Reach for the stars

Re: Efficient packing in an elevator

2009-04-06T20:25:00.002-05:00

I was amused to see another guy jump from one corner of the elevator to the opposite corner of the elevator.

Don't really have a solution to this problem yet. Shall work on it in my spare time. Hmz, maybe I can write this up for my game theory class ...

Efficient packing in an elevator

2009-04-02T15:36:00.003-05:00

What is the most efficient method of packing in an elevator? More specifically, lets say an apartment building has N(=36) stories and you stay on floor n(=29). When you enter an empty elevator, where do you stand?

What are some factors to consider?

1) Is there anyone else entering after you? If so, you shouldn't block the door

2) How far in should you move? You'd have to walk that distance out again.

3) You'd want some personal space between you and the other person. This space should be approximately equal.

4) As the elevator empties, you'd want to maintain an approimately equal amount of personal space.

5) Clearly, the elevator patterns of latter passengers should influence your decision.

6) And what is the elevator is not empty? Has your elevator patterns influenced those who were in the elevator?

Clearly, I have way too much free time to be thinking about such stuff. Well, its just a distraction so that I don't think about other stuff.

Boo

2009-03-30T08:11:00.000-05:00

A week has passed and I’m heading back towards Chicago. There’s about another hour to the Narita leg of this flight, and then another 11 hours more of being up in the air. I managed to see a sortof sunrise on the plane, and it’s so beautiful. I’d love to do more sunrise watching this spring and summer, as and when I can afford the time. Seeing that stretch of fish stomach white expanding across the horizon, basking in the glow of the sun, sharing the moment with friends.
Let’s see, what thoughts do I want to pen down?

I’m such a kid, but one that’s growing up. My last real (as compared to nominal?) growth spurt was in NS, and I think I’m due for another. Of course I’ve been growing gradually in the past 4 years, and have friends to thank for lighting the way. These past 2 quarters have been some very interesting times; Job search, Price Theory, Wei Ren’s death, meeting Hunter, touring SF, talking with sbf, hearing about Joshua, (not) learning differential topology or commutative algebra and coming back home to Singapore. This upcoming quarter would be a challenge of classes and adjusting towards work; such different lifestyles, such different scenarios. Ah yes, I have to figure out what classes I’m taking, and what the schedule is. I should consider Nori’s 9am class, just so that it forces me to deal with waking up early. Oh, someone please remind to shave on Thursday. I’ve Optiver events over the weekend, and I think I should be somewhat presentable at least. The good thing about staying in Chicago is that I won’t miss Thursday’s classes too

Oh, there goes the threat to destroy all electronics that are not switched off. Oh, so apparently my battery has lost its ability to charge past 70%, though that could be a fault with the Singapore electricity supply… Okie, 2 hours more to this flight, and the sunrise would be on the wrong side (aka left) of this plane. Don’t think I’m time adjusted, even though I slept through half the flight. Ended up watching 7 pounds (bad) and slumdog millionaire. I have yet to understand what the big hoohah in SM really is about. I mean, its good, but X Oscars good? Hm, well, not like I know what the other competition this year looks like. Okie, back to more thought dumping.

Intro to Finance course. The only undergrad course last quarter, hence by definition, the easiest. Didn’t spend much time on it, but the concepts were easy to grasp. Well, once you get them in the correct setting and understanding, the rest would follow. Didn’t do well for the midterm due to numerous careless mistakes that I made. Did well enough for the final (which dropped the midterm grade) and I managed to scrape through. Why am I blabbering about this? Well, I felt that the course on the whole was very easily understandable, and that it shouldn’t be that hard to do well in it. So, once again, why do people have trouble in the courses? I’d admit that Fuchs wasn’t all that good a teacher, and several times the concepts were somewhat unclear and required looking through again. However, he did have good questions which aided understanding. (Sounds so much like Shumel lol) Well, hopefully work would be like that, smooth and easy sailing lol.

What I did over the week. Met up with a whole bunch of other people. Ate 1 box of durian on the car trip home. Spent Friday at home with parents and played MJ with sis at night. Taught induction at SIMO (and had a nice list of non-immediate problems), met up with Chicago seniors in the night (and played MJ). Had Sunday lunch at grandma’s place, which was good chicken curry, yam balls, lotus soup. Then went to buy shoes, to replace my holed ones. Met Mrs Soh for Monday lunch, and that was a good 2.5 hour conversation about Singapore, education, climate, economic crisis, people. Met Thomas Teo for dinner, who brought us to dian xiao er, and was another nice conversation, though more around math stuff. Met boon for tues lunch, and then my Chicago army mates for dinner. Weds lunch was Edmund, and dinner was Chengping at Ding Tai Feng, who gave me a treat and got a pleasant surprise in return. Gave her a postsecret book, which is a site that I quite like. Met Aunty Jenny for Thrusday lunch at Sakura, and then visited grandpa in the evening and had fish head curry and whatnots. Mum cooked Friday lunch, and met Kianboon for tea and Miss Tang + Rachael for dinner. Would be sad to miss R’s wedding in June, but oh well. Sat morn was spent with parents again, and we went out for dinner at Lao Pa Sa. Yup, that about summarizes how I spent my time. Oh, add to that like 5 boxes of durians and 50 X 40 mins of Sie Diao Ying Xiong Zhuan. And of course, lots of chatting too.

At some point in time, I’d be inclined to pen down some of my thoughts about the current economic situation. It would certainly be useful to do so, esp given all that’s currently happening. Haven’t kept up with much of last week’s events, though it seems quite quiet, at least on the surface.

1. I expected oil prices to rise to $80 at the end of the year, but given developments in the past months, I’d revise that downward to $60. And if the economy recovers by the end of next year, it should be at $80 then. How did I arrive at these numbers? Magic lol.

2. I’m amazed at the effect that propaganda has on the economy. Take Singapore for example – In terms of news information received, it is amazingly sheltered from the true extent of the global recession/depression. It’s also reported that the unemployment rate is still beneath 5% (which is technically full employment), but I doubt that such is true. Teenagers are still going on massive shopping sprees, without regard to the diminishing expected paychecks of their parents. Uni grads are now beginning to worry about not finding a job (which they should have done since last October at least) Well, there would be a bumper crop of teacher applications this year, which might end up being harmful to the overall quality instead

3. China’s call for a world currency is just an initial step. Well, their buying spree of raw materials would come before that. I wonder what’s up their sleeves, but its good that they are taking advantage of this situation, to grow from being a follower to a player. Given China’s massive investment in US treasuries, they would be severely affected by a weakening dollar (US’s declaration that it would buy up treasuries led to about a 2% drop in its currency). This is especially true as their domestic market isn’t developed, and products from their industries have to be mostly exported. But in a world that’s increasingly becoming protectionist, such is hard.

4. Let’s model protectionism as a Prisoner’s Dilema. In this simplistic setting, since we are in a game with finitely many turns, everyone would choose to take P instead of B, which is what we’re beginning to see. While the ‘Buy US’ clauses were toned down, they set the initial ground and biased more people towards P as retaliation. Then came Gordon Brown decision to protect British jobs, and the EU’s decision to not orchestrate a massive bailout of its territories.

William Blake - Auguries of Innocence

2009-03-19T21:20:00.001-05:00

I only knew of the first paragraph, so here it is published in its full glory for rest who are as ignorant as I was.....

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.

A dove-house fill'd with doves and pigeons
Shudders hell thro' all its regions.
A dog starv'd at his master's gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.

A horse misused upon the road
Calls to heaven for human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted hare
A fibre from the brain does tear.

A skylark wounded in the wing,
A cherubim does cease to sing.
The game-cock clipt and arm'd for fight
Does the rising sun affright.

Every wolf's and lion's howl
Raises from hell a human soul.

The wild deer, wand'ring here and there,
Keeps the human soul from care.
The lamb misus'd breeds public strife,
And yet forgives the butcher's knife.

The bat that flits at close of eve
Has left the brain that won't believe.
The owl that calls upon the night
Speaks the unbeliever's fright.

He who shall hurt the little wren
Shall never be belov'd by men.
He who the ox to wrath has mov'd
Shall never be by woman lov'd.

The wanton boy that kills the fly
Shall feel the spider's enmity.
He who torments the chafer's sprite
Weaves a bower in endless night.

The caterpillar on the leaf
Repeats to thee thy mother's grief.
Kill not the moth nor butterfly,
For the last judgement draweth nigh.

He who shall train the horse to war
Shall never pass the polar bar.
The beggar's dog and widow's cat,
Feed them and thou wilt grow fat.

The gnat that sings his summer's song
Poison gets from slander's tongue.
The poison of the snake and newt
Is the sweat of envy's foot.

The poison of the honey bee
Is the artist's jealousy.

The prince's robes and beggar's rags
Are toadstools on the miser's bags.
A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.

It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.

The babe is more than swaddling bands;
Every farmer understands.
Every tear from every eye
Becomes a babe in eternity;

This is caught by females bright,
And return'd to its own delight.
The bleat, the bark, bellow, and roar,
Are waves that beat on heaven's shore.

The babe that weeps the rod beneath
Writes revenge in realms of death.
The beggar's rags, fluttering in air,
Does to rags the heavens tear.

The soldier, arm'd with sword and gun,
Palsied strikes the summer's sun.
The poor man's farthing is worth more
Than all the gold on Afric's shore.

One mite wrung from the lab'rer's hands
Shall buy and sell the miser's lands;
Or, if protected from on high,
Does that whole nation sell and buy.

He who mocks the infant's faith
Shall be mock'd in age and death.
He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave shall ne'er get out.

He who respects the infant's faith
Triumphs over hell and death.
The child's toys and the old man's reasons
Are the fruits of the two seasons.

The questioner, who sits so sly,
Shall never know how to reply.
He who replies to words of doubt
Doth put the light of knowledge out.

The strongest poison ever known
Came from Caesar's laurel crown.
Nought can deform the human race
Like to the armour's iron brace.

When gold and gems adorn the plow,
To peaceful arts shall envy bow.
A riddle, or the cricket's cry,
Is to doubt a fit reply.

The emmet's inch and eagle's mile
Make lame philosophy to smile.
He who doubts from what he sees
Will ne'er believe, do what you please.

If the sun and moon should doubt,
They'd immediately go out.
To be in a passion you good may do,
But no good if a passion is in you.

The whore and gambler, by the state
Licensed, build that nation's fate.
The harlot's cry from street to street
Shall weave old England's winding-sheet.

The winner's shout, the loser's curse,
Dance before dead England's hearse.

Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.

Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.

We are led to believe a lie
When we see not thro' the eye,
Which was born in a night to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.

God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.

Boo

2009-03-19T21:19:00.000-05:00

And so it appears that, once again, the only time I have to blog is aboard an airplane. Got a roundtrip ticket with ANA for US1200, and am currently on the Tokyo-Singapore leg of my trip. It has quite decent food; and even serves Hagendaz ice cream which pleases kids to no end. Got a big craving for durian on the flight, and so while I was in Narita, I got my sis to get my parents to bring durian along to the airport LOL. It’s been 1.5 years since I’ve been back, and possibly some time again before I head back again. Would be meeting up with quite a few people this trip back. Days up to weds have been planned and booked already lol.

Read John Grisham’s The Appeal. Typed up Induction notes for SIMO training - Am very excited to be hosting this Saturday’s session. Followed that with watching 3 movies - Changeling and message in the bottle (both of which made me tear) and The Professer and his beloved math equation (a jap show that wasn’t going anywhere with anything). Took quite a few naps too, hopefully I’d be time adjusted and ready to hit the ground running (Well technically, I should be sleepy since I land at midnight)

Have yet to submit my Topo take home final, more or less done with it in the sense of not working on it anymore. But should just glance through it and ensure that things are properly written up. Interesting fact: I was supposed to prove the divergence theorem, but had no idea what it was. Went online and did a search, and apparently found a wrong one (well, it was a corollary) and proved that instead. Luckily Lucas pointed that out to me, and hopefully what I have now works. Spent about 4 days on this final, and am quite proud of it; worked through 2 interesting questions.

Algebra was bad since I have had no freaking clue what has been happening for the past 3 weeks. Sigh. It’s a strange consolation that I’m not going to do a PhD in Math. Well, that’s why. Finance final was better, considering that I spent only 24 hours on it. But then again, as with the midterm, I could have made numerous stupid mistakes without realizing them.

Oh, there goes a PA announcement (in Jap first). Its 1.5 hours to touchdown, and would be landing slightly ahead of schedule. On the Chicago-Tokyo leg, we were initially stuck on the ground for like 2 hours, cos there was some maintenance problem with the air-con. And then they refueled to fly further south, which allowed them to reduce travel time slightly, though increase fuel consumption as they fly over water. We were flying over this snowy mountainous region which was so beautiful.

Perhaps I should stop reading reports about airplane crashes; like the recent one which had a highlighted maintenance problem with the engine but was sent off. Well, the thing I hate about airplanes is takeoff, landing and turbulence (Well, apart from the crammed seats that is). Nowadays, I try and sleep takeoff and landing away, which generally works. But the landing in Narita had quite a bit of turbulence (okay okay, very slight), but that still threw me off slightly. But I love taking off and landing in Singapore at night and seeing the citylights.

Well, mostly I have been too busy to blog. This past 10 weeks went by just like that. Not that it was slow or fast, but each day had its own set of tasks to do. Like Thurs and sometimes Tues/Weds would be devoted to algebra, while Sunday and Monday would be set aside for Topology. This quarter has also been quite a roller-coaster of emotions, with everything that has been happening. San Fran seems like barely a month ago, though its more like 3. But in a certain sense, this past quarter has been a quarter of growth and learning about myself, many thanks to the various parties involved. Let’s see what next quarter brings.

In the long term plan of things, I’m somewhat confused and lost. It’s more of I have no idea what’s the course of action that would make things work out. I have been lucky with various turn of events, but the element of luck is too finicky for me to work with. Airplane rides are also somewhat useful for thinking things through, since I’m stuck there with not much to do. When I get back, I have to do my OPT application, Tax forms, Optiver administrative stuff … Hmz, I should add Optiver as an actual word to Microsoft lol. Okie, added. The first two weeks should be somewhat hectic.

Next quarter, apart from my Algebra and Topology, would most prob be taking Game Theory, a second year Econ grad class. Which proves that I can always up the intensity of my courses from the previous quarter. It has been a mad 4 years, and I’m extremely thankful for my time here. When I look back, while I can’t pinpoint what it was that I exactly learnt (esp for algebra and topology lol), I know it has provided me with a way of approaching and thinking and dealing. I would be quite excited to see an application of Abstract Algebra in econs actually. Shmuel showed an interesting application of fundamental groups to the economic social choice function. He even has a paper on it which I should look through when I have the time/understanding.

Okie, my lappie declares that its time for me to stop blabbering, and so I will. See you again in a week!

A blast from 5 weeks ago

2009-02-05T08:54:00.001-06:00

As you can tell, this post was written up a long time ago. Shrug.

Boo, and yes, once again I’m back in the air. Or rather, for now, I’m stuck on the ground in front of the gate for another 2 hours or so. Got here early, and have nothing else to do but rot. Hmz, I wonder if I would be willing to pay $5 for wireless internet. But guess not LOL. Besides, its too confusing to figure out Tmobile’s hotspot access and payment, so shall content myself with more dumping of thoughts. Of course, there is always the alternative of going to play some game (but being mouseless, it limits my possibilities) Now now, lets see …
SF
Was a great trip of relaxing. Came here for 4-5 days with Sibo and Ghee Chuan, where we roamed the city and such. Went clubbing in Castro on the first night, went to Chinatown twice for dimsum, watched Milk in Castro Theater, which was along the street that it was filmed. Watched doubt too, which was good, though I felt that they could have gone slightly further with the plot. Well, perhaps the intention was just that. Had a whole cracked crab seafood dinner, mmmm. I miss my seafood so LOL. Oh well, shall ask Ivan to steam fish at some point in time. Oh, and frascati too, however you spell it. It’s apparently a very popular restaurant, and it’s somewhat amazing that we managed to get seats when we went there, dressed as students do LOL.
After they left, met up with M who hosted me for a few days. Watched ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the ART Theater, which was (full of kids) and quite boring. Well, its not like much more can be done with the story of Uncle Scrooge. Sat next to an evolutionary biology major from Virginia, and one of my first questions was ‘So, is there a contradiction between evolution and biology?’ Haha, I need to curb my instinctive trouble-making nature. Went to big sur to see the coast, drove over golden gate bridge through muir woods, wehnt for more dimsum at yank sing, and generally just lazed around. Did a lot of tv watching (and need to redirect my hulu queue alerts to another email add). Apart from heroes, House, Bones, think I might be adding Legend of the Seeker to my list. It’s based on Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series, which is very well written. Tofu freak is quite a big fan of it, but I’ve put it off due to the thickness of the books, and that its an uncompleted series. (Yes, I’m still irritated with Robert Jordan Wheel of Time). Slept on the couch, and can’t wait to get back to my bed.
Back to Chicago
Theres been a huge snowstorm in Chicago, and I’m wondering if that would affect my travel plans. Hopefully not, but one never knows. Gonna crawl back into my bed (after turning on the heat that is). Hmz, still have about 1.5 weeks left in Chicago before school starts. Will need to vacuum my room (with the Roomba of course), and clean up the place slightly. Shall attempt to watch Wicked, head to the art institute, shop with the ‘oh-we-didn’t-sell-enough-over-christmas/NYE’ sale, keep up with news again. Oh god, I think the Bush-Iraqi journalist-shoe incident is particularly hilarious. Oh, and possibly lose some SF weight too. I wonder how the markets would do over the next 2 weeks, given that its Christmas/NYE, and fewer people would be in the office (unless of cos, leave has been revoked)

Classes
Will be taking commutative algebra with Nori and differential topology (whatever that is) with Shmuel. Need a third course, which is likely to be Intro to Finance (assuming I can get into the class by scaring other people away). Oh, and my thesis … have yet to write up a plan for Grace/Lima, will be one of the first things I do when I get back. Oh well, might do that on the plane too, summarizing what I have from the powerpoint presentation, not like I did anything much more on it. Sigh. Too little time with too much to do. Also, I wanna be lazy HAHA. I think the proper compromise would be to contact Ali, and run the experiment, and leave it at that. It would be a good one-time experience in conducting an experiment, in order to obtain information that theory is unable to give an answer to.
Future
Well, this post seems to be very forward looking. However, I’m still uncertain about what the future holds for me, or even, what I want from it. I’m sure that there are lots of possibilities open for me, and it’s a matter of what I want to grab. To answer a long-ago posted question, I think that especially because I’ve seen what is available, I know that it is not exactly what I want, and thus would have to search for an alternative way. My long term goals are simple: To be happy. Of course, this begs the question, what does it mean to be happy? There would be several avenues of my life that has to be fulfilled, in terms of academic standards, living standards, achievements, balh blah. Being goal-oriented, I have to content myself with small steps that I can take first, and hope that they eventually lead to a big overall picture. At least I have seats on the airplane, and do not need to wait to be assigned a seat on the full flight, while watching first-class passengers board.

harlow once again

2008-12-13T22:15:00.003-06:00

And so once again I’m up in the air, signaling an end to the quarter that has gone by. (And now I’m wondering if my parents know that I’m travelling. Well, you’re now informed.) It was an incredibly fast 10 weeks, hit the ground running when school started and things just went on from there. Haven’t had time to record down my thoughts, which was what this is for. So this would be a potentially long entry, depending on what I have to say (and once again, you’re not obliged to read it all). Oh, and don’t count on any regular updates for the next year either.

Grad classes
Was taking 3 grad classes this quarter, which was definitely a lot more than I could afford to bite off. Algebra, Topology, Price Theory. Topology was completely brand new, I really should have taken the undergrad course beforehand, to have gotten exposure to the ideas and such. Still, I think it went fine overall, along with all the weekends of bunkering down and attempting to understand what was being taught. Didn’t really like the way Farb was presenting his arguments without much solid proofs, and am not all that sure that I understand the ideas of homology, cohomology and homotopy. The last two in particular are still quite shaky, but I think I managed to apply them somewhat successfully in the final. I’m glad for getting to know these ideas, having heard of them from Jonathon and Lucas, and seeing them fleshed out in greater detail. What are its applications you may ask? Well, one never knows. There would certainly be possibilities in game theory.
Algebra with Ginzburg was slightly better, but only because some of the material was covered by Nori earlier. Seeing representation theory, Classification of PID, Jordan normal form, Wedderburn theory, etc, once again was good. Which reminds me, I need to get my notes back from Sue at some point in time. The homework sets were a good test of understanding and application, and working with the group of undergrads certainly helped me. Though, I would always prefer to have a better understanding of algebra, and my concepts of it are still but mere grasps of straw. Made some really careless mistakes on the final, but oh well.
Price Theory certainly suffered the most. It was well taught by Gary Becker and Kevin Murphy, in terms of modeling of economics and seeing various ideas come together in some coherent framework. But as algebra homework was due on the same day as Price Theory, it often ended up that price theory was neglected to deal with algebra, or interviews. In the end, I took it for a Reading grade, also because I didn’t have time to prepare for the final.

Thesis
Something else that I might not have the time for. Sigh. I actually do want to carry out the experiment to see the results. I might just do it, but then not complete the thesis. Though actually, there isn’t much to it, but just carrying out the experiment. Will see how that goes. I’m really undecided on this, really really want to see it through. In other news, Ali has my penultimate draft, which he’d look through before we email it to Crawford for a reply. After one iteration, we’d look at which possible journals to submit it to. Will see how it goes, failing which I have a thesis paper more or less written up.
Knowing myself
The closing of a chapter of my life only leads to the opening of another door. My exploits in competition mathematics is almost certainly over, definitely for the position of a participant, with the Putnam last Saturday. Did the best that I could have on it, and am very happy with how things turned out. With any luck, I’d be able to pick up $250 again, though it was a somewhat easier year and cutoffs are going to be higher. Then again, it’s not like I really care. I’m glad for the experience and exposure that I’ve had been given, which has so dramatically changed my life. I’ve waxed lyrical about the professors, my teammates, the IMO experience, my brats, the questions, the techniques, the ideas. I actually went to the extent of sharing my favorite homotethy question (the title of this site) with one of the Optiver interviewers (and yes, I had prepared to talk about it beforehand)
I’m really glad for the bunch of friends that I’ve found here. I will certainly miss them when we graduate, though I’d be rooming with Sibo next year. The river of life has its tributaries and distributaries, people that come in and out of my life, leaving indelible footprints in my heart. I’m happy I finally made it down for dinner on 10th week Tuesday, though I was really tired out and hiding my tension under the table. All things have their time, and I think it’s a good time. Right now, my future is so uncertain (but certainly bright and unlimited). I think I’d take Weiwei’s suggestion of relaxing control for the moment and falling. It’s scary, like a roller coaster, but also exhilarating.

On a sadder note, this entry would not be complete without a paragraph about Wei Ren. I remember a conversation at the end of spring quarter last year, where we were talking about graduation plans, work opprortunities, student loans, life. I’d certainly miss seeing him on the East bus, or even in the halls of Eckhart. I’d like to thank H for helping me work/talk through this.

Wicked is going to end its Chicago leg in a month or so. I might drag myself down to watch it over winter break, awaiting the lottery tickets. Here’s a slight tribute to it:

GALINDA:
What is this feeling,
So sudden and new?

ELPHABA:
I felt the moment
I laid eyes on you;

GALINDA:
My pulse is rushing;

ELPHABA:
My head is reeling;

GALINDA:
My face is flushing;

BOTH:
What is this feeling?
Fervid as a flame,
Does it have a name?
Yes! Loathing
Unadulterated loathing

harlow once again

2008-05-24T03:02:00.002-05:00

Okie, I think the previous post has been up for long enough. So here is a story of a vivid dream that i had yesterday night.

The basic premise was that I was staying in Regents, and there was also a highly wanted terrorist that somehow moved in. So, what the government did was close off the entrances to regents (You know how those revolving doors and double-lockdown doors instill such a great sense of security? yea, they also work for keeping people in.

Then, they made a loud announcment that the govt has decided that the best way to deal with the terrorist is to destroy the entire building (and everyone with it). The plan was to detonate the building from the ground up. To cut a medium story short, I decided that the best way to survive was to go up to the summit club, and as the building gets detonated floor by floor gives way, eventaully summit club would be on the ground floor and I can walk off the deck.

Somehow, this strategy worked. And i survived. And moved into another (more posh) apartment, where almost everything was circular. It was a HUGE dome shaped building, with a central elevator shaft, and walkways extending out in 4 directions [It made for impractical living cos of the long distance you need to walk from the apartment to the elevator] In the lower floors surrounding the elevators, the basement had a (circular) food court, then a two story lobby, then several floors of auditoriums (ringing the shaft).(Given the numerous circular designs of the place, I'm not surprised that it appeared in my dream.)

And guess what, the very same thing happened at this place. The whole place, being a dome, was already surrounded. The entrances were locked up, police were swaming around on the outside, blah blah blah. As a side note, there was this woman who sortof just woke up, had no idea what was happening, and hence was screaming at the door 'Let me out, I need to teach my kids!'

This time, there was no way to survive because there was no flat top place to escape of to (don't ask me how my dream logic works). So everyone was resigned to dying, and we started taking out our laptops/phones to contact people we wanted to. But sadly, there was a media blackout on such services.

At which point, I thankfully woke up.

Though, this dream did remind me of who were the people that mattered. Which would explain the last words of the conversation that I hoped you caught. Have fun in Beijing, you guys would most prob read this 8 days later.

At long last

2008-03-28T10:58:00.002-05:00

So, I had an exciting dinner last Saturday. It started off with our sink being increasingly clogged over the past week. It finally dieded when I was preparing a nice sumptous dinner party (Lamb rendnag, Jap curry beef, Oyster Chicken, Been sprouts, Mua chee). Called in the Regents Maintainence department, who came over to air presurrize our sink. The water finally cleared, but then a pipe burst, leaving my kitchen in a mess.

At which point in time, I brought my stuff over to Sibo's and continued cooking there lol. For the first time, dinner done in two kitchens! Highly amusing. Though, this time round, there were only 6 people having dinner (well, 1 kitchen can support 15 people, so 2 kitchens support 6 people).

Mua, TK, Tiff, Ivan, Ghee Chuan. Weiwei and Wyman popped over after that to say hi.

Will you catch me when I fall?

2008-03-09T04:39:00.002-05:00

This is going to be fucking meta. so dont read if you're gonna complain. I know the chatbox is down, but i can't really care. comment instead.

The last week has been insane. I need a break. Spring break is coming up. But first, theres
1. alge ps due monday
2. civ paper due tuesday
3. anal ps due wednesday
4. metrics due wednesday at 5pm
5. anal final on friday
6. alge final on monday
7. metrics final on monday at 6pm
8. civ final on thursday

And thats the order I will be doing things for the next two weeks. I think its amazing that i plan to do my studying for metrics after my alge final. Oh well, must pan chance lah.

And why is it, that a madman is that one that makes so much sense? With so many other sane people out there, and the only one that knows anything is a madman. What is it like to be mad? To be an alphabet soup?

And yes, life is easier after you admit things to yourself. But then, things change after that, and life need not be easier as you think it would be. Anyway my mind is made up, at least regarding one of those things. And in other news, I was excited when i figured out what the following meant: A is a self adjoint operator on a Hilbert space H, then there exists a measure space M with measure d\mu, and a unitary operator U:H\rightarrow L^2(M), and a function F on M such that, given any f \in L^2(M), UFU^{-1} f = Ff. It is a very nice way characterization of self adjoint operators on a Hilbert space. And i can remember what the theorem says, though the proof is still ugh. That got me excited. But then i saw the homework.

A wise man once said

2008-03-03T00:01:00.003-06:00

The words I say mean nothing. What you understand from them is yours to keep, not mine to give. Everyone has their own interpretation of this story, and what it means to them would vary. So, whatever you gleamed from this, treasure it.

Have you listened to yourself lately? Heard what your body is trying to tell you? From the palpitations of the heart, to the twitching of your eyelids; from the tingling in the soles of your feet to the throbbing of your back. All of these are small signals that your body is trying to send you, to describe the environment that you are in.
A while back, I thought my body stopped speaking to me, that it was silent. I felt uncertain, unsure, confused. Lost. But I have since learnt that it wasn't my body giving me the silent treatment. Far from it, it was screaming out. But human ears have the tendency to strain out the sounds that it doesn't want to hear, and thus, I heard nothing.
Since then, I have began listening to myself again. And im finding that my body tells me much, and generally has good instincts when left to its own devices (much akin to knowing how to proceed when faced with a math problem). And so, I've heard my body speak once again, and while I disagree with what its telling me, I'd still listen to it. There is sense in what it says, I'd have to ponder more.

My kind of fren

2008-02-20T23:59:00.002-06:00

Today, I told someone that, we would either hate each other like mad, or end up being good friends. He agreed, and said that was a compliment.

I should stop being such a people snob.

3 Calvin moments

2008-02-14T08:35:00.002-06:00

1 Was at the KSO study break with some grad students after working on the anal problem set. Some people came up to see if they could take our extra chairs, which we gracioulsy allowed them to do so, and they did. Someone then commented 'They could at least have said thank you', to which I replied 'Well, what do you expect from Singaporean students?' Several minutes later, someone asked me 'So where are you from?' I gave a slight smile, and someone injected 'Definately not Singapore.' Mike had a hard time assuring pple that I indeed was from Singapore.

2. There was a booth a Reynolds where my friend was
'Do you want to help children?'
'Erm no?'
'Do you want to help me?'
'Even more no.' This is the time to mention that he is of East Asian descent.
'Do you want to help me help children?'
'Haha, obviously not'

3. Was working with Sibo in the tea room. As she left to the potty, a friend asked me, where she was from.
'Malaysia, yea I know she doesn't appear brown enough to qualify.'
'What? I thought you hated Malaysians?'
'Wait Lucas, apart from the set of Calvin, who do I like?'
Then he did this wishy washy facial expression of undecision.

Horoscopes are always true

2008-02-08T09:56:00.001-06:00

Being the first sign of the Chinese zodiacs, rats are leaders, pioneers and conquerors. They are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking. Rat people are endowed with great leadership skills and are the most highly organized, meticulous, and systematic of the twelve signs. Intelligent and cunning at the same time, rats are highly ambitious and strong-willed people who are keen and unapologetic promoters of their own agendas, which often include money and power. They are energetic and versatile and can usually find their way around obstacles, and adapt to various environments easily. A rat's natural charm and sharp demeanor make it an appealing friend for almost anyone, but rats are usually highly exclusive and selective when choosing friends and so often have only a few very close friends whom they trust. Behind the smiles and charm, rats can be terribly obstinate and controlling, insisting on having things their way no matter what the cost. These people tend to have immense control of their emotions, which they may use as a tool to manipulate and exploit others, both emotionally and mentally. Rats are masters of mind games and can be very dangerous, calculative and downright cruel if the need arises. Quick-tempered and aggressive, they will not think twice about exacting revenge on those that hurt them in any way. Rats need to learn to relax sometimes, as they can be quite obsessed with detail, intolerant and strict, demanding order, obedience, and perfection.

Rats consider others before themselves, at least sometimes, and avoid forcing their ideas onto others. Rats are fair in their dealings and expect the same from others in return, and can be deeply affronted if they feel they have been deceived or that their trust has been abused. Sometimes they set their targets too high, whether in relation to their friends or in their career. But as the years pass, they will become more idealistic and tolerant. If they can develop their sense of self and realize it leaves room for others in their life as well, Rats can find true happiness.

According to tradition, Rats often carry heavy karma and at some point in life may face an identity crisis or some kind of feeling of guilt. Rats are said to often have to work very long and hard for everything they may earn or have in life. However, a Rat born during the day is said to have things a bit easier than those who are born at night. Traditionally, Rats born during the night may face extreme hardships and suffering throughout life. Rats in general should guard themselves against hedonism, as it may lead to self-destruction. Gambling, alcohol and drugs tend to be great temptations to Rat natives.

Its amazing how much easier life is once you admit some truths

2008-02-05T01:14:00.000-06:00

First off, let me state that im procrastinating doing my Civ essay. Its a summary of Keppler, which a monkey can do (assuming he can interprete the paper), and its darn boring.

But well, its true. Once you admit stuff to yourself, you get the chance to work with/around/through them. It is no longer an intangible object, but something that you can get a hold of, something which you could play around with. Change it if you so desire.

I guess, the hard part, at least for me, is making the consious decision to admit these truths. And I tend to not like it when they are shoved in my face, either by myself, or a kind soul. Before this becomes too meta, let me consider what truths I have admitted recently (and don't expect any ground breaking revealations. It's me after all)

1. I'm a terrible procrastinator. I've facebooked, youtubed, freecelled, etc. all in the process of writing my essay. Not to mention make trips to the kitchen, to the bathroom, to my bed, etc.

2. Things in the past shouldn't matter (too much). Well yes they shape what you have become, but they should never be a liability. Besides, if you say that you have moved past it, then jolly well kick your butt along.

3. I lie way too well. This in part, has to do with being asian. It is also a revealation of my innately mischevious nature. Besides, part of life is pretending to be certain of some doubts. Like how annoucing that GDP has increased in the past quarter would boost the stock market (postulated to be independent of the actual sign in the change)

4. I accord myself too much credit. But then again, if i don't, who would? Besides, sometimes I'm but a small cog in the greater wheel of events. Small, but important, no doubt. As such, I will attempt to (less) dismiss praise, and (less) value self-praise. Whatever that means.

5. People can change much in a month. Well, this is in response to a statement i made to a friend, that pple dont change much over a year. However, I will qualify that there is an unchanging core to people, so that no matter what the situation, there's gonna be a behaviour that i'd call 'Calvinist'.

6. I must learn to better read the signs i leave myself. No, not that i have terrible handwriting, but in the way that my body/mind instintively react in certain situations. I have a good gut, and should make more use of it, instead of just sitting/speculating/stewing. Besides, stewing only produces a thick congealed piece of inedible crap, as evidenced by my pathetic attempts.

7. In a related note, I have to make decisions about the future, instead of postponing them to the future. Perhaps get out of my safety zone, venture out into the unknown. (Then again, a boring life is a good life. Except when an interesting life is great and fun.) And yet, I say this, knowing nothing has changed in the past years, and nothing (likely) will.

8. It's amazing how we are all so different. And yet, all so alike. If i have any writing talent (which clearly I don't) I would love to write a book along this lines. For now, it would suffice to read such a book.

Alright, I'm feeling too exposed. Best to stop now before this entry doesn't get posted.

Of course, the wisdom of my years (as indicated by my white hair) is not limited to the above points.

Sorry for rejecting your call

2008-01-26T22:08:00.002-06:00

Was in an elevator ... Call me anyday after 8, would be free then.

Well ...

2008-01-22T23:51:00.000-06:00

Took my Ipod for a spin in the laundry, and its now cranky, which makes me sad. Have also done alot of stupid things in the past few days, hopefully its all over now. No thanks to TK.

Perhaps I should start a dream journal. Had such a disturbing dream yesterday. But still, it provided evidence to some other facts. Oh well.

Have to attempt to tap into the power of positive thinking. Or rather, forcing whatever I want to come into existance. Just like how to make a spoilt handphone work in the span of two days.

state of delirium

2008-01-13T09:46:00.001-06:00

Why do I always get such great insights during states of delirium? I mean, just today, I was staring at 2 math problems which i couldn't do when i stared at them days before. And I had 2 (not so) great insights which solved the problem. Damn, I think I should start being delirious more often, perhaps its not so bad after all.

On the other hand, I can't think, can't talk, can't whistle, can't fucking chop corn either. It's a trade off I guess, one skill set for the other.

What do I make of this?

2008-01-09T21:44:00.000-06:00

So, i received a note from my parents that was clearly written by my mum, but signed off by my dad. What does that mean?

Had a weird dream today, in which for some weird reason I was doing chinups. The weirder part was that only my left arm was bent, while my right arm was straight because I couldn't bend my broken elbow (yes, I thought this to myself in my dream). Now, I'm wondering how on earth did I even do those chinups in my dream.

The dream was also mildly interesting for other reasons, and merited me going back to sleep to continue the dream, which worked for a while, but there was no satisfactory conclusion.

Highly amusing

2007-12-21T22:47:00.000-06:00

Dear son

This is the first time you told us you have done well in your exam. It must be extremetry well. In the past you always say OK la.

Hmz. Well, at the time i replied only 1 result was out.

yea yea, this has been edited

Wednesday

2007-12-20T06:54:00.000-06:00

Got drunk on red wine on saturday, (and by that i mean less than 1 glass) was laughing quite alot while awake. Got drunk on white wine on monday, (and by that i mean less than 1 glass) was laughing quite alot while asleep. Conclusion? I don't know. But had a terrible hangover on tuesday, ended up sleeping in till late, then going off for a quiet read.

Moved in Evan's place yesterday, its quite a quaint part of town. I found it interesting (read: funny) that when I came back at night, the entrance was blocked by 4 police cars. Oh well, at least it would be safe. Its located in a slightly inconvenient part of town, where I have to transfer trains to go anywhere (well, that is compared to living on Wall street). Beggers cant be choosers though. I'm only getting internet connection in the living room (of course its stolen, hes a poor student), but not on my bed :(

New York is turning out to be quite expensive. Was shopping yesterday then my card refused to work. No nearby citibank branch, so I was reduced to calling up Citibank, which then proceeded to ask me weird questions like 'What's your mother's maiden name?' or 'Whats your favourite color?' Of course, none of the answers I gave was right. Settled it in the end, and transferred money over from my savings account, so there is still some hope of survival for me. On the bright side, this winter should be somewhat warm. I love my purchases, 1 short sleeve, 2 long sleeve, 1 sweater, 1 tie so far. That should be the end of my clothing hunt.

Watched less miserable yesterday, which was VERY GOOD. Of course that was to be expected, and i encourage you to watch it. I laughed at the part when the young boy had to throw a bag over the wall (behind his back, while he was wounded and dying) but missed, so the men didn't catch it. This questions how the show could continue as it did lol. Another weird part was when a cripple (lost 1 leg) suddenly grew a leg and was able to dance. I'm guessing this is where Andy got his initial idea for Beauty World stage, but then again, that idea is quite common (just rarely implemented due to technical difficulties if you're not rich)

Friday

2007-12-15T00:24:00.000-06:00

Went down early to get rush tickets for Chicago, which were side view hence not that good. but was cheap. Had breakfast with Sam, food under $10 is crap in NY. Then i made an exciting statement 'Let 2 be an odd prime and 3 be an even prime, so on and so forth.' The best part of it was, he didn't contradict me.

Met up with Kenneth for lunch, walked around and chatted, sat down ate and chatted, shopped and chatted. Why does the word 'chatted' appear so much? Cos we covered lots of topics, like why mathematicians are such a quirky bunch, what constitutes maturity, where to go from here, etc. Quite a few times, due to interruptions, we forgot what the exact topic was, then started blundering around till the thread was picked back up. As a side note, I should stop being able to lie so well. Ended up buying two shirts from Macy's, and I quite like my choice, also got some ear muffs. This was much more efficient that what I did on tuesday.

Had dinner, with reiterates the fact that food under $10 is crap in NY. Watched Chicago (in New York) after that. After the first act, I felt that the movie was better, partly cos of the sets and 'better' story (but thats cos its a movie). But after the 2nd act, I think the musical is much better (and there were quite a few differences from the movie). So you should watch the musical, even if you have seen the movie (of course, this applies only to the boradway version that I have seen).

This brings me to a budding thought about reasons that people give for their actions. History would be much more 'truthful' if people recorded down the 'second-to-second' reason for taking their actions. Because then, you don't have the benefit of hindsight, to justify it with whatever benefits you obtained, or disadvantages you missed out on. At times, I find that the reason for doing things have changed over time (after the event occurred that is), perhaps as a way to justify my doing them. But often, after a while more, i recognize the original reasons for doing so, and judge myself according to them. It's all good.

New York

2007-12-13T10:42:00.000-06:00

So, I've been meaning to record down stuff that happened in New york, but clearly i've not been successful.

Well, watched rent on monday, managed to get lottrey tickets yea. It was good, they really could sing. Differed slightly from the movie version of course. Met jeremy there, by a totally random stroke of luck. He came over with parents, as post graduation tour. Oh, and I forgot to mention that i slept for 10 hours, and further had a 3 hours nap. NICE!
Then on tues, went 'shopping', and by that i mean i walked along 5th avenue and entered some shops and looked at stuff. I'd say that A&F does a very good job at marketing/targeting the young crowd, which pulls in the old fogeys. Its amazing the number of old pple that came in looking for t-shirts/stuff for their children, and some of those also include those that weren't pulled in by their kids.
Also made my way to FAO schrawz, which sells soft toys, esp gargantuan ones. There was a dragon and dragonette pair that twere going for $5500 each. OMFG. too big to hold or even wrap my hands around, so as to why someone would want to display something like that ... well, i guess a small spoilt brat could perhaps climb ontop of the dragon and risk falling off. who knows. But the quality of soft toys there were very good, was tempted to get one, but I think Calvin will get jealous, so nope.
Luckily, got free seats to Monty Python's spam-a-lot that night, which involved me standing behind a couple that had tickets to another show, and were wanting to refund their ticket. After they found out I was looking for student tickets, they were more then willing to give their tickets to me. so yay. They were like $250 a piece. pricy...
Yesterday, spent the morning lazing in bed, chatting, dozing, etc. Then went down to borders to do some reading. OSC has another Ender's book, a very short version now, not as great, but similar along the lines. Read and complete another book. Started a third, but got bored. Then went to pick up Sam ... He called me when i was dozing, and later when i was reading, so i din really pay attention to which train station he sent himself to. Luckily for us, he sent himself to the correct one, met up on wall street, then went for dinner at a jap restaurant.

Living in NY is pricy. 2 weeks is a long time to live here. Oh well, there is no global budget for this trip, only a moment-to-moment prick of conscience, but even that is being silenced. I'm looking at this $150 long sleeved shirt, but i dont think i'd get it lol. Need to find a place where i can buy shirts that i like, but doubt theres gonna be much of a chance.

The Sirens Of Titan

2007-12-09T21:45:00.000-06:00

The worst thing that could possibly happen to anybody would be to not be used for anything by anybody.

It took us that long to realize that a purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.

Post-Final

2007-12-06T23:17:00.000-06:00

After the tramautic double whammy tuesday ...

Was at the art institute today, and there are two incidents to relate.

1. We were at this statue place, where there is one headless statue and 4 roman heads lying around. My usual comment is that, every few months, they could rotate the heads on the statue. But this little girl beat me hands down

'Mum, whats this?'
'Oh, its a statue of a Roman man, just that hes missing his head.'
(Clarification, thats not the only thing hes missing, he's missing an arm too.)
Moments latter:' Mom, how come he has no privates?'
(Clarificatoin, he really has no privates.)
'Shhhh' and some serious dragging away occurs

2. This is an inscription to another statue. 'The thought is the eternal fact that, no matter how together we may be thrown by circumstances ... we remain unknown to each other.' This caused me to sit down and ponder for a while. Moments later, Ivan sat down too, and promptly fell asleep in the chair.

C'est La Vie

2007-12-05T15:40:00.001-06:00

Why is it that moments of such clarity only occur during periods of madness?

What do you do when you realize that you have your pirorities all wrong? That your life needs a reordering of some sorts. Of course, this happens on a daily basis, in minute detail, as your perspectives change to redefine who you are.

Take TK for example. The first-year TK would gasp in indescrible horror at the state of the third-year TK. Imagine. Taking just 3 courses. Oh man, hes such a slacker, not making full use of this money's worth. I forgot who it was that calculated that we were paying $100 per hour, and this is not in addition to food and lodging.

How far then, do your actions reflect your perspectives? In fact, while we are at it, what are your true opinions? All so often, it is easy (well, for me) to talk in praise of one 'virtue', while not agreeing with what it represents.

Kenneth laments Plato's Republic for being so autocratic in ruling the infomation (art, poetry, music, myths) available to his utopian city. I'm like, well, its a utopia that hes creating. Ultimately its the greater good for everyone (or is it?). So what if information has to be restricted, to promote the virtue that he wants to cultivate in the city? After all, art and stories are just selected fantasies that we chose to propagate.

And so right now I'm sounding like a certain political organization, which led me to think, why on Earth did they ban South Park several years ago? I did quite a bit of South Park watching in the past few days, and still fail to see why it has to be banned. I mean, I would agree if you say its not material that a opinionable child should watch. But, to restrict it from the masses?

Edit: So I think I'm still mad. I had this insane dream, which was sortof so real. And for all that I joke about being in a gang, this time round I really was in one. And then came up issues of brotherhood, friendship, what that means, etc. And the best/worst part of it was that, mr Lung Wen Zheng was the opposite gang's boss. I was like, wtf, how on earth did he end up there...

I stay with a (censored)

2007-11-25T09:45:00.000-06:00

I was cooking curry vegetables for thanksgiving dinner. TK walks out of his room and comments
'Man, this place smells so Indian.'
He then proceeds to label me a (censored), possibly because I was cooking curry vegetables.

Its amazing how much importance you give to an innocus remark made by someone else

2007-11-21T19:07:00.000-06:00

Just pointing out that fact, which has been striking ever so often.

Just because someone said something, that made it stick so much more.

We are our own worst critic.

I have a dream

2007-11-21T19:05:00.001-06:00

I have a dream,
A song to sing.
To help me through,
Eternity.

I have a dream. That one day my children will be judged by the content of their character, and not by the color of their skin.

I have 2 dream. And that should be recorded down here. One has come to pass, and I'm glad it did. Another has not yet come to pass, and I dont think it ever will, and I'm glad it wont. But still, 2 dream or not 2 dream?

Yay!

2007-10-21T00:08:00.000-05:00

Am feeling such a great sense of accomplishment. Managed to complete my anal problem set (well leaving 2 questions), wrote up my civ paper (averaging 2 hours a page only), done my studying for game theory and discrete math. Given this streak, tomorrow should be a completely unproductive day. Hopefully not, for that is when I would reattempt the problem set and hopefully start reading for my Civ midterm.

In other news, tvlinks.co.uk has been raided by UK authorities. That makes me so sayd. Well, since it merely acts as a link, its technically possible to find the material online still, though just more troublesome.

Been so busy lately, I think its time to take a break. A short one no doubt, before plunging back into this madness.

Thanks for Snowy

2007-10-17T20:08:00.000-05:00

Busy next week

2007-10-17T00:59:00.001-05:00

So, for next week, I have a 5 page paper due, 3 midterms and 1 anal pset due. God have mercy on my soul. Meanwhile, lets think of how to celebrate on friday. Some gambling is in order, but WHO???

I feel so brain dead

2007-10-08T00:48:00.000-05:00

Spent the past hour doing nothing, and brain is still not recovering ... nitez

RSVP

There is an orgy going on in my living room and I have photo evidence! I wonder how many more people could fit in there actually.

roommate maladies

2007-09-29T10:30:00.000-05:00

TK: (feigning concern) Hei, you do know that we ran out of milk right?
CL: (exasperated) Yes of course, I used up the last of the milk.
TK: (smug) [Showing gourmet sandwhich box] Yea, thats why I had to go out and buy this for breakfast.
CL: (rolling eyesballs) Theres still bread, which you put in the fridge. Anyway, this uses ham, eggs, cheese, which are all in there too.
TK [pleading dog look]

PAUSE

TK: Did you hear that?
CL: (Dont take me for a wols -look) Ah duh, say so loud.
TK: Damn. Persistant.

Yea yea, theres milk in the fridge now.

Back!

2007-09-28T01:01:00.001-05:00

Argh, I'm back in a world where problem sets take like 20 hours to do. Okay, I might exaggerate by a factor of 2. But damn it, summer was great without problem sets. Summer should be year long. Hopefully my econs ps dont take that long.

So i had 3 interesting experiences with songs today. First was walking towards school, when one song ended, and I thought how interesting it would be if a specific other song followed it (both had something to do with stars, one was jap, one was english), and it did. So exciting. Second was when I was at the gym, usu have my Ipod on, but sometimes I'm able to make out the music that the gym plays. At some point in time, I noticed that the artists were the same (Coldplay, if I'm right). Sadly, the songs were not the same. Third, when I started up itune party shuffle, I purposedly skipped a song that I didn't want to hear. Several hours later, it played, this time under a different artist. It's all good though.

FAT

2007-09-22T10:29:00.000-05:00

UGH. I'm FAT. The 1 month back in sg has increased my mass by quite a bit. Compounded with the effect of being closer to the earth's center, my weight has increased. SIANZ. Just went running yesterday, my 2.4 timing is back up to 13 mins. But expected lah, since i haven't been to the gym in like 1 month++. Was supposed to get a working bike today, but body is aching and so im feeling too lazy to bike back. Shall get it another day perhaps, or not at all.

This is what I call dressing up your dinner. Pig in tiger skin. Sounds delicious.

Someone please tell Alvin that ...

2007-09-18T17:32:00.002-05:00

1. There is no need to leave his stuff in my room. I generally do not use them
2. I have visual confirmation that in the fridge for a month, celery rots completely into juices, while apples begin a healthy fungi growth.
3. Water left on dirty plates eventually evaporate, leaving a crust behind that takes 5 minutes to scrub.
4. I am sufficiently hydrated, and do not need sporodic reminders in the form of half-used mineral water bottles.
5. His stuff will be sent out latest by friday.

Morning has broken, Summer has ended

2007-09-18T17:32:00.001-05:00

I just saw my first sunrise up in the air. It was one of the fastest ever, considering that the plane was flying into the sun. Set up in the air, with blankets of clouds down below, the color change from blue to red and then white was extremely exciting. Of course, the vision was accompanied by Secret Garden’s ‘You Raise Me Up’ and ‘Gates of Dawn’, which were so suitable to the mood. Think I shall attempt to watch tomorrow’s sunrise, assuming that I don’t jet lag.

Concluding Remarks

2007-09-16T16:29:00.000-05:00

The photo is of the water beneath the jetty, taken through the planks. You could see a wood plank on the left, and a vertical wood plank that supports the structure. The woodplanks cast an interesting shadow on the water that was captured.

Summer went quite well actually. Summer, i maintain, should be year long. But then I wont get any work done.

I used to think that the best kind of drunk is where you take 3 sips of vodka and then KO for an hour or so. At least you don't do stupid things like initiate a conversation. And the worst kind of drunk is where you end up with rashes for a week after the drinking incident. But after dinner yesterady, i think the KOing could be even worse. We had a bowl of drunken live prawns, which were fed mi jiao until they KOed and couldn't move, and then dumped into a boiling pot of herbal soup. This is indeed one of the more painful food preparation methods, hence increases the tastfulness of the meal. When my sister gets her act together, I will post a video of this :)

Hubba Hubba Scuba

2007-09-09T20:37:00.000-05:00

YAY!

Had a 15 min nap, and a 30 min nap, which seemed to last for a long time. I shall take this as an indicator that my sleep debt has been paid off, given all the insane sleeping that i've been doing since i'm back.

Here are photos from my trip. Sadly no underwater camera, though TK or LJ might be getting one. Still awaiting photos from LJ though. We might be doing advanced in spring break, or possibly when we get back next sept. lol

One of our dive sites.disjointed rock, from weathering

guess what this night shot is of.

home for 3 days.

Durianing

2007-09-04T11:02:00.000-05:00

Yea to a successful durian eatout. For all you singaporeans that say its not the durian season, you're missing the point. It's Calvin season, and for that matter, Alex season, Adela season, Lipjin season, Kenneth season, TK season, Authority of Vegetation and Animals season.

I got a Multimedia message:

*sighs and rolls eyes*

The next best thing to a Geyland MRT is NOT Alijuned but
Kallang MRT. Trust me, it sits in the midst of Geylang *and*
Sims Avenue. I've been there at night; not a pleasant
experience at all.


To which my reply was:

Thanks for the tip, its been a long time since I was
in Singapore. You might have realized that the
rendenvous point is actually Lorong 13-17, which is
right smack between the two stations. See you in
Chicago.

I think the foreign service should be glad I'm not working for them.

Tiny asians

2007-09-03T11:34:00.000-05:00

Was in the supermarket (chao ji pa sa !) earlier today, and was hunting around for my mum. And i realized how difficult it was, even though i could look over the shelves. I started looking around for people dressed in pink. Made 3 guesses. All wrong. Gave up. Man, you guys have it so easy, searching for the tall one in the crowd. Okay, maybe not you americians.

Which reminds me. Went to the gym with WL, and pot was supposed to turn up, but pot was help up by car trouble. Those machines were all too small lengthwise... sigh. oh well, back in 2 weeks

House cleaning

2007-09-02T11:36:00.000-05:00

Yea, did more apartment cleaning ... I wonder if regents would ever be clean ... Anyway, I intend to develop a nice relaxing corner in my bedroom, the current plan is to have blankets lie the floor, with cushions/pillow, and then bookshelves to box me out ... there is andy's lamp from goodness knows where, but otherwise, suggestions to designing the place would be good

1 shot 2 kill

2007-08-22T03:59:00.000-05:00

Food update

12. Mapo tofu
13. Sushi
14. Ang zhao ji
15. Swedish meatballs (yea, not very singaporean i know)
16. Mutton mutabak
17. Cheese prata
18. Bah Kut Teh
19. Dao Huay Zhui
20. Egg Custard

Bah, I'm feeling the size upgrade.

Anyway, I went shopping yesterday, entered the shop and told boss 'Eh, today I need to get a plain white long sleeve shirt and black pants.' He took measurement of my arm (and arm only), asked for my waist size, then started ironing some shirt and pants. In the meantime, I was looking around the store for a short-sleeve shirt, nothing really caught my eye. After like 15 minutes, I found a while long-sleeve shirt that i really liked, then i told him 'Lao Ban ah, I try this shirt.' His reply was 'Yar, I'm ironing it up for you now. Same shirt, your size.' WAH! Zai rite? A while later, I went in tried the shirt and pants together, really liked it, and the size fit me perfectly! This would have been a 20 minute shopping trip, if not for the fact that weiliang tried getting me to try other shirts of more interesting designs. Aiant it wonderful? If only my US shopping was like that, I'd rack up a huge credit bill. Thankfully its too troublesome for me to get clothes otherwise. Sadly, it seems like there aian't much more designs, lots of the shirts that i liked, i already had. Oh well.

I hate sleeping these weird hours

2007-08-18T14:14:00.000-05:00

Not to say that I don't already sleep weird hours in Chicago, but now I have much less control over it. Damn

To augment the head count
6. Ba zhang (interesting conversation with Sam just before leaving Chicago)
7. Chilli crab (Damn difficult to cook. Doubt I will ever do this.)
8. Yam balls (The imitation pales in comparision to the original.)
9. you ji / Oil chicken
10. Beef noodle soup (dry)
11. Suan La Ramen (Crystal Jade)

Met up with the BB boys today, which reminds me of how its so easier to set a higher standard once you've been through the activity. Spent the night before not sleeping, but weirdly couldn't sleep when i got back either. Then went out to meet Kiat, had a very good talk with him about ... damn i forgot... walked aroubd HMV looking for 'The Perishers', and Kiat pointed out that in SG, almost everything is under the genre 'Rock and Pop'. Went home, collasped on bed for 5 hours. Now I'm up typing this.

Desparately in need of a haircut. Supposed to get it in 7 hours time. If i wake up that is.

BACK!

2007-08-15T10:53:00.000-05:00

Yea, I'm back in the land of 24/7 food. Current head count:

1. 3 boxes of durians
2. Carrot cake
3. Cheese pancake
4. Hainan chicken rice
5. Turtle soup

Did some apartment cleaning today. So proud of how clean my room now is.

Up in the air

2007-08-15T05:14:00.000-05:00

And thus I continue the tradition of blogging while up in the air. Have such great timing though, they just started serving a snack. WTF its instant noodles - UA has terrible food. Started off the day fine (sans previous post), tried to leave my keys with Adam, so that my brother could pick them up when he visits sometime in August. Then I found out that the mailboxes in Regents were actually federally controlled, and that they had no access to them. Wonderful. There goes the plan of leaving the keys in the mailbox - luckily Kenneth saved the day. Still, this reminds me of the time when poor young, naïve me was abetted to steal the cute postal cart.

And since I decided to save the cab/Omega fare and take CTA transport instead, I was lugging my luggage halfway across town, when it decided to split open. Well, to be fair, I knew that one of my luggage bags was spoilt, and didn’t check which one I took. Luckily there was the strap, though it was still interesting to lug the luggage… Ended up changing bags at the airport, shifting everything into a blue haversack. At the check-in counter, when I lugged up the now empty luggage, the counter staff expressed surprise at the weight. I then told my wondrous story J Yea, I think lugging luggage is quite funny.

On board the plane, I ended up changing seats with some family. Same thing happened in the seat next to my new seat, and I met this American guy who is studying at some China University. Been there for 3 years already, not very certain what his plans for the future are.

Oh, and UA’s so kiam siap. They made us stop at Anchorage, Alaska, so that they can refuel their 747, thereby saving them some $$ in petrol costs. And no one else knew about it before the flight. I only figured it out when I looked at the flight detail, and wondered why we were landing in Anchorage in 1 hour. Luckily I wasn’t meeting anyone at HK airport, cos we ended up 1.5 hours late. Tsk tsk. Think of all those poor people who missed their connecting flights.

Din know that there was ‘Shrek the Third’ movie. Quite amusing, I must admit. And another movie played on the space-time continuum, in the form of a woman who lived out the days of a week in ‘random’ order – when she woke up, it was Thursday and she found out that her husband died. The ‘next’ day was Tuesday and he was still alive. Absolutely no scientific basis, but still mildly interesting.

3 mysterys

2007-08-12T16:46:00.000-05:00

Note: Edited version

Was telling someone about postsecret, and the reply was 'Don't be surprised to see "My roommate, Calvin Lin, is a bitch".' up there someday. So heres a pre-emptive strike to a certain somene left the apartment, not intending to come back for the next 18+22 days.

Woe is me, 2 unsolved mysteries in one day, and another one popping up the next day. What low depths we have sunk to.

My dinners, as always are an adventure. Yesterday, I opended the fridge and thought 'Hmz, what experiment shall we conduct today? Does cheese interact well with eggs? How about this 1 year old frozen pizza?' In the end, I went with the veges from chinatown. Not one to trust anything from chinatown, it was imperative that I washed and rinsed these vegetable. I hopped to my right, landed in front of my sink. Lo and behold, I was greeted by the sight of 2 pots, each with their mouth full. Where did these two pots come from? I stared intently at them, then cocked my head, placed my ear against their mouth. What tidings do they bring? Sadly, I am of such low intellect that i was unable to decipher the significance of the echos I heard. It was all a mystery.

A while later, I had to take a knife to these baby kailans. And what do I do with the stalks? Throw them away of course. I turned around, aimed for the dustbin, and noticed these 2 cute little boxes sitting forlonly by the side, as if waiting for someone from the adoption agency to pick them up. I took a closer look, and noticed that they had some tags on them, almost as if their parents gave them names just before abandoning them. These fraternal twins (after all, they must be born minutes apart, but aian't identical) Sadly, I was unable to read Korean and decipher their names, though i noticed that their names were extremely similar. It suddenly dawned on me, that if i were to rotate one of their names, I would get other. Now, this got me really excited. Heres a mystry that i could potentially solve. If only, if only ... If only i could figure out what these characters mean. One of them looked like a retort stand ontop of a bunsen burner, and the other was a retort stand supporting an upturned bunsen burner. I thought and rethought, but the rethought had nothing to do with the retort. I had no retort to that. Which made me sad.

The next day

All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go.
I'm standing here outside your door.
I hate to wake you up to say ...

There I was, all ready to leave the apartment. Opended the door and peaked out. Oh shit. I've just been issued a death notice. I stared down in horror at this enormous missive, addressed to the occupant. It was thick, it was forboding, it was scary. I took a look at it, got the fright of my life, and immediately bolted back in. What did I do? Who did I wrong? Why does someone want to threaten me with pictures of death and destruction? I slammed the door in horrror, retreating back to the safety of my hallway. They were threatening me with a War SJ. These guys are freaking ancient. Its like Pre-WW II. Did they think that I would be hit over the head by one of these (well, they cant fire, i argued) I started sweating, panting. Damn it, and i just bathed. Not another mystery to solve. And i haven't had any luck with the previous two yet... Were the pots harbringers of doom? Were the orphans sent as a last warning sign, which i failed to heed? I have now been marked.

P.S. I better not be mugged.

Like

2007-08-07T09:41:00.000-05:00

It's easy to like what you're good at, hard to like what you suck at. But when you meet something new, how do you determine if you like it?

Home in 1 week. I think its fitting to request a box of durians on tuesday night in the car :)

Edit: I forgot how slow it was to walk to school. Din help that i was carrying's TK"s box. Heat din help either. Gonna melt in singapore.

Beancurd

2007-07-29T18:19:00.001-05:00

Was frying beancurd today, and was suddenly reminded of going to the market with my mum/grandma when young, and excitedly telling the market auntie 'xian de tau gua si de', or 'sa de', or how ever many. On a side note, I learnt to my horror how much oil it takes to deep dry tofu.

Why does it get worse the nearer it approaches? Durian cake supply is down to last half. Oh well, back in two weeks.

Stop Animal Cruelty

2007-07-27T15:55:00.000-05:00

So, there was this guy outside of RC trying to convince people to become vegan. Tucked away at a corner was this cute poster of a cat and a pig, along with the caption 'Which would you pet, and which would you eat?'

I think the answer is obvious. I would pet TK (duh) and eat Norah (double duh)

Yea, I'm wondering why im recording all these various happy interesting moments. Perhaps summer needs more fun and laughter in it, so im milking these events for all they are worth.

Another funny story

2007-07-23T10:48:00.000-05:00

Sally was teaching probability theory today, and the natural question arose: What are the possible outcomes for flipping a coin? Well, clearly, theres the Head (H), and the Tail (T).

And off to the side, I mentioned to clark that theres the chance of it landing on the side too. This is a possibility that most people forget, so when people ask you to ask head or tails, its exciting to say side! And guess what, later when sally asks what were their outcomes for 5 coin flips, cody actually said that he had 5 sides! That so made my day.

Aian't the following an exciting conversation?

(Friend flips coin.) 'Heads or tails?'

'Side. I say that it lands on its side.'

'Well, let me check. Nope, it doesn't land on its side. Guess again.'

(Arrogant smug look) 'Side. I don't care if I'm wrong. I say that it lands on its side.'

(Exasperation)

2007-07-22T17:39:00.000-05:00

haha, was watching a show which had a line 'None of your fucking business.' And it was translated into 'bu4 guan1 ni3 TMD de4 shi4'. Haha, must be some singaporean that did the translation.

I have stolen Tengren's bike, which is quite fun. Cycling to school really cuts travel time, and is even faster than the bus. Am considering getting a bike in autumn, though i wonder if i would ever finally get one :) Which brings me to another topic that i might blog about in the near future.

Laughter is the best medicine

2007-07-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

So, I've been asked several times why i end laugh. Well, technically, i was asked why i was laughing when i was apparantly reading a math book. No, the math is not funny, despite what you guys think. Most of the time, its that my mind wandered off and recalled a previous incident, perhaps prompted by the music in my ears. Sometimes these incidents bring a smile to my face, sometimes they bring out the tears. But then again, no one asks me why i cry when reading a math book (i guess its second nature to them to cry when reading math books. Alternative explanation is that i dont cry. Take your pick.)

But anyway, let me relate 2 incidents that made me laugh. Today, for some reason, I walked around Hyde Park with a sword in hand. Actually, it was a sword in paper bag, which tore apart, hence became sword in hand. At some point in time, i felt like one of those gangsters in chinese movies, who walk around with concealed parangs, waiting for a gang fight. For those of you that know the gangfight story, pls explain it to that bewildered woman that walked her dog while staring at me. On top of that, I was walking back towards Regents, and i pondered about the spy's inability to protect himself. Then, i hoped that i might be set upon, and could, like the gangsters in the movies, with great flourish, brandish my weapon and hunt my dinner. Sadly, i entered market in the park with no further incident.

Because the lobby is undergoing renovation, the back is now the lobby, and its faster to enter regents from market in the park, esp for south tower pple. However, for the North tower pple, its equally troublesome either way. So i was bemused when this couple, who were carrying tennis rackets, which i assume were not for previously stated gangfight purposes, pressed the button for the lobby (from the basement that is). So much for being athletic. After they got out, i couldn't control myself, so let out a laugh. And then i got another bewildered look from this black guy. Who lives on the 36th floor. Now you tell me, how can i not laugh?

Some Random Thoughts. And comments

2007-07-12T06:55:00.001-05:00

I have just purchased 3 bags of crap for $8. Should be crap though.

Better late than never. Unless its meeting up with me.

CIA. Extracting information about T and K.

TK came back at 4am and left at 7am. The relavant authorities should be concerned.

Edit

2007-07-08T07:52:00.000-05:00

Before you pple that that im single desparate ugly, the marketplace posting is, as the title suggests, someone's marketplace posting. In particular, it is not mine. I posted it cos i almost died from laughter when i read it, hence felt that i needed to immortalize it.

I choose my own friends and do not need to prostitute myself, contary to popular belief. WTF man WTF.

Black and white

2007-07-07T09:26:00.002-05:00

Lets say you went through a 'bad' experience, which turned out to be 'good'. What would you remember from it? I know the Calvin response.

Now switch roles, you went through a 'good' experience, which turned out to be 'bad' Do you reminisece it? I'm surprised by the Calvin response.

Of course, this begs the question of what is 'good' and 'bad'. Write a 4 page paper, with concise definitions and a clear thesis, on the survivability of killer bees in volcanos.

Marketplace posting

2007-07-07T09:26:00.001-05:00

Help Wanted:

I need a friend. Everyone at the U of C is so unfriendly.
Btw, I have a playstation 2 and games.
Oh, and I can cook.

Thanks

Yea yea its been a month

2007-07-02T22:05:00.001-05:00

Just got a package from home today. It came packed with 4 durian cakes. I'm now the proud owner of 2 of them :) Theres also a set of house keys which i guess my bro forgot to return. The alternative explanation is that my parents wont be picking me up cos the airport halfway across the country. Which reminds me, i forgot to email them my flight details, which are rotting at my printer.

Had a conversation with a fren that was worth repeating. Was eating pasta (thanks to my pedo squatter) on my bed last night, and chatting with a friend, who commented that it was a disaster waiting to happen. I replied that, oh its not a big deal, after all those sheets were newly washed, so id just lick up the mess. True enough, disaster struck. So i did what came naturally, and my friend said i was stupid. Well, i do stupid things, for various reasons. This time was because sometimes i just do stupid things. So the natural leadup qn was, are there other reasons for doing stupid things? After a moment's thought, i came up with 2 more reasons: 2. It was the best choice 3. I didn't know better. When asked to substantiate, i explained that a possible action for 2 was using water to dilute the stain, only to have it spread. for 3, it could be swallowing some left over laundry powder while licking.

Yea, it doesn't sound so exciting now, but it was a great moment in the conversation. Too bad i fell asleep halfway through.

Advice is always easier to give than to receive

2007-05-31T22:12:00.001-05:00

But sometimes, you have to give in order to receive. Cos by giving, you are saying things that you need to hear, in which case you're receiving from yourself, what you couldn't say to yourself previously.And so Calvin lives to see another day.

Darn it, now i need to find a fat friend to advise him against getting fatter. Oh wait, i already have one.

Sunrise

2007-05-28T18:50:00.000-05:00

did an all-nighter yesterday (alright, to be fare, i was sleeping for quite a while in the evening). And when 5am came around, the sky started becoming lighter. So i went and stared at the sunrise from the comfort of my room. One of these days, i should really make it a point to get out to the point and watch it from there. The friday or saturday after next seems a good possibility.

Went to sleep after that, woke up, had dinner for breakfast, and now im having breakfast for dinner. Should be sleeping like a normal person tonight though.

On Friendship

2007-05-21T01:02:00.001-05:00

I know the title sounds like something from one of my hume texts, but just bear with me or dont read the crap that i'm writing. (Disclaimer: As always, you should go do something else more productive with your time.) And this is going to be a sensitive topic, so i guess names should be avoided, esp since i don't know who reads this. Lets see, how do i say this. Oh well, i guess if those pple im talking about read this, they will know im talking about them, but still, all the pronouns will be male.

It is well known that there are many different kinds of friendship. What is less known (at least to me) is that people can treat friendships so differently. For me, friends are divided into various categories. This includes 'acquantainces', 'people whose name i think i know', 'people whom i think will make good friends', 'people whom i know i cant be friends with', 'good friends', 'people who understand me', 'potentially good friends'. For me, friendship is for friendship's sake, not that there should be any ulterior motive. But having come over to the states, I've seen how some people treat/make friends here. Well, i'm not sure how global this phenomemon is, but i haven't been very observant of quality of friends back in sg (well, i know the quality of mine, i don't know the quality of others).

When asked what constitues a friend, A says 'A friend is someone that makes me feel good about myself.' I was honestly abhorred when i heard that statement, but then things started to click in my brain. His comment made sense along lines of how he treated and made friends. They were just for him to feel good about himself. Sadly. And when they no longer make him feel good about himself, its time to say tata.

B says 'What does it mean to 'care' (forgot the actual word) for someone?' My reply was ' I don't really know, you just learn to pick up the small details. I mean, if you really treat them as a friend, you will notice when they are upset, or happy, or excited. You learn to understand and interpret their actions (Like if they have a certain smell, that means that they woke up and rushed off to school). It's not something that can be taught.' Another one bites the dust, though painfully.

C only contacts me when he needs help with stuff. Our MSN conversations reflect that very well. And after a while, i stop caring for such people, and do not bother to go out of my way to provide the help they need.

D thinks that i have to be paid for my help. In fact, i find that downright insulting, and refused to reply/comment after hearing that. I mean, a thank-you meal would be great, cos that means conversations and bonding. And if you were to evaluate your friendships according to money, how much are you worth to me? And the fact that our only real communication this quarter is about this issue ... No point hanging on then.

E is one of those that did something wrong, and doesn't want to admit it. Hence relations have been strained, and almost impossible to communicate. Reopening of said channels only reminds me why they were closed in the first place. And i think that they should remain closed, its not my fault. But i admit, I'm not without my shortcomings.

F is one of those that communicate on a different frequency. I don't understand the way/reason that he does things, and sometimes they do irritate me. But i realize that it's just that we don't see eye to eye. Hence hes sadly put in the category of acquantainces, people whom i can be with, but wont really care to be with.

G is the same as F, but with very weird concepts of friendship. Insanely possessive/demanding at the start, something that isn't justified. He seems to believe in 'friendship at first sight', and moves on way too quickly after he feels that someone doesn't want a deeper connection with him. He fails to understand that things take time, that people need opportunities. Oh well, who cares. I've tried, and failed. I'd just be happy to comment from the sidelines.

H. This one i have no idea what to do with. Impossible to please, impossible to reach a compromise with, impossible to communicate. And when i found out, a quarrel was imminent. Too full of himself, believing that people just have to accept him for himself or deal with it. (haha, sounds alot like me eh)

Of course, this is not reflective of the quality of friends that i have. After i get to know someone, i get a feeling of how deep the connection can be. Initially, many people are on the 'potentially good friend' list, and it takes a meaningful /meaningless conversation before i know where to move them to. Many of those above have been offered chance after chance to connect, but after a while, when there is no reciprocative effort, the olive branch is withdrawn. Some stay there for a long time, awaiting that crucial moment when I can bump them up to their righful place. Sadly, some dont get there due to time/space constraints. This sounds very algorithmatic/mechanical, but i assure you it is anything but that.

I, J, K, L(?) are good friends that i have made here. Thanks for everything. Some of them are graduating and will be sorely missed. I really do hope that we can keep in contact. But, like many friendships, distance puts a kink in the communication.

On a side note, i've been frequently leaving the toaster on after my bagel is done. An irate TK is sending me emails about this bad habit, thankfully he has breakfast much later than i do. Hopefully i don't burn the toaster like Adam. And one more story to balance out the score. I wrote a msg on the whiteboard telling TK to stop piling stuff on a full rubbish bin (reminisant of a certain summer black housemate), and he erases the msg and draws a smily face. He's a good friend.

The hermit crab is coming out of his shell

2007-05-10T23:21:00.000-05:00

I overslept on monday. So exciting. Was working till like 3 (alright, i fell asleep on my bed), hence forgot to set my alarm. Usually i dont need an alarm, as im up once at 7+ due to the light, and then id just laze around in bed, usu with my eyes closed, just enjoying myself... So when i started stirring, i walked over to my com, checked my mail, dallyed around, and got a shock when i saw the time on my com. It was 1012, so i had to rush to change and leave. Got out of regents, and the bus was at the other bus stop, thus began a 25 min fast march to school. Got there in time to copy notes from the blackboard from a class that i have no idea whats happening. Oh well... At least i can now say, I don't (always) wake up when the sun starts shinning.

But then again, I've been meaning to catch the sunrise at the point at some point. Maybe i should ask ivan to get me out of bed.

How to be happy

2007-05-06T23:14:00.000-05:00

After an extremely unproductive day, i managed to write my SOSC response paper in 2 hours (usu it takes me >3), and writeup my maths problem set in 1 hr (disclaimer: All the problems were previously solved, and there were half as many this time around cos of midterm). Oh well, at least now i have a clean toilet, clean laundry, and a somewhat cleaner room (haha, cleaner room, yea rite) What infuriates me is that, someone stole my pillowcases while taking them out from the washing machine. Darn it. Hence i went online to go buy pillowcases and bedsheets, and was astonished by their costs. Sob. After a long deliberation, I'm now unable to bitch about TK and his tread-count, or cost of bedsheet. Luckily April's income was high cos of delayed March earnings and pre-emptive May earnings. But then again, cost was partially inflated by my insistence that I'd not keep accounts for a while, and this is my first 'shopping' since like spring break. I need to pickup earphones though, mine always spoil after awhile cos of the way i treat them.

A WSJ that attracted my attention was entitled 'Why we are not happy with what we have', or something like that. However, i din read that article, cos i was too busy playing. (thus cannot do a gen ju bao zhang bao dao article) However, here are my thoughts on it. Since i can't talk about human nature, i will talk about Calvin nature.

1. It's Calvin's nature to always strive for the best. Hence he will not be satisfied with what he has now, and instead look forward to what more he can get. At times, this causes great sadness and a feeling of lost, when the thing that he wants is so far out of reach. And sadness = how to be happy?

2. It's Calvin's nature to forget the pain that he went through. Which is why he has such fond memories of Army, and even hon anal. Thus he doesn't remember that what he has now was paid for at a high price of blood, sweat and toil. And forgetfulness of previous pain = current pain is terrible = how to be happy?

3. It's Calvin's nature to make light of his achievements. Hei, I'm humble. No achievements = have nothing = how to be happy?

4. It's Calvin's nature to only see the results of others, and not see the trouble that they have struggled through. Thus, it appears that others have it easy, cos they are smarter, richer, or female. Others are so successful = self is comparatively less successful = how to be happy?

5. It's Calvin's nature to have a smile on his face. It's a really sad day when i don't smile, or lose the glint in my eyes (being lost in thought doesn't count) But what really makes him happy? Dunno what makes him happy = how to be happy?

Haha, i bet few of you thought that this post will turn out this way, given the title.

P.S. In a recent elevator trip up to Regents, i commented that its rare for me to be the 2nd out of 6th person to exit (I stay on the 29th floor, total of 37 floors). This was immediately followed by the phrash 'Oh I know why'. Then i exited the elevator to the amusement of a friend, and the bewilderment of another.

tots, many tots

2007-04-29T14:31:00.000-05:00

Hmz, so once again, im surprised by who has dropped by and said harlow. hi pot! There are quite a few thoughts in my head right now, and i should start placing them down somewhere. I'm also considering shifting blog to allow for private entries, cos since this blog is for private thoughts, some of them are not meant for the general public. Oh yes, my space bar has gone whacky on me, so sometimes the words are not properly separted, and i dont give a damn.

The recent meaningful conversations have revolved around friendships, relationships, maths, interests, growing up, etc.

Friendships - How do they actually develop? First impressions are definately important. But also, sometimes you get a sense of someone, and know that they will make a good friend. Sometimes, they pass you by, sometimes you have to wait awhile for the right conditions for the friendship to develop. This seems to be based on intuition / what you consider are important to you. There are some basic things that i look out for, things like puntuality, considerateness, maturity, thinking, intensity, etc. Theres a blog on the right, of a friend whom i haven't really taked to since sec 2. But even then, I was extremely impressed with his level of maturity. And the views and opinions that he holds, echo mine to a large extent. Which makes reading of his blog that much more pleasant, cos he expresses certain thoughts that i'm having too. Too bad we haven't been in contact at all, and now i just puruse his blog, and im dont know if he knows that.

What saddens me, is how friendships can just die out. Coming over to chicago, there are alot of people from sg that i've lost contact with. Last year, at least we maintained minimal contact via email, msn, etc. It appears now that things are at a standstill. This is quite saddening. Army, JC, SIMO, Sec sch... As our paths diverge, its so much harder to keep in contact, unless you're in close physical contact, but sometimes not even then.

Which makes things even sadder, cos there are friends in chicago that i've lost already, for a variety of reasons. Well technically, ones an accquantance, one was a friend, one was a close friend. And though i know why things went the way the did, i can't do anything about it. I guess, we have just met at the wrong times. Thinking styles were too different, Maturity levels, Opinions, Willingess to open up. It pains me to think about it, but i have to move on.

Relationships - Interestingly, this topic has come up with a varirty of people, and only recently. To sum up, I was at chinatown for lunch on friday, and the topic of what made a suitable partner (naturally) came up. T was saying that she was looking for a someone who could 1. play an interesting musical instrument 2. Shower and change everyday 3. not eat alot. A was saying that she wanted 1 someone she could converse with 2. someone she could share thoughts / spend time with. [Note: Not their exact words, but you get my point]. Then i pointed out that their criteria were so different, one was looking for basic requirements to be fulfilled, the other was setting standards that had to be met (Yea, the words do not really tell what i mean, PTAI). I think i know what my criteria is, there are a variety that has to be met, but most importantly, they have to understand me, know me, interest me. And I, them.

Maths - Theres a difference between working hard, and working smart. I've been doing too much of the former, and not enough of the latter, and its beginning to show. Linkages are not former, nor are concepts and ideas well-defined. That could sustain me as i went through JC, but not as i go further in math. In a sense, this has plagued me for quite a while, and has reared its head even in SIMO. Its not too late to deal with this, but its going to be very time consuming, learning another way to think. Esp when no one knows how to express this way of thinking, this way of learning. I must, like a child, learn how to connect the dots in his colouring book, to form a nicer picture. While i can't take the easy way out, i have to take it easy. [Copied: The easy way robs you of that opportunity, that chance to learn something. The easy way is less painful, less probing, but it is also less enriching.]

Interests - Thats what i look out for, people with passion in what they do, cos they are the ones that can inspire, that can validate their existance. To a certain extent, everyone has their own interest, it just takes you time to see them. But still, i 'judge' their interests, and that could influence my interactions with them. Which saddens me, cos im losing my interest. Struggling. Flailing about. UGH. This shall not be further developed

Growing up - I think people grow up in spurts and spurts. Yes, there might be that gradual continuous process, but when puberty hits, thats when you get your major growth spurt. Thats when all the conditions are right - hormones, enviroment, nuturing, relationships, etc. And if you're lucky enough like Kin Foong, you get another growth spurt in JC. Life's like that. It continually throws lessons into your way, and you have to learn from them. Somethings have to be learnt through OWN experience, some things are sufficient for you to view from experiences of others. I would say that i'm going through another growth spurt right now. The growing pains in mine bones are painful, but are necessary for me to stand up tall later on in life (yea yea, i know im tall enough)

And yes, i think this is long enough for now.

Harlow again

2007-04-28T22:42:00.000-05:00

Yea, i know its been some time since i last wrote here. This blog sortof reflects how i feel, both in terms of what i write and how often i write. Sometimes its not that i have no time, but just that i dont want to.

Lots of things have happened in this past 2 months. Some were nice, some aian't. But i'm thankful that it has. Better early than later. And its all part of growing up.

Have decided to stop recording expenses, at least for a while. Which reminds me, i have yet to buy some ear muffs despite this past winter. And i should start thinking of getting a new sound system, considering how i picked this one from off the streets.

Have had quite a few good conversations with several friends this past week or so.

yupz, thats about it.

I'm here to gripe

2007-04-08T22:40:00.000-05:00

About a topic that few would expect (and fewer would understand). I'm here to gripe about maths. I must say that I have been lucky with maths so far, be it IMO, uni, Putnam, REU. But the previous quarter has been very taxing, with telling impact on my results.

Why does it take so long for me to understand a piece of maths? Yes, i have developed the thought processes for problem solving, and have manipulated that to my advantage. But the problem, as always, is the initial understanding of the material. First, there is that disgust that has to be overcome. Second, there is the numerous re-readings that have to follow. Third, there is the slow understanding that creeps back and forth; just as I think I know what it means, a wrench gets thrown into the works.

Why am I unable to see the big picture, to see how it all links together? I have only local understanding, which doesn't translate into global knowledge. The reasons for definitions, lemma, propositions, theorems become lost, and slowly the results themselves are forgotten. This has happened time and time again, be it problem solving strategies, analysis and now algebra.

Why does being good in math mean that you have to devote your entire life to it? I understand the complaints against the typical math major. Sadly, its also sortof necessary.

Why has maths lost its beauty? Partly because understanding has not set in, and former knowledge is lost. This can be corrected with more time. Once again, a trade off is called for. But all hope is not lost.

It amazing how, after struggling for 10+ weeks, the tide is now turning back. I'm gaining confidence again in wanting to pursue a PHD. It's definately not at the same level as it was before, but the desire is now there, once again. This time round, the road forward is going to be much harder. I recongnize that, but hope that its not impossible.

Please excuse me if i become a hermit. Theres a serious game of catch-up that I need to play.

I'm so tempted not to burn all my bridges, but if it ever calls for that, I just might do so.

A friend said

2007-03-28T23:56:00.000-05:00

A friend said : Whenver I get a headache, I'd got for a haircut. Losing that massive bulk of hair gives me a light feeling and makes it easier to think.

A friend said : Now I know it will be impossible for me to be with someone based on the sole premise that they like me and treat me well and are a good person. I need to be innately, inexplicably, irrepressibly attracted or it isn't worth it.

A friend said : So I put these things into a box, and leave them there. Once in a while, they come up again, and I see that they do. I take them out, say hi, play with them, then I put them back in.

A friend said : Aiyah, got anything u not happy must say out, don't keep everything to yourself lor, if not very sianz. Sometimes just need to complain. i mean most of the itme we cant do anything much abt it but at least can listen.

Warning: MATH AHEAD

2007-03-25T20:38:00.000-05:00

I think I’ve submitted the previous entry… IN the spirit of spring break, I’m writing up my blog at the airport, and got it done while I’m waiting for my flight. Memphis was definitely worth the trip. Din see much cos of the short time that I was there, coupled with the 1.5 day conference…

Arrived on fri morn, took a cab down to holiday inn. Wanted to check in at 9am, but there were no clean rooms available, so I went over to the university of Memphis campus (like 2 streets away), registered for the conference. Had a talk with this professor called Tom for a few hours, which involved some chalkboard fun. He showed me some work that he was doing on Hamiltonian paths on the n-D hyper-cube, with certain restrictions involved. His claim is that: Since my computer cannot find a solution for n=15 after running for so long, I conjecture that for n=100 there is no solution.

After that, I went back to check in, and got a nice surprise in the room. Yupz, it’s a 4 star hotel indeed… Theres a living room before you hit the bedroom. Was living in the lap of luxury, though also paying to live in the lap of luxury. Received an email from ioana, some other first year from Uchi that joined me at this conference, saying that she missed her bus and would arrive at 10pm instead.

Headed back for the conference, in which tom was the first speaker. The other two were sort of boring, cos 1 had no material and the other was talking about physics. Thus ended day one (half day). There was a ‘drinks party’ at some prof’s place, but I had no idea of how to get there, so headed back to sleep instead.

Day 2’s lectures were slightly better. 4 in the morn, 4 in the aft. I particurly enjoyed the last 2 of the day, cos they had interesting material which I could follow, and see the intuition and ideas. Here’s an open question: Let S be a set of increasing integers such that the difference between any two consecutive numbers is bounded. Must the set of numbers consisting of the integers – S contain a geometric progression?

After that, there was a party at Provost Ralph’s place. Luckly we met up with some UoM students Doug and Andrew, who gave us a lift down. Before that, we got a car ride around the place, visiting some park, the ‘getto’, etc. Dinner at Ralph’s house was great, seeing the old professors eating and discussing math, which the rest of us were mixing around. The students mostly set around a table playing with some of those brain teasers. This would have been a great place to bring set. Slightly reminisant of IMO.

After that, we were bugging Doug about what could be done in Memphis. Apparantly nothing… We eneded up driving to Walgreen (Hopefully none of them reads this, but driving to WalMart ….. oh well) It’s more of just having fun together I guess, than anything. Headed back to the hotel room, was quite late, sat around and chatted. Then we watched south park (The WalMart episode) and introduced Doug to Happy Tree Friends. It sounds like nothing much, but I think the night activities were the best part of this trip.

A question that Ioana was asking quite often was : Is this how we will end up? Not a particularly interesting prospect, but its an indication of a possible future. Something to think about.

Oh, and had a chat with Charmaine justifying my calling the IMO 2005 team brats. I explained that it’s a term of endearment…

The posts are gonna get shorter as i get busy in this upcoming quarter ....

Boston adventures

2007-03-23T18:41:00.000-05:00

Hi there again

Right now I’m at Boston airport, awaiting my flight to Detroit. One thing I learnt here, is to book flights earlier, as that can help to reduce travel costs. And sometimes, waiting can be very costly.

Boston was great fun, though I would have appreciated that 1-2 more days. Stayed over at boon leong’s, was welcomed into his fragrant room and slept on a mattress on the floor. Apparently, scandalous TK and Kenneth both shared that mattress when they came over to stay, tsk tsk.

Went walking around Boston on Tuesday, with my Ipod plucked in. After plodding around the area for quite a while, I realized that I was no longer listening to myself, but always being distracted by the music. I have slowly grown accustomed to always having a tune in my head, which has shut off my inner voice. It’s now harder to converse with myself and talk things through. Sigh. I need to find my voice again. I’m thinking of giving my Ipod a rest for the time being, though it will still be used when I’m highly bored.

Ended up in borders after a while, in which I started reading a book. Read book 2 of a series by Margrat Weis, called ‘The Dragon’s Son’. Din finish it the first time around, so I had to go back another day to read it. Book 3 is out in hardcover, but they din have stock, hence was unable to read the ending. So sad. After that, I started on ‘The Crystal City’, part of the ‘Tales of Alvin Maker’ series by Orson Scott Card, the same guy that wrote ‘Ender’s Game’. The first is pure fantasy, the second is an alternative America where people have certain knacks. That’s my choice of books to read when I’m bored, which says something about how I think.

On Weds, I crashed some of boon’s classes. Artin’s algebra class was good, Riemann surfaces was un-understandable cos I din know the material, and his seminar class was just bad cos whatever the girl was talking about, I knew already. And she spent so long talking about so little. Not such an uncommon phenomenon actually.

Had Brazillian buffet at night with boon and Joanne. The food was alright, the company was better. Ended up with quite a bad stomachache halfway through dinner, which put a damper on my food consumption abilities. Walked Joanne back to Harvard, then took the train back to MIT. Went to sleep quite early, woke up at 4am, visited the throne, stayed awake till 7, then slept till 12. Feeling much better already. I’ve learnt to commit the deed and then report it J

Went shopping on Thursday at Filene’s basement, which is a discount place that gives a further discount depending on how long the stuff has been in there. Had a bit of fun shopping, especially when I saw an overcoat that originally cost 300++, but I managed to get for 70. Also bought a jacket (to replace my current one), one white long sleeved shirt, one white short sleeve shirt, one pair of jeans, one pair of shorts. Total came up to 150, very worth it. I also discovered a nice brand of clothes called Kenneth Cole (that’s where the jackets and shirts came from). I love the material, the feel of the clothes on my skin. Will find out how much I like this set of clothes over the next few weeks. Sadly, it’s too expensive to buy unless there’s a massive discount. Oh well, hopefully my earning power would increase enough to match my interests.

After that, had dinner with the Singaporeans at a Chinese restaurant. Nicholas Tham and Yuri, Kah Keng and Sarah, Boon, Charmaine, Chirs Moh, Ruijie. The food was good and cheap, had great fish there too. Should have eaten more seafood in boston actually, but oh well… Shall get my fill of crabs when I get back to Singapore.

I love you all.

results are out

2007-03-22T18:17:00.000-05:00

winter quarter results were out, amazingly got an A for my SOSC, and did quite badly on my math ... apparantly i should give up and become a sosc major.

Putnam results are out too, our team is 5th, which equals $200, downgrade from last year. Interestingly, none of us are in top 25. I got a HM, the other 2 are in 100-200 range. Which makes it amazing that we got team 5th, by some major fluke of luck.

2007-03-22T11:48:00.000-05:00

I realize that i have lost the ability to listen to myself.

This needs to be rewritten

Hi there

2007-03-19T22:48:00.000-05:00

I know I have been ignoring my blog for a while, partly cos of finals and stuff which have kept me busy. But even then, in the past two days, I’ve resisted the urge to blog, and now, suddenly while up in the air, I’m typing this out.

So much has happened this quarter… I’m glad for friends that I have, and how much more we have gotten to know each other. I have also neglected some other pple, partly because of my busy schedule, partly from choice. As mentioned sometime back, dinner parties have sortof decreased. But then again, hosting CNY was quite fun, not to mention expensive. Am not sure how spring quarter will be like, doesn’t seem like there is any major holiday to celebrate. Just did a lunch yesterday for 4 on Sunday.

On this note, y must TK not eat pork. Darn it, I wanted to cook bah kut teh some time back, but he cannot eat it. Then on Sunday wanted to cook honey ribs. Should kick him out and ask Ivan to move into the living room. Oh, and he has been complaining that I burn too many pots. So I guess it’s justified if I were to reduce the serving portions which would then reduce the possibility of me burning pots (I’m not entirely sure how that logic works, but I accept the conclusion of TK finding his own food source.)

This topic came up in conversation, about how much / whether people have grown. CS mentioned that he has hardly changed from Primary school, along with the kind of antics that he used to do… I used to say that too, at least while I was in JC, and partly while I was in army. But now, I feel that I have grown so much, especially in these past 4 years. I am glad for my army and uni experience. I know I have changed a lot, in terms of habits, peculiarities, motivations and such. And along the way, I learn more about myself.

Back up in the air, time to continue typing. Managed to sleep through the 2 liftoffs, had to deal with the first landing. Hopefully I can sleep through the next landing too. Have an apple to consume at some point in time. I’m suddenly reminded of zac and his oranges that he brought along from Singapore to US, which held us up at the customs for some time, before they threw ir away…

The way I have been doing things seem no longer to work as well. I have known this for quite a while, and just received a wakeup call. So now I would need another approach, which will be troublesome. Oh well, its better to suffer in the short term, than die in the long run. Hopefully I will know what to do, failing which, I have to ask around.

Oh, Putnam results will be out within the next 2 weeks, release date has varied from 15^th to the 30^th. Not expecting much, since I felt that I screwed up somewhat. There’s always next year. Kiat and Charmaine apparently did quite well, so shall keep a lookout for they names. Any money is good, and the more the merrier.

Have been considering moving my blog, where I can have some private entries. This hasn’t really worked out so well as a place to store my thoughts, since there are definitely gonna be thoughts that some people shouldn’t have access to. Have been considering moving my blog, where I can have some private entries. This hasn’t really worked out so well as a place to store my thoughts, since there are definitely gonna be thoughts that some people shouldn’t have access to. And as with any long entry, each paragraph is barely developed, but behind them, is a whole layer of meaning.

HAPPY

2007-02-26T18:44:00.000-06:00

SO HAPPY

Harlow

2007-02-25T23:49:00.000-06:00

Its been 2 long weeks so far, from last wednesday till today.

Last weds - SEASME, tea room.
Thurs - dinner.
Sat - CNY
Sun -crunch time

Was quite irritated with stuff last week, one was absolutely dumb and trivial and shouldn't have come up. The other was a result of new development of events, and I learnt stuff about myself that i was burying. Not a good idea generally, burying stuff.

And then this week.
Mon -
Tues -
Weds - SEASME + Akaki
Thurs - Akaki
Fri - Dinner + Mitya
Sat - Citylights + After party (which i decided not to go for)
Sun - Dinner + J

Well, things aian't settled yet. There are still many thought running about in my head, which most probably explains why this doesn't make sense...

Happy CNY

2007-02-18T22:18:00.000-06:00

Happy CNY guys :)

busy upcoming week

2007-02-11T23:17:00.000-06:00

First, let me say im so irritated. Read the wrong SOSC reading not once, but TWICE! Spent 9 hours on a 3 hour job, WTF. And the other response papers that i wrote up are completely useless... so irritated ... oh well, at least now its done.

Lets see, whats upcoming this week.
Mon - class till 3, work till 6, citylights at 8-10
Tues - class till 4, faculty roundtables at 7, which means must come back to change
Weds - class till 3, work till 7 ... yes i know its v-dae
Thurs - class till 130, work from 4-6, then must remember to do alge AND phys homework
Fri - class till 1130, meeting prof at 430.
Sat - YSP, and crazy reunion dinner after that!
Sun - Work, yes i know its CNY.

harlow again

2007-02-10T20:57:00.000-06:00

Oh yes, i did notice that my chat box is down. But well, its currently un-necessary to fix it, hence not gonna be done for a long while. Live with that.

TK says:
here's another story for you. i tried making an omelette, but i forgot to oil the frying pan, so the omelette stuck and i had to make scrambled eggs instead.
TK says:
and write me a cheque for $493.31 for january expenses

Which means that expenditure shot over budget by quite a bit. Oh well, who cares. Its gonna be evened out if i add in my jan salary pay. But that slow administrator put in my paperwork too late, so will only get my pay at the end of the month. sob.

Oh yes, i noticed how much faster this quarter went, then compared to last quarter or winter break. Guess thats also cos there are so much things to do, that im caught up in the moment moving from one to the other. But then again, i remember periods of times of doing sortof nothing. Dunno how time evens out... Which means that for spring break i think i shd take the nice and easy approach. Yea, think i shall just camp out at boston, which apparantly has very little stuff to do there. So perhaps 1 week of looking at museums and making a nuisence of myself the the singaporean community there.

Damn it, there was something else i wanted to say, which is why i came back and did an edit. But just 5 short seconds later, i forgot what i wanted to write down. Irritated. OH yes, now i remember. Spent the past hour or so searching through wikipedia for math theorems, now i'm at the letter G. Turns out that i din learn anything really useful, even for the existance of theorems. Cos either i know/heard of them, or they are completely useless to my knowledge level. Oh well...

several random thoughts

2007-02-10T17:03:00.000-06:00

Some pple need to update their blog more often. Esp since i dun read many blogs, and its sad to see the same entry right at the start for so long.

TK is so lazy. There was a chunk of beef that i bought and placed in the fridge for about 1 week. Then recently took it out to chop into small pieces. Then guess who had beef for lunch the next day?? Oh, and as a testement to how we can live life by adapting to the status quo. 1. TK's window has been broken since he moved in, so he freezes in his room, even with the heater on. 2. We need lighting in the living room, and survive by shifting our room lights in and out as and when needed. 3. 1 lamp in living room has been tempremental ever since we shifted in. 4. The microwave has been spoiled for 1 week... Considering how TK aian't gonna do anything abt these, i must attempt to remember to contact maintainence on my way out ... OH yes, that guy bags up his room rubbish and leaves it in the kitchen, expecting the garbage disposal company to take care of it from there...

More recently, the topic of friendship has croppped up several times, and how im losing touch with various people from my 'past' life. Be it from class, HC, SIMO, Army, etc ... and once in a while i start up an MSN conversation with someone, but that feels so different. All the more so i shouldn't lose friends in my proximity, that would be even sadder. Will miss those that graduate this year, and with them, most of my MJ kaki's. sob.

And i realize that i haven been cooking much this quarter. Think i hosted 7-8 dinner parties last quarter, mostly over the weekends, either to chat of to MJ. This quarter, think the count is at 2. That number aian't likely to increase past 5, partially because i started getting busy with work this quarter. Cooking is sortof a fun experiment, and it also means that i have enough time to waste, hence means im not that far back in my work.

Sally's work so far has included the nearest point function, n-secting of spheres, and isometries. These are results that are known already, so nothing that im doing is ground-breaking in that sense. The problems aian't exactly trivial, but their solutions can be quite nice, depending on the approach taken. Borsuk-Ulam, multiple inductions, constructing a singleton set. Have yet to calculate hourly wage, but i think its below min wage levels LOL.

Once again, i have decided that creature comforts shall play a more important part in my life, in the sense that i shall be willing to buy stuff that i need/want. But, given my temprement, that's gonna be hard to change. Like i've been thinking of getting a pair of ear muffs since winter, but still haven gotten down to it, and it only costs like $10. Must remember the next time i walk past walgreens. But considering that income has increased, i shall be more free with my spending. Think my Jan spending is still within limits, must wait for TK to work out the accounts (and if he doesn't do so, then i no need to pay rent)

Fruits basket

2007-02-04T17:07:00.000-06:00

Finally finished watching 'Fruits Basket', kudos to chinsiong for getting it :) Its an extremely good anime, though the premise sounds dubious at the start. The last 3 episodes made this really really well!

The story starts off with a little girl (Tohru) who recently lost her mum to a car accident, and ends up living with the Souma family. The Souma family has a secret, part of which is that when some of them get hugged by members of the opposite sex, they turn into the zodiac animals. By now, some of you would be wtf am i watching such a dumb anime. Well, the plot development is very good, and as i said, the last 3 episodes went particurly well. I guess the timing, aka when i'm watching this, just happened to coincide too.

The issues that it deals with includes friendships, relationships, keeping secrets, pain and suffering, love, etc... A particurly striking moment, was when the rabbit Momiji revealed that his mum had her memory erased because she could not bear the trama of hugging her son and watching him turn into a rabbit. So now, he can only look on from afar, and observe his mum and his sister (his father is an actual souma member, and still knows). He cant get close to either, esp since he looks so similar to his sister that his mother would notice and wonder...

Another part was when Tohru was in a dilema, and her 2 closest friends were arguing over her. Girl 1 wanted to go up and comfort her, but Girl 2 was fighting against 1, saying that they couldn't comfort Tohru now, that Tohru needed to be somewhere else though she din want to be, but deep down inside Tohru knew that, that it wasn't comforting that Tohru needed, but courage to face facts/reality, etc ... An interesting idea actually...

Oh course, there were some episodes which i thought were pure dumb, but they did have some overall effect in developing the story. Or they were doing some other plot/character development that i din really care about.

To my parents

2007-01-25T08:25:00.000-06:00

Love you.

How much of mathematics is just dumb luck?

2007-01-19T19:55:00.000-06:00

And so i've began working for PS, part of which requires me to help out in SEASME on wednesday night, the other part is thinking of math questions and solutions. Oh, and apparantly Borsuk conjecture is to be a long term goal lol. No progress made in that area at all.

Well, so the point is that, i was working on a problem, thinking of how to solve it. Apparantly the solutions out there use some kind of convergence, which PS doesn't like. Like any new problem, i've been spending quite a bit of time thinking about it, which would make my hourly wage quite low ... To cut a long story short, i chanced upon a solution in the morning :) It used a high-power theorem, of which i have no idea why it is true. And the only reason why i know it exists, is cause i chanced upon it. Yupz, its called the Borsuk-Ulam theorem, which i saw when i was searching up info on Borsuk conjecture.

Hence the question, how much of mathematics is just dumb luck? Just chancing upon the correct theorem, the correct idea, the correct method?

Its interesting the new things you find out everyday

2007-01-13T16:37:00.000-06:00

Had an interesting dream on friday. The interesting part was also that i remembered it, cos a while back was telling my fren that its been quite a while since i remembered my dreams. Well, sometimes i remember them the second i wake up, then it fades into obsurity. But this one, well stuck. And so its written down here for prosperity.

Oh, my shuffle acted up on friday. So sad. To be plunged into a world of silence. such an errie feeling. So i think i've developed a dependence on feeling empty space with music. which could be bad. But oh well.

have recently become the proud owner of a DVD player, allowing me access to the wonderful region 1 DVD's that abound in this part of the world. Oh well, there goes my grades. parents you have been warned :)

Would be working for sally on weds. thats the official part. Otherwise, im supposed to put 10 hours every week, or something like that. And he gave me another math problem to work on (one which has a solution, but he wants me to find something nicer) 'Hm, there should be an easier solution than whats in this book. You know what, I think i'd give this question to Calvin, he'd eat it alive... '

OH yes, and a qn arose. Is it possible to hide things from the singaporean community? I would say yes. But now have to run off, other things to do

Yupz, ditto the title. Enough said

Owe Plates Return Plates

2007-01-07T16:12:00.000-06:00

So, i've been harassing HY n HL to return our stuff that they borrowed to host a party ... The delayed return resulted in us not having medium sized plates, normal sized cups and proper spoons to eat with for the past week or so.

Attempted to get my stuff from them on weds, they were both home and had MSN conversations with them:

C: awake?
HY: yes
C: good, i coming up to get my stuff
HY: hey im busy rigjt npow, come later
C: argh ... okie, got boy in room ah

So i tried the other one...

C: Harlow. Owe plates pay plates
HL: ha ha come and take la
C: How? Can ah. You say dnd leh
HL: Yar exactly. tomorrow would be better
C: tomolo quite busy, sry .... now free mah, very fast on
HL: tmr i bring down for u la

Well, at least i established fact that both were in room. So i went up and was knocking on their door for like 5 mins ... After which i gave up and went away. BTW, nope, she din bring it down 'tmr'

Well, to here credit, HL offered to bring stuff down on fri, but neither of us were home (duh!) and besides they were hosting another get-together on sat. So made sense not to trouble me to bring more stuff back up to them if there were to return.

This morn, sent an MSN msg to hy asking her to return stuff. Have yet to hear anything back ...

And so i just sent this off to them ... Lets see how long it takes for them to respond :)

Hi,

As requested, this is an electroic reminder that your household (3509S) return certain borrowed items to 2910S. These items include, but are not limited to:
1. Several plates
2. Several cups
3. Several sets of cutlery
4. 01 X Baking tray
5. 01 X Lighter

It would be greatly appreciated if these materials were returned in proper working condition in a timely fashion. Thanks for taking the trouble to read this message.

Calvin

Oh, so now HL needs a favor, an escort to a certain shady place... So guess what i have to do in order to get my stuff back...

P.S. Slight artistic license was used, but the facts of the case are undebatable.

harlow

2007-01-05T22:21:00.000-06:00

For some reason, when i cant blog, i can think of quite alot of things to blog about. But when i want to blog, i forgot what i wanted to say ...

okie ... got stuff from my parents, thanks to my bro. Luckily i told them that most stuff are for frens (which they are), so they din get extra of those stuff lol. Got singaporen movie DVD's, durian cake, canes (yes, teng tiao), and mahjong cards. Got some pork rib spice packet for myself (which they, as expected, bought more than required) Oh well, shan't complain

Living with TK has been fun. Lots of funny stories I can tell you, just as he can tell you lots of funny stories about me ... Lets see ... OH, rushed my breakfast this morning so i left a cup of milk by the sink heehee ... What else? Dunno, go ask him. I can tell you alot more interesting stories abt TK :)

Heehee Mum just called ... She was like 'Hei, din TK tell you that i called?' 'Erm yea he did.' Clearly, she expected me to call back... Well, lets face facts, i have no idea how to call back :)

Stuff for this winter. 4 courses Sosc, Algebra, Point-set topology, Phys 122! (yupz, the easiest phys). Planning on auditing ODE and Econ of info. Work. Might work for SEASME, have to ask PS. Dunno when hes in though, have to go find him at some point in time, pref soon. And thats about it. Should be a slack quarter.

OH yes, decided to give up on making pineapple tarts. Too much trouble lah, making the tart base. Have pineapple tarts here anyway, imported from sg. So now can have pineapple jam for breakfast, and its good :)

Boo

2006-12-31T10:59:00.001-06:00

Woke up today to find a first year hobo in my apartment ... Kenny was staying over here abt christmas time, then went off to Las Vegas for some chess competition. Gave him TK's keys, so he let himself in today. Good boy. But hes still asleep when i wanna cook lunch soon... He shall be responsible with letting TK in tomolo morn at 9, when i should preferbaly be dead/drunk/KOed (Hence an early happy new year just in case. well, thats the case in sg now, so im not off by much)

And so i looked over my NYR .... and i realized that hei, i forgot all about them man .... Sp here are some more for me to forget about. Oh well, am quite happy with life so far, though things could, of course, be much better.

1. PFI2Y (am convinced this is now possible ...)
2. Survive academic workload (within reason. Shall be happy with a A- in my courses.)
3. Treasure relationships (oh yea, made quite a few frens here ... think they all math majors ... yupz, they all are. Oh well ....)
4. SMSM (erm, i might restart my accounts, now that i have sightly more substantial inflow of income. But troublesome lah)

Boo

2006-12-31T10:59:00.000-06:00

end of hols

2006-12-29T20:39:00.000-06:00

Yupz, been some time since the last update. So im not gonna do a day by day breakdown, just the important stuff. I think im likely to slack in chicago again next winter. Its quite a nice break to do so here ....

Spent xmas at thomas' house. Had alot of polish food, like herring, bread, dumplings, fruit. Total of 15 dishes. Yup... Oh, apparantly liquor and meat are disallowed on xmas eve (but not on xmas). Had alot of fun there, met this parent, his (usually irritating, but was well-behaved this year) cousin+family, adam+mum. Lost to him in 3/3 chess games lol. Introduced him to 'drawn together' though, and its great. (http://www.networkoneaustralia.tk/)

Went downtown shopping, bought a sweater and a pair of gloves. Yea to keeping my extremities warm. Have to figure out something for my ears, but i usu listen to my ipod with clipon earphones, so something covering the ears would be weird. But in general, warm is good.

Went to the art institute twice, with hanxue, who was nice enough to tell me various stories behind the paintings. I now know enough to never be an artist lol. Will be one of those whose paintings are too ugly to look at, without any meaning behind it. Shall just have to content myself with attempting to do maths ugh.

And yes, im never gonna be a cook too. Just had 2 disasterous dishes haha... But the asian in me din want to waste food, so ate one. The other was way past gone ... Almost destroyed another pot, but am able to save it. Also tried making pineapple tarts (at least the jam lah) just in case my pineapple tarts do not safely arrive, but the jam is turning out to be just pineapples. sianz. Well, seems like baking has gone quite well (but also thats cos im just following instructions on the mix)

Yea, am able to run 10:05 for 2.4 :) (but wanting to stop at the 0.75, 1, 1.2, 1.25, 1.3, 1.4 mile mark) Am able to 'comfortably' run 10:40 (Thats 8.5 mph) Ironically this is gonna be the only IPPT station that i will pass... Oh well, shall just have to stay on in the US for long enough that my IPPT window closes permamently.

Started work. Not as fun as i hoped it would be. Oh well.

I think i shd look back on my NYR and see how many of them ive broken. Should be all of them.

Another update

2006-12-18T08:20:00.000-06:00

Now, lets see, what else have i done with my life??

Thurs, went to lao si chuan for dinner, had spicy beef, lamb, rabbit :) Yea for chinese and their animalistic cusines. Then went to sing karaoke with some white people. Ended up with lots of english songs lol, some of them were sortof recent (aka several years back) As usual, the oldies had crap footage going with them, and 2 of them even had some random girl walking around Singapore. LOL. Went back, was very tired, KOed on bed

Fri, at some point in the past few days, must have misstepped on my left foot. The muscle connecting to the ankle hurt when i started running. Hence i stopped. Shall see if it still hurts today. But otherwise, its all good. And now i know someone else who thinks im smart, and i've traced the reasoning back to PS. Damn, this is not good ... He's spreading lies ... Rented the movie matador, but ended up that it was the show V for Vendette. Quite a good movie, interesting and entertaining. Chatted for a while after that until i started concussing on the couch, then went to sleep.

Sat/Sun, made my way down via CTA to Oak Park, where Sam stays. Walked around there for a bit, admiring the NICE houses there (hei ivan, hint hint) Think its sortof supposed to be a forest district too, not so sure how that works. Then Sam drove Emily and I down to some big mall. [Warning: The following portion is for those under 30. aka, parents there is no need to freak out, no creatures were hurt during filming] On the journey there, his car hood started shaking, then popped up and hit the windscreen, which turned all spider-webby. He slammed on the brakes, pulled over to the shoulder and we started catching our breaths. Luckily traffic was very light then. Some random guy stopped, 'advised' us to continue driving (hahaha), which obviously we ignored. Then a police car came by to check on us, and stayed with us till him mum drove over. He also called a tow truck for us. The tow truck was quite cool, since this is my first time seeing how it works. That guy was so pro that he din even need to get out of the truck, hooked up the car then came down to talk to us. After that came some fancy driving along the highway, to get the tow truck to follow us to the bodyshop. The mum was swerving across lanes of traffic, cos of the exits, and had to ensure that the tow truck was following. As i said, hes a pro. Blah Blah Blah, end of story. [And yea parents, everyone is alive, no body parts are missing.]

Was at Sam's place to celebrate Hannakah (or however you spell it) some jewish festival of lights, which is sortof equivalent to christmas. His mum cooked potato pancakes (from scratch), with apple sauce and sour cream; salad and blueberries; cake. Dinner was good, conversation was better. Had a glass of champagne to celebrate our survival (and good luck). Watched Chungking express (by wong kai-wai) after that, and then slept. Slept a really long time. I realize that after alcohol, i usu sleep quite soon after. And if i don't, then i build up a sleep debt and really laze in bed after that. Hence, i slept for 11 hours lol. What a sloth. Had breakfast for lunch, and worked on some word puzzles with the family. Was good fun. Made my way home, stopped by the german market to pick up chocs. Specifically, its a chocolate with a cherry center, surrounded by some liquor. Its damn good. Have 3 boxes in my fridge, 2 are meant as presents. If the last one surives, which i doubt it will, you guys can try it when you get back. Or i shd go buy another box. Those 3 cost me $42. Yea, im ignoring my monetary habits this break, but its BREAK! OH yes, and i realized that i have no idea what the date was! Yea, thats so good ... what a wonderful break.

At night, amazingly met this girl whom i knew over summer [And before all you lechers think undesirable thoughts, shes in high-school. Damn, think you guys just got worse.] We were chatting about random stuff, and i picked up more gossip :) yea. Interesting gossip.

Mon, Just went to do my laundry, its so empty yea :) No queuing for the machines. Will go down and dry my clothes in a while, then will head over to ratner. Should be going to the art institute in the afternoon, think shall give CS a call see if hes interested.

Winter Break

2006-12-14T03:34:00.000-06:00

Heehee, sorry for ignoring this place for so long ... Winter break is turning out just fine. Been sleeping in till like 12, then waking up and going about my day. So many stuff have been done, some that can be said, and some cant lol...

Weds. Finals ended on wednesday, went home for a good sleep and then cooked curry chicken for dinner. Went to Thomas' place, and laughed alot overnight. Watched South Park, Family Guy, listened to music, deep conversations...

Thurs. Due to leftover curry, decided to attempt to make roti prata. Which was quite a failure actually. But who cares. Unable to evenly thin out the dough, cos have to do it on a hot surface, and theres no conducive way of doing it here. Ended up tasting like hard biscuits. But was good with the curry lol. Had lunch with Hyejin, who was supposed to treat me to bartlett, but run out of meal points after being forced to treat several korean seniors. Tsk tsk... Eh, she din even know them k... Then went downtown with Ivan to celebrate end of finals. Funny incident: Ivan was organizing some wine and cheese tasting for fri, so i accompanied him down to uncork. Was obviously disinterested in the wine selection, so was aimlessly walking around, while ivan was animatedly deciding which kind of wines to get. So halfway through, the salesgirl was like 'He's the choose of the two eh?' And then i was like 'Erm no, i just don't drink ...' Told ivan this over dinner, he found it funny. Guess it din help that we were bundled up in black jackets :) Ordered some beef rib thingy for dinner, stupid waitress asked how i wanted it done. I said 'meaning?' she went 'Medium? okay' ... For one, i don't like raw meat. Prefer my meat well cooked at the very least. So dinner wasn't that great... but was still good. Froze my ass off that day.

Fri. TK left early in the morn, and thus began my living with a sloth (aka LZW). Cleared stuff up with a fren, which was good. At least its over and done with. Not concluded in the best possible way, but its still one of the better options. Went over to 4br for wine tasting after that. Yes, im allegic and yes, i'm having rashes. But its all good, no worries. The great part is that its so easy to get drunk :) Low volume and low concentration = save money! Had a few conversations here and there, din really help that i was tuning in and out the entire time. Slept on the floor after a while (alcohol always does that to me) and then headed back home.

Sat. Think it was a day of general laziness, coupled with some drinking at night.

Sun. Wow, what did i do? Nothing that stands out i guess. Lots of sleeping and lying in bed. Oh, watched half of memoirs of a geisha (dont have the other half) It was good, at least the first half...

Mon. Went to gym. got reminded that rashes do not like sweat. Oh, can do 2.4 in under 11 mins. But otherwise, still fat... ugh ... Bought 6 bottles of cider on the way home (400ml, 6%) Went down to chinatown for dinner with sam. Went to drink after dinner with Sam, sam, weiwei, thomas, mitya, jeff, bertie. Ups and downs. Drank 1 of my ciders (the other 5 are still rotting in my fridge, and are likely to stay there). Thomas and sam had early flights in the morning, and they left drunk and high....

Tues. Finished watching the 40th epsiode of Flame of Recca. Not a particurly good anime though. More of a space filler. Cooked dinner for LJ, wincy, william. Spagattie with cream of chicken soup as sauce. Worked out sort of well. Then watched Sparhawk redemption, which is almost as good as the book.

Weds. Went back to gym, rashes complained more, so i stopped after a while. I always get very tired after running and end up sleeping for a while. Must be the conditioning from army, always sleep after the morning run lol. Got my alge and sosc grade today. Went to find nori to pick up my final exam. He said 'Your final was alright, but your grade was pulled down by your other work.' I: 'Yea i know, my midterm was terrible' He: 'But through our conversations, i get the feeling that you are smart'. Oh man, he is so misguided. Most of the time im just nodding my head and pretending that i know what hes saying, when i have absolutely no idea what the hell he is doing .... Oh well ... Have to hang in there for 2 more quarters...

Cooking was a disaster today. Tried to make pancakes, failed terribly, threw everything away. Tried to cook steak, but did not take out beef to defrost, hence dinner was quite bad. Oh yes, never steam vegetables for 30 mins, they turn out very sad looking. Baked brownies though (bought the mix and followed instrutions) So i can at least follow instructions, and they turned out quite well. :) Maybe shall try something else to bake at some other point in time. Watched Starship Troopers. OMG. The version screened on singapore TV was soooo censored. Quite a bit more nudity and violence then expected. Ken commented that it could have been a porn movie (well not really, but it has its moments) BTW, the brain bug looks sort of like a giant vagina. Yup, i kid you not, go watch it and you would agree. Theres a metor shower tonight, went out to the lake to see it. Lots of stars out tonight too, though it was quite cloudy and bright (light pollution ugh) Saw 6-7 shooting stars, 2 of them very very nice. 1 bright one bounced in and out of the atmosphere, so its was like 2 consecutive shooting stars. But was cold outside, so we headed in after a while.

Yupz, this is my life so far ... Its all good.

Putnam

2006-12-03T08:35:00.000-06:00

Yupz, its over and done with. Screwed up quite badly this year. Missed A1 completely, had the right arguments all the way to the end, but drew a wrong conclusion cos i put the inequality signs on the wrong side. Damn. Screwed A5 cos i forgot how to count. Should have a coefficient of n instead of 1, so was attempting to bash out the wrong stuff. (And i knew how to bash and complete the solution ... ) Missed B3 cos of the way i wrote up my solution. Taked about convex hull, when actually i needed ALL the points instead. And the worst part is that i originally had a 'somewhat' correct solution, but made that correction cos i thought it was needed. Convinced myself after that that it wasn't necessary, but FORGOT to change it. sianz. With any luck, my score will be 76, and that should be an upper bound.

well, on the bright side, i 'could' do 10 problems. This year's easy qns were harder than normal, and the medium questions were easier than normal. Thus, there will be a great bunching up of scores at the 9-10 problem area, depending on how many people screwed up. So the top 25 should have a cutoff of like 85 (UGH). In some years, thats enough to get into the top 5. Oh well, guess thats what happens when you have many easier qns (just like some IMO's) Results will be out in April or thereabts (around spring break), so theres nothing to do until then.

theres always next year! Have solved a1-a6, b1-b6, though in 2 separate years. Hopefully can put that together next year. LOL. PFI2Y! LOL. It gets harder and harder. Cos according to boon, miracles only happen to freshman (in this case Charmaine who solved 8 problems perfectly)

Tits fattening strategy

2006-12-02T06:48:00.000-06:00

Oh yea, you read that correctly. Thats what i came to the US for. What a wonderous education system... Have to thank a certain old indian professor for mentioning this :) Seems like many people can benefit from it eh

Sigh, y can't i sleep properly? Went to bed at 1030, woke up at 1130, 430, 530, 630, then gave up and am here blogging. 2 hours more to go, and then 8 hours more to go. Hopefully will be able to do 8/12 ... With any insane luck like last year, will be able to do 10/12 LOL. Who am i kidding? 3/5 of the spots already have names on them, so i guess i just have to wait till next year. But then again, every year will be like that, and with each passing year i lose more knowledge of what i knew. Oh well, lets just hope for the best. Quite well rested actually. Kiat's on the team too, wonder how julius is doing... Then theres boon, ernest, kenneth, charmaine ... with any luck, we can get 6 sg names up lol. Quite hard, but would be marvellous if we can do so.

Finals in a few days, still worried about algebra. Its the way of thinking that im still not used to doing... Need to break out of problem solving mode and enter algebra mode. Fingers crossed. Need to ace this test like mad in order to get a barely decent overall grade, don't want to end up like you boon ... Stat, ugh, need to learn all that material. Vaguely know whats happening, and i should be able to crap enough. Seems like my math skills have mostly pulled me thru the 2 stat courses... Econ, erm, weird lah. No one understands what the prof wants, hence your score is either insanely high or insanely low. For the midterm, ave was 27/45, with a sd of 8! The SD's so high! Heard an ang moh so that he was 2 sd's above ave, which means he got like 43/45 ugh... Am done for SOSC, cos the third paper is optional (they choose the best 2 out of 3), and i think i did well enough for the first 2 papers. Not exactly guaranteed an A, but i should be in a good position for it. Considering the crappy grading system, my wonderous class participation ...

and then theres winter break. Which is supposed to be a break for me. But then again, knowing me... haha ... okay, i shall take at least 1 week of break ... theres some stuff to catch up on actually. Like my DRP, which i have been neglecting the entire quarter, and need to prepare a presentation by jan ... And maybe learn abit of algebra ... And maybe just forget everything and move on ... But then again, i know how much i love to laze in my bed :) So i definately will be doing that on several days too.

Advice

2006-11-26T16:18:00.000-06:00

One of those pesky chain letters, list of advice from antony robbins... (ignore my comments, some are ... oh well, go figure)

ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully. (more pain, more trouble?)

TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other. (N/A)

THREE. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want. (SLEEP!!!)

FOUR. When you say, "I love you," mean it. (lets not go there ...)

FIVE. When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye. (rarely done)

SIX. Be engaged at least six months before you get married. (lol, been engaged donkey years to maths already)

SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight. (I do, but it takes time to)

EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dream. People who don't have dreams don't have much. (Haha, I laugh at my own dreams at times ... Bosuk might be resurrected during winter)

NINE. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely. (Might?)

TEN. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling. (But that takes the fun out of things, bitch)

ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives. (Yea, only by race)

TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly. (Ack.)

THIRTEEN. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?" (I should try this)

FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk. (Great ...)

FIFTEEN. Say "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze. (Sry, nv got the hang of this)

SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson . (Oh, way too many lessons already. Time to start winning)

SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions. (Rectitude of thought, Clarity of vision, and i forgot the last one)

EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship. (They are hard to come by)

NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. (Yea, like your addition and subtraction signs)

TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice. (xiao li chang dao ah?)

TWENTY-ONE. Spend some time alone. (Thats what winter break is for)

Whatever

2006-11-19T16:05:00.000-06:00

Yea, i know i long time never come here already lah. Part of it was a conscious decision, part of it was just Busy mah (perfect excuse rite) So much stuff happening this quarter. This quarter is going alright, slightly more slack, also cos not everything that was planned went acc to plan. Stopped working (well, sort of), din get that SEASME thingy cos the instructor din like, but then again, took up DRP (Game theory), continuing with Putnam, replace anal with alge....

So lets see whats happening in my life so far.

Alive. as far as i can tell, so parents can worry abit less now... (haha, yea rite, who am i kidding) Oh, eating very well actually, just made borbo chacha today and it was quite good. And also my yam balls (need more minced meat, sugar, soysauce, must make smaller too) Yea, good food. Mostly experimental though ...

Oh yes, will be staying on in Chicago over winter break. I figure that i rest better if not travelling around alot. I HATE to shift, and besides, its so comfy here. Yea, i know that travelling is good fun too, but right now im feeling more of having a lazing time for myself. Besides, might pick up some work over winter break too.

Oh yes, stopped keeping track of accounts already. Am def in the negative since income shrank, and MJ just doesn't supplement it that much LOL. Am supposed to work for PS next quarter (but then again, who knows what that means). Most of my expenditure is spent on food, esp since i have pple come over for dinner and whatnots (keep separate from household acc which is shared with TK) But then again, charging pple for dinner also like not very nice leh. See how lah, somehow must hit a happy medium somewhere, sometime.

Ah yes .... my wonderful roommate. So much to say about him. Erm, but i guess here not really the place to complain about his 3 cooking experiences, horrendous sleeping habits, harem expansion, etc.

Oh subject wise (this is where my parents will perk up), doing best in SOSC, then STAT, then ECON, then MATH. Haha, should become a SOSC major instead. My lecturer likes my writing, i dunno why. But too bad he chaging next quarter, so must see how. (he can give me 3.5/4 for something thats, 'Interesting, but somewhat obvious.') AS for MATH, im eligible to join the facebook group 'C for Math Midterm'. Econs not that much better, bloody stupid KC. No body understand what he saying, nobody knows what his stupid midterms ask for. I think i was writing GP essay instead mah, talk so much cock in that paper, only mention 1 equation in the exam...

Finals in 2 weeks, SOSC paper 3 is optional, depending on my grades, might consider not doing it. Stat final should be alright, Econ final hopefully can lah. Alge final is somewhat worrying, cos nori has set us all the questions he can think of in group theory already (which means that those that will come out will be much harder ugh).

Then of course, theres always Putnam, which is the sat before final. Really hoping for the best, esp since i cant say that PF is out of reach. Having solved the qn 6's last year, i cant say that they are undoable... but then again, i consider those 2 extremely lucky strikes. Oh well, shall just aim for top 10, and be happy with whatever money i can get. Team is supposed to do very well, which just means more money (yea) Oh, will skip whatever calc, anal or alge qns that come out, esp since i would have no idea what to do.... Trying the past year papers seems abit pointless, esp since i have seen those qns before, and those that i knew how to do, i know how to do. Those that i dont know what to do, i still dunno how to deal with them. Oh well, fingers crossed.

And for all you kaypohs ... theres nothing happening lah. Facts are grossly wrong in the first place, partially thanks to CS's trusting nature of Kenneth's rubbish.

Yea of course, alot more have happened in these past 2 months, stuff that will not be written down, or stuff that was obliquely alluded to. Memories that will stay just that. Ups and downs, and now is more up than down.

Yea boon, you were here just last week lor, so what else you want to know xia? Shyh Chang coming over for thanksgiving though...

TY

2006-10-14T02:52:00.000-05:00

Had a great bdae, thanks everyone. Was just great. So tired out now.

Why is it whenever i want to forget someone, it gets all that much harder to forget that certain someone? Borsuk, be glad that i think u're dead, now get out of my head. Got other stuff to do.

random thoughts

2006-10-11T22:22:00.000-05:00

yupz, just some random thoughts in my brain these past few days.

1. Bloody TK. Buy router never check that it working ... hence no internet access. Stupid boy, lardarlardalar.

2. And guess who tried to cook an omelett by cracking the egg over the pan, then complained that his egg was white and yellow and din mix... [Hint: Not me]

3. I never thought i'd say this, but the 1 hour at the gym passed by so fast today, must be all those endophines running around my tired brain ... running on the treadmill is horrendous as usual, cant stand 15 mins on that thingy.

4. Putnam training is draining the life out of me. So apparantly PS says i have pizza funding, but does nothing about it ... so here i am signing receipts for $400 worth of pizza and no one knows who to charge it to. Oh well, im not paying ... And even worse, i'm not doing any training myself. I need the money!!

5. For some weird reason, i started off the quarter thinking it will be quite slack. And now, i think i've too much stuff on my plate. Its time to dump some stuff out, but what? I haven MJ in a loooong time yet ... darn it.

6. Borsuk is taking up too much of my time. Its time to divorce him. I'm not going to solve the unsolved problem.

7. So this random korean guy (kk, not so random, I know him from last year) came up to me and ask if i was attached... WTF. On the plus side, i did get to see a pic of his gf, whos stuck in korea. quite chio lah...

8. Oh, i did find work, same old thing, but better paid now. yea. Hours lessened though, so ends up being less total pay. Oh well, i need more free time anyway.

9. Dammit, i have no idea whats keeping me busy. kk, once i divorce Borsuk things will be better (Haha, who am i kidding, id always go back and work on that. Someone needs to teach me how to think in four dimensions, then do combinatorics and geometry there) Luckily i dropped old job + SEASME, but i took on new job + DRP + Borsuk + Lie groups (kk, gonna drop lie groups too, if they allow me to)

10. Today, Nori was like 'Hmz, so apprantly i'm going to finish the syllabus in half the time. Oh well... And I've set all my problems for your homework, so i need to go find new ones.' At this point in class, i went 'Oh Shit.' Quite loudly... On friday we are going to do p-sylow groups, which last year pple did in week 7. And this is only week 3.

11. Life goes on... I now need to do my homework ... Stat, Alge, and think about what it means to die (i'm not morbid, thats my Sosc homework)

Stuck in lecture

2006-10-05T14:31:00.001-05:00

Ugh, i have 2 boring lectures on thursday ... bloody hell ... I wanna go sleep ...

Otherwise, things are going very well in Calvinland. My Sosc teacher seems to like my writing (which takes like 2 hrs / pg) , but he says hes an extremely harsh grader ugh. Hon Alge seems to be going fine, nori claims to be going fast, but most of the material has been seen before, that thats alright. Econ with mulligan is super boring, he has managed to scare off all the other sgs (im only there cos thats my only free timeslot) Logic is sort of interesting, but then again considering that i no need to do homework, lol. And stat is super boring cos we're going thru stat 251 stuff. Im like, why on earth repeat this material so many times, and make us take 2 different courses which cover the same material (for the first 4 weeks at least). This doesn't few like a honors stat class. So super sianz. Oh well, I'm not a stat major like TK.

Things are looking to get busy. Have signed up for DRP to learn game theory (at least the math theory in topology and such), so thats gonna take away several hours a week. Then theres that stupid borsuk, in which case i need a way of thinking in 4 dimensions (sortof gave up proving the 3 dim case). Have yet to decide if i want to show yes or no. Cant even visualize a set ... Organizing putnam sessions is a bit more taxing than expected, also cos of ineffectiveness of certain natives, and the fact that i cant find edward at any time... Mooncake festival gonna be held tomolo, and recent weather conditions have prompted an indoor shift of the event. Gonna be quite stupid if we cant see the moon, but oh well... And then theres that Sosc paper due on tuesday. Of which i have absolutely no idea what to write about.

And that stupid internet is still not up yet. Bloody americians. So bloody useless. First they din send the modem. Next, they DHL'ed the router to #2210S... Sigh, only americians can do something like this. The internet better start working when the modem comes...

Stuck in lecture

2006-10-05T14:31:00.000-05:00

past

2006-10-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

been thining about events in the past recently, some nice and fun, some not so nice.

kiat, was reminded of yr bdae when we went to swensens and you were surprized at how we ordered the happy bdae ice-cream without explicitly stating to waiter. Eh, need to see you sometime again leh, have absolutely no idea whats going on in your life. Anyway whats your plan for summer? im looking for some math research that pays for international students ...

Home Sweet Home

2006-09-30T18:07:00.000-05:00

More or less moved into Regents proper already. Bedroom is a-okay, living room needs to be cleared of rubbish. We need to start buying food for the kitchen to operate normally, and most importantly, that bloody internet needs to be set up. At the conference center here...

Anyway, for those of you stuck elsewhere, heres a wonderous view of my room. Quite like how its set up. Most of the furniture is andy's which is a steal for $250. Thanks dude.

1. A friendly reminder to let you know u're not welcome. North tower is in the background.
2. But otherwise, a glimsp into my room from the door.
3. I dunno why you want to see my closet. If u're wondering where all the other random stuff,theres a huge closet hiding behind that door.
4. A place for the occasional hobo that comes along. Notice that conveniently located whiteboard for me to work on.
5. Ah yes, what to do, when to do. Nice mountain poster taken from last year.
6. My desk. What a load of shit on it.
7. View when i swivel left ...
8. And when i swivel right.
9. Familiar table? Useful for my com when i get lazy.
10. Ugh, what a shame to my ISP training ... oh well.
11. And finally, my bed ... lovely wonderful bed, im missing it already.
12. Cute aian't it?

Ugh, im just too lazy to arrange this properly.