25. Looking back my "2013 Resolution"

My goals for myself this year: 

1) Eat more fruits and sleep early.  

2) Spend more time with my family and friends. 

3) Have a regular exercise and meditation. 

4) Enjoy my life and be more adventurous. 

5) Be more confident.  

My goals as a Future Mathematician and Statistician this year: 

1) Master Multivariate Analysis, Stochastic Analysis and Advanced Matrix Algebra.  

2) Master the use of Matlab, SAS, R, EXCEL and SPSS. 

3) To finish read: 

i. The Princeton Companion To Mathematics - Timothy Gowers 

ii. Reading Statistics and Research - Schuyler W. Huck 

iii. Euler's Gem (The Polyhedron Formula and The Birth of Topology) -David S. Richeson 

iv. Prime Obsession (Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics) - John Derbyshire 

v. Honors Class  (Hilbert's Problems And Their Solvers) - Benjamin H. Yandell 

vi. Numerical Analysis for Statisticians - Kenneth Lange 

vii.100 Statistical Tests - Gopal K Kanji

Looking back at my list, I'm not doing that much this year.

• (2) Well, I spent a lot of time with my family especially with my mom. If staying at home and helping her for 365 days doesn't count. I don't know what does.
• (5) Be more confident. After working at cafe for few months and by learning how to handle my boss, colleagues and customers. I think I'm more confident and comfortable with people. I think I'm quite ok now.
• I got an A for my Multivariate Analysis, B for Stochastic Analysis and B for Advanced Matrix Algebra. To be honest, if grading system based on understanding of the subject rather than memory power then I think I'm deserved a lower grade. Well, at least I'm passed!
• I'm able to master R and Excel. Since Matlab and SAS are not free (and I'm not able to download it), I will give it a byebye. SPSS? Next time, maybe...maybe not.
• I spent my whole November and December month reading Euler's Gem, Prime Obsession, The Honors Class and 100 Statistical Tests. Conclusion: I need to read even more and work harder to achieve my goal. 

For the rest of undone goals, I will keep it for next year!

On an unrelated note, I went to my cousin's wedding last Saturday at Sunway Pyramid. I didn't take any photos at the wedding but my mom and I took a few photos outside the wedding hall.

My mom and I at the Sunway Pyramid.

24. I Don't Know

Last Sunday, the water faucet was broken.
I had no other choice but to replace it.

On Monday, after finished working I rushed to the shop to buy a new one.

Then I tried to fix it by my own, but because I 'twisted' it too hard...

the pvc female adapter (I think that's what they called it) pulak broken. 

After that I rushed to that shop again. Rush here, rush there.

Don't buy cheap thing.

My dad taught me how to fix it.

I don't know. At the end, the water was still dripping from somewhere because I glued it improperly.

I hate fixing pipe.

Lastly I don't know how my dad performs what kind of magic tricks, then...Voila, the pipes fixed itself!

Yesterday, my sister woke me up.

Because I need to fetch her to clinic to get medical check-up for PLKN.

Then she asked me to fetch her to her friend's house at sangkala place.

After that I went to work.
I don't know. I'm not happy at work.
I feel I was taken for granted. Me do this, me do that. Urgh.
I don't know. I just feel I don't want to work anymore.

Yesterday is my last day.

Only left twelve days before the end of the year.

I don't know. I feel I have a lot of things undone.

After two years of studying Master, here I am, still living undecided and unknowing about myself. 

Now, when people ask me something, I will only reply,"I will think about it." or "I don't know."

I think that's the best answer.

Kthxbai. Night.

22. The Timekeeper and The Dreamseller

 

Just done reading The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom last week. It was posted by Pikey two weeks ago in the Facebook as a status. He said the book was nicely written. Curious me find the ebook version to read. The story indeed was written in a simple English yet amazing and inspiring way. This book reminds me of another book: The Dreamseller written by Augusto Cury. I still remember I picked up the book in BBW last year. To be honest, I bought the book because of the beautiful cover (it turns out the story is astonishing and attractive than the cover itself, lucky me).

Two quotes that I like the most in the Time Keeper:

 Father Time realized that knowing something and understanding it were not the same thing.

"There is a reason God limits our days.""Why?""To make each one precious."

p/s :This year, I didn't go to BBW.  

21. Legoland

I played this game when I was Form Two (11 years ago).

It took me two to three weeks to finish. 

Now it takes me roughly less than five hours to finish the whole game. >.<"
Suddenly I feel I want to play it, so I go find and download it.

This is the Menu.

Total of 10 levels

This is how the game looks like

After you finish the game, you will receive a cert with your name.

Maybe I'm older now, the fun of playing doesn't seem the same like last time  anymore. =.="

Wikipedia        : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legoland_(video_game)
Download here: http://123fullsetup.blogspot.com/2012/01/legoland-for-pc-full-version.html#more 

p/s: You might need to change your Program Compatibility in order for it to work.  

20. Work, Play, Read, Searching Job

I could sum up my daily routines just in five words: Work, Play, Read & Searching job.
Early in the morning, I will wake up at 8.30 am.
Then I will prepare myself to work at my uncle's cafe.
After I'm finish working at 2.00 pm, I will go home...eat...and play games: Social Empires.

Then I will read book. I'm just finished reading Prime Obsession written by John Derbyshire. It took me five days. Don't ask me to write a review because I got lost halfway. I managed to convince myself to skip through some hazy explanations. I seldom skip when I'm read.

Then at night I will browse through JobStreet to find job because my internet is the most efficient and faster at midnight. Good news: I managed to find company and job that I love to work with. Bad news: Hundreds of people will be competing with me.

-Good luck, Vincent.

19. Languages

I regret. When I was around five or six years old, I decided to choose Cantonese over Hokkien to master. Now none of my family members know how to speak Hokkien except my dad, my aunt (my dad's elder sister), my uncle (my dad's younger brother) and my another uncle (my dad's youngest brother). Once my grandma passed away three years ago, no one speak of that language in my house anymore. That's mean until my generation, the language will completely die out.

I regret. When I was studying in primary school, I decided to choose Malay language over English to master. The reason is because, I thought if I can do well in the country I don't have to worry to go to oversea. Consequences? I have had difficulty when people started using English in conversation and I have had difficulty in writing. I worked so hard and read so many books just to get my English 'corrected'. What a nightmare!

I kinda sad, rather than, regret that my parents didn't send me to Chinese school because knowing Chinese will totally improve my knowledge since there are so many Chinese books out there that is waiting for people to explore. But is ok because I can start now. Better late than never, right? Well, if I need to take six years to master Malay and thirteen years to master English... probably I can take around five to ten years to master Chinese?

p/s: Besides Cantonese, English and Malay, I also want to master Chinese, Japanese and Hokkien because... Lifelong Learning.

p/p/s: That picture kinda nice, right? I generate it by using Tagxedo! You can try it too.

18. Books, Books, Books Everywhere

Today the weather is cold, very cold because whole day has been raining nonstop since 7 am.
Looking around my room ...books...then looking at my own rack...books again... total of seven books that I bought still remain untouched.

1. The New York TIMES Practical Guide To Practically Everything that I bought from Big Bad Wolf last year...  

2. Point Estimation of Root Finding Methods 

3. Managing Mathematical Projects- with Success!

4. Gradient Flows (in Metric Spaces and in the Space of Probability Measures)... 

...three of these I bought from Big Bad Wolf too two years ago... 

5. Darwin, The Indelible Stamp that I bought from Kinokuniya four years ago... 

6. GOD created the Integers that I bought from MPH five years ago... 

7. Loss Models: From Data to Decisions that I bought for my degree course five years ago..

... still sitting on my rack collecting dust. 

This week until next week from 6 to 15 Dec, there will be a huge book sale again! Big Bad Wolf at Mines. Thinking whatever to go or not. Hmm..maybe I shouldn't be too greedy to buy too many books...but the temptation is too strong.

I...want...more...BOOKS!

17. Cane

I couldn't sleep after I have dreamt of that horrible dream.
Why always me dream of this kind of shitty dream?
Worst, I able to remember most of my dreams because it is so real and vivid.

I dreamt I cane by a teacher until my left hand bleeds.
Well, I caned by him once during secondary school because I didn't bring my sportswear.
I never like sport. I always find opportunity to skip it.
And I also caned by my Geography teacher once because I failed her test paper.
When I think about my secondary, I have few 'true' friends except those female friends.
Probably because I never fit in any particular groups.
Maybe that's the reason I don't really like my secondary school.

Now I awake at 4 a.m. and couldn't sleep.
Stupid dream.

16. Euler Book Prize

The Euler Book Prize is awarded annually to an author or authors of an outstanding book about mathematics. The Prize is intended to recognize authors of exceptionally well written books with a positive impact on the public's view of mathematics and to encourage the writing of such books.  

- Mathematical Association of America.

Books below that won the Euler Book Prize from year 2007 - 2013.

  

          2007                                                        2008                                                2009

  

           2011                                                      2012                                               2013

Euler's Gem: The Polyhedron Formula and The Birth of Topology written by Dr David S. Richeson won the Euler Book Prize in the year 2010.

2010

This colourful book provides reader (especially for lay person and undergraduate) with a good and easy to grasp topology concept by using some simple formulas and diagrams. The author introduces one of the most famous mathematician, Leonhard Euler (pronounce as oiler) at the beginning of the book. Euler made various contributions in different field of mathematics which include number theory, calculus, differential equation, probability and of course, topology. 

This book also discusses some well-known challenging problems such  as Seven Bridges of Königsberg, The Four Colour Theorem, and one of the most famous Millennium Prize Problems: Poincaré's Conjecture.

At the end of the epilogue, the author concludes with one of the most famous Poincaré's quote:

The scientist does not study nature because it is useful to do so. He studies it because he takes pleasure in it, and he takes pleasure in it because it is beautiful. If nature were not beautiful it would not be worth knowing, and life would not be worth living...

I think the same quote applies to mathematician and statistician. 

References:
1. http://www.maa.org/euler-book-prize
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler_Book_Prize

p/s: This is the second book in my reading list that I have done. Five more to go! 30 days more!