what fascinates me
what drives me
what empowers me

I think about these questions everyday
even on days when I don't feel at my best

lessons I learned
actions I took
qualities I possess

replenish my soul.

Chiri's All American Experience Pt. 2 + Fall Break


I carved a pumpkin for the first time in my LIFE earlier this month! since we carved so early, they all got moldy & soggy so I threw mine away yesterday =(

well.. rest of the photos are not so American as they're more mainland U.S. experience... but check ittt..

Sunset view from my window :D

One day, I decided to bring my camera with me to go to the bank/grocery shopping. I wanted to capture Fall + everyday Tacoma scenes. I was surprised to find that there are SO MANY different kinds of trees here!! I also love pretty lawns... mMMmm..

Proctor!
mMMm multicolored treeee o_O

Fall Break pt. 1
John and I went on a bus adventure to Tacoma Mall. The weather was so nice! Full view of Mt. Rainier from Border

Fall break pt. 2: we walked to Old Town!

soooo prettyy :D

Chiri's all American Experience Pt. 1

"Frisko Freeze" an ALL American burger joint with Hummer parked next to it...!

out the hummer, comes a family of four grabbin' dinner

downtown Tacoma with white boys! super American!

downtown Tacoma... see Tacoma was supposed to be the Seattle of Washington, but people found gold in Seattle so Tacoma got left out... I feel like downtown Tacoma encompasses all elements of an "urban" city but it always seems so deserted. although that is my favorite part of this place because I feel like its still a place with a lot of potential for growth, like no one has yet discovered the "gold" in Tacoma... o_O *deep*


more entries to come soon!

I went camping!
I didn't take these photos, I got these photos from John because I forgot my camera (and I wanted to kill myself)

We left Tacoma on Friday night and we drove up a mountain and camped at the top. Next day we did a 4 mile hike down to Echo Lake and set up a tent at a camp site near the lake. On Sunday, we woke up at 8am and hiked 4 miles back up! O_O
So my school has this freshman orientation program called Passages where they divide the freshman into smalls groups and go out on a variety of outdoor activities like backpacking, kayaking, canoing (?), etc . Well I missed mine because I got really sick during that week and I always regretted not going. 3 years laterrr, I finally felt like I made up for my lost time by deciding to go on this backpacking trip. It was a pretty difficult hike, thing as I'm SUPERRRR out of shape but the lake and the mountains were so beautiful; it made me love the northwest even more <3

ahhh this is my last week of summer! I can't believe its almost over! although... I didn't really have a vacation because I was working full time... (and I still am till this Friday...) I think I'll go nUtz this coming weekend because its a three-day weekend! and almost everyone's gonna be back! :D :D

I really like this guy's animation.
Only if my computer wasn't so fragile, I would totally work on another flash animation. >=(

I went to a house party this past weekend which was called the D-party. People had to dress up as something that starts with the letter D. My housemates and I dressed up as Destiny's Child (photos on my myspace). It's been a while since I went to a good house party and it was a ton of fun XD

I can't believe theres only about a month left of summer! O_O A lot of exciting & crazy things happened this summer and yet I'm proud of myself for still keeping a stable daily routine and being able to sustain my own happiness :D I think for the first time in a while, I feel like I've got my life under good control and I am extremely content with the way things are going :DDDDD hOWEVERRRRR there are couple things I NEED to work on next month.. which is maintaining my finances and getting back into school mode. O_O
I must r3gulate my expenses. I decided I'm going to sign on my online banking everyday and remind myself how much of an idiot I am for spending so much money last month. So far, this tactic is working pretty well. Because I'm online 24/7, if I ever think about going shopping, I'll just look at my balance and its like punch in the face (!?). I realized that I always refuse to sign in unless I'm making a payment, because I'm too scared to look at the bill. NO. I MUST FACE THE REALITY.....!!!!!! I WILL FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!!!! O_O_O_O_O

Until then...

ms paint. 7/24

Summer bummaaaaahhhhh

pic 1: housemate + friends lounging outside
pic 2: Geese!
pic 3: da Sound
pic 4: me n' Steph on our date by the Sound

Its July O_O but my two homeslices left me behind. =(
Things haven't been going so hot lately. Work has been pretty stressful the past week. One thing about customer service is that its really awesome when I can actually be of help to others, and they respond back with an enthusiastic "thank you," BUT when people are PISSED OFF for one reason or another, they make sure to make me feel like I've just murdered their moms (and their computers). Now looking back, all my 2384092834 jobs that I've had have been customer service related. I think I've become better at handling with customer complaints but this past week, I've been dealing with too many raging computer illiterates, its making my head explode. I come back home and I don't even wanna look at my computer. and in fact, its my computer doesn't wanna look at me because it shuts off whenever it feels like it. ha ha..haha..ahaaaaa..

I'm slackin' on my updates... BUT here are pix from the Margarita Party! [06.01.07]

outside!

happy people :D (i actually only know one of them..)

mMMMm

J.D. my fabulous housemate :D wtf

me third wheelin' it, with a sword. O_O

my housemates!! :D my eyes look weird..

so yeah.. if you haven't noticed already, J.D. and I were the only people who spontaneously decided to dress up... J.D. = Ninja Turtle, Me = stereotypical Asian

check it, my pervert mouth. O_O




ahhh good times... so I also changed the layout. I've worked on this girl for past week whenever I got bored... then I was thinking.. wait.. where the hell am I going to put this.. so I thought... BLOGGERRRRRRR! X3 its kinda sloppy, but I kinda like it sloppy. its summer, sticky and sweaty you know how it goes... and yes I'm planning to change the heart icons on the side because i realize a.) colors don't match b.) its ugly. but that might not happen for a while..

mMMmmmmm so what have I been up to... Jason and Steph, out of goodness of their hearts, got me a Nintendo DSLite + Pokemon Diamond!!!!! O_O they say they will be here in spirit when they leave in July lol. Thank you thank you thank you... I don't even know how many times I can thank them. but I will pay back somehow. o_O

my days are chillaxing. Since the last month of school + beginning of Summer, my life's been crazy, but I think everything's finally settled down. I also thought I would never get used to waking up early everyday to work, but I feel completely adjusted and happy with my daily routines. oh yeah, I started running + swimming too which is nice, because I've been able to get good night sleep. most of all, its really nice NOT to think about SCHOOL. My sympathies to those who are attending Summer school..

ok till next time!

update on the past couple of weeks...?


I went to Amon Tobin show/event/whatever last Wednesday (!?) in Seattle.
it was totally unexpected. During my lunch break, Sasha asked me if I wanted to go so I thought about it and gave her an o.k. after work. We thought he would go on at around 9:30 ish but turns out he went on at 11:30 so we had good two hours to kill.. so what did I do? I proceeded my way to the world of chitardedness. I was fully aware of the fact that it was a weekday; two hours later, I am on the dance floor with couple of jack n'coke + about 6 glasses of beer in muh bellay. thank god I didn't get sick...and I kept it down to one drunken phone call... which was.. interesting..I'm sorry if it was disturbing. [otherwise] a productive and also a.. charming, night. heh heh...

Memorial day weekend...
I went down to Portland on Sunday with Steph & Jason :D
I told them I was broke but I think I spent the most amount of mOneeey o_O
got muh self new pair of kicks, clothes and jewelry~ no sales tax baby yeaaah :D

Sasha's love of her life: Amon TobinPioneer Square, Downtown Portland

I was going apeshit on this chocolate cafe & its kittie chocolate.

...and they provided us with pretty cups.. <3>

on the way back, we stopped by a gas station in middle of nowhere.
i like being in middle of nowhere...


Thank you steph&jason again for driving/paying for gas/buying the kittie chocolate :D

FINALS ARE OVER!!!


my week has been deadly... I started getting sick last Sunday, and it reached its peak on Thursday morning when I had a fever and possibly a sinus infection. I made an appointment at CHWS, my school's on campus clinic, and they made me sit in a little waiting room. My body felt heavy, my throat was throbbing, and I was pretty sure that my brain was replaced with a coiled cobra, releasing its venom every time my head turned. An hour passed by, I was still sitting in the waiting room staring at a large poster titled, "Understanding Middle Ear Infection," which vividly demonstrated a progression of yellow goo oozing out of someone's ear. The door finally opened, and I pictured a bottle of antibiotics, and a label hugging the bottle with my name on it... "Must take one pill each day for 7 days," it would say... and the cobra will return my brain, and all will be well.... "sorry, the doctor has been busy with the last patient and she's going home now, can we reschedule?" the nurse said. I wanted to vomit on her face. I told the nurse, "I have a final tomorrow, I've been taking over-the-counter medicine for a week and it hasn't gotten better.. can she see me for a little bit?" the nurse goes, "I'm sorry, we can't do anything about that. I suggest you take a warm shower and get a good night's rest, oh btw, we can make an appointment for you at 8am, if you like." Fuck you cobra and fuck you lady, you have awful hair.


anyway, my final on Friday went well though. considering how much I studied, I think I did pretty damn well. Yesterday was just a weird day. I didn't really know what to do with myself after the finals were over. I did eventually get crunk with the Asians and an American, then got my face slightly burnt from the campfire. People were saying goodbyes, a lot of people are going abroad again next year, or not coming back again because of graduation or other reasons. No matter how many times I see this happen, I can never get used to saying bye.

anyway #2.
Tacoma had very good weather all week. I went for a walk down to Old Town/the Sound on Wednesday. it was gorgeous. here are da picz.

Monkey Puzzle Tree

The beautifOO Sound

ahhh.. Tacoma is so beautiful.. sometimes..

I can't believe I'm going to be a senior!