The Berkeley Archives: Jon Yip Talks to Himself

A Systematic Commentary On My Life At Berkeley

Fall 2002

Week 2: The First “Argh” of the Semester

8-25-2002

I kind of left the journal off abruptly last week, only inputting one entry, but I will start stickin’ again. There isn’t much to say about last week anyway: we hung out with people, did stuff, etc. We went back on Wednesday to eat dinner at Applebee’s for Jonny’s good-bye thing (a bunch of us ordered this insane all-you-can-eat riblets that they showed on TV), then for the Mongolia presentation at church, which went well. I spoke about the evangelistic meetings. Later in the week, Victor and Andrew came to our apartment one day and since Victor had never seen The Matrix (gasp), we watched it. He makes strange comments during films, similar to the way Leedah does. It must be a Fremont thing. Leon and I also went to that aerobic kickboxing thing at the RSF with Shirley, which was longer but not quite as bad (I thought) as the Tae Bo thing that we did the other day. It is actually kind of fun although I do feel slightly out of place, being one of roughly four males in a room full of about 70 people. My schedule is nice looking but a little tight on some areas, so we’ll have to see if I can still manage to get all this stuff in.

We went to Intervarsity on Friday, the first large group meeting of the year. It was really good. I saw a lot of people from last year. Afterward a lot of people were going to the RSF because IV had rented the whole place for the night but I didn’t go because I was feeling funny. Wayne and Leon went to this Unit 2 small group introduction thing, and Shirley and I went home. Wayne came back with Leon to our apartment for a while after I had gone to bed, but I wasn’t asleep yet so I talked with them for a little.

On all three of us got a ride home from Wendy. I was tired. I went through a really hard time, similar to the day I had just before the Mongolia trip, trying to get my workshop file from our computers (Ralph asked me to do it for the worship night). Anyhoos, it was a lengthy ordeal but I got the file. Turns out we didn’t do the workshop since Richard’s set (which was fantastic by the way) went so long. It was a really good set; all this weird stuff happened to me, like I fell down for the first time ever (like fall down as in people praying for me fall down), and that was pretty weird for me, it being a new experience and all. And not only that, but I got stuck to the ground (!) which I have seen many times before but never really understood. I mean, how can you not be able to lift you limbs or whatever if your muscles are working fine? Well, it’s true. My muscles were working perfectly, I was actually straining them by trying to lift my head and my legs. It’s like they were extra heavy. My arms could move around just fine though, and after a while my neck could move again, but my legs, they were all weird. Like I said, weird stuff, I don’t really get it, but praise God, He’s doing new things in me, so that’s fine as far as I’m concerned.

Woke up early this morning for D-5 (sorry I can’t specify any further: THE FIRST RULE OF D-5 IS YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT D-5!). Church was good but I was a bit drowsy because I had so little sleep. After church we went to that Korean tofu place for Leon’s birthday, which was the same place we went last year for his birthday. Then I went home, packed, and Ben drove us back to Berkeley and hung out with us for the evening. Parking was a hassle since the Newman lot was packed (due to mass today) but he got in after it ended. I had my audition for the University Chorus, which went pretty well but I totally flubbed the sight-reading by doing stupid things like singing a line in treble clef when it was in bass clef. Oh well. At least I learned a bunch of stuff about breathing and vocal technique that I can put into practice so my singing will get better.

Ben ended up getting stuck at our place for a while because his car got trapped in the lot when the 10:00 mass started, which Leon and Shirley attended whilst I stayed with Ben and Wayne (who joined us) at the apartment.

School starts tomorrow, and I am thoroughly depressed about it. But it’s really not that bad. Yet.

8-26-2002

The first day of class reminded me of school. Walking to campus and getting all sweaty and then sitting around listening to boring old people who think they’re really smart. And, oh yeah, throngs of picketers stomping around striking about their clerical jobs, making a big fuss everywhere and demanding a 50% raise in pay. Same old, same old. The first class was Film 108 (Animation) which didn’t last long because the professor (Merritt, whose class I took last year) was getting an eye operation. I went back to the apartment to change my clothes since it had gotten so hot, and then went back to go to my English 135AC class, which was super crowded and I had to sit on the steps. Fortunately, that class was only an hour, though it was an hour in which I had to put up with all this politically correct nonsense (notice how I hold back on the “foul” language until later in the semester, when things get more intense. Oh well. It isn’t really “foul” anyway).

I went back and tried to do some reading for the AC class, Daisy Miller by Henry James, and didn’t get far. I read about 20 pages before realizing that I hadn’t retained on whit of information, so I started over and this time seriously tried to comprehend the words. It worked, but I got tired of it after a chapter and a half.

Leon went to small group prep at about 5:00, and then Shirley went to her audition at 6:00, so I spent some time singing and playing guitar, and made myself some darn good food if I don’t say so myself. The best bell peppers I ever ate. I watched The Good Son, with Elijah Wood and Macaulay Culkin, a movie that I had always wanted to see. It was expertly done and was a really good movie, although the end was a bit, I don’t know, implausible, or just rubbed me the wrong way, or something. But it was a good movie. Shirley came back in time to see the last third or so and to her it was just disturbing. Then we watched The Fifth Element, which Marie lent to me and everybody has been just raving about. It was pretty neat.

I am wondering what my school year is going to be like. What’s going to happen to me? Where am I going? All these cliché questions in my head, it’s kind of cheesy. But mysteries are what make life so fascinating. I guess.

Another mystery is why does my frickin’ drives keep disappearing on me. Both my CD drives don’t work in Windows right now, and sometimes my D: drive will just vanish for no reason. Is it the drivers, or is it this stupid motherboard. The world may never know. One thing’s for sure: I can’t install anything now because I can’t load any CDs. ARGH! That was the first “argh” of the semester, let the record show. I’m writing much more train of thought now than prose-ish like last year. That will probably change as the year drags on and I have to re-accustom myself to sounding snazzy with tissue-thin material to write about, which is the common factor of journal-writing and college essay writing. I’m also saying “which” a lot too.

8-27-2002

My first class was at 12:30 today, so I had the morning to myself. For lunch I made some EXCELLENT fried rice if I do say so myself. I also reformatted my computer and reinstalled Windows because of those frickin’ CD drive issues. At least it worked.

My first class was Film 151, auteur studies of Ang Lee and King Hu. It looks like a fun course. That ended a little early so I came back to the apartment and continued messing with my computer until I went to my English 115B class at 2:00, which was taught by this old arrogant fool named Stephen Booth. He is one of the most full-of-shit professors I have ever seen. The stuff he said was hideously ambiguous and smart-ass-ey. He said there is no work except for the papers; you aren’t even required to do any reading if you don’t want to. And he didn’t specify a thing about the papers. Sounds like a big pain of a professor, but perhaps I can play this to my advantage.

After that I was free. I came back and did more work with the computer while half-watching the cooking shows on TV that Shirley was watching while half-talking with Leon about random things like small group and stuff. Small group was good today, we had an extravagant amount of pizza, and there was about 20 people at our apartment; it was Unit 2 and Clark Kerr combined. That ended, and I have not been productive since.

8-28-2002

Film 108 was OK this morning… Merritt was back from his operation and was his usual self. I was kind of hoping we’d be watching more mainstream animation, but that’s OK. It’s a lot of independent and historical animation work, and that’s important too, I guess. I wanted to see non-Disney studio productions like The Prince of Egypt and other films like that, and also a lot of anime films; I particularly wanted to see Akira and Metropolis. I guess I’ll just have to download those once we get our cable set up.

English 135AC was a different story. BORING. I fell asleep within a few minutes and drifted about for the remainder of the class. Didn’t remember one infernal thing.

When I left class there was a gigantic mob of strikers around California Hall, chanting and ranting about. I could hear them quite well even as I went past the Campanile. I went on to the IV barbeque and hung around there for a few hours with all the ROL people (Cindy and Ezekiel came up to visit us) and also with a bunch of familiar IV faces. It’s actually a lot of fun meeting people and having your friends introduce THEIR friends to you. It’s like one big happy family. Ahh…

We all stormed Morrison hall a little before 3:00 because I had some singing class that that singing lady told me to take in the email and Shirley told me where it was because the email didn’t specify. I took the class, in which I learned some neat exercises but I hope it gets better because it doesn’t really test me yet.

I went back after class and Cindy and Zeke were at our apartment, and so was Elliot and Victor. Victor left early but Leon made dinner for the rest of us, which was good. Then they all left and I must have done some random stuff that I can’t remember. I did some reading, at least.

We watched some TV… American Idol (that one singer Kelly is SO GOOD… I almost cried because I can’t sing like that and it was SO GOOD) and some Whose Line (funny/lame stuff!) and now I’m writing.

8-29-2002

I made some more good fried rice today before noon. A little bit past 12:00 I went to check the chorus roster… I made it. I’m a bass. HOWEVER, I did get this thing next to my name that means I have to check back in two weeks for a reevaluation of my voice. I’m taking that voice class and practicing more so I should be OK.

Film 151 was actually pretty good. The professor (Chris Berry) talked about the recent history (1800’s to present) of China and how it affected the progress of cinema there. Unfortunately I had no such luck with my next class, English 115B (which was moved to 126 Barrows. I had difficulty finding that darn room in that maze of a building). That man (Booth) was one BORING mofo and so full of junk. Nothing he says makes any sense, and the people sitting next to me agreed. The only reason why any of us stayed in that class is because our English majors require it. UGH he is such an annoying fogey. He yabbered on and on about things being “true.” I fell quite asleep in that class.

Then the heavens opened and the sun shined upon me. The highlight of my week: UNIVERSITY CHORUS! That singing lady is a genius. I wish I had written down every word she said. None of it makes any practical sense but just thinking about it… it works! SHE IS A GENIUS! I hope I can remember this stuff. “That didn’t make me grieve.” “Even if it hurts don’t show it in your eyes.” “Let the sound come out with your air flow.” “When you sing that, there should be a vapor from your mouth.” SO much great stuff that is completely imaginary, yet entirely “true.” And that isn’t even the best of what she said, I only forgot the best stuff. And that Mozart Kyrie we’re singing… I admit I kind of lost some respect for the man after seeing Amadeus, but that piece is a wondrous thing that I would be satisfied with if I could be able to just write one LINE of it. When she just had sections (the sopranos and altos) practice a particular part, I heard it and it was like I was in heaven. It was truly overwhelming. I was beaming the entire time.

I came back and made some spaghetti for us to eat. We started watching those WMA awards or whatever they’re called, on MTV. It’s for music videos. It was really long and almost every joke fell flat, both the presenters’ and host Jimmy Fallon’s. Strange how it always happens that way, even if they’re funny. Eminem cleaned up the awards pretty well. I wish that those musicians could be a little more classy. Like show some professionalism instead of looking like a bunch of hoes and slackers. Sheesh. Those guys The Hives were actually decent in that area, and also played pretty good music, except the guy’s singing was weird. Shirley asked me to kill this huge spider that was really big and gross. Ugh. They finally ended and Leon came back right after.

Going camping tomorrow. I hope the keyboard gets delivered so they can bring it up, that way I can start playing when I get back.