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| I can't believe that school has already been in session for two weeks. Living in Soto this year with a bunch of awesome people.
Summer update: Lived in Palo Alto with five great friends and worked at a samll venture capital fund of funds. Great experience. I now actually enjoy cooking, and I'm somewhat looking forward to graduation.
Decided that i want to do Camp Stanford spring quarter. I know that Euge is doing it (he inspired me!) - anyone else want to join us?
Looking for a job now - dang, this is a stressful season of life. I'm really glad for the experience that I had this summer, and hope that I can find something that I really like for the next two years. | | |
| Last night I went to dinner with my parents, sis, and uncle/aunt. In the car, my uncle and my dad were comparing their cars' service records after realizing that they had bought them at around the same time.
Dad (nonchalantly): Have you changed anything in your car?
Uncle (also nonchalantly): Engine!
Dad (no longer nonchalantly): Engine??!(@&!(#
I really don't know why that was so funny, but trust me it was. My sis and I couldn't stop giggling. Hehe...the return of my schoolgirl giggle.
Today my mom told me something that she read in the newspaper. Apparently, the UN has been handing out surveys to kids all over the world. When asked, "what is your personal opinion about the lack of food in countries throughout the world?" these were the responses (truthfully).
African kids: What's food?
European kids (I assume Western European): What's shortage?
American kids: What's the world?
Asian kids: What's a personal opinion?
I'm assuming that they asked really really young kids, but still this says a lot about our world. Actually, I think it's an amazingly accurate portrayal of our world. Who'd have thought that the responses from these kids could be so spot on?
I've done two main things since getting back: eating, and getting my wisdom teeth pulled. Such a weird combination. I really cannot even begin to describe the kind of food that I've been eating. One of the things that I really love about Taiwan is the fact that everything is so yummy, regardless of price. A $70 dinner that I had a week ago was just as good as the $10 dinner I had tonight and just as good as the $3 lunch I had a few days ago. Amazing. In a few days, I'm going in for a major wisdom tooth extraction - I'm really not looking forward to it :(. At least the dentists prescribe stuff like ice cream post surgery :).
I played golf today with my dad and my uncle. It was an amazing day for golf, and the course was really beautiful (by Taiwanese standards...it would just be an average course in the US/Canada). I struggled horribly on the front nine, but was tearing it up on the back nine. I was one under after six holes. Then along came hole seven. It was a par four, and after gettting on the green in three, I choked. Argh. I hate choking. Walked away with a triple bogey, then proceeded to bogey eight, and then I choked again on nine. I had a four foot putt left for par which would have brought me to 39, but I missed by a matter of millimeters. By that time, my will power was entirely exhausted, and I ended up double bogeying the hole. I really admire professional golfers and the amount of mental strength they have. I mean, I choked with only three people watching me. I can't even imagine the pressure of three thousand people watching on the spot, and millions more watching on TV. Maybe they do deserve the amount of money they make.
Home has been good to me, but I am starting to itch to go back. By the time that I do go back, I'm sure that I'll be wishing that break were a few weeks longer. Ah life :).
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| Finally home now after a really long quarter at Stanford. It was amazing how long my flights were (SFO --> NAR --> TPE…we were facing 200mph headwind at times)...and how little of them I was awake for...hmm...reminds me of class. Shout out to Grant Sohn for being my virtual class buddy - we take the same classes, but it’s a rare day for us to see each other in class, and even if we do, we’ve never managed to stay awake.
It's good to be home, though everything has been idealized in my mind in the year I spent away. Every time I come home to Taipei from California...I'm ashamed to say, but I like it less and less. I guess order has taken over in my life where there used to be chaos, and my blatant disregard of rules (i.e. driving without a license in Taiwan for about a year) has been replaced with a belief that rules are meant to be followed, not broken. What I used to call creative, daring, Taiwanese style driving, I now call stupidity and incompetence. I know that these are harsh words, but these are my true feelings. This isn't to say that this is all Taiwan's about - the people and the food are still awesome. It's just that the infrastructure is so undeveloped (thanks to corrupt politicians and lax regulations/standards) - no wonder no one on the world stage takes Taiwan seriously. I mean c'mon, we couldn't even connect a bridge a few years back, it was such a national disgrace when we had to ask Japanese engineers to come in (not because they were Japanese, but just because we couldn't do it and had to ask for help internationally).
We are very lucky to be able to live in the US. Having lived in another country before coming to the US has made me really appreciate how the US – despite horrible social injustices – is still the most free and meritocratic country in the world. In many ways, I feel that the US does have the responsibility to improve the quality of life for people in other countries. I know a lot of you will hate me for saying this, but I’m not against the war in Iraq. I do believe that it has and will cause many people in this generation a lot of pain, but I think it will be better for their future generations. I really feel for the Iraqis (of course I – and I believe I speak for many – have no idea what they’ve really gone through, but here's a shot). The Iraqi people have endured years under Saddam’s dictatorship and are now about to become slaves to another – a love and desire for money and comfort. Under Saddam, one man’s gluttony and greed caused millions of people to suffer. Under capitalism, every man and woman’s greed and gluttony will enslave them. I’m not one to judge which is better or worse, but at least under capitalism, each person has the right to choose whether or not to buy into the culture, and each person will be responsible in the end for his/her choice.
I guess a lot of this speaks to me about how fallen our world is and how we must wait for the Kingdom to come. Only in the next world can there no longer be injustice. For those of us who fight for it, I think true justice in this world is an unattainable goal. Even if we create a new system that promotes economic and social equality, some people will still be smarter, better looking, more charming, and more fit for this world. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should stop fighting now – I believe that we should make a difference while we can, but know and have faith that what we are longing to see will happen, just not in this world.
If you've gotten this far through, I thank you for sticking in there and hearing me out. Happy holidays everyone! | | |
| Wow. It's been five months since my last post! Hahah, I used to promise myself that I would never start an entry like that...oh well.
I'm up in Canmore, Alberta, Canada right now. In this country of seasons, we're knee deep into fall already. Amazing. It's like 5 degrees C everyday. Locals call it crisp. I call it damn cold.
LAUP was amazing. If you'd like to hear more, email me and I'll send you a full update. Thanks everyone for the support.
I've been watching The West Wing - anyone else like this show? It makes me want to go to law school and then enter politics. I think Aaron Sorkin is a genious. The dialogue in the show is down right amazing. It's fast, sharp, and hilarious. Even my parents like it!
Reading Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. He answers the HUGE question of why different people groups living in different places developed/civilized at different rates. In the past, people could only answer this by being rascist. He presents a highly substantiated argument that the environment where they developed makes a huge difference, and the main key in the entire process is food development. Highly recommended book.
Been talking to my parents. They're talking about moving into an apartment in Taipei - I'm psyched! No more driving up and down the mountain, it'll all be public transportation from now on! I think I'm going back to Taiwan for winter. TASers - hope to see you guys there.
In other exciting news, Safeway is celebrating its 75th anniversary and whenever you purchase over $25 worth of stuff there, they give you a gift card kind of thing that you can open up and see if you won anything. My aunt (she lives four doors down from me up here) won a 2-carat diamond ring! HAHA, I used to think that these things were all bogus and all, guess I was wrong.
Hope everyone's well. I'll be back on campus in a few days. Drop me a line if you're around! | | |
| Settling into the new quarter...it's so hard for me to get back into study mode. So far I've honestly only worked for a few hours at most for the entire quarter. Alex and Nick came and stayed over for ITASA - that was really fun and we hung out with James/Fred/Jamie. Also saw Calvin Chen for a few seconds.
I've decided on only taking 13 units this quarter - it's so nice not having to be busy. I know this feeling will pass as the quarter progresses but it's a good feeling for now.
I went to talk to my professor the other day and realized a huge problem about meeting with them - if you sound at all interested in anything, they assign you a ton of reading. I'm now stuck with two books and 7 papers that I need to read...argh...at least the material is genuinely interesting. | | |
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