Thursday, November 27, 2008

Turkey Day!

Today is Thanksgiving! A day of giving thanks to all of the things in life that you are thankful for. It is also a day when you have to detach yourself from all of you perceived "problems" and realize how lucky you are as a human to be alive and well. I consider myself very lucky to be where I am today (not in any sort of self-important way).

1. I am thankful for my family. They have been so incredibly supportive of me throughout my entire life and I truly would not be where I am today without their love and help. I guess that sounds really cliche, but it is true. Sometimes, cliche things are cliche just because they are true.

2. I am thankful for my friends. I am very grateful for all of your support and am glad to have gotten to know all of you. Thank you for being there when I needed you the most and I hope that I have been able to reciprocate your genuine friendship. To my friends from high school, I am sorry that I have not been able to keep in contact with all of you as much as we promised we would. I am very relieved that you understand this. To my friends from college, I am so glad we met and can only hope that these past few months are just the beginning of what will be an incredible experience.

3. And you, readers of my blog. Thank you for reading these random ramblings. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, November 24, 2008

My Life This Week

Oxymercuration-reduction
Hydroboration-oxidation
Hydrogenation
Erythro
Threo
Meso
Peracids
Seventh Chords
Augmented
Diminished
Triads
Intervals
SATB
Transposing
Crossing voices
NMR
Bromonium
Epoxidation
Oxidation
Reduction
Stereochemistry
Nucleophilicity
Basicity

Let it be over.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

My Peers

It's weird thinking that the same people that you study with, that you spend your free time with, that you walk around campus passing are some of the people that you will be competing against for professional school slots (like medical school). My school has a very high proportion of budding physicians (at least during freshmen year), but I am glad that there is not excess competitiveness between everyone here. It feels wholly against human nature to repress self-interest by helping others, but it's important to remember that ultimately, things work out how they are meant to work out. Of course, there will always be those people who never want to help others and do everything for their own benefit. Hopefully, they will always be in the minority.

While we may be competing for individual slots, we are all working together to make our world a better place. This may sound cliche, but it is true. When our generation becomes the leaders of society, we must -- as a whole -- be capable of advancing society. We cannot do that as individuals; we must band together. When your classmates ask you a question, take it as a compliment to your ability. And, help them.

Note: This post was not meant to be didactic; I am simply reflecting on a quite frustrating experience I had today with a not-so-compliant classmate.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Dreams

What is the purpose of dreams and goals?

Throughout our lives, we can set goals for ourselves. These goals can be easily attained or quite impossible to attain. As a premed, I hear many people around me set goals for themselves regarding which medical school they wish to attend -- their dream schools, so to speak. Perhaps, by setting up standards for ourselves, we simply breed potential disappointment when the dream goes unfulfilled. Some may say that these dreams simply help us appreciate goals just that much more when they are achieved; however, do we really enjoy them more if we do not plan them? Every human loves surprises, being surprised, surprising others. How come we don't like being surprised about our futures?

I know I wish I could see into the future, see what is to come in my life. But, that'd ruin the whole fun of it, right? Part of living is being wary of what may be. These surprises can result in the whole gamut of emotions (from depression to elation), but I think this is what makes life as rich as it is. Many people say that sadness exists to define happiness and vice versa. I would have to say that I agree.

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

(A Dream Deferred - Langston Hughes)

Monday, November 17, 2008

About a Spy

I finished reading John le Carre's novel "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" today for my political science seminar. It was a fast read, not life-changing, but still good nonetheless. I am not sure if I agree with Time's placement of this novel within the all-time top 100 list though. While it was a quite suspenseful and revolutionary novel for its insight into the espionage of the Cold War era, I do not think it merited quite as much attention as it should have. But, who am I to judge books anyway..

(plot spoiler)

I found Alec Leamas to be a respectable character, willing to remain loyal to his agency to the end even when they witheld the truth from him. He seemed to detach his individuality from the overall goals of his agency and his country; in doing so, he was better able to serve. It is ironic to me that despite this unfaltering loyalty, Leamas ends up dead along the fence, apparently betrayed by someone (the reader is left to guess). Perhaps, that was le Carre's point: that espionage is a dangerous, brutal, and ultimately inexplicable game. A cold game.

Classical Music

Classical music is really incredible. Because the meaning is implicit rather than explicit it makes you think. There are no lyrics to guide your thoughts or to facilitate understanding. The meaning is what you, as an individual, make of it. So what if you interpret it slightly differently than someone else? That is the purpose of music. Music can evoke happiness, sadness, anger, patriotism. Anything. The magic of it is this open-endedness. Sure, some classical music may not strick a chord (no pun intended) with you. That's fine; just listen to something else. Some may not appreciate the stunning dissonant chords of Stravinsky (I find it...unique...). Some may not like the exceeding eloquence of Haydn (sometimes, it's a little too light-hearted for me). Some may not like the passionate harmonies of Tchaikovsky (my favorite). But, no matter what, there is a kind of classical music that will resonate with your soul.

Music embodies human emotions. Popular music with lyrics cannot transcend cultural boundaries. The music's explicit meaning is only perceivable through the language medium. However, classical music can permeate all human society. Bach in the U.S. is the same Bach in France, the same Bach in Russia. To me, that is simply magical. Where else can you find a language so universal? An aural language that every human can understand no matter what other languages he/she speaks?

Just music.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Markovnikov's Rule

Markovnikov. What a cool name.

Yes, this is organic chemistry. I have my third and last exam before the final in about a week. I am kind of really scared, but hopefully, I can pull through. We are covering so many topics this time around: a boatload of mechanisms (SN1 and SN2) along with the stereochemistry of these reactions and NMR. What a fun combination... Fortunately, I do not have too much other stuff to deal with at this moment. My other classes have been pretty sparse in terms of assigned work, but that will probably change soon. I have a music theory exam coming up as well with fun sight singing, score notation, chords, etc. Joy.

I registered for my spring semester classes just recently and I am lucky to have gotten into all of the classes that I wanted to. I decided to take a five course overload so I can learn more about things that I would otherwise never get to learn (nerdy, I know). My classes are: spanish, biology, orgo, music theory, and sociology. It should be a fun, challenging combination of things. Along with orchestra and chamber music, it'll be a time crunch, but I feel like I work better, or at least more efficiently, when I have more things to do.

Jonathan

Friday, November 14, 2008

How We Think

Recently, in my linguistics class, we discussed the concept of the Whorfian Hypothesis (also known as the linguistic relativity hypothesis). The basic premise of this theory is that as humans, our linguistic paradigm -- that is, the language we use -- reflects our perception of the world around us. For example, in different cultures, there are different numbers of words available to describe colors. A dark blue versus a light blue in American culture can be represented as two completely separate colors in another culture (not just two shades of one color). Moreover, who determined that pink is separate from red and not just "light red?" Minor differences such as these make me wonder if some aspects of this linguistic theory are indeed true. Of course, it would be ludicrous to argue that individuals speaking different languages perceive their worlds completely differently, but perhaps there is more than meets the eye.

When learning new languages, there are always those words/concepts that lack a proper translation into another language. In many of these cases, multiple words in one language are needed to express the precise definition of the word in a different language. Does this lack of a word indicate a different thinking process? Words are formed in order to fulfill the needs of society; hence, if a certain word has not been formed, is its meaning trivial within that culture?

Jonathan

Thursday, November 13, 2008

An Introduction

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog!

My name is Jonathan and I am currently a freshman in college. I have matriculated as a music major with aspirations of attending medical school after graduation. I do not attend a music conservatory, but the amount of playing/practicing is still pretty high. While this may seem like an odd combination of passions (music and medicine), I plan on making it work for me even though people tell me that it isn't possible or it isn't "worth it." With the vast number of aspiring doctors all over this country, the world does not need me to become another biology premed student. It might be hard to cram all of the necessary courses into four years, but I always like a good challenge. I intend on using this blog to record my journey -- the ups, the downs, and everything in between.

My first semester has been going pretty well so far. I am taking organic chemistry, intro music theory, a political science seminar, and linguistics. It is quite an odd array of courses, I know, but isn't that what college is all about? In the next four years, I want to explore all of my interests so I can get a better understanding of my life and who I want to be as an adult. Many people have told me that the undergraduate years are the best years of your life and I intend to make the most of it.

Jonathan