Category: General Musing

I am going to try out a new template here. So if you happen by and see all sorts of craziness, please know that it’s self-inflicted.

Thanks!

ETA: I like the look and the color now, swapping out the fader pink and gray for the bolder pink and black.  The sidebar elements are still a bit problematic but I’ll get to that tomorrow.  At least everything is in its proper place.

I struggled to remember the 10 Golden Rules of college per the instruction of my awesome high school Physics teacher, Ed Cunningham. A few of them I had committed to memory as I managed to follow them for at least the first semester freshman year.

You know, before the rest of your college life actually encroached on your studying.

So, I wrote whatever I could remember down on a handful of note cards along with some that I just made up from experience. These cards and a copy of “The Alchemist” are on their way to Brandon’s niece Lauren in Norco who is graduating from high school this morning.

After that, Lauren is leaving California for a brave new world of her second home state, New Mexico. Brandon’s mom has been back to college this past few years, attending classes at University of New Mexico extension campus in Taos.  As a matter of fact, she’s getting her associate this summer!  Lauren is going to join her this fall.  Mom is thinking of renting a small place in town while they go to school, and then head back to their home in the mountains on the weekend.

Grandma and granddaughter are not only going to be schoolmates but roommates as well.  Doesn’t that sound like fun?  😉

Anyways.  Here is what was in the “College Rules for Success” cards I wrote for Lauren. EC marks the ones from Mr. Cunningham:

1. Don’t pick classes that start before 9 a.m. (EC)
2. Wake up at least one hour before class. That includes your afternoon nap. (EC)
3. Eat breakfast before going to class (or afternoon snack before your afternoon class) No, a cup of coffee is NOT breakfast.
4. Sit to your right/your professor’s left, toward the front and stay at the same spot every time. Also introduce yourself to your professor on the first day. Having him/her remembers you makes a difference for your learning and for your possible recommendation down the road. (EC)
5. Participate in class – answer and ask questions, join in the discussions. It will keep you interested and you will learn more.
6. Copy over and reorganize your class notes within one hour after class–guaranteed better retention! And makes notes easier to study later on. (EC)
7. Never study past 10 p.m. You either need a life or sleep by then. (EC)
8. Attend collegiate sporting events…whatever it is your school is in to.
9. Take at least one FUN class each semester. 2 units of fun elective ain’t gonna hurt nobody.
10. At ANY social event, get YOUR OWN beverage. Trust no one.
11. Be nice to your TAs, RAs, leaders of your clubs, and your friends who know how to fix your computer.
12. Have fun. You learn nothing in class or in life when you’re bored.

Blogosphere, feel free to add more of yours here!

In “Day After Tomorrow”, a massive tornado ripped through Los Angeles.

Yesterday, a baby one touched down in Riverside.

Miraculously, nobody got hurt.

If you look at my Twitter history there, you’ll see my weather report from atop the 34th floor of Downtown Los Angeles.

After the week of heat, we were cooling down again.  And then suddenly, yesterday, rain clouds came out of nowhere and the rain poured for a good 10-15 minutes.  As in, sheets and sheets of it.  Looking out the north side of the building, it looked like snow.

Then it was sunny again.

Then it started to sprinkle and mist with the sun still out…but just on the northwest corner of the building.  I saw the sun was out so I was going over to the east side to spot a rainbow.  It was all sunny and dry on the other side.  Not even a trace of a mist.

But outside of the north east window, the super dark clouds loomed in the distance.

A few of us were thinking it, but didn’t say it.   With all of this weirdness in the weather, if the Big One hit, we wouldn’t be surprise.  Instead, we joked out loud about brimstones would be next to fall from the sky and that the Four Horsemen are on their way in from Riverside, but got stuck on the freeway.

I had a horrible time carpooling in to work with a bus buddy lady, and even worse when my colleague drove me home.

Completely wiped when I got home, I forewent making a batch of Absolutely Weevils cookies, and settled in on the couch for some pizza and my jug of cranberry juice.

And here we are again, back in the weird weather central, waiting for some light shows of promised thunderstorm and rain.

It’s too scary outside, y’all.

A row of what I think are jasmine bushes underneath our bedroom window have bloomed for the past few weeks. I didn’t know the neighbor apartment has such plant. I mean, I haven’t smelled it since we moved in, I don’t think.

The first time I caught a whiff of this season’s bloom though, I thought to myself…

“Mom’s visiting.”

It didn’t help that the first time, I was the only one who caught the scent. Brandon was a bit too far away from the window to smell anything.

You see, one of mom’s favorite flowers are what Thai people call “Dok Kaew” ดอกแก้ว. That’s scientifically Murraya paniculata and in Hawaii it’s known as mock orange or orange jasmine.  Orange jasmine, eh?  It’s no jasmine, but it looks and smells pretty close.

We have a tree growing on the edge of our property in Bangkok, on the way out the gate. It seems to bloom at night through early morning a few times a year. I remember taking them to my teachers on my way to school and plucking them on Sunday mornings for my grandmother.

It was blooming when my mom passed away. We made sure to have the blossoms at the temple as well as in our house. We put them in mom’s favorite red crystal vases which her friends joked that mom would rise out of the coffin to beat me and Pueng the Maid silly for actually using her prized possession.

Since the day I caught the scent in my bedroom, I expect the blossoms every night. I would take in deep breaths before getting in bed and think of mom.

It hurts a little, but strangely comforting.