Calculus

My girlfriend often quips: "you know, Calculus is a biology term for bacterial poop." I believe this succinctly describes biologists' views on mathematics.

Melissa L. argued with me once, no matter how much time and resources you threw at someone, it wasn't possible for them to learn beyond their capabilities - one practical example being Calculus.

I argued back, claiming that, given enough time and resources, you could teach someone all there is to comprehend. At this point in time, I am beginning to disbelieve myself. Sometimes I really do feel as though, despite all efforts on both parties, it is not possible. I always thought to myself: if you understood what you needed and how to get it, math would be simple; mindless, almost.

Maybe I am just expecting too much. I can't reasonably expect someone to comprehend what I have spent years of my life formulating in the course of a few months. I had only thought, if one could bypass the painful and tedious formulation of concepts that I had suffered, that math itself would no longer seem like that mythical and magical "black box" of problem solving. No doubt, others feel as though, by taking these formulae and using these methods, they would merely have to put the numbers in and get the answer. I had times where I would sit and memorize formulas, "plugging and chugging" my answers out. I made a promise to myself eventually, that I would at least attempt to understand what it is that I was doing. It's easy to forget formulae, but more difficult to forget concepts.

I have been tutoring my girlfriend in math for quite some time, and I am disappointed to say she doesn't seem like she is doing any better than she was before. I can't blame her lack of effort (that doesn't mean I don't think you slack off, Bev; I know you do), but the time in which she must absorb these concepts are probably way too short. Despite several days of studying, her last midterm was unsatisfactory.

It's a moot point at any rate; she's changed majors. History major. And I approve. Why?

I never figured out why she was a Biochemistry/Chemistry major. She didn't like it; she didn't even pick it - her brother suggested it, I believe. I would always argue that one should study what one wants. The difference, however, is that you keep in mind the rest of your life as you hit the books. True, a history major is a terrible career path, if you aren't careful. A history major with modern world applications - and believe me they exist - is a worthwhile endeavour. We both made sure of it and I have to say, I am relieved. Although I would not turn away from tutoring her personally in math and physics while she needed it, it would most likely have been a drain on my time for very little return. I guess I cannot say I am a good teacher.

Ironically, I have very little patience for Beverly. I always expect much more, and so I get annoyed and angry when she comes up short. I don't have this problem with others, but then I always naturally assumed they were inadequate or lacking. I suppose neither statement is very redeeming. I am only thankful she is patient with me, sometimes, in my anger and frustration. Despite all our quibbles and fights, we still manage to stay together. I would almost say it is healthy, but certainly stressful.

But I'm glad she has changed majors, mostly because she will be [somewhat] happy, and that I am always thankful for. Hopefully this will also alleviate some frustrations...

On the subject of frustrations (not really), I must say that Jay Chou no longer remedies my bouts of depression. Not that I have much to be depressed about, I suppose, but it certainly doesn't work. I listen to it on and off for nostalgic purposes.

I rarely listen to anything actually. Other than RO BGM music. So catchy~ I'm even listening to it right now.

I hum my own tunes sometimes; I never write them down because I forget them, but when I do they never turn out as I hope anyway. Someday I will finish a melody, though; I promiesd Stella C. I would. She would be the first to know, though that might be some time from now.

I visited my Vietnamese teacher last Thursday to have her translate a Viet song for me. It was a favorite song my dad introduced me to, and is considered timeless for "old folks like her," she said. I think the melody is quite entrancing, and will post some lyrics which I translated with her help. They are probably not accurate, as I have JUST finished them from memory; I will try to update them so that they're as accurate as possible.



Tôi đưa em sang sông
by Nhật Ngân & Y Vũ

[verse 1]

Tôi đưa em sang sông, chiều xưa mưa rơi âm thầm
I took you across the river, the rain falling silently,

Để thấm ướt chiếc áo xanh, và đẫm ướt mái tóc em
Soaking my green shirt and wetting your hair.

Nếu xưa trời không mưa, đường vắng đâu cần tôi đưa
If that day had not rained, [you] would not have needed me to take you [down an empty road.]

Chẳng lẻ chung một lối về mà nở quay mặt bước đi
Yet would we have walked the same path with heads turned away?

[verse 2]

Tôi đưa em sang sông, bàn tay nâng niu ân cần
I took you across the river, holding your hand tenderly,

Sợ bến đất lấm gót chân, sợ bến gió buốt trái tim
Afraid that the dirt would soil your heel; afraid that the wind would freeze your heart.

Nếu tôi đừng đưa em, thì chắc đôi mình không quen
If I had not taken you, then we would never have met,

Đừng bước chung một lối mòn, có đâu chiều nay tôi buồn
And had we not walked together, I would be happy tonight.

[verse 3 / bridge]

Rồi thời gian lặng lẽ trôi
Then time flowed silently by.

Đời tôi là chiến binh đi khắp phương trời
I had become a soldier, serving in lands far away.

Mà đời em là ước mơ,
But your life was like a dream,

Đẹp muôn ngàn ý thơ, như ngóng trông chờ
As beautiful as a thousand poems, [as beautiful] as waiting.

[verse 4]

Hôm nao em sang ngang, bằng xe hoa thay con thuyền
One day you pass by, a [wedding] carriage replacing [my] boat

Giờ phút cuối đến tiễn em, nhìn xác pháo vướng gót chân
I find you at the last minute, firecracker remains* stuck to your heels

Gót chân ngày xa xưa sợ lấm trong bùn khi mưa
Heels which I had worried would be soiled long ago [in the mud]

Nàng đã thay một lối về, quên cả người trong gió mưa
She has changed paths now, forgetting all else in the wind [of the rain].

(repeat)

*firecrackers are traditionally set off to celebrate a wedding

This song was originally a poem, I believe, and was written to music and melody. That would explain the unorthodox arrangement of verses.

It's hard to fully translate the poetic nature of songs. In any case, it is much too late right now. I append my unfinished draft from last time, and will hopefully update this will more accurate translations later.


>> Sometime before Christmas, when I was at home [unfinished]

Title: Insignificant

My brother told me about this video he watched which really opened his eyes to how BIG our universe is. It's nothing special to me, because I've known for a long time now just how small we are, but the video was well done and I really enjoyed it. You can watch it here.

I'll repeat what I said on facebook: "in terms of current events of the universe, humans are probably always the last to know." We're like the epic fail outcast that hears about things 3 days later (in this case, billions of years later). Black hole formation? Probably happened a couple hundred million years ago. Supernova? That was so a billion years ago. Where WERE you? Oh, that's right.

Earth.

I'm starting to have a better understanding of just what it means for TIME and SPACE to be intertwined. Humans measure time relatively, in terms of events we have seen. It is important to note that we rely on our eyes, and therefore, light as our means to measure time. Take for example, kicking a ball. There's an organized procedure: kick, ball goes up, ball comes down. Done. And that's how we do it.

If we're standing right next to them, or even as far as possible without losing sight, things coincide almost instantaneously. That's because the speed of light is incomparable to humans; it just moves too fast. Although there's a physical and measurable delay between being there and being over there, as humans, we cannot tell the difference.

Let's take it up a notch, suppose we move, not yards, but miles. Billions of miles. Then there's a difference. Then you start noticing a couple minutes worth of lag, because light travels roughly 186,000 miles per second. Light is emitted, and it is from that that humans reconstruct images and interpret them. If we receive them far later than they were emitted, we're actually looking back in time. So if a star went nova a billion miles away, it'd takes a minute or so to know it.

- there was a pause here where I went to look up impossible math problems -

Okay, my head is starting to hurt. I looked up some stuff about the speed of light, and then that lead to Einstein's mass-energy equivalence equation, and yeah. Damn you, Wikipedia.

Anyway, it just occurred to me that no one probably cares about this crap. Only me~ The point is, we're very small in this universe.

It's things like the video that gets me interested in space and physics and science. I was never too interested in the stuff I learned in physics, I wanted to learn modern physics. Ironically we never covered it in high school because we never had enough time, but I am going to take it this coming quarter. I've heard it is hard, but hopefully it'll be interesting.

Actually, I just hope my other classes are easy this quarter. My overall GPA dropped 0.1, down to 3.5, despite having a 2.85 last quarter, but that doesn't mean I can take it easy. As an electrical engineer, I'm allowed some leeway with my GPA, but nevertheless I have nothing to show for it, so I need to keep it high.

Lately, I've been feeling like I cannot do anything, and I'm beginning to expect too much from people, I suppose. Something occurred to me while I was at home, too; the only reason I did so well my sophomore/junior year, and possibly why I had gotten decent at guitar was because I LITERALLY HAD NOTHING TO DO. I was such a loner back then, and with no TV/cable/anything to boot, I just played guitar and did homework. I remember, when I got home, I would just do homework, and then play guitar. I loved playing classical because it sounded so... emo, but at the same time, melodic and - probably this the most - I could do it by myself. I didn't need friends to entertain myself (not like I had any).

Half way through junior year, me and Jennifer S. started becoming friends. I joined the badminton team; I met Nancy L. and Jonathan L. and Samuel L. and Raymond L. (What's with all these L's?) I actually had something to do, and people to do it with. Not to mention I actually got into shape. I'm competitive like that; I wanted to prove I wasn't just another fat, lazy asian kid who just played badminton so he could put it on his college application (I don't think I ever did, either). So I actually felt good about myself. Don't get me wrong, I sucked at badminton, but I would stay until the end every day. I would do all the exercises as best as I could; no shortcuts! I did it because I didn't want to cut myself short - I can do it, I told myself.

Since then, I haven't been by myself as much. Though I barely talk to anyone other than my girlfriend and Melissa L., when she's not busy, it's still better than before when I had no one. Maybe that's why I wanted a girlfriend so much. Just to have someone to hang out with and care for me, to know that I actually mean something to someone.

But I've neglected guitar ever since I've come down to UCSD. I haven't sung at all since the end of choir before summer. My voice has gone to shit, and I really regret it. Not that it was any good to begin with, but I've really let it go. And my weight, ugh. That too. I suppose I can list out what I'm disappointed in: my singing, my guitar, badminton, my weight, my appearance, my grades. Not in any particular order.

So that's why I haven't been feeling good about myself. My girlfriend told me, a while back, that she likes the Anglo Saxon look. I've pretty much equated that to mean White people, though I believe it refers more to English Europeans. And also that she thinks of hair as being important in terms of aesthetics and beauty.

And to think I told her that I was thinking about just cutting my hair short and forgetting about it because I don't know what to do with my hair.

Ironically, that's when I started reading about depression, which made me feel BETTER. Why? No idea.

I tried cheering myself up by doing what I used to do: sing Jay Chou songs. That's when I realized I couldn't sing anymore and so you can assume it didn't help very much. You know it's bad when EVEN JAY CHOU CAN'T HELP YOU.

I'm just back to being lonely. Although it's not really a new revelation, I suppose it comes from expecting too much again. I've always had to set things up with people; set up meetings and hang out times. They don't work out, but I still did them. Now, I don't feel like it. I'm tired of having my plans going to shit and I'm tired of being the only one organizing it. It would be nice to just be invited for once, to be like "hey Kevin, hang out with me/us!" AND ACTUALLY FOLLOW THROUGH WITH IT! Make the plans, and not just throw it out there. But like I said, I'm expecting too much. It's not like, oh it's Kevin we must hang out. Nothing particularly special about me. Not that I'm trying to inspire pity; I don't want to. You're just average, Kevin. Got to keep that in mind.

I have to thank Jenn and Jon for keeping me sane, though; they've really made my break, but I haven't gotten them anything special for Christmas. GAH. Christmas presents. I don't even know what to give them. I'm hoping for an epiphany right now. An EPIPHANY of PRESENT GIVING.