Google Translator's Mishaps.

I remember a note I once wrote on Facebook. I had tried to write something in French, but knowing me and my not so amazing French skills, I decided not to make a fool out of myself. But what else could I choose that was not "stereotypical" English?

Chinese, of course.

So I wrote something that combined both Chinese and English, and at the bottom, despite knowing that few people actually read my notes, even if I tag them, I wrote, "Free cookies if you read both the English and Chinese part."

Of course, I would be proven wrong. The next day, I find a comment from Argon.

"Does using Google translator count?"

I searched for Google translator online, and then copied and pasted what I wrote into the translation box. With my entire sleep-deprived being in anticipation, I clicked "Translate."

And waited.

And laughed.

To be fair, Google translator is pretty impressive with its translations. There were phrases that were translated that did not take the literal, native-Chinese-speakers-will-laugh-at-this meanings and instead took the meanings I intended. Even some proper nouns were translated.

But to be really fair, the translations were nowhere near accurate. Some sentences were grammatically incorrect. Some sentences were jumbled beyond recognition. Some sentences were, well, the exact opposite of what I wrote.

The other night Kathrya talked about translating Hebrew on Google, and I was reminded of this again. Perhaps Google is better with Hebrew. I am not sure. It could completely be because Chinese has drastically different grammar and word usage rules than English and other Latin-based languages.

Regardless, I wrote a piece about math team members (in a depressing way, as a slight parody to the way math team people usually conduct themselves) in Chinese, and stuffed it into Google translator.

I'm beginning to think I should not trust my French translations as well.

Original Text:

(note: each "chunky" part represents a new person, and that person's Chinese nickname is the first few characters of the block. every time. I made it into a template.

and, try putting this into the translator.)

那人, 那感, 那曾经的事.

想写些什么.

麦芽头已经不像以前那么陌生了. 还是那么的天真, 那么坦白, 那么善良. 记得, 曾经说过, 不喜欢他的名字, 因为那让我想起以前不愉快的事. 可是他和泰不一样. 他明白什么会伤害我. 虽然他依然会那么做, 但是他还是会道歉. 泰, 则一直认为我可以接受他的一切.

红姐曾说过, 和她们在一起, 大家终究会认识的. 我那时只是笑, 没有说什么. 可是我明白, 必须要一直和她们在一起, 才会被她们记得. 而我并不属于她们的世界. 我是一个游荡的文客, 在不同世界中徘徊. 离开后, 会有人惦记, 却不会有人去寻找.

冰岛是一个懂得说实话, 却不愿说的人. 这些人中, 他, 是我最不理解的. 为什么惹我心烦, 却又记得我最琐碎的事? 为什么避开我, 却又莫名其妙与我对话? 为什么既让我厌烦, 却又以他那神秘的方式, 使我陶醉? 这一切, 是他的一个游戏么? 他是庄家, 还是也是一位不知情的玩家?

罗欧真的很像欧洲的伸士, 礼貌, 却又不是那么教条. 没有自我高尚的想法, 没有看不起他人的表现, 却明明比他人出色. 可是, 如欧洲的伸士一般, 他没有王族的权威. 被别人攀比的时候, 他妒嫉么? 他的微笑后, 有多少的苦衷, 我或许无法理解, 但是他的犹豫和他的谎言, 是谁也瞒不过的.

水儿我无法责怪. 踏入黑暗旅程的那一刻, 便注定知道: 走多远, 飞多高, 都是自己决定的. 我, 曾经也那么天真过. 曾经也相信, 只要敢坚持, 就不怕未来带来多少灾难. 而我忽略了, 莫策万变的未来, 是不会让人坚持的. 或许注定这样吧, 让失去梦想的人回望还没有被抹黑的人.

郭大哥似乎很淳朴, 没有太多对世界不满的超升心理. 我曾问过他, 以后想要做什么? 这样的世界就真的满足么? 当时, 他淡淡说起未来, 自我贬低谈起俗世的事情. 而我, 接受了那一瞬间的平静, 一刹那的毫无遮掩的信心. 千年之缘, 在片刻展现. 我们都是相信传说的人, 所以踏过梁河时, 都不禁回头.

瑜加, 是第一个让我情不自禁嫉妒的人. 第一次见到她, 就明白, 她和我是那么的相似, 却会永远比我拥有的要多. 她拥有所有我曾渴望的: 过去, 现在, 和未来. 可是天使般的她, 却也没有得到我最想得到的愿望. 她, 终究也逃脱不了现实的残酷铐锁.

魔法师和我对话是这些人中最少的. 是因为我们的差别太大了么? 他的自信, 我的懦弱; 他的成就, 我的无为. 还记得, 有一回, 我手里拿着一幅画, 被他看到了. 他的眼中, 充满了惊讶. 其实, 他并不是一个懂得虚幻的人. 也许, 这才是我们真正的差别. 他是现实中的又一名成功的人, 而我, 只能在这两个世界中徘徊.

艾里森是个什么样的人? 和罗欧冰岛在一起, 他懂得他的牌么? 他应该明白吧. 他是足够聪明的. 冰冷的表情背后, 他有什么样的梦想? 不过他是不答理我的. 我, 对他来说, 又是一个什么样的人呢? 我虚假的温暖, 会不会让他想起身边的事?

李妃最宝贵的, 务必是她珍藏的面具罢了. 她真的认为, 能够瞒过我们么? 或许她是舞台上的明星, 拥有迷人的笑容, 但是我们是后台的阴影. 所有残酷的谎言和他人所不知的秘密, 都隐瞒不了我们. 谣言, 是她的杰作; 而诱人的谜, 是我的特长. 面具终究会碎的, 因为没有永久的夜.

皇阿哥或许从来就没有理解我们的争执. 离完美, 他差多远呢? 就是那么几步的距离, 可是他却不敢迈出. 是什么让他犹豫? 他的理由, 和我的一样么? 不敢放弃, 不敢离开, 不敢承担在别人痛苦时自己逃脱的罪. 即使在悬崖边, 也只能眼睁睁看着那么遥远的天空.

玛瑙和我们在一起, 和她平时并不一样. 可是我们从来没有责问过自己, 是不是我们过于要求他人了? 有的时候, 只有在痛苦时, 才明白痛苦是什么滋味. 当我们离开绝望的陷阱时, 早已忘却当时为什么悲哀. 回味过去美好时光时, 是不是也要想一想那些曾遇到过的, 从未愈合的伤口?

温泉就如橡皮泥一样, 轻而易举就能塑成想要的形状. 也许我过于夸张了, 也许与他一样的人真的是太多了. 在随意被摆弄时, 他有没有抗议的想法? 有没有懂得无法改变命运后的绝望? 还是从一开始, 就接受了不公平的现实, 答应放弃?

塞让人最不理解的, 并不是他的冷漠, 而是他那并不冷的冷漠. 似乎关心, 却又毫不理会的他, 会被什么而动心呢? 需要有多大的悲剧, 才会让他觉悟? 也许, 写这些, 就意味着, 我也并不知道答案. 我是一个渴望晚会般虚假漠落的悲剧的人. 音乐, 要凄惨的. 颜色, 要悲凉的. 因为, 外界越痛苦, 就意味着内心与现实的差距越小.

Why Not to Start Your Research Paper on the Day Before it's Due.

1. You find yourself needing to write five pages of solid work, of which you barely have one page.

2. You find your fellow classmates needing to write five pages of solid work, of which none of them barely have ten pages combined. In a class of twenty.

3. You find yourself waking up really, really early to finish off said five pages.

4. You find your fellow classmates not waking up really, really early and not finishing off said five pages.

5. You find yourself weeks behind on another blog entry.

6. You find your fellow classmates... wait, you don't know if your fellow classmates have blogs.

Well, now that I know why I should totally not procrastinate on my research paper, and why I should totally plan it out ahead and totally write it long before it's due, will I actually do it?

Well...

No.

I'll probably, at most, just think about it for a very, very long time. And I doubt I'll even think about it for such a long time. Other, more exciting things, are always around.

Like the AMC results.

I talked to Argon, who religiously checks the AMC website and can apparently glean off information that I myself cannot find (a.k.a. the cutoff scores), and he told me that the 12A cutoffs were 88.5. So, if the 12B cutoffs are the same, I have room to make two "oops-I-bubbled-it-wrong-again" mistakes, and exactly two.

The downside to that?

Dino would also make it, what with his guessing not-so-strategy.

I know it sounds mean, but I really do not think Dino deserves to make it to AIME's. But I searched around Google and I've heard that quite a number of people got over 100, so I am not sure about these cutoffs. Also, apparently, many people who take 12B have also taken 12A and take the second one because they didn't do so well on the first one, and are thus more prepared for the second one.

Who knows?

All I can say is, I am 95% confident that Argon was one of the pitifully few who actually did practice problems on the AMC site.

I know for me, personally, I forgot the AMC even existed until the day before, when Nyx conveniently reminded me. But that's just me.

Of course, I'm also really, really excited for Moody's.

Rumor on the street claims this year's topic is going to be about healthcare, namely what is the best way to tackle the healthcare problem while minimizing government (or better known as tax) money, maximizing savings for the average person, and possibly avoiding political attacks.

You know, such things as, "It's socialism, and if this is passed in Congress then I'm going to move to Canada!"

Well, no, you're not. Because, if anything, Canada is much more socialist than the US, even with the addition of a universal healthcare system. Moving to Canada will help your case in no way whatsoever. You might as well say you're moving to China.

Which actually might help, as China's barely starting (if any) a socialist system, and as for now, there isn't even a property tax.

But I digress again.

Regardless of whether the rumor's true, I'll be looking into the healthcare system for the next few days. And if it is true, and some other topic such as when is the best time to end the war in Iraq/Afghanistan or how to end our reliance on foreign oil is not chosen or even how to make sure colleges don't spam your inbox with the same emails, then I'm sure we will be prepared plenty.

Of course, I would also be pleasantly surprised if they asked us to design a work calender to maximize worker productivity, with an emphasis on more breaks. I'm not picky at all.

I will be bringing my calc textbook, my precalc textbook, my algebra textbook, my photocopied version of the geometry textbook, my stat textbook, my dad's weird math textbooks in Chinese, my AP review books, and other assortments of random things. You know, calculators, pencils, graph paper, shiny erasers, and so forth.

I think the fact that I've been writing research papers and US reflections for the past few weeks has greatly hindered my natural tendency to write in lists instead of separate, cohesive thoughts, and thus I am expressing myself excessively in this post.

Oh well. Moody's is coming up, and that means fourteen hours of, as Jimmy nicely put it, "insanity." I do believe this reminds me to also bring nice, soft, cushiony pillows, as our school's chairs are most uncomfortable (although the tables are, according to Tea, better than some other schools' tables). I would not be able to stand another fourteen hours of sitting on the ground with only my coat as a soft thing to buffer the pain. I wouldn't even have Joss as a pillow anymore.

So yeah. Pillows, food, writing utensils, and more food.

What more math could there be?

Oh, being on A team for the math meet, finally, after a two month hiatus. Not that I minded B team too much, but I would have liked a chance to see if I could rank comparably with the other people in our grade, and missing a chunk of points because your score wasn't counted does skew the results somewhat.

However, I find it amazing Tybalt did not do better than me. He had been, after all, beating me in my rounds ever since... he started doing them as well. Maybe he had been distracted. That could explain the slightly lower AMC score as well.

Does that mean, since Bryant also scored worse than last year, that he is also distracted? By what? Or whom?

Oh, such mysteries in this world.