Christmas Time

Christmas is such an inspirational holiday. A time to sit back and relax with the family & old friends to reminisce about the past. I find it really remarkable that for these few weeks each year, people from all across the country travel miles and miles by plane or by car to be with their family. From a purely logical perspective, this kind of journey would not make sense. Without human emotions like love, these journeys would be unheard of. But, there is love.

Love really binds human society and has created this world we all share together. I do believe humans are animals, but there just seems to be too much goodwill for us to be organisms just like every other life form on this planet. Is there some sort of force out there that is greater than man itself? I do not know. I have never considered myself an especially religious person, but things like this really make me wonder. Darwinian natural selection could have created human society as we know it today, but that seems almost too perfect, doesn't it? Sure, our society is not without faults; however, what gave us the ability -- as a single species -- to essentially take over the entire world?

I hope that everyone is enjoying break! In a few weeks, it will be time to get back into gear...

Days of Relaxation

It is kind of crazy how quickly people can change from being extremely busy to completely unproductive. And at least for me, when I am busy, I always look forward to doing nothing; at the same time, when I am doing nothing, I look forward to having something to do. Quite a weird concept I guess. These past few days of winter break have been completely relaxation. I think I have gotten 10+ hours of sleep each night and have done nothing useful at all. I have eaten a ton of food, too. I think in the next few days, I want to try to start doing some more useful things. I should probably start working on the violin music that my teacher assigned me for break. She gave me like five etudes and two new pieces ("you aren't going to have anything to do over break, right?" / "sure...").

In the past few days, I have started getting my grades back from my first semester of college, and I have to say I am satisfied. I didn't get the perfect 4.0 that all pre-meds aim for, but regardless, I am happy. Some of my friends have already begun to replan their futures, and I am glad that I do not have to do that at this point. I got almost all A's except for my political science seminar. It's not like I slacked off in that class either; I didn't get accustomed to college writing fast enough. I was kind of unhappy for a little while, but I am over it now. A 3.8+ GPA in college is nothing to be ashamed about.

Hope everyone is having a great break!

I Survived (somewhat)!

Nathan said...

Are you a freshman taking orgo? How?

Good luck on the finals! My exams week ended yesterday at 8:30 AM

Yeah, I received AP credit for chemistry so I placed into organic chemistry as a freshman. I know that many people suggest that premeds retake general chemistry to solidify this knowledge, but I decided to try something more challenging. I had a decent chemistry background so it hasn't been too bad so far.

As of a few hours ago, I am officially done with the first semester of my freshmen year of college. Everything went decently; nothing was too horrible. Of course, I could have done better in a few things here and there, but that just leaves room for improvement next semester.

I was browsing Youtube and found this really interesting thing called the Youtube Symphony Orchestra. Basically, it's some sort of project in which musicians audition online to "play" with the Youtube Symphony Orchestra (YTSO). I am not really sure how the whole performance is going to work out, but it seems like a very interesting concept. Tan Dun (composer of the themes of Hero and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) wrote a special piece for this event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqiro1kdRlw. Since I do not have anything major planned to accomplish over break, I may give this a go. The piece is kind of catchy; for some reason, I feel like I have heard theme before... (around the 4:00 mark). For more information, the website is www.youtube.com/symphony.

I am going home tomorrow. I am so excited for a month of relaxation!

Surviving the First Half

I feel like I am at some sort of intense, academic study camp. Everyone is cooped up in their room studying. The study lounges are overflowing with people. My dorm has 24/7 quiet hours from now until the end of exams. I am not even going to try to go to the library; I am sure every single desk/table will be occupied. I don't feel stressed. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Generally, I consider myself to work well under pressure, but it's hard to gauge that kind of thing because it is so subjective. Anyway, I will definitely be hard at work in the next few days for my three finals. I am not too worried about my Music Theory stuff, but definitely more worried about my orgo and linguistics finals.

The concepts in orgo aren't too bad, but sometimes, the mechanisms catch me off guard. It's a new concept of problem solving that takes some getting used to. Also, the problems involving predicting products can be quite tricky, because there are so many facets to consider, including both stereoselectivity and regioselectivity. I will probably end up going through all of the suggested problems before my final on Tuesday. Well, this entry was quite a bit more rambly than usual. I will definitely be more cohesive once break begins!

Stuff I have finished:

-linguistics paper
-orgo quiz
-music theory dictation final
-political science paper
-violin juries

Stuff left:

-linguistics final
-orgo final
-music theory written final
-music theory sight-singing/piano final

Just four things left!

Procrastinating...

If you guys leave me comments with questions, I will definitely answer them.

Static Bursts said...

Are you taking Music Theory I? I'm doing my Music Theory HW right now using the TB "Tonal Harmony."

Sight-singing is wicked fun with Josh Bonn.

I am taking Music Theory I right now. What level theory are you taking right now? Tonal harmony sounds very complicated; I don't think we are going to cover that this semester. Sight-singing is...an interesting experience...

I am thinking about recording my jury violin piece and putting it up for you all to hear. Does anyone want to listen?

Finals Week

I feel so...inefficient and unproductive.

Finals are in less than a week and I feel like everyone is studying around me while I am still lounging around & wasting my time. I sure hope that I am not setting myself up for failure. The only good thing is that I have done pretty well on all of my other exams this semester so I don't have to do exceptional on my finals to make up for anything; I just have to keep things the way they are. I went to the library a few days ago to check out a book and there were a TON of people there. When I was walking around to find my book, practically every single one of those study corrals was occupied. It was crazy.

Stuff I have finished:

-linguistics paper
-orgo quiz
-music theory dictation final

Stuff left:

-political science paper (ALMOST DONE!)
-violin juries
-linguistics final
-orgo final
-music theory written final
-music theory sight-singing/piano final

I am going to be very glad when this semester is over. It will feel good to have survived the transition between high school and college. I am still trying to figure out what to do this winter break. I have tried to contact hospitals near my home town to see if I can volunteer for them during the break, but almost none of them have been open to the idea. Hopefully, I can come up with something useful.

The American Dream

I recently read the novel What Makes Sammy Run. It is an interesting piece and very similar to Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby in terms of what it implies about the American Dream. It is quite intriguing. Sammy is portrayed as the successful American Hollywood star, rising from nothing to incredible fame and renown. After reading this book and discussing it in class, I wonder if the American Dream is truly an illusion.

The American Dream arose in the early 1900's, a concept that America -- as the land of opportunity -- provided the means for anyone to achieve their goals of success. Many immigrants came to this country during this period of time, hoping to fill this role. They heard incredible stories about how the roads were paved with gold in America. Only in America. However, they did not realize that beneath this thin layer of gold was...nothing. Known as the Gilded Age, this period was characterized by an illusion of wealth. Opportunities seem to be prevalent but were in fact very limited. Some of the immigrants coming to this new country were crushed by a life very different from what they expected.

Nowadays, the American Dream still exists. It is the dream that we all possess -- a dream to become rich and maybe (if we're lucky) even famous. While we are certainly not in a gilded age anymore (not much gold is left...), I think there is definitely a way for almost anyone to gain success. Sure, I will not try to assert that anyone can go from rags to riches. The stories of the lucky ones that do are incredible. However, given hard work and good luck, most people will be able to achieve their goals. It's what America is made for. So, what is the point of this? I am not sure. In a way, I am living the American Dream, working hard in hopes of entering medical school after these next four (now, three and a half) years.

I sure hope it isn't an illusion..

End of Semester One

It is very odd realizing that my first semester of college is coming to an end really soon. I have less than two weeks left of class and then finals to finish off this semester. It feels really weird to say that I have been in college for a whole semester already. While it does feel like I have been here for a long time, it also feels like I just got here. What a paradoxical idea. I can already tell that the time is just going to fly by. At the end of this semester, I will have completed one-eighth of my college education!

So, let's see what is left before I complete my first semester:

-political science paper
-violin juries
-linguistics paper
-linguistics final
-orgo quiz
-orgo final
-music theory written final
-music theory sight-singing/piano final
-music theory dictation final

Bring it on.