“Hate traps us by binding us too tightly to our adversary.” – Milan Kundera
I guess this is another way to say “don’t get mad, get even.”
2019-04-02
2019-03-31
Receptive
I was in a meeting with a colleague and an immigration lawyer a few days ago. I was prepared to argue for a difficult case, but found the lawyer surprisingly receptive. She spoke tersely and stopped frequently to ask for any questions or feedbacks.
EQ gradually outweighs IQ in determining career success when one becomes more senior. Maybe that explains why that lawyer is a partner already, and behaved quite differently from a more junior lawyer previously handling the same case.
2019-03-25
Social network peer pressure
Most people use social networks for venting, boasting, and scheming.
I use it mainly for fun and motivation, such as my progress in drawing.
So much intrigue to sight, so little time to draw.
I spotted this passenger on the upper deck while sitting on the lower deck.
I had to draw this one partially from memory as the subject kept on changing postures.
2019-03-24
Subjective depiction of objective reality
A drawing subject has expressed concerns about the lack of similarity between her self-perception and my depiction. I told her that since my drawings are a long way towards professional maturity, she should be concerned about her appearance much less than I about my drawing skill.
This applies to other discrepancies between what others depict us and what we think of ourselves. The former can provide opportunities for improvement, but should not cause disturbances if we truly understand and believe in ourselves.
When I was a kid, my grandfather once told me that only fools care about what other inferior people think of us.
2019-03-14
College cheating scandal
I am not sure what kind of lessons these parents are trying to teach their kids by cheating with college admissions; maybe they have successfully cheated towards their own career successes and believe their kids can follow suit.
2019-03-10
Drawing from a magazine photo
The strong lighting contrast on the face can help practice hatching and shading, but I completely failed to depict the cute subject; will revisit.
2019-02-07
Imposter syndrome
A colleague recently told me that he felt like being an imposter in our lab. I was surprised because in my view he has been very successful all around.
Many members of our research community feel likewise and need to shore up their facades. I guess we can all relax a bit once we realize everyone else is just like us.
Or you can be like me, too insensitive or self-absorbing to really care what others think about us. (I still pretend I do, mostly to fit in.)
🙂
2019-02-02
Self programming
Instead of the current medical technology which looks like ad-hoc hack, I look forward to the day when we could program ourselves (e.g., at a molecular or genetic level) as we could with artificial entities, so that we can adapt to any environments and resist all diseases, including aging and death.
Maybe eventually we will still perish, but we can at least watch the collapse of the universe.
PS: reincarnation is probably still the best form of immortality.
PPS: the same technology could be applied to restore biodiversity and revert climate change.
2019-01-23
Doing projects versus developing people
I like the technical part of Mengqi’s SIGGRAPH 2018 presentation, but even more so at the end when she talked about never giving up.
During the early stage of my research career I focused more on doing projects, but have gradually shifted more towards developing people, which I found to be an even more interesting and rewarding experience.