Day 146

June 4, 2009.

Sometimes this is what I feel like I'm becoming; an image, a ghost, quite transparent and (as a result), barely there. Maybe more dialog will help.


The shots below show the city on another one of my lunch tours. The last shows some books I browsed through and want to follow up on.

Day 130

May 19, 2009.

Nic Walder rules the world from his homebase at S.A.O.
Studying for finals.
Which I happily finished this morning. Now I'm off to swim and then to a 6-hour long red-eye flight home.
Excited!

Day 127

May 16, 2009.

Studying has its perks, such as an exponential increase in value of all my non-study time.
After waking up at 8:30, writing till 12, then eating PB&J (How I miss real food!) and locking myself up in S.A.O. to write some more, I left campus feeling pretty satisfied with my six page almost-final draft.

So I went to ping-pong. This is Denise. She is very small. But there is a lot to love, still. She always patiently serves the ball to me, and runs to pick up the ones I miss, even after my many rounds of missed hits. I usually fear that my teachers (all kinds) will give up on me, get too frustrated and just leave; Denise doesn't seem to mind the misses, and just keeps serving it back. It's nice. I like practicing that way.

The two pictures below are from the S.A.O. Financial Aid Division reunion dinner, in the Mission District at La Traviata. The house looked fascinating from across the street (especially with its melange of colors blending with the sky) and the guys are Tim and Ajay, who match. I'm now very inspired to help build S.A.O. up next year, and even excited to join the post-college crowd. I thought life lost its color after graduation, but these S.A.O.ers surprise me with their vibrancy. I can't wait to become one of them too.

Day 126

May 15, 2009.


Friday in the S.A.O. Always makes me feel better.



kb

Day 124

May 13, 2009.

I wonder if the Mona Lisa was birthed by procrastination also.

With a blank screen and two pages left to churn out, I resolved to fill not the page but the wall. Here's my resulting masterpiece. (I also finished the paper two hours later.)


Here are some more views:
Exhibit A, the blasted red book I'm writing on, The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby.
Exhibit B, the blank computer screen resting on my desk
Exhibit C, the beautiful work of art that was much more enjoyable to craft than my essay.

One more week of "Finals Week." Expect many more art projects to come.

Day 120

May 7, 2009.

Studying in the Haas School of Business computer lounge.

Day 67

March 12, 2009.

Chinese!

At the Music Library, nobly struggling to stay awake before I give up and return to my nice, warm home and sleep. I blame it on the cold I have, but it's more likely just tiredness.

Day 66

March 11, 2009.

I missed Tuesday, but it is okay. Here is today's.

I woke up with a headache and stinging throat, so I missed class and work for the first time this semester. Sadly, missing work is not so easy-- I arranged for ETS to record lecture, then went to pick it up in the afternoon, went to their office in Dwinelle, got a boombox (it was a cassette) and played the tape to transcribe lecture and send it in. This is me, sitting on the floor of Dwinelle with my huge boombox and empty lunch box, listening to Prof. Olney talk about income distribution. Gah...

At least dinner made up for it. :) Thanks Berkel Berkel, thanks Jen.

Day 65--MONDAY

March 9, 2009. At the library, 12 a.m. At least Juggy has faith in me.

Day 61

March 5, 2009.

My desk.

Day 59

March 3, 2009.

I made this picture tired and ugly because I had an ugly and tiring day. Missed my alarm by two hours, socks wet from the rain, almost sleeping in class--I've been blaming my lethargy on all things school-related on tiredness. Really, though, I just fear not finishing my work. So I don't start. Need to change that. 

也许我说的太严重，今天其实有复习呢，而且把中文作业看好了，明天Rhetoric153的书也看得差不多了，明天也没有其他的课，只要早上注意早一点醒来，去见朋友一起复习，然后去赶着写文章。我知道我会写完，而且会写的好，上课时表现得好，因此我不早一点开始做，根本不用，就会让我安心一点罢了。

Day 56

Feb. 28, 2009.

There are words everywhere: in Moffit's cafe and on Morrison's walls. This time the words were advertising a Gershwin concert on campus. If I didn't have to continue to the library I would've loved to sneak in and listen. As it is, the image of a word will have to do.

今天复习了很多，又读了好几页Nietzsche和Quinn，还有中文课的文章。也找了两个钟头的空，去打了乒乓球。我跟我室友已经决定了下个礼拜再去打，明年try out for the 乒乓球队，好开心噢！

Day 55

Feb. 27, 2009.

I studied in FSM Cafe (Free Speech Movement) for Rhetoric 103B today, and looked up from my Nietzsche to find my name on the wall. This cafe commemorates the movement of the same name at Berkeley in 1968; this frame gave the names of all the female Black Panthers that had been jailed for speaking out. Looks like some version of "Karen B" had been one of them. 

我今天找到了许多跟夏季实习有关的网站，让我很高兴。也许可以会波士顿，又能住在家里，又能在中国城帮忙，免费没问题。现在还在考虑问我自己到底想要什么样的职业和将来。老早要想，不如趁早决定。

Day 53

Feb. 25, 2009.

Studying more effectively will help separate "work" time from "relax" time. Right now they kind of hodge-podge together, producing "blech" time, all the time.

This shot was taken on the way back from the library, 11 p.m. I don't think I had so much to study, per se, or nothing that required my being on campus so late at night. It was just that I did not know what I would do if I went home; would I study? Cook? Sit there? Indecision (and fear of having to make one) prompted me to avoid the choice and go into lockdown in Moffitt. Can't say that it helped.

Churchill says you get out by getting through, or "If you're going through hell, keep going." My mom says “慢慢来，这个世界是很大很大的地方，每一个人都找得到他们自己的地位。” I say, "I'm trying..." And will keep trying, for now, till something works. 

Day 52

Feb. 24, 2009.

今天过得好好玩儿，天气也好，太阳普照。
也吃了两次滨崎琳，当然没事儿了。我其他朋友有期中考，我只是明天要教作文，中文翻译，下个礼拜四才考，还算满轻松。今天也游泳了，希望后天也有机会去游。

从相片而言，I took this shot after my Rhetoric 103B class discussion. I'd stayed back to summarize my notes and send some emails. When I finally packed up and turned off the lights to leave, the ambience of the room made me pause once again. Voila what I saw. 我们一起欣赏吧！

Day 48

Feb. 20, 2009.

My desk lamp and toilet buddy, together at last.