Today is my first day of classes and fuck I slept in and missed my first class. What the hell! I set my alarm for 7:15am so I could sit in on a full class and try to get on the wait list (grad students always have priority). I'm a little rusty at this alarm setting business and although I set the time, I didnt actually switch the thing to alarm mode. Oh well. I have a 1pm grad level class on Media and Ethics so I'm looking forward to that. I'm am such a retard.

New web site constructed by some folks on a Yahoo group that I'm an active member of. Please check out AsianMediaWatch.net.

I have to thank all the programmers who come up with stuff like this to feed my addiction to totally wasting my time sitting in front of a computer. Oh well, at least this had somewhat of a cathartic effect. I no longer feel the need to hit things with a big stick. By the way, my highest score was 554.6. I should note, however, that it took me a few minutes to figure out what I was supposed to do and I probably scored zero more times than anyone.

I had a very uncool moment last night. I was walking home from the library after tutoring like I do three nights a week. I had my back pack on and my hands jammed deep in my pockets cuz it got a little chilly. I picked up the pace a little as I got onto Foster City Blvd right in front of my place and somehow I managed to trip, either on my own feet or on some uneven pavement. I thought I'd be able to recover but I was quite wrong. I realized that when you're hauling a laptop on your back and your hands are stuck in your pockets, it's pretty hard to get yourself back upright in mid-tumble. I ended up crashing on my elbow, then on my side and doing some weird roll right onto the grass in front of the apartment. Luckily the people who live in the suite above were no longer on their balcony barbequeing like they were earlier, so I don't think I had an audience except from some drivers out on the street. But it was all kinda funny. When I got home, I realized I had a real nice pavement scrape from my elbow all the way to my wrist. Good thing I always have polysporin on hand. I can't believe how accident prone I am.

I am so lazy sometimes, it hurts. I can't really get myself to do anything unless I truely, sincerely WANT to do it. Like sitting in front of this damn screen and reading useless shit. That's a slam dunk. This quality of mine makes laundry, buying groceries, finishing my short story, working out, making dinner, cleaning up this pile of books on the floor next to my chair and filing my taxes really really difficult. Someone needs to invent a motivation pill. I could use a few. Good thing I never decided on going to business school. I would've flunked out for sure. God, I make sloths look like creatures with boundless energy.

In a grand effort to avoid the famed "all Asian, mostly hip hop music" type parties this weekend (particularly Tribeca where the women bear no shame in going to extraordinary lengths to look like complete sluts), Simon and I went on a quest to check out some lounges we had never been to before. Soluna by civic center was the first. Real nice inside. Unfortunately it was a special funk event so there was a cover ($5) and the only people in there sported mile-high afros and retro aviator sunglasses (you'd think an unlikely pair). The place looked classy, velvety and comfortable, but pretty empty. Will defintely need to go back there with more friends another time.

Next stop Vertigo in an area some call the Tendernob. Basically Bush and Polk I believe. We managed to sneak in when the door guy went in to take a leak so we saved on the whopping $2 cover. It was definitely a neighbourhood bar type place. Cheap drinks e.g. $4 sour apple martinis, and a small dance floor. Mostly white with a somewhat generous smattering of Asians. Definitely a mixed crowd in terms of sexual orientation. Gay couples were gettin' their groove on right alongside the often mixed race heterosexual groups. If it weren't for the terrible music and lack of trendy hipster types, I'd say the place defined the diversity that is San Francisco. Get a real DJ and some people with some fashion sense who aren't completely tone deaf and you'd have yourself a great party.

We left Vertigo after our first drink and headed down the block to Lush Lounge. Incidentally they also had a $4 special on sour apple martinis. Fancy that! Unfortunately, Winston ordered a round of Cable Cars. Quite a nasty concoction that I would not have been able to stomach if it weren't for the sugar and cinnamon lining the edge of my martini glass. The music was quiet and it seemed that most customers were there to sip a drink and engage in conversation with friends (new and old). ie. there was some low key macking going on. We got a nice spot by the window with a great view of Club Divas, which I found out later is a club for the transgendered folks. Um yeah, we were kinda wondering why the women coming out of there were so...uh how do you say...manly. Lush was where we ended our little lounge hop. There are so many places in SF to explore, it's a shame we don't do this more often.

I'm happy to report my toe is no longer purple. It's also almost back to normal size. There's still a funny bump on it though. Should I be getting this looked at?

Bored? Check out this archive. This guy asked people to send in 100 things about themselves. He took the first 100 entries and posted them on his blog. He has them organized by number on the left hand column. His own is in the body of the page. Much more interesting than those chain emails that ask your favourite number and how you like to put in a roll of toilet paper (under or over).

You know sometimes when you stub your toe so damn freakin' hard that you swear it's broken, but after you take off your sock to inspect it, there's not a mark? Well, tonight while walking to the kitchen I came really close to breaking it for real. I stubbed it on a chair leg just like I normally do once a week or so. I let out a yelp (as usual) that you folks in Vancouver could probably hear. I took off my sock expecting to see nothing but EGAD! my second smallest toe on my right foot was purplish and had a whitish lump between the knuckle and my toenail. I thought to myself, shit that better not be bone fragment or something nasty. It's been 6 hours and it hurts to bend my toes or press them to the floor and that lump is still there. But I remember learning in first aid that if you can move a joint, chances are it's not broken. I figure it's just badly bruised and swollen. Man if anyone steps on my foot tomorrow I'm gonna deck them one.

Tomorrow is my first day of school (sort of). It's my international student reception and orientation. In preparation for school I thought I would check out the various student organizations at SFSU to see if there's anything that I could join (where I'm not older than everyone else by like a decade, remember freshmen are 18-19!).

I didn't find any to join but I found a bunch that made me laugh my ass off. For example, the Forces of Nature club. I'm not sure what that is because they don't have a web site but you should smell some of Simon's forces of nature. Maybe he could be an honourary member. Then there's the Latter Day Saints club led by, oh fuck, one of my profs. So does that mean I gotta join their church to get an A? I mean, isn't it their mandate to recruit people by force or otherwise?

Another club at SFSU is the Students for Genital Integrity. I remember watching a documentary about hermaphrodites whose doctors made the decision (surgically, that is) about which sex they ought to be. It seemed they were all pissed off regardless of what sex they were assigned. I wonder if this is what the club is about. The one that baffles me the most is the Upside Down Club. Is this like a Kriss Kross thing but rather than backwards they dress uh..? Finally there's the Players Club. For the drama students of course. I wonder if any not-so-bright self-professed stud muffins accidentally join that club hoping to share secrets of how to spike girls' drinks with G.

We just finished watching the extended version of LOTR Two Towers on DVD. OK, "watched" would be an overstatement for me. I sat still for the first two hours, played with hamsters for the third hour and surfed the web on my laptop in front of the TV for the fourth. I have to say I appreciate the beautiful landscapes, amazing costumes and mind-blowing special effects...but these fantasy movie plots just don't keep my attention.

I mean, I can sum up what I saw of it like this: group A has a magical object they must get rid of at some special place or the world will be over run by evil. Meanwhile, group B endures a parallel adventure trying to find group A. There is some sort of group C looking for someone or something, but I can't quite remember what. And, as in all fantasy stories, there are several evil groups of people that groups A and B must contend with. Of course, there is no definitive ending because you have to go see the third sequel which I'm sure is equally captivating.

My biggest question here is...why are the elves in this movie so tall? Simon explained patiently that only hobbits are little, while elves are tall and slender with pointy ears. "OH yeah?!" I responded, "Then why are the Keebler elves who make cookes in tree hollows so small?"

How come he laughed at me?

*sigh* now I feel bad because Simon put off seeing LOTR 3 so I could see it with him. How do I tell him that I would sooner re-write the math portion of my GMAT 5 times over or even watch a war movie (another Simon favourite) then sit through another (painfully boring) fantasy movie.

I don't know how I didn't discover this Engrish site earlier. Being a hamster lover, I particularly like this packaging:



Remember this is food packaging, for curry! What the hell is a hamster doing in your food?

Oh yah, new topic. So now that I'm off the job market and don't really need to censor myself (for fear a potential employer will read this). I can swear a whole lot on my blog now. Fuck, that's right.

OK just what the fvck does it mean when someone leaves a pile of dog shit on your welcome mat? I've never seen a dog run off leash here, and even if one did, having one shit right on my welcome mat would be like winning the freakin' lottery. Someone around here is asking for trouble and they're going to get it. If I do catch this guy and have evidence, can I press charges of some kind?

Has anyone been able to successfully connect to any IMs from Trillian? I downloaded the latest patch but I have a feeling those folks at Cerulean Studios can't keep up. So now I have yet another IM client, one that was supposed to integrate them all but instead connects to nothing.

I've been noticing that since about last year, TV stations have really loosened up with their rules regarding profanity on TV. All of a sudden, it's ok to say bitch and asshole on TV. Apparently parent's groups are trying to take issue with the FCC about this, particularly after U2 came up to receive an award and Bono said "fucking" as an adjective, ie fucking excellent, I believe he said. Since it was used as an adjective and did not have sexual meaning, it was deemed ok for air. I'm pretty liberal, or least like to think I am, but I find it a little nuts to be showing the South Park movie on cable TV, even at 11pm. Yes, it's one of my all time favourite movies (in the laughing 'til I piss myself category) but I wouldn't ever let a kid under my supervision watch it.

On a related note (ok not really related but I'd file it under "what is this world coming to"), what's up with kids calling grown ups by their first names now? I used to call all my neighbours mr. or mrs. so and so and all my parents friends were auntie or uncle something. It seems that white kids commonly call their step parents by their first name. Actually this brings up yet another issue, what is the right thing to call your bf/gf's parents? I would think auntie and uncle would be most appropriate. However, white folks quite commonly call even their in-laws by their first names. I dunno, I get weirded out even when my friends' parents ask me to call them by their first names.

I guess I owe it to all you guys to give an update on coming through on an F1 since everyone keeps asking. :-)
So it went like this. Got to the airport 2.5 hours early but noticed there weren't a whole lot of people at the airport in general. I guess most people were back at work already. So I got tied up at the Duty Free checking out the Hockey Night in Canada stuff. Got me a baby blue ball cap ($25 CAD) and Simon a matching shirt ($35 CAD), not bad since there's no tax. Anyways, they've restructured the part of the airport after the Duty Free store such that they have a barrier so that you can't see how long the line is for US customs and immigration. Stupid me. I get around that divider thing and notice that there is a winding line up, kinda like Disney World, OK not that long.

It scared me for a second there but the line moved fast. One of the agents must've just lost his virginity or something because he was chipper as a trailer trash with a McDonald's coupon. After every person he saw, he shouted "happy new year", "have a great vacation" or "have a wonderful trip". I could hardly believe my ears. Of course I didn't get that guy. But luckily I didn't get the angry old fart sitting next to him either. I got the quiet, bitter, overweight brown-haired guy with glasses. He didn't say hi or even look at me too long, but he was nice enough to let me fill out my I94 (the form you're supposed to magically know to pick up from security guy at the end of the line) at his counter.

I had all this back up shit prepared - my bank documents, stuff from my school, immunization records - the whole nine yards. But all he looked at was the I-20 form that the school had sent me. When I finished filling out the I-94 thingy, he sent me to the interview room line up. OK that scared me cuz that's where they grill people and I thought I was supposed to just get a stamp and go. I lined up there for a few minutes and met some chinese dude from Calgary who was married to an American and was pissed off that his wife wanted to move back to San Jose.

Just then, another younger agent sent me back to the overweight brown haired dude who looked a little confused. I guess he was supposed to stamp some shit and didnt realize that. Got my stamps and the young guy escorted me to the interview room again. No questions or anything, he just needed to get on that computer and enter some data. As I waited for him to do that, I watched the other agents talk excitedly about this bogus passport they got from this Chinese woman. "Look you can even see the glue here", one bragged. "Yeah, you gotta bounce her", ordered another one.

As I left the room with my shiny new F1 stamp, I think I saw who they were refering to. There was a young fobby Chinese couple with a baby. An agent told them to exit the area the way they came in and contact some official before they tried to enter the country again. I don't know what their story is but I felt bad for them nonetheless.

I can't believe tomorrow is the day I head through the border as a grad student. Getting that TN before and going through with a work visa has conditioned me to fear and loathe those INS agents. I have all my shit in order - got my official acceptance, a bank statement, my doctor's note saying I got my shots, list of courses I'm registered for and everything. But it still freaks me out. The power that those lowly minimally-educated modestly-paid agents wield is unbelievable. Unfortunately, in Vancouver, the power *trip* that they're on is even more unbelievable. Just gotta hope for good weather and a pleasant agent to talk to. I just wanna get out of this snow and get on with my life!

Today was bright, sunny (rare here) and COLD as heck. Yahoo says it was -10 to -4. I don't remember any winter here this cold ever ever ever. I don't know how you folks from back east (or Winnipeg) braved this kind of weather every year. Still, somehow I managed to convince myself that it wouldn't be a bad idea to head up to Seymour with Stan for an hour or so. I can't turn down an opportunity to snowboard free. They've got a little terrain park there that you can play on, and hike back up the hill so you don't need a lift ticket. I spent more time sitting on my ass watching or mucking with my stupid bindings than I did snowboarding but it was a lot of fun. I managed to gain oooh about the height of my fist taking a jump off the lip next to the box. Far from impressive but, hell, as long as it feels like I was flying through the air, good enough for this old lady.

So I managed to avoid the pathetic Vancouver club scene again last night to spend quality time with friends instead. Made dinner with Joe and then went to Candace's house to check out her new pad. Owned, not rented! Sweet brand new 2 bedroom townhome with all the modern fixings like frosted glass on the beech wood kitchen cabinets and hanging brushed silver pendant lamps. Had some champagne to celebrate and then headed back to Joe's (2 blocks down) to learn the art of making a bong out of a Sobe bottle. I usually try not to post incriminating stuff on my blog, but hey, weed is pretty much legal here so it's not technically incriminating. I will be creating a web page dedicated to teaching this art form. All you need is an empty Sobe bottle, a hammer, flat head screwdriver and foil. Oh and a good movie to watch (we chose American Wedding) and many bags of chips help to make the evening highly enjoyable.

New Years Day was a day on which all of my friends were terribly hungover (or still cracked out at an after party midday). After making several rounds of calls and waking people up (at 11:30am) I gave up. Denny K was already on his way to Cypress with his cousin so I thought, what the hell, I'm going up by myself. If I run into him great, if not, I'll enjoy the fresh powder and 100% visibility all by myself. It was kinda nice, skipping the short line on the Horizon side of the mountain to the singles line, going as fast or as slow as I wanted. Hanging out for a bit to enjoy the view and look for jumps. Funny enough though, while unstrapping my binding and wiping my nose after my 3rd or 4th run, I hear "short girl, white helmet". Sure enough I had run into Denny. So did the 2nd half of my day with him and his cousin. Just the right pace. Fun to be up there with people who also look for jumps (versus those who rip it down the mtn as fast as possible so they can sit on the lift some more). So I guess the big snow fall that killed my new years eve and the evening before it at least made for a pleasant day up on the slopes.