The Need to Create

Category: Blog

  • Take it slow, make it happen.

    I always wanted to create a website of some sort. I started my first trail in 2005 for When Pigs Fly, and it was a disaster. At that time, I was overconfident about my ability, overestimated my free time, and had very little idea of how complicated it is to build a website completely from…

  • A Sense of Purpose

    A Sense of Purpose

    I am reconsidering joining the battle of alternative energy. The reason why I had recently abandoned it is that too many people are doing it. And this reason is not a good one. What I am avoiding actually is competition. Though joining a mature field will not provide me with large room for growth and…

  • Green Dam

    When I was setting up my first website justluck.cn with 512j.com back in 2005, I had to get a license from the Ministry of Information Industry (now the Ministry of Industry and Information), even though it is just for personal use. According the agreement, the license has to be placed in a place easy to…

  • Critical Self-assessment 5 – Research

    I submitted my first ever paper in early April to Advanced Materials. Writing it is a tedious journey. It took four months. I found it is very helpful to have the first draft ready as early as possible so that you know what is missing in the paper, and then you have a direction in…

  • Failure as a reflective moment

    Failing in the GH residence adviser is a negative feedback.  Probably it means that I am not fit for this position, in terms of skill set and personality, so instead of trying hard to fit myself into what I may not excel, I should look elsewhere and keep my energy focused on things that I…

  • The tranquilizing effect of failure

    After the first interview, my application for graduate house residence advisor, international student, came to an end. And somehow, I feel my mind is cooled, and whenever that happens, I know it is the best time to write something because there won’t be any trace of ego exerting, conscious or unconscious. The inner self is…

  • Cricital Self-Assessment 5 — Health

    To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear. – Gautama Buddha,’The Enlightened One’ It has been eight months since my last self-assessment. Over the last eight months, I have experienced steady improvement in my physical conditions, which is mainly attributed…

  • A week at Stanford: Only the paranoid survive

    A week at Stanford: Only the paranoid survive

    I arrived at San Fransisco airport on 30 Dec. 2008 for a 12-day trip in Bay Area, to visit my aunt’s family and friends. After skiing in Lake Tahoe over the new year, I spent a week at Stanford, reading, writing, and meeting old friends. Chatting with old friends is one of the most enjoyable…

  • Reading People

    Reading People

    Vesper Lynd: [after discussing poker skills on the train] What else can you surmise, Mr. Bond? James Bond: About you, Miss Lynd? Well, your beauty’s a problem. You worry you won’t be taken seriously. Vesper Lynd: Which one can say of any attractive woman with half a brain. James Bond: True. But this one overcompensates…

  • Culture = Matrix

    Culture = Matrix

    Morpheus: … Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain. But you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind driving you…