Kevin Fact 8

You need to buy a violin before you can learn to play it.

Taiwan 2010: Reflection of Sorts

This month has flown by, and although I've been away from the Internet for most of it, I don't miss using it. I came back this trip to see my grandfather one last time. He passed away on June 16, 2010.

I must say, never before have I been as motivated to properly learn Chinese (even though I know enough to get by on my own for days); never before have I realized the significance and awesomeness of having a huge family; and never before have I cared even more about ceremony, tradition, and respect.

I did manage to find time (and permission) to do "fun" things, I guess you can say. It was on my own mostly, but sometimes with a couple of my many cousins after everything was done. Now, I have over 23 GB of raw photos and video to sort, organize, and process. My goal is to go through all of it within two weeks while it's still fresh in my head. I was the designated photographer and videographer (though photo-documentarian is probably more appropriate) of everything. I am also doing a joint photo project with a few cousins in Taiwan for my late grandfather. Not ready to share too much more about it just yet other than say that it'll be the biggest and most important photo project I've ever worked on.

I'm heading for the airport shortly after noon tomorrow, local time. I should be arriving in JFK some time around 10 pm EDT on Thursday. See you soon.

Photo: Taiwan Sunset at 星海之戀 in 桃園, 台灣.

Taiwan 2010: Random Thoughts 1

So it's been raining every day since I got here. It kind of sucks, but it's kind of nice. It's a mild 80 degrees or so everyday, and not 95. Definitely could be worse.

1. Life is so simple here. I forgot how little international news they follow here, among other things.

2. By itself, Chinese is a nice language full of idioms to describe nearly everything. Chinese, however, is a terrible language to translate into, from English. Or, English is too rich a language to be adequately translated into an Asian language. Watching American movies on TV, I find that reading the subtitles doesn't do justice to the actual dialogue of the movie. I was watching "The Davinci Code" on TV and felt the Chinese subtitles destroyed much of the subtleties of what was said. ("Subtleties" is a weird word.)

3. The food here is amazing.

4. Drivers here have no regard for what's painted on the ground. Still, they are all pretty amazing drivers to not collide with anything and to be able to navigate through a two way street that's wide enough for only one-and-a-half cars.

5. I've been following the World Cup games and the NBA finals, watching most of it live. The Korea-Greece game was the best. Germany did well because Australia was pretty terrible. The USA game was expectedly terrible.

6. I've been successfully fighting my Pepsi "addiction". Not even craving it anymore.

Taiwan 2010: In Alaska

First leg of the journey is complete. It was a pretty typical plane ride which is probably a good thing. I'm over at Anchorage, AK right now for a 1.5 hour stopover (I never quite understood why they did that). It is so quiet here, but at least there is free wifi. It's 3:30 am local time right now (7:30 am eastern). I should be in Taiwan by 6:00 pm eastern tonight. Yeah, that's all. I'm just really hungry right now, as usual, and nothing is open in the terminal.

Okay, later. Time to go exploring.

P.S. Notice full bars on AT&T 3G!

Taiwan 2010: Technicalities

I'm leaving Tuesday night. I'll be back in a month, July 8.

What I'm packing... iPhone, iPad, Airport Express, 1 TB hard drive, Nikon D40, Nikon S640, and required chargers. I'll be taking plenty of photos for sure. I had originally expected to be near an Internet connection at least once every few days to check up on e-mail, Google Voice texts, blogs, etc. Turns out this is probably not going to be possible.

This summer trip (I haven't been considering it a "vacation" for a while now) will be a different one for me, yet again. Seems like every time I go back to Taiwan to visit family and see new places I have to grow up even more. I don't think I'm ready.

I am not sure who I'll see, where I'm staying, or what I'll be doing in Taiwan this time. But one thing is for sure though. I will return a slightly different person, hopefully one more appreciative of life and family, one with more regard for time we have on earth. Even across language barriers, it'll be trip of spiritual enlightenment, you can say.

Graduation

I feel a bit obligated to write something shortly after what is perhaps the most important day (and past few weeks) of my life so far. Yesterday was the graduation of Cornell's Class of 2010. As is usual in these cases, it was bittersweet.

I'm not sure what to think. It is the typical post-graduation nostalgia that hits me hard, but it's different this time. It's not like middle school, where, typically, most friends are still close to home but social interactions are confined, for the most part, in the classroom. It's not like high school, where, although there are friends throughout the city or district, they are still close by; you can graduate from high school knowing that people will return to home base eventually, at least for a few years of being away. College is different. Four years of living together, working together, and laughing together was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, though, people are required to move on from here, at least physically. And this time, some move back home to distant places like Connecticut and Canada, some move on to work in places like Denver and Wisconsin, and some will go on to [even] higher education in the west coast, for example.

Do I expect to seem many of them again? I can't say. But I am hopeful.

Yesterday was fine because amidst the ceremony and brief moments of reminiscing , we were busy packing, loading up the car, and moving away all before realizing the significance of the day, whether as feeling a sense of accomplishment or as a feeling of needing to GTFO.

I don't miss the campus just yet. (I will be returning for a fifth year for my Masters.) I will, however, miss the people I shared it with. Four years of hard work didn't necessarily pay off as people say, but goddammit, it was an amazing ride.

I write this from Duffield Hall, because it is far too hot (and lonely) to stay in the apartment. The Canadians left for the last time this morning.

End-of-Year: Senior Edition

End of semester schedule goes something like this...

Monday
Mac Team New-Hire Training

Tuesday
Future Energy State Energy Report Due

Wednesday
Auto Engineering Senior Design Project Due

Thursday
Future Energy NYS Transportation Infrastructure Report Due
Systems Engineering Final Exam

Friday
Automotive Engineering Final Exam

Sunday
Web Design Project Due

Tuesday
Intermediate Fluids Final Exam
Financial Accounting Final Exam

Feels like death...