Shiva's Second Stay in San Jose

Shiva stayed at my house again from Sunday, June 19, to Friday, June 24. She went to her Orientation on that Monday. Tuesday, we went to Palo Alto for some Public Allies presentations. Then we went to the Human Society place in Milpitas. Played with kittens for a while :3 There was a grumpy kitten. It was his first day in there, and he had been dipped in sulfur to rid of worms. So his grumpiness was understandable. Shiva called him "El Groucho" XD I hope he's adapted well since.

Wednesday, June 22, Shiva and I visited Marian L. Brian L joined us. Shiva and Marian made brownies. Played a retro 8 bit PONG game (not sure what it's actually called) on Brian's laptop. He showed us his new mouse. A Razer something. Reminded me of the Batmobile :P Watched "Read or Die," the TV show. It was interesting. I want to continue watching it XD

Thursday, we tried to wake up early so that we could go to San Francisco to see more Public Allies presentations at the Asian Law Caucus. Missed the presentation that Shiva wanted to see at 9h00. We had left a bit too late, and there was a lot of traffic. Had trouble finding cheap parking. Found a garage that charged $3 an hour. Couldn't find any of the cheap flat rate ones (Saw one later as we were leaving -_-). Presentations were interesting. Much was about personal growth rather than what activities took place. Ate lunch at Lucky Creation Vegetarian Restaurant. Had trouble finding it because Shiva's GPS was acting up. Shared a meatless chicken curry or something. It was okay. Walked around Chinatown a little bit before returning to see more presentations. Didn't explore much because we didn't know where to go and I'm not much of an explorer <_<
When we were going to the car to leave, we had to pay first. Got charged $21 for parking for six hours and eleven minutes. Hoped that explaining that we had been in line waiting would take off the $3 for the eleven minutes. But no -_- Sad.
Then we went to the Castro. Took the longest time to find parking. Other people stole parking spots we did find XP But found one eventually, between two driveways. Went to the HRC store. Shiva bought dog tags like mine. Stuff in that store is so expensive <_< After, we walked around a little bit. I don't remember if we checked out any other stores >_> But we headed home around 8. Got home around 9.

Friday, woke up kinda late. Helped Shiva bring her stuff out to her car. Went to Harrison's house to play with his new kittens :3 Sooo adorable x3 Though, they were kinda afraid of us, especially the black one. The black one (Shiva shall call it Batman and the other Robin) pooped while it was in Harrison's hands because it was frightened of us. Used a phone cord to play with them. Need kitten toys XP Eventually, like half an hour before Shiva and I were supposed to leave. The kittens finally warmed up to us. Shiva just has a way with animals :3 The kittens fell asleep on Shiva's jacket XD We moved them to Harrison's bed.
Aww, such adorable kittens. I want kittens >w<
Shiva left kinda late in the day. 15h00. Mother wasn't happy about that <_< Scared that she'd get home too late, and her parents would get mad at her.

Shiva shall be back in less than two weeks :3 For more interview stuff. 58 candidates for 38-40 positions. But I'm confident that Shiva will get what she desires :)

Oh, Mother told me on Sunday, I think, that Shiva and I are so depressed when Shiva goes home. "You two act so gay together. You're not gay, are you? No gay. You should only be friends, ok?" >_> <_< >_> I didn't know what to say, so I backed away and left.

Anyway, yeah, not too much has been happening. Brother is starting his job at Honey Thai Restaurant on Friday :) Yay. Harrison and I need to go job hunting soon.

Ok, gotta gooo.

Oakridge has changed a lot...

So today, Harrison picked me up and drove me to the SJ airport haha. He needed to meet up with his mom for a bit. Then we went to Oakridge to walk around and find a button-up shirt for him. Found one for $8 :D Yay. Also bought six bags of water balloons. 100 each, so that Harrison can finally have his 3000 water balloons for his water fight :D

Waited in front of Loving Hut for Maggie and Ariane. Maggie came late, and Ariane came later XD Got food from LH. Tasty stuff. Their drinks are pretty awesome too. LH is owned by the same person who owns Vegetarian House haha. Anyway, ate, drank, and talked. Ariel passed by and talked to us for a bit XD I hadn't seen him since high school. Then Jen L (Shiva's friend) joined us :D Harrison left the mall for a bit. Maggie saw Tuan. He's been working at Loving Hut, but I hadn't seen him in at least a year probably XD I talked to him for a bit--we shall hopefully hang out sometime this summer, maybe with Josh and Kevin. Must share our crazy stories and whatnot. That reminds me that Maggie shared stories about someone from high school. That person has become "psycho" in college, obsessed with getting laid and hella hypocritical shit. Just damn o_o;

After the food, Ariane, Maggie, Jen, Harrison, and I walked around the mall a bit. H&M is so big o_o Ariane, Maggie, and I left to go to Q-Cup, just like old times haha. On the way, we stopped in Forever 21. Ran into Diana from high school. Got caught up. She looked different. Must be her eyes XP

At Q-Cup, Maggie got Scoop O Mango (oh, memories XD), and Ariane got Lover's Fruit or something like that. Met up with Harrison and Jen again. Maggie and Ariane left at 6 ): Must hang out again and maybe do a sleepover :D

I followed Harrison and Jen around the mall. Target, Spencers. Then to Petco, in search of kitties. Except there were no kitties or even puppies ): But people brought their puppies in, so that was nice. Spent much of the time staring at snakes, lizards, frogs, tarantula, scorpions, chinchilla, hamsters, guinea pigs, mice, and rats. And their food XD The live worm things were creepy <_< They were trying to escape their containers :O

Went back to Target after. Ran into Amy :) Then home.

Today was fun :) Always great to hang out with friends from high school, especially after a long time of not seeing them. Like I hadn't seen Maggie since fall semester when she visited campus. And I hadn't seen Ariane since last summer, even though we live in the SAME CITY x_x She's just too busy for me hahaha. But yeah, I miss hanging out with her. We kept saying it's so sad that we live so close, yet we never rarely see each other. Only see each other when other people come back to SJ to hang out. Usually Maggie haha :D Btw, Oakridge has changed so much since we were in high school, like damn o_o

I want more days like today. That would be nice. There are a lot of people I would like to catch up with. Tuan, Kat, Alex, Le, Kristen, Robert, and others... So many people. Must (re)connect!

Anyway, floor installation stuff starts tomorrow, and the guy doing it wants to finish in two days instead of three. So I may have to work fast to move stuff around my house tomorrow -_- My room's not ready because I thought I wouldn't have to get stuff out of it yet. Grr. But hopefully everything will go well. I don't have too much stuff. But I do need to get stuff out of my drawers and whatnot. Argh. Must stay calm and cool and just get things done.

Rushing to finish this entry. Not too many details, sorry. Need to finish so that I can start unplugging the computer and store it in my room for tomorrow's work.

Fall 2011 Class Schedule

I can't believe I'm gonna be going into my last year of undergrad next semester. It's crazy how fast time has gone by. I know I keep on saying that, but it feels so true. I know this past year has gone by really quickly.

But anyway, I just added my fifth class today because MySJSU lifted the 14-unit limit on my account. So now, I'm enrolled in 15 units for next semester :D


My new schedule:
Monday/Wednesday
1200-1315 PHIL 155 Philosophy of Law -- Manning
1330-1445 PHIL 132 Ethical Theory -- Vaidya

Tuesday/Thursday
0900-1015 SOCI 181B Sociology Career Capstone -- Ng
1330-1445 SOCI 156 Gangs & Mobs -- Dexheimer
1500-1615 ENGR 108 Green Electronics -- unknown


Yay. Five classes will be fun. Keep me busy a little bit. I wanted to get into the Physics of Animation one or a meteorology class, but they were all waitlisted. I'd be at Position 20 for both classes -_-

Anyway, yeah, fun stuff :P

I'd write more, but I have to drive Mother to Stockton today -_-

But I'm excited for next semester, I think. Maybe just because it's going to be my penultimate semester XP

I Feel Like Less Than Dirt..

I fucked up again.
I keep on hurting someone I really care about.
Why do I fucking do that?
I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me.
I feel like such a big fuck-up.
She doesn't deserve any of this shit.
Why the fuck did I do this to her?
I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.

X-Men: First Class

Brother and I went to go watch the movie today. Mother dropped us off at Oakridge. Jovany sold us our tickets :D

For a two-hour-long movie, "First Class" was pretty awesome. I loved it. Great action, great storyline, great acting. I found my sympathy to lie with Erik for most if not all of the movie. Michael Fassbender is a superb actor, who made it easy for me to empathize with Erik. James MacAvoy was good as Charles. Played calm and cool very well. The scumbag antagonist varied between meh and grr haha. Kevin Bacon keeps playing bad guys; I wonder why, but at least he's good and convincing.
Overall, I really liked the characters. This movie explains a few things that I always wondered about XD Awesome story throughout the movie, but especially in the first half of the movie, I think. And the action was best toward the end.

Anyway, Brother fell asleep during the movie. So sad. I had to wake him up several times because he was snoring -.- He thought the story was too slow and boring. He wanted more action. I'm so disappointed -.- You shouldn't watch X-Men just for the action. It's the story that really makes the movie.

Afterward, Brother and I walked to the light rail station to go home. On the way, we passed a dead cat ;-; It was lying on its side with its eyes and mouth open. The legs were straight and rigid. I asked Brother, "Is that a dead cat?!" T_T So scary and sad. Flies were buzzing in and out of the mouth. Didn't look like it had been run over. Looked more like it had been scared to death. But yeah, image scarred into my brain T_T

Now, I have to drive Brother home -.- But I'm hoping to go watch more movies and do other things this summer with people :) Can't wait!


Btw (off-topic), I think asking people to give you an answer to certain questions is unfair and stupid, to say the least, in given situations. Like, Brother asked Mother is she loved him. I thought, "Why wouldn't she? She does so much for you when she doesn't have to and when you cause her so much pain. How could she not love you? Why do you need to ask?" Anyway, yeah, just thoughts and thoughts on my mind.

Now, time to drive.

Weekend with Shiva

So Shiva came back up to SJ on Friday with her cousin. She stayed at my house for the weekend.

She got to my house around 19h00, I'm not sure. Helped her bring food and other stuff inside. Got her settled in haha. Mother had bought vegetarian food for her. So we ate that for dinner. After, she modeled her new pinstripe suit for me XD Mother said the jacket looked too small on her, but otherwise she looked really pretty and professional haha. Before Shiva and I went to sleep, she practiced her two-minute speech, which she had to give during her interview on Saturday.

Saturday, woke up around 6h30. I debated about whether I should go with Shiva to the interview or not, to keep her company while she waited for her interview. But the whole thing was supposed to last from 8h00 to 16h00, and we didn't know if there was any place I could sit to wait for her. And it was raining that day. So, ultimately, I stayed at home.
Spent the whole day waiting for Shiva to come home. Worked on a bunch of Sudoku puzzles that she had given me almost a year ago haha. I made 19h30 reservations at the Vegetarian House for a group of ten. I don't remember what else I did. Shiva called to tell me that she had two interviews, one at 9h00 (the earliest one possible) and one at 15h30 (the latest one possible). So sad. But at least she was able to talk to people and hang out with them.
When she came back to my house, I was happy to see that she was still alive. But she was still nervous about her interviews. Will find out if she got the position next Monday.
We just hung around the house a bit, talking and stuff about her interviews and whatnot. Then around 19h00, we went to pick up Harrison from his house to go to the Vegetarian House.
Missed our exit XD because Shiva is confused by the signs in SJ. But we got to the restaurant about on time. Most of our other guest were already there: Marian L, Sabrina, Stephanie S (I didn't really know her before though), and Killol. I think Jen L and Cathy B came later, I don't remember ;-;
Interesting restaurant. Pictures of Supreme Master Ching Hai (or Thanh Hai for us Viet people) everywhere in the restaurant. The servers were very nice and accommodating. We really only had about an hour and a half to eat because the restaurant closed at 21h00. But we took a while to order drinks and food. Ended up getting the summer rolls, Sizzling Tofu, Namaste Set, Kung Pao Tofu, Spicy Cha Cha, Dancing Asparagus, Spaghetti Jambalaya, a bowl of white rice, and a bowl of brown rice (which I took home). We all split the cost of most of the things that were ordered. The exceptions were the Spaghetti Jambalaya (Sabrina), Hummus and cheesecake (Stephanie and Killol). Drinks were good: Thai Iced Tea had soy milk in it, very tasty. I had the Steaz Sparkling Orange, yum. Iced teas, I heard, were good too. So, I say the servers of the restaurant were very accommodating because there wasn't enough space on our table to fit all the dishes and so we asked them if we could place the food on a separate table to make it like buffet-style dining. And they let us :D Much easier to reach the food, instead of trying to pass around dishes and plates.
Shiva had fun looking at a book of birds (though, Ching Hai was almost in every single picture).
But anyway, we had to leave the restaurant at 21h30, half hour after closing. We stood in front of the restaurant and then at the bus stop to wait for Cathy's bus. Talked for more than an hour and a half. It was fun. Some silly and crazy times. Cathy got hella hugs before she got on her bus because the first two or three buses that came were not hers but everyone hugged her thinking it was her bus :P So silly. Harrison and Shiva gave me and Jen piggyback rides XD I felt like Harrison was tossing me off at times haha, but he's just crazy XP He even climbed the bus stop sign for pictures. Talking to Stephanie led to us finding out that she went to high school with Brother :D and that she was friends with the guys who became Brother's enemies <_< She recognized Brother from the photo I had in my wallet, but chances are Brother may not recognize her. Haha small world though, yeah? Turns out she's not very good friends with those guys though, so that's good haha :P
Anyway, Mother kept calling me, yelling at me to get home. She got pissed at me because I said I would come home soon, but I didn't. Had to drop Marian, Jen, and Sabrina off at their respective places. Harrison got a ride from Killol to somewhere else in downtown. Stephanie was sad that she was driving alone XD haha.
Went to Sabrina's room to collect some of the things that Shiva had left with her. Then we went home. Mother was not happy. Glared at me. Shiva thought Mother was glaring at her, but it turned out it only looked that way because Shiva was standing behind me when Mother glared at me XD But Mother was angry at me because I was out too late during a time where quite a few kidnappings had been occurring (Michelle Le, little kids, and others).

Sunday, I woke up at 4h30 to wake up Mother, so that she could get ready for a day trip to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah. I fell back asleep. She woke me up at 5h30 to drive her to the meet-up point for the charter buses. I didn't wake Shiva up for this because she didn't seem to want to be woken up XD
Dropped Mother off and came back home to sleep. Shiva and I didn't get up till near noon. Took our time getting up and getting ready. Went to IHOP. Got there around 15h00 when Mother called to say that she'd be back in SJ in about two hours. So Shiva and I ate kinda quickly. Then we went on a search for pet shops with cats. Went to Andy's Pet Shop, where Shiva's GPS said it would be. But it turned out it was the old location. Went to the new location with the help of Carlo (I had to call him). But no cats ): Only rats, a guinea pig, a macaw, and a few dogs, mostly chihuahuas. Texted Carlo to ask him if there were any places with cats.
On the way to one of the places that Carlo suggested, Mother called to say she was back. So Shiva and I went to pick Mother up. It was a difficult parking lot to maneuver through because people were walking and cars were blocking passages. But we got through it eventually. Took Mother home. Then off to the Animal Care Center, except it had closed ):
So we went to Harrison's house because we knew he had a cat. Got there. Tried to pet the cat and it ran away from us ;-; So we just hung out in Harrison's living room and bedroom. I injured my shin on Harrison's couch T_T Painful. In his bedroom, we watched some survival show. Played and lost at chess against Shiva. There was a tickle war, in which Shiva was the victor XP She sprayed silly string on Harrison's closet doors before we left.
Got home early. Slept kinda early.
Mother and Shiva talking to each other is interesting :D Mother invited her over to our house again. Talked about a bunch of stuff, like Mother's complaints about our landlady haha. I think Shiva understood Mother pretty well though :P

Monday, we had our alarms going off from 8h00 to 9h00. Got up. Got ready. Ate breakfast. Found that my wireless keyboard was acting funky. It added a bunch of "g" and "12" to a message that Shiva was writing XD
I helped Shiva pack her stuff into her car. She left after 12h00. Anxious about this because she was driving to So Cal by herself, since her cousin was no longer going back to So Cal.
But she called around 19h30 to say that she made it home safely :) Amazing haha.

I haven't really done too much this weekend haha. I need to apply to more jobs though and do other stuff. Make more plans with people. Make sure plans come to fruition :) Lots of things to do, yes? Like register for classes tomorrow morning :P

Anyway, yeah, fun stuff. Now off to do more fun stuff by myself XP Yay, Sudoku and whatever else I decide to do...

Shiva's Move-Out & My Obligatory Jury Duty

Sunday, Michelle W took grad photos of Shiva. She couldn't finish taking them. So our friend Phil came to help finish. Went outside into the windy day, along with Sabrina, to take nice scenic photos. It was really COLD ;-; But we braved the temperature to finish taking photos in the CV Quad and on Tower Lawn.

Sunday and Monday were spent packing Shiva's things into boxes and stuff. Most of it actually happened on Monday XD Her parents came to help pack, which did not make for a completely pleasant experience. Lots of arguments about what to keep, what to throw away, where to put things, who should keep what, etc etc.
Her parents wanted her to throw or give away a lot of things because there wasn't enough space in their SUV. But a lot of that stuff has sentimental value -nods- I offered to take some stuff home in Mother's car, so that Shiva could pick them up when she comes back this weekend for her job interview. Shiva's parents then tried to get me to take like 2/5 of the stuff Shiva had <_<; A lot of stuff. When we took the stuff down to Mother's car, she got kinda annoyed at me for offering to take stuff. But seriously, it wasn't that much compared to what was in Shiva's parent's car haha.
So Mother and Shiva's mom talked to each other >_> I felt weird. I always feel weird when she tries to talk to my friends or their parents XD Anyway, I left after putting the last few things in Mother's car. Long hugs before Shiva and I parted ways.
At home, I had to leave the boxes and two zipped bags in the garage. Brought her small luggage, bogu bag, shinai bag, and stuff into my room. I suppose I could have taken like one or two more things. But we had figured that Shiva's Camry might not fit everything especially since she's gonna have a passenger in her car with his own stuff.
But yeah, Monday was an exhausting day.

Tuesday, I had to report for jury duty at the Superior Court downtown at 13h00. Lasted about an hour. I read 1984 while waiting. The judge came, introduced staff, lawyers and clients, read a statement that summarized the case details, and asked prospective jurors as a group a few questions. Questions included whether we knew any of the people in the court and whether we had any hardships that interfered with jury duty. All those who had no hardships--this included me--could leave but had to return Wednesday morning at 8h55.

So today, I returned. Sat in court while we all went through the jury selection. 80+ prospective jurors. Quite a few SJSU students. Two breaks and a 1.5-hour-long lunch break. Lasted till about 16h30. One juror fell asleep, and the judge got angry at him. Most of the original eighteen people who were randomly selected were chosen to stay on the jury. A lot of prospective jurors were anxious about being selected to go up for jury selection and interview. When jurors were dismissed, the waiting jurors to be selected were all like "I hope I don't get selected next." But luckily, we didn't have to go through all eighty or so people. More like twenty-two people. Just sucked that we had to spend so many hours waiting.
Few things I can remember about a few jurors:
one worked at Flextronics (This caught my attention because Brother used to work there)
a female juror stated that her significant other was an attorney (Her significant other was a "she." I got all excited when I heard that just because I don't normally hear people mention same-sex relationships in public outside of QTIP and Q&A)
a couple of jurors left for health or work-related reasons (arthritis. And some employers were not paying their employees for the work they were missing)

I finished reading 1984 because of all the waiting I had to do. Oh, and supposedly, I will be paid $15 per day I'm on duty starting today, as well as $0.34 per mile traveled from my zip code. Not that much. It's like being paid $3 an hour, maybe a little more.

Anyway, I'm gonna spend tomorrow reorganizing my room. And I need to apply to more jobs -_- No replies from the other ones that I have applied to. Sad.

Oh, I checked my grades for this past semester. Three A's and one A- so far. One more class to check, but I'm pretty sure I got an A in that one too. Next Wednesday, I get to register up to eighteen units :D because I'm a graduating senior <_< I thought that only counted when I'm in my last semester, but I guess it counts in my last two semesters? I dunno. But yay! I get to register for the five classes that I want. Woot woot!