Kevin Fact 15

Maztah ball soup is my favorite soup. Not bad for an Asian American, eh?

Kevin Fact 14

Sometimes, I refuse to answer questions on exams or refuse to participate in class on a matter of principle. Yes, there are questions either too dumb to answer or not worth answering. Maybe that's why I don't do well in school anymore; I've become too clever and too principled for my own good.

Kevin Fact 13

I watch movies with English subtitles turned on. It is probably a habit from back when I watched television and my parents would have closed captioning turned on.

Kevin Fact 12

I know many people associate Champagne or other sparkling wines for celebrations and happy occasions. My grape wine of choice is Sauvignon Blanc from California, especially during relief after a high-stress event. It's just tradition, I suppose. Tonight is one of those nights.

Kevin Fact 11

Sunset in Hawaii.

Anyone that knows me knows that I can be very sentimental at times, chewing on the past and thinking a lot about what-ifs and how-did-that-happens.

It is nearly time to go back to school for the last semester at Cornell ever, a semester I haven't been looking forward to for a long time now. Campus will be painfully empty after I return to campus and realize that all the December graduates did not. (We were the leftovers, pursuing our M. Eng's after our undergraduate graduation last May.)

For better or for worse, 2010 was simultaneously the best and worst year of my life. Right now, life is not good. But I do have a knack for fixing things; I'm sure I will pull myself through this trough of life. Or am I just taking credit away from Time?

This 2010

"Motivation to Study? Not sure."

I thought of writing this because I had trouble sleeping last night, after several restless nights. I started this post, intending to list a few things that I am universally known for among my friends and family. Then, I moved on to describing how I think people I've dealt with in 2010 perceived me this year. Then, I got creative and decided to come up with a list of words that described me this year, something like a tag cloud for my life and our conversations in 2010 (in no particular order, and not all of them necessarily true anymore).

Boss, Sleeps Early, Wine, Food, Second Dinner, Hungry, Apple, iProducts, iPhone, iPad, Cornell, CIT, Mac Team, Photography, POTD, Cars, Grader, Engineer, Six Sigma, 407, Duffield, Phillips Lab, MEng, PowerPoint, Presentations, Design, McDonald's, 'Drink', Piso Mojado, Suntack, OTEC, Energy, Sangam, Politics, Nikon, Website, Victory Pizza, Technology, English, Words, Buzz, Flickr, USuMBS, Tumblr, Twitter, Blog, Movies, Brooklyn, NYC, Hyundai, Sonata, Mazda3, 'Tech', Trains, Ping Pong, Billiards, Frisbee, Biking, Walk, Newspaper, Subway Maps, Museums, Cold, Taiwan, America, 'Up In The Air', Basement, Weight, CUSD, MoRF, ChemE, Roaches.

Edit: Also, cooking, and 'csb'.

Finally, this picture is absolutely the Photo of the Year for me. It summarizes a lot about me and my personality in 2010, not excluding the fact that it was taken in 407 by Hans for a POTD.

Happy New Year guys.

Kevin Fact 10

My biggest character flaw is jealousy.

Kevin Fact 9

You need to grow up sooner or later, so you might as well start now.

Kevin Fact 8

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

Kevin Fact 7

All of my digital passwords are different.

Kevin Fact 6

Apparently, I do not have much patience. It doesn't go well with the fact that I have a short-temper. This is not a good week. It is almost over.

Kevin Fact 5: Help Policy

My policy about helping my friends, teammates, and subordinates (for lack of a better word) is to help those that make an effort to help themselves. I will go out of my way to assist (with physical help, reminders, suggestions) those that work hard, and try. Antipathy falls on those who are disinterested, lazy, or apathetic. People that know me know this fact.

Now, you know this fact. Now, you know me better.

Kevin Fact 4

The recent influx of online social networks has allowed something rather amazing regardless of which side of the fence you stand. It is either producing too much useless junk on the Internet, or it is being a collectively amazing new medium for people to connect and express themselves. These days we have Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, FriendFeed, Flickr, Smug Mug, and Wordpress, for example.

For me, though, my apparent attempt to live a transparent life provides me the luxury of a sort of guise, hiding what I do not want others to know. Yes, I am a dishonest man, but I never lie.

(It's similar to being the "honest" person where others would trust everything that is said or expressed. Lies have a lesser chance of being discovered this way.) Go figure...

Kevin Fact 3

After hitting a little depressive two-week road bump in the past month, I have managed to get back on the beaten path.

I tend to lead a more traditional life, being a fan of simple, white, black, and grey. I definitely have admiration for the fancy and the awesome, but if I were to do something or own something, it'd be the "vanilla" version of it. I requested the white iPod, I have the black iPhone, and I am a studying mechanical engineering. My color of choice (not to say, my favorite color) is black.

Similarly, I am a very predictable person. Fixed time for dinner, fixed time for getting out of bed, fixed place to be studying, whatever. Anyone following me for a week can know when and where I'll be for the rest of the semester (for the most part).

Boring? Maybe. Sad? Probably. It's okay though.

(Following Kevin Fact 2, I will now try to avoid any "Haha" in my e-mail and IMs. As a result, apparent sarcasm is on the rise. Look for it, and don't let it hit you on the way out.)

Kevin Fact 2

I was never a fan of "LOL", "lols", "lolz", or "lawl".

I very much prefer the traditional "Haha" (does that surprise you?), where the number of ha's is a function of how funny the conversation is. I tend to cap out at four, i.e. "Hahahaha".

Of course, this interjection can be augmented with exclaimation marks or emoticons, which adds value to the quality of the "ha". Typical use of "haha" can be substituted by either a "Heh" or a "Hah", depending on the situation; it is more of a heartfelt silent chuckle than a simple "haha" can actually convey. The two ha case, i.e. "haha", is reserved for the general case (used like "lol" for other people), when there isn't any actual laughter to be had. For the most part, "Hahahaha" trumps "Hah" or "Hah", which in turn is more meaningful than the ordinary "haha".

This concludes a brief study of hahas and hohos.

Spring Break '09

Whatever happened to Kevin being right? It used to be that I'd say something and not understand why, but it'll happen to turn out to be true one way or another. Back then, childish ignorance was on par with happiness. That hasn't happened for a while. And I am sorely missing the good old days.

I do not think I am heading for another "Paper Age", but I do think that something needs to change.

I need a vacation, as they say, and that's what this Spring Break 2009 is going to be. A time to reflect and remember who I once was and a time to return to the fundamentals, to be rejuvenated and ready for the imminent hardships with course work, personal relationships, and self.

I have posted something about a "voluntary disconnect from the Web" earlier this month, but I think I will follow through with it for real this time. For sake of NUBB, if not for myself.

Kevin Fact 1

I believe in filling out surveys and questionaires only if I know enough about the topic or if the subject concerns me directly. Completing a "fake" or false survey doesn't do anyone any good.