greek!

Since I've been in Berkeley, one thing I noticed I do on a daily basis (besides sleep waaay past 1am, apparently) is:

try to figure out all those Greek letters.


*Disclaimer: I don't know if we have Alpha Delta Pi at Berkeley. This is just a picture from Google Images to use as an example. I don't own it. Don't sue me! Okay, moving on..

Every single day I'll see people with frat/sorority sweatshirts on. Or they're carrying bags with their letters sewn on. So naturally, when I see them, I start trying to figure out what frat or sorority they're from. Basically, I lack the connection between the symbols and the words.

Characters that are easy for me:
- Delta (it's a triangle, no big. We also learn about it in history [Ancient Egypt, whatwhat?] and in debriefs [positives & CHANGES, not negatives haha])
- Alpha, Beta, Pi, Sigma (taking years of math pays off)

Ones I've recently programmed into my brain:
- Phi (lil circle with vertical line through it!)
- Tau, Epsilon, Chi, other pretty common ones.

Then the ones I'm workin on:
- Gamma (it just looks weird to me I guess)
- Omicron, Psi, and the rest of the obscure ones like Eta. or Upsilon.

Please don't judge me because I don't know my Greek letters. I'm in an Ancient Mediterranean Worlds history class.. I'm workin on it, kay? :)


"Wonder is the beginning of wisdom." - Greek Proverb

cards even Christian Siriano would approve of

This:
is currently my favorite place in Berkeley.

Why?
It's really really hard for me to explain. I think you just kind of have go there and be me. or be like me. (Haha makes a lot of sense, huh.) Well...

• The name of the store is clever! It's a play on "avant-garde" which is a term I know thanks to Christian Siriano who was all about the avant-garde on PR. :)

• The atmosphere is so nice. It's a quaint, cozy little card shop with separately "themed" shelves (like one for birthdays, for anniversaries, thank yous, just-because-es, etc.) chock-full of cards that I could browse through forEVer.

• The cards are different. I've browsed the card sections at Walgreens and the Cal Student Store, but these cards are just... better. Yeah, they don't have those loud singing cards but that's what's cool about it. Most show a lot less but say so much more.


These ones of The Little Prince sold it for me.
(One of my favorite books, and used the same quote for my senior quote last year.)
I love themm. love. them.

• I've been on a whole "appreciation for snail mail!" mode after coming to college. I realized I miss that feeling of opening my mailbox (which is waaay too high up for me to comfortably reach, btw) and getting a letter. So slowly but surely I want to send more stuff by post!


Now if someone asks me what I would do if I won a million dollars, I know what I would do with at least like $100 of it.

Yeahhh.. I'd spend it on cards and fun things at Avant Card.

But till then, I'll just stop by every so often after a long day of classes just to browse through the cards again. :)


"The avant-garde are people who don’t exactly know where they want to go, but are the first to get there." - Romain Gary

goalsgoalsgoals

This is a crazy week, therefore I will set goals!

1. Journal/QT at least 30 minutes a day
2. Sleep before 1am every night starting Monday (helpOliver&me!)
3. Limit TV-watching to Heroes only
   
4. Finish homework at least a day early to leave time for other things!
5. Send overdue letters + packages
6. Not be lazy and go to the RSF at least 4 times
   (not including cheering for IM games hah)
7. NOT lose my voice again.
   
8. Be on top of life
   

cool. gogogo!

jaded.

this is one word i never wanted to use to describe me
but it fits perfectly at the moment, so there.

mo' reading, mo' problems

As I sit here in my room on a Thursday night (wishing I were back home already), I'm thinking of all the reading in my life that I need/want to catch up on.

History, physics, econ, TIME, The Time Traveler's Wife, ...

Basically, don't let reading pile up.
Because then it will crush you. and slowly smother you to death.


(a lot of you will recognize this.)

I'm drowning! *blub. blub blub.

picky about the perfect pen

I was given an engraved Mont Blanc pen as a graduation present in May

I don't know about the exact price, but I'm pretty sure it was like near $200. Pretty insane, right?

Sad thing is, I haven't used it at all because:
1) It seems just too expensive to freely use
2) It comes in a super nice case, so I get lazy having to take it out
3) The point is too thick.
I feel bad saying the third point especially, but it's really true..

So I bought a new Moleskine journal last Tuesday (for $17.99 O_O). It's kind of an official new start of a journal (ohh how I've been here many times before..) and I'm determined to stick with it..

BUT.
It's completely blank right now because I want to get the perfect pen to write in it.

Finding the perfect pen is like finding the perfect boyfriend. You have certain criteria but you know there's no such thing as the "perfect" one out there. But you hope.

Criteria for the perfect pen:
• Fine Point: Must be 0.5 mm or thinner. Writing with an extra fine pen feels so much better than writing with one that has a huge tip. Also, it saves valuable page space.

• Smoothness: If the pen skips, it's a goner. The absolute worst thing is when you're on a roll and writing away, but then suddenly you see the ink fade and then it's gone. Everytime this happens I end up scribbling until the ink decides to come out again, but then I have grooves and random marks on my page. No good.

• Grip: Honestly not too picky about this, but it can't be too skinny and hard to hold for a long time.

• Waterproof: Needs to be able to handle highlighter over it! I always cringe when I highlight something and the black smears on the page AND the tip of the highlighter.

• Design: Just nothing too crazy, preferrably just jet black and simple.

Okay now I just sound annoying haha. That is all!

“I bought a seven dollar pen because I always lose pens and I got sick of not caring.” - Mitch Hedberg (American Comedian, 1968-2005)

mind dump for the week

• I lost my voice this weekend (again). What makes you lose your voice, anyway? It seems to happen to me all the time. So far it's happened after every single Cal football game (to a certain extent) and just this past week, probably cause I didn't sleep enough. Moral of the story, just get sleep. And don't sleep in your study lounge, as tempting as it may be.

• Took hip hop @ the RSF with Oliver, Sammy, Amber, Katie, and Eric! We bought bandanas from the dollar store to make ourselves more hiphop. Someone asked me if we were part of a crew puahaha! :D I should've said yes.

Also, Shelby is my new favorite person. He teaches hip hop. very passionately.

• The weather in Berkeley needs to make up its mind. Seriously, I check my macbook dashboard every chance I get so I can decide what to wear, but it always friggin changes once I step out the door. I think that's part of why I love summer. It's just so simple, you can wear a shirt and jeans or shorts and you're set for the rest of the day.

• Speaking of MacBooks.

Steve Jobs is making every Apple product I own a vintage (or, soon, antique) thing. Oh well, I got a free iPod touch & printer with my much-loved black MacBook.

• I watch a lot of intramural games here... InterVarsity has a lot of IM teams (basketball, football, softball, volleyball) and I've kind of become resident cheerleader, especially for basketball. I guess I kinda miss doing rallies and such during high school.

• Speaking of high school, HOMECOMING this weekend! I never thought I would get homesick while being here, but it's hitting me slowly but surely. I heard we crushed Lynbrook at their HC last week so props to our team haha. It'll be pretty surreal seeing everything from an outsider's perspective--I'm excited!

• I'm writing this post from the aisle of my physics lecture hall. I thought that coming right at 9:40am (which is when it legitimately starts, "Berkeley Time") would be fine and I could get a seat, but apparently everyone comes to lecture... Who knew?

I actually came here expecting to take the quiz to prove that I woke up for this class, but I guess he's giving it to us on Thursday.
I'm tempted to just peace out now..
cause I'm sitting right under an air vent and it's fuh-reezing.

engrish.

so my roomie leila bought yan yans in bulk from cal dining.. cause you can buy hella stuff in bulk online then get it delivered to a dc near you (whoknew?!) (ijustrhymed.)

anyway, now yan yans have a picture of an animal, its name, and a short phrase saying something about them.

they're pretty interesting...


& this = the epitome of engrish. (go here if you want to see more)
i understand T and Y are right next to each other on the keyboard, but seriously?
haha i only thought this happened with asian stationery but guess not!

this is a random post. but it made me laugh when i saw it :)
kbye!

excitement galoreee

the last weekend was awesome! davis is pretty siiick (and SO CLEAN. and quiet. and big. and suburban.) haha

sooo.. hermes picked me up from the amtrak station, i chilled with him and his cool floormates & roomie jeff(erson).. then met up with meher, kathy, & natalie at their dc which is SUPER nice! i wish we had made-to-order omelets and self-made waffles in crossroads all the time.. *sigh. a girl can dream, right?
[NOTE: I thought the word "omelet" had two l's? *shrug.]
oo chilled with dkwan for the first time in FOREVEr. (2 whole years, what in the world?) i love catching up with old friends! makes me happyyy.

went to a UCD football game! it was a hugely different experience from our Cal games cause it was so cozy (not really in terms of warmth though, cause it was like -1p1238 deprees..) and close to the field. their "UCD band-uh" played a medley of hiphop songs during halftime... hmmm, sound familiar to anything? haha it was TYTE i learned a lot of davis cheers. and froze my toes off!

it was awesome seeing everyone this weekend :) yayyy


&&& i have so much to look forward to this coming week!
- 10/16: Bowling with TBG
- 10/18: Mighty4 10 yr anniversary @ Cow Palace
- 10/21: Warriors pre-season game against some lithuanian team in Oakland (free tix, saweeet.)
- 10/23: Joshua Bell w/SF Symphony
(AHh omg we can meet him after the concert!! dream come trueee haha i've been wanting to see him in concert since 6th grade.)
- 10/24: MV Homecoming
(I finally understand the meaning of "homecoming." soso excited to go home!)
- 10/25: Cal vs. UCLA game! Go Bears! :)

yay for having no midterms for a couple weeks. more time for blogging. kbye have a greattt week and good luck with midterms if you have them!