03/28 - i watched the 3rd & final part of the 3-part PBS documentary BECOMING AMERICAN:
THE CHINESE EXPERIENCE tonight.  i saw the 2nd  part yesterday, but i
didn't watch the 1st part because i forgot.  it was a very interesting documentary
on the Chinese experience of coming to America, & having to deal w/ a lot--
especially the Exclusion Act.  all that was covered in the documentary were
things i had learned in my Chinese in Hawaii class.  However, the experience of the Chinese who went
to Hawaii are quite different to those who went to the U.S. mainland.  i thought  the BECOMING
AMERICAN: THE CHINESE EXPERIENCE documentary was wonderful in showing many different issues the
Chinese people had to face, & how they fought back.  i'm reaping what they sowed .  i also watched
the 2  shows that played after the documentary.  the Chinatown program was intriguing
to see how it still thrives--especially in San Francisco.  tonight they played COMING TO
HAWAII: AN INTERVIEW W/ HIRAM FONG.  the program was an interview w/ Hawaii's 1st
U.S. Senator after it became the 50th state, & the 1st Asian-American senator for the 
U.S. about his childhood to his old age.  he's also the alumni of the high school i graduated 
from.  Hiram Fong accomplished many things in his life--even graduating from Princeton.
i think  i'm gonna write my ES 331 paper on him.


03/25 - i worked @ the restaurant today, & i'm very tired .  i chilled by renting the movie Ever After from the library, &
spending my afternoon watching it in my room w/ my older sis & younger bro joining me.  i had seen Ever After
once before on t.v., but it was so long ago that i forgot  most of what happens.  Drew Barrymore is 1 of my fav. actresses.
she's so wonderful & adorable.  Ever After is a great modern telling of the Cinderella story.  Danielle (played by drew)
doesn't just instantly fall in love  w/ the Prince, & he rescues her from her pathetic life.  in a way, she rescues herself while
having developed a meaningful relationship w/ the Prince.  not a love @ 1st sight  type of thing.  this telling of Cinderalla
is very believable.  i absolutely love the scene Danielle picks up the Prince, & carries him off--outwitting the Gypsies.
 Synopsis:  The Brothers Grimm arrive @ the home of a wealthy Grande Dame who speaks
of the many legends surrounding the fable of the cinder girl before telling the "true" story
of her ancestor.  In a flashback, the story focuses on Danielle de Barbarac in 16-century
France.  Danielle is treated as a servant by her new stepmother, the cruel & snobbish
Rodmilla, after the sudden death of her father, a French nobleman.  She also has 2 new
stepsisters, 1 quite kind, Jaqueline, & the other 1 really horrid, Marguerite.  Then 1 day
her path crosses the handsome Prince Henry, the future king of France.  As the Prince's
interest in Danielle grows, the day of his arrange marriage draws closer & closer.  Luckily,
the wonderful inventor-artist Leonardo da Vinci is on hand to help the 2 get together.
(found & altered from imdb.com & blockbuster.com)

03/24 - i'm sick.  for some strange reason, i tend to get sick after a night of going clubbing.  hmm, why does that happen ?
no matter .  Kelsey called me up to invite me to a b-day dinner @ Verbano which she was planning for Li yuan.  even
though i'm sick, i put up w/ it & went to the dinner 'cause it was for LI.  dinner was nice.  afterwards we went walking around
Waikiki.  we saw some b-boys breaking, & really strange  people covered in silver or gold body paint.  we had
enough of that, & met up w/ a friend of Kelsey's @ Ala Moana Beach near the pond.  i stayed there for awhile
chatting w/ the girls, & catching up on things since i haven't gone out w/ them for an extremely long time. later
i had my older sis pick me up, & now i'm home.  before i tuck myself in...HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY LI !!!!


03/23 - last night, i went down to the Waterfront cafe @ Aloha tower w/ my older sis w/ her friend.  i
wasn't expecting to go out last night, but my sis invited and i thought "what the hell.  why not.".  i had a lot of
fun  dancing.  it had been about 2 months since i last went out.  kinda sad , huh ?  we arrived i saw
some friends @ the front of the lines just about to go in.  i danced & hung out w/ them for the 1st half & w/ my
sis, her friend, sorority sisters, & frat boys the 2nd half.  i saw a lot of former high school classmates there,
& just about everybody in the club had a drinking wristband.  the problem w/ that is practically everyone w/ the
wristband was underage.  hmm..ain't that interesting ?  i also go to see somebody get totally rejected by my
sis' friend, but he claims he was completely drunk.  whatever, drunk or sober--you got
rejected & laughed @ by everyone there.  i think the guy has selective memory.  LOL !  today brent &
raymond came to the restaurant to eat again.  i had a lot of fun sitting w/ them & talking story once
again.  Raymond told me he heard i bought a new 2003 honda civic.  LOL , that's really funny.  i'm
so broke.  how would i have paid for it--w/ rocks ?


03/21 - it was quite an eventful day.  i was watching the news coverage of the Iraqi war @ the campus center in
school.  i saw this guy walking @ the corner of my eye towards the big-screen t.v.  you could obviously guess he might be
1 of those anti-war protestors. he stood right in front of it w/ the back facing towards everyone. i thought  he was going to turn
the t.v. off 'cause he was disgusted w/ all that's been unfolding over in iraq.  instead i saw him spit on the t.v.  that was really
nasty.  he left a huge spit stain all over "Baghdad", the general discusing military tactics, & the news anchor.  i couldn't stand
watching the t.v. w/ a "gigantic drool", so i went upstairs to hang outside the lounge.  i'm not sure what the guy was trying to
get across w/ the people watching the news coverage.  if he wanted to show his disgust for the U.S. military action in Iraq, he
could've done that to his own t.v. @ home .  if he was trying to protest against it, i think he ended up disrespecting the people
who was watching  the news coverage, & the school whom provides the t.v. & the place for those to watch  these kind of
programs or others to relax or get informed.  whatever , i think the guy was an a$$hole for doing what he did.  moving on...i
found out a question submitted to the advice column in the Ka Leo (the school's newspaper) was written by a person i know.  the
question  was so funny . it was 'bout a guy who's dating this girl he really likes, but finds out she likes this girl. then he finds
out his gf is now dating that girl.  he really likes his gf, but isn't sure what to do.  he questions  whether his gf is cheating on
him.  the supposed guy w/ the girl problem is a sophomore majoring in psychology.  i was commenting how the guy should know
better since he's major is psychology, yet couldn't get it through his head this his girlfriend is a lesbian.  then everybody @ the
table started bursting out in laughter .  they finally spilled the beans to me.  that was wicked..!   later on when i was driving
down to the restaurant from school, i saw a guy on a moped fall in my rearview mirror. i was driving past the dorms near the
East-West Center when i saw 2 mopeds both w/ 2  huge guys on it.  i had to slow down to let them
pass right in front of me, so they could get on the opposite lane. i wondered how the moped could still move
w/ such heavy guys on it--hee hee .  the guys were weaving & whoo hooing .  the guys on the 2nd moped
looked straight @ me smiling & whoo hooing .  i thought, "okaaay, that was weird .  they must be high
on something."  i then looked into my rearview mirror to see how far the mopeds went because it went quite
slow weaving. as soon as i looked into the mirror, the moped leaned dangerously to 1 side. the 2 guys fell
hard on the road right in front of a car while 2 people walking on the sidewalk gasped.  people stopped to help
the guys, & that's all i saw.  i knew that was going to happen.  that moped looked very new, too.


03/19 - i had my oral presentation for my PS 336 class today.  whew !!  i'm so relieved i've got that out of the way.  it
actually went better than i expected.  the professor even said we did a good job.  then i ditched Chinese 'cause i was already
late, needed to rest my mouth after having talked for close to an hour, i hadn't studied the new vocab. words, & i was extremely
hungry.  so my reason for not attending is justified, right ?  hee hee !  then i had to wait for over an hour before my older
sis arrived, & i could go down to the restaurant.  however, i didn't have to stay long there.  i went home only to be called right
back after i just got there 'cause 2 of my friends came to eat.  i had a really good  time talking to them.  i recently just gave
my bro a much needed haircut.  i think it came out okay.  on a side note, the war against Iraq began a few hours ago .


03/17 - 1st off, Happy St. Patrick's Day !!!  were you wearing green today ??  anyways, there
was a discussion in my PS 336 class today which got me so heated  because i thought a comment by a fellow
classmate was insulting (but it was 'cause he was wording his views wrong).  the guy & a partner was having
a presentation on the 3rd part of the book Joy Luck Club.  then he made a comment how people shouldn't
tag on any other ethnicity or nationality in calling oneself American.  he continued saying you shouldn't call
yourself African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, or anything else.  you shouldn't
need to take pride in being a part of something or a country you've never been to or don't know much about.  if you're in
America, you should be & act American--nothing else.  that way America can truly be a melting pot w/ Americans w/o
any other hypenated tagging to represent yourself as anything else. it might not sound so bad, but the way he said it in class took
me back.  he said it in such a manner as if he was trying to say I couldn't represent myself as an Asian-American. but that's who
i am.  i grew up in an American culture, but was taught in the Asian way @ home.  i celebrate both cultures.  it's what causes
me to view certain issues a certain way. his partner tried to be understanding of his stance, yet backing up the class' remarks
'bout it.  anyway..i still think they guy is a dope .


03/14 - i did lots of things today .  i finished my 5-page Indian Philosophy paper on the caste system early this morning,
& turned it in.  now i gotta concentrate on my presentation 'bout The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.  i worked @ the restaurant
for a while, but left to do the family's laundry.  then i had to play taxi driver.  i took my younger sis to work, pick-up my bro
from school, & then picked-up my older sis from her job @ school.  i was just watching the U of Hawaii b-ball
team playing against Tulsa in the semi-finals of the WAC tournament.  unfortunately, the 'Bows came up short
though they made a good effort in defending Tulsa.  i guess  the 'Bows will be playing in the NIT Tournament
now.  that's fine w/ me as long as i get to watch Carl English play.  he hasn't publically announced his decision
whether or not he'll forgo his senior year, &  enter the NBA draft.  i hope he stays  'cause there'll be 3 other seniors.


03/12 - ah, i finally get to log-in Gurlpages.  this site was acting funny this past week.  well here's an update: i got a C on my
Chinese oral & written midterm.  Whoo hoo !!  you might think, "eh, what's so good 'bout that?", but it's wonderful news to
me.  the way it went, i was expecting much worse.  now my overall grade for that class is a high C.  if i continue getting steady,
good scores on my quizzes & turn-in my homework on time, i'm on my way to receive a B @ the end of Spring semester. .


03/10 - crap .  i think i just bombed my chinese midterm.  ugh !!!  i totally crapped up in my oral exam this
past Fri., & now i'm screwed on the written exam.  AAaahh !!!!  i studied & reviewed right before i went to my
professor's office to take the oral exam.  as soon as i entered his office, everything that had seeped through my
brain suddenly vanished.  oh gosh .  if i do the same for my finals, i'm gonna end up failing the class.  ugh !!!
i'm so stupid !!!  @ least my ES 331 class was relaxing & interesting for me to take my mind off the chinese
midterm. later i went down to the restaurant, & 2 of my friends were there eating. i had fun  for the few moments
i got to talk  to them before 8 people walked in to eat lunch.  now i gotta finish a reading
assignment for my WS 426 class, & then start my Indian Philosophy paper & begin thinking
'bout my group presentation of THE JOY LUCK CLUB book for PS 336. i'd also like to wish a very special friend
of mine a wonderful, happy birthday.   Happy 20th B-day SHAN  !!!  i know you're in Chicago right
now w/ your roommate for Spring Break, but i hope you get the message i left on your answering machine & my
e-mail.  too bad i can't be there w/ you .


03/05 - i took my WS 462 midterm yesterday.  i don't  think i did too well.  i did study by reviewing my lecture notes & re-
reading some past assignments, but i don't feel confident i did well.  oh well .  i'll just have to study harder & do better on the
final exam.  what is there to mention..hmm...  oh yeah, my ES 331 class finished watching The Joy Luck Club. we'll be
discussing the film next week. i also have to re-read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan for a group presentation in my PS 336
class.  i 1st read the book back in 9th grade for fun.  i like how the classes i'm taking intertwines w/ each other.  i can take the
infomation i learn from 1 class & apply it to another class.  ain't that wonderful ?!  if only i can keep up w/ the assigned
readings, i'd be the fountain of knowledge spouting answers to all kinds of questions.  unfortunately i've been a slacker lately, so
all i can do is fake my intelligence...hee hee !!  but i have been doing better on trying to get the reading assignments done .
@ least give me some credit for trying, right ?
 Synopsis: Based on Amy Tan's 1989 best-selling novel, it tells the story of 4 women born in China who
eventually came to America, & of their daughters.  The film takes place in present-day San Francisco,
concentrating on the late-middle-aged Chinese women who form the Joy Luck Club.  Ever since arriving
in the U.S. after World War II, the women have gathered weekly to play mah-jong, & compare stories of
their families & grandchildren.  They all have made harrowing journeys from pre-revolutionary China to
the comfortable homes in San Francisco where they meet.  Those old days are not often spoken about, &
sometimes the whole truth is not known.  the Joy Luck Club consist of Su-Yuan, Lindo, Ying Ying, & An-Mei.
When Su-Yuan dies, the 3 surviving members invite her daughter June to take her place.  Along w/ the
daughters of the other members--Waverly, Lena, & Rose; they're Chinese-American w/ a passing interest
in their rich cultural heritage.  Through a series of flashbacks during a farewell party, the secrets & stories
of all 4 "aunties" & 4 daughters are revealed.  It's an exploration of their past, & search to under-
stand their difficult mother-daughter relationship due.  (found & altered from imdb.com & blockbuster.com)


03/03 - today celebrates hinamatsuri (girls' day)  in the Japanese culture, so...Happy GIRLS' Day !!!               i'm
not  japanese, but the large pop. of Japanese in Hawaii integrated it into the local culture.  other ethnicities              are
welcome to join in on the celebration.  back in my elementary days, the boys would take down the girl's chair & let                 us
stand in line for lunch 1st. the girls would do the same for the guys on boys' day (May 5th). today was a good                 day
though it started kinda crappy.  in chinese class the professor passed out a worksheet w/ my classmate's real
name & explanation of their Chinese name. it's nice to know their real names 'cause i've always wondered what
they were. they're not so mysterious & intimidating to approach now. i never learned any of my classmates' real
name from last semester, & it was difficult to approach them after class.  we see each other in class 5x a                        week,
& we're in the Chinese mode in class. when we're outside we're in the English mode. you wanna say 'hi'  them           'round
campus, but you don't wanna call out their Chinese name--it just feels weird  to do so.  it'll be easier  to build              a
relationship w/ them now 'cause you can be more relaxed & playful in class.  i didn't like the Chinese name i was              given,
Ruan Ruo-An.  it's a freakin' tongue twister.  the professor & t.a. find it difficult to pronounce, too.  they always             pause
before they say it 'cause it takes awhile to roll it off their tongue.  now i think i'm beginning to accept it & even like it.  that's
right , i'm finally liking my Chinese name which means "like peace."  i think the meaning suits me.  i've been told by several
people who think i look very peaceful & calm when there's so much deadlines to meet & stuff to do. after Chinese i was walking
to my ES 331 class, & putting my notebook in my backpack. i heard a lady rolling her backpack beside me, so i looked to my
right for a sec. to see if i need to give her some room to walk. this 30-something year old lady turns to me, & compliments me
on my nice hairstyle. she said the cut was "very cute."  her compliment made the rest of my day better. i was beginning to have
2nd  thoughts 'bout my new haircut--i cut 'bout 2  inches off the back.  it's a real short bob now.  i was thinking i made a
mistake on cutting my hair, but not now.  the lady's compliment left me pleased & content w/ my new hairstyle, & she made the
rest of my day better.  in my ES 331 class, the professor played The Joy Luck Club movie for the class to watch.  i love 
The Joy Luck Club movie & book!!!  i've seen the movie 'bout 20 times already, & it never gets boring .  the professor
showed the 1st half of the movie due to the limited class time, & will show the rest in the next class.  LOL ...i love that class!!