alright.  a little behind on the updating, so here goes...and hopefully the pictures aren't as blurry this time.  sorry bout that!

2 weekends ago, went to Bandipur in search of tigers and elephants.  what we found were not tigers and elephants, but deers and monkeys.  so much for the tiger safari wildlife refuge.  i think it would be more correct to call it a deer refuge instead...but yah.  that was the jungle trip me and 20 other interns went on.  it was quite an interesting trip-never had i ever had to drench myself in bug spray and bug repellant lotion...and all over my face too when going to bed.  gross gross gross.  i was smelling the fumes and getting all lightheaded.  but of course, with my luck, i still got bit by something and twice too, right below my eye and on my hand.  i'm assuming its a spider because it stung more than it itched...SICKNESS. 

our housing was literally in the jungle...with deers and monkeys prancing around outside the cabin like thing.  heh.  no one showered that night b/c there was no shower/hot water thing in our place.  i'm just thankful for that one light bulb we had...=) and the 4 other girls (brianna, raluca, tam, shilling) that were there with me.  hahaha the electricity went out when we were brushing up and i was shaking in my boots...literally. hhaa i had brianna sing silly songs so that i wouldn't get scuuuuuurrred.  i can't even begin to describe how scary it was.  bugs everywhere, mosquitos everywhere, things outside your cabin that were rady to eat you, hardly any light, no water, (thank god there was a toilet)...it was REALLY scary guys!  perfect setting for a scary/murder movie.  hahaa.    i'm so glad it was only for one night and we were getting up at 5am anyway...so only like 6 hours that i had to make it through.  *whew* i thought vietnam was bad, well, walking in flood water up to my mid section and seeing rats scrambling across the floor isn't exactly my idea of "fun" either but now, i'm a much stronger person....really, i am.   enough bout that.  here's some photos:

the group.

ok, so we did see elephants, but they weren't wild elephants.  these were locked up...bummer

hey, look!  deer!  bleh. booooooooooooring!

these suckers scare the crap out of me.  they like attack you if you have food and then they attack each other.  freaky

the elephant was trying to smell me b/c i gave it a banana before this picture and so i was trying really hard to take a snap and then get away as fast a possible...so if i look funny, thats why

this is what i slept in...it was a spectacle to see all the mosquitoes climbing on the outsides of this net...

on our 7km hike that took about 2 hours...it was a constant incline...fun stuff.doing incline on the treadmill really paid off.

the group that made it to the top. hahah we are the champions!!! err..not really...but anyway, the kid and the guy on the right were our guides. the hike was nothing for them...

it was very windy

view from the top.  you can see 3 different states of india from here.  and then it started to rain on us....=/

err..dunno what is wrong with the alignment of the words and the pictures...tried to fix it but didn't want to spend anymore time on doing it..takes too damn long so sorry about that.

so uh...while reading people's xanga, i got all depressed for some reason.  i saw the adventures that people were having in the motherland-china-going on all these tours and hikes to magestical places and all.  i saw pictures from tina's xanga that reminded me of the great memories experienced in taiwan and then from her shanghai pictures, i'm reminded of the good times that i WON'T be having in shanghai.  i see pictures from adrienne's xanga from her european tour, especially the ones from paris and my heart seriously skipped a beat...i didn't realize how much i've missed paris and the wonderful summer spent there 2 years back.  then i think about calliea and how she's going to be in florence, italy soon...how alan is still on his european trip as well...and how tracy will soon be heading off for shanghai in about a week. THEN IT HIT ME. wth biiiaaaaaaatches...I'M F*CKIN IN INDIA!  muahahahahaa.  i guess the only reason why i felt so nostalgic,depressed and stuff was b/c i'm here for work and not as much on vacation.  BOO.   

but anyway...its MY turn to put up some pictures dammit! hahaha.  you would think that working in an IT city that there'd be high speed internet in the hotel rooms as well as reliable, fast internet at work as well...nope, its still india, even in this Infosys bubble.  damn you.

Below are pictures from my weekend trip to Mysore that I talked about a few entries back:

shiling, me, and vicki on a boat at the bird sanctuary at Mysore. there weren't a lot of birds...lots of crows though!

Tipu Sultan's tomb

nifty.  gotta love widescreen shots...hahaa super long when you take it vertically!

the fountains at the water garden.  its funny, b/c the higher you go, the emptier the fountains get. hahaha so like at the very bottom, there's tons of water fountains and stuff...at the top, there still are water fountains-but just with no water in it. ahhaa what a treat!

these are the guesthouses at the infosys campus in Mysore.  this place was nuts.  it was like its own city..with its own lil neighborhood too. it was really new looking and nice.  i guess thats where infocity comes from. haha

i think epcot center relocated to the infosys campus at mysore...hahaa

riding on a camel in middle of traffic. hahah thats the way they do it here.  that's vicki in front of me. hehe

my palace at Mysore! hahaha j/k j/k.  it was pretty cool. 

a temple on the palace grounds

its our mode of transportation!  hehehe just going for a lil cruise on top of an elephant with some other fellow interns

so like, just chillin there at the top of a mountain with some interns and all these people came and wanted to take a picture with us.  like how i've adopted the fob style of dress again...ahhaha what is it with me?  outside of the US, i start dressing like tracy-fobstyle and not cute. ahhaa j/k j/k you have an eccentric style of taste.

went back to the palace at night to see it illuminated-every sundays from 7-8pm

pretty awesome, huh?  no, its not a postcard!

1/4 group picture!  hahaha there was about 20 of us there

my life is turning into shambles!  i've started drinking soda, coffeeeeeeeee, and eating chips.  wth.   i would have never touched this stuff at home. aaaaargh.  the life of a corporate slave.  blaaaaaah.!!! 

i suppose the food poisoning here and there balances it out.  ahhaa oh man....

well, it was either sleep or xanga at work and so i opted for xanga.  perhaps sleep will kick in a lil bit later anyway. hahaha.  read this entry in its entirety.  its entertaining, i promise. 

i was in a meeting where my project buddy was describing to me how this whole portfolio analysis tool works and what my job was in determining portfolio optimization and i couldn't keep my eyes open for the life of me.  he would look at me a lot for some signs of understanding and comprehension and i had to struggle just to pull off a nod and a "uh huh".  it was pretty bad cause i just wanted to drop my head onto the table and snooze for a bit and it was just so hard for me to pay attention.  i even secretly pinched my face so that i would focus and listen.  reminds me of the time when i was at dinner at the westpoint formals and this really important general was on the screen giving what seemed like a never ending speech and i couldn't help but want to put my head in the food and sleep. hahaa.  in this case, it was due partly to really, really hot weather, partly to partying waaaaaaay too much the night before and partly to food coma...so i guess thats understandable, right??? haha

let's see.  went to Mysore this weekend.  what was suppose to be a 3.5 hour bus ride turned out to be 5.5 hours after taking a short cut-yup, a short cut.  all in all, it was a splendid time.  had a good chance to see other parts of india, including the poverty stricken one.  i thought i'd seen my share of poor in vietnam...uhh...india is far worse.  we went all over the place, would mention them but i think the only thing most people think of when they think of india is the taj mahal and for some people, they even thought the taj majah was a casino (yah, no comment there...), so i won't even bother naming things and leave it at that.  just know i went to Mysore ok? hahaha. 

some guy try to rip me off, but me, with my mad barganing skills said, "to hell with you! i'll give you Rs. 70 for both sets dammit!" hahaah well, minus the to hell with you and dammit part, i did bargain for 2 sets of bangles from a rip off price of Rs. 200 for one set to Rs. 70 for 2 sets.  thats equivalent to about $1.50.  go me!

i can now check riding a camel and elephant off my list.  it was about 50 cents to ride the camel around an intersection with cars (yes, intersection-apparently farm animals on the roads here are quite the norm) and $1 to ride the elephant inside a palace. hahaha. no no, not literally inside, but on the palace grounds.  it was really scary getting on and off of both animals-but besides that, all was gravy.  i think i attracted a lot of attention when i shouted "holy f*cken sh*t!" out into the crowd.  ooooooooooh well.  but then again, not as if i didn't stick out like a sore thumb already. hahaa yah...i'm almost getting used to being stared at a lot everywhere i go.  and when i mean stared out, not just like a casual glance, but a very obvious glare-almost even a death stare (see calliea's  june 10th xanga entry about this). 

speaking of stares, i was asked 6 times yesterday by random people to take pictures with their brother/sister/family/children/cousins/aunt/long lost dog etc.  it was quite interesting because at first, it started off with me and 3 other people (all of whom were NOT indian) and then it was just me.  one guy was even on the phone when i passed by him and he just stopped and asked if i could take a picture with his sister.  now really, how the freak weird is that?! being the nice person that i am, i said yes.  and then i charged them Rs. 10 for each shot. haahhahaha j/k j/k.  if only.  then i can make a living in india as That Chinese Girl.  yaaah, right. no thanks, i'll pass.  my goal in life is to become the Chinese Trophy Wife.  hahahaa j/k j/k.  Chinese House Wife would do just fine. 

some fun facts/stupidity statements of the weekend made by yours truly:

1.  did you know a bull is a male cow? 

2.  did you know an ox is a castrated male cow?

3.  me:  "what?  you can't milk all cows? i thought you can milk male cows too..."  other people:  "whats wrong with you???"  so yes, apparently, you can only milk female cows..which makes sense b/c which male mammal can you milk? hahaha.  thats a good one.  but don't ya'll remember Meet the Parents where Ben Stiller said you can milk just about anything with nipples?  *sigh*.  t.v. has ruined me. 

4.  me:  "wait, so where are Mongolians from............Mongul?"  other people:  "errr...MONGOLIA?" hahahahaha

5.  i walked directly into a 3-foot pole that was in the center divide of a walk way.  lets just say, i saved the guys behind me from infertility.  but then again, who's to say they would have been an idiot and have walked into the pole like me...

so i guess sameer was right when he said that the admissions office at ucb saw *engineering, asian, female* and immediately stuck it in the acceptance pile... sadness. HAHAHHAHAA.  what can i say, so i need to brush up a lilttle bit on the farm animals. 

The man sitting kiddy-corner from my cubicle has the WORST indian accent ever.  He's a consultant and so he's constantly on the phone consulting people, i suppose, and every other sentence, he's like, "hello?" cause i think the person on the other line doesn't even understand him and need few pauses of silence to think about what he just said.  Its kinda funny because I'd hear, "blahblahblahblah bloopbloop bloop hello?? data sheets blah blah blah hello??? la lala okok blahblahblah hello?" But then at the same time, its really annoying.  Peace and quiet would be nice...

interesting conversation i had with angel today...

debbieweb bie4 4: ahahha i think i'm gonna go on a wildlife safari this weekend
angelsymoon:: sneak out at night
angelsymoon: find some street riff raff
angelsymoon: like aladdin
angelsymoon: look for a hot indian guy with a monkey
angelsymoon: oh wait, aladdin isn't indian
angelsymoon: but you know what i mean
debbieweb bie4 4: HAHAHAH GOOD JOB

and i thought i was bad when i meet this intern guy with a heavy accent but not like a southern accent and he said he was from georgia and i immediately thought like, ooh southern fried chicken georgia and not georgia somewhere in the mesh of eurasia.  hahahaa uh.....anyway

so after carefully examining my new friend sameer's speech, i coined a new descriptive adjective for the world to use-"valley guy", you know, the counter part to valley girl? hahaha.  i'm sure at first you would be thinking, no, opposite of valley girl is surfer dude...but no, not quite.  the valley guy talks just like the valley girl, makes the same type of pronounciations as the valley girl, and doesn't necessarily always say "dude, wooooah, like totally awesome". hahaha.  but yah, so thats my friend sameer...hehee...the valley dude.  ya'll should meet him.  he goes to berkeley too. hahaa

so i know you are all dying to know how i'm doing out here...or not...but here's the inside scoop anyway:

1.   infosys city-the 100 acre area at which i reside and work at is called    "campus" here because it practically is a campus, with 6 eateries (cafeterias), housing, a really nice pool and gym, pool hall, cricket field, bball courts, vball pit, and a one hole golf course.  people ride bikes here from building to building and just leave it outside when they are done-you are free to take them as you see them to get around campus.  there is a library and cyber cafe, as well as a restaurant.  

i live in the "hostels" or "dorm" or "campus housing" (the name differs from person to person) and the rooms are really nice:  one person to a room that is made for two people, AC, free beverages, own bathroom, completely brand new!!!, t.v, with room service everday and laundry service. heh heheehe.  food is also provided for us as well, so that we can eat wherever we want. 

basically everything on campus is really, really nice and i live in an infosys bubble.  everything outside of here is pretty poverty stricken except for some commercialized areas.

2.  i bought a sari the other day.  it was pretty expensive (~$120) but i really, really like it.  its red and white and is sparkly.  sorta.  hahaha.  you know me and sparkly things!!!  but its still being custom made right now, but when i pick it up, i'll post pictures!  =)  i hope i don't look too akward in it...and i'm sure ya'll are wondering where the heck i'd ever wear it-well if you think of something, lemme know, yah? hahaha.  its rather fancy so its not like the plain, typical ones...so i'd like to think of it as an evening dress. hahaha.  i dunoo...=/  just kinda felt like i needed to get one since i am in india and all, right?

3.  got my first food poisoning.  or rather, it was water poisoning.  not that i directly drank the water or anything, but i had a few pieces of ice that i guess was not made from filtered water.  yah, fell sickly ill on friday/saturday, saw the doctor on campus and got some anti-biotics.  had a crazy fever in middle of the night and had the runs for forever! ahhaha.  i'm all better now that i sh*t everything out, but yah, it was quite painful.  hehe slept for about 17 hours, went to bed at 4pm and woke up the next morning at 9am. hahaha. 

4.  finally figured out how to get internet in my dorm room.  yay me!  now all that i ask for is for you people to be up at 6am so i can chat with you when its night time here.  12 hour time difference...or in my case, 12.5 hour time difference.  people keep telling me there is no 1/2 hour time difference but really, when its 10pm at home, its really 10:30am in india...so i don't get it...

hope everyone else is doing well.  i miss you all alot!  i've forgotten how it felt to not be in a group of people who are more or less like myself.  i've met some fun people here but we don't have too much in common where things just click.  kinda weird...cause i'm so used to meeting people that i click with.  i guess it also doesn't help that i'm 1 of 5 girls here either. hahaha. 

mintie2100: dude.. ur in bangalore
mintie2100: and its like.. FREE everything
mintie2100: i just realized what kinda word bangalore sounds like

i'm assuming she means "bang" + "a" + "whore"??? what a dirty mind, that one. hahaa hahah for a minute there, all those quotation marks and + symbols were beginning to look like a java string...SCARY! hahahha thank god for passing cs9g. hahaa

so this is an email i get from my project mentor who sent it out to all the other members of the SETlab's Analytics department (Software Engineering and Technology Labs (SETLabs) is the Center for Research and Innovation at Infosys. It addresses the challenge of effectively integrating technology into the nervous system of an enterprise's business and making sense of the emerging technologies): 

It brings me great pleasure to introduce to you Deborah Chang who has just joined SETLabs Analytics as an Intern as part of the Infosys InStep Program. Deborah Chang is currently pursuing her BS at the University of California at Berkley. Her interests and strengths include Operations Research, Engineering Statistics and Financial Management. Deborah has handled multiple administrative positions in the University and other organizations. She enjoys skiing, badminton and traveling.  Deborah would be working on an internship project in the area of IT Value Management looking at Technology Intelligence on an emerging technology and also on linear and quadratic programming and Markowitz portfolio modeling for the InsITe Tool for IT Portfolio Management.  Deborah operates out of Building 19 (Extension – 54016).

ok.  there are 5 things wrong with this.  1) Engineering statistics??? hahahhaa I remember jack shit about engineering statistics! oh man... 2) Financial Management????  does e120 count?? hahahaha.  oh god....help me...  3) quadratic programming???? things work in the 4th dimension here???  4)  i never even heard of Markowitz portfolio modeling!!! or have i???  aiiiiiiiiiiyaaaaaaaaaa  and 5)  IT Portfolio Management just sounds hard...

bottomline - i'm screwed. 

so i was having this conversation with a crazy person the other day and the topic of polygamy came up.  so just out of curiosity, why do YOU think its so bad...besides religious reasions and all...and we know this is not a big enough reason since there are so many things that people do everyday that goes against religion already, you know, being dishonest, same-sex marriages, sex before marriage, etc.  so i googled polygamy in hopes of finding arguments against it, but all i found were arguments FOR it.  what do you think?  Read below: 

Automatic childcare in a sexist society gives women more effective choice to have a career without devaluing the role of homemaker.

Being able to marry men who are already married means that women can marry men who have already proved themselves, therefore minimising their risk.

Being able to marry the men who attract most women means they don't have to settle just for what's left after other women have the best pickings.

Having the possibility that a husband can remarry without divorce extends practical security to a woman. She needn't worry about losing her husband and income as she loses her looks, because if her husband is attracted by a younger woman, he doesn't even have to think about leaving his wife.

Polygamy removes the pressure on a husband to commit adultery, and removes damaging deceit from a marriage.

Polygamy provides a method where a woman can have a female friend for life as well as a husband.

Polygamy therefore provides more people and a better chance of meeting diverse needs.

Polygamy provides a potential for at least three adult incomes, reducing state dependance and the fear of unemployment.

If a man wants to have another sexual partner in a polygamous system then he has to meet his responsibilities - pay for any children produced from all his relationships without priority being given to those from a 'legal' relationship.

Polygamy removes or reduces the seduction of innocent young women - If a man promises to marry
her, he cannot use his existing marriage as an excuse for not fulfilling a promise.

Polygamy reduces the number of women who are available. Currently, with more women than men, this 'cheapens' women. With less women available their 'value' goes up. In other words, polygamy makes men have to try harder and do better with women if they are to win them in competition with other men.

what a bunch of bull shit!  yeah right would this ever work!  some idiot MAN must have been the author of this since only a girl knows how a girl's mind works and how crazy we are and how much this would never work!

oh, and another thing...if you were a girl, what do you think of the comment, "you're not fat, you're fertile looking?".  hmmm.....  and if you are a guy, would you ever say that to a girl?  (lemme give you some advise...NO!)

heh, yeah...this entry is dedicated to you-mr. always know the right thing to say at the right time.  ahhaha

bored and taking quizzes:

hmm...sounds about right. wow, so perhaps I'm destined for the city of angels after all

Your Seduction Style: The Natural

You don't really try to seduce people... it just seems to happen. Fun loving and free spirited, you bring out the inner child in people. You are spontaneous, sincere, and unpretentious - a hard combo to find! People drop their guard around you, and find themselves falling fast.