[2003]-l'edition d'automne=====================
17.Octobre.2003 -fretag-:
a p pear
Reading back the previous 2003 log, I find it funny that the first
entry of 2003 was about potatoes. Well, its school again, and I just
bought a 10 pound bag of potatoes from Ralphs for 99 cents! hmm..
could it be another coincidence. ..? maybe Ralphs have a schedule for
sales every year planned out..
Speaking of school, this should be my last semester at UCLA.
Two midterms come roaring down the road next thursday. I'm staying
in the same apartment for the third year on Glenrock Ave.. however,
this time, I am sharing one room with my Indonesian and Vietnamnese
roommates! I have to fold up my bed every morning and set it up
whenever I sleep. Because the room is smaller, my desk is put outside
in the living room. The good thing about this room is that it has a
separate area with two sinks outside the bathroom (shower + toilet).
However, now studying in the living room may not be too convienient
since people is always walking in and out, watching the tele, eating,
or cooking. Well, I also get a good view of the glass window ..
I'm seeing the beautiful sunset right now with black palm tree
silhouettes... I guess the film of pollution just above the horizon
gives a special yellow colour to the sunset in LA!
Classes I'm taking are: Microbiology101 + lab (both separate
classes), OBEE116 Conservation Biology, and Anthropology 9 Society
and Culture. My latest class is at 9:30 AM.. so I am the one who
usually wakes up first. There isn't a particular "cool" class this
semester.. "cool" like parasitology, or cutting up cats/sharks, or
going birdwatching.. too bad..
20.October.2003 -ugetsu-:
tsukareta---
um... I was going to have two midterms on Thursday, but in great
shock, I received an email from my TA saying that my Conservation
Biology midterm is postponed to next Tuesday! @_@ eeeks! =_=||
oh, that is a sigh of relief... I didn't even really started to study
for that class.. I was concentrating on my Microbiology class.. I
printed out so many powerpoint slide lectures.. its now about 1 inch
thick!! I really feel as though my brain is going to crash.. the
buffer is already overloaded.. or is that I just need some sleep?
(cough cough.. I went to sleep at 3AM.. because I was trying out the
new chatting programme "Trillian" that I downloaded yesterday and my
oldest brother was online..) Surprisingly, I didn't feel like a one
half life zombie when getting up this morning.. In fact, I haven't felt
so awake when waking up in ages!!! I wonder if it was yesterday's
morning exercises (I felt so lazy ever since coming back to UCLA that
I forced myself to do some stretches and some kungfu exercises..), or
was it the milk tea I made? hhmm.. but, my muscles are so sore today..
need to go back to study..
31.October.2003:
j.s.
bonne anniversaire~ . ... zutto wasurenakkata yo.
zutto wasurarenai...j'espair tu es heureux. .. I hope today's cold
rain to soothe your spirit..
boring halloween. I have 8 AM discussion. To school, I just
wore all black: pants, tank top with inside connected mesh, my
trademark brown jacket, and a celtic crosss necklace.. ha, its
supposed to be, very loosely, "death" from the comic book Sandman.
I was going to wear my full outfit with my black skirt, button
shirt, and spikes at first, but it was too early in the morning, and
i just wore the other outfit. Actually, I didn't really see many
people wear a costume to school.. . it may be a little embarrassing
to have worn that outfit to school, because I would stand out like
a neon sign! I was sleepy, and went back to my apartment to sleep..
Afterwards, I changed into the full outfit at home.. but only two
of my roommates saw me in it.. and they didn't really say anything..!
hmm.. Don't know what they thought of it because its not really a
costume.. I wore that outfit to my cousin's graduation last year!!
Apparently, it was kind of noticeable,.. because after the graduation,
we had a hot pot party at my cousin's apartment, and her roommate
recognised me from the graduation ceremony!! :D :D
10 November, 2003 -montag- :
crosssed wires
Midterms are comin' down the mountain round 'n round-- (singing)
Listening to "Sex MachineGuns" while writing an essay--
Such crazy mean guitar rifts and noisy sounds!
it's so lively and gay~
My roommates been sayin' I've gone crazy,
but I feel stupid because I'm so lazy.
Its one in the morning, my dark eye bags are drooping down,
typing away while everyone else is sleeping in town.
oh ssle~eep,.. i've drowned.....
....
anywy, my brain is fried rotten tofu right now.. sorrryyy--
14.November.2003:
pit
These days, I feel like I'm trapped in a vortex that I can't
get out of. No matter how hard I study, it seems like I'm behind
in my school work, and can never do above the average exam score.
What is wrong with me? Just taking 4 classes!
Sigh.. Midterms every week for 5 weeks already. My first 2nd
midterm was this thursday for microbiology 101 lecture. It was
like a disaster. Nuclear bomb disaster. I also got back my
Microbiology lab midterm back. Terrible stuff. I'm trying to not
let these bad things affect me.. as I have one more midterm for
Conservation biology next wednesday. and the first midterm for
that class was also bad. sigh. gotta "add oil"!! but, kind of
out of energy from "riding the midnight train" every every every
week. no more strength.. but must move on.
15 November, 2003 -tou-:
can;t be beaten dead.
My Indonesian roommate managed to convince to to go see a
American football game of UCLA vs Oregon. This is the last home
game for the season, so I thought, "well, i've never went to a
sports game before.. and it is my last semester.. I probably wouldn't
ever see one game in live if i don't go to this one." So, I went to
the Central TIcket Office in the school and got a student ticket for
$7 and a free bus ticket to go to the stadium. You would think that
the stadium would be right here at UCLA, but nope!!! For some reason,
its in Pasadena.. I'd be darned if I know where that is!! =_=||
So the game is on Saturday and starts at 12:30PM, but the bus
leaves UCLA at 10 AM. It was a rough morning. I hadn't had much
sleep for the whole week. So in the end, i managed to forget my
wallet, camera, and didn't even eat my breakfast. The bus stop was
across from Dykstra and me and my roommate walked very fast to get
there on time. At the bus stop was a group of my roommate's friends.
It was there that I realized that my wallet wasn't in my backpack!
But, it was already too late!!
We rode on the bus for about 1.5 hour, using the freeway. I
asked my roommate how well our UCLA team will do, and she said
something like "we suck! We will lose!" Oh, that isn't a good sign!
We arrived at the ROse Bowl, and it was there that I realized that
I forgot my camera. Well, the stadium was very huge, at least the
parking lot was!! It is very "Southern California" style, with a
few Palm trees placed symmetrically around the stadium. We walked
for about 10 minutes or so just to go to the stadium from the parking
lot where the bus dropped us off!! Crazy! While walking to the
stadium, I noticed many groups of people eating and setting up chairs
and making BBQ. I was wondering, "what on earth are they doing?!
Aren't they going to the stadium to watch the game?! They will miss
it if they are out there having a picnic!" My Indonesian roommate
explained to me that what they are doing is "tailgating". They will
watch the game from a tv there. umm. OK, that is strange!
We arrived at the stadium, and I find so many little kiddies
running all over the place. The parking lot had so many yellow
school buses, its quite a sight! Wish I had my camera.. :( :(
So, we went to Gate C.. . First pass was a security check of bags.
I guess i didn't have anything illegal.. but they didn't say what
they were looking for!! I had a peanut butter, jelly, and boiled
egg sandwich that I quickly made in the morning, and some chocolate
chip cookies. NOw, if they checked my smaller compartment, I may be
in trouble, because I have a small knife, lighter, and a razor blade
there!! @_@|| (sweat drop rolling down) I passed that part, next,
you hand in your ticket to the lady. I gave my student ticket and
crossed the point, but the Mexican woman asked for my student ID.
EEEks! As I told you earlier, I left my wallet at home!! I told her
that i forgot my wallet at home.. She pointed to the ticket stand
outside and told me to go there... Made me go back, and back out of
the security check point.
At the ticket stand, I repeated my stupid situation, and the
girl said that I need to pay an extra $7 for a non student ticket.
"*($(*@#($(#%!$$&&^!!!", I thought menacely in my head. How am I
going to pay for the extra $$ if I forgot my wallet at home.
"Too bad", she said.. Oh, such heartless cruelty!! @*$%! I cursed
evil UCLA for not having a system for checking if you are a student
at the stadium. I mean, even at the job fairs at UCLA, if you don't
have your student ID, they have a person there to look you up on the
computer!! What am I going to do because I'm here at the
stadium, and the bus that took me here leaves 20 minutes after the
game.. Frustrated, I looked in my backpack for my wallet again.
Then I remembered that I have a little "emergency" money. Well,
this is kind of like an emergency.. Better pay 7 extra bucks than
to be stuck doing nothing locked out of the stadium. Then, I saw
one of my roommate's friend that was also at the ticket booth.
Apparently, she also had a problem of some sort. I felt bad, but
I said with a frown, "um.. I forgot my wallet and I can't get in
without paying for a non-student ticket. Can I borrow some money
from you and you can get back money from my roommate?"
Geez, first time situation that I got myself into begging someone
else desparately for money!!! =_=|| (sigh~)
She gave me $20! It was a mixed blessing. Now my excitement to
the game is diminished with a terrible start. I gave the lousy
$7 bucks and exchanged my student ticket for a non student ticket.
The Student ticket was a flimsy glossy fullcolor paper with a picture
of some atlete on it, but the non-student ticket was blue ink on
grey paper. At least it looked better... i guess. but now i pay a
total of $14 for a stupid American football game!! You see, I'm not
a big fan of American football. I don't watch it on TV. I don't
have a very good idea of the rules. I try to convince myself, $14
for an experience of a lifetime.. .
With that new ticket, I had to go through the security *again*,
openning my bag, and showed the stupid $14 ticket to the lady and
she let me pass. I don't remember the ticket saying anything like
you needed to bring your student ID! humph. Don't trust that I'm a
UCLA student with a student ticket? This world is really a terrible
place sometimes, full of distrust and procedures. Can't really blame
the lady for "following procedures/orders" though.
At the other side, my roommate and roommate's friends group were
waiting. My roommate said that the friend who lent me the money
explained what happened to me and she felt kind of bad for me.
She gave me a large "Go Bruins!" card board thing and a sheet with
the players' introductions.. We went to the stadium, got a sheet
of paper with the school songs and introduction of the other team
(oregon), and sat down in seats on the second level. So there I
was, not in a really terrific mood, but oh well. It was around
11AM, and we had an hour to sit around for the game to start!
I can't really recall what i did for the hour waiting, but I
was staring at the grassy field that had "BRUINS" on the sides,
and the UCLA logo in the center. It was all in color, so maybe
they spray painted it in. The stadium was rather empty.
Later on, the UCLA team went in the field to practice. The Oregon
team also went to the field to practice..
The game finally was beginning to start! First, they played
the national anthem, and saluted to the flag. That was sort of
weird.. because I haven't done anything like that since maybe
high school (bad memory i have!) The UCLA band played our school's
music and other songs.. our cheerleaders kept on dancing and
cheering.. and unknownst to me, the game started with out me
noticing it!! "oh, the players are moving, the game started already?!"
@_@... I missed out the first play.. BUT, within the first few
*MINUTES*, Oregon already scored a touchdown!!! "What the heck!??!",
I was thinking, "That was fast!!" I turned around to my roommate,
and she wasn't too happy!! THen, it was our turn, and the
quarterback.. ugh,.. I don't really know American football to well,
but I could ssee that our quarterback passed the ball to the other
team, and that guy got another touchdown for Oregon!! @_@.. not
a good sign.. ANd I guess its the rules that you get to kick the
ball between the two goal posts when you get a touchdown, or if
you have 4 "downs". Each touchdown is 6 points, and each successful
kick is 3 points. Strange scoring system!! My roommate's friend
complained about our quarterback throughout the whole game.. and I
agreed how he didn't seem to be doing too well. Its that the
quarterback seems confused to pass the ball to someone and hesitates.
Anyway, it wasn't too exciting, because our team didn't really get
any touchdowns or anywhere in the field. However, it was kind of
strange. Whenever it was the opponent team's turn, everyone would
loudly yell, "Boooooo--". I thought this wasn't too considerate
because it may be distracting. Anyway, lots of time is "wasted"
between the plays.. Such as after one down, the bands would battle
to play something, just in time for the next play.. it is kind of
distracting for me!! Also, the field was kind of far away, so I
couldn't really see too clearly whose turn it was. I also
realized that I forgot the rules.. such as needing to go 10 yards
in order to have 1 down, and if you can't go 10 yards in 3 downs,
then you get a free kick and it will be the opponent's turn to
play. I know my description of the rules is sucky, but please bear
with my amateur's words!! :D :D So, I was sitting for some time,
trying to figure out the rules of the game..
Then there was a half time break. Our school reenact the Trojan
war because our "rival" school, USC, their mascot is the Trojans.
It was quite amusing.. maybe more amusing than watching our team
play so terribly on the field!! :D :D :D :D hehe. A total of maybe
60 students or so were in this "play". THe Trojans wore red and yellow
(the colours of USC), while the Spartans (UCLA) wore togas over
blue t-shirts. They showed Helene and her husband (forgot his name)
happily married.. but then the "evil" trojans came over with boats
and took away Helene (think of caveman style!! :D :D). They Trojans
created a wall barrier and held Helene captive. The Spartans went to
Troy and attacked, but the wall barrier was too effective. They
fought for 10 years.. and finally, the Spartans retreated. As a gift,
the Spartans gave the Trojans a Trojan Horse, which the Trojans happily
accepted and brought into the city. THey were so happy that they
partied all night and became all drunk. Right at this time, the
Spartans in the Trojan Horse came out and opened the gate for the
other soldiers to storm the city, and the Trojans were defeated!
and Helene returned to her husband.. .
So the break was over, and I hoped that our team will do better.
Well, they seem to do better, but weren't able to score a touchdown.
Many people started to leave. One old man, in particular, was leaving,
and before leaving, he turned around and yelled, "YOU SUCK!!"
that wasn't too polite, but it is true that our team isn't doing very
well. We only scored 6 points (2 from kicking the ball through the
goal posts at 4 downs), and Oregon scored 3 touchdowns with 31 points!
The cheerleaders constantly try to boost morale and did the dancing
and usual things. "We only need to make 4 touchdowns to win!!", they
yelled.
The most exciting part of the game was around 5 minutes before
the game ends. It was UCLA's turn, and they were so near the
touchdown end.. it was 3rd down, and the quarterback threw this
ball to a guy in the touchdown area.. but that guy couldn't catch
the ball!! ;_; it was so close to get a touchdown.. but.. ..
(sigh).. It was at this point that my roommate's friend said that
we should get going to the bus now.. and so we all left for the
bus, and it seemed like so many people was leaving too!! Sorry,
UCLA American football team!! I would like to stay and see the whole
game and see how it ends, but I have no choice to leave!!
So many people were leaving, it was so crowded.. We walked all
the way back to the bus area.. and got on the first bus. It was
full, but the driver said that he will leave in 45 minutes!! what
the--?! anyway, we just sat there.. I wrote in my schedule book
to catch up today's events (I sort off use it similarly to a journal
because I don't have many things to schedule!) and sketched a picture
of my hands writing in my schedule book.. :D
THe bus later started, I put away my schedule book and pen, and
closed my eyes. It was a long nap because the traffic was terrible!!
It was about 3:30PM.. but went we arrived back at UCLA, it was around
5:30PM! I asked my roommate what did she thought about the game. She
said that she seen worse (hmm, from what i've seen, can it really get
even worse!??!).. but it is one of the worse games she have seen.
After the game, I later went to Borders Books in Westwood to
read comics.. it was a bit sprinkling, but it was good weather that i
like. I then went to Rite Aid and got: dish washing detergent ($1),
animal cookies ($1), saltine crackers ($1), 4 chocolate candy bars,
1.5oz ($1), and a can of Campbells chunky soup ($1.50)... I went
home, ate snacks as dinner.. my computer science vietnamnese roomate
was especially chatty yesterday, and we talked about stupid useless
things as usual. I can't recollect what sort of things we talked
about.. And she again was working on some electrical thingus on
her computer and was complaining about her mouse. I told her to go
clean her mouse.. and she said that she already cleaned it, and to
prove me wrong, she began to open it! I said, no neeed to prove it to
me!! but she did so anyway.. and she showed her clean mouse ball..
but upon careful inspection of the insides of the mouse, it was
DIRTY, with gunk on the sides on the rollers that is in contact with
the ball. I said, "hey, what's with that dirty gunk on the sides?!"
and she rubbed it off with her fingers.. I went out to the living
room, and later I hear a cry of delight!! "It's working so well!!",
she cried in amazement!! She was actually thinking of buying a new
cordless mouse because she thought that this mouse is broken!
(sigh) Here, me, a biology major, saved my computer science roommate!
hehehe!!
heheh. so that was the day of strangeness.. and my first American
football game. I'm not sure if the experience was worth the $14
though!!
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