So after a long night of refreshing news pages, clicking on maps, and getting very little work done, midterm elections for 2010 are more or less over. Votes are still being counted at this point, but most are set (more or less). Let's start with the nationals and work our way down.
The Democrats keep the Senate but lose the House. What can this mean? Honestly, they might as well have lost the Senate. With the House gone, we'll likely see gridlock for the next two years. Some say it'll be a replay of 1994--based on what many of the newly elected Republicans/TP's are promising, it may just turn out that way. The House may try to pass more right-wing initiatives (or as Boehner said, repealing health care is an option), but most won't even pass the Senate. And in the rare event that something works out, Obama will kill it. No matter what the Reps or Obama promises, even fewer of those will get done in the next 2 years than in the last 2. The Senate, with its near even split, is even more useless in that respect.
Of course, there's the possibility of cooperation, but we can ignore that for now. It will likely not happen--the numbers of the opposition party is just too large. With 2012 campaigns starting this very moment, no GOP elect will risk his job and turn back on his voters. Maybe something else will happen later on that would make cooperation more favorable, but right now that's not happening. In that case, the Democrats and Obama can potentially use this to their advantage. Many blogs say that they will be able to use the potential gridlock and uselessness of Congress against the GOP and blame them in 2012. This is a likely scenario and will probably play itself out over the next year.
State. Not much surprise here w.r.t. candidates--nearly every major state position has been won by a Democrat. The only exception is attorney general, but Kamala has some issues of her own that we won't get into here. What's more interesting is the fact that Californians rejected, in general, more conservative candidates who promised to bring a new face to Sacramento. Instead, they preferred incumbents, people with experience; they rejected big business and took in familiarity. While the winners cannot be really described as populist, it may be safe to say that CA was one of the few places that the Tea Party did not infiltrate. (About Newsom defeating Maldonado--no comment.)
Props? There were a number of interesting props on the ballot this time around, far more interesting than the candidates imo. 19 failed, but it's not surprising--with something this radical (such as gay marriage 2 years ago), it will take more than one election for the electorate to shift its attitude from the status quo. It actually lost quite miserably, given the lead that polls gave it over the summer. 23 also failed, but that's to be expected. Advertising for this one was very widespread, and of course this is California we're talking about. When faced with a decision between clean and dirty energy (with a ridiculously fantasized 5.5% unemployment rate), CA'ians will not choose dirty energy. Finally, the last important one was 25. Given the many past years of budget gridlock in Sac, 25 was also easy to pass. If there's anything that CA'ians are pissed about, it's that.
Finally, we have local elections. Candidates are all over the place, and frankly I don't care too much for them. There's the school board (shame that Starchild lost), some districts, and other random ones like Bart director and such. D10 is worth mentioning as that is my district--Tony Kelly is a decent candidate, and although he was not one of my choices, I definitely prefer him over a lot of the others. It is ridiculous how many candidates ran though--21 to be exact--and how spread out the votes were. Some people got ~40 votes, while Kelly numbered in the thousands. It would've been nice to have Marlene Tran win, but guess you can't have everything.
Finally, local props--AA and A we can skip, and B (not surprisingly) lost, but it did so pretty closely. While it does burden city workers, it does seem that there are many who feel the pain of lack of city funds, which explains all the yes votes. In a similar fashion, both J and K failed to pass, while N won. These all show how desperate the city is for money (and the state as well, with its other props not mentioned here). But it's curious how some passed while others didn't. J and K especially, even with the fact that one is a poison pill for the other. On the other hand, the city has decided to not favor Muni drivers anymore with the passage of G--yet another money-saving initiative, as well as a sentiment that Muni desperately needs reform. Also worthy of note are L/M--apparently, sit/lie garnered a lot more public support than polls indicated. It will be fascinating to see how the new law will play out.
In short, everyone won and everyone lost in this election, and with this over, 2012 has officially begun.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Today it is hot
So I think I will blog. Classes start on Thursday, so I go back tomorrow. It's both relieving and somewhat meh at the same time; doing nothing at home is nice and all, but it sucks to be unproductive and all. On the other hand, I'm not looking forward to the workload that will come with the next semester.
I now live on southside with a couple roommates, and I'm also down the hall from several other friends. It's pretty cool having it that way; over summer we had plenty of free time to play mahjong on Thursday nights or Smash. Hopefully this can continue over the semester, due to our not having much class on Fridays. I can finally play mahjong on a more regular basis for the first time since senior year. If you're reading this, you're also invited (you can fly in if you're not around the area).
Uhhhhh so what have I been doing. Okay so this summer, I finished the following: FMA Brotherhood, FMP Fumoffu, Great Teacher Onizuka, Kino's Journey, Mushishi, and The Twelve Kingdoms. Oh yeah, and I also managed to watch all the Pokemon movies that I haven't watched yet (there are currently 12 plus a special). So in that respect I consider this very productive.
FMA Brotherhood was definitely one of the best; the finish of the manga and anime has been anticipated for quite a while, and its story and ending were spectacular. After some more reflection, I definitely think that it's better than the original, not because it actually follows the manga, but more because its storyline is more concrete and character development played out better. There was some funky stuff in the first series, though of course it's hard for any series to be perfect. I'd still recommend watching both though.
In terms of comedy, both Fullmetal Panic? Fumoffu and Great Teacher Onizuka were worth watching in their own aspects. GTO had a good background story, and it also had some interesting characters. The artwork wasn't the best, so I was a tad bored toward the end with the same stuff over and over again. The humor did keep it going though, even though the substories got a bit repetitive and sometimes forced. Overall still good to watch if you have some time. A lot of slapstick and ecchi actually, if you're into that stuff. I might watch the live-action when I get around to it.
I haven't watched the actual FMP series yet, since Fumoffu was sorta like a sidetrack, so I'll talk about it after I do. Now the remaining series are all seinen. Kino's Journey was interesting, though I don't think it's as great as its ratings say it is. It seems like it's actually more ideal for younger audiences, though some of its ideas are thought-provoking. Despite being a bit boring at times, its artwork and soundtrack were worth it, and you might want to watch it if you're into dystopic fantasies. I do plan to watch the movie sometime.
Mushishi was pretty awesome. It's also somewhat fantasy and alternative history, telling the stories of humans who are affected by the "mushi," kind of like bugs or bacteria in our world. Except that they have very peculiar effects on people who get "infected"; the protagonist travels the land to help these people, and the endings aren't always particularly happy. Nevertheless, it's very touching at times, and the music and artwork by themselves are already worth watching for.
Okay, last one (or well, almost). The Twelve Kingdoms, despite its more modest ratings and smaller viewership, definitely made it to one of my top favorites. Well I guess that's because I enjoy the genre, but yeah. In an alternate world there exist 12 kingdoms coexisting on an imaginary land; each is ruled by a king/queen chosen by mythological forces. Fantasy plays a strong role here, and much of that, as well as the politics, is inspired by imperial China. The series tells several stories about the affairs in some of the kingdoms, focusing on some specific characters and their development. Not only is the background (both fantasy and reality) elegantly built by the creator of the series, the music is also one of the best I've ever heard. I realize I enjoy it so much because of its Chinese influence, but you should watch it anyway. I hope they come out with a sequel or something like that soon.
Alright, just a bit more on the Pokemon movies. Hmmm, my favorite has always been and still is Pokemon 2000: The Power of One. I just think that it's the most epic of the series, and none of the ones afterward have been able to match up to it. Some of the storylines are pretty pathetic, like the 3rd movie (Spell of the Unown, come on wtf is this crystal palace and that stupid girl?), while others seem to be much more geared toward kids (which Pokemon should be, but it's bad if it's excessive). My second favorite is probably Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, maybe because there was actually a story to it and a death occurs in the end (yes in Pokemon, gasp!). The Diamond/Pearl trilogy wasn't too bad either. I'm just glad I finished them all.
Right now I'm watching Durarara!! I should finish that soon. In the meantime I am still not looking forward to school and such. Life goes on..
I now live on southside with a couple roommates, and I'm also down the hall from several other friends. It's pretty cool having it that way; over summer we had plenty of free time to play mahjong on Thursday nights or Smash. Hopefully this can continue over the semester, due to our not having much class on Fridays. I can finally play mahjong on a more regular basis for the first time since senior year. If you're reading this, you're also invited (you can fly in if you're not around the area).
Uhhhhh so what have I been doing. Okay so this summer, I finished the following: FMA Brotherhood, FMP Fumoffu, Great Teacher Onizuka, Kino's Journey, Mushishi, and The Twelve Kingdoms. Oh yeah, and I also managed to watch all the Pokemon movies that I haven't watched yet (there are currently 12 plus a special). So in that respect I consider this very productive.
FMA Brotherhood was definitely one of the best; the finish of the manga and anime has been anticipated for quite a while, and its story and ending were spectacular. After some more reflection, I definitely think that it's better than the original, not because it actually follows the manga, but more because its storyline is more concrete and character development played out better. There was some funky stuff in the first series, though of course it's hard for any series to be perfect. I'd still recommend watching both though.
In terms of comedy, both Fullmetal Panic? Fumoffu and Great Teacher Onizuka were worth watching in their own aspects. GTO had a good background story, and it also had some interesting characters. The artwork wasn't the best, so I was a tad bored toward the end with the same stuff over and over again. The humor did keep it going though, even though the substories got a bit repetitive and sometimes forced. Overall still good to watch if you have some time. A lot of slapstick and ecchi actually, if you're into that stuff. I might watch the live-action when I get around to it.
I haven't watched the actual FMP series yet, since Fumoffu was sorta like a sidetrack, so I'll talk about it after I do. Now the remaining series are all seinen. Kino's Journey was interesting, though I don't think it's as great as its ratings say it is. It seems like it's actually more ideal for younger audiences, though some of its ideas are thought-provoking. Despite being a bit boring at times, its artwork and soundtrack were worth it, and you might want to watch it if you're into dystopic fantasies. I do plan to watch the movie sometime.
Mushishi was pretty awesome. It's also somewhat fantasy and alternative history, telling the stories of humans who are affected by the "mushi," kind of like bugs or bacteria in our world. Except that they have very peculiar effects on people who get "infected"; the protagonist travels the land to help these people, and the endings aren't always particularly happy. Nevertheless, it's very touching at times, and the music and artwork by themselves are already worth watching for.
Okay, last one (or well, almost). The Twelve Kingdoms, despite its more modest ratings and smaller viewership, definitely made it to one of my top favorites. Well I guess that's because I enjoy the genre, but yeah. In an alternate world there exist 12 kingdoms coexisting on an imaginary land; each is ruled by a king/queen chosen by mythological forces. Fantasy plays a strong role here, and much of that, as well as the politics, is inspired by imperial China. The series tells several stories about the affairs in some of the kingdoms, focusing on some specific characters and their development. Not only is the background (both fantasy and reality) elegantly built by the creator of the series, the music is also one of the best I've ever heard. I realize I enjoy it so much because of its Chinese influence, but you should watch it anyway. I hope they come out with a sequel or something like that soon.
Alright, just a bit more on the Pokemon movies. Hmmm, my favorite has always been and still is Pokemon 2000: The Power of One. I just think that it's the most epic of the series, and none of the ones afterward have been able to match up to it. Some of the storylines are pretty pathetic, like the 3rd movie (Spell of the Unown, come on wtf is this crystal palace and that stupid girl?), while others seem to be much more geared toward kids (which Pokemon should be, but it's bad if it's excessive). My second favorite is probably Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, maybe because there was actually a story to it and a death occurs in the end (yes in Pokemon, gasp!). The Diamond/Pearl trilogy wasn't too bad either. I'm just glad I finished them all.
Right now I'm watching Durarara!! I should finish that soon. In the meantime I am still not looking forward to school and such. Life goes on..
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Summer 2010 Ch. 2
I took one class at Cal this summer--Chinese 155, Journey to the West. It was actually session A, so it started at the end of May and went for six weeks til the end of June. I probably should've talked about this earlier, but o well. I'll just bring up whatever comes to mind.
The class is actually Chinese lit, but I got them to approve it for my reading/comp requirement (win!). And I'm so glad that I did, because it was way more chill and interesting than any other actual writing class. We had readings each day, but they were actually doable (since it's summer) and interesting. Obviously, we're reading the novel 西遊記, but there were also other readings, like related works, commentaries, supplements, and stuff like that. Most of the stuff was in English, though there was always the Chinese version of it for reference.
Oh yeah, so forgot to mention that since this was in the Chinese dept, a reading knowledge of classical Chinese was desirable though not required. It might as well have been anyway since all like 12 of us were at or around that level. For me it was definitely a challenge, since I never had that much literary Chinese (okay Chinese school really doesn't count. Seriously.). Thankfully, our professor was very enthusiastic about the material, and knowledge of Chinese wasn't as important as the material itself. And I had my fair share of preliminary knowledge from history classes and just what I learned on my own up to this point. Honestly didn't realize that humanities build up on what you learn from other classes to the extent that technicals do--no offense here.
Grade was based on participation and three relatively short essays. Participation was no problem; no one wanted to participate (no arrogant students in the small class), so I often felt bad and spoke up when the situation looked hopeless. One essay every two weeks, and they were just two 4-5 page and one 6-8. They were also open-ended, which made writing them that much easier. I chose topics that were relatively easy to talk about, and one interesting one with which I wanted to experiment. Grade in the end was a solid A :D
As for the content itself, we looked at background readings, different episodes and different themes in the actual novel, commentaries and criticisms, and finally supplements and modern adaptations. In addition to reading the abridged translation by Wiley (which only includes a few episodes plus beginning/end), we had a couple of (rather nice) readers with other episodes and texts. Background readings were interesting; my historical knowledge helped a lot here, esp. Tang politics and religion from the spring semester. Commentaries were a bit tedious, as the Chinese at this point became more difficult to comprehend. As for the text itself, it's always great to read about Monkey and his group's exploits, as well as following the translation in the original Chinese.
Naturally, this class also contained film screenings. One was Stephen Chow's A Chinese Odyssey, 大話西遊. It was pretty awesome, I have no idea why I haven't seen it before. We watched it in mandarin, because their faction won out (lol), but I borrowed it afterward to rewatch in cantonese. If I had watched it outside of class, I probably would've missed a lot of the things that we discussed afterward. Definitely worth it.
The other film we watched was The World, 世界 by Jia Zhangke (apparently really famous on the mainland, I had no idea). This wasn't explicitly about the Monkey King, though it also pushed the theme of undertaking a journey. It was also cool to be able to watch a film that I probably wouldn't have otherwise. It's one of those bittersweet post-modernist mainland films that are pretty good if you follow. Check it out.
Oh yeah, we also had a "field trip" to the Berkeley Art Museum to look at hell scrolls and demonic art pieces. Overall this class was awesome, definitely worth my summer and >$1k, and a great addition to the list of classes for my Chinese Studies minor. It also got rid of my R&C requirement :)
The class is actually Chinese lit, but I got them to approve it for my reading/comp requirement (win!). And I'm so glad that I did, because it was way more chill and interesting than any other actual writing class. We had readings each day, but they were actually doable (since it's summer) and interesting. Obviously, we're reading the novel 西遊記, but there were also other readings, like related works, commentaries, supplements, and stuff like that. Most of the stuff was in English, though there was always the Chinese version of it for reference.
Oh yeah, so forgot to mention that since this was in the Chinese dept, a reading knowledge of classical Chinese was desirable though not required. It might as well have been anyway since all like 12 of us were at or around that level. For me it was definitely a challenge, since I never had that much literary Chinese (okay Chinese school really doesn't count. Seriously.). Thankfully, our professor was very enthusiastic about the material, and knowledge of Chinese wasn't as important as the material itself. And I had my fair share of preliminary knowledge from history classes and just what I learned on my own up to this point. Honestly didn't realize that humanities build up on what you learn from other classes to the extent that technicals do--no offense here.
Grade was based on participation and three relatively short essays. Participation was no problem; no one wanted to participate (no arrogant students in the small class), so I often felt bad and spoke up when the situation looked hopeless. One essay every two weeks, and they were just two 4-5 page and one 6-8. They were also open-ended, which made writing them that much easier. I chose topics that were relatively easy to talk about, and one interesting one with which I wanted to experiment. Grade in the end was a solid A :D
As for the content itself, we looked at background readings, different episodes and different themes in the actual novel, commentaries and criticisms, and finally supplements and modern adaptations. In addition to reading the abridged translation by Wiley (which only includes a few episodes plus beginning/end), we had a couple of (rather nice) readers with other episodes and texts. Background readings were interesting; my historical knowledge helped a lot here, esp. Tang politics and religion from the spring semester. Commentaries were a bit tedious, as the Chinese at this point became more difficult to comprehend. As for the text itself, it's always great to read about Monkey and his group's exploits, as well as following the translation in the original Chinese.
Naturally, this class also contained film screenings. One was Stephen Chow's A Chinese Odyssey, 大話西遊. It was pretty awesome, I have no idea why I haven't seen it before. We watched it in mandarin, because their faction won out (lol), but I borrowed it afterward to rewatch in cantonese. If I had watched it outside of class, I probably would've missed a lot of the things that we discussed afterward. Definitely worth it.
The other film we watched was The World, 世界 by Jia Zhangke (apparently really famous on the mainland, I had no idea). This wasn't explicitly about the Monkey King, though it also pushed the theme of undertaking a journey. It was also cool to be able to watch a film that I probably wouldn't have otherwise. It's one of those bittersweet post-modernist mainland films that are pretty good if you follow. Check it out.
Oh yeah, we also had a "field trip" to the Berkeley Art Museum to look at hell scrolls and demonic art pieces. Overall this class was awesome, definitely worth my summer and >$1k, and a great addition to the list of classes for my Chinese Studies minor. It also got rid of my R&C requirement :)
Sunday, August 15, 2010
OK I haven't posted all summer so I'mma split things
WOW where the hell should I even start. Like my new layout? I just noticed that Blogger put out new templates and stuff. It's kinda cool. Don't worry bout it if you read my posts in another reader. Most of you probably do anyway.
Ok, let's get the boring stuff over with first. So "research" with Salahuddin and his grad students didn't really get anywhere this summer. I sorta learned how to use the program PETSc, which is used for solving differential equations in C++. Not that I actually used it for anything--I was supposed to study one of the examples and then write another one based on it, but it never happened. I went into the lab a few times, though I stopped going recently, both because I honestly don't have any interest in it and also because I was busy anyway. Ehhh, there'll be other opportunities...
Other thing is I'm still somewhat employed at the SSL from last summer. Or to be more accurate, I've been "volunteering" since the campus won't let me get paid for over 40 hours a week. O well. I just go up occasionally to work with my supervisor and other engineers on finishing the boards from last time (yes, the process can be extremely slow). It was just a bunch of repetitive tweaks and fixes, with the mechanical details constantly changing and forcing me to adapt. Of course, in the real world things are like this all the time, and engineers of different focuses often have to work closely with one another.
At the SSL I've also been able to put my awesome mandarin skills to use a couple times. I was asked to teach one of the Chinese engineers there how to use the program that I've been using and answer her questions (she's from Shanghai). Here's a snippet of one of our question-and-answer sessions:
Her (mandarin): Ok, so I was wondering why I couldn't import the board outline from this dxf file.
Me: Uhh, 我想这个 file probably 做得不好。我没 encounter 过这个问题。。。
Her (mandarin): How do I edit the layers on my board?
Me: *pause to digest* Oh, 你先去 Setup menu, 然后 click "Layer Definitions." 你看 by default 全部都是 on 的，所以你要把不用的 close, ok? 你该 click 这个 button...
As you can see, my poor mandarin combined with such a tech-heavy context made for some amusing answers. Afterward, she asked me about my school life and the usual stuff, which was a bit better though still slightly embarrassing. "我是三藩市来的。这个summer 我在 campus 教课, uhh.. introductory circuits. 这个是我第三年，last year 开始在这儿做工."
Life sure is fun.
Ok, let's get the boring stuff over with first. So "research" with Salahuddin and his grad students didn't really get anywhere this summer. I sorta learned how to use the program PETSc, which is used for solving differential equations in C++. Not that I actually used it for anything--I was supposed to study one of the examples and then write another one based on it, but it never happened. I went into the lab a few times, though I stopped going recently, both because I honestly don't have any interest in it and also because I was busy anyway. Ehhh, there'll be other opportunities...
Other thing is I'm still somewhat employed at the SSL from last summer. Or to be more accurate, I've been "volunteering" since the campus won't let me get paid for over 40 hours a week. O well. I just go up occasionally to work with my supervisor and other engineers on finishing the boards from last time (yes, the process can be extremely slow). It was just a bunch of repetitive tweaks and fixes, with the mechanical details constantly changing and forcing me to adapt. Of course, in the real world things are like this all the time, and engineers of different focuses often have to work closely with one another.
At the SSL I've also been able to put my awesome mandarin skills to use a couple times. I was asked to teach one of the Chinese engineers there how to use the program that I've been using and answer her questions (she's from Shanghai). Here's a snippet of one of our question-and-answer sessions:
Her (mandarin): Ok, so I was wondering why I couldn't import the board outline from this dxf file.
Me: Uhh, 我想这个 file probably 做得不好。我没 encounter 过这个问题。。。
Her (mandarin): How do I edit the layers on my board?
Me: *pause to digest* Oh, 你先去 Setup menu, 然后 click "Layer Definitions." 你看 by default 全部都是 on 的，所以你要把不用的 close, ok? 你该 click 这个 button...
As you can see, my poor mandarin combined with such a tech-heavy context made for some amusing answers. Afterward, she asked me about my school life and the usual stuff, which was a bit better though still slightly embarrassing. "我是三藩市来的。这个summer 我在 campus 教课, uhh.. introductory circuits. 这个是我第三年，last year 开始在这儿做工."
Life sure is fun.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Helloooooo summer!
Technically, break started last week, but there wasn't anything happening last week so yeah. Or well, all I really did was visit Lowell a couple times (Chan's bbq and then Kermesse) and see some teachers. I've also been driving my sister to school. Waking up at 6:45 am (that's right, AM) daily again is extremely painful, but thankfully they're finishing up soon.
In other news, my free time now consists of Pokemon HGSS (HeartGold & SoulSilver if you're a noob that doesn't know what HGSS stands for =P), FMA Brotherhood (Fullmetal Alchemist if you're a noob that doesn't know what FMA stands for), and various HK films that came out recently. HGSS are the Generation IV remakes of the classic Gold & Silver versions, and they are Hella fun. Not to mention the soundtrack, which is awesome. Everyone should play them, no kidding.
The current running FMA is the second anime of the same name. The first came out years ago and distanced itself from the manga halfway in. It was interesting to watch, but this one (which will finish in a couple weeks), strictly follows the manga and is great to watch. Since I didn't have time to watch anything over the semester, I am catching up now by cramming in as many episodes as I can each day.
I am still following Bleach (both anime and manga).
HK & Chinese films--I still have yet to watch Mulan, but I recently finished Confucius (孔子) and 72 Tenants of Prosperity (七十二家租客). The next ones I plan to watch are Just Another Pandora's Box, 14 Blades, and Little Big Soldier. Look them up if you're interested--most of them have historical allusions and will probably be hard to understand if you don't have the context. YesAsia.com is a pretty nice resource. In fact that's how I found out about them. =D
Okay, so how'd the semester go? Grade-wise, I have a 4.0 (so far). EE, History, and Legal Studies all A's, and Physics was a nice A+. The one thing missing--and it's taking an awfully long time--is CS. I have a bad feeling about this, since it'll probably be the class to kill my GPA. Will update as soon as it comes out. About that--I literally check BearFacts every day right after I wake up, hoping that it got updated the night before. I even had a dream about this, and in it I got a B in the class...
Enough about that, no one gives a damn about grades. Summer plans! I said nothing was happening last week, but this week and onward is a whole new story. Today was the first day of my class. It's 4-6pm M-R, but it seems that it'll be one worth taking: Chinese 155, Journey to the West. This will go until July, at which I start my second class, Philos 153 (Chinese Philosophy). I'm glad you see the theme. I've pretty much decided to finish the Chinese Studies minor this summer, while I still have time and while classes are good.
Though the class is late, I plan to continue live at home for the time being. During the day, I'll hopefully start on the research that I should have worked on last semester (and hence received an Incomplete for that unit because of my lack of effort to do so -_-). Dunno what exactly it involves yet, but I met with my professor today. Something about using a simulation program that involves C, parallel computing, and equation-solving. Apparently I'm solving equations that involves QM (since we're operating within the 45nm scale on transistors), E&M (Maxwell governs the electron density & field they create), and thermo (dynamics of atoms within the transistor). However, the task is very difficult, as hundreds of thousands of matrix elements can easily be generated because we're dealing with many atoms at the same time. I'm lucky enough to be able to barely understand the physics and math behind all this...
Anyway, this pattern should continue until mid-June. Then I start on something else, and hopefully I can do all 3 things at the same time. At that point, I'll probably start living at Cal again, since more of my time will be eaten up.
This third activity will be my job and main source of income this summer. What I'll be doing is... *drumroll*... ok, it's not that impressive, but I'll be TA'ing at $20 an hour for 20 hours a week. The class is EE42/100 (basically circuits for non-EE's). Whoooo. Teaching is going to be interesting--for one, I'm glad it's a class/material that I'm really comfortable with. I just filled out the paperwork today, and I'll probably know more as we get closer to the start-date of that class (6/21).
This summer is going to be fun. It's a shame so many people won't be coming back to SF though =/
In other news, my free time now consists of Pokemon HGSS (HeartGold & SoulSilver if you're a noob that doesn't know what HGSS stands for =P), FMA Brotherhood (Fullmetal Alchemist if you're a noob that doesn't know what FMA stands for), and various HK films that came out recently. HGSS are the Generation IV remakes of the classic Gold & Silver versions, and they are Hella fun. Not to mention the soundtrack, which is awesome. Everyone should play them, no kidding.
The current running FMA is the second anime of the same name. The first came out years ago and distanced itself from the manga halfway in. It was interesting to watch, but this one (which will finish in a couple weeks), strictly follows the manga and is great to watch. Since I didn't have time to watch anything over the semester, I am catching up now by cramming in as many episodes as I can each day.
I am still following Bleach (both anime and manga).
HK & Chinese films--I still have yet to watch Mulan, but I recently finished Confucius (孔子) and 72 Tenants of Prosperity (七十二家租客). The next ones I plan to watch are Just Another Pandora's Box, 14 Blades, and Little Big Soldier. Look them up if you're interested--most of them have historical allusions and will probably be hard to understand if you don't have the context. YesAsia.com is a pretty nice resource. In fact that's how I found out about them. =D
Okay, so how'd the semester go? Grade-wise, I have a 4.0 (so far). EE, History, and Legal Studies all A's, and Physics was a nice A+. The one thing missing--and it's taking an awfully long time--is CS. I have a bad feeling about this, since it'll probably be the class to kill my GPA. Will update as soon as it comes out. About that--I literally check BearFacts every day right after I wake up, hoping that it got updated the night before. I even had a dream about this, and in it I got a B in the class...
Enough about that, no one gives a damn about grades. Summer plans! I said nothing was happening last week, but this week and onward is a whole new story. Today was the first day of my class. It's 4-6pm M-R, but it seems that it'll be one worth taking: Chinese 155, Journey to the West. This will go until July, at which I start my second class, Philos 153 (Chinese Philosophy). I'm glad you see the theme. I've pretty much decided to finish the Chinese Studies minor this summer, while I still have time and while classes are good.
Though the class is late, I plan to continue live at home for the time being. During the day, I'll hopefully start on the research that I should have worked on last semester (and hence received an Incomplete for that unit because of my lack of effort to do so -_-). Dunno what exactly it involves yet, but I met with my professor today. Something about using a simulation program that involves C, parallel computing, and equation-solving. Apparently I'm solving equations that involves QM (since we're operating within the 45nm scale on transistors), E&M (Maxwell governs the electron density & field they create), and thermo (dynamics of atoms within the transistor). However, the task is very difficult, as hundreds of thousands of matrix elements can easily be generated because we're dealing with many atoms at the same time. I'm lucky enough to be able to barely understand the physics and math behind all this...
Anyway, this pattern should continue until mid-June. Then I start on something else, and hopefully I can do all 3 things at the same time. At that point, I'll probably start living at Cal again, since more of my time will be eaten up.
This third activity will be my job and main source of income this summer. What I'll be doing is... *drumroll*... ok, it's not that impressive, but I'll be TA'ing at $20 an hour for 20 hours a week. The class is EE42/100 (basically circuits for non-EE's). Whoooo. Teaching is going to be interesting--for one, I'm glad it's a class/material that I'm really comfortable with. I just filled out the paperwork today, and I'll probably know more as we get closer to the start-date of that class (6/21).
This summer is going to be fun. It's a shame so many people won't be coming back to SF though =/
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Positive Derivative
Thanks to everyone for all the comments and advice from the last post. I am very happy to say that we (I and my apartment-mate) ended up talking about our issues and working things out. The situation now is much better than it was a week ago. And as a result, most of the tension and bad feelings that were just hanging around have disappeared. Hopefully, we can just put all this behind us and move on.
It's been a month or so since I got sick. I honestly do not remember the last time I've been sick for this long, but I think I can confidently say that I'm almost fully recovered. A small cough still bugs me now and then, but give it a few more days and I should be good. With good timing too, because the good weather lately has been encouraging my allergies. (I just used "good" 3 times.) So in comes Claritin to save the day! I've just been taking one pill a day, as it suggests, and it's working great.
Today was Cal Day, the open house for all prospective students (as well as anyone who just wants to come to Cal and see what it has to offer). I spent most of the morning to noon in Cory giving tours and answering questions from incoming freshmen and their parents. It's pretty fun; I feel good about sharing my wisdom (lol) and giving advice, and I'm sure they like to get a student's personal perspective as well.
I finished up at around 2, and afterward Dustin and I went to walk around for a bit. Huge crowds at Sather Gate, and the atmosphere was just lively and full of energy overall. It was a nice break from the monotony of classes. Only two more weeks to go too, can't wait til then.
Finally, apartment hunting has picked up its pace. I'm looking for a one-bedroom place on southside, preferably with a price ceiling of $1600. Hopefully will finalize and just settle on one this coming week or so.
Oh yeah, I've been craving a good game of mahjong lately. By good, I mean with people who can actually play (well). I've also been watching Akagi, an anime based on Japanese mahjong, so that probably helps. In any case, I want at least one good mahjong session before the summer arrives.
It's been a month or so since I got sick. I honestly do not remember the last time I've been sick for this long, but I think I can confidently say that I'm almost fully recovered. A small cough still bugs me now and then, but give it a few more days and I should be good. With good timing too, because the good weather lately has been encouraging my allergies. (I just used "good" 3 times.) So in comes Claritin to save the day! I've just been taking one pill a day, as it suggests, and it's working great.
Today was Cal Day, the open house for all prospective students (as well as anyone who just wants to come to Cal and see what it has to offer). I spent most of the morning to noon in Cory giving tours and answering questions from incoming freshmen and their parents. It's pretty fun; I feel good about sharing my wisdom (lol) and giving advice, and I'm sure they like to get a student's personal perspective as well.
I finished up at around 2, and afterward Dustin and I went to walk around for a bit. Huge crowds at Sather Gate, and the atmosphere was just lively and full of energy overall. It was a nice break from the monotony of classes. Only two more weeks to go too, can't wait til then.
Finally, apartment hunting has picked up its pace. I'm looking for a one-bedroom place on southside, preferably with a price ceiling of $1600. Hopefully will finalize and just settle on one this coming week or so.
Oh yeah, I've been craving a good game of mahjong lately. By good, I mean with people who can actually play (well). I've also been watching Akagi, an anime based on Japanese mahjong, so that probably helps. In any case, I want at least one good mahjong session before the summer arrives.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Another Downer, Yayyyy
So recently I feel like I've been at a low point, probably one of the lowest within the past couple years. Academically I'm starting to blow things off--it's been a long semester, and I'm starting to lose interest in classes and grades (though I'm sure I will care about grades again come finals). I think that's one disadvantage of the semester system, in that it's sometimes too lengthy and tedious toward the last few weeks. I just finished my last midterms, so I'll probably care even less. Also, the social life is pretty much stagnant / going down the drain, whichever way you want to look at it. I didn't see a single person over break thanks to my cough, and back here it always seems that people are either busy or just have conflicting schedules (including me). I do see HKN people sometimes though, but the committee work is a drag, especially when those that you're working with are seniors who are always busy.
Ok, the real reason why I'm so hateful right now--roommate problems. I won't name the person, though you can ask if you don't know and want to know. It's pretty obvious anyway from my descriptions. It started off benignly; a couple months back, I would get annoyed that he never cleaned up after himself or washed the dishes. But that's virtually nothing compared to what I'm dealing with now.
He then started living on the couch. That probably doesn't sound like anything, but it annoys me. He has his own room and own desk, but he's always just on the couch in the common room with his laptop. Why the hell are you taking over the common space when you have your own? Not only that, but he literally lives on it, as in leaving his stuff and mess on it when he's not here, as if the couch were his. So basically, the rest of us never use it anymore--we can't invite guests over to sit on it, nor can we sit on it to watch TV or play games. My couch, which I donated to be our couch, became his couch.
Let's keep going (how can it get any worse?). After he took over the couch, he started to play his music. Loudly. Enough that I can hear and get distracted by it down the hall in my own room. You see why I don't like his living on the couch? Why can't he just stay in his own room and play his music there, or just use earphones like normal people? And his tunes are horribly annoying too--he plays the kind of music where the beats just don't go away and repeat over and over again.
Ok, now what? He gets speakers. Fucking huge and bass-boosting speakers. And he starts using them. Now the music is even louder, and what's worse is that even with my own earphones on, I can feel his fucking bass. It's not so much a problem when I'm working (relatively), since I just turn up my own music to block it out. But his sleeping patterns are horrendous, and recently I've been having trouble sleeping because he keeps it on after I go to bed. Oh, but wait, there's more!
He started inviting his friends over recently, maybe a week or two ago. Example of problem. Two nights ago, he had three people over. They talked loudly the whole time, so loud that I could clearly hear what they were saying with our door closed. What's worse was that they were all drunk, so what could we do? They stayed up, talking, with the music blasting, until past 4am. And then guess what? A fight breaks out. I don't know the details, but according to Jeff (who also woke up), punches were thrown, things were knocked over, and they ran out of the apartment. In the morning, everything was a huge mess.
Ok, so you ask me, why don't I talk to this roommate about these problems? Obvious solution, but I've tried again and again to no avail. We no longer talk, save for my occasional "Turn down your music, I'm trying to study." Not only does he usually just outright ignore me, but he often retaliates by doing the opposite of what I ask. From my point of view, I really do not understand this immature passive-aggressiveness, nor do I understand such disrespect for others. The other two living here just deal with it, though they don't say much to him either.
For the time being, I find solace during the time that he's out and not here. I've also lost all motivation to stay over on weekends to do things such as attend HKN socials. At this point I am looking forward to the summer, which comes in a month. Then I can finally get out of this place and leave this all behind.
Ok, the real reason why I'm so hateful right now--roommate problems. I won't name the person, though you can ask if you don't know and want to know. It's pretty obvious anyway from my descriptions. It started off benignly; a couple months back, I would get annoyed that he never cleaned up after himself or washed the dishes. But that's virtually nothing compared to what I'm dealing with now.
He then started living on the couch. That probably doesn't sound like anything, but it annoys me. He has his own room and own desk, but he's always just on the couch in the common room with his laptop. Why the hell are you taking over the common space when you have your own? Not only that, but he literally lives on it, as in leaving his stuff and mess on it when he's not here, as if the couch were his. So basically, the rest of us never use it anymore--we can't invite guests over to sit on it, nor can we sit on it to watch TV or play games. My couch, which I donated to be our couch, became his couch.
Let's keep going (how can it get any worse?). After he took over the couch, he started to play his music. Loudly. Enough that I can hear and get distracted by it down the hall in my own room. You see why I don't like his living on the couch? Why can't he just stay in his own room and play his music there, or just use earphones like normal people? And his tunes are horribly annoying too--he plays the kind of music where the beats just don't go away and repeat over and over again.
Ok, now what? He gets speakers. Fucking huge and bass-boosting speakers. And he starts using them. Now the music is even louder, and what's worse is that even with my own earphones on, I can feel his fucking bass. It's not so much a problem when I'm working (relatively), since I just turn up my own music to block it out. But his sleeping patterns are horrendous, and recently I've been having trouble sleeping because he keeps it on after I go to bed. Oh, but wait, there's more!
He started inviting his friends over recently, maybe a week or two ago. Example of problem. Two nights ago, he had three people over. They talked loudly the whole time, so loud that I could clearly hear what they were saying with our door closed. What's worse was that they were all drunk, so what could we do? They stayed up, talking, with the music blasting, until past 4am. And then guess what? A fight breaks out. I don't know the details, but according to Jeff (who also woke up), punches were thrown, things were knocked over, and they ran out of the apartment. In the morning, everything was a huge mess.
Ok, so you ask me, why don't I talk to this roommate about these problems? Obvious solution, but I've tried again and again to no avail. We no longer talk, save for my occasional "Turn down your music, I'm trying to study." Not only does he usually just outright ignore me, but he often retaliates by doing the opposite of what I ask. From my point of view, I really do not understand this immature passive-aggressiveness, nor do I understand such disrespect for others. The other two living here just deal with it, though they don't say much to him either.
For the time being, I find solace during the time that he's out and not here. I've also lost all motivation to stay over on weekends to do things such as attend HKN socials. At this point I am looking forward to the summer, which comes in a month. Then I can finally get out of this place and leave this all behind.
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