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:: Pe-KHOO-liar Things ::

What's in this section?
Things that I finds strange and noteworthy. And possibly disgusting.

Oh yeah, did i mention that i'm in school...?

Monday, September 27, 2004

It’s Pe-KHOO-liar that i haven’t written about this yet, so here i go!

It’s been about 3 weeks since i’ve been in school. I meant to write about it, but then it seemed so mundane. I mean, it IS just school you know. That being said, it’s been really great so far. NYU has a whole lot of money - that became very apparent when i went down to their video editing lab and saw their set up. They had about 10 machines each with their own 22” apple cinema display. As Kevie would say, i just about soiled myself. And that is just one of many many labs on campus. I realize they are probably getting this money from my tuition which is sizable, but still, i was impressed.

In any case, i’m taking 4 classes - a full load of 12 units. Woot! The classes are:

1. Instructional Design (ID)
2. Communicating with Computers (CWC)
3. Professional Applications (PA)
4. Instructional Television (iTV)

CWC is pretty easy for me since it’s just more of the same from my previous life as a graphic designer. Then there’s PA which is definitely one of my lighter classes. We have guest lecturers who are actually practitioners of educational technology come in and give talks. So far, we’ve had to go to the Bronx Zoo to check out their multimedia exhibit there. You can see that in an upcoming post in the “Genius“ section of this site.

ID and iTV, both taught by Francine Shaw are the most challenging and most enjoyable classes so far. They are both very heavy in theory as well as practice. AND i was late for the first day of BOTH classes because i couldn’t find the room i was supposed to be in. Boooo! I got lost for 3 of my classes because they kept changing the rooms on my without telling us! I felt like such an uninformed slacker.

In any case, ID and iTV have about $400 worth of reading each. By that i mean we have to buys books (about 6) and a course pack that costs a total of roughly $400. And that’s for two classes. Ouch! My credit card is crying!

All that being said, it’s been fun! My classmates are great! They’re all women. Well, there are about 3 guys. But that’s it! And there’s this strange predominance of Asian females. Hmmm...is there a correlation? You may here me mention some of my classmates like Tanya, So-Young, Courtney, Yuri, and Ian (token male).

So my days at NYU are cheery and fun. And full of reading. Lots and lots of reading. And lots and lots of projects. How many non-profit causes can i find to do projects on? We’ll find out! I’ll keep this blog updated about anything particularly outstanding. Aside from that, we’ll just assume that school is just the normal humdrum of life.

Oh, did i mention I’m a lab geek now? I work at the Multimedia Lab in the school of education as a “Student Lab Assistant.” What a glorious title. Harkens back to my MICOLa days at La Sierra Univ. I’m the person that says, “Hi, can i help you? Oh, paper jam? No problem!” etc., etc. I think it may cause brain death, but for a campus job, it’s not so bad. It pays $10/hr. $10/hr!! I can’t remember the last time i worked for that little! hehehe it’s all kind of humbling. At least it’s a couple bucks off of tuition! 

A New York Moment

Thursday, September 02, 2004

Talk about random meetings – sometimes it gets to be a little ridiculous. 

So as I mentioned before, New York is the kind of place where you happen to meet unexpected people. Sometimes they’re people from your past, sometimes they are people who loosely associated to you, and sometimes it just bizarre chance meetings that end up being very very helpful.

As I mentioned, I met Becky on the very first day I came to NYC. Recently I visited her in her apartment. She has 2 other roommates but I had never met either of them, though I did see the silhouette of one as she ran from her room to the bathroom and back again. In any case, later that evening, I went to a Bible study for the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in the upper west side. The people there were so great! So sincere and so earnest. I really liked them. I’ll probably become a regular at their group study.

At the end of the study, we were all just hanging out and being social. This one woman, Audrey, looked so familiar. I mentioned this to her and she said the same thing of me. Then the question of “where do you live?” came up. “108th and Columbus,” I said. She looked at me and said, “I live on 108th and Manhattan.” Columbus and Manhattan are parallel and run on either side of my apartment. Then the address came up. It was the same. “What unit do you live in?” “5C.” 5C is Becky’s apartment! I gasped, “I was in your apartment this morning! Was that YOU stumbling from your room to the bathroom?” “That was you visiting Becky?” Audrey was just as shocked as I was. Nooooo way! I remember her because Becky had mentioned that Audrey always brings over her song service group to practice, unannounced, on some nights. It all made sense when i put 2 and 2 together and eventually, after much manipulation, got 4.

So now I have an activity partner who lives in the same building. There is another girl, Susanna who also lives in the same building. God’s really taking care of me.

The Random Connection City – an introduction to the people I’ve met here

Sunday, August 22, 2004

If you’re going to live in NYC, it seems that you have to be fluid with meeting just about anyone. 

Over the past week, i have been meeting and greeting with people that I would normally consider strangers, but when you’re in this city, suddenly, you’re considered friends. It’s a great thing! It’s strange because my normally shy/hesitant nature about meeting new people has to be crushed and replaced with a strong, confident person who can go out and meet people without fear of rejection or judgment. I think the people i’ve met so far have really been instrumental in helping that side come out.

On the first day here, i met Becky - an teacher who goes to Bank Street College. She’s great! Not only did she show me around the block to all the useful locations and great cafes, she took me out with her and her friends to a concert and has continued to invite me to events. Her friend group consists of people that she met from various random circles - people she met on at concerts, school, online dating, through friends, etc. She is so friendly and open with all she meets that it’s easy to see why she can make friends with almost anyone. She mentioned that you’ll see people that you haven’t seen for years from all walks of life pop up in the subways. And you know what? It’s totally true! The day after she said that, I saw Michelle N. (Doug’s sister) in the subway going uptown! I didn’t even believe it was her! I dumbly stared and that was it. I heard later that she was up visiting Derek in the Bronx.

Then Grace, the girlfriend of Keith, Max’s cow-orker, came out to NY to visit for a week (she came out the same day that i did). She is incredibly connected here! She invited me to go out with all her friends one Tuesday night to Lombardi’s Pizza. I met all of her friends, including a bunch of people who just moved to the area like Mellanie and Joe. Mellanie just got a job working for the city in the department of budgeting or something like that and Joe is a stats/finance grad student at NYU. Joe is also one of Slim’s good friends and previous roommate. And if you don’t know who Slim is, he’s another one of Max’s cow-orkers and good friends of Keith and Grace mentioned above. There were more people at dinner, but i don’t know as much about them except that they were all up in the Bay Area like Stanford or Berkeley.

Through Mellanie, I went to a Bible study that is based out of a big church out here called Redeemer. I haven’t been there yet, but everyone says it’s great. So at the Bible study, i meet Hai-Yun (sp?) and a bunch of guys that sound like the apostles altogether (John, Paul, Mark, Neil, Jim, and Kevin).

On Sabbath, I went to Advent Hope, the SDA church out here. Brian L. picked me up in his car (a CAR!!) and drove me to church. It’s a good thing too because it started pouring like crazy after church. Through him, I met a whole bunch of great people. The ones that stick out in my mind right now are the ones that I ate potluck with: Nathan, Erica & Jeremy, and Jennifer. Apparently Erica is related to Laura in Nebraska through Patty C. Strange how small the world is. But it gets even smaller. Later that night, Brian, Maile, Young Joo and I met up with Erica & Jeremy for gelato. There was another couple with them: Dana and George. Dana looked SO familiar! We eyed each other for a little bit and finally she asked if any of us had gone to LLA. That’s when we realized the connection. It turns out that Dana was on my yearbook staff the year I was editor. Man, I’m losing my memory already!

Today, I went to Times Square Church with Joe and met up with his friends Jen or Jin (I couldn’t quite tell) and Norm. Norm is also going to NYU for business school. Jen is in school for music theory.

My conclusion is that NYC is basically a city of motley crews gathered from the four corners of the earth. It’s been fun, but I’m getting sort of worn out meeting all these new people. I have faith, though, that God is leading me to the people and spiritual allies who I need to meet. So for this has been an adventure, and I can’t wait to meet the people in my program! I just hope I can keep up the energy.

Saddam vs. Selleck

Sunday, July 11, 2004

This entry is really about me trying to justify my bad eye-sight.

Don’t they look alike? Don’t they?!?

I was at the coffee shop, Grounds For Enjoyment, just hanging out with a couple friends. We were sitting inside the building, but there were tables outside where people were gathered around talking. One group in particular was playing cards. I took at look at the card box and said in an oh-so-bright tone, “Hey, is that Tom Selleck on those cards?”

After an awkward pause, Alan said, “No. That’s Saddam Hussein.”

SO, i had to put the comparison here. Don’t they look the same? Please say they do! ...please...?

Please honey, act your age!

Sunday, July 04, 2004

Peculiar: 12 year old girls on the beach trying to look like they’re 21 or older in order to attract the attention of 21+ year old lecherous men.

Why do young girls insist on trying to rush into situations where their bodies are valued more than their brains or ambitions? I was at the beach today for the fourth of july - there were many many things worth mentioning (including the need for a ban on speedos as well as a regulation requiring waxing for all hairy men) but today we’ll just mention the prepubescent female need to look like Britney or Beyonce. It’s strange because, being that it’s a beach where society keeps grown women more focused on maintaining a prepubescent look, it’s very difficult to tell the teeny-boppers and the “blossomed” women apart.

Why would you wanna rush into a world where men ogle and try to take advantage of you? Where they grab and molest? Is that flattering? Is that something you *really* want to experience at 12? All i can say is, “THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MS. SPEARS! A POX ON YOUR HOUSE! I HOPE THAT YOUR LITTLE SISTER BECOMES ...” No, that’s just wrong. I won’t go there.

Anyway, if you’re 12 and reading this, WAIT UNTIL YOU’RE THE RIGHT AGE TO BE GROPED AND SEXUALLY HARRASSED! Oh, it’s worth the wait...