One funny thing I came across

(For chinese ed people only)

和尚梳头发 （猜一个国家）

highlight below to see the answer:


苏格兰（梳个lan)


llol.....

p.s. some might argue that it is not a country....but well it's just for laughs

Muffin top

This got to be the word of the year. It is so creative and so painfully descriptive that even the Collins English Dictionary’s ninth edition has decided to include it as an entry in the lexicon. Any guess yet on what it means? Nope, it's not a hairstyle, and it is nothing close to a tube top. Look at the illustration below:



A detailed explanation provided by the Wikipedia:

Muffin top (or muffin top girl) is a generally pejorative, slang term used for a person, usually female, whose flabby midsection spills over the waistline of his or her pants in a manner that resembles the top of a muffin spilling over its casing. This generally occurs when an individual wears low-rise or hip-hugger pants and midriff-baring tops.

So people, don't get too happy if someone approach you one day and say that they like your "muffin top"!!!

Update from Seoul

Just blogging for fun! This is my fourth night in South Korea. I'm now in the Pacific Hotel, Seoul...(fully utilizing the free internet facilities in the hotel) Everything was great so far....will be back in 3 days' time. Have to go to KL the very same day I touch down, because work starts the next day...gosh. Till then, ciao!!

US-Malaysia

After a series of tough finals, I was finally freed from the clutches of the horrendous Winter07. Did nothing much to celebrate my freedom, as I still had to move out from my dorm. It's rather stupid actually for me to opt Northwood over Cambridge for the next semester. Cambridge House is indeed far more superior in terms of almost everything...except the fact that I can't cook.

Moving to Northwood will also signify the demise of my dorm-food experience. I'm not as elated as some other Malaysians who despise dorm food with a passion. In fact, I think I'll miss being able to eat in dining halls. Well I do admit that the quality of the food is most of the times under par, but what beats the freedom of being able to eat as much as you want? (like unlimited refills for milk and juices) In where else can you just go in and eat without having to prepare the food and leave without having to clean the mess? For a person who values nutritional values more than anything else too, dorm food is definitely not that bad a choice. Hmmm...then is my decision to move to Northwood justifiable? We'll see...

I still managed to attend graduation in Big House before leaving "ace deuce". Bill Clinton was the invited speaker, a relatively famous one compared to the other speakers in the recent years. Charismatic as usual, he managed to get a standing ovation from the whole house before he even spoke. Hopefully next year we will have a speaker as well-known as him.

My flight back home required some airports hopping (Detroit-LA-Taipei-KL-Alor Setar). Life is perfect so far, if you minus out the fact that I still have to study for course M. Ahhh....Malaysia. Will comment more on my "tanah air" if I am too bored of studying...

Update from Shapiro

Here I am again in the Shapiro Science Library working extra shift earning extra bucks. Working 5-8 am is definitely not as bad as working 10pm-5am; there's less work and more pay (15 hourly rate). Technically working during such hours provide me ample opportunities to do some serious studying, but apart from completing my Spanish homework, all I did was surfing the net and calling home. And yeah, now I'm updating my blog...

Finals week is crawling in surreptitiously, and it's less than two weeks before I can go back to Malaysia. I am not particularly excited about it knowing that I still have to do tonnes of studying for my course M exam. Hope everything will turn out fine though.

Last week, I finally experienced my first bar crawling (in fact it's the first time I've gone to a bar in AA). Informally organized by SAM, we went to 3 bars in total (Mitch's, Jug and Ricks). Unavoidably I drank a considerable amount of beer, but was doing quite okay I think. It's interesting enough to see a whole different "world" out there, and seeing friends that get all rowdy was even more entertaining :P.

Went to Birch Run also to get a couple of stuff. Got a flat tire on our way back, but luckily a highway patrol officer was there for help. Learned an important lesson that day: persevere and don't give up easily. Thanks Hewei!

Grand Canyon Skywalk

Starting from March 28th 2007, tourists to Grand Canyon will be able to admire the breathtaking scenery of the multicolored gorge in a different way; they can now choose to experience "floating" 4000 ft over the valley! This is made possible by the completion of the Grand Canyon Skywalk project. Basically the Skywalk is a U-shaped glass walkway extending off the cliff. The height of the structure over the basin is simply astounding. The diagram follows illustrates why:


Attached is a video that featuring this newly opened attraction:

Tourists should not get too excited yet though, as each visitor is currently charged 75 USD in total to experience such a walk. Perhaps the most ridiculous thing is that cameras are not allowed in the structure!! Simply stupid...but I think I'll still go for it if I ever visit Grand Canyon. The height should make my legs all wobbly!!

p/s: A post by a blogger who felt cheated:
Hicks-Wright.net

Matsu Takako - 松隆子

Simply mesmerizing! I can watch it over and over again...it just soothes my soul!! She's so natural, so unpretentious, her smile so infectious...Can't believe there's such divine beauty in this world!

Game theory application

So today I participated in a paid experiment entitled "Game Theory, Culture and Institutional Path Dependence". A study funded by the National Science Foundation, it intends to provide insight into certain features of decision making. But that is none of my business really. I was signed up for it because of the enticing 15/hr rate, and also because Ren Jie had previously earned tonnes for just playing games. Since I have the time (well, did I?), I was like 何乐而不为?

Basically, the gameplay required me to make decisions choosing strategies in each individual game. Everything was done on the computer, and there was no way of knowing who your partners were. A total of 200 rounds were played, plus extra rounds given in a 90% chance basis. The payoff matrix was as followed:


Clearly, choosing B would be my dominant strategy, since it makes me strictly better of regardless of what player 2 chooses (I'm player 1). If the player 2 plays his dominant strategy too, both of us will end up achieving the Nash equilibrium. After playing the dominant strategy repeatedly for like 30 rounds, I got bored (because the partners kept on playing the same strategy too) and started thinking whether there was any other way to play the game. Then it struck me that I could actually apply my game theory skills in the game.

Instead of playing the dominant strategy, both me and my partners could actually be better off if we "collude". We could each take turns sacrificing our payoffs to make the others profit more. For instance, instead of getting (5,5) all the time, we could get (4,14) in the first round, (14,4) in the second round, (4,14) again in the third round and so on. In that way, the average payoffs would be higher for us.

Hence, I started sending out "signals" to my partners. I began to commit in playing A and B alternately, and to my delight, my partners took the hint after like just 2 rounds. So from that point onwards, we happily "colluded" all the way till the end of the game.

Too bad there was like only about 215 rounds. In the end I got 33 bucks from the game, plus a base pay of 5 bucks. That's a total of 38 dollars (tax free since it's in cash) in 70 minutes!! Only if they have such games every week...

Turning 22 on the 22nd

22nd of March. It's the second day of spring (admittedly the nicest season), the second day of the Aries month (the first of all zodiac signs), the World Water Day, and it has two twos in the number 22. Most importantly, after all that bullcrap, this day is my birthday :D

So how did it feel like turning 22? It felt unreal really. It's like all out of sudden, I'm 22 already. Thinking back of what I've achieved in my life thus far, I would say that there's definitely ample room for improvement...but I should really be grateful for what I have now too. As Nicholas had pointed out, I'm a man now...gosh, what a term.

To me, to be a man is not just being physically build. A man has to be responsible for himself and for the people around him, generous, open-minded, humble, and kind. A man must be able to keep his head when others are losing theirs. A man exudes an aura of confidence. A man leads when leadership is needed. A man knows how to love and not expecting to be love in return. In conclusion, the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling pretty much defines what a man is supposed to be. It's definitely not easy being a man, and to be a better man (reminds you of Robbie Williams?) will remain to be my lifelong goal.

Here I wish to thank all of those who have made my birthday meaningful. Special thanks to my Umich friends. And thanks to whoever who gave me the mug as a present. You really did cheer my day up :)

尽信书不如无书

I'm currently reading the "Rich dad, poor dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. It's a book that teaches about financial independence, and there's a lot of radically different and seemingly profound ideas about personal financial management.

Although I haven't finish reading it, I can't help but wondering if he's as rich and financially savvy as he "boasted" in the book. It definitely wouldn't make sense to continue reading if he's not even rich in the first place right? Besides, I was thinking that since this book is an insanely famous best-seller a few years back then, wouldn't it have produced a significant numbers of millionaires across the land?

I did some research on the omniscient Wikipedia and found the following:

"Detailed analysis of public records (including SEC and county registrar of deeds) find no evidence to support Kiyosaki's status as a successful investor and businessman prior to the formation of his present venture, Cashflow Technologies, Inc. They claim that his wealth has come only as a result of selling books and audio presentations about topics he has not personally succeeded in and that he is probably worth far less than the US$50 to US$100 million he once claimed in an interview."

"In 1994 at the age of 47 he shut down the business because of adverse publicity in Australia and 'retired'".

So that's how he retired young. For more, read more on criticism and controversy related to him.

This is not to say that his advice is totally useless or of no value, but again such findings have buttressed my notion that motivational books can only do so much in presenting opinions that might not be necessarily true or applicable in the real world. A critical mind must be maintained, so that the good information can be extracted from the junk. Indeed, 尽信书不如无书...

Daylight saving time

So tonight I'll lose one hour because of the daylight saving time.

As defined in Wikipedia:

Daylight saving time (DST), also known as summer time in British English, is the convention of advancing clocks so that evenings have more daylight and mornings have less. Typically clocks are adjusted forward one hour in late winter or early spring and are adjusted backward in autumn. Details vary by location and change occasionally; see When it starts and stops below.

Governments often promote DST as an energy conservation measure because it substitutes summer afternoon sunlight for electrical lighting. However, in some cases DST can increase energy costs.

This year's adjustment is earlier than usual, and here's the reason why (from Beauregard daily news):

Starting this year, Daylight Saving Time has been extended by one month because of legislation signed by President George W. Bush.

Daylight Saving Time (DST) will begin at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 11, because it is the second Sunday of March. Clocks will spring ahead from 1:59 a.m. to 3 a.m. The change will end on Nov. 3, 2007, the first Sunday of November. These are the new dates for the DST period.

On August 8, 2005, President Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S.

Previously, the dates for Daylight Saving Time had been the first Sunday in April through the last Sunday in October.

After the time changes back in the fall, a study will be conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy. The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. That governmental body retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule.

The law by which clocks are turned forward in the spring and back in the fall is known as the Uniform Time Act of 1966. The law does not require the observance of Daylight Saving Time, simply that if DST is observed, it must be done uniformly.

The main purpose of DST is to make better use of daylight. Clocks are changed during the summer to move an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening. Countries have different change dates are the world. Near the equator, day and night are nearly the same length, about 12 hours. But elsewhere, there is much more daylight in the summer than in the winter.

The closer a location is to the North or South Pole, the longer the period of daylight in the summer. Thus, DST is usually not helpful in the tropics, and countries near the equator generally do no change their clocks.

Most of the United States begins Daylight Saving Time at 2 a.m. In the U.S., each time zone switches at a different time and DST is not observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Suam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Arizona - with the exception of the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona.

Many fire departments encourage people to change the batteries in their smoke detectors when they change their clocks because Daylight Saving Time provides a convenient reminder.

More than 90 percent of homes in the United States have smoke detectors, but one-third are estimated to have dead or missing batteries.

There goes my one hour...

Spring break 2007

A summary of my spring break:

-ski trip
-a bunch of hangout sessions
-a couple restaurant visits
-laser tag
-badminton
-2 movies (Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, Cast away)
-futile attempts in starting my paper
-some piano practice sessions
-UMIMSA makan-makan
-1 novel

I can't think of anything else...very unproductive indeed, and I don't feel like I had enough rest (well, it's never enough in fact :D). The second half of the semester will be a killer, and yeah, that pisses me a lot, a whole lot... Bring it on man, I'll see what you can do...


Ski trip organized by UMIMSA!!

Chinese New Year Song

This is one of my favourite CNY song:

正月里来迎春花儿开
迎春花开人人爱
迎春花呀处处开
幸呀幸福来
幸福来呀幸福来
大地放光彩
迎春花咱们大伙儿栽
嗨嗨那胡呀胡嗨
合力培养勤灌溉
人人都把迎春花儿爱
无忧无虑乐自在
年华似水容易过呀
切莫再延挨
莫延挨呀莫延挨呀
时光不等待
迎春花咱们大伙儿栽
嗨嗨那胡呀胡嗨
春花永远为我们开
人人都把迎春花儿爱
无忧无虑乐自在
年华似水容易过呀
切莫再延挨
莫延挨呀莫延挨呀
时光不等待
迎春花咱们大伙儿栽
嗨嗨那胡呀胡嗨
春花永远为我们开
那胡依哟嗨——

Wish everyone on this planet a happy Chinese New Year!!!

Cartoon

Funny in a sick way...

If by Rudyard Kipling

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

France 2002 (10/11) - Impressions de France

I think I saw this video in the french village in Epcot Disney Orlando. The trip was just one month ago, but there's already this nostalgic feeling!

It has a hauntingly beautiful song too...

A diarrhea of thoughts

So, the first month of 2007 is over. I don't know how many times I had mentioned this in my blog, but gosh, doesn't time fly?

Well, my quest for an internship in the states ended up in vain. I have to admit that it was painful seeing others got second-round interviews when I myself got none, because it left me wondering what went wrong in all my interviews. Was I such a lesser candidate? Hate to view it that way, but yeah, I have to accept my failure and think of ways to improve my weaknesses (Boy, that's so much easier said than done). Hopefully I will do much better in the future. Here I wish all of those who got second-round interviews good luck...

To quote Khoon Yu, nothing is going to stop me from getting what I want. Now that I have fallen down, I have to stand up fast and regain my bearings. I somehow have this weird sense that whatever I do now might bear significant influence towards my future life (duh). That's why I need to learn fast and change fast. Now there's this huge temptation to whine about my reluctance to grow up again, but I have decided to resist it for good :).

The weather had turned extremely cold for the past week. Temperatures went down as far as -20 degrees Celsius after wind chill, and it was just unbearable. Without the much needed natural layer of defense, my weapons against the cold were just my faithful Columbia Titanium winter jacket. And oh yeah, I felt that I had been eating quite a lot lately, but the nutrients seemed to have just vaporized into the thin cold air. My body appears to have created its own unique law - the conservation of mass. I bet it will take a lot of effort from me to deviate from the steady state (which is a mere @#$), but the law will eventually force my weight to converge back to the equilibrium. Geez...

Alright, this post is getting more and more random, and therefore it's a sign to stop. I should get a life instead of blogging, so that I can blog more about my life (!!!)

And oh yeah, one more random comment. I came across this quote, and I think it was rather brilliant and funny:

"My brain has two parts. On the left side, there's nothing right; on the right side, there's nothing left."

Cool huh?

如三秋兮...

It seems like I had been through ages when it has just been only 2 weeks (?!). Not only the workload of the semester had kept me busy throughout, a lot of recent events had steered me to think over a variety of stuffs over the course of a mere 2 weeks. It was far worse than any roller coaster rides that I have tried so far; the turmoil itself was almost unbearable. In short, I was simply overwhelmed.

To write down the tumult of confusion and my emotional restlessness here was itself an impossible task. Right now, I have to thank my utmost trust in myself (or rather, my narcissism) for keeping me sane in the midst of my self-created quagmires.

I just have to live strong I guess, and it is about time for me to face the much dreaded adulthood I would say. As much as I hate doing what the mass crowd is doing and following the pathetic mindless pattern that everybody assumes is the only way of living life, I have to start being realistic and stop fantasizing. Well, patterns exist for a reason, and hey, you are here right now. There's no turning back...

So stop whining boy, it's time to get real.

Last term, I didn't manage to take a good picture of my room in Alice Lloyd. To make sure I don't repeat my mistake, I have photographed my current room, so that at least I will remember how it looks like in the future.





Also, the weather took a sharp turn and it was extremely cold during the past week (sub zero celcius). The freezing rain had caused glaze ice to form on trees and plants, forming a totally magnificent view. Such beauty of the nature was timely as it soothed my mind and reinforced my notion that beauty still exists in the nature. My laziness (not willing to venture out of my room to take good pictures) ruined the photo though...



*And oh yeah, happy birthday mum!!!

New year new semester

So I didn't actually get a break. Maybe I did, but 2 days was all I got. After coming back from Florida, Ren Jie and I stayed in Chia Chye's Northwood apartment, a "happening" place with Voon Seng also staying there. Still suffering from post-vacation symptoms, I felt extremely restless, and had no mood to celebrate at all despite the fact that we had already entered yet another new year...

The winter semester started on Jan 4th. For this semester, I'm taking the following courses:

Math 422 - Risk Management and Insurance
Math 521 - Life Contingencies II
Math 523 - Risk Theory
Spanish 102 - Elementary II

and on top of that, I'll be working 20 hours per week, 7 of which are hours of a midnight shift in Shapiro Science Library (10pm - 5am). I seriously don't know what prompt me to work so many hours. Kiasuness? Desire to earn more money? Want to utilize my free time meaningfully? (Yeah right as if I have a lot of time to spare) I don't really know...

The first week of class was just terrible. I had 4 internship interviews in a week (which well, I don't think I did well enough to impress the interviewers), a 5-page law case due, and tonnes of Spanish coursework. Probably due to the stress, I somehow managed to lose another 2 pounds. Great...now I'm farther from my goal for this year.

This semester will be worst semester yet, in case of the workload. But well, I'm hoping that this is the darkest moment of the night, and that the golden rays will soon pierce through the my lightless life.

And on a sidenote, Cambridge is just awesome. I like it a lot, and it's pretty much the perfect place to stay. Pretty much because the extremely sucky internet connection ruins everything...

Oh yeah, and Happy New Year everyone!!!

Florida06

Our itinerary was as follow:

20-25 Dec - Orlando
25-27 Dec - Miami
27 Dec - Key West
27-29 Dec - Miami
29-31 Dec - Orlando

Universal Studios Orlando was our first stop. The rides were amazing, and I'm proud to say that I was on the extremely intimidating "Incredible Hulk" ride (although really, it's nothing too extreme). Still, that particular ride really dwarfed all the other rides that we're about to go to in the entire Florida trip.


Universal Orlando

A trip to Orlando is of course incomplete without an excursion to the Disney World. Surprisingly, it wasn't as boring as I had imagined. I actually had quite some fun in the theme parks. We managed to cover 3 parks of the Disney World - the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney-MGM studios. To pick out a single winner among the three parks is not an easy task; but personally I prefer Epcot the most. The Illuminations Reflections of Earth (fireworks on water with laser light show) was simply amazing; it was comparable if not better than the indelibly extravagant fireworks that I saw in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Soarin' in Epcot was also fantastic, and I love the fact that there's a "world" that consists villages of different cultures (Italian, French, Mexican, Chinese etc) in the park.


Magic Kingdom, Disney World Orlando


Mickey Mouse


After getting sick (for some it's literally :)) of the 3-D shows and rides, we set off for Miami, ready to bask in the sun. We were disappointed though, as firstly, the weather was not that good, and secondly, we found ourselves in a pros-den like hotel that provided amenities with suggestive messages on them. We did fine though, and managed to find some fun in a state park (Bill Baggs Cape Florida) cycling. Of course, we didn't forget the famous Miami beaches too, although I'd say that they're a letdown too as I've seen better beaches in Malaysia and Thailand.


Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park

We drove further down to Key West, the southernmost tip of the United States for a one day trip. The driving was long, and we managed to stay there for a mere 2 hours before embarking on the journey back to Miami. The trip was nevertheless satisfying, as the weather was excellent and the mood was upbeat. For dinner, I ordered a dolphin . Don't shoot me yet, the dolphin wasn't the mammal dolphin, but Mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus). It tasted like chicken, not particularly delicious in my opinion.


Key West

We did nothing much when we went back to Orlando except visiting the Kennedy Space Center. Well, it didn't make much impression as I'm not a big fan of rockets and the inner solar system exploration (in fact it was only moon moon moon...zzzzz). I am more fascinated by nebulae, galaxies, and superclusters. It's unexpected though that we managed to see a couple crocodiles lurking in the streams just right next to the roads in the vicinity of the space center.


Kennedy Space Center


See that gator (or is it a croc)?

All in all, the experience was magical, the temperature (not weather though) was amazing, and most importantly the company was good. Although in retrospect a regret remained, I would say that this is yet another wonderful trip in the states.

As usual, everything that has a beginning has an end. As much as I didn't like it, I had to come back to Ann Arbor and start all the unavoidable routines that always manage a few unpleasant surprises. Well, let's hope that this semester will be better. May dreams come true this year...