It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . .

I'll get rid of my stress even if it's the last thing I do!
I’mma be really stressed out soon. You thought I was going to say “Christmas,” didn’t you? We’re not even past Thanksgiving yet! Class registration for spring starts next Monday! I’m a senior by credits, so I get to begin registering for classes Tuesday morning. I’m currently looking at 15-17 hours for spring semester, and hopefully, I can start some research during the summer. I’m still having some trouble with procrastination and focus when studying, so I’ve begun counseling at the counseling center on campus to see what tips they have for students struggling with time management and whatnot. And, ultimately, to see if I have ADD/ADHD because, honestly, that would not be surprising and would explain a lot. In addition, my GPA isn’t all too competitive right now, so I’m going to hold off on applying to med school by (hopefully only) a year, during which I will perhaps continue with research, gain hospital experience (volunteering and shadowing), and possibly also get a job. It’s somewhat comforting now that I’ve come to the decision to wait a year. I’ve yet to tell my parents that, though, so I’m also nervous about it. Other updates? I got a cat! His name was Woody when I first met him (at the shelter at which I’m currently volunteering), but I felt that it didn’t fit. He has now been renamed as “Jagermeister.” Yes, like the alcohol, but that wasn’t the reason for which I named him. I like to call him “Jager.” My dog, Toto, is pretty herp and isn’t aware of how to properly interact with a cat. It also doesn’t help that Jager’s declawed, so whenever he hits Toto in the face, Toto thinks he’s playing. They get along, which is what I was hoping for; the only problem is that Toto always wants to play. And he is not a small dog, by any means.
This was Jager's first day at home.
Hmm, I also had a boyfriend whom I had begun dating in February. Our relationship ended this past Wednesday, and I’m trying to keep from blaming myself too much. I know that I’m not the only one to blame for the failure of this relationship. I’m upset, but moreover, I’m agitated that I do not know the complete reason for this recent turn of events. Seeing as we’re both short-tempered individuals, it seems that he was tired of arguing all the time. It’s a reasonable thought, but I can’t help but feel that there’s more to it than that. Ah well. The decision was, for the most part, mutual. It just feels like it happened very abruptly. In any case, I’ll try to remain optimistic about the whole thing. The weather has been looking nicer. I feel that we skipped fall, though. Or that fall is more close to feeling like winter rather than being a halfway point between summer and winter. As long as I’m no longer sweating buckets outside and then freezing in my classes, I’ll be happy. Here is my pre-New Year’s resolution: One post per week. It shouldn’t be too difficult, right? As long as I don’t try to write a novel every time, I think it’ll be feasible. So, see you guys next year week.

A New Beginning

We're All Gonna Die Soon
I'll keep up with my blog this time. I swears!
Here’s to (yet another) new blog! Actually, I haven’t had many blogs. There was only the Xanga, which I’ve had since 2005. It was my first blog, as well as one of my first exposures to the internets. As such, the first two or three years of posts were highly illiterate and pretty painful to read. There was one period where I had different paragraphs of text highlighted different colors. I was, in every sense of the word, a newb. Sometimes, I was even a n00b (and yes, there’s a difference). All previous posts were brought over from my Xanga, but because I didn’t want to waste my time and yours, I decided to leave out all the posts where I typed like a retard. I’m sure the link to my xanga is around here somewhere, so if you’re really curious, you can go on a scavenger hunt for it. The prize is loss of vision from scratching your eyes out. Fun, isn’t it!? In the last post I made, I spouted this nonsense about “buckl[ing] down and get[ting] to business when I need to.” Well, I always was better at procrastinating than I was at studying, and it still isn’t all that different. I took biology II over the summer, and I feel like I worked a bit harder at it, but I hypothesize that it was due more to the fact that it was the only class I took at the time, rather than me procrastinating less. Even now, when I know I should get a head start on studying biochem because I didn’t really learn my ochem – at all – I’m here blogging about how I should be studying. And my inability to kick this nasty habit of procrastinating. Of course, people usually start out the new school year trying to stay on top of things, but eventually, they feel like taking a break. And then they don’t come back from it. I think that happens rather early on in the semester for me. Not to be pessimistic or anything (I think I’m being rather realistic, in fact), but you know I’m right.
Link & Epona
Pretty much the only game I ever played on the N64. Aside from multiplayers (Mario Smash Bros., Pokemon Stadium, Mario Party).
All that talk about not being distracted by anime and manga due to some of what I watch/read being taken down due to copyrights? Yeah. All but one of those was re-uploaded, and since I had found more to watch/read while those were gone, I am now currently reading 10 mangas (9 of them ongoing, 1 just not fully uploaded to my manga source) and watching 4 animes. Even if I didn’t have mangas or animes, I noticed that I will spend just about as much time playing video games. Whether it be replaying Ocarina of Time, or playing on my PSP until I ragequit all the games I’ve started, I can spend hours on end just playing games. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen as often as watching anime or reading manga, because then I’d really have no life. And I do have a life, thank you very much! It’s just a smidgen of what normal people call lives, but it still counts! I also tend to have books lying about (for leisure reading) and, being an avid reader, get easily caught up in reading a book. And if I ever run out of (or catch up to) my manga and anime (and tired of my video games and finish my books), I can always turn to YouTube for distraction. YouTube, or random online shopping. If I get really desperate for ways to waste time, I start blogging. Just kidding! (Ahahahaha . . . ) Guh, it’s my junior year, which means I don’t have much time to spare for procrastinating. Really, high school is such a joke compared to college. High school doesn’t prepare you for college at all. Unless you took AP or dual credit courses. That might prepare you for college. Just a little bit. This whole “you have to study to get a good grade” business is ridiculous. And time management? I obviously don’t have good time management skills because I’m sitting here blogging while I should be studying for neuroanatomy and biochem. And classes just started two days ago! Or three, actually. (I don’t have Friday classes, booyah!) But yes, I have no time to procrastinate because Neuroanatomy and Biochem will take most of my study time, as well as practicing for my Piano II class, and I still haven’t started studying for my MCAT. I have a sense of impending doom looming over me, but my procrastination manages to make it seem more like a niggling thought. Though, to be honest, I’m a bit worried about how my courses are gonna pan out for spring semester and senior year. I feel the need to retake a few classes that I did poorly in (procrastination at its finest), but I don’t know if I’ll be able to squeeze them into the remaining time I have. Especially since the scheduling for neuro classes senior year may be pretty tight. I’ll have to make sure I nab a projected schedule of courses from the advising department this coming week.
Why do it today when you can do it tomorrow?
This app (I have it on my Android phone) allows one to make a "To Do" list, with a simple interface that allows one to procrastinate indefinitely.
All right, let’s see if I can wrap this up nicely for you. It’s starting to drag on a bit, isn’t it? So this semester, I’m taking only 15 hours. Biochem (4 hours), Neuroanatomy (3 hours), Piano II (3 hours), History of American Medicine in Film (3 hours), Medical Terminology (1 hour online), and Library Research Skills (1 hour online). I can tell you right now that biochem, neuroanatomy, and piano are going to take up most of my study time outside of classes. My professor for neuroanatomy already told the class that most of the learning will be done by studying outside of lecture, rather than through attending lecture. Thankfully, he’s given many resources to help us through the process of rote memorization. I regret to say that biochem will take a lot of time merely because I didn’t put the effort into learning the related material when I had the classes (ochem and bio 1), so most of the beginning will be learning and (kinda) reviewing. As for piano, well, that takes a lot of practice, and my fingers are rusty because I didn’t touch a piano all summer. And I never learned to count while playing. I can count the piece, and I can play (more like bumble through) the piece – I’ll even count through the first few measures – but somewhere along the way, I focus more on playing the notes and stop counting altogether. So remedying that problem might take some time, and I feel as if I’m already at a disadvantage compared to the other students. And this is way off topic, but my olfactory system keeps telling me that I smell cigarrette smoke, as if it’s lingering in the air, but it’s not. I hate when this happens. Stupid people jeopardizing my lungs just so they can “calm down” (even though nicotine is a stimulant) and get rid of their withdrawal symptoms. /rant This semester is gonna kill me. For serious. 

Time for Srs Business?

It’s getting hot in here (so hot!), so take off all your clothes I am getting so hot, I wanna take my clothes off —

Hah?! In my defense, it really is hot here! Hot and humid. Where it’s common to break out in sweat while taking a mere stroll. At night. Even midnight. I’ve also been trying to cut down on the cost of electricity by only using my fans . . .
Anyway, I suppose it’s time for a blog post, neh? It’s been, what, six months? (Really, guys. I’m pretty sure I’m just talking to myself on this blog.) Much has happened this past year.
Spring semester was much more difficult than expected. I dunno what happened, but I realized again that I’m not exactly sure how to study. At all. I don’t understand this concept. “Studying.” What does that mean? Hopefully, now that I’ve got an apartment all to myself. I’ll buckle down and get to business when I need to. Of course, I was pretty much a hermit last semester, anyway . . . but my friends all lived in buildings next to me, so it was easier to be fine with dropping by for a visit, only to stay longer than needed. And maybe now that most of the manga that I read has been taken down due to copyright/license issues, I won’t have to worry about that distraction. I’m more inclined to reading manga than watching anime, so unless I find a good anime, I should be relatively safe in that area. I’m quite prone to marathon-ing manga and anime whenever I find a new one to read/watch, even though I know I should be doing more productive things and have class in the morning.
This blog post is epic fail.

A Night of Luxury

So, I recently had the pleasure of staying in a hotel as a result of my parents coming to visit me in college. The reason for their visit is lunar new year; I know that doesn’t occur until next Sunday, but on the weekend of new year, the family spends time together. Since I am in college now, a fair number of hours away, I cannot partake of the celebration with my younger cousins at our grandparents’ house this year; however, my parents still will be. (I really will miss the food they’re going to have! I know it’ll be absolutely delicious.)

It has been so long since I’ve stayed in a hotel. The responsibility of choosing one and booking a reservation was solely mine. Where I live currently, it seems that one of the cheaper hotels is the Doubletree hotel. (Or maybe I just didn’t look hard enough.) In my opinion, it was a pretty good deal. The fanciness of the hotel was apparent from the second I stepped into the lobby. Of course, they had the standard high ceiling, marble floors, potted palm trees and indoor fountain. The fountain was what caught my attention the most; it was pretty large, taking up so much space that it served as a sort of partition, with a little waiting area in front, and a lounge area behind it. Maybe it’s just me, but the fountain was mesmerizing. I could stand there for quite a while, watching how the water ran over the textured stone in rivulets, how one would flow into another, especially as they reached the bottom of the fountain.

Doubletree Lobby *fountain*

And the lounge area behind:

Doubletree Lobby - Lounge

The fountain itself has this kind of water action going on:


Pretty cool. (Amirite?)

Somehow, I had completely missed the fact that they give out “free” cookies while checking in (since it’s mentioned on their website). This was a pretty pleasant surprise; and they were warm! (Warm, soft chocolate chip cookies? This hotel really knows how to please their customers.)

For the room itself, I was pretty happy with that, also. The comforter the used was nice and fluffy (I love fluffy blankets), as were the pillows (four per bed? Nice!). Not only that, the bed itself was also a sleep number bed; that was pretty fun to play around with for a while.

IMG_2846

What’s funny is that I had already tried the bed out and gotten under the covers by the time I took this picture. So I had to remake it in order for it to appear as if this was taken when I first got into the room. Looks good, right? D:

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Even though we didn’t use it, I noticed they also had a nice clock in the room, to which you could connect your iPod or mp3 player (the headphone jack is hidden behind it).

IMG_2849

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In the bathroom, they made everything look cool by folding the towels *and* the toilet paper in a fancy way.

IMG_2821
(May I attract your attention to what appears to be cabinets at the bottom of the photo? Now see that gap in the top left corner of the center “cabinet”? I thought it was broken at first, until I found that I couldn’t open any of them at all. There’s also a gap in the bottom right corner, due to the way it’s angled. After more curious fiddling with the middle panel, I found that I could at least move it to where it was vertical; however, I still couldn’t slide it to where it appears to be a closed cabinet. In the vertical position, there’s an opening along the right side of the “door.”

What? You don’t care?
Well, I thought it was cool! D:

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Unfortunately, even with the fancy sleep number bed, I failed to get a good night’s rest. Perhaps it was because my legs don’t like to be restrained? (I failed to pull the edges of the covers from beneath the mattress before going to bed).

That’s not all I did this weekend, though! I’m not such a boring person that the most exciting thing I can blog about is how amazing I think this one hotel is. A hotel so amazing that even their trash bags smell good. And before you think I should be sent to an insane asylum or wonder why you’re reading my blog in the first place (which I think is a pretty good question, in any case), I only know because I forgot my pillow in the hotel room after we had already checked out, and when I went to pick it up later, the receptionist at the front desk wanted to put it in a bag to protect it (I guess) and could only find a trash bag. While running back to the car, I mashed the bag + pillow against my body to make it less cumbersome, and in doing so, got a wiff of the bag itself(because I know my pillow doesn’t smell like that). I know, I know. Forgetting my pillow was pretty fail.

Like I mentioned earlier in this post, my parents came to visit me. Of course, like every other time they’ve come to visit (which hasn’t been that many, truthfully), they treat me out to some good Vietnamese food. Really, it’s the only thing I’ve eaten this whole weekend, and boy, was it delicious!
After lunch yesterday, we went to the little Asian market nearby (and later along the way, Saigon Mall) and bought some food. After actually looking at the things I picked out (and they bought for me), I’ve noticed that I seem to really like lychee flavored things.

IMG_2858
(But look, look! There’s a bottle of passionfruit green tea on the right side. That counts for something, right?) The lychee flavored water comes in a clear plastic can! (Isn’t that cooollll? Like transparent aluminum!)

The lychee jelly really brings back some memories (well, sorta). I haven’t had these things in such a long time!

Anyway, after this trip, my parents took me to the mall. They’ve been wanting me to get new jeans ever since they saw the skinny jeans pair I bought during Christmas break. My mom said because they look to be warmer, but my sister told me what they said to her, and apparently, it’s because the jeans I have now (which are somewhat baggy, since I intended them to be rather roomy in the legs) look unflattering on me. Gee, thanks, Mom.

I was never one to really enjoy clothes shopping for long amounts of time, and this time was no differ ent. It’s always troublesome to find pants especially, since I have to look for petite/short ones that are also in my size. My thighs are also somewhat big (for my stature), so when I do find pants that fit comfortably over my thighs, I know they’ll be loose around the waist. I don’t know if my calves are also bigger than normal for someone my size, or if it was just because I was previously athletic, but sometimes the most problematic part of the pants when trying on jeans are getting my calves to fit into the corresponding portion of jeans (of course, this only goes for skinny jeans).

For something so troublesome, it’s only understandable that I don’t do this frequently, either. The last time I went shopping for jeans was maybe sophomore year? Those jeans have lasted me pretty long, also. They’re still in good condition, aside from the fact that they’re frayed on the bottom (from being too long for my legs). I purposely bought those to be loose around my legs; after all, I don’t want to have to wrestle my clothes on and off every time I change. Yeah, I know, I’m pretty lazy with my wardrobe. I didn’t really start caring about what I wore until maybe junior or senior year of high school, and I wasn’t much more inclined to worrying about whether this matched that. And since I shop so infrequently, it’s good that I find a brand I know I will fit good (and what size fits well) that also lasts long, right? So, Levi’s, thank you for making such dependable jeans.

Anyway, I eventually found two pairs of jeans that fit rather well and weren’t too expensive (Levi’s, huzzah!). My mom had originally wanted me to buy two pairs of jeans that were differently colored than the pair I bought during Christmas holiday (for more versatility with the rest of my wardrobe), but the black pair that I found looked somewhat awkward in particular area. Afterwards, we went to check in and relax a bit at the previously mentioned hotel-of-awesomeness before heading to church.

This morning, we went to eat again (moar Vietnamese food, heck yessss), and then my parents left (after going back to the hotel to pick up my pillow in the nicely fragranced trash bag). Earlier today, I took my jeans out of the Macy’s bag so that I could take the tags off and whatnot and put them away. To my dismay, I found that the cashier failed to take off those magnetic buttons they put on clothes to (I suppose) deter thievery.

Cashier Fail
But I already paid for these jeans! Well, okay, my parents paid for them, but that’s beside the point!

I suppose this means I have to go back to Macy’s (or some clothing store, at least) to have it taken off. How troublesome. D;

I know it’s not until next Sunday, but happy lunar new year!
For the Vietnamese people:
Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

Wow, I think this is the first time I’ve ever had photos in a blog entry.

And I’ll Survive, I Will Survive!

Saturday, 2 January 2010 8:41 PM
Even though my holiday break is only three weeks, a bit shorter than some colleges or universities, I’m about ready to begin classes once more. I suppose my college has figured out the optimum break length to where students are able to feel like they’ve had a good amount of holiday relaxation, but haven’t been out of school for so long that they’ve forgotten how to aptly use their time once classes start again.
For me, college life hasn’t been too difficult to adapt to. I’ve always been rather independent, so I wasn’t very homesick when I moved out. However, the work for classes is a different matter. I didn’t study as much as I should have during my first semester of college. Actually, I’ve never had to really study before. All I really did throughout my years of junior and high school years was cram (because really, nobody should have to really study for school prior to junior high). By the time I did start studying hardcore, it was for my finals, and I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. Am I really supposed to just stare at this material for four or so hours? So this next semester, I’ll still be working on adapting to college coursework. Real college coursework because community college doesn’t exactly count.
I also had some difficulty cutting myself off from the fun and games when I knew I had to get down to business and study. I got pretty addicted to shooting pool for a month or two, and I still really enjoy playing it. However, I tend to rotate between my addictions. Pool and anime/manga are the main ones I had to deal with the first semester. At one point of one of my anime/manga addiction phases, I watched and finished Fruits Basket within a day, and went through one hundred and sixty-something chapters of a manga (basically until I finished all the chapters currently out for that manga) in two or three days. I got little sleep those nights; I don’t know how I was able to function in classes during those periods, or if I was able to function at all. At my most addicted phase for pool, I skipped one class (after already playing for pretty much the whole afternoon) and made a bet with a friend (which I won, mwuha!). At least I haven’t gotten addicted to coffee or energy drinks to power my way through the semester. At one point, I lost my keys. Actually, I just forgot them in my chemistry lecture room, and didn’t realize that the keys my professor was holding up at the end of class were mine. And by the time I noticed, it was too late. I suppose, luckily enough, this happened on a Friday. Locked out of both my apartment and my room, I wouldn’t have been able to properly attend classes relying solely on what I had with me at the time. Or, perhaps this was an unlucky thing, since I would’ve been able to go to the lost and found on campus immediately to retrieve my keys. Except for the fact that I didn’t know my professor had left my keys there until the Monday after I lost them.
A friend (or two) of mine was kind enough to let me spend the night at their apartment for the duration of my homelessness. True, I could’ve just spent the nights in my own apartment, out in the living room, but that would’ve been more awkward for me. It’s not that I don’t like my roommates; to tell you the truth, I think they’re pretty cool, and I’m glad that I ended up having them as roomies. However, I’m just not as close to them as they are with each other. I feel rather out of place when spending time with them (and their other friends). I always was more comfortable being friends with guys than girls.
In any case, I’ve better prepared myself should such a thing happen again. (Yes, I know I fail epically for losing my keys in the first place, but I’m trying to be optimistic here!)

I, for one, have been really enjoying Christmas vacation. Aside from lack of immediate internet access (no internet at home anymore), the holidays have been pretty pleasant and relaxing. Go to sleep whenever (although I haven’t been able to fall asleep before midnight the whole break), wake up whenever (usually around ten or so, but I go back to sleep and don’t get out of bed until around one), I don’t have to make my own food, spend all day doing basically nothing, and somehow I’m still tired enough to take naps around six or seven at night. That’s probably why I can’t fall asleep before twelve.
I haven’t been completely lazy, though! I swear. But ask me what I’ve done over the holidays, and I honestly can’t remember doing much of anything. On the weekends, and during for Christmas Eve/Christmas and New Year’s Eve/New Year’s, I’ve been going to my grandpa’s house with my parents (like we did before I went off to college). That’s where we have family get-togethers. Our family visits our grandparents at least every two weeks. So all the cousins grew up as a pretty tight-knit group. And I love visiting my family.
It’s fun watching my cousins play games. My cousin, Quan, and his younger brother, Vinh, recently used their Christmas money to purchase an xBox 360 and Halo 3, along with a few other games. Of course, it’s always more fun playing such games with more people (the more the merrier, after all), especially with family, so Quan and Vinh brought their xbox and Halo 3 with them for everyone to play on. My older cousin, Tommy, and my younger cousin, Quan, are playing Halo 3 right now. A little while ago, they were standing in an elevator waiting to go to the next level (playing storymode). Quan recently had acquired a gravity hammer, an overpowering weapon, and was really excited.
Tommy: (health goes down to absolute minimum) Whoa, was that you?
Quan: Ehehehe . . .
And another time they were going up in the elevator and waiting until they reached the next level:
Tommy: (shoots Quan with a needler)
Quan: (wacks Tommy with the hammer)
(They reach the next level, both at minimum health, and see quite a few formidable opponents.) Tommy: Oh, yeah . . . now was probably not a good time for that.
Later, Tommy got tired of playing, so another younger cousin, Nguyen, took the controller.
Nguyen: Chaaaaaaaarrggee! (Gets blown up)
Quan: (Gets blown up immediately afterwards) Aww, I was watching your screen!
Ten minutes later, they have sentinel guns that resemble lasers when they shoot:
Quan: (shoots Nguyen) Ehehe.
Nguyen: (Takes damage) Oohh, I want one of those!
One minute later, going against a horde of enemies:
Nguyen: (Imitating laser noises) Zzzzzzzzzzzzzeewwwwww.
Quan: (Dies) Aww, you killed me!
Finally, they get past that stage. Upon getting to the next one . . .
Nguyen: Awww, I don’t want to do this stage! It scares me!
A minute later:
Quan: (Dies) Nguyen, throw a grenade.
Nguyen: (Throws a grenade. Then walks into it and dies.)
For the next five minutes they have fun killing each other. Just for the giggles.
Quan: Aww, you douche!
Nguyen: My energy shield, you bitch!
And then, two minutes after they’ve declared the friendly fire war done . . .
Quan: Walk away from me, Nguyen. Walk away!
Nguyen: (Kills him with a plasma sword.)
Quan: You douche.
Well. This goes on for quite a while, and I’m sure you guys get the idea. Needless to say, it was quite entertaining to watch. I guess this is probably true for most gamers, but I like how when it’s time to seriously get into a game, my cousins and I sit up to play. That’s when we know it’s serious business.
Because that’s how we roll. [Ololol.]

[For You] I’d Do Anything

This is why I regard my friends so highly. Never having had a wealth of friends, and not wanting to be the kind of person that had tons of “friends” whom I would more consider acquaintances in that case, I treasure the ones I find. I try hard to maintain contact with them. I try hard to make the people I call friends (which, I suppose, might equate to the term “best friend” for others) happy and do things that please them. I feel that, for the people who already make me laugh so easily, care when I’m upset, are willing to help me when I need it, and do many other things which I cannot think of at the moment, the fact that I can make them happy automatically makes me happy. I do not like it when y’all are upset or stressed, especially if there’s nothing I can do about it. It makes me feel useless.


I don’t like not being able to see you guys much outside of classes because I feel like I might be forgotten about. That’s why, that one time at the end of last semester, I hit Cameron when I saw him. Having not seen or really heard from him in a while, I was afraid that he might not consider me much of a friend anymore, and I was upset with both him and myself. Shouldn’t I have put more effort into at least trying to talk to him regularly, as he should have? I realize that logic seems kind of stupid and perhaps paranoid. When I compare the friendships I have with all of you to what I see of the friendships you have with each other, I feel somewhat left out. And therefore, when I get to spend time with all of you, I feel privileged. Just being with you guys and watching you interact can make me happy because of that reason.


I suppose, in a way, when I find someone I call a friend, I become clingy and dependent upon them. At least, to me it seems this way. I restrain myself, though, or try, so that I don’t become overbearing or annoying. If I have something to say that’s important to me, but y’all don’t have the time to talk anymore, I won’t say it and keep you further. There’s probably a good chance that I won’t bring it up the next time we talk because I don’t want to bother you with it. The only problem is that I then keep it pent up inside of me, and it might affect my behavior later on. I don’t want to upset y’all, though, so if something’s bothering me, I try not to let it show. I just want for you all to be happy and spend some time with me. And for that, I would do almost anything.


I have a hard time finding people I can talk to about such deep things easily. Even among my friends, there are only a few whom I am comfortable talking about serious matters with. But if you don’t have the time, or the topic bothers you, even if it’s rather important to me, I’ll stop. I’m happy when I can find people whom I can confide in, and even happier when the people I trust can trust me enough to confide in me.
If, in the end, for some reason, I can’t be friends with any of you anymore, I think I’ll be able to handle being alone again.
Anything to make you happy.

Summer Lovin’ Fun

Tuesday, 22 December 2009 12:00 AM It’s been a long while since I last posted something here. Much has happened in the past year. This summer, I had the chance to visit Colorado again. We stayed for a week, and although I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have if it had been during the winter (so I could’ve gone snowboarding), the vacation turned out to be really fun. For one, I bought myself a snowboard! (Unfortunately, I won’t be going to Colorado this winter; it’s going to be all lonely in the vacation house there.) Hopefully I, along with some of my older cousins and my sister, will be able to go to Colorado for vacation next winter.
Anyway, this summer, I went to Colorado. Two of my younger cousins, their parents, one of my older cousins and his parents, my mom, and myself all went to a vacation house in Winter Park, Colorado. The older cousin’s parents own the house, but everyone in the family is allowed to use it for vacationing. My family really enjoys snowboarding and skiing. I’m not exactly sure why we decided to visit during the summer, but it wasn’t so bad. We opted to drive; of course, me being myself, I slept most of the time.
We did a variety of things while in Winter Park. The first day, one of the first things we did was just drive around, sightseeing. Of course, while we had all already been to Winter Park, Colorado before, it’s so obviously different in the summer. It was odd not seeing snow everywhere. I believe the next thing we did was go to the Base (the snowboarding/skiing park). In the summer they still have attractions there for visitors, but there wasn’t all that much. We only stayed for a little while that day; the adults planned to take us back later in the week to spend the whole day there.
The next day (Tuesday?), I think we went into the city and just browsed the shops. My younger cousins and I painted some pottery again for souvenirs (again, we had done this in the past during winter vacations), and this was also the day I bought a snowboard. I have the mindset that since I spent money buying a snowboard, I’ll be more inclined to return to Colorado so that I can put it to actual use and get my money’s worth out of it.
One day in the week, we drove farther up into the mountains and did some sightseeing in the national park there. In spite of the cold, I really enjoyed the day. I found that being in such fresh air, running around, and hiking up some trails we stopped at really energized me. I also had fun taking pictures of the scenery. I think the pictures I took where rather good for a point-and-shoot camera. According to a sign, at one point we were 12,000 something feet above sea level. I don’t like the picture I have with the sign because the wind was being rather gusty, and kept blowing my hair everywhere. Naturally, it was all in my face as well.
Thursday’s next, right? This is the day we went back to the base. The cousins were allowed to roam about as we pleased; likewise, the adults did want they wanted. They have this one attraction called the Alpine Slide. As hinted to by its name, the ride is a trough-like slide embedded into the mountain side. Since it would be unwise to have it on a slope used during the winter, they placed the ride under a ski lift, winding narrowly back and forth. One sits on a scooter-like device and controls their speed using a lever. Forward to reduce friction and go faster, pulling back engages the break-device. They had two slides – one “fast” lane, and one “slow” lane. The slow lane is probably more family oriented, intended for small kids and their parents riding together; however, sometimes the people in this lane went faster than the people in the “fast” lane. I, of course, tried to go faster with every subsequent ride, leaning forward as far as I could go to make myself more streamlined, leaning into the curves. My cousins and I determined an order to go in. The oldest cousin, Tommy, always went fast, and would go first. I would go next, and not have to worry about having to slow down unless someone in front of Tommy was going extremely slow. After me was my younger cousin, Nguyen. Last of all was his younger sister, Thao. We believe that she couldn’t go above a certain speed because she wasn’t heavy enough. (Her first ride resulted in four or five people trailing along behind her when she reached the bottom.) Other than the slide, we also played putt putt; I really don’t know what to say about this. Tommy was the best (probably more experienced than the rest of us as well), and I suppose it just depended on certain circumstances for the rest of us. Haha, the first time we went through the course, we accidentally skipped a hole.
We also went on the rock-climbing wall. Mmmm, the strenuous activity was invigorating. I enjoyed the physical challenge so much. It was only a small wall, probably only somewhere between twenty and thirty feet tall. It had three sides: easy, medium, and hard. I chose to do the hard one first, then went to the easy one. The medium was the one I did last, and the only one neither I nor Tommy could do. I believe Thao was the only one to reach the top. The main reason was due to the smaller handholds on that side that we older cousins couldn’t get good grips on. My muscles were rather sore the next day; I was so pleased. XD
There was also a maze. Not one a really memorable part of the day, and I won’t elaborate too much on it. The goal of the maze was to find all the letters of a word, hidden throughout the maze, and use the hole punch below each letter to punch out that letter on the card given to us at the beginning of the maze. If we found all the letters and made our way out under a certain time limit, then we would get a small prize. Nguyen was the only one to get a prize.
The last thing we did at the base was ride a lift to the top of the mountain and hike down a trail. Nguyen did not accompany us at this time as he was feeling rather tired and somewhat ill. Tommy and I wanted to go so that we could take pictures of scenery, and Thao just wanted to tag along because it was something to do. Whereas I only have a point-and-shoot, Tommy actually has a professional camera, since photography is a hobby of his. (I believe I’m still waiting for him to upload the photos so that I can see them again.) It’s rather difficult to actually understand how big these mountains really are, especially when traversing them on snowboards and skiis. Hiking down this trail took a good two or three hours, especially with our frequent stops to snap pictures. I really enjoy physical activity, and this was particularly fun. Some parts were rather steep, and somewhat worrisome, even moreso with the loose pebbles and the fact that our shoes were unsuited for hiking.
Friday! Friday, the last day. This day was most exciting; we went rafting down a river. The water was cold, and our guide was very entertaining. We shoved off with two other rafts (the other two rafts occupied by the members of one family), and it was funny to hear the friendly competitive banter between the guides. Tommy and I sat in the front and were the lead rowers; we also got wet the most, probably. The water was cold, but the physical activity kept us warm enough. At one point, the guides offer everyone an opportunity to dive off of this one cliff. Of course, how could I resist? Except, apparently, I pushed off too hard, and the momentum put my body into a nearly horizontal position when I hit the water; needless to say, it was rather painful. Since everyone was required to wear lifejackets at all times, no one sunk too far into the water, and my back was protected from the impact; unfortunately, my bottom wasn’t. I only wish I could’ve gotten a picture of it, since someone on the cliff opposite was stationed to take pictures of people as they dived (all pencil dives). I probably would have had my eyes shut, anyway. Haha, I can still remember hearing everyone go, “Ooohhhh,” in sympathy as they watched me hit the water in my less-than-ideal body position. When we stopped for lunch later, one of the other guides even asked me if I was okay! (I’m a tough girl; I can handle it!)
Over time, we had water sitting in the bottom of the raft from all the times it splashed in as we went through some of the rougher rapids. I wore flip flops, so my feet went numb rather quickly. The guides took good care of us, and no one fell out of the raft at any time. The guides had their own massive oars with them in the back of the raft, and sometimes, they took over completely, allowing us to rest and enjoy the view.
Unfortunately, all the sun exposure caused my lips, the least protected part of my body (my chapstick didn’t have UV protection in it), to become sunburned. The next couple of days was rather painful, especially during mealtimes. Well, at least I know to make sure my chapstick has UV protection whenever I need more.
That takes care of what we did during the days, does it not? As for how we occupied ourselves at night while we were back at the house, we did a variety of things. Sometimes, my cousins and I would play two-on-two foosball (unfortunately, they had already sold the ping-pong table from when there house was up for sale). We also played Cranium a few times, although the teams were almost often unmatched (Tommy and I against Nguyen and Thao – older against younger). I had fun, of course, but I was always on the winning team. When it was close to time to go to sleep, Tommy always retired to his bedroom a little early, and did who knows what. Nguyen, Thao, and I slept in the media room. The most watched channel? The FOOD channel, of course! I particularly enjoyed watching the competitive shows, and shows such as Cake Boss, where they often had elaborate and creative-looking dishes.
Wuhh, looks like this entire entry was about only one week of my summer. So much to write about concerning my past year! If I keep blogging like this, I’ll wind up with a book.
(I apologize for any grammatical/spelling mistakes in this blog. Suck it up, though; I’m too lazy right now to edit it all.) I hope my snowboard doesn’t miss me.

Reminiscing

So. It’s three twenty-three in the morning where I live. My stomach is growling; I haven’t been eating very healthily lately. I tend to neglect myself when I’m at home alone?
As of late, my sleeping has been out of whack. Falling asleep at two, waking up slightly around eight or so in the morning, falling back asleep, and not getting up until noon-ish. So, to remedy this without some type of medication, I shall pull an all nighter (to the best of my abilities) and stay awake all day, thus tiring myself out enough to fall asleep at a normal time and (hopefully) fix my sleeping schedule.

I noticed earlier that I joined in 2005 and my fifth anniversary is in about three weeks. Whoo. (I haven’t been a stellar member, though.) So, I’ve been skimming through past entries. I know my grammar was horrendous in the beginning. I’m not sure exactly when proper grammar debuted in my entries, but anything written during and after 2006 was significantly better. My style and diction has changed so much since then.

One common thing about most, if not all, of my previous entries: I was friggin hyper. Periods and exclamation points galore. Smilies up the wazoo. They were certainly colorful.

Most of my entries were pretty down to earth. Coherent, ya know? And then, sometimes, out of seemingly nowhere, an entry would pop up where I’m abusing the period or exclamation point and spouting nonsense. I believe those entries were written and posted sometime in the early morning hours when I was suffering from sleep deprivation. Which just goes to show you that I should not still be up and blogging my thoughts for the general public when my good judgment is taking a break.

Well, at least it’s obvious (from past entries) how I came up with my username.

It is now three forty-two in the morning. My eyes feel gritty. I think I’ll retire from Xanga for tonight. Or this morning, rather.

Please don’t read my past entires. It’s embarrassing.

Barely a dent in the surface: A glimpse at the Loquacious Linh

All right, I guess it’s about time I update. This one shall be about random aspects of my personality.

So, how revealing of my personality should I be?

Well, most people who aren’t complete and total strangers can tell you that I have a quick temper. If you have any good calming techniques, I’m all ears. Depending on how you advise me, that is. >.>

I like my food. Don’t touch my food. Ever.
And if you find that you can’t finish your food, offer it to me. I’ll most likely take it. >.> So what, I’m a fatty! I have no life. I’ll eventually become the most obese person in the world. Whatever. As long as I get my food.

I sound so fat. A fat person in a skinny person’s body. Not that I’m complaining. But I needs exercise. Snowboarding, anyone?

I love sports. Soccer is my favorite to play. Rugby is my favorite to watch. Rugby makes football look pansy-ish. My kids shall play rugby. Mwuhahahaha. Geebus, I’m already cultivating violence into the personality of my inexistent children. Don’t lock me in an insane asylum, pleassse.

I’m very adamant about grammar, as you can see by my grammatically correct typing and sentence structure.

Pokemon is my favorite cartoon. However, anything after the Johto League is insanely idiotic. And I love video games, though I don’t get to play often. I only have an N64. Not that I’m complaining. Super Smash Bros., anyone? I used to suck at that game. I was horrible. One of those just-push-random-buttons-and-see-how-long-you-live players. I pwn now.

I have an active imagination. Please, no scary movies, nor any video games with creepy music and dark corridors, etc. Not unless you want to give me a heart attack. And if I die, I will haunt your ass for it. “What is this feeling of blatant hostility?” “Oh, it’s just Linh.”

You could say I’m socially inept, to a degree. I shy away from social settings. I’m, as some would say, a wall flower. There are few people I consider friends. If I say you’re a friend, it’s the equivalent of being a “best friend” for other people. Either you’re a friend, or you’re an acquaintance. There is no in between.

Since I have few friends, I’m obviously not very open about my emotions. I keep my life private. Since I’m a private person in general, you can trust me to keep your secrets. Besides, I probably don’t even know the people that you want to keep these secrets from.

I aspire to be a doctor. A surgical doctor, to be exact. So don’t make me irate. I’ll know exactly where to place my scalpel in order to cripple you. Or worse. -maniacal laughter- I’m just kidding. I’m not that violent.
But yeah. I want to be a surgical doctor, and I’m considering obtaining a license in massage therapy to help me pay for medical school.

People say I’m smart. If you ask me if I am, I’ll shrug and say, “I guess.” But I’ll probably act smart-alec. I tend to subconsciously analyze situations and people. I have a low tolerance level for idiots. And slow walkers. I hate people who walk insanely slow and string their idiotic group across the entire hallway. And why the heck does the math hallway seem the most crowded?!?

And last, but not least, I know I’m weird. Not the weirdest person on the planet, but definitely not normal.

That should be more than enough to sate your odd curiosity about what I am like. I swear, I’m not that interesting. But, should you happen to want to know more (for reasons I can’t even begin to fathom), I guess you can always ask. I can’t promise I’ll answer, but hey, it never hurt to ask, right?


Entering the Mature Dating World

Featured Question: At what age do you think a kid should be able to start dating?

My Answer:
For whenever I have children, preferrably when they become eighteen. Which would basically be time for when they go to college and finally escape from my constant overprotective watching.

However, I don’t think one could put an exact age for when the time would be right for a person to begin dating. As most people say, it depends on the maturity of the person/kid/child/teenager in question. True, s/he should be mature enough to be able to handle the emotional stress that will come along with dating, be able to juggle relationship and all other aspects of life equally well, and be mature enough not to curse the opposite gender when things go wrong. (When thinking about dating in that last aspect, from the lies I’ve seen on television shows, quite a few adults shouldn’t be allowed to date.) However, fulfilling these few requirements isn’t enough for me. The person should also understand that dating isn’t just a status, nor is the act of dating solely for fun and games. And if it’s just a way to “get some,” that person should most certainly NOT be allowed to date.

When the epiphany that dating is a course taken to find someone whom one would want to spend the rest of his or her life with, and s/he is ready to make that commitment, then perhaps that person can be deemed ready to begin dating. The purpose of dating isn’t just so one won’t be alone. The purpose of dating isn’t because you “need” someone to make you feel whole. When one realizes that the act of dating is to find someone to love, forever, then the person will be that much closer to dating. S/he also must have already figured out that the reason for being in a relationship, in any relationship, romantic or unromantic, should be for the other person. Self gain will come with it, but that shouldn’t be the reason to be in the relationship. But if the reasons for dating is solely that the person is “hot” or is rich, or something else superficial, then some more mental growth needs to occur.

There’s probably many more things I think are important on this subject but don’t remember at the moment. Revision will probably ensue…sometime.

   

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!