flying high

NSU all cast was tonight - it's going to be an AMAZING show! FamPo just blew me away, I love love love Step Up, and Yosakoi made me wish I had the time for it again.

I am approaching hour 40 of no sleep (2 naps totaling less than 2 hours thrown into that) but I am very awake because I'm so pumped for the show! I was really stressing because I don't feel like I have mastered the JCREW dance but our choreographer (who i thought was hella mad) really liked the part of the costume that I actually did wear tonight. I didn't wear the rest of it because I didn't want to look too...I dunno. Like I was trying too hard. I did the socks thing mostly as a tribute to my father and my cousin, and they turned out to be a hit. Yays!

And then I also got an email and my section really liked my ethnography presentation board, so I guess the all-nighter was worth it ~ hopefully this means I get an A? or at least not a check minus?


So combine those three things and you have a very tired but pretty happy Katie =) I'm also really starving and I've got another project due in 8 hours sooooo I best be getting to sleep!

Panic Mode

There are 11 days of class left, a trip to SoCal, and Culture Show coming up, so I am in full-on panic mode.

Here's what is running through my mind right now:
-I procastinated on a project that is due at 9:30am because I really REALLY dislike both the prof and the GSI. I know that the only person this hurts is me, but I just had a ridiculously difficult time getting motivated after my main informant fell of the face of the planet.

-I'm tired of people that promise the world and can't deliver. Or rather, people that promise 10000 do-able things so that it turns out that NONE of them are do-able together. I learned my lesson in over-commitment last year and it was a tough thing to learn - I recieved my first (and hopefully last) D/NP as a result. I am not so patient about it anymore, especially with some people that I've watched make the same mistakes over and over again. Sometimes I just want to tell people to get their heads out of their asses...

-For some reason my CAD would let me copy and paste blocks, but once pasted, the block became un-selectable, making me unable to move, rotate, copy, change layer, or even delete! After a couple of save-as tries and lots of internet growling I finally got it to work again. I have no clue why it was doing that, as I had turned on and unlocked all the layers!

-Tomorrow is going to suck majorly (7am to 12pm "out-and-about") but at least I love everyone in CS!

-I think I should disable g-chat. 95% of my conversations on there just lead to more stress and most of my friends are on AIM...but not all of them =/

I should get back to work now. I am going to make a real effort to update this thing on my UCLA trip and Thanksgiving...hopefully by Thursday night. Oh look there I go doing exactly what I hate in other people - not keeping deadlines and knowing full well that I won't as soon as I set them!

UCB NSU Presents: ~VOICES~

PLEASE COME SUPPORT ME AND THE NIKKEI STUDENT UNION! What do you know about today's Japanese American youth? Its community? Go beyond the tiny blurb in your high school history text and discover today's diverse voices!

We've been working hard all semester to put on a great show for you. I'll be in a hip-hop piece entitled NOppresion!!!

Tickets can be bought from me, $5-10 sliding scale. Please contact me by Monday, Nov. 26th at 7pm so that I can reserve you a ticket!


Countless VOICES, one community.

WE DID IT!

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/16826

More exciting news about my trip to LA and the campaign to follow soon =)

Sick or not?

For the last three weeks, my body has been unable to make up its mind as to whether or not I'm sick or not:

I wake in the morning with a sore throat and that whole deal, as well as being lightheaded...by 10am I am fine.

In the afternoon I am especially tired, and my body aches. Then again, I spent 3+ hours dancing on Sunday, 2 today, and a lot of un-clocked time in addition to that.

My ability to stay up late is severely limited and I can't get myself to wake up easily, despite getting 10 hours of sleep some nights.

By the time late-night dance practices are over, I feel like shit...the way you feel right before you develop a cold. In the morning it's often gone though.

I've had a headache for 5+ days that won't go away. It's not excruciating, but it affects my balance perception at times (makes dancing oh so fun, not! I end up looking like this out of control fat spazz cow as a result). And advil doesn't do a great job for it.

I was hoping that it was just signs of dehydration, but I've been drinking LOTS of water lately to combat everything. It isn't helping.

The only position I seem to be comfortable and semi-productive in is when I'm lying on my bed...because I don't get so dizzy cuz my heart is about level with my head.

My mother says I have a sinus infection, but I have no nasal drip.

So am I sick or what??

broken record

I know I sound like a broken record, but I kind of hate doing someone else's job for them.

random panic-inducing thought of the night

How do I file and pay taxes from abroad??



Why don't they tell you that kind of crap in the UOEAP giant handbook thing? it seems much more important to me than telling me how to access telebears (ie do the same thing you ALWAYS do)......

Two Words

RAY'S SUSHI in Hayward. I went there again w/the Furukawa contingency from San Jose tonight for a very belated birthday of sorts. I am so full! Their sashimi is the equivalent of 2-3 slices at a normal place. The sukiyaki was delicious as well - I don't think I've had sukiyaki since freshman year!

Now I'm back in rainy Berkeley and there is absolutely nothing to do because we lost (again) to USC and everyone's trying to get stuff done before all-cast tomorrow =/

I feel like I have a fever

Which in my experience, tells me I don't actually have one. Oddly enough though, I have had zero appetite this afternoon/evening and I think I'm going to bed at like midnight. So I probably am getting sick....sigh. I need a freaking break from school and instead of getting one I just decided to flake out on everything tonight and not even attempt to be productive.

Well, I am planning to buy a train ticket to go home the 20th-24th so I suppose that is productive.

Going home got me thinking about high school friends. I am so very disconnected from so many of them because three years after graduation I've put a tremendous distance (physically and otherwise) between me and a lot of them. Sometimes I wish I was still in contact with some people, even though I know that's not realistic. High school people are thrown together and they're stuck there for four years beacuse their parents had the great idea to settle down in Nipomo of all places. College friends are here because they want to be and there are 30,000 potential friends running around campus, so it's a bit more self selecting. I also feel that no matter how close I get to my friends, they will never understand me because they don't know everyone/anyone from my time at NHS. It's pretty ironic, considering I didn't think I liked high school all that much anyways!

Sigh. I guess I'm still looking for someone who gets me and can understand the many, many sides of me...I guess I'm still looking for someone who will never exist.


I downloaded I-Empire today (got tired of going "I will make it down to the record store *tomorrow*") and I think I've found my new airport soundtrack. That is to say, I really like the record despite the fact that it is far from perfect.

I still find it incredibly amazing that there exists a city where your front door is the water and your car is a canoe.

tuesday evening

Yesterday, I stopped by the APASD Mental Health Forum "Silent Battles", which was interesting on so many levels. There were so many things that I could identify partially with, but not wholly because I am not the typical Asian American. Even though my father was born in Japan, I don't consider him to be an immigrant, probably because he identifies as American first and foremost - and that kind of cultural issue often shapes a lot of AA kids' lives.

There were a lot of other points brought up that really got me thinking about my own life, but due to the fact that I ran off to a core meeting and then dance practice, most of the details are fuzzy again. I was reminded of a friend of mine who's had a lot of issues in her life, and realized that she could benefit from a lot of what was going on. I was also shocked to catch myself thinking of things in my past that I'd forgotten about. I kind of want to see a counselor just to see what I'd remember. But for the most part I cope pretty well with my life, and I don't need to rehash all that's happened in my life at this point in time. At any rate, the event was a lot more meaningful than I had expected it to be!

Other side notes:
+hip hop is fun when you actually know what you're doing!
-No offense to my major advisor, but I really wonder why the university pays you to do (or not do) what you do
+VOICES hoodies are here!
-I am getting the "AHHH PANIC!" feeling because I can't possibly fit all of the city planning related courses that I want in now that I'm going abroad. Italy is the chance of a lifetime and in the long run I'd regret not going to Italy A LOT more than not taking those classes, but still....every thing has its flip side.
-I watched last week's greys anatomy and the meredith monologue that shes gives to christina at the end of the episode.....I can totally relate to it. I hope that does not make me whore-y like her, haha.

Cold Feet

Every so often I get cold feet about Italy because there's a lot of things I'm missing out on at Cal, and this is one of them:

CP 290b/190a
Neighborhood Planning with Youth and Schools: The Y– PLAN

Course control #: 13571
Time: Monday 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM and 1 hour/week of teaching at high school site for 10 weeks
Location: Wurster Hall, Rm. 214b
Instructor: Deborah McKoy, PhD debmckoy@berkeley.edu, Wurster Rm. 324

The 2008 Y-PLAN Project: This course is an exciting opportunity to work with local Bay Area policy makers and educational leaders to connect the efforts of regional planners in West Contra Costa County with local high schools in Richmond. Local leaders, including Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, the West Contra Costa County Transportation Advisory Committee (WCCTAC), and city officials in El Cerrito and Richmond, have requested that Y-PLAN assist them in constructing a meaningful role for youth and public schools to transform San Pablo Avenue into a family-friendly, vibrant corridor.

Overview: The Y-PLAN (Youth – Plan, Learn, Act, Now) is an interdisciplinary course and an award winning initiative where students in urban planning, design, education, and other related disciplines learn how to engage youth as genuine stakeholders and participants in local planning projects. After an initial teaching preparation phase, UCB students work side-by-side with high school students for ten weeks teaching them fundamentals of community development by engaging in real world planning projects. Readings and seminar discussions focus on theoretical tools in participatory planning and teaching, complementing the practical application.

UCB students ("mentors") will gain proficiency in:

• Applying core planning principles of community and economic development and land use planning, while emphasizing the mobilization of community and the creation of an informed citizenry
• Mentoring youth in conducting physical, economic, and social analyses of their community
• Teaching and communicating ideas effectively

In this course, UCB students will mentor high school students to:

• Conduct community based research along the San Pablo Avenue Corridor
• Develop a community/regional plan for WCCTAC and local planning processes in El Cerrito and Richmond
• Present a final multimedia proposal to project clients detailing the youth findings and proposals

** No prior city planning experience necessary!**

Requirements:

• Participate in Monday seminar discussions, lesson planning, and project development
  • Work collaboratively in teams to prepare weekly activities by building/modifying existing curriculum
• Fieldwork for one hour/week at regularly scheduled times TBD, based on CP290B student schedules
• Participate in on-line journaling
• Final reflection paper (10 pages)

Questions? Email Ariel Bierbaum, Project Coordinator at arielb@berkeley.edu
http://citiesandschools.berkeley.edu

Human Tetris

I was really annoyed until Annie sent me this tonight:

I'm so not getting this paper done.

"not my job" = not my problem?

Getting saddled with things in organizations that I'm involved in that aren't necessarily part of my duties has been happening a lot lately and my response has been varied. Sometimes I am happy to help someone out, and at other times I want to scream "THAT'S NOT MY JOB!"

If I had more time tonight, I'd ponder all the reasons why I do and don't feel compelled to do other people's jobs, but it basically comes down to this: is someone else supposed to be responsible for this? If yes, why aren't they doing it? If it's because they are completely swamped and haven't been procrastinating, then I'm probably inclined to help. If not, then count me OUT, yo! Another stipulation I tend to add onto things is the amount of advance warning. If i've got less than 12 hours notice...it probably isn't happening.

The nature of the rapport I may have with the person requesting helps a lot too. If you really need help and I like you and you're asking me specifically for help, I'll do everything I can. If you're blaming the whole board or (worse yet) asking someone else to ask me FOR you, however, I don't feel badly turning you down.

The medium in which you approach me helps too. Don't fucking text message me. And don't send a text message that has directions for another person in it. Catch me in person or at a meeting (ie PLAN AHEAD) or PICK UP YOUR PHONE AND CALL ME. Especially if it's something you want me to do "right away"!!!!


I'm busy. You're busy. So don't act like I should be guilty for being busy, or like I MUST have time to do your work just because you don't have the time. I'm not taking studio but I do have numerous commitments!

Sigh. There are a lot of other reasons why I do and don't things and i realize that this rant makes me sound really bitchy and anal retentive but I do believe that there is a certain amount of ettiquite (aka RESPECT) that should be given in these situations...

Good news!

According to my BPSA General Orientation Guide, writing about my experiences in Italy and once I get back will help me cope with "culture shock".

I love how they explain culture shock in great detail (even including a letter from a school psychologist) in this thing, as if we don't know what it is and have never experienced it before. I have mild symptoms EVERY TIME I move back home or back to Berkeley (I usually need 3 weeks).

And um....moving to a city of 100,000, giving up my car, and living in a high rise matchbox with another chick at age 17? Yeah, I might have already experienced a bit of this "culture shock" they speak of.