7692 6124 5555 2063 is me!

Got a Wii! Do any of you use it? What is your Wii code, so I can add you?

We've got New Super Mario Bros., Wii Sports, & EA Sports Active More Workouts. What else should we get?

Nothing exciting is going on in my life as usual, but I'm overall pretty happy with how things are going:

( LJ cuttededed )

Don't you hate it when you never hear a good song on the radio throughout your entire 3 hour drive, until that awesome old song from your childhood pops up RIGHT before you finally get home? 

I went to Comic-Con for the first time. I only one day (Friday). It was fun! I was amazed not only at how many people were there, but how much downtown San Diego had to adjust their parking and bus schedules just to accommodate all the Comic-Con attendees. I really loved the energy and atmosphere there. Maybe it's because there were so many fans of such diverse fandoms.

The only camera I had was my phone, and I only took a few pictures because I figured the quality would be very poor. After uploading them, though, I was surprised to see they turned out well. They're on Facebook but I'll post them here too:

( I should have taken more! )I didn't do anything spectacular, actually. I didn't attend any panels since the ones I were interested in either had already passed by the time my Amtrak arrived, or were scheduled on different days. I didn't meet any celebrities, just saw Stan Lee from afar as huge crowds gathered around him. My main aim for Comic-Con was just to get the autograph of my favorite comic book writer, Greg Rucka. Heh I didn't even get Adam West's (although I wanted to, since he is awesome, I didn't feel like wading in the crowd with my heels on.. should have gotten more comfortable shoes). I just wanted Rucka's. He's not even particularly famous, but he is my favorite.

I even did the dorky thing and cosplayed as one of the characters he's written considerable amount of work for: Elektra. He didn't create her, but I LOVED his run on her title and the layers of complexity he added to her character. Elektra was a fun and easy character for me to cosplay at the last minute. I found a base for her dress, hand-sewed the sleeve on and added the sashes and hat. The sai were by far the best part of the costume, though. They were pieces of wood attached together by Vincent, and then painted metallic gray by me. Then I added black ribbon for the handles. I didn't take any pictures of myself, though I should have taken pictures of the sai (the paint has started to crack now).

Anyway, when Rucka called me Elektra I was so happy! I told him his autograph was the only one I was getting today, and that he's my favorite comic book writer because in my opinion, nobody writes female characters as well as he does. He signed my hardcover trade of Gotham Central vol. 1, the one with the "Half a Life" story arc that won him multiple awards including the Eisner.

Right now he writes for Batman Detective comics, starring Batwoman (didn't know there was one, did you?) along with the amazing artist J. H. Williams III. You've probably seen me rave about it on FB or Twitter, because the first issue blew me away and I'm excited for the second, which comes out this Wednesday. Woot.

Anyway, sorry for the fangirling. Being in the Elektra costume was fun. Although she's not mainstream enough to be recognized by everyone, a lot of her fans were very happy to see her and were really sweet to me. I also liked when people tried to move past me and said "Excuse me Elektra- sorry- don't hurt me!" I love the geekiness of conventions, haha.

I also saw some cool demos of games I really really want to get:

Turtles in Time 3d remake for the 360 (OH HELL YEAH.. AWESOME MEMORIES PLAYING THIS WITH MY SIS)
Final Fantasy XIII (just trailer, sadly)
Batman Arkham Asylum
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (because nothing beats good coop multiplayer rpgs in my book)
Ace Attorney: Perfect Prosecutor or whatever the Edgeworth game is called (sorry I'm too lazy to Google it haha)

These games complicate my current dillemma of which console to get...

As for spoils: I bought a Soul Eater shinigami necklace for Vincent. I lost a raffle (not sure why I thought I had a chance of winning it anyway, haha) to get the prototype for a Rogue figure which would have been worth about $5000! I'm still getting the normal figure for my sister when it is released. I also splurged on a Final Fantasy 7 official white materia pendant. It was so pretty and I was just too excited, so my greedy side won and bought it. Haha. I'm wearing it all the time now and replaced the chain with a sterling silver one I got at the mall today.

Next year I hope to attend more days, go to panels, get more autographs, and ideally go with my sister.

I'm really afraid of ocean waves now. I was thinking about it when I watched the crazy waves on the San Clemente beach on Amtrak route to Comic Con. It's weird, because I used to think it was the shiet. As kids, my sister and I used to play-pretend X-Men while we were at the beach. She was Rogue and I was Psylocke, and we pretended to fight the "wave monsters" to save our fellow X-Men. These were among my favorite memories throughout my entire life. Ever since the tsunamis in Asia a few years ago though, I've been afraid of the ocean. I've even had several nightmares about my family being threatened in tsunamis (luckily, I remember them surviving in the dream). I didn't even know any of the tsunami victims but it still really scared me. I wonder how long this will last.

Really random post, I know.

Hi guys,

-I just moved to Daly City. My landlady and her family are super nice- landlady just gave me some fried rice for breakfast!

-My car got broken into last night and one of my hello kitty bags was stolen. In the bag was some of my things including my job training DVDs and my bunny puppet (which is the boss's that she gave to me). It was really my fault because I should have taken the bag in the house or put it in the trunk.

-I got a Cosco membership. Holla if you want to go sometime.

-As mentioned, I'm starting a new part-time job as an entertainer for kids' birthday parties. I'm training to do magic shows, puppet shows, face painting, balloon twisting, and teaching fairy and hula dances at these parties. It's a cool job because I just work a few parties over the weekend, which is perfect since in September I start school and (non-paid) internship during the weekdays. It's fun. My last training day is Friday (and will hopefully go over better than it did for Ethan Hawke) and I start this weekend. I just have to replace the bunny.. my boss is cool so she'll understand but I still feel terribly guilty. DVDs are not a big deal because they're all burned anyway.

-I am going home soon and plan to hit up Comic Con in San Diego. If there's anything you want there let me know.

-I'm going to save up to get
1) an Ipod or similar device. Any recommendations?
2) a next-gen console later down the road. Still debating between 360, PS3, and Wii. I'm leaning towards the 360 since my sis has it and we could play online together. On the other hand if I get a different system, combined we would have a bigger set of titles. What do you guys have? Or, what would you guys pick?

-hmm.. that's about it. My life isn't very exciting. It's good though, despite the car thing.

Hope you're all doing well. I do read all of your entries but have been shy about commenting.

Hi girls and guys! I finally finished my first year of grad school. It was crazy turning in all of my papers and clinic paperwork. I got off lucky with all As for my classes this semester. However, it was really hard saying goodbye to both my adult and child clients. As the therapist, it was my job to model a positive goodbye... but, I don't think I've ever experienced one for myself until then, so it was new to me too. What was great was that I was able to talk about my feelings with my clients. I told them I enjoyed working with them and that I will miss them. I was able to keep from crying in front of them, so I consider that a success. Haha. On my last day at Head Start, the kids gave me a book they drew for me. One of my girls had her teacher write "I miss you and love you Teacher Thu" and my other girl drew a flower and sun, the two things I always draw for her. :/ Ahhh I miss them so much.

So now I'm on summer break. I'm in the process to moving to Daly City (living with a kind Chinese family with my own bedroom and bathroom) but I'm taking my time. I also need to find a job, and I can't wait to visit my family. Other than that, I've been seeing awesome friends, reading comic books (currently collecting New Mutants and considering jumping on the Deadpool bandwagon), playing X-Men Legends 2 (finished, and now need new addiction), and watching movies (Up is amazing!!). Of course, I want to hang out with you guys so let me know when you're free! (I always am.. haha.)

Also, in celebration of finishing my first year I got my hair curled. ( Thumbnails in the LJ cut )


My hair's already straightening out haha. But it was cool to have that poofiness for a while.

Ok back to laundry and comics hehe. Hope to see you guys soon!

Hi guys. I haven't posted in a really long time so I decided to update. Not much new is going on with me, though.

-I'm really, really burnt out from school. There's only less than a month left, but it still feels like way too much, and I'm counting down the days.

-I'm definitely not burnt out from doing therapy, though. I love working with all of my clients and I'm sad that we have to terminate soon. I did tell them my feelings about it, which some therapists wouldn't do. I guess it's part of my style now to be open with my clients about our relationship.

-I have a new therapist of my own, too. It's nice because in order to get our Marriage & Family Therapy license we need 3000 hours, and each hour of personal therapy snags us 3 license hours. However, regardless of getting hours I find having a therapist really beneficial. In fact, I'm really bummed not seeing him this morning like I usually do since he's on a trip. Anyway, my therapist says I have dysthymia. He's very interpretive, psychoanalytic, and direct. I like him because when he makes an interpretation that I don't think is correct, I can be open with him about it and he's flexible enough to go with my thoughts instead of telling me what to think. It's very coo.

-I am also seeing a personal trainer who does physical therapy since I noticed my back hurts from time to time (I have mild scoliosis) and my body feels very weak. I need more energy to get through this last month. I take whey protein shakes and flaxseed oil supplements. In general I'm consuming a hell of a lot of protein. I'm going to become the Hulk. Fingers crossed!

-I forgot to mention this in LJ, but I got an internship for next year that I'm really happy about. Peggy, Janey and Anthony know this because they were there when I got the call. It's at San Mateo County Mental Health, but the specific unit of the agency is North County (which is Daly City and surrounding areas). I'll be working with adults with severe psychological issues/disorders. The internship won me over during my interview in which I met all of the supervisors, who are terrific. The supervision looks good, the workshops & didactics look good, and I'm so happy to be there. There will be 3 other interns along with me.

-I'm also looking for a place to move to, so I'm trying to find somewhere fairly close to my internship (even though my internship doesn't start until September). I'm still welcome to live here, but I'm moving to make more room here due to certain circumstances that don't have to do with me... IM me for the details, but it's nothing bad.

-I'm looking for a summer job to pay for all of these things. I don't want to fill up my whole summer though because I want to go home to see my family.

-I really miss all of my college friends. I hope I can hang out with all of you sometime soon, maybe the summer? Jane's back, Dustin's back, and Cari's coming to visit soon. Yayyyy!!!

-The down arrow and Enter keys on my laptop aren't working well.

-New Mutants, my favorite comic book series ever which ran in the 80s, is starting a new series! I'm super excited about it. The first issue comes out on May 9, which is only a week away but feels soooo far away. The New Mutants were basically the teenage X-Men in training, and I'm interested to see how they fare as a team now that they're adults. If you like superhero comics with really strong women in leadership and dorky/cute/but also heroic men, you'll probably dig this series.

-Tension with my archenemy, Jamie Foxx, has been escalating recently. Last Friday, I saw The Soloist which I thought was amazing. The next night, I went clubbing and, in my buzzed stupor, danced to "Blame it on the Alcohol". THEN, only a few days later, I turned on American Idol and saw my archenemy's face on the screen. I did not need to see that!!! Vincent says this man is haunting me and he totally is!!!! Argh!!!! If I don't have my cognitive dissonance, what do I have left?

Aaron, Dinh and I decided to go to Santa Cruz on March 22, which is a Sunday.

Come! I'll invite you on the Facebook event.



I really miss the old days and everyone, especially after reading through the old IPhi LJ community and looking at old pictures! I think I'm still regressing...

Friday:
I got my hair cut at Salon de Annie. I said I didn't need my hair washed or styled, just cut, and it came out to be only $14! That's really cheap for me because I have a lot of hair and usually need to pay much more than that. I liked the haircut that Annie gave me, also. I asked her to give me high layers in the back, and she's the only haircutter I've had who actually agreed to do it. My hair's still long, but it's much lighter and thinner now that it's layered. I'm definitely happy with Annie. At night I went to a club in Mountain View with my classmate and ran into Eric Guo and Cindy Mama! It was a total coincidence especially since it was their first time at that club too. I ended up overestimating my alcohol tolerance, and got a hangover the next morning. :( I deserved that. When I got up, though, I was suddenly flooded with thoughts of Vincent. It was calming, and I felt safe. I realized I really missed him and decided I need to spend more time with him again.

Saturday:
Today was so much fun!! Vincent had his second Gamestop tournament (he was one of the finalists in the first round, which took place last week) at Powell today, and I came to cheer him on along with Jerry, Nam, Billy and Albert. Vincent did well but lost to a Sagat that zoned him. :( Vincent didn't mind, though. He hadn't even been practicing throughout the week!! He just wanted to play for fun. Anyway we all went to Blondies, and then went shopping at Westfield mall. I ditched the guys to shop with Peggy for a bit, since her boyfriend was working at Wondercon and she wanted to pass the time. We met up with Vincent and his peoples back at the food court, and then went our separate ways. Vincent and I went to Wondercon pretty late, around 5:30 or so. Sadly, we missed Vince and Elyson. We were also only there for 2 hours. Vincent spent his time getting long win streaks at the Capcom booth's SF4 game, and I just walked around--- slowly. I was Ashe from Final Fantasy 12 (in her wedding dress, not her default outfit) and because the skirt is so long I had to carry it all the time. It was my first time in a wig! The people at Wondercon were really nice and very respectful when asking to take pictures. I especially liked taking pictures with little kids who wanted to stand next to "the princess". One was Snow White!! it was soo cute!! After Wondercon, Vincent and I went to dinner with the guys at King of Thai. Now we're (minus Billy) back here at Vincent's house playing SF4. =)

Sunday:
To be honest I want to go to Wondercon again for a bit, because I still want to get a figure or something. I have to meet up with Rachel and Alison at some point to plan our class facilitation on Monday, though. :/

EDIT: I didn't end up doing much today, just doing the readings and taking notes with Family Guy in the background (which Vincent was watching). I met up with Alison and Rachel at Crepevine on Irving, and tried to work on our facilitation. Of course we ended up talking about many other things. =) The three of us connect so well and have become pretty close now. I ended up telling them a lot of my current anxieties and insecurities, some of which they could already tell, hehe. Anyway, now I'm back at home working on the outline I promised them.

Anoop didn't make it.

:(
:(

In a few weeks there is a "wildcard" event in which the judges pick somebody who got eliminated to return. It's possible it might be Anoop, but after tonight I'm pessimistic.

:(

So one of the perks to being in this grad program is that we first-years actually get to be involved in the process of accepting next year's incoming students. The applications for next year's students came in already and I heard a ballpark number of about 200-300! The faculty toss out the incomplete applications, and the rest are divided into three groups.

Three of the faculty, Dawn, Julia and Kate each head a subcommittee consisting of our cohort. I'm in Kate's group since she's my supervisor. Each group has to review a huge stack of applications and rate them based on clinical experience, letters of recommendation, personal statement, etc. Each group then picks out the applicants we want to interview. After the interviews are over, the faculty members meet to decide on the final 12 applicants who will be admitted into the class of 2011. (In fact, I think this year it might be only 10 or 11 people.) Thus, we first-years actually have quite a bit of influence on the candidates who will be given an interview.

Overall I'm excited about it--- it's cool to read the applications and learn about people and why they want to be in the program, and it'll be fun meeting them in the interview. On the other hand, it's hard for me to rate people higher than others. I know I'm not judging the applicants as people, just as applicants, but it's still tough for me. It's like saying that while I'm in this program, other people don't deserve to be--- and that doesn't sit right for me, especially since I don't know how the heck I got in. That's just the reality of grad school admissions, though, so in the end I'm grateful to experience the whole process.

Having that much influence makes me anxious, though.

It also makes me realize how indebted I am to Kate and the second-years that lobbied for my acceptance, hahahaha. I should bake them cookies.

Anyway, that's all that's going on with me. Everything else is just the same 'ol grad school and clients thing. Not that I'm complaining... this is exactly where I want to be.

Welcome Bree, Cassie, and Sam!

Today I watched this music video over and over and over. It's hilarious. I gotta share it with you all. Be warned for NSFW (very explicit) language.
Hahahaha. I just can't get over how funny it is. Alright, I should probably go read.

Hii. I'm behind on LJ commenting but I'll get around to it soon!

Grad school is still busy. I'm still panicking about second-year internships. I finally got a client who is male and older than me! His fake name is Cloud. I promised the intake workers I'll stop nagging them, haha.( Also, I dyed my hair reddish brown. Pictures under the LJ cut if you're curious. )The reason I did it is because I miiiiight be cosplaying the character in my icon on Saturday. I'm not sure yet.

Hope everyone's doing well.

The semester is so stressful already. My self-esteem is kind of shitty at the moment.

Your cards & letters made me feel so much better, though.

I'm not usually a letter person, but I'm going to write you guys back. (Also, if someone else wants one, message me your address.)

<3 you guys.

Hihi. I'm at the lab for 5 hours today, doing research. I'm going to be experimenter for the first time and I'm nervous! That's all. Have a good weekend. =)

EDIT: I had fun being the experimenter!! Though seeing all the work Joanne puts into the project leaves me discouraged to pursue a career in research...

After supervision yesterday, most of our cohort went to lunch at Japantown and then met up later that night at Rita's house. Rita and her roommates were such good hosts! We were going to have a movie night, but because we were so talkative, we ended up playing board games instead. We played this game called "True Colors" as well as Cranium. My team did well in the latter, but only because I was with Aura and Steve who are brilliant, haha. The rest of the night was just hanging out. Rita's cool friend introduced me to a wine she likes and it was quite good. Drunk Rachel is hilarious. She and Zeynep stayed the night, which I also considered, but decided against it since I had my zumba class early the next morning.

Speaking of which, after my zumba class today, a very friendly young woman noticed my APhiO shirt (haha I'm sorry APhiO, I love you and don't mean to demean you but your shirts make for perfect attire). She was a Mu Zeta alumni who took her husband and children to the recent Nationals convention! That was cool.

Today is my third anniversary with Vincent. We are going to a fancy dinner tonight. For the rest of the day I'm just going to do chores and work on my CV.

I also started replaying Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (the first, and my personal favorite, game in the series). It's especially fun because I played it over a year ago and don't remember the cases that well. This game is terrific, and the music rocks!

She said she was going to draw both of us as smiley faces. She drew a big smiley face on one side of the paper and said it was me. On the other side of the paper, she drew another big face with eyes.

And this is me, she said, pointing to the mouthless face.

Where's your smile? I asked her. She asked me to draw it on for her, so I did.

So take this home, and put it on your wall, she told me. One day when you leave here, you'll always remember when you were with me.

I'm expecting the newly revealed playable character in Final Fantasy XIII is going to be the greatest video game character ever :( Awesomeness is under the cut )
Also, he has a winning smile!!! This cannot be denied.
Ahhh the more I learn about this character the more excited about the game I become. I want this game now!!

This website is so amusing! You think of a fictional character or real person, and the genie asks you questions about him/her. The genie then guesses which character you thought of. I spent so much time on this website, hahahahaha. The genie guessed almost all of mine.