300901, 1950hr, illinois time.

the tau beta pi meeting just now really wasn't too bad. i mean, i didn't really hold high expectations anyway. for god's sake, it's an engineering honor society. like i'm not already geeky enough, i decided to go hang out with other geeks. hahaha....and indeed, there're plenty of the genuine technology enthusiasts - i overheard 2 guys discuss very profoundly this dunno-what fluids system. but there're gems! there's this rather cute asian guy - he looks like one of my ex-crushes. heheh. *cindy rubs her hands with glee* but really, the best time i had there was chatting with this sweet asian girl while we were eating the delicious sandwiches. she introduced me to her friend, and we had a very comfortable chat about the dorms, about how stupid research work can be, and what a pain in the ass computer programming is. hehe.

i think sometimes, all i really need is to get out there and know more people. there're always nice people out there who can make my day. small talk isn't easy for me, but i guess it comes with practice.

not to say the people i'm hanging out with these days aren't nice, of course. alvin's been really sweet going around campus with me today. i wanted to go out to study, but by the time we went out, it was already about 3pm. i had to go to work at 4pm at the library. then the tau beta pi meeting was at 5pm. i got to the library at 4, where my work buddy very nicely let me go off instead of stupidly hanging around for an hour. alvin's also giving me a treat at ned kelly's tomorrow [where the skillet cookie is! yum yum.] to celebrate my first day as a non-vegetarian. yeah man, today's my last vegetarian day. for now anyway, i'm not against going vegetarian again.

and tk's going to give me a treat on tuesday for the same reason. it was supposed to be monday, but the restaurant he wanted was closed on mondays. so tuesday it is instead. it's really sweet of tk, and alvin, to take me out to dinner like that. cos really, they don't have to. i don't see this whole cindy's-first-meat-day thingy as such a big deal actually. i probably won't be cooking meat myself for quite some time, even after i declare the end of this vegetarian phase, just simply cos i don't own any meat in the fridge right now.

and clems bought me a couple of boxes of brownie mix, after i whined for a while about having run out of mixes. [well, the guys complained about having no cookies/brownies first!] so once again, i'm back to baking! you know, i'm already a little sick of my own baking, which is why i refused to buy anymore of those stuff. i was so sure my housemates were sick of them too. but heck, apparently not. it made me rather happy, that at least i was doing something that they appreciate.

i called home this morning, it's my mom's birthday tomorrow, but somehow, amidst all that we talked about, i forgot to say happy birthday. so i'm gonna call again tomorrow. my mom finally told me how much she missed me, after i left, because i didn't call back for quite some time, and how frustrated and disappointed she was feeling, waiting for my call every weekend. she also sounded quite disappointed that my florida trip is more or less confirmed now [which means i'm not going home this winter.] i felt so sorry and terrible. i swear, i will call home every week now. i've said it again and again, i shall say it again. i love my family so very much. liwei asked me yesterday if i'm the kind to get homesick easily. well. i don't get homesick, i just constantly am. haha...

it's been a terribly slow day for me, in terms of school work. it's been hard concentrating. i have 2 midterms this week, though they're both not really exceedingly difficult, so i'm not too worried. i'm worrying about my political theory exam next week though. there's just too much material, and i tend to think too much into everything, till i overwhelm myself. i have to learn to just do selective reading, and not try to absorb and internalise everything. eventually i will hit the saturation point, and i won't be able to absorb any more information.

i realise i write terrible entries when i'm in an ok mood. haha. boring as hell. but heck, i would trade one such boring entry for 5 dramatic entries anyday.