Merry Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

Hope everyone has a safe one with all their family, friends and loved ones. Everyone should really focus on the Christmas spirit and quit being such grinches. I'm so tired of encountering mean people in my life right now and I just want them to be nice to the people around them. Quit being so fake because it shows. If you've got a problem with someone/something then feel free to voice your opinion and not be such a two faced grouch pouch. Smile more and say Merry Christmas to a stranger. Do something that will benefit another person for a change and don't think that everything is about you because the world simply doesn't revolve around you.




With the economy in the ruckus state that it's currently in, I can see that consumers are very frugal in spending their hard earned money this year for Christmas. I was in San Francisco downtown area trying to take care of some last minute shopping on Monday. To my surprise, there was not as many people as I've seen in the previous years and the shelves in stores were still fully stocked. I remember working in retail and I remember how the shelves were empty prior to Thanksgiving and filled with Christmas shoppers. This was a good thing since I was a last minute shopper, I was still able to find everything I wanted. However on the other hand it makes me sad that we have to be so frugal and money conscious. None the less, it forces people to become creative and instead of buying ready to use gifts, more people are resorting to home made goods. I love receiving/making homemade goods!


So I was stuck with the task of wrapping the family's presents. Dammit.

Mario Kart Love Song

Found this on youtube and it is way too cute. If you're a fan of Mario Kart, like myself, then check this out. It made me smile =) To check out more of this San Francisco native musician, check his youtube- blinktwice4y.



blinktwice4y's lyrics:

V1:
You be my princess
I'll be your toad
I'll follow behind you
on rainbow road
Protect you from red shells
wherever we go
I promise.

V2:
Noone will touch us
if we pick up a star
If you spin out
you can ride in my car
When we slide together
we generate sparks
in our wheels and our hearts

Chorus:
The finish line
is just around the bend
I'll pause this game
so our love will never end
Let's go again

V3:
The blue shell is coming
so I'll go ahead
If you hang behind
it'll hit me instead
but never look back
cause I'm down but not dead
I'll catch up to you

Bridge:
Don't worry about
Bowser or DK
Eat this glowing mushroom
and they'll all fade away

Chorusx2

to the mushroom cup
and the flower cup
and the star cup
and the reverse cup

walalalalala
walalalalalawaluigiiiiii

COPYRIGHT 2008
Music and Lyrics by Sam Hart

Weird Discoveries

Just came home from handing in my last take home final. What a relief! I am now free to sleep in haha. On another note, it's been freezing in San Francisco and I'm trying to find some new gloves =]. No work on Friday, so that'll be a shopping day for me. I still have to get 2 Kris Kringle presents. I've already knocked down the White Elephant gifts at Valley Fair Mall yesterday. If anyone from the party reads this, you guys should definitely pick my present! It's gonna be awesome =)

Anywho, I was browsing the web for some Japanese items and I came across some weird stuff. The Japanese come up with the craziest shit.

*slims down your mouth/face shape by "exercising" your mouth?
*posture aid to help prevent hunchbacks


* a finger styling comb? WTF!


* Put on these interesting slippers (contains germanium mix) and tip toe on them, it helps tightens buttock and calf muscles. Great for those who wishes to have their lower body shaped up!




Look what I found lol

Self-proclaimed As The Worst Week of The Year?

Why do I say it's the worst week? Take a look,

- It's raining shits and dogs in San Francisco
- It's finals week. I have a final on Tuesday and Wednesday. Instead of cramming, I've been watching tv, I'm so angry at myself. Someone needs to cut off my internet connection for a few days until finals are over.
- My coupon for a $15 off $35 purchase at Sephora isn't working because the website is "temporarily unavailable" due to high traffic volumes. Today is the last day to use the coupon!! I guess everyone is trying to make use of their free money just like I am. Err, I don't want to waste 15 free dollars! ..... yet I'll be putting down $20 more in order to make the coupon work....
- My last day of work at BofA is Thursday. Bye bye income. Bye bye shopping. Bye bye Starbucks?!

- Start of my internship at CPMC. I'm nervous as hell. New environment, new people, new rules.
- I have 3 holiday parties to go to this weekend. They all require White Elephant/Kris Kringle gifts. Damn, broke status!?
- Phone is sticky as hell after my lil cousin got to it to watch "Barbie and the Diamond Castle" on youtube for a couple hours while eating cake&apples&pears

On another note, things I'm looking forward to this week are:

- Freedom from work and school! Last day of work means no more customer service from me, SUCKAS. No more waking up at the break of dawn to attend my damn 8 AM class. My earliest class next semester is at 11 AM. Also no more waking up early on Saturday mornings to go to work, I can finally stay out on a Friday night!
- 3 holiday parties! #1, Branch dinner -Holiday/"Going Away Party" for me @ Park Chow, followed by games and prizes at the branch. #2, Monica & Amy's Holiday Potluck in Pittsburgh. I'll finally get to see Monica's new house. #3, Potluck/Hot Pot with the girls @ Nancy's house - whoever is my Kris Kringle, please refer to my wishlist HAHAHA

- Start of my intership. Finally some hands on experience and change of pace.
- Shopping for all my Kris Kringle/White Elephant gifts .. and possibly some presents for myself
- To watch Four Christmases, which came out during Thanksgiving weekend but I never made it out for that. Hopefully I'll be able to knock that one down this week.
- To read Twilight and to see what all the hype about teenage vampire love affairs are all about. I've got to take advantage of the fact that I don't have school books to read and no work!

Learn Statistics Through Manga

Now this is what I need to help me pass Stats. The Manga Guide To Statistics. A manga that engages you to use Statistics in everyday life situations. This should be the new text books because the crap that my professor uses is confusing. This was originally written in Japanese but has been translated into English and now is being sold in the United States.

This unique take on teaching is charming, easy to read, and will have reluctant students of all ages enjoying statistics. As readers follow along with Mr. Yamamoto's distinctive real-world examples, they learn how to:
-Calculate the mean, median, and standard deviation of bowling scores
-Graph ramen noodle prices on a histogram
-Determine the probability of getting an A on a math test
-Calculate the Cramer's coefficient to determine how boys and girls prefer to be asked out
-Use standard score to adjust test results when teachers grade on a curve

Oodles and Oodles of Fun

Lately, my mom has been making a whole damn crap load of cake. She's not a professional baker or anything but the story of her cake obsession is..........
She went to Costco one day with my aunt and was walking down the aisle with the flour. There was an elderly couple that was talking about their cake recipe and my mom overheard. Now, my mom is the type of person that isn't afraid to ask anyone -- anything! She's very outgoing and loud as hell most of the time. I can hear her when she calls my name about 2 blocks away. Back to the story, she asked the old couple for their recipe. They claim that this recipe won an award on a radio show too. They were glad to give my mom and aunt the recipe and even gave my mom their number in case she had any questions. Isn't that just the craziest thing to happen in Costco?

This is Isabella coloring Hello Kitty. She's my kinda girl ;)
Then we have David being force fed some sweet potato dessert soup. He was very reluctant to finish it. Poor child. This is what it looks like when kids behave badly.































So today after dim sum with the fams, we went to Costcoooooo and it sure was empty on a Friday! My mom and aunt stocked up on eggs, they pick through each carton of eggs to pick the best ones, I felt like it was Easter again seeing all the eggs.













This little girl is a pocketful of energy. She's like the Energizer Bunny! It's a workout trying to take care of her. Now I really feel sorry for parents that have to take care of kids all day, everyday.

Hump Day Wednesday

Damn, I think I just bombed my Statistics exam. I just blanked out this morning even though we got to use a one page reference sheet. I had the cheat sheet prepared but all the formulas on it were just so foreign to me. I couldn't apply it to the problems that were on the exam. AHHHHHHHHH!

What have I been up to? Watching Last One Standing (Chinese drama series) and not updating. I just finished it last night and it was pretty good. I can't wait for The Gem Of Life to start rolling so I can watch it all at once.

Time for a picture update to describe my time away.









Mom and I tried to be frugal and go to the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park for free Wachovia Wednesdays. But I guess everyone else was thinking the same thing! The line was super long and it was damn hot that day so we didn't even bother to stay. We just walked around the park a little bit longer and left. I guess the only turtles we'd see would be the ones at Serramonte =(














Afterwards, we took a trip down to Japantown to be tourists and went to Genki on Clement. Got a hold of facewash, strawberry mochi, wrapping paper and cheap lashes. My brother juiced me for magazine money, and look at what he picked out.







Killing time in the breakroom before I started work. I didn't have anyone to play Truth or Dare Jenga with so this is what I did to entertain myself.















My bratty little cousins Isabella and Joycelyn. Poor Joyce had to get her ears flushed out because a fly flew in her ear =( She was a good sport though, it was like nothing ever happened to her.

Unazukin

The cutest things ever!

Similar to the magic 8 ball that was played with in middle school. You ask Unazukin a question and it will either nod for yes or shake it's head for no. Sometimes, you just need an extra opinion! These remind me of Walkie Bits that were also from Japan because of the fact that there are so many different ones to collect. So adorable!

Visual Learning

SOTD: one republic - apologize

I noticed that my learning approach is through visual learning. I'm not too good on the whole listening thing, especially boring lectures where teachers will talk faster than I can write. When people speak to me, I have a tendency to spell their conversation out in my head as well. If not in my head then I will trace the letters with my finger in the air.

This also brings me to the fact that I love to watch movies with subtitles on. I connect concepts and ideas better when its written. Another reason why I like to watch movies with subtitles on is because I feel that the punctuation marks from the script give you that much more understanding of what the author was trying to convey. It doesn't matter if you have a bad actor/actress because the idea/emotion/feelings might not be portrayed well, but reading the script gives a better understanding of the original idea. Punctuation makes such a great difference in writing and reading. Imagine if you were reading and there were no commas or periods. You would never be able to take a breath of air. Nor would you understand the idea that was trying to be portrayed by the author.

.. because of my colleague mentioning the fact that One Republic is coming to town in November, I hella wanna go! It's going to be the Friday before my birthday and I'm open to accepting a complimentary ticket from any generous friends and family of mine!! =]

Gmail's "Mail Goggles" Prevent Drunken E-Mails

SOTD: kanye west - love lockdown

A lot of people have fallen victim to drunk dialing, drunk texting and drunk e-mailing but Gmail decides to add a filter on their email system to help it's users to not send out drunk emails. This feature is turned on during the wee hours of the night on the weekends which follows hitting the 'send' button. It will make the sender solve a short series of math problems. This helps to divert a drunk person from sending out emails that were under the influence. As a Gmail user myself, I guess I will have to try it out and see how well these goggles work.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and a whole lot of designers/companies make a few special products to make consumers aware of one of the most dangerous type of cancers to women. Most of the proceeds gained from products is donated for research and I think this is absolutely fantastic. Not only do proceeds go to such a great cause, but most of the products are pink. My absolute favorite color! So of course I take advantage of the October and November months to start shopping for necessities as well. If I'm going to be spending a pretty penny on it, then it might as well be something that I'll love to look at. So if you see a pink ribbon on a product, help out!

http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/Pages/ParadeOfPink.html

a list of various companies and the amount they will donate following a sale of one of their products to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Art Project

So I spent my lazy Sunday working on my art project for my design class. This took 7+ hours give and take. I was distracted though since I was trying to watch the Chinese drama series Love Exchange at the same time. It pissed me off and this is the end result. A silhouette transformation of the Golden Gate Bridge into a sail boat.