Random Thoughts

Still Tired

2011-02-28T22:43:00.001-08:00

So I carpet bombed three midterms because I didn't study enough, due to elbow dislocation. For a few days there I couldn't write anything, so read the Bible and wholeheartedly devoted myself to getting to know God better through scripture. I barely passed one, and I really hope I pass the other two. But if failing midterms is the price to pay for this painful lesson, then it really is worth it.

"And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell."

It has never made sense before, but now I am starting to understand. When we are weak and humble, God makes us strong, but when we are strong and haughty, God makes us weak. This injury has really humbled me and made me weak, closer to God, and a better person. More on that later.

Saturday, I spent over 3 hours on one question, took 3 single side pages, and a bunch of scrap paper. Fourier transforms :P

Had a midterm today, went well thanks to material overlap with another course. So that was awesome. I'm starting to sleep earlier and wake up earlier, trying to break this nightowl habit I've had since childhood. More hours of sleep in total darkness is a great thing.

Tired

2011-02-25T00:07:00.001-08:00

I am very tired and I have a fluid mechanics midterm tomorrow. I wanted to study for 4 hours tonight but so far I've only done 1 solid hour and it's already 12:08am. I'll try not to procrastinate simply because my midterm is in the afternoon tomorrow...

Still recovering from elbow dislocation. Happened Sunday Feb 13th. Hurt alot, two special friends helped me out, recovering nicely. The experience brought me closer to God. I prayed every single time this year before pk session due to being weak from lack of conditioning, cold weather, and staying inside most of the winter. But I didn't pray that Sunday because missed bus, so had to run to meeting spot. Did pk fine, but stumbled on a chain link (tried to simply step over it, no speed), wasn't even doing pk. Bodyweight landed on one hand, elbow twisted and dislocated.

Finished John, skipped to Acts, on Acts 15ish right now.

Other news:
Oil price went up 9 cents here probably because of Libya riots.
Temp dropped from around 0 degrees to -8 daytime/-13 nighttime. Cold front arriveth.

Back to midterm prep. Prayed for God to encourage me to study.

Organizing stuff

2010-09-15T01:18:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when you have to organize everything in order to find the things you need to get stuff done? Have been doing that for the last two days. (other than courses of course)

Fixed dividers with ripped binder ring holes with tape,
Carefully erased last semester's subjects from divider tags, to avoid ripping -> carefully wrote in this year's subjects.

Got, labelled folders for assignments and labs etc.
Removed stuff from summer courses from binder, put into neat pile
Prepared binders with paper, pencils, pens calc etc.
Got batteries for calc.
Found and organized formula sheets from prev years, discovered I had forgotten a lot of formulas, bad.
Download course syllabuses, course materials from WebCT, print them out, hole punch, put into binder.
Filled in/scanned in stuff for dental opt out form.
Found banker boxes, assembled them, filled some with useful paper, others with scrap.
Find the freaking flash drive. (I swear I have lost this thing WAY too many times.)
Put away computer parts from room into stacked drawers.
Put stuff away from Bible camp.

All this to only get ready to begin homework. Argh. Having to do stuff to get other stuff done is like having a dull pounding headache that doesn't go away until, well everything's done.. Don't know about you, but really not my thing.

Also, why does cleaning up cause me to go on blogger? I did this last year too. Weird stuff.

Downloading Music

2009-12-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

I download music every now and then. I've always had an idea that when I become rich(and maybe famous?), I'll pay for all the songs that I've downloaded. Every single one.

Just a thought.

I wonder what colour her eyes are..

2009-11-23T00:42:00.000-08:00

were they green? or were they blue? or maybe hazel? All I remember was that they're deep and beautiful.

Life Lessons from a Weekend Cleanup

2009-07-28T23:46:00.000-07:00

All of us have, at one point or another participated in an enormously big weekend cleanup that felt like climbing an endless mountain. Sometimes the nostalgia that comes from rediscovering old and meaningful things really makes you think.

Last weekend, it suddenly occurred to me that my *computer lab* was indeed messy beyond my tolerance. Being a person of high "mess tolerance level", this meant that the "lab" was absolutely, incredibly, horribly, insanely, messy in the worst way possible. I'll be painfully honest to say that there was a narrow winding path from the door to the most commonly used computer. So now you can guess without a doubt what happened to most of my weekend.

Background: If you've read all the previous posts, you'd know that I was a computer tech not long ago. And all computer techs have a secret full of electronics/computers/parts/tools/software etc. To add to that, most of my parents' obsolete computer stuff is dumped in that room too.

Without a doubt, this mega-cleanup had to be done over a weekend because life is simply too busy throughout the weekdays. I planned everything out step by step because the mess was too great for simple ad-hoc reorganization. So I started with the cabling - the Cat5es, Cat6s, wall plates, and phone jacks. After that I moved on to the hardware.. all the hard drives, CD drives, motherboards, CPUs, RAM, old IDE cables etc.

I can't believe everything I have collected and used is so outdated now. I have this big box of obsolete IDE connectors and not a single spare SATA connector. One hard drive was about a whopping 6GB and another held an "enourmous" 210MB. (compare with cheap 8Gb pocket flash drives) Heck I even got some old 4x CD drives that my old employer threw out. 4x!!! Not to mention most my RAM pieces are all DIMMs(late '90s) and I even discovered a bunch of SIMMs(early '90s) lying around. "640k ought to be enough for anybody." Anyone care for a 16MB stick then?

Sadly, the software was even more nostalgic. I rediscovered my mom's DOS 5 floppies and Windows 3.1 install floppies. Also discovered were: "Windows 95 for Dummies", a Windows 98 install CD(for distribution with a new computer only), AOL 4.0/5.0 dialup advertisement, various floppies from childhood, Paint Shop Pro 3.0, Dreamweaver 4.0, and many other relics.

Before I started the whole operation, I thought it would take max 3 hours. Needless to say, it almost took 3 days, and probably would have if I hadn't stayed up till 3 in the morning on Sunday. At the end of it all, I felt like an old man. The days of Windows 98 and 3.1 sprang fresh into my mind. I still remember clearly the excitement of lifting up my first Pentium one lever and extracting the chip. I can still easily recite DOS commands like loadhigh, scandisk, chkdsk, pkunzip, and of course, (the one and only) wolf3d. I can still mentally run through the Windows 98 install process, and how to set up 56k dialup.

Of course I had worked with recent technology up until the end of 2007, but even that is outdated now. DDR3 is flying right in and forget Core 2s, Core i7s is the way to go now. Terabyte Seagate hard drives are being sold on ebay for just $90. 256mb video cards are now yesterday. 512mb and 1Gb cards have become the new "cool."

So.. after mulling everything over in my head, I had to ask myself.. what does this all mean? I truly struggled at first to find real meaning to my nostalgic experience. It's like we're all driving on this fast lane doing 140, and we're all headed towards the magnificent future in all its glory. It seemed that we, consumers of the elite modern society, have fixed our gaze forwards, put stress to full throttle and pushed the pedal to the metal. But if something worth thousands of dollars just ten years ago rightfully belongs in the dumpster today, then what are we really chasing?

My thoughts turned to the my aging parents and parents in general. There will be a day when they, too, will be rendered obsolete and useless by our consumer culture. And the same will happen to us as we race towards our coffin, our personal dumpster. Is this all there is to life?

I felt compelled to google something I read as a kid:

=======================================
A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday. He climbed to the treetop, ate the apples, took a nap under the shadow…he loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him. Time went by…the little boy had grown up and he no longer played around the tree every day.

One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad. "Come and play with me” the tree asked the boy. "I am no longer a kid, I do not play around trees any more” the boy replied.

“I want toys. I need money to buy them.” “Sorry, but I do not have money… but you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money.” The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy never came back after he picked the apples. The tree was sad.

One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned and the tree was excited “Come and play with me” the tree said. “I do not have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?” “ Sorry, but I do not have any house. But you can chop off my branches to build your house.” So the man cut all the branches of the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and sad.

One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted. "Come and play with me!” the tree said. “I am getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?” said the man. "Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.” So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time.

Finally, the man returned after many years. "Sorry, my boy. But I do not have anything for you anymore. No more apples for you …” the tree said. "No problem, I do not have any teeth to bite" the man replied. "No more trunk for you to climb on” “I am too old for that now” the man said. "I really cannot give you anything... the only thing left is my dying roots” the tree said with tears. "I do not need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years” the man replied. "Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest, Come, come sit down with me and rest.” The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears…

(The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein)
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Reflections on a 19th birthday.

2009-07-22T04:49:00.000-07:00

I turned 19 on the 19th of July. There was something different about this birthday that made it special. For starters, this year isn't at all like any of my previous birthdays. I remembered the excitement I felt as a kid every time July rolled around. I used to look at the calendar for a whole week before the 19th, anxiously waiting for the days to pass and always wondering what my gifts might be. When the day finally came, I sprang like a spring to those gifts from family. My mouth watered with glee, in anticipation for the sweet, creamy, birthday cake. When I blew out those candles, the pride of being a year older overwhelmed me as my parents, relatives, and friends cheered. "You're really growing up," they all said. Those were the days when birthdays were magic.

My mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year. Mom always knew what to get for my birthday, and I always loved the gift. But this year I had no clue either. It used to be so clear what I wanted; that cool Lego set, that shiny new bike, that new laptop I needed for school. But this year I honestly had no idea, and I really didn't care much what I got, if anything at all. I was truly content with what I had and there was nothing so awesomely cool which came across my mind. The 19th felt like it was just another hot summer day. So we ended up going on a roadtrip through Washington State with a good colleague of my mom's and her family.

When we gathered on their van, they all wished me happy birthday as usual, but there was something different this year. No more "My you've grown!" or "Wow, you're X(years old) now!!", or "Happy X(years)!!". It seemed that everyone gazed at me with an observant eye and a thoughtful nod. As they said "Happy Birthday," in a strangely polite tone, their facial expressions seemed more like "Well man, you made it. Welcome."

"Thank you," I replied, with that same observant eye and thoughtful nod.

The Journey Here

2009-03-05T02:47:00.000-08:00

I'm not gonna say much because I kinda have to hit the sack, just procrastinating a little bit here.

Yeah stuff happened between graduation and now. I worked for a year at a grocery store and a computer shop. Upgraded my Math12 so I could get into Engineering at UBC (i was quite the class clown, hence bad grades) Then did some calculus to keep the "school" part of my brain alive. Somehow I find learning math without a teacher to be much more fun than learning math with a teacher. Or maybe I was just so tired of working that I needed to "thoughtfully use" my brain after work. But it was good stuff.

We actually went back to China for a visit. We come from Shandong province in case you were wondering. It's a great place, very beautiful, lots to see and do. Relatives were absolutely amazing too. Came back to start university.

Which is where I'm at right now. To be honest, I miss work now that i'm in school. But hey, I missed school real bad when I was at work too. It's gotta be the greener lawn on the other side effect. But that's life i guess.

Homework comes in real fast all the time, especially for engineering. Anything you do besides homework or studying is pretty much procratinating. Oh well, that's life I guess.

Oh yeah, last but not least, I've been reading the Bible and I've found faith in God. The Bible makes more sense each day because the more you live the more you see and the more you see the more it seems that life doesn't work in a purely logical and predictable manner. Which is just like how God works in the Bible. Again.. that's just life I guess. haha

Anyway sleep is of the essence. till next time.

It's been a while.

2009-03-05T02:29:00.000-08:00

It sure has. Looking back at this old blog of mine brought back a lot of old memories. It's quite a feeling when everything from the past few years of teenage ups and downs just all comes back to you. I was really crazy back then.. still kinda crazy now haha. I'm at UBCO now in case you're wondering.

Well, it's been one heck of a ride. Some time between my last post and now, I was really tempted to just delete this whole blog because I had found these posts to be too personal and quite embarassing (for some reason or another). I remember mousing over that delete button. (Delete blog? Everything will be deleted are you sure?) nah.

So now I'm left with a whole bunch of very interesting memories of a younger self. (a few years matters alot when you're growing up) Might as well continue posting my random thoughts. Let's see how this turns out.

oh btw, think i realized playtime's never over. life is a game.. your life story is all in the "playing". (i think)

Playtime's over.

2007-11-22T00:27:00.000-08:00

Well, let me tell ya, things have changed. Big things and big changes. That's the way life works I guess. Yeah, I've even cut my hair and changed my name. Well, don't we all just wanna be big rock stars? Hate to fucking admit it.

Time to move on now and turn the leaf on a new chapter of life. Got lots to say but don't wanna say it. Goodbye.

Portfolio Presentation Day

2007-05-24T10:18:00.001-07:00

I'm about to present my portfolio in under one hour. It's going to be fun.

2007-03-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

Well, that was a fun two weeks spring break. I studied for my L, worked on some portfolio - which I still have to finish, fixed up my computer that had motherboard problem, went on facebook, worked at ComputerWorks, sat around and now break was over before I could say "school." Also, it was a pleasure to hear that I've been accepted into CELE(Computer+Electronic Engineering) ROTP at RMC, which is a trememdous honour. The acceptance rate is minimal and there is a nation-wide selection. It's also a mandatory study of 4 years (ending up with a Bachelors degree) and 9 years of mandatory service as an officer in the CF(Canadian Forces). That's kinda crazy if you think about it. A total of 13 years is not a short time. The consequences also include a lost chance for me to learn Chinese, time to visit the family, and all the relatives in China, . But, good to have that choice open.

Univs that have accepted me conditionally so far: UVic, UBC, SFU
Accepted me fully - RMC

So yeah. I'm glad that I have a lot of choices, which are always good to have so I don't end up living in a cardboard box or something of the like. Now the problem is "Where do I go?" I really don't know. I think RMC is the best choice for me, but I just have to wait awhile and think over my decision carefully. It does happen to be the decision of a lifetime. The path I select now could totally and irreversibly affect my future and my direction in life. That is very scary indeed. I've never had to make such an enormous decision ever before in my life. Even my parents are all worked up over this. But God will put me where he thinks is right.

Anyways, let's put this daunting yet exciting thought aside for now. I got school coming up tomorrow. Meh, the rest of high school seems like nothing compared to my offers of acceptance now. In fact, I only got 3 months of it left until graduation. I remember how in elementary school and middle school, we thought of graduation as something that would never come, and I don't think anybody realized the importance of career prep and portolio introduction back then. Well, the last term of my entire high school years is coming soon and after that .. no more high school. Sometimes, I just ask - are we all time traveling or something? I seriously swear time is playing tricks on everybody. Anyone else have that feeling?

We also watched this set of DVDs as a family over the spring break. Those 15 episodes were amazing. This Chinese PhD dude with heaps of famous research, with a youth background set in the Chinese revolutionary days, talks about how he discovers God, has come to embrace Christ, and proves the existence of God with insurmountable scientific evidence, as well as simple real-life experiences. Totally amazing.

meh, i'm back to portfolio. need to have it done to grad.. so that would be all for today.

Relax

2007-03-10T19:57:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all. Good to relax, be lazy, and do random stuff. Well, I'll be studying for my "N", or theory exam for drivers license. I'll be patching up my portfolio as well. Maybe spend a few hours at computerworks as well. Maybe phone Sohail or something.

Dunno, I'll do something.

Until then, I relax...

Spring Break!

2007-03-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

Spring Break! Man, time really flies by pretty fast doesn't it? My plans so far - Finish my grad portfolio, physics catchup, study for drivers license (theory), properly set up my comp network, and fix up my main comp(it's crashy). And relax... oh yeah.

So I found this new thing called facebook. A found most of my old friends on facebook. Man I haven't seen some of these guys for 6 years. It's great to talk about oldschool stuff. Wow can't believe they're still alive lol. It's kinda sad to reflect on these old buddies. It's quite amazing to rediscover each other on facebook.

Anyways yeah. I've took up tutoring grade 10s and 11s in homework club - a club for kids who are almost failing, run completely by the volunteer efforts of teachers afterschool. It's very inspiring to help kids who are on the verge of failing. Some of these kids try very hard at school, but they are not as smart as most kids, and they honestly want to pass their courses. Most of them have single parents and come from poor backgrounds who can't afford expensive tutors. Everyone appreciates me being there - all the teachers and kids. It feels like family and I really want to tutor these almost failing students because they motivate me to do better myself, and I motivate them by being there for them and helping them out. It's good to help who are much less fortunate than those smart and/or rich kids with happy parents that excel naturally at everything.

(late) Xin Nian Hao!

2007-02-22T18:33:00.000-08:00

Happy (late) Chinese New Year! woot!

It's the Year of the Pig! (oink oink) We had a typical family dinner of homemade dumplings and wine. Nothing really exiting.

But some things were interesting. We went to church the next day and the church youth group was having a game of monopoly. I ended up with $666, which is considered very bad luck according to Western traditions. However, 666 is considered "liu liu da shwen", and therefore a very lucky number. Wierd eh? So I interpret this as good luck, since we did play the game on Chinese New Year Day.

I also got my yellow belt in TaeKwonDo. I definitely messed up on the chonji pattern by a bit, but I stillpassed. Of course, everyone else joined in September and I joined in November, so I'm very grateful that they let me test. David Kim, my Korean buddy at TKD was a bit mad because he joined in Sept, but we're at the same belt level. He's also plays clarinet with me in Orchestra. We enjoy friendly competition in both activities and we've gotten to know each other quite a bit. Come to think of it, it is weird how we share such similar interests.

I got my Xiucai exam done on CHF (China History Forum). It was quite difficult and I passed with 75%. So I'm now promoted to Entry Scholar Member. Good to hang out with fellow Asians over the web, because lately I've been pondering - "Who am I and where do I come from?" I used to think that I'll lose my Chinese background, pick up an English name, and grow up to find myself a successful career here in Canada. But lately, I've been wondering about my past. There's this strange urge to go trace my roots back to China and to all my family and relative there. All of a sudden, I feel like learning Chinese writing, reading, and culture somehow. I guess there must come a time where you just have to find and embrace your roots.

Anyways, made an interesting friend this week. He came over here from Alberta and he's Lebanese. He's "left his life" over at Alberta, and that's exactly how I felt like when I came here to Kelowna from Ottawa. So we get along nicely. By the way, his mom is Christian and his dad is Muslim. He's half and half, which makes him ... religiously interesting.

Well, there we go. All updated!

Peace.

Runscape Addictz

2007-02-16T22:04:00.000-08:00

Confessions of Ruenscape Addicts found here:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=runescape

Runescape is a very addicting game. I used to play Neopets which i thik is gay now. But this game brought me away from everything, my friends and family. Now i go upstair and the first thing i do is play runescape. I now give my self more time to spend with my family. This game is addicting and before you play you should no when its time to stop.
Dad:hey lets go play some b-ballson:No, i am working on runescape maby later.three days go by

dad:now can we play some b-ballson:No im still working on runescapedad: you have been on it for days its time to stop!dad turns off pcson:i hate you i will never speak to you again!

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A large MMORPG game with the qualities of the following.-Heroin-Nicotine-CaffeineIt's an addictive, pointless game. I used to play it basically 24/7 so take this from someone with experience, DON'T PLAY THIS GAME. Even 'trying it out' can ghave devastating effects, I was just 'trying it out' and it led to about one year of pure Runescape, forgetting this thing called a life.It's an MMORPG, that takes you and just doesn't let you go... except unlike other MMORPGs, this is in a bad way.

Friend: You coming out to that party tonight?You (Before Runescape): Yeah, sounds cool.
Friend: You coming out to that party tonight?You (After Runescape): Nah, I have.... stuff... to do.

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Best Online free game in the world... can be quite addicting in fact you might find urself playing more than u eat or sleep such as a certain someone thats #1 on the high scores list
"hey Todd.. wanna play some football"
"no thanks.. i think i'm going to play runescape all day"

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Imagine this:You do something.You do it again.You do it again.You do it again.You do it again.You get the picture. The most repetitive game on the Internet, you just do the same thing again and again and again and...You start playing it as a normal person, but eventually you have no life and no friends.. well, no friends that you've actually met anyway.
Billy had a life.
Billy discovered Runescape.Billy's life got pwnt by Runescape.

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"I left my boyfriend because he left me for WOW."

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Long term exposure to this game has hazardous side effects to ones life. Before you know it, your friend base starts shrinking. Your wife/girlfriend leaves. You become bitter, and play the game even more to escape while popping down your Prozac with lukewarm Mountain Dew. You had four jobs with periods of unemployment in the past year, and you live in your parents basement while posting up generalized, uncited, bias, unproven generalized and opinionated rants on some message board bitching about how something is out of balance. The few friends you have left (who all also play WoW) at your community college (which you have been in for 6 years only to stay on your parents insurance plan) use terms like DPS in real life conversations. Most can greatly improve their life situation by quitting the game. It’s not so much of what the game does, but rather what it prevents you from doing while playing. Once liberated from WoW, those extra 30-120 hours a week can be put to productive use.
Yeah, Joe used to be the star quarterback. He also had a hot girlfriend, and a academic scholarship to Harvard. Now, he is in his mid 20’s still living at home always playing WoW. Almost never hear from him anymore.

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SCARY...

Take a break have a kit kat

2007-02-15T09:58:00.000-08:00

So.. not too much for me. I listened to Linkin Park, went to TKD and Orchestra. Homework not that bad. I have yellow belt testing on Saturday at 12. I need to memorize and practice some stuff to prepare. And some scholarships too. That's what pro-day is for.

Pro-day is a day when teachers prepare stuff while the kids get to take a day off. It's good that there's no school on friday because I get to do a bunch of stuff.

I quit runescape for good. Not much point playing some dumb game with low graphics filled with preteen little kids with too much free time on their hands. Not to mention the fake money, fake fame, and a fake life. Just take a look at zezima, uloveme, and yogosun with some 700million XP. Suppose you play for like 5 hours a week, you'd be wasting about 5*52 weeks/year which equates to 260 hours/year wasted on runescape. 260hours/year div by 24hrs/day=10.83 days wasted. So there goes eleven days of your year. Imagine what you could do with about 11 days of completely free time.
MMORPGs, simply put = pure evil. What a waste of life. I'll leave all that to Serge, who actually pays to be a member of runescape and WoW for whatever weird reason. (and plays WoW for like 2 hours a day and all day on weekends)

Got perfect in 4-bar melodic dictation in Music Compo. Again. I don't know how, but it's very natural for me to distinguish different pitches, and which notes are which. That's very cool.

So there was Valentine's Day. Got a new 4Gb usb flashdrive from mom, since the one I got for Christmas was defective. It was nice of her, but this one has a slight mechanical defect. The cover keeps breaking off, even though it works well. And I thought Taiwan products were better than Chinese...

I'm gonna go hang with some friends tomorrow. If I'm not on rs, I might as well become more social and go out and exercise more.

Relax. Take a break. Have a kitkat. Meditate. *yawns*

Yuchao

Stuff happened

2007-02-12T03:17:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I forgot to post for so long. Too tired and sleepy.

Anyways.. to tell the truth, I actually liked Miranda all this time, even though she always liked somebody else all this time. So even though I said we'd be friends, deep down I liked her for a month. It's sad I know. And kind of stupid too. So I ruined her relationship with the other guy. And I ruined our friendship too. Wow. Talk about two birds with one stone.

I never fully understood the quote "Love is blind" until this weekend. (Wow it's Monday already, so technically last weekend) Wow Shakespeare is smart.

From Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice.

JESSICA: Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains.
I am glad 'tis night, you do not look on me,
For I am much ashamed of my exchange:
But love is blind and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit;
For if they could, Cupid himself would blush
To see me thus transformed to a boy.

"Love is blind and lovers cannot see The pretty follies that themselves commit." Thank you Shakespeare. I should've read that earlier.

Well, I'm glad that this whole thing is over. And sad at the same time because I kind of like her still. But.. time to focus on life. Like really focus. (While listening to "Kick You Out" - by Caesars)
Found here.

No offense Miranda.. and this isn't really how I feel, but I'm trying to get over it..

"Kick You Out" - by Caesars

I am what I am
in the back and beyond
A man with a fork in the world of soup
maybe all this time you've take me for a fool

But now I know what I have to do

Gonna kick you out and let the sun shine in
Kick you out, let the sun shine in
Gonna kick you out and let the sun shine in
Kick you out, let the sun shine in

Not long ago I was a blue-eyed fool
Not long ago I was in love with you
But you've been fucking around to the danger point
But now I know what I'm gonna have to do

Gonna kick you out and let the sun shine in
Kick you out, let the sun shine in
Gonna kick you out and let the sun shine in
Kick you out, let the sun shine in

I am what I am
in the back and beyond
A man with a fork in the world of soup
all this time you take me for a fool
But now I know what I have to do

Gonna kick you out and let the sun shine in
Kick you out, let the sun shine in
Gonna kick you out and let the sun shine in
Kick you out, let the sun shine in

Gonna kick you out and let the sun shine in
Kick you out, let the sun shine in
Gonna kick you out and let the sun shine in
Kick you out, let the sun shine in....

Good night random reader,

Yuchao

blond and green-eyed Chinese people

2007-02-05T16:42:00.000-08:00

Blond and green-eyed Chinese people found in remote western city of Liqian, believed to have been descendents of Romans.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/02/wroman02.xml

Arrogant Worms

2007-02-05T15:58:00.000-08:00

So Serge and I finally went to the Arrogant Worms concert on Saturday. It was awsome! They are a really funny group of seemingly ordinary guys showing off their day-to-day humour. They had this song about how geeks are the "new cool" and we were laughing our heads off, because I had just fixed Serge's computer.

Handed in scholarship application package on this morning. Due Today at 9:00AM sharp. Finished at 8:20am and handed in at 8:59am, but oh well, I made it. Go procrastination! ... not..

So I found this site: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/
It's all about Asians finding out about Chinese history and ancestry. Awsome site, even if you're not Asian. Note the stiff opposition between northerners and southerners... similar to the yankee and confederate thing.

Something funny: "Are video games harmful? This is a question that many polictians have veen asking. Personally I do not think video games are harmful. I think this because they releave my stress, better than drugs, and they are age apporiate."

That was my friend Robert's .. immensly creative introduction to his essay on "Why video games are NOT harmful." Note all the typos (age apporiate)... thank God for Microsft Word lol.

Cheers,

Yuchao

Physics Final Over

2007-02-01T18:05:00.001-08:00

Physic Provincial Exam Over! Life, here I come!

I'm still alive, in case you were wondering.. I studied for quite a few days there, and I'm pretty sure I got an A on the exam. If not, then I rewrite in June.

So, I did alot this week besides studying. I went up to the Armories and met up with some recruiting officers(army dudes) and I got my interview and aptitude test done for Royal Military College. Interview was awsome! They liked my geekiness and positive attitude. I really hope I get selected. Apparently my eyesight is almost good enough, but I still have to see if I can get it corrected.. I think I was just blurry eyed that day. Oh well, I need to really work out and get my stamina and strength up, because they eventually do physical testing...

Got invited to Arrogant Worms concert coming up in Lake Country on Saturday by Serge. I'm going over to Serge's place to fix up his computer first, and then we're going together to the concert. So I found their music vids on youtube and they are truly awesome. They definitely have a great sense of Canadian(en) humour and the songs are simply hilarious.

Anyways I gotta go Tae Kwon Do. And belt testing is coming soon.. so I hope I get my yellow belt soon. Also, I might leave this bloggy for a bit. Again.

Cheers,

Yuchao

n2m u?

2007-01-23T15:43:00.000-08:00

Nothing happened. Except for more homework and study. Had to skip cadets for a day in order to finish. Also, I gtg apply for scholarships and stuff.
Also yay I finally got a high B on my practice physics test. Next practice test i'll get an A. Got a (another) computer from Greg(my employer at ComputerWorks). It's pretty good. I'm gonna set up a network for fun when I have some time to study for Network+ Certification. That'll have to wait till Spring Break. In the meantime, total number of computers in house= 8.

No time for life,

will come back after physics final is done. (Feb 1st) Maybe the world will end before then so I won't have to study.

blablabla gtg
bye

Keep the Wheel Rolling

2007-01-15T22:42:00.000-08:00

*Marks could be better*

That's the attitude right now, as I head into the end of term 2 with Physics 12 final awaiting for me. Need a math equation?

Holiday equation: (break length) (hours wasted)= amount of stuff forgotten.
In which break length=2 weeks, and hours wasted= ... approaching infinity

Marks could be higher, and I could work harder, and I should. To be honest, I'm never good at doing something constantly. Last year, I broke all my New Years resolutions within just one week. Mr.Moxon(physics teacher) says my mark is like a sine wave. The ups and downs(amplitude) are quite terrifying. So it's time to calm down and face reality. There's a lot of kids out there in other countries who can't afford to go to school. I know a few kids here in Canada with single moms that have to work to support the family, leaving no time at all for school. It's time to be grateful for all the opportunities and happiness we do have and constantly work hard to make the world a better place. To keep the wheel rolling all the time. It's obvious that nobody would know anything about Jesus if all he did was sit on the couch all the time. And also keep the wheel smooth from time to time by taking an enjoyable break and having a laugh is a good idea too.

Well guys, that was my philosophical tangent of the week. Any interesting developments in life? I went to this semi-formal dance at school. I got pushed up on this crazy "stage" where all the crazy people show off. Nowadays, dancing = guy and girl have sex with clothes on while standing up. And you probably know me as someone who's not quite that type of person... so it was .. different. Here is my new quote: "But.. I'm not white enough to dance."

In case you were wondering, Miranda and I are still really good friends. We kind of "broke up" because long distance relationships don't really work and also because she's still young. University is coming and I'll probably be meeting a lot of new people. As for Miranda, I'm sure that you'll get a whole bunch of boyfriends to follow you around because you're so smart, nice, and attractive. :D

And hey Robert if you happen to be on. I won't be on runescape during weekdays because of physics final and the fact that I do have a life and friends in REAL LIFE. So share this site with all our other runescape buddies so that we can all keep in touch. If you have any comments, feel free to post a comment by clicking on the "x comments" link.

I don't feel like pulling an "all-nighter" to finish my physics. BTW, an "all-nighter" is when something is due soon and I need to work until 2am to finish.. I've quit weekday runescape, so no need for "all-nighters" anymore. yeah sleep.

Not to mention I still have a bunch of scholarships that I have to apply for. And an English essay on "why people are so damn competitive." that is due by Friday.

Time to yawn... runescape.. no I mean sleep. (*Note to self - stop playing runescape and get a life lol)

Random Stuff

2007-01-03T09:46:00.000-08:00

Hey Miranda, if you're on.. I can't stop thinking about you! The day feels like an eternity when I wait for 11:00pm(Pacific), our hang out time on rs.

Anyways in case you guys were wondering, here is the list of Universities that I've applied to so far:
UBC Vancouver
UBC Okanagan
UVictoria
Royal Military College(actually at University level)

Some Universities that I might apply for:
McGill University
U of Alberta
Simon Fraser U

If I happen to be too dumb for any of them.. then Okanagan College(3 min walk from house) or BCIT would be good too. I wish UofToronto had some good computer/electrical engineering faculty. That would be lovely ;) Engineering isn't their main thing though - their medical faculty is. :(

Yes - chemistry chapter study is finished for me. It's now time to finish off that homework and those physics practice tests. I still have to do my Portfolio as well. Shouldn't take more than Saturday to finish. Stick in an hour of clarinet practice here and there. Failing that, saxophone practice. And I still have to compose a duet for Music Composition class. I'm not that good at composing quite yet, so I'll save the title "Miranda" for later in the year.

Anything else.. Oh yeah I fixed up a computer from a co-worker of mine yesterday. Not much other than that. I just watched "Mrs.Doubtfire." It's aboslutely hilarious and a must-see for any family.

Well, that's all folks. Enjoy the rest of your holidays

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T00:55:00.000-08:00

Wow! Can you believe it? It's 2007 already! Too many things happens way too quickly these days. Anyways, new years eve was pretty boring as usual here in Kelowna. Serge(friend of mine) told me there's like nothing happening downtown due to all the drug dealers/users and random drunk guys that mostly come in from Vancouver. So, I pretty much enjoyed some "quality time" with family in front of TV as usual.

It's so boring here in the Canadian wintertime. Everyone's all cooped up inside watching tv and playing video games. And don't even mention eating. Let's all have a million and one snacks so that we can make a resolution to do more exercise in the new year. Don't ask me why - that's what most people do.

So I joined a church group a few weeks ago. Honestly, I love Church. Everyone gets along like a big family and we do everything together. We are all so nice to each other, and it's a great place to be yourself to meet new people and make new friends. The youth group that I'm a part of made a commitment today to pray to God everyday in 2007, and to involve God as a part of our daily plan. I promise to keep that commitment and I will get to know God better that way. Being involved in a church gives me a feeling that's so special that can't even be described. I know I will become a Christian this year.

Do you have New Year resolutions? Well, I've had numerous attempts in trying to keep my New Year resolutions, and I've noticed some interesting trends on a year-to-year basis. Resolutions seem to flop around like a dead fish by the end of January. By March, I say: "resolutions? I have resolutions!?!?!?" Well I'm going to keep it simple this year. I have only two resolutions to keep(refer to previous paragraph). And I will most definitely, absolutely, certainly, unquestionably, and undeniably keep my resolutions.

I've been playing a lot of runescape lately. Well, not exactly playing. I got to know this girl on there that I really like. She's nice, funny, smart, honest, and simply so real even though we've never even seen each other. She thinks the same way about me as well, and we've shared so much of our lives with each other to know we have so much in common. I think about her all the time now and to be honest, and I wish I could meet her in person. Love is such a wonderful thing.

With all that being said, I wish you all best of luck in 2007!!!

Christmas is here!

2006-12-29T08:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't kept up with the posts. I guess I forgot. Well t'is the season to be jolly, so let's all cheer up anyway with a good ol' Christmas Carol. :)

A Very Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you,
Merry Christmas to me.
Repeat again, for everyone else that you see.
While the snowflakes are falling,
Everybody is shopping.
And the malls are crammed,
But the parks are a-empty.

Chorus:
All be-cause of
Gift gift gift gift gift gift giving...
Gift gift gift gift gift gift getting...
Credit cards, and shopping carts,
they really run around
like crazy little puppies,
With their tails cut off.

It seems that,
Nobody cares about Jesus Christ.
Nobody cares about the One and Only.
The Holy manger and the Three Wise Kings
Lay forgotten in the bible,
That nobody reads.

But let's all..
Trade our love for stress and gifts,
It's time to buy stuff that we don't need,
Come on now baby,
Where is your greed?
Society is blind,
And so are we.
(Repeat to Chorus)

A Very Merry Christmas
To you and me...

Yuchao Zheng, Dec.29th, 06

That was my first and pathetic attempt at songwriting.
If you have comments and suggestions, please post! Thanks.

Chase sum cats!

2006-10-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

Forget the homework, the exams, and the shit that keeps our butts glued to the !@#%ing chairs. 5cr3w that 5h1t just for a moment. Take a moment to take a walk in a park. To hang out. Listen to music. To be inspired and stuff. Take a moment to forget your serious teachers, lifelessly arguing parents, and that pile of 5h1t homework. Kids these days got too much to worry about. Everyone and everything is so serious and !@#%ed up. Take one good look around in the classroom - everyone's so damn lifeless. They're like friggin zombiez being taught by friggin uberzombiez how to live an uberzombie life. Right now I'm just praying that me and my buddies dont turn out to be the uberzombiez that we see today. Hopefully we don't turn out to be like the businessmen noted in "Everything Counts in Large Amounts" (refer to previous post describing the !@#%ed up life that we live)

Greg, my employer at ComputerWorks simply told me to "go chase some cats! ... Seriously! All the kids these days are too busy and being drowned in crap. I mean it's nice to learn to manage your time, but you guys seriously need to loosen up. Go CHASE SOME CATS!" I replied, "Did you do that all day when you were a kid?" "Of course! We chased cats all the time - day and night." LOL. That's right. I seriously need to CHASE SOME CATS! Not that I have any. But that shouldn't matter. Maybe you should go chase some cats too!

Screw everything and let's all go chase some cats! daz rite!

Everything Counts in Large Amounts

2006-10-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

Everything Counts in Large Amounts - Depeche Mode

The handshake
Seals a contract
From the contract
There's no turning back
The turning point
Of a career
In Korea being insincere
The holiday
Was fun packed
The contract:
Still intact
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves
After all
It's a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts
The graph
On the wall
Tells the story
Of it all
Picture it now
See just how
The lies and deceit gained a little more power
Confidence taken in
By a sun tan
And a grin
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves
After all
It's a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts

Krazy Week

2006-10-07T01:41:00.000-07:00

This week has been absolutely hectic. I've had about 5 hours of sleep per day because of the mountainous heap of homework that has been accumulating. Bad.

Our school has been getting this really bad flu that's going around and infecting everybody. Sneezing red-faced kids are everywhere. Some of the teachers have gotten it too. Hopefully I don't get this virus again. Resistance is futile!

I must admit that Thanksgiving has really glued my butt to chair. Having tons of homework(mostly overdue), just getting sick, having to teach music to cadets tomorrow, and running errands have really got me down this week. One more day to relax, have fun, and post entries is great. On the other hand, 1/8th of the school year is already over and my marks isn't where it should be. Can you believe it's a week into October already!?!? Man I thought "time flies when you're having fun." Either that's wrong, or I'm truly having fun, which I highly doubt.

Can't wait to finish getting my pimped out computer all set up! I built it up myself at the end of the summer and it's an AMD 2000+ w/512Mb DDR, 120Gb Seagate Barracuda, Radeon 9000+, and some Asus mobo(forget model). All I have to do now is install Windows and Linux. Got the pieces(-harddrive) for only $50! Really great deal cos I volunteered now and then at the local ComputerWorks shop and the manager's a really easygoing guy. I still can't believe I got it for only a whoppin total of $50. The experience I've gained plus many hours of studying have landed me an A+ Certification. That place really felt like family to me - it's a small shop in a small city with quite a few regulars coming by. Everyone's easygoing and I get to set my own volunteer schedule. Once I quit volunteering, Greg, the manager, actually wanted me to start working. I have more time now since I've quit Photolab and it would be great to head back to work there. Now that I have A+, maybe I'll go for something bigger, like Futureshop. See what happens I guess.

Have a good Thanksgiving everybody. Eat your turkey and get fat! ;)

Creating New Project

2006-10-07T00:24:00.000-07:00

I think I should create a completely new blog project for cadet stuff in general. But I won't stop this blog of course. It's just that cadets is a separate experience from "normal life" experiences. Simply categorizing stuff.

WTF! Indecisiveness!

2006-10-03T01:23:00.000-07:00

The aspect that I hate most about myself is my lack of mental strength and my indecisiveness. Obviously I wasn't that sick tonight. I could have toughed it out easily. I'm always physically able to tackle these weeny little cold viruses within two days at most. But why did I not goto cadets tonight? It's important to show up at a CO's parade, even if a cadet is sick. Actually the officers would respect a sick cadet that is present on parade than a normal, healthy cadet who shows up as usual. WHY?

Well I was having fun again playing a random video game. Out of control yet again. Instead of making up my mind I was too lazy and willingly decided not to show up on parade. My plan is to have a tight control over my plans on what I will be doing at a certain time. I've gotten better at self-control and planning, but I've never truly gotten out of this rotten habit. The problem of being late reached gigantic proportions back in grade 7. Old man sarcastically told me that even if I was livin right beside the school, I still would be five minutes late. I would look at the clock and just sit there? Why? I hated the pressure of everyone pushing me to be on time, and I also hated the way the teacher would look at me if I was late. And also, I keep having internal battles about whether to have fun and piss everybody off, or to get to class on time and make the most out of my education. My attendance records have definitely improved since then, but I am occasionally late to classes even till this day.

I had two choices - to go or to stay. I chose "to go" three hours ago. Again, I can beat sickness really easily - usually within a day.(not meaning to sound strong or anything)Anyone who knows me well will say that I'm an easygoing, positive, and a lucky kid. So far, I've won a backpack, a hat, a basket of snacks, and a trip to Disneyland(which I didn't go cos my dad was too frickin busy(!!!). Recently, I've made an audition in my school orchestra with only 2 hours of pracice vs 4 other people who have practiced for a whole week. No offense, but I'm just lucky. For example, I didn't get English nor History homework today, 5min of biology homework, and a bit of Physics. I could have easily went off to cadets, and then came home and done homework. Why not? I'm naturally lazy and too nonchalant about everything.

It's time to change and improve myself. Adapt and Overcome - universal military attitude. Easier said than done lol.

And by the way - I quit my $8.55 job at the Photolab. Gotta focus more on school.

What's Up

2006-09-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

It's September. Again. I'm currently in my last year of high school and everything has finally settled into place. Courses, Jobs, Cadets, and Video Games :) I've finally got all my courses settled out: Math12 Principles, Computer Sciences12, Robotics+Electronics12, Biology11, English12, History12, Physics Honors 12, Music Composition, and hopefully, Orchestra(stupid auditions). Not too bad. I finally decide to screw Chemistry12 as I've already taken Chem11Honors last year. Didn't really like it - I'm definitely not a Chem person. Or maybe it's just a grudge.

Anyway I didn't even practice for my audition for Orchestra. I've been playing tenor sax and clarinet for 4 years. But I havn't practiced my clarinet in a year as i've only been playing sax for jazzband last year.

Sorry, HAVE TO get back to this shitload of homework. I'll finish later.

Hi Everyone

2006-09-11T01:48:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog. I decided to start blogging the other day and see how it feels like. Trying new things is fun.