Ever since I graduated, my hard ass Asian parents has been treating me a little differently. I think a huge burden has been lifted off their shoulders now that they can't nag me about graduating and having a career. Since I don't have to worry about school work or studying anymore, I've been hanging out with my parents a lot. I've been taking my mother grocery shopping, which I use to do when I was younger. Well, not taking her grocery shopping but more like tagging along with her and help her pick out and bag fruits and veggies. It use to be every other weekend we would take a trip out to the farmers market. I use to love it. I eventually stopped going with her when I started college. It's quite nostalgic going with her again and dragging my father along. We talked a lot about random stuff and I feel a lot closer to them on these trips.

When my mother started nagging me about saving money to buy a house and a car, my father actually stuck up for me. He was telling her I'm responsible enough to save on my own and that he's sure I have some kind of plan. Aww, I love my dad. :T We'll see if I can live up to his expectations though.

My relationship with my parents is odd. I'm not that close to them and I don't really tell them anything at all. We don't really "talk" and they don't really ask. They know I'm dating a Mexican, but really hasn't commented or said anything about it in the three plus years we've been together. Well, other than referring to him as "my friend" in Vietnamese they haven't really spoken to me about him other than the typical hard ass Asian parent thing of "he didn't go to college and doesn't have a real career, how can he support you in the future" thing. He has a job that pays well in the restaurant industry and has a lot of responsibilities other than "just serve customers." He has some manager duties since he's been with the industry for five years, not sure if he wants to go up in the food chain but he's happy with where he is. He's really responsible and treats me well. They really can't complain, right? I wonder what will happen if we ever decide to get married. x_x

I think I might start taking the parents out to eat when they're free. I've never taken the out like that before. It might be interesting.

> AWA convention is coming this weekend, I'm extremely excited. While it's not as big and glamorous as D*C, I'm still so happy for it since I've been staffing for the past 5 years. Staffing has always been so fun and it's great just hanging out with TeamRegistration. This year will be a little different since we actually have 34 people who volunteered to staff at registration this year. It's sort of crazy since every other year, we were lucky to even have 10 volunteers the whole day without begging the other departments. I'm kind of sad because it's the first year T-dizzle won't be with the group. *sigh* She's in Japan right now which is probably 27892498327x better than AWA but it's been our tradition! Boo.

> Watched and read the anime/manga for Pandora Heart. I had an urge for anime the other day and just randomly decided to watch this series. I really liked it and damn the manga for not being done yet. Ahhhhhhhh, I hate waiting. I should make a rule for myself to NOT start unfinished series. UGH.

> Signed up for Skype the other day to talk to T-dizzle in Japan. Either I signed up for Skype many years ago, forgot my password, and used an old email address I don't use anymore or someone out in this world stole my username narfzz! WHAT THE HECK? I felt like the username was obscure enough that it was impossible someone else could have taken it. :( I'm quite sadden by this. I contacted Skype support to see if there was anyway to verify if I was the original owner but there's no way to prove it and they said it was "still active" whatever that means. Also I realize that Skype is REALLY FREAKING AWESOME.  Also I was lucky that my netbook comes with a mic and webcam built into it. Woot woot.

> So I have no work this week since the two top dogs who usually gives me work is in KY for a meeting the whole week. Now I'm kind of restless waiting for this week to hurry up and go by. I think I'll skip lunch and go home an hour early today.

> Saw Tim Burton's movie 9 last Friday. I really enjoyed it. I kind of wished it was longer, had more character development, and expanded on the plot line more. The visuals was so amazing, I can see it being turned into some kind of series if it was given a chance. I completely jumped at some parts, I'm such a wuss. The dolls reminds me of The Little Big Planet sack dolls with a twist, still very cute nonetheless.
 
> So I gained 5 pounds since the last time I weighed myself a year or so ago. (Strangely enough, my house does not have a scale which helps me keep my sanity.) Alas, the the nurse weighed me at the obgyn last month and confirmed that I've definitely gained weight. I kind of guessed it since I feel like my face has gotten chubbier comparing it to older pictures of myself. (Not to mention my pants has not been fitting like it use to. D:) I've been working out on and off since I started college but has been slacking big time the past year or so. It also didn't help that I went from a server job waiting tables and running around to a desk job sitting in front of a computer. After the horrifying realization that I might not be able to fit in my pants anymore if this keeps up, I started running two to three times a week. After not seeing any change I've decided to start the p90x workout instead. I have to say, the p90x workout is a really good workout. It definitely works out all parts of your body and I've heard a lot of good things about the program. The program is around an hour to an hour and a half a day for six days with one day of rest a week. Each day, there's a different video you do and you follow the schedule for 90 days. I was completely sore the first week. I could hardly walk up/down stairs or sit down without hurting a muscle I didn't know I had. Now it's not so bad except the kenpo video made my arm slightly sore. I've been trying to do it everyday but it's going to be hard since AWA will be this weekend. I usually just add an extra week when things come up. So far I noticed that my arms are definitely firmer and my appetite has calmed down a bit. We'll see how it goes for now. I don't have a scale so I can't say if I lost any weight but at least I feel great and not so sluggish like I use to.

Money just flows out of my hands toward emergencies that's been coming up lately. My goal of saving for a new house and car is getting further and further away. The last three Saturdays has been spent at the mechanic fixing every car in the family except my dad's (knock on wood) and the youngest brother's brand new car. I can relate to how feel how cleolinda is feeling when everything just seems to happen one after another.

( Is it over yet? )

I pray nothing else comes up. Just give me a break for the month of September? Please?

Alright, end of my rant. Sorry for this very uncivilized post.

So my friends are having serious talks with people and I am just sitting here in the car waiting for them. I hope things work out for the better for the both of them. I figure I should try updating my LiveJournal since I can do that now that I have the power of the G1 and the internet at my fingertips.

So the fourth weekend was really fun. Bbq and fireworks with awesome friends, nothing can get better than that. We also took crazy stupid and fun pictures. One day I will not be lazy and post them.

I went on a crazy shopping spree with my first check at the new company. I almost felt guilty that I didn't do anything responsible with it like pay off my credit card bills or student loan. I am sure the guilt will go away once I wear my new clothes to work and realize how great it feels to have new clothes. Alright I have ran out of boring things to talk about. Maybe my next post will be more interesting.

So now that I'm done with college, I'm suppose to have more free time to catch up on what I've been wanting to do (books, manga, video games, anime, tv series, asian dramas). Of course, that hasn't been the case. I've been so busy with graduation, work, vacation, and now--- transition to new job. Not to mention I've been having more of a social life hanging out and doing fun stuff with other living breathing human beings who actually wants to hang out with me! I have friends again! It's hard to remember when weeks go by only studying and having the only other person that I see outside of my family is the boyfriend (and occasionally the best friend). It's good to know that even with no contact and rejecting many invitations to hang out, that in the end they understand (and has not abandoned me for bigger and better things). Hah! So on to the rest of my post in bulleted form.

( Life has been busier than I expected:  )

So I've decided to make my last day at the current company two days early so I can have a four day weekend to do at least some of the stuff in my list of things I'm behind on.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My supervisor/manager/boss-guy just cames over:

Sup: Betty, I have a dilemma I need your help with. *serious face*
Betty: Uh oh, what is it? *terrified look*
Sup: Should I get a buzz or let it grow out and keep my Krusty [the clown from the Simpsons] look?
Betty: Buzz. You'll look younger and you're already balding so you might as well finish the job.
Sup: Ok, I'm going to do it during lunch.
Betty: *smiles and nods head slowly*
Sup: *walks away with same serious look*

I'm going to miss this place.

I want to believe that the people will prevail in getting their voices heard whether it's successfully in getting a re-vote or a proper recount or even the right to have a peaceful protest without violence for as long as they want.

An acquittance (a friend of my best friend) in Iran actually voted for Ahmadinejad. I'm not sure if he voted for him because he's a supporter of Ahmadinejad and what he stands for or because his family voted for him or because he's been exposed to biased propaganda, but he did vote for Ahmadinejad. He says he doesn't trust American news media and thinks that Ahmadinejad is not a bad leader. I'm not sure how reliable his opinion is because he hasn't been living in Iran continuously and as far as I know, he's been living here in America for awhile going to school. Hey, maybe he knows something I don't know. Whatever.

What bothers me the most is that he said the opposition should just accept the loss, however, if it was me-- the only way I would accept a lost of a candidate I strongly believe in is if I thought the election was fair and that the winner of the election reflects the voice of the country (majority). Obviously, from all the protest and news that has been coming from Iran, this is may not be the case.

Not to mention I can't support Ahmadinejad because he has been quoted saying that he wanted Israel to be wiped of the map and believe that the Holocaust is a myth. (Who says this now a day without sounding fucking CRAZY?) Also the attacks on students in Tehran University by Islamic police and militia just leads me to further believe that maybe the election may not have been wholly fair. So until there is further proof that the election results was indeed quite fair and that Ahmadinejad isn't pulling strings out of his ass, I will continue to support Mousavi the best I can from where I am. By spreading the word and letting others know.

Iran Update: Live-blogging

Had a great time a few weeks ago at the East Atlanta Beer Festival. It was nice, hot, and sunny. Just how I like Georgia weather considering the ridiculous amount of rain we've been getting. (Seriously, I think we're over our drought and could possibly get California out of their drought for a few days if it continues raining!)  When we walked into the festival, we get this really nice 6oz glass to take to the various vendors for beer samples. I HAD A BLAST!

( More about EABF... )
I know I already announced this to some on twitter but I GOT A JOB OFFER! OMG OMG OMG SO HAPPY. I'm going to accept the offer either Tuesday or Wednesday after I get back from Florida trip. It's the kind job I can actually apply what I learned in school. Struggling through the university now seems worth all the sleepless nights and gajillion hours of studying and having no social life.

The job will be at a consulting firm, so it might be a rough couple of months as I refresh my brain on things I use to know. The best part is that I'm actually going to be doing REAL DESIGN WORK which means OMG REAL ENGINEERING! YAY! YAY! I couldn't ask for anything more. I was ready to jump on salary they were willing to offer because the experience there will be so valuable in the future. It's a small firm with only 150 people so I didn't expect much but they ended up offering me a so much more than I expected. WOO HOO!

The interview consist of me meeting everyone I will be potentially working with and gossiping about teachers with one of them who also graduated with the same degree at the same school 5-6 years ago. Man, I'm so excited! I'm sad to leave this company I'm at because I made some really good friends and my boss is so funny. He might be slightly crippled without me here. Trying to teach someone everything I learned in the past year is rough. He's going to really miss me when I leave. Poor boss.

I'm leaving to go to Cocoa Beach, Florida sometime tonight so we can get there early to see the shuttle launch tomorrow morning, then Disney, bars, and tons of leisurely fun. It might suck because there is a chance of rain. Booooo.

Oh man, I can spent hours and hours on ONTD_startrek. It's so awesome and OMG I'm totally LOVING I'M ON A SHIP by sparkly_stuff . It really is made of awesome. THANKS STAR TREK FOR MAKING MY LIFE EVEN BETTER THAN IT IS. :DDDDDD

Also for those that need it, mekosuchinae has some really awesome Star Trek fanfic. It's like crack. I need more good fanfics!

So I've been watching TOS and wanted to compile a list of my favorite episodes and scenes, along with episodes I thought was just interesting:

( Episode list... )

 More episodes to be added after watching Season 3.
 

- I just completely spoiled myself with images for the Doctor Who X-mas Special. SPOILER if anyone is interested, also more spoilers in the comment section of that link. I can't wait! I want more of Martha, she's my favorite companion so far. I love smart, beautiful, and aggressive women leads. I always wanted the Doctor to end up with her. Rose took awhile to grow on me for some reason but I love her now. It broke my heart when they had to separate. *sigh* Speaking of Doctor Who, I'm not so happy about Matt Smith being the new doctor and the fact that Russel T Davies won't be the head writer anymore. I won't judge just yet, they might both surprise me.

- This leads me to The Adventures of Tintin! I use to read the comics that I borrowed from the pubic library back in the day. I can't believe that the series is coming back in movie form. I completely forgot about the series, it was buried deep within my memories until my friend brought it up the other day. I think I might purchase the whole series and reread it to refresh my memories. I remember that I use to love the series and I think at some point even owned a few of the books. Man, if only I kept track of my stuff back from then. I would probably still have it somewhere.

- I've been watching Star Trek TOS. I love the humor. It really took me awhile to get over the cheesy special effects, costumes, hair, sets, etc. Now I'm use to it. My favorite episode so far is the one where Spock cries and Sulu is shirtless going around fencing, granted I'm only on episode 18 in the first season. I thought it was a hilarious episode. After TOS, I want to watch all of TNG. It's a challenge considering TOS is THREE seasons and TNG is SEVEN seasons, but I think that will be my goal this summer. Why am I so behind on all the awesome series? First, Doctor Who and now Star Trek. Man, I was deprived as a kid. I remember watching a few episode here and there but don't remember much of the storyline.

Happy birthday to my mother, who also has the same birthday as me! Happy cinco de mayo everyone!  I'm having a super duper lovely day. I don't even mind the fact that I'm working today on my birthday.

I just got back from this not!Meeting where my manager told me we were going to discuss my hours and that I was in trouble. So I was really scared and worried when I started following him to the conference room. So many things was going through my head and I was really freaked out.  When I finally went into the conference room, I saw it was full of all my coworkers from the department. They had a cake and ice cream for me to congratulate my graduation y'all! I feel so special!  My manager who is a huge joker got me good. I didn't know what had hit me. The other interns said I looked so shocked and funny.

I work for an awesome company. They are so nice to me, even though I'm just a lowly intern. Hopefully, they can somehow give me a job despite the hiring freeze going on throughout the company. I'm going to cross my fingers and hope my manager fights to keep me. Also my engineering coworker with connections is asking around to see if anyone wants to hire me. I never realized it but I have people who is really trying to help me. It's an amazing feeling to know that I'm not all stranded and alone in my job search in this crappy economy.

Graduation was actually really fun because I got to sit with a few a people I know. I was pleasantly surprised that our names are called when we get to the stage, I was really expecting it to be general graduation where they don't call your names. So now I'm really glad I made the right decision to walk in my graduation. I did a little jiggy dance before getting on stage to get the attention of my family and friends. They thought it was really dorky and cute. I even got an extremely loud cheer from them.

I asked Bud, our university president, to give me a high five instead of the traditional shaking hands. He agreed so now my official picture with him is going to be on my wall when I get it. I'm really sad that Wayne Clough wasn't there for my graduation instead, it sucks that he chose to be the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution right before I graduated. Booo.

What I regret the most is not decorating my cap. There was quite some impressive decorated caps. An electrical engineer put blinking color lights on hers which I thought was totally awesome. Some had the biohazard symbol painted in bright colors (BioMed/ChemE students), I saw Transformers logo (CS major), and one person wrote "never settle" which is especially inspiring at the time (forgot her major).

Someone brought a beach ball so we got to have a little fun while we waited for our names to be called. I'm really starting to have a lot more pride for my school now that I'm out. I'm going to start buying all the GT gear I refused to buy while I was still in school. Also does anyone know if there is a tradition about giving the university president little beach/swimming floaties? A few people had them and gave them to the president, I'm wondering if there is a tradition about that I didn't hear about.

I also realized how much I love our school's fight song.
( I'm a Ramblin' Wreck... )

( The rest of the weekend. )
Now on to real life and job hunting as I start to pull my life together.

So my friend has a photographer in mind that she wants for the wedding. Y'all this husband and wife duo is  absolutely amazing! If I ever get married, I'm definitely going to try my best to hire them. They're called Our Labor of Love and this is their blog. I fell in love at first sight. Their picture captures the cutest and happiest moments of everything from the beginning to end. These moments aren't forced or posed, it's as if you were there in their intimate private moment of happiness. You can just feel the how excited and in love the couples are. I also feel like the photographers is just a very goofy and fun couple which ends up showing in the pictures they take. They like having fun and trying new things.

I also love love looove their smilebooth concept which is a rendition of of the old school picturebooth. Viewing a lot of the smilebooth pictures makes me really hope that my soooji  will have that at her reception. It would be soooooooo much fun. They're based in Atlanta but will travel anywhere in the world. Check them out and if you use them for your wedding, let me know! I'm such a fan now. It's so cool that their photos also appear in Southern Wedding a lot.

I finished my last final exam yesterday. It's weird that the first time I set foot into the school library (since I moved off campus to live at home 3 years ago) is the the last time I'll ever be there. The library improvements are nice and we actually have a cafe INSIDE the library. How cool is that? The whole west wing of the library is all teched out with bunch of new computers and work stations for student. It almost made me regret not studying in the library as much as I use to when I lived on campus. I sometimes feel the library environment was a little depressing to be honest. It almost feel as if the stress of all the students in there sucked the happiness out of you once you set foot in there. I'm glad the technology fee in tuition is actually being used properly.

I'm just so happy and excited ever since I finished school. I know I'm going to probably wish I was in school again in a few months but I won't think about that now. I'm walking in my university wide graduation Saturday. I'M SO EXCITED! It is a university wide graduation and it will probably be long and boring but I don't mind. Now my next step is find a real job and pay of my students loan.

Also, another reason I'm so happy. ONE OF MY GOOD FRIENDS IS ENGAGED! OMG! OMG OMG OMG! She's the first close friend I know who is going to get MARRRRIEEDD! KAA! So happy. This deserves tons of CAPS AND EXCLAMTION MARKS! CONGRATS WOMAN! I'm so happy for you. YAY! I really looking forward to seeing her progress through this wedding from preparing for it to the day she walks down the aisle. *sigh* So happy for her. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. :) Yay!!!

- So here I am wasting time instead of doing something productive like studying for my huge 8 hour EIT exam tomorrow. God, it will be my second time taking it. If I don't pass, I'm going to feeling reallllllllly stupid. I should really go study so I really shouldn't be complaining right now huh...? PLEASE GOD LET ME PASS! Everyone, please send me all the luck I can get. Seriously, I need this pass engineering certification. I neeeed to. I've done better to study for it this time. Don't disappoint me brain!

- My engineering statistics teacher decided to exempt graduating seniors from taking the final and giving us this "supposedly" hard homework problem that we can complete in place of it. This was brought about because of a bunch of whiny graduating seniors kept bugging him to let us exempt the final. Of course, I'm not complaining but I feel bad he's practically being walked all over by them. Oh well. So the problem is suppose to take us 3-4 hours in MS Excel but instead took 30 minutes to learn this statistical program call MiniTab and an additional 15 minutes to do the problem. WOO HOO! I don't have a stupid final at 8am on Monday. How fucking awesome is that?  Yea, I'm awesome oh and maybe I should also credit google for helping me find tutorials for the program. Thanks google. :)

- When I'm not studying I'm wasting my time reading Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series. It's so addicting. Comparable to Sookie Stackhouse series but definitely in a different world and has witches and demons intead of only vampires. What cracks me up is that bio-engineered tomatoes wiped out half of the human populations and now humans are adverse to tomatoes and thus witches, demons, and vampires were forced to come out in the open. I think that's so funny. I'm wondering if the author hate tomatoes?

- I've been loving Lady Gaga and Britney Spears as of late. Loving the dance beats. The weather has gotten so much warmer, might get the girls together to go out and dance after this hell of a week is over.

- I'm graduating May 2nd! I CAN'T WAIT. I'm so excited. I had my last day of class forever yesterday. It's so surreal, I can't believe I'm finally leaving this damn school. It's been one hell of a ride, I hardly have a social life anymore and haven't had the chance to do the things I want to do like watch all the television I want, movies, books, video games, etc. OMG free time? Say what? What is that? 

- While I don't have a real job, I will be continuing working at the company I currently intern for while I search for a real job. If anyone hears about open positions for a civil engineer, please tell me. I'll owe you forever, I promise. I can be your minion to beat up people who bully you.

- SQUEE! Star Trek is coming out soon! WOO HOO. Looking forward to Pixar's Up on May 28 AND AND my birthday is coming up on cinco de mayo. CAN WE SAY PARTY?! I'm making the most out of this. Might talk to my boss to let me off for a week to celebrate. Ahhh! Can't wait till I take my last final forever on wednesday.

- I don't understand why some of my friends didn't walk in their graduation. You've spent all that time working your ass off, you gotta walk. Why? WHY? I don't get it. You crazy people. I'm going to make the most out of this, no matter how boring the ceremony is. 

- I want to go to a beach! Life is a beach, seriously.  I need to feel the sand between my toes. Must go to a beach. Whose with me?

- Lisa, I might go to Disney with you. Expect to hear me cussing like a bitch on the stupid kiddy rollercoster at Epcot. I'm sure I made a lot of people's day when I did the last time. You can ask Ny all about it. Lol. I'm a wuss, even in those virtual reality rollercosters. Yea....

- CAN'T WAIT TO BE DONE YALL. You guys don't know how happy I am to finally finish FIVE YEARS of college. Five years suppose to be normal, but it doesn't really feel like it to me really when all my friends had already graduated and some have even gotten their masters. I'm behind yall. Really behind.

- Just got my new license with my 16 year old picture still on it. Maybe I'll change it when I turn 30? Haha.

"If you are like us, the only thing you knew when you first heard about North Korea was that it had a lot of nuclear weapons. Well, it does, but that’s not the story we tell. Fellow human beings are starving to death, are severely punished, tortured or executed for political crimes, are escaping by the thousands only to be hunted down and sent back, are languishing in concentration camps, are forcibly aborted and abused if they return to the country pregnant, are sexually trafficked once they escape, and are violated and deprived of fundamental human rights."
-Eye Drum

( LiNK )

To do something 9 Lives Campaign and just to learn more here.

~ I seriously need a break from school but it won't happen till I take my last final on April 29th. Spring break is in two weeks and my only plans are to study for the damn EIT. Fun. I need to be prepared before crunch time the last week of April. It sucks how everything falls into the same week. EIT is April 25th. I have then have a final on the 27th/29th and two finals on the 28th. *sigh* What are the chances I pass all my final exams and the EIT? Then I graduate May 2nd and kiss this school goodbye!

~ I've started watching Battlestar Galactica last week and have been hooked since. I will finally catch up to the most recent episode this weekend. It's such an awesome series. <333

~ Got my Kindle 2 Wednesday! I've been so excited and busy with BSG that I haven't started reading anything on it yet. Once I'm caught up with episodes of BSG, I think I'm going to start reading all of Raold Dahl's books. Someone on my flist mentioned buying his boxset and it made realize that I haven't all of his stuff. Then I might start Stephen King's Dark Tower series or start reading Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. We'll see. Transferring the stuff over from my computer so far had not been a problem except the fact that I had to convert a lot of pdf files to txt files before doing so. Some of them worked great but the Pern series conversion didn't turn out so well. Also I love the fact that I don't have to install any software. All I had to do was plug in, drag and drop. The Kindle 2 itself is so small  and light. It feels very stury except I refuse to carry it anywhere without a case. I ordered one yesterday and have to wait for it to come in before I want to start carrying it everywhere with me in my purse.

~ I can't seem to try to understand how someone can refuse money going into a state because of some kind of party ideology. Why bar money going into the state for unemployment? Why not provide funds for public construction and transportation? IT WILL CREATE JOBS, isn't that the point of the stimulus package? Just because you don't agree with the President doesn't mean you should make everyone else in the state suffer.

~ Bobby Jindal is the "rising star of the Republican party"? Really? Wow. Him and Palin? I might honestly lose faith in the American people all together if this happens.