San Francisco

This will probably be my last post.

We spent one entire day in San Francisco yesterday.
It is such a nice city. from union square, walked down to Fisherman's wharf, ate clam chowder.
yum yum.

San Fran is such a nice city. I would not probably mind living there.
very hilly. the cable car ride was exciting. we got to ride hanging off the cable car.

we walked so much, went to Alkatraz too.
It was scary and amazed how close that was to San Fran.

San Fran has been my dream city since I was in primary school. So I was quite overwhelmed.

Today, we will go cycling around the golden gate, it will be exciting.

anyway, thats about it

Cya

Q-tizzle concert

I had a concert for Saxophone Quartet. This is pretty much how I spent about 9 hours every week instead of studying.

It was so much fun playing in Elliot. It was just an amazing experience.
Enjoy

Fuga-Bach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFD3COgfC0g
JeanJean stuff
1. Something
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LchiCrjZZvI
2. Doux Pasage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1JMwpKv9GI
3. Papillon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eQyj6kbo2I
4. Humoristique
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g_zDbv6hSg
Strange Humors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkpWGr-hB34

I like all the songs that we played, but my favorite is Strange humors. I liked the djembe player. He was just too awesome.
Sorry for the names for the Jean Jean stuff. Its french and I cant remember their exact names atm.
Hurray, 16days till I get back!

Kumi

Correction!

Hi again.

Yes, It is Band related.

I am so sorry I didnt say a single word about my saxophone in that last post.
Yes I had mysaxophone with me in the photo shoot. This is for the Band department.

The concept of these posters are that even though Purdue does not have a music department, you can still enjoy music! kind of thing.

So I was pretending to be a construction engineer and still playing saxophone at uni. Hence, it is a promotional poster thing for the band department here in Purdue..

That was the senario.

Sorry didnt explain too well.

Model'd

Hi.

I just modeled.

It was kinda fun. It was totally a different experience. So many awkward smile.
I posed as a construction engineer. I had to pose in front of a construction site on campus.
I wore a yellow hat on and everything. It was fun actually.
There was this funny guy who kept on making me laugh. I guess that was a good thing for them right?

Apparently, I am the only model for this year and the posters will be distributed for entire high schools in Illinois and Indiana. They said they were printing out 1500 of them... 1500 of ME!!!! wow...

They told me that they will send me some pictures before they go ahead and print them out. So i will show them to you when I receive it.
They also told me that they will send about 5 posters to me in Australia... that will be very interesting...

Anyways, I am freaking out that I am leaving this place in about 3 weeks!!!

Kumi

Heavy start of the weekend.

Hi all. It is Saturday afternoon and the weather outside is quite quite nice. I might got for a walk sometime soon or something.

But anyways. This weekend has started quite intensely for me. On Thursday night, we went to the ONLY night club in the town called NEON CACTUS, first time in the semester. It was quite fun. The bunch that I went with is not really into dancing or anything. So we were siting down talking. It was kind of waste of time actually. I was walking around finding people to talk to so it was okay for me. But if you are not going to dance or anything, what is the point of being in a night club? might as well go to the bar or stay at someone's house to have a drink. That would be so much more fun, in my opinion. Well I had fun though, I like hanging around with those people. We did not get back until about 3 in the morning. I had a uni from 9 in the morning the next day. I went! surprisingly. I was fully awake at about 7:30. I died in the after noon though.

Friday night, there was one of my friends birthday party thing. We went to this quite expensive Korean Restaurant. It was a good food. I enjoyed the company. After dinner, we went back to one of the people that was at the party to have a few drinks... my face was red. Maybe I should not be drinking anymore... It has been ridiculous. Havent thrown up or anything, but still... It is bit uncomfortable. I didnt get back to my room until about 4 in the morning and one of my friends came over to my room to sleep over... So I have not had a proper sleep for about 3 days?
sigh... I guess this is what I get for drinking 2 nights in a row. I will take it easy tonight and stay home, considering everyone will be done to Chicago tonight... No friends!

Happy Easter

Kumi

Super Jazz Jam

Hey.
Last Friday night, I had my first Jazz gig at Loeb playhouse. It is a music theater in one of the university buildings and the sound system in the place is pretty wicked.
We played four pieces
When you are smiling
North Shore Morning
Straight Up and Fly Right
Better Get Hit in Your Soul.




Better Get~ was so cool. this piece went for about 10 minutes, about 4 people had massive solos. hehe they had a clapping section as well! it was so hard! I was trying so hard not to mis clap because that would be really embarassing.

Hehe I think I had a accidental wrong note at the completely wrong place incidence a few times and that gathered a lot of laughs after the gig. Overall I think we played really well and I asked one of my friends to take a video of us playing so it was good :)

After out band played, there were AMRE (American Music Repetoire Ensemble) and Purdue Jazz Band. Both of them were just so impressive. They play hard core Jazz music. Their solos, solis. ahhh just soo good.



But anyway, thats all the news for me.

Bye

A model...?

OMG, I just got asked to be a model for a brochure for the band department for next academic year... with saxophone... Hopefully its not one of those thing that everyone can see....

I guess people in Purdue like my face more than the people in Australia...
it will be an interesting experience.

I will update you for that one.

Ku

Current state of my room

As you can see, it is a serious mess... I think I will have to spend a serious amount of time to clean up my mess today... I guess it is sunday.

sigh.

Aparently it will be really cold today as well. It might even rain... sigh I hate Indiana!


Kumi

Substitute Conductor

Since the spring break has come to the end, I have been quite busy with work and research stuff.
Work, not too much, but each homework is quite time consuming... So i have only done 2 HWs but it has taken me probably total of 12 hours or so and i still havent finished yet... Stupid Catalyst...

But anyway, at the concert band rehearsal today, as our usual conductor couldnt not make it, we had a conductor from the symphonic band (best concert band in Purdue), he is also a band director of the whole music department.

It was actually my first time getting a rehearsal from him. What a difference that he made to our sound! no wonder why he is conducting the symphonic band. He was just fantastic.
He does not stop us playing a piece every 2 bars like our conductor does, yet he still makes sufficient comments to improve the music and our sound quality while we are playing.

his advices were very constructive, it made so much sense to me. he works as a whole ensemble where as our conductor works on the little detail in the rehearsal. I guess both way is good, but in my opinion the little details are for us to learn provately when we get back home (notes and so on) and in rehearsals we should learn how to play as a whole ensemble... so yeah the 2 hours flew by like it was about 5 seconds. i really enjoyed it.

Also, the other news for Boilers is: BASKETBALL!!!!!
the girls and boys teams are on a tournament called NCAA. so its pretty much a championship for all the college basketball teams throughout US.
Both teams made to Sweet 16!!!! I am so excited. I think the boy's play tonight against Connecticut. Its meant to be a tough game against us, but we will make it! To make it to sweet 16, girls beat North Carolina, which is meant to be one of the best universities for Women's basketball. they beat them!!!!!! they have been losing against them for past 4 years and last time they won against UNC, they won the national championship! maybe this year they might..... WOOHOOO!! I will be so excited for them :D :D

but anyways, i shall go eat something I am starving.

BTFU

Kumiko

Spring Break 2009

Hey All.

I came back from my spring break holidays yesterday or the day before. One of my friends and I went to Las Vegas, Miami and Orlando for total of about 8 days. I had a fantastic time even though I came back with a cold....

I met up with my friend at Vagas. He was quite exhausted. He just had 10 hours of plane trip and 3 hours at the airport waiting for me. His luggage was lost as well. So we had to wait for that to come for extra 1.5 hours when I met him.

At Vegas, we stayed at Circus Circus. I think the same place that Pat stayed at when he was at Vegas. It was located at the northern end of the strip. the room was huge! and it was so cheap. After we settled in, we decided to walk around the strip. It took about 15min to get out of the hotel though, going through the casino and stuff. the hotel itself was quite huge. we walked a very far away, walked passed Mirage, Bellagio, Monte Carlo and so on. We didnt feel like eating a buffet so we decided to go into Denny's. hehe his first proper meal in US was Denny's... that was interesting. I liked Denny's in Japan but not the ones in US... They are kinda gross... But anyways. after we had a meal, we kept on going south down to about MGM and New York New York. There were so many people along the strip. quite drunk in fact. We got quite tired so we decided to walk back to the hotel. we walked for about 4 hours... poor my friend he was jet lagged too...



The rest of the stay in Vegas consisted of me feeling sick at Hilton buffet and Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon was awesome. I wish we could stay there for a few more days. we only visited the west rim, which is the closest to the Vegas and more about the Indian tribes and stuff. the views are meant to be better from South/North Rim. But still. It was just so awesome.
Also at Vegas, we went and saw Criss Angel magic show. we got the cheapest ticket and somehow ended up sitting quite close to the front. They were trying to fill up the seats or something. It was quite an experience too.

From the Vegas, we flew to Miami over night. We got to the hotel at 9am and we decided to walk along the beach. the temperature there was really pleasant. 25-30C or so. it was a little bit cold to get into the water but it was just really nice to be able to lie on the beach. I got quite tanned actually. We only had 2 full days (1 night) in Miami, which I was really sad for. I guess we didnt do anything other than shopping and walking along the beach. It was so relaxing. we could slept in and everything. We only stayed at South beach area in Miami, didnt even go to the downtown. there were a lot of restaurants and things to do.　As it was a spring break period, there were many uni kids there. It was kinda lame. too much drunkenness. But other than that, we had a very pleasant time. I also wished there that I could stay longer. I am so coming back.


From Miami, we took an overnight bus to Orlando. The bus was frigging cold. I think we had about 1 hour of sleep the most... It was ridiculous.I swear the bus driver just didnt want to fall asleep while driving so he turned up the air-con max... I guess this is called greyhound...

First day, despite our tiredness, we went to the magic kingdom in Disney world. It was a bit of a disappointment actually. it was exactly same as the Tokyo Disneyland... But I enjoyed it anyway. I am still disappointed about Pirates of Caribbean though. They have now Jack Sparrow in there... I liked the old one so much better. At the end of the 1st day, we had a little bit of a surprise. When we came back to the hotel at about 12 midnight to check in (we were gone for the whole day), the hotel told us that they do not have our rooms available.... WTF? it turns out that its their mistake and they were transferring us to their sister hotel which is 5 star hotel or something. A limo took us there and everything. It was a little further away from the Disney and universal but so much closer to airport. They have a quite cheap shuttle bus going back and forth each parks anyways so it didnt matter too much. The hotel was gigantic. hey had 4 pools, 245 acres of gold course or something and a volleyball court.. It took us ages to walk from an elevator to where our room was... It was divided into 5 wings or something... but the bed in the room... ahh so good! It was just so awesome.

Second day, we went to the islands of adventure in Universal Resort. They had massive rides and everything. It was quite awesome. I liked Spider man one. It was quite interesting. and also the dragon one. Its a roller coaster. at some stage you really feel like you will crush to some other carriage that are in the coaster at the same time. Speaking of roller coaster, NY NY had a quite impressive roller coaster as well. I was actually seriously impressed.

Third day, we went to the Hollywood Studio in Disney world. They are based more on seeing stuff over riding stuff. they had many Disney shows. We went and saw Beauty and the beast. It was quite cool. it went for ever though. 45min or so? There were 3 proper rides (if you count Star tours as one of them,,, which was SHIT!). one was called tower of terror! I loved it. one of my favorite rides ever! and the other was called Rock'n Roller coaster or something. It is collaborated with Aerosmith. The concept of it was quite cool. They were playing aerosmith music throughout the ride, which I got quite distracted with. But they have crazy maneuvers too. they accelerated up to 50km/h or something in no time and they twist and turn. It was nice. But nothing is as good compared to Fuji Q highland... but anyways.

Then on fourth day, we left the hotel early to catch flights to different destinations. It was kinda sad to see him leave. but now he got to Japan safe and sound so all is well :)

It was quite an epic spring break for me. For all the places I went, I could have spent at least 1 week. It was quite good. Now I am starting up the uni again. only 5 weeks until the exam weeks. I am seriously stressed. I have to start putting some effort in....

I cannot wait to come back! 50days or so, I believe?

Kumi
xx

Holidays!

Yay! I'm leaving here 2 days early and leaving for Vegas, Miami and Orlando!

hear from me in about 8 days!

its going to be so much fun!

Kumi

xx

still waiting

Hi.
It is Saturday,and i was told to come to the lab on Saturday!!!
just to do a little experience for a couple of hours...

she is not here yet....
woohoo go protein folding!

g'day

Lame

I have been at uni since 10 oclock doing work that i could be doing at home.

I turned up at 10 oclock for the weekly meeting with my research supervisor.
and something happened and my mentor went to talk to the supervisor to cancel the meeting.

she hasnt been back yet... TWO HOURS!!!
good thing that I have stuff for my work due tomorrow....
otherwise i would be bored wasting my time for 2 hours...

but anyway, i cannot believe it is already Thursday.
This week has past quite quickly.

From next thursday, i will be going on a holiday for 10 days!
going to vegas, miami and Orlando for Disney world!
So very excited.
but i am getting nervous about the research and the presentation on the end of the semester....

it is already week 8 and when we come back from the holidays, it will be already 1.5 months to go or something... as much as i want to go back home, I need to take care of study stuff....

hmmm im worried and i am getting very very nervous...

oh oh also, my arms are so sore from racquetball..
and also I might have got poisoned from the dining court food last night,,, I had been feeling sick for about 7 hours after i ate dinner...

Good day

Kumi

Last Gabs Game

Yesterday was the last Girl's basketball home game at Mackey.

So that means, it is going to be my last time wearing the silly jersey in the Mackey Arena. I should have brought a camera. It was a really spectacular emotional game.

There were 5 graduating seniors in the current girl's team. All of them are really, fantastic players. As I have seen them play since the mid last year, they are amazing. it is quite funny how you can get attached to the players. I have never been "forced" to watch a sport this intensely (every home game, once or twice a week). Now it seems like that I know every single players very very well. Even though they just have no idea who I am :S

But anyway, the girls played really well. We played against Michigan. their head coach was evil angry old man. he was scary. when he was trying to pick a girl to swap with someone on the field, instead of calling out her name or whatever, he pretty much pulled her arm to make her stand up and go. That was scary. We won though, very well. 75-58.

The Purdue head Coach put all 5 seniors onto the court about 5 minutes to go. then, she swapped everyone with the younger players about 2 minutes to go. That was so... umm cant find a word... impressive? emotional? hmm you know what I mean.. It was their last chance to play together, all 5 seniors on the court. That was really cool. The audiences went nuts when all the seniors left the court.

After the game, there was like a ceremonial thing going on for the graduating seniors. there I found out, one of the senior girls is actually a 2008 homecoming queen with GPA of 4.0 (highest you can ever get) doing premed. she is like really really good at basketball, and she is super smart. I dont know. I was seriously amazed. She was something.

But anyways, the ceremony was really moving. all the team was crying. I was almost in tears even though I didnt know them... I am quite terrible with these things.

I think being in GABS was worth it. Probably one of the best things that I have done in Purdue. It has been a great great experience for me. It was awesome. I am bringing my jersey back home so I wont forget how awesome this experience has been.

Kumi

Blah

Hi.

Nothing much is going on here atm.
I am just stressing out with no reason for the HW due on next Wednesday... i know it is kinda crazy to get stressed about now. But I am.

I have about 10min now to kill before I see my TA. sigh. I am so lazy recently.

I have so much time to myself but I somehow use it for nothing.
I must doze off or something. It is seriously insane. I am always doing things last minutes.

Today consisted of
1. Weekly meeting with the Research Professor. (I fell asleep)
2. Concert band (I fell asleep and I felt terrible for the conductor)
3. meeting with TA
4. and possibly grabbing values for the research class. Maybe. If I can be bothered.

Its Thursday. Should I go out? or not. SHOULD I? hmmm i havent been to the Cactus this semester. Maybe i should just to be sociable. But I have NO FRIENDS!

Ku

Ok i have 8 more minutes to kill. what the hell am i meant to do!?

Breast Cancer Awareness

Okay. This is me on Feb 15th wearing all PINK. I just came back from a girls basketball game. it was breast cancer awareness game. so everyone was supposed to dress up in pink. This is all the pink stuff that I have accumulated in Purdue. The headband was given during the game today. Its mine now :P

The Purdue 10 is GABS uniform, everyone has to wear it every game. Its quite cool. Apparently without the uniform we are not allowed to go into the Band section in Mackey Arena. Odd. I thought instrument would give it away even if you are not wearing the jersey. but anyway definitely bringing it back. Well, Purdue won against Illinois 60-45 or something. Girls didnt play as well, but oh well we won :)

And also you can see my whole room. I moved by the way to Hawkins Hall. Its a quite small room, but it is big enough for 1 person.

anyway nothing much is new apart from I am frigging all pink.

Ciao

Boiler up

Kumiko

Sustainability

Im doing this group assignment for sustainable engineering.
I have to write annotated bibliography for 10 articles. so im reading those articles.

This is just a quick thought. Nothing fancy.

This article Im reading atm was written 10 years ago. It was complaining that US gov is not part of any environmental protocol completely. Nothing has changed since. US hasnt signed the Kyoto Protocol yet. Sigh.
I am so tempted to bag the crap out of the US gov in the annotated bibliography but I probably shouldnt...

This subject is stupid unless you can bag US at all.

Silly

ku

Lazy...

Hi all.

I have been seriously lazy. It is mid-Feb and this is my first blog entry of the year...

Sigh.

but anyway, it has been almost a month since Pat has left the country.
I had a great time for 3 weeks. even though the traveling was quite intense and as soon as I got back to Purdue, I got a cold on my birthday... How sad.

It has been pretty cold, apart from the past a few days. It gets up to 18C today. I am so excited.
I can just go out with my thin long T-shirts instead of a huge coat... hehe.

This semester has been quite busy, but in a totally different sense.
much much less socializing. I guess without dining court meals with friends it becomes that way.


I started playing racquetball, started doing ridiculous amount of exercise, doing at least 2 hours a day. Im in a part of 4 bands. total I think Im playing almost 15 hours a week.

I started playing tenor sax too :) It is such a cool instrument. I love it. I am still trying to play flute but not enough time I guess.
I am studying less. More time to concentrate on one subject comparing to last semester when I was doing 5 subjects at the same time.
It can get quite late time to time. But I was expecting that.

The new kids seem okay.But I kinda lost an enthusiasm to make friends. Don't get me wrong. I have some. but not as intimate as last semester. Last semester was the best.

I have 3 hours of class (including 1 hour of Jazz band) Monday, Wednesday and Friday
and 2 hours of class (concert band only) on Tuesday and Thursday.
Playing Racquetball 3-4 times a day. Group exercise every night.
I am usually dead.

another exciting thing in my life atm is the research class.
I am enrolled in a research class. I am meant to spend about 15 hours a week. I have not yet done that. but it has been so much fun.
it is awesome organizing your own experiment and control the equipment and stuff.
I once stayed till 8pm waiting for an experiment to finish.
Hehe that was pretty cool. Im enjoying it :)

but anyway I should probably go back to study... I have a test tonight and I am not too confident about it even though i had all the weekend to study....

Missing you heaps and cant wait to go back home

xx

Kumiko