Friday, May 30, 2008

Graduation

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

                                              Keng Yang, Old email

That's the first line of the email I wrote when I first came to the states. Almost four years have passed since then, and it certainly did not feel like four years. Here I am, graduated and feeling apprehensive about what's about to come up in my life. Will I blend well into the company I work for? Will I fit in the circles? Most importantly, will I be happy? I guess time will reveal everything eventually.

But until then, let me blog about my graduation. My parents came to the states a couple days before my graduation (4/21). It felt kind of weird to actually see my parents in this country, because...I don't know why. An analogy would be like seeing your teacher in the mall. Nevertheless, I was excited and needless to say I did bring them around (but now I regretted not planning well enough).

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Drinking bubble tea at South University :P

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Law library

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Burton Memorial Tower (Bell tower)

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North Campus sign

As for the graduation day (4/26), I am proud to be the first class to graduate on the diag. I am grateful that the ceremony did not take place in EMU, but I don't really care if it is in the big house as long as it is in the campus. I actually preferred it to be in central campus instead of south campus. And I'm delighted that we as the class of 2008 can tell the others that we had a "special" graduation.

The speaker for this year is not as well known as last year's speaker, Bill Clinton. I for one do not even remember his name. We the Malaysian bunch attended the actuarial mathematics commencement after the general one. It was much more fun, because there was food and it was indoor. Of course, throughout the course of the day we did a lot of camera-whoring, and not to mention the must-do: tossing the graduation cap to the air.

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Graduation ceremony in front of Hatcher Graduate Library

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Actuarial students = Malaysians???

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One big family....

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4 years for this moment..

So yeah, I've finally graduated!!! Thank god nobody turned on the waterworks, though I did feel a bit sad that my college life has come to an end then. Here I would like to give special thanks to my parents, who had given so much yet asked for nothing in return. Thank you mum and dad, and happy graduating for me!!!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Birthdays

For my 23rd birthday, I spent my time at a rather odd place. I said odd because I would not have pictured myself in that setting in the states before. It was actually a tzu ching meeting, which took place at a "senior's" house somewhere near Detroit. I should say that I admire their environmental awareness a lot, and their efforts regarding this issue deserve praises. However, their over-emphasis on discipline and institutional rigidity really turned me off. Imagine sitting, sleeping and eating with certain ways and rules. There might be a hidden reason for that, but on the surface I doubt that conforms with the teachings/recommendations of the Great Teacher.

Speaking of which (which is the real reason I write this post), I received a cute surprise gift that night by Pei Ying:

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It is a homemade Oreo cheesecake if anyone is wondering. Though appeared amateurish, that's the best gift I could ask for. And thank you for the sports coat and the soft toy :)

So when it's her birthday, I made her a buttermilk cake:IMG_0014 IMG_0019

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I slightly overbaked the cake, and the birthday wishes looked like a message from a serial killer, but other than that it appeared much better than I expected.

Again, the conscious me is afraid of turning this blog into a collection of cloying posts, but well, I just want to keep record of stuff. At least it's better than a picture of wisdom...oops. Hmm. Why do I even bother explaining. What a self-conscious bastard I am.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Untitled (MOMA exhibitions love to use this title)

When I read about celebrities (especially sports celebrities), I used to picture them as grown-ups who had done great things and experienced a great deal to be where they are at the moment. And I used to admire great legends and secretly hope that someday I would be one of those people standing at the pinnacle of their respective field. They were my source of inspiration, and by just learning about their achievements made me all excited about the possibilities in my own future.

Hence, when I came to a sudden realization that I am now 23 and still leading an uninspiring life, I could not help but feel a bit sad. Looking around, people who had achieved great success (again, mostly in sports world) and really made a difference are no longer people who are ten or more years older than me. A lot of them are my peers, and some are even much younger than me. A few familiar names here: Roger Federer (age 26), LeBron James (age 24), Christiano Ronaldo (age 23), Lewis Hamilton (age 23), Rafael Nadal (age 22), Maria Sharapova (age 21). 

Realizing that people of my age had gone thus far triggered a self introspection on what I want out of this life. Do I want to be an all important person who will be remembered for ages due to the differences I made in this world? (yeah dream on I don't have that ability) I think I have long past the time for illusion of grandeur. It's time to get real, and right now I just want to lead a happy and fulfilling life. Hopefully my existence in this dimension will ultimately bring more goodness than badness to the world.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Pre-graduation summary

Now that I'm extremely free, I should start filling in the blanks in my recording of events. Let's start from before graduation (1-2 months before my graduation date).

Basically that period can be viewed as one of the best time in my life. There was virtually no academic pressure, as I was only taking 2 classes and pass/failed one of it. Also, the gateway lab was closed by then, meaning that I did not have to work 15+ hours weekly (even though sometimes I wished I could work). On top of that, quality time with py made life so much more meaningful and exciting. I should not go into the details, but I really really hope that these memories will stay forever with me. I should dedicate one post to talk about my memories though; I feel that I lack the ability to remember things, and such poor memory worries me sometimes...will talk about it later.

Managed to attend two more concerts before I graduate: one by the San Francisco Philharmonic and the other by Lang Lang. For the SF Philharmonic concert, I was quite thrilled when I got my tickets; it was 3rd row on the main floor. It would be the first time for me to sit in the main floor section in Hill Auditorium. Tickets for seats in this area were normally astronomical, but I purchased the tickets through a special offer, hence it only cost me 15 per ticket. I was pleasantly surprise when I found out the 3rd row was actually the first row with audience, and I was so near to the stage that I could practically touch the conductor!!! (yeah it's that close) The performance was okay, and I thought it would be better if they could perform the 1st movement of Beethoven's 3rd (the reason I went for the concert) faster.

Lang Lang's concert on the other hand presented an unexpected surprise for me. His playing was flamboyant and his expressions hilariously exaggerated as usual, but when the concert was over, I managed to get an autograph from him!!! I finally understood how those teen girls in Malaysia felt when they lined up to get autographs from S.H.E. To think that I was face to face with an international celebrity was simply...I do not know how to put it. I am still disgusted at myself, picturing I'm no different than those teen girls :(

I went to Chicago too during one of those weekends to attend a Student Leaders' Meeting with Pei Ying. I was skeptical at first of what such meetings can achieve, but to my surprise I gained some insights on how exchange of information could improve oneself. I guess conference and meetings did exist for a reason.

I also decided to drop course C which I registered for earlier. I figured with all the graduation trip preparation and execution, I would not have sufficient time to study, not to mention that I was already having a very severe senioritis by then. So here I am now, shaking my leg when others are studying day and night for exams.

Okay, this is not a summary anymore. I should probably stop this incoherent post here. Will write more when I feel really really bored (which I probably will).