Oh Asian parents, if you can only read this now:

"History suggests that, all other things being equal, a society prospers in proportion to its ability to prevent parents from influencing their children's success directly. It's a fine thing for parents to help their children indirectly—for example, by helping them to become smarter or more disciplined, which then makes them more successful. The problem comes when parents use direct methods: when they are able to use their own wealth or power as a substitute for their children's qualities."

Full essay here: http://www.paulgraham.com/credentials.html

Short stories are fun, especially when my attention span is dwindling.  Maybe I'll give a full critique at a later date, but here are some stories that I had fun reading this week:

• After the Siege by Cory Doctorow

This is a very touching story about a girl and her family during a siege.  Sounds rather tragic, and it is.  But coupled with wizards, zombies, and info wars, it is rather more than your standard war story.

• Stone of Significance by David Brin

This is a fascinating story and a good read while on the job ^_~   I love the recursive nature of the story - something only a CS person could truly appreciate - especially after Scheme.

• When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth by Cory Doctorow

A very amusing post-apocalyptic story of a world where those who are left are mostly sysadmins.  Rather sad and tragic and touching but at the same unbelievably hilarious.  Doctorow seems to specialize in combining tragedy and comedy in a sci-fi universe.  Reminiscient of JPod and a possible reference to Stand Alone Complex.

• Dreaming is A Private Thing by Isaac Asimov

A story done by a master story-teller.  You never leave the guy's office but the story still manages to cover a wide range of topics from dream censorship, to the call of a storyteller, to conflicts of quality over quantity, and finally parents wanting to maximize profit on their child's talent.

Originally posted on ladyfalcon237.vox.com

Recently, I've been searching the web for all things related to matcha and making matcha tea properly.  I'm seriously considering a whole set: bamboo tea scoop, bamboo whisk, matcha tea shifter, matcha bowl, and of course koicha, the higher grade matcha.  It's funny how complicated something like making tea can get.  But I guess that's what makes it fun.

Originally posted on ladyfalcon237.vox.com

Oh that was amazing. Other than that really weird side episode with Heian zombies, everything was so wonderful...sigh. I haven't quite gotten over savoring it. I'm glad I watched only a few episodes at a time. Yay for Netflix since otherwise I would have watched everything in one go. Oh, but Jin you're so cool. And Mugen is awesome and cute in your tough-act. Jin and Mugen's opposing characters beautifully capture my favorite personality types - and probably the world ^_^ Fuu, on the other hand, is not so cool. Damsels in distress do not normally garner much respect after the thirteenth rescue. Though her anee-san/yakuza role was rather fun and cool - who doesn't like super fancy dice throwing? But as cool and peace Jin is and as fiery and dexterous Mugen is, they and the story really needed Fuu to bring them together and move the story along. So I guess in that sense I hope other people could come and respect Fuu. I guess its still a hard sell but seriously, having her around to bring out the honor-bound emotions of the ronin and the criminal - I guess I'm saying is that they wouldn't have been as beautiful with her. Though in the process she doesn't come across as this super amazing person. I think her ordinariness and self-consciousness is needed to ground the geniuses of Mugen and Jin.

Ah, I'm rambling. This isn't really much of a review but trying to understand the story conventions used to create such a wonderful series with so many random episodes that stay tied together and in a way still gives a bit of an impact. It's not deep and life changing, but it is soothing in the way it portrays how the three of them manage to stay together even with all the challenges they face. And I guess the whole goal to find the "samurai who smells of sunflowers" and need to reach the next town for food helps give a sense of the story moving forward even though they are unrelated. The journey, the journey and the things you encounter in between. They had nothing in common but surviving and close proximity. It's really fun how Fuu gets put off by their lack of chemistry, but did actually serve to deepen their relationship in other ways.

I'm sure there were other themes brought up throughout the series, but I really like the one whole "the best of friends come from the greatest of rivals - especially when they have to travel together" deal. I know its been used and abused - hence the whole fandom over Harry and Draco becoming best friends, among other things. But the theme works since there's some truth in that as I've noticed among various groups like intellectuals. It's really hard to respect someone unless they can match you, which is usually done by them being able to beat you up - in mental matches and other arenas. This is something I can relate too since there have been groups of people that I think are cool and wonderful but cannot relate to because there are some things I cannot say to them. As much as it annoys me sometimes, I do feel closer to those who challenge or match me. Though I do have an bad habit of handicapping myself to allow some that I do like to beat me (though Stew may say otherwise ^_~) . I am trying to stop doing this since it is bad form. Since as the movie "Ping Pong" showed, the Hero is - the person who can beat at the peak of your ability - you!

I'm done, I'm done, I'm finally done. So drained and exhausted. It was epic, fantastic, terrible, and wonderful all at ones. But I finished it. Even reading it took the form of epic proportion. The time it took, the struggle to start and stop, and finally to just read it through to the end. What book is this? One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Have you ever read a book that spanned hundreds of years and nearly equal number of lives with each sentence a sharp jabbed of brilliant understanding of the human condition and yet to end it all with all loose ends resolved. The uncertainty from unresolved conflict in books are terrible. But to have all the daily tragedies and fantastic occurrences accounted for and known from the start, even, is an experience that I still cannot comprehend.

What is One Hundred Years of Solitude about? It is the story of lives of the members of the Buendia family and those who married in the family as they live out their lives in one grand house in the two of Macondo. And how they lived out their lives of solitude as they all live togetherand are finaly wiped away and are forgotten.

Comments about the book? More articulate personas have already paid homage to this book that won the Nobel Prize in 1982. What more can I say about the author's literary genius starting from the unnerving smooth flow of the written text for over 400 hundred pages to the unique characterization of each member of the Buendias family and their extravagant history even though the book repeats over and over again how each member repeats the same pattern from the start.

What do I like about this book? I love they way it was written. How it draws you in and captures you. How in broad strokes it can paint a picture that a lesser author can spend hundreds of pages describing and how the author never stops revealing something new, something different, something interesting. I would like to read this book again someday. A while from now, I think. The ideas seems daunting.

What I don't like about this book? Nothing really. Only superficial things. How it is hard to put the book down because there's no pause it is an never ending interweaving of lives and deaths. Since while one person prepares to die another one is doing something else, and other things are happening.

It is hard to describe the qualities of this book. I can't say it is fast-faced since times seems to stop and it can get involved in micro-details. But then, it can equally jump and decades past by and the scenery changes that you feel a sort of nostalgia for older characters that have gone even though you are only halfway through the book. It is hard to say that this book is entertaining because it encompasses so much tragedy. But it is fun and witty and full of delightful mishaps and misconceptions and daily struggles from Jose Arcadio Buendia trying to take a picture of God to Ursula's animal cookie business to Fernanda's mail correspondence with invisible doctors, and so many minute details and twists and turns.

I think what Gabriel Garcia Marquez manages to capture in this little book is history of humanity. How everything can be describe in the repetition of what happened before but even so we manage to make each repetition unique with the details that follow as that life is realized. And how, though we are close together and care for each other, we live continuously in solitude. Living misunderstood, managing under the constant disappointments, though not without its happy moments, but eventually swept away by a whirlwind and forgotten.

(Sounds rather sad, but really, it's not.)

I made spaghetti pie today as the main course for Lorenzo's bento. It's not the prettiest looking bento dish, especially when it's warm and wants to fall apart. But it was definitely tasty, I think.

The original recipe I got here: http://visualrecipes.com/recipe-details/recipe_id/382/Spaghetti-Pie/

I followed the instructions and ingredients list closely, though I did make some modifications. First of, I forgot that it said Frenchie's Fried Onions but instead bought real onion. I think it is a healthier alternative though Frenchie is probably tastier. Next, it doesn't say what temperature to cook it in the oven so I did a little research on what temperature people normally cook pizza and other frozen food and settled on 400 F. Also, I baked it for about 15-20 minutes at the third rack. Some of my final modifications are adding steak salmon from a packet (I broke it up into little pieces and spread it on top of the meat sauce) and another kind of cheese, cheddar.

For future iterations of this recipe, I'll probably do the following:
* Use only half or 3/4 lb of ground beef
* Change the sauce to pesto or alfredo (I want to make it lighter so I may have to cut back on sauce and/or cheese)
* Add veggies like broccoli or fruits like olives and pineapple
* Maybe use wheat noodles and other healthy alternatives - maybe tortilla
* Add shrimp or octopus or squid or all of the above

So Lorenzo suggested a most wonderful idea: that I should start a food journal about places we eat, things I cook, and just general lessons learned and comments. I like it. I like food and eating. Recently, I started getting into cooking them since it is fun to feed other people...at least to me.

My goal is to make yummy food that are also healthy and does not make you too fat. I'm not oppose to making desserts, I actually have some plans on cakes to make. But I do want to explore more about the different things you can make with tofu. And definitely, cooking more fish and veggies.


Note: Eventually, this blog will move when we get a Wordpress blog setup for me.

yeah so it's been over a year since I've posted in livejournal. I guess I'm just not the kind of person to broadcast to anyone who would listen the things going on with myself. Part of it is that if feels weird, part of it is that I don't want to be hurtful, part of it is that I'm just a very private person, and part of it is that I don't quite what I'll write.

It's Christmas Eve and I'm in a bit of a pensive mood. I don't mind being in such mood, but it's not exactly the fun type. Gah!

Hmmmm, in other news...well, I guess this is my entry for the year ^_^

Okay, so I lied. I said I was going to post while in England, but I didn't have any internet connection for a week and half, then when I finally got it, I was too lazy to post anything. Here are some notes for those traveling in England.


1) Never ask English people to repeat themselves - I think it annoys them.

2) Go buy an Underground Ticket. It's the best way to get around.

3) Translations:
Take away = to go
Car park = parking lot
Way out = exit
Mate = dude, guy, man, woman (when refering so someone - everyone uses, even the cool people)
Bloke = refering to a guy
Fag = cigarrette (if you are not used to people smoking around you, get used to it. You might be able to escape it
while in your room, maybe)

4) When travelling in the Underground, bring a book. It's the best way to blend in. Don't worry, you won't miss your train stop.
Unless you got on the train heading in the opposite direction.

5) When in a pub, order food at the bar, then go sit down. Don't forget to wait for your drink before you sit down.

6) Buy Underground Oyster Card. Get a week's worth - it may be expensive but its worth it.

7) Places to Go in London:
Rose Garden in Regent's Park
British Museum - the Rosetta Stone is there. How cools is that! (For some reason, most people I've talked to don't know
what the Rosetta Stone is)
Globe Theater - watch a performance at the pit and feel the suffering standing for 3 hours.
Victoria and Albert Museum - it's huge.
Parliment

8) Top places to shop:
Harrods
Regent Street
Oxford Street
July is the best month to go to London if you like to shop. All the stores goes on a 70% Discount sale (which basically
means clothes cost the same price they cost here).

9) Underground - unless you can walk to the place, or now how to navigate with the map,

10) Take the River Thames Tour - but an hour is enough, too long and it gets boring

11) I'd recommend a pub but once you see one you see them all. And you can find one in every street you go down on.

12) Warning: make sure to have your activities and dinner done by 6. A lot of places closes around that time and the
Underground closes at midnight. Buses are not fun. They take too long, and it gets creepy waiting on a bus stop at night.

I started a blog at: http://stories-and-travel.blogspot.com

I'll be updating while I'm at London if I can find internet connection.

Bye Bye!