Thursday, May 31, 2007
A Pleasant Surprise
It turns out I've been named onto the Dean's Honor List in the Faculty of Science. I must keep this up, and strive next to be a Science Scholar. 83 for Science One -- it can only get better from now onwards.
Monday, May 21, 2007
A Field Day
It was a field day at the store. Unexpectedly for a statutory holiday, where we'd expect everybody to be out enjoying the sun (it is nice and sunny outside right now -- see the photo below!) instead. Rather, I was kept busy from right when the store opened - and I didn't even have enough time to complete my out of stock report! Wow, I think we're gonna comp and go beyond our budget that we need for the store.
Now, what am I going to do tonight? Well, for one, I have to eat dinner. And I have to finish revision for Microbiology, the pre-readings required for the week. AND not to mention, lots of practice problems that I have to do as well. Then there's prep for Organic Chem lab... the one I screwed up last Thursday. *sigh* I hope it goes well this time.
Alright, gotta go now.
Now, what am I going to do tonight? Well, for one, I have to eat dinner. And I have to finish revision for Microbiology, the pre-readings required for the week. AND not to mention, lots of practice problems that I have to do as well. Then there's prep for Organic Chem lab... the one I screwed up last Thursday. *sigh* I hope it goes well this time.
Alright, gotta go now.
Writing - Or The Lack Of It
Talent can only carry you so far. Flair can only do so much. It's important to keep on working at it - that will take you the furthest.
I haven't written long pieces in such a long time. I remembered how I used to have to write papers for GP (General Paper), expository and argumentative style, and how I would breeze through it making case after case, argument after argument. I guess it was a matter of the training, a matter of being able to think quickly, to synthesize seemingly disconnected pieces of material together in a short period of time and presenting a final logical case that worked. It seems I've lost it altogether.
Rather, my life has been consumed by Science, a field I absolutely love. Having finished Science One with a good grades and a scholarship to top it off, I then move on to take Organic Chemistry and Microbiology (totally bombing-out of an organic chem lab while at it). The amount of argumentative and expository writing that I've done this whole year is limited to the two ENGL112 expository and argumentative essays that I was given, plus 4 ENGL110 literary essays (which hardly count as the socio-political-historical argumentative essays that I used to do for GP). It seems something went missing.
Yet, with amount of schoolwork that I have, with the number of Staples hours I work a week, plus my need for downtime, I leave little room for myself to write. Writing becomes relegated to the wee hours of the night, just like what I'm doing right now, having already wasted 3 hours from 11pm till 2am reading soccer news, talking to friends over MSN, and watching YouTube videos. I seriously need a life.
I think I will have to come back to this blog a little bit more than I used to during the school year. It's nice to be able to write down things of a specific topic, and expound on them through a paragraph or two. Just like the rambling that I'm doing right now. It needn't be anything too structured or formal; just needs to be a free-flow of thoughts.
------------
Ethan wants to buy a MacBook Pro, and I had a long discussion with him over whether or not he should buy it. His goal is to use it for gaming, and I'm against that... but he seemed so intent on it. I will pray about it, wondering whether I'm doing the right thing or not. If not, I will tell him that I cannot do it, that it is not the right thing to do, and hope that he understands. He may be 1 year younger than me, but I have a feeling that he thinks as if he is 3 or maybe even 4 years younger.
But then again, I noticed how Asians in general get so hyped up about discounts (except if they've been in N. America long enough). Ethan tried in vain to wrap his head around my store's discount policy, which is pretty complicated - we don't have a one-discount-fits-all policy. And even after I revealed as much as he should know, he was still questioning the wrong things. *sigh*
I had these thoughts after that: A discount is a discount, and in N. America, just be grateful for getting a discount, because a discount is something done as a favor, not a right that one can haggle and argue for. Staples gives staff a discount because it's a method of employee reward, but when we choose to risk our own position to help friends by things, especially if it's big things, then those friends should be more understanding and not try to chase us for further discounts. I'm only glad that Ethan didn't press me further on it after I told him that I would calculate everything properly for him.
I haven't written long pieces in such a long time. I remembered how I used to have to write papers for GP (General Paper), expository and argumentative style, and how I would breeze through it making case after case, argument after argument. I guess it was a matter of the training, a matter of being able to think quickly, to synthesize seemingly disconnected pieces of material together in a short period of time and presenting a final logical case that worked. It seems I've lost it altogether.
Rather, my life has been consumed by Science, a field I absolutely love. Having finished Science One with a good grades and a scholarship to top it off, I then move on to take Organic Chemistry and Microbiology (totally bombing-out of an organic chem lab while at it). The amount of argumentative and expository writing that I've done this whole year is limited to the two ENGL112 expository and argumentative essays that I was given, plus 4 ENGL110 literary essays (which hardly count as the socio-political-historical argumentative essays that I used to do for GP). It seems something went missing.
Yet, with amount of schoolwork that I have, with the number of Staples hours I work a week, plus my need for downtime, I leave little room for myself to write. Writing becomes relegated to the wee hours of the night, just like what I'm doing right now, having already wasted 3 hours from 11pm till 2am reading soccer news, talking to friends over MSN, and watching YouTube videos. I seriously need a life.
I think I will have to come back to this blog a little bit more than I used to during the school year. It's nice to be able to write down things of a specific topic, and expound on them through a paragraph or two. Just like the rambling that I'm doing right now. It needn't be anything too structured or formal; just needs to be a free-flow of thoughts.
------------
Ethan wants to buy a MacBook Pro, and I had a long discussion with him over whether or not he should buy it. His goal is to use it for gaming, and I'm against that... but he seemed so intent on it. I will pray about it, wondering whether I'm doing the right thing or not. If not, I will tell him that I cannot do it, that it is not the right thing to do, and hope that he understands. He may be 1 year younger than me, but I have a feeling that he thinks as if he is 3 or maybe even 4 years younger.
But then again, I noticed how Asians in general get so hyped up about discounts (except if they've been in N. America long enough). Ethan tried in vain to wrap his head around my store's discount policy, which is pretty complicated - we don't have a one-discount-fits-all policy. And even after I revealed as much as he should know, he was still questioning the wrong things. *sigh*
I had these thoughts after that: A discount is a discount, and in N. America, just be grateful for getting a discount, because a discount is something done as a favor, not a right that one can haggle and argue for. Staples gives staff a discount because it's a method of employee reward, but when we choose to risk our own position to help friends by things, especially if it's big things, then those friends should be more understanding and not try to chase us for further discounts. I'm only glad that Ethan didn't press me further on it after I told him that I would calculate everything properly for him.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
A Post after a Hiatus
It seems I've not been here for a while.
A lot has happened in the past week, but I've decided just to focus on yesterday. One of the better days, I guess, and it can only happen after bombing-out of a chem lab the day before. I guess it's really that I bounce back from defeat pretty quickly.
So on Thursday, I literally bombed out of a chem lab. Lost sample, have to restart next week, and take a 5-point penalty off from 40. That's pretty hefty. But considering that I have more time to do my lab (no solubility tests to do), it should be fine.
But on Friday, whoa, on Friday, it was a day that went unusually smoothly. I had a rough night too - 2 hours of sleep in total - but I pulled through it miraculously. Must be divine intervention.
Morning - Chem mid-term, went smoothly, and it was marked the evening straight away. I have an 81% on the first organic chem mid-term, and I think that's pretty cool.
Afternoon - Went to work, and served many customers with top-knotch customer service. I think I do it only when Steven is in, coz he really motivates me to work with his "chillax" outlook - it's like, we have a goal, and we'll do our best to achieve it, and I will be able to tell whether you guys tried to achieve it, but if we don't, so be it - and he allowed me 1/2 hr to install RAM on my computer to boost it to 2GB, over-extending on my 15 min break time, but of course, I promised to repay it by taking 15 min. less when it's busy.
Evening - Found that I've received a $1000 scholarship for my 83% in Science One. Yay! I sure hope I'm able to manage it, in addition to my other earnings for the year, a lot lot better.
A lot has happened in the past week, but I've decided just to focus on yesterday. One of the better days, I guess, and it can only happen after bombing-out of a chem lab the day before. I guess it's really that I bounce back from defeat pretty quickly.
So on Thursday, I literally bombed out of a chem lab. Lost sample, have to restart next week, and take a 5-point penalty off from 40. That's pretty hefty. But considering that I have more time to do my lab (no solubility tests to do), it should be fine.
But on Friday, whoa, on Friday, it was a day that went unusually smoothly. I had a rough night too - 2 hours of sleep in total - but I pulled through it miraculously. Must be divine intervention.
Morning - Chem mid-term, went smoothly, and it was marked the evening straight away. I have an 81% on the first organic chem mid-term, and I think that's pretty cool.
Afternoon - Went to work, and served many customers with top-knotch customer service. I think I do it only when Steven is in, coz he really motivates me to work with his "chillax" outlook - it's like, we have a goal, and we'll do our best to achieve it, and I will be able to tell whether you guys tried to achieve it, but if we don't, so be it - and he allowed me 1/2 hr to install RAM on my computer to boost it to 2GB, over-extending on my 15 min break time, but of course, I promised to repay it by taking 15 min. less when it's busy.
Evening - Found that I've received a $1000 scholarship for my 83% in Science One. Yay! I sure hope I'm able to manage it, in addition to my other earnings for the year, a lot lot better.
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