Unlike last year, I don’t have any puzzle planned. I’m constructing an LMI test for April or May, and considering that I just finished my first semester of university a week or so ago, I’ve been taking the holiday for my usual computer stuff: programming, browsing the net, playing some games…
So what have I done in 2013?
Midterm. The word that many people hate. A week full of study and pressure. In most colleges, midterm counts at about 25-50% of the final score, with finals counting about 40-60% and the rest are attendance/homework/quiz/etc. Failing midterm means a maximum of about B, or C if you’re unlucky enough to hit the 50% midterm course…
The midterm for me is next week, 21-25 October. Although due to my choices of courses or probably just luck, I have no midterm on the last two days, giving a nice half-week holiday :3
What will I do to prepare for the midterm?
I won’t do much, actually. I’ll just learn a little bit more than usual tests at school or quizzes here. Looking back from my quizzes, I studied for a total of zero seconds for Calculus I, also zero seconds for Biology, another zero seconds for Introduction to Programming, yet another zero seconds for Basic Korean I (which now I regret), and probably about 20 minutes for each Chemistry quiz. There’s no quiz for Physics yet, and heck, there’s no midterm for Physics. So, I plan to approximately do…
– 20 minutes of study for Calculus I, mostly to review what the definitions are.
– An hour for Biology, mostly to reminding self what things are different from what learned at school.
– 20 minutes for Introduction to Programming, mostly to toy with Python’s quirks.
– An unknown amount of time (probably 3-4 hours in total) for Basic Korean I, because I can’t do languages.
– An unknown amount of time (probably 2-3 hours in total) for Chemistry, because what the heck is Schrodinger’s equation doing in chemistry?!
I mostly plan to get enough sleep though. Even though the exams are at the end of the days (none is before 16.00, and on all days I’ll stay until 22.00), a good sleep is still good. Compare with the scenario of not enough sleep, where I might oversleep and rush to prepare myself to get to the exams…
…oh dammit it’s 25.00 here already. For the uninformed, 25.00 means 01.00 on the next day. I start to keep the time rolling continuously, only subtracting 24 hours (and advancing the day by one) every time I sleep for considerable time.
Ugh anyway. Homework…
– It’s enjoyable.
– And it’s freaking huge. Walking from N16 (my dorm) to W2-1 (International Center, approximately 1 km) takes 15 minutes. My legs are going to be tired quickly…
– …there are stuffs here! Cheaper than prices outside KAIST. But then when you convert them to rupiah, it looks like usual price lol.
– The first session, Academic Info Session II (the first part is for exchange students only), is boring. Being blasted with cold air from the air conditioner, without sufficient leg covering (I wore shorts, not to be confused with shorts), adds insult to injury.
– The friends are fun! Meeting many friends. Seems like I’m going to have more foreign friends than Korean friends heh.
– Wi-fi in W2-1 hates my HTC. My HTC cannot pass the “Obtaining IP address” phase, but my Galaxy Tab easily passes it, connected to the internet. Gah.
– I should sleep lol
is the name of the university for my undergraduate study. And I’m leaving for Korea in like two hours.
Well. It was a wonderful time in Indonesia. I met a lot of friends, had a lot of experience… But now, I’m going to go to a foreign country. A completely new country that I have never gone before. Where I only know that it’s the origin of Gangnam Style and also the country of residence of the #1 osu! player Cookiezi.
Four years. Four years required to pursue my degree, hopefully less. Four years of not meeting my family and friends. But four years of meeting new friends too.
Well… It’s going to be a tough journey ahead. I’ve prepared my best; let’s hope that I can cope with it.
Good bye Indonesia, and hello Korea.
This post is in Indonesian. Sorry, but I don’t feel like I want to post a translation.
Saat post ini muncul, 31 Mei 2013 jam 20.30, kita sudah bukan lagi anak sekolah (harusnya, kalo acara wisuda ga molor).
12 tahun yang luar biasa. Belajar berbagai ilmu, bertemu banyak teman baru, mendapat banyak pengalaman. Namun 12 tahun tersebut sudah berlalu. Segala sesuatu mempunyai awal dan akhir. (Jangan komen soal math. Ikr pernyataannya salah, but let’s take it poetically.) Teman, kita sudah menjalani banyak tahun bersama, dan kita harus menghadapi kenyataan bahwa kita tidak sekolah selamanya. Kita akan berpisah, menjalani hidup masing-masing, berpencar ke seluruh penjuru dunia.
Glenn, Kane, dan Yohanes. Kalian teman yang luar biasa. Rasanya ga ada kata-kata yang dapat menjelaskan betapa berartinya kalian.
Joey, Jay, Yosua. Kalian teman yang baik diajak ngobrol, diajak main game, dan banyak hal lainnya. Dan juga aku jadi tau setidaknya apa yang anak remaja yang “normal” suka obrolin.
Antonio, Peter, Echa. Saingan terberat di kelas, yang selalu memotivasiku untuk menjadi yang terbaik. Kita lihat pertarungan terakhir di nilai akhir. (Plus, kalian jadi teman main kartu yang bagus 😛 )
Sandra, Anna, Elisabeth, Jesslyn, Sharon, Yoane. Enam orang yang suka main kartu juga. Selain itu, enam orang yang sering nanya math 😛 Tapi bukan berarti kalian tidak diharapkan; aku justru berterima kasih. Aku bisa berbagi ilmu, aku bisa latihan mengajar, dan semoga kalian bisa memakai ilmu yang sudah diberikan. (Setidaknya cara berpikirnya; setiap kali diajarin, semua caranya runtut dan logis kan? Semoga kalian juga bisa berpikir runtut dan logis di kehidupan nyata.) And yes, if you’re wondering, I do liked Yoane. Not so much now though, dia udah tolak 😛
David, Mike, Adi, Merwyn, Mitzi. Rasanya kita kurang ada interaksi di kelas, tapi kalian tetap punya ciri khas masing-masing. David, dulu jadi pesaing ketat, sekarang nilainya jatoh. Tapi masih diperhitungkan. Mike, suka marah-marah, tapi intinya membantu aku untuk self-restrain. Adi, sedikit banyak mengajar musik. Merwyn…apa ya? Paling bikin kaget pas dapet 100 di kimia 😛 Mitzi mirip David. Dulu nilainya bagus, sekarang mulai padam cahayanya.
Syanne, rasanya kita ga pernah ngomong selama 3 tahun ini. Kalau kamu masih marah karena kejadian kelas 8/9, aku mau minta maaf, dan sekarang menunggu jawaban. Aku ga mau meninggalkan sekolah dengan satu masalah yang belum selesai. EDIT: Ok, dia maafin, yay 😀 Thanks ya, now I don’t think I left any problem with my social life 😀
Selain itu, orang selain kelas 12 IPA:
Indi. Salah satu terbaik di kelas juga, dan enak diajak ngobrol. Aku cukup tegang waktu kamu ngomong kelas 10 pindah sekolah, mikir bahwa temen-temennya kurang. Ternyata salah. Tapi tetep, kamu masih salah satu temen terbaik.
Wikki. Sama pendiamnya, pernah aku paksa ngerjain puzzle 😛 Kamu juga enak diajak ngobrol, bisa dengerin omonganku yang suka aneh arahnya.
Celia. Orang yang pernah saling bikin…something, lupa singkatannya, tapi yang bikin tulisan buat dibaca pas mau tidur (walaupun aku biasa bacanya right after getting it 😛 ). Juga orang paling pertama yang aku pernah suka crapcrapcrap wtf did i just write, dan sering diajak chatting tentang macem-macem.
There might be more, but I have terrible memory. Maaf kalau aku lupa nulis.
Buat guru-guru juga ada.
Guru favorit tetep P.Budi (Fisika). Guru paling gokil. 😛 Walaupun cuma ngajar setahun, impresinya luar biasa.
Guru kedua favorit ya B.Shintia (Biologi), yang udah ngajar 12 tahun biologi melulu. Good luck S2-nya 😀
Selanjutnya ada P.Juliawan (Math), B.Palupi (Kimia), Mr.Rein (Inggris). Masing-masing punya kesan sendiri. P.Jul punya ciri khas, kira-kira mirip P.Willy (Math kelas 11). B.Palupi jelas guru kimia yang paling berkesan, dan punya ciri khas ngajar dengan nada terkesan marah 😛 Mr.Rein guru paling baik secara non-akademik, yang paling care siswanya. Pelajaran Inggrisnya sendiri sih kurang berkesan 😦 tapi tetep bagus.
P.Rudi (B.Indonesia), P.Boyke (PKn), P.Helly (PE). Tiga guru ini punya kesamaan, sama-sama cukup gokil. Walaupun dalam kasus P.Rudi beda sendiri: gokil dengan memaksakan EYD yang benar di setiap saat 😛 P.Boyke sering cerita dan selalu bersemangat, dan P.Helly rasanya cukup jelas kerennya.
Guru-guru yang lain, walaupun kalian ga buat kesan yang terlalu besar, tapi kalian semua tetap luar biasa.
Well, selesai sudah. 12 tahun (walaupun beberapa temen cuma ketemu 6/9 tahun). 12 tahun yang luar biasa dalam hidup. Mungkin aku tidak akan menemukan lagi 12 tahun yang begitu berwarna seperti saat ini.
Thank you all, my dearest friends (even if you don’t consider me your friend). Till we meet again.
Finally. By the time this entry is up, my national exams (to be shortened to finals) should have been completed.
EDIT: There’s something very wrong if I say that the biology is moderately easy while the rest says it’s really hard.
This entry was made on Monday night.
Just did it. Hoping I did the best.
…also, HKUST now knows this blog. I won’t say whether it’s a good thing or not, but visitors count++ is always good 😛
Well, apparently 15 minutes is not enough to complete the practical exam of measuring the acceleration caused by gravity by measuring the period of a pendulum.
Reasons:
– I forgot (read: didn’t think) to bring my calculator. Not that I have one anyway. The reason: I think the calculations are not going to be insane. I WAS WRONG. 
– The stopwatch worked only 50% of the time. Imagine working alone, fixating your view to the swinging pendulum, just to find out that the stopwatch didn’t start. 30 seconds wasted.
– Delicate handwork. I took like 3 minutes to tie the nylon string that is weighed to the pivot. Double that, as I need to do the experiment twice with different nylon lengths.
– Stupid misguiding. When you’re told “10 minutes”, you think that there is 10 minutes left. Not too long after that (about 3 minutes), while I was still doing the experiment accurately (but hence slowly), I was told “1.5 minutes left”. Imagine my immediate panic.
Must play more time management games, not rhythm games.
It all began on Sunday. I tutored several people for 6 hours, from 2 PM to 8 PM, for Math finals we took on Monday.
Next, things get even more bizzare on Monday. 9 hours for Tuesday’s Physics.
And I overdid myself for tutoring 12 hours on Tuesday for today’s Chemistry.
The result? I was too tired, forgot pretty much everything and I can ony assure myself 50/100 score while I usually score high in the 90s.
Lesson: Don’t overdo yourself. Or if you do, learn everything so it sticks in your mind without being forgotten due to extreme tiredness.
Meh.
I was toying with Problem 317 on Project Euler when I found a messy (but rather easy) antiderivative of a polynomial (with messy coefficients of course). Somehow whatever train of thoughts led me to think of the antiderivative of tan x. (That’s extremely sidetracked, but whatever. My initial guess of 2.4 million something was wrong anyway 😛 )
And it is pretty surprising.
Letting 
Wild Logarithm appeared! But seriously. This is pretty amusing. Well, if you know 
Math has always mesmerized me with its beautiful, unexpected results. However, it requires deep thought to actually understand it, hence a boatload of dislikes to math. In my class of 22 students, only one goes deep to math (namely me); one or two are good at school math, a few more okay, but that’s it; the rest are…uh…terrible. Of course, you cannot ask the opinion of a person who really digs math about math in these settings (aka the question about how his classmates are progressing in math); that’s biased.
Recently, namely 2.5 hours ago, I’ve just finished tutoring seven of my classmates for about 5.5 hours about math. Tomorrow is math (and history) finals exam, and it involves four topics: antiderivatives and integrals, matrices, vectors, and geometric transformation. I almost gave a very terrible problem (find the area enclosed between 
Appreciating math (or any subject for that matter) is hard. I tend not to appreciate Indonesian (mostly because of severely flawed and broken “opinion-type” questions, where English should have anyway but our English focus more on grammar and reading); there might be someone out there who loves Indonesian more than their spouse (if there is any). Sometimes someone simply doesn’t appreciate any subject at all. I don’t have any right to judge; it might be that they like something else.
However, if you have the patience and logic to grasp the hidden beauty of math masked by mindless exercises such as 
Now that I’ve written too much, I might better sleep and prepare for tomorrow. It’s going to be a big day. (Those seven will come again for tutor on Tuesday’s Physics. 😛 )
Chaos at the Sky 
