TOO MUCH READING 'Nuff said.
P.S. P$ just got a soccer ball signed by Pelé. Lucky bastard.
Wahhhhh! School Starts Again I was enjoying my break so much, too. Quick recap: Tuesday was Chinese Hot Pot (and American Idol) day, Wednesday was Carne Asada at the LBC day, and Thursday was Recover from Gorging on Carne Asada day.
On Friday, YJ, Sar, and I headed to visit Andrew and his family in Santa Barbara. We took a little detour to the Camarillo Outlet Stores, but that was only because Andrew said we could and because we were trying to avoid traffic. Honest. The Santa Barbara area is beautiful, and Andrew's parents are amazing: they are nice, funny, and really cool. They took us to a South American restaurant that had an outdoor eating area, live music, and delicious food. Oh, and the mojitos weren't bad either. The next day, we had another amazing gastronomic experience when Andrew drove us to Paula's Pancake House in Solvang, a little touristy Danish village in the area. We all ordered the Danish pancakes, which are very thin (not quite like crêpes) but large. YJ got hers with strawberries, Andrew got bananas, and both Sar and I got warm cinnamon apples. My technique: smear lots and lots of butter on the pancake, drizzle maple syrup all over, cut the pancake into smaller rectangular pieces, put a dollop of whipped cream on a piece, put a chunk of cinnamon apple on top of the whipped cream, "envelope" the apple with the pancake, pick up apple-y pancake-y goodness with fork, and finally, stuff in mouth. Repeat. As I ate, the song "Heaven, I'm in Heaven" kept running through my head. The pancakes were good. We walked around Solvang and Santa Barbara before heading back down to Los Angeles. Back in town, I met up with Shimi and Thad at Barney's Beanery. Afterwards, some of Shimi's friends picked us up, and we had drinks at Saddle Ranch on Sunset. Somehow, we managed to lose Thad during the night...so I was very glad to hear that he made it back home this morning.
Now, I am struggling to get back into study mode...but it's so hard. So hard.
Whale Watching No, I'm not being mean. I mean real whales. The kind with blowholes. I went to Zuma beach yesterday with some classmates, and we saw lots of dolphins and whales! The dolphins were riding the waves, and the whales were frolicking (probably eating) about in the distance. It was an amazing sight. Every now and then, we'd see the whales come up and breach and the huge splash as their tails hit the water. I tried to get a picture of them, but they were camera shy...I have a lot of pictures with teeny black specks in the distance, which are unrecognizable as the dolphin fins that they are.
I'm a Woman on a Mission I refuse to do anything school related until Sunday afternoon...and I have done quite well so far...
On Thursday, I slept in. What a wonderful feeling! Then I headed off to the Huntington Library, where I got some exercise strolling in the gardens. Afterwards, I headed to UCLA to visit my sister and get some yummy Persian food.
On Friday, Akash, RR, YJ, and I met up with Emanuel and Leo at Venice Beach. We played volleyball (Leo gave RR his just desserts) and football. After working up a sweat,...well, that's not true. After deciding that it took precedence over everything else, we headed off to get ice cream at the boardwalk. I chose hazelnut....mmm....ice cream. We then rushed over to Lala's on Melrose for Anita's birthday dinner, which was yummy as well. After dinner, we all changed into our finest dancing gear and headed over to Cine-space. The music was sometimes great, sometimes so-so. Towards the end of the evening, the music wasn't so fun, so YJ, Akash, and I said our goodbyes. Of course, after we had given everyone hugs, the DJ then decided to play "Billie Jean" by MJ. I could not stand idly by. I made YJ and Akash go back on the dance floor so that we could give "Billie Jean" the respect that it deserves. I got home around 1 am and fell asleep around 3 am.
As can be expected, I was a bit groggy when I woke up at 7 am so that I could go to campus for tennis at 9. YJ, Jacqui, and I played some good ball. I am very out of shape and tired very quickly. When I got home, I saw that P$ had sent me an email about Cut Chemist spinning at the Temple Bar. When I informed Dubya of this, she immediately wanted to go. Jenny, Dubya, and I caught some good Italian food at Sorriso, and then Dubya and I headed off to the Temple Bar. The music was really great, perfect for groovin', from the moment we walked in. We danced until our feet could take no more. Now I'm back at home, and I'm proud of myself for getting my butt out of the house and doing something fun, rather than being an old fogie and staying at home all day.
It may sound crazy, but I feel like I have to squeeze every ounce of fun out of this break before school starts again. I think it was because Term III felt so crazy. Having worked so hard, I'm ready to play hard too.
Fun in the Sun Took my last final on Tuesday! I'm so glad to be done. The weather was phenomenal that day. After the final, I got ice cream with Sar and P$ and then headed off to the LBC, where P$, "Manny," and I got $1 tacos and $2 pints of Dos Equis as we sat in the patio area of local restaurant. It was very, very good. P$ also let me ride in his convertible with the top down, which was pretty awesome. I have to say that living in California definitely has its moments.
On Wednesday, I attended an MBA Leadership Improv workshop, which was pretty fun. I also got to meet some new people from other cores, which was nice. After the workshop, we headed off to Marina del Rey, where the sun unfortunately disappeared. However, Sar, Andrew, Pem, Akash, RR, YJ, Nishant, and I were able to make the best of the situation. We went to the beach and played volleyball. I was given the dubious honor of being an honorary South Indian, and Pem was an honorary North Indian, and we had a North Indian v. South Indian volleyball game. After volleyball, we tossed around footballs and a frisbee. We were so obviously having a ball that even a little kid named Cole decided to join us and play football (he was pretty aggressive and kept tackling Pem). After the beach, Nishant, Sar, and I headed to BJ's for some dinner, while Andrew, Akash, and RR, went to meet Freddy and Wes at a pool hall. We met up at the pool hall later and had some beers and just chilled out. It was so nice just to relax and be silly. So far, this has a been a nice start for spring break.
And Then There Was One Had my management accounting midterm today. It wasn't bad. I prepared way more than I needed to...I was ready to start busting some Balanced Scorecard ass, but it wasn't required of me. Listen to me talk...I better wait to see my actual grade first before I get all cocky. Only one final left: operations. I'm totally not motivated to study. We'll see how my strategy of "not studying" works out for me tomorrow.
By the way, it hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit today. I went swimming. Yes, in March. That's Los Angeles for you.
This One Time, at Band Camp.. As I was driving to the supermarket today, my status as a former band geek was confirmed. I saw a bumper sticker that said, "I'm a Fermata...Hold me." And I got the joke. *sigh*
A First Time for Everything I went to my first hockey game today. It was the L.A. Kings against the Montreal Canadiens at Staples Center. It was really cool, and Dubya hooked us up with box seats with an awesome view. Per P$'s advice, I partook of the pecan pie from the dessert tray; it was dee-licious. I really enjoyed all the checking and violence...and South Park's Cartman yelling "Go, Kings, go!" on the Jumbotron. Good stuff.
Some Sad News I was just informed that my dog, who has been living with my aunt for the past 9 years or so, just passed away. Burr was 19 years old. His bark was definitely worse than his bite...my friends dubbed him the "man-eating dog" because he would always bark at them when they visited. Even though he wasn't the brightest dog around, we loved him anyway. Hopefully someone up in heaven is rubbing his tummy just the way he likes it. Here's a pic of him and my sis in his younger days.
On a lighter note, Martha Stewart has been found guilty on all counts. "Oops!"
It Is True. I Have Tasted Spam. I Now Know What It Means To Live A couple of days ago, I had dinner with some classmates, and they were aghast to learn that I had never eaten the great "meat" known as Spam. One of them, Shimi, rushed to remedy the situation and brought me Spam sushi (who woulda thunk?). It was salty. It tasted artificial. It was good.
Kamikaze a.k.a. Tadao sent me this link: http://dev2.weebls-stuff.com/kenya3.swf. It kinda reminds us of Chang-er when he's in "Japan!" mode.
I Laugh in the Face of Danger As I eat dinner and think about my upcoming final in macroeconomics, the thought comes to me...Ricardian equivalence states that decreasing taxes does not increase consumption because consumers are forward-thinking. They know that they'll probably end up paying higher taxes later, so they don't bother to change their consumption. Maybe there's a theory that describes me. The increasing threat of mad cow, bird flu, and mercury poisoning has not changed my consumption of beef, chicken, or fish. Could it be because I am forward-thinking, and I know that I'll die of something in the future anyway, so I might as well continue eating what I like to eat?
Superficiality Wins I just happened to catch the end of "Average Joe in Hawaii," a Bachelorette-type show where the girl is really pretty and the guys she has to choose from are just "average Joes." After the initial surprise (that there are no hot guys to choose from), they then introduce a twist where she has to choose between a hot guy and the average guy. So guess who wins? The hot guy. I remembered listening to a promo for this episode (the finale), and they promised that at the end, the girl, Larissa, would reveal her own "surprise." I so wanted her to bust out with something shocking like, "I used to be a man, baby!" But no. I got no such surprise. Instead, her stupid surprise was, "I used to date Fabio." And because of that, the hot guy didn't want to be with her. The hot guy kept saying, "Just put yourself in my place, and what irks you is what irks me." But nothing irks me, so I'm really confused as to why having Fabio as an ex makes you repulsive. I just don't get it. So now I'm just feeling a great deal of disappointment that I didn't get the cool surprise I was hoping for and in a state of confusion over why the guy broke up with her. If you can enlighten me, please do so.
Finals Already I can't believe it. I just took midterms and now finals are upon us. What the heck?
In a fit of insanity, I volunteered to organize study groups for my core. It was more work than I expected. Finding rooms, signing up classmates, getting student volunteers to lead the study sessions, scheduling the various sessions given our space and time constraints...all that stuff. Luckily, I have some really awesome people in and out of my core who volunteered their expertise and time and helped me reserve rooms and stuff. In the future, though, I really should get someone to inspect my emails before I send them and screen out my crazy suggestions. "Why don't you email me if you would like to be in a study group, and given the demand, I can organize them?" Whacky ol' me. Don't get me wrong...I don't regret doing this at all. I want all of my classmates to do well, and this study group idea is totally representative of all the values Marshall espouses: initative, teamwork, cooperation over competition...etc. Despite all the trouble, it gives me the warm fuzzies inside, knowing that I'm helping people in my own little way.
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