Untold Story

Fall Quarter.

Hahahaha. I like how I first started the school year off writing about my day. I like how it was during “Welcome Week.” But when school started. Man oh man. haha.

Alright. So.

How freaking hectic school is. Not gonna lie. Lathrop High School has exceptionally prepared me very will in order to succeed in college. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

But its not the school’s fault. I don’t think its ENTIRELY my fault either. Let’s start off with the good things:

Some (note the word some) teachers were helpful. I’m not taking sides, I’m just comparing their overall level of helping an individual’s prepare for college - hence, “college prep class.”

One of them, being Ms. Youanis. Some people might highly disagree. haha, but seriously, she did a phenomenal job of teaching Chemistry. I’m looking at my notebook from last year and I say to myself, “Wow. How did I do this?” haha.

The most important one being Mr. Baldwin. Oh, Baldwin, the world doesn’t realize how amazing of a teacher you are, and I truly miss your Calculus class. haha. But in all seriousness, he was an amazing teacher. He really did push us to actually learn the material. He didn’t care about assigning you letter grades if you worked your butt off. Honestly, I believe if you genuinely and thoroughly tried to understand the material, he would give you an A in the class. In a quick summary, I should of tried to understand the material during high school and put that 2+ hours of studying a night. Cause Calculus here is tough.

Okay, so my classes that I took were CHE 2A (intro to chemistry course), MAT 17A (1st part of calc, derivations, easy stuff, etc.), MUS 6A (elementary theory), MUS 16A (sight-singing and dictation), and PHE 1 (Badminton). Total units=14.5. Decent load for the first quarter.

1) Chem.
Chem is tough. Its basically what you learned in high school, but more in-depth. But the main reason why its tough (and I can speak for most impacted math and science courses) is because you are competing against everyone. I mean everyone. People who easily aced their AP Chem test with a 5, yeah, there’s a handful of them that, more or less, is ruining the curve for us. The midterms aren’t tooo bad, but you really need to know your stuff and use every second wisely.

2) Math.
Ugh. Math. haha. Well, Calc isn’t bad. The professor is good as well. The only major problem is the grading system. Omg. So basically he curves tests according to the class average. For example, if the average was a 97% on a quiz, and you get a 92%, you basically have an F. Yes, as in “F.” However, he intentionally makes his midterms so hard that the average person will get a 50% on it in order for him to acknowledge those who do very well, those who do well, those who do average, those who do poorly, and those who need a lot of help. And for me, I’m pretty much floating in the “average” and “doing well” categories. Oh, and other thing. There is a quiz every Friday that, cumulatively, is worth 40 percent of your grade. So if you bomb a quiz, and the average is very high… yeah.

3) Music Theory.
I actually like this class, 1) because the material is not too difficult and very interesting, and, 2) I’m actually doing pretty well in the class. haha. Really, if I was doing well in my other classes, I wouldn’t complain as much. haha. Theory is interesting. And my background in playing piano really helps a bunch in this class. I chords, 7 chords and its inversions, cadential 6/4’s, harmony… Basically writing chorales in the style of Bach. I really am inspired to make my own choir (SATB) and piano arrangement knowing what I know now. haha.

4) Sight-Singing and Dictation.
Its actually forcing me to sing. Which is great. Because I don’t sing. At all. haha.
I’m getting my solfege syllables confused, but I’m getting better. And my “good ear” has greatly benefited me in dictation.

So yeah. Overall, Fall Quarter was a punishing, reassuring, intimidating, exciting, and exhilarating. It has definitely taught me that preparation and mastering material is essential in order to survive here. Balancing, time management skills, being efficient, and making the right decisions the very first time. Lathrop’s “A” is honestly this equivalent to this university’s “F.” I’m being totally serious. If I wanted to be a little less nice, I would say a high “D” mark. OH, and this is just Davis. haha.

List of goals for next quarter coming up soon. And other stories about Fall Quarter unrelated to academics and school (essentially). haha.

Holding on.

There are some things I will never accept. I will fight until I die to prove that these are false. I keep fighting and fighting and fighting. It seems to be the opposite for you. No matter how much I try to make you happy, it never works. No matter how much I keep reassuring you and telling you to believe and trust me, its now starting to be meaningless to you. That sense of meaninglessness is making it much harder to hold on. Physical and emotional entities keep drawing us further and further, but I’m still holding on. The trust that we share is broken because of me, and I feel like I will never get it back, but I’m still holding on. Is our love growing weaker? NO. I would never ever accept that fact. Ever. Even if you tell me to move on with your life, if you tell me that it won’t work out no matter what, if you tell me it to let go, I will still hold on.

If its something that I firmly believe in, I will do what it takes to prove it. I feel like life has been pulling us apart. It is to the point where its pulling you away from me to the point where its impossible to hold on. But I’ll be as stubborn as stubbornness can be. I will prove the world wrong, go against all odds.

You’re my one and only. I will forever love you, until time collapses. I put my full trust in you - my best friend - the one that I can count on and the one that I can talk to anything about. I know we can make it through this babe. I know it. And I’ll remind you for the rest of my life if I have to.

Even if the whole world is against us, even if you don’t believe, even if you try to let go, I will still hold on.

I love you, babe.

Davis - Day 3

Woke up around 10 am and showered. Freddie decided to bring in a girl when I had no shirt on in the dorm. Awkward. He thought I was still showering. lol.

Jovincent, the daring individual he is, took the bus to Target and back. haha, he came back just as soon as me, Freddie, and Kelcie left. We wanted to take the Unitran to Downtown Davis, so we went to the Memorial Union (MU). Waited for our bus to finally arrive. Dropped us off at Downtown and we looked for a sushi place. I guess they either didn’t know/forgot that I was allergic to seafood, so we went in search for a Thai restaurant. Got some brown rice smothered in some honey thingy with duck. lol it was pretty good, and cheap! The person working over there gave me and Freddie a hard time with our free Thai tea drinks. Eventually in the end, she was nice enough to give us some. Kelcie managed to get one beforehand because she can pass as a freshman, and a 13 year old, and apparently all freshman get some sort of lanyard, which me and Freddie didn’t have. haha.

We waited for the Q bus to pick us up, but since it took forever and it didn’t follow the schedule, we decided to walk. Once we were a good 2 blocks away, the bus became visible and we tried to stop it. No luck. haha. Not that bad of a walk at all, actually, it was quick! Maybe because we talked and had a great time.
Kelcie had to go to an EOP meeting. I honestly wonder if she went, because she didn’t want to walk with us there. Idk, maybe just me. Went back to Alder for a bit, jamming on the piano in the lounge. Hung out with Dalena downstairs and a group of people.

My roommates, Dalena, and I went to the ARC Pavilion for the New Student Celebration. It was cool. The best part about it though had to be the slideshow that was streaming live texts about people’s goals in college. Some serious ones, but more funny ones. Right after, there was a huge event in the quad area by the ARC. Got some fancy food, free stuff, and it was pretty fun.

Went back to Alder, and chilled in the room for a bit. Then some friends of mine came in with their rolling chairs and me and Freddie chased them with our Nerf Guns. haha. Apparently there were a bunch of people in our common area.

Epicness of the day: We played zoo. It escalated to the point where we had a big competition with the RA. I was in the top 5. lol, the RA won though. He’s a beast at zoo. Now were thinking about having the whole second floor participate in a zoo tournament. Insane. haha. We played a bunch of ice breaker games just for fun, and I met cool people in the 3rd and 4th floors. Then we moved outside to play a game of ninja. A huge game. Turned out that Dalena won. haha.

Me and Freddie heard the Band-uh! so we were gonna bike there and watch them, but we just decided to meet up with people at the Old Teahouse, a popular boba drink place right across the street from where I live. I was on the Thai tea craze so that’s what I got. Pretty good! It was me, Jovincent, Freddie, Anna, Anna Marie, Jennifer, CJ, and I think 2 others. Tell me why Jennifer looks EXACTLY like Daniel Elemento and CJ looks EXACTLY like Jana Lyka. It’s crazy. Omg. hahaha.

After that, chilled with a friend at the lounge and walked around for a bit. Came back to my room around 11:30, showered, etc.

Oh man, tomorrow’s the last day of welcome week. The last “fun” day. Let’s see what tomorrow brings, because its not about what life throws at you, its about how you take it on.

Davis - Day 2

Its Day 3. I don’t really remember day 2, but lets think…

Alright Day 2. OH yeah! haha. Busy busy busy. Woke up. Registered our bikes at TAPS. Took like 30 minutes waiting in line. Lame. Longer than lines at amusement parks. haha. Then we went to explore each of our classes. It really is a hassle to lock/unlock my bike. Lol, but I guess I have to get used to it.

After registration, there was this free service to get my bike fixed. When I was inspecting it beforehand, I noticed that there were bolts missing in my chain ring. D: I think they were loose before, but idk. Had to go to the bike barn to get the bolts and all the way to the Bike Garage to get it fixed because I needed a certain tool to do it. Long story short, they didn’t have the tool, so I just tightened it myself.

Looked at some more classes, went to the bookstore and they freaking messed up my book order. But what they don’t know is that they charged me for a used Calc book instead of a new one :D

Went to Regan, I think, to get instructed by somebody about bike safety, tips, etc. Good presentation, and good information. I like how my kind of bike, fixed gear (I hate the term fixie), is the most stolen bike on the campus. haha. Then it was road bikes made around the 1980’s so they can be converted to fixies.. etc.

Went back to our Alder hall to drop off our books. Went with the hall residents to go to an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community Fall Welcome, which was basically a club rush thing.

I told Freddie that this is what most of the clubs said:
“Oh! What major are you?”
“I’m in …..”
“That’s perfect for this organization!”

Kinda funny. The event was like a walkway with tables lined up in both sides of organizations giving out pamphlets and free stuff. Like kind of a trap. It was fun though.

Finally, me and Freddie met up with Jovincent. We called him like billions of times, but his phone was on silent. lol

Went to a mandatory floor meeting with our awesome RA. And then we went to the stadium for a welcome rally. It was pretty entertaining.

Me, Freddie, and Jovincent were pretty bored, so we went bike riding at night. Picked up one of Freddie’s friends and rode around Davis a bunch of times trying to look for the stargazing group. Ended up just chilling by the river.

I wanted Freddie to have his alone time with this girl so I made up an excuse to leave them alone, and Jovincent was in the plan too. He and I just biked around, I watched him slip on the dirt on his bike, and ended up going back to Alder.

Hung out at a friend’s dorm for the longest time; ended up crashing there instead of my own room. lol.

Overall, an amazing 2nd day. I know there was more too it, but I kinda don’t remember.

Davis - Day 1

Finally. College. First day was yesterday, and maybe it would be cool to talk about it.

Did some last minute packing at home. My room was pretty much empty (and cleanish). Left around 9 after some food and arrived around 10:30 to Davis.

Thought I was gonna see my roommate Jovincent right when I got into the room, but his stuff was already set up and he was gone. I like how this room I’m in is the same size as my room at home, but now I share it with three people. It’s all good. Got some pretty chill roommates though. Freddie, the awesome drummer and the amazing ice breaker/game leader, and Jovincent, the laid back guy who’s already set in college because he got a job as a caterer. Pretty legit. Got the bottom bunk. Its fine. We’re gonna switch beds every quarter anyway, so I don’t think it matters. Unpacked, and headed off with family to do some errands.

My hall is like 95% Asian. Maybe 100%. haha. Pretty diverse. Not too many flips, but a bunch of the other stuff. lol. There’s a piano in the lounge room! :D Pretty cool ice breaker for me.

The RA is tight. OMG. haha, so lucky to have him (compared to 3rd floor. *cough) Had a hall meeting where there was TONS of people on the floor. Cause we’re all triples. Then we did some ice breakers outside. We like rice, we like rice, we like rice to the apple pie! haha. Split into different groups were we did different ice breakers and stuff. Pretty chill. Went back to our hall and jammed on the piano with Freddie and others. More and more people decided to join, most of them right when they came in.

Best memory of the night: Chilling with everyone in the 1st floor lounge. Met some great people, talented singers and pianists, and heard amazing stories from Johnny Sun. I’d say it was an amazing first day - the start of an unforgettable journey at Davis :)

hahaha

Tumblr. Be honest. Should I use you? If so, how should I use you?

I really really REALLY need a place to vent. But should I do so on tumblr?

I only vent to Dyanne. And I hate doing so, because I don’t her to hear all of my complaining and my problems and such. She’s okay with it, and she understands, but I just don’t like it.

And, unfortunately, she’s my true, honest, best friend. Not just girlfriend, my one and only best friend. I basically lost my best friend to drugs. :/ But that subject I will elaborate more on in the future.

Ohhh, tumblr, maybe I really will use you. Every day? Every other day? Every week? Every month? Every year? Idks. I can’t promise that I’ll be on regularly (cause you know how often I post here).

But its time to tell the world about my untold story. My thoughts, my actions, my feelings, my beliefs, my exaggerations, my sarcasm, my opinion; maybe I’ll open up on here.