[a work in progress]

people ask me what i do these days, and sometimes i wish i could say "nothing" or "oh, you know, just hanging out" or "makin' it rain". but sadly, i'm an active, contributing member of society. mama's got mouths to feed. [jk. teenage, or rather, a 21-year-old's pregnancy is no laughing matter.]

work has been painfully slow today, so i started reading the freakonomics blog and jessica hagy's site. pretty great blogs. someone please get me her book for an impending birthday/christmas/new year's/columbus' day/monday/tuesday/etc. you could totally buy my friendship that way. a sample:

answers to some FAQs:

1. in austin for the summer
   
2. taking online govt and history classes (no, not at ACC or HCC, but through midland college. never heard of it? yeah, neither had i, but it's cheaper than ACC or HCC. look into it.); also volunteering and basically ending world hunger/saving the world. what are you doing this summer?
   

answer to an IAQ (Infrequently Asked Question):

1. pet peeve: few things rile me up as much as incompetent teachers. [see previous post]
   

back to the online classes bit, particular the part about the govt class. my suspicions have been confirmed, and since i seem to be on a list-making roll here, let me continue. my govt instructor...

• is incompetent
• thinks he's funny/insightful/generally pretty awesome
  
• is not funny/insightful/generally pretty awesome
  
• is a pompous windbag
• absolutely does NOT read over anything he types, leading to some serious and misleading types typos.
  

once i'm done with this intellect/energy/time-suck of a course, i'm pretty sure i'm writing an email to this guy to let him know what a lousy instructor he is so future students might not have to suffer through his ineptitude. oh, in the most polite, well thought-out way possible, of course.

i'm usually not a big fan of personality quizzes, but i stumbled across this recently and decided to take it on a whim. in light of my current situation/frustrations with summer online courses, i think this describes me pretty well:

I'm a Mandarin!

You're an intellectual, and you've worked hard to get where you are now.  You're a strong believer in education, and you think many of the world's problems could be solved if people were more informed and more rational.  You have no tolerance for sloppy or lazy thinking.  It frustrates you when people who are ignorant or dishonest rise to positions of power.  You believe that people can make a difference in the world, and you're determined to try.

Talent: 51%
Lifer: 33%
Mandarin: 67%

Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

i have vivid memories of reading the brothers grimm's fairy tales (in chinese translation!) in my early childhood. looking back on it, the stories might have damaged my psyche a bit. :/ but more importantly, while i sill have an affection for the written word, it's been an absurdly long time since i've read something not required for school. heck, i hardly even read the "required" readings for classes. (i've stopped buying textbooks unless i'm absolutely sure reading them is essential to passing the class.) but after my aforementioned quarter-life crisis, i decided to start reading more often, starting with aldous huxley's brave new world.

ok, time to study. i made a promise not to goof off too much, and here i am, goofing off instead of studying. ugh, where has the motivation gone?

p.s. when i said "it's been so long since i've read something not required for school", it was only half-true. i'm addicted to the new york times. the modern love column is a must-read every sunday.

i've decided that writer's block currently sits pretty high on my lists of dislikes. instead of studying for an imminent physics final, i think i'm going to write an entry for my vox, even though i have no particular staggering life revelation to blog about. there probably is better timing for things like this (i.e. blogging), but sometimes life is full of surprises, no?

after a long hiatus from blogging, i'm back. starting fresh. junior year of college has come and gone; i'm older and probably not much wiser. [in the words of mr. ben folds: "the more you know, you know you don't know shit." sigh, so true.] though my mind is still lagging in the wisdom area, my body is definitely experiencing the aging process. it's a sad state of affairs when most of the time, i can't even muster the energy to stay up past 12:30-1am anymore. [but in my poor body's defense, i do wake up around 7am every morning.] i told mama chung about my aging body and withering stamina. pretty soon, she said, i'll be in bed before 10pm every night like papa chung. no, i'm too young for this!

[note the lack of fluid transition; i've always been awful at those.]

i've been wondering whether keeping a blog is worth it. it's more of a self-indulgence thing than anything, you know? --thinking what i have to say is actually of some value and will contribute some good. i wish that i were a better writer, that i were funnier, that i had a plethora of exciting news to share, that i had some great wisdom to impart. but alas, i am not and do not. i'm just a self-indulgent creature who will blog as a diversion to more important things she ought to be doing. most of the time i can't even decide whether or not i should blog about certain things: it's that delicate balance between honesty and privacy. (and you know, gently feeding into the collective voyeurism of our generation while carefully maintaining a veil of mystery and aloofness makes you seem so much cooler. hah.)

some back-tracking events/thoughts:

• event: the feist concert at stubb's was so good! i decided that ms. leslie feist is absolutely lovely. no, she's not pretty or beautiful in that hollywood/fashion magazine sort of way. [don't get me wrong, she's not unfortunate-looking or anything, haha.] instead, she has that alluring, elusive quality about her as a performer that you just don't want to take your eyes off of her. i preferred it so much more to any "beauty" you'd see in movies, on tv, or in magazines.
  
• event/thought: i had a quarter-life crisis. it was pretty intense, and i'm still working on it.
• thought: i'm unbelievably lucky to have some of the people i have in my life. for example, every time most of the time i talk to my parents, i think they're just awesome. i should really work on reciprocating and giving more instead of just taking and taking all the time. i'm terribly spoiled. :( will also work on that.
  
• thought: [this one is actually pretty current, as in occurring right now] i'm listening to artists similar to coldplay on last.fm and just about every song in the last 30 min has sucked. what the heck is going on?!
  
• event: this summer is shaping up to be quite interesting - once i get all the boring summer/med/regular school stuff over with, that is. some pretty exciting events happening! will might blog about them as they unfold.
• event/thought: the "organic produce" series that we've been going through at vox (the church, not the blog) has been resonating with me a lot. since i can list the fruits of the Spirit off the top of my head easily, you'd think that the central theme of each sequential message wouldn't surprise me. but they really have, and each one seemed to have been spoken in a time when i most needed to hear them. this might be the first time in a while that i feel like God can have some very personal conversations with you through something as impersonal as a sermon given in front of many, many people. He is full of surprises and so good. 

alright, time to call it quits.

"i'm not unfaithful but i'll stray."
--tegan and sara

hi vox. i'm back.