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Time goes quick..in a couple days I'll be another year older. A year older, maybe, hopefully a little wiser? I've certainly learned a lot the past few weeks. I feel I have a better grasp of the physics of what I'm doing, though I'm still far from where I want to be. There is still so much to learn! It's a life long process. I also have learned a lot about life, and in the process, come to understand myself a bit better. I think I'm a good person, with a noble spirit and high ideals. I work hard, and when for the things and people I love I give it my all, 110%. But I can also be persistent to the point of pointless, perhaps to the detriment of my own health. I am also not as comfortable opening up or being friendly with people, unless they take the initiative to get to know me, or unless I want to get to know them. Friends here have sometimes said I can be cold. I know I think of the best for others, but sometimes what I think is not what others expect or want. A

My 1000th page hit. Kind of cool. 1000 views of this page, and maybe a few more, since I didn't add a counter until quite late. Thanks for viewing, and letting me share bits of my life with you. Life and what goes on is impermanent, but memories are forever. Friends will come and go, but good times will always be remembered and cherished. Of course memory may blur and fade, so it's nice to have a blog to keep a note of things, a jot.

Recently learned how to use this nice piece of software for collecting references. So Al, here's a good way to start getting organized. You can connect to lots of databases and get the info for papers, books, etc. You can also download the pdf and link to the file. A good way to keep track of things. If the database doesn't go back that many years, you can always manually input. Don't buy it, you can probably download the software for free once you get to school, or ask AS people. I'm sort of still in the passed prelim bliss---last couple days have been very relaxing. I'm planning a trip home to Taiwan over summer, and I look forward to that. Food from home so good! The comment from most of the committee members though, was that I need to keep a broader outlook. They mentioned that I seemed to know what I'm doing very well, but when asked about more general questions, had a tougher time finding the links. So I'm really going to need to get back to reading pa

I had a del-i-cious "uh ah jen," home made too! Pics above. Unfortunately, it wasn't entirely authentic since we didn't have any "uh ah." As substitute we put scallops. Next time, the "uh ah jen" will have "uh ah" for sure! The other pic was taken several nights ago, and though blurry because my hands tended to shake (used night time longer exposure), what I really wanted to capture was the beautiful colours, and the three striped cloud. I think this would be a fantastic subject for oil painting..

Just a quick note before I hit the sack...I passed. Woot!

I really like this poem my brother posted on his blog..I've reproduced it here. In response to his previous blog , words do have a magical power, a sacredness to them. As humans we have been blessed with the power of language to create words to express. Words help us to formalize ideas and make them concrete, and words give us ways to share. Words convey meanings and emotions. The word has made us more than mere animal and raised us above a barbaric existence. But I think we also must understand that as sacred words are, they are only approximations to convey and describe and formulate a concept or truth that is already there. Truth and love do not need words, and you should never doubt that those exist. As Lao-Tzu would say, "道可道非常道,名可名非常名." To translate: the everlasting, all pervading 道 (or source of all things) cannot be expressed fully in words, for if it could, then it would not be the true and everlasting 道. Same for 名, which is the truth of the source. And do not m

You know, I've been lucky in a way. When I was around two, nearing three, I asked my mom for a brother. I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have a little brother, someone I could play with and hang out with, like all the other kids who had little brothers. I was fortunate because my parents gave me a little brother. We would play castle, or cowboy, or superman and darkside (lots of toys), joust with wooden sticks and wooden swords, ride our bikes with the wooden swords as if we were cavalry charging down the hill (in Hsinchu..the hill at West Yuan), shoot bb guns, and as we got older, basketball and listen to jazz and live the NY life (he did after all, follow me all the way to college hah, "follow butt bug" as I say) overlapping for a year...live through 9/11 and... Family is a wonderful thing, because the love is unconditional, and although it takes time to get over her, you will. Cherish the happy memories, but realize that you were true to her, and she was not to yo

Quick update on what's going on lately...prelim exam. I am nervous shit about this exam on Friday. Wish me luck and give me your prayers.

Today I had a lunch I will never forget. A friend, Dr. Chen, had mentioned to me about a family with a son who has Pompe disease. He asked me to call them, since they had no friends or relatives in Durham. So I did and offered to help them in any way possible. Although they never asked anything of me, the father has been so nice, each time he visits (since he has to work in Cali) he calls and asks if I can meet to eat. Last time I was sick so I couldn't go, and this time I went. Here's a description from this site : ***** What is Pompe Disease? Pompe disease is a rare genetic disorder caused by a deficiency in the enzyme acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA), which is needed to break down glycogen, a stored form of sugar used for energy. The build-up of glycogen causes progressive muscle weakness throughout the body and affects various body tissues, particularly in the heart, skeletal muscles, liver, and nervous system. Children have a 1 in 4 chance of inheriting the disease when both p

I was doodling around on my sketchbook since I didn't feel like doing any serious work tonight. We had our tri-school games, and this time we won in our basketball game against UNC...still lost to NCState though. They are just a better team. Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone to celebrate with, even for dinner. So I just had Burger King hah. I kind of let my hand wander and just scribbled. Somehow I was intrigued by the seemingly orderly disorder that flowed. There is some beauty in randomness (at least I don't find what I drew to be extremely ugly, others may of course think otherwise). It's interesting since we are likely the result of random quantum fluctuations, dragged out billions of years. The universe probably began as just randomness in nothingness. It's like getting something of worth from nothing in particular. I guess that may be what we call luck. I certainly need a little luck now. I'm getting nervous about my prelims, another sample just came ou