Spring Break entries

Spend time all alone for Spring Break. EOF

Though here are some interesting things that happened:

• Had to pay $600 for a new pair of glasses
  Unfortunately the pair that I own was broken by a toilet roll. I dropped the toilet roll while trying to put in on the top of the cabinet. Though the toilet roll weights only very little, the impact must have loosened the screw. I did try fixing it but I lost the screw in the process.
  Because of the way the system works here for making new glasses, I had to go for an eye examination first. It was basically the same routine testing like the ones they did back in Malaysia. However because it was done by a certified optometrist, he could charge me $50 for it.
  The lenses themselves cost $265 + $70. $265 was for the normal lenses. There is no way I was going to get cheap lenses. I had to have multi-coated anti-reflection as well as medium-index lenses. The $70 was for transition lenses.
  The rimless frame itself was about $200.
  And that is it. So even if I wanted to save money by not going anywhere, I ended up spending more money that I would have had I gone to Vegas instead. But I can also look at it this way, had I gone to Vegas and broken my glasses too, then I would have ended up spending much more.
  The new pair of spectacles will only arrive in two weeks so until then I have to make do with my repair and some super-handy super glue.
• Manga Marathon
  Decided to read some manga that I would not have read if I did not have the time. I had always wanted to read Inuyasha because it was a very well-developed manga. And it was really long too. In fact it is one of the longer running mangas that I know. It is currently at its 400th chapter. In fact, Inuyasha is not like most of the manga I am used to. It does not involve fighting tournaments and all the usual stuff. I was really impressed by how the illustrator weave the different characters together. And she has successfully made the story that much more interesting. The number of main characters that she choose was just right too. It was neither too many nor too little and each had the chance to show their character fully. The anime is rather good too. Also she keeps you in suspense and does not reveal too much of what will happen next.
  But I also decided to read some romance/ comedy manga. And those prove to be very enjoyable too. It was a nice experience compared to the other types of manga. Besides, the fact that these novels are usually short make them fun to read too. I just spend around 6 hours to finish the whole series.
  There are of course those that are really long. But they are mostly just to satisfy their loyal fans. I do not really enjoy those since it seems that the story has been protracted just to make the fans happy. Thus the story feels boring because they have to keep introducing new characters. And they are stalling the (inevitable) ending.
  Also, despite some negative reviews for this manga, Love Hina was a really nice read. I just finished it an hour ago and it was rather satisfying. I mean there were ridiculous moments but its length was just right. There were no unnecessarily drawings just to make the manga longer. And there weren't too many characters as well. Also the fact that it revolves around the live of students trying to get into a top university makes it slightly pertinent to my current life. The author was also kind enough to write that this is a story and it is not so simple to actually get into a top university.
  I learned a bit more about how the exam system in Japan works too and it was rather interesting. Having to take public exams and the the university's own entrance exam to get in. I was also to learn about some of the festivals that they celebrate. And the fact that some students actually go to dormitories to study even though their house might be near the place so that they can concentrate.
  I *would* probably recommend Love Hina to most people. It is really funny. And it has a nice ending. The fact that the characters were not ridiculous looking was also a nice point for it. I really hate manga where the characters are a bit too disproportionate.
• Ruby Rocks
  It is set to become one of my favorite languages. It seems so lightweight. And the fact that is allows these little notations such as

  def myName=(_name)
  @name = _name
  end

  makes the language so much more interesting. For those not familiar with Ruby, the above create a setter for the class variable @name. The use of the = sign is just plain genius. In C or Java you would probably call the method setMyName. These simple things do not exist in other languages. It would seem that the Japanese creator actually took some time to think of subtle issues like this. The use of ! as in !gsub for string substitution that replaces the original string and also the use of ? for boolean is a nice change from having to say isValid.
  Because Ruby's creator is a Japanese, I believe he takes the time to focus on the subtle points. As native English speakers, we might take certain things for granted and do it just as how the other languages have done it but Ruby is really different because of its notations.