America, how I've missed you

SAN FRANCISCO. Just some bits and pieces from my trip so far. It's been really nice here since day 1. Clear blue sunny skies for four days straight makes me wish I were still living in California. The older I get, the more I'm yearning to become a full fledged American again. It's just something in me that's telling me I'm at "home" here. Not saying I don't like Canada, but it's hard to explain and put into words.

This was a nice surprise. We were conveniently "upgraded" to Economy Plus on our flight there. It's nothing much though, just a bit more leg room. It was the most comfortable flight I've ever taken though. Pity it was only for 2 hours. I could have used it when I was going to China..


Just a few pics as we drove to our hotel. The nice bright shining sun was a definite change from the dreary Vancouver weather..



We stayed at the Crowne Plaza. It's nothing too special. They did a nice job renovating it recently. The rooms come with a nice flat screen.. Unfortunately their hotel is situated right along one of the highways. The cars can really be heard during the day.. I guess it provides some nice 'background' noise at night. Sort of.

Many houses of San Francisco are connected to one another.. Nothing like the separated units we have at home. Chinese families would have fun living in these quarters. My neighbours would enjoy the constant yelling and bitching going on in my family. Privacy is definitely limited here.

We went to visit our cousins at their house. This is their block. It's a nice little place on one of the many hills/plateaus they have in the surrounding areas. Thankfully, there hasn't been much fog so far in the trip. Or wind. SF's known for its foggy days, I can actually see the city this time around.

We went to Downtown San Francisco to take in the Christmas festivities and shopping going on. One word : Amazing. It sort of puts Vancouver's to shame, and I think Vancouver has a pretty vibrant colourful Downtown area. San Francisco's is two times as big and eventful. Macy's was decorated gorgeously, the tree was huge, there was ice skating, and the mood all around was just positive. The view from the top of Macy's was on the Sky Terrace where we waited for an hour and a half at the Cheesecake Factory for a table. It was well worth it I suppose. I've never seen anything quite like it. I would say almost a hundred people in the lobby just waiting and the 5 rotating hosts and hostesses working their asses off trying to seat and put everyone down. Not once did any of them show any signs of frustration. I could learn a thing or two.

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Okay, I'm too tired to continue. Yawn. I've been getting up early each day to get to the gym. If only I could show the same type of commitment at home.. Perhaps it's because of the convenience of the gym. Funny story..well more sad, there was a large young girl yesterday in the gym with me. She was on the treadmill as I was doing my cool down. She went on, started RUNNING at speed 3.0.. (yes, I was being nosy) and then STOPPED after two minutes. TWO MINUTES. She burned 13 calories. She then went to the scale to weigh herself. Unhappy with these results, she proceeded to go to the elliptical where she went on it for five minutes, and burned 29 calories. By now, she was practically dripping in sweat. Poor girl. Her brother then came in to join her. Not any better. He was running at speed 3 as well. Hell, I walk at 4.5..

At least she's trying I suppose. I was stifling my laughter so hard, I had to drink water to prevent myself from sneering. They left after about 10 minutes and 40 calories burnt, at best.

I'm going to blame the dollar menus here at McDicks and Taco Bell for these overweight unfit people. No wonder America has the fattest people around. Makes me feel good about myself, ha!

Hopefully I'll remember what else I did on this trip through my pictures. Yes, they're from my cell phone, I'm not going to bother being all artsy and fancy with my travel journals. As long as I write it down, I'll remember it in the future. Happy Holidays!

Back to the Motherland

Alright, time for my trip back to the good ol' USA. San Francisco to be exact, my hometown. I haven't been back there in.. six years now? Not even sure anymore. I grew up in a suburb of SF I believe.. Sunset? Who knows, I don't know my geographical locations. All I know was that the last time I was there, I had to visit a lot of relatives and family friends. Of course, it's a given. Being from a Chinese family, even moreso a given. The countless ''Hellos'' and "How are yous'' do get a bit tedious at times.

Nonetheless, I'm excited to go back this year. Why? Because I think I'm actually at the age where I can appreciate San Francisco for more than just the people I know there, but now for the city itself..albeit 4 months from being legal down there. I hope to immerse myself in their renowned Downtown area. Union Square. The cafes. The districts. The people. Then again, there's nothing too much separating SF and Vancouver from what I recall.. the food's great in both cities, some argue better in SF.

I need to go to Alcatraz. I can't believe I haven't been there.. I make for a shitty American.

It's now 3:10am. I haven't slept all day after my Statistics final. We leave in about a half hour to Seattle, it's much cheaper to fly out from there.

Hopefully I'll post anything interesting that pops up during my trip. Maybe I'll encounter my own bus incident.

Schwarma

I can not for the life of me focus on my studies. Perhaps it's the Christmas music playing in the background, or that my arm is hurting like a mother from the stupid H1N1 shot. I swear, I'm suffering from side effects of that shot. Fatigue. Fatigue. Fatigue. Pain. Fatigue.

Random thoughts/ramblings at the top of my head at the moment, read if you care. I know two of you do :):

• Melbourne planning is well underway. Visa? Check. Acceptance? Check. Flights? Nope, I should get on that ASAP.. looking at $1600 round trip.
  
• I leave in about 60 days. Two months to the day.
• San Francisco Trip 10.5 hours after my last final on the 21st. I really wanted to buy a new mp3 player..thing this Boxing Day. Online shopping will suffice.
  
• My liver needs recovery, it better regenerate quickly.
• I've been working more that I was in first and second year, yet this year has been my toughest yet.
• I have 62.5 gigs of TV shows to watch.
• Growing apart from people sucks. Inevitable given the circumstances.
• White Spot makes me large. Very large.
• I better not turn into an alcoholic, I have no shame in admitting this. It's a path I hope I never have to go down, but I know I can find other outlets to calm myself down. No drugs either.
  
• Tiger Woods is despicable yet I feel sorry for him at the same time.
• I miss badminton

With that, I'm going to hole up and pray I can actually get some studying done. Number 1, 2 and 3 need to stay off my mind. Only one person may understand what I actually mean by that.

Me time.

I can't remember the last time I had a day where it was just me, my tv, my food, and my couch. Me time. Everyone once in a while needs a day to themselves. To relax, and not have school, work, or anything else too pertinent on their minds.

My midterms are still looming, just two more left now. I have to do well on both of them, can't underestimate my courses anymore. Aside from work and school, I realize I haven't had the time to really hang out with anyone anymore. I've even shoved badminton off to the side. What used to be a weekly..sometimes biweekly activity I took part in, has now become bimonthly thing..if I'm lucky.

Regardless, tonight I'm going to start catching up on all the shows I've neglected since September. And there are a lot.. The Canucks-Dallas game starts in about 40 minutes. My sushi sits waiting for me.

I need more Fridays like this. Sadly, tomorrow I'll be bringing out the textbooks, starting to slave away once again. Until then, I'm going to enjoy this temporary lapse from school.
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Focus.

Argh, the excitement of Melbourne is getting to me. I can't stop thinking about it! It better be everything I'm expecting..and then some. It's just a mere 4.5 months away now.. @$#@^$#!!!!

Okay, back to Biostats and Biochem.

Burn out

Since I don't really feel like reading any more of Ethel Wilson's Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories I guess I should update this thing. I've been sitting here for the past 7 minutes and some odd seconds trying to think of something worth posting..

I guess I should start with Summer 2009. My family vacation down to Florida seemed so long ago.. yet that was the start of the summer where my legs turned ..many shades darker. I admit it, there was a point in the summer where I was too tanned. It was also the first time where I got sun burnt 4 times. I would post the pictures, but to spare your eyes from my lobster red skin, I won't. The trip up to Whistler to go white water rafting in August was also something I won't forget anytime soon. The fact that 13 of us actually make it up there still surprises me.

Summer also marked my dive into the Genetics component of my university degree. Both courses proved to be highly successful and I came out of both satisfied. The more I look into the courses I will be taking, the more I realize this major is right for me.

Work in the later months drained me of all energy. The final 2.5 weeks of summer had me scrambling around my three jobs along with GALA. PNE certainly brought in a nice paycheque, but also took a toll on my body. I still don't think I have fully recovered. I am in constant fatigue, even on the days I sleep 7 hours. Maybe it's the course load I took..

That's pretty much my summer. School started just last Wednesday..after GALA I might say. The amount of international students and stories I got to hear from so many different individuals solidified my own decision to go to Australia. I know money will be tight, but I am determined to come out of it a changed man.

And so my semester of hell begins. Five lecture courses + 1 lab course = ... well that's still to be decided. Even though I have a month till my first midterm (7 in total), the anxiety of taking it won't go away. I should be used to exam stress by now, being in third year, but I'm not. Unless you've been to university or college, you just don't understand the amount of stress one feels before an exam. When December rolls around I'm sure I'll figure something to describe how the year went. Expletives included.

Exposed

It's come to my attention that I've been exposed to my family. No worries, a blog's meant to be read by everyone and I have no shame in anything I write on here. At least this will help them get to know me better...
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Even though Raymond feels like blogs shouldn't be about a person's life and their everyday mundane things (unless they're a hot girl who posts pictures along with it), it got me thinking, what should a blog be about then? Is there any clear definitive rule that governs blogging? I'm not even sure what my own would constitute as. Perhaps more of a random rambling of my life's unexciting events? I don't need to blog to please the masses, I just need an outlet to express my feelings. Frankly, if someone doesn't like what they're reading, well who's telling them to read? GTFO. (ha)

Biology 335 finally ended, final marks were released a couple of days ago and I can say I'm genuinely pleased by what I got. Could have been better (as always) but it was higher than what I expected. Thanks to Derrick, Justin and Wesley for a good two months, wouldn't have been quite as enjoyable without them. Honorary mention to Amanda who according to Justin, "told me off" with no shame.

Death Cab for Cutie concert in July was definitely the highlight of my summer thus far. I can honestly say their encore set list, was the best ever. Just those couple of songs to close out the show truly made their concert #2 on my list only behind Pemberton. Nothing can top Pemberton. "Transatlanticism" blew my mind away. Below is a short clip of "I Will Follow You into the Dark".. Unfortunately I didn't get the entire performance.


August is already here, less than a month left till school starts. The weather's cooled down drastically from the 35 degree heatwave we experienced last month. I miss it actually. Now it's in the low 20's.

Australia. Here's hoping to it curing my quarter life crisis. Six months.