do something.

departing from the usual, here are some ways to do something about the tsunami disaster in SE asia. awareness is great, but let's not just talk about it. instead, do what you can - take action.

American Red Cross

World Vision International

Salvation Army

UNICEF

MercyCorps

and if you just feel like donating through amazon.com, click here. the total collected through amazon.com is $3,705,797.33 and rising.

all links take you directly to the donation page - you don't even have to search for it.

making butter on christmas eve



in the great tradition of many christmas eves past, we [me, wendy, josh, chun, and joe] found ourselves at shari's. it was a fun reminder of youth group days back when a whole bunch of us would be gathered at random places on christmas eve, hanging out. the photo above is a picture of butter making goodness using half & half. joe said that if you shake the creamer container, it becomes butter. so we each picked one up and started shaking. and then joe says it takes 45 minutes. most people would've probably just quit, but what do we do? we keep on shaking. i think we shook for a good 20 minutes before we started giving up, one by one. but we did indeed find little buttery looking chunks. we put in on a cracker and made josh eat it. haha.

i hope you all had a merry christmas!

i updated the following in photos:

summer 2003

fall 2003

more photos from last summer/fall.

christmas is less than a week away! i've done half of my christmas shopping already...and the rest will be completed once i'm back home. i do love that malls and stores stay open until 11pm the week before christmas. there's something a little bit fun about walking around target or the mall so late at night, past normal operating hours.

friday night, my church volunteered at the union gospel mission in pioneer square. we were there to serve food and sing christmas carols. we were a bunch of sorry carolers. we didn't sound bad, but we did butcher a few songs here and there. pam joined in on the fun and was part of the food serving line. at one point, both of us were put on guard because one guy was hanging a little too close for comfort. he looked thin and pale and a little mentally/emotionally unbalanced. he asked me if he could come over to my house. at this point, i probably should have moved, but instead, i politely said, "no, that's not a good idea" and kept on singing. then he asked me my name and i introduced myself and asked him for his name. why? it seemed the polite thing to do. inner alarms again said i should've moved to safer locations. but no...i try to tough it out hoping he'd move on and leave. no such luck. but, one of the UGM dudes comes by and is like, "buddy, you're in the way." i see my opening here and find myself a new place to stand. except the run-in with the dude, it was a lot of fun. some people joined in and sang with us, or clapped their hands. we did get lots of compliments and cheering. they were too kind. :)

later, pam and i woke dennis up and we went to the hi life in ballard. i had some yummy overpriced scallops. then mark, chris, and david joined us for some more fun.

saturday was my day off, but i woke up super early [earlier than i wake up to go to work] to go to the mall to pay a bill and then to christmas shop a little. later, i met up with pam, rob, and mark for lunch at costas opa, by the fremont bridge. after lunch, we walked around there for a little while and sat in the music store playing with random stringed instruments and the must-have gong. afterwards, we headed to pochi's where i got to play one round of othello [which i won] before i left for dinner with melissa. it seriously felt like i was eating all day. i felt sick after dinner when we went to see spanglish, which wasn't great, but it was good and it had its moments. then it was back with the seattle-portland gang - they were watching harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban at dennis's roommate's posh condo. 'twas a long day.

today was a volleyball tournament and a surprise party for my pastor, the latter of which i didn't make it to. i anticipated being able to go after the games, but i guess the party was pretty short. our team played well and we had fun, even if we only won one match out of the three. and just a little bit ago, i took pam and rob on a walking tour of the UW campus and a small portion of the Ave. and now, i'm tired. i want to sleep, but it's only 7pm. so instead, i'm going to uvillage to run some errands and walk around a little, and that's ok, because i love uvillage at holiday time.

yay, good news! i came home to find the following in my e-mail inbox:

Cumulative WEST-B Status
WEST-B Requirement: Complete

Reading: Passed

Mathematics: Passed

Writing: Passed

this was the 4.5 hour test where i was still writing my last paragraph in the writing section with 1 minute to go before time was up. out of the two tests i've taken so far, this was the longer, but easier one. the other, well...i'll have to wait and see. now, i just have to work on finishing my applications.

sometimes, people just need a good beat down and a swift kick in the ass.

last night, siobhan, garrett, heidi, and i went to see the audio biography play at the crocodile cafe. the decor was definitely on the dark side, and i don't mean lighting. there were paper maché snakes and reptiles all over the ceiling and a very large paper maché red face mask with black horns. you can draw your own conclusions about that one. it was a lot of fun, especially when we went to talk to abe after their set. and maybe because it was late and i was tired, i asked abe if i could have their set list (pictured above) in my best teenybopper/tiger beat/valley girl attitude and voice (and believe me, i do this voice very well). and then i proceeded to badger him with inane groupie like questions. it was super entertaining. did i mention heidi and i were on the list? thanks abe - you rock, man!

you're sitting in a room taking a test and the question is about charles darwin and where he did his observational studies that led to his evolution theory. your choices are:

a) Australian Outback
b) Hawaiian Islands
c) Galapegos Islands
d) South African Jungle

what do you pick? my first instinct said the answer was "c" but then, of course, i had to go and second guess myself...so i'm thinking... darwin... evolution... monkeys... i'll pick "d" - should've gone with my first instinct. honestly...south african jungle...stupid. this is just one slice of my test taking experience in preparation for applying to grad schools for education programs. can't wait to see my scores in a few more weeks - i'm just hoping i pass so i don't have to take them again...except we haven't been able to figure out what constitutes a passing score.

happy thanksgiving!

che and i spent the better part of tuesday morning at ikea. after my fall cleaning, i decided that i needed to get better shelving units and a cute little square end table. i couldn't find any shelving units that i liked, so i'm thinking of just asking my dad to build one the next time i go home. i did get my little table and i picked up a new floor lamp. it's the same as the one i've had, but it has one new feature - a reading lamp with it's own switch! yay! we stopped by costco and target and then went to visit chris and dave. the rest of the evening was spent watching the WB and election coverage. the WB was way more entertaining than the commentary from political analysts/strategists on CNN.

sporadic blogging. i recently decided to organize and tidy up my room. for those that have seen it, there was a lot of clutter and piles of stuff sitting around. i moved some things around and threw out some junk and it felt good! i now have more open floor space and it is lovely. i found some fun items from a few years back and i'm ready to make some mischief. :D

veronica mars. tuesdays on UPN at 9pm. watch it.

i got free batteries with my target visa. a 15 AA pack of batteries. how great is that?

ruth is in seattle working, so we went to pochi's yesterday, and today, had dinner at pf chang's and then pigged out at the cheesecake factory for dessert. and now i have lunch for the next two days. yay!

i'm such the tool. i drove out to issaquah this morning to go to work, and it turns out, i had the day off. i mixed up my days off and had to do some creative schedule shifting so that i can go to portland next weekend as planned. well, at least i woke up early, otherwise i'd probably still be sleeping. and i went to target and got free batteries with my REDvantage target visa. i love the target. get a target visa because you get free stuff weekly and they give money back to schools of your choice. yay!

in addition, i played volleyball for like 4.5 hours yesterday. my team's league played at 5:30PM and we weren't great. it was a bad day all around. then one of the teams in the next league that started at 7:30PM was short a girl player so they asked if any of us could stay and play. i volunteered. and i'm paying for it now because everything hurts. it was really fun playing with the team in the upper division and they were all super good. i totally could not hang with them, but they let me play anyway. how nice.

[edit]
anyone know the scoop on this phone?

on top of everything else, aol is taking away my screen name because we cancelled their service. my screen name originated with aol, so back it goes to them. those jerks. now i have to be creative and get a new one.

last week my car was having problems starting. i was hoping it would go away, but instead, it became a more frequent problem. i took it in to have it checked, and of course i need a new starter and a new battery. at least now, the car does start beautifully.

i watched a new show on bravo, manhunt (the guys version of america's next top model) with christine, kelvin, and isabel. i have never seen so many guys just begging to be mocked mercilessly. the egos on this show know no bounds, plus these guys are so cheesy and smarmy. now, of course, we're hooked.

i went to work out at 24 hour fitness downtown today. i went last week too. could this be the start of something? cue mysterious music please...

you forget to read someone's blog/xanga for one day, and everything big happens. congratulations to christine and kelvin on your engagement! :D

the ringing in my ears has decreased, but sadly, i think i'm sick. my throat is all closed up and it hurts to swallow. this can not be a good sign. bah. but today was my birthday. i got cards, text messages, voicemails, verbal birthday wishes, etc. it was nice. my bank, washington mutual, sent me a birthday card too. and, the tellers at the local greenwood branch signed it. how weird/nice is that? i enjoyed a lovely potluck dinner with my 2:7 Bible study group and then a tea time/happy hour with "the family."

i think the best part was getting voicemails from my mom and dad. normally, my parents tend to forget our birthdays until we remind them. so this is the first year since i've been away from home that my dad has called to say "happy birthday" without me calling home first to remind him. it's the best present i could ask for.

i'm exhausted. making efforts to be hip and young is so tiring. i truly am an old lady.

friday night, siobhan and i were determined to go out for happy hour, even though we were both tired after watching eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. we went to mccormick's fish house on 4th and james street. we left a little after midnight, a fact of which we were quite proud, though by most standards, this was an early night.

i had saturday off from work, thank you issaquah salmon days. i slept in and shiv and i made lunch - a yakisoba experiment - and i then i made her watch walking tall. and she liked it. ha. later i went to barnes and noble and browsed for books. being around and near books is quite relaxing. i met up with heidi and sherwin for dinner near chinatown, at this japanese restaurant that was so good. we loved it! then i went and had coffee with pam in west seattle where we chatted and planned. it was a full day of activity.

sunday, i slept in again - thank you SFCC for having noon services. it was our annual church/members meeting with voting and stuff like that. i used to like these meetings, and then one year, there was some heated arguing and i decided that i do not like church politics and these types of meetings. the last two years have been without fanfare, so it's not too bad. i had to duck out before they were officially finished to make it to my volleyball game. another season has started and it's fun. i am, however, really, really sore. later, i went to dinner with grace, joe, siobhan, chong, amy, june, and mike at azteca. it was nice having grace in town to catch up and hang out, and of course, joe too :)

last night, some of us went out to graceland to support the audio biography, rockstar abe's band. they played with autumn sonata, cody who, and headliners the four colour process [i'm pretty sure the guitar player was in a few of my spanish classes at UW]. it was a fun show and as a result, i think that i might have sustained some serious hearing damage. i'm still hearing ringing in my ears. i'm also sure last night was the first time graceland had seen that many asians.

and today, i bought aladdin on DVD and received a free abu plush toy, not to be confused with apu, the squishie man from the simpsons.

lastly, steamed buns. say it out loud. it's funny.

sunday morning i went to breakfast with my friend jessica and got to meet her boyfriend. he's artsy cool, but not in that weird artsy way. the dude has the biggest collection of cds and vinyl records i have ever seen. after breakfast, i packed up my stuff and drove up to seattle, just in time for christina and matt's wedding downtown. there were a lot of people there, something like 400. and... bob sapp was there! i actually had no idea who he was, until amy said that he was like super famous in japan. according to IMDB, he's going to be in elektra and the remake of the longest yard. amy was pseudo-stalking him at the wedding. the wedding was fun and ended with the couple leaving by way of horse-drawn carriage. it was quite the exit.

earlier this evening, i called andy to see how his first day went. it sounds like he's having a good time. he was telling me how he's not getting trashed. then he pauses, and then starts to explain what "trashed" means. oh my goodness...i'm not a fossil, i know what "trashed" means. jerk brother. i am not old and i am not out of touch! i shake my fist at you andy sun.

i love board games. not everyone loves to play board games, and that is sad because they are SO MUCH FUN! i was at jeana's until 3AM playing cranium and taboo. it was boys against girls, because boys always seem to want to play boys against girls, and they always seem to think that they'll win. the girls [soojin, jeana, and me] beat the boys [george, john, and paul] two out of three in both cranium and taboo. it was a lot of fun and there was lots of laughing, which is really the best part of playing any game.

yesterday, i visited eugene and helped both mike and andy move into their living quarters for the next year. andy's dorm is pretty much like a lander hall dorm, prior to the remodel. so it's small, but not too bad. it hasn't really hit me that all of us don't really live at home anymore. it's a little weird, but i'm sure it's weirder for my parents. now when i come home on my random visits, they won't be here, unless it coincides with a school break. sad.

you know how on really, really long days, stuff that happened in the morning may seem like it happened days ago? today was that kind of day. i woke up at 7:15AM to take wendy, pam, and josh to the airport. even with the extra time, we were cutting it pretty close. i couldn't go back to sleep after i got home, so i watched gilmore girls and one tree hill. i love my wb teenybopper shows. i got to have lunch with my family and we did some last minute pre-college shopping for mike and andy. then, after all of that, i got to see first daughter for FREE because of a bunch of free passes. my friend jeana was supposed to go, but couldn't make it. so guess who i saw the girly movie with? 4 guys who they claimed that they only went because it was free. those who knew katie holmes went because she was in the movie. but everybody loved it!

on my way home, i was thinking about how i will be waking up early again tomorrow to drive down to eugene to send mike and andy to school. they're going to have so much fun being down in eugene together. the last couple of times i've been home, we've stayed up watching movies, eating, and hanging out. i have learned that my brothers, and extended members of the family, are such freaks. they're all weird. i suppose that is why we have such fun. living away has definitely given me a greater appreciation for my brothers [and the various assortment of extended family]. they used to be little pests. now they're punks, but funny punks.

i went to the puyallup fair on sunday. prior to this momentous occasion, i had never been to the puyallup fair. it was fantastic! it was all about the food - walla walla onion burgers, fried snickers, funnel cake, roasted garlic butter corn, and the famous fair scones. it was sooooo good. i love fairs, but most of the time, the people that i'm with do not want to partake in the fair food, fair games, nor fair rides. all of this makes me sad, since you really go to the fair just once a year. but this time, it was food, games, and rides!!! i didn't have my camera, but kristie had hers. and the weather held up quite nicely for us. i even won prizes, a small pink pig that has gray ears and a green snout. it's ugly, so ugly that it's almost kind of cute. and from skeeball, i went home with a scary looking tigger knock-off. yay fun!

i drove down to portland yesterday morning and made it in time for a late lunch. mike, andy, wendy, and i tried to go to this japanese restaurant, but they closed for midday. next, we tried mio sushi, but they too closed for midday [0 for 2 wendy hsu]. we settled for sushi town, the sadder version of sushiland. we called jeffy to come and eat with us, but he went to sushiland. we discovered that he was in the wrong place, but he decided not to drive out [mike said it was because he was distraught - and this is only funny if you know jeffy]. but we did pick him up to go to dairy queen for free cone day! yay!

later, i went with pam to 24 hour fitness. no, not to work out, although i so need to get back into going more consistently, but for pam to sign up. we decided that everybody there was quite cheery and enthusiastic and that the guy at the front desk was cute. i also discovered that i got shafted with my membership deal. pam got a free gym bag, towel, and gigantic t-shirt. at my sign-up, i got nothing. those jerks. we had dinner and then i took in my first viewing of dodgeball. this was not dodgeball the movie, this was open gym dodgeball put on by the portland dodgeball foundation. it was actually super fun, like back in PE class. a bunch of the guys were playing and apparently, george is the man in dodgeball circles. does anyone remember "pindown" from elementary school PE?

6 gmail accounts up for grabs.

i cut my hair over the weekend. it's so much lighter! yay! i was also given the news that my vision in my right eye has gotten worse. i went from a -4.50 to a -5.25 within the last 4 weeks. now i'm a little sad because i'll have to update my glasses, and it hasn't even been a full year yet.

earlier this evening, i saw napoleon dynamite with pam and dennis. it has a great dance sequence. when i say great, i do not mean that it is well choreographed, or even remotely skilled. it is, however, gutsy and from the heart. afterwards, we carpooled it over to the dragonfish cafe, where chris and david joined the group happy hour fun. i'm finding that the girly drink i had is making me feel very, very, very sleepy.

my blog lies in wait. it's not that i don't have anything to say, it's just that i don't want or feel like saying it.

being able to compartmentalize your life isn't always a good thing. but sometimes, it's the only way you can make it through today, the next day, and the day after that.

red pants are cool.

i still can't get over it. it would have taken all of 5 minutes to look through. arg. now we've created mass hysteria. this totally sucks.

the good news is we found out the thieves didn't take the hard drive, but rather RAM. the sad part is, we've already sent out all the letters informing patients that their info, including the SSN may have been compromised. all of that work, and it turns out that their info is safe. it's a little lame that we didn't find this out sooner [as in taking a much more detailed look through the tower that was violated] and it's also a downer that patients are going to freak [not all, just some] when it's all for almost nothing. technically, when anyone unauthorized enters the office and is near the important info, then it's considered "compromised." oh sigh...if only we hadn't been so flustered and had taken just a longer moment to dig around the open tower... oh well, better safe, than sorry.

it's probably never a good sign to find a big guy with an extra clip of bullets on his belt when you arrive at work in the morning. i get to work this morning and find that sometime sunday evening/monday morning, our office was broken into. we were burglarized. the thief, or thieves, wore latex gloves, leaving no fingerprints. they broke into another store and entered our office through the back hallway that connects several businesses in the building. they busted the back door and stole a laptop out of the exam room and some petty cash from the cash box up front.

the oddest discovery was when i walked into our pre-exam/testing room and found the tower open. we dug around and figured that they ripped out the hard drive. isn't that odd? they didn't steal a single pair of glasses, that we could see, and none of the other computer equipment was taken. it appears to be a very specific theft. that hard drive does happen to contain some patient information, including social security numbers, names, and birthdates - pretty much all anyone would need to create some major chaos and fraud. the detective from the issaquah police department suspects that these bad people are identity thieves. i'm still hoping that they're not smart enough to dig through and access that info, though sadly, it's a small glimmer of a hope. we think that only the last three months worth of patient information is compromised, but there's no way to confirm the amount of exposure. so basically, this sucks - especially for les and teri. bad bad identity thieves - you suck.

hellboy was indeed a good purchase. why? because it's amusing and campy, and i love amusing and campy.

today was a long, but super duper fun day. after church, i stopped by the u-district to pick up singapore fried noodles, also known in some circles as singapore street [or style] noodles. i just knew that i would be able to find a good place to get the noodles from the many asian resources at church. naturally, i was about 15 minutes late to kristie's party, because i seem to be late for everything. if people are indeed able to be defined by their punctuality, then i'm defined quite badly. sad. the food at the party was wonderful and there are lots of leftovers...yay for us at the house! and bowling was lots of fun too because i won a prize for having the most '8s' in my bowling scores. kristie's birthda is 8/8 - see the connection? i was a contender for highest single bowling score with my 139, until kristie's sister stacey demolished my dreams of victory with a 146. after bowling, we went back to the house to eat some more and to play games. we played tribond in teams and kristie's team, which included dennis and me, won! happy birthday kristie! i love games, especially trivia driven games, but not everybody seems to love these types of games as much as i do... :) pictures of the party can be seen here. it's a lot of fun having parties and people over at the house. living in a house is great.

i finally decided to make some time to post up the long promised photos from the wedding i went to a few weeks ago, along with photos of a bunch of other events in july. you can see them here.

i don't have my own place, so therefore, i must content myself with vicariously living through chris and david and their lovely new apartment. yesterday, i helped put together a chair from ikea. i felt quite accomplished.

to add to my accomplishments, i spent the afternoon today in mercer island, with christine, doug, and mia, prepping a whole lot of food for kristie's bowling birthday celebration. it was so much fun. i iced/frosted a layered cake for the first time, and i don't mind saying that i did a really good job.

current media:

jason mraz - various live recordings

dan brown - the da vinci code / alice sebold - the lovely bones

the twilight samurai - a wonderful movie playing at the varsity on the ave.

i can't believe it's already august. yesterday, i spent the afternoon babysitting and the evening at joshua chou's 1st birthday party. dan and erming, the proud parents, had food, games, and a super cute slideshow. i have pictures from the party, and all the other pictures that i've been taking this summer ready to be uploaded. i'm just too tired, so i'll get to it...later. but i did spent monday night painting away at chris and david's new apartment. the colors are super pretty and i had a blast semi-living out my trading spaces dreams.

yesterday, i took the big plunge.  i told one of my employers that i'm planning to leave in september.  she took it surprisingly well.  but she did make valiant efforts to convince me to stay even part-time.  whew.  one down, one to go.

week in review:
tuesday: lunch in the u-district at chipotle with kristie, shiv, and amy nish, followed by ice cream at the mix. kristie and i went to work out at 24 hour. that was me going against my natural inclination to be an asymptote.

wednesday: woke up in major pain - sore muscles...really sore. played volleyball at an open gym at blaine - which only added to my sore muscles.

thursday: went to work and then started the 2:7 series small group with bunches of people. it's really exciting.

friday: after work, claim jumpers dinner to celebrate chong's birthday with cupcake cake and ice cream at the nishimura household and a round of poker with no real money gambled. we were playing for pride...or losing and having to take shame.

today [saturday]: saw before sunset with shiv, helen, tiana, and tiana's friend. afterwards, shiv and i went to chong's house for poker night $5 buy-in. i came in second place and came away from with $15 [my original $5 and $10 in winnings]. woohoo! all in!

i am so tired. it's like non-stop activities, but it's great hanging out with friends. and tomorrow, my cousin gets baptized in lake sammamish. cool.

this was a wedding activity oriented weekend. on saturday, i spent the afternoon at a wedding rehearsal and then dinner afterwards with everyone from the rehearsal. our table was a fun table - so much amusement. after dinner, which was at top gun in factoria, we went to hang out at wing onn and joyce's house for chocolate chip waffles and nutella. we'd had a lot of food at the restaurant, but there is always room for waffles and chocolate. there was a poker playing group while the rest of us were a little more politically minded and chatted about bush and kerry and the november elections. no one is every around to hear the intelligent conversations such as these.

sunday was pretty much all about the wedding from after church and on. melissa and i had to book it to my house and get ready, then get to the church and curl flower girls' hair and set up the programs, the guest book/frame signing, the gift table, and the bubbles for afterwards. we had angela, the super fabulous wedding coordinator, aka monica from friends, who has become quite adept in helping out with all the other weddings (including her own) we've all gone to in the last year or so. the ceremony started late, due to lots of guests getting a little lost, and the candlelighting didn't go as smoothly as planned, only because the wicks didn't seem to be catching the flame from the candlelighters - more evidence that candlelighting is totally difficult and possibly a bad idea. aside from that, the ceremony went great and i think we all got a little misty-eyed when jeanette and lawrence hugged the parents. that part always gets me.

the reception was at salty's on alki and it was beautiful, with a deck and everything. the toasts were wonderful and funny, especially william, jeanette's brother. games were amusing...for us. the food was delicious and the dessert too. melissa and i had to run the gift table at the reception, along with the guest book/frame signing, so we kind of missed out on the cocktail hour of snacky foods and drinks. but, a lovely waiter came by to personally grab some drinks for us and offered us first dibs on the crab cakes and jumbo cocktail shrimp. he quickly became one of our favorite people. seriously, the entire staff at salty's was wonderful. i think they were having fun too - the people at the reception were pretty entertaining. and the dancing... goodness. you get chris, dan, tim, and parker and add a litte bit of drink and it's like lots of funny. i took some pictures, but not as many as wing onn [some 1600]. i'll post up the pictures soon.

so i mentioned that i was told that batteries do not magically come back to life after a period of rest. when abe arrived to help save the day, i decided to try and start my car before using the jumper cables. and you know what? it started! i looked at abe and was like...you (he) lied! he looked at me and was like...you (me) lied! it was pretty funny. apparently my battery does magically come back to life. also, i think we determined that two hours of leaving your headlights on does not drain your battery in its entirety. so instead, we kept the car running and drove it to safeway, where siobhan and i made abe sit in the car with the engine running [to help recharge the battery] while we ran inside for ice cream. then we spent lots of time watching vh1's i love the 90s - 1999. too funny.

my car battery died. my headlights were left on for the last two hours...while i was checking the house for criminals. i've been hoping that maybe turning off the lights and letting my car rest would magically help give new life to the battery. i have been told that this does not happen. i called kristie to make sure she had a set of jumper cables, and she does, but the cables are with her, and she's on her way to portland for a retreat. i called rockstar abe to save the day. abe has been kind enough to agree to stop by after his band practice to recharge the car battery. yay abe!

can i just say...it's pretty scary to come home and find your front door wide open and realize that no one else is home. i combed through every closet and possible hiding place with a swiffer stick as my weapon. some might say that it was excessively paranoid of me, but after hearing cora's story, i take no chances.

i'm an asymptote. years ago, back in high school, when i was loving the math, i decided that i exhibited asymptotic behavior [the definition of anasymptote. in so many pursuits...i get so, so, so close, but never quite there. one example: one morning, after i had decided to try and go running on a regular basis, i got dressed, put on my shoes, and even opened the door to leave the house, when, at the last minute, i wimped out and decided it was too cold and promptly went back to bed. i'm a 24 hour fitness member for the next two years [i think there's a blog entry from july 2003 about how i got roped into the membership] and i haven't stepped foot into a 24 hour fitness since the end of september...so bad. i'm hoping to get back into gym mode...very soon.

it's all about perspective. i have continually asked God to change me. well, by continually, i mean regularly throughout the last several years, but i would not say that it has been a daily request. and change can often be slow-going, as it has been for me, though i suppose some unwillingness to change probably impeded the progress just a little. :) it is a wonderful thing to realize, as i look back on the last 10 years, that i have indeed changed. ok...not as much as i would've thought 10 years ago, and not in the really big things that are obvious, but in the small things on the inside, which make all the difference. of course, that being said, there is still much work to be done - a work in progress, just like everybody else in the world.

it has been so much fun rehashing youth group days with wendy. it has also been quite entertaining recalling all the adolescent drama and ridiculousness associated with all that drama. yet within all of that, there are so many memories, both good and bad, that i wouldn't trade for anything. ok...there may have been one or two that i could've done without, but i suppose they're necessary too, because they've shaped me into who i am now - which could be good or bad...depending on how you see it. :D

so, for the first time, i like being 23. i liked it before, but i think i actually really like and embrace it now. why? because it's pretty darn awesome to be able to start getting over some of my more juvenile tendencies, like, for example, passive-aggressiveness, which is not just limited to juveniles, but extends to asians in general [a total generalization]. and it's a good feeling, bettering my modes of communication. and, it's kind of just great to be able to recognize/be more self-aware [more than before] of my own capacity for immaturity, not to be confused with the kind of immaturity that finds humor in streets named "arbutus" ...hahaha...because i'm so not giving that up because it is just too much fun to be so easily entertained. so...having to grow up...maybe it's not so bad after all.

i just finished watching l'auberge espagnole and now i miss spain all over again. although i didn't live in a shared apartment with other international students in barcelona, so many of the things in the movie mirrored my time in my little granada. the main character, in his narration, says that he had a list of things he wanted to see and do in barcelona that he didn't get to [keep in mind he was there for one whole year]. there was a ton of stuff i didn't get to either, but it's ok, because it gives me a reason to go back, and because i wasn't busy trying to check things off a list, i had time to just be in granada and live there, if only for a month or so. i think more people should spend some time traveling abroad.

from about gmail
4. Is Gmail available in other languages?

During this testing period, the Gmail interface is only available in English. However, we're committed to making Gmail available to as many people in as many languages as possible. And Gmail accounts can already be used to read and send email in most languages (even Klingon).

gmail is most definitely attuned to its audience.

*edit*
i also went bowling today for $.92 + tax per game at sunset lanes in ballard. bowling is even better when 3/4 times i score over 100. and then i bought myself a little treat in the form of batman the animated series volume 1.

here are two pictures from the day trip to bc i took on tuesday.

the second is what it really looked like, with that twilight blue sky. unfortunately, i have an unsteady hand and the camera function that allows this kind of photo needs something like a tripod, hence the blurriness.

and the promised pictures of abe and his cartoon counterpart.


and here's stone and abe at the basketball courts of greenlake:


for my second trip to canada this week, we added the night market:




independence day was celebrated with a bbq down in burien, where kristie is house-sitting. we watched several groups of fireworks from the living room and back porch. bbq was followed by a lovely strawberry log cake created by kristie.

post fireworks, we watched galaxy quest, a movie that is still funny, if not funnier, the second time around.

and today, we [kristie, wendy, dennis, stone, and maxine] visited the central library downtown. it was great. i love libraries and i love books, although i didn't love our uw campus libraries very much while i was a student, except maybe the suzallo reading rooms and some of the allen stacks.



and then there was lunch at bahama breeze down in southcenter and a showing of spider-man 2. i was not disappointed. i absolutely loved it. it's my absolute favorite thing when i get carried away in a good book or movie, when the real and concrete surroundings melt away for a little moment, and i get to pretend that it all could be real. imagination is a wonderful thing.

yesterday was a great day at work. i took my first step toward breaking out of my passive-aggressive asian nature. i unleashed all of my frustrations and anger about work unto my boss, which means that i finally verbalized about the difficulties that many of us at work have been having with the office manager. it felt good to speak up. i think i will try this more often. it's definitely better than internalizing and making myself sick. and plus, it was just a really fun day at work.

we put up our new water cooler and sadly, the water tastes like yucky plastic. so we called home depot and before we could even tell them what the problem was, the man said to run gallons of water through to rinse it out and get rid of the bad taste. we had to think of ways to get large amounts of water into the water cooler and also a way to catch large amounts of water and it's not like we keep buckets lying around for this very reason. we decided on using a watering can and an old brita pitcher. as i watered into the cooler, kelley emptied the water into the pitcher. we decided that our boss les was using this as some kind of competency test. i'd like to think we passed.

wendy arrived in seattle just about when i got off from work. she headed to my house to wait and i found her sitting on my ghetto lawn with a mat. some other people showed up [stone, dennis, and samson] and we sat around being indecisive before heading out to the broadway grill for dinner. rockstar abe met up with us at my house after dinner and we all went to pochi's and then to greenlake for a walk. it was a lot of fun to walk and talk and run from sprinklers in the dark. when we'd made it all the way around, we hang out a little more at the basketball court. we peer pressured abe to stand next to a face drawing because we thought it looked like abe. i'll post the picture later.

wendy and i drove up to canada this morning...late this morning. we met up with chris, david, and jenny and had sushi for lunch. we then met up with wendy and chris's parents in richmond and went to daiso [the second time this week] and shopped a little around the area. for dinner we went to a shanghainese restaurant and then to the richmond night market. wendy's dad said that in all the years he's been in the US, he's never seen that many chinese people. haha. there was an obscene amount of asian people. now we're sitting around chris and david's cute studio apartment watching SNL reruns.

kristie and i drove up to vancouver, bc for a day trip. generally at border crossings, i tend to overshare with the border patrol.

border patrol: what's the nature of your visit?
me: we plan on eating and getting some hair done.
border patrol: you're driving all this way for food? [said with good nature]
me: well, we'll have lunch and dinner. two complete meals.
border patrol: do you have any alcohol or weapons?
me: no.
border patrol: no pepper spray?
me: no, but i do have a small pocket knife on my key chain.

border patrol man has pretty much been laughing at me the entire time...on the inside. but i believe in the "tell them everything" method to prevent being detained and searched, and so far, it's worked. kristie laughed at me too. on the way back, it was pretty much the same thing when we were asked me we were bringing anything back. i listed one egg tart, one cream puff, and some office supply stuff i purchased at daiso...the greatest two-canadian dollar store. the man was like, too much information, but he did wave us on through.

we had dim sum for lunch with chris and jenny and afterwards, we sat at the salon with kristie for a little bit. since we knew she'd be there for at least 5 hours, we walked over to the two-canadian dollar store and to the new aberdeen mall. the mall is very hong kong mall-esque and has fountains that play "shows" like those bellagio fountains in the vegas. we walked around some more in the mall and then paused to have a snack break. we stopped by yaohan before heading back to the salon and crashing in their waiting area. dinner was good and cheap sushi in vancouver with a post-dinner walk around some bc coastline. i was shown this humongoid public pool near the beach. it's gigantic and it's totally for public use. everytime i visit canada, i find more reasons to like it.

i spent the weekend in bellingham at my church's retreat and it was a lot of fun. in all the years i've been at sfcc, i never went to a retreat until this past weekend. i think every year they've held it i've been out of town or unable to go. it was a lot of fun to get to know people in our english congregation that i didn't know very well before. we're not a huge congregation and sadly, there are many people that i still do not know. but, i did get to know one of the girls who attends the mandarin speaking college fellowship better and i found out that she lived in panama for 10 years! so, she speaks fluent spanish. how great it that? i really enjoyed the opportunity to be away from work for a whole weekend. and the speaker had some nice reminders for me about finding God's will, as in, having a balance and not being so consumed with figuring out God's will that we lose sight of the fact that we're where God wants us to be for the moment. like, if we're always looking forward, we forget to live in the present. i liked that. and at the same time, not just sitting back on your heels thinking, oh, whatever i do must be God's will for me since He knows my whole life, you know i mean?

i didn't have to work today, so i went over to james and joana's place to babysit owen. owen is just about 3 months old and he's so much fun. well, all he does right now is lie down like a lump, but, he's very cute, has a mellow disposition, and smiles a lot, especially at girls.

check out the cool hair. his mom says they get a lot of comments about how they've never seen a baby with so much hair...and such cool hair at that. owen and i played with his musical toy, listened to the bathroom fan which calms him if he's fussy, and bounced around a lot. he has recently discovered his fist, which he likes to keep raised, militant style. it's great.

i uploaded pictures from the boston trip, my brother's graduation, and the jason mraz concert. i'll probably write about those things later. i'm not feeling all that bloggy.

i've finally uploaded my photos from spain. you can view them here.

i still have some photos from my trip out to boston and the jason mraz concert. i would just like to say, jason mraz is great. i don't think it's possible for anyone to have walked out of the concert and not been just a little teeny bit in love with him and his music. i think his is the best concert i've been too, not that i've gone to all that many.

i've been back at work since wednesday and it's been good because they've been slow non-patient days. i find that i don't mind being at work as much as i used to. it could be the weather outside that has been so pleasant, or that kelley is back from WSU and working for the summer who can share in my frustrations about the downsides of work, or that i'm still having the mellow vibe i picked up in spain - which goes into hiding when family is around...but more about boston and family later. i love that summer is here! yippee!

do you ever get the feeling that you're assigned to fill a certain role? and that no matter what you do, you can't seem to fight your way out of it? what if you were to suddenly quit your role? what would that do to everything/everyone around you? how would it upset the so-called balance? wouldn't it be interesting to see how things/people would respond to your breaking out of your mold? would they even allow you to escape or would they push you right back in?

i felt more philosophical than usual, which would normally be not at all, well, very little anyway.

i watched super size me this afternoon with my brother andy. afterwards, i couldn't even stand the thought of eating mcdonalds, or any other fast food. andy, on the other hand, couldn't wait to have some mcdonalds for dinner. gross. i could feel myself dying inside just watching morgan spurlock eating all those burgers. i think it shall be long, long, long time before i eat mcdonalds again.

oi. all systems are out of balance. my sleep pattern has been off until maybe last night. my stomach has not been feeling good. yea...still doesn't feel good. my eating habits are starting to normalize. but i'm still trying to eat carefully since my stomach is at war against me. and nothing on my keyboard is where i expect it to be. i had gotten use to the spanish keyboard, which puts the @, ?, /, ', -, and some other things in different places. i think i've actually forgotten where those things are on our keyboards. and, i can't think of the appropriate words in english to express myself. lame. but on the other hand, it is kind of cool to think that i have words to express myself in spanish.

i miss spain. i don't think that it will fully hit me until i start going through my pictures that's i'm not there anymore. ok, who wants to go to spain? i'm already planning my trip back...it will happen.

the beach/coast trip was ill-fated. i should've figured from the way it started out on friday. so i mentioned that i was feeling slightly feverish on sunday...eh...turns out it wasn't just slight. 39 degrees celsius, which after some math conversion turns out to be 102.2 degrees. oi. no wonder my whole self was in pain. i missed out on the david bisbal concert; lauren had to scalp my ticket. and i flew into madrid still a little feverish. i checked into the hostel, taking the metro subway all by myself. i thought i would use my short afternoon to do some shopping. i had done research to find out where h&m and camper shoe stores were. sadly, it didn't matter. as soon as i set foot in a store, i would feel like passing out. so i gave up on shopping and found a bookstore, bought a book, found starbucks, got a fruit drink and sat. and then promptly went back to the hostel to lie down. how sad.

and now i'm sitting at the atlanta airport, where this internet place is totally committing theft by jacking my money in big amounts for little time. i just flew stinkin' 9 hours and i'm telling you now, i hate flying. someone, make those star trek teleporting thingies a reality.

yesterday, i got to go to the coast in almería. lauren's friend, daniel, drove us over and it took about 2 hours. we fell asleep in the car on the way there and on the way back. but we fell asleep to the music of david bisbal and alejandro sanz. awesome. we got there at about 11am and had breakfast and then found a section of beach. we hung out there for a little bit and then went to find daniel's family, who were also at the beach. two of his aunts have beach-front apartments and they are nice. it's like their summer home. i want a summer home. i've gathered that it's really common for spanish people, and europeans in general, to have apartments/houses all over the place. after a quick stop there, at roquetas del mar, we went to another section of coast. the water was salty, but not so much sandy because it was more a mix of sand and pebbles, so we could see to the bottom of the water. and we were lucky, because the water on this particular day, was super clean. after spending many hours outside, we went back to the apartment and made food for ourselves. i discovered that i should've reapplied my SPF 45 because i got burned. and it totally hurt.

around after we ate, we headed back to granada. we all went home to clean up, and then met up for dinner at the italian restaurant at 11:30pm. the restaurant was packed and some spanish women were having a bachelorette party, so they were just crazy, but it was pretty funny. by then, i think i was suffering from being out in the sun, because i was dehydrated, in pain, and couldn't really eat. after dinner, we drove around for a little bit until we decided to get some ice cream at los italianos. it was an italian themed evening.

when i got home, i went straight to sleep, only to wake up an hour later and find myself suffering from chills. i put on a sweatshirt, socks, mittens [i found them in my backpack] and went back to sleep. 2 hours later, i was dying from the heat, so i got rid of all the extra layers and popped an advil with a ton of water. i kept waking up every 2 hours having to pee and feeling hot/cold. this morning, i couldn't even drag myself out of bed. i popped another advil and slept until 1pm. at that point, i was like, i'll feel better if i just get up and do something. i got up to put my contacts in and i was so exhausted and i had to lie down. an hour later, when i could get back up, i brushed my teeth and washed up. again, had to sit back down because it was too much of an exertion. how weak am i? another hour later, i decided that i'd feel better if i did something. it took a massive effort to walk to the internet cafe. after this, i'm going to try and make it up to plaza nueva. and i think my fever has gone away. yay!

ok. i won't lie. i'm a little irritated. i'm already supposed to be at the coast. but, i'm not. we were supposed to leave around 5pm for the coast in almería. it's 9pm and i'm still in granada. lauren's friend was going to drive us after he got off work. i didn't realize that he works in madrid. so right now, he's on the way back. but, he called her a little bit ago to say that now, he doesn't want to go, with no explanation. he promised to explain once he got here, and we don't know how far he is from granada. this would all be fine, if i hadn't been sitting inside all stinkin' afternoon waiting for them to call me to go. and it was a beautiful, sunny, fantastic afternoon. i could have been taking advantage of one of my last afternoons in granada. instead, i was sitting around waiting for them. they called at 3pm to say that we should be leaving by 6 or 7pm, so not to go out. ok...i waited. 8:15pm...umm...there's a bit of a problem. alright, i can definitely appreciate the fact that antonio, lauren's friend, offered to drive us and take us around the coastal area. however, if we knew he was going flake, we would have rented our own car, or grabbed a bus on our own. either way, lauren and i decided we're going to the coast. it'll probably be by bus tomorrow morning or something. grr.

i forgot to mention that another thing i like about granada, aside from feeling much safer, is that i don't have to deal with skeezy boys...much. in sevilla, in the short 36 hours that we were there, we were invited onto an old guy's boat, spoken to [not in a flattering way], and gestured at - by guys of varying ages, including dirty old guys, i'm talking like old. ewww. seriously, do guys here just think that all foreigners are like loose women? it wasn't like super offensive, more like annoying. but, i did want to take a bat to some of them just to say, "stop that." someone needs to teach them. maleducados.

only a few more days left. how sad. i just finished taking my "final" exam. i say "final" because it was multiple choice and only about 40 questions. i chose not to study [read: cram] last night, and chose to go and walk around more of granada, in the northeast direction. so, for having not studied, i think i did well. tomorrow is the last day of class and we're watching a movie. woohoo.

i have to start packing up my stuff because the four salvajes [marian calls them savages and i think it's because they're texas boys...hahaha] are arriving today and i have to switch rooms into marian's room until i leave, that way the guys who are staying for the summer don't have to keep moving their stuff around. this is good anyway, i'll be able to see if i need to buy another bag to carry stuff, though i probably won't since i haven't actually bought all that much for all the times i've been out shopping. eh.

on friday, lauren and i bought our bus tickets to sevilla and got our hotel stuff all worked out. we weren't able to get tickets to isla mágica because the internet wasn't working, which turned out to be divine intervention because when we saw it in person, it was dinky. i was picturing magic mountain proportions, and it definitely wasn't even close, more like the size of the portland rose festival...ok, maybe twice as big as that, but that's it. anywho, later that night, our class had planned to go to a tetería, teahouse, to sample different teas, but when we met up, we decided on tapas and drinks. we barhopped for a little bit and then i went home, since i had to be up by 6am the next morning to catch the 8am bus to sevilla. [ok, i don't know if it was really barhopping the way other people barhop, we just went to 3 different places to try different tapas.]

saturday morning, i dragged my tired self out of bed and met up with lauren to catch the bus to the bus station. the trip was about 3 hours and they showed john q in spanish. i had to try and not cry, as i was on a bus full of people, but i pretty much failed. it was pretty darn sad - the movie...and i suppose me too. we arrived in sevilla around 11am and caught a bus to our hotel, where we checked in and made a game plan. we decided to do the big double-decker red bus city tour, which took us around to la plaza de españa, a government building [i think], la catedral de sevilla, el real alcázar, la plaza de toros, la torre de oro, over some bridges, and around isla mágica. this is where we were glad the ticket buying process didn't work out as we were very much disappointed upon seeing it. we got on and off the bus to look at the different areas as we wanted and spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the center of sevilla and shopping. that pretty much took up the entire day. we stopped a couple of times to have bocadillos [baguette type sandwiches] and ice cream. one of the many things i love about spain is that there are heladerías [ice cream places] on every corner, like starbucks in the US, but better because it's ice cream. we went back to the hotel briefly to sit and rest because we were exhausted from walking around all day in the hot sun. we went back out again for tapas and drinks and as we were walking home, there was a shifty looking character who had walked past us, and then decided to turn around and walk in our direction. needless to say, we walked much faster and turned onto a highly populated street. mr. shifty then went another direction. i liked sevilla, a lot, but i feel so much safer in granada. granada just doesn't feel as sketchy as sevilla.

the next morning, sunday, we slept in, checked out, stored out bags with the hotel, and went to visit for free the insides of la catedral [free because it was sunday] and el real alcázar [always free for students]. both were fabulous. after that, we went to la plaza de toros because they do short 20 minute tours and take you to see the bullring and let you sit in the stands and explore a little bit, but we were too late. they had finished giving tours for the day because there was a bullfight that evening. so we had to make do with just looking at the gift shop and taking pictures of the outside of the building. we hopped back onto the tour bus one last time before we went to some pizza. after that, we got our stuff from the hotel and caught a bus to the bus station. once we got off the bus, we got a little lost and had to be pointed in the right direction for the actual station. we thought we were going to miss the last bus back to granada, but lucky for us, our bus was late. on the way back, they showed pirates of the caribbean. it was fun to watch in spanish. we arrived in granada at about 10:30pm and the only thing i wanted to do was shower and sleep. that's how tired we were - our whole bodies hurt, from head to toe. we had burnt scalps and blistered feet, but it was so worth it. lots of pictures were taken, so there shall be lots to see, mostly of places, not so much people. i need to start taking more pictures of people.

the spanish plants have waged a war, and i have lost. i've been going through kleenex like crazy. all of a sudden, i'm sneezing every 5 seconds and wiping the snot from my nose. how attractive an image is that?

i just finished having lunch, well we finished eating awhile ago, but we just left the restaurant. as a class, we went out to il gondoliere, an italian restaurant, as a good-bye gesture for one of the people in class, samuel, this really nice 60-70 year-old grandfatherly guy. it's us, a bunch of young 20 somethings and samuel. it's awesome. he has a lot of latin american vocab that he shares with the class. he's heading to france after class tomorrow and then back to the states.

day after tomorrow, i'm going to sevilla...wahoo. and the weekend after, a drive to tarifa, stopping along different coastal points. our plan is to rent a car and make our way over after our last day of class. i love how we keep changing our plans - because we can.

there's a pack of cigarettes sitting in the right pocket of my fleece jacket. it goes against every fiber of my being to allow it to sit there. marian, my homestay mom, asked me to buy her a pack of cigarettes on my way to the internet cafe. i could tell her that smoking is incredibly bad for her, but i don't know her well enough to say that. and so, for the first time ever, i have purchased cigarettes. lame. i feel all yucky. ok, i don't really, but it still is lame.

i spent the afternoon sitting outside having tapas and planning my trip to sevilla with lauren, becky, and becky's flatmate, anna. we're so excited! and we decided that for sure, the next weekend, my last weekend here, we're going to the coast. that trip was looking kind of iffy since lauren is headed back to england the same time that i'm headed back to the states and she's got tons of stuff to pack. but we're like, it's our last weekend in spain, we're going to make the most of it. and with that mantra in mind, we went shopping and bought university of granada gear, as if we were real UGR students, and finished the day with gelato at an italian place, where the names are actually in italian. shopping and ice cream...ha..i love it. and there shall be plenty more shopping and ice cream before we're through.

i never made it to the park yesterday. libby and i somehow ended up at the internet cafe for almost 5 hours. 5 hours! goodness. she had a good excuse...she was looking up summaries of a play to help with her final exams. i have no idea what i was doing.

i bought some cds today - bootlegged, pirated cds. and they're not even like pirated ones that have like crappy imaging on the cd, they're just like cd-rs stuck in sleeves with a color copy of the actual cd insert. awesome. i got chambao, alejandro sanz, david bisbal, and ramón - the last two being more cheese, yet catchy.

i found out today that four guys from the university of texas will be moving in on the 27th [libby is leaving friday morning for málaga for her flight to germany and the rest of her summer european travels]. the letter the program sent to marian [my homestay mom] describes the guys as all more or less bio/engineering guys who are like 20/21. libby and i were trying to figure out if they would be nerds, or crazy party animals. we shall see.

if anyone knows if it's possible to rent/download telenovelas [like korean soap operas] from anywhere, let me know. i just realized that i will not be able to see the rest of the episodes from my beloved telenovela before i leave spain. sad.

thursday night, i went out to nuevo cafe with my housemate and a friend of hers from UCSD to hear some live music from an english girl that goes to the centro de lenguas modernas. she played piano and sang. her own music and songs, not that great, but when she sang another person's songs while he played guitar, she was really, really good. and when she did cover songs, she was really, really good. so that was fun, except for the fact that most of the audience was comprised of the more obnoxious americans from the school, including, and i kid you not, the most stereotypical frat boy, who has the voice of a 12 year-old. as mean as it sounds, there was actually something about him and made me want to run up and kick him in the head. i don't often come across people who incite violence within me merely by their presence.

friday, i went to see the prince and me, and it was so much harder to understand because the sound quality was really bad. the theater was also tiny and there was lauren, me, some other people our age, and then like a gaggle of 12 year-old girls who were throwing popcorn at one another and giggling whenever julia stiles and the prince kissed. it was hilarious. the movie was ok, but i get the feeling that we lost the sarcasm and some of the funny/cute stuff in translation. afterwards, we went for tapas and then to the school, where they were having a party to celebrate the end of the course for some of the students in the program. there was a live band, playing some random music and that had hand motions. it was half greek wedding dancing and have that chicken dance. it was kind of confusing too. there were a ton of people in a small space and lots of smoking and beer being spilt. lauren and i were like, ok...let's go home now. her friend paul was having a party later that night, later being like 1am, and we were like...uh...no. on the way home, we ran into two of her welsh friends from university who were visiting for the weekend from extremadura. they had fabulous accents. seriously you guys, i love british people [which i have learned includes scottish, welsh, english, and irish peoples so it is necessary to differentiate.]

yesterday, i went out to walk and shop. i bought postcards, a pair of cute black flats [with a cute little butterflies, instead of the cute tacky flower that the pair i returned had...for those of you that saw...], and some trinkety things. that was how i passed the afternoon and then i went home and watched a little news. later, libby and i went to carrefour, like a wal-mart type store. i loved it. it reminded me of brasil because we went to one there too. we walked there...it was super far, ok, it was only like a 30 minute walk, but it became clear that no one actually walks there since there are few sidewalks to get there. we cabbed it home with our loot. junk food and cheap sandals. awesome.

today is beautifully sunny, and in a little bit, i'm going to go to the park and sit on the bench and enjoy the fact that it's not raining. the garcía lorca park is having a book fair/festival, and i'm hoping that there will still be events, even though it's a sunday and everything, i mean everything, is generally closed, well, except internet cafes. :)

neat vocabulary [spanish = british english = american english]

caradura [literally tough/hard face] = cheeky = nervy

los aseos/los servicios = loo = bathroom/restroom

ascensor = lift = elevator

piso = flat = apartment

cursi = naff = cheesy

anuncio = advert = commercial

vacaciones = holiday = vacation

cola = queue = line

and if you made it this far, here's what garrett calls a "cheap laugh" - lauren was trying to describe a spanish friend of hers to her friend becky, because she was sure becky had met him before. for whatever reason, she was describing him in english and then spanish, and then it turned to spanglish, and she meant to say "he's really flaco" as in really thin, and she said "he's really flaccid" instead. then it went silent, and then becky and i started cracking up and lauren totally went red. cheap laugh of the day.

the butterfly effect was surprisingly enjoyable, but i suppose that's what happens when you have low expectations for something. but since ashton kutcher was in it, i kept waiting for him to jump up and down and yell, "you got punk'd!" actually, all of us were waiting for it. it wasn't as difficult as i thought it would be to understand the movie in spanish, and so, on friday, we're going to what el príncipe y yo, that's right, the prince and me. wahoo.

it is still cold here. i'm no longer going to sevilla this weekend, since i'll be going with lauren, my english friend, and a bunch of her friends that are going next weekend and staying overnight. the coast trip this weekend might not happen either, since the weather sucks, but we decided that we'd do that two weekends from now, and then on that sunday, we're going to see david bisbal in concert. we're such geeks. i love it.

and i got both lauren and elena, my italian friend, hooked on my telenovela. we love it. and we're always like talking about it the next day in class. sadly, i couldn't watch today's episode since my homestay mom's son stopped by and wanted to take a nap on the couch. for whatever reason, he didn't want to sleep in the extra room that marian has. man...doesn't he realize i have my telenovela to watch? :) as wendy pointed out, i'm seth. haha.

in class today, we talked about commercials and slogans. it was an exercise to get us to use different vocabulary. anyway, it reminded me of this super hilarious commercial that is on TV here in spain. it starts with an aerial view of something that looks like the oval office and then it moves in on a clinton look-alike and then appears a monica look-alike and you know what they're peddling? mejillones...oysters/mussels. how funny is that?

anyway, there are days when i feel like i'm totally improving in my speaking ability and then on other days, it's like i can't get the words past my lips to actually talk to another person. oi... but i suppose this is how it always is when you're learning another language, eh?

later, i'm going to see my first movie here in spain, well, at the theater anyway. it's the butterfly effect, you know, the lame movie with ashton kutcher. it's dubbed in spanish so it should be an interesting experience.

and it's raining here...again. boo.

the weather has finally taken a turn for the sunny and warm. yesterday was a beautifully sunny day and i dragged myself out of bed to go on a school field trip to the abadía [abbey] del sacromonte. it was a long walk uphill - very long. along the way, the same teacher/guide from the trip to the albaicín told us about the history of the areas that we passed. so we learned a little about gypsy history in the area and at the abbey, we sat down on benches in the courtyard and it was kind of like a history lecture. it was cool. afterwards, i decided to spend more time outside enjoying the weather. i found el parque de federico garcía lorca, down a few blocks from where i live and spent the afternoon reading and walking around the park. at one end was an area that had playground equipment, but most of the park was carefully manicured plant life. it sort of looks like the rose gardens, except with less rose bushes and there were plenty of shade trees and benches. 'twas quite pretty. sadly, i started to show signs of sunburn and had to go back home. i spent the rest of the evening reading inside and using a lot of aloe vera.

today i slept in late and it was nice, because i've been super tired from the various exploring - plus i think the sun from yesterday is still sapping away my energy. on sundays, pretty much everything is closed, seriously...not even supermarkets are open, only the occasional internet cafe, as demonstrated by my present posting. typically, spanish families go out to parks and hang out and spend time with each other. how great is that? i think the us should adopt this custom of taking a day to spend quality time with one another. i was just walking around outside, after watching the replacements inside and realized that just taking a walk is really nice. the plan is to incorporate this activity into my regular life.

haha...my second weekend in spain and it was spent being mellow and resting. i love it. but next weekend will be busy with a day trip to sevilla and another trip the day after to the tropical coast of almunecar and nerja. and i now that i've spent a week comparison shopping, it's time to buy some shoes, and other fun things. wahoo.

i feel like i've been on my feet all day, oh wait, that's because i have. after my class, i went home for lunch and then at 4pm, the school had a walking trip through the albaicín, an older part of the city with a lot of muslim history. it was beautiful and interesting, but lots and lots of walking, actually, it was more like hiking. after like 2 or 3 hours, i went back home, and then went back out in search of a bookstore, and also to explore the sidestreets a little bit. i found a fabulous bookstore with english books. i didn't buy anything, but it was just nice to have a pseudo barnes and noble experience. after an hour, i went back home and had dinner. after dinner, i went back out again to meet up with elena and peter, from my class, and some of their other friends. they wanted to go out to different bars, etc, but i wasn't in the mood because i'm exhausted. trekking around the city is more tiring than i thought - plus it's still kind of cold here, so i just wanted to curl up in bed. yet, now i'm sitting at the internet cafe again. but it's only because i need to be connected. not having constant internet access like i do back in seattle is weird. often times, i just want to look something up, and then i realize i can't, unless i visit the internet cafe. it's just less convenient. i like convenience - it's comfortable.

tomorrow, more walking - this time to sacremonte, which is further than the albaicín. wahoo. it'll be good though because it's a pretty place. then it shall be resting for the rest of the weekend.

have i mentioned how europe is pretty much the non-smoker's worst nightmare? everyone smokes here. sometimes, i just want to shout, "hey, i'd like not to die from secondhand smoke...so could you put out that cigarette?" or, yell out, "hey, you're going to die!" but that would make me a crazy person here. this is also one of the reasons why going out all the time doesn't hold that much appeal - i hate smelling like smoke. bleh.

it happened. i got hooked on a cheesier than cheesy telenovela [soap opera]. i think it's from venezuela originally and it just finished it's run on univision in the states, but it is just starting here. two episodes, and i'm hooked. just goes to show, i can adapt to tv anywhere. and... a huge popstar here is a guy named david bisbal. he's got like long and curly hair, and to be honest, he's quite cheesy and greasy looking. he's not a bad-looking guy. but, his image, if you will, is like something we'd very much laugh at. it's almost like the look of a greasy playboy type who wears shirts and leaves the collar wide open so that chest hair can spill out. gross. [what's that? you don't see what's wrong with that? erm...i've no words then.] anyway, i totally thought this guy's music would be equally lame, but his song, "buleria" is actually quite catchy. it's almost like ricky martin's "la copa de vida" before he went all mainstream american and thus, lame. and there's this other group, chambao, and they do a style called "flamenco chill." i am quickly learning that there's a number of descriptive words that may be placed after the word "flamenco."

have i mentioned much about my class? i took the placement test and i placed into avanzado A. there are 4 levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and superior and each level has an A and B class. advanced A isn't bad, but i get the feeling i should have placed higher, given the time i spent earning an actual spanish degree. this then leads me to the conclusion that i have forgotten much, or, that i've never actually learned that much at all. how sad. oh well. but, i am happy to report that advances have been made. i am definitely starting to follow along with the newscast and also, i have answered the phone 3 times now, instead of just letting it ring until the caller hangs up. and there's this short program that is on right after the early evening news, and it's with puppets. but they look like various public figures, both locally and internationally, and they're very, very life-like, in a kind of creepy way. anywho, president bush has his own puppet counterpart and he speaks spanish, with a texas accent! it's super funny. i'm going to try and capture a segment with the video function on my digital camera.

earlier this afternoon, i decided to go walking around the city, i was about to say the streets, but that has a bit of a different connotation, doesn't it? anyway, i explored the city a little more and went window shopping. i eyed a whole bunch of shoes that i want to buy and did actually buy una falda [skirt] from a shop called zara. i guess they have a location in new york...who knew? i also found spain's version of sogo, el corte inglés. it's like huge with clothing, shoes, electronics, books, music, movies, toys, food court, grocery store, etc. you name it, and they probably have it. it was fun. sadly, the clothing for the younger peoples are brands like polo, tommy hilfiger, levi's, and lee. there are some other ones, but a lot of them are ones we have in the states and ones from which i do not buy. where's my old navy? anyway, things are kind of expensive here so i might not be shopping as much as i would've thought. boo.

oh, and the other thing that i forgot about in spanish culture, and in latin american culture too, come to think of it, is how you greet people. we americans like to shake hands and maintain and sense of personal space. they don't do that here. they're all about that whole cheek-air kiss thing on both sides of the face. and we know i'm all about personal space. :) it reminds me of being back in brasil, and how i was initially really uncomfortable. haha... i'm learning to not look so spooked when i meet new people and greet them the spanish way. actually, being here has made me miss brasil all over again. i have saudades for brasil.

thanks friends for e-mailing me with tv updates - it keeps me from getting too edgy from the withdrawal...oh goodness i'm like an addict and tv/media, my drug.

new vocab of the day: buitre = spanish for player/guy who thinks he's all that and a bowl of rice to the ladies. buitre is actually a predatory bird that feeds off of the rotting carcasses of other animals - basically, a vulture. nice visual, huh? now...where can i start using that word...

saturday night, i went out with my new housemate libby to have tapas and drinks with her friends who were finished with the program at the language school. i have to say, tapas are good. but equally good are tinto de verano, sangría, and their version of a mojito.

sunday was spent sleeping in. the girls who were leaving came by for breakfast and we all hung out for a little bit. then it was a lot of reading time because it was cold and rainy. i think there was a nap in there somewhere.

monday morning i had a placement test in the morning. in the afternoon, i pretty much sat around the house and read and slept because it was raining like crazy outside. have i mentioned how crazy cold it is here? it's like seattle, y'all. monday was also día de las cruces, day of the cross. obviously, it's supposed to have religious significance, but really, it's just an excuse to go out and party and drink. we went out to look at the different crosses that were displayed in the different plazas, squares. i didn't get to take a picture, but there were just masses and masses of empty liquor bottles everywhere, and broken shards of glass from these bottles too. but amazingly enough, the next morning, the streets were clean. no signs of crazy drunkenness.

tuesday was my first day of class and there was that typical "first day of class" feeling. gotta love that - it's like guaranteed. but of course, we played a game, la oca loca, which is pretty much just an icebreaker, which actually served its purpose to loosen everyone up a little bit. after 4 hours of class, i was starving so i went home for lunch. have i mentioned how much i love spanish food? tortilla española is sooo good. then it was off to find a bookstore that actually carried our class text. the italian girl and one of the british girls from class, and i went in search and eventually found a place that had the books. then we walked around some more and made plans to meet up for tapas later. the afternoon was spent doing homework. it's funny, being in class now, i've realized how much i actually miss class, and even the homework...a little anyway. i had always just thought that i missed the lifestyle, which i totally do, but i'm finding that i miss going to classes and learning as well. such a nerd am i. anyway, lauren, the british girl, elena, the italian girl, and i met up around 9pm and lauren brought her friend paul, a british guy, and his roommate juan, a total spanish guy. we ate and then went for ice cream. the ice cream is so good. it's pretty much gelato. i went home and had dinner - because spaniards eat dinner at like 11pm - and went to sleep.

today was rainy...again. i am so tired of rain. i mean, i can get that at home, you know? and plus, i packed for warm weather...therefore i'm freezing my toes off. but it is more reason for me to go shopping. wahoo.

the house-mom is really laidback. she's actually gone for a few days at a time because she works occasionally as a tour guide. she preps all the meals and sticks them in the fridge and we just heat it up when we're hungry. she's got two kids, a daughter who is married and a son who lives in his own apartment somewhere in granada. my housemate libby and i agree that he has no business being that good-looking. i mean, he's seriously good-looking. he stops by to visit his mom pretty often, and yesterday, he and his friend dropped by. they disappeared somewhere for like 10 minutes, and then were like, "bye, we're going." a few minutes later, i went to my room to get something, and i'm passing by the bathroom, and thinking, "hey, why is the door closed?" the answer? he and his friend needed to use the facilities. they just dropped in to poop. and even knowing this, libby and i agree that it does not diminish his attractiveness. haha. this is how we amuse ourselves while it is rainy and dreery outside. also, my other amusement, trying desperately to pick up a british accent. i'm even incorporating british words into my vocab and even thinking my thoughts with a british accent. am i a freak? why, yes i am.

this morning [it is now afternoon as we are 9 hours ahead here], i moved into my new homestay room and truly had a chance to settle in. i unpacked my clothes, put away my toiletries, and let out the breath i didn't know i'd been holding in since i arrived. having a more permanent base goes a long way to ease the transition of living here for a month. i was looking at my calendar as i pinned it up and thought, "gosh, i'm not going to want to leave here at the end of the month. it's too short a time." no worries though, in my mind i'm already planning my return trip - any takers? i have realized that americans are not big on travel. i've been told that only 10% of americans actually have their passports. from the australians i've met, i've learned that it's totally common for them to travel for periods of 6 months to years around the world. that's more or less unheard of in the states. hehehe...i love referring to the us as "the states," along with words like flat, lift, and loo - it makes me feel british, or rather as close as i'll ever be to being british. i've also learned that australians can drink like frat boys on steroids. i'm told it's a cultural thing.

there's another student in the program staying at the house too and she's originally from spokane, studying here on exchange from ucsd. by a wonderful twist of fate, she's kinda like me. neither of us are partiers, nor are we overly interested in living it up with the night life here. we've talked spanish politics over lunch and she's given me some insight into life in granada. come to think of it, i've talked about politics more here than ever in my life...maybe. it's neat - intelligent conversation.

i love granada. everybody loves granada. i've not met a single person who doesn't like it. i've heard it said over and over again that people will come and plan to stay for a day or two, and end up here for weeks. there's just something about granada.

right now, i'm at an internet "cafe," though this particular place is more like a campus computer lab with a 7-11 type snack display. it's run by some asian guy and there are lots of other asians here playing counterstrike. when libby, my housemate, told me that, i laughed...a lot. i mean, honestly, how funny is that? in spain! goodness. actually, i'm trying not to laugh out loud at this very moment.

*note that the time shown for my postings is now in granada time*

right now, it is day 2 in granada at the hostel and it is currently 7:40pm on the 30th of april. day 1 was settling in, mostly. i met rosemarie, a korean girl from LA/the OC who graduated from ucla last year. she's been traveling through europe on her own for a week now with three more weeks to go. we discovered that we had both just gotten hooked on korean soap operas because of stairway to heaven, whereas before, we had much disdain for said soaps. haha...small world. there's another girl from the states, from virginia actually, and she's been traveling through spain for quite a while now too. surprisingly enough, i've found a bunch of solo travelers. and people who randomly will decide, "hey, let's travel together." i guess there's like this unspoken hostel code or something, because people here are great. and i've met so many aussies traveling through europe. some are at the beginning of their year-long travels, and some about to end their 3.5 years of travel. it's been cool to discover new things about the different places that people are from. and a lot of them, who've already traveled through most of europe, have told me that they really love granada, that there's something about it that is just different. yay, i'm in a cool city.

anyway, day 1: i found my school, which is right down the street, like 2 minutes away, and figured out all the paperwork stuff and got listings for housing options. hung out in the common room and met some more people and then walked around the city for a little bit. in the evening, the hostel organized a "tapas tour" and that was nifty. i had tinto de verano - something fruity, red, and i think really, really light on alcohol taste, and mosto, which is pretty much white grape juice, and coke. and of course, there was tapas snacking along the way. we were out until 1:30am, which i guess is early by spain standards, but a little late by mine, since i'd been traveling for way too many hours. and then is was a hot shower and precious sleep in a comfy bed.

today, i slept in, had breakfast here, and found a homestay. it's more expensive, but the host mom is way nice. and all meals are included, which i guess balances the higher cost of a homestay rather than renting a flat. and in a flat, i'd be sharing living space with a local student who wouldn't even be around to practice speaking spanish with. in the afternoon, rosemarie and i tried our luck at getting tickets for the alhambra (usually you have to buy tickets the day before), which worked out. we walked up the fatty hill to the top and toured the insides with our audio guides and snapping photos. it was beautiful and from different points, i could see most of the city. we were so tired after 3.5 hours and starving. we found a little cafe with sandwiches. sadly, sandwiches here mean two pieces of bread, a slice of cheese, and like meat paste. but hey, lesson learned, right?

did i mention that the restaurant dude from yesterday that helped me find my way stands on this corner in the plaza nueva like all day/everyday, or something? the first time i saw him on the corner, he was like, "you were looking for the hostel? did you find it?" and as i've seen him multiple times now, it has now become polite to give a head nod/acknowledgement.

my favorite things so far: being able to walk everywhere, the people - who are so warm and friendly, the city itself - because it's not at all a big city, but like a big town. there aren't any skyscrapers, that i can see. it's great. now i need a nap. tomorrow i move in to my homestay house. i get my own room and it's cute...kinda ikea-esque in the bed linens. :)

hola from spain. after many hours of travel, three plane changes, a bus ride, and a little walking (and getting a bit lost along the way), i'm in the lobby of my hostel waiting to check in. i was trying to follow the walking directions from the bus stop and it was going well, except that somewhere along the way, i forgot to take a turn or something. and when you're lost, you start asking people on the street. of course, i thought, hey, i can do this bit in spanish. wouldn't you know, the first person i ask turns out to be british and speak only english, and was like, "i don't understand a thing you're saying love" and promptly kept on going. thanks lady. i eventually tried a restaurant and the guy outside runs inside and drags another guy outside to point me in the right direction.

restaurant dude: ¿hablas español?
lost me: un poco.
first restaurant dude: she speaks english
restaurant dude: oh ok... (and proceeds to give me directions)

his directions lead me to this set of "stairs" which was really just a cobblestone hill. i dragged my luggage up and was still confused. good thing another dude pointed me to my left. i saw it and almost wept with joy. ok, there was no weeping, but there was a "praise the Lord!"

and now i'm waiting to check-in. i love that they have free internet access 24 hours a day. yay! i'm so tired. i think it's actually siesta hour now, but i need to drag myself to the school and finish my admin stuff there and find more permanent housing for the time that i'm here. ok, more later.

there are moments when there can be a sort of awkwardness that hangs in the air. i always want to blurt out, "wow...this is kind of awkward, huh?" but obviously, that would make it worse. so instead, i think it in my head and smile to myself - like my own private joke.

- - -

i had an activity-filled weekend. on saturday, i slept too much and had a headache. i tried to fix it by lying down some more and curling into a ball. needless to say, that didn't help. later, shiv and i went to dinner at hosoonyi's to celebrate a birthday. while we were there, i saw four friendly faces. i guess everybody loves korean food. later, we played games. well actually, we only played one game - trivial pursuit. it took forever and it was exhausting.

on sunday, i had church and then parker, melissa, and i went to world wrapps for lunch. we walked over to greenlake and sat down. we took a few bites and then promptly returned to the car because it was stinkin' cold [the wind made it chilly]. so instead, we ate in the car, and then drove around the lake, blasting the beach boys and singing along. it was fantastic. in the evening, i threw myself a potluck party - like a bon voyage/i'm leaving for spain party. it was great because friends who hadn't seen each other in quite a long time were able to catch up and some people even made new friends. gotta love it when different circles of friends collide.

i worked on monday, had the day off on tuesday and saw kill bill: volume 2 and started on my "to do" list for spain. then people came over and i made them watch the rundown. haha :) i'm all about movies with the rock. [i even saw his E! entertainment special on saturday when i was channel surfing.]

- - -

the other day, a friend asked me if i was excited to go to spain. i'm definitely excited, but i told him that i was starting to get nervous too. i'm good with travel within the US because it is familiar in the sense of language, culture, customs, etc. you know? i'm not the greatest with travel internationally because i'm always lost. not lost in the geographic sense, but lost in the i have no idea what i'm doing or what i'm supposed to be doing sense. i hate that feeling. this whole last year after graduation has been about that feeling. it seems fitting that the end of my travels coincides with the one year mark of graduation. well, close to it. i have a lot of expectations for my time in spain. my friend seemed to be confident that i'd be fine. i told him that i think of this experience as my own sissy version of survivor. he laughed. it sounds ridiculous, but it's kind of how i feel at the moment.

countdown to spain: technically it's thursday, so 6 days and counting.

i finally saw walking tall today. i loved it...as i suspected i would. seriously, the rock is so cool. now i feel like watching the rundown again. before i leave, i need to watch eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, the prince and me, the punisher, 13 going on 30, and kill bill volume 2. how's that for variety and eclectic movie taste?

countdown to spain: 11 days and counting.

now that the reality of flying out in a week and a half is sinking in, i'm starting to get a little nervous. i don't know a single person in spain. i have no definite housing plans until i get to the university. [i'm staying in a hostel for a few days.] this may just be the gutsiest thing i've done in a long time. maybe ever - i'd have to think about it.

there are a few new pictures here from the weekend. a few of us had dinner at benihana's and played board games afterwards on saturday. there are a fair amount of photos of sammy's new 'do - a perm. crazy. and the permed hair expanded during the evening.

i want to claw my eyes out. i wage my own private war on pollen.

i was at work today...and my friend elizabeth loves the indigo girls.

elizabeth: i think dr. lung likes the indigo girls because he smiles/laughs everytime i mention them.
me: elizabeth, trust me...he has no idea who the indigo girls are.
elizabeth: oh yea, he listens to slow jams...

and then we laughed.

and then i told her that we have a friend, who's last name is lam, so someone once called him slow jam lam. and then we laughed some more. hahaha. sorry dennis. haha.

wendy and i were talking about the nick and jessica variety show that was on abc last night. wendy and i agree that she's beautiful, except when she sings because she makes ugly faces. to quote wendy, "she makes me want to be blind." [when she sings] "you could park a freakin' car there." [as her mouth is so large.] i laughed...and laughed and laughed.

HE IS ALIVE. happy easter.

i got to visit joana and owen today! yay!

i'm at work and there are no patients today. i love it. that means we get to play whatever fun music we want all day long. so far we've gone lilith fair and heard the indigo girls [my coworker loves them...i mean loves them.] we had some 80s cover songs in raggae style courtesy of the 50 first dates soundtrack. a little cuban flavor with songs from dirty dancing: havana nights [don't laugh. it's fun music.] and now we're in our afternoon soul mood with joss stone, moving to a little norah jones later. we may have to go back to the cuban though. and i sort of want to hear some elton john since tuesday's american idol, for the most part, butchered the songs.

monday night was garrett's last night in seattle. to celebrate [not his departure, but his mini-break back home], we hosted a potluck and games night. there was a lot of food and whatever was left, we made the guys take home. then we played scene it! i didn't win again, but i did get to answer lots of questions. all that time reading celebrity/entertainment news - actually...i can't even call it news... - celebrity/entertainment gossip - is finally good for something! garrett's team won. the answer was frankenstein. it seemed fitting that he win. he was also the big winner of another game, poker. well, by big winner i mean he won like $9, maybe $10. the buy-in was $1. it was also the first time i'd played poker for real money. i know, $1 isn't exactly "real money." but to me it is, as i'm not a good gambler, and therefore not fond of losing money, especially when i know i could be using that money to buy something concrete. naturally, i was the first one out. but that's fine. i did get to say "all in." sadly, it was all of something like $10 in chips.


garrett and his winnings...

afterwards, kristie and i watched gigli. well, kristie actually watched it; i fell asleep halfway through. i need to watch the other half to determine if it really is as bad as people say.

earlier, siobhan, cora, and i went shopping around fremont and it was beautiful, weather-wise. the clothing and handbags at the stores were also beautiful, but i restrained myself from indulging. afterwards, i went to overlake to visit james, joana, and baby owen. at 6 lbs 1 oz and 18.5 inches tall, owen is one cute baby! he's got tons of hair and it feathers around his face and over his little elfy ears, with a little bit of sideburn too. so cute. pictures can be seen here.