Adventures of a Crustacean

2010-03-18T12:23:00.000-04:00

i should really stop kidding myself on this.

spring break, in the library, studying electrodynamics. it really doesn't get much better than this. really.

okay its not so bad. but it is somehow.

Procrastinating instead of studying.... for my exam in 2 hrs.

2009-12-17T11:44:00.001-05:00

Three exams done, two more to go.

I have Enee241 in about two hours. I seriously have no idea how that is going to turn out. His exams are hit or miss. =/ Hopefully this one will be a hit.

I'm waiting anxiously as grades get posted to testudo. So far, I've passed two of my six classes. Yay.

Still waiting on four of them.

Its all going to be over on Saturday. Alllllll overrrr.

Caffeine makes me need to pee. =/

I couldn't stay focused on the damn history essays this morning. Partially because I didn't even bother to understand the second question. But after an hour, my concentration was basically shot. I was screwed. Lolzor. I can't change my grade in that class anyways. Going to get a fucking B. Can't believe this bullshit. It makes me incredibly angry. Rage.

I made myself a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. In the wam lab now.... I have matlab to work on and then 380 after this exam. oh 380. oh 380. oh dear.

im cold. i couldn't find my vest in my extremely large pile of clothing this morning. :(

At least that damn room is usually pretty warm.

Things to do after 12:30pm on Saturday:

Lunch w. Cathy, Rebecca Minkoff sample sale, Georgetown cupcakes maybe? =D

Things to do during break:

P90x. God I love it.

Watch more tv than humanly possible.

Play with Christmas presents.

Play with more Christmas presents.

Try not to spend anymore money.

Maybe work at Rubys?

COOK!!! Yea~! I'm going to cook so much delicious food! =D

Finals

2009-12-13T11:53:00.000-05:00

I need to get this shit right this time.

The sleepless nights are coming again. I had the worst time trying to sleep on Friday night. :( When I closed my eyes all I saw racing through my mind were the equations and problem set. Its kinda cool, but then kinda annoying once it becomes 4am and you have to get up at 9.

Somebody took away the table in the fourth floor lounge so I am in the fifth floor now. Its nice and quiet. Hopefully it will stay that way for most of the day. I plan to hog this table for at least the next two hours.

Its raining... Wet and cold :(

On the bright side, I now have a partner in crime for Saturday afternoon! Cathy and I are going to go to the Rebecca Minkoff DC sample sale! I'm really excited even though I plan on just looking. I've bought so much stuff this semester so far its not even funny. I got rid of all of my old bags and replaced them with twice as many new ones. I have four MAMs now, Lavendar, Ostrich/Cream, Orange Haze, and a Studded Brown Bear at home. Two Nikki's: Cranberry and Studded Brown Bear. Two Devotes: Ostrich/Eggshell and Studded Almond. And a 3Zip MAC in Black Haze.

How many is too many? Probably what I have lolz. But seriously, I'm only going to look on Saturday. =P

Alright, enough of a break. Back to studying for math. Oh math. I shall conquer you this time!

Success!

2009-12-08T21:33:00.001-05:00

Jon is officially a retard.

He has essentially contributed nothing to our SAIC project. I hope he is happy, he got $1000 for doing nothing. I've lost all respect for him. The only thing that he has been useful for is getting our report bound. Thats the ONLY thing that he has contributed to this 10 week long project. Then afterwards he has the nerve to ask us to pay him for the $8 it cost him to get it bound. Um he just got $1k for helping us bind a report. I hate him.

He said something really dumb at our presentation. again. I am going to start a log of "dumb quotes by jon". The shit he says without thinking is really crazy.

"the current in the tube of this light makes the light go faster than the speed of light."

whaaa????

I hope I am the only one who heard it.

I doubt I was...

Other than that awkward statement, the presentation was pretty much a success. Jon didn't say anything after the introduction, and Abs and I rocked that shit. He wants to give us a site tour over winter break. Its going to be exciting if we can work that out. :)

Gary is taking me out to dinner on Friday to celebrate the completion of our SAIC project! I gotta think about what I want to eat. Hehehee.

I've been on and off stressed about school and exams for a while. Some days I am really freaked out, others I am totally fine with the ridiculous amount of shit I have to do. Its weird. And it all ends next Saturday.

Today is one of those relaxed days. I've gotta study for this math exam tmrw though. =]

Day by day

2009-12-05T11:59:00.000-05:00

i'm in the library mugging again. it shall be the death of me sooner or later.

gary is at the baltimore aquarium. i love that place. the last time i went was about ten years ago. i kinda wanted to go during july 4 when we were up there but there were way too many people. i was hoping to go during winter break maybe. im kinda jealous that he went without me. granted, it was essentially free to get in today. he says we will go during winter break, but i feel like its not going to be all that great now that he has seen everything.

its snowing outside. its disgusting.

there is so much to do this weekend. study for math, review for math, learn fucking electrodynamics. do the SAIC project.

ugh. SAIC project. its such a great project, its just seriously been ruined by my experience with jon. i've had to deal with some terrible teammates in the past. like in quest, i worked with some serious morons. but at the end of the day, i would be able to look at them and laugh. i'd bitch about their lack of work, but it was okay because i was still able to see them in around school and say hi. jon however, is truly an utter failure. i've never been so bothered by a teammate before. its not really his lack of work or trying that bothers me at this point. its the fact that he trys to get involved when he doesn't know what is going on and just causes problems. this was the first thing that bothered me. i've tried to help him become a better teammate throughout this project. there are alot of things he needs to learn. but at this point in the semester, we can't afford any fuckups. i've completely lost all respect for him. there is no more. and the part that kills me is that i tried so hard with him. and he throws it all back into my face. he need to learn some humility or he is going to continue his downward spiral. no wonder ATK didn't want him back lol.

but he really took it to the next level when he called blamed me for his downfalls and failures, and then called me a liar. its personal now.

its funny. there are alot of people who i do not like. but i respect them in some ways because they have attributes that make them successful in life. whether its their intelligence, beauty, ability to manipulate people. they have something that will get them somewhere. jon. he doesn't have any of it. he has a good mind, but never is able to do anything to backup what he says. even as just a friend. its sad. not that many people in my life have pushed me to this level. only one that i can think of at this moment.

okay that was my last rant about jon. i'm so done with him. i can't wait until our presentation on tuesday. after that i will never have to deal with him ever again. ^_^

I'm so nervous for exams. I can't believe I have five exams this year. I am starting to prepare now so that I don't fuck myself over. But really, I'm terrified of 380. Its probably going to kick my ass. I need to go to office hours next week.

Things to do today:

~electrodynamics

~math

~eat wontons

~miss gary

2009-11-19T17:24:00.000-05:00

school is no longer a happy place.

much to do tonight.

Yogiberryyyy

2009-11-18T11:36:00.001-05:00

I have brought up the topic of potentially going to HKG for winter to the parents. I don't think they will react well.

I need to charge my laptop. And my iPod. And everything electronic that I own. Everything is out of battery haha. fail.

I like the new Yogiberry place in College Park. I actually didn't like Yogiberry after coming home from HK but this place is different from the place in rockville. It is sold by weight so you can get as much or as little as you want. Plus they have alot more flavors than the other place. Instead of the traditional original and green tea, they have flavors like Taro, Lychee, Strawberry, Blueberry, Melon and more.

I'm a big fan of my favorite purple taro. It doesn't even hold a candle to the Taro ice cream in HK but the reminiscent flavor has me coming back for just a bit. $0.45 per oz, you can just get enough to satisfy your sweet cravings for just a few dollars. Its a good idea in esp in this economy, even students aren't willing to plop down $6-8 for a sweet treat.

I'll definitely be back for more.

2009-11-17T17:19:00.000-05:00

I dread 380 like no other. Its so bad its probably unhealthy. I kind of don't want to go today, but I know that I must eventually go to office hours by Thursday. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me. Why am I so scared of going to ask for help. I'm obviously incapable of learning this shit straight from the book. That and the fact that there is no partial credit whatsoever. FML.

Starbucks + Pike Place Roast makes it just a little bit better.

Starbucks is effective because I don't have access to internet here haha. I'm certainly not paying for internet. So, good coffee and no internet access = productivity. I like this place. Its nicer than Stamp. Only because I get sporadic internet access at Stamp and I spend a decent amount of time trying to get my connection to work so that I can check email and facebook. fail.

fuck. electrodynamics. i fucking suck at this shit.

mmmmm =)

2009-11-16T15:49:00.001-05:00

I have forgotten how delicious Starbucks' fresh brewed coffee is. Not the super flavored and sugared up lattes and fraps, but just plain hot brewed or iced coffee. Pike Place Roast is by far superior to McDonalds and ChikfilA coffee. I can't believe how delicious it is and that the last time I had it was sophomore year. At twice the price with no refills, it will be reserved for super studying occassions. Starbucks is a great place to study for engineering and math. There is free internet access and all of my study materials are offline anyways. It forces me to study since there is no other viable option to procrastinate.

That cup of coffee was so good.

There is this obnoxiously loud guy here though and he is letting everybody know about his problems with his family. He is just one of those people who are loud and don't have a clue. Thank god I brought earplugs or he would have drive me insane.

I need to get a new drivers license sometime this week. I need to get my passport or some other form of ID to get a new one. Maybe I will go home this weekend and get it.

241 exam comes back maybe today? If its anything like the way 380 is, I don't want it back. I'd rather just crawl under a boulder and die.

I need to get back into the habit of doing p90 at least every other day. It keeps me sane. Bring it! ^_^

Maybe I should bake something delicious this week after Wednesday. Lots of fun matlab due this week. Have to go get owned at office hours. SAIC project needs to be worked on. I am completely unfunctional if I get less than 7 hours of sleep each night. Its weird cos I totally survived through the first three years of college with random sleep. I dunno if I am doing better this year. I think too many classes with too little time. History paper to write this weekend -__-" I need to pick a topic before Wednesday. Need to get an A on this nonsense.

Holy god. 241 FTW. I actually did somewhat well on this exam. Incredible. I like this.

2009-11-15T18:12:00.001-05:00

Its the home stretch. There is pretty much no stopping until the semester ends at this point. The only class I am really concerned with is 380. Epic fail on this last exam. Like no other. I don't know what I am doing with this shit. Fuck.

I also need to get working on that SAIC project. Omfg so behind on that. Maybe I will work on it tonight. jk. I NEED to work on it tonight.

Mmmm

2009-11-10T17:11:00.000-05:00

School frustrates me. I've had at least one exam every single week for the past 8 weeks. Whats going on with this nonsense. So annoying.

I wish I had more time to dedicate to my SAIC project. Its really interesting and I have alot of ideas for it, but so little time to do any of it.

I think its about now in the semester where I start to give up alot of sleep in order to get stuff done. Its terrible though because even now when I sleep at 1 and get up at 8, I am exhausted and ready to pass out by the time midnight rolls around. I don't know how I used to do it before. I gotta get back into that habit. That terrible habit.

I noticed that the keyboard on my Eee shows wear really quickly. I've had this thing for under two months now, using it abt two times a week for light typing in history class and I can already see the areas on the keyboard that are starting to get shiny. Funny b/c on my MS keyboard, I've used that thing for over three years now and it hasn't shown any sort of wear whatsoever. And I bang on that thing day and night. My HP laptop keyboard is pretty worn in although not the worst. It doesn't really bother me but I just found it kinda interesting. I wonder how MS's is designed to withstand so much more wear.

I need to memorize shit for tmrw's 241 exam... Its weird, engineering usually isn't memorization but I think that in this case, it might help me do better.

Four hours of sleep last night is not doing me any good. I could use a decent nap after dinner. And then hopefully that will keep me going for the rest of the night. Probably not going to three of my four morning classes again. 241 exam is at 2. Dinner at Matchbox though. At least there is something to look forward to. Marcus is leaving for Germany at the end of December! :( Sometimes I wish I could do the things that he does. But I am too chicken shit to even dare. And then, I need to keep up with 380 by reading the lecture notes this weekend. Math exam next week that I need to ace. I need to start understanding what the fuck is happening in 246.

Its week 11 of the semester. Only five more weeks left. Well four and a half. And then finals are here.

I think I need to get the hell out this weekend. Maybe I'll go wander DC. Or maybe I'll just leave early tmrw and do take a walk before dinner. Might be a better idea unless I decide to nap.

Plane tickets are getting more expensive. I think about it now, and I feel like its not a very good decision to go. But then I think about next semester and I kinda just want to go and not come back. I miss the culture.

2009-11-08T21:04:00.000-05:00

i need to stop being a dumbass.

fuck.

fuck. fuck. fuck.

fuck. school.

2009-11-08T21:03:00.001-05:00

i wish i was smart.

i used to be smart. when i was little.

what the fuck happened.

2009-11-06T21:48:00.001-05:00

i need to start studying earlier for exams.

i just started to slightly understand 380 before my exam yesterday. another day or two and i would have been fine probably.

fuck 241. it can suck nuts.

i need to begin reading. not even funny.

fuck. fuck. fuck.

Wintertime HK Love

2009-10-30T00:51:00.000-04:00

Flight - $1068USD

Housing - $120USD

I'm going to do this.

I fucking deserve it.

I feel like going is unnecessary though. I need have a reason to go, some sort of goal to accomplish. I will start looking at summer jobs and try to get an interview. Jay sent me some really good information. Its improbably but not impossible.

But whatever happens in the future, I need to FINISH my engineering degree. Just do it. Its not going to be that bad. Its never that bad. =)

2009-10-29T23:47:00.000-04:00

I am going to apply for internships in HK.

I know I am not going to get it. I'm a engineering major applying for a finance position in a business world. But I think that part of it gives me hope.

I need to figure out whether I want to go to HK for winter break or what. If I go, I need to figure out where I am going to stay, what I am going to do.

2009-10-29T01:32:00.001-04:00

i should have been a business major.

i suck at engineering.

so bad.

fuck. engineering.

my dad said something interesting the other day when i told him my goal in life was to win the lottery. i have never bought a single ticket in my life. he told me that buying lottery tickets doesn't increase your chance of winning, you are never going to win. It just increases your hope in life.

i need to start buying lottery tickets.

2009-10-26T11:10:00.000-04:00

I suddenly remembered the security guard who sat under the stairs in Hall2 and always ate noodles from seafront cafe. He used to live in Boston. I remember he came up to talk to me the first day I was at UST and sitting by the ocean eating my roast duck.

I used to talk to him alot. I don't think I ever said goodbye to him.

2009-10-25T23:15:00.001-04:00

Its always the few days before an exam when I reminisce about Hong Kong...

RennFest

2009-10-25T16:58:00.000-04:00

RennFest was excellent this year. I love the nerdiness of it all. It is just awesome. Steak on a Stake was our favorite staple. Gary and I each had two of them. The hot apple cider w/ cinnamon was delicious. I need to start getting apple cider when it gets colder here.

We watched the sword swallower, it was the same guy as last year but he shaved his head. Still funny as always. We watched them make some bronze pendants, and other random things. Drench a Wench was something we could both have watched all day. The ppl who work that booth are just hilarious.

Jousting was awesome of course. Jousting and a turkey leg = greatness. There was the one knight who got knocked off his horse twice! I actually got a video of it. He probably drew the short straw at the beginning of the day haha.

Dark chocolate covered cheesecake was a MUST. So amazing/delicious/awesome. Its my once a year heart attack food. =]

Alas, we had to leave and go back to the real world. Now I am back at school. I've cleaned/organized my room and ready to start studying... exam on monday, exam on thursday, exam next thursday... it never really ends.

The Hinman Gala last night was alot more fun than I anticipated. Its part because we had a good group at our table. =]

My brain hurts with the thought of studying.

2009-10-22T23:40:00.000-04:00

This week somewhat flew by. I feel like there was alot of stuff that I should have done but I cannot remember what it is.

RennFest this weekend! I am super excited for this.

Other than that, there is so much studying and homework to do its not even funny. Shiaaat.

Time flies... when you are swamped with schoolwork.

2009-10-20T17:57:00.000-04:00

It has been a really long time since I last wrote in this thing. School has been kicking my ass for the past month. I've been doing surprisingly well handling all of my homework/studying so far. Its halfway through though and time to kick it up a notch.

I think I have found my new study location. Stamp! The library (McKeldin) its terrible to study at. Its almost like an overcrowded jail. The Egr library is slightly better since it has some windows. Chem lib which was my favorite freshman year is also suffocating now. I miss my gorgeous view of the ocean from the UST library haha! Stamp isn't so bad. Its not too overcrowded and so far I have been able to find a seat every time I come.

I feel like I have been working my ass off every day for the past month just to have a half or whole day on the weekend to go out. Its kinda depressing on the weekends when I realize there are days when I don't even leave my apartment all day. I think I need to learn to be more efficient about work so that I can squeeze a little more time out to really play. The busier I get the more I think about the relaxing time I had last semester haha!

I've had a surprisingly large amount of people come talk to me about UST. People I probably have only met once or twice. Or even just random people who have friends who know me and heard that I went. Part of me really needs to go back to HK this winter. But then the realistic part of me says that buying a plane ticket to go there for two or three weeks is ridiculous. I could be working, making money, or taking class here. Maybe I will go to Vancouver this winter break. I dunno, it seems a little too far north lol. Its cold enough here as it is. Part of me also doesn't want to go to HK in the winter because I'm not a big fan of the cold. Bah. This will take some pondering. Damn plane tickets are so expensive.

I've started to leave my iPod touch in my room when I go to class. It has proven to be a huge distraction during my longer classes, especially 241 and 380. I got away with it last semester but its just not going to work here. The profs go so fast and cover so much material in one lecture. I gotta keep up with this or I will be screwed.

This week = not enough sleep. I've been getting 7+ hours of sleep each night since January. Life is great when I get enough sleep. Its been gradually dwindling as the semester progresses. I am taking advantage of McDonalds coffee now. I had two cups earlier this afternoon when I was at stamp, saved my cup and got another free refill.

Cooking this semester has been alot easier than I expected it to be. I've done alot of pasta, sandwiches, and curry. YP sent me curry from Singapore and I made the Indian curry last week. It was delicious! I can't believe how easy it was! I am going to make more in two weeks. Next week I am going to make tacos. I bought seasoning from Safeway yesterday. I never got a chance to make Peking duck like I wanted to last month. Maybe I'll try it over Thanksgiving Break.

Thanksgiving break... Hmm black friday! I don't have anything big I need to buy, but a new flashdrive would be nice. I always lose it over the summer when I take it off my keychain. =/

I've gone on a shopping spree this month. Or rather this past week. I bought a Longchamp Le Pliage bag. Something I told myself I would never do. But suddenly a few weeks ago I started to really love it. Weird? Yea. I wanted the bilberry color the moment I saw it but eventually decided on the navy color. Saks had their Friends and Family sale so I couldn't resist. =) Omfg. I bought Burberry rainboots cos they were on sale at Nordies. Ridiculous? Yea. I need to stop buying stuff. Luckily I think most of the big sales are over with this past weekend.

I want a DSLR.

Shit.

Maybe thats what I will look into for Black Friday.

If I get one, I will have to make time each week to go out and take some photos. Hmmm that might be good.

I took on a project w/ SAIC. It seems pretty straightforward and at the end we should be getting $1k each. =] Money is always good.

I have a Asian American history exam tmrw. Its an essay exam and I already have the question so I just need to write an outline and I'll be done for that class for tonight. Still have 380 to understand.... 241 to understand.... math exams next week... shit. shit. shit. shit.

shit.

Commons gave out free juice boxes and snacks today. =)

Aite, time to finish up this outline and process some 380.

I need a brain upgrade.

2009-09-13T18:34:00.000-04:00

School is officially in session. Its been a whole two weeks since its started and its going well so far. This semester seemed dark during the summer because I am making up for alot of mistakes that I have made in the past. Math... matlab, 241... But now that it has started, I feel more motivated to get through it.

AAST is alot of reading. Alot. of. reading. I haven't read for a long time and this might be a good change. I have to keep up with it though or else it will become overwhelming.

Math is math. Professors seem better this time around. Can't argue much about that. There are no excuses this time. Gotta do well.

For some reason I am cooking alot more this semester. Its definitely a good thing and I have been eating alot of fruit. Its good to see that the habits I made this summer are still in place. Cooking really saves alot of money opposed to going out to eat. I've lost the interest in going out to eat anyways. I don't enjoy the food anymore. Although every once in a while I will endulge myself. Although I save alot of money by cooking, when I go out, it is freaking expensive. Gary and I went to Texas de Brazil last week. They had a 50% off promotion going on so it was totally worth it. But seriously, that place is expensive. I love goat cheese now.

I bought alot of stuff last week. LV zippy wallet, RM black ostrich Nikki, and most importantly my new Eee 1005HA PU1x. =]

I'm going to try to keep the netbook as a "work-only" machine. My dv5000 is still running strong altho the screen issues drive me nuts. Don't plan on moving that around for a while.

I have a whole book to read for AAST.... I'm going to get on that.

2009-08-28T11:57:00.000-04:00

This semester is going to blow.

Bring it.

2009-08-23T07:16:00.000-04:00

viiiiiiiiiiiirrrrginia beach! =D

P90X

2009-08-11T20:20:00.000-04:00

Today is day 3 of p90x. I started on Saturday with Chest & Back. Sunday was Plyometrics which is intenseeee. More than I expected. I died after about 40 minutes. I sorta kinda did ab x with jon yesterday. Today was shoulders and arms and a real round of ab x. Tmrw is Yoga altho I heard it is quite intense.

Bring it. =D

Early sleep tonight. Not enough sleep for the past two nights. Eyes have been burning all day at work. Or maybe its pink eye? I hope not. =]

2009-08-09T10:15:00.001-04:00

attempting.

krn bbq.

2009-08-02T00:10:00.000-04:00

I went to work today.

Today is Saturday.

There was no air conditioning lol. Epic fail.

Gary and I went to the asian festival in reston. Not so interesting. We hit up Carrabas for dinner which was really good. Our waitress was funny.

We went to Tysons afterwards. I haven't been to Tysons at all since coing back. Nothing really new there. Its still the same old stuff. Didn't buy anything.

Came home to be yelled at by the mother. Don't know what crawled up her ass and died today. She has this annoying thing going now where she says "so?" to everything I say. Thank god for work on Monday.

2009-07-27T20:16:00.000-04:00

i got my ass kicked in BodyWorks class today.

I am going to be so sore tmrw.

I had the greatest breakfast in america today. It was toast with butter and pork floss.

it was so good that i almost thought i was in hong kong while i was eating it.

Jon's birthday party was fun. I need to knock some sense into that boy this week.

Gym gym everyday! =] I like this.

2009-07-22T19:36:00.001-04:00

I cooked salmon, tilapia, and chicken for lunch this week.

$10 for one whole weeks worth of lunch. This is good. I need to do this more often.

I need to go to the gym starting next week. Must bring tennis shoes, towel, and other stuffs. =] Lets see how it goes.

2009-07-16T20:08:00.001-04:00

My toe is slowly healing. But it still looks uber gross.

I could sleep all day.

2009-07-15T19:53:00.000-04:00

"I knew after I left that we would not keep up our friendship"

Smart girl. Maybe I've misjudged her.

Still doesn't change the fact that she can be incredibly fake. But it redeems her a little in my book.

2009-07-11T10:58:00.000-04:00

yay new glasses today.

pjskidoos is delicious. filet mignon. amazing.

2009-07-09T19:06:00.000-04:00

I've changed my computer's time back to US Eastern time. 3.5 weeks after my arrival home.

It was starting to get annoying.

It also changed my iPod time which was annoying.

Lighthouse trip next week! =]

2009-07-08T21:29:00.000-04:00

Its past my bedtime.

July 4th was fun. Went to Baltimore, sat in traffic for two hours afterwards.

I gave maomao a bath today. it was hell. but i now have a clean cat.

work tmrw. yay.

what am i doing this weekend....

2009-07-03T01:47:00.001-04:00

I still have not changed my computer clock back to US time yet....

And the week ends early!

2009-07-02T17:54:00.000-04:00

Veggie burger for lunch. No work tmrw b/c of July 4th... even tho tmrw is July 3rd. Hey, I'm not complaining, I get a paid day off haha. Housing stipend is coming in next week. $3,300. Its $900 more than last year. Sweet deal.

I got off work early today. There was absolutely no traffic at 1pm. Apparently all the ppl decided to not go to work today. Smart move. I got to Rockville by 2pm and so I decided to find the bo lo bao place that was advertised in the newspaper.

It was not up to par.

At all.

Then I decided to hit up the two Chinese grocery stores nearby. It was really sad walking through them and looking at the dusty shelves. The dan tat was at least a day old, probably more. The cheung fun was sparsely sprinkled with ha mai and also looked a little sad in its box.

It also occured to me that maxim had more dead fish than live fish to sell.

I went to Kam San only to find the same thing. I gave up and went to Rio to walk around before my eye appt. Nothing too interesting there.

I bought a set of weights yesterday at Modells. I hit my head with them last night.

Eye exam: nothing changed. Going to order glasses at Costco this weekend. I can't believe I lost my glasses on the plane. Oh well, no big. I've had those glasses for almost five years now. Its time for a new pair.

The weekend: probably cp. probably bbq. must eat.

I hunger. I will eat soon.

orz

2009-06-28T22:56:00.000-04:00

listening to eason chan in my car as i go 120kmh to work every day.

for some reason i always felt like the mini bus and the bus drive very fast. it was because i didn't really understand the conversion btwn mph and kmh. now that i compare, i realize that they actually drive very slow. its the impression that they drive fast because the roads are smaller. the fastest i've gone on a mini bus is about 75-80kmh. ironicallly, i drive at over 100kmh usually haha.... -____-

i was looking at pictures of UST yesterday... it feels like ages since i walked the footbridges to class.

i miss the food. i attempted to have siu mai today. cannot compare. omg. then i tried to have bubble tea... i paid 38hkd for it only to taste a watery bland sugar water. i am disspointed. i will have to learn to make my own milk tea.

i will learn to make sui mai.

and ha gao.

and cha siu.

and siu ap.

delicious.

i'm bringing like 10 pounds of fruit to work tmrw to eat throughout the week. serious diet time. i am buying a wii fit this week. i need to start running. bringing sneakers and stuff to jessie's place.

diet. diet. diet.

work tmrw. Gotta get up at 5am...

great.

2009-06-21T09:27:00.000-04:00

Home isn't any different from when I left it. In fact, nothing at home has changed. Everything is still in the same place I left it. The people are still the same. The places are still the same.

Its comforting.

Hong Kong seems like it was a dream.

Its a RECORD

2009-06-06T22:14:00.002-04:00

For the first time in my life, I have gotten straight C's. Its totally awesome because when I go home, nobody will ever know by looking at my transcript. I honestly didn't even put enough work in this semester to deserve all C's. I definitely deserved to fail at least one of my classes. Elec210 was one of them. Stat and probability for EE... I will be auditing the class in fall when I go home. I'm not sure why he passed me because he really should not have. Thank you bert shi. I am auditing stat next semester at home because I know i didn't pay attn in your class at all. And i'm sorry for that. HK was just too damn fun.

I put about one week of hard studying into this whole semester. While this would have allowed me to pass a core class at home, I somehow managed to scrape up a pass for two elec courses, a sosc, and a mgto class.

Its time to go home. Its time to work hard. I'll be back again someday to play.

Since moving home...

2009-06-06T22:14:00.001-04:00

The past few days have gone by so quickly. :(

Monday was spent recovering from the two nights out. Got up at around noon. Went exploring with Mav and Kurt. Ate Peking duck at TST with Kurt and Eugene. The food was not up to par lol. But it was fun hanging out with people. We ran around the Penninsula afterwards taking pictures in the hotel -__-"

Tuesday was spent exploring more of HK I think. Went to explore with Kurt in Fanling and Sheung Shui. There were a few temples in Fanling but nothing really interesting. Sheung Shui was better and we were rewarded with a food market. The third level had a food court and I got cheung fun for $5. God I love food. After that we ran around the streets nearby. There was lots of fun stuff to look at.

Wednesday was free museum day! Ate at Yoshinoya with Mav and had beef and rice. So delicious. Mav's gf and Kurt came by later and we hit up the museums. We found Kiwing in the MTR station and took him along too. Hit up the space museum first, and then the art museum. There was a Louis Vuitton exhibit that we went to see. Didn't really understand any of the artsy stuff but it was cool to say that we went anyways. The science museum was fun too. Afterwards kurt and I headed to Kowloon Bay where we met up with Todd and YP. There was some delicious food at Ngau Tau Kok that we tried. Not long after, Jay and Alex came and then we headed to the restaurant to eat. It was a farewell dinner for Kurt since he was leaving the next morning. Heading back to the somewhat glamorous US of A. After dinner, Kurt, Jay, Alex, and I went to Sai Kung to have Honeymoon Dessert. I had Strawberry Sai Mai Lo and a Mango Milk thing. Damn delicious.

I love food.

Kurt failed to buy his honeymoon dessert t-shirt. And we went back to school.

The rest of the night was spent talking and packing. YP and I moved out by noon. I had to call the parentals to help me with my junk. Before they came I had one last delicious breakfast at LG1. My porkchop with instant noodles.

After moving home, I have become lethargic. I went out to eat with the parents and then spent the rest of the night sorting through clothes and stuff.

I had to share a bed with mom that night because dad was using the other room for his day trading. What horrendous sleep. I felt like I was trapped. Kept waking up every half an hour confused. Got up at noon and then went to Wan Chai Immigration Office to get my Visa extended. I dropped off my form and was told to come back by 4:30. So I went off to eat something delicious. I looked around for a good cha chan tang to eat at but didn't see anything that I was really drawn to. I ate a dan tat and kept walking. Was going to wait until 2/2:30 so that I could get ha mm cha but then I saw a Pizza hut and decided to try hk pizza. $35hkd got me a coke, soup, garlic bread, and a personal pizza. Not bad! =] Not long after that I saw the australian dairy and i had a chocolate err milk thing. delicious! =] Went back to the immigration office by 4:30, waited until 5:30, only to be told that I would have to come back next week because they can't extend my visa yet -__-"

Had dinner at Tai Koo Shing with a friend and wandered around HK island some more. Had some gai dan zhai and walked into alot of supermarkets hahahaha.

Today.... Got up damn late again. Had duck with the parents and then Dad went off with his friend. I took mom to Heng Fa Chuen. Wasn't much there and then I took her to Kowloon Bay to have to dai pai dong food before they tore it down. We had dau jurng, gai dan zhai, waffle thing, and quail eggs. We walked back to the MTR and took the bus to Megabox. Megabox isn't all that it was hyped up to be. Yea, its 17 levels, but I feel like there wasn't much inside.

Afterwards, headed to Sham Shui Po to the computer center. I picked up a static stylus for my ipod touch and a multicharge cable that takes psp,ds,mini usb, gba, and ipod. Was looking for a mouse but then I fell in love with the Microsoft Arc mouse. I really want to get it now -__-" $399hkd was the cheapest that I saw... maybe I will get it...

Went to Mong Kok to wander around Argyle center. Didn't buy anything but it was good to just walk around after eating all afternoon. Came back to HK island and ate beef spicy noodle at Pau Toi Shan. Err fortress hill. =P Damn delicious.

Sleep time.

Play all night!

2009-06-01T00:11:00.001-04:00

I slept at 7am this morning. Again.

Somehow got up at around noon and stumbled towards the atrium to eat. I was going to just get mcdonalds and head back to the room to eat with the air con on but I ended up on the 792m bus to sai kung. they had the best pineapple bun EVER. I will be going back again. Very soon. haha. They had fresh trays of pineapple bun come out every 10 minutes. I got one and sat down only to get up five minutes later to get another one. I also got a portugese tart which was delicious.

I could have eaten more but I already had plans for the night. I headed back to UST and went out to Causeway bay. We had Japanese lai mien which was totally amazing. Ended up running around hk island for most of the night and playing on playgrounds in victoria park. The park is actually huge and its got a running track and alot of random play areas. Surprisingly this is the first time I have gone -___-

As a result, I have a million insect bites on my feet which were not covered. I also have this cluster on my arm which looks like I have the plague or something.

So itchy.

Saturday Night

2009-05-31T04:50:00.000-04:00

I slept at 7am this morning.

The last day of finals was yesterday and the EE kid finished their math150 exam in the afternoon. We met up at McDonalds to mess around for a while and then Mav, Alex, Tony, and I headed to the halls to help pack. Tony's hall was surprisingly small. Its about half the size of the room in HallIV with two people living in it... The beds were bunked and the desks were next to each other. I thought that I could live in a small space, but that was really too small even for me for two ppl. After we headed towards Alex's hall and I promptly KOed on the bed while Alex packed for home. By then it was close to 7 and we headed towards the atrium to meet with yp and todd. We went to Hon Wo in MK for krn bbq. At MK we met up with Tai Hung who i have not seen regularly for the past three months. Everybody was just so much happier now that exams and the semester was over.

The beef was delicious. Mav and I went insane eating the beef. We ate so much. Afterwards, I still had two bowls of chocolate ice cream and a bowl of dau fu fa... Damn nice.

We took some retarded pictures in the streets of MK. Afterwards we wandered around for a bit and then decided to head towards TST to hang around Victoria Harbor. We bought some beer at the 7/11 nearby and went to sit down. I bought this drink called Diamond Black which was a black currant wine cooler. It tasted exactly like carbonated Ribena! =D

We loitered there for a good two hours until it was about 2:30. Then we went back to MK and Mav took the minibus home. We decided to walk Tai Hung back to Cheung Sha Wan. By the time we got there it was about 5am. We sat down and a cha chan tang to eat some stuff. I was still damn full from the night before but the noodles looked really good.

We didn't get back home until 7am upon which I promptly KOed and slept until 12.

After getting up, spent some time getting oriented and then headed off to eat lunch. I was originally going to go to McDonalds and eat something random but somehow I ended up on the minibus to Sai Kung. I walked around for a bit and didn't see anything on the afternoon tea menus that looked all that great. I was about to give up and head back to the place where I always get breakfast when I walked past the most amazing place on earth. It was a bakery and they had fresh pinapple bun. It was straight from the oven. I thought that nothing could beat the bakery at school at 8am but I was clearly wrong. This bakery puts every other bakery that makes pineapple bun to shame! It was SO GOOD. I burned my hand on it twice because it was so hot... and because I ate two... and then I bought a portugese tart which was also fresh out of the oven and burned my entire mouth. It was so good. Omg.

They had some events going on in the town center today. There was some tai chi and dance performances along with some booths for kids to play at. I took the 792m back to school and am going out for dinner in a bit.

Tai Po Adventures

2009-05-29T11:45:00.000-04:00

Went to Tai Po today to visit the Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Gardens. I actually woke up quite late and had a late breakfast at LG1 with Kurt and his friend. Didn't leave school until past noon though. I took the MTR to Tai Po Market and then 64K towards Yuen Long West. I wasn't really sure where to get off and I passed this little place that seemed to be interesting. I hopped off the bus at the next stop and walked back. It turns out that is where the Wishing Tree is. Some old lady came up to me and asked me if I wanted to write down my wishes and pray and what. At first I said no cos I didn't want to buy the paper but then I figured it was only $5hkd each and I may as well have some fun with it. It wasn't until after I bought the paper and wrote down my wishes that the lady told me I had to buy the insense to go with it which was $60hkd each... So handing her $120hkd, I followed her as she showed me how to do the prayer. She then had another lady do the second one and told me to tip her. I handed the lady another $20. These wishes better come true. I just paid $20USD for it lol.

Afterwards, I realized that I had not yet gone far enough to reach the Kadoorie farm so I hopped back on the bus and kept going. I actually missed the stop but I figured the stops before that were quite close together so I would be able to walk back from the next stop. It turns out that the next stop damn far away at the bottom of the windy hill. I somehow made it back up alive and paid my $10hkd to get into the farm. There were reptiles, birds, and lots of plants there. I was much surprised to see Davin and his roommate there as well. I mean, of all places to see somebody, you would not expect it to be on a mountain, in a park, in between Tai Po and Yuen Long.

There was an aviary with alot of Black Kites and various species of owls. Most were injured somehow and rehabilitated here. They are permanent residents of the aviary because they are not able to be reintroduced to the wild.

We tried to walk to the top where there was a Kun Yum temple but we did not make it there before the park closed. The park was alot bigger than I expected it to be and there were alot of small trails to the side with gorgeous scenery. Mosquitoes were killer though.

Took the 64k back to Tai Po Market MTR and then headed towards Mong Kok for a night of shopping... bought three pairs of shoes -___-" and lots of gifts for people at home. My hand hurt from carrying stuff back to hall.

Packed as much as I could into a suitcase. Will have to bring this home to Tai Koo and switch it out for an empty luggage. Its going to be interesting....

Poooo

2009-05-28T21:59:00.000-04:00

The elec kiddies have to study today and have exam tmrw.

As a result, I'm left alone to wander HK.

Normally I would have been fine with this. I love exploring on my own. But somehow, I feel like I need to be with people now. I don't like the thought of going off by myself.

Choi Hung to donate clothing and then off to an unknown place! =D

Dragonboat!

2009-05-28T09:56:00.001-04:00

Got up damn early this morning and headed out to Sha Tin to meet Maverick. I had some random bread things for breakfast. There weren't that many people at 9 but it started getting really croweded by 10. UST had a few teams there but nobody responded to our UST cheers. -__-"

There was a park at the top of the mall and we were being retarded for a while. There is also a Snoopy World right outside the mall. Went to have dim sum nearby in the Sha Tin town center and then walked around the mall for a while. Its interesting to see what other people usually order during dim sum. My family usually eats the same few things when we go. Mav ordered fried shrimp wonton and err a chinese pizza like thing. It was sweet and damn nice. We also ordered the rice thing for the festival today but he made me eat it all b/c he doesn't like rice. -__-"

After that we called up YP and headed over to MK to meet her. We hung around Happy Lemon for a damn long time and loitered in Argyle Center. After that we went to find some street food. I had stinky tofu, cheese sausage, a damn big cup of bubble tea, and some uhh custard/red bean things. I love mk food. Its the greatest stuff ever. The cheese sausage was deep fried. Omg so good.

After that, we spotted a giant Lucozade bottle. It was for a promotion that they were doing around MK earlier that day. They were giving out free drinks and what. They had run out by the time we saw them but we followed the giant bottle back to the truck it came from. We were in awe at the Lucozade truck and took a billion of pictures. The driver of the truck thought we were probably INSANE. He kept giving us this funny look and we kept laughing our asses off every time he looked at us. After about 15 minutes of loitering around his truck we gathered up the courage to ask him to take a picture with us. For some reason, Mav and I pretended that we were both from the US. I spoke to the driver in canto and Mav spoke in english. I'm pretty sure the poor guy thinks US kids are retarded now. Which is partially true. But it resulted in us getting this awesome picture.

When we don't have exams....

2009-05-26T09:56:00.000-04:00

Yesterday: Sai Kung for bfast. Went to the same place that I had bfast before wargames last month. Got the ham sandwich with oatmeal and amazing milk tea. There was so much food I actually couldn't finish it. I walked around Sai Kung for a short period and then took 792M to TKO. I never really walked arount tseung kwun o before but I guess I wasn't missing out on much. There wasn't much there and I ended up taking 792M back to school. By then it was afternoon and I didn't really have any other plans. I spent the afternoon and evening in Barn A with Kiwing and Alex. My original plan was to do my chinese workbook but I ended up watching Origins of Wolverine instead. The movie was okay, not great but it was the much needed filler for the story line. Kurt and I were going to go out after dinner but we ended up hanging out at LG1 w/ Alex and YP until 9pm and decided to head to bed early and go out early the next day.

Today: Got up at 8am and met up with Kurt by 8:30 to go out. We took the mini bus to Choi Hung and I brought him to the dai pai dong to eat. We had sui mai and cha sui churng fun. Deliciousness.

After that, we took the MTR to the brown line all the way down to the end at Wu Kai Sha. From there, we started to walk up the brown line. Ma On Shan has this really pretty pier that we hung out at for a good 20 minutes. We saw this old guy catch a mini fish. It was pretty funny cos he turned to us and goes "BIG FISH!"

There were people swimming really far out in the ocean. It was quite cool to seem them all out there. We reluctantly continued on our journey and walked thru MOS town center. They have a freaking water park. It looks super cool but it was closed :(. I bought a steaming hot dan tat and we continued on our way. Kurt got a kick out of the bicycle roundabout so we took some pictures with it. Apparently Mav lives right next to it!

We walked to Shek Mun then got distracted by a sign that pointed to Tai Po. We crossed a bridge and headed up the KCR line. As we crossed, we noticed a colorful building on the hill.

The bicycle paths were really nice. I want to go cycling here before I leave. As we walked, we got closer and closer to the colorful building.

We were headed towards Tai Po when we decided to suddenly cross the road and pursue our dreams of finding out what this building was. Leaving the bike path, we went through alot of subways and crossed a few highways. Thats when we ended up at....

Surprisingly we ended up at CUHK. Realizing that the colorful building was on the campus, we set off to find out exactly what it was. The campus was on a hill like UST and we didn't really know which way to go so we started to wander around. We took several sketchy flights of stairs behind some buildings and got closer and closer... you can see our progress from the photos lol.

When we finally got to the top of the hill, we climbed a set of side stairs and ended up at LG3 of the building. Not really knowing what else to do, we got in the lift in front of us and as the doors closed, I realized we needed an access card to go to all floors. I seriously thought we were going to be stuck in the elevator for a long time because none of the buttons were responding. Luckily just a second later, a lady got in the elevator and we followed her up to the ground floor. She realized we had no idea what we were doing and explained to us that we were in a laboratory buiding and we would not be able to go anywhere. With that, we left the pretty colorful building behind and took a super high footbridge to the 9th floor of the engineering building. We also got a nice view of the building we had been pursuing for the past hour and a half.

Thus concludes our adventures of CUHK. There was alot more to campus that we did not explore but the rain was starting up again and we had not really eaten anything since breakfast. We got down to the MTR station again and sat down at Maxim for a late lunch.

I had curry beef brisket with rice and iced milk tea. I love milk tea. So delicious. Kurt went off to Shenzhen after that to pick up his suit and I met up with Mav since he finished his exam. We went to Sha Tin and wandered around the mall for a bit. Mav got noodles and I finally got to try these crepes that I have been staring at for the past few months. Damn nice. It was peach, cream, and ice cream. Sooo good. Mav inhaled his noodles within five minutes and then we went wandering the mall for a bit.

We somehow ended up eating ice cream again at mcdonalds. Green tea red bean sundae is absolutely delicious. I forgot to get a picture of it thought -__-" No worries, I will have it again soon. Very soon. =P Took a bus back to ust. Had dinner w/ Alex at seafront. Tmrw I have my Sosc166 exam in the evening. Hopefully I will finish early and be able to go out afterwards. I don't know what my plans are for the morning yet. Most likely breakfast at Sai Kung or something else delicious. ^___^

I'm Done!

2009-05-22T11:14:00.000-04:00

...with the exception of that tiny exam next week. Tmrw I am going to Wong Tai Sin with YP for breakfast at a dai pai dong. The guys taking 102 will be done around lunch so maybe I will come back for lunch with them or I might head down to Mong Kok to finally get my hair cut. My hair has needed cutting since last month but I never got around to it. It seems to be tradition though, finish the 210 exam and then get it cut haha.

I can't wait to play! I need to start planning out my days and make the most out of them! Tmrw is Li Xiang's farewell dinner at a sushi buffet that is only 4xhkd. Its recommended by the local kids so it must be really good!

I'm super excited to spend the next 11 days hanging out here in UST. I have to move out of hall on the 4th of June. I cleaned up some of my stuff today in the room. I have already packed my suitcase and its full. Sadly, I haven't packed any of my clothes or random things in the room. It is mostly stuff that I am not using and winter clothes that I brought with me. I'll bring it home sometime this week an empty it and bring back an empty suitcase to fill up again haha.

I also have some stuff to bring to Choi Hung to donate. Okay I have alot of stuff. Like stuff that my aunt bought me that I will never wear. And clothes that I wore once and then they shrunk two sizes in the dryer the first time I did laundry.

Make the day the most it can be. Keep busy. Don't think about the fact that each second that passes is one second closer to leaving. The more I do, the slower time will pass.

Sigh...

2009-05-21T13:02:00.001-04:00

210 Exam trmw! After that its time to enjoy what time I have left here.

A call home to work last night jerked me back to reality. I had completely forgotten about work since I got here. I totally forgot that invisible and incredibly short leash I am on. Now that I have been reminded of it, just the thought is suffocating.

It makes me want to stay here just a little longer in this paradise. Blissfully ignorant of the future.

2009-05-20T11:23:00.000-04:00

After 152, Alex, Kiwing, and I went to Sai Kung for lunch. Thai food is delicious. It was next to the stall that we got sui mai the other day. Sauntered back to school by 2:30. With 2 hours to kill, I headed over to barn A to start looking at mgto notes. I didn't do a very good job at it because after about 30 min, I had a food coma and promptly passed out in front of the computer. Tai Hung was there and pulled up the screenshots of the computer barns and downloaded the picture of me KOed by my computer.

I haven't gotten any studying done after blowing off the mgto exam. I flew thru the exam in about 35 minutes not bothering to think about the answer for any of the questions. Alot of the fill in the blanks were stuffed with some random word i found somewhere else in the exam. The class doesn't map back to cp as anything other than an elective that i don't need. I used my time wisely and studied for 152 instead which I think was a wise move.

After mgto, I decided to treat myself to a delicious and filling dinner that I have not had for a few days now. Noodles at seafront are always good. It has been quite a while since I have had them.

I have to figure out what I am going to do starting 7:30pm on Friday. I will officially be done with any and all studying for the year. I am thinking maybe a MK/TZ trip that evening w/ yp. Then Saturday there is some history tour thing that I may join since most people are still taking exams. Or I should probably start bringing some of my junk in this room home... -__-" I also need to bring alot of the stuff to Choi Hung to donate since there is alot of stuff my aunt bought me that I am never going to wear....

I can't wait to be freeeeeee again! =D

My Last First Final Exam in HK

2009-05-20T02:57:00.000-04:00

Elec152 is over. It was not pretty. I didn't know how to do number 8. That was my bad cos I didn't study that portion. I don't really remember going over it in class but oh well. Luckily I did the L2 hw yesterday which helped greatly on problem 5. It was essentially a homework problem but with a four block word instead of one block. Questions 1-3 were expected altho not really helpful towards my grade. I'm not gonna lie tho, number 9 was pure bullshit. He asked us to redraw the damn diagram. I really expected him to at least give us the diagram and then give us some problem using the diagram. That was what the homework was based on and that was what the TAs had stressed during those days that we questioned them. But really, all he wanted was for us to regurgitate a drawing for him... the part that disturbs me is that it was worth 30%. Seriously... I think that the other problems should have been worth more if just memorizing some lines names is worth 30% of a final exam. At most problem 9 should have been 8-10% of the final. I cannot believe this nonsense.

Oh well its over now. Hopefully I won't have to retake this course back home. If I do, well that sucks but I guess it won't be too bad. I sort of deserve it for not knowing that damn diagram.

Went to Sai Kung with Kiwing and Alex after the exam. We had Thai food which was delicious. Will upload pictures later tonight or tmrw. Back now and in Barn A studying for mgto which is in an hour. I haven't even opened the mgto book since the midterm. I think in this whole semester, I only opened that book once to read before the midterm. I was going to read it today but I decided it was too heavy to carry out since I knew I was going out for lunch. I'm really getting lazy. Oh well. I am reading the lecture notes for the class now. Its not really helpful because I feel like all of this is common sense.

After the mgto exam, probably eat a good fattening meal and then go back to the room to pass out for a bit. Gotta get up later tonight and start on 210. 210 is seriously going to be a problem. The final exam is worth 55% of the final grade... which really is quite a bit.

After 210, I'm finally free. Soscy is on the 27th but there isn't much I can do for that. I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of HK before I leave.

I'm going to be so sad to leave. There is so much I haven't done yet. There are still so many people to hang out with. There is just too little freaking time.

Its here.

2009-05-19T17:27:00.000-04:00

Three hours before the first final exam... 152 was fun. I regret not paying attention in class. The material in the class was really quite interesting. I just was distracted by other things during my stay. I think I would have really enjoyed taking this class in cp. Well, all is done now. Up at 5:30am for some last minute review and then to take exam...

Its going to be a long day. I have a second exam at 4:30pm too... Its mgto and I have not yet cracked open the book for that course. I might review between the exams, but not before a delicious meal to make up for having to get up so freaking early.

Durrrr.

2009-05-18T13:26:00.000-04:00

One semi-productive day of studying.

One more day, and then exams commence.

Had a delicious panini sandwhich from the cafe for dinner.

We took retarded screenshots of ourselves working in Barn A today....

Exams are getting closer. The end of exams is getting closer. =D

asdfadfasfasfadsfsf

2009-05-17T10:35:00.000-04:00

Friday, exams will be over. I will be going out everyday. Technically I have an exam on the 27th but I will not be worrying about it. I feel like I have not been out in HK for a long time. I need to go explore places like Ma On Shan, Tai Po Market, CUHK... there are still so many things I have not done. Time is starting to run out.

I'm beginning to feel desperation not from exams, but from the thought of needing to leave this place soon. I am going to miss it. It will be a while before I get the chance to come back. Air tickets are so expensive and I need to see how classes and winter/summer break 2010 turn out. Ideally I want to be back next summer... Its a long time but at least there is something great to look forward to.

I'm terrified of just getting up and leaving everything behind.

2009-05-17T05:07:00.000-04:00

I fixed the aircon by banging on the side three times.

Squid Fishing

2009-05-16T22:35:00.000-04:00

Spent the morning in the library yesterday, not very productive. Gave up around 4pm and decided to head down to Sai Kung early to have a walk. I haven't been to the Sai Kung town center since the beginning of April when I went to play war games. They had some decorations this time and there were some primary school students doing some sort of play inside the stage set.

I ended up buying two shirts there for really cheap. Then I went to have dau fu fa and tong yuun at a place called Just-A-Dessert. I've had it before and its really good.

I saw a guys fishing from the sidewalk and he caught a two foot long eel. It was pretty scary. The thing had a huge mouth and the guy was screaming at people to stay back because it would bite.

Met up with YP, Todd, Li Xiang, Desmond and company. The boat was really damn cool. We got on the upper deck which was open and a nice view. The ride out to sea was only about twenty minutes but we got plenty of retarded pictures in during that time. After we stopped, the boat turned on the lights and we grabbed our gear to start squid fishing! Surprisingly we did not need to use any bait. It was simply a line with a jig that was white in color. The color and the light from the boat is enough to attract a bunch of squid.

The squid itself was only about three or four inches in length. The first one I got squirted a bunch of ink in the water when I hooked it. It then proceeded to squirt some more ink on my hand as I tried to free it from the hook. Its really very pretty and I felt really bad after I caught it. I wanted to throw it back in the water but it was already too late... :(

Here is our result of 23 people fishing for four hours lol. A small plate of squid with 23 mini squid on it. Sadly, it was the boat owner's wife who probably caught half of them haha.

It tasted really good!

After we alighted in Sai Kung again we came across an ice cream truck. Phillip, Joe, and I were talking about the differences between American and HK ice cream trucks. HK ice cream trucks are really damn delicious. Even though they only have three or four different kinds of ice cream to serve, the creamy deliciousness is irresistable.

Squid Fishing

2009-05-15T14:15:00.001-04:00

I am going squid fishing tmrw.

I am so ridiculously excited.

2009-05-13T20:48:00.000-04:00

210 is hard to get motivated about.

gotta try harder today.

Revision without my laptop seems to be uber productive. Lets continue this for one more week.

Time for my noodle breakfast! =D

fun day.

2009-05-12T13:12:00.000-04:00

i woke up at 6am and lay in bed wide awake ready to go to the gym. Weird. gymed this morning and then had class. jaepil choi called out everybody's name for attendance in mgto today. seriously a waste of time. had jook for lunch and then an early dinner when i decided to head home for the night.

fox is the funniest TA ever and im not sure if he knows it. this week i cracked up in lab because he said "call you honey" and then today during our meeting he was tring to give an example of an unexpected error and he says "so pretend your gf comes to you. and she says 'ngo yau jaw'". i kid you not he said this with a completely serious face. i don't think he found it funny but i cracked up for a good five minute. it took all of my willpower to keep listening to him.

mmmmm home for an evening of quiet study. went to jusco and picked up some sushi and pineapple. so delicious. i got bubble tea from happy lemon and some black sesame mochi. also picked up a purple patent bag by millie at apita and went back to jusco to buy some coffee. got a decent amount done today and then headed back to school by midnight.

Stinky Tofu Craving

2009-05-11T08:58:00.001-04:00

Madd craving for some stinky tofu today. Went all the way to mong kok today to get some lol. I think my craving has been satisfied for a while =P. Time to get to work!

Shit

2009-05-10T06:40:00.001-04:00

I just realized something really dumb. I didn't put the money in my bank into a CD before I left for HK.

Dumbs.

Test

2009-05-10T03:27:00.001-04:00

Testing email posting.

Sent from my iPod Touch.

Shopping Spreeeeeee

2009-05-09T23:28:00.000-04:00

I went out to Sham Shui Po yesterday to look for a nice new iPod case. I bought one on Ap Liu Gai. The quality of these iPod cases has really gone up since the last time I ordered a case from asia. The case fits really nicely and honestly I think its better than alot of the ones I was considering at home. I also got two bags. $40 for both. Seriously the stuff there just gets cheaper and cheaper. I got my PSP hacked and got a nice red case for it. The modification cost $80hkd and the guy was trying to sell me a 4gb memory card for $130. I thought it was reasonable until he pulled it out of a bag of memory cards. I immiately gt reminded of the time my dad and I went to China and bought a shitton of bag memory cards. I told him I didn't want the memory card anymore and he seemd quite unhappy lol. Oh well. But on the bright side, I have a modified PSP. I apparenly did not bring the charger with me. I thought I could charge my PSP through mini USB but I did not apply the settings and now the thing is out of battery. I will have to borrow somebody's charger to charget it up and then fix it. I'll look for a fun game or two to download after my exams are done with. I also headed down to Mong Kok of all places. I got my mom a purse hook that she has been wanting. Then running through argyle center I picked up two pairs of earrings, a necklace, and two belts.

I was actually tired by the end of this and had no energy to go to fa yuen gai. Although I was just there a few days ago so there would be nothing new to look at anyways.

Time to study today. Maybe go out for dim sum. But mainly study. 10 days until the exams start. This is the last week of school. It has gone by SO fast. :(

Damn Griffin

2009-05-08T23:24:00.000-04:00

I am one of those people who is completely OCD about my electronics. I love to keep them in brand new mint condition. Even before I get some new electronic toy, I have already planned out which case and screen protector I am getting. The process usually takes a few days as I read through every single review for every single possible case or protective covering. The second my new toy come out of the box, it immediately goes into the well researched product and get a protective screen protector slapped onto it. It usually stayed like this for a good two years or until I decide to sell it off.

I bought an iClear by Griffin for my iPod touch in January. Being the coolest piece of technology I currently own, I had no problem dropping $30usd on a case that I thought would do the job. I spent about three days reading iPod touch case reviews on ilounge.com. I avoided a silicon case because from previous experience with my other iPods, I noticed that dust would always get in btwn the case and the back and cause scratches. The polycarbonate case seemed like the way to go this time. It was hard, sturdy, and there was no room in the back for dust to get in. I got the iClear nano version for my 3g nano last year and it was great.

The case seemed really solid. The top and back piece snapped in place and it takes quite a bit of effort to take it apart again. The form is perfectly shaped for the touch and so it doesn't rattle around inside.

I've been tempted by the pretty iPod cases on the side of the streets in HK. They have so many different varieties and colors, and they are all so damn cheap. I could get one for $3-$5usd. But everytime I go to look at them, I remind myself that the plastic is not as good quality and that it may scratch up my iPod. I don't trust them because they don't have that damn brand label on them. Today I realized, that it probably doesn't matter.

I dropped my iPod today. It was a saddening moment. I dropped it from about two and a half feet above the ground. It just slipped out of my hand and just fell. Its one of those things that you see happen in slow motion. I saw it falling but then I was like "it'll be okay, I have a really good case on it." Oh how I was wrong. The second it hit the floor, the case split open and sent my iPod touch skidding five feet on its shiny back over a brick pavement.

I hate you Griffin, and your POS iClear.

Lactose Intolerance?

2009-05-08T06:36:00.000-04:00

Its been about two or three months since I've had a good glass of milk. I decided yesterday to buy a small carton of milk right before lunch. I got another one after coming back from Mong Kok. Both times I felt a little weird after drinking it. For some reason, I feel like the milk in HK makes my stomach uneasy after I drink it. I noticed it the last few times I came too. Today I tried it again right before 152. About thirty minutes into the lecture I thought I was going to hurl. During the break I left the lecture theatre to go get a bread to settle my stomach. I won't be drinking anymore milk here unless its chocolate or mango papaya flavoured. I guess I will stick to the mango yogurt drinks. I wonder what is up with the milk here that is different from the milk at home. I don't think I have this problem at home.

Final stretch.

2009-05-08T04:42:00.000-04:00

There is a somewhat satifying feeling to be sore after going to the gym. Its time to conquer 210. There is alot to cover and exactly two weeks until the exam. Then there is also 152 to study... Alot to do and not alot of time means that its really time to crackdown.

The final stretch has come upon us somewhat abruptly. Its a bit surprising because usually by this point at home I am already burned out from the whole semester and on the verge of giving up. This time though, I feel like I have just begun to study since the start of the semester. I was very motivated to study during the beginning of this week but not so much yesterday and wed. I decided to go out yesterday and take a break. Bought a few things and hopefully that should keep me busy for the next week.

I'll be in the computer barn or library tonight.

The semester is quickly coming to a close. I can't believe how fast it has blown by. There are so many things I wanted to do but did not get a chance. There are so many people I did not keep up with. Well, I end on the 22nd for my elec exams. I'll have about three weeks to play and do those things before heading back home.

Home stretch. Study hard, play harder later. Thus is the way of life at ust.

Today.

2009-05-06T23:23:00.000-04:00

Gym 7:30am.

Laundry

Class.

Lib.

Class.

Lib.

Errrrr

2009-05-06T02:18:00.000-04:00

There are productive days, and there are those that are not so productive. This is one of the latter. I am trying to make it productive though. Breakfast was good this morning of course. It was deeelicious. After that headed up to the lib. Only 166 today and I didn't even bother going. Got up at 7:30 and was in the lib. Covered about one chapter of 210 but still horrendously behind in that class. Now I am in the common room hoping that a change of scenery will do the trick. It seems to be working so far but its too early to tell. There is a farewell dinner tonight but I don't really want to go. G/F food was not very good on Sunday night. I already paid for the farewell dinner but I think I may be better off just ordering a dish from LG5. Time to continue on 152.

Breakfast is my favorite meal.

2009-05-04T21:36:00.000-04:00

Breakfast has always and forever will be my favorite meal of the day. It is things like this that start your day off right and make the whole day a happier one. That and this gorgeous sea view from the library. I've been mugging in the library for the past few days. Its really nice and I am starting to get back into the habit of studying after slacking off for the past three months. I don't feel so bad anymore and actually I feel like I have somewhat lost the desire to go out. I feel the urge to catch up and I know I can actually accomplish it in the library. Two more weeks left of classes. Really not that much. My exams start on the 20th. I have mgto and 152 on the 20th. 210 on the 22. Sosc is on the 27th. Done with engineering on the 22. That gives me an extra week than expected to play. Leaving on the 16th of june so I will have plenty of time to go out and buy stuff and whatnot. Now it is time to do some learning haha. If I accomplish enough this morning and between mgto and 152 I will go out and take a walk in MK or wherever. I haven't been out since Saturday. Okay it hasn't been that long haha. I should go to Sham Shui Po. I want to get a new laptop sleeve cos the red one I have been using for the past two years has holes and stuff in it. Not really sure what else I want to get yet. Maybe I will wait until tmrw to go out.

Facemask!

2009-05-04T09:14:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I got to wear facemask for the first time in my life. The swineflu scare here has people running like ants to buy hand sanitizer and face masks. I was definitely way too excited to buy some and finally wear one. It was not as glamorous as I thought it would be. Once I put it on, it was pretty hard to breathe. The mask basically cut the air flow to 30% and you kept inhaling the air you just exhaled. I am an oxygen hog and I lasted about 10 minutes with the mask on. It was fun. I will wear it if I go outside UST or whatnot until this whole thing calms down. But until then, I think I am safe in the library and in my room without facemask hahaha.

Lab. Epic Failure.

2009-05-04T03:37:00.000-04:00

Today, everybody got zero marks on lab5. Epic fail 152. There goes 3% of our grade. TMD.

PremiumSearch

2009-05-03T20:11:00.000-04:00

So yesterday after I posted I decided to run AdAware and Spybot which I have not done for a while. When I rebooted, my start menu and desktop wouldn't show up thanks to PremiumSearch. TMD. I spent the next two hours trying to fix it. I gave up after a while and decided to use the public computer. I got a little germaphobic after using it for a while and decided to try my luck at my laptop again. I don't think I have completely fixed it yet but at least its to a point where I can do my damn hw.

Had dinner at G/F w/ Eva last night and the rest of HK Rehab Centre and Sosc166. The food was definitely not worth the $85 lol. They didn't give us any white rice lol which was really weird.

Its good to have a working computer. I have a shitton of hw to do. Damn.

Plans Today

210 Ch 18, 19

Retard.

2009-05-02T22:39:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning was spent studying. Only got through Chapter 17 of 210. Apparently there were two lectures worth of this chapter though... Read through Ch16 on the mtr. Didn't miss much on camping lol. One of the damn ATs on the floor drank one of my mango papaya milks that was in the fridge. tmd.

Dinner was at Yung Kee. Family dinner there every time we come to HK. I really don't think there is anything too special about the goose there. It was quite tough although the flavor was not bad. I would still prefer Tai Hing's goose to Yung Kee. But with Tai Hing it is really hit or miss. Sometimes you get all meat, sometimes you get all bone. After dinner came dessert! We had the most delicious sugar cane juice ever. It was really damn refreshing. After that, we hit up this dan tat place that the hk gov used to go to. Fresh out of the oven, these dan tat were wobbly and tongue scorching. The crust was buttery and rich. So delicious. Must go back for more. It was quite funny to see taxi drivers pull up and run out to get one and running back to their taxi to eat it.

Back to UST and didn't do much for the rest of the night. At the library now, about to do work. Had breakfast at LG1 with YP. Instant noodles with fried pork chop, a piece of toast, and cold milk tea. So delicious! =D

Oh I bought face mask yesterday. And sanitizer. Watsons was actually limiting the amount of face mask you can buy. Also picked up some disinfecting wipes and stuff. I am going to wear face mask for the first time. I am so ridiculously excited for this.

I'm such a retard.

Tsuen Wan

2009-05-01T11:20:00.000-04:00

Woke up relatively early for a holiday and had my usual breakfast from McDonalds. I did a decent amount of studying today and thus rewarded myself with an afternoon out to Tsuen Wan. I was there for Chinese New Year but did not walk around the area. I remember in 2006 I went and it seemed quite busy so I decided to head back over there today. Got a decent amount of studying done on the mtr ride over there. When I got there, I hit up the nearby plazas first. Got a Hello Kitty coin purse thing and then went wandering the streets for some food. First thing I saw was the egg balls =] Delicious! I went down to the streets and looked down one of the streets, the next thing I saw was bubble tea. There was a crowd of people around it so I figured it must be good and got in line. The name of the place is quite funny, its called ComeBuy.

The tea had a really good flavor and they used small bubbles rather than the bigger ones. They put alot in there so that even at the end of the drink, there were still lots of boba. I walked the streets with nothing really interesting to buy. I stumbled upon a place that made wo teet. Of course I couldn't help but get some! It was 5 for $11hkd. Absolutely delicious!

Some more shopping plazas later I came up on this....

The first thing I noticed was the colorful bottom row and so I took a closer look. I was really surprised at the bottom left corner which appeared to be some sort of mutated Peep. Next to it were pastries shaped like apples, corn, and pears. There were two different fillings so I got an apple and a corn. The peep one was a little too creepy for me.

Inside the corn one was lotus seed. Inside the apple one was red bean paste.

And then as I was walking back towards the town center, I spotted Maple. I love that store. Seriously. I bought a dress, a skirt, and a shirt. Oh and I got a ring that looks like a question mark. lol. Random, but for about $22usd for all, im lovin it.

Was thinking about heading back to school at this point when I passed a really pretty walled park. I absolutely love parks for some reason. And i'm a real sucker for the ones that have water and fish inside lol. I'm retarded. I know.

It was starting to get dark at this point so I just make a quick round in the park and then continued heading back to the mtr station. That is when I saw this!

I had no idea what it was, other than it looked damn nice. I went inside quickly and pointed and told the lady I wanted one. I still don't really know the name of it, but for $8hkd all i need to know is that it is Deeeelicious!

Okay so then after this it was about 8 and I really really needed to go home. But once I stepped into the mtr station, I saw this...

Best creampuffs everrrr. I got the custard one for $13hkd. Soooo delicious. Kay for real after this I got on the mtr and went home.

And for real now, I have to revise notes. =]

Weekend Agenda

2009-04-30T22:06:00.001-04:00

Friday - Study, Out after dinner

~210 - 15, 16, 17

~Sosc Paragraph

Saturday - Study, Out after dinner

~210 - 18, 19, 20

Sunday - Study, Sosc166 Dinner

~152 - Program

4.30

2009-04-30T02:57:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday Dad!

I'm in the library again skipping 210. Got up early this morning to go to the gym. Had pay dan jook for lunch which was pretty good. Nicholas is leaving for singpaore tmrw b/c one of the classes he is taking over here apparently does not get mapped over to smu for his graduation. He is going back to take the summer session class and then flying back here for final exams. Hardcore! +oil.

I'm sitting in the library drinking Lucozade hoping it helps my tiredness. For some reason i couldn't fall asleep last night and the early visit to the gym has combined with it to make me damn sleepy in the afternoon. I gotta stop skipping class. Plan for the weekend: Catch the fuck up on 210. Understand what the fuck is going on. Start attending 210 next week. The fuck. Exams in 20 days. I'm so screwed.

Shit.

I gotta program this weekend too. Shit.

Shit.

Kareoke in HK

2009-04-28T09:25:00.000-04:00

Kareoke in HK is certainly an experience you do not want to miss. The only other time I have done kareoke was in NYC. Yesterday, we booked a kareoke room in TST for $111hkd a head. It was at Neway CEO and the room was huge! Purple sofas and two large flatscreens on each side of the room. Another flatscreen at the end of the room for a Wii. Our room had our own private bathroom which was quite nice. The deal was from 6pm to 5am and included a buffet until 10pm. The food wasn't spectacular but that wasn't what we were there for. They had alot of songs including cantonese, mandarin, japanese, and english songs. It was quite easy for us to keep singing until 2am. It was a monday night so we decided not to stay until 5am haha. Took an hour or so to walk back to MK and take the $14hkd mini bus all the way back to ust. YP and I ended up not sleeping until a good 4am. It took all the effort in the world to wake up this morning for my 12pm class. Even though I technically got enough sleep, I feel like I could have kept sleeping until 2pm. After mgto I headed off to the library to do some 210 revision. On a roll, I decided to skip class and continue revising. Afterwards, I headed out to Prince Edward and MK. Haven't been to Langham Place for a long time so I browsed around there for a while. Looked at the This is Shitty bracelets but didn't see anything I really liked. Headed over to Argyle center to buy some socks. I ended up finding bracelets at the top floor for pretty damn cheap. $160 for the both. Had afternoon tea at Maxim which consisted of a hot dog, curry puffs, french fries, some sort of potato salad, a coconut pudding dessert, and a milk tea all for $18hkd. And of course Prince Edward on the way home. Picked up a belt and some grey tights.

I'm home. I'm hungry. I need to study.

Reality Check.

2009-04-26T07:51:00.000-04:00

I went to the gym this morning... ya I'm a little insane... It was followed by a nice meal at G/F with the parents. Second time having dim sum at G/F and its quite good. They have this high tea set which includes about eight different samples of dim sum for $26HKD. The picture isn't from today. Just needed a nice food pic to pretty this space up today =P I haven't been bringing my camera out with me these past few days for some odd reason. No idea why. I should charge both batteries and throw it in my bag later tonight. The conversation during the meal was a little depressing. It was like a reality check, ya in about 50 days I will be flying back home to work and school. Everything will be back to normal. The economy still sucks but my dad brought up an interesting point. HK is independent from China's rule for fifty years. But what happens after that? HK isn't always going to stay like this. Shanghai has already been delcared as China's financial center. China has been announced as the fifth largest holder of gold in the world. They are going to keep climbing that ladder and buying more gold since they want to declare the euro and yen as international currency along with the usd. HK has changed alot since my parents have grown up and it will change alot in the next ten years too. News from home... sigh.

I have to go to Wan Chai next week to get my student visa extended by two days. My flight home is on the 16th but my student visa ends on the 14th. So retarded. I packed some of my clothes away yesterday. mostly just the sweaters and jackets that I won't be using. I have no idea how much stuff I am going be bringing back. I feel like I have bought so much stuff in the past three months. I think I am going to make use of our alloted six suitcases for the trip back home. I mean, my stuff barely fit in the suitcase on the way here. Thank god we had two suitcases filled with gifts... I am going to need to fill those up with all the clothes and random ass shit I have bought.

Dad's birthday is on Thursday. I have no idea what to get him or what to do. Shit.

I really have no motivation to do any sort of work. I've been at the library for two hours now. The only things I have accomplished are watching an episode of The Office, downloading and playing with Picasa, reading through Lab5 for 152 tmrw, and this blog post. Somehow I have managed to get by for the past 11 weeks with essentially no work. I am so damn lazy. Its getting freaking cold in the lib now. I'll stick it out for a little longer and then go eat. =]

2009-04-24T03:35:00.000-04:00

Friday afternoon... in the library. Its going to be a fun weekend. I'm officially retardly beyond behind in my two engineering classes. I have no idea what the hell happened yesterday in 210. There were suddenly transposes and vector-like things on the board. It has scared me into spending my Friday afternoon revising in the lib. Not really sure what happened in 152 this morning. Basically nobody really showed up to class... maybe because it was a fri morning class... maybe cos of the sub prof. I thought he was okay on Monday but for some reason I just passed out today in class. Haven't had that happen for a while. Alex said I was snoring. Great. Had tuna fish sandwich for lunch and then off to Sosc. Eugene and I have not attended the same lecture for about a month now. Whenever he skips, I go to class, and vice versa.

I should try to go to the gym. Last week I was ridiculous and got up at 7am to go to the gym before my 9:30 class. It actually worked out quite nicely cos I was wide awake for class all day. I should try to go more... Work off that food I have been eating...

Off for some 210!

2009-04-22T12:03:00.000-04:00

YP is back. TG.

We went to Admiralty to pick up our personalized student octopus cards... two and a half months late. Armed with our pictures on our cards, we continued by walking to Central which resulted in me buying a pair of shoes from Cotton On and a shirt. Took the Star Ferry to TST and then walked up to Yau Ma Tei. We returned to the delicious place that Shing brought us to the night of his farewell. Check out the amt of egg in that egg sandwich. We got dun nai and dun dan which was delicious as usual. I think the milk one is still better though. Amazingness. I love food too much. After that, made our way back to school and hung out with the elec kiddies. We walked to the 7/11 to buy some beer and continued our walk around school.

My Pa Tsau Chou fell out the window sometime yesterday. I realized it was gone today and stuck my head out the window and saw it five stories down on the brick floor. It has gone into shock and has permanently closed up. Gave it alot of water. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow.

Auntie Alice brought me shrimp, scallop, tofu, and sausage today... the most delicious dinner I've had for a while. Damn nice.

Today, I thought my Sosc class was at 1pm. I walked into the classroom at 12:55 only to realize that it was not my class. Sosc starts at 1:30... I had walked into some random class... I ended up skipping sosc to study some 210 in Barn C which was cut short when I went to pick up the shrimp and scallops that auntie alice made. So delicious. I forgot to take a picture of it and I just finished eating it. damn. I haven't had shrimp in the longest time! Really hit the spot. Time to go wash out containers. I have homework I haven't done yet and it is due tmrw... Great... Only one month left until the semester ends. Its crunch time!

Rainy Day

2009-04-18T14:12:00.001-04:00

Short week of only Thursday and Friday classes. Its almost like we didn't really have class. Met up with an old CTY friend at Kwun Tong. We had this curry noodle w/ pork chop and taro err stuff. I don't know what it was but it was really damn nice. We watched 禮儀師之奏鳴曲. It was a very interesting movie. Showed alot about the Japanese culture of the funeral. I was surprised a

t how much of the Chinese subtitles I could actually read. I look back on CTY and its amazing how three weeks has such an impact on your life. I can't believe I keep in touch with so many people I knew for such a short period of time. Its going to be the same when I go home after this exchange. Sigh... I don't want that day to come yet.

Went to Prince Edward and Mong Kok today. I actually have not been there for over two weeks now so I figured it was about time to pay a visit. Fa Yuen Gai turned out to be excellent as always. Had some fresh dan tat on the way over there. Seriously the best stuff ever. Bought a bow necklace, two shirts, and some tights that look like jeans. After combing the area the rain became heavier so I took the footbridge to Mong Kok. Combed the three floors of clothing and accessories and came out with three tofu phone charms. Yellow, blue, and green . YP is coming back from Taiwan on Monday so I'll let her pick when she gets back. After that, the rain became even heavier. The forecast said there would be a shower or two, but seriously, it was just one big heavy rainy day. Got hungry suddenly and headed down to Maxim for a late afternoon tea set. Apprently their afternoon tea set ends at 5:30 so I ended up getting curry beef. Maxim's curry is wayyy better than Cafe de Coral. It was so delicious I gobbled it up so quickly. Also got a milk tea in a bowl of ice. =]

Came back to school half soaked like a wet rat and have been watching Futurama and doing Chinese workbook. Haven't studied for 152 or 210 at all. Its now 3:15am and I am really into my Chinese workbook so I'll keep at it until I am about to pass out. Tmrw is dedicated to 152 and hw3 which is due on Monday...

Kowloon City

2009-04-16T08:07:00.001-04:00

Last day of spring break was yesterday. Went around Kowloon City with a friend and ate lots of food. First stop was the Kowloon Walled city. The park was really pretty and amazingly huge. The city itself is very old and there are lots of shorter building estates that are probably less than 20 stories high. We saw some of these buildings being demolished and newer super high rises being built in their place. The city is in the process of being transformed. The reason the buidlings used to be so low is because this is where one of the previous airports use to be. Now that the airport has been moved and the buildings are old, they can reconstruct the city.

The park was huge and was absolutely gorgeous. There was one preserved section that used to be the south gate foundation of the walled city.

Here we had the most amazing mango mochi. It was like fresh mango inside the mochi. So absolutely amazing!!

Delicious dessert! It was uhh hung yun so? with some lotus stuff inside.

Delicious beef pastry for dinner at at Islam restaurant!

14.4

2009-04-14T22:15:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was mom and dad's anniversary. We went to Little Fat Sheep in Causeway Bay to celebrate. They have afternoon tea dim sum buffet for $60hkd per person. Today was the first day that I ate so much that I felt sick afterwards.

Epic Failure.

War Games

2009-04-12T10:12:00.001-04:00

I was really apprehensive at the start of the day. I got up early and browsed some pictures on facebook of friends going to these and started getting scared haha. I got panicky as I met up with Todd and took the bus to Sai Kung. Todd told me it was really really painful, Tony told me I was going to die. I was terrified. It was $260HKD for the whole day 10am to 5pm including lunch and rental of clothes, mask, gun, and ammo. The first stage was in the woods. I got more mosquito bites than hits. The first round was us against another team. The second round was us defending the flag. The next round was much better because there were no mosquitos. The area was cleared and there were lots of large crates scattered. The third area was even better as it had makeshift houses you could go into. Lunch was "acceptable" according to my scale of food ratings. I ate most of the rice and potatoes but the splinters chicken bones kept jabbing my mouth. Onto the next round! The next area was probably one of the best. They had us set our guns to single shot. The place looked like a CS game and they had a fog machine to keep things interesting. I kept getting owned by the guy in the blue shirt on the other team. Although I did kill quite a few off in this area. The next stage was with tires and the one after that was massive and similar to the second with lots of crates. The final area was probably the best because they put real cars in it. There were makeshift buildings with windows and back doors and of course a fog machine =P. It was a good day. Definitely want to do that again.

After leaving the Gulf War Area, Todd and I headed back to Sai Kung town center to grab some food. I had dau fu fa with tong yurn. I love dau fu fa. Then we walked around, ended up missing our bus and buying some dan ta, hung dau bang, and cream puff. I love Hong Kong food!!!

2009-04-11T20:43:00.000-04:00

I'm going to play war games in 10 minutes... Tony said I was going to die. I'm scared now. I can't find any long sleeved shirts, its going to be 78 today so I don't want to wear a hoodie and die of heatstroke. So I'm wearing my trustworthy Northface jacket. Its really dirty and needs a wash already but hopefully it will get me through today first =P.

...I went to the gym...

2009-04-11T07:16:00.000-04:00

...for the first time of 2009...

The gym at UST is small but nice. Its still holiday so its not crowded, which I like. Less people will see me dying on the treadmill and struggling with the weights. =P

Tmrw is war games so I won't go again. Maybe Monday before I head home? We'll see.

I'm getting hungry. Off to eat some food to make up for those calories I just burnt ;)

Cheung Chau

2009-04-10T22:12:00.000-04:00

Started the morning off bright and early with a nice filling breakfast at Fairwood at Hang Hau. Some black pepper steak, toast, eggs, and milk tea. Deeeelicious! I love breakfast food. Its so so so delicious.

Met up with Todd at the Tseng Kwan O MTR Station. Traveled to HK station and met up with Jon and Wilson at Pier 5 for the ferry to Cheung Chau. The ride there was fun and refreshing. When we got there we walked around a bit. The last time I was here it was in 2007 and there was this crazy festival with the buns. We walked around, played on monkey bars, acted like 4 years olds on the sand...

Walked around some more before renting a bike. I thought I was going to die while riding in the back. We ran into an old man who was eating his dinner. Then we whizzed by an old lady who yelled at us to slow down. For lunch we had seafood. I completely forgot to take a picture of my meal... We ate some other random snacks here and there. One of them being the potato chips on a stick. Its basically a whole potato that has been sliced into a long spiral, skewered and then deep fried. Delicious. Seriously.

Lady making chueng fun! I've never seen them make it before. Soooo cooool!

Omg I bought shoes... Only $79HKD. So amazing. I feel like I should have bought another pair! Especially since they had my size hahaha

The guys being silly on the beach.

Jon was sick for majority of the day and McDonalds was his best friend. Hopefully he is better today... It kinda sucks to have your farewell day and then be dying for half of it. Don't worry though, we'll make it up another day :)

...its hw time.

2009-04-08T00:56:00.000-04:00

Easter Break is almost here. All that stands between us is one more lecture of Sosc166. I had my community service with Eva yesterday. She invited me to go receive a full body massage and a foot massage at Wan Chai. It was pretty cool and I got to learn alot. Prof Groves also stopped by for about half an hour. It was quite funny watching two ladies give him a massage. Pictures from the phone will be uploaded later. Eva took me to eat afterwards, we had fish jook, white carrot cake, soybean milk and more.

I feel like I have not been very productive these past two weeks after exams. Maybe I can take some time during break to get back into study mode.

I got free milk tea today at the atrium. The magic club had some guy with a contraption on his back that spewed out milk tea. They were promoting the Lipton milk tea packets. Seriously delicious stuff. I might a few boxes before I go back.

Oh, and Taro Pie. I can't begin to start with taro pie. McDonalds is absolutely delicious and I have the Taro pie at least two or three times a week. So unhealthy I know since it is deep fried and probably packed with sugar and fat. But its just so damn nice. Must eat more before I have to go back.

2009-04-07T14:09:00.000-04:00

Its more than halfway through my stay here. And everytime the topic of going home comes up, YP and I always talk about how depressed we will be when we have to go home. How things will never be the same.

But really, eventually thing will return to normal. Life will have to go on. We can't stay in UST forever.

Lets not think about this anymore. Enjoy the time now, don't dread whats to come.

2009-04-07T09:37:00.000-04:00

One of my classmates mentioned this week that he would be happy with a B in one of his classes. I asked him why he didn't want an A. He said that he would be happy with an A in one or two of the classes and the rest don't matter, just pass with a D would be fine with them. These kids are smart and so I couldn't understand why they would be satisfied with just that. They said that it was because they see the kids who have straight A's are always in the library studying, studying while they are eating, and living in the library. They said that they didn't want a life like this. A lower GPA was fine with them for the ability to go have fun. They go out on weekends and do all sorts of fun things. It makes me really sad because even though I am living this lifestyle now, I know that things won't stay like this when I go back home. Even though I don't have straight A's at home, my GPA is decent and I want to keep it there. But the more I think about it, the more scared I am to go home. I mentioned one day to my friends here that I was very unused to going out on the weekends and after classes to walk around and eat and have fun. They looked at me in shock like I was some sort of ghost. Maybe I need to make some significant changes to my lifestyle at home. Because if I have to go back to studying in my room all the time, eating my meals alone, I might go crazy and jump the mushroom.

Too bad there is no mushroom at home. hahahahaha.

YP is gone for two weeks T___T. I'm going to be so lonely. Maybe will write in here more often. Break starts on Thursday. Going to watch the new Jackie Chan movie tomorrow with the elec kiddies.

Gosh I'm going to miss them.

2009-04-06T11:07:00.000-04:00

So, I actually just made a shitton of careless errors on my exams. Makes me feel better than if I didn't know anything at all. Lack of homework and laidback lectures doesn't mean I don't need to study. I just need to study a little ;)

My favourite meal of the day has to be breakfast. I've always been a sucker for breakfast foods even at home. Maybe because I grew up having sandwiches for breakfast all the time. Not that it was bad, but just having a peanut butter sandwich everday for all your life doesn't really cut it compared to this.

I love McDonalds. That is something I never thought I would say. But seriously the McD's here is absolutely amazing. The shake shake fries, shake shake chicken, and taro pie just blow my mind. This was my breakfast one day last week. A bowl of macaroni with veg, a ham sausage, and an egg. Comes with a hash brown that is delicious with Thai chili sauce and a cold milk tea. All for the low price of $18HKD.

Yesterday I went to Tuen Mun with some classmates. I saw them making baw law bao. It was wayyy too cool. There was a bakery with a window of the kitchen and I literally stood outside the window watching the guy make it with my mouth wide open.

Here he is cutting the topping

He then smashes it with the knife

Then the magic layer goes on top of the bun!

After that, we stopped and had some dau fu fa. I ended up putting a big scoop of salt in it because I couldn't read the Chinese words on the box.

This is an picture after I quickly scooped up the salt. The sugar is orange sugar and absolutely delicious.

Salt Box.

Moral of lesson. Learn Chinese.

Tuen Mun is a beautiful place. I hope that someday I can come to HK to live. People seem to have such good lives here. On the weekends they go for walks, and there are places like this all over HK.

I've seen these around asia but never tried them before. I thought they were for foot massages but little did I know just how painful they were. Apparently if its painful it means that you are unhealthy. I guess that means I am going to drop dead soon cos I could barely walk on this thing.

Here is a picture you will rarely see at home. Four happy and carefree engineers.

I love Hong Kong.

2009-03-31T07:16:00.000-04:00

Fuck. I need to start studying more.

...and we lost one.

2009-03-29T22:03:00.001-04:00

University life here seems much more lax than CP. After exams, kids just don't show up to class anymore. There were about thirty people in stat on Thursday. The class is supposed to be about 120... Following their example, I skipped all of my classes on Friday. The day started early with YP and I making our way to HKU. We went via Choi Hung and ended up at Fa Yuen Gai. Inevitably we ended up combing the area and buying to our hearts content. Only about three hours later did we attempt to go to HKU again. Took the MTR to Wan Chai and then the 40 bus to HKU.

HKU is pretty much what I expected it to be. I feel like the place has alot of history to it. Its pretty cool to have a university in the middle of the city. The design is quite poor though since you have to take a bus to go to class -__-". Jonathan and I ended up watching one episode South Park in the library before we each KOed in front of the TV. Afterwards, we all took the bus to MK to meet up with Shing. It was his last night in HK before going back to Singapore and then Japan for his exchange.

We wandered the area before heading to the MTR Station to meet w/ Todd and Wong Chung. We had dinner at a cha chan tang and ordered a set meal for our side of the table. YP, Todd, Shing, and I got goose, cha siu, veg, swt sour pork, chicken, and tofu. Quite a delicious meal.

Dessert was a delicious milk pudding? One of the most heavenly things ever. I need to go back to have more! Must try the egg one as well.

After visiting Shing's grandparents'house, we played silly drinking games with water. The laughter was enough exercise for me for the whole week. Ridiculous. Before midnight, the HKU kiddies left us. The lack of MTR after 12:30/1am is a bit of a problem sometimes but they do have buses at night. The rest of us wandered around the empty streets of Mong Kok at night. The streets were not really empty though. Even at 1am, there are still people walking around, people sitting around and eating. They are a few odd shops that are still open. We went to a recommended dessert place to have shaved ice. YP and I shared mangooooo! So amazing!

We stumbled upon Tung Choi Gai which was empty and filled with rubbish from the day. Took lots of fun pictures which are still with Shing. It was really sad to see him go. We had alot of fun days in UST and hiking. It reminds me that we are already halfway through our exchange and that in a few months all of us will have to go our separate ways.

21.

2009-03-24T08:06:00.000-04:00

I'm 21.

I never really liked birthdays. I always thot that they were a bit awkward. When I was younger, I was never really that excited to have bithday parties but it was my parents actually who insisted I have one every year. I always felt like 03.24 was just another day.

My 21st started off with an unknowing visit to the seafront cafe. My roommate had been talking about the tong shui all night and I figured I would join her for some. My studying for Elec210 was not very productive either. As we walked towards the cafe, I first noticed the group of classmates from my 210 and 152 class. I thought that they had gone home for the night as we had an exam the next day. As we entered, I saw the group of exchange students from Singapore and the US that we had been hanging out with. I had not seen many of them for quite some time since midterm season was upon us.

It took me a few seconds to realize that they had all gathered here to surprise me for my birthday. I know everybody had tons of papers, projects, and exam but thank you SO much for coming out last night. You all have really made my 21st a memorable one.

A special thanks to my roomie for organizing all of it! :-D And for the massive tofu that she got me! :-D

The world's happiest electrical/electronic engineers. Seriously.

These kids stayed up until 2am with my roomie and me despite our looming stat exam that we had the next day. I'm still working on my HK English accent =P. Its getting there.

We are learning Tonyspeak.

Singaporean = Singaporprean = Sang ga Poly yun

Yi Pei = E-Pay = eBay = eBanking = eBranking = eBlanking

The morning started off with some hardcore studying. Could barely get up but I somehow managed to drag my butt over to the common room. Just as I had sat down, I got a call for delivery of flowers! 18 pink roses. <3>

The 210 exam was NOT easy. Silly TA lied to us. We were all confused afterwards. After a nourishing therapy meal of McDonalds Shake Shake chicken and Shake Shake fries, I attempted to study for Sosc166 which is tmrw. Didn't get much done, but I doubt I'll actually be in danger of failing the class.

Grueling Tuesday

2009-03-10T14:22:00.000-04:00

Its always great to start off the day with a delicious breakfast here. Canadian breakfast from the cafe is only $18 and comes with toast, beans, bacon, two eggs over easy, and a milk tea. Seriously, how much better can it get?

Well there is that mushroom omelette that comes with hash browns and milk tea for $16... but that will have to be for tomorrow.

No mgto class today, thank god. Really, not the world's most thrilling lecture. Did some work on the group project over a lunch hour and then hit the library for another hour or so before stat. I actually understood what was happening in stat today... until the first hour passed and then he started going at hyperspeed, covering 10 slides in about 15 mintues. I gave up and started fiddling with my super asian four ink pen.

I was planning on hitting up the library again for a bit before heading out to Kowloon but a classmate reminded me of the ridiculous amt of people who would be traveling on the MTR at that time. I decided to head out and stop by Causeway Bay to look for my roommate before heading to do the volunteer project in Kowloon.

We had this amazing ridiculously delicious Japanese buffet. No pictures right now because it was a spur of the moment decision, but no worries, my roommate and I are planning on going back sometime soon. I bought a decent pair of headphones for $10hkd.

I headed over to Kowloon and was completely confused and lost for a while. The prof called me and didn't seem too happy but I eventually made my way to the center about 10 minutes late. We met some really incredible people who have been through a ridiculous amount of stuff. There was one girl who hit her head when she was young and had brain damage. It has taken her years and years to recover but she has made a great deal of progress. It is very difficult for her to remember simple things but for her introduction she managed to give us all of the dates of her history of her disability.

I got paired up with this old lady who is the oldest in the rehabilitation center. She is 72 years old and has had one of her kneecaps replaced. She has pains in her other one and so will be replacing it soon as well. She is super energetic and happy to talk to us. Even though she is 72 years old, she is going to classes right now to learn how to do massages. She has to memorize the 206 bones of the body and the names and functions of each one. She is also learning about the pressure points and how they can help relieve pain and stress. Classes are from 9-6pm but she rushed over to Kowloon to meet us. She can actually understand my Cantonese! hahaha. She studies by writing the names of the bones on tiny pieces of paper and sticking them to a bracelet with big beads. Then she can always look at them and review them. New study tip! =P

But anyways, she has exams and such throughout March which is pretty much the same as me. I told her I would call her on April first to set a day where we can go out and do some stuff. She has an event in April after she has learned everything she gets to demonstrate her massage techniques on friends and family.

Its pretty cool to see people doing these things. It reminds me to not be such a lazy ass.

Its 2:40am. I am going to sleep. SO much studying to do.

gnite.

Weekend Fun!

2009-03-08T03:26:00.000-04:00

The weekend started off with the intention of studying all day Saturday and then going out shopping on Sunday. It is a little backwards now because I ended up shopping a little at Mong Kok on Friday night. Bought some socks and lo behold, more skirts. They were 2 for $30hkd. How ridiculously cheap is that? I seriously cannot believe some of the prices here. Really though, at that price I had to buy it.

Saturday morning started off quite late as I had the intention of getting up around 9 to do some homework. I ended up waking up at 11 and joining Yi Pei and some other friends to go hiking at Kum Shan. This is where they went monkey feeding last week. We at lunch at Prince Edward which was quite good. After that we took bus 81 to the trail.

The first few monkeys that we saw at the park entrance were following a man who had some peanuts in his bag.

The scenery in the park was amazing!!!

Aand some more monkeys :)

After walking around the park for a while, we came upon this trail and decided to take it.

There were some cool scenery spots with benches and such. YiPei and I are pretending to play Chinese chess with the loose change in our bags.

After that, we kept walking and walking and walking. We noticed that suddenly we kept climbing more stairs and it seemed as if we were getting farther and farther from the city. The stairs were killing me as this was seriously the most exercise that I've gotten in the past year. It started to get really dark and I was really scared that we were going to die in the mountains of New Territories hahahaha!

But after another hour of stair climbing, we finally reached the peak and started our decent. There was another 30 minutes of downhill walking before we caught glimpse of lights! We had finally reached the next town haha! There was a small house on the side of the road that sold small snacks and drinks. We quickly bought some as we had not eaten for about four hours. I bought this funky soda called Ginger Beer. It actually had some ginger flavour to it and was very good! The lady at the store told us that it was only another 20 minutes until we reached the MTR station and we hastily followed the road she pointed at.

We were rewarded with lots of cha chan tangs with delicious food! We stopped in one of the first ones we saw and I ordered this for my dinner.

It was $26hkd and delicious. It was noodles with beef, a plate with bread, egg, and ham, and a cold milk tea. SO GOOD.

We made it back alive and after a hot shower and some Big Bang Theory, I was out cold for the night.

This morning I again planned on waking up at 9am to go to the library. My alarm went off and I quickly disabled it and woke up at 11 again. Auntie Alice called not long after announcing that she was coming to school with food. Lots of food.

I'm stuffed from lunch, and I have a curry dish waiting for dinner. I'm going to die from eating too much.

The library is surprisingly filled on Sunday. There are more people than on weekdays...

Enough procrastination. Time for some 152 studying!

2009-03-04T05:15:00.001-05:00

What an incredibly unproductive day so far. I'm restless. I don't want to watch tv, I don't want to play games, I don't want to study.

I was awakened by the jackhammering of construction outside my window. This poor pond has been empty since the second week of class. :( I guess that means less mosquitos tho.

I did laundry and then Yi Pei came back from Guai Lum. Yayy!! =) We had lunch at LG5 and I had this amazing Japanese egg rice dish. It was like two pounds of egg and tomato rice and I downed it all with a cup of cold milk tea.

Started to watch The Four on mysoju.com. Seems pretty good so far although I have not even finished episode 1.

I have 210 hw due tmrw. I have no idea what is going on. I should probably go read the notes... now... Ugh I'm so lazy today.

Belated update on food...

2009-03-02T10:13:00.001-05:00

This was my delicious dinner of eggplant and an omelet of smoked duck and veggies.

Part of the atrium at UST showing some tables of people trying to sell stuff

People who succeeded in selling me alot of mochi.

Hot pot dinner at Cafe de Coral. I love hotpot. Or as my roommate calls it, steamboat!

The platter in the front is goose guts. It was SO GOOD.

More to come soon!

I need to learn to keep up on this thing.

2009-03-02T09:43:00.001-05:00

So it has been about a month since my last post. I've really ignored this thing.

School is surprisingly not as difficult as I expected it to be. I feel like I should have taken another engineering class. That would have made a good load. I've been shopping at least twice a week which is keeping my spirits high. :) I've bought alot of clothes in the few weeks that I have been here. I think next time I go out, I need to buy some shorts.

This morning, I noticed there was a small bubble of skin on the bottom of my foot. I broke the skin and tried to clear some of it but ended up pulling off an extremely thick piece of skin. Gross. I know. Now it hurts when I walk because that one part of my foot has extremely thin skin.

Just before dinner, I decided that it would be a good idea to try out this experiment I read about. Apple cider vinegar is very popular for lots of different reasons. I bought some over the weekend to try out as a shampoo that is said to be good for your hair. Well, it turns out that it leaves a horrendous smell afterwards even after I rinsed it out for 20 minutes. Maybe I will dilute my solution some more tomorrow...

I decided it would be a good idea today to eat my noodle dinner by the seaside. I mean, how often is the weather so gorgeous and Maryland sure doesn't have a beach on campus. Well after settling on a rock and dipping my first bite of yau mien into chili, I felt a sting on my ankle. I figured it was some sand or something. Then I noticed a sting on my thigh. Great. Mosquitos. But seriously on the second of March? Its snowing back at home. There won't be mosquitos there for another good two months. Anyways, after about five minutes of trying to withstand it I was scampering back to my room with my semi-eaten noodles.

I've covered all of my eight mosquito bites with toothpaste. It feels so good. Hopefully the AVC smell will be gone tomorrow and then I will just smell like peppermint all day.

But seriously, aside from my several and many random mishaps today, HKUST is absolutely amazing. I don't think I have ever enjoyed school this much. The professors make sense and the homework doesn't last until 4am. I could seriously get used to this.

But then again I've been slackin on the hw. Slackin as usual, but there is not that much that has built up. Exams are the week of the 20th. Seems pretty straightforward stuff so far.

Enough procrastinating. Time for some glorious statistics.

Day 2

2009-02-03T11:17:00.000-05:00

Today I craved American food.

I got McDonalds.

It did not digest properly for about five hours. I think my stomach has adjusted to rice and noodles.

I also went to Jusco in Tai Koo to buy a pencil case. I was rewarded with aisles and aisles of Sanrio characters and other Asian anime idols printed on stationary, pens, pencils, folders, erasers, staplers, tape, wallets, umbrellas, soaps... you name it. After half an hour of walking around, I finally spotted what I was looking for.

KeroKeroKeroppi!!

This is by far my most favoritestestest Sanrio character ever made. I have no idea why, but ever since I was really little, I just loved Keroppi. I learned that it is called Pi Pi Wa in Chinese. I got a folder, notebook, and matching pencil case with Keroppi. I haven't seen Keroppi being sold in the states for a few years now. It kind of lost popularity and Hello Kitty sells alot better so the sad little Sanrio stores in Chinatown stopped carrying Keroppi. =( But its okay, Jusco had so much Keroppi!! I will buy everything Keroppi before I come back haha! Jusco also had a sale on duvet covers so I picked up a Keroppi duvet with matching pillow cases. Fantabulous!

Oh yea... as a side note I had my second class today! MGTO120, intro to management. MC and fill in the blank exams. Group project due at the end. Seems pretty straightforward. Elec152 was yesterday and a typical engineering class. The prof eerily reminds me of Gang Qu. If he is anything like Qu, I am so screwed.

Eugene, Yi Pei and I went to Yau Ma Tei last night. Lots of shopping and wandering around. We stopped at a street restaurant to eat which turned out to be pretty good! Deep fried oysters with enough oil to kill all three of us. Frog leg congee and gan chow niu hua.

I am signing up for skill sport classes tomorrow. Applications are due on the 5th, then they make announcements on the 7th for which class you get. I have on my list squash, table tennis, archery, badminton, and tennis. Lets hope I get one of them haha =]