Scribbles of a madcow

Zuckerberg's mama gets dissed!

2011-04-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

Because I want to be a cool kid too, here is my submission to the Zuckerberg Note Pass meme!

To be good at Photoshop, you must have infinite patience and dexterity to paint over tiny little pixels and switch between tools a trillion times. This probably took me a painstaking hour to make. Props to the pros who use Photoshop to make amazing things.

Origin here: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/zuckerberg-note-pass#.TbpjgUbZC-w

Hey, I am an Asian in the library

2011-03-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

I think that by now, the entire U.S. has seen this video and it is swiftly making its way across the Pacific to reach the Asian continent.

I'm not writing here to itemize everything offensive and wrong about her rant, but for those interested, there's a great post here.

I want to address the broader implications of this video.

Everyone has been up in arms about the despicable, repugnant, and ignorant human being that Alexandra Wallace is. They are calling for her expulsion and some members of the internet have gone ahead and posted her entire contact information on Craigslist.

But if seems as if everyone is missing the broader picture here. If this video is actually real (after viewing it a couple times, I can't help thinking that no one could possibly be this ignorant and offensive), I think it speaks in magnitudes about the views that some/most Americans still hold regarding the Asian race.

It's been a long time since Asians first migrated to America and found work building the railroad. Back then, they endured racial slurs and today, we're still having to put up with the same sh*t. From Abercrombie's release of those "Asian-themed" shirts, to Rush Limbaugh's "ching chonging" imitation of Hu Jintao, it seems like some (still) have extremely misguided and little knowledge of the Asian and Asian-American race and culture. I don't believe Alexandra Wallace's video exposed her as maliciously trying to put down Asians, I think it exposed her complete ignorance on the topic. This is something that needs to be remedied on a higher level, instead focusing on just vilifying Alexandra Wallace.

Shoutouts to friends and filmmakers, Wong Fu Productions. Hopefully their videos will combat the trash that CBS is planning (a Korean character called Bryce Lee [Rice Lee] with a heavy accent and is frequently having his English corrected by his white girl friend).

I suppose Alexandra Wallace has done us a service; her viral video has brought this issue to light on an extremely public level. Now is the time for us to stand up and let the world know that we are people, too.

Links

Asians in the library remix: Youtube
Angry Asian Man's post about CBS show: Blog

Jeffrey Eugenides on Emotions

2010-08-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

Emotions, in my experience, aren’t covered by single words. I don’t believe in “sadness,” “joy,” or “regret.” Maybe the best proof that the language is patriarchal is that it oversimplifies feeling. I’d like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic train-car constructions like, say, “the happiness that attends disaster.” Or: “the disappointment of sleeping with one’s fantasy.” I’d like to show how “intimations of mortality brought on by aging family members” connects with “the hatred of mirrors that begins in middle age.” I’d like to have a word for “the sadness inspired by failing restaurants” as well as for “the excitement of getting a room with a minibar.” I’ve never had the right words to describe my life, and now that I’ve entered my story, I need them more than ever.
-- Jeffrey Eugenides

I love words. Words, words, words; I greedily gobble them all up.

Mmm...your lips are so erratic!

2010-07-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

I have literally been laughing at this for the past 15 minutes. SMBC rocks my world.

ALOT!!!!!

Precious.

2010-07-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Do yourself a favor and watch this movie. Yes, the subject matter is heavy and bleak, but I think we've all seen enough Hollywood fluff by now.

Also, you get to see Mariah Carey with NO makeup (no glamorous makeup; they drew dark circles under her eyes) and NO poofy afro hair. It's weird, but she looks completely believable as her character.

"But you know what, fuck that day. That's why God, or whoever, makes new days." -- Precious

How to trick people into thinking you're good looking when you're really just a f*cking weirdo!

2010-07-14T01:49:00.000-07:00

HAHA, you've been Rick-rolled!

Were you laughing as hard as I was when you watched this? I don't know. But I do know that I was giving (very) frequent barks of (high decibel) laughter at 2 in the morning. One of these days, my paper thin walls separating me from my neighbors are just going to stop working.

Anyway, this girl is hilarious and as I watched her enthusiastically hump the air, I realized that she's a glorious mix of Youtube star, glowpinkstah (whore makeup tutorial!) and Allie Brosh (Hyperbole and a Half!). She seamlessly combines vile language and delight with whores with a smidgen of epic weirdness that she'd totally be the lovechild of the two stars... if they weren't both girls. Details, details.

Plus, she's white, so I guess that's also why she reminds me of Allie. Because, you know, all white people look the same.

If Allie video blogged, Youtube would probably just implode.

"I like to use black, because it says, 'I'm a whore!'"

Jetés and flailing around.

2010-07-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

I am not a morning person. I slowly blink my eyes in amazement when I hear about those magical and rare creatures who LOVE waking up at the crack of dawn and accomplishing a great list of things, while I still have a couple more hours of sleep to do. Below is an illustration that compares a morning person's accomplishments and Carolyn K.'s accomplishments before noon.

This Sunday, however, I dragged myself out of bed at an ungodly hour (8:30am, snoozed until 8:40) in order to attend something that guaranteed to be an interesting experience. The event is called Ecstatic Dance, held at the Historic Sweets Ballroom in Oakland. The main gist of it is dancing however you wish to new age-y music for two and a half hours. No talking on the dance floor. It's meant to be a sort of dance therapy; letting go of all inhibitions and releasing pent up emotions through dance. Read more HERE.

One word that definitely sums up the entire experience would have to be, "interesting". Characters of all shapes and sizes crowded the dance floor wiggling, swaying, stomping, pirouetting, and grooving. There were grandpas, middle aged people, young people, and even some babies (chaperoned, of course). There were some couples doing contact improvisation, my first time seeing it. I remember watching and jealously thinking, "Wow, they dance GUDE."

After a while, some shirts came off (including a teenage girl's - along with her bra; I was taken aback, but decided to have an open mind and commended her for being so comfortable with her body) and the dancing became more intense. Some had their eyes closed as they swayed gracefully with the music, some tumbled around on the floor, some skipped merrily around the dance floor, and everyone else partied like rockstars; no two people danced alike. It was a sight to behold.

I stayed around the edges of the floor and pretended I was a DANSA! I attempted a few jetés and entrechats, practiced some house footwork... and then I got bored of being a dansa and just threw myself into stomping and jumping and flailing around. The first two panels feature my "serious-and-haughty-ballet face".

In the two hours I was there, I don't know if I could say that I became more at peace and one-with-the-people-and-earth, but I definitely worked up a sweat. I have a sneaking feeling that I would have gotten more out of the experience had I not been judging people (but not REALLY even judging; just watching people and pondering their interesting dance moves). But alas, judging leads to fear of judgment by others, so I was not able to open up as much as I should have.

Yay, another interesting experience to add to my list of "interesting-experiences-Carolyn-has-experienced-in-her-life"!

Janelle Monae ft. B.o.B. & Lupe Fiasco - Tightrope (Wondamix)

2010-07-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

Amazing song and amazing vid. Just wanted to share! Taa!

Hawaii, Part One

2010-07-07T21:32:00.000-07:00

So I say that this is part one of my Hawaii posts... and I hope I actually follow through with it, because my blog flow would be totally messed up if I didn't. People would look through my blog archives and say, "Oh cool, part one of a Hawaii trip?? Where are the others!" And then they would look through and NOT find ANY and then they would JUDGE me BOYCOTT my blog and AHH the pressure of actually having an audience!!

I went on a five day family vacation to Hawaii a month ago with mi madre and younger brother. Unfortunately, it was with a Chinese tour (a rant that deserves it's own blog post) and we were staying in Waikiki, Honolulu (the most touristy of the touristy places you could go). In between tour buses and pictures and sandy beaches were food, food, and more food.

I am a foodie; I thoroughly enjoy my food and the experience of eating. I try to make sure that each meal I have transcends "I'm just eating so I can nourish my body and not feel hungry anymore". ESPECIALLY when I'm traveling! Why eat food in Hawaii that I can eat in San Jose, CA?

I made it my mission to ensure that all our meals were as epic as possible. I was not going to stand for eating in a food court, pho, Chinese food, etc. Unfortunately, it involved a lot of RESEARCH and WALKING. My mother and brother are definitely not as passionate about food as I, and it was made abundantly clear that they thought I was being a bit unreasonable (and insane) by demanding that we walk 40 minutes for lunch.

The most egregious of my fooding adventures occurred when I forced that 40 minute trek in the search of shaved ice. Waiola Shaved Ice, to be exact. Shaved ice shaved so finely that each bite literally melted like freshly fallen snow in your mouth. 4.5 stars on yelp, everyone RAVING about the Azuki Bowl... I could not NOT go. Here is a map of our trek:

Did I mention it was an exceptionally hot day? The sun was beating down and making me feel like dying. My mother kept asking where we were going and when we were going to get there. My brother trekked in sullen silence. But I doggedly consulted my piece of paper with written directions and continued forward. We finally reached our destination and I was greeted with this; a small little shack in the middle of a random neighborhood.

I excitedly bounced up to the front window and ordered the Azuki Bowl: bowl of ice topped with red bean, mochi balls, and lots of condensed milk. My mom asked, "We walked all this way for this?" Yes, we did! Because it was...

...EFFING AMAZING!! TOTALLY WORTH THE TREK!

Katy Parody!

2010-07-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

Yayy who love Katy Perry songs?? I don't. But I can't lie... California Gurls is my current summer jam. Even though I don't know ANYONE who wears Daisy Dukes with a bikini on top. Also, whenever Snoop Dogg raps, "Bikinis and kinis and blahblah," I always think he is saying, "Bikinis, zucchinis, blahblahblah." Zucchinis are a summer vegetable, right? I love zucchini; especially when it's grilled. So juicy and delicious!

Anyway, here's two excellent parodies of California Gurls and I Kissed a Girl.

California Gurls - the lyrics are 100x better and more accurately descriptive of the stereotypical "California girl". These creatures can usually be found in the OC and the LA/Hollywood area.

I Kissed a Nerd - I love Star Wars.

Mortification.

2010-07-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

I have a small habit of tuning the out world and doing my own thing. Nothing inspirational like, "I'm going to cure cancer by putting this hamster in my mouth, even if you guys don't believe I can do it!" (is that inspirational? I don't know). I mean, instances when I'm focusing so hard on something AWESOME that I completely tune out everything else.

This is exactly what happened to me last week. I was at dinner (Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot) and sitting at a large circular table with 13 other people. The pot was in front of me, bubbling with goodies cooking inside. I was gleefully watching the pot, anticipating the impending tsunami waves of delicious-ness.

(I was literally clapping and saying NOM NOM NOM. Out loud.)

I suddenly snap out of my reverie. My eyes focus and I see a boy sitting right across from me; he is staring STRAIGHT at me with a little smile on his face.

Instant mortification.

Nom.. nom.. nom?..

HE'S SO FLUFFY I'M GONNA DIE!

2010-06-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

If you've been watching movies or the TV lately, you've probably seen trailers for Despicable Me. And you've probably seen Agnes yelling about fluffy unicorns.

My friends say that she reminds them of me, especially when she yells, "IT'S SO FLUFFY!!" while shaking the shit out of her bug-eyed unicorn. Have I ever done anything like that when I was her age? No, I wasn't in the habit of lowering my voice to a guttural growl as I proclaimed the (adjective) of a certain object. While I was definitely the opposite of prim and proper as a child, I think my voice hadn't deepened to the point where I could have even made a sound like that. But I can definitely do it now!

Sidenote: I HATED my voice as a kid. I thought it was so high, so whiny, so EW, that I would've rather died than listened to my voice caught on tape. I remember refusing to record myself reading from my textbook back in the days of Chinese school. Instead, I opted to write out the entire chapter word for word, which probably took me ten times longer to do than if I had just read it out loud... but whatever, I was a neurotic kid like that.

Maybe it's because of the variety of voices and sounds I employ now. Some people can attest to this; I employ different voices according to different situations. Such as the situation when I'm imitating someone. If it's a girl, my voice will usually go up all high and falsetto-y, even though I have a girl voice already. If it's a guy, my voice will go down all low and gruffly. And my friends will say, "Just like that, huh Carolyn??" And I will reply, "YES! JUST LIKE THAT!!"

Anyway, I really should be working and not posting in my blog at this time. So...thanksforreadingkbye!

Mongolian hot pot goes NOMNOM.

2010-06-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

One of my number one most favoritest restaurants in the whole world is Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot. One, because I have a love affair with hot pot. Two, because Little Sheep is the mother lode of all hot pots. For those who are hazy about the details of hot pot, it is called Chinese fondue. Except instead of cheese, you dunk food goodies (meat, vegetables, etc) into hot broth.Here is what the pot looks like (sorta like a Pokeball with acne). One side is non-spicy, the other is spicy. They throw 10 billion garlic cloves in, some sticks, some red stuff, some leaves... I have no idea what everything is (besides that they are all Chinese herbs), except that they make the broth fucking awesome!! No sauce is needed!

Then, Little Sheep goes and offers plates upon plates of freshly sliced meat (lamb, pork, beef, chicken), seafood, freshly made meatballs, freshly cut vegetables, tofu, mushrooms, noodles, etc, etc, etc!

BEFORE (impatiently waiting for the soup to start boiling so I can start eating):

AFTER:You better eat quickly when you go to hot pot with me.

Airplanes and shooting stars.

2010-06-05T00:45:00.000-07:00

Let’s pretend Marshall Mathers never picked up a pen
Let’s pretend things would’ve been no different
Pretend he procrastinated, had no motivation
Pretend he just made excuses that were so paper-thin
They could blow ‘way with the wind
Marshall, you’re never gonna make it
Makes no sense to play the game, ain’t no way that you’ll win
Pretend he just stayed outside all day and played with his friends
Pretend he even had a friend to say was his friend
And it wasn’t time to move and schools weren’t changin’ again
He wasn’t socially awkward and just strange as a kid
He had a father and his mother wasn’t crazy as shit
And he never dreamed that he could rip stadiums
And just lazy as shit
Fuck a talent show in a gymnasium, bitch
You won’t amount to shit, quit daydreamin’, kid
You need to get your cranium checked
You’re thinkin’ like an alien, it just ain’t realistic
Now pretend that they ain’t just make him angry with this shit
And there was no one he could even aim when he’s pissed at
And his alarm went off to wake him
But he didn’t make it to the Rap Olympics
Slept through his plane and he missed it
He’s gon’ have a hard time explaining to Hailie and Laney
These food stamps and this WIC shit
‘Cause he never risked shit, he hoped and he wished it
But it didn’t fall in his lap, so he ain’t even here
He pretends that
Airplanes in the night sky
Are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now
Wish right now
Wish right now...

Beats and melodies.

2010-06-04T01:58:00.000-07:00

I've recently found myself wallowing around in the Nippon hip-hop beats music section of the internet. I have a soft spot for awesome melodies paired with amazing beats (which is really what I listen to when I'm listening to any song; lyrics aren't too important to me). Just wanted to share two of my current favorite tracks with you guys.

Re:Plus - Everlasting Truth (2010)

Moonscape

V.A. - Melancholic Jazz Winter

Little West - Flow

Source: Eternal Sound

Red and peely.

2010-05-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

I went to the beach this weekend for the first time ever this year. My friend and I laid out on our beach towel right under the hot and large sun, with no thoughts whatsoever of the hot-ness or large-ness of the sun, and proceeded to gossip for 2 hours.

I was wearing large Wayfarer sunglasses, a v-neck, and jeans. Oh, and no sunblock. That was a huge mistake, let me tell you. Because this is what I looked like after a few hours had progressed.
Note the slightly off-center v-shaped burn on my chest. And the red mustache on my face. The v is off-center because my v-neck slid to the side as I was lounging in the sand. And now I'm starting to peel. UNATTRACTIVE TIMES!

Moral of the story: always wear sunscreen if you're going to be gossiping in the sun for 2 hours.

Abs of steel.

2010-05-11T13:38:00.001-07:00

I'm going to stop jinxing myself by saying I'm going to post more regularly. Because, case in point, that is what I said my last blog post and it only took me half a year to post my next post.

I have a membership to my neighborhood gym. I don't go anymore. It's been about 2 1/2 months since my last workout. My days basically consist of my sitting around either at home or in the office on my computer. I think that walking around outside means I'm being super healthy and getting rid of tons of calories. After a particularly big LOL session, my hands automatically pat my stomach as I think, "I'm this much closer to a six pack!"

I should probably go to the gym soon.

twitter my tweeter.

2010-04-03T14:12:00.000-07:00

I've had my twitter account for quite a while now, but never used it very much. I mostly tweeted about random things that sparked my interest from time to time, at @replied to my friends. But I never found the platform very compelling. I think the problem was that I was treating it as an extension of Facebook by using it as a place where I could post as many "status updates" about myself as I wanted.

It wasn't until recently that I discovered that twitter is not Facebook.

"How is this?" you may ask. Here's my view.

Facebook is limited to your own private social circle, where you are intimately sharing your life with your friends. Twitter is open to everyone - anyone and everyone can potentially see your tweets (unless you choose to protect your tweets). So, you're connecting and sharing with a much wider audience, which opens up a lot of doors Facebook could not.

It wasn't until I started expanding my following circle and have been making daily discoveries of amazing people, tweets, and blog posts that I realized the significance of twitter changing its question from "what are you doing?" to "what is happening?" Twitter has become a place for the world to share news and information, and to occasionally read really funny tweets (ie. @shitmydadsays). I get real-time, up-to-date information on the things I'm interested in. For example, I've been wanting an iPad. Instead of getting one (because I have no money), I sit in front of my twitter and vicariously live through everyone who can buy one. They tweet about buying one, post pictures, reviews and opinions, specs, etc. I learn more about the iPad through them than I would if I had just bought one myself and played around with it.

So stop treating twitter like Facebook. Go out and find awesome people to follow! Read posts, @ reply them, and retweet them. Throw some hash tags around, start a trending topic, tweet a famous person! Go make new virtual friends. It's your playground, and the kids are all friendly.

Want more information? Check out Mashable's excellent page on all things twitter.

About me.

2010-03-31T16:06:00.000-07:00

So for the past one and a half days, I've rediscovered by Google profile (find the whole thing: here) and decided to write an "about me" on it. I've decided to share it here, since my blog should always mention me as much as possible. Kidding.

It's taken a very long while for me to have realized some of the things I've written in this post, and the fact that I've finally realized them enough to be able to articulate them is a very sweet victory for myself.

During my years in college, as well as the months I spent after graduating it, I was floundering for a direction in life. I had no idea what career I wanted to pursue, and no idea which direction I wanted my life to take. These past few months have been a whirlwind of serendipity that I have been extremely fortunate to receive. First, came my job at the smartphone app company. Without them, I would not have properly discovered my interest in tech. Then came the reunion of a friend I had randomly met in Singapore. Without him, I would not have been properly exposed to the wild world of entrepreneurs and social media. I must find a time to properly thank them.

The craziest part of all this is that it all happened within the course of four months. My years of confusion and "not-knowing-what-the-hell-I-was-doing" were solved in a matter of a few snaps of the finger, by comparison.

This bio is nothing close to describing my entire "Carolyn-ness". Rather, it presents the more business-side of me (if I can say I even have one).

I hope you enjoy reading it. Because not only did I stay up late last night trying to compose it, it's also a sort of tribute to the journey I've taken up until now.

---------------------------------------------

Now that I look back on it, I suppose it's fair to say that I've always been a little bit of a geek. My childhood was littered with Legos and video games. I could not have cared less about Barbie. I had a slight obsession with Star Wars (what I would have given for a lightsaber), and my geeky fandom was epitomized by memories of me dressed in black snow boots, towel tied around my neck, and trooping around my backyard with little brother in tow (in an attempt to emulate my idol, Darth Vader - heavy breathing also included).

And now, here I am 14 years later. Graduated from UCSD with a non-geeky major (rebellion against my father, who had it in his mind that I would follow in his footsteps to become a computer programmer), but finding myself increasingly drawn to the tech world.

It started with my getting a marketing job at a smartphone app development company. I spent many hours poring over mobile tech blogs (MobileCrunch, Gizmodo, Engadget) in the attempt to educate myself about the world of smartphones.

At the time, I was also interested in pursing a career in social media marketing. A small and silly idea, but an idea nonetheless. I believed that because I was pretty on top of signing up for every social media account out there, plus the fact that I spent all my days on Facebook, it'd be a natural fit for me. At work, I attempted to use the social media marketing skills I had learned off the web - but I quickly learned that it was a task much more difficult than I had originally thought it to be. It also exposed my naivety toward the whole subject matter.

And so, I abandoned the endeavor for a while and went back to studying. I continued reading blogs, and making new bloggy discoveries. It didn't take long for me to discover the entrepreneur and venture capital community, and I eagerly delved into their words and insights. Then, I discovered that boy, they sure were connected. Beyond LinkedIn and company profiles (that I pored over back as an investor researcher), there was twitter, foursquare, plancast, so on and so forth. An overflow of information, to be sure, but what a glorious overflow it was. I soaked up all the advice and insights, and STORIES that entrepreneurs and investors had to give. The insane movement of tech is astounding.

I saw how apps like foursquare and gowalla were changing the restaurant promotion business by taking the business and customer on an social adventure. I saw twitter turn into something more than "I ate hashbrowns and scrambled eggs shaped in a smile" tweets. I saw companies and corporations struggling to appeal to social media users. Everyone was clamoring for a smartphone. Social media is changing the world, and I wanted to be a part of it.

So, I'm educating myself. I'm reading and taking in information from experienced social media-ers. I'm practicing by experimenting with different platforms. I'm applying by marketing and promoting a friend's iPhone app that helps twitter users follow top tweeters (check it out - followformation.com).

Where is this all going? I'm not sure. But it sure is going to be one hell of an adventure.

Social media is giving me an identity crisis.

2010-03-12T14:51:00.000-08:00

I've recently discovered a new slew of social media sites, as well as gotten back into the swing of updating my old ones.

Lately, I've been trying to break out of the "this is for my friends who are interested in my day-to-day activities" (eat, go on the internets, do some work, eat, sleep) and go in the "I'm trying to appeal to a wider audience" route. So I post about social media, geeky tech-y stuff, marketing insight, and life lessons.

So far, no problem. Until the site asks me for a bio. A very brief one. Uh, shit. As I scramble to write a few, choice, meaningful words down, I suddenly realize that I have no idea which words to use.

I don't have a full-time job whose title can adequately describe me and my capabilities. I just graduated college, I'm learning about internet marketing and iPhone apps. That isn't compelling enough. I have a ton of interests, but too many to use to write a meaningful profile. Honestly, what does "I'm interested in anything and everything," tell you about me?

Who am I? Or, more importantly, who do I want to be to the world? I really don't know yet. It used to be easy - "I am a 4th year at UCSD majoring in International Studies", but now that I've graduated, I don't have that easy crutch anymore. But if you think about it, what the heck does your school and major provide any insight into you as a person? Thanks, Social Media, for teaching me that I need to

Without an informational, catchy, and concise "about me", people won't know why they would want to follow your posts. And through this am I learning more and more about the importance of expertise and specialization, which sucks because I would love nothing more than posting every random thing that catches my interest.

So here is to the future of self discovery, and to that day when I can finally come up with an awesome "about me".

In the meantime, you can visit my conglomeration of different social media sites.

Formspring: The place where you ask me anything, and I'll try my best to give you a truthful and meaningful answer.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.formspring.me/carolynpkao"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;http://www.formspring.me/carolynpkao&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Twitter: Where I post things that interest me personally and professionally.
LinkedIn: Where professional Carolyn tries to network with business people.
Yelp: Where foodie Carolyn posts

How to charm the pants off people

2010-03-09T14:38:00.001-08:00

I had dinner with a friend the other day, and the discussion turned to business and the art of schmoozing. I lamented that I wished I could be as charming as he was. He countered that almost everyone is charming. The problem is that they think they aren't so hence, they aren't. I thought he had a valid point.

My friend is a 18 year old entrepreneur, is about to speak at the first TEDx event in Miami, and is on first name terms with a bunch of celebrities in the Menlo Park/venture capital circuit. Basically, he is well qualified to teach the art of charm.

Ready? Here are his four tips on the art of charisma.

1. Pretend to Be interested in what the other person is saying.
Of course, it's a lot better to actually be interested, but if you really can't pull it off, I guess pretending is the best way to go.

2. Smile a lot.

3. Don't look at her tits.

andd...

4. Don't look at her tits.

Blogs

2010-02-22T19:19:00.001-08:00

I love blogs. They are my new books, now that I fool myself into thinking I don't have any time for real books anymore. Well, there was that one week that I finally gave into my curiosity of what exactly happened in the sixth and seventh books of Harry Potter (despite having read them at least 2-3 times in the past), and finished both in the span of about four days. Four work days. Needless to say, there was a small shortage of work and sleep those four days (not that I minded, as I adore J.K. Rowling's writing. Especially those small tidbits of character development she throws in the middle of important sentences describing a crucial plot point).

And with that aside, I love blogs. The vast array of topics, the engaging stories, the useful tips, the plethora of information cramming itself into my brain wrinkles. From blogs, I read about the fascinations of mathematics, about celebrity gossip, about the latest technology doodad, about a woman's (with Asperger's syndrome) daily life as a busy executive, etcETCETCETC.

But geez, the information never stops. It's so interesting to read, but the more you read, the MORE you find to read. The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know. How paradoxical. Information overload, you win.

So the point of this post was to say, even though I love blogs, I find that I have a hard time writing my own. It isn't just keeping up with posting (yes, I know I'm horrible at it), it's that I can't seem to give my blog a topic. You will notice, readers, that ALL successful blogs deal with a certain topic. But I can't stick with just one! EVERYTHING interests me. I don't want to be limited to rules of what I can and cannot post. But then, I barely post anyway.

But while I cannot write, I love sharing all the wonderful discoveries I make. First, are all the links I linked in the beginning of the post.

Next,
I discovered her blog a while ago, but didn't start avidly reading it until now. I had previously linked to one of her articles in the beginning of this post, but her blog deserves a second mentioning. Penelope Trunk is an extraordinary women who has Asperger's Syndrome. Her blog is mostly filled with job searching and career advice, but always illustrated with her stories. She has no fear posting the intimate details of her life to a huge worldwide audience. The result is something honest and raw. From her experience of 9/11 , to having her son who's face was deformed, her posts pull you in.

Next,
I have always been an avid reader of movie reviews. Sometimes, if I have nothing better to do (or even if I have something to do), I will traipse onto rottentomatoes.com and read reviews all day (only reviews from "Top Critics" though). My favorite reviewer has always been Roger Ebert, the quintessential movie critic, and I always read his review first. Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I'm moved by the beauty of his words, and I In any case, I knew that he had a bout of cancer a few years before, but had largely forgotten once he came back and started reviewing movies again. Days ago, as I scoured I Watch Stuff!, I came across a link to an Esquire article about Ebert's battle with cancer. Thorough, well-written, it gave me a glimpse into the life of Roger Ebert. Then, I learned that Roger kept his own blog. People seem to be surprised that he's a good writer... I wasn't. His Esquire article and blog was definitely a gem to find.

Ok, that's enough linking for now.

NYTimes

2009-11-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

Winter is coming, and slipping into a cold bed is tough. But
believe it or not, sometimes when I go to bed before my wife
does, I will offer her the half that I have just warmed up.
I obviously love her very, very much.

I saw this excerpt from Christoph Niemann's 'Abstract City Blog' today and melted a little. Love is all about the small things. Read the rest of his post, 'Good Night and Tough Luck', here. It's about how sleeping isn't as simple as one would think.

Also a superb post is his newest one, Bio-Diversity. Leaf shapes!

P.S. I love NYTimes.

Gender assignments are to be respected!

2009-11-03T17:34:00.000-08:00

I went up to Berkeley this past weekend and found myself in the McDonald's on University. I had an urge to go to the bathroom and so in I scurried. A sign on the door caught my eye before I opened it, though. A small paper sign typed up by McDonald's management, placed right under the blue sign with a circle and triangle that typically depicts a girl. It read:

"PLEASE DO NOT WRITE ON THE SIGN AND RESPECT THE GENDER ASSIGNMENTS OF THE RESTROOMS."

I laughed to myself.

"Only in Berkeley," I thought.

The emperor's new clothes

2009-10-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

Have you ever bought a new shirt, pair of pants, jacket, or whatever and wanted to wear it right away but instead, you stopped yourself? Because plans of which outfit it would be paired best with were floating through your crafty mind. Which event/hang out session would have the most people available to see your cool outfit and throw you compliments.

I have!

Where the wild books are

2009-10-27T12:53:00.001-07:00

As I browsed through Engadget today, I came across this article, which described UK libraries offering ebook downloads in place of the traditional "go to the library and check a book out and bring it back in 3 weeks" deal. At the risk of sounding like an old codger who's having difficulty wrapping her head around the amazing technological advances of the world today... I am proclaiming my allegiance to real books.

Look at that woman. Holding a plastic screen filled with words in front of a bookshelf. Mocking those old fashioned pieces of paper bound together. Looking all high tech-y and sophisticated. Well the jokes on you, ma'am! Because this kid looks ten times more classy than you! And his glasses don't even have lenses in them!
All jokes aside though, I've been an avid reader since I learned how to read. Going to the library every week and filling a canvas tote bag with books, and lugging them all back a few weeks later. Sitting in bed and getting lost in the pages. I'm not saying ebooks are horrible - they certainly are green. May the billions of trees that gave their lives to books rest in peace. And they certainly are convenient and space-saving. But I think there's something to be said about the physicality of actually holding a book and turning its pages. Of actually going to the library and pacing the stacks, looking for a book worth reading.

This may sound weird, but I believe each book has a personality. From the cover, to spine, to the font used, to texture. Look at The Wild Things by Dave Eggers (an excellent, excellent book by the way).
The entire design is brilliant. You immediately think, "this is no ordinary book." It's quirky! Artistic! And so it is. Each book is different and I bond with each one. An ebook is different, though. Instead of bonding to the book contained inside the harddrive, it seems like the connection is made between the reader and the device instead (this is through speculation, I don't actually have an ebook). And even if this weren't the case, the entire book is digitized and appears on a 2D screen. The magic is gone.

Anyway, that's my rant.

Photo credits: Engadget, Deadfellows, daily discoveries on design

Adventures of Cow & friends 03

2009-09-30T16:45:00.000-07:00

Adventures of Cow & friends 02

2009-09-26T01:23:00.000-07:00

New strip! Note: bunnyfoofoo is derived from a Chinese phrase, "bang ni fu fu (幫你拊拊)", which roughly translates into "help you rub it (so it will feel better)". With my sharp observation skills, I noticed that "bang ni fu fu" sounded like bunnyfoofoo (hopping through the forest), and thus, "bunnyfoofoo" was born.

Adventures of Cow & Friends

2009-09-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

After a longg hiatus, Adventures of Cow and Bunny (now Adventure of Cow and Friends) has been brought back to life! My scanner was unfortunately not being cooperative tonight, so I had to settle for ghetto-ly taking a picture of it instead. More to come later!

may i have your attention please!

2009-08-31T16:45:00.000-07:00

I have ADD. Yes, it's a self-diagnosis, but I'm quite sure it's the real thing. I don't think it was something I was born with, but rather the result of the vast overload of information the internet provides. Billions of webpages available at the mere click of a finger. Anything you could possibly ever want to know too much information about only 54 mbps away. This, coupled with many other factors, has effectively killed our attention spans. We can't pay attention to anything anymore for more than a couple minutes. Think about it - web browers have tabbed browsing available so we can look at multiple pages at a time. Advertisements are designed with the knowledge that if it the message hasn't caught the users attention within a few seconds, they'll be gone in a click. We drive while talking on our phones. We're constantly checking our phones while spending time with real life peoples.

We just can't focus anymore. As I write this, I have my Gmail open, keeping one eye open for new emails while chatting with friends, I have my Xanga open to make a list of things I want to work on, and I'm using Youtube to listen to Sara Bareilles. Yes, I feel as if I'm being more productive and accomplished, but that's probably just a trick my brain is playing on me. There are studies showing that when we multi-task, our work done is not of stellar quality. It's an obvious conclusion, but it's hard to translate it into habit. There is a certain art to this focusing-on-one-thing-at-a-time thing. My experience at the campus coffee shop summarizes it nicely. I was sitting down at my table after browsing the magazine section of the shop. Next to me, I saw an older gentleman sitting at his table. A cup of coffee, his hat, and the crossword. He sat there with an aura of calm around him, it seemed, as he held his pencil quietly, waiting for the word to come to him. I looked at my table. My laptop open, and five magazines, each a different subject, spread haphazardly across the table. "Hm," I thought. The difference between generations.

And yet, our web savvy society has adapted to this "evolved" species of human beings and has even encouraged the process. The ability to multitask, it says. Companies want employees who are able to juggle multiple tasks at a time. The message seems to be, the more things you are doing at once, the more productive you are. Survival of the smallest-attention-span-ittest.

I've succumbed. I can't focus on doing one thing at a time without feeling I'm wasting my time because there's something else I need to be doing. I call myself a multi-tasker with pride. Need me to juggle 10 flaming batons while writing a blog post about the effect throwing stuffed animals off a roof is having on stock prices, WHILE balancing myself on a unicycle, WHILE chatting on the phone? No prob, Bob. I get stuff done.

But maybe it wouldn't hurt to take a step back once in a while. To let go of everything but one and to enjoy the concentration. New age meditation? I'll let you know how it goes.

What's it going to be then, eh?

2009-08-26T21:57:00.001-07:00

Walked into the UCSD Bookstore today on account of a 3 hour class being cancelled and decided to peruse the fiction and literature section. My eyes fell on A Clockwork Orange - having seen the movie and heard many things about the book, I decided it was a must-read.

And so, I curled up in one of the couches and proceeded to spend a good 2 hours reading it. Finished the whole thing and felt flushed with nostalgia from the days I used to read for hours on end. Anyway, the book turned out to be very well-deserving of its reputation, though Burgess claimed it is flawed and not his best work. I will admit that it was a bit hard to get through - Burgess' main character and narrator, Alex, speaks in a slang (called nadsat, invented by Burgess himself) that is incomprehensible to the average reader. Take a look at a sample quote:

"These grahzny sodding veshches that come out of my gulliver and my plott," I said, "that's what it is."

Say what? Translation: These dirty sodding things that come out of my head and my body. Yea, I had to consult the Clockwork Orange glossary to figure it out. Apparently, nasdat is formed by "odd bits of old rhyming slang...A bit of gipsy talk, too. But most of the roots are Slav. Propaganda. Subliminal penetration." Ah, I see. The cool thing about the book is that Burgess writes his invented prose so that the reader gradually comes to understand nasdat his own, without having to use a glossary.

So what is a clockwork orange? Well, it is derived from the old Cockney expression, "queer as a clockwork orange", which by itself simply meant strange or unusual. In the context of the book, a clockwork orange is described as "he [who] has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice, but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil; or the almighty state." The main theme of the novel is the essence of what makes one human. We are only human when we have the ability to choose between good and evil. If either is forced upon us, 'good' and 'evil' lose their meanings, and we cease to be human. Interesting stuff to ponder.

One interesting fact: the book came out in 1962 with 21 chapters (21 signifying the end of childhood). However, due to American publishers having strong opinions that the novel would be better off without the final chapter, the U.S. version only contained 20. Stanley Kubrick's film also did not include the 21st chapter.

It was a good book. I liked it.

Chemistry

2009-08-17T18:00:00.001-07:00

Was reading through some articles today and came across this little tidbit on Alternet. Another explanation hypothesis (well reasoned and seems to have merit) why Nice Guys feel like they can never get the girl.

"Despite most people's best intentions, it's hard to create chemistry with a vanilla, well-behaved guy, no matter how much good he earnestly promises to deliver. It's just not erotic." - Vanessa Richmond, Mad Men's Don Draper

new blog

2009-05-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

I have a new blog! It's a food blog!

http://foodnomnoms.blogspot.com

Food on that blog, other stuff on this blog. Cool.

my 炸醬麵 (zha jiang mian) recipe

2009-05-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

After promising Michael for a year that I would post this recipe and forgetting to each time I suddenly remembered my promise, I'm finally sitting down and getting it done! He even took pictures as I was making it one day...so I figure it's the least I could do. Note: the above picture is courtesy of Nibbledish...I wish my food could look as appetizing as this!

As this is my first recipe writing session, excuse the noobiness of directions and culinary terms.

Zha jiang mian, or noodles with fried bean and meat sauce in English, has been deemed "Chinese spaghetti" by some. Pretty self explantory - minced meat in soybean and hoisin sauce over a bowl of noodles. My mom actually taught me this recipe over the phone last year and I've modified some things as I go.

Ingredients:
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 lb. ground pork
1/2 an onion, diced
5 spoons sweetened soybean paste (甜麵醬 tian mian jiang)
5 spoons hoisin sauce (海鮮醬 hai shian jiang)
Dabble of soy sauce
2 blocks dried tofu (豆乾 dou gan), cubed
Handful of bean sprouts
1 stalk green onion, chopped
2 clumps of noodles

Optional: shredded cucumbers, carrots (to be added raw to the dish), chili sauce

Stir fry garlic, ground pork, and onions in a pan (remember to use a generous amount of oil).
When the meat is cooked through, mix in the sauces (though I say 5 spoons of each, do it to your own taste - I tend to like putting in more hoisin sauce for a sweeter sauce), and fried tofu. Mix everything thoroughly, then throw in the bean sprouts and green onions. Cook the noodles and throw it in a bowl with a clump of the zha jiang.

Tadaa! No top marks on presentation, but dang is it tasty...if I do say so myself!

and once the storm is over...

2009-05-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

“and once the storm is over you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. you won’t even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. but one thing is certain. when you come out of the storm you won’t be the same person who walked in. that’s what this storm’s all about”

- haruki murakami

(via unicornology)

grilled pork with vermicelli noodles and nuoc cham

2009-05-09T17:11:00.001-07:00

Last week, I saw that a friend was attempting to make this, and was inspired to try it as well. I love Vietnamese food - pho has always been one of my passions...my mother says I must have been Vietnamese in my past life. Which isn't such a stretch, I guess...actual Vietnamese ladies think I'm Vietnamese too. Like that one time I went up to the register to pay and the lady behind the counter started speaking to me in Vietnamese. And I smiled politely and told her sorry, no habla Vietnamese!

Anyway, back to the subject! Found this recipe online and happily set out prepping the night before my midterm. Needless to say, not much studying was done, but I did manage to finish the marinade for the pork and the nuoc cham (sauce) that night.

The next day came and I smashed the crap out of that midterm! Good thing I'm old enough to know better, because that definitely would have reinforced some very bad behavior. So I finished making the whole thing that night! Cooked the pork (no grill for me, unfortunately), noodles, washed the bean sprouts and mint, cut the carrots and threw everything together.

Great success! Now, onto cupcakes! I want.

poohead alert!

2009-05-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

i'm a poohead!

nobody have sex with him EVER!

2009-05-03T23:27:00.000-07:00

Poor Squigley!! Also, have I told you how amazing Sinfest is?

It's 100000 amazings.

you have been warned...

2009-04-29T01:01:00.001-07:00

Swine flu has put everyone on a state of high alert. Heck, even the stock markets have taken a hit because of it. So please heed this CDC warning. It will make us all a little safer and healthier.

CDC WARNING: DO NOT DO THIS!!!

(because it is transmitted through contact with pigs, doncha know)

P.S. You cannot contract it from eating pork.

SPACE COWBOY - ZERO GRAVITY

2009-04-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

Tracklist:
1. Zero - Gravity
2. 거짓말이야 (Keojitmariya)
3. 끝났어 (Kkeutnasseo)
4. 사랑이 끝나면 (Sarangi Kkeutnamyeon) (ft. 장혜진 & Crown J)
5. Moonlight
6. 기다려 (Kidaryeo)
Whole album download (credits: iHoneyJoo)

While scouring the general music-share forum at zero-degrees.net, I stumbled across this gem of a mini-album. Disregard the cheesy artist name, the music is amazing. The rapping to beats, infused with a taste of jazz and bossa nova makes for a refreshingly different feel. I imagine sitting in a saloon orbiting around Neptune's moons and bobbing my head to the music. As I sip on a mug of beer made from Larissa's finest...alien plant. Track 1 and 5 are instrumentals. I recommend tracks 2, 4, and 5.

KIRBY

2009-04-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

It's been a dream of mine for quite some time now, to master the ways of Adobe Photoshop. I am usually pretty good about learning something on my own but for some reason, mastery of Photoshop eluded me. I recently decided to practice by following tutorials, and here is my first finished project! It took much more time and energy than it was supposed to, but the feeling of accomplishment made the frustration worth it. In tribute to Super Smash Bros, it's Kirby!

SIMON'S SO PRETTY!

2009-04-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen Simon look like this on American Idol? Or anywhere for that matter? That dreamy, hands framing the face, "wow-she's-an-angel" look? Here is the reason.

Susan Boyle

Watch it and be in awe!

BERTOLLIS!!

2009-03-31T17:26:00.001-07:00

If you watch an obscene amount of television like I do, you've probably seen that commercial where Italian chefs sit despondently in their deserted restaurants and periodically angrily shake their fists at yell "BERTOLLI'S!!" in anguish.

Bertolli's is a brand of frozen Italian food dinners, and the subliminal message behind the commercial is that Bertolli's is SO good that no one needs to go out to eat Italian food anymore.

I can't lie, I was intrigued by this Bertolli's. Was it really that good? I set out to find out by purchasing Bertolli's shrimp scampi and linguine. $9 for a 2 person portion.
Took it home and the decided it was time to put it to the test. Opened it and poured its contents into my pan. Pretty cool, huh? Everything was carefully frozen separately so that it wouldn't turn into one big soggy chunk of food. The white blocks are the sauce.
After about 10 minutes of cooking, the food was ready! Looks good, huh? However, the taste was...meh. It was edible, to be sure, but nothing special. The 2 person portion definitely was big enough for 1 person. If it had cost $5, it would have been acceptable.

Verdict: The commercial was lying! Italian chefs, you have nothing to fear.

DANCE, DON'T WAIT

2009-03-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about dancing in the rain."

ALL ABOUT ME.

2009-02-11T03:35:00.001-08:00

Brought over from facebook. Enjoy!

1. I'm a little addicted to reading everyone's random 25 facts.
I will read my friends' lists, and their friends' lists, and their friends' lists. It doesn't matter that I don't know them because everyone has utterly fascinating little tidbits about themselves. It's one of the things I love about people. It seems like a lot of people have OCD.
2. During my youth, I did everything.
Thanks to my mother, I have done ballet, tap dance, gymnastics, swimming, tennis, piano, cello, flute, clarinet, ice skating, synchronized swimming, kung fu, art, starting from the age of...3 or 4? The only ones I actually stuck with for more than a couple months were swimming, tennis, piano, and cello. I think this is the reason for my desire to be everything and learn everything. The thought of having to focus on one specific thing to "perfect" for a job/etc is a little terrifying to me.
3. I think I have a mild case of ADD.
I will be in the middle of a thought with a friend..."So I think that in order for me to...OOH LOOK AT THAT BUG!" It's also really difficult for me to just concentrate on one task at a time. I'll attempt to focus and then end up thinking of other things I have to do, leaving me to study 2 different subjects at a time, while looking for jobs, and organizing my itunes. Bahhh.
4. During my sophomore year at UCSD, I suddenly had a burst of artistic inclinations and started up the Cow & Bunny comic strip.
You may see it's grand premiere here (you can even learn some more facts about me there):
http://www.xanga.com/changoomangoo/569703738/item/
There were really only a grand total of 3 strips that I finished because using Paint and my touchpad took an insane amount of time. But it was good while it lasted. If you want to find the other 2 strips, please browse through the site.
5. I have a secret silly wish of wanting to be a dancer.
I want to be America's Best Dance Crew. Just kidding, I hate that show (but watch it anyway) and all the posers who think they're experts now on Kaba/Jabbawockeez/etc. Also the camera angles. And the fact that it's rigged. ANYWAY, I learned how to do the arm wave from Youtube. Attempted other moves, but so far have not mastered them yet.
6. My musical preference has settled on KPop for almost 2 years now.
I typically go through different musical phases lasting around six months. R&B, rock, pop, etc, but ever since going to nrb (Korean kareoke) last last November and hearing Brown Eyes - 벌써 일년 (Already a Year), I was sucked in. I even taught myself to read Korean from websites to better accommodate my new musical mood. I think it's because KPop has everything - ballads, hiphop, R&B, rock. As many know, Taiwanese pop = ballads only. Wondergirls FTW. I want to go to their concert. I want nobody nobody but youuu.
7. I have a big pottymouth.
During my high school swim team years, I accidentally dropped the "F bomb" in the vicinity of my 70 year old swim coach. The next day, he gave a little lecture about how to conduct oneself appropriately at swim meets, and stared right at me. Oops! Also, I was the one who broke the "swearing ice" when we first moved into the dorms. My roommate and I accidentally locked ourselves out of our room and I said, "Shit!" My suitemates heard, and that was how the ice was broken. We had a N64 in the living room and everyone would usually find me sitting on the couch swearing at Yoshi's Story and Mariokart.
8. I was born with blonde hair.
Everyone in the hospital asked my mom if my dad was white. He is not.
9. I used to be a huge fob wannabe.
Yep, early years of high school, I used every single opportunity I could to speak Chinese. I listened to all the fob musics too (Jay Chou ftw). I have let up a lot since then, but still enjoy teaching people jia you, bunnyfoofoo, and ma fan. Ahahaha my proudest moment was teaching my white friend from Alabama. She used to think that "fob" was a clothing brand because I said "Wow, that shirt looks so fobby". I love you!! Also, if you don't know what those words mean, feel free to message me.
10. I've always been a bit of a boy.
Pretty vivid memory of going to a birthday party when I was...5? The theme was Aladdin and there was a facepainter! All us little girls lined up and he'd ask each girl, "What would you like?" And duh, there was 1 female character in Aladdin. "Jasmine, Jasmine, Jasmine, Jasmine," everyone responded...until it was my turn. "And who do you want to be?" he asked. "The genie!" So I walked around the rest of the party with a blue face and I'm sure the genie mustache. I really wish I had pictures of myself.
11. I was a child with a healthy imagination.
Not so much a unique fact about myself, but when I was little, I really liked Beauty and the Beast. And I also really liked the idea of transformation. So what did I do? I'd sit on my mom's bed and reenact the scene of the Beast transforming back into the Prince. HAHAHA ohmygosh I was such a little dork.
12. I notice that I've already had 2 references to Disney. I live for Disney movies.
Heck no, not that crap like that cow movie. I'm talking about the CLASSICS. When I was younger, my favorite movie was The Little Mermaid. According to my mother, I'd watch it once, then rewind it and watch it again in the same sitting. I used to have almost every single Disney movie on VHS, until it was donated to charity AHHHH. I can recite Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast pretty much word for word with my friend. I will school you on Disney trivia. My friend and I will occasionally quiz each other: we'll say a line, then ask which movie it's from. Don't even get me started on kareoke sessions of Disney songs.
13. I may have caused a boy to become infertile.
One of my most classic college memories. Was in POTS (Revelle's late-night snackbar), standing in line, nonchalantly swinging my keys (on a lanyard) to and fro. All of a sudden though, I feel that my swing has been stopped short in back of me. I turn, and see this poor boy hunched over, covering his crotch area, and groaning. 2+2=4 and I started apologizing hecka profusely while my friend stood to the side and laughed loudly. We ran back home, laughed about it, and I wrote a blog entry about it. Good times.
14. I love pandas.
Love them. Cute awkward balls of black and white. It was game over when my friend showed me San Diego Zoo's panda webcam. For a period of time, it was the first thing I checked whenever I logged onto my computer. I'd spend hours just staring at the pandas, taking screenshots of them, squealing about their cuteness, etc. I am a panda stalker. It is my dream to work at the Panda nursery in China.
Here's a screenshot from my collection.

Momma panda and baby panda

15. I played strange childhood games.
During first grade, the boys and girls played a little game during recess called, "girls chase boys around the field and try to catch them, and whoever gets caught gets a kiss from Carolyn". Since I was the unofficial leader (I guess you could say coolest kid on the block ahaha), it was up to me to deal out the punishment. Good thing the boys were always too fast for the girls though.
16. I used to have a birthmark on my left arm.
Man I used to HATE it. I remember always trying to hide it and being really embarrassed when people asked about it. Then, I grew up and just sort of forgot about it. Last year, my mother took me to the dermatologist to have it removed because she was afraid it would turn into skin cancer. Strangely, I was reluctant to have it done because I felt like I was losing a part of myself. Well, literally I was, anyway. But yes, now I have a nice oval scar on my arm that turns red when I drink. The only part of me that gets Asian glow hahaha.
17. I wish I had synesthesia.
What is it? Google it. It sounds like the most amazing thing ever. Seeing sounds, hearing colors.
18. I used to have a security blanket.
Actually, I had to go through multiple ones because we used to have cleaning ladies, and they would mistake my blanket for their stupid rags. I actually kept one all the way until last year just because it was so amazingly soft. It was more holes than fabric, but I loved the feeling of my blanket between my fingers. And then, my mom threw it away. Sad times.
19. I went to England during 11th grade, and had the most badass friends ever.
It was a summer program. We stayed in Cambridge and had quite crazy nights. There was a sharpie night when we gave ourselves sharpie tattoos. I wrote "white person" in chinese down my friend's side. There was condom night, where we found a condom dispenser in a restaurant bathroom and brought them back to play with in our room. Ballons galore! Very inappropriate. There was hair dying night, where we all dyed our hair red. There was an attempted weed night, but my friends were paranoid that we were going to be caught, so two of them ended up putting it in their food and eating it hahaha. There was gin night where we found a half full bottle of gin in some refrigerator (so shady) and proceeded to have a party. It was then that I discovered that straight gin was completely disgusting. One of my friends passed out and we wrote bad words on her arm with sharpies. In spanish. Pinchi puta! I was a total and complete prude up until that summer, and I have these girls to thank for corrupting me ;D Miss you guys.
20. I met my closest group of girl friends in high school and have since nicknamed ourselves the Disney Princess Poobs.
I'm Sleeping Beauty because I like to sleep a lot. The latest I ever slept in was 5pm - I came back from Washington D.C. around 1 the night before and I blame it on the jet lag. My normal wake up time this past winter break was around 2pm-3pm everyday. Yay me!
21. I was a total teachers pet in elementary school.
No, not the hella annoying kind that everyone wanted to beat up (at least, I hope not). All my teachers just really liked me and thought I was a genius for some reason. Middle school was a breeze, but everything changed in high school. I was so used to getting good grades without effort and I brought that mentality into high school and got schooled. Damns. I used to be smart...what happened??
22. I directed a play (written by myself) in 3rd grade.
Greatest story ever. My teacher liked one of my short stories so much that she wanted to make it a play. The plot is very fuzzy to me now, but it was something about...a dog and a crab?? who were best friends and played together on land everyday. But one day, the dog somehow ended up in the ocean (maybe he was kidnapped by a shark??) and the crab had to save him by pinching the shark's belly so that it would let the dog go (ahahaha my friend did an awesome job of acting out that cry of pain =P i still remember it so vividly). And they escaped the ocean and lived happily ever after. OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. If anyone remembers it PLEASE tell me!! I was the director and remember first casting a couple people in the roles, but then my friends all wanted to be in my play too. Being the little 3rd grader I was, I kicked out my original cast and gave it to my friends. Perfect example of cronyism, huh? Hahah I was on my way to becoming a really great corrupt politician. Anyway, the original cast wasn't too pleased and took it up with the teacher. We worked out a solution - my friends would be pretty flowers and trees, and one of them even got to be the shark ahahaha. The flowers and trees stood in the back with their hands out. They were still flowers and trees even when the setting changed to underwater. SO GREAT. One of my most epic memories ever.
23. I was a total Star Wars geek when I was younger.
Favorite movie: Return of the Jedi. Watched it over and over. I thought Darth Vader was the ultimate badass and loved trooping around in my backyard (younger brother in tow) with my black snow boots, towel cape, and maybe a bucket over my head, pretending to be the Dark Lord. Also, I really liked to imitate his breathing. HAHAHA.
24. I lived in Beagle 200 my freshman year of college.
I was so lucky to have such an amazing first year dorm experience. I would have frequent camera whoring sessions with my suitemate. In our pajamas, sitting on my bed. On the patio. On top of our beds. With popsicles. Once, we were kneeling in front of my desk. My arm was out, pointing the camera at ourselves when all of a sudden, our friend walks in. I can only imagine how silly we looked, frozen in position on the floor. He says, "so this is what you guys do.." ahaha anyway, I amassed quite a collection of our lovely faces. There was one night that we decided to bring back our teenybopper days and kareoked at the top of our lungs to BSB and *NSYNC to youtube. Then we decided that some dancing should be thrown in too. We were completely sober. And then one time, my roommate pretended to be the Ring girl and we invaded another dorm and recorded everyone's reactions. I miss those days! Love you guys!
25. I was a mischievous little demon as a child.
During a trip to Taiwan, my cousin (6 years older than I) bought these small balls that would explode when you threw them on the ground for us to play with. We had great fun throwing them as hard as we could during the day, but it wasn't enough. My aunt lives in an apartment on some very high floor, and there was a window overlooking the street. At night, students walked by on their way back home. My cousin and I had the marvelous idea of dropping those exploding balls from the window. Those poor, unsuspecting students. The balls fell, exploding all around them, causing them to jump and start running for their lives. The thought that we could have injured someone didn't enter our heads, and we giggled like maniacs. Such deviousness!

K.WILL'S TAKE ON NOBODY

2009-01-22T22:17:00.000-08:00

I want nobody nobody but you! I want nobody nobody but youuuu! Remember this song? I'm learning the dance.

Anyway, found this video...K.Will is an amazing Korean ballad singer who completely gave a new flavor to this song. Kind of puts the Wonder Girls to shame...

EAP Snowoporeans

2009-01-19T00:09:00.000-08:00

Earlier this winter break, I finally went snowboarding for the first time with my EAP friends. Snowoporeans, we were called. Anyway, I have to say that I am not half bad at snowboarding. While there was much time spent sitting on my butt, at my peak, I could very successfully do that Z-thingy down the hill, stop by not using my butt, and generally look very pro. There was one moment though, when I decided to just point my board straight down the hill to "get a feel for speed," as Christian said. Everything was fine until I caught the edge and did a complete faceplant in the snow. Unfortunately, the snow caught me under the rib and so I was laying facedown for a minute, not moving, just telling myself to breathe through the pain. Hahaha I can only imagine what I looked like. Bruised rib for 3 weeks! It's on the verge of healing now.

After that, my enthusiasm for snowboarding diminished somewhat. At the end of the day (and by end, I mean the lifts were closing and people were taking signs down), we all decided to ride to the very top of the mountain for the view.

It was spectacular and all, but the thought of having to go down just really exhausted me. So I halfheartedly attempted to board for about 5 minutes before asking one of the ski patrols for a snowmobile. "Yea, I already called one," he answered. I was indignant! But anyway, something even better than a snowmobile came. A sled! Pulled by a skiier! Score. We picked up Nicole on the way. Highlight of the entire trip, I must say...flying down the mountain with snow flying in my face really beats moving for 5 seconds then sitting on my butt. Anyway, here we are on our cool sled! Pictures courtesy of Christian.

PERKS OF 80 DEGREE WEATHER

2009-01-18T11:08:00.000-08:00

I love driving. Windows down, arm out, music blasting while speeding down Lawrence Expressway...*sighs contentedly* But winter weather of 40-50 degrees was more conducive to windows rolled up with the heater on full blast. Now, it is 80 degrees (refer to last post). Splendid!

See those palm trees? And that blue, blue sky? Yea, it's January in San Diego!

Suck on that, East Coasters!

80 DEGREES IN THE MIDDLE OF JANUARY

2009-01-17T14:28:00.000-08:00

Why do I feel like I'm back in Singapore? Actually, I walked out into the blazing hot sun and was about to say, "OhmyGOD it's so hot today!" And then I caught myself and realized that at least there wasn't 100% humidity out. Hah! I am impervious to California's hot weather! No more sweating for me!

Is global warming the cause of this silly weather? Poor polar bears...

I've been back in San Diego for 2 weeks now, and can safely say that I am suffering from post-studying-abroad syndrome. Symptoms include: the inability to study, lack of motivation/discipline to go to school, wishing I could just be surfing in Bali, and a general feeling of boredom. I have no routine! I need to find a job! I need to start reading for class! Heck, I still need to buy books for class.

Currently living on the south end of Costa Verde, and my apartment is not half bad at all. My roommate has a small bunny called Momo who hops around our apartment when freed from his cage, leaves us goodies on the couch, navigates his way out of towels, and engages in general cute-ness. Here he is! Photo courtesy of Sparta!

Anyway, I wish I were more motivated to update this regularly so that each post wouldn't be relegated to small overviews of my life.

Since this is my first post in the new year...happy 200p(9)!

REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK

2008-12-23T16:33:00.001-08:00

My body does not seem to be enjoying life outside Singapore. Since leaving, I suffered from a deathly fever coupled with the stomach flu, my face is peeling off because I am no longer living in a 24/7 sauna, and now, I seem to be going blind. What. Is going on.

On a side note, my laptop has been infected with a trojan that is proving to be a bigger pain in the bum to remove than I thought. I mean really, it's even spread to my safe mode. This is beyond ridiculous. This is a reason why I have not uploaded pictures yet. Another reason would be my bone-crushing laziness.

Anyway, most peoples' biggest problem when they come home from abroad is dealing with reverse culture shock, which is essentially having to readjust to life at home. I was googling the term and came across the Univ. of Missouri's international center page on reverse culture shock. They posted an excerpt of a student's experience with it:

I returned from my one-year study abroad in Germany to an America that was amazingly ignorant and indifferent about the rest of the world; an America that thought its way was the only way; an America of superficial, plastic people who couldn't carry on a political discussion to save their lives; an America that was unbelievably wasteful and careless with the environment. This wasn't the same country that I had left just one short year ago, was it? What had changed?

It's strange that people tend to think that this is the typical experience all students go through after studying abroad - that we come back enlightened intellectuals who can't believe we used to live in such a bubble of ignorance. Maybe it is typical, but I feel like my experience was definitely not that drastic at all. Right now, the culture shock I'm experiencing is limited to:

1. Food portions. They are ginormous compared to Singapore. Meals are no longer enjoyable down to the last bite. I really have to work to stuff the food into my stomach. However, I am happy to report that I have finally had my Chipotle, pizza, and pho. Mission accomplished.
2. On the topic of food portions, food itself. I miss my desserts (there will be a whole post later dedicated to my desserts), I miss my fried chicken - no one can do fried chicken like the Malays do it, prata and naan, my fruit juices, so on and so forth.
3. Weather. It's freezing. Weather in Singapore was hot and humid. Sweat stains and sticky skin everyday. It's funny that we complained about being too hot there and now we're complaining that it's too cold here.
4. Lack of things to do. In San Jose, we cool kids have a wide variety of options when it comes to hanging out. They are: drinking pearl milk tea (I'm turning into a boba), eating, going to the mall. But honestly, while Singapore might seem to have more things to do, we actually spent most of our hang outs drinking. At 7-11s. Because we're classy!
5. Accessibility of friends. Feeling lonely? Just barge next door and find someone to have a 5 hour chat with!
6. My body rejecting home and letting me know through the above-mentioned symptoms. I had no idea I loved and needed Singapore so much.

I suppose that the whole "America is so different now!" experience is more for those who have never been out of the country before. In my case, I was actually surprised at how much hadn't changed since I had been gone. Home was still home - like one of my friends put it; it's like time stood still while we were away. I would like to say that I learned a lot/grew a lot as a person/became more culturally aware/etcetcetc as a result of my travels/studying abroad...but really, I don't feel that at all. Which is strange, because that's a reason why people study abroad - it's what's SUPPOSED to happen. Not going to lie, I felt like my 4 months studying in Singapore was quite normal indeed. Classes, going to the library and studying, friends, and a bit of exploration. Yes I was in a different place, but the adjustments I felt like I had to make seemed so minor. I'm sure I unconsciously changed over these months of adjusting to life in a new place and country hopping; I've learned that life is subtle and doesn't usually hit you in the face with a big fat cliche to get your attention.

I can't lie, I miss Singapore, even though I have complained about it a lot. Its novelty and that it was an escape from our normal routines back at home was quite intoxicating. But after a while, Singapore lost a bit of its charm and became routine as well. Of course after coming back to America, I start reminiscing about it and wishing I could be back.

Sidenote/picture. Titled: "Wife Helping Her Husband", but I think that "Push!" is more apt/cute.

I love pandas. When I was younger (2 years ago), I would log onto the San Diego Zoo's panda webcam everyday and just stalk watch the pandas panda around. And then take screenshots. And then make up little stories/dialogue for them.

*Stares at picture and rolls on the floor in overwhelmed-ness at how cute pandas are*

IT'S COLD.

2008-12-16T02:03:00.000-08:00

It's been a week since I've returned back to San Jose, CA, U.S.A. It's really, really cold. Like...REALLY cold.

How cold is cold? Back in Singapore, everyday was in the high 80s. That is hot enough to go out naked and still be hot and sweaty. Here in San Jose, it is 40 degrees, which is freaking freezing. No naked parties here. But, it does make hearing Christmas carols on the radio seem more Christmas-y.

Otherwise, I am not too familiar with what else San Jose is like, due to a horrible sickness that left me bed-ridden for the entire week. Not that I'm complaining...I don't have any problems with sleeping 20 hours a day. But now that I have finally recovered and no longer have an excuse to sleep entire days away, I suppose it's now time for me to go out and hang out with people. In the meantime though, sitting in bed watching The Office, 30 Rock, and Samurai Champloo will be quite nice.

And I STILL haven't been able to eat my pho, Chipotle, and whole Papa John's pizza. This is a travesty of modesty!!

STILL NOT STUDYING

2008-11-30T22:40:00.000-08:00

My current obsession: Dynamic Duo ft. 주희 (Juhee of 8eight) - Gone

The opening is very reminiscent of the intro to Coldplay's Viva la Vida, then segues into Dynamic Duo's impeccable flow punctuated by an awesome chorus by 주희. I've always been a sucker for orchestral music, and the fact that it's now coupled with hiphop beats makes it even more amazing. Ahhh I can't stop listening to it! The MV is pretty adorable too, even though I don't really know what's going on.

I AM STUDYING NOT!

2008-11-30T07:23:00.000-08:00

I have a final on Tuesday, which is a little less than 2 days away. I am currently sitting on my bed typing this blog post and playing Zookeeper on my DS. I also cannot stop playing the damn game. There's something about lining those cute little animals into rows of three or more that is just so goddamn addicting, I can't figure it out. In any case, my room is utterly the most not conducive place on the planet for studying.

In any case, I can't believe I'm spending my final days in Singapore. In less than a week, I'm flying out of this little microscopic dot on the map and going to Hong Kong, then going back home. It's a very strange feeling to think that in a week, home will no longer be my ghetto Boon Lay room. While I miss America (oh, food...ie Chipotle, pho, pizza), I have to admit that I'm a little sad to be leaving, despite my frequent bitchings about Singapore. In a certain way though, the constant 90 degree weather and 100% humidity has its charm. It's just hard to see it because of all the sweatiness and stickiness associated with it...but I'm sure that there will come a time when I am back in California and wearing 20 layers with my lips turning blue anyway, that I will nostaligcally look back on and wish that I could be walking past Christmas trees and Christmas carols in the air and santa hats and soaking through my shirt with my sweat. Better (and classy!) times indeed!

It's been an amazing 5 months for sure, sweat stains and all.

PACKING

2008-11-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

...for Taiwan, land of the foods and desserts and night markets and clubs and street food and KTVs and original Ding Tai Fungs and 101s and 7-11s and sticky picture machines and motorbikes! I'll be gone until the 24th. It'll be hard trying not to miss me too much, but you must try your best.

Some of you may be wondering, how is this girl managing to leave for 10 days? Doesn't she ever go to school? Yes, in fact I do. I go to school every single day of the week, even if I do not have class. The library is my second home, in which I attempt to be studious. In any case, the National University of Singapore has a wonderful thing called: Reading Week, a whole week off of school for students to use to study. But we UC kids are too smart to have to study for a whole week. We only need a couple days! So, off to Taiwan for a whole week. Wonderful!

I'm currently wishing that I had a smaller towel. This one just takes up so much damn room in my duffel bag. And now, my packing has been put on hold for this blog entry. I have a problem with focusing on just one thing at a time. There are always too many things to do, so I feel the need to do a little here and a little there for some unknown reason. Why I can't just sit down and focus on one thing until it's completed is a mystery for the ages. Anyway, while on the topic of packing, here's a picture of my room (at home) in the midst of my packing for Singapore!Tadaa! My room is amazing. I'm usually pretty neat though (my room at Boon Lay definitely doesn't attest to this, however). The problem just arises when there's not enough room for me to put my shit in, or if I am tired, or if I'm moving out anyway in less than a month. So anyway, packing's damn stressful. It's definitely more than just throwing everything you own into a suitcase. You have to plan and strategize and other must-use-brain activities. I'm over it.

List of things I must do before 3:45pm today:
1. Pack
2. Update my iPod (free space: 180 MB. I need a new iPod)
3. Write down pertinent information regarding Taiwan logistics into my notebook
4. Shower
5. Attempt to clean my goddamn room (most likely will not get done. At all)
6. Finish writing a postcard
7. Attempt to finish a long-overdue email

So of course, everything I must do is open in front of me (except such things as showering) and I'm doing one little thing from everything. Sampling, I suppose. If a type of food/cuisine described my "getting-shit-done-style" best, it'd be Tapas. Oh, and we can't forget the constant distractions Facebook provides. Shoot there's an hour left. Ok! Time to crack down and get shit done.

Hopefully this post was sufficient in pleasing my one avid reader. Enough to hopefully get me back up to being on your feed? *hopeful look*

NEW DISCOVERY!

2008-10-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

While frolicking/restaurant hopping around Geylang, Wendy and I stumbled across a fruit stand which featured a small round potato looking thing that we became very curious about. We asked if we could just buy one piece, but the lady was quite nice and let us have a free sample. Upon splitting the skin open, we were confronted with something that looked very similar to lychee. "Lychee?" we inquired to her. "No! Is b____!" she replied. It was a bit garbled, I don't really remember exactly what it was she said. Anyway, we bit into it and were surprised to find a grapefruit/pomelo taste fill our mouths. Quite nice indeed. After some research on Google, I have discovered that this is called the Duku. Go out and try it!

P.S. I know you like that the Duku are set against my beautiful hot pink sheets.

PANDA FOOD

2008-10-13T07:21:00.000-07:00

My love for pandas is only slightly surpassed by my love for food. And I love pandas a lot. I don't know if I'd be able to eat this bento box, ever. Link for some more food art. Any girls do this for your boyfriends ever?

CELEBRITIES IN FONT

2008-10-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

Link for Charlie Chaplin, James Dean, and Marlon Brando.

INVESTORS GONE WILD!

2008-10-08T01:26:00.000-07:00

Oh Sinfest, how I love thee.

WONDER GIRLS - NOBODY

2008-10-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

Might be a little late, but new single from Wonder Girls: The Wonder Years Trilogy. The song is catchy and quite good, can't lie, and MV is great. FYI, Wonder Girls are the girls who brought you the (in)famous Tell Me song (and dance). If you have been living in a cave this past year, please refer to this link and edumacate yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpcDPr6b5o4

LOVE IS...

2008-10-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

While browsing through my Xanga subscriptions, I came across a post asking readers to describe "love" in 10 words or less. Cliches such as "love is never having to say you're sorry," weren't allowed. Here are some of my favorites:

-to make two crooked halves work together.
-Love: making you feel beautiful inside and out, every single day.
-love is giving to someone the power to destroy you, but trusting them not to do it.

damn i exceeded the words limit....

How do you describe love?

TRIP TO THE LAND OF 90 CENT PHO, PART I

2008-10-03T02:38:00.000-07:00

After a week of frolicking in the land of pho and spring rolls, I am now quite sad to be back in Singapore, land of the...NUS library and school. Vietnam was definitely nothing I had experienced before - its vibrant cities just have a flavor all their own. While it was nice being immersed in a completely new and different place, and though I was extremely depressed to have to come back, I've come to see Singapore as home now. Homey and cozy and...familiar.

A group of 3 EAP girls and I embarked on our journey lastlast Thursday afternoon. Here we are! Introductions starting from top left and working clockwise: Wendy Mak from UCLA, she likes to eat a lot =]. Lian Quach from Berkeley, she has the most out of control frowny face I've ever seen, and is my roomie. Donna Choi from Berkeley, she makes stencils and is an overall badass. And finally, Carolyn Kao from UCSD, she used to be really pale but ever since she went to Bali, has slowly become tanner and tanner. She is a little displeased about it. Anyway, we're really cute.

We started our trip in Northern Vietnam: Hanoi (the capital), and made trips to the surrounding areas of Halong Bay and Ninh Binh. We arrived at our hostel around 11pm at night and attempted to find something to eat, with very limited success. The thing about Hanoi is that there is a nightly curfew of about 11:30pm. Why that is is a bit of a mystery to me, but nevertheless, the streets are dark and filled with some loiterers after that time. We settled for a small stand of Donnar kebabs, for 15,000vnd (approx. 90 cents), with low expectations. It definitely turned out to be amazingly delicious. Picture a huge stack of meat slowly rotating in front of a heat lamp...grease and oil and fat dripping off, sizzling. A guy slices off the meat and puts it into pita bread filled with vegetables and sauce and then we stuff it down our faces. Definitely kicked off our trip in the right direction. The main theme of our travel group was definitely food.

The next day was Halong Bay day. A 2 day 1 night tour spent on an imperial junkboat as we cruised between the karsts (the technical term for the big hunks of limestone in the water). We walked through caves filled with stalactites and stalagmites (how to distinguish two, which was something I learned from The Magic School Bus: stalactites hang from the ceiling...stalaCtites, and stalagmites come up from the ground...stalaGmites), kayaked and spotted little fish flying across the water as well as giant jellyfish suspended in the water, and jumped off the boat to swim in the green waters, jellyfish and all. Halong Bay is undeniably beautiful - it was hard to stop taking pictures of the scenery.

After coming back, we aimlessly walked around and somehow managed to stumble across a night market. There was nothing too amazing about this market, until we found the sticky picture stalls. Not stalls like the high tech Japanese cubicles that blow wind on you and let you decorate your pictures - no, these stalls were someone's webcam connected to an old desktop computer surrounded by fluorescent lights. Amazingly ghetto, and amazingly life fulfilling. Also, even better than the Japanese machines, IMO. Japanese sticky pics have a very annoying feature of timing you as you take pictures and decorate them, making your whole experience extremely stressful. Also, once you take a picture, there is no untaking it. With our ghetto sticky pics, we could retake a picture we didn't like as many times as we wanted, and the man waited for us to be situated in our pose before clicking "enter". So wonderful! We took 8 pictures and looked at them at least once every day on the trip. We also discovered the wonderful world of coconut milk popsicles - 3,000vnd for one (approx. 20 cents). We took them for granted, however, and did not take any pictures with them. But imagine a while rectangle of heavenly goodness attached to chopstick split in half longways. And little coconut bits flecking the surface. We returned to the night market around 2-3 times just for sticky pics and popsicles. And hotpot.

Bia Hoi's. Little shops scattered around the corners of Old Quarter. Bia hoi means 'draught beer', which each shop homebrews itself. 3,000vnd a glass. 20 cent beer. No where else will I ever be able to procure such cheap alcohol. The taste took a little getting used to (there was a bit of a...peanutty? aftertaste), but it was amazing 20 cent beer. Needless to say, we were there every night with our homemade deck of cards. I forgot to mention, looking at the karsts at Halong Bay got a little old so after a while, we couldn't stand the boredom anymore and decided to invest in a deck of handmade cards. Definitely the center of attention wherever we went. So fascinating that when we whipped them out at the bia hoi, a man selling books came up behind us and quietly watched our game. The fact he didn't even attempt to sell us anything really speaks volumes, as you can't walk 5 steps, or even sit quietly for 10 seconds without someone shoving something to buy in your face. A street food pho place was 10 steps away. You can't get much better than 20 cent beer and 90 cent pho.

Next, Ninh Binh. The place we went to was called Tam Coc, which people call "Halong Bay On Land." It was definitely more beautiful than Halong Bay, for sure. We sat on a tiny little boat, rowed by an old grandma (she probably could've beaten me up) and we rowed for a good 1-2 hours on the river through caves and marshes and such. Quiet and peaceful, perhaps too much so, Donna and I almost fell asleep on the boat. We also visited a couple of temples dedicated to the...first emperor of Vietnam, I believe. It was overall a rather cultural trip.

Coming back, we traversed the streets of Old Quarter in search of the famous Trang Tien ice cream. A bit unsuccessful in our endeavor, but we did get ice cream that I could not stop eating. Walking back to our hostel along the lake, we came across a large square that was bathed in the glow of warm lights. A large statue towered above people playing asian hackeysack, breaking, bicycling, playing ball, and kids rollerblading.
We got caught up in it all and bought an asian hackeysack and attempted to play. In a corner, of course, as to not embarass ourselves too thoroughly. It definitely requires a sort of coordination that I do not possess.

We ended our last night in Hanoi with a large and brutal pillowfight, and left for the airport in the morning.

End part I of my Vietnam trip. Next, Saigon.

EPIK HIGH - 1분 1초 (1 MINUTE, 1 SECOND)

2008-10-01T00:22:00.000-07:00

From Lovescream, Epik High's newly released mini-album.

HELLO, WORLD

2008-09-29T04:35:00.000-07:00

Hello, world! I have finally decided to make a definitive switch. I have moved yet again, this time out of Xanga altogether, though I think I'll keep changoomangoo around for a little while longer. Scribbles of a madcow shall be a place for me to scribble, share, muse, rant, and for now, post my adventures in Southeast Asia.

It seems like it was just yesterday that I closed my first Xanga account (carolynbie) for good and switched to my current changoomangoo site. I had kept it from September 30, 2002 to August 26, 2004...meaning that things such as blog content, spelling, and grammar would all be abysmal and embarrassing to myself. Around the time I made my new Xanga, I believed that I was too grown to keep such a teenybopper blog and decided it was time for a fresh start. Looking back though, my first posts on changoomangoo were equally juvenile, though spelling and grammar had substantially improved. Now I have "grown up" again and decided to move onto Blogger where the template is more simple and elegant...and hopefully my entries will reflect the "maturity" I've gained over the years. But knowing me, I'll probably look back on this in a couple years and laugh at what a silly little ninny I sound like.

But for all the things I say about the posts the younger me wrote, I really enjoy going through old blogs and letting memories wash me into the ocean of nostalgia. I remember days that I'd forgotten, things made me laugh until my stomach hurt, the trials and tribulations I survived, and most importantly, the memories I had with old friends. There are a lot of people who turn their noses up at blogging, saying that they're too old (implying that they're too cool) to keep blogs anymore. But no one outgrows wanting to remember their past, do they?

In any case, short introduction of myself.

Location: Singapore
Age: 21 (finally!)
Occupation: 4th year student at UCSD, currently on exchange at the National University of Singapore
About me: A Taiwanese-American girl who was born and raised in San Jose, CA, where Asians dominate the population. My nickname, among many, is Cow, because it is a frequent mispronunciation of my last name (Kao). My trademark cartoon cow was born while I was doodling during my Taiwan Film class (Spring quarter, my second year - 2006). Through subsequent classes, it evolved into the cow it is today. I am quiet...but can be quite loud, but not shy, and a good listener...but sometimes I still like to be able to share my opinions and thoughts. I enjoy having conversations about anything and everything - from politics to farts. I'm a tad quirky, have a potty mouth, and a big laugh. Not a typical girl. I live my life moment to moment and so far...these moments have been spectacular.
Things I like: Lazy days, but also days that are so busy I don't have time to catch a breath are nice once in a while. I love artsy-fartsy people and stuff, though I am not an artsy-fart myself. I love music - I go through genre phases...currently Korean pop, but I have experienced hiphop, R&B, rock, pop, instrumentals, and alternative phases in the past. My favorite food is everything, but if I had to choose, it'd be pho. I love cherries, white peaches, and watermelon. I love candid pictures. Almond jello. Witty TV shows i.e. Arrested Development and Invader Zim. Witty people. Stand up comedy i.e. not Dane Cook. Video games i.e. Guitar Hero and Mariokart Doubledash and Smash Melee. Sticky pics. Ice cream and popsicles. Good company. Fond memories. MSN smilies. Cuddling. Learning new languages. Curling up with a good book and not being able to put it down i.e. Time Traveler's Wife. Facebook. Facebook stalking. Wikipedia. Sinfest, Geekologie, the Superficia l, PostSecret. Disney movies. Hayao Miyazaki & Joe Hisaishi. Pandas. So on and so forth.
Me in a nutshell: I am still trying to find myself, but for now, I'm a little bit of everything.

PAUL NEWMAN

2008-09-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

"The most Paul moment...is when he sees the crazy lady down the street and offers his arm and walks her back home as if she were a queen." - Stewart Stern, LA Times

NUMBER SIX FINDS A FRIEND

2008-09-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

Came across this little gem while digging around Digg yesterday.

http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2008/09/16/33-masters-of-cg-art-awesome-digital-inspiration/

Here is my favorite.