I did this last year, so I figured I could give it another shot. Just a little review of 2009, which is probably one of the most interesting years I’ve had..lol

January - is for new crowds.

The end of 2008 was really hard for me. I had just gotten out of a breakup and I definitely felt like I had changed as a person. I wanted to start off the new year with a better attitude for life. So, I started hanging out with new people to change my outlook.

• The Jays: Basically, me and three dudes rocking out all the time. I joined this pop-rock-alternative band eventually called the Jays early in the semester. We would do a lot of covers, a couple of HILARIOUS parodies for the AAA Bake Sale (“Crush,” “Umbrella,” and “I’m Yours.”) and a few originals. We disbanded a couple of months later, but JKwon and I kept up with a blog for a while.
• AAA Folks: Monica, Peter, Jessica, Dieu, and the whole crew. The whole Spring semester would be defined by our late night study sessions in the library and visits to Waffle House.

February - is for ups and downs.

February was good and bad. After I became an officer for AAA, I started working a lot on Awareness Night. I became friends with A. S.

• A.S. – Not a good part of the year. Fraud. And that’s all I’ll say about it.

• 8th & 9th: All Sing competition with Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) singing the Prince of Egypt. Peforming with BCM was probably one of the highlights of this year. I felt so happy to be part of a great cause that praised God and spread his good news.

March & April - is for beginnings.

I think January and February were like warm ups for the new year. March is for new beginnings.

• B  – It’s funny how life can change in a few moments. In March, I met and got to know one of the most important people in my life. It happened with a spark of conversation. A late night on Facebook.  A casual “Hi how are you? What are you up to?” It’s funny how something so small changes you. You all know and love him as my “B,” but he’s more than just a letter. He’s my best friend. I hate to be cheesy, but I don’t think 2009 would’ve been the same without him in my life. Every day and every milestone was so special. I’m so happy to have him. I hope there’s many more to come.

• School – I got to end the semester with a…whew. There’s always something about spring semester that just makes you wanna fall over. Usually, you get the summer to recuperate, but I decided to do something else instead.
• Julia Nunes – I got to meet my idol, Julia Nunes at  her first concert in Knoxville (at the Square Room and Barely’s Tap). It was so great. She signed my ukulele. I would see her once more in June.

May - is for…

• Family: Spent four days in California visiting my sister T. I got to meet my then 9 mos old niece Kali Raven, who I fell in love with at first sight. She’s a year old now and growing faster every day. My sister is now expecting another baby who I will visit next summer (expected in July).
• Work: I got my Christmas bonus check, which went straight to..
• Summer School: Ugh. What was I thinking? 2 classes, 8 hours, 2 months, a summer session parking pass, and $2000. Ugh. What was I thinking?

June & July - is for lovers.

Basically spent all summer doing schoolwork and trying to work. I spent a lot of time working on AAA stuff.

• 4th: My and B’s official anniversary. It’s up to debate how “officially” long we’ve  been together, seeing how we’ve been dating since March 2009. We spent a lot of time together this summer. A lot of memories.

August- is for school (ugh)…and some fun

• School - Ugh school. 15 hours of “can-you-make-my-self-esteem-sink-any-lower-please?” and then some. In my third year at UTK, I really wanted to step things up. I joined a few new clubs (TNJN.com) and became an officer in AAA.
• David Archuleta – For my birthday, Brad took me to Nashville to see David Archuleta in concert. We took a little roadtrip up there, and it was so fun. The best part was that we were the only two older than 15, considering David Archuleta was opening for Demi Levato, known Disney star. ahaha.

September - is for growing up

• Birthday: (Sept 20) Always one to celebrate, so I opted to do a karaoke/board game party this year. Sure enough, the troops showed up and we had a fun time. What’s funny about a birthday is this: you get older, you’re supposed to get wiser. Another ring around the tree trunk. 2009 was all about adapting to change.

October & November - is for filler.

I spent most the time at the end of the semester trying to save myself from drowning into a horrible academic abyss. In and out of AAA commitments and whatnot. I wish I took more time to step aside from all of that, but I suppose it paid off. I survived the semester, at least.

December - is for change.

Hello, life? Are you there? It’s me, Linda.

• AAA Potluck – A good ending to a great semester. ‘Nuff said.

• Christmas – Another jolly Christmas. I had a few moments with the family here and there. Short lived.

• More Christmas – ‘Tis the season, all right. There’s even more Christmas to share when you’re working at a family portrait studio. In fact, it’s no joke that it’s Christmas everyday. And for about 10 weeks. So yeah, Christmas was sort of short lived and then long lived all at the same time. How could this have been resolved? Probably more of the actual Christmas spirit, less of the bs commercialism.

• End of the new year – (see New Year’s entry lol)

SO….2009….is for what, exactly?

Stories. Experiences. Memories. Life.

Spent the day in Gatlinburg with Darina and her cousin Janet today. It was really refreshing to get out of the house and out of work and into the open air. It was pretty cold, but we spent a bit outside and took some pictures. We also went to one of the dozen pancakes houses in Pigeon Forge and I basically gorged myself on deliciousness.

Even though the whole area is tourist ridden and kitschy, the town has its charms. Like, half a dozen “AS SEEN ON TV” stores, a million custom air brushed t-shirt shops, and “OLD TIMEY PHOTOGRAPHS” stalls. Ohh, I love it.

After we drove down from the mountain, we stopped at Tanger outlets in Sevierville (of course) and shopped a ton (of course). I got quite a haul including three sweaters and some stuff for B.

Overall, it was a really fun day.

Christmas 2009.

Very interesting indeed.

It started off as a late Christmas afternoon, instead of an early Christmas morning, like years  past. The three of us: Mom, Dad, and myself opened gifts around noon, ate  an awesome Christmas lunch, but overall, and we basically had ourselves a very merry Christmas.

This year, because I wanted to open a bit more than two envelopes full of money from my folks, I went ahead and just invested some of my own money into things I wanted.

Ugh, yes. I bought gifts for myself, wrapped them, and put tags on them “from my parents.” At least someone was surprised when I opened the BBC Pride and Prejudice box set, new curling iron, new sweater, dress, boots, and several other DVDs I bought for myself…ahahah

But it’s cool. My parents loved the gifts I got them and really enjoy surprises. My older sister got Mom and Dad a GPS system (which they will definitely put to good use). But my older brother Khai may have just won it this year with the iPod Touch and SNUGGIE (lololol) he got Dad.

Not lie, I am wearing the horrible snuggie right now as we speak!

Oh Barbara, aren’t you great?

It’s days like this–rainy, dull, and gray–that I often just like to spend time in doors watching old movies and stuffing my face with junk food. And not to lie, that’s basically what winter break is comprised of.

Here’s kind of a tally of what I’ve been up to (since school let out):

1. One box of yogurt covered pretzels consumed

2. One party platter destroyed

3. 3 chick flicks watched (and cried over)

4. 40 episodes of Gossip Girl watched

5. 10 Whose Line Is It Anyway? reruns watched

6. Over 60 hrs worked…and counting

7. A Christmas/holiday iTunes playlist with over 300 songs (16.8+ hrs) compiled for work

8. The whole house decorated

9. SEVERAL stinkin’ trips to the mall, Wal-mart, Target, and etc to buy gifts

10. 2 dozen presents wrapped

And more to come!

JEM 222 / Online Journalism: A

HIS242 / Western Civ: B

JAP351 / Advanced Japanese: C

JEM275 / Intro to JEM: C

JEM 315 / News writing/reporting: B-

Overall GPA: 3.04

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Not going to lie, there’s quite a few things I would’ve liked to better. In general, I’m definitely disappointed in myself and I’m pretty disgruntled with some of the results (especially an UNJUST B minus I received). But I am thankful for what I received. It could’ve been worse. Really.

Here’s the shock. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad! I mean, I am barely scraping by with anything, if it’s the same as last semester, that’s not exactly failing, is it? It’s what one would call “keeping up with current progress.” At least, this is what I tell myself.

All I gotta do is just assert myself and really bring everything up next semester…because I’m basically running out of chances. Gotta pull it together, Nguyen. That’s all.

Just gotta pull it together. Period.

Work on the weekend sustains me. It allows me to enjoy life with a little bit of freedom, fun, and lunch money.

…At least, that is what I tell myself.

But at the end of a 14 hour day, which constitutes a 25 hour two-day-week (’cause I only work weekends, yo), I feel quite pooped out. The good thing about it, is that after two quick days, I can relax and get back into my lazy-bum slump for about five days.

Until I decide to pick up extra shifts like I am on Tuesdays, because I have to feed my Christmas spirit habit of buying presents for those I know and love.

….I’m feeling jolly. How about you?

It’s the show you love to hate. The stereotypical “beautiful people” characters, the unrealistic storyline, the shallow plot and the..ridiculously good looking cast.

Synopsis:
“Gossip Girl” follows the story of the elite young people in New York’s exclusive prep school scene. There are about 6 main characters who are from old money families and engage in parties, excess and other bad behavior that comes with wealth. It also follows the story of Dan Humphrey, who unlike his peers, does not come from any wealth but instead from Brooklyn and goes to private school on partial scholarship.

Dan falls in love with Serena Van der Woodsen, a bad girl gone good, whose right in line with the “popular crowd.” But the show is more about the consequences that comes with new found popularity: scandal and of course, gossip.

All of their lives are publicized on a famous blog called “Gossip Girl”–which is never discrete. The TV show “Gossip Girl” is all about teenage drama in the technological world where texts, uploaded photos, and blogs rule.

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Favorite Character:

Right now, it is definitely a toss up between Chuck Bass (described as the hateful spawn from the Upper West Side) and Dan Humphrey (the loveable outsider gone inside whose wit and hilarity make the show).

But each character has his or her moments.

Best lines so far:

1. “Nate Archibald had an original thought last year…it died of loneliness.” – Dan Humphrey, Season 1

2. “I know that face. That face is not your friend.” – Eric Van der Woodsen, Season 2: Episode 1

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Right now, I’m starting Season 2. Hopefully it’ll be just as good as the first season.

XOXO,
Gossip Linda

Fall semester is over, horrah horrah. I am sorry I haven’t been keeping up with entries lately, but to be honest…it’s  because my classes took my writing-loving-soul and replaced it with…responsibility and commitment. Gross, I know. But now that the grief is over, I am back to my old self.

For example, after I turned in my final project for the semester, I spent the whole afternoon napping. Then, I woke up to watch nearly 4 episodes of Gossip Girl Season 1 (to which now I am addicted), ate heinous amounts of yogurt covered pretzels and then finished the day off staring a novel before bed.

It was amazing. Hopefully, a preview of how relaxing this winter break will be!

Now, the weekends of course are still fun filled with work at the studio, but that’s to be expected. When I’m there, I just have to remind myself that my education and habit of eating during the week needs to be supported somehow.

Off to bed,

XOXO Gossip Linda ahaha