For Paula

A lot of phone tag is involved.

You’re busy with class, anatomy labs, tennis matches, dinners with classmates. Occasionally, a date. Ha!

I’m busy with work, traffic, extra classes, and language tutoring. {Sadly, no dates. Ha!}

Your voicemail is brief, letting me of the next time you can talk to me. After your big test on Monday, you say. It’s your weekly final. I don’t even know if that makes sense. 

When I call, sometimes your phone doesn’t even ring. I’m routed straight to your voicemail, which lets me know you’re studying at the library. I don’t bother leaving you a message. Not because I don’t care, but because I know you don’t want your phone ringing off the hook when you’re stressed.

It’s hard to get a hold of you, but when I do, it’s a relief. To the both of us.

Finally, someone who understands. You are my breath of fresh air.

I reassure you that you don’t need people who bring you down. “Who cares about them! You need to make time for your self.” I tell you to be selfish. You happen to be everyone’s good friend, but what are they to you?

You encourage me to continue pursuing my goals and dreams, even in my darkest hours. You shout in excitement when I tell you about my newest adventure. You understand the extent of my loneliness and that’s why you send me those emails and call me once a week.

If only we could go back to the days of high school. Or even college. Right? How carefree we were then! We did the craziest things together, some of which are too embarrassing to even mention now. Still, we bring the best out of each other.

What a test this post-college experience has been for the both of us.

How I’ve missed you, best friend.

I long for a few more hours in the day

So I can:

• Update this site more often
• Write in my diary on a daily basis
• Respond to emails, write to friends
• Get more sleep
• Talk to my parents
• Clean
• Practice my mandarin
• Watch tv (that reminds me, I’m 1 or 2 episodes of House behind)
• Research

Sigh. Tomorrow’s Monday.

Four words

Kung Fu Girl Riesling

 

Yummy in my tummy. I wanted another glass.

 

A great night with old friends (Caroline and Nora) to celebrate Judy’s bday at Crepevine! I would post pictures, but Judy closed her eyes in 99% of the shots. I think she is allergic to the sound of shudder. Is that possible? Anyway, she had to get all Chinese on us even though it was her bday! We are not letting you pay for anything anymore! {I still love you! Thanks for dinner and dessert. : ) }

Last thing: I finally got to talk to Allen and Ken of the PAK. Best friends unite! You guys are the best and just what I needed after a long week. Can’t wait to celebrate the 24 with you two in SF!

Forever Young!

Finally … Duo Yee and Kevin’s (now known as “USK“) officially went live yesterday! It was a great wedding to be a part of, especially as a bridesmaid. I’m sure I wasn’t supposed to have as much fun as I did but I’m glad that we all did. Ha! Huge thanks to Duo Yee for putting up with our embarrassing stupidity. I hope we made you laugh!

w the crazy with her bf, Luis. They spread rumors/lies. Don’t listen to a thing they say. : )

The cake! Yummy.

Showing everyone a grand time!

Anyway, here are a few things that I learned from the wedding:

1. I will not be getting married for a long, long time. There’s a lot of “Dress! Dress!” involved.

2. Drinking with relatives can be fun.

3. Red envelopes are bomb.

4. Invest in chicken cutlets.

 

For more photos, check out the photographer section of this site!

The Park

 

The wooden bench is still damp

From last night’s shower.

The tree branches hang somberly

In this overcast weather.

Shoulders touching,

I feel the coarseness of your wool jacket against my skin.

Together,

We stare ahead,

Searching for the past.

But no words said can compensate for absence.

Your deep breathing sighs with regret.

My silence fills with woe.

Minutes before sunrise,

We cherish a private moment

Watching the colors of fire blend in the sky.

You shout it aloud for the world to hear

Knowing that it wouldn’t make a difference.

Too late for a reunion,

But too early to say goodbye.

 

不能说的秘密

I just watched a great movie with Jay Chou called 不能说的秘密 (Unspoked Secret).  Such a good movie!! I haven’t seen a solid romantic movie in a long time; that one definitely melts my heart. <3

Sigh. I want to go to China so badly.

School Grounds

I really should be getting some sleep as I have to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn (530 am) tomorrow for my first Riordan Fellows session. But, today was a rather interesting day so I’ll just blog. I’m promising to sleep in 15 minutes.

So I got to visit my College Summit kids at Sylmar High School today. I’ve never driven to the Valley before so I didn’t realize what a crappy drive it was going to be. Haha. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing scenic about the drive except for brown mountains. IHowever, it was great seeing most of my students and talking to Matt. What a character for a teacher. Ha!

Anyway, I got to talk to two of Matt’s 12th grade English classes about career, college, high school, etc. I felt boring – I’m not sure if I really engaged the students. : / I hope (at least) a few of them were interested in the things that I shared. I hope I’m not that out of touch with high school. It has been 5 years …

In anycase, tomorrow I will be going back to school (albeit, my alma mater’s rival). I’m actually quite excited about meeting new people in the RF program! It’s about time that I have some new interaction in my life. I did homework today. HOMEWORK! It’s been a while since I’ve had to sit down and read an assigned book for hours at a time. Oh, the days of trying to finish a 300 page book in a day and writing a 5-7 page paper the next day. Fun times.

Here’s something interesting I read from our homework (from Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People):

“Many people wait for something to happen or someone to take care of them. But people who end up with good jobs are the proactive ones who are solutions to problems, not problems themselves, who seize the initiative to do whatever is necessary, consistent with the correct principles, to get the job done.”

I’ll admit that I was part of the “waiting” crowd for most of this year. I especially remember complaining to David (from HK) during my vacation to Asia about how I didn’t know contacts or resources in China to make my “Linda Goes to Asia 2009″ Plan a reality. Frankly, I was just making excuses for my lack of initiative. I think I’ve done a good job at being proactive so far … I just need to keep up the work!

Random Fact:

A principle that I strongly value is developing and maintaining solid relationships with friends, family, mentors, and mentees. In the past month I’ve reached out to my favorite teacher (Ms. Boyd from Garvey), my College Summit kids, and my old bosses and coworkers at USC. Tomorrow, I’ll get to see Ying. Next week, happy hour with ALI. Reunions always make me happy. : )