On The Court

It's the feeling you get when you're team makes a good play that makes all the hard work worth it. It is the feeling of exhilaration as the crowd goes wild and your teammates scream, "Yes! Great job!" The volleyball court is another place where I spend a lot of my time at. I have been playing volleyball for... well pretty much forever in my life and although it gets tiring and I do get sick of it sometimes, I know why I still play.



This is my team this year, Eclipse 16's Gold.



We got first place at a tournament! :)

And one last thing, I know I haven't been posting a lot recently, but I will make it up soon!

Tiffany

I Think I Need a Sunrise, I'm Tired of the Sunset

When we went to drop off my sister for college 2 years ago, we stopped by Boston for a couple days. Of course, there was lots of seafood (including lobster mmm) and shopping. But apparently there are not many ethnic families at Boston, because while we were spending a day at Quincy Market, this little blond boy was in between my family and some other Asian family and I heard him say, "Mom, are we in China town?"



And because I'm taking about Boston, I thought posting up Agustana's song, "Boston," seemed appropriate.

"She said I think I'll go to Boston
Think I'll start a new life
I think I'll start it over
Where no one knows my name
I'll get out of California
I'm tired of the weather
Think I'll get a lover
And fly him out to Spain [...]

I think that I'm just tired
I think I need a new town
To leave this all behind
I think I need a sunrise
I'm tired of a sunset
I hear it's nice in the summer
Some snow would be nice."

Tiffany

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathrynpostulka/726802918/

Thanks to Davis

Thank you so much, Davis family! Because of your generous donations, Harker was able to build its beautiful synthetic football field. David field is one of my favorite and most relaxing places on our campus. Every Wednesday long lunch, my friends and I love to lie on the plastic glass, staring at the blue sky and listening to music. But in my opinion, the best is after a football game, when it is still the end of summer and the sun does not set until around 8:30. When the game is over, all the screaming fans run from the bleachers onto the field, giving congratulatory hugs and high fives to sweaty players while the sun sets in the distance.



I know this isn't Davis Field, but close enough. Last year during our first homecoming as high schoolers, it started raining right as the ended. But it wasn't uncomfortably pouring, it was just lightly drizzling in a way where it shimmered like a dream under the stadium lights; except we knew it was real, for we could feel the light drops cooling our warm skin. Last year's homecoming week was probably the best week of my life. It is amazing how during Freshmen year, everything we did was just so exciting because it was all completely new to us and our naive minds. Ah, to be a freshman again!

Tiffany

About five years ago, my family went to Yellowstone during summer vacation. We saw geysers, hot springs, buffaloes, and all sorts of crazy things.



We had to evacuate the general store because a large male buffalo with horns randomly decided to come over and frolic around in front of it.



I remember that this was my favorite geyser pool, Morning Glory. It was a natural spring that was shimmering with beautiful rainbow colors. It looked prettier in real life though... =/



We were hiking around a trail when suddenly a geyser erupted into the river. Later on in the trip, we bathed in similar water conditions. It was called the "fire and ice" spring, where icy mountain river water flowed through a natural rock formation which caught boiling spring water. The two temperatures mixed in the small pool and created the perfect temperature to relax and bathe in.

Tiffany

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dracs/173499636/

Paradise on Earth

I am sure that one of almost everybody's favorite places is Hawaii. The beaches are beautiful, with warm golden sand and deep blue waters filled with aquatic life. It is the one place where you can just walk around in a bikini and flip flops and nobody cares. I visited Hawaii about two summers ago, and it was incredible. As probably the last big family vacation in a long time we would have with all five members, we tried to make the most of it. We visited volcanoes, traveled on cruises and horses, ate at delicious restaurants, and of course, lounged around on the beach.



My dad took this during a sunset at Poipu beach in Kauai.



We were hanging around this beach when a cute little Monk seal randomly popped up onto shore.



And this is the view of the sunset from our hotel, the Waikoloa Village. The hotel was so huge, we had to take either a boat or a bus to get to our room. At first, we thought it was really cool but it grew to be annoying when we were tired after a day in the sun and had to wait for a ride.

The song currently stuck in my head is "Yellow" by Okkervil River. It's a very slow and mellow song and one of my favorite lines in it is:

"And I really do think that there’s probably more good than anger or selfishness, sickness, or sadness would ever completely allow us to have in this life, I think I’m sure."

Tiffany

I Left my Heart

Although I only live about forty minutes away from San Francisco, I do not go there very often. I use to even think it was pretty boring, because the only time I would ever go there was either to have a fancy dinner, to show foreign relatives the famous Golden Gate Bridge, or simply to pass by because it was on the way to my cousin's house in Novato. Yet about two years ago, we were driving home from a far-away volleyball tournament at about 8:30 pm. The sky was completely dark, and as we drove over the Bay Bridge, I had a nice view of the entire city and its shining lights, reflecting off of the Bay water. That was when I realized how beautiful San Francisco is, and I had a sudden longing to be there, just walking down the street and enjoying the city ambiance.



This is San Francisco's famous Golden Gate Bridge. I went there over the summer to show my family friends from New Jersey. It was pretty windy that day, so one guy thought it would be funny to spit from the bridge and watch it fly away. Unfortunately, at that moment the wind changed directions and the ball of saliva flew the opposite way and hit me and his little sister.



This is pretty much the scene I saw when I fell in love with San Francisco.

Tiffany

Image Sources: http://www.solarpowerrocks.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/san-francisco-gate-bridge.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianan/2283597170/

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

This summer, I'm planning to go to Japan for about a week and a half to sight see with my fellow peers and experience a home stay for three days. I'm ridiculously excited for that, to be on the other side of the world with my friends where people have a whole different language and way of life. The last time I was in Japan was about eight years ago, and young as I was, I remember having a blast. But, I'm also pretty nervous for the home stay. What should I say to them? What if my Japanese is not proficient enough to have a decent conversation? What should I do when I get there? What will they think of me? What if they don't like me? There are hundreds of questions bothering me at the moment, but I guess none of them will be answered until summer comes.



I cannot wait to see Japan's famous cherry blossoms, temples, and Mt. Fuji.



I am really hoping that in Japan, we will stop by and see this building. This is Japan's Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto, a pagoda in the middle of a lake, gilded entirely with pure gold.

And the song of the day is Gravity Rides Everything by Modest Mouse.

"In the motions and the things that you say.
It all will fall, fall right into place
As fruit drops, flesh it sags
Everything will fall right into place
When we die some sink and some lay
But at least I don't see you float away."

Because things really do have a funny way of working out.

Tiffany

Image Sources: http://www.totalwallpapers.com/places/wallpapers/fuji-japan-cherry-blossoms-and-mount.jpg
http://www.orientaltales.com/photography/japan/japan_gold.jpg

I Believe in the Sand Beneath My Toes

Like I said before, if you drive about an hour west from where I live, you find yourself at Santa Cruz where you can either swim far out to sea, feel the thrill of Boardwalk's roller coasters, or simply relax on the soft sand of the beach and get a nice tan. The last time I was there, my sister and I decided to swim out into the ocean as far as we could. But before we lost sight of our dad waving frantically at us to come back, we heard him screaming at us in panic that there could be sharks, seal lions, jellyfish, or who knows what under the surface. That's when my sister and I got a little scared so we swam back to shore as fast as we could.



This is my dad's award-winning photo on Panoramio. There is a beautiful natural rock bridge in the water near Municipal Wharf, and my dad caught a picture of a seagull on the shore gazing at it.



And this is a California Brown Pelican my dad spotted. I never realized how beautiful the colors and patterns of the birds' feathers are. Also, the expression in it's eye is so epic. If you can zoom into it, it looks like the world is staring back at you.

"Midnight on a beach in the Mediterranean
And I miss you
Even here, taking it all in
The sand, silvered, carries the moon on its shoulders
Is it possible to put this night to tune, and move it to you?
Don't cry, I'll bring this home to you,
If I can make this night light enough to move
Don't cry, I'll bring this home to you
Cargo ships move by, tracing on the horizon line
There's a luster from the city lights on the waves that kiss our feet
And we're thinking of going in,
The time's getting thin."

Pachuca Sunrise by Minus the Bear was my all-time favorite song during my summer of seventh grade. It is just such a soothing, pretty song, and I never get sick of it.

Tiffany

Winter Wonderland

Every winter for about three or four days, my family almost always takes a trip to Reno/Tahoe together. We wake up at around five, pack our ski jackets and snowboards, and drive on up. Usually arriving before ten, my family and I are able to grab a quick lunch and get to the ski lodge just in time to catch the afternoon gondola shift. After a day on the slopes we check into our hotel, sore and exhausted, to take a quick shower, then go out for dinner at an all-you-can-eat buffet. To finish our day, my parents try their luck at gambling in hopes of earning back our dinner price while my brother, my sister, and I try to show off our skills by winning stuffed animals at Midway.



This is a shot of Circus Circus and Silver Legacy, which is where we usually say during our trips.



And this is me, my brother, my sister, and my cousin along with his friend in front of Emerald Bay. It was snowing pretty hard that day, and we slipped and fell quite a few times trying to get to that spot.

And the book I really want to read right now is "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson. It's still a mystery how it became a part of my possessions, for I found it randomly lying on the middle of my desk one day, like someone left it there just for me to read, although everyone denies ever seeing it before. I read the first few pages to get an idea of what it was about. It seemed like a very inspiring novel, but I'm currently reading something else and I hate starting a book before you are done with another. Here are some lines I read that I really love:

"I can't really tell what's beautiful anymore. I passed two young fellows on the street the other day. I know who they are, they work at the garage. They're not churchgoing, either one of them, just decent rascally young gellows who have to be joking all the time, and there they were, propped up against the garage wall in the sunshine, lighting up their cigarettes. They're always so black with grease and so strong with gasoline I don't know why they don't catch fire themselves. They were passing remarks back and forth the way they do and laughing that wicked way they have. And it seemed beautiful to me. It is an amazing thing to watch people laugh, the way it sort of takes them over. [...] So I wonder what it is and where it comes from, and I wonder what it expends out of your system, so that you have to do it till you're done, like crying in a way, I suppose, except that laughter is much more easily spend."

Tiffany

I ♥ New York

Yes, I do love New York, but I love my sister more. Surprisingly, I use to not like New York very much. It was just too overwhelming and everything was too expensive. But last summer when I went to visit my sister at her NYU dorm, I found myself loving it more and more each day as I started recognizing the different streets, restaurants, and stores. We didn't even have to book a hotel room because of a random stroke of luck. My sister was staying in New York over the summer while her roommate moved out. The front desk noticed she was only paying for a single, while living by herself in a double, so they asked her to please move into another room. To her surprise, they accidentally moved her into a triple! She had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a clear view of the Brooklyn Bridge all to herself in the middle of New York city. That's when my mom, my brother, and I decided to pay her a visit.



That is the Brooklyn Bridge at night. Unfortunately, I did not take this picture, but that is almost exactly what the view looked like from my sister's dorm window.



My mom took this of the famous bull statue in the middle of Wall Street. She really wanted to find it and "touch it's balls for good luck." But, we could not find it for a while, so my mom had to go around with her Asian accent asking random strangers, "SCOOS ME, WHERESA BOOL?!" Eventually, we found it and she did end up "grabbing its balls."

And here are some lyrics from my song of the day! It is called "8 Full Hours of Sleep" by Against Me!.
When you sleep,
No one is homeless.
When you sleep,
You can't feel their hunger.
When you sleep,
No one is lonely in a dream.
Without classes,
Without nations [...]
And the sun's always rising in the sky somewhere,
And if young hearts should explode
From all the lies they've been told,
To live through one night like this,
I would trade it for the silence...

Ahh, isn't it just beautiful? What are your thoughts?

Tiffany

Picture Source: http://a1259.g.akamai.net/f/1259/5586/5d/images.art.com/images/-/WTC-with-Brooklyn-Bridge--C10314749.jpeg

The Ocean Breathes Salty

Two years ago, my family and I went down to San Diego to say goodbye to my brother. He was going to attend his first year of college at UCSD, and we all took a few days before his check-in to enjoy the warm beaches of San Diego while hearing about the wind and rain back at home. The moment I got off of the plane, I knew I would like it there. The air was warm and slightly humid, and there were palm trees at every corner, swaying in the breeze. While driving to UCSD's campus, we even passed by this church that looked exactly like it had just come out of a Legend of Zelda scene (my brother told me that, now, every time him and his friends drive by it, they start humming the themesong). Anyways, my family fell in love with the place, and we try to visit him at least once or twice a year. Last time I went to see him, I stayed for about a week and it was amazing. Everyday, our routines were basically:

1. Get a bagel and butter breakfast at the cute little Dr. Suess restaurant by the beach
2. Hang out wherever we want until the sun goes down
3. Try to teach Tiffany how to longboard, but laugh at her failure instead

After my knees were covered in scrapes and bruises, we thought about starting a bonfire on the beach, but decided that it wasn't a good idea for the moment. Instead, we walked to the park near his dorm and whirled back and forth on the swings, laughing at each other and talking about our lives.


This is the beach near UCSD's campus. Can you believe that my brother lives only five minutes away from here?


I wrote my name in the sand :)

And the title of this entry, "The Ocean Breathes Salty," is named after another Modest Mouse song:

"Well that is that and this is this.
Will you tell me what you saw and I'll tell you what you missed,
when the ocean met the sky.
You missed when time and life shook hands and said goodbye.
When the earth folded in on itself.
And said, 'Good luck, for your sake I hope heaven and hell
are really there, but I wouldn't hold my breath.'
You wasted life, why wouldn't you waste death? "

Any thoughts?

Tiffany

Four Hours East

One of the many reasons I love living in the Bay Area is that if you drive a couple hours in any direction, you find yourself in a completely different place. There is the beach in the west, the city in the north, mountains and lakes northeast, you name it. But if you drive for about four hours east, you end up in one of my favorite places, a beautiful national park called Yosemite. For my dad's fiftieth birthday last year, my family wanted to do something special. My dad isn't the kind of person who likes to splurge on expensive gifts, so he, my mom, and I took a short 4-day vacation to Yosemite. The outing was a typical, outdoors trip including cabins, starry nights, wild animals, public showers, and bugs (that's what got to me the most, the mosquitos), but the scenes we saw were spectacular.



This is one my dad took of the infamous Half Dome during a sunset. A couple years ago, my uncle was home alone for a week and bored, so decided to climb the mountain with nothing but a safety strap and whatever he could carry in his backpack.



My dad also took this one of the river leading out from directly under the raging Yosemite Falls. After hours of hiking, it felt so nice to sit in the cool shade, feet dangling in the icy water.

It occurred to me today that I did not explain the title of my blog. It's the name of a Modest Mouse song I really like, and I also liked the sound of it. Here is the first verse of the song:

"To answer the question, it'll probably take more
If you're already there, well you probably don't know
Well we were the people that we wanted to know
And we're the places that we wanted to go."

I'm not quite sure what it is about, but you can tell me your thoughts.

Tiffany

Lyrics Source: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/People-As-Places-As-People-lyrics-Modest-Mouse/70D7E14D56D9FEA24825727D0014F20E

My Personal Sanctuary

As my first entry, I'll start by explaining my blog. It's about places that I've been to and would do anything to be there again. I also might have some random snippets in the end about some of my favorite books or songs. Like I said earlier, this is my first entry and it seems fitting that I start with probably my favorite place in the world and my second home, Taiwan.

When I visited Taiwan this winter break, I finally realized why I love the place so incredibly much. It's not because of the delicious variety of foods, cheap clothes, random concerts, or even the little goodies that every country in Asia must have, although it doesn't hurt to include those things. I realized I love Taiwan, rather, because of my idea of it. To my family, Taiwan has grown to become our own personal haven. It's the one place where we can finally be together and forget about all of our worries except getting fat and not having enough time to spend with each other. Our parents don't even care what late hours of the night we come home because all the subways and taxis can give us a safe ride to wherever, whenever we want (for a very cheap price, too!). It's hard to put my awe for Taiwan into words, so I'll show you some pictures.



This is one my dad took of one of Gao Xiong's subways (can you believe this is the ceiling of a SUBWAY?). It has this beautiful stained glass ceiling covered in crazy humanoid figures with trees sprouting from their chests or birds soaring out of their hair.



My dad took this once again, and it's also of Gao Xiong (which is the city my mom is from). Apparently they keep their New Year's celebration lights on for a week or two after it's over. I want to spend New Years in Gao Xiong someday because, well, just look at the picture! It seems amazing. The few times I spend New Years in Taiwan, I'm always in Taipei. And although it's cool seeing Taipei 101, the world's tallest building, explode into flames and fireworks, I want to see something new.



This is where me, my brother, my sister, my cousins, and some friends spent New Years. It's sort of an underground loungeish place called "The Wall." The entrance is covered in graffitti, and that's me, my brother, my cousin, and his friend waiting for others to arrive.



And this is the Taiwanese instrumental band, Sugar Plum Ferry. I don't really like the English translation of their name, but I don't know how to type in Chinese and most of you won't understand anyway, so it will have to do. We watched them perform on New Years at "The Wall." Their music was pretty incredible, although they were very ... hmm how do I say this? Different. From most other bands. For example, their bassist (the guy in the middle) played the whole two hours with his back turned to the audience, and when they finished, he walked unceremoniously off stage without a word. But when their guitarist (the guy on the right) finished, he was on the ground writhing and twitching almost as though he were having a seizure, scraping his guitar against anything he could get his hands on.

Well, that's about it. I'm sorry that this first entry was so long. I could go on forever about Taiwan, but I think this should be enough to give you a general idea about my thoughts and how simply amazing the place is.

Tiffany