No pics from new year’s,

but I went somewhere over.. there.

Even though it’s already been probably close to two weeks since I’ve been back, I somehow still have not found time to stay at home and relax. Sometimes it’s nice to just do nothing for an entire day.. I don’t really remember when the last time that was.. maybe summer? Lately, there’s always something to be checked off on a to do list somewhere. Oh well, keeping busy is good.

I came home after 4 months of being away. I think that is probably the longest I’ve been away from home. Surprisingly, my parents left everything in my room the way I left it. In undergrad, they usually went and changed stuff in my room when I came home every 2 weeks or so.

I’ve also been getting along better with my brother. Before I went to Pitt, we were still having stupid fights (I blame him for being a moody curmudgeon), but now since he’s gone off to college, he’s matured quite a bit.

Still to do before I go back: more froyo, get my diploma/visit ucla ppl, hang out w. friends I haven’t seen in forever, more boba.

…where autumn still exists.

caught-up: friends, family, boba, sun, beach, cooking, reading

tbd (to be done): frozen yogurt, portfolio, more sun, more cooking, organize stuffs, etc…

This new theme may have fuct with the formatting of previous entries… I wish there was an easy way to just hide all the old text. But the theme is still pretty neat as it automatically pulls out the EXIF data from the photo.

Some other news.. upgraded to snow leopard.

Things I like so far:

-Scrolling in stacks

-Quick folder access within Stacks by right clicking

-Noticeably faster wake and sleep times

-Better naming schemes for screenshots

-Smoother transitions in navigation

-Touch pad input for Chinese characters

Annoying things:

-Had to re-enter Automator tasks since they didn’t AUTOmatically transfer as services.

-Sometimes applications are slower/laggy.. issues with Word.

-As a result of the lag, there’s a noticeable period where everything on the screen is interlaced and choppy-looking

Also compiled a list of things I miss from SoCal:

the beach

in n out

non-bipolar weather

good chinese food

good food

sushi

boba

pho

flip flops all year long

elevators

on-site laundry machines

yay for lists!

I went to Falling Water recently (every time I say that, I’m tempted to add an “s” at the end).  It’s pretty amazing.  A house over a waterfall… Frank Lloyd Wright was genius.  And apparently he was also quite vertically challenged according to today’s standards.

Check out this awesome lego set of Falling Water!  I would want that if I was 8.

Not sure if my title is grammatically correct, but eh.

Here is a screenshot of my traffic.  As you can see, no one really visits my site… up until 7/27 and 28, when traffic started gradually increasing and then leveling off.  I feel like it has to do with my last post.  I’m not sure about 8/3 though.  Someone probably pressed refreshed a bunch of times.

Here is another screen shot of some traffic data.. yep.  Apparently the top search is “summer porn.”  Nice to know my blog attracts people searching for this type of stuff.  But hey, traffic is traffic right?

The rest of the post is IMAGE HEAVY.  So if your computer can’t take it, then hurry up and close the browser!! But I guess if you’ve read this far, the images have probably all loaded by now since they’re all resized.

I went to the Arboretum recently.  And got a chance to use the 75-300 mm telephoto I bought from Josh.  Lots of squatting and awkward positions I was in.

Korean BBQ!

I say that I can cook with confidence because living in an apartment and eating frozen dinners gets old after a couple of weeks.  ..stir fry gets old after a while, and so I moved on to baking. (Still haven’t done broiling yet)

Crispy Chicken Tenders

With flash!

Of course my mom disagrees with my methods of cooking sometimes because its different from the traditional Chinese way.. and mother knows best right? …Only until she tried my Chicken Tenders, she said they were good! And my whole family is brutally honest about stuff like this, that’s how I know I can say I don’t suck at cooking, because when the food I make sucks, I get a lot of crap about it from my family, haha.

This is not food porn, lol.  Kids art by a 10 year old (tiger and sketch) and 7 year old (elephant and beach).  Not bad for their age huh!

Homemade Potato Salad

Of course when I started baking and cooking, there were many disasters.. like not putting enough sugar in cookies in hopes of reducing the sugar content.. but with the offset of making them too “cake-like.”  Or putting too much sugar in them, and reluctantly giving them away to friends so food is not wasted, but fear that whomever consumes them will never try my food again, or worse— I would carry the burden of guilt that I contributed to a future case of diabetes.

Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies… Crispy edges, chewy middles.. mmmm..

I am still learning more and more about cooking and baking.  Honestly, if I were to have a dream job, I would want to be an artist, photographer, chef, and baker.. all at once.  Maybe someday…

The building only has 3 units–one on each floor. I’m on the third! It’s interesting because most of the residential building/houses look like this.

View from my dorm in Beijing Normal University

I finally secured housing in Pittsburgh.  I found a pretty good place in a nice neighborhood for really cheap.  Compared to UCLA at least.  Around $600 for my own room, in a nice and safe neighborhood.  Remember when I paid $700 for a triple in Westwood? Plus a ridiculous monthly payment called AUM which consisted of jacked up prices for gas, electricity, maintenance and misc fees.  Yeah, those were the days.  I guess I shouldn’t complain about the past, I actually really liked my last apartment.  Unlike Andrew, who had the worst apartment evar!! =P

I conquered the Great Wall. I remember it took me forever and I seriously thought I could’ve died because we were on the part of the wall that wasn’t renovated or restored.. so the “walls” were actually deteriorating and some parts didn’t even have walls.  One push or step the wrong way can lead to falling off!!

I just booked my tickets to Pitt a couple days ago.  I can’t believe I’m going to be in the east coast and will have my masters in exactly a year and one month.  I’m excited for my classes and meeting new people, but I know I’ll be missing all the friends and family back home.  Sometimes I wonder if people will forget about me by the time I come back.  It’s only a year, but what I’ve learned over the years in school, is that friends are made by proximity.  And it’s quite hard to keep friendships if one moves away, unless both parties are putting the effort.

Bad picture of Tian an men.  It was impossible to get a good full picture.. there were TONS OF PEOPLE with umbrellas everywhere.  This pic is the least failed pic.  Sad, isn’t it, haha.

I think I’m trying out this new way of blogging.  Interweaving my blogs with images that might or might not be related to what I’m talking about.  Inspired by my friend, Jay.

Beijing highway.. It was gloomy and bright at the same time.. smoggy, humid, and HOT.  It was 90+ F degrees.  Still, I loved Beijing.

So lately, I haven’t been doing much.  Just stuff here and there.  I’ve been playing an unbelievably massive amount of facebook games… and I’m currently watching my brother kill a fly.  It’s very bright, hot, and sunny in California, so it means I just stay indoors until the sun sets.

I’m heavy on Jupiter.

I managed to secure housing in Pittsburgh and slowly clean/pack for the big move.  I’m also reading “The World Without Us” on and off, and just letting the summer days slip by..

smoggy LA.

notice the layer of haze visible at night.
Failed attempt to take a picture of the moon and lights.