happy halloween

halloween's a useless "holiday" that makes for a good excuse to eat candy. hmm, sounds familiar... is candy the key to a successful holiday? at any rate, it's fun to bond with mommy over pumpkin carving.

one halloween in high school it rained, and while trick-or-treating we'd step on a snail every other step (*crunch*)... i assume we were stepping on slugs the rest of the time. i seemed to get through this pretty decently, even with my semi-serious phobia of slimey creatures.

did i tell you that i plan to blog only on meaningless holidays from now on? :)

love

happy valentine's day :) however useless a holiday for us singles, it makes for a good excuse to eat chocolate! mmm.

what is love? i think there are many different kinds.

1. having a crush - i think this type of "love" is typically experienced by young teens (but 22-year-olds may succumb to it as well). it is probably best described as obsession: praising the wonderful qualities of the victim to anyone who will listen (willingly or unwillingly), gazing longingly at the subject's pictures for hours on end, and daydreaming about romantic encounters where the prey confesses his/her undying love for you. in my experience, crushes have never worked out for me because i end up putting the person on a pedestal, upon which i no longer have the guts to talk to him. that certainly is no basis for a real relationship, anyway.

2. being in love - this type of love is usually experienced at the onset of a relationship (during the "honeymoon" phase). everything is new and exciting, and you can't help but see good in your partner (even the habits that will eventually becoming nerve-wracking are endearing when in love ;)). this is a kind of fun emotion, but unfortunately diminishes over time. however, i think it should be a couple's goal to work towards maintaining this quality in a relationship (e.g. by regularly enjoying romantic evenings at fancy restaurants!).

3. true love - this type of love is rare and special, and must be fostered with time and committment in order to grow. i think that when you really love someone, more than anything you want to make him/her happy. you work to make things better when you have a fight. you're always there to lend a listening ear, or a shoulder to cry on. you provide moral support for his/her dreams and goals. you view a partner's flaws as qualities which make him/her unique. i think people have a tendency to prematurely believe that they feel true love towards someone. true love might just be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

4. unconditional love - the love a parent has for a child. the love a sister has for her sister. a beautiful emotion indeed!

i think perhaps i've experienced them all.

rock climbing

how do i love thee? let me count the ways...

1. obvious goals - each route presents a concrete and manageable challenge. when i finally complete a route, i know i've accomplished something, and increased my skills in some way or another. each route in and of itself can be mastered fairly quickly, which is good for someone with a short attention span (like myself). all climbs are rated, and progress is obvious (especially at the beginning of one's climbing career).

2. muscles - rock climbing helps to sculpt a sexy back and lean biceps... and let's not forget those tantalizing forearms!

3. social - bouldering is especially social. fellow climbers are friendly and encouraging, and very eager to help each other master climbs. the complete novice can climb side by side with the seasoned veteran.

4. completely distracting - no matter what's wrong in life, rock climbing helps me forget about it. it's pretty amazing actually. i've not come across any activity that makes this possible. i think it's just that when climbing, one really needs to focus on the task at hand. it's just completely physically and mentally involving.

i've only been climbing for about eight months now, but i love the sport! if anyone wants to try it out, i'd be happy to introduce you to it :) so far i've gotten aj to sign up for membership ;P

vietnam trip

i'm flying out of SFO at midnight tonight to visit vietnam, my country of origin! it'll be my first time to vietnam (as well as to asia). i'm going on vacation with my family. we'll be returning on the 1st, so it's a rather short trip, but i'm sure it'll be great. we're flying via china air to taipei, then to ha noi via vietnam air. it'll take about 18 hours in all (not so much looking forward to that... need to pick out a book to bring, as well as make sure the ipod is charged).

my mom and dad haven't been back in 26 and 34 years, respectively. that's a lifetime (more than my lifetime, even)! i'm sure vietnam has changed a lot over the years. it'll be interesting to see my parents' reactions. it'll be interesting to see *my* reaction :P a coworker bluntly informed me that i would "freak out". i don't know if it'll be that bad, since i already have the advantage of actually being vietnamese and being familiar with the culture, but it will probably be quite a change. all the better!

i think mostly we intend to be tourists, but we're also going to see my grandfather (who just a couple of years ago moved back), as well as some of my parents' cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. i've never met any of them, and i don't speak vietnamese too well, so it may be a little awkward. i'm sure they'll remark on how tall i am! i think a quarter of our luggage consists of gifts for relatives. among these items are chocolates, soap, and lotion. somehow i find it odd that i'm lugging a big box of soap to vietnam. my mom tells me that they only have plain soap, and the american kind is expensive (though still cheaper than here, i'm guessing?). i'm not sure why we can't just buy american soap once we're in vietnam (and i don't think my mom has an answer either), but mom knows best! :) this is one of the things i need to figure out on this trip :P

i'm hoping to be able to upload pics onto my flickr account regularly, but i'm not sure if internet cafes will allow me to plug my memory card reader into their machines. we'll see! i'll definitely try to write in this blog though.

i'm off to finish packing :)

google holiday party 2005

i went to the google holiday party (pics) in san francisco friday evening. here's the flyer for the event:

Grab your passport, pack light and join us for Jetaway!

Visit Bombay where vibrant colors, energetic dancers and intoxicating music saturate your senses.

Google McDougal's Irish pub awaits you in Dublin with rousing Irish music, silly pub trivia, televised chess championships and perhaps a glimpse of a Leprechaun!

Don't forget your singing voice in Tokyo where karaoke pods, live martial arts and a glimpse of Harajuku awaits you and your friends in our Ginza district.

After the cool, modern edge of Tokyo come visit Brazil and relax in our sunny park, listen to Brazilian music and play a little soccer with some of Brazil's best!

London's ultra-hip, invitation-only Underground club rounds out your fantastic trip. Venture in the deserted subway station, where the DJ's will be battling, street dancers performing and the bass is thumping as you dance the night away.

it was a good time, though we arrived at 10pm (party ended at 12am), and missed out on a bit of the food (the sushi was supposedly good). the after-party at club q was a bit lacking, but an adventure nonetheless. thanks for the invite, dave!

goodbye, joerg!

today was joerg's last day at almaden. he was the first person i worked with when i started with webfountain. he's a great guy in more ways than i could say, and it's kind of surprising how sad i am to see him go. there have been many people leaving IBM for yahoo! and google the past year, but none that i really personally knew. i never expected to feel emotional about seeing a coworker leave. i guess i always subconciously thought of work as a necessity, something one does to put food on the table (or something like that ;)). however, i recognize how much more of a role it actually does play in my life, and especially how the people i work with influence me. in the past i've told interviewers that my ideal job is one where i can do interesting and challenging work. i now realize that the work is not nearly as important as intelligent, inspiring, passionate and generally wonderful coworkers. thanks for everything, joerg! =*)

this is how i'll remember joerg:
Joerg Meyer: any questions?
Joerg Meyer: ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????????????????
Joerg Meyer: had too much coffee

too many asians?

the wall street journal (online) published an article titled "The New White Flight". it describes two silicon valley high schools (one of them, lynbrook, being my alma mater) with suberb academic reputations, but states that they are "losing white students as Asian students move in".

the article attributes the observed phenomenon to "white flight". in other words, white parents are purposefully avoiding the districts these high schools are in, and sending their children to schools that are less asian. young white families say they are "avoiding cupertino altogether" (not because of housing prices, of course). white parents are leaving because "the schools are too academically driven and too narrowly invested in subjects such as math and science at the expense of liberal arts and extracurriculars like sports and other personal interests" (even though almost all my classmates busted their asses participating in band, drama, speech and debate, sports, volunteer clubs, student government, etc.). one woman's son took the high school exit exam, and left the school to avoid academic pressure (not surprising, since he's now working at a pet-supply store). a monta vista graduate stated he wouldn't send his kids to his alma mater: "It was a sheltered little world that didn't bear a whole lot of resemblance to what the rest of the country is like." he recently graduated from yale. sorry to say, yale probably does not bear a whole lot of resemblance to rest of the country (the rest being full of pretty dumb people).

actually, i guess i'm being a little unfair (quoting only bits and pieces of the article and all :)). but really, what is the reason for so many darn asians at these high schools? i think it may just be that they have crazy reputations among the asian community, and so houses on the market are instantaneously snatched up by asian families at any cost. considering that there are more or less a constant number of homes available, the asian population will only rise over time.

i definitely noticed that there were a lot of asians when i was at lynbrook, but i also never thought white classmates as out of place (maybe the black students, but only because there were a grand total of maybe two). i have to admit though that going to college, i probably felt somewhat more at ease interacting with asian classmates. at the beginning, it definitely also felt a little odd that there were so few asians (~20%, compared to 50%+). however, it didn't really take long to get over that.

in conclusion:
1. i didn't know the wall street journal published such crap (maybe just the online version?).
2. i wish everything would stop being perceived as racially motivated.
3. it would admittedly be nice if lynbrook was more racially diverse (and not just because i prefer the white guys!).