So I haven't had much in my head worthy of writing about, hence the several weeks two months of no posts. Fall quarter is now over and I am back in Utah for the next three weeks week (I started writing this at the beginning of break and forgot to finish). It. is. FREEZING. out here. 5 years of building up resistance to the cold had evaporated in my 11 week absence.
Topic one: In retrospect, I don't write enough about meaningful topics. I think the purpose of diary/journal is to keep track of changes in the way I think about things. So far all I've really been writing about is what's happening at the moment and about my small problems. Which leads to..
Topic two: Just before leaving for break, I was sitting with some friends in our study room procrastinating (it was finals week), and the topic of crazy politicians came up. (Oh no.. See where this is going?) The conversation kept going and we arrived at watching this abomination:
That is Texas governor, Rick Perry's 2012 campaign ad in Illinois.
"Well he does have a point, kinda." My friend said. It was quite shocking to hear, even coming from one of the most conservative US states. First off, there's nothing wrong with homosexuality, whether in the military or civilian life. It's natural, and as with any sexual orientation, is realized at around puberty. Second, there is no government "war on religion" and this country was not founded on a base of faith. Most of the early presidents even refused an official religious affiliation until after leaving office. Furthermore, students are free to celebrate whatever religious holiday they please within schools. Just the other day on campus, some guy passed out a flyer for his Christian fellowship's Christmas party to me. What's prohibited is school administration requiring celebration of a specific holiday. Third, the government is supposed to mandate a separation of church and state, meaning any kind of religious message really has no place in a campaign for political office.
Anyway, when I asked why, my friend cited religious convictions as her reason to oppose homosexuality. She is far from intolerant, she simply "disagrees with the lifestyle." So be it. I can respect her decision. We started talking more about faith though. We actually sat down and had a civil discussion about our individual beliefs. It began and ended peacefully: not like the internet "comments" section of a warzone I had expected to break out. This was the first time I felt comfortable really discussing how I feel about religion.
I was born into a strongly Catholic family. My parents had me baptized into the church and I've experienced most of the church's sacraments, including Confirmation. I've always taken a Buddhist influence and more often identify as Buddhist or multifaith. I'm not happy in the church. When I go to mass with my parents, I see people going to worship a story, not to improve themselves as people. I don't believe in a literal God able to intervene in the universe at will. And if he exists, I don't want to believe in the God that declaimed against homosexuals and allowed the holy crusades to happen.
I do have more thoughts on this subject, but this post is already long and I need more time to put those thoughts into words, so they will go on a future post.
Heh, single life. Familiar? Certainly. Did I miss it the past eight months. NO College life has been going pretty well. Classes aren't too bad, yet. In a couple days, I'm going to have the first draft of an essay due. The problem is, I literally haven't written an essay since 11th grade.. Senior year English class was somewhat of a joke.. Simply put: I have no idea what the hell I'm doing with this essay. D:
Hopefully, my writing hasn't degraded past 8th grade level just yet..
Anyways, back to the opening topic. Single life. Yeaaa. I'm not one of those "bounce back quickly" type of people. Needless to say, the past few weeks were a bit tough to pull through. A couple weeks ago, I think I developed a little crush on someone I met here. Realizing this put me in a kind of emotional toilet bowl. Except the toilet was clogged, leaving me to swirl around in my problems without any hope for some sort of closure coming. The worse part of it has been the guilt. It hasn't even been a full month since the break up, yet I acknowledge that I now have genuine feelings for this new person. It feels too soon to me. It probably is too soon, so I feel even more guilty. The feelings haven't died. Oh yes, and remember I'm not a bounce back type of guy. So of course I still have those days where I wake up with this extreme longing to "go back to the days". or uhh.. something along those lines. As a result of this, I haven't really tried to make any moves with her. I wouldn't want her to be the "bounceback girl".. ahhhhh overthinking >_< If anyone that happens to read this can give any advice, I'd be happy to take it.
Aside from that, I'm finally writing in a journal more often (not counting this blog). The journal is written completely in Chinese to help me practice. I'm also deciding on a new language to start here at UCI since they can't place me into the appropriate Chinese language class this school year. Possibly Korean or Japanese.
Well that's all I have to write about really.. I need to stop writing really weak concluding sentences for these blog posts.. My writing skills are already very self disappointing. x) Bye
So it's been a rough week. Classes are finally picking up the pace. None of that "review" crap from last week. No more getting lost on campus looking for the right building and classroom. The frat boys and proselytizers are, for the most part, leaving me alone now. Wait, that sounds like a break to me.. NOPE. As the title implies: yeah, we parted ways about a week ago.
Background info.. I moved 700 miles out of my hometown for college about 3 weeks ago. Of course, before I left, we talked about it and decided to give the long-D thing a shot. Move-in day came, really fast. I was fine for about the first week and a half but I started thinking about things more and these things would pop into my head and, like the annoying fairy tale squatters in Shrek, refused to leave. I thought about it for a week and concluded it was probably for the better not to drag it out. I wasn't happy about it, but I really felt that it had to be done.
Well I can't think of anymore to write.. It's still kinda fresh in my mind. So maybe the rest some other time.. Afl elkwcfmrligk fcajwodsf D;
First week of college! I've been moved in for a week now, my hall has finally really warmed up to each other and my first classes were successful. It's insane how fast time has passed. It seems only last year that I couldn't even comprehend the idea of going off for a university. Yet, here I am in Irvine, California. I thought I came from Orange County, but I guess high school is where you really set in. I'm experiencing culture shocks, like the ones I got when I moved to Utah four years ago, all over again. I don't really fit in here anymore, I've become a Utah kid. xD This is the first time all summer that heat has been driving me insane!
I don't know if I should feel bad about this part.. but I really don't feel homesick at all. Welcome week was such a blast. Home didn't even come to mind until Thursday when I had to help my sister write her personal statements for a scholarship essay. (That took all afternoon and late at night, for both Thursday and Friday. Yes, I did skip the rest of welcome week.) Well until now, I also came to think about something else.. I left a very good friend behind back in Utah. (對啊，我的女朋友..) She really is something special to me. We've been together for seven and a half months. Of course, when I left we were very gung ho about the whole long distance relationship thing. Of course we were going to stay in contact. Of course we were going to work through all the problems. But it's not as easy as Hollywood or the internet makes it seem. Even a good friend of mine, who has a year of experience in the long-D thing, warned me that it would be hard. I've only been able to contact her every three days or so this week. Only two of those were actually video calls. And I'm coming to realize that we will both only become busier as the year drags on. She also let me know of her intention to stay within Utah for college. Disappointed, yes. But I understand her position, I understand that she has way different obligations. I needed to get out of the house, but she especially needs to stay near her family right now. It's only been a week, but it feels like months. I miss my best friend.
I don't know what will become of us in the future, but for now we both agreed to give it a little more time at a time. Everyday, I've been working to conceal this emotional hole and still be outgoing enough to make friends with the people in my hall. I don't know how she really feels at this point. I want her to travel the path that will be best for her, not me. Even should our shared path hit a fork, nothing will change the fact that she was my best friend and I will never regret it. It still hurts to think about, I desperately need a friend to talk to..
I just got back home (but not for long) from my freshman orientation at UC Irvine. It was a two day program called Student Parent Orientation Program, SPOP. And for those of you not attending UCI, you missed out on something wonderful because SPOP was honestly one of the best experiences of my life. I don't know how other colleges do their orientation, but ours started out like what you would expect: a simple welcome talk, a few fun facts, then lunch and signing up for classes. Once all the boring stuff gets done, we checked in to our rooms for the night at the Mesa Court residence halls (dorms). The dorms buildings are very nice and the area they are located in is actually quite beautiful. The bedrooms are slightly bigger for doubles than I've seen at other universities but the buildings actually don't have air conditioning (actually not too big of a complaint since the weather is very mild, especially in the morning and evenings).
Now the fun begins. After house check-in, we start off with basic introductions (name, major, hometown, something that makes us happy). Next we have a few short activities before they make us attend a seminar (the seminar was basically high school health class over a span of an hour). So I lied, Now the fun begins. That night, sleep was optional. a handful of us retired to their rooms while the rest of us prepared for the SPOlymPics.
My team totally won but the big prize turned out to be a combination of "You're all winners! :D" and street cred..
It's probably not as exciting, if at all, to only be reading about it. Actually, it really is one of those "you had to be there" things. So I'm not gonna go into more detail. All I can say is that it was a wonderful experience. The staffers did a great job. The semester hasn't even started yet and I already feel integrated into the campus life. I got to meet my first real group of college friends. All my fees and life needs are being taken care of. Checklist complete. Bring it on Freshman year. UC Irvine class of 2016 加油!!!
I promised myself that I wouldn't neglect this blog this time around, yet I havent posted in over a month. (Self inflicted scourging to be delivered at a later time.) That aside, I have a legitimate reason for not writing, other than the usual excuse of having nothing to write about. (Note: Cut number of lashes to be inflicted in half.) You see, my place of residence has not had a consistently working computer in months. Which is to say, the computer we bought at a discount has broken down periodically regardless of having its software wiped and several pieces of hardware replaced three times. Everytime it gets fixed, it breaks down sooner. And I feel terrible for complaining about such a trivial thing (my brain just screams FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS just thinking about it). After all, the library computers often serve me quite well. Yet, I like the feeling of security of a personal laptop.
From my personal experiences in life, I have come to realize something. With the (until recently) exception of health insurance, you often get what you pay for. For example, the $5 jeans I usually buy from discount stores last me an average of 6 months before the color and fabric really start to wear. But the quality pants that I've bought before at the price of a slightly larger investment can last well over a year. As of now, the total number of non-crotchless jeans hanging in my closet = 0. And this will totally depend on my financial situation as an out of state student attending the University of California, but I think I would rather buy the more expensive things that will last me a while, but in a smaller amount, than buy supercheapy clothes in bulk, that will last me like a month.
On a totally unrelated endtopic, I and my girlfriend have recently been watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy (because she had never seen them before, can you believe this crap??), and up came a scene that has to be one of my favorite quotes from a movie of all time:
"Frodo: It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance. Gandalf: Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many."
I think its been more than a month since i wrote on this, and I still cant think of anything to write, so here's a story. (I don't own this one either.)
Once there was a rabbit and a bear living in a gigantic magical forest. One day, while the bear was chasing the rabbit to have for lunch, they ran into a magical frog. The forest was so big that the frog had never seen any other animal before. Therefore, he said: "Since you are the first two animals I have ever seen, aside from myself, I wish grant you each 3 wishes." "Goodie!", they said excitedly.
The bear went first. "I wish that all the bears in this forest are females, except for me." POOF! His wish was granted.
Then it was the rabbit's turn. "I wish for a motorcycle." POOF! His wish was granted.
The bear hesitated, then said, "I wish all the bears in the neighboring forests were females." POOF! His wish was granted.
The rabbit already knew what he wanted, "I wish for a crash helmet!" POOF! His wish was granted.
The frog broke in and said, "Now hurry up, I must be on my way! And, may I add, choose carefully your last wish!!"
The bear said, "Alright, I know my last wish. I wish all the bears in the world were female, except for me." POOF! His wish was granted.
The rabbit thought for a while, put on his helmet, and got on his motorcycle. With a smirk on his face he said, "I wish the bear were gay."
I do not own this story. My cousin posted it via Facebook, so he probably doesn't own it either. It's one of the most brilliant business ideas I've ever heard.
A guy calls the company and orders their 5 day - 5kg weight loss program. The next day, there's a knock on the door and standing before him a voluptuous, athletic, 21 year old babe from J.C. dressed in nothing but a G-string and a pair of Nike running shoes and a sign around her neck.The sign reads, 'If you can catch me, you can have me.' Without a second thought, he takes off after her. A few miles later huffing and puffing, he finally gives up. The same girl shows up the next four days and the same thing happens. On the fifth day, he weighs himself and is delighted to find he has lost 5kgs as promised. He calls the company and orders their 5day - 10kg program. The next day there's a knock at the door and standing before him is the most stunning, beautiful, sexy woman he has ever seen in his life. She is wearing nothing but Reebok running shoes , a G-string and a sign around her neck that reads, 'If you catch me, you can have me'. Well, he's out the door after her like a shot. This girl is in excellent shape and despite his best efforts, but no such luck. So for the next four days, the same routine happens with him gradually getting in better and better shape. Much to his delight on the fifth day when he weighs himself, he discovers that he has lost another 10kgs, as promised.He decides to go for broke and calls the company to order their 7 day - 25kg program. 'Are you sure?' asks the representative on the phone.. 'This is our most rigorous program.' 'Absolutely,' he replies, 'I haven't felt this good in years.' The next day there's a knock at the door and when he opens it he finds a huge muscular guy standing there wearing nothing but pink running shoes, a G-String and a sign around his neck that reads, 'If I catch you, you're mine.' he lost 31kgs that week. . .
I feel like this one blog post a month plan is insufficient. Therefore, today I have forced myself back onto this site and I will find a topic to talk about, even if it means pulling it out of my butt. (If you can read Chinese, you would get the joke there xD)
so umm.. senioritis. sounds like a good one.
I got it.. except it's very class specific.. specifically AP Calculus. >_<
Ever since my teacher left in the middle of second quarter, my performance in that class has been... LOL.. except it's not even funny.. I'm just not even motivated in that class anymore. I come in, sit down, listen, then leave. Notice that turn in the homework I only halfway finished isn't on the list.. Luckily my teacher will still take it. But I realize something important. As much as I despised my old teacher (who I'm pretty sure was on a well balanced diet of wheat thins and children every morning for breakfast), I wish she didn't leave. We wouldn't have had this adjustment period with the new inexperienced teacher. I probably would have been able to make up that one test from 2nd quarter that killed my grade, thus saving my motivation and self esteem from peril. Lastly, I FEARED her. The new teacher is too nice. With the old teacher, not turning in an assignment meant she would be picking the chewy remains of my thick muscles the next morning. So as of now, I am on the senior fail list. As of next week though, I will have everything turned in because my 4 AP tests (also all next week) shall finally be over with, and I will once again be qualified to walk with my classmates at graduation.
Secondhand News:
Copper Hills High School Key Club, despite being founded during the later half of this year, and having very few active volunteers during our food drive, managed to collect a whole 471 pounds (214kg) of food for the Utah Food Bank. Good job guys, I'm proud of you.
Also, the guitar class students of CHHS are supermegafreakinhellastupid. >:P That capo was $25.
