ABCs

I'm back again. I thought I should start off with something fun since work's been a drag lately.

ABCs

A - Age: 24

B - Bed size: Full

C - Chore you hate: Vacuuming - my sister enjoys it because she likes to hear the dirty stuff being sucked into the vacuum

D - Day of the Week: I personally love Saturday since I was born on that day

E - Essential start to your day item: Some breakfast - bagels, cereal, or bacon, egg and cheese sandwich...

F - Favorite actor(s): Hm, can't really say any off the top of my head. I'll have to revisit this one.

G - Gold or Silver: Silver or white gold. The yellow isn't for me.

H - Height: 5'3" says my doc

I - Instruments you play(ed): Violin, a bunch of traditional Thai instruments, and a bit of guitar

J - Job title: Associate Mechanical Engineer

K - Kid(s): More like Pet(s): Kujo, a terrier mix who's a year and three months old

L - Living arrangements: I live with 3 roommates (2 guys, 1 girl) in a two floor house

M - Mom's name: Chinapat, but everyone calls her Pat

N - Nicknames: Patti, Fong, Bubbles, Pat (though I don't like being called Pat)

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Appendectomy back in 2003

P - Pet Peeve: Bad drivers. I complain about them everyday.

Q - Quotes you like: Dreams are necessary to life. ~ Anais Nin

R - Right or left handed: Right

S - Sex - Female

T - Time you wake up: Usually 6 am on weekdays and 7 or 8 am on weekends

V - Vegetable you dislike: None that I can think of

W - Ways you run late: 1. Facebook in the morning 2. Forgetting to set the alarm 3. Kujo is slow to do his business in the morning

X - X-rays you've had done: Mouth - dentist made me do it, though I got a CT scan of my abdominal area when I have my appendix removed

Y - Yummy food you make (made): I love making Greek salad, Thai food (Rad Na and Kow Mun Gai), and I make a decent Eggplant Lasagna.

Z - Zodiac: Taurus - the reason why I'm dependable, practical, loving, bull-headed, stubborn, and romantic

They Love My Handwriting

I've been known for my penmanship since I was in middle school. My handwriting has evolved so much and it's very interesting to follow that evolution. I think I'll try to find some of my old writing samples and compare them.

I've been handwriting invitations for the Advancement Events Office. Next time I write them out I'll post a sample.

My handwriting sample

Notes from Heat Transfer class - Summer '08

I love reading about what your handwriting says about you:

Handwriting Tips: http://www.paperpenalia.com/handwriting.html

Handwriting Analysis: http://www.handwritinginsights.com/lesson.html

25 Random Things About Me

Copied this from my Facebook. Just some random facts about me.

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Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

1. I procrastinate... a lot. I wish I didn't. I got this 25 Thing from P' Jenny on January 23 and I'm finally getting to it. I'm actually using this to procrastinate from doing some research.

2. I like to be neat in class. My room is another story.

3. I use rulers to make lines. I'm serious. Ask anyone from class about it.

4. If I'm reading a really good book I'll read until I finish it. I stayed up til 7 am to finish one of my favorite books and ended up getting 2 hours of sleep. =(

5. I like to collect pretty yarn though I know I won't be making anything out of it any time soon. I can't help myself.

6. I like to meet new people but I have to be in the mood to socialize. See #7.

7. Sometimes I prefer my own company. No offense, but I rather read than go out most nights.

8. If I can make a lot of money as an artist, I would do it. Engineering can be my back up. =)

9. Sometimes I feel like a fake. Like there's more to my life but I settled for the path that it has taken because it's easy. Does that make sense?

10. I used to want to be a doctor then an architect. I really love buildings. I regret selling my American Architecture: A History by Leland M. Roth. Maybe I'll get something similar but better one day.

11. I bite my nails. It's this nervous habit I have. I can stop for a month, but then something will set it off again.

12. When I'm embarrass or nervous my ears turn red and hot. I don't really blush.

13. I own over 300 books. About 280 of them are romance novels. I enjoy them. =)

14. I can't pass a Borders or Barnes & Noble without going in.

15. They say that you shouldn't live your life with regrets, but I do. I just don't think about them too often or I'll get sad and/or emotional.

16. Every now and then I like to stir up a bit of trouble. Maybe it's because I'm experiencing ennui too often?

17. I never really had any close girl friends while growing up. I had mostly guy friends. I'm not sure why it's that way, maybe it's easier for me to deal with.

18. I wake up wanting to change things in my life, but never actually do it.

19. I like to time myself walking places. I can give you a pretty good estimate of when I'll get somewhere. When I say 7 minutes, I mean 7 minutes.

20. I like to argue. Though I know when to concede when I'm wrong (which doesn't happen too often because I seldom argue when I know I'll be wrong).

21. In the past 4.5 years of college I never visited anyone at their school. Yeah, I like staying on campus a bit too much or I'm just that lazy.

22. I love watching chick flicks because I like imagining that I was the heroine in the movie. This also applies to my romance novels.

23. I would like to unclutter my life, but I don't know where to start or how to get rid of things. Pack rat genes run in my family.

24. I used to have a plan of how my life would be, but I tossed it out a few years back and now I feel lost. It's not a pleasant feeling.

25. Sometimes I wish I was more honest with myself and tell people how I'm really feeling instead of just bottling it inside. Writing in my blog helps with this. That's why I keep one.

Capstone Presentation

A lot of people are amazed when I tell them that I get nervous speaking in front of people. I guess it depends on the situation. I love to talk, that is true. I just don't like to give presentations. If I'm not prepared for it, I choke and then I freeze. It's pretty bad. I usually have to practice at least 5 times on my slides to feel somewhat comfortable.

On Thursday my group presented our Capstone project to our design advisor. We met an hour before hand and practiced as a group. During the first two rehearsals, I just messed up and couldn't think of something to say. Actually, I just couldn't start the slides. So I wrote down what I would like to say and practiced hitting the key points. The guys took a break, but I knew I had work to do. I asked Bryan, one of my team members, to read the previous slide before mine and introduce my section. I practiced my slides three more times by myself and each time it was a bit better.

I managed to calm down and focus on what I need to present. Our advisor finally showed up and I was glad it was just him. It was originally planned that we were going to present to him and his graduate students. My part of the presentation was great. I didn't stumble and I spoke loud and clear. I made eye contact and delivered my section with ease. I breathed a sigh of relief after it was over. I did it.

My teammates all have different techniques for presenting and they were telling me to "wing it." If you know me just a bit, you'll understand that I don't do that. I prepare and I practice. I memorize a lot of things and that's how I learn. I remembered that back in 11th grade, my English teacher had us memorize all 40 prepositions. In order to do so I wrote them out in alphabetical order 5 or 6 times. When I took the quiz, I pretty much wrote it out from memory. That's the same technique I used to memorize my "lines." If I say it a few times, it'll eventually stick.

That was only the draft presentation. Our real midterm presentation is right before Spring Break. Then the final presentation is mid-April. I believe it'll be on the last day of classes or the reading day after that. Okay. I need to do some research on Robotic curriculums. (My independent research assignment.)

(Taken from my blog - My So-Called Engineering Life)

Co-op...

So a little about me. I'm currently attending Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. If you don't know about NU's co-op program, then I'll give you a run down about how it is in the Engineering Program. The engineering class is divided into two divisions, A or B (currently using A and N for the class of 2010 and younger). I'm in division A and this is our co-op pattern:

Freshman Year: In class Sept - April
Sophomore Year: In class Sept - April
Middler Year: On co-op July - Dec, In class Jan - June
Junior Year: On co-op July - Dec, In class Jan - June
Senior Year: On co-op July - Dec, In class Jan - April

What is co-op? Co-op is similar to an internship. The typical co-op lasts for 6 months and you're paid for your work. NU is known for their co-op program and the College of Engineering has a 100% placement rate. Since I decided not to do the 5-year BS/MS Mechanical Engineering Program during the summer of my junior year, it was too late for me to change plans. I had decided to come out to California with my boyfriend for two month. He has a co-op in San Francisco doing industrial design.

I'm looking for a co-op during the fall semester now. Good thing I have the support of the amazing Co-op Coordinators back at NU. Thank you Clint, Karen, and Lorraine. They're amazing. I currently have two job offers. I'm considering both and it's a very hard decision. Yes, it's only for 4 months, but it makes a difference. Hopefully I can get back to them by Thursday. Then I can breathe easy.

Okay, I'm going to start dinner and then watch the Olympics. We're heading out tonight to one of my boyfriend's co-worker's new apartment. She's having an apartment warming party. She also has HD cable, so fun!

A New Beginning

Okay, so I have blogs and journal all over the internet. Hopefully I can wrangle them all on this one blog. So why have I made a new one? To start anew and to unify everything I've ever done on the internet. That's why. I've been writing in blogs since I was 13 years old. It's a good way to express yourself and to improve your writing.

With that said I always let readers know that these blogs are an expression of my feelings and thoughts. I don't mean to offend, but it's not for everyone. So if you don't like what you read, then don't read it. No one is forcing a gun to your head and making you take in everything I write. Well, then, enjoy!