~ MERRY CHRISTMAS ~
I wish you, your family, and friends a very special holiday with love, joy and peace.

The night before David Tran's (points left) party I could not sleep at all. I woke up that night and even prepared a can of warm creamed corn just so the full stomach would lull me to sleep.  Hell, I even watched Britney Spears in Crossroads to get some shut eye but that didn't work.  I think I finally fell asleep atl 4:00 am or so, the movie was over by then.  My sleeping habits are terrible right now, I woke up at 1:30 pm when I finished this entry.

At about 10:00 am the next morning, Ngoc came by and our trip to DT's house begun.  We picked up Andrea S. first and I almost got attacked by the dog next door.  Our next stop was at Isidro's where we continually saw moving bodies through the window, 5 minutes translated to 12 minutes :P  And lastly, we decided to call Chau and tell her to get ready way ahead of time than we were going to pick her up.  Yes, It is pretty evil when I think about it.  During that wait, we headed on over to the Magic Wok, where we took pics like the one above until the place opened so we could pick up the chow mein for the party.  I guess it looked fobby but not many people were around to laugh and point. However, we could not resist getting a bite to eat and there happened to be a sandwich place next door and judging from the picture you see, you can figure out what happened next.  On the way back to Chau's house we ate in the car and boy was it a mess.  Turns out the mayo Ngoc wanted was a dark brown color. Ewww!  Right when we got to Chau's house, there was word of the 6.5 earthquake, but we didn't feel a thing.  Ngoc said many times on the trip that we could only got 60 mph max.  Perhaps we had one to many sandwiches to eat that morning.

The car ride up to David's house was mostly full of bashing Chau's roommate and singing to songs on the radio.  We also heard an ad from Fredericks of Hollywood about them having flirty panties in stock.  Sounds like a must buy for the holiday season (somewhere during that day I talked about some of the male thongs and there is a crocodile with a mouth and a slit for you can guess what, useless fact but funny nonetheless).  When we arrived, we got a brief tour of the house before plopping ourselves on the couch and watching the best music videos of 2003.  Chau really likes Linkin Park and Coldplay so if you hear that booming anywhere, just assume its her.  I started messing around with my camera and it took me 3 pictures before Chau and Isidro were content with their picture.  I then commented saying, if you notice the pictures are not getting any better, then I guess it might be something I can't control.  ::rings that darn bell::

Until the last "flight" of Allyson and Chris got to David's house, we all got in a car and drove to the Moreno Valley Mall and walked around.  Groups factionalized there and somehow I ended up in the group we dubbed the nerds including me, Eli, and Thanh.  Just because we all wore glasses, were fascinated by a sword store, gazed and 8-bit video games and read a sign that says everyone 10 seconds someone reads this sign does not mean we are nerds.  This mall seems great, and no, its not because there is a Hometown Buffet inside.  Actually, any mall can be great as long as you have money.  I only had one Mr. Jackson which would be saved for the festivities at night.  When I suggest taking digital pictures at the mall, people objected saying it was too junior high.  Well, they may be right about that, but what's wrong with documenting the lives of our friends.  So I retaliated and took pictures of Lisa and Ngoc taking photo booth pictures.  Haha!  I get the last laugh, kind of.

There was an eating fest (a second round) when Allyson and Chris brought this salted chicken.  Yum Yum.  The food on the whole was good, subway, crab soup (of which all the eggs were gone), pizza, chow mein, orange chicken and later that night, peking duck, wow.  We sure have some good taste (no pun intended!).  Things got so cutthroat neat the end, I had to literally race to get the last pineapple for Andrea S. In the pics, I have noticed me become heifer-like so I should cut back a little bit.  Eli even went up to me, grunted and said something along the lines of, you got bigger James... ::does widening motion::  Nice to see you again too Eli!  Geesh, lol.

After we moved houses from David's sister's house to his *new* house, the traditional party games began.  It looked like we were migrating pilgrims because we had to bring all the food over to the other place.  Up first: the Newlywed game.  I think of all the times I have played that game, this has been the most toned down version to date.  Me and Thanh ended up as a couple and we rocked the socks off the competition.  Don't hate just because I know she wants to get married in the church her mom got married in, her favorite body part is her shoulder and that she would love to be in two places at once.  Just to let everyone know, Kenn and Ngoc had some shady dealings going on just to win the darn game (sorry I just couldn't resist my rep Kenn!).  The sad thing I guess was that David T. and Phu did better than the straight couples.  What did I learn playing this game?  Most girls like their hands to be touched, not any of the obscene answers.  There is something called a dragon, which we will leave it as that.  The next game we played was called "Whore" the same game as Mafia but with different names.  I died many times of STD's.  That game gets brutal when people start pointing fingers saying you are the whore when you are not.  It was so funny how many times you could laugh at someone saying "I am not the whore."  On a side note, you can't resist laughing to the azn sounding ring tone of Ngoc and Cristian.  It may be Mozart but it sure doesn't remind us of him.  And Chris insisted on taking me down with him just because he had three votes and he made up a rule practically, ugh.  Yes, I know what you are going to say... it's just a game James. Fine then.  So after the games, it completely wore out the group as shown.  I forget how long we just sat there.

A number of people went home after the game and it was time for more gaming to continue... on tribal grounds that is.  We headed off to Morongo Casino: me, David L., Eli, Isidro, Phu, Phong all took the plunge into the gambling world, and boy does it smell.  My lungs were on fire as soon as we stayed there a couple of minutes.  Poor Eli wanted to hang out in the bathroom just to avoid the second hand smoke.  Not a bad idea until someone takes a dookie. We walked around in circles and circles, never conforming to one game. We started off real slow with the slots and then moved our way up to blackjack and pai gao.  I would have taken more risks if I had money on hand.  I think the totals were: David L. lost $30+; Isidro and I lost $16-17 and Eli, lost a measly dollar.  He put in a dollar, then won back his dollar, cashed it in (lol), then lost it back.  We also met some very rude people, particularly this one man who said "are you going to stand there all day" or something like that.  Move around us lazy ass.  Some of the people in there really look depleted of energy, health, youth so I doubt I will return there anytime soon.

On the way back, David L. insisted on getting Mobil gas but we couldn't find a single station.  We drove and drove, even through this one place that makes Crow Village seem like Irvine in comparison.  That city was completely desolate, barely any lights were to be seen.  I didn't think it was as scary as some of the others admitted it to be.  At last, we could not pull forth much longer without any gas so we made a stop at a Chevron to get some drinks and get gas of course, gasoline I mean.  In any case, the clerk was smoking something, didn't look like a cigarette and walked in to take our money.  He basically tossed my change at me.  The graveyard shift must suck so maybe that's why he's not trying his hardest to appease the customers.  We got back on the freeway and *still* looked for a Mobil.  Isidro accidentally spilled one peanut and when we finally arrived at the gas station, David forced him out of the car and made him clean the salted area the peanut supposedly left behind.  Poor Eli kept a reservoir of crumbs and dumped them all out at the stop.  I on the other just got a drink, so I wasn't subject to the constant watch of David.  I suggested this many times yesterday but I will say again that you should get bibs for your passengers.  When we finally got home, we noticed that Phong and Phu had not arrived yet, but they were supposed to be way ahead of us because we were taking our sweet time getting gas and all.  It turns out that they got lost and even after asking for directions, could not find the way back.  Luckily they did get back.  Lisa, we feel the pain you must endure with Asian parents, hopefully you can read this soon.  Good luck.  Thanks Amy for liking my hair, first time I've heard anyone say that it was "sexy."  I'm going to let it get to my head...  The whole house reeked of "carcinogens" (can you guess which one of us kept saying that?) so we all got doused in Lysol to kill the smell.  Before I knew it, everyone is in the living room (I think it's called that) and we were talking about Bluewave (if you don't know about that now, you've been so out of it), law school, and other topics.  Me, Isidro taught David L. how to play that hand tapping game.  Apparently it was too crazy for him.

We were then directed to our "rooms" for our stay at La Casa de David and we talked about everything imaginable.  I doubt I even got any sufficient sleep at all.  In any case, we learned a great deal about life, rashes, STDs, the whole works.  Who thought playing 20 questions would be so enthralling?  I would write about the sleeping habits of the people in the room but since that might get too personal, I will not mention the snorers, the talkers, the farters or anyone else for that matter.  But I must say, that place stank so so bad in the morning.  Thankfully, my stuffing nose kept me from smelling the strong BO scent that was apparently in the room.

Thanks DT for the invite even though you almost killed me with a pen when I called the OTHER David a whore but not you, no worries :P

On a more serious note, I wish the best for Vi's mom and a speedy recovery.  I am saddened by the news but I will be praying for her.

Chris (nice beanie hat by the way) has yet come up with a new joke that is becoming very popular.  The joke originated last week when I made a stupid comment.  He then proceeded by making a noise that goes spppp... (think of air released from a balloon).  He then said, your head is leaking again James.  This means that I am an airhead, get it? Here are some of the top airheaded moments at the party.  The last two are just from dinner I had with Isidro and Van at Denny's yesterday. The ones highlighted in yellow are by me unfortunately...

Three close encounters with death in one day is surely a bad sign of something to come.  On the way to Main Place Mall (no, this isn't an entry from yesterday) with Andrea S., this lady insisted on cutting us off at a very slow speed because she didn't want to go on the freeway.  Damn her!  On the way back, we were in the far turning lane to make a left, but the car on the left of us was like parallel to us and went in OUR lane.  M******f'er get off the road!  Geez, and lastly, we were doing a simple lane change when this idiot did it at the same time without clearly signaling or looking.  I am so pumped up to start driving now :P.  While I am in the car, all you will hear are geez and sighs of relief... I guess all my road rage gets piled up onto websites with traffic ::do that drum noise for a joke::... lol.  It's a good thing actually!

I got all my shopping done at last... and my wallet is on a very strict diet... if I showed you it now, all you would find are a bunch of receipts.  But I stayed within budget so I should be okay with the rest of the year and perhaps until Winter Quarter is over.  Dinner was eh, Andrea said the ribs I ordered looked like a big piece of carcass I hunted down.  I should have gotten the potato salad stuff instead of the mashed potatoes.  That $8 could have gone into a lunch time visit to HTB, but oh well.

Angry parents = ugly sight and sound.  I will leave it at that.  But in case you don't know the ripple effect... it's when anyone throws a pebble into the center of a pond and the ripples reach as far out to the soil... even if you are standing on  the soil, you are somehow still affected by it.  I am not the person that threw in the pebble but I'm the poor shmuck standing on that soil.

You know, I know there are a handful of you who choose to read this stuff but you might find it worth your while just to record things that have happened on in your life somewhere, anywhere.  You probably can see change, see how you would react to something that happened to you long ago but as a new person.  It really is eye opening.  I hear David L. is doing it for his New Years resolution, and you should too (this is totally legal by the way... that's for putting up all those pictures of us that really didn't bring out our features at all).

Remember to wear your seatbelts!

Recap Wednesday: LOTR day, watched two in the series for the first time... went to good old Regals (did you know Thanh quit already) where you could buy the ticket 10 minutes before the showing and still get a decent seat.  That's about it, great movie but I am not the one you should hear rave about it.  Andrea S. called me up after and we talked as usual about the real world... battery died as usually but I am sorry we all know I have the crappiest service, you have better luck communicating with me through a pigeon that carries a message in a bottle...

10:20-1:00 pm   Okay, so I finally took advantage of my gym pass from my school and went today with Allyson, Van and Tho.  So we started out doing some biking then went into this room with all these mirrors.  Hmmm, something wrong about me being part of a dance routine, but hell I don't care, I broke a sweat and probably looked good doing it.  Three 8 counts can be tricky, especially if you do moves you can barely do yourself.  Sometimes I understand why parents won't feel threatened if I slept over at their daughters house *this is not a good thing!  Well, after that, tried to get all masculine again and did some weights and other butch things.  Then toned it down a bit and had a rigorous ping pong match with Van... we got up to 100 for a rally?  Well went home, Van hooked me up with some starburst (thanks Dan, btw... not a typo) and saw a car going in the opposite direction on the street.

1:00-7:00 pm   Christmas shopping at Main Place with Chris and out to Target afterwards (say it the fancy way).  Lots of cursing along the way due to people who should not have a driver's license!  We got most of our stuff out of the way, met with an old supposed friend that didn't even know our name, treated ourselves out to Long John's Silver and Carls and went home to wrap the presents.  I tried to smuggle in the gifts but the see-through bag from Target didn't conceal a gift my sister saw from afar.  Mission failed, but going to wrap it up anyways.  Half the gifts are wrapped, others are sitting in the closet.  If anyone knows what a 19 year old girl and a 4 year old boy wants, let me know.  "Thanks CRS."

7:00-10:00 pm   Chilling at my place... that Hilton girl is too much... if you haven't seen this show just watch it and I am sure you find their antics funny one way or another.  Anal bugers... too much ahhhhh.  Well that's it for now, have more to say but no more energy to keep me going.  Night everyone!

Please keep in mind that my gloating here is very much different than if I were to do it in real life.  On that note, I am relieved to have gotten a 3.5 GPA this quarter... there is something weird about having to ask your teacher to send your grades though.  That seems a little off to me.  Anyways, I told my parents the news, but it only seemed that one was overtly excited about it while the other wasn't that thrilled.  Oh well, I know 2 Bs and 2 As are great especially when you have one class where you don't understand half of what the lady is saying to begin with.  I'm not sure if their mentality is driven by azn standards, but I wish it could be considered good enough.

Yesterday, me, Van, Allyson and her sister headed out to Buena Park Mall with our main goal being to pick up movie tickets for the Tuesday midnight showing of LOTR: Return of the King.  I just watched the entire thing, the first LOTR, on Sunday night (before I turned it off, I saw the thing on Sadaam, but I won't mention it here since it's all over the news) and it was great.  I fell asleep in one part but I re-watched it just to make sure I didn't miss  apart.  Aside from the tights, I think Legolas is definitely cool, though he probably could use way more dialogue then... watch out!  Either way, the battle scenes mirror the very stuff I love to watch in the video games I play.  So back to my original topic, we walked around through Wal-Mart.  This lady ended up charging for these slipper things that she claimed were different than another one, but its just that one has a leopard print and another one didn't.  So many disgruntled people around Christmas time really hampers how fun and good this season can be.  Then we walked on into the rest of the mall before heading out into the dampness and listening to club booty shaking mixes before I got home to watch Survivor.  Not much excitement in me writing about that in here but I am sad to see the show is over and can't wait until February 1.  Go Sassy Sandra, congrats with your new found million.

Today, Chris dragged me along... fine I volunteered to help him move out of his dorm into another place with perhaps some people he can tolerate better than so and so.  In any case, we explored the place and it was like a cheesy episode of Room Raiders (show on MTV where people go to other's places and judge them based on their living conditions) and we figured one guy is Mexican, two are Asian, one likes to close and lock his door, they like to cook simple things like pasta, one of them is an econ major, another guy is in a frat, and they leave things unorganized that Danny Tanner would throw a hissy fit.  Well it was nice being there cause it felt like I was moving in but not really, just to see how it feels was good for me.  We mostly talked about gibberish, ate at Alertos, got some Tastea and went home from there.  Joke of the day was: when crs turned on the AC and said my head was leaking (i.e. I'm an airhead).

For your own self-amusement *warning! fat man in a thong, proceed with caution!: http://www.stud.ntnu.no/home/alexann/... "the thing that the purple hippo just did rite before the logo pop out reminds me of you (James)" - Ngoc weighs in her thoughts on that short clip that is almost dead on with me... lol

Remember that Survivor 7: Pearl Island's season finale is tomorrow at 8 pm PST.  Will it be Darrah, Jon, Lil, or Sandra that walks away with the million smackers?  And don't worry, Survivor will be back with an All Star version in February after the Super Bowl!

Alright, first couple of days of break have sucked so far and I am at large fault for that but no one can stop me from complaining about it.  Someone has told me to get off my ass and get a job, but there are many reasons I am hesitant to do any other labor than school work and these websites.  But knowing this, why I am complaining about not having enough money to buy sufficient gifts for Christmas?  I guess I overcomplicate things for myself.  I could sign up to this thing and do surveys for money, but you can bet I won't be working at Blue Wave anytime soon.

Last night, I was talking to Chau in the wee hours of the morning and several things came up, which I really won't disclose here, but one thing that popped up in my mind is how to tactfully remind someone they owe you money. You can either a) ask them if YOU can borrow some of their money and usually they will remember or b) act like you need to buy something really pressing and remind them of the debt they have.  Just offering my two cents in case you guys are low on cash and someone is giving you that money you need.

So far, my results for my classes have been ho-hum, nothing official yet but I guess some would argue that getting straight A's in college is just too much to ask.  So I am content for the time being.  I am just thrilled they are over, I want to get my grades early so I can mope about them and then move on with the rest of my break.

Due to popular discussion, I just had to post a picture of what is called a Bidet, notice the water streaming out at the perfect position to penetrate the area between the cheeks.  Lovely ain't it.  I can't control my laughter when they use this product on infomercials.  You know, you are used to George Foreman Grills, pasta makers and stuff but nothing like this.  And Mihaela and May, I think I know what to get you guys for Christmas: some Charmin quilted toilet paper!  I'm going to miss toilet paper should I ever go on Survivor, I hear they use leaves and that doesn't sound too pleasant at all.

So the other part of my entry title that I have yet to discuss is the finale to Average Joe.  Doesn't that girl kind of look like Trista from the Bachelorette?  Anyhow, we were left to see if the average buck out there representing a good number of the guys you people see vs. the token hot guy, the ones that appear every once in awhile in a magazine or at the mall.  Now on paper, it appears that the Average Joe, Adam has a good heart, is loved by everyone, funny, charismatic, sweet, caring, and very very successful.  Then you have Jason, who appears in every other scene without his shirt, smiling, making puppy dog faces etc.  As far as we know, he gets bad editing: living at home with parents at 27, kind of dumb (yes, the object of playing Chess is to take out the king), and has a couple of insecurities.  So here we are being played out to think hey the hot girl is going to pick Adam.  And things seem to get better and better as the cardinal rule of dating reality shows is: whoever gets out of the car first will be sent home first... so we see Jason and us average people are cheering for our pal Adam for proving that looks aren't the most important thing.  This guy has brought tears and smiles to this girl, and she kept raving about how any girl would be lucky to have him, except I guess she doesn't want to be lucky.  The guys who looked like they have been slapped in the face a time or two, get slapped again as she chooses Jason and sends Adam alone on the bus ride home.  So if I am basing conclusions from shows like these and Joe Millionaire, if you don't have looks, you better have money, if you don't have either, then get a cat.  End of story, things will change one day.

Here, Marc gives me insight on what he thought of the episode: *Screw Average Joe* - 10:45, man....obviously she goes for the good-looking guy. I mean, cmon, im not gay but that guy is damn pretty!, but obviously Adam was the better person. Wow, that just shows how life really is. Nice guy finishes last.

I was planning to put a before picture of me up here but I figured Halloween has passed.  Okay, I am exaggerating.  As May has said, I have fully become a casual studier (is that a word?) when I least need to be one.  Oh well.  Earlier this week, Julie caught me and a white whisker growing on my cheek, but I doubt it has been from stress because I am not stressing at the moment.  Heck, I called up a couple of people last night to wish them luck and it might come down to me calling myself wishing the same if I study at this rate.  So I am currently doing Bio right now and although it makes sense to me right now, who knows what the test will bring.  So far, I have told two people to think of the test in terms of an Immunity Challenge and pretend that if they don't win, they can be almost certain they will be out of the game next.  It really helps me, so if you are desperate for studying tips aside from the read your book everyday, and go to study sessions (who REALLY goes to those things anyways).  I just had to document my feeling before the final just to see how it will contrast with my mood come Friday.  That's all, I guess I should be not doing what you are apparently NOT doing by reading this (double negatives hurt my head).

Funny thing that I saw but haven't had time to record: they have this new toilet seat that allows you to press a button that squirts water up your ass, geez, they make everything these days huh?

Here's just a quick recap of things since I last spoke to you guys.

Well, this year it definitely smelled like Thanksgiving in my house.  There was the aroma of turkey in the air, the table was set with all our plastic baby... lol, and my entire immediate family was there.  Dinner was great, and I believe this was the first year I didn't let tryptophan get to me.  At my house we ate: turkey, chicken, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes/gravy, green beans, baked beans, salad, stuffing, and macaroni and cheese.  It was only a matter of time before I would go Thanksgiving dinner hopping that my stomach would get even fuller.  Over at my grandma's house we had: turkey, prime rib, green bean casserole with those French onion things, potato cheese casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, stuffing, potato au gratin, cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory and probably some other things I have forgotten.  It was nice seeing my family again as I have been too busy to even visit on occasion just because school or something else got in the way of me doing so.  I came home that day very happy and it is so odd how the next day was the complete opposite, perhaps one of the worst days of my life.

Have you ever had something that you were better off not knowing?  I had one of those the day after Thanksgiving and it practically changed the way I have thought about something for 13 whole years.  Perhaps it would be better if I hadn't known, but being left in the dark about something this big was just too much for me to take in at the time.  Even now I have trouble getting it out of my system and it feels like a splinter in my brain, I can't quite get rid of it.  I don't know how long it will bother me, and it hurts just thinking about it, but I hope it just goes away.  I understand why I was left in the dark about it, but in the end, I think it ultimately impacts me in a big way because I found out unknowingly.  I really don't know the proper reaction to this situation but just talking about it indirectly here helps a lot.

Fortunately, a few familiar faces gave me a temporary escape from the inner turmoil of the day before.  It was nice seeing Vi, Mihaela and May at Starbucks, oh yea, David T. was there too :p.  With that said, I am glad that none of us have really changed into other people that we may not like anymore.  The same people I made friends with in high school I still see the same way.  But like with most other high school friendships, they are like mercury, you have to grasp on tight before they slip through your fingers.  I am happy that everyone seems to be doing well in their respective lives at the moment and I can't wait to see them and some more people come Christmas time.

So despite the bad times I experienced this Thanksgiving, it seriously gave me an eye opening experience allowing me to see what I should truly be thankful for.

Yikes, it has been more than a week since I last posted in here but I have an absolutely good reason for my absence.  The entry below was in reference to my illness I got sometime around my Chem midterm (this is the second time it has happened to me near a midterm).  If you don't know by now, I didn't do so hot on it... 60%.  But hey, the class average was 50% so I shouldn't be so upset about it.  Anyways, on Monday, we studied at David's house (David and Ngoc) for the test.  The first couple of hours were bearable, but after watching some TV and doing a few problems, I found myself on the verge of dying on the bed.  That night, we watched Better Luck Tomorrow and I could say a whole lot about the movie, but the last I checked... journalism kids don't fabricate stories, decathletes don't get wasted to study better and there were so many things off about the standard Asian stereotype.  I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, especially if you didn't like high school.

When  I got home, my mom urged me to do this Asian remedy to get better.  I can't spell it but the literal translation is scrape the wind.  What you do is rub the eagle oil brand (the green liquid, smells like ben gay) all over your back... then you take an object, in my case, a quarter and you start scraping your back until you see redness.  The darker color signifies a very serious fever/illness and mine was especially red.  One time my brother had this done on him and they saw him at school and things got complicated as to how he got those marks.  It looks like a rack of ribs the way you scrape it.

Over the weekend, I chilled out with Inho and the Jasons.  We played Halo, still one of the best games around and went into an invigorated match of Munchkin, a very fun, simple and addictive card game.  I also grabbed a copy of Final Fantasy X-2, and boy does it rocks.  If you don't see me online over the next couple of weeks, I think you can guess what I am doing.

This week has been relatively short with the Thanksgiving holiday... yay!  At school, there may be a chance of a teachers strike meaning the possibility of no school in the 10th week of school.  I am sick that they can't resolve the conflict while some of us have to shell hundreds just to get a decent education.  Ahhh, it's driving me nuts.  I have been telling David that his air filter smells like ass, and Ngoc and David L. can testify to that.  He just blew up the AC to spite me on the way home, ugh.  No fun.

My goal this weekend: catch up with family and friends, get ahead in school, watch Lord of the Rings at last (I hear its good), eat like a fat cow, and just have fun.  Make sure to call me if you are in town so I can see what's going on with all of your busy lives.

So today I saw an episode of The Simpsons, and it brought back stupid memories.  Mainly, Martin blew up some extracurricular activity and then he was impeached.  Sounds familiar?  If you are thinking about Andrew Jackson or possibly Bill Clinton, you are way off base, haha.  But whatever I say to that.  I could learn a thing or two from Rachel on Friends; it's called closure.  

Despite today being one of the most tedious days on record, I actually felt semi-productive, though my sickness has slowed me down a bit.  I got an A on my bio test, so now my grade averages to a A-.  I have to hold on for another month; which I can't wait to come.

When I woke up today, my neck was so sore I guess from bending my neck to look at the stupid Chemistry book.  I turned on the TV, and saw a part of Rich Girls... too overdramatic even for me.  Some dude on there was crying because he couldn't sleep over a friend's house who supposedly has a huge crush on him, and to add further complications, he is there with his girlfriend.  So I watched a Walk to Remember, like the part where they were in two places at once... FLASHBACK: Remember the time me, Andrea S., Mihaela and Chris were playing around and I jokingly stood in the living room and the TV room and supposedly said I was in two places at once.  That was a good memory, guess you have to be there.  And who could forget Allyson's get together when I commented on May's "nice sweater" which she replied with a "thank you" and Charlotte was busting out songs on the piano and I swore I was the one who can help the bar owner remember.  Good times.

Now I just cracked up when the guy made a list of what he wants to do, and although I don't personally want to look at a moon rock, I have plans to go to college (which I have achieved) and attend medical school... I don't care if they are "beautiful ambitions."  Now what a fairy tale ending, minus the part where she dies... boo... I want that too minus the death part.  Heck, if all it takes is putting a tattoo on her (which I have done to myself!), learn a few dance moves (I took hip-hop classes at 24 Fitness), and be in a play (I was the curtain guy), then I should have no problem; well maybe except for building a telescope. Hopefully they have directions for that somewhere.

How would you know if your heart was empty, if it was never filled?

Before I start talking about the "main" part of this entry, I want to give a shout out to Amy, who I just recently found out reads this junk.  Your comments were greatly appreciated and lets me know that spending time updating this site isn't a complete waste.  And Andrea S. thanks for the laughs on the phone last night, it's just out of the ordinary to tell me I am outlandishly odd.

On to other news, today someone immed me this:

__________you look like a movie star, yeah i dunno not to sound gay or anything but
you would look good in a magazine or in a movie - anonymous

This has been the second reference in my memory when I came to being described as a movie star.  The last time, it was when we (Amy, Ngoc, Chris, Kenn) were working at the TET festival booth for Ford.  If you really want to make a long story short, here are the main points.  Chris saw a nametag that said Chantay and kept making references to it being a ghetto name.  It turns out that "Chantay" turned out to be our Chinese boss.  The booth had to aspects: attract people to filling out a survey, and host a lame carnival game.  The pay was EXCELLENT so no complaints there.  There was a little drama the first day because our bosses said only 4 out of the 8 people were working to their max.  Three of the other people got it, meaning one of our pentad would get a cash bonus... it turned out to be Kenn; oh well I found a quarter that day so its all good. But to get paid in cash was great.  Okay, back to what I originally meant to say, the girl that worked with us said that I looked like this "attractive" Hong Kong actor.  Rock on, I guess!

So maybe I haven't given myself enough credit.  Or maybe, I am just letting one comment just go to my already inflated head.  Who knows?  But if you have seen me lately, I look like sh!t.  My hair is usually never done, only on good days; my hat is so discolored I forgot the original color; everything is just falling apart.  And the freshmen 15 might be an understatement for me since all my food is free and accessible 24/7.  I will take a digi one day and put it up here to see what I have degenerated into.  Right now, I am debating if I should just shave my head off... Allyson said to do it, but well, I am not sure about it just yet.

What I did today: get sick; studied; lured into joining this company... that's it...

I watched parts of Chicago again and when I think about it, it was a good movie, but not a great movie.  It's quite catchy, especially that pop... uh uh oh... Cicero number.  Well today I read the Rancho newspaper ::tear:: and saw a couple of news stories that might be of interest to you, or might completely bore you out of your mind.

- Story on SATs being the highest in the district from guess who... none other than the class of 2003.  The average has been going up every year so that just means we have been raising the bar but I'm sure you guys know that already.  2005 kids get to write essays and do trig on their SATS... class of 2003 is to stupid analogies as class of 2005 is to ... whatever.

- Mrs. Blandford's car got scratched; $2000 worth of damage, bummer.  In the same briefs column, there was a picture of a mangled car from a Red Ribbon display and Allyson said, that isn't it is it... I wonder how big a scratch can be to cost so much.

- A story on the drifting... when I last checked, it was illegal.

Nothing much more than Safe Halloween, a disgruntled letter to the editor, a girl going to Korea, and a punk girl and "girly" girl switching places.  If that bored you out of your mind, I am just reporting what I know... most of my time has been invested toward that little site which can be accessed through the banner above.

So I have made my way out of the Bio midterm and I am anxiously awaiting the results.  Yesterday was very depressing for me; I had nothing to do when I was sooo pumped up to do something.  This explains why the reality site is up sooner than expected (I'll have the link up when it is actually ready to be visited); that's because I have come to the realization that my social life is just about as interesting as a rock made out of dirt right now... I need to do more.  My buffet craving was at an all time high yesterday and all I managed to eat the entire day was a couple of nachos... I don't know how I will last on Survivor... oh wait there is a million bucks at stake.  At this rate, I will be skinny and alone.  It's so sad.

I should really get off the computer now...

Well thanks to Chris I have a bunch of songs to listen to now and I have been listening to them as I have been studying all this weekend to improve my dismal showing on my last Bio test, hopefully I will be able to do better.  It is such an inspiration to not do well, I just have a drive to kick ass next time, and usually it works out.  Let's hope the same holds true this time.  Much thanks to all the people out there who have helped me study my butt off, if it doesn't work out this time, I don't know what will.  The $300 thing is just an inside bio joke between me and Allyson.

The latest news going around is of course about new living situations and I have it here first... For the coming school year, Phu, David T. and Phu's roommate, Paul are tentatively planning to rent out an apartment near UCI.  The house has four bedrooms, spacious living space and a kitchen which won't be of use to the three non-cooks.  The fate of the fourth room will be determined at a later date.  The guys will have to shell out about 500+ bucks a month for the place which is already furnished with all their needs already.

In the other spectrum of the state, Andrea S. is closer to be living on her own as soon as this fall.  Because apartments and living arrangements are a pain for second year students, she is jumping the gun and getting a place of her own, with all the living supplements you could want.  She is looking for possibly roommates, but as she said, "I am excited" when asked about the prospect of living on her own.

It has been confirmed through Allyson that Mr. Holloway is going to have another baby, you heard it hear first.  Congratulations!

As for the going abroad this summer thing, it has been stated through Kenn that he, along with Isidro and Chau are packing their bags to head for the UK, away from LA and OC.  So my advice to you is make sure you get in your time with these people.

Not much happened today; made a study guide, ate McDonalds, almost got dragged by a car (I'm so serious), but I am too tired to ramble about anything...

Sorry for the small update, as you can tell from the title: I need to Breathe... midterms are just around the corner again.  Here is the biology 94 site I made for you guys if you lose it: http://www.geocities.com/jvle03/bio94.html.

I finally heard the music video of No Doubt's new song and saw a glimpse of the video, it is kind of catchy.  I hope it doesn't get as annoying as "Underneath it All."  They looped that song for all it was worth when I worked at the movies.

Morning Time: 7:40-12:30 am  The entire time I was in the car this morning, I was panicking because I thought I had to read this book (Plessy v. Ferguson, ring a bell?) and answer questions on it, but the day before I neglected checking out the website with all the information.  I am such a dork because I realized that it isn't due until next Thursday. Got worked up over nothing. So when I arrived at the computer lab, I got on a computer to finish up my essay, which took longer than I expected.  I was almost late to class but I made it, my calves are tight as ever.  Well, the last thing I would expect is everyone raving about the new lecturer, and although he makes everything clear and easy to understand, I got a bit turned off with his teaching style when he told us to shut up at the beginning at class.  It was like a 40+  year old man throwing a hissy fit, not pretty at all. I made my way through class and after that I scheduled a conference with Hussain to proofread his paper.  If I was over critical, that's just how I am man, someone has to do it!  In any case, after I finished pretending I knew what I was doing, lol, I walked to the science library to finish up the rest of that paper.  So when I arrived there, someone was using a computer that they weren't supposed to, geez, how simple is it to check out a computer?  Well, I had to walk back to the desk and get a new computer.  Well things got worse when I tried to print but the guy in front of me insisted on printing the entire bio book or something, that must've cost at least 8 bucks?  Well I made it to chemistry in the nick of time.

Noonish: 12:30-4:00 pm  So we had this substitute for chemistry and it was her first time so I don't blamer her for not understanding everything she was trying to get across to us.  I cracked, what I THOUGHT was a good joke, and even though Julie said it was corny, she laughed.  We were doing this problem that dealt with nitrogen oxide (NO) and when she said if we should do any other problems, I said... N-O... hey, I thought it was funny, one of my many word tricks.  Speaking of chemistry, someone passed gas in our section, but I will not reveal any names to protect this person from being embarrassed, I hear it smelled too.  Somehow the class convinced her that we get out 5 minutes than we usually do so I walked to my English discussion.  I can't remember a time when SOMEONE else came up to me instead of the other way around (and this is a person not from Rancho).  Something as stupid as that made me feel good inside as stupid as it sounds.  English, well there is some drama between me and this one person and s/he doesn't  even know it.  In the past few weeks, this person has gotten under my skin by way of using people, and because I can easily recognize it and the fact that it is being done to me also bothers me to the core.  I hope that this person figures it out that its no way to treat anyone.  Good thing Allyson sees what I see, so I am not alone.

Screw modesty, I can't believe that I have finally been able to achieve an A in one of these courses... 97.5/100, humanities core baby!  If you are wondering why I am shoving this in everyone's face, there is a possibility that something of this magnitude will never happen again.  I don't care if I appear haughty or arrogant, all I know is that I owned the midterm... now only if that same spirit in me carried over to my science classes, which are MORE important, but oh well.  My story arc for college is finally getting a little bit better.  After weeks of feeling defeated and powerless, I think I have been given the fuel to make me work and push harder.  And at last, I think some of these people in my classes seem more open to becoming friends.

Today I have learned about three run ins with romance, which may or may not concern me, but in any case, one of the things would not shock many, while the other would probably make your jaw drop to the ground.  The stories are still developing but we will see if they have any relevance a couple of weeks down the road.  The one story I CAN tell you about concerns one of Phu's dorm mates who have taken a liking toward the Tuesday visitor-Ngoc.  He has expressed his liking for her even knowing that she is taken, but after Ngoc took a glance at him and declared he was butt ugly, it appears there will be no hope for romance.  WTH am I talking about, there is someone named David T. in the picture.  When he heard of the news, a picture of them embracing each other to fend the cold (I of course being alone, having no one to hug but my backpack) quickly turned into David detaching himself from her.  The heated talk about this mysterious suitor simmered down once we got into the car. If you are wondering what that Chinese symbol is, it stands for love.

Lastly I want to give a shout out to May and Mihaela... I love the card but I don't exactly get the McDonald jokes, is it a reference to the one time we got a bunch of nuggets, walked barefoot around the school and checked our physics grade.  I definitely like the little messages: the Bedingfield song and my favorite one about a certain soup brand... my sentiments exactly.

My bank account just dropped $500... the reason why? I am tight lipped about it.  What does it take to get the four digit financial aide money around here! Argh, that gave me a headache earlier today.

So me and my mom were watching this new reality show about this hot woman who picks out of a pool of 16 men "to be with", all of which have great personalities, but lack in the looks department, can anyone say Mr. Personality Part Deux?  I wonder how these men feel being selected as being an Average Joe.  One of the people on the show said something very telling: he hasn't been on a date because no one has approached him and he hasn't had the nerve approach anyone else.  I think I suffer from the same complex, but I am a really outgoing person, but one way or another, I end up going into... wow he would be a great friend, and that is when everything else is cut off.  This year, I think I have given out my number to one girl, and even though she called once, I still count that... lol, poor me!  Ngoc dissed me bad one day... I had a post it with page numbers on it... like 585-594, and she told me that if I wanted to make up phone numbers, I was short one... ouch!  I would ask Ngoc to hook me up with a friend of hers but after meeting a friend of hers who swore she would have sex because a ladybug landed on her nose (ladybugs remind me of Monopoly), I think I can hold off until at least I graduate, if ever.

This past weekend, it was a nice escape from the tedious routine of college life.  I haven't seen Jason or Andrew since the last weekend, but to actually sit down and do something was something.  Although me and Inho got owned at this game we played: Munchkin, I came back second game and kicked some arse.  Many of you would like this game, namely those who like to strike alliances and deals.  It's perfect for those kind of strategic people.  Me and Inho went to Ralphs cause we were cooking dinner at Marchi's house.  Did you know Ralphs doesn't have like a butcher? It's like a foreign concept to me to buy ground beef out of a packaged thing without a butcher to prepare it for me in the first place.  I was worried we would have to face picketers but fortunately, they were all gone by then.  The guy gave us a Ralph's discount without the card, but shortchanged us 3 bucks, but no worries cause we figured we were short money as we were walking out.  Whoever thought angel hair pasta would taste so good with spaghetti? So somehow, the conversation turned from the forums to illegal aliens.  I don't quite get how one thing turned into the next.

So Finding Nemo comes out today and if you have been one of those few people who have not contributed to the $300 million+ to this movie, you are missing out.  I just remember watching the movie with Vi and it both left us with a good warm feeling inside (or maybe it was the 4 or 5 boxes of nuggets we ate before the movie... don't feel homesick, maybe once you get home you will want to go back... and just as a warning, I still need rides... lol).  It's weird because you get a little cold when you watch the movie as it is all in the water and all.  I even met a person at my school named Dory and I immediately thought about the movie. So yea, definitely check it out whatever mood you are in!  Before I forget, props to Chris for the picture.  I won't exactly say whether that is the ultimate fate of Nemo...

It was a good thing our hostess for Halloween night wasn't looney like Famke Jansen (better known as Jean Grey from X-men) in "The House on Haunted Hill."  Thanks Chau, it was a bumping party, especially near the end and brought the scaredy cats in us all.

Chris provided the movies for the night's festivities, and it turns out that the movie we ended up watching wasn't something he expected himself either.  All along, he thought we would be watching "Halloween," which he drilled in our minds stars Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks.  The movie started off quite gory, we saw a scene where a handful of sharp pencils went right through this guy's neck.  Twenty seconds after that scene, and it was time for dinner!  Yum.

The food was great as usual: this shrimp egg roll thing and everyone seemed to rave about the chicken: I should have been aggressive and grabbed another piece!  The dinner conversation was interesting... lady bugs being a sign of getting into someone's pants and shit stained underwear on the floor.  So the ongoing debate went on concerning who has the worse roommate, and Kenn just had to add that Isidro does his laundry, takes out the trash, etc.  This is borderline Kunta Kintae buddy, but we know that only a person like Isidro can tolerate Kenn in a living situation. Stick in there man!

I took note of two occurrences of me being called fat, one from David and Kenn... I guess the skinny people are jealous? Well whatever David had said, I did not dare rebuttal as my ride to UCI everyday depended on it.  I think it had to do with Lisa's candy but one can never be too sure. At the dinner table everyone commented on how Kenn appeared to look chubbier and just to lighten the fact that people were telling him the truth, he turned it back on me, who was sitting quietly and not causing trouble and said "now I know what it feels like to be James."  If you are wondering what that picture is in this paragraph, its basically what I wore yesterday; my costume was James 2 years ago.  It's not my fault I didn't know that it was a pajama party.