Digression and Regression with Oliver

"Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention." As the voice of Frank Sinatra echoes, my dad and I sit at the corner of an American buffet, I look at my food; then to my dad and ask him, "Do you have any regrets?" I thought for sure he would say no. He's a very accomplished man, getting into TsingHua University, the equivalent of being accepted into MIT. He still remembers how to do algebra, geometry, calculus even yet he has never touched a problem in that area for almost 30 years. "I wish I was less of a 宅男 (zhái nán)." "What's that?" "It's a boy who spends a lot of time at home. I spent most of my day at home or at school studying whenever necessary. I sort of wished I could have played more." To me, this was a huge shock. My Asian dad, someone who has never directly encouraged me to pursue playtime, tells me that he regrets not being more social. "You know, you asked me before if I cou...

Do you guys ever think about what would happen if Superman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, or Batman turned evil? And if they were to do so, how do you think they'd do it? It all started when I finished reading Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness in our AP English Literature class. Honestly, I was with most people at first, the book was very boring. Most of the reading was quite dense and felt like you were hacking at a bunch of bushes that kept regrowing onto the path you were walking. However, just when I was on the brink of madness, I perused the Internet looking for deeper insights into the book. I came to a realization, and I very good question, is there evil in all of us? More specifically, does great capacity for good mean great capacity for evil? Let's take a look at our friend Batman, he himself never had the cleanest of records compared to other superheroes. He was orphaned at a young age after his rich, philanthropic parents were killed by a small-time criminal....

First, I want to say something. Our parents have worked hard. They've toiled years to make enough money to pay the $240,000 dollars it costs to raise a kid to the age of 18 in California, probably more if they have more. Our parents have worked hard, and it pains me to see that a lot of people don't appreciate just how hard they work.                                              If you are Chinese, then you might be able to relate to this, but do you happen to know what university your parents went to? Is it Qing Hua, Bei Da, Zhe Jiang, or Jiao Tong? Those universities are basically the equivalent of MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, or Caltech. I'm saying this because although my dad told me where he attended university, Qing Hua, I never really processed how great of an accomplishment this was until the day he told me that the next time I see him drinking with his fri...

Ok, so there's been a new cultural phenomenon lately, and its shipping. Shipping, from the wikipedia definition, is "the desire for two people, often fictional, to be in a relationship, romantic or otherwise" Personally, I believe that this phenomenon is basically an evolution of regular gossip. We already know that regular gossip is pretty bad since it causes false rumors and such to spread easily. However, with shipping, there comes even worse consequences. The major one is that it tends to push people apart. When shipping people together, the couple often has to be: 1. Good friends or 2. "Right for each other." - Like similar qualities If two good friends are shipped together, it totally ruins the relationship since their "love" becomes the only thing that is talked about by others. Their "shipping" will be constantly on the minds of both parties when communicating. This creates awkward conversations and creates a barrier betw...

One day in science class in 8th grade, A funny comment my teacher made, That stuck with me to this day, And its presentation long been delayed. "The Goldilocks Effect!" He exclaimed, "Its the theory of the universe!" He proclaimed, You see, if to the sun, Earth were only 5 miles closer, It would be black burnt toast, Yet if it were five miles farther away from the sun, The icy blizzards would leave no single one. And so, forwards my teacher pushed his theory, That throughout the world, it's seen clearly, We always strive for the happy middle, Even though a maze of riddles, Plague the journey through and through, A careful balance must be made, So that is how the world plays. And I've adopted this queer philosophy, To my own belief, opposite of dichotomy, The yin and yang, all live together in harmony, A happy medium, peaceful, charming. And that is why to this very day, I cannot decide between two s...

I don't read a lot But I do read a bit here and there Suzanne Collins, J. K. Rowling, Stephen King Any fiction writer I can get my hands on the thing thing I hate the most about Awkward writing is how EVERYONE harksuponitlikesomethingsalwayswrong there isn't a thing wrong with I write how I didn't grow up reading So reading shouldn't have grown up with me, And In the end, Graders shuold understand That my words are a collection of experiences that they have no write to tell me how to use For how can I change my writing style, If I can't change my reading style? How can I change my reading style? If I don't change myself? And if I have to keep changing myself? Then I can't ever be CONTENT with MySelf

Can an anime with bad art really tell a good story? Yes it can, and Kaiji is a prime example. Kaiji made me realize how luck is never on your side when gambling, and that one has to make his own road in life, whether that be through cheating or pain. However, people should never turn their back on their friends. That is something that even Kakashi from Naruto taught me at a young age: "Those who break the rules are scum, that's true, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." -Hatake Kakashi Look, I try to treat my friends equally, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. Sometimes, and I try to naïvely avoid this, there will come moments when two of my friendships are tested, and I will have to pick a side in the war, or be torn down completely. Those times are the hardest times. Digressions aside (or not), Itou Kaiji is a compulsive gambler who is in a great deal of debt. In the first season, he boards the ship Espoir  and plays an intense multi...