mood: at peace
music: Dear Vienna – Owl City

I love good action/adventure stories. Watching Avatar for the second time today (with my parents this time), I realized how to better explain my taste. I really love action; fighting sequences are really awesome to me — but unfortunately I’m also extremely squeamish. So I really enjoy action that’s not gorey or gruesome; action that gets the point across without explicitly emphasizing the violent aspect of it. Adventure stories are great for this. Most stories that have “battles” are usually winners for me. I also really like putting action scenes in my stories, but I kind of suck at writing awesome action. I think it’s definitely one of the hardest things to write convincingly (Rick Riordan actually does it really well in the Percy Jackson series; it was always very easy for me to visualize what was going on but it wasn’t like simple or anything; it was clever action that made sense and was exciting), along with romance.

I really love movies that fashion a new world. You know, ones where the writers had to sit down for a long time creating a world. I’m hardly degrading movies that aren’t like that, but those are definitely the ones that really catch my eye and get me really excited and…into them, really. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a total sucker for new worlds, superheroes, magical universes, mythology, all of that good stuff. My friends at Berkeley are always making fun of me for my random plot bunnies/wild imagination tidbits that I like announcing to the world, haha. Once, we were hanging out in C.J.’s room when we suddenly heard a loud train horn outside and were really confused, seeing as there are no trains that close to the dorms. Really excited, I suggested that maybe a superhero had just teleported a runaway train into the soccer field on top of the parking garages and that now our lives would be changed forever. I just love thinking about that kind of stuff. Maybe it’s childish. Maybe it’s unrealistic. Maybe it’s escapist. But more importantly, it’s fun.

Right now, I’m working on an original story about superheroes. The idea was born two summers ago during a family trip to Las Vegas; we had to take my dad to the hospital that time, and afterward, we dropped my mom off at Walgreens to pick up some meds. While we were waiting for her, I chatted with the cabbie. His story, in combination with the David Copperfield show that I’d seen the previous night, sparked my imagination and grew into a full-fledged plot bunny. I really hope that I’ll get somewhere with this.

In fact, I’m going to go work on it right now, before I sleep. Thank god for break and all this freedom!

mood: resigned
music: Bad Romance – Lady GaGa

On the 29th, I worked and then hung out with Di afterward. I wanted to spend some time with her alone before she went back to San Diego because I’ve really missed her. I’ve hung out with her and my other friends, but she treats me very differently when other people are around. I feel like a lot of my friends are like this, though; not sure if that’s a bad thing or just a weird trend. I don’t mind too much, though; I mean, I assume that the way they act towards me when we’re alone reveals more clearly how they actually see me. I helped her with her Christmas present craft project and we talked for a long time about all kinds of things. It felt really good. And she was telling me about Matt and mentioned something interesting about how she would never help me with my emotional problems even though I’m her best friend but she helps Matt with his all the time. It was a weird thing to tell me but very interesting at the same time. I’d wondered about that, actually; I’d wondered how she would connect emotionally with someone, since she’s so very much…not about comforting or sensitive at all. She has really defied my expectations of how she would behave in a relationship. I’m very happy for her. She and Matt are really good for each other; I like their dynamic a lot. They’re so cute together, too. I’m really glad that she’s found someone with whom she really clicks.

The next day, I hung out at Spectrum with Mag, Kell, and Amanda. I wanted to make sure that I would see them as much as possible before they had to go back to school (Berkeley starts really late). We watched The Blind Side, which I enjoyed. It was a very good story and I thought it was neat that it was based on a true story. I also liked that it wasn’t made to be a tearjerker but was heartwarming at the same time.

The next day was New Year’s Eve, and I went to Kelly’s house for their annual New Year’s Eve party. I was really sad that Wendy didn’t cook so it was just a potluck. It was still fun, though. We played Scene It! Jr. and Taboo (which I dominated at, which made me extremely proud). We also talked a lot about school, but not in a gross way. Found out that Amanda has registered for classes (good) and Erin has decided on a major (great!). We also did our Christmas present exchange. I got a $60 gift card to Best Buy (it was supposed to be so I could buy a new camera, but I did that with the giftcard my parents gave me, so I guess I just have a bunch of money for Best Buy now), a cool nameplate thing that Erin made for me, and a cool keepsake trinket box that Di made for me. I didn’t get to pass out my presents to people because I haven’t finished them yet, but hopefully I’m forgiven since I got back from school so much later than everyone and then was stuck in Vegas for so many days. Anyway… Just before midnight, we joined everyone in the kitchen and passed out funny hats (I got one of my favorite color, yes!) and counted down. We spent the rest of the night just talking and looking up funny YouTube videos (Diana went through like a hundred videos of narcoleptic people and animals…).

My best girl!

I love these guys so much. We go way, way back. ♥

Con Diana's gifts!

Hung out with Mark on Friday. Was gonna watch Avatar but there were a gazillion people at the theaters so we took a raincheck. Had Corner Bakery for dinner and talked for a long time. We were chatting pretty loudly about some topics and I noticed that people looked at us, and I realized that I’d forgotten how different things are in Orange County. It’s easy to forget about the way the rest of the world is when you’re at Berkeley. Afterward, we hung out at Barnes & Noble for a while, reading some cute and interesting little books. I was going to buy the last book of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series but then Mag texted me and told me that she’d bring her copy so that I could save money by not buying the hardcover version (paperback isn’t out yet). So then we decided to go to Pinkberry, where Mark got a ridiculous number of toppings, haha. And I got a ridiculous amount of pomegranate, hooray! We talked for a long time there, too. There’s this way in which I can talk to Mark that I can’t talk to anyone else. Sometimes he’s so uninterested in what I have to say, but maybe that’s why I treasure so dearly the times when we talk for a really long time and he’s interested in like everything I have to say. It’s kinda like that when I talk to Di, too, I guess, but the dynamics are way different in the two relationships. (Do you ever think that’s weird? When you can see similarities in your close friends? Makes you wonder if people with those characteristics are drawn to you, or if you’re drawn to people with those characteristics. I guess it reminds me a bit of people who have like a “type”, you know? I dunno.)

Saturday morning, Mag came over and then we drove Diana to the post office because she didn’t know where it was. Dunno why she didn’t just use her GPS, but I didn’t mind. Then, we went to Ralphs to buy some ingredients to cook with and went back to my house to make Diana’s special BCEs (Bacon/Cheese/Egg). She instructed us to soak the egg in soy sauce, which grossed me out (cheese and soy sauce? Ew!) but then it ended up being really good. You couldn’t even taste the soy sauce, so it was just so that the egg wouldn’t taste plain. Then, we drove to Di’s, where we were joined by Amanda, and we played Super Mario Bros on the Wii, which was a lot of fun. We pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon playing it, except for a half hour run to Ralphs again for batteries for the Wii remotes and some snacks. And we only got to like World 3. We were really bad at it. Like, god-I’m-ashamed-to-be-a-girl bad. But we had fun, which is what matters, haha. Although I have to admit that I was the worst player out of us (as usual). At one point they even kicked me off, LOL. But then we got another controller so then they let me play again, yay!

On Sunday, I went to Disneyland with Katie and Dana. Dana’s sister was supposed to come with us, but there was intense family drama so we ended up not going until like 3 or 4ish. I didn’t mind because I was feeling kinda lazy and that way I could save on a pricey meal at Disneyland. The traffic at the park was insane, but we got to talk a lot so that was cool. Oh yeah, Katie brought her friend Amanda (although she only stayed for like an hour or two) so that was cool meeting her. Disneyland was laid back and fun; it was really crowded but the lines weren’t too insane. Dana really doesn’t like waiting, so we didn’t really wait very long for anything but somehow we managed to get on a bunch of rides anyway, yay! Especially had a lot of fun being obnoxious on Big Thunder, haha. We sat in the front so that Dana could say hi to her friend who was working there, and wow, it’s such a different ride from that perspective! (I usually ask for the back because it’s wilder.) At some points it was really slow but at others it was insane and a lot of fun because I didn’t know what was coming. At the end, we just hung out in Fantasyland; rode Pinnochio, Storybook Land, and went on the train twice, haha. The guy operating the train kept flirting with Dana and Katie, haha, which was pretty amusing.

I finished the Percy Jackson series that night, which made me really sad! I wish it went on forever and ever and ever… Except obviously not ’cause chances are that the quality would decrease but still. I tried looking up fanfiction but I just wasn’t into it… I think this might just be one of those things I just relive by rereading. Ah well! Must admit that I’m excited for the movie, even though it’ll probably be a disappointment.

On Monday, I hung out with Mark. We went to go see Avatar, which was pretty cool. I definitely felt like it lacked something as a movie, but I’m glad that I watched it. The CGI was freaking amazing, and the concepts were pretty cool. It was definitely like…a twisted version of Pocahontas, though, haha. Enjoyed it, but it’s not going on the fave lists or anything. I liked the ending a lot, though, even though it was very predictable. Anyway, after the movie, Mark treated me to Jamba Juice (yes!) and then we went back to his house and had dinner and then just chilled. He showed me the music to this gig he has, which was all either odd or corny, haha. But good money is good money, I suppose.

Tuesday (yesterday) was spent working… Took two shifts at the Bakery ’cause one of the workers got a DUI. Yay, income! I need to ask my mom for all the bank statements so that I can pay her back for the money I spent this semester and get the burden of debt off my back. I’m pretty sure that I have enough to pay her back, I just need to know exactly how much I owe her. And I’m finally going to start putting my money in my BoA account so I don’t need to mix up the money I use to pay for things like tuition and books with my own money I use for like food and shopping and concerts and all that good stuff.

Anyway… Ya! It’s been a pretty good week.

mood: happy, except for the very uncomfortable and distracting pain in my back
music: Real World ‘09 – Rob Thomas

My favorite solo artist, Rob Thomas, came out with a new album, Cradlesong, last week! I’m listening to it right now, and I’m easily growing very fond of it. He’s just such an amazing lyricist, and I just love the way that he uses instruments. His voice is so comforting to me, too. He’s going to be on tour in February; I wonder if he’ll make it up to San Francisco.

On the surface, it seems as if I’m having a very lazy, unproductive summer, seeing as I’m like the only one of my friends without either a job or summer school (or both), but in truth, I’m having a wonderful time getting in touch with all the different parts of myself. That sounds so sexual, haha, but I mean things like playing WoW (I’m a bar from 75 and ahead of all of my friends, which I am both proud and slightly embarrassed about, since I’m sure it has something to do with my pathetic social life in Berkeley last semester), watching and re-watching a gazillion random shows, writing (21 pages so far of Live, Love, Dream, which I’m so damn proud of), drawing (Diana found some of my drawings yesterday, which was entirely too embarrassing for me to handle, hahaha), EATING (yes!), cleaning (god, I love cleaning, even though admitting so makes me feel like a freak), etc. It’s a lot of fun, and it makes me feel good about myself — something that I think I deserve after that disastrous semester.

In other news, my bones have gotten so messed up to the point where I think I could conduct a musical piece just by cracking different parts of my body. Oh god, please save me.

Thursday night, my friends and I are finally gathering for dinner. I’ve seen everyone, but not at the same time, and it’s already been a month since I’ve been back, so I’m really excited. Mag’s coming back next Thursday, and Jayne’s coming back the week after that. I really hope that we’ll be able to all do something before Jayne has to leave for summer school at Santa Barbara.

I’m going to see Transformers 2 again this weekend, which I’m super excited about. It won’t be as fun seeing it without Di or Jayne, but I’m just excited anyway. It’s been way too long since I last saw it (2 weeks ). Ooh, I’m reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth right now, and it’s absofreaking amazing, oh my gosh. I read her Interpreter of Maladies last year and fell in love with it, so I knew I had to buy her new collection. Her short stories are utterly enthralling, even though they’re not about much in particular. The review on the cover reads “Never before has Lahiri mined so perfectly the secrets of the human heart”, which I think tells it all. In each of her stories, I identify with some character, some concept, anything, and it’s just so magical. These are three excerpts that I really identified with in the first story, “Unaccustomed Earth”:

When Akash was younger she had followed her mother’s advice to get him used to the taste of Indian food and made the effort to poach chicken and vegetables with cinnamon and cardamom and clove. Now he ate from boxes.

“I hate that food,” Akash retorted, frowning at her father’s plate.

“Akash, don’t talk that way.” In spite of her efforts he was turning into the sort of American child she was always careful not to be, the sort that horrified and intimidated her mother: imperious, afraid of eating things.

---

By now Akash had forgotten the little Bengali Ruma had taught him when he was little. After he started speaking in full sentences English had taken over, and hse lacked the discipline to stick to Bengali. Besides, it was one thing to coo at him in Bengali, to point to this or that and tell him the corresponding words. But it was another to be authoritative; Bengali had never been a language in which she felt like an adult. Her own Bengali was slipping from her. Her mother had been strict, so much so that Ruma had never spoken to her in English. But her father didn’t mind. On the rare occasions Ruma used Bengali anymore, when an aunt or uncle called from Calcutta to wish her a Happy Bijoya or Akash a Happy Birthday, she tripped over words, mangled tenses. And yet it was the language she had spoken exclusively in the first years of her life.

---

“Why does Dadu take his shoes off?” Akash asked Ruma.

“He’s more comfortable that way.”

“I want shoes off, too.” Akash stomped his sandals on the floor.

It was one of the many habits of her upbringing which she’d shed in her adult life, without knowing when or why.

I also really liked this: “In their opinion their children were immune from the hardships and injustices they had left behind in India, as if the inoculations the pediatrician had given Sudha and Rahul when they were babies guaranteed them an existence free of suffering” (Only Goodness 144).

She just does such an amazing job of illustrating what it’s like to live as a first-generation minority in America, a situation that makes you feel like you don’t completely belong in or fit in with either society. I’ve always been a little envious of my friend Kelly in that way, because she’s like fourth or fifth generation Japanese, so she’s pretty much white in everything except for her appearance and her history. But maybe that’s even harder, in some ways, since she has like no connection to her ethnic heritage and yet doesn’t fit in with white people the way that other white people do. I dunno.

In other news, I’m sad that my printer has decided to stop working for no apparent reason. I’d really wanted to scan in some old drawings and stuff I found, too. Boo.

Watchmen
Race to Witch Mountain
Planet 51
The Box (er, unless it’s really really horror filmy)
Nailed (Fuck me, James Marsden)
Prince of Persia
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (LOL, probably at the dollar theater, since it got like 5% on rottentomatoes, HAHA)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Dorian Gray (?!?!?!?)
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
The Lovely Bones (OMG WTF SO COOL A MOVIE OF IT?)
Coraline
Avatar
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (YEE)
Angels & Demons (DOUBLE YEE)

I like movies. Watch them with me. Or don’t. I don’t care either way, ’cause now I can DRIVE!

…Except when I’m at Berkeley. Well, damn.