how to be kind

Being kind. 

Being kind is a way of living that keeps giving long after the kind thoughts, words, and actions have taken place. Kindness is a force without force, and it goes well beyond manners to the very heart of how people respect and treat one another.

Being kind is a vital way of making our own lives, and the lives of others, meaningful. Being kind allows us to communicate better with others, to be more self-compassionate, and to be a positive force in other people’s lives. Kindness has its true source deep within you, and while some people are innately kind, it’s something that everyone can cultivate by choice.

   http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Kind

Wikipedia is so smart...

i am a black cat that walks under ladders to shatter mirrors into 13 perfectly cut pieces

Hellooo

To start things off on a positive note, Thanksgiving was awesome. I got to stuff my face, rest my head, and have great times with old friends. It's good to relive those youthful moments even though we're all growing older. I bought a single sweater which was my weakest Black Friday shopping ever. But what was surprising was that this year,  people spent the most on BF ever, topping $11.4 billion. Sad thing is, I did not even see things worth buying! Either that or I learned how to save money by not spending it (pfft).

Baylor beat Tech, even though they took out RG3 with a concussion (and Ganaway who later came back, beast mode, ripping up anything in his way [it must have been all the food he ate over Thanksgiving]). Nice team play by the Bears, I like it, and I am certain we can handle Texas by their horns.

If you love good news then you should stop reading here and enjoy the rest of your beautiful day. I will let you take a break and gather some popcorn and soda pop.


Okay well Welcome back. You had your chance!

People say to live life to the fullest, or to life everyday like it's your last. But how do you live your life to the fullest if it is not as full as it can potentially be? How can you live it like it's your last if it ain't your last day to live? You can't repeatedly top off your life meter towards the "full" side, that takes tremendous effort, and you do not know what it feels like to live the last day of your life. Try filling up your gas tank to the fullest.. Good luck with that bro, cause it is a continuous function that will eventually have to dip beyond its highest point. Oh, and if this was my last day on earth, I would just take a nap, because nothing else matters after you are gone. History tells me that George Washington is United States first president. Cool story bro, tell me another. That's how life is, we just make a mark in time, and try our best to impact or make a change in this world. Some do it hungryly, others do it humbly, while some don't do anything at all. For me though, I am just doing the best I can. Period. I know that is subjective and vague, because who can calculate it's effort and efficiency? Certainly not my Physics professor, nor can you Google that my friend. There is no formula for life, just freedom to live it (here at least).

Let's just say this semester, life has hit me hard... repetitively, just like... well I would rather not say. It wants me to quit auto-piloting and to take charge of it myself. I have been getting by on a day to day basis for the longest time, living only one dimension of it (wait there are three!!?). I thought life was good, and good it was, up until it decided to be not so good to me. BAM, a new dimension, life sucks sometimes too. There was a stark contrast in my first uneventful mishap, because I was so happy. I was cheering my team spirit out as Baylor was beating Missouri at our homecoming game. I had a wonderful day -- it was picture perfect. I was so happy, it was the best and worst day of my life at that point (in awhile). Reality hit me hard though when I lost my wallet at the game though, aka my identity. It felt so weird, I had to cancel everything. Now I know how it is like to be erased from life (in a sense, not literally). And it was a pain to recollect everything I lost... but I am glad that issue got taken care of completely and was not too big of a hassle. I continued living life with my head held high. That is a tease of what was yet to happen.

Now I think I got everything under control again. I have my ID back and I am officially Kevin Truong once again and I can prove it with a flash (of my wallet that is). I was biking to an 8 AM class one day, (about 3 weeks ago) and I was dismounting from my bike. Well, I do this move sometimes, I bike and hop up the bars that hold your tires in place, then hop off my bike. I guess I had poor judgment that morning (oh yeah, sober semester btw so I was NOT under the influence) and the next thing I know is that I am on my back, and my left foot is in intense pain (a lot worse than fighting in tents, believe me). I had never broken bones before so I didn't know how that feels like. I quickly got up as if nothing happened and hear some popping and crackling, as if I had popped my knuckles, but instead, I had popped my metatarsal! Kids, please do not try that at home. I thought it was the same feeling, but I had to limp to class.. so up the stairs I limped. 20 minutes later, I was limping down stairs since the pain was too over bearing and I could not concentrate on the lecture. Then I hopped back onto my bike and biked to the clinic, who could not service me until perhaps 5 hours later. No big deal, this big life saver named Scott saved my big life. He found me crutches, and well that is all I shall say to save his reputation. He is mine and ... ok I am stopping there on that subject matter. So I see the doc and get an Xray and found out that I officially broke my metatarsal. If you eat chicken wings, it is like breaking the wing in half, then trying to put it back together as if it were a 2 piece jigsaw puzzle. That is how defined the break in the xray was. My second appointment went like this, Doc: Hello Kevin come right in. Let me see your foot. [looks at foot, touches it, squeezes it, holds it] ok come back in 2 weeks. Me: No cast doc? Doc: Be a man (well he basically said it wont help). Hopefully I will get some protection from him during my appointment tomorrow! So from 3 weeks ago I have been getting around on crutches, and another dimension of life opened up. I cant live it alone. I need friends, family, and faith. I knew I needed them in my life, but didn't know how helpful they really would be, and how they would always lend a helping hand (strangers too). They are reliable and are always there to help. I thought I could live crippled alone, to prove a pointless point which is what I think led me to the next mishap. At this point, I was living life with both my head and my left foot held high.

So today was my last appointment with stufu alumni for the semester. I had to go by myself for rare reasons, and I had to borrow a friends car, which he gladly lent to me. I was going with my still broken foot, determined and excited all at the same time, to meet up with these great folks in Houston. I drove to/from houston/waco over dozens of times with NO problems, and did it 3 times with my broken foot, no issues, so I felt confident that this trip would work out fine. It's 5 o'clock in the morning, conversation got boring (with myself) so I turned on the music. I sang. If a tree falls in an empty forest and if no one is around, does it make a sound? Nope! So I thought to myself, no one will ever hear me sing. I took advantage of that. Now, if you drive at 70 mph and hit a deer, does that make a sound? I will let you figure that one out, but I can tell you that it makes a huge dent, a dent bigger than my body (my body is big). It was dark, I was on cruise control, singing some chill songs that I had synced with Spotify the previous night.. man I was so ready, but I was not so ready for this deer to pop up in my face. It happened in a blink of an eye, like a camera flash. You can't avoid it. I blinked once, saw the look on its petrified face, and that's all I ever saw of it. If you don't look at the flash and you turn your head away, the picture will look very ugly. I am glad I did not turn my head away (or swerve the car) or else I could have flipped into the ditch.... which is very ugly as well. I could have broken my other foot for crying out loud (well at that point no one would have heard me) or broken something bigger. I hop out the car, and hop in front of what was left of the car, and hoped for the best.. but the whole front was pretty much beat up and the right headlight was completely gone. Luck had reserved me a sparing ounce of itself, and I was able to drive back up until about 3 miles from Waco. That is when the engine blew up. JUST kidding. That is when I was smart enough to stop so that the engine would NOT blow up.. since all of the coolant had leaked out. I called the wonderful director of stufu and she guided me back to campus. Luckily I was able to go to class which I have an exam for on Thursday...... at least I salvaged something out of this. My friend was ... well I know he is angry but I also know that he knows it is an accident. Why would I go kill deer with his car? I would borrow a shotgun for that! But I do know that my fresh wallet is now going to have a hole burning out of it. The price I pay for these mistakes... sometimes I wish I paid with life experience, which I guess I ran out of funds of! I had just gone through a tough situation just to land in another tough situation... but it is okay, I know next time not to push the limits. I was breaking every rule out there... So at this point, I am living with my head, leg, and hobo sign held high. Just kidding.. . (I just needed a transition that's all)

Well this semester is quickly winding down, and so am I. I am tired, down, but not out. I can honestly say now, that life is not too good, but it is still manageable. I rather live through the hard times and experience those times rather than living the one dimensional life that I was accustomed to. I want the whole experience. It is like watching a 3-D movie with out 3-D glasses (well you get no dimensions from that right?) I am just being exposed to new things at a rapid rate. It is like my transition from high school to college, or learning about new cultures. Unique experiences, life changing, impacting. Life is the most challenging it has ever been for me, and all I know is that it is giving me a wake up call, a wake up call my alarm clock can not quite give me (or my momma).

I am thankful for all of my friends. I cant thank yall enough. I learned a lot from yall, and from myself as well. There isn't too much to say, as actions speak louder than words, and words can only go so far. Just wait till you see my smile next time I see you. Until then!

-KT

updates! 11/10

Hi guys! Long time no see! Well anyways I have been busy with life.. very busy. Here is what I have been up to:

-Visiting Houston and meeting with Baylor alum (I will go into detail later if I remember) to raise scholarships for other students, and making phone calls to fill appointments
-carving pumpkins
-watching "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock
-biking in the largest collegiate homecoming parade and watching the golden boys beat Missouri tigers
-stepping out and chipping paint and doing yard work
-latin dance, lots of it. latin dance socials
-regular church attendance (when possible)
-racing beds and listening to good music concerts (Phil Wickham baby!)
-working out a lot (and taking a week break)
-some social events
-(apparently sweater knitting soon)
-failing at golf
-selling baked goods at bake sale
-owning at flag football
-taking care of children playing in inflatable bounce house (so fun)
-staying sober
-and well I think I broke or fractured my foot

to be continued with more details... I think I am going to knit sweaters in a few .

fall break

Hurray for fall break being here! And boo for it leaving soon.. Here's what I have been up to.

On Friday I watched a movie by myself for the... maybe second time ever. I saw Valentine's Day because I was very bored and had nothing better to do and wanted to see it a long long time ago in a relationship far far away (in my head). It was a pretty funny movie and a bad one too. The actors were all famous and some were just bad! Taylor Swift can sing like an country star but can not act like one! But her role was a high school drill team dancer so I think she just acted like she did on purpose. Then I went to Chinatown with my family and had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant called Bodards.. Holy cow that placed sucked so bad. It used to be good, but that was several years ago. Never again will I step into that place, and if I do go there with friends, I'll be just sitting there drinking water. Oh, I had pho on Thursday night, and my belly was the happiest it has been since... summertime. I got these candy's called white rabbit, and they are the best. It is like a tootsie roll, but its white and creamy. I should have gotten more bags but I only bought one.. Oh well saves me from getting fat! Just kidding I am not fat anymore I am just fit. Uh I am back at 158 pounds but I am hopin' it is mostly muscle since I been hitting the gym close to almost every day this semester. That is about a 6 pound gain! Scary. What ever, it is end fat talk week I think, some tri delt thing I think, and that starts tomorrow so I will not say that I, or anyone I know, is fat. I read my magazines (Mens Health and Smart Money, I barely understand what the heck smart money is talking about but I read it anyways). I did not know European economy is going down the drain. Now I do. If I were rich, I would invest in European stocks because according to sm, it is profitable and you will gain. If you are rich, invest in a vineyard because that will be a good investment for the near future. Too bad I ain't rich (more on that later).

Today is Saturday. Wow what a short break. Actually it is 12:08am so it is Sunday. Super wow. I woke up and watched the Baylor vs Aggie game. I will just say this, the Aggies will hope they were playing teams like us next year. SEC will throw them down hard. We had a good chance, but we messed up. It coulda been a good game but we choked. We wanted to be nice to the aggies and let them have their last win for a long time... haha. Anyway after that I just slept like un oso gordito. Oopsies. I mean, osito! I then washed my car (I was so pissed because my dad left it OUTSIDE while I told him to put it INSIDE the garage.. ughh. If you don't let me bring my car, at least take care of it for me. They don't even know that it is bad to not drive the car for extended period of time. And the sun ate the paint and probably the interior, in due time.) Well I then was itching to drive so we drove up to my cousins house. The kids were here tonight (Minh and Mai) and boy where they givin me a big workout! I was giving them horse rides, piggy back rides, fighting them, being a bad guy, being a super hero, a prince, a king, a princess, and a tamer. I was sweating by the end of the night but it was very fun. I hope they stay like that for a while longer! They are so fun to play with. I suggest if you have any nieces or nephews, savor their young childhood days! They will grow up right before your eyes, right under your nose.

So I finished packing my winter clothes (and my dress shirts aww yeah), and I wanted to start cleaning my room. It is very messy, but I made okay progress. I think I might have a guest later this month (my stufu partner actually) but not exactly sure, but just in case I do I cleaned a bit of the house. Then I was digging around and I found my stash of cash. I was like oh yeah I might wanna bring some back to Baylor. I open the box, and lo and behold. I had insufficient funds. What? I was shocked! So pretty much I believe I have been slighted. I smell a rat. Over half the cash was no longer there.. and this ain't the first time this has happened either. I am not surprised though. I know my brother took it. He is a thief. I would NEVER let my finances dwindle as low as I have found them, it is just impossible. Very impossible. I would have to be drunk and have like 10 girlfriends to have the amount I have now. I dunno what to do, but last time he did it, I found out cause my mom and I were in a huge fight. I accused her of stealing my cash and she was like WHAT! It was ERIC THEN! I dunno. He wont ever change it seems. We kinda lost hope in him but he is just living his own life the way he wants to. But you know what? I don't give a ... crap. I think I will just tell my mom and see what she has to say about this, but I think im re allocating my funds to where I trust them most.. aka with me. I shouldn't leave valuables at home.. and I do not believe in bank accounts. I am super Asian in that sense I guess. I don't like sticking it on my card cause if I lose that then I will be broke as a broken piece of branch, useless. Just kidding, money ain't everything to me which is why I am not going stupid crazy, like I am not gonna get him back or anything, I will just pray he would change. It's all I can do. Plus I am a college kid and don't need to spend that much money so I should be fine in the long run.. I just can not do any impulse buying as much anymore. Oh well. Lesson learned huh? Double slap in the face that will allow me to face real life later on when it really matters. I just know from now on out, I'll keep my possessios

Ok well that is what I did for my break. I took a break from schoolwork, but I will crank out my working fingers later today. I have a great week coming up, no exams! And a lot of events. I hope they keep me happy! Well actually I am naturally already happy so it will be no problem.

I just killed a mosquito, so I had to delay this entry, but alas I have run out of things to say for the night. What a break it has been so far, but I think I needed it even though it was just an extra day off. Till next time kids!

-KT

no sleep

Time flies and it is flying very fast, faster than the flies that were flying around in my kitchen about 4 weeks ago (I killed them easily as they dropped like flies). This past week was pretty good, it was probably my most exam-free week (though there was a ton of homework for Monday) with a grand total of zero. I had a superb weekend and here's why.

Monday comes around and I turn in all my homework in time to play in my very first flag football game! We played against RUF (Reformation someting....) and we beat them 12-0. The win was a well deserved one, but I had to suffer a 4 knee blows to my leg (and I got tripped as well, and kicked), on the same spot! I could not bike or walk stairs for the next two days. I am a man though, and did not cry, pout, furrow my eyebrows, or any of that silly business. I held up my head and lifted my chin and puffed out my chest, and walked away from the game a proud winner with my team at hand. I found out today that I am a great defensive lineman and put good pressure on the opposing quarterback (this is casual play).

Tuesday is here. This is the Freshman Follies day! The freshman got extremely dirty, sliding through canned peaches, spaghetti, marshmallow goop, maple syrup, cheeto puffs balls, flour, cereal, and all sorts of yummy things. As for the stufu members, we got at each other hard. I had a flour weapon-like object and started hitting people with it. I got the Baylor traitor who must not be named and tidied him all up. The co-president Lacy had a goal in mind -- to stay clean throughout the entire event. She was all the way on the other side of fountain mall, but the insane rugby player Suk chased her down and held her in place as we coated her with some tasty treats. She was not so happy after that. We cleaned up (it was fast surprisingly) and I ran through the BSB fountains for the first time ever! It was terribly cold and I could have caught a cold but I was not cold enough so I am glad I did not get a cold or else I would have been knocked out cold! I also biked through the fountain and the pressure increased, I thought I was a magician. The entire event was fun and I am glad I did not get too dirty.
I went to salsa performance practice after showering, and I had trouble with the hook turn (I did not attend Latin dance due to football conflicts) so I will hopefully get that down sometime. I doubt I will perform though. We only have 2 non officer males in the performance group though..... I hope they can find more guys!

Wednesdayy!!! I don't think anything happened here.. carry on to Thursday..
It is our second football game! We played BYX (Brothers Under Christ). I am still semi limping if I want to, but I manned it out and played strong. (Wow my tenses do not match up but who cares, I didn't!) I got a safety and a sack, and almost an interception and 2 tips. Wow amazing huh? I was so proud of our win, the defense really showed up Baylor's defense (jk, respect BU football). My partner lineman Patrick got a nice sack as well! We win the game, 9-6. Boy were those brothers pissed. I could see fumes fuming out of their furious furrowing frowns. It was a close game though, anyone's game.

"It's Friday, Friday, erbody git down on Fridayyyy"- Rebecca Black.
I went to see Phil Wickham with Bethany! That was pretty much an experience that I cant even start to describe in words. It was simply amazing. Then Brooks college had some dance that requires attendees to wear something that started with a B. I was a boy and Bethany was a Bethany, so we were admitted in. We only went cause we saw Tessa dressed as a box but we end up getting crunk. Just kidding. I was proud to see Bethany getting out of her comfort bubble as she performed the stanky leg. Unforgettable moment right then. I met some more Brooks people and what a bunch they are! haha. Later that night I go watch Korean dramas with the Taekwondo kids! They thought I went out to party... sigh when will they grow up?? There was a huge one that went down but I am glad I stayed up to watch dramas instead. I slept around 3am that night.

Saturday rolls around! I stuff my face at A1 buffet because I know I will be going to the football game vs Iowa State. We were horrible first quarter, but we really came back around second half, and 4th quarter. Iowa State has very rude players, most notably number 7 George, and number 97 who got injured later. We all got scared when Kendall Wright got injured, but we were all amazed that he came back in a few minutes later! He is such a beast. Later that night, we (other tkd people) watch korean drama's again and I had soooooooo much sugar and would NOT stop running my mouth. For that entire hour, I was silent for no less than 2 minutes at a time. It was Jordan's fault for giving me all those sugary snacks. We had to go down to the lobby at 2am since they kick out the guys (girls dorm) so we just talked for a little bit... until it started to pour hard. We were forced to camp in the lobby and we talked the night/morning away. None of us slept and I have not slept since last last night at 3am (I think we were awake because our talk was about something very serious). That was officially my first all nighter ever. I felt okay though... my body adapted to it. I just hope my health will stay okay. I think it will because I kept eating pop tarts and sugar puffs. I found a ride home (we left when it sprinkled but then it started pouring all of a sudden, so thankfully we left at the right time) and ate breakfast. I went to church with some of the coolest and nicest Brooks girls ever, and I had a good time there (albeit I was tired, I did not fall asleep and I did catch most of what the sermon was about). My alarm rang (I use my phones bible because I can't read that small print bible in the dark well) in the middle of the sermon and I was pretty alarmed at the chaos I caused. It was all good though I do not think anyone focused on it.

I quickly did homework and finished some of it. Then after finishing one subject, I took a nice 2 hour nap, and woke up after it! I thought I would sleep through my alarm but I did not. I got ready to go to the stufu dinner, which was a formal, banquet like style. That was awesome, we learned a lot about etiquette. I broke a ton of rules, but it is okay since it was my first time. Here are some rules that you might wanna know:
-enter the chair from the left, exit from the left.
-do not take off suit jacket, keep it on
-offer food to the person on the left, and then pass it to the right.
-do not talk about weird things.
-when completed with food, put utensils in the middle of the plate
-if someone is shy, make them participate in conversation by engaging in a question
-if you do not want coffee, simply turn your coffee cup over.
-it is okay to not eat food if you do not like it.
-do not share or swap food, eat what you are served. do not take left overs home....

rules i broke:
-cut your tomatoes and cucumbers and green beans. I ate them whole..
-I exited my chair from the right side (because no one was in the seat to my right... she was sick!)
-our table talked about where men stand in the bathroom urinals.............
-I almost asked Missy if she wanted to share desserts

All in all though, it was fun and we had lots of laughs as always. Stufu is growing on me and it is becoming more like a family. We learned a lot about it's history (presented by Mr. Harlan, an original founder of stufu, 42 years ago). It started in 1969, with 13 committee members and 50 students. Statistically speaking, most applicants come from junior girls, least amount of applicants come from senior boys. About 300 people applied this year. Here is a "secret" rule, only about 5 applicants from a sorority/fraternity are admitted. They had issues in the past where a certain sorority (cough tri delt perhaps cough) had almost all the spots for females... This year there are 5. Ironically, there are only 5 Asians as well... I wonder what their ruling on that is! (Kidding, I think Asians are too busy studying and not bold enough to reach out and help other students etc.). In the end we all got some spiffy pins as party favors and walked away full and happy. The food was great and service was on the spot. Fine dining indeed.

All in all it was a great week, and an incredibly awesome filled weekend. Couldn't ask for anything more!

I am looking forward to another great week (even though I have physics...), and fall break! I can't wait to go home, I haven't been back since school started. I shall bring up winter clothing and such!

Okay that's it! I need sleep, pronto! I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for reading if you actually read this far haha. You are awesome if you do, and pat yourself on your back. That's from me. Until next time!

-KT

random facts

Hola mis amigos!

This weekend was Fall Premiere, which is where little high schoolers come and check out Baylor. I had to give out some tours and I learned some interesting facts myself, about Baylor. Here are some random ones that Baylor people probably learned if they did a tour already (I never have)

-Baylor is the largest Baptist school in the word (aww yeah)
- We are the oldest university in Texas. We originated in Independence, Tx in 1845, but moved in 1886? to Waco because it was thought to be a booming city with the Brazos River and rail road tracks (hmm..)
- Baylor graduates founded Texas Tech, Texas AM, and UT (well we were the first after all)
- Which is also why we care so much about keeping the Big 12 together. We have pride in our hard work, creating a greater environment.
- Our football team is at it's all time high (highest AR ranking was 15... more on that later)
-We have the largest homecoming parade in the nation
-We have the second largest amateur musical (called Sing Alliance) in the nation
- We rank in something higher than Harvard and something else.. sry that was a vague one lol. I think it was teaching quality? hmm something shocking...
- Aggies stole our cubs, but later called Baylor because it ripped up their back seats. Silly Aggies. Stick with your woodshed. Oh that's right, you be moving to the SEC!
- We have over 200 churches and 40 denominations in Waco
- We have over 400 clubs and stuff to be involved in
- We used to have a fountain in fountain mall, but Noze brothers ruined it with soap. We have a new fountain built last year, and again the Noze brothers filled it with soap, but it still stands.
-We opened up a new garden last Friday during Parent's weekend. I have yet to know what that is...
- Speakers in chapel included CEO of chick-fil-a, an Italian ganster that was filthy rich and horrible moral, who later turned to God and lived to spread the gospel (I heard it, it was an incredible story), creater of veggie tales, and much more!
- we have rank #3 (we were #2 last week...) entrepreneurship, #7 accounting, and #15 finance programs in the nation.
-Med school is 88% i think.
- and more facts that you would have to be there to understand!

Whew anywho, that was totally random. What is not random is the fact that we lost to Kansas state football by one point... it was 36-35. It is okay, aggies lost as well. We had that game sealed but we could not contain them and made silly mistakes. It was a very great game though, and I wish I could have been there. There is just too much Baylor pride flowing through my veins now. I will turn into a bear any second. Wait for it... ok well the moon is not full tonight. Wait a second....

This week was nothing too special otherwise. I like how Stufu is really picking up though. I have been doing stufu things for the past... 4 days, going on 6. That is in a row! Very fun indeed and not that time consuming if you think about it since it is all spread out.. plus a lot of it is optional. And I met a ton of cool new people. We had a dinner on Thursday at Shorty's Pizza, a social (they called it a retreat) that lasted 3 hours on Friday at the Marina, premiere tours Saturday, and football practice and general meeting Sunday. Tomorrow is our first intramural football game, which is at 10pm (I can't shake my booty at Latin Dance tomorrow, I am so sad, but I have been dancing in my apartment all afternoon today so it's partially good). I also have to do an office hour with them tomorrow as well, and will probably make some more phone calls. One guy already got 4 appointments, which is very very impressive. Me and my partner only have 2 combined! Tuesday is Freshman Follies, which is pretty much a ... drum roll please... Well I am not allowed to say it, but let's just say its "fun with food". I am excited but semi disgusted with it! But I know it will be fun and I will get my revenge on this certain fella. I wanted to go to the Brothers Under Christ concert on Friday but... I only stopped by for a little bit. Rush of fools and Jimmy Needham performed! I always always want to go but I never get the chance too. Booo. Oh well, I will not miss any more concerts though (I hope).

Well the week ahead doesn't look too bad, after tomorrow and Tuesday, things will be slowing a bit down (until next Monday which is my Physics exam ugh). I hope our football team gets some good play, we practiced today and we seem like an athletic team. We have about 15 or so people and should be able to substitute at will so we can stay fresh all game. This will be my first time playing some form of football, ever. I played for fun (aka catch) but not organized even at the intramural level, so I am excited for this. I just hope my fingers don't get jammed!

Aw man it seems like I can't eat too many nut products.. I had bloody noses all week, at least once a day, and had like 3 today, one just now. I had too much nutella and almond butter, sunflower seeds, and almonds. I felt full eating those, and they taste very good. Time to limit myself again.. and get into shape!

-KT

stufunday!

Howdy!

I just got back Stufunday which is a day we play a sport. It is 102 degrees and about 6 people showed up. That did not stop us from playing though, and it was fun. We only played for 30 mins though since the scorching heat got to us. I will be looking forward to them during the chilly times!

Let us say that I enjoy life right now, even as hard and stressful it may suppose to seem. I must admit, I have not stepped inside a church since last semester, but I can say that by attending today, it really relieved me of my tense feeling self. I don't know how to explain it but i think I feel pressure that should not be there, but I kind of don't feel it. I think that is called stress, but I would say I am pretty good at blocking out the feeling of stress so maybe it is getting to me. Perhaps it is all the piled up work that is yet to be completed or the challenging duties that are looming ahead.. I am unsure. All I can say is though, God is good. He is so great, and without Him I know I would crumble and fold like a piece of newspaper lining in a brown box. His grace keeps me afloat and running, living this beautiful life the way it is supposed to be lived. I can sigh a sigh of relief as I know tomorrow will be a fresh new day, a day under His ray of immense light. I know it is hard for me sometimes and that I may take it for granted.. we are human and imperfect, but I am forever thankful that He is always here by my side.

-KT

how to not compete

Oh daddy it has been ages since I have written, this week was busy as a bee. Lots of things happened but the thing that just happened kinda pissed me off... here is a super short story about how to not compete in a competition.

Today was our last volleyball game and our record going in was not too hot, 1-2, and we got that one win because that team did not show up, so we really didn't win at all now did we? Sadly, we were a player short (I was about to not come either due to other business but I decided to show up) but we played great overall. We played Kokernaut today and we dominate the first set (and I finally learned how to serve and got like 6 aces...) it was like 25-22 or so. Then second set comes around, we are down 15-8, but then we come back and it is 24-18. I pretty much aced them a lot again, but then they got the point on our game point, and I hear the two Daniel's (we have two on our team) talk to each other and were like, hey let's play another round and go to the third match. Ok I paused. I am like "what the heck" in my head. You don't compete and decide to lose on purpose to prolong it. If you were to do that, why join the competition? You would rather ask a friend to hit the ball with you... anyway they let about 3 balls drop in between them and I am just shaking my head. then it was like 24-22 and they said ok we will play for real, but we ended up losing that second match. I had bad feelings about the third match (and a morale drop as well due to lack of confidence and spirit), and we got owned third match, about 15-8. Not good. I left the game not happy. I know it is for fun and all, but there is a limit to how much fun you can have. When was the last time you sat down and took an exam and told yourself, you know what, I will fail this test on purpose so I can fail the course and re take it again because I love this class/teacher. That's right, you don't. If you love it so much, become a TA or visit your teacher during office hours, or be like me and start hanging out with your teacher outside of the classroom! Fun all around with no repercussions. This is the first time I have encountered such a problem, and now I know I am not a negative type of guy. You can't make negative remarks and expect me to function like normal. That is why sports teams have a crowd that cheers them on. If your home team crowd boo's you and tells you that you suck and should invest your talents elsewhere, of course you will perform negatively (unless you are a true professional and can block that out). Our volleyball team was doing well (even with one man down) yet our attitude was not there to secure sweet victory.

I am not mad because we lost, I am mad because of why we lost. If we lost because we got out played, then good game for real. If we lost because we simply did not try, then not good game. Of course I lied to them and high fived them saying good game. It was fun enough, but its not my kind of fun to play in such a negative environment. Hopefully that wont happen again. I will be playing flag football with Student Foundation, and I am sure there will not be negativity in that organization since we are all about being upbeat and positive :)

Speaking of StuFu I found out my partner and all! She seems cool and I had her on my request list. We will be travelling to Houston for our appointments, so I am excited about that. She is from Amarillo so I would be directing us the best I can haha. I got to chalk for them for the first time ever, and that was fun as well. It seems like you do everything in partners in this org.. which is interesting. I guess that is why it is so much fun since you meet great new people!

Last week me and some taekwondo kids wanted to go to the Baylor vs. SFA game, and we drove there. Big mistake, there was no parking and the only "parking" left was very far in a lawn that costed $10, unless you had a valid parking decal. So Natalie drives up and this ROTC dude goes like "Parking is $10 dollars. You don't have a valid decal and you know you don't. Don't try to trick me." Natalie was like... umm what? I think all she asked was if apartment decal was okay since it was on campus and he went into a fury. And we basically went to Walmart instead and have a Korean drama night. That fool was a troll. Kids these days....

I haven't worked out for the past 2 days, which is a new record for me this year. When I say work out I mean any physical activity. I was bummed. But after todays volleyball I kicked myself and worked out some of my legs like the incredible hulk would do. Tomorrow is arm day just like Mr. T would do. Arm's is my favorite day.

I think I am glad with my blog because I don't think I have used a cuss word yet... if I want to I replace it with a mild word. Such as detergent and soap, they are replaceable and one is more specific than the other. Or interesting and weird. Yup go me. Until next time, and until a bear befriends an owl (Baylor vs Rice this weekend, we will win). Sic em!

-KT

21.11.1

Oh yeah I was also very excited about some new phone tech that came out on 9/11 as well. It is called Cyanogen Mod 7, which basically turns your phone into a monster. Super fast, super stable, extreme battery life, and very sexy interface. I got that as soon as it was available (people have been waiting impatiently for ages! I just waited on that day). It pretty much feels like a brand spakin' new phone, and I just received a new phone case in the mail to boot, so that was pretty neat. Sorry if I blank texted anyone or woke anyone up due to an accidental phone call... that happened a couple of times that I know of. Hope that doesn't happen again! I just have to get used to it :)

I guess my 9/11 day was super. All that allowed any negative thoughts that may have gotten in the way stay away.

-KT

21:11

21:11 is a rather interesting number. If you convert that into post meridiem, that translates into 9:11 p.m. If you convert that into a touch keypad, it translates into the police number. If you convert that into the calendar year, it translates into 9/11. If you convert that into mathematical terms, you get 0.8182. If you convert that into currency, you get 0.8182 New Zealand dollars per American dollar. I have a thing where I almost always see 9:11 on the clock, day or night. Who knows what that means. It started ever since as long as I remembered Sept. 11 happening.

Anywho, we all know what happened on Sept. 11, 2001. I remember the day I was in my 5th grade my class. People were just talking. That tragedy had struck. I had no clue what was going on. I learned a new vocab word "Terrorism", so I felt terrified, not knowing why I felt terrified. Almost every student was picked up by their parents. Clueless as I was, I was pretty sad that I could no longer go to New York the following... semester? That's all I remember actually. Pretty jagged thoughts they are, but I was so young.. I was 10! I just knew I was sad and pretty amazed by what had happened.

All I am glad is that nothing happened this year on the very same day. We heard of 10th anniversary threats.. thank God that did not happen. Given the high level of American security, I am able to live my life peacefully and without concern that we will be targeted successfully by another act of terrorism. I guess it is another aspect of the American way of life. Some may have been shaking, but I was confident that we were in safe hands. Let's just say that I am thankful to be here, and for everyone who serves and has an impact on our country. What a nation we have become.

With that, I had a great weekend. Friday and Saturday were designated study days, so I didn't do much other than study and buy groceries and exercise and cook delicious food. Saturday was the first day I did not exercise whatsoever! Too bad I broke my record, I will make up for that. Sunday was a good day. I got a knock on my door around 1:21pm while I was munching on a Tuna sandwich and found two members of Student Foundation at my door with a shirt and invitation in hand for dinner and activities at 5:30.

So let me explain what that is first of all. It is pretty much an organization that is focused on students serving students. StuFu raises scholarships and gives them away to those who need it (through an application process I believe). There are three different committees: Student Recruitment, Campus Promotions, and Alumni Relations. They are all pretty self-explanatory. SR go around Texas college fairs and promote Baylor. CP plan events on campus, such as Bearathon, Freshman Follies, and Fall Festival. AR travel to visit alumni and keep the connection with them and Baylor.

I guess this part is a spoiler if anyone is planning to apply to StuFu in the near future... so I won't say much. It is supposed to leave you clueless and full of anticipation!

Basically we find out what committee we get in and we have dinner. I got into AR, which I am glad I did now that I rethink about it (I applied for CP initially). I heard that AR is a lot of work but it is a lot more rewarding. You get to meet up with successful business people, perhaps CEO's and big names, and can form a lot of connections. That sound's good to me! I thought that you had to be in CP to help with the StuFu events on campus (which I want to do too), but every committee has to help anyway, so I get the best of both worlds! I can't wait to get into the real deal and start working. I will serve my heart out, as nasty as that sounds.

Then Monday rolls around. It really started after about 5:04pm when I ran into a friend after the gym from AFC, who is on the girls volleyball team. She informed me of a game that night at 5:30, so I stayed at the gym for that. AFC girls beat ISSA! And we had me and one other guy cheering the girls on. Then I run into another girl from AFC/Taekwondo and she tells me of an ASA meeting, so I go to that. But the real slice of pie was at the Latin Dance Society. I brushed up on my basic salsa skills and shook my booty all night long. That was fun and I am going to see if I have time to join their performance group this year, and if not, I hope to just learn a lot and know more than just the basics!


Well, that is all for now. I think it is gym time and volleyball practice time. I can't wait till flag football season; you can find me playing with StuFu! I'll work on conditioning for that. Until next time, cheers to another wonderful week of wisdom!

-KT

laborious weekend

If you guys haven't already heard, us bears had a bit-o-fun smashin' up some toads last Friday night (no we did not go streaking in the park afterwards like Katy Perry did). I am proud to say that I was one of ~43,000 that had witnessed the game vs. TCU firsthand. Any words I say can merely describe the intense, epic action that was unfolded like a piece of crinkled paper with numerous ancient markings on it. It was a 50-48 win, need I say more? Well too bad, I can't! Shoulda been there.

After the game, we bears almost got run over by some angry bus drivers. The tasteless toads were throwing fingers at our shuttles and things got heated. I found a group of people, made friends with them, and walked all the way back to campus. That was quite an adventure must I say, roaming the streets and highways of Waco at 12am. Exciting fun. We also watched A-Team, which is epicly good, but not as much as the legendary football game. An early morning (4am) Walmart run sealed the deal, and we got some supplies to feed our hunger. I also got some hangers and nutella. MMM nutella that is the cream of the crop.

I don't know what happened to Saturday. I woke up at 9am to a phone call from my dad and then slept again till' 1pm. I felt tired all day and worked out and did a bit of work and then went to bed. Actually I played guitar hero with Karynah and her family, since they came up to visit her. It was nice seeing them!

My parents came up today to give me everything a son ever wanted, love. I got to go to Walmart again and bought a ton of groceries, which includes about 20 chicken breasts and two gallons of milk. I think that will keep me full all week! I got more stuff but the list will bore you and will make you think me different. Just kidding. My dad cleaned my stuff and my mom taught me new things to cook. I know how to make some soup and beef now! It is good stuff. I also got a cheap watch because I can not take care of my watches of value. Plus all I ever use it for is to check the time anyway... and I got a green clock for my room because I like to know what time it is and I want to show my Baylor pride. Just kidding I really wanted a blue clock but they were too expensive! The vision center fixed my spectacles for free, which was nice. I dropped them on carpet and the lenses had popped out, so I had to wear contacts pretty much every waking hour.

I still have a lot of work to do, so I must labor again, tonight and all day tomorrow, and in my dreams. I guess that is why they call it Labor Day. Oh how I wished that I didn't have to work on that self explanatory day but you gotta do what ya gotta do.


-KT

competitive fun

Remember when I said that you can find me playing intramurals? Well I don't think any of you guys found me =p but I have been playing frisbee and volleyball for Asians for Christ (AFC). It was my first time ever playing in anything semi-competitive at all. Here is what happened in each game:

Monday 8pm, frisbee match vs. KOT A. (I think its kappa omega tao? "A" team denotes their best players, they had a B and C team as well).

Ok so this was a horrible match for us. We were 8 asians strong, while the other team had about 13 guys, averaging about 6ft tall, so we had one sub and a huge height disadvantage. They ran us up and down the field and scored as easy as stealing candy from an new born baby (they shouldn't be eating candy anyway). We tried man, zone, and no defense and we pretty much failed at all of those. Final score was 17-1.. we were so proud when we scored a point! And their team got a bit angry that we scored it. I guess they wanted a perfect game. I have no earthly idea why we were in the same division, but apparently not enough teams signed up so there was only one this year.. so we had to play against frats and hard core competitive players. I had fun though, I was surprised that I was not THAT exhausted. I could have played another game. I sprinted about 40% of the time and felt like I tried my very best. I think I really am a werewolf because I come alive at night and it seems like I am stronger than during the day. Just please don't let Baylor administers know because ... I don't wanna be expelled. Actually it is probably the lack of sun :)

Tuesday 8pm, frisbee match vs. TKE (tao kappa epsilon I guess).

I quickly glance at their players (they have 7, so did we, so perfect) and told one of my teammates, "We got this, they look easier than the other team" and he replied "Yeah, a little bit easier". So we play the game and after I witnessed the first throw by their team, I could tell they were pretty inexperienced. Lo and behold my senses were true (werewolf much?) and we stomped all over them, 20-2. There was much parallelism; we scored 10 and they scored 1 both halves. That is called consistency . It really upped our morale from the previous game. We played as a team and saw that we had good potential in the casual realm, and against people our size. At the end of the game, tke asked us to take a picture with monster energy drinks (advertising much?) and offered them to us and we were like "nah, water works for us". I think energy drinks dehydrate you, and they had that right before the game. Big no no! Maybe that is why they got tired very quickly. All of a sudden they stopped running, just like flies stop flying when they buzz into the blue light. Oh yeah, I also got kicked when I was trying to throw the frisbee.. my ring finger is now bruised but it is healing nicely as of now. I had to play more sports on it... but I don't mind.

Wednesday 5pm, volleyball vs. ZZZ (zeta zigga zamma or something cool).

I never played volleyball before for real. This was my first time and we didn't do too bad. Our team needs to work on the 3 hits over thing. We always used only 2.. and crashed into each other frequently due to lack of calling, or just let the ball drop in between two people because the other two thought that the other would get it. Lack of communication. We lost both halves. It was like 25-18 and 25-12 I think. We really slipped last game. I really didn't do much because the ball didn't come to me often, but maybe that is how volleyball is. I had fun though, and can't wait to play the 3 other games. (I think frisbee is over.. which is lame because we only played 2 games!).

Wednesday 9pm, racquetball vs Scott Spinks (my former Spanish teacher). this was for fun, non intramurals.

So I had a man date with my ex professor. Weird phrasing, but that is intentional. We decided to play racquetball and I find out that he is quite good at it, and has good experience with the game. I was a little scared when he went on a 4-0 run on me, but then I came back with an 8-0 run, making that 8-4. Then we traded points, and I final score was probably like 15-6(or 8) or so. Second game, he goes on a 5-0 run on me, and I fail miserably, getting hit by his serves. I think I was lacking water, since we talked and walked for 30 minutes beforehand (all the courts were full) and I did not take a sip of water (just like Waco has not taken any drops of rain lately). But that is no excuse, I got owned and final score was 15-6. We are probably going to play again sometime to see who really is the better player! Haha we are so competitive.

All in all, I got the competitive side out of me and I like playing sports competitively. I have fun no matter win or lose, bruise or no bruise (I plan to lift weights tonight with it still hurting, so hopefully that goes well too). It also gives me a good cardio workout, so in essence, I never lose (or actually, I do lose fat).

Ok well that is that. I hope Labor Day weekend goes well for all! Try not to defy the holiday and start frantically starting on homework that is due on Tuesday. Give your self some elbow room!

-KT

what's your mantra?

Mine is, "This is awesome!" Sure, reading a physics textbook may not be as awesome as playing your favorite video game or winning the lottery, but it is awesome if you think it's awesome. You have to destroy your negative thoughts somehow, and fight through stress, depression, and such. Don't be sarcastic about it, even though it may sound sarcastic. If you do it constantly, it will create a nice placebo affect which in turn, will help you plow through any troubles. Stuck in traffic? Well AWESOME! You can now take time to reflect on your day, or think about the day ahead of you and tasks that you must complete. Did you lose your last race in the track meet? AWESOME MAN! Now you know the competition is not as easy as you think, and you will train even harder. Man, did you just fail your first Spanish mid term? (Uh don't look at me!) but AWESOME! You have failed. Now get yourself together and start working hard. Failing is only a failure if you make it a failure. I could have failed that Spanish test and said "Okay I give up, Spanish and me are history", but no, I told myself that I enjoyed Spanish, and that I think it is awesome (it really is though), which in turn helped get me through and pass the rest of my important material.

You can turn doldrums around. Another personal example, I tried out for Baylor club frisbee team sophomore year, but at the time I could not throw a flick to save my life. End result? I didn't make the cut. AWESOME! Now I can spend my 7.5 hours doing other things that will benefit me, and I would not need to worry about the hassle of meeting up every evening/ morning to practice in the dreaded heat. AND, I ended up working on my flick this summer and got magnificently better at it (since I found out my flaw). Now I have a choice to try out again (haha) or to just use my new found abilities in casual games with friends. What will I do? It is personal but I did not feel like I would fit in the team for some reason, that I would kinda have to try to fit in. Some of them seem to serious! All  I want is to have fun and have an awesome time. You will find me playing intramurals :)

Some things though, you can not take too far. Morbid happenings and devastating events, as bad as they are, shouldn't be proclaimed as awesome. People will look down upon that, and it's not like you would think such things are awesome anyway so I will leave it at that.

Most of this is based on the self. You probably wont actually admit to someone that failing a test is awesome, or that studying is awesome -- you will probably try to conform and falsely admit that failing a test is depressing and studying is boring. Did you just hear those negative tones resonate in your eardrums? Yeah well its time to shake them out and let them be echoes of the past, starting now! You need a positive outlook on life in order to have a greater chance of that actually happening. A person who looks on life negatively searches for other means (often times very detrimental such as drugs and violence) will probably live a negative life. Don't let that be you (sic'em), because I am not letting that be me.


Next time you think something is stale, encourage yourself to keep it up by gently reminding yourself of your own words of wisdom. Carve your own path and stick to it. Start now, as this is a fresh new school year. Exciting, fun, cool, terrific, and, awesome! :)

-KT

mm this is good

School as finally started and we are three days in.. how fast is that? I think it is too fast. My guess is, before we know it, we will be studying for our first wave of exams! But I already know it, as I am working on that right NOW! Yeah I learned some valuable lessons over the summer break. One important one is to be on top of your game. You can not let anything slip behind. How did I learn that over summer break? By being academically deprived (for the second half at least) which made me look forward to going back to school (and for other reasons such as independence and engagement in the "real world" of some sorts). Too bad I have two books in transit from UPS... gosh their service is the worst in Waco! I am already behind in those classes, but I wont fret because it is just the beginning basics.

I have come to liken my environment. Nowadays, I am patiently sitting in my room, reading, studying, or just conversing and cooking with my cousin. Cool? You bet. Forget the library, where I never got anything done. Forget the time wasted on the computer doing meaningless things (blogging is not meaningless I hope, it is stress relief and a kind break from life). Forget the naps that I don't really need (umm actually I overslept today, took a two hour nap on accident! Maybe I really did need it..). But it's only the first week and I plan to become more involved with campus life.. that is something I haven't really gotten to do. Perhaps I will actually seek out some eye popping organizations that I can mutually benefit from and meet more people.

There are two new things I have come to enjoy a lot. Cooking is one of them. I am proud to say that I ditched that over priced, fat-filled meal plan and opted to cook most of my meals at home. So far, so good, as I have cooked each of my dinners in Waco, all four of them. It is simple really, but that is only because I am simple to cook for. I eat everything. (That is also why I gained a lot of weight with the meal plan -- I ate everything. I ate about 2-4 plates for dinner each time. Boy was my metabolism hurting. Nowadays, it flies.) My main ingredient is chicken. It is lean, cheap, and filling. What more do you need? Okay fine, it tastes good (well I may be biased but I make it taste good). Pair that with salad and a ton of vegetables of your liking, you got yourself a yummy lunch or dinner or even both! You can change it up too by adding rice or pasta or bread or any carb of your liking.

Exercising is the other. Over the summer, I tried (not my best) to stay fit and trim down and low and behold I saw some results. I plan to hit the gym every single smoking day. Maybe more than once a day. Will I over work my body? I don't think so. So far I feel great with a good, hour long work out each day. Maybe I will leave it at that. I have set up a schedule so I can have certain days to do work out A and work out B with rest day C (cardio). I should do that for studying too while I am at it. Over the course of this semester, I will try my best to keep in top shape, both in the gym and in the classrooms.

Okay I must also admit, I really enjoy rooming with my cousin Guillaume. This guy is awesome. We get along like caterpillars transforming into cocoons which in turn, evolve into butterflies, which flutter beautifully in the mid summer night. Okay maybe not in THAT sense.. but perhaps we get along like peanut butter and jelly in whole wheat bread (because we are not processed). It makes it sound like I haven't met him before, and I have obviously -- I see him every week of the year. But now, I get to see him almost every waking hour. Not really, but enough to make me decide if I he is a great family member or not. Haha I kid, he is awesome and will be a key in my success here this year.

So that's all I needed to take a break from my studies. Time to hit them up once more, then crash in my awesome bed, which is located in my awesome room, that is accompanied by my awesome self. Okay I just laughed at myself just now because I never ever ever ever (Justin Bieber reference) flatter myself. It feels very weird and of course I don't mean it!!

-KT

ready for the ride

My extended week was awesome. I just hung out with friends and cleaned up around the house and worked on my book I am reading. It wasn't as productive as I thought it would be but it was a great change from what Waco would have been like.. I think I would have died, for real. There would have been no food or friends to accompany me in my daily activities. Instead, I got to play tons of frisbee, shop till I dropped (my wallet too), and lots of catching up with old friends.

I got a new netbook too! It is 1.5 inches bigger than my old one, clocking in at around 11.6 inches. I got a good deal on it .. saved about $110  (yeah I'm a pro shopper remember?) I tried running newer games on it but to no avail. That's good for me though, no video games to worry about -- saves time, money, and my social life :)

This weekend was tax free, so guess what I did? Well yes I did sleep but I shopped too! I think I saved myself a whopping $8... from taxes. Pretty much the only thing I paid full price for was this white belt because I lost my old one, and I really really liked it. This one doesn't compare at all but it will do for now; it's so hard to find a good white belt! (Well you can search Taekwondo...) and I just scored a steal on some Gap v-necks and Express polo's and on this weird grey sweater (it is a girls XL) that looks good and fits. I wanted shoes but I didn't seek any. Oh well I was lazy for that. I would like to thank Ruyi for her Express coupon code and her fashion suggestions. I got myself into CD's again.. I got John Mayer's Continuum Special 2 set CD at Borders (so sad it's closing), and omg 320 kb/s is pretty much music to my ears. I wish I had a cd player for that reason, but my car stereo reproduces the sound well enough.


I can't wait for school to start at last, it's been too long! And I'm ready to make new classmates and friends. This is the first year I am starting on a clean slate (Girlfriend's really hold you back). And I will have my cousin there with me and hopefully we chill a lot. He seems to want to be more active around campus as well. I think I will be learning a lot of photography from him since that is his passion. Who knows, maybe he will gain a good 2 lbs. of muscle too. Can't wait till Late Night at SLC! That's always fun and crowded. Ya I kinda miss the campus life even if it is Baylor.

Well I am spending a night with my cousin so I can go back up to Waco bright and early tomorrow. I guess I shall find textbooks and settle in and map out my schedule then. I kinda wish we started on Wednesday but it is what it is. Cheers to a new school year!

-KT

beginning of the end

Sigh. Summer flashed by like a blink of an eye. The baking of fresh cookie pie and the rising of bread made of rye, was a dream in the sky. My oh my, I'm not gonna lie, that I did try to comply with my summer moti (using as plural for motives, means fat woman in Hindu apparently). But why, why did that vision go dry? I don't know but I ain't gonna cry. I am a big kid, nothing can fry my alibi that I can't deny. I had ample supply of time that did not justify my eyeing goals.

That was me having a little random fun. I remember I had set some goals at the start of summer, but I did not fulfill them all. Let us see if I can remember them... I maybe had 5 or 6. There was: bike for an absurd amount of miles, read books, write, work on my spanish, clean my house, and I can't remember anything else.. I will look back later I suppose. I didn't bike that much, but I did do an okay amount of running and lifting, thanks to my workout buddies, I could never have done it without yall! I also did not go on any of the Thursday group rides I may have mentioned, so I will make up by doing a hard solo ride tomorrow (I never did a solo ride this summer, so sad). I only read like 3 books.. and I purchased about 20. But, I will spend my week in Waco reading so hopefully I can knock out more books. I have been writing in this blog, but not as much as I wanted, but I will try my best to keep it up during the school year; perhaps an update every so often or when something miraculous or eventful happens. I kinda worked on my Spanish ... at the very beginning of summer, and now at the very end. I can safely say that I got a lot worse, but I still can type it out so that you can understand what I am trying to say. It might just sound so wrong. Like a fob speaking Engrish. I will read that Spanish textbook on my dead week too! And I cleaned my house minute, as always, but it is messy right now because I unpacked some stuff to bring up and I unloaded it in my living room. I also cleaned my car about 6 times, I will clean it again tomorrow. Too bad my parents wont let me bring it.... I will see if I can persuade them to change their minds later.

I had a great summer overall. I got closer with old friends that I was close with before and met some new people. I slept a lot... but I also lost a lot of weight. I think I lost about 17 or so, that was unexpected. That was not one of my goals but I guess it just happened. I might as well keep it off too because I rediscovered my pants in my closet, thanks to Jenny. I found that one garment that I didn't really like in particular, but now, I love it. It fits perfectly. It is funny though, that I was in the range of healthy.. so I hit the highest and lowest limits of the range (I think).

I can't wait for school to start up again, and also can't wait to room with my cousin Guillaume! We will have good bro time, I am sure. I can't wait to see his reaction when he spots me lounging in just boxers, or briefs, or what ever I have on (or off). But then again he is a Frenchie.. I will hopefully not throw any more wild parties since he does not party, so that is good. More study and sober and sleep is good :) I had my fare share of party hardy weekends in Houston anyway, too many to count. Let's just say there were about three or four sober weekends.. but I gotta shout out to Hansen, Steve, Jenny, and Daniel for making it so fun and being excellent company. Hopefully the one tomorrow will be my last until I am 21, since I got it all out of my system now. Plus no one drinks in Waco, we are all Christian. I came back to town thinking I would go to about zero parties but boy I was surprised that there was stuff going on. Guys, studying is fun.

I hope to play more frisbee in Waco. I got back into it... yesterday... and I am craving more! I need to finish finding out the flick.. I am getting there. I wish I had gone to the games earlier this summer.. I had the feeling no one really went (but people did, just later in the summer, like me!) because I went to two of them in the very beginning and only five people would show up. Now about twenty show up! Woot woot. I also felt like I contribute to the team more than usual so that's a plus haha.

I miss my bro Steve as he left almost a week ago, but that's all good cause we will always have each others backs no matter how far apart we are, whether it be 1000 nanometers or 1000 miles. I will also miss Hansen because I might not ever see him again. And I will miss Jenny because she also goes to Cornell with them haha. Just kidding that is not why.

Random: my favorite things this summer were the trip to Austin and cooking with Hansen and Jenny. Best ever things. Both huge successes. Chyeah.

Well that's all for now. It's winding down, and I wish I had the last week here, but I will be glad to head back early to get away from distractions here. Gonna just read and run and ramble. I will make sure it is fun.

-KT

how to prepare for going back to school, i mean...

1. Sleep all day a week before school starts in order to make up for any sleep you will miss due to partying too much during your first week of classes. There is nothing else to do ..
2. Buy a macbook air to take notes in your classes, an ipad 2 to play with during your break time, an iphone 5 to show that off to your friends, and a windows pc for your room for hacking other people.
3. Gather some textbooks that you might not even crack open. Sell them later for profit.
4. Make last minute changes to your schedule because you thought about a career change during summer.
5. Go shopping for groceries that might end up in your pantry till you move out.
6. Get to know your roommate now before you really get to know him/her.
7. Email each of your professors and ask them for any homework you can get started on. Ask for the syllabus and print it out and give it to your parents. You know they want it.
8. Start eating breakfast, and eat a lot because you will not have time to eat once you start your first class. Your next meal will be at 2am.
9. Buy some additional clothing so you wont have to do laundry as often. Maybe once a month will suffice.
10. Set your alarm clock to ring at 7am, 7:05am, 7:07am, 7:08am, 7:11am, 7:14am, 7:14.30am, 7:15am, 7:30am, 7:44am, 7:46am and 7:57am, because you really need to wake up for that 8am class. If you over sleep, set 2 more clocks with non conflicting times, if you can find any.

So there you have it. Hopefully this will help all of us get started with a BANG!

Now read the following with your own care. As you already know by now, I don't try to offend anyone. I just use my life experiences to give examples of what I talk about. These are my thoughts. You have your own thoughts. It is up to you to share them if you deem necessary. I am not wrong, but you are not wrong either. Remember, this is my diary, my point of view, my world 3.0 (not a bieber reference at all guys). pretty much, you just have guest privileges, you VIP freak :) Carry on.


This past week has been pretty eventful, from car washing to shopping to eating out to biking to working out in the park at night to cleaning the entire house and the garage to "social gatherings"... list can go on for over 5 .... pages! :) All that tossed aside now, what I really came here to talk about tonight is .. being mean, as the title also states, yet abruptly stops at (what literary device is that called? did I just invent one?). Taylor Swift is big enough so no boys can hit her now... as for Rihanna, she's just politely asking for more rude boys to come her way to kick her in the rear; She just doesn't get it does she? Well I am a pretty nice guy, which probably explains why I finish last (see kevjumba or nigahiga's nice guy music video, its neat), and I am pretty tired of it. Well, I am tired of it because of other influences such as my dad. I get bitten in the rear a lot for being too nice.. and lately I think I have been mean. Here is a brief dialogue that has been translated from Chinese (Taochew dialect) to American English:

Dad (2:00am): Kevin, why you home so late?
Kevin (2:00am): I went to karaoke with my friends. Didn't mom tell you? I did not go to the beach.
Dad: It too dangerous, Kevin. Why you come home too late? I can't sleep, boy. Don't do this again or else you go somewhere else to live.
me: I drove my friends and we paid for 2 hours already.
dad: Why you let them use you too much, boy? Stop playing with them. They want to play all the time, they drive. You find girlfriend to play with and spend time with her. That is fine if you do that and come home late.
me: We are just friends, dad... I don't want a girlfriend. They are not using me we all wanted to do it.
dad: Boy, look at your face. It is ugly. It is because you come home late...

I shall stop there. Let's just say it's not the first time I came home late... or that he threatened to kick me out.. or that he calls one of my physical physiques faulty (fat, ugly, whatever I'm used to it all). My dad is a sentinel. He once locked me out because I missed his phone call at 3am. Well I can't help it, most of the times hanging out at night is what fits everybody's schedule. I don't have an ugly face because I lack sleep; I get enough of it. It is probably due to all the peanuts I eat and all of the sweat that I earn when I work out. Let's have another look at a conversation that I don't really remember how it got started:

me: Hey man lets go into the Jacuzzi! Like right now.
boy: It's too hot, we will go when it's cooler.
me: jumps in between boy and the girl that is clinging on to him. Heyy.
girl: she says something along the lines of "GET OFF ME" "If you had your own girl you wouldn't be doing this" << now that is just a paraphrase. It was probably much worse than that and thankfully I can not recall the exact words.
me: pulls boy into room and has a bro talk while girl summons girl's friends and they all sing random songs.

Ok that can end there as well. What happened? I am not sure to what got the girl all giddy, cause that's how I always act around her. But when latched onto the boy like a parasite, I am merely a competitor. Now how is that fair if she was leeching on me at first, to suck up some nutrients from the boy? Well let's just all say that what the girl's last words she had spoken to me are kinda rude, maybe quite mean as well. Who says that? Who knows, because there was not much to say after that incident; not even the next morning, as Girl was trying to leech again but to no avail, I have let go of the bond as it was one sided at last. Now girl must find another mutual companion, and hopefully Girl does not harm him. I make sure that no harm is done.

Some textual dialogue between me and Girl2 about two days later..

me: misses about 3 of girl2 phone calls because I was with a large group of people and at a karaoke bar. could not hear what girl2 was saying after picking up the phone and talking to her the 2nd time.
girl2: from what i heard i think she wanted to do something like club with 2 of her friends, or meet up where i was.
me: i was probably mean, on accident. apparently she had her final call with me. it is sad cause i am pretty much free all week from now. now i will be more bored!

So pretty much all I said on the phone was what I can't hear you and I told her to text me but she would not. So in all honesty, I lost contact with someone because I could not hear them and because they were ticked that I did not pick up my phone b/c I was not aware that it was ringing. I was mean on accident while she was just ... I guess making up her mind? Not really mean on her behalf as I understand what I did was pretty mean too. It's just that I would gladly speak to her when permissible. If girl2 was at a concert and I called her, I would understand if she could not hear anything and I would text her. So I was mean but girl2 was not cooperating so therefore she took it as me being VERY mean and RUDE, which was not my intention.

But guys, guys, am I really that mean? Let's find out with this conversation:

after a long talk with someone...
girl3: who has been staring at us 2 talking hey if you have something to say to me, tell it to me right now in front of my face (yet again another paraphrase, it probably came out sounding like that, demanding.)
me: with a puzzled mindset umm no we have nothing to talk about.
girl3: ok then. leaves the scene without saying goodbye to many people.


But after small talk the next day, we both find out we misinterpreted things, and we pretty much forgave each other, and moved on with a happy happy day. (Until later that night that is, refer to talk with dad).

So girl3 was being mean, but only because of all of the things that were going through her head when she saw me and the guy talking. She created her own anger it seems. Perhaps she heard an echo of her name, which she is correct, but nothing worthy of relaying to her. It is unnecessary and harmless, to speak the truth. It is like me hearing my name when two of my friends speak, only to be dissapointed that the reason they said my name was because they said that I took Spanish class last year... ya know, knowing that would have no impact on my thought of the two friends that said my name. Now if they said that I was a mean, greedy, immature, short little bastard, I think some fireworks would be going down.

So my dad was being mean to me for being to nice to my friends and for coming home too late all the time. He is trying to protect me. Looks like I was just breaking his sleep cycle too.

I was mean to girl1 because I could not stand how mean she was, and she tasted her own medicine which perhaps she is still recovering from. 

Girl3 was being mean to me because she thought we were saying mean things about her, but that was later resolved.

Girl2 thought I was being mean, so she is mean back to me. That is okay though as you can see from these summaries, karma has bitten me back and I understand.

What do I learn from all of this? Being mean actually matters. It gets your point across. It shakes people up. It keeps you unpredictable. It makes you grow white hairs and stress out and raises your blood pressure. It causes confusion and breaks bonds (even the quite stable covalent ones). It scares people and dogs away.
The fact is, if you can help it, don't be mean even if you can't help it cause it gives you a bad reputation. Do you know what I think of Osama Bin Laden? Yes well I think he was mean. Even more so, evil. Don't tag such a quality to yourself. Am I mean? In totality, of course not. To some selected few, I may seem like it. Do I try to be? Rarely, most of the times, no. Am I a nice meanie? Yeah I admit I am.. which means even if I wanna be mean, I'm not as mean as someone with a mean nature, ya know what I mean? I just made that term up but that pretty much describes me. There are just some people I can't be mean to, but other people, I can be. If you had a pie chart that numerically displays my meanness, it would have to be like pacman's mouth when it first about to bite the little dot, or 2% of the time. For every 100 things I do, I do 2 things that others might think is mean. Obviously I can have a mean streak, with up to 5 mean things in a row, but this is an average. How do I know for a fact? Well I know who gets along with me.


To throw off any readers who endured my cluttered thoughts, I am happy to say that I tapped into my geek side and hacked my phone. It is now faster, prettier, and smoother than butter than before. What a whacky sentence. Now I can spend some free time playing with it and modifying it even more! It keeps me with something to do (Another whack sentence signifying my sleep depravity).

I'll leave it off with that. Don't try to be mean, but if you mean to be mean, something bad will happen to someone else, and to you too in the road less followed. Or is it traveled? Hmm.. forget it, just pave your own road and be yourself. Other people will deal with who you are, It is called the Golden Rule. It is not one of the 10 commandments, but I suggest you follow it, or at least try to, just like you try to follow those commandments! :)

Edit: Funny how things change so quickly. Refer to my post about what friends are for... I stated that I had no time to test my own personality, the extent of my nice-ness.. time flies.

-KT

success!

Disclaimer: I am listening to some Britney Spears Femme Fatale album so I am sorry if some of my sentences do not make sense or are grammatically incorrect. The influence of social media these days...

Let's talk about motivation and perseverance and desire in no particular order since they all work together to achieve success. Everyone goes through each process differently but ultimately, these are three keys to success. For example, if you want to be "good" at piano, you need the desire to play it, the motivation to learn forevermore, and the perseverance to continue to play it after you peak (or even if you don't?). Same goes for playing a sport, starting a family, getting through school etc.. If you are missing one key ingredient, your chances for success are not possible, given that success to you means "the favorable outcome of something attempted." But to me, that also means happiness, you gotta be happy in your strive to success. If you are not happy, why pursue? I do not consider someone who makes a trillion dollars a day, but hates hates hates their job because they don't have time to do anything else, successful. Sure you are successful at making money (which doesn't matter THAT much in my opinion) but you fail at being happy, which is pretty damn important. What fun is a sad puppy?

Motivation can stem from a variety of things. What motivates you? Well for me, family motivates me greatly, and my desire to explore my interests. Competition is great motivation, but too bad I am generally not a competitive person. I'm pretty humble about some things and only if I know I can't win something do I try to compete. That is like Tour de France leader, Thomas Voekler, claiming that he has 0% chance to win the tour, but he has been in the lead for about 9 days now.. but that's a different story (it's psychological, he wants to give himself a mental buffer so that the real contenders will brush him off, thinking they will catch up easily later). I guess I am kind of like a Thomas Voekler, the best of the best motivate me as I test out their abilities. Granted I don't compete much at all, even amongst my friends for fun. I guess my friends aren't competitive in the physical sense, but when it comes to class ranks and orchestra, they are unyielding. I guess I am just different. If I know I am more capable of doing something, I don't just go all out... like when I go bike riding with pals, I don't treat it like a time trial, I stay with them and chat! It is so much more fun that way. Bad mouthing is also good motivation. Another tour example, a top sprinter from Great Britain named Mark Cavendish is getting heated media on him. The top American sprinter, Tyler Farrah, accuses him of cheating or riding dirty and whatnot, which motivates Mark to destroy the competition. He has won, I believe, 4 or 5 stages of the tour, which is mad impressive. Anger is his motivation which he creates, which is enemies cause.

Desire. You have to love what you're doing. Do you think Mark Cavendish would still be racing on bikes if he did not enjoy it? Obviously not. Thankfully he is, so his talent isn't going to waste. It's all in the eye of the beholder though. My good friend Steve was the best violin player around (I am sure this is true, he is also humble), but he no longer had the desire to play. So he made the right decision and stopped playing. What good would it do if he didn't even please himself while playing? Certainly it must be different when your heart is not in it. Let's say Steve continued to play violin, in hopes to stay the best, but he has no desire to. He will obviously not be successful because if he has no desire to, he would practice less and make some careless mistakes, and someone else who has a stronger desire to be the best would be the best. All we can say that my pal Steve was a successful violin player, and still is, given that his definition of being successful at playing violin constitutes woo-ing girls and non competitive play. I kid, but I know he is happy with what talent he possess. So did his talent go to "waste"? Not at all. Maybe his goal in life is to become a business owner, or a lawyer, or a doctor, and not a violin player. If his goal was to be a top violin player, we all know he would become one easily. He thinks he can do something better with his life, that he can contribute more than just to arouse ears (which he still can, no doubt, just not the peak he used to be at). Let's all turn heads to my good friend Jenny. She has a strong desire to become a doctor for her own reasons, that also motivate her. It doesn't end there. She desires many many things, perhaps to many to list, and it will certainly take more than five minutes to do so (inside joke detected). But knowing her personality and willingness to succeed at almost any cost, I am certain she is geared toward a successful life. Her desire, motivation, and perseverance are blatantly obvious.

You gotta persevere. If you find out, once you are a doctor, that you don't wanna be a doctor anymore, you will probably become a comedian. That's funny isn't it? All of us have persevered in one way or another. I know for a fact that almost all of my friends are pursuing higher education. Why? Because they want to be successful  which they will attain only after they are happy with their life. What if you are never happy with your life? Then you are miserable. Just kidding, that just means you are ambitious and always want to try new things. You can be happy and still pursue new things though; That means you are successful but still want to gain more success. If you want something pretty badly, you will give it your all to keep at it. Mark Cavendish is not going to stop winning until he is retired, and his goal is to win every sprint finish that the tour has to offer. If he thinks "I will just win a few, and see how the rest go," that mean's he doesn't have the desire to win, in which he will not be able to enjoy bike racing as much, and might even retire because he stops winning. That is a pretty extreme example that is not probable in the real world, but if he is that kind of person (I am sure he is not) then it could happen hypothetically. The concept of perseverance is most likely linked with the enjoyment of doing something.

Anywho, success is very very broad and perhaps not easy to pin point. If Voekler does not win the tour, then was his ride successful? Yes and maybe no. (First of all, it means a LOT to wear the yellow jersey, aka be the race leader. You get a lot of benefits, such as revenue and media attention). He has been in yellow for 9 days (and he is French too, so he is so prideful when he rides in it) and counting, which is an extremely successful feat, and he is tremendously happy right now. He stated that he had 0% chance of winning, which translates to "I won't win" which can translate into "I am fine without winning in the end." So if this is the case, he would still be successful if he lost because all he wanted was to please the French crowd and ride in yellow for the longest time possible. But if he really had winning intentions, then his overall ride was a failure; he did not win and is not happy, but his ride would be a success in its own right that he held yellow for so long. So its a term that is easily thrown around but maybe hard to follow, and his highly subjective to the beholder. In the general perspective though, only the final step is of any importance. For example, is Bill Gates successful? He didn't finish college. Same goes for Michael Dell and other of those billionaires. Was he or was he not successful in college? Maybe all they needed were a few classes to learn how to do what they do today to gain their glory, and simply stopped attending to do their own thing. I am sure they are happy now and they are successful at what they do. Generally, people tag the term failure if someone does not finish college, but Bill Gates and the others prove so otherwise.

Well next time you ask your self, am I successful? See if you are where you are at, and if that is where you wanna be at, and if you are happy with that. If not, do something about it! We all wanna be successful in life, whether it be learning how to swim, being a doctor, being a bum (that's not that easy for some), and only through motivation, perseverance, and desire, can we be.


-KT

what friends are for

It's been a long time since I have had any free time to myself. Too much has consumed my life, and I would say about 70% of that is dedicated to being around friends (that does not include the typical activities such as sleeping, eating, and breathing). Things should be settling down now since some of the rather bigger planned activities have come and gone. I guess I will kill two birds with one stone, but the two birds are not of equal weight. Here's what I've been up to:

-Bra shopping the the Galleria. It was fun. Me and Steve had great bonding time. We met a very good looking Kazakhstan girl trying to sell skin products. We didn't care and Steve got some cream rubbed on him. Sensually too. We went with two girls for your information.

-I went fishing with my family and had a madly miserable experience. The only thing we achieved was eating dinner in the car on the beach... We did not want to pay the $12 per person since we did not bring our crab nets (the best part by far), so we go to Texas City which is $5 per car. Sad to say, we got all 4 of our fishing lines stuck in between rocks and that was that. We came home empty handed, like most of the other fishers there. Bad, no bites.

-Korean BBQ is so awesome! And it looks like my cousin Natalie will be rolling in some new wheels (bicycle) this semester at UT! I am helping her select the perfect bike for her transportation needs. And her bf Ryan is too cool for words.

-Last week Steve had a birthday dinner which was rather interesting. We went to Grand Lux Cafe and we all stuffed our stomachs full. I had to get a to go box for the second or third time in my entire life! Can you belive that? We had a lot of pastries and then ended the night with some gender biased Taboo. I need not talk much about that night, given the fact that it went splendidly well for the most part, and Steve is an even bigger boy now. We also worked out on our backs and biceps earlier that day (in fact that was the last time I lifted weights).

-I am a bad bowler. I used to be decent for a casual bowler, reaching scores of about 100. Now I can only muster 60! I was the worst out of Steve Hansen and Sophee but I attribute that to my inclination to learn how to curve the ball. Nevertheless I still sucked. We went to Whole Foods earlier that evening and I ate a lot of ahem "samples".

-Me Jenny Steve and Hansen fail at biking. I think we only went one time out of lets say five or six. The only time we went, I got a gnat stuck in my cornea and it was painful beyond tears, as I could not muster any. The other time we were close to going, (We had packed our bikes on my car) a stray cat charmed Jenny, so we burned up an hour, the perfect time allotted for biking, but we end up to plan for Steve's epic 19th birthday party.

-Steve had his birthday party. Guess what happened there? Let's just say Steve was okay and so was I.. we remembered everything too! :)

-Blueberry's are almost out of season, two more weeks and they be gone! My little nephews Travis and Thai are some pretty enduring blueberry pickers! I had a great time visiting them and my cousin in Tyler. The kids are in their Lego and Starwars phase and we had lightsaber fights (even in the dark!) where they also unleashed the force upon me. I died a lot. I am not a Starwars fan, but I shall watch the movies one day... in a time frame far far away... Big props to my cousin Julie for always being hospitable as always.

-LE TOUR DE FRANCE! Omg I am in love with this. Go Shleck brothers! Cavendish for 4 stage wins! Mad props to Hoogerland for gaining polka dot jersey while getting hit by a car and Voekler for still holding yellow! And Griepel for beating Cav and showing his potential! I do not take sides, I just don't want to see Contador win again, but if he does, that means he needs Lady Luck on his side again, and will be an amazing tour! I just like all this excitement that the tour brings this year. And if you are a normal person, you would have probably understood none of what I said. Typical. No feelings hurt. Moving on now..

-Google + is the latest sensation (see what I did there? probably not lol). Let's see how it fairs against Twitter and Facebook. I am also lovin the Sensation 4G (how bout now?) as it is, and hopefully it gets unlocked soon so I can have more fun with it!

-I break many road laws. I never do complete stops at stop signs. All of the U-Turns I make are probably illegal. My radar detector is inaccurate yet I still speed when I feel the need. I try to drift in the car when I am making a sharp turn only to hear a popping sound. I text and change music while I drive. I like to scream loudly when I slam on the gas (well that's not breaking a law, it is just annoying).

-A lot of hanging out with friends can cause "problems", especially if they are just "friends". It leads to my topic of interest for tonight - the value of friendship.


I do not believe in best friends, because if that were the case, who are your worst friends? You can't have the best without the mediocre and the lame ones because if you don't then you don't have best friends! I do believe in true friends though, because false friends also exist; They just want to be your friend to benefit from it in one way or another. Here are some of my observations and thoughts:

-Friendships do not happen overnight. You can't expect me to stay up with someone all night, then expect me to know you inside out. They also do not happen in a day, or a week. It actually depends on what you do but most of the time it is insufficient, just like if you only have 200 minerals and are trying to build a command center (Starcraft reference for the nerds). More time needs to be invested (or perhaps minerals?)

-You can't talk about one subject over and over again until you beat it like a dead horse. If that is all that is tying you together, then it will either die fast, get boring and repetitive. You gotta have more common interests. The new found friendship will quickly die if there is nothing more to be said and done. I might as well join a forum and talk to people there about that one subject.

-Relationships.. you can't jump into those right away, not with me at least! And you should be friends first.. if we are not even friends, it might just not work out. Signs of rush, haste, and lust are all indications of immaturity. Sure you can have a slight pull towards any of those signs, but you gotta know when to hold back and control such actions or emotions. You can't blindly charge a battlefield, especially if that battlefield feels a lot like love (Jordin Sparks reference). It really turns me off if anything. I can still be happy, but it is a lot harder, and I deal with such people differently.

-True Friendships are unbreakable. Whatever you do, whatever you say, you still have each others backs. You don't fight like couples do, especially if it's the same sex (like if I have a true guy friend, we will be chill, and never fight like cats). It is pretty hard to find out who your true friends are, or to even make them happen, but once they are there, it is hard to lose them.

-You don't have to talk/interact with a good friend every single day, hour, second. Life happens, such as college or family, and friends end up spending quality time when permissible. Being with someone for a prolonged period of time helps you get to know them better, but after that, it's okay to go off to other things. Don't fret, cause when you interact once again, your bond will grow even stronger. It's not a relationship, so no one will suffer if there is no interaction for a period of time.

-Close friends are honest and shouldn't lie even if it benefits you. They tell you things they wouldn't tell other friends. They tell you the truth knowing it won't impact the friendship. There is no such thing as telling too much as a good friend always listens and provides some feedback if needed.

All of that being said, how do you know who are your close friends? Certainly you can tell, but sometimes a bit more time is needed to evaluate it. It should all come together rather naturally and it is something YOU should not "test" on purpose just to see what happens or how your friend will react. That is called desperation or something and such a situation where a "test" is necessary will just happen, like a lightning strike in the sky. Perhaps the two value each other's friendship differently, but that is not common, either one of them has high standards or other various infinite complicated reasons. Those friendships tend to be less stable and true, but nevertheless can happen.

Some people say I am too nice, and that is true. Sucks for me! Haha I kid, it's both good and bad, but I think summer's given me a lot of chances to play with this attribute of mine. Sure it is easy to take advantage of me, but it doesn't happen often, and if it does happen, I try my best to make sure it does not happen again. Sometimes I feel pretty evil this summer, and ironically it feels good at the right times and in the right circumstances. Let's see if that changes!

I guess the title is a bit of a misnomer since I didn't really state what friends are for. Or did I? Hmm... actually come to think of it I don't think I did at all. How odd.


If you are reading this now (you probably are not, its 1AM!) you can get a free HTC Sensation 4G online till 3AM online... if you get a new plan. Pretty hot deal I must say. Here is the link (which will probably expire after 3AM today)

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/cell-phone-detail.aspx?cell-phone=HTC-Sensation-4G

My guess is that they want customers before the ATT merger, but don't wanna delve in to deep or else they may lose business. I guess the people who knew about it beforehand would get it.. but you need to be a new customer with 2 year contract. Get it if you can cause its a pretty nice phone, and it isn't even living up to it's full potential due to software limitations!

Anyway that last part was random, I saw that posted up. Looks like it's time to waste more time before I sleep!

-KT