Glee 12/13/11

Gah.. So much love for this episode.

I'd seen the music for the episode online already, through Spotify and stuff. Wasn't sure that they were actually doing a Christmas episode or if the Christmas album thing had just become an annual money-making device. So glad that they actually shot the episode. :)
I have to admit, I was a little worried when it started off with Mariah Carey. But it wasn't bad. Sure, a lot of unrealistic things, like Artie almost rejecting to shoot the thing and the TV guy being glad about having a high schooler shoot the Christmas Special. I mean, really? But there were a lot of pros that balanced it out.
Top on my list, I guess, is Sue being human. It happens so rarely, and often it's so weird and abrupt. But, good Sue always makes an appearance when her sister is involved, and by mentioning her, it was a lot more realistic.
Then, the Christmas Special itself was really good. I was loving the black-and-white; made it feel much more oldies, which helped make the affectations that Kurt and Rachel took on funny, rather than indications of bad acting. That first scene, with just Kurt and Blaine, was also super great. Kurt/Blaine Holiday duets are so great. :) And their suits! Gosh, so much love for those suits, not to mention Kurt's skinny tie (nothing against Blaine/Darren's bowties, but I really love the skinny ties).
But yeah. I'm glad that it showed them (the kids) not being super douchebags. At least they helped at the homeless shelter after shooting the Special [although I would have imagined them shooting the special with the homeless shelter as the setting so that they could actually watch, but whatevs]. And though I found the reading of scripture a little uncomfortable (so many Jewish characters present!) it was great and I understood the message being shared. And so, apparently, did the characters.



So yeah. I'm happy. Done with finals, taking a short break around here first before I head back to the Valley. Most of my friends here have gone home, save Jon. Mostly, just glad to be able to relax. Can't wait to spend time home with friends and family.
Ah, the holiday season. :)

ThUd!

aka, the Harvard Undergraduate Drummers, put on a concert tonight! Well, it was more along the lines of a show than a concert. Less formal, more funsies. :)

I went expecting a lot of drums. Instead, I got a lot of marimbas, along with many other things! They were crazy inventive--everything was game, including balls, doors, the railing along the balcony, buckets, stools, even the tops of pianos! I've also never heard the Simpson's theme so well played, nor will I ever hear ringtones the same way.

The meta-show was also really cool. They based it on a TV theme (hence ThUd TV) meaning that the music of the show was meant to be imagined as if it were coming from the TV. They even had Homer change the channels at first. :) So cool.

The part that got me most excited, though, was when they played the Will and Grace theme. I haven't watched that show for quite a while (probably about a month, now) and I need to watch more episodes ASAP! :)

Quite a fulfilling night, to say the least. Great way to spend an hour.

Glee 12/6/11

As Kaylie requested, here's another recap!

Positives
-I'm glad Sam's back. :)
-The reality of the Asian problem with Mike (and Tina) (although the way Tina's talking to Mr. Chang would be a unacceptable, luls).
-Lindsay from The Glee Project! (although it's weird that she's the only vocal in the song her group sings. Lol at unreality). I really like her line: "Next year's gonna be a blood bath!" and her enthusiasm, haha.
-"I Will Survive"! :D Vocals and choreography were so good!
-"ABC"--I don't quite like the song choice (not a fan of the King of Pop) but I did love the choice of vocalists for the song. And the Kurt jumping scene was great. And the fact that Mr. Chang was there was also great. *spasm of happiness*
-"Rebel"--also iffy about the song choice. But Darren Criss. :)
-"Man in the Mirror"--at least they're consistent. This one I'm actually okay with.
-The heart-breaking moment after the announcement.
-Reuniting!
-"We Are Young"! Indie music <3

Negatives
-Damian's lack of airtime. He "won," but other than the first episode, he hasn't had any real role!
-"Red Solo Cup"? Really?
-They resolve problems so quickly. Like the tension with Blaine and Finn/Sam, and between Mike/Mr. Chang (although this was a little more realistic--slightly. His sudden 180 degree change in behavior is a little extreme, but regardless.)
-Gah, Sebastian.
-Gaaaaaaah, Shelby-Quinn tension. So trite, so stupid! Quinn's just starting to annoy me now. Although her maturity at the end was executed fairly well--although it's sooooooo quick (see above).
-The judges? Always so dumb (except for the first time at Regionals--Josh Groban and Olivia Newton-John ftw!)

Glee 11/29/11

Things that were good about this episode:

• Kurt's sweaters
• Song choices
• Dot singing 'Jolene'
• Santana maturing

Negatives, though...:

1. Santana's coming out scene felt so rushed and so unreal. It was just so...plastic. The smile, the happiness about telling her--I mean, no matter how confident she was that her abuela would accept her, I feel that realistically speaking, she would have still been hella-nervous. And the length of that scene--a few short minutes--is so...ugh. There wasn't the necessary mood build-up; it was artificial, and despite how good of an actress Naya Rivera is, it just didn't work. And it could have been so good, like Kurt's coming out in Season 1, only different because of the reaction. The way this was set up though, with all those other sideplots running around at the same time, it was just too abrupt, and that made the little segment so much less effective in adequately representing the abuela's sentiments, and the sentiments of having to come out, especially for someone from a traditionally conservative culture.
2. All the extra sideplots, especially the Puck-Shelly/Puck-Quinn plot. The election things also seemed rushed, and it didn't seem particularly relevant to the plot/theme of the episode (if there were a theme in the first place).

喜宴

今天晚上, 我再一次看喜宴這部電影. 再中文課 (好像兩個星期前) 我們也看了整部電影, 但是我剛發現, 原來我們QRC也有這部電影, 就突然想再看一次. 所以就從十二點開始看到現在.
這部電影我覺得真有意思. 李安拍這部電影是1992年, 可是已經過了十幾年還滿有意思. 我認為現代同性戀的中國人還要面對主角偉同面對的一切, 還須隱瞞事實, 不能父母知道自己是同性戀的. 可能他們就覺得有一點...對父母的責任, 一定要先為他們著想, 或許自己的快樂也沒那麼重要. 不佩服父母的話, 就不孝吧. 要坦白跟爸媽說自己是同性戀的, 真不容易, 無論是中國人與否. 我自己...都不知道怎麼才能夠得到這種勇氣說出真相.

剛過去的星期四, 這裡的 CONTACT 開了一個小會子, 請了幾個同性戀的學生談一談他們 "從櫃子出來" 的過程, 的故事. 我本來還以為他們每個都告訴了親戚朋友, 但事實上, 不是每一都 "出來" 了. 好幾個都說, 他們想不到有什麼原因要先再告訴家人, 還覺得時刻還沒到, 還不適合. 這個小會兒真讓我大開眼睛, 讓我思想良多. 想著我自己的情況也沒有必要這麼早就告訴他們. 等到良好的時間才說, 可能才是最好的辦法. 還沒準備好就說出來, 兩方也受傷. 可能, 有時候, 隱瞞事實是為了最好的結果.

我寫中文, 為什麼只寫了這麼短. 真沒用吧. 五百個字也沒到. 我的中文程度, 真的這麼差. 哎.

Cornell Trip

Pt 1: Traveling

So, I left Harvard around 10:40, got on the T by 10:45, and arrived at South Station just around 11:00. Found the bus platform by 11:10; 50 minutes left to kill. Around 11:40 the bus arrived and people started getting in line. The line didn’t actually start moving until 12, though, and we left at around 12:20.

For the most part, I typed and listened to music. I sat on the top deck, near the front, of the Megabus, so I had a really nice view of the front; it almost felt like I was in a normal car again.

We arrive in New York City around 4:00am—after five hours of traveling, given daylights saving. The driver gets in a really tight spot upon trying to exit the highway, and things get a little scary, but we make it past and begin the drive on local roads. Before 4:20, we’re unloaded at a stop on 9^th Avenue and 35^th Street, so I make the walk over to 8^th Avenue and 41^st Street. Not very eventful; just a little cold despite the fact that I was wearing two shirts, a jacket, and a scarf (and gloves), which usually kept me pretty toasty in Cambridge. Got to Port Authority, but they weren’t open yet, at least the south building wasn’t, so the guy told some people to go to the north building, and I followed along. There was a guy screaming incoherently outside the building, but I was able to slip past and found the Greyhound booth. Got my ticket, and went downstairs to the basement to wait for an hour.

Boarded the bus to Ithaca around 5:25. Left more or less around 5:35 as scheduled. First stop was in Pennsylvania for a quick rest, but I decided to try to sleep. Upon leaving, there was a woman asking for something (I couldn’t hear) and she said “Come on now, be nice,” but the driver yelled “You’re not getting on this bus,” and closed the door. We left for Birmingham, NY. I fell asleep at this point and didn’t realize when they’d arrived at Birmingham, because when I next woke it was almost 10am and the view around was very much rural and hilly and leafy. I panicked a little, not sure if it was exactly the right place, but then the driver said on the intercom, “Approaching Ithaca Station,” and I was able to answer Phoebe’s call. Five minutes later, I disembarked.

Pt 2: Arrival

Immediately went and bought my Shortline ticket for the ride back, then began on the mile-or-so-long trek to the Starbucks we had agreed to meet at. The bus had passed by that Starbucks on the way to the Station, so I had an idea of where to go.

Along the way, I snapped some shots of the buildings and the leaves. They all look old, as if they’re from another time period. It’s definitely reminiscent of suburban America of a decade or two in the past. And everywhere I looked, there were just trees. Very nice and leafy.

Before I had gotten to the Starbucks, she called me again. I could see the Starbucks just a like fifty feet away, and then she spotted me and ran over, leaving her other friends behind on the other side. I recognized all but one of them—Kathleen and Pradyoth (Bryant), Stephanie, and Danny (the new one who I’d just been on the phone with). The first thing they say to me when they cross over, and while Phoebe was getting money from the ATM, was “Your friend there is crazy, you know?” I grinned. Yep. I knew alright. Glad we already got that established.

They weren’t hard to be around at all. In fact, it was surprising how natural it was to interact with them. No real embarrassment or annoying shyness. It was just easy.

After some waiting and some running around, we found a bus and took it up to Cornell.

Pt 3: Cornell pt 1

I got a tour of part of the campus (Central Campus?), kindly narrated in a soft and altogether pleasant tone by Danny. We all laughed at the large plaza in the middle (Ho Plaza?). Got a tour of one of the buildings, with a nice view in the back of Cornell and the surroundings. Then we headed off to get food, apparently in one of the upperclassmen dorms (Alice Cook House).

Along the way, though, we passed by the super steep hill (that they had a name for, I don’t remember anymore). I have to say, the view from there was superb. And walking downhill wasn’t bad at all.

We arrived at Cook House after walking for not too long. The dining hall was really nice; it had flags from all over the world draped along the ceiling on wires crisscrossing along. The food was also pretty nice; there was an Asian dimsum section in addition to a standard breakfast foods section, a desert section, a salad bar, and an omelet grill. I had some vegetarian lo mein, a vegetarian spring roll, and some kimchi dumplings, then some eggs and potato bits, and as a drink I got a glass (an actual glass!) of Pepsi (they don’t have Coke products, which I found interesting).

The food wasn’t aligned in a linear fashion, rather you waited in the specific line for the things you wanted. It was a lot more buffet like and a lot more free than Annenberg, I guess; I wonder if the upperclassmen house dining halls are like this too (from what I saw in Quincy, it seems likely).

After brunch, we continued along with my tour of Cornell. This involved going back up the slope, which Danny ran up. When the girls asked, Pradyoth also started running up (and then they noticed the peculiar way in which he runs). In the middle of it, Phoebe just stopped and sat down, unwilling to move any further. It took Danny running back down and carrying her on his back, very very painfully. The climb itself was difficult; imagine carrying another 100+ pounds after having run up it. Dear god.

Anyway, the first thing they showed me after that was Uris Library, which was nice; it had a large and open reading room (bright too; reminded me of a public library) but it didn’t look as comfy as the reading rooms in Lamont. The stacks were arranged interestingly. The first floor was pretty standard, but above it were these metal overhangs that were bridges to the other selections. To me, it seemed a fairly narrow and precarious situation, but I guess it works. It looked pretty nice, though, but I felt like a difficult place to work in.

I have to admit, the buildings in Cornell are exactly like how I imagined an Ivy League university would be like. It was all surrounded by green, most of them very old looking, and arranged in a way such that the great architecture was immediately apparent. It was, in short, very quaint. At the same time, though, I found it a little too removed from society for my tastes, although admittedly that was one of the reasons it felt so much like an Ivy.

After the library, we explored an area that had musical bricks, and then I heard the bells ringing at noon. It was spectacular. They were playing a song, an actual song; it wasn’t the dreary clang of the Mem Church bells back at Harvard, but rather a fifteen-minute long adventure of song. At one point while we were exploring a section of Cornell (that looked very reminiscent of Harvard Yard; it even had a statue of a sitting man) the bells started playing ‘A Whole New World’ and the bunch of us just sang along.

The next and final encounter was with a little gorge. This part of the campus (we were at the bridge leading to North Campus now) looked very much like a camping lodge, a nature retreat, rather than a university. It was an interesting place, and filled with the feeling of adventure that permeates nature. I saw a waterfall and a lake...and I got some nice pictures in.

Pt 4: Cornell pt 2

Eventually we made it back to the all-women’s dorm that Phoebe lives in. She tried hard to make the tiles (checkerboard black and white) and stair railings (leaves) seem interesting.. They weren’t particularly. Although the common room (a lounge, she called it) looked very comfy as it was filled with at least half a dozen sofas.

On the way over to her room, we passed by Anushka’s room and we met in person for the first time. Her parents were around, though, so she only said a quiet “So this was the surprise?” to Phoebe. It was great, though, meeting her in person. She is definitely one of the most adorable people I’ve met!

We finally made it over to Phoebe’s room (after making a trek down to Kathleen’s, only to find that she wasn’t there. We also took this as an opportunity to try the elevator, which was one of those old ones with the gate. It was a little scary, especially when it stopped.) and found everyone minus Danny. Kathleen and Pradyoth were in their usual space (where I always see them when Phoebe FB Video Chats me) and Stephanie was at her desk.

First order of business was…washing the utensils from the night before. I got to see the kitchen, which had a fridge with all sorts of nice sentences constructed with word magnates. Some other things I found while exploring the dorm was the pumpkins placed outside the doors (I took a picture of Phoebes, but didn’t get a chance to snap one of Kathleen’s, which was so cute).

Most of my visit, then, was spent inside room 4314 (“Four-pi”) doing work. Phoebe fell asleep soon after getting in, and took several 20 minute naps one after the other. The other two got down to business (at least at first) and were getting shit done. Stephanie discovered she had a Spanish essay to write and bolted out to somewhere else where she apparently got shit done as well. I finished typing up parts of my novel (got to 10000 words!) and then did my Chinese stuff. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I ate a cinnamon roll, drank some of the Coke in the fridge, and discovered that Kathleen and I share a similar love of Indie music (Bon Iver, Postal Service, Regina Spektor, etc. <3). It was great.

Once Phoebe finally woke up, we took a picture via webcam. Then we FB Vid Chatted with Emily! <3 I missed her a lot, and it was so nice seeing her, even if it was just on a laptop screen. So glad that there’s just another month and a half before I get to go home to my wonderful friends.

Anushka came back around this time (4:30-ish; we’d literally spent over 3 hours working) and Stephanie also returned. Since I was leaving in another hour or so, we decided now would be an appropriate time for dinner. So we walked over to Appel Commons and got foodz.

Once again, the dining area wasn’t a) filled with rows of tables arranged robotically; a lot more creative, although there were fewer spaces; the furniture was nice. And b) the food was arranged in a nonlinear fashion. There was another Asian bar (apparently there’s Asian food “all day erryday”, as Kathleen put it) then there was a main entrée bar, a Kosher bar, a pasta bar, a burger and fries bar, and more dessert goodness. Another plus was that they had apple cider, and lots of it. I drank a little more than a glass of it, and then took two glasses back in my SWDI waterbottle. Can’t deny that the food was really, really superb. Especially the pizza; I took one bite of that and for some reason it just tasted amazing. I can’t remember when I had ever eaten pizza that good before in my life. Then, for dessert, Stephanie brought me a bowl of ice cream, but I found it too much, so I went to get some on my own; a scoop of French vanilla, a teaspoon of the purple ice cream that Stephanie had brought me, and a half-scoop of chocolate. It was so good, and so fresh tasting. Oh god, I’m sure I’ll regret eating so much, but it was so, so worth it.

At the table, maybe halfway into eating, I finally remembered to tell Anushka “Happy Birthday.” In the excitement of it all, I had quite forgotten to verbalize it. I’m glad I remembered before it was too late.

Part 5: Cornell pt 3: Overview

I have to say, I really enjoyed my trip to Cornell, 10 hours on the bus notwithstanding. It’s a nice and quiet place, with a beautiful environment both in the nature that surrounds it and in the architecture. Some of the more creative quirks of the campus that I got to enjoy—especially the bells—were very nice. Still, as I said, the lack of any nearby city life would have made Cornell a difficult option for me.

The most rewarding part of the trip, though, was doubtlessly the chance I got to meet all those wonderful people. I’d only met them online once or twice before, but meeting them in person was much less awkward than that had me expecting. They were all great, relaxed and able to joke with and about each other, and that’s a quality I love in people. I also got to learn about some of their quirks, like Kathleen’s faces, Stephanie’s “moments,” Anushka’s swoon…we all joked about our faux racism, what with Kathleen’s love of the color yellow, and my status as a Harvard student was particularly joked about. When I did good problem solving, there was a “Yay Harvard” elicited mostly from Stephanie, and when I made a particular fail I got a “Harvard Durr” from everyone (like when I tripped in the last 10 minutes of my time there).

All in all, I’m glad I was able to meet new people. They were all great, and I’m happy that the number of Cornell buddies I have increased from one to five.

Part 6: The Return

I left Cornell around 6:05, and we left Ithaca probably just a little past 6:30. I slept for most of it. Got to Syracuse around 8:30, switched drivers. Pulled over en route to NYC, apparently the rear axle of the bus had problems. Stopped at Chester (I heard Cheshire and got excited) and switched buses. Cold at first, but gradually warmed up. Arrived in New York around 12:10am.

Rather than arriving at an obscure street corner as I expected, the Shortline actually pulled into Port Authority, which, given the night before, was a familiar location. So I decided to walk over to the Megabus stop since it wasn’t that far away. Found it around 12:20 and decided I didn’t want to wait in the cold for an hour before the bus would even arrive, so I walked around 9^th Ave and 33^rd-35^th St, bought myself a baguette and a 1L bottle of water, ate the baguette in Penn Station and waited there until 1:10, then made the walk over. Began boarding at around 1:20. Bus was overbooked; there were more people there than there were seats, but apparently some people just didn’t have tickets for that particular bus so things got settled. Luckily I got on the bus before it was full. Sat next to a girl from Scottsdale, and then basically slept for the majority of the trip. Woke up just before arrival, felt cold, hurried over to the subway terminal of South Station, and then took the T back to Harvard.

Went and got some Starbucks (tall caramel Americano), went back to Weld, took a few sips of the coffee, woke up at 8:10, fell back asleep until Jeremy woke me up at 9:15, and hurried through my daily routine, making it to breakfast at 9:40 and class by 10.

Life is good.

Rant + Cookies

/whine
Blah blah blah So Tired blah blah blah Feel like I need to buy my friends sometimes blah blah blah Don't care that much about money but blah blah blah Still feel like sometimes I'm unappreciated blah blah blah People other than those I call my closest friends here seem to care more about me blah blah blah I spend too much moneyz blah blah blah I need scarves blah blah blah I miss the nice Lamont parties blah blah blah I still love my friends but I'm tired and feeling a little sad inside blah blah blah I'm watching Big Bang Theory (by myself) so I'm distracted blah blah blah Uncoherent blah blah blah I miss friends at home too cause watching Big Bang Theory does that blah blah blah Halloween coming up soon bought candy hope kids like it blah blah blah THANKSGIVING BREAK NEEDS TO COME SOONER blah blah blah wish my friends here cared more about me blah blah blah I'm too whiny.
/endrant

On a happier note (somewhat, as it was also the spark for this post) I made good wonderful chocolate-iness today. The cookies were a hot mess, but the cupcakes were SO GOOD. The flat thing of "cookie" tasted alright, but it looked ridiculous. Oh well. :P
I'm also a little worried that the not-microwave-safe measuring cup (which we killed) will give us all cancer someday, but that's a little far off to really care about. Haha. :P

Midterm Season

Just one left.

So far, I've gone through two midterm exams and turned in one paper (that counts for 1/3 of my final grade in that class). Results have not exactly been as I would have hoped.

Let's reassess.

So I come into Harvard, knowing that these are the top students of their respective high schools, knowing that it means lots of competition, lots of hard work, lots of new challenges. Despite that, I still came here expecting to be the exact same student I was--straight As, putting work over play, and doing as much studying as I felt was necessary but no more than that. In fact, even though I knew that it was a new environment with higher standards, I felt up to them. Everyone talks about how classes are easy, how there are curves and tons of grade inflation, so I felt like I didn't need to stress out or worry exceedingly.

How that has come to bite me in the ass.

My first midterm was Econ. It's an intro class, probably taken by roughly half the Freshman body. The class has been easy, with sections just repeating and rarely supplementing material from the readings. It doesn't seem like we're covering that much material in the midterm either; just really basic supply and demand analysis, with some taxes and subsidies involved, plus a bit of international trade. No biggie. I do some review, and score about 80% on the practice. Seeing that most of my mistakes are just small, stupid errors, I'm just like "Oh well, I'll just be a little more careful on the actual test since I'll have more time." So I leave it at that.
Result: I get 94 points out of 120. 4 points above a 75%. 2 points above an "A/A-", with the curve in place.
So much for "this will be a piece of cake."
The test wasn't even difficult; I missed 4 MC questions, which put my MC right on the 75% mark, but I felt my success on the long responses would have made up for it. I even caught a few errors that would have lost me quite a few points in the last few minutes of the test. But rather than passing with flying colors as I'd expected, I'd just scraped by. As of now, I have yet to actually look over the exam to see what exactly it is that I missed. Planning on doing that soon.
Impact: I'm going to study so much harder next time. Darn you midterm.

Midterm number two is linguistics. At this point, I hadn't gotten my results from my Econ test yet, so I'm still pretty confident about my abilities. My study group has a little pre-midterm review session that lasts for 2 hours, and by the end of it we're all feeling exceptionally prepared and really confident. I set my alarm that night for 9:00 so that I can wake up, shower, and eat breakfast before class.
Doesn't work that way; I woke up at 9:30, and had about just enough time to shower before I had to walk over to the classroom. Only had a few minutes to do some last minute studying, and I spend most of that time reviewing phonetics. Then I hastily flip through everything else, catching a few key terms here and there. Test arrives, notes go into the bag. Test begins.
It was much more painful than expected, and a little harder than previous reviews of the class had suggested. 1st section was strange and difficult to maneuver, but then the next few sections went by pretty smoothly. I committed a small, stupid mistake in the middle because I overthought the question. And then there's this wall that everyone hits: What the hell is "scope ambiguity?" I struggle over it for a few minutes, then skip it to finish everything else. Nothing bad for the last two problems (although I get marked off 2 points for the last one--this I need to ask about) and then go back to the crazy semantics problem. Think about it some more, and then there's only 5 minutes left so I put down something that's semi-plausible but doesn't seem to have anything to do with the "scope" part of "scope ambiguity." I don't have time to put anything for part (b) of that question.
Result: 89. 89 on a test with a high score of 98. How ironic. Each of my 3 small errors were marked off 2 points, and part (b) of that semantics question was a -5,. They decided to give the points for part (a) if an attempt was made, and so I got that, luckily. I'm hoping that with the curve, this turns out to be an A-.
It's not. B+.
Not to be a grades-bitch, but I'm going to ask about the last 2 points taken off. It's the difference between a B+ and an A-. In my book, anything under than an A- is an F. In some peoples' books, anything under an A is an F, so my standards are already quite low. Harvard or not, I am not getting a Ken-F.

Essay 1: In my Contemporary Immigrant Fiction class, we had to analyze one of two short stories and write an essay about them. My essay wasn't exceptionally good, but it at least got me an A. A nice pick-me-up after finding about about my F. Gotta keep up the hard work.

Midterm 3: I just have Chinese left, and that's tomorrow in class. It's only an hour long, so it shouldn't be too bad. Just in case, though, I'm reviewing all the vocab and phrase-constructions that we've learned so far. Sometimes it's a little disheartening when I just completely blank out, other times it's really rewarding. Gotta get a move on it, though. Otherwise I'll be up all night--as always.


Overall, I'll just have to work harder. Doesn't mean I have to freak out every time I have an exam or an essay, but I definitely need a bit of an attitude change. Can't be so happy-go-lucky, let-it-be, things-will-be-fine anymore. Gotta get down and do work.
My friend, the one who's always telling me how scared he is about the tests and how much smarter I am than he, got higher scores on both midterms, and he's consistently getting better scores on his linguistics homework than I am. Sure, his Econ homework grades are slightly lower than mine, but he works really hard (and parties a lot harder), so I have to take a page from his book. Hopefully by the time finals roll around, I'll be more prepared.

Food with Friends

I love my friends here. Such awesome people. Going on food adventures on 3-day weekends is always nice.

Saturday, 10/8/11
After teaching my ESL and Citizenship classes, Sarah, Audrey, Jon, Stef, and I all go out to have a little journey in Cambridge, from Harvard territory over to MIT territory in Kendall Square. There's a really nice independent coffee shop there called 'Voltage' and Sarah had heard really good things about their lattes. So it was time for us to find out!
We were far from disappointed.

 

After coffee-adventures, we went to the beach (we arrived around 6:30, but it was quite worth it. :])

   

Sidenote: Revere Beach (where we were at) is one stop away on the T from Wonderland--in fact, it's basically a 7 minute walk away. Pictures of "Wonderland" weren't exactly promising, though, so we decided not to go, for our safety.

Our final stop that night was Quincy Market. At first, I didn't recognize it because it was dark, but then I realized that I had been there with People to People in 2008. We were starving, and the food there was nice, so everything worked out perfectly. :)

Great night. :D

Saturday, 10/9/11 & Sunday, 10/10/11
Around 8pm, I received an email informing me that this local waffle place was offering coupons for 50% off; that is, when we buy a $10 voucher, they'd email us 2 of them. Great deal; AND, 5% of proceeds were supposed to go to the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter fund. Good food + altruism = Yay! At once, Sarah was aboard, and with a little persuasion, so was her roommate Stef. Then, soon after we received our vouchers, Sarah has this great idea of going to get waffles immediately. So we pack up and go, and meet up with Melanie on the way. The four of us enter this small but warmly-lit store that's above ground level, and I'm just swept with a feeling of Europeanism [they serve Belgian waffles]. We sit down and figure out a way to make it so that our orders total up to $40 so that we can use the vouchers most effectively [we don't get change.] 10 minutes later, we approach the cashier and put down our orders, and proudly hand him our vouchers. That's when we discover that they're not valid until the next day, so that the system has verification that the vouchers are real. Ooops. But, the allure of waffles at 9:30 is so great that we just whip out the money for our orders anyway, Sarah and Stef's without the coffees they ordered. Melanie and I decided that, what-the-heck, we might as well enjoy the experience, and so we kept ours; I ordered a mocha for $3.75, and Melanie got a macchiato (European-style) for $2. This is what the drinks turned out to be like:

Mocha was quite large--probably a Starbucks tall (which is actually a lot when placed into a cup). The macchiato was in a shot glass. :<


Post-waffles, I go to Lamont to do some actual work. I manage a little bit, but by 1am, Audrey, Ben, and I decide that it's time for some IHOP. And so we went. Jon joined us a little later.
This month, it seems that IHOP is doing an All-You-Can-Eat Pancakes promotion, so any order of pancakes can be refilled free-of-charge. Unfortunately, our stomachs are too small to take full advantage of the promotion, but we still went through 15 pancakes, 2 servings of scrambled eggs, and 2 servings of hash browns. :)



But now I'm stuffed and the coffee has long worn off. I'll just listen to some music for a little longer and then head to bed. Columbus Day, though I disagree with its implications, is loved because it means that I don't have classes today. :D
Time to study for some more midterms.

Reminded of Summer

This past spring/summer was definitely one of the most life-changing period of my life.

1. I was exposed to tons of Indie music.
2. I attended my second Midnight-premier of a movie, except this one was actually legit, and I went with friends!
3. I had tons of Starbucks~ <3
4. I experienced Big Bang Theory for the first time.
5. I became a better dancer. :D

Since coming to college, these experiences have been essential to my semi-existent social life. Indie music is an instant link with like 70% of the people on campus. And it's always good to know that I can sing along to my friends' Pandora stations. :D

The Harry Potter midnight premier has been a bonding point with at least two people, and I get to feel really awesome when I tell them about how all my cool and amazing friends dressed up for it.
Starbucks is just pure love. It's something I share with so much of the college population, and it's nice because there are 3 different Starbucks in the Square, 1 that's just a little bit to the north of the Yard, and sort of 2 in the academic-y buildings with cafes [the Science Center and the Northwest Labs both brew Starbucks' coffee. :) ]

Big Bang and other nerdy-but-still-pop-culture-y stuff gives me material (other than Glee) to hype about with people. I wish I had the patience to get aboard the Doctor Who fanboat and the webcomics fanship, but I think I'll just admire them from the side.

And all those dance parties with friends has made it a bit easier for me to let loose and just chairdance and shoulderdance; it's so great. It's a skill that's applicable to other fields--just like the skills my Harvard degree will (hopefully) give me!

So yeah. Good times. I miss my friends dearly, but at the same time I'm glad that I've found new friends, a new place, and a new start. It's invigorating and empowering, especially since I know that my friends from Mesa will still be there, ready to respark our bond this Chrismas and summer. :)

It's so good to have friends.

Unfortunate

I can't tell if I'm in love [or "in like"] with someone or just in love with the idea of being in a relationship. It's a little unfortunate. Especially when said someone doesn't reciprocate.

Because I love expressing myself in song, and because I love songs I can identify with...
Songs I have in mind:

Imogen Heap: Goodnight and Go

Sam Tsui - Hold It Against Me [Britney Spears Cover]

Sam Tsui - Start Again

9/17/11-9/18/11: The Adventure in the Wee Hours

There are certain people who begin to behave as if they are drunk once the clock hits 12am. I am one of those people. So, apparently, are Sarah Coughlon, Jon Titus, and Audrey Zhang. Put us all together for 6 hours [11pm-5am] and chaos happens. One spectacular development is that Ken Mai begins birthing babies after having laughed for too long. Deep breath in, push, and repeat. That keeps me acting sober for another 2 minutes. Maybe.

Over the course of the night, we were exposed to some actually drunk people, which served to expose how drunk we [or rather, I] were acting. To be honest, Jon was quite the caretaker/drunk-sitter and did in fact restrain Curtis from hurting both himself and others. He succeeded a majority of the time. The other two boys--Carlos and Kevin--weren't as intoxicated, and behaved quite well. :)

Jon stealing away phone from Curtis to stop him from inviting more people over, and to protect him from texting/posting anything that might be regretted in a sober state.

The other two: nice and behaved. For the most part; Carlos broke Sarah's hairtie.

After the drunken boys had left [with Jon in tow to keep them safe], things were calm for a while. We mostly worked on our separate homework assignments [well, I did; Audrey started Skyping and Sarah curled up with the Green Monster. Once Jon came back, so did crazy plans to go to Ikea and IHOP. The latter we actually did; the former was delegated to a latter date.

Back in Sarah's dorm, we find that in our excitement to leave for fluffy goodness that is pancakes at 3am, she had forgotten her key. And so we call hupdee [HUPD] and start waking up the whole entryway with our drunken laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation. A HUPD officer comes, unlocks the door, gives Sarah a little lecture, and we start being hysterical again once she leaves. Finally, though, we're winding down a bit, and as much as we'd love to stay awake until the morning, we start drifting asleep, and staying asleep. Jon and I had the awkward dilemma of finding ways/enough positions to be comfortable sans comfy chair or bed, but we managed, eventually. ;)

So most everyone is just out of it by 5am. I'm up until around 6, and to solve my insomnia I go around turning off the lights in the room [and this is when I realize that there's already light outside]. Finally manage to fall asleep [on the nice, comfy floor], and approximately 3 hours later, we start waking up. Starbucks has opened by now, but we have little actual intention of going. Audrey leaves for the "thing" she has to do up at the Quad, and Jon and I find our way back to our respective dorms to sleep or [in my case] shower and update my blog. :)

And that brings us to now.

Yes, for the first time since I've been here, I woke up in a place that was not Weld 32. It was spectacular. :)

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Quite a bit happened today.

0) [stuff that happened before going to bed]
The party hosted by the Harvard College Dems wasn't that great; was too full and after I saw the room and the line outside the room, decided against going in. Instead, just walked with friends around the Square. Lost track of two of them after a while and then had my hands busy keeping one of the drunken boys from getting run over. Took a long walk with him in the cold, talking about Harry Potter, classes, and a mutual friend/enemy. :P Then I guided him back toward his dorm.
Once I got back, Jon texts me and asks to hang out, and I oblige. The two of us plus my suitemate Ding decide to watch a movie that Ding chooses, but Ding falls asleep after 1/3 of it, so Jon and I struggle through another 1/3 before calling it quits [it was a difficult-to-grasp and slightly angsty French film]. I decided to keep Ding in my bed and attempt to sleep outside in the common room. Within 3 hours, I probably get like 1 hour of sleep. Thankfully, Ding wakes up to his alarm at 6 and crawls back into his room, telling me to get the hell back into my bed. :P Sleep until 10.

1) Post-breakfast/lunch, in the middle of making Chinese flash cards, Dylan Lusi calls me. I was planning to call him after making flash cards, but this was a welcome turn of events. So we talk, and I walk outside into the Yard since it's nice and sunny, with a light breeze. We talk for about 20 minutes and things are fine [not too many awkward pauses; I'm good at breaking silence, at least on the phone.] Then I bring my arm down to my side and feel this sharp pain in my arm, and voila a bee is hanging by its stinger on my arm. I'm panicked, because it's my first bee sting and because I can't tell if it's a bee or a wasp, and many expletives later, I find my way to the Urgent Care for some advice. Fast forward one hour, I have a cold pack on my arm and a sheepish expression on my face, and a slight throbbing in the general direction of the sting [the bee fell off before I reached the center; I don't think it's stinger stayed on me.] Oh well; at least I have more life experience.

2) Unsuccessful attempt to invite friends to watch a movie tonight. Begin to wonder if my new friends are actually friends. Frustrated. Take nap. Wake up at 6. Decide to take a walk after dinner. Go to dinner, walking with suitemate. See girls from across the hall worried about said suitemate because he had not eaten when they had gone to dinner together at 5pm; they brought him a toasted bagel, lots of crackers, and a sandwich; wonder if my new friends would ever do the same for me; doubt it; miss my friends from home. Go eat dinner alone.

3) Take a long walk. Decide to walk along the Charles River because I have yet to do so. Listen to Fleet Foxes 'Hopeless Blues' album. Plan to turn back when I finish the album; cross bridge and find myself in Boston, and that I'm quite a ways from the riverside. Find my way on a map and orient myself. Start listening to Ra Ra Riot's 'Orchard' album; finish that and listen to their 'Rhumb Line' album. Start to worry that I'm lost, and call Curtis, my fellow Arizonian friend [who I'm feeling pretty okay with again after having walked for 2 hours]. Get myself oriented, then lost, then oriented again. Find my way to familiar surroundings, but first, I find out where the Harvard Stadium is. Take a detour into JFK Memorial Park [by now I know where I am] and start listening to Death Cab's 'Codes and Keys' album. Get back to my dorm ["I'm home," I think] and finish the album, singing along to the last few songs.

Here's a picture of my route:

Now it's 10:30. I should probably do more Chinese flashcards and start practicing them, or start studying for the (optional/extra credit) Econ Unit Test that's tomorrow. Then there's the literary analysis essay I ought to start brainstorming for, and perhaps there are some articles I have to read for Linguistics. Not to mention the NYT and Brookings and Economist articles I want to cut for the Extemp team. But I'm probably going to just laze around my room for another while, and then maybe go to sleep. We'll see. :)

Me and Treadmills

So back at home, I have a treadmill that I've rarely used since the summer post-8th grade. I've had really bad experiences with it, especially after I started running outdoors, because it's sloped up quite a bit and running at 3 or 4 mphs for 30 minutes on the treadmill feels worse than running 5 or 6 mphs outside for 42 minutes. That's why I expected to never use the gyms here at Harvard.

However, I gave it a try on Monday, since I didn't wake up early enough to run with my friend [these last 2 days], and I quite liked it. 4 mph felt really slow, so I went up to 5, 6, and 6.5 mph and ran quite comfortably for a mile (well, as comfortably as you can run while sweating and struggling to breathe). I've been doing sorta-intervals, walking for a bit to warm up, then running for a mile or so at 6.5mph before slowing back down to around 4mph, then jogging one final bit at 5.5-6.5mph. This has resulted in about 3 miles in 35 minutes, and about 10 calories burned per minute. Not particularly remarkable, but at least I'm getting back into the habit. Hopefully I'll stop being a wimp after another week or so and I'll actually be able to run outside [until the weather makes it impossible] to MIT and back. For now, though, going to the gym hasn't been as horrendous as I expected it to be. And that's always nice. :)

Week 2

So, several late-nighters, ice-cream socials, and Chinese essays later, I find myself in my 3rd week here. Yay.

Things haven't been tough yet. There's always something to do, but that's just because I put it off until night--and then I procrastinate by going on Facebook instead of doing my work. Still, I've been managing pretty well.

I did have to spend 3 hours on a Chinese essay, though, which was assigned on Thursday afternoon and due Friday afternoon. Most frustrating experience here so far. On the other hand, I love my Expos Writing class, since mine is themed around Contemporary Immigrant Fiction [which I read a lot of in Tracy's class last semester!] and the one short story I've had to read so far was pretty interesting. Very critical of the American Dream, very realistic, and very Upton Sinclair-esque [minus the Socialism].

Socially, I've found a nice bunch of friends. I do sometimes feel more like a tag-along rather than as a member of the group, but maybe that's because I spend so much time alone or in my room. They're also somewhat distinct [roommates, Arizonans, Weld 24, etc.], but some of them are very conducive to meshing [i.e. my roommates [Weld 32] are often in Weld 24 because those girls down there are such great people]. I don't feel an absolute sense of belonging yet--it's still a sort of tenuous attachment that I have to make a bit of an effort to maintain. I guess the best simile is that it's a lot like my last year of Jr. High--"friends" with a bunch of people, but no one who I'm really fitting in with effortlessly [like the group I found at the end of Senior year or with Speech and Debate. <3]

Something eventful....well, I finally got to running. Ran yesterday with one of my new friends, Carlos. He, I, and Curtis [another guy from Arizona] have formed somewhat of a trio [or rather a duo + me], but Carlos and I get along in that we're both able to make snide comments to each other about Curtis. We ran along the path to MIT, and I started dying before we even hit the 1 mile mark. By the time we got to 2 miles [or rather, HE got to 2 miles] I was dead and basically jogging in place. He was good and stopped/slowed down for me a few times--which made me feel like I was dragging him down--but we eventually made it back to Hahvahd. I'm hoping to hit the gym up tonight and get some exercise, since I didn't wake up early enough to go jogging with him again today. Really need to get back in shape--my thighs are sooo sore today from running yesterday; walking up and down the stairs is painful.

Tonight is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which typically means eating mooncakes and gazing at the moon at home. I didn't expect to be able to do it here [in fact, I thought the holiday was tomorrow night] but the Chinese-American Society is having a Mooncake Study Break tonight in the Observatory, so I will hopefully be able to snag some [really fattening] mooncake and look briefly at the full moon after running and before finishing my readings.

One more thing: today I thought again about how it's even possible that I got into Harvard. Most everyone else has done some really amazing things--some internships, lots of non-obligatory volunteer work with young children, 1st place in multiple events at national tournaments, multiple leadership positions in various clubs, rich parents, etc. etc. And here I am, a very average kid who doesn't have any real discernible talent [especially when so many people here can learn languages really quickly too]. It's a really big quandary. But I'll accept the fact that I'm an average person at Harvard, at least for now. Hopefully I'll be able to make the most of this incredible opportunity.

Ta ta for now.

1st Harvard Party

Not counting the Dorm Social, and that didn't really count anyway.

So the party started at 9:30pm, but I was at the a cappella concert until 10:30, and then wasn't able to get there until around 11:30. I guess that was lucky, though, because apparently there was still no one there by the time 11:00 rolled around, and it only just started going when I arrived.

At the dance party, I was mostly just around Ariel and Shehry...at least at first. Then a guy I had met earlier that day joined us and we had a swell time. Except that it was far too hot and humid inside; after 12, the windows inside the dance room were all fogged up. That translated to frequent breaks outside of the room for some soda [which unfortunately ran out by the 3rd break]. Encountered some of my roommates--Ding and Darragh--and some other friends, some of whom I was surprised to see.

Dancing was full of both awkward and good times. It took some warming up--especially the first and second times in the room--but by the end I was pumped up and just going at it. Haha, reminds me a bit of prom. :) The difference, though, was that then I had someone specifically looking out for me and making sure I was dancing and having a good time [<3 Emily] whereas this time it was up to me. Have to say that I'm a bit proud of myself for being able to get loose.
As for the awkwardness...well, at one point there was an older man who started dancing with us and then started getting close to me--by the end of the song he was practically dancing TO me, and I took that as a good excuse to go out for some fresh air. Then, another person who I had met earlier also seemed to take a liking to me, and that also got a little awkward, especially since it seemed like this person was pretty into me, but I wasn't quite reciprocating. Then again, it's not like I flat out rejected to dance, but I'm hoping mixed signals weren't sent.
I did have an amazing time with a friend who I've been spending time with. And I met another cool person--in person this time, rather than just on Facebook. So in the end, it was a pretty exciting night.

Now I'm just sweaty and wondering if I should shower before going to bed. Ah well. :)

Harvard Week 1

Not drunk yet. :)
In fact, I'm quite the prude. One of apparently few people who have a problem with alcohol, in that I'm so super adverse to the idea of consuming it. Unfortunately, I am a college freshman, and that means that everyone is hungering [thirsting?] for some illegal booze. Ah, the quirks of college life.

The first week has been pretty fine. Orientation activities have by now stopped for the most part. Just a few more loose activities left to do. In the time since I've last posted, I've been to an Arts Pageant, a Talent Show, and an a cappella performance on the first floor of my dorm. :) So perfect.
Oh, and on Wednesday, the day before classes were to start, the entire class of 2015 gathered together for Convocation--the official beginning of our college careers.

So...I guess now it's official that I'm going to Harvard?

Anyway, these last three days since classes started, I've been keeping myself pretty busy. I'm pretty set on my schedule: taking 4th year Chinese, Intro to Econ, and an intro to Linguistics, as well as a required Expos writing class. Other than that, though, I'm still taking a Beginning Japanese class and a Beginning Irish class for fun. In addition, I took a Government class [International Relations in E. Asia], a Sociology class [Race and Ethnic Relations], and three Econ classes [Econometrics, Econ of European Integration, and Keynes]. The Gov and Sociology classes were pretty nice and interesting; the gov class especially made me feel like I was back in Extemp. The econ classes were another matter entirely... Almost fell asleep during the Econometrics class and was bored out of my mind in the Euro Integration class [which was surprising; I was truly expecting that to be the better of the two classes.] Only the Keynes class was interesting out of those. So, it doesn't seem like Econ is anywhere high on my list of potential majors.

The ones that are pretty high would be: Sociology, Government, Anthropology, and Linguistics.
I went to an advising fair with tons of Peer Advisers equipped with the ability to answer all sorts of Freshmen questions about all different majors, and I have to say talking to the senior representing the Linguistics department definitely persuaded me that it may be a viable path. I'm really interested in Linguistic Anthropology--I love attempts to trace back the history of languages and its development and changes through the ages, and perhaps this may be a way I could study that and learn more about Linguistics and Cultures in general. Seems like a great deal, but I guess we'll see as things roll up.

All in all, things are going pretty well. Still haven't found a group of friends that I can be really close with. The only person who comes close would have to be Curtis, another kid from AZ. Then again, I guess it has only been the first week [only one week!] and so I can't really expect to find real friends this soon. I mean, look: it took me 3 years to build my group of high school friends--it'll take me at least a longer while to build up a group of close college friends. I just wish that finding people to sit with was easier at lunch; I've just been resorting to finding a (mostly) table and waiting for strangers to come to me so that I can eavesdrop on their conversations. :P

Probably almost time to sleep. I've been getting pretty tired late at night but not wanting to sleep.  Definitely a problem I need to rectify.

Harvard Day 2

So...got back to my room from a "dorm social" at 1am. It was really...nice.

As with all gatherings, it was awkward trying to find people at first, especially since there was already a big group gathered in front of the steps by the time our Rules meeting got out. Then a girl I've seen before once (Rebecca) beckoned me over. She was with another girl, Ariel (like the mermaid), and standard attempts at introducing ourselves were made. Always the same pattern of "Hey, what's your name? What room are you in? Where are you from? [insert comment about weather] AND What are you thinking about studying?" Ironically, this was the first time anyone had brought up concentrations in an introduction, but I've talked about it so many times it was automatic: "Well...I like languages." Turns out she does too--in terms of syntax, diction, sound, and connotation, about how the arrangement or the choice of certain words changes the perception of the message being said. Really interesting stuff, and although it's not directly in the path I'm passionate about, it's definitely an interest I'd like to explore.

We started talking and then Rebecca left, and others joined. Our group grew and shed and swelled again to 4--consisting at last of the two of us plus Shehry (a Pakistani) and Sega[not sure how it's spelled] from Ethiopia, Germany, and (mostly) Wisconsin. A lot more intellectual stuff mixed into more casual chatting; Communism popped up toward the end, as did US Geography, World History, scarves, weather, debate, and Barbie dolls (brief mention when my name was given). For the first time, I guess, I finally experienced an interaction of brains here; it felt like a good, intelligent discussion at points and a nice, fun conversation at others. These last 48 hours (only that much? and probably not even!) have been really filled with speeches, and meetings, and rules, and general goofiness, but this was the first time I experienced a genuinely intellectually intriguing conversation. It was, to say the least, refreshing.

Which is why I'm still up at 2:30 am typing this up. :)
This, and the fact that I had to rebook my family's flight home since Irene has cancelled their Sunday flight. Yippee.

I probably need a windbreaker.

Harvard Day 1

Moved in today. Was both fun and tiring, especially with a minor headache. At least I wasn't sniffing as much as I was last night--didn't frighten my suitemates away, at least. That's always a good thing.

As with all plans, my plans for today didn't actually crystallize in the way I imagined. Hoped to arrive without too much difficulty and then settle the rooming question asap. Well, the subway ride there wasn't too bad--just really crowded. Also didn't see other people with suitcases on the Red line train to Hahvahd, so I was a little worried at first. But that worked out. What didn't was my plan to attend all the welcoming events--the Crimson Key Tour of the campus and the Student Computing informational session to teach us how to best utilize our computing resources here. Oh well; I'll probably find the same information elsewhere.

Also, it took a really long time to actually move in, so the common room [which is nice but smaller than I imagined] was filled with suitcases and boxes. Was really a mess. But once things got settled down it was good; got a single which is good for downtime/me-time. Great to have a quiet space to recharge and not have to force myself to talk with others. That said, moving in was still hectic; even though I only have 2 suitcases of clothes and one of miscellaneous items, it was still some work organizing things and adjusting to the new space. Moved some things around [trashcan, recycle bin, armoire] to my liking, but otherwise kept the room pretty much the same; it's nice and comfy. And tidy--so far.

Fast forward a few hours past the Dean's Welcoming and my first dinner at Annenberg (with my family) and we've arrived at our first "orientation"-esque activities. Our first Entryway Meeting consisted of being introduced to others on the 3rd and 4th floor of Weld [definitely the best frosh dorm here] as well as our proctor and PAFs (Peer-Advising-Fellows). Some icebreaker activities which weren't too awkward; met some really cool people like Catherine [Katherine? Catherin? Katherin?] from the west part of Texas--she seems like a really sweet girl--and Rachel from Toronto, Canada who did MUN and Debate. Also interesting to see people who I've "seen" online but haven't actually met in real life, and it was really nice to actually spend some time around my roommates. Our proctor, Leah, is also really nice and helpful. Her facial expressions when she speaks [and her appearance/personality] reminds me a lot of Sarah Coughlon. It's really comforting. [speaking of which I need to find Sarah soon.]
One unfortunate consequence to the fast-paced nature of these activities is that I often forget names of people really quickly. I'm also really bad with faces, so even with a name I might not be able to associate a face with it (and vice versa; just really bad memory in general). Oh well; once things settle down we can have some awkward re-introductions. :)

Calling it a night soon; have a placement test early tomorrow and meeting a friend [Curtis] from the Phoenix area tomorrow for breakfast. Hoping for a good day. Not feeling so sick anymore, at least! :)



Ah, Jeremy's singing in the dorm is really nice. He has the perfect musical theatre voice.

Shall we run toward the light, then?

This is Ken, who's going to Hahvahd, starting this blog in order to record all his uberfails while at correge. Let's make it a fun journey, now, shall we?

"But why are we running toward the light? I don't want to die so soon!"

I play too many videogames, especially Japanese RPGs. In Kingdom Hearts, as in many other media, light symbolizes all that is good, the brightness of our souls. As such, "running toward the light" can be interpreted as rushing forward to inspect our souls and to try to find the innate goodness--or perhaps merely the true nature--of ourselves.

In other words, this will probably be a blog of random musings whenever I'm bored. Let's hope I don't regret anything I write. That always seems to happen.

But until then,
光へ走ろう。
-健