Htam::Diary

This Monday, I woke up and went to breakfast, while frantically trying to discontinue my old house phone service and also paying for my tuition. Convocation with some professors and administrators proved to be interesting. After a light lunch, we set sail for Lake Arrowhead Resort.

Once there we played ``Beach Games'' in the parking lot. They were basically bonding games that taught us the importance of collaboration. One ``game'' was making resolutions or goals for the next six months. I decided I shall attempt to read the Bible once through during the half year. Other goals follow but are not significant at the moment.

Dinner outside was so cold that I did not eat enough. I fled in doors as quickly as possible. Science presentation presented by the Mars Exploration Rover Mission Manager Mark Adler, Ph.D., Caltech 1981, about the Spirit Rover was quite interesting.

At night I went to Caltech Christian Fellowship (CCF) meeting. I met a few people whom I did not know were Christian. I asked if anyone is interested in reading the Bible with me. Suprisingly, two approached me later in the week. If all goes well, we will be keeping each other on track.

We slept semi-late at night, but it was sufficient.

I arrived.

I am retroactively posting events for this past week (now it is 2004.09.23).

Sunday morning I woke up and Gary sent me to the airport. My bigger luggage was three (3) pounds overweight, so I had to re-organize and de-modularize. I end up at the gate approximately five (5) minutes before boarding, whoosh. Kevin Dick, whom I met at ARML and is flying down to Caltech with, found me. On the plane we talked way too much. Next time I will not get a seat next to him, or else we will talk too much.

In California, Kevin's mom's friend came to pick us up. However, her newly-bought car broke down so we had a long delay. Finally we rented a van and she drove us to Pasadena, where Caltech is located.

Check in was efficient and people on electric cars helped us move our luggage. I'm living on second floor but my roommate helped me with displacing luggage in the vertical direction.

After getting ID photo taken and signing up for library service, I went and checked my mail. I already had five (5) out of six (6) boxes at the Tech Express. So I moved all of them to my room.

Later we met the Deans. Dean Revel was the funniest French biologist I have ever met. We ate dinner at the President's House and played some ping-pong in the dark. I did not bring my paddle to the picnic so I played with my left hand.

We went to sleep farily early and the excitement of the first day ends here.

I have taken the host htam.hn.org off the internet. Currently posting via localhost. The host will be offline indefinitely. Possibly never re-surface. We shall see what kind of IP allocation one gets at Caltech. For now, this is entirely my personal space now.

This Thursday evening I played table tennis at church for the last time before I leave for California. It was good, I played for three (3) hours, more than I ever did. I was very tired at the end and lost to a brother who I can usually beat with confidence. It was nevertheless very fun and I enjoyed it. Who knows when I can play with them like this again? Someday, perhaps; someday.

I changed the requirement for underscore (`_') and asterisk (`*') to only create italicized and bolded effects, respectively, when it is marked around one word.

If you type *blah blah* it will not be expanded, as seen here.

To italicize or bold multiple words with spaces, use double underscores (`__') or double asterisks (`**'), respectively.

For three days in a row, I came home after midnight.

Sunday I had dinner at Connie's place and stayed until everyone is gone. The family members of Connie (grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc) all came to pray for her, since she's leaving for work at San Diego pretty soon. I was the only non-family member, kind of weird. They also prayed for me since I am leaving soon also. I taught David how to solve the second slice of a rubik's cube, while he teaches me how to play tennis on some kind of game machine (PlayStation maybe). I also left really late.

Tonight I came home early and for once I shall sleep before 0100. Wow, I have changed so much in the absence of a guardian.

A while ago I was discussing with, quite possibly, Steph on the topic of human fuzzy match. We concluded that humans are much more skilled in recognizing obfuscated text and rectifying typographical errors than computers. Now I just saw an article that looks very interesting. I had no trouble at all reading the obfuscated article at normal speed, here it comes:

Aoccdring to rscheearch at Cmabrgde Uinervitisy,
it doesn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in
a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the
frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The
rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed
it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn
mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but
the wrod as a wlohe.

This is really interesting!

Whoa! Friday night I was at Joe's till past midnight. It's actually a good time, even though I read a math textbook most of my time at Joe's (I just got it so I was very excited).

Saturday night we had youth group meeting. I went and stayed there till approximately 0045 (today!). A few weeks ago I would not have done these insane partying late nighters, but apparently the absence of parents at home alters one's attitude significantly. I also had fun at Gary's house playing DDR, semi-first time. (I played at Bo's two songs a few weeks ago at his going-away party.) I am still very bad, but I sweat.

This Saturday morning I again went to learn more table tennis. Today I asked the coach to teach me serving techniques. Now I can actually serve, and supposedly control, two kinds of balls: down spin and topspin both added with side spin. The two serves look alike, so it is theoretically possible to trick people. The coach says it is okay to put topspin balls out as long as it is with side spin, fast, and looks like a down spin. I got to work on the later two of the three requirements. I can get the side spin down pretty well. I still need to practice, practice, and practice more.

I am really impressed by my talk with Gary. I think it is very wonderful to have fellowship amongst brothers and sisters in the body. By huamn point-of-view, Gary is a cool guy, and since I dislike cool guys, I would not like to talk to him. On the other hand, I doubt Gary would be interested in talking to me either. However, due to our common belief and the fellowship through our Lord Jesus, we are able to exchange our thoughts and experiences, to edify and encourage. How wonderful it is when brethren live in peace.

This is old news actually. I got my first mobile phone in the United States on Wednesday, 2004.09.08. I stayed up really late yesterday playing with it. I think I sort of understand how to do some of the stuff on my phone now. I still do not know how to turn off the power-up sound. Eek. I am not going to leave my number on the web, but I'll tell you if you contact me.

Being lonely at home.

We often do not perceive the existance of an entity until it is gone. I am feeling that now with the absence of my parents. They are safely back in Taiwan, seperated from me. Good? Yes, there are good aspects. Bad? Of course there are difficulties.

I think I am beginning to comprehend the importance of having friends. One cannot live a life strictly by himself, contrary to what I used to believe. I thought I am self-sufficient (not in a sense to ignore God). Perhaps I am not relying on the Lord enough. However, I still feel the need to have fellowship with other Homo sapiens.

This Wednesday we had table tennis at church (as opposed to the usual Thursday ones). I played pretty good actually, I am looping more and hitting back more also. Still need to work on speed and spin on my forehand and consistency and rhythm on my backhand. Paul's dad said I improved much :) of course I still lost to him with a big gap. Fun times. I played for 2.5 hours tonight.

So Mary Ko invited me to dinner with uncle Shen, since all three of us live by ourselves (sort of). We had Taiwanese food, it is very good, and arguably better than Chinese food. It was fun talking to them. The waitress was, incidentally, Mary's friend!

Today when I was buying milk and eggs from Fred Meyer, I met Mel's mom and she invited me to dinner Thursday.

Wow, Caltech students get Mathematica 5.0 on personally-owned computers. I am also glad they provide the Linux version as well.

So I ate today myself, both meals. Took out one meal from a Chinese restaurant and split into two meals. I am actually still too full both meals.

I am pleasantly supprised to find that I retained the ability to prepare scrambled eggs without making it too dark. :)

Today was the most tiring of all. Usually the coach have me loop underspin balls only. Today he made me loop topspin balls too. Looping underspins takes much more strength, but he usually only gives me one, and then free hit. Looping topspin is easier, however, it keeps coming. After some time I cannot loop anymore, too tired.

Today I used three buckets of balls, each twenty (20) minutes. Each third I sweat more than the entire soccer game a few Sundays back. Major workout today. I hope I'll retain the ability. Let's see, looping underspin balls at the top of the trajectories; looping topsins balls after they fall a little bit.

I also did some more work on my backhand hit and forehand slice, I should be improving.

After reading some more oppinions, I am triggered again to be unsure of whether to overload to 51 units for Caltech first term. (Again, normal 39-45, extreme 36-51.) Points favoring overloading includes:
* It's pass/failed: I don't need to aim for an A
* Ma2a and Ma5a taken concurrently is the standard for math majors
* I cannot drop Ph1a nor Ch1a
* One (1) humanities/social science per quarter is a good idea
* I program a lot, better to get CS1 in now (or else junior?)
* I can drop the class into the seventh week

The counter-arguments:
* It's pass/failed: I might barely pass and not truly learn the material
* Ma2a and Ma5a are for SOPHOMORE math majors!
* More time to socialize will be better
* I (possibly) do not have mature study skills developed, yet

Now the last argument for overloading, regarding dropping classes, is actually quite compelling. I just try it, and if it does not work? Drop it. Sleep one more hour in the morning on odd days, and be happy.

This Monday night I had dinner at Carter's. I actually spent more than five (5) hours at his house I think. It is quite good to have this kind of opportunity.
I have dinner planned till Friday now. Lunches are generally open. Don't know what to get yet...

My parents left a few minutes ago on an airplane back to Taiwan. They will stay there indefinitely, with no plans to return to the United States of America. I will, on the other hand, visit them this winter break.

On one hand, I am free, on the other hand, I am not free. I am free to read more books during the day, yet I am bound by the need to come up with meal plans myself. I am also a bit sad that they are gone. Not really used to living alone, never had. This will be a seperation of approximately a hundread (100) days.

Finally, anyone wants to cook for me sometimes?