Thursday, January 26, 2012

Simon & Garfunkel

One of my favorite artists of all-time. Their voices are (literally) undying, here's a video of them live in concert singing "The Sound of Silence" in 1981 and then again 28 years later, in 2009. Thank you for your music.

The Sound of Silence
by Simon & Garfunkel
The Concert in Central Park, 1981

The Sound of Silence
by Simon & Garfunkel
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert in Madison Square Garden, 2009

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Good Morning Song :)

There's no better way to start off the day than with a great breakfast (eggs & shao mai), running my hip into the edge of a table while playing with Marley (cutest dog in the world so the bruise I'm going to get was worth it), and turning the radio on the way to school to hear the three of the ultimate sing-along songs, "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, "You Were Meant For Me" Jewel (ok, not so much a sing-along song as the other two), and "Escape" (the Pina Colada song) by Rupert Holmes (thought of you Andrew Lu!). 


Here's my song of the day, for this perfectly sunny, warm, 78 degree day in Irvine, CA.

The One I Love
by Greg Laswell

& to my best friend, Jeffrey Chen, WELCOME BACK! I will be seeing your face this weekend.

Hopefully today will be equally if not even more awesome for everyone,
- Lils

(Unhealthy and Obsessively) Looking Forward to February & March

So some pretty exciting things that I'm really looking forward to:

Feb. 21, 2012: Hitting the 3-year mark in our relationship (I still can't believe it's been so long!)
Feb. 14, 2012: Valentine's Day (meh, but oh well any reason to celebrate and go out after Christmas & holidays is good enough for me)
Mar. 2, 2012: Turning 21 fuckyeaa~ & GNO lounge-bar-hopping (Don't worry, I'll be drinking good ole' H20)
Mar. 3, 2012: Dinner at my favorite restaurant in the whole wide world, Crustacean, Beverly Hills, with my best buddy Keson. I'm already salivating already just by thinking about the delicious roasted Dungeness crab with butter infused with fresh garlic and spices topped with An House garlic noodles.. straight up orgasm for your taste buds.

 Roasted Dungeness Crab
@Crustacean, Beverly Hills, CA

An House Garlic Noodles
@Crustacean, Beverly Hills

Mar. 4, 2012: SKYDIVING FOR MY BDAY! Thank you, Keson, for knocking off one of top 5 things on my bucketlist! Although, I do wish you would jump with me...a;eflimaf;liam can't wait!!

Jumping out of an airplane with a stranger &
4 parachutes at 10,000 feet?!?! fuckyes.

Mar. 24-31, 2012: Spring break in NYC w/ Keson to visit my beloved best friends Angela, Jamie, Jeffrey, & Sam! And hello Broadway Shows, Central Park, Times Square, and all the billion other things Angela has planned for us.

Thank you, Mommy & Daddy, 
for the best birthday present ever <3

All in all, these next 2-3 months are going to be pretty crazy fun (except for you CS122a.. you can go suck it) and hopefully I'll also be able to add dirt-biking in the desert w/ Jeff & Allison on my list as well!

My First Time Riding a Dirt-Bike! (Thanks Jeff)

But as always, school comes first blah blah blah mur.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Good Morning w/ Angry Lillian

Happy morning everyone! Being cheerful as always, I'm going to start off my day by ditching my 8am class that I painfully woke up and am actually on campus for. Justifications I'm giving myself to make myself feel better: lots of shit to get done that I failed to get done over the weekend, had to drop the kids off which made me 15 minutes late, and I can just read the lecture power point notes. Now I'm at Starbucks enjoying this nice cold lemonade 1/2 black 1/2 green tea that I was introduced to yesterday at yet another Starbucks (y u everywhere) on this lovely gloomy and rainy day. 



In order vent off some morning anger I had after encountering two of my biggest pet peeves upon sitting down for barely 5 minutes, I'm going to write about it:

Dear girl sitting in front of me,
Your back is to me and I can see everything you are doing on your laptop. Not only have you been endless scrolling down your tumblr homepage and not studying (which I am very much guilty of 90% of the time I'm in coffeeshops.. the not studying, not the tumblring), but you are also listening to your f*cking electronic music OUT LOUD with NO EARPHONES. Seriously? There are people studying & doing work all around you (she's sitting smack dab in the middle of the mass of tables) and even though you very respectfully turned down your music at a low volume, my shitty ears can still hear you, which probably means that the grad student studying 2 tables away from me can definitely hear you. Thank goodness I have my iPod with me today, otherwise I'd have to go through the unpleasant experience of deciding whether or not to get up out of my chair to ask you to turn it off.

Dear girl sitting two tables to the left of the girl sitting in front of me,
I know you love your iPhone 4s and the person you're facetiming with on it (again, with NO EARPHONES), but you have got to STOP. Yes, you're very cute with your korean accent and all, but I've heard enough "an nyoung"s to last me a lifetime. What are you doing, talking to 10 different people? 


Okay enough people watching/hating for today.


Have a great day!
- Lils


Update: 
Fuck, I just said "bless you" to the first girl when she sneezed. So much for me trying to be a bitch.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Clubbing vs. Indiana Jones

This last Thursday, I went to a Lunar New Year clubbing event* and I couldn't help but compare clubbing to what Indiana Jones had to go through in his movies. The thought hit me as I attempted to maneuver through the fire-hazardous over-packed venue of a gazillion Asians (not exaggerating), 3 white men (none of whom even came close to Harrison Ford), and 1 suited up Indian (who told me he thought UCI girls were the most beautiful.. yea ok nice try). For those of you who don't know who Indiana Jones is, you've been missing out on this piece of hunk:



For those of you who haven't gone clubbing before, let me break down the experience for you:


Having to squeeze past couples having the sexytime right then and there:
Having to wait for the opportune moment when the guy/girl swings a certain way, opening a passageway for me to jump through, reminded me of all the times Indy has to jump through and avoid shit (I'm not even going to try to pinpoint the thousand times he has to do it in his movies). Although it's not as bad as running away from a giant boulder, it's still pretty annoying especially if your jump was ill-timed and you get stuck in a 2 second threesome and then having to apologize to the guy for your unintentional cock-blocking..

Being asked (aka bothered) to do da dancing:
It's one of the most annoying things to me when I'm just having fun with my girls, and then suddenly, a hot (the temperature definition) and sweaty body pressed against my back and  a pair of man-hands on my hips appears. And when the arrogant "I'm doing you a favor by letting you dance with me" gorilla of a douchebag came along, I felt like Willie when she gets captured by the bad guys in the "Temple of Doom". Even though my situation didn't involved my heart almost getting ripped out by some crazy priest with red hair, it's still irritating. I know, it's not fair for me to complain about this when I'm at a straight club and guyz jez lookin' fo sum a$$ ok?!, but no me gustas regardless.


Getting pushed and suffocated by the never-ending lines of girls linked together holding hands:
Okay, I'm not sure if this was a specific scene in Indiana Jones, but this reminded me of all the giant snakes, thick vines, and other lengthy ropey impeding objects that appeared in the movies. You'd think the line of bodies would end, but nope! out pops another girl and then another one and then another one.. I admit, I'm guilty of this as well, but at least I apologize to everyone I accidentally push or step on during my journey across the dance floor.


Getting splashed in the face by the sweat of the person next to you (or you can lie to yourself and think that it came from the AC system above):
Although I'm not sure how Indiana Jones has to do with it besides the fact that he gets pretty damn sweaty in his movies, it's all too disgustingly true..


Being offered drinks by complete strangers:
It always baffles me when girls just blindly accept drinks from randos; I mean come on, we're at a club, people, so don't get pissed shit goes down. Just like we all learned back in middle school, "If it's wet and it's not yours, don't touch it." (Indy reference: when he used his ninja instincts to pick out the Holy Grail in the "Last Crusade")


After typing this post, I now have a very strong desire to stick to gay clubbing from now on and to re-watch Indiana Jones beast m0de for 6 hours straight. For those who have yet to pop their clubbing cherries (got that from Ashlie Chean lol), I hope you gained some knowledge from this, and if you feel some pre-clubbing training is necessary, you're welcome to join me in my Indy marathon :)


Until next time,
Lils


*I find it amazing how promoters are able to take century-old traditional festivities and compact it into some spiel about "Girls dress sexy in red, and Guys prepare your dragons" or something like that. (that was my first and last attempt at marketing, I promise)

Care Package

This is a delayed blog post, but I just wanted to thank le boyfriend (who better be an avid reader of my blog..) for driving over with this care package when I was sick all last week coughing up bogeys. Although my olfactory system was hibernating, with my taste buds unfortunately following suit, it was still lovely :)


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

My Tribute To KOST 103.5

My radio default dialbuttonthings are set to these stations (in order) KOST 103.5, KROQ 104.3, KYSR 98.7, HERP 97.1, and DERP 102.7. 830am this morning on my way to school, I turned on my radio today to listen to the resonating and soothing voices of Mark and Kristen, respectively, on 103.5, and to my greatest dismay.. I hear this instead:
I don’t give a fuck when I’m in the club sippin’ above really drunk and I see a fat booty. Gotta have it, Imma grab it, it’s a habit, automatic, like Uzi. Who’s he with the sick flow, make a chick go crazy and flash them ta-tas. Redfoo, the dude, a true party rockaaahhh. - "Sorry for Party Rocking" by LMFAO
LMFAO.. grammar r non-existe.. words are what i don't even.. non-sequitors.. and what/who the hell is a Redfoo. 


Although I get chastised for listening to mom music all the time, it is even sadder to me when little kids go into Lollicup and they're able to sing along to Afrojack and even worse, when my 8th grader family friend doesn't even recognize the tune to "Stayin' Alive".. I mean, come on.


In any case, I am eternally grateful for radio channels like KOST 103.5 for providing Southern California ranging from timeless artists such as Frank Sinatra, Air Supply, BeeJees, Chicago, and Blondie to the modern (and not so timeless) artists. Thank you for keeping them timeless throughout the years and throughout the ever evolving (unfortunately, not for the better) styles of music. 


Until next time,
Disgruntled radio listener

Dear, My (Very) Short-Lived WordPress

I'm sorry I ditched your ass for blogger after a mere week. One of the main reasons why I originally chose you over blogger was because of blogger's un-aesthetically pleasing interface. Apparently, Google's IT blogger staff agreed with me and has made given it significant plastic surgery and easier-to-use functionalities since I've last touched upon my old blogspot (circa 2009). Needless to say, I'm sorry I pumped and dumped you, but any Google based application will always have my vote.

One Big Machine

I like to imagine that the world is one big machine. You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and types of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason, too. (p378) 
- Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Things I Am Grateful For

My beautiful & dorky family that taught me more than I will ever know. 
"The most valuable gift I can give you is your independence and freedom to make your own decisions and choose who you want to me." - Papa Chiou

Being lucky enough to live in Irvine, Southern California and to experience amazing weather even during Winter (thank you parents).

My "ridiculously handsome who gets better looking everyday" boyfriend (quote said boyfriend), main bro, and best friend, and has stuck by me and treats me like a princess in spite all my clingyness, jealousness, forgetfulness, lackofcommonsensicalness, farts (literally) since February 21, 2009.

Being able to see this on my way home.

My family friends who I've grown up with and grown to love as my own sisters (with the exception of the 2nd from right who's actually my sister..)

Being able to spend the Winter holidays in Utah every year where I can escape the aforementioned everlasting sunlight and amazing Socal weather, and experience the beauty of a landscape that goes beyond what your eyes can see.

My precious little brotherman Marley, who's cutecuddlyawesomeadorablefluffyfuzzyness brings happiness, sunshine, rainbows, hearts, stars, and unicorn poop to our family.

Peitro Ferrero, I am eternally grateful to you and your Rochers. Its whole roasted hazelnut insides encased in a wafer shell covered with hazelnut cream, milk chocolate, and chopped hazelnuts make up one of the best chocolates in this entire universe.

Olivia Wilde. Explanation not needed

Amazon.com for creating my Kindle  in all its awesomely light-compact-thin self complete with e-ink technology/anti-glare/yadayada makes my favorite hobby of reading.. even more of a favorite hobby. Okay, not my best writing, but it'll do.  &John Steinbeck, I'm grateful for you as well.

My parents & role models, thank you for your everlasting guidance and support for everything I do. Thank you for putting up with my shenanigans as the older child, my many food(ing) needs, my morning battle cries, my post-used clogged up toilets, and my annoying laughter. I love you two, and thank you for everything in my life. 

to be continued..

What are you grateful for in your life?

Until next time,
Lils


Fitness Goals: The Body Clock Reset Diet

I’ve been meaning to lose weight for a while now (gained 10 lbs this past year *sigh*), and more importantly, take better care of my well-being. I love eating (and I’m sure many who have eaten with me / witnessed me eat can agree with this statement), but I’ve got to get rid of my nom cravings and stabilize my living habits. I got this from Yahoo!, a news source I usually only turn to in times of extreme boredom, but this plan sounds good and makes sense to me and hopefully I’ll be able to follow through with it!


THE PLAN
6 TO 8 AM: GET MOVING.
Within a half hour of rising and before you eat breakfast, do 20 minutes of cardio. Research has found that exercising before breakfast may help you burn fat more efficiently. If you can get outside, even better. Early morning sunlight helps your body naturally reset itself to a healthier sleep/wake cycle (regular indoor lights don’t have the same effect).
[Note to self] This “cardio” will occur during my walk from my car to my classroom.
6:55 TO 8:55 AM: DRINK UP.
Before every meal, drink two 8-ounce glasses of water. Research shows that people who drank this amount lost 5 pounds more than nonguzzlers.
[Note to self] Keep a bottle of water with me at all times. Already doing this, self high-five.

7 TO 9 AM: EAT BREAKFAST.

The alarm clock also wakes up ghrelin, the “feed me” hormone made in your stomach. Ignore ghrelin and your body will produce even more, eventually making you ravenous. To suppress ghrelin’s effect, eat a mix of complex carbs and protein, such as eggs and whole grain toast, within an hour of waking.
[Note to self] Do this before leaving for class everyday.

10 TO 11 AM: MUNCH MIDMORNING.
Ghrelin begins to rise again a couple of hours before lunch. It turns off when you chow down, particularly on carbs and protein, so have a small combo snack, like blueberries and Greek-style yogurt.

[Note to self] Stop by Costco and stock up on some granola bars and yogurt.

12 TO 1 PM: HAVE YOUR MIDDAY MEAL.

Galanin, another hunger hormone that makes you crave fat, rises around lunchtime. However, dietary fat causes you to produce more galanin, which then tells you to eat more fat. Instead, fill up with complex carbs and protein, such as chicken-vegetable soup or black bean chili.
[Note to self] Err.. not sure how I’ll be able to fulfill this and have access to chicken-noodle soup everyday. Must ponder some more on this.
2 TO 3 PM: TAKE A NAP.
Instead of hitting the vending machines, find a quiet place to grab a few Zzzs. (Hint: Your parked car is the perfect impromptu sleep pod!) Just set an alarm–15 to 20 minutes will energize your body without affecting your ability to sleep at night.
[Note to self] Limit my normally 2 hour naps to 15-20 minutes (waahh).
3:30 PM: GET BUZZED.
Need a boost? This is your last chance to have a cup of joe. Drinking coffee after 4 PM disturbs circadian rhythms and can keep you from falling asleep at night.
[Note to self] Coffee/tea doesn’t really affect me and my circadian rhythms, but I will keep this in mind.
4 TO 8 PM: TRIM AND TONE.
Now’s the time to do your strength training, plus any additional cardio. This is when your body temperature is highest, so you’re primed for peak performance. In one study, subjects who worked out in the late afternoon or early evening built 22% more muscle than morning exercisers.
[Note to self] Hit up the ARC during this time!
5 TO 7 PM: TIME TO DINE.
To ensure you don’t wake up hungry in the middle of the night, add a serving of healthy fats, such as flaxseed or fish oil, to your meal. If you’re a wine drinker, pour a glass now. Drinking later can delay dream (REM) sleep, waking you frequently during the night.
[Note to self] This is my only chance to beast.. TREAT YOSELF 5-7pm errday.
9 TO PM: HAVE A PRESLEEP SNACK.
Enjoy a carb-based bedtime snack, such as a serving of low-fat frozen yogurt. Nighttime carbs create tryptophan, which helps your brain produce serotonin. This feel-good chemical triggers your body to make melatonin, the sleep hormone.
[Note to self] Costco shopping list.. yogurt aisle yet again.
9 TO 10:30 PM: POWER DOWN.
Step away from digital devices, including the TV. They emit a blue spectrum of light that’s even more disruptive to sleep than regular bulbs. Do something calming–read, take a bath–in dim light so you’re ready to nod off when you hit the sheets.
[Note to self] Shower time, hubba bubba.

9:30 TO 11 PM: GO TO SLEEP.

Crawl under the covers at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning, even on weekends. Having a regular sleep-and-wake schedule helps you fall asleep faster over time.
[Note to self] Herm.. probably not happening over the weekend, but will try my best..
Best of luck, you fatboy,
Lils

Nosmo King & Friends

So apparently, all UC campuses will be banning smoking from their campuses over the next two years. [Read article here]
Even though I don’t smoke, can’t stand the smell, etc etc., I find this policy to be pretty ridiculous and unnecessary. The primary impetus is to “reduce people’s exposure to secondhand smoke [and for it to be] an overall reduction in smoking among those who work or study on the campuses”. BS, it’s not like the innocent doe-eyed freshmen are clueless and unexposed to smoking prior to entering college. They’re going to do what they want and choose what they choose regardless of this policy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an advocate for smoking or any other activity that could seriously harm one’s health (I don’t even drink soda for goodness sakes); however, I do find this policy to be pretty useless and can foresee a lot more on-campus debates/protests that to me, is not only disruptive to the flow of a school campus, but also an unnecessary battle.
I can say that I’ve stayed relatively strong in the face of peer pressure, even when my closest friends mysteriously started getting more hyperactive at birthday parties (drinking alcohol WHAT, smoking weed WHAT). I admit, I didn’t handle it well at all. In fact, I played the part of the responsible church-going (the good ones, not the fake ones who say they love their religion, and proceed to get high and do sexy times over the weekend) mama bear and scolded them and yes, judged them. However, as those activities became the norm as high school came to an end and we all entered college, people began to actuallyfeel sorry for me that I don’t drink or partake in any of the cool kid activities. Okay, I don’t want to be the dbag who brags about how I am capable of having fun, clubbing, etc. without drinking, because I am almost 99% sure that everybody can have fun to some extent while being completely sober. However, once that person opens their mouth and asks me “but awwww, why not??” I’m sorry but no, I don’t need your sympathy because I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything in life by not ohhh, taking that sip, or yea, taking that drag (did I even use that in the correct context..). Or comes the “I don’t bereev you.” What does that even mean, that I look like someone who would smoke/drink? That I look like I party? Or that I seem like someone who would lie about that to save face? What, how, implications of these assumptions, I don’t understand. And them comes the “OH i know, you’re not 21 right?” No.
I do what I choose to do because I know what makes me happy and I know what I need. My decision to drink before/after I’m 21 will only waver if I ever feel the urge to drink (or in the more likely case, for professional reasons), and not because of mere legality issues (however, never underestimate Irvine PD, cuz they bada$s). It was immature of me to judge my friends in the past because in the end, they were doing what I was doing: choosing for themselves. That is why I think this policy will only be useful in that it will rid the campuses of second-hand smoking (a huge plus in my book, but not too significant of a problem on UCI’s campus), but unfortunately won’t play a factor in a student’s choice to or not to smoke.
Until next time,
Lils

Why becauseicecreamhasnobones?

Q: If three astronauts are in a canoe flying over the Gobi desert and they crash how many pancakes does it take to shingle a dog house?
A: The answer is purple, because ice cream has no bones.
“The premise “because ice cream has no bones” can also be used to justify any kind of conclusions that do not follow logically.” (Wikianswers)
Many issues I [can predict that I] will write, rant, question, and exercise my fingers about in this blog will be to help myself to walk through any turmoil causing me to suffer from wizard agnst (if you haven’t watched this yet, prepare to be enlightened), and on a lighter (and less exaggerated) note, help myself figure out the big Q’s in my life. I wish that I could be a b0$s and respond to every issue/question on an exam, from an interviewer, and from the people around me with “because ice cream has no bones” and be successful in life, but sadly I can’t.
With that being said, I hope that I will be able to open with my wordpress aptly named “becauseicecreamhasnobones”, and through writing, be able to turn my often times illogical problems into substantial ways for me to improve and learn from myself.
- Lils

My First Post

Farewell dear tumblr, you have officially been replaced by this blog. I know you won’t be missing me anytime soon as you have plenty of hipsters and confused young adults of this world who can’t seem to ever take enough pictures of their own feet to occupy yourself with now.


This post is misleading as this isn’t my first post on this blog (created circa 2009(?)). However, upon stumbling across this site once again and reading the horribly embarrassing ramblings of my high school self, I’ve called for a tabula rasa to be put into action and am thus labeling this my first post on this blog (and hopefully not my last as, I tend to pump and dump when it comes to blogging).
I’m starting off this post with a picture of what I am drinking and the juxtaposition of how I am feeling atm.
[Long version] I currently look like Rudolph, after he got beat up and is now being taunted by the other reindeers as Rudolph the Red-Nose-and-Red-Part-between-Upper-LIp-and-Under-Nose Reindeer. All of the restrooms at UCI that I have gone into in these past 3 hours are now missing half of the toilet paper they started off with this morning. My Longchamp has now become a giant ziplock bag for balled up, used (and then re-used), and snot-filled (THE SNOT NEVER ENDS) tissues. The surface of my right contact is currently losing a war with some mysterious white blur that is exacerbating my already shitty bodily functions. Last but not least, my 2-day-long-plugged ears are somehow translating every English(?) word coming out of my Indian Compsci 122a Professor’s mouth into Hindi. Actually, screw aforementioned beat-up-Rudoph, the more I think of it, I can probably be better compared to the troll, set off by Professor Quirrell (what a dick) in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, with all his bogeys and derpness.
[Short version] I feel, look, and (literally) sound muurrr.
In any case, I will refrain from writing some blurb about what this blog will be about because life is unpredictable and I have no idea what I will be writing about in the future. However, I do promise that my next posts will be much more awesome and less snot-filled.
Until next time,
Lils