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! =)

I'M A HICK

My name is Jamie Jane Lou Davis.... or so the chicas now call me....

Tonight, I went to an O-Town concert, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I've realized that the boys of O-Town aren't all they're cracked up to be. But it's okay, I was there for Dan Miller, and that's all that counts. Thanks to my new roomies and old roomie, they managed to convince Caleb to take me. (Thanks girls!) Caleb, my new hero, graciously drove me to Paramount's Great America to see my future husband, Dan Miller. Okay, so here's the deal: they're really not as good as I imagined they'd be. Jacob looks like a freakin' girl now w/ his LOOOOONG dreadlocks, Ashley's a HORRIBLE speaker, and Eric's voice REALLY was NOT there tonight. On the other hand... Trevor was quite the dancer, reminded me a lot of my old boyfriend. And of course, Dan... he was an amazing performer! All in all, I can't be categorized as a teeny-bopper for the simple fact that I realize their weak points.

The ride over was quite interesting. We managed to inadvertently drive through Milpitas three times without even looking for it! Furthermore, while trying to get milkshakes from In 'N Out, Caleb managed to get lost in a shopping mall parking lot!!!!! Fun night... now I must go tend to my throat... and NO! it's not because I was screaming during the entire concert, but due to my outrageously thick chocolate milkshake!

And on one final note... our summer is over, classes begin tomorrow... God says it's 11:52, it is time for bed... good night!

It was Gabby's turn to blog about our day... check out her site. Click me!

"WHAT'S FOR DINNER?"

It's been a long time since Gabs and I have hung out together, just the two of us. I've forgotten what fun she is. We both slept half the day away and didn't wake up until way past noon. After feasting over a couple of bowls of cereal, we debated whether or not we wanted to make a trip out to Target. Since it was so late into the afternoon already, we decided to hold off on the excursion. We ended up being quite productive, all while sitting on our buns in our pjs on the couch. Gabs managed to fix my blog (please use my comments page!) and reinstate my links (read about my friends!). We also "shopped" around for new furniture for our apt. Internet is grand! I can shop in my pjs!

After devouring burritos that taste like chimichangas, Gabs finally got around to unpacking. However, we were very distracted w/ Caroline's Bun and Thigh Rocker. We could have very easily watched the informational video that comes along w/ it, but NOOOO, we HAVE to do things the hard way... so right now it's just sitting in our living room. Extra chair, anyone?

When our tummies finally grumbled for the 3rd time (dinner), we finally decided to get dressed to go out. Where did we go??? Only where true nerds hang out, at Barnes and Noble, of course! Using our wondering gift certificates (thanks, Ford of Montebello!!!!), we purchased a couple of books. The fact that separately, we each only ordered one book, and that they happened to be the same book, is a completely different story and irrevelant to the point that we were actually productive today. And I think both our parents would be happy to know that we ate like queens tonight -chicken w/ potatoes and vegetables!!! Even while waiting for chicken, Gabs and I managed to totally confuse each other by using dimes to represent the 3.5 guys that were in the restaurant. (Hey, that "guy" by the window really looked like a fat woman!) Dime #2 was a cute guy though... wonder why he was sitting all alone. We should've invited him back to our place. (Just kidding, Mom.)

However, if there's one thing I love the most about Gabs, it's that she keeps EVERYTHING! Her backpack is such a freakin' time capsule. She still has Talent Show tickets from senior year, which I distinctly remember yelling at her for not selling. Unpacking, she managed to find all these notes we passed to each other in class. We had quite a laugh over them. "Who's John? Who has facial hair???"

Random story #1: Gabby's desk will provide her with a net profit of $5. Considering that the desk was free, I think that she's getting quite a good deal! The desk comes with a makeshift printer stand (old floorlamp box) and one locked drawer. All yours for just $5!!!! What a bargain!

Random story #2: So, I admit it... I'm officially a fat chick! I discovered this while watching CMC this afternoon and snacking on apple chips. You know you're a fat chick when you try to salvage the crumbs at the bottom of the bag by pouring the remnants into your mouth and it ends up in the rolls of your sweatshirt. ::flashback to Saved by the Bell episode where Zack goes out w/ fat chick and she swallows whole bucket of popcorn in one gulp::

Random story #3: While watching TV (yes, I know I watch WAAAAAY too much TV) this afternoon, I happened to catch a clip commending Mr. Tommie Lindsey and his awesome speech team. (Yay, Logan!) Gabs' and mine's first reaction was one of nostalgia, but then nostalgia quickly turned into frustration. How come LA doesn't pay tribute to "heroes"?! There's lots of people also VERY deserving back home!

Burned the midnight oil last night finishing up a presentation board for the ASUC w/ Rebecca. But today was not a day for sleeping in. I woke up bright and early for Calapalooza, ready to recruit eager new Freshmen. I was met by Brett on the lawns of Memorial Glade, where we schmoozed with the various campus community organizations. I ran into a lot of hallmates from last year (yay!). As lunchtime rolled around, Brett and I cruised into the Asian Ghetto, scavenging for food. We settled on Japanese food (hey, I wanted rice!) and had a nice meal and break away from work.

After lunch, we strolled back to Calapalooza, where I found Teresa. FYI: Teresa (my roommate from last year, and perhaps one of THE best roommates in the world, next to Zairel, of course) will be the new Sex on Tuesdays' columnist! I think I'm more excited than she is! Brett and I finally parted our separate ways, while Teresa and I continued to admire all the different tabling groups, with the company of Paul and Derek.

As soon as Calapalooza was over, I called Caleb, who was kind enough to drive me around for the day. We ended up taking a nice scenic route to go pick up my free concert tickets. (Yay, Dan Miller!) The place was so freakin' ghetto that we kept missing it. But FINALLY, with tickets in my hand, we headed over to Whole Foods Market where Caleb picked up some lunch. He actually trusted me to drive Constantine while he ate!!!! I managed to maneuver the car over to IKEA by following commands barked out by Caleb from the passenger side. IKEA was fun; Caleb spent nearly 15 minutes trying to decide if he wanted to buy a catcus plant for his room! We rummaged around some more and ended up only purchasing a nice quilt for his full-sized bed.

After freshening up, we reconvened, this time with Paul, Ben, Caleb, and me, for dinner at Mel's. It was nice seeing Ben again, I hadn't seen him in ages! Despite the disappointing jukebox songs (I wanted Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman"!) and the tasteless steak sandwich, dinner was very fun. Still dragging Ben along against his will, we went to go pick Gabs up from the Oakland airport after dinner. Driving at 2 mph off the freeway to get to Terminal 2, we finally met Gabby at baggage claim. The boys gave her grief over the issue of tipping. Hey, if the guy hit on her, why should she tip?! He got his tip just by staring at her amazing beauty. ;) Meanwhile, I received a random phonecall from a couple of the senators, passing the phone around, all pretending to be "Kris." ::very random:: I wonder what they were up to....

We finished off the night with a trip to Ghirardelli Square. (Check out Gabs' Blog.) All in all, it was a fun night. I think the boys were pretty pooped after all the festivities...

Random story of the day: Won tickets, picked up tickets, lost tickets, found tickets...

*See guys, told you I blog about you guys ALL the time!*

Good things happen to me when I stay at home; I really oughta stay in more often. Random occurrence with CMC, dialing phone and winning tickets. Reaffirms my belief that I truly am the LUCKIEST girl in the world. Now all I need is a car... I am such a walking contradiction...

Dreams that occur right before your conscious state awakens you are always the strangest. How dreams choose one landscape over another, or horror over happiness, will always be a mystery to me. Sometimes I wonder if dreams are a way for my subconscious to taunt me of what's to come. But if tonight is a re-run of last night's dreams, I fear that I will not sleep well...

You know that feeling you get when nothing in your life seems to go right? Yeah... that's me right now. Today just had too many ups and downs with nothing in between for me to fall back on. I used to think that free time was a good thing, but I've now come to the realization that free time is just dangerous. It causes the brain to dig up feelings and emotions buried deep inside the heart, unearthing a myriad of skeletons in the closet. Just when you think that you could get away without confronting life's daily dose of stress, an invisible wall seems to stop you in your tracks and remind you that you're human, which means that hardships are sure to follow. Classes haven't even started yet and I already feel like I'm having trouble with school. I just feel so torn... I know my head should be here, so I can get educated, but why is my heart someplace else? Talking to Kristen only makes me miss home even more... if I only had a couple more days back in LA....

I sure hope Allison is doing better than me up at Syracuse.

Yummy food... Cheesecake Factory tonight w/ Caleb... very fun!!!!! Random conversations about everything and anything.... including a list of all the things we PROMISE to do this year. (Mamma Mia this Thursday, hopefully!) Anyway, gotta wake up early tomorrow... more fun Welcome Week stuff. It's so great seeing such eager Freshmen. They always have so much energy and they wanna do so much to help the ASUC. (Such great attitudes!)

Last night, Paul graced me with his presence! It was so great seeing him again. I've forgotten what great friends I have here at Berkeley. Paul and I stayed in last night and I made chicken pot pies and left-over pizzas. (I'm getting to be quite handy around the kitchen!) We concluded our "date" by making it a Blockbuster Night, and watched the Mothman Prophecies. The movie was kinda strange... there were so many loose endings, making it hard to follow. (And no, it wasn't cuz I didn't understand the movie! Paul didn't get it either!) The only good part to the movie: Richard Gere! Need I say more? (Quiet Gabs... you're in love with a dead guy. At least my men are alive and breathing!) On a side note: Derek's finally back in town! Yay, another friend for me to hang out with!

I spent all night chatting w/ my new roommate, Zairel! She's THE best story-teller I've ever met! She's gonna be an extra on Will and Grace. It's so exciting! Just you wait... Apt. 101 will have "Must-Watch-Zairel TV NIghts." I JUST know that we're gonna have tons of fun!

I received a wake-up call from Pablo at the butt-crack of dawn today (okay... 8:30, it's still early!). Unit 3 people have finally arrived. Guess where he's living next year? Priestley Hall, 4th floor! (The BEST floor in the BEST hall at the BEST unit!) Such a momentus day... the Schurr fridge has been passed down to yet another lucky Schurr alum. Pablo is now the proud owner of the fridge that was once Gabs', that was once Adriana's. Pablo and I conversed over a bowl of cereal and then Takashi and Stephen came a'knocking. They all agreed that our apartment was real snazzy. (Okay, so they didn't use the word "snazzy" but I'm sure that's what they thought!) Hmmm... I wonder who will drop by tomorrow....

New Discovery: Alloy sells shirts that read "I ::heart:: Zack Morris!" I know what I want for Christmas!!!!! ::hint hint::

My first night alone in the apartment... and I've already been offered services from a personal bodyguard. =O

The apartment really isn't as scary as I imagined, or dreamt about... it's actually starting to feel quite comfy and cozy. People have been exceptionally nice to me since I've been back. My family has been totally awesome, just helping me move back in. Thank God for little brothers. Jerry plugged in my computer and basically put my whole room together for me. (He's my little Hercules!) Then there's my daddy. I have to admit, I'm still Daddy's Little Girl. It's amazing the way he drives 400 miles each way just to make sure that I'm all settled in. My mommy made sure that I had everything that I needed to survive basically the whole year. I feel like I can go w/out shopping for food or essentials 'til next year! The fridge is all stocked and ready to go! And who can forget my little sister. Haha, even if all she did was lounge around, watching Jerry put my computer together, her presence here was much appreciated. I miss them even as I'm typing this. (And I just talked to them like an hour ago!) My sister is the funniest person I know. She gets lost at the buffet lines in Vegas. (She's done this twice already!)

It's been great getting into the swing of things and going back to the office. Training has been fun, lots of good bonding time w/ next year's senior staff people. It was especially great seeing Wally and Karen in the office, even if they were only there to stop by and say hi. Working with Rebecca and Jesse has been awesome. Rebecca's always so enthusiastic and eager to work, I LOVE that about her!

After training today, who should happen to call, but Kristopher! It was so great meeting up with him and just catching each other up about what we each did during the summer. This guy is so awesome... he's such a hard-worker! He finally got to see the apartment, complimenting our nice hardwood floors. We made dinner plans with Nick. And then, such a lovely surprise... Teresa called me! So our party of three quickly turned into a foursome. Another quick phone call, and Mika joined the festivities. Dinner was great with crepes. With that note, I'm off to sleep with a full stomach and a smile on my face...

*Sometimes people surprise you and can change your attitude on everything. Playing House was fun, even if it was only in my head.*

Whoo-hoo... all done with my class!!!!! Edited my last research paper while sitting in Dodger Stadium. (Brett was right, I should've started yesterday!) Dodgers won today, 4-0! Take that Pirates!!!! Milestone... I actually drove all the way to the Dodger Stadium!

The day started off with me scrambling to finish up my essay. Quite typical of me, I was the last one to arrive at Allison's house (meeting place). I'm so Berkeley that I even run on Berkeley time when I'm not there... only 10 minutes late. (Yay! That's early for me!) It's so great being a girl and driving down the 101. You stick your arm out to change lanes and men graciously let you in. =) We picked up Allison off a street corner (literally) and headed over to the Dodger Stadium. Yes! Girls beat the guys! (Or maybe I'm just an awesome driver! Muahahhaa!)

Okay, so the funniest thing happened tonight... (I feel like I'm getting ready to do a stand-up routine.) Isak had free Dodger tickets... TOO BAD THEY WERE FOR LAST NIGHT'S GAME! We all get to the ticket booth, only to be shoo-ed away. Not to fear... Shirley's quick thinking had us formed into two "families," scoring us some nose-bleed seats with a couple of Dodger dogs and drinks. (My first Dodger dog! Ehhh... Top Dog is still better.) Crazy boys!!!! They actually scalped 4 extra tickets for $10 to one of those guys standing outside with the signs that read, "I Need Tickets." Sheesh, it's always the smart ones that do bad things!

So recap of game... Allison made friends with random people and told EVERYBODY about her dream marriage proposal (a homerun ball batted out for her to catch with the words "Will you marry me?" written on it). Derek almost had a throw-down with some lady while April and I acted like nerdy school girls and did our homework. We did the wave maybe 3 times and then agreed that the usher guy should be replaced by Allison. I managed to hit the beachball twice before some loser in the front knocked it into the middle section. Shirley had a peanut thrown at her, and lucky Allison had a baseball bat thrown at her (don't worry, it was a minature one) with the words "I LOVE YOU" scrawled on it.

So what ACTUALLY happened IN the game... Shawn Green hit another homer today and Gagne closed out the game during the last two innings, completely shutting out the Pirates! Dodgers win 4-0, with us cheering "Krispy Kreme!" and "Dooooough-nut!" in the last inning. Guess where I'm going tomorrow? That half dozen box of Krispy Kremes has my name written all over it!

*Somebody thinks I'm PERFECT!*

Telebears suck!!!!! I HATE being categorized as a "Sophomore!" Only 3 units away from being a Junior, I just had to get one of the last Telebears appointment and get all the crap classes! I'm wait-listed in 3 courses with only 8 real units. If I don't get into my wait-listed classes, Berkeley will kick me out! (Maybe not such a bad idea, I could just go to Rio Hondo...)

Highlight of my day: Allison Mac... Need I say more? When we get together, it's non-stop laughter. While out boy-hunting at In 'N Out (the one in Pico), Allison managed to catch the attention of all. Who knew this psycho guy would come in barking like a German Shepard! Our random conversations even caught the attention of a retired police officer, who informed us to take classes on how to use pepper spray and mace, especially since we are "beautiful, young women attending school in Berkeley and New York."

New revelations have developed after talking to Allison. We now both know what we're going to be in the future... we're gonna be First Ladies! I'm going to marry the President and Allison is going to marry the Vice President. Who would be better First Ladies than us?! We're classy, yet down-to-earth. Come on... we're from Monte-ghetto with roots in Crenshaw and Hawthorne, but we shop for "power suits" for fun. Anyway, here's the plan... I'm gonna meet my hubby at Yale Law. He's going to become a Democratic presidential candidate. He's gonna win the election (with my help, of course) and Allison's husband is gonna run on the same ticket as VP. My husband will then run for re-elect, with Allison's man by his side again. Then after the two terms are over, her man is gonna run for President and my man will step down to be VP. Who knows, maybe I'll even run for Governor of NY. (No, I'm NOT the next Hilary Clinton!) But hey, I figure my dream is pretty plausible. Sharon Davis didn't meet her beloved hubby until they were in their forties! I'll never forget when she gave me a hug, all I kept thinking was, "Dang, you are the luckiest woman in the world!"

Anyway, an outing out w/ Allison wouldn't be complete if we didn't make a stop at Starbucks or Baskin Robbins. She's too chummy w/ the workers at the Montebello Baskin Robbins (2 visits a day will do that to you) so we drove to the one at Atlantic Square. Who do we run into, but her boss!!!! Crazy, he doesn't even live around here! What a coincidence! We proved to be the center of attention, once again, at Starbucks by laughing really loudly. It's not our fault if we kept reminiscing all the funny moments that we lived through together. Believe me, there were A LOT!!! (Guy tripping and falling down the stairs at Cal State Long Beach! That one takes the cake.)

Lastly, on a serious note... It's a sad day in the world of basketball. The Lake Show will never be the same...

Date #1: Out with the girls...

Date #2: Out with the boys...

Two outings in one night, not too bad for a Nerdy-strawberry-digging-Carrow's-pigging girl! =)

GIRLS' NIGHT OUT! FUN FUN!

My summer vacation is going by WAY too fast!!!! I hate how I still have a huge list of things I need to do before I go back to school. Looks like it's back to living 26-hour days, it's the only way to accomplish anything! Unfortunately, I've pouted away half the night already. Kris has, once again, left me for Arizona. By the time she gets back, I'll be back at Berkeley. The good news: we'll be reunited for Thanksgiving, and we both promised to visit often. (It's only a 3-hour bus ride!) But 'til then, Kris says I gotta stop whining... boo!

Here I am... Day 5 of being sick, with no idea of what kind of sickness I have. Symptoms: dizziness, light-headedness, stomach pains, occasional urge to vomit... Haha, believe me, it's not great! I've been stuck at home for days on end, with only the Internet as a window to the outside world. (Somebody, please save me!) I had to break two dates today! (No, not the romantic kind!!!!!) Kris, we'll definitely hang out this weekend before you leave. I can't believe that our summer is almost over!

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride....

Roommates are the best! Past, present, and future... I am TRULY blessed! Teresa and I were finally able to catch up on everything that has been going on. She's such an amazing person! She can make a simple IM sound like a chapter outta an Ernest Hemingway book. Makes me so nostalgic... I'm definitely gonna miss our late-night talks, our rants on guys being stupid (Haha, nothing bad about Daniel, of course! Why, he's a perfect angel!), our philosophical approaches to The Simpsons, and most importantly, simply her presence. Even in my most stressful days, I knew I was able to go back to my dorm room and find comfort and solace in Teresa. She knows exactly what to say in every situation. She stood by me through everything, the good and the bad. Nobody can replace her, but I'm hopeful... my three new roommates are pretty kick-ass, too. Here's to new memories in Apt. #101. (Sounds like a sit-com name! "Apt. #101, now starring Gabs, Caroline, Zairel, and Jamie! New, on the WB." Shoot, move over Kristin Kreuk, there's some new hotties in the block! Yeah, Caleb, you heard me, best recognize!!!)

Ugh... you know that you're spending WAY too much time playing video games when even in your dreams, you appear as a "pixelated" video game character, running around blowing things up and fighting an army full of boulder men, with "Rampage-like" buildings in the background. (All you 80s babies, you know what I'm talking about!)

Take note of the time... this is how late I stay up correcting tests for my students. I can't help but think that every wrong answer on their scantron is a direct failure on my part. I keep wondering if there was something more I could've said or done to improve their scores. The worst thing about it all is knowing that tomorrow will be the last day and I haven't felt like I've accomplished anything; I haven't changed anything yet. Is this how teachers feel? I can only hope that I've never made a teacher feel like a failure, because if it weren't for them, I wouldn't be the person that I am today...

Congratulations to Kenny Lee for meeting the Jamie Challenge!

Wow, nice guys do exist! Too bad they go to Claremont McKenna!!!!! Boo! Who'd have thought this teaching gig would've had such perks?!

This past week has been one major blur... at least I know that my social life isn't suffering, but man, I'm sooo tired!

Wednesday
Out with Gabs, Tracy and David... After trying to get my professor to stop talking to me in an on-line conference, (Topic: Me questioning why I got an A on my paper and Professor Dana defending it ... yes, I'm a nerd.) we went out to celebrate David's be-lated birthday. Destination: TGI Friday's. Donned with balloons, David looked pretty spiffy for his birthday bash. David enlightened us with a bit of "David-ism." (He could probably be the next Dr. Phil, just meaner.) After dinner, Tracy started driving, and we ended up in Santa Monica. David took us through this pee-infested stairway to get to the pier. (We were ready to make a run for it should some serial murderer jump out and attack us.) Miraculously, we all made it to the pier, where we looked for a bathroom of our own. Note to self: Santa Monica bathrooms are disgustingly dirty!!!! And with that, our bathroom trip concluded our visit to Santa Monica. David drove back, giving us a tour of his own backyard; Cal State LA and a real-life castle!

Thursday
Totally spur of the moment. Our party of two (Kris and me) expanded exponentially with one call. Were we on an outing or launching a space shuttle?! Ruben called me with the "status" and soon after, we were onto Stage 1: meeting at Kris' house. Stage 2 was getting to our destination: Speedzone. (Much props to Erick for being a true man and asking for directions!) Stage 3 was driving through this dark road filled with blind turns at dangerous speeds. (Were we drag racing?!) After being utterly lost and confused (Ruben's plan), we ended up at a pool hall. Three games later, we were back in familiar territory: Atlantic Square's IHOP. (Boo! I wanted Norms!) Gabs was being bad. Geez, can't take her anywhere!!!!

Friday
Jerry's game... cute Rampage coach was there. Downside: He has a girlfriend!

In other news... I went to the doctor's and realized that I'm so problematic. I have asthma and allergies! Jerry and I both walked out with goodie bags (inhalers and nasal spray) ... I love my kids so much that I sacrificed a Friday to go shopping for them. Their (P)SAT Survival Kits were prepared with love and care. (Much props to Kelly, Bryan, and Kristen for putting up with my dictatorship.)

Saturday
Sat at a park bench with my mommy while watching Terri play tennis. This was actually the first time I've ever seen her play. (Why didn't I go to watch her games back when I was still in high school?!) She's actually really good, she can even hang with most of the guys! Later that evening, it was onto Jerry's basketball game. Quite an exciting game! They went into Sudden Death (there's no Double OT in the Jet's Tournament), and lost by a point. Total bummer, but definitely an awesome game to have witnessed.

I feel like I lead a double life with my night life... So, a movie. Sounds pretty simple, right? Our plan to grab burgers at In N Out and then watch Austin Powers failed miserably. The boys neglected to say which In N Out. I admit, even I couldn't find my way to the Puente In N Out to save the day. (Heehee, sorry Mike! I was so sure I knew where we were going!) Our 9:55 showing of Austin Powers turned into the 10:45 showing. But nothing a quick Johnny Rockets' burger couldn't solve. (Food solves everything!) We finally managed to chase each other all down with our cell phones. (Remember how in the movie Clueless, all them rich kids had a cell phone and we all thought that it was so unrealistic? Welcome to the 21st century... someone even phoned me 10 feet away from me. Thanks for wasting my minutes, buddy. I was simply showing Gabs all my new ringtones.) We concluded the night at Denny's where Mike bravely tried the Grasshopper Blender Blaster. Back at my house by 2am, we chatted til 4... what a night....

Sunday
Woke up early to get to Jerry's early game. Went out for Dim Sum, and finally crashed on the living room couch in the afternoon.

Revelation of the week: I'm still living in the past. The moment has passed, and so should I...

So what do I do on a Friday night? Well, instead of writing my paper like a good girl would've, I tagged along with my mommy to sit through my brother's basketball practice. PRACTICE, it wasn't even a game!!!! Anyway, I watched Jerry's new coach (my daddy's co-worker, Kenny) coach, watched my mommy crochet (she's amazing!), and then got scared about my essay and did a bit of research. Kenny kept making fun of me. It's crazy how long I've known him. He said that his impression of me will always be of when he first met me, just a little baller chick. (I dreamed of the NBA, cuz WNBA wasn't around yet.) Anyway, I guess to him, I'll always be that tomboy-ish Jamie.

This summer heat is so unbelievably hot! I sit in front of my computer and I sweat! (LOL, maybe perspire is a better word...) Anyway, I feel like I'm in such a rut. Perhaps it's due to the heat, but I feel like my life is on cruise control. Each day, I don't wake up until 9 or 10am, only to get ready to go to work by 12:30. (I usually don't get there til 1pm anyway, cuz I gotta take Jerry to basketball practice.) Once in class, I just get in the zone and I feel like I'm just through the motions; things just kinda fall into place. I know I'm teaching cuz by the end of the day, I'm so pooped. But it's that 2.5 hours that I'm actually teaching that I feel like I'm not. I know it sounds strange, and maybe it's a good thing because I may just be a natural-born teacher? At least that's what Mrs. Wellenstein says. (I'm sure Tony would second that.)

Anyway, it's not that I don't have lots of excitement in my life... but the highlight of my day is coming home to watch "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill." Then late into the night, I play with my siblings, everything from chess to all our N64 games. (Ack! Somebody help me...)

I used to think that Existentialism was pretty cool, but it comes to a point where too much philosophy can be bad for a person's health! I have a student who believes in Existentialism so much that he feels that nothing in life is important, needless to say, including my class. It doesn't bother me all that much that he doesn't wanna pay attention, but what really gets to me is that he feels that everything in his life is pointless. It frustrates me so much that I can't change the way he thinks b showing him that lots of people care about him and that what he does matters. I feel so useless not being able to do anything to help him. But then again, maybe he doesn't want my help... Darn that Mr. Gonzalez, corrupting his mind! For a 15-year old, Existentialism isn't very healthy!!!!

I came home reeking of cigarettes!!!! What was supposed to be a nice bowling rendezvous with Keith, Elvio (Keith's friend), Kris and me turned out to be a huge Schurr c/o 2001 reunion, plus boyfriends, plus two San Marino boys at Embassy, playing billards in a smoke-infested pool hall. Interesting night though... topped it off by making a pit stop at Shau May. It's gotta be Shau May if you're cruisin' Monterey Park.

My dog, Kobe, is 5 years old, and I'm just barely finding out that he speaks Chinese!! My Boston Terrier understands Chinese and was born in Japan... man, he must be confused.

Sometimes, life just doesn't get any better than this...

I know I'm still young, but sometimes, I just can't help wishing that I could look through some magic crystal ball to see what the future holds in store for me. That dream of mine to be the next Marcia Clark will probably always have a special place in my heart, but the more I live life, the more I realize that my true calling may actually lie elsewhere. I remember talking to Juan maybe 2-3 years ago. (He was always quite the philosophical thinker.) I could never understand why he didn't want to become a lawyer when he was clearly terrific at it. But I think I finally figured it out today. It's about chasing after that dream and doing what you really love, instead of what you're good at.

I am starting to believe that I was built to teach. Teachers should teach according to each student, not as a huge ensemble. Teachers should try to reach out to each student and figure out their strengths and weaknesses. It's been a long time since I've had a teacher do that for me. Maybe I'm naiive, but I strongly believe that each child is a diamond in the rough, just waiting for someone to come along and help them learn. To me, teaching a child is easy. It makes me so upset when teachers or parents just give up and think that a child is stupid. Nobody's stupid, they just haven't been helped yet. And for many, they won't be helped simply because nobody believes in investing a bit of time in them.

I always thought that I would be extremely happy teaching. But for some reason, all my past teachers tell me to go into law. Even Ms. Clark tells me to do so, cuz apparently she thinks that I'd make a great prosecutor. Nothing would please my dad more than for me to make lots of money and be a big time attorney.

What started out like an ordinary day may have changed a lot of my perceptions today. I dropped my brother off at basketball camp today. Then I hung around to chat with Erin for a bit. (She had just dropped off Justin.) Anyway, who comes along but the new JV coach, Sean Dixon. (Yay, Sean!) We all chatted some more. But what made the conversation so great was realizing that we were all doing something with our lives, as insignificant as we may think it is, we're actually making it out there in the real world. It kinda made me hopeful of the future. It just might prove interesting...

*pan to 20 years later* A semi-aged Jamie pulling into the Schurr staff parking lot, parking in what is now Mr. Anderson's parking spot. She gets out and sees Coach Dixon, spinning a basketball in one hand. "How's the team doing, Coach?" she asks. "They made CIF," says Sean. Moments later, the successful wedding planner, Erin, pulls up in her stylish mini-van, dropping off her children to school. They all stop to chat and reminisce about their old high school days. Each has become very prominent, touching the hearts of many people and enjoying a prosperous life.

*pan back to the present* So, where do I go from here? I know I would love to be a teacher, but at the same time, would I be happy teaching while knowing that I could have also been a succssful DA? Myabe I should try to be more like Juan. I've always looked up to him (probably cuz he's taller than me). He taught me that it's okay to listen to your heart instead of what everybody else says. Granted, he's also very stubborn at times... but I think he just might be onto something this time...

Either way, today proved to have given me a good feeling, just thinking about the future...

Sitting here with my A&W Rootbeer and a huge stack of tests, grading away... My kids did well on the Analogies section! That was the only section I've really been able to teach. Imagine how high I can raise their scores AFTER I teach them all the other sections! I can't wait to see how smart they've all become by the end of this workshop.

Yes Ben, I know... another entry that warrants a "Freakin' Jamie, you're such a nerd."

On the upside, Kris and I just spent a nice and relaxing weekend up at Mammoth. Just Kris, me, her two darling brothers (hehe), Aunt MeiMei and Mary. It was so much fun; lots of fishing (I caught a fish!) and sunbathing by the pool. We hit the jacuzzi and sauna practically everyday. Instead of fireworks, Mammoth Lakes hosted a laser show. But it was more like a Powerpoint show. (It sucked!) We did bump into Jane and Jilly, so that was cool! We also watched MIB II. In honor of Frank, "Now I'm back... from outta space..."

Recap of Mammoth: We slept, ate, fished, slept, ate, swam, slept, ate, watched movies, and slept and ate some more. Oh yeah, we also listened to Harry "Chronic" Jr. (Kenny and Kevin are such crackups!) Definitely a fun weekend!

(Gabs - I just topped you. Mine is younger.)

Ack! I've been replaced by a skootchie!!! It used to be my house you kicked it at, buddy!!!!

Whoa, what a weekend...

Saturday
I worked all day at the Schurr High School Speech/Cheerleading/REnaissance fireworks booth. It's at the corner of Whittier and Concourse :hint hint: It was a lot of fun. I sold myself from 9am to 6pm so that my brother could have some decent fireworks. (Instead of getting paid in money, I settled for a pack of fireworks.) After working, I went out to a baby shower. It was good food, one of those crazy 9-course Chinese dinners, red carpet included. It was my cousin's one month birthday, so cute! I felt so bloated afterwards, as if I was gonna go into a "food coma," or so Ben calls it. Haha, little did I know that my night had only begun...

Peter called me up around 9pm, asking if I wanted to go hang with him. Since I hadn't seen Petey in so long, of course I wanted to! I figured Gabs was probably bored at home too, so I decided we should call her up. Gabs had already made plans w/ Smitti, so he was to come along as well. Then I find out that Petey had called up Spanky, and so I told Smitti to call up his Supa-B friends. Before we knew it, our party of 3 had turned into a mob. But I love hanging out w/ all my friends, so it was all good. However, somewhere along the 60 freeway, we went our separate ways, leading Gabs, Petey, Spanky and me down the 101 to Club Kiis. It was definitely an interesting experience, getting groped all over the place. I've never been so happy to get away from Kobe! (Dude dressed in a Kobe jersey kept dancing WAY too close to us for my taste!) Petey and Spanky played knight in shining armor for the night, as they saved as time and again from random scary dudes. (Gabs and I got pretty good at ducking from grabby guys.) Anyway, the night ended with us meeting up with the Supa-B boys at Dennys, loitering around at 3am. Fun stuff....

Sunday
Jerry played another beautiful game today. He was the leading point scorer again this week, with 14 points! Man, he had soooo many steals! It was great watching him play... my baby is growing up so fast! Anyway, the night proved to be just as fun as I went to go catch a Sound of Hawai'i concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Man, another night filled w/ good food. Vicky hosted a awesome luau, complete w/ kahlua pork, rice, salmon, poi, pineapples, and mango/pineapple/rum punch (NOT something I drank!) The music was awesome too. I think I'm really starting to like Hawaiian music, thanks to Kris and Caleb. I even knew one of the songs, cuz I heard it on Caleb's playlist. (Apparently some Maui heartthrob dude performed tonight. Lots of screaming girls.) Ooh, by the way, I met Mr. Campbell's son, Chris, today. He's not as refined as Mr. Campbell, but definitely a FUNNY guy. I had fun laughing with him (or rather, at him).