Revenge

One of the best example of revenge is perhaps the last World Cup match between the Netherlands (NL) against Spain (SPA). NL, one of the best teams in the world who never won World Cup started slow and even got behind after Alonso's penalty. I watched around 10 minutes after the goal, and it seemed that the situation was the same like the previous World Cup Finals, 4 years ago. So I considered, OK, what the hell, shutting down the live streaming, thinking that NL would lose anyway.

Apparently, the result was the opposite, NL came back from behind from Van Persie's amazing goal and after that Robben & Van Persie were torturing SPA's poor defense. Robben, the amazing dribbler, got his total redemption after beating Casillas, twice in style. I wonder what he felt when he scored the goals, as he failed to convert the golden chance 4 years ago into a goal (also against Casillas). Another interesting thing is, NL's defense was filled with young players. One of them is Daley Blind, this guy was amazing in the match by providing two assists to Robben and Van Persie. Looking at his last name, perhaps you're wondering whether he has family relationship with Danny Blind, former Ajax captain and currently the assistant coach of NL team. Indeed, he's the son of Danny Blind. Daley, just named as the best footballer in NL, proved that he has the potential to become a star. Who knows, Van Gaal will bring him to Manchester United next season.

Ok, 5-1 against Spain was an unbelievable result. No one in the world would expect that SPA would be pounded by NL like that. But I think NL need to regroup again, prevent the team to sucked in a useless euphoria. It's 5-1 but it's only worth 3 points, they still in the group stage and there are two matches ahead of them. I think the senior players like Robben, Van Persie, Sneijder still remember when they play excellent football in the group stage usually they will end up not more than the quarter finals of the tournament. So, NL needs to keep the focus.

Bad News and "Good" News

Let's start with the bad news first. My potential PhD advisor, Yejin Choi is leaving from SBU to UW. In the beginning of the Spring semester, I was planning to work in summer with her.  But when I tried to contact her again at the end of the semester, her reply really shocked me. She is moving out. I was freezed for several seconds, can't believe what I've just read and start thinking is there any good reason to stay here. I mean, one of the main reasons I came to SBU was  Yejin Choi. And unfortunately, she is the only NLP faculty in CS department. So currently, there is no Prof. in NLP area at all. 

Ok, move on to the "good" news. Last semester, I passed all three qualifier courses. That was quite surprising as I didn't expect that at all. I really hate some quals as I need to study something I don't like and I have to secure A grades for those. And don't get me wrong, to get an A is not easy at all. Honestly, sometimes it's painful. Jesus Christ, why do we need to do this kind of thing for PhD in the US hahaha. However, I was relatively patient last semester, I studied really hard for the exams and somehow I aced  the exams.  So, am I proud that I've cleared three quals? The answer is NO. I've spent one year here and still no research work, and yes I have to clear another two quals next semester. One year is somehow wasted.