Ordinary Asian

#26acts #act1

2013-02-06T12:13:00.002-08:00

I'm sure many of you have heard of the "26 Acts of Kindness" movement that Ann Curry sparked, but for those that haven't, it's a joint effort to honor those 26 lives that were lost in the Newtown shooting. After the senseless traagedy, many were asking "What can I do?" The answer was to utilize social media to have people commit to 26 acts of kindness in memory of each life lost.

There are lots of examples that you can find online, but here I'll record my own acts of kindness. Here's to hoping that they inspire acts of kindness within others...

Act 1: I paid for and prepared a washer and dryer in my dormitory laundry room. I really wish that whoever was on the receiving end saw the note, looked more into #26acts, shared the experience with friends, and went on to spread some love him/herself.

(1) pay (2) add detergent (3) add fabric softener and clean filter (4) leave a nice note

Get involved! For more info visit http://www.facebook.com/26acts.

Feel free to share your acts of kindness to inspire both ideas and kindness in others.

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle and the life of that candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." - Eddy

Dorm room Makeover!

2013-01-24T18:51:00.001-08:00

So, my roommate doesn't know this yet, but I redid our room this afternoon. I rearranged where all the furniture is, including the location of my bed. Surprise?!

I needed a very real reminder that I am in control of my life and that nothing is set in stone. In a physical manifestation of my internal desire for change, I moved everything around and I am very happy to report that I think the new layout is phenomenal.

Everyone should try it out. Take some aspect of your life that you view as permanent, and subvert it. Who knows? A new perspective might be just the thing you need.

Our phenomenal room!

Be jealous!

Laptop Labyrinth

2013-01-24T18:39:00.000-08:00

My computer is a lot like Super Mario Brothers. I remember getting SMB for the Gameboy Advanced in 3rd grade. I was obsessed! Sure, it was fun, but what really made it addicting was the knowledge that there were all kinds of hidden content there that I couldn't access. I just HAD to find all those star coins and secret hidden feathers of magical flight granting ability, etc.

Well, in a much less fun way, my computer is like SMB to me. It's actually palpable how much I do NOT know how to fully utilize it. I mean I only just learned the shortcut keys for enlarging and shrinking text (ctrl+shift+< / >). Actually, let's not even talk about hidden functions, programs, apps, etc. I don't even know how to use the blatantly apparent functions on my computer. For example, I'm sure half the buttons on the top row of my keyboard could be life-changing, but I just can't be bothered to check them out. Home, End, PgUp, PgDn? I'm 100% sure I could greatly improve my life efficiency if I could just learn how to properly utilize them and incorporated them into my technological vernacular.

Bottom line: technology is amazing! but what use is there in constantly upgrading to the next level, if you don't ever use any functions beyond the most cursory Microsoft Office and Internet functions?

Lau

2013-01-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

Eyes shut. Door opens.
Scritch. Tap. Cough. Sniffle. Crinkle.

The rebirth of the blog

2013-01-22T13:32:00.000-08:00

I haven't written an entry in a while, and part of that is because of this thought that I've become a new, more mature person since coming to college. There was a pseudo-shameful sentiment attached to my old writings wherein a younger, barely post-preteen Anna resided, and I didn't want new friends to see me in that way. To better present my point, it's like admitting that you watched Disney Channel shows growing up. It's so uncool these days to admit that you watched Hannah Montana and co., but everyone did! We all keep our ignominious TV pasts to ourselves, but then when someone finds the courage within themselves to confess their love for say One Direction in public, everyone suddenly unites in their shared likes and it almost becomes cool to say you used to watch the Power Rangers, etc.

Returning to my original point - random tangents not being something I've lost in my questionable maturity - I had a bit of shame in my past blogs and even just the name of this blog (Ordinary Asian?) and didn't see fit to continue on this forum. However, I've recently gotten a bit of an itch for the keyboard and just want to blog blog blog! My first consideration was that I could just tweak my old posts to smooth them out and have them be more reflective of my current person. My old entries are like a public snapshot of an old diary - so embarrassing! Of course, I almost immediately realized how absurd it would be to change my past for fear of what others might think of me. Instead, I'm choosing to openly declare that yes! I was a dorky kid in the past, and that I am a dorky kid now, and that I'd be really upset if I wasn't a future dorky me!

And that was all simply to say, I shall resume this here blog.

As told by...Ray Hou?

2012-01-07T20:57:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! So I'm in college now and it's a blast! It's also lots of stressful days and sleepless nights but overall I'd say I'm loving it! Anyhow, this post will be a guest entry by the phenomenal Ray Hou. Enjoy!

September 15, 2011

Hi everyone! Anna said that if I wrote something she’d put it up on her blog. I’m a bit too lazy to actually blog for myself—in fact, I told Anna I’d write something sometime in June. Oops.

So who am I? I’m Ray! I’m still stuck in high school, though since Anna hasn’t really posted since she’s gone to college I suppose this blog is technically still a senior blog. I’m a huge science geek, though I suppose anyone who finds calculus entertaining is probably a bit of a math geek too.

Over the last summer, I participated in a volunteer teaching program in Taiwan called AID Summer. Out of all the summer programs I had wanted to attend, it was actually lower down on my list; I had unsuccessfully applied for several science-oriented programs. That’s not to say it wasn’t completely and utterly awesome.

…Maybe not completely awesome. The first week was rather boring. It was essentially an orientation week for the teachers-to-be, except they insisted on teaching us in English…when none of our teachers could actually speak English. Quite frankly they could’ve taught it in Chinese and it would’ve been more efficient. Then again, all the useful material they taught us could’ve been condensed into 30 minutes. Anyhow, it was a good opportunity to make friends and just chill.

The two weeks teaching were pretty intense. Each day we’d have to prepare lesson plans and material for class—not as easy as it sounds. Realize that we were trying to teach English literally from ABC’s, except they were already in at least 3^rd grade. Singing your ABC’s might be fun for kindergarteners, but these kids are a bit too old for that. On the other hand, they don’t have the patience to straight up learn it lecture style either, and that’s boring anyways. The kids were predictably rowdy—summer is still summer in Taiwan—but they grow on you. I had 20 in my class, which took the ones who knew the most English, so we were able to read some Dr. Seuss and stuff. The teachers at the school had all the students mob us on our last day; cute, but they nearly buried me. I had a good time messing around with my group whenever we had off-time; mostly spent playing Contact.

One of the things that bothered me was the reporters though. I always got picked because I was one of two people who had fluent speaking Chinese, but you feel like a tool doing it; you can’t really bash on the program, even though its management could use some improvement. Oh well, part of the job.

Anyhow it was exhausting, but pretty fun. Met a lot of Asians in the program (as if I didn’t know enough already) who I’ll be keeping in touch with; they’re all really funny, and there are plenty of sketchy/hilarious stories to go around.

Oh, and school (still) sucks >.<

Almost graduated

2011-06-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

Graduation is almost here! It's strange thinking that by this time tomorrow, I will have had my diploma in hand and will no longer be lying on all those job applications, saying I'm a high school graduate (I'm banking on the fact that by the time they process my application, I will already have graduated. shh) I feel as though I know what I should be feeling, but it honestly hasn't sunk in yet. It's kind of like when I turned 18. You know it marks a significant turn in your life, but you can't quite grasp the full implications.

So, what is this nearly graduated 18 year old doing with herself these days? Why roommate hunting of course! Georgetown offers this program known as CHARMS wherein you get to eharmony style online date for a freshman roomie. Sounds great right? Well, only mostly.

The pro is the obvious: you get to choose your own roommate. You get a say in who you have to brave the upcoming transition with. At the very least, you know you'll be rooming with someone who will be giving you a chance. You both chose each other, so you know they at a minimum would like to be friends with you (unless you both previously reached an agreement to not be friends...to each their own?).

The con: you get to choose your own roommate. It's an exhausting process and at the end of the day, you know that if this doesn't work out, you have nobody to blame but yourself.

In the meantime, I'm having a great time meeting new people and it's been great getting to know everyone even if they won't all be my roommate. It's reassuring knowing that these people who up until now were just a far off sentiment are now becoming real to me. I know that they're having just as awkward a time of this as I am, and that we're all starting on some sort of common ground. See, it's interesting that although we come from all parts of the country - from places where ShopRite doesn't mean anything and New Jersey is just that little state below New York - we all have things in common. For one, everyone watches the same television shows, listens to the same music, and reads the same books. Alright, so we don't all watch and listen to the same stuff, but we could. So there.

First blog in nearly a month

2011-05-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

There's this sign by the high school, near St. Mary's Cemetary that never fails to humor me.

I always find it funny that they have signs labeled "Hidden Driveway." Why have a hidden driveway if you're going to put a sign in front of it? Okay, I understand that there are probably some practical reasons for its presence, but nonetheless, I think it's mighty ironic.

As for the one by the high school, I've never seen the hidden driveway. Either it references the really obvious driveway it's next to, or the driveway is, as the sign would suggest, really well hidden.

On a different note, I've heard a lot of talk these days about Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the leader of the IMF who was arrested on charges of a criminal sex act, attempted rape, and unlawful imprisonment. That's bad news for this French Socialist who was widely considered the strongest potential challenger next year to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Yea, he messed up. At this point, it doesn't even really matter whether or not he gets convicted - the damage has already been made to his political career. Even if he is cleared, he will have lost months of valuable campaigning time, etc. Imagine the field day his campaign managers must be having...

No, there was no real train of thought to my blog today, but either way, it's my

First blog in nearly a month.

Collegeboard sucks!

2011-04-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

Recall that post from just yesterday when I severed all ties with Collegeboard? Well, I lied because apparently, I am going to sue that son of a gun! Mere hours after I unsubscribed from the site, I receive an email informing me of the following:

What?! How is this ok?!?! I am actually going to sue if I get spammed because of them. In fact, it would be a great way to finance my next four years of life.

Collegeboard sucks!

Food for thought:
Anyone else get this email?
Do you really believe that no personal information has been leaked?
Is there actually some legal basis we can sue on?

Kevin loves me

2011-04-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I am Kevin Sun's biggest fan!

I take great pride and effort in my stalking of this sophomore. In fact, I think that everyone deserves to discover the joys of stalking Kevin Sun, so I've decided to share with ya'll my findings to date.

A seemingly ordinary music folder, the inside flap of mine hosts my beloved "Kevin Log." Recognizing that you are seeing it backwards, I will include its text below:

2-7-2011 10:21 am
   Kevin initiates conversation
   - evidence of progress
10:35 am
   Kevin's address of residence acquired
   - commence stalking
10:36 am
   Kevin called me mean
   - take 3 steps back
2-14-2011
   Kevin admitted to feeling lonely during my 2 day absence
   - phase A complete
   Wished Kevin a happy Valentine's Day
   - ignored
   New information acquired
   - one 10 years old brother
   - birthday in January
   - 16 years old
3-28-2011 10:20 pm
   Friendship Facebook official
   - phase B complete

With each passing day, new progress is made. (For the record: Kevin friend requested me!)

Remember this, my fellow Kevin Sun stalkers, regardless of how unresponsive he may seem, do not grow disheartened because my experience has shown me that perseverance is key. Though he may ignore me most days and almost daily directs an exasperated sigh my way, I know in my heart that

Kevin loves me

Romcomdom

2011-04-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

In my spare time, I also freelance as a word creator.

Evidence A:

it was a good movie

just didn't meet my expectations

and I was getting kind of tired of this generic

romcom fare

idk...

says I who watch

kdramas

the most generic romcoms of romcomdom

"Romcomdom." Use it!

I'm done with college applications!

2011-04-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

I remember joking back in December how Hofstra University had sent me an email everyday reminding me of their application deadline, and then on the date of the deadline when I rejoiced at never again receiving an email from them, they sent me notification that they'd extend the deadline by 4 days for me. Four days later when I still had not applied to this school, I assumed that that would be the last I'd see of that college. And how wrong I was because four months past their "application deadline" I received an email:

"Hofstra deadline extension granted"

Most of you are probably wondering why I haven't just unsubscribed to their emails. It's because I foolishly kept believing that their deadline was actually going to be over and that at that time, naturally I'd stop receiving emails from them. Little did I think that over four months after their supposed deadline I'd still be receiving spam from them. Well, no more because I have officially unsubscribed from Hofstra University!

Yet another demon in my life that needs to get the message is Collegeboard. Yesterday, they had the audacity to send me an email reminding me to apply for the next SAT testing date. Uhm, I don't think so!

"Anna, whatever you want to be, college can help!"

After years of having been tormented by this website and their "Questions of the Day" which I had redirected to a separate email address, I have at last unsubscribed from Collegeboard, and good riddance! Few moments in my life have been more satisfying. Through seemingly small measures such as these and regaining my identity on Facebook, I feel as though I am reclaiming my life. At long last,

I'm done with college applications!

Rutgers 2015?

2011-04-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

So, today was interesting, to say the least...
*warning: today's blog is going to be in that long-winded narrative style I occasionally do

I got up this morning and drove to Amy's house, whereupon we went to the high school to turn in our absence notes. Afterwards, we drove down to Rutgers to attend the SAS Honors Program Open House. There was lots of food there, so Amy and I proceeded to eat our feelings. jk. sort of.

Don't judge! There were so many options, so instead of choosing, I just tried a bit of everything :P

The apple juice that they had there was good, but somewhat impossible to open, or so we thought until Indraneel showed up and owned us.

The left one shows off my skills and in the right one, Amy is demonstrating the proper technique for stabbing open cardboard containers filled with liquefied fruit. In all honesty though, it was good apple juice. Just ask Amy; she had three :)

After a bit, the other got there. Others as in Amalan, Greg, Sue, and Tony. Anvita, Srishti, and Holly were also there, but they opted not to share a table with us miscreants. Interesting fact: us East Brunswick students were the only people there who went without our parents. Weird eh? Anyhow, we tried to listen for a while, but it just didn't work out.

Greg and Amalan playing tic tac toe. Tony er....

In the end, we were left with no choice but to ~~sneak out during break~~ mysteriously appear at the Menlo Park Mall. While there perusing different stores and considering the purchase of a rabbit, we ran into guess who? Steph and Stanley of course! I almost convinced the nine of us to take pictures with the Easter Bunny, if not for Sue's irrational fear of the costumed creature. *sigh*

Deciding that we had been absent for a while now, we decided to return to Rutgers. It was only through sheer coincidence that we happened to be there when they began serving lunch. The food was nice, and we talked with lots of people, including this one man by the name of Dean Nazario; he was really cool. He actually managed to pull off spectacles and an ear piercing, and gave us quite a thorough background of the Philosophy program at RU.

It was snowing today!

As the luncheon came to an end, people began to leave for a tour of Jamieson Hall, one of the dorms on Douglas. However, we decided that visiting David Kolchmeyer's dorm would be a more accurate representation of our potential future dorming situations, so we drove up to Busch instead. Let me just say that his dorm almost convinced me to go to Rutgers. Their rooms are mad nice! There was however, the peculiar presence of a Lady Speedstick in their living room :O That was more than compensated by the comfiness of their couches though.

Wow, this post is really getting long, so I'm going to just give a bare bones description of the rest of our afternoon: Amy, Brooke, and I went to Easton Ave for Boba (isn't it BaBao in Chinese?) Tea where we ran into Bridget and Tesia in a parking lot. After that we went to Loews and watched The King's Speech. We would have stayed and watched The Adjustment Bureau too were it not for a Science Olympiad party I had to attend. The party ended up being crazy fun! Neil was super awesome by lending his house and cooking crazy tasty food, and I ended a night of poker with a final winning hand of a Royal straight! I'm really going to miss all my Olympians and may even consider visiting them next year <3

Somewhere mixed into my day, I cried for the first time in a long time. All in all, I hadn't laughed so hard or cried so much in quite some time; it was honestly a great day in the life of Anna Dai (note: to appease Kevin Sun, I have corrected my name on Facebook). Today was a really nice reminder of all the people I've been blessed to have met during the past year. It also completely confused me in that I have no clue where I want to go to college. Actually, you know what? Let's just bypass this whole college dilemma:

Rutgers 2015?

Reader Response

2011-03-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

It's never occurred to me to have a Reader Response, but I received a comment today that kind of demands a response.

Comment:

Anonymous said...

One question: What if the school you know you will have a better time at is extremely expensive, while the other school that will also get you where you need to be is extremely cheap (say you got a full ride)? Does this change things? I know it's hypothetical but you will probably have to make this choice (just as I have).

Hi Anonymous!

Just for you, I'm going to be open about my options. As of now, I've gotten into Georgetown (McDonough), NYU (Stern), and Rutgers. I've also been waitlisted at Washington University and Duke. At this point, it should probably be relatively obvious to you that I'm considering an undergraduate major in business. Without any financial aid, Georgetown is (rounded sums) $58000, NYU $60000, and Rutgers...I'm not sure, but I got a full ride. In the field of business, Stern is one of the best schools there is, and will provide me with access to great internships and career opportunities. However, I think I'd have a better time at Georgetown, which seemed more laid back when I visited this weekend - and I loved Washington D.C. As for Rutgers, while I recognize that McDonough might not be as intense as Stern (and who knows, it might even be better...must do a little more research), the gap between McDonough and Stern is much less significant than that between Rutgers and Stern. On the other hand, while McDonough and Stern are of comparable prices, Rutgers is significantly less, or non-existent.

At the moment, I'm favoring Georgetown, for the reasons I mentioned in my previous entry, but who knows, that might change. Before making any decision, I'll have to visit Stern, see where else I get in, and have a serious discussion about how I'm going to finance college with my parents. I did receive a scholarship from all my colleges so far, but even then, they're still very heavy financial burdens, and I may very well choose Rutgers in the end.

I'm pretty sure I didn't answer your question, but I hope that at the very least, you now know that someone else is in a similar predicament. I'm curious though, what decision did you come to? Whatever the case may be, I hope you're happy :)

To a Bright Future

2011-03-27T18:12:00.000-07:00

Like many, I've had college fore in my thoughts of late. Now that we're actually starting to hear back from certain places, I've reached a few conclusions and since this is my blog, I thought I'd share.

For a long time, I saw college as a stepping stone to something else - a springboard to the future. However, I've recently begun to recognize that college is a step in life, in and of itself. It's four entire years of my life. Rather than choose the college I go to for a certain program that will be beneficial to a future career or salary, I'm going to choose where I go based on if it's somewhere I'd like to spend the next few years of my life.

You've probably already reached this conclusion, but this is a new concept to me. I think what made high school less than enjoyable for me at times, was that I saw it too much as a platform to college rather than as a unique period of my life that I'll never experience again. Of the choices I'm currently faced with, I've decided to favor the college that I think I'll have a better time at, rather than the one that'll guarantee me that future career that to be honest, I don't even really know is the one I want.

To a Bright Future

Congradulations Kathy!

2011-03-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

My little baby is all grown up! and headed straight for success. Now, I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but my Kathy got into Cornell!!!

If that face doesn't look like it has success written all over it, I don't know whose does.

Congradulations Kathy!

1 word: Senioritis

2011-03-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

On the subject of English essays...

2nd Semester Senior: I'll probably be late

well

you can't be late forever

so you'll have to write this eventually

and it's not that late tonight

might as well write it now

also

the grade doesn't matter anymore

so i figure

might as well turn in completely poopy work on time

than quality writing late

unless you were referring to sleeping late

in which case disregard this rant

2nd Semester Senior: Arriving late =] 

1 word: Senioritis

Conclusion: he's going to school late and avoiding turning in this essay altogether :P

My TV list

2011-03-01T19:42:00.000-08:00

I like lists. I make many many lists, usually on Sticky Notes. I have a list for blog brainstorm ideas, a list for important dates (graduation, citizenship, etc), a list of college fees, a list for TV series I'd like to follow, a list for TV series I am currently following, and more.

I knocked two items off one of my lists today. While doing so, I thought, why not share my list of TV series I follow. Feel free to recommend other shows I should watch.

Shows I let fall by the wayside -> I watched it, and then I didn't:
- Royal Pains
- Outlaw
- Desperate Housewives
- Heroes (nearly finished it; summer goal to watch entire last season)
- Lost (I wussed out in the last season, but I hear the ending is kind of wtf)
- Gossip Girls
- Vampire Diaries
- Baker King
- Parenthood
- Survivor
- Pretty Little Liars
- Skins (UK)

Shows I just finished this week -&gt:
- Dream High
- My Princess

Shows I'm currently watching -> mostly watch online or On Demand after they air:
- V (watch it!)
- Outsourced
- Storage Wars
- Being Human (BBC; Syfy)
- Face Off

Shows I intend on watching at some point in life but just never get around to watching:
- Law and Order
- Breakout Kings (airs on the 6th)
- SNL
- Glee
- House
- IRIS
- Dexter

That's all I have for now on

My TV list

Pinky promise!

2011-02-27T20:03:00.000-08:00

To borrow a line from Indraneel: "I'm past the point of forgiveness, honestly."

Yea...sorry about the total lack of posts this year. I'll try to be better about it. The thing is, it just really doesn't feel like second semester yet; it doesn't feel like grades don't matter anymore because colleges won't see them. I don't think I'll really believe it until April 1st. Until I actually see those acceptance and rejection letters, it still feels as though they "know."

Rich: maybe we should blog more

me: haha

true that

let's do it!

just not tonight

Rich: indeed

me: I PROMISE to blog tomorrow

Pinky promise!

Chill. Breathe. Relax.

2011-02-15T15:53:00.000-08:00

Yay! First semester, whether we survived it or not, is finally over!

Second semester senior? *pinch* Doesn't really feel any different. It's kind of like my birthday each year - I wait for some grand telling sign or gesture that I'm now one year older, one year wiser, but usually just end up feeling the same as I had the day before. When I turned 18, I thought that I'd, I don't know, suddenly be an adult, but believe me, that has yet to happen.

I thought that the moment midterms were done, that suddenly a giant weight would be lifted and that I'd suddenly become that infamous second semester senior. Truth is however, it doesn't really feel very different at all. Homework? Still doing it, albeit last second, but since when was that something unusual. Senioritis? Caught it back in freshman year. Teachers? Tough as ever. Sleep? Still not getting any. Stress? Sky high. To do list? Mile long. Free time? Tell you later.

I'm hoping that once I know which college I'll be going to, this feeling will abate, but something tells me that it won't be quite as relieving as I've made it out to be in my mind. Anyhow, for the time being, I've decided to try adopting the mantra:

Chill. Breathe. Relax.

Skins and Prom

2011-01-28T20:48:00.000-08:00

I don't think anyone actually understood what I was talking about in my previous post, Thinking in British, where I complained about thinking in a British accent. Well, today I saw an ad for MTV's Skins and was thinking wasn't there a British Skins not too long ago? I Youtubed an episode and as always, I proceeded to read the comments whereupon I came across this:

After watching skins all day, I have a english accent stuck in my head. All my thoughts sound english.

0Sheet0 5 days ago 14

It made my day :D

Confession: I kind of just ignored all the notifications from the help EBHS win Proms Across America contest! group on Facebook until yesterday. It's not that I don't care to help EBHS, I just never bothered to click on any of the notifications, open any messages, or even check out the group in general. But, I did yesterday and I guess better late than never? I'm sure many of you have checked out the group unlike me, but for those of you that haven't, I'd just like to take a moment to explain it and urge you to participate.

It's really very simple. There's a contest in which EBHS has been entered in which the grand prize is a free prom. All we have to do is vote once a day on their website. Students all across the nation are rallying votes, so we really have to get it together to win. It won't be easy, but it's not impossible either. We are currently 1st in the state, and 17th in the nation. So those of you that have been voting, keep voting, and those of you that haven't voted, start voting. And keep up with it!

Just a little update of my experience with

Skins and Prom

Anna: the great Undeclared.

2011-01-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

During lunch on Wednesday, I randomly threw out this little thought that's been buzzing around my head: What if I take a gap year? It was literally just a thought, but the more my lunch table and I discussed it, the more the idea grew on me - especially going to Africa. Afterwards, I shared this desire with my Unit, and they really laid out all the cons and I left IPLE thinking more along the lines of, I guess it wouldn't really make sense for me to take a year off. Here's some thoughts on the matter:

Cons:

1. money

2. parents

3. finding a good service opportunity

4. will it change anything?

I know that these are huge huge obstacles and are most likely going to make taking a gap year impossible, but I also have some valid reasons for wanting to do this.

1. I don't like where I see myself going. As Armaan so aptly phrased it, I don't like that I can see where I am going. It's like I said in In search of happiness, my life is very formulaic, and I don't see the final destination of that formula as somewhere I want to go. I don't like the thought of living according to a plan whose goal isn't even something I think will make me happy. I want to spend some time simply living in the moment, especially while I'm still young.

2. Why Africa? Most obviously, helping people would be a good use of my time. But, I also have a more selfish reason. I'd like to go to Africa to satisfy my curiosity. You hear about the poor conditions in Africa all the time, and when you think poor starving children, you think Africa. I want to go there myself someday and see the state of affairs with my own eyes. Is it really that bad or is it a plot by organizations using the plight of others to make a lucrative profit? I've grown somewhat callous to campaigns to help Africa, and if it really is that bad over there, I hope that the experience would reignite that sense of humanity in me.

3. This is perhaps my biggest reason, and until a conversation with Jared today, I didn't really know how to put it into words. The thing is, I don't know who I am. It's not really so much that I don't know myself well enough, but rather that there really isn't anyone to know. Fundamentally, I lack a definitive personality; I'm a very blah person. I like to think of myself as an easy person to get along with. A great part of that, is that I am a very neutral person. I don't have a favorite...well, anything really. No favorite color, no favorite food, no favorite song, movie, or book. Not even a favorite candy bar. I don't have a field of study that really interests me or a career that I'd love to pursue. I have no real political views; in IPLE, I always take that standpoint that no one else wants because I don't really have my own stance on anything. I've never been in love with a guy. I'm not partial to any academic subject (though I am most definitely impartial to some).

I'm very average. In the beginning of the year, when we'd go to the lab in Macro, Steph and I would fill out our CommonApps. Looking at my grades and standardized test scores, she noted how even though I'm not particularly outstanding in anything, at least I'm consistently mediocre. That pretty much sums me up: good at many many things, but not outstanding at anything.

I don't like that about myself. And before plunging into a future of continued monotonous mediocrity, I'd like the time to take a journey of not only self-discovery, but also self-development. I want to take the time to grow so that I am no longer just

Anna: the great Undeclared.

Food for thought:
Have you considered taking a gap year? For what reasons? (vote in the sidebar)
If you did take a gap year, what would you do? Where would you go?

Good times with Blog It!

2011-01-25T19:20:00.000-08:00

I slept. You heard me right; I slept.

Merriam-Webster

I just napped the best nap ever. I don't care that I just wasted an entire afternoon; I feel fantastic! In terms of dark circles, I can't make any promises that they're gone (I'm afraid those are permanent at this point), but I'm in a much better state of mind than earlier in school.

For those of you that saw me today, the recurring theme was, "Whoa, Anna, you look really tired today..." Well, good job! I was really tired and sleep deprived, and to top it all off, in that awful pre-sick funk where you know you're getting sick but can't do anything to stop it from happening.

Since I've already set the tone for today to unproductive, I decided that I might as well delay my work a little further and blog.

Confession: Rich's comment on Blog It! really tempted me. Seeing his post, just made me ache to write a little on my blog. Think I can blame him when I fail my midterms?

Speaking of Blog It!, thank you all so much for putting up with the spamming of notifications you've received from the group, but as you may have noticed, my little Facebook blog group has undergone a bit of change. My original intent in creating "astoldbyannabanana" had been to foster a blog community, an open forum of discussion. However, it ended up just being a page of "Anna's blog updates" which wasn't at all what I'd envisioned. I thought about why there wasn't more involvement, and concluded that its name was a setback and somewhat confusing. To remedy (clarify) the matter, I've renamed the group to the more appropriate title, "Blog It!" and have also added a few permanent bloggers: Rich, Indraneel, Jon, and Natesh. I'm sure you will enjoy reading their thoughts. Hopefully, this will only be the beginning, and in time, we'll have many many more bloggers, making our range of thoughts even more diverse.

Note: All other bloggers and readers alike are free to share posts or ideas there, or perhaps even join on as a permanent blogger if they so choose :]

I hope you all enjoy the recent development, and that we'll have

Good times with Blog It!

Food for thought:
Know any bloggers you'd recommend we add on?
Would you be interested in starting a blog?
Are there any improvements you can suggest for Blog It!

Why wouldn't we just keep a diary?

2011-01-22T14:59:00.000-08:00

To add to my last post, there was this really funny comment on one of videos which I found necessary to share:

it's not really intentional but every time I pause one of Alex's videos he's always making a weird face

llamamuffinpanda95 5 days ago 4

I've found that she/he's absolutely right. Feel free to try it for yourselves. Let it load (perhaps by watching it?) and then pause it, and click at random moments. It's nearly guaranteed that he'll be making some strange face or another. It probably just means that he's very expressive and animated while speaking, but nonetheless, it's amusing:

Notice how I read the comments. I love comments. I enjoy reading them more than watching the actual videos themselves most times. Ergo, I HATE how Youtube got rid of the comments tab under their videos. It makes it so annoying to watch videos on a person's channel because I'm always having to click back to the individual video links just to go read the comments, which I always do. I just really like seeing how others perceive what I watch.

Actually, this extends beyond just Youtube and other videos. Many people have called me really weird for this, but I actually read summaries of Kdramas more often than I watch them. Don't get me wrong, I still watch a lot of series, but some shows, like Secret Garden, I watched entirely in summaries on Dramabeans. I just find it so much more entertaining because let's be honest television shows get repetitive after a while. The plots are predictable, and there's only certain parts of it that interest you anyhow; especially when it comes to Kdramas. It takes a lot of time (that I don't have) to watch entire episodes and I have to really sit there an watch because don't actually understand the Korean language. Comments and summaries on the other hand, offer a unique perspective and real life takes on the material.

I would actually love to get involved in drama subbing and perhaps hosting a blog like dramabeans, but that would require a few prerequisites:

1. The dramas would have to be in Chinese (that includes Taiwanese ones)
2. The drama would have to be good -> obstacle #1
3. I have time to do it -> obstacle #2. I honestly don't understand how Dramabeans does what it does. Do the people not sleep? Don't they have lives to lead and maintain? Or are they paid to do what they do? I'm not sure. If I ever to go through with this endeavor, I'll be sure to attempt to contact them for advice.
4. That people are actually interested in Chinese dramas -> obstacle #3
5. My Chinese needs to be better -> obstacle #4. I can work on that though, and hopefully one result of this endeavor would be an improvement of my Chinese skills, so I won't let this obstacle infringe on my undertaking of this project.

Conclusion: it's not happening.

Back to the matter at hand: comments. I love love love comments, and here comes the dreaded blogger request: please comment more. I'm sure any blogger would tell you the same thing.

Could've Been Rich McCool:

"I know a lot of you visit, but don't leave comments, so hopefully this will give you guys something to comment on! Comments are really satisfying, I like thinking that my posts are doing more than just being read, that they're also provoking thought!"

Indraneel the Senior

By the way guys, the best way to keep me updating is to 1) bother me about it 2) promote my blog, like Rich did just now and 3) leave a comment!

The concept is really quite simple. Comments are the lifeblood of all blogs. When readers comment more, bloggers blog more. When readers don't comment, blogs slowly begin to die, just like all three of ours and I'm sure others have. But, never fear! because all blogs can be revived. Leave a response; make this a two-way conversation :D Don't leave us hanging. Blogs are essentially written for the writer themselves, but reader participation is what keeps the writer motivated to keep writing. Otherwise,

Why wouldn't we just keep a diary?

Thinking in British

2011-01-22T14:10:00.000-08:00

I have successfully managed to waste a day. I had this brilliant, though completely pointless, conversation with Jared about it:

Jared: What are you procrastinating?
Me: I don't even know.
Jared: Then it's not procrastinating
Me: I'm procrastinating finding out.
Jared: Finding out...
Me: What I'm procrastinating.
Jared: In that case, you're a tad of a wreck.
Me: Ahh. I suppose I am. Though as I haven't yet discovered how poorly off I am yet, I am content to continue my procrastination.

Funny side note: I've begun to think in a British accent. I just noticed that and it's actually really funny listening to myself think. Perhaps I should elaborate. Well, Sonam successfully got me crushing on Alex Day <3 which subsequently led me to discovering, and developing crush #2 on Charlie McDonnell <3. Therein would be the source of my procrastination for the day, along with The Next Great Baker. After an entire day of watching Alex and Charlie's videos (and Tom's, though I only love him in Alex and Charlie's videos and not his own; beats me why), I have found myself incapable of not thinking in a British accent.

Sons of Admirals

This reminds me of a question I was once asked by my friend Sophie. It's been a few years now since she asked me this rather insignificant question, but for some reason it stuck with me. She asked, "What language do you think in? Chinese or English?" I recall saying how I wasn't sure, and proceeded to attempt to catch myself thinking for a few days afterwards. The only point to that story really, was that I am now thinking in a British accent and it is both cool and slightly off putting.

It's strange to think of how malleable our minds are. This one time in China, I was staying with my cousin when I found this old Game Boy (is it just me or does Game Boy look really strange written out?) and the two of us proceeded to play this ancient Pikachu game nonstop for days straight. It was like Super Mario Bros but with Pikachu and black and white. Anyhow, this game had a very distinct "ding" sound that would sound whenever a coin box was hit, much like in most Mario games. However, a week later, I remember trying to sleep, and all I could hear was the music and "ding" sounds from the game. It really freaked me out and I stopped playing. However, for days afterwards, both while awake and asleep, all I'd hear were those sounds. I don't really know how to convey just how terrified and weirded out I was. I was honestly frightened that I'd never be able to stop hearing those sounds.

Again, I don't know why I shared that story, but I did, so there. What's different from this case with the British accent, I'm just imposing it upon my thoughts. It's not like I'm hearing their voices and what they're saying; just my voice and my thoughts in a British accent although I don't know if I could stop it. I suppose the only solution would be to watch copious quantities of Next Great Baker to offset it. And if that doesn't work, there's always Kdramas :P I think it'd be hard to impose my thoughts into a foreign language, but then again, I suppose anything's possible. Anywho, it's all good for the time being. Unlike the Pikachu situation, these sounds aren't freaking me out, and I'm kind of enjoying the
random

Thinking in British