nathan chow:

Dear Friends,

This is the list of memories you helped me make this semester:

- My floormates on the 6th floor of Myles: Allen C., Walker, Connie, Serra, Britney (_?), Rebecca L., Caroline E., Bianca, Stephanie S., Nikita, Anshita (I did that on purpose, I swear!), Ahalya, Leighann, Michael K., Nick C., Valentina, Nicolae (most corruptive RA ever.. lol), Brian, Bakr, Monika, Julie M., Jodi, Sara P., Ashley N., Christina G., Jalpa, Aiesha, Sarah S., Joon, Francine, Hilah, Kathryn, and Patrick U.

- The “Fall 07″ Admissions party that was postponed from last semester. Talks with Samantha B. and Shari. The really good chicken strips.

- Intermediate Salsa class with Conrad, Kristen H., Kristin W., Maya, Andrea Z., and Lauren N. There were actually more guys than girls in a dance class!

- Ice skating class with Katie D., Diana S., and Josh S. Figure skating talks with the teacher Barbara (the sweetest lady ever). Trying to make a juggling routine while skating.

- Film Directing class with just five other students. In addition to directing some episodes of “Law and Order,” our teacher Jan Egleson was an instrumental part of the beginning of Boston’s independent filmmaking.
- Jim and Kelley acting in my film “Pierced,” which is based on a short play about a girl who pierces her belly button months after a break-up. For my actors: Again, thank you so much for all your time and effort!
- Acting in Jessica L.’s film with Kelley. Our entertaining rehearsal, which took me quite a while to get serious.

- Video Post-Production class with Professor Capria, who will be one of the few Avid product designers next year. All his hilarious quotes. Craig H. and I even collected a whole list of them.

- Waiting for the BU Bus in SED with Sarah W. and her friends, who I wasn’t introduced to yet–aside from Erin, my stalker. Eating dinner at West Campus with Stephanie C., Maria, Camilo, Jordan, and Dan L. while Sarah’s table was right next to ours.

- The Agganis Arena Free Skate with Jacqueline L. and her friends Kendall, Christine, and Shu-Lin. Teaching Michael (_?) how to skate. And of course seeing Melody, Tetyana, Ariana, and Jenn K. there.

- Dinner at West with Sarah W. and her friends. Finally “officially” meeting Kayla H. and Marisa P.

- Free skate hours being cancelled (again) when I tried going with Stephanie C., Maria, and Jordan.
- Plan B: Hanging out in Stephanie and Maria’s suite, then T Anthony’s.

- Lunch at the Jamaican restaurant Ortanique with Mike C., Katie K., and Sabrina. Our neverending but adventurous walk. Later in the semester we also went to Bombay Cafe.

- Salsa Gala at the Cambridge Hyatt with Jacqueline L., Josh M., Arjun, Giselle, Andres, Clarissa, Nayeli, Shu-Lin, Kendall, Meg, Peter L. and many others. Meeting Jen and Erika and walking back with them. Seeing Vanessa G. and her friends there. Meeting Lauren M., Shira, and Rachel F.

- Giving Jen and Erika a tour of Myles, and them giving me a tour of the Spanish House.. lol.

- Lunches with some homeless robot named Carolyn Garcia. Our conversation on how to stop people from having sex. During one of our lunches in the GSU, we even saw Kal Penn, the Indian guy from “Harold and Kumar.”

- Going to the Korean Culture Show but not its afterparty. Skipping the Latino Culture Show but going to its afterparty.
- The Korean Culture Show.. starring Connie, Dan L., and Jin. Watching it with Stephanie C., Maria, Betsy, and several others. Meeting Stephanie’s boyfriend Laith. The rice cakes that were a waste of Laith’s time.. lol.
- Climax, the Latino Culture Show’s afterparty. Dancing with basically the same crowd as the one that watched the Korean show.. plus the crowd from the Salsa Gala.. plus Miguel.. plus Natasha B.. plus people I just met. The shady guys I had to stop from dancing with my female friends lol.

- The big Superbowl party at Agganis Arena with ice skating and free food. Skating with Stephanie C., Maria, and Jordan. Finally being able to skate backwards. Becca M., Mike M., Aziz Alawadhi (I can’t just say Aziz A. because I know three of them!!), Alex O., and Natasha B. coming later.

- Chinese New Year’s Eve! The New Year dinner in the dining halls (even though they served it on the wrong day).

- The Choral Society’s performance by Kayla H., Amy S., and Kelly G. Accidentally going in early and being the only one in the audience lol. Later Sarah W., Marisa P., Erin, Scott M., and Sandy S. came in at the right time to join me.

- My autobiographical video of me juggling. I used the video function on my 3.2 MP digital camera to tape it, then Windows Moviemaker to edit it.. and this was for a 500-level post-production class (and I got an A-). Miguel, thank you for helping!

- Going to the FitRec with Connie, Kristin N., and Vivian. Connie’s attempt to teach me how to dance hip-hop. Super88 and Lollicup afterwards.

- Sunset Cantina with Will A. and Titi for my 21st birthday. Mario Kart 64 with Miguel, Christian A., Allen, Stephanie S., and.. Nishita?

- Redstone Film Festival with Chang and Isabella. Andrea N., Emily W., and Sandy S. and her friend Rachel sat nearby too. Congrats to my TA Jenny for winning second place!

- Being invited to play Mafia in the GSU with some random people and my prospective student Jon. I met Gabrielle, Kayla R., Chengwen, Sherry, Nick(?), and a few others.

- Staring contest with Andrew R.!! It went on for over 30 minutes while everyone else at the dinner table was cracking up at our jokes. Eventually we called it a tie, but I think I was closest to losing–especially when he was about to take his pants off.

- Watching “The Wind in the Willows” with Giselle after we found out the “Magic Flute” opera was sold out.

- Watching “Waiting for Godot” with Kelly G. It was directed by our acting teacher David G.

- Guess who talked to me on AIM? KEITH!!!

- Failing miserably at predicting this year’s Oscars (13 out of 24 correct). Three years ago I was tied for 3rd on oscar.com. Was that luck, or was this bad luck?

- Monday lunches with Connie, Iris, Esther, and others–but not with a certain someone I didn’t meet.. (inside joke)

- Dinners in the corner of the dining hall with Laura S., Andrew B., Ann M., Brian, and others.

- Dinners with Aziz Alawadhi, Alex O., Alex G., Michael T., Davide, Igor, and the rest of the international kids in Myles, along with Owen and Trang (who needs to grow up..).

- Random lunches with Teja, Paul P., and others.

- Random dinners with Lily, Sena, and Tiffany.

- Playing the board game “Poser” with Walker, David Y., Stephanie S., and the prospective students JC and Marcus (Swedish pride!!). All the sexual answers.

- Spring Break back home in New Jersey. Scattergories with my brother Jordon and sister Jasmine. SNACKAGE and obscure foreign films with my sister.

- Hosting Eve and Blessing when we saw the Jonas Brothers van getting ready for their concert.

- Asian Student Union’s Free Malaysian Food Night with Yue, Maria, Camilo, and Titi. Camilo’s comments when he got seconds and thirds.

- Titi’s house party with Stephanie C., Maria, Camilo, Jordan, Liz, Hakim, Francis, Katie B., and the Berklee kids I met. How I ruined the movie association game that went on for hours.. hahaha.

- Hanging out in the Performing Arts House with Giselle, all those silly actors and music majors, and the prospective students Danny P. and Chris D. Later going to Charlie and Nick G.’s room in Myles with Brandon P. Danny and Ashlie taught me enough inappropriate sign language.

- Watching the inappropriately dubbed fake “Arthur” episode with Sarah W., Marisa P., Kayla H., Erin, and Andrew R.

- The Dance Marathon with Stephanie S., Ahalya, and several others.

- My grandpa’s funeral =(
- Rest in peace, Yeah-Yeah (Cantonese for the grandpa on the father’s side of the family)
- The most awkward meal EVER. It was with my brother, my cousins, and three of the.. undertakers.

- Step About Boston’s Irish step-dancing event with Pedro, Liz, and Kelley.

- The random “Call me, babe!” raffle ticket and phone number I got from the two girls who thought I was waving at them.

- Jamnesty with Titi, Lauren S., Sid, Stephanie S., Nishita, Ankita, and Titi’s admissions guest Sarah A. Dancing to the live band “Spiritual Rez.”

- “G-0-7″ with Aziz Al-Harbi, Kavyon, and Jay, even though I still don’t know what it means lol.

- The Campus Movie Fest screening for BU films. Congrats to all my friends whose film made it to the screening, especially to Javier, who won “Best Drama.”

- Allen’s lazy (but nice) ass driving me and Walker to Super88. And no, I’m not complimenting your butt.

- Fleeting conversations with Study Lounge Girl lol.

- Multicultural Day:
- Meeting other hosts. Cassie and Yolanda trying to guess my major.
- The No-Laughing Contest. Hakim and Francis urged me to participate, and eventually I won (and got a free BU shirt). About 8 different people tried making me laugh. (I’m actually always laughing at everything, but if I want, I can keep a reeeally straight face.)

- Juggling at the BU Beach with Andrew L., Michi, Pedro, Sid, and many others. Teaching people how to juggle (and for the most part, failing).

- My recycling buddies Anthia and Bianca! lol

- Playing Mafia–oh wait, no, it was Taboo–with Stephanie S., Titi, Dave S., Ankita, Nishita, Nicolae, and Geetika(?).

- Watching Paul T., Vanessa G., Hawke, and Sarah Wong kick ass at the MIT Ballroom Dance Competition with Brandon P. Paul and Vanessa won first place overall in their division!

- Taking pictures of the Boston Marathon with Josh M. I saw the winners, Lance Armstrong, and plenty of.. unique.. people.

- *Finally* a game of Mafia with Stephanie S., Serra, Miguel, Stef, Fernando, Ashley N., Aziz Alawadhi, Shruti, Jennie, Randy, and the prospective student Vandy. Later two random people, Alan and Natalie, joined us in the blinking version of the game.

- Juggling for peace at Marsh Plaza with Andrew L., Sid, and Emilio when the Juggling Association was helping to promote the Peace Concert. Lauren S. and Jenna were playing with the diabolos.. haha.

- The Asian Beauty Pageant. Connie, Jon L., Joon, Hawke, Sarah Wong, and a few others I knew were in it.

- The West Campus Carnival with Stephanie C., Maria, and Betsy. The sumo wrestling outfits, the mechanical bull, our Cosmopolitan photo, and the balloons we made.

- “Wholesome goodness” dinners with Patrick U. and Ashley M.

- Peace Concert with Titi, Stephanie S., Nishita, Ankita, Becca M., and Mike M. Braddigan and some other bands played there.

- Hanging out at the Dugout with Professor Capria and my classmates.

- Watching our teacher’s “Billy in the Lowlands” film at the famous Brattle Theater with Patty and her friend. The mysterious grumbling noises we kept hearing.

- The Admissions End-of-the-Year Party. For the second semester in a row, winning most active host overall in the Day and Overnight Program.

- Going to our friend Jon Jonsson’s musical performance at T’s Pub with Samuel.

- Connie and Iris’s plans to come to my room to bother me… during finals week. (Why am I making this a memory? This will only encourage them more next year..)

- More Mafia.. this time with Titi, Billy, Ted, Andrea (_?), Maria, Miguel, Christian A., and James (_?). The weird card game Ted proposed.

- The Vampire Party, hosted by Rayan, Marisa P., and others. We had to dress in “clans.” Mine was hobos for guys and Catholic schoolgirls for girls.
- Some people I knew there: Erin and Andrew R. (even though they left super early lol), Joon, and Emeri.
- Some people I met there: Heather, Kat (I think she and I were the only ones to follow our clan’s dress code), Karna, and Juan and his girlfriend.
- The ribbons we had to wear. If we took someone else’s off, we were able to make them do whatever we wanted. Uhhh, yeah.. that was intense.
- The girl who remembered me from freshman year salsa class.. and what she said about me from back then lol.

- Francis and Hakim’s Game Night. Uno Stacko (basically Jenga) with Dave S. Scattergories with Francis, Josh M., and Francisco.

- My plans with Marisa P. to hijack a cart lol.

- Watching the university and COM graduation ceremonies. Congrats to all my senior friends! I’ll miss you guys!

Special thanks to:
- Nicolae, for being one of the top 2 RAs out of the 2 I’ve ever had
- Angela C., for leading all the events run by the Chinese Students Association this year
- The committee that put the Peace Concert together, including Sid, Lauren S., Bruna, Jenna, Melissa K., Sarah S., and Aisha. (Sid, I still remember when you confidently and enthusiastically pitched the idea to the SAO Consortia meetings. I’m so glad it turned out to be such a huge success!)
- All the Admissions Day and Overnight coordinators, for pairing me up with awesome guests
- All my admissions guests this semester: Jon P., JC, Marcus R., Blessing, Eve, Chris D., Danny P., Nina S., Bill R., Vandy, KC (Multicultural Day #2), Justin B. (Multicultural Day #3), and Andrea B. (unofficially lol). It was a pleasure getting to know all of you. For those coming here next year, welcome to BU! And for everyone, good luck with all your future goals!

Classes this Semester:
COM FT526 Directing the Theatrical and TV Film, with Jan Egleson (highly recommended)
COM FT504 Video Post-Production I, with Prof. Frank Capria (highly recommended)
CAS EN175 Literature and the Art of Film, with Prof. Leland Monk
CAS PS251 Psychology of Personality, with Prof. Richard Ely
PDP SK101 Basic Skating, with Barbara Pinch
PDP DA214 Intermediate Salsa, with Anne Marie Paul

Things I Learned:
- The difference between Ankita and Nishita. Wait.. nevermind.
- Aziz Alawadhi’s REAL birthday.. haha.
- That if I read the assigned books before writing a paper about them, I get stuck with a B+. If I don’t, I always get an A-. I’m keeping that in mind for next year..
- That BU has a lot of random Camp Lohikan connections. One camper’s sister was a COM freshman here this year. Someone in my salsa class went to high school in Egypt with a counselor. One of my admissions guests used to be a camper at Lohikan’s sister camp, Camp Cayuga. One Multicultural Day host’s roommate’s sister was a camper last year.. and she helped me cross-dress for the Ms. Lohikan pageant…
- And last, but not least: that I look like Arthur the cartoon character (apparently).

The Numbers:
Number of times I was featured in the Daily Free Press: 1
Number of times I was featured in “Overheard at BU”: 2
Number of times I saw the Comm Ave Jogger Guy: about 5, all of them past midnight
Number of all-nighters: 3 (for studying, not for something else, you perverts)

The Superlatives:
- Best sense of humor: Mike C., Aziz Alawadhi
- Least lame: Miguel, Giselle
- Most awkward moment: Eating lunch with the undertakers.
- Funniest moment: Watching the inappropriately dubbed fake Arthur episode with Kayla H., Erin, Marisa P., Andrew R., and Sarah W.
- Favorite person to have meaningful conversations with: Ari
- Funniest quotes:
- 1) Carolyn G.: “At 10am tomorrow, i will attempt to reattach a severed cerebellum i removed on my own volition before my professor finds out.”
- 2)
mom: nathan, how did you meet him?
dad: why are you asking him so many questions?
mom: it’s good to ask questions to your children. it shows you care.
nathan: (sarcastically) he’s my drug dealer.
mom: see? at least now i know they have a good friendship going on.

Again, thank you for all the memories (and your time if you actually read this whole thing lol). Sorry I couldn’t include everyone in this note, nor could I tag everyone in it. But as always, I enjoyed your company, whether it was at a planned event or at an impromptu meal.

I’ll miss you guys over the summer, but I’ll also be looking forward to an even better year in my last at BU.

Keep in touch. I’m still making plans, but as for now, I’ll be in the NJ and New York City area. Let me know if you’d like to meet up.

Have a great summer. Be cool. Be safe. Be grateful. And all the other things your mother would tell you.

Love Always,
Nathan

thursday 4/3/08

the most awkward meal:

after the funeral, my family and relatives had lunch together. we had two tables in the restaurant, one for adults, the other for the kids.. and the undertakers decided to join the kids table.

i swear.. it was like a scene straight from a comedy movie. one undertaker was a chinese man who had a really dorky smile the whole time.. and the other two were big and serious american guys who seemed like his sidekick goons. during the first 10 minutes of the lunch, absolutely no one said anything at the table. meanwhile, all of us kids kept exchanging glances with each other, as if we were all thinking the same thing and at any time were about to crack up at how ridiculous the situation was.

my brother and i finally broke the silence by asking the chinese guy questions about chinese customs at funerals. when we ran out of questions, i asked the undertakers about their jobs and why they chose it.

tuesday 4/8/08

the most random thing:

at dinner with titi, miguel, alex o., chang, and ashley n., i was sitting at a table facing the swipe-in desk. one table separated mine from the swipe-in.. and two girls i didn’t know were sitting there. when i saw one of my friends swiping in, i waved at her.. and i guess the two girls i didn’t know thought i was flirting with them. they started giggling and whispering to each other. but i didn’t know it had anything to do with me until..

when they were leaving the dining hall, one of the girls came up to me and put a little raffle ticket on my table and said “call me.” i flipped the ticket over and saw “call me, babe! =)” with a phone number and “3rd floor!” written on it.

the friends i was sitting with were like.. wtf? minutes after the girls left, i used my friend’s cell phone to call the number. i was ready to play a joke back at the girls by pretending i was gay, but the person on the other line was a guy! i “flirted” with him and found out he also goes to BU.. so at least it wasn’t a random number. he was friends with the girls, but i couldn’t get him to tell me his name or the names of his friends.. haha.

thursday 4/10/08

the weather today was finally beautiful!

dinner with titi, giselle, giselle’s friend alex, and titi’s admissions guest sarah. i just met alex, but he remembers me from last year’s COM201 Coffeehouse Reading, where i was chosen with 3 other students out of 400 to read our memoirs as examples for students taking COM201 that semester. alex said he was able to identify with mine.

i’m so glad someone remembered my piece. one of my goals in life is to have my art – mainly my films and writing – inspire people and make a difference in the world. it doesn’t necessarily have to be featured in papers and be famous and whatnot, but as long as one person identified with it or was changed by it, i’m proud to have made it.

in the evening, we went to the GSU to watch the documentary “the price of sugar,” which is about sugar cane cutters in the dominican republic. we had a nice talk with the producer after the show.

afterwards, we went to “jamnesty” in the basement of the GSU, where i saw stephanie s., ankita, nishita, and lauren m.

later when the live band “spiritual rez” was performing, titi, sarah, lauren s., sid, and i danced together.

friday 4/11/08

i went to BU’s Campus Movie Fest finale. i was supposed to go with giselle, alex, and maria, but i wound up sitting with maria, erika, and clarissa.

we were sitting near my friend javier and his production group. they won “best drama”! congratulations, javi!

also congratulations to all my other friends who made a film, whether it made it to tonight’s top 16 or not. that would be too many to mention, but i’d like to say i really liked watching melody get chopped up in iris’s film! lol