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Monday, January 8th, 2007
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9:14 pm - Taiwan Independence
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It's really funny to listen to some pro-China arguments when it comes to Taiwan independence. In an article, available at http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=4914768the pro-China argument is "The sooner the better. More trade and morevisits and more cultural exchange. That's what we want." Gee, you can'ttrade, visit, and culture exchange with other countries? Conversely,the pro-Taiwan argument is the fact that Taiwan is a democracy withpopularly elected officials and free speech, and they want to remainthat way. It's outrageous that the global community does not supportTaiwan independence. Why do we seek democracy in the Middle East whenwe won't support an already established on in Taiwan? Furthermore,China has no historic claim to Taiwan. The current inhabitants ofTaiwan fled China in 1949 (much like the founders of the US leftEngland), and have successfully established a sovereign, independentcountry with democratically elected officials. There is no convincingargument for reunification. I challenge any of you reading this to giveme a coherent, rational reason. A vast majority of Taiwanese citizensoppose reunification and in the end, the citizens of Taiwan should havethe final say.
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| Friday, March 10th, 2006
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12:09 am - Life
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Had a rather big argument on the phone with my parents tonight about (what else is new?) med. school apps. My dad has always said that after gaining my admission, I can defer a year and do what I want in that year. I planned on using that time to shoot a lot and train for the 2008 Olympic trials. Now, he's renegging on that agreement thanks to pressure from my mom. They're not considering it to be a worthwhile venture. I should back up a bit. The argument really came in two parts. The first part was over whether I should apply this summer and defer or just wait until next to apply. I have no problems applying this summer; I just think that with another year of boosting my GPA, an honors thesis, and maybe a publication or two under my belt, my application would be a lot stronger than if I rush things and apply this summer. I've also found from the data I've gathered that applicants who apply at the end of senior year are looked upon more favorably by admissions committees whereas the policies on deferrment of enrollment are iffy, but what do I know, I'm just a student who has many friends going to med school whereas my parents are more than a generation removed from the current applicants. The second part was the renegging aspect. My dad has even stated in the past that I could take a year off and train for the Olympics. Now that I'm actually seriously wanting to do it, he's trying to take back what he said. Ironically, this whole argument has only strengthened my resolve to take time off and shoot full-time for a while. I'm tired of thinking about the what if. What if I had played tennis all year, what if gone out for frosh football, what if I had done an econ major, what if, what if, what if. My parents try to say that they let me do what I want. What a hoot. It's more like, I can do what I want, as long as I get into a good college, am a bio major and become a doctor and anything that might even remotely threaten that criteria is eliminated. What I really don't get is what they're so afraid of, letting me take a year off to shoot. It's not like I'm not going to go to med school. Are they afraid to let me do something I might actually want to do?!?!
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| Thursday, March 9th, 2006
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11:41 pm - Irony
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Pretty ironic how I live in America, home of free will and choice, but am left with little free will of my own. Even more ironic how I've been instilled by my parents a dislike for the Chinese government for, among many other things, the manipulation and suppression of unique thought of their citizens but that very same thing happens to me.
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| Sunday, January 15th, 2006
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1:28 am - Music
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I went to San Francisco tonight to see the symphony play Pictures at an Exhibition. Yes, again. This is the second time I've heard the SF Symphony play Pictures, and the third time I've heard Pictures performed live since I got to Stanford. Each time I hear it, something new sticks out. There are so many layers to the music, so many little subtletes, that I think I could hear it live a hundred times and notice something new each time. Pictures is probably the piece I am the most familiar with of all classical music repertoire. I gave an IHum presentation on it my frosh year and I've seen it live more times than any other piece. Luckily, it was one of my favorite pieces so at least I'm not stuck hearing a piece i don't like three times.
The symphony also played Ravel's Mother Goose Suite and Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 1. Listening to these pieces, along with d/ling a bunch of songs I've heard on the radio from myTunes, made me think about what makes a particular piece of music likeable. The Bartok piece surely had many aspects of music that I like, loud, exciting passages, but yet I didn't like it. The Ravel was very lyrical and beautiful, but I fell asleep several times. I really like Pictures at an Exhibition, but it was orchestrated by Ravel, the composer of Mother Goose. Is it simply exposure? For songs on the radio, can a particular one be played so much that it grows on you? I like all the songs that the archery team always sings; I wonder if I would have liked them if I first heard them outside the team.
current music: Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
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| Tuesday, January 10th, 2006
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12:00 am - Changes
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My winter quarter schedule has changed quite a bit from what I thought it would be prior to break. The big change is that I no longer have to take 44X! I only need one quarter of bio lab to satisfy my bio honors track requirements and I can use my Heller lab work to satisfy the other quarter of the medical school requirement. To replace bio lab, I'm taking 129A this quarter so I won't have to take it senior year. I'm also taking Taiwanese this quarter. My Tuesdays are no longer as bad as they used to be, but now my Thursdays mirror my Tuesdays. It's an unusual schedule, with only one afternoon class MW, but a full schedule TTh. It'll be interesting to see how lab, archery, and medical shadowing fit in.
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| Monday, December 26th, 2005
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11:51 pm - Outsourcing
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I've often heard about American companies outsourcing jobs to cheaper places like India, but I never really bought it because I never experienced it firsthand. However, after having to email the customer service for Dell and Amazon.com a couple times now, I can see why it's getting ridiculous. The email from the amazon person was okay, but you could definitely tell that the Dell customer care person was not American. His diction and grammatical errors definitely gave him away. I always thought these two companies were as American as apple pie, but I guess not.
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| Wednesday, December 21st, 2005
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6:49 pm - Stolen from the libero...
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| You scored as Engineering. You should be an Engineering major!
Engineering | | 75% | Philosophy | | 75% | Mathematics | | 67% | Psychology | | 67% | Biology | | 67% | Chemistry | | 67% | Dance | | 50% | Journalism | | 50% | Anthropology | | 50% | Linguistics | | 50% | Sociology | | 42% | Theater | | 42% | English | | 25% | Art | | 8% | </td>
What is your Perfect Major?
created with QuizFarm.com |
Eeek... engineering and philosophy?!?! At least bio, chem and math are tied for second. There was a time when I might have majored in math, and I'm doing bio now. I still don't get philosophy though...
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| Monday, December 19th, 2005
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2:18 pm - It's been confirmed...
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The link between Jewish and Chinese people has been confirmed; it was on the Simpsons that Jewish people go to Chinese restaurants on Christmas. Thus, my theory has been validated. :-p
My letter grades for the quarter are in. I took no cupcake classes and I got very solid grades, my highest GPA yet at Stanford. They might get even better after I get my chem final readded with the 8 points that they missed in their addition. My GPA went up another .05 points this quarter and once my old, not so good grades get erased, it'll go up a bunch. :-D
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| Wednesday, December 14th, 2005
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1:00 am - YAY!
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Who rocked their chem 131 final? I rocked my chem 131 final! Just goes to show how bad a teacher Prof Kool was... :-D
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12:29 am - Finals
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I'm in the midst of finals and I decided to catch up on the early season one episodes of House that I never saw. Bad idea. I've wasted a ton of time that could have been spent studying watching House. I'd forgotten how good the series was last season; Dr. Cameron looked a lot better then as compared to the pile of emotional mush that she is now. Anyways, I've got my bio 163 final tomorrow morning at 10. I've done a minimal amount of preparing for it, but as the class is pass/fail, I'm not terribly worried. Even still, being asian and all, I can't help but stress out over it. Hard to believe it'll be all over in less than two days.
I had to sack a bunch of animals today in lab. We finished our experiment so the hamsters in those experiments were CO2ed. Also, the breeders for the colony we have are getting old so they had to be sacked too. It was quite the depressing experience, having to sack all the adults and the pups. I still have another 50 or so cages to do tomorrow after my final.
The more I think about it, the more unnecessary I think it is for me to retake my MCATs. The extra stuff that I'm doing next quarter, shadowing an orthopedic surgeon in both the OR and clinic at Stanford Hospital, working in lab on a never touched before topic and experimental model, staffing, archery... The increase in score that will accompany the amount of studying necessary to do so will just be counteracted on my application by giving up either medical shadowing or lab work. Couple that with less time available for classes and it really is not the economically optimal decision.
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| Sunday, December 11th, 2005
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12:24 am - Great day for San Diego
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Congrats to Reggie for winning the Heisman. It feels like so long ago when I watched him play football at Helix. I still remember my interactions with him fondly, in particular fall quarter senior year when I stopped by Coach Chase's office to get worked on before practice and we talked about college plans. If only he had come to Stanford, then he wouldn't have been a Heisman trophy winner. heh. I am very proud of the way he is representing Helix and San Diego. He's so incredibly humble when he talks and very articulate, unlike other football players that have been interviewed. It's amazing to think about what came out of Helix in the years I was there: Alex Smith, Derrell Hutsona, Todd Watkins, Reggie, state track title, two CIF football championships, CIF basketball championships, quiz bowl title :-)... it's shocking to see what's happening these days at Helix now. Almost night and day, with the exception of the basketball team.
Two Kirk Herbstreit quotes on Reggie are really awesome. "Most electrifying player I've ever seen" and "One of those years you'll remember 20, 30, 40 years from now". And to think that we all thought Reggie wasn't that good in middle school P.E. And to think that when I finished second in the 100 and 200 meter dashes to him all three years at LMMS, people were giving me shit. If only my relay team in 8th grade had beaten his... we were pretty damn close too.
Outside of Reggie, San Diego had two other national titles today. Grossmont College won the state and mythical national titles in football, thanks to Derrell Hutsona, and AJ Acosta from El Camino won the Foot Locker National CC Championships. I am so proud to be a San Diegan, repping the 619, baby! hahahaha. Can't believe I just said that.
Finals are in a few days. Chem on Monday, 163 on Wed. Econ 50 and Bio 141 on Thursday. I'm in good shape in all of my classes and I hope to do well on all my finals. Things this year have been going really well. Research kicking in, shadowing begins next quarter, archery tournaments... it's the perfect storm.
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| Wednesday, December 7th, 2005
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1:22 am - Nearing the end of another quarter, another year
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I looked back at my entries from a year ago for a quick reference thing, and I was so optimistic back then. I'm optimistic again about this quarter, but knowing how things turned out a year ago, I must be cautious. All my classes have gone well so far, I got accepted into the SIMS program for next quarter, lab research is coming along; if my MCAT scores had turned out a little better, I'd say that this would be almost the perfect quarter academically. However, it seems like my academic success, at least thus far, has come at the expense of archery and my social life, although I've made some good relationships with dormmates and have a couple of possibilities that I'm looking into women-wise while my shooting hasn't gone backwards yet. Back to the main point, it's hard to believe how quickly this quarter flew by. I know I say it about pretty much every quarter here, but I feel like the time between my frosh year of HS and winter break of junior year was a lot longer than my frosh year of Stanford to now. I guess time is accelerating as I get older. I spent three hours at Starbucks with Fish and Ta working on my econ pset and we finished it! Now, all I have left is my chem pset and I'm done with work for the quarter. All that's left are the finals. A good performance on my finals will boost my GPA tremendously. :-) Better start studying hard... tomorrow.
On a lighter note, I just started reading Freakonomics tonight and it's an interesting read. I definitely feel that he's oversimplifying the whole crime rate decrease due to a legalization of abortion in 1973, which was further debunked in a recent Economist article, but his examples and analogies are intellectually stimulating. I kinda miss the days where my parents and brother would try to challenge me with brain teasers or thought provoking questions. Those really helped me develop my logic and critical thinking... which is really helping me now on economics.
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| Saturday, December 3rd, 2005
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12:08 am - Soreness
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Ahhh... the good old feeling of being sore. I played a few games of volleyball today for the first time in about seven months tonight and it felt good. Surprisingly, my main weakness, passing, got stronger in my time off. Funny how that works. After not having played for so long, I'm happy with how I did, got some decent swings in, good blocks, a few nice digs... setting has kinda gone away though, especially back sets. I think I'll start playing regularly again though, taking the class next quarter as well as playing on Friday nights. The one thing I don't like about volleyball is how my neck gets sore from looking up all the time. Oh well.
I ran my first batch of hamsters in the novel object recognition paradigm today. It took much longer than I thought; I was only able to get the habituated animals done. The lab work is really starting to pile up. In preparation for my experiment, I need to rig up a permanent stand for the camcorder and get some more arrythmic animals. Coupled with my acceptance into a medical shadowing program at Stanford Hospital next quarter, and prepping for Bio 44X CAing and MCAT studying, I'm so going to die next quarter. :-\
This weekend will probably one of the busiest, but hopefully funnest (yes, I know it's not really a word) and most productive this quarter. IM ultimate frisbee playoffs tomorrow morning, quick brunch, shed day on the range with some shooting, a little breather for dinner, then a party where I hopefully will meet this girl I've been trying to meet for a while. Sunday, archery practice and maybe a little lab followed by March of the Penguins at 10 PM! I'm so excited to see that movie. I've wanted to see it for a long time, but everyone was being lame and didn't want to see it with me. :-( Poof, just like that the weekend is over and dead week will be upon me.
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| Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
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11:38 pm - Reggie Bush HS Highlight Tape
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| Monday, November 21st, 2005
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2:28 pm - Wow
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There has been so much coverage of Reggie's game versus Fresno State last Saturday and it is all so well deserved. 513 all-purpose yards! Damn, he better win that Heisman. I'm just sorry I missed it, after Big Game and my flight back, game was over when I got home. He could have just two games left in his USC career; UCLA and the Rose Bowl. If they win out, this would mean that Reggie has only lost five football games dating back to his freshman year of high school. Simply amazing. I really hope the 49ers draft him, having him and Alex together again would make for incredible story lines and make me an instant 49ers fan.
Going to the mall is so nice on a weekday. There was no one at Grossmont Center today. I was in and out of there and Costco so quickly. Yet, for some reason, as I was walking along the not so crowded stores, a funny feeling came over me. It's something I'd like to fix, but we'll see if that will happen.
I'm seriously considering not going to Big Game next year. I feel really bad for Trent Edwards; getting pounded every game the way he is. There was definitely a change in the mood of the game when he went down.
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| Friday, November 18th, 2005
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3:20 am - Goblet of Fire
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I don't usually go to midnight premieres; in fact this was the first one i've ever been to, but it was definitely worth it. Overall, I thought the movie was entertaining, and went by really quick.
( Possible Spoilage ahead )
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| Monday, November 14th, 2005
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1:49 am - Wake me up when the week ends...
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The Humperdink's Castle brunch reunion was this morning. I was waiting at AL's car this morning when Green Day's Wake me up when September ends came on. I happened to mention how much I love this song, when CY asked if I saw the music video. I hadn't, and she went on to tell me how the song was originally for the singer's dad who died of cancer when he was young, but the video is about this guy who leaves his gf to join the army. When I got back to my room after practice, I watched the video and it completely moved me. It was just very emotional and touching; I ended up watching it 3 times today. It's available on Green Day's official website. I highly recommend watching it. It's amazing. Young love, patriotism and hope all rolled into one. The last scenes of the girl alone on the bleachers... incredibly sad. :-( I guess I'm just a sappy romantic.
In other news, at brunch today, I found out that my old roommate CW is going out with AL (a different one)! I am so happy for the two of them. CW is an awesome guy and AL is a great girl. I really hope things work out for them and they are happy together. Now if only I could get my own great girl figured out...
Goblet of Fire comes out in four days! This is going to be awesome. Just got to get past an econ pset, take home bio midterm and in-class chem midterm. :-\
I think I'll watch the music video again before bed.
current music: Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends
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| Saturday, November 12th, 2005
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12:27 am - Carmina Burana
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I went to see the SF Symphony perform Carmina Burana tonight. I remember playing this piece back in freshman year at Helix for pops; we played a few of the movements from it. I enjoyed it then, but after seeing it live, I love it so much more now. Sperling gave us a little back story on the pieces, but it is actually much more sexual and raunchy than he ever let on. Some examples:
"They who here go dancing round are young maidens all who will go without a man this whole summer long. Come, come, dear heart of mine, I so long have waited for thee, Come, come, dear heart of mine!"
"Look at me, Young men all! Am I not well pleasing?"
Another chorus where basically everyone drinks for everything.
"Love flies everywhere/And is seized by desire/Young men and women/Are matched together/If a girl lacks a partner/She misses all the fun; In the despths of her heart/Is darkest night"
"May God grant, may the gods permit/The plan I have in mind/To undo the bonds/Of her virginity"
"If a boy and a girl/ Linger together/ Happy is their union/ Increasing love leaves tedious good sense far behind, and inexpressible pleasure fills their limbs, their arms, their lips"
"In the scales of my wavering indecision physical love and chastity are weighed. But I choose what I see. I bow my head in submission and take on the yoke which is after all sweet."
You get the idea.
Anyways, the performance was amazing, the chorus put out a lot of sound. It was probably the best SF Symphony concert I've ever been to. Afterwards, we drove over to Berkeley for a wine and dessert party that was pretty fun. I mentioned Reggie Bush to a couple of the girls there and they were like, "I'm in love with Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart!" heh, you dont' hear that kind of stuff at Stanford. :-( Anyways, I shared my story about tackling him in flag football in 8th grade and I was set. All in all, it was a great night spent with a great person.
current music: Carl Orff - O Fortuna
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| Friday, November 11th, 2005
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1:04 am - Volleyball, ABC
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I went to my first Stanford volleyball game, ABC (after Bryn and Cynthia's injuries) and the team looks totally different. I know we weren't playing a good team in ASU, but the team as a whole looked really flat. The kills weren't as crisp, we were outblocked, we won solely because of our overwhelming edge on talent. Arizona tomorrow night will be a different story. The loss of Cynthia for the season was bad enough, but then losing Bryn a week later... First an all-american outside hitter, then your all-american setter. That's a lot to make up for. I was really hoping and thought that the team had a good shot at repeating its national championship, but now, who knows. Hopefully Bryn will be back soon, even though that doesn't make up for Cynthia's passing. There was one stretch where ASU had two or three service aces with just two backrow passers. We shifted a third one to the backrow, they served to her, and she makes a returning error. Luckily, ASU served the next one out, but it really shows how weak our service receive is. *grumble*
Harry Potter comes out in less than a week! I'm so excited. I got a group of 31 going to the midnight premiere! I can't wait.
Tomorrow will be a lot of fun. Classes end at noon, then I'm running an archery beginner practice. After that, I get to go to SF with someone cool/special for the symphony then a trip over to Berkeley! heh, I'll really be simulating an archery tournament on Saturday when I shoot; I'll be tired and quite possibly hungover.
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| Thursday, November 10th, 2005
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1:45 pm - All good things...
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Well I'm sitting here in lab waiting for my 2:15 class to roll around and I just got back from my Bio 44Y intern interview. It went surprisingly well, it ended up more like a casual conversation than an interview. If I get both the Bio 44Y intern position and accepted into the SIMS medical shadowing program, my winter quarter is going to be quite busy. Top that off with studying for the MCATs and the bulk of my experiment work and my winter quarter is going to be busy as hell. I actually ended up eating dinner with Professor Tendall at faculty night on Tuesday night, after going to his office hours that day. He's a very interesting person, although quite quirky and a bit random at times. Nevertheless, I look forward to having Econ 51 with him and the econ God, my former roommate Chris.
My experiment is finally coming along. Once I bring back the camcorder from home so I can record the trials, data will be collected and analyzed. It's quite exciting actually to finally get stuff done. Everything is going well for me right now *knocks on wood*; I broke 250 at 18m yesterday, I'm seeing the symphony on Friday night, I likely made it as a Bio 44Y intern, my researching is coming along, my residents are all still alive, classes are going well... I wish things would just stay this way...
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