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Lucky you. I was originally only going to post this one but I had more to say. So I'm giving you a doubleheader.

Entry 1 of 2

The University of Delaware has 16,023 undergraduates. Only 4% of them are Asian, which means there are only 640 asians on campus. What I have noticed is that Asians tend to stick together with their kind. For example, the Vietnamese hang out with the Viets, Chinese with the Chinese, Koreans with Korean, etc. Hell, we've gone so far as to create 3 COMPLETELY different clubs to promote diversity to the other 96% of the UD population. But the question I ask is, how can we promote diversity if we alienate ourselves from other asians? Are we that different that we can't all be a single club? I see Black Student Union, not a Nigerian Student Association or a Ethiopian Club. I see HOLA, not Peruvian Club or Argentinian Club. Look how big those organizations have gotten. Point is, we do not need a VSA, a CCSA, or an ESAU. No, what we need is an Asian Student Union. An organization to unify the Asian population; from Chinese to Filipino, from FOB to white-washed to AZN. This is what we need to promote diversity around campus.

Alan Nguyen for president in 2020!

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Entry 2/2

I have no desire to program anymore. Even the simplest of programs, I cannot get to run properly. I have no desire to fix it. The mere thought of me spending hours going over every line of code only to find out that i didn't include cstdlib or iostream only makes me more angry. I don't care how an operating system works, I don't care how processes share the CPU or how to optimize it. I want to do cool things with computers, like program robots, "predict" the stock market.

Only reason I'm ranting about this is because I've spent the last 3 hours trying to figure out why my 40 lines of code is giving me 30 errors.

It's 7:59am. You can feel the sweat crystallizing on your forehead as you await the sound of the bell. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people just like you are packed onto the Floor. They are nervous as well, news of the yet another hurricane impacting Florida have caused a panic in the orange juice industry, causing many people to sell sell sell. The game is simple, make more money than the person next to you. You've both learned the same thing in college, you've both been in the business long enough to know all the tricks in the book. It comes down to strategizing and dedication. Are you willing to get up an extra hour early to read the journal and stay on top of the news? Are you willing to take the risks that nobody will take? That's the difference in this game.

8am. The opening bell of the market is like the bell to start the 1st round of a tyson vs. holyfield match. People are pushing and shoving for position, sweat is flying everywhere and landing on your freshly dry-cleaned versace suit. As people are selling their orange juice investments, the price of orange juice drops dramatically. You think to yourself, "Man, what an opportunity to buy." You remember reading an article you found on the Internet at 3 in the morning last night about the demand for Brazilian orange juice. Amidst the chaos and hysteria, you calmly pull out your smart phone and make a few calls to a couple of contacts in Brazil. You've put a quarter million dollars into an industry that was supposed to be going down for a while. The guy next to you overhears part of your conversation, he calls you crazy, says you are nothing but a rich amateur trying to be a hotshot. You just smirk at him and walk away. Later that day, news hits that Brazil is importing 50% more orange juice to the United States. Another frenzy. Players pushing and shoving to get a piece of the pie. But not you, you sit in the corner with a big grin as you watch the ticker report that orange juice has gone up 25%. At 3:45pm, 15 minutes before the closing bell, you sell your investment at 35% more than what you put in. By the end of the day, you walk away $87,500 richer. The guy next to you loses money today by selling oj at a low price then buying at a higher price. You smile at him as you both walk out the door at the same time. You know you belong here. This is why you quit your other job as the computer nerd at a big bank. Because you live for the pressure, you live for the excitement, you live for the glory of looking at the guy next to you and knowing you are better than him.

A few changes, part 2

I have this sudden urge to write once again.

Classes are going pretty well, the professors are all pretty interesting in their own way:

ECON 315: Economic History of Colonial America. What? I don't know either, but the professor's name is Farley Grubb. I'm sorry but it doesn't matter what class you teach, a name like Farley Grubb will make it interesting. Ever notice, the more unusual the name, the more interesting their character? Interesting...anyways class is not bad, not really economics but whatever.

ECON 340: International Economics. Interesting class. Even more interesting professor. Johannes Umstaetter. As German as a German can be. Blond hair, blue eyes, somewhat thick German accent but can be understood. The thing that makes this guy so awesome is his dress attire. I don't know where he shops but its awesome. Anyone that isn't ashamed to have a black and white dress shirt with a million cows on it is cool in my book. My favorite outfit has to be today's black vest with neon colored music symbols TUCKED IN to his belly button high jeans. Easy class though I think, stupid people of course always makes it interesting.

CISC 301: Logic and Automata Theory. Only "normal" class I have. Professor is a typical computer professor, thick accent, hard to understand. Cool name though...Vijay Shanker. Shanker has a nice ring to it. Material is stuff I have been learning for the past 2 years of college but is getting a lot more difficult. Should be my hardest class this semester

CISC 361: Operating Systems. YAY we get to learn how windows works! not that interesting. Professor is pretty cool. Silber is his name. Dresses like a hobo, drives a Porsche. I don't understand.

CHIN 107: Intermediate Chinese. Class is fun, professors are insane, too much work though. Chen laoshi, crazy hand motions, funny stories, once equated bribery to the "lubrication of human relationships". Tu Laoshi, most gulliable person I've ever met. Told her i wanted my name to be Tai Mai Shu, thought it meant the literal chinese translation of "extreme book buying". Way too hyper to teach.

Time for Alan's random comments!
- Little red dots give me the chills. Even when I think about them.

- I have been noticing the latest fashion trend among caucasian females at the University of Delaware for the past 2 weeks. Although I am utterly confused as to why this latest trend seems to be popular. It seems as if the new "thing" nowadays is to wear HOODIES in 85 degree weather with denim mini skirts. Obviously its not cold enough to wear a hoodie because their ass is hanging out of their skirt, so why the hoodie? So, in a bold fashion statement, I, Alan Nguyen, will start a WINTER fashion trend of wearing a tank top and mesh shorts! It only makes sense if such a trend were to happen. You heard it here first.

- What is with all the powerful hurricanes? To those of you in Galveston, get out. NOW. For the government, get your ass in there sunday night. That way the whiners have nothing to whine about.

- DON'T MOAN IF YOU DON'T PHONE!

That is all for now.

A few changes.

Might be a boring post but somebody requested an update and an update they shall receive.

This is my 3rd year at UD. Amazing how time goes so fast. I can hardly remember my first two years here. Anyhow, this year there has been a few changes for those of you who only "keep in touch" with me through my blog. First off, I'm no longer in Squire. It was time to move on. It would be such a waste of time to live there my entire college life and be sheltered from other experiences, such as cooking, responsibility , partying haha. I can't say I miss living in the dorms that much, for various reasons in which I will not get into. However living in the apartment has been a blast so far.

Also new, I am now getting a double degree. One for Computer Science and one for Economics. Why the sudden change? Because I hated my job this summer. I already made an entry about this but long story short, computer science is boring me, but I feel if I drop it now it would be a waste of 2 years and $24k, so I'm going to finish it and add an Econ major as well.

Not sure exactly what I'm going to do with the 2 degrees, but hopefully I want to do something with the stock market. Make people rich. Spend other people's money and make them give me some of it. Perhaps develop some sort of program that will "predict" the stock market and earn me millions, if not billions or dare I say TRILLIONS.

I tend to ramble on when I have nothing to say.

My course schedule rocks. MWF are Econ days, TR are CISC days, Chinese is everyday. Earliest start time is at 10am, finish no later than 3.

I'm bored. I don't feel like writing.

Death

Some say ignorance is bliss...

Fortunately for me, I have never really experienced a death in the family or a death to a close friend etc. Well, I mean there was my aunt and my grandfather but I was much too young, not too young not to remember but young enough to not fully comprehend what the situation was. Sure, 9/11 was a pretty sad day for me, the tsunami in Asia was horrible and Katrina was horrible, but it didn't...really affect me directly.

Unfotunately, many of my friends have, and I just feel so awkward when I'm talking to a person who has lost someone because I have never been in such a situation. I'm sitting there watching my friend cry or be sad or upset and I don't know how to act, and it kills me on the inside. What do I say? What do I do? I want to help but I just don't know how, and that pisses me off.

Death is always in my mind. It's not that I'm afraid of it, but I worry about the reactions people have when I die. I don't know how many times I have reenacted my death in my mind, and the reactions of those closest to me. I have played out the deaths of a bunch of my friends *knock on wood* and I would imagine how I would react in such a case. Problem is, I don't know. The sheer thought of a close friend dying is enough to make someone get teary eyes, but not me. I just don't know the feeling.

(Is it weird I think of shit like this? Psych majors give me an answer.)

And that is probably why people think I'm some sort of robot or something. People think that I'm this stoic, cold, "I just don't give a damn about anything" type of guy who shows no emotion. Well, maybe I am. Why am I seemingly unphased by anything in the world? Maybe because I've never been exposed to it. Which brings up a whole different subjec that I don't care to get into now.

Ignorance is bliss? No, ignorance is my weakness.