Thank you to everyone who joined me in celebrating my graduation at UH and at Camp Smith last week. You all made the occassion very special to me and my family. :)

I know I haven't updated my blog in such a long time. Part of the reason was preparing for the festivities during the past week. But the main reason why I haven't updated anything (blog, pics, etc.) or been online chatting is because my damn laptop failed on me: the piece inside the laptop that connects to the power adapter decided to break off. O_o The timing was great, too--I had all the files I needed for the party stored in the hard drive. Luckily, every thing turned out okay as friends were kind enough to offer the use of their computing facilities. Thanks guys! As for the laptop, there is no way to charge the batteries to power up the computer unless I ship the darn thing to HP and have them fix it for $800. >< The other solution: get a new laptop. Anyways, lets get on to a happy topic: Grad Week.

Graduation was a pretty enlightening experience. Aside from the long wait outside to enter the arena and the overly long speech from the commencement speaker, it was a very worthwhile event. The ceremony was a bit inspiring; I now have dreams of getting my master's, and then my doctorate's so that I, too, can wear a Shakespearean costume to a graduation ceremony. (I wonder if there is a Robin Hood type of graduation outfit..) Well at least, I had my own way of standing out of the crowd. I think my "Superant" grad cap was a success. I got a lot of good comments about it while I was on the arena floor. Thanks Mole for your help for making such an awesome cap.

It was great to see all my friends and family that came out to lei me after the ceremony. I was honestly a bit surprised that so many of them showed up. Even Doo-Doo Girl was there!

Those who couldn't make it still found their way to congratulate me: leis and balloons at CB, and a very, um, interesting cake courtesy of Cake Girl and the Gap. Man, that cake was pretty hillarious. Total boobage, indeed. O_o

Despite all the last minute preparations and the on-the-fly type of program, the grad party turned out great. It seems like everyone enjoyed themselves. I was honestly turned off about the banquet hall when I first saw it (questionable upholstery, duct tape on the seats, etc.) but everything turned out pretty elegant as the night progressed. Sunset Lanai had a GREAT view of Pearl Harbor and the banquet hall looked pretty nice with the light decorations. I guess my mom's idea of having a DJ and a slideshow was good after all. :P Nothing was too tacky as I feared it would be and it turned out a lot better than I had expected.

It was an awesome feeling seeing so many friends, old and new, at the party. I was especially happy to see family friends I haven't seen in such a long time. Being so busy the past few years, I haven't been able to attend many family functions. Hopefully, I can attend more of them now that school is over.

The grad gifts were fookin awesome: an Epson printer wrapped in yearbook-style wrapping from the Gap crew, a custom-lame custom-made uglydoll from Mole, and a very sentimental 5-part gift from Monkey (is that coupon really good for unlimited use?). As for the dinero, I'll probably give most of it back to my parents and maybe buy myself the watch I wanted. :P

Again, thanks to all of you that came to my graduation ceremony and/or party, or have given your warm wishes in other ways. It has made graduating from college that much more special. :)

Pics to be posted soon.

Wow. School is finally over.

It's been a hectic few days but I finally completed my undergraduate career today. It concluded with a 30 minute final exam and a case analysis paper today and a group presentation on a case on Xbox yesterday. (I worked harder on the layout than I had wanted to. Turned out nice though.) So now after the ceremony, I'm forced face the issue that I've dreaded all these years.. What the hell do I do now?



It's a sad thing the summer term was so short. I had a great teacher for my BUS345
course and I just wish that we had more class days. The professor really stimulated our thinking of the business world and of ourselves. I was enjoying school this past year since it was the only time I had quality professors. It's a shame that we get stuck with mediocre educators early in the college career. Still, I was fortunate to learn under Taylor and Lamb. Now, I realize that I have bigger goals for myself than I had once thought and I'm confident enough to know that I will make it. Figuring out where to go, though, is another story.



But I think I'll worry about that later. For now, I'll go catch up on some sleep and, possibly, do a celebrating later. Woo-hoo!

Lately, I'm starting to take everything with a grain of salt. In ways, this helps me escape from all the nonsense that's happening in my life. But I do see it as potentially damaging to myself for it gives me this wanting to distance myself from everyone and everything.

The last few weeks have been rough (school/work/planning) and so I haven't really had much free time to hang out with people other than for a few individuals, but no real outing on a grand scale (with a large group of people, I mean). So this week was good for me, as I was able to throw in some leisure activity before I wind up my undergraduate career at Manoa.



- Had a double dose of the nightlife this week. Oceans had its usual share of dramas. Kiwee had too much to drink, and I ended up taking care of her most of the night. It was a bit disappointing that her friends had gone back in to look for Gummy Bear (who was in her own world most of the night) rather than chilling outside with Kiwee. Anyways, there was some sort of miscommunication at the end of the night, and I end up feeling guilty for doing what I thought was the right thing to do. Nice guys finish last? Oh well.

- Feng Shui was a better night out: there was quite a number of people I haven't seen in awhile that were there. I was surprised to see Nakano (my freshmen banquet crush ><) there... and come to find out, she's married with a 10-month old child! Dang, I'm getting old. :P I saw Wrassle Girl there and hung out with Jerms and the other AMA peeps for a bit. But the night belonged to No Sandles Dancer and her "mission". Overall a good night.

- Saw a couple of movies this week: Manchurian Candidate with Mole and 13 Going 30 with Monkey. Both good movies, but the stars alone made it worth the money.

- I've narrowed my shoe choice to two colors of Umbros. I'm contemplating of getting both but Mole says that would be "lame". Oh well, I just might do it; I got paid this weekend, and I can afford it. Yup yup.



One more week and school, and I'm all pau. It was a bit downer talking to the AMA guys about how hard it is finding jobs. I guess I'll find out for myself in a few short weeks. But for now, I've got other things to worry about (i.e. the party).

Graduation is creeping up on me really fast. I have only two weeks of summer school left and that's it. Then comes the ceremony, the party, then I don't know. I'm supposed to crank out a personal strategy paper by Wednesday for my class, but the funny thing is, I don't have one. Haha. I have big goals for myself, to become the best I can be, and as of late, I am really confident in myself that I am capable of being something really special. A top executive of some major company, starting up a very successful business (and later selling it to a conglomerate for mad dollars, chi-ching!) or becoming an influential social figure. I have reasonably high expectations for myself; just figuring out how to do it is another story.

In the immediate future following graduation, I have to focus on job-hunting and in the mean time decide whether to become full-time at the bank (good money but kinda bland) or put in more hours at the Gap (crap pay but highly satisfying). Doodoo Girl told me that she was planning to recommend a visual position for me with her supervisor. And although, it's not much of a position in respect to my career goals, it is nevertheless something I really enjoy. Who knows, it could be a start of something big. Maybe I won't use my MIS degree after all.

Anyway, enough about my boring career aspirations. Let's get to the pictures! Here's some (of the few) highlights of the past two weeks:



Grad party planning had officially commenced with the mailing out of invitations. It took several weeks of Kinkos, Fireworks, guest list revising, and a whole lotta stress. But that part is done. While I was working on the invitations, the rest of my family had other things to work on, like brushing up on their Electric Slide moves.




It was Kiwi's b-day party a few Fridays back so we had a little thing for her at Oceans the Saturday after her big day. Funny thing though, the outing was for her and yet, she's not in my pictures. O_o Kiwi wants to go out again this Saturday but we'll see if that pans out...





This past Saturday, I hung out with Mole to finally watch Mystic River. Man, that is one messed up movie. Great film though. Mole had a crazy craving for hot dogs, so we headed over to Ruby Tuesdays. But the wait was 45 minutes, and Mole wanted her hot dogs pronto. So we decided to just make them ourselves and munch 'em at her place. We grabbed some Wonder Buns (hehe) and other stuff at Star Market, (we later took another trip back there to pick up one onion) prepared 8 dogs and chowed them down while watching the movie. Mole had a little too much fun with the condiments. O_o

Oh, I bumped into Hard Ones (aka Liz) as we were leavin Rubys. I'm glad to hear she got a job at the other bank. "I'm right down the road." I just hope she doesn't cheat on her incentives... Okay, that was bad. ><



I realized the other day, I need to buy me a lot of stuff. All kinds of stuff. I already have a list of want-to-gets and now I'm starting up a list of need-to-gets. Among them: a new computer, new shoes, socks, a car deck, an MP3 player, and a new watch. Okay, I don't really need the last two, but I wouldn't mind. I think I need to start a donation jar.

Oh yeah, just an FYI, Mililani Walmart does NOT have onions, nor do they carry any other type of produce. In case you wanted to know. :P