I had no idea the Burbank fires were getting so bad. I know that the heat is the cause of the fires, but I wonder if the fires are the cause of the heat, too?

So what does it mean to be "nice" anyways? Aren't people generally "nice"? It seems like it would take a lot of work to be mean, so out of pure laziness, don't people have more of an inclination towards what is nice, rather than what is not? That said, what does it mean to be nice these days? Has nice lost its meaning? (If not, it probably will after you read this paragraph. If not after that, just repeat the word 10 times.)

Everything now is categorized as "nice." That girl is nice. That boy is nice. You know what else is nice? A set of matching candle holders from Bed Bath and Beyond. Why does one like the other? Because they are nice. Everything is just nice. Nice almost seems too easy. If all you are is nice, well great, but then what? Nice doesn't explain who you are or describe what he is. Maryann and Ginger were both nice, but they were different in many ways. I don't want to be nice anymore. I don't want you to be nice anymore. We are more than just a pair of candle holders. I demand more, and you should expect more.

Remember that school house rock song? Well come on people, start unpacking those adjectives!



Came home from camping last spring.
Saw people, places and things.
We barely had arrived,
Friends asked us to describe
The people, places and every last thing.
So we unpacked our adjectives.

I unpacked "frustrating" first.
Reached in and found the word "worst."
Then I picked "soggy" and
Next I picked "foggy" and
Then I was ready to tell them my tale,
'cause I'd unpacked my adjectives.

Adjectives are words you use to really describe things,
Handy words to carry around.
Days are sunny or they're rainy
Boys are dumb or else they're brainy
Adjectives can show you which way.

Adjectives are often used to help us compare things
To say how thin how fat how short how tall.
Girls who are tall can get taller,
Boys who are small can get smaller,
Till one is the tallest
And one is the smallest of all.

We hiked along without care.
Then we ran into a bear!
He was a hairy bear!
He was a scary bear!
We beat a hasty retreat from his lair,
And described him with adjectives!

Whoah! Boy, that was one big, ugly bear!

You can even make adjectives out of the other parts of speech, like verbs or
nouns. All you have to do is tack on an ending, like "ic" or "ish" or "ary". For
example, this boy can grow up to be a huge man, but still have a boyish face.
"Boy" is a noun, but the ending "ish" makes it an adjective. "Boyish": that
describes the huge man's face. Get it?

Next time you go on a trip,
Remember this little tip:
The minute you get back,
They'll ask you this and that.
You can describe people, places and things.
Simply unpack your adjectives.
You can do it with adjectives.
Tell them about it with adjectives.
You can shout it with adjectives.

Burbank smells like a large BBQ.

Apparently the hills of Burbank want to join in on the fire fun too, so they've decided to go get themselves all burned up. I can't seem to take my eyes off the flames, they are so hypnotically mesmorizing. I teared up as I went to work this morning, not because of the white ash collecting on my recently washed car, but because white ash was attacking my eyes, and when you're biking, there's no windshield to protect you from such attacks.

Hmm...white ash...that sounds like a good band name. I call dibs.


Since I'm always late to rehearsals, I seem to have different stand partners each week. This week I sat in the back next to a friendly gal, and when I introduced myself, it went something like this:

Me: Hi, my name is Szu-Hua
Her: Su...?
Me: Su-Ha
Her (nods): Su ra
Me: no, SU-HA
Her: no, Su ra

Turns out, her name is pronounced Su-ra! We both realized our names sounded the same at the same, and had a jolly laugh about it. Ok, so I guess the whole story would be funnier if you had name issues growing up...
Whatever, you...........normal named person.

Sushi ain't so bad! I had "real" sushi tonight, with the seared tuna and the raw halibut and the raw spicy tuna and whatnot. I'm still trying to get used to the texture, but the taste isn't so bad.

Now I can finally join the rest of the asian race. Hooray!

Dear Readers,

Due to the lack of fresh ideas and new thoughts, the editor in chief here at DB will be on hiatus indeterminately until further notice.

Thank you.

Here's a new one:

Instead of Szu-Hua, I was greeted today with Alo-HUA! It's the perfect combination of hello and szu-hua in one, especially for those who are lazy, like me. Props to Fern for that one.

My friend is trying to set me up:

Not in the conspiratorial that-really-wasn't-MY-pot-in-my-locker...i-was-holding-it-for-Szu-Hua sort of way. (Ok not really...we didn't have lockers anyways.) More in the girl-works-with-cute-guy-decides-to-hook-up-guy-with-best-friend sort of way. Do people still do that anymore? Anyways, I'm sure these things always have with the best of intentions, but the cynic I am, I'm completely against these sorts of things.

Signs that I should take lessons:

While watching an incredibly crappy Hillary Duff movie (don't ask me why, this is just what happens when movies show up at your door), I wondered why one of the violin players reminded me so much of my old violin teacher. Why? Because it WAS my old violin teacher. What the heck is this guy doing in a movie? In a Hillary Duff movie, no less, and! on top of that, a CRAPPY Hillary Duff movie. Maybe it wasn't him, it was just a vision of him that my head conjured up to push me to take my lessons. Hmm...ok, not really. Maybe he was making a statement to old students like me: "if you practice, you too can be in a Hillary Duff movie." If that's the case, can I trade Hillary Duff in for Sarah Jessica Parker?

10 Reasons why I need to retire my flip flops for the winter:

My toes. They get cold easily. And when they get cold, my feet get cold. And when my feet get cold...it's over. But I'm not ready to put them away! How will people know I'm coming down the hall if they can't hear my flip flip flopping? I'm not ready to do the unthinkable, but for my toes, I must.

I'm in search of the perfect basket for my bike:

Now, before you start thinking flowers and ribbons and puppies, let me paint you a picture: Chrome. Wire. Shiny. None of that fru fru stuff. I'm talking more solid, good old Shiny Chrome Wire baskets. I've mentioned this to a few people already, all of whom have laughed at the idea. They suggested rear baskets, or even panniers. No way! My bike will not wear a fanny butt pack. It already has one. I'm talking Shiny. Chrome. Wire. Classic. That's right.

I couldn't decide which I wanted to read more: the article on SJP in my vogue, or whether Elizabeth will finally see through Mr. Darcy's admiration for her...so here I am instead.

Finally the people at Starbucks remember my name and order. TL % wm nw for Sue (sometimes Su). Is that so hard? And I've been going there for how long now? Come on people!

Oh, and here's a line I haven't yet heard used in conjunction with my name, other than the usual Su-Hahahaha, I'm gonna Sue you!, etc:

Man: Name?
Me: Su
Man: Su, are you a lawyer?
Me: 'scuse me?
Man: Are you a lawyer?
Me: Wah?
Man: Are you a lawyer?
Me: Huh? (long pause) No?
Man: Are you a lawyer? Y'know, cause you're name is Su.

Good god, dood needs to get some new material...and he thought he was so clever.


Right now Michael J. is telling me to "get on the floor" and dance with him. I'll have to oblige.

I have a liquid gelcap stuck in my throat. No amount of water I drink can make it go down. So now I can't go to bed, because the gravitational forces needed to pull a gelcap into your stomach will not work when one is horizontal. Now I wait.

















Perhaps I will wait while reading.

Day three.

Good god, its been three days, and I'm bored outta my mind. With the exception of the little blackout today, there's been no excitement. And I would hardly even call a blackout exciting. And what a day to call in sick...due to the blackout, everyone was sent home at 2:30. And then, to make matters worse, due to the blackout, everyone was partying by 4:30 at Wally's house just down the street. His call was like boredom punching me in the face. By 4:32 I could've been sitting poolside, sipping on whatever concoctions they would've handed me in this lovely fall weather. Instead, I sadly declined and went back to bed. The only time I went out today was to take out the trash and check on my power. That is not so fabulous.

In the meantime, I've began re-reading Pride and Prejudice since a new version of the film is coming out in November. It always amazes me that this book (or this author rather), written more than 200 years ago, can still relate to present day (minus all the fluffy language). I guess that at the core of it, love, relationships, and courtship still transcends time.

I've always wanted to use the word "transcend". Cool.

It's weird, due to my irratic sleeping pattern, I've been having odd dreams. Well, they're more like visions. I'll see myself having conversations with people, and I'll wake up and later wonder if it really happened, or if I just dreamed it. And currently, I'm still wondering about some of them...

Being sick is no fun.

I've read, watched my dvds, slept, played my guitar, got a tire alignment, and even signed on to myspace, only to realize, there's not much to do there. I'm on page 278 of an 800 page Vogue magazine. I spent the latter half of the afternoon with my G boys, Gaye and Green. I'm so utterly bored, but don't have the energy to be out and about. So here I am, blogging.

With nothing to blog about.

I'm in the mood to do something crazy...suggestions?

I never realized that cats really do eat mice. I thought it was just a cartoon thing. But this morning, as I opened my front door, there it was, laying on the pavement: a dead rat. Not only was it dead, it was bloody, covered in ants, and its stomach was gone. All I could see was its skinny skinless, fleshless, vertebrae bone. Quite a sight first thing in the morning, let me tell you.

So now I'm getting suspicious of the cats around here. They're always staring me down when I walk by them. I think its because of my bike...they're confused by this shiny two wheeled monster that I'm always walking around them, its nothing at all like dogs people walk. Neither I nor my neighbor that shares the same porch step have cats. So why would a cat drop off a dead rat in front of us? And plus, after I stopped staring at the dead carcus, I looked up and there was my neighbor's fat cat, and I swear, it was meowing AT me, like it was trying to communicate with me. I could very possibly be their next victim...

For now, I'm the victim of tiny invisible germs that have made its way into my body. I knew I didn't feel quite right this morning, I thought it was just from staring at a dead rat for too long (it was actually rather fascinating, as well as disgusting). But then my body started aching all over, and now I'm hot one minute and cold the next. Man, these germs know what they're doing. They invade on a Friday afternoon, and most likely will camp out all weekend, so instead of doing all the things I had planned for the weekend, I now have to entertain these germs in bed. Maybe this is what the cats are plotting. They get the germs to break me down first, so that they can attack me while I'm weak. One step out the door and I'm a gonner. If you don't hear from me, try looking for me on my porch step- bloody, half eaten, and covered with ants. And if you don't hear from me or see me on my porch step, the ants mostly likely got to me already. With the help from the spiders of course. They work in conjunction with each other.

I can't possibly go to bed right now.

I just had a deeply enlightning and interesting conversation with a friend about aliens and government conspiracies and the moon landing not actually happening. However, now that I'm safely home, I'm a little freaked out. Did you know there are three different kinds of aliens? And the government knows about them? What if they come for me in my sleep?

I know it all sounds very silly, but my imagination likes to run wild after midnight. A little too wild. I am a bit freaked.

So now i'm going to blog happy thoughts:

Frosting on cupcakes and sideburns on cute boys
Bright yellow beetles and warm milk from soy
A nice pair of pants that fit me just right
These are the thoughts that'll keep me sleeping at night.

(It's working, it's working!)

A tall cup of starbucks or a small cup at CB
Watching pole dancing from my drunk gal sivie
Playing so loud that my ears actually ring
These are a few of my favorite things...

When the ghosts come, when the spiders crawl, when the aliens are there
I simply remember these favorite things
And then i don't feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel so scared!



Wow, that Julie Andrews really knows her shit. That really did the trick. No wonder she played two different nannies. And she looked hot in both movies. I can't decide which I prefer more, her as a bobbed hair blonde Frauline Maria or as a long brunette haired Mary Poppins. I'll take them both.

Now it's safe to go to bed!

Episode #0008: The older I get the less I know.

What a difference a day makes.

The day after labor day, I woke up, and it smelled different. It smelled like fall...like the first day of school, like new clothes and trapper keepers. Except I didn't have any new clothes to wear to work today, instead I opted for the fat jeans and the usual flip flops.

Sometimes going to work seems no different than going to school. You have your principals and your teachers that you have to watch out for, ie: the owner boss and your boss boss. Your co-workers are your fellow classmates. The lunch hour has turned into recess. The only difference is, there's no homework, and you stay late-not for detention, but to finish up work. Really, in the grand scheme of things, how far have I really come?

Something's come over me lately. I've been feeling this need to read and learn everything that's out there. Violin lessons aren't enough. There's so much more I want to learn. Guitar, yoga, languages, sewing, ballet, voice, ceramics, painting, taxes, and yes, even how to refinance a home. I just feel like I don't know enough about anything.

I'm like a packrat when I go to the library. I checkout more books than I can possibly read, and end up incurring fines for overdue books that I don't even get a chance to read. I go to the local barnes and noble and want to buy every book I touch. I have duplicates of books I've bought at the used bookstore that I had forgotten that I've bought. It's madness. And still, I feel like I can't read fast enough, absorb information quickly enough. Why is that?

I feel like a hungry baby that just needs to be fed with knowledge. Does that mean I should go back to school? I'm not patient enough for that right now. And I won't be able to stick with just one subject. There's just too many things I want to learn to stick with one, or two, or three.

I wish I was one of those 19th century upper class girls where all they had to do was take their lessons and be accomplished in them. If only that was my job: to learn different skills all the time. That would be awesome. Except I wouldn't get to wear those lovely puffy dresses. With gloves. ...Or would I....?

Maybe that's why, to answer your question, there is this resurgence in my blogging. No, that doesn't answer your question at all. It doesn't answer mine.

In any case, tomorrow I will undergo a special project I just thought of last night. It will be fantacular. Just like me.

An unexpected surprise awaited me on the way back to the valley tonight: a flat tire. It was as if my corolla was protesting the return to the valley. (My bike, on the other hand, would never throw such a tantrum.) I felt like such a useless girl as AAA came and changed my tire. Note to self: need to increase upper body strength. Time to pump some iron.

This weekend I had some really good chinese food back at the OC. Not the faux food that restaurants in Burbank or a certain Mr. PF Chang call "chinese food." I mean the REAL stuff. The good stuff.

John Williams at the Bowl was great. Although, not as exciting as my last two visits to the bowl, but still great nonetheless. One thing I noticed was how much John resembles the colonel from KFC. I wonder if anyone's ever told him that?

So after a culmination of things: a night at the bowl, the summer orchestra, the recent concert, an incredibly beautiful violin solo I heard on the radio, I've realized that I desperately want to become a better player. I know I have the potential, but no matter how much more I practice, I'll still need someone to guide me and coach me to play better. There's just so many things I still need to learn. So I've decided that I need to take lessons again. But with lessons comes commitment. I just don't know how much time I can devote to practicing everyweek to really take advantage of my lessons. But it's getting to the point where I'm yearning to play better. And I don't usually yearn for much...except maybe chocolate and ice cream.

In the mean time, until I figure out what to do with this lesson business, I'll just continue to play. The valley orch. begins the day after tomorrow, sooner than I realized. I thought I'd have a week or two to chill, but I think it's better this way. Once you get off track it's hard to get back on again.

My migraine returns, so its bedtime.

Goodnight blogworld.

Episode #0001 - "A New Beginning"

Cups of coffee this week: 0
# of falls this week: 0
Spiders killed: 5.5
Days biked to work: 5
# of DVD games completely out the door: 1!


Ok ok, so the week won't really be over until Sunday, but it's the work week that really counts anyways.

Today marks the end of a caffeine free week, for I will break that by rewarding myself with coffee in the morning. (C'mon, it's Saturday! Saturdays mornings are MEANT for coffee. Followed by Sunday mornings...) I think the only kinds of beverages I've had this week were water, soymilk, and tea. Although, I don't think water counts as a beverage. Water is just water. Oh no, but tea has caffeine! But well, I am chinese. I HAVE to drink tea. If I don't I'll be disrespecting great great ancestors somewhere, I'm sure. The coffee thing, I just wanted to see if I could do it. Now that I know I can go for a week without coffee, I'll probably still have coffee. I just wanted to see if I could do it. And I did, so hoorah.

The concert went well, I suppose. The thing about not having a stand partner is not having someone to turn your pages in critical situations. After a deadly page turn in the middle of a movement, I completely lost my place...for an entire page! I'm hoping people couldn't tell I was lost. Jyvonne was telling me today about an electronic screen that displays your music, and turns the pages with the press of a foot pedal. Now that's something that would have come in handy on Wednesday! There was a great turnout for Jyvonne and I, thanks to the Cannerians and friends and family, but it wasn't close to full. I did find out however, that there is an orchestra that rehearses at that very hall during the year on Mondays. It would be alot closer than Valley College, but somehow, I feel like I should stick with Valley College. I want to stay with the oboe guy and the flute lady. They're such incredible musicians. I still have some time to decide.

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow, I'm spending an evening with John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl, followed by fireworks!

Stay Tuned...