Highlights/Complaints/Praises and other random blah of the day

Complaints
*I love winter time. Although there is no such season in L.A., we (Los Angelenos) live in a city where everything is possible. In our desperation to experience the changing of the seasons, we create artificial snow in Disneyland's main street (which by the way, lasted only for 3 minutes). Some of us dress up in our winter outfits even if we're sweating bullets. I learned to just wear layers. It could get chilly in the early morning, enough to convince me to turn off my two alarms (yes I have two alarms set 15 minutes apart) and stay in bed till my room heats up to a nice baking temperature. It may sound crazy but some days I just want to wake up to an overcast sky, i'll even take a slight rain. I have all of these winter clothes (from my bay area days) that are just collecting dust.

Highlights

*I can't wait to go camping this weekend. Since its a 3 day weekend (thank you Mr. MLK), The Boyfriend and I are finally going to Catalina Island. I bought some MRE (meals-ready-to-eat) from Trader Joe's, I bundled up my sleeping bag, and thought about what things to bring so I wont die of boredom. The Boyfriend suggested to leave behind a lot of stuff I told him I'm going to bring. He said that bringing all of my crap will defy the purpose of the trip....to get away from everything. So no MP3 player, laptop, any school/work related stuff etc. Its going to be quite a change to what I'm used to but like what I said on my previous post about my New Year's resolution...change it up a bit. I'll update with pictures and stories when I get back. (Picture of Two Harbors where we will be camping. Courtesy of ThomasH www.pbase.com)

Praises
*I went jogging last night around the reservoir. I was waiting for the light to change so I can cross the street at the corner of Silverlake Blvd. and Glendale Blvd. Also waiting was this older Filipina (I'm good in identifying my Filipino folks) lady, maybe in her 60's or 70's. She's wearing a Ralphs (a big grocery chain in california) uniform. I recognize her as one of the baggers at the store. I smiled and she smiled back. You can tell that she's had a long day at work, probably on her feet for most of the day. If I were her, I would be grumpy and bitchy....having to stand up for most of the day, lifting heavy bags, making sure that the eggs dont break, then I have to walk to the bus stop and wait outside in the cold....I wouldnt be able to force a smile. A lot of people around her age would much prefer to play bingo, watch Home Shopping Network and just enjoy their retirement years. But not her. She's one of those folks who you can see working till their body gives up. She exemplified many older Filipinos that I've met (both here in the US and the one's I met while I was growing up in the Philippines); hardworking, dedicated to their families, and persistent to do absolutely everything to contribute to their family and not become dependent on other. Kudos to Lola-who-works-at-Ralphs.

Random blah
*I'm typing this at my favorite coffee shop (Silverlake Cafe). The majority of their patron's are fellow bloggers (I can see them furiously typing up their own blah's) and the Hollywood types (actor/writer/film-maker). I noticed that I'm the only one who doesnt have a Mac. Honestly.... I looked around the coffee shop. There are 8 people here and every single person (except me) has a Mac laptop. I love my Fujitsu Lifebook because its light and very user friendly but I do realize how popular Mac's are. I also noticed that the majority of the mp3 players that I see around town are also from Apple (need I say Ipods). While I on the other hand has a Rio iRiver which I also like coz I can listen to the radio. I feel like a minority in this Apple-technology- infested coffee shop. I know that every single one of these Mac users are looking down on me....well F*** them.

*I started my spring semester classes this week. I'm going to take it easy this semester so I can focus on my qualifying exams (yeah right). Im just taking the Biochemistry seminar class (where other PhD candidates present their work while I sit there eating the free greasy pizza) and Biostatistics (I've taken a couple of statistics classes when I was still in RSHS and a summer class at UC Davis so I'm hoping that I'm not going to struggle in this class). I'm shooting for my first full "A" grade in grad school (I got close last year) for this Biostats class but it might not happen because during the first few minutes of class the professor tells us that she's going to be extra strict (she's insane, we're not high school kids that needs to be warned and reprimanded).