Spiders in My Room.

So there used to be a lot of spiders in my room until I started leaving eucalyptus leaves around my room. I only saw one or two live spiders over the next month. I also saw a handful of dead spiders along the baseboards.

I recently switched to spraying a mix of eucalyptus oil and water around my room. Still no live spiders in my room as far as I can tell. But again, more dead spiders. More than before.

So they're still coming into my room... but apparently they're dying in here.

I thought eucalyptus was supposed to repel them >: Now they're just coming in and dying. And I have to sweep their poor carcasses away ):

I want to repel them, not kill them. Anyone got any suggestions?

Random: A small lizard got into my room today while I was out. When I came home, I saw something in the corner of my room. At first, I thought it was a leaf. Upon closer inspection, it was a brown lizard. Looked like a baby one. I got my plastic container, trapped it, and released it outside on the grass. I love lizards; they're adorable, but I don't want them living in and pooping all over my room and things. Nor do I want them (or spiders) biting me just because I don't know they're there and I accidentally scare them.

The only way that lizard could have gotten in was under my bedroom door. I've checked the room for gaps in the baseboards and the window. Also going to assume the door is how spiders get in.

I need to find a foolproof way to keep all the critters out without harming or killing them.

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.

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...

Do animals have rights?

Better question: Do nonhuman animals have the same rights as humans?

Ideally, I would say yes and provide you with great evidence to back up my point. But I'm not ideal. Read Peter Singer's arguments, good stuff.

I like to think nonhuman animals are equal to humans. After all, humans are animals too. We're just too arrogant to think that we're on the same level as other animals :P

Singer says that humans are specieists (much like racist). I agree. Humans exalt human beings, look down on other animals. Why? Because we have more "control," rationale, and opposable thumbs.

If you had to choose between saving a dog and saving another human being, who would you save? No, you can't save both. Apparently, we would save the human because we would always place a higher value on the person's life rather than the dog's.

I don't think it's that simple. I think it's situational. I mean, would you rather save a drug dealer or a see-eye dog? Of course, if you didn't know anything about either, you probably would save the human. You're more "connected" to the human being. But that's biased. Then again, we're all biased.

On a similar note, eating meat is eating flesh, as Prof Giddings so puts it. It's true. If you eat meat, you are eating flesh, mainly muscles. That sounds disgusting, doesn't it?

If you eat animals, you basically take away their right to life. You cannot say that animals do not have a right to life. If they're alive, they pretty much have that right.

But we're all a part of the food chain. So maybe that right is conditional. But wouldn't that mean our (human) right to life is also conditional? We are a part of the food chain as well. Though, I've heard we're not all that tasty. Of course, I've never asked a human cannibal. Maybe I will one day.

Anyway, if we are a part of the food chain and we eat other animals, why do we get so bothered when we hear of humans being eaten? It's a part of nature, yeah? Just accept it. But no, instead, we euthanize the "offender." Self-preservation, I guess.

Mm, well, that's all I'm gonna say about that :P


So, today, I chilled with Harrison C for a little bit in the MLK library. Harrison is a guy I met on the light rail last Tuesday, though apparently I signed his yearbook when we were still at Bernal. It was weird. I didn't remember his face, but I kinda recognized his name. The guy remembered me when he saw me on the light rail haha. Amy and Christine were there to witness this scene.

Since we met last week, we've been messaging each other on Facebook, but yeah we chilled today haha. Strange. I usually don't hang out with people I don't know. Last time I really did that was the summer before sophomore year, meeting Rose and the guys.

Anyway, we had an interesting/strange conversation in the library before I went to the QTIP meeting. The guy is really random, quirky, cool. He wants to play on the Monopoly board downtown. I think I said I would play with him haha. Just a random guy, but I feel like this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship haha. I usually don't make friends so randomly, but it's nice, a change from the routine.


Hmm, QTIP meeting. Announcements about different events: Coming Out Week, Ally Games and Workshop, Legacy Week, Safe and Green Halloween (@ Fisher Middle School), Wiggsy Silverstein Scholarship, Rocky Horror, Students for Quality Education stuff, CATT. That's all I can remember. Doesn't really mean much to you, but oh well, you can google this stuff haha.

Mm, what else? Oh, Christina D is gonna give me a ride to Game Night :D Yay, I don't have to waste gas and shit haha. Seriously, the Avalon is starting to have a lot of problems. Man, right when I get the car. Not that it matters much, since Mother won't let me have the car to myself.


Hmm, still have four midterms left. Phil midterm next week. Yay. Also, dance midterm pushed back two weeks to the 28th, whew.


Ahh, don't you just love have my entries aren't usually organized well? haha. And damn, I'm falling behind on homework again D: I'm such a terrible student.

Oh, I've been thinking about majors too. Industrial Design is at the top of the very short list for now. I don't really know what I wanna do, but ID seems interesting enough. Not sure I can get the aesthetic part down though. Other possibilities: criminology, criminal justice, forensic science with a concentration in biology, architecture. Maybe library sciences :D haha. I also kinda like the idea of becoming an EMT or paramedic.

All interesting stuff, I just don't know if I can stick with school long enough to get a suitable degree.

And no, I'm definitely not considering English haha. No matter how much people tell me I should. I just don't like it.


In totally unrelated and unimportant news, today, I found out that John and Angela H are dating haha. That's surprising because I didn't think they knew each other very well.

But anyway, I'm done now.

Oh, btw, you should listen to Deadmau5 if you like house music. For now, I'm loving "Creep." Brother's favorite is "Alone with You." Yeah, a lil random, I know, but I'm listening to his music right now, and it's just that damn good.