[2003.08.11 1603h]

   [music] lee jung hyun \\ wa

there seems to be at least two different ways that the song title above
has been romanized.  unfortunately, since i cannot read korean myself, i
do not know which method is usually preferred, so i apologize in advance
if i have erred in my decision to use the above romanization.

perhaps it's just me, but it seems as if a musical motif in the above song
is very similar to one that appears in ayumi hamasaki's "end roll".  the
above song is most likely categorized as korean pop, while hamasaki's song
is probably categorized as japanese pop.  since korea and japan probably
have a high rate of cultural exchange, i wouldn't be surprised if one was
subconsciously influenced by the other.

recently, one of my friends started a web log in which the first entry
resembles my own first entry, to me at least.  in fact, one of his
sentences appears near verbatim to one of my own.  i mentioned this to
him, and he found it funny, since the similarity never occurred to him,
although he admits that he may have used my entry subconsciously as a
template.

i recently decided to indulge myself by buying a milk shake at a local
jack in the box fast food restaurant.  at first, i was trying to decide
between getting a strawberry milk shake and an oreo cookie milk shake, but
eventually, i just asked the cashier if i could have a strawberry oreo
cookie milk shake.  she looked at me as if i was crazy, with good reason,
i suppose.  but thankfully, she obliged, and i left the restaurant a happy
customer, with strawberry oreo cookie milk shake in hand.

i have to say, the strawberry oreo cookie milk shake tastes about the same
as you would expect a strawberry oreo cookie milk shake to taste.  i don't
think it's necessarily better or worse than a strawberry milk shake or an
oreo cookie milk shake.  it's simply different.

i bought two pluots today.  when i bought them, i didn't know what they
were, aside from the fact that they were probably fruits since they were
in the fruit section, and that they were apparently also called dinosaur
eggs, due to the fact that there was a colorful sticker on one of the
fruit with a picture of a happy dinosaur and the words "dinosaur egg"
printed above the picture.  i gather that the latter name was given to the
fruit due to their speckled appearance, while the former, i have just
learned after a net search, was given due to it being a hybrid of the plum
and the apricot.

currently, i am living with two roommates in my apartment.  however, i
don't think i have seen either of them for the past few days.  usually,
i'm not the type to worry when i don't see a roommate for a day or two.
after all, i sometimes go on unannounced work sprees myself and don't
return to my room for a day or two.  however, three or four days may be
pushing it.

once, for my sophomore year, i elected to be assigned a random roommate.
during the first week of school or so, i rarely ever saw him.  in fact, in
total, i probably saw him for an hour that week.  i was pretty worried.  
many of my immediate neighbours were getting worried about him as well,
and expressed their concern to me.  eventually, we coincidentally met up
at the bookstore as we were returning books for classes that we decided
not to take that quarter, and he told me that he had been staying at his
girlfriend's dorm for most of the past week as he was trying to decide
whether or not he was going to stop out for the quarter.  he then told me
that he had indeed decided to stop out.  he moved out soon, and i don't
think i've ever heard from him again.

in retrospect, i think he was the roommate that i knew least well,
including possibly everyone that i had roomed with for only a day.  i just
looked him up in the stanford directory, and apparently, he is still an
undergraduate here, pursuing multiple majors.  perhaps we are more alike
than i had first assumed.  he also appears to have a different last name,
the story behind which i do not know.

i eventually had the whole room to myself for the rest of autumn quarter.
housing services had prospectively assigned me a replacement roommate
during the middle of that quarter, but unfortunately, his visit to my room
was on a particularly frantic day during midterm season, so the room was a
mess, as was my mental state.  i think he elected to live with someone
else, with good reason, i suppose.