yay!! christmas tree is up and decorated. really wanted to decorate it with deb like i did last year (where we decorated the top of the tree by throwing ornaments up at it and hoping they'd stay since the tree is 12 feet high) but she's going to be busy with finals. so my parents went ahead and decorated it. my mom wanted to decorate it with these red and gold bows she made last year but i thought it would look too cheesy and department-store like. but actually, it looks rather charming. i like it. i love having a 12 ft tree. it always surprises people when they first come in. the only thing left to do is to put up the lights outside the house! :)

HONEY, I'M HOOOOOOME!!! =D i was right. we didn't get home till like 4 in the morning. i was dozing for most of the trip. my mother is a SCARY driver. she helps give asian ladies a bad name when it comes to driving. she is the ULTIMATE bad asian lady driver. in the first 10 minutes of our trip from san diego to fremont, she managed to almost cause 2 car accidents. i forget what the first one was (maybe it was so horrific that i've blocked it from my memory) but i definitely remember the 2nd. first of all, she didn't know which freeway to get on: I-5 NORTH or I-5 SOUTH. um...we were in san diego trying to go to fremont. even I knew which freeway to get on. so she heads for the first one she sees, which is I-5 south. but my dad is like, "no no no!! we want to get on north!!!" so she STOPS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE FREEWAY ENTRANCE. just completely stops. and the car behind us that *did* want to get on the freeway is forced to swerve around her, nearly crashing into us. you know what the funniest, most ironic part of this story is? she forced my dad to let her drive so that my dad could rest. in the first 10 minutes of the drive, she managed to give my dad not one, but two heart attacks. i thank god that i was sitting in the back seat so i didn't see *too* much of the horror that is my mother's driving.

anyway, it was funny because later on they switched drivers and my mom told me, "i shouldn't drive any more. it's too dangerous." i wanted to just yell out, "NO SHIT!!!!" but i just dutifully nodded.

so when we were eating dinner at in-n-out, my mom told me a pretty funny story about my aunt. we were talking about vietnamese names, and my mom told me that my aunt's name, tuyet, means snow in vietnamese. so one day, when my aunt was in 4th or 5th grade, she comes home crying, telling her father that she wanted to change her name. she had just seen the movie snow white and the seven dwarves (this is around the time it just came out) and she explained to her father that she didn't want to die the same way snow white did. ;)

okay, well, i was right about another thing. it is FREEZING up north. oh fuck. it was so nice and warm down in san diego... :( oh well. at least i'm on break. yay!! :) woke up around 1230 today but didn't get up till like 1. had a nice little reunion with my direct tv. =D and now i have to pee. actually, i've had to pee this whole time, i just had to go online first. and once i was online, i figured, hey, may as well blog. but now, i can't think of anything else to write about and i can't think of anything else but peeing. so...off i go. bye!

la la la...parents are almost here. just waiting for them to call so i can give them directions to the matthews apartments. i called them over an hour ago and they said that they were about an hour away, so....any minute now. just wanted to blog one last time from sd. break for one whole month!!! =D you know, it figures that just as i'm about to leave san diego, it gets all warm. grrr...and i bet it's freezing up north too. no fair. oh well.

didn't go to bed till like 230 last night cuz i was cleaning and packing. you know, what gets me is that i couldn't even start packing till like 1 am or something cuz i was so busy cleaning messes in the apartment that i didn't make. when i was washing dishes last night, i suddenly realized how my parents must have felt for 18 years. i mean, i was running on 2 hours of sleep and i had just come home from a difficult final and there were dishes piled up in the sink and on the counter. i'm exhausted and need to pack, but no, must clean up other's messes first. after living in this apartment for only a few months, i have gained such a great appreciation for my parents. argh. but okay, i'm going to go home soon, so no more dwelling on this!! negative thoughts, i banish thee!!

man, we're gonna be getting home late...i predict i'll be getting back to fremont some time in the wee hours of the morning. geez, i keep thinking today is saturday. no, it's friday. la la la...!!! so let's see, grace left first, then little mike, then neha, then natasha, then melissa. looks like sanaz, ben, allyn, and helen will be staying for a little while after finals.

well, i'm all ready to go home. everything is packed and all my bags are sitting in the living room beside the front door. last thing to do is unplug the computer and take that home too. well, just the hard drive actually. too lazy to take home the other crap. so okay, i guess i'll just do that now. hmm. this is sad. i can't bring myself to unplug the computer until the very last minute. ohhhh...pretty compuuuuuuter....*pats monitor*...

okay okay, this is sick. i need to just not think about it and just unplug the damn computer. right. i can do this. okay. here we go. here i am going. now. right.

okay, i just realized, that last blog was a bit sour. i don't like writing sour blogs. sort of can't help it, but i still don't like it. so i just have to say that despite my extreme exhaustion and the filthy pig sty apartment and the somewhat difficult linguistics final, i am happy to say that I AM GOING HOME TOMORROW. i am going to sleep for 12 hours and then wake up and lay in front of my direct tv for, oh, 12 hours and then go to bed and repeat the cycle for about a week until everyone else is done with finals so we can go play. =D

all right, now i gotta go do some dirty work... :-/ ta ta!!!

DONE. WITH. FINALS. ohhhh...so exhausted...i don't know what to say about my linguistics final. it wasn't extremely difficult, but it wasn't easy either. multiple choice but 125 questions. and just because they're multiple choice, doesn't make the exam any better. my ling prof gives the hardest multiple choice exams i've ever taken. you actually have to THINK! good lord, what's the world coming to?!

oh well. time to clean the apartment and pack. apartment is a mess. dishes everywhere. neha, you left the frying pan on the stove and your mug on the counter! eh, i don't think she'll even read this. oh well. argh. i'm exhausted. i slept for 2 hours last night and i took 2 finals today. kind of don't want to clean, but have no choice as apartment is a FUCKING PIG STY. i don't know about other people's parents, but i certainly don't want to present this disgusting filthy apartment to my parents and say this is where i live. goddamit. okay, enough bitching. time to revert to maid-mode. for like the umpteenth time.

i feel like such a college student. ate wendy's for lunch and in-n-out for dinner yesterday. slept 2 hours in my school clothes. have not showered since tuesday (yuck, gross, i know). am wearing the same clothes i wore yesterday (except for the sweater and underwear). have no more socks so i am wearing two different ones that lost their match somewhere in the laundry. they're both white, but one's thicker than the other while the other is shorter so it feels funny.

you know, i totally could've pulled that all-nighter last night because i wasn't even tired. but i figured that it really would not be good for me. i mean, it would've been okay if my linguistics final had been at 1130-230 or 300-600, but i didn't think i would be able to stay up and study until my final at 7 if i hadn't gotten *some* sleep.

you know, it hasn't really hit me that i'm going home tomorrow. haven't had much time to think about that. but my parents should be driving down this afternoon/evening. they'll probably drive to LA, stay there for the night, then drive down to san diego tomorrow morning. i really need to pack before my parents get here. because the last time my mom came down with my dad to pick me up, i still hadn't finished packing and so she decided to "help" me. when i got home, i had no idea which bag my underwear was in. or my socks. or my jeans. or my shirts.

you know, i use "you know" a lot. i just noticed i used at the beginning of the both of the last two paragraphs. okay. 9 hours until linguistics final. must study.

ohgod. two finals tomorrow. just realized how not good that is. i'm sure blogging won't make it any better but i am starting to lose my mind. will ATTEMPT an all-nighter, but realizing how tired i am right now at only 7 pm, is highly doubtful that all-nighter will be successfully pulled. downing my mountain dew but caffeine and sugar have not yet kicked in. am praying that it will kick in soon. in meantime, trips to bathroom have greatly increased.

dexter: this will be as easy as calculus!!
deedee: ooooooooooooooooh...buuuuuuuuuuuttons....

dance teacher: i'd like to introduce you all to a new student - miss olga nominoff.
olga nominoff: please. call me lala lava!
~ dexter's laboratory

hahahahaha...olga nominoff is so funny! she's mandark's little sister. so just imagine a dexter-sized mandark with pigtails and deedee's dancing tutu. olga nominoff and lala lava are such funny names!!

YES!! physics final OVER. and you know what? it was actually pretty okay, considering the amount of studying i did (which was not very much). all i want to do is pass the class (since i'm taking the class pass/no pass) and, i don't want to jinx myself, but i am fairly certain i achieved that with this final. and if i did, then it will mean NO MORE PHYSICS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

okay, have to study for italian and linguistics finals tomorrow.

umm...starting to panic. very delayed panic, but panicking nonetheless.

tight butts drive me nuts.

~ found in fortune cookie courtesy of ben and little mike as part of apartment christmas gift. dirty fortune cookies also accompanied by 4 condoms (like last year) and hershey kisses.

me: where did you get these [fortune cookies]?!?
ben/little mike [sorry, forgot which one said this]: sex shop.
me: oh. where?

hours until physics final: 12. [why does that sound so little?]

this is bad. i haven't even had my first (real) final yet and the only thing i can think is this:

I WANT TO GO HOME.

actually, i think once i'm done with physics, it'll be better, even though i have two finals the next day. physics just plain bites the big one. it also sucks big hairy monkey balls. if physics were a person, i would beat him over the head with a pair of 6 inch stiletto heels and then strangle him while wearing gloves covered with sharp spikes.

ohmygod. this is BAD. i have been procrastinating so badly today. i slept and watched tv for far too long. I AM SCREWED. why do i keep doing this to myself?! shit. i can't believe what a loser i am. i'm so mad at myself, but it's like, i just can't get myself to concentrate. i should've finished this stupid italian take home exam hours ago. it's not difficult at all. i'm just being horribly unproductive. and finals week is definitely NOT a good time to be unproductive. there is something wrong with me. i just can't focus. i feel a major panic attack coming on.

ugh...couldn't resist. slipped back into bed. and stayed there for longer than i should have. but i'm totally awake now. and am working on italian take home final. right.

uuuuummm....okay, i just realized...i really REALLY want to just crawl back into bed right now....mmmm....but...must...resist...soft, comfy...beautiful bed...mmm....beeeed... help...*stares longingly at pillows and blanket*

YES!! vietnamese final presentation DONE! OVER! FINITO! NO MORE!!! well, at least for one month. and, i have to admit, i was wrong. it was not as embarrassing as i exaggeratedly said it would be. in fact, it was pretty funny. and fun. :) i'm so glad we did this instead of a real final. the other skits were really funny too. of course, some of my laughs were just because the rest of the class was laughing and not because i actually understood the joke. but hey. this totally beats a written 3 hour final.

okay. must work on italian take home final now. well, first i have to eat. haven't done that yet. and i woke up at 630 too! ooh...i feel a major crash coming... NO! HAVE TO STUDY!! okay, bye.

finals week has officially begun. *takes a deep breath* will not panic. much. (right.)

*whimper*