tis the season

It's been quite a while since my last post, and there's lots to say I suppose, but mostly, I just wanted to put up some pictures for holiday cheer!

The gang at the LLC Christmas party where lots of dancing, playing Twister, and eating of cookies occurred.

Katie and I in front of our Christmas tree! A picture taken for a holiday card that never quite happened... we have the picture, we have the cards... but just couldn't manage to get it together. Oops.

Merry Christmas, all! 

Cool Weather Wishlist

Hooded Thermal Robe from Victoria's Secret

Pins and Needles Cozy Beret from Urban Outfitters

Lomography Diana Dreamer Camera from Urban Outfitters

Red Riding Hood Tea for One Set from Urban Outfitters

Help Me Hope Travel Mug from ModCloth

Remember Your Coffee Mug from ModCloth

Sugar and Spice Cupcake Air Freshener from Perpetual Kid

Moose Knitwits from Perpetual Kid 

Cheeseburger Phone from Perpetual Kid (nothing to do with cold weather, but who DOESN'T want one?!)

The Scent of Pumpkin in the Air

Fall is upon us and may I say, I love fall. The cool breeze, flannel shirts, pumpkin flavored everything (including a delicious pumpkin frozen custard that I must go back to Vienna for!), and the changing leaves are some simple things of the seasonal life that I adore. I also love the cheesy decorations of smiling turkeys, dancing pilgrims, and friendly creeptastic creatures that accompany Halloween! I wish I could spend all day, everyday gathering decorations, eating muffins and pumpkin spice lattes, and being artistic in the great outdoors, but alas, life has slightly (and by slightly, I mean significantly more) stressful callings.

October this year not only means figuring out what to wear for Halloween, but where to apply for grad schools! Hurrah! Thankfully, I've had my list set for a while, but that doesn't mean I've really done my research on them. I have UVA done with for the most part, and am just waiting on a final okay from my advisor to submit my application. I've also moved onto the supplemental application for UMD-CP, and after paying my $75 application fee, am slightly offended by their essay question which blatantly asks for my minority status, financial situation, and whether or not I grew up in the ghetto. Am I the only one that finds this highly inappropriate? I realize all schools do this in one way or another, but I find surveys under "Biography" much less offensive than asking me to write my entire personal statement based on my race and my family's history of higher education. I know I already paid my $75, but I'm seriously reconsidering applying to Maryland if that's how they base their acceptances into their graduate programs... My next move is to really comb through Vanderbilt's website and see how compatible it is for me. For some reason, Vanderbilt appeals to me, but we'll see. I had a meeting with a close professor of mine in the special education department, and while she was very helpful, it left me even more confused at the same time. Eek.

I wish I had a lot more time to really look into these grad school programs, and I guess in theory I do, but working everyday at Panera just leaves me completely uninspired. I am so worn out by the end of the day and  your spirit just comes out a nasty gray blob. This is especially true when you have those few rude, bitchy customers that think your only purpose on this planet is to make sure that their sandwiches come onion free and the bread toasted dark, but not so dark that it's burnt, and could you make sure that the piece of cheese they put on the sandwich is perfectly round? And, why do I only have ONE free pastry item on my card? Shouldn't you give me an entire bakery for spending $4 here everyday?! If you're so angry, stop coming to Panera every freaking day and wasting all your money on things that will inevitably give you diabetes. I would gladly not see your face. Anyways, moving on.

While I've already graduated and finished my "senior year," I was expecting this year to be well, my senior year. But alas, life is just as boring as it was the other three years. I want to go on road trips to some place exciting. I want to waste evenings away eating and watching movies and being merry. I want my friends to act like seniors in college. I suppose I shouldn't have expected any huge transformations though... My bad.

I really meant for this post to be more exciting, but I guess it just came out as lots of whining. Oops. Woe is me.

Post-Grad Life

Life after graduation is not entirely too different from life before graduation. I'm still in Williamsburg, I'm still doing some studying, I'm still doing some therapy, and I'm still working at that grand old bakery-cafe that kills my 21-year-old sleeping schedule. I mean, really? Must old people get coffee at 5:55 in the morning? 

Some grand changes are that I'm all moved in to my (almost) fully furnished apartment. I've had a few fights with a leaky bathroom, a can of Raid, and a hypersensitive thermostat, but so far so good. 

I've gone to the Mariner's Museum to hang out while the LLC builds a boat, went on a pilgrimage to Quebec, visited the Herndon Festival, discovered Berry Body, joined a gym, went to a fancy dinner at Fossett's, attended a wedding in Charlottesville, was reunited with some cousins from Korea, and am trekking my way through a GRE study book. I cannot wait until my GRE is over (hopefully forever!) in 8 days time. 

I'm sure there's much to tell, but I can't seem to be thinking of anything right now (I've been awake for 23 hours now!) other than things that come in lists. So here are a few goals I have for the next few months in semi-chronological order. 

1. Get a high enough score on the GRE to please those silly grad schools in one go. 

2. Start filling out some applications: UMD, UVA, UIUC, Boston U., Northwestern, Vanderbilt, UNC-Chapel Hill. 

3. FINALLY finish The Horse Boy so I can get started on Reading Lolita in Tehran and Unaccustomed Earth before I buy The Hundred Year Diet. 

4. Win myself a dress. 

5. Figure out some way to get myself out of that sticky, carb-filled restaurant for the spring. 

I think by the end of the year, I will be fed up with bagel packs, rude people who wave money in your face, and waking up at 4 in the morning. Anything, ANYTHING to get me out for the spring will make me utterly happy. Perhaps I can live off of my research & therapy money by then? (Ha!) 

Hopefully I can take up a class or two (I'm thinking along the lines of Spanish and childhood development) at the community college and be happy and jolly and nerdy once again. How TWAMP is that? 

golfing, alice, & spring break

lots has happened since my last entry!

in terms of exciting events, campus golf & food adventures & haiti dinner, the alice in wonderland premiere, and spring break! in terms of real life...

i've managed to adapt a semi-schedule for my near future: do research with kathy while working at panera as i study for my GREs, write some grad school essays, keep up with LLC, maybe take a class or two with WM School of Ed, and try to brush up on some spanish. easier said than done? i hope not.

i've decided on three SLP schools i definitely want to apply to: Northwestern, UIUC, and UVA. i'm off to visit UVA this friday so we'll see how that goes! other schools i'm looking into are BU, JMU, UNC, and Purdue for the moment. apparently, UNC is good with autism-related speech disorders, but they're really cutting back on people they're taking without a communication science disorders background. only 2 non-CSD majors were taken this year. UWash is out of the question because even if you get accepted into their post-bacc SLP program, you're not guaranteed a spot in their master's. lame. some others that i have to look into more are UMD, UF, and GWU. sad, sad. looks like i'll be spending a hefty amount of money getting transcripts flown from singapore.

anyhow, here are some photos from the above-mentioned exciting events. enjoy!

campus golf:  you have (themed) teams of 4-5 people, tennis balls & golf clubs and go around campus trying to get your ball past a bucket. our tee-time was around 11am.

one particularly dedicated team came as the jamaican bobsled team. you can see a tetris piece behind them.

after campus golf i dragged kat & jeewon to new york deli for subs and handel's for ice cream. sooo delicious. 

the day before spring break, alice in wonderland came out! so we went to the premiere at midnight and dressed up as alice (me!), the mad hatter (kat!), and the rabbit (jeewon!)

an adorable picture with LLC a couple hours before i headed home

and now some pics from spring break!

some goose butt at the lake 

some playtime at terra centre's playground

a trip into georgetown/the mall to meet up with kat

having to park farther away from the library entrance because i do not own a hybrid

a day trip into philly to meet the newest member of the fam, toby chung

being super mature at the party store

an ode to food

let's be honest. aside from school work, classes, volunteering & the likes, i spend a vast majority of my free time doing things that involve food. making food, eating food, reading about food, looking up food to make, eat, or read about... so really, it seems fitting that the only pictures i have taken in the past two weeks (a grand whopping five photos), are of food.

i wanted to update with something more substantial, but i guess this works eh?

here are two meals that i made that i was particularly proud of. unfortunately, i forgot to take a picture of the pastel de tres leches, but let me tell you. it was tasty.

the first is a picture of salmon! the salmon was tasty & cooked JUST enough to still be slightly uncooked in the center. yummmyyyyy. salt, pepper, spicy mustard, dipped in egg & covered in bread crumbs and seared in an oiled pan . yay ! the asparagus & baby spinach & toasted almond slices was also delicious. i don't quite remember what i did with it, but i think it was along the lines of butter, garlic, and pepper... hmm.

and this picture is of my first attempt to poach eggs! i'm sure it could have been better, but also could have been worse, so i was pleasantly surprised at my success. poached eggs on top of spaghetti with asparagus & spinach, garlic, butter, and heavy cream. not the healthiest ever... but delicious nonetheless!

today, my mommy also called to tell me that apparently the trader joe's recipes are delicious. now i must go find them the next time i go grocery shopping !

sleet, sleet, go away...

williamsburg and snow just do not go well together. 


today for instance, there was 1cm of snow on the ground, the college freaks out, cancels school, and BAM. it stops snowing. granted, the sidewalks were quite icy and i think i have windburn on my face, but really williamsburg, really? 


williamsburg snow is not quite as pretty as nova snow. --- but, we also don't get 28 inches. i do quite enjoy the facilities management people driving by in those freaky snow cleaners with the brushes though. 


because school was canceled for no necessary reason, my friends and i decided to venture out towards colonial for lunch at stephanos, a stop at aromas, and to take some snow-filled pictures. 


the view from my room 

my pretty new dorm 

aromas

the cute snowman at aromas welcoming people in with coffee bean eyes! 

so long for now! 

the beginning of the end

hello, from williamsburg!

quite recently i have found the prospect of this semester to be quite frightening. no more school (well, at least for another year) for me. it's been a little stir-crazy being back in wburg with only the colonials to keep you company, but the semester has started off rather brilliantly.

the day before classes started, kat, jeewon, and i decided to do a little (or a lot of) eating and shopping. we started off with lunch at sal's, shopping & nails at newtown, and then a roadtrip to short pump where we shopped some more and had dinner at the always tasty johnny rocket's.

here's a quick overview in picture form:

lunch at sal's

nails

short pump mall

johnny rocket's

the first weekend back, i went back up to nova to visit with the visiting bro. here's a rather entertaining picture of him and cousin gimin, as well as a cute pic of my dad & gimin:

sometime during the following school week, rachel, liz, and i went to the sonic drive-thru! yummy yummy slushes, fries, tots, and burgers.

here we are trying to keep ourselves amused as we wait for our food to be delivered to our car.

on jan 28, i went up to uva for charlottesville's restaurant week. nelsy got us reservations at carmello's and it was delicious! we even got all dressed up for dinner!

in between the madness that has been for the most part, eating, i have studied my way through linguistics and asian pacific american studies. fantastic.

this weekend unfortunately, is looking like a downer with our nasty sleet, rain, snow, (a true wintry mix if you will) and flood watch. hopefully the weather will clear up?

home for the holidays

wow --- so this post has been delayed since well, before this sem started, oops. but here it is now! i don't remember so much anymore, so the pictures will have to do most of the talking.

-----

so once again, this post is rather delayed. i meant to be good about this sort of thing, but i've been backed up quite a bit with all my random little projects (aka, the scrapbook i have been working on for years and have not quite finished...)

so, winter break! classes ended in singapore on nov 13 or so, two exams on dec 2 and BAM! winter break. i was greeted by snow & frigid weather, but it was nice i think aside from that minor cold the freezing temperatures gave me.

i meant to cook & bake much more this winter break, but that didn't really happen. my one baking project however, did go splendidly well!

mini pecan pumpkin pies! mmm, delicious!

sometime in mid-december, nova got a huge snowstorm. this is one of my fav pics from it:

christmas and such passed, and then one of my friends that i made in singapore, lehyla, came to visit. we went gallivanting around d.c. in the cold and the weather was for the most part, wonderful! here is a picture of the capitol building set against the pretty blue winter sky.

towards the end of break, i got to visit earlysville, va to visit with liz and katie. in true friend fashion, we mostly just ate.

here is a picture of liz and katie baking delicious chocolate chip cookies!

before break ended, i got to hang out with sana and angela in georgetown. once again, an obligatory stop at georgetown cupcakes. mmmmm!

sadly, i waited so long to put up this post that i can't quite remember all the other exciting details. look out for more posts to keep you updated about college life!

lots of catching up to do...

so, my mother insisted i continue my blog & i suppose there is a rather large gap between my last post and now...

i'll try to keep this entry short & with lots of pictures! let's start back in singapore...

sometime back in november as classes were winding down and everyone was in a frenzy getting holidays ready (& studying of course...), i finally got to go to the singapore flyer. in hindsight, i'm glad the thing was only S$10 with student id, because i feel sorry for the tourists that actually pay the full S$30 to go on that thing. not to say that the view wasn't pretty, but you can only enjoy a ferris wheel for so long...

this is what i thought the coolest view from the flyer was:

sometime before exams, my friends from borneo & i got together for a meal and by my prodding, ended up in a giant candy store. they had your usual assortment of australian & british brand chocolates & candies, and of course, starbursts as well!

this was the creepiest thing ever. apparently though, its quite a normal sight in the once british colonies. odd.

anyhow, in the last week of nov/first week of dec, my aunt came to visit and we went on a self-created 3-city tour of southeast asia. singapore, kuala lumpur, and jakarta. not the most exciting cities in the world, but i'll leave you with some highlights!

singapore: we spent time around city hall/raffles while we visited smu, the esplanade, the merlion, lau pa sat, chjimes,& the good shepherd. arab street, little india, chili crab at clarkes quay. some time around ion and orchard central.

chjimes

the sultan mosque at arab street

clarkes quay

ion@orchard

kuala lumpur, malaysia: independence (merdeka) square, the national mosque, the petronas twin towers, a day trip to melaka, dinner at the seri melayu, and a stop at chinatown before heading off to jakarta.

the twin towers
in melaka

jakarta: monumen nasional, taman indonesia indah, toko batik, a national museum, some sketch part of town to a gem market, and lots of jurassic park watching.

monumen nasional
streets of jakarta
taman indonesia indah
city center

like i said, not exactly the most exciting places in the world, but nonetheless, i feel well-traveled! i was imagining i would show some pictures from break in this entry too, but i think those will have to wait til later.

only one more week til i go back to the semi-real world that is university.