Anyway, I haven't updated in forever, but so much has been going on and I’ve been too lazy to update not because I’m lazy to write but because I’m lazy to upload pictures. A blog is not a blog without pictures that go along with my everyday life. Today, I am going to write a novel with broken up chapters that do not connect to each other ;)
Chapter One - Dance
I’ve also been working on f(x) – Chu dance with Emma, Aimie, Tessa, and My-An. It’s been really fun and a good form of exercise. I wish we could work on it longer, but everyone was going off to college, so we could not learn the whole thing. To be honest, I really want to learn dances where I could actually sing and dance which rules out all Korean ones. The Chinese music industry, however, focuses more on singing than entertainment and dancing. There are only a few really famous singers and they last many years, only a few new people come out each year but a lot of them don’t get that famous compared to the already famous ones, so it’s really easy to keep up with the Chinese music industry. Recently, I feel like the Chinese industry have been leaning more towards the Korean and Japanese style. I’m not sure how I feel about this, but hopefully all the aspiring artists will be great. Anyway, we only worked on the dance for about 6 hours, so it wasn’t perfect, but a lot of fun! (No video on this blog haha x.x)
Chapter Two – Ears
After 20 years of refusing to do this, I finally got my ears pierced on August 12th! I figured, might as well, if even guys are doing it why can’t I? The main thing I was concerned about was getting an infection in England because I would forget to clean it. Hopefully, this won’t happen or I will seriously regret the ear pierce in the first place. I just decided with the gun piercing even though I’ve heard so many horrible things about it, but it was the least “painful” method as everyone said. However, it hurt a lot more than I thought. I think my face turned red afterward HAHA how embarrassing.
Chapter Three – Random Rant
Let’s fast forward before I forget about this. One of the scariest events happened to me on Tuesday (24th), it would probably make the top 5 in my life haha. A couple of people from homeland security came to my house. I feel like this is one of those things that will never happen again. I want to remember it as well as possible, because it was an interesting experience nonetheless. When they knocked on my door, I was watching a movie on my computer with the windows open in the living room. I ducked behind the piano so they would not see me from the window and looked through the peephole on the door. I saw a woman and 3-4 guys standing outside, wearing sunglasses, and black clothing. Being home by myself, I decided that I was not opening the door. I walked upstairs as quietly as possibly to look at the cars they drove – there were three vans that were parked across the street. I waited silently, hoping they would go away. To my surprise, they kept knocking. After about 15 minutes (though it seemed like forever), they were basically banging on the door and yelling “HELLO?!” “OPEN THE DOOR!!”. That’s when I knew I was stupid to pause the movie because they probably knew I was home. I didn’t know what to do because I didn’t know who they were or what they wanted. I was about to call 911 after waiting for another 5 minutes, but then I heard “Let’s just talk to their neighbors and ask them some questions.” I was relieved because I knew they weren’t bad people like I had originally thought. I went downstairs, took in a deep breath, and opened the door. They introduced themselves and I asked to see their badge, which they gladly showed me. I let them in the house and they asked me if they could search it, so I let them. I’m pretty sure they need a search warrant for this, but how can you refuse them? Especially when there’s nothing to hide. 2 or 3 of the guys went upstairs and the other 3 stayed downstairs to question me. They asked me A LOT of questions, and for some reason I had the impression that they thought I was lying. It was so nerve-racking, being in a way “interrogated” under the spot when I actually knew nothing. They kept adding on to their questions and would not let me question them at all. I’m not sure how long I was being questioned for but they finally left. They said they were going to come back when my parents get home so they did that night and asked them more questions but it had nothing to do with us. I’m really curious what they wanted. Now that I think about it, they probably thought I used the 20 minutes to hide someone in the house. I wish I handled the situation and not freak out at the beginning, but it’s what I do, I panic under unusual circumstances.
Chapter Four – Baking
This month I have made tiramisu with Julie, coffee chocolate bread, and sweet buns with red bean filling. The tiramisu is the most expensive dessert I made, but so worth it. We spent about $40 in ingredients (well, mostly the alcohol). The first time we attempted it was with ladyfingers, it turned out with a very authentic taste but we over dipped the ladyfingers to where it became a bit soggy. The second time we made it with cake since that’s the kind I’ve had at restaurants and Julie had the cake kind in Italy this summer. After one failed attempt and another, we finally got it! Both of our parents liked it so I would say it was a success. I finally know how to make one of my favorite European desserts, but it was so expensive! No wonder a small piece costs about $6. This is another thing I'm really excited about: the amazing bread and delicious dessert in Europe. These pictures were missing the cocoa powder on top.
The sweet buns were really good, but it took about 5 hours to make because of the yeast. You have to let it rise 2.5 hours and then another 1 hour, then bake for 30minutes. It turned out just like freshly cooked sweet bread and because I stuffed red bean paste in there, it tasted like the ones at a Chinese bakery. I didn’t take a picture, but it looks exactly like this:
Chapter Five – Sing
The singing with Leah is going well too…actually, not really. We’ve had some problems and finished the bridge. All we have left is the last chorus. I hope we can finish it up before I go off to England, but somehow I highly doubt it. On a brighter note, I really like Miley Cyrus new song “I Look at You”. I know, Miley Cyrus is not the best singer, but I love the people who write the songs for her. I couldn’t find a nice piano sheet online, so I just made my own. It was really fun writing piano accompaniment because it feels more original when it’s complete.
Chapter Six – Sew
I also did some sewing as well for Julie and Larr’s birthdays. I got my idea off of a girl from flickr. It looks somewhat like the picture below except it’s a bit bigger and without the pink cheeks. I also made a panda for Julie. I hope to do more projects like that later because I really enjoyed it haha. We went to Japanese Kitchen, dressed up, and took lots of pictures for their belated birthday celebration.
Chapter Seven – Shop
My stuff from yesstyle.com finally came and I am 100% happy with everything I bought online; it actually turned out to be really good quality! I got a coat, purse, pants, vest, dress, and a free shirt – all for $150 and free shipping! It’s so hard finding clothes I like in America, it’s either too expensive or I can’t find the right style. The only things I like buying in America are shoes haha. I’m really looking forward to going to China and buying lots of fobby clothes!
Chapter Eight – Friends
Well, nothing has really changed. I still hang out with the same people – Chinese friends and school friends. One exception, I hung out with my old buddy Yasmin. We haven’t seen each other in a really long time! It’s so weird to think that we’ve been friends since elementary school and so much has happened. We’ve both changed in a good way and grew up a bit from high school. I really like how these pictures came out too!
Epilogue
I feel like this summer I’ve done nothing productive. Dancing, singing, sewing, piano, baking, etc., it’s all just leisure activities. I haven’t studied that much and I can’t help but feel a bit guilty for wasting my summer away. My job at neuropsychology made me decide not to go to medical school. This was such a hard choice, because it ultimately might cost me my future. I want to get into a PhD program for clinical psychology. The only problem is that it is just as competitive as medical school, it even requires a higher GPA. I’m scared about what will happen if I don’t get in. I don’t want to be in a lab for a year and do something I do not enjoy. My parents also don’t want me to do anything related to psychology because of the people I will be around everyday. I can understand where they’re coming from. On the other hand, for the medical school route, I don’t want my life to consist of being stressed until I’m 30. I just don’t think it’s worth it to earn that extra money, especially being a girl. Honestly, decisions can be so difficult sometimes.
So many of my friends have already taken the MCATs or GREs and they’re my age. It sometimes stresses me out a bit hearing the scores they got because I don’t think I can do as well as them. However, I hope to forget about all of this during my stay at Sussex and just enjoy my time there without worrying about the future. I know it will be amazing. And this concludes my novel, great stories right? ;) The next time I blog will be from EUROPE, can’t wait!
