Archive for November 2007
0 comments Crazy Day - 11.29.07
This morning I learned that my friend Jackie is moving back to Ghana next Monday. Although we were never really close to each other, but it's still pretty sad to see her go given that I have known her for almost 3 years. For the record, I had art class with her in freshman year, algebra 2 sophomore year, and ap-history this (junior) year.
by brixton, CC-license
Sometime before the end of the school day, someone asked me how I am doing, and I replied, "I am doing fine," then buried my head between the books as seconds before. "Haochi, you are mean!" The same voice that greeted me struck my ear. I was confused, but she walked away. I was then told that the person was expecting me to greet her back. Umm, am I supposed to?
I know that it would be (a bit) better if I did greet the person back, for the sake of courtesy, but for one, I barely know the persons (let along the fact that the person has a bad impression on me); for two, the person interrupted me while my bio-CPU is over-clocking; for three, I hate people expect me to greet them back because they greeted you.
Seriously, what the fark's wrong with people expecting other people to greet them back just because they greeted them? If all they want is just to have somebody to greet them back, they should really go get a life. That's way too arbitrary. Arse.
Also see: "Hot"
That totally pissed me off, but the worst hasn't come until I got home.
by miwa, CC-license
I was about to schedule for driving test when I realized that my wallet (which has my temporary driving permit inside) isn't at where it was supposed to be. To look for it, I nearly turned my home upside down but still couldn't find it. Drank a glass of grape juice, cooled down, and I started tracing my memory for the lost wallet.
It didn't take too long before I figure out that I might have accidentally dropped it while I was pulling my keys out of my backpack between the parking lot and the door. As I scan down through the parking lot, I saw a flat object, which assembles the appearance of my wallet, standing out of the felt leaves. Thankfully, that's indeed my wallet, and everything is intact.
Also see: "Lost: USB Flash Drive"
Today is November 29th, 2007, and it's been a _______ crazy day for me.
0 comments Thanksgiving - 11.22.07
To be honest with you, I hate Thanksgiving (and most other holidays you can think of). The only things I like about Thanksgiving is that I can get a few days off from school, and the Black Friday shopping, which is a day after Thanksgiving, so technically it doesn't count.
Well, for those of you that like some turkeys on this day of the year - Happy Thanksgiving. :)
[photo by Elevated, used under a CC-license]
2 comments Back from Wisconsin - 11.18.07
Haochi standing in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol.
Phew, after eleven (11) hours of bus ride, I finally got back to Columbus from Madison, Wisconsin. The trip was overall very pleasant, except the quality & quantity of the meals.
The math competition (turned out to be a physics plus math plus history competition) was held on Saturday. We totally nailed the math part - third place in first round and first place in second round, winning by a huge margin - but didn't do very well on the physics section (this is our first year, so we were not very prepared and didn't know what to expect). The total score placed us - team Columbus-Northland - in the third place, behind team Indianapolis (1st) and team Cincinnati (2nd).
It's kinda sucks for my team because (from what I heard) only first and second places from our region can go to the National Convention next Spring in Orlando, Florida for free, third place is invited but we have to pay for our own expenses, unless we can find some sponsors.
The process of competition is far more important than the end result. - Lee Suat Ying
Well, we are quite happy for what we have accomplished in such short amount of time (we only met 3-4 times before the competition). The chance of meeting some like-minded individuals from other schools was definitely priceless.
We are looking forward to go again next year. :P
* I will update the post with more photos later on (need to obtain permissions, get more photos from friends, etc).
Update: I uploaded the pictures to Picasa Web Albums just now. If you want to see the pics, leave a comment here or email me (assuming that I know you well enough to have your email, or vice versa).
0 comments Packing Up - 11.15.07
I am packing up right now for tomorrow's leave to Wisconsin. Just some clothes actually. I might or might not bring the iPod because I don't freaking listen to music, but I am afraid that I will get bored. LOL PSP? I don't have one so "d'oh!" (I am not that much into gaming either)
We will leave tomorrow morning at around 7:30 and be at Wisconsin at around mid-afternoon. Madison Concourse Hotel is where we will be staying at (should be).
If I remember correctly, the whole thing is going to be over by Sunday morning and we should be back to Columbus at Sunday night.
It's likely that I won't have Internet access during the time period so hmm, I will post updates as soon as I get back home. "Pics or didn't happen!" Sure, I will post pictures, a lot of them. :)
(Hopefully I will remember to bring the camera lol.)
[photo by cayusa, used under a CC-license]
0 comments Rocket Balloon - 11.14.07
My Physics class did a little experiment (balloon rocket) today to see how Newton's third law works.
Sorry for the poor video quality, I was trying to use MediaCoder to convert the videos to FLV format, but I kept getting error messages, so I gave up and converted them on MediaConverter.org. I will try other converters next time.
UPDATE: Changed videos with higher quality ones. (converted with Any Video Converter Free)
3 comments Haircut - 11.12.07
Got a haircut on Sunday. (I did most of it myself, using the style from this picture as the basic)
LOL, maybe I will go for the Liberty Spikes next time. :)
Quiz for fellow Northland Vikings: Who's the guy standing next to me in the photo? Bonus point for knowing what room we were in.
4 comments Ideal World - 11.12.07
Mrs. Turner asked the class what we think the "characteristics of an ideal world" are on Thursday, before discussing Transcendentalism.
I believe that the person who suggested "free McDonald's" is Tyler, who works at McDonald's part time. He's like a super McDonald's fan/supporter.
Sorry Tom, we have nothing against the French people.
4 comments Four Years - 11.09.07
Four years ago today (Nov. 9, 2003), I hopped onto a plane, flew across the ginormous Pacific Ocean, landed on Newark Airport thirteen hours later, and there was a guy from the immigration office in the airport told me, "Welcome to America."
this is how I look like back then. photo take on 12/3/2003
Can't really believe that it's been four years, it seems as it were yesterday that I was leaving my house back in Taishan, China, but reality tells otherwise.
When I first came to the United States, I barely speak English:
"Hi, my name is Haochi."
Well, I hardly speak English now:
"Guten Tag, ich heiße Haochi."
Many other things changed as time flies by though:
- I started wearing eye-glasses in 9th grade
- Got my chipped-tooth fixed
- My voice changed, along with other developments a boy would go through during puberty
- Smarter in some aspects and dumber in others
- And so on ...
I truly missed a lot of things during the last four years. Not only those in China, but many things here as well.
2 comments Wisconsin, Here I Come - 11.08.07
So I am going to Wisconsin for a math competition next week, for 4 days. For the record, here are the stuffs that I should bring.
- Food
- Some stuff to play with (PSP, iPod, etc)
- Clothes
- Toothbrushes/Towels
Hopefully it will be a nice trip... :)
1 comment First Snow - 11.06.07
Sixth of November: First snow of 2007 in Columbus, Ohio, started when I was walking home, alone.
Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty. - Mother Teresa
And cold too.
[photo by Falk Webel (I colorized it a bit), used under a CC-license]
0 comments Unsympathetic - 11.05.07
I will give myself a 8/10 for "I Don't Give a Shit About Anything". I would have given myself a "higher" rating, but who gives a shit.
0 comments Volunteering at Library - 11.04.07
Starting next week, I will be volunteering at the Karl Road Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library - one of the top public library systems in the U.S. - every Saturday from 2pm to 5pm.
I have hard time remembering stuff recently: I don't even know why I applied...
0 comments Flickr - 11.02.07
I created a page earlier this week listing some of the most viewed photos on Flickr along with a list of users with the most photos uploaded.
You can find it here.
0 comments Blood - 11.02.07
It was just an ordinary day, walking out of Mr. Nunn's class heading to homeroom. "There must be some stupid kids fighting," I thought to myself as I saw a bunch of my peers running toward the school office from both directions.
Indeed, there was a fight. Between a guy and a girl, I later learned. The version of story that I heard, from the girl herself, was that the guy was trying to punch her (in the face, I assume). She dodged, and the fist went straight to the glass window behind where the girl was standing. The other version describes how the girl was being offensive. Neither can be confirmed, and both can be bias.
He is at least 6 feet tall (he was sitting down in the office by the time I found out where he is) and well-built. The force, as I can imagine, must been so strong that when it meet the glass window, it creates a circular shape of approximately 10 centimeters in radius.
The bright red blood started streaming down, kind of like what you see in the movies, but real, real blood.
When I finally found him sitting in the office, I was shock. By the amount of that big puddle of blood on the floor, I can say that he's been in the office for well over a minute, yet the school staffs seems unconcerned, walking in their usual slow-motion, if not even slower.
The bell rang, and I proceeded.
[photo by Emilie Eagan, used under a CC-license]