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  • Movin’ on up…

    I think I’m gonna go Xanga Premium.  haha.  NOT because I’m an obsessive blogger, but because maybe I used to be and I kinda want to archive all my old posts.  Ones I’ve had since senior year of HIGH SCHOOL.  The good ole NHS days…where ignorance was bliss and our biggest worries were what dress we’d wear to the next formal dance.  Speaking of which (sorta related), but Miss Schlitz dragged me into this Cradle Fundraiser (no idea what it is still) but it’s at the Ritz in CHI-cAgo.  We’re volunteers for this event where mega rich people pay lots of money to have us serve them cocktails…thus, we get to dress up!  Isn’t that exciting?  PHO sho! (just because I love pho) haha.  Anyway, another reason for achiving and privatizing those old posts is so that I have a little more privacy (duh).  I know no one is looking at them or stalking me, BUT the fact is, someone could!  And I think I used to be pretty open and truthful in some of the posts, or at least hint at it, and the thought that someone could think they know me so well just by reading a blog and never meeting me is a little scary, no?  Maybe not.  Well, either way, I want to take those down from public domain.  My fault for putting up such personal items?  Sure, but that’s the point of this all, right?  People thinking their words are so imporTant and impactful because they’re writing something and it’s getting published (by Xanga) and it’s there for the world to see.  Well, what I’m saying IS imporTanT!  haha.  Every last word.  Oh, so I was looking at some other people’s Xanga’s…and they get so many hits and so many readers and so many comments!  I got nuttin on them.  =/ But anyway, for you few special readers out there, my really old posts are coming down soon, so if you wanna be really stalkerish, you could read up on ‘em and catch up with the last 6+ years of my life.

    Yeahhhh.  Past 6 years of my life.  A lot has changed.  But, surprisingly, a lot has NOT changed.  I realize everyone goes through growing up changes and “finds” themselves whatever jibberish, but honestly, I really don’t think people change that much.  Sure, some values change, appearances change, eyes are opened, but I truly believe that the core of that person does NOT change.  There’s just some things that are so engrained and hardwired into you that you really can’t escape them.  Take Sean, for example.  He’s from a small town outside of Buffalo, NY where people grow up climbing trees and swimming in the pond in their back yard.  Well, no matter how long he lives in CA, he will ALWAYS talk funny.  hahahahaha.  =P  Besides those regional things, though, I think whatever you’ve learned or habits you’ve picked up or beliefs you’ve formed in the first 20-25 years of life…well, that’s pretty much it.  Another example…my brother, Titus.  He’s 25 years old and has gout already!  That darn purine in that uric acid.  Well, no doubt about it, a result of his poor diet and lack of exercise.  How many countless times have we told Titus to eat vegetables and fruit and just something other than eggs, noodles, and meat?  Yeah, we’ve told him, but of course my parents have never put their foot down.  He’s been a stubborn mule his whole life (not just with eating), but in everything.  Now Tim and I know it seems almost a little too late to change his ways.  My mom gives in and my brother won’t listen to whatever my dad tells him.  Ugh, so frustrating.  Okay, yes, eating habits, people can change, but with other things…iono.  Just thinking about all the people I’ve known a long time (some who’ve moved out of Irvine, some who haven’t), they all haven’t changed that much.  Huge generalization, I know, but I really don’t feel like thinking much more about it.

    More realizations on coming back home:
    1) I’d never want to live at home again, even though I have a great relationship with my parents.
    2) I am so judgmental of OCness.  I can’t help it, but everywhere I go I can’t help but look at everyone and see how caught up in consumerism we are.  I start getting angry internally because the sidewalks have no weeds and all the apartment complexes have swimming pools and all the streetlights have sensors and all the houses are “little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky-tacky…” (haha) and everything is so darn perfect and clean.  Why does that make me mad?  Shouldn’t I feel lucky I come from such a nice place?  Ahhh, drives me nuts.  And then when I go places I feel like I don’t want to look like a local OC resident, just so I’m not categorized with the very  people I’m judging.  It’s horrible and totally conflicting internally.
    3) I still want to come back to Orange County.  I dunno…it’s the OC for goodness sake!  haha.  Well, despite the comfiness, I love being around the people I’ve known my whole life, even after not seeing them for awhile.  I like how they don’t see me as this “PhD grad student in engineering” but just as “Steph” – short peppy asian girl.  Ya know?  It’s like, Yeah, I like proving to others that I’m a bit brainy, but then I think about it and I’m really not proving much at all.  And boy am I glad that I “didn’t go to Harvard!”  (awesome song).
    4) Not everyone knows how to use a dish washer.  haha.  My new roomie called me today to ask me how to use the dishwasher in our new apartment in Evanston.  Isn’t that cute?!  Love it.  haha.  Yeah, just amazing how differently we grow up.
    5) My dad still forgets our names.  He calls Titus – Mochi, me – Titus, and Mochi – Steph.  He can’t remember the names of his supposed “favorite” music artists or sports figures.  He repeats the same thing 3 times over in 1 minute.  I’m a little worried for the future…

  • What’s Wrong With Me?

    http://www.brainfall.com/test21_1.php

    I took the “Which Office Character Are You?” quiz, and look who I am!  The two worst characters.  Ugh!


    Which Office Character Are You?

    You are part Michael. Deep down, you are caring and good-natured, but you often express yourself in insensitive ways.  Though you always try your hardest to make your talents be seen, you could use a little more self-awareness to avoid being awkward.
    You are part Dwight. You are intense and passionate, and will stand up for your beliefs to anyone; you adhere strictly to the letter of the law.  People may not understand your eclectic passions, but your strange aesthetic makes you a fascinating character.
    Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

    There is obviously something wrong with me!!!  I’m doomed!

  • All that and a bag of chips?

    Definitely NOT.

    I don’t know why these are so popular.  These chips are NOT good and they sell them everywhere!

    Yuck.

    Things are winding down here.  I messed up my sample which I took so long to carefully prepare.  Doh!  I’m an idiot.  I kinda wish I were more computer-savvy and be all into the techie stuff because it’d be helpful with research in general, BUT I am a girl and have other things to do.  So that’s not going to happen.  I guess that’s the cool thing about guys…they can get really into something and get really good at something or really knowledgeable about something because they’re willing to put in the time and effort.  I, on the other hand, would rather know a little bit about a lot of different things.  Not exactly what you do at grad school.

    I can’t wait to get back to school, actually!  It’s been tough being here without knowing a bazillion people.  Oddly enough, though, I still managed to see my neighbor from home here in DC at the Arlington National Cemetary.  Crazy, huh.  On the flip side, my boredom has coerced me to get my lazy butt up and away from the TV and go to the gym.  We have free membership to the YMCA with our apartment lease.  I’ve been taking a lot of step aerobics classes and have actually gotten quite good at it.  It’s surprising, but it actually is a pretty good work out, at least for cardio and endurance and keeping your heart rate up for awhile.  A six-pack is not anywhere in the near future or any future, though.  I find myself daydreaming sometimes, though, about being totally buff again and doing gymnastics.  I miss the feeling of flying through the air on the bars or landing on the beam or flipping into the pit.  I hope I don’t live vicariously through my kids in this sense.  I don’t want to end up being one of those moms who pushes their kids so hard to do something just because they didn’t get to do it themselves.  I wonder if it would be weird to be 30 years old and taking gymnastics.  Hehe.  I’ll still be the same size and look the same age, so I could still work out with the team, right?  =P

  • Behind the Bamboo Curtain

    Interesting story about rural China and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

    http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=bamboocurtain

  • Moving to the country, gonna eat alotta peaches…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvAnQqVJ3XQ

    Awesome song from 6th grade.  Just popped in my head today while looking at inclusions in a gear steel.  That’s weird.

    “Millions of peaches, peaches for me.  Millions of peaches, peaches for free!”

    What the heck is this song about anyway?

  • Oh Boy, Bob’s Big Boy!

    http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/fit.nation/obesity.map/

    I remember when Bob’s Big Boy used to be where Outback Steakhouse is now in Irvine.  It was always so crowded but it was THE hot spot for brunch on Sundays.  That and Baxter’s (which is now Elephant Bar).  They made cool balloon hats on Father’s Day.

    I miss Irvine!

  • Digg This!

    Imagine getting your own pimped out name and logo on this!  You’d be the coolest kat in the office.

    http://digg.com/design/INDESTRUCTIBLE_Customizable_Laser_Etched_USB_flash_drives

    Please Digg it!  I used to work for them.  Imagine getting your own pimped out name and logo on this!  You’d be the coolest kat in the office.

  • Summer Life

    DC is hot and humid and there’s no freakin beach or even a pool I can go to!  But…can’t say it’s been all bad.  I’m living in Alexandria, VA which is 10 miles and anywhere from a 20 min. – 1.25 hour drive from NRL.  I’m carpooling with this guy who, go figure, goes to RIT (Sean went there).  I also met another guy in my apartment complex who, turns out doesn’t work at NRL but Carder Rock, and is named Sean (hm).   It sucks not having a car, but I’ve learned to take the bus quite frequently grocery shopping or to the gym.  The Metro, as everyone knows, is so awesome and nice and looks like Space Mountain inside.  I think the Thailand MRT and BTS still win, though, for the nicest subways I’ve been in.  The Chicago “El” is just sad…

    The first few days were quite lonely, I must admit, but I’ve made some friends since then.  I don’t know what else people do except for drinking on Friday and Saturday nights…it gets kinda old…or maybe I’m getting old?  Either way, I really wish I were by a beach (or at least an outdoor pool)!  Yet another reason why I am absolutely settling down in southern CA.  Okay, I HATE to admit this, but I miss my cushy Orange County life!  Haha.  I miss going swimming and playing tennis and going to the jacuzzi at night!  Pools and jacuzzis and tennis courts are NOT standard in every single apartment complex and it really puts a damper on things since I actually used them quite frequently in Irvine.  As much as people complained about The Irvine Company monopolizing all housing and charging so much, well, it really wasn’t bad.  I pay way more here and in Chicago and housing is definitely not as nice…I miss the Spectrum!  I finally realized how cool the Spectrum really is.  You got all the stores and restaurants and movie theaters you’d ever need.  You really can go back week after week and not get sick of it.

    Of course I’ve been able to do things that I definitely can’t do in Irvine…so far I’ve been to the American Art Museum, Natural History Museum, the Archives, Foggy Bottom, Georgetown – M street craziness, Old Town Alexandria, Burke Lake, etc.  I’ve also been going to the gym pretty consistently and went rock climbing yesterday!  It’s hard to live in a place where you really don’t know many people and there aren’t many people who socialize on a daily basis after work.  Most people just go home and you don’t want to bother them…so in order to fill my time I enrolled in Blockbuster.com!  I can finally try to catch up on all those movies that everyone else has seen and talks about and maybe someday I’ll be able to partake in those conversations, too.  No more “What?  You’ve never seen ____?”  haha.  I think I’m pretty behind in music too.  I haven’t downloaded a song since FRESHMEN YEAR at UCI.  Can you believe that?  That’s 5 years.  I don’t listen to the radio, I buy a CD maybe once a month, I don’t listen to music on my laptop because of the crappy speakers…so…basically I am completely out of touch with the whole music scene, too.  Oh, I did, however, get a TV Tuner so I can start watching TV again.  I’m trying to catch up on “Friends” (yeah, still haven’t seen all the episodes).  How sad am I…I’m so out of touch with the world.  I doubt I’ll become one of those crazy scientists though because that’s just way too hard to do…they are way too far gone.

    Work is slow for the time being.  Still waiting on material from school so I’ve been learning some image processing stuff, got to do some FIB stuff in the clean room with the bunny suits!, polishing til my doom, and last but not least YAHOO GRAFFITI.  It’s a semi-daily thing and a couple of us from NU MSE put up some pretty tough competition.  Yep, so that’s what we do in grad school.

    I’ve been meaning to find a church here, but don’t know where to look.  There’s a Calvary Chapel in Alexandria but still 20 minutes away and I have no car!  There’s this gospel church right across the street from me and man, they cause a raucous!  They are awesomely loud and soul-ful and you can hear them even just standing across the street every Friday and Sunday and sometimes Saturdays.  I kinda wanna go but I’m a little intimidated. 

    My studio apartment is very spacious, btw.  I got a walk-in closet, queen size bed, and lots of empty floor space!  Kinda still smells like gas even though I’ve bugged the maintenance guy plenty of times…hopefully it’s not too bad and no long-term effects…(uhhh yeah).

  • Parents…

    OMG…I’m not getting married!  Not any time soon.  I’ll get married later. 

    I hate how parents get all caught up in the moment and totally think you are the same as your sibling and start thinking too far ahead and start getting crazy ideas and assume they know what you’ve been through and assume they know what’s going on in your life and how your feeling when they don’t!

    My brother’s wedding was VERY LOVELY…BUT my parents and relatives are now turning to me since I’ll be the next up to get married (even before my cousin Mindo).  NEWS FLASH PARENTS, I’m 4.5 years younger than Tim and I’m in grad school.  Yes, that means you’re married to your thesis for 5 years.  I’m not getting married any time soon!  I don’t know “what I want” per se right at this very moment and I don’t intend to go out finding what I want exactly either and I don’t want to dwell on the past (ahem MOM).  Ugh…anyways…the point is: I’M NOT GETTING MARRIED for a very long time.

    Maybe I should copy and paste this to my parents…lol.

  • Home…

    …but not for long. 

    I can’t believe my brother’s getting married! 

    How old are we??? 

    I decided I’m gonna get married in Vegas and just go to the buffet.  Seafood buffet, of course.  Maybe Rio.