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| Summer came, dropped off its belongings, and played. I asked it if it wanted some iced tea for this warm SoCal weather, and it said yes. While we talked, it asked me about friends old and new, and where I was going next in this journey. I told it that I was in a funny predicament with my friends, having reached a leg on my journey where I already knew that most of my friends would leave me and that I would have to start again in a new place with new people. Of course it isn't the same, because every person is different, but I am glad that at least Summer understood what I was talking about. Anyway, after we philosophized for a bit, we started playing video games and forgot about the subtleties of life. I'm glad that I can have a friend like Summer, that doesn't think too hard about life and knows when to have a good time.
But soon Summer will leave me and I will have to say hello to my good friend Autumn. Autumn and I, we've had a rather tricky relationship. She isn't the most popular kid at school, and from the outside she isn't a beautiful kid. Autumn isn't "fun" and she can be exacting. But deep inside I like Autumn, too. Autumn promises second chances and new beginnings.
As the weather turns cooler and the leaves start to fall, I'm thankful for all the fun events of summer and all the somber musings of autumn. I'm thankful for the people who are still with me and for the people who have moved to different cities, different stations in life, knowing that they, too, can have second chances and new beginnings.
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| ... and watching the lectures on 2x speed, while using the lecture notes PDF and wikipedia as a supplement simultaneously. =P (It would be incomprehensible if I hadn't learned about it in another class, though.)
They should have video lectures everywhere!
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| ... four years at a technical school will do that to you. My sentence structure doesn't vary anymore, I hardly use any colorful adjectives, I speak in passive voice all the time, I have trouble communicating with the rest of humankind. =P
That's okay though, at least I can update my xanga!
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| Your qualifying examinations are scheduled for Tuesday, January 13, 2009.
The times of your ten examinations are shown below.
1 Tuesday 8:36- 8:48
2 Tuesday 10:00-10:12
3 Tuesday 10:24-10:36
4 Tuesday 11:48-12:00
5 Tuesday 1:48- 2:00
6 Tuesday 2:12- 2:24
7 Tuesday 2:48- 3:00
8 Tuesday 3:36- 3:48
9 Tuesday 4:48- 5:00
10 Tuesday 5:12- 5:24
The names of the examiners will be sent by email shortly after noon
on Saturday, January 10.
The number of candidates scheduled this year is 181.
If you want to withdraw from the quals, you may do so without penalty
any time before your first exam.
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| I've been asked this question a lot by people everywhere, so here's my answer.
That girl at lunch today -- the girl who, when people asked her, "how long have you been there at that table? Didn't I see you there at 5 am? Were you there all night?" -- put her hand to her head and smiled when she said yes, I've been working for all of last night -- that is the difference that I never expected to see here.
Yes, the expectations on work here are a bit lower, I think, but even when people are working hard they still seem to like it ... I'm not sure why there was such an atmosphere of sadness and bitterness at Caltech, but it never ceased to bother me while I was there ... maybe it is just intricately tied with people living from problem set to problem set (I think here, there's more social pressure to go out and do fun stuff?), or maybe it's just the way we're wired.
Of course, as a grad student I'm a little bit detached from that. Grad students everywhere are a bit isolated from undergrads, because those of us who were eager to go into the real world did just that, and those of us who want to stay in school ... well, there's still six more years of shelter for us. =P
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