164

男排 summer training

當我們說「那些年的夏天」，你會想到這些時光嗎？在舊體外玩躲避球，帶著微笑到處奔跑。一個一個照片留下來當作很久以後的好回憶，可以嗎？我們的時光不要這麼快就結束。手握著相機的鏡頭，躲在你們後面幫你們拍照，留下一個畫面，一定要記下來。

緊緊抱著你。

162

I enjoy:

· Spending summer nights with you (guys).
· When 若晞 asked us to gather in a circle to clap and cheer this evening, he asked everyone to thank 花男 and 經理 (which is me), but 花男 stopped him and said "I don't think we need to thank our manager anymore... I think she's already one of our teammates."
· Laying down on our stomachs, head in hands, in a circle, to cycle and talk together after practices every day, looking at all the stars in the night sky as we sit together on the dark volleyball courts.
· Being a part of this happy family, a family that will always occupy a small corner of my heart.

Summer love at its finest—sharing it with people you treasure in the heat of the day and the cool of the night, everlasting and as intangible as the occasional, precious breeze in Taipei's heated summer weather.

Mmm, I remember something 雅盺 told me a few days ago... "When he leaves for America in a few weeks, I don't think 男排 will be the same again."

That thought hit me straight in the face—that the person I will miss the most from these happy summer nights is actually leaving for a place I call home but that sounds so foreign and cold to me now. As much as I don't want to admit it, I am quickly running out of time to do what I need to do. I wish I didn't have to come to the realization that you will not come back for a long time. There is so much I love about this team, and I wish our story didn't have to end so soon. A story that I keep secret from all other eyes except my own, a story that I will continue to commit to paper and pencil even as the clock ticks the hours, the minutes, the seconds, away. A story for which I cannot bear to write an ending. A story that is written in pencil, and not pen, because in the words resides another treasure that can be erased and re-written with time.

158

Ahh, the summer time. When the living is easy, the mosquitoes dine, and we spend ninety percent of every day feeling sticky and hot. But no mind, it's all in good fun.

Tomorrow I leave for Yunlin (雲林) and Taizhong (台中); the former to visit my brother at his school, and the latter to visit friends of my dad. I'll be back in Taipei by tomorrow night. On Thursday I leave for Tainan (台南) with a few of my volleyball girls to visit 雨珊 at home. Taizhong means shopping, and Tainan means good food! What a wonderful way to spend summer. On top of guys' volleyball summer training (we finished ours today!), I can't wait for these next two weeks! Bring it on.

157

See, the thing is, if I didn't have volleyball 暑訓 this week, this post would be about 花蓮 and about all the good things I ate and the places I went to and how I watched the guys get drunk at night and play 麻將 and all those good, happy things. But I have 暑訓 and I didn't go to 花蓮 as a result. So, instead, this post is about 暑訓, or at least part of it. Today's only the first day, after all!

I'm really glad I decided not to go to badminton's 暑訓, because I think I would have stopped breathing on the train before we reached 台南, I'd be so exhausted after 生科營 just ended. I'm so glad I decided to stay at 台大 instead. Whew.

Anyway. I guess this should be my master post. Might as well be. Never mind... just day one!

♫

07-11-2011 / DAY 1 / 第一天

- 中心往前 (重要)，用身體送球，不要翹屁股
- 手要擺平，不然球會送歪
- 發球時候打球屁股，但不要打太上下，用靠近拇指的手掌部份去碰球
- 攻擊：二號要快快快快快打! 早點碰到球早點把它給壓下去，記得跑腳步不要噸住，起跳快一點，手再揮快一點，會比較有威力性
- 攔網報到：滯空力超糟糕！背後那條要多拉多去利用
- 腳步報到：是鞋子太滑了還是腳步真的這樣就退步了?

152

Oops. I haven't updated my blog since the beginning of June, and I'm going to get a measly little (2) under my June archive! Generally, I like to accompany my updates with photos, preferably ones that I take myself.

• I packed up everything in my dorm room and I'm just about ready to go. Four more packages onto my uncle's car and I'll be out of 大一女! All three of my roommates left already, so I came home to stay tonight. When I walked into my room this evening to get the last of the things I was going to carry home by bus, my voice literally bounced off the shelves because it was so empty. :( It feels so 空! 
• I'm spending my summer in Taiwan because I simply can't fit in time to go home in between the school activities I have over summer, and in addition to that, my grandparents aren't doing very well. 
• Lots of things happened this June. 理院盃. My birthday. 系羽送舊. 男排送舊. Finals. June was a whirlwind, but it was the best month I've had all year long, despite being the most stressful and the most tiring. I sat on the edge of insanity for a good two or three weeks, but I was so happy. I wish I wrote down all my feelings and how everything happened... but usually, I write those on my P2 版. 
• My brother comes to Taiwan in less than a week! I can't wait for him to be here, I miss my brother terribly. He's also bringing good things for me from California ... :) 

Anyway, tonight, my cousin made pasta. Vegetarian, but so good! Next time we'll try spicing it up with onions or chicken slices or greens or something like that. I miss my mother's pasta, but tonight's dinner was faintly reminiscent of the homestyle meals she used to cook. I must learn her ways. 

I'd go on, but I'm staring at bags and bags of luggage in my room right now, and I really need to unpack, before I go crazy. Oh, and clean the house, but I think unpacking should come first. Toodles~ 

137

花男，讚哥和我今天在麥當勞吃宵夜
吃東西時
我說，欸，我們三個經理之間，有兩個已有男朋友了⋯ （紀文敏和夏心怡）
花男就說 那雙雙妳就加油咯 以後交了男朋友需要先經過男排得批准才可以喔
... XD
“可以往哪邊發展呢⋯ 系籃？系排已幾乎沒有了啊”
花男：“老大？”
我：“老大是流氓型欸”
花男：“如果你跟我說你喜歡老大，我會說妳瘋了。” 《 －這句！！！超表 超好笑 XD

結果我們坐在那 花男很認真在幫我想幫我找對象 哈哈
他問我會不會考慮學弟 我說不會 他說其實差一歲真的沒什麼差別⋯⋯
是真的啦 但為什麼覺得完全沒有安全感
我條件好多喔 系排幾乎都沒有了⋯ （抱頭）
往外系發展的意思嗎？還是聯誼 XD

(I am hoping none of my classmates/Taiwanese friends see this, because I would be thoroughly embarrassed～)

134

I am not liking this rain ; ︵ ; it comes in torrents, at some of the most random times... it was so sunny for the past week, I thought summer was going to be here to stay, but now it's raining and it's cold, which is a big disappointment for April! it started raining, hard, right before we were going to practice kills... that was really disappointing qq :( I came back to my dorm completely soaked and cold after we all went out for lunch together, but it also gave me a good excuse to take shower #2, which definitely felt good :P

anyway, midterms are coming up, but I don't really want to write about them... they're good at ruining the entire mood of a conversation. 衝啊衝啊! those aside, I've been really happy lately, for various reasons :) and midterms probably aren't going to change that, hopefully not!

114

After finishing our shifts yesterday, Peter, 胡仁恩 and I went for a walk on Palm Avenue (椰林大道) and did a photoshoot of the azaleas (杜鵑花) around campus. The blooms are truly marvelous, even though they're a bit smaller this year and bloomed a slight bit too early. Every picture tells a story, and that goes for the fallen azaleas that people arranged into shapes on the islands between palms. Seeing the boulevard explode in color is one of my happy feelings this spring.

click on photos to enlarge

093

Food～


(Mos Burger, 01/31/2011)
燒肉珍珠堡，薯條，卡普奇諾




(Bravo Burger, 02/01/2011)
花生醬起司漢堡，署塊角

P.S. 媽媽 妳記不記得我們曾經有拼過這個拼圖? 我在公館一家漢堡餐廳找到的欸 : )


(Yogurt Art, 02/01/2010)



and City...



(Hot Pot, 01/21/2011)

087

Being back in Taipei, back to busy city life, with street lights shining bright, people everywhere, is a good feeling: all of a sudden, time seems to move faster. Two days away feels like an eternity, and even though my dorm is less comfy than my room back in 新竹, it's still good to be back with my roommates and my friends.

I can't believe I'm going home in two weeks. I think I'm pretty sure (if I get it past my mom) that I'll be going to Los Angeles (洛杉磯) for a few days to visit friends (Claire, Dexter, and Kasey, specifically) at USC. It's exciting! I've never gone to SoCal by myself before, but my dad says I can fly down if I want. I can live with one of them too, which means I can go to class... taught in English! /big gasp!

086

Gosh, I'm really post-happy today. I guess part of it comes from being home alone all day today. I'm going back up to Taipei tomorrow morning... to 1. turn in two term papers 2. go to the post office with 夏心怡 3. visit my 阿嬤 4. have 下午茶 (afternoon tea) with 17 家 5. dance practice in the evening. Tomorrow should be a fun day. Self-reminder: remember to buy a moleskine from 誠品 when you get back to 台大 tomorrow.

In other news:


music charts | week of 01/16/2011

I enjoy the fact that Cécile Corbel has accumulated 129 plays in my library over the course of two short days, and there are much more on my iPod. 借物少女艾莉媞實在太好看了喔喔! 久石讓 is Joe Hisaishi, the brilliant composer who did the scores for virtually every Studio Ghibli film out there. I listen to his music when I need to wind down, and in a sense it's good homework music, when you like to have something in the background to calm you down and help you stay awake, minus lyrics and a singing voice in your ears. As for SNSD (#2)... it's all HOOT. I'm actually kind of getting tired of it, just like I kind of got tired of Oh! after a while. I missed Clazziquai Project, I randomly found one of their albums in one of my folders when I was doing some clean-up today and it was wonderful to hear them again.

Not being in Taipei makes me feel entirely out of the loop of B99 activities again. It's not like me to not be where all the hustle and bustle is. I miss you guys, and I haven't even been away two full days yet. What am I going to do over summer vacation?! Thank goodness sophomores plan 宿營 and we have to see each other lots over summer... otherwise, I'm sure I would go crazy without people to be wacky with.

083

Oh man, yesterday. The last day of finals, but most of us were done and kicked off our winter vacation. In the morning, the cast of 大一劇 met for our first rehearsal (specifically, practice, since none of us have our lines memorized yet).

In the evening, we ordered four pizzas and about ten of us ate it in the fish room. I ran to 85 C after the meal and bought a cake, which was our dessert! Around 8:30, 李奇展 proposed that we bike to 碧潭 together. It sounded like a good idea, especially because most people didn't have anything to do, so we set off on our bikes, fourteen people total. It ended up taking an hour to get there along the bike route, and I realized by the time we got there that we were at the edge of 新店, which can be considered the edge of Taipei City.

The ride there was interesting. A few bullet points:

• 彭湛傑 ran into someone by accident on the bike trail, which ran him into 讚哥, who ran into Peter, who instinctively lept off his bike onto the grass next to the trail. HAHAHA
• 陳怡靜 was singing as she stood on the back of 敬智's bike, and 章魚 passed by, and gave her a look of surprise, which elicited a “章魚，靠背!!!” from 敬智 囧
• When we stopped to take a break and wait for people riding behind us, 敬智 and 怡靜 stepped off their bikes. It was raining a bit then, so 敬智 immediately reached behind her and pulled up her hood. Of course, this was caught by most of us, and most of us deemed it “真甜蜜!!”

And then, we got there! Under the beautiful Christmas lights, on a bridge that crosses a beautiful lake... it was a beautiful scene. If you're a couple, out with friends, if you don't hold hands or PDA, it's a terrible shame.

So of course, Petrucci and 怡靜 started holding hands as we walked across the bridge, and even so when we stopped for group pictures. For the first time, they weren't afraid to hold hands in front of us or even walk arm in arm across the bridge.

But of course, we had our share of fun while they were in their wonderland. When they lagged behind us, 許哲綸 looked at us, then pointed ahead and shouted "OH LOOK, WHAT'S THAT?!" and all of us were like "OOOOOH!!" and started running ahead, off the bridge, to purposely leave them alone. We planned to hide, but they were already off the bridge by that time and giving us looks, so we had no choice but to keep walking with them. On the way back, they were walking in front of us, instead, so people in the back started pairing up, walking arm in arm, and pointing at the sky, going "Oh, look, what's that?!" "Oh, it's beautiful!!" "Oh, it's marvelous!" and they looked back and gave us looks again. Hilarity ensued! 怡靜 took one look at everyone, then let go of 敬智, ran to me, and said "Karen, I'm walking with you!! Let's go!!" and I shrieked with laughter and told Petrucci to take her back!!

After walking to 7 to buy drinks, we walked down along the river, along a string of rather expensive-looking restaurants. We sat down on benches near a Japanese cuisine place, and of course ... our favorite couple was holding hands and leaning heads on one another, a priceless view. Since the rest of us felt obligated to leave them with a quiet place to have a date (come on, you can't help but feel like you're on a date in a place as romantic as 碧潭!!) so we all left, quietly, one by one, down the stairs.

They didn't notice us. Not even when 許哲綸 yelled “林敬智，我們先走咯!!!!!!” back at them. Not a peep! So we got back to our bikes, got on, and left. I sent a text to 怡靜 before I set out telling her that we were leaving first and to be careful on the way back.

It was a long, hour-long ride back to 漁房. In addition, 讚哥's bicycle broke down near 永福橋 and 彭湛傑 took him back on his, while rolling his bike along the side.

When we got back to 漁房, there was a note on the freshman table. It read...

Impossible! How could they reach 漁房 before us?! Turns out, they took the MRT back ... and got back not long before us. Currently, Mr. Petrucci's bicycle is still at 碧潭!

What a wonderful night. I rest assured that I am always happy when I am with you guys. 生科真是個溫馨大家庭!!!

Anyway. The happy couple is not the point of this post, obviously, it's this wonderful girl... named 孔祥珂!

Dear 孔爺! None of us can truly stomach the fact that you're going to be leaving us next semester. I speak for everyone when I say 生科 will not be the same without you. Your presence has brought so much laughter to 漁房, so much happiness (and disgusted looks, sometimes from me, but you know I love you, I do) and you've brought life to our major in ways we never could have imagined. I've never seen you upset, you always have a marvelous way of showing nonchalance and a cool head in everything you do, and I deeply admire your composure and your warmth with everyone you come across. It's no surprise you're everyone's favorite, and when you leave, I'll have tears in my eyes just like everyone else. Thank you for all you've brought to us, thank you for the memories. Please come back to visit and GOOD LUCK with 重考醫科～ I wish you the best in all you decide to do in the future, but please don't change too much. You're wonderful the way you are (as weird as it sounds!) and we can't wait to see you again. Best wishes, and sincerely yours,

台大生科 B99

082

winter break means more time for creativity

and also more time for the sweetest girls ♥
can't wait to go to 桃園 with you guys in two weeks, squee :)

079

喔賣嘎...

我今天回到宿舍開 PTT 看排球板

看到花男有 REPO 我寫得文章 結果我點進去看

看到內容好嚴肅好兇... 我真的嚇壞了

我覺得沒有這麼嚴重

而且...

我們竟然是球經 這些應該就是我們得處理的

不然我當球莖有什麼意義呢？

是我的錯 真的非常對不起

禮拜天晚上陳冠宇把承儒學長的報名表給我

昨天我把承儒學長的報名忘在宿舍 接下來就開始讀微積分就忘了!

但昨天我和夏心怡真的有把我們所有手上的報名表交到櫃子裡

雖然... 有很多隊員跑來跟我說要補交照片，或還沒交報名表

我也不能說什麼 就說喔，沒關係，你還是盡快交給我好了

沒想到會變成這麼嚴重的事 @_@

花男拜託你不要生氣... >_< I'm really, really sorry.

073

New Year's Eve with NTULS99

To my dearest friends, my second family, my home:

When I am with you guys, there is nothing more I need. I'm surrounded by laughter, by happiness, by a drive to succeed, by love. You guys have changed my life, in one short semester, in so many ways. You've taught me that there is so much to love in life, if you only have a little patience, a big heart, and the right perspective. I've learned to see things a different way, to let my true colors show, to find joy in all that I do, and look back with no regrets. In my lifetime I never thought I would have the fortune to be this happy. I give thanks for every waking moment I spend with you guys, because each and every memory we create is priceless to me. For your never-ending support and friendship, I am eternally grateful.

Thank you for being such a wonderful family. Happy new year～

066

hmmmm

mmm

聖誕之夜, NTULS Christmas Party select photos... I finally have a camera! 藍寶 lent his G11 to me, YES. Albeit the reason was so I could take pictures of the boys while they practice/play games (the latter is pretty much impossible, actually, because I'm keeping records during games), I asked for permission to take Christmas party pictures, and he said yes! I am so glad.

Joanna 江卓安, our class representative, and also one of the sweetest girls.


Sophomore band～ their covers were amazing!! Blew me away :)


阿彥 was the cutest thing :) he sang 你是我的天使 (to 妞妞, obviously... though he didn't point it out, despite humongous amounts of pressure from the audience) and his voice is so beautiful!


Sophomores :)


The outfit for B2ST's '숨' which the boys covered!


Better looking than the original guys, if you ask me.


章魚，our happy happy classmate, sadly, this picture was taken right after a severe "violation" -- thus the way his hands are posed.


After the party, we had a 火鍋 party, so a few of us headed to the supermarket down the street to buy food. Fact: riding a bicycle down a city street, still filled with taxis and motorcycles, at 12 AM is super, super scary... even more so when you're wearing a jean skirt and wedges x_x


陳毅安，the freshman volleyball beast!


Ahh, fun night :) Hopefully one of many more to come～

065

12/11/2010 Biology Lab Taipei Zoo Outing, photos by 黃馨儀.

在寒冷的天氣裡, 台灣突然變得多麼陌生啊!
從來沒有經驗過寒流的李雙
在孤獨的冷天
站在絕望的邊緣
但。。。

友情 微笑 握手 擁抱

是最大的幸福。

謝謝你們
在今年聖誕節
成為我的家庭
真的 感動

039

my roommates all went home tonight : ( four people to a room is really awesome when everyone's here, but when all three of them are gone, it feels so empty! when I was at 漁房 my classmates were joking about how some guys should come and stay over ... but that would never happen, considering how conservative I am and how they're not even allowed up to the rooms the first place.

at the same time, I kind of like having the room to myself for a change. I can photobooth without looking like a camerawhore (which I clearly am, as you can tell...) and study... oh yeah, forgot about that part. off I go!

p.s. keke still hooked on this song.