Summer 2009: Month One

So not quite a month yet, but close enough that it might as well be and long enough between blogs for it to be relevant to my life.

So I’ve been hanging out a lot since summer started. I think the amount of time I’ve spent outside the house equals the amount of time I spent outside the house last summer. I’m almost not kidding about that. The downside is that I’ve been spending a buttload of money. Like a sh*t-ton. No joke. But in the end, I think it worth it. Right now, my parents are home with my brother is gone to Japan, a complete switch from last time. Still the same though.

So a progress report on my first college summer. Summer school’s really boring, but so worth it after I found out Marcus, Jenny, and Roan are all in that class. In actuality, I don’t spend much time taking notes, though I do take notes. Most of the time is spent drawing. A Lot. A crazy amount actually. But all in all, some good clean fun.

After class is track workouts which is amazing. It feels incredible to be working out again, especially after eight months of no real physical work. Getting in shape feels so incredibly good. And after that is usually where most of my money gets pulled. Hanging out with Lowell Track. And it’s been loads of fun. I got a chance to talk to a lot of people that I never even noticed on the team while on the team. Examples: the Gaos, Steph Hyunh, Carol, Nelson, the list could go on. Wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Except maybe my first anime con. Which I should be packing for right now. Cosplay is a possibility but not a certainty. No doubt you’ll see pictures of me somewhere online from it before this time next week. I’m spending a huge amount of money for it, so I’m hoping it’s worth it.

But before I could go, I was brought along with my parents to see their new condominium downtown by Civic Center. I gotta say, I wish I lived there now. I loved the space. My first impression was between a really swanky hotel and my grandparents’ place in Korea. And if you know me, that is singing high praises. I am a fan of small places so this spot was amazing. Honestly, before I saw it I wasn’t too thrilled but now, I’m genuinely happy that they now own that particular apartment space.

Oh I’m taking part in meets again! Well Los Gatos All-Comer Meet, but still it’s the first couple meets I’ve been a part of during college. And my marks aren’t great ones. As of right now, my marks for this summer are:

• 100m – 12.28 sec
• 60m – 7.72 sec
• LJ – 18′2″
• TJ – 35′9″

And my current PRs as far as I can dig up are:

• 100m – 12.09 sec
• 150m – 18.4 sec
• 400m – 60.0 sec
• LJ – 18′8.5″
• TJ – 39′5″

I love summer. In particular, this summer.

Begin: Summer 2009

I intend to sleep soon, and if you don’t know, this is actually really early for me.

So my freshman year of college is officially over. I’m currently home alone with only my brother. My parents are gone until June 21st. Grades aren’t due out for another couple days, I think. But this past school year has been by far the most interesting thing I have ever done. I was definitely out of my usual comfort zone. Not that living with other people. I got used to that very fast actually. Just the shenanigans that we got into throughout the year. Between, the constant need to party hard, being on point, haunting the girl across the hall, getting chowdered out on your mom with her exquisite titties with the likes of OG Glacier and the newly renamed Fattie Ice. Yeah, it was definitely a weird year.

And it wasn’t just a learning experience socially. This spring quarter, especially was a learning experience in what works for me in terms of studying and what doesn’t. Hopefully that’s reflected in my grades when the come out. (I’m talking to you, Tromba.)

But onwards to Summer, 2009. And hopefully, everything goes according to plan this year, starting with those grades. (Tromba.) A hopefully incomplete list of things to do this summer:

• Summer school from the 15 to July 26th.
• Anime Expo from July 1st to the 5th.
• All-Comers meets regularly.
• Learn how to play StarCraft.
• Go to Berkeley on a massive food run/tour.
• Visit Royenah. Again.
• Get a fixie and/or go night riding downtown.

There’s so much I want to do this summer. I hope I can do it all. Oh and before I go, I’ve folded and given in. aZooRe got me into teh twitter. Ugh. Disgusting thing. Tsk, tsk.

Can You Play the Cajon? Because the Cajon is an awesome instrument.

Remember When…

Remember when having an awesome blog just meant changing the title of the page, having a music player, and having an mpeg music video playing somewhere on your page? Remember way back when in 2003? Remember when that was the bar that you needed to meet? Remember when your AIM buddy list was actually running in AOL? Remember Web 1.0, with only simple html was all you needed to make a kick-ass webpage? Remember when flash was considered a complicated way of showing off your web prowess? Remember videopimp.com? Remember when it took forever to download anything that it was considered easier just to buy the thing you pirated? Remember when napster was free? Remember when Windows XP was complicated and streamlined?

For me, those were the sunny days, the carefree days, the days of transition of transition. Oh those halcyonic days… Those indeed were the days.

Pathological Laziness

Hello. It’s me again. And in the homestretch of the final weeks of my first year of college. And what am I doing? Nothing productive, I can say that much. I read through my past. Before I had this one, I had a Xanga and a blogger. Honestly, who didn’t have a xanga way back when? And as I do when I read back my high school days, I thought to myself “Wow, I was a snivelling little asshole”. I’d like to say that it was just the wisdom of maturity that was looking back at my youthful self, but I don’t think I’m old enough to say things like that.

Honestly, I think I don’t handle failure well. Or just bad things that happen to me in general. That’s what I’ve learned reading back on my high school days. These problems of bad grades and failure started long before I even thought of college. Because, well who likes handling stuff that makes us feel like crap? But people do it. The buck up, stop crying, and work harder to prove that they can do better. But I’m too apathetic to do that. I just don’t care. As long as I get by, I get by, and that’s enough for me. At least, most of the time.

I want to succeed and do better, but it’s hard for me to stay motivated with all that drive. If only I could bottle it and just take a sip of it when I need to do something that requires all of my attention. If only.

And this is what annoys me most. I realize this. I know of this problem. I know I should be doing something to fix it. And then I ask for a ridiculous cure for my problem. And nothing ever gets done. It’s a never ending cycle. So I offer this instead.

Dear Alex: Stop being an emo bitch. Get your shit together. Finish something. And make your own happiness.

Feel Good to Fix You

I was just doing my lab for Chemistry today, and I had come upon this lovely cover of “Fix You” by Coldplay. (I am a sheep; I followed the Hypster’s lead and got one.) And I wasn’t really paying attention, only copying the procedure from the manual and for some reason, in a moment of clarity, I picked up the lyrics from the song

When you’re too in love to let it go
But if you never try you’ll never know
Just what you’re worth

And for some reason, I was overwhelmed with happiness at hearing that. I mean granted, I’ve been in a really good mood since probably Thursday night, but just hearing that verse (if you can call it a verse) of that song just made me anxious and unable to even blindly copy the pre-lab homework. Nothing much has changed, I’m still skipping out on some lectures, but there was something that clicked this past week that made it so much more enjoyable. I have an inkling of what it may mean for me, and that’s enough. And that inkling, whether imagined or real, scares me. I guess that’s why I heard those words.

All in all, I’m happy. Happier than I have been in a long time. And I thank you sincerely for it.

Jason Mraz – Geek In the Pink (Live)

This might just be my favorite version.

The Little Things I Like

The general mood of the past posts is getting a bit depressing, so let me name some of the things I like.

• I like the feeling threading towels between toes.
• I like watching anime that make little to no sense.
• I like listening to acoustic guitar.
• I like the tingle you get in your fingers when they’re really cold then really hot.
• I like purposely avoiding homework by playing an unhealthy amount of video games.
• I like the post-work out endorphins rush.
• I like dreams that make little sense with large explosions and unexplainable phenomenon in them.
• I like the Discovery Channel.
• I like long, interesting online conversations late at night where conventional logic is discarded.
• I like the weather, as long as I’m not working.
• I like staying up so late, I’m the only one awake.
• I like laughing at random happenings that go on at a daily basis.
• I like my roommate’s random outbreaks of obscure singing.
• I like old school cartoons from the ’90s of childhood.
• I like geeking out about everything.

A small list of the things that I enjoy.

Party Like Its 2006

2006 was a good year. And I’m not just saying that.

So it’s been about a month since the beginning of Spring quarter. And I’m already very very bored. The monotony of college life, despite it’s excitement, is getting to me. It’s the same cycle, day to day, week to week. And it’s been getting to me. A week ago, for some inexplicable reason, started watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which I found out about in 2006-ish. Some great stuff, by the way. And that led to a gradual regression to my sophomoric self. I started listening to Asian Kung Fu Generation again, along with AquaTimez. I again realized the appeal of watching Naruto and Bleach, despite the pitfalls and the drawn out delivery.

This immersion into weeabo-ness cultimated into Japanese pop culture just got me into a remanisant mood. I started thinking about 2006 and how it was a really good year, despite the angst and emo-ness that is also associated with it. And thinking about that year, and high school makes me very melancholic, knowing that nothing’s going for me now that I’m away from all of that.

On another note, I’ve been thinking more about my future, and whether I should really be pursuing a science major, specifically biology. And the more I think about it, the more a degree in animation looks more appealing. And the more I think about that, I’m intimidated by those animation students I’ve found out about via DA. And that, freezes me in indecision.

2006 was a great year. I wish I could relive it.

4-20-2009

Today is the day that many people associate with the school I attend: UC Santa Cruz. It is as of right now, 3:50PM, about 30 minutes before the big event. Though, in fact, not many people thought school was mandatory today. My TA for “Our Changing Planet” comment that he appreciated us coming to section on what he called “a very important day for UCSC”.

I rarely talk about class, but first time for everything. I went to class in the morning, but not my Calculus class. I had to go because I had a Chemistry midterm that admittedly, did not study for, and most likely did not pass with flying colors, if at all. I didn’t go to Calculus because as another associate of mine said “It is balls hot outside”. It is currently 80 degrees Fahrenheit. And that is as it’s cooling down. And it’s ridiculous. Another thing I found out about myself is that I have allergies. Most likely. A dust allergy, possibly pollen. I’ve had a congested nose, sneezing, groggy head, and tired. Which sucks.

All in all, it has been very for the lack of a better adjective, suck.  So, to sum it all up:

the heat + the allergies + the fail = SUCK

Video Spam

My goodness, just a bunch of stuff I thought I’d put here. 

This last one, I can’t embed, because the author disabled it. but click on it. it’s so worth it.

Notte Sento (English subtitles) from napdan on Vimeo.