I guess I should give a promised update of how the saltine race went... We heard from a friend that it's impossible to eat 8 Saltine crackers in a minute. Here are the rules: 8 Saltines in a minute, anyway you can (one by one, 4 by 4 or all eight, if you like)... Nothing to drink during that minute and you can't mash them up before you put them in your mouth. So, Mitch and I think we can do this. We get the Saltines and I go first. I stuff two in my mouth, try to chew, time is running out fast, stuff another two in there and now it's even harder to chew. It was like my mouth was going in slow motion, I couldn't bit down as fast as I wanted to. At 15 seconds remaining, I stuff the remaining 4 into my mouth. Big mistake because then of course the time runs out and I am stuck with the biggest wad of crackers in my mouth and no room to chew... Mitch attempted also, and with a little better luck. He got most of it chewed, but not all, I'd estimate he did about 6 crackers. I don't think it is impossible to do 8, just damn hard! The crackers turn to cement in your mouth and makes it so hard to chew and swallow. We're done with that. If you can do it, you're my hero.... (No pictures because the last ones were ugly enough and I figured I'd spare you of more hidious photos of me just sitting there chewing. Also, chewing is more of an action, that you can't catch through still pictures...)

In high school, I was infamous for stuffing little hostess chocolate donuts in my mouth. One day I stuffed 5 of the 6 donuts into my mouth at one time. Sarah, Kelly, Jessica, and Julia were witnesses. Kelly said of it: You have a big mouth! You're gonna be really popular in college! And then Julia said: Why would that make her popular? Wouldn't that make her less liked?! Oh Julia.... Anyway.. so, Sarah, Mitch and I were in Safeway buying dessert and this came up. He said Oh well that's easy, I bet I could fit 5 of those in my mouth... And so the challenge began:

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Mitch begins... First one, easy!

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2nd one, fine!!

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3rd one "How many more left?!"

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Oye, Running out of room!

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Come on, Only one more! You already have 4!!

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He's done... 4 1/2.. Good job, Mitch. Impressive...

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Now for my turn...

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First one.. How did I do this in high school?!?!

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Number 2.. I think I can handle this...

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Oooh Maybe not..... =(

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Oh no, I'm turning red....

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This is four:

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Aaaannnd, number, five.... Nope, can't do it!!! I was hittin the gag reflex, so I had to stop... =(

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I have no idea how I did it in high school =( But Mitch won: 4 1/2 to 4.... I was so ashamed...

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Stay Tuned for the Next Competition: 8 Saltines in a minute! We've heard it's impossible. We're gonna prove it wrong... Xanga documentation coming Thursday, hopefully...

Pumpkin Carving!!!

We teamed up. Chris/I had one pumpkin and Sarah/Mitch got the other...

Chris makes the first cut for the lid...

After removing the guts of the pumpkin, Mitch draws a preliminary design for the face.

But luckily we had stencils...

Now for the actual cutting...

Chris and I finish our pumpkin first... It's a bat cave!!! (And it has a wart on it's wing...)

Aaannd, like 4 hours later, Sarah and Mitch finish!! Mitch says it was because the face was very hard to do because it was so fragile..

So, I put theirs out on the front porch with the other pumpkin, but then suddenly it falls off the chair! I dropped their pumpkin!!

Mitch comes running!!! "What did you do?!" he shouts. He tells me that if I broke the face that he worked so hard on, he would break my face!

So, we pick up the pumpkin and inspect the face.... The mouth is broken!

Mitch is PISSED. Chris has to hold him back and Sarah has to hide the knives. I apologize, but it didn't sound sincere because I was laughing so hard... Then I told Mitch that it was scowling like a pirate, so it's a Pirate Pumpkin. That made him happy!

Yar! Happy Pirate Halloween, Mateys...

On Saturday, Chris, Jess, Eric and I went to go visit Nicole at her new boyfriends house. That was fun, but when we went to leave, we only got a block before Jess noticed her wheel pulling to the left. We pulled over and sure enough her front left tire was FLAT! Yikes!

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So, Jess leaped into action and changed her tire! What a pro!

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Most of us couldn't really do much except stand around... Here's Chris inspecting the flat tire...

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Finally Jessica got the spare on... (also just wanted to show how rad her mustang convertible is).

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With the exception of Eric, our hands were all at least this dirty:

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end.

Because we can all benefit from some useful information every now and then...

Today, I learned: Eggs have a shelf life of 4-5 weeks after the sell date. So, if you buy eggs today and the date on them says Oct 13, they should be OK until about Nov. 20th... (That's about 2 months from now!) So, don't throw them out after a month, but then again you might not want to eat the ones that have been in the fridge since January...

Since Chris's parents come up to Santa Cruz to move him in, my mom decided it would be a nice idea to have dinner, and meet his parents. So, my parents drove down from Berkeley, and all 6 of us went to dinner at a very nice place called Shadowbrooke in Capitola. It was very nice and both parents loved it; they are already planning a graduation celebration there (that's almost 2 years from now... Chris and I don't plan into the future that much... kinda scary). Oh well. I was soo nervous, but I think it went pretty well. Not too many awkward silences or disagreements. I think my parents still very much approve of Chris (despite political differences). At the end of the night, the moms started telling embarrassing stories. That's when you know it's time to leave.

My mom, trying to make small talk: So, how are the Lakers gonna do now that Shrek was traded?

I went to the San Francisco Opera, which I've been meaning to do for years. I saw La Traviata. The first guy I sat next to was very rotund and breathed heavily. It was very annoying, so I switched seats with my mom, and just my luck the guy next to me had turrets, not the swearing at random moments kind, but the kind where he would twitch and every once in a while make a hiccupping sound. It was less annoying than the heavy breather, so I stuck with that seat. The opera was not as sad as I had expected; I was not all that impressed. Maybe my expectations were too high, or maybe it just wasn't the right story for me. I'll try again, on opening night next year, so I really get to dress up! =) Also, I got to see Jennie and Mitch, who happened to be sitting in the section above me! Yay for funny intermission chats! P.S. My parents thought you were both really nice.

So, I'd been off work for a grand total of two days before I got bored out of my mind and almost went insane. I had such bad cabin fever that I almost took off for LA at 9 o'clock at night, but my boyfriend convinced me to wait til morning. So first thing on Labor Day morning, I drove to LA, and spent a week there. I helped the Witte's with a charity horse show a little bit, and swam in the pool a lot. And even swung at a few golf balls. I say swung at, 'cuz I missed most of them! And I taught Chris how to drive a stick. He was so good that it was sickening to remember how many times I stalled and how frustrated I got trying to learn!! And now I'm back in Berkeley for a couple days. I haven't even been here for a day and I'm already soo bored, wishing I was someplace else! =(

No pictures because my camera is in Santa Cruz, awaiting my arrival later this week.

As promised, here is my friend, Sarah who I haven't seen since about 8th grade. She lives down the street from me, so it's really a shame that we don't talk anymore, but she's cool. She's one of 4 sisters! They are all great, beautiful girls, err women, now... Also in the picture are her little sister, Kate, and Kate's boyfriend, Shiraz. Kate was 10 last I saw her, so it's hard to imagine that she's going off to Brown soon and that she's had a boyfriend for longer than I have!!!

Scanned a bunch of my pictures today. Ah how the memories come flooding back.. Here's a little bit about my high school days for those of you that don't know:

Most of my days were spent with Traci, my best friend in high school. We were inseparable and have some of the best memories. She was a cheerleader, golfer, and flutist in the band. I haven't spoken with her since high school, tho. Weird how things work out. Sometimes I really miss the friendship we had.

Then, there was Meagan! I was really close with her for a couple of years, but we drifted apart when she moved to a different high school after soph year. I had some wild nights with her... but it was always good old fashioned silly, sober fun. She's changed since then. But we had crazy fun times in my VW convertable!

These are the girls that I've loved since Elementary school! Adrienne and Emily. (Sarah's not pictured, but you'll get to see her on Sunday). We didn't hang out much in high school, but are still pretty close. Emily is one of the few people I can travel with and we're gonna be friends till we're 80! =P

Ah yes, and then there were my crushes! LOL We can't forget about those. The one kneeling in this picture was my crush for all 4 years of high school!! (note: the rest of these boys were not my other crushes) haha Ok, I'm gonna move on before I start to blush...

I went to a Catholic high school, which means there were priests. Fr. Glass (far left) was such a hard ass that everyone hated him, but he was all about no BS, so everyone had to respect him. Fr. Malo (next to Glass) was such a great quirky, inspirational teacher that taught the best sex ed class I've ever taken. Another teacher that I musn't go on without mentioning is Mr. Tyler, the Earth Science teacher. That was one of the best classes of my life and he was so enthusiastic and fun!

I didn't do any sports. Instead, I was a choir geek for all four years. I took it every single semester! It wasn't a very prestigious chorus, most took it becuase it was an easy A. But I don't think anyone who hasn't been in Mr. Judd's chorus class will understand why it was so much fun. I doubt you can spot me in the picture; we all look the same! lol

That's about it. Of course I could say much more about my high school experience. But I'll just sum it up with Charles Dickens: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

I picked my parents up from the airport at midnight. They've been in Alaska for 2 weeks and were ready to be home. So, what's the first thing they do when they get home at midnight? Do they: Raid the fridge 'cuz they're starving, go straight to bed 'cuz they're tired from traveling, or sit down, relax and tell me about their trip??? buzzer! Time's up. That's what they would do if they were normal. But no, my parents set their bags down at the front door, and start going through the stacks of mail. Why? Because they "have so much to get done" that they have to start right now. Then, they show me souveniers, and this throws them into more unpacking. So then at 1am they unpack all their clothes, tell me all about it, and start some loads of laundry. It's now almost 2:30am and they are just settling into bed.

Countdowns, because I'm that bored...

2 Hours until my godawful brother, sister-in-law, and 8 year old twin neices come to visit. =(

2 Days until I see Chris again! (In Santa Cruz for a day)

8 Days until my parents get back from Alaska.

25 More days until work is over! (15 more days of actual working)

30 Days until I move into Santa Cruz.

43 More days of Summer! (or 43 days until school starts)

63 More days until Hockey Season starts! Go Kings, Stars, and Penguins!

81 Days until Halloween.

82 Days until Chris and I have been together for a whole year. That's scary!

109 Days until my Birthday!

119 Days until Christmas Break (Winter Quarter is over)

135 Days till Christmas!

141 Days left in 2004!!!

(146 Days until I see Dan again. Whoo hoo?)

At my internship with Chez Panisse, I help the Pastry and Assistant Pastry Chefs. The best part of the job is staff lunch because all the food is delicious! But today, I went to go sit down with my plate of food and there was a table with people crowded around it; full. So I sat alone at the next table while they all talked about life, and I just quietly ate my food. How sad! =( I'm loner (or should I say loser?). Also today, I was chopping chocolate with a tool like this one (it's the best way to chop blocks of chocolate):

You have to put a lot of weight into it to get the block to break into chunks. Anyway, My finger slipped and I accidentally punctured my finger!! I felt it go about halfway through my finger, and it didn't start to bleed for a second, so I had time to go clean it and put a bandaid on it. In the food business, however, you must also keep the bandaid out of the food, so you have to put on a glove, or in this case, just a finger condom! So I had to wear this embarrassing little slip of plastic for the rest of the day! How funny! A picture, of course, for your amusement! =)

Ode to J.K. Witte's Roses.

Don't you dare skim past them! Take time to enjoy the beauty of each one!







Don't you dare skim past them! Take time to enjoy the beauty of each one!

This weekend, on Saturday and today, Sunday, I took a motorcycle training course (which I have to take in order to get my liscense). It went from 6:45 - 11:30am! It was super hard to get up that early!! The classes were challenging and I could just keep up considering some people in it had been riding for years already! Then today, we had our test and I could've sworn that I flunked it because I felt like I did a lot of things wrong, but I ended up passing! Whoo hoo! I still need more practice on a stick shift bike, but good enough for now and I will be riding my mom's little scooter somewhat during the summer... Maybe in a couple years I can step up to my very own bike.. (My parents hate that idea) We'll see, I'll take things slow... =)

Yesterday, June 18, was my dad's birthday... We had a HUGE party for him that my mom, sister, and I have been planning for many months! My dad loves to get dressed up and (more importantly) see women dressed up, so we made it a black tie event for 120 of his closest friends! And they trully are all very close to him, it was hard to even limit it to that number! People responded soo well and flew in from all over the country and some cancelled their vacations in order to come to it. Anyway, it was also a surprise, and even though my mom wasn't very sneaky about it, he was still very surprised and happy to see people from all parts of his life... Everyone looked gorgeous (especially myself, I must say)... I act as hostess and greeted everyone. I was shocked to realize that I knew all but a few people. They, of course told many embarrassing stories about me, and I won't go into detail... Other than a few expected small glitches, it ran pretty smoothly. I was busy running around try to make everything go right the whole time, so I didn't take any pictures! Lame on my part! I shoulda taken at least one group shot of the family. Oh well.

Today was my sister, Ginny's 27th birthday! She decided that she wanted to go to a Moroccan restaurant with belly dancing! We sat on the floor around a table and ate everything with our hands! It took a little getting used to - you are supposed to pick up some pretty mushy stuff and stuff it in your mouth without dropping it all over the table and your lap. The dancing was amazing! I learned a few things: 1. Against American culture, the voluptuous women were more sexy and their dancing was more sensual. The women with flat stomachs just didn't look right... They couldn't shake and roll and gyrate as much. 2. Although they weren't washerboard bellies, it takes a LOT of work and muscles to do the moves they do for soo long! What a workout! 3. No matter how much training or fat on my bones, I don't think it would ever be possible for my body/my hips to move in that way!

PS. I coulda killed myself when I realized I left my camera at home.. If I had brought it, you would see belly dancers, my sister and mom trying to dance, and a 2 year old boy with amazing rhythm! =( Use your imaginations...

Dormcest

Dormcest (dôrm'sest)

n : A relationship between persons who live in the same dormitory.

While living in the dorms, it is highly discouraged to practice dormcest. The consequences of an unsuccessful relationship are evident; they are forced to deal with the awkwardness of seeing the ex around the halls, or even sharing the same bathroom. On our September move-in day, Morison began with 3 couples. By Halloween, 3 more couples had started (myself included). And then one more started during Winter quarter, making it 7 total couples in our building! To my knowledge all but one are still together (one couple is currently "on a break"). We find it pretty amazing that our relationships have endured the dreaded "dormcest". Now, we'll all have to face the difficulties of long-distance relationships during the summer months. Here's to all of us: Ryan, Nicole, Chris M, Lauren, Johnny, Nina, Allison, Cyril, Patrick, Jaqui, Harlan, Wendy, Chris W, and I!!

On Sunday was Jennie's Surprise Goodbye party because she's going to NYU next year! I am so proud of her for getting in and just know that she will rock in New York!! Here are pictures:

Waiting for Jennie to arrive... (I don't know these people)

Surprise!! Jennie had no idea! (Kelly also pictured, in the pink)

Jennie's Party Trick: She can chug Tequila! Bleh! You go girl!

Awww Cute piture of Jennie! (Mitch, her boyfriend, is acting as her seatbelt)

Woah Jennie! Don't laugh too hard, looks like you hit Mitch on the upswing!

No more tequila for Jennie...

All in all, it was great fun! Thanks Mitch, for planning such a wonderful party! And yay for Jennie! end.

Went to my friend, Dan's fraternity formal. (He's in the Jewish frat, AEPi) I remember why I didn't like prom in high school. No matter how much people can make me look pretty, I can't compete with the skanky girls in short slutty dresses! We stayed for about 20 min 'cuz it was kinda lame and the person we came for, Dan, was busy hanging out with his frat brothers. Oh well. This is the last prom I'll go to, so I figured I'd live it up! =)

Anyway, here's Athena. She got tricked into this picture, but I like it 'cuz she's smiling!

Here's our dinner table. (I never did this huge dinner thing in high school. I always just went with my date.) Anyway, starting from the bottom left, going around: Sarah, me, someone, some girl named Chris, someone, someone, someone, someone, Allen, Kelly, Athena, and Kunal)

And finally, Me, Athena, Kelly and Sarah. Why am I the tallest in this picture? Usually I'm the shortest one! (Warning: This picture not to scale)

Went roller skating at a ghetto place in Santa Cruz. It has a lot of potential, tho, and Jess wants to make it cool. I think she can do it. As for my skating. Well I guess my fear of ice skating has transfered over to fear of skating in general. I am afraid to fall, but I don't know why, because it doesn't hurt that much (which by the way I was the only one to fall, and I fell twice). Anyway, I got angry, as usual, when I think people are making fun of me; I thought I got rid of that back in 7th grade! =( Emily, Thank you for teaching me to laugh at myself when I fall; it is one of the most valuable lessons I have learned. =)

Today is one of the hottest days of the year and I had to go to work and make truffles (play with Chocolate, basically). Within a half hour, my boss discovers that the freezer broke during the night and the ice cream is totally melted and the chocolate is near to being ruined! We move most of the stuff to the Falafel House's freezer next door. Phew. Then, while my boss was making lunch, I decided to stir the pot. Luckily I did, 'cuz the pasta was starting to stick! Then I put the spoon down, where I found it, and washed a few dishes. I turned around and saw the plastic spoon in flames! I blew it and hosed it off in the sink and aired out the kitchen. I showed my boss what I did. It was funny. Then later, when I was carrying a bowl of chocolate, I dropped it and a line of chocolate went from the sink to the floor. I cleaned it up quickly and then had to hose off the mat. The air-conditioning didn't seem to work very well, and it was 75 degrees in the kitchen (too hot for making chocolate)! I went home early. I didn't want to be around when my owner came in and found out about the freezer! I can see him now, his face will turn five shades of red, even brighter than his very orange curly hair!

More Bathroom Problems

More bathroom problems. Ok, so the signs with intructions on how to piss properly got torn down. Maybe they helped. Maybe they didn't. But all I know is that during the weekend, when the cleaning lady doesn't come for 2 days, this is the result:

Now, honestly, this is like our home for 9 months, so how would you like to walk into your personal bathroom and find the toilet not flushed and dried pee all over the seat?!?! Luckily there is another stall which might have less pee in/on it. I wonder if these guys do this at home? I feel sorry for their mom's or whoever cleans their bathroom. Frankly, I feel terrible for the cleaning lady in our building, who comes to work on Monday and finds she has to touch this! Only 1.5 more months with these pigs...

I'm bored, so I think I will show you (anyone) random pictures from my collection:

This is Tyson, my mom's dog. A chihuahua terrier mix or something. He is named after Mike Tyson because he is known for biting people and dog's ears. He just recently bit some delivery person.

This is Chris and I in his room doing what we usually do: Me studying and him watching TV. =) Who am I kidding, I'm usually watching TV, too. =)

This is Jessica, who lives next door to me. She's gonna live with Chris next year. She's really funny and has an awesome boyfriend who is gonna be famous someday. Check them out: 5606live.com

Sarah and Lupe. My roommate next year and my roommate this year, respectively. I also went to high school with Sarah, fun stuff.

A blurry picture of Jon. This is Chris's USC/Arizona/Texas-obessesed friend, who drives a sweet motorcycle and goes to hockey games with us.

Sean, my sister's boyfriend. Of course he doesn't wear these glasses. He's brings laughter to my usually serious family.

Chris's cat, Larry. He's got 2 other cats named Moe, and Edward (Eddy). He says Larry looks like a panther. I just think he looks stoned.

OK, Last one, I promise... This is Emily and Rene, my oldest friend and her boyfriend from Holland. Yay! She's at UC San Diego and I haven't seen her in a while. I miss her, lots!

End of my random photos.

Easter was fun. Chris came home with me and we dyed easter eggs (my mom claims that it's tradition and we do it every year). Then we went out to breakfast and then went on a hike in Sunol, which I haven't been to in about 3 years. We came home and my mom decided to bring out the baby albums and videos of me from over 10 years ago. How embarrassing! Then we went to dinner with my parents, sister and her boyfriend, then we drove back to Santa Cruz. The End. No pictures, sorry.