The Berkeley Archives: Jon Yip Talks to Himself

A Systematic Commentary On My Life At Berkeley

Spring 2003

Week 17: The Same Boat

5-4-2003

I took the BART home on Friday. I just decided to go back that night because I didn’t want to waste the whole Saturday traveling. So I got home at almost 2:00.

On Saturday I played a lot of drums in the morning, relaxed. There goes Mom trying to get me to talk about girls again. Suddenly she comes up with all this “info” that is totally invalidated and I don’t know where she is getting it from. Rumors spread fast, man. What a snoop.

JON: What? Where are you getting all this from??

MOM: Oh, you know... I have a network.

After Dad and Leslie got back from Zion Church, we all went to Hometown Buffet (I don’t care what you guys say about HTB. I got three words for you: AS MUCH FOOD AS YOU FRICKIN’ WANT). I stuffed myself silly and then we went home to do some chores. I vacuumed, did some laundry. Our payoff was good; Dad took us three kids to go watch X2. At first I thought we wouldn’t be able to make it; the next showing at Capitol 16 was at 4:45 and I was afraid it would be sold out. But when we got there, the ticket lines weren’t long and we were one of the first people to get in the line for the screen. Plus we didn’t have to pay TOO much because I used the pass that John Kua gave me a while ago, and we got 3 student tickets too. The movie was pretty good; the special effects were really great, Nightcrawler and all the X-men were just awesome. Good action and everything. Jean Grey was finally given a chance to kick arse, Magneto owned with the iron bits, Storm was great and lost the goofy accent. Cyclops was completely useless; all he did was get owned and whine, and the only time he DID own (grandly, I might add) he jacked everything up! Anyway, the end was cool too.

Cell group was pretty good. We played this really long Mafia round that took forever. I was Mafia twice, but I got caught every time. It stinks because I always die regardless of who I am! Mafia will always kill me within the first few rounds (because of my excellent detective skillz), otherwise everyone else will kill me as a safeguard in case I AM the Mafia and I kill everyone with my mastermind skillz). Although, before I went down this time, I supplied an excellent prosecution against a completely innocent Grace and had her killed by the townspeople. Heh heh.

You know how they say it’s hard for men to say “I’m sorry...” well it’s true. Not just “oops, sorry for bonking your head” or some easy thing like that, but actually “I’m sorry” for being wrong. Wow it was hard, but I did it.

Church was good today. I sang on Shirley’s “team” (me and her). Woof, there were some high notes today, but I didn’t go for them. I just did cop-out lower harmonies. But she hit them. Other church highlights: Cindy and Eva are back. Tiffany is also back from Paris. Eugenia came up behind me and whacked me with a sweater or something; demanding that I either watch Charade or return it to her.

There was a Mongolia meeting after church. We all went to El Torito and took forever to get our food. On the way I was behind Howard’s car, and Eric was behind me. When we got to the side street that goes around the mall, Eric zoomed right by both cars, over the double yellow line, and Leedah was hanging out the window screaming and making faces. Crazy! Yeah, so anyway, it took a long to at the restaurant; just ordering alone, we had to wait a long time for someone to come. But we had a good time, making jokes, pick up lines, funny stories, etc. Christina came all the way from Albany, along with these two others, Kathleen and Irene, that will be joining us on the trip. Man I am so excited about this trip; I really hope this whole SARS junk won’t interfere with our work. We have to pray for this, we can’t let it stop us.

From El Torito, we went back to church and had a prayer meeting for about an hour. That was good. Then I drove home with Wayne.

Not much time to mess around because I had to head back to Berkeley for rehearsal. I packed up pretty quick, got all my stuff together. We picked up Wayne and then we quickly went to Circuit City so I could buy Three Kings, which I need to see for class. Paper is coming up soon. Bargh.

I barely made it back in time. Rehearsal was at 7:00. I checked my email to see where it was at, and what do you know, Newtomorrow was down! Augh! So I had no idea where rehearsal was at. I went to Hertz Hall, where it normally is, hoping that there would be a sign or something. Luckily, there was, it said, “Chavez Ctr, CRH.” I had no idea what that was. I wandered around for a while until I found a directory. I looked for a building that was abbreviated with “CRH” but there was nothing. I thought about the Cesar Chavez Center, but that’s just a bunch of offices. So I literally just walked around campus for a while, hoping that somehow one of the several hundred buildings on campus would have the initials “CRH” and that I would stumble upon it by chance. Obviously that didn’t work, so I just wandered over the Cesar Chavez Center out of sheer boredom. Walking into a random I door, I looked at the building directory so it would at least look like I was trying to find something. This girl saw me and she was looking for it too. So we walked up and down the halls of this random place, then Justin (drummer dude that’s in chorus) saw us and he was trying to find it too. So we went to the different floors, looking, looking, but nothing. Then we found ANOTHER guy, so now we were four people walking up and down this plaza trying to find this random building or room. It was so sad. About the time we would have given up, we found this music place that was part of the Cesar Chavez Center, an obscure little door in the back, underground.

Rehearsal was pretty long. Min and I made fun of each other, as usual. He shuffled his feet around and it looked like his shoes were trying to run away. I talked and some spit landed on my shirt. We used these two things as platforms for mockery.

JON (wiggles feet around): Whoa, whoa! My feet are trying to run away!

MIN (slobbers everywhere): SLBJBSLLBJBBBB!!

(Jon drinks a Diet Coke)

MIN: Do you need a bib?

JON (wiggles feet around): Whoa, whoa! Must be the kimchi!

Came home. Shirley had accidentally knocked a cup of water all over her keyboard, so now the keys are all messed up. She asked me to pray over her computer, so I did that, and then she asked me to get all the people on AIM to pray for it too, so I did that as well. Leon finally came back, with Cindy and Zeke. They hung around here for a while, talking, watching Homestarrunner, Iron Chef, and then they went home.

Dang I’ve been writing for a long time. My muscles are always twitching now. It’s driving me nuts. I hate it. It’s late. I need to sleep. Newtomorrow is still down. I need to call Dan tomorrow.

5-5-2003

I woke up at 8-something but then I went back to sleep, because I needed it. Good thing I had no class today, because I was tired of it. I read a lot of the Bible and did devotions. Shirley’s laptop is still messed up. I also wrote a response paper on Better Luck Tomorrow for the decal tonight. Eventually at around noon I was left alone in the apartment, so I watched Three Kings to prepare for my paper. It is a very interesting movie and the images are quite stunning. Although I don’t recall it affecting me that much the first time I saw it (some time last year), I came EXTREMELY close to crying at the end this time around. Tears were in my eyes. And I don’t think it has as much to do with the movie as it does with me. There is definitely something different about me these days; I don’t exactly know what it is, but I am really different. Hmm. What/who could be behind this?

For some reason I was just really tired afterwards. I almost feel asleep at my computer. So I took a little nap and that made me feel a lot better. After a while I had to go to the last ASAM decal meeting.

It was a discussion. Oh man first of all I felt really bad for this white guy when we broke into smaller groups. He was the only one and this Asian girl (6 foot 1 Korean, she described herself as) kept ragging on him. Well, it wasn’t THAT bad, she was trying to make conversation since no one was talking.

Then that fob dude started going off again. Oh man he was so racist and sexist I could not believe it. It was funny listening to him, but also scary. He kept saying that white people are stealing Asian women, that Lucy Liu is a traitor and a whore, that black people were the “luckiest” slaves ever. OK, I do agree that sometimes I have been frustrated in the way that we Asian males don’t stand a friggin’ chance against the white males, but by gum, in the end, it’s up to the girl who she wants to be with! If a white guy is the one for her, if it makes her happy, then more power to them! That’s right! As for certain minorities benefitting from affirmative action, etc., yeah I think that’s a pile of horseshit, but it doesn’t make blacks or whatever bad. The dude also tore on the few white people in class, and on the mixed dude. Man it was so embarrassing to hear him... I hope those people don’t get bad views about Asian people.

FOB: So all you Asian women swear with me that you will not date the white animals!

I went straight to Emily’s house because small group people were meeting there to discuss this secret kidnapping scheme to surprise the small group leaders. Dude it seems so complex and complicated. We have to get up at FOUR IN THE MORNING on Friday and set up this whole scavenger hunt thing on Memorial Glade. Craziness... And the whole kidnapping thing... it’s just nuts.

DAVID: They’re going to all be in their PJs.

JON: Uh, I dunno... what happens if they’re NOT wearing PJs... I mean, we don’t really know their sleeping habits...

CLARRISSA: Jon, are speaking this from experience??

Then...

JON: You know what would be funny? If we had all the girls trying to kidnap the guys, and all the big guys like kidnap one girl.

JULIA: We should probably have girls kidnap girls and guys kidnap guys. You know, in case they have those sleeping habits...

JON: But that would be even FUNNIER!

EMILY: OK, Jon’s not allowed to talk anymore.

Took a while to plan, but I think it’ll work out (albeit I’ll be doubly owned on Friday morning, with kickboxing and all). Oh and it was pretty funny to see Wayne and David beating each other up. At 9:30 I went to Freeborn for group practice with the voice lessons people. We first worked on the Rent song and that sounds really good now. Then we kind of worked on the choreography for the “Come What May” thing that Dan and Joellen are doing. AHAHAHA oh man what a riot, seeing them trying to act all dramatic and lovey-dovey, staring deep into each other’s eyes, while still trying to keep a straight face. HAHAHA!! Oh yeah, I also learned from Naomi and Dan that the fob dude used to go to IV before but he’s been banned from numerous fellowships because he kept hitting on girls or something. Dang...

It was pretty late by the time we got home; about 11:30 or so. I made some pasta and ate it (I had not yet eaten dinner). I also ate some of that ice cream from Safeway that I had totally forgotten about, and it was really good! Mmm...

I wrote this a lot, chatted over AIM with Leon (yes, over AIM. We’ve been doing that a lot these past few nights). Dang it’s past 2:00 now. Where did the time go?

ARGH I hate these muscle spasms, especially in my legs. My muscles will just randomly twitch involuntarily. Ugh it’s such a horrible feeling.

5-6-2003

Woke up at 9 or 10, I think, then slept more until 11. I had enough time to eat and do some other random stuff until class time. OH YEAH this morning it was CRAZY. All herr (or, if you want to look at it a different way, heaven) broke loose. I won’t go into it here but let’s say that there was lots of shouting, exclaiming, and vows to inflict injury. Heh heh... Oh I also took care of Leon’s check for rent, and also wrote one out for my Mark Twain books, finally.

Shirley and I went to our classes. Mine was pretty boring.

When I got back, Leedah and Cindy had already arrived to visit. I chatted with Leedah and ate lots of food until I had to go to chorus. Right when I got out the door, it started raining. I was wearing shorts. It was so sunny this morning.

Chorus wasn’t TOO bad today. At least it ended. I walked home in the rain, which was coming down harder than it was earlier.

Everyone was gone! Leon had taken Cindy and Leedah to the super DC. Heh. Shirley was out at class, but she left early so she came home first. Then the rest of them came back. Somehow, we started crooning the “Love Medley” from Moulin Rouge AGAIN. Oh man, hilarious.

Shirley gave me a whole tupperware thing of her mom’s fried rice. It was really good. Then there was small group. It was good; there was a lot of people. Koh-Eun was extremely shocked by my wallpaper (Hello Kitty and Honey Joe).

Soon after that we had a little ROL prayer meeting for our church. Wendy, Elliot, Wayne, and Victor came over. That was good, but I dunno about everything... I have so much to say about this all, but I don’t really want to bring it to too many people... I’d rather talk about it one on one with them. And also I have a bunch of practical solutions but it’s not that simple to talk about them. Anyway... sigh. Victor and Wayne stuck around for a while.

VICTOR: Hey, want to see me CS? I’m getting better! I don’t suck anymore! Well, I still suck, but not 0-18 suck.

VICTOR (tugs on my shorts): Hey, look.

SHIRLEY: Whoa! Oh, I thought you were doing something else.

VICTOR: What?

JON and SHIRLEY: Grabassing.

VICTOR: I don’t really feel comfortable with that whole thing.

JON: I think you have a stronghold.

VICTOR: Let’s leave them up.

VICTOR: I can’t log in to any of these servers.

WAYNE: Jon, are you being banned because you cheat?

SHIRLEY: No, it’s just because no one wants you there. Man, I’m being so abusive!

Sheesh it’s almost 2:00 now... I have to wake up at 7:30 tomorrow for skit practice... AGH! I’m so tired, and my paper is like barely even coming along! I’m meeting the GSI tomorrow too! AGH! Leon is in a fix; his project is due in two days, he hasn’t started, and the project is supposed to take 22 days to complete. Oh, and he’s in a bunch of other fixes as well.

Time for the gratuitous Leonian slip!

LEON: If only we were gay...

5-7-2003

Dang... ownage this morning when I woke up at 7:30! Leon was on the couch because Cindy was using his mattress in Shirley’s room. Shirley was already up but everyone else was asleep. I went to outside the Zellerbach Playhouse for the skit practice with Elliot, Rene, Dan, and Wendy. There was supposed to be more people, but they didn’t show, so I ended up playing multiple parts. Heh heh. So it’s about IV people when they’re old and they reminisce about the good old days. So I play the younger versions of them. I do a bunch of stuff, like act smart, act dumb, mac, cry (that’s right, I have a sob scene. Shirley’s not the only one who can do it!). It’ll be great!

On the way home I stopped at Ned’s to get a cap and gown at last, but they were out of my size. They said it should be in by the end of the week. Let’s hope so.

I got back at around 9:30, and Leon was home! I thought he was going to morning prayer! Julia was there all alone! So I called her and then rushed over there and we prayed for missions. That was good.

Leon was still there when I got back. Shirley and Cindy must have gone out somewhere, like a café or something. Cindy came back and Leon went out to class. Meanwhile I explained what little paper I had to Cindy, about Three Kings and stuff. I tried to write some stuff but I only got like a sentence or so, and it wasn’t even something worth keeping. The main thing was to get some ideas running through my head. Then Cindy went out to meet Shirley for mass.

I printed out the little outline of points that I had and went out to meet my GSI. Man it was warm out! This morning looked/felt so cold... the opposite of yesterday. Funky Berkeley weather!

On the way I ran into Danny, my old roommate! He was all weird, as usual.

DANNY (pointing to my camera bag): What’s that you got there?

JON: My camera. It’s pretty nice.

DANNY: Really. What kind? Let’s see it. I bet mine is better.

JON: That’s quite possible.

(We take our cameras out. His is better).

DANNY: Hey, Jon, I’m late. Bye.

(Shoves me)

At the Free Speech Café (where the GSI was) I also ran into Kevin, the film dude that’s been in a ton of my classes. We chatted a little since I couldn’t seem to find the GSI dude anywhere. Eventually I found him outside on the patio-like thing. OK, so it was kind of weird since a) this dude is totally gay and his shirt was way too small and I was sitting at this liberal fruity café with him, and b) it was really sunny and I was squinting at him like a snake the whole time. Nevertheless, total fruitiness nonwithstanding, I got to discuss the paper with him and it really helped! Now I think I totally know what I should write; now it’s just a matter of organization and determination. The best part is, I simply came up with some ideas and interesting things about the movie, and then it was almost like HE was the one formulating the thesis for me, and then I came back with some more insight to apply to it. It worked really well! Hopefully I can get a good grade on this.

I got back and ate salad, a sandwich, etc. It was really weird; I wasn’t hungry at all but I really wanted to eat. It wasn’t the same as my usual I’m-frickin’-starving-so-I-want-to-eat. It was even weirder because Shirley is doing the same thing; she even completed my sentence when I brought it up (just as a note of warning: there are going to be a LOT of quotes today, simply because a lot of things said today are very quote-worthy. Shirley has just been acting different today. Like she offered me candy twice, each time by throwing it at me when I wasn’t looking and shouting “Want some candy? Here, catch!” or “Eat some more of my candy” AFTER she tossed it. Later she was skipping around like a maniac until she saw that I was staring at her as if I’d seen someone skipping around like a maniac. After an awkward silence, she stated, “I’m really caffeinated” and proceeded to enlighten me on all the caffeine products she’d had in the last several hours).

JON: I’m not even hungry.

SHIRLEY: But I just really want to eat today!

She said it happens when you don’t get enough sleep. Well I got only 5 hours last night, so that’s a definite possibility.

At 5:00 I went to the decal. I saw Edward at Kroeber Fountain. Man, I am just seeing everyone today, or even this week (I saw Joellen TWICE on campus yesterday). He asked about ROL and stuff, and I gave him a little update of what was happening. He seems to be doing well.

The decal was cool; at the end Morgan and Joe invited everyone to go drink beers with them. Hahaha... Jason, Wayne, and I went to I.B.’s to grab some HOAGIES!! I got an italiansteak one. Then I went to meet Dan to practice our song; we went to Morrison and got a music room and practiced for a good hour and a half. Man that song is high and crazy, but it’s getting better. We probably have to practice again tomorrow.

When I came home I finished the rest of the hoagie that hadn’t yet finished. I also prepared and cooked two big slabs of pork because I had already defrosted them and I didn’t know what to do with them. I grilled ‘em first in a pan before baking them in the oven with some orange bell peppers. They looked awfully good.

So all of us have our own respective stuff to work on. Shirley and I have papers and Leon has this CS project, so each of us are getting owned and crunched. I think out of all of us, Leon has it the worst, since he has a day left now to complete a 22-day project (DANG! OWNAGE!). I would come next, since my paper is due Monday. Shirley comes in last because it’s due Tuesday, and oh yeah, she’s copying everything from a paper she wrote last year for a different soc class.

SHIRLEY: You’re just jealous because you don’t have a paper to copy from.

JON: No I’m not! In fact, I’m excited about this ORIGINAL paper that I’m about to write!

SHIRLEY: Hey, mine was original!

JON: I mean, for the FIRST TIME!

SHIRLEY: Maybe I can just copy and paste.

JON: What?

SHIRLEY: What!

JON: That’s something Leon would do.

SHIRLEY: No! Well, yeah...

SHIRLEY: Guess how far I am, Jon.

JON: Uh... three pages?

SHIRLEY: Four and a half!

JON: Oh! Nice! ...Of course, you ALREADY WROTE THOSE PAGES.

SHIRLEY: Hey, but do you have any idea it took to write those pages?

LEON (under his breath): Plagiarism.

SHIRLEY: Hey, at least I plagiarize my OWN stuff.

My pork came out looking really good. And guess what? THEY ATE IT! I couldn’t believe it! None ever eats my food! Woooow it’s a once in a lifetime event! Good thing today’s was better than usual too. Leon only ate one bite, but whatevers dude! He also ate some of a burrito or something too that he had leftover from another meal.

LEON: Boy, that sour cream was really sour.

JON: Hence the name, “sour.”

LEON: No, hence the name “two-day-old burrito.”

JON: Does anyone want some pork? I already ate.

SHIRLEY: Then why did you make it??

JON: I defrosted it already.

SHIRLEY: I’ll have some.

JON: WHOA!!!!! YEAH!!!!!

SHIRLEY (eating my pork!!): Pretty good, Jon.

JON: Thank you!

SHIRLEY: It doesn’t even taste like pork now.

JON: It tastes like beef, right?

SHIRLEY: Yeah.

JON: YEAH!!!!!!!!

It really was some good-tasting pork. It’s almost like eating a steak, rather than just straight up pork. I think I can now safely be called the Pork King.

Since then I’ve actually been trying to work hard on this paper. I’ve got about a page written now. Oh, I got into numerous hilarious AIM escapades, a multi-layered brawl that left me and my opponent warned to 35%, and another (who I decided to go easier on) at 10%. There’s been enough quotes for today, so I’ll put them up tomorrow.

5-10-2003

The usual routine: wake up at 9-something, go back to sleep until almost 11:00. I just feel cheated of sleep when I wake up early.

But I was actually extremely productive today, especially this morning, probably because no one was up and I had no one to talk to (Leon and Shirley were both napping. Shirley went to sleep pretty late, I think, and Leon stayed up ALL NIGHT!). I wrote my paper all morning (eating like a monster along the way), past noon, until around 2:00, when I decided to skip class in favor of continuing my paper. Unfortunately, I watched Ally McBeal instead, but I needed a break. Then back to “work” (though the afternoon hours were grossly unproductive. You know how afternoons are) until a short chorus meeting for about half an hour. She let us go early because we had ANOTHER rehearsal later tonight.

I tried working on my paper more, but Shirley was watching TV so it didn’t really happen. At 7:15 I went to rehearsal again. It was long, but it finally ended. I got moved to the second row.

Then Dan came over to the apartment and we practiced “Endlessly” some more. Leon was back to playing GT3. Heh heh. I got a phone call from Wayne about our kidnapping plot for tomorrow and I had to lie to Leon and tell him it was Dan, and he got suspicious because he was like “that sounded like you were talking to someone else.” And I totally was talking funny because of the lie. I haven’t done it in so long, I’m just not used to it, you know. Sorry Leon, but it’s for the greater good.

After a while of practicing, Dan and I went to this guy’s house, the guy who will be playing guitar for us tomorrow. When we got there he was on an important phone call so we went to someone else’s apartment to hang out. Turns out it was Calvin’s apartment! Whoa, what a coincidence! We practiced in his room for a while, then some other people came over to eat ice cream and stuff, so we went out and leeched off of the goods. Mmm, ice cream. Justin (from chorus) was out there! Man I’m just seeing everyone! Ice cream is good. We practiced some more until Ben (the guitar dude) came over. He looked so familiar...

BEN: So did you guys know each other before the class?

DAN: No.

JON: Actually, I saw you last year at the performance. I was there... (to Ben) OH YEAH! THAT’S WHERE I KNOW YOU FROM! You were in the class last semester!

Yeah, I remember him now; he was in the voice lessons class when I went to Shirley’s performance last semester.

Joellen also went there to practice with Dan. I went home. Leon was sleeping already... little does he know that he will be rudely awakened in a matter of hours... So I called talked with Emily and Wayne about tomorrow, got the lowdown on everything. Kidnapping takes place at 5:30, then I change into a suit and sunglasses and Wayne will escort me to Memorial Glade, where I will greet the victims and brief them on the logistics of their scavenger hunt. After sending them off, I will then be relocated to various sites; the clues on how to arrive at these places will be provided to them in 3 separate envelopes. Eventually I’ll be waiting for them at the final clue site. Then we’ll go eat I expect, or something like that. It’s gonna be herra bomb, but too bad it’s SO FREAKIN’ EARLY! Tomorrow will be crazy. Kidnapping, voice lessons performance, senior large group, skit, chorus performance. AUGH. And this paper to top it all off, crap.

OWNAGE!!!!!

Oh wait yesterday I promised AIM conversations... so AIM conversations shall you receive.

KIMMY (10:42:48 PM): you're like.. almost done w/ schoool1!!!!
JON (10:42:51 PM): yah...
KIMMY (10:43:04 PM): i have like 8moreee
JON (10:43:10 PM): heheheheh?
JON (10:43:18 PM): yeah, tons o' fun
KIMMY (10:43:45 PM): ugghh high school
JON (10:43:49 PM): heh heh heh?
JON (10:44:48 PM): don't worry
KIMMY (10:44:51 PM): yah
KIMMY (10:45:00 PM): i'm actually sort of not really.. mildly looking forward to it
JON (10:45:00 PM): whatever fears you may have about high school...
JON (10:45:07 PM): college is a million times worse
KIMMY (10:45:11 PM): hahahaa
KIMMY (10:45:16 PM): noo i WANna go to high school
KIMMY (10:45:19 PM): i herad it was fun
JON (10:45:31 PM): hahhah?
JON (10:45:42 PM): kind of like hansel and gretel "heard" the candy house was "fun"
KIMMY (10:46:16 PM): LOLL
KIMMY (10:46:21 PM): wow that's a pretty good metaphor

The following is what happened after I made a joke in response to something Andrew said. Heh heh... I’ll begin it at the the point where we had just started warning each other.

ANDY (10:28:53 PM): wha?!!?
JON (10:29:00 PM): WHAT THE FRUIT
JON (10:29:15 PM): PANK!!!
ANDY (10:29:29 PM): BOOOOOOO
ANDY (10:29:32 PM): ASD;LKVMA;SDVIMKW;OARINVRW;OAIVNS;LAKCFVN;SLJVN;OEFAIN
ANDY (10:29:37 PM): AESVBOIAWMRB;LKADFMN;BOINWA;OINQ[
ANDY (10:29:40 PM): ABMWRI;OAB;ODUNB;OJDSGNBJTEAN;BLKJNEA;TOJBN;ODFAINB;LJN;LXJN
ANDY (10:29:44 PM): WPOGJQOEKJG;PAWIJB;ADFNCBXVLKBNFSDLBJKENS;OBIENAT;BOIANWER;BN
JON (10:30:27 PM): he might not have access to a phone
ANDY (10:30:35 PM): ASVLKJNAWELIVUNWALIVUNASCLKJVNZXC,MVNWKLJNVQIUEV
ANDY (10:30:36 PM): ;OJNLIUWAERNVKJZDSNV
JON (10:31:28 PM): BAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA??????
ANDY (10:32:22 PM): You're more of a monkey than Leedah
ANDY (10:32:30 PM): You're officially labeled
ANDY (10:32:33 PM): The baboon
ANDY (10:32:37 PM): OOOO
ANDY (10:32:39 PM): Take that!
JON (10:32:46 PM): FINE
JON (10:32:48 PM): you
JON (10:32:49 PM): you
JON (10:33:08 PM): freaking
JON (10:33:09 PM): guy!!
ANDY (10:33:36 PM): BUAHAHAHAHA
ANDY (10:33:40 PM): TROGDOR STRIKES AGAIN
JON (10:34:06 PM): TRAH?!?
ANDY (10:34:20 PM): SHIRLEY (10:34:19 PM): yeah tell me something i didn't already know
JON (10:34:29 PM): what?
ANDY (10:34:36 PM): In referring to me telling her that you were a baboon
ANDY (10:34:38 PM): BUAHAHAHAHAHAHA
JON (10:35:53 PM): TRAH!!?!?
ANDY (10:36:23 PM): what's with you and
ANDY (10:36:25 PM): Trah?
JON (10:36:32 PM): my exclamation
JON (10:36:39 PM): definition = WHAT THE FREAKIN HERR?!?!?
ANDY (10:36:40 PM): Trogdor + hah = Trah?

And here is probably the best of the bunch, in its entirety. Don’t ask me what happened. All I did was offer a phone call to anyone who asked.

SHIRLEY (10:15:43 PM): [runs away screaming]

Auto response from JON (10:15:43 PM): first person to ask for one gets a phone call from me!

JON (10:20:48 PM): fine
SHIRLEY (10:20:54 PM): FINE
JON (10:22:28 PM): I said first person to ASK
SHIRLEY (10:22:42 PM): and i didn't
JON (10:23:03 PM): if you don't have something nice to say
JON (10:23:05 PM): don't say it at all
JON (10:23:10 PM): hmprh
SHIRLEY (10:23:26 PM): !@#$%#$@%^&*^
JON (10:23:29 PM): your silence says it all
SHIRLEY (10:23:44 PM): do you hear any !@$!$#!@% silence?
SHIRLEY (10:24:53 PM): and you better not !#&^@&^!#% put this in your !@#!@# diary
JON (10:25:10 PM): well maybe I will and maybe I #$*)((*@$#&@ won't
SHIRLEY (10:26:08 PM): unless you want a !(&#!^#% bat shoved up your !@#@!#$ @$@, then you !@&^#%^@# won't
JON (10:27:20 PM): BE MY #$)#(*&% guest!!!
SHIRLEY (10:28:32 PM): @#^$@$ come over here and say that, b!t674ch~~
JON (10:29:31 PM): I #$)#(&$ WILL!!!!!
JON (10:29:39 PM): *GOES THE *$#)*$& OVER THERE*
JON (10:29:46 PM): BE MY #$)$#)(*&#$ GUEST!!!!!?!?!??
SHIRLEY (10:30:36 PM): hello???!!? do i see you $#@$%^# standing in front of me?
JON (10:31:13 PM): *GOES THE #($)#)$(& OVER THERE*
JON (10:31:20 PM): CAN YOU #()$*#)(* READ!?!?!?!?
SHIRLEY (10:32:09 PM): what the (*Q&^$(&^#@&$ are you talking about you !@*&#&!@%#b guy?!?
JON (10:33:38 PM): YAH THAT'S RIGHT $#$#)#$(*$# PUNK
SHIRLEY (10:34:37 PM): you are #$#^$% wasting my time with this *^%#%^&#
JON (10:34:43 PM): HEY WHAT THE
JON (10:34:47 PM): BABOON
SHIRLEY (10:34:48 PM): why don't you *O#^$O$^ write your %^$&%$^$ paper you &^$&^$^%$ baboon
JON (10:34:50 PM): FREAKIN
JON (10:34:56 PM): #($*&#&*($#*&(
JON (10:35:06 PM): I'LL baboon YOU
JON (10:35:08 PM): #)#)$*($#
JON (10:35:48 PM): YOU ARE ALL #$)*#$(*$#)* GUYS
SHIRLEY (10:35:59 PM): and you're a *&#$^*&@^$&*@ girl!
JON (10:36:08 PM): DDDAAAARRRR
JON (10:37:22 PM): SNAHAHAHAHA???/
SHIRLEY (10:37:35 PM): oh my *&^#@$(&*# god
SHIRLEY (10:37:40 PM): you so &^%#@% didn't
JON (10:37:43 PM): take that
JON (10:37:48 PM): I dare you to retaliate
JON (10:37:49 PM): PUNK
SHIRLEY (10:38:08 PM): i don't !@$#@ sink that low, you *&$^&*@#^$ piece of *!&*!@&^
JON (10:38:15 PM): I'll BET you don't
JON (10:38:18 PM): SNAH"?!?!
SHIRLEY (10:38:31 PM): yeah thas right, *@#&@*&#^
JON (10:38:44 PM): yellow yellow yellow!
JON (10:38:58 PM): HUANG SE SENDAN JIE!!!!
SHIRLEY (10:39:43 PM): what the &*@#^&@^# are you talking about, you @*&#^@&*^# fob
JON (10:39:52 PM): you are #)*%#@ yellow
JON (10:39:57 PM): CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK
SHIRLEY (10:40:15 PM): yeah well i am @*&*@#&$*#@ asian
SHIRLEY (10:40:24 PM): you look *&@#* stupid making those chicken noises
JON (10:40:39 PM): I'm imitating YOU, smart guy!!
JON (10:40:45 PM): YOUSA A CHICKEN
JON (10:40:51 PM): SNAH!?!?
SHIRLEY (10:41:33 PM): i'm not the one making those *(&#@*&@ noises
JON (10:41:52 PM): yah you are
JON (10:41:58 PM): they just aren't coming from your #*&$) mouth
SHIRLEY (10:42:06 PM): then i'm not making the *()&$#@*&$ noises
JON (10:43:28 PM): you know
JON (10:43:37 PM): all I wanted to do was give someone a @&$)() phone call
JON (10:43:41 PM): A SIMPLE #(%&) THING
SHIRLEY (10:44:47 PM): then make a *&$^&*#@ phone call

5-9-2003

My phone rang and vibrated in next to my pillow at 5:30. It was Tina Chiang. They were waiting downstairs. No turning back now, we gotta go for it. Put a week of planning to the test. Today is full of quotes.

I went down to retrieve them, then we took Leon hostage (allowing him luxuries not usually allowed by kidnappers, including putting on contacts, going to the bathroom, and asking him politely to get out of bed).

(Tina, Jason, and I are outside the room, whispering)

JASON: Go and get him.

JON: What, me? No you go! He’ll punch me.

LEON (mumbling from inside room): Mbbmbllmfff... mfblmff punch mfblbmfmffm?

JON: Just go and get him! This is your game, man!

TINA: Yeah, Jason, just go get him.

(Jason goes inside)

JASON: OK, come on, Leon.

LEON: Mrrrmbbrrr...

JASON: Come on; you’re being kidnapped.

LEON: Mbrmfmmrr... am I really being kidnapped?

JASON: Yes.

LEON: Oh, man! OK let me put on my contacts.

Jason and Tina dragged him off while I stayed behind. Wayne promptly came to get me and I changed into my suit and tie outfit, and was then escorted to Memorial Glade on campus to meet up with David. I was briefed on what information I should give our victims, including their first clue, a backpack of supplies, and rations (one doughnut per leader). Some of the girls were spectating from the Doe Library balcony things. I received numerous hoots and wolf whistles. Now there’s a first!

The leaders were brought blindfolded, or with illustrated paper bags over their heads, to me in the middle of the glade and I informed them of their tasks and gave them their supplies. Then I walked to one of the later clue sites to wait for them. Man it was cold (and EARLY. Like 6:00). After they found that clue, I went to the final destination, the Free Speech Movement Café (what a ghetto name for a café). I posed for some really cool pictures of me looking slick in a suit. Then we all went to University Café to eat breakfast.

I didn’t want to eat all kinds of junk since I had to sing later, so I just ordered a “short stack” (3 pancakes) and grapefruit juice. Lots of good times at the restaurant; joking, talking, sharing our appreciation, etc. What a great time. I’m going to miss small group so much... Oh and there was also much sarcasm and teasing directed at me because I missed kickboxing. Oh and Tina (Chang) called me a “ham!” Can you believe it?? Then she called me a “Ham in Black!” What the heck? Here’s a conversation concerning it from later tonight.

JON (12:45:05 AM): "ham in black"
JON (12:45:11 AM): oh my goodness where did that come from
JON (12:45:21 AM): "ham"
TINA (12:47:43 AM): ahha
TINA (12:47:45 AM): bc you are a HAM jon
TINA (12:47:48 AM): a ham in front of the camera
TINA (12:47:49 AM): hahaah
JON (12:49:17 AM): what is a ham
JON (12:49:20 AM): what the
TINA (12:49:51 AM): like someone who likes to pose in front of cameras
TINA (12:49:54 AM): and do stuff for the camera
JON (12:49:55 AM): oh
TINA (12:49:58 AM): haah
TINA (12:50:00 AM): don't worry
TINA (12:50:02 AM): I am a ham too
TINA (12:50:06 AM): kind of
JON (12:50:06 AM): a HAM
JON (12:50:08 AM): aaahahhaha?

Leon almost went straight to bed when we got back. He needs rest. I shed the suit, tie, and dress shirt, but kept the pants, socks, and shoes. For the next while, Shirley and I practiced some of our songs and got ready for the performance.

SHIRLEY: Are you going to wear your suit?

JON: No! Err, I don’t think so...

SHIRLEY: Then what are you going to wear??

JON: I don’t know; a sweater or something.

SHIRLEY: Over those pants??

JON: Yeah, I guess.

SHIRLEY: Hurry up, you only have 35 minutes left!

JON: To put on a sweater?? I’ll take my time!

At 11:00 we went over to Scott’s apartment to run through a few songs before going to the church.

(We are walking on the street. Suddenly there is this huge clang from a garbage truck. It sounds like a gunshot and it’s REALLY loud so I jump sideways and cringe)

JON: Geez!

SHIRLEY (unfazed): What the heck?

JON: That scared me! I thought it was a gunshot or something.

SHIRLEY: Hey, you should put THAT in your journal thing. How Jon jumped three feet into the air while Shirley walked nonchalantly on.

He has tons of instruments in his room. A drum pad, a digital piano, a guitar, bass, and probably other stuff I can’t remember. Amps and speakers and stuff. Oh and this big mixer thing. OH and I discovered he uses WordPerfect. Whoa! I’m not the only one. Speaking of WordPerfect, I just installed it on Shirley’s laptop the other day! Whoa, she let me! Usually she’s like “ah, keep your WordPerfect” or something but that day she was like “Hey, what’s better, Notepad or Wordpad?” I said, “Neither; WordPerfect is better. I can install it if you want.” Then she said “Now?” And I said “Yeah.” So she said “OK.” and I was like “Whoa!” Anyway, back to today. Practiced for a while, then we walked to the church for the performance. Scott loaded all his stuff into his car so he drove. We were running really early so we walked REALLY slowly. Sometimes like in slow motion.

(Scott is carrying his mixer board thing into the church)

DAN: What’s that?

SCOTT: Something.

DAN: Oh really? I thought it was nothing.

Dan and Naomi were already there. Dan and I practiced our song a little bit outside. But let’s get straight to the performance. It was sooo great! Oh man it seriously was like the best thing ever to hear everyone singing. And everyone got to do all of their songs. “Endlessly” went great. “Shout to the Lord” sounded really good with Susan and Naomi. Susan’s other song “Why” was really good too and I was getting pretty emotional in it. Haha. Joellen did really well on her Chinese song; it sounded just like a real Chinese pop star! Whoa! Also her duet with Dan was great; they did this cool thing where they walk toward each other (Dan started outside). Shirley and Scott’s duet was also really great, with all them high notes and funny dialogue and over-the-top choreography. Sounded really great! Scott’s “Falcon in the Dive” song was pretty freakin’ swell too. AND I got some pretty good comments on my two songs, so I was happy about that. I tried my best to belt those last notes in “For Always” like Shirley told me and it worked pretty well. OH AND there were so many people there today! Justin Lin, Dan Kwon, Liz Ng, Mariann was there, DJ, and a whole bunch more people from IV and stuff that I don’t remember. Heh heh and Deborah was crying at the end. Ohh, so sad... it’s all over... Aaahhh.... what a great class...

A bunch of us went to Durant to eat some food. We got some stuff from this “Gyros” place (is it (jy-ros or yi-ros? I keep hearing different things. But it LOOKS like Gyros so that’s what I’m going to say. Oh and something on the menu is called falafel, which I pronounced “Fal-I-fell because that is what it looks like, and I got made fun of; apparently the correct pronunciation is “fa-La-fell.” Who would have known that?) and brought it to this pho place where Dan, Joellen, and a bunch of people from their fellowship were at. There was like 4 other Jons at the table so every 5 seconds someone would say “hey Jon” and throw me off balance.

(About the scales in the RSF)

SCOTT: They should have those talking scales.

JON (like a robot): “One-eighty-nine! Point eight!”

SCOTT (like a robot): “One at a time please. One at a time please.”

JON and SHIRLEY: Hahahahaha!

SCOTT (like a robot): “You’re hurting me. You’re hurting me.”

Back at the apartment, Leon, Shirley and I talked about fun things. Yes, they are fun things. For example: romantic things to do in the summer are: run around at the beach and splash water on each other; have a car wash, and have the guy hose water all over the girl, and the girl should throw suds back at him, like on TV. Then he has to dry her off by dabbing around her face with a towel. You know, you’ve seen it on TV a million times.

LEON: We don’t have swimming parties because our church is, you know... about that stuff...

JON: No, we went swimming at that one camping thing.

SHIRLEY: Yeah, and that thing at Eric’s house. We went swimming there. Well, just the guys.

LEON: But not the girls.

SHIRLEY: That’s just because they didn’t have their swimming suits.

JON: Actually, neither did we. We just wore our shorts.

LEON: Girls could just wear shorts. I mean... I guess...

I had just started playing Infernal Machine when I found out I had to go to skit practice just then. So I put on my dress shirt again, brought my music, script, suit, and bow tie, and walked off to First Pres. Practice was outside; it was so funny, everyone is just a riot. After that we went into the gym and listened to the worship teams practice, talked with people, set up chairs, etc.

Senior large group was great! The first worship set was by all seniors and it was so great. A bunch of “oldies but goodies.” Ren led, just like old times. I was a bawlin’ little baby by the end of the set. Heh heh. Then came our skit. It was kinda rough and improv, but that’s what “skit” is (as opposed to PLAYS, which I write) so everything was chill and cool. It was really funny, I think everyone got a kick out of it.

Two testimonies followed; one by Nancy and one by Jay. Jay’s was really cool because I could really relate. He didn’t know exactly what to do after school but he asked God to show him. So God showed him, but in a really different way. This is the kind of thing I need to happen now. Jay got a lot of signs. I wonder if I should be looking for signs again. I’ve been kind of off it for a while.

There was a fun slide show that had pictures of all the seniors. I had to leave after that because of the chorus concert. I got to Morrison at 8:45 but the program inside Hertz took until 9:30 or so for us to get in. We practiced a lot. My feet were tired. I was going through this whole day, running off of 3 hours of sleep. This old dude that stands next to me on the risers (ever since I got moved to the 2^nd row) totally looks like James Caan. He also tries to make puns over and over again, particularly about the vibraphones that were backstage where we were waiting (“I’m getting bad vibes. Bad VIBES. Get it?? Get it???”) Eventually we got to sing with that Nathan Lane conductor. It sounded good, but not as satisfying as the Brahms, since the requiem is a lot longer and takes more energy to get through. We got a standing ovation, nevertheless, and Nathan Lane also got two call-backs to the stage. They really liked it. It was a full house.

Came back to the apartment but Leon and Shirley didn’t come back for a while. I’ve been writing tons and I wish I could write more but I am falling asleep. It’s past 2:00 and I still have to take a shower and stuff. Sooo tired...

Nvidia stocks went up $5.31/share today! WHOA!!!

5-10-2003

Man I’m tired. Add to that kind of a crappy day.

Woke up late. I “worked” on my paper basically throughout the day, with many bursts of un-productivity thrown in. Like I watched most of The Replacement Killers, which was OK but I like Chow Yun-fat and Mira Sorvino. I debated over whether or not to go see Identity or Bend It Like Beckham, and in the end I didn’t. I can’ stand writing these frickin’ papers. I’ve written about a page today, or maybe a little more. Leon is with me on the same boat for this one. He also has to write a paper. I want to go home.

Shirley tried to get tickets to my concert but they were all reserved for parents. Ghetto! At least she tried. My parents aren’t even going. In fact, no one I knew attended either yesterday or today’s concert. Or the Brahms concert for that matter. Come to think of it, no one I knew came to any of my concerts at all, including last semesters, except the one my family went to in SF, and that was crappiest one, and they fell asleep. Actually, Leon and Cindy went to the first Memorial concert in September.

The concert was pretty good, I guess. I was so tired. My feet hurt. The old dude next to me still made weird jokes. It was a full house again.

Came back. Ate a sandwich, Cheez-Its, one of Shirley’s kiwis. Watched some TV. Called Jonny and talked with him for a while. Leon, Shirley, and I got into our usual conversation about guys, initiation, etc. ARRGH. Things got pretty loud. It’s not like I was arguing, because I agree with all this guys-should-initiate stuff; I was just trying to put things into more of a male perspective, to understand that it must be a frickin’ heavy pressure. It isn’t easy being a man, you know, despite what everyone tries to tell you.

What is Leon doing?? Doesn’t he have a paper to work on???

Nothing else to say for today. It was kind of a bummy day overall. This paper is still hanging over my head. Ugh... Oh well, I’ll include another fun AIM conversation then.

TINA (5:33:39 PM): yip yip!
TINA (5:33:42 PM): yip yip!
TINA (5:33:43 PM): haha
JON (5:33:44 PM): heylo
TINA (5:33:45 PM): couldn't help it
JON (5:33:47 PM): what?
TINA (5:33:50 PM): I was thinking of a dog
TINA (5:33:51 PM): yip yip!
TINA (5:33:55 PM): saying yip yip
TINA (5:33:58 PM): hahahaha
TINA (5:34:00 PM): k I'm weird
JON (5:34:02 PM): oh, I see
TINA (5:34:02 PM): how's the paper going?
JON (5:34:07 PM): *calls police*

Oh, and here’s another great one from a few days ago that I must have missed. Yesterday, actually. It’s Grant and I talking about Anna (sorry Anna, I didn’t mean anything I said, please don’t hurt me), and when we’re all going to see Reloaded next week.

GRANT (10:34:07 AM): in fact meaner, cause i have to make sure she keeps that FEAR of me
JON (10:34:11 AM): hahahaha?
JON (10:34:14 AM): that's RIGHT
GRANT (10:34:27 AM): its all about the cane
GRANT (10:34:29 AM): lol
JON (10:34:33 AM): hahaha?
JON (10:34:58 AM): so on thursday it'll be an exception; usually she's not allowed out of the kitchen?
GRANT (10:37:51 AM): that's right
GRANT (10:38:02 AM): i had to make a special exception for her
GRANT (10:38:08 AM): considering it is mother's day sunday
JON (10:38:13 AM): like a field trip or something
GRANT (10:38:15 AM): lol
JON (10:38:27 AM): you need her permission slip from her parents
GRANT (10:38:56 AM): well, i like to think of it as a 'temp. prison reassignment'
JON (10:39:04 AM): hahhah?
GRANT (10:39:30 AM): at first i was gonna make her be waiting on us all, getting us drinks and popcorn, so then its a chain gang
GRANT (10:39:43 AM): but then it would be only her so it would be a chain babe
GRANT (10:39:51 AM): but that sounds sorta perverted
JON (10:39:55 AM): hahaha?
JON (10:40:35 AM): man
JON (10:40:44 AM): if only the rest of us had girlfriends
GRANT (10:40:50 AM): LOL?
GRANT (10:41:01 AM): don't know...
JON (10:41:02 AM): then we would totally be MADE
JON (10:41:11 AM): a real chain gang
GRANT (10:41:16 AM): there's something about that wedding band that puts the icing on the cake
JON (10:41:20 AM): hm, true
GRANT (10:41:35 AM): you have to be at your best behavior until then
JON (10:41:43 AM): it's like throwing away the key to the handcuffs
GRANT (10:41:50 AM): once she says I DO, you're back in the lazyboy and making your demands
GRANT (10:41:54 AM): lol
JON (10:41:55 AM): hahahahaha?
GRANT (10:42:08 AM): best thing about it is she calls it love
GRANT (10:42:09 AM): LOL
GRANT (10:42:10 AM): jk
JON (10:42:12 AM): HAHAHAHA??
GRANT (10:42:27 AM): man, i'm so kidding.... its really the other way around.
JON (10:42:30 AM): I know
GRANT (10:42:32 AM): she's got me whooped

Is this whole conversation and quoting novelty wearing off? Well I find them funny still, so whatever.