Deceit by Ignorance

Search up deceptive on google images and this is the first result that pops up. Towels that create the illusion that someone's naked legs were wrapped around you- not necessarily indicative of sex, but almost definitely sexual in nature. Alas, it is but a mere trick to deceive the eyes.

Wearers of a garmet like this most likely thought it was funny, but definitely meant for the deceit. I have nothing against them- it's the people that deceive people unintentionally that get my towels in a knot.

I'm a fan of reading into other people's words, so the saying of one sentence gives a paragraph of insight into the speaker. I'm not necessarily great at it, and naturally I make mistakes at times, but I accept that. However, sometimes, especially with someone new, I would start basing my relationship with them by some fundamental facts, only to have these "facts" be undermined a while later.

Usually mistakes on my part would be a result of me not hearing correctly or making silly judgment calls. However, recently I've made 2 bad assumptions (or in the very least, these bad assumptions were revealed to me) in which I heard them correctly, and looking back, in one case my assumption still seems valid, and in the other, I don't think I even needed to assume. But yeah, these two bad judgment calls are going to cost me quite a bit =/.

Hopper's Nighthawk

My last art class was in elementary school- I have always been a bank geek, and perhaps always will be. I remember looking at countless lilies by Monet, and wondering why we were supposed to be fascinated by dots that form shapes which give way to images. A lot of repetitive questions were asked: "How does it make you feel?"; "Why are the colour choices so?"; and "What is the role of contrast?". Back then I had difficulties interpreting those questions, and try as I might, I always fail to provide the answers my teacher wants. Maybe Monet had troubles focusing and to him his paintings were like anyone else's.

Wrong.

We were always told to "Think like the artist". I never understood what that meant; does my teacher actually believe that I can think like a middle aged white male at the age of 12? Needless to say, I never done well in Arts.

In high school, some of the humanities courses would ask to interpret pictures or diagrams, and with me, they were often hit or miss. I still try to evaluate pictures sometimes, but they are often more like criticizing the Chemical reaction clouds in my sociology text.

Then a friend linked me to this picture, Hopper's Nighthawk. Instantly, I got it.

Loneliness.

Seconds later I felt like crying. I didn't need to put myself into Hopper's shoes; I've worn them my whole life to the point where the soles are all but gone. The colours? dark, amorphous. The contrasts? my guy versus the couple, and even then, the couple aren't that happy.

A few seconds after that, I was back to Chemistry.

Text from last night

"Alex is here... get some collateral if you can... left nut if necessary."
- E

So I got the dreaded "Your memory is 95% filled" on my cell phone yesterday, and went through my messages as a last check, just to make sure I didn't lose any important phone numbers or addresses. That's where I found this gem from a few weeks back. One of the few messages that survived the cleaning. Lots of problems with this one.

Grad Class of 201x

When we were wee kids, prepubescent and hairy only on our heads (save for David H.), we took for granted that our elementary education will end after 8 years (in a K~7 school). All the friends you met while tussling around on the gravel filled playground will likely be with you until grade 7, except for the exotic few that become transfer students. We were dynamic back then; I say dynamic because two-faced has a horrible connotation a la Batman. We can like some of our classmates one day, and then disregard them the next, only to be best friends before the week is done. All we know was that we were stuck together until grade 8.

Then comes high school. The sparkle of newness, and what some would suggest where work actually starts kicking in. Freshmen usually have their bouts of friends shuffling as people's interests diverge from lego building and tag on the playground, but typically seniors have a set clique they belong to. The transfer students become less unusual, and they too integrate well with the rest of the school's society. As we sit in our gowns in our grad ceremony, we wonder about those that weren't there with us - the kid in math that moved onto a better high school last year, the girl that had to drop out of school for personal reasons, and the guy who didn't pass enough grade 12 courses to graduate this year. Yet, most people at the valedictory has been there for the whole 5 years.

I guess what I'm getting at is that there are typically a set amount of time you spend at each institution, before you are shuttled off to do (usually) bigger and (hopefully) better things. That breaks down once university starts. There are so many factors that goes into determining how many years your education is going to take up. There are people that I started university with that are going to be gone at the end of next year, and those that will be graduating in what is the typical 4 years, as well as those who will be stuck doing their degrees in 5 or more years, for whatever reason.

All I know is that, a bulk of the people that I started UBC with will be gone before I'm out of here, when I'm out of here. Nothing set in stones, but I'm looking at being UBC grad '13.

Smile

So I deemed that I've spent enough time (although not getting enough done) studying to justify doing a real blog entry, especially since now, I have a topic.

I was reading someone's blog ("Chris") and I came across this little gem -

"Now, you probably think I'm a fanatical fan of The Secret. And I want you to know that I'm not. This isn't about wishful thinking becoming a reality. It's more of a, to put it lightly, radical cognitive shift in perception of reality.

If reading that mouthful of a sentence didn't make you smile you can stop reading now. For the rest of you please continue.

What the heck is a radical blah blah thingy? It's what happens when you smile. Life just gets better when you smile. And when life gets better, its easier to see the good in every situation. Hence the radical (large) cognitive (thought) shift (change) in (in) perception (what you see) of (of) reality (life)"

At first I thought it was going to be a cute Malcom Gladwell-esque inspirational story. Then I got to the last paragraph, and I had a full-hearted chuckle. If you've been around me much this term, you'll find that I have been (besides klutzy) sleep deprived muchly and sometimes giggle over the most obscure things, but I don't think it's that (I know that my sleep debt over the term probably isn't recovered by last night's good sleep, but I think I'm relatively well rested).

I think it'd be amazing to hear this person ("Chris") read this passage out loud. Of course this is after going through about a year's worth of blog entries, so this person is starting to be real for me.

Smile. That's an interesting concept. I have been trying to smile at people, strangers and acquaintances alike, with some different results. I think most of the time people thought "who is this retard grinning at me?" Although sometimes I'd get people that'd smile back at me. My days recently have been a little bit better, although I don't know if that's a function of the smiling or the smilin (bio exam joke) or just the reduction in work.

Maybe it's just because I've been able to watch shows like Glee. I find it funny all these things I'm into, BLISS, Glee, maybe I'm just destined to watch others be happy. Oddly enough, there were two songs titled smile in the recent episode

"Smile, though your heart is aching,

smile even though it's breaking.

When there are clouds in the sky,

you'll get by.

If you smile, through your pain and sorrow,

smile and maybe tomorrow,

you'll see the sun come shining through for you"

Charlie Chaplin's Cover

Hopefully the sun will shine through for me tomorrow.

Fruit loops, what's the deal?

So after seeing a jumbo box a few days ago, I had hankering for fruit loops. They're a weird thing - it's sold as a cereal, but I think it's the only cereal that I prefer to have with a cup of milk, as opposed to in a bowl a milk. Is it cereal (in the commercial sense) if I eat it dry then drink milk?

Of course, I am no endorsing Fruit Loops in any way. Tide-to-go, I'm not so sure. I've bought a tide to go and left it in my backpack because of Paul, my lab supervisor, wholeheartedly supports the owning (ownage) of a tide to go. I haven't personally used it, but my friend spilled coffee on herself, and when offered, she spread about half the tube's content on herself in a crowd of people. Suddenly a flurry of questions came "OMG, is that a tide to go?" "OMG, does it actually work?" "Omg, I totally meant to get one of those because I'm the biggest klutz I know, but I didn't know it worked so well"

Yeah. Lets try for a real post before new years eh?

Jeblah

That basically describes how I view life in the past while. Things just been piling on, and every time I shovel through something, I only expose my vision to another couple of mounds. In a sense it's kinda like the mound of leaves at UBC between the SUB and Hebb. The pile's been there since October, and you continuously see a container there being filled up with leaves, but the mound never disappears. I'm assuming that by December 22nd, the courtyard by the knoll will finally be cleared.

I'm talking about getting drunk too much. A- I don't even do that that often, B- if I really wanted to do that, I should've just gotten her done.

But yes, getting frustrated lately (although surprisingly happy when someone picked it up). Although when asked why, I gave to reasons, and the reply was how come I'm putting those two things in the same league. Response? I've been lonely my whole life, but it's only very recently that I've been slapped in the face with being incompetent.

Lets see who's more incompetent come September.

Remember, remember, the 11th of November

Remembrance day is beginning to become a lot less ceremonial as of late. Through out high school and elementary school, there are always assemblies and ceremonies in which we can take that time to remember. With the lack of participating in services, I don't think we so much as remember/respect less, but the reason for why we do it is under more scrutiny.

This hits especially hard because of mine being drafted. Maybe I should go serve, pay tribute to those in Flander's field, as well as those who managed to stay out of Flander's field. Of course me serving won't actually result in any benefit to my nation.

Yet even looking around, the number of poppies decrease significantly. No longer is someone not wearing it the odd one out, but rather the people who do wear it.

Perhaps it's because the living veterans lowers as the years go on. But lest we forget, n'oublions pas.

Gotta give us non-mathematicals credit too.

Obviously my priority at the moment is School > BMC > SUS > TV > blogging.

So what happened lately? I got my BMC job, despite awkward Auckland answer. I am currently getting jobs in order of projected rowdiness. I started with the comp sci beer garden which eventually went into a dance circle. Two weeks later I did the chem beer garden, which had quite a few people wasted out of their mind. Next week I get to do the sorority event, which will be interesting how that goes.

I'm going through the typical freshman phase again- y'know, the phase in which people are learning about who you are, making up quirky nicknames, the whole shebang. I somehow managed to escape that last year, which I thought was a testament of how university is a much more mature place than high school. Turns out I was just hanging out with the wrong crowd. Nothing extreme or as awesome as dishrag, but enough to be interesting.

The.

"All this self-hating violent crap, how's that working for you?"

Horribly. But I don't really deserve anything else.

Justin Chang took a bite out of midterms and now has indigestion.

So I've jut finished my first wave of 2nd year/1st term midterm, and I'm tuckered. Obviously I won't get to rest for a while - now until Friday I am going to english, then weekend til mon will be for bio essay, then Imma rest.

Not much new; TA invigilating the coord chem exam was really really distracting, but it's not as if I knew enough of the material for the distraction to be detrimental. Math exam was the same way. Maybe I should start figuring out how I can be less distracted.

Real blog post in a few. I might post my autobiography up soonish.

Office Hours on a Table

Things don't necessarily make literal sense; there're green rooms that are blue, phone booths that are opened, and skytrains that are underground. However this is something new - office hours outside of an office. I am currently on a table right now, enjoying not studying/making crib sheet for Biology.

I always liked sitting on tall, or short, benches/tables. They change your perspective, in ways that you would not encounter except during your growth spurts. Posters that I thought were ridiculously high now makes sense, and tall people are no longer that intimidating.

Of course, sitting on a table hurts when you don't have proper posture (which I don't), but I think I'm just waiting for an exec to show up to relieve my backache. Or something.

Were the World Mine

Shakespeare has been a huge influence on our lives; the fact that Shakespeare passes spell check shows just how important the man is on our language. However, another impact he has is the creation of the iconic love stories.

No, not the original love story, I know better than to say that Romeo and Juliet was the originator, but he had some of the more memorable elements. Romeo and Juliet's them against the world, Taming of the Shrews them against themselves, and perhaps my favourite, A Midsummer Night's Dream, a tale where anything can happen in a display of enchantedness, even if it was just a dream.

Long.

We now have the majority

So, the last entry marks the 50th post on this blog, and making this post the 51st. This, compared to the rate at which my livejournal went during its prime, is slightly pathetic. I'll try to pick this up again, along with taking pictures - hopefully one will cross into the other.

But for now, here are an excerpt from JHCC - Life of a Chemist.

- Many of you know that cancer runs on both sides of my family, although it's always so varied that no one really knows which organ will get affected. I already know which one of mine will - skin. Someone got a whole dose of dichloromethane onto my hand. At first I was like "This feels like having ethanol on my (gloved) hands" then I realized, A- with the EtOH scenario, I'd have gloves on, and B- EtOH is not a carcinogen.

So I know chances are that I won't get skin cancer (not on my hand at least), but if I do, I'll know who to blame.

- I've realized that Fridays are kind of intense. At first I thought it's only the 8/9 straight hours in the chem building that will be hard to get through, but turns out, even the 5/6 straight hours are hard to get by. Luckily 2bucks a beaker was held at Ladha, or else this Friday would've been a long day at the chem building.

Speaking of $2/beaker, it was not the best place ever - not only was my TA there, most of the people there were much older than us. Of course, all this lead to was us hiding out on the mezzine of Ladha having our own private party, but still. The night got better when Ladha closed - 3 friends under the clock tower. Contemplating contemplating suicide, running on walls, alternating trips into Irving - good times.

Things I accomplish today because Boris's family pulled a quick one on me

1. Sorted the (physical) Science One Survivors membership forms in alphabetical order by surname.

2. Put all my laundry in the laundry basket.

3. Washed my beddings.

4. Sorted notes by subject

Interview on Facebook

Do you have incriminating picture of yourself on Facebook that could go against your favour as a job candidate?

So if I get hired to be part of the BMC, I should've gotten a call sometimes yesterday or sometimes today.

I'm pretty sure I made my pics to friends only now, but of course, not being able to see my blog from the other side, who knows?

But lets explore what an employer would think looking at the first few pages of my pictures.

First off profile picture; beans. Nothing bad, but what if I'm afraid to show my face? Other than that my profile album is pretty tame.

Somewhere in page 3 there are photos with a tie around my head, as well as me holding a beer bottle, although my hands cover the labels completely, there's no real way to tell.

Page 6; apparently I'm brown (untags self)

page 7; might appear to be molesting Louis, and spanning page 7 and 8, I'm a Korean.

page 11; a group kidnapping event.

page 16; lol bryson

page 19; me sleeping with my vice principal's sons

page 22; me not realizing I had a flower on my ear until in the middle of the museum.

mid 20~early 30 pages; me hearting stroking. Or something.

Interview question

Hi. So I've had an interview to be a part of the BMC today, and well, okay interview, not bad but not amazing. I'd like to ask you one question in particular, which I will place at the end of this survey. Please answer the first thing that comes to your mind, and maybe it'll help explain why I said the thing that I did. Questions before the question I want to ask is there just so you don't see the final answer too too early. Please everyone who see this answer

First two letters of your first name and first letter of your last name:

A/S/L?:

S.O.?:

If you have to blame it on something, would you blame it on:

A) Ravi

B) Bush

C) The -OH

D) Global warming

If you can be any city in the world, which would you be and why?:

This post contains seaman jokes.

I had a traipse (I almost spelled tryptase) through the longboat participant list, and wanted to share some of the names with everyone

"Noah's longboat", "Harden Seamen", "I'm on a boat", "Yellow submarine", "Shlongboat", "Long Hard Stroke", "Suckulent Seamen", "The Wet Dream team", "Stroke, stroke my boat", "Long and still hard", "Been there, stroke that", "Strokin' It hard", and all the other combinations you can come up with.

It seems hilarious that REC, who are "really strict" with making sure teams in league sports like volleyball and ultimate have "tasteful" names, lets longboat, a thing with so many built-in jokes, have these team names. I mean, I can't even remember all the things we said "The harder we stroke, the faster we come","The yellow paddles are longer than the white paddles", and so on and so forth.

Despite that (or maybe because of that, who knows), yesterday was a fun day. The big gale force wind causing the waves, the freezing cold conditions, the actual common cold, having 3 females on an all men's team, all of that just made for fun day out.

And now I'm majorly behind for math studying and english writing, and apparently Vista is giving all its students a big middle finger.

Oh, and I think Liz confused Peyton Way-White with Peyton Mannings or something.

Justin's Tweets for the day.

There are days where I'll say to myself, if I had a twitter, I'd update much more frequently, but since I will not succumb to another time-sucker, here's my tweets for the day so far.

06:20am - Why would anyone make pb+j using the same spoon?

06:50am - You can tell that half of the bus turned and thought at the same time "It's Peyton Way-White"

07:15am - I swear I'm not usually this clumsy (in response to hitting the same guy twice in 5 minutes)

08:40am - What happened to ferrous and ferric?

08:45am - There they are.

09:20am - I really should fill out my deposit forms.
09:55am - I controverse you. Or something.
10:25am - Telomeres. huh.
10:51am - My attention span is out, gonna jump the block on the wall.
10:54am - I swear I'm only snapping at you because my cold is making it impossible for me to vocally get your attention.
10:56am - Wasting time to talk is not wasting time at all
11:00am - Caught him!
11:10am - Success! until I looked at syllabus.
11:30am - Had a nice talk with Red Cross guy Joel.
12:00pm - Switched hands
12:08pm - Evasive maneuver to escape the consequences of noise
12:11pm - Epic fail (not on my part).

Sometimes after 8:45am I decided that twitter is not all it cracked out to be, without even having gone on it =)

How the UBC week goes

I'll be following the convention of the observers of Christ for the following post.

It starts, with Koerner. Then comes a day of rest. Following closely are the Gallery then the Pit. Another day of rest. At this point, the weekend starts, and parties rages on until Koerner again.

For some reason though, I end up with something more like days of Chem, and days of Bio and math.

Random Insertion of "I'm on a Boat"

A portion of a shade of blue.

A tan unevenly spread.

This is the story of Imagine.

The bouncing bushes were too awkward to try.

Cheerless cheers filled the air.

Guiding, guiding, guided right.

Summation in a pizza lunch.

Physical exertion ends the day.

And the memories are never more.

Wake me up When September Ends

I promised my Californian friend that when he comes back this year, we will have typical September weather unlike that crazy sunny bullshit that happened last year. The ongoing rain at the moment backs my statement.

Although, the high temperature and partly sunniness of next weekend is looked positively upon, as I do not want to raincheck a bbq.

And what seems like a recent phenomenon, lots of people washing their cars when it's raining. I don't get this.

Quote from a "find your way to god book (It's actually called 'Soul Cravings')"

"We are a culture of great lovers.
We love great movies.
We love ice cream.
We love our pets.
We love rainy days in Los Angeles.
We love sunny days in Seattle."

I love that I go against the grain, hoping not for the sun, but for the rain.
Perhaps I'm on the DS train, excited about the Seattle ferryboats.

Vonnegut vs Darwin

One of the communities that I frequent had a post about Harrison Bergeron, a short story by Vonnegut, which brought back many memories of reading it in high school. For those of you that have never read it and are of the tl;dr variety, the basis is that society is now equal. Anyone that is more superior (in intellect or physical abilities) is forced to wear handicaps to bring them down to normal level; masks to cover the beautiful, sudden noise ear piece to distract the mentally focused.

Since high school, I've had two criticisms of the story, 1- the equalizers actually make the wearer less than average (as can be seen by weights straining George's neck while Hazel's has a neck that doesn't bother her, and "She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous." which suggests that she is made uglier than someone who is slightly less beautiful), and 2- the government is most likely above the handicaps (someone who's distracted every 20 seconds could not possibly track an escaped prisoner and kill him).

Putting aside that the equality isn't quite equal (see pt 1 above), this is the kind of situation in which I am proud of myself for being anti-equality. This is why I'm okay with being a little bit racist. This is why I'm a believer in competition and doing the best you can.

Darwin's view of survival of the fittest allows the betterment of mankind (and other species). However, with the advent of medicine and technologies, some traits that are selected against become irrelevant. Have a compromised immune system? Take some antibiotics and go on your merry way. Have a sprained ankle? Take some tensor bandages and stay off it and rest for a few days (a flying bird without the power of flight would die in days if not for human intervention). Have a face too fugly to get a man? Take some trips down to the local sperm bank and start passing genes that aren't meant to be passed on. (This isn't meant to be taken as a serious biological treatment of the argument - there are good aspects to this such as wider gene pool and nurture aspects of development).

Vonnegut's dystopia reminds me of two things, Atlas Shrugged, and George Bush. Atlas Shrugged is because the Washington men are basically using the tycoons' brilliance as a way to hurt the tycoons. George Bush is because of the "no children left behind" policy, in which bred some of the worse education systems the world has seen.

George Orwell's (one of the more used writers in high school besides Shakespeare) Animal Farm has coined a well-known phrase "all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others". The phrase suggests that perhaps with equality, there will always people who will try to become a little bit more equal (see pt 2 above).

For those of you that will grow up to do great things involving policy-making, please remember that trying to implement utopia by force might end up in tragedy.

A List.

So in lieu of an actual blog post, as I am busy cleaning out my life, a list. Bonus points if you can form an unique and fitting phrase to preface this list.

-----------

Knowledge without experience

Wealth without work

Science without compassion

Pleasure without conscience

Commerce without respect

Policy without principle

Worship without sacrifice

Vision without effort

Honesty without empathy

Facts without context

For Liz

We want 63 for next year.

Okay. so it's not really for you Liz, but you get so many more words than Boris did!

For Boris

=)

Trapped in my Fantasy

Let me preface this entry with the fact that I love the Chem building in our school; there is something stoically rustic in the stone architecture, juxtaposed with newly installed tinted glasses at parts. To me, there is nothing I'd love more than to spend time in that building.

With that said, it turns out on Fridays I would be able to spend nine consecutive school hours there. I would be going from room 250 => 324 => 300 => 150 => 470. I mean, I wouldn't have to be in the building proper for nine straight hours, that would be absurd. No, the Chem building is designed so that for half the rooms you would have to exit the building and enter through another entrance. The rest of the week would be a myriad mix of the above rooms plus room 226.

I almost want to visit the Chem building a few times this summer - take in the wondrous oaken doors and the charming granite staircases - before being imprisoned there and start growing sick of the building, jaded as I could be.

I might develop the blasé attitude as a defence mechanism, or maybe the castle-like building will just lose its novelty with me.

10 Weeks of Songs

This is just a record keeping post of my 10 weeks of songs (besides the obvious FoB's). I'll probably update these on Saturdays, with the 10th one being on event day.

#1: Franz Ferdinand - Michael
#2: The The - Uncertain Smile
#3: The Sessions - My Love
#4: The Fray - Never Say Never
#5: Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
#6: Billy Talent - Rust from the Rain
#7: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Other side
#8: Maroon 5 - Secret

#9: Kings of Leon - Use Somebody

A Story in Two Songs I

I've been roaming around always looking down at all I see.

Painted faces fill the places I can't reach.

You know that I could use somebody

You know that I could use somebody

Someone like you

Kings of Leon - Use Somebody

Lets face it, all of us could use somebody, right about now. For me, I could use someone who would:

• bring me lunch every week as I spent 9 hours in the chem building
• hold me when my body gets the best of me
• understand my need to fight, and support me so I can
• stand by me as ORB/OGB are attempted
• be my proxy for harvest in the event that I am required to collect toxins
• hear me rant, and rant to me

And all I really want from you is to feel me

As the feeling inside keeps building

And I will find a way to you if it kills me, if it kills me

Jason Mraz - If It Kills Me

"You racist?" "Nawh, I just like white people better"

Recently I did a 10 minute transcription. What that means is that the integrated viral DNA is transcribed by the host cell's RNA polymerase.

No it doesn't.

I guess the name is kind of misleading. 10 minute transcription actually means watching and rewatching 10 minutes of the same youtube video in order to turn spoken words into written words. It took me about 8~9 go throughs to finish, therefore taking up a good chunk of about 1.5 hours. The topic was on responding to hate speeches on the internet.

The orator, Matt, was a very eloquent guy; post-BA in journalism, pre-MA in the same thing. He brings up points that, like the whole of sociology, seem really obvious once you hear/read it, but before that you would almost never come up with that. Some of my highlights were the argument against minority arguments (aka don't ever say "Don't make fun of her being muslim, when you are a black woman" which leads to the argument that would it be more acceptable if a white male was to make fun of "her"), the difference between regular bible citation and hate speech ("the bible says homosexuality is a sin" vs "the bible says homosexuals are filthy perverts", which both seems like hate speech to me, but I can start seeing the difference), and how he pronounced rhetoric (think limerick).

Obviously by using everyone's own looking glass self, it is easy to want to skew what Matt has said in ways that jive with our own believes. What did I get out of it? It's okay if I'm racist, as long as I treat all minorities as equals (or as Matt puts it, "gives them a fair shake"). Of course I took deeper meanings out of that speech, hence me spending 1.5 hours to transcribe it.

That and it might be because it's a White guy saying it.

Where were you then?

There are many "big" events where almost everyone seemed to know where they were, what they were doing, and who they were with. It might be because my memory is not as great as it could be, but I don't remember many of these moments. I could maybe remember 3. One of which doesn't count as it's a situation that's only big to me.

The first would be 911. I knew what I was doing; sleeping. I was too young to really understand all the implications of the event, but I knew it was a big thing. I went into my school, where the teacher decided that we needed to have a discussion about this major current event. We moved all the tables to the side, moved our chairs into a circle, then the teacher started briefing about the event for those of us who were not caught up. Obviously the briefing was very PG, since even as the vice principal the teacher could be fired if the conversation was too explicit. The class then all shared their views, before ending with a minute of silence.

Then comes HSF. As probably is the case with the other 9 finalists, I was at school when the phone calls were made. I dropped by home during lunch to see the answering machine blinking (well, it was blinking, but I was directed to it by my mom). I was freaked out (and evidently misunderstood the phone call) after listening to it a few times. I went back to school, explained the situation to my teacher, and excused myself for the afternoon. Apparently I looked pale; I definitely felt it. I had to psyche myself up (like I do with many many circumstances). I even had to phone one of my references to ease my nerves. After I felt that I've done as much nerve prepping as I could, I called Mr. Sommers. What came after is all over facebook.

Lastly, Obamamania. The mood that night was very weird. I was in Woodward, and was feeling really disappointed by the information night that was being held there. My future career looks more shrouded and bleak than ever before when I left the library. But as I walked out of the campus that night, getting ready to head home, the atmosphere didn't feel right. There was electricity in the air. I could not go a block without someone overhead yelling or some drunk pedestrian looking ecstatic. I had a hunch about what happened and sent a text to my friend from Chicago: "Did he win?" The affirmative answer explained my feelings as I crossed the campus that night. It seemed funny how the night that is marked with hope by millions of people around the world was so bleak to me.

1:30, Two Counts

There is something very powerful about that quote. To be immersed so deeply into a piece of art, choreography, or music: passion at its best.

People obviously perform better when there is passion attached. The incompetent begins passing as a competent; the competent begins passing as a master. The strokes, the steps, the notes all become secondary to the emotion, the feeling, the integrity.

We all need a little bit of integrity in our actions. Our talk shouldn't be just talk, nor should it be some attempt to glorify, or falsify ourselves. Our action should be limited to the act, with the intent of accomplishing the act, for the sake of the act, and not to put up an act.

The remedy? Passion. Passion for what you believe in, passion for what you fight against.

So get out there, love some, hate some, justify killing some. Condemn the condemner, and deny the victim.

This is not a blog post pt2

Event name: Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends

Event subtitle: I slept with a member of Fall Out Boys and all I got was stupid song titles stuck in my head

Event sub-subtitle: Adagio in B flat for bass clarinet

Whimsy, coming to you 10.10.09.

My 19.5 Birthday

This is not a blog post.

So, I've decided that for my next birthday celebration, I will celebrate my half birthday and not my birthday. Reasons why this'll be is because:

• It'll be during midterm season and not second final season!
• I can drink, gamble and eat meat this time!
• It'll be on a Saturday!
• There things that you just can't do in April. (like extreme puddle jumping!)
• It's another excuse to party =D
• and give me gifts =D

What kind of gifts? I'm going to divide into individual and group gifts:

Individual:

• Bandanas!
• Ties! (Either wacky or solid coloured (a white one if you got it))
• Dark blue dress shirt (or a dull red)
• Black socks!
• Long shorts!
• "Vintage tees" - will explain in a far off in the future post
• Things I can plant for next summer (Chrysanthemum!)
• Things I can grow in my room

Group:

• One of those cheap cars!
• An iPod classic!
• Or a new mac book and the free accompanying iPod classic!
• A realistic way to apply ORB/OGB

I repeat, this is not a blogpost. I will update this later on as I think of new things to want.

Up close and Personal

I have never really thought about this until lately, but have you ever realized that when you kiss someone, you are really close to them? You are literally in their face.

Of course once I had that thought in my head, it makes things so awkward.

Try it. Kiss someone and think about just how close your face is to theirs.

The Curse of the Big Heavy Instruments

Since I don't have any idea what I'm going to writing about for my Sociology T1 (named of course after our beloved term 1 project), I've decided to write about what I wanted to.

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Like everything else - hierarchy, get-rich-fast schemes, Egyptian burial places - a balanced band is constructed like a pyramid. At the bottom you have the bass line (for all intensive purposes I'm grouping the percussionists in here), and the higher up the pyramid/pitch you go, the smaller the sections. This has something to do with that whole higher frequency gets heard more clearly/they get more solos and less need for a section/who really need more than 2 flutes. If you want that explained more clearly then talk to Chris. However, most (especially younger) bands have an inverted pyramid where a gazillion flutes sitting on top of a few euphs.

Since you would never need that many flutists, streaming occurs. Band teachers subtly poke students that are in the lower echelons of their section to try to pursue a different (lower) instrument. Of course occasionally they aren't even that bad, just no long term potential (I mean, I was solo clarinetist before I switched =p).

With this however, comes the realization that the music we play are not very challenging once we got used to our respective instruments. This isn't like the whole Pachelbel debacle where, OMG, you get 8 quarter notes repeated over and over again. Try a bass clarinet part for Mars; we get one note where every bar is repeating the same rhythm as before; or even worse, I've had a whole page of the same dotted half notes.

Of course, if we reapproach our band teachers, they would do anything for us not to switch back to our original instruments. Of course if you're in the school band, that means only a max of 4 years of the instrument and you're out of there. If you're in a community band, you're stuck there until someone else comes along playing the same instrument. Imagine my shock when the kid I was mentoring quit half way through the year? I mean, the guy I replaced fled the continent ffs (although he has been doing it a LOT longer than I have, and is a LOT more talented than I).

Because of this, people struck by the curse are a lot more prone to settle. I mean, if you don't submit, comments like "Oh, so you play quarter notes" are going to sting more and more as time goes on.

Love is like a lemonade

Not so much the kind that's squeezed from the heart, but the bad kind.

The kind that isn't so much tart, but downright sour, but heavily sugar coated to try to hide the undeniable fact.

You try to convince yourself of the value of the vitamin c contained within, trying desperately to ignore that it only contains 5% real juice. As it wears away at the enamel, upsets your stomach, and wreck havoc on your intestines, you start seeing the real picture.

Why do we put ourselves through this? We try to obtain what little pleasure we could from it, always wanting more, never getting it. Why do we bother?

First Dates

My sociologists prof had us in a discussion about what makes up a first date. Somewhere between the tried and true "dinner and a movie" and the innovative "shoulder counting", I started thinking back to my last first date.

We've decided to meet at Burrard station earlier that day. Since I was a bit late (seems like a trend lately), we've started playing marco polo in Royal centre with texts. After about 5 minutes, we saw each other and proceeded. First we went to Pacific centre, checked out hoodies and tablets, while visiting friends. Without much plan, we've walked around downtown before deciding to go down to English bay. 

It was a cloudy day with the occasional sprinkles; great weather for the both of us really. I could never get people who would wish for sun every day; FFS just move to California then if you're just going to complain about the weather. We had a great walk down the length of second beach, before stopping at a playground to sit on the swings. We talked about everything that popped into our head: the weird tree on top of the apartment building, the swine flu, having an apartment downtown so it'd be possible to bike around everyday. I felt great, since I haven't been able to have so much fun since most of sci one scattered a couple of weeks back.

When we were pretty tired from walking, we decided to head up Davies in search of food. I was pretty surprised when we ended up in front of Stepho's, as that's kinda where I wanted to go (Stepho's being where my lab supervisors took me for my last meal with the Granvillites). The atmosphere is great, although a bit quieter than the last time I went, which made it seem slightly less authentically Greek. The food was great; generous portions and yummy. Conversation led to our five year plans: software engineering and micro-bi-ochem (one combination or the other). I obviously made fun of the CompSci degree, which earned me quite a few punches throughout the afternoon. Of course, the guy picked up the cheque. 

After dinner, I showed off St Paul's (probably the most eye opening month for me) before trying to catch my last 491 home. In my hurry, I got completely drenched by a bus passing over a puddle, which of course earned me quite a bit of laughs and ridicules. 

That afternoon had everything that should happen on a first date: mindless wandering, open conversation, great food, and a bit of humility. 

There was nothing that seemed scripted like the Westminster dog show or Ryan Seacrest. 

There was nothing that was uncharacteristically extreme like back hair laser removal or tattoos.

There was nothing that seemed threatening like a crazy hobo or an ex-child molestation attorney.

It was perfect.

Except that I didn't realise that it was a date.

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Maybe it wasn't. Maybe I'm just being incredibly presumptuous. 

I saw and had dinner with a mutual friend at UBC the next day. She and I chatted about courses, then out of the blues, an awkward question. I panicked, although, was quite confused. Revelations and lies were exchanged, and I started thinking about what the night before meant. I made an excuse to leave due to class (which was true, but not really the reason I wanted to get out of there). 

Moral of the story? 

I hate how girls gossip and are generally confusing.

And that I feel like I lost someone after that night.

Short Rant #1

For my treasurer orientation, the coordinator decided to use doodle as a way to schedule people. I was the third person to sign up, and as luck will have it, I got a time slot that I kinda liked. I checked again today, turns out, 5 of the 6 people who signed up after me decided to all pick the same time slot that I did. :@ Can't they realize that there's a reason there's that many dates and times, and for the trends in the first 3 people's schedule?

Hopefully I don't have to go through orientation with that many people, because this is something that goes a lot smoother if it's one-on-one or at least in a small group.

The Special People I Surround Myself With

So you guys are going to hate me for my title in a minute, but like I care.

I try to surround myself with amazing people, partly because they always know how to bring up my spirits, and partly because it'd be motivation to aspire to something greater.

Case #1. He's an honest to goodness nice guy. Good set of morals on him, and cherishes the friendships he does foster (think Yang mating for life-esque). Got a decent head on him too. Wanting to go into Physiology and got a solid set of grades to back that up.

Case #2. She really does steal my dreams and make them real. She's a quasi-stagehand, and has been for years. She's uber talented at music (great on the bass clarinet even though that's like her 23rd instrument) and would have been studying music if it wasn't for the source of money. She *could* go into microbi and kick ass at it... as a last resort.

Why mention these two? He's got a learning disorder and she, on top of being a little OCD, can't even tell the difference between left and right (imagine getting driven home for the first time and having to give directions).

I'm slightly sick of all of these preferential hiring and "equal" opportunities. People who have disabilities or setbacks should not have an easier time getting what they want than their equals without the d&s. Not when there are people like case #1 and 2, who are above average, despite their downfalls, who are perfectly capable of getting a job in their own right.

Conversely, (because I am racist I can say this) I have no problems with companies that prefer to hire white males. This doesn't make *them* racist/sexist, they are simply hiring the best men for the job. White males are often received better than their coloured/fairer counterpart in business transactions. So in a way, being white & male are attributes that are just enough to make someone's resume slightly more appealing.

That's about all I have to say about that topic. What else can I include? Vote tomorrow (although by the time you've read this it might already be too late). It doesn't really matter who you like, just get your voice out there, whether it be STV (what I'm voting for) or FPTP, or Liberal NDP Conservative Communism or Green (who I'm voting for), take part so you have a right to bitch.

Also, slightly more important (OMG, something more important than the stupid system put in place by the Poli scientists and sociologists of the world?): Go out there and do some reading. Find a great blog that makes you feel in ways that you didn't know words can make you. Yours truly tries to blog stuff that might be interesting, but he is by no means good. Go out and look, for your Ethans that can be on a beach with Camerons, sharing a music player just as Snow Patrol echoes his sentiment of "Would you lie with me, and just forget the world?"

Galstaff, you have entered the door to the north. You are now by yourself, standing in a dark room.

Long quote in title, most of you probably won't know it (and if you google it, I'm sure you'll be disappointed). And now, another long quote:

"I'm gonna base this moment on who I'm stuck in a room with. It's what life is, it's a series of rooms. And who we get stuck in those rooms with adds up to what our lives are"

Some of you might know where this is from, those of you who don't, googling this one might not be a bad idea.

So, it's finally sinking in/official. I'm an SOS now. Hell, I think I did slightly better than survived, but that's a different story. I haven't really been able to fully celebrate that fact, because of the person that didn't quite become an SOS. In any other instance I'd be spamming SOS everywhere: facebook, msn, etc. But this time, it doesn't feel right, making it a very bittersweet way to end the winter session. 

Who you are, is really a conglomeration of everything that has happened and everyone that you have met: circumstantial. There's no fighting it. Hermits become very similar due to their lack of people that mold them to become something. 

Next year, as we all split into our separate fields, we're still going to be a big part of each other. After spending 8 months together, from good times to bad, we have left a big imprint of ourselves. We might not end up friends/close in a few years, but just by having interacted in the setting that we have been in will make you a different person than if you didn't go through science one.

Go out there, live, love, be loved. Never ever say science one have not help shape the person you are then, because it has. And if during "then" you are rich, I'm Justin Chang!

Fight 53:59

I was going to post a post about what people post on blogs, but my blog ate said post. I perhaps will rewrite it, but now, I'm going to write something about fighting.

Do it. Please. For the love of god and all things lovable, fight.

If you're 5 years old and losing lots of blood from a door closing/bomb incident, fight to stay conscious.

If you're rejected from a job, fight the system.

If you're a teen that just learnt that your grandma died 2 weeks ago, fight the tears.

If you have cancer, fight.

Fight club has one rule, and life is similar. Fight; being put on this Earth, that's about all you could do. Keep on fighting til your lungs drew their last breath, your heart, its last beat. Find what it is that is worth living for, worth dying for, worth killing for, worth going to hell for.

Charisma

I helped someone edit their resume recently. I did not particularly like this person, but I did rip it to shreds like I would for a true friend. I rediscovered my hate for planning 10. It is an incredibly tedious task to speak the lingo. Much like the field of academic writing, you might be confronted with loads of jargons (among the discussion of the current state of knowledge, and the multiple noun phrases). The transferable skills are among the most prominent ones. "Communication skills", "People person", or "Interpersonal abilities" are a dime a dozen. Those are just contrived terms that are closed to being cliché. But really, they are just blanket terms cover something that is a lot more useful: Charisma. 

(as an aside, this post is about charisma to me. People described below may or may not seem charismatic to you, but to me, they mean the world).

My cousin LinKai always seemed slightly too happy to the rest of the world. He really does enjoy life as much as he can. He would go out of his way to show me how to play with his video games (I believe it was in his house that I developed my button mashing habits) whenever we'd visit. He really made those long trips to his house a trip worth taking. He does his best to teach me to smile. And that point I really don't have much to do. I'd go to school, or go to my parents' work. Going to a friend's house? basically didn't happen. I don't think I've been to more than 1 person's house before I came to Canada.

As I went back to visit, he'd always try to take me around on his motorcycle as much as he can (when he's off work basically). He works in a bakery, not because he can't find something better, but because he honestly loves his work. He's the type of guy where he's genuinely nice enough that you'd be able to see that he's not doing it for the tips. Of course, tons of girls flock to the bakery to flirt with him, but he's really just an extremely chill guy. 

Of course, if he was white, he'd be something like Cory. He is probably the person most confident enough to be able to just walk up to a stranger and start a conversation. He treats mcdonald cashiers with as much courtesy as a high end waiter would for their customers. He has the most contagious laugh; you can't help but smile when he's around. He was my youth worker for a while, and I try to get him to drive me home as often as possible. Not cause I'm lazy or anything and walking home isn't a hassle, but because it gives about 5 minutes worth of great heart to heart conversations. He's always take pride in himself, because everyday he strives to be a better man. He exudes confidence and likebility, a truly born "people person".

I've met the guitar man a while ago; I'm pretty sure this was before the math assignment regarding convergence was due, although I could be wrong. All I remember was I was craving some pho. I first saw him when he was talking to a couple who thinks he's crazy, so he left them be. Few seconds later, I was having some troubles crossing the street (don't ask) and he came over and said "there's safety in numbers" and we moved on. He started making up songs off the top of his head and sang them; I was as giddy as a 5 year old again. Some people might not give him the time of their day, but I honestly believed he was a great entertainer. We talked, and I learnt that apparently some douchebags coming out of a bar broke his guitar so now he's only singing to earn money until he can save up for another guitar. There is a lightness in his songs and spirit. Fast forward to Friday, on my way to my mom's office I saw him again (I was also going towards pho). He looks good; got a down payment for another guitar, and his face looks even more brilliant than before. He played me a song, and concluded with "keep on smiling, cause that's the only thing you can control".  If you guys are ever around Richmond and you see this guy, be sure to give him some of your change.

It could be worse

"It could be worse", such an awesome statement in that it's optimistic and pessimistic at the exact same time!

Drawing the right MO but then going with your (wrong) intuition? At least you didn't think carbons have 6 electrons.

Snakes on a plane? Snakes on EVERY plane.

Failing your sci one physics final? Could be failing out of CSP.

Don't have the job you want? Could have the job you hate.

Can't dance backwards? Try doing it in heels.

Hooker ran off with your wallet? could've ran off with your heart.

Need to monitor your heart on an ECG? it could have a sampling rate of 3 Hz.

Think you play DotA too much? At least you're not Shoujun.

Someone take off your weapon? Both of them? They could do it a second time.

Skinning your knee when you tripped while running? could epic fail at puddle jumping.

References to RENT, XKCD, weird al, and sin city.

Happy birthday me

It was nice spending my birthday studying with people who tolerate me. Would've been better if I got the chance to provoke my new legality, but so be it.

But since I am legal, I get to make this assertion without making too much of an ass out of myself. I believe that one should be drinking to get buzzed, not to get pissed drunk. I mean, sure, there are occasions where getting drunk is understandable, but most of the time, it is just retarded. Whether it be smashing windows and lampshades, or passing out in someone's room and imposing on them, it is just stupid.

I have not actually found my favourite drinks yet. What I've drank most are Taiwanese beers, which are basically piss water. However, drinking a cold one in Taiwan is much much greater than anything I've gotten here. Neil mentioned that beer should be made appropriate to what's available at where you are, I think what you pick should also be appropriate to where you are. Hopefully I'll be able to find a beer that's right for me in Canada soon. If you've got any good suggestions, please tell me. I might have to try out the granville island stuff once I get my hand on some money.

Speaking of money, if anyone can refer me to good jobs/lab-related experiences, let me know.

Thanks for the Lack of Help

I meant to talk about the Social Contract two weeks ago, except at that point I did not feel like I would do it justice. I'm not sure I'll do much justice to it now seeing as how I'm doing this cause I can't sleep, but here goes nothing.

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The social contract is between two people who decide to treat each other differently than would two stranger. Usually it's not a legally binding, or even verbal, contract. An example of this would be for person A to overlook person B's bedside manner, if person B ignores person A's big nose. Person A is getting more benefit out of this deal than is person B.

Maybe it's because I believe in passive aggressiveness towards people I don't like that lead to me being blunt to people I do like. I feel that by pointing out people's shortcomings, they might either realize the presence of the problem, or the severity. Telling someone that they had a great presentation when they didn't doesn't help. Telling  someone that they needed to project more, explain ambiguous things, and to do more reading on the topic does. Having a secret affair with someone's husband doesn't help. Telling someone to divorce him because he's a whore that have slept with you recently helps. Not having an affair but not telling about his whorish habits doesn't help. Not having an affair and telling about his whorish ways help (more than the second option).

It is hard to know the balance between being useful and being offensive. Hell, if it was easy, I might actually have some friends. Some finer points of the contract is to know when it's time for the other person to speak. When they're talking about losing a close relative, it's best not to complain about how you're trying so hard to learn Japanese. Don't complain about school being hard, if the other person's in Science One (especially if you're in Arts). Don't complain about Science One when the other person's talking about something personal.

On the flipside, don't compromise who you are as a person in order to try to maintain a friendship. That's what boyfriends and girlfriends are for. If you can't be you and be a good friend at the same time, it's better off being you. (Unless you suck, then by all means, change)

Make sure you're putting as much into the friendship as you are getting out. A friendship with an unbalanced ledger usually fails. As a tangent, support your friend's cooky beliefs, and accept that they want to grieve for Heath for months. 

A friend with benefit is kind of redundant. A friend with benefit without the benefit is not an oxymoron.

Don't let other's perception of your friend influence yours. This is something that I've been purposely trying to change, and I think I'm getting better. 

If any part of this contract seems ambiguous, just think to yourself, WWPED.

Anything Goes

Most of the time I get muchly annoyed at people commenting on performances as if their arguments hold any water. So in my typical contradictory fashion, I'm going to comment on the Totem musical.

Brock, the music director, is what I call a "soft" conductor. This is not an insult to his abilities, quite the opposite. I call conductors who rely mostly on very solid and pronounced ictus "hard" conductor, and those who rely mostly on their near symmetric left hands to conduct "soft" conductors. I personally prefer the hard ones, but that's just a personal preference (can I make this sentence any more redundant?). But back to Brock; he was pretty damn amazing for what he's given.

The band actually wasn't that bad. I was expecting train wreck material by Magnus's description, but they pulled it off (other than the clarinet with the squeeking problem; needs a softer reed, or more practice on the one he/she has). The solo trumpet during blow gabrielle blow was.... underwhelming. Maybe because I've been playing with a kid that's been lead trumpet since grade 8 that made it seem this way. S/he wasn't bad, it's just that with Reno being as amazing as she is, the horn really needed to step it up a notch.

Speaking of Reno, she was definitely my favourite. She sounds like she was made for a musical. The lead actor is also very physically strong, but seems to be missing some training. If he had a few hours with a voice coach, I'm pretty sure he'd be giving Reno a run for her money. As it is, sweet singer, but can be a bit too soft, especially with the bass parts.

And Magnus? OMGWTFBBQ.

If any of the above seems harsh, please tell me so I can correct.

Quote

"The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit." - W. Somerset Maugham.

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 This is of course in response to my post filled with cliché. 

Being able to quote is a great asset, but it is not the be all end all of intelligent conversations. It helps tremendously though; it is rather pointless to put your exact thoughts into flowery languages when someone has already done so more eloquently. There is no reason to talk about how far we've come on tolerance of African Americans, when a simple "I have a dream" would do. 

But by saying what has already been said, you are not advancing the world's literacy. By telling students that quoting is a quintessential part of any piece of writing, you are inhibiting him by setting barriers on what "good writing" is. He will eventually have to choose between getting good grades, or writing freely. In our world today, the grades usually win out, and the student strays from his creative capabilities, and "I don't know if I can respect somebody that can walk away from a gift like that."

Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick

This post is inspired by Chris. A "volunteer of the hat" had to refer to the overhead so was using the long pointer and Chris told him/her to speak loudly. I, being a dumb smartass, decided to follow up with "and carry a big stick". Chris corrected me by saying that unlike Teddy, he doesn't want him/her to speak softly. My train of thought was like this:

"Oh yay, he knows where my reference came from"
"Oh crap, I didn't know where my reference came from"

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Although I've only recently learnt of this saying and its meaning, I really like what this represents. It is similar to "ace in the hole" and "fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee". This technique is useful, because it allows you to keep your strength hidden until absolutely necessary. It lures your opponent into a false sense of security before you inflict this "trick up your sleeve".

But by doing this you can run into a dilemma; will you waste your good hand, or will you go for the overkill. It always seem like a pity to not use what you've been hiding. For example, "Oh crap, I had a good speech and now I wasted it." It also feels bad if by laying down your aces, you uselessly expended energy. Yesterday I basically did about 90% of the ~100 integral sheets. Today, I realized the majority of it was useless. I think that other than the arcsin 3x and the e^2x question, I could've done all the others without any practice.

To conclude, I would like to remind you to always be aware of your environment. It is pointless if you saved up your aces when you're playing solitaire. A less trivial example of this is a big advertising gimmick. Sure it'll bring a lot of attention, but if you execute this too late, you might run into the problem of no one following your marketing. Also, don't be too sure of your aces when you're playing big 2, cause you have no idea who has the 2s to trump you.

Speeches

Unlike Joan, I had the opportunity to speak, but I chose not to because I was petty. Maybe that'll teach me a lesson. Below's my speech that I would've gave had I not been petty.

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Hi everyone! As most of you might know, I'm Justin, and I'm running to be your next treasurer. (this part is added after most of the prez speeches) Some of the previous speeches have skipped over qualifications, citing that it is boring, but I think it is important to know that your treasurer can handle your money. I have been the financial controller for the last 2.5 years in high school - we tend to not talk about who was financial controller for the first half of the year. This year, I am part of SUS's First year council as a member of the finance committee. With this much experience, I am sure I am more than competent with handling your money.

Then there is what separates me from the rest of the competition. I am extremely meticulous with my book keeping. Anyone who has seen my chemistry exams can testify to this. Also, I am really good at filing for reimbursements as soon as I get the receipts.

Why do I do all of this? In my heart, I think the good and the bad times we've went through this year will stay with our lives for a long time. Even if you are not part of the execs, you are still an SOS, for life. I will do everything in my power to make the SOS club run as smoothly as I can. I mean, if anyone questions my commitment to helping out, just look at my hair.

Thank you for your time, and vote for me!

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Seeing this makes me think it is infinitely better than "Vote for me, or vote for the alternative (points to Sean). Thank you". But I'm trying to decide if it'd really make a difference.

We'll see in about 3 days I suppose (when they say they'll post results sometime tonight, it'll probably end up as 2 nights from now, and I'm giving them wiggle room)

The Wheel on the Bus

As much as I complain about the commute, I actually quite enjoy taking buses. There are people that you would have never encounter with in your daily lives, and then there are those that you do encounter, but never really get to know.

Case study one: A couple, dressed in full black, spiky hair, pierced lips, tats and makeup. They turn out to be the nicest and most polite people that I've seen in a while.

Two: A loud-talking engineer, with a customized leather jacket, and exuberates confidence. He is the most introspective person I know.

Three: A pretty-boy construction worker, perfect face except a deep cut below one eye. His wound is just a peek at a whole life as a roller coaster ride of emotions.

Four: A devout Christian, conservative, caring. He would do just about anything to get what he wants out of life.

Five: A med schooler to-be, poised, passionate, think Christina Yang (actually has the same hair too). She'd have as rockstar a moment with a pair of drumsticks as she would with a scalpel. 

Six: A concert violinist, has the potential to study worldwide. He knows more about quantum mechanics than most of your BS, and can beat out any Biochemist for med school application. 

Seven: A volleyball player, strong, fearless, gazelle-like. She's actually exactly what you'd expect from her. 

It's amazing what happens when you open up to people.

Science One Application

This was posted in Dec. 2nd.

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This is the essay for my Science One application. So naturally my grades were good enough for them to not read this in too much detail.

Jab, twist, and pull. Blood trickles out of me, drop by drop. When the paper in front of me was covered with blood, I knew I have finished my lab.

I have been drawn to science since I was a child; every little discovery delighted me. It could be anything from watching water as it freezes, or finding out that my blood type is AB- [Which turns out to be a lie, as the blood clinic told me I was AB+]. There is an indescribable feeling of joy as one observes something new, and that is a big portion of science. With every passing day, new advances are made, and the body of knowledge transforms. I have let a lot of interests fade in the past – becoming a lawyer, getting a tattoo, owning a pet - but I have always been captivated by science.

Throughout high school I have enjoyed Science, especially the lab portion. When my teacher recommended me to apply to the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s High School Summer Research Program, I did not hesitate. Although I was surprised that I got accepted, I was stunned by the amount of stuff that we got to do. A portion of it was examining preserved heart samples, witnessing an open heart surgery, and riding in an ambulance. The balance of the program was spent in the iCapture centre in St. Paul’s hospital. It served as a lab where I get to partake in hands on learning. It was while doing microbiological research there that I have realized that research is the field that I would like to go into.

University has always been set as my course of action. Even before I entered high school, my parents were already preparing me for my entrance. It was not until this year that I have carefully thought about what being a university student really entails. My schooling so far has been with the people that live around me; people with the same background, and same experiences. Upon starting my university studies, I would like to work along side people with unique stories and talents of their own. This would help as I am sure to encounter problems that I never had to face before. No matter what challenges university throws at me, I will make the most out of the new experience.

I am excited about starting courses in university. It is often emphasized that once one gets into university, one takes one’s studies into one’s own hands. Instead of selecting from a small list of cookie-cutter courses, one is allowed to pick from a myriad selection of courses, programs, and degrees. As I considered the choices, Science One stood out. Having a devoted group of students with similar interests studying together seems ideal to me. I am sure that close friendship would form with the majority of the students as they complete their first year of post-secondary studies together. In this multifaceted Science program, I will be motivated to continue to strive for excellence, in a group that is known for its brilliance.

The scientific method provides a rigid structure in which all experiments abide by. Beyond that, there are infinitely many things for one to pursue. This definition leads me to believe that Science One is comparable to the scientific method. Although all the courses are selected, there are no constraints on what each individual student can learn and gain from it. I wish that I could also be a part of the endless possibilities.

First post

I'm Justin, and I started blogging because of Ravi (check out his blog at http://infamyoffact.blogspot.com)

I've actually been a blogger for a while on services such as xanga and lj, but have grown to slow down on content upload quite a bit. Hopefully with this blog, I will begin writing again.

I figured for the first few posts, I would repost some of my old entries, then begin posting new stuff.