Abstract Extension in math and others

Everything more complex is just an abstract extension of the happy-stable system of mathematics we learnt and performed drills for in secondary school and JC. I've been having a hard time understanding, remembering, and (therefore) applying those abstract extensions. Not sure if that's going to change any time in future. For everything with me comes late.

The abstract extension of being/living with people can be understood as having to deal with different sorts of people after having enjoyed dealing with people whom one's comfortable with. That's what I'm doing right now with my housemates. Don't get me wrong though for they are perfectly fine ladies. Smart, good-looking, motivated, energetic, organised, thoughtful, helped me get light bulbs from Walmart, celebrated my birthday, you just name it. Gosh how picky I must sound. But chemistry is chemistry. And in my opinion, so far, there is not much of it between me and them. Or you can re-express chemistry in terms of cultural background, upbringing, spending habits, sense of humour, amount of talking and giggling, and leave out the expressions that disguise themselves in diplomacy (oh yes, birthday celebration is diplomacy. You've got a housemate, you feel hyper about getting together, therefore celebrating her birthday sounds as fine an occasion as any one else.). The result, as a confoundingly complicated classical problem in advanced math whirls down into a simple, elegant equation, is that I'm not clicking.

Now having to apply abstract extensions in both quarter-system math classes and housemate interaction is a little tough for someone who's even grudging the Californian sunshine. Yes that's me. Oh well I'm sure there're people who don't wanting to get as much sun. It causes skin cancer right? Besides, what's the sense in being thoroughly grateful for the sun when you get numb with cold five minutes after getting to shaded areas or air-con rooms?

- JY in really really crabby mood after bankers at Wells Fargo proves to be inefficient and unintelligent

Song of the day - 词不达意 - 林忆莲

This was what happened. I was going through HMV holding the Cardigan's "First Band on the Moon" and three... no four of Nick Drake's album and realizing, with that sinking feeling in that stomach you get when you can't get everything you desire, that probably nobody buys hundred dollars worth of records of a single artist at one go in usual times. So how about two? And I'll perhaps give up the Cardigans, which appeared to be an imported copy and costing close to thirty dollars. Yes I was coming close to such a decision when I heard Sandy Lam's 词不达意. It's of the same tune and arrangement as the Cardigan's "Communication" in their "Long Gone Before Daylight" album. Even the contents of the song are similar, about, well, communication. And Sandy Lam was not a bit less brilliant! I'm really proud of her. She has proved for more than once to be the only Chinese singer capable of handling skillfully vocal range and quality such that the voice doesn't sound odd or 土气 when blended with western pop compositions, which tend to be better mixed. Classy Sandy! The song reversed my decision and I got the "First Band on the Moon" (which contains "Lovefool" in the soundtrack of Romeo + Juliet).

The Nick Drake ("Pink Moon") was a disappointment by the way. It had none of the nice tracks played in the documentary "A Skin Too Few: the Days of Nick Drake". We know that the trailer shows the best parts of a movie. Now a movie is doing that to the music. I guess I should have done some homework.

It's September 11. RIP to those who died horrible deaths in one way or another, on this day or another.

The Audition

There used to be a classic humorous story about a kid asking his parents how a "war" starts, and the parents starting to explain with heaps of disagreement and conflicting opinions, leading to a quarrel and their kid shouting, "Ok I know what's it about now!" What I wanna say now is that I understand where that story comes from.

I...

Alright, there is already a mountain of people who are wondering why is my blog particularly concerned about family-related issues. So I'm not going to start again. There is only so much one can say without repeating oneself.

I was going to talk about the audition for Absolute SuperStar ("absolute" being translated from English - I've always wondered why do they truncate the word in the English version of the title [which, according to MC, is apparently so original that Malaysian TV has paid for copyright to produce similar shows]).

At the Toa Payoh HDB HUB, a huge oval space next to the bus interchange, the audition for females was held yesterday. And my! That was a lot of females! Pretty ones too. My parents and I got down at 11am, for their propensity to take advantage of the gratuitous Clementi-Turf City-Toa Payoh route. We had reached an agreement that if the queue number exceeded 120 we'd just quit the place. So that leaves about 1E-18 % chance that I'm going to make the audition without wasting the whole day lining up. My dad was of the opinion that the number'd hit 3000. And when we got there, lo and behold - it was twice that, and more!

The oval fenced up around 500 girls. At the back of the oval was the registration desk and the trademark turquoise background of the contest, against which contestants will have to pose and take pictures before getting into the coop. Even beyond that, the lines started proper. In the direction along the shops of the Toa Payoh neighbourhood mall, two long lines composing of female with and without assigned queue numbers respectively stood long underneath the sweltering heat, their heavily painted face shiny with sweat, their umbrella tops a uniform colour of silver. There were groups that dressed fashionably and chattered; there were plainer, bespectacled girls who stood singly, poker-faced. The great art of stereotyping teaches us that the latter might sing better since they have less looks to count upon. Thirty contestants at a time were called forward to get the next stage of wait, so the lines shuffled forward at periods.

Since I've filled out the form and printed 4R photos of myself, my mum was insisting that I went through with it even though the line was despairingly unmoving. Fortunately her option was overridden by the more sensible and more exigeant alternative of shopping at Orchard. So that was what we did for the rest of the day. Apart from getting sore ankles from walking on high heels it was a fine day with no quarrels or disappointments. Until later today when... Well I won't go into that.

Song of the day - Llevame by Soraya

It came across to me that listening to this song on Stanford campus might be touching. Why? Er.. it's after all Spanish and we're in California right? Anyway it's just a nice Spanish song by a singer whose name rhymes with Shakira. They're of similar style anyway, with Shakira more to rock and her more to folk. It's amazing how quickly I generalise things and lose interest once I find something comparable. It's like lost freshness and originality. Nothing could replace that. Not in this modern world when we lose interest so easily. What a pessimist I am. Gosh, I'm already losing interest in the song. So much for listening to it in Stanford.

List of books I'll acquire in the States:

1. Lolita; Vladmir Nabokov
2. Fresh Fruits
3. Bobos in Paradise
4. Kafka on the Shore, etc; Murakami Haruki
5. Unbearable Lightness of Being, Immortality, etc; Milan Kundera
6. The Histories; Herodotus
7. The Pillow Book; Sei Shonagon
8. Mrs. Dalloway; Virginia Woolf

阿朱和阿紫

今天买了新的照相机，所以帮我的两把二胡拍了照。旧的那把是红木做的，而且首先拥有，取名叫作阿朱；新的是紫檀木做的，就叫阿紫。图中作为阿朱，右为阿紫。