"hobbies"

If I had all the time in the world, I would take on many projects. I would learn to sew, take up painting, photography, and learn to play the guitar. But I don't have the time nor the money for all of my fantasy hobbies. So I'll take it step by step, one hobby at a time.

First, scrapbooking! Easy enough, right? Cut out some pictures, arrange colorful paper, add a few pretty stickers, and done! A scrapbook! This is so me, not too difficult, but still creative. I bought a scrapbook right after we got married, hoping to use our pictures and have lasting memories of that wonderful day. Four and a half years later, I still had the empty book. ;)

So in August, a bit after my best friend got married, we decided to start our wedding scrapbooks together. It's now the end of October, and I have a grand total of......drum role please.....3 pages! Pitiful, yes, I know. A lot has been going on, I got busy with work, school, and a million other things.

But hopefully this weekend Jessica and I will meet up again for a scrapbooking date. We have different styles. Jessica is a perfectionist, matching every color, cutting every picture perfectly straight, and contemplating each piece. I, on the other hand, cut, snip, and paste as it comes to me. Here's a sample of what I have so far:





Not bad, eh? It's really fun, even relaxing. I hope to have this scrapbook done by the end of the year! And Marco better appreciate it!

Only in Los Angeles....

I don't understand LA. Maybe that's why I still cannot call it home, even though I have spent a considerable amount of my life here, and still have a few more years to go.

For example, car chases. I don't know what is the fascination with car chases. As I write this, channel 9 has spent the last 30 minutes of news time filming the car as it's racing down one of LA's many freeways, with the police following behind. And the chase usually ends in one of 3 ways: a) the car crashes into something and the police are able to catch up to it; b) the car makes it to some resident area and the driver decides to make a run for it on foot, with the police usually catching their man; or c) the driver is able to somehow get away.

Although it is somewhat entertaining to see the grand finale, is it really worth wasting half hour of the news time? I guess some will say yes. And I wonder if car chases are only an LA phenomenon. I don't remember seeing these in SF. Maybe the lack of freeways dissuades people from hitting the gas pedal.

The best car chase I have seen was about a year ago. The car was heading down the 405 freeway, took one of the exits, and drove straight to the Fox Hills mall, which is about 4 miles from our place. The car entered the covered parking structure so the helicopter could no longer film and the police lost him! I admit, I was impressed by the driver's quick thinking. I wonder how long he had been planning that one!

iPhone

Oh yea, so I got the iPhone! That's how I took the cool picture of Royce Hall at night. I was having some issues with the phone at first. I was so used to the Blackberry and I don't do well with change (sometimes). I kept complaining about the iPhone for about the first week and I wasn't happy about switching to AT&T.

But now I love it! It's an awesome little gadget and it's so convenient to be able to use the internet whenever you want. And having my music on there is a nice plus!

Thank you Steve Jobs. How could I ever doubt something that came from the Bay Area?

;)

Back to the grind....

A lot has happened since I last wrote. Marco’s food poisoning turned out to be a ruptured appendix. It was such a long and scary journey, but he is doing much better now and is almost back to his crazy, loving self.

School also started up again. We’re already into week 2 of the quarter. It goes by so fast! I’m liking my classes, except for the timing. I have an early 8am class and a late 5pm-9pm class. Yes, I know some of you might be rolling your eyes at my whining of an 8am class, but students will see an early class and run the other way! 10am is a more decent time to hold class. What are these professors thinking?!?

Last night I left my class at 9pm and walked to meet my personal chauffeurs, Marco and Vinnie. I ended up walking through the main quad and stopped to admire my favorite building, Royce Hall.

UCLA is awesome at night. Something about that building makes me swoon. It’s supposedly built after a building in Italy and the unique thing about it is that it’s not symmetrical. Each tower is slightly different, with 3 windows on one side and 2 on the other. I think there are a bunch of little “mistakes” built into it so at first glance it looks impeccable, but once you really look at it you can see the small differences. But that’s the beauty of it, even though it’s not perfect it’s still an awesome building.

I remember sitting in the arches as an undergrad, reading or just people watching. It seems so far away. Being a grad student is a little different. There are more responsibilities and I have to work while also taking classes. But I feel very lucky to be a student. I complain and whine about school sometimes, but I’m trying to appreciate where I am. Not everyone gets this opportunity and I feel like it’s my responsibility to appreciate it and do my best. Once school is all over I know I’m going to miss it, but I should be hopefully saving the world by then, so I’ll keep busy!