PUNCH THAT PAUNCH.

I don't really know why I'm awake right now. I think tomorrow I will ask my mom to take a walk with me because she is so upset over how much weight she gained. I'm also back to my old gym schedule, which is really nice because it means I sleep great and my body runs smoothly. It really does. Now, about my skin... it's an endless battle.

Nrhghgghghghghghhh. Also, I pulled out my favorite mules-- a pretty silver pair I received as a present a few years ago, and put them on. My legs look great. It makes me laugh when Lou tells me that my legs jiggle less, but it's true-- there is less rippling. Ho ho ho.

"Punch dat paunch" is stuck in my head right now. Maybe it's a battle cry. Also, I'm scared because the heater is making thumping noises and I get spooked easily.

kiwimangoodness it was nice to enjoy your company for a few minutes after I finished Biology lab. I did not know that you were buddies with my sister's friend Hans, but it seems like he knows everyone and everyone knows him-- probably because he's super nice. He did not know that banjocatbanjo went to CSUF for a really short time and when I told him he got super excited too, but we talked about JAB because it is impossible to not bounce topics from you to JAB. :3

Short and sweet, but I really liked it. Aw, parents. I do think the art looks a bit sloppy compared to normal, but it is a bit of a random one-shot... so whatever to that. It's a bit all over the place with storytelling too, I think, but it gets the message across. Then again, all of Octopus Pie is a bit all over the place until the last two or three pages of each arc-- like with the last one about Park getting his job. I liked how it started and ended. Everything in between was... nice, cute.

Octopus Pie is so pleasant.

Ty offered to give me some money to start me up on saving for a new tablet, as my Wacom Intuos 1 (!!!) doesn't work with my Harbl, the lappy. I could get a serial converter, but I think maybe it's time to move on. But it still functions. What I would like to do is borrow a serial converter to see if there's any lag, but from what I heard from one person-- there should be no lag? I should google this.

Nowadays, my mom says, "Google it!" a lot. She knows what it means, but she has huge expectations for google. OR DOES SHE? Google does seem to surpass itself all the time.

By the way, I was a bit surprised today. Lou told me a few days ago that he'll be tied up in Torrance because of a debut-- and I didn't know that meant I was coming too. I'm pleasantly surprised though, because I don't mind going to nice events and definitely do not mind going all out with makeup. I don't get to do that very often, but it's always so fun! So it's a nice excuse. Plus, spending time with Lou always makes me happy. (I sometimes ask him if he's having fun when I see him really immersed in something such as Need for Speed, and he'll turn around and said, "I always have fun with you," and then kiss me. I never get sick of hearing it, and I actually never expect it either.) It's always darling and fun. I don't know if I should bring my camera, as that may seem rude or touristy since I'll be the stranger in the bunch. Nevertheless, I was speaking to him on the phone and said that I'll see him on Sunday since he's not coming down for Marc's birthday party (he had plans with his friends-- and I didn't catch him early enough) and he corrected me. "We are going to the debut." Oh? Oh! My mom is happy that I have an excuse to use my nice jewelry, for once. Speaking of which...

I'm curious. What kind of jewelry do you guys wear?

I wear my necklaces for months, but swap my earrings, bracelets, and rings almost daily. Right now I am wearing a bright ruby in the shape of a heart. I felt it was in tune with Christmas, and I like a little charming spot of color on my neck. It's a bit flashy, but that's how I roll. Actually, it's small so it's not too distracting. Before that, my mom gave me an overwhelmingly valuable piece of jewelry-- and I felt odd wearing it because I'm not Catholic like her and Ty. I know that it's her sentiments, and that as a gift I should just be happy. But I don't feel right at the same time. It's a huge cross covered in diamonds with a white gold chain. Beautiful. Very, very beautiful. I wore it for about three weeks before my mom decided that it would be best to keep that for special occasions because of my active lifestyle (with people like Marc grabbing me by the necklace sometimes just because he's rough with all of his friends... by the way, we don't think it's okay and he knows that, so he's being less painfully physical). And also because it was huge and she didn't think it quite fit my style, yet. I treasure it, despite everything. My mom's presents mean a lot to me.

Before that I swapped between two heart necklaces and a shoe necklace for a while. My earrings are usually matched with my ring. I usually wear a little crown ring with a heart-shaped CZ on it. It's really bright, and people usually don't expect it to be a cheap little piece of CZ. But I like it for its design. It's so sweet. Sometimes I'll wear a small band of stars circling my finger, or a beautiful ring with a delicate band and a cluster of colorful stars in different sizes on it. It's my favorite, but I worry that the stars will pop out. They can be moved a little, but this is something I noticed the day I bought it and with all the other ones that I could try on. It still worries me, though. My mother gave me two rings a few weeks ago, though. They are meant to ward off losing of wealth, if that makes sense. One is silver, and the other is gold. It's weird that she took it right off her hand, because I'm used to seeing her wear it. The gold is bent a bit because it's soft, which makes me want to obsessively bend it to be less of an oval and more of a circle. But it just bends again later. Recently, my mom was going through my casual wear jewelry boxes that I keep on my drawers and noticed a chunky jade ring that I thought was for me. It fits me a bit large, but she said it was a ring meant for men and immediately told me to give it to Lou. It's a fine piece of jade, though the metal is nothing special-- just normal. He wears it, and it makes me smile a bit. I think it adds character when you wear really noticeable jewelry like that!

Bracelet-wise, I usually have some kind of jade on me. I had a chunky one my aunt gave me in Taiwan, but my mom recently replaced it with a thinner one that's more powder-y in color. She assures me that the worth is a lot more... and after wearing it for a while and noticing that it hasn't lost any luster, it looks a lot nicer than the old one. The old one looks a lot duller, and the light doesn't shine through it as prettier. A lot of the women in my family have jewelry either as an occupation or as a hobby, and this includes my mom. I guess I should trust her experience. The problem with this one is that it's... permanent. It's super hard to take on and off, and it bothered me for the first few days. Now I forget it's there. I also started wearing a good luck bracelet given to me by my aunt recently, and it is hardly trendy-- but I need the luck. It has five beads on it in different colors that represent earth, fire, sun, water, and night. That and the two rings are not very fashionable or anything, but they mean something. Also, I like to bust out the simple bracelet made of shoelace that jill_calico handmade and sent to me years ago. It's adorable.

I could go on and on about earrings, but they don't hold much meaning aside from one gold pair with very tiny but beautiful crystal stars attached to the hoops. My mom gave them to me this summer and said she had been keeping them for me, because she saw them and knew I would love them. I do! The stars are too small for people to notice the shape, but I feel happy wearing them.

You know, I actually don't think I have that many accessories. It sounds like a lot, but it's really not that much. I told Daniel and Marc today that if they have a hard time shopping for gifts for me, jewelry would be great. Not anything expensive! Just something sweet that I can wear and think of them for. I love wearing things that people give me, because it makes me think of them. If Lou gave me jewelry I would wear it all the time, probably. I didn't do that with his grandmother's bracelet because... well, it snapped. :,3 I wore it for two days, though. But even before that happened, I was thinking of just putting it somewhere to keep safe because it's something valuable to him transferred to me. I'm still pretty upset that it snapped, and I repaired it lightly so that it could look better when displayed. Lou said it was a bad omen to snap, but made worse that I repaired it. Ouch! Anyways, back to Daniel and Marc. They were talking about gifts to give each other when we're all twenty-one and possibly... better off because of working of whatever. Daniel was talking about getting me a super complicated compass so I won't get lost, but I think that might confuse me when I'm panicking. He was talking about how pretty all the glass would be. Then I mentioned the jewelry, and both of them said that they wouldn't be able to tell what was good or bad jewelry-- they would purchase something unsightly by accident. We had a good laugh about it, but I need to remember that they want Fossil watches. This is something I already knew, because Daniel, Vince, and Marc often spoke about how if they start a business together the first thing they'll buy from the profit (they're a bit cocky and sure that they'll succeed) are Fossil watches. The good thing about today is that I got a good look at what kind of Fossil watches they like.

Actually, a few of the watches I saw really caught my eye and I thought about all the nice watches my aunt and mom got me when I was a kid. I don't really have a nice watch right now, because I politely declined when my aunt was getting me one because I didn't want to be like the scam artist in-laws of my cousin Stacy. They were faking that they "just arrived" in Taiwan, though they lived there for months, and my aunt was treating them as guests. She wanted to get them some nice things to bring back to the US so that their stay was good, and she bought them brand name watches. They do this every few months by disappearing and then coming back as "freshly arrived and jetlagged!" It's disgusting. So when they were leeching money off of my sweet aunt (at the time I did not know that they were scamming her like that-- I was just disgusted by their money-grabbing behavior) I refused to take part in it. The daughter (who is just months younger than me and was seventeen at the time, which surprised me because her mother is nearing her sixties) of my cousin's mother-in-law griped about not watching a watch and wanting to take it off after it was paid for and firmly on her hand. I felt this was very rude of her after receiving a very pricey present from the generosity of a stranger. She was being openly thankless and was complaining loudly to everyone! I said, "If you truly did not want it, you could say no. As you can see, there is no watch on my hand." She did not speak to me, but I am not surprised at that. :/ I may not have been the better person for saying something poisonous, but I was appalled by her behavior-- which made my well-meaning aunt sad.

Anyways, that was the last time I was offered a nice watch. I do not regret my decision, but thinking back on it... it was the only time I was offered a nice watch after maybe early middle school. Which explains why I don't have any watches. What I do have are two watch display boxes given to me by my aunt, who told me that a watch is very important. "The first thing anyone sees when you extend your hand is a watch-- that is why you must always wear a beautiful watch so that you can make the best impression. Imagine you outstretching your hand to your future mother-in-law, and the first thing she sees is a classy watch on your slender wrist. You need to learn these things." She wanted to encourage me to start a watch collection. I will fill those boxes someday, Aunt Irene. Thank you.

Looking back on this entire thing, it seems like I am surrounded by wisdom. From "google it!" to lessons on first impressions. My aunt also coached me on having better posture when I was in elementary school.

I came back from the gym today all sweaty and exhausted to see this:
♥ If that isn't motivation, I don't know what it is. But it sure as hell made me feel really good about myself. :3 Lou also mentioned that he's going to try to go back to going to the gym almost daily. It kind of feels nice to know that he's going regularly again, for some reason. Like... comraderie? I don't know. Daniel is going more too, which is nice. Justin keeps going in the morning so he doesn't gym with us enough. Also, I measured everything yesterday and basically lost one to three inches off of everything. It was pretty amazing. My hips, my waist, my thighs, my calves, my arms, and yes... my cleavage. :,D Oh well! I also took a good long look at my before pictures, and how I look now... and the difference is so noticeable. I'm surprised that it's just a few inches, because it seems like so much more. I've been doing a bit more weights. We'll see what happens, but I'm having fun with keeping up with Sparkpeople more again too-- though, I didn't fulfill my goal of eating two pieces of fruit a day from it. Definitely got enough water, though. And I'm getting my at least eight hours of sleep. I got one apple in today but when I got home I really didn't feel like doing anything other than plopping down and relaxing. A second fruit was one my mind.

Also, the replies.


Feeling good and looking good too, I guess. Hahaha. I'm concerned over my mom's health too, so I asked her today if she wants to go on a mile walk everyday during my winter break (I initially suggested two miles, but she said that was too much). I told her to get ready, because I don't know if she's mentally prepared for it? She's a quitter when it comes to getting exercise, but her doctor really wants her to get in better shape to up her chances of surviving the cancer. She said yes, and maybe Ty will come too-- which will definitely motivate mom more. So that's good. I don't think I'll ask her to jog-- that's maybe something for way later, because her legs are weak.

I also might seriously just walk to the gym, like Daniel suggested. Then I'll just do two or three miles, some weights, and a few other things, then shower and meander home after a stretch. My car is not going to be fixed for a while, so why not? I was joking to my labmates during dinner that when they see me in Spring semester I'll be "dark chocolate" from all the sun exposure. But of course I'll just slather on a lot of the sun protection I put on daily when I bussed and walked home the many miles from my high school.

PS: I loved watching the Victoria's Secret show today and looking at all the beautiful women with their strong bodies. They looked very, very toned. In fact, muscular, but in an empowering yet feminine way. I eat that physique up! It's so beautiful to me. I gushed to Daniel about how I really love the more mature, curvacious Victoria's Secret women in comparison to the thin, lightly toned young girls (who are pretty too-- but they're not my type). I know that the Victoria's Secret Angels are still very thin, but there is no denying that they are extremely powerful looking women with their tightly muscled bodies wrapped around their frames. Beautiful, eyecatching full, swingy hips with thighs and calves that have so much form and meat and muscle to them-- and nice, shapely backs that curve into firm everything everywhere. It was just a fun show to watch, though I didn't care too much for the search for an Angel-- though it's good on her for making it, too.

I don't even know, man. Things are fine. I had Pancake House again because Katrina and Marc are addicted to it. They were mega hungry and scarfed their food down in ten minutes. Katrina basically attacked her half of the omelette! Then again, I did have some breakfast? Hrm. It was fun, though. I think Katrina and I talk too much compared to Marc, but that's okay.

I found Lou's shirt tucked into my bed yesterday and put it on. Then I noticed that my bed smells like him. :3 Nice, comforting smell.

Test this Friday that I'm actually a bit worried about. I really want to get a super high grade on it, or else my pride will kill me. Something like that. Finals are coming up and I'm still a bit wishy washy with Calculus, so I might go back into hardcore math study mode again. Biology I continue to not be too worried about, actually. I hope the experiment today goes by quickly, since it seems like we have it pretty streamlined at this point.

Things are fine. I have some things I need to tell Lou before I forget, so I sent them to him when he was offline. Still planning things for Marc's surprise birthday party. I feel weird that I'm planning it since... isn't Daniel his best friend? And he's closer with Crissy, too. But his dad asked me probably out of familiarity, because I'm a lot more talkative than Crissy. Maybe. Hrm. I'm going to ask Vinh again if he can come for lunch. It sounds like Marc wants to go to AI at night, and I don't really see a point in hanging around too much after lunch in the afternoon. Katrina helped, which is great. She has work at two so she can be there for lunch. Marc just had sushi and Korean BBQ, so I know where not to go for lunch. Just a few more things I gotta check, and I need to ask Lou if he wants to meet up with us for it too-- but he gets out of class at 12:30 and probably can't get here until pretty late. Hrm. Daniel also wants to invite Lou to Cars and Coffee, but that's super early in the morning on Saturday.

Just some things to think about along with school.

I watched "Castle" while at the gym and I... kind of like it? I'm a bit drawn to it, but I can't tell if I'm watching something good or bad. But it's a really nice looking series, even if it's ridiculous. Maybe I'll watch more of it. The new "Scrubs" is starting up and I'm thinking of getting caught up with it-- though I did watch the "last" episode from the season before while at the gym too. I also want to get back into watching "House" but I have a lot of catching up to do. I recently explained its premise to Daniel and he said that it sounds like something Jon would like, and he'll check it out. Especially since in Taiwan he'll be busy with hospital visits, since he's going there for health check-ups. The problem is that I don't really have the time to watch all these things even though I want to. I guess I could download them and put them on my Zune for when I go gym. Might as well, I guess.

Happy Thanksgiving!



My name is Colleen, and I’m a sophomore working on a Biological Science major along with a Single Subject Teaching credential at California State University, Fullerton. Here are 46 photos illustrating my November 19th– a day full of Biology, pancakes, hamsters, and WoW. (Previous ADIML: Oct 19.)

( November 19th, 2009 )