:: Pedantic Platitudes ::

Greetings! My name is Sam J and I am a student at Harvard University. Perhaps this blog will present a little look into the mundane yet unique events that make up my life.
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:: Friday, January 31, 2003 ::

Today, I went to hear Alan Keyes speak. Alan Keyes wanted to run for president under the Republican ticket in 2000, but he didn't get the nomination. He is an extreme moralist who panders to the religious right (or is a member of it). I wouldn't have gone, except my rabidly Libertarian friend dragged me to go. It was interesting to hear another point of view, but it made me realize just how much better it is to be liberal.

Today, I also went to see our women's hockey team play. It was an exciting game. One of the team members, Julie Chu, was a member of the 2002 US women's hockey team that played in Salt Lake City for the Winter Olympics. She happens to live in the same dorm as I do.

:: SL 5:16 PM [+] ::
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:: Thursday, January 30, 2003 ::
Today, I finally finished reading the first book in the Harry Potter series. I made the mistake of watching the movie before reading the book, so the book felt like one of those movie summary books. Too bad. I will definitely read the third book before the next movie is out.

I wasted a lot of time online today. I think I will go and clean up my room a little bit; it's gotten a bit messy since the end of the semester.

Ah, yes. And for all those bored college students out there, I offer this delightfully humorous web site: www.homestarrunner.com

The cartoons are hilarious!

:: SL 5:50 PM [+] ::
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:: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 ::
I'm tired. I want to sleep. One unfortunate aspect of travelling to the other side of the world is jet lag. I'm still not used to East Coast time!

Well, today was the first day of shopping period. I checked out Chemistry, Biology, and Psychology. Psychology was super-cool. The professor was really funny, and I enjoyed his lecture. I think I might take this class. I'm not quite sure I want to take Biology this year; the Biology class requires a three-hour lab each week, and I don't want to do that in addition to the two-hour lab we have each week in Chemistry. Tomorrow, I will try Calculus and a history class about the Vietnam War that counts for history credit. Well, it's off to do laundry!

:: SL 5:13 PM [+] ::
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:: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 ::
So it was a long flight... Taipei to Osaka to Detroit to Boston. A total of around 20 or so hours. I miss Taiwan already. The tropical weather was so nice, and it was brilliant to see actual leaves on the trees! Ah, who knows when I shall return. Tomorrow is the first day of second semester. Harvard has a neat thing where during the first week of the semester, students can visit all the classes in which they have interest. They can pick up a syllabus, check to see if the professor is acceptable, and preview the homework load during the week. Then, at the end of this "shopping period," students sign up for the classes they want to take. Thus, tomorrow is the first day of shopping period, and I am looking at Biology, Calculus, Psychology, Chemistry, and another Linguistics class. Pick four out of the five above. What's frightening is that these are all broad, intensive, introductory courses. Sigh. I have been spoiled by my two weeks of non-work. Well, we'll see how shopping period goes.

I feel that I neglected to talk about my last days in Taiwan, so here goes: My aunt took me to Taroko Gorge, which is like a tropical equivalent of Yosemite in Taiwan. It was stunningly beautiful with its waterfalls, foliage, and wildlife. I saw a Taiwanese monkey in the trees! It was kinda cute. I also visited two of my grandma's five sisters, as well as my grandpa's sister. It's good to see family again. The next day, I had to get up at 5 in the morning to make it to my flight. We had to drive an hour to get to the airport, but security wasn't as bad as it was last year, when they made every single passenger open his or her luggage for inspection. It was sad to say goodbye to my family in Taiwan. I hope to see them once again soon.

:: SL 8:01 PM [+] ::
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Hello again! I am back from my wonderful vacation. I just got in, so now I need to unpack, sort my stuff, and catch up on all my e-mails! More later...

:: SL 2:19 PM [+] ::
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:: Thursday, January 23, 2003 ::
Hmmm... For the first time in my meager existance, a girl actually flirted with me. It was quite an unusual experience. She was 17 and working at a clothing store downtown. She asked me where I was from, where I went to school, how old I was, etc. This would never ever happen in the United States. We talked for a while... She wanted conversation; I wanted to bargain for a lower price on a super-cute Doraemon keychain I really liked (it's acceptable to bargain in certain places here in Taiwan). I think we both won in this situation. She wanted me to teach her an English phrase, and in exchange she would lower the price on the keychain. So I asked her what she wanted to learn in English. She thought for a really long time, and then she said she wanted to learn how to say "I really like you" in English. I swear I'm not making this up. So I taught her, and she giggled a lot with her co-worker, but I got a discount in the end. She was rather nice, actually. Too bad I don't go for Asian girls...

:: SL 8:00 AM [+] ::
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:: Wednesday, January 22, 2003 ::
Today, my grandparents took me out to the local department store to buy me a jacket. I'm not sure if it's a universal thing, but Asian grandparents really like to buy their grandchildren things. My grandma wouldn't let me go until I had bought something in the store. She really wanted to buy me this $150+ coat, but I thought it was a bit excessive and opted instead for a nice pair of cargo pants, which went for a more reasonable $15 (US dollars). The exchange rate is very favorable here, so everything seems very cheap. For lunch, we had wonton soup at this restaurant that is most famous in Taiwan for its wontons. Even the president of Taiwan would stop by often to have wonton soup there. My grandma is good friends with the owner; they used to be neighbors. For dinner, we went to this really nice restaurant where they set a boiling pot in front of you and let you cook your own vegetables, meat, etc. yourself. Then, after you cook your own food, you dip it in a really delicious sauce. I guess it's kind of like a fondue restaurant in that you're dipping food, but it's different in that you are dipping the food in boiling water to cook it.

:: SL 6:34 AM [+] ::
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:: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 ::
Wow! It's been forever and a year since I last posted! I apologize to my dear readers for not updating as frequently as I would like. It's not that there isn't technology here in Taiwan; it's just that I've been whisked away each day to another sightseeing activity.

Well, time is going by way too quickly during my vacation. Here's a quick run-down of the things I've done since last I posted:

On Saturday, I participated in a past-time popular with the youth of Taiwan (and most of Asia, for that matter): K-TV, or singing karaoke. My cousins took me out to experience this bit of culture, and they sang a lot of Taiwanese pop songs in Mandarin Chinese. I didn't know any of the songs they sang, but luckily there were some English songs, so I was able to torture them with my ear-grating vocals. Afterwards, we went shopping in downtown Hsin-chu, where my grandparents on my mother's side reside. One thing about clothing stores in Taiwan is that they actually have tailors in the stores to adjust clothes for you for no additional cost! I was able to get a new pair of pants trimmed to length without having to pay extra, and for the first time in my life I had pants that fit perfectly! I also bought a pretty new red sweater with a horizontal blue stripe across the chest. We then watched Monsters, Inc. on DVD.

On Sunday, my cousins and I went to Taipei, which is the capital of Taiwan. It's only about an hour away from Hsin-chu. The city is huge! We spent the morning at the Taipei Zoo, one of the largest I've ever been to. They had the cutest penguins in one exhibit, and also lions, tigers, and bears... you know, the works. He he he... in one exhibit, a couple of monkeys were getting a little... shall we say... frisky, and we all got to witness a most fascinating display of animal sexuality to the tittering of young schoolchildren. The real kicker - and I swear I'm not making this up - is that both monkeys were male. Hmmmm. Yeah. So, after we visited the zoo, we took the subway to get around the city, and we stopped by Hsimen, which is a huge hangout for teenagers and young adults. There were a lot of stores and restaurants. One great thing about Taiwan is that there are always a lot of snack stands open late at night, so if you want to go out for a snack or a drink late at night with friends, you can do so. We then went to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, which is a huge park and monument in the middle of Taipei. It's an absolutely beautiful tribute to the Taiwanese equivalent of George Washington. Lastly, we headed to Tamshui, which is a nice boardwalk-style area next to a large body of water. The place had a carnival-esque feel to it, with many souvenir shops, restaurants, and game places. Then we took the bus home. Public transportation in Taiwan is amazing. You can get anywhere at any time. Even late at night there were busses going out every 15 minutes or so back to Hsin-chu. There are trains, busses, subways, electric cars, etc. We finally got home at about midnight.

On Monday, I left Hsin-chu and met my aunt and cousin from my dad's side in Taipei. My aunt is going to Japan on vacation next week, so she was in Taipei to do some business by getting a visa for Japan and getting her affairs in order with the travel agency. Everyone is on vacation in Taiwan because the Chinese New Year is about to start. The students all have a month off, and everyone is going out and getting their shopping done. We went to Sogo, a Japanese department store, in Taipei, the largest in Taiwan. It was so crowded there; it's hard to even describe. There were people lined up for a block just to ride the elevator! The store is huge; there are 15 levels, and each level is devoted to different merchandise. For example, there is an entire level for men's casual wear, one level for men's formal wear, one for home appliances, one for children's toys, one for cosmetics, one for the food court, etc. It was hard to move around in the store, as there were so many people. Apparently, it is the most profitable store in all of Taiwan; the store makes millions of dollars each day. At six, we met up with my other aunt and her family. It was good to see them again. My aunt's husband, my uncle, recently had brain surgery because x-rays showed that he had a huge tumor, and he had an operation quickly following that. He is recovering, but he is still quite frail from the major surgery. Just a few days ago, he went in for another x-ray, and they found another tumor in the spot where they had operated. He will have to have surgery again in a couple of weeks. My aunt has been very strong in this, and I admire both my aunt and uncle for being so strong during such a tough period. I hope he will be in excellent health once again soon. I also admire my cousins, both of whom are on their way to becoming medical doctors. In just a couple of years they will graduate from medical school. After dinner, we took the train back to Hualien, where my dad's side of the family resides. It was a three-hour train ride; I slept for most the trip. I finally saw my grandparents at the end of the day, and we talked for some time before I went to bed.

Today, I slept in for the first time since I've been in Taiwan. Each day I've been here, I have gotten up at 7 or 8 because of some activity. I had lunch, and then I spent most of the early afternoon watching television. It's most entertaining to watch Taiwanese television. MTV Taiwan is really fun, also. There are a lot of Taiwanese pop stars, and their songs are pretty good, too. I even watched a little bit of the Disney Channel, which had many of the cartoons dubbed in Mandarin Chinese. It was most fascinating to watch, or rather to listen to, Mickey Mouse speak in Mandarin Chinese. It sounded just like him, just in another language. Later in the afternoon, my grandparents and I went to my aunt's house in downtown Hualien to visit. We had a big dinner because it was my uncle's birthday. After eating the cake, which was beautifully decorated with fruit, I went with my cousin to explore a little bit of Hualien. Once again, Taiwan is cool in that it has stores open late every day of the week, so you can go out and grab a drink or a snack or go shopping until 10 or 11 every night. So, I went out and bought a couple of CDs. I have to comment about how wonderful music CDs are here in Taiwan. The music stores here all carry releases of major Western musicians, from Britney Spears to Bon Jovi to Kylie Minogue. The CDs go for less than $10 each, and they have all the tracks found on US releases, as well as several bonus tracks and special music videos that can be accessed via computer. They also include a special collector's booklet with extra pictures and lyrics. It's amazing all the things you get when you buy a CD here for just under $10. Anyways, I then had some pearl milk tea. Yum! It's tea mixed with milk, with pearls of tapioca on the bottom. I guess it's an Asian thing. Americans don't seem to like the concept of tapioca. Too bad. It's really good stuff. I then listened to my new CDs and went to bed.

:: SL 7:40 AM [+] ::
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:: Friday, January 17, 2003 ::
Greetings from Taiwan! This post is made possible by my cousin, who has kindly allowed me to use her computer to access the internet. Well, it was a long flight to get here, but I made it, and I'm having a blast. I left Boston on Wednesday morning, but when I got to Taiwan it was already Thursday evening local time. I had spent a total of, I think, 24 hours travelling. Quite a journey. Well, I spent all of yesterday travelling, but today I was able to get out a little more. This morning, I went shopping in downtown Hsin-Chu, where I am staying with my grandparents on my mother's side. Some of the guys' clothes are very interesting because Taiwan is going through a unisex fashion trend (so all clothes look semi-feminine). Then, this afternoon, I went to Taiwan's biggest theme park, which is located a convenient 30 minutes away. I thought this was the best non-Disney theme park I have ever visited. It had thrilling rides on the scale of Six Flags, but its theming and quality was on-par with Disney theme parks. There was this one ride that was just like the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland. We rode in jeeps over rough terrain through creepy mummy caverns and menacing mythical creatures. More adventures await tomorrow as I spend more time with my cousins, who are very friendly. I never realized how unfortunate it is to not have a single cousin who lives in the same country as you.

:: SL 4:58 AM [+] ::
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:: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 ::
OK! This is the last post from the United States for a while! In a few hours I will be boarding a plane to Detroit, where I will be boarding another plane that will fly directly to Tokyo, Japan. Then, I fly from Osaka (Japan) to Taiwan, where I will spend the next two weeks, taking a much-needed vacation, doing lots of sightseeing and shopping, and most importantly visiting my grandfather. It's a long trip, and I literally will be travelling halfway around the world, but it should be fun. So until next time, toodles!

:: SL 12:26 AM [+] ::
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:: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 ::
Finals are over!!! Yay to a wonderful first semester at Harvard! Truly a remarkable experience. The chemistry final was uber-difficult, but I made it through, along with the rest of my finals! I now get a two-week intersession break! Now the challenge is to figure out what classes I want to take next semester. I have to take Calculus and Chemistry (again!), and I want to take Psychology and maybe Biology, just to see if I like it or not. There is another Linguistics class I really want to take, but I don't think I have time in my schedule for it.

:: SL 8:48 PM [+] ::
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:: Monday, January 13, 2003 ::
Woot woot! Two finals down and one more to go. Tomorrow's final, though, will be the most difficult: chemistry. I will be plugging away at it tonight to get some studying done for that class...

:: SL 4:17 PM [+] ::
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:: Sunday, January 12, 2003 ::
Ha ha ha! Tonight was Primal Scream, the annual Harvard let's-get-naked tradition. At midnight the night before finals, students strip completely naked and run around Harvard Yard. I regret to announce that I was a mere spectator and not a participant. There were more guys than girls, and most of them were buff... Lots of beautiful people. Although the weather was freezing, I think everyone ultimately had a good time. Well, Primal Scream is over, and the only thing left is finals! Less than 9 hours until my first final!

:: SL 9:27 PM [+] ::
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Wish me luck... I take my first final tomorrow.

I wore my new velcro t-shirt today. What did the message say? "I'M IN HELL."

Poor Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees. He died today. What a "Tragedy." OMG!!! I'm so mean!!! But seriously, I want to thank him for his contributions to the world of music.

:: SL 2:42 PM [+] ::
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:: Saturday, January 11, 2003 ::
I just spent six hours at the library studying, and after my dinner break I shall head back for more studying. (Sorry my blog has become so boring... Everyone is studying and there's not much going on. Well, there is something going on; the students in my entryway are playing a mad game of Assassin where each player is assigned to "kill" (tag) another player assigned to him or her, and if one gets tagged, he or she is out of the game and must give his or her assignment to the person who "killed" him or her. Thus, the game takes several days to play because people don't run into each other every day, but the game is coming to a close, and it's exciting to watch people getting paranoid about who is trying to kill him or her.)

:: SL 5:09 PM [+] ::
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:: Friday, January 10, 2003 ::
Another harried day fraught with mind-numbing studying and review sessions. Two days left to study... This will be an interesting weekend...

:: SL 5:31 PM [+] ::
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:: Thursday, January 09, 2003 ::
So I whored out my brain again today for another psych study... They had me look at words that flashed on the screen and later recall what words were shown. I got $8 for about thirty minutes; what a great job... if only it were full time.

:: SL 2:50 PM [+] ::
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:: Wednesday, January 08, 2003 ::
Well, reading period is pretty much halfway over for me, and I don't feel as if I am halfway done studying for the finals. Maybe only about 1/5 or something like that. Time to panic! I lucked out and have three finals during the first two days of finals week. Sigh. Most other students have more than a week remaining to study, whereas I only have four more days. Each final is three hours long! AHHHHH!

:: SL 3:45 PM [+] ::
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:: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 ::
"There's something much more offensive to flashing than just walking around naked." - Actual quote from the dinner table tonight.

Background: There's a strange tradition here at school called Primal Scream; at midnight the night before the first day of finals, students brave the cold and run around the yard completely naked. Some of my entryway-mates were debating whether to go outside in a robe and take it off at certain times to expose themselves only those who were naked, so the perverts from outside the school who make their way to the university to watch the spectacle won't see them.

:: SL 4:09 PM [+] ::
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:: Monday, January 06, 2003 ::
Happy Topsy Turvy Day! According to a lyric in the song "Topsy Turvy" in the Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Topsy Turvy Day is "on the sixth of January." So release the devil within yourself, mock the prig, and shock the priest!

:: SL 4:06 PM [+] ::
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Ugh. Here's another one from the TMI (Too Much Information) files: Apparently, ever single one of my four roommates has now hooked up with a different girl from the room downstairs. Remarkable. They are now trying to make me get with the fifth girl, who is an overly-sensitive, obsessively-studious pre-med student and prude. Riiiiight.

:: SL 8:34 AM [+] ::
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:: Sunday, January 05, 2003 ::
It's a small world after all... My roommate from San Francisco just got back from winter vacation, and he told me that over the break he had met "Crystal from Morro Bay." I considered the girls named Crystal I knew (like there are that many), and I asked, "Crystal Van Zee?" And he thought for a moment and said, "Yeah. Van Zee. She's my second cousin. She said to say 'Hi' to you." To check, I asked, "Did you meet her brothers?" And he replied, "The wrestler guys?" I knew then that he was telling the truth. What a fascinating coincidence! My roommate's cousins are the Van Zees. Quite interesting.

:: SL 8:16 PM [+] ::
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This reading period is very strange. Everyone is working, but everyone is not working at the same time. Our finals are in a week, but everyone says there doesn't seem to be that much pressure to get stuff done. I know I have a ton of stuff to do, so I am slowly chugging away at the material. Hopefully all this will pay off in the end.

:: SL 12:40 PM [+] ::
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:: Saturday, January 04, 2003 ::
Well, it was an exciting day today. My roommates and some other people from my entryway went ice skating! It was the first time I had ever ice skated, and it was one of the most exciting things I had ever done. The skating rink was in downtown Boston, and there were quite a few people there. We rented ice skates and began skating around. It was slippery, but I soon got the hang of things. Then it started snowing lightly, and it was so beautiful - just like in the movies, with the snow drifting down gently and the children skating in the park. I felt as if I had stepped into a wonderful winter-time movie.

Then, we went to an Italian restaurant in the Italian district of Boston, and met the most evil, mean, nasty, bad-attitude bitch-waitress/owner in the world. Let me tell you, she was the nastiest person on the planet. She yelled at my friends (calling her a liar, just because she had given her the wrong number of people in our party), treated us lousily, and then messed up our bill, overcharging us. One of us pulled out a calculator and proved that they had overcharged us, and they tried to correct it, but the bill still turned out to be ten dollars over. We all wanted to leave without tipping, but they had tacked on a required tip onto the bill. What a sleazy restaurant and owner. When we complained about the woman's attitude, she snapped back at us, saying, "You're the one with the attitude." I was like, "Excuse me?" WTF??? I certainly will never go there again. What a stain on humanity. Hopefully, this woman's business will go under and she will live out the rest of her life in misery, destitution, and penury.

But I won't end my post today on such a sour note. No, I still had a great time out with friends. Last night, we had gone out to a Chinese restaurant, and we all got fortune cookies. So I learned a new game. Read your fortune aloud, but add the phrase "in bed" to the end of it. For example, "You will have great success and fortune in bed." Try it the next time you go to a Chinese restaurant.

:: SL 9:58 PM [+] ::
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:: Friday, January 03, 2003 ::
I finished my essay and turned it in today. Good... that's one thing out of the way. Now, it's time to study for finals. Wait, it's a Friday... Who studies on a Friday? Grrr. No, I shall not bow to peer pressure. Study I will. Let it be known that I am extremely jealous of those who are still on winter vacation.

Hmmm.... I'm not quite sure what to write about. Nothing's really going on. There are still a lot of people who aren't back from vacation yet. Well, hopefully there will be more to report tomorrow.

Ah, yes... an interesting story here (sorry, you'll have to cut and paste):

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/01/01/thailand.breasts.reut/index.html.

:: SL 7:22 PM [+] ::
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:: Thursday, January 02, 2003 ::
I am back in my dorm at Harvard, where it is snowy and cold. Well, the weather outside is snowy and cold, not my dorm. I miss California! OK, enough whining. The school is still pretty empty. I guess most students are coming back sometime this weekend. None of my roommates have returned, so it's like getting a house to myself. I've never lived alone before...

Well, have a nice day!

:: SL 3:40 PM [+] ::
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:: Wednesday, January 01, 2003 ::
Happy New Year!!!

Well, today is my last day in California for, I think, five months. I'm not sure if I'll be back for spring break, although I would like to very much. It is a very sad day for me, for I was so happy to be home again to see all my friends. My flight leaves at 7 tonight at the SLO-town airport, and then I have a flight from LAX to Boston. I will be back at school on Thursday morning. Sigh. Back to school for finals.

:: SL 1:26 PM [+] ::
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