Here are the posts I made between March 1 and July 8, 2001.

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July 8, 2001, 1:31 pm

"Aw, man. You're hella mean." -- Jason to me

*gulp* Tomorrow's the big day... the day that my life as a software engineer ultimately begins. Now the only life-changing days I have left to look forward to are my and Jason's wedding day and the days that our two (maximum of three) beautiful, adorable children are born. I'm kind of scared, even after meeting my group. But I guess it's something that I have to deal with.

Unlmited night and weekend minutes with free long distance is a beautiful, beautiful thing. At this rate, me and Jason are going to use up our peak time minutes in the first week, but thanks to free weekends, we can talk ALL we want. And now that I start working soon, hopefully our peak minutes will be less.

Yay! Jason is coming home next weekend from Friday till Sunday!!!!! I have never looked so forward to seeing someone before in my life. AND Jason sent me the most perfect, beautiful star crystal thing that I am going to hang from the rearview mirror of my new car!!! He got it in the San Juan Islands up off the coast of Washington, and it's light blue crystal and it's soooooo pretty!! :) The reason it was so perfect is because of the graduation gift he got me: a star named after me!!!! :)!!!! He's sooo sweet and I love him to death. I can't wait to see him so I can thank him in person!!!! ;)

July 6, 2001, 4:35 pm

"Forgetting all I'm lacking / Completely incomplete / I'll take your invitation / You take all of me." -- Lifehouse

Completely incomplete until Jason is back for good, that is. :) Hello again, all! The heat wave has seemingly passed, and I'm actually up in my room before 7 for a change. :) Last night was nice and cool and I was able to sleep with some covers on. It was nice.

So yesterday, I met my new group that I'll be working with at IBM!! :) They had a little picnic, and it was a lot of fun!! There were about 12 people, and all of them really fun. We even had a water gun fight!!! I can really fit into a group like that. :) Different races, different ages, they were all really cool people, and I'm actually a little excited about working with them. :)

The 4th was tiring but fun. My dad, his girlfriend Hiroko, and I went to San Francisco's Aquatic Park and Pier 39 for the day and to watch the fireworks. It was on the chilly side, if you can picture that... Sweatshirts and everything. I liked it. It's muggy here now... and cloudy. Chance of rain, but anything's better than humid weather!!!

No, I still haven't finished unpacking. I've finished cleaning out the junk from my room for the most part, though, so at least that's a start. Tomorrow's a BBQ at my uncle's house, so I get to see 3 of my cousins that I haven't seen since... I think last summer. That should be fun. :) And about a week and a half till I get my new car!! Well, at least that's what I'm estimating. There's no way to really track it anymore now that it's on the ship (and almost here!!). I'll definitely post when I get it!!! We should have DSL by then, too.

Anyway, that's all from here. Well, that, and I finally got to see the dermatologist and get my dry skin taken care of. Yippee! Soon I will be normal again instead of a itchy freak. :) Take care!! :)

July 3, 2001, 1:05 am

"I feel hot, hot, hot."

One word: HOT. It's so ****ing hot here, it's absolutely unbearable. As of 11 pm today, it was 77 degrees. Normal? I think not. Maybe that's what's making my brain malfunction... that or the realization of "No More School" is finally settling in, and my brain is shutting down permanently.

But one realization has sunk in for sure: Jason is the one. He's forever loving and loyal and supportive. This distance thing wears me down so much, but just when I start thinking too much about it, when I start to get too upset about it, he'll call, or I'll get a letter in the mail, or I'll see that he's emailed me from work just to tell me how much he loves me, and I feel confident that we're going to make it like he says; we're going to last despite the distance and time. And it's all because he really does love me the way he says he does, and I'm so thankful to have found him.

Anyway. I start my orientation at IBM on Monday, the 9th. I guess it's this huge ordeal, where people are given rooms at the Doubletree like at the Interview Invitational and stuff last Spring Break. But it's way easier for me to stay here, so that's what I'll do. What will I be doing?? Will I fit in? Will I be able to do the work they have for me? What if they decide they made a mistake hiring me? Some of those questions will be put to rest this Thursday, when I meet my team at a group picnic they're having off-site for the intern that's leaving. Sounds like a fun group. I'll let you know when I know for sure. :)

What are you all doing for the 4th? Post on my message board or something... put it to use!! :) I'll start it... to see what I'm doing, check my message board, and leave a message of your own. :) Jason, I love you, and I'm thinking about you (all the time). Bruins, I miss you already, and I hope we'll all keep in touch!! Rain, I miss you because it's SOOOOO HOT!!!! :) Take care, and stay cool... go to Valley Fair tomorrow like I'll be doing with Sara. :)

June 28, 2001, 4:44 pm

"It's been a long time / I shouldn't've left you / Without a dope beat to step to." -- Name that tune

So it's been awhile. So much to write about, and I don't know where to start!! Most importantly, I guess I should say that I'm still in post-graduation denial. There's no way I don't have to go back to school in September. And don't I have to enroll in classes any day now? Alas, I really am done. I got my grades on trusty URSA while in Seattle (I'm getting there, I'm getting there), and I did indeed pass all my classes (thank goodness... my dad would have had my ass on a platter if I didn't pass them all!). So I'm officially the graduate that my transcript says I am, but that I don't feel like quite yet.

Secondly, I miss all my UCLA friends dearly!! I miss Westwood and the music blaring annoyingly from all open windows. I miss having five thousand people on my buddy list online at a time (though I miss DSL in general right now). I miss walking into Westwood to grab a bite to eat and seeing familiar faces. I miss Kerckhoff!!! But I'm stationed (quite permanently) here in my room back in San Jose, just not in the mood to unpack and rearrange stuff because when I'm done with it, I'm done with school. Forever.

So I'm sorry I've waited so long to update my webpage. It just takes SO LONG when I have to use a modem! :( It's a pain to go online to begin with. Nothing I can do, I guess. I'll be better about it, I promise (especially 'cause I'm afraid of the man under Gavin's bed that posted on my discussion board...). Also, my dad's getting DSL here at the house on the 10th of July, so if anything, I'll get to start posting on a regular basis again then. I'm going to try to get the graduation and Seattle pictures up sooner, though, and just let them upload overnight or something. I just have to get around to resizing the suckers, and making the page for it. I'll try to do that tonight, but my dad's really starting to get annoyed by all my junk all over the house, some in boxes, some not. It really is quite irritating, I don't blame him. :)

And Seattle. I flew up to see Jason for his 21st birthday from the 21st till the 26th. I got to see his really nice apartment, which he's sharing with Jakub and Mary for the summer. And I'm sure most of you readers know, but in case you don't, Jason's interning for Microsoft for the summer in Redmond, Washington. I have such a smart and gorgeous boyfriend, I bet all you girls are jealous of me!! (Maybe even some of you boys, I don't know.) :) Anyway, I had so much fun up there, and whenever he wasn't working, we were spending time together and it was simply amazing. Does anyone know if there's a limit to how much you love someone? Anyway, we went to the zoo on Saturday, and Sunday, it rained (go figure), but we toured around Seattle anyway, visited the aquarium and the Space Needle and stuff. I have some pictures of that. I'll put them up tonight, I promise. We spent evenings with Jakub and Mary or just watching videos. It was relaxing and fun, and best of all, I got to see Jason. But now I'm alone and sad. I can't wait to see him again!!

Oh, and for those of you not in the Bay Area, even out-of-state, I have a new cell phone plan that starts on the 3rd or something, and I'll have unlimited nights and weekends and free nationwide long distance, so give me your new numbers and I can call you sometime. :)

As far as my work goes, I start the 9th of July. I've been really apprehensive about it because I don't know if I'll be able to do what they want me to, or what if I don't fit in or work with like a group of 60 year old men or something. But my manager has written to me and she has reassured me that everyone is asking about me, eager to meet me. I'll be meeting them on the 5th (earlier than expected) because they're having a picnic type thing off-site. She has also already set up my phone and ordered a laptop for me and got my email and userid all up and running. I'll be sharing an office with a guy who just graduated from CalPoly SLO in March! So I know they're not old and stuff. AND, the kicker is, I'll be working right upstairs from my dad!! Yup, same building, just one floor up. We're definitely going to have to carpool. :)

And my car. My beautiful, sweet car. It's still scheduled to arrive at Port Hueneme on July 9, then it just needs to make the trip up to Seaside where the dealership is (near Monterey). Hopefully (hopefully), it'll be ready by that following weekend, which is the 14th or 15th of July. Jason will even be in town that weekend (the dreaded weekend for me because I'll be meeting his family... what if they don't like me?!?!?!), and it would be great to share such an awesome day with him.

So that's what's been going on. Please, email me and let me know what you guys are all up to!! I hear Gavin's going to work on Kerckhoffpatio.com soon, and I'll be changing a couple things on my website (like changing the "B" in "ferball" from "boring school links" to "BMWs," where I'll post pictures of, obviously, my BMW, and maybe my dad's, too, if he's lucky). Lots of changes, and I'm sure you guys are going through a lot of changes right now, too. Email me at jshioya@ferball.com. I love and miss you all! And you can always post on my discussion board, too (hint hint)!!

June 17, 2001, 10:45 pm

"Screw you guys, I'm going home." :)

June 15, 2001, 4:56 pm

"It's the end of the world as we know it." -- REM

The hectic end is drawing nearer faster than you can say "Bachelor's Degree." Finals are over and so is family. My dad, his girlfriend, and my sister arrived in Westwood today at around 2, and my aunt and uncle around 4:15. My friends Sara and Kelly are on the road right now, probably on Highway 152 somewhere by now. Jodi and her mom will be here on their way down from SB, and even Chris and A'Shanti from Seattle might be coming down tomorrow!! Even after last night, when Chrissy and I watched videos and drank margaritas and kept saying, "We're graduating on Saturday," I don't think I have really fully grasped the concept of "no school ever again." And with good reason: I've been a student all my life!! Now, as I finish up making my graduation cap (LEDs and all) and archive my pictures onto ZIP disks, I think all I have accepted is a glimmer of the reality of graduation.

And since I'm saving most of my sappy stuff for tomorrow (or whenever I post next), I'll just say that while it's only been up to 4 years, I've made the best and most loyal friends here at UCLA, and definitely most of my fondest memories.

"I hope you had the time of your life." -- Green Day

June 12, 2001, 10:10 am

"HTTP 404: Brain not found. No quote for the day." -- Jenn's body

It's not Halloween. So why is everything so scary lately?? Here, give me a scary fact. Anything. And I bet I can beat it. [pause] That's nothing. Try again. [pause] Okay, that's pretty bad. But here's mine: 4 years ago today, I graduated from high school. Ha!! Told you that was scarier. And you know what else? We can see what the weather will be like at our graduation right now on the 5-day forecast on Yahoo. Now that's scary.

[scuffle at the keyboard]

Sorry about that. That was my evil twin. She's a little delirious from studying... or procrastinating. Whatever. Anyway, I have a final in a little over an hour, so the most obvious thing to do was to update my page. :) But I really should study 'cause it's the last one I'm even remotely worried about, and I haven't studied more than like and hour and a half because I was so dead after the two yesterday. Better go look over my notes.

Good luck, fellow Bruins, especially if this is your last finals week like mine!!

June 11, 2001, 10:24 am

"I'm like a bird / I wanna fly away." -- Nelly Furtado

I hate that song. But I do want to fly away. In an hour, I will begin my potentially 6 hours of test-taking. So why am I here updating my webpage, some might wonder? Well, those of you wondering just don't know me very well, now, do you. I would be an awful procrastinator if I didn't update, right??

But this is getting ridiculous. I really should go study. Two today, then one tomorrow that I'll need to start studying for after 6 pm when I'll be done with my finals for today. Off I go. Wish me luck, and send me smart vibes, especially in the area of "Indians of Colonial Mexico" or "Natural Languages and Automata Theory," send 'em over.

June 8, 2001, 5:28 pm

"School's out for summer / School's out forever."

And that's a wrap, folks!! School's over. For good. 10th week is at an end, and finals are now upon us. After a brutal finals schedule next week, I'll never have to sit through a lecture or discussion here ever again. :)? :(? I think Im kind of sad. Call me a nerd (since you guys already do anyway), but I'm going to miss Boelter!! It took me 4 years to find my way around Boelter and Westwood and stuff... and now I'm being booted out into the real world. Thanks a lot, UCLA!!

On a brighter note, Gavin shares my enthusiasm to keep our friends together, and so he's started a new era: KerckhoffPatio.com. It's just starting up, but it's going to be awesome, I'm sure. Can't wait to get my email address there! :)

So a week from today, I'll have family and friends from back home congregating here in LA for my graduation. A week from tomorrow. Oh my God. This is totally unbelievable.

And one more thing: I love you, Jason.

June 3, 2001, 11:58 pm

"Remind me to find August." -- Jon

No, August is not a person. Long story... Mike, Jon, Neal, and Ryan will get it. :)

Well, 10th week is among us. But not just 10th week. My last 10th week. Ever. No more finals stress or midnight yells after this one. But before I get too nostalgic like last time, I'll stop. Saturday, my management group met and filmed (quite professionally) our "strikes and collective bargaining" presentation for Thursday. Josh, Gavin, and I did a spoof on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The this evening, my software engineering group met to discuss final parts of our web application for Sapient and put together our "presentation" for tomorrow afternoon. Now just a test document for that class and the final. Woo hoo!! I have that 10 page paper for management due Thursday... and a drug test on Tuesday. So close to the end. I don't think it's hit me yet.

What else? Not much. Just school. Lots of school. Got a haircut. But nothing drastic. I want to look normal for graduation, at least.

Anyway, it's getting late, so I'm going to bed. Take care, and wish us luck on our presentation for Sapient tomorrow!!

May 29, 2001

"These are my hands / These are my faults / These are my plans / And these are my nasty little thoughts." -- Stroke 9, Nasty Little Thoughts

I've been thinking a lot about my future, which I guess could be classified as my "near-future" now. My life is about to change drastically again. "Again?" you might be wondering. Well, I would consider Jason a drastic change in my life, wouldn't you? My dad even said "I'm really seeing a new and happy 'you' and we are all excited about it... Jason looks like a type of a guy that would be a perfect match for you. :-)" If someone as sensitivity-challenged (no offense, Dad, hehe) as my dad can see a change in me, Jason has definitely made a huge impact on my life. Not that I needed my dad to tell me that. ;)

Anyway, back to what I was saying (Jason distracts me even when he's not here!!), I'm really going to miss UCLA. Even the campus! I'm going to miss living so close to all my friends... all of them within a mile from me!! When else am I going to have that?? Never!! Coming and going as I please, well, hopefully I'll have that. But being able to walk anywhere I need to go, hanging out at Kerckhoff, putting our feet up in class, running to the SEAS cafe for a snack during break, trying to evade the Bruin Walk advertising people, planning my route to class so that I'll pass a Daily Bruin kiosk so I can do a crossword in class, scrounging up $5.05 so I can have a Panda Bowl and a regular Coke from Panda Express,... the list of all that stuff I'll never be able to do again just goes on and on!! I have a week and a half of class left, and my last set of finals will be upon me. Two of my classes have presentations, so there's one actual class left in them. The end is really near.

And what happens after "the end"?? We all scatter. Jason and Jakub will be in Seattle at Microsoft for the summer, then back here to finish undergrad and grad work here. Gavin and Mike will be off to Seattle at Microsoft for good. Bobby will be off to Austin at AMD for the summer, then back here to finish school next quarter. Chrissy will be off to NYU for grad school for the next 5 years.

But that's a bridge we'll cross when we get to it... in less than 3 weeks.

So, silly nostalgic me, getting all teary-eyed and sniffly. And I want to tell all my UCLA friends that I love you all, and you have all changed my life over the last 4 years. I wouldn't be who I am today without you guys. And I don't know what I would have done without wonderful people like you to support me. Gavin, Josh, and John remember all too well (I'm sure) the end of our 2nd year, when I was seriously considering changing my major, and you guys convinced me to stick with it "just one more quarter" and here I am, graduating with all of you. I owe you guys my job... my future... and hopefully, my success. :) You don't know how weird it's going to be for me to live a life without you guys by my side every day, month after month.

I don't really know where I'm going with this. So I'll stop before I start crying too hard.

May 26, 2001, 12:03 pm

"If you died and your best friend was doing your girl, tell me you wouldn't come back and kick the hell out of him." -- Pearl Harbor

That was pretty much the only part of the movie that was really good. Well, I exaggerate. The war parts were good and lived up to the hype. But the love story part was long enough to be its own 3 hour movie. The other 15 minutes of it was what was really good. Now, when I, Jennifer Shioya, say that there was just too much "mushy Ben Affleck love story" to a movie, you know it's serious. The movie just went on and on and on. Sure, we saw the 11:45 pm showing and were there till 3 am. But I had taken a stay-awake pill and was totally fine and alert the whole movie. So if you get a matinee price, and if you have up to 4 hours to kill, maybe you should see the movie. If you have a small bladder, sit next to the aisle... you'll be seeing that public restroom about 5 times over the course of the movie.

Other news: It's officially the 3-day weekend, hooray!! Other than seeing that movie (which I know I would have seen even if someone else had told me what I just told you, so don't feel bad if you don't take my advice), Jason, Kyle, and I went swimming in the cold, then to Enzo's Pizzeria for dinner. I had a yummy calzone. Mmmm... calzones.... And soon, we're supposed to go to Headlines for brunch, but the sleepyhead boys are still asleep!! C'mon, guys, get your lazy butts out of bed and hustle!!

My car, (which is now officially in production in Regensburg, Germany, YEE HAW!!) is actually ahead of schedule!!! I'm going to wet myself, I'm so anxious to get it. It was originally supposed to move onto the production line as of the 10th of June, but instead, it started on May 22 and will be off the line as of June 8!!!! My dad says it's highly possible that I'll have it in my possession as of July 8 if this is really the case. Since I start my job on July 9th, I guess it's safe to say that I'll be getting very little sleep the night before I start my job... unless I sleep IN my new car. :) Once I get it, I'll drive it back from Seaside, wash it and armor all it, slap my BMWCCA sticker on it, if I have it by then, and the UCLA Alumni license plate frame, too, if I get one. And if I know my dad well enough, I don't think he'll mind sitting outside with me after I'm done with all that to just admire it, maybe take some pictures of it with his car.

Sorry, didn't mean to drag you along on my little dream sequence there. So yeah, happy 3-day weekend, even though it's cloudy (with a chance of meatballs) here in LA. And you damn semester schools, I hate you for being done with school already!!!! :)

May 24, 2001, 8:39 pm

"You know, I don't know what it is / But something about you is so irresistible." -- Jessica Simpson, Irresistible

Oh, Jason. Such a silly (happy) goose! And a goob (pean), too. :) Just thought I'd let you know that no matter how goofy we are together, my feelings for you only grow stronger each day. :)

I'm in a great mood right now because I finished the design doc for my software engineering class already, and it's only 8:41!! Last time, when we had our req doc, I was up till the wee hours of the day it was due. Once Jon gets back from dinner, I'll get to print it out and be really done!! Yee haw!! Also, my history paper was due on Thursday (oh $hit, that was today!!), so just one more paper (a big one, but I'll push that out of my mind for now) and then finals, and before you know it, I'll be dancing in the Inverted Fountain with all the other lucky bums like me!! :) In fact, 3 weeks exactly, I'll be done with my last final EVER!!! *doing the cabbage patch* I can't wait!!!

And it's time for our (last) three-day weekend, which is kind of like a four-day weekend 'cause class was cancelled for tomorrow, just turning in our project into the TA box by 2. Since Jason's best friend Kyle's here (hi, Kyle!), we're hoping it'll be warm enough for swimming at Jason's apartment tomorrow, then we're hoping to get tickets for Pearl Harbor... 7:30 show tomorrow, opening night. I've been dying to see that movie... Ben Affleck is just a bonus. :) And although I am Japanese, I'm going to brave the evil stares I'm bound to get and sit in the good seats, not the back ones. News flash, guys: I didn't bomb the US!! :) Gotta remember to hit the ATM when I'm on campus tomorrow. Please remind me. :)

Have a good one! And to those heading out to Vegas for the weekend (i.e. almost all of my CS friends... 'cause they have money....), good luck, and if you win, remember us little people!! :)

May 22, 2001, 5:01 pm

"No, it's okay, we're young; we're limber." -- Mary at Universal Studios
Bonus quote: "Happy Birthday, dear Gavin!!"

So it's been awhile. My bad. :) Crazy (in a good way) weekend. Friday was Jason and my one month (yeah, go ahead and laugh, you long-time couples) so he took me out to a nice Italian dinner in Santa Monica. The sweetie brought me a beautiful purple rose and a sweet card, too!! (I hope he doesn't mind me writing this online, hehe.) We spent a perfect evening together, and I can't imagine where I would be right now if he hadn't come into my life. Saturday, we worked on stuff separately for a little while, then went to my friend's BBQ down Kelton. Mingled for a little while, then came back to watch Chrissy get ready for a dinner party she was going to. Watched What Lies Beneath later that night... very scary movie, I highly recommend it. Even scarier this time around, even though I saw it in theaters this past summer. :) Then Sunday, Jason, Jakub, Mary and I went to Universal Studios for the day. Lots of fun, good company, all in all a great day! Then that night, Jason and I went to see Shrek in Westwood which is such a good, cute, funny movie, with really witty humor more for adults than kids. I love Mike Myers!

School sucks in so many ways. Design Documents suck even more. But the bad thing is, the rate at which the number of days of school left is dwindling is the same rate at which Jason is being taken away from me. :( The day he leaves for Seattle marks our two months, and who likes a sad anniversary?? But like Jakub suggests, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Nothing else has been going on. I hear it's hot in San Jose. It's warmer today than yesterday. I kind of want it to get hot, especially for this upcoming 3-day weekend! I want to go to the beach again... it would make 4 years in a row!! Can't break tradition, you know!

Have a wonderful week. Hopefully I'll have a chance to post again soon. And I have more pictures on my camera, so hopefully I'll get a chance to put them up, too. Take care, everyone, and KBEEZ, see you soon! :)

May 17, 2001, 5:48 pm

"Love is like pi—natural, irrational, and VERY important." -- Lisa Hoffman

School is a horrid, horrid thing. I don't want to do work! I don't want to work on stupid papers that only a TA will read, and on a topic that 200 other people will write on, too!! I don't care about collective bargaining and striking!! And I should really start learning ASP so that I can really start pulling my weight for CS130... if it weren't for these stupid papers!!! But what good is it when all I want to do is spend my last month with Jason?? In a month and a day, he'll be in Seattle. :( And I'll be driving back to San Jose to start my new life.

But anyway, so I got some stuff in the mail today. Relocation stuff from IBM... seems they're going to be moving my stuff for me, like, loading the van and stuff. So nice for me and my dad! He won't have to stick around till Monday after graduation to help me move, and I can take Jason to the airport. But I digress. I also got the pictures I ordered from Ofoto.com... so cute!! And the wallets we ordered are really cute, too. :)

So I'd like to request something from you, the reader. Please please, PLEASE start using my discussion board!! I know it's not the same as that guestbook from my old site, but to me, it's important. Comments, suggestions, inside jokes, disses... whatever you want to write! So post on it, okay? I have it up there for you guys. THIS especially MEANS YOU, Mike and Gavin!! :)

Anyway, it's Thursday, meaning it's pretty much Friday, which means it's the weekend. And a fun weekend, too. :) You'll hear about it as the days progress, I'm sure. Hold on tight, guys. It's 8th week.

"Mmm ... jalapeño! Spicy and energetic, you're everyone's favorite flavor on a Friday night. A little wild, a little dangerous, you add an edge to every occasion without going overboard. You're fiery, but not the four-alarm kind. That's because your exuberant sense of fun comes through in everything you do — you're always the life of the party. If you were a cocktail, you'd probably be a margarita — fun, festive, and popular. You make every occasion so memorable that no one ever stops to wonder whether you were there. Zesty and sizzling, you're a truly tasty treat."

That was my result for the "What's your flavor?" personality test on emode.com. It's a fun one to take, you should check it out. Nothing going on, just writing a paper on the Nahua depiction of the Spanish upon their invasion/conquest in Mexico. 2 pages so far... at least 3 to go, but it should be alright. It's not due till next Thursday, but I have a lot of stuff to get done, so I'm trying to get it done now (at the price of not seeing Jason this evening).

Happy 5 months to Jakub and Mary, the second cutest couple on campus. That's a biased opinion, of course. :) Hang in there, fellow Bruins and other quarter-system folk! It's 7th week, but that just means that we're closer to being done! And if someone would like to write a 10 page paper on SAG/WGA and collective bargaining and strikes, please feel free to do so... then hand it over to me and no one gets hurt. :)

May 13, 2001, 12:35 am

"All day long, I can hear people talking out loud / But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd / Old Mr. Webster could never define / What's being said between your heart and mine." -- The Other Sister soundtrack

Perfect. Today (well, the 12th) has surpassed my understanding of perfection yet again, thanks to Jason. Disneyland all day (from 8:30 am till 10 pm) and I just grow more and more fond of Jason every minute I spend with him. You have to see the pictures, they are so amazing. I agree whole-heartedly with him: I have never been this happy for this long, ever, in my life. Every morning, I wake up and smile because I know that I'll get to see him. The mere thought of him puts a smile on my face. I can see the clouds in our future (he's moving to Seattle for the summer, and he's got another year and a half or so before he gets his masters), but for the first time, I'm feeling a glimmer of hope instead of despair, thinking maybe this time, I can believe him when he says we'll get through this... distance- and time-wise. All those other times, guys have promised me the same thing, but the result was futile... they just weren't honest.

I didn't know it was possible to find someone perfect for me. I always figured everyone had to settle at least a little bit. But not at this rate. Jason... I love you.

May 10, 2001, 2:21 pm

"Celebrate good times, come on!"

No more midterms for me. EVER. If that's not reason to celebrate, I don't know what is. Also, it's Kootie's 22nd birthday! Happy birthday, Kootie!! :)

So yeah, something to !(celebrate) [for those of you not CS-savvy, it means "not celebrate"] is that my site was hacked on Tuesday night. It's actually quite comical in hindsight... some Chinese hackers went in and made my index into a big black page with red letters saying something !(nice) [not nice] about the US government. But all is back to normal (for now), and I'm going to leave it at that. :)

Tonight is quite possibly the last Theta Chi party I will attend. That makes me happy because I get to party and dance with my friends, but sad because it's the last. I've gone to most of their parties since freshman year... that takes a lot of commitment. I hope the guys appreciate that. :) I'll get to merge yet another circle of friends because Jason and Gavin and Mike (G & M, you guys ARE coming) are coming along for the ride. I'll get to see Bryan and Rachel, who I haven't seen in a long time. I miss you, Rachel!! I can't wait to meet her boyfriend. :) I love hanging out with Bryan and Bobby and everyone, I really can't wait. 6th week is one of the best weeks to let loose like this. I'm a big fan (haha, Jason).

And Jason and I are going to Disneyland on Saturday!! Yeah, yeah, it'll be crowded. But we're not going to California Adventureland, we're going to the real Disneyland. And we're going to take tons of pictures. And Jason says we can stay and watch Fantasmic this time. The last time I went (in January), we didn't stay till dark, and that sucked. AND Space Mountain was closed that day. Man, we were soooo bummed. That's the best ride, man!! Hopefully, it'll be open on Saturday. Please keep your fingers crossed for us. But either way, I'm just happy I'll be going with Jason. :) (Gag if you want, I really don't care. :))

Anyway, I should get some stuff done, finishing up graduation announcements and stuff. Then probably outlining one of two papers I have to write in the next few weeks. Then going OUT. Woo hoo!!! :) Have a great day. :)

May 6, 2001, 10:43 am

"Right now face to face / All my fears pushed aside / And right now / I'm ready to spend the rest of my life / With you." -- Evan and Jaron

It's been awhile, sorry about that. I really have no good excuse for it... just been spending lots and lots of time with Jason. :) Alas, studying for midterms has become critical, as I have one tomorrow and one Tuesday, so today will be spent (alone) cramming my brain with all sorts of fun information like closure properties and the pumping lemma.

I got more RAM for my computer yesterday, and you might be thinking, geez, what a nerd for being excited about that, but when you only had 32 MB and you upgrade to 160, it makes a huge difference. I also got a new watch yesterday, with a light blue face, of course, and matches my belly button ring perfectly (not coincidence, hehe). I've confirmed that Jason is lots of fun to go shopping with, clothing and otherwise, so he's making his way up my "perfect guy" list like no tomorrow.

So no more procrastination for me. My internet's down again, and my roommate is still sleeping so I can't go fidget with the DSL modem. I'll post this webpage ASAP, and then you'll know that I'm not out basking in the beautiful weather out there, but sitting alone and suffering through 5 weeks worth of CS181. Happy Sunday!!

May 2, 2001, 3:41 pm

Just touching base. Still alive. Busy as hell. Had a totally ridiculous midterm in my software engineering class just now, and I have to put some stuff together for the requirements document that's due in that class on Friday. Was up till 3:45 this morning studying, woke up at 9:45, studied some more. Things are still good, just hectic 'cause it's midterms and stuff... speaking of which, I have two more midterms for the rest of my life!! One on Monday and one on Tuesday. Then a 5-7 page paper due 8th week and a 10 page research paper due 10th week (along with a presentation). I don't think I've ever had two classes the same quarter where I had to write papers ever in college.

Anyway, gotta get to work... Jason will be done with work soon, and I don't want to have to actually do stuff while we're hanging out. :) I'll update more soon.

April 30, 2001, 11:47 pm

"It's amazing how you knock me off my feet / Every time you come around me, I get weak / Nobody's ever made me feel the way / You kiss my lips and then you take my breath away." -- Joe

First things first: school sucks. I hate midterms and it's even worse that it's my last quarter, and I really couldn't care less about the classes I'm taking. It's just getting in the way of the really important stuff and taking away from the time I want to be spending with friends and Jason. :) Good thing we have classes together, so we can study for these ghastly midterms. I don't know what I would do without the people I love around me. I'd go nuts.

I got the official rejection from Microsoft today. Boo hoo, I'm so sad. :) So I guess it's officially over, my job search, that is. It's kind of nice. Final.

Otherwise, life is perfect as usual. :) Saw Jason in class... then went to his place to study (change of environment, in a way, although soon, my apartment will be the change of environment). Had a fun In-N-Out dinner (everything is fun with Jason) and studied again. I got quite a bit of reading done for my Automata Theory class. (Don't ask me what Automata is... I have no clue.) Pumping lemmas and closure properties are pretty exciting.

And Jason: Nakupenda. Hehe.

April 29, 2001, 11:31 pm

"Say, my love, I came to you with best intentions / You laid down and gave to me just what I'm seeking / Say, love you drive me to distraction." -- Dave Matthews Band

Okay, as a disclaimer, this paragraph isn't going to be good for the easily nauseated readers of my webpage. But I *only* got to spend 7 hours with Jason today, and I feel ripped off. :(... :) I got nothing done yet today, but I'm going to work on some CS130 right after I post this (so it's going to be short). And I got nothing done the rest of the weekend, but, well, what can I do? Luckily, I only have one midterm this week, and it's in CS130.

Tonight, I went to play "Diplomacy" with Gavin, Mike, Josh, Jakub, Mary, Michael, and of course, Jason. I've never played it, nor have I ever played "Axis and Allies," but it's apparently something along those lines. It was a lot of fun, but I totally got my butt kicked. I was Germany and stupidly trusted England (stupid Mike!!), who then turned around and stabbed me in the back, taking Holland, then Kiel from me, and the rest was history. You'll be happy to know, though, that my last army was not lost in vain: I took the kamikaze way out and attacked Burgundy before biting the dust. :)

Yesterday was an altogether fantastic day. Once Jason got back from Costco with his roommates (and I was done running errands and getting my car washed), he came over and we hung out at my apartment and watched movies (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Goonies, and Meet the Parents) and ordered Chinese food and just spent time together all day. I think he was here for about 13 hours, and it couldn't have been any better. It's amazing how comfortable I am with him, how happy I am to see him after even the shortest separation, and how much I look forward to the next time I'll get to see him (tomorrow in class, 2 pm). I don't care if this is just a dream anymore, just as long as I don't ever wake up.

April 28, 2001, 10:13 am

"The smile on your face lets me know that you need me / There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me / The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall." -- "The Other Sister" soundtrack

I had a perfect day yesterday. And I plan on having a perfect (and productive) day today. It used to be that if I had a good day, then it would be a given that I'd have a really bad day next or something... but not anymore. I know when I wake up that I'm going to have a great day, regardless. And I know this seems a bit soon that I say these things, but I'm thinking the same thing I'm sure you are: this is unbelievable. But it's real. I grow more and more fond of Jason with every day that passes, and the more and more time I spend with him. I didn't know you could really like everything about a person. But apparently, you can. And to not be afraid to say and write these things because he feels the same way? Priceless. ;)

Oh, and my project/team leader for my new job emailed me and told me that she'll be gone for two weeks starting on my start date, but she and the other team members were hoping I could meet with them before my start date so we can get together and hang out. Isn't that sweet??? My dad even said that someone he knows at IBM had heard through the grapevine that I was going to be working there!! Hehe, I've never been a celebrity before. :) I'm glad I have what seems to be a fun group to work with. :)

What did I do to deserve all this??

April 26, 2001, 4:33 pm

"I cannot lie / From you I cannot hide / And I'm losing the will to try / Can't hide it, can't fight it." -- The Corrs, Breathless

Life is still good. I think this is my longest happy-day streak. :) I talked to the IBM HR lady this morning. She called at 8 am (luckily for her, we were already awake and getting ready for class) and we had a quick chat about the little things I have to get taken care of and all that before I start working. My first day of training (I guess it's like a new-hire training thing) is July 9, a Monday. A week later than I was planning on starting... but hopefully I'll still have the time to save up some money to put as my down payment by the time my car gets to the dealership. :)

And on a non-IBM note, I got a message on the answering machine from the Microsoft HR lady. She just asked me to call her back and that it was regarding my "interview results." I figure, if I was going to be extended an offer, she would have #1) sounded happier for me, and #2) at least told me that. And on top of it all, I call her back and she wasn't there. So I left a message around 2:20, and she still hasn't called back. Dissed again by Microsoft!! Oh, well. Why do I care? I'm working for IBM anyway!! :)

Tonight is the annual Theta Chi Red Carnation Banquet. Chrissy and I are going again this year. This is my 4th and final RCB. So bittersweet. I can't believe this is my 4th year going to it!! I only know the "old guys" and not so much the newer brothers or pledges. I'm taking my camera, and if I get enough poignant pictures, I'll post them. :)

Jason and I are still perfect. :) We spend lots of time together and are still not sick of each other. What a concept, to get to see your boyfriend on a daily basis! And an even weirder concept is having a class with him. Having a nerdy sense of humor with our nerdy friends... everything is so fun and happy in my life!! Thank you, Jason. ;)

April 24, 2001, 4:31 pm

"If I were a [queen] / If I had eveything / If I had you and I could give you your dreams / If I were giant-sized, on top of it all / Then tell me what in the world would I go on for / If I had it all." -- Dave Matthews Band

But the thing is, I do have it all now! I accepted my IBM job offer today... well the HR lady wasn't there and won't be there till Thursday, but I left a message with her and my new boss. :) I love saying that: my new boss. My life, since maybe a little less than 2 weeks ago, has pretty much done a 180. I'm about 1000 times happier than I was 2 weeks ago, and probably the happiest I've been my entire life, except, like, when I was 2 and running around in training pants and no shirt and playing in the sprinklers. That was probably a little more carefree. But other than that. :)

I just thought I'd share the news. Can you believe it? Me, Jennifer Shioya, a software engineer at IBM!! Well, off to meet with my group for my software engineering class. I'll write more soon. :)

April 23, 2001, 9:22 am

"Somehow it's like a dream / Although I'm not asleep." -- The Corrs

My Microsoft weekend is over, and I'm back in LA until graduation. Hooray! The interview itself, well... let's just say there was room for improvement. A lot of improvement. But hey, it's over, right? And maybe it's my "blah" mentality this quarter (say it out loud with me: senioritis), but I was discouraged enough by the interview that I started seeing all these wonderful things about IBM that I didn't see before. Funny how things work like that, huh? :) Well anyway, I'm still waiting for IBM to send me the official word, so I'm not going to count my chickens yet.

But the weekend itself was good. Hung out and went shopping, had some home-cooked meals, and relaxed. Driving around my pimp-mobile (Chevy Lumina), no one recognized that I was back in town, so things were nice and quiet. It was kind of nice not having people stop by when they saw my car in the driveway. (I'm so popular and all....) Oh, and I bought shoes for graduation!!! Light blue sparkly heels, I'm soooo excited!!

Anyway, I'm so glad to be back and spending time with Jason in person for a change. Phones don't do him justice... it's infinitely better to be with him than just talking to him on the phone, even though that was good while I was in San Jose. :) Maybe it'll be bad for me because I can't concentrate on school work (oh, wait... I can't anyway!), but I'm thinking, if I am |<----this---->| happy, there just can't be anything wrong with it.

April 17, 2001, 10:48 pm

"Am I right side up or upside down / Is this real or am I dreaming?" -- Dave Matthews Band

My days are blurring into each other. This is something I can so get used to. I'm constantly happy. I'm almost at a loss for words... I don't want to get too mushy online (yes, Mary and Jakub, it can be worse than it already has been), but let's just say it feels it's been longer than it has been. This is dangerous, or can be. But I can't do anything about it.

I can't even write about other stuff going on in my life. Things seem so perfect... I don't want to do anything to jinx it.

April 15, 2001 (again), 11:48 pm

"Fer79BTH: i challenge you to come up with [a quote] as perfect as the weekend
Led Zepp 99: thats not possible"-- Me asking Jason what my quote of the day should be

That quote says it all. Perfect weekend. Perfectly unproductive, too, but so perfect in all other respects. Jason and I went into Westwood for lunch, Diddy Riese for dessert, and back to his place to watch movies. Then it was off to Gavin's Post-Passover Pizza Party. And after spending 17 out of 29 hours with him, I'm still just as anxious to see him tomorrow in class. And you know what's even better news than that? He hasn't gotten sick of me yet, either!! :) I don't know if it's just the "stage" we're in or what, but I feel like I'm walking on air. I couldn't even sleep in this morning because I knew I would see him today. This is ridiculous! Neither of us would have believed we would find a CS (or CS&E) major datable, either. Who'd've thought??

I didn't know I could have such a stupid grin on my face for so long. But here I am, grinning away. I feel like I could gush for hours... but I won't put you through that. :) I'm happier than I've been in a really long time. Be happy for me. And if you aren't happy for me, I don't care because I'm happy for me! I hope you guys had even half as perfect a weekend as I did.

And who would have thought I would ever look forward to going to CS130??

April 15, 2001, 12:14 am

"I've never had this hard a time finding a quote for the day." -- me

A very unproductive but wonderful day. Woke up about 12 hours ago, had me some cereal, chatted online, pretty much did anything in my power to procrastinate from reviewing my C++ book for next week. Then I went out with Jason to see Traffic and a late-night dinner at Cheesecake Factory. I had a great time... one of the best nights in a long time. :) Now I'm contentedly sitting here updating my page and planning a nice long sleep. Tomorrow I should really get to reading my C++ book, then trying to finish up my 181 homework that's due Friday, but I'll have to have done by Wednesday. I'm already like halfway through, I think.

Last night was a lot of fun, too! It was nice to go to a party where you know most of the people and it's just relaxing and having fun. Overall, this weekend has been just about perfect, and it's not over yet! Gavin's Post-Passover Pizza Party is still left for tomorrow, so another thing to look forward to! :)

Anyway, I have to go think of a quote of the day, and then I'll post this online. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and if it's sunny out like it has been here, get outside and do something! :)

April 13, 2001, 5:16 pm

"Now, the implementation stage is where the engineers -- also known as 'geeks' or 'packet monkeys' -- come in." -- MJ, the speaker from Sapient, discussing the different stages of development in our Software Engineering class

The weekend is here, hallelujah!! Granted, it's Friday, the 13th, but it's been an okay day for me. Today is also my first-year roommate Andrea's 22nd birthday, so happy birthday to you, Andrea! :) Tonight is Foster's shindig, which I'm greatly looking forward to. Kicking back and relaxing with most (if not all) of my CS friends (most of them graduating with me!) is just what I need. I'm starting to feel sad about graduating. Well, not so much graduating as leaving Westwood, the little bubble we've lived in for the last 4 years. Just when we've begun to appreciate apartment life, where all of our friends live a hop, skip, and jump away from us, where you can go to one apartment and be at 3-5 of your friends' house, where all the phone numbers start with 824 or 208, and where partying and loud music are a way of life... until finals, when everyone yells at the person who starts playing their electric guitar at peak studying time. The exception would be Midnight Yell, which I think is the best tradition ever to come out of UCLA, even better than Spring Sing. But anyway, I'm getting too nostalgic about a school and life I haven't even left behind yet, so let's move on.

I still haven't heard from IBM about the written offer, but I'm not worried about that since my potential boss called earlier in the week. PacBell (SBC Networks) called yesterday and asked if I would want to work in San Ramon, and then asked me to call them back and let them know how much IBM is going to offer me so they can possibly up the ante and fly me up for an interview. And dammit, I keep forgetting to look over my C++!! Microsoft is only a week away... like, literally, a week from now, I'll probably be at dinner with some of the interviewing managers or something crazy like that. *nervously biting my nails* I hope that I won't have to interview again for a really long time because I just can't bear the notion of being asked all sorts of questions, trying to sell yourself to some huge company, and then waiting to find out if you were good enough for them. What a concept.

Well surprisingly, I'm feeling kind of productive right now. I think it's because I finally figured out (and fixed) our DSL problem!! Yay, Jenn!! So we're all back online again, and I feel kind of... grr!! And I have to get work done early 'cause I'll be leaving (on a jet plane) on Thursday. I'll post again soon because I can. ;) Have a good weekend!

April 12, 2001, 6:29 pm

"I eat too much / I drink too much / I want too much / Too much." -- Dave Matthews Band

I spent $75 in groceries today!! Good God!! You'd think I was some fat troll living under a bridge somewhere! Mind you, this is for just one person: 5 foot tall little me! I haven't shopped since the week before finals of last quarter, but this bunch better last me till the week before finals this quarter!! Well, I guess I kinda splurged on some sweets and stuff, plus frozen foods (other than those Tina's burritos I get for 25¢ with a Ralph's Club card) are kind of expensive. Not to mention Red Bulls!! Sure, they've got wings, but come on! At $2 a pop, I can only afford to buy them for events such as tomorrow evening (Foster's Friday, the 13th Bash).

Survivor night, woo hoo!! Pretty exciting! And the weekend is pretty much here, and that's a relief. This week was pretty uneventful, but after Vegas, it didn't have a chance. Next weekend is Microsoft, so that's another thing to look forward to. :) May is going to be so boring after this month.

Anyway, DSL is still down, so I'm going to go ahead and dial-up (*sniff*) and upload this bad boy so you folks can get to reading it. Have a good one.

April 11, 2001, 6:55 pm

"Blah, blah, blah." -- [to be sung to the tune of "Da Da Da"]

Boring day. Well, I ordered my graduation stuff today... got my head measured for the cap and stuff (I'm a medium... just right. I would hate an XS and I'd really hate an XL). And my gown size was the second smallest... 4'10" was the smallest, and 5'0" was second. In high school, there was only S, M, L, I think, so even the S was a little big on me. At least it was light blue, though... black caps and gowns with orange tassels (School of Engineering) seems so Halloweeny (Halloween-ish?).

A week till my Microsoft interview. I really should start reviewing C++ a little... it's been so long since I coded in C++. Hopefully it's like riding a bike. And I got a ream of paper and 3 ZIP disks at Best Buy today when Bobby and I went to spend his $50 gift certificate. He got a new hard drive, lucky boy. I wish I knew what kind of RAM my computer uses... I sure could use some.

And DSL is down again. :( Man, what are we paying for? Broken DSL?? Oh, well. I guess I'll have to actually study. :(

April 10, 2001, 3:29 pm

"You're one of those [girls] who likes to shine [her] machine / You make me take off my shoes before you let me get in / I can't believe you kiss your car goodnight / C'mon baby, tell me, you must be joking, right?" -- Shania Twain

No, I'm not joking. You damn-well better take your shoes off before you get into my new car!! :) So I ordered my car today!! Apparently, I only just made June production, so it won't be in until end of July/early August!! :( My car dealer was supposed to let me know if spots were running out for May production (I wanted it right out of school), but he didn't. Oh, well. I guess I didn't know if I was even going to have a job till last week, anyway. It'll all work out, I suppose. I'll just have to make sure my current car will make it one extra month than I had anticipated. And I'm sure it'll be fine. It's a trusty little car.

Class continue to be more boring than ever, if that's even possible. I find myself doing laundry over reading or doing homework. Laundry!! That's so unlike me.

Anyway, I guess that's all as far as "exciting news" goes. I'm so glad that the order is in. Now it's just sitting back and relaxing. And I've thought about it for so long that I'm not going to be like my dad, calling up his dealer and changing the options every other day. I think I'm pretty set in my decision. Thank God Ii'm still in school to kill time with, otherwise I'll be constantly thinking about it and what phase it's in. :)

April 9, 2001, 11:05 am

"You're beautiful / That's fo sho." -- Nelly Furtado

I hate that song, for the record. It's just that it's our song for our Vegas trip this past weekend. We heard it about 6 times a day, and like 7 on our way home. Anyway, I had a GREAT time. At one point, I was up $125 at the $5 Blackjack table when we left the casino. But I lost it all and then some. I knew my luck wouldn't last. Why didn't I stop?? :\

The clubs were awesome. We went to Rumjungle at Mandalay Bay ($20/person, even girls!! What a rip-off!!) on Friday night from 11:30 till about 3:45 am), where there were scantily clad girls swinging from trapeze-like contraptions on the ceiling. That was trippy. Then we hit Studio 54 from about 2 am till 3:30 am in MGM Grand on Saturday night ($20/guy, girls get in free). Great music. Crowded both nights, of course. Met some guys, the most memorable being Rodney, who apparently broke his clavicle and was in a harness the next day, LOL. Boys. Can't take them anywhere. But all the guys were dorks in the end, so it's nice to be able to leave those dancing memories in Vegas, hehe. It was fun and flattering and it was awesome to go gamble till 6 in the morning and wake up late. :)

So many inside jokes between the 5 of us, and I can't think of a time that I had that cool of a weekend in a really long time. Anyway, I have to go to class, but I'll write more later. And keep an eye on the quotes page.... I just might post some inside jokes up there. :) Man, I don't want to go to class. :( It's the end of the weekend. *sigh*

April 5, 2001, 5:52 pm

"And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true."

It's happened. I still can't believe it. But it's happened. I got my first job offer. This offer, ladies and gentlemen, is my first step into the real world. This offer will hurl me into reality and the rest of my life!

My first real job offer.

It's from IBM, of course, because that's the only company I've had my real on-site interview with so far. The manager I interviewed with last Friday (was it only a week ago?!) called me up today after talking to the lady I talked to on the phone on Tuesday. He had a few questions for me regarding my (rather low) GPA and I was glad that he was asking the questions that most flattered my abilities in the development side of things since that's what he's looking for. I tend to do poorly in lower-level computer stuff like system architecture and operating systems. Nevertheless, I was frustrated, even though he insisted it in no way meant that I was out of the running. Then about 10 minutes after that conversation, he called me back and just offered me a job! Just like that! He said he felt I was most qualified all around for the position they had open, "all around" meaning the inter-personal skills and personality with the group and knowledge in the stuff they need. He also mentioned after looking at some file on his computer that he had reason to believe that another manager would be extending an offer to me soon as well. This manager and the one he mentioned are the two managers that I listed as fied for #1 preference if I had to choose from the managers I interviewed with on Friday!

I didn't dare to believe this could be. There were 22 kids at that invitational and I'm talking really smart kids from all over. How did I manage to catch the eye of these influential people?? I don't know and I don't care. Do you realize what this means?? This means that I have a job waiting for me after school gets out. This means that even if I get no other offers, I won't be jobless. This means that I'm secure because this is IBM, not some dot-com that's teetering on the verge of extinction. This company is looking to hire, but only the ones they know they need, and no more, because they don't want to lay anyone off. This means that I get to go back to San Jose for sure when I graduate, instead of looking in other cities because the economy is doing so bad. This means I'll live 5 minutes away from my job and will be able to commute that distance with my dad. This means I get all those benefits from IBM like 100% compensation for any classes I want to take in the future, discounts on stocks, health plans, and all that retirement stuff. This means I could very well be set for the rest of my life in a career that I think I can really like if I'm in the company of the people that are like the manager I talked to. And most importantly, this means that I get to call up my dealer (once the written offer comes in) and order my car so that it's waiting for me when I get back to San Jose in June.

In one day, your life can change forever. I've heard it said before, and I believed it. But I never knew it could happen in a good way. I thought I could only dream of getting this opportunity, with the GPA I have, with the economy doing so poorly, and with the GPA I have (hehe). I never thought they would actually really weigh in other assets I have to compensate for my transcript. They took the time to do that. And now the negotiation for my offer begins, that is, if my Microsoft interview goes well.

Yesterday was Magic Mountain with a huge group of people (15 total, I think!), and it was tons of fun! Senior year is going to be awesome if it weren't for these classes. :) Ah... gotta love Senior cut days. :)

And I'd also like to say, happy birthday to my mommy, who would have been 50 years old today. I love you.

April 3, 2001, 7:21 pm

"No, I don't want to meet your friend / And I don't wanna start over again / I just want my life to be the same / Just like it used to be." -- Everclear, Wonderful

My two non-CS classes were pretty dull today. Lots of reading involved in my history class, but that was to be expected. It has the potential to be interesting. The first day isn't a very good test. It's funny how I used to hate history in high school, but now I wish I had a couple more slots to take some more history classes... the specialized classes are really pretty interesting. I wish they offered the pre-1600 Japanese history class this quarter, I would have loved to take that. Management is very group-oriented. The only thing that worries me is that we'll be working in groups of 10+ people, and it's hard enough to get together with 4 people outside of class, it's going to be even more difficult with 10.

I got a call from IBM today, but nothing offer-related. One of the managers I interviewed with on Friday apparently liked me enough to have the project leader of their group to call me herself and do a quasi-interview over the phone. It was very casual, and I liked her right off (some people, you know you won't like the instant they say "hello"). Their group seems to be doing lots of different things, and several facets of their project interest me. It would be nice to get another call from them... and if it was an offer. :) And there were also those other managers I would love to work for, so keep your fingers crossed for me! :)

I'm a little on the sad side after coming back down to Westwood after spring break, hence the lyrics of the day. I can't, for the life of me, get excited that it's my last quarter or anything. Right now, I'm still in "I want to go back to San Jose" mode, maybe because this break felt so much shorter than usual. Or maybe I'm in denial... I can't be graduating already! I'm not going to have to say goodbye to my friends in less than 3 months. I'm still a freshman, aren't I?? Augh!!

But I can't freak out. Just stay calm and go through the motions of being a graduation senior. Reap the benefits (free lunches, priority PTE numbers, being harrassed by the vendors on Bruin Walk) and enjoy the last months with my friends, all here, collected in the nest of Westwood, before we fly off and do whatever we're going to be doing... for the rest of our lives....

April 2, 2001, 5:41 pm

"Illusions never change / Into something real / I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn." -- Natalie Imbruglia, Torn

What an enlightening Spring Break I just had!! In so many respects!! I had a new outlook because I knew that hey, this is it. This is the last break I'm going to have from school or work or whatever. And I had a totally awesome opportunity to interview and stuff at IBM. I think it's a lot like what Microsoft does with their candidates because they flew up a bunch of people (22) and booked us in the Doubletree to get a bunch of interviews in on Friday. I was already in San Jose, so that was convenient. I was so nervous at first... I'm not necessarily bad at meeting new people, but I am definitely scared of it. And then interviewing is a whole different story. That totally scares me, but it's just something we have to do. But man, the event was awesome!! It was so informative, and I actually made friends with the other kids!! It was enough time that we all got to know each other, and it was really fun... a friendly atmosphere. It was definitely a lot better than anything I had imagined.

Then, even while I was hanging out with my old friends, I was sitting there thinking about what I'll be coming back to... the kind of "night-life" I'll have when I get back for good. Will it be the same as when I come back for breaks? My conclusion was no, it wouldn't be. I have to really start assessing my life and figuring out what I want. I need to figure out what kind of life I want to live and how I'll go about getting it.

And I can't believe that I just started my last quarter of college. Last quarter!! The countdown number is dwindling, and I'm getting my midterm and final dates set in stone... so close to the graduation ceremony itself. Augh!!! And 3 more weeks till my Microsoft interview weekend, which I'm not sure exactly how it's going to go (wow, was that really bad grammar??). I hope it's as fun as the IBM one, but I don't know if they're having a bunch of kids fly up at once or not. Either way, good experience, and if all goes well, good career opportunity. :) It's nice to be back, and I finally remembered to bring my roller blades back, so time to hit Venice! :) 4 classes this quarter, but it's my LAST quarter. We'll see how it goes.

Bring it on, Spring Quarter. I'm ready, baby.

March 22, 2001, 1:28 pm

"Pack the car and leave this town." -- Barenaked Ladies, Pinch Me

Yay, one down, one to go!! My first final this morning went exceptionally well!! Even I can't believe it. I haven't had a CS final go this well since my core classes, and I'm talkin', CS 31 and 32 (Intro to Programming in C++). And this was my hard professor, too!! It was a very fair test, and it took me about 2 hours and 45 minutes, but it didn't feel that long... it felt like it was maybe an hour or an hour and a half! Those are the best kinds of tests... you don't realize the time is flying by because you're too busy writing (correct) answers down!! *happy sigh* Now I have my really-hard-but-probably-pointless final at 3.... Not looking forward to it.

I've been packing since I got back from my final. I have most of my winter clothes and extra sweatshirts and stuff packed, and my old books that I won't need next quarter. They're all in my car already. Now I have to pack my clothes that I'll need for break, some shoes, my interview stuff, some everyday stuff... and the great part about packing for home is, if you forget something, you already have it there!! :) And no homework/studying, either (well, tests, but that's just because I have that last minute interview with IBM). *another happy sigh*

Oh, and be sure to check out those pictures from yesterday at the beach, they're really fun! I won't be able to post on here while I'm at home because I won't have a good internet connection, and my dad's computer doesn't have an FTP program, either. So have a great Spring Break!!!! Be safe and have fun!! And class of 2001: one more quarter, baby!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!

March 22, 2001, 12:50 am

"I find sometimes it's easy to be myself / Sometimes I find it's better to be somebody else." -- Dave Matthews Band

But today (well, technically yesterday 'cause it was on Wednesday, the 21st), I wouldn't trade being me for anything, even though I had to study for 2 of my hardest finals I'll be taking here at UCLA. We went to the beach, and I seriously had one of the funnest, best days of my college years. I'm posting the pictures right now, which is why I'm not sleeping (or studying). I'm meeting Bobby at the corner at 7:25 tomorrow morning so we can get a bite to eat. It's going to be a long final. And a long day, at that. I'll take the 3 hour final, then return my books (hopefully some extra cash for gas tomorrow), packing my car with as much stuff as I can, then another final from 3-5 (hopefully only till 4:30 or so). Then a long drive home.

Anyway, I have to be up in T-minus 5 hours and 28 minutes, so I should hurry and get the pictures up and go to bed. Wish me luck on finals, and look at the pictures!! :)

March 20, 2001, 3:05 pm

"When the working day is done / Oh, girls / Girls just wanna have fun." -- Cyndi Lauper

I got an email from IBM today and they're asking me to go to an interview thing in San Jose. I would have gotten another free trip home, except I'll already be home: the interview is Thursday and Friday of my Spring Break. But I still get a free night at the Doubletree, which is where everything happens. I have to take an IPAT test at 7:30 in the morning on Friday... #1) I don't function that early, and #2) a test over Spring Break?! :) Oh, well. Then it's all day interviews on Friday. Thursday is just the evening, and it's like an orientation thing. I really wish I would have gotten a free trip, but I guess it's better than nothing. I'm starting to get worried about finding a job in the Bay Area. The economy is so bad that I'm scared I won't find a job. :( But that's why I'm totally going to this IBM thing because for me to say that Microsoft is my backup would be totally absurd. Nervous, but I gotta do it. I hope I get a job offer because I am giving up my last Thursday and Friday of Spring Break.

So today, I had to go and get my transcript (an extra $10 for rushing it) for the IBM thing. It's kind of dumb. If you don't pay the $10, they get you your transcript in like 5 days or something, and you just pay the $5 to get the transcript itself. But for $10, they can give it to you in 5 minutes (I swear I didn't wait longer than 5 minutes after I turned in the request). So what's with the 5 day thing?? Everything else Murphy Hall does takes longer than that to begin with! Sheesh. Oh, well. I got it taken care of, so no worries. Oh, and don't forget, fellow Bruins, reg fees are due TODAY.

Our CS132 project is due tonight at midnight. All we have to do is submit it. I'm reading for the final in that class right now, then we're going over it at the beach tomorrow (at least 4 or 5 of us are going for sure). And I think tomorrow night me and Bobby will go over our other class for last minute stuff. He also has a final tomorrow, so that sucks. :( I don't know what to study for my 132, so that really sucks. AND what's so sneaky of my 180 professor is that he's making the final half open book, half closed (the midterm was open book). Since we don't know what's going to be on the "closed" book section, we have to learn the whole thing anyway! He's just trying to appease us, grrr!!!

I just want to go home.

March 19, 2001, 7:13 pm

"Yeah... well... at least I'm not ugly." -- Angela on American Beauty

What a beautiful day!! It was like 83 degrees at the beach, and the sun was hot! Bobby, Amber, and I went to the beach to study, and we actually got stuff done, especially considering how nice it was today!! I tanned a little, but very little. I guess it's better that I didn't tan too much because I would have ended up with a funky tan, what with my notebook in the way and stuff. :) It was nice to get out. It was one of those days where I walked out of the apartment building and it was just hot, like summertime. Driving on Sunset with the sunroof cracked and the windows down was so LA, but it was so wonderful!!

Other than the procrastination-provoking weather, not much going on. I'm hoping that we'll (the CS 132 gang) go to the beach again on Wednesday because that's the rumor that was going around. As long as Gavin's there to regulate, I think we could be just as productive as Bobby and I were today. :) If me and Bobby can get together and actually study at a beach, anything's possible. Either that or we're maturing, and we all know that's not possible. After all, Bobby and I were told by our TA to sit apart from each other in a discussion once. Never mind that the TA was senile and it actually really wasn't us talking at the time, but it's still a funny story to tell... we're in college, for God's sake! :)

Well, back to studying algorithms and stuff. If anyone can help me with the Bellman-Ford algorithm, please, by all means, email me! I'm a little confused on that stuff. :)

"Say you'll stay / Say you're sure / Say my heart was made for yours / Let our love lead the way / Say you'll stay."

A pretty uneventful day.A review session that was actually fairly informative (for 180, anyway), then Jon picked us up and we went to In-N-Out for lunch, then went to Gavin's to work on the project. We finished! Well, we aren't going to do any more on it, anyway. :) Just studying from here on out.

Today was so hot!! It was sunny and warm and beautiful!! Too bad we were indoors all day. I'm hoping Bobby will want to study at the beach tomorrow 'cause we're going over our 180 stuff. I want to work on my tan a little, and I think we want to talk over concepts and stuff, so it'll be perfect, plus we can read for classes in the sun, too. :) Then Jon and his girlfriend can join us. It's supposed to get up to like 79 tomorrow, which would be so awesome. :)

I'm worried that I'm too slack right now 'cause I keep thinking "I have until Thursday" and also because I keep thinking that it feels like I still have so long until I get to go home for break that I have all that time to study. But now that I'm on the same row on the calendar as Thursday, it does feel a little closer. :) I can't wait. I absolutely can't wait. I know I say that a lot, but there are some people here that I just need to get away from for a while, and I think that's what Spring Breaks were made for.

Anyway, since we finished early, I think I might relax a little bit and watch a movie, or else just start reading or something. *sigh*

March 17, 2001, 9:21 pm

"Oh, we're halfway there / Oh, living on a prayer / Take my hand, we'll make it I swear / Oh, living on a prayer." -- Bon Jovi

We finished about 60-70% of our last CS 132 project today!! I worked with Gavin and Jon today for like 4½ hours after the UCLA vs. Utah State championship b-ball game (we kicked butt!!). I thought we were playing Duke, but it turns out we're going to play Duke next. Apparently, they're, like, flawless when it comes to playing basketball, but hey, we're officially in the Sweet Sixteen now, and that's not so bad.

I read almost all the stuff I'm supposed to for my other CS class today. I understand the later stuff so much better than the earlier stuff, but he's not weighing either part more heavily, which means I have to go back and refresh on the earlier stuff. Hopefully it'll make more sense the second time around. :) And there's a review session tomorrow and that'll give me more of an indication as to how crappy I'm going to do on the final. It'll be nice to finish the project... and then I have to study for the CS 132 final, too. :\ As if the project wasn't brutal enough as it is.

My sister's not going to be in that skit thing at her high school after all now, so I have a free Friday night my first weekend home. I think I'll be spending it with Emilio till he has to go to work that night, which could be nice, it could be bad. But one thing's for sure, I just can't wait to go home. I've had it up to here with school, and at this point, I'm just so frustrated, I need a break. The weather's making me antsy and with my brain dangerously close to hitting critical mass for the quarter, all I can think about is sleeping in my own bed in my own room and not having to do work (other than doing some C++ refresher studying) for a whole week and a half! Then coming back to sunny, warm LA for my last quarter, hopefully full of trips to the beach, maybe even Vegas and/or Mexico, and lots of friend-bonding since, well, the end is near.

Other than that, yeah, today was a good day and hopefully tomorrow will be just as productive. 5 days till I'll be home for spring break!! :) Happy St. Patrick's Day!

March 15, 2001, 10:34 pm

"I've this creeping / Suspicion that things here are not as they seem / Reassure me / Why do I feel as if I'm in too deep?" -- Dave Matthews Band

Beware the Ides of March. They knew it back in like 46 B.C., and still, we don't take heed. Hehe. Long day, but surprisingly not too tired... yet. It's weird to think that we're officially in finals mode now, or at least I am, because I had my last lectures today and just a discussion that I go to for the principle of it... that and to get the handouts for the people who are lazy and don't go all the time. :) J/K, guys.

But first things first: Congratulations to our own Bruin basketball team for beating Hofstra in the first round of championship games!! Too bad Duke is up next on our list of opponents... yeah, #1 in the eastern conference. Well, we've made it this far, it's been a good season.

I got the first 4 Harry Potter books in MP3 form from my friend John on CDs today!! :) Even though I can't play it on my CD changer in my car or anything (which could have been cool on my drive home this break), I can listen to it on my computer when Chrissy's not around or whatever, so that's cool. I can't wait to hear how they pronounce the name "Hermione"!! :)

From here on out it's all studying and doing our project. I have both my finals on Thursday (8-11 and 3-6, but the last one shouldn't take more than an hour and a half, according to the professor), but we have our group project due on Tuesday for our compiler class, DOH!! So tomorrow after class, 12-6 on Saturday, and 12-6 on Sunday at least, we'll be doing our project (me, Gavin, and Jon). In between that, I'll be studying for my classes. And watch, it'll be a beautiful weekend and I'll be SO upset that we're stuck inside. :\ C'est la vie.

Congratulations, also, to Shirley for getting her second interview with Microsoft!! She'll be flown out to Seattle instead of the Bay Area like me, but all the same, it's pretty awesome... free trip, free food, everything! :) I was just telling Gavin the other day... we were talking about how awesome it is that we have pretty much all the connections with all the big computer companies (we have friends at Intel, Adobe, Sun, Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft so far), and then I was thinking about how so far, 7 of us have been asked to interview on-site for Microsoft and have been or will be flown out somewhere, and it'd be so ironic if we all ended up at Microsoft, even though we have all these connections. :) But I don't want to jinx myself. I would love to work for Microsoft, and I'm going to try my darndest to get that job!!

And now I'm just blabbering because I don't want to go back to homework and studying. But I have to. So ta-ta for now, and I'll try to update again sometime this weekend. If anything, I'll at least be updating the countdown. :) I hope you're having more fun than me!! :)

March 14, 2001, 7:33 pm

"Promises mean everything when you're little and the world's so big." -- Everclear

Okay, little or not, this particular promise was a bad one to break. Our CS180 professor told us he was going to be having a "homework discussion and review" today from 6 till as late as 8 pm tonight because finals is coming up, and he assigned us homework due on Friday. So even though I didn't have class today and was working on our project with Gavin and Jon, I left in time to go meet Bobby for the review. Guess who didn't show up. The professor!! We waited till 6:30!! Sure, we could have waited longer, but if he never showed up, what a waste!!! I'm pretty ticked off, and we have him tomorrow at 8 in the morning, so we'll see what he has to say. I hope he didn't end up showing up last minute or something, but most of the people had left or were preparing to leave when we left.

What else? Not much. I really want to go home, and I'm debating whether I should leave on Thursday night after my last final or what. It sounds really appealing, but I might be too tired to think about a 5 hour drive after two finals. If it's anything like the last few finals weeks, though, I'll be so wired that I won't be able to sit still after the final. And the way I see it, too, is that if I don't leave till Friday morning, I'll be tired Friday night because of waking up early and then driving for 5 hours, and I won't get there till at least 1 in the afternoon, and it just seems a little hectic. But if I go Thursday night, yeah, I'll get home pretty late, but then I can just not unpack and go to sleep, then unpack in the morning, after a full night's rest, then have the rest of the day to do whatever till it's time to go to see my sister in FANTASTIKS at her high school. I'll just have to see if I'm wired enough after my last final and how long it lasts and stuff.

Survivor is on tonight instead of the usual Thursday night. I'm excited, and I'm glad Bobby reminded me. After working on the project and going to campus for nothing, it'll be nice to have something to relax and watch before reading for my classes and stuff. I know that stupid professor is going to give us a quiz or something tomorrow just because he's a jerk like that. Enjoy your evening, and please write something on my discussion board if you get a chance!! :)

March 13, 2001, 11:55 pm

"Imagine booting a sleeping tiger up [its] rearend and you're probably getting close to the response of the X5. The purring becomes a menacing roar as that mass of metal sets off up the road at indecent velocity. Anodyne rep-mobiles fling themselves into the safety of the slow lane and even so-called sports cars pretend they're not looking in order to save face." -- BMW Car magazine, March 2001

Such a great quote, from one of my 4 recently acquired BMW magazines (2 were free, courtesy of BMW).This article is great, and I bet my dad can't wait to get his hands on it (it's printed in Europe, so it was like $8!!). This journalist goes into the Alps in January with a couple other people (a photog included) and they take on rivers and boulders and stuff, it's so crazy!! I was cringing, reading the article, but hey, it IS an SUV, after all.

What else... I got some of my Microsoft info in the mail today, about my interview and stuff. Um... I had class as usual, and worked on our project for CS 132 with Gavin and them. Yesterday was Cheesecake Factory with my roommates and two of Jenny and Christine's roommates from last year. Really good company, and really good food.

Tomorrow is no school for me, but I have to work on the project again, then go to a review session for CS 180 around 6, then go back to the project when it's over. And it's supposed to be like 72 and everything tomorrow, so I'm not going to want to do anything (as usual)!! I just want to go home. A little over a week. But a little over a week of 10th week and finals, so it's going to suck.

Anyway, back to... well, stuff. Going to bed soon... tired as hell.

March 11, 2001, 9:00 pm

"Good God what a motor!!! What can I say but BMW wrote the book on motor design and response. It almost feels like a small block V-8, and the sound is vintage ripping canvas." -- seen on the E46 forum on bimmer.org

Tenth week is upon us. Then finals week will take its place, in its full and unleashed horror. All that keeps running through my head when I think about finals week is being tired and wondering where the time went and eating junk food and stressing out. Then I remember that this finals week, we have an impossible project to do, too, and that just makes me want to throw up.

But on the brighter side, in less than 2 weeks, I'll be home and watching Erika run around the STHS gym to the music of Disney's Aladdin. :) Should be fun, or entertaining at least.

Tomorrow is my roommate Jenny's 21st birthday! We're going to the Cheesecake Factory tomorrow night, so that should be fun, and really yummy. :) I went to the mall with Chrissy today and I bought some shorts (I accidentally got a drop of hair dye on my favorite shorts and stained them, right on the pocket. But never fear, I got a replacement, and a new tank top, too. :) A girl can never have enough tank tops, and I'm trying to prove it.

I got an awesome BMW 3-series coupe brochure in the mail yesterday. Man, if I hadn't already been convinced that I wanted the 2001 330 Ci, this would have pushed me over the edge. But since I already wanted it desperately, it just makes me that much more eager to go and put the deposit down to get mine into production. Spring break... I can't wait, on so many different levels.

March 10, 2001, 9:08 pm

"I remember we were driving, driving in your car / The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk / City lights lay out before us / And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder / And I had a feeling that I belonged / And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone." -- Tracy Chapman

An uneventful weekend, at least so far, and I guess that's okay. Last night, Chrissy, Jenny, and I watched Apocalypse Now on video until like 2:30 am. I enjoyed and appreciated the movie. Considering it was made in like, the year we were born, it was fantastic. Today, I woke up nice and late, read lots of Harry #2, went to Jon's to go over some of the project stuff (which only took like 30 minutes if that), then ended up staying to watch the end of the UCLA vs. Washington game (man, what a game... we lost, but it was sooooo close!!) and even longer to play the guitar with Ryan. I can play Green Day's "Good Riddance" (I think that's what it's called...) and it actually sounds pretty decent now that I kinda have the hang of strumming!! How exciting to finally hear something and not to have to just hear the different chords, trying to figure out what song it is. :)!!! AND on top of that, my fingers hardly hurt when I was playing, and I was playing like an hour or so!! The chords come more naturally, and changing chords isn't so bad anymore, either. I like feeling like I've accomplished something. Too bad it's not CS stuff. :)

One more week of classes, then finals. Both my finals are on Thursday of finals week, then I get to go HOME. HOME, for 9 glorious days, maybe even 10, and I'm damn happy that it's coming up. My last break before I'll be a college graduate. Amazing. And this next week will see my last 4 hours of Professor Stelling... and my last 4 hours of Mangione-Smith. Actually, he's not so bad, it's the CLASS that sucks... and he doesn't teach worth shit and his tests and projects are completely inane. Oh, and the book is horrendous. But other than that.... :)

Just chillin' tonight. Maybe read some more Harry, then it's off to bed. Gotta work on the project with Gavin and Jon (and maybe Mike and Josh, too) in the afternoon/evening.and this project can't be over fast enough, let me tell you. I should read a little tonight... should keep up with the group thing, you know. But it'll take quite a bit of coercion to get me to read 132 on a Saturday night. It's off I go to find something better to do. :) Have a good weekend!

March 8, 2001, 6:55 pm

"'Cause here we have been standing for a long, long time / Treading trodden trails for a long, long time." -- Dave Matthews Band

I feel like I've been in school forever... oh wait! I have been! Ha ha. Hence the "treading trodden trails" quote of the day. I'm so sick of school!! I mean, I'm not sick of learning, I'm sick of learning this particular subject, namely compilers... and algorithms, for that matter. I guess since it's the end of 9th week and everything's just piling up from the whole rest of the quarter, it's rough, but hey, this really sucks. Hehe. But otherwise, it was a good day. A good couple of days. I've been learning how to play the guitar from a couple different friends, and yesterday, I was able to play a somewhat-distinguishable rendition of my current favorite song by Fuel! It was awesome. My fingers hurt like hell, but it's well worth the pain to hear it. It's nice, for once, to be able to bring a musical instrument into a room with me instead of having to go into the room to be with the musical instrument. Like the piano, for example. I couldn't very well practice in my room, and the whole house would hear me practice, not to mention have to be quiet so I could concentrate. So this is really cool, and so many songs have the guitar in them anyway. :)

Then, today, I got an email from my Microsoft recruiter with my itinerary for the weekend I'll be flown up to the Bay Area for my on-site Microsoft (Hotmail or WebTV) interview! I'm sooo excited!! It's not until April, but to be able to interview with such a technology giant and on TOP of that, not having to worry about the money to go! They're flying me up, putting me up at the Hyatt in Palo Alto for 3 nights, giving me a rental car, and all for something I would have done to get an interview with them anyway!! Man, hookups are awesome. Thanks again for sending in my resume, Gavin!!

And yseterday, I got an email from IBM, too, and the guy said to "please expect a personal invitation to visit the San Jose site and interview for some of the positions" available in the area! THAT would be cool since it's like 5 minutes from my house (4 if you get all the green lights). And working with Dad can't be *that* bad. :)

Then I got a link to the new teaser trailer for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!! (It's best viewed with a fast connection, obviously, but it's worth sitting and waiting for it, even!) I can't wait for it to come out!! I'm seeing it DAY ONE, November 16th, baby!!

And then tonight's Survivor night! Yee haw!! Thank God it's almost Friday!