I just failed so hard at eating dinner. At the end of last week I made a pot of rice and prepared some lap xuong (a type of Chinese sausage), and practically every chopstick-full of rice I ate resulted in dropping rice grains all over myself. Not to mention that I spilled rice even before I started eating because my hands were being all derp and dropped the chopsticks multiple times.
No matter what the amount, getting money is always fun. Even if you don't yet understand the concept of money.
But anywho.
Uhh, today is lunar new year. Chuc Mung Nam Moi! (“Happy new year” in Vietnamese.) It’s the year of the dragon, the 5th sign in the Chinese zodiac which symbolizes power, good luck, success, and happiness. The day where lunar-new-year-celebrating-Asians will get little red and gold envelopes filled with dollars bills and the occasional $5 or $10. OR, you could be really lucky and get $2 bills. /sarcasm?
Unfortunately, I was not able to return home and partake in the Tet festivities. I wonder if I’ll have any red envelopes waiting for me the next time I visit home.
So, so, so, I bought a Kindle Fire off of Craigslist last week, after waiting for what seemed like foreeveerrrr to find a price I liked and a person who actually responded to my inquiry. I got a pretty good deal (25% off retail price), especially considering that some people insist on trying to sell their Kindle Fires above the price listed on Amazon.com.
I may have mentioned in a previous post the idea of rooting my Kindle Fire. As of right now, I’m pretty pleased with the Fire the way it is, even if the roulette showing recent activity is pretty ridiculous. In addition, the root for the latest Android build (Ice Cream Sandwich –> ICS) has already been made, although it’s buggy and still being worked on by developers. Besides, if I root my Kindle, then I won’t be able to have access to the Kindle Reader’s Lending Library or whatever it’s called, as well as free access to selected movies and TV shows. Of course, to take advantage of these perks, one needs to be a member of Amazon Prime. My only real complaint is that there are no decent note-taking apps (that use handwriting, rather than typing the text) on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread, which is what the Fire has, albeit changed up and slightly crippled). The promising apps I found are only available for Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) and up, and apparently the code for Honeycomb wasn’t released; the only roots available for the Fire as of right now are the full-blown Android Gingerbread and buggy ICS. In any case, not being able to take hand-written notes on my Fire isn’t remotely close to being a deal-breaker. The 7″ screen isn’t exactly ideal for that kind of thing.
Total "wtf" title, but it makes sense after it's explained.
As for the academic front, I feel like I’m off to a decent start. I’ve been exercising on a regular basis, though not every day like I originally planned. Right now I’m only up to 1 hour gym work-outs Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. But hey, it’s a start, right? I also bought this ebook off of Amazon during the break when it was on sale called Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time. Kinda seems ridiculous, but for me, it’s helped quite a bit, and I’ve only read 3 chapters (less than halfway).
The main thing that it’s stressed so far is to plan ahead. For you non-procrastinators, this seems like a no-brainer, right? And perhaps even for procrastinators too. But the simple act of writing everything down actually helps a lot. Granted, I haven’t been completing everything I’ve written on my To-Do lists for the past two days that I’ve tried it, but I’ve been able to get the most important things done, at least.
It’s gonna be a challenging semester, probably moreso than I realize, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the long run. It better be, though for $1.50, if it doesn’t turn out to be worth it, at least it won’t be a big loss.
Last week I had my first counseling session for the semester, and my counselor noted that I seem much happier than I had last semester, though we both aren’t sure yet if that’s because of the break, or because of the Wellbutrin. That being said, I do feel happier this semester, as well as actually motivated to do well. Of course, the motivation may be due to me only taking classes that I’m actually interested in for this semester, rather than because I need it as a prereq for med school.
My lifestyle in general has become more healthy; I’m eating 3 meals a day at more regular intervals, rather than the 1 or 2 I would eat in the past few years. As I already stated, I began my journey to getting fit. My sleep seems to be more restful and undisturbed as well. I just feel good. Knock on wood. We’ll see how things are after the first round of exams. Which come at the end of next week. Yikes.
Also also also, I applied for a job on campus. It’s a typing data entry thing and only pays $8/hr, but a job is a job, and at least it’s not my only means of support. Actually, it’s more for personal spending money. Project money. I applied Saturday evening (I think?) and haven’t gotten a reply yet, but hopefully I can nab it. If not, then maybe I can get a job at a center that specializes in programs for ADD, ADHD, autistic, dyslexic, etc. children, which would be more up my alley what with being a neuroscience major and all. It’d probably look better on my resume too. I’m hoping to be able to stay on campus for work, though.
Geebus, so many things to talk about! I swear this is the last thing.
It seems that I’ve finally gotten a volunteer position at a hospital. People must not like to communicate with me, because scheduling an interview appointment with the volunteer coordinator took forever (and didn’t even happen when I applied last spring). So did scheduling an appointment to get my TB test. And the first two people I tried to buy a Kindle Fire from on Craigslist never responded; one contact number was completely wrong. People just don’t pick up their phone. To be fair, I screen my calls too.
Anyway, the volunteer orientation is this Wednesday. After that and after my reference gives back a completed reference form, I should be all ready to volunteer. The only thing left is to get my DART pass so I don’t have to drive in that abysmal traffic. (Srsly, why is there traffic when there are no vehicle accidents or anything???)
Also, someone stole my bike. Really? My bike? And why the fusk can’t I change the color of the strike-out font?
P.S. My cat has been much more affectionate as of late. I feel loved.
So it’s been a bit under a month since my last post. Sorry guyyysss.
So, first of all, on November 19, one of my older cousins got married. I was a bridesmaid for his wedding. Except. He got mixed up and didn’t say that I was actually the Maid-of-Honor, seeing as I was the only bridesmaid. But no big deal. So for his wedding, I drove home the night of the 17th because a dress rehearsal was on the 18th. The night of the 18th, I stayed at the hotel with his fiance because we had to be prettified early early (5 AM) the next morning and it would be better if I didn’t have to drive an hour and a half from my parents’ house the morning of.
And they were sick.
Lemme stop here and take the time to say that when I get married, I’mma make sure they give me some simple hair style because having to wash the hair spray caked in your hair late at night after having been gallivanting around all day for wedding stuff is a big pain in the butt.
The number of guests for the wedding was small; it was just my family, but even so, that was about 50-60 people total. Since it was small, being the maid-of-honor wasn’t too stressful. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that I didn’t get to spend much time with my other cousins during that weekend, and since I didn’t go home for Thanksgiving either, I won’t get to see them again until Christmas.
So, wedding was all fun and whatnot, and my sister caught the bouquet. There’s this rumor going around amongst the aunts and uncles that my sister is planning on getting married next year, but when I asked her about it, she had no clue what I was talking about. Asking my aunts and uncles about the source of their information pointed me to my mom, but she claimed that she hadn’t said anything about that either. Many people are curious as to when my sister and her boyfriend are going to get married, though, so I guess it’s not too surprising.
My second counseling session was the Monday after the wedding/before Thanksgiving. After expressing further interest on how I might get an appointment with the on-campus psychiatrist, my counselor took all the necessary information from me in order to fill out the referral form, since it seems the only way to get an appointment with the psychiatrist is through a referral from one’s counselor. After getting that out of the way, we ended up discussing my relationships with other people (keeping them distant) and why my relationships might be the way they are. At least, that was what fueled whatever we discussed for the rest of the session.
My next session is this coming Monday, and I have an appointment with the psychiatrist for next Friday.
Even though UTD had classes up to Wednesday (Thursday and Friday being the only days we had off for Thanksgiving holidays), I went to class only on Monday. Why? Because I got sick with a cold from the bride and groom. It wasn’t all bad; I was able to finish reading Eldest and Brisingr from the Inheritance cycle by Wednesday night. After finishing Brisingr, I immediately went out and bought Inheritance . . . and ended up finishing that Thursday afternoon. I was supposed to use Thanksgivin
g break for studying, since next week is the start of finals, but I’m so weak to temptation. D:
My parents, after having heard I was sick, decided to visit me and bring me food and, in general, baby me. They arrived Friday afternoon and left Saturday morning. Even though their visit was short (as it always is), I’m glad they came. It reminded me that my family is very amazing. The rest of the weekend was spent practicing piano and
OOhh, I want a tablet so bad!
wasting time looking at Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and falling in love with the concept of Amazon’s new Kindle Fire even though I really don’t need it and there are many cons about it especially since it’s the first generation of it but I still really want it anyway. Since Amazon and Overstock.com both have Cyber Monday deals all weak, I’ve still spent a lot of time looking at all the sales, even though I haven’t found anything worth buying.
I really like the idea of the Kindle Fire. I have Amazon Prime already, and Amazon Prime users are given movie options to watch/download for free. As an eReader, those with Kindles have access to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, which allows one to borrow a book for a month for reading without having to pay for the book. As one who likes to read, this is a very appealing aspect. My sister pointed out that a regular Kindle eReader may be better for me than the Kindle Fire, but if I’m going to get a Kindle, I’d rather be able to have the option of using it for other things that just reading. The Kindle Fire isn’t exactly a true tablet, but for $200, it’s not expected to be, either, and I don’t intend to use a tablet to replace my laptop. With some tablets costing nearly as much as a new laptop, I don’t see myself purchasing a full-blown tablet any time soon. As my sister said, “I’d want to be able to play games (WoW) on it, but you can’t do that.”
Akshually, I went to Best Buy yesterday evening to check it out (because, you know, it’s good to have a look at things you’re thinking of buying), and some of the bad things I heard about it aren’t really that bad. Some people complained about the interface being schizo, but the model in the store seemed perfectly fine. Yeah, the speakers are in an awkward place and don’t have much power to them, but I’d use earphones if I were watching a movie or listening to music. I have to admit, the power button is in a really stupid place. Why anyone would put it on the bottom of the device is beyond me. However, you can just flip it upside-down (and the screen will also flip) so it’s usable that way as well, aside from a few applications. I’m not sure how much the lack of a volume rocker will bother me, though, especially for applications that don’t have a way to change the volume in their settings.
I guess that’s enough of my Kindle Fire spiel. (Also, there’s already a way to root it, which would give me more freedom to do what I want with it toooo.)
Aside from being a good-for-nothing who spends too much time watching anime and reading manga and being useless in general, I’ve also been practicing my third piece for my piano class. We’re having a recital tomorrow night, which also takes the place of our final. I’m still having trouble with a few spots, but I think I’ll be all right by the time the recital comes around. That’s what’s been occupying the rest of my attention the past few weeks. I’ve only been practicing this piece for a total of about 2 weeks, while the other people in my class have been practicing theirs for closer to a month or more.
Good news! My only final exam is for my biochemistry class, which is next Friday morning. As I already mentioned, playing in tomorrow’s recital takes the place of the final for my piano class, I’ve already finished everything for my two online classes, if you have a passing grade in Neuroanatomy, you’re exempt from the final (it’s only for people who need it to pass), and for my History of American Medicine through Film class we have to write a paper on a movie we choose (and compare it to a movie we’ve watched in class). This weekend is gonna be crammed, since the paper is due next Tuesday, and my fourth Neuroanatomy exam is also on Tuesday.
Well, I should probably get started on some of that stuff.
Yay for another boring update that doesn’t really give any insight. Posting weekly makes me churn out more thoughtful content.
