This week was election week. I was so excited to be able to "make a difference" and vote. I waited in the check in line for about fifteen minutes and when i arrived at the table, they said that my name was not on the roster. I found that weird because I received a phone call a few days before reminding me to vote. Because my name was not on the roster, I was sent to the provisional line. That line took almost an hour and a half because they only had one electronic voting machine. I was kind of upset because I had proof of my registration, but since my name not on the roster, I was not allowed to fill out the written form. While in line, there was an African American woman around the age of thirty to forty who was talking to one of the volunteers about how her and those who lived in her apartment complex never received a booklet outlining the propositions. She said that the reason was because she lived in a low income area. She was furiated at the fact that someone called her in the morning of election day to tell her to vote yes on prop 8. She said she responded with "Why would I vote yes on prop 8?! I don't even know what it is about and I'm not going to vote a way someones telling me to!" She also mentioned that she went to the library right after to look up the propositions and realized that there is no way she would ever vote yes on prop 8. This gets me to my point of this blog.
While watching the news hours after the election, I saw that more than half of California voted yes on prop 8. I was very disappointed to be a Californian because we are so conservative. Voters for prop 8 stated that it will preserve traditional marriage, marriage between a man and a woman, and prevent the teaching of gay marriage in schools. They main purpose of traditional marriage is for "reproduction and anything that hinders reproduction is considered bad." I feel that that statement ridiculous because is anything that prevents reproduction bad? If so, are condoms bad? How about birth control pills? All of those prevent reproduction. How about preventing the teachings of gay marriage in schools? I personally believe that with all the ads in support of prop 8 floating around in between tv shows have given children more knowledge about gay marriage than what they would have obtained in school.
This is a never ending battle...
Friday, November 7, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
New year, new room
I have officially moved into my new apartment. I live with three of my friends, Ben, Jeremy, and Justin. The last time I saw my apartment was about a week ago, on move-in day, when I came to check-in and get my keys. That time I had only brought my bath and bedding needs, and a few jackets that I knew I was not going to wear, but yesterday, I brought a majority of my clothes. It was nice to see the group all together again. At around 12 AM, Janny came up to surprise Jeremy and me with a green tea mousse birthday cake. Although the cake did not taste that great, I still appreciated the fact that she got us a cake.
Then we just hung out and visited our old dorm rooms. It turns out that UC Riverside had over accepted students and had to turn, what once was a lounge, into a four people occupency room. They also bought floors five and six at University Village Towers and one floor of Sterling. I was very interested in how they arranged the lounge into a room and it turns out that they built a wall to cover the stove and covered the windows with cardboard or paper. The room did not look half bad, but what sucked was that the hall no longer had a lounge where people can just go to watch television. Time went by so fast when we were there. We did not even notice that three hours went by. We also had a random Q&A session with these freshmans than we saw hanging out. It was fun.
After that we all split and the guys and I just watched television until about 5 AM in the morning. I had trouble sleeping cause I wasnt really tired. This is really bad for my sleeping schedule because it is almost 6 AM and I am still awake...
P.S. I finished rearranging my room! It looks somewaht bigger!
Then we just hung out and visited our old dorm rooms. It turns out that UC Riverside had over accepted students and had to turn, what once was a lounge, into a four people occupency room. They also bought floors five and six at University Village Towers and one floor of Sterling. I was very interested in how they arranged the lounge into a room and it turns out that they built a wall to cover the stove and covered the windows with cardboard or paper. The room did not look half bad, but what sucked was that the hall no longer had a lounge where people can just go to watch television. Time went by so fast when we were there. We did not even notice that three hours went by. We also had a random Q&A session with these freshmans than we saw hanging out. It was fun.
After that we all split and the guys and I just watched television until about 5 AM in the morning. I had trouble sleeping cause I wasnt really tired. This is really bad for my sleeping schedule because it is almost 6 AM and I am still awake...
P.S. I finished rearranging my room! It looks somewaht bigger!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
ISA
Even though International Secret Agents (ISA) concert was three days ago, I still haven't been able to express how amazing it was. It was very inspirational. Magnetic North with they meaningful rhymes and Tatum Jones with their amazing acapella. Jennifer Chung was amazing and like Justin said, "she sounds like an angel!" Far*east Movement and Wong Fu Productions put together a great concert. FM's performance was amazing and Wong Fu's newest short is hilarious. Two words for this concert- amazing and inspirational!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Punctual
I had plans to go out with a friend today, but when my parents told me that i had to go to work in the morning for a maximum of two hours. I told my friend this and he said it was okay, so I went to work and when my two hours rolled around, my mom told my dad to go buy something. I'm big on being punctual, so I got frustrated because this meant that I can't leave until my dad gets back. I know that I was only there for about three hours (1 hour more than the amount of time I was suppose to be there), but it caused me to be late to meet up with my friend.
On a good note, I got Crumbs cupcakes today.
On a good note, I got Crumbs cupcakes today.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
No regrets
I finished dying my hair medium brown around 4 pm, but had to wait for it to settle in so I ended up finishing at 5:30, the time I was suppose to pick up John. I texted him to apologize for me being late and since I wanted my new hair color to be a surprise to everyone, I didn't give him a reason for me being late. After picking him up, we headed to Derick's house to pick him up, and after to Chris's to pick him up.
Everything seemed okay and we all said "hi" like old times, since I haven't seen them for over a year. I thought we would get straight to catching up and stuff, but once we got to the main road, Chris said "make a left after the light after the next." Being nice and not knowing what he was up to, I made that left. It turns out he went to go buy a blunt from someone's house. While waiting in the car for about 10 minutes, I told John that I'd be mad if he smoked. He simply responded with an "okay." After Chris came back, we headed back to the main streets towards AU to get pin'k boba. On our way there, Chris asked if I wanted him to pay for gas money, but I said that it was "ok" because I haven't seen him in such a long time. He also asked John and I if we wanted to smoke with him later and I refused. After AU, we headed to Garden Cafe for dinner because I was pretty upset about what was going on and just wanted to leave and go home. During dinner, I made some racial comments that may have offended Chris. When dinner was done, we went outside where Derick and I walked to the side, away from John and Chris because they were smoking. They walked over when they were done and Chris tells me that his friend is picking him up and of course I said "okay" because what else would I do, right?
I was pretty upset/annoyed the whole night. I do not appreciate being treated as a taxi driver. I am not here for you to tell me to drive you to pick up your blunt, so you can smoke it that night, nor am I hear to bring you to dinner and have you leave when you're done. I do not need your money for gas, I was driving you because I haven't seen you in over a year and you take advantage of it I was able to forget the past, believing that you somehow miraculously changed, but I was wrong, you have not changed. You're still that same person who invited me to your friend's beach hangout about a year ago and got mad at me when I told you I could not go last minute. You told me that you can no longer go to your friend's hangout because you no longer have a ride. What do I look like to you? A friend or a taxi driver? I am sorry, but I do not need friends like you. I am not going to apologize for those racial comments because 1) I do not regret saying them and 2) you didn't seem to care about how I was feeling that night, so why should I care how you felt?
Everything seemed okay and we all said "hi" like old times, since I haven't seen them for over a year. I thought we would get straight to catching up and stuff, but once we got to the main road, Chris said "make a left after the light after the next." Being nice and not knowing what he was up to, I made that left. It turns out he went to go buy a blunt from someone's house. While waiting in the car for about 10 minutes, I told John that I'd be mad if he smoked. He simply responded with an "okay." After Chris came back, we headed back to the main streets towards AU to get pin'k boba. On our way there, Chris asked if I wanted him to pay for gas money, but I said that it was "ok" because I haven't seen him in such a long time. He also asked John and I if we wanted to smoke with him later and I refused. After AU, we headed to Garden Cafe for dinner because I was pretty upset about what was going on and just wanted to leave and go home. During dinner, I made some racial comments that may have offended Chris. When dinner was done, we went outside where Derick and I walked to the side, away from John and Chris because they were smoking. They walked over when they were done and Chris tells me that his friend is picking him up and of course I said "okay" because what else would I do, right?
I was pretty upset/annoyed the whole night. I do not appreciate being treated as a taxi driver. I am not here for you to tell me to drive you to pick up your blunt, so you can smoke it that night, nor am I hear to bring you to dinner and have you leave when you're done. I do not need your money for gas, I was driving you because I haven't seen you in over a year and you take advantage of it I was able to forget the past, believing that you somehow miraculously changed, but I was wrong, you have not changed. You're still that same person who invited me to your friend's beach hangout about a year ago and got mad at me when I told you I could not go last minute. You told me that you can no longer go to your friend's hangout because you no longer have a ride. What do I look like to you? A friend or a taxi driver? I am sorry, but I do not need friends like you. I am not going to apologize for those racial comments because 1) I do not regret saying them and 2) you didn't seem to care about how I was feeling that night, so why should I care how you felt?
Monday, August 25, 2008
Janny's 19th Birthday Party
First off, Happy Birthday Janny! You're two years away from drinking legally!
Janny's brother planned a surprise birthday party for her today. She had no idea and was pretty shocked to see both Rowland Heights people and Riverside people. Her brother bought pizza and a lot of alcohol. We ate pizza, ate cake, and opened presents. My first drink was Kahlua and Bailey. I took a sip of Janny's before actually getting my own cup. After that, I had a few sips of some other drinks. Then I took a sip of Bacardi 151 with Sprite which was ok. Then she gave me a cup of that to play King's Cup with. Man after a few sips, I began feeling REALLY dizzy, but the game hasn't ended, so we continued playing. Janny picked up the last King card which ended the game. I was pretty dizzy by then. I tried to eat a Slim Jim but couldn't digest even the first bite. I then needed to pee and actually puked in the bathroom instead. I felt so much better afterwards though. From this night, I learned not to drink so much in such a short amount of time.
Janny's brother planned a surprise birthday party for her today. She had no idea and was pretty shocked to see both Rowland Heights people and Riverside people. Her brother bought pizza and a lot of alcohol. We ate pizza, ate cake, and opened presents. My first drink was Kahlua and Bailey. I took a sip of Janny's before actually getting my own cup. After that, I had a few sips of some other drinks. Then I took a sip of Bacardi 151 with Sprite which was ok. Then she gave me a cup of that to play King's Cup with. Man after a few sips, I began feeling REALLY dizzy, but the game hasn't ended, so we continued playing. Janny picked up the last King card which ended the game. I was pretty dizzy by then. I tried to eat a Slim Jim but couldn't digest even the first bite. I then needed to pee and actually puked in the bathroom instead. I felt so much better afterwards though. From this night, I learned not to drink so much in such a short amount of time.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Friendships
Here's a little something about me:
Growing up in city less diverse than the one I live in now, I found difficulty in making friends. My brothers and I were among a small population of asian students attending Pleasant View Elementary School in Baldwin Park. It was difficult being considered "different" among students of the Caucasian and Mexican decent. We were often made fun of with all the asian stereotypes out there. Our teachers would point out our ethnicity and state that whether we were Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or any other Asian race, to them, we were Chinese. Although we were taught that we were all equal, it didn't seem equal during recess. I was never accepted into a group of friends. It seemed easy for me to talk to my peers, but difficult for them to consider me a "friend."
Year after year, I would try to make friends, sure I made some, but as the year ended I would always be left out of the group. Moving out of Baldwin Park, I never looked back at my life there, eventhough I spent nearly ten years of my life there. To this day, I still do not remember the names of any of the kids I went to elementary with and I do not plan on trying to either. It was difficult growing up there and I remember telling my parents how much I wanted to move. One day, I was checked out of school early, not knowing what is going on. I left a majority of my school supplies in my desk because I thought I would return the next day. Getting into my moms red Nissan quest, I saw my uncle along with my mom and they told my younger brother and me (my older brother had already moved to middle school) that we were moving to Collegewood Elementary School in Walnut, and boy was I excited.
It was a new day and a new life. I thought of all the new friends I'll make and how different this school would be compared to my previous school. My uncle and grandparents had lived in Walnut and I knew the city as if I've been living there my whole life. It was a clean city with very nice people. Baldwin Park is about 20 minutes away from Walnut and since we haven't moved to Walnut yet until two months later, I had to wake up extremely early in order to get to school on time.
It was the first day at a new school and I was very excited. I was very quiet on the first day and pretty much lost. I didn't know where the cafeteria was. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know where the office was. I had to introduce myself to the whole class, which was pretty nerve wrecking. I remember the first person to talk to me was this guy sitting next to me. I remember him trying to speak to me in cantonese, but I did not understand a single word that he was saying. He also jokingly said he was going to hit my big head in cantonese. He was one of the first friend I made at my new school. After about an hour or two, we were let out to recess and I was just standing there next to the classroom watching the other kids play and then all of a sudden, the bell rings and at my old school we would line up next to the classroom until the teacher came, so I thought it was the same for this school. I was wrong, I was the only one standing there. I realized that they lined up on the basketball court and felt embarrassed as I walked over to my classmates who were calling me to line up.
As the year progressed, I met more and more people. I never really had a best friend back at my old school and I was hoping that I'd meet some friends who I can consider my "best friend(s)" and I did. We were friends all the way to high school, that's eight years of friendships and memories. We considered eachother best friends eventhough he betrayed our friendship in middle school and left me as a wanderer for a majority of 7th and 8th grade. After that, I never really had a group of friends I hung out with. I simply went from one group to another, not really getting to know anyone. They were simply acquaintances. In middle school, I wanted more friends who didn't know me well, rather than a small group of friends who knew me. Loosing my best friend made it hard for me to get close to people because, seeing that everytime I get close to someone, they'd leave and I didn't want it to happen.
When I finally left middle school, I had no one I considered myself close to, no one I can talk to if I was having a problem. I was now a freshman, making new friends again, but not being able to get close to any of them. My best friend and I slowly began to talk again because we joined the same learning program and pretty much had the same exact classes. We never really brought up what happened to our friendship in middle school, eventhough it still bothered me, but I was just glad everything was back to the way it was. Overtime I learned to forgive him for what had happened and moved on. We often joked around about it and it was fun.
After graduating high school, I felt our friendship start to slip again. Seeing that he was making more friends and getting close to his new group of friends, it felt like middle school happening all over again, but this time I took actions before anything worst happens. I thought that ignoring him and just ending our friendship would be the answer. It was difficult because it was hard to talk to other people because we had the same group of friends. Many of them said that I should apologize and that I shouldn't have ended the friendship, and overtime, I began to realize what I did was exactly the same as what he did and that I was being hypocrite. I didn't like what he did to me in middle school, so I did it back to him and realized that was not the answer. It took me almost a year to come up with the courage to apologize for my actions, but it was too late. My apology was not accepted. I thougtht that since I was able to forgive him for his previous actions that he would forgive mine in return, but I had to learn that it doesn't work that way. I also realized that I forgave people way to easily. I lost a great friend through my stupid actions. We were like brothers and he knew as much about me as I did about him.
What I'm trying to say after this long blog is that I'm scared of losing my friends. I have gotten close to so many great people from high school and from college, and I hope that we will always be friends even if something happens. To those I met in college, I am so glad that we became so close and that we had so many memories that it is equivalent to four years of high school with the drama that we went through, the friendship we lost and the new friendships we gained. I hope we have many more memories this coming year since we'll all be living in the same complex! Trips to the first floor! And to those who are still my friends after we graduated, thanks for all the great memories we had and I hope we have more memories in the future. Also, to all the friends that I've met from other places, I hope that we too, will have more memories together! I hope that our friendships will only grow stronger as we get to know more about eachother. I love you all!
Growing up in city less diverse than the one I live in now, I found difficulty in making friends. My brothers and I were among a small population of asian students attending Pleasant View Elementary School in Baldwin Park. It was difficult being considered "different" among students of the Caucasian and Mexican decent. We were often made fun of with all the asian stereotypes out there. Our teachers would point out our ethnicity and state that whether we were Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or any other Asian race, to them, we were Chinese. Although we were taught that we were all equal, it didn't seem equal during recess. I was never accepted into a group of friends. It seemed easy for me to talk to my peers, but difficult for them to consider me a "friend."
Year after year, I would try to make friends, sure I made some, but as the year ended I would always be left out of the group. Moving out of Baldwin Park, I never looked back at my life there, eventhough I spent nearly ten years of my life there. To this day, I still do not remember the names of any of the kids I went to elementary with and I do not plan on trying to either. It was difficult growing up there and I remember telling my parents how much I wanted to move. One day, I was checked out of school early, not knowing what is going on. I left a majority of my school supplies in my desk because I thought I would return the next day. Getting into my moms red Nissan quest, I saw my uncle along with my mom and they told my younger brother and me (my older brother had already moved to middle school) that we were moving to Collegewood Elementary School in Walnut, and boy was I excited.
It was a new day and a new life. I thought of all the new friends I'll make and how different this school would be compared to my previous school. My uncle and grandparents had lived in Walnut and I knew the city as if I've been living there my whole life. It was a clean city with very nice people. Baldwin Park is about 20 minutes away from Walnut and since we haven't moved to Walnut yet until two months later, I had to wake up extremely early in order to get to school on time.
It was the first day at a new school and I was very excited. I was very quiet on the first day and pretty much lost. I didn't know where the cafeteria was. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know where the office was. I had to introduce myself to the whole class, which was pretty nerve wrecking. I remember the first person to talk to me was this guy sitting next to me. I remember him trying to speak to me in cantonese, but I did not understand a single word that he was saying. He also jokingly said he was going to hit my big head in cantonese. He was one of the first friend I made at my new school. After about an hour or two, we were let out to recess and I was just standing there next to the classroom watching the other kids play and then all of a sudden, the bell rings and at my old school we would line up next to the classroom until the teacher came, so I thought it was the same for this school. I was wrong, I was the only one standing there. I realized that they lined up on the basketball court and felt embarrassed as I walked over to my classmates who were calling me to line up.
As the year progressed, I met more and more people. I never really had a best friend back at my old school and I was hoping that I'd meet some friends who I can consider my "best friend(s)" and I did. We were friends all the way to high school, that's eight years of friendships and memories. We considered eachother best friends eventhough he betrayed our friendship in middle school and left me as a wanderer for a majority of 7th and 8th grade. After that, I never really had a group of friends I hung out with. I simply went from one group to another, not really getting to know anyone. They were simply acquaintances. In middle school, I wanted more friends who didn't know me well, rather than a small group of friends who knew me. Loosing my best friend made it hard for me to get close to people because, seeing that everytime I get close to someone, they'd leave and I didn't want it to happen.
When I finally left middle school, I had no one I considered myself close to, no one I can talk to if I was having a problem. I was now a freshman, making new friends again, but not being able to get close to any of them. My best friend and I slowly began to talk again because we joined the same learning program and pretty much had the same exact classes. We never really brought up what happened to our friendship in middle school, eventhough it still bothered me, but I was just glad everything was back to the way it was. Overtime I learned to forgive him for what had happened and moved on. We often joked around about it and it was fun.
After graduating high school, I felt our friendship start to slip again. Seeing that he was making more friends and getting close to his new group of friends, it felt like middle school happening all over again, but this time I took actions before anything worst happens. I thought that ignoring him and just ending our friendship would be the answer. It was difficult because it was hard to talk to other people because we had the same group of friends. Many of them said that I should apologize and that I shouldn't have ended the friendship, and overtime, I began to realize what I did was exactly the same as what he did and that I was being hypocrite. I didn't like what he did to me in middle school, so I did it back to him and realized that was not the answer. It took me almost a year to come up with the courage to apologize for my actions, but it was too late. My apology was not accepted. I thougtht that since I was able to forgive him for his previous actions that he would forgive mine in return, but I had to learn that it doesn't work that way. I also realized that I forgave people way to easily. I lost a great friend through my stupid actions. We were like brothers and he knew as much about me as I did about him.
What I'm trying to say after this long blog is that I'm scared of losing my friends. I have gotten close to so many great people from high school and from college, and I hope that we will always be friends even if something happens. To those I met in college, I am so glad that we became so close and that we had so many memories that it is equivalent to four years of high school with the drama that we went through, the friendship we lost and the new friendships we gained. I hope we have many more memories this coming year since we'll all be living in the same complex! Trips to the first floor! And to those who are still my friends after we graduated, thanks for all the great memories we had and I hope we have more memories in the future. Also, to all the friends that I've met from other places, I hope that we too, will have more memories together! I hope that our friendships will only grow stronger as we get to know more about eachother. I love you all!
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