Gene B. Kim

I’ve been TAing optimization this summer (June 22 – July 30) on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 am. As most of you know, this is quite an awful time for me… The reasonable thing for me would have been to reset my sleep schedule. Instead, I’ve been going to sleep after I teach and waking up around 6 pm. Fail.

I have known Jeremy for a little bit over three years, but we started hanging out a lot in the Fall 2007 semester when we took Real Analysis together. The class was on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:40 – 3:00; however, we started having KFC emergencies. Around October, I introduced Jeremy to the wonderful boneless buffalo wings at Applebee’s. One of the times we went, there wasn’t enough sauce on the wings. So while I was munching on my mozzarella sticks, Jeremy looks at the chicken on his fork and then just dips the wing into my marinara sauce! :O So I was sitting there expecting the usual look of dissatisfaction and the misery that flows through Jeremy’s face. But instead, his face lit up like a christmas tree. So since then, we started ordering boneless buffalo wings with a side of marinara sauce.

We went to Applebee’s for the last time in late July 2008. Unfortunately, at UCLA, the closest Applebee’s is 20 miles away. So while we’re both back in NJ, we decided to go back to our favorite joints, such as White Castle, Dusal’s, and Keum Ho Jung. Anyways, we’re back at Applebee’s last night, and we order two boneless wings with marinara sauce. The waiter gives us a weird look, then disappears into the kitchen. A few minutes later, he comes back and asks us for the story behind the marinara sauce… At this point, we’re just like “great…” Then the waiter told us that the guys in the kitchen asked if the “marinara guys are back?” You know it’s a bad thing when the “cooks” at Applebee’s knows us and the liquor store guys don’t check Jeremy’s ID. Jeremy looks like he’s 15.

Anyways, 5 days left till LA!

Finally, it is over. My first quarter as a graduate student is done with.

The classes were pretty bad. Algebra and topology were things I didn’t really care about that much. Algebra was interesting at first when we were doing category theory, but the interest tapered off during group theory. Topology was just terrible. And combinatorics was mostly everything I knew already. So it felt like I didn’t really learn anything; however, the amount of homework was quite impressive. In algebra, there were 10 HW sets with 10 problems each, and in topology, we had to do 95 problems.

However, teaching was fun. Well, “teaching.” I don’t really know what it is, but dealing with the students were pretty good. I was even convinced to TA Math 32B next quarter, which is the horrible integration part of multivariable calculus. *sigh*

Anyway, hopefully things will get better next quarter.

10/11/08:

The new layout to this page totally killed the sexy table format I had before. Anyways. I was playing 2/3 NL. Now California cardrooms (“casinos”) have this weird system where at each game, there are fixed buy-ins. For example, the 1/2 NL, you have to buy in for $40, and for 2/3 NL, you have to buy in for $100.

I sat down, and went through six garbage hands. Then I picked up 5c5d at the cutoff spot. There were 4 limpers, so I raised to 25. UTG called and two other limpers called. So the pot is about 100. Flop was 2c 4h 6s. Pretty dead. The SB leads out, putting in 25. The limpers fold; I’m sitting there thinking “what the fuck can he have?” I don’t think he’d have two pair; no way he’d call a preflop raise with that shit. Maybe he has an overpair? Then again, UTG limped under the gun, so I didn’t think he had anything of the sort. So what do I do? I shove for about 70 more. He calls! And flips over… A6. Wow. Seriously? Anyways, turn is Kd, and then, I spike 3d on the river for the straight.

I let a few more orbits of garbage hands go. And then I pick up AsTs under the gun. I thought about throwing it away, but instead, I raise to 12. Dealer calls and SB calls. Pot’s about 35. Flop is Tc 8d 7s. SB checks. I bet 20, slightly over half-pot. Dealer shoves for 30 more, and the SB shoves for 70 total. I have about 350 left, and I’m curious. Well, I guess I knew I was beat, and I don’t know what I was thinking, but I called. Dealer had J9 for the nut straight, and SB had pocket eights. Haha. So fucked. Turn was Ac and the river was 7d, giving the SB the winning hand, eights full of sevens.

After a few bluffs and calling the bluffs, my stack was at about 500. It was my last orbit and last hand, and I pick up Ac2c UTG. I raise to 10. Dealer called, and everyone else folded. Flop was 5s 7d 2c. I bet 15 and he called. Turn was 5d. I bet 30 and he called. I give up my hand; river is 3h and I check. He bets 120, and I fold. I’m just curious as to what he had. High pair? Sevens? Deuces? What was he calling me down with?

+340

———-

10/14/08:

Nothing to say really. I spent the first ~60 hands throwing away shit. I got K4 twelve times and Q2 seven times. It was truly amazing. First playable hand I get is AsTd UTG. I raise to 12. The guy after me (asshole #1) re-raises me to 24, and the SB (asshole #2) re-raises to 75. Like… what the fuck, guys. I throw the hand away, and the two assholes duke it out. Queens (asshole #2) against Eights (asshole #1), and asshole #1 spikes an eight on the turn for a set. Jackasses.

After two more orbits of garbage, I get TsTc UTG. I raise to 10. Asshole #1 re-raises to 30, and the SB (asshole #3) re-raises to 70. I have ~40 left, and I’m sick of getting shit and these two assholes, so I throw in the rest of my chips. So we’re all all-in. Asshole #1 has nines, and asshole #3 has kings. Bricks all around, and I lose. =[

-100

Probably one of the worst (not monetary but disappointing) sessions.

Well, so far I finished four days at UCLA. So as I used to do, I will post comments about my classes:

Math 210A – Algebra
The professor is pretty good at teaching, but one thing I will hold against him is he started out with categories. Categories aren’t really that bad; in fact, they are somewhat intuitive. Maybe I’m just getting old. But it looks like I’ll actually enjoy the material for once… I say that now; I’ll probably hate it once we get to rings.

Math 218A – Probabilistic Methods
This course is really good. Benny is really good, and of course, the material is pretty interesting to me. But it seems that the psets in this class will be as tough, if not more, as Van Vu’s psets. Sounds like work. D= 

Math 225A – Differential Topology
Well, we haven’t really done anything in this class. The professor, for the first two lectures, have just gone over the results that we’ll eventually go over (I think), such as Smale’s H-Cobordant Theorem. Except, it’s apparently pronounced “smells etch cobohdahn seeorem”. The book (Differential Topology by Guillemin/Pollack) seems terrible. Hopefully I’ll survive through the course. Oh, and the professor still haven’t really defined what a manifold, a homeomorphism, a diffeomorphism, or a smooth structure is. Good times.

Math 226A – Riemannian Geometry
I’ve always been a fan of geometry. The lecturer seems good, but he still hasn’t really rigorously proved anything. But the course shows promise.

Math 245A – Real Analysis
Uh. This is probably the most painful class. The material’s been pretty much dumbed down for retards. The pace of the class kills me, and this will probably the first class I skip if I ever do. HAHAHAHA. 

How can I leave out…

Math 32 – Calculus of Several Variables
So I never went to recitations (called discussion sessions here) when I was an undergrad. It seems like the guy running those has no idea what he’s doing and just does the homework requests that the students put out. And he seems pretty awkward… and hot. Oh wait, that’s me.