Divide by Null - undefined

I really don't want to do these readings. I should get it done by friday, or really before Thursday at 11:00.

I don't want to do them so much, that I finished my programming assignment we got assigned today and is due in a week.

I'm really tempted to do my math homework too which will end up being due in a week plus a day.

I also downloaded a program to keep me from procrastinating too much by setting up my to-do, due dates, mini-goals... and all it really did was give me an excuse to avoid reading more.

At least with this form of procrastination, I still get work done... too bad it's not the higher priority stuff.

And hey, it also gave me something to blog about... gotta look at the bright side!

So this marks week two for UCLA, but I've really been here for three weeks, so it's my fourth week of living here. I've made new friends and experienced new things. It's quite exciting.

I'm not so sure what to say here; I don't want it to be a boring recount of what I've been going through.

Life in college... I'll try to sum up how it's been for me in a few phrases of a few words each: good roommates, many boring classes, skipped a (useless) discussion today, one class with great lectures, previously mentioned class requires lots of reading, band is pretty fun, trombones are crazy, made new friends, sooo many people here, lots of solicitors the first week, pretty good food (yum brownie goo), should really be doing reading right now, too much walking, too many hills, too many stairs, getting lazy, having fun.

I dunno, just some random thoughts to sum up everything.

Oh yeah, I got my Macbook Pro and it's quite amazing. I'm keeping the windows laptop too though. I got Synergy running, though, so I only need one mouse for both computers. It's more or less dual screen with different operating systems.

I feel like I should say more about my classes. In general, they're boring. Either the subject or the professor. The one that is exciting, at least the lecture, is the one that requires a lot of reading. Still, the first lecture (which happened to be my first class of the quarter), kept me interested, made me think; he's an lively, interesting professor talking about a topic he's passionate about too. So, if you ever need to satisfy a GE req. here at UCLA, take HIST 9E (Southeast Asian Crossroads) with Professor Woods.

On that note, I should get reading some of that stuff, or at least study for the map test in two days. Agh, buy your own scantrons? Anyway, I'll try not to abandon this thing as much anymore.

So I've been neglecting this thing and even when I've decided that I need to put something up, I don't because it ends up being poor quality. See? I'm looking out for you, the readers. I won't put forth anything sub par!

On the note of that last exclamation point, Jeremy linked me to a new take on these symbols. It's ok to (over)use exclamation points as long as what you're saying is trivial. Ok! Sounds good! But still don't over-do it!

Anyway, I've been in Australia the past two weeks, or really I got back from a ten day trip Monday. I liked it so much that I'm going to move there after grad school or at least after I have enough saved money to live there comfortably.

I got in trouble with some people (not my parents) for some things I did while over there. It's legal there, though, but I do understand it has a bit of a negative connotation. Drinking and gambling aren't really things that people look up to, I suppose. Really, it wouldn't have been a problem if I didn't let everyone know about it on the internet (hey what am I doing now?). With social networks, blogs, instant message, even cell phones, people seem to need to let people know about the most trivial things... may I point to Twitter, Pownce, or many of the things people use MySpace and Facebook for. Information used to be passed by word of mouth and other than that, there was generally little proof of what happened. Now people type stuff out online recklessly and it's probably forever cached on Google's servers.

As far as my holiday went, I really enjoy my cousins. Every night I spent with them was probably more exciting than all the time I spent with the older relatives. The whole trip was fun, regardless. Maybe not some of the car trips but if it made me want to move there (sometime after grad school), it had to be great. Plus, once I touched down at LAX, the pollution made me cough a lot. Sydney was so clean and green and overall nice.

So now I'm back home and more people are off on their way, while I still have a few weeks thanks to the UC system. Such a short time, yet how am I going to make use of it with everyone gone? I guess I could do something productive... or not.

As a final note, there will be a meteor shower in about 4-6 hours, peaking around 4:36 PDT. I'll be sleeping, so at least I saw the one a few weeks ago (and as another side note, the lunar eclipse a few days ago).

So this is random, but it has some good quality content at least.

So yeah. You may have noticed that there have been no recent posts. More likely, you may not have noticed until you read this. Either way, I intend to do something about this!

Mostly I don't know where I want to take this thing, how I want to continue it. I've also not had much inspiration, and if I have, then I decided I didn't like it after I got halfway through. I don't want to make stuff that no one (including me) wants to read, and I tend to be really critical of myself.

I'll be going to Australia today. 14-hour flight, joy. Then soon I'll be doing the UCLA college thing. Hopefully that will provide me with stuff to write about.

Just letting the 4.7* people who might care know that this isn't dead... yet. It's merely moribund with a slight chance of survival.

* Random number that has no statistical basis other than "what number is small, has a decimal part, and seems appropriate?".

So this will be my unofficial Salutatorian address. Odd how such a speech is supposed to welcome everyone to graduation, yet here I am making something up well after the day. I've had many random thoughts, and I'm merely going to consolidate them here. It will probably not be on par with Choi's, much less formal, but it may be meaningful to my fellow graduates.

So here I am, a high school graduate, eager to live a new life as a college student. A few months ago, all I could think about was the great times I will have at UCLA; I'll meet new people, forge new paths, live on my own. Yet, now my focus is not on the future, but on the past; all the people I've met, the choices I've made, the memories I cherish.

Graduation didn't feel too special. Walking up to the stadium, the only thing different from the practice was the gown and the thousands of people waiting for us. I did feel some surges of emotion listening to all the speeches, but it felt too informal. Was it the setting? Did the practices kill the feeling? Something felt amiss. Confetti popped out of nowhere, a mass of caps flew threw the air... it was done? We graduated?

After the ceremony, it was all about pictures. Look for people you know, say hi, congratulations, hug, then pose for the cameras. There were happy faces, sad faces, faces I've seen almost daily, and faces I didn't know existed at our school. We said our hellos, our good-byes, our call me during summers, but it didn't hit me until the drive home.

Wait a minute, that may have been the last time I ever saw many of those people. All the friends I've made each year will soon be much more distant. In just about everyone's yearbook, I wrote "keep in contact" in the most sincere way possible. So sure, we can talk online, but is that quite the same? As much as I enjoy computers, there's something quite different from online communication to face-to-face contact. This hovered over my mind for the night.

But then, grad parties. So many familiar faces. It seemed like nothing really changed. Hanging out with the same friends. Keeping in contact with those close to me. We may be far in distance, but those who truly meant something would make the effort to stay in touch.

Then I recalled, the day before graduation, I went to Mike Yeh's house. We went to meet with Anita. Sina arrived later. Three good friends who graduated last year still get together when they can.

We will all be going our separate ways. But that doesn't mean good-bye forever. Get together over breaks. Call each other. Instant message. MySpace if you must, just keep in contact with everyone in high school. And always keep the memories close.