An example of the writing I posted on THAT xanga.

Yesterday, I was at the grocery store and found myself trying to guess what type of person was ahead of me based on what he was buying. Water flavored with lime. Cookies. A whole loaf of bread. Ice cream. Was he living alone? Was he having a get-together? Was he indulging himself for good work? Then I thought of the things I was buying. Yogurt. Organic fat-free milk. Flavored sparkling storebrand water. Evaporated milk. What did it say about me? Does it say anything about who I am?

There are shows like Room Raiders and Date My Mom. Idiotic and dumb at its core. Yet, it brings up one major point. The things that people do, the way people keep their surroundings, their relationships often define who they are.

Some may have figured out that I started on this Xanga adventure about a month ago now. Every single thing I have posted is original, yet I haven\’t written in the present. I am getting tired of my self-imposed anonymity, which seemed fun at the beginning…but it\’s not who I am. When I used to keep a more personal journal online, I found people judging me based on what I wrote, despite the fact that those emotions and thoughts are fleeting.

Yet, it is the essence of who we are. We need to separate things into categories to make it easier for us. It\’s too difficult to spend time to analyzing each new thing that appears in our lives thoroughly.

One of the most profound questions to be answered is the question \”who are you\”. Because of my recent Internet endeavors, I have been asked that very question over and over.

Yet what is the right way? Should I simply give a name? Should I give them my asl? Or better yet go the path of the seishindo, to ask but not know the answer. I am so much more than a name.

But so far, I have only been answering that question with a \”i am cool\”, because I am too sleepy to think of any other witty response.

With my \”free time\”, it\’s odd how quickly I fill up my evenings with a movie, a stop at Rita\’s, phone calls and my usual Internet habits. No wonder I am so \”busy\”.

This fall, I am going to live in a house with 3 guys. Finally.

Despite a stressful situation occuring at the office, my sister and I still romped around Pittsburgh. We had hotcakes at Pamela\’s, traveled through the Cathedral of Learning, met Valerie, walked through the Cut and through the Mall, said hello to the world watching the free food cam, visited the Squirrel Hill library and had yet another satisfying experience at Rita\’s. Dropping her off at the airport made me want to leave Pittsburgh. There was no line for baggage check-in so we finished that quickly. We loitered around the area before the security check. My good little sister bought me some Dutch candies and a necklace. Then she got chocolate from another store. Eventually though, we said goodbye. Come back soon or I\’ll visit you in Fullerton!

The sad thing is that I left the little bag with my necklace on the 28x. I returned to my house, tired from riding the bus for more than 2 hours. But alas, I had left it. :( I went outside back to the bus stop, thinking that I could pick it up. Yet time passed and I knew the 28x must have left its stop at Morewood. So it goes…

Back in my room. Sometimes spending time with my sister is almost like spending time with myself. We think alike in some ways and it\’s just sad that nobody is…sleeping on my floor anymore!

Today marks one year since I first visited Pittsburgh. Last year, I had come right in the middle of my Rescommin\’ Days. I came here with a i-can\’t-wait-to-leave-berkeley angst. I made small talk with a returning soldier, compared CMU to Berkeley (almost had lunch with Bonnie, our program advisor), and toured Pittsburgh with a random guy at 10 at night.

Even though I make remarks like \”I am never going to live here\” and \”I can\’t wait to live\”, I probably will miss some things. Things that I have been taking for granted like living a few parks from a large city park, free admission to the (good) city museums, orthodox Jews walking around on Saturdays…

My sister was impressed with Pittsburgh (it was better than what she thought), but of course she wasn\’t impressed with my room (still as messy as it was in my undergrad days).

My sis is coming soon! I am very excited!

In the last 4 years, I have visited her in San Diego while she was at UCSD. Each time, we ate so much etc. etc. But when she came to Berkeley, it wasn\’t really the same because we were both at home and our parents catered to us. This time though, I can cater to her. Have fun eating and all the good stuff like that! And she can finally see how I cook (because i never really cooked before). :D

Poor lady is coming in through a red-eye flight. I hope she can last Saturday!

How did we survive without cellphones before? I don\’t really remember…

My sister kept a hate book when she was younger. In it, she wrote about things she hated. Me, among other things. Although on the surface, we didn\’t have any sibling rivalry…we secretly were highly irritated by each other.

An excerpt:
The One I Hate – Age: 7
She keeps on playing my songs. And now everybody hates me. They don\’t like me, or my songs. Just because my sister make them come and liseon. Nuber two reason is because when she realy did something bad she say, \”because moi [moi – chinese for little sister].\” So, I\’m say everyday is friday the thirteenth. The last reason is because she keeps on stealing my Sata [stuff doll], my slippers, my books, and she also pull my blanket down of my bed.

Awww, so cute! My sister is visiting in two days! I am quite excited! YO LADY!

While researching for a user study, I came across CMU\’s Daily Challenge. This was one of the first things I saw when I learned about CMU during my freshman year in college.

My boyfriend at the time was a senior in high school and had been raving about a campus that had wireless internet (it was a big thing at the time)…and this amazing flash game. He showed me this site, which intrigued me. Both of us were major (stealth) geeks and CMU appealed to us. Unfortunately though, I was already at Berkeley and he well uh…he just didn\’t have what it takes. The flash game of trying to survive life at CMU remained imprinted in my mind after we broke up.

During my last year as an undergrad, I had started applying to schools. I came across the hci program at CMU…and put that as a definite place to apply. And I did. I\’ll never forget the first impression though of CMU.