Check out the car BMW loaned me! It's an X-3.



Here's the new i-drive..it goes up and down by itself


And the car's got this HUGE AWESOME moonroof. Makes it feel like a convertible suv.

So I meant to upload the pix of my rented cars on Friday, but what happened was my entire first year class descended upon the library, taking the two books required for our assignment. A waste of time on my part, got very little done. Lesson learned: wait for the last minute to complete assignments. But I finally got around to it. First off is the Kia Optima, next is the Chevy Aveo. I've got Aveo currently, and it's actually a pretty good car. I'd think it was terrible for parallel parking though, because I can't see the hood of the car from the driver's seat. It slants down, below the view of the dashboard.




On Friday night I saw a large maine coon cat, and a raccoon (separately). Now I miss Muffy =( I wonder if she'd like it here. I could set up the 2nd futon for her. But only one window really looks out to anything, and some days, like today, it becomes suffocatingly hot. I'm already thinking of next year, I'll move to a smaller place, maybe one bedroom, forget the roommate, just me + the cat.

My Room!

As you can see, I've eliminated the need for a dresser by creating one out of my nightstand. This saves a few hundred dollars + moving headaches.

Is San Diego really Paradise?

So I chose to live next to the mall instead of the beach. Linda Vista instead of Clairemont. Of course it wasn't the only factor in my choice, I wanted to be close to school, Clairemont's kind of expensive, and the Vietnamese community surrounding my current place doesn't really bug me as much as it bothers others, but yes, it was a choice of mall over beach.

Now I live near two malls. And two shopping centers. The malls are absolutely huge, and every chain store you've ever heard of exists in one of these malls. I saw SIX t-mobile stores within a two mile radius. And today, a busful of little kids stopped at Fashion Valley. Apparently, a field trip to the mall. I could spend every day, not to mention every dime, in the mall. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's so very materialistic, yet alluring. Is this what people do in this city, shop?? I mean, you should see the size of my closet. It's bigger than my bathroom. This is an apartment too! I wonder, when I move next to the beach next year, if I'll miss this. But then again, they are only 4 miles apart.

Oh, and my place is nice. You should see it. Maybe I'll put up pix later.

You know my yellow cat? The one this blog's named after? Well, after winning countless battles against cats of all colors and fur types, she lost. Now she's got this huge abscess on her flank, bruises, and a cat temperature of 105. After being shaved, poked, and drained, this is what the yellow cat looked like:

My hometown spent a ton of money on a new library. There's this salt water aquarium inside, beautiful inner courtyard, and large glass windows everywhere. It's a clean streamlined look, perfect for a desert(like) city.

The issue is the rest of the city. Simply put, it's going out of business. Seeing the city once every few months, I notice shops changing names, from well known franchises to less successful local stores to blank empty spaces. And its a trend that continues block after block, until complexes are bulldozed over, leaving an empty dirt block, awaiting redevelopement into new condos. But who's gonna live in these condos? And why move into a dying city?

Thought I'd try out the cardiovascular exercise concept. Keep heart rate over 100 for 20min, every day. So there's this tennis court nearby. I wanted to take advantage of it. Learned three things:

1) No one wants to play tennis with me in 90 degree heat.

2) The tennis ball machine wasn't functional (I found out when all the balls fell out of the feeder).

3) I suck at physical activity. Including tennis. I already knew this. Just conveniently forgot.