(sigh)

It has been almost a week since my graduation date. Over 2 weeks since my last academic event for a class. I am officially a graduate of the University of California.

And for a long time, things still felt the same. But slowly, things are starting to change again. Coming back from a graduation celebration of a close friend today, I was somewhat surprised to realize that people are slowly but surely starting to move away for good, not necessarily moving away from my life, but moving on to the various areas that life is taking them. At least for the immediate future. Leases coming to their ends force people to finally move their stuff out of Berkeley.

But it still doesn't feel real yet. The reality of everyone moving on. I still feel like we'll be close to each other, simply because of the bonds we had based on what we went through together.

I don't know, it's all weird and I don't know what to think about some of these things anymore.

More on this later, more formal too. We still need to do the whole reflecting back on everything thing too, haha. It's a good exercise.

Winding down....

In less than two weeks, I will be officially finished with my undergraduate collegiate career. It is scary to think that 4 years has gone by so quickly...

More on this later, I just need something to start off my obligatory posts about how it's all winding down...

Today, I took time out to actually roll out all the coins I've saved over 4+ years in a cookie tin to see exactly how much money I've saved.

Pennies: 25 rolls = 1250, $12.50 + 37 leftover ($0.37)
Nickels: 6 rolls = 240, $12
Dimes: 7 rolls = 350, $35 + 36 leftover ($3.60)
Quarters: 3 ($0.75)

Total amount rolled up to be taken to the bank: $59.50
Time elapsed: 2.5 hours
Hourly wage: $23.80 per hour

Time Coinstar probably would've taken to sort through: < 5 minutes
Total put into Coinstar (including leftovers): $64.22
Total deducted for sorting (8.9%): $5.72
Total amount when taken to Coinstar: $58.50
Hourly wage: a lot more

Lesson learned: unless your coin jar has a good percentage made up of quarters, it is not worth the time and effort to meticulously roll up all the coins you have in order to save on the extra 8.9% that Coinstar will take from you. And even then, it's debatable. You might as well just roll up your quarters (and maybe dimes, they're pretty tricky cuz they're like 1/3 the size of nickels but worth twice as much) and take the rest to Coinstar. Totally not worth it, but a good exercise in doing it, plus I was able to watch 5 episodes of Pinky and the Brain on DVD while doing it. Not a total loss.

In other words, wait until you have your own washer and dryer, so that your coin jar will actually have quarters before you feel the need to roll up your coins. And even then, the pennies aren't worth the trouble.

and so, it has been forever and a day since I've logged anything in this online journal of mine. I really do go through spurts of inspiration, where writing what's on my mind kinda inspires or rejuvenates me. However, nothing drastic in my life usually happens, and when I do, it's usually to the point that everybody knows cuz I let them know. And I think this blog has reflected that in the past. I don't usually log every little thing that happened to me, it's usually more of a place for my thoughts and musings.

One thing I've discovered lately is my love for lists, organizing information into easily digestable packets. When i'm bored in class and there's no crossword, I create lists of things in my life. One of my goals in life is to create a list of my top 100 games that I've played. Since videogames have played such a huge part in my life and childhood, I feel it would be fun to analyze what I feel are, in order, my 100 favorite games. However, I hold off on this, because I feel there are some games that I haven't played yet that would really belong on the list if I just got around to playing it (some that come to mind: Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Collosus, Twilight Princess, Okami, Final Fantasy Tactics, even some classic games that I just never played for some reason, like Castlevania 3, or River City Ransom). However, lists like that are always changing, as new entries make their way into our lives, and must be constantly updated. So one of these days, I need to bite the bullet and really just sink my teeth into it and DO it. However, I really should play some of these games.

I need to work my way up to it, get some practice, if you will. These will also serve as good exercises in writing analyses of how I feel about things. So watch this space in the future I guess, to see some top 10 or 15 lists about things I like.

"I, like God, do not play with dice and do not believe in coincidence." -V, "V For Vendetta"

Last night, some of my friends may have inadverdantly been giving me some advice.
Maybe I should have listened to them.

Do you believe in coincidence?

Regular thoughts:

What a crappy week, I accomplished little to absolutely nothing. All week long, I felt sluggish and completely unmotivated. I can't tell whether it's from senioritis and knowing the end of college is near (with no real aspirations of grad school right around the corner) or if it's because of the hell that was last week, trying to get the goddamn networking IM client to work for CS161, but I have been absolutely unmotivated. Gawd, I hope next week is better. I'm pretty sure that the reason is I didn't get nearly as much sleep as I should have after the marathon coding sessions of last week.

Meh.

In other news, what the hell am I going to do with myself?

Generic thought:

Normally I don't do these kind of things, but after reflecting on how my senior year at college will be and what I want out of it, I thought this would be an interesting parallel to reflect on:

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school!
The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be.

1. Who was your true best friend?
I would say the trio of Dan Hom, Jeff Chou, and Eric Lew, although I was probably closest to Dan during my senior year.

2.What sports did u play?
Tae Kwon Do, made it all the way to poom belt, which is the rank below black (but never finished)

3. What kind of car did you drive?
uh...I rarely drove, but if I did, it was either my dad's 1991 Camry or my mom's 2002 Camry

4. It's Friday night, where were you at?
Probably at home, at work, or playing Halo with some friends.

5. Were you a party animal?
Not at all.

6. Were You a Flirt?
Not really, I had not game (not that I have any now either)

7. Skip School?
Nope, not even for Sr. ditch day.

8. Were you a nerd?
Only the nerdiest.

9. Were you in any clubs?
I became president of the Anime Club, and was also in National Honors Society.

11. Can you sing the fight song?
Yeah, but I only learned the lyrics that year (I knew the tune since freshman)

12. Who was your favorite teacher?
Sr. year, it was Mrs. Tate

13. Favorite class?
Either English or Wind Ensemble

14. What was your school's full name?
Northgate High School

15. School mascot?
Broncos

16. Did you go to dances?
The only one I went to was Sr. Ball

17. If you could go back and do it over, would you?
Not sure that I would, I'm much happier where I am right now, and I think I got to know everybody I really cared to get to know back then. The only thing I'd change is that I'd try to get more involved in stuff.

18. What do you remember most about graduation?
For the first time, I really felt like our class connected as a whole, and not just as parts.

21. Did you have a Job your sr year?
Yep, salad maker at Mary's Pizza Shack.

22. Where did you go most often for lunch?
Just ate at the cafeteria.

24. What did you do after graduation?
Right afterwards? Grad Night.
That summer? Nothing really exciting...

26. Where are most of your classmates?
All over the place, but mostly in California

28. Who was your worst teacher?
Mr. Burchett, fell asleep in his class almost every day.

29. Who was your senior year crush?
Hmm...I honestly don't remember who it was this year. Evelyn, perhaps?

30. Who will repost this after you?
Probably nobody