Conjectures during Math Class

So I’m sitting in my discrete math class, and I’m nodding off while secretly hoping that the professor won’t notice. But who am I kidding; there are only 14 people here out of 150, so of course she’ll see me. I feel sort of bad for her because she tries really hard to teach and make sure we understand the material, but there is just a language barrier that makes it difficult to understand her and people have decided that it would be more useful of their time if they did not come to class. I come out of pity.

We’re learning about combinations and permutations- something that I learned how to do in 9th grade- so I figure I am overdue to write a blog post. My friend reminded of blogging when she showed my a Calvin and Hobbes comic about telling stories (neither of us are paying attention during class clearly), so mini shout-out to her. I swear one day, I’ll be able to write a post without having to be reminded that I’m an inconsiderate person neglecting my projects; today’s just not the day.

Source

How’s school?

Overall, it’s been pretty nice. I still feel like there is this perpetual cloud of regret that hands over my head because there are so many things I want to get involved in but can’t due to the fact everything happens at around the same time. If I were to attend everything, I would either never sleep or never be able to devote myself to any of the activities. I’ve never really had to prioritize until now, and it’s quite an experience. I do like how things are turning out, and it’s not because anything super eventful has happened. I’m taking life one day at a time, and while spontaneity still frightens me quite a bit, I’m learning how to become more flexible with everything and everyone.

I quite like orchestra because it’s a place where I feel like I belong. I’m a little bit sad that I hadn’t decided to become a musician because my dream job would be to play for musicals or movie soundtracks, and I know that I could always change to be a music major, but in my mind, it’s unrealistic and I am not that passionate about music. Not going to lie, though, I’m seriously considering not doing orchestra next school year because it’s so time demanding. My friends are all thinking of not taking orchestra for that same reason, and orchestra without my friends sounds rather bleak and depressing, so this will be a decision I hope to put off for as long as possible.

I really don’t have much time to write about anything else, so I’m going to have to put this off for next time. Perhaps I will write a blog post during every lecture, so it gives me something to do while providing an audience for my professor to teach to. Looking around the room, I can’t help but wonder if I taught this class, how many people would show up, which- as a segue- makes me wonder how many people read my blog posts on a given day. I could really look at my stats anytime, but I’m trying to develop a mentality that remains put regardless of what other people do or say. And maybe that’s what my math professor has already achieved: a feeling that what she is doing makes her happy in spite of how many people show up during every lecture. Perhaps subconsciously, I don’t come to class out of pity, but rather to learn more about how she always seems to have a smile as she looks across the empty chairs from 1:35-3:00 pm two times a week. I agree with the 136 people who say it is a waste of 90 precious minutes that I could have been using to attend workshops or study, but I’ve decided that as long she keeps smiling, I’ll keep coming. Because I want her to teach me.

Class is over, so I guess so is this blog post.

Cheers.

Saturday Morning Musings

It probably won’t be morning anymore after I’ve finished writing this, but just know I got inspiration before the clock hit 12. My mom actually asked me today if I was still blogging (because it was basically all I did during the latter half of summer) to which I responded “occasionally”.

I don’t want that to be a lie, so here I am, typing/texting (on my phone) a new blogpost with no real goal in mind. You can thank my mom for that.

Yesterday was my mom’s birthday, which is why I’m back home for the weekend. Granted, Georgia Tech is a highway and a couple streets away from where I live, so it wasn’t a huge trek. Because her birthday is on 9/11, it always makes me wonder whether or not she wakes up happy that it’s her birthday or sad that her birthday is on one of the most notorious dates in American history. Or sad that she’s getting a year older.

At what age do people start dreading their birthdays? Maybe dreading is too harsh of a word, but perhaps when do they see it in a negative light?

I myself can’t believe I’m turning 19 in a month. Where does the time go?

I think that the biggest stressor of college life right now is the speed at which everything moves. Time seems to move faster when I step on campus. Classes teach me things in a week that I would otherwise learn in a month, and all the extracurriculars that I wanted to attend at the beginning of the year have been put on the back burner. All the events and opportunities here you have to find or actively seek. I’ve missed several speakers and resume workshops because it’s not publicized all in one place and I just haven’t been looking in the right places.

I have, however, attended a career fair for my major, and it’s so overwhelming I don’t know how I’m going to ever get a job. Everyone’s competing for an internship you want, and I’ve never felt so vulnerable.

Granted, I’m only a freshman; a lot of my peers haven’t even made a resume. But I’m getting a premature taste of the future, and I can’t say I like it one bit. I’ve never coped well with uncertainty- I always had a backup plan. Lately, though, I’ve been going through each day with my eyes closed and – for lack of a better phrase- “winging it”. Nothing has made me more scared, and I’ve been trying to keep my head up. I’m just terrified of the day I’ll get hit by a wave when I least expect it because I’m taking life one day at time. Keeping my fingers crossed that it won’t happen anytime soon.

I will say that the one thing I like about college life is doing whatever you want. If you want to eat, go to a dining hall however many times your stomach wants. Surprisingly, I haven’t been eating that often because there’s so many other ways I can spend my time. One of my new favorite places is called Paper and Clay. It’s an art studio where you can make whatever you want, and get this: it’s free! I mean, the tuition covers “services”, but it’s so amazing to see all the things I can make without having to pay anything out of pocket. Same with this other place called Invention Studio. It’s like Paper and Clay, but for engineers. You can design anything your heart desires and watch it come to life. Growing up, I would love to go to yard sales or library book sales and look through the “free stuff” boxes because there would be no marginal cost and a guaranteed marginal utility. So finding all these ways to make things for no additional cost really makes my day.

Okay this post is getting a little long, so I’ll end it by talking about my roommate. She’s really all I could hope for and more. I’ve known her since 9th grade, but we’ve gotten really close these past few weeks. She’s seriously been through a lot, and the fact that she hasn’t gone crazy by all the chaos only accentuates her strength. More than anything, I hope we stay friends for a while.

Cheers.

Another Day, Another Assignment (Blogging101 Day 3)

This one is not going to be as challenging as yesterday’s, but it’s going to be a lot more fun! The time zone difference is throwing me off, because I’m getting each new assignment and it’s almost 9 pm here. It makes me wonder how many people I miss out on because I’m asleep or going about my day.

Assignment: Follow five new topics in the Reader and five new blogs

Okay, so I’ve already gone ahead and followed 5 topics:

• Blogging101
• Classical Music
• Photography
• Gaming
• College Life

Boring, I know. I know I’m going to follow more topics by tomorrow; I just don’t know what I’m interested in as of now, so I followed the first things that popped into mind.

As for blogs… I’m following quite a few right now, so I’ve already technically fulfilled that requirement, but I’m not going to stop there. There are so many amazing blogs out there, and I want to follow them all! Time to get my mouse ready so I can scroll and click away at the hundreds of blogs on The Commons.

Cheers.

Consumption Justification Day

Tax-free weekend: a 6-7% sale that somehow makes people more excited to shop than a store-wide discount. Never mind the fact that not all items are tax-free (as most items are excluded)…

I witnessed a Best Buy parking lot that was still filled from front to back 10 minutes before closing time, and I have to say, humans are really quite strange. But I can’t complain. After all, I got my laptop yesterday thanks to this annual holiday, so Merry Tax Day to you all.

I actually have nothing against Tax-free days; if anything, I love it. My family and I spent a whole day going from store to store and shopping until our legs gave out. Because this is a public site (despite the lack of visitors), I won’t disclose how much we bought today and yesterday, but just know that we purchased a lot.

Normally I would feel a tinge of regret over buying a new dress that’s more than $10 or a decorative pillow that’s going to spend most of its days on the floor, but I -much to my surprise- felt none of that today. I guess it’s because the shopping we did today was much more different than any other shopping spree; this was one of the rare times my family and I have allocated time to actually being together. Family time is rare with my mom always stressed out about work and my brother either at college or hiding out in his room playing League with friends. Today we just talked about life and how much things have changed.

And it was phenomenal.

None of us really cared about the large amounts of cash we used to buy the things we would never buy on another day, because today our money served as a medium of exchange for happiness. No, it didn’t buy our joy per se (unless you’re talking marginal utility, in which case I’ll tell you I’m not in the mood for econ today) but it gave my family and me a way to connect again and remember the bliss of spending a whole day together.

I hope I never forget days like these where summertime meant family time… I guess I wouldn’t be against another Tax-free weekend.

Cheers.

The End at Last… For Now?

This post is long overdue, but luckily, I am my only audience at this point. I can’t say that there has been this huge revelation about life or art or anything really now that I’m done with the whole project; I’m just glad I can finally mentally move this assignment from “in progress” to “completed”. There are not a lot of personal projects that I can say I’ve finished, so I am quite proud that I managed to persevere through this one. Giving myself a pat on the back for a job decently done.

As for new projects… I don’t want to abandon this website, so I might keep this site to use as a blog where I can rant or do random things. It’s not like anyone will be tuned in, so I’ll be able to say whatever I want whenever I want. And because life isn’t interesting without a challenge, here’s a new goal I’m setting for myself:

Blog everyday for a month.

Ready, set, go.

Cheers.

High Koala-ty

Sydney, Australia

Wow I am on a streak this spring break! To be honest, I got sort of uninspired while drawing the Eiffel Tower, so I moved onto a place that was not part of the itinerary. It was a rough sketch that took a couple hours as opposed to the four or five hours the other drawings required, so there isn’t a lot of detail. Nevertheless, I am moderately proud of this piece due to the fact that it added spontaneity to my project and to my philosophy of life. I’ve been having a lot of epiphanies lately- with it being close to the end of my high school career and all- and it’s during these times where I wish I had had these realizations earlier in life. Regret is man’s bitterest medicine, and I have taken my fair share of doses.

With these manifestations, however, comes the increased capacity to become cheesy- to follow a cliche. I am prone to exhibit such symptoms, therefore I will stop myself before I need to attach virtual barf bags to the sidebar for convenient use. I won’t make this post too long either, so while I- your honorary tour guide- am figuring out my own moral philosophies,  I challenge you- my fellow readers- to venture on a journey of your own. Start a project you’ve always wanted to do, but never had the courage to. You may be surprised by what you find.

Cheers.

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie…

Paris, France – London, England

I must say I’ve gotten quite into the groove of sketching architectural subjects. It has been easier in some aspects (for example, drawing the background takes little to no effort), but some parts of the process will always be laborious no matter how many times I draw the same building. If there’s one thing I have gained from this experience, it’s patience as well as a profound appreciation for not only those architects that had the imagination to conjure up such a structure but also the workers that made the sketch a reality. Over the break, I have been making an endeavor to read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, which follows the (very, very long) path of different yet oddly similar architects. It did not occur to me until I started writing this post that my project ties very closely with my current reading interests. I like to think these happenstances are actually premeditated, but alas, I am not that forward-thinking.  Nevertheless, I am pleasantly surprised that I enjoy Rand’s writing and that my regard for this 20-time project is turning out to be a positive one.

As for the drawing itself, I will say the Eiffel tower probably took as much time to draw as the rest of the work combined. Quite tedious, but rather rewarding. I would like to thank my dear friend Michael Xu (“he doesn’t even go here”) for the lovely background on this piece. I was at a point where I was dreading how much longer I would spend on this one. These are times when my conscience wonders why I am devoting so much time to do something so purportless, but these are the moments when I gain deeper insight into what it is that motivates people. I draw because it creates something tangibly personal- a connection far deeper than any postcard or childish picture I might have taken. Others might do it because it adds an interpretation to the subject unlike anything currently in existence. Regardless, we maximize marginal utility because we savor the feeling of satisfaction, of self-worth. After all. it’s an innate characteristic of being human.

Cheers.

Time for Self-Reflection

Venice, Italy

As Venice is often called the “City of Water”, I feel like this is a fitting place to do a little self-reflecting. Needless to say, it’s been a long journey, both literally and metaphorically. Whereas I only calculated a few hours per drawing, each place ended up taking around 6-7 hours of sketching because I was constantly under the impression that I wasn’t doing the place justice.

On a much lighter note, I am actually really proud of this drawing of Venice. It was not as hard as I anticipated and it turned out really well. I’m glad to see that each consecutive piece of artwork is looking better than the last. The first piece I drew was very rough and smudged, and as I grew comfortable with the paper and the materials, it became a lot easier to focus on the details of each place. I guess this could also symbolize the fact that as I become more mature and educated, it will be simpler to do things that used to take laborious hours to accomplish. But enough of that analysis; we will have no such thing on this blog.

Oh, before I forget, I should probably let you know that I’m changing my original plan/goal of this project (but only slightly, so don’t fall out of your seats just yet). Instead of devoting one drawing to each major city I’ve been to, there will be a melange, so be on the lookout for two cities the next drawing instead of the initial one city. This will allow me to shorten down the number of drawings I need to do without leaving any places out.

Cin Cin. (Cheers)

Journey to the West

Beijing, China

Yay, we have made it to our second destination: Beijing! I actually finished this last week, but I half forgot half procrastinated getting this uploaded. I try to act like I am on top of things but life gets pretty distracting at times (House of Cards, for example, cannot wait for anything). Nevertheless, I am glad I finished this one like I said I would; planning normally does not work out in my favor, but I digress.

These, my friends, are monuments that can be found in Beijing. Tiananmen Square in the background is a famous place adorned with significant history (history that the Chinese government refuses to acknowledge exists), and you won’t believe whose face is smack-dab in the middle of it. That’s right- it’s none other than the beautiful Mao Ze Dong, with his receding hair line and state-of-the-art figure. We, as Chinese people, are greatly saddened that he is no longer a part of our world, but at least we have his picture (which, by the way, is on everything) to remember him by. It may seem like I’m a bit bitter and critical of Chairman Mao, but it’s mainly due to the fact I can say these things without being persecuted.

In the foreground is a very small portion of the Great Wall of China. This structure is our pride and strength. True, you can’t actually see the wall from outer space, but that’s not to say it isn’t impressively big and expansive. I don’t know about you, but I can barely make my bed in the morning, so for people to go and build something 500,000 times longer than that is beyond my comprehension. Kudos to you, my deceased friends; your efforts have not gone unnoticed.

Can’t believe we’re finally leaving China! Get excited for something a little different, and I’ll see you whenever I see you.

Cheers.

Building the Wall- A Work in Progress

Credits to Amanda Hamilton for the punny title. It was a pleasure working with you.

Sorry for lying because I didn’t post last week like I implied I would. I’m sure no one noticed. If it is not apparent, I have not finished this week’s drawing. I’m not really sure whether or not it’s me being super lazy or super busy, but I will finish this this week. Hopefully I will be finished by the end of this week so I can post a finished picture and exit the country of China. Not that my parent’s hometown is bad or anything, but I want to discover the world- taste the fresh air of some place not like home. Really, all I need to do is to shade. So look forward to that, fellow fans (do they even exist?).

My parents will likely force me to finish this, so that will be motivation enough for me to finish this drawing. If you don’t hear from me for another week, it’s because I will be having a fun time in Athens. So don’t miss me too much.

Cheers.