Happy Halloween, kiddies!

My family is in town for a few days (from Korea!). Since they pooped out early yesterday, I went to El Parador (for the first time) while they filled the house with their cacophonous karaoke notes.

Today, we're headed to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum (a cliché albeit classic choice, I know). Then we'll see what the rest of the day has in store.

As far as Halloween, this will be my first real Halloween... I've never really done anything for Halloween. Kassy and a few of her friends are going to eat dinner chez elle, then go to Damon's haunted house (coworker). After that, we'll check out the Buckelew Farm haunted corn maze, but we'll see what'll come after that.

I'm dressing up as a Wushu Warrior (aka the Chinese version of a Samurai)... What about you? What are you dressing up as?!?

Happy Birthday, Victoria.

So, I went out for my 21st birthday at Sur Real. I just danced salsa and one of my oldest friends Amanda ordered a Stoli Around the World for my first legal drink. Then, I had a nice Chardonnay (Casas del Bosque). I danced so much! and I had a blast!

After Sur Real, we went to IHOP to eat. I am exhausted!.. and definitely a little tipsy.

Thanks everyone for the email/text inbox full of birthday wishes! I love you all!

Now I'm going to sleep off my haze... and tomorrow it's the Wine and Food Festival, the Blues Festival and then the Salsa Social! This will be one great birthday! :D (No alcohol necessary!)

autunno è qua!!

Kassy and I carved pumpkins! This was the first time I carved a pumpkin! :]
(I'm still waiting on her pictures of them together with candles in them)

Here's my design that I drew for it:


And the pumpkin:

victoria drove the air cart...

... for about 6 inches.

BUT STILL!!!

So... an air cart is a real-life hover craft. It makes moving the GMT's 20 tons of glass possible. And IIIII drove it!!!

Scholarship essay: 250 words or less.

I've just submitted this essay for a scholarship.
It's exactly 250 words! I hope I get it!!

Oh, and I answered question #1.

In 250 words or less, please submit an essay on one of the following:
1. Why do you deserve to win this scholarship? -OR-
2. Describe your academic or career goals. -OR-
3. Any topic of your choice.


Café-culture is universal. Whether you’re in Tucson, Cali, Berlin, Mumbai, Suwon, Alexandria or Doha, it’s there, permeating the corners of every culture. So, what do I mean by ‘café-culture’? I mean the same thing about which Monica Bhide recently wrote for the National Geographic. I’m talking about the same emotions you experience when your best friend, who you haven’t seen in years, comes through the terminal door at the airport. I’m referring to the idea that people are relational. People WANT to come together, they WANT to talk and they WANT to connect with others. People don’t want to fight; they want to make friends. The key is finding the “café” that will give them a reason to meet.

In order to better understand the question of why I deserve this scholarship, I looked up the word “deserve”. I learned that the word comes from a Middle-English word that means “to devote oneself to the service of”. So I asked myself, “What do I devote most of my life towards that makes me worthy of this scholarship?” Well, I devote myself to café-culture. My life’s ambition is quite simple; I want to connect people. I want my friend from Duba to one day sit with my other friend from Prague and have a civil conversation that doesn’t end in blows. I’m working towards this idea everyday by treating each person with respect and letting them know they deserve the chance to be heard. That is why I deserve this scholarship.

LOVES IT!!

My friend was having a pretty poopy day and it all ended with this grand finale of crumminess around 9.30pm. She was recounting her terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day to me when I got this brilliant idea.
"What time do you have to be at work tomorrow?"
"Eh.. late."
"Wanna go watch a late night, happy, feel-good movie? My treat?"
"Um... maybe... hang on... ... ... OK."

So we went to go see "Love Happens" with Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston, Dan Fogler, Charlie Sheen and Judy Greer. It's really cheesy, but that's exactly why we wanted to see it.

Well, we both showed up in pajamas, we bought our tickets, we stocked up on theatre junk food and walked into theatre 5... and the ENTIRE room was empty. We had the WHOLE room to ourselves. This is the absolute best way to watch a movie. THE END.

We repeated lines, we talked out loud, we laughed obnoxiously, we laughed at inappropriate times and we even got close to shedding a tear at one point. AND THERE WAS NO ONE THERE TO WITNESS or OBJECT TO ANYTHING WE DID!! Haha!!

Perfect ending to the first day of my favourite month. :D

HAPPY OCTOBRE EVERYBODY!!

I was trying to remember the exact quote, so I googled it, and this blog entry came up. It reminds us not to live as though life is at our disposal. People are not expendable. Moments are once-in-a-lifetime. Money is nothing. Love is everything.

And most of all... life is not promised, so live it!

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

I recommend you check it out. It's a good 5-minute read.