Alas! I crawl out of my hamster hole to give you a life update:

-Graduated from UTA. B.S. Biology, Cum Laude, Linguistics Minor
-No longer living with Deanna. Back home with mama, papa, and grandma Hong
-Still together with Long (5 years and counting! *heart*)
-Technically still employed, but not really
-Doesn’t mind not working because I’m studying for the OAT (Jan 27th)
-In the process of applying to Optometry school
-If accepted, will matriculate this fall

In other words: If I’m not here next year, be happy for me. In the meantime, I just plan to finish my application and await the fateful news. Afterwards I will devote my days to enjoying what little free time I will have before starting school again. Enjoyment includes but is not limited to:

-Turning 23 (Woot woot!)
-Reading voraciously on my new Kindle.
-Crawling amazon.com and writing reviews (don’t judge me!).
-Playing through my games for DS, particularly Zelda, Picross, and Golden Sun.
-Watching loads and loads of anime (reviews to come soon!).
-Blogging and site updates.
-Cleaning house (YES, I LOOK FORWARD TO IT).
-Sleeping in. Often.
-Making money (?)

What is NOT on the pending agenda?

-Marriage
-Children
-Eyeball examinations

So, stop asking!

(not my picture, by the way. cool though, eh?)

If there is anything I’ve learned these past 4 years in college, it’s that pseudo-commuting SUCKS. By pseudo-commuting, I mean I have an apartment at school, but I go home every weekend to stay at my parents place.

To be honest, it didn’t always suck. The whole appeal to the system was that I could have my cake and eat it at the same time. I’m at school an hour away from home. Far enough to justify my own place where I can have the good ol’ college freedom dream. But close enough to head home anytime, do laundry for free, and stock up on food. And it was just that. I had mama’s homemade cake, and I got to eat it how I wished, whenever I liked.

And then year 3 and 4 set in. Granted years 1 and 2 made me a pro at packing light and moving myself back and forth between Dallas and Arlington. I rarely forgot anything, and usually made my whole move in just one trip to the car. Eventually I wanted to streamline my carry-alongs and next thing you know, I have 2 sets of shampoo and conditioner, 2 deoderant sticks, 2 toothbrushes, 2 libraries, 2 piles of jeans, 2 drawers full of underwear–heck, I even have 2 sets of the EXACT SAME camisoles and tanks I like to wear, just because I never know which city I’ll want to wear them in. And of course, I am a little hamster for organization, so it was never a hassle. Pajamas are color-coded. Undies are separated by brand. I know exactly which are to remain in Dallas, and which to bring to Arlington, and just like that, everything is effortlessly divied up between homes.

Fortunately toiletries and tanks are cheap. The snag comes when friends, family, and responsibilities call me to other places–and frankly, I just can’t stop by Walmart at 2:00am and pick up another Linh for them (Cool as that would be. Maybe.). And nobody wants half a friend–which is both comforting and sad at the same time. Arlington buddies who want to hang out on the weekends are telling me to cut the umbllical cord. Dallas friends don’t see me at all outside of church and work. With the exception of a few stolen moments, I’m ping-ponging back and forth before I want to leave.

The overall resulting effect is that I feel uprooted and disconnected. I’m not stressed, I’m not unhappy, there’s just something inside of me that repels this city two-timing life, and like a pimple, I just wanna pop it and make it go away. I also want to know which place I left my brown belt at… kinda wanted to wear that today. =/ I think I’ve realized it for a long time, but it’s not until now that I had the leisure to time to hash out my feelings via blogging. Fortunately these are the years I had Long around. He’s out of town no matter where I am. Which is a nice constant to have. =)

Or maybe my clock is ticking and I just wanna settle down and knit gosh dangit. But I can’t yet! Optometry school is nearing, and be it Houston or Tennessee, there will be no more pseudo-commuting. So to prepare for that time, as a new epiphany’s resolution (New Years Resolutions are SO last year), I am going to train up some young un’s *cough Hobbit, cough Ann* to take up my duties at church, so as to make a smooth exit. And let me take this moment to also apologize to everyone who has had to put up with my… disconnectedness (aka shirking my responsibilities). I will try harder (God willing). Afterall, it is my penance for having my cake and eating it at the same time.

But it really was good cake. You know, the kind that’s not too sweet, real soft and fluffy. Mmm! Or I could start to really commute. That’s a thought. Gas is getting cheap… HmmMm….

As an aside note, this whole experience made me think of those kids I knew whose parents were divorced and they were shuffled between mom and dad’s house every other week all their childhood. I used to think it was cool they had two houses. No. Not cool. Don’t EVER raise your kids that way!

So I’m finally all settled in at school. Here’s a tour of my room, cut-and-paste panorama style.

(clicky, click, for bigger pic)

I like it quite much.

On the left you’ll see my Ikea desk I got last year for super cheap. It’s the same as Minh’s.

Somewhat behind that you’ll see a hole in the wall they like to call a closet. Sliding closet doors = teh gay.

If you’re wondering what those three skinny black things are, thats the beginning of my tie-obssession collection. Let me know if you see any places with nice ties on the small-ish side.

Further to the right you’ll see my night stand and futon, generously donated by Long, both also from Ikea. Very comfy and roomy. It switches between bed/couch mode very easily, and it came with the pillows! Ah I love Ikea.

Oh and Long too. =)

On the far right you’ll see this white, elongated, circular, hanging, thingy. You might recognize it from the pictures of the old apartment. It’s just decoration. It’s also from Ikea.

And even further right will be a small shelf thing that you can’t really see.

And this concludes the brief tour of Linh’s room. That was for all those who’ve wished they could see my place but don’t want to/can’t make the drive. I hope my panorama attempt gives you a good feel for the room. Rebekah has been able to see the place though. Actually she’s staying over tonight. It’ll be like a slumber party! How nostalgic.

I was also able to visit her dorm room at DBU. Now that’s snug as a bug. A very very pretty campus though. It makes Arlington feel ghetto. More so than before anyway. And no, Dennis, I did not harrass her Japanese-exchange-student roommate. Although I did say a few things to her in Japanese, and she understood me. So that’s pretty cool.

I just finished off my last big test for the time being, so I’m feeling very free. The year is starting off nicely, and I’m not old enough to be tired of college yet, so I’ve got plenty to look forward to. Cheers to a new semester!

Yey finally some pictures! Although I apologize for the lack of variety and quality. We had to move some things around for a bit and everything just looked whack, so I couldn’t bear to take a picture of it. As for the quality, I don’t want to talk about, as talking about it would involve MS Paint, and I don’t want to get angry. Let’s just say I have never missed photoshop more. >.>

1) The nice bar stools minh and mikey let us have with our living room in the background.
2) My room! Yes, I’m still sleeping on an air bed. Yes, I had other options. Yes, I preferred it over my other options. Everything is quite a mess really, I need a shelf or something…
3) My awesome desk I got at IKEA for super cheap ($50 something?). Long kindly helped transport it and put it together for me.

It’s really is a nice place for the price we got it for. Overall very quiet, clean and close to all the essentials (walmart, sams, wingstop, pizza hut) with new things cropping up all the time. There’s also a park a few minutes away complete with lake, huge (creepy) ducks, water park, and playground.

If anyone frequents target, they will prolly notice just about everything we got is from their “New Place New Space” line. hahha. Cheap and cute is the way to go!

I would also like to take this time to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to TIN and MIKEY. Who just happen to be the bestest older brothers (and getting older!) a girl can have.

Oh blog, how I’ve missed you. I’m sure you’re all wondering where I’ve been. Online-wise anyway. This post is a bit late but I moved out to Arlington a few weeks ago and have yet to get internet at mine and kim’s apartment. T.T No internet, no TV reception (need an antenna…). I am so cut off I didn’t even find out about how bad Hurricane Katrina was until bible study friday night. *sigh… Does anyone know of a way to get DSL without having to get phone service? Because that would be lovely. I come home on weekends so if you ever do chance to see me online, I’m most likely at home.

Anyhow, I’m at UTA now. School has been alright. I’m developing a nice flip-flop tan, and getting plenty of excercise walking from the crappy parking to class. The usual really. The apartment is pretty good though. Especially for the price! Yey for student discounts and specials. I’ll post pictures once I get some. Sucks not having a camera. I’m debating wether I should buy a new camera or the ipod nano…hmmMm

Oh and I finally got to see my jpop concert! I got to go to AnimeFest with Long and Daniel and Sakamoto Maaya gave a small concert on sunday. I’d like to take this moment to say it was Daniel and Long’s fault we cut in front of hardcore waited-in-line-since-11am-for-an-8pm-concert fans. But man were those seats good. hahha. We’re so evil. But Maaya was so cute!
This is the first anime convention I went to that wasn’t Akon, so naturally I’ll compare them, and I must say, Akon is bigger with more stuff, but the people were more pleasant to look at costume-wise at AnimeFest. Although I don’t understand the chain-leash thing. Is that an anime? I feel so disconnected not being able to dl new anime. T.T Surprisingly, I didn’t buy anything. Apparently all the good stuff got taken on friday. booes.

Anyway, I’ll stop my ramblings here. Hopefully this will satisfy all the blog-nazis demanding an update. hehe