Crowdsourcing

I'm now starting to think of life in terms of what I can put on my resume, since I'm in the middle of rigorously competitive internship applications, and the lack of interesting things to put in my 'Interests' column is really starting to doubt the uniqueness I'm supposed to have as an individual.

Everyone keeps saying I'm such an interesting person, but when I ask them to name one reason why this is so, they can't.

So guys, what new hobbies can I take up that would make me a more interesting person? I have about 2 months to incorporate these into my life before I have to start applying for summer internships.

Shoot.

Totes sorrs 'bout bein' AWOL

WAAAAAAAAAAAA. I'm so upset that I haven't been able to update recently, but omggg, I did not know that furnishing an apartment was such hard work. I'm glad to say I'm finally done. With my room.

Now all I have left is the kitchen/living room. Our refrigerator is currently occupied with only two gallons of milk and eggs. Oh, and a recent purchase of aloe and 2 apples. Aww yeaah.

But I really don't wanna talk about these past two weeks. So hectic, and I now officially hate apartment-related things, including furniture, my past love.

My first week of classes was pretty chill. On Monday, I had class from 8:00am to 9:00pm, which was pretty crazy, but I somehow managed to make it through. However, I dropped my 4-days-a-week 8:00am class, so I didn't have to go the rest of the week, meaning I literally only had 2 days worth of classes, aka 5 days of break weekly. So I haven't really been feeling like I'm back in school again, since it's been so lax.

It sucks living down here in Financial District though because I just get too lazy to go uptown to where the wild things are. I haven't left my apartment all day today. Did I mention it's a Saturday?

I guess it's not completely wasted. I forced Patrick to come over at noon to help me build my dresser (Also, never want to hear the word 'IKEA' ever again.) because I'm such a weakling. He ended up staying the whole time and left a half hour ago around 10:00pm. It was pretty chill and actually not a bad time. We Seamless-ed for both lunch and dinner (which reminds me, bastard still owes me money): lunch on my half-finished dresser as a table and a picnic dinner on the floor with cardboard as placemats. Then we just kind of chatted and did our own thing in my room. It's really nice to have someone with whom you can hang out like that and not feel awkward.

I'm kind of surprised that Patrick and I are still good friends after what happened in Korea. Actually, we're a lot closer now than we ever were before. But I guess since I've never really fought with any of my friends before, I just automatically assumed that the friendship was over. Now, though, we're kind of better than ever.

And the boy just made me remember that my Thursday class starts this week. Damn not having any more 2-day weeks. It was fun while it lasted. :( Fingers crossed on Advanced Chinese then!

Just to leave yall with a little something:

The state of my room currently. Decorations aren't up and everything's still not organized yet, so once that's done, we will have an updated pic. :) For now, I exhibit my beloved windowsill of space for clutter and my lip beanbag ♥.

The only part of the room that I'm proud of so far: my wondrous closet space and my bookshelf♥! I love having my own room~

Leaving the best state

"Have a good rest of your life," I said to people as I left them this week.

I'm kind of done with the having fun portion of my life now. I've completed a whole year abroad, and now I have to settle down and work, work towards surviving the rest of my life.

I'm overcome with that feeling of dread for New York again.

But it's because I associate New York with the scary uncertain future, and Texas with the comfortable wonderfully-remembered past.

This basically means I have to become super rich so that I can fly back home whenever I want.

Let's do this, world.

We are all artists.

Words to Live By

Yeah I watch movies too

It's break time, and I usually spend it watching movies in the daytime.

What I'd like to watch:

1. Shame
2. 50/50
3. Midnight in Paris
4. Young Adult
5. The Ides of March
6. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I don't have many high hopes for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close because the way the book was written is hard to translate over to film, but I'm interested to see how Daldry fared. To be honest, I tear up every time I watch the trailer, but that's just because I know what's gonna happen.

Welcome 2012.

Sorry that my New Year's post is so late. All my posts are so late. :(

NEW YEAR'S PICS

I spent New Year's in Austin with Lauren, Callie, and Jordon, so I took my New Year's pics the next morning at 9:51-9:52am as you can see above. Look at me being classy with my Galaxy Nexus.


2011 RESOLUTIONS

2011 was the year not of actual resolutions, but of goal points to achieve. Here they were:

5 Books to Read This Year

1. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
2. On The Road by Jack Kerouac
3. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
4. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
5. The Moon and Sixpence by William Somerset Maugham

Go me.

I enjoyed them all (except for On The Road...). Hell, I enjoyed reading so much that I read so many other books for leisure this year, as you may see via my Goodreads account.

Places I Want to Visit This Year

1. Berlin, Germany
2. Amsterdam, Netherlands
3. Lake Constance
4. Florence, Italy
5. Rome, Italy
6. Athens, Greece
7. Paris, France
8. Barcelona, Spain
9. Madrid, Spain
10. Morocco
11. London, England
12. Dublin, Ireland

I guess I didn't really refer back to this list when I started planning trips in Europe. Even though I might have only achieved a 5/12 here, I don't feel too unaccomplished. To make up for the places I didn't go to, I instead visited Vienna, Milan, Verona, and Genova. I still wish I could've gone to Belgium, Lake Constance, Rome, and Morocco. Maybe those will just have to wait til my honeymoonHAHAHAJKMAYBE.

I also managed to blog once a week in Korea, a goal I'm surprised I maintained, but I'm glad I did. While I'm not going to ~*~decree~*~ it this year, I would like to keep it up.

2011 OVERVIEW

Definitely a huge year for me, spent mainly outside of America. I traveled across Europe for the first half of the year, then spent my summer in China bonding with my family (yay drinking with the cuz), and finally partied it up in South Korea with some of the greatest people I've ever met for the rest of the year. 

I almost feel like I took a year off to travel (To be honest, sometimes it's been easier to tell people just that.), and it's been really great to just kind of escape from the reality of real responsibilities and uncertain futures to just enjoy life in the moment with all different types of people.

January - PRAGUE. Vienna.

February - Started my first internship at Nancy Bishop. London to surprise Connie for her birthday but also realized that I truly enjoy Patrick (a little too much for a little bit), Connie, and Han's company. Turned 20 OHMYGAHHH. Barcelona.

March - Han, Patrick, Lillian come to visit. Spring Break in Dublin, London, and PARIS ♥.

April - Pardubice. Berlin. Trivia Night @ Sir Toby's. Easter Break in Milan, Verona, and Genova.

May - Home for a bit. <3 Starting my television catch-up late-night marathons for the summer. Perfectly scheduled nights with Jeopardy.

June - Enjoyed my last sustained period of time in Texas. China.

July - Touring 西安 and 成都 with the family group of about 20. Bonded with 吴昊哥哥 over drinking and KTV. Went to work in 福州 while staying at 满姨's.

August - Quit so just chilled in 福州 with a schedule of language study, reading Great Expectations, and playing Pokemon Black, hehe. Living with 满姨。First step into Korea. The fight and lost hopes.

September - 上海 and 常州 with Connie for 추석. The first night out with Cameron and Sookhee that led to the best rest of the semester ever. :) Hmmm, big leap in a condition that I can't bounce back from. Going out every single fucking night aw yeah alcoholics.

October - Sick for a week from the MT at the end of last month ㅠㅠ. Starting to read a lot from the Yonsei library.

November - Had to start stepping up my studies after the difficulty of midterms as a result of not going to class... Tantrums. HOT JAMES. Cutting someone out of our life.

December - Cam incidents... Last Saturday night -> 십차. Leaving Korea. Home sweet home finally ♥. New York for apartment hunting (hate brokers). NYE in ATX.

Other points of importance:

• Summer made me somehow want to try writing, in spite of the fact that I hate writing assignments.
• My semester in Korea was definitely my most fun and my favorite semester I've ever had in my college career. And I really don't think any semester after it will be able to top it.
• Main thing that contributed to my great semester in Korea was meeting Cameron. I haven't connected with someone so well ever since high school, meaning it's been 3 years since I've made a true new friend. I miss our 4-hour-long dinners at Taco Bell, our quoting every show we watch together and no one ever getting us, our intense trolling forever, our theme song, our late-night GS runs, our being the same person always. I'm so bad at keeping in touch with people if I'm not gonna see them, so I really hope that I can maintain our friendship even apart.
• This whole year has been great but has seriously made me realize that while the world is vast, diverse, and thrilling, I can live nowhere but America. I'm grateful I got to visit all the different places, but I've also learned about myself culturally during this year- that I'm Chinese-American, and the melting pot of America is the only place that I can assimilate well.

2012 RESOLUTIONS

This year will be dedicated to the career search. I'm still crossing my fingers for a spring internship, and applications for summer internships will have to be tackled before I know it. Then I better be working in the summer for sure, and then I'll be a college senior. I'll have to start figuring out my post-grad career prospects and really enter the real world for real this time.

The thing is, with every big milestone in my life, I keep noting it as "finally entering the real world," but I don't seem to realize that I've always been in the real world. Life is the real world.

1. Be confident, work so hard, and make great connections at my internship(s). I tend to be shy when it comes to working with people I regard as authorities, so every time I've had a job, I've been such a nonexistent force. Not even a force. I can't be like this when it comes to my future. I need to be myself (ok not too much myself), I need to be somewhat chummy with everyone, and I need to be liked enough to be hired for a real job.
2. Wake up for Chinese at least 3 days a week. I have classes at 8:00am four days a week, and while I can't guarantee that I'll be able to make it to every class, I think it's about time that I actually wake up in the AM. This is my active resolution to target my actual goal of improving my Chinese once and for all. I want to be able to write an email to my cousin in Chinese at a rate higher than 1 word/min.
3. Eat at least 2 servings of fruit a day. I eat so unhealthily because I just tend to choose what I want to eat instead of what I should eat (sigh college), so baby steps. I actually love fruit, so I shouldn't have an excuse not to eat it. I should eat fruit whenever I watch TV out of boredom because boredom eating is mindless, and I can at least be healthy about it.
4. Work out in the fitness center for 1 hour at least once a week. I never work out. Baby steps.
5. Do at least 15 sit-ups a day. My belly has expanded so much this past year because I just haven't cared.
6. Dedicate one hour a week to writing. I find myself with a lot of free time in spite of everything, but when I could be doing something productive like reading or writing, I waste time instead by clicking all over Facebook or browsing iwastesomuchtime.com. I need some sort of creative outlet, and I've really wanted to try writing, so if I just niche out an hour each week, it would be ideal.

Bahhh, boring normal resolutions, but this year I have to really start cracking down on improving my way of life. I don't really want to grow up, per se, but I feel like I can feel a lot better about myself while still being young.

Liz Lemon is my hero

Holy fuck it's me

The last of Korea

Bear with me. I'm trying so hard to keep all my memories archived here, even if it's out of order.


I ended up going to Ark Lounge to meet up with everyone that very last night I had in Seoul with everyone after I wrote that entry, despite the fact that my exam was at 9:00am the next morning. I had begun to write a good-bye letter to Kayla, but right as I wrote "Dear Kayla," the tears just wouldn't stop. I knew I had to go out and see everyone or else I would regret it.

Luckily, Daniel hadn't met up with everyone yet, so I had a buddy to accompany me. Daniel and I headed into Sinchon, and I tried to justify this trip out as a food run because I was quite hungry at the time as well. We grabbed 치킨 from 마미즈 and sat on the steps of Ark Lounge, watched everyone on the screen, and ate 치킨. I turned to Daniel and said, "I am glad to be spending my last night sitting here, creepin' on our friends, and eating chicken. I regret nothing."

Everyone soon realized that I was just sitting outside, so they came out to see me and tried to convince me to go inside and see everyone. I didn't want to pay 10,000 won to go in and not drink though, since I was just gonna say bye and go in 15 minutes. However, the owner noticed I was there (out of familiarity- yeah 단골) and let me in for free. Love Ark Lounge forever.

I cried saying good bye to Brian and Andrew and everyone else. I didn't know what to say at all for parting words. There was a lot of "Well, I guess this is it. It's been fun," but I guess it was better than nothing, and then I went home.

The next day I amazingly woke up in time for the B. Law exam and walked there with Patrick. We took the exam, felt really good about passing it, and headed towards Sinchon to grab lunch. Right when we stepped outside, it started snowing. Walking through campus as petals of snow fell on our heads was such a nice way to leave Yonsei.

I went back to SK and checked out. I then helped Cameron pack because we're married. Our last lunch in Seoul was Burger 'n Shake. Around 3pm or so, we decided to leave for Incheon.

It was kind of perfect how Andrew, Sookhee, Brian, Mable, and Jihye were the ones to see us off, the original group. They helped us/me bring our suitcases down to the taxi, and then we said our goodbyes. Even though this was the absolute last time, we actually didn't shed any tears (err, minus Sookhee). It might have partially been because all the tears were already shed the night before, but we had grown so accustomed to the fact that we would never be able to hang out the same way ever again that I think we had finally accepted a mature farewell. It was perfect.

INCHEON: December 21-22, 2011

Oh god that hotel. Incheon Airport Yeong Jung Bridge Hotel is a no-no. We were in the middle of fucking nowhere, everything was under construction, there were barely any acceptable restaurants, there was no public transportation, there was no complimentary toothbrush or toothpaste, AND THERE WAS NO INTERNET. We couldn't even pay for Internet because the hotel just didn't fucking having it.

So we napped til midnight.

Well, I woke up at around 8:00pm or so and worked on my cover letter for Gersh and then played Mahjong Titans... for a few hours and then decided to wake up Cameron at midnight so that we could grab "dinner" aka make a 7-Eleven run. We each bought ramen and that microwaveable pasta that I always saw in GS and brought it back to my room to eat.

It turns out there were also no microwaves, so we couldn't eat the pasta f our lives.

So we sadly ate our ramen only and watched Sex and the City, Friends, and Taken on TV because they were the only things in English. It was a really low key night, but of all people, I'm glad I got to suffer through the desolateness with Cameron or else it would've been unbearable.

The next morning we caught the 9:00am shuttle to the airport together, even though Cameron's flight was at 8:00pm that sweet thang. After checking in, we grabbed lunch together at Burger King and then it was time for me to get to my gate.

My gate ended up being in a different part of the airport, a part that I would have to take a shuttle train to, a part that you couldn't access if your gate wasn't there, a part that Cameron's gate wasn't in. We couldn't do anything about it, so oh well. We could accept it. We had to accept it.

I tried so hard, so hard to not care, to brush it off, to be completely cool about leaving, but right when I was about to say a simple "good-bye" to Cameron, the tears started rushing out and I wrapped my arms around Cameron and would not let go. I stayed there crying, telling him that I wouldn't ever see him again because I'm so terrible at keeping in contact with people, that I don't ever want to leave him, that I'm going to miss him so much. We stood there with our arms around each other and I kind of wanted to stay like that forever.

But I had to go home. Life had to go on. And so I left him.

As I turned to enter the threshold of the special gate people, I tripped over my suitcase.

And thus ended my semester in Korea.

The last of 2011

I'm so sad that I haven't been able to write recently, but I'm happy that it's because I've been having too much going on to find time to sit down and write---Wait.

My new laptop is not the entertainment PC I picked out = no super awesome speakers AND NO FUCKING BLUETOOTH.

Jetlagged forever for the first few days I was back in Texas. Had to buy a last minute plane ticket to NY to find a new apartment. I'm glad I got to have a super chill night of chatting on my bed with Lauren, Callie, and Jordon and a nice long lunch at Panera with Iris before I left for the city for the first time in a year.

To be honest, I kind of dreaded going back to New York because it represented everything that I wanted to escape: the reality that I am alone in this world, the classes that I don't super want to wake up for, the future that I must figure out on my own. But when I landed and stared out the window in the taxi to Manhattan, I was overcome with the magical presence of the city with the skyline of the Empire State building, the Chrysler building, and all the buildings. I remembered what drew me to this city in the first place, and I knew I could muster the willpower to make it through this.

To sum up the 4 days in New York that I don't care to talk about:
-I hate dealing with brokers.
-Manhattan is so fucking expensive to live in.
-I've missed having everything within easy walking distance.
-I really really really still want to live in East Village and do not mind paying the $3500 monthly rent for the triplex I loved on 10th Street, but alas, a rooming situation is based on compromise and I will be living in Financial District for the year of 2012. ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-I am not allowed to shop for the next few months or so after the shopping I did in those 4 days.

December 30th was a blessed day for me:
-Got all my apartment shit together
-Got to know the area that I was going to be living in
-Found the pair of shoes that I wanted (and am forever thankful to the nice Asian lady who sold them to me for half off- ♥ Racism ♥)
-Finally got to buy my plane ticket back home to my beloved Texas
-Treated myself to Blue 9 & a full-priced NY movie ticket to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (which made me realize that I am not smart enough to enjoy films.)
-Packed and rested peacefully for my 5:40am flight the next day.

AUSTIN: December 31, 2011 - January 2, 2012
I landed in Texas at 8:30am and had to start packing for the impulsive trip to Austin with Lauren and Jordon. We left for the road trip at around 2:00pm and grabbed Jack in le Box to go. Yay for the Jumbo Deal being back.

When we got to Austin, we made an HEB run to buy champagne, cider, and lemons for our NYE festivities. Callie later joined us and we all chilled in Lauren's really nice apartment playing Trivial Pursuit. Then we grabbed a late dinner at Kerbey Lane.

Now it was time for our NYE festivities to start, and what better way to celebrate than with a super quick game of team Trivial Pursuit while sipping on Woodchuck ciders? We popped open the bottle of champagne at midnight with little fanfare. Bah champagne- still don't like it, just like I don't like wine.

We then sat around, chatted, and FB-stalked as Lauren and Callie smoked and I took four tequila shots and couldn't get drunk (To quote Cameron: "thx 2 Korea"). We had our sleeping arrangement planned out earlier in the day, but when 4:00am rolled around and I was ready to hit the sack after running on 5 hours of sleep, we all just crashed in Lauren's room and shared the two twin beds.

The next day I woke up at 9:30am somehow, so I did crossword puzzles and Sporcled for a while until everyone woke up and we headed out to lunch at Ming's. Then we wandered the UT campus, checked out the turtle pond, and chilled in the empty fountain.

We went back to the apartment and just sat around talking until we went on another HEB run to buy ingredients for dinner. I showered when we got back and then rewatched a couple episodes of Parks and Rec over dinner. We then attempted to play the Arrested Development drinking game, but it didn't pan out as we wished it to, and we ended up just watching episodes without drinking. Since that kind of failed, we played a few Korean drinking games (which everyone couldn't really get into :( ) + Thumper + King's Cup + Poker (~Hold'em AND 5-/7-card stud~) until I got tired around 3:30am and went to bed.

The next morning I woke up at a more reasonable noon hour and we all left random videos on each other's FB walls and then headed out to Whataburger for lunch. We then went by Carolyn's apartment for a bit, that cute little place, and shortly after, packed up to go back home.


The drive back was one of the most fun 3-4 hours ever. Lauren and I blasted music to sing along to the whole damn way, and there was not a lull in the affair. 90's music is always the way to go.

I got back home just in time for dinner. Then I proceeded to plan a hangout with Fang, and we eventually decided to go to Denny's at 11:00pm with Lauren, and I finally got to eat my long-awaited Chicken Fried Steak + Eggs meal. ♥ :9999

I forgot about my love for Jeopardy (!!!), but it was reawakened by Lauren who nudged us along at around 1:00am to make it home in time for it. BUT Fang is lame and doesn't like Jeopardy (OR Trivial Pursuit OR Catchphrase WHAT IS HIS LIFE), so I had to drop him off at his house. Then we went to Lauren's house and watched Jeopardy and Friends while I eventually got distracted by Angry Birds curse Lauren for making me download it

That was yesterday.

And that's why I haven't been writing.