a trendy name

50 First Dates9
chris lin posted in Movie, Reviews on June 28th, 2004

I borrowed this movie from my friend early of last week and I finally got to watch it Saturday night after I got off work. It starred Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore and seeing how the previews were funny, I didn't think I would be disappointed from this. The movie was really cool, Henry Roth who was played by Adam Sandler was the type of guy who wouldn't fall for any locals (this is in Hawaii so there are tons of tourist) but guess what? He does and it is Drew Barrymore's character Lucy. Now the thing about Lucy is that she was in an accident and lost her short term memory so she couldn't remember anything that was new. Because of that, she thinks everyday that she wakes up is the day of her accident. Henry liked her and when he found out about her mental illness he had to find some ways to introduce himself everyday and make her talk with him even though she would forget him the next day. The movie overall is very funny due to the stupid ways of Adam's character trying to meet Drew's char and it ultimately ends up as a love sappy ending where the person watching the movie would get those happy feelings they get when touching a puppy…in a nonsexual perverted way of course (sorry beastiality lovers).

Current standing in CALCULUS class1
chris lin posted in Personal, School on June 28th, 2004

Last Thursday, in my calc class, we had one MONSTROSITY of a test. I say this because usually after the test we would go over a section or two but at the end of the test (I heard from a friend) that there were only 4 out of 20-so students in the class. The teacher thought it'll be smart to flip the exponents of a rational function we had on our practice test and give it on the test. Let's just say switching one exponent doesn't make the problem similiar to the original one. The problem was for us to sketch the graph of the given rational function so we were suppose to find the derivative of the first and second to help visualize what the graph would look like. Well, the second derivative looked like it was nearby impossible so he told us to skip it. That and all these other mistakes he made (this is a man who doesn't bother doing the problems himself to see if we are able to do it) FRUSTRATED everyone into knowing they failed when they turned in the test.
Well, today we got our tests back and I got a 17 which is basically 17 correct problems (he grades by how many out of how many you got right, instead of setting 10 points per problem). Because of this, he usually gives us 1-2 free problems so the total average would be a bit higher. When I saw my score I was happy in the sense that I actually got a C (which is what that range is usually) but pissed cause I NEED AN A IN THE CLASS. But I was wrong. I noticed everyone around me had like 10-13 range so I thought it was strange I scored one of the highest and when the grade sheet was passed around I saw my percentage on the test and IT WAS 94! Holy crap, he only made it worth out of 18 so I got 17/18 problems correct. I starte jumping up and down in my head because math students do not jump up and down in real life but rather, act like it should've been higher. So now my standing in my class is 90.3% so I need to get A's on my next two test…one on Wednesday and one on Friday

Iron Wood Nine0
chris lin posted in Personal on June 28th, 2004

On sunday afternoon, I went to the Iron Wood Nine off the 605 to play some golf with Beto. It has been probably close to 2 months since I last got onto a course and a month since I went to the range. Needless to say, I sucked that day. I played with a new golf set that my dad gave to me when we met during my trip to china. He told me they were going to be Calloways and I didn't know how much they were until I checked their site and saw that it retailed at ~$700 USD and including my woods it would be $1000+. Now, when I go golfing, I look good but as we all know, higher priced clubs doesn't mean you get more skillful. Most of my drives that day were hooking to the right for some reason and I lost several balls because of that. It was strange because they would never hook left, but only hook right. I need to go to the range more often so I can improve my driving. It's weird, golf is a game of patience, in which I HAVE NO PATIENCE; so, I don't know how this works out since I like to play golf but once I am on the course I get frustrated that my shots never go where I want it to go. Guess it's time for more practice.

New Layout3
chris lin posted in Site Updates on June 28th, 2004

New layout, been working on it over the week and there are still more tweaks to be done. Tell me what you think and any bugs you might see so I can whack it to where the sun don't shine.

Back to calculus -.-

Doing good, feelin’ fine.6
chris lin posted in Personal, School on June 17th, 2004

I am starting to like calculus. Maybe it's the fact that our teacher actually argued with a student that resulted in him turning into a 3 year old and repeating "We aren't going to do that." Or maybe that he looks down on us, since he is a Stanford graduate and thinks the world is as smart as him so he speaks on another level compared to us. It's like he is speaking down at us or something. Or MAYBE, it's cause his tests problems are one point a piece so every single mistake I do costs me greatly. Whatever it is, it makes me want to stay in calculus more and more. I don't know whether to like him, admire him, or plan some sort of murder against him. All his reviews on those rate a teacher community sites have all been the same– "don't take him," "he's hard," "he touched me in a naughty way." I don't know, I just hope I pass. And it's true what people say about calculus, everything you use to know…is now something else. And it sucks because now you have to shift your mind and realize that it could be one or the other.

Also, this is probably just me but I don't understand why people show off their skin when they truly shouldn't. There is this girl in my class which is pretty cute but man, she needs to learn that stretchmarks doesnt = sexy. She has the habit of wearing baby tees so whenever I turn over and see her, I see those stretchmarks and it's so nasty. It's where most chicks get them; usually around the arm pits and…the stomach? I don't know, that's where hers are. The weird thing is, she doesn't even look fat; she just has stretchmarks. I mean, she is cute and everything but that is just some major turn off. If you are fat, hide it. No one in the world wants to see it. If it is 105 degrees outside, I want you wearing a sweater so I don't have to suffer. You took the choice of becoming chunky, now you pay for it. But for some strange reason I am still mesmorized by it. You know when you are so stunned by some behavior or image that you have to keep on looking back at it? That's me now, I keep on looking at her to make sure she is actually doing what she is doing. *typical shallow male* Call me weird but that should be banned.

So tired…2
chris lin posted in Personal, School on June 13th, 2004

God, I am so tired right now. It's late at night/early in the morning currently and I don't even know why I am typing this. Maybe it's cause I was doing my Calculus that I just absolutely LOVE coupled with my excellent procrastination skills. I have a test on Tuesday and homework is due on Monday and I have about….120+ problems to do, each problem taking me around 3-5 minutes depending on difficulty. Aside from going to work from 2-5, tomorrow is a day of studying for the test on Tuesday. I don't see the need to invent new concepts and theories but that's what Calculus is for–to make my life a living hell.

Earlier today….like 7AM early, I went airsofting with pasados. Not a lot went but we met up with another squad (Hagabis) which were really cool bunch of guys. It was fun since I haven't been able to play since March but it was also tiring since I haven't been conditioned for the amount of load I was taking. This is what happens if you don't play for a while so I'm going to play more often; I just know I am going to feel it tomorrow when I wake up. We left around 1:30PM after playing a couple of speed rounds and jungle/assault rounds. I got all dirty cause I leaned on some obstacles covered with paint from paintballs and didn't noticed until I changed (grr, I am going to shoot someone next time if I get dirtied like that again).

As for the site news, I will release a new layout once my friend designs a header since I am too lazy to design. I probably won't finish my entries to my trip to china since nothing really cool happen the other days but I will tie it up in a post. I was reminded by a post by Joyce that I still need to get my photos printed out so I can post them on the internet for people to see, because that's what the net is for. As for the hostee blog, if you are a current hostee and have free time and artistic abilities, can you design a layout for me? I just do not have time for designing anymore…maybe in 2 months but not now. If you want, email me and I'll give you more info.

School sucks. So does work.4
chris lin posted in Personal, School, Site Updates on June 7th, 2004

I started summer school last Tuesday and within the first hour I was confused. Calculus brings in new definitions into play even though I could call it something else and it would work. I was just confused as to why it is called a certain term but gave up later and accepted it. Our teacher is stupid. I checked him our at those rate your teacher sites and the only comment about him was to avoid him and that he is horrible at explaining. I became sad since it would just be harder on me and when I met this guy, I just became sadder. This teacher makes more mistakes than the students, so we are constantly correcting his errors and when asked why something is, he usually half asses the answer or tells us we will go back to it later. I am so going to fail this class in which I need an A in

I also started work that day and I thought it would be fun to work again. Things have changed. They have changed a lot. I dislike most of the new workers or I have nothing in common with them except for a few of them. It's nice to know all the people that I use to work with before got promoted to lead so I can just chat with them in the back and not get in trouble for it It's really fun when I worked with my old crew, all on the same stone as we bring recall the stupid crap we did (or just me, mainly just me) while working. I was surprised at the amount of events they recalled and surprised at how they could remember. I dislike how one of the newer workers is a replica of a worker we got fired for last year. He was lazy and flirtacious with the co workers there, just like this one. I need to get rid of him, he bugs me out. Most of them are cool though, they probably hate me since I can get by without doing as much work as them but that's what you get when you slave yourself one year prior to them coming But all in all, work has gotten pretty…gay, I just want my old days back.

I'm going to change my layout again, something really simple with CSS so I won't have all these messed up errors in different browsers. It's going to be really simple but should be able to work really well. As for the resource section, help out by submitting some links to it:D Oh ya, David has a new layout up so go visit him since I host him. No link to my site though so I need to talk to him about that -.-

My Trip to Mainland II3
chris lin posted in Personal on June 7th, 2004

Day 2

Beginning our day at 6:30am, my mom and I headed downstairs after cleaning up for buffet style breakfast. I was still tired but it was a good night's sleep since we were placed into their "executive club" rooms for some strange reason. The food was so-so, nothing spectacular worth mentioning. We left for the Great Wall at around 8AM. I learned that it stretched over 6000+ miles and for those who don't know, it is the only man made building that can be seen from space. Before heading there, we stopped by jade shopping area where we learned about jade and were given another hour of shopping time. I cannot stand that, as not everyone wants to shop at every tourist attraction they go to. After everyone bought their little toys and expensive souveniors, we headed toward THE GREAT WALL. When we got their and started going up, it step was literally 4 bricks head and the step was the width of a step. I was surprised no one got injured but all the old folks got tired after reaching the first level/platform. I headed towards the top of the wall up to the point where they got it blocked off and throughout the way I was greeted with people trying to sell me the service of them taking a picture for me at the Great Wall. At the top, the scenery was awesome, if you leaned over the side or just peaked over you could see this stretch from where you came from and how it continues. I took a few pictures here and there but I haven't had time to develop them yet. The trip back down was SCARY since if you look down the steps, you couldn't see the next step. That's what happens when something is designed so long ago, chinese people must of been small or something to think of design something like that. Nothing much for the rest of the day, we ate at the government sponsored restaurant which connected to this government sponsored pottery store. Again, everything was expensive but cheap when compared to our money. After that we went to the Ming tombs, where it was the area that all the emperors were buried during the Ming Dynasty. I expected to see some cool tomb with all these drawings or what not but the tomb did not deliver. After that, we didn't do much, just had dinner and went back to the hotel. Oh ya, we shopped some more. Returned to our executive room around nineish and went straight to sleep. Well I did, I don't know about my mom.

My Trip to the Mainland I6
chris lin posted in Personal on June 2nd, 2004

It's funny, I have never thought that I would go to China. I was born in Taiwan and so was my mother so when she asked me if I wanted to go, I thought why not seeing how this is probably the only time I will be able to go for a while. My initial impressions of China was an ignorant representation of it: dirty, packed, uneducated area. Some of my impressions still are true but I was proven wrong in some areas. I have the pictures but I still need to get it developed.

Day 1 — After a twelve hour plane flight, we arrived in China Tuesday morning. With a +15 hour time difference, I was awake for almost 24 hours with a few hours sleep in the plane flight. The plane flight there was uncomfortable seeing how I was taller than most and the economy class seats weren't made for people like me to sit comfortably. The food wasn't five star either, so I decided to skip some of the meals. For 12 hours I sat miserably and hungry. Life sucked.

Once we arrived there, we just grabbed our camera, water bottles(DO NOT DRINK CHINA'S WATER. JUST DON'T), and some snacks and went off on the tour. Super Vacation (our tour company) gave us a pretty cool tour guide except he didn't understand what I was saying most of the time so I just kept shut. On the way there, he gave us some cool stats about China. In Beijing, which is where we landed and stayed for the first 2 days, had a population of 13 million and the city was half the size of Taiwan. When you think about it, that is one HUGE city. The other city we were going to stop by, Shanghai, had a population of 17 million and is smaller than Beijing. I thought that was packed but it's nothing to another city he named which had a population of 31 million and was smaller than both of those cities. I forgot the name because we weren't touring it, I never heard of it and I just didn't bother to remember it. The first day we went to visit the Forbidden City and the scenery was GREAT. I found out if a boy cleaned only ONE room per day it would take him around 27 years to finish. That's a lot of rooms, 9999 to be exact as I found out later. I also found out that the emperor himself had 3000 concubines…for…himself. That man was set for life. I envy him. Anyways, we continued touring the area until it started to sprinkle. Tour guide mentioned it was rare for it rain so most people loved it and didn't use umbrellas. Well, it sprinkled…then rained….then poured. Needless to say, everyone started using umbrellas. We left for lunch where I learned it would be the same exact dishes EVERY SINGLE MEAL EXCEPT each meal was to be made different. My cousin mentioned to me after I got home that I got thinner, well now you know why. I ate little since I got sick of most of the meals. After lunch we went to the Temple of Heaven where it was the temple only for the emperor to use. There was this long corridor to the entrance that the tour guide mentioned that no females were allowed to even walk on. The women's rights movement changed that After the temple, we headed over the Summer Palace where it was the personal palace for the empress. MAN, this place was niceeee, she had the lake extended by 2/3 so it was huge. Jeez, it there wasn't an overcast then the place would be SOO beautiful for photography, with the lake glistening and hills in the background.

Did I forget to mention that we shopped after every place we visited? The tourist coined the places government sponsored shops, which they were, but it was just amazing the amount of money they generate from us. Also, I have to mention that China has the best customer service EVER. I mean EVER, I have never seen nothing like it. Reason is that there are so many people who need jobs that everyone will do whatever it takes to keep their job. So when I enter the government sponsored shops, there are more people behind the counters than there are tourist. When I look at something, I have one person speaking with me and like 3 people backing the one sales rep up. It's so cool.

We had dinner after the Summer Palace and more shopping. The waitresses at the restaurant treat everyone so nicely since they usually don't get that much business so a tour bus is like making bank that day. After that we went to an acrobat show which was really….interesting…and sad. Most of them were kids so you know they aren't going anywhere with their life. We saw this girl juggle a table with her feet, this boy who can balance BIG ass flower pots, this incredibly flexible girl, and much more weirdness. Never seen one before so that was cool. We went to our hotel later where we were treated like royalty at the Holiday Inn. I forgot to mention that our exchange rate from US to RMB was one US dollar to 8.21 RMB dollars. Most of us say 1:8 so it's easier to calculate. Just one US dollar would make anyone smile there. Five dollars would probably result in them carrying you wherever you wanted. It was great, I felt rich.

Go Calculus!3
chris lin posted in Personal on June 1st, 2004

First day of Calculus and I am already confused. My month is going to be long and painful although the teacher let us out one hour early because he put the time on his hand and it sweated it off. He thought the 2:30 looked like a 1:30 so I was so happy inside when he announced it. I also went back to work today and that was fun. Seeing old people and the hype about me (plus a few others) coming back to work. It felt good to be noticed Oh, I saw a bitchy customer too but I didn't have to deal with her.

I am writing my journey through China one day at a time since I am still a little bit tired from the trip, it should be up by the end of this week though

[edit: resource section up. non skinned and not complete. PLEASE PLEASE add any links you think people should know about under the right section. I will be adding more and more as I find them]