|
Splicer
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Wilson
Birthday: 3/5/1979
Gender: Male
Interests: i love transformers and superman. so what? you got a problem with that?
Expertise: being a good spy (i know you....more than you think....)
Occupation: Student
Industry: Research
Message: message me
Member Since:
8/1/2003
|
|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Oil and electricity prices are gonna skyrocket on June 1st. Electricity even worse than the gasoline. But we need ac!!!! It's gettin way too hot and sticky already...
the kid i tutor loves her pet lizards.....she says she even brings them into exams for good luck....and during chinese new year's she sends them up with the fireworks and ties them up with parachutes so that they can enjoy the ride up, and then back down...kinda hilarious but it's definitely a bit inhumane...she says very few die, maybe a couple out of a hundred...lol....still, humans can be sadistic
my friend Seab has what most students don't...we all get insomnia...and he sleeps toooo much....like 15 hours sometimes....and his efficiency is lower than the Nasdaq right now
our campus has snakes....i always thought they'd be the garden variety, but the one i met on the road the other day was HUGE compared to what i've heard about and seen....good thing it just slithered away when i walked by
random NBA observation...Ray Allen needs to bust out a copy of He Got Game and find his beautiful stroke and style of play, it's gettin to be ridiculous how he's deteriorated in these playoffs..
sunflower seeds, macademia nuts, and pistachios are among my favorite snack foods....you can eat hundreds and still feel like you've eaten nothing..
a word for the cyclone and earthquake victims of Burma and China: hope
it's sad to read the paper or online news every day and see people dying, but it's part of life. war is so primitive, yet such is the condition of our world.
it seems as if xanga is slowly dying...Ed says it's goin down the Friendster road....if anyone recommends a better blogging site, lemme know
| | |
| Last Thursday I was fortunate enough to hang out with a new social group on campus known simply as "Tsing Hua Bond", which comes from the mandarin homonym 清華幫. One of the founders, Edgar, introduced their vision to me and I was like wow, that's pretty cool. It is true that we all come here to get a higher educational degree, to get smart, to meet new people, and to prepare for a career (hopefully) in something. But do we end up feeling like part of the Tsing Hua family? Do we identify ourselves with this place, and will we after we've long departed?
Tsing Hua Bond is attempting to develop a close relationship among students even before they graduate, to create a sense of belonging and common purpose, in order to foster cooperation amongst the next generation of elite students from Tsing Hua headin out into society. Even so, I do not see it as an elitist organization. It simply wants to recruit any student willing to train themselves to be proactive, optimistic, hard-working, down-to-earth, and broad-minded. These students tend to have a better global view, focus on diversifying their lifestyle rather than solely prioritizing according to their academic responsibilities, and desire to work well in teams. Of course, a person has to be open towards receiving others, and confident in their own ability to contribute, but I think it's simply a mindset to want more for yourself and others. A person has to challenge themselves to participate in more activities and events that widen our knowledge and tolerance of different things. Now, this may all sound cliche, until you realize that Tsing Hua doesn't really have a great social network of such people. Many of our famous alumni have gone abroad and don't come back, nor do they often participate in important school alumni events or contribute to the culture/style of the university. What is resulting is a sometimes bland, slow academic life that is not pushing the students of Tsing Hua to step up and step out in society.
I feel that through establishing working relationships even as students, and social networking via sharing their different experiences in different fields and participation in different activities helps the students of Tsing Hua Bond to generate a powerful feeling of togetherness and unique friendship. We all encounter a lot of missteps along the way in life, and having a support group is extremely important. Best of all, the group allows members and participants to learn from each other, which vastly increases one's awareness of what's going on around them in school and society. That is one of my visions of outstanding education, something I'm a proponent of; an individual can learn a lot more by exposing themselves to all sorts of ideas and opinions from others. Of course, this doesn't mean that a person should spend all their time talking to people and not completing other tasks, but it does mean that the power of networking can better help us to realize our potential. We all want to spread our wings like eagles and fly to a higher place, but we should remember that even birds work together. Even though I think Mighty Ducks is a corny movie for 5 year olds, it does teach that the ducks fly in a V-formation during their annual migration as a team. Tsing Hua Bond reminds me of that...people holding each other up, building each other up as they move along. I want to encourage them that they are doing a great thing here. Don't stop guys, the Tsing Hua family is the best! If we start now, as future alumni we can REALLY make a difference!
| | |
| It's Monday again and I'm at the University Center of International Affairs in the morning for work....except there's nothing to do today. I guess I'll blog about yesterday then. :P
A friend came up to Hsinchu to visit as he was able to take a few vacation days from the military, so a few of us met up with him for lunch. Man, my Thai-style fish was really sour....and portions of it still smelled...well, fishy. > < The others' dishes were decent though, so maybe i'll go back to that place...but definitely one strike on that place already.
While at lunch, we got really excited and passionate about our friend Mia's handmade artwork. I guess the consensus was that we would put her stuff in a nice box and head downtown to put them on display as a street vendor. Now, supposedly that's illegal but hey, we just wanted to support our friend's work for an afternoon. We had the stand to prop up the box too, and after it was all ready, we kept alert for the police. The thing was, Mia just didn't have a lot of stuff to sell, and she had previously sold some online already. But I still have to say, she's really darn talented. I loved the trinkets, especially the ones she made from random objects such as broken glass. She also had combs, earrings, a mouth cover, and accessories for necklaces or purses. The stuff I liked most were the postcards made with brand logos from food items or cut out from mags. Very urban, very recyclable, very chic. Oh, actually, I also liked the accessories she made from those thimble-sized butter containers with canvas sewed on top. A young girl came by with her boyfriend and actually bought all 4 of them!
Before it was time to leave, we were talking about her art and how she could make a decent living off of it, but Mia seemed pretty content with the status quo. To her, it was just an interest, a hobby, something for her to do in her spare time. She says that if her work is commercialized or if she's doin it for money it wouldn't feel the same. It was a refreshing take on a potential money-grabbing mechanism. She still does art, well, for the sake of art. Doin it for the fun of it. Funny how I had no intent of writing anything in relation to my last post, but yeah, I suppose you would say that it's her passion for handcrafting that helps Mia keep it up. The only downer was that the rest of us, especially the friend who organized it, were more into promoting her wares to the world than she was. On Mia's part, she probably should have told our friend that she just wasn't that interested. But hey, it was a really fun and neat experience just to hawk her homemade products to people of all ages. It is a difficult way to make a living if you don't have the experience and the skillz!
Totally off-topic: My church's new cd, "Hope," has some lovely songs. Some happy, some emotional, some just...beautiful. =)
| | |
| I am borrowin from other people's blogs again. If you can read Chinese, go ahead and read the blog entry below, which I read on a friend's blog.
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/blog.php?id=gradlive&article_id=7100740
The words of the author that got to me was when he wrote 熱情一旦消失，我們很多事都沒法做、而且硬做也沒有效能，這告訴了我們，
人當下所處的「狀態」，常常比我們所認為的「實力」重要，畢竟有實力作某些事
的人，如果沒有熱情支持他們做這些事，其實與沒有實力是差不多的。 What this means is that when we lack passion, a lot of what we try to do becomes inefficient and useless, no matter how hard we try, because the state of our being is often more important than our actual ability. If the passion is missing from our approach to our work, it is comparable to being having no ability.
A lot of the time, we start out with this wondrous enthusiasm for something new, but nothing is without its hurdles and obstacles. There are people, who, knowing this, won't even attempt to try a lot of things. Then there are the ones like me, who feel they have a right to complain when outside forces attempt to intervene and slow down the path to success. Where does all the initial enthusiasm go? Why do we burn out so easily? The fact is, it's hard to keep up the passion for something for a long time, it seems to be human nature to have fun with something, expend vast emotional resources on it, then declare it's time for something new. So, is it necessary to keep up our passion for everything we attempt? I don't think so. It's no shame to quit and start over with something else. It's only a shame to continue without purpose and meaning.
If we set our sights on things not so tangible, such as building a future in which we have happiness, family, purpose, and peace, perhaps that will allow us to keep trudging onwards, even when our feet are stuck in the mud or snow. Sometimes, we need to go through something instead of quit because we are working to preserve for ourselves an opportunity for a wonderful future filled with the things we do have passion for. If that's what you call blind optimism, I don't see it that way. You can't reap the benefits of what you sow if you don't sow it, and sowing is hard work. It's learning to have passion for overcoming serious challenges in our lives that allows us to conquer our fears of ending up with meaningless results, and worse, a meaningless future.
So pick up that pen (or mouse, keyboard, microphone, basketball, or anything else that will earn you a living) and don't give up. There will be moments (or even lengthy amounts of time, ranging from weeks to months to years) where you won't see the wisdom in it. But it's a whole lot better than continuing like a dead man walking, working mindlessly without passion --- for that's the equivalent of basically doing nothing at all. Channel the disappointments into passion, for passion will help you catch fire and finish strong what you have started. Don't want to end up like one of those perpetual weed smokers by sitting around idly because of some hardships, right?
| | |
| Dang, feel sooooo bored right now. Dunno why, I got my studying done at the library during the day. Got the night off from bball practice. Watched some tv, chatted with my mom. Technically, I should do some reading or watch a short film or something cuz that might be more productive than sitting in front of the comp. But hey, since Rick blogged on his playoff predictions all the way from Japan and Carver has started the MVP debate, what the heck, lemme see. I'm obviously not gonna repeat what they have already said.
First off, I must say that I wish the Suns will win this year. In years past, I felt that perhaps Nash and the Suns were deliberately undermining defense to make the game more fun. Not so anymore! I can really understand why some claim that Nash saved basketball now....it's really beautiful to watch the smooth transition game, the masterful control of the tempo, and the teamwork. I've wrote glowing things about this in the past, but I have to admit I'm a believer now that Shaq is on the team. The one weakness I felt they had was Amare's defense, but Shaq has provided the antidote to that because he is still a menacing presence in there by...well, by being Shaq. His mere existence has allowed Amare to take his mind off his awful defense and focus on blocking some shots, getting into the rebounding lane created by Shaq, and most of all, let loose his fearsome offensive prowess. Amare is simply a FORCE on that end now. I know people have written about that to no end before, but look, the dude's been the best player in the NBA since the trade for the Big Cactus. The record doesn't show it, but these guys are better than they were last year. Freeing Amare may be the best thing that has happened to the Suns. If it weren't for Duncan's 3 in game 1, everyone would be buzzing about the Suns right now. Marion might be a better skilled basketball player than Shaq at this point with tons more speed and agility, but Shaq is THE difference maker, just by showing up on the court. He is so big and unmovable off the block, and on defense every guard in the league is intimidated. The dimensions he has brought to the team are unmeasurable.
And as much as I hate to say this, I tip my hat off to Pau Gasol for the 36-15-8 he brought down on the Nuggets. Even though I am awfully against that Laker team winning anything, the Gasol trade was probably even better than the Shaq trade. The guy can shoot, he's got a real arsenal of low post moves like spins, up and unders, drop steps, hook shots, and bankers. Plus he plays well in the open court...all I can say is if they can manage to work Bynum in, uh-oh.
I agree with Rick and Carver that it's the Wizards time. Nice shoes too there, Carver! The Hibachis. Even though the Wizards are currently down 2-0, I still think they got a chance against a Cavs team with little chemistry and lack of quality play other than Lebron bustin his moves. However, they do have a quality role player in Joe Smith and the best nickname, courtesy of Daniel Gibson. "Boobie Gibson, with another clutch 3!" gotta love it, gotta love it. It's all about Boobie. (what can i say, I'm a boob man) Yet, as much as Boobie and Lebron shine, I want the Wizards to win. The Cavs as a team just sucks, in my opinion. And I don't wanna see a team that sucks advancing. And the Ewing Theory applying to Arenas must hurt right now...sorry Gil, but you gotta step up!
Of course, over in the Leastern Conference, you have the juggernaut that is the Celts. The turnaround of that franchise has changed the whole landscape of the NBA. For my playoff predictions, I'm goin with the Celts to win the title. Kevin Garnett is my choice for MVP (people don't talk about this enough, but this year they finally have...the cultural impact a player may have on a team). All bets are off. Keep drinkin the haterade, cuz I'll probably keep runnin my mouth. If you've read all about the NBA recently, this year's the year of unpredictability...now that's exciting!
| | |
|
