I woke up around 3:50 am because of…um feeling sick.

Then about an hour later, I hear a drunk some homeless dude yelling outside, waking up probably all the dorms nearby, the entire block. \”I…AM…ONLY…ONE…MAN…GEORGE BUSH! I..HEAR…YOU…DO YOU HEAR…ME…!!!!!!!!!!!! [indistinct jumbled words]\”

Then I hear a car door slam. A voice screaming \”SHUT UP!\” Then another car door slam. A bird tweeter. Crickets. Silence.

The wonder of Berkeley!

I went to a staff devo today (pictures later). And…

An interesting link!

So far senior week has been somewhat disappointing. The ticketbook was $40 but through Karen\’s help, I only paid $29. :D Yet the events themselves lacked a certain organization, a special eliteness. Like the movies, the organizers paid attention to the appearance but not the duration of the event.

During the senior pilgramage which was supposed to be a tour of the campus, the organizers couldn\’t speak loud enough. They started late and gave a lackluster lunch. Yet one major point of interest was when we visited the Wheeler oak. More than half a century ago, there was an oak tree in front of Wheeler hall. This was where students gathered to socialize. After its removal due to age, they put a plaque there. Until yesterday, I never realized the plaque on the ground had existed. I have walked past Wheeler Hall thousands of times in the past four years at Berkeley and never saw anything on the ground. this makes me think…what else have I missed about the campus?

The boat dance yesterday was…lackluster. Too many people crammed on one boat. The food was disappointing and unfilling. When I finally got a chance to go for seconds, they had ran out of utensils. So I was eating with my fingers until someone gave me a fork :D The boat went around the bay, passing all around the SF landmarks–Alcatraz, Angel Island, Sausalito, Tiburon, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, SBC park (when did it change from pac bell park???), and of course fisherman wharf. Yet, my belief was held true. Any event you attend is made better if you\’re with the right people.

I would like to mention that E is taking a road trip to CAL today, but no visit me?! :(

\”If there were more pirated software for the Mac, I would go get it immediately,\” someone commented today in my project group.

That fact kept me from buying the powerbook for a long time. I was afraid I couldn\’t get Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop. Once I was assured by a few friends that they could provide me with the goods, I went ahead and bought it. But the truth is…it\’s still very hard to find pirated software for the mac. Despite having ilife and other free software, I still don\’t have everything I need.

My Windows machine, on the other hand, has never seen the light of paid software (besides the software that came with my cameras). It has pirated versions (hi copyright people!) of Microsoft XP, Office, Photoshop, Macromedia Essentials, Trillian, Ahead Nero…

So there. I am a helpless pennyless college student!

A few weeks ago, my dad remarked how guilty he felt whenever he loaded Microsoft Office at the home computer. I had installed Office XP several months ago and put my name as the registrar. Every time he saw my name as the \”owner\”, he was instantly reminded of the unpaid illegal software. And yet, he doesn\’t discourage me. In fact, he was against me buying a powerbook. \”How will you get what you need?\” he asked.

There are always ways.

Here in Berkeley, we admire you for spending the least amount of money as possible on something great. A few days ago, a friend of mine was commended for spending only $20 on an awesome outfit. Today, I went downtown to Ben and Jerrys, waited in line for 20 minutes and received strawberry kiwi sherbert on a cone (perfect for a hot day). And who could forget my immense achievement of spending around $340 for my canon s30 (back when it was originally $400+, mind you) and spending $1316 including tax on my powerbook?

Rules of life (or how to live by jennism):
1. Spend the least amount of money as possible.
2. Leech off your friends. Leech off their pity. Get free food.
3. If there\’s a free cookie day, free cone day, free meal on your birthday…always go get it. Don\’t be ashamed. They won\’t remember you. They won\’t even remember you when your birthday comes around.
4. Brag about how much money you saved. Walk around with the dollar amount on your forehead.

It\’s 89 degrees here. A heat wave that definitely is moving north.

One thing I had always disliked about socal people is their dislike of the weather in Berkeley. Every so often, I would hear a friend or someone on the street say, \”UGH I HATE THIS WEATHER! IT\’S SO UNPREDICTABLE!\”

It\’s obvious they come from the south. Southern California. Land of superficiality. Cities of unchanging seasons.

What\’s more is that they don\’t appreciate California for what it really is. In what state, can you go skiing and swim in the beach in the same day?

In August, I will be heading to Pittsburgh, PA. The East Coast. New England. A place of \”real seasons\”. I will be able to appreciate spring for what it really is and marvel at the snow falling down from the sky. It\’s not just the \”suffering\”. It\’s the magic of seasons.

I would like to mention the blog entries where I was mentiioned indirectly/directly recently (HI I AM SELF-CENTERED): here and here and here

You know, that\’s not a lot. :( But that\’s ok. It\’s hard to keep up the dramah queen image. Even though only one of those links was full of dramah. Perhaps this is a sign that I am growing up!

I watched so many movies this weekend (my parents changed the HBO cable subscription to a independent film access). Reign of Fire, Daylight, Kate and Leopold, Maid of Manhatten, The Pianist, Monsters Inc, Awakenings…

But the movie that struck me the most was the one I found on the Berkeley DC hub. Battle Royale II. Like the first one, a class is sent to a situation where death is inevitable. Yet in the end, it\’s always friendship that counts. And as always, there\’s always some cowardly guy that admits his love for a girl…right before he dies.

I had so much trouble trying to find the subtitles for the movie, simply because the video file came without any subtitles or sub files. When I did find a sub file, they were not synced with the video. Nor were they properly formatted. Like Kill Bill Vol. 1, I watched part of the movie without subtitles, misinterpreting the actions. It makes me wish I had learned Japanese. But BRII was so good. Although of course not as great as the first one. No great lines beyond, \”We not afraid of death. We are afraid of being forgotten.\”

\”I have a slow reaction,\” I sighed.

After the Rescomp picnic (they \”roasted\” me because I was graduating…but they asked me a question that I didn\’t know the answer to – advice to the new U4 rccs – \”avoid bowles,\” I said. I am sure I got bashed for that, but I doubt people remember), I drove people back to their respective apartments and dorms. On the way Dwight though, my lane was blocked by some car backing up. Was I dazed? The person who was sitting in the passenger seat screamed, \”Honk them! He\’s going to back into you!\” And I did honk. Less than a foot away from the front of my car.

Slow reaction.

When I was on a cruise ship a few years ago (in Alaska), my sister and I played ping-pong with our new friends. Of course, I kept losing. Every time the ball would come in my direction, I would wait until it was really close to me, then I would swing. Always missing the ball each time. This was the main reason I disliked PE. Or at least any sport that involved balls.

When I was younger and wore thick oversized (thick) glasses, a basketball once hit my face and broke my glasses in half. I had to put masking tape to hold the glasses together until I could go home. That was the epitome of my nerdom.