everyone's little orange flower in front of their msn person is flashing, and that reminds me that i should write something again. i still remember last time, or for many times i've promised that i will try to write frequently, however, the laziness kicked in and things just slow down and then got totally forgotten.

it's chinese new year and today is the 1st day of it. i'm glad that finally my year is over...oops, did i just accidentally tell everyone in the world my age? well, hope you can't calculate or even if u can, please do i wrong...like 4 or 5 years smaller...

anyway, it was quite a year. and if i have to sum last year up, i guess i'll say that it's a year that everything got twisted. first, i got into a weird relationship that i don't even know how to explain. then, i got an internship that i didn't even intentionally thought about. then, my research was totally changed to another thing, and as a result, my graduation got postponed. last, i guess my career plan was changed to another direction.

yeah, i know. WHAT A YEAR! and i just realized that just now when i thought about it. so many things! oh, and here's my conclusion: i'm going back to china this year. after my graduation in june. i guess everyone's tired of this financial crisis. it's been here for a while and it's probably staying for another decades. who knows. just hope it won't start a war or something like that...

anyway, end of the depressing topics. there was a festival celebrating chinese new year last week. the japanese class i was in canceled the class and made us go. the teacher emphasized many times that japanese don't celebrate chinese new year but the international one--jan. 1. i thought it's gonna be boring, but it turned out fine. the japanese had 2 events, kimono tries on and flower arranging. i tried one kimono. it looked ugly when lying there, but turned out fine after i put it on.

nami said the left picture looks like one for "marriage arrangement (相亲)". i laughed at her at that time, but looking at it right now. it does look like one...the right one was with other students in japanese class. yeah, i know, americans are high. that american girl had a black long sleeve shirt inside and that annoyed nami for a while. it's interesting that the guys still said that with that black thing "hanging" out, she looked like a ninja. sure...on the other side, the chinese dpt. had the making chinese knot and writing chinese character. the korean dpt. also had some sort of costume dressing and painting, i wonder if they call that "ancient korean painting", okay, for once, i'll let them go easy. oh, and the vietnamese dpt. had something like write your name in vietnamese or something like that, and they teach you to play a weird vietnamese game.

another thing is, yang lin went back to beijing. of course, we all observed that he didn't spend enough time on job hunting here, so that we assumed he wouldn't stay here and then there he goes. oh, and why am i mentioning him here? i'll tell u why, because if it's not for him, i would not have to change my thesis topic and start his work after he switched to course option for graduation, and left me 1 more quarter to stay. but his topic is more interesting than my original one, so i guess that equals out. i wish he could find a job he wants in beijing. best wishes to him. down below is a picture of us throwing him a farewell party.

oh, and nami found the job. congratulations to her! she also moved to rowland heights, where most chinese gather. i went there on saturday, first to help her move, second to cashbox for karaoke. it was hard to find a parking spot and while on the road, 19 out of 20 cars were driven by chinese and there's some other chinese ride in it. i've never seen this many chinese in US, not even in san gabriel. anyway, dengjie mentioned about cashbox karaoke. it was quite famous in china, but i never knew that we had one in LA area. it was fun and fun enough for all of us to bring a camera but forgot to take any picture. great discover, and we all decide to visit nami more often later on. shhhh...don't tell her it's for karaoke. XD just kidding, she knows and knows it better than all of us.

i send off text messages to all chinese i know to say "happy new year", and some returned me "happy niu year". i didn't recognize it at the beginning, but then i realized that it's the year of ox this year. and guess what, the pronunciation of ox in chinese is niu, which is the same as new. yeah, how funny and cold...chinese english...it's ok if u don't get it.

oh well, as a conclusion, i finally start writing thesis. man, that 70-page thing is not kidding. i wonder how others made up so many sentences, even with all the matrixes and pictures. but i'll try, just like i don't believe i can write a 20-page senior project paper, but i did. maybe i'll also be amazed when this is done.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!

sometimes i just wonder, how do you know what's best for you? obviously, along your life way, you will have a lot of decisions to make. different decision will lead to different results. no wonder why people say life is a maze.

i bet most of us have heard at least on elder said, "you don't know what's best for you." and then the next statement would be, "trust me, i know. i've been there." see, whatever they've been are definitely not the one they think is the "best" for them, so they believed that the other route is better.

i wonder if it's just like, others' are always better. seven and a half years ago, i came to usa without a doubt that this is better for me. i gained and i lost. if life is a game, i think it's a fair-play game. no one is going to get everything. you pick up some good lucks and stamp on sharp rocks. things like that happens.

sure, i've never been to the ending of the road and i don't know which one is better. i just choose by my own will, listen to my heart and make decisions. so i will not complain about what would happen or regret about what i've done. everything that happened is a gift, good or bad, it doesn't matter. it's just  a proof of me being here, in the world.

so, i don't know what's the best. just like a friend has said, "you never know." i guess i'll be prepared for anything and be thankful for everything i've been through and everything that's coming my way.