Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Science One *is* late...

I've checked 4 times today, and it's still not in. Hopefully, the admin will respond to my e-mail...

It's late...

The results are late... It's past 8.10 am now, and the results aren't out yet... I'm on tenterhooks...

To Science One or Not To Science One?

I am stuck.
  1. Science One or not? 2nd year courses in Chem, Bio and Micro or not?
  2. 33 credits or not? 24 free credits or not?
  3. Rigorous courses or not? Higher-level courses or not?
I sure hope rejection makes the job easier.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Passion

I had a discussion with Wang Liang today, and he touched on the topic of passion... especially his passion to become a doctor. I found that he's got tons of interesting viewpoints, one of them being this:

When considering the application for med school or any other thing, don't go in search of what they want, rather, work with what you've got. After all, they're not out to look for molds of people to fit into what they've got; rather, they're out to create diversity amongst the people they educate. So work with your passions first, find what you really want to do, and then go all out and do it. Don't be bound by the requirements of that program that you want to enter; rather, based on what your passions are, go on and impress the interviewing committee about what you've accomplished within the framework of your passions. This beats the others who conform themselves so strictly to the requirements given.

So on reflection, I found it's about your passion. Nothing else but your passion. What exactly is your passion?

MacBook

I have been converted. I now know what Mac I need, not want. I used to want the MacBook Pro, only because it was the only Apple portable to have the latest Intel processors, but the price was, well, overkill for a student like me. Here's why:

I don't imagine myself doing any 3-D modelling anytime soon (I'm just an undergrad after all!), so I won't possibly need the 256MB graphics card in the MacBook Pro. And I'm not risking showing off a 17" Widescreen monitor on my laptop, that's for sure. (My bike being stolen is proof enough that I've got good stuff in my hands already... don't need to go for the best all the time...) In other words, 13" is good enough, for I've found out that on my laptop right now, I only ever use OpenOffice Writer and Calc, Firefox, and MSN Messenger. Oh, and not to mention iTunes, and Palm Desktop (for my Palm). So based on my usage as an 'average' user, and not an 'advanced' user, I'm most suited for the 13" MacBook.

Now, a matter of pricing... I found it's cheaper to buy it in Canada, even after all the 14% taxation that we get. Somehow, the currency exchange rate favors us here. I save around $20-odd buying it here. And hey, $20 is money too, and though I don't worship money, it's good to be prudent with it.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Rate My Life Quiz

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:
8.2
Mind:
8
Body:
7.3
Spirit:
8.8
Friends/Family:
4.4
Love:
7.7
Finance:
6.5
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

The Strangest Dreams

I've been having the strangest dreams throughout my afternoon naps... Today, I dreamed that I bought $200 worth of Safeway groceries, which is totally impossible 'cause I don't have enough space in the rear baskets of my bike for that amount of stuff. But that's not the wierdest part. The wierdest part comes when I discover that my bike was stolen -- "!!!" is exactly how I feel. (Seems like in the new internet lingo, "!!!" > using words in order to express shock, anxiety, and nervousness. Perhaps each exclamation mark represents one of these feelings each!) And so I panic, panic and then walk back in angrily, only to walk back out (when double-checking) to find that it's still there! What the...

At this instance, I wake up, and I realize that my heart was racing, as if it all really did happen. But then when I look outside of my window down to where I usually park my bike at home, I find it never happened.

Strange dreams occur, but why in my afternoon naps? Why not at night?

And why do I take 3-hour afternoon naps? If I go on like this, I'm not gonna survive U without sleeping through some afternoon lessons. Worst still, if it's a lab course, good luck... *shattering noise = glass breakage*

China and Canadian Universities

I was speaking to Toby, one of my classmates in ASIA 101, after lunch today. Managed to catch him as I walked out of the SUB. He was idling on one of the benches, enjoying the fresh air as he waited for his next lesson.

After we talked for a little while, we went on to the topic of being an overseas student. From what he shared, I realized why many PRC students like to go to UofT or UBC or UWO. The main reason is their reputation within China -- These 3 universities enjoy far more fame within China than any other Canadian universities. It is no wonder, then, that they come in flocks to these 3 universities, as opposed to other universities such as UVic or UofA or McGill, even.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

PSALM 148 - IMMORTALIZED IN OUR CHOIR

Whahaha.... thinking back on it, Pslam 148 will forever be immortalized amongst those who were present on 13 May 2006 for the Chinese choir session at the University Chapel. Wahahaha... BIG ME was going on about how confident he thought "Be Thou My Vision" was Psalm 148, and we then asked him to go and search for it in the book of Psalms. Turns out, when we were almost finished practising the song, he still hadn't found it, and his talkative mouth had learnt its lesson not to blabber out any more Psalm numbers... hahaha...

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Hung Gar = Hong Jia = MARTIAL ARTS

Holy, holy, holy. Man, what a day of exercise. Hong Jia style is easier to learn, and thankfully, the coach is willing to teach without all the mindless drilling (that's only for the summer term, though). I've learned the first 4 strokes of my routine, and I await next week's lesson.

Tomorrow, however, I've got more exercise - chinese free fighting (san da). Man... all the exercise. I'm gonna be thin! Just JOKING.................................................

One can only imagine the euphoria...

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

30 DEGREES OF NONSENSE!

30 degrees this afternoon, but it's 27 right now. And I thought I'd escaped the tropics! Man... and to think I had the crazy nerve to actually cycle from UBC to Waterfront Station, and then from Lynn Valley back to Alma. WHAT IN THE WORLD MAN! That's almost two wholesome hours worth of cycling. I was BUSHED OUT when I took 99 from Alma back to UBC.

Here's the best part about sunny days in Vancouver - there's no cloud. So... forget about any drop in temperatures. Once it's hot, IT'S HOT MAN!

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Pot-Luck Sunday

Finally! I play host for the first time. So exciting. I wonder what the pot-luck will turn out to be like... Invited most of the guys from bible study:
  1. Zhang Yi
  2. Li Jia
  3. Guo Jing
  4. Lulu Qiu
  5. Jane Jiang
  6. Liang Xuyue
  7. Wang Liang
Quite a good mix of people. Oh, and Wang Liang isn't from bible study; he and I met by accident at a party gathering by my roommate. Nowadays, I've invited him over almost nightly for studying. Pretty effective.

Oooh..... I hope I can create a good amount of ideas for games to play during the pot-luck gathering. Gee.