Morphing Ability
Monday, October 30, 2006
During Astronomy section today, we were supposed to hand up our homework for the week. Everyone in my section has arrived, and we were waiting for our TA, who was late as usual. There was an awkward silence in the classroom, reminding us that we STILL didn't know everyone's names in the section. Whatever conversations there were in the class were superficial, and they revolved around the weather, how tired they were, or how late the TA was. (I find it quite pointless to talk about the weather every week, especially if all people say are "Wow, it's cold today!", "It's especially cold", "It's pretty cold today, eh?", "It's kinda chilly, aint't it?", blah blah, but I still see people do this in my section)
There was this last question in my homework that I wasn't too sure of, so I got the attention of an American girl sitting in front of me in class. I didn't know her name. I also didn't know she was a shape-shifter. She had morphing abilities, and she chose to turn into a housefly.
Me: Hi! Do you know where a neutron star would be on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram?
Girl: Well, you can always go read up.
Me: Well, I'm referring to the last question in our homework.
Girl: (morphing into a housefly) Just read your notes, and you will know the answer.
Me: (getting slightly irritated) How do you do the last question?
Housefly: Well, I don't know! Go find the answer yourself.
Me: (getting more irritated) How did YOU do the last question? What did YOU write?
Housefly: (obviously covering her homework, not letting me see her answers) Well, everything is covered in the lecture. I can't help you. You will just have to do it yourself.
Me: ...
And as I picture myself trying to smack houseflies, I was aghast at the behavior she was exhibiting. It's ok not to tell me your answer, but it's very childish to try to cover your homework on purpose. Besides, the last question was only worth 1 mark.
Sigh.. I don't like houseflies.
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5:29 PM
Arts Student
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
I am intrigued by societal influences on human behavior. I find it more instructive to study economics from the sociological point of view. I find the history of the lives of influencial people in the 17th and 18th centuries fascinating. I am quite excited about the class debate coming soon. I wanna learn anthropology. I am considering taking Asian Studies as a minor. I envy those people taking psychology classes who can learn about interactions between individuals. I am hungry for philosophy classes. I am looking forward to the upcoming debates in class. I yearn for mastering new languages. I don't really like physics. I did badly in chemistry in JC. I know nuts about biology, and probably know nuts about nuts as well. (I know Nutella is not a nut tho) And, I'm a math major!!
I am aceing my humanities subjects. And it's ironic that my math is my worst subject, just like a true blue arts student. Math here is not simple, and half the people in my class at the start of the semester had dropped the course already.
What am I doing???? In 3 years time, I will get a Bachelor of Arts. I'm an arts student!!!!!!!! Damn.. Ok, arts student must study or will fail.. bye!
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4:56 PM
Blog Spying
Monday, October 16, 2006
With enough patience, you can search for anyone's blog, provided it exists. I admit I am guilty of randomly searching for blogs, and I found some I never thought existed. Actually, the only way for you to have a blog that cannot be found would be to have one such that nobody knows of the url address. Also, your blog must not have any external links. (e.g. if you have a blog entry with a link to some youtube page, theoretically, you can find ur blog on google.)
In terms of procedures, there are mainly two methods, blog-linking, and using search engines. Apparently, my blog is super easy to find by typing appropriate keywords, (i.e. NOT words like "stinky", "lawyers", "gays" and "bad hair style", though I might just decide to write an entry with those words included.. in the same sentence.) And besides, my blog is linked on a few other blogs. Once my roommate knew I had a blog, it took like 3 minutes before he found it, using very relevant keywords.
While the people who visit my blog are most probably people I know, there are people from certain places I have no clue as to who they are. (Pls, if you come often, then tag!!! I wanna know who you are!)
A far more interesting analysis of visitor origin would be my abandoned blog (imo2006.blogspot.com). These are the recent countries of origin ranked in terms of the number of unique visitors:
United States
Singapore
United Kingdom
Morocco
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Turkey
Germany
Moldova
Belgium
Hong Kong
Thailand
Malaysia
New Zealand
Equador
India
Greece
Poland
Slovenia
Romania
Estonia
France
Finland
Russia
Pakistan
Netherlands
Czech Republic
Indonesia
(Side-note: I remembered a few months ago, I had a LOT of German visitors, and some Japanese visitors.)
I'm quite amused at the sheer number of countries represented. It is an abandoned blog because I merely recorded the IMO journey, and that's all. I never imagined it would have so many visitors, even months after I last updated it.
I have no intention of starting a math blog or something, because that totally stinks of nerdiness. Still, seeing just so many people from various countries visiting my blog, I get quite a good kick out of it. Muahahaha!!
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11:08 PM
Nostalgia
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Just got this email from Bryan, which made me smile :)
"It amazes us how much you went through and gave for us. Your weekly Saturdays and June to July breaks must have been precious to you, but you came, training after training, to teach a group who almost never did their homework. You sacrificed your very-hard-earned money to go with us to Slovenia, only to receive another overwhelming burden – coordinating our scripts. Your participation in IMO 2006 was much more than as a mere “Observer”. Yet through all these, you never complained.
We are indeed grateful for and truly appreciate your generosity and hard work. Your experience and devotion made you such an excellent teacher, and through your contributions we learned much more than we could by ourselves. We could always see in you such a strong desire to help us do well.
We wish you all the best in your university life in Cornell and all your future endeavours, and we do hope that we can meet again someday.
Many thanks,
Bryan Hooi Kuen Yew, Ho Jun Wei, Lim Wei Quan, Tham Zheng Kang, Wu Jia Wei, Zhao Yan"
Reminiscing those memorable days in Slovenia, those weeks of training, including a particular 3 hr lecture-style saliva marathon i conducted, a sense of nostalgia rushed through me, making me miss those good ol' days. I miss the IMO team!!
Those were the days when I could just do math all the time. JC math olympiad training aside, my priority was the national team training, and all the money I earned from the JC math olympiad training was used for the Slovenia trip.
During the IMO national team training, I enjoyed teaching every minute of it. And I know it was worth every minute. For I knew the people whom I taught appreciated what I did. I was sure they improved under my guidance, and as they began to solve problems they once couldn't solve, an immense sense of satisfaction would sweep me, much more than the satisfaction I get when I solve them myself.
I know just how important training is, and that was why I was so involved in training. I believed in it. I believed in them. And I believe it was worth all my time and effort. And more importantly, I treated it as a serious commitment. I was willing to sacrifice my time and energy to take charge of training, even though I had other commitments such as my research attachment, and a paper to rush out that time.
Math has moulded me into the person I am today, teaching me patience, endurance, perseverence, commitment, and ultimately, it taught me to dream.
It is because of the IMO that I was able to dream. And I'm glad I was there with the IMO team, helping them in anyway possible, and giving them the courage to dream. They did well, and they did much better than me in IMO 2003. And seeing the happiness pasted on their faces and their dreams realised, as they receive the medals, I am happy that I had done my part.
Thanks Bryan, for sending such a sweet email. I really appreciate it!!
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4:17 PM
Whatever..
Saturday, October 14, 2006
An entry was deleted because it didn't make sense.
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3:48 AM
Snow is Approaching
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Yesterday, it snowed in Wisconsin. Today, it snowed in Chicago and Michigan. And in the middle of nowhere we call Ithaca, it's going to reach -2 deg tonight. The only reason why Cornell isn't snowing is that there isn't any precipitation. It's only Autumn, and already, I'm feeling cold.
The squirrels in Cornell are getting desperate, trying to store as many nuts as possible. And as I watch them scurry about finding nuts, I am reminded that winter is going to slam down on us and whack us flat.
How to survive winter? When it's less than -20 deg??? Bathing is a torture, especially after i turn off the shower. Maybe that's why polar bears don't bathe.. Hmmm.. Do polar bears not bathe because they do not stink?? I wonder if I'm going to bathe as often during winter.
(Lawyer, if you feel like saying anything in response to this entry.. Shaddup!! Or I'll freeze your ass off with snow.)
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11:35 PM
The Waxing Moon
Monday, October 09, 2006
It is dark all around. The few lampposts that lay scattered around are hiding behind the shadows of trees. Even the waxing gibbous moon is descending, retreating back to its sleep, allowing the faintest of stars begin to gain prominence, against a backdrop of the Milky Way. The chilly winds dance in between the bald branches of the trees, adding just a little tune to an otherwise eerie silence. The piles of rustling leaves on the ground seem to whisper to your ears, telling you that no living soul is around. Even the loud waterfall has been muted by the distance, giving a strange meekness to it.
As I walk towards Collegetown for dinner, I can't help but notice that what was once a bustling college, with many students sprewn all over the grass patches of Cornell, has been drastically transformed into a ghost-town. It is fall break, and everywhere, including all the libraries and cafes, are closed for the Fall Break. And I guess the cold air blowing into my face set my introspective mind reeling once again.
It was just less than a day ago that I sent my darling back at the aiport in NYC, and I was left all by myself in NYC, roaming around with the status of an insignificant city-life observer. While there were countless people on the streets of New York, the city somehow resembled the ghost town of Cornell. I am half-way around the globe, away from all my friends and family back at home. I am away from the warmth of Sunny Singapore. Instead, I found myself wandering around, wary of shady figures with their eyes covered by their caps. The sounds of distant street brawls, the speeding lights of the police cars, and the mists of cigarette smoke that drift about, all reminded me that I was in a very foreign land.
Back in Cornell, as I was walking in the chilly winds, I thought of many things. I thought of my mum, my dad, my sister and brother. I thought of my army friends and all the experiences I had in the army. I thought of my school friends. And I thought of my darling.
Back in the army, whether it was in the swamps of Brunei, or the thorny vegetation of Thailand, I always knew where I was heading. Back in school, I was always sure of myself. I knew what I wanted out of school, and I knew what I had to do. In Cornell at this moment, I knew exactly where I was heading to for dinner. I had never really got lost before. Even in NYC, a cursory study of the transportation system of subways and buses, and a meer peek at the map of Manhattan, I knew where I was, at least roughly, and I would never get lost.
Yet, when I look at the bigger picture of things, I must admit that I wasn't so sure of what would happen in my life. Yes, I'm sure I'll be doing research in Mathematics. Yes, I know how to live life as a mature adult. I am able to take on any challenge reality has to throw at my face. Yes, I know that whatever the case, I will turn out well. But what I don't really know is how. Which route will I be taking in life? Life is abound with countless mazes of possibilities, and as my instinct tells me to follow the right wall of the maze to emerge victorious, my mind tells me that it might be a long journey.
The miraculous journey we call Life will be uniquely carved out by our experiences, and whatever experiences we have will determine our perspective in Life. I have had many many experiences. I have witnessed a freak accident with blood flowing out of someone's head. I have seen someone collapsed in front of me in the middle of the jungle, and I have carried him out of the jungle. I have heard of many deaths in army. I have seen an innocent person get sent to jail for something he didn't do. Those were but just the tip of the ice-berg of the storeroom of experiences I have in the army. It was also during that time that I went through my worst break-up. I was depressed for many months, and with the stresses from the family, from army, from my friends, I almost collapsed. But I brought myself through, just by clinging on to the hope that everything will be all right in the end.
For I know I am strong. Much as I feel lonely away from my family, I know I will survive. Whatever experiences I have, it will only mould me into a stronger person.
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10:22 PM
Facebook
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Damn.. Facebook is addictive!
You can see just how many bored people are out there, who are MORE bored than you..
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1:24 AM
