Zucchini cake that doesn't taste like zucchini, a growing cactus, and a mystery fruit!

It's another three day weekend for me! Yay! But I'm stupid so I'm still going to school on Monday (to help out with the senior class homecoming banner). =X I also heard from a friend that it will also be a potluck so I decided to make some chocolate zucchini cake!



I have wanted to try making zucchini cake for a long time, but I never got the opportunity to do so until now. I haven't tried it yet but my sister liked it so yay! ^_^ I gave a mini slice to my dad and he complained that he couldn't taste the zucchini at all. (Um, dad, that was the whole point. Why would you want cake to taste like a vegetable? Ew.) I'm going to try carrot cake next! Tee-hee.

Today was not the typical Sunday... Not only does my body shut down at the end of the week, my brain doesn't seem to function very well either. But I actually went out in the morning to study for the SATs with my friends at McDonalds. We only did the essay and two sections before my friend got tired. We quit and went up to another friend's place to finish our British literature homework. We're reading Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" right now and not enjoying it. ^^;

Oh, and this may seem really random, but I bought a cactus for a $1 during last year's Okinawan festival.



It was a really cute little thing. I'll be honest and admit that I almost forgot about the cactus for a while...until a year later, I looked out the balcony and noticed that my cactus plant was gone and replaced by one that is twice as tall and in a pot that was twice as big. I asked my mom, "Is that mine? O_O" And she said it was. I couldn't believe it! (The difference isn't obvious in the pictures though, because the bigger pot is in proportion with the bigger plant.)



My sister and my brother also bought a cactus each, but I think they both died. I was really surprised to see my cactus so genki. *^^*

Some more randomness:



This is a picture I took at the Queen Kapiolani Garden in Waikiki before school started. I've never seen such a fruit before and none of my friends knew what it was either. Some fell off the tree and the impact of the landing revealed the lavendar flesh inside the fruit. My sister said it might be breadfruit, so I looked it up:



It looks a little similar, but it is not quite the same. Breadfruit isn't purple inside either. =/ Does anyone have any idea what the mystery fruit is?

My ears go POP!

Weee~ I had a pretty busy three-day weekend! My ears kept popping today! Is it because I'm still sick? I wish I didn't have school tomorrow! XP

On Saturday, I spent the day volunteering at the annual Okinawan Festival at Kapiolani Park. I got dizzy from the work, but I met a lot of really adorable kids. <333 I always look forward to shopping around the booths after the shift is over~ this year, I bought so many things!


Ramune drinks! Left to right: Peach (new!) and orange


You CANNOT imagine how long I've been eyeing this. I ate two on Sunday and they did not disappoint. Yummy things, these are. ^^


Yes, I did buy a venus flytrap! Although people's eyes pop open when I tell them I bought a carnivorous plant (some people didn't even know it existed), it's really tiny. I wonder if they will really eat the mosquitoes and bugs that come flying into our apartment. D<


Kabocha! Since kabochas are smaller than American pumpkins, I thought they'd be easier to grow on our balcony but I'm still not sure how big kabochas are exactly...hehe. ^^; This was only $1.00 so why not?

Sunday went by slowly...I tried to spend the day finishing my homework, but I only got a few math problems done. What got in the way was the novel, "The Crimson Thread" by Suzanne Weyn. It's a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin and I couldn't stop reading it. Later in the afternoon, I got a call from a friend to attend a birthday party so I ended up not doing any homework that night. XP

It was really fun though~ her apartment is really tiny and cute. Although there was no television, we all managed to keep ourselves occupied by talking and laughing. We ate Chinese food and ended with strawberry ice cream cake from Cold Stone.



After eating, we took pictures, played card games, and made a lot of noise. xD I was worried that the neighbors would complain, but the birthday girl assured me that we could laugh until it was 10:00pm. After 10, it was difficult for us to shut up so we eventually went home around 10:30pm.

On Sunday, I studied calculus with a bunch of classmates the whole day. It was actually my first time studying with other people. I thought I wouldn't be able to concentrate, but I did get fifty problems done (even though there was a lot of chatting going on). I think I rather like studying with everyone~ it made doing the work more fun. ^o^

Celebrating the Olympics

To celebrate the start of the Olympics 2008, a big screen was set in the middle of North King Street at Chinatown. My friend and I decided to check out the stands and galleries first since there was still light out and it was difficult to see the screen. We headed over to the Louis Pohl art gallery and received two bookmarks each. People were scribbling in the back of the bookmarks and we quickly realized that we were supposed to write our wishes on them and then tie them to a tree.



I thought this was funny because the Japanese practiced a similar process in the Shinto religion, but its only the bad luck things that get tied to the tree. ^^; We also received free bubbles, which my friend had fun blowing. I tried my best to catch a picture of the bubbles, but it was really difficult!



The lady that gave us the bubbles told everyone to blow the bubbles at 8:08pm for good luck! Ah~ the obsession with the number eight. It is almost getting a little ridiculous. At the galleries, people were passing around these little cards that said, "Your pass to free stuff!" If we visited at least 8 places, we can get something. My friend won a tiny rhinoceros toy figure while I received an art print from the Pacific Traditions Gallery.



There was a group playing folk music outside and a little girl dancing furiously to their songs with her teddy bear. It was really cute! :)



We also spotted this beautiful furry black dog among the crowd. *o*



It was finally dark and we got to watch the parade. My friend was very eager to see Alexandre Pato, a genius Brazilian soccer player that apparently scored six goals in one game. xD I don't know the name of many athletes except for Michael Phelps and Shawn Johnson. Lame, I know. ><; It was my first time sitting down in the middle of the street~ I don't know when I'd ever get that chance again. Hehe. Shortly after we settled down, it soon started to rain and the screen collapsed! How's that for good luck? My friend and I left the rain to eat dinner at Pho My Lan. After dinner, I continued watching the Olympics opening ceremony at home. This is the first time I've actually watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics and the first year I even cared about the event. I think I was too young to appreciate the Olympics before~ this year I'm quite psyched about it. Watching the lighting of the torch was so exciting! It is so like the Chinese to go all out. They're making it very difficult for London to show off in 2012...

End of Summer Vacation

I took a ten minute break at work the other day to draw (the drawings are up in traditional illustrations). When I came home, I felt like tracing them using the pens I bought in Japan. As expected, they worked really well, even though they only cost me about 50 cents each! I love Japan. <3



I also wanted to color the two pieces, even though I had no clue what colors to use. After a moment of thought, I decided to go with the flow, be spontaneous, and use any color that comes to mind. After all, the drawings themselves were done this way (I had no idea what I was doing). I chose the colors at random, hoping that they will turn out great in the end. I am still unsure what I think of the final result. I titled the first drawing 'Aki' because I wanted the color of her hair to represent the fall season. It came out brighter than I intended, so I should have used more green and brown instead of red and purple. XP I had fun doing the hair, which inspired me to do a second drawing. This time, I wanted the girl to look more cutsey and with curly short hair.

Today is also the last day of my summer vacation! Throughout summer, I worked, went to class, hung out with friends, did some baking (most recently mango cheesecake!), some cooking (oyako donburi!), went out shopping (bought a pink nano iPod!), took pictures of pretty plants (at Queen Kapiolani Garden), watched dramas (Pride and Tokyo Love Story) at night, read plenty of manga (Monster!), one novel (Love Over Scotland), tried new food (ravioli!), and got contact lenses...

Speaking of contact lenses, I'm really ecstatic that I finally get to try them out! However, I'm having a hard time putting them on because of my small eyes. When the assistant came to put them on, he struggled so much that it made me feel really bad. He made me think that it was impossible to fit contact lenses in~ but when the doctor came in, she popped them in like nothing. The assistant that came in afterward to train me was also able to get them in. She reassured me and told me that my eyes aren't small at all~ I only need more practice. I hope I learn how to get them on soon!

Overall, I guess it was a pretty good summer, minus the humid weather, bug bites, and my infected left ring finger. -_-;;; I still don't feel like a senior yet, but I look forward to my new classes, especially yearbook! :)

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer vacation while it lasts!

A Bug Story

Not many people know this, but it takes a brave person to work at the library. One constantly has to deal with all kinds of insects and even rats! A few weeks ago, a rather large centipede gave one of the workers quite a scare and the janitor killed it. I came across a few bugs myself, including this certain silver bug which I've never seen before coming to work at the library. My supervisor says that it likes paper, so it is not a surprise to see it often hidden among the books. We had an ant problem a while back, but that was resolved when the maintenance staff applied a type of poison that would kill it.

Today, we had a little episode with an enormous cockroach at the work room. It was a very ugly creature with long antennas. Nobody wanted to be the one to kill it...but we had to get rid of it. I was able to kill it by spraying it, putting a paper towel over it, and stomping it with my left foot. My supervisor insisted on the paper towel and I was reluctant to have cockroach guts on the sole of my pink Ralph Lauren sneakers. :)

Later that day, a dead moth flew right out when I pulled out a mis-shelved book...

Type A?!

Having gone over intelligence, emotions, motivation, and human development in psych, we are now going over personality. There still isn't a single definition for the word, "personality" since it refers to something abstract...but there are many theories on the subject. One theory in particular grabbed my attention and it was not even proposed by a psychologist! Ray Rosenman was a cardiologist who incidentally noticed certain traits in his patients. When the professor described the different types of personalities Rosenman discovered, I nearly shrank in my seat because it felt like he was talking about me!

People classified as Type A are those who are always in a hurry and never have the time to do anything. They hate having to wait for anything, they hate lines, and they hate vacation. They are multi-taskers and are very competitive people. They cannot do something for the sake of doing something - Type A's are very competitive. They're workaholics! These people also tend to eat fast and walk fast... Type B people, on the other hand, are more relaxed.

If I weren't Asian, my eyes probably would have popped out! It's amazing (and really horrible!) how incredibly accurate this description is of me. As much as I'd like to deny it, there is no question about it. I am Type A! *sobs*

I've always known there is something wrong with this personality of mine. I've never felt as if I truly belonged in this world because I'm always out of sync with everyone else. I can't bring myself to...relax. The scary thing about the description of Type A people is that almost everything is true about me, except that I don't hate vacation...but maybe I did last year, when I was bored out of my mind. ;_;

But it is true that I am always rushing, rushing, rushing. The prof mentioned how his older sister was a Type A person. She was always stressed out, so he told her to come down to Hawaii for a vacation. "I'll teach you how to relax," he said.

She came here from Colorado and asked him, "Okay, so tell me about this relax thing. How do you do it?!"

Hitting balls have always helped him relax so he told her to a golf course. He was having a good time, swinging away. When he turned around to look at how she was doing, he discovered that she had already finished hitting the entire batch. She thought the goal was to hit as much balls as possible in the shortest amount of time.

After returning to Colorado, she called him up and said, "You know, what? You're right about this relax thing. I've got a golf appointment at 3 and then I'm going fishing at 5..." And the list goes on.

The point is that she even scheduled her "relaxation" time. She was back to herself.

After hearing all of this, I was starting to wonder if there was any hope for Type A people...a cure, perhaps? It is obvious that we are no fun to be around. The prof suggested that we make everything extra slow for Type A people, such as getting them an extra slow car, etc. But I can just imagine how irritating that would be! DX

Maybe I should feel better to know that it wasn't just me. Type A people act like this because...well, that's just how they are. They cannot help themselves. I have an excuse now; there is actually a reason why I am this way. But it's funny to realize that there are actually other people like this that exist out there! O_O Frightening, isn't it?

Now the prof said that all of this [characteristics of Type A behavior] was fine, as long as this one thing added toward the list: hostility. That's when you're more likely of getting a heart attack.

Oh, boy. ^^;
I'm not hostile!
But I shouldn't cheer. ~_~

The heat is killing me...

The heat is killing me...



...and when it is combined with the moisture in the air, why, that spells complete disaster. It really puts a damper on my mood. >_<

I had my yearly check up with the eye doctor this morning~ there was a lot of waiting...and waiting...and waiting. I have always dreaded going to the eye doctor because my eyes would simply get worse each year and my mom would yell and yell...it was all very unpleasant. Today was the first time I went without her (she has always insisted on coming with me) and also the day I got a prescription for contact lenses. I have despised wearing glasses all of my life, not simply for aesthetic reasons (glasses are considered "trendy" nowadays which is stupid because I would dump my glasses the minute I get clear vision) but because they're inconvenient and uncomfortable. I hate how heavy they are and I hate how it constantly slides down my nose. Lately, I've been also having these annoying dizzy spells. My vision is blurry, even though I am wearing my glasses. This makes it very hard for me to study.

I went grocery shopping with my sister right after the appointment, buying ground beef to make spaghetti for lunch and some cream cheese so that I could make some cheesecake in the future. ^.~ The rest of the day was spent helping my friend out at her family's bubble tea drink shop in Waikiki. She also sells fruit smoothies, fruit bowls, Vietnamese coffee, and shave ice.

I had my very first bubble tea drink! There were many different flavors available, including coconut, papaya, lychee, green tea, peach, mango, cappuccino, coffee, mocha, chocolate, honeydew, taro, strawberry, but I had the original milk tea. I also had two sips of Vietnamese coffee. Vietnamese coffee has a nice and strong flavor and I rather like it, even though I've only had five sips of coffee in my life. This is not because I hate coffee...it is simply because I could not be bothered to spend so much money just for a drink. But I oh, I do *love* the smell of coffee! ~_~

Another thing I've been loving lately are carrots. I don't know why, but I'm really starting to like carrots! And that means cooked carrots of course! None of that raw-food nonsense. I can't eat salads...munching on raw greens make me feel like a rabbit. I'm not a rabbit.

I'm also finally reading a novel again! :) For a while, I've taken a liking to non-fiction, but I'm eager to get back to fiction. Right now, I'm reading "Love Over Scotland" by Alexander McCall Smith. I simply adore McCall Smith's books! I have "Shelter" by Susan Palwick next on my list...I've never read any of her books but the prologue grabbed my attention.

I also feel a very faint sense of happiness today. It is not overpowering, but it is there. I am usually unhappy, and this may be due to the negativity at home (with the constant yelling)... There isn't necessarily anything to be angry or yell about...oddly, it almost seems like a sort of habit. It simply wouldn't BE mom if she WASN'T yelling. (Not that this fact makes the situation any less horrid!) People outside of this family do not have to deal with this, so they would not understand, but it is strange to feel happiness for something that other people take for granted.