oui, je parle francais.
at least a little bit. the other day, i was working at the bank and a chinese lady came up to hardip's window. she apparently spoke little or no english so her daughter was serving as a translator, but her daughter was having problems explaining.

so i go up to her and tell her that i understand chinese, and then she goes off in chinese trying to explain her problem. problem is.. i understand VERY LITTLE chinese. most of my chinese experience is limited to what my mom tells me to do (i.e. wash dishes, clean my room), so explaining banking situations is way above my level.

i tell her that i'm not following her situation, and out of frustration, she says in english, "i only speak chinese and french!"

i think she was really suprised when i replied with, "tu parles francais?" so we ended up communicating in this french-chinese-english thing. very odd, but at least i figured out a way to explain things to her. it turns out that she lived in paris for a couple of years before, and then evenutally moved to the states. i'm always fascinated when i meet chinese people from different places.. but maybe to chinese-french, i'm the oddball.

see, i knew that seven years of french would come in handy one day.

oh my.
i've been feeling like an old lady lately. i've been falling asleep around 11ish lately.. aiyo.. what a sad development. i remember the days when 1 am was still early.

which reminds me.. it's way past 11--past my bedtime. goodnite.

i'm discovering that i really, really like photography.
i think i want to take more classes.. or maybe join a photo club.. do those exist? case in point:



and



lovely.

grrrrr...
today at the bank i had the WORST customer ever come up to me. she comes up to me and instantly demands to see the branch manager who happened to be out at a meeting. keep in mind that i had no idea what her situation was and that she just walked up to me and just started going off about stop payments and checks that were being returned.

then she starts getting angry as she shows me a LIST OF DEMANDS that she wants as retribution from the bank. i try to explain to her that i'm just a teller and that i can't actually do anything to resolve this issue and if she just waited for a bit, she could speak to my manager.

she instantly jumps on this and writes it down saying, "so AMY says that the bank will not help me." omigosh.. you have no idea how bad i wanted to hit her at that point. she glared at me.. and dood.. i just glared right back.. what a.. grrrr! i tell her that that's not what i said and then i tell her that i'll take care of any teller transactions that she wanted to do.

the best part was when i called her by her name, i called her missus and then she corrected me saying, "it's DOCTOR." i just didn't say a word and did my thing.. but you know what? she can take that title and just shove it up her butt.

i don't know about what other people think about me, personally i think i'm a generally nice person.. but gawd, i NEVER want to ever help that woman again. i don't care if she closes her accounts, frankly i don't WANT her type of person walking into my bank anyway.

grrr.. just makes me mad thinking about it...

repost! (originally posted on my xanga site)
omigosh, i NEED to write this.

my mommy was doing a search on wildcats--she saw some cat-like animals in the backyard the other day and was wondering about them. anyway, i'm doing my thing at the other computer and i hear, "aiya amy how do i get out of this??"

apparently, her search for wildcats lead her wildcats of a different nature--to a PORNO SITE.. MY MOM.. PORNO...

...

she kept trying to close the windows too, and they just kept opening new windows.. with some lovely young women on them... omigosh, the look on her face.. haha.. i know it's horrible but i'm still laughing.

what a good graphic designer can do for a woman.
..ok, i don't feel so bad anymore.

[via pearl]

i love penguins.

in other news...
my little brother's first day of college is tomorrow.

gee.. i feel old now. i envy the boy though. you really don't know how lucky you are to have something until it's gone. ha.. i guess that's what grad school is for.

i just got back from canada.
i had all this drama with getting time off with the bank, namely.. i asked for the wrong days off and i only figured that out two days before i was supposed to leave. ahh.. go me. but i got the time off after a bit of craziness and got to go to canada. things the same as usual in canada.. same restaurants, same places, etc.. but it's nice to see family.. especially when we only go there about once a year.

now since me and matthew are back, we have a challenge ahead of us: my parents are gone for an alaskan cruise for about a week.. and.. DA-DUM.. we have to cook. well, i guess it's about time to bring back the ramen. woohoo, sounds like good times to me...

distractions.
it's hard to concentrate right now.. i have so much on my mind that it's driving me mad. but right now, all i want to focus on is doing things that mean something to me and that make me happy.

isn't that all a girl can ask for from life?

i'm trying to write a cover letter right now.
and you know what i've realized?

i HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE writing cover letters.

wow.
what an absolutely awesome photo.

something to be thankful for...
i have good friends. thanks guys.

strange days...
this morning, i woke up to claps of thunder. a couple of moments later, it started pouring. although it rained only for a few moments, the sky still has this murky haze.

earthquake weather?

law school, maybe?
i'm trying to think of what i want to do with myself and i'm starting to lean towards law. i don't think i could EVER do lawyer-law.. not the court stuff--judges scare me. but more like, legal studies and policy analysis.. non-profits, maybe? all i know is that i want to be in some kind of field where i can help people in need. back when i was at csuh i was thinking of doing this sort of thing (social service) but i changed my mind once i got to ucla. heh.. kinda funny now that it seems i'm just back where i started.

so i guess it's back to the books. more standardized tests.. lsats.. dammit.

this is sea ranch:



so is this:



see why i miss it?

oh another thing.
i found out that people actually read this thing. whoa.. weird...

have you ever had a dream that you wished was real?
i had one of those the other night. it felt so real, so tangible.. i could remember distinct little things. i wished it could've gone on, and on...

but i woke up..

the clock read 3:00 am and i realized that i had been dreaming the entire time. sometimes.. i wish.. i wish...

but. i guess not.

times of refreshing.
fourth of july was a nice little retreat, but now it seems that i'm back to the same old, same old. i'm back to being exhausted and tired all over again.

give me a star-filled sky and the sound of the ocean.. *sigh*, yeah that sounds nice.

oy yoy!
they changed blogger, and blogger looks weird.. WEIRD.

.. fourth of july weekend ended up pretty good. jennifer invited us up to her home in sea ranch, a little town just south of medicino on highway one. it was beautiful--coastal views, fresh air and a wonderful starry sky in the evening. it was a welcome retreat, and it reminded me of just how much i love the ocean. watching the waves go in and out, the feel of wet sand, the sound of ocean.. i missed it and didn't even realize it.

i think i told jo once that even though the beaches in southern california are more fun to swim in, the beaches in northern california are more beautiful. and they are, there's just something about it...

pretty wonderful. heh.

i want to go back.