9/8/16: Sichuan Insanity

1.     9/8/16

a.     #ifndef OUTLINE_MODE

b.     #define OUTLINE_MODE True

c.     #

d.     #define COMPLETENESS !OUTLINE_MODE

e.     #define ARTISTIC_WRITING !OUTLINE_MODE

f.      #

g.     Second day of tour!

h.     Go to extensive cave. Very pretty. Awesome gondola ride up, over mountainous forest. The trees are more like bushes, growing thinly on the steep incline. Xin and I take lots of photos. He gets into a conversation with some ladies—the guy makes friends everywhere. My mind drifts off to linear algebra. Working on the determinant formula connection to volume now—very tricky. I can’t even derive the 2D volume of a parallelogram in terms of vector components!

i.       Back to the bus. On the way back lots of people try to sell us food. Then the dark, commercial side of the tour.

j.       First we go into a half-hearted “museum” dedicated to silk. But the real attraction is a bunch of showrooms where the guide attempts to pitch us on buying silk sheets, etc. The sheets are beautiful but very expensive. Some suckers actually buy some! Xin chats with the girl he met in the caves; I watch and read some Feynman lectures, as we’re kinda trapped in the room.

k.     Back on the bus, this time to a showroom full of herbs. And then a supermarket with lots of meats and jerky. But hey, free samples!

l.       Back on the bus to CQ. Xin’s not talking to me on the bus ride, get the sense he’s annoyed at me but don’t push it. Put on my headphones and listen to music. Kind of fun to listen to music and pay attention to the music and not the accompanying homework :D

m.    Rest of the day is characterized by a strange tenseness with Xin, that unseams forcefully after dinner into a debate, the details of which are lost to discreteness.