Day 7: I'm a Star Wars fan.

I keep forgetting to take pictures of what I wore during the day. An unseemly habit, I know, especially since this blog is all about pictures and clothes and what we do with them when we're dreadfully bored. At any rate, I wore mainly the black turtleneck, and never went out of my room except during lunch and dinner, both of which I endeavored a healthy conversation with a good friend of mine, Jaclyn.

I've recently developed a insatiable appetite for everything Star Wars. Well, at least the main trilogies developed by Lucas. I don't read the comics for that matter not because I dislike them, but only because I never had the reason to. I can finally say: I've watched all six films and I liked them immensely. To a certain degree, the original trilogy was far better compared to the sequels, even without impressive CGI. Though I must say that my enthusiasm for the series grew from the sleek designs of the Naboo starships from The Phantom Menace. I've always loved the royal star cruisers. Of course, any hardcore enthusiast would be critical on my rather general terminology for the starships. Hence, I shall attempt to be more specific.

Ahem.

I'm quite taken in with the elegance presented by the J-type 327 Nubian Royal Starship developed by the Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps. A representation of Nubian diplomacy and its pacifistic philosophy, the vessel carries no weapons, and relies severely on its sheer speed to elude any possible attacks. Completely covered in chromium, the yacht is a status symbol in itself, conferred only to the Queen of Naboo.

Or, in much simpler terms...

The spaceship's design was inspired by the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Here's a comparison:

Fiction always looks so much better than fact, doesn't it? Maybe that's why I write.

Day 6: The size of my library doubled.

This is my desk/library. This collection excludes magazines and an entire box of books which I didn't bother taking a picture of. But let us assume that these are the books that I take out and read regularly.

Here're my textbooks for this semester:

Twenty-four. This mess excludes at least four more books that I didn't add, because I already have them and they're already on the shelf. Pooh is right to be surprised. How in the world am I going to finish all of these in one semester? I don't even have a place for them in my room. How very... tiresome indeed. Oh well, 'tis the life of an English major.

I'm very surprised with this year's winter. Lincoln's been spared with much of the cold snap this season. I even walked out to the bookstore in shorts and flip flops. In other words, I had a pretty lethargic day, in which, I didn't bother changing out of my pajamas.

I know I'm supposed to post something else but I can't remember what... Hmm. I can't blame it on jet lag because I don't usually suffer from jet lags. Though... I am rather sleepy at the moment...

Day 5: What a terrifying flight!

Couple of things I've missed out in yesterday's post... Firstly, I forgot to upload this photo that I took at Claremont Village. How very exciting indeed! I'm quite taken in by the lead actress after her stint as Alice. And now, she'll be acting as Jane Eyre. I'm looking forward to it.

Secondly, for the past five days of January, I've been wearing the same thing whenever I go out - Either just the black turtleneck or it paired with the blue cardigan. Today, it was just the turtleneck with the wool coat. I had expected Nebraskan weather to be cold.

The flight from LA to Phoenix was terrifying. It was definitely topping my list of frightening flights, and I have been globetrotting all my life so I know how bad turbulence can sometimes be. Until this particular journey. About 30 minutes after take off, the ride became a little bumpy. I wasn't bothered by the occasional rough massage. The elderly passenger seated on my left didn't seem to care much as well. And then, it got rougher. For five seconds, at least that was what it felt, the plane rocked so hard, I thought the wings were falling off. All I heard was the captain leaving a brief message, urging everyone to strap on their belts. Two minutes later, there were panicking gasps from the seat behind me. I held on tightly to my seat. The elderly lady on the left, grabbed my hand.

I later learnt her name to be Irene, and she had mine. Small talk was all that's required to slowly brush away anxiety, still tugging on our hearts. What it felt like then seemed impossible mid-air. I was in a mini bus filled with people glued to each other's sticky bodies, the sweaty stench floating about inside, and we were traveling in the Malaysian countryside, on roads that never received attention from the Ministry of Transportation. The only thing is, we were all 30,ooo feet above sea level. And it was a loooong way down.

But we made it. Thank goodness for that. And I came back to my room, which was still surprisingly neat. Just as I left it. Well, at least, my section of the room that is. I... don't think I would like to mention the details about my roommate's side. In fact, I might consider vacuuming. Again.

Day 4: I'm a little biased

Not too bad, eh? Well, that's only because some of the flowers were not from the botanical garden itself... Oh, and by the way, this was where I went:

I've set the Huntington Library as a benchmark. As a result, I wasn't very impressed with the arrangement of this garden. It was beautiful, no doubt. But Huntington's cacti collection puts Santa Ana's to shame. Their specimens in the desert oasis were healthy, but lacked the grandeur presented in Huntington.

Ah, but what am I saying? I'm being far too critical... This place deserves some credit. I can only blame myself for choosing winter as the season to visit. Everything looked green, if that's any way to describe a garden, and I greatly appreciated the amount of walking I did. Conifer enthusiasts, this is the place for you. I was frankly surprised to find out they had a single coast redwood tree and a couple of giant sequoias. Though... I might be swapping those figures.

Nonetheless, it was the perfect day to be out. For a long time, the weather forecast finally showed "Sunny," with a high of 62. I was content. Definitely one of the better ways to end my winter vacation in LA.

Here are a few more post-worthy pictures I've snapped form the garden:

I'm still waiting for that nymph to pop up anytime now...

My only frustration from this brisk walk was that I couldn't seem to locate the crucifixion thorn, a rare shrub apparently. Then again, it is a shrub, and I'm no expert horticulturalist. How am I supposed to find such a thing when I couldn't even locate myself on the map?

About noon, I began my journey to the neighboring Claremont Village, which is supposed to be somewhat like Omaha's Old Market area. Pretty neat place. I even got a chance to snap this:

The best part about the village was that it had a bookshop. And the best thing about this book shop is that it sells rare and used books at a standard price. $4 on all hardcovers and $2 on paperbacks. Regardless of their condition. In other words, I walked away with these three beauties: Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Iliad's The Odyssey.

Now I have all three of these, but the books by Twain were collectibles, and The Odyssey was brand new. In fact, it looked as if someone bought it out of B&N, changed his/her mind about after paying for it, and dropped it off at this bookstore. I got this friggin' thing for only $2. How can anyone say no to that?

The cafe latte wasn't mine, unfortunately.

Day 3: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc anyone?

Perhaps it had a well-established history, but what I saw in this winery was nothing more than a simple wine shop. I was disappointed. I didn't even get to taste wine. And vineyard's an overstatement. The grapevines I saw looked more like a vegetable patch in some neighbor's backyard. Then again, this is the wintry season. What could I expect?

As one can see, there weren't any tours to welcome my arrival so I basically exited the place with a bunch of papers a lecturer would've given to me should I have taken "Wine Tasting 101." The lady working there was kind enough to introduce to me some interesting facts about wine tasting though. Thank goodness I'm a reader. Now I know about the three "Ss" when drinking wine and that white oak is the preferred wood to construct barrels for wine aging.

But I had a far more constructive time with the pot of flowers on the right, as you can see from the pictures below.

That's it. My next investment shall be a Canon Powershot A480. If only it didn't consume so many AA batteries, it would've been a most treasured item. And I realized I haven't been using it at its fullest potential...

There, much better. Compared to my camera phone, this nifty little gadget produces... actually, just about the same quality of images, really. Well, just about the same when I'm taking portraits, otherwise the camera really does intensify the hues and texture of the images.

Tomorrow will be my last day at Rancho Cucamonga. Oh~ how my heart bleeds for this place. The bed which I slept on for the past three weeks is amazing. Not great for the spine but gawd does it make me sleep more. An activity I sorely miss and will miss in the near future.

Day 2: The Tournament of Roses Parade!

Hah! I'm getting high. I'm really getting high. No! I am high! I seem to be completely surrounded with an assortment of flora this winter break, and I'm conspicuously ecstatic! Every single rose bloom on the floats were perfect. Their petals were flawless. Even during the heavy downpour, they still look picture perfect. My only regret was to not have asked for a bouquet of roses to take home.

Fine, so this wasn't the actual parade on New Year's Day. But to get this close to a vivid presentation of flowers (though mainly roses, there were a hell a lot of carnations and daisies as well) was a dream come true. Well, one of many dreams.

The basket on the left of this last picture was made almost entirely out of seeds. Yeap, the colorful floats were definitely worth the soggy shoes and muddy jeans.

5th Month, Day 1

Voila~ The first half of the month, as displayed in front of this huge slab of rock. This is how we celebrate our New Year's - by visiting one of the oldest and largest, also undoubtedly magnificent, living organisms on the planet, the Giant Sequoias.

Pictures aren't enough. Believe me. One would have to visit the place itself to feel the immensity, the thrill, the splendor. This one right here is the base of the largest tree in the world, General Sherman. Though not the oldest, it's definitely the heavyweight champion. Nonetheless, this fellow right here's approximately 2300 ~ 2700 years old, more ancient than Jesus himself. Imagine the things we could learn if they could speak. Literally, living, and growing, time capsules.

It takes about six hours to reach the national park from my uncle's place, but the drive was worth it. The sight was even worth the heavy blizzard we encountered when we reached General Sherman's location. All in all, I am dumbfounded, yet elated.

And now... I am tired. So until tomorrow then, goodnight.