ahh...my room is so much cleaner and neater now! makes me so relieved to see it tidy =)

it was martina's birthday today...HAPPY BIRTHDAY! we went to korean bbq for her birthday...yum =) i probably still smell like it. they're actually drinking tonight too! on a wednesday night...crazy. no drinking during the middle of the week for me, thankyouverymuch.

we also had the ski trip informational meeting tonight, and as expected, not many non-core members showed up. lazy stanford students =P granted, it was raining, but it would have been nice to have a larger turnout. no matter what though, ucaa ski trip is going to kick ass this year ;-)

then we held the asian american issues meeting on the foreignness of asian americans. it was definitely thought-provoking since i never really stopped to consider that asian americans are still definitely portrayed as foreigners although we have been in the usa since the 1500s or 1600s...i supposedly led one of the discussions, but the effectiveness of my discussion guidance is arguable =P unfortunately, the discussion was dominated by about half the group while the other half didn't say a thing. i was very interested in the whole discussion, but it made me realize even more how ignorant i am of asian american history. i vow i'm going to take that course sometime this year or next =P okay, back on topic though, i think we have all noticed on some level the perpetually foreign stereotype of asian americans. while african americans have stereotypes also, they are not viewed as "foreign" at all becuase of their rich culture. the majority of asian americans, however, remain ignorant of their unique history and the struggles other asian americans have gone through to gain whatever freedoms and levels of equality we enjoy today. this may be due to apathy or lack of such curricula, but it's a definite problem. and in media, most portrayals of asian americans unquestionably fall into stereotypes: dragon ladies, submissive women, kung fu artists, etc. what really distresses me is remembering the countless times i have heard asian americans refer to a particular white person as "that american." all american citizens are american, and i am just as american as the next citizen. the fact that there is a widespread idea of the "american" as being only white reminds me that there is so much more work to be done in the acceptance of people of color in the US, and the definition of an american must continue to evolve into something more diverse and tolerant---after all, aren't those two characteristics something america claims to be?

er...yeah. there was a lot more discussed, but i'll spare whoever is reading this =) after the meeting ended, a bunch of us just stayed and ate and chatted. judy came down to talk a bit...she's so hilarious...haha. love that girl. and i want our jackets! =D purple with lavender letters and silver outline...yes, quite girlie, but what can you do? i would so not be able to pull off a black jacket with letters...i don't look nearly hard enough =)

okay, going to attempt to do some work in my clean, vacuumed room now.