wow, i'm officially a dumbass.

So a few weeks ago I decided to run a degree audit for no reason, just to make sure I was on the right pathway to graduation this May.

Then I forgot I had run the degree audit, classes began, and I started focusing on class work and etc. Then, today, I suddenly remember to check my degree audit just to make sure I'm a-okay.

Everything looks great. Every "MET REQUIREMENT?" has a big fat "YES" next it, except for one, that stands out in a big fat bold "NO". And that requirement has to do with my history credit. Last summer, I took US History 2, US Government, and Tx/Local Government at ACC. I was going to take the other US History but I decided to drop it and just party it down. And I'm glad I did, because I had a blast that summer. I figured I could just take it later at UT or the next summer.

Then I went to see my advisor before registration for senior year. She told me I didn't have to take actual US history but I could take some other upper division history class that could count. So I scoped out my options and decided to take HIS 350L: history of human nature and biology since Darwin.

And lo and behold, today I find out that it doesn't count as a US history credit.

double triple 10 10 10 10 crap.

This means that, if my advisor's don't hook me up and consider me a rare and extenuating circumstance, I will have to stay for 1 stupid class in the summer just to graduate. And I won't graduate in May.

How shitty is that?

Now let's just cross our fingers and beg to Darwin that someone out there (my advisor) will pity my dumbass-ness and add a damn US history class credit that I need.

I'm kind of excited inside though that I don't have to take that dreadful class anymore. I had it today, and when you don't talk, guess what? The teacher CALLS on you to answer even harder questions, and then when you're trying to answer, she interrupts you with other mini-questions that you have no idea the answer to, therefore losing the entire train of thought and sounding like an idiot in front of the whole class.

So..I am kind of happy that I will not have to deal with that anymore.




Please oh please help me out advisors!

I am so tired. But WHY??

I have been really tired lately and I have no idea why. I have been getting adequate sleep - something like 8+ hours on some nights - yet I'm still exhausted before it's bedtime.

I have no energy.

Am I sick? I don't feel sick. I'm not coughing, my temperature is at a standard 98.6 degrees F. What's wrong with me??

Usually during school I'm very enthusiastic, because the idea of getting A's excites me. But this semester and especially these days I've found myself extremely tired and devoid of energy. Maybe I just need a break from it all.

Who knows?

Maybe I should work out more. I heard that gives you energy. Or maybe I should just dedicate one day to 24 hours of sleep. Maybe THAT will cure it.

IF singers can't sing live, then why even try?

I don't consider singers true singers if they can't sing live. For example, if you sound great on your album or your produced music, it doesn't say much because today we have synthesizers that smooth out any audible flaws in your voice.

Now when you go live, it's a totally different case in point. There are no synthesizers to hide the flaws in your voice. The producers have no time to take what you sing, convert it in the millisecond they have, and output the altered form of your voice.

Unless, you lip sync. Then that's just cheating.

Some examples of singers that can't really sing but try to: Avril Lavigne and Ashlee Simpson and Britney Speas

Not that I don't respect them or anything. I just don't like the genre of singers that can't sing. Why would we listen to you out of all the other artists out there that CAn really sing? Sigh.

Have you guys met Tequila?

I don't believe I've introduced my dog, Tequila, to the blog world yet. And I don't know why I haven't yet, because I've mentioned her in a few posts too. Oops.

Anyway, Here is a picture of the lovely Tequila, looking quite a bit sad actually.

It may not do much justice, but it's the only one I could find of her uploaded already.

I can honestly say that she is (dare I say it??!??!) the best dog I have ever had. Yes, even over zoe and chloe. She beats them, put together, despite how cute they are. [shown below] They just aren't as sweet and loyal as Tequila .


Bao and I adopted Tequila almost 6 months ago from the SPCA. When we took her home, she was a little bit depressed from shelter life, but she got used to us and warmed up to us quickly. Ever since then she's been the sweetest, most awesome dog! :)


Today I bought Tiff's treats for Mike and the cookies were SOOOO good. They were warm and soft in the middle, and perfectly crispy on the outer edges. Sooo Good. I wish I had their recipes. I ate wayyy too many coookies.. now I gotta go work it allll off.

TV! TV is brainwashing me this semester.

I have been watching quite a bit of TV these past few days, including American Idol. Man, some of the people on their are fuckin BAD and WEIRD and yet they really think they deserve a spot in Hollywood to compete for American Idol. For example, today they had one girl who KNEW she was tone deaf and couldn't sing, yet she had this bizarre theory that she didn't need to have the skill of singing and that the producers or coaches on American Idol could TEACH her how to sing, and that would be the way she could become the next American Idol.

Then she got mad when the judges said NO. WTF? American Idol just shows how weird some Americans are out there. I don't even want to get started on the queen Ian Bernado (was on tonight's episode) that had a one sided hand-made chinchilla scarf that was supposed to show how he could be wealthy, yet he looked like he did heroin and was dying from AIDS infection.

I feel bad for the judges on American Idol. They have to go through some shitty ass candidates, but I guess they get reimbursed by millions of dollars, so it's all gravy to them. I don't know how much you'd have to pay me to sit through 90% shitty, weird contestants.

In other news, today I finally had my first HIS350L meeting - the class about history of biology since Darwin. It's a damn seminar class, meaning we have to speak up for our grades. I've always hated those type of classes because I'm on the more introverted side. I'm afraid that when and if I do speak up, it'll sound stupid or inaccurate. Yet, I already know inside that that isn't true because I'm more competent in the topic than let's say 70% of the people in the class because a_ they aren't even biology majors or b_ they haven't ever taken evolution.

I am afraid to raise my hand to say stuff, and then people keep talking and talking and take everything I want to say and then nothing is left to say. Ahhhh.

Time to watch TV, read some, and go to sleep early so I can wake early tomorrow.

just a growing list of topics to remember to write about

Future controversial topics to write about:

-Plan B being OTC: good or bad?
-Creation versus Evolution: the bottom line
-Drugs; illegal but mostly legal: the greatest invention or man's ultimate downfall?

YES 5 HOURS OF MAN POWER!!!! But, is it really worht it?

Today I stopped by the campus computer store (which is TINY) and I just asked to see if they had an iBOOK G4 14" rechargable battery in stock because well.. I just wanted to know but I really was doubting they would have it. Much to my surprise, they had 2 in stock!! And apple brand, for $120. (it's $129 on the apple site) Woo HOo! I saved nine dollars from being a UT student. Well technically that is inaccurate without considering the thousands I pay each semester for tuition, books, unfair parking tickets, unforseen fines (the list goes on and on...)

But now after charging the battery fully, I have 5 hours and about 45 minutes of PURE MAN POWER. I am so excited because this is a big change from the old battery which only had a mere little boy power of 45 minutes.

Also today I met Beth's frogs and I got to feed them fruit flies. They are so TINY!!!!!!! They are tungara frogs and very cute. I thought I was going to work with huge nasty toads but these are cute little frogs. I want to see them mate. Does that make me a pervert? Hhaha oh well, it's part of our research project so I guess I am justified.

What a busy Monday. tomorrow will be a busy tuesday. And now, it's time to get prepped for my favorite show 24!

Good News and Bad News, + the Daily Review.

Good News: Finally took the walking class at the humane society so now I can walk dogs out on the field instead of just the tiny gated area! Today I got to meet dogs Lucy and Annie. Lucy is a cute ass black dog that is full of hyper and energy but is the sweetest thing ever. Then there's Annie, who is a female Jack Russell Terrier and very shy but sweet to anyone that approaches her.

Bad News: I just met Lucy and Annie today and they got adopted! BOTH OF THEM TODAY!! And also Patterson (see earlier post) who I was thinking about adopting actually, and Salsa, a soft and awesome beagle mix. I guess this is really a good thing, but it's sad to me because I'll never see them again. I'm really getting too attached to these shelter dogs, sigh.

So today I did that and I also went to my first ASR meeting after a long ass time. I met approximately 17 new faces! It was awkward at first because I had forgotten how the meetings go, and plus I didn't know like half the sorority! It was good to see old faces though and meet new ones.

And I also paid a long awaited visit to Mr. Gregory (the gym). Was still able to run a mile without stopping, after 2 months of not running! I'm impressed. I did however, run it 1.5 minutes slower than usual. Damnit. I need to get my mile time down again.

Good Quote. Thanks Steph.

"...Eminem himself must have been a pharmacist, or a tenured pharmacy tech at the very least. I mean, he his angry. Real angry. Just listen to his lyrics. This man is filled with anger. Ambiguous third party rejection anger. Idiot customer anger. Can I get my Soma and Vicodin filled early anger. Yeah, that angry. The only logical explanation is that Marshall Mathers once worked in a retail pharmacy."

man, if people only KNEW.


As I read this quote I was nodding the entire time. This quote is so true. Thanks for the tip, Stephanie.

my saturdays (every other from next saturday) suck balls for the most part.

Yeah so I've come to realize that my Saturday's really suck now. Well, every other Saturday that is.

I work an open to close shift at the pharmacy on every rotating Saturday (starting from next week) from 9AM to 7PM. That means I wake up at 8AM on Saturday morning and work for 10 hours until 7PM. Saturdays have become pretty busy now too for some reason. Barely enough time to sit, and only a mere 30 minute break within those 10 hours. By the time I get home, I'm too tired to even pet Tequila. Now that my friends, is effin' tired.

I got used to working open to close on Sundays; it's only 8 hours which isn't too bad at all. But Saturdays, barf. I'm too tired to go out afterwards, and have to wake up too early on Saturday to go out Friday. Oh well, enough whining. At least I'm getting paid.

In other news, Lenny the cute shelter dog (see earlier post) got adopted today! LENNY!!!! Me and Bao had been talking about adopting another dog for Tequila to play with. She seems very depressed and has been this way since we left Houston where her boyfriend BOSLEY lives (bao's sister's male dog). I think she's just lonely. But now Lenny's gone :(, I hope his new owners treat him well. Maybe Patterson...? Heh heh heh...

I got so much done today and now I'm pooped, but I can't poo, How IRONIC.

Are you lovin' my long ass blog titles? Cuz I AM. They sometimes make absolutely no sense, but that makes the post even more desirable to read.

So today was a long day. Had all of my classes except one. Here's how the classes break down:

BIO359K. Animal Behavior: I think my teacher is a dike. But that's okay, she seems funny and interesting, but she also seems strict. On her syllabus an 89.9% is a B! NOT an A. She doesn't round up! *GASP* That's college illegal. Another good thing about this class is Kenny, Sue, and Jun are in my class. I'll never be bored and alone in this class! A bad thing: there is no outlet in the class except in the veryyy back row (too far for me!) so I really need to get a new battery for my pos-almost-dead stock battery.

CMS306M. Professional Communication Skills: My teacher is really young, pretty, but nerdy. Kind of reminds me of...well, ME. Except she's white. She's tiny and speaks well, and she complimented me on my hair! That's a big plus. Everyone in the class is either a business student and knows other business students in the class, or a freshman. Luckily, however, a friend from middle school walked in and alas! I was not alone in the class anymore. However, she was still on the wait list, so she wasn't technically IN the class yet. Hopefully she'll get to stay. Again, no plug in this room either. Even if I got a new battery, it would probably die in this class.

BIO350M. Plant Molecular Biology: This class will be the bane of my existence. The teacher seems very competent and organized at first glance, but as the class progressed, everything about my first impression of him started to unravel. He rambles on about things not on the slide and concepts that are so abstruse that I'll just stop writing notes and think to myself, "What the FUCK is he talkign about now?" I guess the topic of the class itself is not very appealing so it would be hard to make it interesting. No plug in this classroom either. I'm going to need my iBOOK to survive this class, despite the fact that I have lovely Sarah in my class. And if my new battery hadn't died in the last class yet, it would definitely die here.

I can't use my battery for 4.5 hours, even if it was brand new - it proabably wouldn't even last 4 hours. Bao suggested using both the new one and my old one, even though my old one only lasts, oh.. about 30 minutes without being plugged in. Pity, I say.

Today I also turned in all my requests to Dr. Sata, talked to research head Beth, ran errands for Dr. Sata and Beth to complete forms, journeyed to Wal-mart to get my rec letters from Al, AND still managed to catch Grey's Anatomy.

I'm so pooped and I've been so busy that I haven't been able to poop! My stomach has been clawing at me since 5 or something, NOT A GOOD SIGN! Sigh, time to eat chocolate lax bars, GROSS.

Wow, so the roads really ARE treacherous.

Uhh, a lot of unusual and rather scary things have been happening around Austin since the cold weather has come in. First of all, everything around us is iced over like 2 inches, which I've never seen before in my life. It's weird to see everything covered with a blanket of ice and snow. That never happens in Houston. The last time it did, I was like 8 or something and I don't remember it at all.

First, a guy decided to open up a sewer tunnel and jump in for some reason. And lo and behold, he got stuck and probably fainted due to hyperthermia. This happened at 25th and Rio Grande, a pretty major intersection West Campus. I saw and heard the sirens right before I was getting ready to walk Tequila, and then a spectator told me what had happened. I saw the guy get wheeled away on a stretcher! But, what the hell? What kind of strange desire is it to open the sewer tunnel and jump in, especially on a day like this?? It's like 0 degrees celsius outside, and the ice someone dumped out from their drink has been sitting on the porch outside my door for the past 2 days, UNMELTED!

Second, as I was driving on the feeder of I-35, I saw a bunch of police cars huddled near the exit. What happened was an Accord slid off the freeway, down the side of the highway which was a hill covered in ice, and smashed into the feeder. The car's front was totally destroyed, and you could see where the tire marks had ripped through the ice on the hill.

Third, as I myself was on the highway driving home, a huge shard of ice from another car decided to come loose and the wind smashed it into my car, going about 50 mph. I was scared shitless when it made its way towards me because it looked like a huge shard of glass, but when it hit my car, it just crumpled into a million pieces and did not hurt my car at all. Phew.

We also went to HEB to get some food for the night, but it seemed like everyone and their mama was there. ALL the Hot Pockets, Lean Pockets, and all brands of frozen pizza were GONE! This isn't y2k people! *Sigh. Stop acting like it is. It's going to warm up tomorrow (meaning that school is starting finally, yay)

A plan, to rid of boredom.

Since yesterday was so useless, I've decided to come up with an actual PLAN today to remedy boredom. Today I am going to:
-go volunteer at the spca from whenever I get there to close (5pm, it's closing early today!)
-after, go to the pharmacy and turn in my recommendation letter to Al
-pick up some toilet paper while I'm there
-go eat somewhere.. wherever is open! It's not too bad today so I'm hoping businesses will be open again today.

Now all that stuff will take up my time until about 6:30 or 7pm. What shall I do all night then????

Well, my professor for his350L, biology since Darwin, finally emailed us today. He has assigned us 5 chapters to read from Darwin's Origin of the Species, which is written in old style English. So I'll get to battle that monster for a few hours tonight. Then also I can study for my communications class too, even though I don't think I have the right book.

Yay, A plAN! Let's see how far I can get with Darwin though. Eesh.

Mindlessly bored.

I am so mindlessly bored. Everything is closed, we've stocked up on food, and the roads are way too icy to drive anywhere anyway. So I've been sitting at home watching TV for the whole day, getting up occasionally to eat. I've finished my essays, written in here once already (now twice including this), started studying for my class, napped, and now I am still bored.

So I typed in "I AM BORED" on my google search bar and alas a site popped up for people that feel useless when school is cancelled.

www.i-am-bored.com, you are my new best friend. Pathetic, isn't it?

Oh yeah, btw, School is cancelled yet AGAIN tomorrow. I swear, this is almost like torture. Good thing the dog shelter is open tomorrow. I'll be spending all day there, thanks.

wheee it's finally winter foreals!

i almost busted my ass on the patch of ice right outside of my door. And it's been there for quite a while, yet I keep walking over it stupidly and almost busting my ass each time. Silly me.

IT'S SNOWING! Yay for snow. But then that also means a possibility of MORE school cancellation. Boooo. I need to get things started and I need to talk to my professor and the OOA but I can't do that until UT opens back up! ARG!!

I knew this would happen sooner or later.

There's this really cute dachshund/terrier mix at the SPCA named Patterson. He's reddish brown, quiet, and very cute. I haven't had the chance to play or walk with him yet because he is color-coded a level higher than I am, so I'm not allowed to do so yet. But today I pet him through his cage and opened the door a little to pet him more. He put his paws over my hand and it was the cutest thing ever. [picture from austin human society site.]

And now I want to bring him home. Damnit... I knew this was going to happen.

There's also another cute chihuahua mix there named Lenny that's my color level so I've walked and played with him a lot. He is the sweetest thing ever and loves playing with toys. I like him a lot too but he has an awkward butt. Also he's kind of small for Tequila to play with (he seems so fragile that Tequila could break him if she pounced on him) and doesn't seem like the type to play well with other dogs. He's very sweet though - I hope he gets adopted into a good home soon. [picture from austin human society site.]

As I was heading toward the SPCA today there was ice EVERYWHERE! Yay, winter is FINALLY here. I've been waiting for cold weather for the longest time. Now I can put my cute furry boots to good use! I was worrying about it staying warm and me spending money on boots that I would never get to wear.

I think they're going to cancel classes tomorrow and I'm kind of sad about that. Call me a nerd, but I like school. And plus, cancelling classes also means they;re going to take away a day of holidays from spring break or something. So really, there's nothing to be happy about because we still have to make it up one way or another.

I'm still deciding whether or not to do undergraduate research. With it, my schedule becomes very full and I'm going to be waking up every day at 10AM (I'm NOT a morning person). Without it, I'd only have 1 class on Mondays and Wednesdays (see picture below, you can click on it to enlarge too). Every research thing is in red on the schedule below. See how uncluttered and free it would be without it? Thursdays and Saturdays times are exchangable. For example, on one week if I worked Saturday 2-7, then I wouldn't be working on Thursday 3-7. Same thing vice versa. But still...*SIGH. It sounds like a cool research project though - it has to do with FROGS! And I've never done a research project at UT even though I've wanted to for awhile, plus it would help me out with my animal behavior class. Ahh, decisions, decisions..

I also might add more volunteer hours to the schedule because I really like working at the SPCA, and 2 hours/week is the minimum.

Also today on the way to SPCA I went to Starbucks to get coffee and ran into my brother. That was the awkwardest moment I've had in awhile. It's just weird to see him back in Austin as a student. Oh well, I guess it'll be fun. Free food at the Castillian!
:)

Dude, it's raining cats and dogs.

Literally, man.

My dog wouldn't even go outside to pee even though it's been over 12 hours since she last peed. Poor thing, I know she has to go really bad. It's been raining like this nonstop since last night too.

Rain, rain go away so my dog can PEE!

My boyfriend is a dog biter!!!

So I woke up this morning and Bao goes, "Omg Vivian I had the worst dream EVER." And I was like okay, this must not be anything out of the ordinary because everyone has so-called worst dreams ever, so I continued to listen nonchalantly. Then, he told me the story and it WAS a bit odd;

He dreamnt that he was fighting a bunch of people - guys and girls. At first he kicked all the guys asses but then one of the guys' girlfriends came to fight him but she was 7 feet tall and huge. Bao started to beat on her but she had the upper hand, size-wise. He began to lose to her and soon, she was beating the shit out of him! Then he saw a perfect opportunity to get a good lick on her - he was going to bite her hand. When it came near his face, he bit it as hard as he could.

But then, it turned out that he actually bit Tequila's paw in real life. Tequila yelped so loud that it woke him from his dream!!! My boyfriend bites dogs in his sleep! Imagine that. Apparently I was too passed out to notice because I had no idea this happened.

I think what really happened was Tequila was pawing at Bao (she does that occasionally when she wants to be pet or when she is dreaming)and he incorporated that into his dream as the huge giant girlfriend man thing beating him up. And she kept doing it that Bao could feel the paws and see it in his dream - and that's how he ended up biting her.

Lol, now isn't that a story? The people at the humane society would ban Bao from volunteering if they knew what had happened. Tequila must think that Bao is a monster now..

The eyes worsen..

I finally got my eyes checked after over a year and yes, they got worse. My eyes were -2.75 (-12.00 is completely blind and -6.00 is legally blind) over a year ago and today they are at -3.25. AHH! They're over halfway to legally blind! Isn't that a scary thought? I guess my eyes worsened over the year but not a lot, comparatively. They could be at -6.00 so I consider myself lucky. As my eyes venture toward -4.0 and beyond, I guess I'll have to consider the option of lasik, because I don't ever want to reach -6.00. I can't imagine watching a laser shave off part of my eye though - I can barely stand the part of the eye exam where they puff some air into your eye.

We drove back to Austin today. I really don't like driving between Houston and Austin at night anymore because of the deer. I saw deer along the side of highway 71 the other day, and they could jump out at any time towards our car and we'd be GONE. Maybe not gone perse but things could be really bad. For example, my car could be damaged, a deer could bust through the windshield upon impact, and we could be severely injured. No more driving from Austin to Houston or vice versa at night if I can help it!

Mmm, Bao's mom was nice enough to cook food for us to bring back to Austin before we left. There's nothing like good ol' comfort, home-cooked food. I wish my mom cooked.. She hasn't cooked since I was like 8 or something. Kinda surprising, eh? I guess that's what happens when your brothers leave the house for college and cooking just for one person isn't worth it anymore. Also things got really busy for my parents when their business took off so she just didn't have time anymore. That explains why I can't cook worth a shit - because I was never taught how.

Spamming the post list, I know. BUT FOR GOOD REASON...

I'm posting way too much. But this one's a rather important one.

This post marks the enabling of my comments, only because I'm super ecstatic that one of my friends has started writing on blogspot again. I've always liked reading people's posts on blogspot more than xanga. They seem to write more freely and things sound more personal to me here than there.

Xanga just seems so commercial and showy. It's the damn 'my subscriptions' link that kills it for me.

In light of enabling the comments, I am just reiterating that I write NOT for the comments, and will not really care for quantity of feedback. Just quality.

Anyway, welcome Steph. Glad to finally have you back.

Two essays down, one last one to go!

Woo HOO! I've finished 2 of 3 essays so I am almost done with my applications (FINALLY). Man, I started these things way back in November, maybe even October and I just kept wasting time and kept telling myself, don't worry I'll do 'em later. Man I am such a procrastinator.

I wrote a really good Texas Tech essay but I'm not feeling my UT essay at ALL. I think I might actually go back and just rewrite the damn UT essay because I wrote it in a personal tone, and I think I'm supposed to be more professional or whatever. But the prompt was to write about a personal past experience so maybe not. Whatever the case, I need to restructure my sentences becaue Word is saying that I wrote at a 10th grade level on my UT essay. WTF! That's really low, hah. My Texas Tech one was a 12 (that's the maximum) though so I'm leaving that how it is.

Anyway before I started working on the essays me and Bao had dimsum at Ocean Palace today. Finally: I can scratch that to-do off my list. We have been trying to wake up to catch dimsum since winter break started and couldn't do it. Isn't that sad? Dimsum is served until 3pm daily and we couldn't make it ONCE! We are such slobs, heh.

After that I got my car inspected and it passed. I'm surprised (but happy nonetheless) that I lasted 5 months of expired inspection without getting a ticket. The guys at the inspection place were too. I was kind of apprehensive because my check engine light has been on for the past few months, but today it suddenly turned off so I took the opportunity to get it inspected. I heard if your engine light is on, it's an automatic FAIL. Phew, good Lola.

Then we came home and later Tequila broke her dew claw nail real bad. It was a very nasty tear with blood everywhere. She kept licking it and had her tail tucked in between her legs so we called the emergency vet. We journeyed to hick town and beyond for the emergency vet where we spent about 1.5 hours and $100 to have them cut off her bloody torn dew claw nail and put some powder on it to stop the bleeding. Poor girl, she HATED the vet. She tried to jump off the table and succeeding in doing so. She also kept hiding between me and Bao's legs whenever a nurse or doctor came in! Poor girl. It's okay though becanse now she's all good and happy.

And now, to reward myself I shall play countless hours of WOW before I have to write my next essay, which will probably be tomorrow.

Yay for tomorrow though, when I shall enjoy ample amounts of delectable sushi in good company, and when I shall finally get a pair of glasses that I have been secretly coveting for the longest time now.

Maybe I should also journey to the Galleria and buy that pair of Dior sunglasses that I want soooooo bad with the money I'm saving going to this cheap ass Asian optometrist.

OMG, apple introduces the iPHONE!!

DUDE!! APPLE just came out with a new phone called the iPHONE [click on the link to get to the site externally]! I WANT I WANT I WANT!!!!! too bad it's like $600 WITH a 2 year contract from cingular. that's a big ouch on my finances! If its $600 WITH a contract I wonder how much it will go for without a contract?

Anyway the new phone has got all these cool revolutionary specs. It's like an ipod AND a cell phone put together, with some other nifty stuff. First of all it's touchscreen and becomes full screen too when you want to watch something. Remember those rumors about a touchscreen next generation iPOD? Well I think they were confused and looking at early maps of the iPHONE or something! Also if you turn it horizontally it has sensors and will automatically fix the screen to landscape and if you turn it back vertically it will switch back to portrait! It has all these other COOL things that I haven't really discovered just yet but man it looks so clean and sweet. *sigh.

Too bad I JUST renewed my contract with Tmo for my sk3. I'm happy with my sk3 and all but it sucks as a phone. It's like the folks at danger forgot the primary purpose of the sidekick: To be a CELL phone. For example, when someone calls me it's sometimes hard to make out what they're saying. It's not a volume issue but more of a clarity issue. I can hear you just find but you're blurry. Second, the person on the other end sometimes reports a really bad echo and I know it's a sidekick thing because none of my other previous phones (samsung, motorola) have had that issue. Third, it drops calls without warning. Fourth, it's hard to reach me sometimes. Bao will finally get through to me after 10 times of trying and he'll say 'what the hell I just called you 10 times why didn't you pick up?' -and I won't have a history of any calls from him. These issues are all very basic and annoy the shit out of me because well...a cell phone is cool if it has extra features but I really bought this thing for it's primary use: to be a cell phone. Don't get me wrong, I love how the sidekick has internet, good aim features, allt his other shit but man it sucks as a PHONE!!

I want to buy a phone that is good at being a phone first, and then all the extras come second because well, I can buy a laptop that does all the extras 10x better you know?

Hands on with cute sweet dogs, awesome.

Had my one-on-one at the SPCA today. The dogs are sooo sweet and cute!! I can't wait to go back again, but Bao keeps getting allergy attacks so it prevents us from staying a long time. Poor Bao. I can just imagine how much allergies must suck - it's almost as bad as an autoimmune disease. And there's no way to really combat allergies; it is just your immune system overreacting to normal things, so the ultimate cure would just be to knock out your immune system to prevent these overreactions, but then you would have no defense against deleterious pathogens. You would have to live in a bubble or something or face the other consequence: death. So basically, that isn't even an option even though it would indefinitely stop you from having allergic reactions.

Good thing there's like 4 different types of antihistamines out on the market that Bao can try. Let's see there's allegra (fexofenadine), zyrtec, clarinex, claritin (loratidine) and I am pretty sure there are more that I just can't think of off the top of my head. One day we'll find the right one for him.

Anyway back to the dogs. It's awesome there just like I had imagined. The other volunteers are nice, some dogs cuddle with you and you leave feeling a better person.

Since we were around the area I got to try Arby's for the FIRST time. It was pretty good! I can see why the Girls Next Door (that E! show where they film the girlfriends of Hugh Hefner) like Arby's. MmmMm... I tried the market fresh sandwich and it was way better than a lot of other sandwich places out there, which is kind of sad because Arby's is a fast food joint, not a sandwich place. Oh well, good for them.

Tomorrow we're going back to Houston for 2 days to get our eyes checked, new contacts, and new glasses because I just ran out of my last contact and Bao has a tear in one of his contacts and it is driving him crazy. And by crazy I mean cranky (he even said so!). Other things I need to do while I'm in Houston are..

-finish my applications by the end of this week
-buy some sunglasses (DIOR?? :] Am I willing to throw $300 down for a pair??)
-eat some damn dimsum (We never woke up in time to eat dimsum over winter break! How sad is that?!?!)
-watch Pursuit of Happyness (Yes I STILL haven't seen it since I last listed it as a to-do item.)

But before all this I am going to go cuddle with the sweetest and most loving dog ever: Tequila.

Funny thing happened today ..

Nothing big has really happened lately worthy of update but I just found this to be really funny:

Today a Vietnamese man who didn't know any English (or OTC medicines apparently) wanted something for his neck that itched and then he asked me if the item in his hand would help. Too bad the man was holding some KY JELLY!!! HAHAHA I almost couldn't stop myself from laughing so I went and got our pharmacist Mike to recommend something for him.

Hahahahhaha KY GELLY for itching. That's a first!

Introducing..the newest BRATT of ASPCA!.....and some other things.

I really wanted to make Kevin's dinner party at Iron Cactus last night, which he pushed back from 6pm to 8pm just for me but I had work from 2-9pm. When I got off at 9pm I rushed home, changed, scooped Bao and was ready to leave the apartment around 9:30 and I called Kevin but he said they were about to leave. :( So me and Bao just went to eat at Bennigan's and I drank a lovely peach bellini there and he had 2 margaritas. The bellini hit me kind of strong while the 2 margarita's didn't hit Bao until later. After dinner we hit up wal-mart for some last minute cookie ingredients that I had left in Houston. Then we came home and...

I baked the best Snickerdoodles ever! Yes, they are even better than my past attempt at making them. Mmm, they were a lot fluffier and a lot less dough-ier if that makes sense. I wonder what I did differently? Maybe sifting the dry ingredients all the way through really DOES make a difference. Anyway this time I yielded a lot more because I knew how to manage/bake them better and I gave some to the guys at the pharmacy and am going to give some to birthday boy Kevin. Mm there's even soem left over for me and Bao to get even fatter on.

My snickerdoodles are getting popular. I already have a request for them from STEPHANIE! yay, that makes me feel baker -competent! Yes I will bake some for you Steph, whenever I have time to venture up to Dallas. Maybe I should ship some to you :)

Today I finally had my SPCA orientation and it was great! I really didn't want to go at first because it was at 9 in the morning, meaning I'd have to wake up at 8am just to get ready. But I dragged myself out of bed to shower and walked Tequila in the cold and now I am glad that I am. The 4 hour orientation passed by fast - it didn't even seem like 4 hours. The volunteer coordinators gave us a tour, lots of information, and a little hands-on training with 2 dogs. The only bad thing is that we can't play/walk the dogs as volunteers until we have our one-on-one, and the sheet came to me and Bao last so all the good spots were taken. We have to wait until Monday for an available spot..but I can't wait until I finish my one-on-one on Monday so I can finally REALLY volunteer. The dogs are so sweet and cute and just want to socialize there. I hope this volunteering won't make me adopt five new dogs, because Tequila would hate that.

I'm a cell phone junkie.

My brother just recently got the T-Mobile Dash phone and I'm jealous. I just got my Sidekick 3 in June but already I want a new phone. Too bad I already renewed my contract for 2 years for the $350 sidekick! I don't even want the T-Mobile Dash; I want something that looks like a phone again but something that's clean too.

Maybe a slider phone that's white with a nice screen. That would be nice. But I don't even NEED it! In fact, my sidekick 3 is probably worth more than any regular type cell phone because it doesn't have email, internet, aim unlimited and all those other goodies. Yet..I can't help but look because I truly am a cell phone junkie.

Wow, (relatively) long time no update! eeek.

Wow it's already been 3 days since I've updated. That's kind of awkward, considering that I updated so much last month. I guess these few days have been a little more hectic. Ever since New Year's day I haven't really had time to have a meaningful update. And I really hate updating with a sorry, short, good-for-nothing type of update that just kind of wastes your time.

New Year's Day was spent preparing for our voyage back to Austin, which included running errands here and there to get last minute Houston stuff because who knows when we could find time to even go back. Then after we got back into Austin I didn't have much time before I had to sleep because I had work on Tuesday at 12 noon. Then work lasted until 9pm, and I was really tired because I had really forgotten what it felt like to work such long shifts.

Then Wednesday I had another long shift, 12-9, and was too tired when I came home again. Basically, it was just a repeat of Tuesday. And tonight is pretty much the same, except I have to wake up even earlier tomorrow so I haven't really slept yet since I got off work tonight.

Nothing big has happened and I don't have much to write about I suppose. This Saturday I'm going to start volunteering at the SPCA hopefully as a dog walker. I'm pretty excited about that, except that the orientation starts butt freaking early at 9AM. Tomorrow I have to wake up fairly early to go wait in line at the DPS to get a new license since I lost my unexpired one. I went through a lot of trouble to make sure that my license wasn't suspended, including paying off a hefty ass $457 old citation ticket. *sigh, that's a lot of money there.

Wow, my life sounds so mundane. But I really like the start of 2007 so far. Things aren't as chaotic and life is extremely comfortable. :]

Helllooooo 2007.

Yesterday's New Year's Eve celebration was pretty off the chain. I only drank a few Malibu Pineapples (very yummy! It's my new drink of choice) and then a few Grey Goose + Pineapple juices and I got pretty damn drunk. It's been awhile since I got to that level.

I met a lot of new, nice friends of Bao's. I know that if I move to Houston this year it won't be that bad because there's people like them out there to help buffer my move.

And then there's my family here too..and all of my oldschool friends. Speaking of, at the party I saw one of my ex's big brother there! Such a small world.. I remember in high school he drove me home once because I was too fucked up to drive and I had no car. He was so nice because he didn't even know me and he drove me all the way home from Bellaire and then all the way back!

Oh how I miss them carefree high school days.
But I kinda like these grown up days too.

Hhaha I've started to play WOW because Bao and his friends always talk about it that I wanted to see what's so damn great about it and I have to admit, it's kind of fun. Damn it, and it's kind of addicting too now that I think about it. *sigh let's see if I'm still playing it in 3 months though. That's the true test.

Anyway, welcome 2007..let it be a great year.