Blog 70 - The TSA

So if you haven't heard, theres been a lot of stories talking about the new precautions the TSA is taking at airport security. They've basically developed new scanners that are a huge invasion of privacy, which is our 4th amendment rights to privacy. These scanners are advanced enough to take images of us while we're in the scanner and it pretty much strips you down so that the image is a naked picture of you. They can see your penis size too, and there have been incidents where TSA agents take advantage of this and make fun of some of the people who walk through the scanners. If you don't want to go through a scanner, you have the "wonderful" alternative to get a major pat down, aka a TSA agent will come and feel you up in every crevice of your body. Yes, a TSA agent will feel up your boobs or check between the balls in order to make sure that there is no trace of bombs or whatever else they could happen to be looking for. I think it's ridiculous that the TSA is taking such drastic measures to ensure the safety of airplane passengers. There has even been a story of a little boy being stripped at the airport because they thought he could be carrying bomb threat related things in his...who knows where. As a student that flies to and from school, I'm going to have to deal with the TSA when I fly home...and I'm really not looking forward to it. I'm hoping that the Columbus airport doesn't have the scanners installed yet, but I'm pretty sure that LAX will have them. Just what I wanted. A good feel-up at the airport for an early Christmas present. 

Blog 69 - Who Doesn't Love A Good Stand-up Comedian?

So on Sunday I was at the library doing some studying for my Chem quiz/final. After doing some work for a good amount of time I realized I was getting hungry and so I packed me things to go. (I was at SEL by the way).  While I was walking past the elevators my boyfriend pointed out something on the wall, and sure enough it was an ad for Demetri Martin performing at Palace Theatre. For those of you who don't know who Demetri Martin is, he's a brilliant stand-up comedian and oh my god he is SO FUNNY. What's really interesting is that he actually attended Yale law school, and he also got offered a full ride to go to NYU's business school. He's really smart, and his jokes definitely show that he's really clever. Most of his jokes are one liners, and they take a couple seconds to get but when you finally get the joke, it's hilarious! Also at orientation, if any of you remember this video where there was a brown haired comedian talking about the different activities and clubs you can join at OSU, that's Demetri Martin. I've been a big Demetri Martin fan for a few years now, and it was so ironically funny because this past year I've been talking about how I wanted to see a Demetri Martin show while I was attending OSU, and lo and behold here it is! If my boyfriend hadn't been with me I probably wouldn't have seen the ad. I ordered tickets on ticketmaster last night, and I saw that some other sites sell tickets $60-$150 and I thought "WHAT!?" I couldn't believe that people would pay that much for someone to make them laugh. Luckily, ticketmaster sells them for $40-something, but even better I found out about the student discount: $20 if you put in the promo code "student" when you're picking out how many tickets you want to buy. It's restricted to only the balcony seats, but I really don't mind. I'm there to hear him not look at his face.

Blog 68 - Mmm Blackwell

So my roommate decided to get a party of people, mainly from our floor, to get together and go eat at the Blackwell since she has way too many swipes left over. We had the reservation at 6 and stayed until almost 8:30...! I've eaten at the Blackwell I think three other times. Once last winter quarter, once last spring quarter, and another time for breakfast with my dad when he came to visit me. Actually, the time I had breakfast with my dad there I asked if I could use swipes and turns out that Blackwell doesn't take swipes for breakfast. I think it's because not many people wake up early enough during the school week to go eat there for breakfast and use up swipes. Honestly though, that's totally fine by me since Sloopys is a great alternative (serving breakfast at anytime?! MY FAVORITE! I love breakfast...my favorite meal hands down.) Anyway, while we were eating at the Blackwell our waitress told us that the special today was a steak with crab filling in the middle...and I thought that sounded so delicious so I got the 6 oz. one and it was soooo good. I haven't had steak in over a year, and mmm medium steak is so delicious. I suppose that I head "steak" at Chipotle but that doesn't really count. Anyway I had a delicious meal (8 swipes by the way...whoa! The waitress said it cost $32...) and it was worth every single penny...er...swipe. Can't wait to go again.

Blog 67 - Back to School

Oddly, I'm very happy to be back at school. During this whole 4 day weekend I've been feeling a little out of place with unfamiliar settings, but in all honesty I'm just glad I'm back so that I can concentrate more and get work done. Sad, isn't it? That during this whole break all I was worried/cared about was studying for finals and doing homework! What a geek.


Geekery aside, it's nice to be in the dorms again. I've really made dorm life feel homey, though I still want to move out next year. It's going to be a challenge finding a nice place thats nearby at a decent price. I really want to find something good, and moving off campus will save me a lot of money. Well, more like my parents a lot of money. I have this kind of...guilt that they're paying so much for me to be in college (especially out of state tuition) even though they've been saving since I was a baby for me to go to college. It's weird though, because I'm really working hard in school. I'm not dicking around partying all day and not focusing on school. I think it's a sense of ... well something like making sure that their price wasn't paid for nothing, that I make their money worth it. I really appreciate how much they're doing for me to go to school, and all I really want to do is prove to them that their money wasn't wasted, that all of their hard work to raise me and sacrificing distance for me to attend college was all worth while.

Blog 66 - Missing Home

Since the holidays are pretty much starting, first being Thanksgiving, I'm starting to realize that I'm really missing my family and loved ones. Though I'm so thankful to be able to stay at my roommate's home for these four days, their family makes me miss mine. It's not that they are so similar to my family and remind me of my own parents and siblings...it's actually the differences that make me miss my family so much. When you stay at another person's place, theres different habits, rules, surroundings, food, all that jazz, and as a guest you really have to adjust to the new atmosphere that you're so unfamiliar with. My roommate has a big family, and so their family is a little louder than mine (she's got a 6 person family while I have a 4 person family). I guess also the comfort of my own home is something I miss too...being in an unfamiliar home for a few days is also something that I have to get used to. Also, the way my family interacts is different...and it makes me wish I could really be with my family even more than ever now. Oddly, I hadn't felt too homesick until now...

I also started to think about why I hadn't felt homesick yet, and what makes me feel at home. My boyfriend told me that when he was with me it made him feel like he was at home. I knew that this was a compliment, but I really didn't understand what he meant until now. Some people give you a sense of comfort that you feel when you're at home...the feeling of almost peace of mind, the feeling of safety and comfort. I really miss that, and more than ever now I could really use some at-home comfort.

Blog 65 - Harry Potter!!

So I actually watched Harry Potter last Friday with my boyfriend, but my roommate's family has a tradition of watching Harry Potter on Thanksgiving, so we watched it again today (writing this blog a day early I am). Anyway, after watching it the second time I think that this one is one of the better HP movies. My favorite ones are still the first two, but this one is pretty well directed and the storyline definitely doesn't stray away from the book too much (though there are some minor differences like Harry doesn't use polyjuice potion as in the book, though this is probably because Daniel Radcliffe is the star not some other guy...). I did feel that if you watched the movie and didn't read the books that you'd be really confused at parts. Even I had forgotten some of the things that happened in the last book and if I hadn't read the books I think I would have been confused when I was watching. Anyway, I'm pretty excited for the second part to come out this summer, and I definitely will be in line to see that! I really do love the Harry Potter book series, and for all of you who only watch the movies and don't read the books......GO READ THE BOOKS. They're really amazing, and theres so much more that you feel from the books than from the movies...a lot more emotion is conveyed and it really gets you attached on an emotional level with all of the characters and events going on with Voldemort, Harry, and Dumbledoore. I definitely think that the relationship between Harry and Dumbledoore wasn't explained too well in the movie...because Harry feels like he never really got to know Dumbledoore despite all the time he got to spend with him. Maybe these feelings will be expressed more when the second half got released....

Blog 64 - Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! So I previously mentioned that I was staying at my roommate's place, and so I obviously ate Thanksgiving meal with them, which was DE LISH~! I usually don't have turkey on Thanksgiving (Gasp! Omg no turkey? Yes...no turkey..my family usually makes chicken, buys turkey, or goes to someone elses house so that THEY make turkey) But anyway, the turkey was really delicious and her parents kept feeding me so much and I couldn't finish at all haha. I think it's an Asian thing to always keep feeding guests and kids a lot...my grandparents do it to me all the time and so do my other relatives. I think it's a way to show that they care, but at the same time I think it's to show that they can provide for you because back in the day when people were poor having food was a big deal and it showed your status as well as your ability to care for other people. Anyway, theres that. I'm probably going to gain a huge amount of weight, which is not okay in my book!!! I need to start working out...even though the scale tells me I've been the same weight since I came to school, I can definitely tell that my tummy has been slowly expanding little by little....time to get on that. It really doesn't help that during the winter season is when people start to have a lot of eating-related events and holidays...and it ALSO doesn't help that during the winter my body thinks that it needs to just pack up on the pounds of fat to keep me warm. GAH! No! Stop! Just leave me be goddammit!! Time to learn how to look cute in baggy clothes!!!

Blog 63 - Cleveland

So for Thanksgiving I can't go home because there weren't any plane tickets for me to take home this year. So luckily, my roommate and her family were nice enough to let me stay for the four day weekend. As nice as they are and I really am thankful for them letting me stay because if they didn't...I'd probably be in the dorms all alone...well okay maybe not I'd probably find someone else's house to go to but whatever...anyway as much as I'm so glad that I get to go to their home for Thanksgiving, I really do wish I could go home too. I know it's only two more weeks after this week until I go home, but at the same time I really do miss my family.


Anyway, I wanted to get my roommate's family a small gift just to show them that I'm really thankful for letting me stay, so I pretended I was going to class when really I was going to buy them some chocolates and a card. That worked out really great because it was raining (please note tone of sarcasm here). Yeah...it was raining...and cold...and I didn't have an umbrella or anything. Not only that, by the time I was walking back I decided to take the CABS bus but it took me down 18th since it was the east route, which is new this year btw, so I had no idea that it even was going there. Then while I got off the bus I had this huge craving for coffee so I walked back to SEL and lo and behold the coffee place was closed even though the sign said it wouldn't close until 5 and it was only 4:30. Sigh. Anyway, ranting done. I got the gift and that's what counts right?


I found these ADORABLE cards that just have quotes on the front...and I'm a huge sucker for quotes so I loved them when I saw them at barnes and noble...so cute oh god <3

Blog 62 - BSG

So I really did enjoy the Battle Star Gallactica mini series we got to watch in class. I think it's kind of exciting. There was one part where my heart was pounding like crazy, the scene being where the ship needs to make a space jump but the people from other ships kept talking to Lee and the other pilot about leaving the other ships behind when the other attacking ships were closing in on them with little time to spare. The way the director made it so anticipating and all that jazz really had me at the edge of my seat, especially since they filmed scenes of the countdown, seeing other ships closing in, watching the madam president sitting in the chair waiting, and filming all of the distraction on Lee's face while he was trying to block out all of the pleas from captains in other ships all being interchanged was very well directed. I definitely felt my heart thumping in my chest anticipating whether or not they were going to make it out in time even though I knew deep down that they would. I also thought the part where Starbuck saves Lee by piloting her ship to attach to Lee's and drive it back into the Gallactica just in time to make a space jump was exciting, and brought a smile to my face. Also, the part where Lee and his dad share a special moment with each other, both appreciating the fact that each one of them still is alive was really touching. From that scene you could really feel that even though they both weren't saying anything verbally, they were forgiving each other and saying everything they felt at the time in that silence they shared.


I just think this image is hilarious.

Blog 61 - Weekenders or Something or Other..

So this weekend I went to New York with my boyfriend to meet his family. That was actually really nice and I really enjoyed myself until he woke up Sunday morning throwing up from either food poisoning or some virus...my guess is a virus. Anyway, I had to drive us all 340 miles back, which is the longest and farthest I've ever driven in my life. Also, I haven't driven since school started, and even when I'm at home I don't have a car of my own and I don't drive very often, so this was a little worrying on my part. For the most part it was freeways all the way back, and I figured I could do it even if I felt a little uncomfortable. I was the only option of driving though because my bf wasn't in any shape to drive. Anyway, I made it back all the way safe, which I'm really proud of myself for doing by the way haha. The drive really wasn't that bad, and I think I was worried because driving in LA is SO different from driving out here. I'm used to 6 lane freeways, and our freeways never get fewer than 4 lanes. Not to mention theres always tons of people coming on and off freeways, merging in and out of lanes, all of this hustle and bustle when you're driving in a big city area like Los Angeles. Even on local routes theres always so many people you have to watch out for so that was a big worry for me too, but when I drove around here none of this was really a big deal because there were so few cars in comparison to what I'm used to. Just glad I made it back in one piece! Haha.

Blog 60 - GATTACA

So in my last blog I referenced this really amazing movie called GATTACA. In the movie, society is advanced enough to let people have the "best possible baby." This is accomplished by a doctor, who will look at a mother's eggs before her baby is born and look at their genes. The doctor will pick out which eggs are going to develop the smartest and most physically fit baby, and so then the mother will have a genetically superior child while still maintaining a "naturally" developed baby. 


Anyway, what happens is that society slowly starts to have these genetically superior babies and eventually the normally born babies, those who didn't undergo the process of choosing the best baby possible, end up being kind of the lowlife at the bottom of the pyramid. They get given low paid jobs like janitors.


Specifically, the story looks at a family where one child is born normal and the other child is born genetically superior. The one who is genetically superior is younger than the normal kid by two years, but the better child is smarter, taller, better looking, and overall just more "perfect" than the first son. Eventually, the parents start to favor their younger son while the older son is left feeling inferior. The thing is, the younger son wants to become an astronaut, but in this society becoming an astronaut is really "high class" and only those who are the MOST genetically superior can make it. So, this boy goes on to take another person's identity to be able to have the chance go fly out to space. The person's identity he stole actually works with him, and provides blood and pee samples because in this world your genes are your form of identity everywhere you go. Before you get into the office, they prick your finger to make sure of who you are. Any single hair or skin follicle that falls can be used to identify your genes.


Anyway, I'm going to stop rambling about this movie because it's starting to fall into this kind of "let me tell you about this and then there-- OH WAIT THERES THIS PART and then -- oh wait let me get back to my first thing" kind of conversation. And...that gets confusing. Anyway, go watch GATTACA.


(Did you notice that GATTACA is only spelled with the letters that represent genes? G-C and T-A? Neat huh?)

Blog 59 - The Con's of Technology

So I was just talking about Hatsune Miku, the holographic pop star girl who is touring around Japan giving performances as a singer/performer. I was talking about how this technology seems to be a little darker than the oh-so-amazing technological advancement it brings.


Technology is something that people get so entranced in. If people are becoming so obsessed with something digital like Hatsune Miku, treating her as if she were a real human, then she's really going to take over the world in the sense that her competition, being real people, are going to have to compete against her. In that sense, it really looks like people will start preferring the digital counterparts more than the real imperfection that real people have.


I think eventually, if technology advances in the wrong way, (or even in the right way, I guess it wouldn't matter), society will be split in two ways. One, there will be the digital world, and the real world, where people would prefer the digital, and two, society's class system will be divided into those who are capable of doing technology-based work and those who aren't. 


When you think of programmers and engineers, any job where it's related to technology, you think of someone who is smart. And yes, it's true that you need to be qualified intellectually to be able to do a technology-based job well. In the future where technology is going to be so prevalent, I'm pretty sure that programmers and inventors will create machines to do simple jobs for us such as cleaning and serving us food. If that is the case, companies are going to buy out those machines instead of hiring real workers because the cost is less (in the long run) and the room for error will be a lot less too. Soon, it will be so much better to have machines instead of people, and when that happens, those who aren't capable of being programmers or engineers will be out of work. If that becomes the case, then society will really split into those who can program, and those who can't. 


I guess this is kind of similar to the movie GATTACA. If any of you haven't watched it, GATTACA kind of talks about this kind of situation except in GATTACA's society, people are separated into those who were born with better genes and those who weren't.

Blog 58 - The Future Is Now

Seems that the phrase "the future is now" is exactly how people feel when they see news about Hitsune Miku, a holographic pop star rising up to fame in Japan. Yeah, believe it. It's a hologram and she's become so insanely popular that she's touring and her shows are selling like mad. 


It's pretty amazing that technology is advancing as quickly as it is. And, if you really think about it, the technology that we're exposed to isn't even the most advanced of it's kind...the military has got all of the latest high tech gear and if we think that the iPad is something amazingly innovative, imagine what the government has in it's pockets.


I love technology. What isn't there to like? It's convenient, it can help solve so many problems that we couldn't solve before. It helps people communicate, aid those who wouldn't be able to otherwise (take Stephen Hawking's voice translator thing for instance. If he didn't have that he'd have a ridiculously hard time communicating with others, if that would even be possible). Technology is so innovative and helpful, but my biggest fear is that it will take over.


Hatsune Miku seems to be like a miracle. She's a digital pop star. She'll never grow old, there will be no paparazzi following her, no scandals of any kind...she's ideal isn't she? And it's not like people wouldn't like her because she's not real...clearly people love her. So what's so bad? I think that by having this kind of advancement, society will slowly shy away from human imperfection and prefer the digitally improved versions of what we can't be. Musicians will be replaced by digital ones, actors and actresses will be computer generated, and even the common person would be turned down for a better computerized version or machine.


I think this is 250 words. Let me continue on another blog hehe.

Blog 57 - Battle Star Gallactica

So we watched BSG today in class. Although I know most people thought that this was going to be pretty lame, I had a feeling that it would be pleasantly and surprisingly good - and I was right! BSG was definitely quite interesting. Sometimes I feel that people underestimate how good some "nerdy" things really are. I mean, Star Wars was amazing, and so was Transformers. And my favorite, Star Trek, which is one of my favorite movies of all time, is also such a great movie despite it's nerdy content. People really just assume that these nerd things are for nerds and that they can't connect to it, but you really have to consider the fact that there ARE people who are into the show, and it has to be for good reason. Sure, theres science references about space time continuums or whatnot (I just realized that a lot of nerdy stuff tends to be related to space...interesting), but I mean come on those things are COOL! If they were to occur in real life, like having actual space ships and vessels flying around everywhere in such advanced technology people would be freaking out about how incredible it is. Nerds are a lot cooler than you think guys, because we're the ones imagining and engineering all of the high tech gear that everyone gets to use. Give the nerds some more credit!


Speaking of advanced technology, have any of you seen this "holographic pop star" rising in Japan? Yeah. They've created a holographic girl who is going on tour right now performing shows (she's a singer btw) and she's insanely popular. It's pretty amazing that we've been able to create this kind of technology to create synthetic versions of real things. At the same time, I find it quite intimidating...I'll focus on my take on this for blog 58 so that I can kill two birds with one stone. Ish.

Blog 56 - Commonplace Paper and Cool Editing Tools

So I thought that I'd have a lot of editing to do on my paper, but turns out I really didn't at all. I had done quite a bit of editing last week between classes while I was at the library since I don''t like to carry around my heavy books, and amazingly enough the editing that I had done then seemed to be pretty good so when I came back to do some more editing it was pretty much in it's final stages. I wrote my paper on stereotypes, using the example of all Asians are smart as my reference point since I've had to deal with that stereotype quite a bit. Anyway, I'm pretty proud of this paper, and it's probably because it actually connects to me. My ARP paper wasn't nearly as passionate, and that's probably why I disliked that paper so much more in comparison to this one.


If any of you haven't already heard about this, you probably should because its a GREAT tool for anytime you edit your own papers or edit other people's papers. It's called "Track Changes" and is found in word. All you have to do is go to the "review" tab, and somewhere in the middle-ish of the tab there is a box with a sheet of paper and a pencil that says "track changes." If you click on this, what it does is it essentially tracks all the changes you make to the paper by using handy things such as putting new text and other insertions in another color, and crossing out things you delete. I personally like to use the bubble feature for deleting things, which puts anything you delete into a side bubble and a dotted line will connect to the spot where you've deleted something. This setting can be enabled by going to the settings of track changes and making the bubble option for "always" or something like that. Whenever you want to accept or reject a change, you just right click the section and choose the option to "accept" or "reject." It's a great tool and so genius in it's simplicity.

Blog 55 - Bomb Threat Eh?

Today I got up around 10 since I didn't have class until 11:30 and went to turn on my computer and brush my teeth as usual. I was logged onto facebook while I was brushing my teeth and I heard the familiar popping sound from fb chat, which I thought was weird because usually people aren't using fb chat during the mornings. Anyway, I went over to to see who had messaged me and it was a friend of mine asking if I knew how bad the bomb threat was. I was shocked and replied "WHAT? WHAT BOMB THREAT?!" Anyway, when I read that McPherson had been evacuated I was worried because my first class was in McPherson, and I had received an email saying that class was going to still be in session unless otherwise noted. I contemplated on whether or not I would go to class and decided I shouldn't just to be safe, but I received an email about 20 minutes before class saying that it was cancelled. This is kind of exciting because I've never had a class officially canceled before, so yay for cancelled class! But not so yay for the fact that there was a bomb threat. I was a little surprised at how some people wished that the threat was a little more serious so that more of their classes would be cancelled...I don't think I'd ever want to wish ill-will or potential danger or death on someone in order for me to gain something. Though I'm sure thats not what they mean by saying this, it definitely needs to be considered before someone goes around spouting nonsense like that. Also, a friend of mine who happens to be Muslim got some weird looks from people today, and I thought that was really racist of them. Honestly, this friend is probably one of the most caring and harmless people I've met, and for people to give him looks and avoid him today is really frustrating to me.

Blog 54 - Who Doesn't Love A Good Midterm?

Yup, my chemistry midterm was today. I'm glad to say that thankfully this one feels like it went better than the last one (keep in mind that the last midterm I didn't really study because I was spending all my time listening and looking for the new Taylor Swift album stuff for Speak Now...yeahhhh that didn't go so well.) I made an outline starting Thursday night and then reviewed Friday and Saturday, spending most of Sunday studying all the notes and practice midterm stuff at Thompson. 


Boring talk aside (not that this is much more interesting or anything like that haha) my mom called me to tell me she sent ANOTHER package! She's sending me some korean pears, which are DELICIOUS! If you've never had a korean pear, it's kind of like a mix of an apple and a pear in that the pear is crispy, fresh, and crunchier than a regular pear. It's also shaped more like an apple and is fairly large, maybe the size of a grapefruit. I'm so excited :D She says it should probably come in around Tuesday or Wednesday so that should be exciting.


Hmm...other news...not much in all honesty. Though I do have to admit that I'm pretty pumped about the Harry Potter movie!!! I'm a huge Harry Potter fan...actually winter quarter last year I was studying for my physics final but reached a point where I honestly knew I couldn't study anymore so I went online and found the ebook for the last book and spent the last hour before my test listening to Harry Potter. I'm hoping that since the movie is being split into two parts that they won't skip all the important scenes, unlike the past two movies where they've skipped so many scenes. Let's hope that this will be a great finale!

Blog 53 - Yet Another Unexciting Blog Post

Not feeling too creative recently haha. More studying for today, chemistry midterm tomorrow like I mentioned in my previous blog post. I'm actually at Thompson and I have forgotten how nice this library really is. When my dad came to visit me here last year I took him (obviously) to the RPAC and Thompson and he was really impressed, telling me "Oh so THIS is where my money is going! Good good...." haha. My dad is so funny. He even got brochures from the library and gym to bring home to show my mom.


Actually, now that I think about it I forgot to mention about the package I got from my mom on Friday. I love getting packages from my mom, mainly because she usually packs them with some combination of magazines, food, and clothes :) I got my package and it was SO heavy, and when I opened it up there were 3 magazines sitting at the top. I joyfully took them out and saw SO MUCH FOOD I WAS SO HAPPY!!! She packed some fruits, cookies, and drinks ahhh so happy! There were two of my favorite fruits (though really I love all fruits so I guess all fruits would be considered my 'favorites'...) persimmons and an Asian grapefruit, which is basically a regular grapefruit but 3x bigger and sweeter :D I can't wait to eat it...I have to find the right time to eat it to make the most of it. I get so excited with food its ridiculous. Anyway I think I've reached 250 words, I'm out.


A persimmon (yes it looks kind of like a tomato!) :

Blog 52 - Go Bucks!!

So as usual, Saturday and Sunday I take the time to sleep in, usually getting up around 11:30-12:30 (though for some reason I always wake up at 9:30, and go back to sleep, wake up again at 10:30, and then kind of lie in bed rolling around half asleep half awake for another hour or so before I decide to actually get up). I have a chemistry midterm on Monday, so I had started studying for it Friday (ended up skipping math...) and a little bit Saturday. I knew the game started at 3:30, so me and my roommate went to Rag-O-Rama to sell some of our stuff and look around, though unfortunately I didn't find anything that time around, which is too bad because the last time I found a lot of cute things. Anyway, we got back just in time for the game, but me being the nerdasaurus I am I decided to study chemistry instead and then join in on the game later on. I ran down to my friend's room down the hall just as halftime started only to find out we were losing 3 to 14. I was like "WHAT no way we can't lose another game!" I told my friends that we'll start winning now that I'm in the room as a joke, but I was going to go do some more work until halftime was over. While I was in my room I heard screaming from Bdubs and the stadium down the street and was like "OMG WE MUST BE MAKING A TOUCHDOWN" so I sprinted down the hall to see what was going on, and lo and behold we had made a touchdown! I stayed to watch the 3rd and 4th quarters, watching the Buckeyes beasting Penn State, rightfully so too! GO BUCKS!!

Blog 51 - To Write Love On Her Arms

Today is a day where a nonprofit group called To Write Love On Her Arms spreads awareness about those who suffer from depression. They ask for today and tomorrow for people to write the words "love" on their arms to show their support for people they know who suffer from depression. 


Here's the facebook group description:
"To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

To Write Love On Her Arms Day is a day where anyone can write the words love on their arms, to support those who are fighting against depression and those who are trying to recover. On this day, just write love on your arms, and show it off, other people will ask why you have love written on your arms, and you tell them you are supporting to write love on her arms day, and how its benefiting a non profit organization helping stop depression, and make love the movement ♥ 

on November 12-13th write love on yours arms, and upload pictures here to show your support"


I myself have never experienced depression, but my roommate last year used to a few years back. We didn't necessarily get along, but I think I could see signs of her suffering sometimes, though I never really talked to her about it. I guess the thing is that these days people feel a lot of pressure from society, and though depression is partially due to chemical imbalance, I think a lot of it really does come from outside influence and pressure. People bullying others and making them feel insecure and unstable is really negative, and though it may seem like only those who are weak suffer from these negative effects, that really isn't the case. All of us feel pressure, whether it be from our family, friends, the media, or even ourselves. How we deal with the pressure is what helps define who we come to be and how we grow to who we are today. I can only hope that those who suffer from depression can learn to love themselves and discover that who they are inside is beautiful and cared for by the people they surround themselves with. Whether or not you decide to participate in the movement, I at least hope that I spread some awareness today.

Blog 50 - Day Off!!!

WOW it feels nice that we don't have class today :) I'm actually really glad that school gave us Thursday off instead of Friday. By giving us Thursday off, they made Wednesday feel like a Friday, and today feel like a Saturday! And now tomorrow is going kind of feel like a Monday but it's really a Friday and then it's going to be Saturday again!!! I know that was pretty confusing, but whatever it's just a nice feeling knowing that I kind of have a "one day week" tomorrow and then it's the weekend again. I didn't really do anything special today (go figure...) I went to my roommate's cousin's apartment to check it out since we decided we should start looking for homes for next year's housing. I mainly want to move off campus to save money, but the convenience of staying on campus, let alone a huge campus like OSU, is just too good, and if housing really wasn't going to be almost twice as expensive as an alternate home off campus, I'd definitely stay on. Either way, I'm just hoping to find a home that is close to north campus since all my classes are up there, and I really hope to find good rooming situations as well as some place that's decently nice and safe. I'm so scared of moving to somewhere sketchy like way down south campus...plus if I moved there it'd take me like 20 minutes to get to class every day by walking and that's just a pain in the butt. Anyway, aside from the housing situation I studied for chemistry...yeah...on our day off. It was a pretty relaxing day, not that much accomplished but sometimes it's nice to kind of sit back and just do nothing.

Blog 49 - Indiana Jones

So for the past probably year and a half, maybe even longer, I've been wanting to rewatch some old classics like Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, and Jurassic Park. Such good movies! I haven't watched them since I  was probably 10 or younger but I distinctly remember how good they all are, not to mention that each one of those movies has a corresponding theme park ride to go along with it, so why wouldn't they be great?! Jurassic Park has a ride in Universal Studios (LA) and the ride is kind of a water ride. You sit in a raft and it takes you through Jurassic Park until you take a wrong turn, and you run into a huuuge T-Rex and drop off a huge waterfall that happens to have streaming jets of water coming at you (it's the best ride there). Universal Studios used to have a ride called Back to the Future (which recently got swapped into the Simpsons Ride) but it was one of those rides where theres a huge screen in front of you thats in the shape of a dome and you sit in a hovercraft/aircraft type thing and you ride through time and go through all kinds of scenes with doc. And of course, theres the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland! Such a fun ride! You sit in a jeep and they make the ride EXTRA rickety and bumpy. You follow Indiana into the tunnels deep underground and escape a huge cobra and one of those big rolling rock balls that will smash you. It's one of my favorite rides there, and usually the line is 2 hours long and even 1 hour long if you have a fast pass but even then it's so worth the wait. Anyway, I rewatched the first Indiana Jones movie last night and so many good memories came flooding back. I distinctly remember as a kid being scared to death and not being able to sleep for days because of the scene where that one bad guy drinks from the wrong grail and he disintegrates into dust. Eeeeep scary!

Blog 48 - Glee

Oh. My. God. Tonight's episode of Glee was AMAZING. I was so surprised and shocked by some of the scenes that I literally screamed and pointed at the screen with my three friends who were watching with me. We were all so shocked! It was really a great episode and it's episodes like this that remind me why I love to watch Glee. Sometimes Glee gets a little boring and disappointing, but when theres episodes like this I get sucked into the popular tv series again. Not only was this episode great in terms of content, but the songs were all pretty exceptional, especially Teenage Dream. I love the accapella version of it, especially when it gets to the middle and really starts to open up. Anyway, music aside (which Glee has done a pretty great job with), this episode was titled "Never Been Kissed" pointed out the issues that people have with accepting who they are. The out-of-the-closet gay, Kurt, deals with bullying in school from one particular person, and no one really cares that he is being hurt so much. Kurt has to deal with being the openly gay person in school, and finds it hard to accept himself when others are so unaccepting of him. Another character, Beiste, the female coach of the football team, is having trouble with people making fun of her for being so masculine of a female. She wants to be accepted as a woman, even if she isn't as beautiful as most girls. She struggles with insecurity of her body image. Eventually, both Coach Beiste and Kurt find a way to accept themselves for who they are. I don't want to give away the "OMG" moments, but they have to do with both Kurt and the coach...so good aaah!!!

Blog 47 - Hellogoodbye

Wooo!! Hellogoodbye's CD has finally released!! They haven't had a CD release for 4 years and finally, after such a hiatus, they've released their new album Would It Kill You. I'm kind of excited and already downloaded it and am listening to it right now. If you guys aren't familiar with Hellogoodbye, they're kind of a pop/indie/electronic sound...technically categorized as "power pop" or "indie pop." Their new sound is definitely different from their first released CD, and more similar to their songs from their second album Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! Their new sound is pretty nice though and it's kind of just fun and relaxed, which is something I like to hear. One song of theirs thats pretty well known is All of Your Love, and Here In Your Arms is pretty well known too.










Another band that I found during the summer that I SUPER love is Marianas Trench. They're a Canadian rock pop band and I love their song Celebrity Status, which is super catchy. Has anyone heard of them? They're so great. They aren't that mainstream or popular right now, but I feel like their music is so good that they really could catch on.





I also found the Debutaunts this summer. They're not well known at least when I found them, and it was super hard to try to find their music anywhere -- not even on youtube, and youtube has everything! Anyway, they're a little more indie rock sounding, and I think their song and music video This Is Yours is really fun.





I always get excited when I find new music. I think most everyone can agree that music is something that we all can really connect with and enjoy. Something about it just makes you so happy, it's such a great feeling!

Blog 46 - Math...Blech

I really don't have much to say today. I spent my day studying for my math midterm tomorrow. I'm being tested on this thing called Fourier series which is really really really labor intensive and tedious work and not conceptually difficult once you have the equation and patterns down, but it's such a pain in the ass to do calculations for especially since there's a bunch of integration by parts stuff going on. I had to do a frickin triple integral for one of them, and was too lazy and annoyed with it that I just took an answer from another question to substitute for the integration. It's so frustrating and annoying having to do all that work. My homeworks for that class are not only a ridiculous amount of problems, but also consist of an average of probably 6-10 hours of work. Also, my homework packets that I turn in are usually at least 4 pages front and back. My largest homework took up 12 pages total, and I write pretty condensed too so it can get really ridiculous. Aside from the crazy amount of time and work I put into this class (which is math 415.01 - Differential Equations btw), I'm actually doing very well. Got a 100 on my last midterm and I'm well above the average overall. I guess it's worth the work and effort I've put in, but it's just frustrating because my core engineering classes are worth less than my GECs and I'm actually doing worse in my GEC classes than my core classes, so the worse grades get a heavier weight for my GPA. Garr.

Blog 45 - Hop on to the Gallery Hop!

So if any of you don't know about this, there's this thing called the Gallery Hop in Short North (down between 5th and Goodale on High Street) the first Saturday of each month from 4-10pm. It's basically this event where all the galleries shops and restaurants open up late and have specials for a night out of art. It's always really fun to see the different kinds of art and the stores down there are all pretty artsy too so walking into them and seeing what they have for sale is really fun too. I also like going because people dress nicer for the event since it's technically an art gallery looking kind of event, but a lot of people just go down there for the fun atmosphere. It's fun to dress up nicer than usual for a change haha. During the warmer seasons they usually have some street performances. I've seen an African drummer group, a Chinese dragon dancer group, and this time I saw some people break dancing out in a corner of the sidewalk which was really cool. Anyway, I went down there with two of my friends yesterday, and we ate Jeni's Ice Cream (amaaazinggggg). Whenever I'm there I feel I have to get the weird flavors since thats what they're famous for (they've been on FoodNetwork and the cashier told me that recently they've been on Food Network's show The Best Thing I Ever Ate -- talking about their spicy ice cream). I had Cranberry Sorbet (so strong and tart!), Sweet Potato (it was so good, and not too sweet) and then Olive Oil with Sea Salt (it wasn't as salty as I thought it'd be, but they added sunflower seeds for texture and it was kind of a mild taste that was still very delicious). I also went into this vintage store called Flower Child. They're crazy filled with all kinds of old stuff and I found a spoon ring there and had to get it. A spoon ring is a ring made out of the handle of a spoon that's bent into a circle to fit your finger :). Anyway, had a fun night so if you guys ever get the chance to go to the gallery hop you should!

Blog 44 - All Asians are Smart, Right?

My title is "All Asians are Smart, Right?" Its supposed to reference what I'm going to talk about: stereotypes, and in this particular case, the stereotype that I fall into which is that people always assume that I'm smart just because I'm Asian. I read some comments about how some of you thought it was kind of a racist title -- that was the point. I wanted my title to be eye-catching and a little bit offensive. Why offensive? Well because it will spark interest, and also, because it really can be offensive, which is the point I am trying to get across in my paper.

Here is my first intro paragraph:

If you think I'm smart just because I'm Asian, you've been terribly mistaken. So many times people have come up and told me "Oh, you're Asian so that must mean you're smart." It's a fairly common statement that I've heard so many times now. Typically after someone tells me this, I look at them with disgust. Really? This again? How many times do I have to be told that because I’m Asian that I’m automatically smart? Those who tell me this all say that by assuming all Asians are smart, they are really complimenting me on my intelligence. Though many honestly think that they are praising me for good academic work, it’s really more of a jab than a compliment. The statement seems to praise my academic excellence, but it underhandedly implies that I should be smart and that if I'm not, then I don’t live up to that person’s expectations. What seems to be a compliment to others is really an insult to me.

I realize that I should add more to this paragraph but...I'm too lazy tonight. I'm out.

Blog 43 - Fashion -- The Good and (More of) The Bad

This blog post will probably appeal more to girls haha. I love fashion. I think it spans from my general love of the arts. I love mixing and matching, thinking of what would go together nicely and making new combinations. I love how clothes can express who you are, and that you can see a person's personality through what they wear. In general I just love seeing things that are aesthetically pleasing and when things look nice when they're put together theres a sense of overwhelming joy and accomplishment. I don't know why, there just is. It's silly, I know, but I can't help my obsession!


Now, the downside to all this? Well theres the obvious of money going down the drain, but whats more is trying to find something that will fit the way you want it to. There's been plenty of times, and I'm sure many girls can give me their oh-so-similar stories about this, when you walk into a store and see a model wearing something so great but when you try it on yourself, it looks horrendous. What is with these stick skinny women with spidery long legs and protruding jaw bones that makes them look...well...good? I mean in real life, when you see someone anorexic-ally skinny it's not attractive, yet the fashion industry continues to use these abnormally skinny and tall girls to sell their clothes. What ever happened to the normal body type? What ever happened to the idea that theres actually more than one shape and that we should all dress to complement our body type instead of  trying to become this "ideal" shape? There have been so many times where I try something on and, because I'm only a petite 5' 2", it will be way too long or too big. So many times I've had to buy something and tailor it myself, but more often than not I just can't buy the clothing. Stick-thin ideals aside, theres this pressure to also be a tall busty sexy female that I clearly am not. The media just puts these ideas into our heads, that we have to look a certain way to look good or to get attention from others, and with all of these images bombarding our lives it really does get frustrating when you realize that you aren't that ideal image. These negative feelings really start to affect girls from a really young age, and leads to so many cases of anorexia and breast implants.


I've come to really love the body I have and to work with what I was born with. If the media can send messages to girls to learn how to accentuate their body types, love their body and that they are beautiful the way they are, so many of these negative effects of the fashion industry will go away. 

Blog 42 - So...Cold....

I'm from SoCal, aka, the weather there never really gets below 30 degrees ever throughout the schoolyear, and snowfall happens like once every ten years, and even if it does snow it will be less than an inch. Anyway, my least favorite thing about coming to Ohio is the crazy weather change. My dad told me that it takes a body seven years to adjust to a new climate, so obviously my body is still used to the warm weather in Southern California since I've been living there the past 10 years. When I came here freshman year I basically had to buy out a whole winter wardrobe since I basically own a few hoodies, shorts, jeans, t-shirts, and tank tops. No thermals, heavy puffy jackets, warm boots, or any of that good stuff to keep you warm and toasty during the cold season. The worst part about winter isn't even the cold though, its that the sun doesn't shine. I've read that a body needs 15 minutes of sunshine a day, and that if you don't get it you get this kind of syndrome where you feel depressed without the sun. Last winter I definitely got that, and was pretty down in the dumps for most of the wintertime. It got so bad that I went out and bought extra lighting for my room just to imitate the sunlight (though this was a subconscious effort and I didn't really realize why I did it until winter had passed). As much as I dislike the cold, I really do like the snow. Some people thought I'd never seen snow since I live in California, but keep in mind that theres mountains so people go up there to ski all the time. That, and the fact that I lived in Ohio until I was 2 and Iowa from 3-10. I also like curling up near fires and sipping hot chocolate. My favorite thing though, honestly, is the cute clothes they have for fall and winter :) I'm such a girl..

Blog 41 - A Goulash of Whatever...and My ARP Paper

Hehe "goulash"...I totally forgot about that word and how funny it is :). Turns out goulash is both a stew or a mixture of things. I was thinking of using the word hodgepodge but I used it the other day so I used a thesaurus and found goulash...what a great find.


Anyway, unlike most of my other 'free' blogs I don't really have a particular subject to talk about today. One thing I'm pretty upset about though is the ARP paper grades...I just feel like I don't really know what is being asked of me. I feel like my paper was pretty decent and that I should have gotten a higher score on it. Then again, I don't know what the rest of you got on your papers so I can't really know whether or not it was just me or everyone else too. Either way, I want to resubmit my paper and try to get a higher score. I'm really glad that she's giving us the opportunity to fine tune our previous work and submit it again to replace our previous grade.


I guess when it comes down to it, I'm just upset that this class is more work than I bargained for. I heard from all my other friends who took English that it was really easy, they only did like 5 blogs, and got A's on everything and that it wouldn't be difficult when it wasn't the case for me at all. I guess when you expect one thing and get another that's worse than what you thought it would be, it's a upsetting.

Blog 40 - Ace of Cakes

Today was exciting because I got to go see Ace of Cakes with Duff and Geof! Let me tell you, I LOVE Ace of Cakes! It's one of my favorite shows on FoodNetwork, which I love watching too. I love food ridiculously, and so FoodNetwork is basically one of my favorite channels to watch. Anyway, I love Ace of Cakes because it's generally drama free, unlike a lot of other TV shows that happen to be "reality TV" and such. I genuinely enjoy watching how those at Charm City Cakes actually work (unlike those who are in Jersey Shore or The Real World where they have "jobs"...) and they are so creative, fun, and really funny too! I love Duff because his laugh is so funny and he's generally an animated guy. Geof, on the other hand, is kind of an quiet character who is underhandedly funny. Geof definitely had a lot of funny moments, more than Duff I think, but Duff was very funny too. During the event Duff and Geof came in to judge some cakes that students had made, all with an Ohio State theme. There was also a session of Q&A, and even Brutus came to see them! Brutus asked if Duff and Geof had made him a cake, and the two of them went on pretending (pretty convincingly too if I do say so myself) for a good 5-10 minutes that they had not made a cake for OSU. Of course, Brutus, who was adorable btw, was disappointed and so was the rest of the crowd. All of a sudden the lights went out and these beams of light circled in the room and they rolled out the Brutus OUAB cake they had made! The whole audience of 1500 even got to eat some cake that Charm City Cakes had brought along! I got a chocolate cake with some peanut butter frosting filling and buttercream frosting on top, and it was delicious. So fun! Did I also mention I sat 2nd row? Woo!!