-November 28th, 2007-

What exactly is so special about this notebook, that makes it so ridiculously hard for me to muster the nerve to write upon it?  Perhaps it has to do with the pristine quality of the paper, or the fact that anything I write upon it seems more like vandalism than a precious thought.  It is quite obvious though, that I have conquered both of the above fears, and yet, something remains that still bothers me.  It may be the magical feeling one gets when one cracks open a beautiful notebook for the first time.  The feeling so fleeting, almost immediately driven away by the thought that these poorly written words are inadequate; an injustice to this page.  But, it is this very feeling that drives me to write this; that compels me to muster the strength and words worthy of a note book of this kind.  A tribute to bohemian thought.

-March 11th, 2008-

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i j k l m
k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a b c d e f g h i j

Vunir abg jeggra va urer sbe n juvyr.

juvyr nsbe urer va jeggra abg unir v

Sp iyf nomyno drsc iyf rkfo gkcdon iyfb dswo.

owsd bfyi nodckg ofkr fyicsrd onymonfyi ps.

Gbqnl, Vunir rawbrq fbyivat yngreny guvaxvat cebyrzf.

-October 23rd, 2008-

Why is it that we do not feel our mortality until we give our endless numbered days a non-endless amount?

Why is it that people feel such pressure to put on an image, a false pretense of what they would like to be seen as, though this may be quite far from the truth?

-November 16th, 2008-

I wonder how many people in this world are happy because of an over-inflated sense of self worth.

If words are inherently deceiving, how much more so are our actions?

-January 12th, 2009-

How come “truth” is not a verb, while “lie” is?

Are there no “truthers” in this world?

-April 21st, 2009-

It has been about a year and a half since I got this notebook, and yet only 3 pages have been filled.  I must say though, that more than 3 pages of my life have passed by within this time.  Much more has been experienced.  I feel that I am now much closer to figuring out how to live content with my achievements while maintaining a burning desire to continually push myself to achieve more.  But, improvements seldom come free of setbacks.  Spiritually, I feel more lost than before, and much more cynical.  I wish I could survive on blind faith, but I have failed in convincing myself to believe without rationale.  In the end, I find it most important to treat people well and to put effort into making the world a better place for all.

-Also-

Controversial “truths”- non-sustained aid to poor countries is probably worse for the countries than giving no aid at all.

-May 5th, 2009-

There are many people deluded by a sense of self importance. We all know people who walk around thinking that whatever they are working on is somehow infinitely more important in the grander scheme of things than what you are working on. Perhaps they believe that their purpose in life is to make money. Sure, money is important. We all need some money to survive, a little bit more to live, and depending on who you are, it may be much more to live happily. But money should not be the reason we live. I feel that it is an extremely selfish existence to live such a life.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do with what limited time I have, and I’ve come to the conclusion that first, everyone’s lives should be appreciated, and that no one’s time is more important than anyone else’s. I want to become a doctor. Most people think doctors are in it for the money, but the doctors who are in it for the money aren’t very good doctors. I think that to be a good doctor, one must first disregard money as the goal, and take the satisfaction that is granted by the profession as something greater than what money can satisfy. Sure there are many professions that could help people. Businessmen that run nonprofits help fund efforts to help the underprivileged, lawyers fight for the justice of the underrepresented, teachers educate the not yet educated, and the list goes on. Doctors are a bit different however. Doctors are able to partake in the most direct way possible to help someone out: to save a life. The power to heal the sick is a privilege only doctors share. At the end of the day, a doctor is able to feel a satisfaction that few others experience.

-August 1st, 2009-

I don’t have my special pen tonight that I usually use for such entries, but perhaps it is more appropriate this way, as all things are impermanent.  When we are sick, we suffer not because of our sickness (at least in most cases), but rather because we do not know what we are suffering from.  Once a name has been given to what ails us however, this suffering we experience ceases to exist.  For example, my right ear felt muffled for about a day and my hearing was definately abnormal, and so, naturally I suffered.  I had no idea what was causing this sudden hearing loss, and so instead of simply experiencing pain, my pain was also accompanied by suffering.  Today however, I got my ear examined, and my pain was labeled and categorized as an “ear infection”, and as a result, my suffering was no more.  From this experience, I have concluded a few things.  First, that suffering is caused by the worry and paranoia that result from ignorance.  My limited views on happiness point me to think that happiness is the absence of suffering, and so leading a life of eschewing ignorance should be the happiest life.  I feel that a large portion of a doctor’s responsibilities is to inform the patient to the fullest extent, so as to minimize the amount of suffering to be incurred.  So why then, in our current era of such easily accessible information is there sitll so much suffering?  I would, again, in my limited perspectives concerning happiness, deduce that it is due to general laziness.  So in the end, the final conclusion is that laziness is the source of unhappiness in our world today.  But then, you ask, why do we have that trite saying that “ignorance is bliss”?  Well, then I would go back to what I said previously: that there is a fine division between pain and suffering.  But I could be wrong on this one.  Perhaps some knowledge induces suffering while the ignorance of some knowledge does the same as well.  In the end, I feel we can live happily believing that pain is inevitable, and suffering is optional.  Ignorance is bliss only when we choose to suffer from what we know.

We set out for SF around noon, and took the F-line from Berkeley.  The trip took over an hour, but was still perhaps better than taking the bart.  After arriving, we had to find our way to get to Embarcadero, which pretty much involved heading North.  Among the places we planned to visit were the Aquarium of the Bay, Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, and whatever else we might encounter while exploring SF.

Along the way, we passed the Bay Bridge, nothing too scenic yet, just ordinary SF stuff.

Passed some interesting looking buildings.

And some cherry blossoms in Levi’s Square.

We finally reached Embarcadero.  Now to trek past all the piers…

At last, Pier 39!

Well, it was Valentine’s Day after all.

The weather cleared up just as we arrived at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Approaching the Aquarium of the Bay.

There was much more cool stuff than these pictures will do justice for.  It was worth the $16 admissions fee.

It rained a bit while we were inside.

Dinner at Tarantino’s.  Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl for $5.45.

The view from Tarantino’s.

Journeying to Ghirardelli Square.  That is Hyun-jun’s head.

Destination, Gharardelli Square: reached.

There were some Valentine’s Day pillowfights going on.

Free Hugs!

So far, classes have been okay, despite a chronic lack of sleep (I have 8am classes Monday through Friday). They have been okay because, remarkably, I’m really enjoying what I’ve learned so far. In previous semesters, I was perhaps too busy to really enjoy learning. I put myself through an endless barrage of midterms, finals, and term-papers, and as a direct result, my both my quality of learning, and my quality of life took a toll.

With more free time now, I find it easy to savor what I learn, and instead of quickly processing the information and passing it through my system, I can now ruminate on the many new flavors coming my way.  I know what you’re thinking, damn this guy’s got some cheesy metaphors.  And speaking of cheesy things, the ending to Slumdog Millionaire was pure cheddar, but I digress.  Maybe it’s the sense of familiarity I get coming into this semester.  For O-chem, I have the same professor as I had last semester, and it’s taught in the same lecture hall.  For Bio, I remember the plant stuff pretty well from my highschool days, but the logistical stuff is new to me.  Japanese stays pretty constant as well.  It’s also nice to be over the days of the sophomore slump, which hit me pretty hard after a fantastic freshman year.  But now I’ve got my game face on, yeah, this is serious business.

Starting off the semester with a yellow belt in judo wasn’t a bad touch either.  But then again, I don’t think there are many white belts that haven’t ranked up yet.  Judo seems to be more enjoyable than before as well, even though we’re only three weeks in and I’ve racked up a few minor injuries already (no worries, it’s just a fleshwound).  So far I’ve mostly just been working on my harai goshi, which is quite a sick throw.  We’ve got two Korean guys from Yong-in University visiting us as well, check out their demo below:

Needless to say, they are scary good.

In other news, I was able to nab an interview for a lab in the bio department, so hopefully I’ll get that research position.  I’ll try to get some kind of leadership skills this semester, since I’m seriously lacking that right now.  The new suitemates are also pretty good guys, Albert and Ariel.  Albert was rather quiet at first, but when he’s feeling like it, he’s got some good stuff to say.  Ariel is a pretty social guy, and it’s pretty fun having him around.  This semester is off to a good start, let’s see if I can mantain this outlook until the summer!

Last year’s resolutions were a bit too strict and perhaps too ambitious for me to have realistically completed.  However, I fulfilled most of them for the most part.

1. Live by Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues.
2. Sleep before 12:30am, and wake before 9:00am.
3. Run 1 mile daily, and 12 down daily (eventually reach 15 down).
4. Continue fulfilling my resolutions from 2007.
5. Finish Fantasie and Etude 3.
6. Find an internship or a job for the summer.
7. Waste less time on the internet (facebook, digg, etc.)

The resolutions I have yet to fulfill are generally those that require large lifestyle changes, namely: sleeping and exercizing with regularity.  During the school year, it was nearly impossible to sleep before 12:30am, but I never awoke after 9:00am.  This year, I think that it will be better to revise this resolution to deal more with regularity of sleep by hours rather than by specific times.  Hopefully I will be able to stick with this much better.  I was able to exercize regularly up until the Fall semester, which was a rather rough patch of my life (academically, physically, mentally).  I should resolve to figure out a way to manage my academic, extracurricular, and social lives while maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  With regards to music, I have tried to become more creative this year, and tried making my own music.  This turned out okay, but I had less time, and motivation to practice technique, so I wasn’t able to finish Fantasie or any Etude, though I am further than I was at the beginning of the year.  This year, I hope to write down what I have created, and finish what I began.

Resolutions for 2009:

1. Learn to control my attention: Columnist David Brooks, commenting in the Dec. 16th New York Times about Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book called “Outliers,” made a statement as profound as it was accurate: “Control of attention is the ultimate individual power,” he wrote. “People who can do that are not prisoners of the stimuli around them.”
2. Live a more ordered life: Sleep regularly (8 hrs a night if possible), Eat regularly (at regular times), Exercize regularly (go running at least once a week, improve endurance, start 12 down again).
3. Get focused, and find more effecient methods of studying.
   
4. Get a better sense for judo.
5. Find more time to creative things (music, photography, websites, etc.)
   
6. Write more often (at least once a month), about life, interests, anything, and find time to read for pleasure.
   
7. Find something interesting to do for the summer (research, shadowing, classes, travel?).

This is the ending song for Dennou Coil, an anime that takes place in a futuristic world, where reality and virtual reality are difficult to distinguish for the characters.  Without going into too much detail, one of the major themes throughout Dennou Coil was the distance that separates people.  The characters are able to live in a virtual world by using AR glasses, which are some sort of advanced technology that syncs a virtual world with reality.  The AR glasses allow the characters to have Dennou pets, and everything is happy until the Nulls, and the “other side” is introduced.  As with anything in reality, things in this virtual reality are bound by the rules of mortality, however, these rules are a bit more complex.  Many of the main characters have lost something, relative, friend, or pet, to “the other side”, and in trying to bridge

this distance, they come perilously close to losing their own consciousness as well (kinda have to watch it to get this part).  This is perhaps clarified through the director Mitsuo Iso’s words: “there will always be a distance between people, and even between things that seem within ones’ reach. And that one must walk down a long, thin and winding road before they reach one’s heart. There’s tons of obstacles. It’s in fact like the roads in towns of old.”

This song is really about this distance that separates all people, and all things.  Everyone walks their own paths.  We all have control over which paths we take.  But we don’t always know where the path leads, or with what other paths ours will connect with.  So, although there exists such distances that separate us all, our roads will eventually meet somewhere, allowing us to bridge that distance.

A few notes on the translation:  I’d like to thank thekoalaz for this concept, and for his help in correcting my translation.  For those who can’t read japanese, I’m sorry I didn’t add the romanji for the song (I’m sure you can find it online somewhere).  I think the last line brings the entire song together, as well as the many themes of Dennou Coil.  The last line literally says that the roads “are connected”, but I thought “are connected” wouldn’t convey the real meaning of the song, which is somewhat implied, so I changed it to: “until our paths finally meet”.

On to the review.

Overall Sound Quality:
Straight out of the box, the Denons sounded decent, very mellow tones overall, with superb treble, but the bass was a bit lacking, and the soundstage was confined.  However, they do blow just about every other closed pair of headphones in this price range clear out of the water.

However, after a good 60 hours of listening at moderate volumes, the difference was remarkable.  (You may find that most people who have reviewed these headphones wrote their reviews from initial out-of-the-box impressions, and therefore misjudge the sound.)  The soundstage opened up, the treble became even more detailed, the midrange was perfect, and the bass was stunning.  Tests were conducted across a broad range of music: Etro Anime, Weezer, The Flashbulb, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Cut Copy, and other good quality rock and electro sounded the best, and allowed for the headphones to produce the widest range of frequencies.  All of the music I tested the Denons with is encoded in lossless FLAC, and played un-amped through my laptop, which has a pretty decent sound card.  I must stress how important it is to use good quality music (i.e lossless, or at the least above 192kbps), when assessing sound quality for headphones.

Cliff’s notes version: Denons sound great for Rock/Electro.  Use FLAC.

I also tested a pair of Bose Triports to give a good comparison for what most consumers would consider “good sound”.  (Don’t buy Bose by the way, they are overpriced, and as proven here, better sound can be had at cheaper prices.)  Both headphones are closed and circumaural, and roughly in the same price range, so I thought the comparison would be helpful to people who are shopping around. For the same tracks, the Bose Triports had thumpier bass, but the trebles were a bit muddied, and the overall soundstage felt a bit cramped.  The Denons had much smoother bass (I guess you could describe it as less distracting?), but by no means flatter, and the trebles were much more detailed and clear.  The Denons also had a much larger soundstage.  In a few tracks there were sounds that I thought were coming from behind me, which made me instinctively look back, even though I knew the sound came from my headphones.

Cliff’s notes version: Denon > Bose.

For most closed headphones, the sound is described as tinny, or as if you were listening from inside a bucket.  This is not true for the Denons.  For most closed headphones, the sound attenuation is quite good, and you can’t hear much from the outside.  The Denons aren’t great for blocking sound from coming in, but little sound leaks out.  This is where you, as the consumer, should think a bit about what you’ll be using the headphones for.  I use the Denons mostly at work, so I really appreciate that no sound leaks out.  I don’t really mind the sounds coming in either (which are only noticeable at low volumes, or when no music is playing.)  If you really don’t like hearing outside sounds, or primarily want to listen to music say, on public transportation, or in other loud environments, the Denons are not for you (or any open headphones either for that matter).  For those users, I would recommend browsing through some in-ear-monitors (Shure, Ultimate Ears, are good), as they block out sound by literally not allowing it to pass through to the ear drum.  I personally don’t like noise cancelling headphones, as they cancel noise by emitting counter frequencies, that for some reason give me a headache after prolonged use.

Cliff’s notes version: Denons don’t block out sound very well, but neither do most closed headphones.  If this is a must for you, go look for In Ear Monitors, as these are the best compromise.

Overall sound quality: 9/10.

Comfort:
You will not find a single review anywhere that describes the Denons as uncomfortable.  Simply put, the Denons are the most comfortable headphones I have ever worn.  I wear them to work, listen about 5 hours a day continuously there, and I barely feel that they’re there at all.  The earpads are made of soft pleather that envelopes your ears with soft squishy goodness.  I have a pretty average sized head, and the Denons fit perfectly (even without adjusting the size).

Cliff’s notes version:  Your ears will thank you.

Comfort: 10/10.

Build Quality:
Overall, I would put the Denons on the more fragile side, as I wouldn’t feel comfortable throwing these into a bag to carry somewhere. The size adjustment mechanism works well and the overall build is great, but as I noted before, they would probably break if thrown around.  On the other hand, the connector is superb, and the cable looks like it would withstand heavy use quite well.  As with any good piece of equipment however, as long as you take good care of it, it should serve you faithfully.

Cliff’s notes version: Will break if sat on.

Build Quality: 8/10.

So there you have it.  The Denons are a great pair of headphones if you are looking for closed circumaural cans to be used in a quiet setting.  You will not regret buying them.  You will have happy ears.

Total Score: 27/30

This was shot somewhere around my neighborhood at around sunset.  The original picture was horribly underexposed, however, thanks to the magic of photoshop and a few other photo editing tools, I was able to fix it up to what you see below.  I could have raised the highlights and shadows a bit more, but I thought that it would look a bit too constructed.  However, it remains true to it’s HDR name, as the dynamic range is much wider than it normally ought to be.

“I do not care what car you drive where you live, if you know someone who knows someone who knows someone.  If your clothes are this years cutting edge.  If your trust fund is unlimited.  If you are A-list B-list or never heard of you list.  I only care about the words that flutter from your mind.  they are the only thing you truly own.  the only thing I will remember you by.  I will not fall in love with your bones and skin.  i will not fall in love with the places you have been.  I wil not fall in love with anything but the words that flutter from your extraordinary mind.”

-Andre Jordan