teriyaki chicken bento set

Mint is back! hisashiburi, tomodachi! Skype with me sometime soon!

… and Patrick Dempsey is the new face of Versace! nice. (:

today i got home and was faced with no electricity. no power. zip. after frustrating attempts to reset the circuit, i had to call maintenance which couldn’t help and promised to send someone along to help. who took forever to arrive. though the man was nice enough when he came to explain to me what turned to be a bloody simple problem of a circuit trip. which i could have fixed myself with a handy step ladder, and i’m bloody sure i tried. but it didn’t work when it was in my hands and when he tripped the switch, hey presto, it worked. i was like, wtf, this is what delayed my rejuvenating hot shower?

so today was full of setbacks for me. first i had to give the most part of the FOC meeting a miss thanks to my translation lecture (which was rather stale, honestly; i met Pearly though, back from Cedar days). then i doubled back for what’s left of it, couldn’t grasp what was really being discussed, and ended up still having to miss this week’s INSTEP talk. and the timing for this Friday and next Wednesday’s talks clashes with my classes. it’s all a bloody conspiracy to frustrate me.

i’ve pretty much decided against attending the Work & Travel USA talk tomorrow. first, it’s in the evening. then i’m not sure whether i’ll be able to make it this summer. it’s not likely i can take time out for that either, considering my existing commitments that will escalate in the coming summer and then early into fall semester.

i’m seriously hoping missing out all this in my first year wouldn’t mean i wouldn’t get a chance in my entire university career. if so, it’s not going to be worth it, all this other participation. i’m also anxious because i’m worried that some of these exchange programs this semester are actually recruiting candidates for next year’s program, rather than simply this coming summer and fall semester. if it’s just the coming summer, i still have next semester (i.e. my second year’s first semester) to apply, and my second year’s second semester and summer to attend.

speaking of travel. i’m so resentful over missing out on the Europe trip past November, i really want to get away in July. so far there’s talk of possibly a trip to Taiwan with my extended family. and even a trip away with Mint and Aur to Japan. which would be a first for us, since we’ve never travelled together before. but i have to say, three is an odd number for travel. unless we’re slumming it and staying in hostels like what Shaun and his entourage did. i kind of wish we could have gone during the gap year last year, except Aur had class back then. anyway, Japan might be a difficult destination, much as i want to return to explore Tokyo to my heart’s content. but i just went last May, which is just slightly over half a year ago at this point. and i’d like to hit another country, another city, another place.

had lunch with a group of the FOC people at the Quad. the Chinese food looked kind of unappetizing this time around (sad, because i wanted to eat the beef and fish dishes), so i doubtfully went to try Japanese food again. in the middle of ordering, i bent to pick up my scattered cash and on my way up, slammed my head against a glass bar top table which is totally pointless decoration. i can feel a sore bump at the back of my head. anyway, the teriyaki chicken bento set was surprisingly good. much better than the tempura udon, which i secretly disliked regardless of all the raving from the other people around me. the teriyaki chicken was a generous portion, and there were like pickles, fried yam, and three slices of watermelon. omg what a big serving. o_O

chomping at the bit for more retail therapy. any form of release! zomg.