migblog: 01.04

1.30.2004

oddly, one of the funniest and saddest things i remember about today is that in my linguistics lecture, on the very first slide of the presentation, it distinctly says (in bright red, too, mind you):

PLEASE TURN OFF ALL CELL PHONES.

minutes into the lecture, when professor garrett was presenting these alveolar and retroflex nasal sound differences, a cell phone starts beeping madly. half the class giggles, move on.

the phone rings again after about ten seconds. girl finally turns it off, more giggling, moving on.

about three minutes later, another cell phone goes off. i shake my head at all these irresponsible people.

and finally, one last cell phone, when professor garrett finally said, "please, turn off your cell phones" in the most nonchalant expression of the phrase ever.

i do go to berkeley, but kids aren't that dumb, are they?

i guess it's just the inconsideration. given, a lot of kids are "considerate," but they won't give joe homeless-person any change when he begs you for some, nor will they take a flyer if you hand them one at sproul. that's somewhat of a problem, self-sufficiency on campus: you get people who are all gung-ho about some topic, and then on the other extreme, you got kids who just don't care.

i'm way too involved to even say anything. in any case, boys and girls, next time we have linguistics lecture, turn off your motherfucking phones. it's only the respectful thing to do.

quick little update:

say goodbye to the tag-board, since the new look for the site (coming very, very soon) is going to be almost minimalistic.

go bears.

1.29.2004

busy weekend to come. holy jebus.

starting tomorrow morning:

- class from nine until three
- homework until five
- hb potluck at six-thirty
- th casino night at eight-thirty
- more homework when i get back
- minimal sleep
- berkeley art museum with kat at eleven
- bruno's first shb at one
- organizing shiz until six
- karaoke group meets at david's at six
- karaoke!
- get minimal sleep yet again
- catch up on homework
- superbowl party? in the city?
- minimal sleep

and then the weekly routine takes over. i have a feeling this is going to be particularly nasty.

thanks, though, to all of you who've been trying to make me feel better.

and thanks to those of you who've complimented me on my oboe playing. i do try, you know.

and now, good charlotte.

1.27.2004

even though i hung out with good people today, and had a fine ime in class, and hell, even got invited to th for dinner, is it really weird for me to feel sick to my stomach?

not physically sick, but just sick like the general feeling of disregarded malaise?

i feel terrible, even though i hung out with the crew, and they're good people.

i need to slap myself out of this lull, or else i'm not getting out of it at all.

ouch.

1.26.2004

the echoes and murmurs of "i really should be doing my homework" bug me, especially since now all of my classes have regular homework assignments, and i'm a very on-top-of-things-when-it-comes-to-homework-assignments kind of guy.

on that note i really should be doing my homework instead of writing this up, but then you wouldn't have known about my dislike of people who are hypocrites in such manners. then again, i don't really have any real homework -- just a page on spanish pre-roman civilization, so hoo-hah.

i didn't know my site had such readership from the glorious remarks made by a few people. on campus, no less. how interesting, how very, very interesting.

there's been something lingering in the back of my mind now, something that just made me feel like a horrible, horrible person. i can't quite put my finger on what it is exactly, but i think it's my being a little too jaded and disillusioned by everything that i let it pervade almost entirely all aspects of my life. i wouldn't want to get into specifics, but if you ask me in person, i'll gladly share. it's just one of those things that have made me, i dunno, a bit of an asshole recently, and to anyone i've offended, i'm really sorry.

but you really gotta know where it is i'm coming from, because if you don't, things get taken way out of proportion, and it's not fun considering the amount of bullshit i've already had to deal with. i guess karma decided that threefold would be life smacking me upside the head, and then tripping me, and then kicking me while i'm down.

not to say i'm depressed or anything; in fact, i've been in a relatively great mood this past week. but i think it's just time to say it outright: i made a mistake, i'm not going to do that ever again, and it sucks that my situation had inevitably brought other people with it.

in other news (more lighthearted ones, i guess), i'm really happy how my classes are going. nothing gets me riled up more than some solid phonetics discussions, or a mad stab at what the portuguese word for "imbecile" is. it's great seeing that everything academically is somewhat going to plan, and that in itself deserves a great huge sigh of relief. can you believe i'm already declaring the double major after this semester?

in other wondrous events of miguel's seemingly trivial and inconsequential everyday life, it's a marvel how everyone's seemed to just pair me up with someone else just by virtue of hanging out with that person a lot. it doesn't mean anything, people, it's called being with good friends and having a good time. although now that i think about it, lydia's trying to get me into so much trouble even though i'm going eleven months strong. (lydia, you know who i'm talking about.) but to qualm such rumours, no, it's not true, because i'm still going strong, and dammit, i'm happy.

most of the time, though, i've been finding it really awkward in some situations where i'm the third or fifth wheel. it was (and still is, for the most part) a lot weird hanging out with jake and angela, considering their dynamic is amazing. and here i go being lonely and melancholic, but i felt ridiculously awkward being with them, even though they're my best friends and they know that i'm usually not bothered by that. for a guy who's supposed to be a little too jaded and disillusioned, don't you think i would have cared a lot less? i guess it's just different when i don't see the person i'm with on a daily basis, but i try. and it's trying, even, maintaining a relationship.

my grandmother's not better, or so i hear. now i'm just really concerned for her health, even though i know most of the time i just get really irritated on how she has to remind me of every little thing every three seconds. it's a different feeling when you know someone's almost gone -- they're not fading per se, but you're setting yourself up for some kind of disappointment, almost like you're going to see a movie but you already know what's going to happen in the end because everyone else has told you. she helped me cope with living in the united states, and took care of me while i was still a silly little adolescent trying to figure out what the fuck to do with my life. it boggles me that her time is set, that this stupid fucking thing called cancer's gonna take her away from here.

i'm a little scared of what the immediate future's going to bring, because problems present themselves rather stupidly to me. they like to come along in big chunks, and then, resolve themselves and don't deal with me until another inordinately long amount of time, in which case they repeat the process and decide to bludgeon me in the head, spear me by my nape, and dispose accordingly. (that one was for the phonez. and no, phonez aren't my problem. anymore, at least.)

so, if you see me on campus just a bit under the weather, or a lot stressed, or just not wanting to deal with anything, blame the me who's too jaded and disillusioned to carry out normal functioning minutiae because apathy seemed to be the best answer at the moment. slap me upside the head, feel free to cheer me up. i guarantee you that i won't crack a smile, though, because these are trying times, my friend, very trying times.

sometimes i wish i were a paper airplane, you know: fragile, flying somehow gracefully in the air, and then, all of a sudden crash, boom, crumpled into garbage and left to be recycled. i wish i could be recycled after every boom. all that's left to do now, really, is sleep in, and that's not fun.

nineteen units, hardboiled and x, cal band, surviving finals and midterms, wind ensemble concerts, family issues, financial crises, legal agreements, smoking, drinking, and maintaining a social life. i feel like life just slapped me with thirty units, and i'm still looking for a job which i so desperately need.

now that i've been smacked upside the head, tripped, and kicked while i'm down, should i even try to get up?

fucking power outage last night. i couldn't do anything. not even homework.

at least i got to watch last week's alias. this week was the golden globes, and honestly, awards shows are stupidly overrated.

and now, time for class. i'll see you all soon.

1.25.2004

i feel like a very boring person. a very boring, bored person.

it's sunday, so what can you do? i'm sitting here doing homeowrk waiting for alias to come on so i can finally talk to other people about the episode from last week and then this one.

i want to be overwhelmed -- is that such a bad thing? i guess that's partly the reason i want to be in wind ensemble this semester, and not drop that one novel-a-week class i have. it's my being masochistic, driven by some force i think that doesn't want to deal with any other pressures.

so with that, i sit, figuring something to do for tonight while i try to finish my homework so i'm not already behind in my classes.

alias, for sure. sydney's in for such a ride.

1.23.2004

what makes for an interesting schedule is interesting professors; i'm very, very glad that all my professors this semester are a bit on the kooky side. first of all, i actually have professors teaching my classes (unlike last semester when i had one, and the semester before when i had one, and the one beofre that when i didn't even have any). second, i actually like all the classes i'm enrolled in. and third, i know people in all my classes!

my spanish one-oh-two lecturer is pretty cool -- her name is sarah, and she has this cool quirk whenever she speaks spanish that she doesn't roll her r's. it's all retroflex (yeah, i'm being a geek) but it's obvious to the point of endearing. she's very nice, and very cool. cute, to boot.

portuguese one thirty-five is taught by an angolan professor. he wants us to call him 'pepetela' because he wrote his novels in that pen name. he speaks with a different accent, which is a bit unnerving, but he has the tendency to speak the angolan accent without realizing that we're not in angola. then again, we're reading a novel a week, which is going to be a problem.

i have the same professor in portuguese one-oh-three from one-oh-two. clelia, still as funky as ever, in her weird outfits and her songs in portuguese. we'll see how this class goes, since it's more writing-intensive rather than reading-intensive.

professor garrett in linguistics one hundred is so far my favorite this semester. he's very funny, has an amazing sense of humor. he like to make fun of himself, and i like how his point made perfect sense: "you're laughing because you know it's wrong, and you're laughing because it's true."

our lecturer in spanish one twelve is laura, which is weird since she's mexican and she's teaching a spanish culture class. sure, whatever, she's still speaking spanish, but it's a bit weird studying iberian studies with an american professor. i feel somewhat cheated. she like to giggle and go off on random tangents, which is nice, since the material this early in the class is a bit arid anyway.

as for the actual classes, we'll have to wait it out. the material so far for all of them isn't daunting; it's the matter of sticking through until midterm season starts.

and oh yes, lunch time.

1.21.2004

the first day of classes of the new semester was pretty cool. i only had one class today, and it seems like a fun one. i get to choose a paper topic in five weeks, and in a few days, i'll be learning about the reconquest of the spanish as well as pre-roman civilizations thanks to the celtiberian tribes of yore.

spanish one-twelve, or spanish culture, looks like a very engaging class.

on the agenda for tomorrow: spanish one-oh-two, portuguese one-oh-three, portuguese one thirty-five, and linguistics one hundred. two grammar and composition classes, a novel analysis class, and an intriductory linguistic science class makes this semester one of the most interesting i will ever take here.

plus, i'm taking an alias decal and wind ensemble. decals are great. no other school teaches shit like this, and by shit, i mean substantive, thought-provoking shit, not stupid read-what's-on-th-page-as-facts shit.

nineteen units? plus recruiting and hardboiled?

something's gonna give. we'll see which one tomorrow.

1.19.2004

oh man, oh man, oh man.

the ski trip was an awesome experience this time around. after warming up on some greens the first day at sierra-at-tahoe, i ended up doing almost nothing but blues at kirkwood. good times had by all!

the drive up was pretty fun, with our pop extravaganza (i don't think david's ever heard that many late-90's pop songs in a row) and our mini-trip to safeway. that four-hour drive to south lake tahoe was a little boring at times, but we managed. when we finally got to our hotel we had ourselves some fun playing in the snow, and eventually a giant group of us headed to dinner at tep's villa roma. (can we say, giant antipasto bar?)

after that there was much excitement over the night's "ski run" (the name of the liquor establishment a block away). we cajoled and cavorted, played joe's first round of a or b, and of course, a masterful victory with the vagina game. (if you don't knnow the rules, ask me!) david and i went back to our room and basically almost passed out.

the next morning, we headed on over to sierra-at-tahoe for a wonderful, adventurous first day of skiing. after playing our morning performance, david got his first try on the greens, i had my first run on the snow blades, and jake and angela and wolfman warmed up as we went down sugar and spice for a while. we played an afternoon set, and then we went up the mountain again to conquer th rest of the greens that were available to us. and then, our final set, and then, soredom.

after that was one of the most awesome showers i have ever taken. the water pressure in the hotel was amazing. we then headed out to erika's house at south lake, where her mom fed us some delicious pupusas while we played rousing rounds of mad gab, which eventually turned into all of us watching the cal-stanfurd basketball game.

we got back, and we got gypped on beds. boo to newmen, fucking newmen.

the next morning, after waking up with a nosebleed and dry, cracking lips thanks to the heater, i managed to pack everything back into my bag except for my jeans (how could i forget those?) and got ready to conquer the mountain at kirkwood.

after our first set, we traversed over to the green side of the mountain. soon enough, jimbo, david and i found the two slopes there ridiculously easy. we made our way back to the top, this time blazing a trail to the lodge side of the mountain. hooray for us surviving our first blue! then, afternoon set, and then, afterwards, we did nothing but blues the rest of the day at the other side of the resort. there were some really nice runs, some beautiful views, and of course, good company as we skied down the mountain.

the day ended with a final set, and the drive back to berkeley from kirkwood. we pretty much all passed out at tahoe, and woke up near sacramento and davis. we stopped by wendy's to get dinner, had another pop extravaganza, and headed home.

my bed never felt so comfortable, and my arms and legs never felt so sore. i must have burned seven mcdonald's value meals' worth of calories just skiing up and down the mountains.

i'm still a little sore, but i don't think it'll be that bad, even though my forearms and my calves still particularly hate me.

oh well. time for videogames, books, catching up on alias, and hanging out with good friends.

and oh, maybe some beer.

1.16.2004

hello there, everyone.

i'll be out of berkeley for the weekend, skiing my ass off (almost literally) at the wonderful resorts of sierra at tahoe and kirkwood (and may i say, the ski rentals were cheap and the lift tickets are free?). i have a feeling my body will be sore right before classes start, but i guess that's a good thing considering i was a lazy bum this winter break.

if you need to get a hold of me, call.

and of course, neener neener.

who knows, if i'm adventurous enough, i might even try some blue squares instead of just green circles. and maybe meet some snow bunnies. and remember, kids: don't eat the yellow snow!

1.13.2004

familiarity breeds contempt, they say.

but apparently, anonymity does, too.

if you're gonna tell someone off, at least have the balls to leave your name so that they can skillfully (or, okay, maybe not so skillfully) retaliate. otherwise, that's just indecent.

but i guess you have to be a real hoohah for the message to be left, huh?

double-edged crazies.

1.12.2004

back in berkeley. oh, how good it feels to finally be back.

"and the stars look very different today for here am i sitting in a tin can far above the world"

ground control, i'm fucking back.

i'm sitting here in seat sixteen-a of alaska airlines flight three-thirty-nine, en route to oakland international airport after having passed through two security checks at john wayne international airport. i have a clear view of wings and a partial mountain range riding the flatness of the southern central valley. the plane's only half full, and it's not too bad, considering i had to wake up at around seven o'clock this morning.

i never really realized how ridiculous this whole thing was until i had to step aside to the booth where they hold you for "additional screenings": for another ten minutes, they sit you down, make you take of shoes and belts, search your stuff, another round of "spread your legs about shoulder width and have your arms out and extended please" with the tsa administrators.

what fear. what fear our government has instilled in us.

and if you don't like it, they call you unpatriotic. how hypocritical, considering everything going wrong is thanks to the big companies that control the everyday minutiae of the stock market, the government, the media, and the very places you come to work for. corporations sell themselves, and in doing so, are ingrates when it comes to appreciating the middleman.

imagine that about one and a half trillion dollars in deficit will be paid by our generation. that's a thousand billion, my friends, one trillion that we will be toiling half our lives to get this country out of the rut that it's in.

imagine the work force in thirty years, when many might not have even received a high school diploma thanks to seemingly interminable budget cuts concerning the education and social welfare of today's children. how, then, would they be able to pay off that deficit?

imagine the united states, in trouble, looking for allies in a few years, when all it has are three friends in the united nations. the united nations used to mean something, a place where everyone was on equal footing, whether you were a third world country or a city-state or even communist. what has this administration done to respect that party? declare war on iraq, despite the outcries of diplomats and ambassadors to give the inspectors more time.

not that the inspectors needed time to inspect the non-existent weapons of mass destruction. there were lies upon lies generated by this government that saddam was building this and hiding that, having "nucular" power and exercising it to some questionable use. it's not enough that this country was already starting to become a police state; no, they had to police the entire world.

and what good does it do? nothing. two and a half years now, we've been trying to catch osama, and he's still out there in his raggedy outfit outwitting the smartest and outliving the healthiest. saddam, we caught in a rat hole, but who's to say that the government will be fair to him, too? in a very deliberate violation of the geneva convention, we haven't even let international inspectors to examine the state of our prisoners of war. and that's the nicest part about it.

sure, two and a half years ago, we were all shocked by the craziness that ensued on black tuesday. everyone was affected, me not excluded, and everyone lost something that day. but we all grew as people, we all grew as a nation, and we all grew knowing that our country will bounce back.

now we grow, and realize that our country is mere politics and conservative agendas. what once were the guarantees of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness now all translate into "the preservation of life at all costs and no to abortion," "liberty to express oneself at the free speech zone and only at the free speech zone," and "happiness in god without separation of church and state."

much more issues abound, but there is one underlying thing in all this: we, as a nation, know better. we've been involved in too many things that we don't like, and sure, we support whatever the government does, but there comes a point where we just have to say "enough" and take the country in a direction that we envision to be better, one where we don't fear government agencies, one where we are free to express who we are, without censure or threat, one where the people matter and the people count.

i'm getting off my soapbox. you already know that you need to vote, you already know all the stuff tha goes on because of the news and this information revolution. you already know this, and if yuo don't, thank your government.

i'll be in oakland in approximately twenty minutes. that ginger ale sure helps out in this flight.

i'm out.

1.11.2004

bad things to come out of southern california:

- the usual migraine that happens whenever i fly or drive here because of the air
- a stubbed toe
- pained thumbs and aggravated wrists thanks to my cts
- no exercise whatsoever, unless you count surfing channels and sleeping in
- drama with the grandma
- drama with the parents
- a wee car accident
- my brother not shutting up about the accident
- my brother pissing me off
- dead brokeness (i am serious like an indian kid taking his sats, dude)
- the issue with the dude

good things to come out of southern california:
- superfriends; namely nate, carie, mikey, and mooni
- hanging out with megan
- hanging out with jay and bates and spelicia
- cal bandsmen new year's eve at my aunt's house, and my relatives amazed that we can sing
- roscoe's chicken and waffles twice in one week (first at lake, then on pico)
- new year's at the lawn on colorado blvd. and sierra bonita ave.
- rediscovering artists like jay-z, no doubt, the rhcp and ryan adams
- seeing my grandmother
- seeing my cousins, who are five and six years old
- extensive journaling
- pictures
- my room
- a dsl connection, thank god
- cable television
- cable television while in my comfy bed
- cable television while in my comfy bed after a five-hour nap
- cable television while in my comfy bed after a five-hour nap after gorging on filipino food
- filipino food, and lots of it
- boba joe's (think crepes-a-go-go and sweetheart cafe combined, berkeleyites)
- meeting carie's apartmentmates
- meeting nate's coworkers
- being at disneyland
- being inappropriate at disneyland
- seeing canyon again, and how thankful i am for not being there anymore
- cool parents, despite the aforementioned drama
- central heating
- comedy central while hopped up on sunkist soda
- meeting someone from connecticut call soda "pop"
- the unofficial lyrics to the conan o'brien theme
- ten months and missing someone
- outkast awesomeness
- redesigning the horribly outdated phonez website
- staying up until seven in the morning, and no one caring
- sleeping in at eight in the evening, and no one caring
- knowlwood's
- plush cafe and getting lost thanks to mikey's amazing directions (commonwealth is not orangethorpe)
- having a car
- all in all good times

i'd say the good outweighs the bad this time, huh?

thanks, socal, you were good to me this time. not too harsh, but not too candy-coated, either.

back in berkeley tomorrow.

1.10.2004

oh yeah: is josh dumel like, a more hunky-type johnny knoxville? or is it just me?

and i go back to berkeley on monday. i'm excited. one week of... nothing.

hmmm.

well, at least there's less smog up there. i can actually see stars and stuff.

fuck yeah comedy central.

miguel on his soapbox. (ie, being a pundit and actually blogging like blogging was intended to be)

rant number one: how the politics of the philippines really is just movie stars and corrupt politicians. the country's not going anywhere fast, considering the political gene pool consists of retired artists or, worse, artists who think that running a country is the same as making a movie. i don't think it's quite the same when your shooting schedule is three months. running a country takes considerably longer.

if you're not familiar with philippine politics, here's a quick primer: the presidency is a six-year term, and the vice president is freely elected independent of party lines from the president. there's a bicameral legislative body, run by senators from every region in the country as well as representatives. there are approximately eighty people running for the presidency this coming march, and it's rucking fidiculous that a nice chunk of those are actors who feel that it's nigh time for a switch in their career track.

it all started with city mayorships, when a few actors in their provinces ran to lead their city. (god knows they didn't do such a bang-up job then, but with flashy smiles and a reputation known in all corners of the islands, they were, in the public eye, doing a great job. especially when they saw the city or some mention of it in their mayor's latest project.) and it turned into a side poroject: act now, govern later. only the principle's been changed somewhat into act now, govern now. two words for those folks: not feasible.

when you're running on a ticket and your only reason for running is due to your popularity, it's not commendable. public service was called public service for a reason: to serve the interests of the public, not to appease your constituents. greedy governmental theories. oh yeah. they know lots about those. most of the people running for office there are extremely corrupt. and if they're not, they're lying.

the only rememdy i can see is if they stick with their president now, gloria macapagal-arroyo, daughter of the mid-twentieth century revolutionary and prominent national figure, diosdado macapagal. her cabinet's holding well and her leadership garnered her the presidency when there was an expose of joseph estrada's corruption. she's a great leader, a visionary, someone fighting for a cause, for the betterment of the country.

it's sad that in the years i've been here, i've seen little, if any, progress from my homeland. sad to think that things probably aren't any better. and in thirty years or so, the country will have about a third of the population of the united states. and it's only the size of like, new york state.

i hope their situation gets better, so i can actually smile when i say i'm from the philippines. right now i just nod.

rant number two: when the fuck did everybody get on the atkins diet? none of you are fat fucks! get over it! enjoy your life, you only have one!

rant number three: the o.c. is not an accurate representation of orange county. nor was the movie orange county an accurate representation of orange county. the only thing that came close to depicting boring southern california orange curtain life was better luck tomorrow, but then again, all the asians are either at uci or berkeley. go figure.

miguel gets off his soapbox.

in the words of outkast's andre, "i'm just being honest."

1.09.2004

the coolest thing ever is getting a new pair of glasses.

i can finally see. for serious.

yup.

that's it.

1.07.2004

good times on monday, when nate, carie and i wreaked local havoc at disneyland. i'm sure those people with children appreciated the helen keller jokes (however inappropriate they were) while we were in line for matterhorn. and i'm sure bo's still reeling from one of those dead baby jokes. good times.

activity seems to find me every other day in southern california. saturday, monday, wednesday. today i'm heading towards the optometrist and maybe hitting up some old friends i have not seen in forever. maybe i'll actually do something today, besides sit on my lazy ass and gorge on food every other hour like yesterday. yesterday i felt like a fat fuck watching tv and munching on chinese food.

i'm flying back up to berkeley on monday. i can't wait to move in. and then a few days later, ski trip.

i miss everyone. i really do. at least then there's something else to do besides twiddle my thumbs and sit while the television draws me in. it sucks, especially when it's a marathon type of day ("i swear i'll change the channel; just one more episode").

i'm telling you, if you wanna do something, hit me up, because god knows i won't be doing anything until sunday evening comes (packing!).

and read about our monday exploits here!

1.04.2004

my favorite new year's message left on my voicemail: "merry christmas, you fucking fuck! hey dude, it's so awesome that you're back in town, so i... we gotta hang out sometime. it's nate, by the way. you rock. and happy birthday." hooray for superfriends.

i can always count on tbs to show sister act on a lazy saturday afternoon, and for mtv to constantly rerun episodes of the real world: insert place here for the whole weekend.

ahh, the joys of cable tv and southern california laziness.

and now, for the long-awaited recap of the past year. sit back, relax, and get ready to read a lot of crap.

january. miguel's first time ever touching snow. i remember vividly rolling with jacob and angela down the slope of the snow park, and rolling a gigantic snowball from the position it was lodged in. and oh yeah, almost crashing into that tree. skiing was fun, even if with a half-torn left acl. then, the semester starts as miguel is officially a student in the university! (spring admits are hotter, we told you this. and did you believe us? hells yes you did.)

february. wow. i was depressed. i wanted to kill myself.

march. thank you, march madness, for giving me the pac-ten tournament in los angeles and the ncaa in oklahoma city. and thank you for giving me a chance. and for one of the best spring breaks i've ever had, getting to know that one person i never would have thought i would even be friends with. march, i remember everything about you, and it was something to definitely remember.

april. yay being da. and yay cal day being all wet. and yay for signing up for summer classes i can't pay for. and yay midterms, and yay pulling of ridiculous grades for the amount of time studying (inverse relationships? i think so!). much love. springtime brings the best out in people. after da workshops and term papers, it was a wonder how i pulled off decently in academics

may. moved out of th, and moved on with being an undergraduate in the university. no more being a freshman for me, thank you! it was a sharp realization that i had in the middle of one evening: i won't be living with daniel or brian or jacob anymore, no more triple bunks, no more piles of stuff that i have to worry about, no more gamecube until four in the morning. no more brian sitting precariously on his chair, no more jacob cursing profusely at the tv screen during monday night football, and no more daniel walking around naked after taking his shower. wait, that last one, i won't miss.

june. two weeks in socal, and that's all i get, since i move in to the apartment with noli and i start summer session c. calso shbs are a great way to spend time, since there's nothing to do in berkeley after classes except get drunk. or study. but who studies? (obviously, not me.) math fifty-five is a fun, engaging class; math one-a, not so much. i guess it also helps that i got a cool mormon gsi named michelle for my discrete math class, and my gsi alex was a dumbshit.

july. summer midterms. life seems humdrum, until in one fell swoop it turned fragile as we found out more and more about liam's suicide. even though that event wasn't until the end of july, it marked it enough to leave a horrible stain on our minds and hearts. i cried way too much, we found out a lot about each other, and there was a much more marked presence of liam and robin's absence as the yorkies tried to get their lives back to normal. michael is my hero, and miho is a rock. to all of you, much love. i miss you guys.

august. one year older. ftp as a second year. feel the burn of memorizing two hundred names, taking bus roll, being bus mommy, highstepping after not having done so intensely for clost to eight months, and coping with seventeen units for the fall. somewhere in there, fail miserably, and consquently, lose touch with southern california peeps because, well, i'm too busy.

september. six months. oh, and then i hated my roommate for reasons widely known. wham, bam, passive-aggressive awesomeness. i half-wanted to move out already, and i half-wanted to slap the dick out of his mouth for being such a non-grown-up about his being enslaved to the monster. and yes, i'm actually writing this fully knowing that one or both of them might eventually read this, and fuck you too, because i'm sick of it.

october. wow, david, that halloween party was crazy. and then everyone saw how desperate a certain metrosexual was to prove his straightness that it just ended up making him look more gay. and before all this, the initial apartment search, more building up of utter dislike, and midterm onslaught part one. not too bad, not too great. mediocre october.

november. first thanksgiving outside of the home, and i'm pretty glad that i spent it like i did. it was nice. and it was birthday-riffic. to the phonez and bones, we hellza rocked this month, and to everyone, we kept the axe! again! two for two, second year awesomeness, baby! midterm onslaught number two! miguel starts to die a little bit because of stress levels, nightmares, and basic dickheadedness. i hate the church.

december. i love my second years. you are awesome. and then, finals (ack! i lost...), and then, the most surreal christmas ever. thanks to the depressing foursome and the bowl game, i had the craziest three days ever, and those are three days i won't ever forget. alcohol up the wazoo for a week, and god knows how much time i spent at david's only to wake up drunk again on his futon. and then, there was the rose parade trip, and then, january was here.

to a most surreal and fucked up year, i thank you all, even if i really do hate you. because without you, there wouldn't be anyone to be the bad guy, you know?

here's to more craziness and love. beyonce style.

edit: leave me a resolution on the comments box, and we'll see if you live up to it.

1.03.2004

yeah, so i got into a mini car accident last night and it wasn't pretty.

everyone's fine. i justwish i had been a bit smarter.

the end.

1.02.2004

two days ex post facto, happy, happy new year, everyone.

the evening of the thirtieth was really really fun -- after finding out i was on pr-comm, my friends took me out to dinner at the cafe tu tu tango here in orange and soon enough we found ourselves gallivanting and hanging out, the five of us just like old times and sharing good company. nate, i must admit, you were so trying to get into mikey's pants it was really funny. (and all of us were sober!)

new year's eve, thanks to all the socal-cal bandsmen who showed up to the shindig and enjoyed our family's dinner. you guys sounded great singing toast, as well as hail; you made my relatives almost cry! (for serious!) the camp-out at colorado boulevard was amazing, as was the line for the women's restroom in burger king, and the parade was pretty beautiful. u$c band looked great, too, and u$c deserved to win the rose bowl (hooray for pac-10 solidarity)!

new year's at roscoe's chicken and waffles is soooooooooo awesome. i told you guys that the first trip would be marvelous.

and now, the first time i'm touching this computer since three days ago. feels a little weird, typing again.

and it looks like the rain's come down here, too.

oh yeah. southern california, so far, so good.

migblog