Happy Lunar New Year...

May the year of Dog brings good health and _______ (fill it in urself) to all.

just found out that even Vietnamese, Koreans and not sure about other Asians celebrate the lunar new year too...

Beer Poooooooooooooong

Why the Os? haha... well, it's beer pong, and i think i made that many shots yesterday night... so, it's Beer Pooooooooooooooong... lol

I went to this Beer Pong Competition/Party at my fren, Mel's (another Mel...) place... it was great, there were so many Markley people there... really... the most in a party i've seen so far... it's like more than 20 of us...(or at least 15)... and Dane and I did great(well, not bad at all) at the beer pong... we won 2 matches, and made it to the semifinal... and that's like my 3 time playing the game... we made about equal number of shots... great partner... way too go... Dane..(we are building up some street cred now)

So, in total, i think i had like 8 - 10 beers... left the party at about 1.40am, went to get something to bite, wanted to do Big Ten Burrito, but the line was way too long, went to Bell's Pizza instead... quite nasty, but well, not a chooser when u are sober... went to Dane's room to kinda sit for a while to, and started walking back to my room at about 2.45am... reached my room, at about 3.05am... Quang just got back not too long ago... wanted to get some Tylenol(R) from me... (American version of Panadol) Acetaminophen aka Paracetamol, but he was in pretty bad state, so, NO... i don't want him to hurt his liver... see, how kind i am...
well, i'm not feeling so well either, had some chips, and drank lots of water, and went to bed, before sleeping, i set like 3 alarms at 7, 7.15 and 7.30am

Anyway, it's been another crazy week... this semester is really faster than the last... and i think this happens every semester... maybe that's what i like, to take on more and more responsibilities and stuffs to do as my college life progresses...

I wanted to write about last week(last last week, in this context) on Monday, but i was kinda busy, and then, it's Saturday again... it's crazy.... really, time really flies, and bites u in the ass if u don't pay attention to it...

So, i'll do my best, in this half-hungover state, to update my blog...
woke up this morning, at 7 to call home, well, apparently, they reached the Regent Hotel, chinese restaurant, one of the most expensive chinese restaurant in Malaysia... well, because of connections, my uncle got to reserve like 2 tables at this restaurant on the biggest night for chinese restaurants... (the night before Chinese New Year, where it's a chinese tradition to have a great dinner with family members, extended family if possible, the more people, the better, the merrier... it's always the best time to pick up and exchange gossip and parents would like to boast about whatever they can, and also chug down expensive wine, whiskey, and also eat exotic dishes, like abalones, shark fin soups, sea-cucumber, et cetera)

thinking about it, i've already celebrated 2 CNY away from home, will, another 2 more to go... for the great schedule that Michigan has, it's impossible that any of us can go home for the CNY...

anyway, so, last
monday... as usual, classes, hw and all... MJE meeting... then ASB meeting...
tuesday... work, classes, UROP meeting...
wednesday... work, classes, presentation, pre-interview dinner at Cottage Inn with a bunch of funny actuaries...
thursday... work, interview, classes, quiz...
friday... work, classes, meeting, meeting up with Viktorina(thanks for those gifts)... party...

eventful week... more to come...

Time to kill?

lol... time to kill? i mean, do u have time to kill?

kill ur time here at www.mensa-test.com

it's kinda culturally biased, so, it's definitely not a fair judgement of one's intelligence or whatsoever... but, it's really fun!!!

The Dormitory Boys

The Dormitory Boys

this site is hilarious... who cares u are chinese or not? with such lip-syncing skill, and funny facial expressions...

got a couple of minutes to kill? be sure to check this out!

waste = food?

that's what i learnt from the environment movie viewing session... waste= food... i'll comment more about it next time... but for start, think about it when u are in the toilet... :-)

anyway... today (Wednesday) is crazy... for me... fortunately, or unfortunately, the bowling session was cancelled... i might be better off should the bowling session wasn't cancelled because i can really use it for de-stress... really... alright... so, here's what i did for the day...

woke up at 7am, slept at 2 yesterday... worked from 7.25am til 10am...
class: 1 - 2.30pm
interview: 3.45 - 4.15pm
class: 4 - 5.30pm
UROP: 6 - 7.30pm
ASB movie viewing: 8 til 9.30pm...
cancelled bowling session : 10 til 12am... did practice problems for math at the library instead...
between classes and in the lecture halls, i completed my Econ hw, due tmr...

whew... the interview went alright... should have prepared more questions , but really, i have not much more to ask... luckily, i did my research on the company... as i was asked to tell the interviewer about what i know about the company... or else, it would have been a pretty bad
interview...

the weather... it snowed for a good whole day... should be abt 3 inches, i would say.. .and the temperature, about 20 Fahrenheit, -6 Celcius, with strong wind blowing from whatever directions...

really tired now... will be heading back to my room and recharge my batteries soon... u know what kinda batteries can be used for 19 hours, with 5 hours of charging? i think i'm one of those kinda... hopefully, the memory effect will not be bad...

pretty long day ahead... well, with a mini exam, 2 lectures and a discussion tmr... and working at 7am, and need to get some research done as i'm pretty behind in my research hours... and what else.... my readings too.... i'm 3 chapters behind for my Financial economics readings, 1 chapter behind my Econometrics... and my leisure reading, No Logo, by Naomi Klein, is effectively due on the 27 Jan... have like 200 pages more to go... it's a huge book...

signing off now... ciao...

Another week... Picking up speed... Losing up sleep...

Well... the title summarizes my week up pretty well...

This full week started well, ended up well too...
Monday - Classes... nothing much... other than having classes, and 2 meetings... 1 for MJE, another for ASB(which was pretty fun... the name game was funny...)

Tuesday - Work and Classes... and started preparations for my upcoming interviews... (i want a job for summer, any takers??)

Wednesday - Work, Class, Interview...(my first ever interview of this kind... for internship over the summer), Class, UROP...

Thursday - Work, Interview, Class, Quiz, Class...

Friday - Interview, Classes... Done for the week...

so... all classes have started... some have yet to assign homeworks, while had handed in for some others... So, i'm still deciding on how huge my head is, whether I can take in all three econs for the semester... 18 credits for the semester, or not... as a chinese saying goes, if you don't have a huge head, don't wear a huge hat... so, is this hat gonna be to big for me?? or u think my head will grow into it??

the interviews are really great experience... the preparation up to the interviews too... but, no matter what the results are, I'm really happy that I've tried for them... at least, I know what interviews for internships are like... and how do u present yourself in front of ur possible employers... and getting my suit out from it's hanger bag is kinda fun too...:)

of course, drawing stares and comments from friends is expected, but well, thanks for all the wishes though...

hopefully, i'll at least get 1 2nd interview(as in the 2nd after first, not the time unit, where 1 minute= 60 seconds..)... please... i just want a weekend trip to those huge companies hq... and to experience what the 2nd interview like... and then, i just want an internship offer, just to experience the real job in a smaller scale... (obviously, i sound desperate, but, wtf, i'm desperate...)

so, i had 3 interviews so far... 2 more to go... or maybe more...
.
will getting feedbacks from these companies in 2 weeks time... and sooner...

by the way... it's a long weekend... i'm off Monday... why? well... why don't u go find out and see...

hopefully, i will use my weekend well... to meet my new year resolution... of sleeping more...

and to sign off... i'll post a math joke here... well, i'm still a geek... (isn't it obvious enough for some one to be majoring in Math and Econs).... and even considering taking 18 credits for a sem...

There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

p/s: forgot to mention that I almost lost my wallet today... not really... i did lose my wallet... well, i dropped it and didn't know about it, and luckily i dropped it at the right place, in the interview room, i think, and i left, later, i received an email from the Career Center, notifying me about my wallet was found and told me to reclaim it from them...

damn, how embarassing... whew... how lucky i was...

U like Pac Man??

well well... somebody decided to play Pac Man at the Library and the computer lab here at the university of Michigan Ann Arbor...

Don't u like college students???

First week of class, my 4th semester...

alright... it sounds cliche, but, wtf, time flies...

3 semesters had passed and i've started my 4th semester here at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor... what's more amazing? i've been away from home, far away from home, for 16 months and counting...

well well, the way-too-short-long-winter-break was over, and school had started for 2 days, and 2 homeworks were assigned... sweet ain't it? i think there's no gear shiftings in these lecturers minds... it's either lectures going at full throttle, or exams...

this semester, i'm on a suicide mission again... currently, i'm planning to take a good 18 credits worth of classes... that's 3 400-level econs classes, 1 400-level math class, and research... looking 'good', isn't it? on top of that, i've ASB fundraising, and Michigan Journal of Economics to deal with... and of coz, my part-time job... and several hours of wonderful tv programs...
but, my class schedule isn't that bad... actually, is kind good... with classes starting earliest at noon(for Friday) and at 1pm on other days... and ending latest at 5.30pm... not too bad...

and i'll be crazy busy with interviews and all coming weeks... with 3 this coming week, 1/2 more the week after, so, i'll be the silly guy that can be spotted miles away as i'll be the only guy in suit and dresspants, in sea of students in hoodies/sweatshirts and jeans...

so, help me out with questions like, what's my biggest weakness, and what's my greatest strength?...

so, tomorrow is monday again... and i'll have classes and all...

p/s: i'll try to update postings on my trip to Pittsburgh and Orlando and Miami, Florida soon...
take care and check back soon...

Day 1(12/23/05) Pittsburgh, PA -->Orlando, FL

Alright... i figured out that i shld put my memories into words before i forgot them completely... it's a wonderful trip overall and it was much cheaper as compared to my previous winter break trip to New York city... so, it's twice as fun for half the price...(don't ask me how i measure the degree of fun... but i felt like this holiday was better than the last...)

so, on the 22nd night, at 6.30pm, i started walking from my dorm to the Amtrak train station to catch a bus to Toledo, OH, and from there, I'm to take a train to Pittsburgh, PA... so, i left the virtually empty dorm and walked for about 20 minutes to the train station. There, I collected my ticket from the window, and waited for the bus. At 7.50pm, I boared the bus, and the bus left at 8pm... (just a 10 minutes later than scheduled...)... and reasonably, I reached the Toledo, OH Amtrak station systematically late at 10pm... no big deal, since my train supposedly to reach here at 10.45pm, a 45 minutes wait is nothing much... I settled down my bag... met one of my seniors there at the train station... he was going to Cleveland, OH...

And then... the big surprised came... the train was delayed for more than 3 hours, and it won't be reaching until 1.45am... wow wow wow... now, this was something... 3 hours more to kill... so, i started scrolling down my phonebook and calling my friends... i didn't call home becoz i'd called home twice in the last 24 hours... calling them for the third time will definitely ending up in awkward silence... so, i called my friends at Seattle, and also another bunch at California... so, i too called my friends at Pittsburgh, who were expecting me at 4am, to tell them that i'll give them a call when i reached there... so, they don't have to wake up early in the morning... and to go to the empty train station... and waited hours for me...

then, i met up with a group of Singaporeans from U of Michigan, where I know one of them, Tommy, and he introduced my to 4 others... they were heading to New York, and from there, taking a flight to Peru... cool...

i met a few other people, a freshman from India heading to New Jersey, another grad student, heading home, where we watched a couple of Star wars fighting scenes from his laptop, and another Junior, heading home too... I learned a new card game, German bridge... which requires 7 players... i'll teach u next time...

and i managed to read a few chapters of my newest read... No Logo by Naomi Klein... pretty interesting so far...

at about 12am, we got updates from the counter attendant, saying that the train was delayed further, and shld be arriving at 3.15am... woah... that's a 4 and a half hour delayed... so, a few games of German bridge... and a couple more chapters later.... at 3.45am, the train arrived... I bid goodbye with others who were taking a different train, and wished them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and also bon voyage...and the train left the station at 4am... the time i scheduled to arrive... so, the train was delayed altogether for a good 5 hours and 15 minutes... bravo...

so, i was on the train... a bit hungry... and too tired... but i couldn't sleep... do u ever have the trouble of sleeping after not sleeping at certain hour? i do... after 3am, i can never fall asleep... well, at least, i can never sleep well... so, i ended up reading, at least attempted to read, and only managed to sleep at 6.30am... woke up at 8.30am... as i was reaching Pittsburgh, i gave my friend a call, telling them that i'll be reaching there shortly... and also, i brushed up a little, well, it was a long ride... and ouch, my back was aching... so, i reached the Pittsburgh Amtrak station at a little over 9am, and my friends(Tze Chang, Teck Hua and Hong Tuck) got there shortly after i reached...

the weather was pretty good... not too cold, a bit sunny, kinda windy... and Pittsburgh was a really nice city... i think i could fall in love with this place... had breakfast at McD on the way to my friends' dorm... pretty nice place... it's a nice apartment... no complains...

reached there at about 10.30am... online to chat a bit... wanted to sleep but couldn't... was tired... played Mario Smash on Gamecube for a while... was pretty crazy as we were equally bad... and then, packed a bit, had a buffet lunch, and went back to the apartment later... at about 5pm, we left for the Pittsburgh International Airport... a pretty huge airport... and there's wireless there... chatted a bit, and boarded the plane at 7.45pm... and the flight wasn't too bad...

reached Orlando airport, the first major difference is there was palm tree at the airport... welcome to sunny Florida... woohoo... but, the weather was kinda cold... wat the heck, i didn't paid few hundred bucks for nothing... the weather better get warmer... lol...

to a taxi to our hotel, Comfort Inn at Buena Vista drive... cost us $47+tipping... about $53... not too bad...saw a lot of greens on both sides of the road on the way... checked in at reached our room at about 11pm... dead tired... went out to hunt for food after throwing down our luggage in the room...

saw a couple of fastfood restaurants, and also some quick bites... and we decided on Burger King... got back to our hotel at about midnight.... after taking a quick shower... we called it a day... waking up early tomorrow to catch the shuttle bus to Disney MGM-studios...

nite... wat a day...