[RE]Traveling!

One of my biggest goals in life is to travel around the world. - Kevin

Yessss. I totally love traveling. It’s so much fun! My family travels a lot and that is because my dad loves to just go out to see places and have fun. I want to travel to as many places as i can!  Throughout my life, i’ve traveled to Las Vegas, Hawaii, Reno, and more.

When i went to Las Vegas i went with my friends’ families so it was really fun. We watched shows and walked around.

Hawaii was super fun. I went there with my friends’ families also and we did a bunch of activities. We went to the Polynesian adventure tour, shark diving, visited pearl harbor,shop, and got on the beach. Their beaches are way better than ours. I really enjoyed going there.   

Reno is Reno. I went when i was young so i didn't do much. My parents went to the casino and i went to the arcade place.

I went to Hong Kong one year but it was only for a short while. We went to watch fireworks there for their 60th anniversary. It was really crowded but awesome.

I only visited Macau for a few hours. We walked around the place and visited some historic sites. I don't know where i went but it was nice. I went into their casinos and the interior and exterior are gorgeous. I went into the Venetian and it was really trippy. I was inside but it looked like i was outside...

Beijing was a while back so i don't remember much.. We were on a tour and we visited many places. One of the stops was Beijing. We had some good food there. I also climbed the Great Wall of China and damn does it take forever. I obviously didn't climb the whole thing but i got to a check point and took a picture there.

We went to this other place in china... i didn't know where it is at all. My dad decided to take us with a tour there and i honestly didn't like it there. We climbed a bunch of mountains and the people there kept saying how pretty the rocks are and how it makes an image. I totally just saw giant rocks. I don’t get why we went there.. Also it was sorta a rural area so there were almost no cars there. The people washed their clothes down at a river and the houses used lamps. I didn't experience that since i was in the tourist area where there were only small hotels.

Every time we visit China we go back to my parents’ hometown. It’s nice there. I mostly go there just to visit family though. There isn’t much to do there but it’s nice.

So you see i have travelled a lot. I plan to travel even more in the future. I really want to visit different parts of Europe. It would be so awesome! My mom says that this summer we are going to Korea and i am super excited. We’re going to be in Seoul and looking at tourism sites probably. I hope i get to go to a concert while i am there (;

[FR]So much stuff going on..

Stressed oouuuuuutttt. Ahhhhhh! There’s too much going on right now.. Everything is just crashing in and i feel really stressed out. To start off, i have SATs tomorrow and i did not study at all. I know it was stupid of me but i just kept pushing it back since summer started. My mom kept reminding me to study but it didnt happen. Since school started i had no time to study for it since i devoted my time to AP Calc. I always need to study for that class because of our weekly quizzles. Now it is the night before the testing day and i’m going to try to cram as much as i can into my brain.

On top of SATs i’m worried about all the college stuff. Recently, i’ve been trying to find scholarships online since college is super expensive. I also need to decide where i want to go to since almost everyone already has a list of colleges they want to attend. I’m still a bit stuck on what i want to study but things have been getting better on that part. I’m researching more and i narrowed it down. To add to everything else, im stressed on whether i’m even good enough for UC’s. My parents view going to a UC as being a step to a successful future, which i disagree with, and they actually expect me to apply to top UCs. I am really worried that i won’t get in to UCs  since my grades were absolutely horrible in my freshmen year. It really brought down my GPA. My parents think i can get in and i feel like i will fail and disappoint them.

Well my only hope is to do well in the SATs, which i have no confidence in doing. If only i can score 1900+.. big sigh..

[CE]Mmm Bugs....

Oh damn. So there are more and more people in the world now and the human appetite for meat is increasing so we need an alternate way to satisfy our demands. According to the professor, we are going to have a meat crisis very soon because 70% of agricultural land is used for livestock while the human population is doubling. The insects are nutritious so they are put with meat so the amount of meat used is lesser.



Holy crap do those insects look gross. I am just an insect hater so i got creeped out throughout the whole video. There were so many worms there and it was kinda uncomfortable to watch. Yeah i see that they are trying to lessen the meat consumption but i don’t think i will ever eat insects through free will. I would probably eat it to survive since i would have no choice. Since i have a choice now, i definitely would not eat it.



The chef in the video made the food look good though. They looked perfectly normal if you disregard the little wormies popping out. The pasta actually looked good. I think the worms would taste fine but it’s just the fact that it is a worm that i wont eat it. The guy said it had a nutty taste to it so it is probably not that bad. I think since you’re adding a bunch of flavors with the insects, you won’t taste it. But still, it’s just....blargh

[BC]College essay 2

1. Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

I was born in Oakland and i lived in Chinatown for 8 years since i was born. I remember living in an apartment packed with a lot of people. About eleven people lived in the tiny apartment and they all consist of my family. I was never lonely since there was always a lot of people. Things started to change though little by little. We started to move out since everyone was making more money in order to buy an actual house. My family moved to Alameda and i had to leave the hectic but comforting home i had.

When i moved, my views on many things changed. I understood that my parents just bought a house and spending big is not going to happen. I was young so i didn't know the hardships of earning money. My parents always loved my brother and I so when we wanted something, they would want to get it for us. As i grew up i felt that it wasn’t right to ask my parents for a lot of things. I remember always at grocery stores my brother would ask to buy junk food while i never asked to buy anything. I felt that i needed to help out financially by restrain my desires for my favorite foods. I didn't want my parents to spend so much money because of me. Even though i didn't know the difficulty of earning money, I always tried saving money.

In 2005 my parents opened their own business in Chinatown. They didn't want to keep switching jobs so they started their own place. They opened up a restaurant and in the first year, business was booming. The place was always jam packed with people. As the years went  by, business declined because the economy since then has been going down. People don’t go out to eat as much so it has a big affect on us. I always overheard my parents talking about what they were going to do since money is starting to become a problem. The restaurant is losing money and it is the only source of money for us.

My family gave it their all for me so i think i should do the same for them and others. I plan to study accounting, specifically managerial accounting. I want to be able to look into the future and help business owners make decisions on what to do financially. I can help businesses with cost analysis and strategic planning so they can utilize their money in the best way possible. I also want to help my family’s business. By studying accounting, i can help them out and keep the business, which they love so much, running smoothly.

ahh... i did prompt 2 first...this needs a lot of editing..will do later..

[RE]Don't Waste Food!!

 Well I don’t know about anyone else but it bothers me so much when people take the food they get for granted!


I got this from Julie Le and i have to agree with her. It totally bothers me that people take food for granted. I was out to lunch with one of my friends one time and we ordered a box of food. It was pretty big but i knew i would finish it, either during lunch or later. My friend got the same thing but she only ate a few bites of it and wanted to throw it away. There was still a bunch of chicken and rice left and i couldn't help but feel bothered by it. I told her to save it for later and she said that she didn't want it later if it was soggy. I asked her why she bought such a big portion if she wasn't going to finish it and she said she liked to eat it but she just couldn't finish it. I mean if you cant finish it, at least it for later or give it to someone else to eat.


I feel so bad when i see people throw food away; It just makes me feel all icky inside. My parents and my grandparents told me about their hardships when they were younger. They couldnt be picky about what they ate and they definitely couldnt waste food. Even if they wanted more food they couldnt because they had 6 or 7 brothers and sisters in the family. My mother and grandfather couldnt even eat sometimes because they had to care for their children first. Ever since i was a child, i was taught not to waste food. My parents always remind me how lucky we are to have food to eat. There are people out there in the world who are dying because they are hungry. We shouldnt waste food even if we have enough to do so.

[FR]Free food

On Monday I went to my little cousin’s house in the morning because I don’t have a first period. I went to give him some snacks like cookies and candies because my mom bought some for him. He is only three years old and he is super cute. When I went into the house he said good morning to me and I gave him the bag of treats. He really likes snacks so he eats them quite frequently. I actually found out that he has a whole cabinet full of them.

After he left for school. My aunt took out some of my cousin’s snacks and gave them to me. She put on the table yogurt, grapes, two packs of crackers, and two packs of gunny candies. It was a lot and I didn’t want to take it all but they insisted on it. Then when my other aunt woke up, she gave even more treats. She gave me some cookies from Hawaii and it looked really good.


I carried all the snacks to school and ate a pack of the gummy candies during third period, in physics. It was pineapple flavored but it smelled bad. In the first few seconds, it tastes fake since it is coated with some kind of powder. After awhile though, it tastes pretty good. My friend told me the orange flavor is much better so I ate some on the next day. It tasted alright, just like any orange flavored candy. It also had the weird powder coating on top unfortunately.

[CE]School of Bottles

In the Philippines an environmental group came up with a  great idea of saving the environment and money . A school of recycled and glass bottles was made and i think it is a great idea. It is said that in the Philippines, enough waste is produced to create a school in two weeks. That’s a lot of waste that can be used for a good cause! Building a school is a lot of money and a lot of people do not have the money for the materials to build one. It costs half as much to make and that is a significant amount they are saving. By reusing bottles, it saves a ton of money that can be used for other things, such as school supplies, and it is environmentally friendly. In the video above, the kids were in their new room, double the size of their old one. They get more space and it doesn't cost much either.



Building these schools in poor areas will really make a difference. Kids can actually have a place to get an education at a more spacious area rather than a cramped up class room. Bottles are scattered everywhere and what better way to reuse them than to build a school? I really like this idea although i am a bit worried about how much the building can take from natural disasters. It is said that it can withstand high winds but i do not know about other things. I’m not sure if it can survive if a hurricane or earthquake hit it.

[FR]My Day

So today is a Friday and that means tests tests tests. I had two tests today(well quizzes but i consider them as tests). I had one in government and one in ap calculus. The test in gov was easier than i expected it to be. I really didn't study because i prioritized calculus since it is harder. The test was pretty straightforward and i think i did pretty well on it.



For the calculus test i think i did just ok. I feel like i would've gotten more points but i made a bunch of stupid mistakes(again). And to add to that, the teacher went over the specific question right before the test. Total failure.



After school i went with my mom to Southland to get some stuff for the upcoming senior banquet. I got a bracelet and a ring to go with my dress that i got the other day. I got them fairly cheap so i was happy about that. I spent about two and a half hours walking around stores because i wanted some new boots. I have two at home but i scraped the heels on one really badly and the other one is scraped on the front. Since its about fall and winter season, i wanted some warm boots. Well too bad i didnt get any since i’m picky.



When we were done shopping we went to subway for dinner. I got the september $5 foot long and it was alright. I love to put honey mustard and chipotle southwest sauce on it. It is delicioso. So i ate it within minutes when i got home. Well this is how my day went. Now i need to go write two more posts hahaha.......

[RE]Ugly and Beauty Pageants

I saw a post about the ugliest dog contest from Taylor and saw that

The dog named  Yoda was presented the ugly award June 25th

Okay so why do they even have these contests? I honestly feel so bad about the dogs being laughed at up on the stage. Yeah i understand that a lot of the owners really love their dogs but showcasing the dogs’ ‘ugliness’ is too much. Some of the competitors actually beat their dogs to distort their features for them to qualify as ugly. These contests just creates more animal abusers. If i was a dog i would be humiliated. But i am not a dog so my feelings towards this is obviously from a human’s perspective.



I feel bad for the dog but from the dogs’ perspective it doesn’t feel that way. In contrast, it is enjoying all the attention it is getting. The dogs don’t know that they are in an ugly contest so seeing the people in the crowd laughing at them makes them happy. I’m glad that they’re happy but i’m pretty sure the beaten dogs aren’t. It’s not that i think that this contest is harmful, i think that it is the root to some people harming their dogs.



I don’t have much of a positive opinion towards beauty pageants either. The whole thing is superficial. It is like saying judging people by their looks or things is okay. The child beauty pageants are even worse. Some of the children’s parents force them to compete and train, depriving them of a childhood. Some even make their children get nose jobs, fake tans, and so on. Although not all the parents are like that, it is the same as what i said before. These contest are what promotes these actions.

[CE]Booming Social Media

So the number of Brazilians using social media is rapidly increasing. A lot of people use twitter and facebook there and i’m not too sure if this is a good thing or not.Of Brazil's estimated 75 million internet users, 23 per cent regularly use Twitter, the highest penetration anywhere in the world.Today, there are 23 million users of facebook. The network is growing faster in Brazil than any other country. Yes social media provides the people with news, a way of communicating with other people, and educational purposes but there are downsides to it. If they are heavy users then it can impact their studies or work since it is pretty addicting. A lot of people try to multitask with facebook or twitter on another tab while doing work and it can affect them negatively, although this applies to the people who have internet of their own. Most people in Brazil do not have internet so free internet cafes are being built. Less than 40 percent of the total population actually have interent access. This allows people to have more access of the news and their family and friends. This also may get them hooked and they won’t go to their job or school as much anymore. I think that keeping in touch with your friends and family and the news is important and the people there should be able to have the option to do so. But i also think that it can cause some to be less focused because i think going on facebook and other different types of social medias is pretty addicting.

[BC]College essay

Ever since i started middle school up until sophomore year of high school, school didn't matter to me. I thought that school was a waste of time and i didn't understand why i should do well in it. Things got a bit better once i entered high school but it was still bad. My parents were so disappointed in me. I felt bad about it but i didn't do anything to fix my problem.

In 7th grade, my parents tried to get my grades up by getting me a tutor. I honestly didn't think i needed one because i knew what my problem was. It wasn't because i didn't understand the material, it was because i didn't want to do the work. I didn't tell my parents that i wasn't doing my homework so they thought i wasn't understanding the lessons. I had a 2.7 at the time and they feared that i wouldn't do well in the future. I had tutoring once a week on Saturdays and i hated it. I felt like i was wasting my time and my parents’ money because i felt i didn't need a tutor. I had a lot of work i had to do but even though i hated it, i still did them. I did them to prove to my parents that a tutor wasn't necessary. Although i thought that, tutoring actually helped my grades. Since i was doing the tutoring homework, it got me to do some of my school homework too.

When freshmen year came, i still only did some of my work.I worked hard in Math only so that was the only good grade i had. But at that time, people around me started talking to me more about how important it is to do well in school. My family and friends were genuinely worried about my future. The person who made the biggest impact in my life for the better is my grandfather. He always believed in me and knew that i could do better. He encouraged me to do my best. He once told me that if i do well and graduate and get into a UC he would have a surprise for me. He tried his best to get me back on track and i admire him for that. But towards the end of freshmen year, my grandfather left us and it was the saddest point of my life,but also the turning point. I was extremely devastated at the time but it was also a reason for me to do better. I wanted to make my grandfather proud so i changed my ways. I got myself together and decided that i would definitely do my best.

It is senior year now and i’m proud that i overcame the obstacle. I am trying my best for the highest GPA i can get this year. i feel disheartened about my freshmen year but i’ve improved by a lot over the years.I will make my grandfather, the rest of my family, and myself proud.

[RE]High School

I was reading some posts and came across this from Kristen’s . What she wrote is exactly how i feel.

I know that most of us are excited & ready to leave high school, just as I am, but at the same time, there's something that's holding me back. College is the next step for us (well some of us). The term "college" frightens and excites me all at once. I know we're all about to stress because of college app. Some of us still aren't satisfied with our SAT scores, some hasn't decide on what they're going to major in, and some don't even know what colleges to apply for.

A lot of people say that they are totally looking forward to college life and they can’t wait till high school is over. I, on the other hand, wish that high school could last a bit longer. It has gone by so fast that that it doesn't even seem real. I feel really pressured right now because I’m a bit late with the SAT tests and it worries me. I only took the SAT reasoning test once and i am not satisfied with my score. I registered for the October SAT just a few days ago  in hopes of a higher score. I’m not even sure if i can do better than my previous test. Also, i plan to take a subject test and the ACT. That’s three more tests and the next three months will be hellish. I know i should’ve take the tests sooner but what happened happened.

I am also not really sure what colleges to apply to. I’m going to have to find out soon.

[CE]Anniversary of 9/11

The 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is nearing so police officers are all over the city of New York. Information of an attack is circulating around so the police department is taking even further precautions so they can prevent the supposed threat that is to come on Sunday. If i was in New York right now, i would be extremely worried. Just seeing the hordes of police everywhere i go would be nerve wracking. There are bag checks in the subway stations and in different checkpoints throughout the city.Drivers get stopped for a drivers licence check at some of these checkpoints. People get stopped frequently to get their stuff checked and it can be hassle.I would feel a bit of safety with all the police enforcement but you never know what will happen. A wireless manager shares his thought on what is happening:

"The commute on the train this morning was horrible but it was worth it because we are being protected,"

source:Security increased after US 'terror threat')


Also to add to the uneasiness,

"We have the opening of the 9/11 memorial, the president and two former presidents here, obviously a lot of high profile public officials will be here, so we have to be concerned."

I hope that nothing happens on Sunday.I wish for everything to be peaceful. For this week, all the news channels, magazines, and various types of social media have been doing news coverage on 9/11 so i am sure i will be updated. 

[FR]Just a starting post

The nice picture above (courtesy of tumblr) pretty much sums up how i am feeling. I feel like i don't want to face all this college apps stuff but we all know we just have to suck it up and do it. With these two sentences, i think it is enough with the college talk already(atleast for today) since the photo says it all.(Had i not found this picture floating about on my tumblr, this college talk wouldn't even be here; my reluctance towards discussing this topic is clearly visible.)

This is my first blog post that i have ever written. I do have another blog,on the oh so famous tumblr, but i don’t write in it. I just reblog and like things that i find interesting. It sorta feels weird writing about how i feel on a page that anyone on the web can access. Although i say this, i don’t really care much for it. I think for most posts i make, ill include a picture somewhere just to make things less dull. That is the plan for now.

I don’t think writing a free post is that easy. Yeah i can write whatever i want but I'm not actually sure what i want to write about. When i think, my mind is going everywhere. I jump form topic to topic and it really bothers me. I’m sitting on my computer at first with a nice topic in my head and then i get another idea and then another after that. It really hinders my writing process so i would prefer post assignments that have a specific topic to write about. But knowing me, this thought will probably change later. I really do change my mind a lot.