Happy New Year

was reviewing what i did for the past 1 yr, listing all the not-so-good stuff i did and whether shld i improve over the next year.

让精神升华。

remember in pri sch, we learned a lesson during chinese class where there was a scholar who was constantly keeping to the rules and making sure that he never does anything is out of bound. He kept 2 boxes, 1 box where he put a 百棋 in if he did anything good; another box where he put a 黑棋 in if he did something bad. The article end with the qn "is he doing the right thing?"

remember the class has a discussion abt it, but i cant remember what was my decision.

Remember sometime in the atheneum, JLJ was asking why i follow a strict way of the 儒家 way of life. I replied "先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐" JLJ replied "wont that make your life very 辛苦？"

I thou over this for a very very long time.

shld i go n become a stricter 清教徒，more boring guy。 Then i realise that that is the 1st step terrorist take. hehe

was thinking abt it for a long time.

then, i got it today, while i was bathing today.

有为始，无为终。

recalled what i learned from 老子，道德经. the difference between 儒家 n 道家。 China have an undisturbed 2000+ year of civilization because the politicans know when to gover a country, there are 3 main stages: 马上得天下，儒家有为而治，道家无为而治。 esp the last 2, toggle b/w this 2 to ensure propersity.

what does that mean?

continue to be who I am. Follow rules of 儒家, but with the aim that they shld be discard eventually.

much better now that i sort this out.

Just in time for the new year. Cheers!

家教

share what is expected if having lunch/dinner with my family...

1. prepare the table. all (except my grandparents and my dad n uncles) are expected to help, wash the chopsticks, spoons, 添饭，开饭，搬菜。。。Never never compress the rice into the bowl.

2. get my grandparents out for lunch/dinner.

3. wait for all to arrive at table before eating (notice that this is somewhat missing in recent years)

4. 叫人吃饭(most impt) if my whole extended family is here, i have to call this whole string of words before eating (爷爷奶奶吃饭，姑妈姑丈吃饭，father mother 吃饭，小姑小姑丈吃饭，表姐表姐夫吃饭）。Recall that this is a very impt part of eating rituals. when we were young, will get scolding if we forgot.

5. Cannot hold chopsticks in one hand and spoon in the other. must put down the chopsticks if u need to use the spoon. only exception is when u need both spoon n chopstick to get food.

6. Must use the hand not holding chopsticks to hold the bowl. that hand must hold the bowl in such a way that u r holding both the side n bottom of the bowl.

7. Never support your head w your hand during meals. Not possible if item 6 is carried out.

8. drinking soup shld not have any noise.

9. spoons and chopsticks must not be poking into the bowl.

10. 淋汁is allow but not at the start of the meal, esp not allowed when u finish all the 汁. (somewhat relaxed over the years)

11. When eating, get the food from the dish and put them onto the bowl. then scope it with rice into the mouth. Not allowed to get the food directly from the dish and into the mouth.

12. Consider a dish, food all around. but u can only get the food that is on the side of the dish that is closest to u. If your fav food is at the other end, too bad. (somewhat relaxed over the years)

13. when getting food, just get what u want n dont mess up the whole dish. Very hard to achieve in practise esp when eating streamed fish. Recall that only my grandpa can achieve it by eating all the meat on 1 side and then remove the sketelon away and continue to eat the other side.

14. wrt to item 13, no nice to flip the fish over during meal. (relaxed over the years cos in practise, no flipping = no eating of the other side)

15. Must finished all rice in the bowl, till the last drop.

16. Remember that my dad will scold if our legs move all over the place under the table. he expected our legs to be stationary since we dont need the legs to eat food.

17. must learn to hold the chopstick properly. u got it right if u can let the 2 chopsticks cress-cross each other. (missing in practise, my bro cant do it)

18. finished eating, collect the bones, put into the bowl, put bowl, spoon n chopsticks into the kitchen. Throw the bones into the bin and place the rest in the sink.


My mum n grandma can cook really good food. But it is pretty stressful to eat with my family. cos 规矩一大堆。：p

Christmas eve

Technically, today is already Christmas.

Recalled that last christmas eve i was at home, facing the PC, running simulations for my fyp. Recalled that there are only 3 pc in use, other than mine, compared to the normal 18 at night. As normal, work throughtout the night and sleep in the morning on Christmas day.

Tonight, I am alone in my room (my bro in NZ), suposed to be reading and coding my Masters project. JJ ask me for overnight mah jong. refused cos need to do work. Actually, the whole day other than reading thro patera notes, did almost nothing. Patera instructions are a few pages long, but i dont ustd. sorry prof, still havent figure out how to apply fea to hyperbolic eq.

spent the night reading 3 chapters of 七剑下天山.

Another reason for saying no to JJ is that i feel that i am spending alot of time with the class. will be spending time together again in MIT. I shld spend some time w my family n other friends.

Most impt, need some time alone. Spent alot of time recently thinking about what i did and what i did not do over the year. If I got the mood and time, i will write it out. Beware, very long and boring.

Nevertheless, Merry Christmas to all!

Still on MIT 2

Where i study n work, block 3

Where JJ n SH study n work.

Where JLJ, HS and SD study and work.

Still on MIT

Found a website that give better pictures of MIT. "virtualearth.msn.com", but it only have pictures of USA.



Pictures of Tangs, where JJ, SH, HM, ZL and me will be staying. The tall building on the left is westgate, where S and YM will be staying.



Ashdown, where JLJ, MH, SW, HS, SD and RV will be staying.

妻子好合 如鼓瑟琴

明天，美月大婚。贺语别人会讲，我写别的。

夫妻之道，我懂得不多，不好讲。不过，我相信美月和俊雄能共造快乐与和谐的生活。

恭喜老爷，贺喜夫人，雷家开枝散叶了！

此子受孕于乙酉年戊子月甲戌日戌初；姓雷名莎，字汤圆，号终极密码。

Where I live

Staying on the 8 level.

Where I study n work

My office, Maclaurin Buildings

MIT

Will be going to MIT from 11 Jan to 16 Aug. Was just told that my supervisor prof Patera n my office will be in building 3, just left on the famous MIT dome, circle in yellow. But that is quite far from where i will be staying, Tangs hall, circle in red. imagine carrying my notebell bag of 5 kg to study everyday.....

抽刀断水水更流 举杯消愁愁更愁

Feeling sad out of the blue. Think it is all the work piling up and datelines approaching. got email from laoshi recently. Realise that I have to tell MY that I cant attend her wedding dinner.

Sianz. signz.

MY is getting married on 20 Dec, wont be there. Shawn getting married on 11 Jan, wont be there. Sis getting married in May, wont be there. DH ROM in Jul, wont be there.

Signz. sianz

YM came atheneum w shawn. JJ at home with YJ. JLJ went out with JJ. SH went out w his 二奶. SW bf came over n carry her notebook for her. HM n HS are always at atheneum,小声讲，大声笑。

sianz, sianz. Signz

寻寻觅觅，冷冷清清，凄凄惨惨戚戚。乍暖还寒时候，最难将息。三杯两盏淡酒，怎敌他、晚来风急？雁过也，正伤心，却是旧时相识。

满地黄花堆积。憔悴损，如今有谁堪摘？守著窗儿，独自怎生得黑？梧桐更兼细雨，到黄昏、点点滴滴。这次第，怎一个、愁字了得！

Where did all the money go?

Ever since I told the class that i spent around $300 a month, they believe that I am the richest guy in the class. $300 is the amount of money I spend per month during my 4 years of undergraduates. actually should be lesser cos I get $250 a month from my mum.

Recall that my parents had always been very strict about money ever since i start pri school. pri sch daily allowance was 50 cents, pri 2 become 70 cents when my uncle told my mum to increase it. not to spend more but because noodles cost 50 cents then. that extra 20 cents was for me to learn the habit of saving. if i remember correct, allowance in pri sch is around $1 and $2 if i had my lunch in sch. Sec school was $1.50 (noodle cost $1.20 in sch) and $3. JC was $50 a month + money for bus stamp (cant remember how much bus stamp used to cost). uni was $200 in yr 1 and 2; $250 in yr 3 n 4.

Since young, i was taught the importance of money and good saving and spending practise. Ang pao money was collected and given to my parents. Never had too much money on my hand before. Hence, I was faced with the nice situation where I dont know how to spend my money, 3 times. 1st when i was in the army, $400 a month + earning from tutioning $250. 2nd when i was in tokyo, J¥ 6480 per day. 3rd now in sma.

During this masters program, suddenly faced with a lump sum of money, really dont know how to spent. But what YK say is right, "the way u spend money depends on the amount of money u have. dont worry, when u got money, u will start spending". How very true.

So, dont start calling me to lend u money or giving u a treat, i dont have much anyway. see my expense for the past 5 months, the red line is the amount i spent. i myself is very surprise with it. A hint: the expenses for jul in $280.

Shopping 记 2

Some history..........

Last fri afternoon was the day we celebrate JLJ birthday. lunch at 12.30 at suntec. In the end, all reach at 1.15 pm. The class is always LATE!!! lunch till 3 pm. most of the class went back sch to work. I didnt cos going to expo to source for notebook. went shopping w JLJ for 1 hr.

Mon went back to sch, then realise that after saying bye bye to me, she went back to store, tried out the dress that I say was nice and bought it. Dont want to bored me to death if I had to wait for her to try the dress out.

Hehe, if i was there, i will give that to her as her birthday gift. haha

Another bonus, my eye power still not bad, JLJ agree that the dress i choose is not bad.

Another side note is, now the whole class know i get bored easily during shopping. Shopping to me is just

Q = 1;
while (Q == 1)

see;
try;

if (nice && px is right)
buy;
else
shop;
end

if (boring < interesting)
Q = 2;
end
end

of cse, these 3 steps shld at least have 4th order convergence ;-)

男人不坏，女人不爱 2

This few days are very busy, dont have much time to think abt this. But what i got in my head is, 以德报怨，何以报德？If you are nice to everybody, what can u offer to her that make her feel that she is special in your heart??

Come to think of it, my ex did complain to me before that i treat her only as well as how i treat my friend, although i treat them both quite well. Remember quite well she pose me this qn "who am i to you. how could u compare me w your friend?" thinking back, i 愧欠她不少.

Now i have to constantly remind myself, 瓜田不纳履，李下不整冠. like what DH told his bro, dont always treat the gals to supper since u already know they got bf. Shldnt be too nice to JLJ, or else MT will come after me. ;-)