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Monday, August 27, 2007

FREAK OUT!!!

New Day

10:38 PST Sun, Aug 26, 2007

I've finally settled into my apartment *yey* though I still have to turn in my paperwork though. Hopefully I get approved, otherwise I'll have to move again!

Anyway I basically have everything I need except for a real bed. It's not that bad actually though. I'm liking the futton. I currently have Sheryl's former desk and book shelf. They're being put to good use. It also saved me money from buying new furniture. I was also going to buy more plastic bins, but because of time and me feeling tired (and lack of selection at Wall mart and Target) I opted to just use the ones I have at home. I took out most of my clothes and brought it here. I'm just missing a hamper. I should have taken it like Eric said. Also I need a scanner...though I brought my camera so it basically doubles as a scanner of some sort. I'm pretty much set. I think I'm missing one book though cause the book store doesn't have it.

Today Eric helped me take most of my stuff to my apt. Tatay still came later with Uncle Ferdie and Uncle Sonny though. But Eric and I could have done it ourselves. But I know my dad wanted to see the place and I would have had to drive Eric home and come back the next morning. Talk about wasting gas. So yeah I reviewed my sched real quick. Luckily I printed it out yesterday at Xavier Hall (Financial aid place) while I was also printing out my parking permit thing (dang that printer was SLOW! 1 pg per minute!) but at least it worked. Anywho, the first thing I ate here was *gasp* Cup O'Noodle! hehe. Man I'm totally feeling the lbs wasting away.

I looked at my 21 year old drivers license and my current LMU card ("One Card" they call it--UCLA totally lucked out on the Bruin puns on everything they have...we have ^^) and my face is a bit fuller now. I know I gained weight, but luckily it wasn't a whole lot. So now I'm feeling better. finally arranged everything to a fairly comfortable spot. I put away all my food and ate the stuff I got from orientation yesterday. I set up my bed and hung my clothes. All I need now is a freaking internet connection! *sigh*

I have to ask my roomie what the pw is, but she wasn't home when we got here at 7:30. So I'm using note pad for now.
I'm a little bummed about not getting my laptop to work properly though. But I can't risk sending it back since I do need it and I have nothing to use if I do take my desktop here! *le sigh* so ti's not playing my cds and I have no internet. ARG! AND I didn't bring my iPod or external HD! Oh well. I guess I'll have to read Yakitate Japan! hehe. Least I have something to do. Then I'll sleep! hehehe. Ok I'm out for now. Good night! Hopefully I get this mess fixed tomorrow and class ends up being pretty cool. Oh stats as my first class *joy*.

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Yey music plays! *I restarted earlier but didn't play a cd. Anyway it works! Listening to AKFG - Blue Train :D

Edit
Monday Aug 27, 2007
11:20AM

Woke up early today at around 7:00, but forced myself to sleep till 9:00am and decided to get up and take a shower. I ate cereal, dropped off my apt application and got my wireless connection working. So far so good. My roommate left for work half an hour ago I think and class starts at 4:30 for me. I read some of the material given to us during orientation. I found out the things we'll be graded on and the things we need to graduate and get approved for our MA and certification. Minimum is a B- ave for every subject to graduate. Otherwise you have to take the class over and basically delay your graduation by another year. How sucky is that? Well anyway I don't plan on getting anything but an A. I really hope I'll be able to do it. I need to get my act together and not slack off like I did in undergrad my first qtr. I wonder how three hours of one class will be for stats?

Well I'm just glad my internet is working. I'm a little nervous about the stats and then the missing book I don't have and the job I'm going to get. maybe I should just TA or RA? Dr. Leung said we should try everything. I hope I can.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Base 13

Cecilia is 27!
I think I calculated that right o.o

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Weeeeeee

My laptop shipped a few hours ago XD Sony is fast!
Should have it later this afternoon! 1 day over night free shipping rocks!!!
So excited!!!!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Sony Vaio VGN-FZ190 CTO = Poor

Rather than waste most of my time settling for a laptop ready to take home from the store, I opted to finally buy one customized with the specs I want. Normally I spend a few weeks looking through review sites and comparing and contrasting, but this time it only took me a little over two hours to finally make up my mind and actually order.

I just bought a Sony Vaio VGN-FZ190 CTO (Custom To Order). Yes, I know it's an over priced Vaio. I realize you are paying for a name and you get more bang for your buck elsewhere. But honestly, all I've ever had were Vaios anyway. My last laptop was a Vaio (2001) and my current Desktop (2004) is also a Vaio. I've been happy with their performance especially after I remove all the crapware that Sony comes bundled up with. They are stylish multimedia machines (well the ones I buy anyway).

I really tried looking out of Sony (Fuji, Fujistu, Acer, Asus, Toshiba), but as a very visual person, the other laptops were just too...ugly D: I would really hate to be on one that performed well and just was a pain to look at. Why not a Mac Book you say? Well, cause it's a MAC. I have never been comfortable using a Mac and it's not compatible with most of the programs I regularly use. I'm sure it's great for some people, but for my needs, it's very impractical.

If the case was different, I would have bought a Mac in a heartbeat. I think aesthetic wise, Vaios are pretty close to style and you actually get more power than the lame hard drive space you pay for in a Mac. Don't bother to argue cause I've been researching and wanting to buy Macs for a LONG time, but I end up passing it up because of compatibility and low power Oh and it's impossible to upgrade. You essentially throw it away once it gets old after a year.

Well that sure burned a hole in my credit card. Largest one time purchase I've ever made that's for sure. I really hope my impulse buy came out okay. I can't wait for it to ship!!! Ah the smell of a shiny new laptop... *excited*

Saturday, August 11, 2007

I <3 Pizza

What Your Pizza Reveals

People may tell you that you have a small appetite... but you aren't under eating. You just aren't a pig.

You aren't particularly picky about pizza. It's so good... how could you be? You fit in best in the Western part of the US.

You like food that's traditional and well crafted. You aren't impressed with "gourmet" foods.

You are generous, outgoing, and considerate with your choices.

You are cultured and intellectual. You should consider traveling to Vienna.

The stereotype that best fits you is geek. You're the type most likely to order pizza to avoid leaving your computer.

What Does Your Pizza Say About You?

Friday, August 10, 2007

Wedding Pictures...

So I basically didn't take many pictures of the wedding since they had a photographer, Jen. She's very cool, very talented, and very tall. Check out her website www.jenrutherford.com.

Well IJ just sent me the link to their bridal photos. So now I have some pictures of the wedding with me actually in them. lol. These are only proofs of course, so they are watermarked.

The following pictures are not to be taken, saved, altered, distributed or sold, anywhere and are posted here for viewing purposes only. They are copyrighted and owned by Jennifer Rutherford Photography and consequently owned by Mark and Ij...the bride and groom. :)

I forgot what we were laughing about, but I guess it was funny?

IJ and I sitting and waiting.

Mylene dipping her chicken in some mashed potatoes

Flower Girl Mylene. Isn't she cute when she's actually standing still?

Above: Newlyweds Mr. & Mrs. Nazal

Most of the Bridal Party minus a bunch of the children.

Gibson and I and our failed, but humorous attempt to show our dance moves.

Me, Kevin, Jenny, IJ, Mark and Gibson

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Back from the East Side

For those who've missed it, I made my first trip to the east coast for my friend's wedding. I don't know why, but I still feel like I'm recovering from the trip. I got back earlier this week. I haven't seen my friend since high school, but the funny thing is, she is exactly the same as I remember her, just a tad bigger :)
I was a bit surprised when she picked me up from the airport. I didn't have my glasses on and couldn't see too clearly. There she was in the waiting room waving at me. I had to squint just to make sure. We caught up on our drive home and I stayed at their home in Jersey. Being the control freak that I am, I really wanted to help out for the wedding. I was, after all, the maid of honor and it was my duty to help her out. Throughout that weary day (I got there at 8:30am EST) I was being fed fear from my good friend about her parents and older sisters and how scary they were. Now, my family can be pretty intimidating too, but they're generally pretty laid back cool and fun people. I was a bit uneasy especially since I would be staying with them all that time. Luckily for me her two older sisters were more than ultra cool and her parents were uncannily familiar in terms of values with my parents. I guess it's because they came from the same town. I also found out that my friend's mother was best friends with my aunt. So, here we go. My friend's mother catered to me as often as she could even though I only saw them a few times since they lived in Philly.

Long story short, my plans to visit New York were nearly shot as soon as I stepped into my friend's car on our way home from the airport. Her parents, are ultra superstitious and have told their daughter not to travel far away before the wedding. Now, I, being the guest have no real problem with that, especially out of respect for her parents. I understand why they feel that way. I wouldn't want to get on their bad side or have anything happen to my friend during our gallivanting through the city. IJ, my friend and the bride, told me she would like to come along as a break from the whole wedding planning thing. I was, of course very happy to hear that and planned accordingly. I seriously planned for the sake of this wedding. Now, had I known differently that this was not possible, I would have planned my trip after the wedding and not before. ANYWAY, so here I am trying to digest the fact that I may not set foot on New York despite being about an hour away. I am ultra bummed and essentially IJ feels guilty (you better IJ!). But I do not want to do anything against her parents' wishes. Now she, being the weirdo rebel/goody-goody she is says she'll take care of it even though I know how much she is freaking out about getting in trouble. Mind you she is almost 25 her parents very much rule her world and she fears them. Not sure why exactly though. Anyway it totally felt like we were 15 again except my parents already knew where I was going and what I wanted to do, so I had no problem. It was just her this time.

So, with the aid of her older sisters, and her now husband, we head off to the Statue of Liberty the next day with her sisters' consent. We went out of technicality. It's still Jersey afterall and not New York per se. Day after her sisters come with us and head off to a spa treatment in Manhattan :D I respectfully declined getting beat up while naked by Korean ajummas. Then we went to eat at an Indian restaurant. Her sister was feeling bold and we were kinda scared, but tried it anyway. We were very lucky to find amazingly good food and extremely friendly and competent service. The atmosphere was so so, but the food was good and we even got complimentary dessert :) After which we walked around the city, went to a couple of shops to buy accessories for the wedding. My friend's sister offered to buy me a shawl for the wedding, but I told her the color didn't match my dress. It was here I found out that MY dress was the ONLY one of its kind in the entire wedding. In short I was wearing a completely different color, material, design, dress--the dress that really pissed me off while I was desperately looking for matching shoes all around LA and every shoe store in the vicinity! As we all come to the realization that she had planned it all along, I see my blushing bride friend laugh and inch away from my grasp looking for cover. ANYWAY, I tell her family, her family is a bit shocked. Of course the dress is beautiful, but that was besides the point! I basically didn't want to draw any more attention to myself than necessary, but oh well that wasn't going to happen now. After the shopping, I got over it. At least they knew I wasn't the one responsible for the dress choice (i.e., Shine is not an attention whore). After all that, I got my first view of Madison Square Garden and Times Square. I knew I had to come back.

On our way home her mother called. We were on the train so it wasn't like we could shield the noise,

although we certainly did try. Her mom asked for my parents' number to let them know I was doing fine. I was thinking that having them call would actually make my parent's freak out, but okay. I tried to beat her to the call, but she got to them before I did. After speaking with me and my uncanny ability to avoid any unnecessary details of our day in New York (to which she utterly protested), I handed the phone to my IJ's sister, Aye El and she essentially told her, without any remorse that we went to New York. My friend, needless to say was in a bit of panic, but hey we had both her sisters with us and we got home safe, so I don't think she got it that bad.

Next day she was determined to have our day to our selves. The problem was there was a wedding rehearsal later that afternoon, so we could only do a half-day. We left really early and her oldest sister, Ate Cheryl, dropped us off the train station on her way to work. It was the two of us alone in Manhattan. Pretty scary considering my friend here new less about the place than I did >_<. So, there we were right out of Penn Station early in the morning after downing our breakfast croissants and ice blended drinks. I was so great to see New York in its early musings on a Friday. The air was cool and it was still quiet. We had some time to kill before visiting MoMA, so we did a impromptu visit to the Empire State Building. It was so awesome being that high--altitude wise--so early. I'm sure I was on a natural high as well. There was still a blanket of fog around the city and you could easily see the shoreline and surrounding buildings including the Chrysler building. Its amazing to think that the Empire used to be the tallest in the world. Even though we were high up, I didn't feel like we were 80 stories high (that's where the main observation deck was). I also did something pretty bad, and I do feel kind of guilty for doing it, but since it may be years before I ever come back I became a rebel for a few seconds of my life. After buying tons of crap at the gift shop and my fear of being declared a felon any second, we got our pictures and followed the yellow brick road to MoMA. We initially were going to take a taxi, but since we had time to kill and money to save, IJ said we could walk. I really didn't mind the walk since I love walking anyway, but my friend here looked like she

was going to collapse any second, so I felt bad and slowed down and offered to walk into a store for some air and a drink. After a bit of rest, we continued our walk and checked out Radio City, CBS, and Rockafeller Center. We also saw another park..forgot the name of it, but it was pretty nice. Sooner than we expected, we were at MoMA and a line was already stretched way outside before the doors opened. We got in pretty quickly though. After a breeze through walk in the museum, I finally got to see Van Gogh's work, Andy Warhol, and a ton more Pablo Piccasso and so many other great modern artists and sculptors I can not even name. Ironically, the Salvador Dahli painting I've been wanting to see was on loan at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. After the museum and buying more random crap, we were both really tired of walking. I was mostly tired of the bags we were carrying, so I opted for a taxi. I hailed my first cab! It was fun...kinda like magic they stop in front of you ^__^ And we sat there all comfy in the black leather, air conditioned yellow taxi cab as it whisked through Times Square all the way back to Penn Station. It was only about two miles anyway, but the break from the heat and load off my back was well worth the $8.90 in cab fair (2.50 +.40c per 1/5 mi and.40 per 2 mins not in motion). The cabs and people are fearless crossing the street. The one thing I kinda regret is not buying anything from the street vendors. There were a couple of good ones and even a nice cart with art work in front of MoMA. I really wish I checked it out before I bought overpriced art in the stores. Oh well, all the more reason for me to go back I guess.

I still need to check out Central Park, Strawberry field and the Dakota...oh and Tiffany & Co. All in all, I think we did pretty good considering we weren't even allowed to go and we only had a few hours to do it. I got to taste my first NY pizza too and ate it on the way home :) On ward to the rehearsal. I finally got to meet the best man, Gibson. The bride actually had a crush on this guy before she got together with her current husband Mark. Mark even encouraged her to go for it cause he was confidant his friend wouldn't go for her >_> what a bastard! lol ANYWAY, he's lucky she wasn't serious. But he does know my friend can be full of infatuation all the time. I know she is. Gibson, is very tall. about 6-6'3" and Chinese. IJ, the bride, is into tall light skinned guys either Chinese or white-ish looking dudes. I guess he fits. Mark is complete opposite, but I think they match perfectly and he's smart enough to handle her childishness. Now IJ, has been insisting we make a great looking pair, like we're siblings. Okay well looking related is kinda weird, but anyway Gibson is pretty cool. I do prefer taller guys, but he's like a foot taller. When he holds my arm as we walk, my arm is nearly raised up to my shoulder. I am 5 ft tall btw. He's a skinny kinda nerdy and quiet, smart and ultimately very funny, but a bit too timid and his voice is way deep I know it's just me being picky. But yeah he's cool. Anyway during the ceremony, he and I have our own seats on the altar area of the church next to the bride and groom. My job as the maid of honor is to tend to the bride and make sure her bouquet and dress are okay through the ceremony. Boy were my duties maxed out. Her train kept on getting messed up and detaching itself. Her sisters told me Gib would stealthily check me out each time I would walk to fix the train. Of course that made me laugh, but I honestly thought how the heck could you not look while I did that anyway? You can't help it. Besides, it's not like he can look into air, esp where we were sitting. There wasn't much to look at. If that was true, well I am amused. To the very Reception, Gibson and the other groomsmen and bridesmaid sat at the same table as I. Poor Gib had no idea where to sit, but eventually found his place on the opposite end of my chair. He was farthest from me and we didn't really talk throughout the dinner. Our places were pretty much assigned. IJ's family really wanted me to sit with the family, but I didn't mind sitting with the wedding party. I would have felt kind of awkward if it were only the three of them at one table. At least I evened it out.

During the bouquet toss I didn't bother to grab it...you know cause they had to stick the garter on the gal

who caught the bouquet. I didn't want to bother doing that, so I let Jen take the bouquet and Gib let Kevin take the garter. It worked out since they were a couple anyway. All in all the wedding came out beautiful and everyone had a great time. Beyond that an unfortunate event happened unrelated to the wedding, so I tried to do my best to be there for my friend and the family. I am hoping everyone affected is doing better. I've never seen so many people do their job so well during such an important time.

The next day, after chaos settled a bit I had to leave. IJ and Mark came back and it was Mark's brother's birthday. Mark's birthday was the day after. IJ, with her family came to send me off at the airport. IJ's mom made me lunch to eat on the plane cause airplane food sucks. I even forgot it and she had IJ's dad go back to the parking lot to get it ^^; While we waited for my boarding, we had some lunch and met a nice lady at the dining place. She gave us a free a sandwich. Good thing IJs mom insisted I take it with me. It was heavily raining on that day and flights were being delayed left and right. My flight to Detroit was delayed 45 mins. When I got to Detroit, my flight to LA was delayed 2.5 hrs. The plane coming from New York was held back due to storms, so I boarded a different plane that came from Las Vegas. During those delays I had a chance to read a good chunk of Harry Potter book 7 and ate my turkey sandwich :). I also bought a U pillow. It sure came in handy. I eventually got back home at 11:30ish. It took forever to get my bag, but it was there so I'm not complaining. I can't believe it's only been a few days. It's so surreal, but I'm still feeling the exhaustion of the flight and yet I feel like I've been home for a long time already.

Anyway that was my trip for the most part. Gib is moving to San Diego soon, so I guess I may see him in a few months. Mark said he will visit, so that will be nice to be the tour guide this time. As for pictures, larger versions of these and many others are on flickr (photography page on my web site) but the people shots are friends only, so you'll have to join or let me know to check those. IJ, I got the prints from the trip today! Snapfish is fast. I'll mail you those soon once I get them sorted along with the digital copies. When Mark comes to visit Gib, you have to come too! Let me know so we can hang out! Tomorrow I'll be checking the Beach Boys at the VC fair :) Can't wait to see Rex and Incubus next!