Listening to:

Dead Letters – Rasmus
01 – In the Shadows

As a warning, if you don’t want to read my ranting complaints about rush or scheduling changes, I’d advise you to stop here. For the rest of you… would some kind soul please save me from the agony of school? I remember why my parents were so surprised to see me looking so happy and healthy after my summer in California. Apparently, contrary to popular Asian belief, MIT is an evil, horrible place that eats your life and spirit.

(more…)

Another day, another visit to US Immigrations. I tried to take my parents on Saturday, but apparent the office that’s open on Saturdays can’t really do anything, at all. We tried to ask a couple of questions to the officers, but they apparently know nothing either, so they couldn’t answer a single question and we’re stuck going to the JFK building today.

So, for everyone who wishes they could be somewhere, anywhere but the cubicle they’re stuck in, let me remind you that there are worse fates in life. Hopefully they won’t confiscate my phone during the security check. Maybe I’ll be able to take a picture of the line and make everyone feel better about themselves.

So, in a conversation about travelling businessmen, Steve reveals something very amusing indeed.

steve: a lot of people have women overseas
steve: that’s awesome huh?
V Annoyed: it seems convenient
V Annoyed: a woman in every port
steve: i’d be happy with 2
steve: maybe 3
steve: 1 in korea
steve: i’m not sure about the japanese market
steve: maintanance costs are too expensive
steve: the girls are not like the cars

I’m sure this information will prove highly useful for me in the future, in case I ever decide to keep a random Japanese girlfriend or something. I’ll keep you updated.

This entry is mostly for Leslie’s entertainment as she arrives in the office tomorrow. Enjoy the cuteness and be kind to Yanting on her last day! If all is well, I’ll be on my flight to Boston and sound asleep. I feel like a better person knowing that I’ve introduced one Shanghainese to another. May they both find peace and happiness in CPI. Well, probably not much peace, all things considered, but we can at least hope for their happiness.

Once I get settled back into my dorm room, I’ll get those pictures of my last day at work up. After my farewell lunch, it was exit interview after exit interview, followed by three hours of random wandering and picture-taking. Then I somehow managed to get fed and now I’m so giddy I can’t sleep. And yes, I will call when I get back to report signs of life.

Thanks again for all the help and love throughout this summer. Though our time together was short, every moment was beautiful. Until we meet again….

It’s my second to last day at work and I’m feeling incredibly stressed. Not because I have too much work to do, but because I do have to wrap everything up and head out East again. Damn the California sun. Now I understand why once people come here, they never manage to escape.

I haven’t gotten nearly as much packing done as I should have. I threw a few things into my suitcase and procrastinated by playing with my new baby. Lather, rinse, repeat. Apparently I talk too much to the Black Tie Shuttle people, because every driver has already given me the “goodbye, good luck at school, and I hope you go into biotech and save the world” spiel, which I do appreciate.

A day and a half remaining in my stay and I have so many farewells left to bid, so many dinners, lunches, ice cream cones and coffees still owed. I don’t think I could ever repay my debt in kindness to everyone who has helped me in so many ways during my stay here. And although most of them will never encounter this online rant, still I send my warmest gratitude so that the thoughts are out there. Because you never know what might happen.

We spent a great portion of yesterday afternoon talking about how glad Oskar was that he didn’t take the job at Microsoft. Here’s another good reason.

A Spanish-language version of Windows XP, destined for Latin American markets, asked users to select their gender between “not specified,” “male” or “bitch,” because of an unfortunate error in translation.

While he was telling about me the horrors of the MIT grad at Microsoft who greeted him, we passed by one Starbucks after another. I swear, while walking near Chinatown, we walked 4 city blocks and encountered 3 Starbucks.

Remember kids, as the honorable President of the United States of America said earlier this month, “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” Just look at Seattle. I see the Axis of Evil right there.

It was strange seeing Oskar and Jen outside the school environment. Here they were, entering the working world, speaking of apartment hunting, home furnishings, an SUV… Then there was Oskar giving me all sorts of pressure to figure out what I want to do after graduation. “It’s not that far off, you know.” As if I weren’t quite aware of the fact already.

Just like Maria, I feel like I’m approaching that crossroads in life where I should make an attempt to find my calling, but it’s much easier said than done. Luckily for Oskar, he’s probably known that he’d want to go into software since his elementary school days. For the rest of us, there’s a decision to be made.

It’s not even that I’m worried about my future. I’m sure we all have a number of choices in life that would make us equally happy. But I want to feel as if I’ve made a careful, well thought-out decision. I want to be empowered by free will rather than just continue to float about, cluelessly led from one moment of relative satisfaction to the next without understanding how or why. Yes, I’ll admit that everything in my life has come relatively easily, but that’s not to say I don’t want to make an effort to determine my own human condition.

Professor, can I have an extension on this assignment please?

My friend Nick walked into a Kenneth Cole yesterday and fell in love with a shirt… Well, actually, two shirts, one black, one white, but otherwise exactly the same. Nick would love to buy both, but since Applied isn’t that generous with its internship program, he can only choose one. Your task is to help him pick the right shirt so that come Friday, when his big fat check arrives, he’ll be ready to go.