CHALLENGE DAY!

to be honest, i was a bit disappointed that challenge day had not lived up to my expectations the first couple of hours i was there... but by the end of the day, i felt reallu good inside.

i was excited to go because i knew about the program from the oprah show, but i was kinda surprised that the activities we did were activities that i had already facilitated and participated in, back in sophomore year for project diversity. however, evn though it's message was something i had already learned a long time ago, this time the experience was so much more. project diversity's group was so small, and no one really had that much courage to open up and speak... but this time it was so strong, so real. the mc's told us their life stories, and i cried. they're really good at making us cry, making us open up, and making us see the truth. i already know that everyone has to go through ugly things in life, but you never really stop to think how much someone has really gone through. you never really know how much something someone tells you actually means to them. i was surprised that the thing that got me worked up the most was something my friends probably didn't even realize i was that emotionally involved with. they all know about it, but i doubt they really thought it meant that much to me. how many times does someone tell you something important, that you just pass up as nothing? as something little that means nothing? it's crazy what people have to go through. i see these people everyday in the hallways, but i would've never stopped to think that they go through things that ugly and that crazy. i'm glad that so many people really took something from it, and im disappointed that other people didn't. i wish that everyone at our school would've had the chance to experience challenge day! i probably should've given the opportunity to someone else, since i don't really need challenge day as much as others. but i think that even those who didn't seem to have gotten so much from it, still has taken something from it. even if it was just a simple, little thing, it'll still have some sort of impact on the way they live, think, and act.

pachiaaaah

i am strong on my own

Instead of typing out the million supreme court cases I have to study for AP Gov, I wanted to post about about my recent senior ball dress results. I have no idea what kind of dress I am going to get but I found some cute one. I prefer elegant, long, and slim. And I want a deep blue. I hate shiny, tacky, typical dresses.

I love love love this dress.
The color is perfect.

Typical Grecian type.

Another Grecian type

I would not mind this type of back.
Though I probably need a good scrub.

I do not think I look the best in yellow.
I am not really into a high neck, but
this is an elegant dress. And looks very flowly and cute.

And if I was to go for a more vintage look.
I would not mind.
but seems a bit more casual.


My new favorite song at the moment:

My friend showed me this youtube video and I searched the original.
Lub it.



Though makes me sad they are probably younger than me,
and can sing so well.

--christina

my good deed for the day.

I felt accomplished for doing a good deed today. I was walking to third period after lunch and a guy asks me where a room number is (new schedules still going on for new term). So I couldn't remember where so I was going with him to find the classrooms. I took him upstairs and showed him around. He was probably an underclassmen or something but I felt obligated to help him find his class instead of leaving him hanging. He appreciated my efforts and I was very nice to him.

I felt like a good person.
Reminds me to always try and help out others and be courteous.

Nice to do a good random deed!

I am addicted to this song since listening to it on ABCD SEASON 3!! I love the new season but too many good groups = indecisive. I favor QUEST crew because they are so creative and funny, and probably because they are Asian. But I love BEAT FREAKS! and the stepping crew.. whose name I cannot remember. But I am sad Boxcutterz went home. They had some good potential.

I got a twitter, only because I heard Obama has one too. Hahah. I put my twitter on the sidebar ----> x I think it is kind of cute thing. So get one and follow mmmmeeee.

---christina.

"YOU'RE IN!"

i got my acceptance letter to Mills College yesterdayyyy! i was really super excited. but now i'm wondering if i want to go there. i'm going to have to go and visit the campus to solidify my answer, but i'm also going to have to wait to see where else i get accepted to. they are giving me a $15,000 scholarship!! but the tuition is $40,000! i'm afraid i might just end up going to city college if i don't have money... i missed out on my scholarship i was working on all weekend! (well actually, i missed out because i didn't work on it all weekend). but i worked on it ALL monday, instead of studying for my psychology final, and then the site freaked out on me the last 15 minutes, and i couldn't submit it!!!!!! was really bummed out, but that is not going to stop me. i just need to stop procrastinating!

i've been sick this week. finals were killlleerrrr. but i still have my hmong dance to get down for the asian assembly... so not a lot has been taken off my shoulders.

a tout a l'heure!

-pachia

at last

Since Pachia did not talk about Obama, I will. I have few words to express my emotions about this event. I think my emotions have been exhausted over the campaign trail. Sadly I have not seen the inauguration speech because I was in school and we could not get it streaming in the class because my teacher is techonolgically retarded.

I have been watching the parade/ball stuff and the celebration is overwhelming. It gets me all emotional every time I watch stuff like this. I cried when I was watching the presidential couple dance to Beyonce's "At Last". I could tell Beyonce was holding it in too. Oh and I loved what Michelle Obama was wearing at the inaugraul balls! I wasn't really feeling the "lemongrass" suit but it was very first lady. And Biden's wife was nice and flashy too. I love her bold colors. And the KIDS!!! oh the Obama kids are so cute. Great choice of fashion. Very official.

Beyonce sang beautifully.

Today is a good day.

And in the words of Reverend Joseph Lowery, I hope for a day where "black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead man, and when white will embrace what is right. Let all those who'll do justice and love mercy say amen."

Who could not say AMEN TO THAT?!?!

Hahah. Angry Asian Man comments that he wishes that there were more words that rhymed with yellow.

--christina

OBAMA-RAMA!

actually i won't be talking about obama :) because i've been wayyyy tooo obbsssesssseed with THE CITY!

it's really bad that i've been tv deprived for so long, because whenever i get the chance to catch up on shows, i forget everything else and become mutilated into some tv zombie. i spent all weekend (nights) watching korean hana yori dango and THE CITY!!

whitney port is so adorable. i really like the hills, but i'm in love with the city. i don't know what it is about whitney, but after watching the first four episodes she's become my idol--and it's really weird because i've never really had an idol, yet i adore everything about this girl. she and jay are super cute. and she's so classy, mature and sweet. i've always liked her, actually. and on another note, i thought the hills was getting a little slow, but after watching the last episode that aired i cried, and suddenly realized how much i've grown on these girls. i really don't know who they are, and they have no idea that i exist, but i still love it. like melanie says "watching them makes me want to go into the fashion industry." all i really do know, however, is that whitney is amazing.

i love her cutie bow.

jay is no justinbobbyyyy. he's too sweeeet.

but about hyd. it was okay. i really have to watch more. i've only seen the first two episodes, and all i have to say is that RUI IS NOT CUTEEEEEE! or ji hoon, or whatever his name is in korean. i really love domyoji's hair though. it looks super fake, but i think it's cute. i wish makino was a little cuter. however maybe i should learn their names first, before criticizing the entire thing.

i have a load of crap to do for finals.
and i know that all the radio stations are boycotting britney's new song, but i still love it. everyone else is blabbling "fuck" all over their songs, atleast she did it in a clever way. no matter how much shit she's been through, i find that in the end i still come back to love her. i guess that's just what happens when you've loved her from the start.

PACHIAAAAAAAH

a little closer to the dream

Happy MLK JR day. Instead of reminiscing Martin Luther King Jr's words about his "I Have a Dream", I want to show another great work of MLK Jr that relates to me as I get older and I am graduating and I am getting closer to that step he calls, having a "life blueprint".
------
Six months before he was assassinated, King spoke to a group of students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967.

I want to ask you a question, and that is: What is your life's blueprint?

Whenever a building is constructed, you usually have an architect who draws a blueprint, and that blueprint serves as the pattern, as the guide, and a building is not well erected without a good, solid blueprint.

Now each of you is in the process of building the structure of your lives, and the question is whether you have a proper, a solid and a sound blueprint.

I want to suggest some of the things that should begin your life's blueprint. Number one in your life's blueprint, should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your worth and your own somebodiness. Don't allow anybody to make you fell that you're nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance.

Secondly, in your life's blueprint you must have as the basic principle the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor. You're going to be deciding as the days, as the years unfold what you will do in life — what your life's work will be. Set out to do it well.

And I say to you, my young friends, doors are opening to you--doors of opportunities that were not open to your mothers and your fathers — and the great challenge facing you is to be ready to face these doors as they open.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great essayist, said in a lecture in 1871, "If a man can write a better book or preach a better sermon or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, even if he builds his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door."

This hasn't always been true — but it will become increasingly true, and so I would urge you to study hard, to burn the midnight oil; I would say to you, don't drop out of school. I understand all the sociological reasons, but I urge you that in spite of your economic plight, in spite of the situation that you're forced to live in — stay in school.

And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. don't just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn't do it any better.

If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well. If you can't be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. Be be the best little shrub on the side of the hill.

Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.

------
Today on the eve of inaugration and concidentally, the day we celebrate MLK JR, we all compare how far we have gotten and how we have progressed and followed through with what MLK JR wanted. I think a good point is made by poplicks that MLK Jr did not mean specifically that we have achieved change when one day we are able to have a black president. Obama's election has not achieved the dream yet. Obama, solely achieve the change, we have to. The day when we can all accept each other for our minor flaws, or differences is the day we will have achieved the dream MLK Jr. wanted. Can we do it America? We are getting closer, maybe. But I am not entirely sure. But I can say we have progressed a lot farther than some countries out there, and that is something.

On a funny note, watch this cute little short. I read it off Wongfu blog. I cannot wait for their new short, released on Jan 31st!!! Watch the trailer too.

---christina

i love winter.

It is amazing how it is still freaking cold. But hey, at least I am not in a state that goes below 60 degrees. I should try and take advantage of this weather but I cannot pull off the tights and boots look when it is obviously too cold.

Lately I have been doing little small fun get togethers with my friends and since there is not many places to really "dress" up for fun, it is fun to dress up with friends. I am very inspired to get more fun party dresses. I am much more comfortable in tights than in jeans so I ususally wear some tights and a dress or skirt. I am glad I bought dresses for fun back a couple months ago when the weather was good. Now I have more of an urge to buy MORE looking at these cutesy dresses.




I know it is early to look for a ball dress but heck, you know a lot of girls are anyway. So my inspiration is this,



I want long, slim and I want a color that isn't too tacky. I prefer a little bit of color but after looking at tons of tacky, over the top, typical prom/ball dresses, I am sick of those BRIGHT vibrant colors. They are gross. I want something simple but pretty. And definetly complement of my skin tone and my body. It will be a long quest.

So I have been trying to find a dress for homecoming (that melanie and pachia are coming too too!!!) and our theme is Olympics (which I think is stupid), but I think I have find a solution, RIGHT IN MY OWN CLOSET. I bought this mini gold dress on impulse maybe a year or more ago. I tried it on the other day with my opaque tights and man, I can actually fit into it. I've lost enough weight where it isnt so tight anymore. So I will be the gold medal! Haha, I can't wait to show it off.

I have been addicted to this song. It is a new hit song in Korea so I wanted to see what the hype is about. Trust me, once you listen to it, you cant stop thinking about it. I can listen to it a million times, as annoying as it is, it is damn catchy. And SNSD is so cute. Damn their cuteness.

And I have decided this weekend, underaged drinking is way overrated.
But I guess it is still fun. The things we do for the sake of fun.

---christina.

zipia, anyone?

I've LOVE accessories! So I think I really need to incorporate more of them into my 2009 wardrobe. It seems like I'm really digging the bows and flowers, and going big and bulky this year :)














she is so cute! i love her skirt (i'm suddenly fawning over pink), and i love the stripes (i've been buying lots of stripes lately)!

black is simple and clean...

I LOVE BLACK! and i love faux fur, tres chic:



i guess i'm just going for the more sultry look this year? because i loveeeee her hair too. i was watching this youtube video where they taught you how to curl your hair using strips of paperbags the other day. i tried it and it turned out alright, though not as cute as michellephan's hair. i think i'll just stick to hair rollers, but people at school seemed to like it. josephine even tried it haha.

and or course, i'm still on my quest to find a peacoat!!! whenever i come across one, it's either too big or not what i'm looking for. winter will probably be over by the time i get one, haha, but i havent given up yet. i also want a nice pair of boots. the ones i have are getting worn out. i always wear them.

tommy bought me these cute golden flower earrings from urban for christmas... and i was soo excited to wear them, but then i found out that i had lost one! :( i'm surprised he's not mad, because they were $17 earrrings!!! however, i'm sure it just fell of my drawer and is now hidden under the mounds of crap on my. hopefully after finals this week, i'll clean out my room and find them. i didn't get the chance to wear them, because my ears were hurting (i have sensitive ears). but i think i've found a solution to that! my friend, who also has sensitive ears, told me her secret to wearing fake earrings-- she coats it with clear nail polish. so i'm gonna see how that works out.

i'm excited for sheldon homecoming!!! i saw this dress i wanted to buy at goodwill yesterday, but it was extremely overpriced for the condition it was in. i'm thinking i'm just going to recycle one of my old dresses, and spice it up with some new earrings and crazy hair (well, not that crazy)... we'll take loads of pictures :) senior memories...

PACHIA!

(P.S. i'm not sure how the zipia ordering is going to turn out...)

i love reading old posts.

i was just bored and just randomnly looking at old posts but it is really amazing how the year can progress. in feb 2008, i was already supporting obama in the california primaries. i hadn't even had ap gov yet and hadn't been "swept" in the political chaos, but i was still into it. i remember i was talking with hanh and angelo on aim about politics but no one (myage) even gave a fuck at the time. and then i was listening to gabe bondac in a post in june/july 2008. and I MET HIM in october 2008.

life works in funny ways.

i just really like this intro song.

Wonder girls - Intro - Nobody (ballad version)

looking at old posts, my old self, makes me have hope for the future. that the year will turn out all right. i will remain the same, just older and more wise. 2009 is an exciting year, right?

---christina

im nothing but a sand castle

Agreed.

Senior year is love/hate year. A lot more hate though. Haha. Today I went to the big central library downtown and I love big libraries. Though I hate how you can never really go to the library expecting to stumble upon some good books. But I did find some good books to read. I am really addicted to non-fiction books about consumerism and the economy ever since I read Freakanomics. I haven't gone to the public library in two years since I got my first library card but I went with my mom and my sisters and we have found a new love in public libraries. The library near our home has a new building so we visited that one. I read probably less than ten books over break. I just read, watched tv, ate and slept. It felt good.

The books currently reading/about to read.

I checked out this photo essay book. It is a timeline of history of women who changed America.
I grew up reading women history thanks to those Dear America diaries and I used to love reading historical fictions when I was young. I really appreciate women in history. Looking at these photos and facts make me strive to be in a book like that. I want to be in the history books. These women are really heroes.

I am loving Solange and her music. It is definitely refreshing, happy, and colorful. She edited/did the music video herself for Sand Castle. I am not sure if she did the I decided one, but still they are great. She is really an artist. Both Knowles sisters are talented. I love Beyonce's new album too.

I went to the mall with my friends to buy a birthday present to sent to our friend in Korea. They don't have Aeropostale there and she loves Aeropostale so we bought her some stuff there. Personally, I do not really like Aeropostale but we got some nice stuff for her. I really do not like mall shopping but I love walking around the mall. It makes me reminiscene about my childhood. Like going to buy cinnabons at Cinnabon or visiting the Sanrio store or the Disney store. The mall has some good memories. But seriously, I can no longer buy clothes from there. But it was fun to shop around with friends. And I think UO is too overpriced. But cute. But overpriced.

We love trying on hats.
Fedoras do not look bad on me.
I need to invest in hats.



Interesting but hats from 1920s are becoming popular.
Those bowl cut, feather hats. I like them.
but not as flattering as fedoras.



Group picture.
May be the first and last together picture at mall.

And update on my little sister Sophie. She is growing faster and faster. She crawls everywhere now. Already five months. It is amazing. She will be walking in no time.

19 weeks before graduation. Augh.

---christina.