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| I'll be so happy if you could sign my guestbook.Thank you very much. |
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| Slipped Disks during Exam - Suffered a slipped disks after a 10km run just 2 weeks before my final exam. Here is my story... |
| Off Days at Stanford - Was it all work and no play at Stanford? Definitely not! I enjoyed myself so much at Stanford. |
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| My Stanford Stories |
| In September 1993, after completing two undergraduate degrees at Hawaii Pacific University, I embarked on one of my life's greatest (and craziest) challenges. I tried to graduate from Stanford University with a Master's degree in Computer Science.
So an army commando was going to Stanford. Can you picture Hollywood's commando Rambo attending Stanford Unversity? (See my army memoirs.) Could I adjust from the snake-eating rough-and-tumble world of the commandos to the intellectual and sophisticated world of Stanford? Could I drop my M16 and grenade launcher and pick up a laptop and books? Life at Stanford was tough, as I had pretty much expected before I set foot there. Everyone (except me) was a genius. They had brains two or three times the size of mine. My very first exam at Stanford was an introductory undergraduate computer class. And guess what? I scored a whopping 28 out of a 100! I surmised that I would surely never graduate from Stanford. As if the lack of my brain size wasn't enough, I had to reckon with health problems too. I was forced to drop out of my very first quarter at Stanford because of slipped disks (an old chronic injury sustained during my army days). Sometimes, I could not even get out of bed without help. During the third quarter I had another leave of absence because of severe bronchitis. It was so bad that I coughed blood. It was at this time that fellow members of the Stanford Chinese Christian Fellowship helped me. They cleaned my school dorm when I had to move out. They let me stay at one of their houses during my academic leave of absence. They drove me to the clinics and grocery stores. One of them, Liya, even cooked and delivered food to my apartment. They did all these because of God's love. I wouldn't have survived without them. |
| Struggle of the Underdog |
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| So I was out for two of the first three quarters at Stanford. What a discouraging start. In yet another quarter, my slipped disks injuries, caused by my foolish 10 km race participation, struck just two weeks before my final exam. I had to endure several painful physical therapy sessions, taking precious time off from my exam preparation. While studying, my left arm had to support the weight of my body while my right arm wrote and turned the pages. But by God's grace, I scored two As during that quarter! What a pleasant surprise! That boosted my confidence. (This slipped disks episode.)
Eventually, I made it. It was a miracle wrought about by God. He used many people such as my parents, my old friends in Hawaii, friends from the Chinese Christian Fellowship at Stanford (CCFS) and other Stanford friends. Thank you! See links below for my Stanford adventures. I hope you'll enjoy them. |
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| Sick at Stanford - Struck by severe bronchitis just before start of quarter. But big help was on its way... |
| Proud to be at Stanford - Yes, of course I felt great pride to be at Stanford. But it is probably not for the reasons you are thinking.... |
| Is Honesty Really the Best Policy at Stanford? Because of an error in computing scores, I was given a good grade for one of my exam papers. What should I do? And what did I actually do? |
| My Little Contribution - Something that made me feel a little proud of what I had done. |
| Memories at Stanford - A random collection of my memories and thoughts. |
| Schools that REJECTED Me - You'd think that just because Stanford accepted me, I had not faced many rejections from other schools. If so, you are dead wrong. Look at the long list of schools that rejected me. |
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| Stanford Logo. 1996 |
| Receiving the Diploma. After all those sleepless nights and anxious moments, I finally received the degree from Stanford University: one of the proudest moments of my life! |
| Finally, I got my diploma. |
| My Mom. I thank my parents for their moral and financial support for my education both in Hawaii and in California. Because we did not have enough money, only my Mom attended my graduation. Wish that my Dad and the rest of my family could have been there too. |
| Thank You, America! Gown and diploma and the US flag. I am so grateful to the USA for the education (in and out of the classroom). I've learned so much. The USA is indeed the greatest nation in the world! God bless America. |
| I identified with her. I felt I was the only one who couldn't understand a thing. |
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| Memoirs of a Stanford Student |
| Overview |
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| I understood her only too well. |
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