My Equation of Life

Fun Fun Fun Fun?!

2011-04-18T01:32:00.003+08:00

After WEEKS and possibly over a month of "NERD-ING" out in the library and my room, I finally decided I needed some excitement in my life and attempted to have fun at a DEBATE TEAM PARTY. Yes. Every year we have a debate competition on campus and every year they throw a party the night before the big competition at my dorm. You can only imagine the amount of FUN you would have at a party like this.

Best pick-up line of the night: "You're probably not on the debate team, you look way too cool to be on a debate team." HA. HILARIOUS.

Worst pick-up line of last year: "Who's the president of Tanzania? You don't even know this?! You're F***ing IGNORANT!"

Question of the day: WHAT IS WRONG WITH ALL THESE PEOPLE?! Did they miraculously forget to learn to be considerate and have some self-respect and self-confidence while developing the skills to make their arguments?

I'm sorry but "That don't impress me much". Take a step down the ego ladder, learn to communicate with girls and gain some self-confidence. And I promise this would be more beneficial than trying to prove that you're better than us.

SIDE TRACK! I'd like to go to a party where I can have a whole night of fun dancing and meeting people who are not entirely pissed ass drunk. And I'd like to meet people who FOR ONCE would not have some hidden agenda of trying to get into some girl's pants for the night. Parties are not exactly the place to find these people. What ever happen to romance? What ever happen to getting to know a person before sticking your tongue down her throat?

This would be one of the culture shocks I would never get use to in the US. I don't get the whole fad or culture of hooking up with a random person for a night. Why have meaningless sex or actions of love? Maybe I'm being hard headed but I like to think that sweet romance still exists. I guess you can say I'm old school with values I can't quite let go of.

Ignore me, I'm trying to find some kind of excitement in life. I guess that's what summer is for because school and finals are currently taking over my life.

My Niche

2011-04-16T00:33:00.004+08:00

I hope everyone's been enjoying my splurge of posts this week! Topic of the Day: Finding your Niche. I can't quite put a finger on why I decided to name this post as such but I think it sort of relates to what I'm about to talk about.

Being educated in a British based education system back home whilst attending an international school, I was programmed to focus on one aspect of my education and forget about the rest as a result of streaming. I would even go to the extent of not only focusing on sciences but also focusing on being in the Top 10 in the class or scoring above 90 in every class. It had never dawned upon me to stop and think if what I was learning was something I was truly passionate about. And I think this is a MAJOR drawback for students especially those who have been educated in the British education system.

After being accepted in Bryn Mawr College, I realized that I was clueless on what I truly felt passionate about pursuing as a career. Yes it is true that we all don't really know what we want at such an early stage of our lives. But I am pretty sure that by the end of high school, everyone would have some sense of what they really enjoy learning. I think I have the "EVERYTHING-interests-me-and-I-can't-quite-decide-on-ONE" syndrome. I would love to learn about everything and Bryn Mawr College or any liberal arts college really provides that environment for me to explore them. However, I am a Chemistry major and we have quite a load of major requirements that really limit the freedom and time we have to dive into non-science related fields. And to top it all off, I am in the midst of deciding between finishing my BA degree in 3 years or 4 years like normal college students do. I am haunted by the question everyday by friends and my thoughts wander off trying to push me off to one side of that very high brick wall I have been casually tip-toeing on for the past one semester.

So everyday I question myself: Where is my niche? I love food, cooking, inorganic chemistry, materials science, engineering, appreciating art, making art, dance, learning about religions, and want to help empower more women in pursuing their dreams and gaining the respect we deserve in the modern day society; and the list is never ending. I guess some could be categorized as hobbies rather than something I would potentially pursue in the future. Then comes the ultimate question of all time: Will I be able to make enough money to support myself in the future? As much as I would like to believe that the most important aspect to consider is your interest, it is painstakingly true that we have to also consider money in such important life decisions. The more I think deeper on this issue, the more I find myself in a whirlpool of contradictions! This leads me to think that sometimes( and for people like me), having choices can be detrimental to my mental health. LOL!

On a side note, my college recently threw a "Spring Fling Party" outside one of the dining halls. We had hot dogs, burgers, "Mojitos", some fruity banana shake, cotton candy stands and a giant kid's pool of ice cream! Oh all the excitement and fun! Except I had just finished the most STRESSFUL 5 hour lab prior to this occasion and couldn't quite bring myself to enjoy the beautiful warm sunny day. The college also had a live band, those bloated up obstacle courses and rock climbing things they have in kid's carnivals and a Dance Revolution machine??? Yeah, my college does these random fun things occasionally. I wish I had pictures to show everyone because I'm pretty sure you'd be highly entertained by college students being kids for a day. It's always a good thing to have break and try to be a kid again; being in school for too long makes everyone forget the feeling of being free of problems and having the purest tinge of happiness in the form of smiles and laughter. Oh how I would give it all up to be 5 or 8 years old again. *mind drifting*

-Without a Care in the World-
Taken at Coney Island by me over Fall Break 2010.

Comment below if you'd like or leave a message! I spend my nights in my lonely room for comments or messages!

It's a WOMAN'S World

2011-04-14T11:17:00.006+08:00

Two entries on ONE NIGHT?! This is obviously a planned deviation from completing my inorganic problem set. I did not have the intention of boring you with my long-winded discussions in my previous entry. Now back to my INITIAL topic I wanted to discuss.

A few days back, I had lunch with a group of people during MF. It was a table of 6, 2 women including me and 4 men. The other woman and I were both from women's liberal arts colleges specifically Seven Sisters Colleges. One particular egotistical gentleman asked the other woman which college she was currently studying at and she answered: "Wellesley College". The gentleman enthusiastically asked: "So how is the lesbian life there?"

Now you can only imagine how I must have felt having been in educated in a women's college for almost 2 years now. I may have been slightly and I would like to emphasize SLIGHTLY over reacting to such a stereotypical question. I clearly do not see the relationship between being educated in a single sex college and having a lesbian life. So here is the topic at hand, why is it that when it comes to a huge group of women in a community having an enriching academic life, people or particularly some men immediately think of lesbians?

If we had the same situation but instead single sex male colleges, would the very next thing a woman asks a man be:"So how's the gay life there?" I may seem slightly biased but I do not necessarily mean to point fingers at genders over this issue. We come back to the whole IGNORANT idea.

So to all those who think empowering women being educated in a woman's college is a life of lesbian orgies everyday, I think you should kick yourselves. You may not understand what we experience being in a single sex environment and I do not expect everyone to have a complete understanding. However, I hope that this sexual connotation to women's college would one day be diminished from your minds and you would see the other more important aspects and privileges we have being in a single sex community.

In my opinion, a single sex community is a place where every woman has the utmost freedom to be who they truly are and to grow or develop into their true being without the fear of being judged, discriminated or being an outcast. We as a community tend to understand rather than passing quick judgments and segregating different from normal or popular from unpopular. It is in a single sex community where being different is normal and acceptable. We do not learn by excluding people we find socially unacceptable either among your peers or college community.

I will leave on a quick note that I hope the next time you come across anything related to a single sex college, that you would stop and take the time to realize that it is not at all about the lesbians and NEVER has it been about that.

I finally completed my 1026 piece puzzle of Mona Lisa. Isn't she B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L?

I have known many graduates of Bryn Mawr. They are all of the same mold. They have all accepted the same bright challenge: something is lost that has not been found, something's at stake that has not been won, something is started that has not been finished, something is dimly felt that has not been fully realized. They carry the distinguishing mark – the mark that separates them from other educated and superior women: the incredible vigor, the subtlety of mind, the warmth of spirit, the aspiration, the fidelity to past and to present. As they grow in years, they grow in light. As their minds and hearts expand, their deeds become more formidable, their connections more significant, their husbands more startled and delighted. I once held a live hummingbird in my hand. I once married a Bryn Mawr girl. To a large extent they are twin experiences. Sometimes I feel as though I were a diver who had ventured a little beyond the limits of safe travel under the sea and had entered the strange zone where one is said to enjoy the rapture of the deep.- EB White

I Dream of a Dream

2011-04-14T09:37:00.004+08:00

It's in due time that I post something to add to your already exuberant lives! Recently, I took the opportunity to escape the Bryn Mawr bubble of stress and headed up to Boston to attend the annual Malaysian Forum(MF). So there I was dozing off into the best sleep I have had in weeks on a rather gloomy rainy Friday afternoon. For 6.5 hours, I felt my butt gradually surrender to numbness.

There were two things I was particularly excited to be a part of: MF and MIT's Pre-Frosh Weekend (PFW). All feelings of excitement and nervousness of meeting and making new friends and have a deeper experience in the life of a MIT student manifested over the days prior to my trip to the very second I entered the grounds of MIT. There is something about Boston I find mesmerizing; MIT, the transport system, the architecture, the cobblestone streets, the Commons, the river, I could go on and the list would never end. These objects or rather aspects are in fact very common even in Philadelphia, but I guess I seem to have an unknown and indecipherable attraction to the city.

Every college in the US dedicate a weekend to host prospective students or admitted students who are in the midst of deciding which college to enroll in. I find this a highly beneficial opportunity for students to have a gist of what the college life despite the fact that these events are usually catered to satisfy or entertain and somewhat influence a prospective student's decision to enrolling in the college. (Hey it's a business strategy right? Current students are the sales people and their college education or college is their product.) Each prospective weekend or PFW is unique to each college. At MIT, they have fireworks, explosions and funny hacks. If you don't already know what a hack is: one of MIT's tradition is hacking where students group together and plan to play a prank on the school, most of these hacks have included putting a police car with a police dummy having a doughnut on the roof of their famous dome on campus. While I was there, they hung a beach mat with a stuffed dog curling up on a beach chair next to a child sized pool and a beach ball, high up on their infamous MIT sign. MIT never fails to entertain and leave me in a state of awe each time I visit.

In one of MIT's hallway dubbed the "infinity" hall, students had installed a Mood-o-Meter. This was an ingenious set up consisting of a camera and a flat screen display. Anyone who passed by the camera would be detected and if they were smiling, the program would display a green smiley face on top of their faces; if they were frowning, the program would display a yellow frowning face on top of their faces. It also measured the intensity of your happiness or smile on a scale of 0-100. SPECTACULAR! I was utterly amazed so much so I almost forgot to take a photo! MIT students are truly blessed with the brains, resources and freedom to create and innovate. I can only imagine how amazing it must be to be a MIT student; I would never get tired of a school like that. It was like as if time had reversed and I was back to being a kid in a candy store.

Returning to MF, I met and made new friends and old friends from all over the US. In all honesty, I came to the conference feeling rather reluctant and cynical after a previous experience. Change is indeed needed in Malaysia but how much of a difference or impact can a 20 year old stressed out about life after graduation student like me make? The topics and speakers this year was no doubt more interesting and thought provoking than the previous year. The main topic at hand was related to the bright future of Malaysia and the decision of Malaysians abroad to return home. There are many things I would love to do back home but in reality where one has to be selfish first to be selfless later, I would say my perspective on this issue would be rather biased. Dreams are good and dreams are great, and so are optimism and visions. But we all know that there are many occasions that serve as examples of the unrelenting effect when reality bites and WOAH BOY does it bite hard.

After all that is said, I should probably share my view on the issue. Malaysia is a developing country with as much political instability as a man with one foot off the edge of a cliff. With that said, yes I am optimistic of the country's future but this change will not be immediate and nor will it be easy. I do not see myself as a 21 year old fresh graduate with a BA in Chemistry back home giving back to the society as a.....I don't even know what I could possibly be when I return home. At least this is not a vision of myself that I imagine being involved in at the age of 21. Yes, as scholars we should give back to the country. But if we are fighting to survive ourselves financially, then there are sacrifices we must make early in our career. I am sure many parents find this true. Many parents who tell their children to stay abroad and not return. They have gone through the years of struggling and the cycles of political unrest in the country. With their experiences, they are part of the upcoming generations' history. They must have some foresight of what might arise in the coming years. They too were once youths with a world full of dreams and aspirations. Did they all expect to be where they are today?

I agree that we all have an emotional and sentimental attachment to what we define as "home". As part of the many sacrifices worth making, I think a detachment would only allow us to mature and be mentally prepared for many other heart wrenching events in life. Now allow me to clarify this idea of detachment. I do not imply detachment in the sense of leaving and forgetting about your family but allowing the idea of family to be grow more in an abstract state of mind rather than something physical. One does not necessarily need to be physically or rather geographically close to family members to feel at "home". As we age and enter into our years of adolescence, home becomes more than just a roof over people who are blood related to you. Home becomes the phone calls or Skype sessions from your parents and siblings, it becomes the care packages your parents send over, it becomes the birthday cards you find in your mailbox, it becomes the conversations on what graduate school you're going to apply for.

I shall conclude with this: We humans are selfish beings by nature. And therefore by default, I can not yet agree to returning home and dedicating my life after only the bare minimum years of education at such an early stage of my hopefully successful career. When I have decided that I have spent too many years being a modern day Scrooge in my road to educational enrichment and of course financial stability, only then would I truly and completely give my country what they have lost. Selfish as it seems, this is what reality is.And I cannot deny that there are instances where I wish I could impact the community back home, but my character in this play is none but a minor role. I do not completely dismiss the idea of giving back to the society, my contributions would come in unplanned periods in my life.

I am truly inspired by every Malaysian out there who have decided to take the leap, dedicate the rest of their career and return home to help equip the upcoming generations with the weapons to conquer the battles that lay ahead. Hats off to everyone who never failed to be optimistic of the country's future and the changes that have been made hopefully for the betterment of the society. I wish you all good luck!

MIA

2011-03-17T06:44:00.002+08:00

If you have been following me, you're probably wondering: "Where did this wonderful lady named Suyin disappear to? She doesn't seem to post any more entries with her spectacular philosophies of life." Sometimes I flatter myself. HAHA!

So I believe I left my blog idle on the note that I was down with the flu. Well let's just say my health isn't really having the BEST year this year. I had the flu, then had keratits and an abrasion of my cornea the week after that and had to go to the hospital emergency room. Totally recovered and THEN what could possibly happen next?? I FELL SICK THE WEEK AFTER THAT! with a cold and cough. But I made it to Spring break=) After a two day trip to NY, a 4 day finance course back in Philadelphia, 2 days straight of working on a puzzle and 1 day of homework and midterms, I WAS BACK TO NORMAL! Healthier and happier than I've ever been before. Great things are ahead of me.

As you all may have already know, an earthquake that caused a tsunami hit Japan earlier last week. And may all our prayers be with those who have lost a loved one. So I woke up two days ago with a youtube post on my FB feed. A UCLA student named Alexandra Wallace had made a video ranting about Asians. Here's a link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/alexandra-wallace-racist-video_n_835505.html

Not to criticize or emotionally respond to this video but I was personally offended. However, I was not offended by the fact that she pointed out things that she was annoyed by but by the fact that she decided to put it out there on the internet for millions of people to see. Yes we're EVERYWHERE and maybe that's because we're like 60% of the world population?! Yes some people might end up talking on the phone in the library BUT THAT'S BY CHANCE and it is not anyone's right or anyone in the right mind to think that they categorize every Asian to act similarly. So yes, it was infuriating but you know what, it is completely normal to react to such degrading comments generalizing the whole Asian population. Don't hate. Ignorance in situations like these is bliss. We have more important things in life and there are so many disastrous events that are worth our time and concern besides this one ignorant UCLA student. So forgive and forget but always learn that ignorance of cultures and learning new things and new cultures is not going to lead to progress.

That is what I have to say for now. I hope everyone is enjoying life as much as I am!

Cheers! And happy soon to be St Patty's!

In-Flu-enza?

2011-01-25T01:32:00.002+08:00

Only two weeks into school and I failed to upkeep two of my new years resolutions:

1. Stay healthy
2. Do not miss any class

I fell very sick with a really high fever on Saturday that led me to be literally bed-ridden for 2 days straight. Shivers, tears and aching joints decided to jump into the party those RNA viruses decided to throw in my body. Day 2, fever gone but nausea kicked in, another day of a loss of appetite. I'm pretty much sick of eating oatmeal for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

So GET YOUR FLU SHOT! influenza isn't fun especially when it's -16 degrees C outside. Always put health first.

Our Shrinking Brains

2011-01-14T15:15:00.003+08:00

I'm leaving Charlottesville in 7 hours and I'm free enough to squeeze some time to write a post while charging my ipod touch. Looking forward to another semester of craziness.

So I came across a really interesting article the other day on npr.com about how human brains are shrinking as a form of evolutionary change. But no worries scholars! It is speculated to be a good kind of shrinking. No you are NOT getting less intelligent, it is thought to be an evolutionary selection against aggression. Here's the link to the article but I must say I am not even close to being convinced.

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/02/132591244/our-brains-are-shrinking-are-we-getting-dumber

I wonder...how much smaller can our brains get? And does it mean our brain cells are just smaller in size and arranged closer to each other thereby occupying a smaller area and volume? If so, wouldn't that increase the speed at which information or synapses are being transported in the brain. AND wouldn't that mean we are processing information faster, feeling faster, responding faster?? I don't know. Just some food for thought. =)

Enjoy!

Life is just a Game

2011-01-12T06:53:00.002+08:00

The more I learn and hear from professionals in the working field the more this idea becomes apparent; that life is indeed a game. In fact, everything about life is a mini game within a game itself. Think of it.

In games, there are rules and regulations that you have to abide by in order to avoid penalties or any unwanted consequences. In a society, we have the law. At home, we have the rules and regulations that your parents have set for you. In school, we have school rules and standards. In college, we have rules. You obviously see where I'm going with this. As for the penalties and repercussions, we have prisons, detentions, expulsions, 'domestic' punishments (being grounded, doing chores for a week, etc) and being fired.

So I have established that we are all players of this ginormous game of games. If we play it right, we reach the end and be winners. If we cheat, we have a risk of getting caught. If we go against the rules, we suffer consequences. Some of us will reach the finish line faster than others. Some of us will encounter more challenges and obstacles in our way but with patience will always reach the finish line. If you're really smart, you can manipulate your destiny; in fact you could play the game in a way that other people play it for you instead.

Everything about life is a variable; time, other players' strategies, your connections with other players and sometimes even mere luck. And like all games, sometimes we regret making certain moves. These are the decisions we make in life, the choices we have, the opportunities that lay before you and the paths you take determine the speed at which you reach the end of the game.

The more I dwell into this the more I realize that all I need to do in life is play the game. However, I and everyone out there have different ways to approach this game. We could either take control of every aspect of the game or we can let other players take control of you. Let's admit it here, ideally we would like to take control of the game. But the only vulnerability here is being involved in other players' game as well. Life is never black and white. In fact, life is a heap load of gray. My 'tactic' on this is to learn to play the game.

During my winter break, I would hear this quote "all you need to do is to know how to play the game." And it is now that I realize that everything around us is a game. We just need to learn the rules and regulations and learn how to play the game.

So I end here. GAMERS! There is more to gain at the finish line beside the feeling of accomplishment. In fact, the finish line is never the same at any point in time because we have different levels of contentment and goals to succeed. But we should never think that we are inadequate to achieve or that we are unworthy of great happiness.

HAPPY 2011!

Updates and Downdates

2010-11-07T12:59:00.003+08:00

On a PERSONAL LEVEL! I apologize for my very rare occasional posts but it is because I have 5 classes this semester and I'm trying to rock it out but clearly it's taking over my life. All is well except for the crazy stressed out week I had last week. People may have probably noticed from my numerous facebook updates literally calling out for help.

Halloween- Usual epic Bryn Mawr Radnor Dorm Halloween party. WHICH turned out to be an epic fail due to the increased security the college decided to put on the party. Public safety officers monitoring the hallways of the dorm almost every minute of the party. The music was pretty bad and incredibly hot in that living room. I had an amazing night of pure dancing in the campus center party with Michelle who dressed up as a lion. I was a librarian but clearly that costume crossed with a teacher and a secretary. All good fun.

Lions are fun to dance with especially in killer high red heels!

I found this website on my college website and found it rather amusing. I reccomend visiting the site during very STRESSED situations.

http://www.85qm.de/up/BigRedButton.swf

You'll see what I mean=)

Happy Weekend everyone!

The Best Things in Life Are Not Things

2010-11-06T21:09:00.006+08:00

After a pretty stressful week at school last week, I feel the urge to find inspiration to "boost" my determination levels up. For the first time in two weeks, I finally found time to sit down and catch up with the rest of the world through New York Times.

"Germany-18 year Old Face Charges of Terrorism Over Internet Videos" by Michael Slackman, NYT, 5 November 2010- An 18-year-old man was arrested in northwest Germany on Friday on charges that he posted three videos on the Internet in October threatening terrorist attacks unless a convicted terrorist serving a 12-year prison term was released, the police said. The police said the suspect, whom they would not identify because he might be tried as a juvenile, uploaded three crude yet threatening videos onto YouTube. He also downloaded bomb-making manuals from the Internet, but was unable to make explosives because he did not have money for materials. In the videos, the man hid his face while claiming to speak on behalf of what he called the German mujahedeen. He demanded the release from prison of Daniel Schneider, the leader of the so-called Sauerland Cell, whose members were convicted in March 2010 for planning attacks on United States military installations in Germany. The police said that there was no evidence that the suspect was linked with Al Qaeda or any terrorist groups but that he had become a dangerous longer.

Whatever happened to ordinary teenage thoughts? It makes me wonder who in the world at the at of 18 would think of things other than studying and making money. The extremity of religious cults and beliefs drive thoughts other than seeking comfort, understanding and hope from a higher power from above.

Their brains and thoughts are completely influenced somehow by their exposure to other people's beliefs. I believe religion should not be "acquired" through the preaching of another person who so calls "represent" a higher power above. How does that system work? Truth be told, if people are so susceptible to an infinite number of ways of interpretation, religious believers should not be prone to falling for other people's interpretation of "God's Words".

Let's look at it this way. Language is another manifestation of complexity that determines our understanding of concepts, phrases, words, instructions, etc. Think of a word. Then think of how many different meanings it could be interpreted by people. Ever wondered why each word in the dictionary has more than ONE meaning?(with the exceptions of grammatical components) And even then, the dictionary does not state all the meanings of words because we have something called a brain that tends to work in mysterious ways, seeing things differently and that is what I define individualism to be. Dictionaries provide the definitions of individual words that are chronologically organized according to their alphabetical order. Now think of how many ways a sentence could be interpreted. Now think on the scale of a passage, now a short story, a novel, a book. Now consider religious phrases, texts and books. Now add in the complexity of different languages. I think you basically got my message. This series of complexity could go on and on and on.

Let's throw in statistics shall we, since we seem to be heading to that direction anyways. Recall probability? Permutations? Combinations? I think language and math seem to be running parallel in this context, no?

Getting back to the topic at hand. What are 18 year old these days thinking about? Over the past week while being stressed out over assignments and papers, I had to somehow find a source of inspiration. I decided to look up a story of a little girl named Kenadie. She was born with an unusual condition called primordial dwarfism. She is my inspiration. Youtube or Google her up, and you will see why I am amazed by her courage. It's funny how I found out about her too, they were showing a documentary about her on TLC while I was working out at the gym.

Why can't 18 year old teenagers or any teenager as a matter of fact think of how lucky they are and how unfortunate some people can be but still be able to start each day with a smile on their face without a single thought of suicidal attempts or terrorism or revenge. The thought of knowing someone with disabilities can go on normally in life without the added stress of worrying about the society's perceptions, opinions, beliefs, etc. makes my crying over silly assignments seem relatively insignificant.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween celebrations! I'll have a personal update on my life so far as soon as I get another breather.

Progress Exponentially?

2010-10-19T13:48:00.003+08:00

In this dawning age of internet and advanced technology, one can only wonder how much more "progress" can we make. While looking through the NYTimes website today after a long day of homework and assignments, I stumbled upon an article about what people would do for $5.

It is undeniable and most certainly inevitable that we are all dependent on the internet. Our dependence began with the ease of sharing and obtaining information. The internet then initiated its attack into our daily lives changing everything that possessed nostalgic values. IT infected our childhood with online computer games, gameboys, mp4s, etc. I am fortunate to be able to remember my childhood being an adventurous girl climbing hills, playing with marbles, drawing outlines for hopscotch on the pavements, riding bicycles down the road to buy pastries from a stall by the sidewalk. IT grew bigger and stronger and dropped the atomic bomb on our social life. As we all know, social networking came about with the infamous Facebook, MySpace, Friendster,etc. changing how we communicate with people. Now it goes further; taking over our free time. Bored? Have free time? Take care of your restaurant on Restaurant City or speak with a random stranger anonymously on Omegle, tend to the needs of your virtual pet on Pet Society, answer random questions about yourself on Formspring or tell the world what you would do to earn $5. (Here's a linkhttp://www.fiverr.com/)

Have you ever wondered if there would ever come a generation where everyone's childhood comprised of playing Wii with friends they made through and communicate solely through Facebook. They would not know what a book is or know how to play those childhood games your friends and you use to play in the playground. They would not learn the nursery rhymes we learnt as little kids because they grew up in the age of technology. It is happening right at this moment.

Have you ever seen a 5 year old boy too preoccupied with his super sophisticated portable PS to communicate with his parents at the dinner table at a restaurant? I have always wondered what these parents think about allowing their child grow up being ignorant of other joys in life removing the element of exploration a normal child should experience. Do these parents see it as providing what they could not have as children to their child?

As scary and daunting as it seems, I am afraid IT is more than just some infectious disease, it is more than just a STD, it is more than just that Trojan Horse virus that never goes away. I wonder how many more analogies I can make up to even attempt to describe the situation because it is scary to think that IT could be like air or love; we need it to survive, it comes in a variety of form, it is everywhere, but I guess one difference would be that it is forvever growing and growing and we never know what the end product will be.

Update in life: Fall break ended and I got to visit Bahston (Boston). More pictures to come. Keep a look out at my picture of the day column.

"Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal." -Albert Einstein

Snipet

2010-10-05T14:53:00.004+08:00

I felt like putting up a little something today because I have been having quite a rough weekend and week. So here's a little something I would like to share with everyone who are or will be going through a long hurdle soon.

When nothing seems to be going your way, take a breather. But always remember to put all ur effort into something you really want. Like getting your homework done.

Happy Tuesday!

t=0

2010-10-02T05:20:00.009+08:00

Looking back at all my past posts, I realized it was a window into a world that would do no good to anyone. So here's my blog make over; getting rid of those immensely emo entries, the constant dwellings of life, and my unnecessary and uninteresting whiney moments.

Some may question my drastic change but here's my take on it: Blogs are not meant to be personal diaries. At least not entirely. What good would it do to write it out for the world to plainly have a free expose into your personal life? Bloggers are meant to share information that MIGHT have been related to personal experiences that would BENEFIT the readers one way or another. And here is where I see myself contributing to the blogger world. It took a while for me to realize how what I write could somehow benefit someone(hopefully) somewhere in the world.

Being educated in a women's college and after a very thorough evaluation of who I am and what I have gone through, I see what it really means to be a person and most importantly a woman in this day of age. I do not wish to take full credit for all the "smart" comments or opinions I have on certain issues but it is only through the people I am constantly surrounded by that I am able to say that I have a voice of my own.

And in realizing that, I wish to share a glimpse of the people, the women, the men, the experiences, the articles, the pictures that have helped me find my voice and get myself back on track.

This week during my research methodology class, our discussion on how to write lab reports took a detour into the topic of women in science. The inequalities we face as women in addition to racism and other forms of prejudism has always been a topic of interest for me. My professor, Dr. Francl, asked us all to close our eyes and think of a scientist.

As it turns out, it is more common for us to think of a man with huge frizzy grey hair with glasses standing in a lab coat that someway or another resembles Albert Einstein. Notice I mentioned MAN. We almost hardly ever picture a woman in that position. As disappointing as it seems, I too pictured a man. It is apparent that we hardly every do hear of the success of women in science. I found this rather disturbing for a couple of days. I began to question my future in science and whether one day I would find myself standing behind the curtains of my counterpart who would be taking full credit of my work. (Like during any award show like the Emmys' or Golden Globes, where a bunch of people walk up the stage but there's always that bunch of unknown people who go up on stage with the main well known recipient and stand there for 1 minute only to be thanked for their contribution as a group but never once as an individual) Have you ever found yourself more interested in the people in the back rather than the front? ( I know I made up a really long and weird analogy)

Here's a link to an article I read on Newsweek.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/29/steming-the-tide.html#comments

If you're looking for a time out or you're just straight out interested, please take a look at it=)

Enjoy your weekend!

I also like to do a little amateur photography. This was taken in St. Andrews, Scotland. (Summer 2010). Sometimes, a question will lead to more questions and we should never stop until we are satisfied even when it is probable that there will be no end. Anything can be a question even lamp posts!

Questions are like functions undergoing a power series where a limit does not exist. It will never converge unless of course...the inevitable happens. (let's not go there)

"When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world"-George Washington Carver