My mom called me a few days ago that she had just deposited $200 into my bank account, explaining how my sister will send me $100 to me. She told me that it was for a digital camera they wanted get for my birthday since they didn\’t know what model I wanted. Then I called my sister who was annoyed that the surprise was ruined. Whoops, I guess my mom ruined the surprise. But awww…how nice of my family!

Usually, I never get presents from my parents for both xmas and my b-day (besides small trinkets). My parents believe that everything they have given me (tuition for undergrad, the use of a hand-me-down car…is sufficient and speaks well for its meaning). And as a result, I have always believed that a single day should not be treated any more special than the rest. Why should an anniversary between two people be the only day that one buys flowers for the other? Yes, why must some cry out of loneliness as a so-called special day passes?

Society has made me all but too aware though (i.e. Sixteen Candles). And as a result I make a big deal about it almost every year just so that I won\’t be expecting something magical to happen.

One of my project team members bought in her dog (named Milo) to our brand new office today (very well decorated with bright colors and cardboard furniture from Ikea). As I was sitting on the beanbag reading papers, Milo kept coming up to me licking my hand. I turned around, waving him off. Suddenly he came up to bare elbow because I have a tendency to always roll up my sleeves. He started licking. Then he stood on his hind feet and started pawing my elbow. Cute! My team member told me that I should make sure to take a good bath next time.

I left campus with a slight reaction to the pawing on my left arm. :)

Walking into the room, I said out loud, \”I had a feeling that the user study section wasn\’t detailed enough…and the reviewers indicated this was one of the major weaknesses of the paper. I knew it!\”

To my surprise, Polo said suddenly in an observant voice, \”I have noticed that you tend to know the right thing. During instructor meetings…and our team meetingsl…it\’s something I have noticed…\”

And I admit that one of my major weaknesses is a lack of confidence sometimes. And yet I speak up when I shouldn\’t. But I hold back when I should say something.

There\’s a fly in my room. I wonder if it\’s because of the peanut butter (crack) that I keep here.

I almost got into a catfight today! It was such a rush!

Yesterday was the CMU commencement (all the ceremonies in one day). The keynote speaker was forgettable as well as the student speaker. Despite their many pieces of advice, nothing really struck me. Time is of essence, but why tell us how important and valuable our time is…when we have heard it all our lives. Especially when stuffed into a college that is neck-breaking, heart-breaking…we already know how our lives are precious. Show us how to live it.

But the most enlightening thing was talking to my friends\’ parents. They seemed so proud of their children, no matter what they did. That they come to a campus, awe-inspired at their children\’s work, amazing things that I could see they wish they could have experienced but through their children, they experience it all. I talked to Janette\’s mom who almost reminded me of my parents. They too came from Hong Kong and immigrated to the states right before they had children. Mrs. Fong told me about the differences of Hong Kong culture and American culture. It wasn\’t something that I had thought before. She said that in Hong Kong, people casually call each \”stupid\”–a way to show affection for another. Similar to the Spanish \”tonta\” or the smiling way here people say \”i hate you!\” But sometimes those kind of things can be misinterpreted and that we think my mom called me stupid and we suffer insecurity. Likewise, my mom was somewhat like that. Very hard on my sister and me. I was the oldest and didn\’t always did things right. In my fading memory, I only remember feeling hurt and so much more insecure. But here many years later, it was meant to be seen as a sign of affection?

That\’s hard to really reconcile those years. But now I only know how hard being a parent must be. I always wondered if my parents hadn\’t been so \”strict\”…would my sister and I be…the same people we are now? Would we have assimilated fully into the American culture? Would my sister and I actually follow the social norm of drinking alcohol…doing the things that people my age normally do? Or do matter what, the personalities we were born with…will make us the same people?

How many times a year do people have a real \”meet cute\” moment?

After having a the-sky-is-sad-because-i-am-sad day, I went to see (reluctantly) \”A Lot Like Love\” with Lisa. I admit it, I got sucked into the sappiness. Yet, it makes me wonder…how do relationships usually start? How do they bloom out of nothing? A friend of a friend? Online?

And yet…am I missing something? The fact that some people do go to online dating sites…it almost seems like the norm. The other day, my friend made a big deal about how I was in the same environment with the same people. \”Open your mind!\” he exclaimed. \”Make your goal…TO KISS!\” And with that goal in mind, I would supposedly find the one. I would walk into a scene, find my target, aim…and fire.

But as stated before, I am taking applications, but I am not looking.

So with my hard drive possibly failing (or having a bad day), I\’ll do the honors of posting the count of the aim logs, which I used to be so (and still am) obssessed with. Now for the top 5 people (who have talked to me the most) on AIM since I reformatted my hard drive 2 weeks ago (a total different from my last count almost a year ago):

1. my sister with 340k of logs! the lady and i obviously have a lot to say to each other. my mom recently called my sister telling that she should call me on my birthday. apparently, my parents didn\’t know my sister talks to me at least once a day. aww wittle sis! she\’s going to optomery school in fullerton. go lady!

2. chwong with 252k. even though i met him one week before i left california, we are like totally aim buddies. it\’s because he doesn\’t care what people think, doesn\’t care that (much) about most things and we have similar beliefs of the world. you know, i don\’t even know what we talk about to fill up that much space.

3. alex DARRON with 216k. I suppose our talk has more to do with exchanging gossip and changing subjects so fast that what we say one moment doesn\’t even relate with two minutes prior. this is probably the third different alex that has made it to my list. WHY SO MANY ALEXES, WHY! at least this one i can call him a pseudo-biohazard. :)

4. mike with 172k. I don\’t know how we managed to talk so much considering that I only met him in April at Chi. It was one of those interesting moments where I start babbling until I forgot the reason why I had started. He\’s finally deciding on Seattle…and most likely our conversations have been about his major indecision between mit/uw. Despite how great Boston is, there is always a way in Seattle. Not to mention, we keep talking about finding \”love\”…and him pushing me to just be open and KISS any guy I meet.

5. carol with 148k. lots of coordination over the im despite the fact that we live in the same house, a floor apart. It\’s amazing how much privacy an im can provide. the last im she sent me? \”that scared me,\” she said to which i replied \”THUNDER! :)\”

runner-ups (in order) include karen, b, the turkish guy, charles (not MINNY-cheez!) and benjamin bunny

And again my powerbook is getting cranky. Just three weeks after I reformatted the drive, it\’s having little problems again! When I woke up this morning, firefox started crashing and stopped working. That all while I hear my drive starting to grind… Immediately, I started backing up everything on cd. Then Roxio Toast stopped working and kept quitting. Then word wouldn\’t open. Then adium froze my computer every time I started it.

For some reason, using the Mac-native applications like Safari, iTunes, and iChat all work smoothly. What\’s this telling me?

Awww, baby powerbook…you need some lovin!

EDIT: I just realized why I am having a bad day. It\’s Friday the THIRTEENTH! Although for the past few weeks, it was always a bad case of the Mondays.

And I leave with a nice article about TIGER for my dearest friend, CHHHWONG!

And now another house party begins…

I bought my first blender! :D Now magic can happen!