back from the slopes at tahoe

i decided to not ski again and instead tried snowboarding for the first time :D

oh man. so sore. the entirety of both arms and legs, shoulders, back, fingers...i basically can't move at all (except possibly to type) without feeling it. but it was totally worth it. what a great weekend.

i await 4 pm

when 40+ math campers will descend upon my house for the following 20 hours. my house, which i still need to finish cleaning. but it's so cozy here in bed....i think i'll stay here just a bit longer.

the break has been going wonderfully so far. really good. i've seen all my favorite people from high school, even those i had't seen in a year or two before now. no one has changed at all :P i miss being with my austin friends! i really wish we got to see each other more than twice a year or something.

my brother is also adorable. i've decided this officially. when i am not strapped for time, i will think of a relevant story to post.

oh!! i just remembered. someone tried to call me yesterday, i think on skype--i figured it was someone overseas, but wasn't sure who...sorry i missed your call! i was at the gym! it doesn't mean i don't like you.

it starts

mmm.....5 finals in the next 72 hours. then i'll be done :) i have 7 minutes left before i have to leave for my first one (statistics) and i'm sitting in my room eating peach yogurt. i didn't get enough sleep last night but i feel okay right now.

i hope everyone else's weeks are off to a good start, finals or no. to those of you in or soon-to-be-in austin--see you soon :)

google holiday party

a short but welcome study break on saturday night--

the "google space station"

i'm tired

yeah. new york was fun. plane rides are tiring. i met a guy who was a swimmer for stanford back when its men's team was first in the nation. he was really nice. i also met hugh grant's older brother, who apparently is a managing director at jp morgan. he was also really nice. i also sat on planes for 14 hours or something. not so nice.

generally tired. for some reason i've had sort of a draining week or so--days are okay, nights not so good, just want to sleep a lot (which i've certainly done). reading is okay too. not much more.

i am being attacked

by many problem sets and midterms and projects and meetings!!

that's okay. on friday i'm seeing the magic flute in san francisco, how happy.
saturday is the GRE and that's not as happy :(
but sunday is transformers at flicks! maybe. unless i'm too busy doing my take-home midterm that's due monday morning...but i hope i'm not.

i'm scattered. and semi-confused. lately while i walk to class (which takes a long time, because stanford is huge and i walk slowly) i've taken to thinking about what to write in my will--for example, that trevor gets my fuzzy pillow if i ever die! it's kinda interesting. it amuses me anyhow.

home sweet home

Austin is so green. It's more green than almost any place I can remember in recent history--makes sense, since it's been raining and thunderstorming all summer here. It's so pretty.

I can't believe my Europe trip is over already. It was so fast. We spent 1.5 days in Interlaken in the Swiss Alps, 1 day in Zurich, 1 each in Milan, Venice, Florence, 2 days in Rome, and 2 in London. Plus a few plane and train rides.

I think my favorite parts were:
-Paragliding over Interlaken...sooo beautiful
-Art museums: Vatican Museum in Vatican City had tons of Roman sculptures from old mythology, and the National Gallery in London had tons of..well, good art
-The 2.5 hour train ride from Interlaken up to Jungfrau, one of the peaks of the Swiss Alps
-Chagall stained glass windows in Fraumunster Cathedral in Zurich
-Walking around Venice and shopping for glass things! (Venice specialized in cute colored glass things)
-Playing bridge on the train rides :D
-SWISS CHOCOLATE AND GELATO on a more-than-daily basis!!

Can you tell what we're trying to spell out?

a vocabulary lesson

words I've encountered multiple times in the past few books but never knew (or forgotten) the exact meaning of. be enlightened!

peripatetic: moving or traveling from place to place
aquiline : curving like an eagle's beak
numinous: supernatural, mysterious; holy
solipsism: belief that the self is the only existent thing; extreme egocentrism
quotidian: occurring every day
eponym: one for whom something is named
insouciant: lighthearted unconcern
solicitude: state of being concerned and anxious
teleology: study of final causes, of evidences of design in nature
apocryphal: being of questionable authenticity

floods in austin

So I've been hearing that Austin (and Texas) is getting tons of rain this summer, and that all the rivers and lakes are at near-flood level. I remember one summer at camp when there were thunderstorms every other day. I do miss Austin thunderstorms. They're so much more satisfying than the continuous California drizzle that we have throughout the winter.

Stanford in the summer is lovely......seriously. Now that I have all my evenings free, I spend a lot of time walking around campus, and I can't decide when it's more gorgeous--during the daytime, when it's sunny and everything is bright; at dusk, when the palm trees are outlined in pink and the weather is just getting nippy; or at night, when the stars are out and all the globe street lamps around the quad are on. Siiiigh. So nice.

Work continues to be good. I got my first paycheck so now I feel rich :D I had a dream last night that my house flooded and I had to walk around everywhere on my hands.

on living with three males

I actually really like living with Vincent, Trevor, and Eric Lai.

For one, they all like to cook, and are all decent at it. Often I come home from work to find dinner almost done, and handed to me ten minutes later in a bowl. Chinese noodles, dumplings, Japanese rice omelettes, vegetable curry. Amazing.

For two, (can you say for two?) they're clean.

For three, Trevor has a car.

For four, they like to bake desserts with me.

Wednesday is the 4th of July! No work! Fireworks!

i <3 summer and not having homework and good weather and swimming and work and getting paid