Just some thoughts...

117 in Arizona

2011-06-27T00:20:00.000-07:00

Forgot to report this:

A change of housing plans

2011-06-27T00:02:00.000-07:00

A lot has changed in the past few days.

The lady who was going to rent her house to us realized that she needed to stay in her house for another year. The government gave her $8,000 to buy a house, right when there was that housing crisis two years back. Therefore, she isn't legally allowed to move!

She broke the news to us and promised she'd make it up to us. Being Taiwanese, she invited us to dinner as a formal apology. At first, I thought this was such an awkward thing to do; however, my friend and future roommate told me that this was something socially acceptable in Taiwanese culture.

We ended up going to Shula's Steakhouse, at Wild Horse Casino (south of Chandler). This steakhouse was super, super expensive. My basic assumption was that it was for people who just won tons of money on a nickle machine. Nonetheless, the bill came out to be over $300 for just four people!

Just a list of things we ate:
1. Sourdough bread
2. Caesar salad + some bleu cheese, tomato salad
3. Lobster cocktail halves
4. Grilled asparagus
5. 24 oz "Cowboy" steak (rib eye)
6. Crème brûlée
7. Häagen-Dazs ice cream in an almond brittle shell

Just an idea of what we ate

Onto the new housing plan:

We're moving into Alta Ravenwood in South Tempe. Closer to the freeway, this townhouse is going to suit our commuting needs a lot better.

I don't want to violate any copyrights, so I'll just post the community's website:
Alta Ravenwood
Floor Plan

We got a corner lot townhouse with a double garage. I'll be living in the master bedroom. It's nice, because our townhouse is going to have a view of this immense "courtyard," or grass field. It also has a dog park for all of my dog's running needs. The gym is nice, the study rooms are nicer, the pool and bonfire pit are nice, and community grilling will be exceptional. I can't wait to see what it's like to live there.

The only thing I'm worried about is this issue with move-out fees. I've read some reviews about people getting charged up to $1300 to replace carpet after they've moved out. Apparently, parking's hard to find, there is a lot of noise complaining, and the courtyard floods when it rains. I'm not too worried about the carpet, especially since we Asians are generally cleaner when it comes to carpet; parking should be OK because we don't have many friends; and rain only comes a few times a year in this arid place, right?

I'm generally excited to move over. There's still another month and a half.. but I almost want to start packing now ;)

All of this just means I'll be in Arizona for another year.. Sigh.

Renting a house in AZ

2011-06-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

Our search for renting a house near Tempe has finally come to an end.

We've been looking for houses for almost 3 months now, settling for a rather new house in South Tempe. We saw big houses, small houses, old houses, [relatively] new houses.. and in the end we settled for a new house.

The prices we were looking at ranged from $1000 to $1500 for a 3 bedroom house. Considered extremely cheap for California standards, it seemed about median for Arizona. The types of homes in this range also varied. We saw some run-down places in run-down areas that were going for the same amount as nice homes in nice areas. Of course, living near Tempe was easier for my roommates, since it's closer to school. However, living anywhere near ASU meant sacrificing a nice living space for time and money spent on gas. South Tempe meant newer homes and communities that actually have HOA's.

As for the number of floors... we ended up going with 1 because of rumors that 2-story houses get hot upstairs. Well, half rumor.. since the theory is that hot air rises (hotter air upstairs, cool air harder to force upstairs.. causing higher A/C prices).. but I wonder if it is that big of a difference.

Anyways, the house we chose has a 2-car garage as well. This'll be good since I know I'll be spending a lot of time in there, fixing up my bike. My car will also have somewhere to spend the night :)

As for a backyard, this house has a "desert landscape" backyard. That basically means that the backyard has nothing in it except rocks and dirt. Compared to other houses we saw, this choice is somewhere in the middle. Some houses priced at the same range had large, grassy backyards. Others had small patios. I think it'll be interesting if I ever decide to fix up the backyard with any grass or flowers... never been much of a garden man.

The only complaints that I have with this house is that it's in the heart of the town. Therefore, it isn't near any freeways. It won't be very fun commuting to work! My motorcycle will overheat while driving local in the ridiculous heat. Also, the neighbor is the HOA vice-president or something.. which means we'll need to abide by rules, all of the time! I'm not sure what the rules are yet, but I hope they are crazy about everything like they are in Irvine.

I'll post some pictures when I get there!

Arizona Heat

2011-06-13T23:23:00.000-07:00

Arizona summers aren't as bad as I thought!

Well, there are the basics: it's hot, sunny, and dry. There are some things you do and some things you don't. Then there are the things that you want to do, but you think is crazy because other people tell you it's crazy. One of those would be riding motorcycles.

South Mountain

My coworker would always tell me that it would get too hot to ride, and that it would be unbearable. The hot wind like a direct fan on your body, feeling cool only relative to sitting over a burning engine; a dry, tornado-like wind inside your helmet, drying up your eyes; black-top asphalt, at ten or more degrees hotter than the heat; and finally, the smell of the ocean.. something you wish you had and miss so dearly! Clearly, I'm still riding my motorcycle in 100+ weather, and it's not too bad. As long as I'm not sitting for too long, and as long as I have gear on.

One note about the Arizona summer is that there are a lot more bugs. I live by Tempe Town Lake, which seems to be the breeding ground for mosquitoes and bugs of that sort. At night, it's still 95 degrees up until 10PM. With that said, bugs spend a lot more time messing around (maybe until midnight or later). Every light pole is flocked with bugs... it's so bad that if you leave the light on in your apartment, your windows will be swarmed with bugs as well.

Tempe Town Lake at night

As you can imagine, people get pretty lazy in the summer, especially during the day. There aren't too many people exercising like normal Fall/Spring days.. there's a lot less to do here. I can only think of a few things: movies, shooting range, driving range, mall, hanging out at someone's pad, going to the gym... not too much more. Yogurtland's becoming a popular destination.. I've been there quite a few times since the heat hit AZ.

Nonetheless, it's livable. Wish I didn't have to be here, but I don't have much choice, right??

My leave of absence

2011-02-13T21:18:00.001-08:00

My apologies for not posting for awhile. I've been caught up with work life and life outside of work.

Gym
Errands
Exercise
Meetings
Dog walks
Vet bills
Watching movies
Projects at work
Chinese New Year
Buying motorcycle
Fixing motorcycle
Selling motorcycle
Cleaning apartment
ASU basketball game
San Diego home trips
Santa Clara work trips
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Drinking protein shakes 4x daily
Staying connected with my social circle
Didn't even have enough time to take pictures...

Well, that worked out nicely! Now you're updated, too!

Chinese Week in Arizona

2011-02-13T20:55:00.000-08:00

I'm mildly disgusted by Chinese stereotypes in Arizona--only mildly, but enough to trigger me into writing an entry. Hence, I have a few things to say:

1) The whole gathering-together-in-the-Chinese-market-area-to-boost-sales shindig that went down today worked. Not in my advantage, however. Only my biweekly grocery run, I was coaxed into buying a $5 parking pass to place my car anywhere near the Chinese market near my house. When I got there, it was packed full of anyone other than Asian, trying to indulge in cheap Made-in-China goods, rice hats, and traditional Chinese clothing. I just needed some groceries...

2) We entered a Chinese Go (traditional board game) room, only to find a few obese, Caucasian men staring us down, wanting a battle. They thought we came to compete with them in this event's "competition." Wait a second--how do they know how to play Chinese Go? I barely know how to play. My friend straight-up from Taiwan doesn't even know how to play.

3) The supermarket was packed. They probably made enough money to keep them in business (so THAT's how they keep in business!)

4) Sold rice hats like it was a Dodgers' cap at a Dodgers' game. I can't take that seriously...

5) Some guy was selling traditional Chinese clothing... except he wasn't Chinese. My friend pointed out that he probably had no idea he was wearing a dead person or ghost's outfit/hat.

6) Amidst all of this crisis, there were few Asians to be accounted for.

I guess it was a nice way to show Arizonians who Chinese people are, but it really just reinforced the stereotype. It told them that we are cheap (selling $1-3 made-in-China goods), our people wear traditional vests and dresses, and that we eat orange chicken. What's safer than to prescribe the same medicine, right?

At least the supermarket and restaurants came up on top this weekend...

Life changes with music

2010-12-19T23:16:00.001-08:00

I've realized music has reflected not only the stages in my life but also the overall mood of that period. Let's run through it:

Elementary school:

We all thought we were so cool, listening to rap... and this song was so popular with all of us kids because it was so funny/racist/obscene. I'm pretty sure we had no idea what any of this stuff meant!

Middle school:

In light of those pre-emo and teen angst days, this song was a good break from rap, which was overly popular. I remember listening to a ton of Usher, on top of the plethora of rap. I still listen to this song once in a while.

High school:

I left rap and entered the emo/alternative scene. I never started wearing the emo/alternative style clothes, but I loved alternative songs... especially the ones that weren't popular.

College:

I somehow went more indie...

Work life:

I'm not sure how this happened... but I started liking the whole ethereal girl voice... and it evolved into house/trance.

>

I'm listening to these three as I write this :)

Conclusion:

I'm not sure how music correlates with how life changes... but it seems quite obvious that the type of music reflected what kind of person I was, whether it be a teenage guy going through angst or a college kid wanting to be himself.

All I know is... music will probably stay with me forever--it's my remedy for everything.

Getting a dog . . .

2010-12-19T22:54:00.000-08:00

I got a dog on 11/20/2010, and she's the cutest thing on the planet! She's really becoming my companion.

Camille Li An (安小立), hiding her food

I've learned so much about dogs. To be honest, Camille isn't ever a handful. She doesn't bite, chew, bark, slobber, or any of that other stuff people dread about dogs. The only setback is that she growls at certain dogs, and she gets into fights sometimes.

I'm not sure what happens when dogs start growling and fighting. I'm not sure if it's the dogs having fun or if it's for real. I used to take her to the dog park every day (where dogs are let loose and can do whatever they want), but now I'm afraid she'll eat the other dogs. I'm not sure what to do! Apparently, you're supposed to socialize dogs in order for them to behave well around other dogs--obviously, that's not going very well :)

Chillin' on her bed at the foot of mine

It's so funny, though--she sleeps in so many different positions... Check this out:

She reminds me of a deer sometimes

She's such a good dog! I feel like she was such a good investment... I already feel much more responsible and able to actually take care of something/someone. She keeps me company in lonely Arizona, and she takes me out to exercise around the clock.

I have to admit, though, when I first got her, life was so stressful. She would cry when I wasn't home, people would complain about her crying, and I would have to go home all of the time to see her. Now, I can stay at work for lunch, not worry about her, and come home knowing she didn't pee/poo everywhere.

She's great at holding her elimination, she's an excellent couch potato, and she's the right level of excitement. Needless to say, I made the right choice :)

Arizona's treating me well.. Forward ho!

Update on Arizona

2010-11-16T21:51:00.001-08:00

I guess I should update everyone on what's going on, right?

I've moved to Arizona, I've started a new life here, I'm making new friends, I'm rediscovering hobbies, I'm losing old ones, and I've gained much more experience with work in a few weeks than I ever had.

Let's start with the "I've moved to Arizona":

After working for a few weeks, my company moved me to Arizona. Living in a hotel for a few weeks, I soon learned of my predestined fate--going to China and Taiwan for a few months. When I signed up for the job, I was set to be there for six months to a year. I ended up having to stay for two months. Granted the experience was worthwhile, the opportunity was on the verge of being too long; luckily, my coworker planned out the trip perfectly.

Nonetheless, I knew a simple signing of a corporate contract meant having to suck it up and be flexible; I didn't know this flexibility meant having be pushed around like this. I'm not bitter--I just didn't know that change would come so abruptly and that it would affect my lifestyle this much.

Arizona's been a pleasant surprise. By the time I got back from Asia, the heat died down to a simmering 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, it's about a 70 during the day and 50 at night. I'm slowly getting to know some people, the streets around the area, the hangouts, and the culture around here. People tend to themselves as a first priority here, more so than in California. There are supposed to be tons of Mexicans, but I haven't seen many. The few Asians that I've seen, I've very much stared them down in an effort to remember the color of my skin. White people are very good looking here.. I'm saying the Caucasian girls are beautiful, basically. I haven't factored in the massive amount of obese people, though!

I started a new life.

I left the US for Asia knowing I would start a new life; I returned to the US knowing I would start a newer life. That new life started when my coworker and I visited some Taiwanese Student Association friends here at Arizona State University. Suddenly immersed in this converging Taiwanese and American lifestyle, I found myself at a potluck--a mix of Taiwanese food they made and the Mexican takeout we brought. To think of this event as a bridging action would be incongruous, but there's really other way to describe it. It made living here feel more comfortable, knowing that other people just came from Taiwan as well.

Looking out from my apartment

Outside my apartment

At least my apartment's nice right? Not to mention my brand new car! :)

I'm rediscovering new hobbies and losing old ones.

I played volleyball on Sunday, only to find myself mixed in with Mexicans and Samoans. The Samoans were huge! Tattooed up and everything! To say the least, I didn't mix in at all. I can't believe the little volleyball I've played here, I've had a terrible experience. Volleyball? Dropped for now. Volleyball here will never compare to that of California, especially beach volleyball (no need to mention the lack of beaches here).

I have continued to go to the gym everyday. I picked up cycling, as well. I cycled around the lake a few times already. Overall, my apartment location is perfect for exercising. The lake is a perfect place to exercise!

I've gained much more experience with work in a few weeks than I ever had.

In the middle of work, I had an epiphany. Days pass like weeks, and weeks pass like months. I'm sitting in my office, growing old! This epiphany hit me once and has stuck with me. I can't believe time is passing by so quickly, and I'm getting old!

Aside from that ridiculous realization, I have filed one patent, been handed over 100% of the work I'll be concentrating on from now until forever, and gotten used to the mundane, repetitive lifestyle they call "the working life." I don't dread going to work, but I definitely look forward to weekends. When weekends are here, I am so bored that I try keeping myself busy with exercising or meeting up with friends.

Bars have never been so fun. Meeting people has never been a priority, but going to bars with friends opens up a new world to me, especially since I see the same people every day. Meeting anybody is an addition to my newborn infant-of-a-life, no matter what kind of person they are.

So that's that. Arizona's treating me okay. It could be better (ie, if I could move my friends over, if I could get a motorcycle, etc.). That's all for now!

Afternoon naps

2010-09-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

In Taiwan, companies give their employees a little more than an hour to eat lunch and take a nap. It's ridiculous.

12:00... a bell goes off, and people scramble for the cafeteria, where they quickly eat their lunches. They pick up their plates without saying goodbye and they rush off back to their work seats to spend some quality time... online.

12:15... Lights off.

12:20... Surfing Yahoo! News. It's the safest for work, especially when you have bosses behind you. Streaming a movie or surfing Facebook would be a little too much.

12:30... Employees knock out like it's past midnight. They even bring pillows and extra jackets.

1:10... The alarm goes off, and everybody wakes up. Sort of. They sit there dazed, expressionless, and they're not very happy to see you.

1:15... Everyone ACTUALLY wakes up. They turn back on their computer screens, and everyone opens up their e-mails.

1:15 - 1:45... Nobody wants to make noise, really... or talk to anybody else.

1:45... Finally, this awkward silence lifts.

That's Taiwan. China, too. Since kindergarten, everyone is given an afternoon nap time.. all the way through high school. I guess they're just continuing the tradition.

It's funny, because Mike Chang and I were talking about this, and we had the exact same story to tell. Not only that, we both exclaimed how the first few weeks we feel like tough Americans who don't take afternoon naps. Now, we're always dying to get some afternoon nap time!

2 weeks left

2010-09-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

After a comfortable week of working (especially with Wednesday off), I took off for Taichung yesterday to visit relatives for the last time before I leave (in 2 weeks). I have a company trip next weekend, and I leave the weekend after that.

I am not looking forward to going home. Well, I am looking forward to being home, but I'm dreading the airplane ride home. I have this terrible tendency to feel sick on airplanes. It all started three years ago, when I was on the plane and felt like the coffee/food smelled terrible. From then on, I get really nauseous when I smell airplane coffee/food. I can't take it at all!

I think it's only on long, international flights that I feel this way, though. I can't wait until my body gets over this... I wish I could enjoy traveling by plane!

Soon, I'll be in California for a day or two. Then, I'll be driving over to Arizona. New apartment, new car, new state, new job, new lifestyle, new friends--new everything.

Work life.. Arizona, China, & Taiwan

2010-09-22T06:32:00.000-07:00

I apologize, all, for not updating as much as I should. I figured I'd start now, since I'm already so far behind.

Life after school may navigate as follows (certain restrictions apply):
1) You graduate from college
2) You move to your hometown where you lived for most of your life
3) You meet with your friends, most of whom have graduated and begun the search for money
4) You realize that your finding of a job was a blessing
5) Your friends start dispersing based on their job findings or returning to school
6) You yourself enter a job or do something important abroad
7) You end up missing college, considering applying for more school or to teach English abroad.. just to get closer to younger people
8) You forget that you have hobbies
9) You start making bigger and bigger purchases with your new found money
10) You scoff at the sight of high school and middle school relationships
11) You consider settling down in a nicer apartment like you're retiring there

Needless to say, starting work has been tough. I was working in Southern California prior to finding out about needing to transfer to Arizona, still within the same company. I flew out that weekend to see the new office, and before I knew it, the company I thought I knew completely changed. I was in a new department, working with new people and living in a new state.

Arizona's a mix of heat, dryness, random monsoons, helmet-less motorcyclists, and an absence of diversity. I hear scorpions exist like crickets there, but I haven't noticed any scorpions yet (or even crickets in that case). Hotels, rental cars, and weekend flights home.

A month after moving to Arizona, I booked a flight to Shenzhen, Guangdong. It's right next to Hong Kong, right inside of China. I spent a Sunday in Hong Kong prior to entering Shenzhen, roaming the streets and trying to find a dim sum place to eat at.

Hong Kong while on the MTR
Going into Shenzhen, I was overwhelmed with mainland Chinese people. Seeing all of the factory workers, dealing with the Chinese mentality, and seeing China's traffic again was a crushing feeling. Their way of life is just so different from America's and Taiwan's. Trash gets thrown everywhere; kids urinate on the ground; guys don't open doors for girls; bathrooms smell terrible; cars are out to kill you; people cut in line; girls are treated poorly; women don't dress nicely; and there's this ominous feeling that people are always up to no good.

Shenzhen
A month later, landing in Taiwan felt like heaven (as it did four years back when I had a similar adventure). Greeted by beautiful Taiwanese women, I remembered why I enjoy Taiwan so, so much more! Good food, nice people, easy transportation, cute girls, great nightlife... I haven't had a boring day yet. Not to mention.. my girlfriend, Jamie, visited me! :)

My girlfriend, Jamie!

Mountains in Taichung

Shilin Night Market... Food!

LOVE sign at the Taipei 101

I miss UCLA

2010-09-21T21:21:00.001-07:00

It's Asian Thanksgiving right now.. aka Moon Festival. It's a national holiday, and so I decided to sleep in and write my blog (since I haven't updated in so long)!

One thing I miss most about America is UCLA. UCLA was so good to me..
1) Going to class - seeing the same people in my major every day
2) Doing homework - it all seemed so important back then!
3) Walking up Bruin Walk - seeing all of my friends every day on Bruin Walk
4) Eating lunch at Ackerman - for those lazy days on campus when I didn't want to eat dorm food, didn't pack lunch, or didn't feel like riding somewhere
5) Going to meetings - it all seemed so important as well.. maybe they were :)
6) The dorms - the convenience, the friends, the fun.. the late nights haha
7) The apartments - the inconvenience, but the friends and the fun!
8) The gym - nothing better than enjoying free gym with friends and UCLA girls!
9) Going to the machine shop - building whatever we wanted to build
10) The library - nothing better than studying with lots of UCLA girls
11) Bruin Motorcycle Association - friends, family.. and motorcycles
12) Seeing friends - everyone was in a square mile of each other
13) Driving around LA - LA's got everything.. good food, places to see..
14) Sunset Rec - the swimming pools, volleyball court, tanning salon grass fields, sports...
15) Good-looking girls - nothing better than UCLA girls.. period.

Long work days

2010-08-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

I'm finally home from a long, 2nd week at work in Arizona. Needless to say, I miss California's beaches and cooler weather. However, Arizona's got something California doesn't have: luxury at a low cost. It turns out state income tax is only 4.24%... so I get another $100 :)

Monday through Wednesday is tough. My coworker, David, and I end up working from 8:30 AM until.... at least 7:30 PM. By Thursday, we tirelessly went to Tilted Kilt to hang out with the coworkers and get some fresh air. Without taking pictures of the girls, here's a picture of the food:

Some more of Arizona:

Outside the office

My first rental car. Before my second one... a crappy Kia, haha!

My cubicle. I love the privacy! My netbook sucks though... I can't wait to bring my real laptop over, haha.

Week 2 in Arizona

2010-08-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

I secured my apartment, and this week's subsequently going very fast!

As of now, I'm living at the Grigio... http://www.grigio.com
It's very, very nice. I'm going to have hardwood floors. It's on the third floor, faces the river-looking lake, has a really good gym, has lots of events going on, has 3 pools, and a parking garage (hard to ask for in Arizona). Overall, I'm pretty excited to live there, since it seems like an extension of college dorm life. It's basically ASU's dorm apartments since it's a mile away from ASU.

I'm about to head to Tilted Kilt, a pub/eatery in Chandler, AZ. I'll post some pictures!

Since graduating...

2010-08-10T22:39:00.001-07:00

I've really started a new chapter in my life: enjoying summer, starting work, and moving to Arizona.

Enjoying summer included going to the gym, moving homes, leasing out my old house, and seeing friends. That concluded quickly, nonetheless.

Work is interesting. To sum it up, I'm enlisted in a boot camp. I'd like to think of it as a West Point sort of academy, since graduating from this 2-year contract is promising, career-wise. However, whatever the company throws at me, I'll need to suck it up and do my best. Specifically, I've been transferred to Phoenix, Arizona with very little notice. Two weeks into working in southern California, I find out I'm going to Arizona. Two weeks into Arizona... China.

8/20 - 9/10: Shenzhen, China
9/10 - 10/9: Taipei, Taiwan
10/9: Permanent relocation to Arizona

The purpose of this business trip is to basically learn more about the company and develop relationships necessary to my success as a Field Application Engineer (FAE). I'll go ahead and clarify two things. What's an FAE? We're basically an engineer who's been dispatched to a customer to connect the factory/manufacturer (us) to the customer so we can make the right product at the cheapest price. What kind of company do I work for? We're a contract manufacturer, constructing electronic products for end users like yourself. We're also the largest corporation that nobody knows about.

Which brings me to a predicament: finding a place to live. I've narrowed down my search to three apartments. Maybe someone can help me choose:

1) Grigio
Pros: Close to the night life. Alongside a river. Niiice gym (don't have to buy membership). Close to ASU (lots of rich students will live here). Third floor, so nice views. Garaged parking. Lots of events going on and many hang-out places. Far from work (good separation between work and home).
Cons: $850. $3000 contract breaking fee.

2) The Greens
Pros: $650. Close to work. Private garage. Near Asian stuff. Easy breaking fee (2-months' rent)
Cons: Scorpions because we're next to a golf course. First floor.

3) San Marbeya
Pros: Close to the night life. Nice pool. Farther away from work.
Cons: $867.

So, I guess it's a matter of deciding between wanting to pay $200 more for more amenities and a more dorm-like life... or living in a more mature, adult environment for a lot cheaper. Hopefully, I can decide soon...

Did I mention I bought a 2010 Lexus IS250... all by myself?!

We won the competition!

2010-03-08T21:43:00.001-08:00

Just an update. We won our can-crushing competition! A+ in my senior design class!

The Cannibal: Can Crusher

2010-03-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

This past quarter, I've been taking one of my senior design courses. It involves participating in a competition to invent the best can crusher. By "best," we are to create an electromechanical device that crushes a can in less than 30 seconds with a budget of $200. It has to crush three cans consecutively, be within 4 cubic feet, and weigh less than 25 pounds. In the end, they measure the crushed volume and take the time with a stopwatch, putting the values in a formula to tell us our score--the lower the better, and may the best team win.

Our device "crushes" the can in 3 seconds. We decided to be creative and cut the lids off before crushing it, so when it does crush, it will be a flat piece of metal. The professor was so excited about it that he said that if we actually cut the can, he'll count the volume as ZERO! So, here's the final product:

New year, new resolutions, newer life

2010-01-17T01:48:00.000-08:00

Since I've gotten back to the US, I've reconnected with friends, bought a motorcycle, been flogged by UCLA, and returned to a normal American lifestyle. Luckily, I still haven't gotten withdrawals from Taiwan yet.. and I probably won't because I know I'll be back there sometime soon. A four-day winter break has made transitioning from academia to academia pretty fluid, and I can only complain about how short my break was! But...

Life's back to normal.

A small measure of peace

2009-11-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

This week, all of the Californians have gone out traveling Asia, especially since they get a week off of classes to properly celebrate Thanksgiving. To say the least, I've been working hard, excluded from temptations and distractions, rationing off bits and pieces of my homework assignments, one at a time. A seven-page paper, the design of my robot fish project, and several cups of 7-11 coffee--I've dedicated the past few days to (really) get ahead and fixate the rest of my December on enjoying Taiwan.

Spending the last 32 days of Taiwan will hopefully be memorable. I've spent time with family, exercised a good deal, met plenty of new friends, studied areas in engineering I thought I would never get to specialize in, learned more day-to-day Chinese, and really made some inspiring friends. Not only have they showed me how to get my party on, I've gained a little more inside of me than I thought.

I've really matured, especially in a place where my understanding of linguistics and how people speak is not fully under my grasp. It's difficult to understand how people think or feel when they speak in Chinese to me. I imagine reading a long news article about tragedy only to finish, realizing I had only captured the physical event and none of its inner feeling. Nonetheless, exposure to this linguistic nightmare has not only helped me learn more about Chinese words and phrases but also taught me a sense of patience, humility, and care in realizing others' emotions. There's really no other words to describe it.

Plans for the rest of my trip? Finish up all of my work--I have tons of assignments and tests to think about before I leave. I'll definitely have many more visits to this island. I do, however, need to go back to my grandmother's grave for the sake of my father's and my own. Coming here was a responsibility not only of my own to study a language and engineering skill but also of my dad's to renew spiritual grounds with my grandparents, relatives.

Expect to see pictures from a big, going-away party!

Updates on November

2009-11-19T03:31:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

I just finished my last midterm today. It's been a crazy few weeks! Not only was I swamped with a bunch of work, I had midterms to take care of also. Can't forget having fun! I also played some volleyball games and had some delicious Mexican food.

A few weeks ago, I met this American/Mexican guy who was a Publicity officer at a Mexican restaurant, so he invited us over to his restaurant. Before I knew it, I was with 11 friends sitting at his restaurant for Taco Tuesday, which was all-you-can-eat tacos with a choice of meat, tortilla, sauce, etc. It tasted amazing, especially for not having Mexican food for so long!

In recent news, I've just learned about being able to go home for Winter quarter! This means I would be heading home by the beginning of January. To me this is a 50-50 situation, where it's a matter of whether or not I want to have fun. Going home would mean graduating on time and getting a job, whereas staying in Taiwan would mean spending money to have more fun and to travel. Ultimately, staying would postpone my graduation by at least two quarters--doesn't sound so good, especially with 33% tuition increases.

It looks like I'm heading home in the beginning of January. Until then, I'm going to continue studying and, on the side, hopefully have the time of my life.

By the way, I just recorded a song that I've been working on for awhile now. I never had the time to record it, especially since the walls are so thin in this dorm ;)
Enjoy!

Discovery of calculator clash

2009-11-15T21:12:00.000-08:00

Two minutes before class today, I noticed that my calculator was much more high-end than everyone else's. I was the only one with a TI-83!!! TI-83's aren't even top of the line for engineers!

I got a comment that my calculator looked really "kua1 zhang1" (誇張), which means "exaggerated" or crazy-looking.

Time to get to more studying! I'll post some updates soon.

Midterms

2009-11-07T09:21:00.001-08:00

I'm currently painfully working on my programming assignment and studying for upcoming midterms. Talk to you all very soon!

Halloween in Taiwan

2009-10-30T05:39:00.000-07:00

Besides working on robotics projects and learning more about vehicle engineering, life was pretty uneventful/hectic until today! We've spent a week preparing for our trip to a nearby elementary school, where we taught 70 4-6th graders about Halloween. It was extremely tiring, but it was so fun!

The night before, we went out to buy costumes, where my friend, Danh, proceeded to rent a gorilla costume. I forced him to put it on before we got into the subway, and all the people around us were laughing and taking pictures of him. I love Taiwan! After we got back, we cut our jack-o'-lantern, in which we infused a BBQ to roast marshmallows.

With monkey man in the subway (MRT).

Before the roast.

During the roast.

At the actual elementary school, we played games and taught the kids about Halloween. My particular group told the story of Bloody Mary, wrapped kids with toilet paper, and made hanging, candy ghosts.

I'm sure you're dying to see some pictures, so here they are:

What Frankenstein does in Taiwan for a living. Mummifying kids and kidnapping them.

Frankenstein also dislikes chubby kids because all they want is chocolate.

After making hanging, candy ghosts.

Mummy victims. Look at the one with his eyes covered.. that kid was so funny.

Another mummy victim.

Can you spot me?

A few things

2009-10-14T23:20:00.000-07:00

I took my first NTU midterm today--it was full of witty, tricky questions. Not to mention my teacher jetted through the test, giving me absolutely no time to think about the questions!

If you're wondering how I've been doing academically, it's a tough question to answer because there are so many parts to it. I'll go through each class:

1) Introduction to Robotics

Generally a tough course with a lot of mathematics, programming, and constant homework. I've been working on a group project the past week and a half. We have to take Legos and make a robot that can follow a black line with only one light sensor. Then we have to put an obstacle in the way, and the robot has to hit one obstacle away and go around another one. This class has been conceptual up until now... Now, it's back to C++ and programming so we can get this robot working correctly!

The slides are in English, the lecture and everything else is in Chinese. The teacher's extremely nice, the TA's aren't helpful, and I know close to 2 people in the class. I say close to 2 people because I don't even know their names by heart.

2) Contemporary Taiwanese Culture

I've been having a good time in this class. It's one of the two courses I'm taking that's completely in English. It's basically a class that teaches about Taiwanese culture and history through weekly showings of old Taiwanese movies and long discussions about what they mean. The professor's a Chinese Literature teacher from UCLA, with an emphasis on East Asian film. You can begin to imagine how he teaches the course.

We had to make a presentation last Monday on karaoke. This class is definitely more fun than the normal cultural analysis course.

3) Scientific Taiwan

Taught in English by two professors, one from NTU and one from Tatung University, Scientific Taiwan is supposed to teach us about high technology in Taiwan. Honestly, I have not been impressed yet! All of this new technology seems kind of cool, but unnecessary; for example, there are high-tech cameras placed around organic farms so that people can buy vegetables, punch in a serial code placed on their veggies, and go on a website that shows a live camera of the vegetables (hopefully not being sprayed with pesticide).

6 1-page, hand-written papers, 1 term paper, and a field trip. Couldn't get any better than this!

4) Vehicle Engineering

I've had cleverly sarcastic teachers, but never in Chinese. Now this is difficult to deal with. My teacher loves picking on me because I speak English and I stand out like a sore thumb in his class, especially since all of his lecture material is in Chinese. I asked him whether or not I could take the midterm in English, and he said, "Relax! Don't be so nervous!"

The test turned out to be harder than I imagined, especially since it was harder taking it in half-Chinese, half-English. We do a lot of extraneous things in this class, to be honest. Last week we went to a SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) conference (probably because the teacher had to go anyways, and it was during our class period). This week we had to submit model cars, take a midterm exam on identifying car parts, and have an oral exam on identifying car parts within our own models. Next week we're going to some exhibition farther away from school.

The only word to describe this class: tense.

I hope you didn't get too bored by my rantings! I know there's someone out there who wants to read about them.

Sanchong Cup Volleyball Competition

2009-10-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a wild 24 hours! My friend Danh and I went to Wufenpu Shopping District to check out some clothes. We bought an old-fashioned, 1950's-style jacket--I love it. I made the mistake of drinking coffee, which soon resulted in me sleeping at 3:30 AM.

Unfortunately, I had to wake up by 5:50 AM to make it to the Taipei Main Station. Meeting up with a portion of our volleyball team, we took a train to Yingge. We had our competition at Yingge Elementary School.

Finding our way to the elementary school from the train station. Yingge has really old-fashioned but beautiful streets.

After changing. That's the other foreign guy on the team--Brody, a Canadian.

After our games. Us and our managers.

All-you-can-eat hot pot!

New Doo

2009-10-07T10:39:00.001-07:00

I asked for the most Taiwanese thing she could do with my short hair, and she gave it to me!

I'd ask for your opinion, but I know I probably won't want to hear it! ;)

Mid-Autumn Festival

2009-10-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

I just had a great dinner with my relatives in Taipei to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival. We went to RegaLess Hotel in Danshui, next to Tamkung University. We had two tables of people, and I've met some pretty distant relatives that I can now consider part of my Taiwanese family! I forgot to mention that they gave me yet another bag of food (moon cakes, apple pears, and a bunch of cookies). I walked out of dinner with the largest bag--I was pretty embarrassed to do so, but what can a starving college student do, especially during a typhoon season? ;)

If you haven't heard, I spent all of Friday building this model car for my Vehicle Engineering class. It's a Ferrari FXX, and it took me a total of 13 straight hours to build. It was the most complicated model sold at the model shop, and hopefully it'll get me the best grade in the class! Intricate in its parts, this model required a lot of cutting, gluing, and attention to detail. I even had to put on these decals that were extremely frustrating to take off.

The final product!

Competition, Taichung, 2/28 Memorial

2009-09-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

It's been quite an eventful week, full of clubbing, volleyball, relatives, and doing tourist-y stuff!

On Friday, I went to the gym to work on some leg workouts. We then proceeded to go out clubbing and whatnot. I ended up having to leave early because of a volleyball competition the next day, which was in Dajia. Dajia's this rural area between the beach and mountain, not known for much except its temple and mountain scape.

Nonetheless, they have an entire side of a mountain dedicated to volleyball! They have tons and tons of volleyball courts, filled with people this weekend to watch and participate in the largest volleyball competition.

We ended up in 6th place, which is pretty good for all of Taiwan!

After that, I went to Taichung to meet up with my relatives, aunts, and uncles. We had a luxurious dinner at the penthouse of my uncle's flat in the center of Taichung. The view was beautiful, the food was good, and their flat was so cool. Amenities in that place included private movie theaters, pools, gyms, mahjong rooms, and massage beds... not to mention the penthouse was free to use. The pictures are on my cousin's camera! I'll post them when I get them!

After coming back, I went to the 2/28 memorial and museum to see what it's all about. I had never heard of this incident until our Taiwanese culture class required us to do some research on it.

2/28 was the day that marked the killing of tens of thousands of Taiwanese people who claimed their Taiwanese identity during a grilling sequence of years where a transfer of power confused the natives. From Japanese colonial rule to a post-World War II transfer of power from Japanese to a Chinese, Nationalist Party, the Taiwanese people took their stand against the incoming Nationalist Party, resulting in what they call now a 2/28 massacre on the Taiwanese people.

It was truly an eye-opener and some good insight on early Taiwanese culture.

Sunset, after a little bit of rain

Day trip to Taichung

2009-09-19T01:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my friend and I went to Taichung for a day trip before she goes back to the States. I always go on these fun adventures with her!

We left at around 9AM, getting to Taichung at around 11:30AM with no destination or plan whatsoever. We ate lunch with my cousin, DaCheng, at a Spanish restaurant before heading to Tunghai. We went to our home in Tunghai for a little bit before taking a bus and taxi to Gaomei Wetlands.

I have to mention that Taichung is currently trying to incorporate EasyCards into their bus systems. EasyCards are the cards used in Taipei on buses and the subways. You put your card on a sensor, and money is subtracted from the card. Taichung is trying to incorporate it into their systems by opening 7 new bus lines with few, but convenient stops around Taichung. To enforce the use of EasyCards, you have to have an EasyCard to get on the bus. I felt so special because I was able to bust out my NTU student ID ;)

Gaomei Wetlands was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Wetlands in the States cannot compare to this one, because Gaomei is truly beautiful. To one side, there are windmills; on another, there are temples along the side of the marshland; to the other, there is the long, flat beachhead. The water was only about 1 inch to 5 inches high, so you're always wading in shallow water. Crabs, fish, and other strange animals are everywhere, so it was a very exciting walk.

There weren't that many people, so hanging out in Gaomei was very peaceful. It's been awhile since I've found peace in such a busy Taiwan.

Afterwards, we went back to Tunghai to see my grandpa before going to Fengchia Night Market to spend the rest of the night eating amazing food! Taichung has the best night markets. Period.

A new academic year

2009-09-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

This past week was the first official week of NTU, and it's been quite an amazing experience. I've decided to take all NTU courses rather than ICLP (Chinese) classes because I figured it would help to graduate on time.

I went to my Introduction to Robotics class on Monday, expecting a hard, engineering class, but it turned out to be okay. I went up to the professor at break, asking him if I could use English on my reports and exams, and he said it was welcome. After class began again, he specially made an announcement asking the class if they would like him to lecture in English. The class proceeded with comments like "Wa kao," which is like "What the Hell? Did he really?" I went to another class called Technology and Human Civilization, and the exact same thing happened. I really had a good kick out of those two classes.

I made a few notes on my phone that I found were pretty funny. 1) A few of my classes require the TA's to spray disinfectant on our hands before class. With a threat of a plague or case of the sort, NTU is a flagship, antibacterial community. 2) I'm the only one without glasses. I went to a night market last night to get NT100 nerd glasses. 3) Many students speak Taiwanese or Hakka to each other in class. It's their way of grouping together or forming cliques. 4) My room is really messy. I've been having class from 9AM to 6PM, and volleyball practice from 6:30PM - 11PM. No time to think/clean!

Accurate depiction of messy room and glasses.

Cafeterias on campus are really convenient and delicious. For 50NT, you can get a large plate of rice and four side choices. You can also go to a weighing station, where you choose whatever food you want from this huge selection of Chinese food. You can get a good amount of food for 50NT. I find myself eating a lot healthier when I go to these weighing places.

Two of my teachers have degrees or teach at UCLA also. I'm excited to be taking classes from them! I'm taking Introduction to Robotics, Vehicle Engineering, Contemporary Culture of Taiwan, and Scientific Taiwan.

I also forgot to mention that I'm on the NTU volleyball team now! We'll be doing a lot of traveling and competitions from now on. Practice is like joining the army, but I'm pretty sure I've made a good, new set of local Taiwanese friends.

Biking in Danshui, Yangming Mountain

2009-09-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

Today has been not only eventful but also one of my favorite days here on this island! After our EAP ICLP orientation, I headed over to Danshui to meet up with my friend. We rented a tandem bike for NTD150 ($6), riding from Danshui to the north and then to the south again. It was extremely relaxing and beautiful despite the hot weather.

Come to think of it, that smoothie I bought afterwards tasted absolutely amazing because we were so dehydrated...

We stayed at Danshui for its famous sunset before heading over to Yangming Mountain to see some spectacular night views. We had a 10PM, late (I guess it's not so late) dinner at this place called "The Top." My friend had wanted to go to that place for months, and I'd have to say it was the cheapest, best dinner I've had in a long, long time.

It was a NTD500 ($13) dinner for some Kimchi fried rice, Shaomai, and lamb shank BBQ... not to mention an amazing view and comfortable sofas to sit on. The entire place was very modern and clean. I know you can't wait for the photos, but my camera ran out of batteries so I'll have to post more pictures later. Here's the last picture I was able to take!

I apologize in advance for my poor English. It's slowly deteriorating as time goes by. I'm predicting that I won't be able to speak English by the time I get back to the States.. not to mention my blog becoming 100% Chinese.

Orientations

2009-09-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

I've been spending the past few days in a few orientations, forgetting to take pictures!

On Monday and Tuesday, I spent a lot of time with new students from all over the world. There are tons of students from France, Germany, Switzerland, and of course, California. We had a super large orientation on Wednesday, with about 300 foreign exchange students. After a long, tiring tour, they gave us a pack dinner which included a few pieces of stale, baked goods. It wasn't very nice of them to do that!

Fortunately for us University of California students, they gave us an buffet-style lunch today at a hotel. It was pretty good! I had fruit for the first time in a week or two. I hung out with a friend in the afternoon, and got some dinner on my own. I got a fish biendang (pack dinner), bought a rice stick(?), a butter-filled, round cake thing, and some famous boba from around the area. It was one of the best dinners I've had, since everything I bought I was totally craving. Went to the gym later with a new UC buddy, and we ended up playing a pick-up game of basketball in the dark with some local Taiwanese guys. I think we lost, but at least we learned how to say "good game" in Taiwanese!

Last orientation tomorrow! Then I'm going up to Danshui to go bicycling! Sorry about not having any pictures this post.

More volleyball and foreigners

2009-09-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 7:30 AM to make 8 AM volleyball practice with my the Mechanical Engineering team! Instead of having intramural competition (between all college students), they have teams by major that compete in annual major vs. major sport competitions. My major practices at 8AM on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays... so now I have a reason to wake up early! 5 guys showed up to practice this morning, but apparently, there are around 20 something members on two ME teams.

I also watched a Deaflympics volleyball game with my buddy, Christina. Watching the Deaflympics is quite an experience. It's not at the same level as university volleyball or the Olympics, but it's quite competitive especially for those with disabilities.

On the way back from lunch, I ran into my professor from UCLA. He looked so familiar, so I asked him whether or not he was a professor at UCLA, and it turns out he was my professor for my Dynamics Systems course. I asked him whether or not he was on Sabbatical here at NTU, but it turns out he was just in the area visiting someone! Definitely a coincidence (Yuan fen)!

So, all of the other students from everywhere around the world moved in. I'm going to be meeting a bunch of people the next few days. Finally, some Californians have moved in! It's been awhile since I've met someone from California.

On a less exciting note, I have my Chinese placement test tomorrow from around 10:30 AM until 3:30 PM. We have orientations from Wednesday until Friday also.

I'm afraid of school starting! It's too close!

Jiufen, Fulong beach, Keelung!

2009-09-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

The cousins again headed up to Taipei today, and we headed Northeast to Keelung! We picked up our old friend, Ruo-Shuai, and she was our personal tour guide for the day.

We checked out her college, which was my dad's college for a bit (National Taiwan Ocean University). She's studying marine engineering there, just like my dad did!

Afterwards, we went to Jiufen, which is supposed to be a very preserved, pretty district in the mountains. Catered towards tourists, long night market streets wind through Jiufen. I guess they're famous for their mochi balls, which come in 5 or 6 different flavors: taro, sesame, etc. It didn't strike me as beautiful, however. I thought the mountains in Taichung were a lot prettier.

Since we were already there, we went to Fulong beach, where I proceeded to get a really mosquito bite (my first!). It's currently very swollen. I'm probably allergic to it! The beach definitely does not compare to those in the US, but it was still pretty relaxing. We definitely tried the Fulong box lunches, which are supposed to be famous. It was pretty okay! I'd rather go for a chicken breast box lunch, though!

Later tonight, we headed back to Keelung to indulge in their busy night market scene. We ate Bawan (sweet, salty, meat-filled mochi), some interesting burrito wraps with lots of Taiwanese stuff inside, this mochi-like, swirly noodles in the traditional Taiwanese, dense soup, and this famous ice cream that they sell in Keelung. Overall, the packed Keelung scene was overwhelming and not as exciting as night markets in Taipei or Taichung.

On a side note, I have a Chinese placement test on Wednesday, and class registration has been completed! Time to see what classes I'm going to take.

First time I've seen rain here

2009-09-02T02:37:00.000-07:00

I was just saying yesterday how it stopped raining the day I got here. I guess I jinxed it!

Went to the gym in the morning and stayed in the rest of the day. Hopefully not getting sick...

Taichung, KTV, and Costco

2009-09-01T07:46:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was my cousin David's birthday, so some friends and I trekked to Taichung! Right when we got there, they picked us up and brought us to a karaoke joint.

We sang for a good 3-4 hours before going to Fengjia Night Market, which is my cousin's university. It's the best known night market in Taichung, and it's always packed. We went at around 5PM, and it was still really packed. It was also unusually hot and sticky despite being 3-4 degrees cooler than Taipei.

My eldest aunt and uncle came to visit the next morning, resulting the normal, long conversation with my grandfather. My grandpa told me to run for the president of the United States, handing me a fan that has a Chinese proverb on the back. It says "The emperor comes from the East."

It's a "boneless" piece of art, meaning the artist did not use any rulers or tools to draw on this fan. It was given to my grandpa awhile ago by a famous painter from Luoyang, China. I'm currently cherishing this fan and all of its glory on my desk.

Soon after, we adventured to Costco, which I would have to say was a very rewarding experience. Not only did it remind me of home, it was the closest thing to America I've had since I got here. Everything was in English, most things sold in the American Costco's were sold here, and I bought some Kirkland Spiced Pecan Cereal. It was marvelous.

Bulgogi Bake and Peking Duck Pizza

We ate in the food section, which featured chicken and Bulgogi bakes, seafood, Peking duck, and Hawaiian flavored pizzas, and even churros. All of these were at the normal, cheap American prices. The food court was packed with people!

Weird, green muffins

Costco also let anyone and everything try out their daily alcohol trials. My cousin, James, told me about how parents would get these alcohol samples for their kids. I was also amused at the length of the lines at these trial stations. Asians love their free trials! Cheerios also struck me as peculiar. Apparently, Cheerios had been under a lawsuit saying that their cereal was being sold as medicine, reducing cholesterol. So, all of the markings of "cholesterol" are marked out with a Sharpie. Interesting!

Cheerios

My mom's been looking for soy sauce at Costco for awhile now. Here it is, mom!

Back in Taipei

2009-08-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been able to update in a few days. I've somewhat been keeping myself busy and away from the internet. Luckily, I finally have internet in my room!

After returning to Taipei, my two cousins and one of their girlfriends came up to hang out. We went to Baxian, which is this water park much like Wild Rivers or Raging Waters. I felt like it was lacking in scary rides, but that may be because I'm getting too big for water rides! I remember going to Wild Rivers as a kid and thinking it was amazing.. and then when we revisited Wild Rivers as college students, we got bored of it and left after a few hours. Nonetheless, it was filled with kids, umbrellas and shades to shelter people from the sun, and some warm Taiwanese water!

Some other foreign exchange students have moved in. I met a few guys from California, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, and none from the UC schools. They're in the Intensive Chinese Learning Program (ICLP) but unfortunately not in our UC edition of it. It's good to mingle with people from around the globe, though. It makes me miss the exchange boys from back home.

I'm going to Taichung tomorrow again! Bright and early. It's my cousin's (Darong) birthday, and we're going to an all-you-can-eat karaoke joint for the afternoon and Fengjia night market for the night. I'll probably be heading back to Taipei on Sunday night or Monday. Hope to take some pictures more pictures! I haven't been very good at it. Until Monday!

Some videos!

2009-08-24T04:29:00.000-07:00

Zhongyang Mountain Range

2009-08-24T04:15:00.001-07:00

We all just came back from a two-day adventure into the mountains (Zhongyang)! The Zhongyang mountain range is known for its Swiss-like mountain sides, hills full of sheep, and Swiss architecture. We started out by taking a detour and checking out the most luxurious temple I had ever seen. It was truly an amazing site to look at, if you forget about the smaller inside. We were wondering what the rest of the huge monastery was for.

Zhongtaichan Monastery

We continued to drive up the mountain, but we figured we would go check it out the next morning so we could spend more time with the sheep :) It was crazy because there are so many beautiful Eruopean-style houses, some used as hotels whereas others are privately owned. This one is both gothic- and Rennaisance-themed, featuring white statues with tan drapes/clothing. I'd never seen that before.

Heading up the mountain

Clearly, it's a very scary place to live. It's on the edge of a cliff, too. I'd be worried during a typhoon.

We trekked higher, eating "mountainous pig and rice" and exploring the mountains. We basically got really lost in the hills, but we found our way sooner or later. I'd never gotten lost 3,000 miles up in a mountain range before.

And then it was hot-spring time. We played around in a man-made hot spring (with hot mountain water at around 39 degrees Celsius) and went to the night markets near the hot springs. Apparently, before one of the recent typhoons, this night market and hot spring area was very popular and full of people. After the typhoon took out part of the town near the river, things haven't been the same. We found the night market extremely empty, especially at 10PM. The other guys found it kind of scary.

The next day, we woke up at 7AM to head over to a sheep farm (Qingjing) and the highest part of the mountain range we were at (Wulin). We played with a bunch of sheep, got bored, and decided to head higher and higher. Before we knew it we were at the top along with dozens of bicyclists. It's insane how far people go for a good bike ride here in Taiwan. We were at around 3,500 meters high.

Getting some exercise

2009-08-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

I ran to school today, snuck into the gym, and played some volleyball. What a productive morning!

I've got to remember this:
1 kilogram = 2.20462262 pounds

Weights being in kilograms really messes with my head. It was funny though, because I was doing this chest-pumping workout while all of the other guys were doing baby bicep curls. I was probably two times the size and weight of the other guys in there. I'm surprised at the number of people on treadmills though (mostly girls). I could possibly be three times their sizes and weights.

That picture of the volleyball is the closest thing I can find online to the volleyballs they use in Taiwan. They're hard, sticky, and they bounce like bouncy balls. I won't even go into detail how they feel like water polo balls.

Add some water to the courts, and we could possibly get a game going on.

A visit from old friends!

2009-08-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

Long story short, I met a few Taiwanese students in Irvine last summer when they were interning at Irvine Chinese School. They decided to come up from Taoyuan today to come visit me!

We had a pretty exhausting day despite the okay weather.

Here are some pictures from the past two days:

Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall

The 101. It says Taiwan on it!

Mister Donut is amazing. Their donuts aren't oily/greasy like American ones. They also have a mochi-type texture to them. It's so good! Sorry, I tried making it look like feces (especially with the coffee on the napkin).

Some salted/breaded/fried fish in a thick noodle soup.

At a BBQ place. For NTD429, you get an all-you-can-BBQ meat fest. You can either put it on the grill or put it in this seafood hot pot. The fish head is supposed to give the hot pot its seafood taste.

My Taoyuan friends :)

Washing my clothes

2009-08-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

Taking my clothes out of the 20-minute-cycle dryer was like retrieving my clothes from the fiery pits of Hell. I felt like my clothes could have been baked to a crisp if I had paid for another 20 minutes.

A few pictures

2009-08-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

Shilin Night Market (with a girl scratching her butt!)

Mian-mian Shaved Ice! It's super super soft, and it looks like strands of noodles. It's really amazing how it's made and how it tastes. Highly recommend it.

Danshui River at night

Random facts about Taiwan

2009-08-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

A few things I've found interesting about Taiwan:

1) Taiwanese people can't say or understand the words, "Seven Eleven." You know how when you learn words when you're a kid, you tend to jumble words together carelessly? Seven Eleven is a great example of this. These convenience stores are located on every other street corner, allowing Taiwanese citizens to pay bills, enjoy lunches, or purchase tea eggs. So if you can begin to imagine how kids jumble up the words Seven Eleven...

Most people call it "Seven." If they say it really fast, the American ear can catch an intelligible "Sele Eleiben." If they say it faster than really fast, the average ear catches a simple "Sele Elele."

This progression of what I would like to call "Taiwan-speak" is pretty much chiseled in Taiwanese culture. I ask for directions a lot, and I asked for the nearest 7-11 out of pure laziness to wander around a few blocks. I got a good stare from a few college students. I ended up repeating these two words at least another time. "Sele Elele" should be Spanish, not English.

2) "Cool, white people" in Taiwan are not as cool as I thought. I had a good glimpse of Americans in Taiwan at a local Starbucks today, as they proceeded to sit near me.

Taiwanese people love these white guys. If you're white and you're reading this, your arrival to Taiwan will guarantee an interesting, high paid job, not to mention tons of Taiwanese girls willingly giving you their number. Here's the cool part: you can be a self-proclaimed geek, dork, and video-game addict, yet you can still be the coolest looking person on the block. I'd have to say... those people at Starbucks would have been at home playing the latest Warcraft video game if they weren't in Taiwan.

3) There are stray dogs everywhere. I didn't think they'd be as plentiful in Taipei, but they are. Girls love feeding them too. People are either indifferent to them, or they feed the crap out of them. I proceeded to watch a girl get off her bike, unwrap her sandwich, and hand feed it to the dog. The dog proceeded to watch the girl get off her bike, unwrap her sandwich, eat it while still lying there, and continue to lie there as if it were dying in the heat. Oh, how they take advantage of pity.

4) There are tons of white guys everywhere--on every street corner. Don't worry, you're still special.

5) Everyone speaks English. I talked to this old, old Taiwanese man who worked at a tiny restaurant, and he spoke better English than the average Taiwanese student does. He could even recite to me every city name in the San Gabriel Valley. I can't even do that.

6) 50% of bikes have pegs. Yeah, pegs are meant for doing tricks, but the average bike has it so the male can slave away at pedaling while the girl companion can stand and enjoy the ride. I'm thinking of starting a rickshaw service from my dorm to school.

7) Chicken tastes better in Taiwan. Believe it or not, they don't raise their chickens like they are cows. Kentucky Fried Chicken is almost a gift from the heavens.

Even the Colonel is Asian.

Meeting up with more people

2009-08-16T18:59:00.001-07:00

Hanging out with more people

So, it turns out Roger and Karen Wu are in Taiwan for the next three weeks. I spent today hanging out with them and their 3 friends. We all got on the MRT and traveled around. I ate at Din Tai Feng again, but it's all good.

We stopped by Wu Fen Pu, which is this array of alleys that sells clothes at dirt cheap prices. I found some pretty legit shops. Lots of shops with Bape stuff. I ended up finding a shop that sold Billabong board shorts for NTD650 ($18) each. I wanted to test out my American bargaining skills in Taiwan, and it proved quite successful. If you ever want any tips on bargaining, just give me a ring. I told the guy that Billabong shorts could be bought at small stores in Southern California for $10 each. He tried telling me how the fabric was really good, and I told him the Billabong shorts I was wearing had better fabric.

I wasn't even wearing Billabong shorts. He ended up selling it me for NTD450. $90 board shorts for $13?! Anybody want any?

Everyone (minus one) came over to my dorm soon after. The five of us sped past the security guard… it was pretty funny. We hung out here until I had to meet my cousins for dinner.

We ate dinner with my cousins, uncles, and aunts at this Xi'an style restaurant. Afterwards, my cousins took me shopping for more dorm stuff, thus completing my dorm room. I bought a brush and mop, so now my room is sparkly clean!

Okay, now it's midnight, and I'm falling asleep. I wake up too early in a society that believes in sleeping late. Fail.

Starting to lose count of days

2009-08-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

Let's start you out with some food:

Just a regular egg roll breakfast. Soooo cheap!

Juice milk. Tastes like fruit creamsicles. Drinking a creamsicle is weird, though.

I finally left Gongguan today! Gongguan is the little NTU town that I live in. I did a little bit of exploring with my friend, Christina, who was generous enough to help me buy a prepaid card with her Taiwanese ID. She basically helped me accomplish the bigger, tourist initiations--eating at Din Tai Feng.

With Christina's friend

Din Tai Feng is famous for their steamed pork buns.

Din Tai Feng is this chain restaurant that I found was extremely organized despite its insane popularity. One restaurant had an hour wait, so we made a 20-minute trek to another location. I literaly have never sweat so much in 20 minutes. I was drenched by the time we got to the restaurant... it was pretty insane.

I played volleyball at NTU the other day, joining a pickup game. I sweat less there than making that 20-minute walk. I'm living up the ABC (American born Chinese) experience in Taiwan, really.

Speaking of living up the ABC experience, I was telling my friend yesterday how I'd been suffering from culture shock all day with her. It was quite sad actually. The worst part of being inefficient at Chinese is hanging out with a bunch of people. One-on-one is okay, but once more people come in, I become at a loss for words. Let me explain the procedure for you:

Well, the last part should actually be:

"Chinglish"

Self-explanatory, really.

I went to a little kick back last night, and I noticed that I really can't communicate like I want to. If I want to say something funny, I find myself hesitating and just forgetting about it. Haha! It's only been 2 days, though. I'm hoping it will get better soon!

Home-cooked meal + pizza!

Day 2... Kind of.

2009-08-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

I've been here for a day and a half, but it's felt like 3 or 4 days now. It's partly due to only getting about 6 hours in the past 2 or 3 days, but drinking tea and coffee like water here is keeping me alive and well!

I've been wandering around, trying to find my way around and getting used to the surroundings. It's really such a huge culture shock because everyone's in a hurry, but no one's really in a hurry. I'm not sure if that makes any sense. If you imagine walking down a street, it's kind of like a relaxed, fast walk. In the mornings, people bike around just for fun or exercise. It's really interesting to see how many young and old people take the time to exercise in the morning.

The immigration office was extremely efficient, I was surprised. I went in, got my resident number, and left. No questions asked. The bank, however, was a lot harder. They don't believe in putting English on anything at the bank, so I was thoroughly confused by their slips and forms. Not only that, in Taiwan, they require stamps as signatures instead of actual signatures--completely different society and culture. I'm standing there at the bank with a signature card in hand, completely confused as to how i'm going to "stamp" my name in that small box. In the end, she had me write my name in capitals like "AN ALEX LON," which makes absolutely no sense to us Americans, but whatever!

Later, I met up with Rachel, my cousin, last night for some Thai food and dessert! It'd been at least two years since I'd seen her, and she definitely is one of my favorite people in the world, so it was great seeing her. We got some crab and crab egg dish, some type Thai curry chicken, and some classic Taiwanese dessert.

After she left, I hung out with a guy from my major in Taiwan and a fellow EAP student. It's nice getting to know more people! Things don't seem as lonely anymore, but we'll have to wait and see how everything turns out.

I'm in Starbucks again, using my NTD100/day ($3) wireless card. I think Taipei has wifi everywhere, you just need to get this card with its own password and whatnot.

I'll probably buy more internet time tomorrow. So until next time!

In Taiwan!

2009-08-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

Coming here has been quite an adventure--an always-terrible airplane experience, the long, annoying process of getting into my dorm room, and the inability to communicate with people. I got sick on the airplane as usual, but I knew that would happen. If you didn't know, I feel really nauseous on airplanes a lot because of the smell of the food and whatnot. Thinking about it makes me queasy!

Luckily, my neighbor from Irvine picked me up from the airport since I sent him to the airport last week. The dorms sold mattresses at a total rip off, so we went to a night market to grab a way better mattress and pillow for a little over NTD1000 ($30). Not everything's dirt cheap in Taiwan :) I got some great, Taiwanese food too. For NTD150, I got a large bowl of rice in a dense shrimp/tofu soup. It came with iced red tea, this soup made from a weird orange plant, and some watermelon. Try getting that in the US for under $4.50! I still feel like Taiwanese food has a hint of sweetness in it. It's just the way they like it, I guess.

First impression of Taiwan? How I'm going to live here for the next few months. Obviously, everything here is a lot dirtier than in the US. I'll have to get used to that humid stench of Taiwan, and I'll probably be making friends with a lot of mosquitoes. But hey, without me, how can they live?

My dorm room is pretty cool, though. It's a single room which is about two times the size of the one I had at UCLA, not to mention it having its own bathroom. There are no shower curtains, though... they make you buy it. The room is so clean and new that there's still dust and whatnot from the construction. I need to somehow to buy a bunch of cleaning equipment so I can wipe everything up. I'm not expecting any mosquitoes on the 14th floor, but we'll just have to wait until tomorrow and see. There's a little too much white in this room, I need to somehow put furniture in this room. It almost feels like I'm in a prison cell with the water dripping from the bathroom reflecting off the walls.

Now, it's about 5:25 AM, and I've still been unsuccessful with sleeping. I did, however, get some nice pictures of dusk from my dorm room. The weather isn't that bad at 5AM!

View from window

I can see the 101!

7:45 AM

It's pretty lonely living on your own when everyone else won't arrive for another month. I met one guy from Columbia University in the downstairs lounge last night, and everyone else seems pretty friendly to foreigners. I'm pretty sure they can tell I'm not from here just because of the way I look. I met two people walking on the street speaking English last night at around 1AM, and it turns out they were from Berkeley. I also saw someone this morning at 6AM in another lounge. It was quite obvious that they were American... you can just tell. I was hesitant to believe you could tell so easily, but you really can!

I've begun to realize how easy, yet difficult it is to live 7,000 miles away from home, with friends and family a painful phone call away. I'm still not used to talking on the phone in Chinese, I feel like without seeing them face-to-face, it's so much harder to tell what they're saying. Unfortunately, I've been feeling pretty lonely since I've gotten here, especially since I've had to figure out most things on my own and I don't have internet or a phone.

It's been a pretty long morning though. I left my dorm at around 6AM in hopes of buying daily-use items, such as hand soap, tissues, soap, etc., but I found myself wandering closer and closer to NTU. I also bought some pan-fried bao-zi while adventuring for about 12 bucks. It was pretty good, but it doesn't compare to my mom's :) It turns out that there are no stores that sell these things anywhere near here. That's weird because this is the college-oriented part of town. Either way, I bought half of the stuff I needed at the 7-11 downstairs. Still need some hand soap. Where do I get hand soap?!

This no-internet business is annoying! I haven't even been able to call my parents, which is pretty sad, considering I've been awake for 12 hours now. I'm going to try and find some internet, hopefully somewhere inside of NTU.

9:25 AM

I gave myself a little tour of NTU on my skateboard, asking random people for directions and whatnot. It's pretty fun, considering people look at you funny for riding a skateboard. It's funny because I go as fast as the bikes, and I take the bike lanes and bike crosswalks. Humans let up to scooters, scooters let up to cars, and cars let up to skateboards. They see me as a dangerous, foreign object, like mosquitoes to Americans.

NTU's main library

I went to go ask for internet to no avail, finding out that I'll get getting it the 21st, which is probably after I go to Taichung. Furthermore, I won't be able to use the gym or anything. The NTU gym looks like a rundown warehouse, which it probably is. Man, do I miss the gym at UCLA or UCI. I've been spoiled!

NTU's gym

This lonesome lifestyle is proven quite difficult, and I don't know really how long I can last. I miss having tons of friends. Hopefully, it'll change. Finally got internet! I needed a phone number to get on, though. Since I don't have a phone, the manager put his number in for me. Taiwanese people are so nice! It still sucks though, that I'm limited so much just because I'm a foreigner. Time to spend some time posting this stuff!

Packed up and good to go

2009-08-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

So, the visa they gave me was a Visitor Visa which allows for 60 days inside Taiwan. They didn't give me a Resident Visa because I needed proof that I was staying at NTU (National Taiwan University) for two quarters... but then why did they only give me 60 days? 60 Days is enough to last me through the first month of school. Oh, Taiwanese embassy, how you screw me over. I paid $131 for it, and I still have to go to an immigration office in Taiwan to buy a Resident Visa and then an Alien Resident Visa, which will cost at least another TWD5000 (~$150).

I'm definitely excited to be leaving. I hate airplanes, but I'll be watching 10 hours of Band of Brothers, hopefully sleeping enough to pass through those 13 hours peacefully. I'm hoping China Airlines will have power outlets. Knowing my luck, they probably won't, but we'll just have to wait and see.

I've had some mixed feelings though. I'm leaving some people behind that I really wish I wouldn't have to leave. Nonetheless, this year will go by fast, and they probably won't have noticed I've been gone!

Fortunately, I'm all packed up and ready to leave. I have one large suitcase and one small one. I'm carrying a backpack with a skateboard attached also. We'll see how the airline deals with that one ;) I always have some obscure object that needs to be checked or placed in some random compartment--I love it. Guitars, violins, skateboards...

I wonder what kind of large object I'll carry home!

My last beach volleyball session!

2009-08-10T13:45:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure if they're going to have beach volleyball in Taiwan, but here are some pictures of our last beach volleyball gathering.

Goodbyes

2009-08-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to leave

2009-08-04T13:02:00.001-07:00

You know... I never thought getting ready to leave could be so easy. Really, all I need to worry about is getting that Taiwanese Visa, taking hundreds of immunization shots, and packing miscellaneous goods.

I spent all of this morning finishing up moving money around from bank to bank so I could get the most interest in CD's. Bought a digital camera too... so you should expect many pictures to be taken the next year.

You know what they will have little of in Taiwan? Mexican food. They usually have wraps.. or meat wrapped in some tortilla-like stuff. I'll definitely miss the fried, oily nature of Mexican food. Thus, I just had a chimichanga at Tacos Al Carbon (highly recommend their chimichangas, thanks to Aaron Bui). The next week will basically be packing, saying goodbye to friends, and enjoying American food. I hope it doesn't give me a heart attack before I leave!

MBOX 2 Mini, MXL 990, etc...

2009-07-30T23:33:00.001-07:00

I'm sure you're puzzled by the names of electronic equipment above... It's quite a handful (fiscally). Luckily, I got great deals by buying all of them off of craigslist, meeting up with random people around Orange County. In the end, I spent less than $200 on equipment that could have easily cost me over $1,000. Forunately, all of the equipment is working perfectly, and I'm very satisfied with all of it despite being the equipment's second owner.

Matt Tan and Ben Dokko came over today to do some recording, and we came out with the acoustic version of our thunder-themed song, "Wanderer." The YouTube video is below:

Wish it could be better quality!

Anyways, so lately I've been figuring out a bunch of National Taiwan University business. I'm getting a little bored of Southern California, and I think it's time for a little vacation before I study at the hardest university in Taiwan. It turns out I'm going to be leaving on the 12th of August (still tentative because I've been slightly indecisive). The hard part of this plan was getting the housing situation figured out. It turns out they let us move in early as long as our room is vacant. I'll be living on the 14th floor of an all-boys' dormitory. This will be weird not being with a lot of girls everywhere! I'm hoping this dorm is earthquake proof also ;)

Nonetheless, I'm planning on doing a biking trip around Taiwan sometime in the next year. I'll probably travel around Taiwan by car or motorcycle or train during the next month, and I'll end up doing the biking trip during Winter Break or next summer. We'll see though.

I'm excited about leaving the US, eating some Taiwanese food, seeing all of my relatives, and enduring the biggest, most prolonged change of environment so far!

Cheers.

A few more songs to add to the collection

2009-07-24T00:39:00.000-07:00

I've been writing such eclectic music these days. Even I think it's quite interesting how my brain's working. I'm producing acoustic, hip-hop songs, serenades, slow songs, happy songs, dark songs, etc... It's really getting kind of crazy! I'm not sure what kind of music I'm getting into! To be honest, my latest two creations have this classical guitar vibe to it. One of them even has this Spanish feel to it (the one with the drums).

Enjoy!

The soon-to-be background for our band's song, featuring a rap by Matt Tan:

Not particularly proud of this one (in a professional sense), but it was fun:

Just jammin':

I've put together a sampler

2009-07-20T02:17:00.000-07:00

I'm part of a trio that we formed back in high school. We were named VPS after "Violin, Piano, Saxophone." That slowly disintegrated because I picked up guitar on top of violin, Ben Dokko also plays guitar on top of his piano, and Matt Tan can rap in addition to playing sax.

This summer, we made it a goal to come out with some music. To give you all the inside scoop, our plan is to create a little EP that features themes from different storms. Included in the sampler are snowstorms, desert storms, thunderstorms, and a bunch of random songs. We figured the entire album couldn't all be storm-themed. It'd be too melancholy or intense.

We've recorded a fun song, a romantic song, and a few others! Here they are:

Just throwing another one out there!

2009-07-16T23:48:00.000-07:00

Pumping out songs like no other!

Wrote a new song today...

2009-07-14T23:03:00.001-07:00

I don't know what to call it, but here's a rough of it I've put online:

EAP Taiwan is getting closer and closer...

2009-07-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

You know, I still can't eat anything that has to do with burgers or fries. I just feel so, so sick afterwards.

Anyways, I'm getting ready mentally for Taiwan these days. Unlike my buddy over here, Sandy, I've never studied abroad, so this will be a crazy, year-long adventure. I've been consulting with my Taiwanese friends here in Irvine about how to read some Chinese; I've been doing some studying of Taiwan's maps for fun; and I've been chatting it up with friends and relatives in Chinese. It requires a lot of translating from my trusty partner in crime (http://www.mandarintools.com), but it's been fun.

My foreign exchange buddy, James Jeffery, once told me that before embarking on EAP, there'd be a long period of uncertainty. I'm really hitting that time right now, especially since I have no idea what classes I'm taking next quarter. Not to mention the language test.

Once we get there, we have to take this language test that's supposed to be reading comprehension and listening. It places us in these language intensive courses, but the problem is that I don't really know my level compared to everyone else who has actually taken Chinese classes at their UC's. I'm scared I won't even make it into a language class!

Assuming I get into a language class, I'll hopefully get to take some engineering and general education courses. If I can't get into that language class, I'll have to take some English-taught courses which will be very interesting (and easy, hopefully).

The uncertainty kills.

On a brighter note, my buddies and I have written about 4 full songs now. I don't think we'll be recording them in a studio, but we do plan on playing them live and maybe recording them on video. I'll update you all later!

Drunk off of french fries

2009-07-06T23:05:00.000-07:00

Spent my 4th of July weekend down in San Diego this past weekend. Man, was it eventful. I actually woke up at 6AM on Saturday... oh, man. Cathy and Vivian picked me up at around noon, and we headed down to San Diego to pick up Matt Tan. We got him, and we headed to La Jolla Shores, where we spent all afternoon. We played volleyball on the beach, which was a pretty cool experience running through all of that water. Tanned it up a bit with the girls, and then we packed up and headed over to Extraordinary Desserts in Downtown SD to please Cathy.

Extraordinary Desserts was a pretty good restaurant. Here's the catch: their buff is in serving desserts. You walk in, and they have a batch of desserts from which you order from, all displayed behind glass. They sit you down, serve you your 'extraordinary' dessert, and you pay them like you just ate at a restaurant. It was quite an interesting experience. You can check them out at http://www.extraordinarydesserts.com.

After that, we picked up a few tubs of ice cream, and we headed over to Guillaume's house for a BBQ. Swam, ate, the drinkers played beer pong, we played this fun charades game, and we called it a night pretty late. Spent the night at Matt's apartment, and we got this splendid idea of going to Red Robin for lunch the next day.

Let me tell you--I did not want Red Robin the next morning. I was not feeling it, I didn't want to eat another burger especially after that BBQ, but we still went. Decided to have a fry-eating competition, we pranced happily to our favorite burger joint, only to face two girls who are monsters at gorging food.

Basket 12. Split evenly. Both teams are at 6 baskets each. Cathy and Vivian still smiling. Matt Tan needing to go to the bathroom to unload. Girls not letting him.

Basket 16. 8 each. I'm gone. Matt makes me finish the basket because he's been carrying the team apparently. Cathy and Vivian still smiling.

Basket 18. 9 each. Surprisingly, Matt and I feel like we can take on any challenge. At that point, we figured any more fries would just go down like the last dozen of fries, so it wouldn't make much different if we ate more. However, looking across the table, Cathy and Vivian are done. Spraying Tobasco sauce over their fries to make it go down faster, Vivian looks like she's about to keel over and faint.

Luckily, Matt and I convinced them to stop eating and to let us tie it. I remember, at one point or another, the waiter stopped coming to us so he could stop serving us fries. Giving him a monstrous tip, he came back happily and even chatted with us a bit about these fry-eating contests. Funny thing was that he said these contests usually took place when utterly obese men came... not with 2 Asian girls.

I want to forget everything after that competition. All I remember was feeling terrible, wanting to complain a lot, and taking a four-hour nap after I got home. I'm not going to lie, I got a little feverish night of--I couldn't think or anything. I just wanted to sleep!

What a crazy weekend. It ended with my parents accusing me of having a hangover because I was feeling so sick! HAHA! Good times, good times.

A Good 2.5 Months

2009-06-21T22:50:00.000-07:00

Vacation never felt so... confusing! That's the only way I can describe my summer. I have a lot on my plate, but it really feels like it's not enough. I love keeping myself busy, so an unplanned vacation is a messy one.

I would, however, like to accomplish a few things before I go to Taiwan. A few of these things include writing and recording music, starting up a company with a buddy of mine, practice my Chinese, and continue going to the gym. It's crazy how much exercise I'm getting these days! My metabolism is pumping, making me hungry every few hours. It's kind of annoying, actually. Nonetheless, I've been keeping up with friends altogether! Almost everyone's still at UCLA or their respective colleges, taking summer school or working. Only a few of us are still at home with or without work.

Time to come up with more things to do!

Leaving UCLA for another year and a half

2009-06-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well, it's definitely been hard saying goodbye to all of my friends at Rieber Terrace. Friends come and go, but these guys that I've met over the past year share a special part of my life... especially all those good laughs and jokes. I'm still lacking sleep (2 hours a night), so I'm keeping it short! You wouldn't want me to start deliriously ranting on would you? :)

Hello, National Taiwan University!

Almost there..

2009-06-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

Two more finals! Thursday and Friday. I don't think I've ever been so dependent on energy drinks. This is so bad!

Heave! Ho!

Electric Motorcycle

2009-05-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

Personally, I think it's dangerous. It's electric, so it must be super quiet, and quiet motorcycles are not a good idea. On top of that, if the motorcycle gets dropped, the battery may leak and catch on fire or something even more dangerous.

Who knows what the future of green energy is. I feel like it's a huge fad right now with a dull future. Essentially, the future of fuels will be a competition between several different sources, hopefully with a clear winner. Only time will tell!

Spring Sing Pictures

2009-05-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

The End to a Crazy Week

2009-05-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

This past week has literally been one of the most intense weeks of my college career. Hands down. From midterms to rehearsals, I was pretty much bogged down by any type of business possible. I had two engineering midterms, two engineering homework assignments, a paper, a business plan, an interview, four Spring Sing rehearsals, a few meetings, and life on top of that. Luckily, the paper got moved to next week, or Thursday may have been crazy. Unfortunately, rehearsals took the best of me, and I wasn't able to study for my second midterm for very long. We'll see how I did on that one.

The finale of the week was Spring Sing. If you don't know, Spring Sing is UCLA's annual talent show, where the best bands, singers, performers, and comedians fight to get their spot on stage. Over 115 people tried out, and 15 of us made the cut. At the actual concert, over 7,000 people filled Pauley Pavilion for our sold-out performance! Our group, Rapture City Philharmonic, went last in the show. We felt like it was only an average performance because we weren't able to hear each other, but we still swept the audience. Our 13-piece band features a string octet, a rock band, and a rapper. It's a blend of hip-hop, rock, and contemporary classical music.. one of a kind!

When we found out we won Spring Sing, it was the craziest cheering most of us had ever done. The acknowledgment from celebrity judges and the audience made it all so much better! Best band at UCLA :)

I'll post up some videos and pictures when they get on YouTube and whatnot!

Badminton, Slack Roping, Rock Wall...

2009-04-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

So, I've been pretty much satisfying my goal of trying new things, especially athletic-wise. I'm starting to do a lot more free-weight chest routines... ab routines... it's getting pretty crazy!

Last week, I tried badminton, and I did surprisingly well. I guess it's in my Asian genes. A few days later, I tried tight roping a few feet off the floor. Now, that was hard. Luckily, it's hard not to land on your feet, but I don't think I'll be doing it anytime soon. Today, I tried rock climbing, which turned out really fun! I completed all of the novice runs, so next time I can try some intermediate ones. It's painful on the fingers and forearms, though. There's lots of technique and physics involved in that.

Time to try some more new sports!

Spicy ramen challenge!

2009-04-25T01:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight, we went to Onochon Ramen in Little Tokyo. Man, was it crazy! We had to try their spicy ramen challenge, which was a challenge to eat all of the noodles and drink all of the soup within 30 minutes. If you can begin to imagine how intensely spicy this noodle soup was... one of us was sweating like crazy, the rest of us were feeling like passing out, and our heads were getting physically numb from the spiciness! The funniest part of the entire adventure was how one of the guys couldn't hold in his digested food in the car! It didn't come out of the mouth!

Pictures will definitely come up later! (Not of the car incident, but of the food and whatnot)

Inspired!

2009-04-22T19:37:00.000-07:00

I attended a meeting tonight, held by the Tech Coast Angels. TCA is the largest angel investment network, which is basically a bunch of guys who will invest in you with their utmost confidence... just because they're nice guys. I'm hoping to apply for a mentorship program, where members from TCA will basically help assist me with my business plans.

So... It's time to formulate that business plan! I'm hoping to start some type of venture within the next 5 months. Before I leave for Taiwan, I plan to have my business set.

Onward, ho!

Thieves

2009-04-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

Recently, the number of things getting stolen is really being blown out of proportion. Especially after my motorcycle was stripped and stolen of its parts, I have really been plagued by the knowledge of friends' possessions taken from them.

Anything from vandalism to cars' windows broken or even parking permits getting stolen, UC Police Department (UCPD) is really feeling a lot of the action. Whether it's to be blamed on the economy or not, it feels like students are the ones doing the stealing and being stolen from. I've only heard of the financial issues many students have been going through, but only so much.

Today, I basically got to feel this issue straight up. My friend's cousin had her car broken into at around noon. An act of desperation... at noon? It's kind of crazy to be hearing of such unwarranted travesty. To spice the story up a little bit, she's currently going through some insane financial issues, especially with car loans. To say the least, those who are really suffering from this economy could be not only the thieves but also the victims.

All in all, being a victim could be a matter of luck or chance. I definitely do not understand thieves and how they become who they are, but desperation could possibly be a factor of the economy. I'd love exploring this matter... however, I'm quite positive I don't know enough to make any conclusions. I'll let the professionals handle this one.

Crazy birthday week!

2009-04-16T00:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not going to lie. It's been a crazy week! It all started Friday, when we ended up going to a few birthday parties around Westwood. Saturday, I studied all day at the Getty, went to another birthday party, and slept at 4AM because we all decided to watch one of the suitemates play video games. Sunday was chest workout and volleyball day. And Monday was just a relaxing day, ending with our Bruin Motorcycle Association's MotoGP opener night. Fred made some amazing bacon-wrapped hot dogs.

I got back to the dorms at around 10PM or 11PM. Studied a little bit with a friend, and then my floor surprised me for my birthday at around midnight. Charles got me a box of Goldfish and a Sam Adams, and Einar spoiled me with some random gifts (Belgian ale of some sort).

After having a pretty crazy night, I finally got some sleep, and I ended up going to all of my classes on Tuesday even though everyone told me to ditch! After my last class, we had our weekly BMA ride. This time it was to Hooters. So, Fred and Tim drove a few girls and me alone with 20 other motorcycle riders, and we all made it to Hooters for some buffalo wings. And of course, BMA pressured me into drinking a beer or two.

So apparently, I got really sick that night (sore throat), and the next morning I could not get up. I was basically in bed until 2 or 3PM, feeling groggy and terrible. I did, however, make it to a mandatory study abroad (Taiwan) meeting, which immediately followed with a dinner that a few friends and I were planning for a week.

We ended up at Manna's, one of the most famous Korean BBQ restaurants in LA. What they do there to birthday boys is take bottles of champagne, shake it up, and spray it all over the poor kid. After a few of these happened, I thought I was clean. However, half way through dinner, I got the treatment. They put goggles over my eyes, put my hoodie on, and told me to open my mouth. They continued to spray it into my mouth and all over me, they pulled my sweatshirt back, and they got it all down my back! Then they poured me a glass of champagne. What a night! I came back smelling like Korean BBQ and champagne.

If you haven't heard...

2009-04-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

My motorcycle was stripped of its parts last Thursday night. It was quite disturbing, walking up to my bike and seeing all of that carnage. Whoever stole the parts knew what they were doing, and they have definitely racked up some nasty, bad karma.

I always keep my motorcycle locked to a guide rail with this hefty chain/fabric lock. I always cover it also. What was most disturbing was seeing the cover still on the motorcycle but only to show a different motorcycle shape underneath. Before I took off the cover, I knew something was wrong. Unveiling it was the worst part.

Well, there it is. There's a considerable amount of parts still on the bike, there is also a considerable amount missing. I called the shop today, and they said that the insurance total-ed it on the spot.

I'll update this blog if I get any more updates. Please let me know if you hear anything.

Back from Hawaii!

2009-03-30T00:06:00.000-07:00

I'm sad that I didn't bring my laptop to Hawaii to upload this bugger, but at least my luggage was light on the shoulders. In a sentence, Hawaii was the most relaxing trip I've ever been on, filled with bus trips around the island, lying on the beach, eating whatever we wanted, and doing whatever we wanted.

To say the least, Oahu was easy to get around especially because the island was so small. It somewhat reminded me of Taiwan. The weather, the atmosphere, the towns, etc. Hawaii, however, had a lot more tourists than I expected. I couldn't even tell the tourists from the natives half of the time, especially when we were on the buses or in places tourists didn't really go to.

What fascinates me the most is the abundance of this 'ABC Store' all over Waikiki. It's basically a 7-11 that happens to be every block. They don't do mail and delivery like 7-11's do in Taiwan, but they pretty much sell everything a tourist needs. Still, I have an utter fascination with this ABC Store company.

Nonetheless, Waikiki was full of families, good-looking girls, tourist-y things, charter buses, crowded beaches, and the sort.

Enough talk! Pictures!

Waiting for the bus!

The view from our patio on the 16th floor.

Kailua beachfront. When we went there, a bunch of people were kayaking to this small plateau-looking island. It was also really windy so a few people were para-sailing and boarding.

Having a little fun on the beach. Strong, high tides make this high embankment... and what's better than jumping off of the embankment?

Still at Kailua beach.

A little shrine overlooking that plateau island.

Sitting on a cliff in Kailua.

Still there! It was too beautiful of a place to not take thousands of pictures.

Diamond Head Crater State Park. Basically, we hiked the crater's edge with hundreds of other tourists. It was probably the most tourist-y thing we did all week, besides hanging out in Waikiki.

Looking down from a lookout point on Diamond Head.

Had a buddy take this for me.

Waikiki from Diamond Head.

View of the crater.

If you look closely, I'm sitting on that mound. I thought it would be epic.

Hanauma Bay. We went snorkeling on the reef there.. very awesome experience.

The volcano that created the southern part of Oahu! Long story short, I was stuck at the front of the bus on the way to Hanauma Bay, and I ended up chatting with the bus driver for half an hour. He told me about the trail up to the top of the volcano that had recently been opened up to the public. Before, it had been a military training trail. So, Kadir and I hiked it!

It was a 1200-step climb (1200 huge steps! Think Great Wall of China steps... 2 1/2 the size of regular steps). One part even had a bridge without railings or anything--just wooden steps. If you had fallen through you would have rolled down the mountain! Quite an amazing hike.

This is on our long walk from along Haleiwa beach to Waimea beach. It was the most beautiful beach we had ever seen. Few people, clear waters, 5-10 ft. waves, and native Hawaiian people.

The most beautiful part of the most beautiful beach.

And again. Picturesque!

We decided to have one expensive dinner while at Hawaii, and this was it. It was clearly the best seafood I've ever had. I ordered dungeonous crab (sorry no picture uploaded!).

I found the perfect photoshoot spot! And I took advantage of it.

Having fun with my phone's torch and my camera.

Snowboarding

2009-03-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

What a crazy day! Woke up at 6, drove to Gene's to pick him up, met up with Charles and his friends from high school, and we drove to Big Bear.

That´s not the crazy part. The craziest part was learning how to snowboard. It was my first time, and I had no idea what was coming. We started out on the beginner slope, which only made it harder for us to snowboard because it was so slow. We immediately got on the intermediate slope, and it made a huge difference. Nonetheless, I learned how to carve in a few hours! By my third time down the slopes, I was carving with Gene all the way down.

After that, we decided to take the advanced, trick route where you could go off of ramps, rails, and half-pipes. I tried some myself because I was feeling so into snowboarding. First time on a box, I ate it with Gene right behind me. Second time, I made it perfectly fine. It was awesome. I was so into it that I went for a half-pipe. I ended up going up and sliding back down on my back. Not a good idea. Such a terrible idea that I tried it again our second time down the trick slope. This time I went up fast, but I didn´t "kick my foot into the pipe" hard enough, so I ate it on my back at a faster speed. Painful.

Anyways, here are some pictures, courtesy of James Jeffery.

Cheers.

A word on finals and Spring Break

2009-03-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

I finished with my finals today! As always, it feels surreal to be done, and it definitely feels weird to be home on a Thursday. So, I didn´t do so swell on my Electrical Engineering test, and it´s definitely bogus that I missed this survey, so I´m not feeling very confident about getting an A in that class anymore. We had to fill out a survey for this lab class, and they didn´t tell us it had to be done by 10th week. So, about a quarter of the class (including me) didn´t fill it out in time, and we lost 2% of our grades because of it. Totally unnecessary. It´s a class survey, why should it be part of our grades? Interesting, isn´t it?

I´ve realized how much good going to office hours does. After seeing two of my professors before the tests, I aced them. Not only did I get to show the teachers that I knew my stuff, they gave me the confidence going into the tests that I needed. It goes without saying that I studied a lot for Feedback Control and Heat Transfer, so a combination of the two definitely paid off. I´m definitely very proud of myself for being able to perform so well on the finals of two of the hardest Mechanical Engineering classes.

Anyways, here´s a glimpse of life at UCLA:

Looks fun, doesn´t it :)

Spring Break´s here! It still hasn´t hit me yet, but it will once I´m on the slopes tomorrow morning. I´m going to Big Bear tomorrow (Friday), going back to Irvine for Saturday, going back to UCLA for Saturday night, and then getting on a plane for Hawaii Sunday morning.

Not only will it be my first time snowboarding, it´ll be my first time surfing. I haven´t been to big bear since 4th grade, and I´ve never been to Hawaii, so this Spring Break is going to be quite an eventful one. I´ve already had a pretty crazy day, taking a final, going home, shopping for a little, and playing video games with James. Relaxing has never felt so good.

So, after skateboarding for 10 years, I´ll be picking up two more board sports this week. Hopefully, they´ll be just as fun. I´ll post up some pictures later. Until next time…

You know it's finals' week when...

2009-03-14T13:01:00.001-07:00

You're patiently standing in line for some breakfast when a few people casually cut in line like they pre-ordered their food or like you simply weren't alive.

Nonetheless, you know it's finals' week when you don't even care that they cut.

The importance of responsibility...

2009-03-05T21:51:00.000-08:00

If you´ve stayed up late with me, you´d know my utter fascination with several possible meanings in life. I can easily recollect sitting down with Kadir, one of my suitemates, and chatting about the reason why we´re alive. It´s intensely deep, so I´ll save it for another day. The prequel to an explanation of the meaning of life lies within a moral I´ve learned to keep to myself and to relay upon others, and it´s the importance of being responsible. By responsible, I mean the cautious, non-rebellious responsible. Somehow, we grew out of it during high school--for most people at least.

To me, being responsible is a matter of self respect. If one respects his own well being, he´ll take care of himself instead of indulging in misdemeanor. This selfish desire to obtain instant satisfaction through a carpe diem lifestyle is the reason why many ignore responsibilities and the necessity to stay safe. It makes me feel so bad for them but at the same time quite angry.

Part of it comes from not knowing what they´re doing in life. Yes, life is about fulfilling your own goals, but whose goals are to spoil their own lives at the cost of others? I´ve never been one to care about others´ garbage, clothes, or articles lying everywhere in our rooms. Lately, it´s been troubling me to find out the reason behind one´s desire to leave trash in a shared room. I thought it would hit me one day like an epiphany. Unfortunately, I never came to a conclusion. So, as an engineer, I´ve gone through some analysis. If you leave trash in a lounge, you leave it for someone else to pick up (probably not the janitor, whom you have paid, and I could possibly figure out why one leaves his trash), and your responsibility has suddenly become someone else´s. A relevant tangent:

I was once sitting in my car on the 405 freeway. Dad´s driving. The family´s in the car. I was only in middle school, I hadn´t yet ridden a motorcycle yet, and I definitely hadn´t yet figured out what I was doing in life. Traffic stops right in front of us, and we were completely oblivious as to what happened. Obviously, an accident must have occurred; however, as we inched closer, we noticed a motorcycle parked in the middle of the freeway, engine still on, with its owner pushing a couch and a few articles of furniture out of the middle of the freeway.

I´ll probably never forget that day. I´ve relived that moment a few times for myself, and every time it has been fulfilling in its own way. Forget about assuming someone´s responsibility--it´s the right thing to do, and this spontaneous act of kindness benefits everyone at the leisure, not at the expense, of oneself. For the villain, carelessness never did him any good, and all of that bad karma will just catch up to him.

So what does not picking up trash have to do with not knowing what someone´s doing in life? I just asked myself the same question after rereading what I wrote, but I remembered that the same people who leave their trash everywhere have no clue not only what to do with their trash but also what to do in life. You begin to wonder if there´s a direct connection between the two--trash and the future. Bimbo over here can leave his trash on the table, just like how he can leave his future plans on the floor, or like how he can ignore responsibilities and leave them for someone else to handle. The same people who could care less about the trash care even less about bigger responsibilities such as paying bills, or studying, or keeping their own lives on track. They´ll do it over and over again due to an already consistent lifestyle. Another relevant tangent:

A fellow motorcycle was on a motorcycle one day back in my home town. It´s completely normal to cross an intersection if the light´s green (not quite). A car makes a right turn into his lane on a red light, the famous "California stop," sacrificing not only the car´s left headlight but also the leg of the motorcyclist.

A simple responsibility as easy as stopping at a red light is ignored and left to be assumed by another individual. Cruising through a red light on a right turn was normal and part of the driver´s style of life, and it will forever catch up to him in his bills and peace of mind. Instead of letting that moment of self-destruction occur, a simple resolution is change. It´s not hard. You just have to be ready to face maturity, consciousness, and personality development.

To the rider who got off of his motorcycle to evacuate the freeway, I give him all of my respect. I´m sure he understands the responsibilities of the right to live in a world where it´s our luck to be alive at an ideal time in the universe.

The reason why I created this blog...

2009-02-14T16:57:00.001-08:00

Lately, I feel like I've been having a hard time generating thoughts or looking back on life. Surely enough, there are reasons for not being able to do so--events, homework, midterms, labs, club activities, friends, and etc--but there really is no room for creativity, sensibility, or thinking time amidst the layers of activities going on. For one, I feel like I'm not one to think a lot anyways, as I like being busy and keeping myself distracted from extraneous thoughts; however, this lack of thought is slowly catching up to me. I also forgot to mention this comfort I have with friends that allows me to spill out thoughts easily anyways (quite easily). Anyways, they get lost in and mixed into conversation sooner or later.

So, I created this blog to write them down--a log book, if you will. Hopefully, it can be an outlet for stress and worrying. We'll see how it goes! Other than that, I hope to use this blog to let friends and family know what's going on with my life. I'm going to Taiwan in a few months to study abroad, so this would be the perfect place to post pictures and anything new. Until next time...

Success for BMA!

2009-02-13T02:57:00.000-08:00

So, lately, I've realized how difficult and time-consuming leading a group of students really is. Late nights, countless meetings, time, and money invested on Bruin Motorcycle Association encompass the sleepless nights I have almost every week. From those, I've noticed two very important things:

1) Without reward or perks, it's hard for a student-run organization to get everyone involved and willing to put in time and money for events. Especially since it's a motorcycle club, most of the members are guys. We don't have many girls, so going to events involves meeting tons of other guys. Though for the hardcore motorcycle enthusiast, this is not an issue. However, for most college guys, it's not incentive enough to give the club their all. Finding ways to get more students involved proved to be difficult, and it's slowly getting better as more events roll out successfully. Nonetheless, it's a problem that I face every week.

Keira and her daughter! :)

2) Putting on a large event successfully is quite a rewarding experience. I owe a lot of it to our officers and members who helped with the event, but planning this thing was a Hell of a ride! Getting through the Fire Marshal and the UCLA events office could be compared to riding through canyons where it starts raining at one point or another, snow shows up out of nowhere, or the road becomes dirt and gravel. Date changes because of a UCLA basketball game, the rain, or countless midterms plagued the event during its planning stage. Logistics worked out--our bikes were Fire Marshal approved, if you will, and the event itself was flawless in arrangement. However, the closer the big day was, the worse the weather was looking. We planned the event for Monday, but it turned out it was going to rain. Forced to change it to Wednesday, I ultimately had to take the pressure of changing the event to Wednesday at the last moment (day of my midterm as well). All in all, it was a crazy experience planning this event; it was a test of not only leadership but also decision-making.

I'm glad the showcase came through. We had 25 guys show up, it was a good experience for all of us, and most importantly, we developed our community in a positive way. The media helped us stress the safety of motorcycle riding and gain more members! We've gone from 55 to 125 members in about four weeks. Awesome. Here are some pictures and links to the articles.

Slideshow with audio!
Daily Bruin article

Some random facts about me.

2009-02-08T15:42:00.000-08:00

So the story behind this post is its origin of Facebook. Everyone has been tagging everyone else, asking them for 25 random, yet interesting facts. I thought I´d give it a shoot just because I know I don´t recount my life in my head very often. So here´s me hitting rewind and pushing play:

1. I don´t drink or smoke.

2. I always weigh consequences before I do anything.

3. I have a self-improvement wall (written by friends and me) in my room. I basically read it every day, and I really do try and follow it. I write inspiring quotes too, if you´re ever trying to recover from emotional trauma.

4. I judge music by its instrumentalism... and I can definitely tolerate screamo :) However, I have been in this emo/alternative stage, and I haven´t gotten over it yet.

5. After coming to UCLA, I´ve played indoor and outdoor volleyball pretty religiously. I think I played around 6 or 7 hours on a Sunday.

6. Back in elementary school, I was like one of those kids you see on Bruin Walk with skateboards and camcorders (without the camcorder). I haven´t eaten it yet on Bruin Walk, but I´m keeping my fingers crossed.

7. I want to design my own motorcycle or car in the future...every part from scratch.

8. I find interest in all religions, but I haven´t established my own. I will... someday.

9. I taught a web design course at my high school, started a web consulting company, and did freelance work here and there. I´m going to make my own personal site in the near future (alexan.net)

10. I strive to build good leadership skills. Bruin Motorcycle Association is the most current test of leadership for me.

11. I´ve never owned an umbrella.

12. I didn´t discover girls until middle school. I knew they were there, but I didn´t know you could potentially fall in love with them. Oh, stupid me! :)

13. I feel like your best friends are the ones you can sit down with and chat about the meaning of your own life...which, by the way, isn´t a mystery anymore.

14. I´ve never combed my hair.

15. I find satisfaction in planning events and watching them go down.

16. I ride to the beach in the mornings. Then I indulge in a nice long walk or some meditation.

17. I´m punctual, and I usually end up waiting for everyone.

18. I got 2nd place in this state-division of a Chinese history competition in middle school.

19. My motorcycle´s name is Keira, taken from the Irish Gaelic word for "dark." And Keira Knightley ;

20. I like change. I rearrange my room from time to time, I like trying new things, I like meeting new people.

21. In the future, I hope to go into technology management or lead a company that I´m passionate about.

22. I believe in fate.

23. I can eat anything (except lamb).

24. I love traveling and exploring, but since last year, I´ve been getting motion sickness on airplanes...IT SUCKS! It makes me not want to go anywhere by plane.

25. I believe in being able to have more than one best friend. You guys/girls know who you are :)