Category: Herp Derp

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750 Words – Hyperbolic Crochet

I haven’t been keeping up very well with these “daily” 750 word posts, have I? During Thanksgiving week and the following week, I had myself checked into the inn on HRPG so that’s the main reason why I haven’t been posting. I also changed the “750 Word post” daily task to “work on blog/750 words”, so I sometimes (often) cheat by considering updates and comment moderation as “working on the blog”, even though those usually take less than a minute or so. In any case, I haven’t been doing anything particularly noteworthy  . . . and I also just didn’t feel like making a completely random brain dump post. I know these types of posts are supposed to be uncensored and free-flowing thoughts, but I still prefer my posts to have at least some type of focus and structure.

Mine doesn’t look very coral-like . . . I think it’s because of the Christmas-y colors.

I probably won’t be posting these daily starting from now, either; I’ve got finals and papers due next week, and then I’ll be visiting family for winter break (plus my parents don’t have internet), so I might instead type up little blurbs each day and post whenever it reaches 750 words/I feel like it.

So I came across this thing called hyperbolic crochet. I actually discovered it from a Kickstarter that is showcasing them as stress balls, but I think hyperbolic crocheting was popularized as a way to raise awareness concerning environmental issues while at the same time paying homage to the beauty of coral reefs. (See more coral-like crocheted versions here.) I have a few balls of yarn that I impulse bought because I felt like knitting/crocheting quick and easy things for instant gratification — and as a way to take a break from the yarn projects that I was working on for other people — so making little crocheted coral stress balls seemed like a quick and easy way to use up that yarn. It is rather stress-relieving to toy with, but I was also pleased to discover that it’s really simple to make as well.

I learned how to crochet before learning how to knit, but I much prefer knitting over crochet. It’s easier to keep track of stitches since they’re always on a needle, I like that the resulting fabric is stretchier and less stiff, and it’s easier to knit by touch than it is to crochet by touch (knitting/crocheting without having to constantly look at your work, if that didn’t make sense). It’s easier for me to space out and watch videos or shows while knitting, which makes it more relaxing and enjoyable. On the other hand, with crochet you typically have only one loop/stitch on your hook at a time, and sometimes it’s difficult for me to tell which stitch to work in — plus I have to count stitches at the end of each round/row to make sure that I have the right number. And when I’m off by one or a few stitches, I’m usually unsure of whether it’s from me just being ADHD and herping up when I was counting, or if I’m actually missing stitches. So counting (and often recounting) rounds is tedious and frustrating when I have to tear out the previous round because I was off, and has a high potential of devolving into a frustrating cycle because I don’t pay close enough dsafdsafsdffsdto where the previous round ends.

Does my desktop background look familiar?
Got a vertical notebook riser so that I have marginally more desk space!!! :D

The beauty of hyperbolic crochet is that I don’t have to keep count of stitch count nor number of rounds. The pattern is based off a simple repeat, and it doesn’t matter if I miss a stitch or forget where in the repeat I am because it’ll look delightfully convoluted regardless. It’s practically impossible to mess up, so with this pattern, I’m able to enjoy crocheting to the same extent that I do knitting. It’s an easy and simple project that I can pick up and put down without having to keep track of how far along I am because I can make it as big or small as I want. The only downside is that there’s not much point in me making multiple stress corals for myself, and I probably have enough yarn to where I’d make way more than I have friends and family to randomly gift them to. I suppose larger ones that I make can be replacement bath loofahs. (Image for those of you unfamiliar with the term lolz.)

The only other thing I know I wanted to mention is that I got a notebook riser for my laptop to increase the screen height and (hopefully) reduce neck strain from sitting in front of it for so long. I finally have some desk space in front of my laptop so that I can write things in my planner or random notes! My desk doesn’t feel so cramped now haha. Plus my cat can’t sit on my laptop keyboard anymore, and him sitting on my desk will no longer obstruct my view of the screen. However, I don’t mention this because of the increased potential in my productivity, but because of the herp solution I came up with in figuring out how to raise my external monitor to approximately the same height.

Monitor Solutions
I tried to camouflage the herpery with nerdery. Did it work?

I’m not sure how noticeable it is in the other picture, but I took a closer one so that you could see exactly what I’m using to prop up my monitor — 2 empty daily vitamin bottles and an empty bottle from one of my past Adderall prescriptions. It’s not the stablest setup, but at least my desk is up against a corner so I don’t have to worry as much about it potentially falling back off of my desk.

THIS ALSO MEANS I HAVE MORE ROOM TO EAT STUFF AT MY DESK WHILE WATCHING STUFF ON THE INTERNETS. It just feels more spacious, less cramped, more enjoyable. I have more room to do stuff without having had to drastically change the layout of my work area.

Aaaanyway, I’ve already spent over 2 hours on this post and it’s time for bed. Hopefully I won’t be tossing and turning in my bed for hours tonight — it’s been a while since I’ve taken my Adderall regularly, so it’s making it difficult to fall asleep even though I take it at 6 in the morning.

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The Day I Did Girly Things

My first plate of food. I don’t know what I was thinking, either.
Today was pretty chill. We got to sleep in until 10:30 or so if we wanted, brunch scheduled for 10:45. I ended up waking at around 8 or 8:30 and not falling back asleep, so I wasted time on the internet, for the most part. Probably writing the blog that I had post-dated as being submitted Monday (since it was Tuesday here). The restaurant we ate at was another chain of the buffet place we had gone to last night, but apparently the nicest one out of the chains. It certainly seemed nicer. The first 30 minutes after arriving was spent being introduced to Theresa’s relatives and waiting for more to arrive. I think we had maybe 15-20 people total once everyone arrived. We probably started eating around 11 or 11:15, but we didn’t leave until 1:30 or so because the adults were enjoying their conversation too much. The food served was the same, for the most part, but the company was completely different. This time, we had a relative named Andy sit in our area of the table and talked to him the whole time. This guy was much better than last night’s egotistical maniac. He likes playing video games and said that he’s played a video game for pretty much 3 days straight without doing anything else but eating and crashing. He was also more humble and didn’t dominate the conversation — more our type of company. He even gave us the names of some good places to eat, but we ended up not going to them.
What my first plate looked like after I ate all the stuff on top. A majority of it was sushi.
After the first plate of various foods, I stuck to what I liked. The sushi, unfortunately, was not that appetizing. I really liked the fries and was surprised to see them in the first place. I liked the seasoning, and they were really crunchy, but it was weird because they were kinda hollow on the inside. I wasn’t very hungry after my first plate of food due to all the sushi. I think I visited the buffet maybe 2 more times, the last being my dessert stop. They had ice cream and a chocolate fondue fountain to top ice cream with melted chocolate. I found it to look better than it tasted, but the ice cream was definitely one of the better desserts. I think one of my favorite things was the freshly grilled pineapple — we’ve also had quite a few dishes that have pineapple in them, and I’ve taken a great liking to them.
The exfoliating coffee ground scrub felt good and smelled amazing.
After we finished eating, the adults decided to sit and talk and enjoy themselves, so we actually didn’t get back to the hotel until around 2. Theresa and Evan decided to walk around the old quarter by themselves, while Quan and I took naps. At around 6:30, Theresa and Evan got back; after that, Theresa and I went to a spa to get mani/pedis. Since this was my first time getting a mani/pedi, it took me a while to decide on what I wanted. The fact that the receptionist kept trying to up-sell us stuff didn’t help, either. Eventually, I settled on the spa pedicure with a complimentary French pedicure for my feet, and then a manicure with nail art for my hands. Theresa also got a spa pedicure, but got nail art on her feet and then a French manicure for her hands. Altogether, my stuff was about 440,000, which translates to $22 US dollars. The spa pedicure began with a cinnamon-water foot soak followed by coffee grounds exfoliating scrub. Afterwards, my legs (up to the knee) and feet were massaged for about 10-15 minutes. Unfortunately, I hadn’t shaved my legs for a few days, so my masseuse was surprised when she started on my legs, followed up by a suggestion that I get my legs waxed. I’m not too averse to trying out a waxing, but I felt like I’d already spent a good amount of money on myself, and we didn’t have time for that (we told Quan and Evan that we’d come back for dinner at 8).
My fancy nail art. It only cost 90k ($4.50) for all my nails. Painting the designs only took the manicurist 5-10 minutes to complete.
Throughout our appointment, we had one woman doing both mine and Theresa’s hands, and one person each doing our feet. They talked to each other in Vietnamese (which is apparently exactly what they do in the US) and occasionally tried talking to us. Only the receptionist new English really well, so we weren’t able to really converse with them. Most of the time, we just talked to each other. What surprised me is that sometimes our manicurist would respond to something the others said in a really soft-spoken (kind of muttering) way, but from what I remember, the others were able to hear her just fine. I was sitting maybe two feet away and with her facing me and could only barely hear her, so I was definitely impressed. By the time we were both done and all our nails were dry, it was approximately 8:15, so as soon as we paid, we high-tailed it back to the hotel to pick up the boys for dinner. The first place we tried was the night market, which I had been to last year. It was different from what I remembered — when I went, the streets were blocked off from traffic and merchandise tents were lined up along both the sides and the center of the streets. This time, only the sides of the streets were occupied by merchandise tents, and I assume that they only block off the streets for the weekends. In any case, once we saw that the food tents only had hot pot (it’s crazy how people will eat it in the heat of summer), we decided to go to Legend Beer.
Evan ordered a liter (I don’t remember what kind of beer he ordered), Theresa and Quan both got a half liter of the blonde beer, and I got a puny 300 ml.
Legend Beer is both a bar and and restaurant and was located only 5-10 minutes away from our hotel (on foot). We’d seen quite a few people drinking/eating there when driving past in taxis during other times of the day, so we figured it was probably a pretty good place. I don’t know about the others, but I was definitely disappointed. Theresa and I each ordered a plate of mi xao bo (stir fried noodles with beef), Quan ordered a plate of fried rice, and Evan got an appetizer plate of egg rolls (that ended up being the most expensive item!). The portions were nice, but the taste left something to be desired. Don’t even get me started on the beer. I don’t know what they put in that stuff, but it tasted pretty crappy. I didn’t even finish my 300 ml. After that huge disappointment, we decided to hunt for a bar to hang out at. The taxi driver first took us to this place that was on a boat, but it was too dark for us to see the boat, so we played it safe and asked him to take us elsewhere. I think it also helped once he found out that we just wanted to drink beer, not dance. He was kinda confused though, since most bars in Vietnam are part of restaurants. It was also around 11 PM by that time, and most restaurants were closed or closing. In spite of all that, our amazing taxi driver found us a small pub near the night market area.
This sign was sitting on a table in the pub . . . we were somewhat worried that someone would offer us pot.
When we first walked in, the place was blaring some alternative rock music. We could barely hear each other over the music, and I was surprised because you couldn’t hear the music from the street. Once we got our beers, we quickly headed outside and took over the two tables located by the door. Although it was hot, smelled like pee, and we got sticky from the humidity, we all agreed that this was better than sitting inside and not even being able to hear yourself think. We broke out our Phase 10 card game and sat outside until one of the employees called us inside, saying something about how the police would be patrolling soon and we couldn’t be outside drinking beer. Luckily, they turned down the music once we said that it was too loud, and they also let us have the small upstairs area (it had been occupied when we first got there). Now, I’m 5’3″ (or just shy of it) and even I couldn’t stand up straight in the upstairs area. So imagine how much trouble Quan and Evan had (especially Evan, who stands at a gigantic 6′ even). Of course, that was only a problem whenever we had to get up to use the restroom, which I thankfully only had to use once. I’m not sure exactly how long our phase 10 game took, but by the time we had finished, it was 2 AM and we were the only ones left in the pub. I’m pleased with the place we found; they had Ha Noi beer (which tasted infinitely better than whatever it was they made at Legend Beer) and some interestingly chill pot music. I also drank my two beers slowly enough to where I didn’t get all swollen and itchy from the alcohol.
Theresa barely clears the ceiling, and I think I’m an inch or two too tall, shockingly enough.
So here I am with another post-dated blog entry and a day behind (or is it two now)? Hopefully I can knock out yesterday and today (Wednesday and Thursday) in the next post, especially since Wednesday was mostly spent stuck in the van (again). Luckily, it’s the last long drive we have. I can’t believe we’re leaving Monday evening!
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Blogging is such a pain in the ass!

It appears that my cousin’s readers got confused as to who’s was whose posts whenever I posted on her blog (Return to the Motherland 2012), so from now on, I’ll be posting my stuff on here. I don’t know what blogger/blogspot looks like, but I thought that the author name would be listed somewhere near the title or at the bottom of a post, which would prevent such confusion. So I spent about an hour writing a blog post that continued from where I last left off, but when I tried to save the draft, the internet decided to be retarded and not actually save it. I clicked on “save draft”, the page it took me to was like, “Are you sure?” with a link that said “Please try again”, and then it takes me back to the edit post page with everything I had written gone. Needless to say, I am calling it quits and will probably not post again for a few days, at the least. WHAT A BITCH.
In the meantime, here’s a pretty picture taken from a gondola in Nha Trang to the VinPearl resort.
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Another Boring Text Blog. And I’m a Retard.

This’ll probably be a fairly short blog. We’re leaving Saigon in about 20 minutes and heading to Nha Trang, which is supposed to be a 9 hour trip. I’m currently working on a post for Return to the Motherland 2012, and I know my cousin, Theresa, is also currently writing a post for it, which she probably will publish before we leave. I’ll be publishing my post to Return to the Motherland 2012 after we get to the hotel at Nha Trang this evening. Or maybe tomorrow morning. So, my Samsung Captivate is advertised as a world phone. Of course, having received it through ATT, it was locked to only work with an ATT sim card. The past few days, I researched websites that would retrieve the unlock code for my phone, as well as android applications that advertise to do the same thing. I found a promising app, and since it was free, decided to try it first before paying a website $10 to give me the unlock code. Thursday afternoon, while fabric shopping, my aunt, Di Hoa (who is kind of a local and took us to the fabric shops), let me try her sim card in my phone to make sure it would work. When I tried the unlock application at that time, it didn’t appear to work. But I was determined to unlock my phone and asked her to get a Vietnamese pre-paid SIM card for me, anyway. I tried the app again with the new SIM, and once we got back to the apartment in the evening, I tried a few other apps. After seeing that none of the apps had worked, I decided to go ahead and get the unlock code through a website for $10. A few hours later, I had the unlock code. What was worrying me was that I wasn’t prompted to enter the unlock code after inserting the foreign SIM card. I searched google for a few hours to see if anyone else had the problem, but for the most part, everything I found was for something else. The rest of the night, I tried finding a way to enter the unlock code, or to even get the phone to register that there was a SIM card in it, since it had been saying “No SIM card. Emergency calls only” the whole time. Once we got back to the apartment after going out to drink after dinner, we all pretty much went to bed and passed out, including me. And then I had a night filled with dreams of me trying various ways as I tried to get my SIM to work. At 5:45, I woke up and started searching again, but from a different perspective. Before, I had been searching for why an unlock prompt would not show with a different SIM card. This morning, I searched for why a VN card might not work with a Samsung Captivate. Needless to say, that search wasn’t very fruitful, either. And then, the herp retardedness. When fiddling with the SIM cards (my ATT and the VN one), I had a sudden moment of revelation. I’D BEEN PUTTING THE CARDS IN BACKWARDS THE WHOLE TIME. I put in the VN SIM card, the correct way, and voila, I suddenly had cell service. And I didn’t even have to use my unlock code, so I guess one of those applications had worked. And now I have an unlock code, just in case. What’s really herp is that I’d put my ATT SIM in my phone the night before, while we’d been drinking, and it had shown the “No SIM card” on the lock screen. Somehow, it hadn’t registered that it should’ve detected my ATT SIM card. HERP DERP
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I think I might be mildly allergic to alcohol (or mildly intolerant)

Because when I drink, aside from the Asian blush, I also get mildly itchy and feel kinda swollen. And apparently no one else in the family has experienced this, from what I gather. I guess I’ll backtrack and start from the beginning, though I don’t think I’ll start with the flight. Theresa pretty much covered that part. I think. It’s hard to tell because we can’t view our blog from Vietnam, but can post just fine. After we landed and got out of the airport, we went to the apartment building we would be staying in while we are in Saigon. Our family knows the owners, so it’s easier to stay at the apartments rather than looking for a hotel. Once we got to the apartments and settled in, my cousins and I (and Evan) pretty much passed out, around 5 in the afternoon (5 in the morning central time). My cousins and Evan somehow slept until 5 the next morning, while I woke up around 12 or 1 and didn’t go back to sleep until 3, after having downloaded some books to read. It’s okay, I like my gift better, anyway! The gift for my sister, which I accidentally opened. The next morning, I also got up at 5, and my aunt on my dad’s side, Co Hoa, was visiting from the country with her oldest daughter, who goes to a university in Saigon. They had an ao dai and a suit for my parents, which I think my parents had asked to be made for them. Co Hoa also had a jacket made for me, using measurements they had taken while I was in Vietnam last year; this surprised me, as I didn’t expect to be receiving anything and just thought I would be giving them the candy and medicine my parents had sent with me to give to her family. I was pretty touched, especially when my cousin gave me two small boxes that were gifts for my sister and me, from her two younger sisters. We had spent an extended amount of time with them last year, compared to all the other places we had visited. After my aunt left to return to her home in the country, my cousins and I were all left to do whatever we wanted. We spent a good 2 or 3 hours just sitting around, getting caught up with things we’d missed during our flight to VN, as well as looking for tourist-y things to do in the city. We eventually decided on a war memorial museum, which we went to after lunch. The lunch was kinda disappointing, since the items Theresa and I had first wanted were not available. The three of us (Theresa, Evan, and me) ended up ordering the same thing, at the suggestion of the waiter. I think he was tired of waiting for us to look through the menu. The war museum was pretty interesting, but also was rather draining. As Theresa told me last night, for many of the pictures, you end up thinking of something like, “This could’ve been my mom or dad,” and for the photos showing the aftermath of agent orange, “This could’ve been me.” There were 3 floors in the museum, and after eavesdropping on a tour guide when we first entered, we went to the 3rd floor to start. That was where the majority of the photos were, and most of them had a caption. Even after picking and choosing captions to read, getting through that exhibit took a really long time. Personally, after leaving that exhibit, I didn’t have much interest in looking at the rest of the museum, probably because the rest was more historical, and not so personal. By this time, we were pretty exhausted from the walking around and lingering jetlag, so we took a taxi back to our apartment and “took a nap” around 5. My cousins got up earlier than I did and went to have some coffee with a third cousin of ours, but I chose to sleep longer and didn’t wake up until 9, after they had gotten back and woken me up to go eat dinner. This part of our day was kinda a bust. Apparently, the address we had gotten from the internet for the restaurant was completely wrong, and actually had two different streets in the name. The taxi driver took us to both streets, but we suspect that he took us in a huge circle when driving us to the second street. Saigon is separated into districts, and the place we ended up at was in the same district as our apartment. We found a barbecue place on the street to eat at, but only Theresa and I ate, as Evan and Quan were both full from meals earlier in the day. Theresa and I were both pretty surprised at how good the food was. It was sort of in the style of a Korean barbecue, where they bring you a plate of seasoned, raw meat, and you grill the meat yourself on the pot of coals. Oh, we also had some beer, which, as I stated at the beginning of the blog, affected me a lot. I suspect that part of it was due to being in a novel context, where the same amount of a drug (alcohol) as one had in their normal setting affects them much more when partaking of the drug in a new context. Or so my neuroscience knowledge tells me. In any case, 2 was enough to give me a good buzz and make me sleep at 12 once we got back. We had 2 plates of bbq, one plate of pork, and another plate of goat meat. Both were delicious, and I’m hoping we go back there to eat before leaving VN. The place we ate at had two dogs and two kittens, and it was really hard for me to not call them over to pet them. I probably would have, if it weren’t for Theresa, who said not to because they could have rabies. So I made myself content with taking pictures of them, though I only got pictures of the kittens, and not the puppies. So, I hear the plan for today is that we cousins are allowed to go about the city and do our own thing again, so we’re going to the Reunification Palace, and possibly another place if we have time. Quan is spending time with family on his dad’s side, but will be back in time to eat dinner and then go to the place we had planned to eat dinner at yesterday. Tomorrow, we’re leaving for another city, but will be back in Saigon on Tuesday. Thinking about it now, 3 weeks does really seem short. Having an apartment just for the cousins (rather than having to share with the adults) and being able to do things on our own definitely makes this trip more enjoyable than last summer’s. Seriously, Teresa, I think you’re missing out. I don’t even think it’s as hot as it was last year — the temperature the last few days has been mid-80’s, though still really humid. TL;DR? Well, whatever. Most of my posts are like this, anyway. SO GET USED TO IT. (Copy pasta’d from cousin’s blog, will add pictures later)
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Fail Vlog 5: I Think I’m Getting Better At This!

Herp — I meant that my sister and her fiance got D3 for me as an early BIRTHDAY present, not early Christmas present. Also, sorry about the dim lighting . . . that’s just how I usually keep my apartment, and I forgot to turn on another light to make the lighting better. And yes, I know that the last sip of hot chocolate I took in the video was timed absolutely horribly. (Wut, you mean that stopping in the middle of a sentence is inappropriate?!?) A couple of other plus points about bartending that I didn’t cover in the video: – I could use it as a fairly self-sustaining source of income should I need to use it as such. – It would help me further in becoming socially adept, which would help with med school applications and interactions with future patients. – I would get more interaction with customers as a bartender than as a server, which ties in with the previous point. – I would get paid more than if I were to be a server, which ties into the first point. – It could help me become more “well-rounded”, as opposed to if I were to try and get a job in the medical field as a scribe or something like that. I JUST WANT A JOB GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH.
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Sleepy Thoughts

Cat hair

All over the place,

In my face

Why must I have allergies?

————————————————————————-

Cat lounging

On the sill

A raven struts by

The hunter fumes

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Fail Vlog 4: In Which I Apparently Don’t Have Any Self Control

So herp, I’m still working on finding a satisfactory camera setup for my vlogs; I’m seriously thinking about buying one of those mirrors that hair salons use (you know, to show you what the back of your head looks like) and setting it behind my camera so I can see what the heck I’m doing while vlogging and adapt accordingly.Until then, sorry when I try to show you stuff and you actually don’t really see it. And same goes for me being off-center for pretty much the entiiiiiree video.

So last night, my sister posted this on her facebook wall. We’ve kinda talked ourselves into wanting to do it, but given the fact that we’re way out of shape and probably pansies, we’re waiting ’til at least next year (probably October) to participate. However! We think we might volunteer at the one in Austin this October and see what it’s like. I think it sounds fun! Granted, a 10-12 mile obstacle course sounds really grueling . . . we’ll have a lot of work to do before we can consider ourselves ready for the challenge. Neither of us have done that kind of thing before, so we both figured that it’s something we want to try at least once in our lives.

Here’s a picture of the Konexi game where we were determined to use all 26 letters. What words can you find?

And this video makes me want to buy a used PS2 and DDR and be all awesome on it. (And it’s also actually pretty decent exercise!) He makes it look so easy! This guy is the creator of the Dead Fantasy series and works as an animator and choreographer for Rooster Teeth Productions, the company that makes Red vs. Blue. This video and this video were both made by Oum using mocap (Motion capture) technology, and Oum choreographs and performs the dances himself . . . So in short, I’m saying I’m jealous of his dancing abilities, haha. And it’s also pretty amusing to watch those videos and imagine him dancing to it.

So my piano II class had a recital yesterday (Sunday). I only played my duet piece because I didn’t like my Baroque piece enough to want to perform it for other people. Now, my partner and I had been practicing for weeks, and our performance of the piece was pretty solid. Apparently, I still get quite a bit of stage fright because I totally herped up big time while we performed our duet. One part, I’m not sure what messed me up, but I had to stop playing altogether for a few seconds. Another part, my left hand decided to skip a measure, and so I had to drop its part for a few seconds as well. I know I messed up somewhere else, but I can’t remember exactly what it was. And my hands started shaking halfway through the piece. Fuuuuuuu —

And I thought it would be easier/less stressful for me if it were a duet because I wouldn’t be up there by myself. I feel like I was even more nervous than if I had been performing alone, though I don’t know why that is. PUH. Whatever. Guess I’m not meant to be a performer.

Ionno what else I had planned on talking about so I’m going to end this vlog/blog now.

Sorry for having so many links in this post loooooolll. Was that title too long? Herpp.

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I Was Totally Gonna Post a Vlog/Blog Today

Edit: GOOD NEWS! Turns out that the campus police were just being super cautious and picked up my bike in order to prevent it from being stolen. I’ve already gone and picked it up from the police department, and all is well in the world. :D I’ll also try to put up the vlog/blog I had planned to post during the weekend by tonight. I hope everyone’s having as good a day as I am! But someone stole my bike. This means I have had a bike stolen from me TWICE in THREE months. See, I can get having a bike stolen from me once, especially since the first one was just sitting on the bike rack unlocked, but this time, I had LOCKED THE REAR TIRE TO THE FRAME. So lemme backtrack and give you the background. I had biked to the Jonsson Performance Hall at around 12 AM to practice piano on the nice Steinway, which took some sneaking about in itself, since all buildings are generally locked by this time at night. But there’s usually at least one way in, through one of the buildings, and with all the skywalks, entry into one of them pretty much equals entry into the rest of them. Anyway. Practicing in Jonsson Performance Hall. Towards the end of my practice session, around 1:30 or so, I hear noises outside of the hall, but since no one bothered me and I heard no talking, I just kept practicing and ignored the slight commotion. I leave the hall around 2:10 AM and see tables set up in front of the hall (as if in preparation for an event later in the day), which made me pause for a second while I tried to remember whether or not those were there when I first got to the hall. After concluding that they were set up during my practice, I leave the building through the wheelchair/handicap accessible door, which is where I had left my bike. AND IT WAS GONE. And I was liek, “WTF.” So then I walked around and checked all the nearby bike racks to make sure that it wasn’t on one of those, moved by someone who thought it would be a fun prank to take someone’s bike and place it elsewhere. I confined my search to the nearest buildings because, after all, the rear tire was locked to the frame, and I doubt a prankster would go through all the trouble of carrying a bike to a far-off bike rack. This also is likely the reason that allows me to eliminate the student population living on campus. And then we go back to the fact that someone had been in the building while I was practicing. Given that the buildings are locked and that tables were set-up, it was likely a maintenance person who had the keys and the task of setting up tables. Being a maintenance worker, this person most likely also had a pick-up truck. In addition, being a maintenance person, it wouldn’t be suspicious to see this person driving around on the campus at night, in between buildings where there aren’t any roads. Therefore, I conclude that a maintenance person stole my bike. Because they had a truck, they were able to just simply throw my bike into the bed and drive off to their house, where it would be simple to use bolt cutters or whatever to remove my bike lock. And then voila, new bike for child, wife, or self. Really. Why did it have to be mine. Technically, it’s not even mine. It’s my friend’s, who lent it to me after having purchased a fancy new bike. WHATEVERIDON’TCARE. Anyway, the vlog I was planning to post is already uploaded; I went to practice piano during the time it was uploading. So expect to have a vlog/blog in the next few days, if I can stop raging long enough to finish it. No wonder I have no faith in humanity. AND HAPPY EARTH DAY I GUESS.
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Fail Vlog(s) 3: Peas Feed Me Herpness

All right, I think I have these two videos in the right order. I can’t tell for certain right now because the videos are being converted and can’t be played as I edit this blog. The first vlog should be me talking in my pj’s about my drive home from Dallas. Also, wtf am I doing with my legs/feet? I think it’s safe to say that I fiddle quite a bit when talking, in one way or another. Of course, I also fiddle around when I’m not talking . . . I’m just a fiddler. Fiddler on the roof? Obscure (maybe) Jewish movie reference from BCA.

Anyway, this first video was filmed the same night I got back home from Dallas, which I probably say somewhere in the video. But I can’t be sure because I haven’t watched it since I first filmed it over a week ago. Oh wells.

This was the recording of the game “Peas Feed Me” on my old computer at home. I said that I didn’t know what the game was based off of in the vlog, but upon closer inspection, at the intro screen, it says that it’s based off of a TV show. Makes sense, I  mean I can see the game setting being an actual scene in a TV show.

I’m gonna try and find it so I can have it on my laptop too lol. It’s always nice to have a game (or something) you can play (or do) that requires no real thought and is amusing, and therefore, relaxing to play (do).

The outfits looked something like this, but my sister's was pink and silver instead of red and gold. Red and gold is reserved for the actual wedding day.
The outfits looked something like this, but my sister’s was pink and silver instead of red and gold. Red and gold is reserved for the actual wedding day.

So yesterday (Sunday) was my sister’s engagement ceremony. Traditionally, in the Vietnamese culture, the male’s family prepares/performs the ceremony for the female’s family. I guess one could compare it to the man asking the woman’s parents for her hand in marriage. Except more fancy. Since my sister’s fiance is not Vietnamese, my parents decided not to force Brad (and his parents) to prepare the ceremony themselves. Of course, the ceremony could have been skipped entirely, but my parents wanted to do this for my sister because “they’re worth it.” Not entirely sure what they mean by that, at least, not in specific terms.

In any case, it was nice and there was lots of good food and my sister and her fiance got to wear fancy traditional Vietnamese clothes for the ceremony. I got to meet Brad’s parents (along with the rest of my family, which means parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles . . . the whole kit and caboodle), and they left me (and I think most everyone else) with a good impression. However, aside from the honoring of ancestors and procession of gifts at the beginning of the ceremony, the whole thing didn’t really feel much different from a regular holiday get-together.

The roast pig is so good! It has a crunchy skin while the actual meat remains moist and super flavorful.

I guess this is a nice way to describe the ceremony and give some detail about the reasons behind certain parts in a short-and-sweet kind of manner.

What’s funny is that my mom told me that I have to marry a Vietnamese guy because she’ll cry if both of her daughters marry “American” guys. I think it’s relatively safe to assume that American = white. When I told my sister that our mom had said that, she laughed and replied that “it’s not her decision to make anyway.” Which is all true, but to be honest, I’ve kinda inherently known that my parents expect that of me, or would like that, so my preferences have been shaped to include that as a requirement. Of course, before this little conversation, the preference hadn’t been as definite, and I’ve only dated white guys so far, but I’ve always felt that it would be best if I found a Vietnamese guy who also fit all my other preferences.

The point is, I don’t mind that my parents have really narrowed down my “sea of fish” into a pond. Even though it was my mom who brought it up, I’m sure that my dad feels the same way.

So, in other news, my cousin accompanied me back to Dallas last night. He’s a high school senior and is using his college days to visit my campus (more as an excuse to miss school than due to interest in my college). We didn’t get back to Dallas until 12:30, and early on in the ~5 hour trip, we stopped at a gas station to fill up my tank and grab some energy drinks. I had the bright idea to grab a Monster Java Loca Moca (energy drinks and coffee have never really worked consistently on me; half the time I feel they had no effect at all, the other half they’re super effective), and by the time we got to my apartment, I was pretty awake. As a result, I’ve pulled an impromptu all-nighter, one in which I actually wasn’t totally unproductive. I gave my cousin a tour around campus, we sneaked into some of the buildings, and I actually did some studying for one of my classes.

Thank goodness I only have one class today (technically, I have two, but the second class is pretty fail). I feel somewhat tired right now, but not like I’m going to pass out. Hopefully I can stay up until this evening, and then go to sleep at a decent time.

My cousin leaves for Houston tomorrow evening/afternoon, and the plan seems to be that he’ll take the Greyhound bus back. I’ll have to drive him to the station, though, and I’m not entirely sure where that is, though I’ve been told it’s in downtown. I just hope I don’t get stuck in rush-hour traffic.

And even with all this extra time I got from not sleeping, I still haven’t unpacked my clothes and whatnot.