First Weeks

The first week of the new semester is never easy. Rushing to classes, trying to find certain classrooms, finding out exam dates. At least I got over my dislike of freshmen (by dropping a class that was filled with freshmen) and managed to sort out my timetable. So now I have Fridays off, and my first class on Monday begins at 2pm. Not like I'm going to slack off, seeing how I also manage a job at the library and an internship elsewhere.

Argh, stressful! Argh, graduate school applications! Argh!!!! Honours Thesis! Argh!!!

Anyways, my food-poisoning days are over (and without the use of antibiotics!), but now I'm greeted with the challenge of managing my lactose intolerence. Recently the condition has worsened; I can't even drink a single Starbucks Frap without crapping half my intestinal content out. I wonder if there is some cure to this.

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Eurgh, and I really hate passive-agressive people. They really are the worst; passive people don't do much, and at least with agressive people they say what they want outright. With passive agressive people, they always act as though they're not the bad person where in fact they just really want to bitch it out.

Prelude to MUSE

So I am going to the Muse concert afterall! It's in Irvine, on Sept 21st. Didn't realise my roommate was as big a Muse fan as I was....she went to one of their previous concerts and fell in love with them there.

Tickets were approximately 215 USD each (there was a 20 something USD service charge....I hope those tickets are hand delivered to us in gold envelopes), but no feelings of guilt there. I don't shop and I'm not sprendthrift with my money to begin with, so I think I'm entitled to splurge a little now and then.

Heh heh heh here's hoping to seeing a red jumpsuit somewhere. (Sorry, private joke).
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The new semester is starting tomorrow, and I'm not in the mood for it. I have class every single sodding day, I'm sure I'll be meeting imbeciles here and there; and then there are the happy-faced freshmen. [Happy freshmen are a temporary fix in college life....cured only after the results from the first midterm comes out.]

There is also a dilemma regarding what classes I should take; I worry about my workload and I worry whether I'm taking the right classes to gear me towards my graduate studies.

Run Run

Here are the characters from left to right:

(Top): Erebus Rose (nicknamed 'Nano', because of his short height)
(Bottom): Dantos
Aein
Levante (nicknamed 'Night')
Erebus Rose (not a mistake with the duplicate name)

Countdown to the 27th

Hahhaha I am so amused by my roommates. Alright, after living alone for the past three months I was skeptical whether I would assimilate into the 'flatmate-lifestyle', but it worked out fine.

One girl brought a dog into the apartment, and that thing is a diva. I tried to walk the dog, but the thing just sat on the pavement like a rock and refused to budge. It only weighed 11lbs too, so I don't know how it managed to anchor itself to the ground like that. I swear, I'm definitely getting a cat in the future.

Also, the same roommate who brought in the dog has the most interesting conversation topics. It was only a day after we met and we began a discussion about the digestive system and other grisly details involved with that. Plus, we both share a love for the same music, and we both love to hate wet hair on tiled floors. And a fear of sorority girls that look like the Barbie version of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.

PS: Turns out that little episode on Thursday was caused by food poisoning. The nurse was super-nice and understood the pain of getting diarrhea so close together as my period, but the doctor was a major asshat. Just waltzed into the room, looked bored that another student is feeling ill right before the start of the new semester and plopped onto a stool looking as though he didn't have a spine.

The doctor said it was probably because of a viral infection from poorly cooked food, and then proceeded to prescribe antibiotics. No offense to the doctors in the U.S., but why is it that for every single illness, antibiotics are whipped out of the medicine cabinet?

Love you, Pepto-Bismol

Alright. I'm having a severe case of indigestion right now. My new roommates moved in yesterday, and one of the girls and I decided to eat out. Feeling super hungry and wanting to head to an outdoor venue, the 2-9 (aka 29th Street Cafe) seemed like the best place to be.

I have nothing against that restuarant. In fact, I liked the idea of having a cozy and clean restuarant in such close proximity to campus. Maybe we just went on a bad night, maybe there were too many people and it was hard for the serving staff to keep up. But it took over an hour for the food to come, and when it finally did the dish was half-cold. I would have sent it back to be reheated but who knew how long that would have taken? Another hour?

And I never thought I would taste zucchini that was bitter. And chicken so dry. And a pesto sauce so....strange. At first everything was alright, and my roommate and I went home with full stomachs. But then at around 2am, I suddenly woke up in cold sweat and went to the toilet for an hour just to get half my dinner out. And then I awoke again at 4am for another visit to the toilet. And another visit at 5am. I must have sweated half my moisture content during that time. It's normally 80 degrees F (approx 26 degrees Celsius, for the people living in countries using a logical measurement system) at night here, and I had to wear a bloody jacket and cover myself with a quilt just to retain warmth. It's one of those cases where you feel very hot but also have cold calmy skin.

Apparently the roommate who dined with me suffered digestion problems too, except she couldn't get anything out....which I must admit, sounds like a worst predicament than mine. So both of us rushed to the market this morning to buy medicine and microwavable food....because I'll be damned if I eat at another restaurant for the next week or so.

(Because of this entire episode regarding the food, I had to miss work this morning).

So my supervisor finally left for Hawaii after being delayed since tuesday (apparently there was a hurricane there). Now I can sit in the office, finish off my work and.....finally take a break next week! Then I can clean the bloody apartment up and get ready for roommates next wedneday. One of my old roommates wants to stop by on friday afternoon to "visit", but I have work during the daylight hours so I have no idea how to accomodate her request. Plus, not feeling egaer to see her again so soon, especially not after last year's crazy episode[s].

And damn, I know she is going to hate me for taking the better half of the room....the side with the opening window....the second window...extra power sockets......more space..........

Went coursebook hunting today at the bookstore, and even though I just bought two used books the bill still came to 174USD. I have 6 more books to buy! How do colleges even expect students to fish out all this money for books when the tuition is so high already? Sheesh. Thank goodness I got a scholarship to help finance these books...but it is very depressing seeing that sum of money gradually shrink.

Sweltering

LA is bombarded with some severely hot weather and some very strong sunshine. It's August; I thought summer was supposed to last from May till July! I am not looking forward to the sweat-fest once my roommates arrive and I have to rearrange my boxes in the cupboards.

The campus is beginning to flood with freshmen and their parents (I really don't understand why the parents have to accompany their kids on these things), and I can't help but feel all gloom-and-doom when I see them. I took a class full of freshmen last year, and half the time I couldn't learn anything because the smart-alecs were always asking [seemingly] clever questions for the professer to answer. There's nothing wrong with freshmen in general, just that their shining optimism about entering college is very depressing to look at...especially for someone who has toiled and laboured for the past three years and realise that there isn't much to look forward to after graduation.

The slightly good news: my supervisor is leaving for vacation tomorrow, and won't be back until next week. I can slack off- Gmail, MSN, BBC.co.uk, here I come!

The bad news: I actually have work to do at my job. So if I'm still working on the same stuff by the time my supervisor gets back, I'm pretty sure there will be hell to pay.

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picture of Blithe, Edel and Aein. Two of them are boys, believe it or not. I just have very effeminate character designs.

Goodbye Summer

Can't believe that school is starting in less than 2 weeks. It means more school work, exam stress, grad school application horror, and potential roommate drama (and when I say roommate drama, it is normally between my roommates and I don't get involved. If I had a showdown with other girls, I'll definately lose. I know I'm bitchy, but its the 'jokey' kind of bitchy, not the type filled with mallice and meant to hurt on a personal level).

Don't get me wrong; sharing an aaprtment with other people can be great fun. But last semester...well, last year it was very frustrating. There was a very messy apartment; a ton of dishes left in the sink unwashed; my eating utensils mysteriously vanished; used tissues lying on the carpet; clothes strewn over the floor; afterhour-boyfriend visits........great.

Downpoint of the weekend: the university housing department phoned me on Saturday afternoon telling me to get the keys for my new apartment, and also added that they want my backside out of my current apartment by 3pm Sunday. One large suitcase, one small suitcase and a bag of blankets might not sound so bad....but add ten boxes of books into the equation and you've got yourself a little problem. Doesn't help that I don't have friends willing to carry stuff with me.

Highlight of the weekend: I managed to move all my crap from one apartment into the other across the street in 6 hours. Granted, I had to ask the cleaning lady to carry my television for me because I tried lifting the thing up and I think my arms detached themselves from my shoulders. Alright, so I asked the lady to move my pillows (plural! Creature of comfort here) and some of my clothes as well. And maybe a few boxes of kitchenware. But I did carry a hefty load myself; otherwise my muscles won't be aching so much right now.

Fantastic, and I have to labour in the library tomorrow as well....I have a feeling my back is not going to be happy about this.

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Picture: Left to right: Aein, Edel, Blithe and Levante

The way I drew Remus Lupin (from Harry Potter) years ago...before the 3rd movie came out. Chocolate is love.

Samedi

Another one of my friends studying in UK just went back to Hong Kong today...and that feeling of homesickness is stronger than ever. I'll have to wait until Christmas until I can fly back myself. After that, who knows when I would be able to visit Hong Kong again. I'll have grad school to focus on (and hell knows most grad students only take about an average of 2 weeks worth of vacation time a year)...and even after that I won't be looking for a job in HK.

Not looking forward to leaving undergraduate life...it feels everything is so much more complicated once those four short years faffing about being pseudo-adults come to an end.

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Old picture drawn last Halloween....all the guys are girls here and vice versa.

MUSE!!

Muse is coming to LA, and would be playing in September at the Irvine Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre!! I want to go ;_____; but I don't know anyone else who is i)interested in Muse ii)can drive all the way to Irvine.

In other news, I'm thinking about getting myself a haircut before the semester starts.....thinking straight cut fringe with the rest of my hair looking shaggy. But my face is rather round, so I'm not sure if I can pull it off.

Other good news: I got a scholarship! (We all know how difficult that is for someone who is not international; is not from the state; does not qualify for financial aid). But now I have to write some cheesy 250 word letter of thanks. Gosh, I need some inspiration for this. How can I tell the board that I wanted the money to pay for my rent? Somehow that doesn't sound like something that will impress them.