Men in Black outro

Makes you wonder what's out there...my favorite part of the entire movie!!!

Finals

Again, the much dreaded finals week has come. Wishing everyone good luck here...

David Oistrakh plays Sibelius Third movement

Listen to the part starting at 4:35. The passage I talked about in my previous post starts around 4:45.

London Philharmonic

Went to the London Philharmonic Concert on November 30th. London Philharmonic, an established orchestra is the same orchestra that performed the LOTR's original soundtrack. The program for that night was as follow:

· Liszt : Les Préludes, symphonic poem for orchestra, S. 97
· Sibelius : Violin Concerto in d minor, Op. 47 (1905)
· Brahms : Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73

Sarah Chang was the solo violinist in Sibelius' famous Violin Concerto. Early this year, Zhi Hua, a senior of mine tried to convince me that this violin concerto is a brilliant and beautiful concerto, but I did not think so even after listening to the mp3. Sarah Chang's performance totally changed my view though. The intro to the first movement itself instantly captivated me, and yes, it was good enough to give me goosebumps. There was also a passage in the 3rd movement in which the violin's melody seemingly soared beyond the limits of all instruments. The pitch was unbelievably high; it was very soft at the same time, yet distinct enough to stand out amidst the accompaniment of other instruments in the orchestra. In summary, the concerto was a work of genius.

I didn't quite like the Brahms' symphony though, as it was too long. Surprisingly, we did not get any encore performances that night. It seemed like an oddity for me, as all the other concerts I went for had encore performances.

Hopefully in the future, there will be more good orchestras coming to the U of M, and hopefully they include more famous works in the program. I would especially like to listen to symphonies by Beethoven (3rd, 5th, 7th and the famous 9th), and some piano concertos by Rachmaninoff (2nd and 3rd).

Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici

Cool line from V for Vendetta:

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V.

— V's introduction to Evey

Go blue? Now we're all a bit blue.

Done with the second round of midterms, a Spanish oral test and a Spanish skit. Screwed up Math 520 I would say. The oral test went well, but the skit wasn't up to my expectation. Well, I'm done with it though, at least for this semester.

I got a new job in the Shapiro Science Library, working at the front desk. It is a 5-hour shift, and I will work for just one shift per week. The tasks seemed intimidating, with lots of stuff to remember. The student manual was a frigging 40+ pages long, and again my responsibility seems to run the gamut of petty office work. My supervisor is nice, but a seemingly demanding person. I hope I can hang on for at least the rest of this semester.

The resume-drop deadline for most of the companies was on the past Thursday. That means I was forced to face reality towards the deadline, and had to finalize my resume, write cover letter, and fill in some stupid personal profile stuff. TP even required the completion of a phone interview, which I am positive that I screwed it up by stuttering through the last part. In a sense I had everything settled for the meantime, but this is just the first wave. I shall not further elaborate on this shit before I start cursing and get depressed (Why? Hint: Remember the state that I live in? State of denial it is. Kerry was right, Bush lives next to me :D)

Watched THE game - Michigan VS Ohio just now in Trotter House. I'm "proud" to say that that was the first football match I've ever watched for the good 3 years I've spent in the United States. Well, not bad for a starter right? It was THE game because it was the clash of the century; it involved the greatest rivalry in college football, and both teams were undefeated before the game (which was the last game for the season). Sad to say that we lost (42-39), but this game kind of changed my opinion towards American Football. It doesn't look that stupid anymore, and in fact know I think there is actually a lot of strategies and skills involved in a game.

Thanksgiving is next week. We'll have a 5-day break, and as usual, I already know what will happen for these 5-days. I will waste my time doing nothing, and regret about that towards the end of the break. Same shit different time. Will I have the will to break the pattern? I think I already have the answer. Stupid question.

Going to hit the bed soon...without setting the alarm. Life's good just because of that. How pathetic...

A new look...

Now my blog is officially under google. Tried to make it look nicer, but obviously to no avail. Years of studying had apparently sapped me of my artistic talent...

Updates..

Time flies. Suddenly it's November. Suddenly all the trees are bare again. The weather in Ann Arbor is still as crazy as usual, with temperatures ranging from -2 Celsius to 20 Celsius in a week.

Last Saturday, I attended a DeepaRaya event organized by UMIMSA. Got to see a some Malaysians I didn't even know exist. The food was good, a little bit too spicy I would say. Can't really complain much actually, as almost everything else is better than dorm food. The spaghetti served the other day was simply inedible. It wasn't even pasta; the Italians would probably commit suicide in shame when they know what atrocities had been done to their national food.

Went to play some piano in music school after the SAM dinner yesterday. When I was happily abusing pieces by Lizst and Beethoven, a familiar tune struck me. When I stopped my unabashedly bad playing, I realized somebody was playing piano concerto no.3 by Rachmaninoff!!! Touted as the most difficult piece (at least in the movie the Shine), this piece is a monster that only a beast can tame. I couldn't imagine that somebody is playing that just right opposite my room, without the orchestra accompaniment... Although it's obvious that the pianist is still in the process of bettering the playing, the precision and dynamics were almost concert-ready. I somehow resisted the temptation to go over and see how the pianist perform the piece. Not intimidated by the superior playing, I stubbornly continued on pounding the poor piano :)

And yeah, I have decided to go to Florida for my winter break. Air tickets were settled, and now we "just" need to worry about transportation and accommodation. It'll be an expensive vacation I bet...

Hahaha

My friends have been saying that my blog gets more and more depressing. This shall brighten up it a lot!! :D

心凉自然静

I suddenly realized that writing blog is all about communicating with yourself, especially when you're writing about what you're thinking. As for me now, I'm totally prepared for winter, not physically, but mentally.

My state of mind is not much different from the winter. Cold and indifferent seemed best to describe my attitude towards virtually everything. Well, such might be a result of experiencing too little warmth in this stage of my life. To me, genuine and sincere caring is more and more like the fairies that only exists in fairytales. All I see now are individuals too preoccupied with themselves to be concerned about other people. If somebody appeared to care about somebody else, it's most likely that he is actually doing so because he cares about himself in the first place.

There's of course nothing wrong with that; anyway, we are the ones who are living our lives. It's just sad to know that the good values prevalent in the moral education textbooks are actually socially infeasible, probably no different like how disappointed kids feel when they find out Santa Clause is just a fantasy. Again, I'm most probably biased not having seeing enough, but right now the whole social structure seems like a pretentious construct which participants in it engage themselves in countless complicated and intricate symbiotic relationships. The motive behind the establishment of these webs: to survive - the most primitive goal, the sole message embedded in our deepest core.

Like winter too, the coldness, indifference and skepticism surprisingly result in a form of unearthly tranquility in my mind. Well, why taking things so seriously then, when you know the idealistic form of world is beyond grasp? Why don't just play along with the crowd and enjoy the process with a watching eye? The idea that I'm just a infinitesimal grain helplessly carried away by the current of life used to trouble me, but right now I'm just going to ride on the drift and appreciate what I have. Who cares whether genuine relationship exists. It's definitely cold, but the serenity seems to offer a peace of mind.

Contemplation

Another week went by, and it was so far the worst. Just got back my econ 409 results, and it was horrendously bad (it's below the mean). I don't know whether it is that my brain had turned rusty, or that it has never been shiny before; I would put more stakes on the latter one if it was a bet.

I hate to say it, but right now I think I'm a failure. Not only my academic grades is in jeopardy, things are getting out of control too. Some changes must definitely be made. I have to live strong. To do that, I have to understand myself more than ever.

Fall Break

So, I finally got my fall break. It's too short for me, but well, any extra day off is very much welcomed...

Normally, I would spend my break exploring the different areas of the States, but it seemed my aging process had been accelerated exponentially lately. Travelling didn't seem that much interesting anymore, and all I wanted to do for the break was just to get some good nights' rest and the luxury of taking everything easy. I would say that I still havn't got enough sleep though, and it's sad to say that although fall break hasn't officially ended yet, I'm looking forward to the next thanksgiving break already...

So, what have I accomplished over the break? Nothing meaningful actually. I got to watch three movies (Batman Begins, The Godfather I and 2046), finish another GuLong's novel (边城浪子) and do some shopping to stock up some supplies for winter (including a bottle of whiskey to warm up myself during the unrelentingly cold winter :P).

Besides, I managed to savor some of the food that I had been dreaming of for the past few weeks. Chye cooked an absolutely delectable Bak Kut Teh on Saturday, and Voon Seng was generous enough to share the mooncakes he brought from Malaysia. With Ren Jie's car too, I was able to drive to Hong Hua in Farmington Hills for dinner and Chocolate House in Main Street Ann Arbor for desert on Saturday night, and to Great Lakes for dim sum at Sunday noon.

Just celebrated Vivian's birthday in Pizza House. Less drinking than I had expected, but heck, that's not even a real bar. Oh yeah, and happy birthday to Wan Hong too...all that's left is memory...RIP.

Well, there's another midterm awaiting me this Thursday. Guess that means studying for the whole Tuesday and Wednesday...geez...that sucks..


Dinner at Hong Hua

Old email

When I was doing some data-cleaning chores on my computer, I came across this entry which I wrote eons ago. It was an email I wrote to my family and Malaysian friends when I first came to US:


Hi everybody, I am in the states already. Till now, everything goes on quite well and I am now in my own dorm room.

Ok, I’ll report a bit about what I have gone through since I part from you guys in the KLIA. After bidding goodbye to the close ones, we, about 22 friends along with me(among which 20 are going to umich) board the plane MH94. It’s a huge jet, with 3-4-3 seats arrangement, and the seats are quite cramped together(worse than the super VIP bus seats). There was no place to stretch out our legs properly. Luckily, there is a screen behind each seat, and we can play games, watch movie or listen to movie to kill time. My seat was on the furthermost right(right next to the window) and a few rows from the back. There were two girls sitting on my left, and it’s quite inconvenient for me to go in and out to the lavatories during the flight. After waiting for quite a while, the plane finally took off. It’s an exhilarating experience. During the whole flight, we experienced quite a few air turbulence. Unfortunate for me, the screen of mine was jammed throughout the whole 4 hours from KL to Taipei(reached there at 7-8pm, can’t really remember). Boring indeed, nothing to do except to enjoy the light meal the plane crew served…(taste ok..)

After arriving Taipei, we went toilets, and immediately rushed to another gate to board the same plane. The flight to LA took an astonishing 11 hours+, which I was thankful that my screen could be used again. We had dinner and brunch on the plane, and we reached LA at about 7pm local time. We had to go through strict custom procedure, which we felt like being ‘detained’ for a couple of hours. I was the first in my group to be interviewed, and luckily my interviewer was a Chinese. He spoke mandarin to me, and was quite friendly (fyi, American English is real hard to comprehend…they have the slang). After being fingerprinted and taken photos, I was freed. After checking in my luggage to the connecting flight, we went to stay in a hotel in LA(motel 6, a chain). Four of us shared a 57 USD room.

The next day, we took the American Airlines to Chicago, then another connecting flight to Detriot. The service is far worse than MAS airplane, as no proper meals were served. We only received a bag with energy bar, yogurt and raisins inside. We finally reached Detroit at 5-6pm. We met seniors and M’sia Student Department’s officer at the airport. After taking out all our luggage, we took cabs to Ann Arbor. It cost 40 USD for 4 people.
The whole Ann Arbor is a university. There are no walls or fences to mark the area of the uni. It is simply huge, and I did not even know I was in the vicinity of the umich because it resembled a town so much.

For the first night in Umich, we stayed in a house called Betsy Barbour. It cost around 23 USD per person, and we were paired up to stay in double rooms. The seniors, who we found very helpful, suggested that we move to our own housing the next morning, and they arranged everything for us. That night, we dined at a Chinese restaurant. I ordered steam chicken rice(5usd). Because of the last meal I had was the lousy snack on the plane, Pretzels(served at noon), I was starving badly. Even so, I didn’t manage to finish the chicken rice, because the serving was so huge. The rice looked like a mountain, and the chicken they gave was like about half-a-bird.

The next morning, on the 25th Aug(US time), the seniors helped us to rent a truck to load our belongings and carry them to our housing neighborhood, which is located in the north campus(Betsy Barbour is in the central campus). Before that, I and two friend of mine had breakfast in Starbucks. (3USD for muffin and coffee) We managed to move in our rooms under seniors’ help.(we were not supposed to move in so early). My house is situated in the furthermost part of the Baits houses, (they have Baits 1 and Baits 2, with a total of 10 buildings), and it’s called the Smith house. My room number is 3005, but it’s not actually on the third floor, because the first and second floor is under the ground level. My room doesn’t have a toilet, and I must go out to the common washroom situated outside my room.(not so far though, there are only 4 rooms sharing a short corridor, 2 double, 2 single, means 6 ppl sharing a bathroom) The surrounding is excellent, there are trees and grasses all around, and it is very similar to the highland resorts in Malaysia, but I think it’s too quiet. Maybe this was because that the international and American students have not yet moved in. The room door also uses the card system, which is like the hotel card in Malaysia. We need to swipe the card, press your password before you can enter your room. Very advance indeed. After moving in our luggage, we had lunch ordered by seniors. (Pizza, 2USD) We went to TCF bank to open an account later. We had dinner in seniors’ room. They prepared us Malay style chicken rice. It tasted very delicious. Our seniors seemed to have everything in their room. They had microwave, rice cooker, cordless phone, tv, PS2, radio, dvd player, computer, car and you name it.

On the 26th Aug, we went out to the central campus by bus to open another bank account.
We had brunch in Wendy’s, a fastfood chain. Here, the price of fastfood is much more cheaper than asian food. It cost me about 3 USD only. I bought a LAN cable in the Michigan Union, and it cost me 15 USD! In the afternoon, we went to the Meijers, a hypermarket like Tesco to buy bed linens and stuff like bowl, forks, and pillow. I spend about 35 USD there. Later, we came back and had dinner in a Chinese restaurant at the north campus.

Overall, I had a good time here. Hope this will last for four years, and I won’t have the time to write journal like this every week. I will try to report my important events though, and occasionally send some pics. Today(27th Aug), I just had my international orientation in central campus. I met a lot of people from around the globe(a lot of Singaporeans here, they said there are about 60 of them coming in as freshmen this year.) and it’s wonderful. I think I will just stop here. Keep in contact!!


Interesting huh?? Good to keep journals indeed :)

Gu Long

Finished two 古龙 novels in two days. I was surprise that I had the guts to indulge myself in the wuxia world the very day before my Math 520 midterm. Well, maybe I just needed a break from my studies :)

Read this, if you know how to read mandarin:

　　这个来刺杀傅红雪的人，无疑是高手中的高手，他算准了傅红雪一定能躲得过他的第一剑，也算准了傅红雪会扑向他的藏身之处，他当然算准了傅红雪一定知道他在傅红雪扑下时的一刹那间，无法将床板间的剑拔出。
　　他更算了傅红雪一定猜不到他还有另一把刀。
　　这一刀，才是真真正正的致命一刀。
　　人在空中，已无法再退。
　　刀光闪出，人必亡。
　　一刀挥出，淡淡的刀光映着刺客已有笑意的嘴角，他知道这一刀，傅红雪绝对是无法料到，也无法闪开。
　　料不到，闪不开，就得死。
　　就在这刺客准备欣赏鲜血溅出的美景时，他忽然听见了一种声音，一种仿佛很熟悉的声音。
　　一种只有在刀锋破风时，才会发出的声音。
　　他听见的是刀声。
　　当他听见刀声时，他就已感觉到泥土的冰冷，更奇怪的是，他居然看见傅红雪冷冷地站在他面前，正在用一种仿佛远山之巅上的星辰般眼睛看着他。
　　怎么可能？那一刀已是必死的一刀，傅红雪怎么可能躲得过？
　　他记得仿佛听见刀声。
　　是谁的刀声？
　　不可能是傅红雪，根本没看见他拔刀，刀未拔，又怎么可能有刀声呢？
　　他想用力撑起身子，忽然发觉右手竟然没有感觉，等到傅红雪点燃了残灯时，他才看见自己的右手居然已断了。

Now you know why 古龙's (GuLong) novel is so addictive? A lot of people think that his novels are not as good as 金庸's (JinYong), but I beg to differ. It's probably a matter of taste, because I seriously think that GuLong's style is more imaginative. Although the characters are unearthly powerful and seemingly invincible, the way the stories are depicted leaves more space of imagination. The language used is more poetry-like, to the extent that sometimes the delineation of the dueling process can be as beautiful and artistic as a poem.

For people who value logic and prefer realism over surrealism, JinYong is definitely a better choice. I personally enjoy books by JinYong a lot too. However, for a guy who likes fantasies and don't like to be bounded so much by details, GuLong is definitely more fun to read.

Bla bla bla

It's about time to blog, after the seemingly long hiatus. One reason for not blogging is that there was really nothing to blog about, considering the cyclical and routine life that I'm going through.

Right now, I'm taking four courses:

Math 520 - Life and Contingencides I
IOE 452 - Corporate Finance
ECON 409 - Game Theory
Spansih 101 (which I made it pass/fail)

Though they only sum up to 14 credit hours, the workload is quite heavy for me, as I'm working 16 hours every week too (as a proctor). The proctor job is kind of fun, much so if compared to my office boy job in the graduate library. I'm practically paid for typing password and walking around seeing people passing or failing their tests. Definitely more exciting than processing scholarly journal mailings.

In this semester, I will also try to get an internship for my next summer. Chances of actually getting one is no doubt infinitesimially slim, nevertheless I'll just try and hopefully will learn something in the process.

Having said that, I still absolutely abhor the pretentiousness and pompousity of the corporate world. No words could in fact explain my extreme repugnance or aversion towards it. Not even the f-word. I don't know why am I posting all of these on my blog, but I feel that I just have the sudden urge to siphon out all my inexplicable dissatisfaction..is that angst? Too tired to think of such philosophical question now....it's 2 in the morning.

Washington DC

On the 27th of August, Ren Jie and I embarked on a 5-day visit to the capital of the superpower of the world - Washington DC.

We decided to drop the initial idea of driving there, considering that it wouldn't be economical for 2 persons to rent a car and drive there. Although we were kind of late in purchasing the air ticket, the price wasn't to bad, about 120 USD roundtrip.

Washington DC was a place where monuments, museums and memorials could be seen everywhere. We tried our best to cover every single interesting place in DC, but that proved impossible. We did pretty good though, managing to visit all the major attractions in the city. Among the highlights of the trip were the US Capitol tour, the Library of Congress tour, the Bureau of Printing and Engraving tour, and the visit up to the top of the Washington monument.

The interior of the Library of Congress was particularly breathtaking, as every corner of the building was lavishly ornated. The details were painstaking, and the high ceilings, rotunda, statues, and paintings were decidedly masterpieces of the finest artist of the time. Such awe-inspiring work of art reminded me of the Europian palaces and cathedrals that I've seen in photos.

For the first day, we stayed in the Churchill hotel, and the following days in the hostel of Mara (which was really not bad at all). We had good food throughout the 5 days, having visited 3 Malaysian restaurants and a couple of chinese restaurants in the Chinatown. The Penang in Bethesda was indubitably the best in town; we practically stuffed ourselves to death with the ambrosial food from our exotic homeland. I had a "wat tan hor", a penang hokkein mee and a cendol. Ahhh...they were just authentic. It was as if that I had been somehow brought back to Malaysia. A very gratifying experience indeed.

With the touchdown of the returning flight in Detroit, my summer was officially dead. Hope there will be a pleasant fall awaiting me in AA.


Smithsonian Castle


Old Executive Office Building


White house


In the Library of Congress


US Capitol


World War II memorial with Washington monument as background


View from top of Washington Memorial


Lincoln memorial


Ain't that nice? (A dish from Penang in Bethesda)

More photos: Washington DC

Cornell University

Going to Cornell wasn't in our initial plan. It was a last minute decision. Cornell University was located in Ithaca, about 4 hours away from Penn State.

We reached Cornell at about 3 in the afternoon (Mon, 14th Aug). Qi Ming met up with his friend, Yi Zheng, and I met up with Yong Sheng and Benjamin. We went for lunner (lunch+dinner), and after that the Cornellians brought us to the famous Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca. Sadly, the discharge was very small at that time (compared to the normal flow), hence the waterfall was not as impressive as it's supposed to be. We had a nice little hike up the hill, and it was good to be close to nature again after the Camp Davis experience in Wyoming.

The next day, we had a tour around the campus. Cornell University has a very nice campus, probably the best I have seen so far. Yong Sheng, Yi Zheng and Benjamin did a good job bringing us around, and that made me wondered how much I knew about my own university (not much, unfortunately). That afternoon, I got the chance to play badminton with Yong Sheng and Benjamin (and it was fun).

We headed back to Michigan on Wednesday (8 hours of driving). Can't really concentrate on writing blog now, with the tvb series Last Breakthrough playing in background (Renjie is watching it, and it seems that will be the only thing he does for the next few days :P )


Group photo in front of Buttermilk Falls


Waterfalls


Nice view of Cornell University


Part of Cornell University as seen from the bell tower


The famous bridge where a Cornell student commited suicide


Cornell University

Penn State University

Last Thursday (10th Aug), I suddenly received a call from a DBA senior - Qi Ming, saying that he found accomodation for me in Penn State University. That meant I could travel with him to Penn State to attend his friend's graduation. Sensing that it was a great opportunity for me to temporarily escape from the boring life in Michigan, I gladly accepted the invitation.

We left AA the very next day (Friday). It took us about 7 hours to drive to Penn State, with all the stops and getting lost. Upon arrival, we were greeted by Shermian, the graduating friend of Qi Ming. We went Chili's for dinner, and to my surprise, I met Michelle, a JPA scholar of my batch who studies in MIT. After dinner, all of us went to the Lion's Den to get some drinks. I had a redbull vodka there.

The graduation the following day was held in a basketball staduim. It was the first graduation that I had ever attend. The protocols made the ceremony predictably dry, but the day was sacred for the hundreds of graduates. Shermian's parents were there, and they treated us lunch after the ceremony. We walked around the campus after that, and our stops included the University creamery, the first and largest in the US. I ordered a Death by Chocolate, which I luckily survived it by throwing a good portion of it away instead of stuffing myself to death.

Sunday was my last full day in Penn State, and I wanted to contact Kenny and meet up with him before leaving the next day. Unfortunately, he didn't have a cellphone. Just as I thought we wouldn't be able to meet up, I bumped into him on the street while we were walking to get some lunch. He's still the same, and Qi Ming quickly found that he's cool just because they shared the same interest: to "zat" me. We had a good time catching up, and he stayed with us until late night that day.

There's one person that I should thank here - Ming (not to be confused with the DBA senior Qi Ming). He was our host, and although he didn't know us before this visit, he certainly treated us well and made sure we had full stomachs all the time. It was certainly a great experience meeting all those nice people (Shermian and friends).



The graduation ceremony


Group photo in front of Old Main


Group photo in front of the alumni center


Penn State University

Back in Ann Arbor 2!

I'm back in Ann Arbor, again. Nothing much happened between my arrival in Ann Arbor back from the summer camp and my recent departure...life was slow and relaxing, and that was exactly what I hope for since the first semester.

My everyday life consists of cooking, some light reading (it's really minimal), my daily doses of Sex and the City, and occasional excursions to music school (still working on Liszt's Un Sospiro and Rach's prelude in G minor). My attempt to learn some excel programming failed miserably, so did my plans to gain some muscle mass (yeah right). But overall, life was good. I got the privilege to temporarily forget about the existence of time and take everything easy. Such hiatus from the studies, I believe, is terribly precious and worth savoring every moment...

I will update more on my recent Penn State and Cornell trip later in the following posts. For the meantime, I've got a date with Carrie Bradshaw if you guys don't mind :)

Back in Ann Arbor!

So here I am, back in AA....yet another summer well spent I would say. Now it's time to slack!!!



Class photo in front of our good old cargo van

Badlands National Park

Since it was impossible to cover the entire journey back from Wyoming to Michigan in one day, we had to split the driving into three days. For the first night, we camped in the Badlands National Park.

It was a clear night. Since we were not at high elevations anymore, the temperature was relatively warmer. For that night, I decided not to set up my tent. Instead, I laid out my tarp, and had my sleeping bag set on the tarp. After a couple rounds of card games (eukere? dunno how to spell it), I decided to go to bed.

Sleeping on a grassplain with no tents was certainly an experience not to be forgotten. The nightsky was illuminated with numerous stars, and again, the milky band of stars that was usually drown by the light pollution manifested itself that night. It ran accross the sky almost from horizon to horizon. Presented in front of my eyes, weridly enough to think of, was a whole history of universe. The light that excited my retina was probably older than the age of earth, and the source of light itself might have long ceased to exist. What an intriuging thought...I slept well that night with the company of starlight and distant human-like sounds made by the coyotes.

The next day, we had the opportunity to appreciate the scenary of the Badlands National Park before it got to hot. It somehow reminded me of the Grand Canyon and what the central southern part of US should look like.


Was that the "sunline"?


Weird landscape...


Bad lands indeed...


Badlands National Park


Still seeing stars

More photos: Badlands National Park

Goodbye Camp Davis!

So, everything that has a beginning has an end. A month just slipped by, not unlike the wind breezing through the trembling leaves of the aspens, leaving nothing but a wondrous memory which will be treasured forever. Before leaving the lovely campus, I had an oppurtunity to immortalize the images of this wonderful place in still frames:


The entrance of Camp Davis


Camp Davis with all the student cabins


My cabin 10A (farthest from the main hall)


Inside my cabin (my bed was the one which Dan was sitting on)


Cabin 10A mates (Dan, Joel and I) with Dave standing behind (....)

Fourth week in Camp Davis

Basically, the highlight of the fourth week is the much anticipated Yellowstone National Park trip. Before getting into that, let me give a brief overview of stuff we had done for the week:

Monday - Went to Snake River to do the last survey. Did the bug counting and grouping in the afternoon (which is tiring actually).

Tuesday - Did the final project writeup. A very frustrating experience indeed, had to stay in the computer lab for the whole afternoon and the most of the morning, trying hard to produce some logical explanation and hypothesis for the questions on River Continuum Concept.

Wednesday - Had a quiz at about 8.30am. Left Camp Davis at about 11 for the Yellowstone National Park. Attractions visited: The Old Faithful (yes, it's very faithful, erupts about every 90 minutes), a number of other geysers like the Castle Geyser, and Grand Prismatic Spring. Camp in at Madison. Had some burgers and dogs for dinner.


The most famous geyser in the world - the Old Faithful


Castle Geyser


Grand Prismatic Spring


Thursday - Visited the Obsidian cliff before going for a 9-mile hike to see the Osprey falls. The 150-feet-tall falls was worth all the trouble going through the not so pleasant trail. Proceeded to the Mammoth Hot springs after the hike. Took a break, and went to the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone", where we had a majestic view of the park's tallest fall - the Lower Falls of Yellowstone River. Camped near the Canyon Village.


Osprey Falls (look carefully, and you will see me in the picture as a scale)


Mammoth Hot Springs 1


Mammoth Hot Springs 2


Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River (tallest in Yellowstone - 308 ft)


Bisons!!!


Class photo in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone


Friday - Left Yellowstone in the morning. Had lunch in Jackson Hole town. Tom, our professor, was kind enough to pay for the bill (Thanks!). Went back Camp Davis, did some van cleaning, and chill for the rest of day.

Saturday - Monday - On our way back to Ann Arbor!!

More photos: Yellowstone National Park

Third week's photos

Rivers and related:


Snake river with the Tetons as background

What a nice class photo!

Moose?

Granite creek (near the hot springs)

Falls (Granite Creek)

Man for scale (haha...)

The larvaes of fly found on a river rock


Middle Teton hike:


A "before" photo (which Dan jokingly said that it might be the last photo for us)

The very much dreaded snowfields...

The annoyingly huge and loose boulders

Three brave friends of mine who marched inexorably towards the peak

The 2000ft that I didn't complete...

Me and the Middle Teton

Read entry: Third week in Camp Davis

More photos:
Rivers
Middle Teton