(499th) day of Summer

While signs of autumn seemed to have arrived on early September (it dropped from 28 C to 12 C in less than 24 hours, how annoying is that?), some people just can't wait to have autumn back on the doorstep.

Ah, autumn!



The most romantic month of the year in Kentucky is not February.

It's October, when the rustic charm resonates in the surroundings with early steps of autumn. Autumn in Kentucky also tends to have more rain than any other time of the year, which gives the impression of living in the outskirts of Oregon.

Calm, peaceful, and slightly cool. Makes you want to cuddle with your lover.

When I get married, I'd probably have the ceremony outdoors in autumn. Winter would be freezing while summer would be too sweltering.

Spring would confuse people as to what dress code one should wear, since the cold days and hot days come alternately.

Not that I have anyone in mind though.

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A decision (not) to delete Facebook

Facebook's policy on account deletion requires its users to deactivate for a period of 14 days without any logging whatsoever. Those who are tepid hence could always decide to log back in and reactivate their accounts.

Take me, as an example.



After mulling it over, I have decided not to delete my account. There are simply some whose main avenue of communication with me is thru Facebook, and should I delete my account, there is a good chance I may never see them again.

I shall be deactivating it temporarily though, until I sort some personal matters out.

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Why old movies are not worth watching

In deciding whether a movie is worth watching, I tend to have several aspects in mind. I favour movies that are:

1. Hollywood, French, German, or Japanese produced



2. Produced after year 1999

It's not about BWs or silent movies, really (though I have to admit, I am not knowledgeable in that aspect since I have not watched any BW or silent before).

Despite being a young film aficionado, I am not biased against indie movies. Just because a movie is indie does not mean that it is going to suck (though I admit around 50% to 60% of indie movies have a poorly-written script).



Here are several reasons why think that any movies produced before 1999 are not worth watching:

1. Movies of those era (especially Westerns and dramas produced between 1950 to 1989), tend to have a loud, blaring classical soundtrack that eats up the first 10 minutes of the movie intro.

I find that very annoying, especially when that soundtrack has almost the same decibel loudness as the characters speaking in the movie. I'd rather watch something where I can hear the characters speaking...I'm not deaf, I don't need soundtracks that loud and that long.

2. Older movies tend to have poorer CGI (this should be obvious).

I am not a fan of CGI-heavy movies like the The Transformers or Chronicles of Narnia franchises, but I personally think that if you have to have CGI in your movie, you gotta do it right, baby! There is nothing more painful than having to be entertained with a good storyline in the beginning, only to have your eyes hurt having to watch poor attempts at CGI by prehistoric people.

3. That classical soundtrack I mentioned above in No.1 would be played in endless loop throughout 80% of the movie duration.

with the same loud, blaring decibels.


~~~~~~~~

Of course, exceptions do exist. I find both The Sound of Music (1965) and Heidi (1993) highly likable.

But such exceptions are rare. Until this day, I still cannot get myself to watch highly-recommended oldies such as Scarface, The Godfather franchise, or Lawrence of Arabia. I just haven't got the willpower to watch them yet.

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Do you know that there is no undergrad thesis in USA?

"Liberal Arts"

That's what I tell people when they ask me what I major in college.

Liberal Arts? What's that?

Oh, I study some stuff like history, politics, maths, geology, English...

*silence*

(It is a fancy name for "Undecided", really. I take the General Education requirements during the first three semesters, which is why I am allowed to declare myself as a Lib Arts major)

So....I am in the middle of a predicament here. My third semester is coming and by the middle of spring 2012 (or latest by May 2012), I should have declared a major already.

Some folks suggested not to fret about it, saying "you'll know it when the time comes", but I should know better.

Declaring a major is like getting a girlfriend. If you declare the wrong one, you can still break it up and take a major in another, but then you're stuck with wasted credits and may have to repeat a semester or two.

And if I didn't find the most suitable major for me, I would graduate with a degree that provides me a pathway to jobs that I disdain. By then it would be akin to having a annoying, bossy, jealous, hen-pecking wife.

Therefore, following my mother's advice, I explored several majors and their possible career choices...

1. French. I know I would love and savour every minute of studying this in college, but admittedly the career prospects are pretty dim. My family would have spent at least US$35,000 in university tuitions by the time I graduate in 2014, and the starting average pay for French grads is not even half that. Hence, no.

2. European History. I can't take this major know, for the same reasons as above. However, it would be a great major to take a Master's thesis in.

3. English. Oh please, this is America. They don't even speak (proper) English here.

4. Finance/Business. Dad suggested this one, due to my preference in not dealing with customer service in my jobs. I can become a financial analyst, accountant, economist, and the likes with this major. I am still not too keen on studying Economics though (it has always been my weakest forte amongst all Social Science subjects), hence I am putting this as a second-in-line.

5. Computer Science/Information Technology. True, I have neither experience nor knowledge in this subject. But so does most CS/IT students I know of. The one that allures me most is the very fact that people in this major end up graduating to take high-paying jobs (ranked No.5 most lucrative university discipline by CNN money). So I am thinking...what the hell, why not?

6. Business Informatics. This actually combines the two majors I mentioned above: Business and CS/IT. I would reckon that it would be more sought after than the last two, since it combines the financial acumen of its graduates with their fluency in programming language and software cognition. But I also would reckon that the level of difficulty would be high, since two different disciplines are meshed together to make a fiendishly tough stuff to study.

What about the final thesis? Do you think you can do the final thesis of CS/IT or Business or whatever tough stuff that you're gonna study? I bet it's gonna be a tough, tough one

Thesis? Art thou jesting me?

There are no such thing as thesis for undergrad students in USA, darling. In most Asian countries, yes, there is a thesis examination (or dissertation or "skripsi" in Indonesian language in case there is a term confusion here). On Asian undergraduate thesis, you have to write a 50-100 page research paper which has to be defended in front of a committee.

But not in USA. Thesis/dissertation in USA is only for those taking Graduate school or Doctoral schools.

There is a final paper for some US majors, yes. But even then, it is only practised at some private colleges and does not normally have to be defended in front of any committees whatsoever. Your paper is to be graded by one or more university instructors, but still, you don't have to defend it.

That's the best part of it, I guess. I would very much prefer making a speech in front of a podium. Defending a thesis in front of a committee, where four years of toil and sweats and $35,000 student loan sits on it, would make me (or anyone, for that matter) very, very nervous.

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Eid musings

Every year during the month of Ramadhan, I always fast for one whole day of my choice.

It was a ritual I started during my late years of primary school (10 or 11 years ago). I stayed at Uncle A's residence for a prolonged two-week Ramadhan vacation. His entire family is Muslim and hence, they fasted for every single day I stayed there. There were, however, no qualms about making my meals. Since I was the only one who was a non-Muslim, Uncle A and his wife made sure that the housemaids cook breakfast and lunch for me anytime I wanted to eat.

Until one particular day, I decided to take up fasting with them just for the sake of trying it out. I was struck with hunger pangs for every single minute of it. But I decided to wait it out until sunset, indulging myself in PlayStation until the mosque drum rolls came thru the telly.

Yes, I did it. It was my first day of Ramadhan fasting, and I decided to do it again the next year.

And again. And again. Until it finally became an annual ritual.

There had only been three occasions that I failed to fast, namely 2006 (due to final exams), 2008 (I got lazy and complacent), and this year.

Yes, I know that today is not Eid yet, but I don't think I am able to stand it out this year due to my overwhelming schedule. Plus, it's in the middle of summer which means that the sun sets at 9 p.m. everyday.

Until next year, I guess!

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