Calcium absorption is enhanced with adequate amounts of vitamin D.

Why does milk contain so much calcium? Probably from the grass that cows eat.

Our bodies produce a modest amount of vitamin D through exposure to the sun.

The sun is hard to catch in Seattle.

How much vitamin D can your body produce and how much calcium can you absorb if you chilled under the sun in California drinking milk all day? :]

BigBang 4집 is pimp as hell.
Tempo sucks a big one.
Chem 152 is killing me.
Tom Leeper is a nice guy.
His tests are not.
T-Mobile reception sucks almost as much as Tempo does.
I get as much reception in UW classrooms as… wait… my reception in classrooms is N/A.
BigBang is seriously pimping right now.
Wong Fu Productions and BigBang pimpage is simlilar to the electronegativity values for fluorine and oxygen.
I did perfect on today’s quiz.
I did poorly on today’s midterm.
Yes, you read that correctly.
I have all of the above within a two-day span.
I will try to destroy tomorrow’s final.
Remember to urinate immediately before embarking any exams.
Post-its was used to derive Post-Tits on 4Chan.org.
Be cautious when you visit 4Chan.org.
Do not visit at any school or workplace.
I want to move out.
BigBang is pimping^2.
It’s difficult to find a good printable periodic table online.
I love laser printers.
I’ll never go back to inkjets.
25 lb. paper all the way.
To be continued after I destroy tomorrow’s chem final.

I felt elated as I left the Carlson Theater today. My Calculus professor, Mr. Akhlaghi, was able to invite Roya Hakakian, a prominent Iranian author and journalist, to come give a lecture at my college with the consent of the president. The Center for Liberal Arts and the Library Media Center sponsored this lecture and flew her out a gazillion miles west to Seattle. Mr. Akhlaghi greeted her at the airport at 2 AM, good lord.

I was mainly there for the extra credit that he offered us and so were most of the students that attended. I felt bad for Roya because some of the students didn’t care to be there, and didn’t care if they showed it. A few slept during her whole lecture. An annoying guy who sat behind me kept tapping his feet as if he had ants in his pants.

But the extra credit offered was not even remotely necessary. Her charm and dashing good looks were enough to keep my attention. (I’ve developed a taste for Persian girls, ever since crashing Vancouver every now and then!) To top it off, she’s a very intelligent young woman.

A woman from the Center for Liberal Arts came up first to introduce Roya. Roya then introduced herself and how she felt at home because of how Mr. Ahklaghi came to pick her up in the morning. All the while, a woman in black with short hair and slightly behind Roya on the stage was translating everything in American sign language for the few deaf individuals off to the side of the theater next to faculty.

Roya then explained what she was going to read and why she chose those particular excerpts. The first one she read aloud was about her childhood, especially focused on her eldest brother, Albert. She is the youngest of the siblings in her family and the only girl. She has 3 older brothers (if I recall correctly). One of her brothers was born on the same day as an Iranian prince and looks better than “his royal counterpart” as well. Albert, was the prodigy of the family. She explained that it was as if everything he touched, he breathed life into it. Even shopping lists made by him were hard to discard because of his beautiful handwriting. She introduced this excerpt first because it gave the audience a clue of her childhood, and right after that, Albert was sent to America to study, a choice made mostly by her father. As he entered university, he became more politically active and his father thought he’d have a myriad of restrictions due to the lack of freedom of speech in Iran. So he was sent to America to study mostly for the freedom of speech and for him to cultivate himself more freely.

She read 2-4 more excerpts, all of which were interesting and beautiful. The last was quite funny. This happened after the success of the Iranian revolution in the 70’s. She attended an all girl Jewish school, and the principal was suddenly replaced with a Muslim woman with a black scarf, an unlikely scene in the affluent neighborhood that she resided in. The new principal was there to attempt to convert all the Jewish girls into Muslims. One day, she called for a meeting and explained to the young girls that their hair was the bringers of abomination. Even though she was covered from head-to-toe (eyebrows included), she still felt naked; especially if a man were present. [Just a side note: a woman's hair is thought to be very seductive by certain communities in the Middle East. It is a sin to show your hair in public. This is one of the reasons why many women cover their hair.] The new principal talked about this, in a serious tone, as an awful sin; and the young girls in the Jewish school thought it was extremely hilarious. It was a nice comic relief.

After the lectures, into the second hour, we had Q & A. For some compelling reason, I wanted to ask her, “how was it for your father to be a Jewish poet?” But it took me over half an hour to get around to asking it because I kept running the question through my mind, trying to rephrase it correctly. At that particular time, I felt as if I was a FOB. My English seemed to make little sense for some reason. It was just my nervousness to talk to a celebrity that was clouding up my thoughts. However, I asked her that question because I was curious to know if poets were looked down upon the same way as artists were in the Jewish religion. After she answered, I immediately knew that my question was utterly naive. Of course poets were regarded highly. She answered that having poetic talent is very much valued by Jews. They must recite poetic lines in their religion anyway. The part which pained me most however, was how I neglected to acknowledge that she is a poet as well. I asked her specifically about her father, in which she first replied, “you’d have to ask my father to know that.” That’s when I counter-replied how I read a book in high school where an artistic Jewish boy was discouraged to continue his drawings and to work on his academics more because artistry was lowly regarded in the Jewish religion and community. And after that was also when she explained the importance of poetic talent in her religion and culture.

Roya Hakakian is simply awesome. I bought her book, Journey from the Land of No, right after the lecture (in the lobby of Carlson Theater and got it autographed from her. I was really nervous to meet her, and I wished I phrased my question more thoughtfully. Thanks for coming all the way out here Roya. :)

Quick bio lesson!

Carbohydrates, fats and proteins are the only nurients that your body metabolizes to yield energy (in terms of kilocalories).  Here’s the energy yield break-down:

carbohydrate – 4 kcal/g
fat – 9 kcal/g
protein – 4 kcal/g

And alcohol is another substance that provides energy when metabolized, 7 kcal/g to be exact; however, it is not considered a nutrient because it interferes with body growth, maintenance, and repair.

So to lose weight, you should eat more carbohydrates and protein because they yield the least energy per gram of food you eat. And consume less fat and alcohol! (Yeah right, alcohol is essential for our college diets.) Note: your body wants to make energy from carbohydrates more than any other nutrient, so don’t cut carbohydrates from your diet. Protein is harder to metabolize into energy.  And fat just translates to fat, which doesn’t do much good.

You have just been informed!

It was pretty difficult waking up for work at 6 AM today, considering my typical sleep-in summer schedule. But I did it, somehow…

Got to work, clocked in, then the 2nd manager told me to do an anonymous survey. I’m sitting there thinking, “Sweet, I’m getting paid to take this survey. Beat that you online survey takers!” I must’ve spent a little over 20 minutes on that. Then I had a little chat with the head manager and went downstairs into the netherworld (the sales floor).

The customers were overall pretty nice today, which is surprising. I got pretty pissed how Michael was overworking me though. I had a schedule dispute and had to find someone to cover my shift on Monday, but he kept telling me to grab customers into my line when it wasn’t even busy. I can’t complain much because he’s just doing his job, but just loosen up a bit man.

After work, I took my parents to Crossroads to pickup some spices at a Thai mart, but they didn’t carry what my parents were looking for. Then I drove to Regent Bakery to get some boba. As I walked to the front of the bakery, I ran into Erin (my previous preceptor) and her mom. I waved, and she waved back while she was parking her huge SUV. It was quite a crooked parking job. I suppose she’s new to driving, like I am. I stopped outside of the door to call my sister and ask her which flavor of boba she wanted.

Lizzy: Peach w/ milk!
Me: Ew…

Then after I went in, Erin followed.

Me: Hey.
Erin: Hi.

She took a look at some cakes and then, I don’t know if it’s because she’s really bashful or what, but she ran outside. I was kinda surprised, but deep down I knew something like that would happen.

After I ordered 4 bobas, Erin’s mom came in. She was really nice.

Erin’s mom: 你好!!
Me: 你好。 :]
Erin’s mom: 你學的好嗎?
Me: 哦, 學好啊。

She got a few cakes and then left. It was nice seeing them though. It’s such a small world.

While I was buying the bobas, my parents went to a nearby shop and bought some antique table lamps. I really loathe how they buy all this garbage. We don’t even have any use for them. On the way back home, I ran into Julie (from work) as she was driving the opposite direction. Such a small, small world.

Don’t you hate it when you’ve just met someone and you can’t shake them off your mind?

1. Why am I constantly thinking of them?

2. What’s so special about them? (This one I can answer.)

Actually, if I can answer #2, then I can also answer #1.

But the thing is, I want to forget about them. My constant thoughts about them is repressing my mood.

Another question: why do I want to forget? Well, that’s another story.

Bloke: “E.D., are you gay?”

Gal: “Am I gay~? *chuckle* I’m ecstatic!!”

</british accents>

This movie was extremely, very, very, extraordinarily well done.

It’s about Rach and Hec getting married and how Luce is involved in their relationship. (Hint: lesbianism occurs.)

I love how everyone has nicknames.

Rachel – Rach
Hector – Hec
Lucy – Luce
Henrietta – H (for Jesus H. Christ)
Cooper – Coop

But above all, I love their British accents. I swear, I have a British Accent and Elf fetish.

This movie definitely made my evening.

After a stretch of the day where everything went straight to hell, A.Bridge’s new album has elevated my moods a bit. And man, what a long day it was. Her songs are extremely refreshing.

Just take a deep breath and relax Tony.

It’s actually time for some sleep.