|
|
10 days.
:) | | |
| - heart the bay area. best. food. ever. well except for maybe taiwan.
- working in a bar. barbacking. hosting. and now bartending.
- excited for the move back to the motherland. hot humid heat here i come.
- wang lee hom in vegas was AMAZING as always. crazy sickness with crazy fever and crazy swelling not amazing.
- disneyland with boyfriend and good friends. happiest place on earth : )
- deep down i'm just a little kid that will never grow out of stuffed animals. or i'm just a 23 year old that will always love stuffed animals.
- someone broke into dan's car. bye bye laptop, ds, and ipod.
- sprained my thumb at work. result white water rafting with a cast/splint.
- "best of sushi tour" 2009 was amazing. 4 sushi restaurants, swan oyster company, palace of fine arts, and dessert.
- other stuff, but typing without your right hand takes too long.
appreciate your right thumb.
dan and i are entering a contest for the "best trip in taiwan". we have to make a 4 day itinerary that based around a theme that is cheap and exciting. our theme is to find the best stinky tofu in taiwan, lol. so please vote here for us as much as you can!
http://www.taiwanbesttrip.net/group/teamstinkytofu
thanks : )
heart. | | |
| Overview.
- Graduation June 15th, 2008.
- I am now the holder of a History BA and a Chinese BA.
- JF Japanese Cafe in Del Mar.
- Somehow I got roped into working almost full time this summer for my old boss.
- Berkeley with Erin for Garlic Fest 08 in Gilroy.
- Family reunion in Montana.
- Vegas with the high school friends.
- New home in Oakland.
My goal this summer was to travel. I went on a road trip with my parents to the Strom family reunion in Montana. It was like a two and half day drive...yeah, next time flying is in order. At least I got to finish knitting my scarf. The reunion was good though. It was nice to see family. We rarely ever get to see my dad's side of the family. We only go to Montana for reunions and the last one we had was about nine years ago. Before that, the last time the whole family was together was when my grandpa died; I was four. Montana is beautiful country. Bluest skies I've ever seen, guess that's why they call it Big Sky country. Went bar hopping with my dad and his high school friends, ate rocky mountain oysters (if you don't know what those are, google them. They are NOT oysters.), saw some historical monuments, hung out with the family, drove through Yellowstone Park, it was a nice trip. Relaxing, aside from some family drama. Other then that I went to Vegas with old high school friends. We'd always talked about going on some kind of trip together, but never planned one. So, we finally decided this was the summer to do it. It was a lot of fun. Lots of clubbing, walking, drinking, gambling, basically a good time. I put five dollars into a Wheel of Fortune slot machine and won $162.50. First time I've ever won. Went clubbing at Tao, Blush, Pure, and Sugarcane and ate the the Wynn buffet. Good times.
I moved. After graduating I knew I didn't want to stay in Santa Barbara, but I also knew I didn't want to end up in San Diego either. As a result, I'm now in the bay area. I'm currently staying in Berkeley with friends because my apartment won't be ready til the 1st of October (was supposed to be ready today, the 15th, but there were unforeseen difficulties). My address will be in Oakland. I'm living with a friend that I met abroad. Ron needed a roommate and I needed a place to live, so we found a nice little two bedroom on the Oakland-Berkeley boarder. Why move? I needed change. I needed to get away. I wanted to do something different. I think it'll be good for me and fun. The plan is to work, save, and apply to grad school. Originally the plan was to apply for fall of 2009, but now I'm looking toward 2010 because it's more realistic for the program I want to get into. I realized that school isn't a race to finish. It's about getting the most out of it and I feel like if I go next fall, I won't be getting the most out of it. I want to go to school for Chinese and the goal is to one day become an interpreter or translator. There's a program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies that's one the best and it's where I want to go. However my lack of Chinese fluency and the fact that I haven't even started thinking about the GRE makes fall 2009 seem pretty far reaching. Which I actually don't mind. I'd rather take my time, be more prepared. Anyways, enough of that.
That's my plan. That's the idea at least.
A picture's worth a thousand words...
I graduated. June 15th, 2008.
They are who I will remember.
Gilroy Garlic Festival with Erin, Dan and Nancy. July 26th, 2008.
My grandma's house in Miles City, Montana.
The old train depot where my grandpa worked.
My dad and his sisters and brother. My dad is on the bottom left.
The family.
Grandma with her granddaughters.
Old faithful.
Clubbing at Blush in the Wynn. August 21st, 2008.
Girls ready to express ourselves through the art of dance at Tao in Vegas. August 22st, 2008.
Overall the summer was good. I'm ready for fall. I'm ready for change. I'm ready to start over. | | |
| Every once in a while something happens that puts things into perspective. Today is one of those days.
I went clubbing downtown last night with some friends. It was a lot of fun. It a friend of a friend's birthday, so we went down to celebrate. We were dancing, drinking, just having fun. It was a good time. At one point the birthday boy passed out. I think we all figured he had just had a little too much to drink. Being that we were in a club security called the paramedics and they took him to the hospital. The cops asked questions and they told us he'd just had too much to drink and that he was just at the hospital. If we wanted to visit we should wait til tomorrow when he was more coherent. No one thought that he'd die. I got a phone call this morning saying he had passed away. All I could say was, what? It didn't seem real. Less than 12 hours ago we'd been celebrating his birthday. Dancing. Laughing. Drinking. Having fun. Now, he's dead. I helped carry him outside last night when he passed out. It wasn't the alcohol, they think it was an aneurysm. I remember him taking pictures with his friends. Dancing. So happy to be around good friends. I didn't really know him. I'd met him several times throughout the last five years through friends. It just puts things into perspective. He had just turned 24.
We say that we'll do it tomorrow, we'll do it next week, it's okay because we have time. You never think that life can just be taken away from you like that. Makes you really think. Makes you want to tell everyone all the things you've ever wanted to tell them. Tell them you love them, that you hate them. Tell them that how you feel because if you don't you may never get the chance to. Tell them the truth, the entire truth. To be honest and accept the consequences of your actions. Tomorrow is not promised. Today is not promised. Only the moment is. We sit and let moments pass, wasted. Moments that we can't get back. We sit and linger in our own anguish and feel sorry for ourselves. It's human nature. All we can do it try and take advantage of every second we have. It's sad that it takes events like these to make us really appreciate life. What's even more sad is that after a few days, few months, we forget all these things. We let ourselves get caught up in all the small things and forget how precious time is.
I have the image of him collapsing in my head. I can feel his weight on my arms as I helped carry him out of the club. I can't believe that he's gone. My heart goes out to his family and friends.
Today is that day to appreciate what you have. To take advantage of the moment. To live everyday without regret and try not to make it so that it's only today that we remember it. Today is that day to make sure that we always remember that we should live life to the fullest, as cliche as that is. Today is that day to remember that life is precious. | | |
| i just finished my last final.
i'm graduating college.
i'll have a BA in History
and a BA in Chinese.
and magically
i'm graduating with honors.
no more finals (at least until grad school)
no more homework
no more quizzes
no more studying til all hours.
i'm done.
holy crap...
graduation.
sunday.
1pm.
and that's all for now : ) | | |
|
