I hate Starbucks. They are invading every corner of your neighbors. I don’t understand why people keep buying their coffee… I think Starbucks coffee tastes like burned!! One thing I hate the most is they don’t use size L, M, nor S. Well, I think everyone knows Starbucks stupid sizing thingy. Although I hate them so much, I went to Starbucks couple days ago. Why? Because there was no coffee store around the campus except Starbucks! So, I went in there and I ordered large skim latte. I was checking laptop people there and thinking “why there are so many people using their laptops at the coffee store?? Do they want to show off their fabulous laptops or what!” Then, I heard “one venti non-fat latte~!” I wasn’t sure if it was my order cos I ordered large skim latte. Then, I thought “mmmm, maybe that’s my order since in the world of Starbucks: large = venti, skim milk = non-fat milk, so it must be my order.” But, really, I think it’s much easier to say “large skim latte” comparing to “venti non-fat latte.” Annoying…

I have mid-term tomorrow. Yaaaaay! I hate memorizing all illegal substances.

I know! I have not updated my blong for a looong time. Why? Well, why not? Aha! Hmmm, I have been pretty busy past couple weeks. Last week was my spring break and I was driving all over the mid-west area!

I was invited to visit University of Iowa between March 5th through March 7th for PhD interview thingy. Well, it said “PhD interview”, but from the email I got from the prof there, I knew I was going to be admitted to the program there. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go the U of I, but I really wanted to see the professor there. I have known him for a loooong time, but I never met him in person. I just knew him from his published works which I really liked. So, since all travel expenses were paid, I was like “okay, let’s check out Prof. Spencer.” Although it was three days visit, the schedule was pretty hectic. All applicants from development psy and cognition & perception psy had pretty similar schedule, so it was kinda interesting to see other candidates. I shared hotel room with c&p applicant who was from NY. For some reasons, we got along pretty well. When we were at pot luck party (there were only grad students, so I guess we were supposed to ask them about faculty members and other thingy), we decided to go back to the hotel earlier because the party was kinda lame. After we got back hotel room, we watched Austin Powers on TV and got some beers and talking about people we met over the weekend. I was glad that I went to U of I because I ended up liking the program a lot. But, one thing I was disappointed was the professor I really really wanted to work with wasn’t not taking any graduate students in this year because his lab is currently full. Very sucky! But, he referred me another professor I might be interested in working with. She was pretty cool and I liked her research interest. But, I am still not sure if I wanna go to U of I because the department does not have any faculty members focusing on the infant motor development. Mmmm, I was frustrated because I really liked the faculty members and program. Also, I will be guaranteed to have stipend of $15000 per year for next 5 years! 5 years!! Of course, I wouldn’t have to pay the tuition! Well, I will be doing the graduate assistantship thing, but that would be easy!

After I left U of I, I headed to Minneapolis. I was having an interview at University of Minnesota (twin cities). I applied to PhD in kinesiology there. Actually, I just wanted to go back to Chicago after visiting U of I. because I was impressed by the program there, and the visit made me want to go to U of I. So, I didn’t see the point going to U of MN. Well, what do you know, I am glad I did go to U of MN. After I got to Minneapolis, the first thing I did was going to the Mall of America! Of course!!! Duh!! I knew in MN, there is no tax on clothes and foods, so I just had to go there. Well, actually I didn’t like the Mall of America. It was too big!!!! I really think it’s so stupid to put some fucking roller coaster in the middle of the mall!! It was noisy and I had to walk all the way to get to other side of the mall! So stupid! I was so tired from driving, so all walking at the mall just made me angry! I was pretty grumpy, but I did buy some stuff there….of course. I bought some running gears and snowboard! Yaaaay new snowboard! It was 40% off, so I had to buy it. It’s so pretty! I finally can say good bye to my old board which has multiple scratches!

The interview at U of MN was strange. Couple grad students from the lab picked me up at the hotel and took me to the lab. When I entered their lab, I immediately thought “I want to work at this lab!” because the equipments they had there were so awesome. The strange part is I was already admitted to the program which I didn’t know. The professor wanted to know that I was serious to come to the U of MN. After discussing about my research interests, he started talking about his theoretical approach to the human movements. I was actually shocked to know that he doesn’t think dynamic system theory is “the one” theory even though he did post doc work with the same advisor I worked with at IU. Well, I didn’t think dynamic orientation is “the one”, but that the only theory I learned at IU, so of course, I like this orientation! The main reason why I applied to PhD program was I wanted to learn more about dynamic system. Studying about infant motor development was my approach to the dynamic system theory. Buuuuuuut, this professor was just cool! He doesn’t reject any theories, but just disagree, so he doesn’t force his graduate students information processing theory which is his emphasis. Cool huh? He is also members of neuroscience dept and cognitive science. Very cool huh? I told him that I was trained for the dynamic system theory (well, my advisor at IU was super big in that area), so I like to learn other theories as well. He was like “oh yeah you should, but it is good that you already know about the dynamic system theory.” I also talked to other faculty members including the program director. I actually had a lunch with them, and of course, I was fucking nervous! They kept asking me tons of questions, but well, they were asking me what I did at IU and what I am doing now. Also, they asked me what my research interests etc etc… If I go to U of MN, I will get to do what I want to do….mmmmm.

Couple days after I came back from my trip to the two universities, I got a letter from University of Michigan. Well, I did get accepted to program there. Yaaaaay………well, I don’t know. Now, I have to decide which school I wanna go, and I have no idea. Seriously, I thought I would go to Michigan no matter what because I loved the department there, but now, I have no clue. This should be very happy occasion, but I really really really wish I only got accepted from one school, so I wouldn’t have to make super huge decision!

By the way, after I came back from the trip, I got super sick. Yeah, seriously. But, I had a group meeting in the next day which I had to go. Yeah, it was sux. So, as you can tell, my spring break was very eventful, but very stressful, and well, with lots of driving!

I am seriously getting fat. I mean, if I use Home Security Advisory System, it’s like code red which is “SEVERE.” Oh no! Not code red! I am not sure where I get all this fat. Well, couple nights ago, I ate whole pint of ice cream…yeah, I consumed more than 1200k calories within 15 minutes. Geez, me! What was I thinking? Well, I guess I wasn’t thinking! I also tried zero sugar chocolate. I thought it was kinda bitter, but I liked it. However, after I ate whole bag of them, I got DIARRHEA! That was pretty annoying. When I carefully read back the nutrition fact, it did warn I might have diarrhea. Mmm, well, okay then.

I decided to go to the University of Minnesota for my PhD. It took me lots of thinking, but I guess U of MN is the best for me. I am not sure if I will be able to like Minneapolis, but I will try. No tax on clothes and foods…yaaaay! Get fat and get new clothes!

I like snowboarding. Snowboarding is one of the very limited sports I actually enjoy doing. Since I bought new snowboard at the Mall of America, I had to go to snowboarding. I also have snowboard jacket and pants which were still tags on. I was almost threatened to go to snowboarding because I felt if I missed going snowboarding, I would miss wearing my new snowboarding wear and riding my new board. So, I decided to go to snowboarding today. Laura was the only friend who was willing to come with me today. Hmmmmmm, I guess no one likes me anymore!! Anyway, we went to Devil’s Head in WI. I was expecting to see lots of people there, but surprisingly, there were few people snowboarding or skiing! Because we had snow past couple days, the condition was soooooo gooooooood!! It wasn’t icy at all, but it wasn’t too powdery neither! It was just perfecto! I wasn’t sure if I could still remember how to snowboard because I missed past two seasons, but I was able to recover some of my deep hidden motor coordination memory. Of course, I did fall some. I also got tired pretty quickly……aging… Laura too was all excited about her new snowboard. She just got whole sets yesterday, and I think her board was pretty cool. We both snowboarded until we couldn’t snowboard anymore! I had really good time!

On the way back to Chicago, we stopped by Rockford to get something to eat. For some reasons, we kinda got lost, so I called Andrew whose parents live there. Well, Andrew wasn’t really much of the help. He was like “ummmm, I don’t hang out there that much.” Damnit! I really think he should a tour of Rockford!!

I cannot tell you enough about how much I hate people who are not living in LP and try to park in my area. Last night, after I got back from the snowboarding, I took me more than 30 minutes to find a parking spot! If you are going to the bars in LP, don’t fucking drive!! Because my street doesn’t require zone sticker, anyone can park. Some of cars even didn’t have city stickers! I am not saying that they shouldn’t come to LP, but just I am saying that don’t park my street! I live here and I need to park my fucking car! Grrrrrrrrrr!!! I had to park the meter parking spot….that means, I had to move my car before 10am in this morning. I was fucking tired from snowboarding, but I forced myself to get up and walked to my car. Since I had to move my car, I went to Trader Joe’s and got some foods. Mmmm, I guess I did have kinda productive morning, better than just sleep in. Thanks to those who park their fucking cars on my street!

I was surprised that I wasn’t in pain that much when I woke up. I thought I would be having lots of pain cos I hadn’t been snowboarding for two years! Yaaaay me! But, some reasons, my neck hurts the most. Why? Why neck???? I am so confused!!!!!

Couple days ago, I went to the Tower Records and bought several CDs. I bought Etro Anime, Daft Punk, Thievery Corporation, and The Electric Soft Parade. Although I dropped good $65 for those CDs, the casher guy was kinda rude. He was on the phone telling a caller “Oh, I cannot talk you right now! Huh!” (with very gay accents and gay attitude). I was like “Well, okay, calm down princess.” He just scanned my CDs and threw a recipe in the bag without thanking me. I know he must be having busy day cos it was Sunday afternoon, and there were a FEW customers in the store. But, I wasn’t really sure why he had to give me such a drama queenish service. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t ask for help. I was able to locate all CDs I was looking for by myself. I didn’t write a check or use any payment methods which would take more than 1 minutes, I just used my damn credit card. Eeeh.

I was very disappointed Daft Punk’s new album. Well, basically, the album sux. I bought Etro Amine’s CD cos couple of their songs are featured in the Digital Devil Saga. So, what the hack is Digital Devil Saga? Well, of course, it’s a fucking video game!!!! I am anticipating buying this game since last year. The game is already released in Japan (of course), and already second installment of this game is out in the last month. I could buy Japanese version, but I was waiting for the U.S. version to be released because it comes with deluxe box and music CD album aaaand art book!! Yaaaaaay!!! I like deluxe box!!!!

I was playing final fantasy XI in this afternoon and realized that I am fucking weak!! I am still level 14 and could die super easy if I am not careful. Ugh! I cannot wait to switch my job to the summoner….loong way to go though…

Yeeeees, it’s PSP time! PSP looks pretty cool machine, but I don’t think I am buying it right this moment. I have a feeling that PSP will have some problems….you know, it’s new. I am still waiting to buy Nintendo DS. NDS has been out there for a while, but I am waiting. Why? Because I want Nintendo to make other colors!! In Japan, there will be three other colors available, but not here. Whhhhhhy!!! I wanna pink one!! Tee-hee!!

I was cleaning up my laptop in this afternoon. Well, mmm. I need new laptop! My laptop is so crappy!! Good thing I have decent desktop! I ended up reinstalling fresh copy of WinXP. While I was working on my laptop, my desktop got cranky! I knew there were some problems with my desktop since I installed wireless PCI adapter. But, today, I just couldn’t take it anymore! My PC was just not working! I even couldn’t boot XP!! I could run XP in safe mode, but if I tried to turn on the wireless card, it just kept crushing! Damn you!! Be nice! Since I built this machine, I cannot really get pissed off cos I like my grumpy machine! I thought maybe this is how I would feel if I were a parent who has crappy son. Anyway, I finally took wireless card out and Ethernet card back in my PC. Now, my PC is happy boy. He is so picky!!

Easter weekend! Yaaay, egg and bunny! Does anyone know why bunny and eggs? Mmmm. Anyway, last night, I went to PingPong for dinner with Ashley, Laura, and Missy. Yuuuum! Seriously, I cannot have enough PingPong! So delicious! I had spicy vegetable and hot&sour soup. They were so good. Soooo good like a mug!!

Past couple days, I was on 1up.com. This site is for gamers who want to show off their game collection. So, of course, I signed up and was making my page. If you are interested in what kinda games I have, check this out. Warning: it’s very geeky, so if you don’t have any resistances to geekness, don’t go!

Last Saturday, I went snowboarding. So, I went snowboarding yesterday again. This time, Mike, Michelle and Ashley joined in my snowboarding trip. Ashley brought her ski equipments, so she would be able to do ski. But, she had a little surprise when she took out the ski from the cover. They weren’t hers! The cover was hers, but well, equipments in the cover not hers at all! Hmmmmm. Of course, she was pissed. La la la, great start! She decided to try snowboarding with us. I was pretty impressed by both Ashley and Michelle cos they were much better first timers than I was! The weather was nice. It was much much warmer and nice than last time. Well, I guess it was too warm for winter sports… Snow was actually melting! But, the slope wasn’t icy at all, so it was good. But but, since it was mixture and snow and water, my board kept grabbing snow…ugh!

I am pretty sure they are in pain today!

Ugh, I have been violently sick in the pas couple days! I think I have a stomach flu cos my tummy hurts, and I really don’t wanna eat anything! I was so depressed in this afternoon because I couldn’t go outside… It was super nice day, and the weather guy on TV was saying that the temp was around 70s…. Boo!!

I smell wine in the air. Yes, that means, it’s spring time again! Oh no! As much as I love spring, I hate spring. My eyes were so red and itchy all day today! Yes! Allergy season! Oh no!

I have very strong opinion about people wearing only shorts and t-shirts in this time of the year. It is warmer, but it is not warm enough to be just t-shirts and shorts. I know they are celebrating the spring with very light clothes, but I think that’s so stupid! It is not that warm! Yesterday, I saw tons of people were t-shirts and shorts, and that made me pissed off! It wasn’t that warm!! I saw several people wearing flip-flops! Stupid! Flip-flop! C’mon!