Binder

August 31, 2010

My sister's going to school tomorrow. This is her new binder, once mine. Everything else, besides also the hole puncher and index card holder, is new.

I wish her good luck next year, especially on her math placement interview which should happen in the next few days.

Taiko

August 30, 2010 Student performances at the Campus Center

Here is USC Kazan Taiko. I have a fascination with drums, and I would love to try taiko one day. I just love the rhythm and striking. These guys performed right before my dance group. They were quite good today (as opposed to other days when I went to see them and it seemed they might have been a little out of synch- I tend to make mistakes when dancing). It was nice to dance again. Although no one could see us very well (yes!), I enjoyed my first dance performance of the school year. It has been quite a few months.

Exam

August 30, 2010

Today I proctored my sister's Advanced Algebra final (M012 Honors Intermediate Algebra). It's a two-hour test.

This means she's done with the course - assuming she passes, which requires getting at least an "A-". Next I give her a crash course in geometry to prepare for her interview at school. School starts on Wednesday.

Logic

August 29, 2010 What goes better with red cups than ping pong balls?!

So, I was visiting the new campus center (Ronald Tutor Campus Center), and we have a fancy new "marketplace" which of course replaces the old marketplace. It's very nice, and the products are quite nice. Some tasty Mr. Brown coffee and Japanese Ramune stuffs. I was very much amused by this shelf. I don't know if you are familiar with beer pong other than one picture I have of it from eons ago. Beer pong is most commonly recognized by these trademark red cups and ping pong balls. Whoever organized these shelves is a genius. Very clever placement and very convenient for students!

Prints

August 29, 2010

This took all day: lots of family photos, some of them in multiple copies, all needed to be scanned in. Most aren't dated, which is a problem. The one you see going through is, however: "1940, Odessa". The earliest on dated record is 1930. There were also negatives that I couldn't scan.

Not sure what's going to happen to them now. Probably some sorting and dating.

Physics

August 28, 2010 Six Flags Magic Mountain

I made another pilgrimage to Six Flags, much like that one time last year. It was great fun and we stayed there almost until closing. The lines weren't as bad as they were the last time, I think. Still, lines prevented my friends and I from going on more rides. I spent almost $9 on soft frozen lemonade (had two cups). I love that stuff, and it was probably what I was looking forward to most on this trip. The roller coasters were fun, too, I suppose. Food prices weren't fun, but we left a little early for In 'N Out. Yum.

Bored

August 28, 2010

Here I am, again, posting a picture of my computer. You should be able to recognize the film.

That's because all I did today was watch stuff - for example, this - and play piano. Can't say I've accomplished much in either regard. It's sad that days go by like this, I wish I could have done something more meaningful. I wish I could have talked to you.

Chalk

August 27, 2010 Dance practice

At dance practice, Karen likes to draw cute pictures of people. Linda, Annie, Lin, and I were all present. The others were added for fun. We have a performance on Monday, and I signed up for it. So, I shall be doing that...

Look! A bunny, Bunny!

Returning

August 26, 2010 | I-205 bridge over Columbia R.

Coming back, we took a detour to avoid traffic in Portland. I was on Yelp looking for restaurants - it was dinner-time. We ended up at one Mexican place.

This was quite a memorable trip. Lots of good memories, and lots of bad ones. The good ones make it worth it.

Fundraising

August 26, 2010 Selling cookies

My dance group was working hard tonight, selling cookies. On the Row, it's not difficult to sell food to inebriated college kids. Unfortunately, the first week of school is rush week. Consequently, basically no Greek parties. Weekends start Thursday night for most students, so that's why we were out and about. Thursday night for me too, now that I basically don't have Friday classes. :)

The cookies are super tasty, and I regret having only purchased one.

Ponderosa

August 26, 2010 | North of Oregon SR-168, Winema N. F.

Find me in the picture. The tree is the ponderosa pine, smaller and prettier than the redwood / sequoia, although we kind of have to see those since we already drove as far South as Crater Lake. Today was the return trip.

Crater Lake was very beautiful, and the park was well-kept. I didn't do nearly as much camping as I would have expected from a camping trip, but enjoyed it nevertheless. Only 8.5 days left now until I see you.

Collage

August 25, 2010 Postcard collage

Dear readers, the cards on the right + the mountain are from Igor. :) I expect to get another one soon from Oregon. I hope I get one soon anyway. Half of these postcards are from myself. I wish I had brought my postcards of Seattle and Costa Rica. And the other postcards from biffle Sandra and bf Igor. It's so pretty and shiny. I ran out of tack to put up pictures though.

Obsidian

August 25, 2010 | Newberry N. V. M. Big Obsidian Flow

The other park that we drove to is another crater about an hour North of Crater Lake. The highlight of the park is a large field of obsidian (note picture in Wiki). There's also two lakes there. We were tired of driving and didn't see the second lake, but my parents wanted to swim in the first.

Here you can see the lake and the field. The patches of black that you see on the right are the obsidian. It's very smooth and can be very sharp on the edges. My mom picked one up, cut her finger, and was a bit cranky for a while after.

The weird thing about this park is that it seems very new. It has new paved roads, new signs, and a new visitor center that doesn't seem to have much of merchandise at the moment. They can attract a lot of visitors with the obsidian and the lakes, and a lava cave which we didn't get to see because everything closed very early, but they're not advertising very well right now.

I come home tomorrow. Yay!

Anticipation

August 24, 2010 Apocalyptica, 7th Symphony

Wow wow wow. I'm so excited. I was waiting for this CD yesterday, but the CD was released today, being a Tuesday, and I forgot about that part. So, I was pretty disappointed yesterday when I had learned that it was just departing Las Vegas around noon. I don't think I have ever purchased a CD on the day of its release(/pre-ordered), but I was watching all these videos in which the musicians were describing the songs, and I got over excited. I think I will go see them on September 8. You can come, too, but you probably would rather not...I ripped the CD immediately. Then, I happily began listening to the CD. Unfortunately, I get distracted easily. I often leave the room without pausing the music and come back 15 minutes later.

Cruisers

August 24, 2010 | Crater Lake N. P. Cleetwood Cove Docks

We went on a boat today. This is us getting off. The boat went counterclockwise around the lake, and they showed us the different highlights.

This is us finding time to do other things. We intended to spend the whole day on this tour - it would drop us off on an island, leave us there for 6 hours, and then pick us up and complete the tour. Well, we realized it's a horrible waste of time - there's nothing but rocks and dirt (and a crater) on the island. So we wanted to reschedule to a three-hour drop-off, but the boat broke down, so we just did a regular tour. Cool!

At one time when we were on the boat, a bald eagle flew right overhead. It was interesting, but my camera wasn't ready. The narrator said eagles don't fly over very often.

We're going to another park tomorrow, close-by. Yay, I'm getting a little tired of this ex-mountain.

Peaches

August 23, 2010 Home-grown peaches

My aunt gave me peaches from her friend's yard. I was surprised by how tasty and sweet they were! I'm not usually a peach fan or a fan of many fruits because of sourness, and I usually find peaches boring. I only have these siamese peaches left. I ate the first two I had.

Today was my first day of school. School was great. Short. But afterwards, I had to drive my mom and aunt around which generally I don't mind so much, but I have the MCAT to study for. Every delay makes me nervous to take the MCAT. Tiffany wants to go to NorCal this weekend...

Visitorial

August 23, 2010 | Crater Lake N. P. Steel Visitor Center

This is one of the Crater Lake visitor centers. Inside are a gift shop, a postal office that is open from 9am to 3pm with an hour-long lunch break, and some other stuff.

I was kind of worried about not being able to contact anybody outside the park - it doesn't feel good. Much of the day was spent trying to get cell phone signal.

Bed

August 22, 2010 My baby bed

I'm starting to like my room quite a bit. There is lots of breathing space, and unlike home, my windows open to the outside world. I love my bed frame, and I hope my bed does not collapse on me...

I spent more time buying stuff and settling in again. I also got to see my cousin and her tiny children (all small, chatty, and adorable).

School starts tomorrow. It's already very late. I'm already behind all my schedules. Great start!

I wish I could set a counter like you always do. Igor comes to visit in 13 days!

Crater

August 22, 2010 | Crater Lake

This is Crater Lake. It wasn't dark when we arrived, but the sun was low and it was really cold. It was dark when we set up tent though. The night would be really cold, with low temperatures forecasted at 1 °C.

Assembly

August 21, 2010 Putting my room together

So, today was spent assembling things. My tiny, baby bed came in. :) My mom (as I watched...) assembled my bookcase and table. I also had to go grab the rest of my things from storage. I have soooo much crap. I'm really going to need to simplify before I very likely leave LA in Spring 2012. ZOMG, look at all my MCAT books. Ridiculous. Those books are pretty much half my boxes.

Stadium

August 21, 2010 | 4th & Jackson, Seattle Downtown

Here we are waiting for the ST-545 at the stadium stop on 4th & Jackson, waiting for about 40 minutes...

Kevin got a few of us to go to GameWorks today - which got fun when we found air hockey - and then we went to Chinatown to eat. The food was good, it was the place with the kaoYAA (烤鴨) hanging in the window.

Except coming back was a problem. Not only is the Evergreen bridge closed for annual maintenance, but also there was a Seahawks game today. There were crowds of people trying to take the bus, and there were lots of buses going to Everett and Tacoma, and we were just waiting for a bus to Redmond that never came. Eventually Kevin realized that we could take the ST-550 to Bellevue, and that worked very well. We didn't even notice clearing the I-90 bridge. It was very fast. And then Kevin ran into a classmate from Oh Chem, and they talked most of the way on the MT-230.

So today was a good day. Hopefully, though, we'll go karaoke soon. Maybe next weekend. For now I have camping to think about.

Scenes

August 20,2010 Somewhere in California

Today my mom, my aunt, and I continued the road trip down to Los Angeles. I'm not sure where this was, but it was nice and especially shiny. Today was hot, mid 90s, and the sun was nice and bright. Pretty much all of California is dried out, and I just realized, where did all the moo moo's go?! We passed through Bakersfield, and I didn't smell any manure. Cows are out of season.

Disintegrating

August 20, 2010 | Outside O'China Restaurant, Seattle Downtown

We went to dim sum today after finals (though only a few of us went, and only two TAs). After eating we took a group pic. I fail at the bunny ears. Then we toured the central library and Uwajimaya, and then a bakery in Chinatown.

I'm rather sad that class is over. I had hoped to accomplish a lot more in the past nine weeks of Chinese. For quite a few others that's not the case - some have work to finish before the year starts, others will spend a few weeks abroad. A lot of people are leaving right after class for China or Taiwan, some might have already left. As for me, not looking forward to the next two weeks... though my sister starts school, I guess that's exciting.

In the case of CHIN 134, the way I saw the last day was just this: disintegrating. For even the few of us who did go, most people did not see the end of class as anything significant. It's very different in summer camps or when people go abroad. Not sure why.

Nudity

August 19, 2010 Swordfight

My mom's second brother's family is hilarious. They like to show these guys off. They sit in cold water for a bit, then add hot water and magic! Inappropriate and hilarious at the same time! Okay, I have to go to bed now.

ASUW

August 18, 2010 | Red Square

This is the new ASUW board. Yesterday as I was working sitting in Red Square, the group walked in and shouted in student protester fashion at the nearly-empty square: "A... S... U... W... ASUW! We are your student government!" Then they headed for Suzzallo and stopped random people asking them if they have any concerns. I walked up to them and shared a legitimate concern.

Then I took a picture. The thing about being on the ASUW board is that you don't complain about people taking pictures. Besides, they had other things on their mind - they had to look like they're doing stuff to the 20 or so people watching.

Oregon

August 19, 2010 Entering Oregon

Portland is full of bridges. You shall see when you pass through soon. Well, I'm sure you've seen them before? I hope you guys go pretty south towards Crater Lake because the views are so nice! I must have been asleep on the way down last year (and on the way back in May?). The sunlight was perfect, and the mountains were so pretty in the distance.

Zhōngwénbān

August 18, 2010 | Brewery on the Ave

My Chinese class went here today after class as an end-of-class activity. We finish this Friday, and tomorrow is the last day of class. Half of us don't drink (yet... fortunately), and I just went to socialize (in Chinese, of course). Good thing I was there since we had a group photo. Here it is, by a guy from the brewery.

I'm going to catch my bus now. I'm in Red Square, enjoying the weather and people-watching. Bye!

Dinner

August 17, 2010 Chiang's Groumet on Lake City Way

So, the majority of my family came here tonight. My second brother couldn't make it because he was at work, and the older brother brought along his girlfriend. My family (minus the elder brother) came here after my other brother's departmental graduation. I recall that the food was fairly good. Unfortunately, today we did not order anything that was especially appealing. I think it was because we didn't order Szechuan food which might be one of their specialties. On the menu, there is a category called "Szechuan heaven". For health reasons, my dad can't eat spicy food. :( Okay, must sleep. It's 4:32AM, and I have a road trip in a few hours...

Barricade

August 17, 2010 | Montlake Southbound at Shelby

I am slightly embarrassed to show this measly photo of local parking enforcement closing Southbound Montlake Blvd. for two reasons: as it always happens with me, I was unprepared and underequipped. Today President Obama flew into KBFI, went on a small tour, and returned to his plane. In the process, as I hear (since so far no news agency has reported adequately on this), the concerning section of I-5 and both bridges across Lake Washington were shut down. I can confirm this for the case of SR-520, as we see here. I-5 was backed up Southbound, and there was a large backup on SR-520 in both directions approaching the bridge.

However, the day was terrible for me taking pictures. I left my 18-200mm at home, and my bus stopped in traffic on a turn. Combined with sun glare, I couldn't even make out the military helicopter that was circling to the South. Finally I got off the stopped bus, ran down the road, and shot this, though by that time, the bridge has already re-opened and traffic was moving Northbound on Montlake. Hardly a barricade.

All in all, I got home only about 30 minutes later than anticipated, annoyed that I didn't have a better picture to share.

Messy

August 16, 2010 Here is my desk

...Imported from my brother's room. It is quite messy. I should organize it, i.e. hide things in drawers. See, it is next to my bookcase now, and my bed is to the right of it. It's kind of crowded in my room.

Lights

August 16, 2010

This is the set of lights that my dad got for me in Costco. They're IR-controlled and battery-powered. I wonder how long the battery will last. The switch is actually a button, and separates from the holder (which is screwed in next to the light switch by the door), so I can control the lights from pretty much anywhere I'd want to.

The only problem I found so far is when one of the lights is blocked, so I turn one off, and the other remains on. Then they just keep switching and I have to either manually turn one off or purposely block off one direction.

I installed two: one for the collage and another for the puzzle picture. There's a third one if I need it. I like how they illuminate my wall. I'll show you that too, sometime.

Desserts

August 15, 2010 Toasted Coconut ice cream in a cone

After canoeing and eating lunch, we went to Yunnie's so that I could get bubble tea and to Full Tilt so that you could get ice cream. That place smelled AMAZING. Mmmm...I can't wait to get my own ice cream there on day. Today was so hot. Like 95F or something. I was dying.

Waters

August 15, 2010 | Washington Park Arboretum marsh-waters

We went canoeing today. It took a few hours. And I don't think we enjoyed it very much... but the bubble tea and ice cream made up for it.

I took a lot of good pictures. The heron turned out well - and that fisher bird - I'll be posting sometime later. You have a good rest of your stay in Kirkland and a smooth drive back to LA... where I will join you in less than three weeks - yay!

More pictures: August 15

Sweetness

August 14, 2010 Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ta-da! White chocolate, semi-sweet milk chocolate, and milk chocolate chip cookies! I had butter and all the other necessary ingredients for cookie-making. Therefore, cookies were made. There was much rejoicing, and I shall gain 50lbs before I go back to school.

Playgoers

August 13, 2010 | Redmond by City Hall

Nothing happened today, really: I studied Chinese and played piano - so this is another one of yesterday's. The only picture I took of the play. Lots of people on the grass waiting for R&J to start.

The green boxes are lights. They illuminated the stage, which was especially useful after the sun set near the end of the performance. The sculpture on the side of the City Hall never really lit up. I still think it could, theoretically.

Luck

August 13, 2010 Igor hiding in the vegetation

To complete the sister post, I've done a similar picture! You look close-up pictures, and I like incorporating everything in the background. Haha.

Today was nice. From the wondering in the woodland park and the lake and having a nice dinner in a dark restaurant, to watching Romeo & Juliet (Mercutio, of course, stole the show) and later stargazing even though sunlight was still visible, I had the best Friday the 13th ever. And I got See's Candies Truffles from you. Yay! That was a delicious surprise.

Overgrown

August 13, 2010 | Forbes Lake Park

Here we are on the boardwalk by Forbes Lake. (Look it up on the map!) The boardwalk seems pretty overgrown.

From the neighborhood parks to dinner at the Italian restaurant, to Romeo and Juliet, to stargazing, today was a good day. I'm excited for Sunday - and for September, of course.

Issaquah

August 12, 2010

I was in Issaquah with my brother. It was a really nice day, and I loved seeing the forests surrounding. The building at the center of the picture is interesting. On Lake City Way, there is a restaurant in roughly the same shape.

1884

August 12, 2010 | Red Square

While walking across Red Square today, I came upon a brick with the inscription 1884. Not sure if it's meant to be a year, and if so, what the year means. The bricks weren't laid on the square until 1969.

I was coming back from office hours then. This was the second time I went. We spent about an hour and 45 minutes just talking in Chinese. Can't say it helped much, though, the teacher talked at about the same rate as in the dialogues. I had no problem understanding her. I also asked about 2nd year in class today.

－ 二年級的中文課比這門課怎麼樣？
－ 難多了。

Great. I guess I wouldn't be taking it, but still, missing out on good practice. Second year, apart from first, actually has oral exams.

Imperfection

August 11, 2010 Crab Cake

I decided very suddenly that I wanted to make crab cakes today. I don't know what happened, but I must have done something wrong. It wasn't that amazing for a recipe that was been rated many times with an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars. Plus, I made it a little too salty. It tasted better with extra mayo though. Crab cakes are expensive to make, and I kind of wish that I had just bought pre-made ones.

Redundancy

August 11, 2010 | Architecture landing overlooking Stevens Way

We now know at least partially what is happening on the construction site that popped up this week. They are making an ADA-accessible ramp from the RC parking lot to the bus stop on Stevens Way. And now to explain the title: the path starts at about the 15th & 40th-Stevens intersection and ends at about the stairs. Now when I'm at the intersection going to the bus stop, I'll have a choice of two paths: the new one, and the sidewalk on Stevens Way. Both are about the same length. Yay!

The RC closed today. Or, rather, will close in 23 minutes. It feels kind of like the end of the quarter, which is not even true: I still have 7 days left. But I won't be coming to the RC anymore.

In other news, this is post #730. Thus this is the last entry in the blog's first year of existence. However, 730 is somewhat of an ugly number, isn't it? We'll celebrate more when we reach 1000.

And I'll see you on Friday!

Deck

August 10, 2010 Somewhere on Cougar Mountain

ZOMG. Sandra lives on a legit mountain whereas I live on a hill. Other than the slightly crowded seeming arrangements of the home (i.e. you can see all the surrounding neighbors' backyards), the view is very nice. Housing developments can also be seen on the mountain across the way. Sandra and I made creme brulee again. We were joined by another friend and Sandra's family for a tasty homemade lasagna and a home-assembled salad. It was a nice evening.

Obstruction

August 10, 2010 | Parking lot by the RC

We saw this construction yesterday. What we didn't see was the obstruction caused by the construction: they blocked both the stairs up to the bus stops and the path to the light. Pedestrian traffic is diverted through the Architecture yard.

Sort of inconvenient, especially when you're trying to catch a bus. I went to the stop on the 15th instead, taking the RC shortcut. As for going to class, the official detour is fine, except that I had to be careful not to stray toward the main intersection. I'm avoiding that intersection for political reasons.

Subject

August 9, 2010 Igor struggling over camera

Here you are playing with your camera because you like taking pictures of us so much. It amuses me to watch as you attempt to focus and time the pictures. So dedicated to this performance. Hehe.

Birthday

August 9, 2010

Today my father's turned 48. He's a tiger! Rawwr! We celebrated with cake. As usual, candles denote binary: ☼☼○○○○ = 48.

I also saw you today, but I figured that this would be more important to post on it's actual day of occurrence.

Thank you for meeting with me for lunch today. I liked the kitty cat noodles.

Plums

August 8, 2010 Stewing golden plums

A family friend came over during/for dinner. She brought a huge basket of golden plums. We didn't really know what to do with them. Before I had a chance to make jam or something though, my dad started stewing all of them! He plans to make tea from the skins, and some sort of jam with the fruit (and the seed...). My dad is a strange person.

Imaginary

August 8, 2010

It's getting dark outside, and we're cleaning the house for my dad's birthday tomorrow. Meanwhile, I like this lantern reflection effect. It's also a lot of fun when there's a full moon, and when it peeks right through the window.

We talked about intelligence today, so here's a math term for you. And since physics is on the MeowCATs: remember when you learned about images? He he.

Good to talk to you today, and see you tomorrow =)

Totems

August 7, 2010 Totems. Get it?

Here is my gnome friend with my baby armadillo. I was thinking about giving away baby armadillo, but it's hard to part with it. What do you think? Shall I give it to you as you gave me Mr. Gnome?

You know what Inception made me want to do? I just keep thinking, I really want to nap and dream right now.

Opened

August 7, 2010

We went to Cheesecake today, ordered smart, and so had cheesecake there for the first time. And then we watched Inception. And then you drove me home. I wish we'd have stayed for a few minutes after that. I guess I'll miss you now. It's not a bad thing.

I didn't take any pictures, though, so I'll just show you my notebook. I've opened it so you can see what it looks like when you use it. The background kind of goes with a movie that's full of shooting. I was playing with it for the first part of the day - it wasn't really working out. I think I'm liking it more now that I've added more to it than removed. It's a good Acer.