Halloween at Home

I'm sitting in my apartment right now. Just watched an episode of Gilmore Girls when I had planned on studying. Oops. HAHA I can't concentrate anymore. Maybe I should start studying outside of the apartment. :( It might also keep me from eating constantly.

Today was supposed to be a crazy study day, but instead I went out with Chrystal. HAHA We drove to Gregoire's - had a delicious grilled flank steak on a baguette. Her quiche looked even more delicious though. We sat on the barstools, where I got the wonderful sight of the cook throwing a heap of butter onto the grill. Oh well. I guess that's partly why it tastes so good. HAHA I feel like I have to go there TOMORROW to see the November menu. I think I will start making it a personal monthly tradition to eat at Gregoire's since they have a monthly menu.

I don't remember how we decided this, but we went to Andronico's. If I were to get a good job, I think I would shop there. Actually, maybe only for the desserts. $2 grapefruits still feel kind of ridiculous. Mmm ... I was able to resist buying a fruit tart. Chrystal made it VERY hard, as she kept going "just get it. You know you want it. Just get it" and after she ordered her dessert she was like "I think she wants that fruit tart" and I had to go "NO!!! I don't! But thank you." HAHA I was pretty full from Gregoire's, which was the only reason I didn't buy it. I'm certain that I would have otherwise succumbed and bought a $21 giant fruit tart, whether or not I had promised to start my week-long diet today.

I thought we would just drive back, but Chrystal must have felt SPONTANEOUS so we drove further up to northside. We didn't know what we wanted to do, but we saw a sign for Tilden Park and decided we would go there. Instead, we were driving around and saw the Berkeley Rose Gardens, which I had never even heard of before. It is AMAZINGLY beautiful. I would call it a really good date place. I never bring my camera out anymore, so I didn't take any pictures :( But the views were amazing. There's a nice view of the bay, and you can see the little mountains in the ocean. The weather was perfect too - cloudy but no fog, so you could see pretty far.


This is a decent picture, but it doesn't do the place justice. It basically looks like an amphitheater, but each aisle has roses. Apparantly it was a WPA project that was well-kept over the years. It was a wonderful, random find. I think I will attempt to jog there one day, although it's a pretty steep uphill climb.

Mmm I have the taste of hummus in my mouth. White Bean with Basil, which is not nearly as good as the Garlic hummus, but I've slowly gotten used to it. I think it kind of tastes like eating pesto sauce. When I go home, I'm going to introduce my mom to hummus. I seriously eat this like every day for breakfast, afternoon snack, and sometimes a nighttime snack. I think I should look into beginning a Mediterranean diet. I hear they are very healthy.

I need some sweatpants

I don't really have anything to blog about but I haven't blogged in a long time. It's very cold in Berkeley and I think my tolerance to cold weather has fallen because I am always FREEZING. The sweater that I always wore on cold days doesn't even feel warm anymore. I think it is because I'm always sitting next to the windows, which are poorly insulated. As a result, I end up on the couch much more often than I'd like, hiding under the blanket. I end up sitting there even when I don't want to nap, because I'm like "NO! Don't make me go out into the cold!" I've definitely gotten lazier. When my phone rings, I don't even bother picking it up. What I need are sweatpants. And some thicker sweatshirts. Maybe then I won't waste so much time.

My period bloatedness is hitting me at an unfortunate time. I feel fat, lazy, and stupid all at the same time. Also, my mouth hurts A LOT - another round of canker sores. Yesterday I was in the "I WILL NEVER EAT ANYTHING WITH CHOCOLATE AGAIN" phase, but today, while watching the Office, I ate a few candies out of boredom. As expected, my mouth is now in tremondous pain. Sigh. I HATE MY LIFE.

I want this semester to be over. I would like it to be March 2009. Or, I could just fast forward time to all the moments when I go home, and be able to skip the school part of my life.

I have done VERY little work this past week. I don't even remember what the hell I do every day. But I hung out with Paulo and Caroline basically for five hours yesterday. We spent nearly two hours at Smart Alex's, which was fun, although we all came out smelling like garlic fries.

I should do work. I will probably not though. :D Maybe tomorrow!

It's my favorite time of the year!

CHRISTMAS AT COSTCO!

I'm pretty certain I blogged about this last year. But I LOVE going to Costco and discovering that they've rolled out the holiday aisles. I don't buy any of the giant toys that they sell, or any of the bulk holiday items like cards, wrapping paper, and gift bows, but I love it all! There's always that same light up reindeer, and every year, it's joined by something new, like a light-up Santa or a light-up snowman. And the holiday chocolate aisle! So many delicious looking candies at a Costco price!

Caroline once commented that our living room table had a ton of sweets. Jon said that his mom came into the apartment and was like "why do you guys have so much candy?" and that was her only comment about the apartment. Today I came home and plopped down two new bags of M&Ms, and a giant box of European biscuits from Costco. The living room table is total temptation central, and the only barrier between me and it is the couch. In addition to what I bought today, there's two tubs of Asian jellies, a Harry & David mint chocolate thing (also from Costco and probably THE BEST BUY in my opinion), some fruit & nut candies (also from Costco but not that great because I don't like 2/3 of the flavors), leftover M&Ms that Jon bought, and Trader Joe's Peppermint Cremes. I really don't know why I keep buying sweets. I can't really distinguish when I have period cravings anymore, because I'm just eating chocolate ALL THE TIME now. Today's buys weren't my fault though. It's impossible to NOT buy candy when shopping at Target and Costco before Halloween/Christmas.

Anyway, Christmas at Costco! I realized that I love it because it makes me feel like people all over the world are going to Christmas parties and buying Christmas gifts for one another. If I were throwing a party, it would be catered by Costco. And as I get older, I'm sure more and more of my gifts will be bought at Costco. HAHA I'm looking forward for the years when I can buy alcohol in bulk, for apartment parties! I think this Christmas is going to be AWESOME. Despite the fact that consumer spending will be down and TMV will probably never have a full meeting

Number of times I wrote Christmas in this entry: 6
Number of times I wrote Costco in this entry: 10

Keeping myself happy

This week has pretty much been a punch in the face for me. I wish I had something more meaningful going on in my life besides studying. Especially because it seems like studying is not paying off that well. I'm already counting down the weeks until the semester ends. Although it's technically in six weeks (not including finals time), I subtract three weeks: Veteran's day week, Thanksgiving week, and the last week before finals. So in my mind, I have three weeks of school left! It's just going to feel like three very long weeks.

I guess I need to focus on the few good things going on in my life

1) I downloaded this super happy song!



Listening to this and Lenka's "The Show," which Danny sent to me, makes me FEEL happier, if only for three minutes at a time. I just found that fan video, which combines my new favorite song and one the shows I watch, Life! I guess it's better than staring at a picture. Sometimes my roommate Jon whistles along to my songs which always makes me happy for some reason. HAHA

2) If I stopped eating for two days, I'd probably be at my desired weight.
Not that I plan on doing it, but it's nice to know that I'm ALMOSTTT there!

3) After this semester, I will be taking ONLY FUN classes
And by fun, I mean finance, managerial accounting, intermediate accounting, advanced accounting, auditing, and federal income tax classes! They are all classes that are basically study and get the grade, no class participation needed, and hopefully no stupid presentations. It only took me five semesters to get to this point, but FINALLY. Classes that actually have a direct connection to my career.

4) Socal for Veteran's Day!
How fun. I really enjoy visiting SD. Generally because it actually feels like a vacation to me. My family doesn't go on vacations, and if I did go on vacations with them, it would probably be more painful than relaxing. Planning outings with TMV to Lake Tahoe or whatever is kind of stressful sometimes, since I have to figure out logistics and everything. But going to SD is like, figure out the dates, and then just go! I always have lots of fun, especially because Connie is such a good host! HAHA I am excited already

5) Trader Joe's Roasted Garlic Hummus
SOOOO GOOD. I've been eating it for breakfast for the past three days.

Random thought

There must have been a better way to word this:

If I had a tattoo

It would probably be the words "PUT THAT DOWN, FATTY" on my hands.

First, this is my new favorite song. I know I wanted more electronica, but OMG I can't stop listening to this incredibly mellow song. I generally don't put songs on repeat, but I've been playing this the entire day. You have to skip 40 seconds.


I realized yesterday that I had made myself a promise on my 20th birthday to eat healthy and minimize sweets. FAIL. I was pretty happy with my weight and it seemed pretty stabilized, until I went out for ice cream on Sunday night with Caroline. TERRIBLE IDEA. Then I started Monday fat, and today I woke up fat too. I'm probably at the place I had hoped to be in my freshman year, but now that I see that I actually made it to that place, I'm like DIET MORE! YOU CAN DO IT!

I'm applying for something right now, and it asks me to write an essay to the question: why are you interested in professional services and/or public accounting career opportunities in Tax? I don't know. I'm actually interested in assurance but I don't think they have a program for that. I really don't know what to say, so I've instead spent the past two hours just sitting around online. Now I feel both fat and unproductive. Which is actually a feeling I have every day, so nothing new.

Also, I WANT THIS OUTFIT.


Obviously, the one on the left.

Oh, SNAP!

I've never seen any of these Mac vs. PC ads until yesterday during an episode of Brothers and Sisters. It actually made me laugh out loud, and even though I watched a large number of comedies, I don't usually find myself laughing at the television. But I thought that ad was pretty good - good enough for me to spend about twenty minutes looking for it on youtube. Then I found all the other ads, and now I understand what people meant by "Drew Barrymore is dating that Apple guy."



I forgot about my rule of not blogging about internship worries so I deleted the paragraph that was here before. It's as if it never happened! Somehow, typing in italics makes me feel like I'm actually writing in cursive.

Also, I LOVE THIS SONG. It pumps me up. I'm in an electronica mood, but searching for electronica music always makes me stop liking it. Put together, nothing really stands out.

Biggest sigh of relief EVER

I just got an e-mail from my accounting GSI. I freak out because the e-mail says the mean midterm score was 91, with a median of 95. Meaning if I did poorly, I am going to be one of the stupidest people in the class. I'm in the middle of having a panic attack when I check my grade and ...

I GOT A 100!

omg. You can all call off the suicide watch now.

For the next few minutes, I'm going to go stare at my grade a little longer and repeat to myself "You are not a complete failure. But don't fuck up"

I'm going to shoot for an A+ in accounting so if I get anything lower than an A- in my classes, I won't want to completely give up on life.

One day I'll look back...

I got my first midterm of the semester back. The good news: I scored above the mean. Which I feel like I haven't done in a very long time. The bad news: I didn't do nearly as well as I had hoped. Of course, I don't think I would have been happy if I got anything less than a 98%. I think it's unnecessary to say whether I got above a 98% or not.

Depending on whether I get an internship or not, I'm going to look back on college and think one of two things:

1) I was stupid to have worried so much about getting an internship every waking moment because I somehow got one.

2) I was stupid to be so carefree my sophomore year, and consequently, I am doomed to a miserable existence.

I really feel like I'm going to have an anxiety attack by the end of the semester. I just want it to be ... February. The Big 4 Forum is January 22nd, so I should hear back about first rounds after a week or two after that. Right now, I'm just concerned about making it past the GPA cut. I hate this feeling of not having done enough. I used to think that getting a bunch of B's last semester was worth it, since I became good friends with my floormates. I kind of take it back now. If I could live without this constant feeling of unease, I would prefer that much more. I SERIOUSLY think about it ALL the time. Writing this blog is not really cathartic either. I'm just sitting here thinking about it as I type each sentence. I think I've made it even worse because as I proofread this entry, I think about what a shitty situation I've put myself in.

I'm starting to hate it when I talk about this to people and they respond with "I'm sure you'll get it - you just worry too much." Looking at my GPA now, I'm like NO. I'm pretty certain that I'm REALLY FUCKED. My grades took a pretty steep nosedive after I got into Haas. I was sitting in microecon today, wondering how I became so ... incompetent. I always heard that Haas classes are easier, but they have pretty much kicked my ass. Am I really just that stupid? Or maybe I did not actually deserve to get into Haas, but I was one of those random mistake admissions.

Ok. I'm going to make this the very last time I talk about being stressed about the idea of getting an internship, at least until January 22nd rolls around. Tomorrow, I'm going to go to the gym, sit around the apartment, go to class, and then watch a SHITLOAD of Mad Men. NOOOO the library closes at 5pm! Then I'm going to go to the gym, watch Mad Men, go to class, watch more Mad Men, go back to my apartment, sit around, swim, and then sit around some more. And after that, no more time wasting for the rest of the semester!

Favorite Opening Credits

Finally took the time to go to Media Resources Center and get the dvds for Mad Men. I LOVE the Berkeley library. I hope by the time I graduate next winter, I will have watched everything I want to watch (Mad Men, The Sopranos, Big Love and Battlestar Galactica). I was planning to watch three episodes but I watched four. Pretty addicting! Plus it has pretty cool title credits


It would be cool to have a cd of this kind of music


It looks really boring but when you marathon the season, it's like a thirty-second crying break


After we had moved out, Chrystal said she could hear the distinctive "BA BA BA BA" sounds from a neighbor next to her apartment


Don't judge me.


Still pretty cool, ten years later

And all the Buffy openings, which I couldn't possibly aggregate

"Here's what men and women do"

At an Ernst and Young Panel about Women in Business:

"When men make a mistake, they like to pick it up with one hand, look at it, and think 'that was a good one.' And then they throw it over their shoulder. When women make a mistake, they like to pick it up with both hands, stare at it, analyze it, think about it ... and then they put it in a bag and then throw it over their shoulder and lug it around."

Ernst and Young has the distinction of being one of the best places for women to work in, especially for working mothers. A lot of panelists today were talking about how nice it is to work for a company that allows them to have flexible work schedules. But I wonder what I should be looking for, as someone who does not plan on having a family and will probably be committing most of my life to work. HAHA

Apparently to blow off steam after busy season, January-March, most people take their vacation time in April. So I say, mark your calendars in April for some Meltang time! Maybe I will be making my rounds to all the TMVers whereever they may be, two years from now. Now that I think about it, most of them will probably still be in school.

It seems kind of ridiculous to plan ahead, especially since I'm very doubtful about my ability to land an internship at a Big Four. But a large percentage of people go to different countries for rotations. I kind of hope I have the opportunity to live somewhere outside of the US (but in an English speaking country, hopefully!). I never wanted to study abroad, but working abroad seems like it would be more fun. Also, seeing Robin of How I Met Your Mother get transferred to Japan kind of glamorizes the idea.

I'm super tired but I didn't do very much besides go to class today. I read some of my Warren Buffet biography. I knew nothing about the guy before today, besides the fact that he is ridiculously rich, still frugal, and is like the God of investments. So far, I'm only at his college years, and I feel like I'm reading the biography of someone totally different from what I expected. It seems like his life is out of a movie. 

I fail at life

This is my new desktop background

I went to pick up my advisor code today, which allows me to get into all the Haas classes I want without having the inconvenience of being put on a waitlist. Haas priority! One of many great benefits of being in Haas. What I didn't know was that in addition to the advisor code, we get a little print out of our Degree Check, which tells us what we've completed and what else we need to graduate. I love how people in small colleges like the College of Natural Resources get advisors who go over their schedules with them and talk to them about their plans. And for us, we get a secretary handing us a sheet of paper. HAHA Still, it's more than I expected.

The depressing number on my degree check is my Major GPA, which is SO LOW I want to cry. Luckily, it's only 8 units worth of classes. If I can somehow get all A's this semester, my GPA would jump to 3.42, which is less suicidal. Now my biggest stress in life is getting a job. It's nice/scary to know that I'm at the point in life where my grades have such a clear, direct impact on my future. Whereas before, you kind of just try to do well because you know you're supposed to. Anyway, I'm going to try studying lecture 2/6 for marketing, then nap, then swim, then watch TV, then study some more. I have not yet started to read my Warren Buffet biography, which I have been waiting to read for a week.

I wish I could do this. But I'm 99.99% sure I will never be able to.

Fleet Week

My parents came up this weekend and it was EXHAUSTING. They arrived Thursday, and I thought they'd be here late at night, but they actually got here at 4. There was some crazed coordination of schedules, because I was going to eat out with Angelica (back from UCLA med school!) and Ryan. My parents are very flexible though, so they just stayed in my apartment while I went out for a quick dinner. I always forget how old Ryan is, but he is my oldest friend, at 27. HAHA We came to a realization, which I think everyone who ages eventually has, that as you get older, you can call people "my age" even if they are several years off from you. But at my age, there's a difference between saying you're 19 or 20. 20 or 21. 17 or 18. Which is kind of interesting. I feel like there is some sort of mathematical equation out there to show the relationship between age and perception of age. I don't care enough to think any more about it though.

I came back, then took my parents out to Thai house. I actually really don't like Berkeley Thai House. Sure, it has the distinction of being one of the chosen "Best of Berkeley" restaurants, but it's expensive and has relatively small portions. It's delicious, but I really can't taste a distinct difference from other Thai restaurants. My parents liked it enough.

Next day was Friday! Their coming on Thursday really threw me off my week. But they left yesterday, so I have all Sunday to study. It feels like an added day to my weekend. On Friday, I essentially made them walk around from 8am to 4pm. HAHA We went on a campus tour, starting at Haas, which was fun. I walked them to Gregoire's, but it wasn't open for an hour, so I walked them to La Note. If you know where these places are, I essentially walked them to the three farthest corners of Berkeley that I ever venture to. The only way it would have been worse if I had decied to make four stops, and walked over to Crepevine.

I had class, so then I walked them to a shuttle so they could go to UC Botanical Gardens. I didn't realize that this is something I know about my parents. Like, I think sometimes people say things about their parents like "oh they wouldn't like that" or "my mom loves that!" and I think "wow, they know a lot of their parents." I feel like I don't know anything about my parents. But I realized, they are the type of people who love visiting Botanical Gardens and walking around. I figured all parents were like that, but I guess not, because my friends would suggest places to take them to, and I knew they wouldn't like it. So yay to me! Twenty years old, and I know one thing about my parents.

My class literally lasted seven minutes. We went over homework, which was one problem of ratio calculations, and then my GSI was like "So... that's it. Does anyone have questions?" HAHA But I loved it because I immediately went home and watched all the TV I had missed on Thursday night. When my parents came home, we went to 99 Ranch with Caroline and Jonathan. Then my mom taught me and Caroline how to cook. I'm glad Caroline was there, because I was tired of learning about ten minutes in, and there was still fifty minutes to go. Caroline had her notebook out and was taking crazy notes. HAHA We made this ground pork with miso paste, bok choy, green beans, bean sprouts, and miso soup. It was a lot of vegetables.

Then we went to Ici, but my dad opted not to, because it was pretty cold outside. But I was determined to have my mom try it, so we walked over. My mom loved the ice cream cone. HAHA I tried Darjeeling Cinnamon and it is so far my favorite flavor. It's like eating tea ice cream. SO GOOD! My mom was like "let's come here tomorrow! When are they open? Noon?"

Saturday was SF day. I was pretty stressed because we'd be taking public transportation, so I spent like two hours figuring where to go and where to get there. Turns out, it was a lot of work for not very much reward. We only went to 2 places of 6 that I had planned. While I did know that it is Fleet Week, what I did not know was that people in SF actually come out for Fleet Week. There were TONS of people trying to get to Fisherman's Wharf. After wasting like 40 minutes trying to catch a Muni, we walked to the shopping center, which is like 8 city blocks away. Went to Union Square, ate lunch that we had packed, then caught a Muni to Fisherman's Wharf about 4 hours later than I had planned. SO many people.

The Blue Angels were performing. Before, I always thought it seemed kind of stupid. It's a bunch of planes ... flying around. What's the point? But I TOTALLY get it now. They fly REALLY close to each other and still do all these tricks. INSANE! And sometimes they would fly right overhead the pier, which was pretty cool. The weird thing was that while in line for the restroom, I saw all these Marines, and they looked REALLY young. I would have thought they were dressed up for Halloween, they looked like they were in high school. It seems kind of weird that there are people in the armed forces and I look at them and think they aren't even old enough to have their own apartment or whatever.

Getting BACK from Pier 39 was PAINFUL. First, we waited at a stop FOREVER and I was like "there is no way that something wouldn't come." I figured out that our stop was not in service, but someone had neglected to PUT UP A SIGN. We managed to catch a muni right before it left. ONLY, it took a full 25 minutes to get from ONE STOP to the NEXT. That's like ... a 8 minute walk. Traffic was INSANE. But once we got around the corner, we went by really quickly. Plus there was this hilarious pair of drunk friends from New York. They were like 50ish and taking swigs from their wine bottle. They were HILARIOUS. omg, while I do not want to be a poster child for public drunkenness, it seems like something that would be fun to experience.

So my parents are gone now. It's only 10:30, but I woke up at 7:30 and have thus far done ZERO work. I just am not in the mood to do anything. I watched my video blogs, read my tv recaps, and now there's nothing left for me to do but work. I don't even like playing minesweeper anymore, because I somehow got a best time of 121 seconds on expert, and I don't think I'll ever be able to beat that. Also, my browser always lags, so I don't even enjoy playing tetris. But I feel like after three straight days of entertaining my parents, I deserve two days of rotting my brain with non-stop tv. Unfortunately, I just have to tell myself "YOU ARE A FAILURE. START STUDYING SO YOU CAN GET AN INTERNSHIP IN FOUR MONTHS."

STRESS. As Always

I'm in my panic mode, which comes every so often. I was talking to a friend, who I view as fairly accomplished resume-wise, and she still only has like one or two interviews lined up. She is a senior, so this is the last chance for good full-time positions. If she gets nothing, then come spring, it's a panicked rush for less desired jobs. Hearing that she is having difficulty finding a job puts ME in an emotional tizzy. First, she's looking at consulting positions, which is not the same as looking for an auditing position. Given all this financial turmoil, I would think that auditors would still have the same job demand, if not higher. Plus, consulting jobs are probably harder to get, now that investment banker hopefuls are now vying for consulting jobs, since there are fewer investment banks to apply to.

BUT STILL. OMG. I have seen her resume and it is covered from head to foot. Mine is like ... not very much. And I am doing even less now. PLUS I have a tanked GPA. LKSLSKDJLDSF Today I got a forwarded e-mail for a consulting job. Again, YES it's consulting, not auditing. BUT the cutoff GPA was 3.7 and I was like OMG I don't have a 3.7! I have never been completely disqualified for a position because of my GPA. AHHH I need to find out from my friends what the general cut off for Big 4 firms is.

Now I am thinking to myself of all the things I would have changed. 1) I would have studied WAY harder for macro econ. As well as all the upper div business classes that I got B's in, which is ALL OF THEM THUS FAR. 2) I would have probably sold my soul to BAP and just done the stupid business frat/club thing and been able to get more connections.

I just finished two midterms. I am kind of anxious to see what I got on them, but at the same time, I DON'T WANT TO KNOW. If I did terribly I don't know what I would do. For accounting, if I got anything lower than an A-, I think I'd FREAK out.

AGHHH Ok.

I should be at the gym

I hate my mouth

My mouth is in SOOO much pain right now. There is one canker sore forming between my gum and my lip, which makes it hard to drink things. There are two cankers sores merging into an even bigger one on my lip, which makes it hard to eat or drink or moisten my lips. Then there are two cankers sores on each side of my tongue, which makes it impossible for me to talk normally or eat painlessly. ARGH. I am supposed to go out and eat this weekend like ALL weekend! I HATE THIS. I always always always get canker sores at very inconvenient times. WHAT CAN I DO?!

Melissa

^ I have been writing e-mails for the past hour, so for some reason my fingers automatically started typing out my signature. HAHA

I don't know why I blog so much. Usually blogging a lot is a sign that I am bored with life. =L I need to do something so I can cross it off my to do list. But every day I just want to sit around the apartment and watch something new on hulu.com

Just a statistic

Something that's pretty obvious about me: I like to plan. I love typing out my plan for tomorrow on my electronic post-it note, writing down a week's homework schedule on scrap pieces of paper, and writing lists of "to dos" in notebooks (categorized by short-term, long-term, and ASAPs). Chrystal always knew when I was stressed out if in the middle of the night, I took out a piece of paper, folded in in thirds or quarters, then took out my highlighter and made six painfully annoying squeaky lines. This meant I was freaking out and planning out the next 3-4 weeks of my life.

I have a list of "things I want to do/be" and I thought some of them were pretty well thought out. I wouldn't go so far as to call them unique, but I thought they were pretty personalized. Turns out, THEY'RE NOT! All of them are characteristics newspapers use to indicate a recession! So now I wonder, what if all these things I want to do, because I thought they would fit me, are totally not even about me? Maybe it's all the result of something bigger! That sounded like a line out of Heroes or Lost.

Some of my plans

1) Not buying a car

I kind of hate driving, because I assume I will get in an accident. After coming to Berkeley, I started having ideas that I could potentially go through life without EVER buying a car. Just take public transportation! Saves me parking trouble, gas money, and guilt from killing the environment. After I found out that auditors are not flown everywhere, but might actually have to drive to nearby companies, I figured out that a car would be pretty useful. I'm still thinking of just doing zipcar, and never having a car.

BUT then I find out that there are a lotttt less car purchases because people aren't able to get the loans to pay them off. I don't think this would have been my problem, but still! I am one of many people who no longer wish to buy cars, either for environmental or financial reasons.

2) Eating out less often

Berkeley food is delicious, yes, but after calculating how much money I spend eating out, this must stop! I grew up hearing all these statistics about how the American family is eating out a lot more, and oh! what a travesty. Luckily, I had the luxury of having my mom cook everything for me, so I do know how nice that feels. Plus, I think it's easier to be a health nut if you make everything for yourself. So I was like, cook more! Eat out less! Perfectly fits my needs

BUT of course that is just another indicator that Americans are pinching their pockets! Apparently when times get tough, we decide to invest more time cooking (so buy stocks in grocery stores! says one article). Restaurants are having much less business than usual. So I guess I'm not the only one sitting around in my apartment eating scrambled eggs for dinner. Or maybe I am...

3) Buying less shit

After buying tons of crap that I didn't want in senior year, I decided to strap down my wallet and stop buying shit just because someone else was buying something. That kind of led to two years of having really crappy jeans selection. I'm kind of waiting until I get a job, so I have a real excuse to go out and update my wardrobe with businesswear. But looking at my expenditures document, I really don't buy very much and I doubt I will even when the time comes.

BUT clearly, this is because I am a consumer who has less spending power. I'm kind of dreading the inevitable headlines that will be saying "lowest holiday sales in YEARS! What does this mean for the economy?" in a few months.

There was no real purpose or conclusion to this entry. I just keep reading articles in NY times where the observations they are making totally describe me! Or are things I experience. One I read about yesterday was how companies are leaning towards undesignated offices, meaning that they just have empty desks and cubicles and people grab one when they are in the office. I totally noticed this when I was at Grant Thornton and thought it was an ingenious idea, but I would have never thought that this was a new idea. What would they have done before?! I can't even guess. One day I aspire to walk into my workplace and grab ... a nameless table with absolutely nothing on the surrounding walls or in the drawers. How modern

Mmm baked beans

I have some favorite foods that are truly bizarre. I'm not a foodie or someone who has high tastes in food, but some of these foods really don't belong on anyone's favorite foods list. However, these are some things that I LOVE LOVE LOVE and will eat, regardless of how unhealthy it is or how disgusting it looks. This includes:

1) Baked beans

2) Chili

Please refer to above picture, as chili looks remarkably similar to baked beans

3) Taco Bell's Crunchy Tacos

Today my dinner consisted of microwaving leftover rice, throwing a can of Bush's baked beans into a simmering pot, and boiling a husk of corn. Sadly, I thought it was DELICIOUS. I was kind of happy with myself until I read a blog where the person was talking about having canned soup as comfort food. And I have this automatic "ew how unhealthy and lazy" reaction to canned goods. And then I realized I ATE CANNED BAKED BEANS TODAY. And as delicious as that was, I'm kind of sad now. I hope I really do learn how to cook one day. I would say that boiling corn was the closest I've come to perfecting cooking instructions. Generally, I've been able to fuck up everything else. Also, today was the first time I ever opened a can. I remember in high school, Johnston tried to teach me how to open a can, but we both got exasperated after one try.

I've sat on my ass for the past two days studying. It actually kind of hurts because my seat doesn't have a good cushion. If I didn't know better, I would have thought I spent an hour doing lunges. I don't really know if I actually learned anything. I can say that now I am ADDICTED to Lipstick Jungle, which is what I watch every few hours. I have a draft of an entry solely about Lipstick Jungle that I wrote yesterday, but didn't post because it would have been my third post of the day. I will post it one day when I have nothing to say. But if you want a quick reason for why I am watching the show, it is because of THIS

Honestly, I don't really notice what happens half the time these two have scenes together, because half the time he is shirtless, and when that happens, you can't help but stare and just COUNT ALL THE ABS HE HAS.

His IMDB profile says he went to UCSD. SO THERE WAS AT LEAST ONE person out there in UCSD who is insanely hot.

SO MUCH READING! MIDTERM OF MY MOST IMPORTANT CLASS OF MY LIFE TOMORROW (my first accounting class, which will be the only accounting grade I have on my transcript when I apply for internships). But ... I think I'll go to Rasputin and look for music.

Tea

I keep drinking tea because I'm bored-hungry but I know I shouldn't eat. But tea makes me really need to pee like every thirty minutes, and each time I get up from studying, I come back and play a song on my iTunes and then go on the web for like ten minutes. I wish it were socially acceptable for me to just wear a diaper, so I can study in peace.

Let's hope I can graduate early

I got an e-mail yesterday from one of the Haas advisers, telling me that I have to pick up adviser codes so I can sign up for next semester's classes. It's always a huge surprise, like WHAT?! I haven't even had midterms yet and you want us to choose classes?! Luckily, since I'm graduating early, I have less random classes to pick and it's very easy for me to know what I'm taking for the rest of my college life (basically the 24units that all CPA-wannabes have to take).

Unfortunately I wanted to take one class that will coincide with another, meaning now I have to take it senior year. I'm only taking 13 units next semester, just like this semester - I hope it doesn't make me look like a slacker. I really cannot imagine a non-business class that I would be interested in taking, so I guess I really will be spending every hour of my next two semesters in that Haas building. To fill up that last unit, I'm taking a one-unit business class taught by Alan Ross, who is so far my favorite professor in Berkeley. He was my business ethics professor for the summer. HE IS BOMB. I hope one day I will have the same intellectual, no holds barred, sarcastic humor that he has.

The bad thing is that if any one of my classes for senior fall semester conflict, I'm kind of fucked. I have no idea what I would do in that scenario. I could technically still graduate, but I'm just really screwed when it comes time for my CPA exam. I checked for this fall and none of them conflicted. I'm hoping the same will happen next year.

OMG HAHA I just looked on Yahoo and the place with the highest % of singles is SAN FRANCISCO. 44.7% single. Well I guess that means there's more fruit for the picking. On the flip side, maybe this means I'm destined to be single FOR LIFE.

I just ate A LOT of food. I cooked salmon and some veggies for myself. The salmon is from Costco, which comes in a pack of 7. It's like a bag of frozen deliciousness. I didn't even put anything on it and I still think it's amazing. Cooking makes me eat a lot more, because I don't want to have leftovers but I can't just cook tiny portions.

Instead of studying, I decided to go to Safeway. Then I came back and decided to cook. Living on my own sure does take up a lot of my time. I didn't even clean today! It's already 1pm and if anything, I've only forgotten more of what I studied yesterday.

I updated like every day this October. Do you people even want to hear about my life anymore? Nothing interesting happens to me. I apologize!

OH NO. I just read an interview with Lipstick Jungles' Robert Buckey and now I kind of want to watch the show. NOOOO

Tired and unsatisfied

I think this "exercise twice a day and eat nothing but cereal, fruit and poorly cooked vegetables" plan is not working very well. HAHA

I had the most difficult time swimming today. I jumped in the pool at 7:45pm and after four laps, I wanted to leave. I don't think today was a good exercise day. I woke up at 7am and immediately started studying for microeconomics, so I feel good about that. But because of that, I didn't go to the gym in the morning. Not that I wanted to. My upper body is kind of sore, I don't know if it's from doing weights (finally!) or overswimming yesterday. I kind of like the feeling of sore muscles - it makes me feel like I'm actually progressing in my quest for fitness.

So I tried swimming but by lap 12 I had decided to swim 50 laps instead of my usual 100. By lap 30 I wanted to leave, and was already fantasizing about the food that I would eat when I got home. By lap 40 I was thinking that instead of cooking, I would just buy a delicious, giant Calzone from Gypsys. Luckily by lap 50, I realized how pissed off I would be the next morning if I had only done 50 laps and went out and spent $7 on a fatty late dinner. So instead I went home and made pasta (and while waiting for water to boil, I unfortunately drank a cup of hot chocolate and ate a small tofutti ice cream sandwich). But now that's done and I ate a bowl of grapes and now I'm getting ready to finish studying microeconomics. I'm super tired though, so who knows how that will work out.

My microeconomics review session was less than helpful. I left early, which is something I very rarely do. I don't really understand all the concepts and some problems, but I can tell that I am a lot better off than some people who were asking about basic concepts. I felt like I was the only person in the room who had actually looked at the practice problems beforehand. I don't think the test is curved though.

So I'm going to reinstate my old study habits, which consisted of looking over hw problems and notes like 4x until I can recite them in my head, and asking GSIs how to do every problem, wheter or not I think it's important. So today is more microeconomics studying, tomorrow is accounting studying, and Sunday is preparing for next week's hw. I'm just sad that even if I get straight A's this semester, my GPA will only go up like .04 points, if I did the math correctly.

A cup of tea?

I used to hate drinking hot tea and whenever I went to restaurants, my parents would know that I needed a glass of ice water. But about two-three years ago, I tried it, probably while eating dim sum with TMV, and found that it wasn't too bad. It made my stomach feel a lot better if I had just gorged on a giant platter of food. I still can't really handle drinking something so warm, so I always have to wait about ten minutes for my cup to become lukewarm, but once it reaches that perfect temperature, tea is SO GOOD.

I love green tea, but I think part of that is just from being bombarded with the idea that "green tea is a miracle food!" It's very Americanized Chinese, I feel. Something more Asiany that I like is barley. It was one of the first teas I had, and Alvin served it to me my senior year in his tea house. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, even though the idea of drinking barley sounds kind of bizarre.

Now, when I go over to Caroline's, she always makes a pot of tea. She does it the real way, although still American, with pots and everything. She even made one where instead of leaves, she put in this large, very pretty flower. It tasted really good. My favorite flavor from her place is something with lychee, but I'm also pretty satisfied with a Lipton.

I think tea is so delicious now! I drink it if I know I'll be staying up late at night. I'm looking forward to those cold, rainy days, so I can feel cool drinking a warm cup of tea while studying (or more likely, watching shows online).

Unfortunately, I think this tea is not keeping me awake that well. Caroline and Paulo surprised me by coming over, and I had just started getting in the mood to study, but instead we talked for two hours. HAHA My tea leaves aren't working as well, since this is like the fourth cup I've refilled. I will try studying a little more, and then maybe I'll have to call it a day.

Getting my life back on track

Last year, I stopped caring so much about school and spent a lot more time socializing with my floormates. Several factors to it, I would say: 1) I wanted to have college friends and fortunately, I actually clicked with my floormates last year, 2) I felt like it was a good year to finally relax, which I had not taken the time to do since 9th grade, and 3) after getting into Haas, there's a period of "falala! nothing to do now." The result of my crappier study habits has resulted in a pretty steep drop in my GPA, as I now have about two semesters worth of B's (all of which are unfortunately in my upper div business courses). It's taken me a very long time to get back into the motivated mindset, but I think today was the day. Lucky for me, because my midterms are next week.

Usually I have a one-hour accounting lecture, but today, instead of a lecture we had a panel of speakers from all the Big 4 firms come in and talk about what auditors do. I wish it had been like 2 hours. During Q&A, I always want to ask "what do you wish you had done differently in your career" but I never do because I can't bring myself to ask a question in a room of 150+ people, and while it sounds like a good question to me, I don't want to be one of those people who asks stupid questions. Speaking of which, I HATE the people who ask dumb ass questions like "what is the interview process like?" OMFG. If you haven't fucking learned by sophomore year, you're an idiot. I could practically feel a majority of the room roll their eyes.

And I think one good question that will NEVER be answered is "what's different between each of the Big 4 firms?" There is definitely a certain type of people that is attracted to each firm. I think it's different depending on the region as well. As far as I can tell, I think I would be better suited for E&Y but there also seems to be an additional level of prestige to PWC (at least in Berkeley), so I'm hoping for that instead. It would have been cool to ask the panelists, "what's your stereotype of the firm to your right?" but that kind of invites an awkward situation. Everyone always just sidesteps the question and talks about how everyone should try to talk to as many people as they can and figure it out for themselves.

Anyway, the person leading the panel seemed very eager to get the speakers to talk about compensation. And, OMG. I knew the starting salary was pretty good, especially for someone out of college. But I never really asked what partners make, or how long it takes to become partner. Turns out, if I can make it to a Big 4, my salary doubles every 5 years, for about 15 years. And if I keep going, it goes into ridiculous numbers. Apparently seven figures is not uncommon (although probably after decades of work). So this entire day, I've been going around thinking "I'll buy that if I get an internship. And that. And that. And that."

I really hope my GPA is salvageable.

If I were to get an internship, I would:

- Go out for a delicious dinner

- Buy like two outfits at Lululemon Athletica (for about $250 I would estimate)
- Buy a ton more business outfits

- Buy a pair of nice sunglasses

Maybe I can buy a house one day after all!