Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

"That argument you made is totally BS, you clearly do not know what you are talking about!" Words of such bluntness often grace the comment section of any internet forums or news sites. People from complete different backgrounds and locations easily dish out such harsh criticisms to others based on a mere few sentences posted, instantly heating up the arena for more vulgar exchanges that often follow. Even the most intellectual and politely-worded articles on the Internet, through such exchanges in the comment section, become fields of barbarous personal assaults within days of the article's original appearance. Surely, the power of the Internet in connecting people from completely different walks of life cannot be 100% positive. Simply because most of the people discussing any issue on forums will never meet each other in life, and may not even see each other again on the Internet, there is absolutely no reservations when it comes to harshness of the criticisms.

The first post of my September also marks the one hundredth post for the year 2011. The post finds me becoming a bit calmer after another scare for my UK visa application to be rejected (Thankfully, after staying up until 2am last night to call the LSE Admissions Office, the officers were very responsive and helped me obtain the necessary new materials within one business day. As I sent off the new materials to the Border Agency in New York, my visa application is officially back on track). The fact is that after suffering through so many natural and man-made disasters, I am getting so accustomed to the idea of something bad unexpectedly happening that my mind no longer feels any sort of panic in facing them. Whether it be the near-death experience through the Quake in Japan or dealing with prospects of not getting my visa to UK (even now), I can think beyond the initial fear or scare of everything not going according to the "normal way." No longer do I feel any sor

The damned British visa is just not going to get approved! First, the visa application was quickly rejected for "insufficient funds" in my bank account. Then, the second application gets delayed. After waiting for a positive reply from the UK Border Agency for more than a week, I received a quick email from them noting that the materials for the application are incomplete. Why? It seems like a certain registry number for the visa application cannot be used twice. So, after an irrational first rejection, the second application is even affected. Now, I have to go beg the London School of Economics for a whole new registry number to send to the Border Agency within the next seven working days, or else my visa application will be rejected once again. At least things like this are making me concentrated again on something productive after lounging around at home doing absolutely nothing for the past week and a half . But, even as I feel more and more scared about an

In the day and age when the economic and international political power of a rising China is no longer doubted, the image of the country abroad has, at the same time, been declining steadily. While her economic freedom has increased, there is increasing criticism regarding a lack of a corresponding increase in political freedom. And what's more worrisome is the fact that the continued strict social controls are bound to make her proud export- and investment-led economic growth to ground to a halt as people get both wealthier and older in age.

My family rarely finds itself as a complete whole. With my attending school in Connecticut and London and running all over Asia-Pacific in between , and my father running his own research lab in Shanghai and attending conferences around the world, the family is often split up in three pieces, three countries, and even three continents. Its only so often that we can actually have family meal together, especially on my birthday. The rare coincidence called for a quick visit to the neighborhood Chinese restaurant on the eve of my birthday . Physically speaking, San Diego and US as a whole certainly has not changed much during my one-and-a-half-year absence. But just by going to a meal in the restaurant, the superficial sameness goes away, and much gloomy changes reveal themselves. Specifically, I can say after a single meal that the general economic conditions in the US, after that financial crisis of 2008 , has not gone back up (as some expected), but pretty much stayed the s

Let's be perfectly honest: since coming back from working full-time in Korea, I have been a complete lazy stay-at-home bum. After applying for UK visa for the second time after that heartbreaking first-time rejection , I have been doing little more than hanging out with friends, watching TV, and updating this blog. Ironically, I tend to write the best posts when I am stimulated by the many personal experiences I get traveling around the world , yet it is often times like now when I am not traveling (and thus have little to write about) that I have the most free time to do casual writing. And being unproductive is not the worst thing. Even after landing in American soil for more than a week now, I am still having trouble staying up beyond 10pm at night, and almost promptly wake up at 7am everyday without alarms or noises. And during the day, the constant tiresomeness, characterized by pains in the eyes and headaches fading in and out, just would not go away. Even the daily e