Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Sigh, what a crazy, rock out weekend. How was it crazy? Well, combine me, Lucy, and Gracey spending a weekend together...Yep. That itself is crazy fun...and I've got pictures to prove it.

But firstly, since I promised last entry, here are pictures from Monika's birthday from about two weeks ago:


Ah, here are those little kids surrounding the cake. Some activities they did included Monika performing magic, inventing crazy animals, and lots, and lots of eating.


Monika had a freakin' Pirates of the Caribbean cake! You've got Johnny, Orlando...but where's Elizabeth Swann? Perhaps eaten by the Kracken, so she was replaced by a Polly Pocket [barely seen in the corner]. Oh well, I'm sure Johnny and Orlando prefer a girl with more meat on her bones ^_<
But I'm glad to see Monika happy. I didn't spend as much weekend time as I wanted with Monika because the homework overload was unbearable [I spent 7 straight hours on the solder exercise alone ><], but she was beyong happy to see me after 3 weeks of being sister-less, so that's all that counts ^^.

Okey dokey! Time to describe Gracey's birthday weekend:

It all started on a Friday afternoon. I traveled to Livingston and Lucy picks me up for our two and a half hour long drive to Villanova Pennsylvannia. The amazing thing about our travel? WE DID NOT GET FREAKIN LOST! It may not seem amazing to you, but based on experience, and the type of people we are (XP), we expected to make at least one wrong turn...but NO...I read out the directions, and she followed them, and we safely made it to Villanova! The only obstacle on our drive was that the sun was directly in front of us, and Lucy and I are super short people so the front-seat flaps didnt work. Besides talking over how our lives have been and what old C-hall friends have been doing, Lucy and I discovered that Pennsylvannia has very interesting street names...from VORHEE ROAD, to just plain Street Road O_O


Ah, the lovely ladies about to bite into their cheesecake. Lucy and I, along with Gracey and her Villanova peeps Tracey, Lindsey, Kolleen and Sandra go to King of Prussia mall and eat at the Cheesecake factory. [After an hour-long wait but it was totally worth it]


This little incident has established a memorable first impression of me to Gracey's friends. So I order Pasta DaVinci [pure coincidence that the artist gets food that has a DaVinci in its title], and the waitress places my plate in front of me. She asks if I wanted cheese and I said yes, so then she holds a block of cheese and starts to grate. Little did I know that she wanted me to tell her when to stop, so I just sat there and watched as the grated cheese started piling up. The waitress even hinted that her arms were getting tired, but I just continued staring at my pasta, wondering when the hell she would stop grating. Hinting from all the smirks and giggles around me, it finally hit me and I said 'that's enough'. Unfortunately this picture was taken after I mixed the pasta up a bit, but trust me, it was a definitely a shizzle-load of cheese.
The food was of course delicious [and cheesy for my part], but the dish was prepared in a way that no matter how much you eat, if you are full and look down on ur plate, it seems like you didnt eat at all. Once I put down my fork it still seemed like I had over half a bowl left. Lindsey commented "you probably would've finished the whole bowl if it wasn't for all the cheese..." Oh damn.


The next morning Gracey and her roomate Sandra gave us a tour of the beautiful Villanovan campus. This is the Villanova church, a campus landmark. You may think it's pretty now, but the inside is even MORE beautiful [I dunno if I am allowed to post up pictures o_O] with white columns, pendentives, and even a mosaic imported from Vatican city ^_^


here's a pretty pic of Sandra, Gracey, and Lucy! They may not look it but it is FREEZING COLD there. 80% of the time outside I was covering my ears.


So around lunchtime, we take a train to Philadelphia. Hoorah! I haven't been there in years. We had refreshments at a nearby Starbucks, then walked around at Chinatown, which is a lot cleaner than the New York one.

Afterwards we take the train back, Gracey and I watch The Grudge 2 [not as scary as the first one] with Kolleen, Tracey and Lindsay, then wait for Gracey's best friend, dear Jake to come over.


This is me wearing V's mask on Gracey's bunk, grasping the pirates sign. "Dontcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me"? LMAO

I know that I am only summarizing, but words cannot describe how AWESOME that weekend was...from Lucy and I staring in awe at the Villanova campus, to eating a very cheesy DaVinci Pasta, to Gracey slipping on her floor, and just...being with each other! I can't believe how blessed I am to find such friends whom I can act like a fool in front of, and no matter how many times [or not] we see each other, we can still laugh and enjoy each other's presence. Praise god for that <3

Alright my peeps, I shall take my leave. Oh! And Happy Valentines Day/Singles Awareness Day to you all! Don't stuff yourselves too much with candy, cuz if you do...I sense an upcoming dentist appointment o_O

Sunday, February 4, 2007
Aww...I'm sorry that I have not been updating. This semester, my roomie Irina uses her laptop for classes, so I would travel to the computer lab if i wanted to go online...and being in the lab makes me less motivated to write an actual, thoughtful entry. For now, I will try the method of writing it all down before typing it. Of course it's extra, unnecessary work, but at lest I get to include what I want, and express it exactly the way I want to...something I can't really do when transferring what's on my mind to the entry page.

I've never mentioned it yet, but I have a new 3D teacher, Professor Fraser. So where's Elke Lehman? Part of me thinks that due to the 'overwhelmingly' amount of students, a number of adjunct professor (like Elke)had to be cut. The cruel side of me thinks that she was discovered a practitioner of Nazism, and was sent back to Germany. How horrible, but that's the kind of thoughts that run through one's mind after havng such a...well...German teacher. Anyways, our new professor's structure of order contrasts to Elke's laid back, unproductive studio time. We have already started soldering, so it's guaranteed that I will learn something this semester. Even though I SUCK at soldering, i cant wait until we do welding.
Soldering is basically the melting and joining of wire or other metals at a low temperature (low as in 500 degrees ><). What's scary about the whole process is not only is my iron solder capable of rising from 0 to 900 degrees in a matter of minutes, but also that I'm completely surrounded by dangerous fumes. Oh...the sacrifices one makes for the sake of art! So in a couple of years to come, don't be surprised if I am engaged in a conversation, and suddenly my arm falls off.

Drawing and LCD are the same as usual...Two weeks ago I actually completed the assignments long before so on Monday, I had NADA to do {Last Monday I was back to scrambling to finish the work again}.
For 4D, our assignment is to create parallel stream: a split screen in which simultaneous situations are occurring, and some way and somehow they must relate. Still confused on what parallel streaming is? Watch like CNN, in which they have a talking head, stock market results, and the weather displayed all at once. Yeah something like that...
For my project, I decided to do a complicated OPERATOR scene. One girl (moi) says a phrase, then passes it on to a friend. The friend then passes it on to someone else and so on. The phrase alters, depending on how the phrase was said/what is in the environment. So in my case, I say "On my cruise to Jamaica I was partying at midnight, when a drunk guy with a long mustache bumps into me so hard that I fall and break my ankle". I say this phrase to my good friend Trang, who is distracted watching TV [while filming, I think she actually WAS distracted, on the TV was some sort of Asian LOTR version XD], who then passes it on to a very LOUD exercising Mico, who then passes it on to the half-asleep Jessi. As a result, the phrase transforms into: 'Kat went to Jamaica and bumped into a mustache that broke her apart'. Still don't understand? Tch, too bad...you're hopeless!!
The only problem is the editing, since I only have one camera and cant film any character talking at the same time, I gotta align each call so it sounds like they are actually talking to each other. I spent three hours on Thursday editing only forty seconds of this project, which I estimate will be about three minutes. How will I be able to find the time to edit this project in less than a week? blah no idea...

*sigh* Alright...it's almost two and I'm getting less and less coherent. My hands smell of wire and my eyes are sort of watery from the smoke I keep inhaling of flux and solder. Hellz yeah. So for my next entry, I'm sure to post up pictures of my sister's 10TH FREAKIN BIRTHDAY PARTAY! OH MY GOD!

Sunday, January 28, 2007
Sorry! This is not a "real" entry, but I thought this was just too funny to pass on:

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2007 When

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7 Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list


a REAL entry will come up soon...

Saturday, January 20, 2007
*sigh* one week of pratt-life has gone by, and yet it feels like i have never left. i come into my dorm with six cans of ravioli, two boxes of easy mac, chocolate truffles, cereal, chips, and LOTS of clothing. after saying adios to monika and the parents, i literally spend the rest of my day watching whatevers on TV.

alright so SUNDAY...was the day i have been waiting for...BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ON BROADWAY! [with good orchestra seating too ^^] sigh, it had the beautiful belle, the AWESOME gaston, the opera-singer madame de la grande bouche, the interesting/so-so beast, the convincing lighting and ths rain! [the rotating lights passed through the audience, so grace and i got blinded several times while watching beast and gaston fight]and GORGEOUS sets. [i have a picture of the theater inside, but i forgot my USB cable at home, so that picture will hafta wait] the only thing missing? OUR PRECIOUS JOHNNY AS LUMIERE!



sigh, i knew it was too good to be true, apparently john has been out for the week, becuz he is busy with his disney show 'johnny and the sprites'. how he is able to do that show AND become lumiere? beats me.
but nevertheless, the show was still SPECTACULAR [capitilizing those words is an understatement]and the lumiere replacement, billy nabel, was really good and...horny ><. so just imagine, whenever billy/lumiere made that french laugh, or flirted with babette, grace and i would cringe or squeal, imagining johnny doing the exact same thing...
we WILL meet JOHN someday! MARK MY WORDS!

i recommend everybody to see it, cuz its such a beautiful story, aaand its closing this summer ><. why? to make room for the little mermaid. and if johnny is starring, grace and i will get tickets for OPENING NIGHT! hoo ha!

sadly, the rest of the week wasnt as exciting. then came tuesday's drawing, where i was reunited with trang, rachel, chase, jun, sanders, kate, andrea, and all my wonderful art friends XD.
wednesday was girls night, so i met up with dear bekah, miranda, rachel, elise, tori, and karen, and we played games, laughed, ate coffee chocolate cookies and drank hot cocoa.

hmm, nothing much else. thursday and friday are my relaxing classes, 4D and Art History, so nothing really to say about them.

thursday night's 'The Office' was sad, becuz not only was Andy Bernard, whom i love, was acting like a complete idiot, but Jim admitted that he had feelings for Pam, leaving my poor sweet Karen brokenhearted. ah...the drama. however, 'Scrubs' totally made up for my sadness with its Musical Episode: some patient [STEPHANIE D'ABRUZZO FROM AVENUE Q] gets a brain aneurysm, and sees her world as one big musical...from the doctors explaining that her feces might show what is wrong with her {it all comes from poo} to JD and Turk explaining their close friendship {Guy Love <3}. gosh, i should watch that show a lot more; its funniness and seriousness can mix together and communicate a meaningful moral.

yeah i know i'm just speeding through the rest of the weekdays, its cuz i'm in a rush to get this entry over with, so i'm meeting up with a friend in less than ten minutes. alright so...ciao!

Tuesday, January 9, 2007
hola chicos and chicas! how be ya'll? sigh, saturday is creeping up on me, the day that i move back to pratt. its good 'cuz i deeply miss my roomie, my friends, and my lil pink side of the room. yet its bad cuz i'll miss buggin my sister, my family, laughing my head off with the youth, laughing the rest of my body off parts with jess, hanging out with c-hall [which i hardly did this break ><], and doing absolutely nothing while everybody else was suffering elementary, middle, and high school. which reminds me, i should at least get started on my packing by dragging up my suitcase...

last saturday was my first working day, once again with mrs. z. ^_^ aaah, the pleasure of helping little children painting. i miss how at times i'd spend most of the class with one particular kid, and sometimes the kid would open up to me on what's happening with his/her life, and ask for my advice. i also miss being up to date on whats new and popular in the kid world. last year, for the elementary schoolers, the rage was tamagachis, and High School Musical. the first class i assisted, kept discussing puffle caretaking. i'm not exactly sure what that is, but i think it has something to do with penguins as cyberpets.
and of course, what i miss most about teaching...MY OLD STUDENTS! in the second class i reunited with jeanna and christina! my two favorite little asian students. their mom, who is an NYU teacher, and also loves me, was so thrilled to see me again <3

monday was even better... in the second class, which started at five, were the same students i had last year at that exact time: little molly, michelle, annie, sydney, joanna, emma, and melissa [along with luoan and laura, whom i had last year as well, and irena, monikas best friend]! omg they are seriously my favorite class and with whom i had the most fun memories, from joanna's rage against her Mermaid oil painting, to Annie grabbing my arm and saying "you are not leaving until i finish this painting". sigh, too bad i wont be able to see them next week, hopefully i can come back and teach again in may.

sigh...though i only worked two days so far, it reminded me just how much i love art, as well as how much i LOVE young kids. hee hee, when monika has kids, i'm gonna spoil them rotten. ^_<

sooo...anything else to look forward to this week? besides work? weeellll



grace and i will be seeing this wonderful broadway show on sunday! why? not only because its one of the best shows on broadway, but becuz the beautiful johnny tartaglia's starring as lumiere! hahahahaha. its worth every penny to see him pull that off.

...i know it may seem too soon, but i'm already designing another layout...a much more elaborate one at that. hopefully i can upload it on the computer before i leave. what will be the new layout? well, its gonna be red-themed, which i don't think i've done yet. also the girl above [judith] will reappear. for the layout lyrics, i'm debating whether to put utada hikaru, or parts of willie wisely's "through any window". decisions...decisions...

so work + babysitting monika + creating a layout + packing + teaching bible study [YES I AM!!] this friday = pure chaos! and how am i working that out? sitting in front of this computer and doing nothing >< go me.

Thursday, January 4, 2007
Woohoo! Happy Belated New Year dear friends. 'Tis the year two double-o-seven. what challenges and obstacles await us in these 360+ days? Only GOD knows.
Looking back at 2006, I find that this is one of the few years that has dramatically changed my life. Well duh! Exactly one year ago around this time I got my Pratt acceptance, then at summer I bonded more with my church and school friends, before moving to New York and experiencing the college life. Have I grown? I can honestly say I did; I've grown in GOD definitely, and people commented I have matured phsycially (as in change of style...and I hope that's all o_O) as well as intellectually...not as in the expansion of my knowedge of science and math [psh...in fact i've dumbed down on those subjects], but in the way I communicate and express myself. Interesting neh? Especially since I consider myself a buttheaded idiot ^^;;

My New Years Resolution? Yes I am actually trying to create and carry through some. One: to continue praying for direction. As time progresses, I'm going to find myself more an dmore on my own, so I must ontinue to focus and accept that God's plan is what's best prevail and that it must prevail. Two: to leran to love everyone! I'm suprised when friends not that I'm not the kind to hate. I guess I supress my emotions well, cuz there are times when I've hated people to the point I wish them to be non-existant. ugh how ungodlike and hypocrytical! So this resolution I just gotta carry through, cuz how could I say I love GOD et hate his creation? bleh ><
I didnt mean to make that part dark. I swear that that is not how I usually feel. Hmm...this automatically reminds me of how my C-hall friends categorize me as 'complex', which to be honest I find hurtful. am I really that complicated? Do they have trouble pinpointing who I am??? If I come across that way...oh goshdarnit ><

Gah! I am done with that self-questioning rant, and I feel a little better, so let's move one to my Chicago Adventure!

[Alright so not the best transition, but I had to do it one way or another]. We leave the day after Christmas {I'll say at the end what I received} at 6:30am to start our thirteen-hour drive. Why drive? its cheap and mom loves gazing at the view. I hate sitting for long hours at a time yet I manage to pull through. Though I must announce: I DROVE THE ENTIRE STATE OF OHIO! 400+ FREAKIN MILES IN A LITTLE OVER 4 HOURS! BOOYAH TO THAT BRO! Mom rewarded me with an Ohio souvenier spoon.
So we arrive past seven Chicago time, meet up with my uncle Tito Ray and eat out at a Chinese Restraunt.



This is only 1/6th of the skyline. Pretty right? Its a very clearn, uncrowded, less noisy city.



At a distance, you can see the train traveling above the streets, instead of traveling traditionally underground. That's one klittle aspect that I love about Cihcago, you dont need to journey into some underground world to ride the subway, instead you can see them pass through buildlings, or in between the highways. The only thing that annoys me about Chicago is that everything closes at ten, and people leave. Sigh, you just cant beat the rhythm of that City that Never Sleeps, all the way on the East Coast. What I find funny about traveling through different states is how little I know of geography. Like in Chicago, There's a highway that leads to Wisconsin...WISCONSIN???WHAT??? Apparently Illinois is right below Wisconsin and above Kentucky...Kentucy?? Where did that come from? o_O [Yes, I had to include that cuz it keeps nagging my mind]

Alright so our first day in Chicago was spent in the Art Institute. With my new Pratt knowledge, I aprreciated the paintings, which before I would casually glance at. I would be thinking 'Wow! I love that use of color!' or 'Damn, this piece creates an interesting perspective'. Or if I saw some Roman sculpture, I'd be like 'Ah, this painting is from the 4th Roman style' or 'This statue looks like its a copy from the Parthenon frieze'. Call me a geek but hey, I'm learning. That's the whole purpose of a Museum.
Now this Art Institute is the home of many famous paintings, such as Wood's 'American Gothic' or Van Gogh's Portrait. Of course I took pics but my camera, without flash, is best when the area is ABSOLUTELY STILL, which doesn't help since I have shaky hands. Oh well. Afterwards we go to the Millenium Park, which was built recently, where there is an ice skating rink and a park Grille.





Pretty place neh? My uncle mentioned that some weeks before, a big event went on...*gulp* could he possibly be referring to the Midwest Conference? The one Mr. J and H attended? >
Alright so the next day, which was last Thursday, was a trip to the Field Museum. The amazing part was that my ancient friend, King Tutankhamen was being exhibited. However his trickets to see him were sold out until he leaves. Damn. What a great story to share to my Professor Dr. Monroe. Instead Monika and I pranced around the animal exhibits.



One particular display was comparing scyphozoas to humans. For the mollusk, they displayed a small jellyfish, for humans they exhibited this little Belle doll. Well at least I thought it was funny so I took the pic.



Grrr. KITTY! >^.^<



Monika at the Egyptian store >_^

Since mom felt bad that we were unable to see King Tut, she bought me a miniature Tut Bobblehead ^^. Then we decided to walk around the city...as I said before 'twas lovely to walk around through clean streets.



This has got to be the weirdest McDonalds I have ever seen. It was two floors with escalators inthe middle, the first floor is where you order, the second floor there's an ice cream booth. I didn't take a picture, but on some of the 2nd floor tables, when you touch the top, lightning or green static rays appear and follor your hand movements. O_O



Alright so Friday, our last day in HCicago, we venture to Medieval times! Last time I went was when I was like, eight. In case you dont know what it is, you are provided dinner and entertainment of knights jousting and fighting with actual swords and medieval weaponds. We were assigned to root for the yellow knight (who thankfully won the overall tournament and was the hottest night there <3) and we got front row seats. The picture above is my view. At the opposite side is where the knights and their horses enter, and above the entrance is where the King and Princess sit.



Monika!! Now at one point, the princess ties a ribbon to the lance of each knight, in which the knights give this ribbon to one lucky lady in their respective audience. Guess who our yellow knight gives the ribbon to? That's right Monika! He smiles and lowers his lance, letting Monika take the yellow ribbon that reads 'Queen of Love and Beauty'. Exciting right?? But in consequence, she is forever subjected to endure ridicular by me and my uncle, as well as deal with my overly proud mom XP.
I might as well list what delicious food we ate while watching the tournament: chicken, vegetable soup, steak, garlic potato, garlic bread, and a sweet castle pastry. Yumminess. However to add to the castle's medieval authenticity, we had to eat all this with our bare hands ><. One napkin wasnt enough to wipe all the chicken and steak grease.

so overall, hcicago was definitely worth the 14-hour drive. Tito Ray is such an awesome uncle, and I can see that he is so content with his single, independent life. I dont care what my friends say, but I can see myself living my uncle's suave lifestyle ^^
...ookay I've written a shizzke-load of stuff so I'll break for now. Later on I'll post up pics of little Elliot's Christening <3

oh yeah, thanks to all those who gave me my presents! let's see what I remember who gave me what:
Lucy: Frosty the Snowman DVD
Ben: Darth Vader Christmas Stocking
Ate Marah and Kuya Lin: Winter Vest
Tita Lota: nice green handbag
Tita Eden and Tito Dennis: Green handbag
Corey: cute blazer
Mico and Carol: Nightmare Before Christmas Wooden Calendar <3
Mom and Dad: Earmuffs [which helped while in Chic], a blue knight and horse figurine, and bobblehead Tut
Tito Ray: moola ^^
Deseos: Aero long-sleeve
Jessi: A Green I-Dog! Which i named 20X6

there's prolly a lot more that i cant remember ><