Thank Goodness for Recycling

Today, I looked through a ton of high school papers and ended up with a heavy pile of recyclable material. Throughout college, I became further and further from materialistic. This is made easier since my room has always been rather empty. I have never really accumulated much. Still, I have little need for over 90% of the objects I own.
When I was small, I started a sticker collection, a coin collection, and a small eraser collection. I logged a couple hundred hours on some Pokémon games, including Crystal and Sapphire Version. My middle school friends went to some sort of anniversary event in Chicago and brought me back a special Celebi and Dragonite. After my little brother secretly overwrote the game to play on his own, I was so frustrated.
My jewelry was treasure: pearls, silver and gold.
When I received certificates, report cards and standardized test scores from school, I often saved them. If my name appeared on an orchestra or recital program, the program was worth keeping. If an object was of no significance to other people but affirmed my successes, I wanted to keep the paper in order to look back on it later, because it was worth the space.
What is a paper that says you did something well, or a particularly delicate necklace? What is a few pixels that mean something in a made-up world, or a perfect transcript? These things should be appreciated for all their value, whether accompanying a quiet nostalgic afternoon or encouraging further learning. They are a part of a lovely time and place of the past.
But it feels good to move on.

A Two Decades' Brief Checklist

Through preparation, experience and reflection, life is incredibly more multidimensional than these points can portray. But these goals lightly reflect my priorities and dreams for the future. They vary from absolutely important to barely of importance at all. Some are reminders for preservation rather than demands for growth or achievement.

1. Become more sure that Jesus died on the cross for us (and assurance of salvation)
2. Always be a role model for my brother
3. Take care of my parents whenever they need me
4. Pray for my family to know of God's love
5. Help teach school in the countryside of Susong
6. Be cheerful
7. Learn the Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody, Rachmaninoff's Prelude Op. 23 No. 5, the rest of Chopin's Ballades
8. Buy a grand piano, a paper cutter, camcorder
9. and a Highlander for my father
10. Finish my movie
11. Write a lot of letters to people
12. Finish reading the Bible, The Pilgrim's Progress, all of C.S. Lewis's books, and much more
13. Spend a lot of time away from technology
14. Consistently count past 5 correctly
15. Sleep more than 8 hours a night
16. Hopefully get married. Hopefully have two children.
17. Find even more hipster music to enjoy
18. Go to a Killers concert
19. Understand the scope of my father's knowledge about physics and superconductors
20. Pray for my family and friends
21. Learn to cook from my mother... no recipes
22. Always put myself last
23. Keep writing in my journal
24. Become a civil engineer
25. Write a song
26. Do missions in East Asia
27. Learn more about disaster relief and mitigation
28. Love every person, with Jesus as my role model

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Peter: ugh studying preregistering not fun
Charles: i dont do halloweenzies
Emily: stuff
June: hm i think i will be a nazi zombie
Parker: I am unsure, but I have all the supplies to be a hobo (He bought a shopping cart at a thrift store for $3.50.)

I love you.

The love for equals is a human thing--of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles. The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing--the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world. The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing--to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints. And then there is the love for the enemy--love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured's love for the torturer. This is God's love. It conquers the world. ― Frederick Buechner

What a precious day.

This one and every day afterwards.
Never forget that every day, we can celebrate about something.
I really hope you have a good night.

Love always,
epsieanniihsct

Want to play debt ceiling chicken?

Making fun of your own side by pretending to be the other.

Congressman Pace (D-FL) said:
congressman dunn's largest campaign contributor is nambla
congressman dunn once saw a kitty in the middle of the road and passed by it. then he reversed and ran over it again.
congressman dunn was kicked out of the KKK for being too racist
congressman dunn is a rogue
congressman dunn is a ruffian
congressman dunn is a carrot
congressman dunn has two different families that dont know about the other
congressman dunn is against the legalization of fun
congressman dunn
congressman dunn is legally illiterate
congressman dunn is a death eater
congressman dunn runs an underground dolphin extermination operation
congressman dunn was actually the one that released those compromising photos of congressman downing to the public
congressman dunn believes only the siths deal in absolutes
congressman dunn's favorite author is stephanie meyer
the only kind of happy ending congressman dunn knows is the kind you have to pay extra for
congressman dunn used to be congresswoman dunn
congressman dunn was sad bachmann won the straw poll because shes too liberal
congressman dunn sued rushdie for stealing the name of his journal
congressman dunn thought the rock was only an average movie
congressman dunn's hero is jarjar binks
congressman dunn bought out michael vicks share of his dogfighting ring

Congressman Dunn (R-FL) said:
congressman ryan pace (d-fl) is terrible at bargaining
congressman pace is bought and paid for by china and the church of satan
congressman pace keeps 12 year old pages in his office
hes unamerican and doesnt respect that the bible is the real constitution
so of course he is
congressman pace keeps 12 year old pages in his office
congressman pace saw a starving orphan in africa and stood laughing at it until it died
congressman pace is a scoundrel
congressman pace is a rapscallion
congressman pace is a brigand
congressman pace is a waffle
congressman pace switched his car insurance to geico and ended up paying more
congressman pace voted for a bill that allowed congress to steal candy from small children
congressman pace doesn't like ovaltine
congressman pace fought on sauron's side in that big war
congressman pace shot jay gatsby
congressman pace thinks that greedo shot first
congressman pace thinks he can simply walk into mordor
congressman pace read anne frank's diary and thought it had a happy ending
congressman pace got confused and thought osama bin laden ran a 7-11
congressman pace voted against the bill of rights
congressman pace cheered for the iceberg in titanic
congressman pace commissioned dante to design his 9 floored, circular house
congressman pace doesn't like morgan freeman's voice
congressman pace thinks emma watson is only mildly attractive
congressman pace played basketball with kim jong il and lost
congressman pace actually thinks the beatles are a terrible band
congressman pace can feel love, but only towards hillary clinton

I said:
congressman pace campaigned against susan g komen for the cure because he thought it was a corporation

I'd like to think I tried, but next time I won't fail.

For security purposes, this story is going to have a lot of one-letter initials. Some of which overlap with each other, adding necessary ambiguity.
The drive was a success. Obeying our Tomtom set on the American Richard voice, I felt safe. This safety derived from a conversation my parents had about this particular voice. Richard sounds like a computer version of President Obama, and we tend to vote for Democrats. My iPod naturally played a variety of obscure music: Black Hills by gardens & villa, Ritual Union by Little Dragon, I Can Change by LCD Soundsystem... P jokes that I won't like any music on YouTube that has more than a 1,000 views.
The unpaved road wasn't bad. The sun was bright, the roads were dry, and the cars were few. Soon, I found the correct mailbox.
Then I became very confused.
On the right side of the mailbox was a large trailer-but-garage-shaped structure with a smaller trailer along its side. Behind that was a two-story home. I didn't know if P lived in the little trailer, the garage, or the house. After cautiously stepping into the lawn, I strolled towards the garage and along its perimeter. Nothing. R stayed on the phone with me. By the time I almost finished walking around the garage, I saw a lady.
"Hello! Do you know where P would be?" I think I asked this.
"He lives over there. [point]"
"Thank you. I really didn't want to walk on your property but I didn't know how else I would find him," I explained.
"It's okay. You just scared me," she replied. Later, I found out from P that this lady has shot trespassers. Oh my.
On the left and ultimately correct side of the mailbox, I drove up a nearby driveway, only to find a llama (which I thought was a huge alpaca because I did not realize P had llamas), another two-story house, many small barns, a small Volkswagon, a grey truck with one Mexican man in it who didn't know where P would be, and a group of Mexicans sitting around. Hesitating for a few seconds, I then pulled out of the driveway, and parked along the road across from the mailbox and driveway.
I knew I was in the right place, so I walked down the driveway once more. Did P live in one of these little barn things, or did he live in the tall house? "R, I'll call you back."
"Hi, do you know if P lives here?" I asked a Mm, who stood up and seemed to know very fluent English.
"No sorry, we're new here too." The Mm asked another Mm something in Spanish, and they spoke quickly.
"It's okay." What am I doing here? I wondered. "Do you speak Spanish?" I added, even though it was pretty clear that they did.
"Yeah. Do you?"
"A little bit!"
"How did you learn it?"
"From high school." I learned some in middle school too, but that would take more explanation, and high school was the most immediate answer that my mind recalled.
The Mm smiled. "Did they teach you well?"
"No." I am completely honest.
A knock on the barn closest to the llama did not produce any indication of human activity. It looked like the barn acted as a storage shed.
A ring of the doorbell produced the response of a barking dog from the inside, but nothing more. I stepped off the front porch, deducing that P probably didn't live in a house with girl's shoes near the front door, not realizing that he has a sister.
I walked back into the van, locking all doors. My last resort would be to call P, but this task took a while. Here is a summary.
Phone call #1:
me: Hi J! Do you have A's number? J: Sure. I'll... call you back... It's ----------.
Phone call #2: no answer
Phone call #3:
me: Hi Z. Do you know where A is? Z: Yeah, she's here. me thinking: Of course she is. That's why I called you.
They told me to call A.
Phone call #4: After looking, A told me to call G. I didn't have G's number but I knew someone who does.
Phone call #5: no answer
Phone call #6:
me: Hi! A's phone seems to be turned off. Ohh! She is on a plane. [Has conversation with A/J's mom. Decides I will just go back to civilization.]
I left.

It's been a while

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
13. I'm slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
22. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

There is only one person God has treated worse than he deserved. - John Piper

This post is pretty good, but maybe not helpful for everyone. It's basically about the way young women should probably think about dating.

Moo

Am I imagining this, or did the NOAA favicon become brighter?

I made a mistake. On Google+, when I remembered that Picasa keeps all these Blogger pictures, I deleted all of them. Unfortunately, this means that none of the pictures show up here anymore unless I upload them again. The title picture and my avatar is back up, but besides that, there are far too many to restore. So I am not going to do it. Sigh.
But I don't think this will be a problem because if you really want to see little children sitting on recyclable chairs, for example, just let me know and I will email some to you, if I still have them in my computer.
Everything is so connected! awiuafwoagnljsdaf

I found this on Twitter recently:
Dannon The Dannon Company
6 Retweets
Today is Cow Appreciation Day, so go and give a cow a hug. Without them, there would be no Dannon yogurt. #moo

These are two of my favorite moments from The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins:
"Do you really mean to say that you don't feel any interest in what we are going to do?" he asked. "Mr. Bruff, you have no more imagination than a cow!"
"A cow is a very useful animal, Mr. Blake," said the lawyer.

"'First, the inner hall,'" Betteredge wrote. "Impossible to furnish that, sir, as it was furnished last year--to begin with."
"Why?"
"Because there was a stuffed buzzard, Mr. Jennings, in the hall last year. When the family left, the buzzard was put away with the other things. When the buzzard was put away--he burst."
"We will except the buzzard then."
Betteredge took a note of the exception. "'The inner hall to be furnished again, as furnished last year. A burst buzzard alone excepted.' Please to go on, Mr. Jennings."

Let's do the fork in the garbage disposal!

About ten years ago, the teacher asked her class to write answers to the question: If you could live forever, would you?
I knew my answer immediately: no. I thought that any eternal existence would become really boring, and that eventually, I would seek nothingness: death. Of course, at this moment I was quite content with life and would not have backed up this prediction absolutely. But I also thought it was preposterous to exist forever.
For days after this, our teacher read us Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit. This is still one of my favorite books. It is about a family who finds a spring that gives eternal life. A girl falls in love with one of the family's sons, chooses not to drink the spring's water, and dies at a healthy, normal age. This book asserted the warning against holding onto an earthly life so strongly that many kids changed their minds afterwards.

In retrospect, I think I was wrong. Yes, I do not want to live forever. But yes, it would be nice to live forever. If Heaven is real, then wouldn't it be wonderful to live forever? It might be boring, or it might not. But my mind is so limited; I am far from wise. I do not have enough mental capacity or any capacity to conclude that an eternal Heaven would be boring.
I love life and am so excited about it. At the same time, I resolve not live on Earth forever. No worries about that; we know what will happen here.
But the other sort of eternality, in Heaven or Hell... I cannot deny that this will happen.

Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable. from Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.

I always have so many things to show yo-

but I guess that sounds a little weird.

1. Quite a realistic pie chart.

2. Being a ghost is serious business.

3. This Google Chrome video made me feel so sappy. Well I can't wait until I'm a dad one day.

4. This is kind of old-ish. But when people ask me what Cornell is like, now I have something to show them. If you haven't watched This Is, a video about Cornell University, I highly recommend it.

5. No wonder that sinners are given to slumber when saints sleep as they do. No wonder that the unconverted think hell a fiction when we live as if it were so. No wonder that they imagine heaven to be a romance, when we act as if it were so little a reality. Apparently from Charles Spurgeon, A Wilderness Cry, delivered August 4, 1878. But I couldn't figure out who really found this and has a copy of that sermon.

6. Two people saw my blog early today.
One from the US and one from Brazil.
One with Chrome and one with Safari.
One with Linux and one with Macintosh.
That is all I know, but I guess that's a little creepy of me.
But today as in June 18, 2011. Now it is later.

7. I haven't counted this high without messing up for a while now.

8. The World . . . is the beautiful frontispiece to Eternity. You never enjoy the world aright till the sea itself floweth in your veins, till you are clothed with the heavens and crowned with the stars . . . till you can sing and rejoice and delight in God as misers in gold . . . I must lead you out of this into another world to learn your wants. For till you find them you will never be happy . . . They (i.e. Souls) were made to love and are dark and vain and comfortless till they do it. Till they love they are idle or misemployed. Till they love they are desolate. from Traherne's Centuries of Meditations, quoted by CS Lewis in Yours, Jack.

9. Mr Chris Tomlin and I are very lucky people. And I just realized that the celebrity pictured is wearing the same shirt in both pictures. That was a joke. That was an ambiguously phrased sentence.


10. (500) Days of Summer is surprisingly realistic.

Meet Leo the Lion

This is one of my best friends teaching another friend's stuffed animal, Leo the Lion, how to play the guitar. For quite long now, I have and still call him my "big brother." (The person, not the lion. I don't know anything about Leo.) Actually, he is less than three months older than I. He encourages me in so many different ways, such as loosening up, and putting God first.
And he's single, ladiiies. ;) Jk. But really.

The Big Bang Theory
Leonard: At least I didn't have to invent 26 dimensions so the math would work out.
Sheldon: I didn't invent them. They're there!
Leonard: In what universe?
Sheldon: All of them! That's the point!

"Toyota's new slogan is: Moving forward. Whether you want to or not." NPR March 7, 2010
I just wanted to write this down (again?) so I could keep it forever... as long as Blogger exists. It is especially meaningful to me because I was about to (try and thankfully succeed in) braking at a stop sign... in my Corolla.

Sr2NbO4
Two years ago, a scientist tried many times to make this compound. I watched and helped however I could. He has been busy with other things, but if anyone out there has made it and is willing to give out some tips, please let me know.

President Obama and facial recognition/replacement software
Three guys I know went on an online chatting website, I think Chat Roulette, and pretended to be President Obama. Some people really thought it was him.
"We asked things like are you paying your taxes and they looked scared and kept nodding. Then [one of the guys] asked if they were 18, and they did the same thing. Then he said, 'Goood. The president has to obey some of the laws.'"

My commentary on art, May 2010
I never thought I would spend hours with a tablet and stylus in hand, slowly transforming visions in my mind into colorful pieces, over and over again. I thought I preferred depicting dancers, but my art has spread throughout an assortment of genres. I am always looking for new inspiration, and do my best to save my favorites at hand. Others say they see movement and bold colors in my pieces. I agree, and have actually strived for those qualities this year, because I have always enjoyed them in my life. I wish to convey any emotion I would like to exemplify. But most often, I show strength and serenity, even if I do not act or feel this way when I begin my planning processes. I have been using newly found patience, pencil for sketching, oil pastel, watercolor, acrylic paint, Photoshop, and any luck I have in finding the right time to begin something. My favorite moment is about a third of the way through a new piece, when I have an enormous number of ideas, and a plethora of patience, knowing almost precisely how I would like to meet my final product. I think that all of this work has only reflected a small portion of me. I do not spend an enormous time with making art. Much of my future will be devoted to engineering, statistics, and dealing with things that are out of my control. I am so grateful, and will never forget to turn my attention back to digital drawing, piano, or sketching- whenever I want a break.

Try to Imagine

Last night before I fell asleep, I was thinking about how God is always right in front of our faces, constantly. This is really roughly how I see it.
I do not have a son. Well, I do not only roughly not have a son. I definitely do not have a son. Anyway.
What if I sent my hypothetical son to die for someone who didn't even deserve my grace, and then that someone found out what I had done for him? And then, what if he often ignored and doubted me? I'd be completely devastated.
We just ignore Him so much. But He loves us so much that he sent his Son to endure incomprehensible pain and die for us.
Jesus is always here to help you have a personal relationship with God. The Holy Spirit is always here to tell you exactly what God thinks. They are like a team. A really really really smart team that knows all of time at once, and the location and momentum and everything about every single particle ever.
This analogy has nothing to do with my personal experiences. But maybe it will help you. Pretend you are a female civil engineer, and that you know three guys in your Fluid Mechanics class. Please ignore everyone else. You think the first guy is really attractive. It is easy to talk to him, which is great since you are secretly in love with him. The second guy is a good friend, who you see every day. Luckily for you, he wants to make your life as easy as possible. He is willing to tell you the answers right away, so you can get your homework done but do not really learn anything. The third guy will only truly speak to you if you speak to him. But once you speak to him, anything he knows you want and suitably need, he will give to you in a greater capacity. For example, if you ask him to hold your pencil for you, he will carry your whole backpack. He rarely gives you the answer right away, but he constructively guides you in the right direction. He also happens to know exactly what you need in your life on all levels.
At the end of the course, when you are about to take your final, I bet it is great to know the first and second guys. I know. You should. If the first guy asks you on, a date, then GO! But I really hope you have a lot of conversations with the third guy.

Here are some kind of amusing things that have nothing to do with this post.

Watch this if you're bored!

N: :P
Yes and then double that and we gerbil :P
Hahahaha I mean we get you
Not we gerbil! dumb iPhone!!

me: Your birthday flower looks like a fern
R: what is my birthday flower
me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_flowers
R: thats bc it is a fern.......
me: but there are flowers
like mine is the dahlia
R: maybe they stole it
Adiantum (pronounced /ˌædiˈæntəm/),[1] the maidenhair ferns, is a genus of about 200 species of ferns in the family Pteridaceae,
YOURS IS NOT NATIVE HERE
mwahahahahaha
me: im not native here...
R: touche

R: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rkR0XmVYfc&feature=player_embedded
me: hahahaha
that's funny
you should try it
R: i will
now all the videos on youtube under recommended for me are arabic
2:59
قطري زاحف
3 months ago
31,637 views
Because you watched
كيف تدخل وانت متأخر

me: i found this instead o.o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1Qut0Nrsiw
he can swim! oh my gosh
P: whoa.
he can graduate from cornell

Just some things

1. I've caught hundreds of fish. Probably enough for my whole life.
2. I kind of wish people made more lists because I like to read them. They are so useful. The ones in my head are usually shorter, though.
3. You know "Smile Like You Mean It" by The Killers? It's about visiting the place where you used to live. I always struggle to explain where I lived. But thankfully I have a friends like Nicole and Chanyang nearby who can explain for me, while I make sounds like "Uh well um."
4. We went to Destin for a day trip. We almost accidentally drove to Panama City Beach.
5. Potted plants are so funny. As opposed to normal plants that grow right on Earth's surface. Think about it.
6. I feel like I can really relate to this:
You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him of whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation. CS Lewis.

Doing Nothing

The packing and moving process was pretty awful.

I'm probably going to forget. But someone please remind me if you remember.

2010.02.24 Calvin V. at 4:35am

if i ever die kejing, i want you to put in the request to facebook to freeze my account. tell them to change my status to "what do you mean there's no in-flight meals?!"

If people use Facebook for much longer, wouldn't there be millions of people on Facebook who are actually dead? I don't know how I feel about that.

Eventually we could have databases of our ancestors. Oh man.

Oh, you know.

Emails have really started to bother me. I always liked them because they were like letters except quicker. But then you never get to see people's handwriting. Also now I never know when I should reply to people.

Two of my friends surprised me at the airport!!! They even made a sign!

My mom reminded them that one of my bedroom walls is completely blank. So I should put the sign there. But it is not there.

Actually, the last time I went to China, I bought a huge Chinese flag and wanted to put it on that wall. But I didn't really have a way to keep it secure, so now the flag is folded up in my closet.

One of my friends suggested on her Tumblr to write on a banana with a pen. Today, I finally did it! I highly recommend trying it out. It met my expectations and more.

6 school years until he can come to Cornell

I love my little brother. Here are some of our emails.

Kevin to me
show details Apr 20
it was good. At Beef-oh-Brady's we were given awards for contests and competitions. I got first place in all four contests for our grade.

Me to Kevin Apr 26
Oh, what were the contests? I'm glad you won.
It is really crazy outside now. And so warm: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Ithaca&state=NY&site=BGM&lat=42.4422&lon=-76.5002

Kevin to me Apr 28
The contests were Mathcounts, AMC 8, Sigma, and Math Olympiad.

...

Kevin to me at 7:51 PM (3 hours ago)
I took the Orleans-Hanna test. It's supposed to see how well you will learn Algebra. There is a lesson and then there are questions about it. At the end there is a 6th grade review section. The only problem was that I already knew everything.

Run away, David Lei

TheOnion The Onion

HP Unveils Non-Computer For Those Who Don't Need A Computerhttp://onion.com/lKD13Y

5 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

TheOnion The Onion

Area Bird Creeped Out By Bird Watcher http://onion.com/bGzN93 #OnionGreen

11 May

TheOnion The Onion

How Bad For The Environment Can Throwing Away One Plastic Bottle Be?' 30 Million People Wonder http://onion.com/9PYWwy #OnionGreen

11 May Favorite Retweet Reply

‎"There is nothing like a true love to go and make a fool of someone."

This is not a true story.
When David Lei was a small six year old child, he learned about the tooth fairy. To him, the process of trading one’s tooth for money sounded a bit unrealistic, so he didn’t tell his parents about it. But out of curiosity and a sliver of hope, one night, he put a recently lost tooth under his pillow. Maybe the tooth fairy would take the tooth and leave something. He slept well that night.
As he awoke next morning, David lifted his pillow excitedly. His wide eyes opened with hope, but soon slackened with disappointment. There was nothing under his pillow. If David were old enough to have higher vocabulary, he would have called this experience a “conspiracy.”
Walking past his bed the next day, David realized that the tooth had fallen to the floor. Afterwards, he pretended that he had never been so silly.
During his high school years, David and his parents settled into a ranch styled home in Madison, Wisconsin. In his senior year of high school, his most unique role in society began when he got a phone call from the Department of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco. At the offer of a family friend, David became an underage agent. He traveled around town with various men, and tried to buy beer from bars in town. The first eight wouldn’t sell it to him, but the next two did. The government went on to arrest those last two men. David felt kind of special.
As many Chinese guys do, David entered the College of Engineering at Cornell University. One gloomy Ithaca day, David casually ambled past Goldwin Smith on his way back to his dorm, Mews Hall. He thought “Sure, Mews might not be as cool as Balch, which has its own Wikipedia page. But life is pretty good.”
To spend more time in the company of the light but steady raindrops, David veered northeast, away from his path to Mews. He moved down the awkwardly spaced steps near Noyes, and approached a path around Beebe Lake. He saw a pretty girl jogging along the northern path, so he decided to go in that direction too.
Stepping along the damp path, David felt at peace. Sure, the sky was cloudy and gloomy, and his head was a bit damp. Appreciating the rain, he remembered what a preacher said recently, during Easter on the Quad. “The gorges weren’t made with sunshine, you know.”
David casually paced around the lake for a few more minutes, examining the nature that grew around the manmade lake. A cool westward breeze brushed his cheek like whisper. David turned around, but he was alone.
He looked down, and hopped a little bit back in surprise. Imprinted in the damp mud were a set of mysterious footprints. Who made these footprints?
David speculated that last night, two emotionally struggling young lovers might have found that the lake, secluded from the dorms, was a good place to discuss their relationship problems. After a couple of hours of calm but assertive debate, they stood up to leave. But instead of walking back to the dorms, they fought amidst the strong and pouring storm, clutching onto their failed but desperately emotional relationship into the early morning. The guy must have trudged away, angry and exhausted, stamping his feet into the ground with each increasingly labored step.
But David wasn’t sure whether the footprints belonged to one or two people. The prints were all of similar sizes, and their shapes were too rough in such damp and malleable mud. David shrugged, glanced at the setting sun, and walked back to Mews.
Beep beep beeeeep. Beep bee- David jerked up from his bed and turned off the alarm. It was 8:45am, about time to get ready for an early Freshman Writing Seminar. What a drag. “That class is useless,” he thought.
As David scrambled into the room and tried not to be late, Professor Sinykin lectured about C. Auguste Dupin, a young detective of Edgar Allan Poe’s short mystery story series.
“Morning, David. So, did everyone read ‘The Purloined Letter?’ What did you think?” the professor smiled hopefully. As if more than half the class had done the reading.
Actually, David had done the reading and found it quite captivating. Even after Professor Sinykin dismissed the class, David pondered about Dupin. David was in awe of Dupin’s detective prowess. What a man. Dupin picked out the clues that were necessary to solve the mystery of that letter. Furthermore, David wondered whether or not he would risk his life to uncover the truth behind a mystery.
Walking into the Temple of Zeus, David quickly forgot about Dupin. He had a Rebecca Black moment. Which seat should he take? Except that all the seats were taken. Then, he spotted the pretty girl from his walk near the lake. As he entered the coffee queue, she gave him a quick smile. His ego liked that smile. “Just a normal day,” David thought smugly. But seeing the girl reminded David of the footprints.
Later that day, Peter, Greg and Will joined David for dinner.
“What up,” greeted David. He nodded as his friends settled down with their food trays. “Guys, I think I found something weird,” he added apprehensively.
“What’s up?” asked Peter, David’s roommate and fellow engineer.
“Well I was just walking along Beebe Lake yesterday, and when I looked around at the ground, I noticed these footprints,” explained David. “It was kind of weird.” Peter’s face exhibited thoughtfulness with great patience, and a touch of confusion.
“I dunno, man,” inputted Greg, who never took walked outside because he always worked out in the gyms.
Will offered another opinion. “I think it was an act of God. Things like that don’t just happen. Remember when He made Jesus walk on water in the gospels? David, you were next to a lake. Look around at the water next time. I mean, maybe God is speaking to you, dude.”
“Umm…” Peter mumbled something in disagreement. Then, he added, “It’s pretty sunny today. If we go check now, we probably won’t see any footprints, because the mud is all dried up.”
David knew Peter was right. But he couldn’t stop thinking about those footprints. He went back to the lake at night. He took the path around the lake from the south side. Next, he jogged across the footbridge. In the darkness, the crashing waterfall seemed more powerful. And more intimidating. The increasingly thick rain fed the growing waterfall. By the time David approached the place he stopped the last time he saw the footprints, his breathing became quicker and shallower. Glancing around, David knew he didn’t want to stay long. He was going to get wetter, and he didn’t have a flashlight.
But by the dim light of the crescent moon, David seemed to know what he would see when he looked around at the ground. He saw the same ominous set of footprints as he had the previous day. This time, the footprints seemed more spaced apart, more determined, and heavier. As if someone was running after him.
David bolted away in fear.
“Oh man, oh man, I don’t know what’s going on,” he desperately said to himself. His morning, sitting in writing class, seemed so far away. In fact, even dinner with his friends seemed like forever ago. These terrifying footprints captured David and would not let him escape. And he didn’t know how he was going to spend the next three years at this school.
As David returned to Mews, he was still nervous and shaken. His roommate, Peter, was calmly typing out an essay, and the room was cool and comfortable as usual. David was getting ready for bed when Peter turned to him. “David, I’ve been thinking more about our conversation at dinner. You weren’t looking at your own footprints, were you?”
David’s labored breathing quieted down. Exhausted, he climbed into bed and slept.

Making Lists

Things I think would be really convenient to have in a house

1. A shelf above the bathroom sink but at the bottom of the mirror over the medicine cabinet. So you can put contact lens stuff there.
2. A scale built into the floor and/or wide enough to weigh a suitcase
3. Built-in shelves
4. Food. I know this isn't related to construction but it is really important. Enough to use punctuation.
5. Rolly chairs

6. Recycling bins

7. A ledge inside the window sill to put stuff on it

Things I want to tell my children
1. I believe the Cayley-Hamilton Theorem is important to understanding matrix exponentiation.
2. It is easier to remember telephone numbers in Chinese than English.
3. Criticism and hardship are necessary for growth.
4. I wonder who your father is. He could be studying for finals right now, too! Or drunk.
5. Try not to study for 8 or 9 hours today because then you will... be like me.
6. One of my best friends was an underage agent.

To: Edgar Lei

2011.05.06 11:15am EST

Hello, Edgar Lei!

Are you having a good day?

Maybe since it's still early, you are eating a parfait.

(You are so awesome that you don't need a tray.)

And then you will be ready to go out and play!

Each day in the future, just like today,

You always know good things to say.

Your brotherly love is like a fabulous bouquet,

which beats almost anything - even radioactive decay.

Why don't you pretend the next year is a holiday?

Anything for your departure to delay,

because as many people who can fill up a bay

would agree with the sentiments this poem seeks to convey.

Once you go, what if our hearts are in disarray?
Maybe no one will be okay.

Our hearts will show only gray

as if they are trapped in Tropical Storm Fay (2008.08.25, Tallahassee).

On your journeys, I hope you stop in my birthplace, Hefei (Anhui).

Not because it rhymes, but because it is far away.

And then, you will be more eager to stay,

with me at Stanford (I hope), near San Jose.

If you never see me again, I will send the CIA

to find you so that with kindness I can repay

to you, not just in May

but in everlasting care like that in a work by Monet.

Now it is lunch time, so find a fish fillet.

Or if you really want, you could start to crochet.

Whatever you do, for you I will pray.

Okay. Have a great Friday.

Love,

Kejing Jiang

11:50am EST

More Quotes

[Lecture, March 28-ish, 2011]

Professor Kudva: I put out a report from 1990… you guys were toddlers then. ….. You weren't born? :o

[Texts, Today]

me: Just went inside the suite next door to ours. The hallway is huge. Our rooms will be awesome. Our suite is awesome. You girls are more awesome.

A: Ah, but you are more awesome ;) yay!!! I'm SO excited! :) :) p.s. Dinner tonight? Will you be around?

me: I anticipate being around :). But seriously the hallway is SO LONG.

A: Excellent! :) and oh, I see, I pictured it being very wide when you said that, but long sounds great too! :O

me: That's what she said.

Q: Why did your mom marry your dad?

A: She got too old to do anything else with him.

[Lecture, March 18, 2011]

Professor Hui: I think [the determinant of] a 5 by 5 matrix is what most of us can do before our patience wears out... or before our life wears out.

Yesterday Night

timcarvell If anyone has a horribly embarrassing bit of news they'd like to bury, now would be an excellent time to disclose it. about 15 hours ago Retweeted by BrianR_Norris

Last night, I was sitting in Jillian's room when we heard a lot of yelling. Jillian opened one of her window, so we could discern their words. They were yelling, "AMERICA!!!"

I can't really convince myself that it is okay to be so happy over killing. At the same time, I wonder if there will be a terrible backlash at our country, or whether there really should be a choice to be made: between being "American" and loving your enemies.

I don't know about the future's potential backlashes, but I do have some idea about the choice.

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44)

Verses like the one above are all over the book I read this spring break, The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun. Just yesterday afternoon, a friend mentioned this book. Sometimes, people stretched out Brother Yun's arms as if he was on a cross, or beat him with electric batons. He was consistently grateful for the pain, which I cannot come close to imagining, and so glad that he was persecuted, as Jesus was.

I can't see myself as a particularly brave person. But I think that hardship - pain, criticism, no matter the extent - is not in vain. After all, compared to the eternal...

I am so disappointed and sad to think about all the terrible implications of one person's actions. (I am about to use a lot of prepositional phrases. Just warning you.) But I think that choosing not to hate a man and celebrate his death is not equivalent to choosing empathy over supporting the people who suffer. Choosing to love all people is not equivalent to neglecting my country.

I know he is probably the least brotherly person ever. We have almost nothing in common. He committed terrible, terrible crimes.

Sometimes I lose sight of my first love: God. Because I wish everyone in the world would walk into Heaven before I might.

Yeah, even him. I'm crazy.

Well I don't know you at all. But I love you. You may disgust me to no end, but I know you must have some goodness. At least a little.

I don't really understand how any being can love you that much. But He does, SO much! I know that God has already figured out which path you want most and given it to you. Because He loves you so much more than any person can. So I love Him more than ever.

This is completely unrelated.

A friend told me, "That's what you do to guys. You wear them out." What does that meaaan?

OCD, A Fine Frenzy, and Romans

Hah. This is a mental disorder poster by British designer Patrick Smith. You can find more here.

Now that more people are using the Internet, a lot of people have been blogging. And the more people who blog, the more instances they blog about the same things. Sometimes I wonder if people who are reading mine think that I have been reading theirs if I happen to mention the same things. I wouldn't know. But it is definitely a possibility. For example, two of my friends discussed marriage within one or two days of each other. Maybe there is the confounding variable that many people in college tend to think about marriage. I guess it doesn't really matter too much unless all my friends suddenly start talking about mental disorder posters from Design Milk.

This is a quote straight from YouTube. I know, I'm getting good sources. "...the boys picked the rotten apples at the bottom because they were too lazy to climb the top." The quote is referencing a song, "You Picked Me" by A Fine Frenzy. It's sweet.

My friend let me borrow her copy of The Reason for God by Tim Keller. I have not finished reading it yet. It isn't going to completely sway you in any one direction but it shows that some really difficult questions (such as why God allows suffering, why there is a Hell, why Christianity and not another religion, etc.) actually have answers, and he offers his answers! It's kind of a relief to read things like this. He mentions CS Lewis quite a bit, so if you've read Mere Christianity, you'll probably feel pretty well-read throughout the first few chapters.

These verses in particular have been on my mind for a few weeks. You know how the newer Windows OS's have Sticky Notes (By the way, Ctrl+Shift+> and Ctrl+Shift+< changes the font size.)? When I see something interesting or someone tells me something worth sticking on my computer, I use that. You can tell I really like Romans.

But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 4:29.
...because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Romans 9:3.

QA for Cornell 2015

A friend got into Cornell University (Congratulations!) and had a few questions for me. I'd like to share them with other potential pre-freshmen. Let me know if you have any other questions about anything.

My best advice is to physically visit the schools that accepted you.

1. Is being in Cornell kinda isolated? I heard from someone that the town of Ithaca is kinda boring by itself.
It is physically isolated but there are constantly buses that go to NYC. Ithaca isn't actually boring once you learn more about it. Think of Duke... it's in Durham, where I hear it is pretty dangerous. Ithaca has a great farmer's market, everyone seems to good about the environment, there are beautiful gorges and waterfalls on campus, there are definitely things to do, and Cornell has SO much going on that even if you're too lazy to walk off campus, you'll always find things. For example, there are more clubs at Cornell than I have heard of at other schools. Like 1000 or something, maybe a little less (800-ish? but still a lot I'm guessing) registered officially. It is good to get away, but I think that getting away is more about leaving the bubble that is Cornell if you let it become monotonous and study all the time.

2. Is the workload impossible? I heard Cornell was pretty intense.
It is very intense, especially if you are an engineer or architect. But you can do it. I studied for one and a half days on a linear algebra test that had a mean of a 74 and I got a 99. I'm not a genius, no matter what compliments you kindly throw at me. There will always be someone who beats you, but if you work hard, you will be okay. Also keep in mind that a B average at Cornell is much more impressive than an A average elsewhere. Thousands of kids just like you have gone through Cornell and definitely graduated. You will learn how to make time for things you enjoy, and find that you enjoy so much more than you realized.

3. How is the weather? haha.
It's not very good. But the amazing thing is, whenever it gets over 50 degrees or is sunny for a day (or a few days in a row), suddenly everyone is like :D :D :D at you. This is actually significant because I always got the gut feeling that people at Cornell (staff and students) are extremely kind. For example, if you walk along and realize you need a dollar, suddenly three people will stop what they are doing and try to help you. This didn't happen to me but I was one of the three people who stopped. It's moments like these that you end up just expecting to see. Going back to weather: I thought it would be SO COLD after I got back from winter break, but it hasn't been bad at all. I'm not kidding, you're going to step into 30 degree weather and seriously not find it too cold. And when it is sunny, whether I am here or in Florida? I have absolutely never APPRECIATED the sun this much in my life. So I think it's good to go through "bad" weather for a few years. You'll see. But it is sunny sometimes.

4. What's your favorite thing about Cornell?
The people. Everyone finds people who connect with them. You know how if you meet someone and you get the feeling that you could be their best friend? I've made a lot of close friends and it hasn't been a year. Almost everyone (except Hotelies) has a hefty workload so you can all complain together. But that isn't the best part. People here are helping me in so many ways. I have friends who see God pursuing me, and know that He will reveal Himself to me. Or friends who rejected MIT and Caltech to come here because they felt better and happier here. And all these friends are so different (Cornell has really diverse people compared to other schools that I've visited). Keeping this in mind, you are going to change so much in these few years. Wouldn't you want the people who surround you to be this kind, interesting and giving? And wouldn't you want to help mold them?

5. Least favorite?
Feeling like I just tried really hard on an essay and realizing it wasn't good enough to get an A. I might get my first B in a class this semester.
Okay, I'm kind of kidding. It really isn't in terms of letter grades. Sometimes I personally feel terrible when I face my limitations. But limitations come in different levels, not just with school.
I think the number one thing that people are unhappy about is the work load. But then I think, why not be pushed? I don't want to be a wimp and go to Brown. (No offense.) The time is going by so quickly, anyway.
I think the things that disappoint me are often things that you would see at any school. Like if I see one of my friends crying, at first I feel like the whole world is unfair. (And then you think about things like Romans 8:28 and you're like ... oh-wait-a-moment. All is not lost! There is always hope! Let's keep going!) But a friend crying doesn't really have much to do with the school. Let me know if that doesn't make sense.

This is pretty incoherent

because I wrote these lines in many different sittings.

This is joke I saw somewhere online. An engineer, a physicist and a mathematician all get the assignment to build a fence around a flock of sheep. The engineer builds a square fence because it is easiest to construct. The physicist builds a circular fence because it maximizes the enclosed area. The mathematician disagrees: he builds a very small fence around himself and declares himself on the outside of the fence.

I meant to post this article a long time ago, but still highly recommend this article by The Onion... Republicans Vote To Repeal Obama-Backed Bill That Would Destroy Asteroid Headed For Earth.

For clarification, the picture to the right is not actually of me, and I have no idea who she is. My source pretty much doesn't remember who she is, either, I think.

They gave me a second piano student, but unfortunately I still haven't met her.

Wow, a year. Life is amazing.

My family is going to New York City for spring break! Ryan said it is like my home is coming to me.

One of my best friends is coming to visit me near the end of this semester. I am so lucky.

I'm really excited that I found out about something meaningful to my heart.

One night, we prayed for different countries at LIGHT 2011. I think something important happened here...

I discovered this song today:


Love always.

Right.

I realized that British men say "Right," pretty often.
These days have been quite filled with finding the activities I really like, and choosing which ones are worth my time. Homework is kind of inevitable. But I like to think, or at least pretend, when it comes to Entrepreneurship and Engineering Enterprise (maybe I will like it more soon! ?), that I really enjoy the information. It seems like the most effective way to do well. And justifies why I am here at all, instead of enjoying the beautiful Floridian outdoors (I live in New York? Weird.) that are now consistently prevalent. I do miss Florida.
My longest lasting "love" has been classical piano. I have a student now, for which I'm really excited. Hopefully she will be excited, too. And I am going to play for elderly people, which is always fun. I have not done it very frequently in my life. In fact I can only remember two times I played for a room full of them.
I really want to try fencing, but am afraid that might be too much. So today, I decided not to go...
This week I'm also going to our school's Campus Crusade for Christ general meeting, or "Cru." It is all over the country! One of my best friends here has talked to me about it. We have also talked about how whoever we end up marrying, if we do that is, is living around somewhere! She said he could be doing homework in his dorm right now! ...and that she hopes he's not dating someone else right now. But I don't mind, I mean, it doesn't really matter much at this point, and I'm sure she was at least kind of kidding. Hopefully her future husband had a good day today.
My first prelim of the semester is in a week. Oh man. Linear Algebra for Engineers... Where the odds are good but the goods have been odd since 1870. ;) Yeah, that is the year our college was founded. I thought the phrase needed some fixing up.
Swimming tomorrow!
Stay happy.

Unwanted again?

Thank you for your interest in The Boeing Company! We appreciate the time you took to complete our online application process for the following position:

Requisition Job Title
10-1019256 Intern - Student Engineer - Product Support and Logistics
Unfortunately, this job opening has been cancelled.

[cry] <-except not

I am learning all the different ways people can reject you. The nicest one so far was from a smaller (but very cool in my opinion) company that thanked me twice in the email, saying that they would let me know if there were a position available for me. At this point I believe that the day I find out what I'm doing this summer will be one of the top five best days of my life.
When we grow up, you can say, "Kejing! My son is so nerdy. He wants to be an engineer. Do you have any advice or information of contact for any summer opportunities?" And I will say "Yeah! Let him email or call me some time. I'll contact some of my friends from high school and college. But which major interests him?" And then I would find something cool for him to do, because I would (hopefully) be good at life and be in a great position to help the next generation (or you).

Edgar Allan Po(e/oh)

This is the sort of humor that is kind of mean but really hilarious at the same time. William found it!

It's Been Quiet

There is something really awful about not knowing what I'll do this summer. Besides this, the last week of the very kindly long winter break is going very well. My sprain at the leg/pelvis joint seems to be healing up, enough so that I can run again! Besides that, I have done a Jillians Michaels workout twice this week, and stretched every day. I still believe that my chest pain, which progressed negatively throughout the first semester, is not going to bother me significantly. I just need to stay calm, breathe deeply when stressed, and continue to become a more relaxed person. But not careless.
"Love Is A Place" by Metric begins:
There's spring in the air
They're sweeping the streets
Wind is a breeze
The sun becomes her, he agrees...
It's pretty simple, but I can imagine the sweeping of streets, particularly after the snow melts away enough so that it is possible. This is when you can really feel the sun shining on your body. Actually, while jogging today through my neighborhood past Nesters but not quite to Wooded Gorge, I sat on the sidewalk cross-legged, closed my eyes, and felt calm for a while. Though as I opened my eyes, a man walked down his driveway across the street to get the mail and said "Hi!"
Once, I asked my friend for some calming music recommendations, since he has thousands of songs in his iTunes and seems to particularly enjoy the ones that help him wind down. So he showed me all these Beck songs, such as "The Golden Age," and "Side Of The Road." I don't really think they work for me, but I'm glad he tried to help, because it serves the overall goal of becoming more relaxed.

I think there is a lot of love that I am almost always ready to give out to people. Some of my friends have told me that I have a good idea about the true nature of people when I meet them. So there is no point in trying to exploit me, now that I have put that idea out there in case you did not have it before this sentence entered your mind.

Neglecting to click on the Stats tab frequently, here is a thank you for reading to everyone- from the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Russia, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Brazil, India, Moldova, France, Taiwan (which is a part of China, unless I am mistaken), Ukraine, and my current home country.

La Maison en Petits Cubes

I am in love with this.

I don't know if I can forgive myself.

Not only can I not at all juggle, I cannot meditate. I am working on it, though. Well, I was working on the meditation at the time I wrote that sentence. It is now 5 days later, and I barely meditated for 3 minutes since then. Way to fail. So then I tried stretching consistently, but who knows how that will go in the long run.
This morning I woke up kind of early and started worrying about things, and when I heard my watch alarm, I kind of swore under my breath, which was definitely a shock to me, because I don't usually curse. But if I ever do, I feel like I have a pretty good reason, and it generally isn't when other people are around. But if anyone were lurking in my room that early in the morning, maybe I would have.
To explain the title (oh yeah, the first two paragraphs weren't actually in response to that, so sorry to trick you), I basically sat on a couch all morning. Maybe because my friend's mom forgot to tell her I called. But then I think, well gosh, I was still pretty lazy. This is the result.
I downloaded Flipboard for the iPad. It's the App of the Year, apparently, and conveniently free. There is a section called FlipDesign, which has a bunch of interesting showcases of industrial and architectural designs.

For example, this cool designer, Luc van Hoeckel, came up with a wooden fan that moves without electricity. I think it's pretty impressive, yet so simple, though maybe a little weird to actually put in my future house... and hoping the latter phrase might enter existence one day:



And apparently, Sanaa, a group of Japanese architects, designed this watch that is supposed to look like a cat wrapping around one's wrist. Here's the black one:


And then there are these little cardboard chairs that you can recycle after your children grow out of them:


Another group of Japanese architects (why are they so good?) made these sticky notes from scrap wood:


I think that's probably enough to share for now. There were also some really interesting buildings and rooms, though.

Two weeks until a four month long... something awful but really worthwhile at the same time. There's college.