Feynman's Rainbow

Just finished this book and want to share some of Richard Feynman's words of wisdom. Good practice jotting down inspirational passages from my leisure readings in preparation for the English IRP.

On how to stay motivated in the face of difficult problems:

I fool myself into thinking I have an extra chance. That I have something to contribute. Otherwise I may as well wait for him to do it, whoever it is.

Tried this before the math test today, got me oh so close to answering the last question.

On how to not spoil your happiness:

She taught me that one has to irrational sometimes. That doesn't men stupid, it just means that there are occasions, situations, you should think about, and others you shouldn't ... My rule is when you are unhappy, think about it. But when you're happy, don't. Why spoil it? You're probably happy for some ridiculous reason and you'd just spoil to know it.

qft.

Lastly, the book includes a quotation from Einstein that appears in Zen & Motorcycle Maintenance (which is also on my reading list):

Man tries to make himself in the fashion that suit him best, a simplified and intelligible picture of the world ... and thus to overcome it ... He makes this cosmos and its construction the pivot of his emotional life in order to find in this way the peace and serenity which he cannot find in the whirlpool of personal experience

optical properties

I like the rain.

Rainy days make the progression of time seem slower. I do everything at a slower pace, and in between notice how pretty things are. Appreciation is nice.



It's also nice how the rain subtlety paints everything the colour of the sunset. In the duration of time from when I took this photo to typing this sentence, the sky has changed from this mauve-ish purple to a grey-ed out navy. Considered describing the colours as mixtures of watercolour paints, but I haven't touched those since the summer @_@ Also an apology as the colour in the photo is photoshop enhanced. There was a great difference in what camera picked up and my perceived reality.

And now the sky has turned into an almost-black.

ouroboros

Past few days feel like an endless queue of work to be done, which is not far from reality. This is not a full fledged complaint, yet. I actually feel energized while working on the tasks (like learning about electron orbitals ;D), only realize how tired I am during the short breaks in between (like now).

Should be all goood. Schoolwork has yet to pick up, the majority of my stress is coming from scholarship applications, rather, application. Loran award, such a far shot haha. It should be a helpful process though, forces me to evaluate my accomplishments over the past few years and start a mad dash to fill up missing areas, like music. Never guessed that this day would come, but I'm going to learn some basic theory and hopefully be able to play a certain Jay Chou song on piano. Putting it out here so I can't lazy out of it.

The first month has yet to be over, woah. TV shows, fall anime season and Noblesse arc 3 is starting, distractions are all set in place, time to start working ;D

edit: and for even more distraction, I've revived my tumblr. For efficient work, I need as good quality material to browse through on break as the work I'm trying to produce. Hopefully there will be some sort of theme to my postings on there as well. 

honeysuckle buds

Out goes summer and in comes autumn.

Autumn brings some pretty wonderful things with it, like cozy sweaters, rustic soup, roasted meat, long knit scarfs, and hiding under thick duvets. But one of the best things about the cooling temperature is the feeling of holding a steaming cup of tea in your hands. Whether it's traditional Chinese tea in a terracotta mug, earl grey latte from starbucks (must learn to make this at home!),
or this awesome package designed bagged tea:

via: yankodesign.com

starry skies

This week was a cycle of feeling incompetent and motivated, hopefully it'll stay on the high. Scholarship applications will drain a lot of energy, it's a battle of willpower fought with essays and accomplishment lists.

Completely unrelated, brief anime talk.

No. 6 just ended. Last episode was majorly rushed, so many different emotions in the span of mere minutes. Overall I found the series quite enjoyable, especially since Sion, the main character, is actually capable.

Now to wait for Hanasaku Iroha's bonbori festival~

slumber

I vaguely remember setting a goal to sleep more years ago. Guess what, I've finally gotten around to it! ;D It took a painful combination of shad sleep deprivation, grueling internship hours, and the fact that Jason sleeps so darn early.

Well kind of. I kick myself off the computer earlier enough to be able to turn off the lights before 11:00pm (note the sig figs). However I usually squeeze my daily reading time in there and end up sleeping at 11:30pm, which is still half an hour earlier. Nice.

Two good things come out from this habit change.
Firstly, despite waking up still being equally painful, at least I stay awake once I do wake up. No more dozing off in class! This is partially helped by having a highly energetic physics teacher in the morning.
Secondly, more reading done! This, like almost every other thought in this entry, comes with an exception. The Hamlet study guides that I borrowed before summer even ended have yet to be opened. Going through other books though! Currently have a biography on Richard Feynman and one in which Stephan Hawking and Roger Penrose argues about the nature of space-time. Appropriate as I wrote on my physics introduction assignment that I hope this course helps me understand popular science better.

Also appropriate is this awesome math doodle video that Ryan showed me:

bayonnaise

Happy Mid Autumn Festival :]


Funny how my family decided to celebrate by eating out at Le Montmartre, a French restaurant, with some family friends, their idea haha.

Fresh flowers! The restaurant is pretty plain from the outside, but the interior is quite nice. Bonus points for the owner, who's actually french, being personally present. Our waiter is also quite good, a pleasant break from dealing with other much less than professional and full of attitude service personnel.

Anyways, all that would amount to nothing if the restaurant's bread is not good.

T'was delicious, the perfect combination of a crusty exterior and a fluffy interior. We all liked it so much that an additional basket was brought out during the main course.
psst Rui, we gotta come here sometimes XD

Les cœurs d’artichauts vinaigrette
Decided to be adventurous and try out an unique appetizer, artichoke hearts. It was alright, a tad sour but not a bad thing in my books as I'm use to sour asian appetizers.

Sauteed grouper filet with a tomato sauce. (couldn't find this on the menu on their website o_o)

I apologize for the LQ photo, sun was setting and the light got pretty bad. 
Fish was gooood, cooked to just the right tenderness. The portions of everything is just right as well, there's always more delicious bread if you feel hungry afterwards haha.

Lemon Sorbet

Something nice and light for a chaser~