gmhots

I, like meakame, haven't posted here for a long while. Yet coming to this site again brings back all those memories from years past, a sense of nostalgia, and I'm glad at my temporary return. Perhaps this inclination is born out of the fact that I changed my IP host script and blocked all the sites I normally zombie in front of (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr) or perhaps it's the mid-semester lull again. Fall semesters are really getting at me, I feel like I haven't learnt anything much this time around and my academic performance is lagging. Sure, for now, I'm barely scraping by my double-honors, but I am pretty sure that will change come December (after finals).

I think why I've been so scattered these few months is due to the thought of getting internships and jobs; the recruiting process is a dreadful, dreadful thing. I can't emphasise that enough; it's worse than when I first started applying to colleges. The stress of money and of paying back all those fees is really overwhelming, and between flying down to Santa Monica and flying down (again) to L.A. and gathering all my thoughts, I'm pretty happy to be staying in Berkeley for at least another two weeks... before flying down to Las Vegas and L.A. all over again, and then travelling cross-country to New York, Providence and maybe Boston. Unlike meakame, it feels good to be grounded for a while (even though the fears of more earthquakes and fires and shootings and protests are rather pervasive indeed).

Writing that thesis is getting me frustrated, and together with all my other paper-intensive classes this semester, I think it's safe to say I haven't been enjoying it one bit. What with not being able to pay rent, and my Macbook short-circuiting en-route back to San Francisco on the plane, and everything falling into shambles around my ears (including plans to get a licence I desperately need in order to qualify for some jobs) I find myself missing Summer and Spring semesters so, so much. 

On a more positive note, I will be singing with the Baltimore Symphony on my 21st birthday next year, Winter break holds a great deal of fun and respite, and I'm almost done with college and 72-hour-no-sleep nights. Also, Pentatonix is probably going to win on Monday, and I intend to sneak over to the Griffiths lounge to watch that live (how is being able to vote for an American reality TV show this thrilling? Haha.) Hopefully things will pick up from here.

 Today I trooped to San Francisco at 8.06am, and this was roughly what happened:

0945h: Reached the Mission District

1004h: Some Mexican guy tried to pickpocket me

1040h: Contemplated having breakfast at McDonald's

1050h: Went to take photographs of graffiti

1101h: Sketching maps on 16th Street

1127h: Took the 14 bus to Powell Street

1138h: Realised I took the 14 in the wrong direction and ended up in Glen Park

1205h: Somehow ended up in the Civic Centre

1213h: Took a streetcar and finally found myself at Powell tired and hungry

1220h: Redeemed my birthday drink from Starbucks (Venti Non-fat Java Chip Light Frappuccino with an extra espresso shot and extra chocolate drizzle and whipped cream) and sat down to people watch, during which I noticed three hobos buy drinks from Starbucks - one also had a scone to go with it. Pondered on the actual hobo-ness of hobos. 

1230h: Watched another hobo feed her cat with money. Decided that this was either a very weird day, or that I was hallucinating from lack of food.

1240h: Took the BART back to Berkeley.

1350h: Arrived at Photography class 20 minutes late ):

 SO.

I've taken a long-ass hiatus, not intentionally, but still. Anyway I'm now sitting at a table in one of my school's cafés, waiting for my next class. The thing is, I was just browsing around on facebook and looking at people's photos (what's new?) and there's a recurrent theme I noticed. These days, it's been the trend to buy Leicas or Vivitars or Holgas and go around with it slung around your neck and looking cool, and taking artsy-fartsy photographs and calling yourself an awesome photographer and posting it on facebook, where your friends will go "omg sho kewls" and like it a million times.

I have no problems with the cameras themselves, but honestly you can't really rely on the pretty floaty colours and distortion and whatnot these cameras produce to enhance the photo. That alone doesn't make it a work of art. Honestly, if you take those fancy-schmancy effects away all you have is a badly taken photograph. It's definitely a cool hobby though, what I don't get is all these people thinking they're so awesome and calling themselves art photographers when honestly the camera does 90% of the work and besides, artful photography isn't about light leaks and cool-looking cameras. Again, my problem isn't with the camera or people who use it, it's those people who use it and /think that are so cool and awesome and funky and that they are real pro photography gurus/. 

I have no idea why I'm ranting about this, though. I guess it's because I'm learning so much more about this art form this semester that I never knew. Taking that photography class made me appreciate the practice of taking a photograph, and also made me realise the inadequacy of my work. Or maybe I'm just bored and this chicken rice bowl is so damn dry and salty.

Some recent favourites/inspiration:

 My professor just made my Tuesdays and Thursdays even worse than the hell they already are.

What my Tuesdays are like now (this image is my route TODAY, usually I just have to go for the first three circles and take a bus back, read circles anti-clockwise starting from the bottom):



But now, for my two classes on Tuesday (back to back, mind you) I have to do this:





She knows it'll take me like, TWENTY MINUTES to walk from Wurster to Morgan, right? RIGHT?

I realised I've been guilty of not reading or writing in here often. LJ seems to be taking a backseat in my every day priorities these days, and it feels really horrible, considering this fellow has been with me for about seven years now. 

Anyway, I just came back from the darkroom... and realised that my stupid camera doesn't allow me to manually open the back cover to cut film before the whole roll is used up. I only used 15 exposures, and was counting on cutting the film mid-roll to save the other 21 exposures but no such luck. So now I have to finish the rest by tomorrow photographing subjects of a random nature, and make another trip down to the darkroom. This is immensely annoying, considering I have to use a fresh roll of HP5 film every single fricking time I have an assignment (this is all for a photography seminar I'm taking - photography as a fine art). And it's not cheap at all. Sigh.

Back from the East Coast, though! No more snow and exciting adventures in New York... Oh well. ): I will go back though. It's hard not to, what with the amazing-ness of New York!!! Oh man, I could go on and on about that forever. Of course, not forgetting Providence, the place was awesome. Days were nice, but nights even nicer.

On the flight back on Southwest Airlines, I had the more hilarious experience ever. Have you guys ever heard a pilot rapping over the intercom system? Well, I never had either, until that flight. Another reason to fly Southwest (aside from their super cheap tickets. The free-seating thing still bugs me, though). Some excerpts from the crew over the intercom:

"When the plane cabin becomes deficient in oxygen, don't panic, stop screaming, let go of your neighbour, and grab one of the oxygen masks that will fall down overhead..."

"Life vests are under your seat - pull down on the red tabs to inflate them. If that doesn't work, blow into the tube on your right shoulder. If /that/ doesn't work, it's official - you're having a bad day."

"Please put all your coats and other small items under your seats and not in the overhead compartment - otherwise there won't be space for the guitars and drumsets that will be coming in later."

(During the safety briefing) "Now, I know I have been telling many jokes. I also happen to know that some of you might not like them, so if you ever feel like leaving, there are 6 ways to get out - two at the front, two at the centre, and two near the back. Please take note of them."

"For those of you looking to cause trouble on the plane, don't - Diana at the back is trained in seven ways of self-defence, out of which three are purely verbal. Matt at the front worked in a post office before this, so you definitely do not want to cross him."

"Welcome to Southwest! Yes, it's free seating. Just like church."

"Everyone is entitled to a free drink - the menu is behind the safety card that you guys did NOT read."

"All portable electronic devices are not to be switched on at this time. A portable electronic device is any device that is... electronic."

(Pilot, halfway through the flight) "(strangled whisper) FLYYYYY SOUTTTHHHWESSSTTTT.... FLLLYY SOOUUUTHHHWEEESTT... (starts beatboxing)"

(After landing) "Welcome to Chicago, the city famous for... (long pause) many things."

(Starts singing, everyone joins in) "If you're happy that we've landed clap your hands *clap clap* if you're happy that we've landed clap your hands *clap clap* if you're happy that we're here, then give a little cheer *everyone cheers*... If you're happy that we've landed clap your hands!"

(*ding dong*) "Hey folks, no, that ding dong noise doesn't mean the wicked witch is dead - I assure you that my mother-in-law is alive and well and living in the state of Texas - but it does mean that we've been cleared for landing!"

"Thanks for flying Southwest, guys, and now I'll tell you what my mother told me when I was 35 - take your bags and get out!"

So yep! Very amusing. Made that 4 hour flight so much better. (The whole journey took 8 hours, oh my goodness.) Anyway, school started, and it's back to the tedium of school life. Back to back to back classes, it's so crazy. But, our chorale is doing Glee this semester for our Spring show, and we might be doing a California tour after finals for a few days, which is so awesome! I still can't believe I'm doing upper-division classes almost exclusively this semester, although they've been fine so far, I'm worried about the multitude of projects I have to do for City Planning, which look like they involve lots of sketching and drawing. Sigh. Never was my strong suit (although I draw quite decent manga characters, if I do say so myself.)

Until next time, then.

 So, a whole semester has come and gone. I realised I never really did an end-of-semester post (or an end-of year post, for that matter) but the gist of it is that, my grades weren't very good (as usual), I got shortlisted for the URA scholarship (waiting for hopefully the next round of interviews) I had the most amazing Christmas and New Year's EVER, and I'm now in New York sitting in a New York University Dorm room on 14th and 4th, opposite Chipotle and enjoying a very nice view of the Chrysler building. To quote a certain Mr Cee Lo Green, "Ain't that some shit!"

I'm currently in the midst of my very whirlwind 3 day trip to New York. So far me and theinkmonkey have been very productive, going to the Empire State Building, Times Square, watching a show on Broadway, Grand Central Terminal, Central Park (playing with snow and ducks), Bryant Park, Staten Island (took the ferry there), Brooklyn Bridge, Wall Street, Union Square, 5th Ave, Ground Zero, and had passing views of the Statue of Liberty. The last day is tomorrow, and I'm probably going to West Village, followed by the Museum of Modern Art. Then it's time to return to Providence, and finally California just in time to start school.

In general, I've been a very, very lucky girl. Spending 2 weeks with theinkmonkey 's relatives over the holiday season, shopping at Trader Joe's, having CRAZY karaoke sessions, eating lots of turkey, korean hot pot, fantastic dimsum, random holiday shopping, tours of Palo Alto, Stanford, the coastline of California, good seafood, driving adventures, and most of all spending lots of time with a very special person - what more could I ask for? It's just time to be grateful, now. Although my grades leave much to be desired, I'm getting used to my full schedule now so hopefully next sem will be better, what with a P/NP class (Principles of Business). 

Here's to a great 2011, everyone. Many delightful escapades to come, I'm sure, for all of us.

 Christmas is coming! And the last UCWC concert for this semester just passed. Thanks for everyone for your SMSes and good luck wishes! <3 (Although you won't read this, haha). And a big thank you to meakame for the wonderful hairband, you really know what I like. It's gorgeous. My roommates salivated over it - figuratively, thank goodness - when I went back. (: Good luck for finals!

Also, when I was taking the lift up in my dorm today this girl suddenly came up to me and asked if I was in the concert yesterday, and said she enjoyed the performance. Wow. I should've forced an autographed picture on her, huh. LOL. But yeah, that was nice, glad to know I'm not sacrificing precious studying time for nothing! 

One more week; you can do this Amanda! Hope everyone in Singapore's doing fine... My temperature's half of yours but it's so warm. Also, please don't use the comments page to gloat about exams, you NUS/SMU/UK people. Christmas is coming!

 Just thinking about this scent makes me happy. It's the kind of scent I want! I've never felt that way about a fragrance before... Plus, the tear-catcher bottle is so pretty.

Back to work. I haven't posted something so bimbo in a while, haha. But I just didn't want to forget it and let it slip by, like I do so many things these days.

 So, today's the last day of term. In the middle of the semester it felt like it was going on forever, but in retrospect, that went by pretty fast. Anyway, I decided to treat myself to those sinful fried chicken sticks at Golden Bear Cafe after resisting it for four months. So it was that I found myself on Sproul Plaza in 9-degree weather eating chicken sticks with mayo and watching the Golden Overtones for almost two hours. It was rather enjoyable, although it would have been better if I weren't so horribly alone standing at the edge of the audience in a bright teal pea coat. But no matter. After about an hour and a half, they switch to their Christmas set for the holiday show next week (of which yours truly is a part of, buy tickets if you're in Berkeley and reading this). And the first song they sang was I'll Be Home For Christmas. It was amazing.

Afterward, they followed up with Santa Baby, Deck the Hall, Joy to the World, Jingle Bells, and everything that I sung before (their version of Joy to the World sounded exactly like what I sung...) and I just found myself thinking about TAS and all the memories that I've made with that group of people. It's now the third of December, and we would have been in the thick of our Christmas Carolling gig season, running from place to place in taxis, the MRT, buses, even the LRT. And it made me miss singing a cappella so much. Actually, it made me miss singing a cappella with TAS so much. Despite the unhappy times, I really felt I belonged, because I managed to find something that I was good at. And everybody accepted me with open arms. Out of my many, many CCAs, only two other groups made me feel that way - huang cheng and Photog. Because I was good at what I did, and I was amidst a group of people that appreciated that I really tried my best. I've never said this before, but it's true. As for my other CCAs... let's just say that I have many things to say about them. 

So the sky just turned dark outside my window as I am writing this, and school's unofficially over (barring final exams in two weeks). Some memorable things:

Standing Ovations: 2. The UC Women's Chorale performed at the Paramount Theatre - SYTYCD fans will find this familiar - to a sold out house of about 3500 people with a 22 piece professional orchestra and 2 professional soloists. It was truly magical. Also, today in Astro C10, for the last lecture of the semester we all gave Professor Filippenko a standing ovation; it was a great way to start my life here at Cal and every Astro lecture was so, so fun.

Quotes:

Political Science 5 - International Relations Discussion (Somehow, this section always yields moments of great hilarity)

GSI: "No group work today. You know why? Because I fucking hate group work. Hahahahaha."
Everyone: lolololololol

Sociology 5 - Evaluation of Evidence Lecture

Professor: "I'm too old for sex."
Everyone: wtfff
Professor: "Don't tell my husband that, he'll be disappointed."

Astro C10 - Introduction to General Astronomy Lecture

Professor: "You could be reading about gardening. Or porn. I don't mean to get you guys to go around reading porn, this is just an analogy. But yeah. Porn."

Everything about Tahoe's on my facebook, I think the pictures say everything. Needless to say, Thanksgiving was awesome. (:

[edit]



Third column last row! ;D



Paramount Theatre. Gorgeous. (Photos courtesy of Natalie Quiroz)







My semester in a nutshell - UCWC, SMSA (S'pore M'sian Students Ass.) , my floormates. Obviously there are no photos of my mugging madness.