Flying is not a good idea during winter

After being bored and lazy for the entire winter break, I decided to get out of NY. I bought tickets to fly to Columbus, OH on Monday night and flew yesterday. My itinery: LaGuardia-->Washington, DC -->Columbus, arriving at 4pm.
Due to bad weather and air traffic in DC, I was on the airplane, on the ground at LaGuardia, for three hours! What is worse, a man who was sitting next to me was super fat and was invading my space a bit. He was so fat, he couldn't put a seatbelt on! (well, I found out that they have a special seatbelt for fat people) After three-hour delay, we finally took off to DC. Of course, I missed the connection flight and was rebooked to another flight. Then my flight from DC didn't take off because we had to wait for a pilot who was flying in from other place. After 1.5 hour or so, the pilot arrived...but by that time, the pilot wasn't legal to fly any more (something to do with overtime regulation). Since they couldn't find another pilot, the flight was canceled.
While I waited in line to talk to the customer service, I called the airline to find out what was going on...the lady I talked to told me that there is one more flight leaving for Columbus but it is overbooked; therefore, my only option is to fly next morning. ugh... then, I finally talked to the customer service at the airport after waiting in line for over an hour. They just gave me a ticket for the last flight to Columbus for that night. wait, how did it happen? Wasn't the flight overbooked??? I wasn't even on standby list for that flight. Anyway, I got a flight to Columbus and made it here late last night. I am so glad that I didn't have to stay in DC overnight. It was such a relief when I finally got to Columbus 8 hours later than my original itinerary. :)

Let's see how my stay in Columbus has been so far. Well, it's been snowing all morning and looks like it will continue snowing all afternoon. Had lunch with Dave, and it was nice. meatloaf and mashed potato! yum!

weekend plans never work

I thought my MLK weekend was overbooked but it turned out to be very boring and uneventful.

Friday--went to Riku's 1st birthday party. He is one of the cute little ones I babysit. Party was great; great food and good people. I was surrounded by bunch of 1 year-old babies and their moms. Of course, I was the only adult who was single. It felt kinda wierd hanging out with mothers and babies because they are not the kind of people I usually hang out with. All they talked about was pregnancy, prenatal care, good ob/gyn doctors, baby food, and husbands. One of the mothers was married to a white guy who is from middle-of-nowhere Ohio. I found her bit annoying because she kept talking about how Americans are like this and how British are like that. She just likes to generalize all kinds of racial/ethnic groups, like "Americans think they are the best in the world", "British are stubborn", and "Indians are cheap" There are some truth to what she said but I didn't like hearing her grossly generalizing all these people. And she kept saying how proud she was to be Japanese and how much she values Japanese heritage and culture. That's great but I got an impression that she's trying so hard to fit into the mainstream American culture. I think she's feeling bit confclited about her cultural identity...
Nonetheless, I had a great time.

After the party, I went to see Larry's dance competition at Columbia. Larry and his partner, Mayumi, did great. I could see them completely enjoying it. and it was great to see other dancers, too. omg...the girls were soooooooo pretty! People who were competing in the highest level were amazing....I saw their Latin dance competition and I just couldn't believe what they could do! They were so athletic. Overall, I had a great time!

Saturday: Ira called me at 8:30am(!) to tell me that he's not coming in to the city to hang out with me. Not a big surprise. I knew it even before he called. Then, I had to babysit for four hours. Because the mom teaches at home, I had to take the kid out. We went outside, and it was super cold! We ended up going to B&N to look at some books, went to eat pizza, and went to Washington Square Park. We both had a good time (except for the part where I had to change poopy diaper) After that, I went back to my apartment and relaxed.

Sunday: I don't remember what I did...probably just read for a bit and watched TV.

Monday: did nothing again. but went to a Vietnamese restaurant in Elmhurst with my roomies to have dinner. That's about it. Nothing exciting. Again, read some articles at Starbucks during the day.

So, most of the weekend plans didn't work out...and had a rather boring weekend. I think it's not good to have all the plans up in the air. They usually end up just being plans.

Updated on my academic standing

So, I talked to my mentor this afternoon. I told her that I got a B on social psy, and she wasn't too concerned initially...untill I told her that brought my GPA way down and all the consequences associated with it.
Here are some consequences I have to deal with...
1. I may end up losing my fellowship
2. I won't be able to apply for Research MA
3. consequently, I will have to take comps and have to take some other classes
4. with this GPA, I may have smaller chance of getting into the Ph.D. program

Ok, getting a few B's during grad school career is not a big deal. But the price I have to pay for one B is too high. Also, I wanted to prove to everyone that I'm a good student--I'm a student that my mentor brought here with her from Ohio. I'm so super disappointed with myself.
What could I have done to get an A in social psy? Well, I admit that I slacked off a bit because the class seemed easy. But I feel that I put sufficient amount of effort and that I had a good grasp of all the materials we've covered in class and readings.

After the meeting with my mentor, I talked to one of the student advisors to figure out about requirements that I have to meet.
1. As for the fellowship, he thinks that they will probably put me on probation--so I may not lose it all together at this point.
2. He suggested to take Cog Psy instead of Cog Neurosci because Cog Psy is comps relevant and is easier. Bonus is, Cog psy is on Wed 8-10pm--another super late night class! ugh
3. I won't be able to do research MA--have to take comps
4. About GPA and admission into Ph.D.--most admitted students have 3.6-3.8 GPA but some have 3.5.

So, after all, it's not the end of the world. As long as I get all A's next semester, I will probably retain my fellowship. Thought of taking comps is horrifying but I had to take it anyway if I stayed at OU. But now, here's a problem. I'm maxed out for next semester's course load but I still need to take Research Methods class because I won't be doing Research MA. Student advisor will get back to me about this...but this is soooooo complicated. So much pressure, too. All A's? How am I going to do that? So much to think about. So much to deal with. I can't believe one grade can hurt me this much.

I screwed up

I finally got grade for social psy...and I screwed up big time. I got a B, and that brings my GPA all the way down to 3.56. I've never had GPA this low before. Well, since my GPA is below 3.7, I will lose my fellowship for next year. Called the scholarship office, and they told me that I will have to submit a renewal application in March and they will look at my GPA up to Fall, 2004. This means that they will look at 3.56. The fellowship requires the minimum of 3.7, so I will lose the fellowship. Without fellowship, I can't pay tuition...so, what am I going to do? Go back to Athens?

Social Psy was the class that I was least worried about...and here I am, getting a B. If this is a nightmare, I just want to wake up...

another lazy day

So, I woke up around 10:30am. what a lazy start. Then, went straight to babysitting. After the babysitting, I had about 1.5 hour to kill. So, I decided to do some window shopping on 5th Ave. It turned out to be a real shopping, not window shopping. There was a big sale going on at Express. For example, sweaters were only $20! How could I resist that? I mean, I need sweaters for the harsh winter ahead of us! And I bought a few other long sleeve shirts to wear under sweaters. They were all $9/each.
Then I took 7 train to 40th street in Queens to meet with Maiko. We had very good Korean food for dinner. And it was very cheap, too! I think this restaurant will be one of my favorites in Queens. I also had Korean beer, OB, for the first time. it was quite good, actually.

After the big dinner, here I am, back in my room updating blog. Beer is making me bit sleepy...

Now I really think about it, I overbooked my schedule for this coming weekend.
1. I will be doing something with my roomies this weekend, possibly a mini-vacation (see yesterday's blog).
2. NYC-cheapeats dinner at Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown on Friday night
3. Maybe dinner or lunch with Alex on Saturday or Sunday?
4. Larry's dance competition at Columbia this weekend
5. Ira may come visit on Saturday
All these plans are up in the air except for no.2 I wonder how my weekend will turn out to be...

Disney World? well...

it takes 17.5 hours to drive from here to Orlando. My roommates and I thought it would be nice to take a short trip to Disney during MLK weekend. But it turns out that it's too far to drive. We're still brain storming for weekend-long vacation ideas.
Some possibilities:
1. Philadelphia (but my roomie tells me that we only need a day to see most of Philadelphia)
2. NYC--act like tourists, get onto one of those double-decker tour buses, go watch Broadway shows, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, etc.
3. Washington DC
4. Cape Cod--but it's too cold!
5. Columbus, OH--see the mansion that Dave lives in ;-) hehehehe...
6. Boston ??? maybe take Chinatown bus to Boston.

I'm getting sleepy now...yay!

anxiety over grades

I got two of my grades posted on-line and waiting for one more (social psychology). My GPA so far shows that I can keep my fellowship (above 3.7). But if I get anything less than A- for social psychology, I will be in a big trouble. I'm worried because I got a B+ on midterm for soc psy. Now I hate myself for being such a slacker. Soc Psy was really easy--that's why I didn't study very much for it. Then, the exam was kinda tricky. ugh... I don't know what I would do if I lost the fellowship. There is no way I can pay over $21,000/year. I'm so worried about my grades. This anxiety is driving me crazy. I hope the prof will post the grade soon...

I slept in till 11:30am this morning. Instead of feeling refreshed, I've been having a really bad headache all day. I think this is because of weather. When it's cloudy or rainy, I often get headache, which I probably inherited from my mom. So, I kinda sat around and did nothing for most part of the day except for laundry. I'm soooo lazy.

I'm going to add one more thing on new year's resolution. "socialize more" During the fall semester, I pretty much neglected my social life. I think now is the time to reconnect with people, and hopefully meet new people, too. So, I called or e-mailed a few friends to see if they want to hang out. I'm going to have chige (Korean hotpot) with Maiko (not my sister) on Monday, and maybe meet up for lunch or dinner with Alex next weekend.

Now, seriously thinking about a trip to Philadelphia. Maybe next weekend?

good lunch

Had lunch with my mentor this afternoon. We went to a new izakaya right next to school. I had tonkatsu lunch, and it was alright. 50% of what we talked about over lunch was about academic/research, like which classes I'm taking next semester, upcoming research projects, and thesis ideas. I almost had indigestion from talking about all these academic stuff...ugh. But overall, I had a good lunch meeting with my mentor.

I couldn't sleep until 4am last night...don't know what's going on with my sleep schedule. I just need to start getting up at decent time, I guess. I'm just so super exhausted.

Just a random thought--I love hanging out at a coffee shop. In fact, that's the only place where I can get a good amount of work done. But I just hate the smell--coffee smell-- I get all over my body and whatever I bring to coffee shop. the smell doesn't go away that easily. Everything, including my hair, coat, bag, books, and paper, smell like coffee for days. This is the only thing I hate about coffee shop! Oh, and another random thought. Ever since I moved to NY, I've been noticing that people don't ask for your permission when they want to share the table with you at coffee shops. They just sit at your table without asking you. A few weeks ago, I was drinking coffee at Dunkin Donuts. Then, some old guy asked me if the bag that is sitting on the chair is mine. I said yes, but he asked the same question gain. So, I asked him if he wanted to take the chair. Can you imagine what he said? He said, "what do you think? you already got a chair, and i need a chair to sit." Then, he just sat at the chair without asking me if I would mind. This type of thing seems to happen quite a bit. Or, at least, it happened quite often to me.

SAD?

Seasonal Affective Disorder--do I have a mild case of SAD? I've been in a crappy mood, along with excessive sleep and headache. well, I know my symptoms don't make a case because they are so mild but I think the weather is affecting my mood. Thankfully, it'll be sunny tomorrow. I will stay out (with sunscreen on) as much as I can.

I'm wondering...how long does it take for one to be in love with someone? Is love something that develops over time...or if you don't feel it within certain amount of time, you'll never be in love with that person? Is it all about "chemistry"? If there's no "chemistry," there will be no "falling in love?" What is love anyway? (ok, I know it sounds corny but what is it anyway?) What does "being in love" mean?
People usually restrain themselves from saying "i love you" to their boy/girlfriend early on in their relationship. That's a wise thing to do because you don't want to be telling every single person you date, "I love you." But how long should you wait before you tell your significant other that you love him/her? And, if you are not in love with your boy/girlfriend, should you keep dating? Or, would you break up with him/her? Or, you would stay in the relationship with a hope that one day "love" will develop between them?
...I'm confused!!!

all these efforts...

I was having this weird formatting/layout problem with my blog. Not knowing what to do to fix it, I decided to paste all my entries on word, recreate a blog, and paste all the entries back on it. After spending so much time doing this...I realized that the problem could have been fixed very easily. Ugh!!! Oh, well...I didn't have anything better to do tonight anyway.

Ok, this show "Big Man on Campus" is really, really messed up. First of all, why are all these beautiful girls (maybe bit airheaded) fighting over this guy anyway? Do they really like him as they say they do??? Second of all, UCF is a crappy school, as far as I know. Not strong in academic nor in sports. oh, well, no more comment on these stupid shows...

I watched "Dawson's Creek" this morning. TBS shows two episodes in the morning everyday. "Dawson's Creek" is so depressing--so much hurt feelings whether that's family related or romance related issues. Everytime I watch "Dawson's Creek," it almost makes me cry! Gosh, I can't remember how it ended, though. Did Dawson and Joey got together???

Trying to think of what to do tomorrow...here are my plans:
1. do laundry!!!
2. go shopping for cleaning supplies, kitchen stuff, etc.
3. maybe go to the mall?

You know, people often ask questions like "what do you do for fun?" Whenever someone asks me this question, I feel pressured to say something like "rock climbing." I feel like I can't say "I love relaxing at a nice coffee shop" or "just lay down and relax." I think it has something to do with our workaholic, obsessive culture that we live in. Even during our free time, we feel pressured to do something! why can't we just relax for a moment?

Akemashite omedeto!

It's 2005 already. Time flies, doesn't it?I'm already back in the lab but this doesn't mean I'm doing work. I'm just enjoying fast internet and computer at school. (I have fast internet at home but my computer is super slow...) So, here are my new year's resolutions:
1. eat healthy...well, relatively healthy (I had bagel w/ cream cheese and coffee for breakfast and will probably skip lunch...no good)
2. exercise
3. reduce stress by not procrastinating
These are pretty much the same from last year. Being a grad student and the above resolutions don't really go together that well but I will try!

Let's see what happened in the last two weeks or so...

1. Fall semester is over. Spring semester starts from Jan 24.
2. I was invited to a holiday reception at one of scholarsip donors' house on Dec 23. But I couldn't go because it was raining very hard and I was soaking wet after walking for 20 seconds. Now I wish I could go because I know they probably served good wine and delicious finger food.
3. housesitting/catsitting for my mentor during Christmas weekend. I wanted to explore Brooklyn while I was staying at their place but it was too cold to be out during that time (30 degrees or lower).
4. my roommates cooked Christmas dinner! We had chicken, corn soup, tempura, and cake. yummy! btw, new trivia--whip cream on cake from Chinese bakery is salty.
5. Dave visited NYC...again! :-p We went to Chelsea Market, Museum of Sex (yes, there's such a thing as sex museum in NYC), Central Park, FAO Schwartz, Rockefeller Center (Christmas tree!)... There were tourists everywhere! Central Park was packed with tourists because we had such a nice weather, around 55-degrees. For NYE, we went to Sharaku in EV for sushi and Indochine Restaurant for NYE celebration and drinks (good gin and tonic!). Overall, I had a great time. :-) Thanks for visiting, Dave.
6. wondering what to do for the rest of the winter break. I know I can always work on manuscript and thesis...but I don't think I can work on them for 40hrs/week for next 3 weeks. any suggestion?