And i'm counting again...

This time, is how long it's been since stepping into US for the very first time. Exactly5 years!

5 years ago, a bunch of us left home for US. Come to think about it, it had been a great journey. While I had some rough idea about what to expect when coming to college in the States, there were so many things that happened exceeded what I asked for and then some.

Through the 5 years, I've learned a lot about myself and have made some good and also some questionable decisions that I wished I can reverse. But how one thing leads to another and all really have me thinking that things do happen for a reason.

I guess one can't help but to learn to be independent and to grow and mature when you are alone. And, I like it.

5 years. That's a long time for someone who's not even 25 yet.
Highlight of every year: (I think it's easier for me to look at this in an academic year basis, as compared to calendar year basis).

Freshman year - Traveling to NYC and Washington, DC. That was an amazing experience, as not only it was an eye-opener to visit all the tourist spots, it was also a great trip with good company.
I was also glad that I made the decision to stay back in the States over the Summer as that was when I actually had the more 'real' US college experience, where I stayed in a house with 5 housemates that I didn't know going in, where I went to several parties and where I started working for real.

Sophomore year - Traveling to Florida (Disneyworld and Miami). That was fun too. Started working over the school year. Also, during Spring Break, I volunteered on a farm in TX. It was fun as a group of 10 of us drove down to TX and back. It was a totally different experience as I don't think I've ever work in a farm (milking goat, weeding and planting, and etc).
Went home over the Summer and interned with Accenture. It was a good experience as well. It was good to be home after 2 years.

Junior year - Went to England and Ireland during Spring break. Interned at Hanover Insurance Company. That was another interesting story as the timing was really tight. After my actuarial exam in late May, I went to Midwest games, and then, the next day coming back from the games, I flew out to Massachusetts for the interview for that internship position. And, at the end of the month, I got the offer. Between then and the starting date (June 12th, 2007), I needed to settle my housing over the Summer in Worcester, MA and also, to purchase a car, so that I can drive out there for the job. It was quite a feeling to be making so many big decisions and boy, my parents were worried. As I didn't have the chance to drive much while I was back home, I wasn't an experienced driver, even for a young driver's standard. So, the whole driver half way across the country alone idea didn't boil well with my parents.

Senior year - Well. I took less classes. Accepted the offer from Hanover. Went to Yosemite National Park, drove through Death Valley, then Grand Canyon, last but not least Las Vegas. Taught an exam preparation class. Graduated in April. Dad came for graduation and stayed for a couple of months.

First year out of college - Started my job on 2nd of June. It's been more than 14 months, and I still like the challenge from my job. That plus studying for exam really keeps me busy. Ran my first marathon last October. Initially planned to run 2 marathons this year, but injured my calf in June, and had to stop running for close to 2 months. Started running again though my calf still not at 100%, hopefully, I can increase my mileage enough to run a half marathon in Hartford come 10th of October. Took 2 weeks off and went home for Chinese New Year, while the journey home was long, it's been 5 years since I was home for CNY, so, it was all worth it. But, I will definitely try not to fly with Northwest Airlines (at least for international flights).

So, I'm like doing a summary of what happened for the last five years. But well, life's getting a little routine lately, not a bad thing, but it is not easy to blog about it. So, that's all for now.

A mix of everything

So, it's been a long while since I really updated you guys about my new job. Well, not really new since I interned here last summer, and pretty much working on the same role, with many of the same people, and many more new people. The group has grown so much that the size it almost twice it used to be. Really glad that the company is doing well, and I'm on this train.

Anyway, it had been an exciting 4 weeks so far. Many night-outs with the actuarial group, (I guess not many people can imagine that... given that the perception of actuaries are dry and nerdy), but hey, not this group.

Also, in my second week, we had an Olympic game thing, which I got really badly injured. How badly, well, a bruised forehead due to someone running full speed at me while playing dodgeball; a gashed lip, resulted from someone running into me (again) while I was catching a ball while playing kickball and a sore-ankle, from my foot catching too much ground while playing kickball. It took me a good 4 day to fully recovered from the injuries, the worst being the gashed lip, as the cut in my inner lip developed into an ulcer, which, well, made it painful to eat.

Then, on the following Monday, I took my dad to the airport. After 2 months in the States, he's heading back home. Before he came, I wondered how the two of us will be, given that I had not been home for more than 2 years now, closing up on 3. But, it had been great. Traveling with my dad and spending so much time with him doing everything. And, not having to think about what to eat... :P and to have dinner ready on the table everyday by the time I got back from work. All these things. Really want to thank him and my mom for all their sacrifices.

So, it's almost 2 weeks, since dad left for home. I'm surviving and well. Just that I had been having dinner later now, instead of 7, it's 8.30pm. Instead of 2 meat dishes and 1 vegetable dish, I have 1 meat dish and 1 vegetable, and more leftovers. But hey, it's all good.

Running. Somehow, I found a new gush of energy in me to run more lately. Much more. I did 38 miles the other week, with a long 10-mile run. Even though the speed wasn't that impressive, averaging 9-minute mile, I did feel pretty good at the end of the run, and could have ran few more miles to make it a half-marathon. But I think I will do that today. I really hope that with all these training, I will do well in my first marathon, Falmouth Dunkin Donuts Marathon (sorta like an oxymoron there), on October 26th. I hope that I will complete it under 4 hours, hopefully, under 3 hours, 44 minutes and 52 seconds... why that time, so that I can beat Bush.

http://completerunning.com/archives/2007/06/18/famous-celebrity-marathon-runners/

That's rather a tall order, as to run a marathon within that time, I need to run a pace of less than 8:35 minute/mile. I can run 10-mile at this pace. Not sure if I can sustain if for the entire 26.2 mile course. Also, I started doing some interval workout, which is meant to speed-up my running, so, let's see how that will go. Also, I'd been running with my new iPod shuffle, since I won't be able to run with headphones in the marathon, I might need to find a new method to pace myself. But, the Falmouth marathon has one of the most beautiful sceneries for marathon, hopefully, that will help.

http://www.capecodmarathon.com

Next weekend, it's July 4th weekend, and because my uncle and aunt are in Richmond, VA, I'll be driving there (again), and to make it a more worthwhile trip, I'm taking Thursday off, so, it will be a 4-day weekend for me! But, it's about 9-hour drive each way. So, there's a lot of driving.

And, yesterday, I took my car for a good maintenance, expecting a pretty high bill, and they surprised my high-expectation. The damage - $800+. Well, it will be good for awhile. A long while I hope.

D... 5...

What about the title? D? What D? Well, D is after C... that's what it is. Or maybe I should put 5, since I'm very possibly venturing into P&C actuarial, which uses the number, instead of letters.

This following joke is kinda relevant to what's on my mind now. Making a decision on what's after college...

From Daily Yiggles
"College Grad's Starting Salary
Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Person asked a young engineer who was fresh out of MIT, "What starting salary were you thinking about?" The Engineer said, "In the neighborhood of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package." The interviewer said, "Well, what would you say to a package of 5 weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every 2 years - say, a red Corvette?" The Engineer sat up straight and said, "Wow! Are you kidding?" The interviewer replied, "Yeah, but you started it." "

So, finally, I'm finding life. Finding a life of my own other than studying for the actuarial exam, which I finally took this morning. If I were to fail this exam, I only have myself to blame, for procrastinating. Instead of the advised 400-hours of studying, I did about 200 hours. And, instead of following my plan, of studying from Aug til Nov, I did start in August, just to stop for 2 months, before I finally picked it up again in late Sept. After the exam, my brain was really fried... I found myself unable to read a paragraph longer than 3 sentences. Really!!! But, it's over now!!!

Also, in between classes, I had about 20 minutes, and so, I took a walk to Starbucks, and asked the barista for something strong... and he recommended me a ice black eye. For those new to Starbucks lingo:

REDEYE = Cup of Coffee with 1 shot of espresso
BLACK EYE = Cup of Coffee with 2 shots
DEAD EYE = Cup of Coffee with 3 shots

And after that, I can feel my heart beating hard on my chest. Maybe I should try the dead eye next time. :)

After the class, I went to the computer lab to start working on my Stats assignment, due tmr, wait it's 12.11am now, so, it's due today. And I'm going no where with it yet. And, at the same time, I went to ActuarialOutpost.com, and check on the PAK (popular answer key) of the exam I took. Damn, actuaries are efficient. As they can only start discussing about the exam after 5pm, they had a PAK of a sample size of more than 60 by 6pm. I compared my answer to it, and guess what?!?! I'm borderlining passing again!!! At the moment, I'm assuming that I failed the exam, so that I won't be disappointed when the official result is announced... and I will be surprised if I were to pass it. Yup. My defense mechanism: disappointment averse...

Really. Taking exam during a semester is really much tougher than I expected. All the other stuff going on really make it much tougher. Especially if you are crazy college football fans... coz, that really makes ur week a day shorter. Be it home game or away game, it doesn't matter. And not to mention all the assignments and midterms peppered around the exam.Oh yar, studying for actuarial exam is never green. I opted the lighter and more condensed study guide, and it's 1200 pages thick.... There's another study guide by a different author... and it's 4000+ pages...Sorry for killing all the trees!!!

So, finally, after C, I can finally get on with my life. I finally realized how much I had been sacrificing to make time to study for the exam. The 4-5 hours sleep per day on average. All the tv series. The buying and playing of Wii. The weather and the falling leaves. The running (you really can't run when you don't have enough time to sleep). And not to mention, the joy of doing nothing...And also, all the invitations to bars and parties...

So, back to my life...What's better way to kick off your life than to do 3-week worth of laundry? LOL...

And, also, making plans for holidays, and also, writing emails that I didn't get to write. And also, cherish everything around me more.

So, all those words... BORING rite?

Here are some pictures...
An ice cold brewski...
Also, when i was studying, I had quite some tea... 4-6 teabags a day... And hence, I had to get a new box of it. And, because it's a box of 100 teabags, and there's only 3 rows in the packaging, they got me wondering, how do they separate 100 teabags into 3 rows? Intriguing? At first, I think, well, must be 33-34-33... or any of the 3 combinations of that. So, I counted them, and to my surprise, it was 34-32-34... Interesting...
Also, while taking that shot, I find it to be a rather background for my OSU at Michigan football ticket. Well, according to market price, this ticket is fetching USD$300... but well, I'm not sure I'm willing to sell it at that price. Yeah... I'm serious about it.

Well... the fact that it's gonna be my very last home football game added a lot of sentimental value to that game. And, I'm hoping that we will pull off an upset against the national top-ranked team, and beat OSU for the first time in many years... and to top it all off, a chance to rush the field...All these possibilities really add up to a lot...

Maybe $500? Maybe...