Santa Barbara

This was definitely one of the better trips.
After visiting UC Santa Barbara(which looks quite like UCI to me but better because its a few feet away from the beach..)
we spent the rest of the time exploring Santa Barbara(visiting a mission and a natural history meusum, playing at the beach collecting pretty rocks/shells, driving around downtown, eating at nice resturants, and staying at a Spanish Courtyard Inn).

Inn wall:

downtown:

Mission Santa Barbara

established in 1786
all the religious-ness excites me..





by the pacific ocean ;)
a little tunnel we dug
tehehehe

I should sketch myself a new blueprint.

After finishing reading the Secret Life of Bees,

I have become fascinated with bees and honey.

This morning walked out onto my balcony

and was blinded for a second by the sunshine

and there it was.. a worker bee!

It was looking for a good anther i supose.

But i think it saw me

and fled.

My plans keep on changing. grrrr.

I planted flowers yesterday!
Hopefully, they'll grow this time..

holes

the food chain

My hiatus was pretty short.
Unknown Album Track # 18 is putting me into a trance.

Spring Break is oh-so soon!
Unfortunately I am not traveling anywhere..
Since i miss laying somewhere reading for hours a day(ahh. good ol' summer days. I finished a 930 page book in 6 days once)

I'm going to catch up on reading
I'm still reading the Secret Life of Bees.
But i have a bunch of new books i still need to read.
I think i will sit somewhere sunny and sniff the fresh air and not worry about anything.

Sue Monk Kidd(yes, that's the author's name) writes out in words the things everyone thinks about but never bothers to mention or bring up during a discussion. For example, Lily, the main character, was once lying in her bed and realized how silent it was. Silence sounded like a low humming pitched noise that gets louder and louder. This is true.. Once i was in the shower, and when i turned off the water, everything was silent. And i mean silent. You couldn't hear anything at all except i discovered that this strange humming noise started playing(in my head or in real life..i couldnt tell) And it kept on getting louder and louder and i felt like i was going to go crazy because it was loud and hurt my ears.(i'm starting to sound crazy..)

HIATUS for now.

I was flipping through TeenVouge at Marvel's house today while we were working on our "Chinese Etiquette and Manners" project.

I came across a page full of the "seasons trendiest acessories!" and there was a red pin with General Mao's picture on it! I was puzzled and flabbergasted at why in the world his picture would be on a piece of jewlery,in a magazine which targets teen girls! The caption for the pin said something like" For a vintage chic look! A figurine's head is placed in the center like a cameo"

For those of you who are unaware of who he is.. He was a communist leader who tried to rid society classes, collected peasants, put them in communes, killed lots of people, and brainwashed many(including my poor grandmother..).One could compare him to Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, etc.

And those pins were worn in the past by his red army and his obedient little followers(like my innocent oblivious parents when they were little)

I did get a chance to take a peek at his corpse this past summer. His body has been preserved(how creepy) He lies in a glass casket located at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The room was dark and quiet and surrouned by security gaurds wearing olive green uniforms. The 3 mile long crowd was very pushy so i only got 6 or so seconds to get a good look. He layed there very still with his eyes shut. His face looked cold and lonely. A blanket was covering most of his body but his face was visible. It seemed like he would just open his eyes, sit up, and stare at you.

Here he is, looking quite happy

never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever give up on anything.

For all you people who enjoy watching depressingly sad, tragic, and heartbreaking movies

I found a long list from which i've seen 12 of.
I suppose if you're ever in the mood of feeling sad..
ENJOY.

1. Edward Scissorhands
2. Titanic
3. The Passion Of The Christ
4. To Kill A Mockingbird
5. Old Yeller
6. Brian's Song
7. Malcolm
8. City Of Angels
9. Vertigo
10. The Green Mile
11. Where the Red Fern Grows
12. Schindler's List
13. My Girl
14. Pay it Forward
15. Sophie's Choice
16. Bambi (1942)
17. Terms of Endearment
18. Of Mice and Men
19. Mask
20. Gladiator
21. It's My Party
22. Fried Green Tomatoes
23. A Little Princess
24. Awakenings
25. Saving Private Ryan
26. The Fox and the Hound
27. Born Free (1966)
28. Dumbo (1941)
29. The Yearling
30. Ordinary People
31. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
32. The Elephant Man
33. Armageddon
34. Grave of the Fireflies
35. Million Dollar baby
36. The Champ
37. Big Fish
38. Midnight Cowboy
39. Wuthering Heights
40. Free Willy
41. World Trade Center
42. Selena
43. Il Postino (The Postman)
44. The Outsiders
45. The Man in the Moon
46. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
47. Love Actually
48. Romeo + Juliet
49. Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette)
50. Loggerheads
51. Ladder 49
52. The Way We Were
53. The Notebook
54. JFK
55. Looking for Mr. Goodbar
56. Last Tango in Paris
57. The Accused
58. A Clockwork Orange
59. Irreversible
60. The Godfather: Part II
61. Platoon
62. My First Mister
63. Hello Sister, Goodbye Life
64. Cold Mountain
65. Untamed heart
66. I Am Sam
67. The Pledge
68. Moulin Rouge!

Ellen Leah and I were at the stoplight waiting for the little man to pop up so we can cross the street. We notice Mr. Granger sitting in his car at a turn and he has his EARPHONES on!(this is illegal just in case you weren't aware) So i run up to his car, motion for him to roll down his window and explain how he might get a ticket if a police comes. Well he starts laughing and says its his phone. . well umm..he drives a "womanly" car

We spent the rest of the day at Ellen's house drinking tea and eating Thin Mints and eventually watching Marie Atoinette(which completely missed the historical point of the French Revolution, but the set design and costumes were amazing!)

my grandma and me(in beijing)

his direct translation from chinese name would be:
onion
my sister's new shades.
I stole them when she was in the bathroom and cleverly put them back on her desk before she came out again

I found all this wonderful religious, new age music.

Last night was the Dance Show.

Ellen was amazingg(as always).

After i awakened at 7:00 this morning,had 2 bites of a pizza, a few blackberries, a cookie, and drank some juice then picked up Leah and my mom dropped us off at the Beacon Bay Carwash. We set up a table full of cookies, cupcakes, and chocolate covered pretzels for make a wish. We got $80ish as donations.

I was walking through these hills with Jack and i tried to climb under a barbed wire fence for a shortcut. Except my sweater got caught on the "barbs".Then when i unhooked myself out of those i tried to crawl out except my jeans got caught and i was stuck to the fence for a long time.

This has nothing to do with anything but i think it is strange but pretty.

After school, ellen and I opened her freezer and took out all 10 lean cruisines. Then we stood there for a very long time staring at them. She went to get ready for the dance show while i walked Jack. Then i threw myself on her bed and read cosmo girl while she made her self look like a killer doll(make-up..)


I can't do my homework, read a book, eat food, watch tv, or ANYTHING if my room isnt clean.
It's slightly annoying. Before i do anything, i feel like if i dont organize my desk, straighten out all the papers, hang all the clothes on hangers, make my bed, and straighten out the rugs.. i cant go on and start "engaging in new activities" because the unclean room will be messy and everything won't be perfect.

little stone men ride little stone horses with little stone carriages

".. If love be good from whence cometh my woe?

If he be wicked, a wonder thinketh me..."

Its beautiful, isn't it?

the jar of wonderous finds includes:
a yellow ceramic piece of something,computer chips, a tiny vodka bottle, 2 rocks, a bottle cap, a foriegn carnival ticket,dried flowers,a plastic blue tag and a piece of turqoise tile.

my preciousssssss clocks
The correct time would be the 4:00 blue one.
The other one is too loud so i took out the batteries and set it to 5:55.
5:55- because its a strange but funny time of the day
The mintue hand is just sitting there- like it is waiting for something

The day before yesterday, I decided to go on a walk- so might as well take ellen's dog with me. So Jack and i wandered into the preserves.

I am a little infuriated they are plowing the land and wiping away all the plants so they can build more useless houses. These houses would block the most wonderful view of hills,windmills, mountains, and the tollroad freeway. Plus it will also leave the coyotes homeless and they'll start wandering around the neighborhoods!

Back to my adventure.. I climbed over huge piles of dirt and i found all these computer chips and other strange odds and ends. So i shoved those in my pocket. As i was collecting rocks hoping(this sounds silly and impossible) i'd find some sort of ..fossil or... artifact.. I started to hear this loud clanking noise so i climb over a hill and there is this huge army of bulldozers. After 40 or so minutes of wandering it begins to rain. I never should have worn flip flops. One of them fell off so i had to look for it in this pile of dirt. Then when i was looking for my shoe, i find a shovel.

my wonderful finds

picture of arrowheads from Deciphering the Past

When my parents went back to china 3 years ago to go to my dad's dad's funeral.
They visited a village our family established decades ago and found some artifacts:

2 locks, a comb, a cracked plate and ..?

I'm not sure what this is but by looking at it it may be:
1. some sort of smoking pipe
2. an oil lighter type of device

I sauntered to the bus stop sqinching as I faced towards the sun. Sitting down, i pulled out the Great Gatsby and finished a chapter(horrary. No homework). Just then i realized this stranger next to me had been trying to talk to me and had repeatedly said:

" HI. WHAT'S YOUR NAME."

I was surprised but in a good way at how friendly she was. Then we had a short chat about who was picking us up. The world sure needs more friendly people. There are too many of "those" people who drag their feet everywhere they go with this brooding scowl always on their face, mumbling and cussing about everyone and everything.

This is the real thing.
I even cropped it nicely and everything

You Are Mad With Beauty.
I Am Drunk With Love.

If one is going through 6 different books.

and one has only 5 bookmarks.

the only solution is to make 1 more bookmark.
So, Voila!

the process of bookmark making

happy chinese new year!

my sister and i went grocery shopping and bought a lot food for tomorrow.

the laundry machine is on .
its helicopter noises is making me feel oh so tired.

not quite sure what these are
but i fed them to monkeys once at the zoo

veggies!
sometimes, i feel like i dont belong

an apple a day keeps the doctor away

apple soda

this was in the sky 3 days ago.

it spelled" will u marry me me me me"

Mr. Butler's octopus's eyeball fell out.

how tragic.

Marvel, Brendon, and I worked on our chinese project for 6 hours straight. We used puppets!

After the 2nd or 3rd hour, this huge wave of tiredness/worry/restlessness hit me and for the rest of the 4 hours i couldnt stop laughing hysterically, rolling around, and singing. it was quite strange. But i've calmed down now.

Marvel's little sister, Nerwel, is quite loud, pesterious(is this a word?) but intriguing.
She wouldnt stop screaming and biting Marvel and we couldnt record anything. So i asked her to show me her room. At first she didnt like the idea, but then she grabbed my hand and ran to her "secret hiding place". We tried on masquerade masks and talked about her french best friend.

pistashio* shells

I have this huge urge to travel at the momment. Well since i obviously cant, i'll just post pictures of the forbidden city in Beijing this summer. .

..Which is a few mintues walking distance from my grandma's house. We took a walk one day and ended up at the palace/city.

A movie has recently been shot here -The Curse of the Golden Flower. i should watch it sometime.

it'd be so strange to watch the movie and seeing the scenes and knowing that i've been there!

oh look. here i am wandering around like a hooligan

and the rest are stills from the actual movie
everything is all so fancy smancy

I got a new ipod today! Its so white and shiny. i love it.

I came home from grocery shopping, had a salad and then finished my "behind the wheel" driving lessons.

The weather was perfect today. After rain, everything is always so fresh and clear. I drove through misson san juan capistrano, crown valley, and then back to irvine on the 5 freeway-north. I really like the landscaping of crown valley with all the green hills, piercing blue skies, and huge fluffy clouds that are shaped like people/objects.

Then i played with nibbler and took some pictures

see the half eaten slipper?
ugh. i was so worried he would get some plastic overdose..

would you like an oat?

:)

Drinking green tea with honey. hmm. so good.

I was in the doodling mood last night.

Henry VIII with his lovely wives.
1:Katherine of Aragon-was unhappily forced to divorce him.
2:Anne Boleyn-accused of treason,incest,adultry,etc. head chopped off by a french swordsman.
3. Jane Seymore- died after childbirth..
4. Anne of Cleeves- too ugly to be married to- so divorced.
5. Catherine Howard- as the cousin of Anne B.- unfortunately she was also executed.
6. Catherine Parr- henry dies before her.

You cant cure it.
You can only control it.

As i was laying in my bed last night, thoughts about death kept on rushing through my head. Life is pretty short-We only get to live about 100 years and then we just die! The history of life has been going on for the past few billion years and us, humans only get to experience a century of it. So if the existance of life was a ratio of one day.we would exist for 1/29348483th of a second and dissapear. then-why doesnt everyone live life at their fullest. Take risks. be stupid. be smart. be different. be someone. You only live once.. so might as well live a good one.

During the clinometer lab in math i had a such a great and intresting conversation with Tom. Apparently, he is moving back to Israel next year ..and when he does.. he's going to join the army. He told me all about life in israel and what it's like. and wow. lives of 16 year olds in different parts of the world sure are different. and i mean different.

my sister and i have developed this habit of drawing on bananas.
Fruit.

Which reminds me.
Once.. i got mad at my mom ..and i threw a pear at her..