GIRLS' NIGHT OUT

Out with Kristen all day... two malls, a gazillon stores, and we still got a couple of bucks left between the two of us. (Yay us!) Our day got off to a late start because of an emergency trip to the dentist, courtesy of me. I was shot up with Novocain, mangled by, drilled on, and criticized by my dentist. (I really oughta find a new dentist!) HE CALLED ME PRISSY!!!! Maybe I tend to be a bit picky when it comes to food, and I might be a tad overly concerned with my appearance, but that does NOT constitute being prissy! It's even worse when it's your dentist calling you that!!!

Either way, the Novocain wore off right as Kristen and I made it to Santa Anita's CPK. Yum... good stuff! The waiter even brought us tiramisu – on the house!!!! *SCORE* Over lunch, Kristen got mad at me for being picky with my food and stopped talking to me. Quote of the CENTURY: "You're stupid. Now serve me!" LOL, Kris is TOO funny! She also made me finish everything and lick the plates clean. I was so full! My stomach still hurts right now... Santa Anita turned out to be a total bust – didn't buy anything except food. But DID see old high school friends!

We skedaddled on over to Montebello to go boy-watching. Sadly, no Albert... but we did get in some X-mas shopping. You know you're in Montebello when you get cat-calls IN the mall; greetings like "Daaaamn, Ma!" and "OOooOOh, Mama, looking good!" (Quite different from the cat-calls received in SF and Downtown Berkeley.) Kris and I got a good laugh out of it all. And still... no Albert.

We came back home and ate dinner (yes, more food). Then we met up with the other ladies (Elaine, Gabs, Caroline, and Tracy) for a late showing of "Two Weeks Notice." I'm usually not the biggest fan of romantic flicks, but I have to admit, this one was pretty darn good. I guess we all relate to Lucy in some way. In my case, I AM Lucy, except I don't get Hugh Grant in the end. It's sad that I need a movie to tell me things about myself and why I'm not hooked up with Mr. Right. I guess Mrs. Wellenstein was dead-on when she was talking about going to the "Boyfriend Shop" to build your perfect man... sadly, it doesn't exist. Remember Jamie, marry the man, not the job...

X-MAS PARTY... DELTAMAX STYLE

Who would've thought that being in a room full of 40-something year old businessmen would end up being a night of utter fun. My dad's company throws the best X-mas parties! There was good food, lots of cheesy Karaoke singing, good food, dancing, and GOOD FOOD! I out-ate every man at the table and ended up being the life of the party. It was fun meeting up with my dad's coworkers again. Most of them haven't seen me in ages. I always get a kick out of their millions of stories about knowing me "when you were this little!" *holds hand out at knee height* And according to Kenny, no matter how much of a "young woman" I become in everybody else's eyes, I'll always be his "little tomboy".

Highlight of the night: I managed to steal a dance with Uncle Jack (dad's boss, whom I've known ever since I was born). Amazing... he still looks like an Asian Michael Douglas.

Revelation of the night: I'm attracted to older men because they're attracted to me! Sick, I know!! Once again, just reaffirms the fact that I'm a 40-year old woman trapped inside the body of a 19-year old girl. At least I managed to work the room and smoozed with all of my dad's big customers... so there's my good deed of the day.

All in all, a totally fun night. I laughed so hard that my jaw still hurts. Didn't think that spending time with people twice my age could be fun, but it was!!!! Already looking forward to next year's party...

GABBY HAS BEEN REINSTATED

Ahh... bribe me with Chevy's food and I go running right back. Even amid taunting, nothing can steal me away as I bite into the tastiest sliver of grilled steak ever known to mankind. Gabby, you are, once again, and forever will be, my best friend. (My, how easily I am swayed by food!)

MORE REASONS WHY GABS ISN'T #1 ON MY LIST ANYMORE...

1. She refuses to wrestle with me!

2. She scares me with her hacking from her flash strips. She sounds like the lady from Mad TV that says "AAAAaaAaAGgGGGkkKkKK... Gawd, that's cute!"

Read ... just mind blogging ... for more details.

UPDATES

Gabby is no longer my best friend. She has replaced me with *gasp* a BOY!!!! *more gasping*

Kristen is a playa... she's getting more action than me!!!!!

UPDATE ON LAUNDRY BOY

His name is Paul and he lives in #211. And he's really tall.

HOT GUY ON THE LOOSE

Must alert Caroline... hot white guy living in our apartment complex. I walk down this morning (okay... more like afternoon), thinking, "I need to do laundry." Still in my pjs, I trek down through our leaky complex to the scary garage/dumpster/washer/dryer area. Looking like crap and totally mismatched with my corduroy jacket over a HIC t-shirt and my green "I wish I may" star *pajama* pants, I run into the first potentially good-looking guy at the complex. What are the chances of both of us waking up and thinking about doing laundry... at the exact same time?!?!? Really nice guy though, he offerred to take out all his stuff and give me the washer. *FYI: he's a boxer-kind of guy.* Caroline, he looks like Gabe, but with a darker shade of brown hair.

In other news, I'm all done with two classes. Yesterday was perhaps one of the most productive days I've ever had. I managed to pull an all-nighter writing for my Rhetoric paper Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. I seriously did NOT procrastinate on this paper and still ended up finishing at the last minute... 6:06 am, to be exact. I managed to sleep until 7:43 am (yes, precision matters!). I woke up, edited my paper, printed it out and took Caroline's car to go turn it in. Got back to the apartment at 9:04 and began to do PS hw. Finished at around 11 and then finally STARTED studying for the final that I had at 12:30 that day. Yes, it was a big scare. I've always studied for finals days and days in advance. But this time, I absolutely had no extra time. However, my hour of studying evidentally proved very effective. Everything that was on the test was what I had studied for... minus the stuff about Mills Method of Agreement and Difference. (Who the hell actually uses that?!) Either way, the test turned out to be not so bad... except the fact that I felt COMPLETELY drained afterwards. On my way home, I managed to finally grab a bite to eat and rent "12 Angry Men." (Partly for my enjoyment, partly for Rhetoric 20.)

Speaking of Rhetoric 20... our final is on Saturday... at 8am!!!! How unfair is that?! But thanks to Fievel, it is now at 8:30 am. Last night, I had this strange dream that the University wouldn't take my units for Rhetoric 20 because it wasn't a "real Rhetoric class." In all honestly, I also find the class a bit "hokey," to use Professor Clover's word. It's nothing like what I had to go through with Rhetoric 10. The whole class just seems WAY too easy for me for it to be a Rhetoric course. Rhetoric courses are usually so difficult for me. Gabs informed me this morning that Rhetoric 20 is going to be taught completely differently next semester. Those poor kids next semester...

Speaking of dreams... I dreamt that I met Colin Powell and Al Gore at a Senate meeting. And I blurted out, "Colin Powell!!! I want to work for you this summer! I'm going to be in DC!"

Okay, no more randomness... Conclusion: Managed to write a paper and study for final in under 12 hours. Now, THAT'S efficiency!

AND THE COMEDY CONTINUES

Me: Hey, read my blog. Daddy's funny.
Terri: OMG, I'm on-line? How did that happen? I thought I signed off!

*an hour later*

Me: Hey, you know you're still on, right?
Terri: Now I do... cuz you're talking to me.

*signs off in a panic*

MY DADDY IS TOOOOO FUNNY!!!

*phone rings*

Daddy: Hi, are you studying?
Me: Yes. Where are you? Are you driving home?
Daddy: Yup.
Me: Are you near the Bicycle Club yet?
Daddy: Yeah, I'm right outside... RIGHT OUTSIDE!
Me: OMG, are you gambling?!?!
Daddy: No, I'm just RIGHT outside... ooh, not anymore... just passed it.

*moments later*

Me: I bought Jerry a birthday present.
Daddy: Oh, I bought Jerry a birthday present, too... a shirt. From that blue place...?
Me: Anchor Blue?
Daddy: Yeah! Yeah, I bought him one of those "Daddy shirts."
Me: You mean a flannel?
Daddy: Yeah, those... "Daddy shirts" – but bigger.

*me rolling in laughter*

My problems aren't even problems at all... Here I am worried about finals and eventually turning into a "fat chick." But, in all honestly, my problems don't even compare. There are people out there that fight to just stay alive every day... and I'm fretting over a fucking test?!??! Life isn't fair. Good people don't deserve to die. Let's just hope my dreams are predictions of the future. Our everyday superficial problems don't even make the Richter Scale of worries... just remember that the next time something doesn't goes your way.

EXTRA WEIGHT

All I've done these past couple of days is eat, eat, eat... and then eat some more. My roommates seriously fear for my health. I used to tell myself, "Hey, I only live once. Why not make the most of what I eat?" I figure my metabolism is fast; I can eat a lot. But lately, I'm afraid that all these high cholesterol food that I've been indulging in will sooner or later catch up to me. I worry that I'm going to be a fat chick by the time I turn 25!!!! Heck, I've been snacking on Willy Wonka candy, doughnut holes, "Hot Cheetos", beef jerky, and drinking Pepsi Twist non-stop!

This fear has stemmed from a couple of things... First of all, while watching some special on E! today, they interviewed some lady who's had complications with giving birth, resulting in two miscarriages. The feature ended with her eventually giving birth to a beautiful baby girl. *Yay, happiness!* However, stupid me, the only thing I focused on during the whole segment was how much weight she's put on since she got married. The interview had been done at her house, with pictures of the couple's wedding as a backdrop. She was SOOOO thin in the pictures. And then I see this completely different person that's like 200 pounds heavier being interviewed and all I'm thinking is, "No way these two are the same person!!!!!"

Anyway, during this whole time, I was trying to put together Caroline's new elliptical machine. I finally finished by the time Caroline got back from her lunch meeting. Feeling pretty eager to try it, I got on the contraption. Let me be the first to tell you, 15 minutes of extremely strenuous exercise is not good for the head!!!! I got off the machine and felt horribly light-headed. I went into the bedroom, then to the kitchen and blacked out somewhere inbetween. I finally managed to get to the couch and just died there. I think it was a combination of being dehydrated and my asthma kicking in... but still, who the hell dies after 15 minutes of working out??? Don't remember much of anything else that happened until Zairel came home... just a bunch of crazy-@$$ dreams... but let's not go there, too many "What If's" for my mind to deal with at this point in life.

Conclusion: I will be fat chick in the near future.

HELLO CHARLOTTE

Instead of studying today... I decided to take an on-line quiz with my "Sex and the City" buddy, Gabs. Here's the verdict:

You scored 70% Charlotte
A romantic at heart, you chose the answers that demure Charlotte may have chosen. Strongly influenced by the intuitive, profound and sometimes naïve Water Signs -- Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces -- you're like a mother, a mystery and a poet all in one. Though on the surface you may seem innocent and all about seeking the good in people, beneath the surface, you hide secret yearnings for intimacy, for attachment and ideal love. You're seeking a knight in shining armor, a soul mate, someone who will complete you and tether you to the earth when you get carried away with your fantasies. You're super-sensitive, soaking up the moods of others; you emote freely, crying at commercials and sappy movies. You also provide a shoulder to cry on and open arms for hugs. Be careful that you're not so wide-eyed and trusting that you get taken in by some cunning wolf in sheep's clothing.

Did I REALLY need a quiz to tell me this??? I might as well BE Charlotte...

Take the Test For Yourself

ZAIREL WARNED ME...

... did I listen??? NO! Zairel told me that she lost her last blog entry cuz blogger has been on the blink lately. *sigh* Just wrote this long blog, all about Stan's big art debut, cartoon box people, GQ models, Hot-Japanese-Major-Art-Boy, Robert "drinking", a homeless man on Durant singing like Bob Dylan, naked man hooked up to some IV-looking thing in hospital scrubs at art exhibit, my schizophrenic stalker on Sproul who I've had to escape from 3 times today, and watching porn. (Yes, watching porn... inadvertently!) Alas... blogger did not post my entry and acted like I didn't blog at all! Maybe it wasn't meant to be... I even missed a big portion of the Laker game trying to blog!!!! Makes me mad!

So... instead, I'm going to write about the Laker game... Kobe is so freakin' amazing! I love the guy... would gladly be his mistress if he decided to profess his love to me. Would even take care of his soon to be children. If only... Dang, such an amazing game today! They freakin' came back from a 28-point deficit in the half! The Lakers are definitely back! If they can go from being big dummies and standing around watching the ball bounce to scoring 44 points in the 4th quarter, they can do anything. I laugh in the face of all those haters who said that Kobe couldn't amount to anything during his 1st year in the NBA. The guy's come a long way, and he's definitely got a lot more mileage in him... GO LAKERS! Proud fan since '88...

CHANCE ENCOUNTERS

It's always interesting to see who you'll bump into next on the bus. Tonight was a chance enounter with my Hot-Japanese-Major-Art-Boy. I ran into him a couple of weeks ago while taking the bus and we struck up a conversation. When I saw him today, he had finished his final project: a self-portrait. Quite an amazing piece of work. Second conversation and still no names exchanged... but it kinda keeps things interesting. There's still a hint of quiet mystery to him, though I do know that he's originally from the outskirts of Tahoe. Hmm... I wonder who I'll run into next...

Caroline didn't let me go beat-up the parking meter today. I was all set for a night of crime, minus a black wardrobe. But the Cerritos in Caroline stopped me from messing with the meter and now she may have to end up paying the $32... sometimes it sucks being good... We ended up standing in line at Safeway behind hottie Joe Shipp, paying for Gabby's pies for her Water Library potluck... yes, I know, how boring...

Last random comment: Luis now gets catalogs from Alloy, courtesy of me!

NAME THAT MOVIE

"You've got your father's eyes..."

"Yes, and my mother's ears... but the rest belongs to you."

My second favorite pick-up line thus far. My favorite is still Allison's! "Excuse me, is that a mirror in your pocket? Cuz I swear I see myself in your pants!!!!" (Now imagine long-haired Derek Yuill's expression when Allison said that to him!)

PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY VACATION AWAY!

My Thanksgiving was soooo nice... so relaxing. Mom cooked the best Thanksgiving feast. I lounged around like a freakin' couch potato and watched the Harrison Ford Thanksgiving Day marathon... watched 6 of his movies! (The Witness, Clear and Present Danger, 6 Days, 7 Nights, and all three original Indiana Jones movies.) Around midnight, they started replaying the same movies. That's when I said, "No more!" and switched over to the Mark-Paul Gosselaar TV marathon (errr... technically the NYPD Blue marathon on Court TV). I'm not a big fan of the show, so I watched most of it muted, which ended up being a lot better. Didn't really go to sleep until sometime after 4am... however, it was quite an enjoyable day. Who could ask for more??? 24 hours of Harrison Ford AND Mark-Paul Gosselaar!!!

Had dinner with the parents and Jerry last night at well-known beef noodle restaurant. It's official... both Dad and Jerry called me a Fat Chick... and busboy was amazed with my eating abilities. Apparently 3 bowls of noodles is a lot for a girl my size. *shrug* At least my pants still fit...

One last note: I need to find a different dentist!!!! I had to go to him 3 times before he was able to fix my cavitiy! The first time, he didn't even find the cavitiy, despite my persistency. The second time, he fixed it, but apparently it hurt even more than when I had the cavitiy. I went back to him the third time and it turns out that the filling was smashing my gums and thus affecting the nerves underneath the tooth... *sigh* I want my old dentist back. This young kid (old dentist's nephew) still needs a lot of work!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TERRI!!!!

Here's irony for ya... Gabs has a sister born on Thanksgiving, I have a sister born on Thanksgiving, too! Terri and I went out for dinner together, just the two of us. It was really nice being able to catch up with her. Guess what? We're actually able to carry on an intelligent conversation now without saying "You're stoopid!" every ten minutes. Terri, have a great 16th!

Here I sit... waiting for a darn E-book from Amazon. Why in the world, you ask, am I be purchasing an E-book??? I need to read this darn book called Embedded Autonomy by Peter Evans for Soc 5. I'm not a cheap person, I really DID intend to buy this book. I even tried to go get the book last Thursday. But the funniest thing happened... both Neds and the ASUC Bookstore are already restocking for next semester!!!! I'm so late that I can't even purchase any more books for this semester! I figured they'd probably be done by today. Ha! I went in there looking like a loser cuz the lady said, "Honey, most the other students have already bought all their books this semester. We're not selling any more books!"

I left Gabs drooling over Jake in Rhetoric 20 early so that I could go to the Berkeley Public Library to check out the book. I ended up with some dsylexic librarian *literally* who couldn't help me if her life depended on it. Disheartened, I left the library empty-handed. I thought I could just cheat the system and call up my friend and ask her to summarize the book for me. Let me tell you... it sucks having a conscience... I just couldn't do it. I just HAD to read the book for myself. I'm getting desperate... I have to turn in a page-long paper of what I thought about the book. One-page, no biggie... but I just feel like I NEED to read the book. I finally broke down and just bought the sucker via E-book. (I hate having to read things on-line... it hurts my eyes!) So now I sit here waiting for the file to be e-mailed to me. Paper due in 7.5 hours and counting...

I thought by coming to Berkeley I'd eventually break out of the Schurr circle... not that there's anything wrong with Schurr guys, they're actually probably some of the most gentlemen-like guys I've ever met. But I was just hoping that Cal would offer me some variety; show me something different. But it seems like the harder I try, the more I find myself confined to the Schurr circle... it looks like it's back to Square One for me...

It's funny how people try to make themselves look better by putting others down... the Napolean Complex... lately, I've been subjected to it so much that I know it all too well. Politics is such a dirty game. Innocent, naive people get hurt in the process... and that hurts the most. It's not so much me that I'm worried about... I'm already hardened by the whole ordeal. It hurts my heart to see other people get pummeled and steamrolled by this nasty game. I applaud those that search deep in their hearts and do things out of sheer love. I think the world would be a much better place then. Don't accuse people of doing good. Mr. Big Blue Dog, you, sir, are a DICK!!!

SO HAPPY...

So silly happy right now... it's not even cuz of a guy (Gabs!)... I was done with homework by 10pm tonight. Literally done with EVERYTHING, with nothing left to do whatsoever... it's a wonderful feeling! BTW, Rent tomorrow!!!! Yay!

RE-POST... GHETTO-STYLE

Friday night
Went drinking wit da presidents, know what I'm sayin'?... no, seriously, went to a bar n' shit... didn't get carded n' shit. Yet, also didn't drink n' shit. Sat there wit my Strawberry Daiquiri, virgin n' shit. Hey, at least I peeped bomb diggity.


Saturday night
Took Kevin's hooptie out fo' a joy ride, know what I'm sayin'? Got lost rollin' in SF, couldn't find my way to Fishermen's Wharf if my life depended on that shiznit... quite sad n' shit. However, da night wuz saved wit a nice dinner at Bubba Gumps n' shit. Da conference ended on a bomb diggity high note. Couldn't ax fo' a on point way to conclude da conference n' shit. Came crib, wuz extremely tired, but managed to pull myself togizzle to make a cameo at Caleb's swim party wit Caroline, know what I'm sayin'? Guess who I seen? Kris n' shit... along wit tha dude's track boys n' shit. Track boys be hilarious, know what I'm sayin'? Didn't stay lizzong at da party n' shit... need sleep n' shit.


Sunday morning (afternoon)
Didn't wake up til 2pm today, know what I'm sayin'? Am fully caught up wit loss of sleep from da past week. However, horribly behind in homework n' shit...

WEEKEND OF CRAZINESS

Friday night
Went drinking with the presidents... no, seriously, went to a bar... didn't get carded. Yet, also didn't drink. Sat there with my Strawberry Daiquiri, virgin. Hey, at least I looked cool.

Saturday night
Took Kevin's car out for a joy ride. Got lost driving in SF, couldn't find my way to Fishermen's Wharf if my life depended on it... quite sad. However, the night was saved with a nice dinner at Bubba Gumps. The conference ended on a wonderfully high note. Couldn't ask for a better way to conclude the conference. Came home, was extremely tired, but managed to pull myself together to make a cameo at Caleb's swim party with Caroline. Guess who I saw? Kris... along with his track boys. Track boys are hilarious. Didn't stay long at the party... need sleep.

Sunday morning (afternoon)
Didn't wake up til 2pm today. Am fully caught up with loss of sleep from the past week. However, horribly behind in homework...

CELL PHONES SUCK

Last night I tried to get to sleep early. All the roomies were like, "What? Already? It's only 11." Yeah, I tried going to bed at 11, that's how badly I needed sleep. Sadly, it was to no avail... Was woken up in the middle of the night. Phone call from Kris. He was feeling horrible about everything and so we were on the phone for over half an hour, just doing damage control. *sigh* Some people are so STUPID... and that is why Kris and I were on the phone trying to figure out the best way to counter the situation. But no worries... everything is fine now.

Just when I thought I was in the clear and my head could finally rest on my pillow, Zairel's cell starts beeping out of control. Quite funny, she thought it was my phone and I thought it was her phone. It turned out to be a text message... haha, 1 text message that beeped as if 20 were being sent!!!!

After the beeping, I just couldn't fall back asleep. Kept thinking about how I haven't been the best person lately. Haven't really been there for any of my friends, haven't been able to think or do anything else but my own shit. And I keep telling myself that everything will be fine after Monday. But will it really? I'm sure some other deadline is bound to come along that'll keep me busy beyond belief. I don't believe that I'm really living. My revelation this summer was that there's more to life than just deadlines.... but unfortunately it looks like I haven't been able to live up to my new epiphany.

Don't exactly know when I fell asleep last night, or if I REALLY fell asleep at all... but was awoken this morning by a phone call from Arizona State's president. Was a reminder to myself that my conference has started. And how this conference plays itself out, be it good or bad, is a reflection of my work from the past 2 months. It's been a crazy, restless week... with no end in sight.

LET THIS WEEK BE OVER

I'm tired. I'm overworked. I'm fatigued. I get very little sleep. My health is deteriorating. My grades are suffering. I work WAAAAY too many hours for it to be all voluntary work. I'm a student, not an employee. I can't deal with anymore. I have a 15-page paper due that I haven't even started yet. Don't know when the hell I'm going to write it. Can't even stop to see Kristen and her Aunt Mimi this weekend. Can't even have dinner with Kristopher and his mom tomorrow night. What am I doing with my life? No wonder people see me as a big prudish girl...

HA! TAKE THAT!

After my midnight session with Fi-Comm the other night, I couldn't help but smile all the way home from school today. Reason why? See for yourself. The fee waiver that Mr. Gabriel boldly pleaded in front of the Senate for over an hour was because of me. Probably in a sick, twisted, and revengeful way, I'm *happy* to hear that the senators had to sit through a whole freakin' hour's worth of debate to finally end up passing my bill. Don't ya love the bureaucracy... perhaps the slowest form of efficiency vehicle. Last night's victory can't give me back those stolen 2 hours, but it does even the playing field, just a little bit...

CRAP!

I have lost 2 hours of my life that I CAN NEVER get back! Sat in Fi-Comm meeting for the longest freakin' time just waiting for them to make a decision about whether or not OP can use our OWN money to pay for dinner at the conference that I'm hosting. I wasn't even in there asking for any money from the contingency fund and 2 senators still shot down the request. Fortunately, the bill was passed, and an unhappy Jamie trudges through the streets of Berkeley back to the apt. at 1:30am... and now I must get reacquainted with something called schoolwork. Don't think I've had much time for that lately. I think I'm most productive at home... home in LA... how I wish I were home in LA...

WEEKEND HOME

To all my best buds back home that I couldn't hang out with... I'm so sorry. My weekend was spent engaged in all my Rhetoric 122 books. (Yes, all 15 of them!) Midterm today... SOOOOO happy that it's over with. Either I kicked its butt, or it kicked mine. I really can't tell with rhetoric classes anymore. I don't even know how my writing style stands in relation to the class. I've realized that I have a hard time conveying my thoughts onto paper. But then again, I have a hard time conveying my thoughts verbally, too. You'd think that 4 years of speech would've changed that... but it hasn't. Either way, it's all over with... unfortunately at the expense of not being able to see any of my friends this weekend!!!!

I'm not really complaining though. My time at home was nicely spent with my family. I've forgotten what great stuff we have at home. Quilted toilet paper is so amazingly soft!!!! And the fridge is always stocked with good food and drinks. (Hooray for Cream Saver Pudding, ice cream sandwiches, chimichangas, and Ruby Red Grapefruit juice!) My parents also finally decided to get cable TV. My dad ended up splurging and getting digital... we now get MTV on 6 different channels... 24 hours a day, 7 days a week of music videos... I watched a lot of TV. (NOT a good thing.) I also figured out who my cutie's girlfriend is... some chick with a horrible attitude! (Jessica, don't mess with me. I can beat down your @$$ in 2 seconds, flat.) Also watched my cutie's basketball game. He was leading scorer again... with TWO bad shoulders!!!! He got stepped on while playing flag football for Macy. Poor baby, some big fat kid landed on him. I also got to hang out a lot with my parents. (Most people might think this is a bad thing, but I sure don't.) Saturday night, both Terri and Jerry didn't wanna go get Chinese food, so it was just my parents and me. Totally awesome food... we all ate soo much that we came home and fell into a food coma. (I had 3 bowls of hot and sour soup and 2 bowls of rice. Yes... I know I eat a lot.) Jerry and I wrestled a lot, too. Unfortunately, he's become too buff that I can't beat him anymore. Terri and I gossiped – yes, about BOYS! All in all, quite a fun weekend.

Checking in at the airports was a different story. As Gabs puts it, I was literally "stripped searched." I can never make it through the metal detectors without the darn thing beeping. They made me take off my jacket, my shoes, and my belt (plus random accessories). Then the female security guard had to pat me down. At LAX, the lady checking my purse went through all my pictures and even commented about what a beautiful looking family I have. LOL, random. I don't really mind though, it's nice to know that they're being so thorough with checking people. Hmm... I guess I'm categorized under "suspicious".

Now, I'm back at Berkeley. Quite relieved that the midterm is over... even played some pool with Brian tonight. Played at that place right at the corner where we always wait for the bus. I used to just see people playing inside while waiting for the bus, but today I finally got to see how the inside looked like. Not bad... it's a pretty cool place to hang out. Mr. Bouncer man at the door wouldn't believe that my ID was real. (I actually look younger than 18?!)

Scorecard
Jamie vs. Rhetoric 122: still pending
Jamie vs. Brian: 1-1 (and counting...)

F*@%ING BAD DAY!

Still completely sleep deprived and overburdened with more work than one girl can handle, I also played exterminator to Haste #101 today. Freakin' ants infested our kitchen last night and I spent a whole hour hosing down the ants and then mopping off ant carcass. Needless to say, I ended up being late to class due to apt. emergency. *sigh* Was late half an hour to Rhetoric 122. Professor Jackson told me that she'd have to count my tardy as an absence. What?! My attendance grade is now a whole letter grade lower and considering that it's worth 25% of my final grade, this is NOT a good thing... hence a very pissed off Jamie. Damn Upper-div-small-lecture-no discussion classes!!!!!!!! I'm barely struggling to keep afloat in the class. I don't need to have attendance bringing my grade down! Sat through class still fuming about the damn ants and the crapload of responsibilites that are tied with living on your own in apartments. A little help would be nice sometimes...

But what woke me up from my sleep this morning was a very important phone call missed, and a stubbed toe while trying to answer the phone. It seriously sucks being bound to the phone. It seems that every phone call that I get recently has been business related. Today, the events coordinator from Bubba Gump's called me. (Exciting stuff... we will wine and dine all the presidents at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co!) Unfortunately, we have a stupid phone in the bedroom that rings but you can't use it cuz there's no dial-tone. Zairel has unplugged it cuz it's just bothersome to have it ring and not be able to use it. But this also means that I can't hear when the phone rings. By the time I was fully conscious enough to hear the living room phone, Bubba Gump's man had already hung up. Normally, missed phone call, no big deal. However, this dude only carries around a pager. Who in the 21st century still has a pager?! I've been waiting for this guy to call me all week, only to miss him by a big-toe of a second. (Damn toe had to kick the coffee table!!!!!) And so the wait continues for him to call...

My only shed of light is that I'm finally back home, in LA. That and the fact that I got tomato juice on the flight home, complemented with Mama Ghet's famous white chocolate and cranberry cookies. (They're to die for, honestly.) Home... I can escape from the madness that is school for at least a couple of days. Although, when you really think about it, it's not escape. I still have about a gazillion phone calls to make for the presidents' conference first thing tomorrow morning. (My parents were really proud of me for hosting something of this grandeur. Haven't really heard them say that they were proud of me in quite a long time.) Let me tell you... it's the worst thing trying to take care of all your business via cell phone. Being someone who has issues with trusting other people to do my tasks, I NEED to see what's being done, and if it's done CORRECTLY. I feel like I'm just blind right now... it's an uneasy feeling for me to trust other people to do things. Wanna hear what's really sick? (Haha, "sick" as in bad, not "sick" is in good. Strange Nor Cal people!) I had to set up a conference call with an editor from New York Times. A conference call?! What am I? 40?!?!?! (Oh wait... I'm 19 going on 41. Gabs is 40.) It's way too trippy. Sometimes, I think my brain forgets that I'm also a student and I DO need to schedule in some school time. Cuz a conference call usually suggests businesswoman... and I'm not ready to be on the cover of Forbes quite yet. Either way, on top of the conference, I still have my Rhetoric 122 midterm on Tuesday. The focus on the test: EVERYTHING. Professor Jackson basically said, "Review all the plays we've read and all the chapters we went over in the textbook." Uhhh... is there anything that WON'T be covered on the test?! Wednesday, 15-page Soc paper is due. Thursday is the Poli Sci midterm. Geez... instead of enjoying myself this weekend, it's more like a study session at home. At least I'll get a decent meal and I won't have to worry about ants....

REASONS WHY LACK OF SLEEP IS BAD FOR ME:

1) Went to go sit on my bed last night to catch my breath... ended up passing out for the whole night.

2) Didn't even say goodnight to the roomies. Sorry roomies, didn't mean to be rude.

3) Slept in awkward position at the head of the bed. Awoke with horrible shooting pains in back and hips.

4) Missed 8am discussion cuz I neglected to set my alarm clock...

REASONS WHY RHETORIC 20 IS AN INTERESTING CLASS:

1) The Smurf dressed up and gave an odd lecture about his neighbor's car getting stolen. *random*

2) Fievel grew a goatee... not bad.

3) Sean finally decides to show up to lecture... the first time since the first day of class. Reason for going to class: to pick up his midterm. But instead of staying for the WHOLE class period, decides to take a 15 minute Top Dog break... geez, what a good student!

4) Man reeking of alcohol wanders into class and causes huge commotion. The Smurf even stopped speaking to watch him. I swear he was gonna punch someone. Was contemplating about how I would throw Sean at him until Scott and Professor Clover ushered him out.

5) My worst midterm garnered me the best grade I have received at Berkeley thus far. (There's irony for ya!)

TOTALLY BLOG-WORTHY

cprjUGHead: im just a big fat cry baby

GUESS WHERE WE WENT FOR DINNER... AGAIN

I said I was gonna study all weekend... because I have WAY too much to do before I go home for Veteran's Day weekend. *sigh* Alas, I have done nothing. Such a UN-productive day!!!! We DID go to Jupiter for dinner... again. Such the PERFECT date place. ("I have practiced for this moment... cutting my salad and eating pizza with a knife and fork.") No people (guy) - watching tonight... we sat way out in the middle of nowhere. The only saving grace: food was good! We even had a Caesar salad this time!

On the way back from dinner, Caroline scared the bejeezus outta Gabs and me! Who knew enclosed bus stops would echo so much?! Gabs and I both thought we had heard something, like a creepy whisper that hissed, "QUIET!" But since nobody else reacted, we both kinda thought we had imagined it. Caroline harped on our moment of weakness and decided to scare us beyond belief by whispering Gabby's name from behind us. Gabs jumped up and took me with her and we both screamed like crazy. Not fun.

By the way, random breaking news: Ruben sings along with 'N Sync... Ruben is 'N Sync...

CROSSROADS

I think I may have become a hardened, horrible person. Have I really become a "politician"? Is it SO unbelievable to think that I might do things out of the goodness of my heart? Cuz I do!!! I deal with enough suspicion at work... I don't need it at home, too. I'm a good person... or at least, I'd like to think that I am. No ulterior motives. What you see is what you get, and I'm just a girl who cares. Either way, perhaps what I refuse to see serves best as a wake-up call. I don't want to be a fucking politician, and I never want to be one!!!!

Ever been bothered by an itch that you can't scratch? Can't reach? It's the worst thing ever. The itching just eats at you until you can't take it anymore. What makes it worse is that the more you ignore it, the more it itches...

Well, minus the itch, that's how I've been feeling lately. Each night, around this time, I get this very irritated and annoyed feeling. I can't exactly pinpoint what is behind all this frustration, which becomes even MORE frustrating. There's just all these emotions running through me – emptiness, loneliness, tiredness, stress, hunger. Lately, I think my work has been getting me really down. I LOVE doing things that benefit a lot of people, but I haven't really gotten the feeling that my work has had that impact. Who the heck do I benefit? A select few within the ASUC, if that... What makes things worse is that leaders here don't even take any responsibility whatsoever when I need them to, or expect them to. Since when did leaders become so undependable? All this political crap has made me rethink my decision to be a Political Science major. It doesn't interest me all that much anymore. Political theory?! Can't stand it! International relations? Can't deal with it!

Anyway, that's only two of the things that have been bothering me recently. I can't really describe it, but I just have such an unsettling feeling that I always hope my nightly showers will wash away my troubles. But it never does, my problems are still there... staring right back in my face. Yet for some reason, I can't exactly grasp what the problems actually are. I just know that I need to fix them... whatever they are...

LITTLE KIDS ARE THE BEST!!!

THANK YOU Sonya, Emily, Rudy, Shane, Amir, Sophia, Arronisha, Janae, Pablo and especially ALEX! Ahhh... I want to be a 1st grade teacher! Kids are sooo great! Camille did a great job of hosting the Emerson Elementary kids today at our Halloween Party. (Sugar over-dose, for sure!) Working with the kids today and seeing their smiles, I don't know if anything else can quite bring me the same joy. Little kids never cease to amaze me – they're so candid, so open and honest. Special thanks to Alex for making me a wonderful mask and for my great big hug at the end of the day. *such the little heartbreaker* My day was so amazingly fulfilling...

Mystery Man... where are you... *sigh*

HOW STRANGE...

On Wednesday, before my horrible Rhetoric 20 midterm, I went to go and try to make myself an egg omelet. There I was, with my green and red bell peppers and ham all chopped up. I reached into the refrigerator for the eggs... Err, eggs, where did you go? Gabs got a good kick outta everything. As for me, it was NO LAUGHING MATTER! I was pouting over my lack of hearty breakfast. Guess what happened today! The eggs seemed to have miraculously been reincarnated in our sink in the form of egg remnants. Hmm... I wonder how they got there. Weird.

THINGS WORTH PONDERING...

1) If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

2) If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

3) When someone asks you, "A penny for your thoughts" and you put your two cents in... what happens to the other penny?

4) Isn't making a smoking section in a restaurant like making a peeing section in a swimming pool?

5) If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhea... does that mean that one enjoys it?

6) Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

7) Why do croutons come in airtight packages? Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?

8) When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?

9) Why is a wise man and a wise guy mean opposite things?

10) Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?

11) If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?

12) If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?

13) Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?

14) What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?

Hmm... please answer my questions.

3 BATTLES AND THE WAR IS YET TO COME

This week has been incredibly long... productive, but long. It started with all my Pac 10/UC Presidents' Conference packets. Then yesterday was my Rhetoric 20 midterm. It was so horrible that I wanted to cry midway into the test. (I actually started crying before I even saw the test. But that's a different story. IT WAS GABBY'S FAULT! She started talking about smurfs again and I choked on my own saliva, couldn't breath and started tearing like crazy. Thanks a lot, Gabs!) Anyway, so we were *supposed* to get our reading notes back for the midterm. Okay, granted I only did two weeks' worth, but why did hot GSI man have to lose MY notes?! I felt so frazzled about the lack of notes that I think I was stunned for the first half of the test. Then when I finally regained consciousness, I was stunned again by the difficulty of the test! *sigh* I think I may have to seriously rethink my decision about majoring in Rhetoric.

Anyway, Battle #3 was my CITC application that was due today. I didn't get a chance to start it until around 8:30 last night. Caroline said she needed to pull an all-nighter and wanted coffee, so I figured, "Heck, why not pull an all-nighter with her?" SUCH A HORRIBLE MISTAKE! My body CANNOT do all-nighters anymore. High school, it was no bigger, I was pulling all-nighters all the time. But no more... I only did one all last year and so I guess my body isn't used to it anymore. Or maybe my body just can't deal with coffee. All I had was a cafe mocha... nothing major, not like it was a quad espresso or anything. Around 4:30am, my body started acting up and I ached all over. My stomach hurt, my head hurt... everything hurt! That was when I said, "No more, I'm going to bed!" I couldn't exactly function this morning until around 11am. Even then, I still woke up with his horrible, pounding headache. If I ever get a hangover, I'm sure that's how it would feel like. (Can one even get a hangover from coffee?! Damn lightweight!) Anyway, Zairel pulled an all-nighter with Caroline and me. (Maybe I should stop calling it an all-nighter, cuz the only person who actually made it til morning was Caroline. Props to Caroline, who is currently knocked out on the couch.) Anyway, back to the point... I finally finished my application. Don't exactly know what to expect, so looks like I'm just gonna have to wait til Monday to find out.

In the midst of all my battles and sleepless nights, I managed to have two big revelations...

Revelation 1
Being here at Cal, I don't question anybody's intelligence. I'm sure everybody has some sort of extraordinary quality to have made it here. The thought of this kinda scares me. I don't exactly know where I stand in relation to everybody else. Not that I need to compare myself to justify the work that I do, but I would like to know how I match up to other people. In high school, it was small enough so that you knew exactly where you stood. (And if you didn't, you'd know when they ranked you by those darn GPAs!) You knew exactly who was more capable than you and who your biggest competitors were. All in good friendly competition, of course... like the gamers, who were always up for a good challenge. But now here at Cal, you REALLY just don't know. I've done quite a bit in terms of campus politics. But I'm sure there are thousands of people who have done 10 times more than I could ever do. It's true about what they say, "The sky's the limit." I'm sure I pass by the most amazing people everyday while walking down Sproul, but I could never really know unless I sat down with someone and really got to know that person. Kinda puts everything into perspective and keeps you humble and grounded, because there's always someone better than you.

Revelation 2
Riding the bus everyday, I meet some really interesting people. Today, I think I may have met the most deformed person I've ever seen in my life. Still feeling sleepy when I boarded the 51, I plopped myself down towards the front of the bus. By the time I finally decided to look to my left and right, I realized that I had sat right next to a person that was clearly deformed due to some sort of accident. At first, I couldn't even make out if the person was a male or female and I was actually kinda scared. She (her name is Debbie, as I later found out) had only one eye. Her right eye was closed up with loose skin that seemed to have healed incorrectly. Her face was scarred and very rough. But she had a good heart. She made me feel very welcomed just sitting next to her. She struck up a conversation with me and asked me if I was a Cal student and how I liked school. I couldn't exactly bring myself to ask about what had happened to her. But I'm almost positive that she wasn't always like that. I'm sure at some point in her life, she was very beautiful. But at the same time, it makes me so thankful of the face my parents gave me. I may not be drop-dead gorgeous, but I'm happy with the way I am. I've got two eyes, two ears, a nose (even if it is crooked) and a mouth. What more could I ask for? I've got no horrible, life-threatening disease... so life is good. I couldn't ask for anything more. Thanks Debbie.

LIFE AS AN ESHLEMAN HOODRAT

I've logged in WAY too many office hours for this week. But... all is well that ends well. My Pac-10/UC Presidents' Conference invitations turned out amazingly! Unfortunately, at the expense of an ill-prepared Jamie for Rhetoric class. (It's no good when you show up with no textbook or paper to take notes on.) However, it was all worth it to see all my packets being sent off at the Post Office today. (Plus, I had the nice company of Jen Chow and the hotties from the Senate.)

PEOPLE CAN BE SO ANNOYING!

... so there I was, feeling all proud of my packets at the Post Office, waiting in line for their ridiculously SLOW service. This chick (clearly on crack or some sort of hallucinogen) flies (literally) into the place along w/ her Friar Tuck boyfriend. Seriously, this dude was dressed in some ghetto-looking black robe that dragged on the floor, creating a sort of train. And he reeked of incense... reminded me of Ms. Banda, except worse. Anyway, there I was, sitting on the bench, and druggie chick decides to plop herself next to me. I figure, "No biggie, it's Berkeley, I've seen stranger." BUT, I have never heard anything more annoying! Brother John pulls out this whistle-looking thing with keys on it and plays this same wretched tune... over and over and over and over and over and over... again. It wasn't even a nice tune, it was the eeriest thing I've ever heard. I SAT THROUGH 40 MINUTES OF THAT CRAP!!!! I had hoped that they would leave as soon as they were served and leave me in peace. HA! No such luck! Crazy couple *happened* to be the customer right before me. Funny story of how THAT happened... I had walked in, and being the "square" person that I am, thought that I was standing in line. But NO! I was at the end of a MOB! A whole group of people had walked in earlier with the same problem regarding their mailboxes? (I have no idea, don't ask.) Along walks in psycho chick and psycho dude and grabs a number before I could make sense of the maddness. Then psycho dude procedes to point out and count every single person in the Post Office, counting so incredibly slow that I thought I was listening to a kindergartener. No idea what that fool was doing. (This was all before he started to play his damn tune!) Needless to say, that was perhaps the worst 40 minutes I've ever had to sit through. I rewarded myself by window shopping at Ross and Shoe Pavillon. (Didn't buy anything though... darn.)

Enough with irritating songs... and now Caroline is singing, wishing that she could be "Jesse's girl." *shudders*

Raves of the Day:

1) GOOOOOOOD dinner! I think we should cook more often... things come out REALLY good!

2) Amy Grant special on Lifetime... she's my "American Idol."

BEING NUMBER 1

Coming from a family with 3 children, it's very easy to be overlooked. Speaking for myself, I think I've always worked THAT much harder just so that I could make my parents proud. I'm sure my siblings would agree. In my parents' eyes, I've always wanted to be "Number 1." Maybe my Chinese roots are showing, but I refused to settle for second best. Being second sucks! That's why Chris Medina ALWAYS told us to give just as much credit to the second place winner as the first place winner. However, for some reason, being the first-born child kind of gave me leverage over my siblings, that no matter what happened, I'd always be number 1.

I think the race of being number 1 has followed me throughout life and I've subconsciously applied the mentality to all that I do, including my interactions with other people. Being number 1 doesn't necessarily mean being the best at everything. Rather, I seek being number 1 in the hearts of the people that I love the most. Just knowing that I'm in someone's thoughts really makes me happy and fulfills me in ways that I cannot even begin to describe. I need to know that I matter in someone's life. Even if we can't tell each other just how much we mean to one another, it's nice knowing that I'm still number 1...

WE LIVE LIKE VAMPIRES

...minus the blood-sucking, of course. I seriously feel like we're vampires. Our humble apartment receives little to no sunlight at all! I think of my room as a dark, dank, musty coffin. *shudders* Darn tree that wraps around our apartment... blocks ALL our sunlight. Oh Penthouse, how I wish you were ours.

REASONS WHY LIFE IS GOOD RIGHT NOW:

1) First Lady Sharon Davis! 'Nuff said. She came, we talked, we hugged, she left. (And yes, she's still alive... I have no intention of doing away with her to sleep with her husband!)

2) Banana milkshakes! Yum... potassium overdose, for sure!

3) Bacon-flavored butter! I don't know why NOBODY has invented this yet! It is the BEST thing to put on toast. I feel like a fat chick after I eat, but it tastes soooo GOOD going down!

4) Dried mango slices and Jelly Bellies! (Hmmm... are you noticing a food pattern here?) My mom sure does know what I love to eat. (Ooh, she also bought me my favorite candy in the world! Too bad you can only get them at Chinese supermarkets! Yum... crushed walnuts and date!)

5) Breakfast with the roomies. (Yes, had to be another reason relating to food.) Saturday morning was Gabby's mom's famous 13-egg omelets. (Mine was heuvos rancheros-style. It's WAY too hard to flip 13 eggs at once... okay so, mine wasn't exactly 13... 3 eggs are just as hard to flip!) This morning was waffles and bacon fat on toast. Good stuff!

6) Hooray for wall space! My room finally feels like my room. I finally figured out how to put pictures up on my side of the wall so I don't get too homesick for my family and friends. I have to kinda scrunch up the curtains so that they don't hang too much over the windowsill... it's a pain, but at least my pictures are finally up.

7) My cutie-patootie of a brother isn't so little anymore. He looks so grown up. I can't wait to go back down south to watch him play basketball.

8) Kris(ten) and I have a "date" at Norms in November. Can't wait to see her (and the gay waiters at Norms)!

"RETURN TO POOH CORNER"

Just because Kenny Loggins and Amy Grant happen to sing this song together is NOT the reason why I LOVE it so much. Listening to the lyrics always makes me reminiscent of the simpler days of my youth. Children seem to have a way of emitting a sort of blind innocence; innocence that I seem to have forgotten along the way. My life has become so hectic and stressful that I don't have time to appreciate the simple things in life. And yes, I know that you make time for the things that you care the most about, so maybe my priorities lie in the wrong place. Why must I feel that it is such a task to call Terri and ask her how she did on her PSATs? Why must I "pencil in" free time with people that I love? Have I strayed that far from Christopher Robin and the Woods? Instead of being happy with what I have, I end up coming home each day tired and irritable. For what? Granted, stress is inevitable, and to a certain degree, stress can be good. But why do I do the things I do when I apparently don't even have time for the things that DO mean a lot to me? It's not that I rank other things above what I love. It's cuz there are just things that need more immediate attention than others, and that sometimes means putting the things I care about second on my list of things to do. But mentally, my family and friends ALWAYS comes first, even if that's not always the way it seems.

Unforunately, I seem to have lost touch with many of my friends from high school. People that I used to talk to every night have slowly slipped away from me, almost to a point where I don't even TRULY KNOW them anymore. Not a day goes by that I don't stop and wonder what Kenny's up to. Our paths in life somehow hit a fork in the road, and he chose left and I went right. Over the years, I've found myself hitting many forks with other people. I understand that our paths are bound to diverge, but does that also mean that we stop talking to each other? Will our paths ever cross again? I think it's time to rekindle old friendships and hopefully "return to Pooh Corner by one." There's more to life than just meeting deadlines...

MANIC MONDAY

UPS sucks! Is there no delivery service that is reliable and on-time?! I think I'm gonna be an avid Fed-Ex customer from now on. I don't understand why it's so hard for the delivery man to understand that you need to LIFT UP on the latch, NOT down! I've called Customer Service 7 times already, and counting... all I want is my care package from my parents. Is that so much to ask?! If the delivery attempt fails again tomorrow, I gotta go down to the UPS center to pick it up. I don't have time for that!!!! With my luck, they'll probably end up returning the package back to my parents. But I want it! I need the package more!!!! Sheesh... and the day gets worse...

They found out that we have illegal cable hooked up and so AT&T has taken it away. No more TV... no more NBC either! Ironically, we still get BET. Go figure...

GOOD FOOD!

Okay, so sue me... my 10 minute food run turned into an HOUR and 10 minute break. Can I help it? The ladies and I were out and about and Jupiter just sounded so good and Gabs didn't want to do her paper... so Jupiter it was. I felt like we were straight from an episode of Sex and the City. (Darn phone call! Totally ruined the mood!!!!) Definitely a VERY good way to end a terrific weekend!

... scratch that! Just received horrible news! My dreamy *perfect* guy (basketball coach/firefighter man) is reportedly engaged!!!! Darn the woman that snatched him. She's one lucky lady. *sigh*

I must go attend to my sorrows over a Stawberry Daiquri... virgin.

FRIDAY NIGHT SALVAGED

Poor Caroline and me turned out to be not so sad and pathetic anymore last night. Feeling quite bored, we finally decided to get off our butts and walk around Shattuck around 10:30pm. Barely turning the corner on Haste, the melodic tune of Mortal Kombat was heard ringing from my purse. It was Brett, calling to save the day (night). He rolled up in his Acura and we picked him up at the corner. After wandering around aimlessly down the street, we picked up another stray... my roomie, Zairel! Our happy foursome strolled over to Jupiter, only to be rejected at the door. Boo... it's no fun being under 21! We finally went to go eat at the Thai place near our apt. Brett was intrigued by Thai iced tea. (Dear, you gotta stir it!)

Meanwhile, couple blocks down the street, Ben and Jerry were busy partying at Gaia. We kindly refused and continued our "partying" at the Thai restaurant, followed by a 2nd viewing of "Silence of the Lambs." All in all, a rather fun night despite the slow start.

...AND THE FUN CONTINUES...
Yay for Hotel Haste! We have another visitor: Tom, straight from UC Davis. LOL... we took him shopping at Ross! (Yup, we sure do know how to treat our guests.) We also managed to catch the last show of Theater Rice. Good show, but where the heck was David Ross?! *sigh* We also saw "Red Dragon" tonight. Whoo... what an AWESOME movie! Thanks to Paul and Tom for enduring my gasps of fright.

OLD MAID

Friday night... and not a thing to do. Why am I sitting bored in the apartment?! What a sad, pathetic life I lead. While most people my age are out having fun, I'm stuck at home... doing OP work, no less!!!!!! Is this what my life has become? Have I been diminished to nothing more than an old hag?

BATHING IN MY OWN FILTH

... literally! We have this horrible clog in our bathtub and it's causing a leak through the pipes, thus deteriorating the ceiling in the level right underneath ours. Taking a bath today was the worst! Zairel told me about it, but I didn't really believe her until I actually went through it myself. First of all, the longer I took a shower, the dirtier I got. Since the tub is clogged, all the water accumulates and though the upperhalf of my body got cleaner, my lower half waded around in dirt water. Secondly, I kept praying that the floor wouldn't collapse from under me. The last thing I want happening is for the tub to fall through, with me trapped amidst the rumble, naked with a broken leg, or worse yet, a broken neck! Damn "Johnsons"!

MEAN PEOPLE SUCK!

I CANNOT believe how rude some people are! Unless a specimen of the male species shows me otherwise, I am led to believe that chivalry is dead. This poor old man got on the bus today, and I am shocked and appalled to say that NOBODY gave up their seat for that senior citizen!!!! Even pyscho lice-picking monkey couple didn't give up their seats! (For real, this couple was so sick! The guy was picking stuff out of the girl's hair! Said Gabs, "I find nothing endearing about that!") I ended up giving my seat to the man, which was a pretty crappy seat for him to get to, since it was a window seat towards the middle of the bus. But he was so thankful. Meanwhile, I was still pissed at those un-polite people! Three big burly guys watched me give up my seat then watched me stand the whole way to campus without even batting an eyelash!

But sometimes, all it takes is for a simple "Hi!" or a smile to totally change my day. Walking over to Rhetoric 20 was the best. Ran into a bunch of people that I hadn't seen in a really long time. One of my friends just finished taking his LSAT. I pretty much scared Gabs about even the thought of it. Heck, it scares me, too! Pretty soon, I'm gonna be out on my own, trying to make it by myself. *shudders* Anyway... before I go on another tangent, good friends are THE best gift of all.

Big day for OP stuff... I had SUCH a good meeting w/ Roshen today! She's such an interesting person. We exchanged stories over ice cream. Hooray for Ben and Jerry's! I also had a meeting with my Pac 10/UC President's Conference staff over dinner. (Yum, chicken pesto pizza!) They're so sweet... I LOVE the staffers!

Rhetoric 20 was interesting today. Gabs started talking about smurfs (I swear she has an obsession with them) and then commented that Jake looks like a smurf, and that we should name our smurfs Jake... quite random... random all around. Oh yeah... I'm officially declared as a Poli Sci major now! Woohoo!

I'M GONNA DIE FROM BLOOD LOSS!

These past couple of days, I've had the worst bloody noses in history! I stand over the faucet and my nose feels like Niagara Falls. I think I lost about a quart last night and another pint this afternoon. My doctor told me that I had a crooked nose before. I never used to believe him... but if it wasn't crooked before, it's crooked now! As disgusting as this sounds... you would not believe the amount of tissues I've stuck up my nose these past two days, and the ice that went with it. My nose is all sore now and the tissue lining inside my nose is very sensitive. All this blood loss has made me very weak. I blacked out several times today, mostly from standing up too quickly, but it's surely the first sign.

OH, HOW I MISS THEE...

Super Smash Bros... I WANT TO PLAY!!!! Every time I see the commerical where Yoshi tosses his eggs at a car alarm, I get reminiscent of my N64 days. I miss the feel of the controller! I think I'm a video-game addict!

WAIT, WHAT SEASON IS IT AGAIN?

The trippy-est thing happened to me today. I got off the bus today, and felt the heat sorching down my body. But then as I crossed the street, all these orange and yellow leaves started to fall on my head. Is it still summer? Is it autumn yet? I literally went to class in a t-shirt and shorts today. It still felt really hot at 6pm. Actually, it's still hot right now (refer to last blog entry for reasons).

I have a new favorite movie now. Spy Game was totally on my list of favorites because of it's well-thought out plot. The way Robert Redford's character plays everyone in the palm of his hands is so incredible. But today, in Rhetoric 20, we watched Witness for the Prosecution. This movie is so spectacular, it ties with Spy Game on my list. It is truly worth watching! Trust me, it's good! You'll never be able to guess the way it ends... yes, it's THAT good!

HOT, SWEATY BODIES!!!

It is soooo hot in our apartment. Two reasons: 1) God says it is 85.5° F 2) the 4 hot girls that live here. Gabs has resorted to wiping her forehead like an old man and Zairel's smurf is glistening from sweat...

And yet another raunchy entry, totally taken out of context. (I should write for the National Enquirer!)

SHOCKER!

The lesbian has a gay boyfriend! It's a sad world when even the lesbians get men before we do!!!!

CINDERELLA IN RAGS

Last night, I felt like Cinderella at the ball, meeting her Prince Charming for the very first time. There's something magical that happens when the stars come out; something quite fairytale-like. Unfortunately, this Cinderella ALSO didn't get home before the clock struck midnight. Alas, the magic disappears and I am able to see much clearer in daylight. Today, I go back to being "nerdy asshole" (as Ben so eloquently puts it). Who am I kidding? No use in wishing upon someone else's star. There's nothing for my Prince to remember me by. At least Cinderella left behind a glass slipper... I have left behind nothing.

*sigh* BIG investment in my future tonight... could this guy be any more perfect for me? Wow... dreams do come true...

I AM A BORING (FAT) CHICK

... maybe not exactly "FAT" yet, but seriously getting there... All I ever do at the apartment is eat − eat and study (more of the former and less of the latter). Today was quite uneventful, yet I was oddly content with how my day went. Does that mean I like normal? Can "normal" be used interchangeably with "boring"? If this is true, then I am slowly becoming a boring, fat chick. BTW, my GSI *wants* Gabby... (at office hours).

I want my children to be humanitarians!!! Saving the world one country at a time is cool...

PLANET ROCK THE BLOCK AND OPEN RICE

There's always an "up" when you're down... as my roommates constantly try to teach me, and as I constantly try to teach myself, things always end up working out in the end. Ben managed to pump some fun back into me. Went to Planet Rock the Block, hosted by Superb (Elliot's awesome!). Lots of good hip-hop music, graffiti, and break-dancers.

After that, we jumped into Eshleman for Open Rice. Quite entertaining, a bunch of random talent acts, including a strip-tease, Luca-style. Highlight of the night: David Ross (Mr. Speech Man) played a song that he wrote on the guitar... dedicated to me! (Of course he was just trying to be funny and happened to choose me as a focal point cuz he knows me.)

The night ended with Steve's Korean BBQ (aiii... so unfaithful to Mama Ghet's home-cookin'). Jerry finally saw our apartment... not nearly as chic as his bachelor's pad, but our place is nice... it's really growing on me. (But the penthouse would be sooo sweet!!!!)

I'M JUST A SIMPLE GIRL WITH OCCASIONAL TENDENCIES TO TRY TO SAVE THE WORLD...

Sometimes, I feel like the bastard child of OP... no idea what I'm doing, no idea what's going on. Is there some sort of blacklist that I'm on that I don't know about??? It seems like the higher a person gets on the hierarchy of politics here at Cal, the more likely they'll try to avoid me in passing. Maybe people like me don't truly exist, but is it really THAT impossible to believe that I do things for the pureness of my heart and not because I have some sort of ulterior motive? Or have I just fallen into the black hole of politicians? I wish for nothing more this semester than to get through it as a "regular student." I don't want to HAVE to "look presentable" all the time anymore. I would like more than anything to be able to walk to class in my sweats and not feel like I'm being put on display. Everyday, all I try to do is to be a good person and help my school anyway I can. And as cheesy and that sounds, it's true. The only reason why I even re-applied to be back in OP is so that I can make a difference and help better the campus community, and who knows, maybe even save the world while I'm at it. So why am I being attacked? So, for the last time, here's the absolute truth...

1. NO, I'M NOT TRYING TO "STEAL" INTERNS AWAY FROM ANYBODY!
2. AM I THINKING ABOUT RUNNING FOR OFFICE NEXT SEMESTER? HELL NO!
3. IS KRIS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT AGAIN? I DON'T KNOW!!!!!!

Can I finally go back to being a regular college student without people always trying to be defensive when they speak to me? THERE ARE NO ULTERIOR MOTIVES WHATSOEVER! I don't "network" and I don't do shady back-room deals!

When did I become so hardened by life? Veronica's right, I'm not the same happy-go-lucky Jamie that I once was in high school. I've seen how dark and cold people's hearts can be. It makes me so sad to think that these are the people that run our government (both school and society). I'M NOT THE POLITICIAN HERE!!!! It's not what I'm about, it's not what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. Every so often, I'll do something whole-heartedly, simply because I believe in the cause, not because I'm looking for that golden prize behind it. I'm a good person, and my heart is pure....

OTHER REASONS WHY TODAY SUCKS LIKE NO OTHER:
1. Tried to do the laundry and fought with the washer and dryer.
2. My lavender comforter and sheets are now tie-dyed with blue specks because of wretched washer.
3. Star Buddy is now more blue than the last time I washed it.
4. Sat naked on my bed for 5 minutes trying to find a decent shirt.
5. Cut my arm on a hanger while trying to look for a shirt.
6. Ran a block to chase after a bus... bus drove off with me cursing behind it.
7. Waited another 15 minutes for a damn bus.
8. Ended up sitting next to some fat chick who reeked of alcohol.
9. Fat chick breathed all over me.
10. Got stuck behind another fat person after I got off the bus. (Big day for fat people.)
11. Dude was big like there was no tomorrow... couldn't get around him.
12. Dude lit up a cigarette... I hacked all the way over to Dwinelle.
13. Lowlifes at the corner calling out, "Looking good, Little Mama."
14. Had to break GT2 date with Ben cuz I can't get my life together.
15. It is now 4:19pm, and I still have not eaten lunch!

One last note... Reality Check, Jamie: I'm not single by choice, THERE HAVE BEEN NO GUYS!!!!!

THANK HEAVENS FOR ROOMMATES

Just when you think that you have gotten away with doing or saying something stupid, there's always the roomies there to publicize your moment of embarassment for all the blog readers out there... well, at least this time, I'm not the only one caught with my pants down, staring back stupidly.

To see us "pants-down" please click on the links of my roommates: Gabs, Caroline, and Zairel.

THE *JOYS* OF BEING A COLLEGE STUDENT

You haven't truly experienced college until you go crying all the way down Shattuck out of sheer hunger... that was me today. Class was unbelievably long and the professor is so long-winded that by 6pm, I was so hungry, I was salivating. Thinking about our empty fridge, Gabs and I decided to make it a take-out night. Damn bastardo and the chick in front of us that bought the last cheap whole chicken!!!!! I was so sad! From that restaurant on, I stopped in front of every restaurant checking out the prices and looking for someplace cheap. But the last straw hit when I peered through the Japanese restaurant only to find that out of all the days of the week, they are ONLY closed on Mondays!!!! Guess what day it is today?! MONDAY!!!!!!

Smitti, Jet and Yoshi saved Gabs and me. Though they've long gone back to LA, they have left a piece of their generous heart behind... a nice plate of teriyaki chicken (Albertson's-style). Teriyaki chicken and beef stew was on the menu for tonight... hopefully tomorrow will be better, cuz I sure don't wanna go crying down Shattuck again!

Amy Grant makes me feel good... I grew up with her songs... reminds me of my childhood. As I currently sit here, singing along to her songs, I believe I like her not only for the simple fact that her songs takes me back to my carefree days, but also that her songs give me inspiration and hope. She inspires me with the power of love and gives me the hope that I will one day find my soul mate. I have come to the realization that many of my notions of love have revolved around her songs. I now have this storybook image of what love is supposed to be and I fear that I may be terribly disappointed in the future to find that love isn't always so black and white or crystal clear. Will I be let down when I realize that I may never be "Saved by Love." Will "Love... Find a Way?" Or do I need to "Wise Up" because I'm too naive for my own good?

Only time will tell... but in the meantime, I will continue to enjoy my Amy Grant songs.

(UN)FORGETTABLE QUOTES

I think I had WAY too much fun this weekend... Mudslides, singing like dead cats in the middle of the night, almost dying w/ Elaine in slippers on wet tiles, Gabby falling off the bed, Great Balls of "Ruben," 8 people ... 1 bathroom... fun weekend!

It was a great weekend, but duly hampered by certain events... or rather "quotes."

Someone said something to me the other day, and I know this person didn't mean anything bad by it, but it brings a lot of questions to mind.

Friend: Do you have a boyfriend?
Me: [surprised] Uh... no.
Friend: Hmm... I can't imagine you having a boyfriend.

Can't imagine me having a boyfriend... how am I supposed to take that? Is it because I'm too independent of a girl to be w/ someone? Is it because I can't get anyone? What the heck does this mean? Am I doomed to be alone for the rest of my life?!

The second incident happened today when I was walking over to Memorial Glade for the OP get-together. So there I was, carrying all my paperwork stuff and walking briskly cuz I was already horribly late, looking all spiffy and sporty (cuz today was SO hot!) when three hot Abercrombie-looking guys passed by me.

Hot guy: How you doing...
Me: [feeling very flattered and smiles weakly]
Hot guy: ...Shorty...

SHORTY?! Am I that short? As far as I know, this is NOT a term of endearment!!!!!!! Geez, what is wrong with me? I think I shall forever be doomed "girl with clipboard." How un-sexy!!!! There's a wild side to me, I just don't let her come out to play very often... but she does play. Sometimes I wish I could just be a irresponsible, reckless teenager for once without feeling as if I'm going to let down a slew of people. I'm freakin' 19 already... I have less than 5 months before my "teenage years" are over. Yikes!

Tremendous breakthrough today...

My roommate is the female version of Doogie Howser. Please call her Dooga Ventura.

My heart aches whenever I talk to my sister. It's been a long time coming, but I think we finally have a very strong sisterly bond. She finally appreciates all the things I have done for her in the past and she understands why I've been so hard on her for the past 15 years of her life. I'm so proud of her − for taking on so much and pushing herself to the limit... kinda reminds me of myself 3 years ago. Thus, the reason why my heart aches. Journalism has taken up a lot of her time, plus she's taking the same work-load that I did, 3 APs. She's obviously tired all the time and she feels bad cuz she's spread out so thinly that she thinks she can't do anything right. When I talk to her, all the horrors come rushing back to me and I feel as if I'm back in high school, pulling another all nighter to finish a Hofstadter or cramming for another bio exam. Not that high school was a terrible time in my life, but Junior year was just so frustrating for me. I had wished with all my heart that Terri wouldn't have to go through what I went through. But, she's going through it now and I can't do anything to help her. I know that it's normal for Juniors to have to go through so much crap... heck, I went through it. But the big sister in me hopes for nothing more than to be able to protect her from everything. It hurts me so much to hear her struggling that I'd give anything to be able to take some of that stress away from her. I have a really sick feeling in my stomach right now and I can't help the tears from rolling. I think this is what it feels like when your heart breaks...

MARRIED AT 19

Gabs sent me an article last night, long after I had drearily passed out on the couch from the horrendously long day yesterday. (Yesterday was sooo emotionally and physically draining!!) The article kinda scared me... the quote goes something like this: "As Americans are working longer hours and investing emotionally in our jobs, we are simultaneously depleting our lives beyond work ... When work fails — through a betrayal, rupture or layoff — employees who have given it all often find there is nothing to fall back on."

So I don't exactly work a paying job, which means that I'm not in the "employee" category... but I do feel the stress and burdens that Andrea Sachs speaks about. Mark this time... it is currently 10:16pm and I barely starting on my dinner... a sad looking chicken salad. It doesn't help that I'm currently reading Time Bind for Sociology class right now, and all this book talks about are the millions of people who try to avoid family life because they feel burdened by the problems there, so they spend all their time at work to try to escape. Makes me cringe at the thought that I could end up like one of those people. But I'm taking all this in stride... it's a nice slap in the face. I refuse to be one of those moms that end up leaving her kids at some baby-sitter's place, only to see them for a brief half an hour before they go to sleep at night.

What have a learned through all this? Marry a man... not a job. Problem: I gotta establish a social life first, which currently sucks cuz I do so much work... and we're now back at Square 1...

For the whole article by Andrea Sachs entitled "Wedded to Work," Click here.

WAYS TO PICK UP ON GUYS (JAMIE AND GABBY STYLE)

You know how people used to pass notes to each other in class? I used to be SO curious about what tidbit of juicy gossip was being dished around and who would end up being the butt of jokes for the week. Not that I'm a nosy person, but sometimes I'd strategically crane my neck in a certain direction to try to read the passed note.

[flash forward to college-life]

Contrary to popular belief, Gabs is still a better note-passer than Caleb. (Sorry, Caleb, you're just TOO random for me! Sticking your finger up your nose and swirling your brain with it?! Too creepy!) But, I gotta give Caleb some credit... the class is REALLY boring... sooooo boring that all Gabs and I do in class is pass notes to each other. (Poor Paul, he's always sitting inbetween us...) Lately, I've noticed that people around us have tried to crane their necks in an attempt to read the things that we giggle about in class. Well, Gabs and I have upped the antes in the skill of note-passing... we have incorporated ways to pick up on guys through our notes! To get the attention of this one dude sitting behind us, I wrote really big, "CURLY-HAIRED MAN, SHE DIGS YOU!" Gabs shot back with an equally large font message, "JAMIE, JUST TELL THE GUY SITTING NEXT TO YOU THAT YOU THINK HE'S HOT!

Gabs and Jamie, Love Attorneys at your service....

HEALTH WAIVER WHA?!??!!?

Total roomie moment last night w/ Zairel... simple question taken to the extreme...

Zairel: Hey, are you under the school health insurance?
Me: Nope, covered by my mom's insurance company.
Zairel: Well, what do you do if you need to see a dentist?
Me: I go to my regular dentist, he's a family friend.
Zairel: So you've gone to him all your life?
Me: No, there was this one point in my life that I was scared of him, so I went to a children-friendly dentist, where the clinic was equipped w/ toys and video games.

[This is where the conversation takes a detour into Zimbabwe.]

Me: I used to be scared of old men. I used to cry whenever I saw my childhood best friend's (Alex) dad. Whenever we had to go visit, he would try to make faces to make me laugh but I'd just cry even harder. Even to this day, when we go visit, Alex still makes fun of me. But that's okay, I make fun of him, too. He used to have a poo-poo problem.

[both giggles]

Zairel: When I was younger, I used to hate visiting this one family friend. He used to pinch my cheeks so hard that it would make me want to cry... but I wouldn't cry because I didn't want to show weakness. I would do everything to try to avoid him, like tiptoe in from the side.

[more giggling]

Zairel: Ooh, and then there was Grandma Sandoval and her dog. She had this extra loose skin next to her eye that used to scare me... and her dog with only one good eye...

[shudders]

Totally random convo about health care, dentists, poo-poo problems, loose eye skin and blind dogs.... go figure!

Rant AND Rave of the Day: I ran into Jerry on the bus today and ended up going over to see his place... freakin' looks like a apt. in Hollywood. Very modern looking! And then there's us w/ our 50s' sea-green oven. Life is soooo not fair!

... UGH... SO FULL!!!!!

Thoughts of chocolate smeared all over my face, SFAutumn Moon Festival, Salvadoran Independence day, love-making to sea-lions, "Chester" hunting, 11-egg omelet, banana split, Peter wearing women's panties... 4 guys, 2 girls, the sky's the limit....

Read Gabby's Blog for the extended version of what happened yesterday.

GROCERY SHOPPING ON A FRIDAY NIGHT...

Is it pathetic to do my shopping on a Friday night when most other people my age are out partying and drinking? Well... I don't really mind, cuz last night, Gabs and I ran into some hot guys at Safeway (not to mention the two hot guys we were accompanied by). We managed to save over $40 with a FREE Safeway Club Card. (I don't get it, why would anybody NOT have a club card?! It doesn't even cost anything to apply for one!) Petey picked out a huge honking package of Hickory roasted bacon which we fried up this morning. (Gabs' heart murmur has returned... good thing we live across the street from the Alta Bates Hospital!)

Call it a defense mechanism, if you will... but instead of facing reality, I've tried to block out everything about yesterday, just tried to live it like any other day. I haven't read any of the articles that Time has written about the incident and I refuse to watch any of the commemorative TV specials that have been playing all week long. I attemptedy to watch some of the clips that they played on TV yesterday morning... but Gabs shut it off before I could be drawn into anything. Am I cold-hearted? I don't think so....

In essence, I have paralleled what the rest of America has done all year. It doesn't change anything to be good for one day out of the year if for the other 364 days, we keep on living as if the attacks of Sept. 11th never made a difference in our lives. Looking back on the year, there hasn't been any momentous changes in how society goes about on their daily lives. Our pop culture certainly didn't seem to change. Britney Spears decides to come out with a snake and sing about being "A Slave for U," Mariah Carey breaks out from her singing career to do a movie called "Glitter," and scandals still run rampant among movie stars alike... good-bye to Tom and Nicole, hello to Harrison and Calista. Sounds trival right now, but people having been buying into the consumer hype all year. I think more people watched the finale of American Idol than the 9-11 special on NBC yesterday morning. Magazines like Time do their weekly updates on "Where is Osama?" but nothing ever changes. For all we know, he's probably still running around the Al-Qaeda mountains but whether or not we catch him won't be the end all to terrorism. It doesn't erase the fact that stuff like this happens to other countries all the itme. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame America for what happened. I'm perhaps one of the most patriotic people you'll ever meet (Girls' State will do that to ya!) but at the same time, quoting Chancellor Berdahl, "There have been too many words said, it's time for action..."

I LOVE ZACK MORRIS!

Luis is THE BEST!!!! I am now a proud owner of the wonderful t-shirt I wanted from Alloy... I will wear it proudly. *bows*

We now have cable internet and cable TV! (Gabs and Zairel were working it this morning... I told you the outfit would work, Gabs!)

MISHAP IN THE BATHROOM

In my attempt to be a nice person and do my good deed of the day, I tried to dry a couple of Gabby's shirts... the result? A good deed gone very wrong. I managed to bring the whole shower curtain down, crushing me underneath it, still trying to do a balancing act with the shower curtain hooks. Needless to say, the bathroom looked like a war zone for a split second, but all is well now... for the time being... until I decide to do another good deed....

As if that wasn't bad enough, at the last moment, I decided to wash my dark blue jeans with my "light blue to white" load of laundry. Such a terrible mistake!!!!! My Star Buddy is now filled with streaks of blue! Pink star pillow with blue streaks... NOT a good combination! Sorry Ben... it looks like your best friend of first semester might have to go into retirement... *sigh*

Quotes worth recording from Uncle Vania by Anton Chekhov:

"A woman can only become a man's friend in three stages: first, she's an agreeable acquaintance, then a mistress, and only after that a friend."

"She's beautiful, there's no denying that, but... she does nothing but eat, sleep, go for walks, charm us all by her beauty... nothing else. She has no responsibilities, other people work for her... Isn't that so? And an idle life can't be virtuous."

"... ignorance is better... At least there's some hope..."

BOOBIES, BOOBIES, BOOBIES

Once again, I must record Gabby's daily comments... Direct quote: "Sorry, the boobies are staying in, they will not come out to play tonight." Berkeley sure has changed her!!!!! =O

I rode the buses all around Lake Merritt with Deanna today for a Sociology project. It was quite interesting... some random black guy slid into the seat right behind me on the bus and got so close that Deanna thought he had kissed my hair!!!! Then he asked us, "How you ladies doooing?" He concluded his act by serenading us with a brief rendition of "To Live and Die in LA" before he jumped off the bus.

Gabs says I'm gonna die young... I say, I only live once, gotta live it up! Meat is good... and I'm a growing girl. I had waaaaay too many strips of bacon this morning and then finished off the day with steak for dinner. George Foreman is my friend.

*sigh* My Best Friend's Wedding... such a sad movie. I watch every time with the hope that the ending will change... but it never does. Julianne Potter (Julia Roberts) never gets the man of her dreams... hmm, sounds vaguely familiar. I admire her for realizing that she will never be the girl that her dream man desires. But this only leads me to wonder about my own life... will my future be played out like a movie? Will I be doomed to an eternity of anticipation for a writer's edit, only to find that the conclusion has been etched in stone... resulting in me walking away with the consolation prize: a comforting shoulder of a gay friend? How does one overcome the inevitable heartbreak that ensues? How does one let go?

Sidenote: Dodgers play the Giants tomorrow night... true to my roots, Go Dodgers!!!!!! Gagne's gonna strike out Barry Bonds...

FOOD AND FOOTBALL

Sometimes I swear I live a man's lifestyle.... I have done nothing at all since I woke up this morning but eat and watch football. (Yay! Cal is currently up by 7!) I DID manage to read a couple of chapters from my Dance Studies Reader. Hahha, people who see me reading the book always ask if I'm a dancer. I'm so far from it!!!!!! The book actually talks about HOW TO ANALYZE dance, rather than HOW TO dance.

I also got the update on the family this morning from my mom. We talked for a really long time. Terri has already given her several heart attacks with her reckless driving. (Ack! My Diamante!!!!!) She was also complaining today about the extended period of Preseason. Good ol' Mr. Narumi, still working the band! =) Jerry has a new basketball coach, supposedly a really good player. They started GEO league today, I hope his team wins! Other than that, the family's doing well, which makes me happy. My mom was kinda afraid to ask how we've been eating lately. I was actually the one that brought up the subject and she was glad to hear that we have been using the rice cooker. My dad was also happy to hear that we went to see Mamma Mia last night. Technically, he didn't know about Mamma Mia, but one simple mention about ABBA and he was contented.

Now I go to watch more Cal football... yes! We're up by 14!

"MAMMA MIA, HERE I GO AGAIN..."

Quite the expensive night, but DEFINITELY worth every penny. Our first roomie outing... watched Mamma Mia. We all got dressed up and looked so super hot that we had to fight off gawking men from our apartment all the way to the Civic Center. =) *Random comment... Brian Gamido lives right down the street from us!* The show was REALLY good. I love ABBA songs, thanks to my parents. Awesome singing and dancing! (But not nearly as good as Caroline's own private rendition of the musical.)

Bad moment of the night: I got railroad-ed in the bathroom!!! I was the 4th person in line for the restrooms and I happened to lean out of line to toss a Fruit and Nut bar wrapper in the trash can when this bastard of a lady at the front of the line completely shoves me out of the way and rudely says, "Excuuuuuse ME!!!!!" as if I had done something wrong! She had thought that I was going to cut in front of her. Geez, what did she think I was going to do, race her into the stall?! I've got manners!!!! People can be so mean! She didn't have to shove me!

Correction: Zairel claims that I "misquoted" her, but it was, rather, a lack to quote. Zairel is the one that came up with, "Excuse me, my ladybug is down," not Gabs. Just making sure that Zairel gets her due respect for the "quirky" saying... Girl, you can HAVE the credit for THAT one!

Ugh... now I must go digest the 1/3 of a pound of beef that I had of dinner from Mels. Yum... so full....

GABBY'S COMMENTS FOR THE DAY

1. "A man's penis is God's gift to women."
2. "Excuse me, my ladybug is down."

RANDOM LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Once again, I waited for Gabs' to sum up the weekend... all I can say is that it was a very strange and random weekend, but definitely lots of fun! So (once again...) read her blog. If you don't know the link by now... TOO BAD!!!! (Relax, just scroll down.) *I feel like I'm Gabby's blog-endorser.*

I CAN blog about my strange dream last night... I dreamt that I was being attacked by a large and oversized headrest and there was no getting around it. I tried to jump over it, run around it, even duck underneath it, but each time, the giant headrest was wise to my attempts and got me. I wonder what it means... no doubt it had something to do with large, pubic-hair covered, carcass-looking thing we found by the bus stop.

See? Very random weekend....

OUT AND ON MY OWN

For a girl who's basically been a sheltered LA princess all her life, I think I'm doing quite well on my own now. But these past couple of weeks have definitely opened my eyes to all the things my mom does for the family on a daily basis. My mom is such an amazing person and I'll be happy if I can even be half the woman that she is. However, all the cooking and cleaning that I've done around the apartment has led me to one conclusion... I KNOW I'm gonna make a great wife and mom one day. For anybody's who has ever doubted me, I'm proving you wrong now. I DO NOT put work before my family! My family ALWAYS comes first, and it just so happens that my family has now been extended to include Gabs, Caroline and Zairel.

I'm gonna make it, and I'm gonna do great....

AMELIE AND LENTIL SOUP

Amelie is the strangest, silliest movie I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong, it was a good movie... very funny with a very hot guy at the end, but the things that go on in the movie are so random! Emma, our ex-hippie-Berkeley-Farmer's-Market-worker next door neighbor, came to "check up" on us mid-way through the movie... very nice gesture, brought *the three of us* bowls of lentil soup. Very tasty, with a nice spicy kick at the end of each spoonful. So remind me why are all three bowls still full sitting on our dining table? Oh yeah... WE DON'T WANNA DIE DUE TO A POSSIBLE POISONING!!!!! (And no, I'm not being paranoid, just being safe....)

Zairel, Gabs and I went to the AT&T wireless store earlier, where Gabs bought a new faceplate and tried to use her charms to garner a discount from Randy, the salesman. We then shopped around Ross. Boo... nothing good in stock today!!!! We waited for the 65 to bring us back to our apt. where we prepared some vegetable lasagna. Meanwhile, Gabs pretended to be Zairel while Zairel pretended to be her mother. (I know, strange, don't ask...) All in all, mission accomplished, Zairel is now the proud owner of the Nationwide Calling Plan. (Huh... such a productive day.)

Rant of the day: I woke up WAAAAAY early today for my 9am class only to find out that class was cancelled! Could've slept in....
'

PASTA AND BACON DIP

The boys are so sweet... they made us dinner last night!!!! Check out Gabs' Blog. (We do everything together that it almost feels redundant for me to have a blog also.)

I have a new goal in life... I want to be the spokeswoman for Sky Flakes... Yum, lifetime supply of Sky Flakes! Thanks Ben, Paul and Derek for coming to visit our humble abode.

BOWLING WITH WEIGHTS

It's never a dull moment with the Hot Mamas of #101... Gabby has invented a new Olympic game... yup, you guessed it, Bowling with Weights! Gabs rolled the dumbbells down as Caroline and I cheered from the sidelines. An uproar burst out when the weight finally reached the kitchen ::highpoint of the event:: Watch for it during the summer of 2012, when the Olympics should be up here in the Bay Area. Caroline attempted to outdo Gabs, but to no avail. Caroline's weight went crashing into Gabby's makeshift metal chair and rolled to a halting stop. By default, Gabs remains the reigning champ...

Rave of the moment: Rhetoric 20 combines two of my favorite pastimes... movies and the law. The point of the class is to try to understand why law movies make so much money and why Americans possess such an obsession for our justice system. One of our assignments is to watch "Twelve Angry Men." I LOVE that movie! I think I'm DEFINTIELY gonna like this class. Plus, our professor is really cool, kinda reminds me of Glenn Close.

Chi Phi guys are the best!!

I've always believed that life was like one long journey. It's kinda interesting the way life hands you twists and turns... keeps you on your toes. But life also plays games with you and will occasionally hand you a hairpin turn, and the only thing you can do is to bear yourself for the inevitable crash...

JUSTIN IS REALLY SIDESHOW BOB!!!

Just watching American Idol (like every other American sitting at home tonight) and I've come to the conclusion that Justin looks like Sideshow Bob... no offense, he's a good looking guy, kinda reminds me of Abie Northy, but at the same time, he also looks like Sideshow Bob. (Whoa... too much Simpsons!)

The Poli Sci-ers have been reunited... Caleb, Paul, Gabs and me. Poli Sci 3 will probably end up being my favorite class this semester mainly for the reason that we will all be together. I think I now unofficially have 16 units, which should make me a legitimate UC Berkeley student. (So much for my Rio Hondo dream.) But as of right now, the girls of #101, instead of being good Berkeley students and reading our extremely expensive and over-priced books, we are watching the news and boo-ing at the TV. The Summer Olympics of 2012 are up for grabs between San Francisco and New York. San Francisco seems to be in the lead, which we don't object to... BUT... they're thinking about holding most of the events at Stanford. STANFORD?!?!?!??! What's wrong w/ Berkeley???? Apparently Stanford has become the Golden Child of the Bay Area. The channel 2 news anchorman reassured us that Berkeley will host "a couple of events." Quoting my new roommate, Zairel, "What events are they gonna hold here? Underwater basketweaving?!"

Sometimes I think my head might explode with all the thoughts that race through my head. Topic of debate right now: Why are 4 very smart/funny/attractive living single here? Digging deeper, every night before I go to sleep, I lie awake pondering life's harder questions. I'm not even the one in the limelight and yet I battle through tests of morals everyday. Politics is definitely not my thing.... I'm like the Little Engine That Could, I just keep chugging along.

Teresa came out with her first column today... IT WAS SOOOO GOOD!!!! I swear people in my sociology discussion think I'm some sex maniac. In my defense, I was just very eager to read Teresa's Sex on Tuesday column. It was a very innocent thing!!!! Shoot... darn people giving me strange looks... Check out Teresa's column, you might learn something! =)