the world. Milk will always be #1 in my heart.

Maybe one day I will even be brave enough to drink it black. I don't see that happening, but I never thought I would drink coffee either.

The things I try to do. I don't know why I insist on liking coffee. Maybe I just want to be able to see why everyone likes it so much. I wonder about myself sometimes. :D

Medieval Times

There is just so many things that I've forgotten I loved. Medieval Times is one of them. How could I have forgotten about the handsome guys, yummy drinks, and an entertaining show?

I was celebrating a birthday with a few friends, and we had the best time. The show was entertaining, and our food was delicious. To keep the show authentic, we had to eat with our fingers like cavemen. Can you imagine my struggle with trying to eat baked chicken? I wanted a fork and knife. I also wanted 16 napkins. I'm a messy eater.

We may be a bit boy crazy though because we kept cheering for the knights that we thought were the cutest. I think we even forgotten about our own knight (every colored section in the stadium had their own knight.) half way through the show. Our loyalty may have swayed to the cutest knight or the knight that kicked the most butt. Don't judge us, we need eye candy in out lives.

The night ended with us dancing on the dance floor. We didn't care if anyone was laughing at us or the fact that we were probably making a fool of ourselves. We just wanted to have some girl time and a little bit of fun. It made me happy to be able to let loose, and just have fun with some of the sweetest girls I know. We have have stresses in our lives, and sometimes you just need a break.

Last night was our break, and I must say we had a lot of fun... if I say so myself. :)

Summer is a Hop Away

The weather is becoming nicer, and I can feel that it is inching towards summer. Oh, I can't wait to have lazy days at the beach, a road trip or two, and a lot of relaxing afternoons reading books.

I feel like I am always looking forward to summer. It's my favorite season (I realize that it's a lot of people's least favorite season because it gets so hot), and I can't wait for all the fun activities that should be coming my way.

I really do sincerely hope that there will be a lot of trips coming up. I live for them, and a summer vacation always should involve adventures. It's mandatory. If only I was made of money.

I am considering taking some summer classes. Maybe I should take the salsa dancing class. Maybe I should finally learn how to swim (although it really freaks me out whenever I submerge my face in water.) or maybe an art class. Summer should be about taking fun-sie classes.

I think my goal of this summer to visit more museums. I think I've only been to half of the museums that are in LA. I've always been meaning to visit a lot of the museums that LA has, but I never got around to it. It was always I'll do it one day, I don't have anyone to go with, etc, etc. I'm just going to go now... even if it means going alone. Museums are my kind of entertainment.

I also want to try out a bunch of new ethnic restaurants. There is this Ethiopian restaurant that I have been eyeing. I still haven't tried the Peruvian restaurant by my house, and I've been meaning to go somewhere to get an empanada. I love Yelp. It has started a new addiction for me, an addiction to try as many different things as I can.

Oh summer, how I adore thee.

Stubborn Hair

Julie gave me some bangs today, and I am starting to believe that my hair is the bane of my existence.

It will not do what I want it to. It keeps sticking outward, and making me look like a crazy person.

I've decided that my hair is crazy, and that it shall always be messy, greasy, and stubborn. I have given up all hopes of ever having beautiful hair.

I will now cry in the corner. Then I'll eat some ice cream. Isn't that what other people do to cure their woes regarding their hair?

Dinosaurs Rules!

Well they technically were only powerful during the Mesozoic era. That doesn't change the fact that I love them. I love them with my whole heart.

There are moments in my geology class when I wonder what on earth am I doing there. It's really hard a lot of times, and I am constantly studying to ensure that I get the grade I want.

But the pain is worth it now because I am currently studying about dinosaurs, doing a lot of dinosaur related labs, and watching a lot of dinosaur documentaries. I get depressed watching the videos because nature can be so cruel. It was a dinosaur eat dinosaur world, and my heart can't bare to watch it.

I love how our labs involves dunking plastic dinosaur models into water to find out its volume, and measuring their legs to figure how the speed they walked. They aren't just any kind of models either. They are actually made to scale (1/42 scale), so the models even weigh as much as they did in real life. I feel smart whenever I play with them.

As I keep learning about these adorable animals, I keep thinking about how great it would be to ride them or how awesome it would be to actually have one in my backyard. I'm not even sure elephants would be my favorite animal if dinosaurs existed today.

If I had to be eaten by an animal, I think I would want to be eaten by a dinosaur. They are so amazingly beautiful, and I would give up an arm just to see them today. (I take that back, I love elephants with my whole heart too.)

My only option now is to visit their fossils at the Natural History Museum. I guess that's as good as it's going to get.

Another Fear

I believe that I may fear going to the optometrist. Every time I go, my eyes end up getting far worse. At this rate I may go blind in a few years. I fear it.

I loathe getting my eye exam because I always feel like the optometrist is going to tell me I have cancer in my eyes or something along that line. Dramatic much? Why yes I am.

After the countless, "Is one more clear or is two?" I started to think that my eyes were much worse. I just couldn't read the letters. Why can't my eyes become stable so I can get laser eye surgery someday?

The optometrist then proceeded to tell me that I have extremely dry eyes, and probably no contacts will ever be that comfortable for me. I'll always have to deal with itchy dry eyes, and that I have to face the fact that I will sometimes be a pirate because my contacts like to pop out.

I envy people who can sleep in their contact. I envy the people with perfect vision.

At least my eyes didn't get that much worse. I thought it would be worse than it actually was. :)

Jury Duty

I am once again summoned to do Jury Duty this summer. I don't know if I actually like going to Jury Duty or not. I actually find it rather interesting (except for all that waiting...), but I have never actually been a juror for a case.

I have never been chosen to be a juror, and I don't know if it's a blessing or if I am missing out on something big. Maybe I imagine it to be more interesting than it actually is.

I actually like law, and find our justice system fascinating. There is always so much going on, and there is always so many details to each case. I've sat through many cases, but I think it would be interesting to part of the case.

Maybe I've watched too many crime shows. The countless hours in front of a t.v. may have foolishly convinced me that I can now tell if someone is guilty or not. Not that I could ever trust my own judgment. I am always convinced that everyone should be forgiven.

I'm always getting summoned, and I don't know if I am really lucky or just plain unlucky.

I guess I'll just have to see how Jury Duty will be this time around.

Road Trip

It's official (I am almost 100% certain), I'm going on a road trip is at the end of June. It shall be a week of fun under the sun (or the gloom since we are going to go to Seattle), and I am going to have a fantastic time.

I live for vacations. I am constantly counting the days until my next vacation. If there is no vacation planned, I just dream about the day I am going to go somewhere new. It's what I long for the most.

I know there are some people that never want to leave their homes or they would much rather spend their money doing something else, but not me. I would spend all my money on traveling. I only wished I had more money to do so.

This road trip is going to be exciting. We are hitting two northern states, and I will finally get the see the forests of Oregon, and the bustling cities of Washington. I am so excited that I am antsy with anticipation.

Who cares if I have to drive many, many, many hours! I may even lack sleep, but at least I'll be sleeping somewhere new.

Hurray for adventures. It makes me incredibly happy to just think about it. :D

If I Was a Millionaire

The mega million lottery is over $250 million, and it made me think how nice it would be if I won. I could do so much more than I can do now.

I'd pay off all my family's debt, fix the house, and travel the whole freaking world. I can see it now... I'd be drinking tea in Korea, coffee in France, and juice in the Caribbean.

There is so many places I could go to. I think I'd take a year off, and just travel to every continent. It'd have a nice tan by the time I came back home.

Oh, if only money grew on trees... :P

P.S. Happy birthday, Julie! Let's party it up!