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November 1, Mon
+ Didn't Do Shit This Weekend!
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06:54 PM
This is going to be a short entry 'cause I've so much schoolwork need to be finished. I've a 2000 word mid-term paper for my Media class due tomorrow night, a weekly reading response paper due tonight, and two other projects going on. Instead of starting on them and getting them done this weekend, I didn't do shit! QPOC had a Quotluck (a queer potluck) on Friday night that I wanted to go but didn't because I was hella tired. Then I slept in until 2pm on Saturday, got my laundry done that afternoon, and then went to get a haircut with Kyle. It was at this kind of ghetto haircut shop, but then it was only $7 and I actually like the haircut so I guess it is ok. Then I caught up with all the readings that we were supposed to be done for the midterm yesterday afternoon, and started on my midterm paper last night. I got about 1000 words last night so I still have another 1000 words to go. Well, I got my weekly response paper done today at school so I guess that's one thing out of the way... just wish me luck on my midterm paper and remember to go out and vote tomorrow!!
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November 2, Tue
+ 2004 U.S. Presidential Election
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03:37 PM
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November 6, Sat
+ Moral Values??
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11:29 AM
Before anything, I would like to say that this entry is my opinion regarding this year's election and its outcome. For someone who might not agree with my point of views, this can be offensive. However, I'm not going to tell people to leave or not to read it simply because of that. I believe that everyone has the right to go to whatever websites they want and read whatever as they wish, but I also hope that people would respect my right of expressing my opinions on my own website. Reading my blog is not mandatory and people are free to choose whether to read it or not, but please respect my right as well.
To be very honest, the outcome of this election was a shock and a real surprise to me. I thought it would at least be a close race if not Kerry leading; but it turned out to be nowhere close with Bush winning with 51% of the popular votes. Indeed it was a huge disappointment for me, not only because Kerry didn't win, but also because a majority of people in this country approved of Bush and his administration. It is believed that the deciding issue of this election's outcome were "moral values", and for that I've one response: This country is fucked up! I really don't understand, please explain to me what is so moral about bombing the heck out of other countries and killing thousands of innocent lives? Yes, I agree that September 11 was truly a tragedy, but that doesn't give us the right or excuse to do the same thing (or possibily worse) to other countries. Revenge is never the solution; capturing the one who's responsible should be the priority! What the war is doing now is sending more American soldiers to die everyday. Also, tell me what is so moral about discriminating a group of people based on their sexuality and denying their rights to marriage (and other legal benefits that come with it) merely because they don't share the same beliefs you do and that (let's face it) you don't like them! What is so wrong about two people loving and caring for each other even though they're the same sex? So, the majority of this country is telling me that they would rather keep bombing other countries and killing more people than let two lovers get married and get the rights and benefits they deserved (the same rights and benefits that so many others have taken for granted)? What kind of message are we sending out as a nation? What kind of moral values are these?
I wish I hadn't cared as much as I did... after all, what can we do anyway? As minorities, all we can do is just sit and let the majority tell us what we can and can't do. Basically, if you're a soldiers, you'll be sent to fight a war that is irrelevant to defending this country, and if you die, your death is not even media-worthy; all the nation cares about is getting the oil and lowering the gas prices. If you're a veteran, your sacrifices don't worth anything; you're useless now and therefore your benefits will be cut so that there can be more tax cut. If you're a homosexual, you're rights are taken away because this is a country ruled by straights and they don't want you to get what they get. Your love isn't "real" anyway; it would be better for everyone if you just leave the country and go somewhere else. If you're a woman, you don't have a choice about your body; abortion is not an option in this country. Who cares how you got pregnant, you're going to have your baby no matter what; even if you got raped and your life is now ruined, no one cares about how you feel or what you have to go through if you have the baby, all that matters is you're having that baby because the child's life is way more important than the mother's. These are now the moral values defining this country...
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November 9, Tue
+ 21st Birthday
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06:46 PM
I think I'm getting over the whole election thing. After all, it has already been done and nothing we do can change it anyway. Life goes on; might as well trying to stay positive and optimistic about the situation. Kyle was saying that he's going to move to Europe or something, and according to a report, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website received 5 times more hits after the confirmation of Bush's re-election. Personally I don't think that running away from the problem is a solution. Simply abandon the country to the conservatives just doesn't help. We can't back out of this fight; we need to stay and continue to stand up and fight for what we believe in.
Anyway, last Friday was my 21st birthday and it went great. My roommates took me to Dave and Buster's Friday night. Me, Jen and her boyfriend, Kyle and his old roommate Navin got there at around 3pm 'cause they have a Happy Hours thing going on from 4:30-7:00pm, in which all drinks are half off. So we had an early dinner and started drinking right when Happy Hours started. We also had fun playing video games at the arcade. There was this Over and Under shot, which they let you keep the shot-glass, so I got one of those and got the shot-glass as a souvenir. Jen and Kyle were trying so hard to get me drunk. I only had like two shots and a few drinks, but I was hella drunk already. We got home at around 8pm and I headed straight to bed 'cause I couldn't even walk straight.
Jen's family came to visit on Sunday. I met both her parents. Jen has told her parents I'm gay, but they seemed pretty cool about it. Jen told them about my artwork and websites and other computer graphic stuff, and her mom wants me to make her a website. Her mom even invited me to join them for Thanksgiving and Christmas 'cause according to Jen she feels bad for me that I don't have any family in the states. But I don't know if I want to go 'cause I don't really know them that well yet.
I got my 12" PowerBook G4 in the mail last Thursday night, and I have been playing around with it these past few days. Installed a whole bunch of software, and slowly getting used to the Mac OS X. At first I was a bit frustrated 'cause it's so different than Windows, but now I'm slowly starting to appreciate its characteristics and features. I didn't know that my site doesn't look that good in I.E. for Mac. It works better with Safari, but still not as good as with I.E. in Windows. I'll try to fix it once I get the time to. At least with Mac I don't have to worry about spyware, adware, virus, worms, or any of those shit that you need to deal with in Windows.
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November 12, Fri
+ Irrational Spending
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09:43 PM
Ever since Jack and Bobby moved to its new spot on Wednesday night at 9pm, I've been keeping up with the show. I've seen the first two episodes when the series first aired, but then I was busying with moving down here to San Diego and then with school starting. I'm glad they switched the time so it's not conflicted with my night classes anymore. I've downloaded the episodes I missed, but I haven't had the time to go back and watch them yet. I really like the idea behind the series and how liberal it is. I also like how they reflect current issues and such; I heard that they have even filmed two versions for the two election outcomes. It's just a great series in my opinion and just something different.
Yesterday was Veterans Day in the states, so we didn't have school. Jen and I went shopping, and I spent like $260 on clothes!! I got a jean jacket and a long-sleeve thermal shirt from Gap, a few long-sleeve shirts and a pair of jeans from Old Navy, and three more long-sleeve shirts and an old-school track jacket from Abercrombie. I really need to have some self-control sometimes, especially since I have not yet recover from my PowerBook. Well, at least I'm set for the winter that's for sure. Afterward we went to this Japanese restaurant for dinner. I had Udon (a kind of Asian soup-noddles) and a dish of octopus sushi, and they were so good. Why do I spend money like crazy and then feel bad and regret about it afterward? That's just not heathly...
I've been kind of stressed out over a lot of things lately. I don't know why; there isn't really any particular reason. I've been looking into getting an on-campus job though. We'll see how that goes. Anyway, Kyle sent me this site, and I think that everyone should go check it out. It's really moving and it makes me feel better knowing that there're LOTS of people out there feel the same way as I do.
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November 15, Mon
+ Figuring Out My Schedule
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05:58 PM
Saturday the LGBTQIA had another Family Dinner (just a social gathering type dinner). In my opinion, it was better than the last one, just because there weren't as many people, and we had a quite educational conversation. We talked from family histories to religions to politics to international relations. Afterward Dan and I had a long talk about something that was bothering him. Apparently he thought the fact that he's interested in me makes me felt uncomfortable and therefore didn't hangout with him as much as I used to. Well, I was a bit surprised to hear that 'cause it totally wasn't true and I didn't even give much thought about it. Last couple weeks I was just hella busy with school and other shit that's going on that I was either too tired or simply didn't have the time to go to those LGBTQIA events and meetings. Anyway, it was all clear now and we also talked about many other things as well. I'm glad he brough it up and we talked about it. I'm one of those people who rather have people be honest with me and talk about whatever is bothering them than keeping everything to themselves.
Saturday night I watched a few more old episodes of Jack and Bobby. The more I watch that show, the more I love it. It's just so cool and meaningful and touchy and corny at the same time, not to mention that Jack is hot and Bobby is cute, LOL. Anyway, I've finally caught up with all the episodes and now I just need to keep up with the show on Wednesday night. I've also downloaded the ABC prime-time series, Lost. I've always wanted to watch that show even before it came out but my schedule just doesn't allow me to do so. I've just finished watching the first episode this afternoon, and I thought it was pretty good.
I slept in until 1pm on Sunday, and spent most of the afternoon trying to figure out my class schedule for the next two years. I'm a Junior now and I really hope that I'll be able to graduate in two years, because it is just hella expensive for me to go for even one more quarter, especially when I'm paying out of state tuition. At first I was going to take on a minor but then it would be really tough for me to finish in two years, so I decided to just drop that idea and just take a few random elective classes to fill my unit requirement instead. Perhaps that's for the best after all. So, I've gotten my schedule for next quarter figured out, and it seems that I'll only be taking 12 units. I know it's not many classes at all, but the classes I want to take aren't offered next quarter, so I'll just have to try again the quarter after next. Also, I'm definitely going to get a job next quarter, so I guess it would be easier for me to fit my schedule that way. To be honest, it was quite a relief to have things figured out and settled. I'm one of those worrywarts who are not too good in dealing with uncertainties; uncertainties simply stress me out. Even though I've gone through so many uncertainties these past few years since I started studying aboard, and everything seemed to work out at the end, but it's just one of the things I can never get used to. All I've to say is that I'm lucky and grateful that God has been looking out for me.
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November 19, Fri
+ "Waiting for Eric"
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03:58 PM
There was this presentation by the game group in my Computing in the Arts lecture last night. The game group is an option for any students in the class to join and substitue it for their final term paper. They were supposed to develop a game and do a presentation/demonstration in class, and they're excused from their term paper. So, last night was their presentation. They had all these computer towers and monitors all hooked up and set up in front of the lecture hall. At first, they seemed to be missing a member 'cause the group leader kept calling a guy named Eric on his cell, and finally he talked to the professor about it. Eric sounded somewhat important in this whole demonstation 'cause the rest of the group members seemed pretty nervous about not having him around. But there was nothing they could do, so they went ahead and started the demonstration without him. However, things started to go wrong... First, they couldn't get their computers to hook up to the screen projector; the screen kept jumping back to "no signal". Then when they got it to connect and started loading the game, an error message kept popping up saying something about their screen resolution. Once they got everything to work and running the game, it was so bad and undebugged that things didn't seem to work the way they should. Everyone could tell the group leader was getting pissed 'cause he kept banging on the desk and yelling at his group members. We were all like thinking what's up with this guy. Toward the end of the game where they supposed to have four players stand in this four circles to finish, they realized that they couldn't because Eric wasn't there and apparently he was one of the players needed. and apparently the group members didn't remember that part when they began the demonstration... so they just stucked there and they asked the professor to take the place of Eric. And when the professor is setting up and connecting his laptop somehow they knocked one of the towers down, and at the same time the screen went crazy. When everyone was laughing and talking about it, the screen suddenly went blank... and then the credits rolled... The VIS40 Game Group presents Project "Waiting for Eric"... Still, no one seemed to realize anything...
Then we had a discussion right afterward, and the first thing the leader said was "I need to confess, the whole thing you saw on the screen was played from a pre-recorded DVD..." and at the same time the professor ejected a DVD-R disc from the player... "and yes, even the 'no signal' parts were part of the recording, and yes, even the knocking down the computer tower part, and yes, it was all an act." The whole lecture hall just went silence. No one could believe what they just heard. So the "game group" and the professor planned out the whole thing and tricked us all. The fictional character, Eric was created to make the audience believe that things went terribly wrong because he didn't show up. The whole presentation or "demonstation" was supposed to be an experiment/performance art to see the audience's reaction to the whole situation. NOT A SINGLE PERSON in the class had a clue what was really going on. Even though it did make us all looked like fools, it was definitely a great presentation!!
I'll be gone this entire weekend. I'm going to UCLA for the Students of Color Conference this weekend. I've never been to any conference before, so this is going to be my first one, and I'm really excited. I'm going as part of QPOC. We're leaving tomorrow early morning and we're not going to be back until late Sunday night. It should be fun. I'll let you guys know how it goes once I get back. Have a nice weekend!
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November 22, Mon
+ Students of Color Conference
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01:12 PM
The Students of Color Conference was awesome! We got to UCLA at around 8am on Saturday morning, registered and had breakfast. The whole conference basically divided into 5 workshop sessions and a few caucuses. Two main caucuses I attended were Students of Color: Asian and Pacific Islander and Queer People of Color. They were very powerful and informational. I became alot more aware of the problems students of color are facing everyday. One of the workshops I attended also covered the whole situation on the war in Iraq and gave me a more thorough background and idea on the issue. Coming Out as Queer Students of Color on Compus was another workshop I went to. There was a queer student killed himself in UCLA just two days before the conference, so that was the focus of our discussion in that workshop.
Me and Dan had dinner with Rigo, who is a principle member of QPOC and also one of the two students organize our school to attend the conference. He is very active in various student organizations, and I was surprised to find out that he was also a transfer student just like me. In a sense, he is very inspirational, and hopefully someday I'll be as active as he is.
Saturday was a full day; the last session didn't finish until around 9pm. That night me and a few friends who were also there with QPOC went to Rage, a gay club in West Hollywood, which is the gay area in Los Angeles. Anyway, it was my first time going to a gay club and it was mad fun. We didn't get back until 2 o'clock in the morning. At first I was a bit upset I couldn't go to the LGBTQIA Homocoming dance this Saturday night because of the conference, but going to a real gay club is just that much better, so I've no regret!
There were only two sessions on Sunday, and we left L.A. at around 3pm and got back to San Diego at 5pm. Overall this conference and the weekend was a great experience and I'm glad I went, and I would definitely try to go to more conferences from now on.
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November 23, Tue
+ Fraternities Ruin Friendships?
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06:35 PM
I didn't get home until mid-night last night. I was out doing interviews with Vanessa for our final project for Intro to Media class. There are four people total in our group, but the other two guys said they were busy with schoolwork from other classes. Freshmen, we should've known better than to count on them.
So, we are supposed to do a documentary on whatever topic we want, but the T.A. kept emphasizing that it needs to be deep. Our initial idea was on the lack of a football team in UCSD, and consequently leads to the lack of school spirit and unity. Great topic, and fairly deep. Too bad we don't have enough time to interview coaches and do the history and research. The project is due next Wednesday, with Thanksgiving holiday in the way, there are basically 4-5 days of time we actually have to do all the work from filming to editing. Fine, let's pick something easier... Fraternity. I think that was my idea. Oh, that's great, let's just turn a supposedly meaningful project into another stupid school project that we all just want to get it done and over with, and don't even expect a good grade from it either. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. Time is running short; we will just have to see where it takes us.
Vanessa said she knows people in the fraternity, as well as people who aren't in the fraternity but are affected by it. Well, we'll just have to interview them and see where the story leads us. Michael, Skyler, Matt, and John are all Vanessa's friends in her Freshman year. They are all great friends and they were roommates in their Sophomore year. However, Michael and Skyler started pledging a fraternity toward the end of their Freshman year, and slowly drifting away from their friends...
The interviews went great, more than great! We have a storyline going on. It's not just another stupid school project anymore; there are more to it. It's not even just a story; it's a real story that meant something to people (or at least that particular five people). It's not just about us anymore; it's about all those who are in fraternity and all those who are affected by it. These are real people; we have a real, touching story. On tape! Now we have the responsibility to make the documentary right and tell the story right. It was amazing how a few interviews could give us such passion and motivation for our project. I just hope that we have the ability (and time) to complete the task and won't disappoint those people.
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November 26, Fri
+ Repeating History
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11:02 PM
I hope everyone who lives in the U.S. had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, and I hope everyone who actually got to celebrate it didn't take it for granted. There are people out there who are too poor to afford a Thanksgiving meal; people who are far away from their family; people who don't even have a family; people whose family no longer accept them... So I hope you were grateful while you celebrated this holiday.
What is the best thing to do for two college students who didn't (or couldn't) go home for the Thanksgiving break (it's kind of pathetic how they call it a break considering that we only have two days off)? They stayed home and watched movies. At least that's what me and Kyle did last two nights. Wednesday night we watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban because I got the DVD that day. Kyle needs to write a paper for his Film and Society class, so we rented Schindler's List last night. I've always wanted to watch it but never really find the time to. Honestly, it was a hard movie to watch, and probably not the best movie one could watch on a Thanksgiving holiday. I've heard of what the Nazi had done to the Jews during World War II, but I've never "witnessed" it nor did I know the details. It is a powerful movie I must say. What make a group of human hate another group of human merely base on their race is beyond me. But then again, this is basically still going on nowadays with all kinds of hatred towards various minorities. Why don't people ever learn from history? Why don't people see that we're repeating history?
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