Through my eyes

Another survey

2009-02-20T03:06:36Z

This feels inappropriate for wordpress somehow so I'm posting here instead.

I was tagged by kitcatgrl32

Instructions:
a. People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blog and replace any question that they dislike with a new, original question.
b. Tag eight people. Don't tag who tagged you.

I tag: atrickster, dracil, jwh1208, merlion, pansola, tiechi, starz89, huanhuanyouyou

1. Make a list of 5 things you can see without getting up:
Tv, heat dish, yoga positions poster, wall-e poster, calendar

2. How do you style your hair?
Usually half up (or clipped up at the sides) when I'm out. A french twist/bun if I'm at home and my hair's getting in the way.

3. What are you wearing now?
flannel pj pants and "bear team" sweatshirt (must be from tw :p)

4. What's your occupation?
student (aka. bum)

5. Do you nap a lot?
I used to, but I've managed to cut the habit (I think).

6. Who was the last person you hugged?
My teddy bear. yes he's a person. ;)

7. Look out the window. What do you see?
Trash cans, cars, house across the street, and some hs kid walking home.

8. Favorite class in high-school?
Can't pick one... Physiology or Earth Science.

9. What was the last text message you received?
Happy new year message just after midnight on new years eve.

10. What websites do you visit every day (or when you go online)?
Email (gmail, hotmail, geckomail), puzzles, pandora, hulu

11. What is your favorite color?
Don't have one right now. It varies between all the colors depending on mood (except for black).

12. Where do you see yourself in three years?
Working

13. What's one thing you miss from your childhood?
The Magic School Bus

14. What was your least favorite class in high school?
English

15. What is your favorite weather and why?
Sunny because it's not gloomy.

16. What was the last thing you bought for yourself and how much was it?
A $1 calendar from Borders.

17. Who is the person on your list you've known the longest?
jwh1208 - probably the first person I met when I moved here.. crazy huh?

18. What's something you'd like to say to someone right now?
Don't worry, be happy

19. If you were in a band, what kind of music would you play and what instrument would you want to play?
Pop music.. and piano? If I ever get around to practicing again.

20. Tell me something you love about the person who tagged you.
Her love of food

1800 contacts

2008-07-30T20:59:39Z

I'm currently very impressed with 1800-contacts. I first ordered from them a year ago, and to my surprise, they called me yesterday to tell me that my prescription was about to expire and to ask me if I'd like to order more. I wondered if it was some strange scam but they accurately repeated my prescription back to me so I gave them my cc info.

Then today I checked online.. the order was right there, and it had already been shipped. Nice. I noticed that the billing address was wrong, so I used their live chat service, and talked to molly to fix it. It hasn't shown up on my account yet, but since she told me the order was already shipped, I don't really care. I was worried that having the wrong zip code would mean issues with the credit card authorization (I've had that happen before).

Ok yeah it's not that big of a deal, but I do appreciate the expiration reminder. I probably should have ordered online because I could have gotten free shipping, but I think reminding me and saving me a trip to the opto for the next year or so is worth the $6.99 :p

Oh in case you're an optometrist and think it's scandalous that I'm not getting my eyes checked every year... my Rx hasn't changed in the last decade :p

fires and smoke lifting?

2008-07-01T05:41:09Z

Today's the first time in a week that I was able to see the blue sky... as opposed to the haze that's covered the sky for about a week now! There was still some smoke of course, but it was definitely better.

I also washed the car today for the first time in a while... but I got pretty out of breath and light headed -- I guess I'm more out of breath than last year because I've been going out less (I no longer go to lab unless I need to because it's so far away).

That said, does anyone nearby want to be my exercise buddy? I think I really just need someone to regularly do stuff with because I won't be motivated enough to do stuff by myself. I'm down with practically anything except running (walking/speed walking is cool). We have a community pool so we can even go swimming. I could join a gym but again if I'm doing it myself I won't be motivated enough. ;)

Flame Attendants

2008-04-11T15:53:31Z

Interesting, I just read that it's illegal for foreign cops to police Americans unless a state of martial law has been announced.

And apparently, the Chinese flame attendants are actually a paramilitary team picked from the top tier of the paramilitary corps, or "special police units".

The first link is clearly liberal, so I don't know if it really is illegal, but the second is a Canadian news article so it's worth a read. It's pretty detailed, from describing their training to what they're skilled in, as well as what others have experienced in other countries.

If they really did grab and push at people for just having something a small Tibetan flag showing (per the French instance in that article), I'm not surprised that it turned violent. It's rude to go to another country and boss and push people around, and I'm sure people who saw it happen would have been pissed enough to try to do something about it.

On another note, both Japan and Australia have said that the security of the flame will not be the responsibility of China. Gotta give Japan's head of National Public Safety Commission credit for saying, "I do not accept the idea that they will run in Japan as they did in other countries."

Personally, I'm glad that someone has the self dignity and trust in their own police force to handle the situation.

I thought SF police could have handled the situation, given their experience and dozens of peaceful protests and controversial parades that have taken place there. Plus, it didn't seem like anyone was there to be violent or grab the torch -- just to protest alongside. So yes I was a bit disappointed at the mayor's actions.

more on that phrase from the previous entry

2008-04-11T06:39:02Z

In light of Rose Pak's quote, this phrase is more likely what she was referring to: 河水井水互不相犯. I was not able to find it before but Dracil was able to look it up using the quote I found as a basis.

It was the title of an essay that Jin Yong (金庸) wrote to describe the situation in HK when it returned to Chinese rule. The point of the essay is to say that CCP should not force HK to conform to what it has done in the rest of China, but at the same time, HK citizens should not try to force their ideals and principles upon the rest of China.

Hmm so considering that the torch relay was on US soil, shouldn't that mean China should not try to silence the protesters here? And yet -- as soon as one of the torchbearers took out a Tibetan flag, both torch and flag was taken from her and she was pushed out of the relay. Isn't the relay ceremony more of an US celebration (of having the glory of having an Olympic torch pass through)?

The actual Chinese celebration should be the actual Olympic games in Beijing, no? Even then, I thought the Olympics is supposed to be a world-wide event. Isn't it supposed to be an honor to be able to host the games? All of a sudden, now that they've been granted permission to host it, it's "our celebration"?

Even if we accept this interpretation, if we follow the meaning of this phrase, doesn't that mean it would be perfectly acceptable for political leaders from other countries to not attend the games in Beijing? Somehow, I don't think that's what the Chinese government was aiming for.

Olympic torch relay in SF

2008-04-10T16:07:25Z

Just checked the news -- of course had to check how the torch relay went down in SF. :)

I love this picture:

I think it's clear who's inciting the conflict here from the body language alone.

I also saw a video where the guy holding a huge Chinese flag yells at the tibet guys, "you want to do your thing go somewhere else to do it" and the tibet guy goes, "you have your right to express your feelings we have ours".

The sentiment that the Chinese guy yelled was expressed by one of the Chinese leaders in SF in an earlier article I read. No doubt, that's what's been passed around the Chinese community. I wonder if the guy really understands the origin/meaning of the saying it came from, or if he's just echoing what he keeps hearing.

After some searching, I found the source: "river water and well water do not mix" is something Rose Pak, general consultant to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said. She explained it as, "“You do your thing, and we do our thing. Why is it you have to disrupt our celebration, when none of us went and disrupted their celebration?".

What I find most amusing about her comment is that suddenly, the Olympics is "our celebration" and no one else's. If that's not making the Olympics political, I don't know what is. And what is this "their celebration" that she's referring to?

I did more searching and found the actual phrase "河水井水間充滿矛盾". The literal meaning is more like "Between river water and well water, contradictions abound". Even taking her translation, I fail to understand how it means what she says it means. I would have thought it just meant people with different world views will not agree.

I think the problem is that for the Chinese supporters, it's personal, it's a matter of pride, and it's emotional.

For the Tibet supporters, it is personal only for Tibetans who have been affected -- the rest are there by principle and general compassion for the Tibetan people. Thus, they have no reason to be angry at the Chinese people, just at the government.

Sure there are those who are there because of some hatred for China, but I don't think it can be denied that there's something not right about the Tibet situation. Ok maybe those who live in China who've been watching China's spin on it can, but the rest of the world should not logically be able to.

Someone also noted how pro-Tibet people were arrested (although several news reports failed to mention it), but no one saw pro-Chinese people arrested. Here's a picture of one arrest.

According to SF gate, many Chinese supporters were bussed in (and no doubt given those flags) by the Chinese consulate and other pro-China groups.

So.. the Chinese consulate can charter its protesters over and they can confront people all they want?

P.S. found this while looking for the saying. The part that struck me the most was the report of so many military personnel and vehicles going in that they ran out of military vehicles and had to use tour buses (and everyone on the buses carried rifles).

moving blogs

2008-04-05T18:38:58Z

I've decided to move to a word press blog. Not that I haven't loved lj -- personally I think it's better than xanga or some of the other blog services out there, but I want a different user name and, well, a new start (I've had this blog for quite a while now and I think pretty soon I'll be done with this phase of my life, so it's a good time to switch). I've decided not to link to it for that reason, so ask me for it via email or im services or something. Also, I'd appreciate it if you can unlink anything with this user name on your websites/blogs. Thanks :)

That said, I will probably still continue to blog on here occasionally for some of the more private/friends only stuff (mostly because of the community nature of lj).

Question

2008-03-30T13:58:07Z

I just read an article where Clinton declares that she will take the race to the convention. I have no problem with that, but there's one quote in there that I don't quite understand:

Clinton brushed off concerns that the Democrats could fall behind against McCain, who will launch his general election campaign next week. “General elections start where there is a nominee or a putative nominee,” Clinton told the Post. “They think they have theirs, we don’t yet have ours… We have frozen this election."

Can anyone shed some light on that? What exactly does she mean by "We have frozen this election"? That just makes no sense to me because the election will go on no matter what they do right? How has she frozen the election?

primaries

2008-03-28T15:53:55Z

Wow it's really not looking good for Hilary this month.. first Richardson, and now right before the Pennsylvania primaries, one of its senators also comes out to back Obama.

On top of all that, another senator actually calls for her to drop out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the first time someone has said it publicly. You've got to give her credit, she's pretty darn persistent about becoming the presidential nominee. Unfortunately, I think that's the reason she hasn't been winning. When people get desperate, it shows.. and no one wants to be around a desperate person, much less have one represent them.

At first I was excited to actually vote in the primaries for once (never voted before because it was always decided by the time it got to us), but now it's getting to the point of being ridiculous. Though I probably wouldn't be saying that if I lived in Pennsylvania. ;)

Going to Alishan tomorrow.. guess I should get some sleep (we're taking the 6am bus) :p

Latest on Heparin

2008-03-21T19:02:38Z

So the latest on heparin is that China is now trying to improve safety of its drugs (or at least, heparin). I guess it finally got bad enough that they're ashamed. Or maybe it's in light of the Olympics. Either way, here's the article.

Also apparently, China initially said the importers (aka. US companies) are responsible for whatever goods they decide to import... no surprise there I guess :p

I'm a complex intellectual

2008-01-30T08:14:10Z

The way you think about things makes you a Complex Intellectual.This means you are highly intelligent and have extraordinarily strong verbal and math skills. Compared to others you are a highly conceptual and complex thinker and are able to understand information in an abstract form. You also show great attention to detail. In fact, it's hard to find something you're not good at.

How did we determine that your thinking style is that of a Complex Intellectual?When we examined your test results further, we analyzed how you scored on 8 dimensions of intelligence: spatial, organizational, abstract reasoning, logical, mechanical, verbal, visual and numerical. The 3 dimensions you scored highest on combine to make you a Complex Intellectual. Only 6 out of 1,000 people have this rare combination of abilities.

What's Your Brain Type?

2008-01-29T23:54:25Z

Brain Balanced:

That means you are able to draw on the strengths of both the right and left hemispheres of your brain, depending upon a given situation.

When you need to explain a complicated process to someone, or plan a detailed vacation, the left hemisphere of your brain, which is responsible for your ability to solve problems logically, might kick in. But if you were critiquing an art opening or coming up with an original way to file papers, the right side of your brain, which is responsible for noticing subtle details in things, might take over.

While many people have clearly dominant left- or right-brainedtendencies, you are able to draw on skills from both hemispheres ofyour brain. This rare combination makes you a very creative and flexible thinker.

The down side to being balanced-brained is that you may sometimes feel paralyzed by indecision when the two hemispheres of your brain are competing to solve a problem in their own unique ways.

food myths

2007-10-13T22:08:08Z

Found this on msn:

http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100171438>1=10514

Finally, someone talks some sense. It annoys me when I hear these "rules" aobut how xxx is bad for you.. if you followed all the rules, pretty soon you'll have nothing to eat :p After all, if you want proof something is bad for you, you can always find some evidence for it. It's totally about how you eat, not what. ;)

Happy New Year!

2007-02-21T01:15:40Z

I got this in my email... it's rather silly, but kind of amusing.

2007 EQUATIONS

Human = eat + sleep + work + enjoy
Pigs = eat + sleep
Hence, Human = Pigs + work + enjoy
if, Human - enjoy = Pigs + work
in other words,
Human that don't enjoy = pigs that work

Men = eat + sleep + earn money
Pigs = eat + sleep
Hence, Men = Pigs + earn money
if Men - earn money = Pigs
in other words,
Men that don't earn money = Pigs
 
Women = eat + sleep + spend
Pigs = eat + sleep
Hence, Women = Pigs + spend
if, Women - spend = Pigs
In other words,
Women that don't spend = Pigs

Summary:
Men earn money not to let women become pigs!
Women spend not to let men become pigs!
 
Men + Women = 2 Pigs
Wish all the pigs happy forever.

DISCLAIMER: copy and pasting does NOT imply that I agree with it! ;)
And obviously, some of these equations are wrong...
ex: men + women have to be more than 2, but hey, I didn't make this up :p

ice patch

2007-01-17T08:53:22Z

We have ice on our sidewalk. I should take a picture of it someday.. usually when I get to my car, though, I'm either late, in a hurry, or want to get inside the house ASAP cuz it's cold.. :p In case you're wondering.. I think it's just from run-off from our sprinklers.. and since it's so cold it just freezes. And it never seems to un-freeze. Yes, I guess that's just how cold it is here.. heh.

Tonight, we started talking about it and my housemate joked that we could skate on it.. haha. It's a decent segment of the sidewalk.. but not quite big enough to actually move around with any speed. But it WOULD be funny if we just poured water all over and made our own little rink in the middle of the road ;) We may have enough ground in the backyard for that, actually.. now that I think about it. =p

Haha, guess we should pour some salt over it or something at some point.. maybe tomorrow.

Project Implicit

2006-12-28T08:57:32Z

Found this at some random site.. pretty interesting little study. Check it out. :)

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/research/education/age/debriefing.jsp

Earthquake season?

2006-12-23T18:17:02Z

This morning was the 3rd earthquake in less than 96 hours, and the second one in less than 24 hours... hmmm...

They're all about the same magnitude and at the same place... kinda creepy.

Here's the link with the list of recent earthquakes: http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/ca/

Whew. Needless to say, I'm a bit concerned.. I don't remember earthquakes ever being this frequent. Maybe right before Loma Prieta, but I don't really remember.. memory is a bit fuzzy b/c back then I just moved here and there were a lot of things to adjust to. I do know that, by the time the big one hit, I was already used to the ground shaking occasionally. Even though we'd only been here for a couple months.

from kitcat

2006-12-14T05:34:32Z

Haha I just had to do this:

I WISH I had the midas touch...though I do like cuddling...

restroom decency

2006-08-19T05:15:26Z

There's nothing like the ranch 99 restroom to show me just how inconsiderate people can be.

The other day as I was walking around the line of stalls, searching for one that is uncluttered with paper, I found that, only the very last stall (out of what, 15 stalls?) fit that criteria. All the other ones were either half flushed, clogged, or still had the toilet seat cover on the seat. Now that I don't get.. so apparently people go in, put the cover on top, and then just walk off without bothering to put the cover in the toilet? We're not even mentioning the non-flushing here. Do they just think that it's more sanitary that way? How is that different from just sitting on the toilet seat if they don't throw away the cover? Are they just lazi or inconsiderate? Can people be that lazi?

Notice I didn't ask if people can be that inconsiderate.. that's because I know the answer to that... and I have proof. Another day when I was again in the ranch 99 rest room, I had just washed my hands and I turned around to get some paper towels. I vaguely notice some woman staring at one of the paper towel dispensers, and I assumed she was trying to see whether there was any more. I pump the other dispenser to get some paper towels to come out, but as I reach out to tear it off, I see her reaching out, as she cries out, "that's mine". Immediately after she says that, she realizes how stupid that sounds, and says "can I?". Now since she's a middle aged woman and I've been taught to respect my elders, I let her take it. Otherwise I'd totally have picked a fight with her! ;)

But methinks someone inconsiderate enough to snatch paper towel that someone else pumped out just to avoid touching the pump, would be inconsiderate enough to leave the toilet seat cover on the toilet, or to not turn around to check and make sure everything flushed down right.

random

2006-08-19T03:20:31Z

Just heard this on the radio.. pretty song. Never heard it before, but it's pretty.

quiz from kalichiquette

2006-08-11T07:20:47Z

http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx

Your view on yourself:

Other people find you very interesting, but you arereally hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are agood listener. They'll probably still love you if you learn to beyourself with them.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the rightperson. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you mightthat person.

The seriousness of your love:

You like to flirt and behave seductively. Theopposite sex finds this very attractive, and that's why you'll alwayshave admirers hanging off your arms. But how serious are you aboutchoosing someone to be in a relationship with?

Your views on education

Education is less important than the real world outthere, away from the classroom. Deep inside you want to start working,earning money and living on your own.

The right job for you:

You're a practical person and will choose a securejob with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important.Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.

How do you view success:

You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go atthe career you would like to have in case you don't succeed. Don't giveup when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous.

What are you most afraid of:

You are concerned about your image and the way otherssee you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by otherpeople. It's time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give goodadvice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues.Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with aproblem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

Free Cone day

2006-04-24T08:47:20Z

Free cone day on Tuesday at B&J :) Enjoy!

http://www.benjerry.com/features/fcd_2006/

quiz from merlion

2006-04-24T02:45:19Z

haha cute. I guess they assume that only girls or gay guys would take this quiz though..? Then again, I guess there aren't that many female main characters for a guy version..

What do the Harry Potter actors think of you? by hailme
Name
Random #
Dan thinks..	or rather daydreams about you kissing him
Rupert thinks..	you should be his girlfriend
Tom thinks..	or rather daydreams about you kissing him
Oliver thinks..	you're hot
James thinks..	you should date Tom
Chris (Percy) thinks..	'I wonder if she's a good kisser'
Robert (Cedric) thinks..	you have great taste in music
Stanislav (Krum) thinks..	'...wow.'
Who likes you the most:	Stanislav Ianevski
Who you will end up with:	James Phelps

Quiz created with MemeGen!

class, sleep, mcat, presentation, chivalry

2006-04-20T07:46:21Z

Today was a decent day.. except I feel like I wasted so much time. Last night, I spent lots of time trying to understand this paper for class because we had a quiz on it. This morning, I get the quiz, which consisted of two yes/no questions: "Did the article talk about psychiatric disorders?" and "Did the article talk about immunology?" Both of which were mentioned in the abstract... so I could have just read the abstract and still been able to answer the questions. sigh. I wouldn't mind so much except I feel like I can't afford to spend so much time on school work this week.

Oh and I had to take a nap after class because I pretty much pulled an all-nighter.. not on purpose... just.. couldn't get to sleep b/c of one reason or another. The nap REALLY helped though. I was very much out of it by the time my head hit the pillow.. and when I got up, aside from initial grogginess, I was a lot more awake.

And of course, I use all the rest of my free time working on the presentation tonight (we all have to do a presentation on our rotations). In a way, I don't regret it, because it went decently well.. but it probably could have went ok if I had used some of that time for studying. Eh I'm not really complaining.. I guess I'm just getting more and more worried every second I'm not studying.

Anyway, MCAT stresses aside, the presentation wasn't too bad. The profs seemed amused by my presentation.. they even joked about sticking the leftover pizza into liquid nitrogen. I guess any talk involving liquid nitrogen is bound to stir up some interesting conversation. One of the profs started talking about how he knew this guy who used to stick a whole rat into liquid nitrogen... I'll leave the rest of that convo to your imagination ;)

One of the guys in our class (when I say class, I mean first year grad students.. there ARE only 10 of us) did something that I consider rare in today's society. When we were all leaving, he asked all the women where they were headed so that he could make sure we didn't have to walk out to our cars by ourselves.

First of all, this is something I haven't encountered since my early days in TC.. we always made sure no one (guys and girls both) walked home alone.. it was just something we all did. I had rather gotten used to it actually, and always thought it was a TC tradition.. but the newer officers didn't seem to have that concept. I tried doing that a few times, making sure no one walked alone, but encountered resistance.. (some would either insist on walking alone, or other people would say, 'it's not a big deal' or something) so I stopped. That could be part of the reason I slowly transitioned out of TC. Secondly, this is a rural place...! Not a big city. Which makes it even more rare because, come on, who would bother worrying about that here? He even waited until I got into my car before he left. Then again, he says he's from the city, so I guess that makes sense. Just thought it was cool and wanted to share.

Oh and no, he has no romantic interests in any of the ladies in our group -- he has an imaginary gf (haha well we all have this running joke that he made up his gf because no one has ever met her yet.. except for Megan, who says she has seen her, but we still like to pretend that's not good enough :p). Which is precisely why it's rare, actually. It's not rare for guys to exhibit chivalry when they think it'll help them get the girl.. it IS rare for guys to exhibit it as a general rule. You can generally tell when someone is doing something to impress you, or when they're doing something just because.

Blue Nile and random tidbit

2006-04-04T08:11:43Z

I just found out Blue Nile on Telegraph is closed. I've only been there once, but it was a good memory. So, it's kind of sad that it's gone now. Also Cat and I were JUST talking about it on Saturday.

Ahh the good old days..

****************************************
Also, I found out today that if you have a hole in your radiator, you can crack an egg into it and it will temporarily plug up the hole. This was apparently proven to work on mythbusters. (Which, by the way, is a pretty cool show on the Discovery channel. They take some common myths and test them to see if it's true or not. Like.. whether the gun will blow up in the attacker's face if you plug your finger into it :p)

In case you're wondering how that subject came up, my prof had some car trouble (radiator crack) over the weekend (he had to stop on the bridge!), and one of my classmates mentioned that cure.

Speaking of which though.. makes me wonder.. who would carry around a raw egg anyway? "Oh, I think I'll go driving around now.. better take an egg along in case there's a hole in my radiator!" And if you can stop to get an egg, you can wait for a tow truck to get your car. In general, not a very useful solution, though I guess if you were grocery shopping and you happened to have eggs in your car, that would work.