Orientation day 1

6AM: arrived at JFK
took a taxi to nobu's apartment.
6:45AM: arrived at nobu's apartment.
6:55AM: nobu turns on his cell phone and lets me in.

After taking a three hour nap on nobu's couch, ST picks me up and helps me move into my dorm. After spending all of 20 min moving (I only had 6 boxes), we decide to go shopping and eat some lunch. The schedule says I don't have to be back until 2pm, so I figure we have some time. Time: 12:30PM

After buying some necessities, we start eating at 1:20PM. No problem I think. I'll just miss some introductory speeches. By the time I get back to my dorm, it's 2:10PM. I look up where we're supposed to meet and ask directions. Which turn out to be wrong. After finding the right place, I look at my phone. 2:30PM. Not bad, I'm sure the speeches are long I think. As I enter the building, I see everyone streaming out of the auditorium wearing t-shirts with their assigned section on them. OH CRAP. It's already over. I find an official looking person and ask what I should do if I had just arrived. They hurry to look up my section and tell me my group has already left. So they just randomly throw me into another group. Grrreeat. First day and I'm already late.

It turns out it wasn't a big deal as all we did today was a city wide scavenger hunt. Since I took a red eye last night and moved in today, I was thoroughly exhausted. They threw us a party at night with free food and alcohol which some people took way too big an advantage of.

While waiting for the shuttle to take us back to the dorms, we see a guy. This guy is TDTS (too drunk to stand). The first time I see him, he is leaning on a girl. The girl is obviously supporting him as he is TDTS. Eventually, the girl gets tired (as one does when supporting someone larger than you) and hands him over to another guy. Somehow in the course of this happening, TDTS guy ends up on the ground. So he just lays on the ground. For like 10 minutes. Eventually they try to pick him up so he can lean against the wall. Apparently TDTS guy doesn't like that and begins to puke. Then he starts running down the sidewalk, but since he is TDTS, he is also TDTR. SMACK. His face hits the concrete. Somehow he is ok. The bus arrives and they somehow drag him on. THUNK. That is the sound of his head hitting the window and he slides into his seat. And then he pukes again. As soon as the bus arrives at our dorm, his 'friends' pull him off and he pukes AGAIN. And then stumbles and falls into his own vomit. Wonderful. NYU sure knows how to pick winners.

arrived

In NY! Moving in to NYU. That is all.

B3

We went to the Jurong Bird Park today. Let it be known that the park stinks. Having a whole park dedicated to birds does not make the odors that waft into your nose very pleasant. In fact, they are the opposite of pleasant. They are anti-pleasant.

The only cool part of the park is the Lory Loft where you can feed lories. I have pictures, but I currently have no where to post them. Just picture small parrots that look like the Viewsonic birds. But hundreds of them. All flying around in a huge enclosed building and willing to climb onto your arm/hand/head/body if you feed them this nectar thing. Pretty cool.

A very not cool part of the park is the restaurant near the main entrance. Specifically the bathroom. It is not cool if you walk into the bathroom, and there is a little boy in front of you, who, upon entering the bathroom, pulls down his pants as he walks to the urinal. Since you are behind him, you get front row seats to his bare butt. Not cool. Very not cool, Bare Butt Boy.

the most humid place on earth

The most humid place on Earth is not Singapore. But you could've fooled me.

It's unbearable to go outside. It's almost as bad as Taiwan in the summer. Bringing a drink with you wherever you go is a life saving procedure.

They make you pay to use the bathroom?? I had to pay S$0.10 today to use the bathroom at a food court.

Tonight was spent wandering around for over an hour trying to find a church service. The directions on the website were very unclear and we had to resort to asking about 3 different people before we finally found the right location. We didn't even bother going in since we were so late.

Sorry for the disjointed post. It's very tiring when you need to completely rehydrate your body every 5 minutes.

All I gotta say is, South Africa better not be this humid.

in the last days...

This is was my first job which I actually had to desk to clean up.

I'm officially unemployed! Besides being a full time comp-sci-geek-turned-future-lawyer-maybe, I mean. And that's hard work, believe you me.

Goodbye lunch-crew: BH, HW, MS, DS, IK

cross country

I feel wholly unprepared to move.

Goodbye LA. Hello NY.

GTA: Los Angeles

Oh crap. My car lost its powers!!

Monday, May 14, 8:15pm: park my car on the street in front of my apartment.

Tuesday, May 15, 11:00am: come outside and either my car turned into an old silver Toyota Camry, or it got stolen.

Yup, someone stole my car. Booooo.

posted pics from Sandy and Tony's Wedding.

posted pictures from the Rose Hills visit after Esther's wedding.

Rose Hills

Yes, Just, I finally put up pictures from Esther's wedding.

Esther and Andy's Wedding

how to get someone to guess Tow Mater

(GC, age 5, at his sister's birthday party)

GC: "Uncle Jeff, guess what's on my underwear!"
me: "Uh...."
GC: "I'll give you a clue. It's brown."
me: "It's brown??"
GC: "Yup. Ok I'll give you another clue. It's old."
me: "It's old and brown? This doesn't sound good..."

ingenuity......or desperation

Tip of the day:

If you work at a tech company and you have a bottle of Orangina you can't open, use an ethernet cable. Wrap it around the cap and use it for better grip. Works wonders.

 

They sent me my nametag I have to wear to all my classes.

I love you too, Dad

A few weeks ago, my Dad was in town to attend a funeral in SD. I decided to drive down after work on Thursday to meet him for dinner. Braving the worst traffic known to man, I made what should have been a 2 hr trip in 4 months. After arriving, I asked what he wanted to eat and he replied he didn't have any preferences. I had asked a few of my friends familiar with SD what good restaurants were around there and we decided to go to an all-you-can-eat sushi place (Tadashi in La Jolla). Since it was getting late, we called the restaurant to make sure we would have time to eat before they closed. They were going to close in a little over an hour, so we left the hotel and headed over.

Upon arriving, we were seated at a table and informed the waitress we wanted the buffet. She asked us to move to the sushi bar and politely mentioned that if there were any leftover pieces, we would be charged for it. We sat down and my Dad started filling out the sushi sheet. I looked over as he wrote a bunch of 4s and 2s.

me: "4 orders of all this? Are you sure?"
dad: "Yeah, 2 for you, and 2 for me."
me: "okaaaay...."

Shortly thereafter, we were presented with a large plate full of sushi. Since it was late, we were both pretty hungry and finished it off quickly. I asked if he was still hungry and wanted to order more.

dad: "I'm not hungry, but if you want to order some more, I can eat it."

Being the bottomless pit people think I am, I suggested just ordering a little bit more. However, when we informed the cook that we would like to order more, he replied, "You still have more coming. You have a lot more coming."

Oh, ok. We sat patiently and were served yet another large plate full of sushi. Plus 2 small plates. Full of sushi. As they placed the plates in front of us, I realized, "We are not going to be able to finish this." But I said nothing. I knew my Dad realized this as well. But being the proud Chinese father that he is, he would never admit defeat.

We dug in and soon were completely full. And there was still a ton of sushi left. In my effort to take a break, I tried making some conversation. My Dad's reply:

me: "How're Mom and Mei doing?"
dad: "I'll tell you later. We have to finish our dinner first. We don't have enough time."

So we spent the rest of the meal in silence, slowly but steadily stuffing the last remaining pieces of sushi into our mouths. Soon, my dad announced that he was done. Which meant I had to eat the rest of the meal. Bite. Chew. Swallow. Suppress urge to throw up. Repeat.

I don't think I've ever eaten so much sushi in my life.

(Nah, who am I kidding, I probably have. Lots of times.)

I managed to finish all but 3 pieces. As we hurridly left the restaurant, hoping they wouldn't charge us extra, I couldn't help but laugh at what had just happened. I felt like this was something I would do with my friends while in college, not with my Dad when I was 25.

Good times, Dad, good times.

Paradise Day 6

As far as I'm concerned, this day never happened. I'm still in Hawaii. I'm still in paradise. I'm relaxed. Don't bother me.

Paradise Day 5

Day 5: outlet day. We woke up, got some Mitsu-ken (which has awesome garlic chicken) on the way, and went to the outlets. If you look at the pictures, it may appear to you, dear reader, that I bought a lot of clothes, and it may also occur to you that this is a ridiculous proposition. One guy outspending two girls? Unthinkable.

This about it this way. I was gonna get dragged to the outlets anyway. I might as well do all my shopping at once rather than having to endure this unpleasant experience again in a few months. It's like going to the dentist. If you're going to be dragged to the dentist's office anyway, might as well get your teeth cleaned.

After getting our teeth pulled, we stopped by Wailoa Shave Ice, where the ice was once again super soft. I think the water in Hawaii is better. Either that or everything tastes better when you're in paradise. We also stopped by Zippy's for some last minute chili before MJ decided to make us hike Diamond Head.

I almost died.

That's right, I had a near death experience in Hawaii. The only other time I almost died is when my appendix ruptured, but that was nothing compared to climbing the Stairs of Death^TM.

We got to Diamond Head about an hour before the parking lot closed, so they asked us if we could make it back before they locked our car in. We said, "Sure," and we headed off. At the beginning, it's just dirt trails and a couple switch backs; nothing too difficult. That's how they get you. After you've already hiked more than halfway up, you turn a corner and are presented with the most horrifying sight known to man. It must have been 1 million steps. At least. I told SS and MJ that if I didn't make it, to tell my family I loved them. Somehow God granted me superhuman endurance and I actually made it up to the top. The view at the top of Diamond Head is amazing. It totally makes it worth it (I'm pretty sure.....yeah, I guess it's worth it).

After we came back down, SS wanted to goto Costco to buy some souvenirs. Always thinking of others, that one. It's a good thing she's so selfless, because it led directly to the purchase of the most amazing machine on earth. That's right. I bought a Wii. MJ did too. And there was much rejoicing.

The rest of the night was a blur. I honestly don't know what happened between buying the Wii and falling asleep with a stupid grin on my face.

Hawaii Day 5 pics

Paradise Day 4

Sorry for the delay. We are experiencing a phenomenon known as 'laziness'. Please bear with us while we work to rectify the situation. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Day 4 was Sunday. Sunday is the-day-to-go-to-church-
even-though-we-shouldn't-be-just-Sunday-Christians-
and-really-church-means-the-people-not-a-building. So we went to church.

MJ and SS found a church called New Hope Fellowship. When we got there, I detoured to the bathroom while they went ahead. After using the facilities, I walked into the sanctuary where I was promptly hugged. By a man. I thought, "Oh, that's interesting. Maybe that guy is just really friendly." Then I got hugged again. By another man. This changed my hypothesis to "They must hug all the newcomers." But, after church, I asked MJ and SS if anyone hugged them when they walked in, and they said no. Do I just look particularly huggable? What's going on? Please, if any of you see me walking on the street, don't hug me. Reference this post.

After church, (where the sermon was a video feed from the main church, cuz we were at a satellite church) we went to Pearl Harbor. The memorial is a white structure built on top of the remains of the U.S.S. Arizona. It's very somber inside. We also had the option of paying to tour the U.S.S. Missouri, which did not sink, but being the Asians that we are, we opted for just the free ferry trip to the Arizona.

After Pearl Harbor, SS and I were still lamenting the previous day's failed attempt to locate and consume garlic shrimp. So we decided we would make a second attempt, but this time drive the opposite direction, so if we still couldn't find the Mystical Blue Shrimp Truck of Awesomeness, we could just stop at Giovanni's.

To make a long story short, the weather turned bad, MJ felt sick, and we couldn't find the MBSTA so SS and I just ate at Giovanni's. It doesn't matter that there were flies constantly buzzing around or that there were stray cats roaming the picnic tables where we ate. It was the best shrimp we've ever had. The fact that we were sucking on the shells speaks volumes.

Hawaii Day 4 pics

Paradise Day 3

This was our North Shore Day.

We woke up, and drove through the middle of the island towards the North Shore.

On the way, we stopped at the Dole plantation. Imagine a store surrounded by pineapples. Now imagine that store is filled with pineapples and pineapple-produced food. And pineapple related merchandise. And it has a yellow interior. You have just imagined the Dole plantation. The ice cream was very good though. After we strolled through the building, we decided to do the Pineapple Garden Maze. The conversation went something like this:

me: "Do you guys want to do the maze?"
(at the same time) MJ: "No." SS: "Yes."
MJ: "I mean, yes."

From that unanimous decision sprang forth our quest through the garden maze. The goal of the maze is to find 6 locations where there are stencils you have to trace onto a card. After you have found all 6, you come back to the start. They time you and if your time is one of the fastest 5 times, you get a poster. The 5th place time was 15 minutes, so we tried to beat that. At the beginning, we split up to try to find the 6 stencils faster and then were going to copy the stencils onto one card. After the girls found 4, and I found 2, we met up and were going to trace the cards. But SS didn't want to cheat so I showed them where the last 2 stencils they needed were. In the end, we made it out in 18 minutes. But SS kept her morals. I guess it's good that SS is the teacher and the two cheaters are an attorney and a software developer who pretends to fight piracy.

From there, we headed to Matsumoto's shave ice. It's basically a snow cone (with really soft ice) that you can get with ice cream or red bean or both. You can pick the syrup flavors and add condensed milk if you want. There was even a Caucasian lady that hesitantly ordered "red bean?" From her confused look, we knew there was no way she thought putting beans in ice would make anything remotely close to a good tasting dessert, but MJ assured her the beans were sweet and she had made the right choice. Way to spread the Asian culture, MJ.

As we resumed our drive to the North shore. We noticed some shrimp trucks and this ignited a debate whether we had passed the Mystical Blue Shrimp Truck of Awesomeness.

(The origin of the Mystical Blue Shrimp Truck of Awesomeness goes something like this: Before we left for Hawaii, JL/EL recommended we eat garlic shrimp from the roach coach shrimp trucks on the side of the road. All the trucks were located along the side of the freeway on the North shore. The most famous amoung tourists is Giovanni's, a white truck, but JL told us about a better truck which was blue.)

After much discussion and driving back and forth, we called up JL and asked him if we were in the correct place. Alas, we were not. We would not get to the Mystical Blue Shrimp Truck of Awesomeness until we were on the way back to the hotel.

We kept driving and came upon Waimea Beach. The waves were huge so we decide to go rent some boogie boards. After getting destroyed by the waves for most of the afternoon, we headed out and saw a surfing competition sponsored by Monster. Then we commenced Operation: Shrimp Truck. We drove along the coast on the way back to the hotel, keeping our eyes peeled for the Mystical Blue Shrimp Truck of Awesomeness. We passed Giovani's and knew we were on the right track. We looked. And looked. We called JL. And looked. But, we couldn't find it and ended up back at the hotel. SS and I were very sad. Since we couldn't find it, we just decided to eat at Willows, a buffet.

Since I didn't know they had self-parking, I pulled into their valet lot. Then we rushed inside because they were about to close and ate hurriedly. Then we got our bill. $30/person. The buffet was definitely not THAT good. All in all, a subpar experience. Especially since the next day, MJ got food poisoning.