Chain reaction of thoughts:

=> I was watching a Keri Russell movie tonite (Miracle of Ordinary Days)
=> Thought about when I used to watch her in Felicity
=> Remembered that she made rash decision to attend college across the country in NY because of a crush who didn't really know her.
=> Then wondered what would have happened if I pulled a Felicity six years ago when I had to decide on which college to go to. (NY = Berkeley in my situation, I know ... not as far, but still, it's far)
=> Oh wells! It's too late, he's no longer at Berkeley anymore. I guess I followed him two years too late! =) Hahahahahah!
=> And then I realize, "what the ??? who cares about someone who didn't know you were alive in high school and doesn't know you are still alive anymore anyhow?"
=> And that's the END of my chain of thoughts. I just thought I'd share that with you. =)

sidenote: he's at the other side of the country now and no...I won't be following, though hey, at least not on purpose, I would like to postdoc on the east coast one day...haha, indirectly following all these years, wouldn't that be too strange of a coinwinkydink if i end up at a certain ivy league skool with a four letter name in 5 years?

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't.
-Richard Bach

"Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now
I feel good, I knew that I would, now"

yep i do, perhaps it's the exercise and eating right? i do feel great, i love me! so if i love me, who else loves me? =)

on another unrelated note, i gots my webcam hooked up now, who wants to see me make funny faces?

I dreamt that I was being hugged by someone for a very long time. It was a nice comforting feeling, even though it's never happened in real life. Sometimes my dreams can feel so real! Amazingly, I can remember the feel of the fabric of the clothes of the other person. Weird eh?

What a difference an hour makes...

I was feeling quite blah today about being here in Berkeley and not doing much besides classes. Then I get an email about seminar today at 4pm. So I go. I show up very early and my advisor shows up too. This is nice that I get to talk to him a bit before it starts since he's always so busy and I don't have reasons to meet up and talk usually.
I'm getting to the point in going to seminars where even if I don't understand everything, I don't believe everything they say either. I can feel some things are wrong, especially with regards to the statistics they spout. So that's what happened for this seminar, I didn't think they had much significant evidence of anything that was said... and their methods could obviously be improved.
Anyways, my advisor is very nice, I bumped into him on the way back and he walked me on the route between Evans and my home. Hopefully, in time, I won't prove to be stupid or lazy when it's time to do research. I think I'd be a lot more excited about research and working with bio data than taking classes. But I know and I like taking classes now since I need all the background I can get. Stats is HARD! (especially if you have no clue on measure theory...)

I miss being an undergrad at UCLA so much.
I wish I had done more when I was there, like meet more people, done more activities, gone to office hours.
That's one part of my life that I can never go back to and time keeps on going and soon I might be missing what I'm doing now.
I miss living with friends. That means you Tammy and Floey!
People are nice here, but I don't think I have real friends in Berkeley yet.

I'm happy in general, just a bit nostalgic. Haven't been too busy with schoolwork yet, or maybe that's because I'm lazy. I've been working out. I bought and lugged 2 12-pound weights from Target (along with other stuff like a dozen bottles of Propel) across the parking lot, to the Bart station and from Bart station to bus stop and carrying it on bus (no seat available) and then lugging it from bus stop to apartment (on 3rd floor). Needlessly to say, I didn't have to purposely work out that day. I jump rope in the lounge, where there's a TV.
This is to get healthy and get rid of the 10 extraneous pounds I gained last semester from dorm food and just eating anything and everything because I was stressed about classes and finals.
And maybe I'll be 140 something pounds by the time spring break comes around. Haven't seen 140 something since 8th grade (and I was shorter then too, I'm almost 5'7" now). I was 162.5 when I flew back from winter break, so we'll see how that goes...

I miss one particular person a lot, but he doesn't seem to want to reply to my email or maybe ultra busy, whatevers... I guess I just need a little more excitement in life than studying and eating and sleeping and exercising.

My friends are the beeeeeeeestest!
Too bad I gots go back to skool soon and not see them again til March.

Today was a very nice change to the boring days I've been having. Tammy was cool and picked me up to go to the mall. Florence, Robert, Tammy, Cynthie, Eugenia and I watched "In Good Company". It's a very cute movie which got a lot of laughter from the people in the theater. The weird thing is that I never noticed that Eugenia walked right pass me in our row in the beginning of the movie, so I was surprised to see her after the movie. Yep, how blind can I be? You don't have to answer that!

Dinner was at the Market City Caffe, which serves Italian food. I copied Floey and got the ravioli. Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeese! (and some chicken, I think...) Linda joined us and ate dessert while we weren't eating dessert. =) Creeeeam! And I swear that tiramisu just set back all the healthy eating I've been doing these past few weeks. Twas good stuff, though I think I've eaten better tiramisu before. Even Whole Foods Market is better...

And then after my crazed descent down the wrong direction escalator, we waited with Linda until she got picked up so she could watch Michelle win for the 9th time. =)

And then it was off to my first time at a Dave and Buster's. I really don't get the point of those two guys outside checking our ID's when we didn't plan on drinking and there were plenty of leetle kiddies inside already playing games.

Oh my! I'm watching SNL at this very second and Topher Grace is hosting! Topher twice in a day! Oooh! The Killers are on SNL too!!! My day is getting better and better!

Okay, back to D & B. Twas fun! We all threw some hoops; we so good: do we hear the NBA calling anytime soon? Played some other games... Robert and Tammy shot the hell outta some bad dudes on Time Crisis, violent aren't they? =p

Thanks Floey for letting me borrow The Elegant Universe!! Spread the knowledge! =)

I'm currently reading Hyperspace by Michio Kaku. I had bought the book a long time ago but never finished it. As a result, I had to start over at the very beginning. It's a highly fascinating book! Only at the second chapter, I'm learning so much about the fourth dimension! It really makes you look at what we are living in differently.

Florence, did you ever finish The Elegant Universe? I might read that if I ever finish Hyperspace.

So... what have I been doing during break? For the last couple of weeks, it's been really relaxing, though many might say I'm just doing nothing and wasting the precious break time.

7:50 wakey! and teeth brushie
8:00 eat cereal and milk
8:10 get dressed (i've been wearing the same thing for the last two weeks, clean of course! i just wear it again right after it's washed, like who cares what i wear during break? people around here prob. think i never wash my clothes, hehe...)
8:30 drive parents to store
9:30 eat fuji apple, avocado, orange (in this EXACT order, you wanna ask why? you may) while watching the Today show
10:00 walk around the block or walk to the arcadia public park and swing!!
11:00 eat lunch (sometimes it's been cereal, sometimes oatmeal, sometimes bread, turkey and mustard, one time it was stuff from Daphne's Greek Cafe and Baja Fresh, sometimes it's from Rubios...blah blah blah)
12:00 watch movie, been catching up on tons of videos that i never saw while i was up at berkeley
2:00 make milk tea and boil edamame, and then eat them!
3:00 Oprah!
4:00 whatevers, another walk around block? walk to library? work on knitting my pink poncho?
5:00 drive home
5:30 rollerblade in the dark
6:00 take shower
6:30 wait for bro to come home before i can eat dinner!
6:45 eat dinner
7:30 brush and floss teethie
7:45 turn on Elizabeth, aimlessly surf net, harass people on AIM, watch more crap TV, check email...
11:00 go sleepie!

yep... was that boring enough for you to read? i promise to work very hard when i get back to berkeley on monday!

How to Overcome a Lack of Academic Confidence

One of the scariest things about school is the sense that "they're all smarter than I am." These steps should help you get on the path toward slaying this demon.

Steps:
1. Realize that most people who seem overly intelligent aren't any smarter than anyone else. It's often just a matter of presentation.

2. Recognize that you have your own kind of intelligence, which might not be measured well by standardized tests or "normal" grading criteria.

3. Tell yourself that you're not going to be intimidated by people who appear, in your eyes, to be smarter than you are.

4. Take the high ground: If someone tries to make you look stupid, realize it's probably that person's insecurities coming through and has nothing to do with your intelligence.

5. Study. Your feelings of intellectual inferiority may stem from being less prepared than your classmates, not less intelligent.

6. Contact your school's academic-counseling office. The professionals there have a wealth of advice for you.


Tips:
Remember that you're not alone. People often "feel stupid" in the world of academia, but it rarely has anything to do with intelligence.

Keep in mind that standardized tests and "normal" grading criteria don't measure your potential or how hard you tried.

from http://www.ehow.com/how_9277_overcome-lack-academic.html

I stole the below from someone else's blog. He has one of the most well written and interesting blogs I've ever read and it's too bad that he doesn't update more often. He has no idea I read his blog anyhow...
==================================

I don't know if it's a difference in culture, but it appears to me that people in the states tend to focus a WHOLE lot more on how much their annual income is. In my humble opinion, I think at our stage in life it's important to have enough time and psychological leisure outside of work to be able to enjoy life, and that making enough money to sustain such a lifestyle is more than sufficient. I know it's cliche and all, but honestly, if we make enough money where we can eat whatever we feel like eating, that's enough. I think having more money gives you more options as to what you can do for leisure, but if you lose the time and energy to enjoy these leisures, you lose your ends, and left with an empty means.


We'll all make money in the end. Let's not rush to die.
==================================

Random picture of the day

Florence's cutey toy hanging on light switch

Been working hard on one new year's resolution of eating healthier. I've significantly cut down on processed sugar (there goes my chocolate addiction!)

Today's food:

Cereal & milk
Fuji apple
Avocado
Orange
Lemon juice with honey
Oatmeal (unsweetened)
Banana
Pommelo
Edamame
Tea
Blueberries
See's candy (1 piece only, I swear!)
Rice
Chicken
Broccoli
Bittermelon

I hadn't eaten chocolate for three days before today. Woohoo, progress! =)