Doesn't have a point of view
5.31.2005
warm, warmer, disco
Well, well. As always, I am behind on my posts. Too bad Lillian is likely done with her paper or my belated birthday gift could be a series of posts every five minutes.
The most significant occurrence in the last few weeks was the near drowning of my friend Sharon. I was visiting her in Davis and went with her to school to watch her swimming class. Swimming class turned into a very scary experience. I have never come so close to visibly losing someone so important in my life. Luckily, I was able to stay with her in the ER until my parents arrived. I kept kicking myself as we sat in the hospital for not having at least a pen with me to keep myself from thinking about the whole ordeal. Instead I bit my lip and tried hard not to cry until finally I devised a distraction by trying to sing the women + men song to myself with the lyrics in the correct order. That made me laugh more than the man next to Sharon who kept threatening to unplug himself and walk out if he was not given his cell phone soon. I should report that Sharon is doing fine now and was kept overnight to be monitored for signs of pneumonia. Despite Sharon's stay in the hospital, I am glad that I got to visit Davis and, especially, that I got to see and spend time with her.
My time in da 'bra (again stolen from Felix) has been successfully uneventful mostly due to the horrible condition of our only easy and safe to drive vehicle. My plans for the coming week include catching up on good food and a visit to Little Ethiopia and maybe even Thai Town. Last night, my parents and I went to Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles for the first time. I would highly recommend both their fried chicken and their waffles but would suggest only eating there once a year to avoid clogged arteries. Their food was also the type that would be remembered as infinitely delicious if consumed on an empty stomach or late at night.
Today I began the task of my supposed 3 hour training for my summer fellowship with PNNL. Because it is a government lab, I had to read all about the threat of terrorism and espionage along with learning how to use a fire extinguisher. The most exciting part was the animated gifs of the four types of radiation and the interactive charts. I felt like a true dork for being excited without any of my chemistry crew around. Did you know that an unmarried man loses more days in his life from being an unmarried man than from pretty much anything else (including light exposure to radiation)? Although I am thankfully not a man, the similar statistic for women along with my initiation back into a world of tv and movies has got me on the lookout for a husband.
I probably have more. Maybe tomorrow I will tell you about my dream of statue graveyards, Eric, and Lillian in light pink converse. Right now it's time for me to dream some more and then get up to start my series of appointments with a trip to the doctor. Maybe I'll get to go in my dad's '57 cameo if the normal car is not fixed in time. Oh man, I hear Carson Daly on the tv. We're past the late late and into the last call. Good night and just in case you don't know me well enough, I'm kidding about the husband thing.
5.23.2005
almost there
Wow, I have had more than my share of adventures in the past week. Because of my lack of time and space I will work backwards starting with what is on my mind tonight.
Right now, I am at Sharon's Davis apartment. I am super excited to see her again and to finally see the town and campus. No matter how good it is to be here, being here has been hard. As I wanted to say to Eric throughout the entire ride home, I think that this is the first summer that I have had more reasons for wanting to be in Walla Walla than for wanting to be home. So far it has not hit me that this is summer. Most years I just can't wait to be back with nothing to do, but this time I felt like I was leaving so much behind. More than ever before, I began to get scared for this time next year when we are parting, not for summer, but for good.
Leaving Walla Walla itself was so rushed that it wasn't bad, but it really hit me when Eric left me here in Davis, so much so that I could hardly stop myself from crying.
Luckily we were able to spend lots of quality time together before graduation. My favorite of these and the most necessary for me to mention was my little birthday celebration. I cannot express how much I love Eric, Elizabeth, and Chau. They all woke up at 5:00 a.m. and dragged me to the science building roof for sunrise watching, lamplighter, homemade apple muffins, and tea. I was especially impressed because I had seen them all awake at 3:00 a.m. and they were all able to wake up again independantly. My birthday wish was for no Eric and Elizabeth arguements, but that was as difficult as always for them to manage.
Sharon's homework calls. More about Walla Walla and my summer plans later.
5.16.2005
Maybe I've said this before, but if Frazz was a real person (and a little younger) I think I would have a huge crush on him. I just love this comic strip so much. I'm taking a five minute break from p-chem while my tea water is boiling. Tomorrow, at 4 I might post more about my past week. By then I (and the tea trio + Chau) will be completely done with the year. As Anu says, "Done, done, done!" We have so many plans for our free time. The first of which include the chemistry major barbeque/party. Woo! I can't wait for partying with the cool chem kids. I just came back from lunch in Jewett with Eric and Elizabeth, like old times. The only thing better than grilled cheese and tomato soup Mondays is eating these foods with my friends. Back to my science building dungeon one last time.
5.08.2005
Happy Mother's Day Mom! My collection of digital photos of my mother contains mostly embarrassing shots, so this is the best I could do. My parents are looking pretty cool on the cover of Rolling Stone.
5.02.2005
Elizabeth, Eric, me, Chau, and Kavita. We are so covered in color, I thought that maybe you won't be able to tell us apart.
5.01.2005
they say it's your birthday
I guess that it's my turn to give an account of the weekend. This was the week of the birthday as both Chau and Eric turned 21. Eric's mom made it to Walla Walla, carrying a lemon whiskey cake. She came to tea club with Eric and all the regulars were there, complete with the security guys. After that, I didn't feel like doing work. I'm having another one of those fall asleep in the library/desk chair weeks. It's due to the fact that I have not made an effort to get more than 6 hours of sleep since the last lab reports over a week ago.
Friday was a day that made me worried. I had so much to do before 5 o'clock. Class, a ligand, a paper, washer examining, and egg roll cooking. Everything went much more smoothly than I expected and the intercultural club potluck was one of the happiest events that I have been to in a while. I could not believe the turn out. There was excellent food and dessert and games. For the first time, I played cricket, with good instructions from Shary and I also got to race Eric on the swings. Maybe one of the best parts of this weekend was actually hanging out with my housemates which has not happened in a long time.
No one was around Friday night. Well, actually Eric was, but he had said that he wasn't going to be so I spent the night making cakes, running into Anu and Huyen upstairs, and sitting in my room pretending to work on a poster.
Saturday was time for more cake! And more cake! And more cake! Elizabeth and I baked 5 cakes between the two of us. My housemates were just as excited for the party as I was and they cooked wonderful pad thai and soup. Ly insisted on decorating all of the cakes, but was less than excited when I made her sift 2 cups of powdered sugar. The job was transferred from her to Tuan to Thu, whose only contribution to the potluck was a box of Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies.
Even better than the food was all of the people. Lots of people came and even though it could have turned out even more awkward than Eric's awkward feast, it did not. Oliver brought this great powdered sugar coated deep fried tofu. My crew danced to real crazy pizzas and its a time to disco in the living room. Then Oliver brought over the new dirty projectors video to watch together on the couch. It is amazing and I now really can't wait to see them in June. I like Ariel and Oliver so much. After that, we all hung out then jungle danced in Douglas til the music turned sour. The tea trio and I then sat in Rishi's room for a mellow-ish party. Really, after a while I felt like it was one of those scenes in a movie when all the kids are paired up at a party and are making out on separate couches. I hope I don't offend anyone by saying that. I also don't mean to imply that people were actually making out. Eric commented that I spent two hours sitting straight forward in the same spot without really talking to anyone. He was right. Mostly I was sitting there worrying about this internship poster that I had to get done and all of the coming Sunday business. Sometimes I just can't avoid letting worry consume my brain.
Before all that, Chau fixed her bike (by herself like me, yea!) and we went over to the station to visit with Double EE to the EXTREEM. We all sang to that Darkness song which entertained Chau. After the show, we planned to go home and change for holi but got sidetracked by Thu, Alan, and Desiree and the thought of sweet onion sausage and sno cones at Ren. Faire. Some how we lost Elizabeth, but for all that I worried about that too, it turned out okay. Eric and I watched Kate and Kevin play sort of with Audrey who was blocking out the medieval people with her ipod. After that we was ran to find Elizabeth, then went to Holi. Oh! Throwing colored powder and water at people is soo much fun. We were covered in color and all the people at Ren. Faire frowned at us. Elizabeth and I even went to Safeway that way and got fewer glares. I freaked out after staining the spotless shower blue and scrubbed and scrubbed and made more cake, which is how we return to the beginning to the Saturday story.
Today has been Sunday. Bleh. I drank Chai before sleeping and ate soooo much cake, then woke up at 6:00 to eat more cake. Then I felt crazy from the caffeine and cake combination. Really, really crazy. The radio show was eventful to say that least. Kato came and Uncle Phil called and David quickly came in and 2 callers called, and I was running around feeling sleepy and crazy the whole time. I visited Eric as always afterward, who still wasn't worried about his paper. It's okay, I worried a little bit for him and mostly for myself.
That was waaaay too long. Thanks to anyone who takes enough interest to read the whole thing. Right now, I am hungry but can only find cake to eat. All I want is something nice and simple and healthy. No more cake!
