I'm a huge tennis fan. Tomorrow a huge festival for me is coming, US Open, Tennis Grand Slam Championship. I have been making my own prediction for recent Grand Slam Championships, and the results turned out to prove I'm not an expert. This time I'm gonna write down my prediction here in case I forget it like another time.
I like lots of professional tennis athletes, Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin Del Potro, Gilles Simon, Li Na, Marat Safin, etc. 2009 US Open gave me a sweet memory. Del Potro won US Open Champion and defeated Roger Federer in a breath-taking five sets match. The moment he won, I couldn't believe my eyes and really enjoyed the whole match. Sadly, he was in injury for last year and didn't come to defend his champion.
This year Djokovic went out crazy and played a perfect 3/4 year. There's no impossible for him.
Another male athlete Gilles Simon is coming to his second career peak this year. I always admire the way he plays his games. He's smart and steel-minded though he's skinny and small-sized comparing to other big men.
Let's get to the point. I think the men's champion is gonna be Novak Djokovic. Backup choices are Juan Martin Del Potro, Andy Murray and Roger Federer. Women's champion is gonna to be Serena Williams, and backup choices are Li Na, Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
FRIENDS WANTED $"Priceless" (brief description of myself)
I'm a Chinese guy who just came to the U.S. for less than a month. Generally, I'm an easy going person. I like challenge and I am ready to experience new stuff. Everything in America is strange to me and I am willing to start a bright new life here.
Lots of friends say I always smile, mostly in a silly way. I have a pretty good sense of humor in Chinese. But right now, I'm a boring guy in English, because I cannot use English smooth and smart. Hopefully, I can get American humor in the near future.
I'm really bad at sports. But I LOVE tennis a lot. I enjoy watching tennis and I'm always available to play with. If you need someone to play tennis with you, go ahead call me. I appreciate it. Besides tennis, I like variety stuff, comedy TV shows, movies, manga, etc.
My social circle is very limited right now. I am glad to meet new friends. Facebook me if you are interested. I'm Derek XU.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Thought about "scientific writing" based on BioWriting Class
BioWriting is obviously about scientific writing in biology related fields. As a graduate student, I know I must be capable to write scientific papers, at least, for god's sake, to reach certain criteria of degree programs. But I haven't given much thought to "what", "why", "who" about "scientific writing" meant to be.
What is scientific writing? I used to think that scientific writing equals articles in scientific journals. During the class I think textbooks are also scientific writing, and they're for the majority of people in our community. Then a question came up into my head. What about scientific stuff other than paper? The Discovery channel provides lots of scientific writing. That's a more popular and fun way to communicate science.
Why is scientific writing important? Definitely not for graduation. For ignorant people, as Carrie says in the class. I agree with that. We are all ignorant in certain cases. Spreading knowledge is important for human beings. Hence, printing is a impressive ancient invention and internet is a breakthrough in modern evolution.
Who are we writing for? I think most scientists want their work to be acknowledged by the public. That's what textbooks are made for. We may become scientists someday, if we get lucky. So we must learn how to write scientific stuff in a funny, comprehensive way. Otherwise, when a future teacher teaches our work, students may get bored and fall asleep, AGAIN.
What is scientific writing? I used to think that scientific writing equals articles in scientific journals. During the class I think textbooks are also scientific writing, and they're for the majority of people in our community. Then a question came up into my head. What about scientific stuff other than paper? The Discovery channel provides lots of scientific writing. That's a more popular and fun way to communicate science.
Why is scientific writing important? Definitely not for graduation. For ignorant people, as Carrie says in the class. I agree with that. We are all ignorant in certain cases. Spreading knowledge is important for human beings. Hence, printing is a impressive ancient invention and internet is a breakthrough in modern evolution.
Who are we writing for? I think most scientists want their work to be acknowledged by the public. That's what textbooks are made for. We may become scientists someday, if we get lucky. So we must learn how to write scientific stuff in a funny, comprehensive way. Otherwise, when a future teacher teaches our work, students may get bored and fall asleep, AGAIN.
Why do I blog?
Everybody has Facebook now. People already get used to update their Facebook status with brief words instead of rambling their feelings with many pages. But writing is an important skill, especially in scientific communication, and blogger is a helpful way for me to improve my English.
I'm a Chinese guy who just came to America for only half a month. English isn't my mother tongue and I'm not used to express how I feel about things in English. Thus, fluent English writing is much harder for me than local Americans. I need more practice, such as blogs. Hopefully, I will be able to not write poor English after a semester's exercise.
As for local Americans, they have already been well trained in routine English writing. I don't think they need to worry about their English as me. This blogger stuff must been so easy for them. If they see these craps I write, they must be wondering, "Why does this Chinese guy take a scientific writing course. He need to go back to primary school to get some basic American writing education. Stop wasting our professor's time, dude!"
I'm a Chinese guy who just came to America for only half a month. English isn't my mother tongue and I'm not used to express how I feel about things in English. Thus, fluent English writing is much harder for me than local Americans. I need more practice, such as blogs. Hopefully, I will be able to not write poor English after a semester's exercise.
As for local Americans, they have already been well trained in routine English writing. I don't think they need to worry about their English as me. This blogger stuff must been so easy for them. If they see these craps I write, they must be wondering, "Why does this Chinese guy take a scientific writing course. He need to go back to primary school to get some basic American writing education. Stop wasting our professor's time, dude!"
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