Offensive Touching

Fav cousin - a recent law school graduate - was sprawled on the couch, exhausted from taking different bar exams three days in a row. A paper wristband - a lot like the kind they sometimes slip on you when you go clubbing - was still looped around her wrist, announcing that she was a proud bar exam survivor.

I sat on the edge of the sofa next to her, watching our older cousin's babies wreak havoc.

So engrossed was I by the utter chaos two little beings could sustain, I jumped when she poked me in the side. I turned and the expression on her face was of this tired dismay. "Sorry!" she blurted out. "Offensive touching!"

Haha, someone's been studying too much.


Speaking of babies, the older cousin recently announced that a third one is on his/her way. When she asked her eldest, her four year old son, if she wanted another baby sister or a baby brother, he said, "Why are you having so many? One is enough."

Ah, kids.


Recently watched Inception. Went into lab to help out with sensors drawings for my old mentor. Hung out with people, ate a whole lot. A friend's friend made the trek in from another state, but still missed dinner, catching us just as we were about to say good-bye so some of us accompanied him for late dinner part two because he bribed us with two bottles of yogurt soju and popsicles. We are easy folks.

Celebrated a friend's birthday. Caught up with some old news and envied some friends for the trips they have planned (Hawaii! Prague! Argh!) Studied only a little even though the first day of school - and hence, my exam - is coming up next week. How does summer pass by so fast? How?

Tomorrow, there's a bbq at a friend's place which is at the ends of the world so I'm aiming to squeeze in more studying on the long train ride (Which means I will probably end up passing out and taking a long nap instead).

So ... summer's been fun. Too bad it feels so short. I managed to read quite a bit - and by that, I mean I just wandered into the library and grabbed a bunch of random books off the shelves, ranging from Dan Brown's Deception Point to Jennifer Cruise's Getting Rid Of Bradley to Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon to Meg Cabot's Insatiable. And various others. Totally arbitrary haha. Loved some, liked some, deemed some forgettable. All in all, I enjoyed just being able to read for leisure without some immediate exam or deadline breathing down my neck, yay.

Writing Status: 8 pages into TM Chapter 29.

There's a Body in the Bushes

I went out to bowling and lunch with friends the other day. We took a walk by the piers first and it was a drizzling, but pleasant day. As we passed by some benches where there were shrubbery set directly behind and above the seating, there were birds chirping incessantly and we're like, "Aw, birdies on crack." We turned around and the first thing I saw was a pair of grimy sneakers attached to a pair of legs in cutoff shorts attached to ...

There was a man sleeping in the bushes right behind the benches.

His body was horizontal, reclining on the dirt, half covered by the green underbrush. I presumed he was probably sleeping on the bench and then decided to crawl into the bushes for cover from the rain.

We spun right back around and walked away as quickly as possible.

Two feet away, we paused and threw each other hesitant looks. "Wait ... is he okay?"

"What if he's dead?"

Oh, snap, Hippocratic Oath.

Yeah, we remembered. Suddenly, we were a hovering group of dumb medical students, wondering if the homeless person was injured and if we needed to call the ambulance. And how offended would he be if we grabbed a stick and stuck it under the leaves, maybe give him a little poke, poke to check if he's breathing? Or wait, what if he wasn't a homeless person? What if he was some guy who just wanted to connect with nature and meditate in the bushes? Oh, dear.

We stood there, clutching our umbrellas, and studied the guy. Just as we started to take a step back to him, a park employee rumbled by with his garbage bin and paused next to the man.

Okay, bush man appeared to be fine. Fine enough that he shifted over and continued sleeping there at least. Off we went.

Writing Status: 3 pages into TM Chapter 29.

TM Chapter 28 Posted

Through Me Chapter 28 has finally been posted! Finally. Finally.

This chapter was especially hard to get out because I wanted something major to happen, but like always, Adel and Tristan's discussion got out of my hands and I realized that it wasn't going to happen until Adel gets back to China. But if I kept writing, I wasn't sure if I'd have a reasonable cut-off point and I doubt you'd want to read Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Encyclopedia.

Plus, I had a major case of writer's block. My Google Docs account now officially have about eight beginnings of various other stories because I was trying to write anything to get me out of the funk. However, it is now summer for me and I do hope to finish Through Me once and for all sooner than later. I start school late next month with a Neuropsych and Behavioral Sci exam the first day, but I am hoping to get out at least another chapter (maybe even finish the story?) before I start studying.

But yay, tis summer!

Cousin just graduated from law school and she's raking in the big bucks now! Even though an exam (curse those stupid things!) prevented me from attending her graduation, I'm so proud! My bro went, but the only thing he mentioned was that the cheese at the reception was good.

It was also recently my birthday so I celebrated with family, med school friends, and high school friends on separate occasions. Ate a lot of food, had a lot of cake, drank a wee bit (still gave me quite a buzz, but that's not saying much when half a glass of coke and rum can already send me reeling).

Okay, some people said it wasn't merely a buzz. Probably when I started jabbing at a friend's biceps and declaring, "You have such big guns!" And when they had to loop my arms through theirs while I insisted on walking my buzz off. And when I stated that I wanted to paint my nails orange and brown, which was something I really don't remember saying.

I also watched Toy Story 3 in 3D! It really wasn't necessary to catch it in 3D, but the movie was so good anyway. I have to admit that Toy Story 1 and 2 weren't my favorite Disney films - 1 was good, 2 was alright, but they didn't hold a place in my heart like Finding Nemo or Aladdin or The Little Mermaid or Mulan or yeah, most of the classic Disney flicks. However, Toy Story 3 ... it just really blew my mind.

I rewatched it later with my brother and at the end, he admitted that he maybe, might have, sorta teared up a little. When I laughed at him and said I didn't (I totally already did the whole tearing thing the first time), he said that's because I was a "soulless, heartless being".

Then brother's birthday rolled around and cousins took us to Olive Garden where we kept those breadsticks coming and coming.

Friend also made a two hour journey to my house twice, the first time to bring me pastries for my birthday and the second time to have a movie night. We gorged on sushi, popcorn, and ice cream while watching Did You Hear About the Morgans? on dvd. It was ... eh. I remember more chewing than laughing.

Relatives from Hong Kong also came to visit so there was a whole truckload of dinners to attend. 

Then my internet died. It revived, but it still dies sporadically sometimes now. I think it's because of the heat here. I'm praying - knock on wood - that my laptop doesn't just keel over. So far, I know three people whose laptops suddenly upped and died on them recently. I'd cry if my laptop crashes. Friend bought me a cooling pad, but so far, I've broken it twice. Good news though is that I had snapped off one of the fan's blades the first time and the second time I managed to snap off another blade the opposite side so now my fan is actually balanced again. It's a good thing. Really.

And yup, that's the basic gist of what's been going on lately.

Oh, and btw, for those who don't know already, if you're a student and have an .edu email address, you can sign up for a free year of Amazon Prime. Comes in handy for all those textbook purchases.