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76. What was a good memory you had with a friend? (05/02/2023)
It was during Spring 2023. It was the weekend before dead week(study week before finals). I had my friend group at UC Berkeley who were Kim, Ian, and Steven. I often ate lunch with them and throughout the semester, they often discussed plans to go to Lake Tahoe. However, each weekend they tried to go out, there was always something going on with someone. One of them had a midterm, they had a project, or they had to fly back home for some family issue. Time went by and it was the thursday before dead week started. Steven had a final computer science project he was working on and it was due that weekend. He couldn't go on the last weekend they had together so Kim and Ian were planning to cancel the trip. I told them both that I can go instead and chip in for the hotel room and gas.
Friday night came and after all our classes were done at 3 pm, me and Kim took the train to the Berkeley airport. From there, we rented a car and drove back to get the rest of our stuff.
Kim drove for a good 2 hours from our campus to Lake Tahoe. The view outside was mainly grassy hills with some forests. Halfway through, pine trees began to occupy the hills indicating that we were far away from the city. The Lake Tahoe community was like a ghost town. There were lots of buildings, shops, and hotels but most of them were close since the large majority of visitors came in during the winter for skiing and snowboarding. We checked in our hotel and ate five guys afterward.
It was getting late and the sun was about to set. While the lake is like a large pool, on the edges, there were mini pools with a small waterway connecting them. We drove to one of those areas to take a picture of the sun setting over the waterway connecting the two pools. When we got there, we realized that the sun rose over the waterway and it set behind the hills so we couldn't get a good sunset picture. There was a small island in the small water pool which was cool. Slightly disappointed, I suggested looking up other tourist spots before we called it a night. We found a lighthouse on google maps and drove there. It was already 8 pm and dark. The parking spot was empty and all three of us looked at each other wondering what to do next.
I took out the flashlight they gave me and I said, "let's go find that lighthouse". We each took out our flashlight, turned it on, and started walking down the pitch black trail. 10 minutes in, we saw the metal sign of the park name. Next to it, was a warning sign of not leaving food behind due to bear presence in the forest. We were terrified of being mauled by a huge grizzly bear but we already began our journey and were persistent to see it to the end.
After a mile of walking the trail, we found an exercise spot with metal bars. From there, we found an off-road trail. We went off-road for the next hour or so deep into the forest. Occasionally, one of us would hear a noise and say "Did you guys hear that?". All of us turned off our flashlights immediately and looked around in the dark to see if anything was glowing like the eyes of a coyote or a bear. We didn't encounter anything until we reached the light house. It was at the edge of the hill and it was a small shack that was abandoned for a long time. There was no light nor no electricity in there. It was surrounded by metal chain barriers preventing anyone from entering it.
Overwhelmed with disappointment, we thought about going back and getting a good night's rest. It wasn't the large lighthouse with light spinning on top like we imagined. However, behind the lighthouse, was a beautiful view of the deep blue lake. As I stared at the waves moving back and forth from the wind, it also had light reflecting from it. Initially, I thought it was the moon but when I looked up, I saw the most beautiful thing in my life. It was a blue sea sky sprinkled with stars everywhere. I have never seen so many stars before at once. I told Kim and Ian that I was going to rest at the floor and watch the stars for a bit. We all found the softest patch of grass we could and laid our backs on it. I put both of my hands together on my chest and laid like a mummy to stay warm as I stared above in the cold windy night. For the next 10 minutes, I just stared at the stars and thought about life. I tried to recognize and patterns like the three stars aligned together to make Orion's belt. All of a sudden, I see a bright line zoom by. It came and disappeared in less than a second. "Holy shit! Was that a shooting star?!" I shouted, and my friend Ian said "Yeah, it was a shooting star." I said make a wish quickly. In that moment, I wondered what I wanted the most. Within 5 seconds, deep inside my mind, silently I made my wish. I wished for my little brother, Biggyn, to not die before me. Ian wished to be healthy for both himself and his family. Kim sadly didn't see the shooting star as the trees blocked his view. After 15 more minutes of stargazing, we all got up and headed back to our car. On the hour walk back, we were talking more about ourselves and our dreams. Ian told me his dream of writing his own book. Kim wants to be a doctor so he can get more grants to fund his bioengineering inventions to treat patients. We luckily made it back to our car safely. On the drive back to the hotel, we were all silent. On one hand, we just had a really good time together. On the other hand, we were all sad because this may be the last time in a long time where we get to enjoy our youth together. Both Kim and Ian were graduating after finals. One was headed to the east coast to do his masters and the other was headed back to Singapore to fulfill his work contract for the government. I was going to deploy for the next 10 months after summer. That was one of my best memories with my friends.
77 Have you ever seen a ghost? What happened? (05/02/2023)
No. I never had a ghost encounter before. However, a part of me still believes in ghost. It is the reason why I turn off all lights in my house one by one from the kitchen, dining room, living room, hallway, my bedroom, and finally my desklamp when I am fully tucked in bed. I have this fear that if all other lights are off and I turn off the last light while being outside of my bedroom, a ghost will suddenly appear in front of me in the dark. Just their sudden appearance might be frightening enough to give me a heart attack.
Now that I think about it, how will a ghost attack/kill me other than scaring me. If they try to stab me with a knife or choke me, that means they have physical form. In that case, I will do my best to fight back unless it's the ghost of a martial artist or a buff bodybuilder. It can also possess me and try to make me hurt myself. That's about it.
After turning off the light, sometimes I do see a ghost figure in the room. It's either my jacket and towel hanging on the door or on my chair that make up a dark silhouette similar to a ghost. Every night before I turn off the light, I make sure to take off those clothes and put them on the floor or desk. Both me and my little brother, Biggyn, don't want to wake up in the middle of the night and see a ghostly figure in front of us. There have been a few instances where I forgot and my heart stops beating for a second when I see the figure. I stare at it for a bit before reassuring myself its just my clothes. However, there is already adrenaline in my body from the scare and it will be very troublesome to go back to sleep immediately.
