Stuffed Green Bell Peppers

I (kinda) made this for dinner tonight with Eddie! I chopped up the stuffing, with some help, and cleaned out the bell peppers. Eddie cooked the stuffing-- onions, tomatoes, tofu, and bell peppers stir fried in a Korean BBQ sauce. To keep the bell pepper dices still crunchy, we added it last into the mixture of diced onions, tomatoes, and tofu. After the stuffing was cooked, we filled up the bell peppers. I placed them directly on aluminum foil coated with a thin layer of canola/olive oil, and then stuck them in the oven at 375C for 30mins. The bell peppers shrink a little bit, so the stuffing falls, and we were able to scatter some cheese over the top, stick it back in the oven for about 3-5mins for it to melt, and then eat! Here's the finished product:

Yeah, I wasn't sure how to eat it, since I've actually never eaten stuffed bell peppers before! First time making it too. We ended up cutting it in half (and the juices flowed out were delicious!) and then eating it that way. haha Next time, we're thinking of adding in flavored rice. meat could work too, from all the recipes I browsed beforehand. But, a vegetarian stuffed green bell pepper dish is still delicious! and healthy! :P

XCII : Food Fondness

Food is so lovely. Food cures the mind, the heart, the soul. Of course, it can also the complete opposite, but I'd rather love the good things about food. Like how you can present delicious food in the shape of a dragon because it's called a dragon roll!


I forget what the restaurant is called, but it's the sushi restaurant in Little Tokyo's plaza place. I went with my mom before we drove back home for winter vacation. I remember last time I went to this place with my badminton team, my friend got the caterpillar roll and it was like a caterpillar! Such creativity.

Yesterday, I went to Half&Half to get boba with a friend. While I was waiting for her, I saw these in the display:

mmm~ delicious. I'm hungry. Why is food so amazing. It's just fats, proteins, carbs, and essential minerals for the body, but it can be so miraculous!

LXI : Last Semester of Undergrad - Week 14 and 15

Tuesday (4/13), I watched Mononoke Hime in Japanese Anime class, but we didn't finish it. So I found the whole movie uploaded somewhere on the internet and finished it. It probably remains my favorite film by Miyazaki. The first time I ever watched it, I remember suddenly realizing how there could be a perfectly well-written story with no villain. Well, I guess no villain as I'm used to stories and animated films having. On top of that, I realized how people and nature keep clashing. In addition to loving the story and the characters, I love love LOVE the music. Hisaishi is amazing at composing music that touches the heart, at least it touches mine. Mononoke Hime, Spirited Away, Kikujiro, Laputa, etc. I think genius means being able to reach through to someone's heart, getting passed all walls that could be there and hitting the emotions. In one word: WOW.

I think every time I've watched Mononoke Hime, I've always lingered on it for the next three days or so. It has that strong of an impact on my mind. Truly amazing. Anyway, these two weeks were "rest" weeks because I didn't have any exams. But then, it also meant I was supposed to catch up on work. Of course, I am still behind, but I have a very good excuse: my birthday!!

Saturday was hanging out with Phoebe, Steph, Lint, and Monica at the Stinking Rose and pigging out on their delicious bread. We demolished the first plate when it came and shocked the waiter refilling the bread when he gave us the second plate. It was hilarious because after probably 4 plates, he came over and was like "oh..." and walked away cuz we weren't done yet. Apparently, he only took the plate when there was 1 or 2 left. And by plate 4, we finally decided to "eat smart" and wait for our meals. We had an appetizer (garlic fries ish) that kept making us lose our focus to leave room for the real meal. But oh well, it was a fun dinner. Garlic ice cream is pretty delicious. Like tofu cheesecake (Hayward!). ahh.. lovely. And miso ice cream (Japan...).

Sunday was dimsumming with roomies and Lint. We wanted to go to Yi Mei, but this is what we found when we got there:

It was sad for us, but what made me feel even sadder was seeing two more Asian vans driven by daddies pass by slowly and seeing a grandpa and daddy walk up to the sign. The families that go to the restaurant weekly must've been more devastated than we were. In the end, we went to Elite, right next to Yi Mei. It was a bit pricey, but it's worth it because the portions are big! I very much enjoyed stuffing myself full with their dimsum.

Monday was dinnering with a few of the baddy team members. We ate at a Taiwanese restaurant called Pa Pa Walk. Very delicious and, once again, I pretty much over-filled my stomach. I loved these signs they had for the kitchen and the bathroom:

But food didn't stop there. We went to Kelvin's apartment afterward and Irene brought me a huge cake!

I didn't get pictures, but I blow torched (for creme brulee) the Hello Kitty candle and then literally defaced it. Seriously, sometimes I think I should get over my dislike for Hello Kitty, but I sleep with a Pochacco blanket every night so how can I? We played BANG! (they had to teach me first) until around 1am. What in the world is the renegade supposed to win at that game?! I managed to trick one vice into killing the other vice, but then by the time it gets down to the sheriff, vice, and renegade, I think we pretty much know who's who. -,- Unless the renegade is persuasive enough to get the sheriff to believe he is the vice... I have no such skills. *sad* There was one surprise for my birthday. Jeremy managed to stuff a beer can into my baddy bag without my noticing, and I only found it when I got back to my apartment and unloaded my bag. Now I have a random beer can in the fridge, which I honestly forgot about until yesterday... whoops.

Tuesday was interesting. It started off with Lynn giving me a shirt and my mom sending me package that had a shirt from my sis and Helen (among other lovely things). Shirts together:

Because I slept so late on Monday and couldn't fall asleep until 4am because I was thinking about my first phone interview (for a biotech company internship), I convinced myself that I would skip Japanese Anime class. So I did. And it was wonderful, though I got up early enough that I could have rushed to class... nah. I went to research, but got out early because I told Russell it was my birthday. It was funny conversation:
M: Can I leave early today?
R: Of course not! You have to stay the whole time.
M: It's my birthday.
R: What? What are you doing here! Get out of here!
I'm going to miss researching with the group. I know they'll probably all finish their PhDs soon and whatnot, so eventually we'll disperse. But sometimes, can't time just feel longer when we're having fun? Anyway, dinner was with Kit, who took me to an El Salvadorian restaurant near campus. It was surprisingly filling and delicious, but I still love my Asian foods.

So birthday was super awesome and I'm glad I got to spend it with so many different people I love hanging out with. Love love love.

Now there is one week of classes left and then finals. My last ones of my undergraduate career. I will miss it, but look forward to Pharmacy school! I get excited when I talk to pharm students. So much to know! So much I want to do! Little my little, life will fall into place. But for now (I always have to pull myself back into the NOW), I will go at the pace I am comfortable with.

LIX : Last Semester of Undergrad - Week 13

This week was horrible up until Friday night because I had a Physio exam on Friday. I realized how much I despised having big exams on Fridays because of this week. I work the hardest for Physio, and I dread Physio tests the most, but I completely enjoy all the things Herrera teaches in Physio. Anyway, week 13 was a tough week mentally and physically. Apparently, I had been lacking proper nutrition because my lips were super dry and the skin kept flaking off, and on top of that, I felt like my lips were slightly swelling outward such that they were getting thicker-like. It was horrible, but I bought some Emergen-C (which I was surprised that it didn't just contain Vit C! It has a bunch of the Vit. B and necessary yummies) and took that toward the end of the week. I'm glad that my body's feeling much more normal, but not completely just yet. It might be due to the strange weather here, too. Hot and then so cold!

Random little cheer-upper while studying:

Super tiny red velvet cupcake! :)

Its deliciousness in one bite revived my motivation to study longer. yay for sugar!

Anyway, studied my butt off and then the weekend came! Relay for life, where I donated 9 inches of my hair, but it was measured from the longest strand, so I kind of cheated. I probably averaged 7 inches... whoops. The minimum was 8 inches. :P I still had shoulder-length hair that night when I went to badminton training. And I don't know how to capture my feelings for the badminton team members, but I love how hilarious some of them can be. We went to a pretty expensive Hong Kong-nese restaurant (Sea Harbor Seafood Restaurant or something) because we wanted to try it out and use some of the club money~ social event y'know! It disappointed us when the waiter kept coming back to tell us "oh, we ran out of [blahblah]" for at least 3 dishes that I could understand (why so many cantonese-speakers on our team?!). Also, the dishes were so small! 13 of us went and we each paid $16 for that dinner... but many of us went to In-n-Out afterward cuz it really did not fill us up. I was too tired to eat even though I was only "satisfied," so I just hung out with them since my driver wanted to get a burger. I found out that I get excited talking about science-y topics. He asked me "So would you get atrophy if you only ate 1 meal one day?" But apparently you eat normally for the other days. And we talked about the physiological conditions that go with just having a meal one day of the week. No problem for the body, right? It just super uncomfortable to feel your stomach gurgling all the time.

Then, on Sunday, I went to visit my friend's apartment in Alhambra, which I'll be next year! I am going to USC Pharmacy School!!! :D *proud to be a complete Trojan* And then, that night, I started studying for my Monday Pchem exam... but I felt chill about it. So weird. I wish I could feel chill about all my exams even when I know I haven't completely studied for it. But, unfortunately, I freaked out studying for Physio. when it was only Monday. and the exam was Friday. *sigh* Our mind and body are WEIRD sometimes.

LVIII : Last Semester of Undergrad - Week 11 and 12

Whoops, I fell behind in my weekly updates for this supposed-to-be awesome semester. Week 11 was class stuff on weekdays, which had this surprise me on Tuesday:

Extra large agar plates! Compared to Week 9's extra tiny agar plates.
Other than that, the only really exciting event was Saturday (3/27). CHIP (health club at USC, Community Health Involvement Project) had it's own health fair set up for the first time, and I volunteered to help keep it organized by being crowd control, directing people to the site, and helping just move things along. At first, we were worried that people wouldn't be coming because we started at around 10am and there were no crowds on campus (we were situated inside campus, unfortunately a bit). I helped trying to get people interested, and we were lucky that other events were happening on campus. One was the Easter event by the volunteering program at USC, and their advertising was much better than ours at getting community families to come. We got the volunteers there to direct the families to our health site afterward so they could get free blood pressure screenings, free blood glucose screenings, information on health issues and what you can do to avoid them, and fun kids activities revolved around health. In the end, I say it was a success. There were finally crowds of people by noonish, and we provided lunch which was probably one of the incentives to coming to the health site. Food really is a powerful object/notion. Very powerful. Beware of food.

Week 12, however, seemed much more fun, and much faster. On Monday, I had a micro exam, so I skipped physio lecture, which meant that when I went on Wednesday to physio lecture, it had been a whole week since I last sat in on my physio class. I'm positive I was not lazy. Wednesday was canceled though the prof. pre-recorded the lecture for us, Friday I always skip except for next week, and Monday's time was used very wisely. I hope. We'll see how well I did because for the first time ever, I started studying for a big exam the day before the exam. Yipes. I hope I learned my lesson and gained this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Horrible one.

Wednesday was Physio lab, and I wish I could post my video up! We looked at the leg muscle of a frog. More frogs were killed two-ish hours before we cut them apart. It was gruesome and gross having to pull the leg away from the body and cut the skin off (pretty much rip it off) to expose the muscle, tendon, and nerves. Sometimes the frog's leg was impulsively twitch because the organs and nerves were still functional. The frog was only brain-dead. It blinked sometimes while we were cutting it's body apart. Horrid. It was like watching a bloody gory film to me. yuck. But watching the dissected muscle twitching was awesome.

Just yesterday (Friday, 4/2), I went to the Ahmanson Theater in LA to watch the musical Dreamgirls. We met the female singer of The Miracles, and I wish I knew more about American pop culture. Unfortunately, I know very little. Extremely little. To give you an idea of my knowledge: I know Diana Ross only because she sang "If We Hold On Together" for Land Before Time, which I love. From there, I researched a bit about her and the Supremes. I know nothing more. Anyway, it was an awesome musical, very audience-engaging. Loved it, and hope to watch the movie some day soon. Here is the hallway to a building across from the Ahmanson, where we listened to the lady speak. She was a great speaker. One person from our group told her she was a legend in her eyes and just wanted to let her know. Hearing that was touching to me too, even though I knew nothing about the speaker. Fans truly are amazing as well.

Last thing for this week is today's Post-Season. It was the last tournament for this badminton season, and was held at UCLA. I'm sad that so few people attended, but I still enjoyed my games. I only wish I could make it further into the winners bracket more often, rather than always having to end up in cons or losing my second game. I enjoy the main bracket games more. Intense, frustrating, yet rewarding. I will miss badminton because I know I will have to play it less and less, eventually having to put badminton into my schedule rather than scheduling around badminton. Also, I will miss team dinners and lunches, or rather, I will miss the team gatherings. I can't express how much I love my team, but I hope that the team will always be here, though the members will keep changing. We ate together at a Persian restaurant called Sherazade(sp?) in Westwood. I ordered a Lubio Polo or something. Chicken kabob, rice mixed with beef and stuff... yellow long rice too. Anyway here:

It was a large plate, but I finished ALL of it. Cleaned it. Delicious, filling, but a bit too pricey for me. I paid $17 (Dish was $14ish). I'm satisfied for this week. Now to wind up and focus on studying for a week, before continuing to have fun outside of studying. I will try my best to not let loose until finals are over.

Oh yeah, last thing: Bloody Monday (and season 2) is an incredible drama. I'm sad it's over and I have no Japanese drama to follow now. I will find one eventually, I hope. I'm getting more and more picky. ;)

LVII : Last Semester of Undergrad - Week 10

Spring break week! :) Too bad it's the end of it and tomorrow classes start again. But the good thing is, if it is a good thing, I will be getting things done because classes are starting soon. I thought break would be productive, but unfortunately, it wasn't too academically productive.

I started it off going home on Friday night instead of Saturday night because I thought Bay Area Open would happen, but it was canceled the week before the event was scheduled. Apparently, San Jose State couldn't rent out its gym to BAO... so I didn't get my badminton during break. Instead, I agreed to go skiing with my friend on Saturday. Just a one day ski trip. My mom drove us to Milpitas at around 4am. We went with a bus [from NACSKI.COM] to Sugar Bowl. I want to remind myself now, never do this again. A one day trip is just not for me. I need time to "get into the zone" as in, I need time to get adjusted to the snow (I had been wearing shorts to sleep before going home!) and start feeling like I really do want to ski, which means I have to stay in that kind of ski-lovely weather for at least a day. Anyway, I went really trying to enjoy myself. The slopes were beautiful, I must admit.


But in the end, after not skiing for 3 years, I really forgot how scared I was of the moguls. It took me who-knows-how-many-years to get used to going down them, and just 3 years to get that fear back. And, I'll just complain now, it really irks me when someone repetitively says "Weren't you better before?" in different ways. Why keep thinking that what was before is the same as now? Sure, some things really don't change, but if you notice that something HAS changed (and it isn't anything dangerously bad), why keep focusing on that bit negatively? *sigh* I feel like I shouldn't get annoyed because people's perceptions are just that different from each others, and I understand how shocking it is if one's perception for so long is proven false.

Anyway, got back tired, but had a little bit of fun... falling in the comfy soft snow and losing my skis each time. I still have that special ability to go over that last bump before the slope evens out, and fall terribly. Very skilled.

Sunday was I-get-to-drive-around day! My mom let me take the freeway to the mall where we went shopping-- my mom, dad, and me. I love hanging out with my family and I wish I could find the time to do so more when I'm back home.

Skip a few days, and Wednesday, the day before I come back to LA, I met up with USC friends in SF. I didn't know that the buses had these for the disabled and old people:

I watched curiously as the platform came down, the bus tilted a bit, and an old man got on and the platform was brought up like an elevator so that the old man could just walk straight into the bus. Then the bus tilted back again and I took a pic of the platform receding back into the bus. Public transportation can be might cool. If only LA had such transportation... *hopes*

We ate at a friend's parent's restaurant of Asian Fusion-ness, called The Home. Cute name isn't it? :) I felt warm when I read the name of the store. haha. And the place mats (paper) had a little house hole-punched in the bottom-middle of it. So cute. Food was awesome as well. This was the Sea Bass special, so wonderfully decorated and presented:

And this is what I got, the Unagi and Avocado Sandwich:

Delicious. And for dessert, we had so many things--apple pie, strawberry (?) pie, creme brulee, mango pudding with tiny pearly things (picture below), and heavy chocolate cake slice. So mouth-watering, so delicious, so full afterward.

I love food outings and badminton-ing with my badminton friends. Although it's rare that we eat together without having played badminton, I cherish it. I'm hoping I won't lose these college friends, but I know it'll be hard to stay in contact with them once we all go on after our undergraduate studies. I wonder where we'll all be? I wonder if we'd still be able to eat randomly together? Love really revolves around food easily. I love it.

LIV : Last Week of Undergrad - Week 8

yay, I'm finally done with studying until spring break. :) So, last week's events were to prepare for the first three days of this week (9). I made cucumber and meatball soup! And it was a success~ close to one at least. I had seen my dad make it before and for some reason, I had a craving for it last week (I wonder how cravings get started). So I bought cucumbers for the first time and ground beef for the first time as well. And I rolled the beef up with small chunks of purple onion and Memmi soy sauce. Then I dropped it in boiling water that had a chunk of ginger in it. After letting the meat cook a little, I put it on low heat and then added cucumber chunks cuz into U's. In the soup, I also added the small leftover can of chicken broth I had, but I don't think it did much because I still had to add soy sauce in the soup to make it taste. The good thing is, that after about three days (I made a big pot of this), the ginger taste got into the soup and I didn't have to add soy sauce to make the soup taste. :) Delicious.


Before I forget, I took this in the middle of Feb to remind me of how long my hair is:

and that's all for that one.

So, Monday was the dreaded Physio exam 2. I had to study about smooth muscle contractions, the pancreas, the hunger hormones, the thyroid gland, the GH stuff, calcium regulation, the adrenal gland stuff, and the reproductive system stuff. And here's one of my notes that scared me when I was studying:

So much writing! Reminds me of when I started taking notes like crazy way back in 8th grade science class. I have to thank Dr. Ricks for scaring me early on with how much knowledge science classes require us to learn. Seriously. I still can't believe how many bio classes I've taken that repeated the same information, yet I still have to relearn it each time. Yipes, I'm scared but excited to learn new pharmaceutical stuff in pharmacy school.

And, to wrap this week up, I have this: Wholeheartedly thank people for whatever they do that makes you a better you.
There's no way I can not think about the past from time to time. So it's impossible for me to forget those ties I had before but are no longer as strong now. I don't believe in the forget part of "forgive and forget."

XLIX : Last Semester of Undergrad - Week 5

A bit late, almost time to jot about week 6, but oh well. I'm feeling incredibly nervous right now, so I want to get some stuff out of my head. Interview tomorrow. It has come!!! yipes.

This was a delicious week of curry. I made beef curry this time with my roomie, and we lasted for nearly a week on it. It was quite a curry-licious week. And every time I ate my rice with curry, I would fall deeply into a food coma. Eating curry makes one verrry sleepy afterward.

Other food news. Chai latte is quite delicious warm. I've decided to try all the cafes on campus this semester. So far I have hit the Architecture one, Popovich (Business school one), Tutor Hall (Engineering school's), TroGro, and the Law School one. But I confess, Popovich and the Law school ones were this week (week 6). ;P Now, why doesn't my college (LAS) have a cafe like the others do?

I put this on my phone for this week: "I enjoy spontaneous hang outs, even if it's just for a few minutes." But sadly, I don't remember what I was referring to! Who did I meet up with? ... I think it was a freshman year roomie... yeah. Most likely. It's been so busy suddenly (february is apparently busy month for me). Piling up so much and forgetting so much. shucks.

But I've gotten a few minutes of outside reading. Working on finishing "The Tipping Point." Loving it so far. "Six degrees of separation doesn't mean that everyone is linked to everyone else in just six steps. It means that a very small number of people are linked to everyone else in a few steps, and the rest of us are linked to the world through those special few." (Page 37) Makes sense. There are only a few people who really love to talk to random people and make conversations. I met a mom who did that on the Primetime shuttle back to school this past weekend. Quite good at gathering information, and quite good at getting people to know random things about you at the same time.

Anyway, a random note to myself. I think the best when I'm in the bathroom. It's good alone time. And good thoughts flow through my brain. But when I come out of the bathroom, they all flow out, and I have to think hard to retrieve them. Which I never end up being able to do, sadly.

Last random note. A baddy team player had his 21st bday last weekend, and some of us held a little party for him. We went to a French restaurant and paid for his dinner. He later told me that was his first time he experienced having his dinner paid for on his birthday. He usually paid for everyone on his birthday. Interesting, but totally understandable, since that's what my mom (and the moms of my family friends group) does. I thought, how easy it was to talk about deeper subjects with these people and get an idea of their personalities rather than thinking so much about myself. Yet that in itself is also kind of thinking about myself. Still such a kid for unconsciously paying more attention to myself than others.

I'm surprised there was so much last week! And I didn't even talk about my three-day three-holiday weekend. I'll clump all my pictures for later. My brain actually feels lighter now! And it's raining outside again. The sun didn't stay long enough!

XXXVI : Final

Last night, I had multiple dreams where I had already taken my final for today. And each time, I would wake from those dreams thinking I really already took my art history final. But then reality would come back to me and I would realize that there were still a few hours left. Finally, I just got up, which was around 6:15am. Got a little bit of studying done and went to my 8am final. It's been a very long time since I got up that early for some 8am class-related thing. I don't think badminton even required such an early wake up time. Anyway, right when I turned in my final, I literally felt a gush of heaviness sweep away from my brain. It's like all that studying and packing knowledge into my brain escaped all in one go. It must have been overflowing because I didn't give it enough time to be organized. Felt good in fact.

And, just a moment ago, I dumped a whole tupperware-full of mapo tofu that I made last night because I finally decide health over wasted food. So, in the recipe, I used tomato sauce from a can that I had opened the week after Thanksgiving. I didn't recall it was opened that long ago, and the tomato sauce still looked fine, so I dumped it into my cooking pot with the carrots, green onion, and garlic. When I was going to wash the can out so I could recycle it, I noticed there was a spot of white-green mold growing on the side, inside the can. Luckily, I hadn't poured my tomato sauce over it, so I thought, it's not contaminated with the mold spores. It should be fine. And the heat would probably kill them anyway. So I made a huge pot of mapo tofu, thinking how great to have food for the rest of the time here in LA before break. But, as I was eating my dinner, I kept thinking "what if I get food poisoning?" That would be horrible because I still have finals to take and I know I'll definitely be unmotivated to study for my last final, but having diarrhea would make that even more difficult to do! (Sigh, apparently, studying is more important than my own health). I did finish my big bowl of rice and mapo tofu, but I kept thinking afterward about the stupid mold on that can. I even called home and my sister (throw it away! Hyphae extend below the surface of the liquid) to ask for their input. Then today, after my final, I called my mom and she told me to throw it away because the poison from mold can still be there. The possible dangers are too great: there could be poison. If there is poison, it would take time to get rid of all of it. It could remain dormant and attack when my body's immunity is weak. It could damage my liver! AhHH! The fear my mom uses when persuading people. But I did already have that feeling that I should not eat the rest of that mapo tofu. I just didn't want to waste it because I had made so much! Alas, I poured it into the sink and felt a pang of guilt and sadness as I washed it down the drain... all that tofu. *sad* This is from the first time I made it:



Delicious. I filled that same tupperware this time too. All gone now.

And to think that there are people who are willing to do anything for any sort of food makes me feel even more guilty. Which reminds me, as I was walking to my final, I thought, why do we do this to each other? Make other people feel the nervousness and fear that results from things such as interviews, tests, college applications, employment, whatever other rating we give to others. I feel like it's such an unhealthy feeling.

XXX : What I Like

I feel like I've been complaining too often about some of the issues in life, and it might be making my mentality as a whole gear towards pessimistic thoughts. It's much too tiring doing that. So, some of the things over the past weekend that I have encountered to make me enjoy this life.

Friday 11.13.09
Ate at a Japanese restaurant in Little Tokyo called Honda-Ya LT on Alameda St. Delicious, but as usual, tiny dishes. I got the Poki Bowl (such a cute name) which was sashimi on rice in spicy miso sauce. It came with a bowl of miso soup too. Mighty delicious, but once I finished the meal, the spiciness really hit. Food enjoyment. Food + Baddy team = BONDING. It's love.

Saturday 11.14.09
Badminton at UC Riverside. The USC team was invited to play against the Riverside team, and we found out it was the graduate team at Riverside. Way too cool that they have a graduate and undergrad team! We don't. Anyway, played very well that day for some reason. Didn't play much the day before and felt out of practice, but ended up playing one of the best times I've ever played. And most of the grad students were from China (strong badminton players! Though they too lacked women players). :\ One memorable statement I heard that day was from my first-time partner, Justin (who learned how to play mixed that day. haha), when we were playing. Because he was still learning how to play mixed, he told me "tell me what I'm doing wrong. I love criticism." That last sentence really made me think, I wish I loved criticism too. I can take it, and though I know I improve after taking in criticism, I still don't welcome it. And I wish I did. I feel like that is one thing that makes me quite introverted. I dislike criticizing (and when I do, I tend to regret it for a while) and I don't enjoy the feeling of being criticized most times.

Sunday 11.15.09
Watched the dance performance my roomie, Ari, was in and in which a lot of USC's dance group's were involved, so it was called "Dialects of Dance." Something like that. Enjoyable to see so many different styles (hip-hop, traditional chinese dance, contemporary dance, Latin dance, breakdancing, and ballet) in one performance. I really think that dancing is an expression of one's feelings. To be able to dance is like letting go of one's constraints and be able to express the freedom one's body has. As I watched that performance, I would occasionally think, if I could let myself loose from time to time, I could dance without any concern for what others think, even if they say something out loud to me. It's the same way for singing. When I walk passed someone on campus who is singing to their ipod, I smile because they are usually confidently singing along, and I envy that. When I start singing around campus and in the car, I usually use an extremely soft voice, sometimes so soft that I myself can't hear it. lalala~ I would really like NEWS (Japanese idol group I am obsessed with moreso than any other group I listen to) to hold a performance here in Cali. It makes me excited to see them dance and sing at the same time. I would like to have that talent. It's like double freeing oneself!

Monday 11.16.09
Not a day of the weekend. I had my nap during physics and half an hour after in the library before going to work. It was a good nap. Dreamed much, but forgot them all. shucks. Sad that when I came home from work at around 7pm, no one was home. It was pitch dark. I'll be sad when I grow up and live away from home. Every time I enter the house, if I am the first one home, there will be no warming "Hello!" or "Welcome home!" *sigh* Far too far from how I am now, that kind of life is. I still call my guy peers "boys" instead of "men". 私はまだ甘いね。 Still so inexperienced.
But, had cute little tacos from Bull Kogi truck outside. Spicy chicken and the other one is tofu. Not bad. But not super delicious.

Also, for the NY Times crossword in the Daily Trojan today, there was "Mount where Noah landed" and when I went online, Yahoo (my homepage) had an article that I can't find anymore about Ararat. And, on the puzzle, I had A_AR_ _ so I was thinking, "coincidence?" And I looked it up. WOWz. coincidence? very cool.

Looking forward to REAL Home. But unfortunately, there will be one last exam before then. Shucks.

XIX : Catching Up

This one week has passed by full of uncommon experiences in my usually plain days.

1) 09.23.09 - Wednesday
The empty space due to the removal of the broken stove/oven/broiler. Another result of the fire in the broiler two posts ago.

2) 09.24.09 - Thursday
Installment of a new (and quite lovely) stove/oven/broiler. It works much better than the old one, doesn't require strange circular aluminum foil lining the fire of the stove; and it lights much quicker.

3) 09.25.09 - Friday
I called home in the morning (which I usually do not) to hear my mom's and dad's voices over the phone. When I sick, I starting wanting to get things done quicker and tell someone about what I'm going through. Anyway, I got asked the question "what would you do?" after my mom attempted to reword the statement "daddy and I last night talked about if we passed away." I had to keep myself from tearing up while walking around campus to my morning lecture. It was difficult and I wanted my mom to stop asking "what would you do" after explaining some more that same reworded statement. I have thought about it for years already, and I still conclude that I am in the position of heavy parental dependency. There is no way I would be able to sustain myself if my parents were to pass away tomorrow, or some time soon. How would I cope? How would I push forward? Start with trudging through thick mud, blinded by the muddled thoughts that would keep me down. And slowly find myself walking along a stream. Or in it. I don't know yet.

4) 09.26.09 - Saturday
Sleeping around 6:30 AM because of http://sporcle.com [mentally stimulating diversions, it says on the website title]. Truly a good use of time. Also, best when played after drinking a full cup of (I want to say Raspberry, but for some reason I keep thinking the fruit name started with a "p") Blood Orange tea from Ground Zero. Very delicious. Very powerful for keeping me up way passed my healthy sleep time. My first ever all nighter, and it wasn't even for homework! But, I still can name all 50 states. How long has it been since I raced my sister to see who could fill in all the state names on a map she got from school one year.

5) 09.27.09 - Sunday

Eating at a delicious Hawaiian-style restaurant in Alhambra. Their macadamia pancakes are truly amazing. The secret sweet cream spilling over the soft pancake and a few soft chunks of macadamia nuts, which I usually dislike eating, sparks my taste buds, making me salivate like Pavlov's dog. Just thinking about the deliciousness makes me crave it.

4 and 5 are all due to Phoebe and Steph coming over to visit Lint and me. Very wonderful. Very enjoyable. Very memorable. I want to make a scrapbook with developed photos of my digital takes. A truly beautiful life. What will the coming week be like? [I have to spice up work, physical chemistry exam, literature review, badminton, etc.]

XVIII : Aftereffects of the Fire in the Broiler

So, even though we thought we thoroughly cleaned off all the soot from the counters, cabinets, and even the ceiling, the next day, there were traces of soot again. Less of it, but still enough to make us clean the counter tops again. Not only were there still soot in the room, the stove didn't work anymore. The gas doesn't come out, and for once, I find it sucks having a gas stove. Sure, all the pans seem to heat up faster and the fire is cool to look at, but when there's no gas, there's no fire. I thought that it was because the firefighters probably turned off the gas in our room for safety precautions. But, apparently, the fire had burned the inside of the stove/oven and now the whole thing doesn't work. What to do? At least we have a water boiler.

And rice cooker!

Success! Steamed egg that is super soft that once a chunk is scooped out of it, it topples over. I love.

Too bad I can't live off of steamed egg. Healthily, that is. I wouldn't mind having different flavors of steamed egg or different ingredients put into it, but my body would probably go crazy from the overload of egg. What sucks is that I still haven't made myself an omelette yet!

XVI : Double the Surprise

I was happily surprised on sunday to find this plop into the bowl before I beat it to make eggs and tomatoes with. :) And, to compare the yolk size with another [just a single lonely yolk], I took another picture.

Eggs are so gorgeous. And, the other day, I dropped one on the floor and exclaimed out loud when it hit the ground. One of my roomies came over and asked, "What happened? Is everything okay?" NoooO! I dropped an egg on the floor! At least tears didn't come out this time. But still, if I had dropped my leftovers onto the ground and had t throw it all away, I don't think I would have cried out loud like that.

On another note, how do you write something that touches the reader's heart? It doesn't have to be sad, serious, or solemn. It can be joyful, lifting, or just funny. It would be great if I could write a piece that made the application reader laugh out loud, give out a little chuckle or something. But does it come on purpose? Or do I have to think carefully? Writing is so difficult for me. There's something in this mind of mine that just hasn't clicked about writing. Where is the enlightenment!

This morning, I was scared by a cockroach climbing around near the corner of my mattress (I don't have a bed frame). I freaked out and woke my roomie, who freaked out with me. But she suggested I trap it in a tupperware, so I went to get that and we pulled out my mattress a bit and I put the tupperware over the big black cockroach. Then I sat back, shaking a bit and not knowing what to do next. My mind kept thinking "It's too early to be dealing with this!!" Essentially, I was scared of it, which surprised me. I never knew I was scared of cockroaches. But, I scooped the lid underneath the tupperware and got the cockroach to go on top of it. And then pressed it shut tightly. When I lifted the tupperware, I noticed I had caught the legs in between where the lid sealed tightly with the box's rim. I freaked out even more to see that the middle leg had detached from the body. and the other two long legs were flattened. I cried out loud and my roomie gave me moral support, encouraging me as I went out to our balcony and prepared to throw the cockroach away from our apartment. But the image of the roach climbing out of the box frightened me, and when I opened the lid, I gave a yelp and dropped the lid to the floor while the cockroach dropped along with it. That was that. But my hands remained shaky and I felt my arm muscles going weak. They remained weak until I got to the pharmacy to start work. My goodness, what a morning.

I : Life

It's been a while since I've blogged (used to be an LJ-er), and now, I've decided how wonderful it will be to look back and reread events of my past self. Thus, my story begins. It is strange that I would start here, of all times. A random night during my second summer session at USC, completing my second physics course (E+M) before beginning my junior year in the fall. Interestingly enough, this afternoon, I peeled myself some grapes. Somehow the texture of the skin overwhelmed the grapey-taste, so I deftly peeled them off before I popped the skinless grapes in my mouth. But, before my tastey treat to myself, I found this:


Lovely butt-shaped grape! Made my day, enough to merit busting out the camera (which I hope happens more often, to capture my one year left of undergrad). But really, why am I so intrigued by this rare-shaped grape? It tasted just like the rest of the ones in the bowl I had today. I guess the natural deformation of a common object easily hits curiosity. Seriously, who else would take pictures of butt-shaped grapes? Then again, it is because there are times like this that an overly soothing song will have its surprises.