Updates

I feel like I haven't blogged in a while and that's probably my fault. Instead of going on my usual long-winded verbal rampage, I'll do bullet points too.

1. I got CPR & First Aid certified by a three time war veteran amongst a crazy funny crowd of peop.e

2. Signing up to see the Body Worlds 3 exhibit (yeah!)

3. Reading a lot. As in four hours of day. I feel like I'm getting stupid at home.

4. Moving grandpa out completely. FINALLY! YEAH!!! Crack open a bottle of champagne!

5. Stopped doing manga for a while *TEARS* got distracted by other stuff.

6. Shedding that fat.

7. Watching the news and stock market every day. Makes me feel a bit stupid at times.^_^

There. That's an update.

My Fellow Bears On A Plane....

You know... "borrowing" your neighbor's Internet seems like a good idea.... for about a day and then you realize that they sometimes (or most of the time) turn off their modem/hub/etc. So I finally caved and am awaiting the arrival of Comcast Digital Cable ONLY because ATT doesn't offer their cheapo DSL in my neighborhood. Psh... that's just so.... ugh.

Catching up on this thing I realize that I haven't written in this in what feels like eons and considering that so much has happened since, I hope that you guys are up for a little reading. If not... no I'm too lazy to put pictures up to describe it all, so just suck it up and read it. Oh fine... I'll make it a top five list... lists are easier to read right? FINE! I'll even number the sucker to make it easier.

1. Department of Health Services - For the past four weeks now I have been working at DHS and to be honest I've been having a pretty good time. I'm working with marine toxins, primarily PSP (paralytic shellfish poisoning) and ASP (amnesic shellfish poisoning). I also get to work with a little radioactive material, which is always a cool thing... as long as it's not TOO much. No worries though, I wear this little detector thing that measures my amount of exposure. Clive, the guy whose job I'm taking, said that for the last check, he had the highest levels in the department... that's assuring.
   
   
2. Ma Crib - Well I live in Richmond now, so I've better be gettin the lingo right... you know what I'm sayin? Yo it's a pretty tight place (saying "tight" will always remind me of Mike Kurylo) located on the third storee. I've got a killer view of this, um, hill that I can see from both my balcony and my makeshift meth lab.
   
   
3. Extracurricular Activities - Well it doesn't hold a candle to trivia night at Pasand or roaming the streets of Berkeley on roller blades or a skateboard at all hours of the night, nor does it surpass just hanging out at 1815 Spruce Street with my friends, but I've been keeping busy. I've seen Dararith a couple of times to eat of course, Canh's stopped by, I've been meaning to grab dinner with DJ sometime, and although most of my co-workers have kids who are my age, I've managed to befriend Clive (24) and Roger (30), the youngest members of SRL and the coolest kids in the cubicles. We've hit up Applebee's "happy hour", In and Out's secret menu, Taco Bell 49 cent tacos, coffee runs during lunch rush, and played the Wii. That's how we hang here in the 510 (but wait! weren't we 510 in Berkeley too? Hmm... that's how we hang in the 94806?)
   
   
4. Still Rocking Out at 22 - So, what I consider and deem exciting, I won tickets through Live 105 for their "Punk Rock Weekend" ie tickets to the Honda Civic Tour with Fall Out Boy and the Vans Warped Tour. Let's just say the Warped Tour was MUCH better than the Civic Tour.
   
   
5. Copernicus - My little bundle of adrenaline... and fat.
   

As always, everyone keep safe, keep living, and of course, keep blogging.

-MeL

Music - Bad Religion "Honest Goodbye"
Book - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (must finish before movie comes out!)

I'm 22 and I live with my parents....

Ohs! I'm so cool. God no wonder I have no life. And to make matters worse, I still have acne! Damn I'm never going to get laid! Lols. 

Nah, saves for the parental nagging and the weird requirements to have me go to bed at like 11, living at home is pretty sweet, I don't pay for internet, cable, food or rent. But then again I haven't been paid at work either. I don't get paid until next week, in the mean time though I've been going shopping to buy new clothes because being in San Diego, (well just being out of Berkeley) makes me realize how slobby all my "professional-casual" outfits are. Anyway, hoping that my pay check catches up with my credit cards.

How's work you ask? Well I get discount swag that's made by Johnson and Johnson. So if any of ya'll need acne cream, neutrogena products, other skin care products, or procrit to dope your blood the next time you run a marathon, I am your go to woman. My Boss just had a baby (his wife did) and he's busy writing a paper so he's not in lab much, thank god I've done this before. Everything is pretty sweet. I do the same thing that I did in Berkeley except I get my own hood, I get paid, I get access to more instruments, I don't have to wait in line as long and SOMEONE ELSE actually washes my glassware! OMG. I told my friend at Princeton this and she's like, you had to wash your own glassware at Berkeley? -_- GD Princeton!!! Everyone's super nice, all the cool kids are doing grad school, you should too... lols

Today I got a belated graduation gift in the mail today--the entire New Yorker collection, as in every magazine from 1925 to 2005! At first I was wondering what I would do with all this. I'm not that prolific of a reader and judging by the font size of that magazine, I always assumed it to be above my reading level, and above my patience level (i.e. attention span).
But I'm really touched that someone thinks i'm cultured enough to read this. 
I feel like someone could think you're smart and just give you a subscription to the Economist, 
but the New Yorker implies you know the stuff in the Economist and you still have enough brain 
power left over to process non-essential and sometimes abstract fiction. 

My friend from the Australian (OZ) trip came to visit me. We went to Pacific Beach (PB, the white, hence party center of the UCSD undergrad experience). We went to this Australian pub to find some Ozzy beer. They had one and it was sour and over carbonated, it was like drinking bad Sprite. Ohz. Ran into another friend from OZ, ended up crashing a party. I really hate doing that because I don't know anyone and I always feel self consciously asian whenever I'm in SD and big white dudes scare me (especially in large numbers). We got kicked out. Thank god, really. Oh it was also almost a full moon so we went streaking on the beach. Hah. Yup.

Whenever people ask me what I've done since being home, I always say nothing, mainly because these things never come to mind, but I sat down and brainstormed for you guys.

In other news, I fell asleep on the couch and lost one of my kangaroo earrings. I really hate living in a large house, I can't find shit.

Fly away!

So...as you guys probably know, I am going off to japan tomorrow. Very heightened security at Heathrow airport right now...and that is making me slightly worried.

With my update, I really havent done much. Just spending some time with my parents and my cat, going off to see some castles...you know, the usual. Nothing much I can do here in London when the weather is all gloomy and rainy all the time.

I just talked to Kenta via gchat, and he seems to be getting on a rocky start. In Japan, there is always this hierarchy of those who just started and those who have been in the company for a while. Usually it involves making the new-comer really drunk to the point that they cant function anymore (I know, sad). But, since Kenta will be working in Osaka, and Osaka is the place to be for comedy in Japan, he has to do some comedy show at the party...I know it sounds fun and all...but the bad part is, people from Osaka are very very hard to please in terms of laughter, and they would be very harsh on Kenta...and to top of it all, they are going to make him drink...and you guys all know how much alcohol he can take.

So lets cross our fingers that he will live past tonight (well, I dont know what the time difference is, but for him, tonight) and that he will be okay. I feel so bad for him....but seems to be the tradition in Japan...a very bad trandition indeed.

As for other people, it seems that everyone is quite busy in US. I guess I am the only one having so much time to myself. Well, it wont be long. I will update more if I get internet acess in japan :)

last (but not least?)

hey friends! sorry i didn't get on this before...thank you yuri for bringing it up or the invitation email would still be sitting in my gmail inbox. so i just started reading your entries and i see i have some catching up to do.

a very brief update (because its after midnight and i have to get up at 6:30 every morning now, sad!) ... i've been working, speaking lots of espanol, playing with preschoolers, trying to keep 4 year old Pedro from calling 4 year old Fransico a "beaner"...you know, the usual. its quite strange to be graduated but still living in berkeley. telegraph and haste, closer than i've ever lived to campus (i know liang, technically we were only 1 long block away). its def. a sudden transition from student, to no student. like having to go to bed early. sigh. so anyway i'll be back soon to read up on you all and then ask some good questions about what you're doing, and hopefully tell you something interesting about myself hehe.

miss you all! wish we could randomly bake brownies or something (no, not those kind of brownies).

mel, we must have dinner....twice, b/c we missed june.

love, anna