so tired...so sleepy. after a minor freakout/stress out/breakdown yesterday, i'm lacking sleep w/ much to read for organizations. i'm almost regretting signing up for this, considering organizational behavior is supposedly way easier. 11/18 on the wait list tho, so i guess i should forget about that. o well. these first few weeks are packed w/ stuff to do. you wouldnt think so, but they sure are. must go read this crap now...i know it's a short blog, but o well.

oww! stupid loft, i keep hitting my head on it. i need to put up a sign that says "WATCH YOUR STUPID HEAD". i better adjust soon, or i'm going to have welts all over.

anyways, first time teaching princeton review today, REAL teaching. went ok, i guess. verbal just isnt a very interesting topic. one kid in my class, yea. 280(or 290) on his verbal section. like a 340 on math, something like that. weird, huh? i sure hope i can help him raise his score. anyways, after class i returned to my room to do a few things, then decided to skip on over (or walk, actually) to the conservatory again since the weather was so nice. plus my room was a bit loud due to the football game going on outside my window. (btw, my room is essentially on the 50 yard line). conservatory was beautiful, sunny, flowers were blooming...last time i went was nice too, but that was the end of winter. anyways, highlights of my trip:
1. the butterfly garden. i dont know what it is about butterflies, but seeing them makes me happy. there were so many just darting around my head, and there i am, trying to figure out what species it is. one of my more favs are the peacock ones. they're white w/ these pearly colored decorations on the wings.

2. the sensitive plant. that's what the tag says. you touch it, and the leaves all close up. it looks kinda fern-like. i vaguely remember my dad telling me about those when i was kid once, walking past my elementary school, but yea. i was SO entranced by this. i just sat around closing up all the leaves. hee hee. i got the woman next to me obsessed too. :)

3. the chocolate mint. so you rub your fingers against the leaves, and then you smell them, and it smells like chocolate mint! now if you know anything about me, you know my obsession w/ junior mints. mmMmmMm...yummy. i had half a mind to rip off a leaf, but then it'd probably stop working, so i decided against it.

4. some really nice smelling flowers...i dont remember which they were, i think a few were orchids. and of course, gardenias. i want a lot of gardenias when i grow up. they seriously smell so good.


5. the cooling zone. in the outdoors garden part, they had one of those pipe thingies you walk under, and it sprays you with water. it felt really nice. plus it was motion sensor, so it didnt go off till i walked through.

anyways, i had a really nice time just checking out the place, and spending some quiet time. school starts tomorrow, and things start getting hectic. this week, i've been having to wake up so early each day...blah. and my weekends from now till mid oct. will not be time to sleep in cuz of princeton review. the lengths i go to for money...seriously!

well, wish me luck this semester in school! i'll need it.

at school again. yes i'm in training. and yes i'm bored. it hasnt been so bad, but this girl...yea i'm SO not paying attention. although i should. anyways, so life back in pittsburgh is...umm...i dunno. i'm not really looking forward to starting school. today people start coming back. scoped out the freshman. not THAT bad i guess, they're alright. both sexes, that is. i really like my room. but then practically anything would be bigger than what i had last year. although my last year's bathroom kicked butt, and the one this year is smaller. o well, i'll live. the weather has actually been decent too. a bit hot in the afternoon, esp. since i'm walking around a lot now. sweating bullets. but then my room is now sooo freaking cold w/ the air conditioning, even when i turn it on the lowest and the warmest air. ooo my window looks out onto the 50 yard line! actually, it's exactly on the 40...but close enough. so i had a good view of playfair. i cant believe they didnt form the 07 thing. sucks for them. anyways, good dinner was prepared @ the asa house by jessma, ran, darren, and dave. good job yall! it's tony and my turn tonight. we'll do ok. hopefully. yea. and car gets picked up tonight. but have to WALK to the dealership. quite far.

more of the pis are coming back tonight...yay! soon enough, we will all be back.

so i leave TOMORROW! wow...so this summer has been kinda boring, but it's almost a bit sad it's coming to a close. part of me wants to stay at home being pampered and yelled at by my mom. hee hee. it IS my last summer spent at home, really. after this i should(keep your fingers crossed) have other stuff going on.

so this summer had a few awesome points(in no specific order), which i will now relate to you, the reader.

*my visit to houston was great. i got my pudding milk tea(TEA WITH MILK), had tay do, crawfish, gumbo, and spent quality time w/ many a friend including my jessica wang, eric liu, ann chin, patty puff carreon(you'll always be my patty puff :) , and pat hizon. i saw other people too, but yea. so many other things too, but too lazy to write.

*my trip to nyc for frank's birthday. of course, tony and jessma came from chicago and wv respectively, and frank's friends were a blast.

*hanging out w/ my sister/family. weird, but you would think the whole family splits up after kids graduate. not necessarily. my sister is only about 30 something miles away, and it's been refreshing having her here to keep me slightly sane. plus, we all know it's nice to be home w/ the parents, no matter how much they bug you.

*trip to to nyc again. my first real independent trip into the city. hung out w/ family friends at my sister's place, had good bbq, and then hung out w/ frank and his pre-college buddies. it was most definitely nice to get out of the house after being cooped up so long.

*sewing machine! one day i will take classes and get good at that stuff. cross stitching! crocheting!

*and lastly, my periodical talks w/ jessica wang on the phone. i think that kept me the most sane out of all. it brings back flashbacks of intermediate where we talked EVERY single day, where we'd call each other right when we got back from school. omg...we were such nuttos. i cant even remember what we talked about back then... and now we call each other randomly to discuss what color bedsheets to buy, what clothes to get, and of course our problems.

so that about sums up my summer.

ps: i just wanna say how much KOOLER blogger is compared to the xanga which has been down for a week. so HA to all you xanga folk.

so today was my last day of working @ banana. i have to say, it was probably one of my better work experiences, and definitely my best summer job ever. but then i can only compare to what, 3 other jobs? (we have yet to see whether princeton review is good. plus, it's not a summer thing) anyways, so it was good. only problem w/ retail is the lack of hours i get, but it's not so bad. plus i get to find out what clothes go on sale early, so i get first dibs. plus, dressing up people in clothes that make them really look good...it's an awesome feeling. i doubt boys would understand, but i think girls would. it's like when you're searching for a prom dress, and you know when you've finally found 'the dress'. you put it on, and it makes you look so good. i LOVE giving people that feeling at banana, esp. when i get to dress them from head to toe. luckily people here are rich enough to let me do that. :) dont get me wrong, working in retail isnt all fun and games. my store manager is one of those REALLY aggressive types that wants me to ask about the banana card to every soul on the face of this earth. i'm not into that. my other managers are pretty kool, more laid back and stuff. but when the store is doing poorly, when there's too many returns and no sales, it gets ugly. for instance, today. when i left, we only had +600. goal for the day was 3000. yea...we got so many freaking returns.

anyways, so i'm really glad i worked there this summer instead of victoria's secret. and i plan on going back to banana over thanksgiving for a few days, so i can earn some moola. probably work 'black friday' (day after thanksgiving), and maybe one more day, we'll see. family friends are coming up to NYC/NJ this thanksgiving, so i dont wanna work too much.

returning to school in 5 days.

o, btw, congrats to shawn for 'taking the jump'. hahahahaha. you got over your wussiness! YAY!

ahhhh yes talking to sma has once again reminded me of how much i once loved(and still love) cyc. ahh...yes. the good ole days. meeting my precious JESSICA WANG was probably the best thing camp ever did for me. classes shmasses. talking to your roomie at night and bonding before you go to sleep, getting ready to go the "dances" (omg prepping for those was SUCH a big deal back then. till we got older and totally stopped caring. hahaha). man, what teenyboppers we were. the no sleep we got and all the drama we went through, it was always worth it. i look back at that 'drama' and i think, i cant believe i was so worked up over that. then in more recent years there was everyone calling me a MEXICAN at reunion cuz of summer marching band. grrr. camp could bring together such diverse people from all over houston/dallas(before there was dcyc). it was so great. *sigh* i miss those days sorta. things were so much simpler. so many songs bring back different memories of camp for me...(i've been watching you like a hawk in the sky), (how do i live w/out you...), (lemontree), etc. gawd...just thinking back to those days... listening to jess's stories of her brother at camp, his toils and stuff... and yea. college is like one big camp. but now that we're more jaded(jess's word), it's just not the same.

and esp. jessica. i dont know how i would've managed life up to this point w/out her keeping me sane. i remember exchanging school pictures w/ her(that was SUCH the kool thing back then) and i was like WOAH she got PRETTY! the chick got contacts. anyways, from that point on we were booty buddies for life.

*sigh* to be young again...(and i'm not even 20!!!)

what is straw?
as in, what is it made out of?

never thought about it, did you. nor did i, nor most average people. but some random customer picks up a hat and asks cecilia that very question. why? i dont know. it's STRAW. right? and why did she ask someone who works at banana republic??


in case you ever wanted to know, straw is left over material after grains have been harvested, like wheat, etc. yes, i'm a nerdo and i looked it up. that's how i work.