3:10 pm I admit it. I am addicted to 24.

3:33 pm I\’ll just watch one more episode.

4:25 pm She was taken again! But she\’s innocent! I\’ll watch one more episode.

6:10 pm Hungry.

7:30 pm They say there\’s a twist to the end of the series. Maybe it was one of the main characters. I suspect that it\’s someone who doesn\’t appear in the 2nd or 3rd season. So it can\’t be Jack, for obvious reasons. Not Kim either. Not Tony. Not Shari. Definitely not Palmer. But then it could be Terri or Kim. They could be hiding something. But what would their motive be? But that would betray the viewers. Wait a minute, these aren\’t even real people!

9:01 pm Maybe I should reward myself by watching one more episode. After all, I did get some code working. But now I am wondering why isn\’t there any more assasination attempts on Palmer? Maybe nobody was after him at all! By the way, why do they say Kiefer Sutherland looks like his father Donald Sutherland?

9:45 pm If I was in that situation, would I be the weak one? The strong one? The apathetic one? Also, my previous guesses were wrong. Wait a minute, how did George Mason know the truth about the senator?

9:52 pm Oh I was right! And now one more episode. The last one of the series. :( But now everything should come together…

11:14 pm It\’s over. It\’s over! :( *possible spoiler* Although I felt cheated by a somber ending, I think that it was better than having a happy ending. if there was a happy ending, then I would watch the series knowing that the main characters would never be killed. And that\’s not a way to watch a tv series. I remember watching Executive Decision, thinking that Steven Segal\’s character would not die. I want to be a writer. I want to kill off people. But right now, I am having withdrawal. From 24.

I am so addicted to 24. Just the complete first season. After missing out on the sale at amazon, I got up at 6 am and got my dvd box at Best Buy on Friday. Then I waited in line for almost an hour just to buy it. Of course, that set me back on my other adventures at other stores. And unfortunately, this year the BF was disappointing.

My dad however left a message on my sister\’s voicemail at 5:30 am, saying that he was standing outside Sears to receive his $10 gift card in 30 minutes and asked if we were up yet. :)

That same night, my sister and I went with her friend to this club/bar/restaurant in pacific beach in SD. Unlike my previous clubbing experience at Club X in SF, this turned out to be ok. PB Bar & Grill turned out to be the place to be for twenty-somethings. It was annoying that because it was just us 3 girls, random guys would start trying to intervene. Just to get some action. But that\’s the way it works right. At one point though as my sister and I were trying to direct some dirty guy away (we pointed in the opposite direction, motioning for him to DANCE OVER THERE), two bouncers came over and escorted him away. Nice.

I also like to drink tea.

I am about to leave to the San Diego airport…departing SAN at 10:15 pm and arriving in Pittsburgh (after almost a 3 hour layover in Atlanta) at 9:47 am. I\’ll be back in about 9 hours…

And thanksgiving is over. I went to my sister\’s friend\’s girlfriend\’s apartment for a \”large\” dinner. Mashed potatoes with gravy, 10-lb turkey and stuffing, candied yams, red white & blue vanilla ice cream, pumpkin pie, green beans, winter melon soup, cornbread. But almost everything was from a box. Nothing truly from scratch (except for the turkey and my sister\’s winter melon soup, but that\’s the way of a college student. We watched Before Sunset.

I am thankful for the path I have taken. Despite all the challenges I keep facing, there are always opportunities that I would not have experienced if I didn\’t make the choices I made. I am thankful for the fact that I chose a powerbook. I am thankful for the job I had in Berkeley that paid for that powerbook. I am also thankful for the ego that rescomp gave me that causes me to perk up (too much) when I hear any squeal of computer problems. I am thankful for the people I met, people I probably would have never met in any other context. All so different, and yet in some way, the same.

I am thankful for black friday. I am thankful that my sister and I are still in youthful condition so that we could wake up at 5:30 am tomorrow and still have a great day despite having so little sleep.

Coming to my sister\’s place is like almost coming home. Sort of. She has been living \”independently\” for longer than I have. Note she\’s one year younger than me.

My flight to San Diego was long. It\’s odd to think that a year ago, I loved the idea of traveling. But now I dread the long wait at the airports, the stress of getting to the gate and pushing my way down the aisle in the plane. But the marvel that such a large metal thing can lift into the air still amazes me. Or maybe I just like to pretend I am a giant stomping around a world where cars look like ants and buildings look like toy blocks.

When I got to the San Diego airport, my sister was nowhere to be found. I called her cellphone, no answer. Scenarios propped up. Twenty minutes later, I was wandering up and down sidewalk under the hot \”winter\” sun, worrying…that I was stranded. I walked all the way down to Southwest thinking that she accidentally thoought I took that airline (since I did that the previous times I came from the SF bay). Of course, that worry also led to the fact that I ignored about 8 overhead pages for my name. My sister had forgotten her cellphone and had stood right next to the escalator. The one that I didn\’t take. Eventually, she was able to get hold of me (borrowing a stranger\’s cell) by 411-ing first Bio-Rad (to reach my dad) to get my number. Whoops. But all\’s well now. And I got real asian food.

I am leaving for San Diego again in approximately 7 hours. A layover through Atlanta, then a long flight with Delta (and crappy airline meal) to San Diego. For Thanksgiving.

But wait, jenn your family is in san diego?

No. My sister is there. [being my usual mundane response.] My family doesn\’t really do Thanksgiving. For the last 4 years (except last year), it ends up being my dad and me eating a drumstick of a turkey just so that we recognize the national holiday. My sister stays at school. My mom works (holiday pay) as a nurse. As a result, I have always been slightly envious of the \”American\” families where everyone gathers together to have turkey…eat, drink and be happy. I have always wanted a big family, many cousins, many aunts and uncles. But my extended family lives in the midwest with their side of the family. My grandparents…I have a huge language barrier. And we meander to the closest chinese restaurant to \”celebrate\” any event every other weekend. With bowls of rice and braised pork. There\’s no thanks. There\’s only the every day chatter of how insurance rates are going up and how my grandmother needs me to fix her computer. Again.

But perhaps, in the end, it\’s not that depressing. We are still a family. I am not staying in Pittsburgh to dawdle over my own leg of turkey. I am flying to the opposite corner of the United States to be with my sister. :D And I will sleep on the futon in the living room. Admist her roommates circling around me…going to the kitchen. I will be in California sunshine and escape the Pittsburgh cold. And I will get up at 6 am on Friday morning to stand outside of Frys.

ALEX D. called me a biohazard. Even though he corrected himself later saying that he was referring to the house as a biohazard…we all know what he really thinks.

It has almost been 14 days since I got sick. It\’s annoying, because whenever I speak, I can\’t talk for more than a minute without coughing. I wanted to go jogging today, but when I was running after the bus, I realized that would be an unwise decision. I can count about five people who have said that they\’re afraid of spending too much time with me. :) But all good things have trade-offs.

But other than that. I am proud about being a walking, coughing biohazard.

GO BEARS!!!!!! THROW DOWN THAT AXE!!!

I regret not going to a cal game when I was an undergrad. :( But if Cal gets to the Rose Bowl, I am definitely going.

EDIT: BEARS WHACK DOWN THE TREE! 41-6 tee hee!

Still not decided after the previous post. Funny thing is that most of my classmates want me to do the project rather than do an internship. Yet I know if I do the internship, then I\’ll have a different perspective of what I want (like after having a long term relationship with no strings attached!). But is it worth it?

Anyway, I just came across this entry in someone\’s livejournal (obviously it\’s about me) written 9/20/2003:
367 days and 6 hours ago was the last time I talked to Jenn on AIM (according to my AIM+ History). I had become just another one of her casualties. On the other hand, over the year, she became unexpectedly useful by serving as a conversation piece and tool for bonding between her other ex-friends.

One of the reasons I was attracted to her was probably because of the number of similarities that I felt I shared with her. And perhaps for this reason, when ties were severed, it gave me another goal in life: to try to become better than her, especially where I had seen similar weaknesses. So while I became a \”pseudo-enemy\” to her like the others, she became what is probably my first rival.

Thus, curiously enough, I might need to thank her one day.

Bitterness, anybody? We have to admit that we always want to be better than those we hate. We don\’t want to remember our weaknesses, our faults. We don\’t want to remember why we failed and the type of people we were when we failed. Is that our motivation in life?

Decision time again.

What to do for this coming summer since there may be any funding for me during the summer.

Option 1: take the HCI final project (must start next semester)
pros:
– work with people I already know
– I will finish the program in May 2006 rather than August 2006
cons:
– \”imprisioned\” in Pittsburgh for the next 8 months
– heavy courseload -> kill poor me!

Option 2: take an internship somewhere (not even guaranteed)
pros:
– with the hci background I finally have, I can actually get a position that will be related to a future field rather than the mindless internships I had previously
– REAL JOB EXPERIENCE
– more flexibility
cons:
– probably will have to move somewhere, preferably california
– will have to sublease my room in my house (subleasing has always been a nightmare for me)
– will not see my classmates forever

Option 3: travel and see the world, one of those get-to-know-yourself experience
pros:
– I see the world. DUH.
– utilize the last break I ever would have
cons:
– need money
– trip probably would not last all 3 months, would be bored in between