the proof

This is why I LOVE giving presents...especially those unexpected ones.

flower5017: joanne thank you SO SO much!!!!!!!!!!!
flower5017: i just got your present today--
flower5017: you are the best :-) seriously, thank you
flower5017: it made a bad weekend much better :-D
flower5017: talk to you later, have a good night!

Getting something back from them is just another bonus. The awesome reactions are the ones I look forward to. Giving IS better than receiving. (wanna argue with me? well, we just might.)

Merry Christmas to one and all!

the crew get together

@ mimi's american bistro


beer stine


after dinner


everyone!

leaving on a jetplane

Another one of my friends just left Manila for another country. Although I believe that she's coming back after two years, it just makes me think about why people leave the country. Is the economy that bad that jobs aren't available for those who are highly qualified? I've always known the Philippine economy isn't great (for lack of a better term) and that finding a job - anywhere - is a big challenge. However, it still surprises me when people need to get out of the country to find their niche in the "real" world. Are there no more opportunities left for Filipinos wanting to realize their dreams and potentials in their own country? I've heard people say that you need to leave and hone your skills somewhere else, then come back when you know you have gained enough knowledge to influence the bigwigs and make a difference. But how many people choose to go back? How many have the courage to endure repeated frustrations by pursuing a futile cause? Seriously, enlighten me. I've directed those questions to myself and until now I do not know how to answer them.

I don't know how many balikbayans there are every year. I don't know if their number is declining. Does the Philippines send out more and more OCW's each year? I admit I don't know all the facts and I certainly do not want to sound cynical. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there isn't such a thing as a futile cause. Maybe there are people out there who are strong enough to challenge the status quo. There might not be a revolution, but the smallest of changes are more than welcome and are changes nonetheless.

So to Nicole: here's to broadening your horizons. You are wise beyond your years and I know you can find your place there.

freni's grad party

summer colors for everyone

aaah summer 

in the mix

i have been meaning post a blog (many, in fact) during the past few months but have been too busy or too lazy (mostly the latter) to put my thoughts into actual words. major events happened that i haven't even written about: graduation and getting a job, to name a couple. once in a while i feel the need to write about them because if i don't do that, i'd forget what it was like. this could be just some insane paranoia (wait...was that redundant?) that i have. i mean people don't really forget that feeling when they call you on stage to get your diploma or when you get that job offer... do they? anyone willing to take a poll? anyone?

so to take care of that i've decided to share my thoughts on ... get ready for a barrage of information.

1. the first job: never really expected anything since i've not worked in an architectural firm. eventhough our projects aren't that exciting, i am learning A LOT. and that is the best thing you can get from any job. if you're not learning then it's time for you to move on and challenge yourself. also i like working there. everyone is really nice to each other and there are dogs in the office. they're extremely patient with me and i am extremely glad that they are. yes, one of the dogs ate my crackers but you can't hate them for that.
   
2. getting a hobby: i never had a real hobby before. i don't think you can call "tv watching" or "occasional reading" a hobby. but i never realized that because i didn't have the time to take up one. i'm always pre-occupied with schoolwork. and all the other stuff i did was related to school. now that i'm working and homework is a thing of the past (at least for now), i have found myself with nothing to do on the weekends. but i get this nagging feeling that i should be doing something. not that i enjoy my free time and my bumming around time, but i guess my mind has grown accustomed to the constant exposure to work after 16 years of school and extra-curricular activities.
3. not going back to school: well...at least not for another two years. i miss school. when school started, i felt like something was wrong when i didn't pack up my stuff and drove down to charlottesville. the upside to that: i get to go to family gatherings i've missed because i'm two hours away.
4. all my friends are gone: several of my friends have left the state for california, nyc, boston, maryland, the carribean. i still have friends here in the d.c. area but they're not two minutes away. it's odd that i don't see or talk to these people everyday anymore. our communication is down to occasional IMs, voice mails, 10-minute phone calls, email and facebook messages. i don't have anyone to go on a cake or sushi run at 1am in the morning. no more impromptu get togethers at ihop or maarten's. i miss them.
   
5. goals: i have to do two things before the year ends: take the GREs and enter an architecture competition. so far i'm 25% done on both. (what that means i don't exactly know.)
6. golf: i played golf during our firm's annual golf tourney. i'm inconsistent. i can hit a ball really well at one time and send it to straight into the water the next. i'm consistently bad at putting. (mini-golf is different...my putt-putt skills are a different story all together.) our team won the tourney and i won two redskins/eagles tickets and two t-shirts during the raffle. like humphrey from work said, "in golf, being lucky is better than being good." even with that, i don't think i'd take up golf. (i did realize that i have the potential do well in sports that require one to hit a ball with an object: tennis, ping-pong, golf, badminton, softball. i just need to play them more often.)
7. tv: now addicted to two more shows. how will i ever keep track of the dozen or so tv shows i watch in week? the answer: vcr and lots of blank tape.

overwhelmed yet? stay tuned for more...right now i need to go to sleep for i have to work in the morrow.

summer numbers

weeks since graduation - 5
korean drama episodes watched - 14 out of 16
job interviews - 3 (so far)
lazy days - 37 (and counting)
pictures taken - 74
cds bought - 2
dvds bought - 4
foreign films watched - 3
weeks neglecting to update this blog - 6.5

checking out the river

crazy college students!

Everyone wanted to see the river so after BANG! we headed for the Lawn. "So what is the river? There can't possibly be a river in the middle of Mr. Jefferson's Academical Village, right?" you ask. well, kid, the river is an illusion. if you lie down on the top of the Rotunda steps and look at the length of the Lawn upside down, as demonstrated by the insane fourth years on the picture above, you will perceive the clear night sky as a river. it is totally awesome.

After that we decided to hang out for a while and by doing that we've discouraged at least three groups of eager college students from fulfilling one of UVa's longest standing traditions: Streaking the Lawn. Probably because there were twelve of us just sitting by the steps, ie. the starting point of the streaking route. But i really think it was because we were yelling, "DO IT!!! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!" and "We're not going to look!" We tried to hide but they didn't return. oh well, i guess we weren't meant to see "some" that night.

BANG!

Chem crew and me (natalie, kahn and mike not in picture)

One of the best nights in college: monday night bar hopping! ok, ok...so we only went to one bar but considering it was a monday, i'll let that technicality slide. (btw, i didn't drink. i was driving.) BANG! is this cozy martini bar which used to be a house. We were at the backyard: drinking what seems to be the most amazing mojito in town, laughing, talking about random stuff (school not allowed), and enjoying the fact that we're all done with work.

we heart greg

we were the last ones out of first wok during greg's visual raping...ie. his surprise fake birthday party.

getting ready 

mmm...vermonster soup

sipping ice cream goo in order to really finish the vermonster. go team vermonster!

game over

charrette is over. gordonsville presentation done. last final taken. other than the studio exhibition on tuesday, graduation is the only thing left. i can't help being nostalgic as i cleaned out my flatfile and looked at 3 years worth of studio work. blood, sweat, tears all poured into those drawings and models. running on nothing but adrenaline and caffeine for over 30 hours... missing university events and hanging out with my roommates to photoshop that section and to finish that computer model...babysitting a PC so no one logs you off. (this is why you learn to use a mac.)... feeling like going "office space" on the plotter when it starts printing your stuff on roll paper when you specifically told it to use cut sheet -- twice... remembering the servers crashing and everyone getting a beer... trying really hard not to cut yourself with an x-acto knife... thinking what ingredient in "blacken-it" makes it poisonous and why "patina-it" is not... counting how many brain cells have been burned after inhaling wood stain, zap-a-gap, and the notoriously foul yet much needed zip kicker... having your headphones/earbuds permanently stuck to your ears, and being temporarily deaf afterwards... the 3rd year love train!... burning yourself with your torch while soldering brass... reading angry and/or funny "where the f*** are my stuff? i want them back" emails... getting yelled at by grad students for being too loud... (naked) dance party with crazy turkish music... jason-tecture... form-z crashing -- all the freakin' time... critics bringing you food and coffee up in studio because they know you need it... A-SCHOOL LIFE --- do it!

good week for food

sunday: vermonsterrrrrrrrr
mission: to finish a vermonster before leaving college
venue: barrack's road ben and jerry's
20 scoops of ice cream, four ladles of good good fudge, tons of toppings and 14 college kids (me, shraddha, ulka, jing, justin, minh, kristin, joyce, lorenzo, selma, freni, anh, vickie, ivy) who starved for the day = vermonsterfun

monday: last day of class
...bartending class, that is. after an eight-week run and 75 drinks we bid farewell to "getting *:) and gettting no work done" Monday nights. i consider myself now a well-informed bartender. next time i go to bars i'd order the most pretentious drink ever...just to test the bartender.

tuesday: get your free cone!
it's ben and jerry's free cone day AND kohr brother's 5 cent cone day. sweeeeeet! after picking up ruth (who was sitting in her room in her lacy panties...winkwink!) and justin/jing/pauline/lorenzo at the comm school, we headed to ben and jerry's to satisfy another ice cream fix. yummy. i didn't get to go to kohr brother's but my roommates saved me some.

wednesday: greg's party
mission: (according to anh) to visually rape greg d. and hopefully send him to the hospital after the unforseen surprise.
venue: Brown College -Tucker Lounge/Harrison and First Wok
what do you do if one of your friends' birthdays is during the summer? well, you throw him a surprise party almost two months before because you know he will never EVER suspect it. And that's just what we did.
memorable quote of the night: after asking greg why he believed that the tunnel outside tucker lounge was deemed a biohazard after some dude puked in there...

I knew Anh wouldn't lie to me.

He was sooooo wrong. we had a whole google group dedicated to his surprise party.

thursday: IHOPping
since there is nothing to do on a rainy and gross thursday night (bars are out of the question because you have to walk all the way there and back) , a small group of us decided to go to IHOP and abuse their thursday's 50% off student discount. (my suggestion to go to Buddhist's was vetoed by anh. hey, i didn't know it was an open air bar!) even with the semi-crappy service and the incompetent check out lady, i still had fun. bacon and good company always make me smile.

friday: viva italia!
gelato is italian for the best frozen dessert EVER. need i say more? i thank splendora for opening at the downtown mall. what's next? head over to christian's to get some pizza. i had a calzone and all was good.

saturday: asian night
after india day at the paramount (i still don't know how they managed to get the historic paramount for india day. i give them props just for that.), we decided to ditch the free indian food at newcomb and head to the dumpling place (aka marco and luca...as if anyone really knows). except that the dumpling place was already closed. how disappointed was i? not so much since we immediately decided to go to that new thai place - lime leaf. good thai food and excellent service but thai99 is still the best.

alter egos

Snow White and Wendy

a royal reception in wonderland

I went to the a-school's annual beaux-arts ball for the first time this saturday. it was sooo much fun. seriously...why haven't i been before? anways, beaux arts is the fancy word for "theme party" well, beaux arts is REALLY an academic classical architectural style closely related to the ecole de beaux arts in paris. (that little tidbit was from wikipedia...it's awesome and the name's quirky so double yay!) This year's theme is "A Royal Reception in Wonderland". I went as Wendy from Peter Pan. I know she's not royalty but she's British, so my costume still works. (lauren rationalized this for me) I bought that '70s style tiffany-blue dress in a thrift store that same morning for $15. sweet! i wanted to be a tacky bridesmaid first but that didn't really pan out since most of the dresses were EXTREMELY tacky. hey i have my pride you know. I went with lauren who managed to get sarah to come along. we had to do the "walk of shame" from the a-school to the satellite ballroom. we got weird stares; people looking away pretending they didn't see us; and a girl saying, "What is fairytale princesses?"

When I got there the first person I saw is one of my discussion kids. It was kinda surreal, but we're friends now. i bought her a drink. shhhh....don't tell. Then there are the a-school kids. I recognized everyone except for maybe a couple or so. i had two drinks myself. talked to a couple of drunk people first, played some unknown card game with the cards they used for decoration, then went to dance. the dj played mostly techno with some '80s and early '90s music thrown in. everyone had their own style of dancing. yes, creative people have "creative" moves. niiiiice!

Quote of the Night: from some random guy on the street after seeing Dave pull Lauren's makeshift puffy sleeves off

That is f***in' wrong!

upgrade?

upgrading is never easy. they say all you have to do is follow the instructions displayed on the screen and in a few clicks you are on your way to upgraded goodness. yeah right! they don't say in that brochure that you have to download upgrades when you have files and programs that are not compatible with xp. it took me a day to upgrade to windows xp. i had to call my brother who was about to go to bed because my video card was all f***ed up. i had to deal with a screen that only displays half my icons in some weird 4-bit color mode. it felt like i was playing pacman (old school style) only it's not as fun. and i had to deal with that the whole time the windows security feature keeps telling me that my anti-virus software cannot be located and i basically opened the door to every virus in the world. i was really close to opening up my computer, literally. i still have to figure out why mozilla firefox is acting up. this is quite frustrating. plus, i miss my tab browsing!

man, after all this is figured out, xp better live up to my expectations. they're not that high either: all i need is a computer that will not crash when i open photoshop, microstation, indesign, winamp, AIM, yahoo messenger all at once. well maybe that's pushing it......

The day the music died

...and was resurrected.

So what was the reason behind my boycotting of jason mraz, maroon5, the postal service, franz ferdinand, death cab for cutie, the shins, tahiti 80, and both the oc and garden state soundtracks? LENT. yes, i gave up listening to these awesome artists/albums for 40 days. i even refused to log on to my launchcast radio station because every two songs played is from one of these people. i had to listen to "big hits of the '80s", which isn't that bad. it was either that or no music at all. i would much rather listen to "the promise" by when in rome than eavesdrop on other people's conversations. btw, bus chatter is either too rushed or stupid or both. i have never heard anyone say anything thought-provoking in a bus. (feel free to disagree with me on that one.) well, i did have some of my other cd's to listen to but you know that feeling that if there is something particular you wanted to listen to, everything else pretty much sucked. and since i'm a sucker for punishment, i also bought the franz ferdinand cd three weeks before i can actually listen to it. it nearly killed me.

so when easter sunday came and i got all my music back, i stayed up later just to listen to my "new" cd and a few postal service songs. if i could listen to all my cd's at one time i will definitely do it. although i'm pretty sure that wouldn't sound as good but -you know what- i've been deprived. i'd listen to jason ferdinand's maroon death cab for the postal service if i wanted.

Finally

I just finished by spring break story. I will try to definitely write about random stuff more often. so watch out for

1. why i gave up the postal service, death cab for cutie, the shins, franz ferdinand, tahiti 80 and other good stuff
2. my bartending class
3. graduation and the job hunting experience
4. my take on Finding Neverland and other movies
5. our upcoming ben and jerry's vermonster challenge

I apologize if you had to read the vegas account backwards. i forgot blogger displays the newer stuff first.

Viva Las Vegas!

March 10/11: 1 more day + 1 birthday

So after a night of bar/club hopping, we decided to take it easy on thursday morning. As usual, the day started at 12 noon and we headed for the part of the strip we've been neglecting for the past few days. The blocks on the other side of the MGM. But first we had to eat some lunch so off we go to New York New York. Once everyone was full, we left the "city" for the tropics, king arthur's court, and the desert. And this time we are taking the express tram to Mandalay Bay, Excalibur and Luxor. I don't care if I had to wait five minutes because the tram was delayed. I'm not walking another 3 miles. Not after walking to the dodgy end of the strip on day 1. First stop was Mandalay Bay since we had to get Ulka's phone from the lost and found desk. We played penny slots for a while. Believe me...a dollar worth of pennies goes pretty fast. and i didn't really understand how the video slots worked but it was still fun. i knew if i bet more i'd win more but the odds of me winning get slimmer. and hence, gambling. then off to Luxor: it's the one with the huge sphinx in front. of course we just had to do the egyptian walking pose when we took pictures. of course people were staring at us because we were such tourists. AND of course we didn't care! we said our oooh's and aaah's, discussed our own casino theme (if we were to build and casino....it'd be Chinese-themed with the great wall and everything. if some other Chinese-themed casino/hotel ever pops up in Vegas, we are going to fight you!), then headed for Excalibur. It's the one that looks like the Walt Disney castle. We played video poker. Bets are a quarter each but it's easy to win. you keep getting your quarter back everytime you get a pair of jacks or better. it's cool. i think i won about four dollars and lost it all. then the cocktail waitress came and asked if we wanted to drink. oh yeah, i forgot...drinks are free when you're gambling. as long as you're at a table or machine for at least five minutes or however long it takes for the waitress to get to you, you get any drink you want. yes, that includes beer and other types of alcohol. however, i ordered a coke because i am so COOL. by the time we finished casino hopping, we went back to the hotel. Jing, Justin and I bought some fudge at the MGM candy store. mmmmmm...fudge. saved our energies for the next hour or so because we were soooo gonna party at Rain that night. dinner was take out from the beloved food court because we had to watch the OC, b*tch! yeah, we are THAT obsessed. deal with it.
Primping time! then rode the monorail to Harrah's - the stop closest to Treasure Island -for free. thanks to Lorenzo for giving us his 10-ride ticket. we just missed the pirate show at TI even after speed walking/almost running with heels on. a couple more pictures taken in front of the mirage fountain. then to Caesars to catch a taxi to The Palms. So we get there at around 10:30pm....the line was already looping around one of the lounges, past two restaurants. People were trying to sell us VIP passes, but we refused because we still had to wait in line - a shorter one but a line nonetheless. Apparently there was a Maxim private party that night so they didn't open the doors to the public until midnight. So guess who celebrated turning 23 standing in line? ME!!! It's ok though i was expecting a loooong line. I mean it was Rain - the dance club where the Real World Las Vegas cast worked. (I don't really know if that actually contributed to its reputation...and frankly i don't care so much if it did. although i bet the fire shooting out from above the elevated dance floor had something to do with it.) The dance floor was packed but we squeezed our way in. Thanks to Jing and her gung-ho attitude. My friends bought me drinks and I was definitely gone by the end of the night. I still remember what happened. I wasn't that far gone. Definitely a happy birthday for me. Thanks, ladies and gentleman.
Mirage volcano: 2
Treasure Island pirates: almost 1

March 11 - leaving on a jet plane
Our flight left at 8:45 AM so we decided to meet at the lobby at 7 so we get through security and all that stuff before boarding. I actually felt ok the next day. (tip: drink lots of water before going to bed) We had one stop before DC -- it was LA. yeah, does not make sense but the flight/hotel package was cheap and plus we had a nonstop flight going to Vegas so no complains here. We had an hour and a half to kill at LAX so shraddha and i decided to get lunch. I was really craving burritos so when we found the mexican place at the airport, I got nachos. Well...their nachos looked really really good so i ditched the burritos. (there's always qdoba back home.) the flight was long but then again i'm used to extremely long flights. after you've travelled a total of 26 hours before, you kinda get the hang of it. I did get to see Finding Neverland on the flight so all was good. Ulka and I tried so hard not to cry but i don't think we succeeded.

And the plane touched down at dulles at 7:15 PM eastern time. It was cold. Spring break was over just like that, but i have memories (not to mention lots of pictures) to share with everyone. thanks to everyone.
Kim: thanks for not letting me take that aleve and for telling me to move up the bed. If i slept where i initially plopped onto the bed, i would have been in all sorts of the pain the next day.
Ulka: thanks for being such a good sport especially the day after Ghostbar.
Shraddha: thanks for not taking over the bed and for not hogging the sheets. haha
Jing: thanks for having an itinerary. if it weren't for you we'd spend the whole trip staring at the Bellagio fountains.
Justin: thanks for being a source of entertainment especially during lunch and dinner time. oh yeah!
Lorenzo: thanks for the monorail pass. i still don't know why we didn't ride the monorail the first day.
Anh: thanks for playing the very unconvincing fun police
Jerry: thanks for paying for the cab ride to the Palms. i'm sure all four of us are grateful.

Vegas is great. Definitely will come back. Road trip anyone?

GhostBar

clockwise from bottom left: Shraddha, Ulka, Kim, Me, Jing

fiore bello 

What happens in Vegas...

March 8 - Air up there
So after a quick dinner and a few hours of relaxing, we are off to GhostBar at The Palms. Located at the 55th floor, it apparently has the biggest open air dance floor in Vegas. And you know what? I think they do. Tuesday night is the only night they allow dancing. Any other night, you'd have to abide by the sign in the bathroom that said, "Dancing at GhostBar is strictly prohibited." What are they gonna do? Call the fun police?! GhostBar's really cool. They have this plexi-glass floor that shows the side of the building all the way to the street. It was awesome. I finally got over my fear of walking over glass. It also helps if it's the only spot you can stand on since the place was packed! Also the view is breathtaking. The lights. The gaudy monstrosity of Harrah's...not so terrible from far away. But the view did remind me of how far we walked that morning. And for a hotdog. I am never going to do that ever again. Maybe for cake...
City Lights: 1
Blackmail pictures: 100s
Quote of the Night - from the bathrooms

Only one person per stall at a time.

I wonder what they were referring to...hmm...

March 9 - Best food. Ever.
So what do you do when you know that you're going to a huge and expensive buffet that night? Walk the day away and eat very little. After a dose of Aleve, a glass of water and Starbucks coffee and danish, we are off for another day of casino hopping. We didn't really gamble as much but we did get to see the interiors of these buildings. Still the answer escapes me. Why do they have to make casinos so over-the-top? Everything is very Post Modern. It's scary. I guess I have to read Venturi's Learning from Las Vegas. (Yes, I just made an architecture-based comment. And yes, I will admit I am a dork.) Even after that. I will have to say that I do love the Bellagio. Very classy. I especially like the conservatory. Flower power. And of course who can forget the food. The food is to die for. Thank goodness we got there at the right time. 5 o'clock for dinner is such a good time especially if you don't want to wait in line to get inside. After (an average of) five plates of appetizers, entrees , and desserts, everyone left happy and content. I am moved to make a speech a la Justin. Bellagio, I would like to thank you for making my dessert dream come true. Then after another look at the fountains, we said goodbye to Lorenzo (who went back to VA for some job fair) and headed back to the hotel to rest a while. The night is still young.
So what do you do when you're up and ready to go but you find out that the club at your hotel isn't up to par? You go somewhere else, duh! Studio 54 plays disco (read: bad disco) music at 11pm. Even though you have your drink with you and you do have a good laugh at the expense of the funny/crazy people dancing, your brain is telling you to leave before the rhythm gets you. Aaaaah, run away from the insane big-haired dj lady! Leave your screwdriver and go. NOW! Where did we go? One of the few places that's open on Wednesday nights: Rumjungle at Mandalay Bay. So we headed for the Bay with heels on. Feet already numb from the previous day, I didn't really feel the pain. We danced for a while then when they switched dj's, we sat down and waited for good music. Lalala. Nothing for a while. Just admired the cool water wall. Danced for a bit. I quit after we made the second trip to the dance floor. I zombied out on the seats. (I know zombie isn't a verb...but I'm making it one starting today.)
Bellagio Fountains: 4
Quote of the Day - Jing at the Bellagio buffet

I wish I was pregnant.

Quite possibly the quote of the trip.

Happiness

justin and his footlong hotdog

they had no idea 

Vegas, Baby!

Yes, it is now Thursday and I'm still in Spring Break mode frankly because I didn't do squat this week. Unless you count that midterm I took today which I can safely say is not one of my proudest moments. Also I almost got run over by a bicycle today. Lesson learned: never cross the street when a bike is careening down your path. The dude on the bike said sorry though before I snapped out of my shocked state and jumped out of the way. AND it's snowing! Shouldn't it be warm and sunny so that the drunken celebration for St. Patrick's Day can start earlier in the day? Although I highly doubt that a little snow is going to stop the hardcore drinkers of the world.

So back to the main reason why I'm writing this blog. SPRING BREAK 2005: Vegas, Baby! Sounds like the subtitle for Girls Gone Wild but whatever. This springbreak is totally wholesome. No shirts were taken off. So kids, follow along.

March 7 - two cars, a plane and the strip
Drove up to Fairfax from C-ville early in the morning to get ready for the afternoon flight. Had to re-pack most of my stuff since I decided to change luggage. Jing and Shraddha came at around 12:30pm. Then it was off to the airport at 2pm after picking up my brother from school. Five-hour non-stop plane ride to McCarran airport is not so bad as long as you're in the economy plus side of the plane with exit seats to boot. Got to our lovely hotel - MGM Grand - at around 7:30pm Vegas time. Famished, we all decided to go to a cheap buffet. The rest went back to the hotel after dinner, but troopers like me, Shraddha, Ulka and Lorenzo decided to explore parts of the Strip. Then we headed back to the hotel for a nightcap. We stayed at the hotel cafe/restaurant and talked about the Star Trek thingy at the Vegas Hilton and what a Bellini is made of.
Bellagio Fountain: 1
Mirage Volcano: 1
Quote of the Day - from Justin at the buffet

It's like a full-body workout.

March 8 - 5K for a hotdog
After dissing the monorail to go to Slots-A-Fun (which by the way, we heavily regretted in the evening), everyone was ready to try the foot-long hotdog Justin was talking about during this whole trip. I don't know if it was the heat or the fact that my feet are killing me, but that $1.49 hotdog sounded like the most appetizing food in the world. Also they were selling 27 oz. frozen margaritas for $1.99. Sweet! And did you know that Vegas does not have an open container policy? So sipping alcohol in the streets at 2:30 in the afternoon. Bring it on! I do have to say that the strawberry margarita I ordered is very weak. Seriously, after three sips it's like drinking a 7-11 slushie. We went inside the Venetian to check out the decor. Jing and Justin went on a gondola ride. I saw a gallery exhibit with Dr. Seuss' and Charles Schulz' original sketches. Also there was an artwork there that said, "Golddigger...like a hooker...just smarter." hmm...you gotta love post-pop art.
Bellagio Fountain: 2
Quote of the Day - Justin's heartfelt thank you speech at Slots-A-Fun

Guys, I just want to thank you for making my Las Vegas dream come true.

Our response to that: confused looks and hesitant "You're Welcome's"

vegas preview 

sketchy me: trying to eat the snow 

brrr...snow 

Outlined with lights 

Happy campers 

You know...

...when the semester is starting because everyone in your apartment building is having a party and is playing the same crappy techno music over and over. Not that I mind the celebration nor the occasional tapping sound made by the beer pong ball hitting our shared wall, it's just that it reminds me that I only have one more semester until I walk the Lawn and then eventually integrate myself into the "real world." (That, my friends, is an example of a run-on sentence. A big no-no when writing a formal essay. But this is not one of those. Forget those rules learned in ENWR 110 or your high school english class.) After seven gruelling semesters of college, am I ready to face this last one? No doubt. I can go through pages and pages of art history reading week after week, the occasional quizzes, the mind-numbing midterms and finals, back-to-back all-nighters, and - the fuel added to this mile-high bonfire - the week-long charrette. ONE MORE TIME.

Bring it on.