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| Wow,
So I didn't end up posting as often as I would have liked. Busy busy semester. At least it's over for a while. Anyways, I'm off tomorrow to England, Italy, and Greece for 20 days with one of my best friend's who is graduating and going to Berkeley. Pretty excited about all that, I'll see if I can get some pictures up afterwards. I sorta wish I could have gone back to China, but I really don't think summer is the best time anymore and I couldn't do training justice in 3 weeks, not to mention that I am in the negative moneywise now (yikes). Ah well, hopefully sometime in the future.
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| Whew...glad thats all done...I honestly think Georgia Tech and
everything else was trying to kill me this semester, though I have
fortunately evaded it's grasp once again. So a couple notes about how
things have been going/current happenings/whatever else (I'm a list
person - no particular order):
1. Finals were really really tough. Do you ever get that feeling where
your mind is going full blast through a three hour final, its clear
that you studied enough and know the material, but there is just no
hope of finishing it, and your success depends solely on how quick you
can think on the spot. Well, 3/4 of my finals were like that, and
usually resulted in a feeling afterwards somewhat similar to what I can
imagine it would be like to be smacked over the head w/ a baseball bat
repeatedly.
2. I think my last post was before it came out so just throwing it out
there: Harry Potter 4 was awesome. Can't wait till the next book/movie
comes out.
3. I'm really enjoying my job at SpaceWorks, I think (in addition to
research - though research doesn't quite fall into the normal job
category yet) its the first job I've actually ever gone to and liked
working there. It's really wierd, but its just so much fun.
4. After that finals week, I was so glad to be able to throw down at
our post finals Toolshed (thats the name of our apartment) party. I
think the highlight for me was having fabian walk into my room at 7am
to get his stuff before leaving for the airport, informing me how
inebriated he had gotten after starting to drink at around 4am. I just
hope his parents/TSA doesn't smell alcohol on his breath and he get him
in trouble for it (though it would be sorta comical if it did happen
like that - I could imagine a lot of really funny senarios).
5. I just found out Coach Li from CMAI has left us for Cirque de Solei
in Vegas. I am so jealous of and happy for her. That has got to be an
experience of a lifetime to do something like that. I'm just sad that I
didn't get to say goodbye, and as infrequently as I have been in NoVA
she has been so influential in shaping where I am in wushu now.
6. Despite Coach Li leaving, I am really excited about coming home w/
respect to wushu because now once again I can concentrate on my wushu
and not have school to muck it up. I've deemed it my "return to china
in NoVA" plan. Hopefully I can stick w/ it and if anyone wants to work
out w/ me I'm game. Planning on a lot of
running/weightlifting/conditioning/stretching in the mornings then
wushu practice in the afternoon or evenings, maybe at CMAI, maybe
outside.
7. I'm also excited about coming back to NoVA to see my high school
friends. I feel so lucky that we have maintained such close contact and
even branched out to hang w/ other folks that I may not have hung out
w/ so much in high school. We really have some good times and I'm
psyched.
8. Going skiing in Utah on the 3rd. It's gona be amazing...enough said.
9. I saw some of the Beijing wushu team tour videos. Man I miss those
guys. And seeing some of the pictures of Miao, WuDi, and Shu Ming Hu,
Fu Yang...gosh...what a cool buncha folks, they always put a smile on
my face.
10. I always seem to get reminded one way or another of the awesome
times in China this summer, and I just wanted to mention that I
absolutely love hearing from you all whenever you IM me. I can't wait
till collegiates and berkeley when I get to see you all. I honestly
don't even care if I place or not, just being able to compete along
side and cheer you all on will be so much fun. I'll try to catch you
all before Christmas, but if not and you get this Merry Christmas (or
whatever else), I miss you all, and I sincerely hope you all are doing
well.
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| So...its been a little while since I've posted. I've been really
absurdly busy. Just trying to keep school and research and everything
together. Partially because on one of those last tests I did as bad as
I've done on any test...ever. Wasn't too happy about that. Anyways,
tomorrow I get a chance to bump that grade back up so we'll see how it
goes.
In other news: I was looking at some of the pictures chuck, jonathan,
and mark posted from china and totally got a little china-sick (like
home-sick but w/ china). I know I got tired of it after being over
there for a while, but that was really some good times. I don't know
what it was exactly, maybe it was just carefree...eating lambsticks w/
a buncha cool folks you just met, or the crazy adventures, or all the
Shi Cha Hai folks. It made me think how really exceptional all the Shi
Cha Hai people were - like everyone I met there was so interesting, and
had such unique personalities. A lot of the people I meet here at Tech
just aren't that interesting in comparison. Anyways, just missing all
y'all.
Lastly, a professor here emailed me today and offered me a part time
internship at his space consulting company. So I'm really excited and
worried about that. Excited because thats pretty much exactly what I
want to do. Worried because I dont know if I have enough time for
everything and my grades might go down the gutter.
Edit: I got clobbered on the 2nd test too.
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| Alright so what's new...well I decided to get into rock climbing! Yeah,
it's really exciting. I've really always wanted to do it (my parents
thought it was dangerous - which made it all the more fun) and I did it
a little this summer in China and loved it. It turns out we got this
really cool 3 story climbing wall here on campus that is free if you
have your own gear. So I went and took the $15 top rope course, bought
some gear, and then passed my belay test last Thursday. It turns out
too that for once (in contrast to wushu) that tall and skinny is the
right build for something!
In other news: I've got 2 tests next week, which should be hard but
do-able as usual; a 2nd close high school friend of mine just got
engaged (we're gona start taking bets now on who is going to be last);
and I've got to find a date for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra this Friday with not a lot of options in sight.
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| I don't know if it is the same for anyone else...but I find Wushu so amazing because it is the only
thing I do where I can completely forget about everything else. It's
slightly euphoric. I don't have to worry about school, or home, or
girls, or anything else that I have to deal with. Maybe some people
find that in other things...but that doesn't happen for me when I'm
watching TV, running, or at a party or doing anything else. Perhaps
when I'm delving myself into a really really good book, but I haven't
found one of those for a really long time.
As for clarification on my sawing injury: basically I had the board on
a step and I was sorta holding it with one hand and had my foot up on
the other end (PuBu stance style). That put my bent knee right next to
where I had the saw, which was fine...until I stopped paying attention
and ran it across the top of my knee. Yeah like I said, talent.
The GT wushu club went and did a demo down at a big Dragon Boat race at
Lake Lanier. It went decently well. Nothing that the crowd would
notice. I sorta had a mix up on my sword form a bit (you know where you
go into a move at a different point that connects the same). But I just
made up another connecting move to get me back and all was good.
Anyways, things are going as usual. School is hard. Girls suck. Thanks
for all the hellos and well wishes, its good to hear from all of you
again.
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