Too Early?

The second day of fall break.  Woke up at one and have been working on math for just an hour.  Now my class of multivariable calculus is on chapter 15, which is partial derivative.  It’s getting hard only little by little, so I still feel like this class is quite easy.  Finished extra credit project and the midterm I had just a couple of days ago went pretty good.  I’m on the right track to get a good grade for my math… at least for now.

That’s not what I wanted to talk about.  Classes.  Now I’m looking at classes for next semester.  Hm, that’s not true.  I’ve been doing this right after drop/add period ended.  Is it too early?  No.  Not at all.  Since I screwed up both midterms in cognitive psych and social psych, I have to be more careful about choosing course for next semester.  What I’ve learned so far this semester is I do better on writing papers rather than taking exams (like multiple choices and true false).  So I’m trying take paper/essay classes for non-major-related class.  The problem is the classes for my major will most likely have in-class exam.  I really need to know how to study (because I didn’t do well at intro course).  Ugh so much pressure.  I’ve changed… I never cared about my academic work before.  I don’t even know if it’s a good change or not.  But it’s not easy to get a decent GPA here… everyone is basically smart (or diligent) and my English still sucks.  Actually, I think it’s mostly because of my English.  Poor vocabulary causes shallow understanding on materials, which leads to a vague memory.  It takes me thousands times longer to do the same task in English than in Japanese.  Anyways, I should sort out the classes I’m interested in.

• E&ES 322 Intro to GIS TR 9.00-10.20 *MUST
• E&ES 324 GIS Service Learning Lab W 1.10-4.00
• E&ES 250 Earth Materials MW 11.00-12.20 *MUST
• E&ES 252 Earth Materials Lab T 1.10-4.00 *MUST
• LAST 318 A History of Cultural & Intellectual Property in the United States & Latin America T 1.10-4.00
• GRST 268 Understanding Modernity: Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud TR 2.40-4.00
• HIST 263 Inside Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 TR 10.30-11.50 *Not sure about the exam style
• GRST 292 Ghostly Doubles: Romantic Storytelling and Early German Film TR 10.30-11.50
• RUSS 277 Gogol and His Legacy: Witches, Con Men, and Runaway Noses MWF 10.00-10.50
• PSCY 221 Human Memory T 1.10-4.00 *In-class exams
• RUSS 206 A Matter of Life and Dearth: Fiction in the Soviet Era TR 10.30-11.50
• RELI 292 Reason and Revelation: An Intro to the Philosophy of Religion TR 10.30-11.50
• PHIL 343 Concepts of Evil, Blame and Moral Understanding T 7.00-9.50 **
• PSYC 223 Psycholinguistics TR 10.30-11.50
• HIST 372 Women and Gender in Renaissance Italy MF 1.10-2.30 *Might have time conflict **
• FGSS 207 Gender in Transnational Perspective TR 10.30-11.50
• CCIV 275 Romans and Christians: The World of Late Antiquity TR 2.40-4.00 *Not sure about the exam style
• ANTH 268 Prehistory of North America TR 2.40-4.00
• COL 232 Death and the Limits of Representation F 1.10-4.00
• HIST 324 The Problem of Truth in Modern China TR 2.40-4.00
• HIST 221 History of Ecology TR 1.10-2.30
• HIST 323 Religion and History W 7.00-9.50 *Need POI **
• SPAN 111 Intermediate Spanish 1 MWF 9.00-9.50 *Have to take SPAN 112 as well
• HIST 336 Science and the State W 7.00-9.50 **
• COL 267 Love and Emotion in Ancient Greek Philosophy MWF 10.00-10.50
• PSYC 105 Foundations of Contemporary Psychology MW 11.00-12.20 *In-class exams
• PSYC 321 Memory in the Movies W7.00-9.50
• MUSC 425 Advanced Taiko F 1.00-3.00 *Might have time conflict
• MUSC 435 Choral Singing MW 4.30-6.30
• MUSC 439 Wesleyan University Orchestra MW 7.00-9.00
• MUSC 448 Ebony Singers: Gospel Music M 7.30-10.30
• MUSC 455 Jazz Ensemble T 5.00-7.00

Registration period is starting tomorrow! Ugh, cognitive psych exam first though…

Next Semester

Plan 1

• PSYC 220 Cognitive psych TR 9.00-10.20
• PSYC 260 Social psych TR 1.10-2.30
• MATH 222 Multivariable calculus TR 2.40-4.00
• E&ES 223 Structural geology TR 10.30-11.50
• E&ES 225 Field geology W 1.10-4.00
• QAC 201 Applied data analysis MW 11.00-12.20, M/T 4.10-5.30
• MUSC 424 Intro to Taiko F 10.00-12.00
• MUSC 443 WesWinds T 7.00-10.00

Plan 2

• PSYC 220 Cognitive psych TR 9.00-10.20
• MATH 222 Multivariable calculus TR 2.40-4.00
• E&ES 223 Structural geology TR 10.30-11.50
• E&ES 225 Field geology W 1.10-4.00
• ECON 110 Intro to econ theory TR 1.10-2.30
• QAC 201 Applied data analysis MW 11.00-12.20, M/T 4.10-5.30
• MUSC 424 Intro to Taiko F 10.00-12.00
• MUSC 443 WesWinds T 7.00-10.00

Plan 3

• PSYC 220 Cognitive psych TR 9.00-10.20
• PSYC 260 Social psych TR 1.10-2.30
• MATH 222 Multivariable calculus TR 2.40-4.00
• E&ES 223 Structural geology TR 10.30-11.50
• E&ES 225 Field geology W 1.10-4.00
• ECON 110 Intro to econ theory MWF 10.00-10.50
• QAC 201 Applied data analysis MW 11.00-12.20, M/T 4.10-5.30
• MUSC 443 WesWinds T 7.00-10.00

No matter which plan I’d take, I will have a rough semester.  8 credits in total… but I have to do this.  IT’S A MUST.

Time Management

I’m terrible at time management.  I think I waste a lot more time than I spend efficiently.  I always finish stuff in the last minute.  The only way to keep myself productive is making myself busy all the time.

So, this summer, I decided to learn Cantonese, Mandarin, and multivariable calculus by myself.  Considering my schedule of the next semester, it’d be better if I can start reading for my psych class.  But this is just a big and vague plan.  I need a specific and detailed schedule for every day.  Well, actually I should study like 9 am – 5 pm.  Yeah I should and I could.  But…. man, it’s summer.  Want to do something else as well despite the fact that I don’t have any friend to hang out with in this city.

What makes it difficult to make a plan is that there is no deadline.  Besides, I haven’t set the goal.  Oh, now I realized haha, should set some goal for each stuff so that it’ll be a little easier to settle everyday schedule.

Hai… still two months to go.

I’m a Foreigner

I’m feeling very lonely these days.  My parents just moved, and I have no friends here just because I’m not attending a college in Japan.  All of my friends are in Tokyo, where I spent most of my life before going to the U.S. for a college.  The problem is it costs more than $200 to shuttle by bullet train between here and Tokyo.  It’s a bit too pricey if you want to go to Tokyo quite often.  Ah, miss talking to my friends.

Living here is not that bad, actually.  But not having any friend to hang out with makes me feel uncomfortable.  I feel like I’m a foreigner.  I just remember Sting’s song:

I’m an alien I’m a legal alien
I’m an Englishman in New York
I’m an alien I’m a legal alien
I’m an Englishman in New York

Need to adapt myself to this new hometown.

牛肉と野菜のトマト煮込み Tomato-stewed Beef and Vegetables

材料

• イタリアントマト　４個
• ズッキーニ（またはナス）２本
• ジャガイモ　２個
• 牛肉（薄切り）　２００g
• ニンニク　１〜２片
• 塩　小さじ２
• 砂糖　小さじ２分の１
• トマトケチャップ　大さじ２
• 水　４分の１カップ
• オリーブオイル

作り方

1. トマトはへたを取り櫛形の８等分にする
2. ズッキーニは７〜８mmの輪切りにする（ナスの場合も同様）
3. ジャガイモは皮を剥いて乱切りにする
4. 牛肉は食べやすい大きさに切る
5. ニンニクは１〜２mmの輪切りにする
6. 鍋にオリーブオイルを適量引き、ニンニクを香りが出るまで炒める
7. 牛肉を入れ、色がだいたい変わるまで炒める
8. 切った野菜を入れ、全体に油がからまるように炒める
9. 野菜全体に油がからまったら、調味料（塩、砂糖、トマトケチャップ）と水を加え、蓋をして弱火〜中火で１０分ほど煮込む
10. ときどき蓋を開けて中身をかきまぜるとよい
11. １０分後、水分がだいたいとんでいるかを確認し、盛りつける

Shopping List 01

I put 01 in the title because I might write another shopping list as a post in the future.  Just in case.

1. Mechanical pencils:  I lost all of my mechanical pencils including my favorite one somewhere on campus during the freshman year…
2. Notebooks
3. Mug:  I went to several shops and found some good ones but I need only one.  Ah… my indecisiveness.  My mom’s suggestion.  ”Why don’t you buy seven mugs and choose one according to your feelings every day?”  Speechless.  Mo dea lor.
4. Eraser :  I lost mine during the spring semester.  Hai… how come I lost so many things just within one year.

Chinese Characters

So now I’m learning Mandarin by myself.  Do you know there are two types of Chinese characters?  Simplified and traditional.  Usually simplified one is used for Mandarin.

Some people might not know, but Japanese also uses Chinese characters but they have another name: kanji 漢字.  I think this kanji is between simplified and traditional Chinese characters.   Well, actually it’s closer to traditional one I guess because so far simplified characters annoy me more hai….. ging farn lor ng goi.

Mandarin and Cantonese

I listen to both Mandarin and Cantonese songs.  This helped me distinguish one from another.  Mandarin has more ‘er’ and ’sh’ sounds.  Canto sounds clearer than Mandarin.  Well I can’t really describe the differences but I’m mostly able to tell which is Mandarin and vice versa.

My favorite singers: Eason Chan 陳奕迅 (Canto), Hins Cheung 張敬軒 (Canto), Jay Chou 周杰倫 (Mandarin)

Pentax K200D

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes ….. YES!

I got a new DSLR just now.  Pentax K200D.  With two new lenses.  18-55mm and 50-200mm.  I’ve been waiting this moment for so long.  Hooooooooooooooooray!!!

I was supposed to dance a jig of joy yesterday, but I missed it because i went out for lunch.  Now I don’t care.  I got it.  YES I GOT IT.

Language

Mother tongue: Japanese

I believe I know more Japanese, like words and writing expressions,  than the normal Japanese people because I read a lot and I myself write stories.

 

Second language: English

I started to learn English in junior high school (middle school) but started to speak – or… perhaps ‘use’ is the right verb to use – English one year ago, so not fluent enough.  There is a large difference between English and Japanese: word order.  And I think this is the obstacle for Japanese people, who are often claimed that they can’t speak English.  Now that is not a problem for me; what I have to do, especially during this summer, is enrich my vocabulary.  Ah… how poor mine is…. I was feeling this all the time during the freshman year.

 

Language I’m learning now: Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish

I took SPAN 101 and 102 and was struggling a heck of a lot.  Man, this was hard to do Spanish with Americans… they already learned it during high school and still taking 101.  Not fair.  I knew only “hola” and “gracias” before taking the class.

Last Thanksgiving break, I watched Infernal Affair, a movie from Hong Kong, with my friends.  Gosh!  Cantonese is darn cool.  It sounds sexy to me.  Only me.  None of my friends agreed with me.  Anyways, I started to learn Cantonese from my friends since then.  It is actually much easier than Spanish.  No conjugation at all.  No grammar – I think it does have some but… according to my Hong Kong friends, no grammar.  I know much more Spanish than Cantonese, but if looked from fluency my Cantonese wins.  Don’t know if I should be happy about it haha.

I started Mandarin yesterday.  Still practicing the four tones and other pronunciations.  My goal by the end of this summer is to become able to have some conversations.  Well, reading and writing should be easy because I know Chinese characters.  I just need someone to check my pronunciation… skype?

 

Language I want to learn in the future: French, Indonesian, Korean, Turkish

Somehow I like novels written by the French so I just want to read them in French.  Indonesian just sounds cute.  And that is the reason.  Korean and Turkish are categorized in the same language group as Japanese so they have similar grammar.  The group is called the Altaic family.  So I’m curious.