[82] Urbana - Day 1

As a continuation of the previous day's bbq, we went down to Urbana. Around 6am, Justin Law, Amy, Henry Kwan, Shi Yu, Kelly, and I drove down to Urbana to just chill for a few days....mini-vacation?

Upon arrival...

Law, Amy, and Kelly setting up U-Build Monopoly

Shi Yu showering ... so happy!

Henry Kwan sleepin

[81] BBQ - Day 2

Horribly lighted picture of my and my friend Jason

After the previous night's bbq, I slept over at my friend Jason's. In the morning, we had breakfast together and had a great time until the evening.

We headed out later again to have another barbecue day.

[80] BBQ - Day 1

All day barbecue. At night, left with my friend Jason and slept over.

[79] Amazing Biking Day // Amazing Mango

First day thrifting since being back in Chicago! Enjoyed a great bike day with Kelly. Got this Amazing Mango juice thing at Whole Foods for $6. I think it's worth it. It's huuuuge AND there's 13 servings of fruit per bottle.

[78] Working With the Negatives Could Make For Better Pictures

Yeah...we're all trying that. And don't ever stop.

[77] WY AAC Show 2012

As an alumni of Whitney Young, I see the yearly AAC (Asian American Club) show with such a different perspective. I'm really, really proud of all the dancers even though I really don't know any of them. The MCs, the formations, the energy, and the dedication to the scenes make me really happy. I understand the hard work and the fun behind every performance, because I was once there ... a loooong three years ago.

At the end of the show, everyone on stage was doing the Bernie. HAHAHA! This is the kind of fun I miss from Whitney Young -- not that I don't have that from UIUC's AAA show. But still...you know...the experiences were different even if they were generally the same, an Asian dance show.

[76] Whitney Young

Today, I visited Whitney Young with Kelly. We were amazed with how good-looking everyone was. Darn minors! Later on, we had lunch with my little cousins Ryan & Jerry.

Come 7pm, Kelly & Ryan went to watch the WY AAC (Asian American Club) Show while Jerry and I made a 3.4 mile journey back to my house. That was a quality 80 minute walk.

[75] One of Those Awesome Hangout Days

Bike riding with Kelly, Shi Yu, Henry Kwan, and Jason. Hung out until 3am. I was eagerly anticipating one of these hangout days. It was easily one of those days where I'm smiling all the way back home reflecting.

Good stuff!

[74] Test Drive Complete

Had a great time biking and small mini-adventures today. It was also a good time to test ride my bike....seems sturdy enough.

Cool.

[73] Pho & Ph-un

Pho
Grabbed some Pho up in Argyle with Jeff, Kim, and Venus. Yummy yum! It's always so good eating pho again in Chicago.

Sorry...ate all the good food before I even thought of taking a picture

Ping Tom Park
We then picked up my friend Shi Yu and went to Ping Tom Park. Jeff tried to stand on a log, which flipped over. Jeff fall in water....funny. Only his feet got wet though... I would not have let him back in my car if his whole body fell into the Chicago River.

Classics Bowl
At night, bowled with my cousin Darren, Becky, and Teresa until 2am. Dang my arms are dead!

Players:
 - Darren = Darren
 - Chaz = Me (Henry)
 - Fonz = Teresa
 - Beeckity = Becky

1st Game: Regular

2nd Game: Regular

3rd Game: Trying to learn how to do that bowling spin curve trick

4th Game: I was bowling with my left hand

5th Game: Teresa and I were bowling lefty

6th Game: Teresa and I bowled sideways not-looking and Becky bowled lefty

Check out this video of Teresa demonstrating how the sideways not-looking technique worked. We should turn to our left side perpendicular to the lane, walk sideways to the line, and release!

7th (& Final) Game: By this time, we were sooo tired we were kinda doing whatever

[72] Insanity - P90X - Yoga Stretching

What a really weird workout day. I started with the 15-min Insanity Fit Test. That was enough plyometrics to really tire out my legs. Afterwards, I decided to do P90X. After about 10 minutes of that, a burning smell worried me too much for me to continue the workout....mainly because I thought it was my TV that was on fire. So, I stopped P90X, unplugged everything, and proceeded onto my mat to stretch out with some yoga.

[71] Cousin Day

It was a great day hanging out with my cousin, Darren. Here's a first--saw a police chase on the highway going back home. It was like 11 police cars speeding after a big ol' white van. I wonder what it was about.

[70] First Summer Beach Day

This may be the first and last beach day this summer. Who knows? Going to the beach seems like a common activity on the summer to-do list, but I never really go more than once or twice a summer. I'm not sure why. Somehow this summer, I got a beach day waay early in the season. I was able to enjoy the not-so-sunny weather with a couple of Urbana friends. I'm actually really glad for the not-so-sunny part.

I'd hate to end this post with another 'bike fail' note, but uh..... got back from the beach and my front tire on my bike was completely flat. FAILL!

[69] Successful Bike Day

Finally, my sister got a really nice bike. It was $90 and came with a free U-lock. The bike is perfect for her height, rides really well, has great brakes, ... and yeah....nothing wrong with it.

Got a bike for myself too! I can't say I'm 100% satisfied with it, but hopefully the tires hold up and it'll be perfectly fine. I gotta either pump em or patch em first though. It looks pretty fly for the $30 I spent on it. If it's a $30 I'll regret, then I'll just have to make up for that $30 somehow.

[68] Teeth Cleaning

I got my teeth cleaned today. Maan, that stuff hurts! I kept giving the dentist (who was super duper flippin awesome) thumbs-ups when he asked how I was doing but in reality, I was really tense and tears were going down my eyes.

By the end, it was sort of numb.

Worth it!!

[67] Workout Day #1

This summer, I have to work out everyday---all part of my summer self-discipline regimen. Today was my first day. As a follow-up of my last post, I can say this failed too because of the sheer weaksauce-ness . Hahaha! BUT it's a first step and I'm very proud of that. The next few steps will be quite difficult. 

• Biked 1.5 miles to McGuane Park
• Locked up bike
• Warmed up by walking 0.7 miles to 26th and Wallace
• Attempted to jog the miles 1.3 miles to Ping Tom Park 
• Failed after 0.8 miles to Walgreen's
• Walked the remaining 0.5 miles to Ping Tom Park
  
• 40 min of yoga, then I got really cold because it was so windy. Failed--wanted at least an hour.

LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!

I couldn't stop laughing at how cute Joe looks with the windy blowing in his eyes. Cute and old. Old and wise. Cute, Old, Wise Joe would encourage me to keep trying and maybe tomorrow will be better. Okay, this picture really had nothing to do with the post. I had an awkward attempt to try to make the picture more cohesive, but......yeah..... Joe's cute. What can I say? I just wanted to include the picture. 

[66] Failed Bike Day

I'm soo sick of looking for bikes on craigslist, and messing with my bikes for hours and FAILING.

I haven't found a good bike for my sister yet, and I haven't found a good one for myself yet either. Looking at countless posts on craigslist gets soo tiresome.

We went to check out a bike today. Failed.

My friend Jason and I tinkered with 3 front brakes, 2 brake cables, and various nut/washer/other metal disc stuff arrangements for close to 6 hours. Failed.

I just wannna go for a nice bike riiddeeee <---- I'm saying that in the whiny-est way possible. Please incorporate a hint of pain in that whine.

[65] First Summer Bike Ride Back in Chi

Morning
Back Wheelset #1 - Good Rim, Good Tire, Bad Tire Tube (hole)
Back Wheelset #2 - Bad Rim (too big), Bad Tire (only fits the big rim), and Good Tube

It took me a long while of mix-n-matching to find all this out. Don't ask me why. It shouldn't have been that hard. Anyways, eventually, I got the right combination and my bike was ready to ride!

Afternoon
My bike was not ready to ride! I was going to bike with my friend Shi Yu to work and four minutes in, my chain fell off and got mad tangled. It hasn't been riding smoothly because the chain was really, really, really, really rusty! It was found on the side of a bridge five years ago, and my friends and I adopted it. Since then, it's been weathered greatly. Heck! It wasn't even in good condition when we found it, and it just got worse over the years sooo....

I decided to get it a new chain. Yay! So, I bought a new chain, installed it, and took off on it! NOW, my bike was ready to ride!

Night
My bike is still not ready to ride! When I was heading home, my back tire suddenly dipped lower on the dropouts (the slots in the frame that hold the wheel axles) tilting against the frame so closely that my back tire would no longer spin. This happened as I was going downhill, so it was a very scary skid for about half a block downhill. Anyways, I eventually just jumped off my bike to check it out. The nuts were still very tight securing my back tire in place...or in misplace. It was still crooked, and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't pull it back up on the dropouts without loosening the nuts first.

I called up my friend Justin to tell him my problem. He told me how the frame dropouts were messed up. When Wing used it ride it, the same thing would often happen to him. (As I said before, my friend and I adopted it. This bike is sort of a hand-me-down, and now it was my turn) Luckily, Justin later brought over a wrench and helped me fix it. FINALLY, my bike was ready to ride...

...back home at least. I'm am currently frantically looking for a new bike. I don't trust this thing.

Bent Dropouts Nearly Killing Me

[64] Packing Day --> Home

Packing

Packing everything away totally reminded me of tetris--I had to maneuver every piece to fit with each other perfectly so there were no spaces left.

Going Home

I drove allllll the way home from Urbana! I was really sleepy halfway, but I had to chug so I could say "I drove allllll the way home from Urbana!" That's highway, y'all! 138 miles, y'all!!

Home

Home sweet home. Had a warm welcome from Joe, my dog. I can't wait to bike around and explore my city.

Mother's Day Dinner
We had a huge family dinner in Chinatown!

I regret not taking better pictures for this post. Whoops.

[63] Moving Day

Well..it's not MY moving day, but it's the dorms' moving day. You know what that means? Students have to move out of their dorms by today but while moving out, they realize they don't have enough room in the car to fit all their stuff, so they are forced to throw stuff out. Aaaaaannnnnndddd that's where my friends and I come in.

Fine Finds

• laptop cooler
• lamp
• 8gb Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch) jumpdrive
• about 50 clothes hangers
• 15 x 20 magnetic board
• external harddrive (though it has the charging unit missing)
• a red sweater
• two boxes of Trader Joe's Honey O's cereal
• one box of Kellogg's Crunchy Nut cereal
• laptop sleeve
• 3 rolls of paper towels
• 3 power strips
• noodles, a lot of noodles, and more noodles

These are only MY finds. My friends found a bunch more. Today was a good day!

[62] End of Junior Year

Finally, it's the end of the semester. Actually, I don't know if I wanted the semester to "finally" come to an end. It was a great semester and a really great year. 

Today, I was with my buddy Winfield reflecting on the school year. In many ways, it was a really awful school year but in many other ways, it was one of the best. We both agreed that our present selves are very different from our August 2011 selves. I'm very grateful for all the new/old/good/bad experiences I had because without them, I wouldn't be where I am today. 

Change is something I examine obsessively in life. A dear friend of mine once told me that "Change is the only thing that's certain." When he told me this, I was not ready to accept any sort of change and it made me really angry. It's one of those things that is, at first, hard to embrace. I was really happy then, and I didn't like how things were changing. But as time went on, I learned to embrace it because it is a universal truth. You can't control whether there will be a change for better or for worse, but you know that it'll happen. Change is the only thing that's certain. And from change, I only hope that growth is certain as well. 

Thanks to all my friends and family that have helped me grow throughout the year(s). For those who have graduated, thanks for everything you've done throughout the year(s). I will miss y'all, and I wish y'all the best in your future endeavors. 

Love,

Henry Guan

[61] One Final Away

Finals
PSYC 216
DANC 105
MCB 246
MCB 247
KIN 130
KIN 352

Friday @ 1:30pm. After that last final, my first plan of action is to clip my toenails! I believe I did that last semester too.

I took pictures of my long toenails to post, but I figured a lot of people would not find that attractive.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .


DOING IT ANYWAY!!!

Extra large for your viewing pleasure.

[60] Finals Denial

My biggest and hardest finals are over, but I still have two more. One is going to be pretty hard too. I've hit a wall where I'm in sort of denial about these finals and thus, I don't want to do anything and as a result....

[59] Canto Veggies

I'm not sure what kind of veggies this is, but it's soooo canto! I miss Chinese food from home. I can't wait to be back in Chicago on Saturday!!

[58] All Day Study - MCB 247

Study -- all day, everyday. 

Tomorrow, I have a final exam worth 260 points. There was a big cheating scandal for the exam before the final, so those scores were chucked out the window. To make up for those 150 points, a new exam is basically added onto our already-cumulative final exam. 

"Bring it on, Anatomy & Physiology II. I'm ready to ace the face off of you!" 

[57] Hungry Games (Not To Be Confused With Hunger Games)

Don't worry ya haters, this isn't another Hunger Games post---it's the HUNGRY games!!

Chicken w/ Awesome Juicy Sauces & Caramelized Onions

Tearing into the Chicken with Our Forks Like Barbarians

A Few Minutes Later

Feast --> Studying.

[56] Free Korean Soul Pizza

Korean Soul Pizza - Credits to Eileen

Gochujang (Korean red pepper paste), bulgogi beef, kim chi, green onions, and mozzarella-provolone blend

This was delicious! I wish I could get another free one. $9 is too expensive for such a small pizza...no matter how awesome it is. 

[55] Change

I need change, and I have to find it myself.

[54] Java Monster - Coffee + Energy

I drank a can and a half of this Java Energy Drink by Monster Brand to stay awake to study. Energy drinks usually taste awful, but this drink tasted just like coffee. It was delicious but a few hours later, it had a strange effect on my body.

Normally, my hands already shake a little--no big deal--but the Java Monster morphed my shakes into what I like to call "micro-shivers". I want to call them "micro-shivers" because they were smaller compared to my hand shaking. Also, the "micro-shivers" were occurring in minuscule muscles throughout my hands and arms contracting all independently, whereas my normal tremors contracted together. It was especially weird while brushing my teeth. My arms were involuntarily trembling up and down while I'm voluntarily brushing up and down.

Attempting to find out what the heck this stuff is made of, I was surprised to find there are so many B complex vitamins. Does it improve concentration? Regardless, the ingredients are so suspicious! Energy drinks are so weird. I do not recommend drinking this. One can is supposed to be already too much and one and a half is waay  too much. I couldn't sleep until 8am and I had to wake up at 9:30am for an exam. It's 4:00pm right now, and I've been awake and since. I still feel really awake, too. Bodies should not function like this!!!

[53] Last Dance Clinic of the Year

Today was the last dance clinic of the year. We're very fortunate that we had so many dance clinics this year. Last year, we only had like 3 dance clinics. This year, we had 9 dance clinics and totally 12 dances we learned...ALL FOR FUN!

One of the best things I've noticed throughout these dance clinics is seeing how much everyone has grown. A lot of freshman are stepping up to the plate in terms of dance, and it's great seeing how much they've improved since the beginning of the year. The sophomores too. I can see  how much some sophomores have improved since last year when they were freshman. And my junior year peers are constantly growing as well--seeking new opportunities and trying new things. I'm also happy to say that I'm proud of myself for finally challenging myself and choreographing as well. I'm slowly growing--these guys are my inspiration in dance and life.

After the clinic, I was reflecting a lot on the year, college friendships, and what I want to do next year. I know I've got to make some changes in my life. Anyways, something about this clinic meant a lot to me. Thanks to my friend and future roommate Dan for a great clinic!! 

[52] Free Dim Sum

There was a free AASHO (Asian American Student Housing Organization) dim sum event on campus today.

Although the choices were very limited, it was enough to make me miss dim sum a lot. There IS dim sum on campus, but it's soo expensive (and not very good, in my opinion).

Unfortunately, I won't be back home until June. Anyone want to dim sum when I get back?