SVong-Along

How much power does the Government have over us? Is the Government infringing on our rights to free speech and privacy in traditional forums of expressions such as colleges? My friend and classmate Nida Siddiqui addresses these questions in her law review article: "National Security Frat Party: Government Surveillance on College Campuses."  I downloaded it off SSRN, printed a copy, and finished the 20 pg paper during my 1 hour flight from Sacramento to Burbank. Nida's article is informative, interesting, and important. Right after the article introduction, Nida discusses the shocking history of college surveillance - the FBI (not full-blooded Ilocanos for my pin@y peeps) resorting to insane tactics that are crazier than some episodes of Scandal. My conspiracy theorist/speculative side was immediately hooked and my mind was blown at the crazy sh!t the FBI has done targeting college students that are reminiscent of Tiananmen. I never personally took a privacy class

Picnic Day (usually around 4/20), is a day to celebrate Davis. It's one of the biggest events of the year in this small college town, and is essentially when college students wander around campus and Downtown Davis drunk or high or both. As a law student on the semester system, picnic day was usually close to finals, but I gave up trying  took picnic day as a study break opportunity to see some sunlight and check out campus with my non-gunner friends. WHEN WE WERE YOUNG (circa 2014) FF to 2018: I didn't really plan on going to picnic day as an alum, but this year Josey flew up to NorCal (mostly for Napa, partly to visit me) and Davis was the perfect meeting spot since she was at a friend's in the East Bay and I'm up in Sac. After surprisingly terrible traffic, I picked up Josey from the Amtrak station, and being too lazy to walk 8+ blocks to campus I decided to drive us to the law school. Josey wanted to get in the law school and see if people were studyin

Never Let Me Go was on my "to read" list sometime in the past year since Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2017. My friends Isabella and Miko also kept tweeting/posting about it on social media so I finally decided to request it on my library's E-book overdrive and got it 1-2 months later. Essentially, Never Let Me Go is told from the perspective of Kathy, a self-described "carer," and she begins reminiscing about her experience at a boarding school in England called Hailsham with her friends Ruth and Tommy. The book is fiction and a mix of "coming-of-age," dystopian, and mystery/thriller. The e-version I downloaded has a handy "Reader's Guide" that describes the book as a "devastating novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss." It's been a while since I've read a fiction novel, and honestly the main thing getting me through was wondering why the author received a Nobel Prize. The book itself

In one word: inspiring (which seems like an obvious answer, but I guess that depends on the coach's effectiveness.) This year I decided to participate in the New Leaders Council (NLC) fellowship, which is essentially a training program for future progressive leaders. One of our workshops was "Finding your Why" by Elaine Lou Cartas , and she shared her story of how and why she decided to become a career coach (primarily but not limited to first generation millenial females.) After her talk she offered a 30-minute strategy session, and I was interested because I had never spoken with a career coach, so I decided to sign up. The closest thing I've had to a career coach was career services at my law school, but they are definitely more concerned with my class' employment statistics than whether I'm happy at my job. I am grateful that career services did open up opportunities such as my 1L and 2L summer internships, and how to apply for state jobs, but I fe

As part of my foodie journey, I went to Noods Noods Noods  (NorCal edition) in Oakland, an instant noodle-themed food festival put on by Nissin Cup Noodles and Foodbeast. I found out about the event because my cousin tagged me in a Facebook post showing that one of the vendors, Chick N Rice, would be serving a thai tea cooler with mango sticky rice. My other cousin told us that all the major food instagrammers go to Noods Noods Noods, so as a Yelp Elite wanting to step up my food  influencer status, I proclaimed that I was "interested" on the Facebook event page. Tickets were $10 for the marketplace section where you could buy different items from vendors, or $60 for All-You-Can-Eat. I didn't think I could eat $60 worth of instant noodles, so I was more interested in the marketplace section. Even better, one of my Facebook friends posted a 50% off code for the marketplace section, so I saved a little bit of $ (it's all who you know if you wanna get anywhere in thi

Yelp {Elite} events usually feature 3 F's: 1. Food, 2. fun, and 3. friends. A few highlights: I've gotten invited to Yelp HQ in SF, went to Tahoe with Robbie B., Josey, and Sylvia, and dined on delectable dessert at Cinnabar Golf Course. So how do you get invited to Yelp events? Make friends with an Elite Yelper. Some events allow +1s, but recently many have been Elite-only, which I will detail how to obtain below. If you don't know someone who is Yelp elite - you can always try yourself (AKA what I did.) Here is  my journey: In college I made a yelp account in November 2010 so I could share my experiences about eating and exploring restaurants along my food journey. I also like to upload my food pics so that they might be useful to others and so that it can serve as a memory of where I'e gone. Even though Yelp may seem like a collection of posts by a bunch of entitled assholes, it has been useful to find a particular dish or type of food and find places you

In one word: Grateful. About a month ago, I received an invitation to UC Davis APALSA (Asian Pacific American Law Student Association)'s annual banquet, and as a previous Co-chair I felt compelled to attend [I did consult a previous Co-Chair whether I should attend and it was a 14 minute walk from my office so I really didn't have an excuse.] For me banquet was a stressful (and expensive) event to coordinate, but it truly is a celebration of APALSA's accomplishments and a nice way to end the law school semester. This year's banquet was at Sterling Hotel, which featured a nice ballroom and a convenient location for Sacramento practitioners and judges (which this APALSA board did a very nice job of recruiting). I was impressed not only at the amount of judges and professionals that came in comparison to previous years, but at the awesome gift baskets donated and the open bar and food [steak and salmon] that definitely made the ticket price more bang for its buck.