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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| Chinese standards of beautyJin found a GREAT link:
http://www.cctv.com/program/cultureexpress/20061206/104088.shtml
Proof that Chinese people are never satisfied.
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| I'm scrambling to get my applications mailed out by this time next week. Liang and Jen (and soon Jin) have been a great help. Thanks guys!
Liang read my personal statement two days ago:
Ying: So, what do you think?
Liang: It's solid.
Ying: Just solid?
Liang: Yea, I mean, it's not bad. But it's not stellar either.
Ying: Oh no, I have to make it stellar. Just think about all those writing types that will be applying to creative writing schools. They must be very good.
Mom: (comes into the kitchen) Well, if they're all like you, then, I don't think so.
My poor ego.  I've become the Meg of Family Guy.
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| Bertie and I are both applying to grad schools, and we've been supporting each other through our long-distance calls at the safety of our parents' homes. Now that our LSATs and GREs have been taken care of, it's time for some serious work on our personal essays.
In the meantime, Bertie's trying to turn me on to tennis by sending me pictures of guys playing tennis. "If you don't find them attractive in pictures, you have to watch them play," she swore. What is this obsession with guys playing tennis/soccer/baseball/other sports? It's not only Bertie that finds it appealing. In "The Nature of the American Male: A Study of Pedestalism," James Thurber theorizes that the American male's obsession with games has partly to do with the fact that games are a "temporary substitute for an emotional sex life." Then he drew some suggestive cartoons to go alongside his study: a male holding a bat and getting ready to swing a ball, a man getting ready to swing a ball into a roll of pins, two men letting out some tiny die, etc. It really doesn't take much interpretation. I wonder if the males are "attractive" while they are in action not only because they are skilled in a certain sport but also because the sport resembles sex. Maybe in being adept at the game, the guy is exhibiting some sort of sexual prowess. Physical exertion in sports can be taken as exertion somewhere else. Maybe this would explain the reason why Bertie isn't a big fan of Federer. "He doesn't seem to put his heart into it," she noted. "He tries to conserve his energy." (Don't hurt me, B.)
Alas, I will be watching part of the Men's Masters in Shanghai to see if this would have any effect on me.
Just so Bertie isn't the only embarrassed one, I'll admit it. I think men who play soccer are hot. 
And with that, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
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| It's September! I can hardly believe it. With work, GRE studying, reading, writing, and of course, some Asian drama watching, the summer flew by. You guys should definitely read Three Cups of Tea. It's the most memorable book I've read all summer. One of the best in creative nonfiction I've read thus far. As for Asian dramas, Hana Kimi (Japanese version) is THE drama of the summer. Toma Ikuta is absolutely adorable in it. And I learned Japanese phrases that I would never learn in a Japanese class until later. I called Bertie one night (she watches anime once in a while) and we talked about what we learned from watching Japanese shows.
Ying: You know what Japanese phrase I learned from Hana Kimi this summer?
Bertie: What?
Ying: I'm not gay.
Bertie: Oh great. How do you say it?
Ying: "Homo ja nai."
Bertie: "Homo ja nai." That's not very hard.
Ying: Don't you learn Japanese from anime?
Bertie: Yes.
Ying: Tell me a phrase.
Bertie: 8aydak$#&% (I don't remember what the phrase was.)
Ying: ....what does that mean?
Bertie: You're going to die.
Haha, very useful indeed.
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