the Real World

It's been a couple of years since I've had to update my resume, and even then, it's only been for campus jobs. Can anyone help me with formatting a professional looking one pleaaaaaseeee.

Don't wanna admit I'm lazy, but that's the big reason of why I haven't applied for any jobs yet, other than then whole China thing. I've been scoping out physical therapy aide positions on craigslist and many of them ask for immediate starting dates. I'm afraid that they'll all be filled by the time I"m ready to work in October. As a back up I've also been checking out jobs on shovelbums. I found one that seems pretty decent... 3-10 weeks per job (not too long), $16-19/ hr, travel expenses covered, and hotels to sleep in. Only problem now... getting that resume started!!

booksmania

Today's time trials and fitness test results:
150 m in the 10 man boat with just the steersperson - 1:33 mins
push ups in one min (bent knee style for the ladies)- 75
sit ups in one min- 40
20m shuttles in five mins on wet sand- 40

Sorry to disappoint everyone with my weak sauce time trial. After Weds' practice with SD I knew I was nowhere as strong as I was back in May at the end of the season and with a 3 month hiatus, I did what I could. I am happy that UCLA overall kicked ass, especially with Angela's time trial of 1:25, blowing away all the other girls and close to beating nearly half the guys. I'm not going to be devastated if I don't make the team, but after looking at today's scores, I think I stand a fair chance. The problem is all the stronger girls are righties...

Bae and I went to Borders today to use the 40% off any paperback coupon. We walked around the literature sections browsing through different books that we've read before and it's inspiring to hear Bae tell me about different authors/ titles that have made the "1001 books to read before you die" list. And yes, that is a real book. I just added about 10 more books to my to read list, which I'll have to pick up at the library sometime. Books are just too expensive to purchase unless they're really worth keeping. I was gonna buy another GRE prep book but I figure I can just get that on Amazon for about the same price. I settled on "1000 Places to See Before You Die, A Traveler's Life List"
Travelling around Central America was a much better experience for me than Europe was because the culture and dynamic of the people were so humbling. I want to be able to say that I've done everything and seen everything... I want to see the world!! Oh, that is another reason why I really want to make this China team!

First day of freedom

What have I done today... absolutely nothing. I'm at the Adventure Inn in Cariari, Costa Rica with Eric waiting for my morning flight tomorrow. I really like this place because it's the nicest and cleanest hotel I've stayed at in Central America. Today was the first time in 2 months that I got to take a hot shower, not have to wear bug spray, sleep in a comfy bed with no mosquito net in the way, have clean finger nails, and not eat 3 meals a day when I'm told to... among other things. We arrived yesterday and ate dinner/ breakfast here. Finally left 24 hrs later to eat lunch at a nearby mall and then came back to nap. There really isn't much to do around here. I'm just waiting for 4am to come around when a taxi will pick me up and head to the international airport!! YAY! I am really excited to go home!

So Saturday night turned out to be a semi-lame night only because Mike got pissed at us for leaving El Toro Loco and he didn't hear that we were going to get street meat (YUM!) and then to La Iguana for their 2 for 1 drinks. Right after I ordered some drinks from one lady, the guy bartender gave me a pina colada and the week before he had made me and Amelia some PTYs (YUM!). We had to get Eric and Mike to try it just in case he had slipped some roofies in there, but I guess he's a nice guy. He ended up giving Eric his info and told me to find him on facebook.

Anyway, the night got cut short and we rushed through goodbyes to Scott and Paula to jump onto a pickup cab with 8 of us heading back to Drago. Sarah, Justin and I immediately jumped on the back but had to duck until we were out of the main street because cops were right behind us and it's illegal. It was such a nice ride back with the breeze and the freedom of movement and with the entertainment of Sarah and Justin's conversation about the type of girls they prefer... and then Sarah spending 20 minutes trying to convince Justin that maybe he was gay. hahaha

On the way back from ITEC's lame party with Gwen and Sean I was directing the light straight ahead when I noticed something brown moving. Turns out it was a two toed sloth hanging off the end of a branch, eating!!! Sloths are NEVER moving when we see them so it was really exciting. It was so close that Sean could've walked right into him (and he's around 6 feet). He started moving up the branch as we were shining the light and we tried jumped to touch him.. I think that just pissed him off a bit and he hurried up the branch. Oso and Brownie, our two favorite island dogs walked us back to the house and Brownie even slept in the house with us. <3 He was sad because he knew that half the group was already gone and the rest of us were leaving soon too.

Sunday morning was also sad as we said our goodbyes to Juany, Willy, and Don Bolo at the restaurant and the ITEC gang as well. Drago is the one place I've gone to hoping that I will make it back there someday.

Last night with the gang

It´s my last night in Panama!! I´m really sad my BFF here, Amelia, left on a flight to Panama City an hour ago. Lucky her, she gets to be escorted from the regional airport to her hotel by Tomas, one of the two heartthrob archaeologists that work in Panama. I was going to stay in hotel in town tonight since I´m flying out tomorrow, but everybody is going back to Drago after dinner for ITEC´s last hurrah. Might as well go back to hang out with them since they came to ours last night.

Two nights ago, Amelia forgot her antibiotic pills at Tom´s (professor´s house), so Aleks and I volunteered to walk down to get it for her, also so we could avoid all the verbal arguments going on. First thing Tom asked us when we walked in was if we wanted rum and coke or rum and tonic. Coolest professor ever? I spent the next 2 hours sipping on that watching Snow White with his four year old daughter, Summer, wearing her tiara made out of construction paper and munching on cheetos. Those are my favorite drunken munchies. Mike had to listen to us singing ¨I want candy! budadadadada¨the entire way home.

We spent the last 2 days shoveling sand and dirt with shovels into buckets and a wheelbarrows to fill all the holes that we had dug. Backfilling is a bitch, especially in the rain! Nonetheless, got it done and had our farewell party last night at Tom´s. Amelia forgot her syringe at our house so Jamie and I volunteered to walk back to get it for her. Meanwhile, Tom decided to start the fireworks without us!!! Garrr...

We finally blended the tattoo fruit with water and people were playing around with it, getting inked by Sarah. Justin asked her to draw something ¨bad ass, like a bone¨on his back. She just wrote the words ¨bad ass¨ on his shoulder and Aleks drew a big penis across his back. Haha.. it´s pretty ridiculous. This stuff stays on for 10-14 days. After that, we went back into the field to our water tank to mark our words of wisdom and left our names imprinted.. in sharpie. Not sure how long that´s gonna stay on with the rain.

Of course, to properly end the course, we had to take a midnight dip in the ocean, where Mike decided to unclothe himself to his students, but technically, it was after midnight and he wasn´t our TA anymore. Skinny dipping is quite nice in the Caribbean Sea with the full moon.

Oh yea-- I have a swollen eye a mosquito bit me and my stupid allergic reactions decided to kick in. That is also why I have a blister (not zit!) on my face and why my legs are scarred.

Last update from Panama

Hello!

This is my last email from Panama.. I´m leaving next Sunday for Costa Rica and I´ll be back next Tuesday! I spent the first part of the week being sick in bed and the last few days back in the field. We got the day off yesterday to hike through the muddy forest and followed a river that partly runs underground and through caves. On the way to the river there were 2 fallen trees, one of which we had to crawl through with bats flying around and eventually dead ends because it gets too narrow so then we have to pull ourselves out of a hole, belly down. We stopped to swim whenever we reached a cave but some of them were super dark so we couldn´t see the coral/rocks on the bottom. My friend tripped on one of them and gashed a small part of her shin and had to get stitches. It´s not as bad as it sounds though and she was in and out of the hospital within 30 minutes.

This last week should be eventful, we´re having 3 parties this week to celebrate one student´s birthday, our last get-together, and last gt together part 2 since some of us are staying here saturday night as well. Our professor´s parents are here to visit for a week and it´s exciting cause they´re world-famous biologists who used to teach at Cal. I´m spending my last weekend here on the internet... searching for jobs on craigslist and yahoo. It´s really dismal, but it´s not like there´s much else to do anyway. It ALWAYS rains on Sunday.

Thanks for keeping up with my emails (if you have been) so that I don´t have to keep telling the same stories over and over again when I get back!

Being sick makes me homesick

Hi friends!

So most of us made it through the halfway point without getting sick but half the group´s been dropping like flies, one by one. Two people got nausea, two were too hungover one day to work, one stepped on a bee and had allergic reactions, one had an eye irritation from contacts, and I got Bocas butt yesterday (aka traveller´s diarrhea). It´s no fun watching everyone else go swimming and having to stay in, but we made the most of it by turning it into movie day. We got the afternoon off yesterday to "prepare" for our prof´s birthday fiesta for his 46th. He even bought fireworks ahead of time to blow up by the beach. Our TA almost got his foot blown off because the prof dropped a lit one and it rolled right over Mike´s foot. Close call.

I got to experience a change of scenery this week cause the group from Cal who are here studying the relationships between the Afro-Carribean and Chinese in historic times needed some help. There´s a large community of Chinese immigrants here from Canton, first wave came in the 1800s to work on the Panama Canal and there´s a 2nd wave who´s come recently to start businesses. All the supermarkets in town are owned by Chinese people and the two generations don´t get along. I tried buying a cell phone the other day and ended up having a conversation with the storeowners in Chinese. Very interesting. We had to dig in the sand which is freaking hard when you have to keep the walls of a 1x1 meter unit from collapsing. Some kids walking by asked if we were building a sand castle. All this digging really takes a toll on the body and at the end of each day I really wish I brought a foam roller.

Hope all is well at home!

Besos,
Lisa

Tree!

Hey guys!

Week 2 down.. almost half way through! This week passed by much quicker because we have so much work to do everyday. We finally started digging this week and found lots of cool pottery and some human bones. Yesterday we dug up the backfill from the unit they started last year where they found tombs. An engineer came out from Panama City to help us do resistivity testing in that area to pinpoint locations of where similar artifacts would be. It´s been pouring, thundering and lighting every day and night. Mike built us an overhang using bamboo, tarp, and ropes so the rain and sun don´t even faze us ... and I must say it´s pretty impressive. The best investment I´ve made here is my rainboots. I realize as long as I have dry feet nothing else matters. It´s a shame that ponchos and rainboots aren´t the fad in LA because they are so pratical!

Today I learned how to tree climb and made it 70 feet up a tree! It´s way more exhilarating and gratifying than zipling and rappelling because I had to pull my own weight up and it was free. Stayed up there for a good 20-30 mins enjoying the sight of the entire beach and the tops of surrounding trees. Sorry I wont have any pictures to show though because my NEW camera broke last night. So bummed. The instructor is one of the guys from the ecology center with a base out in Drago also. I think he´s around 80 ish and still climbs even after he disturbed a wasp nest a few years ago and almost died from the number of stings. He lost vision in one eye and had severe kidney or liver damage too.

Not much else going on here. I really appreciate the responses and it makes me feel closer to home than I really am. Thanks!

xoxo,
Lisa

week one of panama

Hey guys!

I´ve only been in Panama for a week, but it feels like i´ve been here forever because we basically work from sunrise to sunset 6 days a week. Spent the last week surveying a forest, looking for artifacts and trying to determine how large the archaeological site is, walking at least 5 miles a day. We just keep an eye out for any rocks (because they aren´t native to this island), shells, and ceramics that date back 1000 years ago. I found 3 manos on the first day which were used to grind food back in the day. It´s so exciting finding artifacts! We start excavating tomorrow... hopefully that is easier/ more exciting than surveying because we have a chance of finding human remains!

So we wake up at 630 every morning to the sound of howler monkeys and the wailing of the bipolar dog across the street, except Sunday which we get to sleep in until 730 after a long night of partying, and work until 4 or so. Then after dinner we do another 2 hours of lab work which consists of sorting through midden (aka trash). I´m a pro at picking out bits of fish bones and charcoal. By the end of the night we´re all pretty exhausted, but it´s cool cause we get to chill in the hammocks or at the beach in our backyard.

We come into town every Sat night as a group to have dinner, hit the happy hour at bars, and then to a popular club because it´s built over a sucken ship. My TA, Mike, is a 33 year old 1st yr grad student who acts like he´s still 21 with the way he loves to drink and dance. He´s pretty much with us 24/7 cause he lives in the house also and comes out with us on weekends and is determined to teach everyone how to salsa and meringue. Extra credit= pick up trash or cuba libres for him. Not so bad.

There isn´t any internet out by Drago, our field site, so I won´t be checking any emails til Sat night or Sunday. But the internet is annoying slow today throughout the entire town and there isn´t much else to do out here... The area that we live in and digging in belongs to a highly respected fellow named Don Bolo who bought the land a long time ago and everyone in town knows him as the Godfather. It´s pretty awesome because supposedly the police will let us go if we mention that we are living with him.

Not gonna lie, it´s a tough job out here, but I´m still having a great time meeting new people. The only thing that kinda sucks is the water situation in our house because it runs off of a water pump that is powered via solar power, which is only charged when it is sunny or at night when we turn the generator on. We´ve run out of water so many times it´s not even funny... which means no flushing, no showers after long sweaty days, and no filtered drinking water!!! But... even with the lack of resources this program has opened up my eyes to a bunch of opportunities that I probably wouldn´t have thought about on my own. I´m thinking about applying for an anthro or archaeology masters program and looking for work in the CRM (cultural resources management) field. They´re called shovel bums and they get paid to travel and dig!

Miss you all!
Lisa

Summary of Costa Rica

In case youre all wondering what ive been up to the last two weeks.. these are the updates that ive been sending people. i guess ill start blogging from now on.

6/24
Hey guys!
Just wanted to let you guys know that we made it to costa rica safely.
Hitched a ride down to zancudo beach from the owner of the cabinas.
We've been relaxing on the beach and made some friends who taught us
how to surf. It's really nice here cause it's so isolated.. Mainly bc
it's rainy season but it only rains in the afternoon. But that means
mosquitoes!! Im getting eaten alive here.. I have hundreds already..
No joke. I am the talk of the town. We're gonna take a propellor plane
back to San jose and then catch a bus to la fortuna to see the volcano
arenal on thursday.

K more later. Hope you're all doing well.



6/28
Hey all!

We´re in La Fortuna right now. Left Zancudo early Thurs for a 12 hr trek to get here via boat taxi, small plane, bus ride to san jose and then 5 hr bus ride to la fortuna and got here at 5pm, in time to catch a view of the volcano and some lava boulders. it wasn´t too clear so we couldn´t catch spewing lava from the top.

it´s been an adventure here. went water rappelling yesterday and it´s not as dangerous as it sounds because a 5 yr old girl also did it with us. we saw the family again today at the ziplining/canopy tour. there were 10 zip lines and you can go up to 50mph on the last one. i THINK it´s mph... maybe it was kph. we also rented out mopeds for an hr cause it was only 15 bucks and ventured around town. then we talked a lady into giving us a swedish and hot rocks massage because another place offered it for a cheaper deal. still not sure what a swedish massage is but it felt pretty relaxing after.

that´s it for now, heading out to tortuguero early tomorrow (it´s on the caribbean coast) so until then...!


7/3
Hey guys!

Sunday night-- made it to Tortuguero to try to catch green/ leatherback turtles laying their eggs on the beach at night. It was storming when we went out, but like they say, turtles don't care about the rain! We walked for about an hr on the sand before we found researchers measuring a green turtle burying her eggs in the sand. Her shell measured a meter long in diameter.. it was HUGE. We watched it dig/ bury in the sand for another hour before she made her way back to the ocean. It was pretty awesome.

We've been here in Puerto Viejo since Monday. It's a tiny beach town really close to the Panama border on the Caribbean side. We've made a lot of friends here with the locals and the same tourists we see. Many of locals here moved here from the states years ago and it gets me thinking that if i ever left the states, I'd come here too. Never thought I'd ever ride an ATV, and I don't think I will ever again because they are dangerous!! Everyone bikes here with the beach coasters so it's really fun and chill. Oh yea, it's all about the Jamaican attitude and the Bob Marley music. We tried going scuba diving today but the waves were too rough and it's actually storming now. We still got to do the diving course and use all the equipment, so we are temporarily certified for 90 days. We actually get tv in our hotel here and all we've been watching is CNN around the clock... and ALL we've learned in the last 3 days is about Michael Jackson's will and the replay of his last rehearsal/ Senator having an affair from some state/ CA's IOUs/ and today's latest news.. Sarah Palin. Please tell me there are more important/ interesting things going on in the states.

Will left on a bus for San Jose about 2 hours ago which means I am alone for tonight here. Luckily I've been sleeping at 10ish/11 every night so hopefully it won't be too bad because I hate being alone at night. I'm heading out to Bocas, Panama tomorrow via shuttle and hopefuly meeting some people from my program. If not... then it's another night alone before I start school.

I've only been gone for 2 weeks and the thought of being away for another 6 weeks is kinda unbelieveable still. I think this is the point where I start getting homesick.. but it should get better when I get to meet up with more familiar faces from school.

Update.

Santouka-
The best ramen I've ever had-- located in the Mitsuwa marketplace. I've only tried the shoyu and miso ones, but they also offer a salt one that is always sold out. I think I prefer the miso one cause it's a bit lighter in taste compared to the shoyu... makes sense I guess. I haven't tried the pork that it comes with yet because I only discovered this place a few weeks ago.

No Red Meat
Oh yea so I haven't tried the pork yet because I gave up red meat right after Tempe race which was.. around April 1 I believe. It was a bit difficult the first week trying to avoid beef and pork, both of which I love, but I'm used to it now. In general my body feels lighter and I'm more conscious of vegetarian restaurants and options. Initially I did it to prepare for May race and because I was consuming so much beef/pork on a daily basis. Now it's also to be more environmentally friendly. Did you know that skinnier people are more green to the envt because they require less gas to get around? Makes sense.

Three Day Weekends
So I planned my schedule for my last quarter to be FREE on fridays, COMPLETELY. No class or work and how do I celebrate? I use it as a study day. It's actually a lot more relaxing studying when I'm not required to and I'm not cramming.. and it lessens the load for Mon-Thurs, which SUCK.

Lifting
Shou made Julie and I a work out plan to prepare physically, in addition to land practices, for May race. Been hitting the gym at least twice a week for deadlifts/squats/and smaller muscles, and then maybe another day for extra ab work. It been a painful 3 weeks, being sore all the time, but hopefully it'll pay off next week... and if it happens, I'll keep up the work out to prepare for Prague!

Winter Finals

T-12 until physics!!!! I lost focus after getting a call from Carroll, my buddy from Spain who I'm visiting this weekend. So far it sounds like we're hitting Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and New York City. WHOOOO HOOOOOO I'm so freaking excited! I guess this is the only picture I have with the two of us... at the Alhambra in Granada.

Just need to survive the night, hopefully stay up all night, maybe squeeze in a nap somewhere.
Gonna be on the plane by 2pm tomorrow and arriving in Philly at 12am!

the VA experience

Flight take off: 6 pm.

Got through security at 530, and even though it said boarding time: 530, they NEVER board on time! So I took my time... used the bathroom, bought some chocolates...

Strolled into the empty gate at 540 to have this lady frantically yelling at me:
"ARE YOU LISA? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU ARE THE LAST PERSON, THEY ARE ALL WAITING FOR YOU!!"

she might have said more, but i didn't hear it...

the guy who escorted me down the ramp said I was famous and when he asked where i was.. just told him the truth.. that I was buying candy. he wasn't impressed with my answer. I asked HIM why we were leaving so early.

"oh you know, we're going to San Francisco, we just want to get them there early." that didn't answer my question.

luckily people were still trying to get to their seats when I got onto the plane. Don't know why the rush because we still left at the same time. People just need to chillax because the airport is already a stressful place as is!

It's like a Christmas tree

Buddy the Elf: "It looks like a Christmas tree!"
Ever go into an elevator and hit all the buttons so they light up... like a Christmas tree?
I have a habit of doing this in a certain elevator and today was the first time I was shocked to see someone actually waiting outside when the doors opened.
What did we do? We walked away quickly... it's a good thing Julie and I don't live here.

In my defense, I did/ DO feel really bad. But there are only 4 floors so the lady didn't have to wait that long. =D

COSTA RICA!

Just booked our tickets to COSTA RICA!!!!
Tentative plan: Leave for CR on June 19th..
- Have fun until July 4th and then Will has to go home.
- Somehow make my way to Bocas del Toro, Panama by July 5th via bus... solo!
- Archaeology program for 5 weeks until Aug 8th.
- Somehow make my way BACK to San Jose, CR by Aug 11th for my flight back to the US!

Really gotta start saving money for this trip by not spending money on anything else until then!!

Oh yea, spring break trip to grand canyon canceled in order to save up for summer trip. Looks like I'm gonna be working all of break instead and then to Tempe!!

This is the one thing i want to do in CR -- zip- lining through the rain forest.

did i really wait behind a bush for 5 hrs?

Let's get this story straight.

2:05 pm- headed up bruinwalk to meet judy and brian who were already outside of Henry's class in Geology ready for kill.

2:10pm -I spot Shou (who is on Henry's team) on his bike near Franz. To throw off his scent I tell him I'm late for class, which I really was only I decided to skip class, and walk in the other direction.

220 ish- head over to side entrance of geology through the franz where there is a small courtyard. i was gonna let my friend, jon, borrow my calculator for his midterm so to avoid the risk of seeing anyone in front of the building, i told him i was on the side. that is when i told julie to come by cause i was waiting for jon! from the outside i guess it did look like i was hiding behind a bush, but REALLY, i just happened to be standing by there.

230-310pm- staked out geology 3820 for henry's arrival. never showed, punk! walked judy to class at CS.

310-350pm- hung out in the court of sciences w/ jon before his midterm while also keeping lookout for henry. during this time, received a text saying that henry had walked by bruinwalk. stupidly forgot to ask which direction he was going and at what time. later found that that he was walking away from class around 250!!!

350pm- went back to cs50 for judy and went back to henry's class in case he showed, which we thought he did at this point. i had physics hw due at 5pm and at 4pm, i realized i did not have my book or my study guide. what to do?! walk all the way home...

TIME WASTED- THREE HOURS.
- skipped physics lab and lecture (though i decided beforehand to skip bc i was lazy)
- did not complete physics hw in time.
- did not study for my two midterms that will begin in 6 hrs!

Conclusion: Henry was too scared to go to class.

I hope you're happy, Henry.

living in ruins

Our apartment is falling apart while we're still living in it!!!!!!

About a month ago Dave, the manager, left us a note saying that the water bill went up 200% from last year and sent a plumber to fix all the leaks. First time around-- they changed our sink faucet that's been leaking for a year now, attempted to fix the tub leak with no luck (the plumber was cussing the entire time), and "fixed" our perfectly good toilet by breaking it.

WELLLL, little did they know, the 60 year old pipes were ready to to timber which is why they began ripping at our walls right away. First hole appear underneath Linh's desk. Next was a portion of our wall. We can see the basement through that hole and I am SOOO convinced that rats are going to appear in no time. Rats are my ONE FEAR in life and I am ready to move out if they come. I feel bad for Wada cause he's had to move his computer 3 times now. They're going to replace the entire pipe once our upstairs neighbor moves his stuff. HOW, you ask?! I HAVE NO IDEA. They left a freakin layer of dust all over our room.




The wall is really minor compared to what they've done to our bathroom. I think the plumbers accidentally cut off the electricity while they were cutting into the ceiling. This happened on Friday and so we were w/o lights in the bathroom the entire weekend. We stuck a lamp in there for the meantime and I guess makes it a bit romantic? No, not funny at all. You know what IS though? The plumbers asked Steph today whether someone was going to come to fix the light in the bathroom any time soon. GOOD QUESTION cause we thought THEY were going to!!!! Gahhhh good thing I called Dave tonight... hopefully send an electrician out tomorrow. What good is it anyway if we don't have cold water for the shower ... Oh yes, we only have scalding hot water in the shower. You see that window in the back there? They opened it all the way and we have no way of closing it now.

here comes the sun

7 more hours until the half marathon!!! The most running I've done in the last 3 weeks was 6 miles two days ago and I'm still sore! I borrowed a short foam roller to loosen up my IT band before and after the race. The therapists also promised me some ultrasound on Monday morning. You guys have no idea how freakin nervous I am for this race!!! My fear is that I won't be able to finish, physically.. or maybe mentally. Just thinking of it as a long leisurely run, enjoying the scenic route with the play list that Will is making me.

Probably wasn't a good idea drinking last night... but it's not often that I get to hang out w/ Jenny and Henry or socialize with the freshies on the team. Had dinner at Jenny's and played some drunken scrabble. Jenny: "Thuget is a little thug!" Yea ok. Had to sober up from the beer and wine before making it back to Westwood for the end of "paddle cutting" party... and then had some more shots. I woke up feeling bruised from all the wrestling with Yoshi... and I have no idea why. The stupidest thing I did was hand over my debit card to Julia. Kevin had just dropped me off at home and I wanted to go over to Bae's and so I called him to come get me again. I knew he'd be mad/ cranky about it so I offered to pay for their late night munchies, but i didn't want to go with them and I didn't have cash on me. Still have not gotten my card back yet...

sleep time.. wish me luck!

Pa-na-ma

So you've probably all heard me talking about Botswana, Ireland, Belize, and Panama over the last couple of months and I've decided to go to Panama for a few reasons.

I finally got to meet with Ran, the director of the Archaeology Field Program and he was really helpful with providing me with info and pictures of each site. All this time I thought they were generally the same environments, but the project in Belize is actually way inland, deep in the jungle... which SOUNDS cool right? I'm sure it is, but it couldn't compare to the beach front house in Panama. The site at Belize is new and has NEVER been excavated before. They found mounds there which could uncover pyramids. They're hoping they are 2nd tier local chiefdoms because there's been little artifacts found.

In Panama, animal bones and some human bones are excavated to determine the subsistence lifestyle of the early inhabitants of the island as well as human impacts. Ran made a point that working with vertebrates may help my potential career in PT in that I will be more prepared in an evolutionary sense. He also introduced me to Dr. Wake, the lead archaeologist of the Panama project, and he told me a bit more about his research. I also asked about volunteering in his lab, spending a few hours every week sorting, cataloguing, data input and whatnot. Doesn't sound like much but I'll be a pro in sorting shells, bones, and rocks in no time. I'll also be more prepared when I get to Panama.

Did I mention beach front house? The pictures were gorgeous. Another factor was the date of the program. It runs from early July to early August, so I'll at least have the option if i decide to take fall semester of CC classes.

---------
Irrelevant to Panama. Today is Lunar New Year.. not as festive as it usually is. I completely forgot to call my family til 11pm and by then they were asleep. Most of the people who actually wished me a happy new year were non-asian, which caught me off guard. I think I said "thanks" instead of wishing them a happy new year too. What's the right thing to say? Oh well, the day is over and life is back to normal.

booowling!

Ahhh, weekend well spent.

Finally got to sleep in on Saturday morning.. which I never get to do! I've been really lazy about going out to practices this quarter... just settling for the Sunday ones w/ UCLA. Good enough for now. Watched the UCLA men's bball team lose to Washington .. sad... we are no longer the pac-10 leaders, but I'm confident that they can come back by the end of the season. Went to powell after the game only to find out that they close at 5pm on Saturdays. That's the first and last time I go to the library on a Saturday. It's so depressing there.. so stuffy and dingy and the silence absolutely kills me. I forgot my headphones the last few times I've gone. Anyway, left for ISO's instead and stayed there closing. First time I've ever walked there too! Then... went to Janet Bang's homecoming gathering.. initially we thought it was an old people's party (they're all at least 23) cause it was 11 and people were playing chess, alcohol out but not many people drinking, and everyone just sat around talking. A bit awkward considering we were the only ones not a part of Unicamp and also the youngest ones there. Glad I got to catch up with Janet for a little and super psyched that she's moving back down to LA! She told me about her experience teaching abroad in Korea for a year, living by herself, traveling to other countries, and just living the life! Makes me rethink about what I want to do next year. I really want to find a job somewhere else and just get out of LA.. SF... California in general. Don't get me wrong, I love CA, but I just need to get out and away before I settle here.

Sooo... practice early today, mixed boats again. I realize it's not the same without my timing box crew... mainly JenSun, Julia, Will, Henry, Anita. The people sitting around me today are not as vocal and I need those words of encouragement and spikes of intense grunts to keep me pumped for the entire endurance piece, race piece, everything! I love dboat as a sport, but it's definitely the chemistry of the team that makes it worthwhile.

Went bowling tonight w/ the small group that showed for the social. I did the worst in the first game because I suck at bowling. But for the 2nd game, i PRed with a score of 110!!! I've never even come close to 100! For the first 6 frames I kept hitting 9's with one spare. Then i lost my magic for a frame or two, but came back in the end with a strike and spare in the last frame. It was awesomee. How do we end the night? Of course with some yogurtland and volcano. Did I mention that today is the 4th time I've been to Yogurtland in the last 7 days? I should really get to know the workers there so maybe they'll consider sponsoring our team. What a good way to start the week.

Two cents: Tattoos

I've been hearing different opinions about tattoos.. so here's my two cents.

I didn't have much of an opinion about tattoos before I got mine, but I'll admit that I did index them with "gangsters" and the rebellious bunch. But since getting mine my mind's opened up and now I believe that people, for the most part, get them as a personal choice for personal expression. Tattoos act as symbols and hold personal meaning for the individual and outsiders should not be judging. Albiet some are probably mistakes, but that's why tattoo removal is so readily available nowadays.

Another thought: Why does size matter? I've heard complaints that small tattoos are stupid and if you're gonna get one, go big. But seriously, how stupid would I look to get a large paddle permanently etched across my arm/ back? Some things are just meant to be small.

"I don't like girls with tattoos." Isn't that a sexist remark? When and how did tattoos become ever more stigmatized in the girl world? AAAANd isn't it hypocritical if the guy got one himself?!! I don't get it. Personally I love guys with tattoos. Very hot.

Reasons I got mine? The first one because I am really passionate about paddling. It's where I met my second family. It's been my outlet to relieving stress, anger, sadness.. you name it. It's a symbol for the ultimate team sport that does require 100% of strength and heart from 20 people to be successful. After that I realized the beauty of body art and craved for more. Round 2, I got the sea turtles because I love the ocean and it reminds me of Hawaii. The first time I saw a sea turtle was when I was kayaking at Kailua beach. I just wanted to jump out and swim with it. I originally wanted 5 because that's my favorite number, but realistically 5 was too many and cut it down to 3. The guy who did it actually convinced me to get them much bigger than I had intended and I'm soo glad he did!

I want to get a few more and i've been thinking about my next one since i got the turtles back in sept. And on thursday, the idea of getting a sea shell suddenly popped into my head. Thinking of getting a sea shell, scallop specifically, on the inside of my right foot, under the ankle. Haven't sorted out the details yet but at least I have an idea. I'm thinking of asking my dear friend Henry Cheung if he could design something for me.

Bitch, that's my orchid!

AHHHHH it's been a long day of chauffeuring my mom again once again. She drags me to costco EVERY time I come home and buys the same stuff or random crap she thinks she will use, but will never and it just piles up in the downstairs flat. That's the same reason why my sister's bf refuses to visit anymore because he's sick of going there. So the reason we went to Costco today is cause she overheard some old lady talking during dim sum about cheap orchids they were selling. I told her I had a lot of studying to do but she reassured me it would not take long and we could only get the best looking ones if we went earlier. Sigh.

Once we got there my mom left to browse through the orchid section while I just stood in an empty aisle being bored. But then, I heard some "shouting" if you can even call it that from the plant section coming from 3 old ladies. I thought they were just talking loudly to one another (cause that's how Asian people converse) until I realized they were actually calling each other "bitch" in Chinese... back and forth. Apparently one lady had snatched an orchid from the other ladies. The funny thing is it didn't even look like they were mad at all, almost like they were smiling. To any non-Chinese speakers it'd look like they were just having a friendly loud conversation. I just stood there laughing-out-loud for a good while. My mom spent a good hour just in the orchid section before I dragged her out of there. [I guess these things are worth fighting over... ?]


Spent the rest of the day hanging out at my grandma's studying and surfing the web in between. When I stepped out to bring my uncle something some old Asian lady with a cane had fallen down behind me so I went back to help her.. except she wasn't too cooperative. A toddler had been walking on his own and fell in front of her, leaving her to trip over him. The lady just kept fussing when we tried to help her up, complaining that her arm hurt and wouldn't get up. Finally the father of the kid picked her up from behind. I felt super bad for the mom.

I look forward to having some home cooked meals when I come back, but my parents have come to believe that going out for dinner is the cool thing to do. I go out enough when I'm at school, I just want something good without MSG for once. I can't wait to get back to LA!!!!!!!!!!!

Twix are for kids

Day 4 without consuming any chocolate... this is a really tough life for me, guys. If you know anything about me at all, it's that I used to eat at least one piece of chocolate (preferably dark) everyday. The day after I swore off chocolate (until race, at least) I gave away my 3 bags to the roomies, who happily received them.

So glad week 2 is over cause I've been working waay OT! I generally pile on the hours the first 2 weeks before midterms start, but this qtr was even worse with one of the aides at the clinic out, recovering from heart surgery. It's gonna be another 2 weeks before she comes back... going.. over.. load! ah! So Weds was a super super long day that started at 715 and ended at 8 pm. and how do i reward myself? by taking a shot of 151. not only did it burn all the way down, but the sensation lasted for at least an hr. and i only did this because i thought i had done it before, but nope. learned my lesson.

I've spent the last 2 days sorting old emails because once I linked my ucla account to my gmail, it transferred everything and labeled it at unread, basically overloading my inbox. it was fun and nostalgic re-reading old dboat emails about pre/post race, parties, farewells, etc. glad i found those and "marked as dboat".. now i'll know exactly where to find them!

Time to fume about FLYAWAY!! I've taken it plenty of times before and it's always, always left ON THE DOT and they wouldn't open doors for people even if they were chasing the bus. So today I hustled my butt from work to my apt, back to ackerman to return/buy books, and then to kinross in less than an hr! Thought i made it in time for the 6pm flyway but minutes passed and it showed up at 615ish. after everyone loaded, the bus driver who was SUPPOSED to leave at 6 showed up and decided to take off right away w/o taking any passengers, leaving our bus to deny the leftovers waiting. Our bus driver took forever just to get the bus going. 405 traffic was surprisingly light for a friday evening... it was the surface streets near the airport that was horrendous. He made some wrong turn that detoured us for at least 20 mins, only to come back to the same street we had turned off of. Managed to get to the airport at 740 for my 755p flight. Rushed through all the lines (thank you LAX security!) and got on the plane just in time for take off. Flyaway, you have disappointed me.

It's Friday night of a 3-day weekend. I really wish i were in LA right now. =( I'm really reallly sad I won't be able to practice this weekend either. Double =(

Where's my epiphany

No other feeling like going to the beach at 2am, laying down on the soft white sand under the moonlit sky, listening to the waves break under, the feeling of warm ocean breeze and watching the stars glimmer. I wonder how bright the moon was really shining without the intrusion from the light on the ferris wheel and pier. I'd like to think we were out there seeking for some sort of epiphany, but really it was just enough to be there and get away from the craziness that the world keeps throwing at us. I had work early the next morning, but like Chris said, "It's just something we have to do." We talked mostly of what we didn't want to end up doing after graduation and spoke dearly of our dream world instead. I want to do so much with my life, mostly exploring every country and everything they have to offer and never settling down with one career. I guess that's kind of difficult seeing as how the debt for the educational costs for all these career changes would accumulate till I died. But seriously, I can't see myself sticking with one job for the rest of my life.

To add to that, I went to an info session for the archaeology program I'm doing this summer. Most of it was boring and redundant in trying to convince students to do the program, but we were all anthro majors already and why would we come if we weren't interested? Anyway, the lady went through each program and gave a snipet about it, which proved to be pretty helpful. The two big ones I've been comtemplating about these past few months were Ireland and Botswana. I was waitlisted #5 for Ireland and after I found out that they are only taking 10 students, I was pretty sure I didn't stand a chance... so back to Botswana? Well that was the last one she talked about and at first it seemed perfect since it focuses on hunter-gatherers, one of my areas of interest... but when she showed a picture of it, she reassured us that we wouldn't see any lions or giraffes. HELLOOOO that was the best part about the program!!! Yep, heard that and scratched the idea right away. Back to square 1... kinda. I opted for Belize instead, but going to look through every program still just in case.

Work in 5.5 hours... man, why do I do this to myself.

bor-ing

I've probably started at least 5-6 posts since the new year has started but i have yet to complete and post one.

Haven't been training very hard with the running since classes started a week ago. The only workouts I've done have been with dboat and I want to think that they are suffice, but I'd only be kidding myself. With only 2.5 weeks left (holy crap! where did the time go?!) I'll probably have to start eating better and running regularly... great timing because I just bought 3 bags of Christmas chocolates today. Also sucks to run outside with the unusual January heat wave going on too. Ok, starting tomorrow... no more chocolate or junk food until after race.....

Guess I didn't realize how attached I was to my car, or any car, while at school. For one, I'm hungry because Linh's been kinda lazy/ tired about taking me grocery shopping. Tonight, I ate some peanut butter and honey sandwiches for dinner. I'm super used to driving down to Iso's with Chris because I can't study at my apt!! So really, trying to do any work once I'm at home is useless and I haven't gotten anything done since I've been back. One thing that REALLY sucks is I can't go to practice on the weekends unless Brent/ Chuck are going or else I'd have no ride. That's the saddest part because there's absolutely NOTHING to do here on weekends! Most of the time all the roomies go home and I'm left here alone. Sigh.

I'll try to update this more often.. I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to post about but just never got around to it and it's a bit late now. I'll be back...