jimmy

Oh man! Moving in is the biggest struggle of my life

Get to my complex at like 10am Friday morning and they tell me I can't move in, unless I have a "move in" appointment, which they didn't tell me about. They don't let anyone in, put furniture in, or anything w/o a moving appointment. Apparently they sent out a letter, but I never got it. So they told me that there was time at 5pm, so we signed up for then.

We then go to search for furniture that ppl threw out. We fetched a TV stand, dining table, and bed stand. We then go to ikea to pick up an office chair. We come back, and we decide to look into the apartment anyway. Wow! what a DUMP! dirty ass walls - unpainted. Leaking faucet. dirty bathrooms. At 5pm, nothing was available, no one had performed any maintenance on our apartment. We kept asking management wtf is going on, and they kept saying it'll be ready, it'll be ready. We wait until 8:30pm and it's still not ready and we can't put any of the furniture in the house eitehr.

They do however, get someone to inspect the house to see what condition it's in. The guy said that the palce is awful - no work was done when the previous tenants moved out (months ago), save a new carpet. He took notes of all the problems and submitted the report. We leave around 8:40, and stash our found-furniture in our patio, and the office chair from ikea in our trunk. They promised us that at 2pm the next day, everything will be ready.

We leave on saturday around 12, get there at 3 because of terrible trafffic. Surprise, Surprise - not ready. In fact, when we got there the maintenance ppl had JUST arrived. This, in spite of numerous phone calls made before hand, all of which told us that it would be ready, and that it was on schedule. To make matters worse, our found-furniture was "refounded" by someone else while we were gone. So then, we had to go to ikea to get more furniture. At this point, my mom freaks out and chews out the management people and so they decide to put some effort in and get the apartment ready. My dad and I go to ikea and pick up a desk, bed frame, and dresser (about $300) and head back. When we get back everything is about ready. They gave us some free pizza coupons, 2 welcoming gifts (instead of 1, the gifts were: 2 rolls of toilet paper, a plunger, sponges, dish detergent, and some nice-smelling chopped of flowers.

We start building the furniture and we finished everything at like 12:30am, sunday morning. I'm gonna mail the owners of the property a letter complaining of their gross negligence in handling the situation, in addition to violation of lease agreements and ask for damamges in lost furnitures, gas money, rent deduction.

Good news is that:
1) got a really good deal for internet/cable when i ran into a comcast sales rep on the complex - $60/month for cable internet (6mpbs) and cable tv. Normally, it's like $100.
2) put a deposit down for the grey honda civic. gonna check it out tomorrow. if there are no problems, we'll get it. The final offer was $16650, which is pretty good.

ok, now i'm even more exhausted. gonna get some rests. pix of apartment tomorrow

FREEEEDOM! Last day of work.

Busy day tomorrow:
1) Wake up at ilke 6am and drive up to davis with family.
2) Drive around davis looking for free furniture on the curb
3) Go to IKEA in Sacramento get furniture
4) Get keys to apartment
5) Set up furnitre
6) (try to) get a new civic coupe

Which color to get the civic in - this question has been in my head for hella days.

Galaxy grey with grey interior:


or

Black with tan(ew) interior


It'll cost around $16,850 for the galaxy grey - possibly even cheaper and $16950 for the black because they have to charge us for transporting the car to the lot. I'm gonna call the galaxy grey dealership and tell them I have a black in San Leandro and that I'll get the grey if they can drop the price to like $16500.

So my boss(es) and I were discussing this housing/rent control case we got.

Situation:

Summary:
Respondents Orozco/Sanchez were notified of a threefold monthly rent increase in December, 2003. Having failed to apply for rent control when they moved in (allegedly because of ignorance, for details see full factual summary below) Respondents attempted to seek relief from the city. Respondents' letter for relief was rejected for not fulfilling the criteria required as proscribed by Title 22 of the city's rent control ordinance. An appeal was granted to Respondents and an administrative hearing was held where the hearing officer ruled in favor the respondents, making them eligible for rent protection. Now, the park owner appealed this decision and is seeking a writ of administrative mandamus (a review of the decision).

( Details )

We were discussing this case and I said that the tenants should've been more vigilant and proactive in investigating the city's rental policies. Although at the same time the park owners could have exercised some common sense and provided spanish-speaking residents with spanish documents or document summaries. And then they asked if I'm a republican! lolwtf.

Just personally, I've been raised to be vigilant and not to rely on other people informing me. It should be incumbent upon me to find out all that I can. Legally, I'd find in favor of respondents as the law is pretty clear in that it requires them to have actual knowledge of rent control - which from the testimonies seems clear that they did not.

so this weekend i find out that my DC is closed so the closet source of university funded food is about a 5 minute bike away. as a substitute, i had a big bag of bbq chips, an apple, and a banana.

everyone should check out pickaprof.com is gives grading data about professors so you can see what % of the class gets As. It's a good gauage of how easy a class is.

i'm on top of all my classes except chemistry. i'm totally science illiterate. i can't figure out how the hell a mole applies to anything, it's like some random ass # some guy pulled out of his butt.

our suite just got a boatload of entertainment devices.

I drove all the way to old navy in redwood city to spend this coupon that I forgot at home. Go me.

YES! I got all the classes I wanted!
General Chemistry 2a
Political Theory
Short Calculus
East Asian Civilization

Monday:
8am-8:50am Discussion, Political Theory
11am-11:50am Lecture, Chemistry
1pm-1:50pm Lecture, Calculus

Tuesday:
9am-11:50am Lab, Chemistry
12:10pm-1:40pm Lecture, East Asian Civilizations
1:50pm-3pm Lecture, Political Theory

Wednesday:
11am-11:50am Lecture, Chemistry
1pm-1:50pm Lecture, Calculus
3:10pm-4pm Dicussio, East Asian Civ

Thursday:
12:10pm-1:40pm Lecture, East Asian Civ
1:50pm-3pm Lecture, Political Theory

Friday:
11am-11:50am Lecture, Chemistry
1pm-1:50pm Lecture, Calculus
2:10pm-3pm Discussion, Chemistry

Chemistry rules my schedule and will rule my life.

holy shits. i made this four-year outline of classes i need to take to get degrees in biochem and poli sci and the result is... overwhelming. So my outline only includes classes required for those respective degrees, it assumes a 4 course/quarter rate, and no summer school (3 quarters/year).

basically if i only take those required courses within those majors (not counting GEs) I will have four free classes at the end of my senior year. FOUR CLASSES! That leaves me JUST enough room to fit in the cultural diversity class, and the 3 humanities courses. Plus, I need a foreign language so this plan assumes I test out of it. This means I have absolutely no room to take "exploration" courses. I basically have 6 days to decide whether or not to follow this plan. Suggestions (very) welcome.

I'm really itching to get to college because now that many people are gone I feel like such an isolated potato. In other words, minimal social contact. It's so sad that my main source of social interaction was through school! What's more sad (sadder?) is that it STILL is - I'm waiting for school to start to meet new people. What will I do once I graduate? After grad school? After post-doc? Where do people meet people outside of school/work or other mandatory organizations? Bars? Clubs? Those are so lame. You'll never see me in one of those places unless it's for birthday party or something.

All my friends I've met through school or some form of school. What does that say about myself? Sadly, I'm sure this is true for most people (at least, I hope so). What does that say about us, as a species? Even in an age of advanced communications and interconnectedness most people stay in their own little bubbles, never getting to know individuals elsewhere. And I don't mean through interweb, I mean actually interacting with people physically, verbally, emotionally, tangibly. Like Robin Williams' character said in Good Will Hunting, "Do you think I'd know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are, because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you? Personally, I don't give a shit about all that because you know what? I can't learn anything from you I can't read in some fucking book unless you want to talk about you, who you are." Similarly, I can't get to know other people through facebook, xangas, ljs, or even IM.

Sometimes I wonder how many more good friends I could meet in this world who are outside my "extended network." Probably a shit load. There are 7 billion people on this earth and I'm only subjected to a few thousand of them? Probably fewer! During the school year only like 1600 on a daily basis. I just did 1600/7000000000 on lisha's 83+ and it's like 2.29-x7! Moreover, I only hang out with a select few out of that 1600. 1600 is also the full score on the old SAT... but that's completely unrelated.

I like how my writing is tangential, yet can still be (more or less) tied together.

biggest struggle in recent history

left for cal around 11 today got there around 11:40ish. then we spent about an hour wondering around telegraph looking for parking which we eventually found but was "bad." so yeah, it then took us like another 40 minutes to find eric hsiao's dorm because he decided to stop answering his phone for a little bit. unit 2 is pretty nice looking but hsiao's dorm is freaking small. it's supposed to be a double but they made it a triple so there's no room at all.

i met his gay roomie but didn't really talk to him much because when he arrived we were leaving. then we went to... lunch. fat slice. good pizza. afterwards we headed over to rafael's dorm which had a star wars theme - very cool. we chilled in his room for like 30 minutes with jean then they had to leave for class so we went to naama's dorm which is very symmetrical. her RA is really excitable, she was screaming because she received her big screen TV and a king-sized comforter.

ye-ah. then we headed over to stacy's dorm which was pretty far and saw sam while waiting to get in. we then chilled in her dorm for another 30 minutes and left for dinner. then i met up with my friend xiao in front of GBC and we decided to go to some sandwich place for dinner which was very tasty. afterwards we started the LONG trek back to the car. on the way we all had to go to the bathroom and struggled to starbucks only find the bathroomwas closed.

i'm never buying anything from starbucks again, not that i've bought much before. then we struggled over to the 2nd story of Ross only find that their bathroom was also fucked up! god damn what is with berkeley and dysfunctional toilets!!!! finally we convinced some hotel clerk to let us use their bathroom which was pretty ghetto anyway. then we get back to my car to find a got damn $44 ticket on it for parking in a "loading zone." i kid you not, there was NO SIGN around it. a god damn "for sale" car was parked in front of me god damnit!. so yeah that sucked.

oh and i went to bed at like 2am that morning so my eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head. however, other than those few drawbacks the trip was really fun. i have to make another trip to pay those mothafuckas. FUCK OFFICER HARDY YOU MOTHAFUCKA god damn whitey.

came online tonight and this.

P0rk: yo
xxx: guess what
P0rk: what
xxx: i lost my virginity!!!!!!!!
xxx: woot
P0rk: LOL

-later-

P0rk: did u use protection
xxx: hell yes
xxx: trojan ribbed and lubricated
P0rk: hahahahah
P0rk: was it long
xxx: i got the elepahnt sized one, cause you know

sn changed to protect identity.

ok due to popular demand i'm seriously considering resuming skateboarding. i need to start a skateboard fund. i'll probalby just buy one off a friend. a new (good) board is so expensive ~$150. my first new board was about that much (element deck, venture trucks, bones wheels, swissbone bearings)

in the words of an old skater friend, "skateboarding is such a richkid sport!"

i'm really craving in 'n out tonight after talking about their burgers for a long time. i also found this picture

( cut because it's so massive )
intial response: not possible
afterwards: *drool*
now: *sleep*

good night everybody

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/12448862.htm

holy crap. all i remember of him was that i once noticed he was "helping" this girl stretch by sliding his hand up and down her leg.

so my mom bought me this nautica "comforter" ok someone tell me the difference between a comforter and a blanket. i'm guessing a comforter is the european version that goes inside the comforter case whereas a blanket is american is going with sheets. is this right? before i watched fight club i thought a comforter was something you put into the dryer to make your clothes softer.

i also got this bathrobe - it's not as cool as my jedi robe but it'll work.

stuff i still need for college:
digital camera
some more clothes
deodorant
shampoo
body wash
soap
shaving cream
toothbrush heads
a bike fender
exercise

edit:
( cowboy bebop character lookalike )

oh man i need one of these!

sometimes i forget i have to use the restroom. for example today i had to go take a leak before leaving for laura's house for dinner around 6:20 but i was so busy getting everything that i forgot. on the way there was squirming in the driver's seat and i told myself the first thing i'm going to do is ask where the bathroom is. when i got there i just sat around and chatted with people. then i went on the trampoline for about 10 minutes. then dinner was ready and i ate and drank (mostly drank). then we started talking some more. finally i said i had to go. as soon as i stepped out of the house i was like oh crap i have to pee really badly so i sped home (took a few wrong turns while in stanford).

She left today and it was so anticlimatic. I was with her at her house for a long time helping her organize her stuff with zehow and steph and later yao. Then we all chilled for a while until lisha's mom brought home dinner and we ate the last supper very hungrily (or at least I did). Then she and I hugged and kissed and exchanged some warm words and I left her. I won't see her again for four months. That fact still hasn't sunk in yet. It really does seem like yesterday when I just started talking with her on AIM. I think her plane leaves at 10:30. No wait 10. I just got off the phone with her. Wish us all the best.

I got my housing information today. I'm going to staying in Cuarto which is where I wanted to be - good 'ol suites. I'm living in a 5-6 person suite with 2 bathrooms and a living room area - looks cool. My roommmate looks a lot like nick rose henig - I found his facebook and he's majoring in econ/stats. I bet when he sees my facebook he'll be like OMG WHAT A NERD. lol. ok well tomorrow I'm going back to camp - it's really awesome working in debate again. All right well now that Lisha has left I'll be free to do whatever.

I want to go over and be with her a little bit for her last night here but I think her mom would get irritated if I distracted lisha from her packing. I can't believe she's leaving! Stupid brain and its inability to perceive life as continuous. Anyway I don't want to think what the next four months will be like - I just want to enjoy every moment with her that I can. Yes, I am a sappy person.

Tomorrow I'm going to start my first day as an LD Debate Camp Counselor. I haven't debated in many months so I have to look over some of my old material to prepare. I found out today that instead of giving a lecture on social contract I'm giving one on "Advanced Morailty" ("WTF IS MORALITY!? LOL") I have no idea what I'm going to talk about. In fact I didn't really talk about morality much in debate except on a few topics. LD is becoming much more evidence and logisitics oriented and those who use vague moral criteria like "Kant's categorical imperative" (lol wtf) tend to drop rounds on the national circuit where the criteria are a lot more specific to the topic like "the internalization of externalities" (environment vs econ. devlop.) "rejection of the enemy mindset" (mitigation of int'l conflicts) etc etc.

In other news Timon's party last night was off the heezy. The food was freaking awesome on so many levels and there was techno music and lots of drinks. I also have to get that MRC party planned - I wish I had a warehouse full of big TVs couches fridges grills a soundsystem and food. Then that could be the party house and there would be no need to find a location and entertainment.

Lisha is leaving in three days! Then I won't see her for like... september, october, novemeber, december! like four months! ZOMG. T_T Still have to hit up the KHouse and find a job!