travel

London, Day 5

I finally bit the bullet and bought a voucher for internet in my room. It was too much trouble running around with my laptop looking for free wireless. At this point I only need a week, which is 8 pounds. For two weeks it’s 12 pounds – well, actually for a month it’s 12, but you can only get either a week or a month.

If you want, you can read about Days 1 and 2, Day 3, and Day 4. Ah the powers of blog backdating!

This morning’s lectures were fairly interesting. Andy talked about the problem of publishing monographs (i.e, very expensive) and how publishing electronically would be an improvement. Also someone from John Wiley & Sons talked about online learning systems, causing some heated debate with our dean who doesn’t like the idea of online universities, despite the fact that this is the only way some people get to earn a degree.

After lunch we to the British Library for a tour.

It’s a beautiful space, but it’s definitely not a public library. You have to bascially apply to be able to use the books, and you can’t just use the space, you have to be using the materials. It’s more like special collections (rare books and manuscripts, art monographs, etc.).

The guide was smart but had somewhat of a superiority complex. He said everything in a joking way, but who knows. He made fun of American English spelling – like dropping “u” from “color” so that a British person wouldn’t be able to find “The Color Purple” in their system – yeah cuz “programme” makes a lot more sense than “program.” He also seemed to have no idea about the Kindle. And he wasn’t old. Maybe in his late 40s.

After the tour, we all stayed to check out the rare books on display, including the Magna Carta. Very cool.

I was going to go to the National Gallery but it was already 5 by the time I left the British Library and I thought it closed at 6 (actually 9 on Thursdays). I just started walking in that general direction, then stopped for a yogurt. Looking through my London book I saw that the British Museum was open till 8:30.

It was very close walking distance, and I spent almost 2 hours there. It reminded me of both the American Museum of Natural History and the Met, but on a smaller scale. I especially liked the exhibit on different clocks through the ages, contemporary Korean ceramics, the mummies, and the Parthenon.

Aphrodite crouching at her bath

I got back to my area around 8. I felt like hearty Asian food again – the weather has become quite chilly – and stopped at what looked like fast food Japanese, Sushi and Bento. I was planning on getting udon noodle soup but opted for curry chicken with rice. It was good! Exactly what I wanted, and at 4.50 pounds, not too pricey.

So tonight I’ve been on internetting for hours! I caught up on emails and as you can see, have been updating my blog. I was going to download my pictures, but I am suddenly really tired.

Tomorrow: lectures, then a visit to Thomas Reuters.

All Day 5 pictures.

library school london / london / travel — 3 Comments
17
Jun 09

London, Day 4

Well, I basically got no sleep. At 11 I was in bed but didn’t feel tired, and lay there, tossing and turning, till about 3. Then from 3 to 5, I kept waking up every 20 minutes. The instant coffee and Beard Papa made me feel only slightly better.

A bunch of us met in the lobby and walked to the bus stop, which took a good half hour. It was cool though to see Oxford Street, normally teeming with people, completely empty. It took us a little bit to find our bus, but soon we spotted some other classmates and the Dean, and the bus came rolling in.

The ride was so peaceful. Everyone was quiet, listening to music or reading the paper. I enjoyed the time to myself and being able to take in the scenery, from the different streets in London, to the little towns and suburbs, to the rolling green lawns with cows, horses, and sheep.

Oxford is a really interesting city. You feel like you’re walking through medieval times. There’s nothing in the U.S. like it. Yale is designed in a medieval way, but it’s just a design.

First stop, coffee of course! I got a mocha and despite the custard cream puff, was starving and I got an almond croissant, which was absolutely delicious by the way.

Next we walked to Oxford University Press (OUP). Part of the outside retains that old look, but the rest is very modern. I couldn’t get over how big it is, especially compared to the 2 or 3 floors of the New York office. There were a couple of cafes, and good-sized dining area.

The lectures were pretty good. The most interesting one to me was the revamp of the online OED and ODNB since I studied at least the OED fairly in-depth for one of my classes, and I’m always interested in how online tools are marketed. I have to say the last presentation was a snooze. The content was interesting, but the woman’s delivery was a total monotone. Plus I was so tired, hungry, and bummed that we wouldn’t be doing the OUP Museum tour because the guide was a no show. Lame.

At least lunch was free. I made a bad choice though: ham and chicken pie. I thought there’d be vegetables in the pie, like peas, carrots, and onions, but there were not. So the side of fries didn’t help. Later one of my classmates got sick from the quiche she had, though another woman had it too and was fine.

Afterwards we walked through town and stopped at this pub, The Eagle and the Child. Apparently C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein used to hang out there and dubbed it The Bird and the Baby. I kept asking people what the significance of the eagle and the child was. I had seen a statue of it at Queen Mary’s Park. No one knew. Finally, one of my classmates pointed out an explanation on the menu: the eagle and child are on the Queen’s crest.

I didn’t drink anything since I was so sleepy, and just sat there while everyone else drank. Afterwards we walked more, and stopped at yet another pub, The White Horse Tavern, I think. The sick-off-the-quiche girl and I weren’t interested so we ran across the street and checked out this free museum on THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE. Tall order. It was basically a random conglomeration of compasses, calculators, globes, bones, and early electric stuff. But hey it was free.

Our next stop was the Bodleian Library, where a the head of collection development talked about the complex Oxford University library system, further complicated by licensing of e-resources. She was a very good speaker – smart, amusing, and self-deprecating.

Next was a tour of the library at the New College.

The campus itself is very pretty. We didn’t actually see a lot of the library. Mainly the librarian showed us these extremely old books. One was an enormous Bible, and the other a book in medieval French with gold gild. It was cool to see those books up close and to actually be able to touch them.

Finally, Anthony, the guy who runs the program, showed us more around campus. There was a very nice garden, which we strolled through in the rain, and the dining hall, which looked like something out of Harry Potter: long wooden tables with place settings, surrounded by giant portraits of stern-looking old men.

Most of my classmates stayed in Oxford to check out the Blackwell’s bookstore and maybe try out another pub. The Dean and three of us lightweights headed back. I had thought about staying but was so exhausted. Sure enough, I promptly fell asleep on the bus for a good hour. By the time we got back to London, I felt more energized and decided to walk back to the dorm from Marble Arch, rather than take the subway.

I’ve been looking for dark-colored Keds all summer. For some reason, New York just doesn’t seem to have them. Where do I find them? In a store called Schuh on Oxford Street. I don’t even know how to pronounce the store name. I got black Keds for 26 pounds, which is a bit pricey, but I think that’s how Keds are.

I ate sooo badly today. Let’s recap:

• Breakfast: instant coffee and Beard Papa custard cream puff
• Breakfast 2: mocha and almond croissant
• Lunch: chicken and ham pie, french fries, diet Coke (NO vegetables)
• Pre-bus snack: 2/3 of sausage roll
• Dinner: yogurt and nacho chips

I kind of want some tea but also feel too lazy to go back out.

Tomorrow is a mellow day of lectures in the morning and a tour of the British Library in the afternoon. I think we end early, around 3:30. I may check out the National Gallery.

All Day 4 pictures.

food / library school london / london / travel — 2 Comments
16
Jun 09

London, Day 3

Whew, it already feels like I’ve been here forever. Now the hallway of our gross dorm has a damp mildewy smell, like they tried to shampoo the carpets but did a terrible job.

I woke up at 5 AM to bright sunlight – my blinds don’t work well – and couldn’t fall back asleep, not even wearing the blindfold Virgin Atlantic gave us. Worried that I’d have to wait for the shower and already starving, I got up at 6:30. Luckily I didn’t have to wait. Someone was finishing up just as I came in.

I also went over to breakfast early since I needed some alone time after socializing so much the days before with people I don’t really know, which I find more tiring for some reason. I skipped the regular sausage and tried the vegetarian one, which was actually pretty good, almost like a falafel.

After breakfast I walked around a bit taking pictures, then stopped in Tesco for some instant coffee. I still had time to kill before class so I went back to my room and read. I was suddenly very tired, even after two cups of coffee, and could have fallen asleep.

Today was all lectures. The guy who runs the program knows a lot and has tons of experience, but he sort of rambles when he lectures. The woman after him, who talked about marketing e-journals, was better once she got warmed up.

By lunch I was still feeling need for alone time so I took off and wandered around. I went to the Muji store, which took me a while to find again, though I’ve passed it a billion times since I’ve been here. I wanted to see if they had any cool mugs, water heaters, or sneakers. They did not. At least there’s a microwave in the kitchen, though it might be disgusting. I ended up getting a cheapo mug from a random supermarket, where I also had a sandwich and chips for lunch.

Very common seems to be sandwiches packaged like the Pret sandwiches – in a cardboard box. They’re absolutely everywhere. There’s also this chain called Eat, which looks almost exactly like Pret.

For the afternoon session, there were three speakers. The first was okay, the second so boring I wanted to gouge my eyes out, and the third pretty good. They were from this company that provides services to publishers and libraries on electronic resources. For instance, they received a grant to provide 30+ e-books of key texts available for free to students in the UK, and they measured and monitored how and how much students used them, and if the availability of the e-books affected print sales at all (it didn’t).

There is someone in the class who’s not a student but involved with academic journals. She kept asking questions that were already addressed in the presentation, which got really annoying by 4:30 when I was totally wilting and itching to get outside. Take it off-line people!

It’s been really beautiful here in London. Today was partly sunny and cool. I decided to take advantage of the weather and walk to London Bridge. Well, tried. I got lost a billion times. The frigging streets go around and around, and turn into other streets without warning. I kept getting out my map. I did end up in some cool parts of town though by mistake, like SoHo.

Eventually I ended up at some bridge. Not the London bridge but it went over the Thames and so I crossed it and ended up on the South Bank. Yay! The Royal National Theater was right there, as well as the Hayward Gallery. In the near distance I saw the London Eye, which my brother recommended.

What is essentially a giant ferris wheel ride is kind of pricey – 17 pounds – but really the first touristy thing I’ve paid for. As I was waiting in line to give my ticket, this large woman and her little son behind me kept trying to cut. I think they were Russian. The woman was big with clothes that were two sizes too small, long dyed black hair, long fake red nails, and tats all up and down her arms. I didn’t want them to cut me, but I didn’t know if I’d have been able to take her.

When we finally got on the car, they and this older Chinese woman all basically pushed me out of the way to get seats. I was not a happy camper.

The ride itself was nice. I took a bunch of pictures. It was much slower than I expected. I kept thinking it was going to be like the Wonder Wheel at Coney Island.

Next door was the Salvador Dali museum, which MB recommended. Unfortunately it was closed so I took pictures of the statues standing outside.

In the distance I saw Big Ben and Parliament, and I headed over to the bridge nearest to that area.

When I got to the other side, I wasn’t sure where I was. It seemed to be lots of government buildings, but unlike in New York, they were really old and ginormous, and where I was at first no one else was around. I felt like I was in an ancient building graveyard.

Eventually I ended up at the Household Calvary Museum (I think), then somehow the right direction back through SoHo, found Oxford Street, and Tottenham Court Road, which leads back to my dorm. I was so proud of myself for figuring it out without a map! I just kept moving away from where I was, following my instinct, and of course the signs pointing towards the roads I knew.

I was starving by the time I got back. I avoided all the touristy eateries and went to Goodge Street, which is near my dorm. There’s a lot of variety at reasonable prices. Feeling a little homesick, I ate a Korean place, not that I’m Korean, but MB and I do that often enough. The bibimbap was 7.50 pounds. With a soda and tip, it turned out to be 9.50. With lunch and dessert (a Beard Papa cream puff), I spent less thatn 20 pounds for the day. Yay!

When I got back, I found some of my classmates chatting and laughing in the kitchen. It seemed they got take out pizza. Wanting to be a little social, I joined them for a while, which was fun. Proud of myself again.

Though I’m having a good time, I miss New York and its perfect grid streets. I miss having my best pal MB to talk to every day. Ah well, it will only make our reunion sweeter.

Tomorrow we’re going to Oxford, hence the early departure. I need to get up at 5 in order to meet some of my classmates at 6:15 downstairs. Ugh.

All Day 3 pictures.

library school london / london / travel — 4 Comments
15
Jun 09

London, Baby!

Writing this in Word since, get this, my room doesn’t have internet. Well, it does, but only via a “voucher” which they ran out of the first day. There were supposed get more today, but haven’t. I don’t even know if I’ll bother. It’s 12 pounds for 2 weeks. I can get free WiFi at Pret and McDonald’s, and I don’t need to be on the internet every day. It’s even a nice little break from being wired all the time.

Sunday, Day 1
The longest day in creation. My flight wasn’t till 9:30 PM so MB and I had the whole day to hang out. I packed in the morning, then for lunch we went to this nice place on Avenue A. I had a yummy omelet with goat cheese, spinach, and tomato.

The weather was so nice (ie, not raining for a change) we decided to take a walk out to the Apple store in Chelsea for a cover for my laptop. The weather held up till we got to the water, then unfortunately it started to rain, so we hopped the M23 back to the east side.

I was dreading having to leave. I mean, I was excited about my trip but hated saying goodbye to MB. This will be the longest we’ve been apart. When he goes to his conferences, the longest he’ll go is a week. The longest trips I’ve taken since we’ve met have been just a few days. But after we finally did say goodbye and I got in a cab, I felt okay. I could focus on my trip more, though these past couple of days, of course, I’ve missed him.

I got to the airport by 7:15 PM. The wait actually didn’t feel too long. I ate some junk and read Eclipse (yes, I’m totally sucked in), and wandered around the airport. We were supposed to board at 8:30 but didn’t get on till almost 9:30. Then we sat on the runway till 11. I was so relieved when we finally took off.

I had no one next to me, but across the aisle was this odd couple. A British woman maybe my age, and a man – maybe from Trinidad? – in what looked to be his 50s. The whole time he kept sucking his teeth, and I think he told the woman to shut up multiple times. I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but I didn’t think so. It was very weird, though he was perfectly pleasant to the crew.

Weirdness #2: the woman behind me kept sneezing, and each time afterwards she’d say, “Bless me!” If she sneezed twice in a row, she said bless me twice.

Turns out one of my classmates was on the plane. We were waiting on line for the bathroom, and I thought, This guy looks familiar. I thought, Did we go on a date? Thank God no. He was in one of my classes fall semester.

I didn’t really sleep the whole flight. I dozed off in the middle of Bolt, but didn’t have a proper sleep. I didn’t figure out how to adjust my seat till we were almost there, so I was sort of uncomfortable for most of the flight.

Heathrow finally! We were supposed to get in at 9:30 AM but were about 45 minutes late. My classmate and I connected, and took the Tube together to the dorm. Sounds easier than it was. Both sleep deprived, we had a hard time figuring out a) where a cash machine was, and b) how to buy an Oyster card. We did figure it out finally, and got on the train.

The subways are pretty nice in London, but it still took a year. Then we had to transfer, which involved dragging our suitcases up and down lots of stairs. I was soooo tired, and more than anything wanted to take a shower.

We’re staying in a dorm, and lemme tell ya, it’s crummy. I’ve stayed in some old dorm rooms in my time, but this takes the cake. My feet will go nowhere near the floor, let alone the shower.

I used the men’s bathroom by mistake, thinking it was unisex. It wasn’t till last night, in my daze from returning from a half-asleep pee, that I found the women’s room when I walked past my door. The men’s bathroom was really bad. One shower didn’t work, and the other didn’t drain properly. The women’s bathroom is slightly better, though one shower had only cold water.

Oh my God, I couldn’t live here for more than two weeks. But I guess that’s what you get for 35 pounds a night.

After my shower, I ran out and got groceries from a nearby Tesco’s. I was all set to go out immediatley afterwards, but was suddenly utterly exhausted. I napped for about 90 minutes, and woke up feeling pretty refreshed.

I took the subway to Leicester Square, then realized I could have walked there. I hadn’t eaten much the whole day – a muffin on the plane, and a yogurt – so first stop: Pret for a sandwich. I like Pret back home, and I remember my brother saying it was one of the few places in London that was reasonably priced. An excuse to stick with the familiar.

After I ate, I saw Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, and walked all the way down Picadilly to Buckhingham Palace.

Picadilly Circus

It wasn’t that far of a walk but just felt that way since I was so tired. I also used a restroom in a fancy hotel, trying to be inconspicuous, but then ended up pulling the emergency cord (thought it was for the toilet), and even after I assured the guy who knocked that I was okay, opened the door to find him standing there.

There was nothing going on at Buckingham Palace. I saw one of the guards walk back and forth, that’s it. Afterwards I walked all the way back to school. All in all, a three hour tour.

I had also picked up an ethernet cable, but was told there were no more vouchers. By this time, I hadn’t contacted anyone to say I had landed and was okay, and started to feel panicky. The guy at the front desk was nice and said that all McDonald’s had free wireless. I remembered seeing one nearby and so, laptop in town, went to find it.

I couldn’t. I wandered around aimlessly, my panic growing, till finally I found a Pret that was still open. Apparently they all have free WiFi too, and there is one practically on every corner.

Sent emails to MB, my parents, and bro. Checked other email, Twitter, Facebook, and people’s blogs. Ate another sandwich and chips, for dinner.

It stays light out here till about 10. I was back in my room and ready for sleep by 9:45, and didn’t think I’d be able to sleep, but it was no problem. I woke up a few times, but had no trouble falling back asleep.

Monday, Day 2
Awake at 5 because of the light of my room. Quickly passed out again till 7.

Had a more pleasant women’s shower stall experience, then went to breakfast, which is included in the 35 pounds. It had been promised as a traditional English spread, but it wasn’t that great. The eggs were fine, but the sausage was strange and the ham fatty. Tomorrow I’ll probably just go for a boiled egg, toast, and lots of coffee.

The morning was lots of administrative stuff, plus a tour of the campus. Before lunch we had a couple of lectures. The first was from David Nichols from the CIBER Research book, who talked about consumers in cyberspace, for instance how shopping in cyberspace changes shopping habits. One thing I didn’t agree with is his opinion that people who use the internet a lot don’t gain any skills. He’s with the school of thought that searching and reading on the internet dumbs people down, while I think it gives people different skills, like being able to scan quickly for important info and to read with an extra critical eye since the internet is so prone to errors.

For lunch a couple of classmates and I grabbed sandwiches from a café on campus, and ate on benches in the sun. The sun is surprisingly strong here. It’ll be supremely sunny, then suddenly overcast and drizzly. Earlier tonight there was even thunder, but now it’s clear.

Note to self: take pictures of London at night in the rain.

The talk in the afternoon was just a detailed overview of the program. We were done at 3.

I wanted to go see this free exhibit on medical history at the Wellcome Center, but it was closed. So I headed out to Regent Park. Really nice! It’s no Central Park, but Queen Mary’s garden is gorgeous. Roses roses roses, and a nice pond with lots of cool ducks and two black swans.

By the time I finished walking through it and returned to campus, it was time for the 5:30 reception.

At first it was a little uncomfortable, but by the end a bunch of us were just sitting around talking and laughing, which was fun.

Afterwards a small group of us went out to eat. Most of us wanted Indian. Most of us. But somehow minority ruled over manjority. Hmm. We ended up eating Italian, which was pretty good. Cheap definitely. I got a half portion of spaghetti bolagnese for 4.50 pounds, about $7 or $8. (I’m trying to do $40 a day, a la Rachel Ray, which I guess right now is about 25 pounds. Breakfast came with the room, while my lunch was 3.55. Total: 8.05 pounds. Waaay under.) Afterwards a few of us went out for a drink. (Oh yeah, my wine. I think it was 5 pounds. So 13.05 pounds for the whole day, still under.)

I hope I’m not too hungover tomorrow. We start at 9:30, a little later, so I can sleep till 7:30 or 8 if I want, though on Wednesday, we’re going to Oxford, and need to be there by 9, which means leaving at 7, which means getting up at possibly 5:30, which also means leaving before the dining hall opens for breakfast. Tomorrow I will have to get some instant coffee, a kettle or pot, and a cup. There’s a Muji store nearby – an excuse to spend too much money.

Of course I miss MB like crazy, especially when I’m walking around on my own looking at stuff. I know we’d have so much fun doing that kind of thing together. It’s only during the lectures that I’m pretty occupied with what’s going in the moment.

All Day 1 and Day 2 pictures.

travel / writing — Comments Off
11
Jun 09

T minus 2 days

Till London!

Yesterday and Tuesday were dead at work, but of course today I get all this last minute stuff. It’s all doable, but still annoying.

I think I have just about everything I need. I got adapters for my computer and other gadgets, a travel alarm clock, and travel size beauty products. Since it’s a dorm with a communal bathroom, flipflops are a must.

Outstanding is another pair of sneakers. Not required but I’d like another pair. The ones I have are pretty worn out, and I’m a girl so I like to wear different shoes during the week. I want brown Keds, which you’d think would be easy to find but are not. I’ve only found brown men’s Keds; women’s are always white or pink. Yes, I’m a girl but not everything I wear is pink. And white shoes get dirty hella fast in the city. So I’ll go with black instead. I think I saw a pair in Footlocker, which is right next door.

I got the class schedule, and while there are a lot of lectures, we also have day trips to Oxford and Cambridge, as well as visits to the British Library, Thomas Reuters, and the Royal Society of Chemistry, and an e-publishing conference at the end. It’s gonna be cool.

The only thing I’m dreading is dragging my crap from Heathrow to the dorm. Apparently taxis are very expensive, otherwise I’d totally take one.

~ ~ ~

As for the memoir, you may have noticed the “memoir feed” to the right. That’s where you’ll be able to find the latest posts, which I’m putting up 2 to 3 times a week, in case you’re interested. You can also subscribe to the feed on the What I’ve Been Writing site itself.

The WordPress writing site is also coming along. MB tore it apart last night, which is good. He’s a pro and I’m not objective, though at first I was like, “Nuh-uh, it’s pretty!”

Eventually I want to have a landing page that will have my pic (maybe) and just a few links: blog (this one), writings (the WordPress writing site), a direct link to the memoir, and maybe a link to a contact page. Then I’ll import this blog into WordPress. I’ve already imported the memoir posts over there.

You definitely have more flexibility with WordPress. I like the ability to include any kind of static pages you want, and the “Read more” widget rocks! I think I mainly went over to WP for that. And the formatting doesn’t get all wonky every time you go in to edit a post. I find that with Blogger, I get all these extra spaces so that suddenly my paragraphs are spaced way far apart. Don’t know if that’s because I’m doing something wrong.

I hope to blog from London if I can find free/cheap internet.

family / library / tcob / travel — 4 Comments
20
Mar 09

Money in, money out

This spring break I haven’t gotten much homework done, but I’ve TCOB on a few things.

A bit of spring cleaning. I needed to pull out my tax stuff, which was in my hard-to-reach box o’ files, so I rearranged things a bit in the apartment. Also dusted, filed away papers that had been sitting around forever, got rid of copies of manuscripts which I don’t need anymore. Still need to shred though.

MB and I also finally cashed in on all this change that’s been building up for a year. 200 smackers! It was all his since I spend my change regularly. Guys seem to always dump coinage until there is a giant pile. Guess that’s the advantage of having a purse.

Taxes. Filed them on Wednesday. I was nervous, but it turns out I’m getting an unexpectedly hefty return. I should be in school every year!

London trip. I reserved my room a while back, and this week bought the plane tickets. When I checked prices a few weeks ago, they were $900 round-trip – now they’re about $720. I guess they could go down even more, but almost-$200 seems pretty good to me. My room, which is a single in a dorm with a twin bed and not much else, is about $50 a night, including breakfast. Not too bad.

Post-graduation splurge. Also known as an excuse to spend too much on tickets to the Broadway revival of West Side Story. I know it’s cheesy – pirouetting street gangs, the whole Romeo and Juliet thing – but it’s one of my favorite musicals. The dancing gives me goose bumps, and I cry like an idiot at all the same parts.

I got two tickets though I’m not sure who will go with me. MB is not into musicals so I was thinking of taking my dad, who really enjoyed Chicago. It would be like a belated Father’s Day gift.

Getting in a ‘rents visit. MB and I are going down tonight, back tomorrow night. My parents are going to be gone for most of next month on a trip to China. Then at the end of May/beginning of June, they’re off to L.A. to help with my grandmother and of course see my bro. And they just recently got back from San Francisco! What jet setters they are.

family / food / travel / weekends — 2 Comments
09
Mar 09

Maybe my dad should start a food blog

My parents were in Berkeley last week dealing with my grandmother’s house. My grandmother hasn’t lived there for some time, but there’s still all this stuff to get rid of before they sell it.

My dad just sent me this email, summing up their trip:

We just got back from Berkeley last Thursday night. From Feb 26 to March 5, half of the time at Berkeley was raining. However, I took the advantage of the other half, usually sunny, walking to UC campus, places I, as well as both of Mom and I lived – all of them are still there. I even went to SF once and bought some cheap CDs.

I like how he needs to qualify that they were cheap CDs. My parents love a sale!

Aunt Dana and Uncle Jack came last Saturday and took us to Oakland for lunch and we also went to Oakland once on our own and having an inexpensive good lunch. Some friends from Concord also visit us last Monday and having a good lunch at Berkeley downtown and their Beijging duck was very, surprisingly, good. We also had a good lunch at Berkeley’s well known Taiwanese food restaurant on University Ave. The last day there we had pizza from the so called bay area’s best pizza place, Giola (or something like that) near Grandma’s house off Sacramento Ave.

Guess I know where I got my penchant for detailing good eats. He goes on,

Besides all these eating, of course we finished the main purpose for being there, to pack and clean all the stuff in the house and stored them in the basement and garage.

In the evening there is no TV and Mom usually watch Korean TV dramas – we brought with us a DVD player and some DVDs and I always went to bed at my usual Eastern time.

Gee, Dad, you should start a blog!

In other news, MB and I finally saw Coraline this weekend. We really liked it, and the people weren’t too annoying. On Sunday I had my Collection Developement midterm, and it was cake. Afterwards we each met with the professor. He was pleased with my library profile, except that the selection strategies need to be more specific, as well as the test.

Thursday my People Centered Methods and Design class went well too. I was dreading it because I had to talk about my project, and also because the class can get really pretentious. Actually it’s just one guy who constantly name drops “big” philosophers and philosophies, and says things like, “I’m dead inside,” and “I don’t dream.” 1) Yes, I can tell you’re suffering beyond your nice clothes and good haircut and beer gut, and 2) everybody dreams! It’s just that not everyone remembers their dreams.

Anyway, besides suffering through him talking, class was fine. People actually seemed interested in my project. I guess I feel insecure in a class like that.

Today I need to get a check in pounds for my deposit for housing in London. You’d think they’d be set up in PayPal or something. I could have called but I can’t dial internationally on my cell or work phone. So either I need a phone card, or I get a check. Right now the check is sounding easier.

library / tcob / travel — 1 Comment
04
Mar 09

TCOB listicle

You know when you put in “listicle” in Google, they suggest “testicle”?

Anyway, suddenly it seems I have a billion things to do, and what better to help me organize than a trusty list.

Jury duty questionnaire. If you follow me (the real me that is) on Twitter, you have followed the engrossing saga of the jury dury questionnaire I thought I lost. I attempted to get another copy via the very lame New York Jury Duty commission or whatever it’s called. I called – no answer. I emailed and got a reply that said, “Please call.” I called again, several times, and every time it said that all the operators were busy, you can’t leave a message, and you can’t wait on hold. Wtf?

But luckily last night I found said questionnaire, and it turns out I don’t have to do jury duty right now since the last time was within 6 years. Score! Not that I mind jury duty. Last time I just waited around in a room for two days, drinking coffee, and writing. I still got paid by my job, and received a stipend as well.

School. This Sunday I have my midterm for Collection Development, which shouldn’t be bad. But last week we all found out the professor expects our library profiles with selection strategies as well. We have these folders that we put assignments in, and he was very surprised to see that none of them had library profiles.

Well, he never said when they were due exactly, and we were all thrown for a loop that he expected then this Sunday.

I switched mine late in the game so I have a bit to catch up on. For example, I’m not sure what he means by selection strategies and how these are different from goals and objectives. Whatevs. I’ll just do my best.

Oh yeah, and I got into that London program in June. No huge surprise since they were practically begging people to apply. Now the question is if I get a scholarship.

Taxes. Crap, I can’t believe it’s tax time already. My goal is to get them done over spring break, which is the week of 3/16. Best to make an appointment soon.

What’s different this year is that I’ve paid for school and I’m not sure how that works. Do I get a break, or do I get taxed on tuition reimbursement? Also, I gave away a shitload of clothes when I moved. Hopefully that’ll add up to more than the standard deductible.

Travel. I’m itching to squeeze in a trip to L.A. and see the family (and drag MB along of course), but I don’t know when. We’re both off from school later this month, but that may be too rushed. May is a thought, after I’m done with the semester, but MB might go to Europe for a conference. June I’m in London, so that leaves sometime over the summer, I guess.

Oh, and I suppose I should book my London flights soon as well. Yay, London!

family / food / holidays / travel / weekends / what i'm reading now — 1 Comment
28
Dec 08

Christmas recap

MB and I had a nice time at my parents’ this weekend. Having him there really makes a difference – being there on my own is sort of tortuous, just me and my folks and their weird questions.

We didn’t leave till the afternoon of Christmas Day. I had to drag MB out of bed at 12 so we could leave by 1 or 2. We ended up catching a 3:15 train, which got us in around 4:30. There weren’t too many people, but more than we expected.

Then it was the usual: lots of eating. I tried not to pig out as much this time. Over Thanksgiving I was eating pie every few hours. Also, MB set up the Mac Mini my brother and I got for our parents. They’ve been thinking about getting a new computer, and the PC is horrendous for their favorite activity, downloading Korean soap opera videos and burning them to disc. With the Mac Mini, they can more do those things more easily, as well as connect directly to the TV. They needed a couple of extra parts so we had to wait till the next day to go get them.

That night we had Mongolian hotpot for Christmas dinner, like we did on Thanksgiving. MB has grown to be a fan of it, especially the spicy dipping sauces and very thinly sliced beef.

The next day we hit the mall to get the cable to connect the Mac Mini to the TV as well as a wireless router. Needless to say, it was a madhouse, wall to wall stereotypical suburbanites with their terrible frosted hair, giant sports jerseys, and awful Ugg boots. But at least we got what we needed for my parents. Afterwards MB and I ducked into the peace and quiet of Border’s, which surprisingly was pretty empty.

We had planned on leaving that night, but it took a while to get back from the mall, and then for MB to finish setting up the computer. So we decided to leave on Saturday, which pleased my parents greatly.

MB set up everything pretty fast. Before we knew it, my parents’ TV had been transformed into a giant computer monitor, and my mother could watch her stories directly from the Internet. My brother did a great job setting up the display for them, with a giant cursor/arrow and their “homepage” which sits on his website, and shows the three sites they go to for their shows. The wireless mouse is pretty neat. It acts like a remote, but takes some getting used to. I kept wanting to move it like a regular mouse with big movements, but it’s actually more like a laser pointer.

Saturday we just hung around and relaxed. We both got up fairly late, 10 for me, 11 for MB, had some lunch and just read our books till our 3 o’clock train. Last week I finally finished that Bach book MB had been raving about. I understand why he likes it – he’s studying music and like Bach is very scientific and mathematical – but I thought it was boring as hell. There was interesting information in it, but it wasn’t told like a story. It was like, here’s all this information.

Now I’m reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt and it is SO GOOD. It’s really well-written with interesting characters, and plus there’s mystery and suspense. Inspired by that I ordered a couple of other “literary mysteries” from Amazon with the gift card my brother got me – In the Woods and and The Likeness by Tana French, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

The 3 PM train was extremely crowded. We were able to get two seats together, but there were two noisy kids behind us, and then people standing in the aisle towards the end. What we didn’t know was that there was a hockey game at Madison Square Garden that day. Lots of tourists are awful, but lots of tourists in Devils/Rangers jerseys are even worse. That night we were so worn out from the crowds, we just stayed in aside from dinner at our favorite Italian place.

Today I’ve got to do some laundry, though it’s so mild out, all I want to do is walk around.

travel — Comments Off
21
Sep 08

Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.