blurry photo courtesy of our waiter

The morning of April's birthday party I had a dentists appt. so I had to rush over to the apartment afterwards and managed to get kind of stuck. By the time I got there April had already moved the furniture and covered most of the living room floor with the oodles of cardboard had been bringing for the past couple of weeks. Styna was baking or something (?) and I went to go set up the music (my laptop hooked up to Chul's speakers).

So yeah, we kicked off the celebration with dinner at a small Italian restaurant on Balboa with just us roommates (minus Xinloo since she ditched us for England). Stupid us we had Ape (birthday girl!) drive so she couldn't have anything to drink with her meal but I guess it didn't matter since she was going to get wasted at her party anyway...

Went to the store to get a bottle of booze plus a case of Smirnoff Triple Black. Decided on a bottle of Midori which I believe was a good call :)

look at the floor!

We got back and got the ice chest out, got the food out, and honestly I don't remember what else. I do know that Styna cracked open the bottle of Midori and made some Midori Sours.

I think Dave was the first to come...then Maria with a bunch of April's hs friends...I don't know it's been too long. Somewhere in there Styna and I went to go get gin, water and more sweet and sour mix.

not drunk...yet

I ended up chugging about a third of a Smirnoff. I was okay other that the bubbles making me feel kinda weird...? Sometime after that I nearly walked into the screen door. I put my hand out at the last second and ended up making a big *bang* so yeah everyone turned to look and I'm sure they all thought I was drunk. It was one of those embarassing yet funny-in-a-third-person-kind-of-way moments--not unlike that time I stumbled out the door and right into the wall in the C-building hallway junior year.

And yeah I only brought that up because I'm sure that if I didn't someone else (probably Damon) would've ;P

tony and his white teeth

I gave HoHo a lapdance by the fireplace :D From what I hear she wasn't the only one who got lapdances that night (*ahem* Henry? ;D ).

damon with the thighmaster

I think that at this point April was pretty drunk. I hadn't seen or talked to her for most of the night up to this point so I'm not really sure exactly how much she had had to drink, but when I was in the kitchen with Styna April and Eddie were talking and laughing and having some sort of argument about guacamole...? Right.

styna with her homemade ice cream cake!

I went to the kitchen to try and help Styna get the cake ready (but I think I ended up just standing there because I don't like fire) and then we called everyone over so we could carry it out. Just our luck the fan turned in our direction and blew out all of the candles so we had to take it back into the kitchen and re-light it (Maria and I took care of that). At this point April was mos' def feeling the alcohol and I think she was having a little bit of trouble with the candles.

drunk david, drunk april, drunk charles, maria's legs

I think April was trying to get me to drink some more so I hid out in Styna's room for a bit where we chatted. I had left my camera on an end table outside and someone (I have no idea who) took a bunch of pictures of David dancing. According to the timestamps on all of the pictures, he was dancing for quite a while. Oh, and there was this one great photo of April falling facedown onto Eugene which I (lucky for April) did not post (and will not ever post). That picture above was great because it features who I believe were the three drunkest people there.

Not too long after I came out of Styna's room a cop showed up at our door. I thought he'd just ask us to lower the music and to keep the noise down, but he had us turn off the music (after I turned it down to the lowest setting he said "I can still hear it!") and made everyone leave. April, in the meantime, had no idea what was going on. It was great. She was hugging everyone goodbye and later (when it was just me, Styna, Maria, Garren and her) kept asking "Where's Eugene? Where's Eugene?". Once we explained what had happened she kept throwing up the two-finger salute and yelling "Fuck you and fuck you!!" She also fell into the fan, a chair, the wall, and the bathtub as well as spilling water all over herself, the couch, and Maria. When she asked for another shot, we gave her a shot glass full of water which she happily took thinking it was vodka. When she asked for a drink we gave her a pink lemon drop, which she ended up throwing across the floor. Garren left at around two (I'm guessing) and Maria went to sleep at around three. Styna, April and I stayed up until five or six.

Maria, April and I went to go eat breakfast at IHOP some time after we woke up. I think we ended up waking up at around nine or nine-thirty for some reason. After we got back we cleaned up the apartment, which wasn't all that bad. I think that the biggest mess was the one April made after the party got broken up (she was throwing goldfish at everyone once she got the anger out of her system). It was a lot of fun :) Thanks for showing us a good time roomie ;)

bye-bye cardboard

holla.

Must wait until I get back to school where my card reader is.

Tribute...

...to the lovely girls who helped me carry all of the cardboard I hoarded for Ape's party to my car.

You know what that means...

...photos from April's party are coming up :)

It's too bad the money isn't real. I could really use 300+ thousand dollars right about now :(

mug shots

In July my Nishi girls (plus Michel) went to the Memoirs of a Geisha casting call in Monterey Park just for the hell of it. We got there kind of early and more or less fried while waiting around the amphitheatre in the sun. The casting crew finally came around and had us all line up to fill out a short form and, if we didn't have headshots, have a polaroid taken. They also went around with a camcorder to have each of us read off our number and tell them our name and age range.

waiting in the sun

After they finished filming us they sent us back to wait some more. Then they started calling up girls in groups of ten to wait to meet briefly with their panel. All they had us do was go in there and answer a few questions (like whether we had any experience or not). And that...was pretty much it. Haha.

Afterwards we met with Neener's boyfriend at Subway to get some lunch. Good stuff :)

drawing on the table at macaroni grill, city of industry

Jason: Wait, when is Hollie leaving?

Hollie: July 13th.

Jason: Isn't it a little early to be celebrating?

Hollie was going to Hong Kong for a few weeks so we (as in Jason, Damon, Sar and I) sent her off with a goodbye dinner the night before she left (when Jason asked about her leaving Hollie thought he meant leaving HK but he meant leaving home). We ate at the Macaroni Grill where we tore up the table covering (literally) and then caught a late showing of the Terminal at Puente.

And I know I'm behind. Not only is Hollie back, but Sar (who left for Japan not too long after Hollie returned from HK) is back and in school already.

Gallery Employee on the Phone: Do you love me?
GEP: I said do you love me?
GEP: What?
GEP: You don't like me?
GEP: Why don't you like me?
GEP: Your daddy loves you very much...
GEP: Why don't you like me?
GEP: Because what?
GEP: I'm not mean I don't have a fluffy mouth and don't listen to anything mommy tells you.

roasting stuff over the fire?

The day of graduation was one helluva hectic day. After lunch at Buca's with Christy's family, April and I rushed off to Target to get medicine to ward off a looming migraine after which I rushed her home and left her in a dark room so she could try and sleep before driving over to Vy's apartment for her after-graduation get-together. I left Vy's complex after about an hour and went to go pick up BubbleBoy before going to get chicken for the bonfire we were going to. I went back to the apartment to change and then we headed out to Huntington Beach.

It was still pretty light when we got to the beach. After BubbleBoy covered the $10 parking fee for me (thanks home fry) we went to go join our friends. I think most of the people were there by the time we arrived.

I don't think that Sara is going to like this picture

I wasn't very hungry (lunch with Christy followed by snacks at Vy's) but I ate anyway because that's what I do. I think HoHo roasted a hot dog for me and I had some of Sara's potato salad.

tossing a football around

three of us at sunset

After we finished playing, we discovered that John's slipper (aka our goal) had gone missing. Turns out a couple of my teammates had buried the goal (I swear I didn't know about this) so the guys wouldn't be able to score any points. And then they couldn't find it. After combing the beach for a while, one of HoHo's co-workers finally found it.

thai elephants

Okay, so HoHo had this one co-worker from Thailand. A couple of weeks before the bonfire, HoHo and her other co-workers told her Thai co-worker that it's an American tradition for everyone to sing a song at the bonfire. The poor girl had been practicing her song (something about an elephant) ever since they told her that and actually sang it at the bonfire, hand motions and everything (when I upload the video clip you can click here to view it [elephants]).

trying to stay warm

At this point it was starting to get kind of cold, which of course means that the water is warm :) Sar and I went to check out the water and yes, it was very warm.

did i mention that irv was there?

We left the beach at around 10. Irv and Damon spent some time checking out eachother's rice rockets (IS300 and Prelude) and then we all left. I dropped off BubbleBoy and then went to go grab my stuff at the apartment before heading over to Sar's place to hang out with her, Damon, HoHo and Jason.

The end.

These are both from after the ceremony

Oh man...I can't believe I'm getting around to posting this now. Well anyway, In June Christylicious graduated. Actually, she finished in March (punk) but the ceremony was in June. Can you believe that she finished in less than three years doubling in Social Ecology and Japanese?

After the ceremony we went to eat lunch at Buca's with her lovely family. Congrats Christy :)

thanks damon

Thanks for posting this Derek.

Speaking of David, he posted this on his page a really long time ago and I decided to rip it off because that's what I do.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a US radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that,as anobservant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to the Old Testament, Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a US resident, as posted on an Internet forum.

____________________________

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them.

1. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing smell for the Lord - Leviticus 1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am not allowed to have contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Leviticus 15:19-24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states she should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill her myself?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Leviticus 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

7. Leviticus 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair cut, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by the bible, in Leviticus 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Leviticus 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Leviticus 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton and polyester blend). He also tends to curse a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Leviticus 24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? Leviticus 20:14

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

but I'm still2sexy

And yes, this is stemming fromt the fact that I am sure I didn't pass that damn math class but it also stems from many, many other things that I have come to realize over the past few years.

I was one of those kids who was told they were unusually smart from a very young age. I guess I was a little bit precocious. I started reading relatively early and was pretty articulate. Factor into the equation the fact that I didn' t go to school in the best area (read: I was always somewhere at the top of the academic ladder) and you can see why I thought so highly of myself. At any time I could look around and honestly think that I really did have something on (most of) the people around me. As a result, I had very high expectations for myself and did not take kindly to failure. I remember how, during my sophomore year, I thought I was going to fail chemistry (I have no idea how I got that idea into my head because in retrospect there was no way I could have failed that class). For two days straight I would come home from school, lie down on my bed, and proceed to stare at the wall for hours. All this only to find out that I got a B. Anyway, high test scores (I test remarkably well and have passed AP exams I knew nothing about) only fueled my delusions of grandeur. Why the hell my mediocre grades didn't bring me back down to earth is beyond me. In any case, I left high school terribly arrogant. I knew I was arrogant but not that arrogant.

And then came college. Gone were the extreme slackers that helped boost my academic standing (and self-esteem) in high school. Gone were classes that no one failed. Instead, I was surrounded by people much like me and was taking classes where it was actually possible to fail. The first blow to my ego was the bad grade I received in writing. Subsequent blows included my next bad grade in writing and sitting in discussion for my first programming class and discovering that the majority of the people present had programming experience. I was humbled and terrified (remember that, Damon?).

And then I aced all of my intro programming classes. I began to feel invincible. Big mistake.

Long story short, the more classes I took and the more less-than-perfect grades I got, not to mention the fact that my lack of experience was becoming more and more painfully evident, I started to realize that maybe I'm not so special. Maybe the high standards I once held for myself were (*ouch*) unreasonable. In high school I justified my crappy grades by telling myself that I had a lot of stuff on my plate. I worked, I was involved in the youth group at Nishi, I had my koto lessons, band, orchestra, etc. I no longer have that excuse. Not only that, but I can't fathom taking on that much again. Mostly because I know that I wouldn't be able to do it, and I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but that was (and still is) a painful realization that I'm still trying to come to terms with. For a person who judges her worth by how much she does and how well she does it, it's a very big deal.

So here it is: I am not superwoman. Most people (at least in my major) fail at least one class. There is no reason why I'm an exception because I am not better than everyone else. People have failed and lived, and so will I. I can't do everything. There are some things that I am not good at, and that's okay. Not everyone is good at everything. No matter what I do, there is always someone who can do it better. In fact, chances are there are lots of someones who could do it better, and that's okay too.

Sometimes I wonder whether what it is I'm feeling is apathy and pessimism or humility (read: a healthy dose of reality). Maybe I'm just making excuses for my mediocrity?

Whatever the case, I still don't have the balls to look at my math grade. I don't think I'll be able to check until it ceases to become a big deal to me. Maybe at the end of summer.

Grades for the class I failed are out. I need to (seriously) convince myself that it's okay that I failed before I check it.

I'm so not BSing this one. I'm 100% sure I failed. The question is, how badly? ;P

I did this one out of order ;P

Leanne, Neener, and my brother

I'm kind of fuzzy on the details because it happened two months ago...that's what happens when you procrastinate.

I got there kind of late because I always get everywhere kind of late. Anyway, not too long after I got there, we got in line for food.

Brady and me

The food is always the best part. Oh yeah, and the swings, forgot about the swings. Don't have any pictures of the swings this year (I think Neener does) but I do have a picture of the food.

Told you so

We sat down and ate in the shade. Dee's mom had bought her a ton of bathing suits, but she said that most of them didn't fit. Leanne and I tried them on over our clothes. And then took pictures.

This is my first time doings something like this...in public

I had to leave early because I had a wind ensemble concert that afternoon (=() Ah well, what can you do.

Other than me failing my math class, things are good.

Yes, it is late (or early...whichever) We've been studying metaphysics...starting today. The concept of conventionalism is interesting. We're supposedly "bound by convention"...and I guess we are. But some people break it, and they do a pretty good job.

Sar, Apes, Scam and I were discussing the lecture. One of them said it was not possible to really break convention. My example of breaking convention was transplanting the hair on your head to the backs of your knees. Sar said that was gross. What we said was it wouldn't be gross if everyone else did it. True...no?

I was very, very grossed out today. In a certain class, a certain "John Doe" failed to pull up his pants high enough or something. Or maybe he had ill-fitting pants. Either or. Anyway, when he leaned over in his chair, I saw a little too much. There was also another, who shall remain nameless, who used to have the same problem. She was in my spanish class last year, and the entire class was aware of this problem. It was disgusting.

We had our metaphysics lecture later on in the day. I realized that this indecent exposure could be a way of rebelling. Maybe these two were really pioneers in breaking the chains of convention. Or maybe they just need better pants.

I think I overdosed on high school Xangas. I clicked through one of my old high school's rings and holy crap, there was a scary avalanche of journals belonging to those born in the mid-to-late 80's and even a few born in 1990 (!). For the most part, if the layout didn't give me a headache, the tYpIn' aN' sPeLlIn' sHoRe DiD!!!11 Not all of them were bad, but there were enough bad ones to make my head spin. I was planning on going off on a rant about them, but realized that I too had a weblog in high school (jumped on the bandwagon in the year 2000) and may end up a hypocrite for reaming these kids out for doing what I did when I was their age.

I have come to the conclusion that I was not too bad. A little strange (see above), yes, and by no means perfect (there are some entries that make me cringe) but I don't think that my high school self was really all that bad...I think...

Just let me think that. I've finally accepted my high school self and believe me it wasn't easy!

All I need now is Ms. Lu (Loo?) [I can't even remember our blasted teacher's name because I blocked out all of that trauma long ago] threatening to fail me while wailing at me to find the "P-unction"...

I do realize that this is the second time in the span of a few weeks that I have quoted G but she, like me, has been subjected to math hell over her summer break. She is done. I am not. My final is on Wednesday and I am crossing my fingers and hoping that I won't have a breakdown and dissolve into tears (or start laughing uncontrollably) during the exam. If I pass this class, then I will be done with upper-division math...! (:D) If not, then I just frittered away $500+, dropped my GPA like a stone, and will have to endure some other form of upper-division math hell sometime next year.

When I was just entering my senior year, the college counselor told me that I shouldn't major in anything that had to do with science or math. Perhaps he was right?

Eh. Wish me luck.