siccee's Xanga

Job Fair

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 09:13:13 GMT

Remember the days of yore when the big annual college job fair came around? Hundreds of anxious students gather, holding a stack of resumes under left arm while keeping their right hand dry for greeting potential employers. The sight is humorous to behold, at least from an outsider’s perspective, but from a student’s point of view it’s nerve wrecking!
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The other day my Canadian friend says, "Dood you are so Californian!" I took that as a compliment. This is how we do it in the OC

Liferay Dalian

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 22:56:04 GMT

characters discovering their unique abilities, I feel that we're in the same chapter here in Dalian...and yes with Liferay setting the tone we are fighting different evils of this world...hunger, poverty... >> full story

miss fellowship...

Live Sashimi

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 01:03:21 GMT

Click picture to see the fish moving!

Week in Review - Bus Mania Tips

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:09:50 GMT

Tips to getting on a bus in Dalian (can apply to other parts of China):

1) Getting on the bus - There is always room. Always! If it seems packed to the brim, you must pretend you are swimming, but through people. Put both your arms out and... >>Read More!

Week in Review - Fobified

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:08:27 GMT

Today marks the day of the traditional moon festival…it also marks the end of an adventurous week. It’s always an adventure when you change the way you look, especially in a place where looks means a lot. I’ve heard numerous accounts where in China, if you look out of the norm, people will tell you straight up! How’s that for a culture stigmatized for its passiveness? People will let you know if...>> full story

You can leave comments on my new blog without having an account!

embarrassment spawns a new blog

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 22:35:13 GMT

Here I am in Dalian, China, an area which I hardly know. I want to be open and excited about new experiences in a city not as documented as Beijing on the internet, but I can’t help but feeling helpless in many ways. I have one friend here (coworker),..my wireless router isn’t working properly..i haven’t found a bus schedule or foreigner friendly map…and the worst thing is.. >> full story

Last Supper with Fallingstar Roomies

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:48:38 GMT

from left to right: me, mike, tony, ted

We've met more times as ex-roommates than when we were actually living together! The only missing thing is Ralph, our late hamster. The first party we threw at our house in Irvine gave me a real good taste of what it would be like living there for almost 2 years. The get together got a bit loud and our neighbor called the cops on us. Boo Irvine! The only thing that topped this was the head of our association who complained like a broken record about our front door sticky notes. Boo Irvine!

Pulling of the heart - good humidity, good air

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:20:52 GMT

You know that feeling of nostalgia where a visual would trigger a thought, which would give a funny feeling in your heart? I love that funny feeling..it's a like a slight pulling of the heart. It's a good type of anxiety, the type of anticipation that you know has a good outcome in the end, and yet the knowledge of the outcome doesn't taint how you feel when you realize it. This is how I felt when I heard the pilot announce our descent as I gazed down at the glowing horizon illuminated by Los Angeles County lights.

It so happened that the marine layer had crept in to welcome me home to more humidity. But this humidity was timid and gentle, asking if I would accept it, as opposed to East Coast in your face all over your body nice to meet you kind of humidity.

Philly summer air smells like parts of China and Taiwan, which smell like trash. Smoggy LA air actually smells good to me. Would you rather have clean smelly air or dirty good non-smelly air? I will miss all the interesting experiences and people I've met on the East Coast, but for now, LA/OC is still home. Enjoy my video of an interesting event I did not attend in Philly @ the Rotunda.

j/k i totally would if i had the time

Home..Alvin's friends..JerryMayer?

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 01:57:45 GMT

The thought had crossed my mind, but never would I have imagined it would come true. With a simple gesture and my best mischievious grin, the guys in the boat were synced up with my brain. I mean...a couple hanging their legs off a fully accessible area is looking to get pranked!

In the end I was glad I was the one behind the lens, since it was my first time hanging out with Alvin's friends in Boston. Read on if you're a consultant away from home and have nothing else to do..

I don't think you appreciate Southern California unless you've been away.
So I've been away for 5 weeks now...and the song that keeps playing in my mind is Chris Daughtry's "I'm goin' home..da na na na na na na..something something for me.." Yeah exactly like that. I don't even know what the song's really about. Philadelphia in its current state is quite similar to China. It smells like garbage, it's hot, it's humid, and has good food. The thing I miss the most about socal is the weather. The thing I miss most about home are my friends. Right now I would trade my 4 star hotel room and king size bed for the twin size in Linda's upper room any day.

Back to Alvin's friends...
I'm happy to report that Alvin has community in Boston. So if you were worrying about his social life, well he's living it up this summer. Seems like he's got something going on every week and weekend. His friends aren't just fun, they are interesting,...to me,...in a good way. I met this girl Jenn who went to Wellseley, which perked my attention because the only thing I know about Wellseley is from "Mona Lisa Smile". Jenn quickly explained how what was portrayed in MLS was totally false, and she went on to back up her statement with plenty of facts and information. Thus are much of Alvin's friends..well thought out, ambitious, young adults who enjoy backing their statements up and bantering about whether environmentalism is important. We had a whole study on this during friday night fellowship..it was great! Then there are people like Elly and Traci, who for some reason I felt super comfortable around for whatever reason. We didn't hang out or talk a lot, but being around people like them just put me at ease. And then there's this guy Lauren who is super smart and has drawing skills. I told him he reminds me of C3PO because of his posture.

One side story. I was in Boston for two weeks. When I arrived, they said this guy named Jerry had gone to California. I joked that we traded spaces a few times. It finally clicked that there was this guy that Shannon had known from China...from Boston. After confirming his obsession with John Mayer, I confirmed that it was the same JerryMayer we "knew".

And 1 Mix Tape Tour

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 13:54:12 GMT

We stopped by Penn's Landing (Festival Pier), right along the Delaware River to watch the And 1 players do their thang'. For those of you unfamiliar with And 1, just think of modern day Harlem Globetrotters complete with gravity defying dunks, fancy passes, and eye boggling dribbling...all of this done with hip hop music in the background. The best moves are intended to embarrass your defender off the court..so if you get dunked on or if you trip because of a killer cross over, you get kicked off.

Contrary to what you see on ESPN, the And 1 guys mess up a lot and aren't fancy all the time. In fact there were moments where the Philly crowd got so restless they started yelling at the players to do something! Yvonne and I had a great time engaging with the primarily black audience.

I miss home..