I'm going to see Ryan Adams in concert on Halloween (even though I've no clue who he is)! I'm going with Kathryn and her parents. Funny, I know!

Then I'm going to see Jesse Malin on November 17 with Nina and Kathryn! Also don't know who he is!

In Rainbows = <3

Woo, yay! I get to go home to Utah over Christmas--for a whole month! Hurray!

(By the way, my icon is of Matthew Bellamy, lead singer of the band Muse, and it looks to me like he's emerging from a taxi or something and staring up at a building? That's always how I imagine the photo before it was made into a beautiful little icon!)

And it's the wee hours of the morning again. Oh god. I really hate this expository writing course I'm taking. It's practically the bane of my life right now. It seems like the effort to which I put in trying to avoid these damn papers kind of ruins my schedule for the day. Writing the Essay, you're affecting my competency in my other classes! Strangely enough, I think I've been doing pretty well in the class. So far, we've only focused on the personal/familiar essay.

It's weird to think I've been in the Big Apple for over a month now. All I can say is that I'm really familiar with the place now. Funny how familiarity has tainted my perception of things. I remember how unimpressed, "underwhelmed" I was when I first set foot on campus. The place was dirty, hot, humid, full of hobos doing random things... I love where I live. I live in the cheapest dorm on campus, and in my opinion, the best. We're situated on Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street, just a couple of blocks from campus but not immediately on the perimeter of Washington Square Park. We're just down the street from Forbes Magazine headquarters, Yeshiva University, Parsons School of Design, and a whole lot of other crap. What more could I ask for? I think the other freshmen are missing out. Suckers.

Plus, our general area is, for the most part, lacking in hobos and other weird sorts. I guess you can say we're in a residential sort of area, for all the buildings that surround us are apartment buildings. NYC is my home away from home. I never imagined I'd be able to say that this early on, so I'm glad I am.


I have decided I'm going to major in international relations and cinema studies. The major in international relations is not set in stone, as it's an honors major at NYU, and you have to apply to get in. Only twenty-five to thirty people get in per year, so definitely highly competitive. The beauty of the major is that it requires one semester of study abroad. Applications are due next year and I really hope I get in. I'll be meeting with my adviser this week to discuss the best way to go about preparing for the application and the like. As for cinema studies, I only decided within the last week that I'd like to try it out. I've always enjoyed film yet felt intimidated about the prospect of pursuing it since I find myself lacking in creativity. Cinema studies will allow me an objective study of film without having to churn out any myself.

I'm still thinking about a minor in environmental studies or a language.


I hate this time of day: the wee hours of the morning. It is always when I'm the hungriest and the most hopeless. I hate essays.

P.S. I've already met Justin Lin, McCaleb Burnett, Sung Kang, Roger Fan, and seen Barack Obama. Don't know whom the first four people are? I didn't, either, until I met them, practically. Go and imdb them.

Coldplay.

If I don't write now I might just fall asleep on top of this scanner. Who knows how many hours I've spent scanning a friend's course pack for Comparative Politics. The thing contains all the reading for this semester in that class. It's either this or pay $70 for a bunch of paper printed off of the Internet and photocopies of excerpts from various books related to comparative politics, all nicely bound for you with the readings placed in order.

Really, I don't mind the scanning. It's just that I'm tired and hungry.

But I get to see Rent tonight (even though I've been up since six this morning and have yet to do my homework; it's odd how I haven't had any time to do homework today, seeing as my one and only class got out at 10:45)!! (Pray I don't fall asleep at the show. I won't get a chance to nap before we leave.)

I am now as I type contemplating taking the road less traveled--that is, living the life of a college dropout. Why not? It seems like college is just about doing a bunch of reading on one subject, and then conjuring a bit of insight in class and in papers, which you then get graded on based on how intelligent or intelligent the TA thinks you are. There are so many other things I could be doing, so why bother? Because college is "the right thing." Which is true. It certainly does feel right, this living out on my own and living a life revolving around college thing. After all, school is all I've ever known and all I've ever done. Naturally, after high school, college was the next step to take.

In other news, though, I think I might be getting an "on-campus," work-study job with America Reads America Counts. It entails going to a public school somewhere in the city and doing whatever the teacher I get assigned to tells me to? It would pay $10 an hour, which is nice, plus I get to make my own work schedule.

In other news, I went back to my dorm after class today, only to find a key in my door and no one in the room. Must be that blonde roommate again. How annoying. Good thing I have a laptop lock now. But anyone could've gone in and taken my iPod, suitcase, bunch of other crap. What a moron, though. Unless... someone abducted her while she was on her way in/out of the room?

Sigh... I'm done now. A bajillion more pages to go. Woot.

I finally finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows tonight. Finally.

And I've avoided this site since the release of the book. Hasn't been hard, really. What a wonderful excuse to avoid the Internet completely (though the only real site I avoided was this one). Poop.

I was really surprised that there were quite a number of pages still to be turned after chapter thirty-six (the last chapter), so I was so happy and excited to discover an epilogue following it!!

In exactly one month I will on an airplane headed for New York. I could actually wait longer for that time to come. There's much that's not been done--much I'd intended on accomplishing this summer, or at least started working on...

Oh, I got a hair cut on Sunday, and as per always, am hating it. I vow to grow out my hair longer than it's ever been before!!

I also ordered new glasses today. I just hope I learn to like them. They're very angular, very rectangular... I really wished there'd be some way I could order same the frames I broke, but the site I tried to ordered from canceled an online order I actually made, as it discovered they were no longer in stock.

I sort of don't really know what to do with myself now I'm done following Harry Potter's adventures. He gets to have a private life of his own, I guess, and I get to go back to mine (I guess I never had a public one, but I no longer get to meddle in his!!). Oh how I'm dreading this. Reading about Harry Potter all the time was a much better way to live life.

This Christmas I will be in one of these places:

• Utah
• Malaysia
• London

But... we'll see about that since I'm still jobless. The Advanta interview was unsuccessful since training doesn't even begin until July 30. (I leave mid-August.)

I'm pretty sure I've snagged that hospital job; just need to wait for that poor sucker to call me back. It's been around ten days or so now. I'll be calling the interviewer dude tomorrow to see what's up!!

I'm also waiting to hear back from the Musician's Friend. I really hope I get it. I need money badly.

I've concluded that if I can't bear the financial stress by the end of my first year of college, I'm moving to London.

I wrote in my journal today for the first since since January 1--just really, really weird. For the first time ever, I think, I didn't (or just forgot to?) consult with my journal about boy stuff (not that that's the only time I ever write in it).

Movie review time.

So I went to the midnight showing of Pirates 3 last night. Too many stories, too many characters, too much scene-jumping--all akin to Pirates 2, really. Effects were great, though (as usual). There was much more emotion in this one, which I quite liked.

Thank you again, Taylor, Jordan, Chris, and Kevin, for covering my ticket!

I'm really surprised that I got to school on time this morning, seeing as I did end up going to bed, but not until 5AM. No, I didn't get here on time. I got here before on time. I feel pretty accomplished, but crap at the same time. I could be getting my rest at a library table but no one else is there doing homework so I'm worried I won't wake up when the bell rings for next class, so I'm on the computer.

I might have to go to training today for my new job at the University Hospital. If I do, it'll be rough. The class runs from 2PM to 10PM tonight. That makes five hours of sleep in over 24 hours, which actually isn't bad but the difficult task will be staying awake at that training class. Oh, but my job entails teaching nurses how to use computers/software/junk at the hospital. I think they're computerizing everything and doing a hospital-wide launch come June, so they are hustling to train everyone before the end of the month.

And I'm officially moving on the night of August 23. I arrive in New York on the morning of August 24 with my family, who will spend a few nights there and leave the day after move-in day.

Being eighteen has been much different from what I envisioned in the past. In the first place, I haven't gotten used to thinking of myself as being eighteen. I find myself having to remind myself all the time. Freedom to do whatever I want is definitely not as positive a thought anymore. I'd rather be free of responsibility.

Anyway, enough of that. What's done's done, and I can be as childish and immature as I want to be.

I'm wondering how many triple rooms there are in Rubin. Can anyone direct me to a floor plan of Rubin?

Thanks.

What is your salad dressing of choice?
I don't know, really. Whatever goes well with Asiago salad, maybe? (I believe I tried Asiago salad for the first time today at Sweet Tomatoes.)

What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
Mm... Arby's.

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
Chanon Thai Cafe, a little indie Thai restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City.

On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?
15%.

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
Hmm, Eggo waffles? Since I'm usually pretty desperate for food in the mornings and will snag whatever's quickest to prepare.

What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Cheese.

What do you like to put on your toast?
Butter or Nutella.

What is your favorite type of gum?
I detest gum.

Number of contacts in your cell phone?
Not many at all.

Number of contacts in your email address book?
Don't know.

What is your wallpaper on your computer?
A photo of Earl's Court's exterior when Coldplay was in concert. There's a giant Coldplay poster on the outside of the building.

How many televisions are in your house?
Two.

Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right handed.

What is your best feature?
Mm, fingers, maybe?

Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
Umm, sure...

Which of your five senses do you think is keenest?
Probably hearing.

When was the last time you had a cavity?
When I was eight.

What is the heaviest item you lifted last?
A huge stack of AP study aid books. I was returning them to the library. Yay!

Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
Nope.

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
Eek, no!

Is love for real?
I'd like to think it's as tangible an entity as can be.

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
I don't think I could do it, really.

What color do you think looks best on you?
Black or red.

Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake?
A strand of my hair.

Have you ever saved someones life?
Don't think so.

Has someone ever saved yours?
No.

What is in your left pocket?
Not wearing anything with pockets, currently.

Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
Never seen it. Do I want to?

Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
Both.

Do you sit or stand in the shower?
Stand.

Could you live with roommates?
I better be able to. I'm going to start living with roommates in about three months.

How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
Three.

Where were you born?
Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
When I had my car accident.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
I wish I knew.

Who is number 1 on your top 8?
Umm...

Are you currently missing someone?
Sort of, I guess.

What mood are you in right now?
Tired, physically and mentally.

What are you listening to?
Nothing.

What are you worried about now?
Grades, college money, money in general, my anti-socialization.

First place you went this morning?
The bathroom.

What can you not wait to do?
Get on an airplane... to go anywhere.

What's the last movie you saw?
In its entirety? The Queen. The last one I've actually stuck in my DVD player and started watching is An Inconvenient Truth.

Do you smile often?
Yes.

Are you a friendly person?
I think so.

Now that the surveys done what are you going to do?
Finish writing thank you notes I'm including with each of my graduation announcements, hopefully.

I now remember what I wanted to say a few days ago.

So maybe you've all heard about this Secret phenomenon that's been sweeping America (or maybe just Oprah's viewers). Anyway, I don't know much about it, really; just saw it on an Oprah show awhile ago.

I had a dream that The Secret was a means by which people could gain material possessions, through the use of derivatives. Yes, derivatives, as in calculus.

So say you have a function f(x) = x² + 1 + 2x

May 1 represents 565 pairs of shoes; x² represents 8857 MP3 players; and 2x represents 9786 airplanes.

Every time the function is differentiated, the number of each item increases exponentially.

If only, eh?


 

So I didn't expect to bomb the AB Calc test. That test was like taking a language test for a language which I'd never been exposed to before.

So much for studying, and spending money and effort on study aids, review sessions, etc.

Seriously, the AP Spanish test was sooooo much better than the AB Calc test, and that's saying a lot.

Anyway, as I was walking to school to take the AB Calc test yesterday morning I remembered that I recently had a dream that my math teacher starting crying in front of the class because a few people were laughing at him. It was quite bizarre... You'd think it was funny if you were in one of his classes.

I have the AP Lit test in about five hours, but I couldn't really fall back asleep since I started what turned out to be a nine-hour nap at about five in the afternoon yesterday.

Whew, and... what else? Well, I think I passed the government tests, at least. I just hope I get a four. I really, really need a four (preferably on all seven tests I take).

Well, I'll stop here since I forgot what I really meant to say.

That last entry wasn't supposed to be emo, I swear!

And I insist on scoring at least 4s on all seven AP tests (actually, NYU does, if I want to be exempted from who-knows-what).

But my studying progress has been less-than-stellar, yet I can't really think of anything awesome-amazing I've been doing in lieu of studying.

Oh well...

Monday:
-U.S. Government & Politics
-Comparative Government & Politics

Tuesday:
-AP Spanish Language

Wednesday:
-AP Calculus AB

Thursday:
-AP English Literature

Monday:
-AP Biology

Wednesday:
-AP Art History

And... it's May. I have to write thank-you cards soon to my teachers who sent in college recommendations for me. And it's ridiculous how many were sent in considering I ended up applying only to one school. I'm so ridiculous.

And I'm taking the SAT again in June, just in case of a transfer scenario.

Life's alright, I suppose. I'll be eighteen soon. Boy, that's weird. It's weird to think I've been alive nearly eighteen years now. (That's such a long time!!!!) I'm old!! =D

Making friends is like trying to find the right bra. (It hardly ever happens.)

Automatic Stop by The Strokes

So many fish there in the sea
I wanted you, you wanted me
That's just a phase, it's got to pass
I was a train moving too fast

Didn't understand what to see
Yeah, then I got a different view
It's you...no.

Wait, I'm gonna give it a break.
I'm not you friend,
I never was.
I said wait, I'm gonna give it a break.
I'm not your friend,
I never was.

So many fish there in the sea
She wanted him, he wanted me
That's just a phase, it's got to pass
I was a train moving too fast

Yeah, I know you warned me
But this is too important
Now I got a different view
It's you...

Why can't you wait?
I'm gonna give it a break
I'm not you friend,
I never was
I said wait, I'm gonna give it a break
I'm not you friend,
I never was.

My body says no to sleep deprivation. Two headaches in two days.

I'll be booking a hotel and flights to New York soon. This is scary. I worry more than is good for me. All the time. Even when my body says no. I worry that I won't make friends, that I'll fail school, that I'll fail AP tests, that I'll be broke and be putting my family into deep debt...

It really shouldn't be this way.

The light is at the end of the New Jersey turnpike tunnel. They say the light at the end of the tunnel is heaven. I hope they're right. :D

10 FAVORITES:
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: Potatoes
Favorite Month: December
Favorite Song: Currently? Map of the Problematique
Favorite Sport: Erm... dance?
Favorite Season: Winter
Favorite Day Of the Week: Friday
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Anything coffee
Favorite Time of Day: Night
Favorite Feature on the Opposite Sex: Hair, I think
9 CURRENTS:
Current Mood: Bitchy
Current Taste: None whatsoever
Current Clothes: Ankle socks, Adidas sweatshirt, purple shorts
Current Desktop: Dell
Current Toenail Color: Natural
Current Time: 10:14 P.M.
Current Surroundings: Basement and brother working on homework
Current Thoughts: I don't want to be sick
Current Hair: Down and nearly shoulder-length-ish
8 FIRSTS:
First Best Friend: Grace
First Screen Name: Probably something involving my legal name
First Pet: Spot, a dog
First Piercing: Ears
First Crush: Don't remember his name, but we were in kindergarten
First Car: Honda Passport
First Job: Sampan Chinese
First Date: Bleh
7 LASTS:
Last Kiss: Whatever
Last Drink: Chocolate milk
Last Movie Seen: 300
Last new movie? 300
Last Phone Call: Lera
Last CD Played: Coldplay
Last TV show watched: Dancing with the Stars
Last Person you talked to: Andrew
6 HAVE YOU EVERS:
Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Guy/Girl Friends: No
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Yes
Have You Ever Been Arrested: No
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: No
Have You Ever Been on TV: Yes
Have You Ever Kissed Someone: Yes

5 THINGS:
Things You're Wearing: Underwear, glasses, socks, shirt, shorts
Things You've Done Today: Slept, talked on the phone, checked the mail, cracked someone up, ate
Things You Can Hear Right Now: Brother tapping his feet on chair, printer, my stuffy nose, the washer, mom talking
Things You Can't Live Without: Friends, family, music, good health, water
Things You Do When You're Bored: Eat, sleep, waste time on the computer, play the piano, watch a movie

4 PLACES YOU'VE BEEN TODAY:
Aunt and uncle's
University of Utah
School
The dungeon, a.k.a. my basement

3 PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ANYTHING TO:
Jordan
David
Jasmine

2 CHOICES:
Black or White: White
Hot or Cold: Cold

1 THING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
Go to a rock concert--wow, that was anti-climactic, wasn't it?

So I applied for housing today. I'm extremely excited. Housing check-in is August 26. I just hope I get my first-choice dorm.

I'm usually so talkative over the phone or in person, I wish I didn't always get a mind block every time I try to post something on LJ. That's why I hardly ever post.

I've come to the conclusion that we minorities must either diversify the hell out of Utah (particularly suburbia), or move out.

A couple of weeks ago outside my school a kid tried to pelt me with a snowball. He missed, but he aimed well. I mean, it landed in my path. At that, I immediately redirected myself to the building and notified a gym teacher. (The kid was dressed in gym clothes, but for some reason, was outside with a buddy of his rather than in the gymnasium.) Of course, the boy was nowhere to be seen by the time I returned with the teacher. And this minor incident got me thinking (and visually picturing, from the boy's viewpoint)... would he have considered throwing a snowball at a white girl who was yards and yards away from him? I told myself no.

Sorry, but if Asians in general didn't have kick-ass brains, they'd pretty much be nowhere.

If it weren't for my small Asian size I probably would have gotten in a few school fights already. Maybe someday even that won't stop me from physically harming someone. Sigh, but whatever happened to "The pen is mightier than the sword?"

Oh, and before I go, my current music is so coincidentally fitting!