College

Like any other day, I wake up early in the morning, get dress and walk to the bus stop waiting upon the arrival of my bus that will bring me on campus. I sit in lecture dozing off a couple times but manage to stay awake majority of the time, only to realize that by the end of the class, I cannot recall a thing that I just learned. And then about a couple days before the midterms, I start cramming for the material with the over consumption of caffeine (not coffee but some healthy tea, although over indulgence rules that one off). Later test results comes in and finds myself did better than expected (although that is not always the case).

To get on point, my thought of college has come to me as a requirement for a decent job. No, not one of the cashiers at MCD or your typical server at Starbucks (not that it is not considered decent) but something far more solid --- maybe plays a more important role in the local community. 


As I have remembered correctly in one of my economics class that college degrees nowadays does not mean a thing anymore (I mean, it certainly still does, but having it doesn't put you in a safe spot either) as it did "back in the days". A college degree is like that once of a high school degree: achieved but not overly successful. So what is the point of a college degree when it doesn't put you in a position of guaranteed satisfaction? As mentioned before, my economics professor claims that going to college is just to set you off from those that did not have the opportunity of obtaining higher education. Because many a times, a college graduate gives people an assumption of a more positive worker as to those that only obtain a high school diploma.

And then there is that agreement of how employers would base their choice of selection on an individuals' personality more on their resume. So all in all, as there are more people in the world, the greater the chance of students attending college, and the greater it is for people to seek even higher education like Masters degree or PhD's. 
I guess my point is stay in school, get the highest degree possible. To be honest, since I am in school right now, I do feel quite dull. 

Now back to some podcasting...

Take me out to the ball game

Last night, I went out to watch the A's game! Yep, it was my first time. I got some free tickets to go see the ball game. It was Oakland A's vs Detroit Tigers. Go Oakland A's! So upon arrival, we got ourselves a free voucher for a free hot dog. Yay! Not a lot of people since it was a Thursday night game. Nice experience, pretty cold. 

So if you ever want to bring food in you can (I believe), we brought in some chex mix. The only thing you cannot bring is cans of soda and glass bottoms. One of the security dude told us that if we ever want to bring drinks in just put them in plastic bottles and you can bring that in.

The most amusing part was probably where people had those clean the dirt things to even the dirt  =D

The grand stadium at the Oakland Coliseum

We're an hour late lol..missed the first game

That's my view from where I sat

A zoom in on the game

A Victorious game

Good job A's!

A's win win win scoreboard

Not Thanksgiving yet

Big surprise today when I opened the door. Guess what I saw? Some WILD TURKEYS! How often do you open your door, about to get into your car, and you see some turkeys walking across the lawn?! I ran back inside to get my camera to get some close footage of these wild creatures. I assume they were turkeys, if not, they really reassemble them. Gobble gobble.

Omg! A wild turkey!

Not just one, but a family. Papa, mama, and baby turkey.

And there they go. Happily gobbling.

 

Messy lunch: Boiling Crab!

I went to Boiling crabs in Sacramento today! It was my very first time trying it, although I did try Rockin' Crawfish before in Oakland. The atmosphere was nice there. I did not expect the waiters to come behind us and start tying our boiling crab bibs!

We had:

- 4lbs. of shrimp with the whole sha-bang seasoning $9.99/lb

- 1lb of crawfish $ 9.99/lb (My first time trying this delicacy. It took me awhile to start chomping on it...I used to have a pet crawfish, which makes it so much harder!)

- Cajun Fries $2.99 (YUMMY, would go there just to get the fries! It's that good.)

- Fried Calamari $9.99?(Why do they look like onion rings?! very deceiving...)

Came out to be approximately $12.00 bucks per person. Very very reasonable and satisfying lunch. 

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures to share this time due to the degree of messiness I had.

Unusual Art

Today I went to Sacramento and I stumbled upon a very unusual kind of art. I was just walking downtown and everything looks "normal", like an ordinary downtown and then BAM! there it was. It was a gate that had hands and feet coming out of a branched tree? Probably has some sort of symbolic meaning to it. Well, if anyone stumbles upon the same thing I did, let me know what you think of it. Because I thought it was very creepy!

Uncanny Gate

Where's the body?!

Nice to meet you too, foot

Ahh hands!

Army of hands!

 

Crabbing in the Summer

So when is the best time to go crabbing? My friend says anytime, but I'm not really sure about that and I am still looking for a better answer if anybody knows. A couple weeks ago, I happened to have been invited to go crabbing in San Francisco on a summer day. Even for a nice warm day in the Alameda county, it was VERY windy near the San Francisco golden gate bridge area. Upon arrival at our designated location, there were already many people. Some playing with kites, biking along the bike path, having a BBQ or a picnic, playing near the ocean shores, fishing, and crabbing.

It was my first time crabbing.
Here's a list of things that we used:
- Nets with food cage
- Rotten sardines (these were great for the catch)
- Chicken
- A bucket (for anything that was caught)

Crabs that you can keep:
- Any rock crabs

Crabs that you cannot keep:
- Dungeness Crab
- Crabs smaller than 4 inch (the little babies)

It was a great experience, but it was extremely windy. Sweatpants and sweatshirts with a hood is the best outfit to wear. Folding chairs could be bought to sit and wait for your catch. If you ever feel too cold, there is a nearby warming hut that you can go into to warm up. Great to have some sort of snack or warm beverage, just be sure to have a place to put it so that the strong winds cannot blow it away.

So how many did we actually catch within the 5 hours that we were there? Sad to say, but only 2 that we can keep. Out of all the groups out there, we had the most. So, crabbing in the summer, a good idea? I'm not sure, but that day was definitely not the best day to go.

San Francisco near Golden Gate Bridge

Chicken as bait for the crabs

A rock crab that we caught!

Dungeness Crabs

Bye Bye Dungeness Crabs. I can't take you home with me :(

Seagull says, "Gimme some crabs!"

Crabbing and fishing area

I found you warming hut!

Sunset

I like this photo alot.

Reno

It's been awhile guys! I have been enjoying my super summer!
I have been doing things and going places, so I was pretty busy, but in a fun way. It is extremely hot here in Davis and right now it is 97 degrees!! Can you imagine the heat without air condition?!

So as an update of my summer fun, I will begin with Reno.

In the end, we decided that renting a zipcar is the way to go! It was a one night and two day trip.

And to the right we have the freeway sign. Why do I have this picture you might ask, probably because we were in a contest to see how fast we can snap pictures of the Reno sign. And trust me, there were more than 10 of those.

Once you drive for about an hour or so, you might see the snow mountains in the distant. Yep, its LAKE TAHOE and where people usually go to during the winter to have their snow trip.


You know you're near RENO when you start seeing these!

Here are some of the more well-known hotels in Reno, all around the same area:

Cal Neva is where I stayed at, which happens to be one of the further hotel, but still within the same area. If you happen to want to save some money on hotel, assuming that most of the time you would be exploring outside, Cal Neva is a great place to stay. I had no problems with them.

Here is Eldorado. I really liked the inside of Eldorado mainly because of the beautiful sculpture, "Fountain of Fortune". I highly recommend to full size the picture for a better view!

Here is Silver Legacy:

Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of Circus Circus, but I did go in and played ARCADE! Feels like I'm a kid again haha.

As for FOOD, we ate our meal at the smokin' gecko's BBQ. It was very fulfilling, I could not finish it even though I was really hungry. It was delicious, I feel like I could gain a few pounds from eating that. It was fairly cheap, $12.99 for a platter, not bad at all, for a great dinner.

Overall, a great trip even though I lost money at the casinos. I would advise people to just head to Las Vegas if you're mainly looking for casinos, bars, and more attractions. However, if you happen to live in the bay area and just want a small trip, Reno can be an alternative.

American River Rafting

American River Rafting
It's not the whitewater rafting, don't get the wrong idea. Although, I do believe that whitewater rafting would have been a far more entertaining choice. If anyone gets a chance to be in the Sacramento area, I recommend checking it out. Normal price ~$30 per person or discounted to ~$16 per person, boats vary in sizes and the amount of people you bring. You pretty much drift down the river, my group was on the river for +4 hours. Very relaxing when you're just drifting. There are a few rapids but they're not too rough.

My advice: You can bring cameras on the boat, just make sure they're contained in Ziploc bags or something. We were informed that the river was rougher the day we went, in my opinion, it wasn't rough at all, so none of us bought camera abroad. No rafting pictures :(
Please be sure to wear sun screen or sunblock. I get tan when I stay in the sun too long, so I didn't get burn. However, if you're easily sunburn, I HIGHLY recommend putting some on. Most of my friends got sunburned, not a good sight to see. Their sunburn didn't really show until the end of the day or the next day, so just because you look fine when you were on the boat, doesn't mean the next day, you won't get that sunburn. You have been warned!

A welcome sign.

A nearby store for people who wants to buy last minute supplies including water guns before the raft.

Countdown of my freedom

Today was a rather sunny and warm day in Davis. It makes me want to go out and play in the grass, but nope, where am I? Stuck inside, studying my butt off. At the moment, I am sugar high from some thai tea (Yum), lacking sleep (still getting some 5 hours of sleep in the past week), mind full of pathways like glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, etc and at the same time anticipating my summer plans.

Summer plans include:
- 2 unpaid internship
I was hoping it to be paid, but I guess you can't get everything you want. But had it been paid, a little spending money wouldn't hurt.

- Waterworld
This is a MUST go trip. I have been anticipating for a water amusement park for so long. I want to go on all the tube-rides!

- Swimming
Summer is the only season that is warm enough for me to swim. I tend to get very cold easily and swimming in cold water makes it even worse. My apartment complex does not provide a heated pool or else I'll be jumping in there everyday. Joking, but you get what I mean.

- Reno trip
Heh...trying to gamble my luck.

- New Apartment
I'll be moving to a new place next year. I am also living with two guys and three girls. I really like the new place so I am really excited. As for my future housemates, hopefully everybody gets along and we will have a lot of fun and build new memories together.

- Go back home
I do not reside in Davis, but I do live in the Bay. Since its summer break, I want to go home, I miss my beloved family. I miss my hometown too! I going back to eat whole bunch of Dim-sum, apparently Davis does not have GOOD Chinese food. I want some viet-subs, those are the BEST! I want some pho. I want some sushi, not that Davis doesn't have enough sushi buffets already.

Yes, I do realized that my category of things to do is all consisted of food, but what can I say? I love eating!

OMG. I really need to get back to my studies. Au Revoir! It means bye in English, like you didn't already guess that :]

p.s. Rafting trip is added to summer list. YAY! RAFTING!!!!

p.s.s possible camping trip at Yosemite National Park!

Summer fast approaching

After the next weeks, I will be free from school! Then, I can relax and enjoy summer, but right now I'm stressed out about FINALS! and procrastinating at the same time :/

Is it me or the weather has been wacked lately. Isn't it almost summer but the sky is gloomy and there's rain every once and awhile. I mean, what's up with that?!

Edge of Glory

Currently stuck in my head:



Lady GaGa - Edge of glory

I’m on the edge of glory,
And I’m hanging on a moment of truth,
I’m on the edge of glory,
And I’m hanging on a moment with you,
I’m on the edge
The edge
The edge
The edge
The edge
The edge
The edge
I’m on the edge of glory
And I’m hanging on a moment with you
I’m on the edge with you

Feeling Overwhelmed

Life as a college student: Always stressing over finals!

Finals is approaching and I am stressing! There are so many things to do with so little time. I hate how all my finals are cumulative!

Planning for Birthdays

Yep, its that time again. BIRTHDAY PARTIES!!!
Are you one of those people who hate planning birthdays? Because I am definitely one of them. It is a pain but then again, in the end, when you see whoever being surprised, you know that it was all worth it.

So...coming right up this month, I have three of my housemates who will be having their birthday! Updates on this soon.

Morning awakenings

I was lying in my bed, just sleeping away and suddenly you hear this boom, dic dic dic,sieeee sound. Yep, it's raining and really hard outside. I got the chills even though I was bundled up under all my sheets. I noticed the window was open, so I went to close it and sure enough, outside my window, I saw HAIL! This was the first time I saw hail in Davis. I heard thunderstorms too!!! Freaking scary...