ohmygod...ben took this hilarious picture of melissa during dinner tonight. she was sipping her drink through a straw but it looks like she's snorting cocaine cuz she has this stoned look on her face. hahahaha...i want to post the link, but mel's gonna be pissed off. but it's really a very funny picture. ;D

la la la...time to update blog.

so yesterday, i went shopping with melissa and grace after class. we were trying to get to fashion valley, but we were going down the wrong freeway or something, i don't know, but somehow we ended up in downtown san diego so we decided to go to horton plaza instead. that place is confusing. big, but confusing. it was only the second time i'd been shopping there. it's like three or four stories, but they also have like half-stories, so...it was kinda confusing. it was kinda silly though because me and melissa ended up buying things from there that we totally could've bought from utc. oh well. it was fun to be somewhere new. yeah, melissa pulled a helen yesterday cuz she kept missing the exit so she pulled like two u-ies. we were like, "okay, third time's the charm." and it was. :)

so we got back around 8 and i just changed into my pajamas and chilled. i dunno how we started talking about this, but i mentioned to ben and sanaz that i had never had an alcoholic drink before. and i was actually gonna ask my parents if i could try some of the red wine they had in the fridge during spring break, but i forgot. they probably would've let me since they've asked me several times if i've wanted to try some of their beer and stuff. but i always said no. so anyway, ben leaves to go back to his apartment and he came back with a structure bag and said, "i have a gift for you, cherry" and it's a bottle of smirnoff ice! so ben and sanaz go to get some dinner and leave me all alone with my first alcoholic beverage. it wasn't that bad, i kinda liked it actually. i didn't even taste any alcohol. it was only 5%. but it was kinda sad. drinking for the first time all by my lonesome. i didn't even get a buzz! i just ended up feeling really flushed and drowsy. if i had been wearing jeans, i would've been fully capable of undoing my pants to go pee. (heehee, ha. ;D hey, if you say "heeheeha" out loud, it sorta sounds like a donkey.)

so today me and sanaz went to costco and ralph's to do some food shopping. i love the pastries/bakery section of costco. everything smells so good. i almost got these cinnamon rolls that were like drenched in frosting. *drools* but i put them back in favor of blueberry muffins. then me and sanaz had a grand lunch of costco hot dogs and soda. those hot dogs ARE yummy. i can understand now why chris loves them so much. ;D and it totally reminded me of that story she told us when her and victor went to get some on the way to senior ball. she was wearing a white dress and he was wearing a tuxedo and some guy said, "congratulations!!" or something like that. ;D

anyway, after that, we went home and like totally reorganized the fridge and kitchen shelves in order to make room for the groceries. we ended up throwing a shitload of old food out. old food that's been in there for a fucking decade because no one throws their shit away. so now the trash is totally overflowing. it's disgusting. anyway, after that me and sanaz cleared out the storage room and separated all the plastic, glass, and aluminum and took them down to the recycling bins. that was just nasty. things were molded and growing and LIVING in that storage room. but me and sanaz sucked it up and cleaned like crazy because, like the old food in the fridge, that stuff in the storage room has also been neglected for god knows how long. we took all the cardboard boxes, broke them down, and recycled those too.

gee, seems like me and sanaz are doing all the cleaning around here. wonder why that is.

anyway, afterwards, we felt so unsanitary that we both took a shower. [not at the same time, you sicko.] then we got ready to go out to dinner at cpk. went with mel, allyn, ben, and matt. and sanaz, of course. it was really nice to go out and just hang out. i was feeling really hyper for some reason. hyper and happy. maybe the affect of the smirnoff was delayed. ;D it was really fun though. i was wild and daring tonight. i ordered something other than fettucine. *gasp* i dunno, lately, i've been feeling really carnivorous. i just want MEAT. meat meat meat. mmmmm....mmmmmeeeeeeaaaaaaat. so i ordered the philly cheesesteak pizza. pretty good. very cheesy. had to pick off the peppers though cuz i forgot to ask them to remove those.

oh! i almost forgot; story of the day: so me and sanaz really should stop walking together because the last two times we've walked together, one of us has almost been run over. anyway, this afternoon, we were walking to this apartment complex a little past ralph's because she parks her car there. we were crossing the exit to this parking lot by bj's and this large white pickup nearly runs over sanaz. like NEARLY runs her over. we stopped right before crossing because we didn't know if the pickup would go or not. since it didn't go, i crossed first and sanaz followed. right as i walked past the pickup, the guy presses on the accelerator and actually bumps his car into sanaz and like sort of pushes her. so, naturally, she screams. in retrospect, it was a very funny scream. like, it wasn't a normal scream. it was like a half-scream/half-yell. of course, at the time, it wasn't very funny. anyway, the driver looks out his side window and says, "are you okay?!?!" with a concerned/freaked out look on his face. really, i'm just glad he didn't say something like, "watch where you're going, bitch!" and i'm sure sanaz is right, he was probably more freaked out than she was. he just didn't see us. he was watching the cars on the road to see when he could go and i guess he just didn't pay attention to us (even though sanaz was wearing bright red pants). although, really, i would say it was like mostly, but not totally, his fault. i'm sure we could've been paying more attention, even though we still had every right to cross. anyway...even if it only happened twice, each progressive run-in has gotten worse. the next time we go out....well, let's just say we better watch out.

anyway. at least this incident made a good blog, right? ;D

hey everyone, i've got some GREAT links for you guys (or more specifically, gals) to check out. the first two are absolutely hilarious!!

a woman's guide on how to pee standing.
this site has ACTUAL information on how a woman can best achieve urinating while in a standing position. it also has tips if you need help on how to avoid spray and drips. i have got to give an excerpt:
"Janice writes... Well I’m in college and you’d be surprised to see how many college girls use men’s urinals. I personally find it boring to pee in regular stalls. Its much more exciting and daring to pee standing up at urinals. Any woman can pee standing up, facing a urinal, looking at the wall or whatever men look at. Down here in Texas at one of our stadiums, they are installing urinals for women in addition to the stalls. Usually there are long lines for the women’s bathroom. My friends Judy and Karen will sometimes stand at the urinal and see who can get the furthest arc. It works best when we are all drunk!"
yeah, it might sound like a joke, but this is a REAL site though with REAL directions and tips on how a woman can pee standing. and they have this hilarious picture of a woman standing next to a man at a urinal.

big bad chinese mama.
now this girl is HILARIOUS. i know i know, i keep using that word, but really, there's no other way to describe her. this site is like a spoof/parody/whatever on all those asian porn and mail-order bride sites out there. she purposely added her link to porn sites and went into porn chats to publicize her link. then when unsuspecting perverts click on her link, they get, well...this. you HAVE to take a look at her "harem." my favorite bride is mikki. ;D really, this girl is hysterical... "I fart and cough at the same time so that nobody can tell what came from where (because I am a real lady)....I give the finger liberally while driving through my neighborhood in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and tried to see if I could get it to catch on in Europe (but failed)."

okay, well onto some more semi-serious sites...

bamboo girl.
okay, i actually got the above two links from this site. she's got a really extensive page of links to asian-american/feminist sites, including the two above. i haven't gone through much of them yet, but the two above (big bad chinese mama and a woman's guide on how to pee standing) obviously caught my attention first. i read this really interesting article plus her reaction from her site. [ooh, it's kinda long, sorry.]

Michelle Kwan Headline Controversy Continues to Haunt Us
By Rene M. Astudillo,
Executive Director, Asian American Journalists Association

In 1998, American figure skater Tara Lipinski beat fellow American Michelle Kwan to capture the gold medal at the Nagano Winter Olympics. A headline announcing the upset victory on the MSNBC Web site read, "American Beats Out Kwan."

Four years later, in Salt Lake City, Kwan -- again favored to win gold -- loses out to fellow American Sarah Hughes and Russian skater Irina Slutskaya. History is repeated, and I’m not just talking gold medals. The day after the womens figure skating finals in Nagano, The Seattle Times sports page ran a controversial secondary headline on its lead story about the gold-medal skating performance of Sarah Hughes. It read, "American outshines Kwan, Slutskaya in skating surprise.

Prompted by numerous reader complaints that the heading implied that Michelle Kwan was not an American, The Seattle Times immediately issued an apology -- first on its web site, then in next day's edition of the paper about what it called a "misunderstanding."

The Times explained that the headline was in two parts, the main headline reading "Hughes good as gold." The apology went on to say that "...the writer was attempting to find another word for Hughes in order not to repeat her name in the second head." The apology further claims that the headline was written quickly on deadline.

Also on February 22, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a front-page story on the figure skating finals. In the jump page, staff writer John Crumpacker made reference to the 1998 Olympic competition by saying that, "And Kwan, who persevered for the past four years after losing out on the Olympic gold medal to American Tara Lipinski in Nagano, glumly settled for the bronze medal this time..."

I wrote a letter to the editor expressing concern about the implication in that statement that Kwan was not an American, just like the MSNBC headline implied in 1998. Admittedly and in hindsight, I missed the first reference to Kwan in the third paragraph of the news story. It said, "Skating after Hughes, the two favorites, American Michelle Kwan and Russian Irina Slutskaya..."

Chronicle assistant executive editor Narda Zacchino pointed out that "A careful reading of the story would make clear that the nationality of each skater is stated with the first identification of that skater, so that when Tara Lipinski is mentioned, we tell the readers that she is American, just as we told them earlier in the first references that Kwan is American and Sarah Hughes is American and Slutskaya is Russian."

By the rules of editing, the Chronicle did not err. But other readers and members of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) saw an issue beyond editorial correctness. Hayley Sterling, former AAJA Washington, D.C. chapter president, says that "The fact that the line stood out for many of us, should be reason enough to make issue of it. I agree with another writer it wouldve been more accurate and informative and perhaps less confusing to some readers if the sentence read fellow-American Tara Lipinski."

Ti-Hua Chang of the AAJA New York chapter suggested that the Chronicle should be more sensitive to the previous flap with the MSNBC headline. "Given that history and context, SF Chronicle should have added one more word "fellow" to American Tara Lipinski.," Chang added.

Another Chronicle staffer, David de la Fuente maintains that " the phrase questioned is not a mistake of apparent omission (as would be the case if the story never mentioned Kwan being an American) or apparent commission (as was the case with the 1998 MSNBC headline...").

De la Fuente asserts further: "Michelle Kwan has been in the spotlight for several years now. She is not the fresh-faced and relatively unfamiliar newcomer she was in 1988, and I sincerely doubt that there are very many people who were interested enough in skating to a) read that article or b) watch that competition who did not know she is an American."

Agreed. But if so much controversy was generated by the San Francisco Chronicle story beyond just readers missing references to Kwan as American, there must be an issue here. If there are enough people complaining about inappropriate headlines such as the one ran by The Seattle Times and prompting an apology from a respected newspaper then we know readers get involved in what they read and writers and editors should be more sensitive to the things they print.

Part of AAJA's core mission is to be vigilant about fair and accurate coverage of Asian Americans and Asian American issues. The real issue here is not Michelle Kwan, but all Americans of different racial and ethnic heritage who have long been "tokenized" and who have historically been relegated to a "second-class" citizen status. Many Asian Americans have had this experience, including many of our own journalist-members. But we must also remember that there are thousands of other Asian American readers who don't care about editorial correctness and who constantly bear the insult and hurt caused by even the slightest suggestion or implication that they are less American than their fellow Americans.

wow, i totally didn't even know about this whole american michelle kwan thing. first time i ever heard about it. it just really surprises me that people would even (or still) view michelle kwan as a non-american. very disappointing...

anyway, check out this girl's links. she's got everything.

ucsd fmla (feminist majority leadership alliance).
and really, i couldn't end this long-enough blog without adding the newly launched ucsd fmla website. this page has some great links too. check out the britney underground one. pretty funny stuff. ooh, i'm so excited about some of the fmla events this month. the authors of this great young feminist book, "manifesta," are coming down to san diego to speak. and at the end of april, the california NOW (national organization for women) conference is going to be held in san diego. :)

okay, must do italian homework. will mercifully end this long blog now.

duuude...having major problems getting to blogger to blog. couldn't post this last night, so i just wrote it down to post later. well, now.

wednesday, april 3, 2002. 1:08 am.

okay, so...just how little time can one have sex in? i mean...what's the minimum amount of time necessary? i'm just curious, because, well i've noticed that my non-virgin friend [we'll just call her S] has disappeared for certain amounts of time. and, you know, i'm just curious as to her, um, whereabouts.

i'm sorry, but i just find this news so...scandalous that i can't help blogging about it, especially since i'm pretty close to Miss S. i need some exciting gossip in my life (doesn't everyone?) and this just about does it for me! ;D

well, you know, all i can say is that it's a good thing she's taking her birth control. definitely must remind her to take that everyday now. ooh, yay, now i get to put my ec (emergency contraception) knowledge to use!

~

well, today was boring. just class, as usual. went to my mae section today and waited for like half an hour for the ta to show up, which he never did, so i just left. what a retard though. the professor said that we wouldn't start sections till next week, but the ta specifically said yesterday that we all had to go to sections this week only the bastard never showed up. *growls*

okay, well, gotta study for the mae quiz tomorrow even though i don't have the book and i'm just reading the answers to questions i don't even have. hm. well...i'm trying not to worry just because our lowest like, four quizzes are dropped and i'm only taking this class pass/no pass. so...yeah. surprisingly, when i sit down in front of the tv, all my worries seem to disappear. ;D

fell asleep in mae today. it's so boring. boring boring boring....

but my social psych class is so cool!! i love it!! the professor is very cute and very funny (helloooo.....). he told us about all these interesting studies he's done. okay, so they sound sort of...random, but they're really very interesting. like this one he did where he looked at all these death certificates and looked at the initials of the people and their lifespan. apparently, people with "nasty" initials (i.e. A.S.S., D.I.E.) tend to live about two years less than people with initials that don't spell anything. and people with nice initials (i.e. W.O.W., H.U.G., A.C.E.) tend to live about four years more. anyway...did i imention how cute and funny the professor is? well, he's very cute and very funny. mmmm......

i am no longer a virgin.

just kidding. but i know someone ELSE who isn't....

what?!?! i have a behavioral psych midterm on the LAST day of the LAST week of the quarter. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!?!

hmm....i thought finals week would be good since i only have two finals, both for psych. my italian is a take-home and mae is a project. but now i'm thinking that the mae project is going to be due 10th week. hopefully, my italian take-home won't be due 10th week because then my 10th week will just SUCK. dead week, my ass.

yeah, i know, it's only first week, but as last quarter proved, finals week will just sneak up on you like THAT.

well, okay, enough complaining. i'm gonna go let my brain vegetate in front of the television.

more proof that "hella" is a norcal word: gwen stefani says so.

so i was watching mtv's making the video this afternoon. the video was for no doubt's new song "hella good." and at the beginning, they show gwen stefani talking about how she wrote the song. she said that basically, she got the word "hella" when she was up in san francisco and the bay area. gwen stefani: everything is "hella" something in the bay area. and then she thanked the bay area for that.

really, i never noticed that "hella" was a "norcal word." but apparently, melissa said she's never heard the word before till last year when we norcal people started saying it. hmm...personally, i don't really use hella a lot. i usually use hecka.

anyway...first day of classes went well. after italian in the morning, i went to the bookstore to get my books. uuuugh. i was really afraid that i would max out my credit card cuz i didn't know how much was on it and i didn't know if my dad had paid the bill yet. but it was okay. i got three of my books - italian, psych 103 (behavioral psych), and psych 104 (social psych). you wanna know something anal and sorta pathetic? it took me forever to get all of my books, because i flipped through like almost all of their used ones trying to find a copy without any highlighting or marks in it. i did find a mark-free one for psych 104 and an almost mark-free one for italian but i found one that has pencil markings for psych 103. so now i'm going through every single page erasing the marks. i know, i know, anal much? but i can't help it. highlightings and marks (that aren't made by me) in textbooks distract me.

aaaaanyway...wanna hear some sucky news? apparently, i have a quiz in mae 5 on thursday. bastard professor emailed us during spring break. SPRING BREAK. geez. how underhanded can you get? hmph. anyway, he emailed us to tell us to get some scantrons cuz our first quiz is gonna be on thursday. so i go to his course site to see what the quiz is going to be on, and apparently it's gonna be on the reading in the textbook, but i just don't know which pages cuz he (very badly) scanned in his syllabus and it's too hard to see exactly which pages he wrote. and to make matters worse, the bookstore ran out of books for mae 5. they won't come in till like the end of the week - AFTER the quiz. what to do, what to do?? well, i'm just gonna email the prof and tell him and...yeah. at least i'm taking mae 5 pass/no pass. but still. sucks.

okay, i'm gonna go eat a bit now. bye.

uuuuuugh. don't want to go to class tomorrow. ugh.

so my flight was delayed about an hour today. there was something wrong with the plane. some broken pressure control thingy. so i missed the 230 free ucsd shuttle and had to take a paid one back to campus since the next free ucsd shuttle would've come at 4. the driver was so stupid. everyone in the van except for this one guy was going to ucsd and so she stopped at like, the very edge of campus and said, "okay, ucsd." and we were all like, "uhh..." and this one girl said, "you're not going to drive any further?" and the driver said, "i will. for two more dollars." geez. yeah yeah, two dollars isn't that much, but you can't just be nice and drive us to our places for free? it's not as if they're very far. hmph. oh well. didn't tip her very much. :)

anyway, i got back around 330 and called sanaz to help me with my luggage. ohhhh man, i was literally covered with luggage on my way out of the airport. some guy had to help me load it into the van. that was nice of him. anyway, yeah, sanaz came to pick me up from erc and we dropped off my luggage at the apartment. then we went grocery shopping. i was so hungry. wanted to buy like, everything. then we went back and i unpacked. i'm so glad nothing broke or exploded or spilled.

after i unpacked and ate dinner, i went over to mel's place to hang out and catch up. ;D

you know....i really don't want to go to class tomorrow. this just sucks. sucks SUCKS SUCKS.