Some photos of my friends and Graduation :)

M-V-P = KOBE!!!

Ah, Just watched the replays and highlight of what Kobe Bryant did this past Sunday night for like 20th time!! If you don't watch basketball, it's ok ^^, I am going to tell you what he have done. Kobe made history on Sunday, Jan.22 2006, by scoring 81 points in a NBA game, yep... that's right.... 81 POINTS!! Which is second overall ranking in NBA league history, only Wilt Chamberlin scored 100 points once in 1962...

40 years later, Kobe did it with fitness, not domination, he shot 28-46, 18-20 free throws, with 7 made 3 points shots, total to 81 points. Suffice to say it is just amazing, mind-blowing, whatever any other words you could think of. It is best single individual performance I have ever seen in my life. I know basketball is a team sport, but if you don't like that, you don't like basketball.

Kobe Rules!!!

Anyway, back to school, which is not as amazing as Kobe, book cost so much that my parents decided to order from Taiwan instead of me buying it on campus, even the freaking reader that is only 2 cm wide costs like $40, RIDICULOUS...

talk about school, time for my classes... Until next time\ ^^

Oh btw, I took an addiction test for.... World of Warcraft.. and I scored .... check it out!!

Well on your way! You are 63% Addicted!

You play a lot, and you're starting to get hooked. Keep it up and soon you too will be part of the ever-growing group that is totally addicted. Or, see the warning signs now and get out while you still can!

New semester... time for a new game!!

So the semester starts at the speed of the lightning bolt, I barely have time to meet up with everyone that I know in Berkeley before the instruction begins on Jan.17, which is yesterday.

I felt embarrassed to talk about this, but I have to talk about this... sooner or later. There are a lot of games that I play throughout the school year, especially during the previous semester, most of them are pretty cool and fun and ... should I say legit (by that I mean if someone walks into the room, and you are playing that game in that room, you won't feel embarrassed). Such as Warcraft III the frozen throne, online poker, Starcraft and my XBOX games.

But there is one game, called Warcraft : The Board Game (WCBG)... sounded fun huh.....? I've been playing this game with 3 other people at a regular non-pressure school days. They are also some of my best friends in Berkeley. Tyler Chow, Helen Liu, and Robert Lawson. Basically this game is just like warcraft: the frozen throne, except you play in a term to term basis, and it's a board game... which takes a lot of time for a single game. A game usually takes about 2 hours to play, and we just had this crazy ass game this past monday night, which I think was the best game of WCBG we ever played together, it lasted 3 hours, ended up being a draw for both side (Rob and I were on the same team, and Tyler and Helen on another), but we all had a blast out of that game.

But that is not the new game that I started play this semester, the new game is ... World of Warcraft... MMORPG always intrigues me. I started on monday the 16th, and within 2 days I am a Level 10 human female mage on BoulderFist already !! btw, most of my friends in Berkeley are in the same server as well^^

more on that later, got a class to catch now...here is some more picture of my little nephew^^

What a great way to end a Vacation....being Sick!!

Being sick is never a good thing, especially during this time of year, 2 days ago I can't even get up from bed, I had this terrible fever and can not stop caughing, funny thing is Charles caught a cold almost at the same time as I am... but just worse. (Btw, sucks to be him because this is the first week of school for him, and he had to drive 30 miles to UC Riverside... EVERYDAY!!)

My brother and father are currently stuck in Beijing in their supposely 7 days trip in China due to heavy fog and blizzard. That means I can't see my dad until Spring break ... Dammit!!

Oh well, at least I am looking forward on going back to Berkeley, still living in Dorms as a Senior, I got tons of friend I wanted to meet up and catch up some good old times. ( Reasons that I am still living in dorms I will emphasize later.... hehe)

Anyway, as one might noticed before, I am a huge Lakers' fan, not like all crazy and hardcore, but I would never jump the bandwagon if some other NBA basketball team gets better, and it's been like that since I came to LA 10 years ago from Taiwan. Recently, Kobe Bryant of the LA Lakers' has just been sensational, people said that he is a ballhog... yes he does currently led all NBA in shot attempt; however, basketball is about watching and enjoying, especially when Kobe took off in the 4th quarter in the Clipper game, man that was just amazing, if you don't like that, you don't like basketball. and 2 days ago, against Lebron James' Cleveland Cavaliers, when 2 superstars go at it, that is just fun to watch. ( and of course^^ Kobe hit the game winning shot and the Lakers won the game on that day ^^)

Yesterday, I went to one of my best high school friend Scott Yang's house, he lived in the country, which is like 5 min drive from my place in Diamond Bar. of course, Charles, Eddie, Allen, Alain, and few other company also went as well. We watched Sixers' game (they are all Allen Iverson Fans...) then played some basketball in his court, Charles and I are a bit winded since we are sick...but we still had a hell of a good time^^

Finally, we can't end a day with playing some good old Majong, hehe. Which I took down $30 bucks at the end^^

well, off to Berkeley then..............

The good times^^

It has come to a point in winter vacation where one thinks when the school will starts... sigh...
Eddie and Charles starts their school next monday, which is Jan.9 and they can't stop talking about it (Of course not excitedly...:). My friend in Berkeley, Eric Huang, have came back form Taiwan already, he still have his own little jet lag, he always drove me around to eat around the bay area along with Ryan Yu, (Aka Kimarhi). I will talk more about them when I get back to school ^^. And finally my other best friend, Scott Yang, will come back on Jan.11, hopefully we'll have some fun before I leave Diamond Bar for School on Jan.15.

Ha, I named this title "good times", not for the reason of complaining the winter break is too short, I named this title because the good times always flies by, it past way too fast than I expected. Sum up the whole winter break to date, I think I went to Casino Morongo like 3 times, played Majong and Poker for at least 5 times each, and watch around 20 DVD quality movies, which are really good. Just yesterday, I watch 4 movies ( Bewitched, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Stealth, and Robots). Sooooooooooooooooo nice^^.






Me, Standing behind a Japanese Style just below the Japanese Garden.



Then of course, good time have to include family times, my parents, my nephew Justin, and I went to Hungtington Library yesterday, (It is free entry every Thurday of the Month), and we spent a whole day in that beautiful place. The open field, the conservatory, the rose garden, all are part of that library.




Justin, taking a picture with the Dog!!

New year, New resolution, A New Direction!!

Before anyone anticipate it, 2006 have been rolling along like a energizer bunny. The countdown have been rather uneventful for me, My friends Charles, Eddie and I spent the final minutes in a Korean Tofu and BBQ restaurant eating because we are so hungry after all the "activites" (Aka, Texas Hold'em, and Majong) we been doing since 6:00 PM. And for the first time in my life, I went to bed again at around 6:00 AM, which i think it's the 3rd time in the past 4 days.

Talk about Majong, it is one of the funnest game that 4 people could play, it requires 4 people and ususally takes about 2 hours for 4 rounds of playing, and it could be longer since the dealer get to be dealer again if he/she kept on winning.
It is also consider one of the popular sports thoughout Asia, and especially in China; as many international tournament were held. It is also one of the healthest game invented, research showed that it could prevent Alzhimer's disease if it is played at a regular basis. Suffice to say, it is a very cool game^^


For the new year resolution, I have decided that I wanted to go to Spain after I graduate, during the Fall of 2006. I am looking forward to travel to Europe and have fun at the same time^^

Finally, I just wanted to say,

Happy New Year~~~

Life as I know it

Ah.... haven't got a chance to introduce my family yet, since I have been rather busy hanging around with my friends during this wonderful winter break, in fact, currently I am in my brother's (Jeff) house typing up this particular blog. (He lives in Rowland Heights, which is 6 miles away from my home in Diamond Bar) He and his wife (Stephanie) also have a son, Justin, my nephew, now only 1 1/2 years old, but I think he is the cuttest and the smartest baby I have ever seen.






My brother(Jeff) and his son (Justin)





My brother, Jeff, is currently 30 years old, which is 8 years older than me^^, My dad, Joe, who already retired in Taiwan like 10 years ago, is currently a part time real estate agent (Currently looking for a case, preferably someone who wants to sell their house^^, he is probably the best father known to mankind. I could never ever repay on how much he had given me; The amount of time and energy that he spent on me and my brother can't not be measure by any word or number...and I always love him and thank him for what he did to me.

My mom is a retired school teacher, she is well in her 50's but still looks young and pretty, in fact, she was voted the best looking female on an 2000 people school campus during her college days, I am not kidding^^, as I am writing this paragragh, my father is picking her up from LAX international airport to my brother's place. It's going to be a wonderful new year.


I am Jih-Yi (John) Chang, Currently a senior in Berkeley, majoring Environmental Economics and Policy, going to graduate in May of 2006. Just happen to come back home for the winter break^^.

well, that's about it ... until next time ... Ciao~~

Reunion with Taiwanese Summer Camp 2005 in LA

Just after the long and tiresome day at the Casino the day before, yesterday was also a blast for me because I got a chance to meet some of best friends that I made during my Summer (Loveboat) Camp in Taiwan for Dinner in Cerritos.

I've got a chance to meet Sam Chuang again, a cool guy who always slept next to me during the camp. ( Yep, those Formosa camps are usually too ghetto to get single bed for each of us... ^^)
and two Kevins, ( we call them "butt brothers" during summer camp because I guess they always sticking together and doing some of the stupidest stuff one could imagine, such as Shooting B B guns at each other in close range while taking a video with their digital camera)



The "Butt Brothers", Kevin Lian (left) and Kevin Wu (Right)



8 members of our group, from left to right: Carson Bee, me, Kevin Wu, Sam Chuang, William Jang, Krystal Pong, Kevin Lian, Thomas Hui




Anyway, 11 of us headed to this place called "Gumpy" in Cerritos, and I think for a total price of $11, I have never ate so much in my life, god, the food was awsome; I had a popcorn chicken noodle. And the mango and strawberry shaved ice is just Amazing!!





Me, digging up the huge mango and strawberry shaved ice!!!




We chat and had fun through out the day, and all good things must come to an end.
Thanks to Jonathan Poon (Paparazzi Jon), he took some pictures that captured the esssence of this wonderful Reunion.