April Fool'd

I hope you all had an entertaining April Fools! I got pranked by my Symbolic Logic professor this morning when I got seated in class and he distributed a pop-quiz with ridiculously difficult deduction problems that we hadn't even learned about yet. It was only after I began trying to solve the first problem that I realized it was a prank. 

I also liked what they did to Hulu, as well as the 1911 YouTube logo, and the elaborate prank with the Google Gmail Motion BETA promotion in which they supposedly created a new type of system where people could compose e-mails through body motion captured by a webcam. I responded to that prank by making this video using their map of shortcut body gestures to compose an e-mail.

Anyway, fun day! Here's what I wore:

Architecture Exam & What I Wore

Well, yesterday was spent studying studying studying for the architecture exam! It's been a while since I've worked this hard to memorize dates and theory and concrete information. But by the end of the day I was actually really pleased because I felt like I learned something that I personally felt was valuable. At least by the end of this spring break I've come to understand that I'm a big fan of the architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and that I need to pay a visit to the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California and check out Louis Kahn's architecture with my real eyes before I graduate from Soka.

Anyway, I really needed exercise yesterday but since I didn't have the leisure to put down my notes, I decided my notes could stay as I worked my muscles. Hence, the intense exam-study-yoga action below.

Lacking in the spiritual aspect but hey wachugonnado

 TODAY! EXAM! I got up early and had a chanting toso with my friend Maiko from 7:30 am. Felt great after chanting and a delicious bowl of granola-honey-cinnamon-yogurt and tackled my notes some more until the exam at 1:00pm. I was a little mortified tho because the exam itself was quite different from the study guide we had been given. But I think I got through it somehow all right. I'm nervous about the results but at least I know that I did my best. Yeah, that I did.

Study days wardrobe

Thank you again for your encouraging replies to the earlier posts! I'll do what I can to keep these What I Wore uploads going. c: These are from the past three days. As it's probably apparent, I really wasn't in any state to be caring about my attire on Thursday. Everyone has those days, amiright?

 Friday was a cramming-for-studies day. Why yes, I am wearing the House Brawl sweatshirt from Threadless designed by Alice X. Zhang! I bought this in tribute to the Harry Potter 7 Part 1 premiere in November! So darn proud of it!

And then today, Saturday, was also a study day. I was pleasantly surprised at how productive I was for the majority of the day. A group of students on campus participated in Earth Hour 2011, coordinated by the Environmental Department. We all unplugged ourselves from our digital lives (which was alarmingly liberating) and gathered to play some outdoor games like tag and icebreaker-y stuff. We had so much fun that we never got around to sharing scary stories and listening to live acoustic music, which was on the agenda.

Tomorrow is the last day I've got left to prepare for the architecture exam! Aaaaah wish me luck!

Thangs I wore

So I know it's pretty silly and obnoxious to be posting these afterward but I wasn't very much in the mood or state to share anything personal the past few days. After I got the rescue Japan drawing off my chest I'm feeling much better. So here's a glimpse of my wardrobe this week. I scrapped the idea of reporting the weather for each day--I'm in Southern California so there's not much variety in climate anyhow.

Monday, I was feeling pretty drained from two classes and an intense (but invigorating) student forum in the evening. All the while I was feeling stressed from the news on the nuclear plants in Fukushima. Here I'm sporting the That's Amore Dress in black from Modcloth and a golden swan brooch from Sprout Studio. Yay online shopping!

Lazy Tuesday. Feeling the forecast of an oncoming menstrual cycle so stocking up on dark chocolate covered blueberries and parmesan, garlic and herb flavored pita chips from Trader Joe's.

Today is Wednesday, which means lots of classes and yoga in the afternoon--all of which calls for cheep spandex leggings, a loose H&M tanktop and a baggy hand-me-down shirt from Dad. Course-wise, I had Symbolic Logic in the morning and Architecture in the afternoon. Instead of the usual lecture course, we were given a tour through the new Performing Arts Theater! It was my first time in and I was so stoked. I snapped away on my camera. FYI, it's a green building that's LEED certified for a gold standard!

And finally, look what arrived in the mail today! 

This is a bookmark by Lesley Barnes, a phenomenal and colorful artist, whose artwork was being offered in a giveaway at Deborah's adorable blog, Kickcan & Conkers. I couldn't believe my luck when my name was drawn and I'm so excited to sandwich this lovely bookmark between the pages of Alice Munro's shortstories in Too Much Happiness. 

That's all for now folks! I gotta dash to make it to dinner! Toodles!

DONE.

Thank you! Thank you!

In class essay

Just finished my in-class exam for Sociology of Education. Gail's tests are always daunting... not so much the material but the quantity of writing. Nonetheless, I think I was able to plow through it... and the first to finish (yeah!) and 30 minutes early (double yeah!) and first dibs on doughnuts that she brought as a reward (triple yeah! +1 up!). So I'm satisfied that I was able to write six pages in 2 1/2 hours--but my hand is dead tired...

Anyway, just two more papers left and I'll be free! I'm really chanting to be able to enjoy my finals. Recently it's been so hard to focus and the rate of my writing has been so infuriatingly slow! Like one word per minute! D8 So I'm just chanting for my passion to kick in and to really have a brilliant finish to this semester. I've come this far!

Finals and commissions

Finals are going all right. The rough portion (Monday) has passed. Now all I've got left are two papers by the 20th and an in-class paper (this one's gonna be tedious I'm sure) on Friday. I wished I could've written up more today but I felt so exhausted from yesterday and it didn't help that my menstrual cycle decided that this week would be the opportune occasion to drop by. She even brought along her irritating friend, Ultra Crampage. Ass.

I gave myself a break after 10pm to go stock up on some Spamusubi and Yakitori at the Grad Department Final Exams snack stand in Ruby's apartment. I only got there five past and already there was a ridiculously long 30 minute line. My hair now stinks of BBQ smoke.

But afterward I didn't feel like writing anymore so I decided to catch up on some commissions (I've got sooooo much to do this winter break). Here's one that I'm currently working on which is due before Christmas. Better hop to it.

All right, sleep time. Tomorrow's another long (and hopefully highly constructive) day of writing. With luck, I will be able to suppress my annoying guests with my good pal, Ibuprofen.

derp!

It's one of those days... :C

Nonetheless I still need to plow through four papers due tomorrow. 8C

Here, have a wtf doodle:

I am counting down the minutes til I'm on that plane headed for home.

Tadaima!

Oh my god it was a long week!!! It still is a long week!!!

Finals are impending. I just had a presentation this morning for Sociology which I believe went pretty well. I was pretty eccentric to say the least--even without the additional mug of caffeine I was passionate about my topic as it was (the replacement of traditional grading systems with alternative assessment).

I spent the rest of the day preparing for the next American Experience presentation I have tomorrow. I'm having fun with this one, too. I'm looking at a couple of World Fairs that were held in the US and how through the process of exhibiting "American culture" they were in fact shaping a distinct American identity. It's interesting because for instance in the 1964/65 World's Fair in Queens, New York, a whole bunch of prominent industries such as General Electric, IBM, General Motors, Coca Cola, constructed pavilions displaying their visions of a "space age" in America's near future. There was a strong emphasis on the development of science and technology that promised for the raised standard of living. General Motors constructed a "Progressland" in which visitors could actually ride an attraction that cruised them through future sub-Oceanic resorts, remote-controlled massive desert reforestation machines and models of the future city landscape. There was even an interactive section on nuclear fusion and sub-atomic power for kids. Exposing citizens to these glamorous visions harvested in them a newfound perspective on their nation and the potential of their lives.

Anyway, so that's what I've been working on today. But I needed a break desperately, so I doodled some Harry Potter characters for relaxation:

A young, seasonal Lily Evans

In loving memory of Fred Weasley.

*BAWL*

Young Sevvy Snape, a self-proclaimed prince.

Aaaanyway das enouf. I need to sleeeeeep!!!

morose

Feeling bleagh... I've kinda given in to the fact that I am just not academically charged this semester. I justify it by telling myself that it wasn't intended to be rigorous to begin with since I had to focus on my rehabilitation.

But with two weeks of classes left and a number of impending finals, projects and papers... my lack of drive, focus and discipline is really gonna slap my face in the end, I know it.

Still... I choose to draw HTTYD doodles instead of taking on the mountain of other things I probably could be doing.