Monday, May 23, 2005

:X

i've been depressing myself by watching "maxim's hot 100" on vh1. :X well, no more of that.

it's monday? ugh. i can't wait until the summer program starts. i really don't like the work i'm doing - the kids are just... ugh. another four weeks of this, blah.

hmm.

[edit] i almost forgot - happy birthday, mary. :)

Sunday, May 22, 2005

it's official

i have my master's. :)

Graduation - Me 3 Graduation - Parents

and the best part, ryan came to see me walk. :D

Graduation - Ryan

and my little cousin came! :P

Graduation - Me & Victoria

ah, it's been a good day. :) (anupama - congrats! i'm going to miss you! :P we have to learn to deal with the separation anxiety, hehe.)

Friday, May 20, 2005

...

breathe...

just breathe...

Thursday, May 19, 2005

[something creative]

it's thursday, which means only two more days before i graduate. :) *sigh* i'm glad i'm done.

ryan came over last night. we went for a walk around the neighborhood. we were approaching the corner by stephanie's house when her dogs went crazy. these three kids were also out with their dog, and they let it run toward stephanie and her dogs. her two dogs started barking and biting each other. i felt like i should have at least offered to help her (we were friends in the distant past), but i didn't. :X we didn't exactly leave off on a good note, i didn't know what her reaction would have been.

anyway, we got dessert at pizzeria uno. i forget what it was called, but it was a huge chocolate chip cookie topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. it was yummy! :D i can think of one way that would have made it even yummier (...hehe...).

whoa i'm watching "modern marvels" on the history channel and they're talking about various flight disasters in history. they just showed some of the tests they conducted after the columbia exploded - they shot a piece of foam at a wing, and it blew a huge hole through the wing. :O that made the nasa investigators stop saying it had nothing to do with the foam. (this is such a non-sequitur.)

okay, off to get ready for my day.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

belated HFStival pix

okay so ryan and i went to HFStival on Saturday. it was in baltimore this year (since they're broadcasting from there now). i only took a few pics because it was just too hot to think straight. ;) anyway, i've been too lazy to post these until now:

Garbage
this is garbage, with shirley manson standing in the middle of the stage. all you can see are her red shoes. :P they were awesome.

They Might Be Giants
this is they might be giants. ryan really likes them, so i'm glad he got to see them. hehe it was funny to hear the crowd start singing when they played "boss of me."

and my favorite moment of the day:
Hypocrisy!
this guy is wearing that PETA shirt with the yellow chick that says "I AM NOT A NUGGET!" he is blissfully eating chicken fingers. haha!

Friday, May 13, 2005

two dates in one night

1. my little cousin is home from uva. (i guess she's not really little anymore, haha, but she'll always be my little cousin.) i haven't seen her since whenever my uncle's birthday was. my my, already done with her second year. i feel old. :P but i'll be one of the young ones getting my M.Ed. next saturday!! anyway, i'm taking her out for dinner tonight - just to catch up and belatedly celebrate her 20th birthday. :)

2. i'm going to see ryan after dinner. sort of like... dessert to top off the evening. ;) i know i'll see him tomorrow, but we'll be at a concert all day, so there won't be time to cuddle and kiss and be cute. :P

i got a lot of sleep last night but i'm still tired. i feel so completely drained. :P but it was so worth all the excitement this week. *sigh*

life is good.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

zzz

i'm so unbelievably tired right now. -_- and i have to work until 8 tonight. makes me feel all that much worse.

but at least my interview was great. lots of high-fiving... that's a good sign, right? ;) and medina noticed that i've lost weight. :D i've never had another woman tell me i look good. :P well, anyone really.

*sigh* i want to be in bed.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

nice to know

holy crap, it's a good thing i have a job in the fall.

my parents were going to take me to korea with them. for a month! i couldn't stand to be away from ryan for a month. man, my life really is great right now. :P

i graduate next saturday.
i have a job in the fall.
i will have the house to myself during september!

the only thing i don't have is ryan on my couch. ;)

i got up at 8, and i finished my paper at 12. it's 22 pages. damn. it'll probably cost just as much to print it out. damn. i'm so tired. damn. :D

okay.

need more time!

okay so it's like 3:45am, and i'm not done with this paper. :P i'm getting there, i have 13 pages. i didn't like what i had by midnight, so i went back and redid half of it. whee! no. i'm tired as hell, and i think i'm getting sick. my throat hurts. i'm about to get into bed and get about 3 hours of sleep and then plug away at this paper some more. it needs to be done by at least 3:30pm, so i can drive to school and find somewhere to park. :X

anyway, before i go, i just have to say i'm very excited. medina called to let me know that she's hiring me for the fall. yay! i'll be working at falls church high school. i find out the details on thursday morning, and i get to see all my wonderful kids again!

okay time for a nap.

Monday, May 09, 2005

my last week

:) i'm nervous. i'm excited. i'm happy.

it's my last week of class. after wednesday, it'll be official. :)

the catch? my research paper is due wednesday (yes, in two days), and i haven't done any work on it. :X yikes. it's just a case study, but i still want to do well. *sigh*

my hip is still bothering me. the pain subsides and comes back. it came back yesterday. :\ there's not much i can do about it except ride it out. when i went running yesterday morning, i couldn't make it as long as i've been running because it felt like my hip was going to give. i probably won't run for the next few days - mostly because i need to work on my research paper. :P

Sunday, May 08, 2005

happy happy

happy birthday to mom (yesterday).

happy mother's day.

happy birthday to seon yang (tomorrow).

and i'm just happy. :)

Friday, May 06, 2005

oof

i am in so much pain right now... i've been waddling around. :
and happy birthday to gloria!

so this guy mike emailed me about a summer job, so i got him in touch with kathy. kathy said he came to see her on wednesday. apparently he's tall and good-looking. oh boy. :P he asked who i was, and i think kathy tried to play me up. unfortunately, i'm already in love with my own tall, good-looking guy. :) well, the upside is i will have a guy to talk to at work again. last year it was sean - he was fun. i get along better with guys, i'm actually looking forward to working with him. we'll be doing social studies together, yay! :D

time out for another groan of absolute pain. omg. >.< my hip is killing me. waaah, i want to cry.

dr. b called me this morning with some good news. my kidneys and liver are fine, and my glucose tolerance is fine too. however, my biopsy (remember the encounter with a catheter?) showed i'm not producing enough progesterone, so i have to take that in pill form. i also have to take another pill - i don't remember what it's called but it's that diabetes medication i mentioned before. anyway, i hope all this does something to fix me. i hate being broken.

oof... pain. painpainpain.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

more asians please

i found this article on CNN today. haha talk about reinforcing stereotypes. i underlined parts that were funny and commented in blue.

Asians poorly represented on TV

(AP) -- "The King of Queens" is set in a New York City borough where almost one in five residents is Asian American -- yet none of the CBS sitcom's regular characters is Asian. And of the dozens of regular characters in CBS' entire prime-time line-up, not one is Asian. (does anyone even watch that show? who cares.)

At most other networks, the situation is slightly better.

A study of Asian Americans in prime-time television, released Monday, shows that Asians, who make up 5 percent of the U.S. population, play 2.7 percent of regular characters. It also shows virtually no Asian actors are on situation comedies, and the characters they play in dramas tend to have less depth than most regulars, with minimal on-screen time and few romantic roles. (they look funny when they kiss... please refer to any Korean drama.)

"Television is still the place where people get to know other people from other cultures ... if they don't have regular contact with them in real life," said Karen K. Narasaki, president of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, the Washington-based civil rights group that commissioned the study. "If Asian Americans are absent, it tends to reinforce the stereotypes." (we reinforce those stereotypes on our own, thank you very much.)

The study, conducted by sociologists at the University of California, Los Angeles, examined about seven weeks of prime-time programming on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN and the WB. It looked at patterns based on gender, characters' occupations and relationships and whether an actor was a multiracial Asian or wholly Asian.

Since 1999, Narasaki and other NAPALC leaders have been meeting with network executives to push for more Asian representation.

Regular "report cards" on network diversity have been issued by a coalition including NAPALC and other civil rights groups. There has been improvement in some areas but Hispanics and American Indians as well as Asians remain underrepresented, the coalition said in its most recent accounting last fall. (Whites and blacks have a disproportionately high representation, another UCLA study found.)

The scrutiny of minorities among executives, writers and actors was based on extensive anecdotal evidence. The new study provides the most rigorous data yet bolstering their concerns.

"I think we were expecting that there would be a discrepancy between white and Asian actors, just by watching television ourselves over the years," said Nancy Yuen, a UCLA doctoral candidate who headed the analysis. "But we were surprised by the extent of the discrepancy."

She added: "They're rarely on. Even if they're part of the regular cast, it's a subordinate role."

Except for one character on Fox's sketch comedy "MADtv," Asians were found solely in dramatic shows, which tend to focus on workplace settings such as law offices, police precincts and schools. For white characters, the story lines often also flesh out personal details -- family and romantic life -- that contribute to character development. Only two Asian characters in the study were depicted outside their homes, and both were portrayed by biracial actors of Asian and white heritage. (how is this any different than showing blacks as thugs or drug dealers, jews in finance, and hispanics as gangsters?)

With no Asian characters, CBS had the lowest representation of on-screen Asians.

The study "focused on a small slice of the prime-time television landscape, overlooking recurring roles where CBS has made progress in diversifying casts," CBS spokesman Phil Gonzalez said, adding that "Clubhouse," a short-lived television show that aired last fall, featured Dean Cain, an actor whose father is partly Japanese. (dean cain? i don't think any racial group wants to claim him as its own. please. he doesn't even LOOK asian. he doesn't count. although i think we like counting russell wong because he's yummy.)

Media observers said limited representation on-screen reverberates throughout society.

"From the viewpoint of individuals who are Asian Americans, (the low representation) says, 'I don't matter -- I don't see people who look like me, my culture, my community,"' said Cristina Pieraccini, a professor of communications at the State University of New York at Oswego. (i don't have to look on tv to see asians. we are EVERYWHERE. just turn your head a few degrees.)

Earlier this year, she and co-author Douglass L. Alligood released a book, "Color Television: Fifty Years of African American and Latino Images on Prime Time." They had hoped to expand the analysis, but, she said, "There wasn't enough representation for us to study Asians." (haha what about "All-American Girl"? yea, i wouldn't consider that either.)

The study also criticized the WB for setting "Charmed" in San Francisco, a city that is one-third Asian American, but including no Asian actors. (that's because they're all in Chinatown.)

Network spokeswoman Pamela Morrison responded: "It's a sci-fi fantasy show, so you can't point to it as a reflection of the real world. ... They don't have a regular Asian American character, but there are guests characters."

NBC was found to be the most inclusive, with 5.7 percent of regular characters on shows such as "ER" and the now-canceled "Hawaii" featuring Asian actors. And the study's authors particularly lauded ABC's "Lost," which has a South Asian character and a Korean married couple who speak Korean on-screen -- with English subtitles, something almost never seen on prime-time shows.

Usually, when Asians are depicted, the study showed, they are placed into roles that reinforce stereotypes, particularly that of Asians as the hyper-intelligent model minority. (well, we are. ;) i have no problem with this stereotype.) Though Census 2000 showed that half of Asian adults don't have college degrees, of the prime-time Asian characters whose jobs were identified, 100 percent worked in areas that highlighted their intelligence or required advanced degrees, often in the sciences. (we don't need fancy degrees to know we're super smart. :D)

"There is no understanding that Asians have the same hopes and dreams and struggles -- that they love their families and have to deal with crazy bosses and co-workers," Narasaki said. "I often tell the networks, I know lots of Asian families that are dysfunctional. They would be funny on a sitcom." (asians usually are the crazy bosses and co-workers. and ALL asian families are dysfunctional.)

you know, if we can't make fun of ourselves and embrace the stereotypes (none of which are particularly negative or degrading), we will always be bitter.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

<3



a heart for every beautiful month we've had...

to many more months...

i love you.

Monday, May 02, 2005

how to kill yourself in 90 minutes

this is so fucking hilarious, i couldn't have made it up: a recipe for FRENCH FRIED SKUNK! what the hell is going on in those backwoods?! here is the recipe, followed by the nutrition facts (more like "this is what killed you" facts):

2 skunks, skinned and cleaned
1 tablespoon saltwater, to cover
2 cups bear fat or lard (holy shit, what?????)
2 egg yolks, beaten
3 cups milk or cream
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons baking powder
  1. Clean and wash the skunks, making sure that the scent glands are removed.
  2. Cut up into small serving pieces.
  3. Put a soup kettle on the stove and add the meat.
  4. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil over high heat.
  5. Lower the heat and boil until the meat is tender, about 40 minutes.
  6. Remove all the scum that rises to the surface.
  7. Make a batter by mixing together the egg yolks, milk, flour, salt and baking powder.
  8. Mix real good until the batter is about like cake batter.
  9. Heat the bear fat or lard in a deep fryer to about 360 degrees.
  10. Dip the pieces of skunk in the batter and then fry them in the deep fryer until golden brown.
  11. Drain well and serve.
Nutrition Facts
Calculated for 1 serving
Recipe makes 3-4 servings
Calories 1547
Calories from Fat 1344 (81%)
Amount Per Serving%RDA
Total Fat 149.4g229%

Saturated Fat 74.7g373%

Polyunsat. Fat 6.5g

Monounsat. Fat 61.0g
Cholesterol 313mg104%
Sodium 3564mg148%
Potassium 445mg12%
Total Carbohydrate 61.4g20%

Dietary Fiber 1.7g6%
Protein 16.2g32%
Vitamin A 535mcg10%
Vitamin B6 0.2mg8%
Vitamin B12 1.2mcg20%
Vitamin C 3mg6%
Vitamin E 4mcg14%
Calcium 992mg99%
Magnesium 50mg12%
Iron 4mg24%

does that make you throw up a little? :X

we are a nation of fat bastards.

a turn for the better?

my appointment with dr. b was productive. for now, she ruled out birth control because i'm taking medication for my cholesterol - taking birth control would be added stress on my liver. she brought up polycystic ovarian syndrome too, which isn't something she wanted to look into right now because she wanted to check some other more likely possibilities first. she thought it would be a good idea to check my hormone levels and look more closely at the endometrial lining... and that involved a catheter and a lot of painful cramping. :X well, it was the most unpleasant feeling ever, and i was glad to have that catheter out. the results should be back in 1-2 weeks, so i guess i just wait. i also have to get more blood drawn on monday so i can get my kidneys and liver checked. if everything checks out, she said there is a pill i could take, which she usually gives to patients that have trouble conceiving. it's actually a diabetes medication, but it's been shown to improve chances for conception. the conception part isn't applicable to me. :P since there is a lot of diabetes in my family, there is a chance i could develop it myself, so it would be a preventative measure, as well as giving me the hormones my body seems to lack at the moment. it can also help lower my cholesterol. sounds like a drug designed just for me! :P well, we'll see...

i went shopping at ikea with ryan on saturday. i finally bought the sofa that i wanted (only $150!), and i put it together earlier this afternoon. i put the tv in the corner by the window and put the sofa in front of the tv. perfect. :) ryan came over today and enjoyed some tv with me on the sofa. oh it's so comfy. :D the cushion covers are white (well, off-white), so i'm going to drape a fitted bed sheet over them - cheap and clean alternative to having my mom make some covers. now i've only got a little left to clean before my room is finally settled. yay!