tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66856892011-04-21T20:27:01.590-05:00Khee-Gan's blogKGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.comBlogger1901100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-52144191224226810442007-08-17T22:23:00.001-05:002007-08-17T22:23:43.801-05:00

Lazy git as I am, pics from my New Mexico observing run in July are finally up. http://princeton.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045309&l=5c606&id=1112324

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-43541165461098298682007-07-12T21:46:00.000-05:002007-07-12T22:15:01.714-05:00

It seemed counter-intuitive that my main experience of New Mexico is of rain, but that's what I've had plenty of. It turns out that July is considered the 'monsoon' season around here, and especially around the mountains I've seen nary a peek of sunshine through the everpresent clouds. My arrival at Apache Point was not without incident. I flew into El Paso airport on the Texas-NM border, and

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-15162534006666201322007-07-04T11:06:00.000-05:002007-07-04T11:23:17.681-05:00

After my observing run at Apache Point next week, I hope to take a couple of days off to see some of the sights of southern New Mexico. One of the 'attractions' of the region is Roswell, where an UFO was allegedly captured in 1947, 60 years ago to this coming Sunday, 8th July, while on the 14th a local farmer discovered 'UFO debris' in his ranch. There is of course a UFO museum in Roswell, and

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-66046061551699279462007-06-27T23:30:00.001-05:002007-06-27T23:38:11.715-05:00

I have an observing run for about 3 nights at the 3.5m at the Apache Point Observatory, New Mexico, in about 2 weeks time. In September, I have another 4 nights in Las Campanas in Chile. This is a rather inordinate amount of observing stellar spectra for someone who purports to be working on cosmology theory, but it's a chance to travel. I am looking forward to visit the White Sands Missile

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-86917111485540785792007-06-24T00:42:00.000-05:002007-06-24T01:04:04.179-05:00

I don't quite remember writing up a paper to be such hard work. I am now writing up what was officially my first semester project which had overflowed beyond the first semester and had been put on hold for several months. I had written up papers before, most for most of those I essentially just wrote up the method and a brief summary of the results, leaving the detailed interpretation for my

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-42678852757212053182007-06-14T13:15:00.000-05:002007-06-14T13:21:18.499-05:00

I just struggled out of bed at 11am to give a talk at lunch, and afterwards I noticed this article in the BBC: Late risers unite in DenmarkBy Chris MorrisBBC News, DenmarkIf you find it hard to get up in the morning, don't despair - you're notlazy, you're just genetically programmed that way, says the B-Society inDenmark.I have still got a rather nasty bruise on my shin at the moment after

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-67576193357640631772007-04-12T23:01:00.000-05:002007-04-12T23:10:08.355-05:00

One of the most beautiful articles I've read on music. It's a very long article, but well worth the read. I'm amazed that Joshua Bell can play the Bach Chaconne on a Strad and hardly have anyone notice. Joshua Bell plays in the Washington DC Metro.Before starting university, I worked for a month as a musician in a hotel cafe, and I used to be hurt when people wouldn't even notice that I was there

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-92184840226693675292007-04-07T19:57:00.000-05:002007-04-07T19:58:41.060-05:00

Pictures from my Chile trip are online. Not that many, since it wasn't really a leisure trip....

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1512718755831372372007-03-17T16:01:00.000-05:002007-03-17T16:07:06.559-05:00

I was goofing off in my room yesterday afternoon, having just gotten up at 3pm after a good night's observing. Suddenly, the room began to rumble and shake. I looked out the window to see if there was some large truck driving by, and then I realised that I was at the top of a mountain with just narrow roads. There are no trucks up here. This was an earthquake. However, from the fact that I was

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-78469381733007227262007-03-15T04:19:00.000-05:002007-03-15T16:30:47.056-05:00

Magnificent desolation. Standing on the edge of a cliff high in the Atacama desert, with the sun beating down on me from the cloudless blue sky, I can almost feel my skin burning under the merciless rays. A cool wind howls past, offering some respite from the relentless heat. I had never realised there were so many different hues of brown and red, the palette colouring the mountains stretching

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-18636049316726187692007-02-22T01:49:00.000-05:002007-02-22T01:50:53.141-05:00

Being around professors who have discovered so much in their field, it just occurred to me to wonder: how are people supposed to refer to theories named after themselves? How is Jim Gunn supposed to refer to the Gunn-Peterson effect?

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-62613577016944129512007-02-18T23:50:00.000-05:002007-02-19T00:09:50.439-05:00

Today, Princeton Men's Volleyball Club had our first home game, against Seton Hall University. Our team plays against other institutions around the area, mostly small colleges and university in the New Jersey area. The last time I played competitive volleyball was over a year ago, and hardly touched a volleyball since then. I play as libero, rotating the position with Dave between sets. I managed

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-15332009981604643452007-02-15T22:54:00.000-05:002007-02-15T23:01:34.004-05:00

I am doing a new semester project this semester on primordial black holes with Jerry Ostriker, one of the most senior figures in astrophysics. I was discussing some physics of the early universe with Jerry, and we tried to look up some stuff in a cosmology textbook written by Jim Peebles, another senior statesman in astrophysics who works across the road in the Physics Department here in

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-49338240685944399402007-02-09T00:01:00.000-05:002007-02-03T16:36:40.730-05:00

I will be going to Chile in March! By a happy coincidence in timing, I will be going there for both an observing run (on a sample of magnetically active brown dwarfs) and a summer school (recall that it'll be summer in the southern hemisphere) on the theoretical aspects of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope project, which aims to measure the small-scale fluctuations on the cosmic microwave

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-11491297747386192422007-02-03T16:20:00.000-05:002007-02-03T16:36:40.911-05:00

The new term starts in the coming Monday. It's been amazing how much I can get done when I can work at my own leisure without classes and seminars to attend. Nevertheless the reason I came over to this side of the Atlantic was to take extra classes and learn material I otherwise would not learn, so I'd better not complain. Since getting back from my winter break, the past month has mostly been

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-46030515569366088042007-01-26T02:07:00.000-05:002007-01-26T02:09:00.402-05:00

It is easy for an astrophysicist to gain inspiration in his work. He merely needs to step out and look at the night sky. ...until I stepped out tonight and got hit full on the face by the -20 Centigrade wind.

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-46947265680528121302007-01-06T09:22:00.000-05:002007-01-06T09:31:12.693-05:00

A news article I saw on the BBC today:Inventor of instant noodles diesThe inventor of instant noodles, Momofuku Ando, has died in Japan, aged 96, of a heart attack.Mr Ando was born in Taiwan in 1910 and moved to Japan in 1933, founding Nissin Food Products Co after WWII to provide cheap, quick food for the masses. His most famous product, Cup Noodle, was released in 1971. Its taste and ease of

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-37556295998138650702006-12-24T00:28:00.000-05:002006-12-24T01:05:08.246-05:00

Even though I've only left London for a few months after spending the past 4 years there, stopping by for 2 days on my way home for the Christmas break was a big shock from the sedate environs of Princeton. Apart from the crowds in the West End, it was a change to hear the cacophony of different languages being spoken around me by the potpourri of nationalities. The graduate students in

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-11978329406230817932006-12-12T01:19:00.000-05:002006-12-12T01:24:04.733-05:00

I'm listening to a fantastic recording by Xuefei Yang, a great guitarist whom I first met and listened to some 4 years ago in Singapore. She's based in London, so while I was there I had a couple more opportunities to see her play, and she also by chance happened to be an old housemate of my pianist friend Bobby Chen. She's got a reputation as one of the best classical guitarists in the world

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-55534131364502892942006-12-10T01:05:00.000-05:002006-12-10T02:29:20.842-05:00

Many scientists and mathematicians are also musicians. Einstein himself was a violinist of no small talent. An anecdote has it that a music critic, unaware that Einstein's fame comes from being a physicist, wrote after hearing Einstein play: "While his playing is excellent, but he does not deserve world fame; there are many others who play just as well". When I was an undergraduate in UCL, I took

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-76606493313127679632006-12-08T00:30:00.000-05:002006-12-08T00:31:36.340-05:00

Princeton is a great university, but there is one aspect of it I hate with a passion: it's official colour.Orange. Ugh.

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-53696529335705043282006-12-05T22:13:00.001-05:002006-12-05T22:13:35.625-05:00

Astronomy images are generally stunning, but at a talk recently I saw a picture that completely took my breath away. At first glance I thought it was an impression by a particularly good artist, but it turns out that nature is more than poetic enough to provide this image.This is a mosaic of some images taken by the Cassini spacecraft which is currently in orbit around Saturn. Cassini happened to

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1165271022702828742006-12-04T17:05:00.000-05:002006-12-04T17:23:42.773-05:00

I had a very interesting (not necessarily in a good way) experience with one of my homeworks, which was to construct a simple theoretical model for a red giant. First of all, it was due about 2 weeks ago, but Jeremy (the prof) is so smart that he won't have any trouble marking it at any time (most people try to mark homeworks all in one go to get into the mindset). In any case, the deadlines are

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1164782110108354852006-11-29T01:17:00.000-05:002006-11-29T01:35:10.123-05:00

I've realised that I dislike term breaks, like the 4 day-weekend we had over Thanksgiving last week. Before coming to Princeton I was expecting to become a workaholic and work non-stop to keep up, and in the first couple of months here that's precisely what I tried to do (albeit not very well). However, I've just discovered an interesting fact: so long as I pass my courses in the first two years,

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1163490169894595552006-11-14T02:16:00.000-05:002006-11-14T02:42:49.910-05:00

I was told before coming to Princeton that life wouldn't be easy for me. Apart from the work load, there would also be the psychological pressure from being in an elite institution, I was told. Even having this in mind, it was hard to go from being the cream of crop at UCL to being mediocre at best in Princeton.It seemed as if everyone knew more about everything, and in greater depth than I could

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1163049266799900232006-11-09T00:14:00.000-05:002006-11-09T00:14:26.813-05:00

I seem to be losing hair more than usual. Oh joy.

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1162871130818496562006-11-06T22:17:00.000-05:002006-11-06T22:45:30.830-05:00

Last week was probably the darkest time of my life. It was the fall break, which meant that most students had gone home. Although not that many of the grad students actually went home (mostly because 40% of the grad students are foreign), meals were not served in the week, so the focal point for social interaction was removed. So there weren't that many people visibly around the grad college. I

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1162143221721802252006-10-29T12:23:00.000-05:002006-10-29T12:33:41.736-05:00

I've realised that I have really bad long-term memory, even when dealing with physics concepts. If I'm not constantly working with a given field, e.g. electromagnetism, I'd rapidly lose my intuition for it. I'm struggling these days because my brain isn't in 'physics mode', and lately I've realised that even back in UCL my mind wasn't always working. In fact, it would only work after the month or

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1161652186695345552006-10-23T20:02:00.000-05:002006-10-23T20:09:46.710-05:00

In my general relativity class, there is this Russian girl, Tatianna, who is from the Anna Kournikova/Maria Sharapova mould of Russian chicks. Blondes aren't my type, but I hear that when the semester first started, the physics students (the GR class is in the physics department) were drooling over her, in part because she was one of only 4 girls out of the incoming class of 24 physics students.

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1161466796655896702006-10-21T16:31:00.000-05:002006-10-21T16:39:56.670-05:00

I've been playing volleyball for UCL in my years there, except in the final year. I've had a lot of fun in volleyball, however it is sometimes frustrating because I didn't seem to be able to play to the best of my ability during games, and going to practices didn't seem to be improving my playing. In the final year, I was playing so badly that I felt I was being more of a liability than a help to

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1161046571403373982006-10-16T19:49:00.000-05:002006-10-16T19:56:11.423-05:00

I am not adverse to hard work. I'm not quite a workaholic since I'm inherently lazy, but I can put in the hours to get things done if that's what I have do. But there's something very wrong if I'm sitting in front of a homework for 5 hours and still have no clue how to do it. This has been the case for ALL my homework in the past week, and I just don't know what to do. I can ask my classmates for

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1160696310834713292006-10-12T18:07:00.000-05:002006-10-12T18:38:30.890-05:00

Astronomy is such a small world that it can be a little unsettling at times. In Princeton's astro department, there is a tradition where the grad students invite a professor or notable person to come for lunch on Thursdays, imaginatively known as 'thunch'. This stemmed from the Tuesday faculty lunch at the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) in Princeton, where following morning seminars the grad

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1160103064016295412006-10-05T21:01:00.000-05:002006-10-05T21:51:04.050-05:00

Life has been really difficult this past week. I'm taking two courses this term, 'Structure of Stars' and 'Introduction to Relativity', and there's a homework for each course every week. I seem to have to spend a day or two just reading through the material from the previous weeks' lectures before even starting on the homework, and then a few more days doing the homework. The problem with this is

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1159542895944644172006-09-29T10:11:00.000-05:002006-09-29T10:14:55.966-05:00

A warning from the manual of my new MacBook laptop:"This computer is not intended for use in the operation of nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation or communication systems, or air traffic control machines, or for any other uses where the failure of computer systems could lead to death, personal injury, or severe environmental damage."

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1158968838585439892006-09-22T18:37:00.000-05:002006-09-22T18:47:18.603-05:00

It's the first week of my semester, and I already think this is one of the most stressful periods of my life. I have hardly any leisure time at all, although I'm getting enough sleep (if only because that when I get back to my room I'm so exhausted that I fall asleep easily. I am taking two classes this semester, Structure of Stars and Introduction to Relativity, as well as my semester project.

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1158442434256540512006-09-16T16:14:00.000-05:002006-09-16T16:33:54.273-05:00

Our academic programme officially started on Thursday with our first class, which is on the Structure of Stars. The first lecture was on fairly basic stuff, most of which I already knew, so I can't say much about how it'll go. Apart from that, I'll be taking an class on relativity in the Physics department, and we also have a interesting seminar courses where we take turns presenting papers to

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1158115114146772412006-09-12T21:34:00.000-05:002006-09-12T21:38:34.156-05:00

At a reception given by the Dean of the Graduate School, I spotted John Nash getting himself a drink. Surprisingly, there wasn't anyone accosting or surrounding him as I had expected. A girl I was talking to said that a friend of hers had approached him for an autograph, and Nash declined and walked away. I guess that while most celebrities like actors and singers are out to be famous as their

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1157916183317268002006-09-10T14:18:00.000-05:002006-09-10T14:23:03.333-05:00

In the past couple of days, I have had conversations on the linguistic confusion in Montenegro, the political situation in Syria, the Argentinian accent, cosmology experiments, the experience of being in Beirut during the recent war, and carillon bells. Princeton is shaping up to be really interesting.

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1157767683683705912006-09-08T20:57:00.000-05:002006-09-08T21:08:03.696-05:00

So I'm in Princeton now. The flight here was miraculously without incident apart from a slight delay, and I even managed to get some sleep on the flight. These past couple of days, I have mostly been sitting through the international students' orientation where they talk us through the red tape and bureaucracy that we have to wade through, followed by actually carrying out these out. All this was

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1157409153579708932006-09-04T17:06:00.000-05:002006-09-04T17:32:35.610-05:00

Many apologies for the long hiatus since my last update. My parents, my brother and I flew out here to London over 2 weeks ago, and since then we've been out to Paris and Switzerland, and I've only had intermittent and brief internet access.We returned to London last Tuesday, and my graduation was last Friday. The run-up to the graduation involved some measure of anxiety when we went to

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1154319964690316412006-07-30T23:21:00.000-05:002006-07-30T23:26:04.710-05:00

Life here has degenerated into sitting in front of the computer and firing up some games, and then playing for hours at a stretch, much to my parents' displeasure. One thing about me is that I am unable to exercise self-discipline when it comes to computer games. Some people can manage to play for one hour a day, but for me it's all or nothing: if I play, I play non-stop, and the other

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1153726529029615442006-07-24T01:48:00.000-05:002006-07-24T02:35:29.066-05:00

I've been back since last Wednesday, and as usual it's taken a few days to readjust (or rather try to readjust) back to weather and the lifestyle back home. The weather rarely gets below 35 degree Celsius at home, and humidity is very high. Add to that the pollution exacerbated by smoke from Indonesian forest fires, and the result was my sinuses clogging up the moment I left the airport. As a

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1153150721632427502006-07-17T09:46:00.000-05:002006-07-17T10:38:41.760-05:00

4 years in London, and it's always been more of a background to my university life than truly being a place. This was highlighted to me when a friend came to visit me a couple of weeks ago. I brought him to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, and I was gawking along with him because it was the first time I'd been there as well. It was somewhat embarrassing to never have seen most of the

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1152994673296338842006-07-15T14:24:00.000-05:002006-07-15T15:17:53.526-05:00

I'm finally flying home next Tuesday, and I will be spending a month back in KL for a month before coming back to London with my family for my graduation and a bit of travelling. After my graduation, I will send off my family as they return home, before I fly off to the US on my own. In the past week, I've been finally getting round to actually preparing for my trip home, by thinking about the

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1152570760285157182006-07-10T16:40:00.000-05:002006-07-10T17:32:40.400-05:00

Apologies for the long hiatus since I've updated. There were quite a few reasons why I haven't found time to post (including laziness), but the main reasons were the World Cup, my music (I've been taking lessons for the past couple of months, so need to keep up with my practise) and exercise. Also, I've been spending some time thinking about the itinerary for my family's trip to Europe when they

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1149454692717651842006-06-04T15:07:00.000-05:002006-06-10T16:58:19.130-05:00

I try to practise guitar in the auditorium at Netherhall, with its fantastic acoustics which allow me to hear every nuance of my playing. Today evening, I went over to the auditorium intending to practise, only to find that there was someone already there, practising on the piano (Netherhall often invites musicians from outside to practise and give concerts at our auditorium). I was a bit annoyed

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1149451620931753672006-06-04T14:46:00.000-05:002006-06-04T15:07:00.946-05:00

My summer so far can be summed up with 3 words: exercise, guitar and reading, and in roughly that order of priority. I've been scraping together enough discipline to exercise almost every day, either working out at the gym or going running. As far as running is concerned, I'm pretty pleased to be pushing myself past the 5km limit, and for the first time in a couple of years I can regularly run 7-

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1148740982893293012006-05-27T09:21:00.000-05:002006-05-27T09:43:02.916-05:00

An interesting picture that I took while I was walking near my uni, at Tavistock Sq.In the foreground is a statue of Mohandas K. Gandhi seated in a meditative position. In the centre of the picture, in the background, is the British Medical Society building. In the morning of 7 July 2005, a no. 30 bus blew up in front of the BMS building, killing 13 people.Such irony that this act of senseless

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1148315170197548972006-05-22T11:01:00.000-05:002006-05-22T11:26:10.213-05:00

Having finished exams and my degree, suddenly I have lost the focus of the past 4 years of my life. I no longer have to head to the library to study, nor do I have to worry about work to be handed in.So far, my time has mostly been occupied with sleep, with the epitome being the time when I took a nap at 4.30pm and woke up at 8.30pm (I wanted to wake up at 5.30pm but set my alarm for 1530...d'oh!

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1147991707626271362006-05-18T17:33:00.000-05:002006-05-18T17:35:07.643-05:00

Total randomness of the day: I was in the supermarket just now and I saw a bucket of water for cleaning the floor. What caught my attention was the fact that it was a kosher bucket of water. I kid you not.(The joys of camera phones)

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1147885650684343662006-05-17T12:02:00.000-05:002006-05-17T12:07:30.700-05:00

Sometimes, when I feel that no one cares about me, the only solution to this is to go out and care about someone else, whether it's a friend I haven't heard from in some time, or a homeless person I'm helping to deliver food to. I'm not sure where I heard this, but when there's no love in your life, just go out and create love, and there will be love (obviously this is 'love' in the general sense

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1147688294158474472006-05-15T04:29:00.000-05:002006-05-15T05:18:14.170-05:00

It's possible that I have mentioned this before, but the residence I'm staying in, Netherhall House, is actually run by Opus Dei. Yes, THE Opus Dei which are the bad guys in The Da Vinci Code (I haven't actually read the book myself). For those of you who have been living under a rock, they are a conservative Catholic organisation which has a tradition of being highly secretive, has been

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1147278351589022452006-05-10T11:13:00.000-05:002006-05-10T11:25:51.603-05:00

4 papers down, one to go. Just had my particle physics paper this morning, and my final paper will be on next Thursday, so a bit of time to prepare.So far the exams have really been going well. I must done only about 50% of the preparation I did in previous years, but so far the papers I've done seemed pretty easy, especially since my last-minute preparation has consisted mostly of playing PS2

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1146842596558555732006-05-05T10:07:00.000-05:002006-05-05T10:23:16.573-05:00

In the past couple of weeks, there has been some drama in my student residence (Netherhall), concerning this guy whom we'll call 'B'.B in the same department and same year as I am (he does physics, but we only share a couple of classes), and he's been slightly antisocial and weird since I first known him, but his behaviour has been deteriorating in recent weeks. B has shown signs of jealousy of

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1146238335957169592006-04-28T10:16:00.000-05:002006-04-28T10:32:15.970-05:00

There are 'friends' who only ever contact me when they need something from me. Whenever I get a phone call or text message from these people, it's usually when they need something, whether to borrow my notes, asking for my help with homework or to ask for advice.Don't get me wrong, I would always help people if I can, even if the person asking isn't on good terms with me. But it'll be nice if I

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1145640186253883362006-04-21T12:06:00.000-05:002006-04-21T12:23:06.363-05:00

Mostly studying for my finals these days, which begin next Friday. Nothing much to talk about on that front apart from the fact that I am indeed making progress on my revision, although not as intense as in past years.I actually managed to get some music squeezed into my schedule before my bedtimes, whereas in previous years my Easter break has been a time of musical abstinence. The interesting

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1145116022115468382006-04-15T10:23:00.000-05:002006-04-15T10:47:02.186-05:00

I've come to realise that the ego is the greatest obstacle to music-making.At the most practical level, the existence of ego translates to stage-fright: when I realise that I'm going to be playing in front of an audience, there is the egoistic fear of making mistakes in front other people, or not playing at my best and causing people to think badly of me. Because of this, I start to focus too

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1144859410038817922006-04-12T11:23:00.000-05:002006-04-12T11:30:10.810-05:00

I've just about managed to get settled down into the schedule of cramming for my finals, which begin on the 28th of April and will be over by the 17th of May.I had drawn up a comprehensive schedule for my revision before I visited the US a fortnight ago, but it was only several days after my return that I managed to shake off my jetlag and excitement (from the visit and the prospect of studying

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1144528084539187582006-04-08T14:09:00.000-05:002006-04-08T15:28:04.623-05:00

OK...the pics from my campus-scouting trip:The single-carriage 'Dinky' train from Princeton Junction to the Princeton campus:A couple of shots of 'downtown' Princeton.The Nassau Hall, oldest building in Princeton (and one-time capital of the US!).Peyton Hall, the astrophysics department building.Some random shots of the Princeton campus:And now Harvard:Harvard Square:The entrance to the promised

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1144331050376261532006-04-06T08:41:00.000-05:002006-04-06T08:44:10.386-05:00

Purely for the record....And it's official that UC Santa Cruz has rejected me!

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1144191427814465702006-04-04T17:56:00.000-05:002006-04-04T17:57:07.826-05:00

From Princeton, I took the train to NY Penn Station where I caught a train to Boston (I'm rather proud to state that I spent all of 15 minutes above ground in NYC, to buy a mobile phone charger). The train journey was very nice because we were travelling through the New England countryside around sunset, and the scenery was like something out of a landscape painting.By the time I got to Boston it

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1143710984020402692006-03-29T22:45:00.000-05:002006-09-09T20:09:59.923-05:00

I've been treated like a prince in Princeton. I'm writing this in my hotel room on my final night here, but it's been a very eventful journey so far.The flight here was one of the worst I have ever taken. I was flying BA a.k.a. ''Bloody Awful' from Shitrow Terminal 4, and surprise surprise, we took off an hour late. I may have accumulated about 3 round-the-world-trip worth of air-miles over the

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1143476405625752502006-03-27T10:01:00.000-05:002006-03-27T11:20:05.720-05:00

Yesterday evening, I took out my guitar for Mikhail the Romanian guy to take a look (see previous post). He's been playing since he was 10, but hasn't played for the past 2 years. In fact, he doesn't even keep long nails anymore. After I played him a couple of pieces (I'm a bit rusty as well as I haven't been practising regularly in some time), I handed him the guitar for him to try. The moment

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1143402868274928592006-03-26T14:50:00.000-05:002006-03-26T14:54:28.286-05:00

I was having lunch in the dining room today, and I sat in front of a new person I've never seen before. We started off a conversation, and I learned that he was Mikhail (sp?) from Romania, and that he was around in London for a job interview.After a pause in the conversation, he suddenly asked me, 'Are you a guitar player?'. I was surprised and more than a bit discomfitted, and replied in the

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1143239215245088682006-03-24T17:11:00.000-05:002006-03-24T17:26:55.323-05:00

Term is over. I've finished my last term of lectures at UCL. Today was the last day, and I went into college just to hand in the two copies of my project report. The project itself has been fairly dull and boring, mostly involving writing code and debugging it. My supervisor wasn't around for nearly half of the duration, and he said that getting the project done effectively on my own would boost

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1142898159171947942006-03-20T18:41:00.000-05:002006-03-20T18:42:39.183-05:00

These days, when it seems as if I'm ahead of things, I start getting lazy and slacking off rather than going for the kill and finishing it off. It's a bad habit.

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1142534797651815402006-03-16T13:00:00.000-05:002006-03-16T13:46:37.733-05:00

I gave an after-dinner talk on cosmology to the residents of my hall on Monday. This was actually only the second time I had given a science talk to a 'lay' audience, the first time being some two years ago in '04, when I gave a talk to some students at my old high-school. In fact, the PowerPoint presentation I used on Monday was modified and refined from the high-school talk. I have given many

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1142264206220001372006-03-13T10:35:00.000-05:002006-03-13T10:36:46.230-05:00

Andres Segovia apparently once said: 'If you practise music for more than 3 hours a day, you will not be unhappy'.I think he's right.

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1142082009504855052006-03-11T07:38:00.000-05:002006-03-11T09:07:21.686-05:00

Last night I decided to join some of my friends to help hand out food to homeless people in Holborn. I'm rather ashamed to say that it must have been a year since I've done any volunteer or charity work, but it's a sad fact that most of the intervening time I've been too busy to even contemplate doing such work, let along go out and do it. After dinner around 7pm, Jason, Reuven, Alvaro and I went

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1141916238726685092006-03-09T09:51:00.000-05:002006-03-09T09:57:18.736-05:00

I was treated to a show of bureaucratic 'logic' today. I went to apply for a visa for my 5-day trip to the US at the end of this month (which incidentally went quite well, as I only waited a bit more than 2 hours, mostly indoors, compared with 3 1/2 hours shivering outside 2 years ago). The last time I went to US was for my STScI internship in Baltimore back in '04, and I had all the supporting

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1141752255914090222006-03-07T12:20:00.000-05:002006-03-07T12:24:15.923-05:00

I would like to remind all and sundry that my other blog is regularly updated as well, and I'm rather tired of double-posting material from there over here (this blog is only intended for people who know me personally, and I intend on making this dichotomy more clear from now on in my posts). So my opinions on science and physics would go into that blog, while more personal stuff remains here.

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1141583501529108342006-03-05T13:20:00.000-05:002006-03-05T13:31:41.540-05:00

I am not a morning person, period. Back when I was in school, I waking up at 6.30am was a daily struggle. For my parents, on the other hand, it was a natural thing to do. My father wakes up every day at 7am to practise Tai Chi, and my mother wakes up around that time as well. I, on the other had, could rarely get up before noon if there is no particular reason to. In the middle of night, on the

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1141477289700031692006-03-04T08:01:00.000-05:002006-03-04T08:01:29.716-05:00

I found this website which shows the descriptions of scientists, by a group of 11 year olds before and after visiting Fermilab, one of the top particle physics facilities in the US. The difference in perception is quite interesting...I particularly liked this girl's description AFTER visiting the lab:Before:You can see them as a mad scientist with hair standing straight up and a mean wicked laugh

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1141136571433449592006-02-28T09:05:00.000-05:002006-02-28T09:22:51.490-05:00

Over the past few weeks, I've been very impressed with the way that American universities try to get their best talent. As of now, I have had 6 PhD offers, and for several times I've had people call me me up to try and convince me to go there. The only universities which haven't called were Chicago and Stanford; with Chicago someone from the faculty did email me personally, and they set a few of

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1141082601456902722006-02-27T18:23:00.000-05:002006-02-27T18:23:21.473-05:00

I'm not in general a brilliant person. I usually can follow the material in my studies, but often I do have to think about things for some time before I understand it. My strength as scientist, in fact, comes from the fact that I am very good at making connections between things which are on the surface unrelated. Let me illustrate with an example, which happened to me recently.When I was in

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1140558253793377332006-02-21T16:44:00.000-05:002006-02-21T16:44:13.806-05:00

It's not an easy question when people ask me, 'So what is it you're studying in university?'. The official answer is that I'm currently in my final year of an MSci course in Physics with Space Science. The complication starts with the type of degree: people in UK would probably know what an MSci is, but for those who aren't from the UK, the MSci is basically a 4-year science qualification (the

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1140306035581889172006-02-18T18:18:00.000-05:002006-02-18T18:40:35.616-05:00

Things have been rather confusing in the past week. If I was asked a week ago, I would say that I have more or less decided on Princeton as my choice of university. However, I then started thinking specifically about professors with whom I would want to do my project with. I was looking for professors who are doing theoretical work on the Early Universe, and who are relatively young (and thus

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1140040896038264742006-02-15T16:51:00.000-05:002006-02-15T17:41:21.630-05:00

The past couple of weeks have been a strange, almost surreal, experience. As mentioned ago, I had the most pleasant shock of my life when I received a PhD offer from Princeton, and followed the next day by Chicago. Since, then, the offers have come in, to the extent that everytime I see some of my Indian friends in halls who ask me, 'Any more news??', I do indeed have more news. A week after

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1139337411583290962006-02-07T13:00:00.000-05:002006-02-07T13:37:49.693-05:00

It's been a lot of euphoria and excitement in the past week after getting my offer, and it's been somewhat expensive as well, as I've had to buy dinner for my friends....but there's been something more sobering as well.In September last year, Prof Miller, one of my favourite professors, suffered a stroke. I didn't realise this, apart from the fact that he wasn't replying to my emails (he is a

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1139145028881604052006-02-05T07:57:00.000-05:002006-02-05T09:20:37.903-05:00

On Wednesday evening, I was doing the telephone rota at my residence, trying to read a mathematics textbook to while away the time. Suddenly, the phone rang, and when I picked it up a man speaking in a Spanish accent asked, 'May I speak to Alvaro Tintore?'. Our telephone system involves the person on rota transferring the calls to the telephones in each floor, and if the person isn't expecting

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1136286428591923562006-01-03T05:53:00.000-05:002006-01-03T06:07:08.606-05:00

Been back for a couple of weeks already, and can't believe I have to head back to London on Thursday. It's incredible how time flies, although I've had a good rest. I've spent most of my time in front of the computer playing games, or watching TV. Not the way I usually choose to spend my spare time, but it certainly is an effective way to rapidly destress. Things with my parents have also been

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1134856097235921732005-12-17T16:16:00.000-05:002005-12-17T16:48:17.270-05:00

The past few days have been spent in what one may call 'idle leisure', i.e. not doing any work at all, which is unusual for me. Apart from an obsession with multi-player Pro Evolution Soccer 5 on one of my hall-mates' PS2, I've done some reading, reading the newspapers end-to-end, and I've also gotten around to reading Dickens' Great Expectations. I have never read Dickens before, mostly

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1134491356220081122005-12-13T10:44:00.000-05:002005-12-13T11:29:16.280-05:00

Apologies for my prolonged absence from this blog. The past month or so has been occupied with filling in forms for my PhD applications, and preparing myself for the two GRE exams (General and Physics) for US applications, which I had already taken. The GRE Physics was held in LEEDS of all places, presumably because it was the geographical centre of the UK (they should have held it at

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1132605016178219382005-11-21T15:29:00.000-05:002005-11-21T15:30:16.190-05:00

Just added a rant against an 'UNintelligent design' idiot on cosmicjourneys.blogspot.com .

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1132180268361647402005-11-16T16:47:00.000-05:002005-11-18T09:05:34.640-05:00

Time flies despite my procrastination and sincerest belief that 'there's still a few months/weeks/days before my concert, so I can goof off now and not practise for my concert', and before I knew it, the concert was bang in my face. Even with the concert a couple of days away, I still managed to convince myself NOT to practise, as practising this close the concert can only me make me increasingly

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1131728944726020912005-11-11T12:05:00.000-05:002005-11-11T12:09:04.736-05:00

Pet peeve of the day: How long will it take for people to realise that optical mice do NOT require mousepads? In fact, with brightly coloured mousepads, the colours will in fact mess with the detector at the bottom of the mouse.

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1131391455998576332005-11-07T14:11:00.000-05:002005-11-07T14:24:16.046-05:00

My concert is tomorrow... I have been practising the pieces for the concert almost exclusively for the past 4-5 months, and guess what? I'm not ready. Part of the reason is that I often give myself excuses not to practise. Even in the past couple of weeks, I doubt I managed to put in 12-13 hours per week, which considering that I haven't even finished memorising the pieces until 3 weeks ago,

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1130530909536483492005-10-28T15:21:00.000-05:002005-10-28T15:21:49.550-05:00

Some days ago, I met up with a few friends from my course last year who have now moved on to other things. Xinhui is now doing a Master's course in Physics in Oxford, while Raj is doing Material Science in Cambridge. Fahd and I were the two people still remaining in UCL.At one point, Fahd mentioned to me, 'You know, apparently a lot of people in our course now want to go on to Particle

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1130020276865304982005-10-22T17:14:00.000-05:002005-10-22T17:31:16.873-05:00

Laziness has gotten the better of me lately. I have only 6 hours of lectures per week, and only have to go into uni two days per week. The rest of the time is supposed to be occupied by my project. However, I met my supervisor Kinwah on the first week of term, at which point he told me that he will be in China for a month, and promptly assigned me about half a graduate textbook to learn up and

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1129538622284099712005-10-17T03:42:00.000-05:002005-10-17T03:43:42.820-05:00

An update to the other blog, with the final part of the story of my observing run in Oz.

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1128811872763389172005-10-08T17:15:00.000-05:002005-10-08T17:51:12.850-05:00

I've been back in London for about a week. Hard to believe that not much more than 2 weeks ago, I was still in Sydney...in the intervening time, I've travelled halfway across the world via Kuala Lumpur. It wasn't that hard to settle back in London since I'm staying back in the same place as before, although the gray skies here are quite different from the Sun of Australia.In the mean time, I'll

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1128639312459547942005-10-06T17:47:00.000-05:002005-10-06T17:55:12.466-05:00

I just discovered a really amusing link, which translates English into moron-speak.To quote Sir Winston Churchill...We shaL go on 2 d nd, we shaL fite n France, we shaL fite on d seas & oceans, we shaL fite w grON confidNc & grON strength n d air, we shaL defend our islnd, wutevA d cost mA b, we shaL fite on d beaches, we shaL fite on d landing grounds, we shaL fite n d feLdz & n d st.z, we shaL

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1128207232335824212005-10-01T17:38:00.000-05:002005-10-01T17:56:22.833-05:00

I'm kinda annoyed because Blogger cut off my posting halfway through to do maintenance work, so I lost the stuff I was typing...shouldn't they save the damn thing first or something?Anyway, as I was saying.....Back to London, and a welcoming rain was drizzling down when I arrived. The flight was OK, apart from the fact that none of the inflight movies were appealing to me (Mr & Mrs Smith? No

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1127833454548738772005-09-27T09:57:00.000-05:002005-09-27T10:04:14.553-05:00

Back for 3 days so far, and will be jetting off to London tomorrow at noon. Within 30 minutes of being picked up by my family at the airport, I had managed to get into a massive argument with my dad, and at this point we're still hardly talking to each other, although he seems to be pretty happy to order me around nevertheless. Significantly, my mum didn't blame me for the situation, so I think

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1127382999090454612005-09-22T04:48:00.000-05:002005-09-22T04:56:39.096-05:00

My second last day at work in the AAO. I'll be flying back to KL this coming Saturday (24th Sept), and then off to London in the following Wednesday (28th) . The new term actually starts on Monday the 26th, so I'll be missing a few days of classes, boo-hoo.I must say that I generally had fun here. Work was hectic because I was trying to cram 3 months' research into 2, and it was a bit lonely

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1126756156275468312005-09-14T22:35:00.000-05:002005-09-14T22:49:16.280-05:00

I'm about perform the most significant act in my life since I decided to do physics: I am going to change my name. In scientific circles at least, from now on I will officially be known as Khee-Gan Lee, with a hyphen to make it loud and clear which part of my name is my given name. I can understand it when people get my name confused...even native Chinese speakers or Malaysians can get confused,

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1126166313748271042005-09-08T02:25:00.000-05:002005-09-08T02:58:33.796-05:00

I have changed the signature on all my e-mail addresses from Descartes' famous "Cogito, ergo sum"("I think, therefore I am") quote to a new, less well-known, one:"Audaces, fortuna juvat"This is a phrase which means "Fortune favours the bold", by the Roman writer Virgil.I chose this to reflect that much of what I have achieved so far in life has been down to a readiness to do what I feel is

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1126013092077155532005-09-06T08:08:00.000-05:002005-09-06T08:24:52.083-05:00

It's 11.10pm now and I'm sitting in the office, having just managed to debug my code and set it running...and I was supposed to rest this evening. Admittedly, I spent a couple of hours in the local shopping centre running some errands, and have had dinner (and watched an episode of The Simpsons) so it hasn't been nonstop work all day. Still, I have less than 3 weeks left in Sydney, and I'm

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1125890662129958252005-09-04T22:16:00.000-05:002005-09-04T22:24:22.133-05:00

I just received the programme for my upcoming recital in November (the formatting got a bit screwed up in the conversion to PDF, but it should give the general gist of things). It's going to be a blast, so everyone who's anywhere near London is cordially invited, of course. To make sure that it's actually a blast and not a bomb (heh), I've been practising like crazy. It's not to reassuring that

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685689.post-1125301361692018532005-08-29T02:41:00.000-05:002005-08-29T02:42:41.880-05:00

Why is that people who have the least to say usually are the most talkative?

KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12034055756272958702noreply@blogger.com0