Adapting to a Solo Environment

I started off this morning to a late start. I don't know why but I was just exhausted today. It may have been because I ran two miles yesterday as opposed to my daily mile run; anyhow, I ended up waking up at 11 AM. My roommate and I had plans to go shopping and cook together, but we didn't have enough time to cook (plus we were both really tired). She had to go to church in the late afternoon so we decided to go to the Korean Galleria. I bought a lot of food! I was craving dduk so I bought that and ended up eating almost half of it today.

I was debating between this one and some rainbow colored rice cake.

The black sesame one leaves an interesting taste. It's not bad, but it's not my favorite. Actually, I like the maroon and green ones the best. Then I ended up sleeping at 2:30 PM until 5:30 PM. For some reason, I was really tired.

I woke up after a nightmare, and decided to go on my daily run. I got a new song called Hyde by VIXX. I recommend it! The song is really addictive. Their live performances, on the other hand, are not so great. It's sad because usually Korean groups have at least one good singer, but their "main vocalist" struggles to hit the notes and is pretty shaky when performing live.

Continuing on, I made gamja guk today! It took me 2 hours? But in the end, it turned out okay.

My little bowl of potato soup that I had for dinner.

Well, I just started actually doing research on Friday, which basically entails me learning MATLAB. I updated some of their image manipulation programs. I hope to get more busy after today! My friend is coming back to LA tomorrow so maybe I can hang out with her. I'm also trying to get more involved in the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Team... if I can. But chyeah. That's my life right now.

Cooking + Other Concerns, Worries, etc.

So I made curry the first time yesterday. I had gone running in the morning for the first time in a while (whew, exercise!) and then around 2, I started preparing curry. I was kind of anal about how to cut vegetables and how to clean the knife and what I was supposed to do. When I was cooking the meat and then the vegetables, I had put the potatoes in a separate bowl so after I had added the curry mix, I was like oh crap! I forgot the potatoes! So I put them in a separate pot and cooked them and later added it to the rest of the mix. Well, it seems like it's hard to make curry taste bad since the curry mix is the base anyway so in the end, it tastes normal. Even the potatoes are soft!

The curry and rice I made with radish and kimchi. The kimchi tastes too sour.

My kitchen! My apartment is pretty spacious.

Today I went on a 4 mile hike to Runyon Canyon. Surprisingly, my feet hurt by the end. Probably because it was so rocky coming down, and because I was so afraid of slipping down, my knees were perpetually bent while going back. Ah, well, my thighs are getting a workout at least. On the way there, we passed by the Walk of Fame and the Chinese Theater with all of the celebrities' footprints imprinted in the cement. I saw Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and some others I can't really remember right now.

I'll be back. You can see my shadow in the left corner.

The trail I went on today! Very rocky and sandy when coming down. It was scary.

I went hiking as part of one of the summer orientation things planned by the summer Residential Advisers. Turns out, it had actually been canceled, but one RA didn't get the notice so we just ended up going with her. There was this one guy who wouldn't stop talking the whole hike. I was pretty glad when he left. Yeah, I'm a mean person. There were only 4 other people on the hike.

Pretty house. Looks tropical! Turns out we were right above the main road but we didn't know that.

 As for classes, I'm going to try going to the class on Tuesday and see what it's like and maybe rent out the textbook from the bookstore since I'm already behind. I actually just got an email from my professor saying that it's probably better to take EE 101 before EE 352... and I'm taking EE 101 in the fall semester. Should I do that instead? There's just not a lot of classes offered during the summer that are actually involved with my major at all. So yeah.

Need to learn Java this summer. I'm going to try to schedule out days for myself so that I feel more accomplished. OK!

Also, side note: my knife is rusting a bit. Am I washing it incorrectly? I guess I'll dry it after I wash it? Maybe I'm not supposed to clean it with dishwashing liquid? Hmm, concerns...

Settling In

Today, I looked into prominent companies within the Bay Area. I would really like to work for a start-up tech company next summer although I'm not sure what recruiters are looking for. I'm actually really worried about how this summer is going to turn out. I'm supposed to be doing research for one of my professors but so far, I haven't really done anything productive. Well, I suppose you have to learn the basics before you an really contribute anything. I did get my keys today and got a research paper to read through before my next meeting.

I just feel like I have too much time to spare. I've just started reading a book on Java so my goal is to learn that over the summer, and maybe Ruby too. I think it'd be really cool if I were able to make my own Android application or something like that. I'm also thinking about what you need to do to set yourself apart from other applicants to get an internship.

I've just declared my CS minor but I might be double majoring in CS and EE. But maybe I'm not so good at either. I'm very unsure with my life right now. Anyways, I'm going to try to barrel through this reading that my professor gave me. Lots of terminology and unfamiliar jargon that I'll have to search on Google, I guess.

Since I feel like I have so much time to spare, should I sign up for a class? Although classes have already started, my CS professor had been asking his students to sign up for a course on computer organization and architecture. It sounds interesting, but they've already had one class. Hm. Their next class is on Tuesday. Should I take it? I kind of want to since I want to be more busy. It's only a 6 week course though, meaning that there are 12 classes, and I've already missed one of them. Well. If I'm seriously considering it, I should email my professor and ask whether it's worth it, I guess? I wonder if it's a lot of work. OK, I checked the rating site, and it seems like EE357 is the same as EE352? I think I want to take it.

And that's how I'm going to finish off my blog post! What a good way to waste time! I need to clip my fingernails. Typing on this keyboard is annoying. Whew!

If it's too whiny, you should tell me and I'll try to improve my blog posts.