Forum

October 26, 2010 Democrats at the Forum

Tiffany and I attended an event for Barbara Boxer. Two actors, Melissa Fitzgerald and Kal Penn, came to speak on behalf of Boxer. I think a state senator came, but sadly I don't remember his name.

The set up of such a fancy-sounding place is awful. Chairs were placed a foot away from the guest speakers' table. It's a pretty room, but I did not expect the layout. I expected something more round.

Tree

October 25, 2010 Fallen Tree

I guess it was windy today. The tree fell on top of Tiffany's car (it was moved later). She had to battle the tree to get out today.

My grad picture was supposed to be today! but there were technical difficulties. I'm really upset because I put on all my makeup right before heading over.

Mandu

October 24, 2010 My Korean housewife

Tiffany made mandu (dumplings) last week. It was very exciting. I love dumplings.

Ball

October 23, 2010 Human Gerbil Ball

THIS IS SO AWESOME.

Supers

October 29, 2010 | Rainier Vista

A picture of the super-zombies after the final mission this Friday. You become a super-zombie by getting 10 kills. Supers are designated by a green bandanna and can kill by throwing socks, as well as tagging. I guess, those two zombies with orange bandannas got up to 10 kills that day during the mission.

See the little girl with the pink balloon? She was one of the OZs and tagged people on Red Square the first day. So many humans didn't suspect her, he he.

Sign

October 28, 2010 | South Kirkland P. R.

This was probably the funnest thing that happened today. I went to lab... should have just stayed home, though. Wasted 2.5 hours on transportation.

I also tried being a zombie. It wasn't fun.

Carving

October 27, 2010 | RC Lounge

An RCer is carving another pumpkin. This one is of Friedrich Nietzsche. You can tell how diverse the RC lounge is. He he. I left before much progress was made.

ととろ

October 26, 2010 | RC Lounge Porch

(10/27) I don't know when this pumpkin was carved, but it's a great idea! I want one of these. Totoro is the new owl!

Introduction

October 25, 2010 | RC Lounge

There was a meeting in the RC Lounge to welcome and introduce the new Robinson Center director. I was in late because I have class until 15:30, and the meeting started at 15:00, so I just heard her talk about the importance of program-related research. One of the students reacted kind of negatively to this. I guess not everyone in the RC takes being a guinea pig for granted these days. I wanted to back her up, but didn't get the chance. The Early Entrance Program is the best in the nation, and this kind of research is crucial.

After the introduction was pizza. But I wasn't hungry since I just had a big lunch. Kevin wanted to meet up. We went to Green House, and I had Kimchi fried rice. It was a little spicy and very yummy.

Frozen

October 24, 2010 | Red Square

(10/25) They stood in this position for 5 minutes. This was all part of the Red Square freeze that I photographed. So I got out of my CSE midterm (in time) and ran to Red Square. I saw two other students running along. Classes get out at 12:20, and you had to be there at 12:22. The freeze lasted until 12:27. There were all sorts of freezing positions. This is a bad way to propose, by the way. She has 5 minutes to figure out a nice way to say no.

There were also a lot of zombies looking for humans. Ironically, no humans were present in the freeze. The game ends on Friday.

Obama III

October 23, 2010 | Hec Edmundson Pavilion, UW

Four Obamas in one! People take pictures of Obama and Murray with cell phones. I was really lucky to have my camera not focus correctly, and then I realized that I had an opportunity to shoot this, and then got lucky with three phones doing the same thing at once. I think those are iPhone, Blackberry, Nokia - from left to right.

Obama II

October 22, 2010 | Hec Edmundson Pavilion, UW

Might be my favorite picture of Obama and Murray. Obama's facial expression looks like it could be on his official portrait. Also this was one of the few photos where Murray didn't have her back to me.

Obama I

October 21, 2010 | Hec Edmundson Pavilion, UW

I will post three of my favorite pictures from Obama's visit. I don't know what I like about this one - probably that it brings some personality to the campaign.

Some of my sister's friends think these people are all stupid. Ha ha.

Competitor

October 20, 2010 | New business building

This is the new business building, the P. Hall. I won't name it because the name is in all-caps, and I don't like the fact that they named the building after a company. I came here after dinner with some friends. I think it warrants coming one evening with a tripod. The building look shiny and picturesque from the outside.

I think it was trying to compete with the CS building. Well, they had a lot of cool ideas. Like bookable meeting rooms that we couldn't figure out how to use. No blue wall of light, though. Instead there was a brick wall with boring quotations that business majors have to memorize.

Moments

October 22, 2010 President Obama rallying in front of Doheny Library

I woke up before the sun so that I could get a good spot in line with Tiffany, Alex, Aly, and Katie. We all arrived by ~6:30, and there was already a modest line growing. Aly got there earliest, and there were about 30-40 people in front of her. And some 70-100 behind. The whole ordeal was kind of crazy. We got several different colored tickets. In the end, we were able to get to our colored section. We were basically in the front. Unfortunately, just a little out of handshaking reach. At some points though, my view was great and I didn't have to struggle to see above tall people. We had some different speakers - Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer, Antonio Villaraigosa. Actor Jaime Foxx also gave a speech, as did the actor Kal Penn who went to work at the White House for a while. Oh! And the band Ozomatli was there, but no one cared because they just wanted to see Obama. Ozomatli is good though.

Mixing

October 21, 2010 Pumpkin bread, part 2

We made pumpkin bread again in ACP today, but this time we made sugar-free bread. We used Spenda sweetener and raisins to sweeten the bread. Not amazing, but it was still passable. Bread-making is fun. Possibly more so than lunch packing. Well, it is a nice break anyway.

Awareness

October 20, 2010 Trousdale Parkway

The LGBT group has been rather active last week and this week with LGBT things. I love the rainbow banners; they bring cheer especially on a cloudy week. The portable toilet to the left is one of many that suddenly appeared (on Oct 21). I thought it was for the rally, but I think they all disappeared on Friday.

Details

October 19, 2010 Close-up

There were some signs in different languages: Japanese, English, Spanish, Chinese, etc. Then, there is a large portion of people who have the same sign because it is the sign they were using for the promotion off this event.

Allies

October 18, 2010 I-am-an-ally project

For the LGBT awareness week or month, the LGBT group put together an interesting project. They had students submit pictures of themselves holding "I am an ally" sign. Their goal was to reach 1000, which they did. I never got around to submitting a picture myself.

Park

October 17, 2010 Tailgating in Founders Park

Continuation from Saturday, this was a very big game because we were playing Berkeley (Cal). I actually don't know why it is that important, but I think it must be because of our huge student population coming from Northern California.

Guns

October 19, 2010

These are my NERF guns. The top one is the Recon - my sister also has one of those. The bottom two were with me today. Gah. Wolves.

By the way, have you ever heard of a group of zombies being called a wolf pack? Last Spring I referred semi-publicly to one group of zombies as "the wolf pack". Now everyone calls them wolf packs on Facebook.

Drying

October 18, 2010

I was wrong, apparently. The mushrooms turned out especially good. So we're drying them.

This machine dries stuff. I think we initially bought it to dry apples bought in extremely large quantities from growers in Eastern Washington.

Boletus

October 17, 2010

The first thing my mom did after coming home that I know of is knock on my door and show me a bag full of these. They're wild mushrooms, tasty and fun to pick, except I don't eat them since I'm paranoid like most people.

But that's a good harvest. Most of the mushroom will probably be bad and get thrown out, but after that, there should be more than enough.

These mushrooms are from the boletus family, most are boletus edulis specimens. The family is easy to distinguish, and you have to know the few poisonous ones (as a general rule, avoid bright red). But like I said, being pretty much first-gen, I don't eat them and am no expert.

Boxes

October 16, 2010

(10/13) The good thing about this week was almost-daily deliveries from Amazon. I got my batteries, the charger, and then two ACT books for my sister. These two arrived on the same day.

Backup

October 15, 2010 | 15th from bus stop on 40th

(10/13) A bus break down, and behold, a long backup behind it. That MT-25 down there is at fault. The MT-271, two more buses, and the ST-556 are in line, waiting for a left turn on Pacific. Behind the ST- 556 were the MT-46 and MT-44. The MT-277, which I take, followed eventually, and had its wait too. It took a while.

This was a busy day. Actually, the whole week was busy and stressful.

Pipes

October 14, 2010 | Behind More Hall

(10/13) This looks somewhat dangerous too, except that we play here. The edge of this pile is a good place to hide flags. That might change on my watch, though. At least you can't fall 20 feet and break your face.

The pile of rubbish that it supposed to be a parking lot looks more scary in the day time. I think they clean up and lock up most of it overnight. There were a few people here. They probably weren't too happy with me documenting their mess.

Holes

October 13, 2010 | Deck on Mueller Hall

It's very easy to get up here. It's also very easy to slip (or just not notice the holes in the grass) and fall down 20 feet or so. Nothing hypothetical - this happened 2-3 years ago.

As a CTF officer, I'll have to explain to the assistant director of student activities, and to the director of campus safety, that we don't play up here. But they don't seem to be getting it, nor are they at any hurry to talk to us.

Bus

October 12, 2010 | On the MT-277 just before Montlake on-ramp

This is a new route! The 542 connects Redmond Town Center to UW and Northgate. Basically, it follows the ST-545, but gets off at Montlake and goes North.

Not sure when I'd use it. It doesn't run on weekends.

Ladybug

October 11, 2010 | Meany Hall Bus Stop

I found this ladybug on my jacket sleeve as I was waiting for the bus. So I transferred it to this leaf. It's yellow... not sure why.

Flashing

October 10, 2010 | Korean BBQ Place, Crossroads

I figured out two things that day.

1. I don't dislike meat. I'm rethinking that Vietnamese place that we went to that day.
2. The flash on my camera works and should be used. This photo is an example.

Right is Teresa, 9.0 Acad, new this year. Left: Jonathan? First time seeing him (I hope), not sure who he is, probably also a 9.0 Acad. I think they're playing some "kill the fruit before it falls" game.

When you use the flash on a DSLR (or a camera with lots of settings), check that you drop the ISO to low (200 for me) and raise the white balance a bit. When the flash is off, doing the reverse helps get the exposure down in low-light conditions, but when you use the flash, you don't care about light. Alternatively, use automatic settings =P

Spying

October 16, 2010 Game day

We had a game against Berkeley. There were so many people on campus, that I basically had to walk my bike to get to dance today. Luckily, I woke up early for an Asian breakfast in Monterey Park. I left for dance with plenty of time.

Drinking games are apparently prohibited now because too many people have been sent to the hospital for drinking too much. Some people didn't get the message though.

Guacamole

October 15, 2010 Homemade

I love guacamole. At ACP, we always have chips and guacamole (amongst other snacks). I always go for the guacamole. Well, I bought avocados earlier this week. They were pretty well-ripened by Friday. Of course, I had been waiting for guacamole all week. It's fantastic. I love avocados.

Breads

October 14, 2010 Pumpkin bread

This week in ACP, we made 20 loaves of pumpkin bread. So messy! The smell of pumpkin bread was wonderful, and they looked so beautiful. I don't have pictures of anything else though. Oh, I have my old, old camera back now. It's not as good as the one I took from my dad, but it'll do for now.

Kalamata!

October 13, 2010 Kalamata olives with artichoke

Yuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmm. So, this is from 10/12. I was in lab, and after I got my samples in my fun little machine buddy, I went to get a snack (though I had already had lunch). I got this from the weekly farmers market that is next to school. I can't believe I ended up eating all of it in one day. So upsetting...but so good! I love Kalamata olives because they are so salty. I must have more.

Face

October 12, 2010 Breakfast by Jen

Jen made Peter and me breakfast! She made these adorable cupcake-shaped quiches, and crepes with nutella and bananas. Mmmm, crepes. The tomatoes are...tomatoes.

Figaro

October 11, 2010 Ticket for Figaro

I will probably never be in such a good spot ever again! For $25! So, I guess The Marriage of Figaro was actually my second opera because I saw (most of) Igor Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. I enjoyed this one, and I'm so proud of myself for not falling asleep. Haha. Embarrassing. It was entertaining.

I paid $4 for a can of soda...

Opera

October 10, 2010 View from the balcony of the LA Opera

Here is the peace sculpture you like so much, but from the balcony of the opera house. I guess it would have been nice to have taken a centered picture...

10/10/10 - Taiwan's National Celebration Day! + actually triple ten day this year

Mirrors

October 9, 2010 Dancing with mirrors

We got to dance in a creepy room with mirrors! Usually, my dance team practices in classrooms. This room is in the basement of the PE building. The basement looks like a jail ward. There is even a caged observation deck one can enter in on the floor above. This room is a strange red-orange color. It was nice having mirrors though. I'm misshapen.

Barbeque

October 9, 2010 | Palace Korean Bar & Grill, Crossroads

We went to Korean Barbeque, and we had a hard time getting there. I took a bus, but Kevin picked people up (the two girls live in Sammamish). And then right after we got the table, he and Andrew Shi left to pick up Andrew Chan in Factoria. Having a car is tough.

Korean Barbeque is pretty cool, though. Although it's a lot of meat... fat. We got buffet, so they just kept getting more meat. And the side dishes were interesting. In the photo: Kevin is trying to cut something. It took a while.

Box

October 8, 2010

10/9: American birthday tradition states that you give silly presents. So... yeah.

Sweeteners

October 8, 2010 Baking experiment

Look at the heights of these three pumpkin breads. Which one looks normal?

My friend and I were testing different sweeteners: artifical (Splenda) and natural. We also had a normal loaf for control/for a guaranteed tasty reward. Well, the sugar alternatives weren't a hit. They lacked flavor. They were dense and texturally strange. So, I'll probably not bake with fake sugar for a while.

Unfortunately, I didn't control the experiment very well. We used two different recipes; one for the two different sweeteners and one for the regular loaf. Also, we didn't know how much sweetener was need. We went by the recipe which was made for sweeteners, but I wonder if adding more sweetener would have brought out the flavor of the pumpkin and spices.

ACP

October 7, 2010 Dinner after lunch-packing

This was the free meal this week after ACP lunch-packing. I guess the meal wasn't exactly noteworthy (other people: why are you taking a picture?). I was super excited about the apple pie though! And the chili was really good actually.

Tree

October 6, 2010 Large tree

So, the building behind this tree is new. I was afraid during my first year that they were going to take down those two large trees. They're are so awesome! They were probably too expensive to transplant and too historical to justify removing.

Origami

October 5, 2010 Origami shelf

Peter started a collection of paper things on the ledge that runs along the wall outside our bedrooms. Squirrel!

It's an adorable collection. Needs a tad splash of color though.

Drawings

October 4, 2010 Pixels

You've been gone for a while now, but I still haven't erased the board. You drew this, and under our names there is a clover and a bunny because I am your clover and you are my bunny. (Yes, folks, this is true.)

I don't know what that fetus-looking thing is.

Cup

October 3, 2010 Replacement mug

Last year, the handle off my Keck mug broke off. I finally replaced it! Unfortunately, the color is different. I used to have a lovely maroon one, and now it is bright red. *sigh*

I justify having this cup by the fact that I am technically in the School of Medicine, in addition to the College of Letters, Arts, & Sciences...which will make choosing a graduation ceremony to attend rather interesting.

Maverick

October 7, 2010 | RC Lounge

Today (Fri) I noticed a NERF gun in a mailbox in the RC lounge - a NERF Maverick. It's a reminder: Humans vs Zombies is the week after next. Registration is next week.

And the week after Zombies, I'll finally be able to open my student web site to people.

BAAAAAAAAAAA

October 6, 2010 | 6th & 4th, Kirkland

This truck started honking behind us and wouldn't stop. Looks like something was wrong with the truck. Anyway, I snapped a couple of pictures for records.

The meeting today (the 7th) didn't go well at all. The office is preoccupied with the student death on Greek Row. There were three of us there, and the only thing that came out of the meeting was that we aren't going to play this Saturday.

Thirteen

October 5, 2010

As the title suggests, my sister turned thirteen today. You probably recognize the cake and candle pattern: ☼☼○☼ = 13.

After the evening tea with cake, there was a table discussion about Robinson Center programs. Those pop up quite frequently at random, somewhat-inconvenient times. Ha ha.

Passing

October 4, 2010 | Drumheller Lake, looking North

Like I said before... crowds of people. I remembered USC, and it's crowds of people. At UW, the only street that's that crowded is this section of Rainier between Thurston and Grant. Sometimes around the area, but the rest of campus usually doesn't get this many people.