Sundodger and OFUDG!

These past two weekends I attended my first two ultimate tournaments of my grad school career in my bid to make the A team in my final year of eligibility. Two weekends ago we split into three teams and went up to Burlington for Sundodger, which was sort of wet and cold, just like most of the year in the area. We didn't win too many games, but played strong and finished well.

This past weekend we sent two squads down to Eugene for OFUDG. The main thing I learned was that Eugene sucked and there really isn't anything there, but the ultimate there was much better than the previous weekend and the competition was much tougher. It was another cold, wet, and windy weekend featuring lots of zone defense and some tight games. Our split squad came in second place after beating our other squad for a spot into the finals before losing to a local club/alum/pick-up/??? team. Unfortunately the tournament featured a 5+ hour drive each way to some random location in the middle of nowhere...

Here's to trying to make the A team! Tryouts coming up!

Mathematica 9!

So I finally upgraded my desktop's version of Mathematica to version 9.0 (though my laptop's version is still 8...), and I noticed that the biggest difference is that Mathematica 9 actually lets you attach legends to any plot you have. This is huge! It's also interesting how Mathematica 9 will sometimes suggest commands for you to use while you're typing them, as sometimes they're really off...

Grad School Snap Judgements

I've now been here for a full month and my graduate career/life/purgatory is somewhat underway. Being in labs for parts of the past 5+ years has dampened my excitement coming in, but nonetheless this is a foray into the unknown and a chance to start fresh.

Most importantly I learned (or relearned?) that I tend not to like undergrads (or people in general). The apartment complex I live in has its fair share of undergrads, and most (if not all) of them have the inability to tell time and fail to remove their laundry from the washers more than an hour and a half after they are done. Sometimes when I walk to/from the office I'll overhear undergrads talking about drinking, partying, or the people they hooked up with last weekend. I've never really understood why people choose to be so open about their indiscretions around everyone else, and why they choose to value those ideas over most others.

I also never understood going over homework sets during class time. Class time should be spent learning material, not spent on what was already supposed to be learned. I feel like if there's a gap in understanding then make use of office hours or try to understand what's been missed. I just feel like it's time wasted that could be used more productively (either learning more material or not having class at all).

Seattle has actual working public transit (at least much better than LA) that has buses that run somewhat regularly. There's even an app that tells you when the next bus should be arriving, and at least tries to account for early/late buses. It's pretty cool, and it's made even better by my bus pass. It's convenient when I want to get to campus in the morning when I wake up late and it's raining (which occurs somewhat regularly).

I have found the 99 Ranch, but it's 10 miles away, so I have to have someone drive me there each week. There's also an Uwajimaya in the international district, but there's no good bus to get there from my apartment. The QFC nearby carries a surprisingly large range of products, but of course the produce tends to be more expensive at QFC than at the asian marts. Personally I've just waiting for the Din Tai Fung to open nearby (within a 5-minute walk from my apartment) sometime in November.

Labwork so far hasn't been very productive, mostly because I'm also balancing it with my classes at this point, but I've joined a group and I'm looking forward to doing research for the next N years (and hopefully I'll at least not hate research when this is all said and done).

Woo grad school!

Moved In!

I'm now out in the Pacific Northwest! I've been here a little over a week, and it's only rained two or three times so far, though I'm getting ready for the next 8 or 9 months of not seeing the sun anymore...

US Open!

I attended my first ever Grand Slam this past weekend, and it was definitely really exciting. I had tickets to see the night session in Arthur Ashe this past Saturday, and I was excited to have Federer's match against Mannarino. However, I was not excited to see Wozniacki vs. Giorgi, because Wozniacki is not really a top-tier player.

(Click to Enlarge)

I had a really nice seat in the loge level, which is the second level right above the luxury boxes (and almost directly above one of those long screens), which I purchased through the ticket exchange from a subscriber (and given how much an individual session costs per ticket, I couldn't imagine ponying up the money for an entire loge box-6 seats-would cost for the entire tournament).

"I Miss You"

Emotions are tricky business, because we react differently to the same situation; because we have different values brought about by our upbringing. We've been conditioned to say certain things in certain situations, saying our goodbyes (and the occasional "I'll miss you") before parting ways and our greetings (usually with "I've missed you") upon meeting again.

I've spent my life saying "I'll miss you" before shortly falling out of touch, losing tabs on other people that I had spent time with. I've been conditioned to be almost indifferent on the inside, to always accept moving on from the past and look towards the future, because that's what we can change.

This separation never really pulls on my emotions; my heart. I had never really understood how separation can sometimes cause people anguish and anxiety. Previously it had just been a handshake or hug and a goodbye, and then maybe I'll run into them again in a few years and we'll chat and catch up a little bit before parting ways. Never a tear shed, rarely a moment of thought of what could have been, what should have been done.

But this time is different; I have felt the pains of separation and the pulls on the heartstrings. I've discovered that you can miss someone so much that it actually hurts; that causes tears to freely flow. It's the most emotion that I can remember feeling at one time, and it showed me what it really is like to be human. Sometimes life really sucks, but this time there is so much more to "I miss you" and "I can't wait to see you again", even if I don't know when we'll next meet.

Chinese Fashion...Or The Lack Thereof

Chinese people are very peculiar about their fashion. Sometimes they are very well-dressed, but on the other hand some people make very questionable decisions.

-A lot of people like to wear polo shirts-definitely a like, because I tend to like to wear them too.

-Crocs are ridiculously popular. It's really kind of hilarious to see how many people here wander around in crocs. I don't see the appeal of wearing crocs, but there are stranger things that people have deemed "cool".

-Platform (insert footwear here) is popular among a good handful of women. I'm not sure you look that cool when your feet are about three inches off the ground.

-A disproportionate number of men (compared to most any other country I've visited) like to expose their stomachs in public, whether it be unbuttoning their shirts, not wearing a shirt, or pulling their shirt up so it sits on top of their stomachs. Couple that with little exercise and the acceptance that it's alright to be a little fat, it's not a very pretty sight

-Some people just don't dress smart, like the ladies who wear heels while climbing the Great Wall. Sometimes I don't think people think about what they're going to do that day when they dress...

Chinese Classical Music Audiences Suck

When I go to a classical music concert, I go to see the performance, and I'm usually not pleased with the audience. It seems that half the audience is sick and the other half is unwrapping candy. I can usually ignore it and enjoy the performance, but when I went to a concert in Beijing a couple of weeks ago, the audience was the worst I had ever seen.

The audience looked like it just came from a game of basketball or a nice nap. Many people were wearing their everyday clothes, while I fell it's appropriate to dress up a little bit and be presentable, instead of a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals or a tank-top and basketball shorts.

Also, Chinese people tend to not care about many things related to authority, so naturally many of them had their cell phones out and some of them were even taking pictures (and even a few with flash!). Of course I was not pleased.

Between pieces there was also a lot of introductions of the upcoming piece, which I feel is also not appropriate. I can understand that the Chinese audience may not be very educated about classical music, but put that in the program notes (or maybe even have a program...).

Note to self: don't do this again...

Food Is Amazing!

For me one of the highlights of being back in China is the food and eating all sorts of unique and wonderful treats. Granted this time I haven't eaten anything too adventurous yet, but I've still got two weeks left here. Also, I'm not sure about half the things I eat, because sometimes I'd rather not know what I've eaten. But the highlights:

-I'm fairly certain I've had curdled blood. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it showed up in a soup somewhere.

-Chinese snails are different than French snails. In France, the snails are usually somewhat large and picked out with a small fork. In China, especially in rural China, the snails are really small and you actually suck the snails out of their shells.

-白酒 (white liquor). That stuff is really strong and has been described as the combination of gasoline and alcohol, which is not entirely inaccurate. It's pretty difficult to drink the first time around, but it kind of grows on you, even with it's strong finish. It seems that it doesn't go to your head quite as much as other drinks, though it might be because I've only had it with meals.

-Pig ears/tails/etc. are very common, so it's nothing really too exotic, and same for jellyfish.

-Duck head was very interesting. It's not very meaty, and it's a little hard to pick around it if you're trying to avoid any part of it in particular.

-Right now I'm in 湖南 (Hunan) province and there are peppers everywhere and it's pretty awesome.

-Frogs legs, though they taste like any other meat...

-Red dragonfruit, while it tastes like regular (white) dragonfruit, is incredibly rare (and looks bloody if you get it all over your face...)

Going to a restaurant in China is also a much different experience. In a restaurant in China, the wait staff is there to serve you, and they really do-you can ask most anything of them (especially at good restaurants and restaurants where you can get a private room). For example, when they bring out a big bowl of noodles for the table, you can ask them to portion it out for you.

Travelling outside the country is also nice because airlines serve food. It's not really a huge perk, but it's a nice plus. For a 90-minute flight, we got a hot lunch of rice, beef, and veggies that is larger than a meal you'll see on an international flight on a major American carrier.

Driving in China

Rule 1: Anything relating to traffic regulation is only a guideline
Rule 2: The driver/biker/pedestrian with the biggest balls has the right of way in any
Rule 3: Don't hit a cop