Ugh! After Thanksgiving, I have been working on the papers. I had to write a paper about my own counseling theories. I was working on the paper in the all Thanksgiving weekend because I re-wrote couple times! Ugh! I don't know why, but the instructor limited the page numbers to five. It was so hard to write only five pages paper when you are talking about theories!! I was pretty much working on reducing the page numbers and ended up with the paper does not make sense! Oh well, I turned in yesterday, so I don't care. I have another paper due tomorrow, but I don't care! It's about what's up with your counseling skills after finishing this course kinda paper. I can write this paper up to 6 pages, but I am not sure who can write that much just talking about your counseling skills. Well, I don't. The prof from counseling skill class emailed us saying we are supposed to make poem, take some lines from a song, or make short statement to reflect this course for tomorrow's class.....what's the fuck!? I really want him to know we are having finals next week! Who has a time to make fucking poem to share with class!! Ugh, I am just glad I am not taking his class next semester.

Today was the last day of the classes!! Yaaaaay!! I survived!! In the counseling skill class, we had to refelct the course in front of everyone.... Well, it wasn't that bad, but still I thought it was lame. After that, we ate. Every discussion group had to bring something, so we had something to eat and drink. My group had to bring drinks, so I just bought couple of pops. I wish I could bring beer or something, but of course, it was dry party. Oh well, I can have a party by myself at my apt!!

I was looking at restaurants I wanna go on the web. I am forcing my friends to take me to the fancy restaurant for my birthday. Because my friends are poor grad students, I gotta choose the restaurant which isn't too expensive. Mmmmmm, too many choices!!!

Happy 501th entry!! Yesterday's entry was 500th, so today's entry is 501th!! I have been blogging for almost two years!! I didn't think it would last this long. I think I am gonna keep blogging until the day I die!

I was studying for the final all day today. Of course, I am gonna study more tonight. I am actually not that stressed out about finals. I just wanna finish up this semester and do nothing after that! I have no plan for x'mas break yet, but I think I am gonna do nothing and that'll be my plan. I thought maybe I can go back to Japan, but the spring semester will start from Jan 5th, so I don't think it's worth to go home for only couple weeks. I am planning to re-design my site and put more stuff. I have so many videotapes I need to edit too!! So, my break will be geeky one!

Zzzzzzzzz, I went to sleep around 6am last night, well, this morning. I was watching Magnolia unitl 3:30am, then I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. So, I was just watching tons of infomercial!! Ugh!

I really needed to study for finals, so I went to the coffee shop near by my house and studied there until 5pm. I could study more, but there were three old pals just chatting crazy, and I couldn't stand them! They were talking and talking and talking!! I usually do not mind people chatting when I am studying at coffee shop because it's coffee shop, not library. However, I just couldn't stand them for some reasons. Maybe because they talked really loud, maybe because they smelled funny, maybe because they didn't care there were other three people studying at the same table, maybe because they were talking same things again and again and again! Anyway, I think I am gonna go to the library tomorrow, so I don't get pissed off!

I was up really late last night. My evening started off from studying for finals. Then, Laura called me saying she was too drunk to study. We were planning to study together after she had a dinner with her god mother. However, I guess she had a little bit too much of wine!! We just talked on the phone about the relationship, well mostly hers, an hour, and I went back to study! Well, I was studying for a while, but I ended up with chatting online until 5am in the morning.... I think chatting is pretty addictive. You get to talk whoever online and you kinda start talking about very personal stuff. Well, for my case, I was just chatting about geeky stuff. I really need a time to geek out. I miss playing FFXI, I miss working on my site, I miss editting my videotapes, and I miss just spacing out and doing nothing!

By the way, I made a pie last night. I don't know why I made it, I guess I wanted to eat a piece of pie even thought I had to chill it for over night. Of course, my pie is dairy free, totally low fat crap!

Ugh. I had two finals today. Both finals were group exams, so I really didn't worry about that much. But, of course, I did study fairly well even thought my motto is "not studying." I am not having fun with studying for finals at all because I really really feel like counseling is not for me. I can study the concepts and theories (and stats and math) forever, but I do not like studying for counseling skills or ethics because I dont care!! In the group final for the counseling theories class, I was assigned to Freud crap. It was so hard to analyze the case according to his theory because his theory is basically saying you cannot do anything unless you find out about client's past! So, how the hell I am supposed to help the client who is depressed now! Anyway, we somewhat manged to present his theory and treatment plans, and we got 93 out of 100. So, I think we did pretty good. When I started working on the final for the ethic class, I was super tired and wasn't sure if I could finish it!! I was really glad that it was also group exam, so I didn't have to think that much! But, of course, I was pretending working on the final. Good job Kenny!!

Okay, I still have two finals on this Wed. I am not really worrying about the final for counseling skill class because to get A, I just need to get C+ for the exam. But, I am really nervous about the final for career counseling since I didn't do well on the mid term. But, I decided to get A on the final, so I will get A because I said so!! By the way, I spend $10 at whole foods today.

Ugh, I am so sick of studying for the career counseling class. I like the various theories, but I don't like the all assessment tests I have to memeorize. Good thing is we don't have to memorize all details. I just wanna get over with finals!!

I am totally feeling spongeness in this morning!!

Last night, Jeff, Kim, Sarah, Laura, and I went to Mia Francesca. I had been asking them to buy me a dinner at the fancy restaurant for my birthday. Since we had finals last week, we decided to do it after the finals. I had never been to this Italian restaurant before, but the restaurant was pretty cool, but kinda small.

After the dinner, we went to Jill's party. I was thinking that we just stopped by her party, then go out to somewhere else. However, I ended up staying there all night. We were the first ones to get to the party and we were the last ones to leave the party!! The party was actually fun. I think I got home about 4~5am, I am not sure...

I was trying to the build a book shelve I bought at IKEA yesterday, but I couldn't because the book shelve is still in my car and I didn't wanna go out and get it. Yeah, I didn't do anything today!! I didn't go to the gym, I didn't clean my room, and I didn't brush my tooth!! Ugh! I will be good tomorrow!

It's snowing!! Yaaaaay!! I love snow! It's so cute and cold and.....freezing... Mmmmm, maybe I don't like snowing.. I finally assembled the book shelve I bought from IKEA. Since my room is super tiny, I had to find a spot to put my book shelve. I was moving my furniture around and finally I found a spot for my book shelve. Now, I can organize all books (well, not all of them, but most of them!).

Because I hadn't cleaned my room for a while, I decided to clean my room. For the bath room, I got potpourris and scented candle from the World Market. Yeah, I went to get them under this wonderful snowy weather. I really wanted to get some chocolate stuff, but I didn’t because I knew if I get them, I would regret. Anyway, now my bath room smells pretty good!!

Yaaaah, I haven't been to the gym for 4 days!! I have been super lazy!! I just play video games, chat with friends online, re-designing my site, and much more geeky stuff! I feel pretty good!!

I saw the news about Saddam in this morning. Mmmm, well, I guess that's good news. I don't know, but I am just wondering if he ever had any kinda powers that the U.S. was afraid of. He was supposed to be hiding alone in the hold or some kinda underground. And he even didn't fire. Mmmmm. Well, lucky you, Bush!

In this afternoon, I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo with Laura. We were supposed to go to the Shedd Aquarium, but we kinda started late, so we decided to go to the zoo instead of the aquarium. I don't know why, but I had never been to the Lincoln Park Zoo even though it's only couple blocks from where I live at and it's free admission!

We were pretty impressed how big the zoo is. I just couldn't believe that they don't charge at all. Unfortunately, we couldn't see the elephant and other animals which are supposed to not live in the winter land!! But, when we were checking lions out, the male lion was just screaming like a mug!! Weird! And, when we were checking bats, one of bats just started pissing! Mmmmmm, weird!!

As soon as we got inside of the primate house (or something like that), we noticed the smell. Yeah, smell. Yuck! But, monkeys were really fun to watch. Laura noticed that one of the monkey's room was painted like destroyed forest. I mean there were tree painings on the wall, but those trees were all cut down! We were like "Aaah, great natural habitat!" The destroyed forest painting basically showed how much monkey lands were destroyed by human. However, since the moneky is already in the zoo, I wasn't sure the point of making monkey's room like destroyed forest....

This is supposed to be kitty kind, but he was the way cuter than regular cat. Seriously, this thing was ultra super cute! Imagine regular cat has long ears like bunny and just sleeping. Ahhhhh, so cute!!!

After we finished up animal watching, we went a little x'mas shopping. Of course, I didn't buy anything because I do not celebrate x'mas (well, kinda do, but not really). Then, we went to Cousin's for the dinner. I always wanted to go to this restaurant because it looks fun. They have comfy seats by the windows. I was so exicited that we could get window seats because you actually can take off shoes and relax with pillows and rugs! I ordered Hummus and some seafoods plate. Hummus was pretty good. The waiter kept bringing pita breads, so we were on the mission to eat pita bread all the way! It was really fun restaurant, and I liked it cos I like fun!

I really don't wanna eat any more cookies. I baked bunch of cookies on Sunday night because I wanted to have cookies. However, I baked too much. I mean really. When I took Laura to the airport today, I gave her five of them, but I still had tons. So, I kept eating cookies all day today...

I went to Schaumberg with Jeff today. I took him to IKEA and Woodfield mall cos he told me he had never been there. I like going there during the weekdays because there are less people. There is no way I would go there during the weekend because I do not want to die. I was on the mission to find a knit cap, but I couldn't find any at Woodfield even thought the mall is freaking huge. We even went to Galyan's, but couldn't find any!! I was trying to find some outfits for running, but they had tons of Nike stuff, but since I am pretty against Nike, I didn't want to buy anything from them. Because I wanted to go to Club Monaco, we stopped by Old Orchard mall in Skokie. Although it was really cold, and I warned him Old Orchard is open mall, Jeff left his jacket in my car because he is tough guy. Unfortunately, the coat I wanted to buy from Club Monaco wasn't on sale yet, and there was only one left, so I am pretty sure it will be gone before it goes on sale... The our last stop was Active Endeavor in Evanston. I was hoping that they would have a knit cap I want, and they did have a knit cap I want!! I knew the store has Fred Perry stuff (one of my favorites) because I got Fred Perry sports jacket from them. I was kinda excited when I saw Fred Perry knit cap there. Of course, I bought it. Also, I bought Final Fantasy Tactics Advance at EB game store! I am pretty happy with the stuff I bought today!!

Although I went to the bed around midnight, I slept like a mug!! When I woke up in this morning, it was almost 11am!! I was so pissed off because I really wanted to go to the spinning class from 6am. Oh well, maybe next time. I didn't feel like going to the gym at all, but I did go there anyway. After I came back from the gym, I really didn't wanna do anything. It was cold outside, but I was too lazy to make a coffee. So, I decided to go to Intelligentsia to get a cup of coffee. I though that if I go there, maybe I should take my GBASP, so I could spend valuable time there. I was gonna take FFT advance which I bought yesterday, but I didn't feel like playing it. I remembered that I hadn't played Mother 1+2 (I think the game called Earth Bound here) for a while. Therefore, my decision was made. I played Mother 1+2 for couple hours at Intelligentsia.

Well, I just played Mother 1 cos I wanted to finish Mother 1 before I move to Mother 2. I actually made it to the ending today. I almost cried when I beat the last boss because it was sooooooooooooooo gooooooooood!! Aaaand, ending was soooo goooooood tooooo!!! I had to sing a song (I mean my character...of course!) to beat him! If you have never played this game before, I highly recommend! I strongly felt "Ugh, what a geek I am!!" after finishing playing Mother 1 because I realized I was kinda emotional. Oh well, you know, what I can do. I am a geek....duh!!

I, again, woke up around 10am in this morning and felt awful. I usually don't go to the gym in the weekend, but I went to the gym to just make feel better. Also, I had no foods in my house, so I kinda had to go out and get something to eat. It was before noon, but there were already bunch of people shopping. I guess Santa Clause is coming to the town! But, not to my room!!

After I got back from the gym, I started playing Persona 2 Innocent Sin. I got this game 4 years ago, and I stopped playing before I make it to the ending. I tried to play several times, but I always ended up with buying another game and forgot about this game. Poor my Persona 2!! Although I have to finish up this game, I bought Persona 2 Eternal Punishment which is sequel to this game in the last summer. So, I must finish this game in order to start playing Eternal Punishment. I have been playing Innocent Sin for total 40 hours, but I am still in the 2/3 of the game. The battle system for this game is soooooooooo slow and kinda annoying. But, I really like the characters and story for this game, so I keep playing it. I have to say that I am really enjoying my break!!!

It was really nice out today. It was sunny and warmer and awesome day for last minutes Christmas shopping. Okay, I do not do Christmas, so I do not care about Christmas shopping. However, I wanted to take pictures of Christmas shoppers. So, I went to the downtown in this afternoon. Of course, the downtown was packed with happy shoppers. I didn’t plan to buy anything, but was checking the stores since I was in the downtown. I have lost my Kiehl’s lip balm, my lip has been dry like a mug, so I went to Saks Fifth to get lip balm. Okay, so, I spent only few dollars, good.

Then, I went to the Water Tower Place to take more pictures. I checked some stores out there, but really didn’t buy anything, good. Let’s take more pictures! The next stop was 900 North Michigan. I went to Club Monaco to check if the coat I have wanted was on sale. Well, it wasn’t, so I didn’t buy anything, good. Then, I went up to 5th floor to check Bloomingdale’s. Well, everything started from there. I found the sweater I wanted to buy was on sale there. It originally cost $139, but it was marked down to $103, and plus, extra 25% off at the casher. Mmmmm, I did think about if I should buy it or not for couple minutes. I know I already have tons of sweaters, and I am not sure if I need another sweater. But, then I remembered that I have 20% off coupon on any sale items from Bloomingdale’s in my wallet (thanks god I put it there!!). That means, $139 -> $103 -> 25% off at the casher ($77.99) + another 20% off ($62)!! There was no choice, I had to buy it. Well, I got the sweater I wanted for less than half price, good. Then, I went to Urban, but didn’t find anything I liked. I saw the same sweater I just got was sold for $139 there. Yeah, I felt really good, and that made me to go to Barneys New York.

I hadn’t been to Barneys for a long time because I no longer belong there!! I used to shop at Barneys a lot, but since I became poor grad student, I stop going there. I just went there today because I wanted to check stuff out. Well, I ended up with spending $150....oops. But, but buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut, I got MiuMiu black shirt and Co-Op strip shirt!! MiuMiu shirt (original price $220) was only $89!! I almost fainted when I saw the price because it was insanely cheap!! Also, $135 Co-Op shirt was $49! Uuuggggh, I saw lots of ridiculously discounted shirts there, and it made me wanna buy all of them. Fortunately, most of shirts weren’t my size, so I could avoid buying them. Pheeeeeew!!!

Well, I really didn’t plan to buy anything today, but I must say, it was the one of the best shopping days I had!!

I was kinda lazy today. I was gonna go to the gym, but I didn’t. Instead of going to the gym, I went to the Sam’s Club to buy some foods and alcohol. I like Sam’s club a lot because every time I see the mountain of the alcohol, that really makes me happy!! I bought 15 Guinness and 24 Corona there because I had no beers in my room. I could buy bud light, but I really hate bud light. I think anything with “Light” is just crap!!

After I got back from Sam’s Club, I went to the Public I cos I wanted to buy some stuff. But, when I got there, I realized that they close on Monday!!!!!!! So, I just drove there for nothing!! Daaaaaamnit!! I was soooooo pissed off myself because I knew Public I closes on Monday!!

Oooooh, by the way, Ryan. I will kill you if you don’t come to my joint birthday party!!!

Well, I did it. I played FFXI all day today! I went to the gym in this morning as usual, and I had pretty good workout. I wanted to go out and take more pictures of the town, but I started playing FFXI. I think I started from 1pm, and now it’s 11:30pm. I played non-stop and I am sooooo hungry!! I tried to log off, but the party I was in kept going and going. Well, it was good 10 hours.. I met lots of people today. Some guys were from Japan. I think Japanese players are nicer than US players because Japanese players do not beg for money! I am glad that my Japanese skill can be useful online!! In the party, there was a couple who is from Chicago. I thought it was kinda sweet that boyfriend/girlfriend play online together! Boyfriend was complaining that he has to work tomorrow. Poor thing.... I was trying to reach level 12, but I lost 1000 exp because I died couple times today! Well, I died because we were trying to help a party member who was trapped in the dangeon! But, he ended up leaving the party which made me pretty pissed off! Anyway, now, I really need to eat even though it’s almost midnight!!

Well, Christmas is finally over. Although I don’t care, I did feel kinda lonely cos I was alone in my room!!! Actually, I think I miss Japanese New Year’s celebration. Japanese New Year’s celebration is Thanksgiving + X’mas + much more! I went back to Japan last summer, but I haven’t been back to Japan in winter for a while, so I hope I get to go home next year!

When I weighted at the gym yesterday, I noticed that I lost weight (again). I was really shocked because I have been drinking, eating, and staying at home all days, and still I lost weight! I think I am losing too much weight now. I guess I should stop running. But, I don’t understand that all beers I consumed didn’t make me fat??? I ROCK!!

In this morning, I noticed that there was an envelop under the door. The envelop was from my landlord, and $25 gift certificate from Lettuce Entertain You was enclosed. Wow! The gift certificate from my landlord? I guess he really likes me then! Actually, his wife and daughter really liked the art book I got from Japan in the last summer. So, maybe that’s why? Anyway, thanks my landlord who I only saw once!

I have been re-designing this site. Ugh. So much work. Especially, making archive section for the blog isn’t fun at all. I was working on that until 3am last night. I also need more contents too. You know, I do have lots pics and videos, but I just don’t know where to start! I will try to finish up before New Year’s Day!!

I have been super antisocial in the past several days. I even didn’t go outside in the past couple days! I just kept working on the web stuff, and I think it’s finally coming together! Yaaaaaaay!!

Last night, I had Guinness with my dinner. I was gonna have couple of Guinness, but I ended up with drinking all 9 Guinness in my refrigerator. Oops. I really didn’t realize I was drunk until I started chatting with my friends online. You know, I was kinda unable to type. But, I felt I could drink more. Well, I still have dozens of Corona, but I didn’t continue drinking because I have a great self-control! I am just pissed off about I finished all Guinness because I wanted to enjoy them, not just for one night! Oh well, guess Sam’s Club day is coming soon!

Because I haven’t been to the outside for past couple days, today, I decided to go to the downtown. I was actually hoping that the coat I want from Club Monaco would be on sale. So, I went to the store, but the coat was still $225. Hmmmmm. Then, I went to Barney’s New York, but there were only crappy stuff left. I was glad that I could find shirts before they were gone! I was gonna stop by at Urban, but I saw huge long lines at casher there, so I just passed and went to Diesel. They were also doing some winter sale, but I actually do not like Diesel clothes. Some of them are okay, but most of them are kinda ugly. The jacket I bought there wasn’t on sale, which made me very happy! See, good stuff do not go on sale! Then, I went to Saks, but they had nothing. Seriously, they had nothing!! Then, I went to Banana Republic cos I got $15 gift certificate, but the store was chaos. I even didn’t look anything there!!!

I was kinda giving up finding anything today. But, when I stopped by Ralph Lauren, I saw the jacket I wanted was on sale!! It originally cost $500. I have seen this jacket at the Marshall Field’s in the last semester. Well, the jacket was on sale, but it still cost $250. I was thinking what I can buy for $250. Well, the coat I want from Club Monaco, GameCube with tons of games, Xbox with Xbox live, new graphic card, new CPU, Photoshop CS, etc etc. So, I thought that maybe I should consult with my friends before I actually buy it. But, but, when I tried on, I knew I had to buy it. I wanted someone to help me to decide the size, so I was trying to find a staff there, but there was no staff except casher people! Of course, I was pretty pissed off. When the casher lady asked me if someone helped me today, I answered her “well, I was trying to find someone to help me, but I couldn’t find anyone!” Although I meant to sound like “I am kinda pissed off lady!” but she seemed to not care about that much. Oh well. And she asked me “you don’t live here, do you?” Then, I was pissed off again! I was like “DO I LOOK LIKE TOURIST TO YOU BITCH!” But, I answered politely “yes, I do live in Chicago.” She seemed to be surprised by the fact I live here. Oh well, sorry sister, I live here! Anyway, I am happy cos I could get a jacket I wanted!

As you may notice, it’s all new confusedgeek.com. I still need to put more contents, and they are coming. I am not happy with the design, but that’s the best I could do!!

Well, today is the last day of 2003. As usual, I couldn’t archive this year’s new year’s resolution, so I think that’ll be next year’s new year’s resolution!

I think 2003 was pretty good year for me. I could go back to Japan and see my family. It was nice to see them because I hadn’t seen them for three years. Also, I could get a job at the retail store and made some money. I didn’t like working there much, but I could make good friends who I still exchange emails all the time.

I also started my graduate school from last Aug. Going to graduate school was one of my biggest academic goals, so I was really happy with going back to the school. Although Loyola wasn’t the school I was wishing for, I made good friends there and I think I am pretty happy with my life right now. I hope 2004 will be as good as 2003 or maybe better!!

I wish you had a great 2003 and will have great 2004!!