Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

Somehow, my previous post about getting an acceptance letter from LSE became one of the most popularly read blog post of today (I kid you not, that post was at one point ranked #45 GLOBALLY in a real-time blog post access ranking...well, for a few seconds, but still, quite amazing). But all the attention I am already getting just make the pressure even worse...Now everyone is sort of assuming that I definitely will attend since, after all, it is the London School of Economics. But the more I think about how I HAVE to attend the program I am accepted into, the more I feel worried about my future. Last time, I already mentioned the financial woes of having to pay for all of the expenses out of my own pocket. I spent close to the entire afternoon today seeking opportunistic (i.e. not too competitive) sources for funding, but with only the highly competitive Fulbright and Marshall (both of which award about a dozen a year out of how many thousands of applicants...) mentioned, the sou...

A sudden new mail completely broke the "silence" of a quiet Friday night. "Dear Xiaochen, I am pleased to make you this unconditional offer of admission to the MSc in International Political Economy for the 2011/12 session as a full-time student..." the mechanical-sounding email from the Admissions Office sounds, just like it perhaps does to many others receiving around the same time (midnight last night for me, in fact). And many of those people are probably just for joy...even now. After all, it is one of the world's premier social science institutions, the London School of Economics (LSE). So it is probably not news anymore that I have been working hard for the past few months to find a way out of my current career, primarily through graduate school applications...And few months later, despite that incredibly (in fact, the most, by far) popular post on this blog about how Yale is overrated and just an empty shell beyond its hyped up reputation , it seems ...

While Japan and indeed, most of East Asia , is being anxious as the number of dead from the Quake continues to mount and the prospects of abnormal nuclear radiation become more and more realistic , on the other side of the world, the long-brewing political changes in the Middle East is overtly taking a turn for "globalization." Specifically, as demands for gasoline gets distorted in Japan because of fear-driven hoarding, perhaps it is also at the same time relevant to take a look the events on the other side of the globe that can easily distort supplies.... Last time I really paid attention to the developments in the Middle East , the riots are just beginning to gather stem in Libya, Bahrain, and Yemen after success in overthrowing long-time strongmen in Egypt and Tunisia. But when I was riding the train (I am surprised just how much stuff I come across while riding trains in this country) the other day, I was jolted by the news that allied forces led by US, UK, and Franc...