Month: August 2009

It’s about time.

Jeff

So I finally managed to get my license, haha. Yeah, yeah, I know I’m like 2 years behind, but since I boarded at Lawrenceville and we weren’t allowed to have cars on campus, I never bothered to take the road test. Fortunately, I passed on the first try today, so now I have a nice and shiny provisional license :D. My mom and I did some last minute shopping for school…I can’t believe I’m moving in Thursday! Meanwhile, I’ve been working on the PennSTART thing… I’m only through the first 2 skills, and I already can’t stand it. 7 more to go…great.

On the bright side, Penn gives us free installs of certain Microsoft software, so I’m currently installing Windows 7 on my laptop. Anyway, more about that later. I also need to retrospectively blog about my cousin’s wedding, but I’ll guess I’ll do that when I stop feeling so lazy.

I thought I heard a chainsaw…

Jeff,

So apparently the district committee has decided that the trees around here have been getting a bit too tall, so they’ve order a few rows of them to be “trimmed.” Now, two whole rows of tree have been reduced to nothing more than 10-foot stumps…I wonder if they’ll survive or not. Obviously, we all know that trees can survive winter without their leaves (and thus photosynthesis), because they become dormant and use stored energy in their roots and whatnot. But leaving a tree totally bare at this time of year forces it to enter a early “hibernation” period. To be sure, it’s probably going to take a long time and a lot of stored energy, but I reckon they’ll probably make it.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been a big fan of green plants and having a nice scenery around the place I live, which is hard to come by in a city like Beijing. According to my grandma, some of the trees have been growing so close to the buildings that they have prevented sunlight from reaching inside. While I agree that the problem can be a little annoying, I also don’t think you need to cut down an entire row of trees to solve the problem…just an annual trim or so of the branches close to the buildings will suffice.

Lights Out

Jeff, ,

So the power went out between 8:30 and 11:20 this morning. Luckily, I was asleep for most of that time, haha.

I’ve started running again this week, mainly to keep myself in shape, but also to “test” the air quality here in Beijing. Two weeks ago, after jogging for a short 10 minutes, I developed a sore throat during work the next day, but I suspect that may have been due to a cold that was going around the workplace.

This week, I’ve gone jogging twice so far, both times after dinner, and fortunately have not shown any negative side effects. In past years, I’ve heard rumors that Beijing’s air quality has had detrimental impacts on runners’ lung capacity, and while I do believe there is some truth to that, I also think that the story has been exaggerated. As the 2008 Summer Olympics has shown, despite Beijing’s reputation as a somewhat “dirty” city (but is it really worse than L.A. or London?), the air here is definitely clean enough to sustain strenuous athletic events such as the triathlon and the the marathon.  For runners like myself who simply do it for the thrill and exercise, the pollution is even less of a problem, since we’re not going that fast/hard in the first place. That being said, it can’t hurt to use some judgement when exercising. Run either in the early morning or late afternoon, since that’s when air pollution and temperature are at their lowest levels (I’m assuming you’re not going for any midnight jogs or things of that nature). Also, drink plenty of water before and after exercising. And always stretch and cooldown before workouts. These are the basic guidelines that I like to stick to no matter where I am in the world, and they help me make the most of my workouts.

I’ve also been playing a lot of guitar lately. The song I’m learning right now is called 青花瓷 (Qing Hua Ci) by Jay Chou. I’ve gotten all the chords down…now for the the lyrics, which are, of course, in Chinese :P.

Another Week

Jeff, , , ,

On Friday, I went to TIan Tong Yuan to see my aunt. Although she and her family moved to Tian Tong Yuan about two years ago, I had never been to her house. Friday also happened to be my cousin Meng Meng’s 30th birthday, so I thought it was a good opportunity to accomplish two things with one visit. I took the subway to Tian Tong Yuan and met up with Fan Wei at grandma’s house. The two of us then headed over to my aunt’s house, which was only 15 minutes away by foot. My aunt greeted us cheerfully at the door and welcomed us in to a partially furnished living room. Her apartment is a lot bigger than grandma’s, she tells me, so it has taken them a long time to move in and get furniture. As we talk in the dining time (there’s no couch in the living room), I can’t help but admire the woman sitting across from me. Although she’s almost 60, my aunt does almost all of the housework in the family. The relationship between her and Meng Meng is strained at best, and her husband has been idle ever since he lost his job some time ago.

Fan Wei and I treated Meng Meng to dinner at a Korean restaurant not too far from his house, and after we said our goodbyes, I went with Fan Wei to her new apartment, where I spent the night. Although I had to sleep on the couch, I didn’t mind at all, since I was more than happy to be in a room with air conditioning again.

Looking forward, I can’t believe it’s only a week until Fan Wei’s wedding, and a week and a half until I leave for the U.S.! I’ve been watching 24 (currently on season 3), learning differential equations, and playing some old school StarCraft over the past week to keep myself busy until then. Talk about a weird combination.

I hate surveys

Jeff,

Especially the lengthy ones that colleges make you do before you even walk on campus. What’s worse, Penn is making us do some Alcohol Module/test and PennSTART, a 9-hour online “program’ designed to help students get accustomed to college.

Honestly, I think that at this stage of the game, we’re old enough to take care of ourselves. Enough said.