My physics teacher is probably my favorite. He is so "cool," yet very knowledgeable at the same time (like Dr. Siebert). He explains concepts well (like Mr. Schwartz) while cracking corny jokes every other second (like Mr. Shoemaker). Mr. Wallace graduated magna cum laude from some university (sorry, I forgot) and has eight years of teaching experience in Texas and three at Mountain Lakes. He fervently believes that teaching is the greatest profession, a belief clearly reflected by his great enthusiasm and energy in teaching physics. He is married and lives in Bud Lake, New Jersey. He has nicknames for many students, that is, whatever pops into his mind when he says someone's name. For example, he calls James Qian "Jimbo," Katie "Katie bear," and Apollo Martin Lee "Apollo Creed." He also thinks of the car Prius when he calls on Preah. Additionally, there is a student in his first period (er...by period, I mean two-hour session) whose last name is Yu and whom he says, "Hey, Yu!" to every time he calls on him.

   One of the greatest parts about physics is that you get to make use of your artistic talents to draw cutesy diagrams that help you visualize and solve the problem. The following is an example of my limited drawing skills:

   We are learning vocabulary in both the writing workshop class and the SAT course. Yesterday, we went over the word "assuage" in the writing workshop, and Ian pronounced it "a-sewage." Later in the day, we went over the same word in the SAT course. This time around, somebody prounounced it "a-sausage." James Jiang, who is also in both of these classes, offered the "a-sewage" pronunciation, and then the teacher said the correct pronunciation. I thought this connection between the writing workshop class and the SAT course was just great. I like how history repeats itself and everything is so similar :-).

   Today, in writing workshop, we worked on the process essay, otherwise known as the "how to..." essay. While the teacher was explaining it, Ian was munching on this giant 16 square inch Rice Krispies treat. After being told to save it for later, he continued eating it behind the teacher's back. Unfortunately for him, teachers have eyes in the back of their heads as well, and Mrs. Harding confiscated the food, saying it was the first time in her entire teaching career when she had to confiscate food. Later on during Mrs. Harding's same lecture, James Jiang started talking to Andy Ng [sic] next to him, and Mrs. Harding turned around and said sarcastically, "I'm glad to see nobody is listening to me." In response, James Jiang said, "I am listening. I'm multitasking. I am talking and listening to you at the same time." Later on, he added, "I never have enough time, so I have to multitask. It's like gaming. You have to multitask to be efficient." The way he said these things and in their context was just so ridiculously hilarious. The teacher even smiled at these remarks. For homework yesterday, we were supposed to brainstorm "how to" ideas that we could explain and write about. Today, as a group, we made a list of everyone's ideas. What I thought of and ended up writing about was how to unjam a mechanical pencil. James Jiang hadn't really thought about it, and what he came up with on the spur of the moment was "how to cure depression." I asked him, "How?" and he explained, "When you are depressed, just go outside in the rain and sing like a maniac. Seriously. This will cure depression. Not raining really hard, but just a light rain. Just go outside around dusk and just sing like a maniac. When you come back, you feel better." I found this so funny, but yet, I could believe the truth in it. James Jiang is such a spirited person with great ideas and great comments. He ended up writing about how to play Dance Dance Revolution.

   As some of you probably know, I am taking summer courses at Newark Academy this summer. For six weeks (June 26 - August 4), I will be taking Writing Workshop from 8:05 AM to 10:10 AM and a preview physics course from 10:25 AM to 12:30 PM. In addition, for just this week, I am also taking an SAT course from 1 PM to 4 PM.

   Today, the coolest thing happened in my Writing Workshop class. The first thing you should know is that our classroom is actually the humanities office, and we all sit around a conference table in very comfy, swivel, adjustable armchairs. The teacher, Mrs. Harding, had brought small prizes for those people who shared embarrassing moments or secret aspirations. She gave out such treats as pencils, lollipops, little furry ball-like creatures, and spinning UFO tops. I shared my pink highlighter story and received a "Happy Birthday" pencil, lol. Anyways, I decided to try and balance the pencil on the table vertically. I managed to do it after a couple tries. Now, without any conversation or gestures or hints, one by one, everybody around the room put up pens, pencils, highlighters - anything they could balance vertically. I just thought that it was the coolest thing how after I had balanced my Happy Birthday pencil, everybody else - all 12 of us: Andy, James Jiang, Lacome, Melody, James Qian, Ian, Evan, Vince, Netta, Diana, and Ashley - followed suit and we ended up with an ellipsical ring formed by stood-up stationery.

   I walked into the kitchen to grab some food and get a refreshment. My mother happened to be in the kitchen. When I passed her by, she stopped me and asked me if I knew what these white flowers were called that were inside a vase. There were two types of white flowers, both shaped distinctly. Pointing to one type, she asked me what that flower was. I guessed, "Lilac." She said, "Wrong, but it begins with the same letter." I then said, "Lotus." And she was like, "NO!" and she burst out laughing at my flower ignorance. Finally, I said, "Oh, lily." "Correct," my mother responded. My mother then moved on to the other type of white flower. My first guess was "azalea." My mom laughed again and said, "Oh my gosh. No. Azaleas are like...(she continued to describe what azaleas are like)" Then I said, "white rose." My mother's laughter intensified once again, and she proceeded to tease me for my lack of flower sense. My third guess was "carnation," which was correct. My mom likes to do this with me periodically with the flowers in and around our house and when we're away from home. I'm really bad with flowers. But what my mom tells me to always remember is that all women like flowers.

   Let's start with the band dinner on Tuesday, May 23. It was blast, like last year, but the food was even better! I think there was a greater variety and the food itself was more flavorful and tasty. I actually was planning to bring my Rubik's Cubes to the occasion, since I usually bring my cubes everywhere I go, but when my dad found out, he told me not to bring them and use the opportunity to socialize. However, at the dinner, we all received a mini, handheld pinball game, which greatly amused me. When it was time for the ice cream desert, I was the first person to receive a plate at my table. So, trying to be chivalrous, I passed my plate around the table to the ladies sitting on the opposite side (it was a round table). However, what happened was that I never got another plate of ice cream and so I ended up not eating any ice cream at the band dinner. That was alright, I suppose, because when I got home, I had some of the strawberry cheesecake ice cream in the freezer, which made everything all better :-).

   Two days later, on Thursday, May 25, the AACC (Asian-American Cultural Club) hosted a Sudoku tournament. Due to the way it was organized and my terrible misfortune, I faced Benjamin Harold Leiwant in the first round and Max Chang in the second round, the two best Sudoku-solvers. Even though I finished the first Sudoku ahead of Ben, I ended up jumbling up four numbers, while Ben, who finished about a minute later, had 100% accuracy. The 2nd round puzzle was a Hard that nobody finished within the 10-minute time limit, so the judges went by most correct numbers. Max had around 9 more than me, and since this was a double-elimination tournament, I was out. Mr. Schwartz, the AACC adviser, had to leave early, so we moved to the commons to do a tiebreak round and the third round. After the third round, Caspar Wang, the AACC president, had to leave and many students had to catch the 4:15 PM bus, so the tournament was adjourned, supposedly to be continued at a later date. However, the last full day of school was yesterday and the Sudoku tournament was never finished.

   A couple hours after the Sudoku tournament was the jazz concert, a night of performances by the JE (Jazz Experience) II and JE I groups. JE II played 4 songs, while JE I played 10. I am happy to say that my alto saxophone solo in the song Pegasus went very well :-). However, on the last song of the night - Slam - I kind of screwed up. One day before the concert, at our Wednesday night rehearsal, Mr. Sciaino, our JE I conductor, gave us this last-minute song called Brooklyn to play in the middle of Slam, which was our closer. Basically, we played through to the solo section of Slam, had the soloists perform, and then had the tuba players switch to sousaphone and walk out to the front of the stage. Then, on cue, we started playing Brooklyn, which was played in doubletime compared to Slam's slow beat. When we got to a certain point in Brooklyn, the rhythm section kept grooving while the trumpets moved to the front of the stage and the saxophones, trombones, and baritone (singular, Max Chang) stood up on their chairs. Then, on cue, we played the coda of Slam. However, I messed up my interpretation of Mr. Sciaino's cue and came in early. Then, as we played the coda from memory, I was so focused on playing the right notes (since I had only memorized the coda before the concert started) that I forgot about my rhythm and rushed horribly. Thus, I played terribly in the last song of the night, but nobody cared since it was a great performance overall! ¡Huepa!

   Next on my list of things to talk about was the much-anticipated cubing competition! On Saturday, May 27, 2006, I awoke around 6:30 AM. I checked my e-mails, looking for any last-minute notifications on the Yahoo! speedcubing group about the tourney, and also on speedcubing.com for any changes about the competition. My grandmother, father, and brother all came to support me and watch the competition. We left home around 7:30 AM and arrived around 9:00 AM. The Trumbull Mall parking lot was completely deserted except for about 2 cars, and though the mall itself was open, all the stores inside were still locked up. We found the community room, where the competition was being held, and met the competitors who had already arrived. Peter Greenwood, who was the organizer of the competition, was setting up the timers and displays that Bob Burton had brought. I did some warm-up solves and had some pastry snacks as I awaited the start of the competition. The competition went smoothly and I was pretty happy with how I performed. Though I did worse on the 4x4x4, 5x5x5, 3x3x3 OH, and 3x3x3 BLD than at the Rutgers Spring 2006 tournament, I did much better in the 3x3x3 speedsolve and also got to compete for the first time in the 2x2x2 event. By a stroke of luck, I did five great solves on the 2x2x2, earning me the American (North America + South America) 2x2x2 average record. On my fourth 2x2x2 solve, I had a quick start, which was a three-turn first layer, and I had a lucky Sune LL (last layer). After that, a half-turn of the top face (U2) and the cube was solved. This solve of 3.55 seconds is the current 2x2x2 world record =D. The previous record was 3.94 seconds held by Gunnar Krig of Sweden. Matt Walter, who is the Canadian record holder in the 3x3x3 event, decided to come down and compete. He probably wanted to reclaim his Canadian records for 4x4x4, 5x5x5, and Magic that Craig Bouchard had stolen away from him at the Rutgers competition. Matt was extremely tough competition, but he motivated me to push myself harder in the 3x3x3 speedsolve event, causing me to completely shatter my 17.08 PB (personal best) official average from the Rutgers competition with a new PB official average of 15.16 seconds and achieve a PB official single solve of 14.00 seconds, which was my final solve of the day =D (a great way to end the day!). Matt managed to reclaim his title of Canadian record holder in 4x4x4 single solve, 4x4x4 average, and 5x5x5 speedsolve, but Craig Bouchard held the Canadian record in 5x5x5 average by beating out Matt's average by 1 second. Craig also held his Canadian records in the Magic event, though Bob Burton won this event, setting a world record average of 1.40 seconds in the process. Craig also won the Master Magic event, which Matt did not compete in, with a new Canadian national record of 3.75 seconds. There was a lunch break during the competition, during which my family headed downstairs to the food court to eat. I ordered a plate of buffalo wings and french fries (from Sbarro, I think), but did not finish it. I doggie-bagged the rest of my meal along with my grandmother's leftover Chinese cuisine (well, I guess technically Japanese, since it was from a Japanese fast-food restaurant). During my meal, the father of a young competitor (probably 7 or 8 years old) spoke to me about what kinds of speedcubing methods there are and the method his son was using. I learned that they were from one of the Carolinas (I believe North Carolina), and that the child was homeschooled along with his two (?) siblings. All in all, it was definitely a great competition, and probably better organized than the Rutgers tournament. Oh yeah, my brother also helped out in judging. The only downside of the competition was that there were no participation prizes, nor were there prizes for winners. According to Peter, the prizes "hadn't arrived yet," so he said he would mail the prizes, though I haven't received any prizes, despite contacting him multiple times. Also, I forgot to mention, I got to try out some other cool puzzles, including an Alexander's Star, 3x3x5, a very well-lubricated Square-1, a Skewb, a Missing Link, a Pyraminx, and a Master Magic.

   Next up is the Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 29. As usual, it was tiring and sweat-provoking. While chatting with Mr. Sabatino, I learned that the WPMB (Whippany Park Marching Band, oh yeah, by the way, check out the newly renovated wpmb.org website) used to march the parade in full uniforms with Shakoes (our hats (which have a little slit for a feather (called a "chicken") attachment))! That must have been insane tortune on the days when it was 100 °F on Memorial Day. We're lucky that nowadays, we get to march in our alternate uniforms - tour shirts + jeans. The only other point of interest of the parades were the bagpipes. They were definitely more numerous than the previous year, and, believe it or not and however paradoxical, more melodious. I was definitely diggin' the Scottish (Irish?) fanfare.

   On Monday, June 5, my brother Raymond, who finished his third year of college at the end of April, began his summer internship at Morgan Stanley. That night, he had an orientation dinner, at which he received a bag of goodies, including a Morgan Stanley Powerball and a Morgan Stanley mini-mouse. Haha, I just noticed that MS can stand for Morgan Stanley as well as the more popular Maple Story :).

   One week later, on Monday, June 12, Amy Lu hosted AACC Game Night at her house. This was a fun event that I unfornately arrived late for since I did not get up from my afternoon siesta when my alarm sounded. We played this watermelon game (no actual watermelon involved (though I wish there were), only hand gestures and slurping) along with a clapping/hand gestures game that included everybody still present at the time. I suppose most people left early in order to study for finals in four days. There was also plenty of delicious comida gratis (free food), including cheese and pepperoni pizza, chips and dips, and breadsticks and cinnamon twists. After most people had left, Andrew Hang and I battled it out in the basement on the ping-pong table - he with his killer spin and I with my brute force power. The only downside of the whole fiesta was the absence and prohibition of DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) :'-(.

   On Thursday, June 15, we were let out band class a lil' early in order to be allowed to be first in line to pick up yearbooks. I must say that I really like this year's yearbook, its design, and its artwork. It was really well done. I thought the retro picture with FULL-LENGTH lockers (no fair!) in the camera lens reflection was very clever and creative. The color pictures in the front brought back many great memories, including Brian Lynch's sawed-head Halloween costume. It was also very nice to see the senior pictures in color. I'm happy to say that Shingo Katayama, a.k.a. Mr. Carchietta, was the first person to sign my yearbook. In chemistry the same day, I also learned that Shingo means "traffic light" in Japanese.

   After lunch and A.P. U.S., I had computer math, during which I took my computer math finals, which were a massive joke. We had gone over a review packet the day before, to which Shingo had given us all the answers, and the final exam turned out to be exactly the same as the review packet. In addition, we were allowed to use the Visual Basic textbook and our computers, including the Visual Basic program itself.. After the exam, which only took about 15 minutes, since I had more or less memorized the answers to the review packet, I ate my last meal of my sophomore year at school. Coincidentally, when I went into the upper compartment of my lunchbox to search for an eating utensil, I found exactly one leftover spoon to be used for my one last meal. During the year, I had stocked up on eating utensils (forks and spoons) about once every month and a half, going to the cafeteria to amass 30-40 forks and spoons in my lunchbox.

   Late Thursday night, upon chatting with Nicholas "I want to eat your pussy" Apostolopoulos, I learned that I had been admitted to Madrigals, which I had been rejected to last year! This was a great way to end my day before I journeyed to Springfield (Explanation by Señor Beyer: Springfield refers to your bed, a vast expanse to lie down on, underneath which is usually a metal spring mattress).

   Today, Friday, June 16, 2006, was day one of final exams. I took my language arts and mathematics examinations today. I could feel it was going to be a lucky day from the moment I woke up, which in itself was very lucky, since I had set my alarm to 5:25 AM, since I needed to get up early in order to prepare for language arts. I spent the next two hours reading Sparknotes on the five American literary works we covered during the second semester: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Our Town by Thornton Wilder, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, and Fences by August Wilson, which was a joke book assignment because our teacher, Mrs. Guzo, only gave us that book on Monday, June 12, 2006, and we rushed through it in three days, finishing it and having it collected on Thursday, June 15, one day before the language arts final exam. We had like virtually no discussion on Fences and I really did not understand the book very much. During my Sparknotes study, I wrote down brief summaries, important themes, motifs, symbols, and significant quotations. I was most worried about my language arts final exam, which was also my first exam. I was worried because we had to write two essays, and I always feel pressured due to time constraints when writing essays. I tend to run short on time and do a rush job towards the end of the examination period. However, today's language arts final exam turned out much better than expected! The reading of Sparknotes and the notes I took really helped! I felt that I was able to write two focused, thoughtful essays and very comfortably in the two-hour exam period, too. One essay topic was mandatory and one which we had done a 15-minute quick-write on the day earlier (or maybe it was a couple days earlier). For the second essay topic, we had a choice of four "projects (yes, that is what the essay questions were called on the exam)," and I chose the question that was also one of our midterm essay topics. I wrote the mandatory essay on Death of a Salesman, and I wrote the choice essay on Our Town. The algebra 2/trigonometry final exam was long, but fair. It consisted of 70 multiple choice questions and 5 open-ended questions. I finished with 30 minutes remaining in the examination period, so I spent 15 minutes checking my work. I then handed in my test and spent the rest of the testing period answering a questionnaire on what I felt about Mrs. McNally and her teaching methods during the course of the year. After the exam, I strolled leisurely through the hallways, went down to the music wing see who my Madrigals buddies would be next year, and gathered the necessary study materials at my locker for the final exams on Monday. Of course, I missed the bus (which probably left around 12:25 PM, since my examination period ended at 12:15 PM), so I got my yearbook signed by some students and Mrs. McNally as I waited for the 1:45 PM bus. I came home, ate a hearty four-course lunch, toyed around at my computer, and took a recuperating five-hour long snooze on my brother's bed (since my mom was reading newspapers on the guest bed, the futon was covered with my junk, my bed was having its bedsheets washed, and my grandmother was napping in her bed). I awoke, ate another satisfying meal and proceeded to write this extensive entry.

   I officially declare my crimson (?, I'm not very good at describing shades of colors; you'll have to ask Alice Kim to get a more accurate discourse) red Schering-Plough shirt my good-luck shirt. This was the shirt I was wearing at the Trumbull cubing competition, where I set a world record, and the shirt I wore today during my final exams, which were both highly successful (at least that's what my gut instinct tells me, though I haven't gotten back my grades, yet). Also, any day I have worn this shirt has turned out to be a good day. Hmm...now that I think about it, it might just be the color red. I have a bunch of red apparel and days when I wear red have all been relatively good. For example, for the ISP (Independent Study Project) concert, I wore a red, collared short-sleeve shirt (to blend with the warm colors of the stage design and the mood of the music), and the song I accompanied on turned out more successful than I had played it at any rehearsal beforehand. That night also unfolded spectacularly, making me feel that all the time and effort I had put into the ISP was all worthwhile. Perhaps the luck I've associated with red has something to do with my Taiwanese (Chinese) heritage, in which red is a color of prosperity and fortune. For example, on Chinese New Year, parents often give their children hong2 bao1s, which translates literally to "red bags," in which money is deposited. Anyways, for me, red is the way to go :-).

   Something that I've undertaken outside of school is the commencement of learning part of ZBLL ((Zbigniew)Zborowski-(Ron)Bruchem last layer). This is a one-step last layer when the edges are orienting correctly upon arrival at the last layer. Though originally designed to be an extension to the Fridrich method and coupled with ZBF2L (ZB first two layers), it could also prove useful with a Petrus F2L, since edges are always oriented properly upon arrival at the last layer (unless you messed up or decided to skip step 3). ZBLL requires memorization of 270 algorithms (not including symmetrical cases), which seems like a very daunting task at first. However, since I have already learned PLL (permute last layer), that saves me from memorizing 15 algorithms (+ mirrors). In addition, I do not plan to learn ZBLL for the Sune cases because as the Sune is already my fastest OLL, by the time I recognize the Sune case and recall the ZBLL algorithm, using normal OLL + PLL, I'd probably have already begun my PLL execution. Thus, it seems impractical to learn ZBLL for the Sune cases. This spares me memorization of 83 algorithms (+ mirrors). Therefore, I only have 270 - 15 - 83 = 172 algorithms to learn (not including mirrors, which I learn at the same time, anyways). 172 algorithms is much more reasonable, and I'm sure that for at least 20 to 30 of these cases, I already know algorithms for them, but I just need to learn to recognize the case. Thus, it boils down to about 150 new algorithms. But wait! There's more! ( This reminds me of those product advertisement commercials where they keep bombarding you with additional offers and discounts) I am learning ZBLL from Lars Petrus's website here, and he has assembled solutions for all 270 cases using only about 20 basic move sequences. Thus, I am not really learning 150 unique algorithms, but instead, learning which combination of the 20 basic move sequences to use to solve each case. Thus, learning is much faster and memorization is much more manageable on the mind. The majority of the time will probably be spent on practicing quick recognition for each case.

   I've achieved some new cubing records, including a new PB 3x3x3 speedsolve average and a PB 3x3x3 blindfolded single solve. I plan to update my cubing records page, create a DDR page, and also to upload pictures from the Trumbull competition soon. Still to come:

• More finals:
  • Monday, June 19: A.P. U.S. History I and Honors Chemistry
  • Tuesday, June 20: Physical Education and World Language (Spanish III (Español Tres))
• Minado's: AACC end-of-the-year banquet , June 20, 2006 after finals
• Daniel Malzone's pool party, June 22, 2006 3:00 PM
• ISP's Olive Garden dinner, June 22, 2006 6:00 PM
• 2nd tuberculosis skin test, Friday, June 23, 2006 1:30 PM
• Graduation Ceremony: June 23, 2006 6:00 PM
• Maria DeAngelis's Graduation Party on Sunday, June 25, 2006 3:00 PM