Zip! Flak! Waapi!

2010-07-23T04:47:00.001+08:00

all i want is to hold myself in, for all my joints to weld together - knee with knee with elbow with the second joints of my fingers with ankle with jaw with wrist. to just clutch and grasp and hug and hold everything together.

because really falling apart isn't what it sounds like. it isn't some cataclysmic shattering of the soul or the heart or whatever body part is supposed to be destroyed. it isn't the vital organs that you lose. it's the bits that protect you that sort of slough off - scrape onto your clothes and turn into dust; ooze out of your pores and flutter off into the open air; stream out of your mouth and turn into vapor. the bits that you never realized were important - the leathery sole of your foot, the soft flesh on the side of your inner elbows and on top of your knees and cloaking your hipbones, the extra skin that forms the wrinkles in the middle of each of your fingers - you begin to miss them. because falling apart doesn't kill you, it just makes you smaller harder older younger weaker stronger - it makes you a stranger.

all i want is to hold myself in.

high school recap: photolog

2010-06-19T21:12:00.026+08:00

In the last two-months-or-so of high school, I have...

Frantically planned, executed & presented our senior project. Failed miserably and still got a distinction (judgment of panelists is questionable)

Based off of Kacie Kinzer's experiment in New York (tweenbots.com), we set a little demented looking robot out into the big-bad streets of Honkers after lots of angry looking knife-wielding, soldering, and headscratching.

Left: Sabrina lookin' murderous. Right: Tweeny knocked over on the streets of Central. Poor baby.

Our conclusion: Honkers are bitchez.

Had a frenzied pre-prom, awkw-I mean awesome prom (hi Thomas), and an interesting afterprom...all for the last time

Hurray for getting all dolled up and faux-glam for a night - although I will never forgive the people at benefit for sticking those fake eyelashes on me. C'est Magnifique 2010, thanks for being a good one.

Top to Bottom, Right to Left: Nelsy & I, smiling up a storm; the girls minus HLK, all looking good (with the exception of my awkwardly held up arm, no worries); the Tweenbot/disney/PMS girls; CHUCKlove @ prom. Naturally.

There should also be a handful of cute preprom/AMT/fizziksC/afterprom photos that I regrettably don't possess floating around somewhere in the Facebook-sphere, but they are up there for you to stalk as you please anyways, so whatever.

Got caught up in an unfortunate series of events involving this baby:

Please ignore my obviously frazzled state, and concentrate on the fact there is a pretty (if I may say so myself) literary arts magazine which holds even prettier pieces of poetry, prose, and art in my hands. Said baby has now been defaced (the more polite term would be 'censored', but fuck graciousness I am still pissed) by HKIS' shortsighted admin. A long post is in the works about this , but it will probably be nowhere near as eloquent what Yvo has already said, so go there instead.

Helped make my dysfunctional homeroom seem mildly presentable @ Sen. Breakfast.

I don't know whether it was Bak being his typical lame self, Karuna kicking him out of the way, or Mr. Ma playing his gift (Justin's second-hand guitar) back to the table, but somehow our utter failure of a homeroom managed to get the loudest applause of all. And I am not exaggerating when I say that we're dysfunctional - Alex and I had to run back to school in the middle of breakfast because we realized that noone had brought it in, and up until about...10 minutes before we presented there were still people signing the guitar. That, and only 4 people showed up to CBC this year. But this was funny & a befittingly chaotic last hurrah for the Ma homeroom.
Photo credit: Bessy Tam

Bid farewell to two of the cutest teachers ever

Left to Right: Dr. Diehl (the male one, but the female one is adorable too, and they are even more a dorable together), doin' the nerdy thing with his Ampere's Law pound cake & equation sheet card; Mr. Stork, in his homeroom gift. He was the proud honoree of two surprise parties, a torus-shaped cake called "Storkland" and lots of love, affection, and camera shutter sounds; Me, Marie, Sabrina in AMT glasses, holding up our respective Storkland flags. (Credit: Yeh-Jin Lee)

I will miss these two incredibly, as well as a small handful of other teachers who I don't have any pictures of.

Said goodbye to the MSC

This room was my home at school for the last two years, and is my favourite nerdy place to be. And a picture is worth a billion and one words and a few sprinkles and a cup of froyo, so please just look to the left of this block of text, and you will understand just how lame Marie and I are.

Made good use of the time freed up by senioritis

Left to Right: Lauren & I after fattening up on some good ol' Flying Pan (cred: Lauren); our personalities, brilliantly captured while gift-shopping in TS (cred: YJ); ...YJ and Marie eat their sushi without the rice

And when I say 'made good use', I basically mean eating. With my favourite people, of course, but still eating. Hey, pre-freshman-15. Not yet there, but Taiwan (tomorrow!) and Italy should take care of it.

Graduated!

In the words of the night of June 4, 2010:

"2010VE
Well - it’s official: I’m a HKIS alum. Or alumna? I don’t particularly remember Mueller’s speech. Either way, I’m done. I’m free. I’ve survived. And it feels damn fucking good.

I would love to say that right now I’m looking back on all the memories that high school brought, but I’m just a little too pissed off about myriad things to be nostalgic. Maybe tomorrow. For now, I’ll think I’ll just eat some ice cream.

To all other 2010 [blog]-ers (I’m lookin’ at you @wum, @quet): We did it! So proud; so much love all around. "

In no order at all, because I am too tired to figure out what order these will come up in: The girls, all ready to graduate and GTFO; YJ, me, Wum, Sab, being all smiley and shit pre-graduation; Marie & I being classy; Lauren, Marie & I glad to have GTFO; Yvo with her fishface, Bex g as always, and me as confused as I was before high school. (Photo Credits: YJ, HLK, Lauren, Yvonne, Watson..random?)

I am leaving for Taiwan for a senior trip that will basically be a five-day eat, beach, eat, and party-fest, so I am off to bed now in order to get some pre-emptive R&R. Cause I sure as hell won't get any later.

So that's that. Sorry this is so badly written and formatted, but I might as well be a blog-n00b, it's been so long since I've last done anything that's even remotely resembled a legitimate post. Look out for post-grad stuff & shanghai expo photolog sometime in the (un)foreseeable future.

Yaaaay, two-person audience, plus some creepy chinese people I don't know.

ambrosia

2010-06-04T13:46:00.003+08:00

For those who would like to see an uncensored version of ambrosia 2010:

http://www.mediafire.com/?ymitzjy0zlm

I am in no state to write about this as of now, as graduation is coming up in less than four hours and all I want to do is cry/throttle someone.

i could really use a wish right now

2010-04-29T22:44:00.003+08:00

these days i feel as if i don't feel. there is nothing that i write that does not seem contrived, nothing that i can listen to or read or watch that feels new or exciting. so many things have happened - as evidenced by the six or seven posts that i've started here - but nothing has come out of them that i can bother putting into writing, even though there should be. there has been so much that is inspirational but not inspiring.

i don't know what it is, but i do know what it's not. it is not PMS, it is not senioritis, it is not writer's block. and most importantly: it is not what i want, and i am not who i want to be.

what i do know is that this too shall pass - or at the very least, that that thought will keep me going.

pre-interim failpost

2010-03-21T13:41:00.003+08:00

The quality of a life is not determined by how long it is ... it is determined by whether or not you put more love into this weird system we call life than you take out of it.

-- Junot Diaz (very inaccurately quoted from memory)

note to self

2010-03-03T21:01:00.003+08:00

never, ever, accidentally drop the f-bomb while talking to yourself while working while staring in the vicinity of your father.

because you will be completely and utterly confounded at the dinner table when you greet him and instead of saying 'hi', he starts crying and your mom comes up to you asks you why you swore at your father and why you're so disrespectful and such a goddamn disgrace.

and also because watching your father drip tears into his rice and veggies isn't really the most appetizing thing ever and chances are you're really really hungry

toodlydoo part 1

2010-02-01T20:04:00.000+08:00

formspring.me/jenniferh125

do you even use this thing?
Yes. sort of. okay, not really.

Did you just lose the game?

Hi, Thomas.

What is your biggest fear?
God, I really don't know. There are lots of things (heights, bugs, little holes, fire, etc.) that I'm sort of scared of, but not to the point where I avoid it at all costs. And 'failure' or 'fear' is kind of cliche, so I'll...skip.

Respond Delete

What is your favourite dessert?
This question is COMPLETELY FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE. I can't choose one! In terms of white-people desserts, I suppose anything involving chocolate or coffee (cakes, cupcakes, cookies, puddings, etc.), LEMON BARS, & creme brulee. Azn desserts: tang yuen of any kind, baked sago pudding, walnut soup, & red bean soup. Actually, basically any kind of dessert that doesn't involve banana/cheese will do.

Respond Delete

would you consider yourself psychotic? actually, how would you describe yourself to someone who has never met you?
Um, yes to the 'psychotic' part. Not clinically psychotic, but not mainstream-normal. How would I describe myself? ... I'll just be lazy and jack my tumblr 'about me': JEN: permanently caffeinated little asian girl with a tendency to spout snark & inanity. periodically found barefoot.

espond Delete

so. where did you apply to for university?
Seriously? Well this is a reaaaal original question. I suppose it comes with being a senior. But: UChicago (got in YAAY), Hahvahd, Yale, and JHU (biomedical engineering)

Closure

2010-01-26T17:02:00.002+08:00

I will get to formspring questions soon, but for now, I just wanted to say that I am done.

I am done with high school academics, I am done with late night cramming, I am done with overdosing on caffeine in the hopes that I would be able to figure out that one last calc question, I am done with some incredibly irrational teachers and test writers who can't tell the difference between percentages and raw numbers, and I am done done done with almost starting to hate reading because of endless bulshitted essays about the nature of tragedy.

So long, HS. If I wasn't really done with you after first semester exams, I'm done with you now. That last report card sealed it for me. I won't miss you (or at least not until I get to the apparent perpetual stress haven that is college).

jumping on the bandwagon

2010-01-17T21:52:00.002+08:00

This is in part also because I feel guilty for never posting anything interesting on here. But anyways:

http://formspring.me/jenniferh125

Ask me any and all questions, anonymously or otherwise. I will attempt to answer without any extra-biting sarcasm/get back to writing actual stuff soon.

Holiday Epiphanies

2009-12-31T22:14:00.002+08:00

Skiing while hungover is not fun.
Male ski instructors are always either hot, cute, nice, cute and nice, or just nice. Never hot and nice. And they are all insane.
I can never ever ever become a middle school/lower-high-school teacher. Because the one time I had to ski with 13-14 year olds I nearly stuck my pole up all their asses (MY SKI POLE YOU PERVERT)
British Columbia/Whistler/Vancouver is actually the most beautiful place on earth.
I'M IN COLLEGE BITCHEZ (this actually only hit me a week ago)
I can, as a matter of fact, get senioritis. Major, major senioritis.
The Dark Knight is a fucking damn good movie.
Canadian beer/icewine is better than any of the shit they serve here
I have not done any math homework this entire quarter and it is all going to catch up on me within the next two days. YAAAY
The mark of a truly alcohol-driven city is:

2009-12-25T13:05:00.001+08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
(aka the three people that read this)

huh

2009-11-11T21:01:00.005+08:00

I've always been one of those azn-nerdy types who chose to stay home and study for some "HUGEASS TEST" (that was probably actually not so huge) instead of going out and doing something fun. Or at the more intellectually invigorating than sitting in front of a textbook studying shit.

But I'd like to say that I've been getting better on that front. As in I'm actually becoming nerdier in becoming less of a "nerd".

(Which is kind of paradoxical up front, especially as I am in no way eloquent right now, but actually kind of makes sense. Chinese kids - or Asians in general, I guess - are famous for their learning strategy of what us Canto kids call "sei gei". Literally translated, that's "die memorize." That's pretty much an accurate description of schooling, and is also a fantastic validation of Ken Robinson's theory that education kills creativity. As John Hodgman said at the 2009 Radio and TV Correspondents' Dinner, the true 'nerds' are the ones that ask the questions; the ones that choose to explore beyond what the world - or in my case, our school - says we should be concerned with. So really, those little azns with the hunched backs and the glasses and the ZOMGIONLYHAVEA3.99attitude aren't the nerds - the nerds are the ones with the OHHEYISORTOFAZNFAILEDTHATDAMNITBUTATLEASTILEARNTSOMETHING NEWANDTHOUGHTOFSHITTHATINEVERTHOUGHTABOUTBEFOREINSTEADOFCRAMMING FORSHITTHATIDONTCAREABOUT attitude.)

...Anyways, I think I digressed.

MAIN POINT HERE-ISH: Despite the fact that I have two quizzes on shit that I don't know tomorrow, in addition to a physics test that I'm completely unprepared for, I attended a physics lecture at school (regardless of the fact that the extra credit probably won't help me any), and the Intelligence Squared debate on climate policy that was completely school-irrelevant. And I don't think I'll regret it, in the long run. Maybe for a little bit when I get that test back with a big fat "F" scrawled on top of it, but not in the long run. 'cause hey, as Mark Twain kind-of-half-said, who wants to let their schooling interfere with their education?

Not me.

Well, at least not anymore. Sort of.

MY GOD I NEED SOME SLEEP

Ugh.

2009-11-08T21:13:00.003+08:00

I am inordinately PISSED right now, which probably means that I'll end up retracting this post later, but whatever.

It's now November 8, and I haven't gotten my senior privileges yet. Some other people have, but I haven't (YES THIS IS A SELFISH POST SUCK IT UP).

The administration has always stressed that senior privileges are a privilege, and that we as a class, and as individuals have to earn them. They've told us that those who have next to no demerits, who have turned all their forms in on time will be first in line to get their privileges. Well, guess what? Here is a girl who has never had any demerits (through a combination of being an actually nice little obedient student and just being sneaky), and who turned all her forms in on time and who hasn't gotten her privileges yet. So, HKIS, fuck your goddamn platitudes, own up to the fact that your system is flawed as all hell, apologize, and GIVE ME MY PRIVILEGES SO I CAN GET MY DAMN STARBS FIX DURING MY DOUBLE LUNCH TOMORROW. I earned it.

...Bitches.

GRRR

BAD: Climate Change

2009-10-15T20:57:00.002+08:00

Or more like Blog Action Day: Climate Change.

'Cause, you know, not all climate change is bad. That thing where Earth stopped being a ball of toxic fumes and turned into the lovely little blue-and-green thing it is now was pretty decent.

Anyways.

....Damnit, I really can't be bothered to write this. The main point you should take away from this post: IF IT'S YELLOW LET IT MELLOW, IF IT'S BROWN, FLUSH IT DOWN.

Cameron Diaz does it. Why can't you?

And if you don't, lots of little critters die. And you don't want that. So while it's not easy being green, it'll be harder not to be.

There is a severe logical disconnect somewhere in here. Whatever. It will suffice in guilt tripping myself into being a little more eco-friendly. And a drop in the ocean is still a couple hundred water molecules, so I'm making some sort of change here. Right?

Don't answer.

where is the love? (@alan)

2009-10-08T22:32:00.006+08:00

DISCLAIMER: I am going to be partly amused and partly peeved if I get 'caught' for 'plagiarizing' this for Chuan Long. I wrote this for CL, but posted it on the WWW because about two other people that aren't little high schoolers might also want to read this crappy little piece. Enjoy (or not). Oh, and let me make it very very very clear that I am all for service, just not service in the form that it's taken at HKIS.

I am resigned to the fact that the minds of the few that will read this article will jump right to the Black Eyed Peas anthem. What I am asking, though, is slightly different from what will.i.am was singing from radios all over the world. I am not interested in the C.I.A, the Crips or the KKK – what I am interested in is the state of fundraising service clubs within HKIS.

It should be no secret that service doesn’t represent what it used to, at least within the confines of our high school, where students flock to service clubs like flies to a cadaver. Each year, Interact draws around 90-100 people, the vast majority of which are also involved in fundraising clubs similar to it. The appeal of joining a service club lies not in what the aim of the particular club is; it doesn’t matter whether the club is designed to provide terminally ill children with their dying wish, or to raise money for Africa. The appeal lies in the fact that most students see fundraising clubs as a gold mine of personal profit. Students join clubs to succeed – they stay with the club for three or four years so that they can get a leadership position. The leadership position will then get them into an Ivy League university, which will then land them a lucrative position at a Fortune 500 company, which will ultimately lead to a life of affluence and ,presumably, happiness. Nowhere within that equation does the welfare of the people they are helping come into account. Students that do care for the cause they are working towards are rare surprises. An informal survey of leaders of a handful of fundraising clubs found that none knew anything but a brief history of their club – if even that. It is ironic, and very telling, that the very people that are supposed to be the most passionate about their work know nearly nothing about the cause they are working towards. This, more than anything, is why I am asking ‘where is the love?’

The goal of personal success is not just implicit in the fact that students join clubs so that they can one day become one of the Harvard elite. Charity is now a business, and it’s a booming one. The school hallways in early September are a mélange of posters and flyers from each club, jockeying for space and attention. Every two weeks or so, there is a fundraiser of one sort or another in the cafeteria, raising money for whatever club is in the spotlight that week. The World Fair is chock full of various service clubs mindlessly hawking commodities that will help the underprivileged group du jour, without a care as to where the money they are raising is going. Club members, or at the very least, club leaders, do not measure their lives in coffee spoons, or in daylights, or in miles. Rather, they measure their lives by the amount of money they have raised for whatever cause.

The fact is that service has become commercialized. That’s hardly what it should be. I am not naïve enough to think that fundraising does not have its place in the world. We live in a capitalist world, and cash is cash is cash. What I do think, though, is that the HKIS community needs to care more about the people they are serving – to actually give some thought and some love to the underprivileged, instead of merely manipulating their plight for our own selfish wants. Service is about raising money, and it is about business. But primarily, it should be about doing small deeds with great love, as Mother Theresa once said.

And if that doesn’t mean anything to you, think about when you sit down with an alum of the college of your choice, whether that be in a month or in a year. You’re nervous, and in your mind, you’re rehearsing the speech you’ve been practicing in the mirror for the past three weeks. He or she asks you what extracurricular activities you’re involved in. You sigh. That’s an easy one, right? You answer simply, “I’m the leader of the (insert-name-here) branch at my school.” That’s when the bomb drops. “Oh. I’ve heard about that. How did that club get started? Not in your school, I mean. In general.” Now, don’t you wish you knew the story of little Christopher James Greicius (or whoever is applicable in your case), so you wouldn’t have to just sit there looking like a cold-hearted working machine?

That’s what I thought.

HAAAAVE YOU MET THOMAS?

2009-10-07T17:35:00.000+08:00

This short australian-chinese-hybrid-thing will have you in permanent stitches..

Just take a look at that punny-ass face.

Happy 15th, Homas.

I would make a pun for you as a gift, but I can only think of really bad ones at the present (GEDDIT) moment. (Q.E.D)

起来;不愿做奴隶的人们--

2009-10-04T09:25:00.002+08:00

Photo Credit: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/china_celebrates_60_years.html

For all of its problems and inconsistencies, I am still ridiculously proud to be from China. She's come a long way in the last 60 years - even if she hasn't always done things in ways that I personally agree with.

Happy belated 60th, China. You've got a bright, weird future ahead of you.

HORNY

2009-09-11T21:08:00.002+08:00

So today in APES class, we were talking about typical American bugs and shit that you would find on a typical piece of rotting fucking wood.

One of them was the long-horned beetle. Of course, no one knows 'the fuck they are, and we tell Mully as much. And she goes...

"Weeeelll... I used to live in Texas. And I was constantly freaked out 'cause the animals there are huge! The spiders are like the size of my hand, and the cockroaches.... ANYWAYS. so one night i was looking out the window and there were these rats. Big huge rats. and they were just kind of staring at me and they wouldn't go away. So I was knockin' on the window and trying to get'em to go away, and then I notice the bush is moving. So I go outside, and look at the bush. And it's the long-horned beetles mating. ALL OF THEM. It was some kind of big long chain gang...bang! And they were all screwing the one in front of them and layin' eggs all over the place and.. yeah. That's what I know about those."

Normal teacher, right? Right?

...I'm still laughing.

AUG/SEPTEMBER: school and things

2009-09-05T15:14:00.005+08:00

that was totally a misnomer. this is more about what i've been doing out of school (which admittedly is not much), instead of what i'm up to in school.

i mean seriously, i'm three weeks into the school year, and i'm already up to my ears in homework and not doing college applications and whatnot. seriously, this year has been junior year^2 in terms of workload, and i already have too frees. so lil'uns? if they tell you that junior year is the worst school year ever, don't listen to them. especially if you decide to put more on your plate than you can conceivably eat without getting serious indigestion. and that was a really, really, bad metaphor for stress, but whatever.

it's exhilirating, though. in a twisted, busy, kind of way. i have all this homework - but i don't really mind doing a lot of it - and hey, i want to go to college, so i guess i can sacrifice some of my precious (NAWT) time to write a couple of (BULLSHIT) essays.
speaking of which, marie and i have decided that my bullshit skills need some serious refinery. in my own words, my bullshit comes out more like 'shit without the bull'. something in there doesn't make sense, but that's the state of my mind right now.
and then there's everything else - finally learning how to do the rubik's cube, being extremely obnoxious about ambrosia and getting people to submit, coming up with new and ingenuous ways to kill people, celebrating corey's birthday by means of intense foot-molestation with thomas, doing random nerdy shit with the (ex)boyfriend, and just livin' the vida loca (hah ricky martin flashbacks anyone?)

bloop bloop bloop.

i'll probably get progressively crankier as the weeks go by -but hey, whatever. it'll all be worth it in the end. or at least that's what i'm hoping. it's weird, because i'm never optimistic about anything, but i guess i just figured that wishful thinking is healthier than living under a cloud of gloom and doom all the time.

(ALSO WHY HAVE I NOT POSTED ABOUT MY SUMMER YET?! I SUCK.)

hell, no reason, go on and scream

2009-08-27T20:41:00.003+08:00

sometimes i lose all respect for myself, and wonder why the fuck i never learn. this is one of those times. usually, i can put on a smile - or a sneer (as the case may be), and i tell myself that i'm okay, and that i know what i'm doing and what i want from myself and everyone else. tonight, i'm tired, and all i want to do is lie down and gradually sink into rays of white light until all that's left of me is a toenail or two. but i know i can't, and even if i could, i wouldn't - but maybe tomorrow i'll wake up and be magically rid of these self-imposed, bullshit issues of mine.

WHY

2009-08-17T21:47:00.002+08:00

THE HELL DO I HAVE TO WAKE UP FOR SCHOOL IN EIGHT HOURS AND 13 MINUTES?

in the meantime

2009-08-15T22:58:00.005+08:00

While I'm drafting up my post on Beijing and the like (actually I really only have the title down. oh well), I'll satisfy my gigantic, insatiable blog-audience of about 2 with this thingy.

I stepped out of HKIA in a record 15 minutes and immediately rushed back inside because I felt like I was fucking swimming. How the hell is honkers so damn humid? It's like walking into a steam room with all your clothes on. But anyways - ran into mulligan at the terminal and finally realized that it's back-to-school time. Seriously, where on earth did summer go? Maybe it's because I've spent the last month working, but it definitely does not feel like it's time to start getting up at 6 everyday again. And I'm a senior?! What? I'm approximately five years old, really.

Um, I digress.

Where was I?

Oh, right. The last two days. Well, the night I got back I was suckered into eating dinner with a childhood friend who was visiting from Vancouver (who I love dearly but if it weren't for the fact that the food was so much damn better than the stuff I had in BJ I would have probably fallen asleep early). I really don't know what I'll do without proper Canto food during college. And then I went over to Corey's, fully expecting that him and Patrick would be playing Go.

They were. I was there for an hour. They played for an hour.

But, I mean it was good seeing them again. I think. Although really all I did was distract them by humming Christmas songs. And then I got back home and squished into my squishy bed and my life was happy and dandy again.

Um, I don't remember what happened yesterday, except John left. And I was forced into another dinner with Dad's friends. And, um. ...Temporary amnesia.

Oh! I stayed up until 4 reading, and then didn't wake up until 1pm today.
And today:

______ showed me the results of hiking up dragon's back: a very sweaty crotch.
Went to Corey's and toasted two-day-old egg tarts (they had been refridgerated, don't worry) and swam down to the IFC where we had the most amazing latte ever and did nothing until Stephen came and we awkwardly swayed to jazz and did the awkward metronome.
Met Nick/Sheron and did some more awkward swaying
Waited for Yvonne
Waited for Yvonne some more.
Saw Yvonne.
Did yoga in the middle of IFC?
Gave Suen some lady-curves
College-d w/ the Cors / tried to figure out what we would do on a free afternoon
Went to another dinner with Dad's people. The only parts I enjoyed were:

Coffee ice cream + green tea creme brulee. Heaven.
Getting to wear my new shoes:And no, I didn't wear my pants like that. I love exposed zippers. I have no idea why.

I love my mommy too.

Peace out.

On Lame Questions (1)

2009-07-21T15:18:00.000+08:00

I'm sitting in my tiny cubicle waiting for my gels to finish running and for my PCRs to be done - so what to I do? I get guilt tripped into starting on college things by my fellow intern, Meera. (By the way - how ridiculous is the name of the place I'm working at FOR THE SECOND SUMMER IN A ROW: PKU-Yale Joint Research Center for Plant Molecular Biology and Agrobiotechnology/ National Laboratory for Protein Engineering and Plant Genetic Engineering? Veerrrrry)

While editting and going through my Junior Questionnaire, I came across this question: "What person or people (real or fictional) outside your family have had the greatest influence on you? What was that influence?" The Jennifer of six months ago wrote some horseshit on JLB and creativity and blahdeblahblah. The Jennifer of 14:07, July 21 2009 just realized that she hates this kind of question.

There are people I admire, yes. Maybe even people I look up to and have some point in time half-wished to be. But none of them have had a "great influence" on me. It's not exactly like I wake up every morning thinking "Maaaan, I wish I were more like Nelson Mandela" and then go about my day trying to end the non-existent apartheid in Hong Kong. I mean, Condoleeza Rice is a damn cool woman - but I'm not wearing power suits and acting like a crocodile with a poker shoved up my ass. I'm not about to go off and get a tattoo of random coordinates down my back just because I think Angelina Jolie is gorgeous. Hell, I'm not even going to go to Africa and go virus hunting even though I really admire what Nathan Wolfe (GVFI)is doing. Naw, even the most famous and virtuous humans to have ever lived haven't had a 'great influence' on me. Honestly, the loner sitting in an office making tax policies all day has probably had a bigger direct influence on my life than any of those guys, no matter how respectable they are.

"Well then, what about all the little people that have influenced you?", you say? That girl on the street wearing the cool outfit might influence me to go buy a similar shirt - but come on, that's just one shirt out of the 40 or so I have in my closet. The dude(s) who introduced me to coffee? Yeah, but someone else told me to try the Toffee Nut Latte. Food and clothing too shallow for you? All right then, let's head on to the big bad topic of religion. I'm atheist, but before that I used to be militant about it, and before that I was agnostic, and before THAT I was a wee little God-fearing girl, and before that... well, I don't remember exactly what I was. (A fetus, maybe?) What influenced me along the way? Well, there were those damn annoying people on the MTR trying to convert me, and then Richard Dawkins was somewhere in there too, Mr.Leese, I suppose, - oh, and whoever decided to make my secondary school a Catholic one. And some other people too.

What I'm trying to get at is that I'm not simply some hotpot with chunks of other people thrown in and brought to a boil. I can't simply divvy up hunks of me, present them to various people and say "here's the part of me that you've influenced!" That would just be gross. And stupid.("And because you have the biggest chunk of me, I get to write all about you on my Junior questionnaire! YAAAAY")Asking me to name the person with the greatest influence on my life is essentially asking me to break down and quantify myself. I'm neither willing nor capable of doing that. So my answer to you, Naviance? "N/A"

...Grr.

P.S. Yaaaaay creeping past firewalls.
P.P.S. Will post about Beijing/job later.

HOOOONKERS

2009-07-10T12:58:00.003+08:00

I am once again about to get aboard a jet plane (I never seem to want to blog at any other time) after a measly six full days in Hong Kong. I'm pleased to say that I have done absolutely nothing
"constructive" during my time here - unless you call reading 10 pages of a 300 page long math book on group theory / Galois constructive.

On the other hand, I have been doing some much-needed viewing of the original Star Wars trilogy. Being the complete n00b that I am, I ended up watching VI on MegaMovies yesterday despite various cinelitists' (I'm lookin' at you, Nelsy) complaints that "YOU DON'T WATCH EPIC MOVIES LIKE STAR WARS ON STREAMING". Well, screw that - Ewoks are just as damn cute sidereeled. (Besides, torrents take forever and I've never been one for delayed gratification)Isn't it the cutest little thing EVER?

I'm happy to say that I can now engage in extremely lame but fulfilling Star Wars trivia battles with johnjohn. Other than that I haven't really done anything particularly worth mentioning. Lots of trying to get over jet-lag, lots of seeing Nels/Patrick and other assorted people, lots of hiding from the heat, not enough seeing Jna for the last time before she leaves for St.Louis :(

But anyways, I'm headed off to Beijing now for a month of stinking academia and hot air (literally and figuratively). The problem with going back to the mainland is that I inevitably have to meet up with Daddy's business partners/friends/clients. After a certain point, rotting yellow teeth, tobacco breath, large amounts of alcohol and even larger egos get damn tiring. And it's not like I even have all that much to look forward to - lab work is 10% procedure, 90% waiting and 0% innovation. On top of that, I have schoolwork to begin and college to.. think about. It's odd, 'cause summer isn't even half over and yet it feels like it's already ended. And on that lovely note....

Finally watched it a few days ago. Subtract all of PYu's cynical comments and this is seriously the cutest, most subtly nerdy movie I've ever seen. Much love, Pixar. (EVERYONE SEE UP!)

Why I Come Back

2009-06-18T23:27:00.002+08:00

10. So that this damn house actually gets lived in.

9. The Dollar Store in Kerrisdale, and all the dusty, uesless piles of crap in there
8. Half-decent radio stations, as opposed to the crap we get in Hong Kong

7. Purdy's Ice Cream Bars (mmm)

6. Extra-cute bumblebees in the backyard

5. Mickey D's with playgrounds and balcony seats.

4. Bumping down the stairs on my butt

3. Chapters: Fucking gigantic (three-storey) book store with adjoining Starbucks.
2. Sunsets @ 10 pm

1. My own swing set. 'Nuff said, really.

June:

2009-06-16T23:28:00.002+08:00

It's almost a little sad because I don't really remember what I've been up to this month. I went on a brief diary hiatus (worst unconscious decision EVER) and now I don't remember 90% of what I've done. There's my horrible memory to blame, and then there's the fact that this month has just gone by far too fast.

There were exams, followed by SAT2s, and then John came home, and then it was graduation. And then summer began, somewhere in there. It's been lovely waking up at 11 all the time, and not having to worry about homework and grades and whatnot - but it doesn't quite feel like summer yet. Maybe it's the fact that the weather in Hong Kong is miserable, or the fact that I still haven't gone beaching yet, or that I have a work-hangover from junior year. Whatever it is, my 2 month long break feels more like a long weekend. I'm boarding a plane in oh, 10 or so minutes, but brief run-down of things I have done thus far:

Attended graduation (LOVE YOU GUYS & CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN); skipped out on helping out for NHS and hung out with Jna, Corey, Thomas instead. Ate unhealthy amounts of microwavable dimsum & brownie-cake, and played piano all by my lonesome for 1.5 hours or so.
Pirate-themed pretentious movie night; terrorized Wellcome w/ the weird-triad, got tickled half to death by s2tephen, made piles of sexual nnuendoes and salivated over JGL.
Star Trek w/ Patrick (good movie go watch!) & Central-wandering.
Kicked some MSC tutor applicants out, IFC hobo-ing w/ Marie & Ryan. JGL>Charlie Eppes
Lazy afternoon w/ PYu watching Eternal Sunshine and doing nothing.

Not a bad start to summer, I guess.

Also: SHIT I HAVE TO BOARD NOW BYE HONG KONG

summertime (and the livin' is easy)

2009-06-14T11:29:00.002+08:00

If you find ever find yourself with nothing to do, here is Jennifer's master list of things to do over the summer(I take no responsibility for your actions!):

Acquire Snorlax suit.
Run around the poshest mall in your vicinity (Harvey Nichols!) in aforementioned suit, preferably with other Pokemon.
Create 42 pop-up books on the virtues of eating cereal soaked in red bull for lunch and hawk copies on the streets of Lan Kwai
Find Ani Ashekian
Create new web troll (preferably less graphic than goatse.cx and less lame than rickrollin') and spread without help of youtube
Finish all 3 seasons of Arrested Development in 1 day (it's possible, I calculated it)
Create any sort of wicked cool Rube Goldberg machine.
VISIT ME IN BEIJING
Blast Backstreet Boys from the car while ridin' down the street in gangsta shades (NEVER MIND DONE THAT ALREADY)

(more to come later when my mind gets messed up enough)

junioritis (or i am not working and doing this instead)

2009-06-01T20:39:00.006+08:00

there are an infinite number of things to do within the next week or so, and i have no motivation whatsoever to do any of them.

for one, there's my chinese oral on wednesday on the most useless topics in the world (am i happy? of course i'm not, you idiot, i still have to fucking work so as to not fail this thing ), and for another there's the actual written exam on friday. and since the last chinese test i took was the closest i've ever gotten to failing in, well, ages, i should probably pry open that horrendous falling-apart blue book and read it. except the last time i did that i ended up reading the text cadentially in a monotone, whilst slipping in a snide comment every half a sentence or so. (i.e. 我已经听得一头雾水了我已经读得一头雾水了举例子来说吧...)whatever. chinese is a pretty enough language when you're reading it at your leisure or just staring gape-mouthed at the TV, but when learnt in school it is nothing if not hellish.

and then there are the SATII's. i've cleverly gotten myself into a little predicament whereupon i discovered recently (read: a week ago) that i don't actually know 75% of the material covered in the physics exam, thanks in most part to a crappily-planned-out hon's physics curriculum. but no, i'm not planning on doing anything about it anytime soon.

not that i'm not having at least some fun doing my homework - the APGov final project requires that i make food from the muzzerland - errr, Russia. i attempted making the dough for pelmeni (aka russian jiaozi) yesterday. 'attempted' is the operative word here. please go talk to a certain mr. corey andrew nelson for a slightly incredulous and incredibly deriding commentary on just how bad i am in the kitchen. my flour indentation was more along the lines of a flour dent, and the raw egg slipped and slided all over the cutting board we used instead of a plastic bowl. it was disgusting beyond measure. however, they turned out decently enough - they're folded a little weirdly, but:
kindly ignore jeremy in the background. alternatively, greet him by waving frantically at your computer screen. seriously! it'll work!

i may spend far too much time with the nelsons to be good for my overall sanity, but the facial expressions i get are well worth it. plus, II17 is always fun - one time, Nabakov got so drunk he ended up lighting his pants on fire. (please see http://tillhumanvoices.wordpress.com/ for more excellent puns)

to be honest, life has simply been far too atypically enjoyable (hello prom, beach-ing, team dinner, other-fun-things-adinfinitum) and the weather is finally clearing up and everything is just so peachykeen (yes i did just go there) (yes i use too many parantheses, what of it?) that working on things i have no interest in for the sake of a little letter 'A' seems outrageous if not downright criminal.

summer is here regardless of whether or not it actually is. i am more than ready to set aside lenz's law, huck finn, pelmeni, zhongwen, and whatever bullshit that's left and party like the senior i'm not but wish i could be.

summer 2009 here i come! :)

P.S. SEE ALL OF YOU NON-EXISTENT BLOGREADERS @ POETRY NIGHT TOMORROW AT THE HKIS HS ISLAND 7PM (shameless advertising? hell yeah)

sea lions

2009-05-06T21:32:00.013+08:00

So, one of of the questions on the "2005-2006" Ambrosia editor app (hi yvonne) was "Write a sentence about a sea lion". I thought it would be interesting to ask all the weird people in my life to make one up on the spot, and here are the results:

(by the way none of these will appear on my app because that'd be plagiarism.. or something)

Me: "My friend becomes a sea lion after a dip in the pool." / "For Hire: Baby sea lions, no whiskers"
Amanda C: "My sea lion is ugly"
Corey: "I swim through social circles, a sea lion amongst little plankton, subject to my will."
Sam Z: The sea lion stretched out in the sun on his big black rock as the waves crashed onto the shore.
Larry: (not quite understanding the task at hand) "They remind me of Corey."
(See the resemblance? Uncanny, no?)
Sheina: My brother has an uncanny resemblance to a sea lion.
(THAT WAS A COINCIDENCE)
Thomas: "The sea lion reared its head and growled at my nephew."

...etc.

On other news, APs are finally over and done with - and I'm not quite sure who's more relieved, myself or...

It has also recently been brought to my attention that I am clumsy to the point of absolute ridiculousness: I have a bruise on my face for accidentally leaning down on a cubicle wall (so in case you were wondering, I'm not an abused child), a gigantic wound/bruise on my foot from running up a down escalator and not quite making the jump, and an assortment of other little injuries that I can't quite recall acquiring. Oh, and then there's always:

S'all for now, folks. I have yet to get back into the rhythm of blogging regularly - maybe more later.

too tired for substance

2009-04-27T23:31:00.003+08:00

I tell my love to wreck it all
Cut out all the ropes and let me fall
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Right in the moment this order's tall
--Skinny Love; Bon Iver

Swine Flu should be renamed as manbirdpig; I can't fathom why there is a movie named 'Legally Blondes', and why the fuck is there so much work to do?

i tell my love to wreck it all
cut all the ropes and let me fall....

What I Do During A Calculus Mock

2009-04-18T22:22:00.007+08:00

...instead of calculus.

The poem itself is really unfinished and messy and generally speaks of a calculus-induced torpor, but here's a transcript anyways, since my handwriting is never quite legible and the quality of the picture is bad:

triangles

you are their master
you nail-biting,
stagnant fool.

each razor-blade edge,
smeared haphazard -
swirling and slicing
to their territorial rhythm.

pointed joints,
dancing three-by-three.
trapping your moments,
so that you may
explode in their silence.

On ExCo Elections

2009-04-16T17:02:00.006+08:00

Well, it's that time of the year again. Crappy Photoshop jobs go up on the walls, sticky fingers press stickers onto grudging (sticky) strangers and the heckling and amateur politicking begin anew.

Speaking of which, what the hell is Charles' Stalin-esque poster doing up on the balcony in all it's melodramatic glory? Does he not realize that 99% of the student population would rather crawl on all fours into a damp, dark corner and weep and starve and pray for days on end than run against him? Even without that poster up there? Which - perhaps - is why he doesn't have any competitors for the Presiding Officer position, which is, arguably, the most desirable spot in ExCo?

But I digress.

ExCo positions are all too often coveted for their perceived ability to get you into the college of your choosing. Sure, it can add a little boost to your CV, but that's not why anyone should be running for a damn senate position. Nor, for that matter, is an uncomfortably cliche wish to 'give back to the school'. As Yvonne so aptly put it, HKIS is not a damn charity case. HKIS is an institution - a ever-changing machine that requires constant attention and constant maintenance. We don't need senators to spout bullshit about change and betterment and hope and butterflies and rainbows and iridescent donkeys. Hell, even Obama had to give some actual plans for policy - and he is way better of an orator than anyone in our school could even dream of being. We need people with substance, who can actually instigate change - not just talk about it.

And if you don't have a clear-cut idea of how you want this school to change, then you shouldn't be running. And if you shouldn't be running, don't run. It's really that simple. HKIS is far from perfect, and the students know it. What we don't know, however, is what you plan on changing, and more importantly, how you plan on changing it. It's all very well and good for you to promise to "make every day a day 8" - but how would you get that by the board of (old, conservative and stingy) directors? You want more school spirit? - Did you plan on re-programming the minds of 500 odd students and converting them into screaming, cheering, pep fanatics? The fact of the matter is, HKIS has probably heard most of the promises you future senators will be giving tomorrow. If you want votes for reasons other than your looks (or lack thereof) or your popularity - you'll have to show us that you're more than just a talking head.

Good luck everybody. You might just need it.

HydrationSchmation

2009-04-02T21:15:00.000+08:00

I would C&P the epic fb conversation that initiated this blogging tomfoolery, but alas, facebook has left out the history option despite it's feeble attempt to become twitter or whatever crap web 2.0 app people are losing money in these days

++ Why are all of these SC plaintiff/defendant names so odd? "Palk" "Chaplinksy" "Gitlow" (I keep on mixing Gitlow w/ Gitmo. Bad brain. Down brain. Sit brain. Oh - that reminds me about the dude who had some ridiculously large cerebral cavity that rendered his brain the size of a chicken egg.)

+++ Also, no one cares BUT WHY IS THIS FREAKING NORTHWEST DIVISION SO BLOODY TIGHT? 93 PTS : 92 PTS? NUUUUUUUUUUCKS! (NUTS!)