The Berkeley Archives: Jon Yip Talks to Himself

A Systematic Commentary On My Life At Berkeley

Spring 2003

Week 13: Final Sentence

4-6-2003

Oof, man, so yesterday we woke up at 5:00am and it was all dark outside. Scott drove the 3 of us to Candlestick Park in SF. It was cold and early.

We found a spot on the field, with some IV people and eventually we were joined by Ben and Andrew, who came with the Davis group. The ROL people also came. Cool, although sometimes it was hard to focus on what was going on because everyone was talking, joking, running around, etc. It was warmer during some parts of the day but mostly it was really, really cold. It’s a good thing I brought my thicker jacket. It still wasn’t enough. Anyway so the Call was really good, but really different from the one in LA. That one was more of a deliverance and intercession thing, while this one was a lot more worship, speakers, and just lighter content in general. Man we saw so many people there. Haha, again, the first guy we recognized was Tim Wong who came all the way from SD; that was funny because we saw him first last time too. Also people from Victor’s church came too, so I saw Jen and April, and Auntie Jane, and Don Le, and Emily Wang. AND also Marlin and Christina Tien. It was a lot of fun to hang out with all these people. Oh it was so cold that I had to wear my hat, which I brought in case it was going to be that cold (which it most definitely was). People said I looked like various things.

“You look like...”

WAYNE: Someone out of 8 Mile.

TIFFANY: A villain.

HOWARD: Hobo!

JON: What?

HOWARD: Hobo!

Uncle James drove us back in the big church van. People were talking throughout but somewhere in the middle of it all I kind of fell asleep against my seatbelt, which was conveniently dangling to the side where I could rest my head. When we got back, we kind of chilled in the parking lot for a while. Then Uncle James took Wayne, Kimmy, Felix, Leslie, and me to a pho place in the Ranch 99 plaza and we ate. Mmm, food. Then we went home. Kimmy stayed at our place to practice a dance with Les. I went to cell group at Ben’s house. It was just Christina, Rona, Nelson, and Ben. I got there just when Christina finished the lesson but we just talked for a long time and ate tons and TONS of snacks. I was on a food rampage. We talked about dreaming, life, and all those other fun stuff. I gave them a detailed description of my life and cooking.

I took Rona and Nelson home, then went home myself. Kimmy and I wanted to watch a movie, so was started watching Final Fantasy, but we got tired so we stopped about half way through. I made transparencies and went to sleep.

Time change today. Went to church, held worship practice by myself, had ED. Worship was kind of odd this morning by myself, but different, so it was good, I guess.

Tiffany came late because she had this choir performance thing, and she was wearing her choir dress thing, which got a lot of comments. I personally thought it was nice but she got so many weird comments I guess that she decided to change out of it. So she did, and then she was putting on her jacket or something and then asked me to hold it. I reflexively said “sure.” Suddenly I realized that I was holding a dress in my arms and found myself in a really awkward position.

JON: Why do I always end up in awkward situations like this?

And of course everyone started laughing at me because I was holding a dress.

The D-something meeting was cool; we all just kind of shared stuff with each other, talked about a few church issues, made a lot of jokes. I sat next to Grant, who I’ve discovered is an absolute riot, not only because he cracks jokes all the time, but also because he laughs at mine, which just makes the atmosphere a lot more fun. Plus, he usually has a lot of good stuff to say about Berkeley, the war, kids, etc.

Momo House (the fobby place near Ranch 99 that Howard and I went to a few months ago) was having this huge sale (I knew because I saw the sign yesterday when we went to eat) so on the way back I went there with Wayne and Tiffany. Wayne wanted to go to Wells Fargo; Tiffany and I told him that there was one on the other side, next to Starbucks.

WAYNE: Are you sure?

JON and TIFFANY: Yes, it’s on the other side, right next to Starbucks!

So he went off and Tiffany and I browsed about the store for a long time looking at fun Asian merchandise. Man I don’t know what it is about stores like that... it just makes me feel like I’m at home. It’s like stepping into Taiwan or China. It stirs something in me, a longing for my heritage. I know that sounds kind of retarded but you people who are in touch with your inner fob know what I’m talking about.

So I almost got this really funny cat apron (42 bucks, but 70 percent off) but I decided I didn’t need it. I ended up not getting anything.

I think people mistakenly think I am crazy about Hello Kitty or something. I am, in fact, not. I AM crazy about Asian, fobby merchandise, and USUALLY Hello Kitty products turn out to be the best, cutest, and coolest of that merchandise. What I really want right now is like a pillow or stuffed animal for my bed. I think I’ll just take the one at home and bring it to Berkeley, but I’d get no end of mockery from small group.

Anyway, in the meantime we were waiting for Wayne, who was taking his sweet time. As it turned out, there WASN’T a Wells Fargo, it was a Charles Schwab, and we made Wayne go around looking for it. Haha! So he went to Ranch instead and had gotten some noodles.

Went back to church, then went home. Rest of family came home soon after. I ate a light dinner, then went back to Berkeley; we picked up Wayne and Leon. I was a little late for chorus rehearsal but I sneaked through the railing in the back row as to be inconspicuous when I slipped in late. It was tiring. I came back, indulged in www.imdb.com (the fast is over) and also finally did some work; I wrote a response paper for my ASAMST decal. It is past 3 now. What was I doing? It is going to be a painful week, but I’ll get through it one way or another, by the grace of God.

4-7-2003

Aww yeah... woke up pretty early but got up nice and late, around 10:15... back in the pre-Call LA groove.

Ate food, did a few random things. At around 12:00 Min IMed me and asked if I wanted to go the Super DC with him. OF COURSE!!! So I did. It was a beautiful day out so I wore shorts and sandals. It was just slightly too cold to wear them comfortably though.

At the DC we talked about lots of random stuff and made really bad puns (mostly him). Meanwhile I gorged myself on a cheeseburger, french fries, cookies, pasta, chicken, pepperoni pizza, and (get ready for this) mint-chocolate-chip ice cream and double-dutch chocolate ice cream. WOOHOO!!! Oh man it was glorious. I missed most of class, but who cares about that. I went there for the last 20 minutes or so and almost fell asleep.

Then I went to the library to see if I could get White Noise (the book I could get at ASUC or Ned’s) and they were all checked out. I went to Wheeler to check if my name was on the graduating list, and also to make sure all my classes and stuff were on the right track for graduating. Whew, everything looks good. On the way back this dude running for senate followed me around for a long time talking to me about his political issues and stuff. At first he was just reciting some stuff that sounded like he memorized it from his little script but after a while he just started talking normal to me, which was good. He is a freshman... what a n00b, haha.

I actually started reading today! I took it really, REALLY slowly, so I could actually understand the stuff (I’m reading this ghetto article for the paper that’s due Friday). The slowness was magnified by lengthy conversation with Shirley about what exactly a girl (or more specifically, she) wants from a guy concerning relationships and all that stuff. Guys should bring everything out on the table, be the initiative, etc. If only it were so simple as it sounds to just go to a girl and tell her that you want to make a commitment to her. I mean of course, I want to make a commitment to a girl, but what if she doesn’t? How are you supposed to know? Man it’s so nerve-wracking. But I think I learned more today than I have in my entire academic career at Berkeley. Seriously. I think school should teach us useful, applicable, practical stuff like the science of girls. It’s a necessary education that I’ll need someday (now?) whereas neither I nor anyone else on the planet gives two bits of crap about Walter Benjamin or Guy Debord, or the “Mechanical Age of Reproduction,” or “Simulation and Simulacra”. However, at the end of her tirade, she offered the following disclaimer:

SHIRLEY: By the way, Jon: I am majorly PMSing right now and I’m really pissed at guys, so everything I just said, take it with a grain of salt.

Anyway, she went to Barnes & Noble for me to pick up White Noise for me, isn’t that nice? And Leon went to a meeting for his ASAM project. I went to my own ASAM decal, where we watched The Karate Kid Part II and I handed in a response paper.

Back home, I cooked some of Shirley’s noodles and fried ‘em with some peppers and broccoli, which wasn’t half bad. Then I got started on the baking; this time I have it all down pat. It turned out pretty nice; smells good and texture is good but it doesn’t look as good as the other ones. I haven’t eaten them yet, though, so we’ll have to see. I will glaze them tomorrow. Oh I tried making them lighter by beating the egg whites by HAND until they were all fluffy, but when I folded it into the mix I did it too much so it kind of deflated again. Oh well.

Leon has been asleep all night. He just woke up. It is almost 2:00. Haha.

4-8-2003

Leon was up early today, like at 7:30. I got up at 10 or so, I can’t remember. Anyway, I read the Bible for a good while, made the glaze for my cakes, read the article for English 176, started reading White Noise. I decided not to go to class today, since I hadn’t started reading the assignment, and also because I need to keep reading White Noise and finish it. Ralph called because he needed me to take care of a few things for him. I actually did quite a bit of reading today.

Chorus went WAY over time today. I got really tired. We got to practice with the orchestra.

Small group is starting later and later. People are coming at like 7:30 now. It was a good meeting; the best part was when we all shared in smaller groups and then prayed together. A lot of times I feel like I’m going through all this stuff and it seems like no one else goes through problems, hearing other people talk about struggles and suffering in their own lives encourages me (not because I like to hear about them suffer, of course) because it just shows that God is working in everyone individually and taking us through different experiences.

I tried to get everyone to eat my cake afterwards. I drew a funny picture; a roughly sketched manly drawing for the Intervarsity t-shirt that Ryan is accepting designs for. It has a guy with a gun, tanks, explosions, bullet holes, planes, a guy eating steak, and a guy lifting weights. Dude it’s so awesome.

I blew like an hour reading my own journals. I found out that a lot of people read my journals after all! I put them up mostly for my own entertainment and didn’t think anyone seriously read them, but I guess they do. Grace said she read like all of them, and Julia said they get excited when they see that their name made it into the archives. Hahaha.

Eventually I started reading again, but I fell asleep for another hour until about 1:30. Now I am writing this, and it is 2:00. Man I’m so tired, and there’s so much left to do. I haven’t even started this paper yet. I haven’t even FINISHED White Noise yet, for crying out loud. AUUGH! I am so screwed.

4-9-2003

Woke up and went to morning prayer. It was the usual three (Julia, Leon, and I) plus Jason, Ryan, and Grace. Wow, six people! We fully filled two couches. Awesome!

No goofing around today; I read all morning and early afternoon. I fell asleep twice, for about an hour each time, I estimate. I haven’t finished White Noise, but I’ve done enough to start writing, I think. I drew a hilarious moustache, pirate get-up, a knife, and a parrot on the bathroom mirror so if you look at it the right way, you can be a pirate! Awesome, huh!!

Victor came over with Leon and wanted to interview Shirley and I about “true love,” since somehow he had gotten word that we had a few varying opinions on the subject. He is doing this video project thing for his youth group. Anyway she wasn’t home yet so we watched some TV and stuff, which was fun. Well Shirley came home but she “didn’t want to talk about love,” so Victor interviewed me alone. I said all this doofy stuff and took up ten minutes of his tape, but at least I got some good laughs and realized for myself that I really have no experience in this kind of thing. Haha but then while I was talking I got constantly interrupted by Shirley anyway, even though she didn’t want to be interviewed, so her voice is acknowledged on the camera as well. Leon also interjected at various points, but more of a ridiculing of my words than anything else.

Afterward, when Victor stopped recording, THEN she started talking more about it, and after thinking about what she said I realized that yeah, she was actually right. So I talked to her about it and was yet again educated like I was the other day. Too bad Victor didn’t get any of that, or any of the action/arguments that he was hoping to capture.

Then we started talking about related subjects that I won’t cover here, but it was SOO funny because Leon kept saying these essentially sexist remarks while Shirley was reading this feminist junk for her class, and then every time he tried to save himself he’d say something else and I would royally crack up, it was so funny. I just pictured, with every word, Leon digging a grave deeper and deeper for himself. Here’s a snippet near the end of the conversation that I wish you could see in context (because it’s so much funnier that way), but you’ll just have to appreciate the pun for what it’s worth in it’s stand-alone form shown here.

LEON: Maybe it’s not hope, it’s faith.

SHIRLEY: I think it’s denial.

LEON: No, I think it’s the Amazon.

JON: Oh, man... that was so bad that I have... to... write... it... down...

I went to the MMO decal, walked with Victor, which was fun; we had our share of joking and goofing around. The meeting was good, and Wayne brought pizza from his other class, so that was awesome. When it was over, Jason took us two to the Super DC (AWWW YEAH) and I went off the hog-wild hook. Pizza, mashed potatoes, fish burrito, pasta, chili, and of course, ice cream. I felt supremely bloated by the time the food-storm had receded, and waddled to chorus rehearsal, which went on for nearly 3 toilsome hours. By the time it was over and I got back it was around 10:00. I chatted with a whole bunch of people, asking people what they thought about my Hello Kitty and Honey Joe desktop. Some positive responses, some head-shakingly negative ones. Surprisingly, one of the most mature comments was from Kimmy; very mature statements for her age.

K: i mean.. it takes more guts.. to do this.. than to act like your " a man"

K: actually yah.. well it could be a man.like. it depends in the eye of the beholder...

K: but most "eyes of the beholder" would think it's "girly".. but i think it's normal

Eventually I started working on my paper. Though it’s full of Barney shit, it seems to be coming along kind of well. I am simply feeding them back what they are feeding me. Hopefully my GSI will buy it.

Late at night I had a chat with Jing, who again is keeping me kind of accountable with my devotions. It started with me just asking how she was but then it turned around and she asked ME about my life. So we talked about life, and questions, and devotions, and direction, and really she has a lot more practical wisdom than a lot of older people I know. It’s so interesting to see how younger people in our church these days have so much profound things to say.

In the meantime I’ve been trying to convince Leon not to buy a new digital camera. A number of issues are involved, but let’s just say that this time, I won! As of now, he is not purchasing the item. Mission accomplished. (Even though I told him that really it’s his choice, and I shouldn’t tell him what to do.)

So now it’s 3:49am and I’ve written quite a lot. I’m not sure how well this is going to work, but at least I’m getting somewhere.

4-10-2003

Pooh... got up and went to work on the paper. Skipped class again. I’m sure that I was occupied with other stuff too, because by 1:00 I still had not added anything to the essay. Most of the time I was just sitting in front of the computer thinking and idling, unable to actually freakin’ WRITE.

Chorus was short, and we sat down for almost the whole time, so that was cool. She basically gave us all a break. I went back and got to work again on the paper. I thought I could finish by 8:00, but I made pasta so that didn’t work out. Then from 8-9 I sat in front of the computer trying to find any way not to write, so I pushed it back to 10. I wrote, but didn’t finish. Ten became eleven, eleven became twelve... so now it’s 2:00am and I’m done, basically except for maybe the final sentence. This is actually pretty early compared to other times I’ve gone way over past 3 or 4 in the morning. The thing is, I was pretty close to done for a long time, but then I couldn’t just stop it there, I had to keep writing or it would just drop out of nowhere. But it’s a good thing I kept going because it just fits 5 pages.

The final Matrix Reloaded trailer came out today. Ohhh man.... it is SOOOO awesome I can’t believe it. Oh yeah I took a bunch of HILARIOUS pictures of myself today, holding a big knife. SOOO funny. And then at night I spent a long time chatting with Tim about... girls. Who would have thought.

4-11-2003

Went to kickboxing this morning with Shirley. It was the opposite of last time. I got tired, but not that sweaty. The scale in the locker room was broken, but I think I gained weight.

Did some polishing touches to my paper until it truly looked good if I do say so myself. I started printing but it took 15-20 minutes to print (that is not an exaggeration) in color since the black ink is out, and even the color is kind of weird. So Shirley and Naomi left for voice lessons first while I sat there for another 10 minutes waiting for my paper to finish printing.

Voice lessons were good. I went to discussion afterward but left right after turning in the paper, because he said we could.

Ahh, the joy of relaxation. Victor came over and we watched his completed “true love” video of which I am proud to be a part. I looked like a moron, but that wasn’t Victor’s fault. Leon and I played some GT3 and finally bought a shiny new yellow Toyota Celica, but still got owned sometimes because it is hard to control. But it is pretty fast.

I went to Bancroft Clothing to get a bow tie, then picked up a free ticket for the concert tomorrow in case anyone needs it. Shirley might not go (GRAR!!) and neither may Leon (GRAH!!) so this is all very ghetto I think. Snar.

Rehearsal was good, it was cool to run through the whole thing. I took a picture of the orchestra, making special note to turn the flash off, then I changed the exposure setting and AS USUAL, forgot to re-set the flash to “off.” Of course you can guess what happened next. I blinded the entire hall with the light from the flash bulb. What a genius I am.

Came back and relaxed some more. I’ve eaten three whole sandwich today! Ohh, great, more carbs and fat. Jean and her friend Joe came over to visit our apartment! That was cool. I played 3 hours of Shadowbane and didn’t gain even half a freakin’ level. There were are no good enemies to fight, and no good groups to fight them with. I got owned herra times. ARGH.

4-12-2003

I woke up early this morning, even though I did not intend to. I was just awake.

Leon went to Fremont to interview people, and he’s going to stay there. Shirley went out to some nursing home or something. I fiddled around the whole morning, then at 12 or so I went to La Burrita and ate there (my second time ever). Good. It was raining pretty hard and I got all wet because the umbrella was small and kind of messed up.

At 2 I went to watch Better Luck Tomorrow at Shattuck Cinemas. It was pretty good, some good stuff in there, and I like how it didn’t dwell on the fact that there are Asian characters. They didn’t use Asian people as a selling tool by showing how Asian people have to “go through all this stuff” or that we are “oppressed” and stuff like that. It was just a movie. That said, it wasn’t the GREATEST film, but it was great in some ways. I could make a better one, however. Oh and it’s also cool how it’s spreading only by word of mouth and the internet, since there is no marketing budget whatsoever. One of the actors, Roger Fan, was at the screening and said some really inspiring stuff actually. The film was made with “ten credit cards.” Haha. It’s good to see how these people really worked at it and then found themselves at Sundance and the Toronto Film Festival. I brings hope to the millions of other wannabes like me.

The concert is soon. Afterwards I may take BART back to Fremont and stay at Jonny’s (he’s back this weekend).

10:22pm - Just got back from the concert! All dressed up in a suit and bow tie! Oh man, it was SO awesome, and the hall was PACKED all they way! Seriously, we had such a good performance, it was so wonderful. TOO BAD no one I knew went to see it. Dude, thanks a lot for your support, everyone. Oh well, I had a good time and for real, it was the best concert we had ever since I’ve been in chorus. The Brahms Requiem is AMAZING.

AAAHH geez those stupid AT&T/Comcast bastards are such liars! They upped my bill even though they TOLD me that our bill wouldn’t change because of our promotion. I called them up and he said they can change it whenever they want! HOW RETARDED. I really don’t want to go through all the calling again like I did in the fall. DECEPTIVE LIAR SNAKES THIEVES. It’s companies like you that make this world a crappy place to be. Well, other kinds of people too. GRAH. I’m not finished with you and your fancy “I’m-a-big-corporation” bullshit.

OK I’m off to BART soon.