migblog

one thing i like the most about berkeley weather is the rain part. i love the rain. it reminds me of my childhood a lot, when we'd go outside and play and get soaked. it never happens here, but school would sometimes get canceled because of rain. storms or typhoons or monsoons, that was the best part about living in a country in the torrid zone. it would sometimes happen, though, that school would get canceled as we were on the way to school, so by the time we got to school and saw no one there we'd realize that it was a free day and head straight back home. the smell of the air, too, right before and right after it rains -- it brings me back, and i really like that. the only thing i'd miss would be a waft of cigarette smoke and a humid summer evening with a tinge of alcohol and something on the grill. that's a complete memory of my childhood in the philippines, hanging around everybody who would be in such the gathering.

as for recent goings-on: getting back in the swing of things is fun, but very difficult and laborious at the same time. one after another, it's meetings, essay revisions, papers, lectures, presentation groups, oral workshops, literary analysis of poetic rhetoric in spanish, portuguese grammar sessions, discussion section, dates, dinner meetings, getting food, trying to stay sane, thinking of what i can do to make someone smile, wind ensemble rehearsals, avoiding those goddamned people with the picket signs and fliers trying to get themselves elected into the asuc senate, going to brh, making masters for davis picnic day packets, homework, e-mails... it just never ends. it's definitely nice to be back, though.

and oh yes, the planned china trip was cancelled. the sars epidemic, the war on iraq, the fact that we really do not want to toy with the lives and safety of about one hundred people and take the hugest risk we want to take, those are some reasons. i'm bummed out that we're not going, but i know it's definitely for the better, and that those six people in ex-comm must have had the hardest time to decide something like that. it would have been a disaster, just thinking of the ramifications that could occur as a result of going. we can't live in what ifs and i regret thats and would haves, though. whatever they decided was what was the best for us, and i thank them for that.

i just caught up with a few of my best friends. that was nice talking to mikey and carie and nate. i really hadn't seen any of them for the longest time now. i think the last time i saw mike and carie were after graduation, a month after that. the last time i saw nate was over winter break. suffice to say that i haven't seen them at all this year, but it's good to know that we're all still very good friends after four years of stupid crap. i miss those guys a lot. maybe i'll plan a random weekend to just go back down to los angeles and catch up. that ought to be fun.

things are starting to pile up one after another again. midterm season is here, and in a mere few weeks finals are going to bite our heads off. i think it'll be better than last time. none of that crazy geology and social construction of race stuff this time around -- nope, this time, it's all smooth. i actually like the classes i'm in now.

i will survive.

posted by Open Source Food @ 7:44 AM