Things to Rely on that Begin with 'M'

In Real Life, there are so few things you can consistently and regularly depend on. Places change, the weather varies, people come and go. You can put all your faith into something only to have your hopes dashed against a very sharp object, leaving it bleeding rivers of crimson.

Throughout all of this I thought I'd put together a small compilation of things I can always trust and believe in, because "some things never change."

1. Manga
I just read the 107th chapter of Full Metal Alchemist, a much-loved manga of mine. For a while it has been building up to this epic fight between the God-like evil antagonist figure and our heroes, Ed and Al and their friends. Of course it only follows that at the apex of the fight, when people have their eyes shot out or are impaled on the ground, that Al sacrifices himself for his brother. And because of his brother's undying love, Ed reaches into his deep reserves of emotional strength and begins to WIN.


Ed and all his friends. I wish I had this many friends.

As most fantasy fiction goes, in the end you win because of all the friends you made, supporting you, believing in you, filled with your heroic and selfless love. Then it turns out the antagonist's personal weakness is that he wishes he had such good friends as the protagonist. I can always trust this to be true and that is why manga is so satisfying in its EPIC-NESS.

2. Money
One can probably also count on money to be a definite universally influencing factor in our daily lives. This is probably why many people become workaholics and disregard others - they feel like people only disappoint, but money can always buy you what you want (if inflation isn't too high)

3. Music
Music is a great medium to channel in all your faith, because it won't run away from you, turn into something else, or stab you in the back. The same old song you loved a few years ago can help bring back the same good emotions when you listen to it again. How lovely.

4. Memories
Good memories cannot be ruined or taken away. That is why I keep a diary, to write them down and make sure I don't forget. Or take pictures. Now would also be a good opportunity for me to make a comparison of good memories to some sort of delicate and enticing chocolate desert, but I haven't thought of it yet.


What a Good Memory looks like.

For some reason all of these happened to begin with 'M'. These are all the ones I could think of.

Do your work. Be responsible. Don't be a potato.

It's about the end of the semester, about that time where you reflect upon the past few months and think, "How did I manage to accomplish so little and why do I not feel like doing anything except mope around about how I didn't do anything?" Well, I know exactly how you feel.

In the beginning of the semester, you are all pumped about how this will be THE semester, the BEST one, how EVERYTHING will change, how you will actually LEARN in your classes. You will make new friends, find that close-knit group of friends, get promoted at a job, and perhaps discover a new cool hairstyle.


This is basically how my level of productivity/motivation has trended this semester.

In the beginning you are filled with hope, because you have all the time you need ahead of you. You attend every single class or activity rapt with attention, just imagining all the glorious knowledge you will gain. When people ask how your classes are, you say "They're really interesting! I'm excited." (True story)

But as time passes, you begin to miss one class, and then suddenly you've missed it twelve times. By then you're so behind on the material that there's no point in going back to class. You realize that the super-fun class that you were taking for fun used superb advertising materials to entice you in.

For me, at some point I just get so overwhelmed that I become incredibly lazy, not even bothering to go out to hang with my new group of close-knit friends. Learning becomes memorizing names for tests, fun classes turn into tedious useless work that I try to finish as soon as I can. I haven't gotten a better job, and I even got the same haircut I've been getting for two years. noes.


Don't become lumpy and boring and lazy like a potato.

But not to worry, kids! I am here to remind you that, however late it is in the semester, you can still decide to up your motivation and productivity. You can still decide to pay attention and go to class and get your work done. Don't flake out now - there is hope yet! For example, just today I stayed awake for 2/3 of a 1.5 hour class, when I only stayed awake for 1/3 of it the week before.

While for some things it may be too late, like joining a club, there are still a few weeks to the semester, and I challenge you to make the most of it! What a cheery and cheesy message - but it's true! Suck it up, be a man, be responsible. Sit down and think about all the things you want to do and all the things you still can do, then find the union of the two lists. Then do it.

Here's a motivational poster to get you started:

"When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story."

Emo Blogging is Interesting Blogging

Having had my Livejournal account for quite a few years (since July 2003, to be exact), and having been members of various online publishing/blogging sites like Twitter, Tumblr, Blogspot, and the like, I have made this sort of conclusion.

People only care about what you write if it's emo.

Now I may be (and probably am) exaggerating, but hear me out. The reason is that misery loves company, and when you start ranting about your sad excuse of a life people read and relate and provide feedback. No one cares when your life is going awesome because then you will just make the emo people more emo.

"My girlfriend just dumped me."
"This guy I thought I was exclusive with flirted with other girls."
"Well my boyfriend is great and caring and just bought me a horse."

Then you feel terrible and bad but it's not your fault you're happy! Because when you talk about how crappy the feeling of rejection is - everyone can relate. Other people feel the need to support you and "be there for you" because you "need" them. They think that if they are available when you are feeling sad and down, you will form a closer bond because they're opening themselves to you when they're vulnerable blah blah.

Maybe the train of thought is that happiness is easy! You can take substances to induce endorphins and make you feel good. Loneliness and sadness is a more substantial feeling, one that requires deep thought. Strangers can party together but you can only be emo to close friends.


Emo-tinted coloring is artistic and deep.

Well I say, this is totally not fair. I am happy and I have nothing to blog about. Friends being happy should be able to induce happiness into their friends, not the other way around. Although there is still a limit. People (including me) don't want to hear cheesy cheery posts filled with happy faces as I'm talking about serious issues. But of course, that is not the point of this blog. The point of this blog is to not be emo and sad but instead be... thoughtful. Or funny. Or laugh and be happy about other people's sad issues. (Just kidding on the last one). Sometimes I forget just what I made this blog for and now that I'm relatively happy the posts should be flooding in.

What is a happy but not cheesy topic to write about? Suggestions welcome.

Pet Peeves: Cropping out other people for your profile picture

As an amateur photographer, I totally understand retouching photos or enhancing them or manipulating them to make them better. What I don't understand however, are people who upload pictures on facebook with their friends cropped out.

What does this say about them? Here are some of my hypotheses.
-My friends are too ugly and I don't want them ruining the picture.
-My friends are really good-looking and I don't want them to look better than me.
-I think this facial expression of mine is really cool and I think I look great.
-I have no sense of what constitutes the right size for a photograph and I must butcher it.
-I don't want people to know I have friends.

Here are some examples. To avoid hurting peoples' feelings I am only using pictures of myself or random strangers.


here is a perfectly nice (albeit a little blurry) picture of some nice happy girls. I decide - this is a good picture of me, let me use it for facebook!

But instead of using that version on my facebook...

I will instead use a 10x10000 version of the picture, complete with some random hand sticking out of nowhere. Nothing is centered right, but at least I get to be the main focus point.

The best ones are when it's a picture of you and one other person at a special event.

You are my special friend because I came to your graduation and we have a special picture together.

But then when this goes on facebook -

Random hand? - check
Weird picture size? - check
Deciding your friend is not good enough for your profile picture even though you went to their graduation? - check

So yea. Every time I see one of these I just chuckle silently to myself because it's so obvious. Actually I admit, I am also guilty of this. But only once! A cookie if you can figure out which one.

How to Model

Part 1:


How to not model:


How to model, part 2:

Learn from the hair.

101 in 1001

Another resolution, the 101 in 1001, basically 101 tasks to be completed in 1001 days. I'll come back to this and cross things off as I do them.

Start date: Jan 13th, 2010
End date: Oct 9th, 2012

Completed so far: 30 out of 101
In progress: 11 out of 101

1. Get an interesting job Buck Institute
2. Learn Python CS188 Spring 2011
3. Learn more about web design (PHP) In progress
4. Learn Javascript In Progress
5. Work at a big biotech company
6. Program/Code something for fun
7. Take a dance class Lindy Hop, Feb 2011
8. Take a singing class Spring 2010, Music 20a
9. Apply to grad school In progress
10. Live on my own Mission in SF
11. Take a more involved photography class
12. Learn Japanese
13. Learn Latin
14. Take an art/drawing class
15. Get promoted at a job
16. Get an A in a Bio class
17. Go to Magic Castle at night
18. Spend a day at the beach
19. Learn a cool magic trick
20. Learn how to snowboard toeside and hillside
21. Take a long walk on the beach at night
22. Attend a wedding
23. Attend a formal dinner party
24. Go to a black-tie event
25. Go to a rave Etd.LOVE 2011
26. Get a pedicure
27. Get a massage
28. Go to a club Mel's bday
29. Get my hair done for a special event
30. Go to a New Years' Eve party
31. Have a picnic Bluegrass Festival 2011
32. Donate my clothes Buffalo Exchange
33. Donate money to a charity Heifer International
34. Host a party Apt party March 2011
35. Go to a Big Game (Stanford vs. Cal) Fall 2010
36. Meet Orson Scott Card
37. Take pictures of street style in Berkeley 9-20-10, Looks on Campus for collegefashion.net
38. Take studio pictures
39. Cook a meal for someone
40. See the Phantom of the Opera Las Vegas, Jan 2011
41. Watch another musical
42. Watch Cirque du Soleil
43. Go to a professional tennis match
44. Go to a concert Voxtrot, 5-28-10
45. Ask for a guy's phone number
46. Go on a blind date
47. Go on a double date
48. Buy a drink for someone Thalassa, 3-11-10
49. Fall in love
50. Kiss in the rain
51. Pierce my ears completed, June 2010
52. Dye my hair a different color
53. Get a cat
54. Get a dog
55. Finish my current journal
56. Send someone a letter sent two letters, 3-24-10
57. Work out regularly for 3 months completed Core Conditioning, 5-6-10
58. Be able to run a mile easily
59. Be able to do 20 pushups easily
60. Get a super comfortable bed
61. Bring a friend home for the holidays
62. Visit my grandparents April 2011
63. Make a foreign friend
64. Decorate my room
65. Learn how to use a steamer in progress
66. Get a blunt haircut
67. Go on a trip with friends (that doesn't involve a competition) Las Vegas, 2011
68. Fly first class
69. Travel to Europe
70. Travel to Japan
71. Go to Vegas Jan 2011
72. Go to New York City August 2010
73. Travel with only one other person (that isn't family)
74. Take a road trip Reno Winter 2010
75. Drive somewhere far (few hours) Tahoe 2011
76. Go back to Toronto
77. Go to World Championships for Rubik's Cube
78. Get a sub-20 average for 3x3 18.56s avg at Stanford Winter 2010!
79. Get a sub-30 average for one-hand
80. Go to a Rubik's Cube competition in another country
81. Write a short story
82. Write a good fanfiction
83. Buy a designer handbag
84. Read the Silmarillion in progress
85. Buy another lens for my camera Tamron 17-50mm
86. Shoot a photoshoot for a magazine
87. Finish a drawing 5-3-10, History of Middle Earth project
88. Go to SF to take pictures 7-18-10, DJ Smoke photoshoot
89. Learn how to knit
90. Learn how to sew clothes
91. Learn a new pen trick
92. Shoot a wedding
93. Reread LOTR trilogy
94. Paint something on a canvas
95. Blog more regularly (once every 2 weeks)
96. Learn how to play the guitar In progress
97. Buy a piece of art
98. Have a photoshoot with another photographer Caliber assignments
99. Read a book for fun In progress, The Black Swan
100. Buy flowers for someone
101. Learn to cook an exotic dish

On asking questions

You've probably all encountered those questions that are repeatedly asked over and over, to the point where, as much as you appreciate the concern of the asker, annoy you to death because it's the 10th time someone has asked and you've given the same boring answer every time. Usually these questions are some form of "How are you?", but in a more attentive way, like "How have you been?" or "What are you doing during break?" or "How is [insert name of school here]?"

By adding little details, the asker prides themselves on seemingly knowing what is up and happening in your life. In some ways this is pretty considerate, but if it goes wrong the conversation may go like this:

"So when are you going back to school?"
"Um... I graduated five years ago."
"So... how's work?"
"...I'm unemployed."
"Now would be a great time to travel!"
"I have no friends."

At this point you both feel extremely embarrassed and you have failed to be considerate about your friend. In my opinion, the reason most people ask these mundane questions (myself included) is that they do care (however little) about your life and wish for you to tell them something cool about it. Thus, keeping a few interesting stories at hand would make the encounter go a lot smoother.

Since I am not as fast-thinking in actual person-to-person interaction, I cannot come up with the eloquent prose you read on the blog in an instant. So when people ask me these questions my brain interprets it and I answer them literally. A second later I realize I probably should have said something more interesting. But doesn't "how" imply an adjective?

"How has your break been?"
"Good."
"How's Berkeley?"
"Hard."
"How are you giving me the lamest answers?"
"Dunno."

Maybe if they had said something like, "What is the most fun thing you did that was illegal in 48 states?" or "What is the coolest thing you bought exceeding $200?" I would have thought longer and come up with something more appealing. As such, I need to teach my brain to interpret questions like "How's school?" as "Tell me about that time you tried to study for a test but was interrupted by a slew of naked people."

Of course, these interpretations would vary with audience. With anyone older than the age of 30, "How's school?" would interpret into "Tell me your greatest academic achievement so I can go home and tell my kids and compare them to you."

So it is up to both the asker and the askee to make something more of general vague questions. As I proved above, the askee should think of some interesting stories beforehand. The asker, depending on how much facebook stalking they have done, may choose to ask more personal questions. This depends on the extent to which they want to reveal the level of their stalking. Such questions can range from "How do you have so many presents in Farmville?" to "Why is there a picture of you passed out with hieroglyphics on your face?" to "Why do your wall-to-walls with so-and-so go all the way back to 2005?"

Having said all this, I don't want you to get the wrong idea that I'm silently seething while you're making small talk about the weather. It'd just be nice if both parties deferred a little from generic question/answers, because we all know the answer to "How's home?" is "Sooo relaxing and sooo much food it's sooo awesome." Because you know what you get when you have an actual conversation that's not about how hard school is and how bored you are and what you ate for lunch? SECRETS.