* brain dump

아무런 노력없이 서로를 향해 바랬던
그 바램에 끝이 없었기에 너무 빨랐던
빠를수록 더욱더 지침없이 다가섰던 그때.

그때가 가장 행복했던것 같다.

A small spark of a wishful thinking whispers in my ear,
Travels through my dreamer brain and explodes.
A thousand threads of possibilities flood my thoughts,
With my eyes fixated, refusing to let in any other sight.

My wasted heart wanders, but not without hope.
There are two, one with the other, and yet it looks on.
Looking for that small spark, finding it wandering also.
When the eyes give up and close, the heart never does.

Because Obama is rooting for Pittsburgh! haha.. enough said. It’s game-over.

Slumdog Millionaire was pretty good. But they strayed away too much from the book’s plot. Salim is not a “bad” guy in the book. And Salim’s the one obsessed with the movie actor, not “Jamal”. “Jamal” is actually Ram in the book. Etc etc. So many differences. Because I read the book first, watching the movie kind of confused me. Had to free myself from the book’s plot and start over.

I still liked the movie though. But I gotta say I like the book better. Go read it!

Asians are good at math, yes? I was reading Outliers today on the plane back to Cali and the author brought up very interesting points about Asians. He argues that Asians are good at math not because of some innate mathematical skills, but because of our culture and, more surprisingly, language.

If you were to memorize 8 one-digit numbers in English, say, 4 6 2 8 9 3 7 4, it’s not easy. If you were to memorize those numbers in an Asian language, for example, in Korean or Chinese, it’s a lot easier. It’s because we have an easy time memorizing things that we can say in 2 seconds. In both Korean and Chinese, all single digit numbers take one syllable to say, unlike “seven” in English which has two syllables. They also have a very straight-forward language structure for numbers, unlike English that has confusing exceptions like “eleven” (instead of “ten-one”).

Because of the different numbering language structure, it takes a shorter amount of time to say the eight numbers in Korean or Chinese than English. The author of Outliers argues that this difference in language leads to Asian kids being able to count to 40 a lot earlier in their development than non-Asians kids, and therefore leading to more advanced level of mathematics later on.

(This was evident in my life. I’m not sure if I counted to 40 earlier than people in US but when I came to the States and went to my first 8th grade math class, I was surprised by how “behind” US was in math.)

2008 was a year of difficult consequences and many missteps/setbacks. it was not my favorite year. but through it all, i’ve learned my lessons. there are many things to be thankful for, of course, and i am grateful for all the blessings.

i realize just how hardworking i have to be to achieve all my ambitions. even more so than now. the recent economic recession and slowdown are headaches to most people, but i see it as an opportunity. whether or not i can take advantage of it will depend on how i play my cards.

some of the things on my mind as we move onto 2009:
- create art on the biggest canvas i can buy
- p90x
- snowboarding. conquer black slopes
- push hard to launch first web application
- pursuit of happyness

happy 2009!

so funny! hahaha. cruel and unusual, but not necessarily punishment. =]

[from Someday by Chloe Agnew]

Someday, when we are wiser,
When the worlds older,
When we have learned….
I pray someday we may yet,
Live to live and let live.

Someday, life will be fairer,
Need will be rarer,
And greed will not pay.
Godspeed this bright millenia,
On its way, let it come someday.

Someday, our fight will be won and,
We’ll stand in the sun in,
That bright afternoon….
‘Til then, on days when the sun,
Is gone, we’ll hang on,
If we wish upon the moon.

There are some days, dark and bitter,
Seems we haven’t got a prayer,
But a prayer for something better,
Is the one thing we all share.

So I just woke up from a very long sleep. And I had this crazy dream, which I will tell you about now. In every single dream I’ve had, I’m always being chased. I don’t know why, but that’s what always happens. Sometimes, I’m being chased by ninjas, sometimes by secret agents, often by many, rarely by one person. But in all cases, I’m being chased. Some people may say that must be tiring, but it’s actually very exciting. It’s like I live a chase scene in a movie everytime I dream. And I always win!

So here goes the story. This time, I’m being chased by some Russian mafia. But I’m not alone. I have a girl with me. Who the girl is.. I don’t remember. But I know that she’s someone I know in real life. Anyway, we’re being chased by Russians on some icy plain. She and I find a crevice and hide. But she gets noticed by the Russians, and they call her out, pointing their guns at her.

All of a sudden the surroundings change, and we’re in a church somewhere. They’re still pointing their guns at her. And a shotgun magically appears in my hand. I go out from my hiding like Jason Bourne and clear out the Russians except one guy. I don’t kill him… because I ran out of bullets. The girl and I start running again. It’s only a matter of time before that guy brings others with him.

We find out that we’re in Europe. Or at least it looks like it. We play hide-and-seek for a while, and then run into some tourists, some of which I recognize. And then all of a sudden we’re going to a party, and we’re in an elevator. Someone from behind is geling my hair, and everyone’s cheering and laughing. We’re going to a party.

The end.