tabasaur

Twenty-Four Hours

2012-01-29T16:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one of the longest days I've had this quarter. A group of us took some friendship shots at two in the morning (Saturday) and watched Jurassic Park at three until we all passed out around half past four. We woke up at noon, ate, bummed and blasted music as Michelle played infinite rounds of Tetris Battle, David played hours of Plants vs. Zombies and Derek and I tried to concentrate on homework. At seven, Michelle and I ate kimchi ramen with way too much Sriracha sauce for dinner as the boys started getting ready to go hit on girls at the dance. Michelle, Brian and I initially planned to just walk with and drop them there but we ended up getting ridiculous face paint before bailing. Following that, Brian went to do what he does best (play LoL) and Michelle and I spontaneously decided to dye parts of our hair a shade of dark red. But... we wasted time because it didn't work out! Omg so depressing, really. :( We're gonna try again soon. After catching up with the "floormates" when they got back from the dance at around one-thirty, we all ate our own ramen, ordered pizza and pasta, like we were all starving. At three, I walked a close friend back to his dorm to stay with him until he sobered up and finally slept at seven this morning after watching Midnight in Paris. I woke up at noon today and I'm currently typing this at the library when I'm supposed to be doing work with Michelle... but I see Tetris Battle open on her laptop so we're even.

p.s My Dinosaurs textbook came! :)

DINOSAURS: A Concise Natural History. Fastovsky and Weishampel. 1st edition.

WOWP: Who will be the family wizard?

2012-01-26T15:10:00.000-08:00

Wizards of Waverly Place has made me smile, cry, laugh, happy and sad. It has brought smiles to my face and tears to my eyes. It taught me so much about family, friendship, love and life. And most importantly, it taught me that no matter what, true bonds can never be broken.

I finally had time today to watch the series finale. The ending could not have been more perfect. I will never forget Wizards of Waverly Place and all the lessons on life it has taught me. Even though this amazing series has come to an end, it will be in my heart forever. <3

College Family

2012-01-23T01:10:00.000-08:00

This is old news that I neglected to mention before: Michelle and I originally belong to the third and second floors of our dorm building but we are associated with (and in the floor's Facebook group) and basically reside on first floor because they're just that awesome. While other floors usually have fifty people, first floor has less than twenty, hence it's so much easier for them to get to know almost everything about each other. I entered college expecting my floor to be my family but that never happened. Michelle and the social part of first floor are like my family.

Everywhere I go, people are playing League of Legends.

Disney playing cards are the best.

Alex (from back home) told me this when we were Skyping the next day: "you know you're an alcoholic when your chaser is alcohol." It sounded hilarious the way he stated it! It was a one-time, terrible, honest accident though, I swear. Someone left their vodka mix lying around and it looked like soda.

This cutie had his first shot with me last week when he finally stopped playing LoL for a few hours to go to a party with us.

Hooray for matching jailbroken lockscreens! Derek's iphone and my and Brian's itouches.

Phineas and Ferb clothing! Only the best.

Course Crashing

2012-01-14T22:03:00.001-08:00

Last Sunday marked the last day of my fun and food-filled, month long winter break. I was excited to head back to school though! It didn't feel like classes were in session this week. I watched three and a half movies (Fright Night, Hostel III, A Dangerous Method, and half of The Notebook) in four days. I skipped lectures, crashed four classes, made new friends and even did the assigned homework only to find out at the last minute that I wasn't able to get into the classes I wanted. That's okay. I'm now enrolled in my backup's backup class: The National History of Dinosaurs. This class would be awesome if it wasn't at eight in the morning.

Taken during a food-filled day with the girls. They are one of the main reasons why I miss senior year of high school so, so much.

Resuming my college life.

It may seem a bit immature but Michelle, the boys and I played truth or dare one night. To be honest, I've never kissed anyone or anything in my life until I had to kiss Michelle on the cheek as a dare. Besides that, everything else that happened in that game, stays in that game! After that, I watched The Notebook in my friend's dorm and fell asleep at around halfway through the movie and woke up the next morning. I know it's a classic romance and a majority of my friends have watched and recommended it and everything, but it puts me to sleep.

After being in college for only five days, I headed back home Friday morning specifically to see Vanessa and Eric before they head back to the east coast this weekend. The girls and I watched the Tangled Ever After preview before Beauty and the Beast in 3D! Belle is so gorgeous in her gown but on the other hand, the beast.. I'm not really fond of. Not even when he turns into a prince.

2012

2012-01-02T15:11:00.000-08:00

Spent New Year's Eve chilling and watching The Switch with Lynn. We had a very anticlimactic New Year's countdown, but that's okay. Here's my first picture in 2012!

I spent New Year's Day with Eric in SF.

We had Kahlua shots on the house, grilled chicken satay, and mac & cheese for lunch at Fog City Diner.

We climbed roughly 400 steps, visited the Coit Tower and Washington Square and even went inside the cathedral at Washington Square... all while trying to find where our bus stop was to get to the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked across the bridge and stopped at around the halfway point to carve our names into the railing. It was so windy and cold! And depressing with all the signs everywhere to prevent people from committing suicide...

By the way, Eric is an Instagrammie. All the square pictures and the last one on here are his.
I really like this picture of a very small section of the many, MANY steps we climbed... It looks like the path to a secret garden.

San Diego Zoo & Seaworld

2012-01-01T01:31:00.000-08:00

12/27-30/2011
Day 1: 8 hr drive.
Day 2: San Diego Zoo!
It's a given that the San Diego Zoo is the best zoo in the USA. Admission is so expensive!

This is a gazelle. It's my favorite animal because my name means it. :)

The San Diego Zoo is one of the few zoos in the world that care for giant pandas.
This mommy panda's name is Bai Yun.

Day 3: Seaworld!
Seaworld is definitely a favorite park of mine. I love Shamu.

The amazing and funny Clyde and Seamore show. The trained sea lions are the cutest.

Day 4: Silver Strand State Beach and a 9 hr drive back home.

Friends: Part II

2011-12-23T20:19:00.000-08:00

Meet my friends. (Part I)

1 year later... From seniors in highschool to freshmen in college.
Same girls, same order.

College friends.

2011-12-15T00:05:00.000-08:00

Conveniently, my three close college friends live in the same city (not far from mine) in the Bay Area so it was pretty easy for us to meet up to hang out today. I guided them to and around SF via BART and lots of walking. One of them said "you're like a local here." Haha. I'm not really; I probably just go there too much. Anyway, today was so fun! Everything from the half hour drive around the BART parking lot, stalking people who walked out of the station in hopes of finding a parking space to the really long conversation we had about checking out attractive people.

First of all, before going anywhere else we had to go to the Sanrio in the Westfield SF Centre so I could spend $5 and get this free mug! Even though I knew I had carry it around all day, I wanted to get it early before supplies run out. Haha...while we were in there, one of them joked around and asked if I was gonna get a Hello Kitty bathrobe and I was like "No, I already have one!" Seriously though, Hello Kitty is a lifestyle. Hehe.

Best Sanrio deal ever!

Disney Store! Michelle and I descended to the first floor of the Disney store by taking the "magical" stairway, while the boys took the elevator. This was taken on the stairs, after pretending to be fairies after testing out Tinkerbell lotion that left our hands sparkling.

Exploring our hometown, Fremont.

2011-11-26T23:21:00.001-08:00

It's Saturday, and yet I woke up at 6AM and was out of my house with Eric by 6:30AM. We planned to watch the sunrise at top of the world but that didn't really work out because it was super cloudy and I don't think we were high enough. So we were sitting on this very wet surface for almost an hour, watching the sky get brighter and brighter but seeing no sun. :( On a side note, we had to crawl between the wires of a barbed wire fence to get onto the hill we needed to climb.

After our fail sunrise watch and a quick breakfast at Denny's, we parked on the edge of a really high neighborhood and climbed over a half barbed wire, half gated fence and walked through a maze of cow dung to get here. It seems like a peaceful place to have a picnic or something and according to the trash there, it's also a great place to drink beer and smoke weed.

Next we drove and parked elsewhere, climbed under a metal fence and walked a while to reach the Time Tunnel. I've seen people's pictures of their going here but it's always dry... oh well, what's an adventure without adding risk-taking to spontaneity?

It was SUCH a hassle just getting down to the tunnel.

...And we can't even walk on flat surface because of the water. :( We walked on opposite sides on the curve.

It was pitch black in there and we didn't bring flashlights but we made it to the end and here's our proof.

We climbed out of the end of the tunnel, discovered someone's house, roosters and plants, walked back through the tunnel and ended up sitting and staring at the water for a really long time.

All of this took a good 4 and a half hours and it wasn't even noon yet! I'm not gonna lie... this was one of my favorite mornings ever & it was totally worth waking up for. I really enjoy doing things like this.

Quick Update

2011-11-24T22:48:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to adjust my sleeping schedule so I don't sleep at 4AM and wake up at noon everyday. Unlike last night, in which I was Skyping Gah for four hours until I knocked out at around 6AM and he woke me up at 8AM so I could go to my 8:30AM morning discussion (that I ended up not even going to).

Anyways, since Monday, Michelle and I've been walking to and from the gym everyday to swim for exactly an hour. And also, organic spinach, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, soymilk and bananas are now my best friends.

Gah sent me his school's mascot so it could remind me of the east coast. I've never even been to the east coast though..

I started off my Thanksgiving break by catching with Zahra over lunch at Pizza My Heart & Yogurtland.

....and of course, I would have no pictures of my Thanksgiving day. :(

I spent a good six hours with Eric as we drove around for about two hours looking for a place to eat at. We are way too spontaneous and indecisive.. It was fun enjoying each others company though. I hadn't seen him for three months because he's on the east coast.

I got so many "Happy Thanksgiving" texts today. Some were just mass texts, most were generic texts, and a few really made my day. Those were from people who, after saying that, went on telling me why they are thankful for me... That's so sweet! Those really made me smile.

Thank you for this, Drake.

2011-11-07T15:50:00.000-08:00

I’m really scared for my generation, you know. The thing that scares me most is Tumblr. I hate what Tumblr has become. Because it like, it reminds me of those clique-y girls in high school that used to make fun of everyone else and define what was cool, but in five years, when you all graduate, that shit doesn’t matter. No one gives a fuck about that shit. Instead of kids going out and making their own moments, they’re just taking these images and living vicariously through other people’s moments. It just kills me. Then you’ll meet them and they’re just the biggest turkey in the world. They don’t actually embody any of those things. They just emulate. It’s scary man, simulation life that we’re living. It scares me." -Drake

Halloween

2011-11-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

Halloween fell on a Monday night, but that's okay Susanna and I are still holding a kickback in our dorm.

Michelle is my secret agent twin! It was such a very last minute idea & we are missing our shades in this picture.

'stache Labbit

2011-10-29T01:56:00.000-07:00

A package consisting of this Labbit from kidrobot arrived for me today. It's adorable!!

Thanks Eric, you're so sweet.

Day one.

2011-09-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

On the second day after we moved in, my roomie Susanna and I overslept into our 10AM floor meeting, ran out without our ID's and keys only to find out we completely missed the meeting and instead got locked out of our room and had to go to the housing office to get our door unlocked.

On the first day of classes, my roomie and I woke up at 11:30AM for our 12PM English class and realized we didn't buy the textbook or do the homework that was assigned. We rushed to the bookstore which is one bus stop away in the opposite direction. We hurried back to the building where our classrooms were at, spent time looking for where our classrooms and getting lost, and were pretty late. First class on the first day of freshmen year and off to a great start.

This is about to be an awesome school year.

Move-in Day

2011-09-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Harajuku Lover's Sweetie Crossbody. I bought this a few weeks before college.

2011-09-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to a sealed envelope containing this handwritten letter from Josh.

Somehow he had given it to my little sister and told her to give it to me before I leave for college. I didn't get to read it until now because I wanted to save it for when I was alone.. and just made my day. <3

Thoughts.

2011-09-14T07:57:00.000-07:00

Last night I spent a few hours with the bestie, chilling in the car parked on top of a really nice, high neighborhood. That sounds really random I know but all we really needed was a quiet place where we could talk. As if I even talked normally. I recall being selfish and taking up all the space in the backseat. But in my defense, I talk better when I can't see the other person's face but I know they're there. Anyway I just remember being awfully ridiculous. Because I talk better like that, I was freestyling conversations that didn't really make sense. I was making a lot of stupid remarks. I think I laughed too loud and was responsible for awkward silences that fell between us that night. In the back of my mind all I could think about was how this was probably going to be the last time we spend time alone like that with each other for a while. And it hurts to know that I'm not going to be able to see the one I'm most comfortable around. I say the same for my girls who've all started college already. It sucks to know I can't wake up and look forward to going to school to see the people that I know and can call family. But I guess that's what I get for becoming attached to my best friends because I'll miss them too much when they're gone.

p.s I woke up at 5:30AM and it's now 7:57 AM and I just finished typing up my first blog post ever written entirely on my itouch! I could get used to this.

tokidoki stickers!

2011-09-12T19:43:00.000-07:00

I read about tokidoki's stamp for sticker promotion on their website and...they had me at "stickers" so I decided I needed to participate. I received them in the mail today!

Yes, that's my 1 month new laptop and I really hope I don't regret putting stickers on it. And that's the front of the folder I used and personalized to the max during my senior year of high school. I'm taking it to college with me!

Love letters & whatnots

2011-08-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't like to be described as a sentimental person, but I like to keep everything that anyone has ever written to me. I have letters, holiday and birthday cards, and random notes in my box that were written by friends, acquaintances and people I don't even prioritize or spend time with anymore. In fact, there's one or two from people that consider me as a stranger now and vice versa.

But you know at one point in time, these "strangers" thought I was important enough to take some time out of their lives to write to me. In the end, I guess it really is only the memories that you have left because not every friend you make will stay in your life forever. Some you were meant to meet to learn from and create memories with, most are just passing by and a few are your true friends who will always be by your side no matter what.

Widsom teeth

2011-08-21T16:03:00.000-07:00

I had my three wisdom teeth extracted Friday morning. It's day three and I'm still complaining about my cheeks because it's so disgusting. I never want to go through something like this ever again.

On day two, Eric visited me. He has a cute smile right? I know he was just secretly excited to catch me and my chubby cheeks in a picture with him.

I hid my left cheek, which is the side both top and bottom wisdom teeth were removed and that's swollen to the max... and STILL HURTS. My right side didn't really swell though. But anyway, we talked so much that later that evening, I developed a sore jaw. And it hurts to smile.

My personalized itouch case.

2011-08-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to make my own case for my itouch 4g since forever and I finally got around to do it. It took me a few hours but I think it was worth it!

I bought a clear plastic itouch case, a Minnie vinyl sticker and plastic jewel stickers while I was in Taiwan. I arranged everything the way I wanted and coated the entire surface with clear nail polish to prevent the jewels from falling off. I can't say all jewels were individually stuck on, but most of them were and the rest were stuck on in small chunks that I cut out from the sheet of jewels. I'm pretty happy with it!

TAIWAN (photo dump)

2011-08-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

Breakfast at Syros Cafe.

This is my baby cousin and she is an Angry Birds-aholic.

08/08/2011 Josh and I went to a concert at Livehouse Live at Legacy. 盧廣仲.

Mango shaved ice at Ximending.

Danshui Fisherman's Wharf.

Typhoon weather all day, everyday.

Expensive, photogenic cookies at Florida Bakery.

Big Fun Expo 2011

2011-07-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

There is nothing more mundane than driving through Central Valley, California. I passed the two hour drive by counting sunflowers, looking at grass, searching for cherry-picking locations and complaining about the heat. Although.. I did the latter way more than I did the rest combined. I'm such a spoiled Bay Area child!

This little girl is definitely braver than us when it comes to picking up turtles.

Crawdaddy! "Be Careful, they pinch."

More crawdaddy. I immaturely refused to leave until I successfully picked one up from the tank, hence my chicken friends watched and worried about me until then.

YES. All that trouble just for this picture.

SF Food & Photobooths

2011-07-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

Gelato flavor : Taste of Italy. "It tastes mysterious! I guess Italy is mysterious."

What is the one thing you think of that always makes you smile?

2011-07-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

While I was in Ashland, Oregon two months ago, I had too much excess time to wander aimlessly through the town's one street of shops, checking out every small shop and finding... nothing really. I did, however, find this notebook among many other random things and while the girls were busy actually looking at what the store sold (I believe it was cookware), I was taking this picture. Makes me wonder...

I have many "one things."

Off the top of my head :

Being with the girls. Being with the bestie. Sitting around, doing nothing with them but having fun. Laughing really hard. Big hugs. Getting hugged out of nowhere. Being looked upon. Being a source of inspiration.

And two from just today :

1. I literally woke up to Josh today. I'd just woken up, still lying in bed and texting him, when he gave me 15 minutes before he was to show up at my front door. 15 minutes is nothing! Used up 10 minutes already to get out of bed. Delayed eating my crucial & favorite meal, breakfast. (I never see anyone before I eat breakfast.) Although I looked really bummy, it was all worth it for the 1.5 hrs quality time spent with the bestie.

2. You've probably already seen this if you follow my twitter? THIS. That made me smile dorkily at my screen

Reminiscing the past

2011-07-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

Last night, Josh and I had a really long talk about our past, more specifically about our sophomore year of high school. It's kind of ridiculous how despite the fact that we were such close friends before, we're finding out now, the things we never knew or admitted to each other before.

I think it's silly talking about the past because I mean, it's the past. It should be left in the past. Some things aren't meant to be revisited because it may bring back feelings and create a sense of nostalgia. Not that it's a bad thing, but I don't like contemplating past feelings and experiences. I don't really know how to feel about us before, but I don't ever want the now us to change.

We stayed up late reminiscing the past. Seriously I don't even know how we're even such best friends now. We had our stupid fights, one which lasted roughly eight months. We spent that time acting like we were strangers. But we were two strangers that had a past together. That is so much worse.

But it doesn't matter because we're better than ever now and I don't know how we grew even more comfortable around each other afterwards than before the fight. All I know is we were so dumb. Everything that happened between us seems so unexplainable. But it doesn't matter because some things you just don't question.

If there was one thing I could learn from this, it is to take initiative. We both just let ourselves drift further and further apart until one day we realized... we should probably try to fix us. If I want something, I have to make it happen.

Fourth of July

2011-07-04T22:59:00.000-07:00

I know I should probably be watching fireworks right now, but I'm really tired and would be passed out if it wasn't for the ice cold shower I just took. With less than five hours of sleep last night, I woke up at 5:45AM and was out of my house by 6:15AM. Lynn and I went to catch the 7:24 AM low tide at Half Moon Bay, just like we did last summer. Call us ridiculous but we do this for fun!

Dinosaurs Unearthed!

2011-07-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

Spent almost four hours at the Lawrence Hall of Science today. Mostly with my baby sister and specifically for the Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibit. Gotta love them dinosaurs...

Oh you know, first things first, just for those of you who are not familiar with the dahy-nuh-sawrrrrr.

Nobody believes me when I tell them that brontosaurus is not a real dinosaur.

Did you know that people who discover comets get to have them named after them? My life goal is to discover a comet so it can be called Comet Tabitha. Haha, joking.. Hm, I learned about a dinosaur named Tarbosaurus. That's the closest dinosaur name to my own name I've ever heard of.

Chocolatey Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-06-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

Baking cookies on a hot summer day is not the way to go, but Alex and I wanted to relive something we did together in the 5th grade. That included eating cookie dough and not knowing how to bake at all. Good thing our friends Vanessa and Andrew were baking with us.

Seabright Beach, Santa Cruz

2011-06-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

Seabright Beach with Karina, Andrew and a couple other DECA kids from my high school. What's a better way to spend the first day of summer than playing chicken with the ocean tides in the daytime and roasting marshmallows over the griller at night?? Yes, we really did all sit in a circle around the griller roasting marshmallows and making s'mores because all the bonfire areas and fire pits were occupied. It was cute!

Andrew: "Dude, let's go swimming when it's DARK." Hah!
After getting in the water....
"OMG NEVERMIND. IT'S FREEZING."

Downtown Berkeley

2011-06-19T22:05:00.000-07:00

Before I go into detail about cheap food I ate today at Downtown Berkeley, here are pictures of my sisters from their Disney-themed ballet recital, Ballerina Princess.

Calabrese dog from Top Dog. $3

Mine's the chocolate chip cookie, green tea ice-cream sandwich from CREAM. $2

Just $5 flat on food? So worth it.

Last Days of High School & GRADUATION.

2011-06-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

And after it was all over, this was at a friend's house the morning after grad night, after playing Fugitives until the sun rose.

Hello Kitty x VANS shoes

2011-06-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy right now because my $110 Sanrio order arrived today! I received my Hello Kitty x VANS slip-on, Hello Kitty x Tokidoki long wallet and a Hello Kitty keycap (I purchased to hit $100 for free shipping.

I save all my Sanrio pricetags because they're always so pretty.

It’s not about where you go, or what you do, but rather who you’re with and how they make you feel.

2011-06-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

It's often just enough being with someone because it’s not about where you go, or what you do, but rather who you’re with and how they make you feel. There is no need to spend money to go somewhere extravagant and no need to struggle to keep small talk flowing. Sometimes, there's no need to talk at all.

We took this when we were at the top of this net tower climbing thing at a playground at Lake Elizabeth. We went walking around the whole lake (like what old people do) and then ended up on a playground full of kids. We fit right in of course.

French Braid Hair

2011-06-09T00:24:00.000-07:00

Karina and I skipped school in the morning to go to her house to eat and French braid my hair for my Shakespeare Midsummer's Night Dream play after lunch. I was the Fairy and King Oberon and my partner was Puck and Queen Titania.

This was Karina fifth attempt on french braiding my hair this morning. I know this picture I took after my play isn't too great, but it was actually pretty nice.

This Is Not The End.

2011-06-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

"Thanks for being my friend and always being there for me."
"It's the last week of high school... who knows when I'll see you again."

It makes me mad when my closest friends say things like this. Like seriously, are you trying to make me cry? Who said the end of high school mean the end of friendships? Everyone will meet new people and make new friends in college and in the future--that's a given. But in the end it all boils down to the people you decide to keep in your life. They're the ones that you can try your hardest to forget, but cannot. Although it may sound cliche, they are the ones that have really been there for you. They are the ones that you can say... you are the person you are today because you knew them.

Senior Prom: I'll Be

2011-05-31T21:32:00.000-07:00

This is the only picture worth posting from prom.

Japantown, SF

2011-05-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

Josh and I skipped school for SF and we had this ridiculous idea to walk from Union Square to Japantown when we could have easily taken Muni It took an hour and all we really did was take pictures at the Japanese photobooths. We walked a few more miles and passed through Chinatown and Montgomery and ended up in Embarcadero. So basically, we worked out to the max. My legs are going to be really sore tomorrow when I have to wear 3.75 inch heels.

Andrew's Senior Prom Ask for Vanessa

2011-05-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

David and I spent four hours helping our friend Andrew buy supplies and set up everything for his prom ask. Then we spent another hour accompanying my girl Vanessa on his ridiculously cute and thoughtful scavenger hunt.

Long story short, we all were waiting on the street for like twenty minutes because V is a deep sleeper and somehow didn't hear my twenty phone calls, many, many doorbell rings, knocks, and shouts of her name. Hence, she looks as if she just woke up because she literally just woke up for this surprise.

Had to do some Bhangra to get the yellow balloon. (She and Andrew were partners for Senior Bhangra at school.)

Green. Destroyed this pinata for the next clue..

Blue: Pushed Denise up this hill on this rolling cart thing for the final clue.

Purple. On top of the world.

Andrew appears out of nowhere and asks Vanessa to senior prom. Yay!

That ask was so damn cute. They're cute! I'm so jealous of that ask. Hahaha justkeeding!

Okay maybe just a little!

Ashland, Oregon

2011-05-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

I've been in Ashland, Oregon with my high school's AP English classes the past three days for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) where I watched Measure For Measure and To Kill A Mockingbird. I wish I could show you exactly how much I absolutely adored the three kids that played in To Kill A Mockingbird, but taking pictures inside the theater was not allowed. I swear, the kids were too good for to be child actors and they're so cute! On the other hand, I almost dozed off and I was very lost while watching Measure For Measure.

Cinderella dress

2011-05-14T11:31:00.000-07:00

Hmm,

2011-05-07T00:08:00.000-07:00

I've been told that I am the harshest critic of myself and I've been told this phrase in various forms words from multiple friends. I might be a little insecure about the way I look, but I think everyone has self-image problems. It can't be just me. I only dislike my big calves and my huge back jaw area when I smile...that isn't even that much to complain about.

Hello Kitty Metallic Silver Multi Case

2011-04-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

I've had my eye on this case since it came out and I finally bought it today.

I've ALWAYS hated carrying purses and handbags when I go places. It's such a drag having to carry a purse while shopping and it automatically makes shopping not fun and it drops my mood by like a hundred points. I don't know how girls do it. So usually I just stuff cash (no cards because they don't fit) in my pockets and I'm good. But now I can throw everything in this small and lightweight case instead of carrying a huge bag! And besides, I don't even carry much. I just need cash, some cards, chapstick and my phone...

Most of the time, memories are all you have left.

2011-04-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

Infection.

2011-04-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

I'm currently waiting for my antibiotics. I've seriously taken too much antibiotics in my life--mostly when I was a kid though, because for example, once I got terribly sick with pneumonia and iron deficiency at the same time. And until scientific studies proved it unnecessary a few years ago, I had to take antibiotics every year right before my annual dentist appointments to prevent heart infections due to my VSD heart murmur and a PDA heart defect. I swear I'm not a complicated person.

In the past couple years, I've only gotten sick once a year and its almost always a fever due to my not drinking enough water. (Really really bad habit.) :( Within these two months, I've been through a cold, the stomach flu, and am currently going through several fevers. But that's simple shit. The antibiotics I'm waiting for is to rapid clear my bad ear infection which is hurting like HELL right now. I'm pretty messed up and unattractive right now, not gonna lie. It hurts to smile, I lost my voice, I look super tired all the time, and I felt like a zombie walking around school this week.

SF Zoo & Ocean Beach

2011-04-03T17:51:00.000-07:00

I spent my Saturday at the San Francisco Zoo, Ocean Beach and Westfield with Vanessa and Zahra. Just the other day the temperature was up in the mid 80s but had somehow dropped to the mid 60s yesterday, which made it way too windy and cold to go down to the beach. And not to mention the extremely high tides, which was probably the reason why there wasn't a single person down there. On top of that, it sucks to see animals held in captivity behind bars or glass. :( Well, the giraffes were the only content animals, probably because they're so noticeable that they attract the most viewers. All I know is we took more pictures with that one giraffe you see in all my giraffe photos than with all the other animals in the zoo. There was this one runaway peacock that was entertaining until this kid started chasing it until it hopped over the fence into the rhinoceros area, haha.

I bought a glass milk cup from Anthropologie. Made in Italy=score! And although I walked around the whole day and my legs were pretty tired, I decided to go jogging that night.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon

2011-03-31T23:45:00.000-07:00

Someone gave me this card today so I could tape it on my folder. Blue-Eyes White Dragon is my FAVORITE.

I've been thinking: Should we live with no expectations and no regrets? No expectations means no disappointment when bad things arise. It means being exceptionally happy when good things happen because, after all, it was not expected anyway right? No expectations means no looking back and thinking "wow, I was so stupid for believing in someone (or something)." No regrets means no looking back. And that we should just forgive and forget and move with life. Is this really what I want?

the 10 most powerful 2 letter words

2011-03-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of flaws. I overlook the things people do to bring me down. I forgive too easily. I trust too easily. And, I am always in denial. This has been one of the worst weeks I had this year and I'm trying to fix it. My closest friends know and they all tell me to do something about it. I need to confront the people who are irritating me and playing with my feelings instead of ranting to the people that actually care about me. If it is to be, it is up to me.

high school life

2011-03-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

On a scale of 1-10, I'd give you a 9....because I'm the 1 you're missing.

2011-03-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

Today I asked someone to my school's Sadie Hawkins Dance. I discovered this super cheesy pick-up line in late January and stored it in my phone and contained myself not to accidentally say it until today. I seriously fell in love with it and thought it was the best pick-up line ever and now I'm living proof that it works.

So Not Busted

2011-03-04T22:26:00.000-08:00

Just me with my bangs clipped up. Although it feels great, I never have my bangs up in public because it makes my face look really big. But anyway, it's been a hectic, frustrating and abnormal week. I watched Pursuit of Happyness, I rekindled two lost friendships, I did no homework, I ran out of things to do, I fell asleep in class a lot, I got all my tests from the previous week back, I was mad, I was late to almost every class every day, I noticed February ended, I wore my Thing 1 hoodie and K wore her Thing 2 for Dr. Seuss's birthday, I experienced multiple hot and sunny days that were forecasted to be rainy days, I tried thinking about life, I confused myself, I thought about relationships, I confused myself even more, and I ate at Chipotle for the first time.

Inspiration:

2011-02-27T13:34:00.000-08:00

The Oprah Magazine, March 2011

...I was so content. Content without a lot of possessions to distract me. Just the basics. I had the book I was actually reading--not 17 stacked on a window shelf, as I have now. I appreciated the simplicity of my surroundings. It helped me focus on what was important at the time...

Now my life is filled with so much clutter. So as I count down to the end of the show and move on to my next chapter, at OWN, I'm not just cleaning my closet. I'm cleaning out my life. And I'm keeping only that which delights me or enhances my well-being.

Our homes are "overwhelmed with stuff and [our] lives littered with the empty promises that the stuff didn't fulfill.... In buying what we want, we hope to acquire the life we desire.... [But] chasing the life you want by accumulating more stuff is a dead-end street."

This I know: More things don't make you feel more alive.

Yet feeling more alive is part of fulfilling your true self. It's the reason we're all here.

Enough already with the stuff that doesn't enhance who you really are.

I want to be lean and clean for the future, dust off my wings. I know for sure that doing so will make it easier to fly.
-Oprah

After reading this, I felt like I'm residing in a dumpster. I'm pretty materialistic. I find happiness in money, clothes, stickers, and stuff. When will I learn that money does not bring and can not buy genuine happiness?....

Is this all just made up?

2011-02-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

I'm currently reading Crime and Punishment and the main character, Raskolnikov, is so crazy. Literally. He treats strangers and people who he barely knows with more kindness and care than how he treats the people know and who really care about him. Actually, I think I subconsciously make that mistake sometimes too.

Hm, I watched No Strings Attached yesterday at San Francisco with Karina and Nathan. I cried. I don't know why, but although it's for an audience with a maturity level miles beyond my own, I thought the plot and their relationship (in the end) was super adorable. Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher are so damn cute together! Emma, the girl Natalie plays, is stubborn and independent as hell and she kind of reminds me of myself and how I view love and relationships. I think it's not worth risking a stable and close friendship if you're only going to end up losing them. I'm so afraid of losing people I love. :> As they say, Doubt Everything. And as Socrates said, Question Everything??

And of course, I have to share my favorite quote of the movie with you guys!

"If you miss me, you can’t text, you can’t email, you can't post it on my Facebook wall. If you really miss me, you come and see me."

<3

Oh and this is Nathan. We got lost, which explains why Karina is not in the picture.

Hello Kitty Jewel Sticker

2011-02-04T20:11:00.000-08:00

My girl Zahra looks like she's a little embarrassed to be seen with me! Hahaa jokes.

Anyway, I absolutely adore these Hello Kitty white jewel stickers I bought at Sanrio! ($8.50+tax for two stickers.) I originally planned to stick one on my camera, but there's no space, so I stuck one on the back of my phone instead. :)

Besides the jewel stickers, there's something else that makes me happy! Actually, it would be more correct to say someone. (I know you all probably thought of my love life to be nonexistent, so get ready for a very cheesy slice of it...)

So, I don't know why, but I get super excited to see this someone even if it's just talking and hanging out at the park or on campus after school. I hate how when I have so many things to tell him and when we see each other, I forget everything and I am speechless. Tongue-tied to the max. I hate how he's constantly running through my mind. I hate how I just might be falling in like with him.

Burger Bar

2011-01-28T22:02:00.000-08:00

I'm a second semester senior now, yes! Finals are done with and all that is left is the anxiety that will continue to build up until my semester grades come out. Until then, I'll try not to think too much about it and instead go play while I can! I headed to the city right after school today with Vanessa. We were hungry and I wanted to try the Burger Bar (one floor below the Cheesecake Factory in MACY'S) in Union Square, San Francisco.

Vanessa ate the American Classic with the included side of skinny fries (top) and I ate the Atlantic Salmon Steak Burger (bottom). It was sort of expensive.

After food, I bought a pair of Levi's skinny jeans at MACY'S. I haven't gone shopping for jeans in a long time and I'm really excited about this new pair because they fit so perfectly! We headed to HUF (on Sutter street) only to discover that the store there does not exist anymore! How unfortunate, because I really wanted to get a Spitfire T-shirt that I saw last time I went there back in October. We walked down the block to The Hundreds afterward where I got a Hundreds x Garfield T-shirt. Yay for Garfield the fat tabby cat! And, a jeans and shirt shopping success.

Rawr!

2011-01-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

This is what I wore today. I'm a dinosaur!
Lookbook.

Dragonized

2011-01-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

This was one of the 80 self-portraits I had to take this weekend for an assignment in my Digital Photo course. I'm so bad at taking pictures of myself with the tripod and with the lack of creative poses, so none of them came out looking that nice. This is as close as it gets.

We had to use Photoshop for this assignment for my digital photography class.

1/1/11

2011-01-02T14:24:00.000-08:00

Stoneridge mall, In-N-Out, and Black Swan and True Grit at Dublin's IMAX theatre with Annie and Nathan was how I spent my first day of the new year. The showing for Black Swan that we wanted to watch was sold out, but we snuck in anyways, and sat on the stairs. Yepppp, that's us...major embarrassment, but it was worth it! No regrets.

"I just want to be perfect."
Never aim for perfection because it is impossible. Just be happy for who you are and how far you get. The strive and obsession for absolute perfection can mess up the mind of the sweetest girl and transform her into a paranoid and self-absorbed monster.

I still don't know if Black Swan is a horror movie or not. I don't think its meant to be, but the whole movie is so.. "thought provocative" (to quote Nathan) and a lot of parts are so unexpected and exciting in all the wrong ways. It was really great though. Go watch it!

We made a mistake of watching True Grit after Black Swan. It is so slow and uneventful... but at least we had seats. The movie has like no action compared to Black Swan.

Reno x Tahoe

2010-12-31T14:46:00.000-08:00

The reason for my absence from the internet this past week was due to a thrilling vacation at Reno and Mt. Rose, Lake Tahoe! (+also because I couldn't bring my laptop because its broken.) I stayed at Atlantis Casino Resort in Reno and went up to Mt. Rose, where I learned how to ski for the first time and for three consecutive days.

I thought I was going to die of embarrassment because I thought I would be the oldest kid there, but there were many others that were my age who were in the first-timer class with me on the first day. :) I was in the novice class the next two days. I was learning how to ski...in a snowstorm!

Reno's Best Buffet: Toucan Charlie's Buffet & Grill

First plate

Yay for the huge, thick slice of prime rib in the back! There is an enchilada underneath the tomato and cheese and a pile of vegetables in the middle.

Second plate

Beef! I also ate BBQ Ribs (not shown here). Vegetable barley soup and more veggies to make up for all that meat I ate.

Third plate: dessert

Pineapples, strawberry crepe, brownie, black forest pie(?), and apple cobbler.

Finished the meal with vanilla ice cream with blueberry sauce, chocolate syrup and m&m's.

And no! I didn't finish everything! I don't have that big of an appetite, unfortunately.

I've missed Bay Area weather soooo much. Bay Area residents including myself are so spoiled to have such nice weather at home! <3

p.s There aren't that many pictures because since I don't have a case for my K-x, I wasn't able to carry it around everywhere especially in the ski areas and other places... From the pictures of this post all you can probably conclude is that I ate a lot. :)

Hello Kitty Metallic Black Backpack

2010-12-20T21:16:00.000-08:00

This is to replace my current black Jansport backpack for school. Mad cute! I fell in love with this as soon as I saw it on the back wall of the Sanrio store at the mall today. I know the bottom of it is unclear, but it says HK in the pink and the bottom and front parts are all metallic. That shirt there...Sesame Street yes! I shall wear it on the days I feel grumpy. :) And next to that, a Juicy Couture box of necklace my friend gave me today. I love it and I love it more because of that pretty crown logo we all think of when we hear the brand name Juicy Couture.

The funny thing about my using that backpack is that its so much heavier than the weight of all the stuff I carry to school on a daily basis. I bring a flimsy Pokemon folder which somehow holds all the papers I have for all of my six classes, an orange Pilot 2020 shakie pencil, a Pilot G-2 black pen, my cellphone, a USB on a keyring with about 20 Sillybandz, a square iPod nano, and some cash. And that's my school life right there.

Meet my friends.

2010-12-16T20:57:00.000-08:00

These are some of the photos that we specifically went out to self-time and take for our senior yearbook page.

This is my bestfriend Karina. We got these overpriced ($41 each) Thing hoodies at Universal Studios!

California DECA LA Experience

2010-12-14T00:28:00.000-08:00

Day 1

Arrived at LAX then Sheraton at downtown LA at about 5:30PM.

Dressed up for Radio City Rockettes night show at LA Live. K said I look like I'm about to go party but this is seriously as "nice" of an outfit as I could create from my clothes..because my clothes are all casual to the max.

Rockettes was amazing.

Day 2

After a briefing about FIDM--which all I remember is the video clip of Barbie Debut--and after getting canned foods for the entry ticket to The Hundreds warehouse sale, we walked over a mile to catch that sale but it was too long of a wait. Stood half an hour and moved like two feet in that long condensed line which we then had to ditch because we had to be at the Grammy Museum soon.

Day 3

Bestfriend,

2010-12-06T23:48:00.000-08:00

For my bestfriend's birthday, seven of our friends and we watched Tangled...and omg it's such an amazing movie and Rapunzel is so pretty!

Aww she is so pretty, I'm so jealous!

I have to admit that some parts of this movie was so touching that I teared up. If you have not yet done so, go watch Tangled!!!

BJ's for K's birthday dinner :

KILARA Hello Kitty

2010-12-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite scarves! How can a girl not love Hello Kitty?! :) I've picked up a habit of wearing scarves this year because the weather is freezing and once again, I have so few warm clothes. It's like I wear the same clothes year round. Okay not exactly but just about.. I never used to wear scarves because I'd thought it was a burden to carry an extra article of clothing. But now I have no choice but to agree that it is an indispensable accessory for the winter season.

On a side note, I've been catching up on this girl's beauty contest in Asia where the rules of entering was only to submit a "before" and "after" picture. The before one is of the girls' natural looks without makeup. The "after" one is a makeover. All out with makeup however you like. Everyone votes for the girl who they think changed the most and has the best change to good-looking.

So anyway, based on the people's votes, the first place was this girl who looked decent (to say the least and be nice)...and her after picture looks nothing like her. (Personally I thought it wasn't that nice either). Makeup really does hide all the ugly though, huh. So everyone thought this girl was going to win the big prize of $5000 with her tens and thousands of votes...but guess what?!!!!

The judges choose the ultimate winner and they chose a girl who was #16th place when the voting ended...and she is also one of role models, so I was so happy she won! The judges chose her to send a message out to everyone that people don't need makeup to look pretty and to look nice. Her before picture was pretty, because that's just the way she is. She takes care of her skin and all that. She has naturally big eyes and beautiful skin.

So the people's choice of #1 walked away with $1000 while #16th place girlie got $5000! I'm so happy the judges did that because not only are they sending out a positive message to girls in Asia, they are also supporting the idea of eating right and taking care of your body and image without the use of artificial cover-ups...makeup. Makeup may cover up a girl's flaws, but it's like a mask. When you go home and remove the makeup and look in the mirror...well, there is your real self again. And also I remember reading this somewhere--makeup surely can not cover up one's ugly personality.

Black Friday

2010-11-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

I didn't have anything set in mind to buy or get a good deal of, so Annie and I left at 10AM...much after the traffic of people pushing and shoving to get the discounts huh. I ended up getting only one shirt at VF. Fail Black Friday shopping! But still fun. We ended up parking illegally at Valley Fair, on a solid line next to a wall above the ramp. Everything is too brand and high class at Valley Fair seriously so we left three hours later to go to a crappy mall where we just ate junk food like fatties and searched for things to buy but everything was so incredibly messy and gone.. Day ended and we got home at 6PM. Getting out of the parking lot at rush hour is hell.

2010-11-16T21:59:00.000-08:00

A random picture from over the weekend. I think its a pretty cool picture...of my back. Hahaha oh I'm just keeding.

I am currently addicted to the song Stuttering by Fefe Dobson. As I mentioned on Twitter, I did discover this through the TV show, Hellcats. I usually never follow TV shows, but Ashley Tisdale plays a major role in this show! Anyhow, listen for yourself--the lyrics are catchy; they imply a gradual crash in a friendship due to too many lies coming from one side.

...any state of action or passion implies previous action or passion. It does not become because it is becoming, but it is becoming because it becomes; neither does it suffer because it is in a state of suffering, but it is in a state of suffering because it suffers. -Socrates

Just finished The Trial and Death of Socrates and I admit that I may have skimmed through Phaedo, because it was not as understandable and interesting as the first three dialogues. The one thing I learned very well from this book besides that "the life which is unexamined is not worth living" is that we should always ask questions, doubt everything and ask more questions.

Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Queen of Jordan

2010-11-13T22:34:00.000-08:00

"A mother, a wife, a boss, an advocate, and a humanitarian."

Her majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan is a world-renowned advocate for human rights. She is the queen of Jordan. She's gorgeous. And on a side note, she's forty years old but she looks twenty-five in all her photos. I would do anything to look that young in my forties. And also, she's my role model and the first person of such great stature that I follow. I just discovered this amazing woman as I was reading the news on how she was here in the Silicon Valley last Saturday to receive the 2010 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award. I was reading further into it and I have nothing to say except that she deserved it, 100 percent.

Personality really does override appearance and adds to how I perceive a person as a whole. After researching Queen Rania and learning about all the great things she has done for her people, for the rights of women and children and for the world, I perceive her as not only intelligent, beautiful and powerful, but also better, inside and outside, than all those actors, actresses and models that people admire and idolize just because they are in love with their physical appearances.

Dino Hoodie!

2010-11-10T21:01:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the first day of a four day weekend! But, I will probably end up working on college apps and reading The Trial and Death of Socrates. I might head to SF (again) to take photos that fit the theme, nostalgia, for a digital photo 1 class assignment, but then it would make it my third trip to SF in three weeks. Expensive BART money of almost $12 for each round trip adds up fast!

Because this quote is worth mentioning again:

Remember; no matter how desperate the situation seems, time spent thinking clearly is never time wasted. -WWZ

This line needs to be permanently planted in my brain. I can be such an embarrassment sometimes when I say aloud thoughts that I shouldn't or say things at the wrong time. Reminds me of today when I randomly started talking to this person because I was surprised I've never seen him around school, but he was in my grade. Okay, no more impulsiveness or I might be deemed weird as if I am not already huhhh.

SF Green Festival 2010

2010-11-06T23:44:00.000-07:00

My stash of goodies from the Green Festival!

New band! (From love bottle.) I had no money for a "love bottle"--a glass bottle with a cute design, basically--but this band is just as cool. We all got one, different colors. :)

After my SAT math2 and chemistry (which I had to cancel right after I took it, because chemistry was too difficult...or I just forgot everything I learned from last year and studied over summer) this morning, Karina, Brian and I headed to the Green Festival at the San Francisco Concourse and Exhibition Center. We volunteered for the Global Exchange Store but (Karina and I) spent most of our time checking out everything in the festival twice or three or was it four times.. hehee. There was so much organic food and drinks and eco-friendly products, bags, bookmarks, and stickers! Açaí drink, 85% dark chocolate, coffee chocolate, pomegranate yogurt made from organic milk, ginger snap cookies, organic juices, organic apples, lots and lots of chocolate etc.

I Love ZY

2010-11-01T01:05:00.000-07:00

Those Coach shoes are the most girlish footwear I have ever purchased. But the ivory/gold color coordination looked really nice so I had to get it. On the other hand, I found two Zoo York shirts. I have been in love with this brand since freshmen year of high school when I discovered their shoes. Now THESE, unlike those Coach shoes, are more like my style.

On a side note, it's been a shitty week. It's always bad when my parents catch me lying to them. I read on a WSJ Personal Journal article before that lying to is a habit. I believe and I can confirm it. I lie over the tiniest things. But there's two reasons behind it all..

#1. It's better they don't know. A lot of times I actually succeed and get past them without their having to ever find out what I never want them to know. It's unnecessary for them to know, since it doesn't change a thing except that if they do know, they will get upset, stir up a lecture, etc.

#2. Fear. Enough said. In fact, according to an amazing book I read over the summer, World War Z, "Fear is the most valuable commodity in the universe. Fear of aging, fear of loneliness, fear of poverty, fear of failure. Fear is the most basic emotion we have. Fear is primal."

p.s My bestfriends got me a dinosaur hoodie for my birthday and it finally came this weekend and it's incredibly adorable!

I can be your superhero :)

2010-10-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

Outfit from today. Today was superhero day for seniors for homecoming week at my school. I guess I ended up looking like a little red riding hood but it's okay. I was originally just going to wear that Mickey Mouse hoodie, from Disneyland, and say Mickey's my superhero and call it a day (I'm not really allowed out these days...long story), but my girl Vanessa hit me up with the cape.

On a side note, I am finally done reading The Iliad. Yes! (I love Hector, Andromache, and baby Astyanax.) Anyway, I have a sudden urge to cut my hair short, like in the photo from my post a few days ago. But then again, chubby people look weird with short hair hahaha, and yes I know my jaw and cheeks are huge. :>

The Iliad: Introduction

2010-10-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

To keep me focused on my having to read the 64 pages--walls of text--of the introduction for The Iliad for AP English, I recorded the interesting parts* that I thought were pretty deep and philosophical. :)

*Text taken directly from the Introduction of The Iliad.

...the Iliad is a poem that celebrates the heroic values war imposes on its votaries. War has its deadly fascination for those who have grown up in its service. [27]

The Iliad accepts violence as a permanent factor in human life and accepts it without sentimentality, for it is just as sentimental to pretend that war does not have its monstrous ugliness as it is to deny that it has its own strange and fatal beauty, a power, which can call out in men resources of endurance, courage and self-sacrifice that peacetime, to our sorrow and loss, can rarely command. Three thousand years have not changed the human condition in this respect; we are still lovers and victims of the will to violence, and so long as we are, Homer will be read as its truest interpreter. [29]

The true hero, the true subject, the center of the Iliad, is force. Force as man's instrument, force as man's master, force before which human flesh shrinks back. [29]

"force is what makes the person subjected to it into a thing." [29]

The Iliad is a poem that lives and moves and has its being in war, in that world of organized violence in which a man justifies his existence most clearly by killing others. This violence is Achilles' native elements: only in violence are his full powers exerted, his talents fully employed. And he has deliberately chosen this sphere of activity, in which he is invincible, though he knows it will end in his early death. [35]

The gods are immortal; they are not subject to time. They have all the time in the world. And so they are not subject to change, to the change brought by age, to the change brought by learning from suffering and a realization of limitations. They will always be what they are now and have always been; they are all the same at the end of the Iliad as at the beginning. They do not change, do not learn. How could they? They are the personification of those mysterious forces which though their often violent interaction produce the harsh patterns of human life--the rise and fall of nations, the destructiveness of the earthquake, the terror of the floor, the horrors of the plague, but also the sweetness of passionate love, the intoxication of wine, the extra strength that surges through a warrior's limbs at the moment of danger. [43]

Human beings must put limits to their sorrow, their passions; they must recognize the animal need for food and drink. [55]

"The man," says Aristotle in the Politics, "who is incapable of working in common, or who in his self-sufficiency has no need of others, is no part of the community, like a beast, or a god." [57]

No matter how much you change, you still got to pay the price for the things you've done.

2010-10-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

“No matter how much you change, you still got to pay the price for the things you've done... So I got a long road. But I know I'll see youagain, this side or the other."

-Town, 2010

Truest quote ever. It's from the movie, The Town (2010), that I watched yesterday. My friend and I skipped school and took bart to San Francisco, originally to catch a sale, but when our plans went wrong, we ended up watching this movie in the SF Westfield mall.

Either I'm over-analyzing and thinking way too much into the movie, but I thought it was an amazing movie that displayed the lessons of change very clearly. People can change all they want and try to hide their past as much and as carefully as possible, but the world (sometimes) will never accept the fact that they have changed for good or even for the better. People change, but memories don't.

This quote speak for me so much, it's pretty crazy. I've done so much shit in my life and I try really hard to change and I actually am changed, but everyone, especially my parents, still judges me according to my past. I realize that although I want to change for my own good and for the whole lot better, people naturally just won't accept it. Maybe it is because they hate change themselves...who knows. Or maybe the "memories" they have of me override their capability to see me as a "new" person.

But most people, including my own parents, will always think of me as still that stupid, clumsy, immature and mischievous kid that will just never grow up. The kid that stole things from school and got caught in the third and fourth grade. The kid that is an expert at lying to her own parents. The kid that hung out with the wrong crowd at times and got in a lot of trouble. The kid that had a friend call in as her dad to excuse her from school because she was "sick" and actually headed all the way to SF. Sound familiar? It should... because I mentioned it in the first paragraph of this post! So maybe I haven't changed entirely, but I'm trying and I really learned from my mistakes...but its hard to just take the rebel out of me like that because I will always be one at heart.

It takes an experience to learn a mistake, but it only takes a simple mistake to have to go through an unwanted experience.

p.s I bought a new T-shirt from The Hundreds store on Post Street in SF. It was pouring and we had nothing better to do after the The Town, so we went shopping! Of course.. This shirt is overpriced to the max, but hey, it's kind of cute and it's not everyday I go around buying $30+ shirts so it's alright.

Hypebeast mode!

17

2010-10-17T02:07:00.000-07:00

I lost my voice and I'm coughing so bad but my bestfriends made us go watch The Social Network and eat my birthday dinner at Market Broiler.

Sometimes it's the little things that make a big difference.

2010-09-28T23:19:00.000-07:00

Besides the horrible hot weather, I love life so much right now. I was feeling pretty down last week but now I'm really happy about life, my friends, and everything. And I really appreciate all the people in my life. I love my friends so much....what would I do without them?

Anyhow, Nathan and I were talking about how the smallest things people do can really make someones day. Like compliments. Compliments are nice and all, however sometimes its overused; you just hear it or get it too much. It gets old in your mind and it actually seems like people are just sucking up to you sometimes. But hearing that same remark from someone unexpected, or someone you want to hear it from, can really make make your day.

Darling, I hope you are not operating under the misconception that we are somehow ‘pals.’

2010-09-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

"Most people don't believe something can happen until it already has. That's not stupidity or weakness, that's just human nature."

I can be overoptimistic sometimes. I prepare for the best but expect the worst. My friends are right: I go into denial when the worst really happens. Then I resort to ignorance and avoid the situation completely. I try to push it to the back of mind until it maybe falls out.. which I learned from experience, is nearly impossible. Its just that fake smiling is so much easier than explaining my feelings.

Mandala

2010-09-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

I bought Disney Fairy bedding.

Sillybandz: Dinosaurs

2010-09-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

Yay! Gah bought me this dinosaurs Sillybandz pack from New York. Legittt.

Phineas and Ferb: Summer Belongs To You!

2010-09-06T15:11:00.000-07:00

I watched Phineas and Ferb: Summer Belongs To You!, like, three times and I just have to tell you guys about it because this is my favorite episode in my favorite Disney show. Hehee. If you're going to watch this Disney cartoon for whatever reason and don't want me to say what happened, stop reading!

So anyhow, I love this show to the max! It was really touching and Candace and Jeremy finally get together! And Phineas and Isabella get their feelings straightened out, sort of. Also, I learned that Paris is the most romantic city in the world. A close friend was teasing me and telling me to take notes on this show because I'm horrible at relationships. Haha, oh please. Anyhow, this episode makes me really happy. Hehe.

Best part ever :

Candace: I have something I wanted to tell you!
Jeremy: Really? What is it?
Candace: I wanted to tell you earlier but then I saw you in front of your hotel with those kids and the girl with the ice cream---
Jeremy: Candace, were you spying on me?
Candace: And no no no it was like I saw you and it was like my teacher wearing a cowboy hat---
Jeremy: I would hope my girlfriend would have a little trust in me.
Candace: Jeremy---you said the G word..
Jeremy: Well yeah I used the G word. It doesn't freak you out does it??
Candace: No, because I think of you as my B word!
Jeremy: Well G word, do you want a K word?
Candace: Hehee maybeeee.

senior

2010-09-05T18:31:00.001-07:00

School/senior year started. Nobody to look up to anymore! I need to get used to that. My schedule is not permanent yet, but I'm taking AP Environmental Science, Ethnic Studies, AP Calculus AB(/BC?), Digital Photo 1, AP English and American Government/Economics. For once in my school life I finally have a class with Karina, so I'm excited for that. I was suppossed to take senior portraits two weeks ago, but my bangs are a mess as a result of my cutting them by myself. So I'm delaying that as long as possible until my hair looks normal again.

Scam

2010-08-17T00:33:00.000-07:00

Because I came across it, I get to let the whole world know that michelgrant_67@yahoo.com is a fake. In fact, this is probably just one of the many many side accounts of this person. After some google search, I found out his other alias is Jerry Desola [jcoleblues6@gmail.com] and he was on craiglist a lot. Now moved on to Facebook Marketplace! And funny he recycles this message! Lazyass to the max:

From: Michel Grant michelgrant_67@yahoo.com
To: Tabitha tabasaur@yahoo.com
Sent: Mon, August 16, 2010 8:16:01 PM
Subject: Email me the name and address to send the payment and close the advert right asap today

Hello,
thanks for your reply.i want you to give me the list of all the items you have for sale including their prices may be i will like to buy more of it.i agree to pay the amount you want as final asking price of the item.i am purchasing this item for my boss.my mode of payment is Cashier Check.my boss will include my commission and the shipping fees in your payment.that means the amount on the payment will be more than the item fees.then you must deduct your fees and send back the rest fund.do not worry your self about the shipment.i do have a private shipping company that will come and pick up the item at your address the next day you get the payment.email me the full name and address to send out the Check Payment.let me know if you understand that the amount that will be on the payment will be more than your item fees.i want you to close the advert right away.i will add extra $20 in your payment for doing that.let me know if you agree to deduct your fees and send back the left fund as my commission/shipping. make sure you email me the final asking price you want for the item in your reply.

Anyway below are the questions i have for you.

1)Is the item in good condition?
2)Can you make sure you get the Cashier Check cash at your bank in one business day and send the left fund the same day?
3)Do you agree to deduct your item fees and send back the left fund as my commission and shipping fees the day you get the payment?
4)Do you understand that the shipping company will come and pick the item at your address the next day you receive the payment?

Thanks,

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

From: Tabitha Chew tabasaur@yahoo.com
To: Michel Grant michelgrant_67@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Email me the name and address to send the payment and close the advert right asap today

Why are you so eager for me to close it?

Tabitha

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

From: Michel Grant michelgrant_67@yahoo.com
To: Tabitha Chew tabasaur@yahoo.com
Sent: Mon, August 16, 2010 8:28:09 PM
Subject: I NEED THE NAME AND ADDRESS TO SEND THE CHECK PAYMENT TO ASAP TODAY

hey..not that i am eager for you to close the advert compulsory.. i want you to know that there is reward for closing the advert off ... i will be giving you an extra 20 dollar.. let me know if you understand me and email me back if yes to all my questions.. email me your full name and address to send the check payment to asap today..

Thanks

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

From: Tabitha Chew tabasaur@yahoo.com
To: Michel Grant michelgrant_67@yahoo.com
Sent: Tue, August 17, 2010 12:05:18 AM
Subject: Re: I NEED THE NAME AND ADDRESS TO SEND THE CHECK PAYMENT TO ASAP TODAY

Get a life. You need one.

Thoughtfully,
Tabitha

I knew something was wrong when I saw the email address. "Who makes email addresses like that?" was the first thing that ran through my mind. Then it was "omg contradict yourself much?" when I read the email message. Private shipping company why is that hm? And "do you know how to type properly?!" So I decided to copy and paste the whole message directly into google search and guess what! It's a scammer surprise surprise not!

Common sense though. Who would want to pay an extra 20? Ever? Who would keep persuading you to release your full name and address to them? Uh. People who want to cheat you. Or kidnap you for all I know. Never ever give your location out...but you should already know that!

p.s This is what they ALL say at first. I got this dumb message THREE times on the same listing. Stupid not???

Hello,i am interested to buy your item,is it still available?if yes.tell me the final asking price,and send me more pics via [insert fake email address here] hope to read from you soon.Thanks

michelgrant_67@yahoo.com

forlanmattew_1990@yahoo.com

garrybenson_1991@yahoo.com

A NEW REVOLUTION.

2010-08-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

To state the obvious, or not so obvious, I cut my hair by myself! Nothing new though, because I've been cutting my own hair for the past two years. Anyway, I found this graphic tee at MACY'S in the boy section....bought it because I thought it looked cool.

Origami Salamence

2010-08-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

I really hate how pictures look different on different monitors. I've always worked with my photos on my hp laptop but unfortunately since the screen's interior broke the other day I've been working with a computer monitor which makes every picture I've worked with before look so much worse! I always knew macs and pcs makes photos look different because macs lack color management and stuff, but I didn't know different types of screens make pictures look so different too. Now I'm starting to get paranoid. Is that picture up there too dark? Too yellow? What a stupid thing to be stressing over.

doodling..

2010-07-07T23:29:00.000-07:00

You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.

2010-06-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

Five and a half hours at the park kind of relieved stress especially since earlier in the day was SAT and there are a lot of projects to finish and finals to study for because school is almost ending. We were around from middle of the afternoon under the scorching heat until the late evening when it cooled down a lot. I'm so happy it's almost summer but when I think about it, I remember I have to take classes and all that stuff that has to do with grades. And I know I'm gonna miss the rain, the wind and the chill so much because I really don't like this super hot weather.

Ghirardelli Chocolate & Boudin Clam Chowder Bread Bowls

2010-05-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

"Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is the supreme law. By alone can mankind be saved." -Gandhi

When someone does something wrong, we don't necessarily hate them. We hate the thing they did and the choice they made. The only way to demonstrate to them what is right is to teach them--not hurt them for the thing they had done. What they have done has been done and there is no need to use violence because all that will start is conflict and war. And war only shows who is left, not who is right.

Boudin.

Ghirardelli Square.

Boudin clam chowder bread bowls for lunch.

what goes up must come down.

2010-04-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

I'm currently reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and I discovered something important that I should keep in mind. Friendships die out and we try to save them. We want to relight the ashes into a flame--to rekindle worn out friendships. What we don't realize is that a broken relationship will never be the same no matter how hard we try to patch up the tears and gaps. A shattered mirror's crack, although it may be glued back together, will always be visible and ready to shatter again. Exactly like a friendship. Once we lose them, we may never get them back. And if we--in that one in a million chance--do become friends again, it will never be the same as before.

happy earth day

2010-04-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

Pokemon Food

2010-04-17T21:08:00.000-07:00

I've never experienced this feeling before. So I walked down a hallway to get to my math class and just had to pass by someone who used to be really close to me. I found myself looking everywhere else but forward to prevent any accidental eye contact. From wall to wall to ground to ceiling. I didn't want to stare at these boring things but I desperately wanted to pretend I didn't see him so I don't need to be reminded on how much I miss the old us. I went to the half empty classroom and sat down and was thinking of something to say with the person next to me, but somehow other thoughts filled my head. I don't remember what they were but unexpectedly I started to tear up. To say the least. Dude. That's not what I'm supposed to do, that's not what I'm supposed to ever do! That is so embarrassing. This was the first time I ever cried over missing someone. :> Showing sad emotions in public is embarrassing. Makes me feel weird too. Nobody likes a sad person. But good job to my quick thinking that led me to run out of the room. Too bad no one was around that I could chill with so I opened, stared into, and closed my locker, washed my hands, walked around... I don't even know..

English class and common sense taught me that nothing lasts forever and that we should appreciate and be happy while we have something or someone. Because one day you won't have that something anymore and one day that someone won't want to be your friend anymore.

Big Sur & Carmel

2010-04-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

At Pfeiffer beach, Big Sur, there are these "rock doors" that look pretty cool when the waves splash through and upwards. And, the sand at this beach has a tint of mangenta! Really pretty.

Point Lobos state reserve.

2010-03-31T19:37:00.000-07:00

Pentax K-x

2010-03-26T00:27:00.000-07:00

Yay it finally came!

I've been debating whether to get the Nikon D5000 or the Pentax K-x for my first SLR/professional camera for the past few month or so. With the Pentax K-x shooting 18% faster, being 27% smaller, weighing 2% less, being 5 months newer, having a better maximum light sensitivity, and costing less than the Nikon D5000, I was convinced. I was even more motivated to purchase the K-x when I found out it came in white.

I decided to choose the opposite of most common black. I took yellow into consideration, but it wouldn't match all my outfits everyday so white it is.

Goodbye Nikon compact camera and hello SLR, Pentax K-x!

03/26/2010 9:40 PM

To those people who decided to act "smart" to me:

Pentax is a new brand. You should have gotten Canon or Nikon because they are brand names that everyone talks about.

You must be pretty old to consider Pentax' being founded in 1919 as old. Nikon was was founded in 1917 and Canon in 1937. The only reason why most people have only heard about and consider Canon and Nikon as the top two brands for cameras is because Pentax does not spend a lot of advertising. They are not after market share; they make good electronics and live with whatever amount of market share they get.

Let's face reality: people are brainwashed by "pros" to believe Canon and Nikon is the only way to go. Don't disregard the Pentax just because people go after the more talked about and more advertised brands. Pentax is just as much as a brand name and just as old as Nikon and Canon.

Noob. You know that Pentax' lens suck. No wait. Pentax sucks. Why did you get Pentax.

HAHAHA. You know that Pentax SLRs have the best and is the only model to have full backwards lens compatibility? Let's compare the Pentax K-x with it's closest rival, the Nikon D5000...because after all D5000 was the one I was debating against on getting in the first place and I cannot speak for any thing from Pentax other then the K-x. D5000 has limited lens choices. Basically, D5000 has no in-body stabilization, no screw-drive in-body for things like built-in auto-focus, and does not contain full backwards compatibility....while the K-x has all of mentioned and more.

K-x can use both lenses that have in-lens stabilization or no stabilization at all and still take blur-free images. The only way for D5000 to auto-focus is getting a lens that contains an AF motor. For K-x any lens will work because it has a built-in AF motor; only the high-end cameras from Nikon have this built-in.

K-x has the best sensor in its class range with its awesome high-iso images with 12800 max. K-x also has natural lens defects corrections such as chromatic aberration and distortions.

K-x has its in-camera focus motor which is missing from Nikon until D90 and in-camera Image Stabilization (IS) which is missing in both Nikon and Canon. D5000 needs special lens that carry out these specific functions, while the K-x has it all built-in and read to use with any lens.

And here's a random fact: The Pentax K-x won the best travel gadget of 2009 in Times Magazine. :>

Taken with the integrated Toy Camera filter.

The K-x can take pictures with 8 built-in digital filters: Toy Camera, Retro, High Contrast, Extract Color, Soft, Star Burst, Fish-eye, and Custom Filter. Processing filters can be used to edit photos directly and they include those just listed and also Water Color, Pastel, Miniature, Base Parameter Adj, Monochrome, Color, Slim and HDR.

Can't you see I just wanna be safe from the problems and the pressures caused by insecurities.

2010-02-08T17:58:00.000-08:00

Finals is over for first semester finally. Currently undergoing anxiety rush waiting for grades to come out in the next week or two.

2010-01-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

Sock Plushie

2010-01-05T19:33:00.000-08:00

First time sewing. Made this from knee-high socks that somebody gave me for Christmas last year that I never really wore...hehe. At least I put it to good use? I learned AFTER that sewing on the inside then flipping it inside out will eliminate unwanted fringes and loose threads.

Pizookie

2009-12-07T16:20:00.000-08:00

Spent three hours trying to bake a pizookie for my bestfriend!

Oops.

On a side note, I got Bob, my new Wobble Clock!! I haven't had the time to read the manual last night, so this morning the alarm rang 3 times until I could figure out what to do, what button to click.

Disneyland Cali!

2009-11-25T22:40:00.000-08:00

Death Valley two nights then Anaheim two nights. I got the greatest walking workout ever by hiking in the desert and then spending a whole day at Disneyland and Downtown Disney. So get ready.. I am going to squeeze 5 days worth of pictures into this one post.

Zabriskie Point.

colors

2009-11-20T23:03:00.000-08:00

2009-10-24T23:38:00.000-07:00

To Do Before I Die

2009-10-22T22:10:00.000-07:00

1. Try 50 different chocolates in Belgium.

2. Visit Singapore and go to one of the two OSF boutiques.

3. Go to Taiwan with my BBFFs and buy lots of Taiwanese style clothing.

4. Participate in a flash mob in a big city like SF, NYC, or London.

5. Get over 500 hypes on a look on Lookbook.

6. Get favorited over 300 times on an item on Deviant Art.

7. Go on the London Eye, go in the London Dungeon, and visit the Tower of London.

8. Eat lunch or dinner under the Eiffel Tower.

9. Graffiti my signature dinosaur mark somewhere.

10. Meet up with Gah one day.

11. Take a walk down the streets and through the park with someone through heavy rain.

12. Visit and walk inside the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt.

13. Ask a stranger for a date or to hang out with them for a whole day.

14. Make a dry ice bomb.

15. Make fire bubbles.

16. Set foot on all seven continents.

17. Swim with a whale shark.

18. Run a business.

19. Write an article for a newspaper or magazine.

20. Go to Times Square, NY for the New Years countdown.

21. Get my name and biography on Wikipedia.

22. Go to a night club in Las Vegas.

23. Ask a stranger if I can try some of what they're eating.

24. Color my hair a shade of brown.

25. Draw faces on eggs in an egg carton and give them to someone who loves eggs.

26. See the dinosaurs at Palm Springs.

27. Attempt to see or catch a blobfish.

28. Meet a gazelle.

29. Get a tattoo of wings on the middle of my upper left arm. (if i get over the fear of needles in me)

30. Go to Disneyland (Anaheim) with best friends and take a picture with every character and get all their autographs.

31. Do this with photos of myself one day!

32. Watch all the Disney princess movies with someone in one sitting.