Blog Archive: February 2004
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February 29, 2004 - the
(wasted) weekend
-11:47 pm: i am not liking how my weekends are becoming total
relaxing days involving no work. Yesterday did the TBP photo scavenger hunt
and BBQ and it was pretty fun, all except for rolling down 4.0 hill and being
thrown down it as well (see the TBP forums for a link to a video of it). The
whole event was very social and everyone
seemed to be having a good time.
-After the BBQ ended around 2, went home and chatted on AIM until about
4 when i decided to be super lame and start waiting in line for the Cal game
(start time of 8 pm). Blah blah i brought a book to read but i only sorta
read it. Being in line is VERY boring, but for some reason it's pretty hard
to focus on anything. The game itself wasn't all that exciting, as Oregon
State didn't put up much of a fight. There was a whole sad atmosphere to
the game as it was probably the last time i could be inside of Haas Pavilion
(at least as a student). The 2003-2004 season in review: lowlight losing
to Cal Poly. Highlight rushing the court after beating Arizona
-today: got up at 12... journeyed to Trader Joe's from 2-4... watched Oscars
and tv until now. Amazing that LotR: The Return of the King won all 11 awards
it was nominated for, even though i think everyone would have been disappointed
had it not. i think it was Hollywood's (weird) way of making up for the
first two films having been snubbed the past two years. i was disappointed
that Johnny Depp didn't win for best actor, but i haven't seen Sean Penn's
Mystic River.
-Next weekend should be orders of magnitude less lazy since i have midterms
on the 8th and 9th to deal with....
February 27,
2004 - the week
-7:47 pm: bored right now, though that's perfectly fine. haven't
been keep up with this thing (the blog) for most of this semester, mostly
cuz it's not really that high priority. a review of the week
-Monday: candidate meeting 1. Doomsday so to speak. So like fewer than
70 potential candidates show up. Booked a larger than necessary room, bought
too much food and TBP stuff seems to be off to bad start. On the other hand,
many officers, especially the new ones, engaged and interacted plenty with
the few that were there...
-Tuesday: ME106 review session screwed up the officer meeting time. blah.
Jen ditches the bylaws meeting :p
-Wednesday: finish up the group history181b paper 15 minutes before class.
That is the most last minute i've ever done anything, but i couldn't help
it because of my group members.
-Thursday: screwed 3/4 problems on the ME106 midterm. Problem 1) i still
don't understand the extra factor of half.... Problem 2) pulled off way to
much information off of the table... Problem 3) forgot to calculate something
which they asked for... FACK.... 106 is becoming eerily similar to ME104.
I bombed the first 104 midterm and it appears i have bombed this 106 one.
Let's (hope) and see the grade turns out the same... After classes all over
and stuff, ditch ME117 discussion to stand in line for the Cal - Oregon game.
Exciting game to say the least that went into overtime. Even after the win
though, there is still much disgust with the bball team. they blew a 9 point
lead with 2 min left. Most of Tamir has been really sucking it up.
-Today: spent most of the day in 220 bechtel greeting most of the new
candidates. 45 officially have turned in, which is good considering that
monday seemed to indicate lower. Maybe having fewer candidates will allow
us to get to know them all a little better... but maybe not... 45 isn't all
that much lower than 67. (OK maybe not)
-Tomorrow (a preview): Photo Scavenger Hunt & BBQ. AAAAAAH i'm still
upset with the breakage of the traditional welcoming BBQ, but we'll see what
happens with this grand experiment. I am also not so thrilled with
how we've copied HKN with many things.
-I have plenty more to complain about but given the potential audience
of the blog (for which such discussion is inappropriate)... i'll leave you
all hanging and wondering :p
Useless Facts: November 19, 1999 last date in which the numeric symbolization
of the date (i.e. 11/19/1999) was composed completely of odd digits until
January 1, 3111 (1/1/3111) (unless your really picky then it's November 11,
3111 (11/11/3111)
February 2, 2000 (2/2/2000) first date since August 28, 888 (8/28/888)
in which all digits were even.
February 22,
2004 - another wasted saturday
-12:40 am: doh my saturday was a waste again... but this time
not due to standing in line for a basketball game. went to safeway, cleaned
the bathroom (eeeewwwwwww), vacuumed the carpets, cleaned the kitchen counters,
cleaned the microwave, and watched hella college bball and various other
TV (including the original Terminator movie, wow the governor 20 years ago).
All of this was of course to avoid work which is why i call the day a waste.
I probably shouldn't be wasting all this time given the upcoming fluid
mechanics midterm, a history paper due on wednesday, and two problem sets
due the day of the midterm (thursday)... Let's just say i better have a
productive sunday or else i'm uber screwed.
February 20,
2004 - coming down with something, eligiblity lists at last
-5:46 pm: so hmmm i woke up wednesday and thursday with a
slight headache and thought nothing of it. Last night my nasal passages
started feeling funny during the MCB150 midterm.... Today i wake up and
freak slight sore throat, congested sinuses and the same headache! Freakin
i don't want to get sick!
-So we finally have the lists of eligible candidates for TBP. After
some mild debate, we've decided to keep CM1 where it is so as to not screw
up the rest of the calendar. It does kinda suck that the potential candidates
only have 72 hours advance notice, but for anybody truly interested it probably
would not matter. The one concern i have at the moment is the food situation...
i'm not sure if activities is aware that they should be putting in the order
before monday...
February 20, 2004 -first MT, TBP problems, post-graduation...
-12:32 am: so today/yesterday whatever had my first midterm
of the semester. The subject was molecular immunology... or was it? Very
bizarre test i must say, bizarre in that i feel neither like i did well
or bad. The test really was just a lot of spewing out memorized facts,
but there were a couple of questions that i did not feel comfortable with.
In any case, i'm glad it's over with and that i don't have another midterm
until next thursday, when ME106 gets its turn. Speaking of which, that
class has proven to be the bitch i anticipated when i signed up for it.
I seriously did not have to take the class, but out of morbid curiousity
and a perhaps unwarranted belief the class could be useful, i decided
to take it. It's a whole lot of math, and good deal of concepts, and much
harder than ME104 on many levels. Suffering through the problem sets,
i sometimes wonder why i didn't take the easy way out with BioE115.
-As VPs last semester, i think Amar and I had it bad when our eligibility
list came out a week late, and we had to rush to publicize etc. This semester's
list was delayed even longer, probably causing great stress to the new
VPs.... I find myself only midly concerned, because it really isn't my problem...
but still. I can't imagine what a stressed out freak i would be in their
situation. After some consulting, the new candidates will be e-mailed tomorrow,
pending we still have the reservation for the room on Monday. Hopefully
turn out is ok... but we'll see.
-Now on to the subject of post-graduation. My situation is becoming
very worrisome, as none of my inquiries have produced any results. In
the meantime, a whole rush of people finding out about getting into med
school, law school, and grad school and the like... and i'm like damnit
what the hell am I going to do. Sadly, i see myself getting to point of
desperation where i'll take any job i can get, even if i wouldn't like
it. People like to say that enjoying your job is more important than the
money... but hmmm i'd rather have a job i hate than no job at all.
February 16,
2004 - wasted saturday, fun sunday
-1:56 pm: writing in this blog is the last thing i do before
i start intense studying of MCB150... anyway it's been quite a long time
since last update so here goes....
-saturday was a waste becase of getting up at 7 am to get in line
for the basketball game at 7 PM... fortunately they passed out numbered
wristbands at 9:30 am, so that people didn't have to waste the whole day.
They told everybody to be back in line at 3. Me being a moron went back
in line at 1:30....they finally started letting people into Haas Pavilion
at 5:30. at about 6:50 they had a ceremony to retire Jason Kidd's #5 jersey,
then they game finally got underway.
-the first half was pretty good for the most part, and Cal was up
by 2 at the end of it. Second half was a completely different story, as
the refs called the game extremely tight. This resulted in big foul trouble
and a very slow tempo to the game, which favored stanfurd's methodic offense.
We ended up losing by 11, 68-57 in what was a very very disappointing result.
so yeah what a complete waste of time... i feel even worse for the people
who actually camped out (the earliest tent apparently began camping out
at 11 am Friday).
-in stark contrast, Sunday was extremely fun, albeit painful. Kathy
and Jen continued the insanity with their fourth consecutive weekend of
snowsporting. I am only half as insane with my 2nd weekend. This time we
went to Alpine Meadows, a bit further than Sugar Bowl. The snow was not
as in great shape as last weekend, but alpine seemed to have much better
beginner's slopes than the sugar bowl. To save some money, i did the lesson
package which included rentals, a beginner's lift ticket (besides i wasn't
to go on anything advanced anyway) and 2 lessons ($80). That was much
better than paying $59 + $35. First lesson forced me to learn how to slide
down toe edge and got me started on how to do turns. After the lesson met
up with Jen and Kathy for lunch, then we all went down the only intermediate
lift i was allowed to with the beginners path. Did pretty ok, although i
was limited to my heel side edge going down the steep parts. The second
lesson reinforced learning the toe edge and now i can do some turns ok (but
not great). In all, i think the lesson package was pretty good; the instructions
was really well done and we spent pretty good time going down the slopes.
In all a very fun day on the slopes, even though the snow wasn't in as good
condition as last week, and despite greater pain (i suppose with more advanced
stuff, and less fear of speed, comes greater falls).
-we left the resort around 4:40 and hit some lovely traffic in the
mountain, and then some in the Sacramento area. We stopped in Davis for
dinner at IHOP (in which we all orderd, and took our pretty time to, breakfast).
Got home around 10 pm. And now i must be getting to my immuno stuff for
the midterm on tuesday..... the next three weeks shall be crazy, as not
only midterms are here but also the TBP candidate semester begins!
February 8,
2004 - EJC Ski Trip
-7:19 pm: i'm sore... but it was all worth it. i had the
time of my life snowboarding for the first time and i owe it all to the
nagging of Kathy and Jen : ). The adventure of saturday was quite long,
and it really began on friday evening. Jen and Kathy picked me and Wen-Lin
up, then got a form from Roger. After that we picked up gear from Any Mountain
with the pouring rain. Then we had dinner at Cha-am. After that, returned
to Kathy's place to fix Wen-Lin's computer, make/eat cake and decorate
garlic "shmalls" to serve as "Shmi" the onion's minions. It is pretty sad
and hilarious how much entertainment the shmalls provided. Hours passed
(and I even came to be temporarily in possession of the TBP bowling pin)
and before we knew it, it was 2:30. Rather than we all going home, only
to have to return 2 hrs later, we all gathered our snow clothing etc and
returned at 3:30 am.
-After around 1 hour of sleep, we left for the Sugar Bowl at 5 am,
stopping in Davis for gas and some yummy donuts from Fluffy Donuts. We
reached the sugar bowl at about 8:45 am, after driving through some muddy
and nasty conditions on the 80. The EJC bus arrived around 9, but delayed
our snowboarding until Brian could pick up the lift tickets. When we finally
had them, Jen and Kathy taught us some basics, in particular how to get
up. After that took a snowboarding private lesson with Wen-Lin and Roger
($130!!!). We learned things such as how to slide down with the heel or
toe edge, and how to get off a ski lift (which i only successfully did once
out of four times). After the lesson, Kathy and Jen took us up a more "real"
mountain. Made it ok through the green part, of couse falling several times.
Then we all split up, with Jen and Kathy going down blacks and me accidentally
going down some blue hill, which i think i did ok on considering it was my
first time. Eventually everyone made it back down the hill, after which we
all split up.
-Wen-Lin and I went up a ski lift for a green only hill, then decided
to go up the lift for the harder mountain. We went through the green
portion, then made the same wrong turn and ended up going down another
blue hill. Then we somehow ended up at the other side of the resort, so
we ended up walking back to the parking lot.
-we left all gloried out, sore and generally happy with the day
at about 4:15. Made a stop in Davis, where Kathy had to drop something
off and we got to meet Kathy's family and a parrot. After that ate at
a good mexican restaurant (Dos Coyotes). After another hour or so on the
road finally got back to Berkeley at 9pm.
-In all, i didn't fall as much as i thought i would, but still pretty
sore. I had so much fun... contemplating whether i should join crazy
Jen and Kathy next week.... in the meantime i have stupid history essay
to write....
February
5, 2004 - CAL BEATS ARIZONA, 87-83
-10:19 pm: YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! I just got back from
the best bball game of my life, where the Cal Golden Bears defeated the
12th ranked Arizona Wildcats. Cal led the entire game, starting off
7-0, with a lead as large as 12 pts in the second half and a leaf as
small as 2 pts in the final minute. But in the final minute, Cal hit straight
6 free throws to clinch the game. AJ Diggs collected the final rebound
as time expired and we RUSHED THE COURT!!!!!
-i almost lost my cell phone in the fervor, but luckily someone
picked it up and i got it back. It must've been when we were jumping
up and down on center court... but oh well. Currently my voice is out
and i can't hear very well, but hell it was all worth it!
February
3, 2004 - unspeakable, random babling
-11:16 pm: certain "blog taboo" subjects going through
my mind right now. the difference between a journal and blog hitting
me now. Kinda frustrating, not being able to speak out in somewhat comfortable
medium.
-random babling now... so today at officer meeting officially
decided to make the meeting on the 12th a hybrid member meeting and ice
cream social. I'm sorta worried at the moment about it being too well
publicized and getting many random people showing up, when optimistically
only a handful of token members will bother to. The whole thing is meant
to publicize TBP a bit more, moving us away from the random thing you first
hear about in a invitational email to something to look forward to joining.
We'll see what happens, but right now i forsee nothing but disaster (which
is unfortunately my view on most things).
-i really wonder why i have such a negative view of things, why
so much pessimism. The pessimism itself has an unfortunate propagation
property. Suffering through numerous research failings while here, that
pessismism is that primary reason i talked about a week ago or so.
-i sincerely wish i could break out of the pessimistic shell,
and i'm going to have to or everything will ultimately lead to failure.
The pessimistic attitude is definitely the wrong one to go through life
with. I am often reminded by my mom of the stories of her family's
move to the US. My grandfather's firearms business having been taken out
by the Marcos regime, my mom's family sold what they had left in the Philippines,
and moved to US in the early 70s. They had only 2 suitcases and $300. Optimism
and hard work in hand, today my grandparents are very well off, living
comfortably in retirement in the fairly affluent Los Angeles neighborhood
of Los Feliz. Put me in the same situation, and i think i would have given
up.
-I have lived a much much more privileged life than either of
my parents, but i certainly have not made the most opportunity of it,
and it makes me feel really bad. Both of my parents had dreams of being
doctors, but neither of them did for lack of money. I could have
try to live up to any dream that i wanted, but alas i haven't. I used to
dream of being something like a National Park ranger, a field geologist
or an astronomer, but those were abandoned. Why? They make no money, they
contribute little to society, blah blah. Cheers for American emphasis on
capitalistic greed, it has helped shatter many of my dreams.
-hmm quite the random thought train there: from TBP meeting to
pessimism to family history to shattered dreams to anti-Americanism.
"The glass is half empty."
"Money doesn't make you happy, but it certainly helps."
February
2, 2004 - the weekend in review
-8:59 pm: quite the weekend i had there, particularly
saturday night. Saturday morning/afternoon consisted of mostly not
doing anything and A LOT of college baskteball. Many good games, particularly
the stanfurd-Oregon game which saw the Ducks blow a 19 pt second half
lead to eventually lose and leave the Cardinal one of two undefeated
teams in Division I NCAA basketball. After the Cal - Oregon State game,
which the Bears won, i headed over to Germaine's place for her Pink Flamingo
themed party. I have nothing pink or red so i endured the "punishment"
of wearing as pink plastic lei. The party qwas quite fun and Karen Lee
from good old Freeborn was there. Unfortunately around 12:30 a cop came
by and shut the party down. The party did move to another place, but it
was late already and i had the intention of getting up early to work before
the superbowl. So i didn't continue on, but i had much fun nonetheless.
-sunday of course was the Superbowl. Game turned out to be quite
quite interesting starting midway through the second quarter. During
the first quarter, it got so bad that i started cleaning the bathroom
instead of watching! But then the offense finally came, and it was an awesome
game after that. The halftime show itself has generated much much controversy
over something that i missed. Justin Timberlake ripped off a piece of
clothing from Janet Jackson which revealed her right breast to everyone
watching. It's been played over and over again in various news broadcasts.
Sadly, that whole thing has overshadowed what was a really good game.
-then the work came... i think i spent around 4-5 hours unproductively
doing my fluid mechanics homework. It brings back bad memories of the
CE130/ME104 combo, although it's not as bad.