Treat Others the Way You Are Treated

I've been updating a lot recently, huh? Even though I did just as much in the past it feels like recently I've been posting nonstop :0

Anyways, the idea of the post is kind of self explanatory. I know it's a bit backwards from the typical phrase, but I think it works both ways. Even though I aspire to be kind, in reality I'm too immature sometimes to be like that. Why? Because I believe in relatiating when I feel wronged. I do believe in karma, but sometimes I'm the one who does it back. 

One example is something that occurred last semester. I believe I was in the middle of studying or something when a friend messaged me to help her out with some of the work she missed because she was out of town. By the end of the night, I probably spent 2-3 hours helping her and grabbing dinner (even though I had already eaten, but she just got takeout anyways). 

I think about a week or so later, we had homework to submit online. I had done the homework, but I asked her to pull hers up so I can double check my answers. The way the system works is that there are unlimited tries, but you'd have to start all over again once you submit it. She had already submitted hers, so I wanted to see if my answers were correct so I didn't have to redo everything. Her response? "No, just do it on your own. I have a lot of work and studying to do."

What, seriously? It takes two minutes to pull it up and you're too busy? After I spent hours helping too. But in her defense, it's not like I was forced to help her or something, so lesson learned. 

The retaliation? It came weeks after when she asked me to send her an assignment. My response? "Just do it by yourself." And while I did feel mean because it was in my capacity to help her, I didn't think it was being fair to myself. 

Winter Break: The Last Day

Day 15: January 9, 2014

The very last day, I had a bit of trouble waking up in the morning so I rushed to get ready to check out of our inn. By the way, we stayed at Knights Inn Toronto. There are horror reviews that I read about, which I read afterwards, but it made me a bit biased/sketched out the whole stay. We didn't have any issues with the room, and didn't see bed bugs or rats or whatever. The only issue is that the shower is tiny. It was pretty cheap as well and they have free wifi. 

The plans for the day was grab breakfast and then head to Pacific Mall, which was over an hour away.. it was quite inconvenient not having a car. 

We went to Chaulau Dim Sum for breakfast. The portions were so-so and it was pricier than what I'm used to, but maybe it's average price for Toronto. The decor was really nice and clean though.

Next stop...Pacific Mall! We took the train and transferred onto a bus to get there. It was a long journey, but luckily we didn't get lost =)

Last time I came, I really enjoyed the mango slush from Real Fruit. It was still good, but it wasn't as good as I remembered it to be...

Got some wonton noodle soup. I didn't realize that there was another food court at the other end of the second floor, so I thought the choices were limited. :( 

Anyways, towards the end everyone was just super tired. I only bought food and these toothbrush holders. Our bus back home wasn't scheduled until 9:30PM, so we had to plan around that, to some extent, where we can go straight to the terminal. When we arrived, turns out our bus filled up so we had to wait for the next one..which came shortly after. The wifi was broken though, but fortunately, the border wasn't too far off. I think I slept throught most of the ride? I don't even remember anymore.

Oh yeah, crossing the border wasn't bad at all. It was just grabbing my luggage and answering some questions (where am I staying, how long will I be there, etc.) and passing through. It takes minutes and most of it is just waiting for everyone to finish. One of the officer people were actually from my city too, so it was such a coincidence. 

But note to self: next time, don't plan trips around my departure time. It was such a bitch having to lug everything around because it was inconvenient and heavy. I'm not sure how much easier a rolly bag would be, but surely it'll still be inconvenient. So next time I would rather just head straight home from wherever I'm staying. And not being able to rent a car is so inconvenient. 

This concludes all my winter break activities...over two months later. I shouldn't have anymore overdue posts. So until next time!

Winter Break: Reuniting with a High School Friend

Day 14: January 8, 2014, Toronto

The first thing we did after waking up was getting breakfast at Wanda's Belgium Waffles. I was happy because they accepted Discover. It was pretty decent, but considering we all got a crepe, eventually it was really overwhelming.

The day mostly consisted of walking along Yonge and exploring the city. It was really weird because at some point that drunk Irish man from the day before saw us on the streets and called out to us.. 

The main plan for the day was meeting up with a high school friend, who was working in Toronto for a co-op. Meeting up was a bit awful because we didn't have wifi/data nor could we call, so it was difficult meeting up. After a while, we were able to coordinate a general location to meet up (Toronto Eaton Centre), but not specifically where in there. 

So after a bit of looking around, we got dinner at a sushi buffet restaurant. I forgot the name of the place though, but it was pretty good. The hot dishes were a bit bland though. 

We went back to our inn and basically just stayed up a bit hanging out, playing games. Our friend ended up staying over as well. That Irish man came knocking on our door twice though, wtf. Of course we knew better than to open up, BUT WHY IS HE SO CREEPY?

At some point, we made a late night run for some poutine, scratch tickets, and beverages. I broke even with the scratch tickets :)

Anyways, it was a pretty enjoyable night, getting to catch up with everyone.

Winter Break Vacation: Toronto

Day 13: January 7, 2014, Toronto, ON

The way to Toronto was such a stressful experience. Not really, but it could've been better. My bus was scheduled for 1:30AM, so I left the apartment around 12:45AM or so and took the train there. It was SO, SO windy that night. The ~5 minute walk to the station was just awful and cold. But I don't think it was worth a cab since I would only have to survive the walk and after that, my stop would be where the bus terminal is. And I'm glad I didn't resort to a cab after what happened.

So I reached my stop, and it was already around 1:25AM or so, so I was sort of panicking about missing my bus. To make matters worse, I didn't know which gate my bus was in!! I tried looking at the screen that displayed all the gates, but couldn't find mine :\ So after some minutes of confusion and wasting time, I just ran down to where all the Greyhound terminals were to look for it. The workers probably saw me looking super lost and confused so they called out to me. Only then I found out that all services that went north were canceled until 5:30AM >:( No notification or anything from Greyhound, seriously? I purchased my ticket online, so the least they could do is send a notification or something. As far as I know, they didn't post anything on their website either, not that I would've checked though, just saying, since it was unexpected. I should've known better though, there was a huge storm up there..but still.

After half an hour of debating whether to just wait it out or head back to the apartment. If I chose the former, then I don't have to go out in the cold again and save a few dollars. The second option, I get to nap comfortably for three hours, but have to carry all my stuff back and forth. I opted for the latter because I wanted to be comfortable. 

When I got back to the station, I couldn't figure out how to get in because they closed the entrance from the train station!! And it was super cold, still. I had to go outside to get back in and by that time it was already 5:30, so I worried about missing the bus after having it delayed. When I got down the bus terminal there was a long line, so I was glad to see that I didn't miss the my ride. 

That was, until everyone started running up the escalator all of a sudden and it turns out the two buses were already full from all the delays and they ran to a different gate for the next bus. 

Trooped over and waited and waited until 7:30AM until the right buses came. At that point I was already regretting booking my return ticket earlier that day because if I just went home home instead that would've been a waste of $160. I was honestly debating that during the wait, and I couldn't get a refund either, but I waited it out. During the wait in the line I did meet some really cool people, but I won't be keeping contact with them. It was hard joining into their conversations so I don't think I made much of an impression. 

By 8:00AM the bus finally took off yay! The journey there wasn't too bad imo because I slept through most of it. There were empty seats in the back so I just went there and slept til I finally woke up around 4:30PM. I actually missed a rest stop :( by that time we were nearing Buffalo, NY and it was snowing quite a bit. 

There was some wait when we arrived at the station because we combining with a different bus. 

I finally arrived at Toronto around 9:00PM. It was FREEZING. It was 0 with windchill of -35 or colder. At that point I had no Canadian Dollars and the cabs didn't take Discover or Diners Club International so I had no way of getting to the hotel aside from walking. Even though it was a 15 minute walk, it was painful :( I made a couple of stops on the way, my hands were hurting like a bitch because I had no gloves and had things to carry. 

Eventually I did arrive at our inn and ended with playing some card games before calling it a night, not to mention some seemingly drunk Irish(?) guy who knocked on our door and started talking to us and even came back later on that night!! At that point it was kinda creepy so we ignored it. 

So that's it for the way there. I'll write up the rest of the journey in another post since I already wrote a lot. 

Anyways, until next time!

First interview of the year

Yesterday afternoon, I did a pre-screening for a place that I was applying to. It was probably one of the easiest screenings I'll ever get, but since it's been a while I was kinda nervous and stumbled on my words a lot. :( Womp womp. Hopefully I hear back from them. The place itself is quite far though, probably like a two hour commute or something, so I'm not sure if it's worth it. But at the same time, since I'm still in school, my options are very limited. It's still worth a shot to try for it though. Fingers crossed. 

Shanghai is a Go!

Last week I got the email for my acceptance for my study abroad program in Shanghai! :D There was a bit of delay because the system glitched so they didn't review my application until a bit later. I just paid my deposit and filled out a couple of online forms earlier, so I'm another step closer.

Sadly it's only a semester long, like most other study abroad programs. Didn't one year used to be more common? I'm hoping to travel to Asia, possibly Hong Kong, maybe a week earlier so I can go play a bit before having to stay in Shanghai. I'm also hoping to be able to travel throughout Asia during my stay, depending on when I have breaks and over winter break as well. But it's going to cost a lot, so I NEED a job this summer for sure. 

Oh, I opted to take the 5th and 6th level Chinese while I'm there. It was either that or 3rd/4th semester, but I feel that I'm somewhere between 4th and 5th, so it was kinda hard to decide which to go for. The easier one will probably guarantee a better grade, but I do want to improve my Chinese so I opted for the more advanced one. 

Winter Break: Brooklyn & Sick

Day 5: December 30, 2013 - Day 12: January 6, 2014, New York
For the next few days, a couple of friends joined me in New York, so I spent most of my time in Brooklyn. Since I'm writing this like a month later, I honestly don't remember too much so I'll probably cut it short.

Had curry for lunch when we met up

I went shopping at Woodbury Common. I bought a few things from J.Crew for the first time and from a few other stores. I think at least 30% of the money I spent during the duration of the trip was from this day. 

I got to try Joe's Shanghai, which has a lot of raving reviews on Yelp. It was my second time trying 小龙包 and it was good, but I couldn't tell the difference between crab meat and pork (?) ones. The scallion pancake was also yummy.

Originally, we were supposed to go watch the ball drop for New Year's, but they didn't really seem to want to and it was also really cold that night, so we decided against it and just stayed in. It's still on my bucket list to do though.

I also tried sliders from White Castle for the first time, I think I had like 5 or 6 even though I wasn't even planning on eating that many T_T

We were also supposed to go to Philly, but that didn't work because of huge snowstorm.

I tried okonomiyaki for the first time. I forgot what I thought of it though.

Curry ramen... it wasn't that good though.

I headed back to Manhattan on Saturday morning and by then I was starting to get pretty sick. For the next few days until it was time to go to Canada, I stayed in bed, sick. I had quite a bit of a fever and did nothing but sleep for most of the day.

Well, that was basically it for New York. 

My Love from the Star

I started watching My Love from the Star (별에서 온 그대) on my way to New York on Monday. I ended up killing my phone watching it because I couldn't figure out where the outlet was lol and after I did, it stopped working :(

ANYWAYS, I was curious about this drama after reading an article about the Chinese government making a comment about Korean dramas and referenced this one. Soon afterwards, it was mentioned in another blog, so naturally, I was drawn to this one when I was deciding what to watch to kill some time. 

When I first read the description, I kinda just skimmed it and saw that it was about an alien, so it was kinda wtf. But after watching it, it's not really as weird as it sounded and kind of just helped the plot flow. The male lead is played by Kim Soo Hyun and tbh, he was really derpy looking in Dream High (which I still never finished) BUT BUT he's completely different in this drama and more stoic. 

Up until episode 5, the plot was sort of slow and it didn't seem that interesting. I don't really know what kept me going, maybe it was the darker side to the story. But after that, there are definitely some heartwarming scenes here and there. Sometimes the female lead is just annoying and selfish though.

I'm not sure if there was anything particularly special about this drama, but I liked it, sooo I would give it a shot. 

Liebster #3

This is my third time getting this award, thank you Hazelnut for nominating me! Check out her blog [here].

Here are the official rules. I'm just going to do the facts and answer the questions though because I've ran out of people to tag rofl.

Rules:

-Post 11 facts about yourself

-Answer the 11 questions from the person who nominated you

-Choose 11 to nominate (who have less than 200 followers)

-Write 11 questions for your nominees

-Let your nominees know!

Facts: (I hope I don't repeat any from before; too lazy to check)

1. I've never watched any of the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings movies before

2. I started fencing last semester. My weapon is foil.

3. I have gone out of the USA four times, but I only count one of them.

4. These past few months, I've broken out the worst my face has ever been. I suspect it's from fencing because you get sweaty from the mask :X

5. I've been the same height since I was about 12.

6. I'm a hoarder, probably anything you can imagine

7. I have terrible vision, and it's still getting worse

8. I'm the oldest girl from my mom's side, and I think the second youngest from my dad's side

9. I can sleep anywhere easily

10. I've wanted a tragus piercing for years, and I MIGHT do it this year if I go through with it. And if my tragus isn't too small...

11. I used to want to have a dog, hamster, and fish as pets. I still go through phrases of wanting them sometimes :D

Questions to answer

1. Would you rather go to the future or to the past, and why? 

Not necessarily go to, but if I had to choose then the future because there's more to look forward to. The past already happened, so why go to it? It's not like there's much to go back to anyways since I was a child.

2. Which would you choose: time travelling or teleportation? 

Teleportation. Much more convenient.

3. How did you start blogging and what keeps you going? 

I started...with Xanga and it's been an on and off thing for me. After that, I had a Livejournal for a bit then eventually I made this blog. It's just a social outlet for me, and sometimes it's for times when I want to procrastinate or not sleep.

4. What is a pet peeve of yours?

When people crack their bones. It grosses me out. 

5. Do you prefer the mountains or the sea? 

Aesthetically, mountains because the sea is just a body of water. Then again mountains are just rocks...

6. What is your favorite type of makeup product? 

I don't use any ;x

7. What are you thankful for today?

That I made it to my bus. 

8. Would you rather learn all of the languages in the world or master all of the musical instruments in the world? 

Languages :D I've always been interested in different languages.

9. How would you spend a perfect day? 

Getting up on my own, maybe go out, eat and shop, then come back home to relax.

10. If you could be anything in the world, what would you be and why?

I dunno.. I'd probably stay as a human if that's what the question is asking lol. I don't see any reason to be anything else because I feel that we're the most "advanced."

11. What is your favorite snack and drink?

Ramen if that counts as a snack.. and I like Kool-aid :D 

Spring Break 2014

This spring break I went to New York, so nothing too special. There wasn't much of a reason to stay home because nobody else would be there. I booked my tickets last month, and I was able to get them for $6.50 roundtrip :))

The ride up wasn't bad at all, I spent it watching My Love from the Star. The ony thing was I couldn't find the outlet lol because it was on the overhead for the opposite side, but it was between the seats for mine and I couldn't find it. When I finally did, it stopped working >:( so I ended up using up most of my phone's battery, whoops.

I got there sort of late so I just got takeout to bring back to eat and that was about it for the rest of the night.

The next day, I woke up to go watch my friend play handball. I went to Wah Fung #1 Fast Food for lunch and ended up getting a small 叉烧饭 for $3.50. The big one was definitely a better deal, but I couldn't finish it. I only ate half of mine, which I brought back for a midnight snack. 

Next, we went to Brooklyn to play pool and ping pong. Spent probably two hours or so there. Had dinner at Gia Lam II, a Vietnamese restaurant that I suspect to be owned by Chinese people because the servers spoke Chinese. Had a bit of a night high because my friend and I just sat there for a while laughing for no reason. 

The next day I woke up at 7:30AM because it was kind of noisy..despite going to bed around 4:00AM. So I just watched more of my drama. The agenda for the day was KBBQ, Dave and Busters, and Joe's Shanghai to finish off. The KBBQ place was in Flushing, which seemed so much further than the first time I went, or maybe just because the restaurant was a 20 minute walk from the station. Anyways, I ended up taking one of those vans that goes from Chinatown to Flushing for $3.75 because it seemed quicker that way and cheaper than taking the LIRR. 

I'm not sure why but my boots were scratching the back of both my feet really badly so walking was a bitch. I checked it after and the inside back of my boots are starting to get messed up :/ I only got them a few months ago too. 

The KBBQ place I went to is called Picnic Garden. The service was alright, the waitress came around sometimes to cut up the meat. It was an all you can eat place, with options laid out for you to grab and some prepared foods, which was cold/slightly warm at best. The total came to about $18+tip/person, which I think is cheap for KBBQ. 

After that we took the bus back and dropped by Kungfu Tea and Paris Baguette. But because of a mean comment I made, my friends left me there wtf. I think they may have jokingly left, or maybe not, but I'm not really the type to go find them when they do that so I went home instead. And that was about the rest of my day. I got curry chicken for takeout from a Vietnamese place. 

On Thursday, I spent the day with a friend from school. I ended up a bit late because I overslept and had a hard time getting out of bed. We met up at the Rockefeller Center and the whole day we kind of walked within that area.. Since we passed by it at least three times. We walked around Park Ave, went to Korea Town, and Grand Central Station because I've never been to the last two before. We went to a restaurant called Kun Jip. I had a soon doo boo and it was alright. I got full quickly. 

Dropped by another Paris Baguette to pick up some pastries. I ended up indulging myself in the very berry shortcake (?) and it ended up tasting like a typical Chinese birthday cake. I was hesitant because it was pricey ($5.75?) and it probably was a waste but oh well. Lesson learned. I also got the Tiramisu bun thing, which I reallyed liked. The fruit pastry was dry so it wasn't as good. The chocolate cream bun was also average. 

We went to Bryant Park after and I finally found a Kinokuniya. If it was a few years ago, I would probably splurge on the monthly phone book manga for the furoku, but nah. We went to the library afterwards so look around. It reminds me of a more spacious version of Copley Library. Then we sat down to chat a bit. 

We decided to go to Uniqlo to end the day but we ended up at Times Square on the way because there was an AE there. I went to F21 and got two pairs of shorts :) I got a sweater from Uniqlo which I'll probably give my mom or keep if she doesn't like it. There wasn't a bit need or want for it so I couldn't justify just getting one for myself. 

When I got back home I had an octopus spinach noodles dish that my brother got me. It was very...healthy because it was half salad, half noodles plus some slices of octopus. It was good though. I expected it to be a hot, cooked dish but it was all cold. 

I spent the night looking at job postings and went to bed. The next day I woke up much earlier than necessary but got tired so took a quick nap, which I shouldn't have because my bus was at 11:10AM and I didn't get off the train until 11:07AM and there was still another half-mile walk. Luckily... The bus was late because I got there around 11:18AM and it hadn't arrived yet. Normally I would be upset but this time I'm grateful. The ride back wasn't awful but it seemed longer, probably because I didn't want to kill my data watching my drama because the wifi is kinda crappy and I only took a short nap.

Anyways, until next time!

Club Nationals: Bad Sportsmanship?

Yesterday I had club nationals for fencing. For the individuals, I went 2-2, which was alright and I wasn't too disappointed with that. But afterwards I just started doing poorly. For my very last match, it was against a seemingly inexperienced girl. I say that because my first match against her earlier that day I was able to quickly win the bout. But this second time around, I reacted poorly every time and in the end I lost, and I couldn't help but think, "how did I lose to her?" I mean, I know exactly how. But still, I admit it's very rude toward her to think that way, but I can't help it. Granted, I didn't throw a tantrum like some of the other girls on a different team did, and most of it was just internal. I kept my thoughts to myself because it would've been super bad sportsmanship to shit on that girl, especially since she did deserve her points. My loss did cost us 3rd place :( 

Ahhh, well nationals are in a month! So that will be exciting. In the mean time, I have midterms coming up this week, so... ^^;;;; I should be working on that. That, and I still have some overdue posts.

Anyways, until next time!