Calvin's Escalade
Yeah, one of these days, he'll get a hot car... but for now, he's adding to his ginormous collection of model cars. 

What my parents have me eat everyday 

Jasmine! =) 

The lovely California coastline 

:: Rosie ::
Remember her? She refuuuuused to flower at all when she was in Berkeley. Now that she's living in SoCal, she seems happy to keep a blooming all the time. She didn't wanna be with me! So, I can't take care of any living thing, sigh... who knows what will happen to any kids that I might have in the future?  

argh, i forgot southwest's new policy of checking in 24 hours in advance, i still thought i had to wait til midnite, so i did, despite being so sleepy, and then was surprised to see a B on my ticket, dangit, that means i'm like 10 hours late!!!! freakin a....

yeah, okay, calm down frances, what does it matter? it doesn't , who cares, just get on and take your time to get back to berkeley...

still lost an hour of sleep still, although entertained by an interesting blog, not gonna link here but if you actually want to know, it was awarded the Bloggie for best british blog...

I'd like to write more eloquently, but I just don't get motivated enough to sit there and write draft after draft so I guess I'll just spit out whatever lame thing I have to say. Would you say trash is better than nothing? If not, then stop checking! =)

:: Monday
:: Rollerblading
:: 5:20-6:00pm

:: This is one of my favorite things. If I have to compare rollerblading to jogging, jogging would be considered like a chore. Seriously I have to work at running while I just have so much fun rollerblading that I could go on for a very long time. I wish I could go rollerblading in a more beautiful setting though. I should definitely look into rollerblading sometime along the bay in San Francisco. If no one in Berkeley knows how to or doesn't want to learn, then I'll just go myself. Now the problemo is getting rollerblades. I love the pair I have at home, but should I just look into getting another pair? I also need some protection: helmet, wrist guards, elbow pads, knee pads, heck, I don't have any protection currently!

I used to have all that; I just outgrew them and never got any adult-sized equipment. Yeah, apparently I'm an adult now, or at least physically. Talking to Margaret today reminded me of how I even got started rollerblading. I bought my first pair of rollerblades with the money I painstakingly earned as a little girl sewing velcro onto dolls' braids for t-shirts sold at Nordstroms. That pair wasn't even that great, but of course I had no idea until I got a really good pair of rollerblades unexpectedly a few years ago. I am realizing more and more how lucky I am that I have money to spend on things other than necessities. [I finally got Night for 5 bucks (thanks Oprah!) at Sams Club on Sunday; finished it in an hour and now trying to get Calvin to read it. I made a good point when talking to my parents today when I told them I had read The Rape of Nanking also. It's important to know about all kinds of evil that humans are capable of. It's also horrible how so many people refuse to believe that any of this could have ever happened...]

Alright, I got really sidetracked, but anyways, today was just wonderful. I think my legs have gotten strong from jumproping, running or skiing because rollerblading is much more comfortable now. I can go long distances on one leg only. Twas also sprinkling a bit. Doing things in light rain is always fun.

I guess one of the reasons I like rollerblading is that I have time to just think. Think about anything. If I try to think while I'm still, then I start to get bored and stop thinking very hard. And if I try to think about things when I'm doing other stuff, then I'm already preoccupied, aren't I? But when I'm rollerblading, oxygen is going to my brain, I'm happy and I just start to wonder about things.

It'd be nice to rollerblade with someone though.

group photos and video

Final Fantasy VIII

Haven't seen this since freshman year! (Hit pause on the Crowded House...)

lyrics to what i'm listening to now (one of my fav songs)

all that i want in my life
is the feeling of peace
deep within me truly

i took a chance
i let go
i promised myself
that it wouldn't scare me
miracles appear i know
now i can see it show
'cause i

found out what i dreamt of
and looked it up
at this very moment
what i want is what i've got
found out what was missing
and i looked it up and
at this very moment
what i want is what i've got

life is too short
to hold back
i won't live in the past
being lonely now i know
this is the time
of my life
yes i'm sure what i want
is what i've got

miracles appear i know
now i can see it show
'cause i

found out what i dreamt of
and i looked it up
at this very moment
what i want is what i've got
found out what was missing
and i looked it up and
at this very moment
what i want is what i've got

now i've found out what i've
been dreaming of
it's the feeling of peace deep within me
cause life is too short to hold back
i made up my mind, i just

found out what i dreamt of
and looked it up
at this very moment
what i want is what i've got
found out what was missing
and i looked it up and
at this very moment
what i want is what i've got

found out what i dreamt of
and looked it up
at this very moment
what i want is what i've got
found out what was missing
and i looked it up and
at this very moment
what i want is what i've got

What school pride?

A non-Bruin told me about UCLA basketball today (thanks Cathy).
I don't really care, but here's a small "woooop!" for my alma mater.

And apparently there are a lot more fans in North Chicago than here. Of course I wouldn't expect Berkeley undergrads to be yelling that much for UCLA or maybe I'm playing my music too loud.

Currently playing: Alicia Keys feat. Justin Timberlake - How Come You Don't Call Me

Thanks once again to Vince for always recommending the coolest programs to me! Now I've got AIM, MSN, Google Talk and Yahoo Messenger all in one pretty package.

Yo homies, recognize?

White flower oil (wikipedia)


Kwan Loong Oil



Apparently I had two unopened packages of these. My mom always made me bring these anywhere I moved, but maybe it seems I haven't been using this at all in Berkeley. Well, it's time to break them out! Yay for the smell!

In the past hour, I've eaten 1.5 donuts and some Doritos. Being in the same room as Purdy is not a good thing for my health, but it is a good thing for my sanity.

A slight step up from ugly duckling

Whenever I look through my photo collection (since 2001, over 20 gigs) to post up pictures for a random foray into my past, I come across my "fat" pics (circa 2001-2002). I still can't bring myself to post any of those up yet. Somehow I feel I have further to go before I can say that I'm safe from ever sliding back to such state as when:

* I was at least 30 pounds overweight.
* I had the dorkiest thick glasses.
* I had no sensible clothing sense beyond baggy and comfy.
* I still had acne all over my face. (Started beginning of high school and only semi-cleared up before I started graduate school.)
* Everyday was a bad hair day for me. (I didn't even realize I had naturally curly hair until my last years at UCLA when I stopped blowdrying at night.)
* and probably a lot more dorky stuff that I still have yet to notice about myself.

But dangit, I was the darndest dorkiest happiest girl you'd ever be lucky enough to meet.

And I still am...

Terry's group

One good thing about missing Rope Burn today was finally knowing that two friends are happy together. That and the chocolate mousse pie I had.

One of the bad things in my life presently is being forced to be mean. Even though people keep telling me that I'm doing the right thing, I still truly feel awful inside.

Some people just bring me down...

Meet the new home of my future 250 gig harddrive. =)

Flowers in the front office

Moorea

Irma

John

Harry

I'm not safe

I'm so utterly scared right now. Thanks to this much too vivid dream (actually nightmare...) that I just luckily woke up from.

Now thank goodness I am remembering less and less while I'm gaining consciousness but I can still feel the impact. Anyways, the short of it, someone recognized me from pictures online and when I walked out of a supermarket (?), he attacked me from behind. I only survived when the friend I was with fought him off after he came out of the store too.

Feeling so vulnerable. Five years of planning to take some sort of self defense classes at UCLA, and I never got around to it. Maybe this is a sign that I should do something about that now in Berkeley.

Studying at Brewed Awakening with Irma this morning

The flowers I ate lunch next to

Where I ate lunch and got my pants wet

The Campanile where it was playing "Under the Sea" on Sunday, I took a video of it but doesn't sound as well as live.

Lovely Evans Hall where I spent my Sunday

University Library where they're filming a fake protest from the 70s

Monday
:: run to North Berkeley Bart
:: with Cathy and Margaret
:: ~ 2 miles
:: ~ 20 minutes
:: walk from Oxford and Virginia to RSF and back to Evans... yeah, this counts too cuz I'm tired!
:: this is the third consecutive day I ran, can't remember if I did this before...

Oooh, I'm so tempted right now to purchase this. Isn't it gorgeous?
Should I wait til I get married to put this on wedding registry? Nah, that means I'll just be waiting forever to use this classic piece of machinery. Who out there has one and will persuade me to cough up a couple hundred for this red beauty?

Living life vicariously

There's a handsome man and a beautiful woman outside in the rain talking and crying. The moment seems so emotional. It is as if Irma and I are watching a TV show without sound. We don't understand what's going on but we know something important is happening in both of their lives. We can only imagine that they are breaking up and yet we can't see seem to stop looking and thinking about them. So sad and yet so beautiful...

Life goes on.

Right now my headphones are saying, "I believe love is the answer. I believe love will find a way." (Blessid Union of Souls - I Believe)

Sunday
:: perimeter run
:: ~2.5 miles
:: 24 minutes
:: 4:45-5:09pm

A sign that I'll never survive in cold areas:

Today is an absolutely gorgeous day and as soon as I stepped outside, I became fantabulously happy!!! So happy it'll make ya wince. =) Even though:

- I didn't get enough sleep yesterday.
- I still have tons to do before a meeting at 3pm.
- I'm working on a Sunday.
- and all this other stuff in my life that ain't going so well.

Anyhoo, the seat of my pants is all wet now after I spent a few minutes sitting in the grass outside. =) =) =) =)

Wooo!!

Lucy and part of Darcy; Lizzy been working hard down south... I don't think they'll see much of each other anytime soon since Lucy is so good to me.

.

UCLA!

March 14, 2006

This is me not doing research on a Saturday. Ghost is playing in the background. And, I love Picasa! =)

my trial pair of contacts from tang center - i don't see a difference! argh...

Sussi and Shirley at Gelateria Naia

Saturday
:: perimeter run
:: 10:30 - 11:00 am
:: with Trinh
:: 2.5 miles
:: 30 minutes
:: she still walking a bit but getting much better =)
:: i feel good! hot stuff ;o)

Me and Sussi! =)
We go way back. How back? Way back. How way back? Like, totally, way back.

Okay, stop this stupidity, how back?

1st grade! So let's see, that's 1987 to 2006... you do the arithmetic, for sure I can't subtract.

Go Longley Way Lions!

Margaret and I on Terry's birthday (also known as Pi Day for us math nerds...)

Cynthie,

A true friend is someone you can disagree with and still remain friends. For if not, they weren't true friends in the first place."
---Sandy Ratliff

I hope this is what you have, I know I do... =)

Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down."
---Oprah Winfrey

Tuesday
:: Rope Burn, 5-5:25pm, with Dave

Thursday
:: Perimeter run, 5:27-6:10pm, ~3.5 miles, partially with Trinh, in the rain

...

random pic: dec 1, 2002: driveway at home

random pic: december 25, 2002: i have no idea where

random pic: june 1, 2003: science rules! bill nye the science guy

random pic: june 9, 2003: apt directory

random pic: july 7, 2003: one of the oldest nintendo games we have

random pic: dec 28, 2003: the movie ticket i got when i donated blood for the first time feb 2002

random pic: march 18, 2004: photo i took of berkeley when i visited the stats dept, right before the presentation on the dept

random pic: march 21, 2004: seahorse at whatever that aquarium was called when i visited ucsd bioinformatics

random pic: april 30, 2004: santa monica beach, on the day i learned latex, and of course being happy for other reasons ;o)