It was Shu-En's 21st birthday last weekend; really have to give this lady mad props for her endless, spontaneous creativity that entailed Turkish dining, cupcake-decorating competition and a cow piñata! Gorgeous photos gacked from Helen. You can't help but love how the bday girl appears to be dancing on the spot with glee in the second picture.

It's the last day of classes. During English review everybody was giving really stupid answers like that Mary is the Virgin Queen and the Urania refers to a ship so my lovely, bedraggled, overworked TA just put his pencil in his mouth and gave us the "You're all going to fail" once-over.
Walked back from the gym in -3 degree Celsius weather after an early Christmas dinner at Wright and Dory's place involving Frosty the Snowman cookies, meatballs, brie with cranberries, crab-and-spinach dip, mint meringues and shrimp. I know right. It's no wonder I look like this pink party balloon.


I was thinking about watching the last episode of Meteor Garden on youtube (because I'm counting on all the characters being conveniently packed away to Canada/France/Japan as quickly as they become useless) but decided that I needed to pronounce without facade that I have had the privilege of all-round excellent roommates. And when I say excellent I mean considerate and colorful. Some may have heard many mad tales of the Bernice Ramirez; after slopping around in sweats and gangsta hoodies the whole of first year she now has this chic fringed hair she calls her Ugly Betty look.


But Bernice's way of so naturally conversing with anyone is like Gloria Anzadula writing about how when you poke a Mexican a story pops out or something like that. She's also totally politically incorrect, which is the clincher for my love.
My current roommate, Alice, couldn't be more different. She's quiet and organized, but also heroically tolerant of how I tend to start talking LIKE THIS i.e. A MARKET AUNTIE whenever I'm on the phone with my mother and may even find it amusing. She's the most serenely well-adjusted person ever. I once mentioned how I had hated being thirteen and she calmly said she didn't have much of an issue with any stage of her life. Where got such thing. But yes it is possible even at the mercy of the American high school machine. I once asked if her high school was anything like the one in Mean Girls, the answer is not at all - most people were nice!