College

Nov. 11th, 2009 11:16 am
chu_totoro: (random-- bookworm)
College stuff is so tiresome. Planning everything out takes forever, and it's setting me back on Nano too.

I've changed my mind. I think I will go in for a Chinese major because

1. I was planning to study at NTU anyway
2. I can literally wrap up the entire major with one class this coming semester and a year well-spent in Taiwan

sooooo why not?

Meanwhile, I can take the overlapping CS minor/major prereqs and if I have enough spare units, I can always turn the CS minor into a major later on. And if I don't, it leaves me with a ton of units to invest in Korean, music, philosophy, CW, Japanese, yadda yadda yadda. I can do whatever I want!

And as for what I want to do when I graduate, you ask?

AHAHA.

...um, I'll figure that out when the time comes. Peace! ^^V
chu_totoro: (FMA-- crack is love)
Don’t worry guys, my Adventures in Baltimore post will come someday, it will, it will! (I pray I don’t forget everything by the time I write it.)

In any case, over the weekend I went up to Berkeley for some fun, incidentally celebrating part of my sister’s birthday with her. :)

Without further ado!

Here are some useful facts for future high school juniors/seniors to know:

1. Berkeley’s administration is decidedly unhelpful. Not only are they closed on weekends, they are closed on Fridays (to students) as well. Pah!
2. Berkeley has become much tamer than it was two decades ago. How do I know this, being not yet two decades old? THERE ARE STOP SIGNS THAT REMAIN UNMARKED. /shock!

(Most of them, you see, look like this--






and my personal favourite



hahaha! moving on...)

3. In terms of little eateries and restaurants and the like, Berkeley outnumbers Baltimore (at least, the area around JHU) by about 10x. I would even venture so far as to say 20x without, I think, straying too far off the mark.
4. The same applies to bookstores and little funny shops and the like.
5. A lot of these places tend to be more run-down, with a secondhand feel (but often v. cozy with v. good food or v. diverse selection of books or v. many interesting little trinkets etc), which I personally prefer because I've always been more of a hostel person than a hotel person, but others may not.
6. The student cooperatives, while undeniably filled with many party animals and druggies and smokers, also have quite a few perks.

Upsides--
> cheap
> industrial kitchen (yessss)
> food/kitchen access 24/7
> freepiles ♥♥♥
> can draw on walls
> way nicer common spaces than dorms
> meet (debatably) more interesting people
> no pressure to drinking/drugs (as opposed to frats/sororities)
> democratic petitioning

Downsides--
> people who drink/smoke pot
> too much partying (at the large places)
> messy
> ...did I mention messy?
> I did say messy, didn't I?
> Now, I'm sure I mentioned messy somewhere up there...
> TOO MESSY GRRRR

To be fair, the mess is mostly in the large, 100+ people co-ops. The 50-70 people ones are medium messes, and the small 15-30ish people ones are actually rather neat and tidy.

(I mentioned this to my father, who decided I knew nothing of true messes and promptly chastened me by telling me a story about these college kids, back in the days of Taiwan U, who managed to catch a thief in the middle of the night. How?

The thief picked the lock and got into the room in the dead of night. Everyone was asleep. He took one step (in pitch darkness).

CLANK.

?!

The thief took another step

CLANKITY.

and realized that the floor was drowning in empty beer bottles. Panicking, he began attempting a not-so-stealthy retreat

CLANKITY CLANK CLANK!

as the students in the dorm woke up

CLINK CLANK!

and jumped out of their beds to try and catch the thief

CLANKITY CLINKTY CLANKITY CLINK CLONK CLANK CLANK CLANK THUMPCLANKCLANK CLIIIINK!!!

the thief tripped and fell, mired in beer bottles

THUMPCLANK! THUMPCLANK!

was immediately jumped by two students

CLINKITY

and thus caught.


My mother overheard this story at the dinner table, and said to me, "Boys.")

Aaanyway, a few more!

7. There is such a phenomenon at U.C. Berkeley which I term The Saratoga Bubble, i.e. kids from Saratoga hang out with other kids from Saratoga, and, while they do make other friends, never quite step out of the bubble that is Saratoga. This I wouldn't worry much about, as U.C. Berkeley has a rich enough environment that it likely takes more of an effort to remain in the bubble than to step out of it. All depends, I suppose.
8. The Japanese & Thai food at Berkeley is better than the Korean/Chinese/other Asian food.
9. The North Berkeley BART Station is actually more like the West Berkeley BART Station when compared relatively to the (downtown) Berkeley BART station. Just so you know.

And now for some really random insights/observations--

10. Chickens are really dumb. I mean, I always kind of knew that (have you ever heard of a smart chicken?), but seeing their idiocy IRL is really something else. They're almost worse than fish.

11. Berkeley has a frisbee team~

12. Marijuana is surprisingly easy to grow (I guess that's why it's called "weed").

13. Rubiks Cube ("Cubing") Competitions are almost entirely male.

14. Hazelnut ice cream is very very delicious.

15. If you don't know what "flannel seed" is, a pansexual white freak will consider you a freak of nature. Considering the nature of the one making this statement, what does that actually make you?

16. Most Asian children from Saratoga do not know what "flannel seed" is.

17. Flighty boys slowly change the girls around them into flighty girls.

18. Maybe the reason Koreans are so good at Starcraft is because they DON'T create Starcraft classes and DON'T analyze Starcraft with differential equations and just, you know, play. o___o !!!

19. I really don't keep track of my senior class that well.

aaaaaaaaand 20. My Taiwan boy has a girlfriend~ ♥ Stephy have they told you yet? (Don't tell your mom!)

What cuties. ^^

And so I conclude for the day (or more accurately, the weekend). Hasta la vista, baby!
chu_totoro: (FMA-- exhale)
As school for the past week was abuzz with gossip on one thing and one thing only regarding our senior class, y’all probably know what I’m talking about: college.

Yes, I have made a decision! No, it isn’t set in stone; it’s about 80-90% certain, but unless something drastic happens I’d say it’s fairly secure.

What? you ask? Where?! Why? Well, there’s a short version and a long version of the story.

short version )

long version )

I would here like to give much much thanks to [livejournal.com profile] cougarfang and Albert and Mark for letting me just sort of barge in and crash at your place on the spot. You guys are awesome. ♥ And I was going to thank you earlier, but this post took about 10x longer than I expected it to, so. Late thanks!

(Will probably make a separate post on what actually happened in Baltimore later. Three cheers and a cookie for posts that grow bigger and bigger and end up asexually having babies without your noticing!)

edit: Additional thanks to Frank for saving me from certain death at 8 in the morning, although he doesn't check livejournal. xD;
chu_totoro: (CTY-- potatoes)
CTY homeland. yes my life is complete screw those ivies

We are so screwed for CMEA today. :x But somehow when I think back it seems like it's always this way for the CMEA concerts...

[livejournal.com profile] maeglin_arandur is more obnoxious than he used to be! but he's still got nothing on Manoj so I guess it's OK. don't you dare seduce my little sister I will kill you~ /protective sibling

grahhhhhhh CTY seems like so long ago.

grahhhhhhhhhh everything seems like so long ago.

You know Jeff Lee thought our class had graduated already. More proof that life seems too too long ago!

(Srsly Jeff, you're not that much of an old geezer...)

piano class time o______o;;;
chu_totoro: (random-- bookworm)
...but I got into Berkeley spring! Is that good or bad?

edit: oh byebye nw too.

but you know I kind of... missed their audition. so yeah. wasn't expecting too much. xD;
chu_totoro: (Kenshin-- kenshin & kaoru)
I'm so happy~ ^^ today [livejournal.com profile] yokainomiko, my little sister #2, everyone's faaavorite Taiwan boy, and my one and only pansexual white freak (for ever and ever and ever ♥) came to school to see me! :) I know, we're a strange bunch aren't we.

So we went out to lunch at Cupertino Village and in the process merged with a whole other horde of people whom I don't know quite as well but good enough to get by, and we had Korean food to satiate my longing for Neoguri. :3

This resulted in me missing most all of 6th! The kids were still in the PAL center when I got back, so I decided forget the rest of 6th and joined AP Chinese instead, which... kind of made me want to cry and reflect upon our AP/honors system. but then, I don't think any of the other language classes are any better, so... let's leave it at that.

Checked in w/Zarco and helped him file some stuff I should've filed during 6th, resulting in my staying ~half an hour after school got out.

As I finally wrapped up everything and strolled out the gate to my car, I espied someone walking a dog.

homg how CUTE! was my first thought when I saw the dog. It was white and fluffy and looked a lot like Rice, must be another American Eskimo, I thought to myself as I looked up, and barely had the time to take in the fact that the leash looked oddly like our leash and the book the girl was reading looked oddly like my book and the girl looked oddly like my sister before I realized that it WAS my sister walking our dog right outside the school gates and I burst out "Amy!" before my brain processed any further.

Life is strange like that sometimes.

Anyway apparently my sister wanted a transcript (scholarship apps). So I accompanied her to the office, where alas! my phone rings!

I escape outside to where I can safely pick up without getting in trouble, and hear my lost love's voice on the line.

"Adela," says Sarah Tang, who once sat right next to me in Econ and now sits across the ENTIRE ROOM in Gov. "When are we studying for the test today?"

"Hmmm, I don't know," I say. "What time's it now?"

See, Sarah lives about a block down from me, but the problem was that I was sitting on a bench just outside the office, at school, i.e. I couldn't exactly go over even if I wanted to.

"Well, tutorial just about ended so it's around 3, I think?" she says.

"Hrm." I watch a girl in a distance making her way down the quad steps. "Your house or mine?"

"I don't know, I'm good either way," she says.

Wait, that girl looks an awful lot like Sarah, I think.

"Sarah, is that you?" I ask aloud.

"What? Where?"

The girl on the steps pauses and looks around.

Definitely her.

"Turn around!" I screech.

She swivels. I wave like a madwoman. She comes running over to my bench.

"You're still at school!" she says. "I thought you'd gone home."

"I thought you'd gone home."

Life is really strange sometimes.

We end up tossing a coin to determine whose house to study at (Sarah's). Then we part ways, as she has to go home and I have to wait for my sister. When I return many people inside the office are fawning over our dog, despite dogs (technically?) not being allowed on campus. harharhar he's just too cute. (or that rule's just too stupid, either way.)

So I give my sister & my dog a ride home. Whereupon I sign online, facebook my Malaysian friend about Skype, check my email, and find out that UChicago has waitlisted me.

Before I have time to digest this information, my Skype phone rings. I pick it up.

"Hi!" says my Malaysian friend, sitting in Malaysia in front of her computer. And then "OMG I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU FOR SUCH A LONG TIME AHHHHH AHHHHH AHHHHHHHH~" (while I respond in kind).

After we both calm down again...

"What time is it over there?" I ask.

"7:14 in the morning," she says.

"Don't you have school?"

"Yeah." She looks at the bottom top corner of her screen. "In approximately 12 minutes."

...you have to understand something here. I don't even USE Skype normally. I don't even know why I was signed on. I only signed on because I facebooked her about it ~two minutes ago and signed on to add her to my buddy list.

Life is really, really strange sometimes.



edit: homg I can't believe I just spent 5+ hours over at Sarah's place. I was never this studious back in sophomore/junior year!

(then again, I don't think I had the time to be this studious sophomore/junior year)

(then again, there was the time we spent eating peanuts. and drinking minestrone. and playing canon in D on the piano. and that last hour or two of VIRUS SLAYING and computer purgifying.)

but we were studying the whole time through nonetheless!

if I get anything less than perfect on the test tomorrow I will kill something.
chu_totoro: (xxxholic-- sweatdrop)
Well, it appears I got into NYU. One backup down!

/is prepared for rejection in 30 minutes and 23 seconds according to the official US time clock, i.e. 1:59 PM EST, i.e. MIT results come out ><

edit: I wish it was sunny so I could go sleep in the sun. Why so cloudy today?

edit2: I just realized how close CMEA is.

And how badly we need to rehearse our trio.

Ahhhhh pick up your phones people. =.=

edit3: oh I got into SD too. two down!
chu_totoro: (TRC-- I can see the rainbow)
I have a weather ranking system.

sunny bright warm days = win
sunny bright hot days = good
sunny humid warm/hot days = ugh
rainy grey days = win
drizzly grey days = good
stormy days = pwnage
cloudy cold days = hate
cloudy warm days = do those exist?
sunny cold days = hate x1000000
sunny while raining days = triple quadruple quintuple win

:)

My Princeton interviewer was my brother's age. In fact, she's from his graduating class and knew him AND my sister. Was fairly pleasant, esp. seeing as I had been expecting, oh, a 40-year old woman?

She was an Economics major. Influenced by Dwyer, no doubt. At any rate she remembers him and his brainwashing regime (repeat the seven economic principles every morning at the start of class!) quite well.

In other news, since I had nothing better to do, I decided to try my hand at editing (now that I've fixed photoshop and all). So I picked a random series that I liked and had the raw to, one that hadn't been scanlated (at least not the later volumes), and I have to say--

ASLKJDG;LDSJLFJL;GJ;LJKFD THIS TAKES FREAKING FOREVER I HAVE SO MUCH MORE RESPECT FOR QUALITY EDITORS NOW. SO. MUCH.

Most of the pages are not too bad. but. BUT. stuff like THIS PAGE.

see THIS. and THIS. and THIS. )

In conclusion, lots and lots of worship for Chara and yadi_chan and Maris and all the other editors that do such a great job and make it look so easy. *____*

Also, it probably wasn't smart to pick a 50-page long chapter to start out with. Should have tried Tsubasa and some of those nice short little 10-pagers.

>>; /sigh

::hearts::

Feb. 11th, 2009 03:16 pm
chu_totoro: (rl-- cello)
QUOTH: Have you dreamed of a perfect date on Valentine's Day? Find one now on Sparkey!

well guess what facebook I don't need you because I have a date with - guess who - with PRINCETON ON V-DAY. beat that!

Yes, Princeton interview coming up verily soon. eeep!

In other news, I had this sudden urge to play frisbee today so I rounded up some underclassmen and rampaged the field for a little bit during 6th period.

That flying white disc is as good as I remember. It is a disc! And it flies! It is like a boomerang that does not curve. It is like a bird without wings. Oh, how I miss those eighth grade days.

and in conclusion: once a frisbee nut, always a frisbee nut

I also decided that the cello as an instrument was awesome enough to warrant a livejournal icon, so here you have it. It's a little faint, but cello icons are surprisingly hard to find. oO;;

ahhhhh

Feb. 2nd, 2009 03:31 pm
chu_totoro: (FMA-- pyromaniacs)
Oh God, oh God, someone tell me I haven't caught that same cold/flu/illness that's been going around, I really don't want to get sick kthxbye.

Gum really helps a parched feeling throat. Funny I never thought of that before. Maybe it's because I'm so particular about my gum (has to be spearmint; random brands OK but Starbucks' preferred).

[livejournal.com profile] backseatdream, you forgot to take City of Bones. :( And might I say that I automatically typed in [livejournal.com profile] kyouten just now and had to change it and I wish you hadn't changed your sn but oh well.

To both [livejournal.com profile] backseatdream and [livejournal.com profile] huglomper - we should have given the fries to Tiffany. She would have super-appreciated it apparently (what a piggie xP) and she kept complaining about it. =.= Dunno if the other kid ever got them.

In otherrrrrr news, I HAVE A DATE WITH PRINCETON ON VALENTINE'S DAY. eek!
chu_totoro: (Kenshin-- I can fly)
Just had my Dartmouth interview.

As expected, am now hopelessly in love with Dartmouth and very much want to go there instead of all the other schools. (I think I need a name for this. The Shifting Love Syndrome? At this rate my top college will be the one that interviews me last.)

Although, upon retrospect, when I judge by interviewers alone Dartmouth and Duke have so far pwnt Harvard and MIT in terms of friendliness & general charisma. I had very enjoyable conversations with them. MIT I remember as average, though I have to factor in the fact that it was my very first interview which probably coloured my perceptions of it; Harvard was. just. obnoxious. Sorry, not the Korean lady (although her breast-feeding her kid while interviewing was, I think, somewhat unprofessional), but that pre-interview sheet? And her questions; they were all geared towards achievements and the like. She even asked me, "What precisely would you like me to emphasize in my report?" So institutionalized. SATs all over again. Blah.

As a person who judges places very much on people, I think this is relevant. The only drawback is that Dartmouth is in Hanover (middle of nowhere!) and I am very much in love with Boston/Cambridge, but when it comes to purely people vs. place, I always find people win out. Still, this will probably hinge on more research. And the fact that my grades are way off the scattergram, but hey, screw scattergrams.

So, my interviewer was a man named Scott Safadi. He had sunglasses hanging off his shirt and a frizzy hairdo.

SAFADI: Oh yes, I think it's great to keep your choices open! In fact, I switched majors within a quarter of entering the school.
ME: What did you start with?
SAFADI: Genetics.
ME: What did you switch to?
SAFADI: Moral philosophy!

hahahhaa what a funny guy. Philosophy people are always fun. My group of friends in Cambridge had a criss-cross between Philosophy and Politics/International Relations (and of course Creative Writing) and we were always having funny random criss-cross debates like, for example, whether or not to be patriotic to your nation. (Which came down to another large debate about the definition of nation and an even larger debate about the definition of patriotism and the end realization that everybody agreed on the same concepts abstractly and disagreed only in semantics.)

So we had more talks, some involving philosophy, and I think the thing about this guy that really hit home was that he shared my life philosophy! i.e. have fun BE HAPPY yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Duke's interviewer gave off the same vibe as well. Not quite as explicitly (she didn't spend her major figuring that out, after all), but def. moreso than Harv/MIT. How do I put it? They seemed like happier people, on average. Of course, Keropi's MIT parents also seem like very happy people, which proves that you shouldn't make value judgments on such a small sampling size, but who knows.

Here's a kicker.

ME: I'm a huge frisbee fan.
SAFADI: Oh yeah! Dartmouth frisbee is awesome. You've heard what they've been up to lately?
ME: Up to...?
SAFADI: So, in Dartmouth there's this big, green bus.
ME: OK...
SAFADI: Known as the Big Green Bus.
ME: haha. very funny.
SAFADI: That runs entirely on vegetable oil.
ME: ooooh.
SAFADI: And went touring the country (on vegetable oil) and teaching people how to be more green.
ME: that is so cool! but what does this have to do with frisbee?
SAFADI: This bus was created by the frisbee team!
ME: OMG THESE PEOPLE ARE SO AWESOME ME WANT JOIN

So apparently it is called nothing more than the Big Green Bus and I don't know if frisbee people are still involved in it now but they definitely started it and I just think that's kind of hilarious.

Is frisbee the best reason with which to choose a school? No. But it is, on my list, a big fat plus.

Now I just need to do some further research and sober myself up so I can look at Dartmouth objectively.

In other news, Pton did not receive my letter of rec for some reason and I have yet to drive to post office tmr for speedy resend. D: Ah well.

edit: Dammit I haven't had any coffee for far too long. That one latte I drank during my interview is making me all twitchy and... coffee-ed. gah.
chu_totoro: (FMA-- I sleep now kthxbye)
yawn

forgot to mention this earlier, but I finished reading Journey to the West! (yes I know, and I should have been reading it during finals week...)

oh it also accounts for the fact that my emo post a few posts back was entirely in Chinese. when you read Chinese you start thinking in Chinese. >>;;

harvard interview was fail. I FORGOT TO DO THE PRE-INTERVIEW SHEET BECAUSE 1) the interview took impossibly long to schedule and it got lost in the multiple emails and 2) I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT IT BECAUSE OTHER SCHOOLS DON'T REQUIRE A PRE-INTERVIEW SHEET T_____T /headdesk headdesk headdesk

I'm not going to get into college. boooooooooo.

on a happier note, I finished arranging Forever Young.

...only took four years.

JUST KIDDING YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW GLEEFUL THAT MAKES ME. I FEEL INCREDIBLY ACCOMPLISHED. LET ME BASK IN THIS FEELING OF ACCOMPLISHMENT~~~

(note: it didn't actually took four years, it took more like... a couple days each out of each year of the four years)

so thanks to 3gatsu and Kevin's longterm obsession over Honey and Clover, I decided to take a look on it, got hooked, and ended up watching all of season one.

~.~ /wants more

yay break

writings

Dec. 30th, 2008 11:06 am
chu_totoro: (random-- green tea)
Essay Option 3. Chicago author Nelson Algren said, "A writer does well if in his whole life he can tell the story of one street." Chicagoans, but not just Chicagoans, have always found something instructive, and pleasing, and profound in the stories of their block, of Main Street, of Highway 61, of a farm lane, of the Celestial Highway. Tell us the story of a street, path, road - real or imagined or metaphorical.

assignment: uchicago supplementary essay
comments: this isn't really an essay. and I really should edit it more, but I don't think I'll be able to before the deadline, so whatever.

The Tale of Apple Street )

original intention/interpretation here unlinked for the time being. relink later.
chu_totoro: (Chobits-- winz0rz)
Ten down, three to goooooo~
chu_totoro: (random-- green tea)
Nine down, four to go.

I'm considering dropping UPenn. The more I research it for my Why Penn essay, the less I find that interests me, and then I really do have to ask myself the question, "Why Penn?"

But websites can be misleading and/or simply uninformative. I'll look more into forums etc tomorrow.

(Besides, if I drop I'll lose my lucky # of thirteen. That's no fun.)

Ahahaha in other news it looks like I'm losing. BYEBYE NONG SHIM. But I think I'll keep tally on it up 'til the New Year and see how I do.
chu_totoro: (FMA-- exhale)
Six down, seven to go.

Those little green triangles are so vindicating, you have no idea.

edit 1529: Seven down, six to go.

edit 1810: Eight down, five to go.

That took a lot longer than I thought it would. Blasted writing samples. But hey, it's Harvard.
chu_totoro: (Kenshin-- I can fly)
Two down, eleven to go.

...that only took an all-nighter and three different essays within the space of 24 hours. Maybe having two English majors for parents isn't so great after all.

TIME FOR SCHOOL NOW THAT I'VE MISSED THE FIRST THREE PERIODS LET'S GO BABY LET'S GO LET'S GO

NO MORE BLOODY APPING FOR MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

/delirious

edit: oh I forgot. happy december, everyone. (:
chu_totoro: (Chobits-- winz0rz)
One down, twelve to go.

Complaints

Nov. 28th, 2008 11:51 pm
chu_totoro: (FMA-- I am selfish)
It's almost midnight. I'm sleepy.

I DUN WANNA PRACTISE CELLO T____________T

Just. I have lesson tomorrow, and I pretty much haven't practised all week, and I really need to practise tonight and tomorrow before lesson if I don't want to DIE which is probably, you know, a tad more important than sleep, and it's not like I have anyone to blame except myself.

T_________________________T;;

Also, this whole Stanford Arts Supplement thing is driving me crazy. So Stanford's bloody deadline is a month earlier than all of the other colleges. Who knew?

I wish my mom wouldn't be in such a crabby temper. See, this is why I didn't want her to help, because she gets like this, and. blah.

Maybe I'll just forget sleeping tonight and take care of all this shitty stuff so I never have to worry about it again. I refuse to go through this during winter break.

Oh right, cello first.

hup.

0134 edit: 75% )

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