From May 12-21, it was nothing but review sessions and finals. There were some interesting ones things brought up at a biology review. The plant biology professor, Dr. Feldman, is really good, but you always feel like you are missing something after listening to his lectures. He always says “you won’t need to know that for the exam” or “that’s the way it goes at least in terms of this class.” It just bothered me that we don’t know the total picture from that class, but it’s okay I guess. Then came the biology final on Friday, May 16. Me and Matt had a plan to wake each other up at 7:00 AM, since the final was at 8. I woke up and called his room. Interestingly no one answered. I even went over to knock on his door and nothing. Assuming that he had left already, I decided to leave too. Well turns out that his roommate turned off both his alarm clocks and unplugged the phone from his room, making Matt get up at 9. He was furiously ma, who was the likely suspect, at his roommate, but then realized he had to go take the final. I had gotten back and heard the news from Lauren, who he had woken up on the way to the final. Matt did do well on the test though, but I couldn’t help but feel guilty that I didn’t knock harder or something. Exams were grueling, as they seemed to pill on and on. I probably made my schedule too hard this semester. Oh well can’t think like that now, as it is done.
I saw the Matrix Reloaded on Wednesday, May 21. Interesting movie, but I think they tried to hard to be intelligent in this movie. There seems to be some pseudo-intellectual writing going on trying to make themselves sound smart. But all in all, very good movie. A must see of course. And make sure you stay all the way to the end until the credits are over, as there’s a little surprise for those of you patient enough to wait. By the way, if you got lost in the architect scene like I did, here’s a transcript of the conversation (much thanks to bigmonolith for finding it). And here’s an article about the philosophy and the intelligence of the Matrix.
Before the movie, though, me, Joey, Dave, Kyle, and Chihyon went to Mel’s Diner for dinner, just trying to have fun talking about silly things like “a ball being able to go through the earth in 45 minutes.” I still wonder how that works. We had fun and I met up with Jason and Chuck, two guys I knew from Bravo High School’s Academic Decathlon team. We tried to catch up and see what we were all doing. It was nice seeing them; hopefully I can see them again.
Well I headed back to LA on Thursday, May 22. I missed my 3′ o clock flight, due to the bad ankle and my overall attachment to everything I own. I mean I didn’t even want to throw away those free comic books I got from Free Comic Book Day. Gee. Well I said my goodbyes as I rushed out. Man, airport security was rough on that weekend and I showed up late, but luckily I got booked on the 4:50 flight, without having to pay extra. I then talked to some lady about how airport security is tight and told her how people can hide guns in cell phones, in case you didn’t know. Well I got on the plane and enjoyed the ride. Got back home and moved my heavy junk up and down. Ouch, but it’s nice to be back.
To pass the time over summer, I’ve been trying to earn money in various ways. One stupid way I’ve been acquiring money is playing nickel trivia on Amazon.com. Answer a question and get a nickel. You can answer 4 a day fro a maximum of 20 cents a day. Quite sad, but when you think about it, it’s $50 dollars after a year. That’s a lot of cash. Now for real money, me and Fabian went out looking for jobs on Tuesday, May 27. We went just about all over Alhambra and Santa Anita Fashion Park (now known as Westfield Shopping Mall in Santa Anita) in search of employment. Let’s see we tried at all the following: Radioshack, Mervyn’s, Hallmark, Spenser’s, Foot Locker, Staples, Baskin Robbins, KB Toystore, and more. I’m still filling out applications. Wish me luck and hopefully the next time you read this I’ll be employed.
I went over to Lincoln High School on Thursday, May 29 to get a reference from Mr. Schauer. Alright, an old English teacher may not be the best reference, but I’ll take it. Then, I decided to walk around and visit whoever else I could. I walked around and said hi to UC Berkeley alumni, Mr. Zapata. I told him I was majoring in Biology and he was saying how that’s probably the up-and-coming field. I told him that it is, but not the traditional biology of field observations. Instead, it is the more quantative and mathematical aspects of biology that are the fastest developing right now. More physicists and chemists continue to turn to the subject to study things like ion channels and protein structure in order to get their field up-and-running once more. For example, understanding ion channels of cells can help in the creation of nanotech robots, as they are very orderly microsystems. I thought I was boring him, but he’ll listen to anything that helps him understand his investments better he said. I also saw Ms. Troung, the guidance counselor and told her about the 40+ credits I got from AP exams. Then I saw Sam Chau, Linda Him, Helen Yu, and Ngay Ngo, graduating seniors like I was last year. It was interesting briefing them on some of life adventures through my first year of college (some of which you might have read on this site). It’s funny that I’ve talked to Linda more in that one afternoon 1 hour more than I’ve ever talked to her the entire time I was at Lincoln (which makes for a grand total of 1 hour in my life). Finally, I caught up with Mr. Wong, my ex-history teacher, and talked to him about college and sports and stuff. Then he left and went to say one quick hi to Ms. Paulson, another teacher I had. She was preparing a biological field trip for the Math/Science magnet in Mammoth Mountains, so I really couldn’t talk to her. But all in all, that was a fun little visit I had.
Then today, Friday, May 30, I went back to the mall to turn in the applications. I got one interview at 9:00 AM on Monday at Champs Sports. That ought to be a fun job working with shoes and clothers and I hope they have good discounts. Wish me luck.
Funny Quote-Jay Leno-“Who wrote Handel’s Messiah?”
Jaywalk all-star Kip-“I’m sorry; I don’t read books”
Two reasons why that’s funny: 1. Jay gives him the answer (Handel) and 2. Messiah is a music piece.
Extra, Extra, Read all about–Philosophical questions about the Matrix-and all the thought provoking material it presents