14th September, 2008
This Is A Lot For One Weekend
The week went by alright. In all reality, I was just waiting for the weekend. The VSA Tet Trung Thu festival was fun. I tried to make my own lantern, but failed. I’m really liking this whole thing. It’s a lot easier knowing that a few of the members are also in my class, so I don’t feel like an odd one out. One of the SOPi girls is in the club too.
So I got a job! It wasn’t the security monitoring position that I had originally wanted, but this will still be good. I’ll get paid more anyway. My “official” title is “Student Assistant II” and all I have to do is take care of the computers for the School of Social Welfare. There were some issues since I am a current student of the school, so they’ll just have to adjust a few things, such as the administrative passwords and deny me access to a few of the computers (Dean’s, advisor’s computers, etc). It will be maybe about 12 hours a week, depending on how much they want me to do. I’m really liking how this semester is turning out.
The weekend finally came, but before I had to take care of a few things. I went to go see an orthodontist for a consultation. Hopefully, my dad will allow me to get the braces. Sure, I’ll feel a little more self-conscious than I already do now about my teeth, but it will be worth it in the end. I’m hoping my dad will let me get the ceramic braces instead of the regular metal ones because the ceramic ones are a little less visible. However, it is $800 more to have the ceramics on both arches.
EC had a little bit of a beer pong thing on Friday night. A few people were there, one old face (he had gone camping last week) and a few new ones. My partner and I lost the first two games we played. On the third game, I had a new partner, his roommate, J and we won! (Despite the fact that I was already tipsy by that point). We slept in Saturday morning and because I’m a chick, I couldn’t stand to see the place look dirty, so I cleaned up while EC was at his Chinese class. When he came back from class, I was talking to him about how I had mentioned to JYL that I thought about taking EC to get a manicure, but she said that it would be a surefire way to get rid of him. So I brought up that conversation with JYL to EC and he mentioned that he actually wouldn’t mind getting a manicure. Just to make sure that he wasn’t “weird,” I asked his roommate, J, if he thought the same thing. Since J agreed that getting a manicure wouldn’t be so bad, I suggested getting one together, all three of us that is. They agreed and that was that. We ate pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) and then got manicures and pedicures. I was enjoying the site of seeing them both get pampered. It was hilarious. Of course, afterward, they kept commenting how different and how “clean” their hands and feet felt. I told JYL that I had gotten them both to go with me and she said, “He must like you a lot.”
Well, with that last sentence, he might like me, but we’re not doing anything serious just yet. I will explain this in a moment.
We headed back to the apartment and earlier, I had mentioned to EC that I wanted to stop by a Vietnamese festival that was going on for the mid-Autumn celebration. Since he also needed to have dinner with family in San Jose, he didn’t want to drive me down and back to the apartment and then back to his parents, so what he suggest? He told me I could take his car out. YES. I KNOW. I took out the 3rd generation Audi A4 because the Porsche is a stick. (Yes, he has not one, but two cars.) So I drove down and picked up MP to go to the festival. She was also in awe of said car. Once I mentioned that I had spent the night at EC’s, she gave me the look of, “Now I know why he let you take the car.”
MP and I briefly went to the festival. I was stopped by a woman who kept talking about how McCain would be better as a president than Obama. I wanted to leave, but she kept talking and MP wasn’t very good at saving me. Now, I don’t particularly have a choice yet, but I just hated that she was trying to persuade me. We left the festival and went to a primarily Vietnamese center. I wanted to get some cake, so I went into a bakery. Behind the register, this girl was asking me where my mother was. I told her that my mother was at home and I was quite confused as to why this girl was asking me that question since I know that I don’t normally go to the bakery. Then the girl said that she was the one who was renting out the room at my house. The second she said that, there was a big “OH SHIT.” look on my face and in my head. I asked her not to say anything to my mother, but if she does, I’ll be fine. It doesn’t hurt to change the story a little bit, right?
I did some brief grocery (more like snack) shopping at the nearby Vietnamese supermarket and then we headed out to eat dinner at PF Chang’s. The food was alright, but I was quite full from having a chicken kebab at the festival. However, I mentioned to MP that my appetite had been cut down dramatically in the last months, so she suggested that I get checked out for ulcers and whatnot.
I finally got back to EC’s place just in time to get ready to leave for San Francisco. EC’s fraternity brother was hosting his 25th birthday at one of the clubs, Mr. Smith’s. It was an alright place. I liked the decor. It was pretty small though. Since it was his friend, I let EC get drunk so I could drive us home. (Refrence to earlier) All night though, he kept introducing me as his “friend.” At this point, I don’t really care if we’re official or not; I’m having fun and he’s having fun. His friends probably think that we are official, but it’s okay. All that matters is what we know, right? As long as he and I are on the same page, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. I’m okay with being his friend and damn, those are some good benefits that I’m getting.
Since he was going to a volleyball match in San Francisco today, we crashed at my place. He left early this morning and then I passed out again. For the rest of this Sunday, I’m waiting until 6pm for the student BBQ hosted by church. I could go earlier to help out, but since I was out all day yesterday, I need to study!
I don’t know if it’s the workload I have, but I feel as if I’m being so much more productive this semester than I have been in a while. It’s a nice feeling to know that I may be getting my life back on track. My mother told me yesterday that my aunts and uncles had commented on my “glow.” She said that when I wasn’t stressed and was happier in life, it showed on my face. I’m glad it did and I have a few people to thank for that, but most of all, I’m proud of myself for getting out of the hole. Well, okay, so I’m not entirely out yet, but I’m climbing and clawing my way out.
Tags: church, clubbing, dentist, EC, JYL, MP, Mr. Smith's, San Francisco, school, Tet Trung Thu, VSA, work
Posted at 2:35 pm | Comment (1)
5th May, 2008
This Is Just The Beginning
It is Monday and I am tired. I haven’t caught up on too much sleep lately, not since Thursday anyway, and so I’m tired and will try to take only a two hour nap soon.
But I thought I’d write an update.
First date with Asian Dude went nicely, in my opinion anyway. I’m just hoping that my revealing to him that I carry a knife around doesn’t scare him away. In my defense, I have to. My town’s not known to have the best reputation for safe neighborhoods, despite all the help we have access to. Besides, I still honestly think that although using a knife is risky, it’s so much cooler than carrying around pepper spray. But yes, back to the date. We talked, we ate, we walked me home, we hugged. It was nice. Really nice. At some point, I had completely forgotten that we were going out to eat and had ordered food. I remembered once the food came and thought, “Oh shit. That’s right. We’re here to eat.”
But it’s still early. No hopes yet, right? No hopes means that I can’t get disappointed and dig myself deeper into this nice little hollow hole that probably won’t be closing any time soon.
Afterwards, it was Praise Night at church. I had been going to the rehearsals for the last few weeks and last night, we finally got to sing for the group. Praise Night is a night of singing, usually praise songs, with peers and others from the congregation. It’s not in the chapel/altar area, but still in the church hall. It was amazing. We had a few goofups, but it wasn’t a big deal. It was really lighthearted and fun. By the end of the first half, my voice was already going out, but I sung it out anyway. It really lifted my spirits up and it was a really good bonding experience that I had with the others. I definitely want to participate in the next one and might even think about going to one of the weekly student activities, like Bible study.
Then it turned into Monday. I went to work for a few hours, saw my doctor, then went to Walgreens to try and get a few things that I was running low on. It took a little longer than expected because I was trying to get all the savings that I could and it wasn’t working right. I was also looking for one of Pantene’s shampoos, but they didn’t carry it and nor did the other Walgreens down the street. I didn’t check the one right next to my store, but I doubt they carry it since it’s the smallest store of the three.
So my doctor finally helped me realize something: I really can’t make any decisions myself. I have this tendency to have somebody else choose for me. For example, they asked me last week if I wanted to stay an extra hour at work for the last hour. One part of me wanted to stay to earn the extra little money and to also show them that I am a hard worker, but the other part of me wanted to go home since I had to get up early in the morning. I was ready to flip a coin, but they suggested that I go home and so home I went. I remember when I was buying the hair straightener in the mall and I was indecisive, so I had the coin choose.
It’s not that I’m indecisive; I just don’t want to know what I want, or I really don’t know what I want. I have to stop doing that. I have to really make my decisions because it’s mine. If someone suggests a place to eat, then I shouldn’t just say “Wherever is fine” if I have a place in mind.
This is big. I feel as if I should post this on the main blog, but I don’t want to come out with anything new (except for all the paid posts) until I’ve gotten a layout and I can’t get a layout until after the final since I have to study. I need to study. I should study.
The doctor prescribed me some more pills so hopefully, I’ll get some stuff done.
And I know I don’t say it enough, but thank you Julie for reading all these posts. I know that some of them have been quite long and it’s nice to know that someone’s here. I think Tara’s reading too, but it’s hard to tell since she’s one of those silent readers… AKA a lurker. I love you guys lots, okay?
Tags: Asian Dude, church, dating, doctor, Praise Night
Posted at 6:39 pm | Comments (2)