Reprise

November 25, 2010

The last snow for now. It looked awesome, but I knew that it wouldn't last long. It lasted longer than I thought, though - it didn't rain that day.

This was in the morning. After that: me at your house, while you made madeleines, then all of us at your brother's friend's place.

Icicles

November 24, 2010

There was still snow around, and we both stayed home. But I went out at night and took some pictures. I found these on the garage. One of them was still there when you picked me up next morning.

Snowwalk

November 23, 2010 | Forbes Lake Park

My parents were flying hence, you were flying hither, and I was here walking about. It was sunny and beautiful. And not really slippery, since there was sand everywhere. The City of Kirkland responded well.

Remember this spot?

Plane

November 24, 2010 Flying over south Washington

Or were we in Oregon? Anyway, the view was so lovely. I was impressed by the bold colors of the sunset.

I would have a picture of snow and coldness, but I didn't leave home except a night with my mom and brother (he needed to reach his car which he abandoned at the base of the hill leading to my neighborhood).

Favorites

November 23, 2010 Homecoming dinner

Ahhhh, when my mom mentioned going to dinner here, I got so excited! It was all I had been thinking about for a day or so ahead of time, but I didn't want to mention it because I didn't want to have to spend my meal out of the house. The food was delicious, and I was beyond happy. There are so many other things that I would have wanted also, but we already had so much food for three people!

Celebrity

November 22, 2010 Joseph Gordon-Levitt

He came to USC on Monday to talk about collaborative art. He has a website, hitrecord.org, which sounds rather interesting. It's place for people to contribute their music or art or animations to be used by other people to create projects. I think it sounds like a pretty cool passion for an actor.

Food

November 21, 2010 Thanksgiving potluck with friends

We hosted a Thanksgiving potluck at Tiffany's request. I contributed biscuits in the far left corner and mashed potatoes (white substance). Tiffany's friend brought some Russian thing that involved chicken, bread, and onions...I think. Tiffany made dumplings! Jen made stuffing. Also, the stuffed thing in the front is meatless turkey (Jen's contribution). It was actually not bad.

Silence

November 22, 2010 | Red Square

After I got out of Chinese and went out into Red Square, I saw this. Snow was falling hard. Almost everyone here is trying to get somewhere. I was mostly worried about getting to the RC and finding it empty. But no, there were enough people there for an exciting snowball fight.

One of the new Acads brought a little snowball to English class today. I know because my class is right after Acad English, and there was a puddle of water on the table when I came in. They cleaned it up, though.

Pom-poms

for November 21, 2010 | Rainier Vista Sundial

You've probably already heard about the snow here. Yeah, it snowed all day today, and traffic was terrible, but hopefully people will get used to it and drive more normally tomorrow. At UW, people were etching in and sculpting with snow. This sundial suddenly had a new purpose.

Crab

for November 18, 2010 | Red Lobster in Lynnwood

Here's my crab. Yumm! There's also shrimp pasta to the left and a mashed potato ball that I didn't really eat because it got cold by the time I was finished with the crab. There were also a salad and endless biscuits (instead of bread).

Lobster

November 20, 2010 | Red Lobster in Lynnwood

Here, we're having a pre-Thanksgiving, pre-Steven's-birthday dinner. About 80 people were Facebook invited. Tony, Kevin, Steven, and I showed up. The food was delicious! I figured out how to eat crab... kind of.

Turns out, it's only an hour to get to Lynnwood from my house by bus. Impressive. And the bus ride was very comfortable.

Dollar

November 19, 2010

I got this winning dollar bill in change at Oasis after Karaoke. (Barely anybody showed up, and we ended at 10pm, instead of the planned 11pm.) Apparently Kevin paid with it right before. I went on the web site and entered the location.

I spent it today (11/22) in China First.

Rolls

November 20, 2010 Spring rolls

Jen and I rolled Vietnamese spring rolls today. They were pretty damn amazing.

Sorry about all the food posts. Food is pretty much all I think about. tastespotting.com

Soup

November 19, 2010 Beef Noodle Soup

After work against my original plans, I went to go have lunch at that place where I got the rice roll. Ahhhhh, so good. The bowl was huge, but I managed to finish all of it but two slices of beef and the soup. I love this place. It is the perfect preparation ground for my trip to Taiwan.

Cup

November 18, 2010 Preparing for the midnight premiere of Harry Potter 7

I was feeling pretty tired, so, naturally, I needed coffee. Um...I was "dressed up" as Bellatrix. In other words, I took my darkest clothes and attempted to make my hair weird. The following happens at Starbucks:

Me: I'd like a blah blah blah...

Order-Taker: Okay. What is your name?

Me (nervous look to friend, who encourages me to go through with the plan): ...Bellatrix?

Oh, there was a person with a good Luna costume. The rest of the USC girls wore their striped USC scarves. I really want one.

Karma

November 17, 2010 Food from Good Karma Cafe

So apparently the University Church they open a cafe for lunch twice a week in the basement. I learned about it this year...like in the past two weeks. Wednesdays are Indian and Thursdays are Italian. I'm very excited to go back for a Thursday. This meal was delicious as well. I have no idea what it is, but the vegetable rice stuff was amazing. It is a great meal for cheaper than a typical lunch offered at the campus center.

Lamp

November 17, 2010 | Rainier Vista stairs to Red Square

This is actually what I was going for. Golden leaves! Yay!

Remember what I said about no water on your lens? (Previous post) Not possible for this one since the rare, but not rare enough to not be annoying, rain was in my face. So I had to cut a piece of the picture. I think the blur at the top-left is from something on my lens.

Dungeon

November 16, 2010 | Suzzallo by stairs to Red Square

I got out of CS lab too early for karaoke today, so I decided to practice shooting at night. The trick is narrow aperture. This seems counter-intuitive because narrow aperture = long exposure, but you get better colors this way.

You need to put your camera on something, though. And make sure the lens is very clean. Put your hand around it to block any light that might reflect the wrong way.

And it still didn't turn out as good as I hoped. Oh well.

Torn

November 15, 2010 | Stevens Way looking South: HUB

This is what the HUB currently looks like. In black and white or not, it's pretty grim. But at least it's not going down for good. (Though, quite a bit of it is, they don't seem to be keeping very much.)

Good news, though: on the other side of that torn-down wall there's a section freshly boarded off - that means they've begun renovating. Or maybe they found something they don't want us to see... like an asbestos-breathing dragon.

Fruitbowl

November 14, 2010

Fruits! Like in Budapest: persimmon, tangerine, grapes. They help when you're tired of doing homework.

Chillaxin'

November 16, 2010 Post Yogurtland

Jen can recognize her hair from here. She claims she is totally modeling for Yogurtland (of course, Jen, of course you are). Oh man, I was all over the yogurt yesterday. I filled my cup nearly to the top with just the yogurt part! So many combinations! For only about $3.50. Good stuff...

Crepe

November 14, 2010 Crepe

This is from Saturday. That evening I went to this new place called Boba Bear where they sell boba, crepes, and hookah. The crepe was pretty good - nutella and strawberries, nice thin crepe. Mmmm, I'd go back for that. Boba was okay. My friends and I were sitting outside. The smell of the less sweet smelling hookah was kind of not so fantastic.

Alex

November 14, 2010 DJ Dealy

This is Alex. Of course, we already know who he is. He is our blog's #1 follower. He likes to try to get me to update more often, but I'm lazy. :P We were at the bookstore waiting for Tiffany while she was holding office hours.

Afterwards, we went to Trader Joe's. There is some good stuff there. I bought so much chocolate...

And we had lunch at Souplantation. Sadly, not as delicious as I thought it would be. Still good though.

Tofu

November 13, 2010 Fried Tofu

I made fried tofu! It was kind of exciting! The tofu itself was boring. All I did was cover it in rice flour and fry it. But with the sauce I had, it was awesome, and I want more. I don't know what to do with the leftover oil though.

Nook

November 12, 2010 The Nook

I went to The Nook with Tiffany and Alex. It's an open mic thing. I thought it was going to be awful, but, actually, it was kind of amazing. It was mostly poetry or hip hop. And listening to people with their musically-infused political agenda made me went to get into hip hop. There was a time when popular music used to be about current events...and not clubbing, drinking, and teenage dreams.

Auction

November 11, 2010 Asian date auction

Today was the annual APASA winter formal date auction. Dance sends members every year to be auctioned off. I was auctioned off to my friend Lynn (heart). Alick is one of our three male members on Tcdance. Every auctioned person had to perform a talent. Alick was choosing between nunchucks and whistling. I told him to do them simulataneously. Alas, he could only do nunchucks.

Curry

November 10, 2010 Curry night is every night

I made curry on Tuesday. And had curry every night though Friday, minus Thursday...Kind of epic. Missed having vegetables though.

Strawberry

for November 13, 2010 | Montlake Fwy. St. E-b.

(11/12) A group of 20-or-so of us (most CSA officers, since they stayed later to clean up) went to Mee Sum after the event. I'll let the picture speak for itself =)

Well... I'm holding to my opinion that I can't drink all of that. But it was delicious.

CSA

November 12, 2010 | South Campus Center

Yay group picture! Such a big group too! Find me.

I stayed until the end, waiting for Kevin who signed up to be an officer. This is everybody else who stayed. They wanted a group photo, and I suggested standing one table on top of another so I get enough height to do a delayed one. This took a while, but I got a good picture and there's a good 55 people in it, so I'm happy :)

So that's CSA. The correct Chinese spelling, I believe, is 中華同學會. I've seen it spelled 中國學生會, but I think the first one is better.

Dumplings

for November 11, 2010 | South Campus Center

(11/12) Dumplings! A bunch of people showed up - we stuffed dumplings, then they made them, and then we ate them. Some people left after that, a few of us went to play Apples to Apples. I was surprised at the number of people who didn't know how to play.

The officers didn't really get to eat the dumplings, but they had cookies, courtesy of Kevin, as well as Rebecca and a few other RCers not involved with CSA.

That guy on the right is just staring at you... ha ha.

Music

November 10, 2010 | Practice room in MUS

Kevin and I met for lunch today. Ki-Soo joined us, except he didn't eat. Then a group of 9.0's joined and unjoined us (went to the same place, but didn't eat with us). Then, after stopping at Starbucks, we went to music (Kevin and I both have class in the quad and some time to spare after lunch.) and another group of 9.0s showed up. I don't know most of them...

Burke

for November 9, 2010 | Red Square

(11/10) They put these up outside Kane. They're advertising the Burke museum. I haven't been there since early this summer. Should go sometime, but I should be working on my web project that's currently somewhat neglected.

Balmer

for November 8, 2010 | Outside P. Hall

(11/10) You make some, and you break some. Students outside the new business building can watch Balmer Hall as it is demolished. New and old, side by side.

Unlike the HUB renovation, BLM demolition was never publicly advertised. If not for a group of protesters, I'd never have known.

What Balmer Hall used to look like^{[external link]}

LWHS

for October 6, 2010 | 80th and 120th, Lake Washington High School

(11/10) On Wednesdays my dad drops me off at the bus stop by the high school, where I catch my bus. He continues to pick my sister up from the high school.

I used to go here too. And now they're rebuilding, though you can't see from here very well.

Suzzallo

November 7, 2010 | Red Square

The Chinese class held a study session after class today. It ended at 5 PM. Thinking it's a weekday, I decided to take some pictures and catch the 277... ok, bad idea, but here's Suzzallo.

My friend Kenneth taught me how to do this: decrease the aperture at night, and you get better colors. Here's the result. Look at those starry lights!

Also, see how Red Square is empty? It wasn't, there were probably around 10 people between me and Suzzallo at any time. Guess where they went! Hint: narrow aperture = long exposure.

Mediterranean

November 9, 2010 Food from the farmers market

Ahhhhhh, so awesome. I got free olives today from the guy who recognizes me because I've purchased olives there twice in the past. I bought pita bread and dolmas. The hummus is from another stand from last week. The pita bread is amazing! Half wheat, half white, whole delicious.

Filler

November 8, 2010 Ice cream

Monday was lame. Picture day...what else happened? Lab. I do like lab. Random power-outs. The floating feeling that I have time this week! but then realizing that I am still very, very busy.

Filler picture. Big and little Starbuck ice cream containers. Pretty tasty.

Omelette

November 7, 2010 My omelette

Spinach, tomato, onion, mushrooms, cheese. Not bad,but I probably should have added more salt.

Moooovies

November 6, 2010 New movies

I bought two movies in the past 2 weeks! So wasteful. I had to get The Princess Bride because it was at Target, and it was only $7. I'm sure I could get a cheaper one online, but I don't care. Instant gratification! Nothing is better.

Fungus

November 5, 2010 Fungus drink + rice roll

Stopping by Huge Tree Pastry for additions to my lunch was the best idea ever. Ahhhhh, fan tuan...so gooood. I wanted milk tea, but they didn't have any. So, the lady asked me if I wanted to try this. Fungus drink! I can't believe I agreed to it, but actually it wasn't so bad. Actually, it was kind of good and reminded me of my childhood.

Auditions

November 5, 2010 | Gould 110

My Fridays are very stressful. I hurried back to the RC and then here straight after Chinese (the class of four discussed midterm prep strategy for a bit after class). Here we had auditions for this year's play. I hope I won.

In the back of the room were some physics demos. Some people were playing with them in the breaks. Also there was pizza, which is good because I was hungry. Unfortunately, they didn't have vegetarian.

Mapleaves

November 4, 2010

One day after, this is what our patio looked like. We have a maple tree that rains leaves on us around this time. Rainy leaves catalyze a wet patio, which is why it is necessary to remove them.

Night

November 4, 2010 Night Market

So, today was Night Market. I missed out though because I volunteered to talk to under(lower?)classmen. I had a really, really busy day with classes and work and ACP. I was too tired to play games to earn what little food was available. Lots of Asians though. I bet they were having lots of fun. Unfortunately, unlike UW, the USC Night Market tends to be more game oriented, which is a shame because I would think food would be the focus. And vendors selling trinkets.

Multipurpose

November 3, 2010 Fair trade market in the lunch packing room

Fair trade market! My friend Elisabeth is going to Nicaragua in the winter for the educational trip about equality and justice. To go with the theme, she brought in a business that sells fair trade items from all over the world. They had cool bracelets, wallets, and purses made from recycled art (maps, candy wrappers). Her group was also fundraising by selling fair trade coffee, chocolates, and teas. I bought chocolate, mmmm. I want to get some tea soon, but I have a lot of tea right now...

Concrete

November 3, 2010

Anticipating good weather today and yesterday, I raked the leaves and swept our concrete patio. Here's the end result (notice that it's getting dark). It's mostly useless and the trees suffer because of it, but there's not much we can do except rip it out and replace it. The patio is one of many design problems with our house.

Bumper

for November 1, 2010 | 124th and 85th

(11/03) My dad dropped me off at the bus stop this morning (we leave at the same time on Wednesdays when he goes to pick up my sister from first period at LW, and they finish on Wednesday time), and this car was in front of us. He was just asking me about election results. Flash back to 2004, when America embarrassed itself by reelecting Bush. Now 2 out of 3 Washingtonians voted against increasing state revenue. Bad news for UW and our state parks, to name a few.

Edit: cropped the picture more since you wanted it this way. No license plate numbers.

Elections

November 2, 2010

On election day, I put the election results on my laptop, and that way outsourced them into the living room. It worked initially, and I I got some work done.

This was a sad election. It'll be really sad if Patty Murray loses, so she better win!

Dimples

for November 1, 2010 Cup of Joy, my favorite place to be

Sooooo, it was Judy's birthday yet again yesterday. Haha. Her roommate wanted to make a video of pictures of people with their birthday messages. I only had this small piece of paper with me and my phone at the time. Space was not permitting.

Elections

November 2, 2010 Vote for Me!

Contrary to what my board says, people should vote for me! Why is there a crown on my head? Tiffany and Alex are such clowns. :)

Good luck, Demsssss.

Me

October 31, 2010 Me being me

I wasn't really dressed as anything in particular. Just me doing my thing. I would be dressing like this all the time if I had the time to waste to dress up. My eyeballs aren't so happy after a day of contacts and make up though. It's okay. It's better for my face not to suffocate like this. Plus, LA is hot, and my face would literally melt off unless I invested in special make up. Yuck.