Semesters are LONG.

That is the basic problem with semesters. I'm doing really well in school (96% on my arch 120 midterm, the highest grade I've ever gotten) and I'm not in the C range for arch 110 (yet). My Italian instructor also commented today that my speaking skills are really good ("why don't you speak up more in class?") and that my analysis of La meglio gioventu` was great..but there is SO MUCH left in terms of school work for the semester =( I need a real breather and I'm not getting one until after December 5th...which seems far away but it'll be here in a flash.

I hope I can keep up...in the mean time I'm gonna attempt to not be lulled into a false sense of security haha.

So that means:
CP 110 Memo 3
Arch 110 Pt. 5
Italian paper (2+ pages)
Italian presentation (15+ minutes - got any suggestions?)
--> will get done in the midst of parties, rallies, meetings, SUPER FUN DAY and city planning tours.

This also means that I gotta take a step back from some things (so far it's been Team HBV and API ICON08.) I have a feeling that this may be resolved for me, because I'm getting left out of a lot of the dialogue in CMI circles (in virtually every external convo I'm not mentioned. Tis a bit frustrating). There's a lot of nitpicking and whatnot going on with that too. Maybe J was right...6 people is too many to coordinate. I think after the decision not to go to UC Regents as a big group in November (which I totally understand), I lost a lot of my direction because coordinating that trip was to be my main responsibility.

So for now, I'm going to concentrate on being a good APAC rep, publicizing for NCS 07 and learning hip hop. I can't do it all and even when I come close, it's not all its cracked up to be.

And for those of you tracking my Italy progress...I spent $28 to fax my housing application to Italy and UOEAP and sent off a bunch of other stuff....only one more form to send!!!!!!

From the Nichi Bei

http://www.nichibeitimes.com/articles/stories.php?subaction=showfull&id=1193354676&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&

The ADCO Group is proposing a $230 million, 38-story elliptical condominium tower at 1481 Post St., located between Octavia and Gough streets - a white glass structure that would be visible from many parts of the city. In addition to housing, it would also include 6,000 square feet of retail and 5,000 square feet for a "community education center."

The tower would reach 407 feet into the sky, which greatly exceeds the 240 feet allowed by the city's established height limits for the area.

I'd love to see an EIR on this proposed development...sigh. Didn't height limits just get set or at least re-emphasized in 2006 as a part of the SUD stuff?

Crazy different

That's all I can say about the University of Padova at the moment.

60,000 STUDENTS.
>.<

Plus, it's a biking city. "Your university residence should be no more than 20-25 minutes away by bike." Um, that sounds FAR compared to here. I effing hate riding my bike in Berkeley, so I hope it's more bike-friendly than here.

me = scared shitless
but hopefully not paralyzed.


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random office quote:
"Does anyone actually know what Sue Grafton looks like? I mean is she hot?" - Andy
"She's crazy hot." - Crete

Update from Nipomo

First, some backlogged things to say:

My 20th birthday was pretty danged awesome. I took a midterm, tabled for the Count Me In! campaign in the rain (twice), was bored to death in Rosa's lecture......ok so after that it is when it was awesome! Some friends and I went shopping in Emeryville and then more met us at Elephant Bar where they lost my reservation and my food was dry, but the drinks were yummy (yay for Annie's nonalcoholic drink recommendations) and the company was even better! I got some spiffy gifts too, like MUFFINS and a lite brite pen. After that I went to dance practice (the end of it) to meet up w/a friend and we went to papamingos (first experience!).




Then on Saturday I had myself my first (and probably last) party. It was a lot of fun, don't get me wrong, but I am not the setting up and cleaning up and hosting people type of gal...it happens not so often. Major props go to my roomie for dealing w/everything, being 21, and cleaning up when I was feeling like SHIT (I know I didn't have it that bad but seriously next time...can I have fun WITHOUT throwing up? I know that it is totally do-able.) At any rate it was good to see people and chill and to see some friends from out of town (SJ and SF specifically).





After that the world lit on fire, school turned into a MAJOR bitch, and I still haven't caught up on anything...but that's ok. Or at least, I'm dealing!

Back to THIS weekend:

My neighbor went home for her birthday so she gave me a ride! Mama bear and papa bear are in tahoe for my uncle's birthday so it's just the two of us. I got a little car-sick on the way home but it was very mild, just this headache that wouldn't go away till I got out of the car (wierd huh). I went to Santa Maria and picked up fabric for thursday's rally (quite the steal - $5.98/yd, a lot less than what everything else was going for), then went to the store and picked up a bunch of salad stuff cause I felt like cooking. Then I came home to an empty house. 2000+ square feet of empty house is WIERD, let me tell you. Staying by myself wasn't as wierd/scary as it seemed when I was 17, but it is just a lot of space. I'm freezing because the rooms are giant and I would feel bad turning on the heater just for me...ha ha. My sis came home around 10 (after cheering) and we had an uneventful evening.

This morning a good friend came over and we ate breakfast and then my sis and I went to Cambria to THE TEA COZY!!!!! It is officially my favorite tourist spot in the county (besides grover beach). I ate WAY too much as always - mushroom bisque, a sausage roll thing, the chutney + cheese tea sandwich, bread, and Victoria's sandwich (a dessert that has devon cream in it that the owner/waiter called "eating a cloud"). For those that are curious, we had the Autumn tea because my sister didn't know what the hell kind of tea to pick and I liked it last time (though, summer pudding is still my fave). I bought tea to take back to berkeley with me and then we drove around cambria a bit and found a really cool cemetary way up in the trees. I totally would rather be buried there than in a formal one....it'd be more fun for people to visit my grave there!!

Driving back through Cayucos, it started raining...and it didn't stop the further we drove =( I always seem to come home when the weather is SHIT...but later driving around in the rain was kind of fun. Sister and I went to Old Navy and I bought $10 shoes (annie style shoes haha), then stopped by the aforementioned friend's mom's coffee house, then went home. I dropped my sister at home and then went to dinner at McCLINTOCK'S cause even though lunch made me full I REALLY LIKE THE BEANS! (I wonder if Risa reads this?) It was good to see one of my close friends cause I haven't seen her since...July? Wow, a LOOONG time. I also saw a guy I went to high school with who works there (wish I could have caught up with him after work but he went to SB tonight) and a girl I golfed with (daaaang I can't believe she graduated!). Instead of going to target w/the sis afterwards I just decided to sit around and then watch Old School, cause it was dark outside and i was hella cold and sitting sounded nice.

After writing this whole thing, my time at home seems very busy but it was actually very relaxing because i haven't been doing homework, and i've been driving along the ocean and I haven't been sitting in traffic...so driving has been nice =)

Now I'm going to do my homework? My housing application for when I go to Italy? Watch THE OFFICE? Fall asleep? We'll see...

Midterms update

For those of you that care, I scored an A on my city planning midterm...still waiting to hear back on 120 (I'm thinking another A), and an 85 on Italian.

If I wasn't three days late on my arch 110 project, I'd be heading toward at least a 3.8 this semester...but alas the time I spend on outside commitments have gotten in the way.

I should really finish my prject, its due at 3!

Hating Helplessness

First off, I had an amazing birthday. More on that this weekend when I have time to talk about it.


Something I can't get off my mind is all the fires in San Diego & the LA area. One is in Castaic, not too far from my great grandfather's place, but luckily the winds are actually blowing AWAY from his place (and into, I think, Santa Clarita area....bad news).

I have a lot of friends in, from, or with family in San Diego and I'm worried and sad over all of them. Hearing news reports and seeing houses on fire is really heart breaking, and to know that my friends are in pain and in danger has rendered me powerless in all other aspects of my life.

I'm trying to take control of my academic life again (this week has been kind of a fuck-up week in school) because I DO have control over that...but in doing so it makes the feeling of helplessness that much worse. That's one thing I always struggle with from time to time in school: how is a PAPER helping people who need help right now? When my family is going through a crisis, they've always assured me that those papers are important, but I know that sometimes that's not true - they just don't want me to worry and they want me to succeed (plus they made a huge investment in this whole college thing).

So when I went to office hours yesterday and got berated for not having something done, I almost broke down crying due to my frustration with my GSI and the devastation that's happening. I never used to be one of those people who were so moved by natural disasters hundreds or thousands of miles away, but this time it's different...this time I'm different.

One day I'll write about how I had a wonderful day

Because really I do have them (or at least wonderful moments) from time to time! But right now is not one of those times, because I don't know how to begin to study for my two midterms. I'm basically procrastinating right now =) There is no reason for me not to get at least a B+ on the CP 110 midterm (I love generous curves) and there isn't a whooooooole lot of 120 material covered so it shouldn't be a big deal. However, I didn't start studying until this afternoon...bad idea.

Last night I told a friend that I'm going to have a birthday party next week, and his response was "good. you deserve it." It struck me as really odd, and I'm not sure why. I've been working hard and driving myself crazy, and yeah, I guess I do deserve a break. But to me, a break is something like going down to the beach by myself, or visiting the country, or going to a movie...something that takes me away from all reality because it's better/prettier than reality. Maybe that's why some things don't live up to my expectations. At any rate, I don't know if I deserve a birthday party, but I'm really looking forward to a good time with my friends, because really without things like that, what's life for anyways?

Support Los Angeles' Little Tokyo!

A lot has been going on in my life this week and hopefully I'll update on that in a different post, but here's something that I think y'all should know about.
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Several recent property transactions have put the future of Los Angeles' Little Tokyo in jeopardy. Japanese Village Plaza was sold to American Commercial Equities in late July, and on August 17, the New Otani Hotel and Weller Court Shopping Mall were bought by 3D Investments—the SAME company that bought the large chunk of San Francisco J-Town from Kintetsu Enterprises last year.

While neither of these companies are inherently bad, it is also clear that neither company has a strong tie to Little Tokyo. With only three Japantowns remaining, there exists a critical need to maintain Little Tokyo as an important historic cultural neighborhood. When a company decides to purchase a main commercial and gathering area of Little Tokyo, they should also take the initiative to develop the properties in a responsible manner with community input.

Little Tokyo community members have a history of being actively involved with the changes in Little Tokyo, and we are proud of our community's achievements. It's time again to make our voices clear - Little Tokyo is our home. Little Tokyo is our history. Little Tokyois our future. And the people who share that home should have a say in what happens to it.

If you feel similarly, we would urge you to take the following action:

1) Sign the following petition.
http://www.petitiononline.com/jtv1/petition.html Doing so will send a message to 3D Investments and American Commercial Equities that they can not buy and develop land in our neighborhood without taking into consideration the wants and needs of the existing community. Further, it will also ensure that the Kajima Corporation is held responsible for their secretive sale to 3D Investments. Although their transaction may be completed, they have not heard the end of this from the Little Tokyo community. Third, it will reinforce to Jan Perry (Little Tokyo's City Councilwoman)that there is broad support to maintain active community involvement in determining the future of Little Tokyo. Finally, it will put current property owners and potential buyers on notice that our community is organized and not afraid to take action to ensure that they act responsibly and remain sensitive to the historic and cultural importance of Little Tokyo.


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Little Tokyo is one of THREE Japantowns left in the United States, and the only one located in Southern California. At one point there were over 40 in California. Now we're reduced to little corners here and there, and I don't see why we as a community can't keep what's left. That being said, just complaining lamenting over the loss of our community is not the answer, and I hope that this petition will allow the JA community to have an active voice in what I hope to be a collaborative process.

It makes me really sad to know that cultural centers can be bought and sold without a thought to the community that established it. As an Arch/Planning student, I urge you to sign this petition as a sign of commitment to thoughtful and inclusive planning.

feeling fatally idealistic

This morning in Arch 110AC section, a student posed a question in response to a reading assignment on Democracy and Race. He asked if we thought racism still exists in today's society. I nodded vigorously for a few seconds and then I had to stop, because I was absolutely floored. Nobody else seemed to agree with me. Only one person offered up an everyday example, and everyone else just kind of sat there, as if to say "well why even bother asking this question, because it clearly doesn't exist". And it's not like I was sitting in a class full of priveledged non-minorities, either.

Now maybe everyone was just half-asleep because it was a Monday morning class, but I was definitely met with a lot of blank stares. I wanted to say something to express the shock I was feeling over their lack of acknowledgment of modern racism, but I was so worked up over the whole thing that I couldn't even find the words to express myself in a respectful, appropriate-for-class manner.

On days like these it's hard for me to continue to believe in the feasible possibility of minority rights, of social and environmental equality, in the idea that poor people, for example, shouldn't have to be relegated to dilapidated neighborhoods. ESPECIALLY after something that happened at ncs yesterday, it's becoming clear that even at the best public university in the nation, racism and discrimination is deeply entrenched in our culture. And sometimes, I don't know if I have what it takes to surmount the institutional machines that enable it.

To top it all off, my Sanuks finally broke in the middle of class (I had to steal tape from a studio to put it back together) and last night I had a dream that my father was diagnosed with Lymphoma.

Life can really get me down sometimes.