May 2002 Archives

I was going to say something, but I don't think it's that interesting. :p I guess I will just note that it's an order of magnitude more difficult for me to flirt in English than in Korean. Since I grew up on Korean, it's definitely my emotional language, where English was learned and mostly used at school and work. As I spend more time with English, the gap is not as big as maybe 7 years ago, but still, unless someone speaks Korean with me, it will be really hard for them to get to know the whole scope of me.

On the book, A Beautiful Mind... I shouldn't have been really surprised, but again, I find the difference between the Hollywood version and the biographical accounts, having a significant different feeling. A lot of the detailed episodes in the movie to depict the various situations aren't even mentioned in the book (e.g., the insight at the bar, the nightly delivery, etc.). Maybe those stories were from a private exchange between the movie makers and the Nashes, but still, I found it interesting. Also, the movie does not mention that Alicia and John Forbes are divorced (I think they still are) and didn't see each other for more than a decade, although she eventually took care of him. Nor does the movie mention that John Forbes had a son outside the marriage (before the marriage to Alicia).

I am not saying what Alicia and John Forbes has gone through is anything less just because of those missing facts from the movie. Actually, I can admire them as human beings because of them. I think it's almost always more interesting to have your own interpretation of the events than to be fed with someone else's interpretation.

I just wanted to write a short follow-up to a previous entry. I recently found out that my favorite "pearl"/tapioca tea maker, a.k.a. the Dancing Tea Master Lady, has retired from the business. She sold her Cupertino Village TenRen shop to another TenRen franchiser from Milpitas. I actually don't know what exactly she is doing now, but I just assume she got tired of it and decided to retire.

I mean it's truly sad not to be able to see her tea making "dances" (although she stopped making it herself several months ago). But most of all, I felt especially sad to see her little mom-and-pop shop turning into a less-character corporate franchise, à la Fantasy Tea. The price has gone up too.

Well, maybe this is inevitable... But still, I can't help but have this great feeling of loss... even if it's just for me.

We have a lab at work with lots of servers. These servers have lots of fans to cool things down. So, the company provides ear plugs to protect people spending a lot of times in there.

I normally don't work there, but I had to talk to someone in the lab, so while I was waiting around for him to finish his discussion with another person, I picked up a pair of ear plugs and tried them on. They don't completely block all sounds, but they seem to act as a band-pass filter.

Anyway, after coming back to my cubicle, I decided to have them on while I was working just to see what it felt like. I found it very interesting that I became very self-conscious about the sounds made within my body. It was definitely different from being deaf because I can still hear, through the bones, my jaws moving, my teeth grinding, my clothes brushing against my body, etc. At first, despite my assumption, it actually was more distracting because of those sounds. I became aware of these strange sounds that I would normally not be conscious of.

But I became used to it as quickly as I became aware of it. After a while, I didn't notice it much. Another interesting thing was, when I finally got them off, I realized how much ambient noise was in the office, mostly from the fans in the computers.

Anyway... Maybe, it means nothing much, but I wanted to say a few things about it. :)

Well, my progress with the Nash biography seems pretty slow. Basically a couple of pages everyday is about it (while taking a dump :p). I think I've gotten about two thirds, though. It is definitely much interesting than the movie.

It seems things do come in waves, big waves sometimes. Most of the times, my life is very simple, nothing much happening, partly because I do like a simpler life. It gets a bit boring sometimes, but I can just concentrate on a few things that I like to spend time on.

But then, suddenly, a lot of things happen at the same time, all at once, it seems: Since the beginning of April, it has been quite busy at work. We had our chips back and everyone of us is trying to get things working as soon as possible.

And then, I bought a house and I had to deal with a lot of stuff (however, I had a great help from my wonderful agent, Suzana). Well, I have yet to move, so it isn't quite over yet.

Then, there are matters of heart: Mom is trying to set me up with girls in the U.S. It feels as if she is throwing these dates at me. Well, I don't mind having a companion, but getting families involved is a bit disconcerting since I still don't feel that marriage for me is that urgent.

Anyway, there must be some cosmic laws governing this phenomenon. :p

P.S. Oh, my friend Keeyong and his wife Misook had a healthy baby girl, Claire (I helped them name her) Soyoung Han on April 27th. Congratulations!