Anyway, with that said, I do have the opportunity to check my email at least once a day, so if you need something (that’s not urgent, obviously), email me and expect a response within 24 hours. If you need to contact me urgently, use my cell phone number. (No, my mom doesn’t have the phone; calm down) Or if you also have an HP (presario) laptop with a cord to share, call me so I can come over and charge up my laptop

Thanks. And stone age sucks, although this stone Sunray isn’t that bad.

Making money is a lot harder than it looks. When my water gets really contaminated, the whole system shuts down. When that happens, unfortunately, I lose 97% of my population. (21k to 800 ish) When that happens, I have no population to insanely tax, so I have to take out loans :(. I hate loans.

For Yahoo! Mail Users:

Note: You must be in the original mode (not the Beta mode) to do this. If you are not in the original mode, click switch back after you are logged in.

Go to Options (top-right of the page), then to Mail Addresses under Management. Click the Add button, make up a label for your @Berkeley.edu mail, then click continue. On the next page, put “calmail.berkeley.edu” in the input box designated as the “Mail Server” and your CalMail username/password in their respective boxes. Choose a color to associate @Berkeley.edu mail with. Click “Setup Mail Server”, and you are done!

For GMail Users:

Login, then click on “Settings” (top-right corner). Select the Accounts tab, then scroll down to “Get mail from other accounts”. Add a mail account with the same details as above (calmail.berkeley.edu for the POP server, 995 for the port number). Set other settings as you please, and you are done.

For Windows Live Mail Users:

Unfortunately, I don’t have a Windows Live account, so figure it out based on the above.

The English Department at Leland High School is agreed that a student like Jinghao Yan is as rare as the appearance of Halley’s Comet. Jinghao is profoundly gifted in the areas of math and science, for example earning a 5 (the top score on the Advanced Placement exam) on the AP Physics exam without actually taking the Advanced Placement Physics class. Many students with Jinghao’s math and science talent would be tempted to avoid any risk to their GPA shun classes such as English that do not play to their strengths, yet since his sophomore year (the first year that advanced classes in any subject are offered at Leland), Jinghao has taken the most challenging English classes available to him. The risk has paid off in helping to make Jinghao a more well-rounded student as well as assisting him in developing a strong, thoughtful writing ability, yet his sophomore accelerated class also accounts for one of his only two Bs (1). Earning such an unexpected grade did not discourage Jinghao, who persevered and signed up AP English Language and AP English Literature (this school year). Jinghao never runs from a challenge.

Jinghao took my AP English Language class very seriously (2), actively participating with thoughtful questions and intelligent insights and always determined to improve and become the best writer he could be. Jinghao’s tenacity is the reason I know him so well and why I feel so strongly about his potential. During the first semester, he had a disagreement with me over a few points, which nonetheless would make a difference in his grade, so he decided to write me an Email expressing his concern. Since AP English Language is a class that focuses on developing a mature, academic writing style, Jinghao surmised that a professional business-grade letter would get my attention. The letter was intelligent and stylistically flawless, and I told Jinghao that he had made my week with this charming missive. Pleased that he had brightened my day, Jinghao created what he called a bi-monthly newsletter where he wrote me astonishingly adept letters about our class, his experiences at school, or the world at large. Needless to say, I looked forward to each one. Jinghao may be the student that everyone runs to for math and science help but he is actually quite modest (3) and cares deeply about his classmates and his teachers.

Jinghao is a brilliant, kind, and thoughtful student who has an incredible future ahead of him. I honestly believe that there is nothing that Jinghao cannot overcome, and that whatever he aspires to, he will succeed at. Jinghao has much to offer and the tools to take advantage of the best that American schools have to offer.

Robin Jankowski

FOOTNOTES:
1. Heh, as of now there are two more to add to that, thanks to lit and my supposed “perseverence”.
2. On brief occasions, I suppose that was true.
3. Modesty isn’t as frequently seen in non-English classes.

Subject: jinghao
Posted: January 11, 2007
Mood: indescribable
Music: the new mario song

Okay. I have a crush. A major major crush. China crush. Lol. Yeah Jinghao’s from China. The only thing I’ve ever said to him is “glugh” because my tongue tied as I gazed upon his hot broad shouldered form. And the best thing is that no one else thinks that he’s hot. YAY! Now if I can work up the courage to go up and introduce myself to him…

Anyhow, I’ve been hearing from my friends that he’s been staring at me alot when I’m not looking. So hopefully, he has a thing for me too! Either that or he thinks I’m a total freak. I want this one.

Hallelujah.

Joey! This is what I find out by Googling “lol jinghao” on a random Sunday evening. I can’t believe you’ve kept this secret to yourself for all these years! If only I had known!

(Stop being gay by entertaining your alternate personalities)

I hand coded the chart, so it took longer than I wanted it to, but it helped me choose the classes that didn’t overlap. I was pretty disappointed when the 10-11 math 53 discussion sessions were full/unavailable, so I had to drop the Environmental Science seminar (9-10) in order to add the 9-10 AM math discussion sessions Now I got astronomy seminar instead of Environmental Sci, and I have to wake up an hour early–not to mention the extra one hour of nothing every day.

Have you guys finished registering for classes?

I really wish I got a 5 in lit, though. I know I shouldn’t've expected any higher than a 4, but a four means nothing to my credits.

Engineering school is too strict.

In China, I saw Blacks, Mexicans, Caucasians, Indians, everyone, but there were no Blacks, Mexicans, Caucasians, Indians in China; they were all Chinese. There were homeless families living under bridges, young men slaving away eighteen hours a day at a textile factory for less than minimum wage, unscrupulous businessmen willing to put their lives and their families’ wellbeing at stake to earn that extra penny, poor farmers breaking their backs to see their fields rot and die. There were people of all kinds, more than one can imagine. All the world’s stereotypes come alive in the land of the Middle Kingdom.

Halfway through his job, another Mexican, Mexican 2 (this guy lives down the street), comes over and beats up Mexican 1 while causing a mess with the pile of plant material Mexican 1 meticulously collected. Mexican 2 complained about how Mexican 1 was an unlicensed worker and how he’s stealing the job that’s rightfully his (Mexican 2’s). Mexican 1 was silent the whole time.

Enraged by Mexican 1’s calm demeanor, Mexican 2 assaulted him again, this time screaming something along the lines of “GO BACK TO MEXICO, YOU F@$KING [Niger]!” (I guess this guy can’t pronounce Niger either ). Ironic, since they’re both Mexican and the second one can’t tell the difference between a Nigerian resident and a Veracruz resident.

I guess of the 25 bucks we paid, 2 dollars go into gasoline and 20 go into his health insurance. Poor Mexican, getting beat up by another Mexican for stealing his job. At least we have concrete assurances that the free market system works in this world

(11:28:23 PM) Me: I was pretty happy with my comparison/contrast essay result
(11:28:39 PM) MrWen: as was i
(11:28:52 PM) MrWen: there were only a handful of papers that i enjoyed reading
(11:29:00 PM) Me: hey, that’s quite the honor. thanks
(11:29:37 PM) MrWen: to write a complicated paper like that in high school is no small feat.
(11:30:09 PM) MrWen: it’s hard enough to juggle one text, but to juggle multiple texts but somehow keep things coherent… that’s a hefty challenge.
(11:30:35 PM) MrWen: most people resorted to a basic formula…
(11:30:42 PM) MrWen: discussing one book… then the next… then the next…
(11:30:55 PM) MrWen: the more successful papers found a unifying thread to discuss all texts concurrently.

Thanks, Mr. Nguyen. I guess I know what to do for tonite’s bedtime reading.

Emotional truth at core of `Rabbit Hole’

Becca and Howie have got it all in “Rabbit Hole.” Posh suburban manse? Check. Financial security? Natch. These folks shop at Whole Foods. They watch the Discovery Channel. They nosh on creme caramel amid gleaming hardwood floors and perfectly fluffed throw pillows. It’s a carefully ordered Martha Stewart life with everything as it should be.

Alas, life has a way of laughing in the face of our best-laid plans. All of that comfort and safety and happiness can vanish in an instant. When the couple loses their son, their palatial upper-middle-class home suddenly becomes a temple of emptiness. Little Danny, 4, chased his dog out into the street and got run over by a car. Now, everywhere Becca looks, all she can see is loss.

In its regional premiere at San Jose Rep, David Lindsay-Abaire’s 2007 Pulitzer winner is the sensitively wrought study of a family plunged into the black hole of grief. Unlike the inspired flights of lunacy for which he is famous (”Fuddy Meers,” “Kimberly Akimbo”), there is little of the playwright’s quirky existentialism here. Becca’s world may be as upside-down as any of his other heroines, but the play that frames her is a naturalistic kitchen-sink drama that follows a fairly conventional path from loss toward the dawn of recovery.

As directed by Kirsten Brandt, this “Rabbit Hole” resists the tendency toward melodrama, the teary catharsis the play can evoke, in favor of subdued resonance. While the S.J. Rep production may not be as emotionally intense as it could be, the company nails the playwright’s eye and ear for modern domestic life. This is how we live now. Becca and Howie are a cautionary tale about the agonizing slowness of mourning in an attention-deficit disorder world.

Stacy Ross’ Becca rejects sympathy. She’s a strong, even astringent, woman lost in her own pain. She sees no reason to keep her chin up to make others feel better. Ross, an actress known for palpable commitment to her roles, captures Becca’s thorny sense of isolation, but she misses some of the pain and vulnerability that would make her journey more moving. Becca builds up high walls with her depression, but it’s hard to care about the character if we don’t get a peek at the tenderness she’s trying to hide.

When Becca and Howie (Andy Murray) fight, we can feel their barely suppressed devastation. They may live in the same house but they just can’t be there for each other right now. But the actors haven’t yet fully fleshed out the characters’ emotional back story. We never get a sense of what their marriage was like before their son died.

There’s also some complexity missing in the sibling rivalry between Type-A Becca and her free-spirited, wild-child of a sister Izzy (Jessa Watson). Watson, clad in kooky, Forever 21-style couture, does add sparkle to the play’s wisecrack banter, its kitschy winks to American pop culture icons (from Jerry Springer to Applebee’s). These pinpricks of irony and wit give the play some refreshing comic relief.

That sense of humor also combats the fact that the play can feel a little flat and schematic at times. But the most potent antidote is gut-wrenching subtlety, the nuanced response to tragedy that Lynne Soffer layers into the character of Nat.

She’s Becca’s earthy, bingo-playing mom and all she wants to do is help. If she does and says all the wrong things (at least according to Becca), Soffer grounds every line in such sharp detail that it’s through her memories we get the best sense of who Danny was.

Paradoxically, the most heartbreaking moments in this production come from the least expected place. James Breedlove imbues Jason, the teenage driver who accidentally killed Danny, with such awkward freshness that he’s like a raw nerve on stage.

His painfully gawky presence underscores the unyielding honesty of the play. These are everyday people struggling through insane circumstances, just like the rest of us, at one time or another. It’s that undeniable sense of shared truth that gives “Rabbit Hole” the power to suck us in.

“Rabbit Hole”

Karen D’Souza

By David Lindsay-Abaire

Upshot: A family plunges into the black hole of grief in this sensitive domestic drama.

Where: San Jose Repertory Theatre, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose.

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays through June 10.

Running time: 2 hours, one intermission.

Tickets: $14-$56; (408) 367-7255 or go to www.sjrep.org

I’ll talk about it more in detail later, accompanied by pictures (hopefully)

Joey: read dear abby
Joey: it’s hilarious
Joey: XD

…

Joey: i was reading comics
Joey: then i flipped it over
Joey: i saw “prom babies”
Joey: and thought of jinghao

What the heck? Me??? Does the following sound like me?

GIRLS AVOID COLLEGE PRESSURE BY HAVING ‘PROM BABY’ INSTEAD

DEAR ABBY: Please help me to warn your readers about an alarming trend happening in the teenage community: prom babies. I first heard about it while driving my teenage daughter to a lacrosse meet with several of her girlfriends. One girl in the car, “Carrie,” said she hoped this year she could have a prom baby. The girls were discussing two former classmates from last year’s lacrosse team who had been unable to begin college because they had both become mothers at 17.

Both had deliberately planned to get pregnant on prom night — hence the term, “prom baby.” Abby, both of the girls were studious and hard-working with bright futures ahead of them. One had been accepted to several Ivy League schools. Needless to say, their parents were devastated, and many adjustments had to be made for the new babies.

My daughter later told me that several of her other friends were considering trying to get pregnant near prom time so they, too, wouldn’t have to deal with the pressures of going to college. Apparently, parents are less strict about their children’s whereabouts on prom night and let their teens spend the night in a hotel or at mixed-gender sleepovers.

I thought this sad trend might be local to our area, but during a class reunion in California I learned the trend may be nationwide. One of my oldest friends, “Dana,” confided during the reunion that she had become a grandmother at 43 due to her daughter having a prom baby.

As prom night approaches, please warn parents to talk with their children about the responsibilities of premarital sex and the dangers of a prom baby. — WORRIED DAD IN ALPHARETTA, GA.

DEAR WORRIED DAD: Your letter was news to me. That a girl headed for an Ivy League college — or any college, for that matter — could be so immature that she’d get pregnant so she wouldn’t have to go, makes me wonder if she was college material in the first place.

In addition to advising parents to talk to their kids about premarital sex, they should also be reminded how important it is that their daughters be able to communicate honestly and openly with them.

The individuals who should be warned are the young men who will be escorting those young women on prom night. One foolish mistake could lead to a 20-year commitment to support a child before they are emotionally or financially ready for that responsibility. And all because their prom date was afraid to tell her parents she wasn’t ready for college? I’m appalled.

I’m tempted to make up some weirdass problem just so I can ask for “Abby”’s advice. Give me ideas.

Family Guy - “Prom Night Dumpster Baby”

Apparently some teachers don’t get paid an abysmal amount. Chances are, Mr. Harms gets paid 50% more than what Mr. Wen is paid, and 60% more than what Ms. Jankowski is paid.

I must’ve taken it thinking it’s one of those 15 SAT problems.

Yan, Jinghao
Period 1, 6/04/03
Letter to Future Self

Dear Jinghao,

This is you 4 years ago. I’m writing this letter for my 8th grade Language Arts final project. In this project, I am supposed to write a letter to my future self as a senior in High School, about to graduate. This means to you!

Currently, I am a “nice to some, mean to others” kind of person. I hope I can be a “nice to all” kind of person in the future. I am good at math and science, but am hoping to improve in languages. Right now, I am not very good at swimming and some other sports, but I hope to improve in those areas.

I hope to finish calculus before my senior year and take at least 10 AP classes. I hope to have many more friends during my High School years, at least more than I do now. I also hope to be healthier because I get sick very easily, although I do heal fast. Mainly, I hope to be a better person.

After High School, I plan on going to an UC, hopefully Berkeley, or maybe even Stanford. If I am really successful in High School, I might go to Caltech! I hope that all my hopes will become reality, but I won’t know until I finish High School!

Sincerely,
Jinghao Yan
Yourself!

Sniff, sniff.

1. The notes of some UCB administrator during the speech in the (very) big auditorium. My 12×8 zoom got me this far, but that’s pretty much it. No way my hands could be still enough to get that much detail:

   

2. Random house way up on some distant hill, taken from a shady spot at Leland. I get some good details, surprisingly, since I was able to hold the cam steady:

   

3. Mount Umunhum (thanks, Joey), taken from Leland. If my hands were steadier and if there existed no atmosphere for light to be distorted in, this picture would’ve come out better.

   

4. Random parking permit on a random car:

   

5. Balls sticking out of the sculpture garden:

   

6. Circular rainbows, taken while outside “working on physics”:

   

   and

   

7. Two very bad images of Venus, taken two hours after sunset. As you can tell, my hands weren’t as stable as they should be:

   

8. And the finale! A power structure:

   

Superzooms are particularly fun to play with I love optics.

Colleges I interviewed for, and got rejected from: MIT (waitlist=delayed rejection), Harvard, Princeton (didn’t expect entry, though)
Colleges I didn’t interview for, and got accepted to: Caltech, UCs (EECS @ Berkeley, LA, SD)

I also finaled for the Regents/Chancellor’s scholarship (and a couple alumni scholarships) at Cal, but after the interview, they decided against my receiving any of them. This is quite a coincidence, if it is one.

What does this mean? Does it mean that I’m just not a very personable interviewee? Someone the interviewer(s) cannot relate to? Someone who cannot clearly and fluently articulate (verbally) in his third language, English? (no public speaking skills, obviously!) … or cynical yet, Asian–Chinese–and male?

Or some combination of them all? <– probably that. So, anyone else suffer from interview-related problems?

There goes free time, easy curves, and self-esteem inflation

To add to that, they were quite insistant that I won’t be getting any money, despite the huge (600 million dollar) allotment from Intel Co-founder Gordon Moore, among other sources of money. My lunch buddy said the donors earmarked all those funds to research, meaning I won’t be able to fully take advantage of my share in undergraduate studies. See, CIT has less than 1000 UG students, so if those 600 million were distributed equally among us UG students, each of us would have enough to purchase a decent Almaden house :P. Is the extra 25k/year, 100k total, over UC Berkeley worth it? I’m starting to doubt it.

The admission officers were especially cordial, though, after they realized I’m an admittant. They did basically tell me to f-off when I asked for a tour, but when I retorted that I got a package from them that INVITED me to take a tour (CIT in a day), the front-desk lady called over the counselor who promptly invited me into his room and gave me a lecture on CIT. And then he suggested I observe the Math 1C and Bio classes, and after that, he gave me 20 bucks to eat lunch with a Junior at CIT. The lunch was nice, and I found out a bit more about Caltech from the Junior CS major, like how the CS major emerged only a few years ago.

Look at how Princeton’s printer desecrated my rejection letter! Some parts of the print are noticeably shifted; it looked like the printer’s motor wasn’t in sync with the printer itself; and the printer spewed some random residual text on the bottom! Gosh, Princeton, I was going to hang this on Mr. Miller’s Wall of Shame, but now you’ve tarnished it beyond relief! At least let me be rejected with dignity! — Give me the opportunity to paste this on Mr. Miller’s wall. Actually, pasting this Princeton blunder might not be a bad idea.

Just for a comparison and to prove the quality is not derived from my shaky hands (My cam comes with image stabilization!) look at how much cleaner Caltech’s letter is:

He can rhyme too! What was that part about Amy about, anyway?

You will make fundamental contributions to Human knowledge. I strongly believe that.

If you really really want to go to MIT, do exactly what they suggest, returning the card, etc. I can write another note to the committee if you like. My personal guess is that 20-40 spots from the wait list will be used. As the note, below, says, you’re qualified, else you wouldn’t be on the wait list!

And, again I’ll mention as I mentioned to you in person, if you go elsewhere for undergrad, be _sure_ to apply to MIT for Grad School, as you mention.

I hope he won’t mind my posting this online, but it isn’t anything unflattering to him.