Not sure how many of you actually visit Wretch.cc, but on their main page there's always a bunch of either "hot" looking girls or guys. I put hot in quotation marks because, well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Anyway, they all look the same! Well, girls look the same, guys look the same, not girls and guys look the same. I mean, it's the same hairstyle, same make up (on the girls), same webcam/digicam positioning, same trying to look cute expression. So much for individuality. I mean, nothing against conformists, I am one, afterall, but how does the Wretch staff go about picking which ones will make their main page? And how do girls (or guys) judge if a guy (or girl) is hot or not if they all look pretty much the same?

Also, how many guys do you know who like to take pages and pages of pictures of himself? Same with girls. Hmmm, I think I can count on one hand the number of people I know who love taking pictures of the self and posting them online.

Sigh. It's just so random, but I guess everyone has their own interests. :P


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Now playing: 黃立行 - 妳身邊
via FoxyTunes

- I stumbled upon this blog Margaret and Helen written by this 82 year old grandma, Helen. Margaret is her friend of sixty years (60 years!! Geez, that's a long time). Anyway, her entries are really, really entertaining. I've only read the ones related to the presidential election. Some bits from the blog:

It must be hard to be both pro-war and pro-life at the same time and still look so perky that early in the morning. It’s as if she [Elizabeth Hasselbeck] doesn’t lose a wink of sleep over it. What a brave little soldier she is.

I started out in this election supporting Hillary Clinton because I believed our country needed a women’s point of view in the Oval Office. I truly believe that women approach education, war, healthcare, the environment, poverty, etc. differently. Of course then I met Sarah Palin and realized that some women are just bitches who only want to change their wardrobe and your religious freedoms.

Sarah Palin had the choice to talk to her daughter about sex. Her daughter had the choice to listen or not listen. Her daughter had the choice to have sex or not have sex. And once she was pregnant she had the choice to keep the baby, put it up for adoption or terminate the pregnancy. And as much as it scares me that the Palin clan is producing a whole new generation of women like my old friend Sally, the fact is they have a choice. All I ask is that women respect the right of other women to make their own choice because I remember what it was like when we didn’t have a choice.

[edit] Although if what this guy says is true, then *sadness*. Oh well, the entries are still funny and interesting and makes for good reading. So, still check it out![/edit]

- I started a Tumblr account. Yes, I know, I leave too many footprints on the internet. What can I say, I'm fickle? I like new things? I like using different sites? Well, each site serves different purposes, I guess. This one's for thoughts and long meaningful (pshhhhh) entries, Tumblr's for short thoughts and all the interesting things I find online, and Lines n Curves is for art. Although I kind of want to start a Wordpress account. Hah! I kid, I kid (maybe).

Anyway, on tumblr, I've stumbled upon some pretty pretty pictures and quotes and thoughts and stuff. So, I like it. And they're all short! So it's perfect when I'm not in the mood to read too many words (lazy mah). Heh.

- The U.S. elections is coming up. It's an exciting, nerve wracking, anxiety-laden next few days. Who's going to win? What direction is the U.S. going to head in for the next four years? Even though I don't get to vote or anything, it's still interesting to follow. After the debacle of the Taiwanese election, I hope my hopes won't be dashed again this time around.

- Speaking of Taiwanese politics ... eh. Nevermind. Don't want to think about it.

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Now playing: Garbage - As Heaven is Wide
via FoxyTunes

I've realized that living alone can be a terrible thing, not because I have to fend for myself. Rather, it's the side effects of living alone that can be bad bad bad.

For example, I've had to work very hard to not become a total slob. Like leaving the dishes to be done tomorrow (or the day after ... or the day ... after ...). Or throwing clothes randomly around the room. Or just keeping my work area organized and clean. Ah, I think I'm failing on keeping my work area clean. It's kind of messy right now.

Also! When you don't have to go out (for class or whatever) and meet people, it's also harder to convince yourself to shower. Hahahahahahaha. Ah gawd. This is not good.

It's also harder to actually go out when you don't have class. Yesterday I had to force myself to leave the room and go for a walk. Wandered over to the next town (not THAT far) and have discovered more places I'd like to explore with my camera. You know, even in town, you can find little plots of farmland (like next to my apartment). And this place is just so scenic that it makes you want to take pictures. Went wandering around the medical center today. There's a forest-y area next to it. Didn't get to explore as much as I wanted to because it was kind of muddy and I was wearing my white Converse - bad idea. Also it was quite cold, and my fingers were freezing and so was my camera. But got a couple of good pictures (like the one above).

So. Living alone. Never again. Must always have roommates to keep me on my toes and not turn into a total slob. :P

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Now playing: 陶喆 David Tao - Finally
via FoxyTunes

When pigs fly - sooner than we expect.

Taking a course on … well, ethics of sexuality. Sexual ethics. Find it interesting - who’s the judge what’s right or wrong or what’s considered a good conduct when it comes to sexuality. Some things that may be considered “wrong” in one society or culture may not be in another. Some things that are frowned upon by one social class may be prevalent in another due to necessity.

There’s such a wide range of sexual behavior along with different experiences, and it seems kind of ridiculous to apply a set ethical standard to it.

Not to mention, which set ethical standard are we talking about? The one from a Chinese person’s point of view? or from a Westerner’s point of view? or from a woman’s point of view? or from a man’s?

Margaret Farley, the author of the book, Just Love, that we're reading from argues,

"Whatever our intellectual theories about sex and morality, moral questions do emerge a the heart of our sexual lives. Hence, skeptical or not, efforts to develop or at least refine a sexual ethic are inevitable."

I guess I can follow that. We all judge one another (inevitable), and for some people, having a set guideline to follow would make their lives easier. But that just brings me back to the question of who decides on these set ethical standards of sexuality?

Well, it's just the start of the book. Will find out more as I continue reading, I guess.

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Now playing: Nine Inch Nails - physical
via FoxyTunes

Finally I've gotten around to cleaning up my room and taking pictures. Was supposed to be studying, oops. :P


The bunk area - originally the top's supposed to be the bed and the bottom a sofa. But I'm getting old and disliking having to climb up and down when I go to bed or have to pee in the middle of the night. Hah. So I switched it around. Bed on bottom, sofa (kind of) on top. There's a shelf up there, so I can't put the back up, so it's just wasted space for now. But! It's bed for those of you who want to visit me *hint hint nudge nudge*! The white thing next to the bed is a freezer where all the yum food my mom cooked me is stored.

Kitchen area. Kind of small and messy, but, don't know how to make it not so messy. It's as organized as it will get!

Window. Or door rather. My room faces the west, so in the afternoon, the sun shines in. When there's sun anyway. But it's nice, I can get a nice tan just sitting at my desk. Hah! But the only bad thing is I have to hide all the food and medicine, so they don't get shine on and melt or something. Sigh.

Desk area! My little cubbie holes. I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with how I've organized things (it's already been re-organized twice), but it'll do for now. Seems so messy still. I have too much random junk. Argh!

The bathroom. Sigh. The worst part of my studio. Haha. The rant from before hasn't occurred again, thankfully. But the sink is leaky. AHHH!! And yes, I told the landlord who said that a lot of people are having this problem, so it might take some time for them to come around and fix mine. =.= Sigh. One of my main priorities when looking for a studio was the bathroom too. Blah. I hate bathrooms.

View from my room - the left hand side. =)

View from my room. The people to the right have little gardens. So cute. =P

So! That's my room. We'll see how long it stays this organized/clean. :)

Woo! I am EXCITED to be going back to D.C. this winter break.

Why? why? why?

BECAUSE! It's like going back in time, you know? I haven't been back for ... a couple of years. More than 5. It was some time during high school, when my sister had just transferred back to Taiwan. My gosh. Geez, where does time fly? It'll be interesting re-visiting the old places - Beverly Farms, Herbert Hoover, Montgomery Mall, etc. I wonder if I'll still remember it all. I wonder if things have changed, much. I wonder, I wonder.

Sometimes it's better to leave places in your memories alone because things might have changed, and not necessarily for the better. Better to have your "idealized" memory of the place, I guess. But I don't think it makes that much difference because I actually don't remember that much from our four and a half years in the States. Just little bits and pieces.

Anyway, also because I get to finally eat Pho, Chipotle, Pinkberry (?) after a year and a half of going cold turkey. Yay yay yay. And also Starbucks. I know, I know ... Starbucks?! I can't help it. I really like their caramel macchiato, though. And I don't have an espresso machine or anything here that I can make my own with. And I have yet to see one in any of the restaurants I've been to here. Boo. :( I guess I could always take the train to the airport where the only existing Starbucks in Belgium is located, but that seems kind of a hassle and not worth the train ticket. Haha. :P

But yes. MARYLAND!!!! I am excited. Can you tell? But. I am not looking forward to the airplane trip out. =( Especially during Christmas season. Bah.


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Now playing: 范逸臣 - 讓我靜一靜
via FoxyTunes

In Gent, this little tunnel was totally covered in graffiti of all sorts of colors. I wanted to go through because on the other side there was even more graffiti, but we were with other people, and I didn't want to hold up the group, so I refrained. Sigh.

Don't think I'll be able to find that tunnel again. But it was awesome!

I suck at keeping a constant posting. :P

Why's it so hard? Probably because I have to think of something to post about.

My mom's leaving tomorrow. AHHHHH. I will, as someone put it, finally be alone. Sigh. I will have to fend for myself! Oh my!

As nonchalant and flippant as I try to sound, there are still many, many worries.

Didja know this is the first time I've EVER lived alone? I've shared a room with someone for the past five years. I've lived with at least one other person for the past 23 years. Sigh. So this will be the first time living alone in an apartment/studio in a foreign country (still so many firsts even now!). AHHHHH. I'm pretty sure I'm going to freak myself out with my overactive imagination. I just hope the phase will pass, QUICKLY, and I'll be able to ... uh, get settled and not think scary thoughts at night. >.< I'm such a wimp. UGH.

I think my cold is going away faster this time around. Thanks to all aspirin + vitamin C drink thing my mom's friend suggested. Yay!

Also, lugging huge ass comforter to and from the laundromat is NOT fun, especially in the rain. I don't see myself washing my comforters that often. Ewwwww. Thank goodness for febreeze. HEEHEE.

Ok, I'll stop now before I gross anyone out.

Yup. It's official. I have another cold. The other day when writing about the fantastic-ness that is European weather, I thought to myself, "Wow, I'm surprised I'm not sick again." Spoke to see too soon, once again. I need to stop doing that! Argh.

So this cold is kind of kicking my butt. Energy-less, sore and achey all over, brain dead along with the usual sore throat, coffee coughing, and runny nose. Sigh. Cold number two since arriving in Belgium. It's funky because I hadn't had a cold for a while, and now it's suddenly here with a vengeance. Sigh.

Waaaaaah. This suckeths. And I have no Nyquil to help me sleep at night. Sigh.

The slash outs are what I had typed before I realized what I'd typed. The mind and the hands are not coordinating. Sigh.

Me go drink warm water and try to sleep. Sigh.

I need to stop sighing. Sigh.

Working my way, slowly, through the webcomic Sinfest. Currently on 2002, still got six years to go, WOO WOO!!! Talk about time waster. :)


With winter fast approaching and the horror stories I've heard associated with it (mainly, cold, wet, and dark), this is totally going to be me.

A little peek...

And the full view.

This is sort of a guide to getting a resident's ID here in Leuven, if any of you fine readers should ever feel like applying for school here or doing an exchange program. To travel around the Schengen States, you will need this ID; just having the student visa is not enough (good for Luxembourg and The Netherlands, though). I went into this not knowing what to expect. I thought one or two visits to the Foreigner's Office would lead to an ID card. Ehhhhh. Wrong. So, here's the process, so you don't go into this blindly, like I did.

Report to the foreigner's office as soon as possible after you arrive, preferably have a place of abode available already. Grab a ticket (ticket for foreigners), which is currently on the right hand side of the flat screen TV (not sure if that will change later on). Your number corresponds to the screen showing which number is being called upon on the right hand side of the room. Take a seat for this should take a couple of hours, depending on the number of people ahead of you and the counters that are actually open (usually 2 out of the 4). Bring something to read or play or something! A definite must. It took me about 3 hours of waiting time. I was actually the last person. In this visit, they basically set up a file for you in a pink folder! Bring them your housing contract and also your passport, of course, and they will give you a yellow form, in return, of which you must complete prior to your next visit to the Foreigner's Office. When will that be? After the police visit your place of abode, or you get summoned to the police station.

After the police's visit, you await a yellow invitation card. This card allows you to not have to wait three hours because it tells you exactly when you can go (specific time people! If you can't make it, you have to call them and reschedule)! Yay! Once you get the invite, head back to the Foreigner's Office and go straight to desk three or four. Show them your yellow card and voila, you should be done in ten minutes or less. Give them your completed yellow form, a proof of registration at KU Leuven (should have gotten it when you registered for classes), and two (or three, forget) passport sized photos. Then they will tell you that you will receive another invitation in ten days (or a little bit longer) when you can come back to the Foreigner's Office and apply for a electronic residence card.

Wait ten days (or a little bit longer), and you get a letter telling you what to bring (two passport photos, passport, and 12.50 Euro) and when counter six (express counter!) is open. Go at the best available time for you, but I suggest early in the morning, so you do not have to wait an hour because trust me, there will be other people there either picking up their IDs already or applying for their IDs. The letter says you do not need a number, but they've changed the system, and you actually do. So! Grab a number from the person at desk 1 or 2. Do NOT mess with or touch their stuff. They get touchy about it and lecture you loud enough for the rest of the hall to hear (no, not me. Someone else.). Wait your turn. When it is your turn, give them the required items. Watch them do their thing. Then, they will tell you to wait 3 weeks when you will get another invite back to the Foreigner's Office to pick up your ID card. Take your leave and wonder,

WHY? WHY DOES IT TAKE SO FREAKING LONG AND REQUIRE SO MANY TRIPS TO THE FREAKING CITY HALL TO GET AN ID?!

And that is my experience thus far. Now I must wait for the last invitation, and I will complete this long and arduous procedure and entry (hopefully!).

Not to offend anyone, but man, people like to smoke here. I hate it, especially when we're walking behind someone, and he (because they're mostly guys) suddenly exhales. Then we get a face full of smoke. Gah. At least have some consideration and don't smoke while you walk! It's not just when he exhales, but also just walking and having a cigarette in his hands causes the smoke to come towards people behind him. Wish they'd be more considerate of people who haven't built up some tolerance to cigarette smoke and is semi-allergic to cigarette smoke.

I shouldn't be sexist. There are also plenty of girls who smoke here. So different from LA where there actually weren't that many smokers. Blech. Everywhere you go here, you inhale smoke. Sigh. I'll probably have inhaled more second hand smoke here by the time I leave than all my four years at UCLA. Hope it doesn't have any effect on my health. :(

I don't understand this need to smoke. I mean, aesthetically, it's not pleasing. Yellow teeth? Yellow fingernails? Mmm, sexay! Also, it stinks! Not just the smoke itself, but also the person is drenched in that smell, especially his or her breath. I hate sitting in the vicinity of a smoker because, frankly, s/he stinks! Sigh. And then there's the health side. People are striving for a healthier lifestyle nowadays, yet they smoke? Hmmm. It doesn't work that way. Cancer of many types are caused by cigarettes, so why smoke? 就是不懂。

Ok. End rant.

There's an old-school coffee making machine here called Belgium Coffee Maker (aka Vacuum Coffe Maker), which used to be made in Belgium but has now been outsourced to Portugal. But it's so cool. It's kind of hard to explain how it works, but basically on the glass container side you put the coffee grounds in and pour water in the metallic container side. The water side is a vacuum and is heated by the little candle on the bottom. So when the water heats up, it goes to the coffee ground side and then the coffee that's made goes back to the water side. Then you pour out the coffee via the spigot (so cute).

Okay ... that was confusing, huh? And I'm not sure how it actually does all that (like the mechanisms and whatnot), but it's super pretty (:D) and super cool. I wish we had one, but it costs like 300 Euros or more, and they're no longer sold as widely because everyone likes to use those Espresso Machines now.


Better than my lousy attempt at describing how it works ... Ha! Just turn off the sound because the music is .. eh ... and the demonstration starts around 0:25. So coo!

What? I didn't do anything.

Imagine having a huge, powerful German Shepard come straight behind you and, um, attempt to hump you from behind in front of a dozen moms. YAH. That's really all I have to say about that, besides, AWKWARD (turtle).

But I's so cute.

Anger's a bit extreme. I'm not angry. Just ... puzzled. I think that's a better word; REALLY REALLY puzzled.

I was going to leave my rant about my bathroom for the room picture entry, which will happen after my mom leaves. But! It cannot wait! I seriously cannot understand the person who designed the bathroom here.

Ok. You know how in Taiwan there are lots of bathrooms where there's no tub or shower stall, but it's just an open bathroom with a shower head (and the other necessary equipment for a bathroom)? Like the one at the apartment I stayed at this past year in Taiwan (for those of you who have visited). So it's just a floor with a drain in the middle somewhere (with a very, very slight slant of the floor towards the drain). To prevent water from escaping the bathroom into the outside area, though, the designers built a ledge where the door is, so the door is a tad higher, but it effectively prevents water from escaping. Basically, unless the water level is over an inch high, there's no way the area outside the bathroom will flood.

So my bathroom here is kind of like that. There's curtains, but curtains do jack to prevent your floor from getting wet. It just prevents the sink and toilet from getting wet, but not really because steam is going to get them semi-wet anyway. I don't really care if everything else gets wet in the bathroom because I'm used to it (thanks to Taiwan), but, there's two big differences between my bathroom here and the one back in Taiwan. One, there's no ledge. No ledge you say! Doesn't the water flow out into the room then? Why yes, yes it does. Not as much as you'd think because the floor has a bigger slant (than the one in Taiwan) inwards towards the drain. Smart, but not really because the slope is not steep enough. Two, the even stupider part, they put the showerhead right next to the door. So! The shower curtain covers two sides, the wall with the shower head covers the third side, and the bathroom door with a crack underneath covers the fourth side. Which means, inevitably, water will escape into the room.

When we asked the landlord, he said it's ok! The bathroom is designed so that not A LOT (just a little bit) of water will escape into the room unless the drainage pipe is clogged.

Hah! I had a near-flood tonight. It wasn't really a flood, but a decent amount of water came out (not just a little bit). The worst part is that I have a freezer right next to the bathroom, so the runaway water nearly got into the electrical part of it. Thankfully I caught it before it had the opportunity to kill my freezer, but I'm just so confused as to why they designed the bathroom this way. Why didn't they just make a ledge at the door? Why is there a crack under the door that allows water out? Why did they put the shower head RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOOR?! It makes no sense. It makes absolutely no sense to me.

But I can't really complain because technically, the shower/drainage in that bathroom is made for one person, and we have two people showering in there right now. After the first person showered, it was all ok, but during the second person showering, the near-flooding happened. Sigh. But the drain is not clogged because there's no flooding in the bathroom, and we clean the drain everyday. So I'm also puzzled as to why this didn't happen before but is happening now.

Argh. It's just frustrating because I HATE HAVING WET FLOORS - one of my pet peeves. Not to mention I used up a roll of paper towels wiping up the escaped water. Sigh. If only they built a damn ledge instead of thinking that slanting the floor inwards towards the drain would do the trick.

I've forgotten how ADD European weather is.

This morning I wake up (at 730, sigh) and it's pretty cold and drizzly. Then, we go to Brussels, and it's cloudy with some blue skies and sun shining through, so it's relatively warm. Then, it starts pouring like no tomorrow with the sun shining in the distance (wtf?!). Then, we get back to Leuven, and stepping out of the train station my mom says, "well, the weather here is pretty good - look, the floor is dry!" And we see some blue skies in the distance. Then, two seconds later it starts raining. =.= THEN! We're five minutes away from home, and the clouds clear and blue skies and the bright sun comes out. And it is hot and blinding because of the wet cobblestoned streets reflecting sunlight (see above picture). And right now, it's getting cold again. ALL THIS IN A DAY. I'm surprised it's not SNOWING. (Just watch.)

Sigh. It makes deciding what to wear in the mornings a difficult task. I known I should layer, but then I'm too lazy to have to take clothes off and carry them around. So I normally end up either overdressing (like today, wearing a sweater, a vest, and a thick jacket) or underdressing (hoodie and tshirt). Blah.


On another note, discussion classes at 9 am are a bad idea. It requires me to wake up at 730, and today in particular, it causes me to not think coherently after a long climb up the damn steep hill to get to a library that's hidden away in a small alley, which I luckily stumble upon, but get lost trying to find the room in the library because it's like four flights down on level 92 but not on level 92 exactly but rather between levels 91 and 92. WTF?! In that case, the room number should be 91.5.03 not 92.03. That is MISLEADING. And then the prof talks about ethics (ugh) and what we're required to do in the class and I hear her talking, but none of it is actually being absorbed. So, if you ask me now what she said, I would have to say, I have no ideas? Thankfully there is a syllabus. Phew! Then the prof asks me what I think ethics is, and I somehow manage to blurt out an answer without thinking about what I was saying. Sigh. I hope it made some sort of sense. Ah whatever, I can't even remember what I said. Sigh


Enough random ranting for today. And I actually wanted to blog about accents. But that'll be for another time.

Ah, I missed a blog post yesterday. >.< Sigh. Bad!

I've decided I have a love and hate relationship with Apple Inc. Why?! Because they produce such pretty things every year but at a high price. SO! I hate them for making me want to spend the money that I don't have, but I love because their things are so pretty. And good. And awesome. And ... yes, I am an Apple fan. Sigh.

Anyway, so Apple announcement today - New Macbook Pros, Macbooks, and 24" Cinema Display (FINALLY), and also updated Macbook Air. Wowees. Oh, and cheaper older version of the white Macbooks (although I was really hoping for an 899 USD Macbook). The Macbooks have pretty much become smaller versions of the MBP's - 13.3 in. screens but otherwise looks the same as MBPs.

I don't know. Maybe I need some more time to get used to it, but the black on silver on a laptop doesn't really do it for me. I still like how the old MBPs looked. All silver. Now everything kind of just looks like the iMac, as a friend pointed out. Even the cinema display (which looks really cool! I want!) looks like an iMac. Sigh.

But, nonetheless, I STILL WANT ONE, MBP that is. As the same friend pointed out, the macbooks can now outrun my 1.83Ghz even more (Ouch, that HURTS). Before it didn't hurt as bad, but with these new upgrades on the Macbook ... *Sigh* It's ok. I still <3 my mbp although Photoshop crashed on me three times today and and and keeps giving me the spinning wheel of death. Argh. But no! Actually, if my MBP wants to die on me soon, better do it before March 19th when my warranty runs out. Ahhhhhhh.

At least I'm over the Macbook Air. :) I just want a $2499 MBP now. HEEHEE. Just kidding. No, not really. Sigh.



End Apple Rave.

Taken in Gent. There were some pretty awesome store displays.

I don't know what's up with me lately (as in these past few days), but I've been accident prone. On Saturday, while trying to climb up the steps to my apartment's front door, I missed a step and totally fell on my hands and knees. I knocked my knee against the edge of the step too, and it hurt like a ... lot. ::>.<:: And then today, I spilled detergent on my floor. I shouldn't have held the bottle by the cap, but I thought I'd already screwed it tightly. Unfortunately I was wrong, and the whole bottle dropped on the floor, spilling half of its contents. Took a while to clean up the oily, soapy mess.

Blah. What's going on?! Why am I so accident prone lately? Sigh. Need to be more careful nowadays I guess.



Totally unrelated: This real life love story is so touching and sweet. Sniff.

First we stumbled across a bird/hamster/rabbit Market - so many cute furry animals. I saw chinchillas, ferrets, hamsters, and all sorts of birds, like these. So noisy.
Then we wandered into a flea market. Didn't get many pictures because I was too busy looking at awesome old things.

Following are pictures taken along the boat tour. I don't remember what the buildings are anymore. Beside the obvious church and castle buildings, there were also some fish market, meat market, and ... other ones. Just old buildings in general. :P

Gent's version of the Big Ben

People of Gent were known as the noose carriers because back in the good old days, people who were unable to or did not pay their taxes were punished by wearing a noose around their neck and parading around downtown as a form of public humiliation. Scary.

Castle!
This boat was imported from Bangladesh. Kind of gondola-like.
Oldest remaining building with a wooden facade.
The tour boat guide referred this as the Gent Skyline - three gothic-styled buildings one after another.

Can never escape the Mcd's
Ham. Random.

More random street pictures to come later .... :)

We went to Gent (another city in Belgium), and boy is that city super scenic. I took more than 200 pictures, which I whittled down to 200 after looking through them on my computer. I think I take too many pictures, mostly because I'm not sure how they'll turn out. Looking at the picture on the tiny little LCD screen and on the computer monitor are two different things. So, to be on the safe side, I take a bajillion photos of the same thing and just keep the best one when I get home. Thankfully my memory card is big enough to let me do that. I used to only have a 1 gig on my old Sony, and it was never enough.

Anyway, today was a beautiful day! Super sunny and blue skies with wisps of cloud here and there. It was perfect for sitting beside the river in Gent and enjoying a meal and some coffee. Also perfect for a boat tour of the old city. And definitely a perfect day for me to be snapping pictures here and there. It also helps that the buildings and surrounding just makes you want to take out your camera and snap away. More than ever I wish I had bought a DSLR (as much as I love my Fujifilm). But, I'll just have to make do with my digital camera.

When we arrived at Gent, we first looked around its flea market. There were a lot of things I wish I had the money to buy (and the place to store). Old school boxes, metal wall hangings, really old and probably non-usable 8mm film cameras, dishes, figurines, really old and rusty tools, old instruments, and many more objects people brought out to sell. There were also lots of old books that just look awesome (since I can't read them because they're all in French or Dutch). The stuff there were so old and dusty that I got allergies just walking through the open air flea market. Crazy! But so cool. One of these days, I'm going to go back and look at it some more and maybe collect some small things that I can easily bring back to Taiwan (and aren't too pricey). One of those metal wall hangings cost about 7.5 Euros (kind of pricey), and I really wanted to get one, but I refrained. Sigh. Next time! My mom and I walked away with a metal spoon because I need one. It cost 1 Euro. I think that's why my mom decided to buy it. Hah!

Then we went to the old harbor (panorama picture up there). There were all these people chilling alongside the river/canal. So relaxing, so chill. If only everyday was a day like today (weather-wise). We ate lunch there while soaking up the sun. It felt really nice. Then took a boat tour. Then wandered around the city some more. Then left! Short version of the trip.

Will post pictures later because I am too lazy to choose appropriate ones to upload and to actually upload them. :) Enjoy the panorama!

Our family friend who we knew from back in our Washingtin, D.C. days (and who happens to be here in Brussels now, too!) came to Leuven to take us grocery shopping since we have no car. Sad. But it was good. Bought a lot of water, stocked up on meat and fish, and veggies of course. Bought some chocolate soymilk, not as good ask Silk, but it'll do, it'll do.

Anyway! Two random things today. One is that picture you see up there. Yup. It's a rooster. Know where it was running around? Behind the Carrefour we were shopping at. We were waiting for the son to buy some gum, so we were just chilling in the parking lot. And I see, ROOSTERS! So random.

Next random thing, but not really random. Interesting I guess. Anyway, the family friend's son and I were in McD's buying him some fries and McFlurry (he has super huge appetite, it's kind of crazy) and me some coffee. We were fighting over who gets to pay because my mom wanted me to and his mom wanted him to .... so we both handed the money to the cashier, and she's like "Oh no, which one do I take? Oh, well, it's always the guy that pays, so I'll take his money." It was funnier when I was there, but you know, there's that whole benign sexism thing. Meh, not going to think too much about it. It was just funny when we were there, and it gave me a good excuse to give to my mom in how I failed to pay for the food. *Sigh*

Took lots of pictures of Leuven again today. :) Will share next time.

Less than a month ago my mom and I went walking at the old nunnery (Beguinage). Today we went again with parent's old friends and things sure have changed! Well, not really. The buildings still look the same (don't think that'll change any time soon), but the color and existence of leaves have changed. Unintentionally, I took pictures of some of the same location and foliage last time and this time. So the above picture is the compare and contrast of what less than a month can do to the trees here. Can you spot the differences? (Click picture to enlarge)

My new Firefox appearance.

I've realized that I really like to find new gadgets, not just electronic gadgets, but also gadgets for the computer and internet. A couple months ago I posted about Adobe Air and its associated programs for Digg and Twitter. Well, I got over that phase because it was annoying having to switch screens (Yes, I use Spaces on my mac) just to see what was new on Twitter or Digg. Also had some other issues with not being able to shut it down or start it up if whenever I restart my computer. Blah blah blah. Then, at work I discovered the Twitter Add-on for Firefox, which was really useful in reading random people's Twitters in my FF browser and general slacking off at work.

Today I found another fun Add-on for Firefox - Yoono (still in Beta). I know, it sounds funky, but it's actually pretty useful. You can put your AIM, MSN, and GTalk buddy lists in a column on the left hand side part of your browser. So for those people who enlarge their FF to fill the entire screen, it's pretty useful. I've put my Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook on there, and whenever there's new activity on any of them, it shows up in the left hand column. You can also put Digg and your Google Reader subscriptions on there, not to mention E-mail (if you have Yahoo or Gmail), so you can see when you have new E-mails and such. It's kind of complicated to use in the beginning with so much goings-on, but after some random clicking-arounds and time, it gets easier.

It's basically a solution for lazy people like me who don't like to click around and likes to have everything in one place. It also looks pretty cool (if you like blue, like I do).

Thought I'd share another online gadget. Ah, I love discovering these things. So much fun (until I get bored of it)! :D

Ok. That was dumb. After typing in the title of this entry, I hit enter instead of tab and basically posted a blank entry. Ah. My stupidity never ceases to amaze me. Neither does my forgetfulness. Sigh.

The *gasp* of the title was for the fact that I nearly let today go by without updating! Well, I guess I kind of did since it's past 12 am, but, eh. It's still TODAY for me since I'm still awake. Heh. Been trying to post something everyday, if you've noticed, and have been pretty successful, until now.

Today was another trip into Brussels. More mothers gathering for lunch (Japanese food today - yum!), and I get to tag along. I get good food, so I ain't complaining. I also bought nail polish! Yes! I didn't bring any from Taiwan because I seriously had no space in my luggage, and I thought I could do without nail polish for at least three months (until I go to D.C.), but I thought wrong. I don't know. My nails just look so blank and sad without some color! Well, I only bought one - copperish bronze. Once my mom leaves, time to go buy some black. MUA. HA. HA. HA. :)

Oh. So another addition to my short legs in a long leg land - Boots! I mentioned earlier that I went out and bought a pair, but that was after looking at all these different stores with all these different boots. Why was it so hard to find a pair? Well, price was the main concern. But there was another one! All the boots were so tall (not the heels, but the leg part) that if I wore it, they'd have gone past my knees. Woe. My legs are too short! Ahhhhh. So we wandered around trying to find a pair that was decent in price and not too tall so I didn't end up unable to bend my knees. Sigh. The pair that I finally settled on was actually located in a clothing store, not even a shoe store. Hah! And it's the perfect height for me (I hope it's not meant to be an ankle boot for the people here since that would be REALLY sad for me. No, I mean REALLY REALLY sad.).

Another difference that I've noticed is that people here tend to always look impeccably dressed for class. I mean, in UCLA we had those girls who put on tons of make up and wore short skirts with Uggs, but in general we were a campus of jeans, tshirt, and a UCLA hoodie. Or even just rolling out of bed and going to class still in PJs. But not so here. My fellow program-mates are ok. Jeans and well, not tshirts because it's cold here, but some kind of long sleeved shirt. But when I'm walking to class or even just around Leuven, I can't help but notice that the girls have like, make up on and are wearing stylish clothes, etc. I feel even more ... immature or child-like here. Hah! Not to mention short. Yup. The girls here are tall already, but they also wear heeled boots, which makes them even taller!

Maybe UCLA isn't the norm and other universities in the States or even Taiwan have girls showing up to class with impeccable makeup and clothes. Yes? No? Anybody? Anybody?

One more orchid bud bloomed! Now there's a total of three orchid flowers. So pretty! Two more to go!

Also, I love Photoshop! :D

So instead of um ... studying, I found another fun and cute blog to waste my time on. Actually, I finished studying. And that will be another topic for another time (more like another complaint). But anyway! This blog is Three Woofs and A Woo. Omg. So cute. So many pictures of the border collies, the author's cat, and other dogs! Ahhhhh. Makes me want dogs and cats even more. :( Anyway, thought I'd share. I wanted to post more pictures, but my download limit is inching ever closer to 5 gigs, so, I shall refrain from saving pictures. :(

You know those pictures of puppies who see a ball and the caption of the picture is "BALL BALL BALL BALL BALL BALL BALL!!!" (like the one I found up there?) Well, that's me with the sun. SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN SUNNNNNN ... oh my. :) The sun is out! And according to Weather.com, it's supposed to stay out for the rest of the week. SWEEEET.

There's this bush I have to pass whenever I go in the downtown direction and come back. It's filled with BEES. Ugh. I hate insects, but especially spiders, cockroaches, and bees. Back in Taiwan it wasn't much of a problem since there are rarely any bees in Taipei (not much to pollinate I guess). Although there were way too many BIG cockroaches, ew. Guess you can't have everything. Anyway, I have a fear of being stung even though I don't think I've ever been stung before (and hopefully it stays that way), and yah, just a general fear of bees. So every time I walk by the bush all these bees fly out and start buzzing. I should really give the bush a wider berth, but sometimes I just don't pay attention where I'm walking. Sigh. So whenever that happens, I wince and pray that the bees are too busy buzzing to do any harm to me. >.<

Oh! On my way home today I saw a Himalayan cat with no collar. And it looked kinda dirty!! So either it's a runaway or it's lost or it's owner doesn't practice proper hygiene for their kitty. I wanted to take it back home with me, but my mom forbade me. Sadness. IT'S SO CUTE. AHHHHHH.

(Cat picture from Piccat.com)

I deleted all the music from my computer and that freed up 20 gigs of HD space. WOO! I seriously have too much music that I don't listen to but don't want to delete because I'm always afraid that I'll want to listen to it in the future. I have the makings of a pack rat. Wait. I already am. Although I think I'm getting better in that department. Throwing things away doesn't cause so much pain any longer. It helps to get rid of that pack rat mentality when you move around so much. Having too much stuff ain't good when you need to pack it all into two (or one) suitcases. Trust me, I know.

Now why would I go and delete ALL my music? Because I transferred them all to my external. :) Now I have an external (300 Gigs man!) plugged in permanently because I've realized that 70 gigs is TOO small, and it's a pain having to constantly go through your stuff and wonder what you can delete (although it's good to do that once in a while). I was planning on transferring the pictures over as well, but I think I'll hold off on that. I have a fear of the ext hd dying and losing all my pictures (my drawn AND taken ones) even though I have a backup in two other countries (burned them to CD in Taiwan and backed up in my WD HD that's with my dad in D.C.). Still! I don't think I've ever been so paranoid about losing data.

I remember with my computer in Taiwan I didn't care if it died (which it did, often) or if my cousin wiped the data from my HD. Except now I kind of regret not backing up those HDs because ... I've lost all my high school pictures (except for the ones I'd managed to upload to the internet). Stupid! Doh! So, now I'm super paranoid about losing my pictures (especially the drawn ones!) and other potentially important data (like my resume, perhaps).

He he he. I don't think my laptop has had so much free space since ... well, for a long time. I wonder if it's happy. Ecstatic. Will run smoother now. Speaking of which! I need to increase the space allocated to my Windows XP so that I can play Maple Story. Will have to find time to do it and hope I don't end up killing the comp. Cross my fingers!

(Image from ursulav.devart)

There's really no point to this entry besides me ranting about how it's really cold. Ok fine, it's only 11 degrees celsius (or 52F), but it's still cold. It's only October! Why is it so cold already? Was Switzerland like this?! Why can't I remember?! AHHHHHHH. I'm not used to it getting cold until ... later.

And and and, not only is it cold, it's also rainy and dreary and depressing weather. When I attended the TSA meet, one of the girls was talking about winter blues. You really get winter blues here! Because the sun rises late and sets super early (like 4 pm ... wtf!), and there's not much sun. There's lots of gray clouds.

Aih. I am in trouble. I wish I could take SoCal weather with me where I go.

Oh, there's another point to this entry. I made a cute animated GIF (or so I think) that I'd like to share: clicky!. For a little explanation of it, visit here. :)

The end!

People here are tall. Really tall. Both the guys and the gals. It kind of sucks being short here. Why? Well, since the majority of people here are tall, a lot of the chairs, desks, cabinets, etc. are made for their height. For example, I find my legs dangling a lot when I'm out at a restaurant, on the metro, on the bus, and on the train. I have to sit at the edge of the seat to actually touch the ground with the bottom of my feet. Also, the medicine cabinet/mirror in my bathroom is so tall that I can only see the top half of my face (read: forehead). I've found it to be useful when plucking my eyebrows :P. There's also a mirror on the inside of one of my cabinet doors, but the cabinet is so high up that I can't really see myself in that mirror. Hence I went out and bought a mirror and made sure it didn't hang too high.

My short legs have never really been a problem (except for the toilet in our studio back in LA, which was really high for some odd reason) until now. 'Tis quite sad, I must say.

Before my parents had their stuff shipped out, they convinced me to take in two of their (many) plants. They'd originally wanted me to take all of them, but I figured that wasn't a good idea, considering how I would be gone for semi-long periods of time (winter & summer vacation) in which there'd be no water for the plants. So, not wanting to kill ALL of them, I took two home-less plants in, one of which is the orchid pictured. And the buds have bloomed! Two of the five, anyway. They're quite pretty. :) Hopefully the rest will bloom as well, and this orchid will have a long life (unlike the one my roomie tried to raise back in LA).

On another note, I tried to take pictures of my room, but I realized how messy and disordered it is currently. There's clothes hanging all over the place because my mom has no closet space (yes, it's filled with all my stuff, but it's not a very big closet at all!), so she has to utilize random hanging places in the room. :P So, wait for it ... the pictures will be up soon enough.

What a long day.

Went into Brussels today to have lunch with my mom's friends. Also walked away with a very nice pair of boots that was expensive, but not as expensive as the 200 ~ 300 Euro ones, which were the majority. Sigh. I figured it would be a good idea to get a pair since 1) it rains so often here, 2) it'll keep my calves warm, and 3) I can maybe wear skirts (I might have to start wearing tights, though. Oh dear God.).

After lunch, my mom thought we would be able to exchange my dad and her's drivers license at the community place near our old apartment, so we chill around until 5 pm and head over. Turns out we were mistaken and they were closed already (argh, it's a long metro ride, which feels even longer during rush hour), so we had to head back downtown to the train station (rush hour!!!) and wade through crowds (Friday AND rush hour. ugh.) to get to our train. We end up taking a really slow train that stops at all the little stops (normally it takes 20 minutes, this train ended up taking 36 minutes). Then we get to Leuven and decide to try to take the bus back to my apartment because it's cold and wet, and we end up going in the wrong direction. Thankfully we realized it before we actually arrived at the last stop (far, far away). So we wait in the cold and wet for the bus to take us in the other direction and finally make it home at like 7:30 pm (we left at 10am). At least now I know how to take the bus to the train station. Sigh. Did I mention it was raining all day long?

Oh how I hate the weather here. Raining most of the time. I seriously think So Cal weather has spoiled me. Sun. Blue skies. Sun. Little rain.

I am super tired, so please disregard any incoherencies and grammar mistakes. >.<

I've noticed a pretty interesting thing here in Leuven. There's beer EVERYWHERE. In the student cafeterias they sell beer. Today at Mcdonalds I noticed they were selling beer too. Oh man, definitely a beer culture here. It's so normal to have beer being sold everywhere that they don't even blink an eye. Coming from the U.S., this openness to alcohol still takes some getting used to. Even in Taiwan where the drinking age isn't enforced (what is it anyway?), beer's still not as accessible as compared to Belgium (well, unless you count 7-11). And! The beer here is better. Mmmhmmm.

So. Any beer fanatics out there? You should apply to KUL. Just not the human sexuality program, ok? Ok!



On an unrelated note, I am dying of allergies. I went to the laundromat today to do laundry, and either that place has way too much dust or something, it's riled up my allergies like no tomorrow. Sigh. I think I've sneezed more than 20 times today. My brain is starting to leak out. Gross.

Speaking of laundromat, it was difficult understanding what needed to be done when everything was in Dutch. :( Thankfully there are nice peoples out there who are willing to help. Sigh. And the laundromat is a walk away. Sucks. And I used to think going from the second floor to the first floor to the laundry room in Gayley was a hassle. I shouldn't have complained back then. T~T And it's more expensive here too! Really shouldn't have complained about the prices back in the States. Hah. Washing and drying cost me 6.80 Euro (~9.45 USD ... holy mother). Definitely won't be doing laundry THAT often. Will have to start handwashing. Sigh. Why is life here so tough? Why?!

(Image from allposters.com.)

This is all shades of awesome. And cute! :D



(first seen on Bbrother.)

So because there's been no recent photos taken that I haven't posted, I've decided to reach into my (recent) past and grab a random picture. I'm hoping not all of you have seen my Flickr account. Heh.

Anyway, this picture was taken back in Feb. of this year. It's in that little exhibition beneath one of the buildings near Taipei Main Station that showcases a little bit of the old days of Taiwan. The streets, decor, "stores" are all done in the old-fashioned way. Check out that old scooter! Interesting thing is that you can still see those scooters (some times) in the real streets of present day Taiwan. I liked the feel of the place, although the entrance fee was kind of expensive (I think 200nt), but they did provide a certain amount of coupons that you could spend in the exhibition itself. Kinda cool.