Yay free things! I <3 all things Bruin.
Today I attended my first alumni event, a young alumni mixer held in the San Fernando Valley. People from a variety of backgrounds showed up, ranging from fresh-ish grads such as myself from the Class of ’08 to people as far back as the class of ’98, and grad students as well. It was a nice event, with free appetizers and some raffle items. I was the first one to show up, even after I found that my original parking spot is permit-only and had to move my car a very long block away. The place was strewn with lots of small gifts that people could take at will, like Class of ’09 cups, Class of ’08 keychains, Class of ’07 stickers, etc.
I sat down to chat with a few people and when the appetizers came, I munched my way through quite a bit before curbing my hunger. I met a bunch of interesting people – a guy who was my year, a Chem major who is doing R&D work now; two girls who were ’04, one is a third grade teacher and the other a nurse at UCLA; a guy who was ’06 Psychology, now working on techie stuff for UCLA Biomed or something like that; a lady who was ’06 Music History and History, and has been a professional musician for 25 years; a girl who was ’03 and is working at the UCLA Fund; and a few others who work for UCLA, as well as a handful of people in the environmental field. I got a nice lead with Ms. UCLA Fund, who told me to let her know when I submit my application for a job on campus that I would really like to have.
As luck would have it, I also won a raffle item and chose to take home the mug. I was a sucker for the gold trim and black and white image of Royce Hall. I was almost tempted to get the mouse pad, but then I realized I never use one. This clocks in as the second mug I’ve won and one of many that I have unofficially collected over the years. I will never forget my beautiful black mug from Gallery and Toff’s (two nightclubs in York), which I got during Fresher Week when I first arrived for my year studying at the Uni of York. I think it’s the sturdiness, yet fragile nature of them that make me feel they are valuable enough. Everyone’s a winner when I win things, because I get really excited and that brings a smile to most everyone’s face (except for the super bitter who reaaally wanted to win too, I suppose).
I had nothing else to do, so I stayed quite late chatting with these people. The last guy I had an extensive talk with kept calling me a cougar because Panda is two years older than me. 🙁 He was teasing, of course, but for some reason I was very eagerly trying to deny his allegations. He joked that I go to high school proms to pick up guys and buy underage kids alcohol to bribe them, all ridiculous notions, but I still defended myself. I’ve had my share of pseudo-dating but I’ve quite happily settled on my first and only boyfriend, thank you very much. But hey, cougar is better than cradle-robber, right? And so I concluded my night, taste buds happy with the food, mind pleased with the service, and overall a very positive feel about the night.
Somehow I didn’t take a single picture there though…
It started Saturday with dim sum, where we also ate with Cherry (who was also an Orientation Counselor with us last year) and Envie (Panda’s brother). It was really nice to catch up with Cherry, who just completed a rigorous summer program, and meet Brother, who I’ve heard about over the months, but never gotten more than an impression of. After we filled our bellies with delectable tidbits, we went across the way to a photo sticker machine place and took some fun shots together. Between the six of us we managed to squeeze into one booth and split the sixteen copies of the four shots we printed, then split off. I took Panda, Envie, and Cherry back before spinning back to get Opti and Doc, who had gone back to Opti’s so she could pack for the overnight.
As I thought, the wait was drastically shorter than the guy told us, so we were seated about an hour after we had originally arrived. Unfortunately, restaurants of this type work at a slow pace, casually letting you soak in the atmosphere and enjoy your soup and salad before the chef shows up to entertain the table. We were ravenous and didn’t get fed substantial food until about 10 o’clock. The performance was fun, but not as flashy as others I’ve seen and the fried rice was very tasty, but the chicken was a bit chewy and bland. The vegetables were juicy, but not my favorite thing to eat and the shrimp was pretty good with the provided sauce. Overall I felt the experience was average and probably not worth the money, so I think I’ll look for cheaper alternatives to this type of dining next time. It was nice to share it in a double date kind of setting though.
This morning, Panda woke up early and couldn’t quite get back to sleep, but the rest of us slept in until we lethargically pulled ourselves up and decided that we were due for some brunch. We walked down to a cafe that serves breakfast all day and uses fresh ingredients to make tasty sandwiches, burgers, and of course, the standard breakfast foods as well. From there, it was time to resume our carding craze until dinner. Throughout the game, the boys got chastised by the girls, who were both whooping the boys for the majority of the time. We can get pretty sassy and have a fun time bantering back and forth flirtatiously. The guys learned that they just couldn’t win unless they placated us. 😛
Basically 
This time around, I felt a bit outdated, since apparently in the past few years, bluetooth and cameras have become a default in phones. Well, that’s good because I wanted both, as well as a slot for a MicroSD card and a simple, clean interface. Unfortunately, though the outside looks simple, once you turn on the phone, there is a mess of buttons and symbols that I need to get used to. Not as easy I as thought it’d be. The irony of convenience in electronics is that you often need to learn the system first. Until then, it’s all confusing – exactly the stage I’m at!
