THIS GUY.

Whose Line?

Had a department meeting today - lots of talk about safety, goals, etc. Julio encouraged us to work weekends and holidays. Er... Haha. Went out to lunch with Josh, Alan, Sean, and Sal (a new hire from Irvine). Taco truck! =]

We had a farewell party for Steve Young, a director here. Seems like a great guy - didn't know him though. But they had delicious food: empanadas, dim sum, crab cakes, cheese and crackers, fruit, and the cutest little cakes and tartlets.

Came back and just talked and watched TV. Whose Line (!!!), Capture, Criminal Minds, Flashpoint...

T-6 (work) days until the poster session. Super nervous, have yet to start. But I have all the help I could want, and I'm excited!

I've been feeling a lot better lately. Still sort of nervous and unsettled and uncertain, but much better than the past half week or so. Just thinking about the future, in terms of career and just being in the real world... It just feels so unknown. I don't know what I want.

I was talking to Josh today about happiness. How all man really wants is happiness, but in his search for it, he substitutes all of these other things, like a career and wealth. And I feel like it's because people feel like there's no set way to happiness. But there *is* a way to wealth, which might lead to happiness, and so people keep chasing after these false gods in hopes of eventually obtaining happiness.

But there *is* a way. And it doesn't take any of our own doing.

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
~ Matthew 6:33

Luce - One Michelin Star

Went out to an amazingly fancy and rather expensive meal today with the Fro. Or, for today, Mr. Callender. Felt rather awkward (we very obviously did not belong) but it was fun and the food was absolutely delicious. We started with a "taste of zucchini" followed by some bread (personal sized servings and we got to pick the type of bread - like what?).

Pork terrine as an appetizer. 

Brandon had the salmon and I the rib eye. Both were amazingly tender and delicious.

And of course, you have to have dessert! Strawberry shortcake and a pluot custard tartlet.

Adorable and scrumptious strawberry macaroons.

Walked around the city for a bit afterward. It was a gorgeous night out. =]

SF Ballet

Got together with Clarie in the Mission. It was Sunday Streets in the Mission this week - they shut the streets to cars and basically open it to stalls and street performers. Grabbed lunch then headed over to Stern Grove for a free performance by the SF Ballet.

Got pretty lost on the way there - mistakenly started heading towards the Stern Grove Festival Association offices and not the park haha. Made it there eventually though, and caught up with Daniel, who had saved a space for us. =] Pretty amazing. I'm horrible at getting stories from the ballet but it was a great performance of course, and completely impressive. Absolutely wonderful.

Dropped Clarie off and went to service - we had a joint service with GrX Fremont and the Marin Asian Community Church. A pretty wonderful sermon on being a living stone and part of the Lord's priesthood. Had a church dinner afterward which was absolutely delicious - seasoned chicken, pulled pork, kale salad, mac 'n cheese, blue cheese kettle chips, and cornbread. Plus watermelon for dessert. =]

Off to another week of work. Nervous for the poster session, but it's in His hands.

SUP! Paddleboarding

Paddleboarding is honestly one of the best things I've done. Pretty tiring after a while, but tons of fun and not too hard when you have a wide board. We saw quite a few seals in the bay too. =] Really wishing I brought my camera out, but only because I didn't fall in haha.

Grabbed lunch at Barbara's Seafood Parlor. The town is called Princeton By The Sea. Guess Princeton was so awesome they made one in California, because you know, California deserves the best. =P

Came back, did laundry, completely passed out for like 2 1/2 hours. Went down to the guys' room - they were having a few drinks and watching Big Bang Theory. Headed out to dinner at Jack's and came back and just chilled. Watched a bit of POTC on TV before we sent Will and Dmitriy pack.

Just took a shower and watching American Ninja Warrior while waiting for my hair to dry. =P

Archstone SSF v. Archstone San Bruno. Winner: Table.

Work was a bit rough today. NMR wasn't working too well, was feeling particularly stressed about the poster presentation...

Tried to give blood. They told me I didn't weigh enough. What else is new? Going to see if I can try some other blood donation centers with slightly more lax requirements...

Had an amazing barbeque with Will, Dmitriy, Blane, Andrew, and Lucy. Pineapple, onions, bell peppers, corn, tofu, sausage, steak... Grilled peaches are absolutely delicious. I manned the veggie grill and Dmitriy did the meat grill haha. Food was *so* good. Will spent like $300 at Costco and refused to let us pay him back, insisting that most of it was for him. Super sweet. Had a lot of fail moments while grilling - definitely cut my thumb a bit chopping onions. I felt like I did but couldn't find the cut at the time, but I can see it now. It's barely there though.

Had Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars for dessert! Dropped half of mine on the ground when I was gesturing to make a point about something or the other... It was a pretty hilarious moment.

Played pool on a very obviously slanted table. All of the balls just wouldn't stop rolling until they hit the left bumper. Made for a very interesting game. Played with Andrew against Dmitriy and Sid. In the game of Archstone San Bruno v. Archstone SSF, the table wins. (But for the record, San Bruno won. *Super* close game though!)

Went to watch Wolverine with Daniel, his brother Sam and friend Frank. Pretty good movie - mindless entertainment really. More violent, or at least graphically so, than the previous X-Men movies, at least from what I recall. It was a lot of fun though; I'm really thankful that Daniel invited me. =]

Off to try paddleboarding in Half Moon Bay tomorrow! We'll see how that goes haha...

Eventually. I'll be able to eventually.

Lucky Charm?

Got a really nice padfolio from Josh today! Now I have something fancy to carry stuff to interviews in! Plus he got me a little cup of like, cotton candy balls. All different flavors. It's super cute haha.

NMR was super annoying today. Tons of the guests bind to CB[7], but not in a 50:50 ratio with the TMS guest, more like 30:70. It's rather frustrating... Less than 2 weeks to the poster session! Little bit anxious...

They had raffles today. Six prizes, I knew three people who got things - Will (a basket of Amgen swag), Sean (a serving bowl and spoon), and Josh (a set of shirts, like polos). It was especially hilarious with Josh because we were talking about company shirts and company polos just this afternoon, and one of the shirts is a white polo with Amgen embroidered on it haha. Lucy called me a lucky charm, considering I knew three of the six raffle winners, and taking into account the fact that the campus is about 400 employees (even though I'm sure quite a few didn't enter the raffle, it's still impressive).

Pretty happy today, really want to do some reflecting and praying tonight though. I've been finding quite a few more things to work on lately, and I just pray that I might be able to make as much progress as I daresay I have in regards to other things. I'm honestly just so, so blessed.

Perks of Being a Chem Nerd

Really awesome Word with Friends plays.

Motorcycles, Darts, and Love

Legitimately had the strangest dream last night. Also pretty freaky. (This is going to be a very disjointed and random recollection and will probably make no sense.)

I don't actually remember how it started, but I was in a hotel-resembling building, but with classrooms and weird banisters and stuff. Started out with me talking to a friend, somehow got to the topic of love and stuff. Ended up telling me he liked me and tried to kiss me, and I told him I had a boyfriend (which was honestly the only part of this dream that made any sort of sense). Something happened, I ended up hanging off a banister over like a two story drop. 

Climbed down a wall somehow. Ended up in a garage which was pretty much the replica of our apartment complex garage, and was on my motorcycle (since I totally have a motorcycle and can totally drive) with people chasing me. Had to ditch the motorcycle and ran into the building again. The place was suddenly a mall, started talking to people, found some friendly people (who were actually friendly and told me something about what was going on or whatnot). Crazy people started chasing us, ended up in the general "lobby" of the mall.

Was told that people were after me, to stay alive, and that some guy had locked up my motorcycle for me. (Said guy saw me and waved.) Somehow now had my bike with me and decided that the best course of action would be to lock up my bike with my motorcycle (like really?!). Dropped over the railing of the mall, ran back into the garage. Found my motorcycle, locked my bike to it, but not before some guys found me and shot me in the neck with a dart. Ran back into the building (which was now a hotel again), into the elevator. Someone shouted to go underground. Apparently the elevator had underground levels (tons of them!) so the buttons were like normal elevator buttons except after the first floor button, they increased downwards too. Went down a few stories, got shot in the neck with more darts when the door opened on a floor.

Collapsed in the elevator, woke up. Absolutely crazy. Yeah, I have no idea.

A Lack of Spatulas

Work today went pretty smoothly! Started forming the paracyclophane diketones! Pretty much ran the whole thing under reflux for the whole day... Our glassware situation is absolutely horrible though. We basically have no clean glassware (it goes off to the wash and never comes back) and no spatulas... We've actually resorted to cleaning our own glassware now haha. Which you know, sounds normal for like a college lab but it's pretty sad for a huge research facility...

Had another Exec Speaker Series! Senior VP of R/D this time. =] He was pretty awesome - basically turned the entire presentation into a Q/A. Checked out the cafe with Lucy afterward - we actually have options! Apparently the old cafe (before the temp one in ASF5) was way better but this one's pretty good, especially in comparison to the temp one...

Lucy and I stopped by Ali Baba (a Mediterranean restaurant on the bike back that *always* smells amazing) and got some delicious food. Grabbed more Cold Stone afterward from the mall too haha.

We talked a bit with a guy playing guitar outside the BART station named Frank. Seemed like a really nice guy, he's trying to save up some money to take his girlfriend up to the city for a day. He sang us a few songs, talked a bit about some random things. He comes by every once in a while, so hopefully we'll see him again!

A pretty good day today. Tiring, but satisfying. Time to read for a bit then sleep. =]

We Do Science!

Had a pretty awesome time at work today. Felt a bit bad since Maegan basically just watched me mix stuff, filter it, and rotovap it the entire time she was in lab haha.

Grabbed lunch at Specialty's and then she headed off back to SoCal. =[ This weekend was wayyy too short. Super glad she could come and visit though! Love this girl. =]

Maegan ♥

Had yet another amazing day with Maegan! Woke up around 8am, made some absolutely delicious omelettes (cheese, red/yellow bell peppers, tomato, cucumber, a little bit of bacon in mine), and chilled for about an hour until her dad got here (I drifted in and out of consciousness haha).

We headed over to the Ferry Building and browsed the shops there. So much delicious food! Got a macaron and a cannoli style lemon cream donut. Grabbed some hot chocolate/espresso at Blue Bottle and just wandered around looking at cheeses, pastries, grow-your-own-mushroom kits... There are so many places I haven't gone in San Francisco that I've literally walked past dozens of times... This was one of them haha.

Went to Slanted Door for lunch! Also grabbing dinner there with Fro next Monday evening. =P Absolutely delicious Viet cuisine.

Headed over to Dolores Park to catch a free concert by the SF Symphony. It was a beautiful day so we just chilled on the grass for two hours. Tanned a bit haha. Grabbed more Bi-Rite after (dark chocolate and brown sugar today)! I went to church (wonderful message about Sabbath) and grabbed boba with Maegan after by the apartment. Also watched the random K-pop MVs that are always playing in Quickly haha.

Pretty tired so I'm probably going to head off to bed soon. Hopefully seeing Maegan tomorrow at Amgen and grabbing lunch with her before she heads back to SoCal! Super happy to have her here. =]

Your Love Never Fails

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. ~ Lamentations 3:22

The Real SF Tour

Woke up at 6:30am to Skype with Matt for about two hours. I've missed him so much - it was absolutely wonderful to be able to see him again. Sadly, we probably won't have internet for the next week, but we've been so blessed with free communication for this past week or so.

Caught the taxi to California and Drumm, almost missed our tour. Apparently the confirmation didn't go through, so it was by sheer luck that our tour guide was even here today. But everything turned out fine! Spent the next approx. 7 hours wandering through SF/taking MUNI and just learning about the history and wonderful places to eat or just to relax. Honestly, I know nothing about San Francisco, which is pretty sad considering I've lived about an hour away my entire life...

Lombard Street I *do* know.

Went to ThePlant for lunch. Absolutely delicious.

Met up with Maegan and her dad afterward - went out to dinner (thin curly pears) and then ice cream at Bi-Rite! They approve haha. I'm literally going to eat my weight in ice cream by the end of this summer... It's not a good idea but ice cream is so delicious!

Maegan's sleeping over so I'm signing off for the night. Off to another fun day tomorrow! =]

TOXIC.

Josh found a roll - no joke, an actual roll - of toxic stickers. Guess you just slap it on stuff when it's toxic. So Paul's now toxic and so's my phone. xD I love our lab; it's actually the best. I can't imagine a better group of people to be chilling with over the summer honestly. I feel truly blessed for all of the events which led to me being able to work here.

Maegan's coming over tomorrow!!! Yay!

Fire Response at Amgen

Super impressive. Doors started shutting out of nowhere - I didn't even know half of them existed. Firetrucks and ambulances started arriving minutes after we evacuated; total firetruck count was like 7 (that I saw at least). Firemen all decked out, hitching up fire hoses... I suppose it's to be expected considering that it's a research facility with tons of flammable, combustible, hazardous chemicals, but still super impressive.

The funniest thing was that it was for a plastic beaker. xD Apparently the glass wash got too hot and it started smoking.

Anyways, the boss wasn't here today. He went up to a conference in Napa with Alan and enjoyed some spa service and wine tasting. =P Meanwhile I ran tons more iTC and NMR. Data today was... eh. The most frustrating thing was trying to install the Microcal iTC analysis software. Called Will (the best IS dude ever - he's super on his game) up to help and even he couldn't figure out what was wrong... It installed fine on his laptop! I guess mine was just being moody today... So I still don't have that worked out...

Had an absolutely delicious lunch! Lomo saltado (a stir-fry top sirloin burger) with sweet potato fries and muracuya (passion fruit drink) from Sanguchon. I swear, food trucks are legitimately the best thing.

Pretty sure we got wolf-whistled at on the bike back... Was super unexpected. Also found some guy's debit card in the road outside the leasing office, so we turned that in.

In all, a pretty fun (read: eventful) day today. Super tiring, but you know. I think I'm off to rewatch Perks of Being a Wallflower - rewatched The Incredibles yesterday (super cute!).

Rich and Poor

How seemingly paradoxical that all His children, before knowing Him, are both rich and poor? For though we may read that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God," we think we're exempt. Our mental perception of riches is defined by our possessions and our money. But each one of us is rich. We're rich in our false gods. And at the same time, we're so poor in spirit and faith. 

 And how wonderful is it that with His love, we may become rich in Him, in Life, in Love, in Truth?

Reassembling Things

Had an amazing day today. =] Kept busy with lots of iTC and NMR but both seem to be going pretty well! I got to sign up to be a blood donor too! Donating on the 26th (hopefully), so I'm going to try to eat healthy this next week. We'll see how that goes haha. I've always wanted to donate blood, but never weighed enough (extra requirements for under 18), but now that I'm 18, I only need to weigh like 110lbs and that can be fudged if need be! Though considering the way I've been eating and how much I weighed at the beginning of the summer, it probably doesn't need to be...

Grabbed a Cobb sandwich from Specialty's for lunch. Absolutely delicious. I love that place. Also coined a new term: "food happy." It's a state of being. =P

I thought I like broke the iTC machine today. The syringe wasn't working, so I figured out how to change it and swapped that out, but then the fill gate wouldn't close. Rehooked up the arm; still no go. Freaked out a bit, sat there for a while staring at the machine, then what did I do? I took apart the arm. Yup. When in doubt, just take the thing apart. But I reassembled it and it worked! Yay!

***

Two other points of interest:

Josh is gone tomorrow at a conference in Napa. Guess I'm on my own... (But not really because Sean, Paul, Jing...)

Maegan is coming to visit this weekend!!!

"Lack of Privileges" - iTC

God's always looking out for me. =] Even though I felt a bit guilty not showing up to work Saturday, it was all a part of His plan. I didn't end up having access to the iTC screen lock until this morning, meaning I wouldn't have been able to run any experiments had I shown up.

Today's been a pretty good day. Been running iTC all day pretty much haha. The data's chugging out though - it looks pretty decent. Makes me happy. =]

Had sushi + bento for lunch from the We Sushi food truck! Walked over with Lucy and ran into Alan and Josh there haha. Showed them the mark my bike tire left on the fire hydrant when I crashed into it; Josh took a picture. xD

Currently running more iTC. It's been an insanely chill day; basically sitting around running lots of samples. And the stuff is working! Yay!

Welcome Home!

Heard some wonderful news today from Matt - one of the counselors at his camp, Christina, is a new sister! It's absolutely amazing and goes to show that God works in incredible ways in all places.

I'm so amazingly excited and happy for her! It's sort of a new feeling for me - pretty much all of the brothers and sisters I know were believers before I became one. While it was wonderful to have such amazing people already in the family, and while I felt blessed, it still wasn't the same as seeing or hearing about one's journey to find Christ and the Truth right now. It's just wonderful.

We aren't home yet, but nows the time to help bring others back when we do go home. And one day we'll be there and be able to truly delight in the company of one another.

Mini Chinese School Reunion!

Got together with Kim, Michael, and Lance today in SF! Daniel couldn't make it since he was in Tahoe...

Dropped by a Korean BBQ place for Kim and Michael to grab some food since they hadn't eaten yet. Talked a lot about just what's happened lately; Michael had a *very* interesting last night being the driver for his friends when they went out drinking...

Headed over to Bi-Rite again! Got the basil and salted caramel this time around. =] Might grab like the toasted coconut and ricanelas next time, but we'll see if I change my mind before then...

BARTed over to Embarcadero and just walked along the piers for a while. Took tons of stupid/crazy pictures by the Exploratorium, then by the eggheads and the fountain on the way back.

Grabbed dinner at Ajisen Ramen! We go there like every year - it needs to become a tradition or something haha.

I honestly feel like I don't remember most of what we talked about. It wasn't anything too serious; lots about college, relationships, reminiscing about Chinese school. It was just fun catching up with friends, enjoying good weather, eating good food, doing random things. I've really missed Friday nights with these guys. =]

On the upside, Michael's going to George Washington in DC, so I might be able to visit over a break!

My days are always good, even if they're hard or tiring or upsetting, because of His Love. But if I can make just one other person's day... Well, then my day has been wonderful.

"Delusional Dreams"

As Lucy puts it. =]

Had an insane dream where I was like, kidnapped by a few people from my church (and more I didn't recognize). They were some elite group that killed animals in place of humans - like swapping death for death or something. Like they would input things into the computer (who they wanted to save I guess?) and the computer would be like "You must kill one." I assume the type of animal to be sacrificed depended on who was to be saved and from what? But it seemed like birds and mammals...

The whole thing was super weird, and I remember being held against my will and they weren't violent or anything but it was very emotionally taxing. I can't remember specifics, but I remember being extremely upset... And they definitely drugged me because I remember drifting in and out of consciousness.

But for some reason, I joined them? I have *no* idea what the crap is going on haha. But I took off from a window (I guess we were high up in a building) on like a hang glider and went around the city. I remember seeing some concert going on at some roof - I had wanted to land on the roof since I was approaching it from the bottom, but promptly changed my mind after seeing the concert.

Flew past Andy (a guy from my church) and landed very ungracefully in front of him and asked him what was going on, and he said, "I really need you, but I can't tell you right now. Just do what they tell you and trust me," and walked off looking pretty nervous about something.

And then I woke up.

No idea what happened. I should start analyzing my dreams AP Psych-style again...

Working Weekends

I lied, not going into work today... Meeting with people in SF at 3, meaning I have to be back around 1:45 and get ready/walk to BART, and catch the BART around 2:20, so I should leave work around 1:00. Factor in time for lunch and that basically gives me until 12:30 for work. Completely passed out after waking up at 8, woke up around 9:15. After getting ready and biking to work, it would have been around 10:30, which gives about 2 hours for work, which is barely more than my commute time.

Honestly I feel a bit guilty since I was totally planning on going in until I woke up this morning... I missed so many hours this week. This is pretty much just me justifying not going in to work.

Lucky Strike!

*Super* short day today in terms of work...

We took the Bart down to SSF and the shuttle from there to work today, since we needed to take Caltrain to SF after work. Met up with Sid and Will on the shuttle, which was pretty fun. Their apartment complex is legitimately right next to the BART station - I thought ours was close, but it's got nothing on theirs haha. And they're right next to a Costco! =[ Oh well.

Ran a CB[7]+TMS+phenylenediamine iTC. The baseline was beautiful - completely flat, no blips or air bubbles. Except the measured uCal/s spikes were completely the same for the entire hour... Awkward. Decided to run a few controls but had to get to a few meetings beforehand (exec speaker series and a healthy summer food one).

Now of course when it came time for the controls, my base line would be completely screwed up... Super jagged, curved, not pretty at all. Restarted it multiple times too, taking my time each trial and it still didn't work... Didn't end up getting any control run before we had to leave, so I'm going in tomorrow to hopefully get it to work.

***

Met up with Lisa at Lucky Strike! It's a *super* nice bowling alley completely with a few pool tables, which doubles as a restaurant/bar. Insanely pretty and super awesome. I still suck at bowling, like always, but it's a ton of fun at least! Buffy, Mommaduck, Blaneman, Klank, Tsaichu... We've got some legit nicknames in our intern group haha. Snacked on nachos, fondue, fries, chips+salsa while we bowled. Super classy for a bowling alley, I swear.

Walked around for a bit, headed to the Mission for Bi-Rite ice cream! Honey lavender and balsamic strawberry. Absolutely delicious.

Wandered around for a while longer - Blane was tired and broke off to go home a bit early. The rest of us grabbed some food at a Thai place by the 16th Street BART stop and just talked for a bit. These people are absolutely amazing. Couldn't have asked for a better group of fellow interns!

Not too excited to head in to work tomorrow, but I really want this to work... Hopefully I can get myself out of bed haha. Meeting up with Kim, Michael, and Lance in SF in the afternoon too! =]

The Parables of Peanuts

 

 

His Word and comics. What more could I ask for?

 

Yesterday was a pretty busy day - left work around lunchtime to rush back for a wisdom tooth extraction checkup. I basically skipped 4+ hours of work for a 10 minute "let-me-look-in-your-mouth-real-quick" appointment haha.

 

Bought quite a few T-shirts from Target - they had wonderful colors!

 

Grabbed dinner with Clarie. Haven't seen her nearly enough this summer, due to work mainly. Blah I can't believe she's going to college in the fall haha. I can't believe I'm *in* college. Geez, where does the time go?

 

Came back to San Bruno, chilled with Lucy for a bit, mapped out plans for today since we have tons of intern stuff to do (need to leave work early again for a get-together in San Francisco). Read a bit and fell asleep way fast haha.

 

Side note: Going to San Ramon and coming back in the same day is totally not work the commute. *So* glad we have corporate housing.

More To This Life

These days, I can't help but feel a longing for something I can't even express. It's partly that I want to be making a difference, but I don't know how, but it's also much more than that. It just seems like there's something I should be doing that I haven't been, somewhere I should be that isn't where I am right now.

It's something that, almost inexplicably, shows up almost more when I see happiness than sadness. Whereas tragedy makes me grateful for a greater Hope and Meaning, in true happiness and bliss, especially of others, I think I see a glimpse of what is to come.

Googled "More to this life" since I thought I remembered a quote; didn't find the quote but God led me to something better. =]


Same singer as "Cinderella" (linked here). I've decided he's one of my preferred musicians.

Praise the Lord for His never-ending love, faith, grace, and mercy.

Dinner!

Tortillas with quinoa, bacon, tomato, cilantro, and cheese!

CB[7]+5+12

Data is finally starting to come in decently! Trying to duplicate an experiment with CB[7], m-phenylenediamine, and TMS right now. The numbers are off, but all by around twofold so it probably has something to do with this weird acid of crystallization we have in the CB[7] that the paper authors didn't.

In any case, stuff's finally chugging along!

Plus I might get to use the paracyclophane I made (plus a lot more that we ordered haha) and dock it to CB[7]! It fills the space pretty well, and if we add in a few amino groups, it should help with the solubility too!

It's so pretty!

The Godly Truth About Bikinis

Guess what Josh got me?!

Now I can point at random stuff whenever! =P

Irrigating Sockets

It's both extremely disturbing and weirdly satisfying at the same time...

Hi Clarie!

Finally starting on your grad present haha. Sorry it's taken so long... Hopefully you'll like it though! =]

Shopping!

Spent a solid 6 hours at Paragon Outlets today and spent quite a bit of money. More than I would have liked to really...

Banana Republic: Dress, coat, cardigan (~$120)
Coach: Purse, wristlet (~$110)
J.Crew(!): Shorts (~$20)

Total: ~$250. Still less than a pair of shoes from Prada ($400). And most of the items should be used pretty frequently (with exception of the dress and purse, since I don't use purses all that much, and the year is only accommodating to dresses in certain seasons). But also a lot of money haha. I think I'm done shopping for at *least* the summer... With the exception of Marshall's. =P

Twas a good day though. Have to say I'm probably happiest about the wristlet from Coach - decent deal (~$36) and I'm sure I'll use it a ton in college. =]

'Murica.

 

Just got back from watching fireworks in SF with the Fro! Twas pretty awesome, even if our original plans didn't pan out. Since when do they ever? xD

Got dropped off at his place, caught a bus into the city. Dropped by his workplace, since we were planning on watching the show from the terrace outside his office. Sadly, the patio was closed on July 4th - guess they anticipated the allure haha. We grabbed some drinks and snacks though! Free food yay.

Walked around looking for better spots for about an hour - stopped by Levi's Plaza for a bit. Eventually hiked up to COIT Tower though (which was very patriotically lit up!) and had a decent view from there. =] The fireworks were pretty awesome - bit bummed that San Ramon didn't have them this year since those are generally pretty good too.

Dropped by the office for more snacks on the way back and chilled at his house for a bit while waiting for my mom + aunt.

Best moment of walking back? Fro yanked me a flower off a bush. I'm guessing it was supposed to be nonchalant and smooth but he was *this* close to not getting the flower to break off. Pretty hilarious.

Lots of telling him to stop making me laugh since my cheeks hurt. Lots of hitting him and random banter, like always. I've really missed this guy. Grabbing a fancy dinner in about a week and a half though! =]

Wisdom Teeth Woes

Yeah, having to take those painkillers... It's all good with them though!

Two major complaints though: 1) it hurts to laugh/smile, and 2) I feel like a baby trying to feed herself. Some of the food always ends up dribbling out and then I have to try to catch it before it dribbles off my face. For those of you who didn't have to go through this wisdom teeth stuff, ever smush your cheeks together and try to lick your lips? If not, try it. That's what it feels like.

All in all, could be tons worse. Still not happy about it though. Meh.

All Stocked Up!

Yogurt, applesauce, pudding, soup... Despite the slight inconvenience and all the complaints, there still are quite a few food options...

We'll see how I do with the pain. I'm generally pretty good about externally caused pain, like cuts/bruises/etc, but horrible with internal pain like stomach/headaches. I feel like this is probably going to be one of those internal pain things... I hate painkillers but I feel like I'll have to take them...

In any case, tomorrow shall be joyful!

It hasn't dipped under 95 degrees since I woke up this morning... I've literally eaten and slept all day.

Time for the Chipmunk Cheeks!

Recap: I have four wisdom teeth. Said teeth need to come out. Therefore, surgery on Wednesday + chipmunk cheeks for the days after.

Grabbed dinner with the parents and my aunt at Black Angus! Won't be able to chew much after Wednesday morning, so I figured I might as well milk having full functionality of my mouth haha.

Pretty tired, so I'm heading off to bed a bit early today. =]

Teehee dog.

BART while you can!

Basically, BART is going on strike tomorrow. Essentially means I can't go into the city. =\ Ah well, utilized BART to get to church today! xD

***

Got to hang out with Lisa, Gunjan, and Karishma! Grabbed lunch at Red Tractor and just talked about tons of stuff. Coding, college, a certain person who attended our high school, a few people who didn't... It was fun catching up. =] Love these girls!

Went up to GrX for church - it was super crowded on BART both on the way there and the way back. Mainly with Cardinals/A's fans on the way there (they had a game at the Coliseum) and with Pride people on the way back.

Talked a lot about embracing our situations and evaluating what God has put in out hands. How our liabilities may actually be our strengths, and how God chose a purpose for us because of, rather than despite, a certain attribute. There was a lot to think about.

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On the topic of the Pride Parade... I didn't actually go, but I'm sure I got a decent show of what people are dressed like there at least. A lot of bare skin, bras, shirtless guys. And rainbows + super bright colors.

Honestly, I'm conflicted. I understand the appeal of a Pride Parade, and find it interesting and exciting (I was honestly considering going for a while), but I can't say I support the clothing choices. Or lack of clothing, rather. I don't know, I could just be overthinking it. I mean, it's not like people are any less clothed than at the beach. I guess it's just interesting to see that a celebration of rights or of individuality seems to involve a general lack of clothing.

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Testing for my permit again tomorrow. Here's to hoping I pass it again. Then wisdom teeth consultation - I'll probably get them out Wednesday. -sighs- Goodbye solid food...