Polish mountains are pretty majestic! (she's the girl in the picture)

Which got me thinking - what are YOU up to this summer?!

I'm going to open this up to you guys - send me a picture of something cool you did/are doing this summer, and I'll post it on my next blog!

What: A picture that's somehow related to your summer which looks awesome. It's preferable that you are in it too but it's not necessary.

Please include:

where you took the picture.
affiliation with MIT (year, or year of application for potentials)
anything interesting you would like to say about yourself/where you live/what's in the picture/blahblah

Other than this - the only other thing is to try to make your picture sizes reasonable! (so it doesn't take forever for me to load them - I have slow internet here) and don't send me 5 pictures that are 3 MB each. kthx. :P

My email's up there on the banner. Will post once I get enough pictures! You'll have at least a week to send them in.

Prize: There is a physical prize for the picture I deem the best. The actual prize will be announced afterwards, but will also be awesome, just like the pictures. XP I reserve the right to cancel the prize if I get less than 10 entries. :)

GO!

As this whole trip has been an experience in pushing our cultural boundaries, our first challenge was to visit an onsen together, which is basically just a giant public bath. Essentially the idea is, "welcome to Kyoto; in order to get the free tour and food you'll all have to hang out naked together for a little while. But don't worry! You get to squat under one of those spigot things, then all get in a giant tub together. The water is scaldingly hot and then you have to dump ice cold water on yourself."

Needless to say, we all enjoyed the experience immensely, and then went to get dressed in opposite corners of the room.

We then piled onto a giant bus with a similar-sized group of Japanese students, most of whom were studying English and were comp sci students of Mike Barker, a previous MIT employee and our guide for the weekend. A microphone was passed around, and we were forced to introduce ourselves in our non-native language, which produced such gems as "I want to enjoy this tour!" and "Yorushoku" (intended to be "Yoroshiku"; Please take care of me; but instead "Yorushoku"; dinner). Luckily we reached our first temple before it got to the back of the bus and I got to keep my dignity.

Our first stop was Kinkakuji, the Golden Temple.

As the first Zen Buddhist temple out of several we had to visit that day, we pretty much zoomed through the grounds, while practicing our lackluster Japanese next to the lustrous temple. We did, however, stop to make a few wishes:

(It happened for reals, guys. I promise.)

Our second temple of the day was Daitokuji, which featured several rock gardens with giant rocks that were supposed to represent waterfalls and manatees. (You have to kind of tilt your head at something like a 270 degree angle, but eventually you'll see it.) Then we hit up our first Shinto shrine, Heian jingu, as Buddhism and Shintoism are the prominent religions featured side-by-side in Japanese culture. The shrine at Heian jingu was almost entirely garishly red, set beside a lush green garden filled with lotus flowers and weeping willows - sort of an Amelie color scheme meets Memoirs of a Geisha.

My favorite temple of that day, however, was definitely Kiyomizudera. I'd been to it four years ago, but coming back felt surprisingly different after having lived in Tokyo for a month, where there is little greenery and everything feels somewhat cramped. The temple is built out in the open air, next to a tree-covered mountain - maybe "tree-inundated mountain" is a better phrase - that's so majestic it's hard not to let your breath get taken away. (Or maybe that's just because you have to hike up a hill to get there.)

Even still, I loved it, especially because that hill was lined with little shops giving away free samples of yatsuhashi, or triangle-shaped mochi with different flavorings and fillings. (The original flavoring, I'm told, was just a cinammon filling, but now I think they're channeling Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans because they have all sorts of different combinations such as red bean, green tea, peach, blueberry, mango, strawberry chocolate, Ramune, mud, boogers, chicken feet.. maybe not chicken feet; we're in Japan, not China..)

After our long day of hiking and sightseeing, we headed back to our bus, where we learned Japanese children's songs as we drove an hour to Nara. (Fun fact: the Japanese onomatopoeia for rain is "pichi pichi, chappu chappu, ran ran ran." Another fun fact: they do not like it so much if you yell this while banging on the table at Japanese restaurants.)

We ended the evening by going out to karaoke and singing a lot of Japanese songs, which mostly consisted of the Japanese kids singing and the rest of us jumping up and down on the couches banging on tambourines like crazy people. (The Japanese also do not like this so much.) The next morning, we hit up Todaiji:

I'd also been to Todaiji four years ago, but coming back was especially exciting because of the tame deer. The deer will let you pet and photograph them (but to preempt further questions, particularly by my friend Steph, I imagine riding would be difficult and possibly fatal). Several of the vendors outside of the temple sell packets of deer biscuits, so a good number of people bought some (and were subsequently mauled by herds of hungry deer).

Todaiji's family-friendy vibe continues with the Buddha's Nostril, a hole cut into a wooden column purportedly the size of the giant Buddha statue's nose hole. If you're able to crawl through the nostril, you'll supposedly have good luck for seven years. Eager to soak in all the good fortune we could get, our huge line of shouting foreigners (most of whom were a good deal larger than the average Japanese person) attracted a little bit of a crowd, but we were for the most part succesful:

(I kind of think we wore the wood down to the point that the hole became a good deal larger than the actual Buddha's nostril, but people with broad shoulders deserve seven years of good luck too, right?)

We left Todaiji and headed for our last lunch together, at an okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki, also known as Japanese pancakes, literally means "whatever you want, grilled", and comes with any variety of toppings from squid to soba, from mochi to kimchi. It's really freaking delicious. It was also probably the first filling meal I'd had in Japan, since everything here is SO tiny, but it feels like okonomiyaki gets into your stomach and and expands like a Chia pet. A tasty Chia pet.

Exhausted and weighed down by the extra ten pounds in our stomachs, we dragged our dusty selves back to the train to Kyoto, where we relaxed for a short while before our shinkansen (bullet train) back to Tokyo. Kyoto Station, by the way, is one of the largest buildings in Japan, and from the top you can see Kyoto Tower in its full glory, surrounded by the bustling city, shrouded by the same tree-covered mountains next to Kiyomizudera. As we looked over the city someone commented that they hadn't even noticed the city was surrounded by mountains, a marked difference from the modern capital of Japan.

We stolled lazily back to the shinkansen platform, but not before stopping on a landing to take in the beauty of Kyoto Station at sunset. With full bellies and seven years of good luck ahead of us, we boarded the train back to Tokyo.

Coming up: the world's best sushi! And fish uterus. I know I'm excited.

Facebook, I do use, as many of you have discovered. I get about 2-3 friend requests per week from prefrosh. To this date, I have accepted absolutely zero of them. Shock, I know, one of the faces of the MIT Admissions office turning away potential applicants, shutting the door in their face and potentially prompting them to not apply to MIT.

The truth of the matter is, if I haven't met you, I'm not your friend. I don't want you seeing all of my friends, I don't want you being able to see lots of pictures of me, I don't want you knowing where I live, what my phone number is, where I've worked, what my relationship status, and other little details of my life. I'll tell you things I want you to know in my blog, but other than that, I'm sorry I won't be able to accept your friend requests.

If you attend MIT, I meet you, and we are friends, we can be friends on Facebook, but otherwise, unless I've met you and we are friends, we will not be Facebook friends. I consider Facebook friends real friends, not just a list of the people I know.

Sorry for being blunt, I don't really see the need to sugar-coat any of this. If this is your first time to the blogs, I'm sorry, I hope this doesn't create a negative first impression, I'm just trying to protect my privacy. People can be pretty straightforward when it comes to privacy.

But, since many of you will never be my friend on Facebook, and there's obviously some desire to be so, based on the constant friend requests, I will share my Facebook profile with you as it stands today. It will be a snapshot of me that you can see. Pick apart my life the best you can from this, it'll probably be the last time you see it (unless you get accepted to MIT and we become friends).

Left Sidebar

Main Profile

We're in the middle of a less-than-silky ribbon of deserted street outside the parking lot of MITERS headquarters. Charles is driving, which leaves me to enjoy the LOLriocart's G-force simulations backwards in a seat designed for children of weight 15-35 lbs.

I am fully aware that the shopping cart in whose toddler-basket I am dearly clutching to my remaining threads of life has been spotlighted in about a bajillion techno-fanatic blogs in the past three days. To anyone with the mildest glimmer of engineering-lust, the LOLriocart will induce prolific and involuntary drooling. Charles claims that the design is still in progress, but it's already beautiful in the same way that Gmail was beautiful when it was unveiled. Glowing blue lights, check. Ignition-like turn-on mechanism, check. Steering wheel, check. Ability to make R2D2 whirring noises and generate smoke by friction of wheels against concrete, check. Brakes? Um, it looks like those had evaporated.

Hence I am also nail-bitingly aware that the LOLriocart's current method of not-going-at-25-mph-anymore requires performance of “the s-shaped thing that planes do.”

Grocery shopping will never be the same again.

(Photo and survival of the author both courtesy of Charles Guan.)

it works it works it works it works it works it works it works it works it works it works it works

First kart road test, N52 to Pika. Epic win.

Total miles today: 5.65.

These amused me, but I never really looked into what they meant. . .

There are a variety of websites that I check every day. They are, in no particular order,

xkcd
fmylife
engadget
gizmodo
woot
shirt woot
thinkgeek
facebook
gmail

Today, while exploring Gizmodo, I came upon an article entitled MIT Students Build a Speedy Go-Kart Out of a Shopping Cart. Surely, no, it couldn't be. I had seen Charles pushing around a Circuit City cart before I headed home for the summer, and his status updates had hinted . . .

Yep. It was Charles. Good old Charles.

I'm seated on a double-decker 8-hour night bus from Tokyo to Kyoto called "Ladies Dream." I don't know if it's trying to imply that this bus is the ideal bus for ladies, or if the lack of apostrophe indicates that only females have pleasant dreams on this vehicle, but I try to imagine that everything happens for a reason. And so I'm trying to convince myself I am out 57 bucks on a bus 40 minutes after the one I had bought a ticket for in advance left, one without proper punctuation, because someone up there thought it would be funny if I rode a bus called "Ladies Dream."

I missed my original bus to Kyoto, and despite the motto I'm currently trying to convince myself of, not for any good reason. I spent a little too much time at home preparing before finally getting on the subway, which took a little too long waiting at the station JUST before I had to get off. (Of course it did.) I got off at Shinjuku-sanchome, realized I had gotten off at the wrong exit and panicked, and did what I would in the States if I didn't know where I was and only had 12 minutes to get to a bus I didn't know the location of - grabbed a cab.

The cab cost 710 yen (~$7), but more infuriating than that, only took me up the block. To get an idea of how short this is, the cab meter begins at - you guessed it - 710 yen. Kind of like the time I was sick and had to go to 5.12 lecture because it was the last one with material that would be covered on the exam, but I had such a high fever I couldn't make it back from campus to my dorm. So I took a cab. From Baker to Next House. It was approximately the same distance from Shinjuku-sanchome to the bus terminal, except in Boston it only cost me $3.60.

I got off, ran through the station, and asked no less than four different people where the bus going from Tokyo to Kyoto was. For some reason, no one had ANY idea, even though I later discovered we were standing directly over it. Only the policeman knew, and my brain was so fuzzy with panic and sweat I only understood the first half of his directions. I sprinted downstairs, ran to the left, felt sure he had said "turn to the right," and turned to the right.

I ended up right where the subway had dropped me off.

Dripping with sweat and fuming over that kindly old taxi driver robbing me of 710 yen - there's one more night this week I'll be eating convenience store onigiri for dinner - I ran back down the street, where I'd run past a bus ticket counter. I thought about stopping to ask but decided there wasn't time, since the line was too long, and ran past it - into the bus terminal.

"The bus.." I panted, unable to think in Japanese in my flustered state, "from Tokyo to Kyoto.. The ten thirty bus.. is this where it leaves??"

"It left already."

I looked at my phone and thrust it in the bus worker's face. "IT'S 10:31."

"Ahh, yes, I'm so sorry.."
"When is the next one?"
"11:10. You can buy the tickets at the desk."
"Can I exchange this one?"
"I'm sorry, you can't."

My crying has never gotten me out of getting shots, bad grades, or speeding tickets, and it certainly wasn't getting me anywhere now. (The only thing it's ever gotten me out of was getting my eyebrows plucked against my will, but as she put the tweezers away the lady called me a stupid baby. Oh, I know. Life is just so hard.) I felt the hot tears start to well up as I began gasping for air, one hand barely holding the rest of my body up on the gate, the other still waving my phone frantically in his face like somehow the harsh cold 10:31 would jump off the screen and cut him. (They did not.) The bus worker invented a problem elsewhere and walked awkwardly away, and just like I'd read about in the "stages of regret" article in O magazine earlier that day when I was supposed to be working, I quit being sad and got mad. I bought a new ticket (yes, on the "Ladies Dream" bus) and stalked off angrily, mentally setting ALL of his perfectly-coifed Japanese hair on fire.

(To put a cherry on top of my already excessively salty wound, my 11:10 bus is currently leaving EIGHT WHOLE MINUTES after 11:18. That is a LIFETIME in late person time. I could have made my 10:30 bus, got a job as an investment banker, met a nice Japanese dude, got married and had three kids in that time. EIGHT. MINUTES.)

But as Oprah says, turn your regret into productivity, and then give all your friends cars or something like that. So I wrote a blog entry.

The truth is, even though I was only one minute late I really probably would've missed it even if I had another hour. This is how I travel- I get hopelessly lost, forget that time exists, and wander happily through tiny streets and amongst tiny people on tiny buses. You know how I know, besides the fact that I'm out 5710 yen? I got lost on my way to my SEAT. The bus attendant had to come and show me where my seat was. But in the end, it all works out. The ticket for the 11:10 was cheaper than the original (which MIT is paying for anyway), and I got a much better seat with much more leg room; plus, I'll get to sleep in a little later than people on the original bus. And I'll probably miss most of the onsen (edited to add: Japanese hot springs), too, which means I won't have to see all my friends naked (edited to add: I was not that late to Kyoto, and I still had to see all my friends naked).

I also learned a valuable lesson - for god's sake, woman, leave three hours ahead of time when you buy expensive tickets around Japan. Running around a foreign country on MIT money is an incredible, life-changing opportunity, and unless you want to squander it all in one week you can't depend on grannies flying in and saving you every time.

You see? Everything happens for a reason.

Now it's time for this lady to dream.

Phew, it's been long without blogging! During this long hiatus, I've been back in Taiwan (for 3 weeks!) catching up on sleep, eating many yummy things, and completed a 3000 piece puzzle. (sadly, there's no time for puzzlemaking in MIT usually).

Then, I returned to the States, and I've been happily living at Berkeley, CA, for the last 2 weeks. I'm working in Oakland, at an Asian health center there, serving as one of their summer interns. I'm really learning a lot (including more and more Cantonese words, haha - I have resolved to start learning Cantonese as soon as possible, since this is probably the most useful Asian language to know in the States, due to the amount of Cantonese immigrants).

Each day begins with the 8.40 Bart (it's like the commuter rail in Boston) ride from Berkeley to Oakland, getting to work at 8.59. During lunch, I'm off to explore the countless restaurants, cafes, hole-in-the-walls that dot Oakland Chinatown. After work, it's MCAT class for 3 times a week, or napping at UC Berkeley's sunny Memorial Glade (it's a grassy elliptical quad in front of one of their libraries and for some reason is located strategically to get maximal sunshine exposure in the afternoon =p).

In short, life is good.

Couple observations about Bay Area:

1. San Francisco Bay is really pretty. o____o
2. Asian food is so much better here (sorry Boston)
3. Why are strawberries $3.50 per box at Shaw's (supermarket next to MIT) and $0.65 here?
4. Fisherman's Wharf = tourist heaven,
5. It gets real cold here after the sun sets.
6. 9.75% sales tax sucks!!
7. MUNI is a really cute name for a mass-transit system.
8. I want a car.
9. I do not miss psets or exams. I'm soaking up the sun as best as I can. <3
10 If you grew up here, I envy you. =p

Yesterday was a super bright, sunny, and clear day, so I decided to head into the city and go up to Twin Peaks (otherwise known as "San Francisco's boobies" -> according to a local, lol). Basically, they're these dual hills on the southwestern corner of the city, and supposably there's an impressive view of SF and the Bay during the day, and an amazing night view after sunset.

On the way there, I also visited MIssion Dolores, which is probably the most underappreciated tourist site in the city. Mission Dolores is the original Spanish mission of San Francisco, and one of 21 California missions. The original church (made out of adobe! it's super cool inside since adobe is like natural air-conditioning) is fairly small, though it has a really cool geometric patterned ceiling that was derived from Native American designs. The adjoining basilica is huge, domey, and filled with beautiful mosaics and stain glass windows (there's 21 panes alongside the length of the church, depicting the 21 Spanish missions and the day that they were founded). There's also a cemetery adjoining the complex, and it really reminded me of the Boston Granary Burial Grounds...haha.

Anyone know what these flowers are called? I'm really curious!! They're in full bloom here in Cali (you can see them in many gardens).

After about an hour on foot after leaving Mission Dolores, I made it to the main viewing area on the mountain, where there's a big parking lot for your car if you drove up the mountain.

The Pink Triangle is preparation for the Pride Parade in the city today - it's basically this huge pink cloth that's set up against the mountain.

You can see Golden Gate from the top.

Click here to see the panoramic I took on top of the mountain. Sorry that the right picture is obviously darker than the left, lol -_-

After getting down from the mountain, I took the muni back to the center of the city and had great korean bbq before heading back to berkeley. Awesomeness <3

ps. I got a better grade than I thought on Orgo! By some miraculous act of God, I must have done much better than I thought on the final. Like MUCH better.

On the other hand, I got, frustratingly, a B+ for 7.02, ironically the class that I was most confident of going into the semester. (MIT grades on absolute letter grades, which means +'s and -'s have no meaning. thus, +'s are the grades that are most frustrating to get at MIT, since it basically signifies that if you just tried a LITTLE bit harder, you'll have had a -, and a whole 1.0 increase in GPA for that class. it goes without saying that A- is the best grade to get, since it's the same as getting an A+ in terms of GPA, muahahaha =p)

So in the end, I guess 5.12 and 7.02 balanced themselves out, after all.

That's MIT for ya. It's a real mixed bag of nuts.

So congratulations Elizabeth and Mohammed (respectively) you're the winners of the scavenger hunt! Enjoy the fame and glory that comes with it.

P.S. I'm trying to write an entry about my experience here at Los Alamos, but anything I write has to be reviewed by security, and needless to say, it's a bit of a slow process. BUT I will persevere!

What I will do, however, is let the dorms speak for themselves, and our friends over at CalTech have helped us out a bit in that regard. Allow me to introduce, Beaver Scope!

According to the author of Beaver Scope

Almost a year ago I stumbled upon an impressively precise description of MIT's external IPs. Naturally, I saved and stored the file away figuring it would be useful for something one day.

The release of the WikiWatcher suite near pranking season makes for a propitious time for that old data to be put to use. I present Beaver Scope, pinpointing many of Wikipedia-editing Beavers with almost unsettling precision.

That's right, it's a website that breaks down Wikipedia page edits by MIT Building number, letting you see which pages are edited by which dorm. Theoretically, this could be used to generalize the types of people who live there. On the other hand, it may reveal nothing and serve as nothing more than a curiosity. Regardless, I thought it'd be fun to share. Happy stereotyping!

Baker House
Bexley Hall
Burton-Conner
East Campus (East Parallel)
East Campus (West Parallel)
MacGregor
McCormick Hall
New House
Next House
Random Hall
Senior House
Simmons Hall

Also, there's a new beta version of MIT's mapping website, which is vastly superior to their old website. Check it out here

An Act of God, in this case, refers to one hell of a lightning storm in Fort Lauderdale, closing the runway for an extended period of time, causing my 6 AM flight to leave an hour late, and leading me to miss my connection to Chicago O'Hare by approximately two seconds. My luck in airports is notoriously crappy.

To celebrate, I went to pee - I'd been holding it during an all-out sprint across the terminal to, you know, not miss that connecting flight that I missed.

This post has nothing to do with the above.

I have been spending too much time on the 2013 Facebook group, which I knew would happen. (I'll leave you all alone soon, I promise - I've had nothing to do for the last two weeks, but that ends today when I start training for teachin' the kids IF I EVER GET TO CHICAGO RAWR RAWR RAWR.) There's a discussion topic called "Advice for Freshman," which is notable because of two things:

The latter point and everything related to it may confuse the living daylights out of you, but it's really not a problem, which I'll explain in a second. By now, you've heard that you should take 7.013 in the spring when the class is larger, unless you want to take 7.012 with the great and all-powerful Eric Lander, unless you want to take 7.014 because you're a huge fan of ecology and think that genetics can suck it, unless you want to pretend that biology doesn't exist for a semester or seven and take it in your last term at MIT. And now you're confused and don't know who's right and whether or not you'll make the right decision, because if you take the wrong biology class, you won't pass, you won't graduate, you won't get a job, no woman will ever love you, and you'll find yourself living in a cardboard box underneath the Longfellow Bridge.

And let's not even talk about 8.02, because physics is made of evil and you definitely won't pass that as a freshman.

....Oh, I'm sorry. Was that all a huge lie? I really should quit with the sarcasm over the Internets. It clogs the tubes and the point doesn't always get across.

By the way, all of the Introductory Biology classes cover genetics. You won't get out of it just by taking 7.014.

Sure, upperclassmen all over the place have been telling you that the classes are difficult. Sure, we all advise you to do different things, making it hard for you to decide which path to take. The good thing about having us around is that it informs you of the options you have, at which point you can decide what's best for you.

I know you're all getting a ton of stuff thrown at you now that you'll have to deal with in two months, but it's not as terrifying and life-altering as it seems. (Am I repeating myself? Oh hey, I totally am! I'm making an important point here!)

Or, to quote my post in the discussion yesterday:

"The only reason we all keep saying that MIT is hard is because it is. We know that many of you are coming in here after years of being told that you were the smartest, most amazing kid ever ever ever, and that a lot of what you've done so far may have come easily. We've been there, and we know it's a bit of a shock when you fail your first test and you can't answer half the questions on your first pset. All we're trying to say is that you're not alone - there are three thousand(ish) upperclassmen who have been in exactly the same position, and there are a thousand other people in your class who are experiencing the same thing that you are. As long as you realize that you don't have to (and shouldn't!) do everything alone and that you're in a collaborative rather than a competitive environment, you should be okay."

That's all. I'm getting off my soapbox and I'm going to stop yelling. My voice is getting hoarse, and everyone in the terminal around me is wondering what in blazes I'm shouting about.

THE SHARPE BROTHERS
A while back, on the front page of the Boston Globe was an article about two brothers at MIT who perform (juggle? spin? What's the correct verb for this?) diabolo (those of you who went to the Closing Remarks and Variety Show at CPW may recognize them as the closing act). I never ceased to be amazed by these guys!

If you want to see them in action, you should go to YouTube and search for "Sharpe Brothers" - they have some pretty sweet videos up there. :)

Speaking of YouTube, I found this video of someone who put together a short montage of the performances at the Closing Variety Show at CPW this year...a nice little taste of some performing arts groups at MIT. :)

PANDORA
By now, many of you have probably heard of (or use) this, but I'm in love with Pandora. There are, of course, many similar music sites out there like it, but after honing my station over the past couple years, I thought I'd share my station with y'all if you're interested. You can also go here to see how I defined the station, what I liked/disliked/bookmarked/etc.

For those that don't know about Pandora yet, it's basically free online radio, but you can customize your own stations by telling it which songs you like or dislike. It's based off of the Music Genome Project, where a bunch of people have gone through and assigned traits to tons of songs, so based on what you tell the station, it will play successive songs that have similar traits to the songs that you like or 'seed' the station with.

It's basically one of the awesomest things ever - if you've never seen or used anything like it before, you should. The only downside I have with it is the audio ads (which will occasionally play between songs), but I don't mind them that much - they happen so infrequently that it's not a big deal. Pandora also has some limitations for legal/revenue reasons (e.g., you can only skip a certain number of songs per hour, and you have to interact with the player at least once every 30 minutes or it will pause until you click to let it know you're there again (unless you pay a subscription fee that allows unlimited playing). But hey, they have to make money somehow, right?

(Actually, I don't pay the fee because - well one, I'm cheap, and two, I actually like the 'auto-sleep' that happens; if I forget to turn it off, I know it won't keep playing all day and drive my housemates crazy while I'm at work, hahaha)

What's your favorite kind of music? Do you have other sites like it that you use?

TV SHOW UPDATE
So, ever since my last post about TV, I've started watching a couple new shows. Most notably, I've started watching Weeds via unlimited streaming on our "family's" Netflix account. Unfortunately, only the first two seasons are on there, so I have to figure out how I'm going to watch Seasons 3, 4, and 5 (currently airing).

I also caved to Gossip Girl...I'm only part way through the most recent season, though, so I need to finish it at some point. I don't know why, but I just keep watching it. Just one of those guilty pleasures, I guess.

And as the summer* TV season begins, shows like Wipeout and I Survived a Japanese Game Show are some other guilty pleasures of mine. I'm glad Burn Notice is starting up too, but it seems to be going further downhill, imo. Speaking of which, House (formerly my #1 favorite show) has now dropped in my ranks - I really think that show is reaching its limits. Hopefully I'll be able to get around to some other good shows I've been meaning to watch, like Dexter and Mad Men.

Any other suggestions?


*a.k.a. bad

Since getting home from MIT I've had the chance to de-tune and think about my progress so far. I'm halfway done. I have a Brass Rat. I've completed most of the "book" classes and am about to start the "build" classes for my major (MechE). I better understand the emotions that coincide with the MIT Gamut (a term I just made up), how people feel from acceptance through orientation through freshman year through sophomore year. I understand what it's like to be failing classes, passing classes, to get A's, to get C's (P/NR FTW!), to be successful, to be unsuccessful, to be happy, to be angry, to be homesick, to be glad I'm not at home, and many other typical college experiences.

Today, let's focus on one experience from this last year, a choice I keep finding myself wanting to regret, but am never able to, because it was absolutely the right decision. I took three classes in my major this last semester, 2.004, 2.006, and 2.007.

2.004 is dynamics and controls.
2.006 is thermal fluids II
2.007 is design and manufacturing I

2.006 was, as I suspected, brutal. The PSETs were brutal, the tests were brutal, and the material was brutal. 2.007 was fun, but was backloaded (more work at the end of the semester than the beginning), and 2.004 was just, well there. That was my issue with it, it wasn't hard enough to be scary (and thus prompt me to work really hard in it) but it was hard enough to keep me humble about my test results.

In 2.004 I was getting 90-95 percent on the PSETs, 100 percents on all the labs, and was understanding the material. The first test was unlike anything I was expecting and I got a standard deviation and a half below the average. This was not a huge setback, and I didn't take it as one. My other scores in the class would be enough to hold me and if I did alright on the 2nd test and the final I would be ok.

Time soon came for the 2nd 2.004 test. It was three weeks away, the two weeks after CPW (a time of partying and non-studying), and a week after my 2.006 test (which was likely to be VERY hard). All of a sudden, in class, our teacher announced that the 2.004 test was going to be moved up a week to the week immediately following CPW, and the day before my 2.006 test. This was a problem.

I can't study during CPW, especially since I'm helping run events, showing prefrosh around, and doing all sorts of other stuff. I had portioned out just enough time after CPW to study for my 2.006 test, which I felt relatively prepared for. I, however, had NOT portioned out time to study for a 2.004 test, which I thought I'd have a whole other week for.* I had not been paying very good attention in 2.004 and was going to use that week to catch up, do a bunch of practice problems, and really situate myself in the material. This plan was no longer valid. I was going to be forced to take a test I was ill-prepared for and immediately follow it with another test that I would need to study copiously for. There was simply no way I could study enough for each of them to do well on both. I had a problem.

*I'd like to take this opportunity to say that Professors who deviate from their syllabuses should be shot.

I had to take the time to evaluate where I was in each of these two classes to decide what to do. These tests were critical for my grades in each class. But, if I studied a little for each, and then did well on each of the finals, I could pull off two B's. I looked at the finals schedule, and had a mild panic-attack when I saw that my situation had just gotten much worse.

Classes at MIT conclude on a Thursday, giving students a Friday and a weekend to study for finals. My 2.004 final was scheduled for Monday morning. My 2.006 final was scheduled for Monday afternoon. That left 3 days to study for two classes, each with finals I needed to ace, both on the same day. Three days. Two classes. Two MIT classes (one of which, 2.006, is arguably the hardest in the major). This simply wasn't going to be possible. I wasn't going to be able to ace two finals on the same day, Monday, after having only 3 days to study.

It was reckoning time. I had two tests, scheduled for a Wednesday and Thursday, immediately following CPW. I had two finals, the same day, the first day of finals. I've gotten over that macho, ego, "If I put my mind to it, anything is possible" crap. I know my limits, I've had 20 years to discover them, and this was going to be too much. Absolute best outcome from this was going to be a B and C. Probable outcome was going to be two Cs. Possible outcomes involved Ds and Fs. Not for wont of trying, but for sheer lack of time and ability. What could I do?

At this point, the semester was 3/4 of the way over, but MIT still allows you to drop classes this late, but no later. MIT's drop date is late, but was fast approaching, the Friday after my two tests. That was when I made my decision. Even though I'd attended all the labs, done 8 PSETs, taken a test, and been to all the lectures, I was going to drop 2.004.

What I realized yesterday, is that poker is a wonderful medium in which to draw analogy. Sitting with a J♠ J♥ in the hole, you pay into the pot to see the flop. 5♦, 6♦, 7♦. Still satisfied, you call the bet and the subsequent raise from the other players and see the turn card. 9♥. A bet, a raise, another, and then to you. You pay. The river, a J♣. A bet, a raise, and then the player to your right goes all in.

It's your choice. To see his bet, you'd have to go all in as well. You've already paid a large sum of money to the pot, but are sitting with three jacks! Such a hand, surely you can pull it off! But, but, with an 8 you are beat. With pocket diamonds, you are beat. BUT THREE JACKS!

Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. Ditch that ego, ditch that hope, and appeal to logic. With no 8s in play, and three players left in, constituting a bet, raise, and all in, you'd be foolish to continue. But many do, just because of the money and time invested. The trick is to know when to fold, when to cut your losses, and when to get out, living to fight another day.

I got out, I folded, I did drop 2.004, and I don't regret it. I performed better than I could have ever hoped on my 2.006 final, got a B in the class, and will be taking 2.004 next year with no consequences. Is it depressing that I've seen it all before? That I'll be doing work I've already done? Yes, but with a grade report devoid of anything lower than a B, I'm willing to give some of my time back to 2.004 and, the second time around, get an A.

Let that be a lesson, that sometimes it's simply foolish to go all in with a hand that's simply going to lose, no matter how good you think it is. This advice will keep you safe at MIT, please take it with you.

Incidentally, the guy to your right was bluffing with his all in, but the guy who initially called had a 4♦ 8♦ in the hole.

One of the best things that I have found about the MIT community over the course of my time here is that the students are absolutely incredible. They are some of the most talented, accomplished, interesting, and fun people that I have ever met. Andrea Campos is a senior Course 15 major who has been a campus leader at MIT for the past 4 years. In addition to working in the admissions office and assisting with the recruitment of Black, Latino, and Native American students, she has juggled many roles and been active on campus. Last week, I sat down with Andrea and got a chance to hear what she had to say about her experiences at MIT. Check it out!

So Andrea thanks for sitting down with me to do this interview. I know that you are really busy and involved in a bunch of things on campus, so I really appreciate you finding time to fit me into your schedule.

No problem. I always have time to share my story and tell prospective MIT students what MIT is really about.

Perfect! That’s just what I wanted to hear, so let’s start at the beginning. Where are you from?

I’m from North Hollywood, California, which is in the San Fernando Valley of the greater Los Angeles area. My neighborhood is mostly Latino. It’s the type of place where you can get around just speaking Spanish. There are far fewer Filipino, White, and Black families in my community. I attended Francis Polytechnic High School , which is a public school in Sun Valley with a population over 4,000 students.

How did you get to MIT?

I guess it all really started in middle school. I was doing well in my classes and one of my middle school teachers encouraged me to apply to a math & science magnet school. At the time, I was apprehensive about joining a magnet school and parting ways from my middle schools friends. However, I realized I wanted a more challenging school curriculum and due to proximity to my home, I ended up applying to Francis Polytechnic High School , which had a math, science & technology magnet program.

In 10th grade I heard about a couple of seniors in the magnet program who were the first from my high school to be accepted to universities such as MIT and Stanford. The students who were accepted into those schools had good grades, and I had good grades too, so I figured there was no reason why I shouldn’t be able to get into a top school too.

So in 10th grade, MIT became the dream school. I was interested in civil engineering and architecture. I was very talented at drawing and thought that MIT was a great fit for what I wanted to study.

In my junior year I applied to the MITES program, having no idea about the competitive acceptance rate and prestige of the program, and I was accepted. When I applied, I didn’t mention it to my dad because I knew he would not like the idea of letting me leave home for a whole summer. You have to understand that my parents didn’t go to college and they didn’t know what the MITES opportunity meant. Eventually, after begging and pleading with my dad, he allowed me to attend the MITES program. He warned me not to get too excited though, because he definitely wouldn’t let me go to college all the way across the country!

MITES Summer 2004: Students coming out of dinner at Vinny T’s on Boylston St, Boston with Admissions Officer (Andrea Campos on far right)

MITES was great for me! For the first time, I met students with the same work ethic and level of ambition as me. Once I finished MITES , I knew that if I was admitted into MIT, the experience would be very challenging but I would absolutely have to accept the offer. I loved the place.

Sure enough, I applied to MIT, was accepted, and my parents were extremely opposed to letting me move away to Cambridge, MA. In fact, my whole family (aunts, uncles, cousins, everybody!) was opposed to letting me leave the Los Angeles area. After numerous conversations and explanations about the prestige of MIT, my parents eventually gave me their blessings and approved my plans. It took a lot of work to convince them that attending MIT was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I think they were more afraid I would resent them for not letting me pursue my dreams so they ultimately decided to accept my decision and support me.

Wow! That’s a really incredible story! It sounds like you really had to make the a great case to your family for coming to college 3,000 miles away from home. Were the finances a big issue that your parents were concerned about?

For me, the finances were thankfully not an issue. I had the full tuition paid for by MIT. I also had an outside scholarship to help cover the other costs, so I didn’t have to ask my parents for money. My parents’ concerns were more about their family ideals than anything else. In a traditional Mexican family, the expectation is that a daughter does not move out of her family’s home unless she is getting married. It was unacceptable to allow me to live across the country far from any parental supervision or family presence. Even after my parents came to accept my decision, they still faced opposition from our extended family, but over time I have set the example for my younger cousins, who now aspire to attend college outside of California.

Now, the time has flown by and I am almost ready to graduate!

When you got onto campus, did anything surprise you about MIT?

When I came to CPW (Campus Preview Weekend), I learned about the Mexican American community on campus. I was surprised to find a sizable and vibrant community of Chicana/o and Latina/o students. Initially, I thought that I would be solely surrounded by nerdy, introverted people who I would not relate to. But that wasn’t the case at all. People were very down to earth. Many students were just like my friends back home, but they were also as academically driven and ambitious as I. MIT students are generally down to earth and everybody here has some nerdiness in them.

Student Photography - Winter 2009 by Evelyn Gomez, Class 2010

What do you like most about MIT?

The housing options at MIT are pretty nice. My first three years on campus, I lived in La Casa Castellana (Spanish House), which is a community within the New House Dorm. One of the best things about La Casa is that you will never miss a home-cooked meal, because everyone in the house cooks. Sunday through Thursday, two people are assigned to cook food for the entire house that consists of approximately 30 members. And if you don’t know how to cook, that’s not a problem because we pair you with someone that can teach you!

This past year, I decided to move out of Spanish House. Now I live a ten-minute walk away from campus in a 3-story condominium! I have three other roommates who are MIT and Tufts grad students. One of my roommates is a good friend from Spanish House, so it’s almost like I never left because we always have Spanish House friends over.

Spanish House Group Picture Spring 2005: Andrea Campos (far left, front row) on 2nd floor balcony of Spanish House

That’s pretty special to have home cooked meals while you're living in a dorm! When I went to college, I would actually have to go to someone’s home who lived in the area for a home cooked meal…..I wish that I had had home cooked meals when I was in college…Nevertheless, I digress. What have you been involved in at MIT?

Since freshman year, I have been heavily involved in LUChA (La Union Chicana por Aztlan), the Mexican-American cultural & social student organization on campus. I served on the executive board as Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President, and President. Now that I’m on my way out, I act as a senior advisor to the organization.

LUChA Chicano Graduation Class of 2008: Seniors w/ Mexican sarape stoles

Early this year LUChA had a big conference at MIT called East Coast Chicano Student Forum. This conference is hosted three times a year by the Chicana/o organizations at different elite east coast colleges. The theme of LUChA’s conference this winter of 2009 was “Desarrollando: Developing our Chicano Communities” and had approximately 150 student attendees. In the primary conference workshop, participants competed in creating their own development projects & proposals and presented them to expert city planners, economists, and other professionals.


ECCSF@MIT Winter 2009: Student participants focused on hands-on workshop

ECCSF@MIT Winter 2009: Student participants enjoying traditional Mexican meal w/ Jarritos drinks

ECCSF@MIT Winter 2009: Live performance by Baile Folklrorico de Aztlan of Harvard University to start off the ECCSF reception

ECCSF@MIT Winter 2009: Live performance by Mexican Conjunto from New York City for dance party following the reception

You really have been busy during the school year on campus. What have you done with your summers? Have you had any internships?

Absolutely! I’ve done and internship every year since I have been at MIT. Freshman year I searched for an internship on Craigslist
and found one with a start up company that imported organic food products from all over the world, Essential Living Foods . It was a very hippyish office. It was nice to work at the start up because everything you do can have a really large impact. I created a sales manual for all of the company’s products. I critiqued some of the products. I was a general business, marketing, & accounting intern.

Sophomore year I worked in the human resources department at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne , an aircraft engine manufacturer. I got this internship through INROADS , a nonprofit organization that places talented minority students in internships with different companies so that they can develop corporate and community leadership.

I worked in the Human Resources department and soon realized I wanted to be at the forefront of the company instead. I knew this would not happen if I was a business major working at an engineering company. PWR was still a good experience and I got to go river rafting, see a rocket launch in person, and visit the launch center. It had its perks. They also sent the California interns to the Pratt & Whitney headquarters in Connecticut for a couple of INROADS intern events, which was pretty awesome.


Pratt & Whitney Summer 2007: Andrea Campos (middle, top row) river rafting in Kernville, CA with fellow employees & interns

Pratt & Whitney Summer 2007: Andrea Campos (middle) with fellow interns at INROADS conference in East Hartford, CT, Pratt & Whitney’s headquarters

Pratt & Whitney Summer 2007: Andrea Campos (far right) with fellow interns visiting rocket launch center

Junior year I decided I wanted to work on Wall Street in New York City. I diligently searched for NYC internship opportunities and attended company presentations at MIT. Eventually I received an IAP externship offer for the month of January and had the opportunity to live in Harlem while interning at JP Morgan Chase . I worked hard to do a good job and impress everyone. I worked 12 hours a day and was exposed to the areas of sales & trading, investment banking, and research. Luckily, everyone who I worked with was really nice and helpful. My direct supervisor was an MIT alum, and everybody at JPMC really was open in providing me with advice and perspective on their experiences. At the end of IAP, I was offered the opportunity to return over the summer.


New York City Winter 2008: A night out in Times Square with best friend, fellow MIT student, Maricela Delgadillo (right)

This summer I will be doing finance research for Banco de Mexico in Mexico City. I got this internship through the MISTI Mexico Program , which sponsors MIT students to participate in internships and study programs in some of Mexico’s greatest cities. I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to go abroad and experience the work-life and culture of a different country. I will be living in the very center of the city and hope to come back with lots of stories and pictures!

What advice would you give to a high school student who is interested in MIT?

In general, I think that you should get involved in things that you love or interest you, because you need to be passionate and shine in those areas.

Work hard and be the best at the things you do. Don’t just be a bookworm either; be involved in other things outside of academics. If you have breaks from school, you better be productive with your time and not just veg out at home. Do your research to understand what MIT is all about and figure out if this is a place where you will really fit in. MIT is a place for very talented people who want to change the world through technical fields. Make sure that those fields are what interest you if you are going to come to MIT. Above all else, you better like to work hard because MIT is no joke. You will work hard and play hard. Expect to be challenged here.

In the space of the paragraph break above, you've probably calculated the answer, brewed yourself a cup of coffee, and commented “FIRST!” on my blog already. Great. We're now ready to play a short psychological game. A private, procrastinatory research project that I adopted in the dwindling time before my first final showed that everyone* interviewed found the answer by one of three methods:

*i.e., everyone likewise procrastinating in one of Random Hall's lounges at 11 pm on Sunday.

1.Take 7 times 4, multiply by 10, add 7 times 7.
2.Take 7 times 5, multiply by 10, subtract 7 times 3.
3.Imagine a piece of paper, do cross-multiplication on your imaginary piece of paper with your imaginary pencil and eraser, and then proudly circle your imaginary answer. Ex: “7 times 7 is 49, drop the 9, carry the 4 to the next column, 7 times 4 is . . .” etc.

My hypothesis is that if your first instinct was Method 2, you'd also show a natural talent for parallel parking. Rationale: when evaluating the most direct route to your goal, be it the answer to a multiplication problem or the cathartic resolution to a neck-twisting parking maneuver, you don't hesitate to overshoot your target and then back up until you're perfectly centered. (By the same reasoning, people who followed Method 1 probably had trouble getting their driver's licenses; people who followed Method 3 should stick to riding bicycles.)

It remains unclear whether this theory has valid support, but unexpected anecdotal data collected during the study has lead the author to vow against carpooling with certain denizens of Random Hall.

Since I've been having difficulties making Nobel-worthy discoveries in either of my summer UROPs this week, I've decided to resurrect my parallel-parking-mental-multiplication (PPMM) experiment. Comment with (1) your natural method of calculation and (2) how often you rear-end other cars (if applicable). Data collection via blog comments is the new trend in science, so I've heard.

A subtle yet heartbreakingly crucial property of summer projects is that they tend to exist in pairs. Or triplets. Or where n-tuplets, where n = n+1 for every time that someone batters down your self-restraint with an email like:

I conclude with a sampling of current projects filed under “Continued self-delusions of infinite free time”:

7. Rebuild the bridge from pika's balcony to pika's treehouse.

14. Deploy a Rube Goldberg machine in the basement, preferably designed around the theme of vegetarianism and explosives.

21. Eat at every single dim sum restaurant in Boston. (Alright, I will admit that this isn't a project so much as a function of my tidal desires to consume entire subrainbows of the culinary spectrum, especially compelling on Saturday mornings.)

28. Read the complete published works of David Foster Wallace, then metamorphosize into David Foster Wallace.

35. Take more photos with metaphoric gravitas, so that I can start a gallery collection and open a critically-acclaimed art exhibit at the List Center. To start:

(It's a fence, and there's a sky behind it. It represents the human condition, or something.)

42. Start running up to 10 miles regularly. (I'm at 6 miles right now.)

49. Witness the finishing of a 6000-piece jigsaw puzzle, a retina-melting endeavor started last night as a peaceful (thus far) collaboration between pika and WILG, two of MIT's independent living groups. The puzzle itself is currently living in WILG's 2nd-floor lounge and, until completed, will remain an effective hindrance to activities like vacuuming.

56. Bike along the entire shoreline of Boston's Inner Harbor, or until I discover this to be an impossibility.

View Larger Map

Arathi and I made a reasonable effort on Wednesday. I hitched up the rust-barnacled, long-abandoned bicycle that I befriended in the humid depths of pika's garage (single-speed, one functional brake, cracked turquoise paint, perfectly unlovable) and we ET'ed ourselves into the cinematic sunset, pedaling along the Charles River, past the Science Museum, past wherever-we-originally-intended-to-go, around regally-named hotels, through Boston's touristy Colonial-era marketplaces and a irresistibly charming block of Little Italy (gelaterias, pastry shops, open-windowed pizza restaurants- all adorable in the way that somehow makes you want to re-watch The Godfather), up Beacon Hill, against rush-hour traffic, and finally:

On second thought, let's add “Learn to parallel-park” to the list.