Saturday morning I went to get my oil changed and transmission checked at Jiffy Lube, and got ripped off for it but that’s okay because I don’t have time to learn how to do it myself. Then Stanley and I went to the Annenberg Space for Photography, which was really cool. And then we got hungry so we walked to the mall and ate Fuddruckers (my first time) and then walked back to Annenberg to finish checking out the exhibit. After that, we headed back to the apartment and I put up some more posters and stuff on my walls, and then I got ready to head over to Josh’s to go to the Quietdrive/Sherwood concert together. Stanley went home, and Josh and I went to Northridge. The venue was super tiny (The Breathing Room) and was actually a church. There were a couple of couches inside, which Josh and I quickly claimed and stayed sitting on during almost the entire concert. Opening band was called Culprit (not very good), then Soletta. Soletta was pretty awesome, so Josh and I bought a 6$ CD to get autographed and support. They only played 2 songs on stage, because their lead singer was sick and losing his voice. Next was Quietdrive, which was really good! They played some old songs that I liked, plus a few new ones which sounded pretty good live as well. Still a fan Next was The Dangerous Summer, which was super disappointing. Then last (headlining) was Sherwood, which we stood in the crowd for (second row? It was super empty). But honestly, I might as well have stayed seated on the couch, because I probably didn’t get anything out of standing in the front. They were good, played a short set with old and new songs. I didn’t recognize a couple songs, but I’m not that big of a Sherwood fan, anyway. Quietdrive was much better. The concert finished around 10:30ish, I bought some merch (posters and car fresheners) and we headed home. The concert was awesome because of the fact that they avoided all the worst things about concerts: lag time between sets, to build suspense (?) and set up, and the lack of seating. The couches improved my quality of life a millionfold, and the bands were small and didn’t spend too much time setting up/down. Best.

We got home and I k’d the f o. Woke up at 11, and my chest hurt. (Background info: On Friday night, Lynn, Maunoo, Stanley and I went to Ami for happy hour/dinner, and in the middle of dinner my chest started hurting/cramping whenever I’d laugh. It went away maybe around 10pm, so I thought it was okay. Saturday went by with nothing happening until around 10pm at the concert, where it started hurting again. I fell asleep with it still kind of hurting, and it still hurt when I woke up.) I called Nurseline, and they told me what Google had told me the night before. So whatever. I’ll give it two more days. If it still hurts by Tuesday night, I’ll call a doctor and get an X-ray or scan of my chest to see if there’s really something wrong.

Got up, showered, ate lunch, bummed, baked cookies, bummed. I bummed because my chest would hurt intermittently and put me out of any mood for anything. Kency and Lynn have been working on their econ final the entire day. I’m so bored. Stanley’s at a Dogder’s game.

Maybe it’s just one of those days. I haven’t had one of these(?) days in a long time. One where I just feel not productive and all I want to do is lie down and space out. Lethargy? Or something? But even if I were to do something, what would I do? Study for the GRE, make the SWE website, or work on my portfolio. Unfortunately, I’m not motivated for either of those things. Today is one of those days where I’m just not sure about what I’m doing. I thought about it for awhile today, and if I can’t even motivate myself to get out a sketchbook and brainstorm things to do, what am I going to do about my completely empty portfolio? Maybe I’m not meant for art school. Too bad I already spent 100$ on oil paints that I probably wont touch for another month.

BAD DAY AUGH I need to grow up and suck it up and just do work. Grrrrr.

On the bright side, two more days of work and then free! On the dark (?) side, school starts soon and I kind of feel like quitting every club I’m involved in. Uh, shit.

A couple weeks ago, I decided that I would apply for graduate school this fall. Maybe for some it seems like an obvious decision, but I’ve always had problems deciding what I really want to do, and whether or not it’ll really make me happy. It’s important that I do something I enjoy, you see, because I don’t want to end up wasting years of my life on something that doesn’t satisfy me.

Okay well it’s not that big of a decision to apply, but the big deal is that I’m going to apply to primarily Industrial/Product design programs. I’m not leaving out engineering just yet, as I’ve looked into a couple of fun-sounding Masters programs (Sustainable Energy Technology @ Delft U, the Netherlands) and still want to give it a chance. I’m not considering any PhD programs, because I don’t think I can handle more than three more years of school. But I am definitely considering out-of-country schools (I’ve been wanting to study abroad since forever).

I started with this list of top design and business schools. I cut out the business schools (because my plan is to become a starving successful artist) and have been doing research on the rest of the schools. Things like, when applications are due, what kind of portfolio is required, how many recs are needed, if I need to be fluent in Portuguese… Right now, my list is 22 universities long. After combing through it one more time, I’ll post the considerations and keep thinking.

I think I’ll be riding on the excitement of actually doing what I want to do for the next couple months. It feels great, and I love it.

In middle school, we walked to school together. I would wait by your door and enjoy the company of the Japanese maple on your front lawn. There were always a handful of those clover puff ball things in front of your house, and when you weren’t paying attention, I’d kick them and disperse the seeds.

In high school, one of your sisters was in a car accident. I’m not sure about the details, but what I do remember is that your sister was left in a coma. After a couple weeks, her condition stabilized, but the doctors decided to keep her in a coma for a little longer. I saw you once more after your sister came home, before you moved to Saratoga. She was sleeping while we visited. You said she was doing okay, just that she got tired quickly. I moved to China, and we didn’t keep in touch. It’s probably been more than four years since then. We’re still facebook friends, and although I probably won’t ever delete you, I’m not sure if I’ll ever try to get back in touch again. I recently saw a picture of your sister - she looks good, happy and healthy. I’m glad.

My mind time travels or something, because when I think of you, these are the only things I think of. They’re old news now, and what I remember is almost obsolete; everyone has moved on.

At least the freezer froze meat. But for the most part, we used the freezer as a fridge and the fridge as a compost.

It got to the point where the refrigerator wasn’t even cold when we opened the door. I borrowed ice packs from Stanley and put them in my fridge, ice box style. They melted in half a day, so I put them back in the freezer to re-freeze. They took four days to freeze. What the crap.

It was ruining our lives. So we decided to do something about it. Here is where things get exciting! After surfing/responding to ads on Craigslist, we decided it’d be too difficult and inconvenient to buy one off someone and have to take care of transportation. So we went to Home Depot and found the cheapest one, $399. But it was out of stock, so the guy told us to get this other Energy Star one, that was $449 with 10% off (for being Energy Star), so we were like, sure. And so we were following through with payment, and accepting Home Depot’s free delivery…the guy mentions that California is doing this cool Cash for Appliances thing, where anybody who buys a new Energy Star fridge and recycles their old one gets $200! So we’re like, WOW AWESOME. That’s like buying a new fridge for $200, which was the average price for used ones on Craigslist! So then we say HELL YES and continue on with our transaction. And the guy who’s ringing us up says, “Hey, btw, if you’re with LADWP, they’re also doing a rebate right now for customers who buy new energy saving refrigerators and recycle their old ones. Not sure how much you get, though, so look it up online.” So we look it up online and it’s a $100 rebate! Which means our fridge will only cost us $100! And w’re like, sweeeet. And then we check our receipt and the fridge we thought was $449 was actually $399! So assuming all our rebates go through…

$399 - 10% + tax - $200 - $100 = $95!

If we sell our fridge after a year for anything more than $100, it’s like WE’RE getting PAID to use the refrigerator! Which is fantastic. Which I love. It’s amazing. I’m really excited to eat ice cream and vegetables again. It’s been way too long.

Also, I got a tumblr, which I’m still trying to figure out (like, do I want to update both twitter and tumblr? Or just one?) but for the most part, I’m using it as a phone blog. Miniature snapshots of my really interesting life. Yeah. Okay. NEW REFRIGERATOR MAKES ME SO HAPPY

If I had read the full wiki page on Dvorak last year, I may have reconsidered my attempt to be nerdy/unique. You see, I registered for the GRE last week. The GRE is a computer-based test. There are two essay questions on the GRE. The GRE does not allow test takers to type in Dvorak.

Unfortunately, it was too difficult for me to keep up my QWERTY while learning Dvorak. This morning, I attempted a typing test with QWERTY, and averaged 25 WPM with 85% accuracy. Immediately afterwards, I performed the same test in Dvorak, with a result of 95 WPM and 95% accuracy. Now, it’s time to somehow eliminate my muscle memory, at least temporarily, until I take the GRE in mid-September. I’ll only be typing in QWERTY from now until then.

I hope my Dvorak speed/skill doesn’t just disappear after a month. Because that would totally suck.

(Good-ish news: I’ve been in QWERTY all day, and just took the test again and got 50 WPM with 90% accuracy. This blog was also typed in QWERTY, and I only blanked out on words/letters a few times.)

• Prada sunglasses from Rome (March 2009)
• Swarovski earrings from Stacey (June 2007)
• Second hole earrings from Gina (?)
• American Eagle blouse (2008)
• Uniqlo tank from New York (August 2008)
• Asos shorts (August 2010)
• Tights from Urban Outfitters (August 2010)
• Ben Sherman bag from Gilt (June 2010)
• Jazz shoes (2003)
• Socks from HyeJin in Korea (2009)
• Bracelet from Tiffany’s (July 2010)
• Jade (2007)
• Nail Polish from Knock Out (August 2010)

• Make this happen, with the help of the newly discovered (by me) McMaster-Carr.
• Run 4 miles again
• Do reasonably well on the GRE Verbal
• Use the easel my mom gave me for Christmas (?) when I was a sophomore in high school
• Hang out with friends that I haven’t spent time with lately

Three things about commuting/driving in LA: I’m afraid of unprotected left turns. The local streets in Westwood really suck. There is way too much traffic in Los Angeles, but at least it’s in the opposite direction of my commute!

My room is almost clean and completely unpacked! My goal is to finish cleaning up tonight, so when my man visits tomorrow it will be nice. (I think it’s very strange for teenagers to call their boyfriend/girlfriend “husband” or “wife”. What if things don’t end up that way?)

My weekends have been crazy busy and I’ve barely had time to settle into my new place. Last weekend I drove down to Irvine to see Rose and Maggie, and briefly meet up with Hilar. This weekend is my first weekend to just bum around! Next weekend I’m planning on meeting up with some friends from ISB, and then in the future Heather’s coming down for some classic girl time, and a San Diego trip, and Danny, and Crystal, and all sorts of awesome. Very much enjoying this summer so far

Okok off to clean my room now! Pictures to come, when it’s neater.

We stayed in Yellowstone for 4 days, three nights. Our flight left in the early morning, at around 6-something, so I woke up at 3:30 like a crazy person to take a shower before leaving.
We transferred in Denver, arrived in Yellowstone in the morning. Proceeded to drive through Grand Teton National Park, taking a pee break at the edge of Jackson lake.

We ate a late lunch at Signal Mountain Lodge and then got to our hotel in time for dinner. After dinner, we crashed for some serious crashing time. Next day: We went to the Mud Volcano in the morning and saw a bison just chillin’.

And Dragon’s Hole. Or Breath, or Lair, or something.

Then dropped by to see this crazy petrified tree. It had a gated fence around it, to prevent people from chipping themselves some fancy petrified tree souvenirs. But why did the fence need a gate? Dunno.

We got back on the car and it started raining! Nice timing. So then we drove to the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces. Yellowstone had a lot of driving and looking and not much exciting hiking. :/

The terraces were totally crazy. The ground had weirdass texture and was probably super hot. And everything was steaming. And weird colors due to bacterial growth.

Then Emerald Spring. It’s different colors because of the different temperatures of water housing different bacterias.

There was also a cute geyser that kept going off sporadically. But don’t get it confused with the Sporadic Geyser, which is not this one.

And then we went to Old Faithful!

Kapew! I thought that he was super faithful, but actually he erupts every 90 min plus or minus 50 minutes. That’s kind of a big difference. But usually it’s plus or minus 10 minutes. But that’s still not tht faithful. :/ How disappointing.

And then the weather got crazy bad so we decided to go home. Check out the trippy clouds! (I’m too used to CA weather, I suppose.)

Next day, as we were driving to our next destination, we saw an entire herd of bison just hanging out.

There were lots of cute baby bison too

We got to Lower Falls and took picturesss

And then we went to Upper Falls and took more picturesss (clearly I’m getting tired of blogging right about now sorry) Check out these crazy mountains!

There was a rainbow at the bottom of Uncle Tom’s Trail. (Not Cabin.) I heard everyone take a deep breath and say “Wow, that’s beautiful” when they saw it as I was taking pictures. I wonder if there was a leprechaun and expressed my wonder out loud and my mom thought I was crazy.

My sister and I only took one normal expressioned picture together the entire trip, and here it is. With Lower Falls in the background. Taken at Artist’s Point.

View from Artist’s Point. When the sun came out, the sides of the mountains were sooo yellow! Finally, I understood the name of the national park.

Then we went back to see Old Faithful again, except he hella spazzed out and tripped out twice before actually erupting a lame eruption like 10 minutes (relatively) late. And then we went to see the geysers/springs around Old Faithful, like Morning Glory Pool. My sister made me walk two miles in the rain. I suffered while she laughed histerically for no apparent reason. But Morning Glory Pool was pretty so I guess it was worth it. I guesssss.

And then we went home to sleep. And then the last day on our way out of Yellowstone and Grand Teton, we stopped by Jenny Lake! My lake. Jenn Lake. They spelled it wrong.

And that is all. I have four mosquito bites on my shoulder, all from the last day (WTF?), one on my pinky finger (also WTF) and one of my foot. And one on my tummy. Did these mosquitos eat me through my clothes??? Here are some animal sightings.

We also went to many more places but I chose the most blogworthy photos to put up and describe only. For example, when we went to see the Natural Bridge, the kids walking with their parents in front of us were singing Billionaire. And I sang the next line and they were amused. But see, I couldn’t have caught that in a photograph right? ALSO I petted the top of a baby tree and it was soft. But then every other tree I petted was spiky. Until we went to my lake. Basically, my lake wins.

I went to sleep late and then woke up early (habit because of work, I guess) to start unpacking. Stanley came over to help me build my bed and futon. I kind of decided on how to arrange my room… but it’s still kind of weird because one of my walls is angled (again) haha. I might buy a new (bigger) desk to increase productivity and a desk chair because I don’t have one. Too bad I can’t afford something like this.

This is a really disjointed blog… So I don’t have electricity/Internet at my new apartment so I’m at Josh’s apartment, but I’m getting really distracted by the huge 56″-ish TV in their living room. So instead of being super distracted I’m going to go home now. And light some candles and then go to sleep. Work tomorrow! Week number three, here I come! I’m taking time off starting on Friday to go home for some family time. More later. Maybe.