New Blog

I made a new blog. I feel like making a second blog (in my case, I guess this is my third public blog) is something people think about for several days before deciding to take the plunge. It's like moving. Is it really worth uprooting yourself and starting completely anew? Couldn't I just remodel the current blog and keep the base intact?

I kind of just created one in a flash. I was actually going to make a second blogspot, but when I was faced with having to choose a new theme, I realized that there are no other themes I like on blogger and I don't have the patience or the skill to create my own. So I decided to use wordpress. Wordpress is really confusing so for now, the site will look very bare since I don't know how to add side modules. I also don't save any interesting pictures that could make nice background images. All I have in my laptop are pictures of pretty celebrities, clothes that I want to buy one day, and kitchens.

For the past few weeks I just haven't had any incentive to blog. I'll write a bit, delete it, write again, delete it, and then give up. My life just isn't that interesting. I wonder if I can blame part of this on twitter - I don't feel like people gain anything from reading all these paragraphs, and when I submit a post, it's like I purport to have something interesting to say, when I'm not saying anything at all. But when I use twitter, it's assumed that whatever I say is useless, so there's no pressure to be entertaining or interesting or even grammatically correct.

But I made a new blog anyway, because now I have a THEME! The theme is life lessons (yes I know that is not a theme). The idea is kind of based on a list I keep in my food diary, titled: THINGS I HAVE REGRETTED. I have only ever made one entry on the list, and it's "eating an entire Gypsys calzone for dinner." The idea was that I would write down all the things I regretted doing food-wise, so I wouldn't repeat my mistakes. That never really happened. I still eat entire calzones for dinner. I guess for the blog, I hope I can read it over one day and think "how silly I used to do that!" instead of "guess not much has changed."

Anyway, the address I wanted "littlelifelessons.wordpress.com" was already taken. Wasted on a one-post author. meltang.wordpress.com seemed really redundant. So my new blog is http://trytorememberthis.wordpress.com

Enjoy!

It's like summer again

Since when did ABC Family become my favorite network with the best shows? I REALLY like 10 Things I Hate About You. It is surprisingly hilarious at times and I think it transitioned from movie to tv quite well. I just started watching Make It or Break It which is a drama about teen gymnasts and it is REALLY good. The opening credits are the worst thing I have ever seen, but the actors are pretty good, the plot is very consistent and I love shows where they have drama between the young actors and the adults.

New roster of shows:

Mad Men (AMC)
Daily Show (Comedy Central)
Top Chef (Bravo)

and eventually returning

Friday Night Lights (NBC)
Chuck (NBC)
30 Rock (NBC)
How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Better Off Ted (ABC)

It's the second day of school, but I've watched five episodes of Make It Or Break It. Welllllll I can study tomorrow...

Shit I'm a senior

HAHA I just walked past Jon to see what he was doing. He now sits where I used to sit last year in the living room. He was watching Gossip Girl while playing a game of Solitaire AND a game of Restaurant City. Awesome. It's good to know that when I die, I will have had some influence on my friends...

First day of school, uneventful as always. I had forgotten how many white people go to this school. I also forgot how many PEOPLE go to this school - I feel like the campus is packed to the brim. Makes me never want to deviate from my set route to Haas. Every few days before school starts, I think to myself "THIS SEMESTER I'm going to become friends with a lot of people in my class!" And then I get to class and it's full of little Asian fobby cliques that I do not want to break into. I picked the wrong major to make friends in. I should have done ... media studies ... or sociology ...

I really like my apartment now. Since I leave my door open and open the window, the hallway is filled with light, which is really nice. The kitchen is clean too, thanks to Paulo and Jon. And Paulo moved the living furniture so now it's not a big empty room like it used to be, or the cramped claustrophobic room that it was before that. I like my apartment so much that I'd kind of enjoy living here, even after I graduate.

Now I know why people who have singles never go back to sharing rooms. It's sooooo luxurious. It's kind of hilarious to go out to eat with my aptmates and when we get back, they go to the living room and I go to my room. I feel like we live in completely different apartments. Maybe it's because my apartment is large. My walls are really bare. I don't know what posters I would buy that would represent me. I wouldn't want posters of TV shows, because tv shows come and go. There aren't any bands I really want to stare at every day. I asked Paulo and he said "you should get a poster of a stalk of celery" which I thought would be hilariously appropriate. I just have to find one now ...

Goals I had for the summer:

1. Learn Excel: complete fail, I never made it past the first chapter of Excel for Dummies.

2. Exercise daily: in three months I didn't exercise 21 days ... seven days because it was either July 4th or Vegas weekend. I keep track of what I do on a google calendar, and from June - August I have spent my life:

• Swimming 2040 laps in Spieker pool, which is equivalent to 17 hours of being in my own thoughts without any music
• Going up and down the elliptical for 9 hours, staring at either the wall or MTVU
  
• Running 71 miles total around the same brown track field at Edwards Stadium
• Dripping with sweat for an hour 7 times while doing Core Blast

3. Read: I actually got a lot done by having a job. I'd get into work earlier than my supervisor, so I could read NY Times and I was more up to date on current events than ever. I also took books to read on the F and the Bart, otherwise I would never set aside time to read. Sadly, the book I liked the most was Unaccountable: How the Accounting Profession Forfeited a Public Trust. I also read through the last two Harry Potters really quickly last week. Now I actually understand all that Elder Wand business that I sort of gleaned over the first time.

4. Eat healthy: Egh, I didn't follow my "eat only half of whatever you order in a restaurant" rule, but I finally gave up cereals and started eating oatmeal, which is good. I ate a ton of fruit, but I think I should start eating more vegetables because fruit has a lot of sugar. Also, winter is coming soon, and all my favorite fruits will no longer be sold :(

5. Explore SF: It was bummer to be in SF almost every day, but not have the money to go shopping or eat at new restaurants :( At least I got to eat at the Farmer's Market in the Metreon, which is pretty fun. And I now know the route from Powell to Transbay Terminal VERY well.

6. Eat out less: I set $100/month as a goal without having any basis for the number. Even after I made this goal, I somehow spend more each month. $170 in June, $190 in July, $180 in August. Although if I take out what I spent on food in Vegas, it's only $101.24 in August ... which looks a lot better. Jesus, that just made me realize that half of my eating out money was spent in three days.

Come visit me in my clean apartment!

Oh nooooo my last summer break is almost over. No more three months with nothing to do. Please make time stop!

Top Chef

I'm about five seasons late, but I just watched the season premiere of Top Chef 6. Now my stomach is super hungry. I really shouldn't be watching any more reality tv, but I feel like I'm watching so little tv nowadays, I need to pick up some new shows. I watched an episode of Project Runway yesterday, but I wasn't AAAAmazed by it.

To compare, Padma >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Heidi Klum. HAHA I think it's because you watch her eat every episode. I have immediate respect for people who are super fit but will stuff their face with something like "bacon donuts with chocolate beer sauce" without hesitation.

Also, the contestants are more interesting on Top Chef. I'm sure most people would say that someone who knows how to cook well is really appealing. When I imagine the chefs' private lives, I think about how lucky the people who date them are. I always thought it would be pretty bomb to date someone who is in culinary school, so they would come home and just whip stuff up to eat. And I would help them hone their culinary skills by consuming it.

Another day in summer part 3

This trailer makes me feel like my life is moving too fast and I don't have enough time in the day to do all the things I want to do.

But once it's over, I return to my routine of sitting in my room, trying to think of things to look at online, and reading Harry Potter between naps and eating little snacks I find in the house. The highpoint of my day is around 9:30 when it's finally cool enough for me to go running. I can usually take one day of pure relaxation before my body starts to freak out and tries to set goals to accomplish.

This is the second time I've read the final book of the Harry Potter series and I am amazed by how I remember absolutely nothing. In all honesty, the only thing I remember from the book is that it ends happily and the names of their children are kind of lame. I haven't even had a single trigger of "OH! This is going to happen." Kind of sad how quickly we forget things.

I think normally, I'd be itching to get back to Berkeley, but as of right now I prefer this current state of in-betweenness. I don't look forward to the coming semester, which will only bring me closer to one of my greatest fears, unemployment (which slightly trails behind loneliness and sustaining an injury that leaves me incapable of exercising).

The internet at home is really shoddy and it makes me really angry.

Ice cream

Normally I would have stolen a picture of an ice cream scoop from the internet. One that looked like someone had fussed over the camera for a good minute before finally taking a satisfactory picture of the inanimate object. But everything on tastespotting looked good, I can't really think of other food sites to comb through, and none of the pictured flavors were actually flavors that I like. So I figured the ice cream truck would do.

If I think about it, the after effects of ice cream are not pleasant at all. It's usually very delicious to eat at the moment, but about ten minutes after it, I have cottonmouth, I want to eat something else to take out the creamy flavor it left behind, and my face feels like its pores are clogged. Every time I feel myself being tempted by ice cream, I try to remember that feeling.

Still, I have an insane sweet tooth. And there's a reason why Ici is probably the top three phone numbers I call. (Chrystal and I once laughed over how we only call because it tells you the daily flavors over an automated message - otherwise it would be far too embarrassing to call as often as we do).

FAVORITE FLAVORS (subject to change):

1) Mass marketed and found everywhere
Breyer's Coffee ice cream. I like coffee flavors, but I don't like coffee. Breyer's is better than Dreyer's - it's easier to scoop and I think they may use less cream, which gives it a lighter feeling. It's almost a little foamy if you let it melt a bit, in a good way. I'm always in danger of eating more than I want, especially because I start thinking "well I don't want this tub taking up space in my freezer! Best just to finish it"

2) Ici, bcause it deserves its own category
It once used to be chamomile or something tea like. Tea flavors are so delightful - they always REALLY taste like tea! But then I tried a sample just for kicks ... and it turned out to be the MOST AMAZING FLAVOR. Basil ice cream, guys. It is the winner. You wouldn't expect it, but it is crazy good.

3) Sit at home and mope
I won't admit to how many pint-sized Haagen Dazs ice creams I consumed in a single night during my years with a mealplan (enough that I no longer have to google-check how to spell Haagen Dazs). I'd just sit there, watch something I had downloaded on DC++, and suddenly find that I had passed the halfway point of the pint, so I'd finish it. I still don't understand why Chrystal laughed so hard when she opened my freezer and saw that I had left a spoon on top of a half-eaten pint of ice cream. If no one else uses my fridge and no one else will eat my ice cream, there's nothing wrong with keeping the utensil conveniently next to the food item! And the cold will keep bacteria from growing.

Anyway, favorite flavor. I ate Maeda-En's lychee sorbet a lot, because it felt healthier and it was crazy cheap at Unit 3. But if I never ate it again, I wouldn't mind. I actually really liked Haagen Dazs Mint Chip flavor. It was white instead of green. I wish the chocolate chips weren't so chunky, because it takes away from the mint ice cream, but I think the chips help limit my eating frenzy.

I'm trying to look for reviews of the Wynn Buffet to figure out what foods they serve, so I can plan ahead of time what I want to get. That way, I don't go crazy and overeat. People say their desserts are not very good (they probably just mean, not good for a $40+ buffet) which bodes well for me. I think I can generally limit myself pretty well on food food, but desserts are a different matter because I can't distinguish between when I'm funneling food into my regular stomach versus my dessert stomach.

My mom is feeding me too much but thank goodness she goes to work next week, otherwise I'd continue eating the same amounts for lunch. At least when she is gone, I can go back to my fruit eating without her nagging me all the time.

Eyeballs

Every time I go back home, I always
1) Go to Victoria's Secret to pick up one free panties. They always send my mom a card for a free VS panty, and if someone would review their market research better, they'd realize that we never buy anything and I've accumulated nearly two weeks worth of free underwear, which is like $75
2) Go to the dentist, after which we go to a C grade Chinese restaurant that serves really good dse ma da bing (sound it out phonetically - I don't know ping ying). It is sad that our family traditions consist of Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, Christmas dinner with ham, and dentist appointments with dse ma da bing and lamb.
3) Go to the optometrist, which is the time my mom sits in fear of finding out that my eye sight has dropped another 100 degrees.

I heavily dislike my optometrist. He graduated from Berkeley, and if I had lived on his floor, I'm pretty sure I would have made fun of him with Chrystal. He seems arrogant and always in a rush to get patients out. If your parent says "hey try out this new optometrist, Jim Chen in Arcadia" you tell them "no!"

I lost my right hard contact on Thursday while walking the streets of SF. I stared at the ground very intently for two minutes before I gave up and continued walking to the bus terminal. Still freaking missed the bus, by a minute. I was too proud to get on my hands and knees and feel around for my contact. Thankfully, insurance covers a new pair. My old ones were about three years old. I think when I first put in my new contacts, I'm going to think "OMG why are things so CLEAR?!"

He also did a check up of my eye and said my retina is thinning. Basically if I get in a car accident or get hit in the head really hard, there is a chance that a hole will appear in my retina. There's no pre-treatment, because anything they do would most likely just cause more holes to appear. But if a hole does appear, then they can fix it with lasers. He said I probably shouldn't ever get laser eye surgery because my retina is so thin :( I feel like I was told that I can't get pregnant. This was my future! I'm still holding out for the day when I can just buy new eyeballs and stick them in my head, Minority Report style.

The reason I eat so much at home is because there are so many little snacks. Little snacks that I would not allow in my own apartment. For lunch I ate some grapes and cherries, a warm soup, green bean soup, and a piece of black sesame bread. Later I ate red bean ice cream (oh god soooooo good) and another chinese rice krispy. Damn you chinese rice krispies! I was going to give you up, but I come home and there are like 16 waiting for me. That's two per day ...

It is really humid in Arcadia. But it is deathly hot in Vegas. I know I am not at all prepared for Vegas weather. In my head, I'm like "hot in Vegas? I'm sure it's kind of the same as Berkeley at 2pm." There is about a 20 degree difference that my head can't wrap itself around.

Untitled

God. I wrote a blog about my day, deleted that. Wrote a blog about how I don't blog very much anymore, deleted that too. I'm going to do another blog about my day and just let it be.

Tomorrow is my last day at my summer internship. They actually gave me a check today, which was a nice surprise because it's advertised as an unpaid internship. My supervisor told me that they usually give interns a little stipend at the end, just as a surprise bonus. It's like ice cream on top of a very delicious bostom cream pie. (I know the saying is 'icing' but there is already frosting on a boston cream pie). I bet the money is going to get blown away within a few hours in Vegas.

!!! I just realized maybe I should buy something delicious to eat for the office tomorrow. Umm... shoot I don't know! One person is diabetic so I can't really bring in a fruit tart. HAHA I just thought about bringing a Cheeseboard pizza to work, but I would get so many hungry stares when I'm on the bus... I'll keep thinking about this.

Oh god, I could have slept at 10:15. And probably woken up at 5. Going to sleep now.

mmm sesame cakes

I tried to find pictures of what I'm talking about, but I can only find tiny ones that would probably just confuse you more. This is my latest guilty eating pleasure:

I call them Chinese Rice Krispies in my food journal. I've gone from eating one a day to three a day. To be more exact, I used to only eat one a day when I was at home in Arcadia. Then I started buying them in bulk at the Richmond 99 Ranch, and now my love for them is uncontrollable. I think if I just make a trip to Trader Joe's and buy some more White Bean and Basil Hummus, I wouldn't even want these anymore. But until then, these are the most accessible and delicious food I have in my kitchen.

I keep writing stuff, deleting, writing something new, deleting that too. It is wasting a lot of my precious time. I need to study! I spend a lot of time making a to do list when I'm at work. Then when I get back home, I don't do anything but go through ohnotheydidn't and try to think of shows/movies to watch. I need to start making strict agendas again.

Well, one thing to cross off my to do list: I made a new imeem playlist that consists of my favorite songs from my favorite bands. After looking through it, I realize how mellow most of my music is. It would probably make a good study playlist, if you didn't fear falling asleep. I think if you just play the embedded playlist, they give mostly 30 second clips, so you have to go here to listen to the full versions.

Favorites of Favorites

I need to make an exercise schedule, an eating schedule, a cleaning/move out of room schedule, a study schedule, and a fun schedule. You may ask me, "but Mel, aren't those ALL under fun schedule?" and I would say "why yes, quite right."

OH GOSH! I just read on onnotheydidn't that a Bon Iver song is probably going to be in New Moon, the sequel to Twilight. Which means I should probably go to his concert this year ... before he becomes popular and prices rise. But, Oakland or LA? I do not know.