I am now in L.A. for round 2 of being a Foreign Student in America.

-at LAX they held me for 2.5 hours in this guarded, isolated area because I didn't know my I-94 had to be turned in when I left the States back in June.  They wouldn't even let me make a phone call to call my roommate who was waiting to pick me up (now I owe him a good dinner), and they didn't let me retrieve my baggage.  But they were generous enough to have someone retrieve them for me later.

-after I left LAX I realized the INS officer forgot to give me a new I-94, so I had to go downtown this past Wednesday and line up to get into the federal building and finally got to Deferred Inspections Office, where they gave me a new I-94.  I told a new friend about these troubles and he said I was lucky my name wasn't his name, "Mohammed."

-My first day in LA I drank 2 litres of water in about 3.5 hours.  Everytime I come here I get so dehydrated for a day or two.

-All my classes are messed up.  I'm only enrolled in two currently.  This week I will find myself begging two or three profs or something like that.

-I went to Fresh 2004, which was a youth rally featuring David Crowder and the new Sonicflood.  David Crowder rocked the house.  The new Sonicflood sounded crappy, and they even gave a plug for their latest CD right in the middle of a worship song (not just in the middle of a worship set after a song): "You can find 'em (the CDs) right outside where they sell the merchandise blah blah blah."  Someone should've gone and upturned their table.

-my new place is great.  It's spacious and clean condo, the furniture is new, and there's a pool and ping-pong table.  But there's no pool table.  Can't have everything in life.

-I'd like to have a job and maybe I could lease a car.  It's difficult to get to UCLA from my place.  Oh yeah, they don't have the Acura EL in USA!