there’s a price to pay for switching jobs

so i take a break from the eight I essays (because i’ve stopped making progress) to take a look at the application sites for S & M.  i found it interesting that the amounts of information required, and hence the amounts of writing required, were so different between the two schools. first, here are screencaps of the sidebars:

       

S has a total of 16 sections while M has only 8.  take out the sections where you don’t need to do anything, and it’s S 14, M 6.  how about the writing?  in addition to the standard essays, S asks the applicant to give short descriptions for each extracurricular activity and each full-time or part-time job experience, whereas M requires nothing of the sort.  for M, all you do is list out the full-time employments.  there are no specific sections for you to input information on part-time employment, or extracurricular activities.  the idea is to use the essays (including one cover letter) to present who you are and to encompass the stories, experiences and activities you think are relevant and definitive.  i’m sure each school has its rationale and principles.  but M’s approach makes my life easier.  it’s also in boston.  anyway below is a summary of the writing i need to do for the two schools:

sure the wordcount doesn’t seem to be that far off… but everyone knows there is a huge difference between cranking out ten 50-word mini-stories and writing one 500-word essay. 

guess i shouldn’t waste any more time – i can either go back to the essays for I (whose deadline is one month earlier than S & M), or i can call my dad and ask him what year he got his bachelor and graduate degrees, as per S requirement.

scandal? that’s a bit strong

the girl was lip-synching?  that’s just typical.  who’s surprised, really?  who even stayed tuned in long enough to see the performance?  (okay, maybe a few billion people did.  sorry if i offended you.)

look at these harsh, at times hilarious, headlines though.  is it really necessary to call her milli vanilli.

addendum (8/14): the la times now runs a slide show about infamous lip-synchers.. the cruelty..

to-do’s – an update

高業：8月2825日考試（8、9月的場次早就全滿了，我只好每隔幾個小時就去查查有沒有名額空出來，還好皇天不負苦心人）。

Essays：目前仍處於「萬事起頭難」的階段。I學校共有8篇（2篇關於工作的描述、5篇一般問答題、1篇補充）。我決定逼自己本周末完成3篇！

閒書：剛看完ian mcewan的saturday及nick hornby的a long way down二書。繼續消化過去十年裡買了放在書架上作擺飾的小說中。

其他：the wire第一季、讀法文、準備找工作（！）

summer sounds

updated my muxtape (in an act of procrastination, clearly).

1. yo la tengo – how to make a baby elephant float (from: summer sun, 2003)
a track taken from “summer sun,” ylt’s chill-out album.  if this mixtape were a cd, the cover would be the picture of an elephant lying on its back in a bright yellow inflatable tub, floating in the pool.  with sunglasses and lemonades and what not. 

2. smashing pumpkins – dreaming (from: the aeroplane flies high, 1996)
d’arcy opens on this cover of the blondie classic with her mellow vocals.  then billy chimes in with his equally languid discourse.  the whole song has a sleepwalking feel, befitting a hot summer afternoon.

3. kings of convenience – i don’t know what i can save you from (röyksopp mix) (from: versus, 2001)
i don’t think i even need to explain this one. it just screams summer.

4. styrofoam – microscope (ft. blake hazard) (from: a thousand words, 2008 )
i guess this track is where things start to pick up.  this is a magical song, like “such great heights” but with (slightly) smarter lyrics.  i think it’s just a matter of time before the song is used in some trailer or film or teen soap and catches fire.

5. jason collett – out of time (from: here’s to being here, 2008 )
“very nice, rob.  a sly declaration of new classic status slipped into a list of old safe ones.  very p**sy.”
- barry in high fidelity

6. albert hammond, jr. – in transit (from: yours to keep, 2007)
7. broken social scene – 7/4 shoreline (from: broken social scene, 2005)
summer in the city, and summer on the seashore highway (funny how the album covers represent the opposite imagery though).
       

8. groove armada – at the river (1997)
call me nostalgic or whatever… to me this is still the ultimate summer song.

t-day

今天去考了托福，感想如下：

1. listening怎麼這麼多題，聽到後來完全不專心，開始做白日夢，結果有一題竟然答不出來。
2. speaking還真難答，我幾乎每一題都亂扯一通，分數想必不妙。不過我也認清了自己的問題其實不完全是英文程度不夠好，而是表達能力根本就有缺陷。就算要我用中文介紹國慶日30秒，我可能也講得坑坑疤疤。後來聽到身邊其他人此起彼落的回答，表達流暢有條理，發音也標準，頓感鬱悶。
3. 原來同一天同個考場的題目是完全相同的，有心要作弊的話並不難（speaking部分）。

不曉得分數要等幾天，希望不至於爛到要重考（I學校的門檻是105分）。

to-do’s

接下來的兩周裡，計畫完成的事情有：

1. 考托福（含報名、準備及應考）。此前並未接觸過托福，但已有朋友提供official guide。希望能在本周內全搞定。
2. 考高業。正所謂躲得了一時，躲不了一世。為了之後找工作方便，還是乖乖去考吧。
3. essays初稿。計畫從I學校開始下手，因為L學校的題目還沒有出來。
4. 還有一些閒書閒影集想看，暫不詳列 。

fourth time’s a yawn

the purpose of this blog is to provide updates on what i am doing with my life to a few friends who are far away.  well, maybe not all far away.  one of them goes to work every day in a building directly across the street from my house.

anyway, one thing you as the reader can count on is that the posts on my blog will continue to rank among the most boring stuff to ever come your way in this lifetime.  in fact i think this fourth incarnation of my blog has great potential to surpass all previous versions in terms of boringness.  so prepare yourself.

grey’s annoytomy

out of boredom i popped in the grey’s anatomy dvds that i brought back from china for a friend and watched a few episodes from the second season.  pretty soon i was frustrated by the shortage of likeable characters.  i say shortage and not dearth because there are still a couple of them that i can sort of warm to (dr. bailey for one).  the problem is they are far far outnumbered by the annoying ones, who happen to occupy 98% of air time.

i get it that the characters are supposed to be “real,” with real flaws, weaknesses and vulnerabilities like real people.  what’s problematic for me is that there is so amazingly little to like about these people.  as it gets closer to the end of the second season i can’t help feeling this is actually a game show where contestants vie for the titles of “america’s biggest a**hole” and “seattle’s biggest idiot.”  at first your attention is gripped by their seemingly inexhaustible creativity to come up with new and ever more outrageous ways to annoy.  but soon the tricks run out and you realize these people will be flaunting the same annoy traits and repeating the same sorry acts unapologetically for the remainder of the season.  people like dr. “no matter how badly i hurt and torture others, i’m still the biggest victim” shepherd,  dr. “i’m the kind-hearted and innocent boy-next-door whose feelings got hurt and now can’t stop whining” o’malley, or dr. “i’m ambitious, i’m strong, i only have one facial expression” yang.

i have to admit the show does have its moments.  it is most inspirational when someone dies, is on the verge of dying, or comes back from the brink of death.  maybe the writers should put some of the annoying doctors in one of those situations (preferrably the first kind) to make the show less insufferable.  maybe they have done that already, but i won’t find out because i’ve given up on this show.

for more information, google “i hate grey’s anatomy.”  those guys say it better.