Life (Past): (Words and doodles)

I promised close friends that I would update my life via words and doodles (which gathered the most traffic my virtually dead blog has ever seen!) "soon", but I've stalled.

I know there isn't some burning demand to know my whereabouts and doodles (except for maybe, like, five people?), but why not. So here they are.

I thought I ought to provide a brief summary of the past few months for context.

***

May 2014: 

Some stuff happened a few weeks before J-school graduation:

My defense mechanism was to pretend like I was okay.

I think it worked, somewhat. Maybe.

June-July 2014:

I miraculously got an (unpaid) internship, after being rejected from all of them during J-school. I went to it.

Applied to more internships for the fall, but was rejected from all of them.

I also got very sick one day, so I took a day off and could not move for most of the day.

(Which I promptly threw up the next day.)

But when I recovered physically, I found that I have not recovered mentally.

(I would like to add that I also went to bathrooms and showered like a civilized human being.)

When it became clear that my mental state was not temporary and also affecting my work, I called Columbia's mental health counselling.

August 2014:

I went to counselling and was told I was displaying some symptoms of depression. I agreed with the counselor.

I also started getting panic attacks.

If you've never had panic attacks before, this is how it kind of feels:

I was given Xanax.

I decided to go home.

Everything just became too much. Landing internships are difficult, even more so as an international student. I was also mentally unwell. Maybe I could have tried for longer, but I felt like I was literally, seriously going insane. I needed a break.

There were many days in NYC where I met with friends and had a lovely time. It was just that they were outweighed by my problems.

September~November 2014:

Prague. Home. I rested and tried to recover.

I also took a short internship at the Prague Post (also unpaid).

Then I heard that a Korean newspaper company I was interested in were looking for new hires, so I applied, which you can find out here:

Journalism Hunger Games + Life part 1
Journalism Hunger Games + Life part 2

December 2014

LOL FAILED THE HUNGER GAMES.

 

But a few weeks later, it turned out they were looking for paid interns as well.

But I decided to apply, mainly due to this:

(Can you tell I had a comic blog planned months ago that I never followed through until now?)

And also:

The most important reason.

So I re-applied despite feeling silly, and got the 6-month paid internship!

I spent the last few days with family and saying goodbye to Prague, which was home to me for twelve years (!)

This turned out a lot longer than I thought, so I'll talk about stuff that happened in 2015 next time!

Comics in Korea 2

I meant to upload last week, but I got lazy. I have no idea how many people read my blog, but apologies.

So regarding #journalismhungergames, here's where I am right now:

Since I've been lazy with uploading, the test results for Round 3 will come in tomorrow, so there is a chance I don't make it and not be in the mood to draw anymore. Intense!

And here I am, trying to be a journalist where you handle more news. Flawless logic!

Colors are my lifelong obsession and I care about them a lot.

(For the record, I look okay in vivid hues + cooler tones.)

When many of my friends taught English in Japan and craved cheese, I thought, "But surely it can't be that bad? Japanese food is delicious and I'm sure they have cheese there too!"

But no, now I understand. I understand so much. Please give me cheese.

On the other hand, if you're a fruit-lover, you'd be very happy. Unless you like tropical fruit, that is...

I still don't know how "Korean people" are supposed to look like.

But wait, that's not all!

Since the company in question requires writing actual news articles in English in a non-English speaking country, it's not really surprising that most people who have made the cut so far are Western-educated and have impressive class privilege records. But it's all very intimidating!

I got the sizing of the longer strips a bit off, but can't undo the error, sorry! At least they're all legible!

I may or may not upload another comic depending on the situation, but timing-wise, this is probably the last one I will upload in Korea!

Comics in Korea 1

I'm in Korea to take the journalist test for this one job position. In case my Facebook post was unclear, this is what I have to go through for the following weeks:

Yes, it's intense.
I passed round 1 and took the written exam for round 2 a few days ago. Results will be posted some time next week.
Is it worth all this? I don't know, but I do know I would like to have the job, so go through all this I shall.

In order to forget the anxiety keep myself entertained in my down time, I drew comics. Whoo still uploading paper comics like an analog caveman! I seriously need a tablet.

(For the record, I can eat most foods now. My stomach got better.)

Will this be my only comic update? Will I pass the second round? Only time will tell!

Oh hi there.

I'm at the J-school, at 1:30 A.M.

I need to go home and sleep now but I somehow wanted to write on my blog, for the first time in forever~

J-school is really hectic. Like, really really hectic. Every day is another day full of things to do and long-term assignments to work on and future stories to write about.

And on top of that, having to apply for internships. And keep getting rejected.

Basically, I am at my happiest when I sleep. And I say this with no exaggeration of any sort.

Some things that happened in my life:

1) Upon looking at my past blog posts, I realized that I only set foot in Central Park ONCE since coming here for grad school! In fact, I've been around more parts of New York during my internship than now. That's how much of a life I don't have. *sobs*

2) Watched Frozen. Twice. I loved it. The songs are stuck in my head.

3) I thought I liked radio. And while I do, I realized while working on video that what I ACTUALLY liked was editing. Shooting and production and everything is a chore, but editing is just so. much. fun. It's like creating magic from your hands!

4) J-school is also great at testing your self-esteem. Which I don't have much of at the moment. Hooray!

5) I wonder if things will look up after Video 1/Career Expo/Master's Project is over.

6) But I don't want J-school to end that quickly. We only have three months left now as it is. One year is such a short time.

7) I wish I can stay in New York. But that would entail getting accepted to an internship/fellowship in this area. *Crosses fingers* I just... I just want a stable job, really.

8) And here I thought the end of my undergraduate years were tumultuous. As whatever happens by the end of J-school will actually shape up the start of my "real life in real world", I am more anxious than ever.

And before I lose myself in existential angst... gonna recycle my Wolverine blog post and leave!

So, I graduated college.

Four years went by just like that. I thought it would be longer.

I don't know if I have any sentimental or profound things to say other than the usual cliched things: I learned a lot, I made awesome friends, I lived away from my parents for the first time and learned independence, I tried new things, I'll never forget it, et cetera et cetera.

Because it's true. I have done all of the above, and I don't think I have more to say (despite the fact that I was an English major) than "Overall, it was great". What can I say, I'm a woman of very few words.

Although I *must* note the fact that our graduation weather was the worst thing ever. FREEZING WINTER COLD IN LATE APRIL. I kid you not, it was SNOWING a little bit too at one point. And then it rained after the ceremony was over.

I love you too, Michigan weather.

Officially recording my worst Birthday's eve

I was sleep-deprived, and it was raining violently today.

And then I had nothing to eat but pumpkin seeds and almonds until 5PM.

At 5, I wolfed down some beef lasagna and broccoli for dinner.

And then I started getting headaches.

As well as stomachaches.

And at 11 PM, I threw up everything I ate today.

(and now I hereby rescind my comment that I rarely vomit - having vomited a grand total of three times this past two months, I now apparently throw up often. Perhaps the stress of college has finally gotten to me.)

As if I didn't feel lousy that people were missing/busy/not giving a crap about my birthday party.

At least some people are attending and at least some of them have legitimate reasons for why they can't make it.

This is officially the worst Birthday's eve I've had so far.

Life as 22 had better be awesometastic to make up for this.

I hate direct sunlight

Yesterday, we drew outdoors for art class. We were supposed to draw buildings for our project.

The sun was very bright, but so far it was managable.

But as time passed, the sun moved higher up in the sky.

Having no sunglasses, I took my blouse and made a makeshift hat to keep the sun out of my eyes, and I kept drawing.

But more time passed, and the sun was now directly over my head.

It got difficult to see, so I lowered my blouse and kept on drawing my building, because one should not give up so easily.

But the more I tried, the more I realized it was futile.

The sun was reflected against the white paper and was scarring my eyes. I could no longer look up because the sun was right above my head. My eyes were watering and my left eye had problems with seeing now.

So I had to give up, and I went back to the classroom to crouch in a corner to recover my eyesight.

I welcome warm weather, but I hate direct sunlight.

THE END.

Why do I always attract pamphlet people?

People asking me for directions wasn't the only people that I randomly attracted from the streets. I forgot to mention that I also attract people giving me pamphlets or trying to give me a sermon, mostly from crazy religious people.

Let me be clear that I don't look down on religion at all. But the ones who do stop me in the streets are usually the crazy pseudo-religion scam-you-of-your-money sort, or the crazy Jesus-beliving minority sect that normal Christians don't consider legitimate sort.

As I was walking down the stairs of my apartment at 10AM, a not-quite-young man (early-mid 30s) and an old man (mid-50s?) were downstairs where the mailboxes were. The not-quite-young man (whom I shall now refer as Pamphlet Man) called out to me.

In Korean.

Pamphlet Man: Hello, are you Korean?

Me: (confused, slightly startled; he can tell I'm Korean?) Uh, yes.

Pamphlet Man: Well, hello. (steps out of mailbox area, moves closer) Spring break is over now, yes?

Me: Yes.

Pamphlet Man: Ah, well, we wished to talk to you a few about about Jesus and religion, if you don't mind. It's written here... (rummages through packets of pamphelts)

Me: (Oh god, not again! Why do I always get approached by these people?)

Pamphlet Man: (rummage rummage)

Me: Um, I'm sorry, I'm kind of in a hurry at the moment, so-

Pamphlet Man : Ah, are you now?

Me: -so if you could just give me one of your pamphlets, I'll read it through. (Please, just let me go!)

I was being honest: I was sort of in a hurry; I needed to watch an assigned movie at the library before class started at 11:30 AM.

Pamphlet Man: I see. Well, if you are in a hurry, the things we wanted to ask you about are in our flyers (takes out two pamphlets and hands it to me)

One of them was called, "What kind of person is Jesus?" and another was "What to do with Angry People"

Me: (The fuck? "Angry people"?)

Pamphlet Man: But we'd like to come again and ask more questions next time. What is your name?

Me: (Shit!) Y**** (real name).

Perhaps I should have lied about my name. But then the old man (who never spoke a word) was still in peering over the mailboxes. I didn't want them to not find anything in the mailbox and give me a lecture about lying to people and going to hell or something like that.

Pamphlet Man: Y****, huh? (him and old man peers into mailbox) Um, I can't find your name-

Me: (Oh my god, are you stupid? I just told you my real name!)

Pamphlet Man: -can you tell me which apartment you're in?

Me: (Um, NO.) It's there.

Pamphlet Man: Well, okay, then. But we'd like to visit you again and talk about this more in-depth. Goodbye then.

Me: (shitshitshitshitshitshit) Goodbye.

I leave my apartment completely. I gingerly look at what's written in the pamphlets, but they're just about the same old thing every crazy religious pamphlets write about.

This is hardly the first time that I received Korean religious pamphlets in Ann Arbor. They've ended up in my mailbox several times now.

Why do people do this? I don't care if other people have religions or not. Religion itself is not bad. But I grew up in a non-religious household with two non-religious parents. Hell, even my extended familes are non-religious. And I've been just fine in terms or morality or ethics or other such things.

I've been to church for about two months or so a long time ago, and I've visited Buddhist temples. I know how it's like. And it's really not my thing. I don't mind other people being religious, but I do not appreciate having it shoved down my throat.

ESPECIALLY FROM SHADIER SECTS THAT ALWAYS HAND ME PAMPHLETS.

EVERY DAMN TIME.

As for whether they'll visit again... I'm going to pretend I don't speak Korean.

The Beginning of the End of Chilling

Hmm, I'm at home, eating home food, reading, sleeping, surfing on the Internet and chatting with my family! What is it that I should be doing right now?

Oh right, being more productive with my free time.

Ever since coming home for break I've been teetering on that slippery slope between chilling and being a little too lazy, and now with about five days left of my time here, perhaps I should start being a little more productive again.

This is hardly a New Year's resolution (hell, it's still 2011), but some things I do need to do this break, not in any particular order of significance, is...

1) Play more Skyward Sword

It's my first attempt at seriously playing a video game (which was one of my leisurely goals for a while), and I've left it alone for like four or five days now. Yes, I probably won't be able to finish it before break's over and I can continue playing in the summer, but I would still like to get past that goddamn spider in the dungeon and at least finish the first boss.

I even planned to do a blog post (that about two people will read) about it! I must save the post from being forever buried in the "saved" archives.

2) Greet friends for the New Year

I was simultaneously too lazy and too occupied (yes, this is possible) to greet everyone a Happy Holidays, and I feel horrible for skimping out on Fumiko's birthday save for a Facebook wall post when she still mails me presents for my birthday like clockwork. I haven't e-mailed Minju in a while either. To rectify this, I must wish my friends a Happy New Year.

3) GRE

Well, that's one thing I've actually been doing, thankfully. I still must remind myself to finish the book before I hop on the plane like I planned.

4) Finish The Solitaire Mystery, and maybe re-read Sophie's World while you're at it

I've been re-reading The Solitaire Mystery and I am loving it. It's actually been a while that I've forgotten much of the details of the book, so it's almost like reading a new book. Almost. It'd be fun re-reading Sophie's World too, now that I'm a college senior and would probably comprehend the book much better than when I was in high school.

I do enjoy Jostein Gaarder's books.

5) Make the blog more interesting

The question is, how?

I couldn't help but notice that my blog posts became less of "funny stuff that happened that I record" and more of "let me ramble without a goal or purpose for five whole pages"

I still don't know who checks my blogs and if they still do anymore (I mean I haven't updated, and I disabled the comments section. HMM WAIT A MINUTE-). But I do want to continue the blog and make interesting posts for myself and others.

I think the whole thing has to do with how I really don't go out much in general. There's only so much I can write about on stuff I think about, and nothing really happens when you wake up, wash, go to class, eat, do homework and sleep.

And kendo. But I feel too self-conscious to write about my physical and mental development and inner growth and all that. IT SOUNDS SO CHEESY AAAAAH. And other than that, the only thing I can do is just list what I've learned and who I sparred against ("Dear Diary, today Watanabe sensei taught us how to do such-and-such moves, and I did jigeiko against Mike and Brian. Antai doesn't really count because he just lets me hit his head over and over again until I am sufficiently speedy and in good form. Like always.").

Somehow I seem to lose the ability to write in an entertaining manner as I grow older. Or is it that I've become a stuffy and boring adult? Gasp!

Edit: I have decided to leave comments un-disabled! Or should I say activated? abled? Switched on? Turned on? (that doesn't sound right)

No one is obligated to comment, of course. But maybe, just MAYBE, if anyone writes something, it might be an incentive to update regularly. MAYBE.

Lost and Found

Did you ever have something you really liked when you were much, much younger,like a favorite toy or book or movie, and after a while, parted with it and never saw it again?

Did you then, after a good number of years, when you least expected it, reunited with the said object of your obsessions?

It's happened to me with a number of objects: I was able to buy the Sonic Collection CD (Sonic 3 and Knuckles on PC) after pining for it for a year, I was able to buy a good number of books that I have enjoyed many years back in the library as a child, and with the recent progression in technology, I had been able to re-watch some of my childhood TV shows on Youtube.

And this is such a cheesy buildup to what I was going to say, but this feeling applies to people too.

Recently I have found my childhood friend after 12 years. And not just any friend - she was, quoting my nine-year-old self, "the bestest friend in the whole world" in my elementary school years.

We were pretty much inseparable during those two and a half years - we were always up for adventure and had relatively similar interests. I saw her as spontaneous, fun, and cool.
She could come up with the most wacky and fun things to do, such as making paper ties and selling them at her parents' company barbecue party (we never got to), having a secret hideout under pine trees, and performing a magic show, the list goes on.

When it was decided that my family was moving to Beijing, I was hanging out with her and I remember looking at her face long and hard as she was mindlessly gazing out into the distance; I was trying to keep her face forever in my memory. I wondered, am I ever going to see her again? Will this be my last time seeing her? How can I live without my bestest friend in the world?

This being a time before Internet and e-mail (it wasn't that they didn't exist, just that only the computer-savvier families had them at that point, and my family didn't have Internet yet), I had no way to contact her after I left. And I missed her so. I missed her in Beijing. I missed her in Korea. I might even add that thinking about her was one of the things that kept me sane during the rougher times in my Korean school.

But you get the point.

And suddenly, out of nowhere, I find her on Facebook and we actually exchanged e-mails. Asides from a year in a Korean middle school, she had stayed in Shanghai till the end of high school. She told me more about her life, I told her more about mine. But most importantly, she missed me too.

I don't know, it's an amazing feeling. Over the years I had kind of given up on the fact that I'd ever hear from her again. As more time went on I thought it would just remain a sweet memory from an earlier part of my life. I didn't think we'd actually find each other again.

So yeah.

Wisconsin Kendo Tournament

I wanted to write a post about the Wisconsin Kendo tournament, but somehow, I didn't really feel up to writing one entire post about it, I'm bound to talk far too long. So a short blurb it is.

To sum it up, the tournament went well for me personally. I won two matches, and I passed the 1-kyu promotion exam (while still messing up on a lot of stuff. I'm guessing the judges were generous enough to chalk everything up as nervousness). While I was up against people of similar rank when I beat them, it was the first time that I felt that I could get into the arena and feel that I possibly had a chance against someone at all. I could feel a difference in fighting compared to the past tournaments.

I also really enjoyed my final match against the Detroit team. I really don't want to sound like bragging but I had gotten two points for our team, and also won my individual match. Funnily enough, I actually don't remember much of the match - everything was a blur of adrenaline, kiai, and the red and white flags of the judges going up when my opponent and I scored points. People commented that the match was "beastly" - and I felt it, too. I could safely say that this was the most that I had ever put into a match. When I fight, I say that I put my 100%, but wondered if I really did afterwards; for this match, I felt that I actually had put everything on the line.

After struggling with kendo for so long and feeling like crap every time a member advances in rank while I stay the same, I feel that finally, I have seen a little bump in my skill level. I had never been athletic, and I know that in sports, it always takes years for me to achieve what others do in months. But it feels great to finally feel a little more competent.

Aches and pains

I really wish I wrote more often, but  1) I can't find the time, or 2) I don't know what to write about. I'm not a particularly great storyteller, you see.

But what the hell, I decided I should write SOMETHING. The title of the blog has the word "babbles" in it, for crying out loud. I don't have to write flowery prose to keep my blog alive.

Maybe it's because it's senior year, or maybe it's because I'm suscpetible to extreme amounts of stress to the point that I make my hormones sabotage my body, but I've been going through more aches and pains than I ever have in my life. I think I've set a new personal record on this thing.

Symptoms have usually included:

1) Cold symptoms

I don't have a cold anymore since the "Back-to-school-everyone-is-sick" season is over, but I do run across mild symptoms frequently, such as blocked nasal cavity, runny eyes (and nose), or a parched throat that only a gallon of orange juice can quench.

2) Pain in the back of my head

AKA "뒷골 댕긴다" in Korean (how many of my blog readers know Korean? Anybody?)
It's the persistent pain in the area where your head ends and the neck begins. I'm not sure about other cultures, but it's a very common somatic symptom among Koreans under extreme stress (and I have also discovered, lack of sleep).

Sometimes old people temporarily faint from too much pain in the back of their heads when they receive shocking news or rage too much, according to word of mouth and K-dramas. Hopefully I don't keel over like that any time soon.

3) Digestive problems

Usually involves eating something wrong (I don't know how) and feeling nauseous for the rest of the day. It is most irritating when you feel like throwing up the entire day but you never do.

4) Sleep paralysis

The most annoying (and creepy) out of my aches and pains, this happens my sleep cycle is destroyed.

First, I feel a strange ringing vibration at the back of my skull, and then I feel as if I'm floating on air. I know that I'm not actually floating, but the sensation feels so very real, you almost swear that you are floating in reality.

Apparently, when you're in sleep paralysis, your mind is conscious but your brain is in REM mode, which creates this hyper-realistic feeling. And it's true; even though I know I'm dreaming, everything seems so real. I can see my room clearly as if I was physically awake. I can touch my pillow or blanket, for example, and I'd feel the smoothness of the fabric just like in reality.

This is why it really sucks when the hallucinations begin. Sometimes I hear things, sometimes I see things. Sometimes it's both. And most of the time, they're creepy situations, like I'm in the scene of a horror movie. Here are some "dreams" I've experienced during sleep paralysis:

-A long-haired ghost charged towards me screaming, I hid my head under the pillow, ghost started wailing and scratched the pillow with her long fingernails.
-Sound of somebody incessantly laughing
-A creepy little girl standing at the side of my bed saying, "Play with me. Play with me. Why won't you play with me? Play with me. PLAY WITH ME! PLAY WITH MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! *SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH*!"
-My grandmother just standing in front of me, incessantly laughing in an uncanny manner.
-Sound of screaming from next door, as if someone was being murdered.
-White lab rats the size of chihuahuas screeching and snarling at each other.
-Two girl ghosts playing next to me, when a third one appears and asks, "What are you doing?" The two girls reply, "We're watching this girl next to us sleep."

-Strangers breaking into our apartment.
-Sound of people talking, faster and faster, louder and louder.

Imagine if all this happening to you while you were in bed, and that it felt very, very real.
The worst part of it is that it's "sleep PARALYSIS", and therefore, when I try to escape this situation, I can't move my goddamn body. I can't even scream. I scream as hard as I can and no sound comes out save for a pathetic, hoarse whisper. It is the worst feeling.

The key to breaking this is to wiggle your fingers, and make an extra effort to sit up and wake up. What makes this extra sucky is that if you wake up and just go to bed straight afterwards, the paralysis begin again. You have to sit up  for a good long while, or even stand up, until you calm down and go back to bed. It's even more difficult since you feel extremely sleepy after you wake up from a sleep paralysis.

So in summary, I'm not feeling very well this semester. Yaaaaay.

September Highlights (REVISED)

It's a bit late considering I'm writing this at the beginning of October, but that's how it will be.

I meant to write entries for September, but somehow I never found my chance, and before I knew it, the entire month had gone by. So here are mini-entries about what happened in September and subsequent feelings of it.

1. Senior year, and class adding/dropping.

You'd think that there would be no more hassles with classes when you've become a college senior. But the first few weeks were absolutely chaotic.

First, a Korean literature class I was to take had been cancelled. It's not even a section cancellation; the ENTIRE CLASS was gone, poof, and I was told to drop it from Wolverine Access. To fill up my credit hours, I needed to find a new class (which I did).

Secondly, I was waitlisted on a psychology class on children's literature. At the same time, I was enrolled for a developmental psych class. As luck would have it, the first day of the waitlisted class was full of whimsy and rainbow and unicorns, while the other class showed an ominous start, with an absentminded professor who did nothing but brag about her rich in-laws for thirty minutes before dismissing us. (I later found out that the professor had abysmal reviews on ratemyprofessors. com. Oh shit.) Luckily, I got into the chidren's lit class, so I was able to drop the other class. THANK YOU, GOD OF COLLEGE CLASSES, THANK YOU.

This is the only happy image I have.

2. 3rd Hunt Lounge has relocated

Not the actual lounge, but the people who commonly inhabited it - Andrew, Michelle, Steffie, Jordan, and Ben - had moved into one house, which happens to be the second floor of the house that Robert, Feiqi and co are living in. So now people are kind of living like one big chaotic family in one house (except me). I must say, the upper floor has a much cleaner and nicer arrangements. I expect to visit and study there often.

 Will everyone get along, like this giraffe and penguin?

3. Tiger and Bunny ends

Tiger and Bunny, the anime series that I sold my soul to have come to love very much, has ended. I wouldn't say the show is perfect - there were many elements that the show alluded to but never showed, and several characters have eventually been brushed off to the sideline at the expense of a plot that later dragged much longer than needed to be.

(The "manual" books that the studio publishes aren't making things any better. Nathan had a sad backstory? Ivan looks up to Keith a lot? Nathan and Antonio have a more mature relationship than Antonio does with Kotetsu? Pao-lin and her manager/guardian get along well? SHOW US THESE THINGS IN THE SHOW, DAMMIT, STOP TELLING US ALL THIS IN A BOOK AFTER THE SHOW IS OVER!)

But all in all, I still loved the heck out of the series and would still gladly reccomend it to others. The character development of the two main leads were very well written; it was like seeing two real people react to real situations. And more importantly, you UNDERSTOOD why they acted the way they did and felt for them throughout the series. Not to mention that the premise of corporate-sponsored superheroes is really interesting.

So it was great fun watching the series.

Also, Kotetsu is gorgeous inspiring.

And Barnaby is a lovable prick.

4. Avenue Q

(I forgot to add this in last night! How could I forget this one?)

Through the LSA Honors, Robert, Andrew and I procured tickets for Avenue Q at just $5 (about 22% off original ticket price) and watched the show at the Mendelsohn theater.

The show was amazing. The songs were catchy, the content was truly relevant to college students everywhere, and it was both funny and throught-provoking.

After the show, the little Honors group got to get behind the stage and talk with the actors and see how they controlled the puppet and how the magic was done. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but oh, the privilege of LSA Honors was so sweet that day.

I think I had the biggest, silliest grin after the play, and when one of the actors told me that "Your hedgehog shirt is awesome", I think I jumped around in girlish glee for a good fifteen minutes. It was definitely one of my happiest days in September.

Now, if I could properly find a job with MY English B.A....

Shenanigans in Prague (Pre-Korea)

1. Haircut.

I am still on the quest to chop off my locks. And once again, my hair is the shortest it has ever been. I would have liked to have my hair short with a fringe or have it as a longer version of a pixie cut, but my mother insisted that I needed hair to cover up the sides of my face because my face is too wide. So it ended up looking like some sort of bob cut.

While I like my hair, I have concluded after some observation that the default style made me look like a "bitchy fashion magazine editor-in-chief" or a Japanese transgender makeup artist, so I rearranged my hairline. Now I look either stylish or emo, depending on perception. I regret nothing.

2. Police

Apparently the Czech traffic police ticket you like mad during the end of the month. Most likely because they get evaluated for their efforts at the end of the month, they start pulling you over for the tiniest of offenses.

My mother got pulled over a few days ago, and she was puzzled as she had not violated any traffic laws as far as she was concerned. Probably noting the fact that she cannot speak a lick of Czech, they asked her to pay 1,000 CZK (about 60 dollars) and threatened her with a handcuff when she asked them to wait so she could call my dad's secretary (who was Czech) to figure out what this was all about.

After some three-way conversation via phone, it turned out my mother was supposed to have her car examined once every two years and have some sort of proof of it. However, it was apparently not an offense that required payment upon violation. She was allowed to go off.

"Police are corrupt everywhere in the world! Trying to get money out of me and threaten me with handcuffs over something I didn't even have to pay!" she fumed.

Warning to tourists and expats and locals : stick to public transit at the end of the month, and always have your transit ticket.

3. Feather

I only realized recently that despite my brother having dropped a shirt size and some pant sizes, he was not at all slim. I am allowed to poke fun at his previous comment of "I feel so light like a feather~!"

A feather that can still crush and suffocate you.

4. We had lots of sashimi yesterday. It was glorious.

5.  Nerds

My mother, with her two children away for college and her husband only coming home once or twice a week from Poland due to work, has plenty of free time. She has spent it on watching dramas and reading fan forums of JYJ. Even with both her children here for the summer, she still watches dramas and reads fan forums of JYJ with evident glee.

And I was starting to wonder where my nerdish tendencies came from. Glad to know that this was hereditary.

In other news, my brother has read way more manga than I have. I think I watched more anime, though.

YAY NERD FAMILY.

Home Sweet Home

The weather was nice and cool when I arrived in Prague.

Driving home, the sky was blue and the clouds were fluffy white. The fields were green with trees and grass, the air was fresh. Trams slid to and fro in the tracks and familiar streets and buildings welcomed me back.

In the house, there has been some change in furniture arrangement, but it was still the same apartment. My flower-patterened sheets and mom's patchwork quilt were warm and soft as ever. The wooden floor was sturdy and cool against my bare feet. The TV was secured on the Korean channel with its familiar Korean shows. The fridge welcomed me with familar food and snacks.

The cool summer breeze was flowing through the windows (oh, to live without air conditioning in the summer again!), the laundry was drying in the living room emitting the ever-familiar fragrance of detergent and fabric softener all around the house.

We had breakfast around 10, since I was back home at 8:30AM and was hungry. Breakfast consisted of rice, steamed eggs, spinach and shellfish soybean soup, and spicy pork. There were also banchan with dried anchovies and walnuts, kimchi, and some greens. I have nothing else to say other than that home food is extremely delicious and I have missed it so very much.

I don't know why, but it was strangely calming and relaxing to be back home. It wasn't just the familiarity of the place, but everything - from the weather to the bulidings to the atmosphere - everything about Prague made me feel relaxed and at ease. I then remembered that even back when I was living here full-time, I always did feel calm and relaxed around my surroundings for the most part, despite the occasional schoolwork stress and preparing for college. There's just something about the place itself that makes you feel good.

After a series of emotional rollercoasters from last semester, the ever-persistent minor self-esteem issues, and the anxiety over my life and future, inner peace and calm was what I really wanted. I'm not saying that Ann Arbor or any other location is a world of stress and hurt (I like Ann Arbor), but it is certainly a different atmosphere. Ann Arbor for the most part has a feeling of a lively small-town community for me, and while I enjoy its atmosphere as well, I have to say that Prague has more calm that I very much appreciate. It might just be me feeling this, but I stand by my observations.

After a pretty relaxing day, I am now up, ready to start another day. Because of possible jet lag and general fatigue, I have woken up at 6:30 AM, and by the time I'm writing this sentence, it's close to 8:50 AM and the rest of the family has yet to rise (yay night owl family). I think I'll help myself with another yogurt while I wait and chill some more (hey Andrew, I'm eating strawberry and müsli yogurt! nom nom nom!).

So to conclude, yay home. I know I'm only here for about a week before I head off to Korea, but I'm still going to enjoy the heck out of the stay.

Restaurant Week and other things

Wow, I have the best title-naming skills, ever.
Seriously, don't ever put me in charge of coming up with names or titles.

1. Restaurant Week has come and gone (well, technically it's till today, but the chances of me going to more is highly unlikely), and I have dined in two places thus far: the Mediterrano with the kendo people, and Shalimar with the Lounge people. Yes, I refer to my social cliques like that; they're the only people I ever hang out with in this vast University, anyway.

Mediterrano: a Mediterranean (duh) place. Went with Dan, Matt, and Heidi. Sadly, the turnover rate was a few people short of what we initially expected. Without Mike, our favorite teasing material person, Matt resorted to poking fun at Heidi, probably the next easiest target since she really doesn't like being called a hipster. I had cream of tomato soup, a chicken and pasta dish (whose name now escapes me, much to my embarrassment), and vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. The food was quite good, and they had very generous portions. Dan and I went to kata workshop afterwards, and were thus able to work off the food, among other things.

The bread they had was the awesome kind of bread - hard, crunchy crust; soft, moist insides; and a savory taste with a slight tang.

Cream of Tomato soup.

Main course.

 

 The ice cream.

Shalimar: Indian place. Went with Andrew and Sam. Yup, turns out that you could have a worse turnover rate for an event than I expected. The service guy seemed a little confused at times, such as giving Andrew lentil soup instead of samosas, and taking away his plate when Andrew said "I'm still working on it" (Why does everything screwy always happen to Andrew? ;_;) but otherwise, the food was quite tasty. Shalimar also had huge servings (what's with all these places with copious amounts of food?), which I am certain I would not have been able to finish under normal circumstances - I literally did not have food prior to coming to Shalimar.

As if to prove that Shalimar indeed had monster servings, I did not eat anything (well, save for the remainders of my green tea ice cream, which wasn't much to begin with) afterwards and I felt fine.

Lentil soup.

Main course and rice pudding (dessert)

2. Yesterday was a weird day; not only did I eat very irregularly, but I kept on falling asleep, and I was left with a huge sense of apathy. Hopefully today will be a little better. Perhaps the Shalimar food was spiked, as Andrew also noted he wished to sleep.

3. Currently writing an article about apartment complexes. As I try to interview people and get referred to one person after another, I realize how beurocratic everything is, and how regular, ordinary people aren't allowed to comment on this or that without getting permission from the higher-ups. 

As a twenty-one year old, I should know this by now, but it does make the difference when you're going by foot trying to interview them and you just end up ascending the corporate ladder of phone numbers and e-mail addresses until somebody is willing to talk to you, if you're lucky.

Add this on the reasons life as a child is more desirable than that of an adult.

4. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-06-16/tiger-and-bunny-staff/kotetsu-hat-to-be-made-for-sale

So apparently they're going to sell Kotetsu's hat as merchandise in the near future.

This hat. Also, it's a very good excuse to put up another pic of him.

Four words: I want that hat.

I fucking want that hat.

I have never ever bought anime merchandise (exept for one very flimsy "notebook" with FMA on the cover, which is most probably not an official merchandise), but this hat I would buy in a heartbeat.

Do you know how difficult it is to get subtle, tasteful, nerdy products?

Almost every nerd product out there is flashy, gaudy, and loud, like Naruto T-shirts or backpacks; it's almost as if the product makers are scheming to have nerds stay forever alone and never give them a chance to contribute to the gene pool.

Have you seen a guy walking around campus with a Naruto T-shirt?! I have, multiple times, and trust me, nothing says "STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME, I AM A SAD MANCHILD WITH NO SOCIAL SKILLS" in big, flashing letters like wearing a T-shirt with technicolor ninjas on your torso. Subtle nerd products that are blendable with everyday accessories that only those in the know would detect are as rare as shooting stars.

Perhaps I can scrounge about department stores and see if they have any hats that look similar enough. It seems like it could be a common and generic enough design. Well, one can dream.

(THAT HAT.)