The ultimate fantasy

I was at a house party tonight and somebody showed this to me. It's a music video by Chris Dane Owens called "Shine on me". We thought it was absolutely hilarious. This music video is Lord of the Rings/Narnia/Matrix/Eragon/Enchanted/Pirates of the Caribbean all rolled into one. Plenty of exploding ships, dragons, incineration by random flames, impossible jumps, and even a Michelangelo moment. Love his look at 1:42. But the best part is the words at the end of the song. Absolute classic.

Oh and this was made only two years ago.

Happy Birthday bud!

A year ago today I sneaked up to the U of U to surprise my best friend in class on his birthday. I had done my background stalking work and had figured out his schedule, his professor's name and email, and of course the building floor plan. While my cousin who also went to the U was distracting him with some made-up sob story about an ex-boyfriend, I stole into his classroom and wrote a poem on the board (composed by me) asking him to go on a date with me after class. I also left some homemade chocolate cake balls on the main classroom desk for him. Then I found an underground tunnel and hid.

Of course, there were some gaping holes in my meticulous plan. First, he decided to skip class because it was his birthday. When he told me on the phone, I was frantic, bordering angry, which really confused him. So he went to class, 20 minutes late. By then, the professor had already pulled down the projector screen so it was blocking my poem on the blackboard. Long story short, he eventually saw it and we did end up chowing down pizza at his favorite place afterward - but not before I got lost in the tunnels because I wandered into the restricted/danger zones!

Sorry this year it will be so different. But I hope you will have an awesome day anyways!

Starving college student

What I ate today:

A piece of toast slathered with chunky peanut butter

An Asiago cheese bagel

Ten dumplings

Sticky rice

BBQ Pork

Twix Bar

A chocolate chip cookie

Tuna Casserole

Right now I'm absolutely starving - and it's only 6:30 p.m.!

Happy Love Day!

I don't understand why some people hate Valentine's Day. They mutter "Happy Single Awareness Day (SAD)" and wear black, determined to reverse the tide of romantic pinks or passionate reds. Awareness Days have a bad connotation in my mind - AIDs awareness day, Autism awareness day, Hunger awareness day . . . in short, somehow singledom has been designated a disease or a widespread phenomenon that the UN is supposed to eradicate by 2015. To me, Valentine's Day isn't only reserved for lovers and couples - it's for everybody. It is this wonderful day to celebrate love, in any form and with anyone.

I think this is the first year since eighth grade that I haven't had a boyfriend or received presents from boys on Valentine's Day. I suppose that's not a surprise when things end shortly before. Rather than feeling depressed as many of my friends, and to some extent even I, expected me to be, I ended up really enjoying Valentine's Day. In the place of romantic dinners and cheesy cards, I received long-stemmed roses from the Elder's Quorum, munched on wonderfully decorated sugar cookies (Ty!), and attended a fun Chinese New Year party. I also caught up with old friends and talked to my family. I felt loved. Very loved.

So in the spirit of St. Valentine's, here's a shout out to some of my favorite people:

The Triumvirate: Love these girls!
Of course, we're not complete without Bel.

You mean more to me than you probably realize.

These girls change my life. Literally.

I won't be much without them.

I miss you!
Come back soon - but not too soon :P

I still think you're absolutely wonderful -
Thanks for being my best friend!

What might have been

I checked the the airlines - we would probably be heading to Vegas right about . . . now.

Phantom of the Opera: strike six.

Shop my little heart out

I really really want a plaid shirt. I've looked at dozens and somehow I never buy them. I think it's because they are simply too . . . plaid.


p.s. I'm confused by the new Google buzz thing. I haven't even figured out twitter yet. Gee is this how old people feel?

Counting the minutes

It is in moments like these that I feel so small. I stare at my to do list and somehow it never gets shorter. I try my best to maximize my time. I grade papers when I eat. I study for tests on my bus ride to school. I even dream about doing homework at night.

I thought that I could do it all this semester: 14 credit hours + 10 hour/week of LSAT classes + Chinese TA job + Officer of an Honor Society + Editor of a Political Science Journal + Volunteering at VITA (where I help low income people file their taxes) + Start my Honor Thesis research = late nights & weight loss.

I miss lazy afternoons. I miss talking to my best friend for hours on end. I miss my best friend. I'm sorry I was always too busy to talk.

I love the David and Goliath story. It's the story of the skinny kid who conquers despite impossible odds. But like in most of the real life stories, I just might get crushed under this behemoth mountain of work.

Tofu

I have some tofu that I want to use. So I tried looking up recipes for it. Here are some of the recipes I found:

Tofu Shakes
Curry Tofu Salad
Sloppy Tofu
Chocolate Orange Tofu Pie
Tofu Jerky
Maple Glazed Tofu (instead of Ham)
Tofu Cheesecake

Here's a photo of the Tofu cheesecake. It was submitted by somebody whose username is "skinnychef4ever".


Tofu Jerky baffles me. I can't imagine what you'll have to put into it to make it chewy. Ew.

No wonder Americans don't like Tofu. Skinny chefs all over town are trying to make jerky-less jerky, cheese-less cheesecake, and ham-less Ham dish with it.

Mood Ring

I had officially instituted this weekend to be my time to be sad. I had three different plans for tonight. I ended up canceling all three of them. I was even upset that I forgot to wear black today. Depressingly, I wore my fun green top with billowy sleeves, complete with my multi-color tribal necklace. All not very suitable for my self-imposed period of mourning. So I tried to seclude myself as much as possible. Sort of worked. Sort of didn't. I seemed to bump into everybody that I know. I even made a new friend. I then tried the mental isolation trick, aka putting my earphones on. But eventually a note would break free from my pursed lips, and before long I would find myself humming along about how much I love life.

There were some successful sad moments. At times I felt like hiding in the TA office and just crying it out. I wish I had. I needed it. But just at those moments when I tired of repeating conversations in my mind and reviewing what might have been, I would feel a sudden burst of excitement. I was finally, properly, melodramatically sad! Unfortunately that would undo all my previous hard work. After all, it's hard to feel down when you've succeeded at something.

I pity boys. They have to try to understand female creatures like me.

Hey babe

It seems that when you get married - at least for girls - not only do you have to change your last name, but you lose your first one as well.

After my sister got married, she's known simply as "Honey". Coincidentally, that's her husband's name too. There's something sickly sweet about it when the two-syllable word is dragged out for an extended period of time - that's when you know they're either extra lovey dovey or one is trying to convince the other to do something (i.e. get more dessert).

Then there's "Babe". I have never called a baby a babe. But somehow it's oddly complimentary when somebody calls me one - although why it is flattering to be called a baby-like creature slash famous pig I do not know. I've heard variations of this one too: AngelBabe, Baby face, Baby girl, Baby doll. Sadly, baby boys don't seem to make the list. I guess they just don't do the job when it comes to condensing your unconditional love into catchy monikers.

"Sweetheart" makes me think of wrinkly hands, construction paper, pill-looking candy and hospitals.

I guess at the end of the day, calling your loved one something else is an insurance policy. I have once introduced a date to a huge group of people without realizing that I've been saying the wrong name the whole time. He took me home early that night.

Romeo once asked Juliet, "What's in a name?" Well I guess when it comes to lovers, the answer to that is babies, sweet tasting stickiness, and a whole ton of store-bought candy.