new england weather

who told mother nature that today was supposed to be 70 degrees?

thank you!

first day of school

a super special day for all!

the first day of school gets less and less exciting every year. not that it was ever all that exciting to begin with, but for some reason this year just feels like it came out of nowhere. so it still hasn't hit me that i've started school already.

sucks for you guys who haven't.

cause i get out earlier than you.

sleeping fail

i woke up this morning at 8:30 today.

to the average person, that is the time when one normally wakes up. as a matter of fact, 8:30 would generally be late for an average person who has to go to work. but as luck would have it, i do not have work today, and i looked forward to sleeping in and naturally waking up about 3 hours later. so you could imagine the frustration i felt when i was forced awake.

by a fire alarm.

through all the times i've been at the kap house, i have never heard the fire alarm go off once. nor have i heard of any instances of when it had in the past few years. why now?

being the good resident as i was, i hopped immediately out of bed and walked outside. we waited outside for a few minutes while the fire department sent a truck over. when they got here, sirens and all, they promptly entered the house and proceeded to check out the trouble. none of us could guess what could have possibly triggered the alarm, especially since all of us were asleep when the alarm went off. did something catch on fire?

no. turns out there was too much dust on the third floor. what?

anyway, they turned the alarm off and then told us to be careful. so they left, and by this time it was 9 in the morning. i wanted more sleep, so i hopped in bed and tried to sleep.

at approximately 9:04, the alarm went off AGAIN.

note that the firemen had JUST left the house.

so we frantically called our security provider, and they told us to reset our system to restore peace in the house. by this point, i was just tired and cranky, and i wanted bed. so i got back to bed and slept.

surprise! alarm goes off for a THIRD time. so after another phone call, we hit the 'silent' button on the alarms, and the provider said they'd come check out the alarms at noon. problem solved.

turns out the second floor alarm doesn't know the meaning of SILENT.

basically house beeped for like 4 straight hours and i got no sleep yay.

my last day of work

4:22 PM - i think it's only fitting that the song i heard on the radio while i was leaving was 'already gone'. i'm also surprised at how sad i feel for being done.

4:06 PM - and now i'm done!

4:00 PM - talked to my boss for like 20 mins about life.

3:34 PM - i just got a lesson on how to read feeder maps by jenna michelle cloutier. when am i ever going to read a feeder map again?

3:01 PM - ONE HOUR. I WANT TO GO HOME.

2:57 PM - i hate when the bathroom is closed for cleaning. i feel like it happens almost every other time i have to go.

2:38 PM - david sides has got to be one of the most talented musicians out there. check him out at http://www.youtube.com/user/kemlye1

2:30 PM - i've resorted to watching youtube vidoes.

1:47 PM - i just asked my boss to write me a reference letter, but he told me he might not be able to because apparently the company doesn't want to be liable for their employees' actions in other areas...

11:52 AM - OUT TO LUNCH. BRB.

11:37 AM - uh oh, i only have 5 dollars. but that's okay, i guess i'll get a five. five dollar foot long! (even though it's actually $5.31, now that tax has gone up...)

11:36 AM - my stomach is growling sooo loud. i want to eat!

11:07 AM - i just scanned several documents for my boss. does that count as actual work?

10:39 AM - i'm hungry.

9:52 AM - aw, he found it. but he has NO idea who did it hahaha

9:47 AM - oh my god... they came out with ong bak 2? http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809869619/video/15003055

9:45 AM - time passes by too slowly when there's nothing to do.

9:16 AM - just found the other co-op's iphone laying around on his desk. we hid it on top of an exit emergency sign... let's see how long it takes before he finds it! (and this is the kid who will send out random emails on your account if you leave your computer unattended.)

8:05 AM - i'm late for work again. but i walked into the office and no one's here. at all.

trapped

i always look forward to summer. it's the time of year when i have no obligations to anything, and i can pretty much pursue whatever i want, whenever i want. i can just be myself for three whole months and not have to follow someone else's footsteps. i can just sit down, relax, and enjoy the moment while ignoring the hustle and bustle of the world around me. it's uplifting, you know?

but it's already been a week since classes ended, and i feel like i haven't done much. home is great and all, but i definitely miss the community back at wpi and how easy it is to get in touch with people there. i always enjoy getting out of classes really early, but whenever i come home i realize that most of my friends are still at college. so yeah, the first few days are always tough. i'm hoping it will get better from here though, and things will start to pick up once people start trickling home.

having some time to myself this past week has given me some time to just sit down and think. i've come to realize that whenever i'm free from classes and swimming and whatnot, i'm not much of a human being. in a way, i enjoy being told what to do, and i love following directions. it gives me a sense of accomplishment for myself and whoever i am working for. but once those directions are taken away, i'm completely lost. i wake up every morning, sleep in my bed until my head hurts, and get up and wander around the house until it's dark outside. i always dream about things i can do in my free time, like learning how to cook or playing drums like a pro, but when it all comes down to it i don't even make an effort to start. some summer, huh?

maybe i just need a change of scenery. or maybe i just need someone to slap me and get me off my lazy butt. whatever it is, i need to find that switch that makes me function again. or else i'm just going to wither away here in my house and pretend like summer didn't even exist.

it also doesn't help that i don't have access to a car anymore. which makes it even harder for me to do stuff and go places :(

in other news, our water heater broke today. i was looking forward to a nice hot shower when i woke up this morning, but i guess that's not gonna happen for a while. sad.

[edit]

so i just found a tray full of desserts, and i grabbed a huuuge chocolate-covered strawberry! i've never seen anything like this before.


it's practically the same size as my phone!


yeah... delicious. i know you want it >:D

note to self

three years later and you are still awful at history.

pretty much why i chose a tech school.

heat wave

talk about crazy new england weather...

gotta love how it suddenly becomes 80 degrees (and apparently almost 90 back in lex), totally caught me off guard and now i'm searching for all my summer clothes again haha. but of course, nice weather makes me want to be outside. and since i want to be outside i no longer want to be inside doing homework / studying for finals and the like. counterproductive.

in other unrelated news, intramural soccer has officially ended, and we managed an incredible record of 0-6. i'm tired of getting hit in the face with soccer balls. and at least a soccer goal didn't fall on me this year. so i guess it was success! (and we can only get better, ha)

seven more days of school! ahhhhhh

incorrect

way to go paul. you fail.

almost there

what, only two more weeks until school is over? i think that's pretty manageable. almost free! though i must admit, although i am really looking forward to being done with classes i'm also dreading going home, simply because... there really isn't much to do when i'm at home. can i just stay here on campus? and have everyone else also be here on campus while i'm here?

i know i haven't really been up to par on my blog updating, but i assure you i've been spending all that time i should be using to blog on other things that are also making my life super unproductive. so here's a little update on how things are going, in reverse chronological order:

i'm sick. i've got a fever and a headache that won't go away but it's slowly getting better. and i've suddenly become really good friends with tylenol.

motion city soundtrack came on sunday night! the show was only $5 since it was on campus, and it was totally worth it. a band named zolof and the rock and roll destroyers (?) opened for them, and although it's probably the strangest name i've ever heard for a band i really enjoyed their music. definitely not what i expected, so good job for surprising me (you know it's good when one of their songs is called "arrggghh, i'm a fucking pirate"). and can i just say right now how incredible mcs sounds live? i went to see them last year when they played with anberlin and metro station, and they are still one of THE best live bands i've ever seen. and to top it off, the lead singer totally played the wrong part in one of the songs and he couldn't figure it out for about 5 minutes. they had to start over. win!

oh, and i also got to meet the guy after the show - after talking to him for a bit i decided not to take a picture with him only to walk away and immediately regret not asking him for one. way to go.

autograph from lead singer justin pierre. badass.

wpi also just hosted relay for life this past weekend, and i must say i had a blast! (minus the rain and sickness, of course.) i ended up raising $140, which is pretty decent. KAP actually came in second overall in fundraising (losing to phi sig freshmen...), which is still pretty impressive considering we only started raising money about three weeks before the event actually happened. cooool. but yeah, the night was full of fun, i walked a total of 6 hours (phew), and they brought some pretty cool stuff this time. there were the inflatables, spelling bee, and talent show as always, but this year they added a giant monopoly game that covered the entire quad and featured some real-life action. i volunteered to play, but turns out i suck at monopoly because i landed on every single pre-owned property, tax, utility, and chance/community chest space. it took until about my second to last turn for me to buy my first actual property... a dark purple. haha oh well, it was fun regardless.

on friday, instead of having our usual water polo practice in our less-than-average pool we took an adventure to clark! it was supposed to be a friendly scrimmage between us and them but it turned out to be a friendly scrimmage between some of us with some of them and some more of us with the rest of them. because they only had 7 players... but it worked out and we were finally able to play in a pool that's a legit size.

earlier on friday i interviewed with nationalgrid for a summer internship position, and i think it went well. but while i was there i couldn't help but think about the time the power went out in our apartment and it was nattionalgrid's fault because they screwed up one of the underground connections and we didn't have power for a few days.

mmm, i think that's it for now. hopefully i'll be able to update more often so i don't have to keep writing super long posts like this one.

later y'all

good ideas

Alex Teng: dude
Alex Teng: ive been having so good ideas lately
Lee Chiang: you're on top of your game
Alex Teng: i was talking wiht chu earlier about this pictionary
Alex Teng: abs
Alex Teng: pick up line
Alex Teng: it would be like
Alex Teng: "lets play pictionary"
Alex Teng: and then before she could really respond
Alex Teng: you would flash your abs
Alex Teng: and be like 10 pack abs
Alex Teng: and say its her turn
Lee Chiang: hahahahahah
Alex Teng: why it would work
Alex Teng: 1. 10 pack abs = legit
Alex Teng: 2. sponatenous/funny - girls dig that
Alex Teng: Why it wouldn't work
Alex Teng: 1. kinda lol/ridiculous
Alex Teng: 2. if you wearing a thong she could see it
Alex Teng: but those things are non starters cause
Alex Teng: im always ridiculous
Alex Teng: and i don't have thongs
Alex Teng: i've thought htis through so much man
Alex Teng: and even if you don't have the abs you could
Alex Teng: 1. get better lighting
Alex Teng: 2. get a 300 tan
Lee Chiang: hahahah

same kid who goes on to say

Lee Chiang: i got 1 hour of sleep
Lee Chiang: so it was close to an all nighter
Lee Chiang: hahahah
Alex Teng: lee it could be a good excuse man
Alex Teng: with the ladies
Alex Teng: ooops did i just fall into your arms?
Alex Teng: sorry i'm just a little tired
Alex Teng: late nights in teh er

ridiculous.

ithaca

Constantine P. Cavafy (1911)

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

"it's good until, but it's still okay after..."

so i was checking my email today, and i came upon one that was sent from netops.

Your system lchiang.res.wpi.net is configured with an incorrect IP address. As a result, I've suspended your network access until this misconfiguration can be corrected. Please configure your system to use DHCP to obtain its IP address. Once this is done, let netops@wpi.edu know and we'll reactivate your connection.

Thanks,
Chuck

so let me get this straight.

from my understanding, you're telling me that my computer changed something on its own (since i clearly didn't configure or touch anything related to my network settings), so you're going to punish me by taking away my internet access in my apartment.

you want me to change the settings back, even though i don't know what was changed, and then you want me to contact you once i reconfigure my system, which i clearly didn't configure in the first place.

so basically, i don't know what i'm actually supposed to do.

why.

back in the day

do you remember... way back in middle school, when everyone used to fill out those silly surveys about themselves, because it was the coolest thing to do and all of your friends did it too?

i do.

i always posted them on my xanga, and i'd always try to answer each question with a funny response so people would get a good laugh at them.

Do You...

1. Believe in God? sure no

hah. i laughed.

4. WHAT SPORT WOULD YOU SAY YOU ARE BEST AT?
the only one i do - swimming. unless you don't think swimming is a sport. then i'll have to say chess.

way to hate swimming, punk.

17. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU STARTED FILLING THIS IN?
eating dinner and picking my nose. just kidding.

there's gotta be a reason why i actually wrote this. aside from making it up.

21. DO YOU OWN ANYTHING LEATHER?
wallet, belt. maybe a whip in my closet.

sigh...

but of course, every now and then i'd take my time and fill one out pretty seriously.

let's backtrack a few years, say, 2005.

20 random facts about me!
20. i currently own the largest room in the house :)
19. i can make incredibly high pitched noises.
18. my left foot bends inwards slightly when i walk (which explains my illegal breaststroke kick)
17. i worship the Red Sox daily.
16. food = good! i absolutely LOVE to eat. which is why i stay so skinny.
15. i am lactose intolerant, but i still manage to drink a cup of milk a day and live.
14. when i get bored in class, i doodle on my desk.
13. i swim a lot. maybe too much, because my hair has been turned brown.
12. i spend way too much time doing nothing.
11. i'm still trying to solve a Rubik's Cube in under 20 seconds.
10. i think the Backstreet Boys are cool.
9. i am nocturnal. i sleep during the day.
8. i HaTe PpL wH0 lyK 2 TipE lYk ThIs
7 was being stupid. so i took it out.
6. yes, i do have a girly side. most of you have probably seen it already.
5. i have scraped the same spot on my right knee three times.
4. i hate sundays. i like mondays.
3. i have 150+ hours of community service :O
2. sparknotes is my best friend.
1. i want to go to MIT. fo realz, yo.

and let's see just how much has changed.

20. i currently own the smallest room in the house. go me.
19. i think puberty finally hit.
18. i'm pretty sure this doesn't happen anymore. my breaststroke is fine.
17. maybe not daily, but it's still up there!
16. haha! yes.
15. i stopped drinking milk for the same reason. ironic.
14. nowadays i just sleep.
13. i'd say this statement is still true...
12. agreed.
11. haven't done it yet. should work on that, hmm?
10. and who doesn't? :D
9. i'm old now, can't do that anymore.
8. who still types like that? i'd cry if i saw that today.
7. stupid.
6. well, i do like shopping...
5. and let's keep it that way.
4. i hate mondays. i like sundays.
3. i'm pretty sure i still have those 150 hours. and probably more.
2. ha. english. hahaha.
1. MIT? yeah, i'm at MIT now. yeah.

funny, isn't it? see what a few years does to you.

i guess this is the glory of keeping a diary. so you can go back and make fun of yourself later :)

vacation update - visits

so the past few days have been very exciting, if i do say so myself.

yesterday, nick catano invited me up to new hampshire for a visit. we had originally planned to do something later on in the week, but i guess some people were getting together for dinner that day so i figured it would be a good idea to just come up then. so i told him i'd be up at 11, and we'd just hang out for the day until dinner came around. cool.

after checking yahoo! maps, i found out it'd take a little over an hour to get to goffstown. simple math tells me that leaving at 10 would suffice, so i woke up at 9:30 and grabbed some food and headed out the door at 9:55. stupid me forgot that it snowed pretty heavily the night before and then froze over, so i went out to my car to find that it was covered in ice. took me a good 15 minutes to completely clear out my windshield and windows, and then another 5 to get my car out of my driveway. 15 minutes late, right there. but wait, this is where it really gets fun.

since i had neither a printer nor a GPS, i handwrote the directions on an index card and figured it'd be enough. that's what people did before a GPS was invented, right? can't be that hard. i made it all the way to new hampshire (success!) and kept driving on some turnpike for about 15 miles. for some reason my directions didn't give me exit numbers, only street names to turn on. i had written down "turn on bedford / milford", and while i was driving i saw an exit for "bedford st". naturally, i turned, and ran into a toll for $0.50. it then told me to go straight for about a mile, but i drove forward a few hundred feet only to find out that there was no such thing as 'go straight'. only left or right. unless i wanted to drive off a cliff. confused, i turned right and stopped at a local gas station and called nick for help. apparently i turned one exit early (super), and had to get back on the highway. so i backtracked to where i originally turned, and looked around frantically for an exit to get back on the turnpike. nothing. no luck. what kind of highway exit doesn't have a road that leads back on the highway? i drive around a little more only to find that there is in fact a road to the highway. in the opposite direction. seeing no other possible options, i got back on the highway going south and told myself i'd take a big u-turn. sounds logical, right? only it was slightly a struggle, because

- i had to pay another $0.50 to get back on the highway. wtf.
- the closest exit from where i got on was about 8 miles down the turnpike.
- when i finally reached the exit, i had to pay yet ANOTHER $0.50 toll to get off.
- oh, and another fifty cents out of poor lee's pocket to get back on the !@#$ing highway.

and to top it off, when i finally reached the real "bedford" exit ten minutes later, i drove up to my fifth toll booth of the day, and paid $1.00. excellent. way to go, new hampshire highways.

in summary, i paid a grand total of $3.00 to get to nick catano's house, when it should've only cost me a third as much. WHY.

after navigating around the rest of new hampshire and arriving at nick's house with two less dollars and probably a million less brain cells than i should have, we went out to lunch at the university of southern new hampshire. wait, the university of what? yeah i dunno, i never heard of it either. regardless, it was delicious, very hearty, and free. woohoo! then we drove around town and i accompanied him while he ran some errands. after all that was done, we got back to his place and bummed around for a few hours. i lost in an epic game of stratego though. at one point, nick's piece was sitting right next to my flag, and it stayed there for about 7 turns. i was ready to pee myself (but not really). and then we played monopoly and i got my revenge by beating him and two computers. ha.

at 4 we left to go pick up sam at her place, and chilled there for about half an hour while she made dinner. she just got her wisdom teeth out on monday, so it was easy to tell that she was drugged up and kinda swollen on the cheeks. poor sam. i played with her "really dumb" cat for a while, though. it kinda just sat around and stared at you, unless you stuck your hand out. at which point it will rub its head on your hand for as long as you keep it there. take your hand away and it goes back to staring at you. talk about being easily amused...

at around 4:45 we departed once again and headed for cactus jack's and met up with other fellow swimmers - kaitlyn, dan, bobby, jess, therese, and jenny. dinner was delicious! i had a steak and cheese quesadilla and some filet mignon fajitas. oh my god. we then wrapped it up with some coldstone, and i tried cake batter ice cream for the first time. ahhhhhhhhh! as jess put it - "it tastes just like birthday cake!". thank you, world, for inventing both ice cream cake and cake ice cream. genius.

i left after the meal, and although i had another but slightly smaller highway fail i managed to get home safely at 8. the rest of the night consisted of me falling asleep on my bed and waking up multiple times. tuesday, the end.

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

today i woke up at around 10:45, because alana was coming up for a visit! i bummed around for a bit (because that's what i do in the mornings) until around 11:30, when alana informed me that she had "woken up late" and would get here a little later than expected. okay. so it pretty much gave me some more time to bum around, haha. she finally got to my house at 12:30, and then we set off on our little excursion around lexington. and i got to meet dori and her four little rubber ducks!

we drove into lexington center and ate lunch at bertucci's. you know, it's funny how every time i go to bertucci's it's always different. but it makes sense. whenever i eat there during summer / winter break, there are always high schoolers running the front desk and waitressing. on days like today, it's all the adults. kinda gives a different feel every time. anyway i had a pretty delicious chicken parm, but i didn't finish it so i brought it home.

after lunch we drove over to LHS, and i walked around the main building for a little bit. i think it's the first time i stepped foot in that building since i graduated... nothing's changed though. i saw mr. shorter sitting in commons 1, and it looked like he was busy grading papers. we wandered around some more and then left, because there wasn't really anything exciting there. unless you count running into alina and danica for 30 seconds "exciting". so then we went back home at sat around for a bit.

then we went bowling and it was pretty intense. turns out alana is pretty good herself, and put up some pretty good games. i barely won though... by 3 points the first time (145-142) and then by 5 (127-122) the second. i'm gonna lay it out right here - i score a bit over 100 on an average day. i don't know what happened today! i'm sure in the long run you'd completely kick my ass haha.

i guess something happened at home and we weren't gonna eat there, so we drove over to the mall to grab some quick food. we weren't really that hungry, so i thought the food court would be good for that. on the way over, i got a frantic phone call from jeff, and he vented about how he got a B in dynamics and the rest of us got As. he had a right to be upset, since i'm pretty sure jeff got the best grades on all the assignments than the rest of us. but of course, the other 'jeff greenwood' is in our class, so i guess fofana just messed up the names. must be frustrating to have another kid with the same name as yours... haha.

after a quick stop at chick-fil-a we walked around half the mall for a bit and ran by the lego store. so many legos! kinda brings back childhood memories. i wonder where all my legos are now?

then we just drove back to my place again, and it was getting pretty dark out so it was time for alana to leave. but before she departed she really wanted to clean her windshield, so we found some windex in the house and proceeded to wipe both the inside and outside of the windshield. fun fun fun. and then she left around 8, and that was the end of our little lexington adventure. i had a blast, though.

but later on in the night i had a pretty big struggle. i think i'll write about it in a separate post.

vacation: it's good for you

i've only been home for a day, but it's already been pretty fun!

classes ended on friday, but instead of going home i decided to stay the night and then leave saturday afternoon. i didn't have class, but i spent a majority of friday night working on my final exam for ME 1800. that's alright though, i ended up with an 86 and was pretty happy to just get it out of the way.

yesterday, i called my parents and told them to come pick me up at 2. i got ready and everything at about 1:45, and i brought all of my stuff downstairs and waited for them to come.

so i waited.
and waited.
and waited some more.

they didn't knock on the door until 3:15. ahhh!

haha it wasn't that big of a deal, but i just thought it was funny.
way to ditch me.

after a relatively short drive, i arrived at home at around 4:15. but about 15 minutes later, charles came to pick me up and we drove down to providence to visit michelle at RISD. it was kinda sad to only be home for 15 minutes and then leave again, but that's alright - i've got all week to spend here! so we drove for about an hour and got lost a few times on the road, even though we had a GPS. it led us off the highway, and then decided to go back on a few minutes later. pointless. and stupid.

on the way down we passed by the providence mall. i saw the huge parking garage and i swear i saw the same thing recently while on a bus. did we pass it on the way to one of our swim meets? it bothered me for a while, cause i couldn't think of when i saw it.

anyway we finally met up with michelle, and then headed to the mall like we always do! after a few rounds of clothes shopping (cause that's what we do) and some delicious johnny rockets, we settled on going to see watchmen. but not in imax, because that was already sold out. bummer. i've gotta say that it was a pretty well done movie. definitely something that i enjoyed watching, but it isn't up there on my list of favorites. but hey, it was still worth my money though. oh, and somewhere along the way we ran into eric ho. twice. and then we drove home at 10:30 but got lost again on the way back so i didn't get home until around midnight...

today i really didn't do much. kinda bummed around the house, cleaned up my room, watched a bit of tv, and then went out to dinner with the family. days like these are nice though, it's always good to just sit back and relax without having any worries.

i'm looking forward to the rest of vacation though! i'm sure there will be more eventful days in the near future :D

finals week...

so it's 2:45 in the morning, and i'm still awake. how productive!

shows just how productive i really am.

i think it's safe to say that i no longer have to go to my classes, even though we only have two days left. i took my dynamics final on tuesday, and i have a take-home exam and a lab report for my manufacturing class due on friday, which i can just submit online. which leads me to wonder why i haven't finished those yet, especially since i have so much more free time. better get cracking on those, don't want to leave them for friday night... eh.

today, while i sat on my butt, i was wondering about how our daily life cycle works and how it affects us. i've noticed that my mood usually depends on the time of day (though not entirely), and i'm almost always feeling energetic at the same time every day. i've heard that people tend to have energy highs and lows to their days, and maybe it's true, so i decided to try to break it down.

lee's daily cycle:

morning (5AM - 10AM)
i usually wake up at some point in this period. i'm almost always grumpy, since i never want to get up and have the day start. but i do it anyway, and usually you'll find me either half asleep in the weight room/pool or sitting in lecture with my eyes closed. this can be classified as one of my "low" points.

noon-ish (10AM - 1 PM)
i start to wake up a bit, and usually i'll be more active and energetic. unfortunately, i'm almost always still in class, so the only thing i notice is my ability to focus to the teacher more and take neater notes in my notebook. oh well.

afternoon (1PM - 5PM)
assuming i've just eaten food, the combination of a stuffed tummy and boring afternoon classes often leads to a food coma. i also have trouble staying awake at work, because it's always hot and the comfort of the heat always lulls me to sleep. i don't like this time of day either.

basically, up to this point, my day is still boring and uneventful. unless i've napped, and then it's just awesome.

evening (5PM - 9PM)
done with classes! done with swimming! this is usually the most exciting part of my day, when i feel accomplished. i'm usually in a really good mood, and my tendency to slack off and procrastinate is at its highest. definitely the "high" point of my day.

night (9PM - 12AM)
i start to realize that i've been screwing around a lot, and then i panic and try to get myself to do some homework. my sugar high fades a bit, but i'm still in a good enough mood to run through all the things i need to get done for the day and not complain about it. easily the most productive part of my day. tendency to slack off is still high, though.

early morning (12AM - 5AM)
whenever it gets this far, i just give up on work. everything will seem funny to me, and i'll start to laugh at just about everyone. especially if you're talking about the teletubbies. i like this time of day. yayyy!

anyway, it seems pretty accurate to me. and seeing as how it is currently early morning, i find myself easily amused by this blog. i'll just keep typing and typing and typing... it'll never end!

but i'll take a break for now.

swimming

it's hard to believe that our season is finally over.

looking back to the beginning of the year, it was hard for me to imagine the kind of success that we have all been able to experience. i expected this to just be another long year of swimming, but little did i know how much of an impact our team could make on all of us. i would like to personally thank each and everyone one of you on the team, i definitely would not have been able to make it this far without you guys. from the crappy morning practices to the team dinners and shaving parties, i would definitely say this has been the best swimming season ever.

with that said, i'd like to reflect on one incredible weekend.

friday - 200 frestyle relay, 50 freestyle, 400 medley relay
prelims went just as planned. i qualified 5th in the 50 (making my first final ever) and tied a school record in 21.35. in finals, we missed the B cut in the 200 freestyle relay by around 0.7, but shattered the school record by 2 seconds with a 1:24.81. in the 50, i got 5th again and lowered the record a tad with a 21.31. and finally, i anchored the 400 medley relay in a freaking 46.34. we got 3rd, beating out springfield. sweet.

saturday - 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle
i swam breaststroke in the morning medley relay only to get my ass kicked by both minh and rob. and then i proceeded to sprint the first 100 in my 200 freestyle, going out in a 49 and coming back dead in a 58. i was really angry at myself, but i still managed to best time with a 1:47.53 and barely make 16th. at night, i swam it smart and got 12th with a 1:45.53. yay! i also anchored our record setting 200 medley relay in a 21.12. another yay!

sunday - 100 freestyle, 400 freestyle relay
we time trialed the 200 freestyle relay to start off prelims to try to make the B cut. we swam nearly a second slower in 1:25.78, but i went just a tiny bit faster with a 21.11. shortly after, i went a 47.73 in the 100 freestyle in prelims, good enough for 14th. i wasn't too thrilled with the time, but oh well. in finals i went a little slower - 47.91, still 14th. but then i swam a 46.87 in the 400 freestyle relay to cap off the meet. made me feel a bit better about the 100 free.

overall, we came in 4th and beat wheaton by 5 points! there were some pretty amazing swims throughout the weekend, and i can easily say that everyone swam a best time in at least one of their events. congratulations to everyone for making our season so memorable, i'll definitely miss all of the fun we had this year.

and of course, since NEWMACs is done, the dessert challenge has come to an end!

yay! i can eat desserts again!

hair dye fails

last week, we decided to dye our hair for girls' NEWMACs. well, me and a few people did, everyone else wanted to shave crazy things into their heads. so i thought it would be fun to grab some bleach and hair dye and go crazy!

first, i bleached my hair. it turned out alright - the roots were still dark but the tips were all nice and shiny yellow. perfect. later that day, i dyed it red. used up the whole bottle. now my hair was bright red, and the roots were still dark. perfect.

yesterday, i decided to dye my hair back to black so it would be somewhat normal again. so i found my bottle i bought at hot topic and then proceeded to dye my hair black with alana's help. while i was getting it dyed, i noticed that it had a slight hint of purple and it smelled strongly of grapes, although the bottle clearly said "jet black". but whatever, it was probably just the light.

and then i washed out my hair in the shower.

the water turned blue.

my hair turned purple.

and then it turned brown.

and it still smells like grape!

confused

it's been a very up and down term.

i feel like my life is taking a trip on a roller coaster right now. some parts of my life are going really well, and i am enjoying them fully. others, however, are just lagging behind.

i feel like my priorities are mixed, and as days go by more and more i just don't feel like myself anymore. things that interested me before now no longer have an impact on my life. things that i used to care about a lot no longer give me that sense of urgency that i must pay attention to it. i am living a very relaxed and carefree life, but i am also in a state of panic, especially now that the term is coming to an end. things that i have to get done are not getting done.

i keep telling myself that these feelings are temporary, but it seems like it's happening more often.

i just needed somewhere to write this out so that i can look back at it.

and i really hope that i don't stay this way.

where are your notes?

Lee Chiang: you're in my blog
Nick Catano: i thought it was gonna be something cool

so i got up at 8:30 to go to breakfast, which almost never happens because i dislike waking up an hour and a half before class. usually i get up around 10 minutes before class starts, just enough time for me to roll out of bed, put on a sweatshirt, and walk out the door with my eyes shut. but you know, i'm kinda glad i got up today. i ate a pretty filling meal and sat around for a bit before going to dynamics.

you know that feeling when you accomplish something really early on in the day and then it makes you feel good for the rest of the day? yup, i felt that today. i was proud of the fact that i got up early.

i brought ellen the recruit to dynamics today because she didn't want to go to class with nick catano. or as she put it, "english sucks". but anyway, we sat down and about 20 minutes into class, the teacher turns around and looks at her and says, "how come you're not taking notes, my friend?" and then everyone laughed, because she wasn't actually in the class. embarassing? maybe. interesting though, cause this happened to my recruit last week too. hmm.

at practice today, the water was so murky that i couldn't see the wall in front of me. i almost crashed into it three times, and twice i completely missed my turn. i blame carl, because it's always his fault for screwing up the pool on mondays. stupid carl. in brighter news, i sorta fixed my start - at least i don't go scuba diving for pennies at the bottom of the pool anymore. and i went a 16.99 in my 40 free! finally broke 17, haha.

i checked my package tracker last night, and it said my phone charger arrived in shrewsbury yesterday. which is right next door to worcester. however, it seems like people can't drive the ten minutes to deliver the package here to WPI on mondays, so i do not have the charger yet :(

and alana just told me she had a frosty.

so i'm gonna go find some ice cream.

true story

today i wanted to go outside, but i had a small dilemma. i didn't want to put on my big heavy winter coat cause it wasn't that cold out, but i didn't want to wear just a sweatshirt cause it probably wouldn't be enough. so then i looked in my closet and found this vest jacket that i never wore before. i brought it to school because i found it at home in some obscure closet and thought it would be useful.

anyway, i put it on, and was happy to see that it fit. and then i started searching the pockets to put my wallet and phone in. i found one on the inside of the jacket, so i put my phone in it.

then i decided i didn't like how the phone felt against my chest, so i took it out.

and then i found five dollars.

in the pocket.

happy valentine's day everyone! :)

men in tights

oh my god, it was freaking hot outside today. since when did the weather decide to suddenly jump to 50 degrees? not that i'm complaining, but at least you should have told me before i decided to walk outside decked out in heavy winter clothes (which proved to be very unnecessary). regardless, i liked it. go away snow, your time is up.

i love wednesdays, simply because i have one and only one class. i decided to entertain myself today by counting the number of times professor fofana said "k?" or any variation of that. i did the same thing yesterday and got around 42 in 10 minutes, but this time he got all the way up to 117 in approximately... 45 minutes. that's practically 2.5 times a minute! once every 24 seconds! can you imagine ever talking like that? i think he's slightly crazy haha.

after a well-deserved afternoon nap, i went to practice only to find out that it was time for...

GIRLS SUITS AND TIGHTS

yep. i had to wear one of those.

stop laughing, i can hear you.

hahahahaha if only i had a picture of us... i know kaitlyn came down with a camera and started taking pictures, sigh. at least it marked the start of taper because it's what we do every year, though last year i didn't wear tights cause i was a wuss and didn't want to try it. but this time, oh man... i can't believe i fit my entire lower half into that thing. seriously, have you ever opened a brand new package of tights and seen how small the leg hole is? even though it stretches like crazy, it just looks... ridiculous. anyway, practice was fun, everyone looked silly, and we all got a good laugh. that's all that matters, right?

i finally decided to buy a new phone charger so i can transfer my phone once again. hopefully i'll have that one up and working within the next week so i can get rid of this brick that some people like to call a cellular phone.

oh, and during lunch i had a delicious chocolate cake shoved in front of my face. i really REALLY wanted to eat it, but noooo, i couldn't. and besides, alana decided to give it to someone else, who apparently didn't want it either.

how many more days do i have left? :(

mmm...

let's just say that today was a pretty good day.

mmk?

clumsy

sometimes, i wonder how i still manage to get along with life just fine when i manage to screw up just about everything.

as i walked to class this morning, i slipped on a huge piece of ice and almost ate it in front of everybody.

as i was eating lunch, i got up to get some soup. i lifted the lid to pick up the ladle, and right when i grabbed the ladle, the lid fell into the soup and just sat there. two people laughed at me.

as i was sitting at my desk, i stared at my open, half-full nalgene, thinking about how bad it would be if it fell over and spilled. i then stood up and knocked my nalgene off my desk, soaking all my clothes on the floor.

i think i'm getting the hang of this.

weekend news

so the weather decided to warm up today. sweeeeeet.

anyway, as you can see i've decided to take up blogging again. it's been a while since i've touched xanga or anything like that, but nowadays i feel like i have a lot more to say. and i think my life is more interesting... ha (see below).

so i went grocery shopping today to get a bunch of food for the house, which was pretty fun considering it was at 10 in the morning. we bought maybe $400 worth of groceries, most of which was just restocking everything. it was all going well until we reached the dessert aisle and grabbed two HUGE boxes of cheesecake. holding them made me wonder why i'm still doing the challenge.

yesterday we had our final meet of the season against bridgewater state. and both teams won! pretty awesome way to end the regular season on both sides. i swam pretty well too, considering how i never swim backstroke anymore but managed to go a 57 mid in the 100. we also successfully pulled off a sweep in the 200 free relay, which almost never happens, but we got 3 teams (and almost 4) to beat out their best relay. i feel kinda bad, but not really because it was already exhibition.

and then afterwards we went out to eat at a nice restaurant. a bunch of parents went, and we gave out small awards to the seniors. overall it was pretty good, and as someone put it - this is basically the same as daka food, but it just tastes better.

i also almost got force-fed two chocolate chip cookies.

try harder.

dessert challenge!

so for those who don't know what the dessert challenge is, here are the details.

background

on january 27th, 2009, me and alana were sitting in daka and eating dinner when we came up with the wonderful idea to stop eating dessert for a week. of course, this sucks, because i love dessert like no other and i eat just about EVERYTHING that has sugar in it. so i said sure, let's give it a shot.

when one week was over, we were bold enough to to stretch it out even further - no desserts until NEWMACs (february 27th)! and almost two weeks later, here i am, dessert free (with the exception of two cupcakes, half an ice cream cake, and three oreos. read rule #2).

today is day 12.

oh my god.

rules

1. you may not eat any kind of dessert, which includes pie, cake, cookies, ice cream, and anything in between.
2. a dessert may be eaten on a special occasion (i.e. birthday, party, any kind of celebration).
3. thinking about desserts is okay. tasting a dessert is not.
4. if i get a dessert unwillingly shoved in my mouth, it does not count.

that means you, bobby.