Norwegian Wood

watch in jackson square today. an ok movie, not great. will smith’s son is very cute.

just when you thought thing woundn’t get better than this, it did. manutd won its third game in christmas, and chelsea had another disappointed draw. now manutd had 6 points advantage at the summit of english premier league. c.ronaldo is incredible, AGAIN! you have to think about the similarity between beckham after the 1998 world cup red card accident and ronaldo after this year’s world cup entanglement with rooney. hope they will have similar results at the end of season.

2006-12-30 Saturday
@Old Traffold

United 3, Reading 2

United: van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Silverstre, Heinze, Ronaldo (Fletcher 78), O’Shea, Carrick, Park (Giggs 46), Rooney (Richardson 79), Solskjaer.
Scorer: Solskjaer (33), Ronaldo (59, 77)

Reading: Hahnemann, Ingimarsson, Murty (Sodje 59), Shorey, Sonko, Gunnarsson, Harper, Little (Ki-Hyeon 66), Sidwell, Doyle (Hunt 73), Lita
Scorer: Sonko (38), Lita (90)

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Just watched one episode of south park on fox.

the south park school invited an anti-smoking group name “butt out” to tell the students not to smoke. Basically, the group is four losers performing some unbearable weird dancing and singing. At the end, they made a pose and said: “If you don’t smoke, you will grow up just like us!”

next scene: the four kids, cartman, stan, kyle and kenny,  stood outside of the school building, smoking like crazy…

which makes me really want to watch team american now.

(p253)

“You do much ice-fishing, Mr. Ainsel?”

“Never”

“Best thing a man can do. It’s not the fish you catch, it’s the peace of mind that you take home at the end of the day.”

(p341)

“I knew a guy once. He did weight training at the Muscle Farm, years back. He said that that the Dakota Indians, the young men climb up the mountain, then form death-defying human chains off the heads, just so that the guy at the end of the chain can piss on the president’s nose”

(p480)

“What you have to remember,” said Mr. Ibis, testily, “is that life and death are different sides of the same coin. Like the heads and tails of a quarter.”

“And if I had a double-headed quarter?”

“You don’t.”

(p482)

We do not always remember the things that do no credit to us. We justify them, cover them in bright lies or with the thick dust of forgetfulness.

(p546)

“The Herodotus thing (Call no man happy until he is dead). It doesn’t mean that the dead are happy,” said Shadow. “It means that you can’t judge the shape of someone’s life until it’s over and done.”

Jack Daniel: a Tennessee whiskey and brand known for its rectangular bottles and black label. (p22)

Southern Comfort: a fruit, spice, and whiskey flavored liqueur. (p35)

mead: an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey and water. honey wine. (p36)

borscht: beet soup served hot or cold, usually with sour cream. (p84)

falafel: ground spiced fava beans and/or chickpeas shaped into balls and fried. Arab and Middle Eastern cuisine. There is one restaurant named “falafel” near the campus right cross the main street. (p182)

kabob: grilled meat. Persian cuisine. (p189)

Laphroaig: is considered one of the most strongly flavoured of all scotch whiskey, and is generally aged to 10 years, although the 15 year old variety is not uncommon (the 30 and 40 year olds, however, are rare). Some people find that a drop of water enhances the peaty aroma of this whiskey. (p285)

Shadow Moon = main charactor

Laura Moon - Shadow’s wife

Robbie Burton - Shadow’s best friend in Eagle Point

Audrey Burton - Robbie’s wife

Mr. Wednesday (Odin) = In Norse mythology, Odin is the king of the gods. He is also the god of war, wisdom, poetry, and magic. He gave an eye in exchange for a drink from the Well of Wisdom. The day Wednesday, or Wodensday is named for Odin (also known as Woden.) His two ravens are Huginn and Muninn, Thought and Memory, and his two wolves are Geri and Freki. Geri and Freki always follow him, and Huginn and Muninn constantly scout for him. He is often called “Allfather”, because he is father to the gods. Maybe i can say more about it after i finish Valkyrie Profile 2.

Bilquis = also called Bilqis or Balkis, was the legendary Queen of Sheba. In the Bible and the Koran, she met with King Solomon of Israel. Tradition also says that she bore his son, Menelik I. She was also believed to be half-jinn, and was renowned for her beauty and for her wise leadership. (p28)

Czernobog = also known as Crnobog or Chernobog, he is the Slavic god of the dead, the night, and chaos. He is the opposite of Bielebog. (p75)

Bielebog = Also known as Bylebog, the Slavic god of happiness, order, and luck. (p79)

Zorya = The three Slavic dawn goddesses. Utrennyaya was the morning star; she opens the heavenly gates for the chariot of the sun in the morning. Vechernyaya the evening star; she closes the gates of heaven each night as the sun returns home. Polunochnaya the midnight star; each night, the sun dies in the Midnight Zorya’s arms and is then restored to life. She is a goddess of death, rebirth, magic, mysticism, and wisdom. Their duty was to guard a chained dog who continually tries to break loose and eat the constellation Ursa Minor, the little bear. If this should happen, the universe would end.

Mr. Nancy (Anansi) = West African trickster. Not a god, but he is the intermediary for Nyame, the sky god. He is a spider, and although he is sly and crafty, he can be helpful: he taught humans how to plant grain. Sometimes he is considered to be the creator of the sun and moon, and even of the first human beings, who Nyame then breathed life into. (p125)

Mr. Ibis (Thoth) = also called Djeheuty, was the Egyptian god of wisdom, the inventor of writing, and the patron of scribes. He is most often shown as a man with the head of an ibis. Thoth was the messenger and mediator of the gods, and supported Horus’s claim to the throne. He was present with Anubis at the judgment of the dead. (p180)

Mr. Jacquel (Anubis) = was the ancient Egyptian lord of the dead. He was eventually replaced by Osiris. He is usually represented as a jackal or wild dog. He weighed the hearts of the dead, and lead the worthy to Osiris. Anubis was also the god of embalming. (p180)

Sam (Samantha Black Crow) - the girl who hitchhiked when Shadow was on his way to Cairo, (p163) (p257) who turns out to be Margie’s sister. (p380)

Ifrit (efreet) = The Ifrits are the second most powerful class of Jinn, who are Arabic half-human, half-demons. There are five classes of Jinn: Marid, the Ifrit (or Afrit), the Shaitan, the Jinn, and the Jann.They were created from fire. They are mortal, although they have a long life span. They often inhabit lamps, like in 1001 Nights. Jinni can be both good and evil, but enjoy punishing humans for wrongs done to them. In Islamic tradition, they tempt humans away from Allah’s path. It’s a very common name appearing in Final Fantasy games. In ffvii, one of the summon materia is ifrit; In ffviii, ifrit is the Fire Guardian Force you’ll run into early in the game; In ffx, you have to fight it as a boss in Mi’ihen Highroad; In ffxii, ifrit is the name of the airship attacking Rabanastre when Vaan escaped from the The Royal Palace. (p188)

Michael Ainsel - the name Shadow used at Lakeside. (p243)

Emerson Borson - the name Wednesday used at Lakeside (p244)

Alison McGovern - one of the two girls with whom Shadow shared the bus to Lakeside; the one liked animals. (p250)

Sophie - the other girl. (p320)

Richie Hinzelmann = the old man who gave Shadow a ride at Lakeside. (p252)

Chad Mulligan - chief of police in Lakeside. (p265)

Marguerite Olsen - Shadow’s neighbor in Lakeside. (p278)

Leon Olsen - Margie’s son. (p279)

Darren Olsen - Margie’s disappeared husband. (p299)

Easter (Eostre) = Also known as Ostara, she is the Anglo-Saxon personification of the dawn. She is a fertility goddess and a friend to children, and she changed her pet bird into a rabbit to amuse them. Eostre is equivalent to the Greek Eos and the Roman Aurora. (p307) (p311)

Wututu (Mary, Daisy, Sukey, Mama Zouzou) - There was a girl and her uncle sold her. (p332)

Agasu (Inky Jack, Hyacinth, Big One-Arm) - Wututu’s twin brother. (p332)

Widow Paris = Laveau was a “free person of color” living in Louisiana. When she was 25, she married Jacque Paris, who, shortly after the wedding, disappeared and was presumed dead. She then began calling herself the “Widow Paris.” She learned voodoo, and by 1830 was one of several voodoo queens in New Orleans. Many legends about her persisted, notably one of her eternal youth (which is easily explained by her look-alike daughter Marie Laveau II, who followed in her footsteps.) (p334)

Apple Johnny (John Chapman) = American folk hero. Originally named John Chapman, he crossed the plains planting apple trees in the early 1800’s after his fiancee died. Some of the orchards he planted still thrive today. (p350)

Whiskey Jack (Wisakedjak) = The Trickster is known by many names, depending on which Native tribe is telling his story. He can be hard to define: he is neither god nor man, good nor evil. As a teacher, he exposes the dangerous and the ridiculous and reminds humans of their mortality. In many areas, Trickster takes the form of an animal. (p350)

Alviss = In Norse mythology, the son of Vindalf and king of the dwarfs. He was known for his wisdom– “Allvis” means “all wise”– but was turned into stone when, having been promised the hand of Thor’s daughter Thrud, Thor questioned him until sunrise. (p423)

Gwydion = Welsh druid of the mainland gods; wizard and bard of North Wales. Prince of the Powers of Air; a shape-shifter. His symbol was a white horse. Greatest of the enchanters; warrior-magician. Illusion, changes, magick, the sky, healing. Copied from here. (p428)

Low Key Lyesmith (Loki) = Shadow’s old cellmate. The Norse Trickster figure, and is associated with fire. He is also considered quite wise, and is both a friend and foe of the gods, depending on circumstances. Loki was responsible for the death of Balder, the god of light. As punishment for this, he is confined to a cave below the earth. A poisonous snake constantly drips its venom above him, and his wife Sigyn catches it in a bowl. When the bowl fills, she must empty it away from him, and in these moments the venom splashes his face. (p443)

Yggdrasil (World Tree) = In Norse mythology, the World Tree. It is a giant ash tree that connects all the worlds. At its base are the Well of Wisdom, the Well of Fate, and the Hvergelmir, which is the source for many rivers. (p453) It was the name of the Super Gear owned by country Kislev in Xenogears.

Horus = an Egyptian god; there are many different Horuses. However, they were all leaders and associated with the sky, and are usually depicted as hawks or men with the heads of hawks. His eyes are the sun and the moon, and when neither of these are visible in the sky, he is blind. (p465)

Bast = also known as Bastet, Bast is the Egyptian goddess of the sun (and later, the moon.) She is represented as either a lioness or a cat, or a woman with the head of a cat. Bast is one of the “Eyes of Ra”, who seeks revenge on the enemies of Egypt. (p476)

_______________________
* The information about the gods is cited from only the gods are real without permission. shame on me.

Ordered from Amazon on July 3rd, 2005
Finished on December 29th, 2006

• characters (and gods) (and interesting names)
  
• food
• nice words

Cristiano Ronaldo had another awesome performance. This was such a clean game that not one single yellow card was issued. United got the chance to rest some players: Giggs, Ferdinand, Carrick and Neville were not even on the bench. Chelsea had a draw with Reading, so united has 4 points advantage now.

2006-12-26 Tuesday
@ Old Trafford

United 3, Wigan 1

United: Van der Sar, Brown, Silvestre, Vidic, Evra (Heinze 70), Fletcher (Ronaldo 46), O’Shea, Scholes (Richardson, 62), Park, Rooney, Solskjaer.
Scorer: Ronaldo (47, pen miss 50, 51), Solskjaer (59)

Wigan: Kirkland, Baines, Boyce, Hall (Skoko 60), Jackson, Wright, Johansson, Kibane, Teale (Cotterill 52), Heskey, Todorov
Scorer: Baines (pen 90)

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Let’s cheer with Garfield!

January:

• finished the vacuum system of the trap. almost freaked out when i broke the bolt inside the re-entrance flange. built a furnace to bake the vacuum system; felt like a handyman. baked the whole system to 200 degree.
• dropped out the computational physics course; hadn’t program for a long time.
• wedding crashers, brokeback mountain, pride and prejudice.
• read norwegian wood again.
• chinese new year.
• went to watch houston vs toronto basketball game.
• kobe’s 81 points performance. felt very luck that i didn’t miss the game on tv.

February

• got checked when applied the us visa. couldn’t go to the meeting during the reading week.
• committee meeting.
• prepared to built the frequency-doubling cavity.
• tried to fix the ion pump controller. turned out it’s my mistake.
• jordan’s birthday.
• nba all-star game.
• bought a new pair of running shoes: asics gt-2110.

March

• got the green cavity working. oscillated noise at about 600Hz in green. couldn’t figure out why.
• burlington half-marathon, 1:48:25.
• around the bay 30k, 2:57:52.
• crash won the best picture in oscar.
• tina’s birthday.

April

• desperately trying to figure out the lock. degassed the tsp and re-baked the vacuum system.
• kingdom hearts 2.
• read da vinci code.
• v for vendeta, saint ralph.
• nba playoff started.
• sarah and james graduated.
• re-arranged the office to welcome the new summer students.

May

• kobe’s heroic performance in game 5 vs phoenix suns.
• the cavity lock just magically appeared to be ok now. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?
• built the bbo cavity. the loss of the crystal was huge.
• booster juice!
• basketball season began.
• addictive to C.S.I.

June

• world cup started.
• got about 100uW of uv. started to work on the image system.
• miami heat won the nba championship.

July

• 26th birthday.
• finished the image system. the shutter of the ccd camera seemed to be broken.
• italy won the world cup.

August

• tried to load ions. tried to order the new bbo crystals.
• english premiership league began.
• zhang rui graduated and went to uiuc.

September

• department fall bbq.
• agassi retired after loss in us open.
• change the lbo cavity mirrors to highly-reflected ones. got 300mW of green.
• fibre laser was broken.
• jacob’s bachelor party. first lap dance.
• terry fox run.

Octorber

• the nobel prize in physics for 2006 went to cosmologists for the discovery of the black-body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation.
• re-baked the chamber.
• put the new bbo crystal in the cavity. got about 3mW of uv.
• frisbee games.
• signed up the stardard model course.
• jinxl and shenwj married!
• blood donation, first time after college.
• cupe ta strike was denied by the members.
• nba started.
• bought valkyrie profile 2: silmeria; started to read trouble in physics by smolin lee.
• x-men 1,2,3, thank you for somking.

November

• laura’s defense. although it was a month of frustration, tears, and staying up late, im glad to see our first and best master of the universe.
• repumper laser i2 setup and saturated spectroscopy.
• kept trying to load ions using electron-impact.
• started to play final fantasy xii.
• won my first poker game.
• ps3 was out.

December

• burned the magnesium oven. have to rebuilt the whole system. one crazy night of working without success.
• 3d movie about the sun.
• prepared a demo for high school students. very simple amplitude modulation demonstration: using light to transfer sound.
• finished ffxii.