That being said, our team won the tournament we hosted, while Cornell University’s team won their own tournament. After both tournaments, however, the overall standings of the league favor MIT by 32 points (Cornell is second with 1011 cumulative points).

My personal contribution? Being there to spar heavy guys. Some of them slightly heavier than me, others… simply massive. One of the guys I lost to was so massive I thought I was sparring the Great Wall, except that it moved.

My two last matches at the Cornell tournament taught me two important lessons:

1) Trust your training, challenges that might have defeated you in the past are within reach now.
2) There are bigger challenges to face that you should keep training for.

I’m looking forward to keep training and improve my taekwondo overall. There is definitely something unique about taekwondo, and it’s not worth it to even attempt to describe the feeling.

Outside of taekwondo…

I keep learning and growing everyday from my interactions with my close friends, and even from interactions with not-so-close friends. I’ve realized how much I treasure the time I spend with the people closest to me, even if sometimes it seems too short.

I don’t think many people understand me or my feelings/thoughts, and sometimes I wish that this wasn’t the case since it could make some of my relationships much stronger and enriching. However, I wouldn’t want to turn a ‘casual’ friendship into an ‘awkward’ one by trying to explain myself or my feelings to someone that might not understand/appreciate them. I don’t blame anyone for not understanding me or being able to correspond to my feelings, for these things are natural and we can’t all think/feel the same way. Relationships in general are pretty irrational, and this uncertainty is what makes them so special. It’s all about finding that person that resonates with you.

I do have friends that understand me, and it makes me happy to have people like them around me. It’s nice to have people who don’t judge you based on trivial things and not-so-trivial things that you can’t change — I feel genuinely happy around them. I can’t complain about my life, because even if I miss some friends, and even if not all things can be like I’d like, I enjoy genuine and pure friendships with the people that surround me.

It hurts to think about how things could be, but it helps to see the good things of how things are.

• September 9, 2008 — A new voyage. (2)
• July 5, 2008 — Fourth of July, etc. (2)
• October 4, 2008 — Learning from my (several) mistakes. (8)
• August 10, 2008 — Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics (0)
• August 6, 2008 — Cold during the summer (2)
• July 20, 2008 — Getting Comfortable (1)
• June 24, 2008 — Looking for that something (0)
• June 21, 2008 — Summer vacations ended a week ago. (0)
• May 8, 2008 — Close to the end (0)
• December 13, 2007 — Not Every MIT Student Wants to Save the World (0)

-Omar

• October 27, 2008 — Remember when $150=2 Grocery Carts Full??? [A Facebook note by Anne Stevenson] (0)
• October 19, 2008 — Educate Yourself and Support Obama (0)

Back at home we always used to think that America was a very advance society. We taught that people here were educated, and voting for Obama instead of McCain would be a simple decision to make. But apparently… not. If John McCain wins the elections my faith in America will be destroyed. How do we expect this country to prosper and gain stability if the people we choose to lead the nation are not prepared for it? McCain & Palin are definitely not the answer to America’s problems. Obama & Biden, however, they represent change and prosperity.

Here’s the note by Anne Stevenson:

Boy was I nostalgic for those days tonight as I walked out the supermarket door with 6 bags in hand and $150 poorer. But I guess that’s what happens when you elect Mr. Crabs from Spongebob Squarepants as your president.

So anyways, I have some nuggets that I need to write about because otherwise I might blow up after what I witnessed today at the trailer park while out fighting the good fight for Shaheen/Obama.

1. If you are a Democrat reading this, especially one in battleground or red state, YOU NEED TO WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR FOR EVERY NEWS PAPER IN YOUR AREA THIS WEEK AND TELL PEOPLE TO VOTE DEMOCRAT. Take this note and post it on your profile and tag everyone you know and tell them to write a letter too. This is imperitive because there are other closet cross overs, independents, and Dems who need some encouragement and reassurance to vote Obama. I did this and I already heard back from one editor, so hopefully that will be printed this week. Don’t go getting all fancy because anyone who’s undecided obviously hasn’t been paying a lot of attention to politics and needs shit boiled down for them. I’ve taken the liberty of creating a template that you are totally welcome to plagerize, and maybe it will spark some ideas about what you might like to say:

Dear Editor:

As a native of _____, I’m worried that will continue declining in Republican hands. Like most families, I’m not a politician and don’t have a Washington lobbyist. I’m a mom getting by OK at a 9-5 job, which mightn’t be there with the next round of lay-offs.

McCain and raised taxes on families and small businesses while cutting taxes to zero for corporations shipping jobs overseas. They deregulated Wall Street for corporate profits, crashed our economy, and now their hands are out for $750 MILLION taxpayer bailout. Then Republicans call Obama a “Socialist” for using taxes for family healthcare, mortgages, and protecting our IRA’s?

If they’re reelected, we won’t have jobs, homes, or personal property to collect taxes on. We should for policies affecting the tax bracket we’re ACTUALLY in and get something back, not the one we WISH we’re in. I’ll never have to worry about having my CEO salary capped or megacorporation taxed. Millionaire McCain only visits to campaign, and he will never have to worry about losing any of his houses to shady lenders. It’s time he joined us in the unemployment line he made so long.

Barack Obama and will realize ’s potential by cutting taxes for families and small businesses. Obama’s a dad who knows our struggles with a proven record of keeping taxes low, creating jobs, getting our kids kindergarten and healthcare, and growing our economy. Obama cares and fights for working families because he comes from one. In Washington, President Obama will continue hearing us and make us proud.

Sincerely,

ANY VOTER IN THEIR RIGHT MIND

2. Today I got kicked out of a trailer park, which was an experience that only America’s finest get to have. I like to think it’s because I’m to classy, but there’s that lingering doubt that I might just be too WT to hang out in a place where people keep their aluminum homes on cinder blocks, the car on the lawn because it’s not as drivable, and I don’t have cigarette smoke, cat, and Glade air freshner exuding through my pores. But what ever.

Here’s how it all went down:

So Reece and I are out banging on doors and spreading the Liberal cheer and it’s not going well. Out of the 9 houses we hit, 7 were McCain supporters, one was undecided, and the other didn’t speak English. Each time, my head kind of cocked to the side, I would just say “So you’re OK with the economy being in shambles and everyone losing their jobs and homes for the next four years at least?” And each time, the answer is the same:

“Obama and Shaheen want to raise our taxes.”

It’s a short fall from trailer park to city park here people, and you won’t have to worry about paying taxes on that park bench you’ll be sleeping on. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but the aluminum housing market is not experiencing the equity boom it once was thanks to the financial market deregulation ushered in by your favorite flag waving candidate with the supersized jowls. But being that we are in a rural trailer park in NH, I’m sure these are just corporate fat cats in disguise who are choosing to live modestly like their favorite Wal-Mart mom Sarah Palin as we humble New Englanders often do.

That was the sentiment radiating from the crazy lady who kicked Reece and I out of the park. She pulled up behind us and gave me a lecture about how we could be arrested for trespassing on private property and asked us to leave. “You know some people choose to live in this park specifically because they don’t want to be bothered by political campaigns.”

Again, my head tilted to the side and for a moment I was looking her dead in the face and waiting for her to bust out laughing after she said that. Honey, people don’t live in Shady Pines Trailer Court because Shady Pines Trailer Court is the only elite gated community in the area capable of safeguarding their political autonomy. Sorry hun, I’m calling bullshit on that one. So I was like “Fine, you just get back in your house and drive off and I’ll be on my way”. Unbelievable.

3. That’s all I can write tonight because I have to go to work tomorrow morning and do a bang up job so I don’t get laid off.

WRITE THE LETTER TO THE EDITOR!!!

• November 4, 2008 — VOTE (2)
• October 19, 2008 — Educate Yourself and Support Obama (0)

• November 4, 2008 — VOTE (2)
• October 27, 2008 — Remember when $150=2 Grocery Carts Full??? [A Facebook note by Anne Stevenson] (0)

＊There’s a free PDF ebook written by Koichi that you should definitely download. The information shared in this post is pretty much an extract of that presentation.＊

Livestation! Watch TV using your computer, for free! I’m currently watching TBS (Japan) and it’s amazing! What’s best, the software runs on Windows, Mac and Linux! If you do a search for Japan and Japanese you’ll find over 10 channels. I really like it.

Rikaichan! This is a great plug-in for Firefox that allows you to find the meaning (and furigana reading) of kanji words when reading a website.

iKnow! - An excellent way to learn Japanese vocabulary. The website is very well designed which made me happy. It’s pretty.

Lang-8! - I use it when I have some time and I must say this is a great website! Users can post a ‘diary’ entry in a language they’re learning and native speakers of the language will volunteer to correct it! Everytime I’ve done this I’ve gotten my entries corrected within a day! ^_^

These are the tools I’ve used the most and would definitely recommend to everyone. There are other fantastic tools in the PDF you can read about. Download it!

日本語の勉強、がんばって下さい！

-Omar

• October 9, 2008 — Japanese Pronunciation Gone Wrong (7)

Now this is one useful (& FREE) application for people like me. If you wonder what happened with all those hours of ‘free time’ you had this week, this application will tell you exactly what happened to the hours you spent using your computer.

How long did you really spend on Facebook? What about checking your e-mails? Talking to people over IM? Photoshopping those pimples out of your profile picture? This software will tell you how much time you really spent doing each of these (with a ~95% accuracy).

I thought it was a pretty neat idea considering the amount of time I spend using my computer, this gorgeous iMac that probably sees my face longer than anyone/anything else, sadly.

Just check it out and ‘Rescue’ some of your time, if you want, otherwise just be aware of where it went!

-Omar

• July 17, 2008 — Things & Services that I love (3)

“You might know… how to say you like something…” [long awkward pause] “but today…” [insert more random awkward pauses every other word].

I found the video to be too slow paced when speaking English, which doesn’t really make sense unless you assume that you’re teaching Japanese in English to people that don’t understand English well, in which case you just fail anyway.

Now that didn’t bother me too much [I'm lying, I almost killed someone during that first minute], but then the worst part came around. At around 1:03 he says: “Now, are you ready?”; I was thrilled, so excited I could barely keep my excitement hidden, but then it happened.

He tried to say: “コーヒーがすきです” [Koohii ga suki desu] which does express that the person likes coffee, but the way it came out of his mouth was more like ‘kooHII ga SUki DESU‘ (with stress on the CAPS parts) and my brain melted instantaneously. I cried a little bit inside when I heard that, ran to the bathroom and let cold water run over my head until I couldn’t remember what had happened, then I revisited the video and died inside just a little bit more. Bella (my cat) was pretty pissed after having to listen to it twice.

And the reason I’m describing this in detail? Just so you know how bad his pronunciation was. I’m not saying this to criticize him since I still find that the video is good at teaching the sentence structure it intends to teach [although it doesn't explain it], but I do want to discourage people from simply watching such videos and going out repeating things the same way. There are many people out there that have learned Japanese without a tutor/teacher and their pronunciation is far from correct, and in such cases it would be unwise for you to learn from them.

Use EduFire,I do think is a very good tool, but do take your time to find good videos and tutors. There are plenty, but as you can see, it can also go wrong.

If you want to watch another bad video from the same guy, there are others. As I said, the pronunciations in pretty much every sentence he said in Japanese is wrong. If you want to compare the differences in his pronunciation with correct Japanese pronunciation, just listen to some of Koichi’s videos like this one which I like. You can notice that the way the language sounds is very different from what you were hearing before in these two videos.

-Omar

• October 14, 2008 — Free Japanese Study Tools (0)

1. Go to graduate school.
2. Get a job.

Both of this require me to do many different things, but there is something that they have in common. No matter how things turn out, it is to my advantage to have a good GPA. Although this will be more relevant in certain situations, I can’t think of a single time someone has come to me and said: “The reason I had this amazing opportunity was because of my bad GPA in college.” Some people do have awesome success stories (think Bill Gates and Steve Jobs), but there’s a reason they are mentioned every single time people talk about school and doing well in life… there’s not many cases like theirs. 

That being said, my GPA is quite in bad shape at this point. At a B almost B- average, there are many things that I can apply for, but would be only be considered as a candidate under special circumstances. Although I always think about doing significant changes in order to improve my situation, I always go around repeating the same (or very similar) mistakes. 

As a freshman I decided to take a set of classes first term that proved to be completely manageable, getting an A average during my first term and IAP (the January ‘Term’ at MIT). With this confidence I tried out a set of classes my second semester that proved to be much harder, and no A’s showed up on my record at the end of that semester. In the fall term things were a bit more smooth but in the end just one A gracefully came my way. Spring term sophomore year I decided I had to kill myself by taking a class combination that was not pretty, not at all, and I successfully killed my GPA in the process. 

A recurring theme in every term is the ending of it. Spending my vacations wondering ‘why didn’t I do such and such when I had a chance?’, such and such being perfectly legitimate things I could have done to make my life more manageable. Even though I always think about improving this situation, this term I had decided at first to take 5 classes, something that is a bit of a stretch for many people. This is particularly strenuous if you consider the amount of time I also dedicate to Taekwondo…

Although people may say to me ‘why don’t you just stop doing Taekwondo, that would free up enough time for you to do X or Y’, what people don’t understand is how much happier I feel when I do taekwondo. Not only I feel better about myself because I’m physically active, taekwondo also challenges me to improve in ways I would not be challenged otherwise. It really pushes me to improve in many more ways than I originally thought it would, and the way I feel when I do taekwondo is just… unique.

Now, that being said, I finally decided by registration day not to take 5 classes, and instead I registered for 4 classes, but then I added a UROP. I successfully registered for 60 units. Why didn’t I limit myself to 48 units? Well, I can’t answer that question very well. But now that I’m feeling the effects of all my commitments, getting on average 3 hours of sleep this past week, and, thanks to my sleep-deprivation underperformed at my first exam, I decided to really not just think about it, but actually executing it. I’m dropping a class.

For some of you this might seem like something trivial. ‘Sure Omar, go drop your class, whatever‘, but you simply don’t understand. Deep down, ingrained somewhere in my brain/heart, there is a need to prove to myself that I can handle more than what people expect from me. I feel a need to prove that I deserve my spot at such a prestigious institution, and that I can handle what others can handle, and even more. And this is all something I feel the need to do for myself, even if no one else cares. Other than that, I also feel a need to help people when they need it. For this reasons I always go around overcommitting: to classes, extracurricular activities, and many other things. In the end, I feel very satisfied with what I’ve accomplished, except that as implied by my use of the word ‘overcommit’, there are adverse effects which tend to be an underperformance in academics.

If I want to change the trend I need to start by giving up on bad habits. I started out by dedicating more time to my classes this term, but the next step is to admit to myself that I cannot handle as much as other people around me do, and that it is just fine. There is absolutely no need for me to take more than 48 units per term for the next 4 terms, I can even graduate taking less units than that! I just have to realize that, even if everyone else goes on and take 60 units and get straight A’s, that’s not what I want for myself. I was pretty much what you would consider a ’slacker’ in high school, I never had to work as hard as many other people did in their high schools before coming to MIT, and two years might just not be enough for me to catch up with the work rate of people who had been working extra hard for 4, 5, 6 years before coming here. I accept that: “hard work pays off”. Implied in that saying is the fact that the hard work everyone else has done for many years more than I have, has to pay off for them somehow. Because of this I might not be able to get a double major as some people will, or even a minor, but I can at least leave MIT having successfully completed a degree and getting the most out of it. By successfully completing a degree I mean making sure that I’m well prepared in my field of study so that I can be admitted to graduate school, or at least be successful at getting a job and performing well in it. And this is what I intend to do…

I’m sorry if I bored you with this long post, but it is something I had to write. It is through writing that I concretize what runs through my mind, and this is something that needed to be concretized. All of this having been said, my family is visiting tomorrow! I should be ready to receive them with a heart and a mind more at ease now that I’ve ’settled’ some of my problems. At least in my head I have.

-Omar

• September 9, 2008 — A new voyage. (2)
• May 8, 2008 — Close to the end (0)
• December 13, 2007 — Not Every MIT Student Wants to Save the World (0)
• November 14, 2008 — Massive Challenges [Inside and Outside the Ring] (1)
• August 10, 2008 — Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics (0)
• July 27, 2008 — Moving on by moving off-campus (5)
• June 21, 2008 — Summer vacations ended a week ago. (0)
• January 14, 2006 — CROEM Q&A (0)
• December 16, 2005 — Thoughts after my deferral (0)

Happiness depends upon ourselves.
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

This new academic year I’ve managed to not only change the classes I’m taking, but also my living situation, the roles and responsibilities I have with different people/organizations, among others.  All of these things, however, seem to be enjoyable. I can’t complain about my classes yet, and I’ve been able to attend Taekwondo practice regularly so far.

My view on this semester is quite optimistic, and for some reason it feels like I can probably stay optimistic throughout the term. I’m hoping that this is not just the regular optimism that I normally feel at the start of the semester, which is pretty much a fake excitement due to how I expect things to be, and once I realize what the semester is all about… it’s all lost. Sort of like when people meet or start dating someone new. If I approach my classes as first dates (something in which I have not much experience…), here are my impressions from the first few dates:

7.03 ‘Genetics’ - Although my preconceptions of its kind and what I know about it tells me that this might work out, my impression so far is that this is going to be one really hard relationship to sustain for the semester. The plus side, is quite independent and requires little time commitment, it feels like what people would define as an ‘open-relationship’. The bad: that small time we spend together, is plainly painful. Immensely boring and with a horrible sense of humor, this one is definitely not going to make my day any better. Tomorrow I’ll meet for the first time with the ‘teacher assistant’ and hopefully this one can make it all work out by adding a good twist to all this. 

10.302 ‘Transport Processes’ - This actually comes in two flavors, both which are quite interesting, funny and unique in some sense. Although it promises to be a very time consuming one (I think this one wants to be exclusive), I feel like it will be one of the most rewarding and fulfilling relationships of the term.

21F.503 ‘Intermediate Japanese I’ - Basically a continuation of my long term relationship with the Japanese program at MIT, this course added a new twist to the monotony of our last year by making things more interesting but more time consuming at the same time. This one used to come in 3 different flavors, and you never knew which one you’d get that day, and now two of the previous flavors are not there anymore, but a new flavor arrived. Each flavor we call by a different name, adding the polite ’sensei’ ending. 

21F.592 ‘Introduction to Japanese Culture’ - I’m in love with this one, but as expected, this one has been very time consuming. Although I was promised that it was just like this at the beginning, while getting to know each other, I really wouldn’t leave this one no matter what. I’ll definitely stick to it, and enjoy, until the end.

Apart from classes, something that I must say is that I really like my apartment. Even if the floor is slanted, the location a bit farther than dorms, and I have to be here to receive UPS packages, I feel that the benefits are great. Trading a 40 Mbps internet connection for a simple DSL connection is something else I’ll accept to feel more ‘at home’. I feel like my room is really MINE, and it’s amazing  what a difference it makes to have furniture that I picked, and decorations that I love.

Something else that I’ve realized is how big of a role Taekwondo plays in my life. I feel like the more I keep practicing this martial art, the more I realize how much I want to keep practicing and improving at it. Every practice is challenging and fulfilling. I can’t imagine how different I would be, and therefore my life would be, had I not stumbled upon this group of people two years ago. 

At this point, I’m organizing my life so that this term I can achieve two major goals while keeping a ‘healthy social life’, do well academically (both in classes and with my research project) and improve my taekwondo as much as possible. All other things I’m trying to pursue (photography, film, etc.) will be secondary to this. 

-Omar

• October 4, 2008 — Learning from my (several) mistakes. (8)
• May 8, 2008 — Close to the end (0)
• December 13, 2007 — Not Every MIT Student Wants to Save the World (0)
• November 14, 2008 — Massive Challenges [Inside and Outside the Ring] (1)
• August 10, 2008 — Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics (0)
• August 6, 2008 — Cold during the summer (2)
• July 27, 2008 — Moving on by moving off-campus (5)
• July 20, 2008 — Getting Comfortable (1)
• July 5, 2008 — Fourth of July, etc. (2)
• June 24, 2008 — Looking for that something (0)

- I moved to a friend’s place temporarily until I finally move to my new apartment.  
- I found someone to take care of my cat for this period of time.
- I got my taekwondo promotion to black stripe, which is the assistant instructor rank in our club.
- I’ve been sleeping on a futon mattress on amazing tatami mats. That is simply amazing. 
- I got some of my furniture for my new apartment. Look at the pretty things I got [all at Ikea]:

The last two things (bed frame and bedside table) are things I’m planning on getting next time, actually. Have not yet been purchased. 

 

Of course, there are some not so great things that have happened this summer:

- I have to go to Ikea to change one of the things I got, cause the box I picked up was for the wrong color of the product I wanted. 
- My cat’s food got infested with ants at my friend’s place, which is just sad. I got some ant bait and raid which is solving the problem.
- And the thing that really really infuriates me, AT&T is charging me $704.20 for a month in which I was supposed to be charged $93.03 including activation fee. They are retarded to some extent and can’t simply understand that my account was transferred from Massachusetts to Puerto Rico, and they were supposed to cancel the first account immediately and prorate the charges on both accounts. They’re also doing the most stupid thing I’ve ever seen, they are charging me for an unlimited data plan, the one I asked for, but are still charging me for data use as PAY-PER-USE. They are doing the same thing for the text messages…

But nonetheless, I’ve been in contact with the AT&T people and they are ‘working’ on solving the problem. Apparently it takes forever to do so. 

Just to ease my soul I decided to meditate and write a report I have to turn in this Friday with respect to my summer progress in lab. Hopefully after taking a nap soon I’ll get an e-mail from AT&T’s customer service saying:

“Dear Mr. Fernández,
We realize we were just being stupid, so here, your account has been credited $611.17 and an extra $100M we give you for the stress we caused you. This stress probably took a few years out of your lifespan. We really appreciate your business here at AT&T and hope you have an excellent day!
Sincerely,
Person working for the retarded company” 

We’ll see how that goes,

-Omar

• July 27, 2008 — Moving on by moving off-campus (5)