It's been a while since I've written here because for the most part, I've been happy with things. I think I've finally figured out that this journal is my cheap version of therapy ( Read more... )

Am I really grown up?  And what exactly does this mean to be grown up? 

I have been on this earth for more than a quarter century.  High school is a distant memory.  University went by too quick.  And my first day at work seems more distant than it is.  Yet after all this time, I still haven't figured out the answer to a question haunting me since pre-school... nay since birth probably.  "What do I want?"  Those four ( Read more... )

We engineers have our self worth tied up too much with our careers.  I'm looking at my 'personal to-do list' and few of the items there are non-career related.  It was naive of me to think that making a substantive contribution to the world and excelling in my career is one and the same.  The two are far apart ( Read more... )

I like doing what other people don't want to do. I think the attraction is a combination of wanting to do something that makes me stand out, makes me useful, and makes people leave me the heck alone. I remember being the complete opposite when I was a kid. I really wanted to fit in, to be part of the crowd, but being one of the Asian kids in the ( Read more... )

Still here. 

During my third year field trip of various engineering companies in Ontario, our class visited the a newly opened plant of a bustling little second tier automotive parts supplier.  Giving the tour were two engineers.  One was a thin, pasty white, squeaky clean, living stereotype of an engineer.  The vanilla ice cream of engineers.   The other was a ( Read more... )

It's becoming a rarity for me to even think about writing here.  Though it was the case before, that was mostly due to the fact that I had nothing to write about.  But I do now, and I don't have the time or the mental capacity to distill my thoughts into something worth expressing.  I always liked to worry about things, to allocate mental energy to ( Read more... )

The past few weeks sped by in a blurr starting with the frantic rush of last minute packing in the final days of May, cramming fragile starship models, textbooks, important documents, clothes and other necessities into the trunk of my little Corolla (anything I didn't trust the movers with)..


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The world darkened a bit more yesterday with what happened at Virginia Tech.  It hit close to home.  For something like this to happen at a university campus, I could never fathom.  Even though I am fully aware of the Ecole Polytechnique massacre, and the Montreal shootings, they had seemed distant, removed from my situation.  Selfish, I know.  But ( Read more... )