This is going to be short because I just want to get some thoughts out there.
First, the reason why I went to see Epik High was because they made great music, but mainly it was because they're Epik High. They're a huge group in Korea, and Map the Soul was their first world tour. So yea, Epik High ftw.
Second, omg summer break is so chillax. Like you sleep knowing you guy have no commitment the next day (not yet at least). It feels so good and so strange. It's also kinda boring, but it's so nice to away free from MIT's chains.
Third, Anton's and my awesome programming project is starting up. We just met this afternoon to discuss plans and lay out somewhat detailed design specs. We know what we're up against much better, and it's pretty daunting. Like one year ago, I would have said impossible; now, I say fml, this is so gg.
Fourth, planning your courses suck. I decided to revisit on schedule after hearing that some classes changed times. It turns out I have no conflicts. yay. Julian was saying that he's going to hold off 6.042J until fall 2010 for Prof. ___ (founder of Akamai) to teach it, but I really can't wait that long. That would also mean I take 6.042 after 6.006 and at the same time as 6.046. No fucking way is that going to happen. I would not only have to kill myself during the semester, but also cut myself up into pieces. Anyway, I also want to take 6.034 (AI), and I heard that the Prof. during the fall is teh pwnage. Again, that would mean I push back 6.042, and I just can't do that. In this case, I'll be taking 6.042 with 6.006 and 6.004, and that's just too much work. I really couldn't handle it. Looks like the original plan is still the best. Btw it's awesome/hilarious how Anton's considering taking 3 course 6 classes next fall. LOL. I knew he would be back.
Fifth, we are such nerds. I was just fb chatting with Anton, and he's watching 21 right now. He was saying how this one MIT student was rating chicks in a bar and rated her 7.639. That's like what Julian, Anton, and I do when we're bored... lol fail... yea. We're nerds. Asian guys to top it off. But we go to MIT, so we defy odds (or do we... actually MIT probably hurts the image even more >.<).
Ok. Signing out.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Bohan and Feng go to White Castle
Legend--- wait for it...
---dary.
So here it is... finally (sorry for the delay, my house internet sucks)... the story Bohan and Feng go to White Castle (for literally just 15 minutes, but I'll get to that later).
The adventure began early Friday (5/22/09) morning, when Anton, Julius, and I headed to Anime Boston 2009 at 8:30 (anytime before 10 is early). I wanted to register and get my badge before I left for New York, and I also got to meet up with Nate, who I haven't seen since last fall. Nate showed up in all brown, like all brown (corduroy, hat, everything). As ridiculous as it was, it was nowhere near as crazy as the plethora of flamboyant Anime costumes. Anyway, I digress. Point being, I went to Anime Boston and was back at MIT at 11:15. The bus left at 12:30.
But there were still things that needed to be done. We needs Bawls to fuel our journey. To get Bawls, we had to go to Microcenter, and our plan did not leave us much time for error. Against my better judgement, I ran to Microcenter and left Bohan to print our tickets and maps. After running in the sweltering heat for 10 minutes, I finally got to the goods.
2 g33k b33rs and 2 normal Bawls. There are only three in the picture because I couldn't resist drinking one on the run back to MacGregor. And then we were off (after I quickly set up my fridge for defrosting). It was 12:00 when Bohan and I got to Mass Ave. At first, we waited for the 1 bus to take us across the river to Hynes, and then we could walk/run to Back Bay, but when it didn't come for 5 minutes, we were desperate and hailed a cab. And...we got there on time. Crisis averted.
And we were off to the Big Apple.
Although we made it on the bus on time, there wasn't time for us to get food, and missing both breakfast and lunch (in the case of Bohan) was not a good plan. But Bohan made due with what he had a granola bar and Bawls.
What do you get when you put the busiest city in the United States together with Memorial Day Weekend? A buttload of traffic. What was supposed to be a 4 hour bus ride turned into a 5 hour one, and we got there a little after 6. The concert started at 7:00. We proceeded to rush from 31st and 7th to 36th and 8th, where White Castle was located. Now I know what the Jews felt, when they finally reached the Promise Land after wandering through the desert during the Exodus. At that time, Bohan and I was literally a bit delusional and lightheaded because we were starving. We had nothing in our system but caffeine. We needed this. And we got what we came for. White Castle.
But time was not on our side. We finished eating at 6:30; 30 minutes left until the start of the concert (or so we thought). Irving Plaza/The Fillmore was located next to Union Square. That was on the far end of Broadway. We were on 36th and had to get to 17th, so we sprinted amidst the bustle of New York City on a Friday night for 19 city blocks, and we got to the place, only to see this:
The ticket suggested that they were going to let people in around 6, and since this was general admissions, we thought we were going to be fucked. But instead, the line was wrapped around two sides of a city block, and they didn't let people in yet. Fail. But the line in itself was pretty epic. I have never seen so many asians together outside of China, and I have never seen so many Koreans period. Bohan and I were in the last 10% of the line, but nevertheless we came this far, and we were content to wait while finishing the last of our Bawls. The line started moving around 7:30, and by 8:00, we were in at last.
The place was packed, and even before we got in, the security was saying the place was filled to the max. But that did not matter. We were there. The Fillmore apparently also does not have any air ventilation system, and it was hotter than Megan Fox's body in there. Actually Tablo put it best, "I've been in hot countries... in hot venues... in the hottest time of the year, but I've never done a concert in a place as hot as this before. It is literally hot in here... physically hot too." But that did not matter. We are here.
The concert started off with Dumbfoundead (you can find a pretty good video of him rap battling on youtube) MCing the place, but we missed most of it. The first guy to come on was Kero One. He was this Korean rapper (surprise surprise) with a cute chick called Dolores as backup vocalist.
He was aight. His rap was mellow, but not as soulful as Epik High, and overall it was not too impressive or exciting. Oh well, opener are always not very good.
Then next group of the Map the Soul tour was Far East Movement, and these guys were hilarious.
They were this techno group and dressed up in outrageous spacesuits and claimed to be from 3008, when music had died. They wanted to revive music back in their time, but they needed to harness the energy from 2009 to help them. Basically, their set was ridiculous, but they had good beats and pumped everyone up for the main event.
Actually there was one more act before Epik High, and it was this dude called Beatbox DG (that's probably not right, but whatever). He was baller and did this awesome version of Sexyback. Meanwhile, Bohan and I got separated as we were scooting forward to get closer to the stage. Bohan ended up in the front right, and I was almost dead center. We both had amazing views. Crushed up against a sea of Korean fan-girls, I was ready and waiting. It was time to get the show started. I'll let the pictures do the writing.
Yea, that's right. Feel jealous. It's ok. I would be too ;) Basically Tablo was the man, and Epik High just pwns face. After 3 hours of watching these guys perform, my neck was sore. After 3 hours of jumping to the music, my legs were dead. And after 3 hours of screaming and cheering, I was fucking dehydrated (remember all I had prior to this was 2 bottles of Bawls and White Castle). My body was ready to shut down, but it felt so good. Seriously, Epik High was totally worth the bus ride, the running, and the starvation and dehydration. After buying some water at a nearby Starbucks, Bohan and I took a cab to Penn Station and boarded the bus back to Boston. We passed out immediately.
But this story isn't over without a classic Harold and Kumar moment, and someone was saving it for the last. So as we got off the bus at 4am in the back entrance of Back Bay, we realized that we only had 6 bucks for the cab ride back. The fare was $8.75 the first time. Fuck. But that was nothing right? Just had to find an ATM. And that's what we did or tried to do. We wandered around the dark streets of Back Bay looking for an ATM, until we realized that we were being followed. That's right, a freakin' black homeless guy was following us at 4:30 in the moring. Jesus fucking christ. I was scared shitless. We could have been shot. Anyway, Bohan and I took the nearest corner and sprinted for our lives. It was bad. Then we hailed the nearest taxi, even though we didn't have enough money...GG. I just told him to take us to Mass Ave, thinking we might as well get as close to campus as possible. But have no fear, for during the ride, Bohan managed to find 2 dollars in coins in the depths of his wallet. We were going to be get back in one piece. And this was us at 5am, back in Macgregor:
What a trip. I'll write about Anime Boston some other time. For now peace out.
---dary.
So here it is... finally (sorry for the delay, my house internet sucks)... the story Bohan and Feng go to White Castle (for literally just 15 minutes, but I'll get to that later).
The adventure began early Friday (5/22/09) morning, when Anton, Julius, and I headed to Anime Boston 2009 at 8:30 (anytime before 10 is early). I wanted to register and get my badge before I left for New York, and I also got to meet up with Nate, who I haven't seen since last fall. Nate showed up in all brown, like all brown (corduroy, hat, everything). As ridiculous as it was, it was nowhere near as crazy as the plethora of flamboyant Anime costumes. Anyway, I digress. Point being, I went to Anime Boston and was back at MIT at 11:15. The bus left at 12:30.
But there were still things that needed to be done. We needs Bawls to fuel our journey. To get Bawls, we had to go to Microcenter, and our plan did not leave us much time for error. Against my better judgement, I ran to Microcenter and left Bohan to print our tickets and maps. After running in the sweltering heat for 10 minutes, I finally got to the goods.
2 g33k b33rs and 2 normal Bawls. There are only three in the picture because I couldn't resist drinking one on the run back to MacGregor. And then we were off (after I quickly set up my fridge for defrosting). It was 12:00 when Bohan and I got to Mass Ave. At first, we waited for the 1 bus to take us across the river to Hynes, and then we could walk/run to Back Bay, but when it didn't come for 5 minutes, we were desperate and hailed a cab. And...we got there on time. Crisis averted.
And we were off to the Big Apple.
Although we made it on the bus on time, there wasn't time for us to get food, and missing both breakfast and lunch (in the case of Bohan) was not a good plan. But Bohan made due with what he had a granola bar and Bawls.
What do you get when you put the busiest city in the United States together with Memorial Day Weekend? A buttload of traffic. What was supposed to be a 4 hour bus ride turned into a 5 hour one, and we got there a little after 6. The concert started at 7:00. We proceeded to rush from 31st and 7th to 36th and 8th, where White Castle was located. Now I know what the Jews felt, when they finally reached the Promise Land after wandering through the desert during the Exodus. At that time, Bohan and I was literally a bit delusional and lightheaded because we were starving. We had nothing in our system but caffeine. We needed this. And we got what we came for. White Castle.
But time was not on our side. We finished eating at 6:30; 30 minutes left until the start of the concert (or so we thought). Irving Plaza/The Fillmore was located next to Union Square. That was on the far end of Broadway. We were on 36th and had to get to 17th, so we sprinted amidst the bustle of New York City on a Friday night for 19 city blocks, and we got to the place, only to see this:
The ticket suggested that they were going to let people in around 6, and since this was general admissions, we thought we were going to be fucked. But instead, the line was wrapped around two sides of a city block, and they didn't let people in yet. Fail. But the line in itself was pretty epic. I have never seen so many asians together outside of China, and I have never seen so many Koreans period. Bohan and I were in the last 10% of the line, but nevertheless we came this far, and we were content to wait while finishing the last of our Bawls. The line started moving around 7:30, and by 8:00, we were in at last.
The place was packed, and even before we got in, the security was saying the place was filled to the max. But that did not matter. We were there. The Fillmore apparently also does not have any air ventilation system, and it was hotter than Megan Fox's body in there. Actually Tablo put it best, "I've been in hot countries... in hot venues... in the hottest time of the year, but I've never done a concert in a place as hot as this before. It is literally hot in here... physically hot too." But that did not matter. We are here.
The concert started off with Dumbfoundead (you can find a pretty good video of him rap battling on youtube) MCing the place, but we missed most of it. The first guy to come on was Kero One. He was this Korean rapper (surprise surprise) with a cute chick called Dolores as backup vocalist.
He was aight. His rap was mellow, but not as soulful as Epik High, and overall it was not too impressive or exciting. Oh well, opener are always not very good.
Then next group of the Map the Soul tour was Far East Movement, and these guys were hilarious.
They were this techno group and dressed up in outrageous spacesuits and claimed to be from 3008, when music had died. They wanted to revive music back in their time, but they needed to harness the energy from 2009 to help them. Basically, their set was ridiculous, but they had good beats and pumped everyone up for the main event.
Actually there was one more act before Epik High, and it was this dude called Beatbox DG (that's probably not right, but whatever). He was baller and did this awesome version of Sexyback. Meanwhile, Bohan and I got separated as we were scooting forward to get closer to the stage. Bohan ended up in the front right, and I was almost dead center. We both had amazing views. Crushed up against a sea of Korean fan-girls, I was ready and waiting. It was time to get the show started. I'll let the pictures do the writing.
Yea, that's right. Feel jealous. It's ok. I would be too ;) Basically Tablo was the man, and Epik High just pwns face. After 3 hours of watching these guys perform, my neck was sore. After 3 hours of jumping to the music, my legs were dead. And after 3 hours of screaming and cheering, I was fucking dehydrated (remember all I had prior to this was 2 bottles of Bawls and White Castle). My body was ready to shut down, but it felt so good. Seriously, Epik High was totally worth the bus ride, the running, and the starvation and dehydration. After buying some water at a nearby Starbucks, Bohan and I took a cab to Penn Station and boarded the bus back to Boston. We passed out immediately.
But this story isn't over without a classic Harold and Kumar moment, and someone was saving it for the last. So as we got off the bus at 4am in the back entrance of Back Bay, we realized that we only had 6 bucks for the cab ride back. The fare was $8.75 the first time. Fuck. But that was nothing right? Just had to find an ATM. And that's what we did or tried to do. We wandered around the dark streets of Back Bay looking for an ATM, until we realized that we were being followed. That's right, a freakin' black homeless guy was following us at 4:30 in the moring. Jesus fucking christ. I was scared shitless. We could have been shot. Anyway, Bohan and I took the nearest corner and sprinted for our lives. It was bad. Then we hailed the nearest taxi, even though we didn't have enough money...GG. I just told him to take us to Mass Ave, thinking we might as well get as close to campus as possible. But have no fear, for during the ride, Bohan managed to find 2 dollars in coins in the depths of his wallet. We were going to be get back in one piece. And this was us at 5am, back in Macgregor:
What a trip. I'll write about Anime Boston some other time. For now peace out.
Monday, May 11, 2009
T: -2 weeks
The ring delivery ceremony looks so sick... omg all the food... cheesecake popsicles... ddroool... (click the title for Snively's blog)
Bonus Pic (corruption at Next House Housing Lottery):
Here's pix from today's Ecuadorian raft launch:
Bonus Pic (corruption at Next House Housing Lottery):
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Ouch
I just got publicly burned by Anton: http://omegaxmk2.xanga.com/701089036/feng-syndrome/
But I can't deny its truthery. I have this problem with recognizing people's faces if I don't stare at it for a few seconds, and you just don't have that time when you're hurrying to class or just like to walk fast like me. I actually went to http://www.faceblind.org/facetests/fgcfmt/fgcfmt_intro.php to take its facial recognition test, and I scored below normal, but not low enough to have a "problem". I have a hypothesis that nerds are just wired up differently inside their heads. Maybe it's just me. This really hurts my abilities to meet new people and make friends on the fly :(.
Like if I meet a nice girl in class, I would probably not recognize her while walking through campus, and just saying hi or waving is really basic yet integral to nurturing a possible relationship. That sounded way too vulnerable and touchy-feely. It sucks how one has to choose between vulnerability/sociability and nerd shield/stability/predictability. But the latter just leads to a rut... but it's so much more comfortable to do.
But I can't deny its truthery. I have this problem with recognizing people's faces if I don't stare at it for a few seconds, and you just don't have that time when you're hurrying to class or just like to walk fast like me. I actually went to http://www.faceblind.org/facetests/fgcfmt/fgcfmt_intro.php to take its facial recognition test, and I scored below normal, but not low enough to have a "problem". I have a hypothesis that nerds are just wired up differently inside their heads. Maybe it's just me. This really hurts my abilities to meet new people and make friends on the fly :(.
Like if I meet a nice girl in class, I would probably not recognize her while walking through campus, and just saying hi or waving is really basic yet integral to nurturing a possible relationship. That sounded way too vulnerable and touchy-feely. It sucks how one has to choose between vulnerability/sociability and nerd shield/stability/predictability. But the latter just leads to a rut... but it's so much more comfortable to do.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
The Dalai Lama
I'm blogging because I promised Anton that I will tonight. Also the comment on the last blog was kinda funny since I say that all the time even though a blog really shouldn't be for the sake of another's entertainment, but it often turns out to be true, so that's why I say it all the time, half-jokingly. Phew.
So the Dalai Lama visited MIT on Thursday, and I decided to attend his talk (via telecast since the tickets were sold out super quick and without any advertisement too). So I was doing my regular fast paced walk without a care at all for my surroundings down Dorm row, and as I approached Kresge from behind, what did I see? A train of 5 or 6 black SUVs preceeded and proceeded by lots of police motorcycles. So as oblivious as I usually am, I'm like wtf, and continue walking. Then something clicked, and I'm like so fuck, that's the Dalai Lama train! I quickly ran to the back of Kresge to where they parked and here's what I saw within 10 feet of me:
Yea, the Dalai Lama himself, his Holiness. You see, I normally take the anti-free-Tibet stance, but I threw away his bias, because he seemed really friend and nice, as I walked to 10-250 to listen to him. And he was phenomenal. He was at the same time absolutely hilarious and super zen and wise. He was the grandpa you wished you had. He talked about human nature, inner calm, the global community, the economy, etc. It seemed like the usual stuff, but it was nevertheless really interesting. I still can't believe how chill he was. What an awesome person. How the Chinese government call him a devil, I really don't know. FYI, I'm really nationalist (mainly to combat the rampant anti-China sentiment), but I can't help but agree with him that the Communist government is narrow minded. In fact he said he himself was a Marxist. Didn't regret seeing him at all.
Another thing he said was that to succeed in the real world, one had to be realistic (I'm probably butchering what he said, but I believe that was the gist). That was the reason, he disapproved of Bush even though he loved Bush's personality; he thought Bush's policies were unrealistic. And in many ways, what he says is true. But he does leave out the satisfaction part. Could one live all his life as a complete realist and be happy and not feel shallow? There are also counter-examples of what he said in the short term. Let's talk about Friday.
This Friday was probably one of the toughest Fridays yet. I had 18.03 pset, 14.01 pset, 18.06 test, and UROp work all due on Friday. And in the end, I finished everything, and despite only studying for about 3.5 hours for 18.06, I think I did well. How did I do it? I don't know the complete answer, but I think one part comes from what I call the stupidity/ignorance factor. The factor that's anything but realist. Basically I had some stupid fantasies (not that kind) and wishful thoughts that were unrealistic. Yet I think it was those that gave me that last bit of resolve and push to complete what I had to do. Like my usually motivation-lacking self would have fucked up really bad on Friday and been in both mental and physical anguish. But instead I'm just sleep deprived and mental sound (relatively speaking).
But in the long run though, I think one ought to aim for realism. Let's be blunt, this past school year has been painful. I really didn't accomplish anything significant academically or socially, and thus I almost feel like I wasted 1 year of my "prime" (maybe I'm a late bloomers, who knows?). And I know this can't keep going for 3 more years. I really need to grow up, or else I don't think I can acheive true satisfication or success. Like one thing I need to do is find a non-mtg related, girl filled extracurricular. Yea... MTG is such a huge money sink :(, but so fun and a nice escapism mechanism (read: it keeps my sanity).
So... this is my first decent/content filled blog in a long time. I should try to keep blogging a weekly activity.
btw congrats to Sandra on being off the market, sorry I didn't get to meet the lucky/unlucky (jkjkjkjkjk) guy today, was busy cooking leftovers.
P.S. There are a bunch of crazy drunk girls yelling and singing loudly outside. wtf. Seems like they're having fun though, but kind of obnoxious.
Update: I just won the Alara Reborn Release party hosted by Yang. Got 8 packs; no good rares though :( but it was really fun. I think I have had enough Magic to last me a while...
So the Dalai Lama visited MIT on Thursday, and I decided to attend his talk (via telecast since the tickets were sold out super quick and without any advertisement too). So I was doing my regular fast paced walk without a care at all for my surroundings down Dorm row, and as I approached Kresge from behind, what did I see? A train of 5 or 6 black SUVs preceeded and proceeded by lots of police motorcycles. So as oblivious as I usually am, I'm like wtf, and continue walking. Then something clicked, and I'm like so fuck, that's the Dalai Lama train! I quickly ran to the back of Kresge to where they parked and here's what I saw within 10 feet of me:
Yea, the Dalai Lama himself, his Holiness. You see, I normally take the anti-free-Tibet stance, but I threw away his bias, because he seemed really friend and nice, as I walked to 10-250 to listen to him. And he was phenomenal. He was at the same time absolutely hilarious and super zen and wise. He was the grandpa you wished you had. He talked about human nature, inner calm, the global community, the economy, etc. It seemed like the usual stuff, but it was nevertheless really interesting. I still can't believe how chill he was. What an awesome person. How the Chinese government call him a devil, I really don't know. FYI, I'm really nationalist (mainly to combat the rampant anti-China sentiment), but I can't help but agree with him that the Communist government is narrow minded. In fact he said he himself was a Marxist. Didn't regret seeing him at all.
Another thing he said was that to succeed in the real world, one had to be realistic (I'm probably butchering what he said, but I believe that was the gist). That was the reason, he disapproved of Bush even though he loved Bush's personality; he thought Bush's policies were unrealistic. And in many ways, what he says is true. But he does leave out the satisfaction part. Could one live all his life as a complete realist and be happy and not feel shallow? There are also counter-examples of what he said in the short term. Let's talk about Friday.
This Friday was probably one of the toughest Fridays yet. I had 18.03 pset, 14.01 pset, 18.06 test, and UROp work all due on Friday. And in the end, I finished everything, and despite only studying for about 3.5 hours for 18.06, I think I did well. How did I do it? I don't know the complete answer, but I think one part comes from what I call the stupidity/ignorance factor. The factor that's anything but realist. Basically I had some stupid fantasies (not that kind) and wishful thoughts that were unrealistic. Yet I think it was those that gave me that last bit of resolve and push to complete what I had to do. Like my usually motivation-lacking self would have fucked up really bad on Friday and been in both mental and physical anguish. But instead I'm just sleep deprived and mental sound (relatively speaking).
But in the long run though, I think one ought to aim for realism. Let's be blunt, this past school year has been painful. I really didn't accomplish anything significant academically or socially, and thus I almost feel like I wasted 1 year of my "prime" (maybe I'm a late bloomers, who knows?). And I know this can't keep going for 3 more years. I really need to grow up, or else I don't think I can acheive true satisfication or success. Like one thing I need to do is find a non-mtg related, girl filled extracurricular. Yea... MTG is such a huge money sink :(, but so fun and a nice escapism mechanism (read: it keeps my sanity).
So... this is my first decent/content filled blog in a long time. I should try to keep blogging a weekly activity.
btw congrats to Sandra on being off the market, sorry I didn't get to meet the lucky/unlucky (jkjkjkjkjk) guy today, was busy cooking leftovers.
P.S. There are a bunch of crazy drunk girls yelling and singing loudly outside. wtf. Seems like they're having fun though, but kind of obnoxious.
Update: I just won the Alara Reborn Release party hosted by Yang. Got 8 packs; no good rares though :( but it was really fun. I think I have had enough Magic to last me a while...
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