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07 25 : Tue

>> National Convention at Seattle
Clement | 07:51 PM PST | BE Y0U | guestbook
I just got back from Seattle. We were there for almost a whole week for DLP's 17th National Convention. Last Wednesday morning, Alwyn gave Josh, Dan, and I a ride to the airport. Our flight left at 8:30 AM, so we all got to the airport at around 6:30 AM. We arrived at Seattle at around 10:30 AM, checked in at our hostel, and went straight to sightseeing the city. The convention was only from Friday to Sunday, but we decided since we're gonna spend a chunk of money on air fare and hotel, might as well go a couple days early so we could check out the city while we're there. We did lots of sightseeing the first couple days. It wasn't completely new to me since I've been to Seattle a couple times before while I was an exchange student in Washington State back in 2000.
Friday was check-in for the conference and also the a resolution meeting for all the delegates. Dan and I went to that while everyone else went shopping 'cause we're the elected delegates for our chapter. This year's convention was fun, and I really enjoyed the experience of being a delegate at the business meeting. I was an alternate last year and it's just different while you actually have a voice and be able to vote and make a different. The resolutions this year is not as exciting as last year though. However, there were definitely a few controversial ones. It's interesting how I noticed that chapters from different regions seem to share similar beliefs and ideas, while differ from chapters of other regions. Like us western region chapters seem to stick together against the central and eastern region chapters on a few of the resolutions.
So, the convention was officially over after the banquet on Sunday night. Our chapter got Chapter of the Year award in the western region, and since I helped design this year's convention t-shirt, I was thanked by the national secretary Russell during the award session. It was nice being recognized for your work, and it was really sweet of him to mention it. :)
Monday was our last day there. Since our flight didn't leave until 5 PM, I finally got a chance to shop for a little souvenir. We got back really late last night, and I didn't unpack until today.

06 27 : Tue

>> San Francisco Pride 2006
Clement | 06:31 PM PST | BE Y0U | guestbook
This past weekend, I went up to San Francisco for this year's SF Pride with Chris, Steven, and Adam. Chris is originally from Fremont, and his parents were out of town for summer vacation, so we stayed at his place the whole trip. We left last Thursday morning, drove all day, and didn't get to his house until really late. I drove part of the way on the way up. It was good practice for me, and I got to experience what it feels like to get tired of driving.
Friday was fun. We took the Bart to Berkeley and hung out there all day, mostly checked out the UC Berkeley campus and the downtown. That night we went to this Downelink pre-pride party. It wasn't that exciting, but it was fun to get out.
The next day we went to Castro and met up with Wilton, Dan, and some other friends from UCSD who also went up for Pride. There was this Pink Party at night there. It was basically a pre-pride block party. We first went to this house party near Castro and then went to a club before heading to the block party. The house party was fun, but the club was so crowded. The block party was amazing. There were tons of (gay) people packing several blocks of streets. It was certainly a scene.
Sunday morning was the parade and the festival. We were a bit late but caught the second half of the parade and went to the festival ground for the rest of the day. It was definitely a lot more impressive than the first San Diego Pride I went to last year.
We left around noon on Monday and got back to San Diego around 1 am in the morning.

11 10 : Thu

>> 22nd Birthday
Clement | 03:11 AM PST | BE Y5U | guestbook
So, Friday night my friends threw me my first surprise birthday party. I was kind of suspecting something was going on, since Kiet and Shawn aren't the greatest secret keepers, and they were the ones planning the party. But I was still surprised nonetheless since my 22nd birthday was actually on Saturday, and the party was on Friday night. So, Shawn took me out to dinner Friday night saying it was for my birthday, while Kiet was home getting everything ready. It was an Apple themed party and everyone contributed too. Alwyn bought the customized birthday cake; Mike bought Apple juice and pie; Daniel bought drinks; Phil cooked the food; Chris provided all the Apple posters and decorations; Frank bought the balloons; Jen and Shawn Ta drove all the way down from L.A., etc. Another thing that I was surprised about was the amount of people at the party. I didn't realize how many people I actually know. I'm truly grateful how much effort, money, and energy they put into the party. I had a blast that night. We played Truth or Dare, and there were some great moments to be remembered.
This coming weekend I'll be going up to Oakland for a national LGBT conference put on by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. I'm leaving with Will and Peper on Thursday night and we won't be back until probably late Sunday night. The Resource Center paid for the registration and hotel, so technically I'm going as a staff representing the LGBT Resource Center. To be honest, I'm not too looking forward to it. My co-workers are nice and great to work with, but I don't know about spending a whole weekend with them. Besides, I'll be missing out on the pledge carwash this Sunday, and now I need to put off finishing my new layout until later. Oh well, I guess it will be another experience for me.

08 22 : Mon

>> A Quick Note from Boston
Clement | 04:10 AM PST | BE Y6U | guestbook
Sorry I didn't get to go online as much as I would like to in this trip. Internet access is quite limited sometimes when you don't want to pay for expensive wifi services at airports and coffeehouses. When I finally found a free wifi spot to update my journal, it's also the end of my Boston trip. I'm actually at a hostel spending my final night of the trip here in Boston. My flight leaves at 6:30 in the morning, which means we'll need to get to the airport by 5:00 at the latest, which means we'll have to leave the hostel at around 4:30, so we decided to stay up all night and just sleep on the planes. This past week was a blast. I have such great time and awesome experiences. I'll have to post a detail entry once I get back to San Diego. Just want to stop by and let you guys know that I'm still in Boston and things are just fine.

08 13 : Sat

>> Take a Break from San Diego
Clement | 12:22 PM PST | BE Y7U | guestbook
Yesterday after work I went tabling with Shaun, Anthony, and Laura for the Resource Center and QPOC at the Summer Bridge Student Organizations Fair. It was exciting seeing some new faces coming in UCSD this Fall. Hopefully they'll be active once they're here 'cause help is much needed in many queer organizations here on campus, especially after Anthony mentioned he would like to see QPOC bring back the high school conference this year. If we were to organize a conference with our lack of experience, we need as much help as we can get.
Anyway, didn't really do much last night; spent most of the night packing and getting ready for Boston. Our flights leave tonight at around 7pm. I said flights instead of flight because we're flying out on different airplanes. In fact, I'll be all by myself until we get to Boston. It's not a big deal though. I've flown internationally all the way back to Hong Kong all by myself before, flying across the country doesn't worry me. Shawn wants to have dim sum this afternoon before we leave, and there are a couple errands I hope to get done before we go, like depositing my check so I've money for the trip, and getting a bigger memory card for my digital camera. I don't think the 32MB memory card that came with my camera will be enough for this one week trip. And since I don't know when I'll get the chance to go to the east coast again, I want to capture as much as I can. To be honest, I'm really looking forward to this trip, not just because it's Boston, but also because I can finally take a break from my work, from my feeling for Kiet, from San Diego...
Wish me a safe flight. I'll have my PowerBook with me, so hopefully I'll be able to keep you guys up to date with my journey. Bye for now.

01 01 : Sat

>> Happy 2005!
Clement | 11:03 PM PST | BE Y8U | guestbook
First of all, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! The trip to Las Vegas was exciting. The city that never sleeps; it does remind me a lot of Hong Kong, not only because of all the neon-signs everywhere and tons of people walking on the street, but also because I saw groups after groups of friends having a great time celebrating. That made me miss my friends back home. Studying abroad isn't necessarily a good thing. New year eve was crazy. There were so many people on the strip that we could barely walk. I got my butt pinched by this one girl who walked by. I don't know if I should feel violated or happy. The firework was awesome, even though there wasn't too much of a countdown. It was also crazy how we managed to cram ten people into a two-bed hotel room. We stayed at the Luxor hotel, and that was probably the most fancy/classy hotel I've ever stayed at before. Oh well, I'm a poor boy and I don't travel much. Among all the hotels that we had visited, I like the Paris hotel in particular. We had buffet at a restaurant there on Friday. The interior of the hotel was just awesome and very European-ish. One of Jen's friends, Tiffany, is studying abroad in England, and she was telling me all her experiences over there in Europe. I really hope that I'll be able to visit -- or better, live in -- Europe someday.
When we were on our way driving to Vegas, Kyle called Jen and talked to her for a bit. Guess what it was about... Yep! he found out that I'm gay. He was planning on remaking his own website, so he decided to check out mine to get some ideas, and then of course, he read my blog and immediately called Jen to let her know his huge "discovery", only to find out that she has known all along. He was a bit upset that we didn't tell him earlier, but then we thought he was a bit homophobic since he often uses homophobic comments in his daily conversations. Well, he said he is sorry about all the comments and that he didn't really use them in a homophobic way. After all, he's from the bay area and we shall see how things turn out once we get back to San Diego. To be honest, I don't really care if he knows. I just want him to be comfortable living with me first and see that there's no difference whether or not I'm gay. We were actually surprised that he didn't really know until that day since there are so many "clues" laying around. I was planning on telling him sooner or later anyway. But it was like God has read my last entry and felt like giving me a hand, "helping" Kyle to find out so that I don't have to tell him myself. Anyway, new year, new start; it's time for a new life.

12 28 : Tue

>> Take It or Leave It
Clement | 11:10 PM PST | BE Y9U | guestbook
The couple days after Christmas, Jen had to go back to work, so I just went with her and spent those 5 hours at Barnes & Noble while she was at work. I haven't had time to read for fun for a long time, so I really enjoyed those few hours I spent there. I finished this book called Boy Culture, and it was an awesome read. I really like the author's writing style and there are so many feelings and emotions that a lot of gay people can relate to. Then I started on this book called Civil Wars: The Battle for Gay Marriage. Unlike Boy Culture, this is a heavier read about the progression of gay rights. I've learned a great deal about what had happened and what so many gay people and gay right activists had to go through to get to where we are today. These books are really inspiring, and as a gay person, I'm not going to let those who fight for our rights down. Who cares about what other people think? You just can't possibly please every single person in this world, then why not just be true to yourself and live your own life the way you want it. Isn't that what all those gay activists have been fighting for for years? To be treated equally and to have the same rights as others to live our lives how we want it. If we don't even treat ourselves equally, how are we supposed to expect others to do the same? I know it's cliche but remember "It is better to be hated for what you are than be loved for what you are not." I'm who I'm and people can either take it or leave it!
Today Jen and I went shopping, and I got my first piece of female clothing. Well, since I'm so short, I always have a hard time finding clothes that fit me. So Jen suggested that maybe I should look for girl clothes instead. All the jeans I have are kind of baggy, and I've been wanting to get a pair of fitted one, so we went to Wet Seal and I got my first pair of girl jeans. I must admit it fits me nicely if not too long. Well, we went to a tailor afterward to get them fixed. We'll be able to pick them up tomorrow afternoon and I'm very excited.

[ADDED: 12/30 09:35 AM] We're leaving for Las Vegas in a bit. Jen and her friends are planning on a trip to Vegas for New Year. We'll be there for 3 days and 2 nights. I'm excited yet not really for some reasons. Anyway, I'll be back on Saturday.

12 21 : Tue

>> Life in the O.C. ...Disneyland
Clement | 11:17 PM PST | BE Y5U | guestbook
Last night me, Jen, and her two sisters went to see Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events after she got off work at 9pm. It is a pretty good movie in my opinion. To be honest, the book series doesn't really interest me that much 'cause they're a bit too kiddish considering the way it is written and the thickness of the books. However, the movie seems interesting and I had wanted to watch it ever since I first saw its trailer. Apparently Jen doesn't really like the ending but I think it is the most enjoyable part of the movie.
Today we went to Disneyland. This is my first time there and I had a wonderful time. Obviously there was no way we could get on all the rides within a day, but we did manage to get on a few famous ones such as The Pirates of the Caribbeans and Star Tour, and a few classic ones such as Snow White and my beloved Peter Pan. Of course there were also a few rides I wished I could go on. I've also gotten a few stuffed characters and key chains as souvenirs for my friends, little brother and sister back home. The ironic part was that there were absolutely no souvenirs of Peter Pan, who happens to be my favorite character, except this one small stature, while souvenirs of Tinkerbell, who isn't even the main character of the story, were everywhere. What is up with that? This always happens to me. Whatever I like or want are usually hard to find or unavailable. We stayed 'til the night 'cause there was a parade starting at 7:45pm. Overall, it was a great experience, and hopefully I'll be able to go again in the future.

06 01 : Tue

>> Weekend in Washington
Clement | 09:01 PM PST | BE Y6U | guestbook
We got back to Santa Clara from Washington late last night. So I just spent a night at Tim and Beth's, and Beth took me back to Santa Cruz this morning. The trip was fun. We didn't arrive at Washington until late Friday night. I hung out with Beth's family most of the time. We went shopping a few times, and I got three CDs and a DVD 'cause they were all on sales. I got Sugarcult's new CD Palm Trees and Power Lines, Good Charlotte's The Young and the Hopeless, Yellowcard's One For the Kids, and the movie Stand By Me. We watched Shrek 2 on Saturday night. It was so funny; has a lot more adult humors than the first one. In my opinion, it is as good as the first one if not better. Did I mention that Beth's mom is a great cook? She cooks the best food ever, seriously! Saturday night we had homemade pizzas, and they were delicious! And we had barbecue on Sunday, and Beth's mom made those strawberry-pies... oh my gosh, I don't even know how to describe them. I was totally in heaven! We played Cranium after dinner that night. It's a family boardgame that combines four different games into one. We had a great time and a great laugh. We headed back down to California late Monday morning. I bought a FM-transmitter for my iPod so we were listening to it the entire way down. Anyway, I had a great weekend. I'm so not ready to come back to my final exams and paperworks for university and such...
I have posted an ad on the UCSD Off-Campus Housing website a week ago, and I got several phone calls this weekend. None of them were really exactly what I was looking for. They were either too expensive or too far away from school. This afternoon I got this call from a girl named Jennifer. She and her friend are looking for a roomate, and I talked to her on the phone for a little while. They sound like pretty cool and nice people, like someone I would actually wanna hangout with. At least we're both looking for similar things and such. The rent won't be too expenisve but the place might be a bit further away from school. There's also this guy in my Calculus class whose friends are going to UCSD right now, and they're looking for a roommate too. Their apartment is really close to school but the rent is a bit high, and they don't really sound like my type of friends. Well, not that it matters much anyway; I've been living with 3 roommates who're not exactly my type of friends for 2 years now, so I'm not too worry about that. Now I'm more concern with the rent and the location. We'll see how that turn out.

05 17 : Mon

>> Weekend in San Diego
Clement | 11:43 PM PST | BE Y5U | guestbook
Hey guys, I'm back. Just want to let you guys know that my trip went well and I'm not dead. LOL. Well, it was quite an adventure. I got to downtown San Diego on Friday morning, hung around downtown for a little bit and then went to La Jolla with Brian. I love the city dearly. San Diego is like my favorite city in America now besides Seattle. San Francisco is too business like, and Los Angeles is kinda... ghetto, not to offense anyone. San Diego is just perfect. The city is nice and relaxing and the people are friendly there. They even have a huge mall right in downtown. I don't know, it just left me with a great impression. Friday night Brian and I went to watch Troy. It was an awesome movie! I've been anticipating it since last Christmas when I first saw its trailer.
I went to that Transfer Admit Day thing at UCSD on Saturday. The campus is really (and I mean REALLY) nice. I would definitely love going to school there. One of the events during the Admit Day was an Information Fair thing, where all the organizations and clubs set up tables with all their information and stuff. There was this table for the LGBTQI Assoication. I walked by so many times and I still couldn't get the gut to walk up to the table... I'm kinda ashamed of myself for that. I mean, it basically saying that I'm still not comfortable about my own sexuality. How am I gonna expect other people to accept me if I can't even accept myself? I don't know. But I'm sure I'll join the association once I get there though. I've promised myself that. I've also checked out the whole La Jolla area, which is really nice since many things like malls, shopping centers, movie theaters are really close by. I'm really excited about and looking forward to living down there this coming Fall.
Then that very same night I got a phone call from my parents back in Hong Kong. My dad was asking about the scholarships I've applied back in last semester. They made it sound like they won't have enough money for me to come back for university next year. I mean, I've worked my ass off just for this, to get in university and get a degree. I mean, that's what the past three and a half years are all about, and now my parents are telling me they might not have enough money. I don't know, like they didn't come straight out and said it, they just kinda implied it, but I hope I was wrong. My dad said we'll talk about it this summer when I get home. I don't know, I worked so hard for this, to get in a good university and such. I think if nothing works out, I'll just have to get student loans and such. I really can't just give this all away.
Sunday we just stayed at Brian's apartment and watched Queer As Folk. Because Brian has the first two seasons and I have only seen a couple episodes here and there before, so we decided to watch it all from the beginning. At first I don't really like it 'cause it kinda reinforcing the negative stereotypes people have on gay people, like how they portray gay people as all slutty and shit. But then again, it's like the first TV series ever to focus on gay people, so I just try to watch it without judging it! It's a great piece of entertainment. We didn't finish them, but Brian let me borrow them so a BIG thanks go to him!
I left San Diego on Sunday night and just get back this early morning at 9:00am. I was suppose to go to my Calculus class but I skipped it, 'cause I didn't really sleep much at all on the bus last night, so I was really tired. Plus I've a research paper due tomorrow for English, so I really need the enery to do it tonight!

05 13 : Thu

>> Leaving for San Diego
Clement | 03:41 PM PST | BE Y12U | guestbook
I'll be leaving for San Diego for the weekend tonight. I've been packing since I came back from my class this morning. But then I'm just gonna be there for the weekend only, so there isn't very much to pack. My bus leaves downtown Santa Cruz at 9:05pm and I need to get there at least an hour early to check in and get my tickets. I think I'll leave at around 6pm, so it won't be too rush and I'll still have some time to go Borders and pick up a magazine or two for the long trip. Even though my bus leaves tonight, I won't get to San Diego until 10:30am tomorrow morning (that reminds me, I better pack my pillow also). The other thing is I need to make 2 connections. One in Salinas at 11:30pm and another one in Los Angeles at 8am. That's what worried me. But I don't think it will be that bad. Hopefully it's as easy as changing flights, if not easier. I can always ask people too, so ya, I should be fine. This should be quite an adventure for me. I've only taken the Greyhound once before to go to San Francisco, and that was like a 2 hour trip only and I was with another friend. This time it's the real deal; I'm taking a 14 hour trip all by myself! Wish me luck, guys! I don't know what the situation would be down there, so in case I don't have a chance to get online over the weekend, I'll post again when I come back on Monday.

11 entries on this page