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August 20th, 2006
05:37 am - On the road again
I'm all packed up and ready to move to Berkeley. And not just in the sense that I have everything ready to go to Berkeley -- I've also been spending a fair amount of time packing up all my various earthly possessions. All my belongings used to be distributed between some place in Vancouver, my dad's place, and my mom's place, but now it's all in boxes in my mom's garage. It feels good to be organized for once.
It was nice to be in Vancouver again to see people. Everytime I come back I realize how much I like this place. Keep in touch all, and feel free to drop by if you're ever in the Bay Area. It's probably good to see it before an earth quake swallows it whole anyways, so what better time than now?
We (me and the parents) are taking the train at some ungodly early hour tomorrow, and it's going to be a long ride, probably around 30 hours. Quality time, or something like that. I then have a few days of orientations and days to get myself set up (cell phone, bank account, etc.) before starting classes on Monday of next week.
This is really the first time I've actually moved somewhere out on my own. I'm not particularly nervous or excited or anything, since I don't really have emotions, but it is definitely going to be weird times for the next little while. Wish me luck.
As for the blog, I'm thinking migrating to friends-only. Any blogging about my academics should probably not be made public as I now have to worry about appearing "professional" and crap. If anybody's still lurking on this blog, you might want to get an LJ account if you care to continue reading.
Oh, and Richard: I hope those hot oils are ready. It's going to be good times.
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August 6th, 2006
07:34 pm - It's the Return of the Adam
I'm back. I've been back since last Tuesday, but haven't bothered updating. I'm pretty happy to be home; wish I had just travelled Europe instead of wasting time living there; and am looking forward to being at Berkeley while being simultaneously a little worried about the 5-year "we even own you in the summers" commitment.
Also, I ate almost 2 pounds of blueberries yesterday and I plan on repeating that today.
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July 23rd, 2006
08:50 pm - Interlaken loses ground
For my last minitrip in Italy, I went to Mordor today. Actually, I went to a place called Molveno, but it was at the foot of the mountain ranges that I called Mordor back in this entry. It was stunning, and given my robotically high bar for excitement, I like to think that's saying something. Someone told me it's like a "mini Lake Louise", and I think that's not doing it justice. It's a small town with a beautiful green lake, beaches*, a campground, and the eerily gorgeous Brenta Dolomites behind it. I think it might just have overtaken Interlaken as the most beautiful place I've ever seen, though the hike I did in the Himalayas should probably be up there as well.
But enough talk, ( here are some pictures . . . )
I hiked up to one of the mountain refuges nestled at the feet of the Dolomites and had hot chocolate. It was kind of a weird experience. It started to poor rain as soon as I got there, and the refuge just packed up so I had to sit outside. And so I found myself staring at the mountains, on a bench, rain pouring on my knees, drinking hot chocolate, listening to what I'm going was probably some Kanye West**, surrounded by two women who were more or less making out with their dogs, and one of whom was singing the White Strips riff that became the Italian cheer during the World Cup. I sat there for about 15 minutes and then left. That probably doesn't seem weird to you, but I was weirded out.
*The beaches were pebble and not sand -- probably the only thing wrong with the place.
**No one may judge me for my taste in a music. I have already admitted a million times that I have none.
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July 21st, 2006
01:44 pm - Another brief return home
This stuff really sneaks up on you.
I actually leave Italy on Wednesday. Since my flight passes through Toronto on the way back*, I'm going to stop by and visit my erstwhile travel companions from India, Jo an Miriam. Even Deepa, Jo and Miriam's friend who was along for the houseboat trip, is going to be there, and she lives in Miami! What a reunion. Sadly, no houseboats or scooters will be involved, but apparently Miriam's family has a cottage. I've never been to a "cottage" before.
And then I'm back home on August 1st. It's a little earlier than originally planned, but it turns out that I have to be in Berkeley on August 21st at 8:30 in the morning. And I could use the 20 days to decompress and organize my life before moving out to Berkeley for the foreseeable future.
I plan to eat a lot of AYCE sushi while I'm back.
*Freakish, but when I booked, it was cheapest for me to fly out of Seattle and through Toronto than just Vancouver->London.
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July 20th, 2006
09:42 am - This close to committing mild genocide
( Sorry if my entries are seeming overly negative of late . . . )
But long story short, I have and iPod now, and am curious: anybody know about any good Podcasts? I'm looking for either comedy, news, or music. I've already found the BBC news ones, which are pretty good, but there's so many others, I just don't know where to start.
Also, in reference to my last entry, I hope it didn't sound like I was trying to brag about my yawning in the face of danger. I was as jittery as the next guy, and if you saw my face in the photos they took, it definitely didn't look like I was even trying to have fun. It's just that my robotic emotion circuits weren't designed to enjoy such activites. Shame, really.
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July 18th, 2006
July 12th, 2006
04:18 pm - The Package
#$()*&#(*$&)(#@*$#@$#@$@!$#@$#@$#$!@$#@$#@$#@$!!!!!!!!
I won't bore you with all the details of the stupidity of what's gone on with the package my mom sent me. Suffice it to say that with the number of phone calls I've made, my Italian has improved significantly. The highlight, however, is that it has finally arrived, after 10 weeks, in Trento. The Italian courier made one attempt to deliver it to my door, without telling me advance, and that was apparently my one shot. In order to retrieve it, had to go to the courier's office. Now back home, usually this is close, or they leave it at the nearest drug store. But no, SDA's office in Trento is in the industrial zone, 2 bus rides and a 20 minute walk through vineyards (i.e. 2 hours return) away from where I live. So I dutifully went down there, only to find out they want me to pay 80 euros of duty. That's $120. That's about a 3rd of the price of the iPod. Now, I can somewhat understand that I have to pay tax -- otherwise everybody would get their iPods the way I did because it's cheaper. I should have to pay the same sales tax that I would have if I bought it in an Italian store. But you can get this tax refunded when you leave the country, so I thought I was alright.
Not so. You can only do this if you bought the item in Italy. Think about that. They levy on tax on something that is my personal possession, on which I have already paid tax. The justification for that is that I have imported an item without paying the requisite Italian sales tax. But if I'm just making up for sales tax, why can't I get it refunded as if it were sales tax?
Because the Italian customs and postal service is the root of all evil, that's why.
So I'm not paying it. It's supposed to go back to the sender, but that, of course, will rely on the Italian postal service to get it safely from Trento out of the country, which is a bit like relying on an Italian soccer player to remaining standing if you touch his shins. It's possible, but somehow, I'm skeptical.
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July 11th, 2006
05:49 pm - Interesting
So I didn't get to see my Shiranui in the 3rd place Game, but I did get the now infamous Zidane headbutt, which is almost as good.
Interestingly, this headbutt business may reach a new level of zaniness. According to Wikipedia, the Italian team could actually be disqualified under FIFA rules if Materazzi's comments were racially denigrating*. Obviously, it is highly unlikely that it will come to that. But if it were to happen, one could easily argue that it was only because Zidane retaliated that the incident was brought to light. Hence, if Italy were disqualified, it would make Zidane's thorax-buster probably the only game-winning headbutt in the history of soccer.
That'd be pretty sweet.
*This entry is changing every 3 minutes, so I apologize if this information disappears by the time you click the link.
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July 6th, 2006
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adamsan's journal