"Why must love cost anything? Why does need have to be mixed up with love? Why can't people be like butterflies, coming together in bright sunshine and parting while the day is still bright?"

"Because they are people, not butterflies. To pretend that people can come together, love and then part with no pain or consequences is more false a role than pretending to be someone you're not. Don't, please, convince yourself that you can be with him and walk away from it without diminishing both of you. A moment ago, you spoke of love without need. To sate your need without love is theft. When you agree to be in a relationship with someone, there is always a committment. Sometimes that commitment is only that you will both pretend that it is short-term and temporary. But sometimes that commitment is made only to yourself. The other party never knows it or agrees to it."

excerpts by: Robbin Hobb's "Liveship Traders"

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07262/818671-85.stm

went to harvard this past weekend! I hung out with liam, and my brother <3 we had the most delicious indian buffet lunch, and watched oliver play chess with the old pros in harvard square.

Happy 4th of July! and a belated bday wish for my brother :)
cheng was here this past week! it was good to see him again. also, I have found the greatest apartment on Wall St to live with tiff and kitty this coming year!
ohh, the first pic in this entry is of my reflection in the window of the Uno's restaurant where cheng and I had our first date.. it closed recently and I photographed it for my most recent 2D project... luckily, there's another one near the new apt <3
the second pic is from a visit cheng and i took to the new "ripley's believe it or not" museum in times square. it was so cool!!
i wish i was coming home to visit again before school started, but it seems the end of class and the start of moving into the new place, datewise, will bump up right against each other... not a big deal.. thanksgiving is not too far away :D
seeing oliver this saturdaayy :)

as always, i love new york. and cheng is coming to visit tomorrow!
plus, I get to visit my brother on tuesday for his birthday, in boston :)

I've been back in the city for around 3 days now. I'm just waiting for class to begin, in 15 minutes. So far it's been ok.. the teacher seems pretty cool, and there are only like five other kids in the class lol. my dorm is pretty quiet and empty too. two out of three of my roommates are graduate students, and i still havent met my rooomate, but from what i've heard she's nice. I spend most of my time putzing around the neighborhood and watching cable (and of course doing hw).
Houston was nice while I was home. I liked watching a-dramas with emily, and the chen sibling shopping trips, hanging out with vivian, and eating pho with her and gloria. my family is the best.
I volunteered my last week, at Camp Buckaroo, for kids with cerebral palsy etc, with my brother. We were assigned a camper for the week, and mine, Tess, was so cute!

been listening to old music for the past hour.. lol.

this one's beginning is a little corny.. be warned.....


i remember this song from sometime last summer. i heard it on the bus to impact camp i think. the song's really nice. dunno if i like the video especially


<3

okay so its still the summer at home, i'm working and hanging out with family and trying to be smart about stuff. also, I have been listening to music more lately...

I came home a couple days ago for summer break! I'm in houston for a month and a half, before I leave again for ny. so far, it's been swell :) I've been sleeping a lot, driving around, and working. I really like hanging out with my brother, and watching lots of movies with my sister. I got to see some old friends too, which is nice. My mom is going to asia in a few days with my grandparents, so our family has decided to do something really nice before she leaves <3 Also, if one day, you wake up and your neck is hurting, and you can't get up or turn your head, or even move, ...ask your mother to get you some milk and vitamin c, and after a few days of drinking that with every meal, don't worry it will be fine.

"Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in
the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies,
you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I
know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind."
-Kurt Vonnegut

I am coming to Houston in ten days. can't wait to see charlotte russe, and bay oaks, the golf course, friends, and family, ..even the ford escort. lol. gonna miss cheng.
I talked to Oliver just now.. it's getting so late and it's hard to keep the eyes open. actually that might be the allergies.. also I wake up too early and sleep too late, I think.

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
("The Four Loves" by C.S. Lewis)

I miss my book of Walt Whitman..

"Trippers and askers surround me,

People I meet, the effect upon me of my early life or the ward and city I live in, or the nation,
The latest dates, discoveries, inventions, societies, authors old and new,
My dinner, dress, associates, looks, compliments, dues,
The real or fancied indifference of some man or woman I love,
The sickness of one of my folks or of myself, or ill-doing or loss or lack of money, or depressions or exaltations,
Battles, the horrors of fratricidal war, the fever of doubtful news, the fitful events;
These come to me days and nights and go from me again,
But they are not the Me myself."

"People come into your life and people go. But it's comforting to know the ones you love are always in your heart. And if you're very lucky, a plane ride away."

Happy Easter :)



I made emily a painting for her 13th birthday!

and I'm coming home in 34 days yayay

Freud to Marie Bonaparte, "The great question that has never been answered and which I have not been able to answer, despite my thiry years of research into the feminine soul, is 'What does a woman want?' "

I'm making a cradle for 3D. out of wood! (pics below)
can't wait to come home in a month :D



just cut! now i just need to paint the orphans on one side, and glue / nail it together.

Spring Break

Everyone I know lately is dealing with trust issues. From new friends that you find you can't trust (like this guy I used to talk to in my drawing class who I found stealing my bristol paper the other day), to old friends you're afraid to lose (or really, your old friends being afraid of losing their old friends)... it's been stressful this winter.

psst I plan on running away very soon. just for a short time.
At the very least I'm going to be spending the rest of today avoiding the 12 degree weather. I'll eat my coconut ice cream and pita chips and sleep. :)

i had to make a cardboard glove tonight for 3d class..

Breathe peace

It took today for me to realize that I need to step back and chill. get the work that needs doing done. but then remember to step back and breathe.

This weekend was nice... I was kind of bummed about a hellofa week, so Tiffany took me out to dinner and ice cream on Friday night, and then Katha and Nick came over with pizza and juice and we had pillow talk. Saturday I did a lot of hw and saw The Magic Flute with Katha, at the Met Opera House. and it was free. lol. Sunday I spent the whole day with this guy I love. And as for the past few weekdays, let me just say, that I can't wait for Spring Break and the end of classes.

I had a pretty pretty bad day recently. That evening though, I received some much needed juice and reassurance and it made the whole day seem not so bad.

Happy Chinese New Year! After workin at Phillip Lim on Saturday, I boarded a bus up to New Jersey to hang out with Cheng and his family for the new year and that evening we had a huge seafood dinner. Sunday, we hung out with his friend Michael and Michael's gf Tiffany and saw Norbit which was very funny "Norbit, you open your mouth! How YOU doin??" Today we saw Ghost Rider, which is also pretty good. School's tomorrow :/

Valentines Day was this past Wednesday, and I liked it a lot. Cheng was really nice and gave me roses and chocolate :D , we went to eat at Uno's ( we got my cookie cake for free because of the holiday!) and saw a movie (Pursuit of Happyness) with Jenny.

I liked a quote in the movie where Will Smith is talking about how Thomas Jefferson must've been really smart when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, particularly in the part where he writes that all men have unalienable rights to life, liberty, and

the "pursuit" of happiness.. because perhaps all we can really hope for is to pursue it.

It also snowed this past week and I'm finding it rather inconvenient.

I really like how reflective windows are.



It's still so cold outside. Today, when photographing homework for 3-D, I ended up in a little flower shop window and I thought these tulips were very pretty and reminded me of spring.

RCF Spring Retreat this past weekend: (click to enlarge photos)









more pics here -- http://public.fotki.com/minnowpark/rwc/springretreat/

Yesterday I went to church, came home, finished homework, and hung out with Cheng. We saw Pan's Labryinth (the lullaby music tune is soo chill and get's stuck in your head. it's also my new voicemail, recorded from the trailer, so there's a weird talking voice in the background) and we had dinner at Uno's.

Today was the first day in a long time that I didn't talk to or see Cheng, cuz he was on a roadtrip. But yea... :) I did so much! I woke up late, after ten hours of sleep (!!) had a late lunch, and did all my homework for the weekend. Then Stacey and I went and got art supplies, and stopped at Trader Joes for groceries. It was so crowded! I guess everyone was shopping because the Superbowl's tomorrow but Stacey and I were like uhh ..what's that. jk Then Katha came down and we watched Perfume: story of a murderer. It's such a good movie! I loved it. I was in such a daze after it ended that I wandered into the boys bathroom, and then finally into the girls bathroom, and almost into someone elses stall. Katha, Colleen, Stacey, Todd, and I mosied around suite 4E for a while.
...I think my suite's pretty sweet by the way.
sunday is tomorrow! that means church and printing out of homework andd sleeping.

I remember when mommy used to cook this for me and I brought it to school as my lunch in this same kind of tupperware. Ground beef, and small green peas fried, with white rice mmmmm.
One of my favorite meals ever! I can make it on my own now and I miss home when I eat it sometimes.

I really liked my outfit today

I am in a pretty good mood today. I went to class (we started up again this week). and I got an internship! let's see if this one pans out with better luck than the one at the beginning of the year lol. The head guy at Stelle seems really cool, it's this little Fashion line that you can check out at stelleamerica.com
Stacey and I went art supply shopping, and watched Desperate Housewives. Then, I went to Magnolia Bakery with Colleen and we bought cupcakes for dinner. I got homework done too! I've always been amazed at how fast I can write essays, and wondered what that might say about me. I think I'm hanging out with Cheng tonight, and umm. yup life is alright, just cold.

Let's see I got back to New York Saturday, and got busy! I went to a comedy club thing with Colleen and Cheng that was pretty funny, saw some movies (Stranger than Fiction, Curse of the Golden Flower, and Children of Men), and finally went to the top of the Empire State Building ..when it was at 0 Visibility... haha. Ate ramen and watched an old movie with Yeanna, and had dinner (and cream puffs) with Katha. Oh, and she played in a small chamber concert tonight. Classes start Monday...

new years..

it's my last day in houston!
I couldn't sleep at all last night after saying goodbye to my brother. and I'm a little sad that I'm not comin back to TX probably till the summer..
I woke u early and had a goodbye breakfast with Gloria at the kolache factory before she set of for UT austin. Then, I drove around, dropped off the dry cleaning, went to the dentist (ouch!), and Krogers for groceries. After that, I came home and watched tv, packed, and cleaned the bathrooms. Vivian came over and we hung out for a bit. Emily and I took a little walk. And I'm probably going to sleep early to wake up early and have breakfast with Vivi and then drive to the airport.
I get into NY at 3:30 PM.

Andrea is unfortunately in love with her phone.

She had a tea party today! This evening she is hanging out with her little sis, and is probably going to be a little awkward if she continues to refer to herself in third person.

oh. and she needs to find a new voicemail.

Yesterday, Vivian and I were in my car driving back from Krogers to Bay Oaks, when this dog jumps out in front of my car. !!! I stop and avoid seriously hurting it, as it walks right back down the same street later. However, while I'm stopped, all these cars behind me have to go around while I deal with the hit dog. One red truck decides not to go around though, and smashed right into my rear. The driver got out of the car, yelled at me, and drove off. We didn't even get a license plate!! oh well... yup. That was eventful.
I've gotten in my first and second car accidents this past week. boo. and neither times were my fault! ugh... oh well.
I had dinner with Philip and Vivian at Tokyo Bowel tonight and it was very nice. Came home and watched "House of Flying Daggers" with Emily... and now I'm goin to sleep.
:-)