Count On Me

I've fully neglected this blog since coming back to Urbana-Champaign. A lot has gone on, but no one would really know unless you're here with me. Actually, even if you are here with me, chances are that you don't know too much of what I'm doing anyways. Even to me, there have been a lot of unpredictability, so I never really know how my week is going to go.

Why? There is sooo much that is different this year.
One of the biggest differences is that I'm here at the University, but I'm not a student. How do I spend my time? I work 20-30 hours a week, volunteer 9-16 hours a week, and dance for at least 5 hours a week. Also, I've met so many new friends at work, I volunteer with so many new faces at two hospitals, and I dance with new faces from Philippine Student Association and Asian American Association as well. Lastly, I'm living in a new apartment with a new roommate.

In previous semesters, I always made it a priority to have "me" time. As a result, I've spent a lot of time by myself....more than I have with friends. It's completely switched around this semester where I'm not really getting any "me" time, but I'm really loving getting to know all these new people and have new experiences. I actually really enjoy that though. It's really a great thing, and I'm loving everything about it.

I'm feeling more and more confident with myself as a social being. Like, I can meet new people and have a good time. I don't need to already know people there because I'm learning that I can carry a conversation fine with people I've never met before. It's nice to know that about yourself, nawwmeen. Even professionally. At the hospitals, I interact with all the therapists in the rehab unit as well as all the patients that are there. It's fun to form relationships with the therapists I work with and the patients as well (even if it's only for a week or two).

I'm feeling more and more confident that I can keep in touch with people. I'm talking to friends more and making plans. I've got schedules lunch dates with a few close friends. I'm actually the one proposing to "catch up" instead of waiting for others to do it. When I see people, we make spontaneous plans and we go through with it. I can imagine these college friendships surviving past college.

I feel connected to these people. I feel connected to this University.

On the other hand though, I realize I've lost connection with my loving family. I haven't texted my cousins. I didn't know what was really going on back home until I talked to Becky like a week ago. They didn't really know what I was doing here... I never called them or continued my blog. I'm a bit disappointed in myself to be honest. And I think the only reason I'm reflecting on this now is because I heard "Count On Me" by Bruno Mars, I'm looking at family photos, I had such a wonderful weekend with three of my best friends (Carmen, Jeff, and Tree). And it just made me miss shit. Period. I miss shit. I miss my family. I feel bad for being so absent and far away. I miss my friends, who I haven't talked to for like more than an hour over this semester. I miss Carmen, who I've spent as much time over the weekend as I could with, but I didn't really hang out with her when she was a student here.

Gah. There's so much more, but yeah.... I'm just ranting. It's about time. I'm done being content with everything and being content with myself---even if it means I'm just with myself. I'm gonna try to reach out a bit better, keep in touch a bit better, and still do "me". That's a real balance right there!

I'm done babbling. I hope this post doesn't sound negative, because it really hasn't been a negative semester. Overall, everything is so beautiful, and I'm really grateful for all the experiences and opportunities that I've had. Most of everything has just been so great! I'm not regretting anything. I'm just reassessing where I am and where I want to go from here.

Okay. Goodnight! Peace! Love!

[89] Cali Cousin Comes to Chicago

Yahoo! Finally, our cousin Pam visited Chicago from Cali. One down, one more to go! She's here for work but whatevs...still counts!

So after she got off work, us Chicagoans (Becky, Darren, and I) took her to a few places around Chicago.

Starting with Pequad's for some Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

The four of us shared one large 14", and we were so full! It was really good. The crust was great....unlike stupid Gino's deep dish. I wish it had a little more sauce though. Oh well... the crust made up for it.


Exploring Downtown
Skyline

Skyline + Us

This is my favorite picture of us.

[88] Eating Spree

Eat... A lot.... Because I Can.....Finally....

Bahay Kubo II

Grilled Beef, Awesome Rice, Mango Salsa, Egg Over Easy 

Da Rae Jung

Beef Naengmyun (Cold Noodles)

Japjae

Daeji Bulgogi (Spicy Pork)

Banchan (Side Dishes)

Banchan (Side Dishes)

Artopolis

*Bread Pudding
*Coconut Yogurt Mousse
 (There are no pictures because my friend keeps forgetting to send them to me, and I'm tired of reminding him ... sigh)

[87] Wisdom Teeth Extraction - Day 7

FINAL DAY!

Not exactly what I what I was hoping for, but I'm about 90% back to normal. I can't eat no sandwiches (or pambazos), but I can eat most of everything else.

I'm so sad about the pambazos though since I went to Maxwell St. Market today with Dan, Emily, and Jeff.

I did get to eat elote (corn in a cup), rica nieve dessert, and some of Emily's churro.

Instagram photo I stole from Emily =)

I wanted to buy a cute little wrench to attach to my keys, but I got the wrong size....two of the wrong sizes. One is too small and one is too big. Woe is me! =(

[86] Wisdom Teeth Extraction - Day 6

I'm just counting out a week since that's around how long it takes for the healing process. We're almost there, so I expect that in one more day, I will be completely fine and I will go back to eating and drinking and brushing like normal.

My jaw still has a little tightness, but I'm continuing to gain more mobility in my jaw. Today was my first day chewing. My bottom teeth can make contact with my top teeth. Imagine that! Before, my cheeks were in the way so if I tried to chew, I would pretty much just bite my own cheek. I had an actual meal today!!

I had chicken wings and rice and veggies and veggies. So good!!

On another note, I finally got to see some more of my family since being back in Chicago. During the day, I visited my little cousins Jerry and Daniel. Jerry told me all about his China trip and Daniel played games in the other room. We ate dinner together though and talked and caught up and stuff. During nighttime, I went biking with my cousin Darren and Becky. We were supposed to catch a meteor shower by the Lake, but we didn't see jack. Lucky Darren caught one, but it was a fruitless trip for Becky and I. Well.... I guess not fruitless. It was definitely a good time, and I finally fulfilled my promise to bike with Darren. Good day.

[85] Wisdom Teeth Extraction - Day 5

I woke up today feeling pretty good. Even though there's still puffiness, there's less stiffness in the jaw. I feel so free....but not that free. I still have to eat semi-solid foods. For dinner, I just ate soft serve ice cream. Womp womp. BUT BUT BUT at night, there was a breakthrough. I think my stitches are finally dissolving. I fellltt them. Oh boy oh boy! I'm so excited. It's only a matter of time until I can eat normally again.

[84] Wisdom Teeth Extraction - Day 4

So I found out today that icing beyond 24-hours-after-the-surgery is pretty much useless. It doesn't help with the healing or swelling, but it maaaayy cause your jaw to be pretty stiff--which is exactly what was happening to me. Ignorant of this information, I was icing and icing and consequently, I couldn't open my mouth wide enough to even chuckle comfortably.

Finally, I stopped, and my jaw feels amazing. Overall, it's been a good day! I could talk and laugh and eat. I ate a lot today! I've moved up from liquid foods to semi-solid foods like mashed potatoes and ravioli. And I even went biking today...I was out for maybe only an hour and a half, but that was a good hour and a half. However, I came home and there was a little blood in my mouth. I gotta be careful. I'm not sure what happened, but yeah... I gotta be careful.

Oh yeah, but my cheeks are still really puffy.

[83] Wisdom Teeth Extraction - Day 3

yEp! Puffiness still getting worse.

However, I'm not bleeding anymore. The holes have pretty much completely closed up. When I eat, no blood. When I brush, no blood. When I rinse my mouth, no blood.

More good news -- I can open my mouth a litttle wider. And I can eat less-liquidy foods such as yogurt and rice pudding. HAHA! It ain't that much better than jook and Ensure, but it is better.

[82] Wisdom Teeth Extraction - Day 2

The puffiness worsens...

And it looks puffier when I tuck my lip in...

The rest of the day, I did little to nothing--I mostly slept, ate jook, and drank Ensure. Though, I did go out with my mom to Chinatown and some friends came over to look and laugh at me. At nighttime, I walked with my family to Dominick's and I bought yogurt and rice pudding. Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll be able to eat it.

[81] Wisdom Teeth Extraction - Day 1

I got my wisdom teeth extracted today and unfortunately, I do not remember any of it until like 5 hours later when I woke up from a nap already at home.

According to Becky though, this is what happened.... as written from my perspective:

When I was finished I couldn't keep my left eye open. She would manually open it, and I would just shut it again. Then, as I sat up in the chair to see how I was, I would do an arm wave ....

When I got out of the office, I stepped away from Becky, who was helping me to the car, and did a little dance that included doing the wave, a spin, and the Dougie

My mom hurried me into the car and the first thing I did was check the mirror. I kept touching my lips, saying "Eew. It feels like fucking gummy worms!" We stopped for gas and I moved to the backseat from the passenger seat using exaggerated climbing movements, exclaiming "See, I'm good." Then, I was doing the wave in the backseat saying, "Easy! It's okay. It's 100% me now". After I sat down. I switched between speaking Taishanese and English when I was talking. Becky kept asking me to repeat myself. I told her that I was really glad to know Chinese,  because I couldn't speak in the doctor's office. She told me that it was hard to understand me because of the gauze, not because it was English. I argued saying it was because I didn't have to use my tongue as much speaking Taishanese. Mom came back into the car while I was talking, and she commented, "Why do you keep talking? Stop talking." We were on the highway home when I fell asleep.

Here's a picture of me when I got home and woke up from my nap.

[80] Hey There! Hi! Guess Who's Back In The C.H.I.

Henry Guan is back!

In the morning, I went school supply shopping with my little cousins, and then ate at Japanese Hibachi Grill Buffet or whatever it's called....something like that. I ate so much that I didn't feel hungry until later in the day at like 3am. I had to eat all I can eat because after tomorrow when I remove my wisdom teeth, I won't be able to eat anything for like a week. It wasn't too bad though. I could've eaten a tiny bit more, but my sister had to go to work.

So, at around 5:30pm, my sister had to go to work so everyone went home, and I biked out to meet up with Wing and Kent and and Kelly Kwan and Law. We played Frisbee and then had a little hangout afterwards. We had some good dancing time and goofing around time and bonding time. It's always a good time!

In conclusion,
It's nice to be back home with family & friends.
Johnny! ("Ja ne （じゃね）")

[79] Hometown Countdown - 1

Finally, going home today...

But not before a last picture with my roomies...

And not before hitting up Mango Fondue & Lounge with Jeff.

This is a restaurant in Peoria owned by our friends Don and Beatrice. We've been meaning to visit it for a while now but just never got around to it. Finally, we made the concrete plans to go on the way back up from Champaign. We couldn't have found a better day either; this may be our last time going to or coming back from Champaign/Urbana together.

Aged Cheddar Fondue 

The first item we ordered was the Aged Cheddar Fondue, which came with an assortment of breads, grapes, and apples. The best combination by far were the apples. It's a quaint blend between warm and cold, crunchy and melty, sweet and salty that just worked.

Top left: Mini Caprese Kabobs
To the right of that: Spinach Artichoke Baked Filo Tartlets
Middle Row: Steak Kabobs with Bourbon Sauce
Bottom Row: Mini Burger Trio

These were the rest of our orders. In general, all the food was really good, but I especially loved-loved-loved the steak kabobs and the mini caprese kabobs. It's ironic too, because I'm usually not a big fan of kabobs, but the kabobs here were my favorite dishes. In addition, I'm not usually a big fan of steak either, but this steak was especially tender and delicious. Poifect!

The mini caprese kabobs was a simple yet wonderful combination of tomato, basil, and mozzarella. It tasted so fresh and was a perfect addition to the rest of the meal.

Yummy yumm!

[78] Hometown Countdown - 2

Still moving out..

Here I am with all my shirts on hangers...

[77] Hometown Countdown - 3

Dan and I had our last Insomnia Bike Ride before I had to put our bikes away and boy, we had to make it one helluva bike ride.

We were out for like 4 hours and we biked a total of 15.59 miles.

We got to explore some dark ass roads, a few campus spots, had some bonding time in a parking lot, and topped off the night at Steak 'n' Shake with milkshakes.

[76] Hometown Countdown - 4

Moving Out & Using A Longboard As A...

Trolly

Door stopper

[75] Hometown Countdown - 5

Finished off some work and errands and cleaning today.

Spent a few hours at the library with roommates catching up on some emails and messages.

At night, Jeff, Kevin, and I had Buffalo Wild Wings. SOOO GOOD!!

And even later at night, Jeff, Dan, Hiep & I ended up taking a really long walk chit-chatting and had a great hearts2hearts for like 7 hours. Good stuff.-

[74] Hometown Countdown - 6

-3:30pm

Today has been a super fun day!

I woke up at 9:00 am to Kim putting an oatmeal raisin on my face. It was a pleasant surprise. Kim was visiting and kinda let herself in and woke up Jeff and I. It's all good though. Oatmeal raisin is my favorite and I'll rather be awake and spend some time with them than sleeping.

Afterwards, we were just having a good time and enjoying each other's company.

We've got some down time right now. I'll do some more cleaning and packing in my room.

-5:00pm
Yum yum! Dan, Jeff, and Kim made dinner. As expected, it was fricking delicious!

Garlic Bread

Meatloaf Covered w/ Bacon

Banana Bread Toasted Coconut Frosting Cake

-8:30pm
Continue packing. I repacked my box and organized what I'm bringing home and what I'm keeping here on campus. I also packed one of my backpacks full.

-10:00pm
Jeff bought me to Boltini's a lounge/bar in Champaign. It was really, really nice to chit chat with Jeff, his friend Artie, and Artie's friend Janelle. It was a really good and natural mixture of strangers. It felt really adult. We were enjoying margaritas (my first) and just talking and having a good time.

That's sugar on the rim.
Ooooh...fancy....

[73] Hometown Countdown - 7

In my last few days on campus, I'm spending my days...

Preparing to Go Home
I vacuumed the hallway, living room, and kitchen and then my roommates Swiffered the place up and cleared off some stuff off tables. It's a start, but we've still got a lot to do until we can move out. I packed away half of my room away, but I still more to pack. In this upcoming week, I'll be striving to get all that done.

Running Errands
Today, I had to figure out stuff with volunteering and also take care of stuff for Wing. I think I'll be doing more of that later this week too. I've got a few other stuff to do before I head back home.

Fun
Morning
Fun - Went with Jeff to visit Hiep at work

Afternoon
Fun - Went biking with Dan and Winfield
Not Fun - Popped my front tire
Fun - Jeff picked me up
Not Fun - Got my pants, face, and shirt all dirty and greasy

Nighttime
Not Fun - During work, my left foot got all wet while showering my client making my foot all stinky
Fun - Stayed after my work hours and made a leftover, pantry-food party platter with my clients
Fun - Watched Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox ... GREAT MOVIE!
Not Fun - Stayed up too late and head hurt

I've got another week here on campus before I go back home. There's quite a bit to do but also a good amount of free time to have fun, but I can't wait to be back home. The anticipation is killing me! Chicago, I'll see you soon.

[72] GRE Test Day

Quantitative - 155 (~64th Percentile)
Verbal - 158 (~77th Percentile)

Finally, I am finished with this obsessive studying schedule and done with this GRE. Now, I just have to focus on applications and work and volunteer. Most importantly, I have time at home to cleaaaan!! Yes!!!!
Watch out dust and nastiness, I'm coming to get you! You too, dirt and grime!

[71] GRE Practice Test #3

Quantitative - 162 (86 Percentile)
Verbal - 158 (79 Percentile)

Yes!! I was very happy with today's scores after yesterday's devastating results.
Typically, you need to get at least 60 Percentile to get into graduate school (depending on the program) so scoring by the 80th percentile is good news.

However, I need to keep in mind this is still just a practice test. I did well today, but I've scored much worse in previous practice tests. For the real thing, I still need to remember to try my best and stay focused.

Good luck tomorrow, Henry.

[70] GRE Practice Test #2

Quantitative - 156/170 (67 Percentile)
Verbal - 150/170 (48 Percentile)

I think after studying for so many hours per day, I'm burning out or something, because I did pretty poorly on verbal today. I'm in the bottom 50% of scorers that took that test for verbal. I think I'm starting to care less about the GRE because I'm just ... burning out.

For tomorrow's practice test and the actual GRE, I need to make sure I still do my best and stay focused.

[69] GRE Practice Test #1

For the next three days, my days will go like this...

Wake up at 7:30am, do a practice test, study, sleep.
Poop and eat in between.

Here is the score breakdown for my first test.

Quantitative - 154/170 (61 Percentile)
Verbal - 158/170 (79 Percentile)

This is actually a pretty good score. The math is definitely on the lower side, but the verbal is pretty good...which I'm surprised with. The verbal section consists of vocabulary and reading comprehension. Oh yeah! For those who don't know, the percentile tells you, of all the people who took that test, what % scored lower than you.

[68] Beyond Successful!

Woke up - 7:30am
Breakfast - 8:30am
Waste Time - 9:00am

GRE Practice - 10:00 am - 3:00pm

Made food, Made a letter, Talked to Becky - 3:00pm - 5:30pm

CRAVINGS - FINALLY!! SOME CHINESE FOOD!! - 6:30pm

GRE Practice - 8:00pm - 12:00am

I went home and knocked out right afterwards.

[67] YEAHOO!!

*WARNING: ANSWERS TO YESTERDAY'S GAME BELOW*

*WARNING: ANSWERS TO YESTERDAY'S GAME BELOW*

*WARNING: ANSWERS TO YESTERDAY'S GAME BELOW*

✓ studied total of 8 hours today....all reading comprehension and vocabulary

✓ played sand volleyball for 1.5 hours

✓ got sand in a bunch of crevices

✓ going to sleep early 

By the way, here are the answers to tomorrow's game:

The total amt. in that pill box was $14.13

*158 pennies
*37 nickels
*97 dimes
*4 quarters

[66] HOO YEAH!

WHO WOKE UP AT 8AM?

I DID! 

Then, I ate breakfast, studied up some vocabulary words I missed the other day, cleaned my room, started packing for home, threw away a lot of papers, organized my pay stubs and bills, and deposited my coins I've been saving up this year.

Let's play a game!
How much is in here?

These are mostly pennies, nickels, and dimes although 4 sneaky quarters got past me.
I'll post the total amount and break down the coin quantities in the next post.

Also, starting tomorrow, I will be waking up at 7:30am everyday. That's the time I'll need to wake up on Saturday, so I will have 5 days to get used to it. As long as no one makes me up during the night, waking up early shouldn't be a problem. I was actually pretty energized waking up today at 8am and having a full productive day. Oh yeah..after all the morning stuff, I productively ate 42 pieces of sushi at sushi buffet, studied, and then had work again.

[65] Semi-Successful

It was semi-successful day.

After my 16-hour shift from 4pm to 8am, I knocked out when I got home for like 4 hours. I was pretty awake while I was walking home though. It felt really great and refreshing being outside that early in the morning again. I forgot what it felt like. The cool breeze, the smell of fresh air, the warm (not hot) sunlight, and the calm streets. Unfortunately, it didn't last long because fatigue hit me like a truck the moment I stepped into my apartment. It was a weird struggle where half of me was trying to get up and study and the other half was asleep. I kept fighting to get up but my body would just fall back asleep.

Whatever, after waking up though at noon, I made food, ran errands, and studied for an hour and a half before work at 4pm until midnight again.

I got home at like 1am and by then, I was exhausted. I just knocked out. It was one of the best sleeps ever!
...except I was cold.

[64] Super Busy Work Day

It would be wrong to name this a successful GRE day because, frankly, I didn't have much time to study today. I had a 16 hour work day today, and I was pretty swamped. However, just half an hour ago, I crammed a bit of GRE writing tips that train you to write concisely and clearly. I don't know if I have these skills, so I'm writing this with that goal in mind. Normally, I do not think I write very concisely, especially not in my blog posts. Often, they're long and erratic. It'll be a work in progress until the 27th. Then, it'll return to being however the heck I want it to be!

Anyways, this is all the time I have to write today.

Good night, all!

[63] Success Day #3 - Ruby Tuesday's

Guess what time I woke up today. Guess.

(You're not really going to guess, are you?)

I woke up at 9am, sucka! That's an hour and a half early than I did yesterday. Henry Guan is making good progress. After waking up and eating breakfast, I studied exclusively vocabulary and reading comprehension for 4 hours! Well...kind of like 3.5 hours. I think I took a walk as a break for like half an hour. But anyways, that's pretty good considering I was avoiding studying for reading comprehension for soooo long.

I just came back from Ruby Tuesday's as a last day for a friend who won't be at Urbana anymore.

NOTE TO SELF: Really good food. For $1.99, you can go to a salad bar as much as you want. Worth it. End of story.

Also, I saved half my meal and brought home a ton of salad too. Henry Guan is, once again, saving his food. Is this not my proudest moment ever?

And now, I'm about to head out to study more at the library. 

paece! 

[62] Success Day #3 - Laundry Day, Pt. II

Today was basically the same as yesterday. I woke up at 10:00am, did laundry again (went with Dan today) and studied for 3 hours while the laundry was running. Afterwards, I came back home and made food then studied for another hour or two before going to Illini Tower to teach Jenny the rest of  the dance. REJEkTeD SYNDiCATiON is gonna be a real thing. ;Þ Just kidding. Finally, at nighttime, I studied at the library again until closing time. When I got back home, I wanted to study just a little bit more but by then, I was so tired that my brain really wasn't working anymore. I got like 6 consecutive math questions wrong. It was time to call it quits until the next day.

gNite!

[61] Success Day #2 - Laundry Day

Dan and I have been watching improv shows Whose Line is It Anyway? and Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza and we're so impressed with how well fricking Wayne Brady raps. That man is an improv genius and his improv sounds like REAL raps. They're BETTER than real raps.

Today, we tried really hard to rap about everything while walking around and while in the house and it didn't work. But whatever. To keep up with my theme for today, I'm going to try to rap about my awesomely productive day.

Mic check, mic check one-two, one-two.

I woke up earlier today, who woulda knew?

I'm a lean, mean, waking up machine.

Set alarm for ten thirty, woke up at ten SIX-TEEN!

Got up, got dressed and made breakfast

Ate it, did the dishes and made a mess.

Cleaned it up, packed my clothes, and went out to Tree's.

I was able to get in, because she gave me her keys.

Knock, knock to see if the roomie's home.

Coast clear, stepped in. I guess I'll be alone.

Washed my clothes there and studied--I was really in the zone.

Multi-tasking, yo, two birds with one stone.

Got back by 1pm and got my spaghetti on.

I had a little down time, but I wasn't down with that.

Sorted my clothes, pens, and other knick knacks.

Shampoo samples, old bracelets, and my assorted hats.

Counted my earrings, tried a few on, and put them all right back.

By this time, it was 4pm and I had to go.

Met with my client to sort out a few financial woes.

In my bank account, I only received so-and-so dollars.

Where's the rest? That's a lot. I had to holler..

At DHS - Department of Health Services.

Cleared it up and got rid of my nervousness.

Okay, finna wrap this up, but imma put it down.

Like Dan & I did when we were walking around town.

Rapping and walking to I.T.

To work out for an hour with our friend Jenny.

Sweat it out, work it off, stretch - more and more.

By the end, for some reason, my back was sore.

Home and hungry again, made pasta with lots of green.

Healthy dinner - nutritious and lean.

After dinner, I went to the library until closing time.

Now I'm done with my day and my rap, this my closing rhyme.

Gosh! I'm sorry for a terrible rap.

[I just read it aloud to Dan]

Hm... it wasn't that bad. But you'll probably read it differently than how I read it. I got the flow all in my head. And that shit is tiiiiight!! sbnl (smiling but not laughing). I'm quite amused with myself. Anyways, here's the long rap short.

TL;DR: Breakfast, did dishes did laundry while studying at the same time, came back and folded laundry, ate leftover spaghetti, organized a bunch of things around the house for like 2 hours, met up with my client to clear up some business about me not receiving all of my paycheck, rapped with Dan while walking to and fro I.T. (Illini Tower - an apt complex), worked out for an hour with Dan and our friend Jenny, made dinner at home, showered, then studied for an hour and a half. 

gNite! 

[60] Success Day #1

In order to congratulate myself for waking up earlier, I will start counting my successful days and blatantly bragging about how on-task I am. I really don't mean to sound like an ass but at this point with the test two weeks away, I need to manipulate myself for my own benefit as much as possible. Oh yeah! And I will conveniently leave out most (if not all) of my irresponsible moments. By the end of this 2 weeks, you will think I'm the epitome of a responsible adult. Don't worry though; afterwards, I'll be sure to post about the flaws and flukes in my life. Gotta stay balanced. ;]

Well, after waking up late yesterday, I made up for it today.

Ate breakfast.
Smells funky but tastes great and is great source of fiber.

Picked up health records.
I need them for my volunteer application at Provena Hospital in August.

Studied for GRE.
Math ✓
Vocab ✓
Even Reading Comprehension ✓

Picked up Box.

Left it at the AAA office since April.

Took a picture of Wing's boxing bag
Special request from Wing and I am at his service.

Cooked dinner.

The most amazing part! I even saved half of it for the next day. 

If you know me well, you know I hate saving food and just eat all of it.

Right then and there.
Yep.

/applauds self

OOH!

I can use a GRE word here!

"Though you may think it silly, I believe this accomplishment was quite laudable."

[laudable - adj - worthy of praise]

Went to library and studied more.
I studied for another 2 hours or so until the library closed at midnight.

[59] I Ruined My Sleep Schedule And My Wake Schedule Is Still Ruined

Oh wait! My sleep schedule was always ruined. I ended up sleeping at 5am, but I had a well-worth-it catch-up with my sister, Beeckity.

And I failed with my plan. I woke up at 1:30pm or something.

[58] Fixing Sleep Schedule By Fixing Wake Schedule

I realized yesterday that it's too hard to fix my schedule by sleeping earlier. Clearly, since I was still typing up a post yesterday at 3:30am. If I just lay there at midnight anyways, I'll either just end up napping or laying there restlessly.

So, here's how I am going to fix my sleep schedule....by fixing my wake schedule. "TA-DA!" /jazz hands.

 No matter what time I go to sleep, I have to wake up by noon. No naps throughout the day. So hopefully, I'll be genuinely sleepy by nighttime and THAT'S how I'll fix my schedule.

[57] No More Late-Night Biking

I realized today that my GRE is only two weeks away!!!!, I gotta wake up at 7:30am that day and that's the time I've been going to sleep!! (Well...between 5am and 7am)

That's nuts! So, I made an executive decision: I can no longer go on these lake night bike rides or walks. Yesterday, we went on a walk from 2am to 5:30am...wait... I think TECHNICALLY that was today. Anyways, and we went biking the day before and a few other days throughout this summer too. 

..a few minutes later...

Dan just left to take a bike ride...it's 3:30am... I'm typing this right now.... I'm so tempted to run out and chase after him. 

Dang it. 

[56] Insomnia Bike Ride #2

Last time, we biked 8.52 miles on our insomnia bike ride. So naturally, this time we gotta go bigger, right?

We ended up biking 10.73 miles. Whoo!! We went super duper far west looking for a Wal-mart. It turns out, I suck at leading. It was an exciting adventure though biking miles and miles into pitch dark, unfamiliar roads.

Lastly, before heading back home, we hung out on top of this parking garage and just chitchatted and danced and laughed a bit.

:D

[55] Yummy Dinner!

After a whole day of studying for the GRE, I was so glad to be able to have some decent food!

I'm not usually very happy about my own cooking. Although I post about random dishes I put together, often times they're not that good--they're alright. I just need food to eat, and I like to play around, nawwmeeen?

This time around though, I was very, very pleased with my dish.

Okay, so, here's what we'll do for today's post. I will teach you how to make today's dinner.
Instead of separating it based on ingredients and dish, I'm going to separate it based on...


OVEN
What You Making?
Baked fish fillet and sausage

How?

1. preheat oven to 350 deg
2. defrost however many fillets of fish
3. make a cute little baking pan out of aluminum foil
4. olive oil up that aluminum foil baking pan
5. place fish on pan
6. olive oil up that fish
7. spice it up with lemon pepper, lemon juice, and creole seasoning
8. place sausage on pan
9. bake for 15~20 minutes

POT

What You Making?

Egg noodles with soup base made from scratch

How?

1. boil water
2. dump in egg noodles
3. once cooked, turn down the fire to just a light boil
4. drain water so there's just enough to cover noodles
5. put in 2 tbsp of gojujjang (Korean hot pepper paste) and miso paste
6. stir into noodles and water
7. keep for about 2 more minutes

SAUTé PAN or WOK

What You Making?

Broccoli

How?

1. heat up pan...if you sprinkle some water on the surface, it's hot enough when it goes "sss-----"
2. add just enough oil to coat pan
3. throw in broccoli florets
4. cook for a few minutes..iono...just eye it... 6 minutes?
5. squirt some sriracha sauce and oyster sauce and stir
6. pour in just like half a cup of water just to let it cook the veggies a little more
7. once the water's evaporated, serve

BON APPéTIT! 

Oh garsh, I'm thinking about dinner right now. Drools. I'm going to make the same thing tomorrow. Too bad I only have 1 more fish fillet left. 

[54] Wingus.

I woke up feeling so sore from working out two days ago and dancing yesterday.

This made it a really long, tiresome work day.

After work, I was gonna just feed Wing's cat and then go home to sleep. I was so exhausted.

To my surprise, Wing was already home and we ended up talking and hanging out until 6:30am.

It was good stuff. I miss these kinds of hangouts. I don't get to see this kid often.
 /long spiel about how much this guy means to me. I would include a long spiel for real, but this kid knows how much I love him and I'll rather spare you readers...all 3 of you. HAHA.

He'll be going back home to Chicago this weekend.

I can't wait until I get to go home too.

Until then.

Bye bye.

I miss you, home.

[53] REJEkTeD SYNDiCATiON

It's been such a long time since I danced, and I really missed learning choreography.

Today, a group of friends and I decided to learn something. And I wanted to learn something good.
It was like coming out of a dancing fast. I've gotta break it with something good, right?

This is SELEkTiV SUNDiCATiON's set from Urbanite 2012. Low-key: I'm like a super-duper big fan. I watch their sets like every other week, and their choreography to "Black Magic" by Rick Ross at 02:15 is one of my favorites.

So I decided to learn it. WARNING: Profanity. 

When I got home today, I was taking a dump and I wondered...

What if we learned all of SELEkTiV's sets and we formed our own group. We'll be like a SELEkTiVtribute dance crew. Our name will be REJEkTeD SYNDiCATiON.

HAHAHA!

[49] 4th of July - Bro Day

Hiep, Victor, Darren, Eric, Winfield, and Joe. Bro day.

Outback Steakhouses - eating steak like bros do.
Meijer's - Grocery shopping like bros do.

That's about it. I'm sure everyone else's holiday was more celebratory or eventful, but we had a lot of fun.

Ooh! AND I bought bro hummus on sale for only 2 bro dollars.

Haha.

[48] Unicycle

Wing got a unicycle from his co-worker, so we spent like two hours trying to learn it.

Holy crap is it hard to pick up. The whole time, I've just a handful of good tries. The rest were the epitome of pathetic. Get on, pedal, fall...all in like a blink of an eye.

I think a big problem is that we have to pedal in such tiny circles, which  we're not used to. The wheel is like 16" compared to a bike's 26" or so.

Hopefully, the next time, it'll be more successful. FIGHTING!!

When starting, it's good to have the support of a pole first so you can sit on it without falling.

[44] Insomnia Morning Bike Ride

Did not sleep.

5am - 6:30am - chit chat with Dan who, for some reason, was awake.
6:30 am - bike to Old Navy with Wing for dem $1 flip flops.

Eat, Errands, Slept for like 3 hours.

4pm to midnight - work

[42] Spaghetti & Meatballs

From burger night, we still had a lot of ground beef leftover, so Hiep, Dan, Kevin (summer roommate), and I  decided to make spaghetti and meatballs!

We got some whole wheat spag' goin' on (I think), meatballs seasoned with random stuff, tomato, and Parmesan cheese. Oh yeah! The best part was the sauce. Dan made a combo sauce with regular pasta sauce and some alfredo. It was delicious! I think my mom would love it!

Note to self: Make that for Mom when you get home.

[41] Surprise Family Visit

It's not so important what we did but just that they visited. My little cousin Jerry is going to China for a month, so my sister Becky planned this surprise visit so he can see me before he flies off. She brought the whole posse too--my other little cousins, my mom, and ... herself. I think this was, in part, for me too. As I was talking about in another post, I really miss home when I'm away for school. It's more this year than years before, but it's hitting me especially hard this summer...and Beeckity knew. I didn't even want to come back  for the summer, but I'm an adult and I have certain responsibilities and obligations for my future. Blah! So I'm stuck here.

Don't get me wrong, when I'm here, I enjoy work and hanging with my roommates and the environment and everything. But, if you gave me a choice of being home or here (with no consequences), I'll choose to go back home in a second. It's just... I don't know why I miss my family so much. I never thought me much as the kind of person who "misses" someone. Do I want to see them? Sure. But I know I'm very fine without seeing them. It's only in my upperclassman undergraduate years when I realize how much I can yearn to see people and truly miss someone. And I learned that because of my family. There are people who are like-family here but as much I love Jeff and Wing, I can't necessarily count them as family.

I don't know why I'm complaining because in all sincerity, I love being here in Urbana-Champaign, too. There's a lot of great friends, I love the independence, and there are so many different types of opportunities and perks of being here. But still, the only thing that pulls my frickin' heartstrings to want to go home right that moment is thinking about Joe and Becky and my mom and all my little cousins.

Okay, I'm really done with this. I just keep going back and forth with this. I should go to sleep. In conclusion though, I really appreciate my family coming down to see me. It meant more to me than they can even fathom. I think about them everyday and I miss them everyday, and I'm just counting the days I can come back home and see them again and give them a great big hug. In the meantime, I will do 'me' while they do 'them' and we'll all meet back up in August when we can enjoy the time we will share together.

gNite <3

  

[40] Singin' In The Rain

....or rather singing because of the rain.

It was raining so hard today in Urbana....harder than cats and dogs...it was raining lions and wolves. Harhar. Womp womp. But seriously, it was dangerous outside. Heavy rains, frequent lightning, and damaging winds pretty much guaranteed my tush was staying at home today.

Trapped by the storm, there was nothing to do.....


except karaoke.

My roommate Hiep and I (with various chiming in from my other roomie Dan) just chose random songs on Spotify. We sang along with lyrics provided by a Spotify App called TuneWiki. This neat, little tool would detect the song playing and cue up the lyrics even highlighting the lines of the song that's currently playing. So cool. As we browsed through random songs, we realized there were a lot that are too high to sing. That's when Boyce Avenue came to the rescue. They beautifully cover a ton of songs that are super fun to sing and the best part is... they sing it in an octave that is do-able by us. So, for the most part, we pretty much just stuck with Boyce Avenue and sang our hearts out until we could no more. End of story.

Aside from singing, the rest of the day was uneventful and unproductive. Tomorrow will be better.

[39] Insomnia Bike Ride

My sleep schedule has been seriously out of whack. I've been sleeping between 4am-8am and waking up between 12pm-4pm. By some miracle I was sleepy today by 12am, so I thought "Yes! This is the day I fix my sleep schedule!"

WRONG!

 My body was just teasing me. It took a nap instead and woke up 2 hours later. So there I was laying in my bed at 2am trying to fall back asleep. An hour and a half go by, and I realize I cannot will myself back to sleep, so I head into the living room where my roommate Dan was still awake.

A chit and a chat later, we're getting dressed, putting on our bike lights, and bringing the bikes out for a late-night, insomniac's bike ride.

Here's our beautiful and convoluted route mapped out using www.mapmyrun.com 

Two hours later with a few breaks reminiscing at our old dorm ISR, checking out a park, and ogling at big, fancy campus apartments, we got back at 6am after biking a total of 8.52 miles.

[38] Ladder Push-Ups

Today, Dan and I were introduced to Ladder Push-Ups by Hiep. There are two components of this workout: push-ups and shoulder touches. Here's how you do 'em...

Repetition
 Starting on your knees, you go down to do your push-up(s). After completing the push-up(s), sit back up onto your knees, reach both arms straight up towards the ceiling and touch both shoulders with the homolateral (same side) hand. Repeat shoulder touch as instructed.

Workout
1 - One push-up. One shoulder touch. Then go back down to do...
2 - Two push-ups. Two shoulder touches. Then go back down to do...
3 - Three push-ups. Three shoulder touches....
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 -
9 -
10 - Ten push-ups. Ten shoulder touches.
9 -
8 -
7 -
6 -
5 -
4 -
3 - Three push-ups. Three shoulder touches. Then go back down to do...
2 - Two push-ups. Two shoulder touches. Then go back down to do...
1 -  Last push-up. Last shoulder touch.



Do you see why they're called ladder push-ups? You do not use any physical ladder whatsoever. It's not a specific type of push-up that resembles a ladder. You're simply doing push-ups and shoulder touches...climbing higher and higher in how many you do then back down. And if you complete it, 100 push-ups later and 100 shoulder touches later, you're probably dead.

Hell! I couldn't complete it, and I STILL died. I went up to the top of the ladder, climbed down to the 8th rung, then fell off the ladder. I'm still pretty pleased I was able to push myself to complete 62 push-ups but by the time I reached my limit, I couldn't push up from the push-up. I was cheeking the floor with my arms noodle-y limp at my sides, and Hiep had to pull me off the ground.

This ladder is my Everest, and I will climb it.
Another day.
I still have a bit of whine left in me until I'm ready to attempt it again.

[34] The Scientific 7-Minute Workout (Modified)

Here is a short article about the "Scientific 7-Minute Workout". And here's a How-To Video.

Exactly as it sounds, this workout last only 7 minutes. It's composed of 12 exercises that are each done for 30 seconds with only 10 second rest periods in between.

But Hiep and I made our own modified version that has a different format and different exercises as well. Also, thanks to Becky for showing me this.

Original                                                                                  Modified
-12 exercises                                                                           -12 exercises (different set of exercises)
-1 repetition                                                                             -3 repetitions
-30 seconds for exercises                                                    -30 seconds for exercises
-10 seconds for breaks in between ex.                             -10 second breaks in b/t ex. (30 sec breaks in b/t reps)

Exercises
1. Jumping jacks
2. Wall-sit
3. Push-ups (varying the kind of push-up per rep)
4. Step-up onto chair
5. Squats
6. Tricep dips on a chair
7. Plank (varying with low plank on forearm, then high plank on palms, then low plank with pulsing)
8. High knees in place
9. Lunges
10. Plank knee-to-elbows
11. Left side plank (hold)
12. Right side plank (hold)

The Low-Down
This is definitely a challenging workout, especially if you do 3 reps. It works the whole body, gets you nice and sweaty, and is just great. I would definitely do it again.

A few notes however. Since the exercises are dynamic (moving instead of holding a pose still), it's very important to make sure you learn proper form for such exercises as wall-sit, push-ups, tricep dips, squats, and lunges. In addition, as you continue with your reps, you're going to feel tired. It's very easy to start sacrificing form, but it's absolutely important that you don't do that. It ain't about the reps, it's about doing it right. You lose what you have to gain when you do it wrong.

[12] Surrender To The Splendor Of The Bike Fender

I went over to Kelly's today to shave the back of her head.

Unfortunately, it was raining heavily for the whole day, so I had to bike through the wet streets when going home. Never have I ever been so thankful for my bike in Chicago. These fenders saved my ass from getting soaked!