wow. first week only... yet so busy!! O_O how to stay sane the rest of the quarter?

well, interesting events that are coming up that i think u guys should check out: the San Diego Asian Film Festival is this weekend, and there will be a few famous faces there! in particular the one guy sadly known as the MILF guy. and he's korean! i wouldn't have guessed. =) anyhoo.. check it out u guys! it's all weekend long! go here www.sdaff.org.

here's some weirdness for u guys =) www.zombo.com heheee...don't ask.

umm... ok ppl please help out with UCSD APSA HIGH SCHOOL CONFERENCE PLEASE! =) Saturday, NOvember 17!! want more info? check out our APSA website and click on "High School Conference"! =) yay!

hahahaa.. hehehehe.e. hahahhahaaaa.. =/
o dear.

FIRST DAY OF CLASSES!!!!
what an exciting new beginning that marks an end... my last yeasr. really? could it already have been that so long? my gosh... am i really already 21? dood, i've BEEN 21. yes i've yet to do anything extremely 21ish. i still feel 20, i forget i can go to 21+ places, and when i go shopping at the market, i can buy ANYTHING in the ENTIRE store. =) the power!!! in any case, need to change gears and get back into school mode. i don't even have a notebook for my first day. =/ i used to be all excited and get prepared. now look at me. =P oh wellz, only two classes today. =) Good luck to everyone!

oh yeah... talking with jason i think i understand now why people would resort to jumping out of 110-story building. they knew they would die anyway, and most likely these were people who had practically no escape from their burning floors. of course it's a last resort, and they must have already exhausted all other options. so it comes down to either being burned alive, slowly and painfully, or jumping out to avoid suffering. still, to be forced to do such a thing... would i do that? i'd much rather not think about such things.. i can't even fathom it. my heart and thoughts still remain very close to those who suffered directly from tuesday's horrifying events...

my last boarding trip last season was mammoth. on the way back jason took me to manzanar, the former japanese-american relocation camp. this "camp" was in operation for 3 years in the 1940s. driving/walking around i felt that we as a nation have learned much from such tragedies and ill-thought decisions. the japanese having attacked pearl harbor had nothing to do with the japanese-americans who lived here in the U.S. and were valid citizens. yet, when america felt threatened and paranoid, the government felt it was necessary to round up all them potential spies and place them in internment camps. that'd do the trick... yes how ignorant of us back then.

yet look what's going on today. it's a freakin disgrace. all this talk about unity and how "america is coming together" in the face of terrorism... we stand united, as one nation, under our flag... the land of the free and the home of the brave. such eloquent words and beautiful phrases, with that moving music playing hypnotically in the background. is that what is really going on here? what becomes of the arab-american and muslim communities? are people blind? do they not see what's going on? america is just as bad as those terrorists for taking out their anger on fellow americans who are NOT white. they're fearing for their lives, and rightly so. one of my friends admits he's scared. their own homes being attacked, businesses being threatened, people getting shot at.. it only gets worse. why are people of color, to this day, still expected to somehow prove their "american-ness"?? why are we told on tv that the "all-american girl" is someone like katie holmes or britney spears? why do people still ask me "when did u come to this country"? i'm actually taken aback by some people's ignorance. i just thought people were not like that... not today. not in california, the big kahuna of melting pots. what an eye-opener this whole tragedy has been... and i've yet to see/hear more.

Tod Rittenhouse, expert in blast engineering explains building collapse on CNN.
some excerpts i found interesting:

There are two reasons why [the WTC towers] fell straight down. One is the structural engineering --how it was designed. And how it fell is really a phenomenon. The other reason is because the impact zone was so high up in the building that the weight of the uppermost floors fell onto the impact zone. Had the impact zone been lower in the building, the structure may have fallen in a tree-like effect, rather than crushing down on itself.

How [can] two 110-story buildings [be] reduced to nearly ground level? How is that possible, that such massive buildings are now nearly gone?

RITTENHOUSE: It's partly because of the type of structure. I'm sure a lot of it has filled the hole that was the basement. It is as surprising to me as well, but had they fallen over, it would have caused greater damage and far many more deaths.

[deo]: sometimes we think that we have it rough
[deo]: but really we dont know what rough is until something like this happens
doRkYjaNeT: and that is when we overcome differences and begin to help each other
doRkYjaNeT: yeah, it is kind of sad that it takes a tragedy of this magnitude to convey that

SO SURREAL... hard to imagine. numb. awestruck. queasy. horrified. scared... need answers....

freaky shit:

The flights that were hijacked were from United and AA, they were numbered as follows:

11, 93, 175, and 77

11 = Today's Date
9+3 = 12 = Tomorrow
1+7+5 = 13 = Thursday
7+7 = 14 = Friday
Hopefully this is a coincidence and the terrorists can't add. but if this is correct there will either be acts of terrorism every day for the next few days or a grand event the last day.

far-fetched? i agree... but scary nonetheless.

something highly disturbing: WARNING: 1 and THIS: 2... 3
How could anyone resort to this? what do u think? what would u do? i'm sorry if u look at these, but i am in much shock and horror....

my heart goes out to everyone involved in this crude... terrorist attack on the U.S... a terrorist attack...

FINALLYYYyYyyyyYyy~~!!! CABLE MODEM AND CABLE!!!! life was quite unbearable without either. =P oh my goodness. never realized how spoiled our generation was until i had to make do for a week without em. the HORROR. computer was absolutely useless (ok maybe that's stretching it), and the only channel that came on was 10. i can only live so long just watching channel 10, which was quite fuzzy. better than nothing though... now i'm overwhelmed by my choice of over 200 channels. i'm like. WOW.

doo doo doooo~ well, summer school is finally over. all i have left are my 2 jobs... and high school conference planning. we need manpower. people please help. PLEASE. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17!!! =)

well, have not blogged in days because right after i got back from the APSA retreat i had to move everything (most of it jason moved for me without telling me!) into my new place. it's much closer to school and a lot more spacious. =) wheee~ come visit me people! i'd like to have some sort of housewarming party or something to that effect. i was planning on having a belated b-day thing for myself, since i didn't get to celebrate my 21st with my friends... hm. should i still do it? anyhoo~ everything is moved in now, but not everything is organized. still have that to do. but i had finals to worry about this week, which, in fact, i just came back from. sadly, im blogging from the computer lab. we weren't gonna get cable modem until the 14th, but now it seems we're going to get it by monday! and we just got a house fone line, which we were planning on not having, since all my roomies and i have cells. we also ordered bottled water to be delivered to our place. seriously, the house is really nice and i like the way we all decorated it. it even has a ,b>mini-bar, and it helps that the bartender lives here. =) muahaha~ since he provides all the alcohol, we're thinking of having an alcohol pot jar on the counter so that ppl can put in bills when they drink. that way makoto doesn't always have to buy it with his own money. well, time to head home. until next time, i'm outtieeee~