it was jacqui day yesterday =P we did a lot of stuff together, from 2pm till like 12am!! =P it feels nice though, considering the fact that we haven't been hanging around that much the whole of spring semester, unlike fall when we had stats 20 3 times a week together and got to see each other more often... before i start on my jacqui day just feel like sharing a little incident that made me happy though i guess in the eyes of others it is nothing much... i volunteered an answer in my econ c171 class today and when i went to see my instructor for office hours after that he told me he was glad that i spoke up in class... it's those type of things that when people say it u are just like oh ok, and u try to keep a straight face but then somehow deep down inside u feel secretly happy despite it being such an insignificant thing. oh well.. =)

yup jacqui and i decided to have a baking day and so 'armed' with jacqui's homemade cheesecake recipe we started out preparing all the ingredients... with some improvisations here and there.... our cheesecake was pretty successful and it was really yummy and all of us finished it at chester's place... =) of course i ate a lot more in fact cos while preparing the cheese filling i uncontrollably tou chi some of it... =P we also bought a chewy brownie mix from albertsons and baked extremely sinful and chocolaty brownies, with additional marshmallows..... i love chewy brownies.. =) that turned out well too.. (haha ok guess it was a ready made mix so nothing terribly wrong could have happened) then we all went to chester's new place for dinner and we were barred from entry before 7pm so we went to exercise... for me in an attempt to redeem myself... after having eaten so much sweet high calorie stuff..yup so played tennis with ziyang and jacqui.. =) quite fun. finally we went to chester's new place, well furnished with new ikea furniture and his price-not-supposed-to-be-disclosed chio hi fi set... the table was laid out so nicely with pretty place mats that we felt guilty spilling food =P then of course we had our usual after-dinner slacking around and talking session and the highlight of hte night was "in conversation with jacqui" haha. quite interesting, found out some things i never knew and guess she was pretty sporting and candid about some stuff so it was pretty nice =) girls tried to 'turn the tables' on the guys but then it wasn't as interesting. unfair. =P got home really really late but it was a nice day definitely....

went to ping chien's new place for dinner just now and her wonderful cooking really put me to shame. i doubt i even have 1/10 the standard of her cooking! there was tasty shitake mushroom, savory steamed catfish, chicken curry, xiao bai cai and all the dishes were cooked by her!! after dinner we carried on with our usual dessert with ice cream.. extremely sinful.. with the choco cake that shiying and i baked at her place yesterday.... i have accumulated a sizeable stock of junk food and sweet stuff at home.. i am the proud owner of 5 pints of ice cream all unfinished... bens and jerrys, haagen daaz and godiva... have 2 packets of white choc mac nut cookies at home... one whole box of hello panda..... and going to get really fat =P i shall resolve not to buy any more ice cream for the next month or so... and try to slowly deplete my stock at home...=) am now trying to read my development econs textbook but then i am so sleepy i think i'll give up. slept at 2 something trying to finish my excel hw and woke up at six something =( i am fast falling behind all my classes.. with unfinished readings everyday.. econ c171 has esp many readings... and two hws due every week, one excel one and one policy brief...

am somewhat amused cos was talking to one classmate in my section and she said she thought i was korean. then jing always says if i wear contacts i look really korean.. haha maybe my great great grandparents had korean blood... hmm ok talking rubbish. but it's strange, cos my mum also used to tell me how people always thought she was japanese or something, when she was young... maybe it's cos i have small eyes and single eye lids... =P

yay!!! i passed my driving test!! =) it was quite unexpected though, cos i have always thought myself a somewhat lousy driver... but i guess after about an hour or so of practice by my housemate driving instructor i improved a lot more and i guess i was lucky just now too... so i passed!! yay. now i can drive around legally... but sadly i dun have a car though. well.... now i am slightly tempted to get a car... but i doubt my parents would allow it... also experienced first hand the frankness of Americans full blown... the somewhat forgetful and blur me forgot to change my address on my temporary driving licence.. i left it as the dorm add so i went back to the el cerrito DMV office to change it and the lady was really pissed and irritated with me and said 'why are u guys so irritating' straight in my face... then she trotted off to her colleague to complain, who suggested, "why dun we slap her" or "put water in her hair" right in front of me... though after a year i am already used to Americans saying whatever they want to, this experience was somewhat 'demeaning' and i felt like i was really terrible and irresponsible. oh well.. maybe they are too stressed by the never ending long lines at the DMV office.. and i guess i was in the wrong.. so...
was pretty happy so went to Albertsons and bought more ice cream (mac brittle was 2.50!) and lotsa food.. and stuff for making sandwiches.. shall try to make many sandwiches for lunch next week or for the rest of this week, instead of cooking all the time. it's cheap and pretty convenient i think.
still haven't figured out my econ c171 homework due tmr morning!! aargh.. prob hav to stay up tonight again to work on it.....
but so happy i passed my driving test!! =) and really appreciate those who wished me good luck and jun who gave me advice telling me to appear confident and all.. =P

had such an eventful day today and though i am really tired and feel like just plunging for my bed i just can't help but write a little bit on my blog =)
Went to Alcatraz to see the famed penitentiary this afternoon.... it was ok but guess my experience could hav been better if not for the fact that i was wearing my skechers platforms which made my feet blistery after walking... sigh. cos we were going to hav a formal dinner right after our trip and i thought we would hav no time to change so i just wore whatever i intended to wear there.. oh well =)
but the highlight of the day was our somewhat crazy idea of all the freshmen dressing up in suits and gowns and marching down to some restaurant for dinner just for the sake of having fun and seeing one another in our best attires... it so turns out that this 'wild' thought materialized and things turned out pretty well and i really enjoyed myself just now. some peeks into our formal dinner:
1) Shiying wore a dress for the first time! thought it was really sporting of her and it was nice to see her in a dress =)
2) All the guys wore their suits and thought everyone looked really smart and good.
3) so did the girls who did not fail to shine beside their male companions..
4) prom revisited when after dinner we just stood outside the restaurant, braving the cold, cameras clicking away....
somehow feel glad that though i dind't do work all weekend at least i enjoyed myself thoroughly..... hmm better try to read up and do some hw tmr... =P