I'm sorry I didn't stop by to tell you

http://www.michigandaily.com/news/engineering-lecturer-dies-53-cancer

my first engineering professor.

for a whole semester,

his lectures were filled with case studies,

class activities, and projects

that honestly,

didn't seem to add up at that time.

"just random general engineering stuff" was my interpretation of the class--

I mean, the class was called "introduction to engineering."

and the activities were ridiculously hard to do--

I don't think we were able to successfully finish any of them.

it was only until the last lecture that he explained it to us.

the theme of this class was

that failure happens.

we learned about it in the case studies,

and we felt it first-hand during our projects.

failures in our field can not only be costly,

but can endanger the lives of many.

he made us understand that from the start

and prepared us to face it when it comes.


despite having a class size in the hundreds,

he knew all our names.


when I couldn't go home for Thanksgiving

and had nowhere to eat because all the restaurants and cafeterias were closed,

he invited me and others in the same situation to his home

for his family's Thanksgiving dinner.


when I became a peer mentor for that same class,

he instilled in us his passion to teach.


I was meaning to stop by your office to thank you before I left school for graduation,

but for some reason I thought that I should wait until I accomplished something outside of school,

tell you how I applied the things we learned in real life.

then I did visit school once,

but then I was slightly embarrassed that I was not working in a true engineering career.

I thought I'd have time.


when you quoted "scientists discover the world that exists; engineers create the world that never was,"

you assured me that engineering is the path I should take.

you made me realize that engineering is not just a skill to learn

but a discipline--a way of life.

thank you.

1/10

thankful for

1) health.
as this article will show,
currently there is an unusually big outbreak of the flu.
realizing this made me start worrying for a second,
thoughts of germ-a-phobia making a brief entrance,
but thought the right mindset would be to be thankful that I'm well.

2) interesting outcomes in technology.
Watson is the name of an artificial intelligence created by IBM
that was able to beat humans in Jeopardy.
when I read an article about how Watson,
after learning the urban dictionary (dictionary of slangs),
started swearing casually,
the thought of it made me laugh and be amazed at the same time.

3) the feeling that I'm not bound to work.
today was one of those days
where, around the time to leave work,
I was thinking,
"no one's going to stop me from leaving,
but I'll just work a little more, just because"

1/9

thankful for

1) knowing my work.
it feels good when your manager responds
"ah, I get what you're doing now--cool."
after I was able to explain to him my fix to a problem.

2) cooking.
cooked something new,
aglio e olio.
still having trouble pronouncing it.
I've never tried it before,
but it must taste like whatever I made,
because it was good.
was pretty proud of myself.

3) feeling something after watching a movie.
wasn't going to watch a movie,
but I was looking through some files
and found a couple of movies that were given to me
to watch during the flight back to New York.
ended up not watching any,
so thought I'd watch one anyway.

Between Calm and Passion
seems to be the working English title.
I've heard about the plot,
which significantly helped me understand
what was happening in the earlier parts of the movie.
I honestly began watching not expecting much
(read: really wasn't in the mood for watching a movie)
but as I reached the end,
I felt something.
my head keeps calling it "a sad relief"--
a slap and then a hug right after.

1/8

thankful for

1) good year-end review.
had the one-on-one talk with the manager before he left,
but today I got the formal report.
let's keep doing my best.

2) friendly barbers.
went to the barber shop I went to last time.
I think I said they might be Jewish,
but now I'm pretty sure they're not.
they speak Russian,
and I noticed today that they have a table with
bottles of vodka in one corner of the shop.
nice.
shop is call "on the mark",
Mark being one of the barbers,
and I never had him to cut my hair until today.
although he never cut my hair,
he remembered me,
"like last time?"
kept mentioning how I have a dense layer of hair,
joking around
and making body motions implying that his arms are falling off.
good atmosphere in that sense.

3) that wine I got yesterday.
it's actually tasting better now,
I guess I'm used to it.

1/7

thankful for

1) delivery of package I forgot about.
it's like getting a present,
only it was me who ordered it and forgot.
Michigan zipper hoodie, yay!

2) small talks.
people came by my office towards the end of the day
and started talking to me,
first a team member from my previous rotation
then my Michigan buddy.
former team member talked about the Caribbeans,
having gone there last week.
St. Martin--
for some reason I want to go there.

3) wine.
haven't bought/drank wine
since November.
manager suggested trying a
particular wine before leaving,
so I decided to see if the shop had it.
I did find it,
but different year.
a bordeaux,
drier than the ones I've normally had tried.
let's see if I get used to it.

1/6

thankful for

1) singing praise.
kept my guitar in a hyung's car after saturday practice,
but he wasn't able to come to church in time due to circumstances.
I kept my place and sang.
guitar/bass/keyboard are all positioned outside of stage,
so no one would notice.
it was great to sing praise
without worrying about which note to hit.

2) a great friend.
he's going on vacation for a couple of months.
we've been such close friends that people are asking me
what I'm going to do without him.
I guess it'll be a time to understand how great a friend he is.
the vacuum will be felt.

3) participating in the Christmas service.
the participants of the play had a (late) after-party.
they ate (I joined after that),
and we spent time talking
and watching a recording of our play.
we also bade farewell to the hyung
who directed the play,
since he will be leaving for Korea in a few days.
he shared his prayer requests,
and we sent him off with a group prayer.

1/5

thankful for

1) free contact lens solutions.
picked up my contact lens prescription,
and they gave me a bag full of contact lens solution.
and it was the brand I use.
yay.

2) not feeling rushed to go to a place.
left home early to go to practice,
sunny day,
no need to think about getting there late.
that feeling of
"should I grab a cup of coffee before going in?"

3) a great leader.
the praise team leader talks to us after practice,
and his honest talks to us
are like the words of a father.