Blue for a day

At Barack Obama's Austin Campaign Rally: One of 20,000 people, intermittent rain, grass that smelt like dog crap, posters doubling up as umbrellas, 2 hours of listening to so-so bands whine about --okay, take a stand against-- injustice and the war, waving to the hovering media helicopter, finally seeing the man himself, thinking it was cool that I was listening to the potential leader of the free world, feeling the energy and American-ness of it all, having a blast.

Sunshiney

I saw two people in school with smeared black patches on their foreheads and couldn't figure out why, until I went to my Psychology lecture and the girl beside me thrust a cup of instant noodles at her friend next to her and said (in a whiney annoying voice), "Could you pleeeeaaaase eat this for me? It's got CHICKEN in it and it's Ash Wednesday!!"
Ohhh.
So today's the first day of Lent, and it's apparently also National Sticky Bun Day and St. Peter Damian's Day (he's the "patron against headaches", according to www.web-holidays.com). Since Chinese New Year on Sunday, there was President's Day and National Chocolate Mint Day on Monday, and Mardi Gras and National Cherry Pie Day on Tuesday. Tomorrow is National Margarita Day and Friday is National Banana Bread Day. Who knew?

It's 81degF out and it's just wonderful. I'm trying to lose the white winter skin by walking out in the sun as much as I can. It's amazing that only last week temperatures were around freezing. My dad told me I should be grateful that I get more than just "... and there'll be showers over the eastern part of the island" on the weather channels here. I agree, Pa :) Spring is GREAT!

I just got an email from Barack Obama. "Dear Gillian, if you're confused about all the debate over Iraq, you're not alone." Aw, what a sweetheart :) Haha. I joined his campaign mailing list so that I could get a ticket for the rally he's holding this Friday. First US political event I'm actually interested in. I hope I get a clear view of the guy. There's gonna be a concert before that too.

Okay my laptop is gonna die soon and I can't find a power outlet here in the study area. Remember, you don't really need that extra pineapple tart. Just walk away. You can do it.

I can't be angsty, no matter how hard I try

What a crummy Monday. Bleaargh. I'm going to sleep.

(See?)

Chu Xi

The UT Singaporeans and visiting A&M kiddies after a filling 'reunion dinner' at First Chinese BBQ in Austin's Chinatown Center. Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Drop An Eyelash Make A Wish

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

And what do bored singles do on V'day? Sell stuff to unsuspecting lovebirds! Like super-cheena notepads/cards/paperboxes/magnets brought over here from Singapore. At least that's what the S'pore Students Association did from last Thursday til today. We even threw in a secret delivery service for recipients living in the dorms. Though we were initially highly doubtful that the items would sell (almost none of us liked them!), and we got off to a rocky start (grand total of $6 the first day...), soon enough the stuff was selling like RotiBoys in '05. Or was it '04? Anyway we made $250 altogether. Yesss. All proceeds will go to funding SSA's extremely meaningful activities (i.e. trying out all the Chinese restaurants in Austin).
It's literally freezing today. But I guess the burning love radiating from everyone's hearts kept the entire school warm :)
Er... I have a lot more to write but right now all I can think of is my bed. Mattress. Whatever. I'm going! Love you all.

Presenting... the ladies of the bible study :)

Meagan, Ebony, Liz, Me, Lynda (not a v good pic, but the only one I have)

Navigators' Evening of Enchantment

The day we felt like princesses...

Amanda, me, Lauren

my Bible study mate Megan and me

Window in the Skies

Greetings from Longhorn Country!

I know it's the last day of January when I...
1) Turn the page of my calendar and see a different vintage painting of idealized Hawaiian scenery
2) Get my paycheck
3) Flush my contacts down the sink

Since my last entry, I've...
1) Had my darkchocolateoreomintfudge ice cream thrown across a street (and caught) by two acrobatic servers at Amy's Ice Cream - hands down the funnest and most horrifying dessert experience I've ever had.
2) Visited College Station, home of our arch rivals Texas A&M. Despite being a UT Longhorn treading on enemy soil, I didn't really feel the hate until I saw people wearing T-shirts like these:
Yikes.
3) Received a book called 'A Nyonya in Texas' from my ever-thoughtful Uncle Leslie about a Peranakan woman's adventures in Houston.
4) Become a loyal fan of Amazon.com for selling books 8 times cheaper than the evil Co-op.
5) Gone to the gym ONCE. Sorry to disappoint, Munzies!
6) Gotten into the habit of doing the New York Times daily crossword - it all started off yesterday, when I saw the clue 'Island nation east of Fiji' and I was like 'Tonga!' and that inspired me to continue filling in the boxes. It's not easy! Some of the clues are filled with puns. Oh gosh I really am a nerd.

Take care, y'all!

Toozday

This morning I made the brave decision to go to Gregory Gym with Kirsten at 730am after work. I think I'll try to make it a regular thing every Tuesdays and Thursdays, since class only starts at 930am. It might work. Those who truly know me will understand just how big of a deal it is. Me, exercising! It helps that almost the entire UT population is addicted to the gym, especially the Singaporeans. Yay for positive peer pressure.

So I did some very light cycling while watching the 2007 Oscar nominations unfold on the TV screen in front of me. (Ryan Gosling is up for Best Actor! Yeahhh. Though I'll probably never see the obscure indie movie that earned him the nomination.) Then I stretched. Then I went to the bathroom. Then I changed. Then I went for class. Hoorah.

Just kidding. There is a point to this entry. We were in the locker room getting our stuff when the emergency alarm went off, and all these alarm lights started flashing really brightly and a voice ordered us to evacuate the building immediately. So we guai guai walked to the nearest exit. As we joined the mass exodus of students (ok not really) toward the doors, I suddenly felt a chilly blast of wind and remembered that it was something like 5degC outside, and I was only wearing my T-shirt and flimsy little FBT shorts! Thank goodness I had taken my stuff out with me, so I put my sweater on. Still... wearing FBT shorts is like wearing next to nothing. That's the whole point. Shudder. The funniest (or most pitiful) thing was seeing the poor swimmers shuddering out there in the cold, trying to coax every last bit of warmth from their damp towels, or huddling tightly together in an attempt to share body heat. As well as the people who had raced straight out of the shower in their bathrobes and wet hair.

I never did get to find out what happened, because I had to dash to another building in my little shorts, change into jeans and go for class. It probably wasn't anything. A prank or something. Might read about it in the Daily Texan tomorrow. But still. A funny way to start the day.

Five Months

Seems like waaay tooo long a period to be away from home. How do people do it?
It seems like school was delayed a week. It was supposed to start on Tuesday, but it didn't open until Thursday at 11am because of freezing rain and snow, and because my Thursday class was before 11 it got cancelled too. So I had a few classes on Friday but they were all introductory and light.
But soon it's all gonna come rushing toward me like a herd of mad elephants. The work I mean. And I guess I'm a little excited to get back into school mode.
I really wish the cold would go away, though. It should have been like this during Christmas. I would've been in the mood for it then. But not when school's starting and I have to trudge through the sludge.. fudge budge pudge... haha got a little carried away there... every morning. But anyhow. I love my job. Best in the world.
And thanks Becks for bringing me the stuff from my family - a Chinese New Year card actually written in Chinese, with hilarious Chinese messages from Beth and Ching, 2 copies of Life!, Hello Panda (which has become a gift-pack-for-Gill staple)... and more. I appreciate it. I really do.
I have my new printer up and running! It scans and copies too! Yay. Oh and today, I neatly coiled up all the wires for my laptop and other stuff with those little twisty things they use for bread here. Nice. I am on the way to the land of the neat. Just watch me.
I just finished reading "Broken Dreams, Fulfilled Promises" by Carolyn Ros (also an item from my Singapore gift pack) and it is an amazing account of a woman's struggle to keep close to God as her husband loses his memory after awaking from a coma. It really spoke to me because the book wasn't just one big melodramatic, tear-jerking pity-fest, but she had some great stuff to say about how to stay close to God during long periods of hardship and sorrow. I thought it was a really powerful story. Look it up on Amazon.
Okay sleeepy. Gonna visit Kirsten's church tomorrow, and their service starts FRIGHTFULLY early: 9am! Haha kidding, I guess I've gotten used to 11am services. Oh whatever. Take care you all.

'Tis the season for multiple photo updates!

WASHINGTON!

Mt Hood: Treacherous but absolutely breathtaking

Making a snow angel is exhausting. Check out my wing!

(L-R) Justin, Nicholas, Aunty Laura and Uncle Wilson...

... and Ryan!

I was going a lot faster than you think!

With my aunt and the snow-covered fir (?) trees

With my cute cousins at Olive Garden

Their neighborhood: The glorious sight that greeted me upon my arrival

A Christmas Break Photo Scramble

Not in chronological order:

With my Dallas Family on my 20th birthday

Jo's Coffee - our favourite hangout in South Congress St (SoCo)

Midnight on New Year's Eve

Jo's again

Christmasss

Mun living her '70s disco fantasy

Mun, Kim, me, Andrea (my new housemate!)The Chins, Mun (who is also a Chin), me, Thomas and Lynn at Kel's 18th

Licking the soup bowls clean at Medieval Times

Getting my bib tied on at Boiling Pot, a seafood restaurant

Soaking up the (winter) sun outside the Four Seasons

Uncanny resemblance?

Munzy and Me

a tale of 2 drama mamas on a cold winter's day in Austin:

Top: Introducing my baby- a poofy white jacket affectionately named Lafawnduh

Washington (State, not DC)

I am now in my uncle and aunt's beautiful red house in Camas, Washington and it's been snowing! Well, it had been until I got here. But now there's a layer of slightly icy, melting snow on the ground and it looks great. Yesterday I went 'snowboarding' down their driveway (which slopes a little) with my cousins and I felt half my age but it was a ton of fun. You basically lie on this little plastic thingy and just keep pushing off the ground to propel yourself forward.

(I realise I haven't seen this much snow in my life. You should have seen me when we were landing in Denver, Colorado, my stopover on the way here. The entire place was blanketed in snow and I was just gawking like some idiot from my plane window. But Hello... it was all white! That's kinda freaky! It was also -8 degC. Eeee. Not for me, no way.)

Of course the snowboarding wasn't too great for my new pristine white poofy jacket, which I've affectionately christened LaFawnduh (pronounced laFONda - refer to Napolean Dynamite for significance). But I got the stains out soon enough with Aunty Laura's super carpet cleaner which she claims she uses for everything.

Okay, I have a ton of photos I still want to post about Munyuk's visit... Aw babe I miss you!! Always remember the blanket thing! We are all connected! Preserve open spaces! Return to Pure Being! But the photo dump will have to wait til I return to Austin.

Backtrack

Austin Pre-Christmas Festivities with Beauty and the Beast, the State Capitol Building, a huge Turkey Leg and the GOP:

Equation

Magnetic Dartboard
+ Pictionary with supercompetitive people
+ Chocolate-covered almond clusters
= FunFunFun Evening

PEEKNEEK

O Happy Day

The Mun has landed.
And she won't shut up about the glorious Austin weather. Well I guess she's entitled to gush after flying in from chilly Charlottesville, VA. Haha, good to have you here, friend.
It was a sightseeing trip for both of us since I haven't really seen many of the Austin attractions either.

Day One: Historic party zone Sixth Street was really fun. I'm still underage, but it was great just walking the street, feeling the energy. The city really lives up to its unofficial motto: Keep Austin Weird. Everything's so quirky, slightly off-beat and random. It's kinda fun getting used to it. Mun really wants to go to Coyote Ugly. We'll do that when we get back.

Day Two: Church, then Trail of Lights with my roomies, Chris and Edward. A mile of Christmas lights and displays from various sponsors (there was this Beauty and the Beast one complete with the clock and the candle and the teapot with her son Chip but I can't remember the teapot's name and that's sad cuz I used to like her so much I had her on my birthday cake one year so can someone please tell me what she was called??) culminating in a huge spiral tree of lights which you stand under and spin with a friend while looking up and everything becomes momentarily psychedelic and '60s groovy and then you fall down on the autumn leaves and laugh 'til you hurt. At least that's what happened to me and Mun.

Day Three: Health-conscious grocery shopping at HEB, then a BBQ dinner, followed by a stop by 37th Street, where all the neighbors put up elaborate Christmas lighting. Again, operative word here: Random. This guy put his stove out in his yard, lit it with Christmas lights and made a kind of seascape out of it. There was a nativity scene featuring Bush and Cheney, and another house welcomed visitors with a large lighted Godzilla. Definitely an Alternative Christmas. After the requisite peppermint mocha break, we headed to 6th St again to listen to some jazz in this dingy but cosy little bar called the Elephant Room. Was mesmerized by the Matthew McConaughy/Ryan Gosling/Jesus lookalike double bass (i think) player, who just kept plucking and plucking with this blank, faraway look in his eyes. Such a gorgeous sound from that massive instrument.

Today: Intense (for me) outlet shopping with Kirsten and Kenaz. We hit all the right shops: Banana Republic, Old Navy, American Eagle Outfitters, Gap, Aeropostale. I mainly looked and coveted and lamented my financial state but got myself some cheap chocolate colored lace-less Converse sneakers. Grungey. I have to watch myself or I'll be strategically ripping my jeans very soon.

Yawn. 4-hour trip to Dallas tomorrow. Can't wait to see the godparents. I'll go now.

FAME

Haha I'm on the UT Website.

http://cns.utexas.edu/classroom

taken at 6:45am. that's why we look so zombified. my dear roomies are the 2 girls to my right. the 2 guys are my great 'crew leaders' who refuse to be called 'boss'. they gave us doughnuts again today for taking the extra effort to pose for the camera. believe me, on other days there's usually not even a hint of a smile at that unearthly hour.

as you can see, they're still looking for people, so if you guys wanna hang out with me at 6:30am cleaning tabletops and testing projector functions do drop them a line! :)

Two More Pics

Becks and I decking the halls

Group shot