mfli.net -- Completely False - a glimpse into the life of Ming Li

I will third the UW Blogger union (we can't really call it a reunion since most have never met yet). I find it interesting that I know these people online, I read their blogs, I feel involved in their daily lives, and yet I've never met them in person (okay, I've met some of them). It's quite a different culture I've gotten myself into. I'm not sure I'm used to such unpersonal contact. I think a get together would concrefy (I'm making up words here) this undefined relationship.

I'm a student. Not really well off, but probably above average on most things. I've had some good work terms on coop, and gained some valuable experiences. But where does this bring me?

Every time I look back, all I see is missed opportunities and unnecessary sacrifices. Maybe I shouldn't be so cynical of myself. Afterall, I do get pretty good marks, and ...

I wish I could just see the future, see where I'm going in life, see my failures and successes. But, alas, I cannot. I can only strive to do my best during the moment, and hope for the best in the end.

So the first squash game between me and Ben didn't happen because Nat didn't bring the raquets home.

Today, I found out that it's possible for CECS to book two interviews for two different companies at two different places (one's on campus, one's on site) for one person (me) at exactly the same time (10:00 tomorrow). And when I enquired about this, apparently it's my responsibility to arrange for a schedule change even though they're the ones trying to split me in two. I guess it would have helped the situation if they updated their website more regularly. I only found out about one of the interview for tomorrow today, and I check ACCESS everyday.

And being in CS, I can't help but wonder, how hard is it exactly, to add an extra assertion:
if A has interview X at time I
then don't arrange interview Y at time I

Bowling was fun on Friday, I think I was getting the curve down pretty good towards the end. But I still don't think Ethel's is a happening place.

CS Update:
Assignment #: 2
Working on: question 2
Total number of questions: 3
Total amount of time spent so far: 18 hours
Projected time to finish question 2: 4 hours
Level of dumbness I'm feeling (1-10): 8.8

I just spent over 15 hours straight on campus, and I'm not proud of it. I also did about 6 hours of CS today, and finally finished the first question (hopefully). Now there's only 2 more to go. Our prof today gave us a speech on how we shouldn't spend too much time on our assignments (perhaps < 10 hours). I don't know how they expect us to do that. I'm expecting at least 20 hours per assignment, and for them to not even acknowledge it, and say that it could be done in half the time, is really discouraging. I would be more willing to accept it if they just told us, plain and simple, that you will spend 20-30 hours on a assignment, then at least I wouldn't feel so useless when I spend so much time on it.

I wonder what the blogging "dropout" rate is.

Today is my mom's birthday.
Happy Birthday mom.

The problem with blogging is, with its ease of use and ease of access these days, we inadvertently post copious amounts of unnecessary information. If you think about how crowded the Internet is these days, and how many "double posts" there are out there, it is quite disconcerting and interesting what effects personal blogging will have on the general scheme of things, and how often we take the complex prolems like storing and retrieving massive amounts of data for granted. Maybe I'll discuss this more when I have time.

Just saw Vanilla Sky, and let me tell you, it's a mindf---- (censored for coop process). It's very confusing all the way through the movie, and you just don't know what's going on. I will have to rent the DVD once it comes out and watch it again to catch some details. It was interesting, but I need someone to discuss the message of the movie with.

Could this be the Blackberry's biggest competitor yet?

Pogo is based on the thin-client design where all the processing (i.e. stripping content from media-rich websites) is done on a server, before it ever reaches the device. It sells for �299 in England (I'm assuming), but that's pretty good for the English considering a Blackberry will put them down �400.

See the ZDNet review here.

I remember how less than 10 years ago, every PC was referred to as an IBM compatible. I recollect those monitors with only the colour green or yellow. I look back on the good times had playing risk and load runner on a tiny 8" monochrome Mac monitor. I recall the Winter Olympics (in colour!!) on the Commodore 64, and the Prince of Persia on my first 386/25 that cost $3000+. I think back to the first time I surfed the internet (well, if you discount gopher) using Mosaic on my dad's Sparc, and how 500 Mb was a lot of harddisk space. I bring to mind the gotos and line numbers in Watcom Basic.

The good old days of 2400 baud modems and where RAM came in 2 Mb increments. Now there's the insatiable hunger to be bigger, faster, cheaper. What ever happened to the "good enough's" and the "that's all I need"? I guess, being surrounded by all this technology everywhere I go, I tend to feel a little nostalgic from time to time.

Confucius on how to pick up: go the middle way. Don't harass her too much, and don't play hard to get. This is what I learn in my EASIA class. How to apply ancient philosophy to modern dilemma.

Speaking of philosophy, it's interesting how ancient philosophers knew EVERYTHING there was to know. They were the geniuses, the gurus, the go-to guys of everything in life. That's simply not possible these days, unless you were google. What has our society become, that every field we are in is so specialized, and everyone is so set on one path in life. I wish I had the experience of the simpler days, of the more innocent lives where people weren't always so cunning and manipulative; or maybe that's just a dream of a Utopian world that can never exist.

Assignments suck. So does marking assignments, but at least I get paid for it.

Gosford Park - an intriguing look into the eccentric and ridiculous lives of the English aristocracy in the early 20th century. The struggle to hold power and money is obvious in the upper class, while the lower class has nothing except their gossip of their masters and mistresses. Also apparent in the plot is the melding of relationships between the powerful and the servants.

Maybe the butler did it.

Update - A good word Natalie used to describe it is a juxtaposition of the upper and lower classes.

forlorn adjective left alone and unhappy

And I thought I was sore yesterday. I can't even move today, it's ridiculous.

I am sore all over. I need to find me a masseuse. The reason for my soreness is because I went climbing today, at Sportsworld. They have a decent sized area with around 20 climbing walls. Climbing is such a good workout; if it wasn't so expensive (for a student's perspective), and so far away (for those without a car), I would definitely do it more often. Those finger muscles are ready for a workout anytime.

I just did a survey with StatsCan about my employment, schooling, marital status, financial status, etc. It's cumbersome, and I don't really want to do it. But I just think of it as performing my duties as a citizen, just like voting and stuff.

My thoughts on the Bomber.

Bomber was (and maybe still is) a ritual for many (upper year) students at our lovely university. It was a place to spend good times with friends and do some casual drinking while you're at it. But recently, more so in the last couple of months, the Bombshelter has turned into UW's second club. It no longer has that pub-like appeal anymore.

Personally, I'd rather go to a place where my friends and I can sit down, have a pint, play some pool, and talk about nothing. When I go to the Bomber now, all I hear is blaring music, endless lineups (whether at the door or at the bar), and people in skimpy clothing (not that there's anything wrong with that) dancing on a much-too-crowded dance floor. In my opinion, this is not what the spirit of Bomber is about, and people who are like-minded have to resort to other means of social gathering.

It's sad to give up tradition, but sometimes it has to be done.

I endulged myself in a plethra of sight and sound tonight with a movie called Am�lie. It was a movie from a completely different genre that we usually see. Some might call it weird, some might just call it French (or maybe European). A lot of the cinematographic style is similar to those in Snatch, so it might just be a European thing, I haven't seen enough movies to comment.

Overall, it was a entertaining movie, and is playing at the Princess til the end of the week.

I feel extremely pathetic. Today I spent 4 hours writing a program that should not have taken 4 hours to write. I just can't seem to remember all the finer details of C++ that I once knew, and I guess I've never really liked parsing text. And with every assignment, we have to prepare these testing documentation, that shows what tests we used and why we chose them. It's ridiculous.

And I never seem to have enough time to do stuff either.

Every year, after going to the first couple of classes, I end up thinking, "what am I doing to myself?" This year is much the same. I don't know how I'm supposed to survive through my courses, there's just so many of them. And having just finished 4 months of non-school doesn't really help either. I'm used to coming home, and just watching TV or going out at night, none of this stay in and study crap. I'll need some time.

Oh, and I'm not doing so well on the new years resolution of eating less and drinking less either. It should just be called a new year's dissolution.

So, after finding out that someone stole $160 from my room, and not getting a TA position, I'm finally back in Waterloo, and going to school again. What a great start to the new year. I've been a little sick lately, but that could have been from standing outside for 3 hours on New Year's Eve. But it was a good time. It was my first (and probably last) time bringing in the new year at Nathan Philip's Square. It was a little cold, and some of the show was pre-recorded, but it was an experience, and that's what life's all about.