finally have some time to update...been really busy since i got back ;p
so many things to write about...
24th: run around downtown with w. went to sing kareoke at ����m�x�n�֭} for 3.5 hrs (willy brought with him 5 girls and one guy... atta boy 0=) ... it was not bad, but too expensive, taiwan standard =/, then we walked around some more, and had dinner with ppl i don't know =/
25th: stay at office all day doin work for my dad (trying to learn how to use ms access =P )... no xmas break here ;p ...
26th: Andy came up from tai chung~ went on a tour of Taiwan University, coutesy of Andy's friend ;) had super spicy tofu pot for lunch, and watched lotr in the afternoon (i think this one is much better than the first one ;p). walked around the �h�L and had dinner, then found out willy ditched us and went home... then andy got pissed and went back to tai chung =/
27th: shopped at Nova all day buying computer parts for my dad. nForce is l337... and super cheap =)) i put together two nforce-duran1.3g desktop for $200 a piece =)) ...@nite went to a tea house to meet c+y ... c filmed the whole thing with his dad's super cool palm sized digital camcorder... what a dork ;p
28th: had lunch with c+y and had a huge coffee-icecream-fruit drink thingy... was super stuffed when they took off 4 the airport. then i went to visit relatives (4 aunts, 3 uncles, grand aunt, grand uncle, 2 nephews...thank god they all live close by) for the rest of day.
29th:went to the beach!!! =))) went to zhong-li's beach- bike around the area and had great side stand food =) more on this later
why do ppl have such a healthy sleeping routine when they're back to taiwan? m00 said he was goin to bed when he im'ed me at 12...that's kinda weird for him ;p anyway yes i am finally here (LAX had an insane 1/2 mile long line to get thru security, literally... they weren't kidding about havin' to arrive 3 hrs early... and security is super tight...much worse than last yr (i mean they had these sophisticated machines that checks for any explosive residues on my laptop, and search dog in the boarding dock... just look at the sea of ppl crowding around the terminals, they are overdoing this)) . the flight was pretty good tho (china airline has pretty good food but crappy airplanes ;p ), and i finally read Crichton's
Sphere on the way - super good book, with really interesting insights on human psychology =)
the 60 degree taipei winter air is not humid at all, in fact, perfect weather for some �d�] @ �h�L�]�� , which is what i did rite after arriving =)) mmm �|���� + ���� + �H��� ... ;p
=) ok so it turns out that i don't need to sleep over at LAX =) my aunt generously drove me back to pasadena and sleep over . mostly importantly , i get to post blog (how can i survive without connection for more than 12 hrs?)
the flight was pretty good, even tho it's rather bumpy - i got to the airport 2.5 hrs early this time =P and then 20 minutes be4 i board the plane, i realize i wasn't given a seat number on the boarding pass. interestingly, because i told them about it at the last minute, they had no seats left except for first class (whoa never sat in the first row of airplane in my life, maybe i should save the ticket)... so my dinner was shrimp pasta with white wine and cheese cake (which was actually pretty good even tho i usually don't like cheese cake =) the birdseye's view of LA at night is pretty magnificant (wonder why i never noticed until tonite)... the flat grid pattern constructed by yellow street lights and white house lights that streches for a hundred miles makes the city looks futuristic.
anyway, they suggest that i get to airport tomorrow 3 hrs beforewards since international flights at LAX tends to get super long lines, nites y'all, wish me luck, haha.
okok
public announcement:
i missed my flight
everyone asked in unison:"what happened?"
i thought i only need to arrive an hr early, and then bus was alittle late, i arrived 45min early, but they won't let me on, (wouldn't even gimme the boarding pass for me to run to the gate)
everyone:"so what u gonna do?"
i booked another flight on 21st, but it sux0r since it's more expensive And i stay at LAX overnite...o wellz i arrive at taipei nite of 23rd.
ppl, wait for me to watch two towers ;p thnx
3 words: Go watch Equilibrium
(maybe i'll watch it again in taiwan... after i watch two towers on the 20th =)
and my l337 partner posted updated l337 screen shots and crappy reports of our
final game
oh and my
other l337 partner and i won 3rd place for our 99MHz 300,000um^2 design(225 pts extra credits, woohoo=), but i prob. still can't get an A =P o wellz
muhahahahah!!! my laptop is l337~ i can play war3 on it! =)))))) (oh it's dell x200 in case u r wondering =P)
in order to celebrate the end of my imprisonment in graphics cluster (my activities this week besides the events mentioned previously were 10 hrs of sleep, 5 mins of paper writing and 50+hrs of game programming), i stuffed the day with activities =)
first went to the video game party (that's where i found out about the game competition winners), and it was nice (free pizza =), but kinda disturbing watching my professor play DDR...then i went to review session, nothing to say here... then m,m,m,m,t,h,a,a, & c (hmm.. certain letter of the alphabet here is overly represented) went to Super Chinese Buffet for dinner, which was definitely one of my best meals of the semester ;) , not only because of the good food (mmm...dim sum), but also seeing friends again and catching up =))) afterwards we all followed t, who wants a gameboy advance, into Best Buy. by the time we walked out, only me, a, and h were empty handed ^^;; (the final tally was 2 gameboy advance, 6 gba games, 4 ps2 games, & 1 dvd set). Then m,m,m,&me went back to play the new games to vegetate off the food coma =)
At 11pm, rin,piyo,m,m,m,h, and i went to a nice cosmic bowling alley. Besides the fact that i sux0r at bowling, it was really fun, with decent music, nice environment, and unlimited rounds for $13/person. we played until it closed at 2:30 - 5 rounds each! my wrist's gonna hurt tomorrow =P last round was the most fun - we just took turns and chuck the ball toward the general direction of the pins without paying attentions to scores (we got 122 for j tho ;)
j&i wanted to pingpong afterwards, but onone else wants to+ can't find an open table =( but that's ok, it does not diminishes the quality of the rest of the events.
oh and i just got email from game prog. professor... we got 4th place overall - one place away from taking home a ps2 game =p !!!!! (ming: it's like the intro mech-e thing again =( ...
I tried to update this this week, but then i couldn't think of anything inspiring to write, nor do i have the energy to write it , since i spent all my creative prowess and brain power doin
my game (it's not really up to date... i'll post the completed game screen shots later), which, unfortunately, did not win the competition... but it's ok, i'll get an A with or without that PS2 =/
so i suppose i should catch up on all the stuff i did this month but didn't write about =P
I. culture night (sunday 8th): it was actuallly better than i expected =) nicely planned out, with decent MC's (certainly better than lunar gala last yr)... hawaiian dance reminded of lilo and stitch ;) ... and i finally got to see judith dance =) her dances were the most traditional of the show (butterfly dance was good, but the dou-li dance was hardcore ~ so taiwanese =) ), and saw some cool moves with che-ling (chinese yoyo),... got to get a good set in taiwan to practice =)
II.
building virtual world exhibition (tuesday 10th) : aww it's interesting goin to the show without participating it, seeing old faces in the ETC crowd. i must say, this yr's show is, quite simply, much better than our show (last yr's)... the 'search for the holy grail' world was simply brilliant (has a scene with a microsoft talking paperclip help poped up and blown up =) .. good stuff
ok as requested...here's are the car pictures...
ok i am extremely sorry for not updating more often... apologies to my readers =P
announcements:
- so yes if u don't know already, i wrecked my car. see my passengers'
blogs for additional details...
- sc has a
blog!! woohoo =)), i am having hard time looking for ppl's blog on my links... so i alphabetized them...
today's rant:
remembery a long time ago i posted my theory about
luck? well here's yet another series of events confirming it. I think everyone's sick of my laptop story, so today's the last time i am gonna write about it =P it's been a 12-month-long effort... Jan- decided to get a laptop, Feb~Mar- trying to decide to get ultraslim or regular laptop, Apr~May: trying to decide which one to get; June-July: bidding Protege2000 on eBay, Aug~Sept: waited for laptop, got cheated, file fruad claim at every online agencies, got contacted by secret service, got money back, got contacted by NY police department; Nov: try to buy ibmX24 from online store, but was back-ordered, cancelled my order after 3 weeks, order X200 from Dell Small Business; Dec 3rd: found out order was cancelled when checking order status, and that they mysteriously "don't have my email address" to send the cancellation notice even tho they sent the order comfirmation by email...so i called and re-placed my order.
Conclusion: i have super bad luck with online ordering, so i will never order anything over $100 online ever again. (oh and right after i placed the phone order, i check online and printed out an additional $100 rebate, so in effect i got the total discount of $400 from Nov 26, Free shipping, and $100 rebate from Dec. 3rd ... figures)...
