Good Food, Good Mood...

So, let me continue yesterday's story... where, I left for the 2nd day of training... breakfast, was good, some biscuits, and fruits and and juice... awesome...

for lunch, it's sandwiches at Potbelly's... and strawberry milkshake.... oooh... mouth-watering meal... I was having great time having good food, and chatting with Viktorina, Tina, Salim and Sang Woo... I just felt that 5 of us can really click... must be one of those international students link... we talked and laughed and it's just so good... and then, we went back for the training again, talking and discussing about expected problems, getting to know the courses and some requirements for certain schools well... it's just great to know all these and be able to help answering queries and all...

so, after the training, I do feel confident and well-trained... and do feel the camaraderie thingy going on among us... the team spirit is burning...we went to this nice little cafe called 'Eastern Accents'... where they serve really good tea and snacks... ooh... the Lichee tea i had was really not bad at all... it has this hint of Lichee aftertaste thats unique... and I'm quite a tea fan...so, it's really a place to go...

so, after that, I went back to my apartment, and freshed up a bit, and then, went out to meet 12 juniors... Twelve... a dozen... and brought them to get some necessities...NECESSITIES... from Meijer... (abt half an hour bus ride away)

there, i told them to meet like 2 hours after, at 6.45pm, but some of them was late, and missed the bus and all, and then, they bought quite some stuffs, and I had to carry some stuffs too(as expected...) but, because of some of them being late, we missed the last Blue Bus on campus too,(i totally forgot about the last bus was at 7.30pm, my bad), so, 4 of us had to walk... carrying all those stuffs...

got back to my apartment at about 8.45pm... went to get dinner from Blimpie at 9pm... got the fried mushroom...(really good food --> good mood) and the usual triple with American Cheese... awesome dinner...

was really tired yesterday... all the working and the walking and the babysitting... :P... yeah... now i know how hard it is to be a mother... thanks mom... i love you... went to bed really early... at about 11.30pm...

got up this morning at 6.40am... damn, i'm just good at waking up 15-20 minutes before my alarm clock....(i wonder do i still need one...)

so, brushed up and all... do the usual morning routine...(utopia, email, news) then, walked around my apartment and then got out to meet the other peer advisors at 9am... we are meeting an hour earlier before we meet with all the advisors... just to prepare a little bit... i talked about study habits... and tell the advisors about my experience studying and all... just to let them know so that they can share it with other international students and maybe even the local students...

and there's this really interesting thing about American's individualistic character that's very unique... and unexpected... i'll elaborate about that next time...

so, after that, 4 of us(Tina, Viktorina, Sang Woo and I - Salim has an appointment with someone else) went to Einstein Bros. Bagel for lunch... it's really good... I had a Spinach and Bacon Pallini and Crab Chowder... and the coffee was really awesome... and it makes my day...

came back to my apartment and then will be off facing bunch of anxious parents later on... at 3.30pm... I'm prepared for their incessant stream of questions... Math, Econs, sciences... bring it on...

ciao for now... check back soon

I think being busy is a blessing...

haha... yup... you hear me right... being busy is a blessing... well, life is short, if u can keep urself busy with meaningful activities, it's really a pretty good thing... don't you think so?

for the past few days, i've been sleeping for 5 - 6 hours... and I still going great... (well, although i felt like shit sometimes, but that's when I'm hungry and a hungry and tired man will not be a happy man...) so, want to make me happy? easy, just don't let me be hungry...

so, my International Academic Peer Advisor training started yesterday morning... check this out... I'm Voon Seng Lai by the way... :-) I really like all the other peer advisors, Viktorina(from Russia), Tina(from Uganda), Sang Woo(from Korea) and Salim(from Oman). They are really nice and fun and kind and helpful... I like the academic advisors too. I'm enjoying the whole training process thusfar... although it was a long one... it lasted from 9am til 4.30pm, with breaks, (started with a breakfast), then had a bonding game, then, later, when to University Club(Uclub) for lunch...it was a great place and the food was excellent... then, continue our training(discussions and brainstorming...) til 4.30pm... went for a walked with other peer advisors, had a drink... (Rendevouz has really great smoothies...)

went back to my apartment at about 6pm, met Huey Fang, Hau Voon and Wei Heong(seniors) in front of West Quad... then, detoured to Union, to meet up some freshmen, and told them about a meeting with seniors tonight...

went back to my apartment finally, then went to get Buffalo Wild Wings' Chicken Leg(drumstick), well, it Wednes-50cents-a-leg-day... so, Teng and I got six legs each... and i got my weekly dosage of Celery....(i need the fibre and I like the taste)...

by the time I'm done with dinner, it's almost 8.45pm... walked to Betsy Barbour(where the freshmen are staying temporarily) and met up with them... I'm so pissed with my cellphone as I'm really having a hard time with it... the receiver is defective i guess... really need to ask T-mobile to send me a new phone...

so, just had a long Q and A session with the juniors... til about 10.30am... went back to my apartment all tired... spent some time playing Utopia, then read through(flip through) those informations I need to know for my peer academic advising job... til about 1am, spent sometime reading(finishing the book i was reading - Nick Hornby's A Long Way Day)... slept at about 2am... need to wake up at 6am tomorrow(today)...

need to go now.... can't be late for my training... will keep u guys updated... take care...

Moving... No help, No problem... but remember: "Forgiven but not forgotten..."

well... there are lots of coincidence in this world... like me asking for a favour from seniors, and all of them coincidentally unavailable for help... interesting... what not?

so, I've been moving from my old apartment into a new dorm... at the Alice Lloyd Hall... my room is at the 5th floor... not too bad, as there's an elevator...

so, I started moving on Monday(yesterday, 08/22) morning... well, i woke up at about 9+am... which was relatively late as compared to the past few days... because I slept late yesterday, and kinda woke up in the morning at about 4.10am, and sent Eric and Steve off... not really sent them off, just to see them catching the cab that will bring them to the airport...

went back to sleep at about 5am... hence, that explains why i woke up comparatively late... after packing a little, (a bag worth of stuffs, and 3 posters and my lava lamp), i started my first trip of my moving... took a Blue bus from the Union, til in front of Mary Markley (my work place for the past 2 months), then, walked up a slope to Alice Lloyd Hall... there, i called the front desk, but nobody was there... waited for about 15 minutes, and finally, someone came and opened the door for me to enter...(well, I'm moving in very early, so, nobody except the front desk attendants were there, and some RAs)... so, i got my key card, my new Mcard, and my mailbox key, and signed some documents, some forms... and then, up I went to my room... well, my room was near the elevator...(a plus for moving, but hopefully, not too noisy), next to the toilet(a plus for 'emergency', but hopefully, not too 'noisy' and smelly), adjacent to a RA...(a plus or a minus, depends how's the RA)...

my new room is larger than my previous room... the only thing i don't like about my new room is the window is kinda small, and the view is kinda lousy... other than that, I'm all happy... so, I surveyed a little, and chucked my stuffs and then, walked to the bus stop in front of the Kresge Research building and waited for the bus to go back to my apartment... end of my first trip...

then, my second trip: brought a bag worth of stuff, and a box of miscellaneous stuffs
(i cleaned up my room(wiped down the desk and chair, the dresser, and... the book shelf.. using TP)
then, my third trip: brought a bag worth of books, and a bag of(3 pairs of shoes)
then, my forth trip: brought a bag worth of misc., and my speaker...
then, my fifth trip: brought a bag worth clothes, and a box of books....(this was really heavy)

then, i called it a day... I cooked tuna casserole for dinner... well, ran out of frozen vege, chucked all the shredded cheese(more than twice the sufficient amount)... was really tired, wanted to read a bit, but, ended up sleeping rather early... sometime just passed midnight...

woke up this morning at 7+am, and packed a bag of clothes, and another duffle bag of dirty laundry... this was my 6th trip...
my seventh trip: another bag worth of stuffs(t-shirts and my table lamp), and a huge box of t-shirts and shirts

had Bi Bim Bop for lunch, at University Cafe...

my eighth trip: went to shop for a rug, laundry detergent, crates, mouthrinse, toothpaste, body wash.... and stuffs... $52+ and brought it to my dorm room...
my ninth trip: Eric's cellphone(in a huge box-overprotected) and my tennis racket...

and then, I'm here at the fishbowl, updating my blog... will talk more about the past few days later tonight i guess...

going to Betsy Barbour Residence Hall later and see whether I can meet up with the juniors...

Dining Hall is so freaking quiet for the week...

Well... well... well... the title says it all... The dining hall is so freaking quiet that I'm kinda feeling guilty doing nothing and still get paid... :-) *still signing up more substitution shifts...*

anyway, this morning was really dead... woke up at 7am...rushed to work and reached there at 7.27am... but, the dining hall was already opened... well, not that i'm late for work, but they just opened earlier than usual... wonder why, as it was already so slow and all, why the early opening? anyway, so, in order to stay awake, i brought out my shopping list(didn't go to do groceries yesterday, missed the bus, and kinda lazy to walk, or wait for the next bus)... and added a few more items to the list... after that, i started 'tidying' up my wallet... threw a couple of receipts and all... and that just took me like less than 5 minutes...

what to do next? it's only 8am, and there's more than an hour to go til this shift ends... so, i decided to multiply the number 2.... starting with 1... i go 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024.... u got the idea... until 2 to the 42nd power.... quite huge a number... after that, i started listing out the prime numbers i can remember, then, the squares up to 25 square = 625... and then cube, 11 cube = 1331... well, shows that how 'desperate' i am to stay 'focus'...
i listed all these crap at the back of one my receipts... i think it was on the bill from Pizza House... few weeks back...
the other side of it, i started with the pascal triangle... (izzit pascal triangle? where u go
1
1 2 1
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1... up til the 12th row....

oh yar... forgot to mention about yesterday's collection of my football season ticket... it's so cool to have a season ticks... well, i'm so excited to go to a football game at Big House... with such a good football team, and the largest football stadium in the states(with a capacity 107k and still expanding...)... it must be really great... the first game is on the 3rd of Sept... against the Northern Illinois... Go Blue!!! Hail to the Victors.... Wolverine Rocks...
my seats aren't that bad... i guess, at Section 28 Row 76...

yesterday night was kinda lousy... did laundry twice... watched a movie... and that's about it... wanted to start packing... (wanted is the key word) but didn't... guess i'll do some of that tonight...

that's all folks...

check back soon.... and take care...

Yeeha... My freshman year has finally comes to an END... with a BANG...

I'm done... FINALLY... DONE... with my last midterm for my FRESHMAN officially... no more assignments, midterms and finals... (for another month or so)... not sure how did i do in the midterm though... hopefully, not too bad...

so, what am I looking forward to now... to tell u the very truth, I've only vague ideas on how to spend 2 weeks... other than working til the 19th of Aug, then five days of nothing (i will be moving on the 22nd and the 23rd...currently looking for kind soul to move my stuffs to my new room)... i'll be starting to get busy again on the 24th... (International Orientation stuffs...)... oh yar... new bunch of freshies from home will be reaching on the 23rd too....

so far, i think that some shopping(i'm wondering whether I should shop a bit now, and much more from the factory outlets at the Birch Run, or just shop for good now...) and some custom designing(in my mind... mentally designing, visualizing the effects and all) my new room with rags, some not so bulky furniture... and a few more posters will be nice...

some reading will be great too... currently, i'm reading A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby... so far so good... my previous read was kinda sweet too... Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich ... the writing style is so crude and full of jokes... really relaxing read... although nothing much of a plot actually...

I too have my half read Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer... and several books(past years' topsellers from B&N.com... at 75% discounted price)...

and packing my stuffs into boxes and unpacking them should be fun too...

anyway, my housemates are moving out... and Heather and Dan(the previous housemates are back in town...)

I'm going to do some groceries later, it's been quite a while since my last groceries... (more than 2 weeks... maybe 3 weeks) I'm been having my meals at the dining hall i'm working in since we are given special rate for the meals...why not?

i'll be going to collect my long-awaited football season ticket...(football as in American football, not soccer)...

talking about soccer, it's really sweet to watch MU beating Everton last Saturday... both Arsenal and Chelsea got lucky to secure all three points too... the game is on now....

i think if i got the free time (more like if i have the heart), i'll type up all my econs notes(3 lectures left) and convert it into pdf files and make it available to all...(i don't think i violate any intellectual properties' right rite?) hopefully not...

that's about it... think that since the midterm is over, i'll have more time(and mood) updating my blog...

just picked up another shift substituting my fren tonight... not too bad, considering that i got all the time in the world...

I'm bored!!! Am I Boring?

Yes, am I boring?? I'm bored yes... and I think i'm boring too... because there's never enough excitement in my life... I never doubt my ability of being boring though...

for me... 24 hours seem too short... see, let me break it down for u...
6 hours of sleep,
2 hours of working out and jogging,
5-6 hours of work,
3-4 hours of reading...
2 hours of eating and all(misc stuffs like u know...)
3 hours of surfing internet and gaming (utopia rulz...)+ listening to crap (who says men can't multitask??)
that's about 24 hours...

i need more hours to fit in my watching tv...(i watch the black boxwhen i'm cooking and eating in my apartment...), partying(not that i party a lot, but a few more hours dedicated to party will be a cool thing to do...), blogging, doing nothing(how u wish u have all the time in the world to sit around and do nothing...), studying(well, luckily there's no homework for my summer class... and the class is quite easy... not to say easy easy, but it's not-hard-at-all easy... the readings are interesting... and informative...)

So, my life is busy, but i still think that I'm kinda bored... and I still suspect that I'm boring... how can that be? I think I need more spontaneous stuffs... more out-of-the-sudden decisions... and more insanity... like... can't think of anything right now... But I'm watching a pair of inline skates and a tennis racquet... so, hopefully, after successfully bidding for these items, my life will be less boring...

Summer term is coming to an end really soon... I have 1 more lecture class on Friday...(the last lecture of the term) and will have my 3rd and last midterm next monday... and I'm done for the term...and officially for my freshman year!!! (and more than half way through graduating...)

for the record, my fren Steve overslept and missed his train yesterday... he will reaching Ann Arbor this evening... but, we will still be going to Buffalo Wild Wings for Chicken Leg... because today is Wednes-50-cents-a-drumstick-day...

got to go to work now... peace

Another week again...

hi again... it's been a week since my last update... so, here we go again...

so, as i mentioned in last post, i had a paper due on friday (last friday), so, i spent most of my last Wed and Thurs on working on that paper... hopefully, it will be OK... (or MMMkay as some people say)... nothing fancy there...
Oh yar, I went to this decision making experiment, and it was quite fun though... earn some bucks...

and then came Friday... well, just the usual, worked breakfast, went to class in the afternoon, had Red Hot Lovers (hot dog and fries)... the fries is really good... and i think potatoes(fries) and bread are replacing rice as my staple food... scary huh... then, back to work for dinner...
watched a movie at night... The Interpreter... not bad... but not enough action... : )

on Saturday, the only thing worth mentioning was the Korean food I had for dinner at University Cafe... The Chicken Be Bim Bop was not bad at all...

Sunday, can't believe that it was already Sunday... still in denial... i didn't even party(reads drink) for the entire weekend...

Monday... the breakfast shift was so dead... can't believe that we only served 32 people ... 2 weeks ago, we served more than 10 times that number.... worked for dinner again becuase they needed people, well, i promised Zach that i'll be in for him...

Today, the breakfast shift was much better, at least we had about a hundred people... and i'm going back to work in 45 minutes because I'm substituting Kevin for his lunch shift... and later today, I'll be having my haircut... at Aveda... my appointment is at 3pm later... and for dinner, most probably, 99% certainty that I'll be meeting Eric and Steve(my fren from University of Wisconsin-Madison) at Buffalo Wild Wings...(it's Tues-35-cents-a-wing-day)

that kinda sum up my last week...

p/s: my blog is kinda lonely... any comments are greatly appreciated...

I'm bored... and a bit hungover...

ok... so, last weekend was just like many other working-hours-packed weekends for me... too bad that i'm just so responsible... if i say that i'm going to do it, i will definitely do it... that's me... just doing it... so, i worked on Friday night, Saturday brunch, Sunday Brunch and dinner... that's about 13 hours of my weekends...

on Friday night, went out with my pals(chan, kristen and bryan) from Markley Dining Hall (my working place) for dinner... guess where did we go? Blimpie Burger... :-) didn't know that they have fried broccoli (but it looks kinda disgusting) and fried mushroom(it's good)... got the usual(triple cheese burger, and onion rings)...

did some studying at night (watch a movie too), and for Saturday, did a bit more studying... went to Pizza House for dinner with Eric... ordered a Hawaiian Pizza... not bad at all... just for the record, Eric's apartment was broke-in... and something got stolen...

then, came Sunday... worked work... did a little bit more studying at night, and went to bed at about 1am...

morning... worked breakfast... at 7.30am, til about 9.30am, back to my apartment for a rest, and then to my second midterm... (my previous midterm was less than 2 weeks ago... 4 lectures between 2 midterms... sweet?!?!?!) the midterm wasn't too bad... i think those questions are really straightforward...

had some progress with my paper, due on Friday... went to Mike's place for a movie(with Sam)... got some drinks...(not going to say how many.... :-P) but quite some drinks...

went back to my apartment at about 1.45am... went to bed soon, as I'm working again at 7.30am...

so, here i am, after my breakfast shift, before my lunch shift (in another 15 minutes), at Markley Lounge... wasting my time, instead of continue writing my paper... feeling a bit more sensitive to light and sound than usual... :-P