Sunday, January 21, 2007
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Yup, it's procrastinatin' time
I'm on my blog quite a bit lately. It must mean that I have something due soon. However, my parents no longer have the right to bitch at me for my procrastination habits. (A fact I'm sure they're going to ignore.) Apparently my father found an article that found that people who procrastinate are something like 10% more efficient when they do finally work. I wonder if I can find that article... Maybe I'll get it framed.
I went to donate blood today at UW. The day didn't start off well for anyone. I slept through my alarm clock (again) - I'm going to have to test it to make sure it's functioning - maybe I just keep turning it off and forgetting.
I made it to the donors on time though. Unfortunately they were late in setting up due to the weather and traffic. No problem! That just gave me time to go get food. I was just sitting down to eat in the SLC when suddenly this weird buzzing sound starts, but it was intermittent, so we all just sat and stared at each other for a moment... But it continued. Fine, guess it's a real fire drill after all! We all filed out into the cold and had to stand around for 20 minutes while the firetrucks came and gave us the all clear to go back in.
While waiting for the all clear though, I was slightly annoyed by the one group of people I saw. They decided that it was too cold to wait outside like the rest of us, so they ended up going back into the inner set of doors of the SLC. Maybe this was smart thinking - after all, in all likelihood, it was a false fire alarm... But what if it hadn't been? I kept hoping the fire was real and was going to suddenly erupt and toast the twirps alive. I'm not irritated. Really.
Of course the alarm delayed the blood donors even longer for setting up, but soon all was good and I was zipping through. This donation went a lot smoother than the last time because I had all the places I had visited written down a piece of paper. Yay! Even the donation went very well. It took me about 16 minutes to donate my share (I found out the average time is 10 minutes), and since I had warned the nurse that I tend to have complications from donating (aka getting woozy"), she made me stay laying down for an extra 5 minutes. I think that really did the trick, because I only felt mildly shaky instead of wanting to keel over afterwards.
Stacy managed to find me at the donors (I was like 15 minutes late in meeting her due to all the delays). We ended up going to her new house for lunch (ha ha, it has retro 70s carpets!). I managed to con her into going to the mall so I could do some quick shopping and to see a movie.
We ended up seeing The Children of Men. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Stacy found it too violent for her tastes, but I felt the violence added to the atmosphere of the film. The premise of the film is that one day, for no reason, women stop being able to have children. For 18 years, no new children are born, and then suddenly a young woman gets pregnant. The movie is interesting because it shows how both humanity and certain individuals react to the dying out of the human race. I thought the entire film was very thought provoking and profound. I recommend you go check it out.
I went to donate blood today at UW. The day didn't start off well for anyone. I slept through my alarm clock (again) - I'm going to have to test it to make sure it's functioning - maybe I just keep turning it off and forgetting.
I made it to the donors on time though. Unfortunately they were late in setting up due to the weather and traffic. No problem! That just gave me time to go get food. I was just sitting down to eat in the SLC when suddenly this weird buzzing sound starts, but it was intermittent, so we all just sat and stared at each other for a moment... But it continued. Fine, guess it's a real fire drill after all! We all filed out into the cold and had to stand around for 20 minutes while the firetrucks came and gave us the all clear to go back in.
While waiting for the all clear though, I was slightly annoyed by the one group of people I saw. They decided that it was too cold to wait outside like the rest of us, so they ended up going back into the inner set of doors of the SLC. Maybe this was smart thinking - after all, in all likelihood, it was a false fire alarm... But what if it hadn't been? I kept hoping the fire was real and was going to suddenly erupt and toast the twirps alive. I'm not irritated. Really.
Of course the alarm delayed the blood donors even longer for setting up, but soon all was good and I was zipping through. This donation went a lot smoother than the last time because I had all the places I had visited written down a piece of paper. Yay! Even the donation went very well. It took me about 16 minutes to donate my share (I found out the average time is 10 minutes), and since I had warned the nurse that I tend to have complications from donating (aka getting woozy"), she made me stay laying down for an extra 5 minutes. I think that really did the trick, because I only felt mildly shaky instead of wanting to keel over afterwards.
Stacy managed to find me at the donors (I was like 15 minutes late in meeting her due to all the delays). We ended up going to her new house for lunch (ha ha, it has retro 70s carpets!). I managed to con her into going to the mall so I could do some quick shopping and to see a movie.
We ended up seeing The Children of Men. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Stacy found it too violent for her tastes, but I felt the violence added to the atmosphere of the film. The premise of the film is that one day, for no reason, women stop being able to have children. For 18 years, no new children are born, and then suddenly a young woman gets pregnant. The movie is interesting because it shows how both humanity and certain individuals react to the dying out of the human race. I thought the entire film was very thought provoking and profound. I recommend you go check it out.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Finally!
In 2004, I didn't get any days off of work because we had good weather all winter.
In 2005, I had a full academic year because none of the typhoons escalated to stage 3.
In 2006, we didn't even HAVE snow.
Finally, in 2007, I got a snow day! Yay!
In 2005, I had a full academic year because none of the typhoons escalated to stage 3.
In 2006, we didn't even HAVE snow.
Finally, in 2007, I got a snow day! Yay!
Friday, January 12, 2007
Public Service Message
I would like to take a moment to promote the environment.
DON'T WASTE ELECTRICITY! DON'T THROW OUT RECYCLABLES! WALK INSTEAD OF DRIVING!
The winter thus far has been pretty damned freaky. For my pals outside of Canada, I should mention that we've had little to NO snow so far! Normally by the middle of January, we're buried in several feet of the stuff! Right now though, you can still see the grass.
Our weather is NOT normal! It is an effect of global warming. I'm beginning to get really freaked out by how rapidly the changes are occuring, and it's infuriating to see how people don't care. For example, since I moved into my new apartment, I've turned the heat down by 7 degrees (no one has noticed) and I'm constantly closing windows that people leave open. All of these careless actions waste electricity which contributes to global warming.
I think what drives home the effects of climate change for me has been watching the Canadian Geese on campus.
Normally the geese leave Waterloo in mid to late November. this year though, they're still here! The migration progress is important to their development - that's when the new adults learn where to fly on their trip down south! And I keep being concerned that the weather might change suddenly to have "real" Canadian weather, and the geese that suddenly have to fly South will starve on their trip. I don't know if all of these ill omens will come to pass, but it concerns me. Several days ago, Waterloo was hit by a cold spell, causing snow and ice to form. While I was walking home, I was struck by seeing a group of geese walking across the ice of Columbia Lake...
If you want to know more about how you can stop global warming, see the following movies/sites!
DON'T WASTE ELECTRICITY! DON'T THROW OUT RECYCLABLES! WALK INSTEAD OF DRIVING!
The winter thus far has been pretty damned freaky. For my pals outside of Canada, I should mention that we've had little to NO snow so far! Normally by the middle of January, we're buried in several feet of the stuff! Right now though, you can still see the grass.
Our weather is NOT normal! It is an effect of global warming. I'm beginning to get really freaked out by how rapidly the changes are occuring, and it's infuriating to see how people don't care. For example, since I moved into my new apartment, I've turned the heat down by 7 degrees (no one has noticed) and I'm constantly closing windows that people leave open. All of these careless actions waste electricity which contributes to global warming.
I think what drives home the effects of climate change for me has been watching the Canadian Geese on campus.
Normally the geese leave Waterloo in mid to late November. this year though, they're still here! The migration progress is important to their development - that's when the new adults learn where to fly on their trip down south! And I keep being concerned that the weather might change suddenly to have "real" Canadian weather, and the geese that suddenly have to fly South will starve on their trip. I don't know if all of these ill omens will come to pass, but it concerns me. Several days ago, Waterloo was hit by a cold spell, causing snow and ice to form. While I was walking home, I was struck by seeing a group of geese walking across the ice of Columbia Lake...If you want to know more about how you can stop global warming, see the following movies/sites!
- An Inconvient Truth - A great film that explains the basics of global warming.
- Climate Change Canada
- Transport Canada's Climate Change website
- Natural Resources Canada - Climate Change site
Memories of Asia
Living with my new housemates has brought back a lot of memories from my exchange. Mainly it's due to the familiar smells - they don't cook often, but when they do, it smells like I'm back on the streets of Mong Kok with the various odors wafting around. I love it (even when I hate the smell).
Another amusing memory that they've brought back is of traveling in China. One of them, most likely Shunde, likes to hoark in the bathroom. The sound of it reminds me of walking the streets in mainland China. Part of me is vastly amused by this, even while the hairs on the back of my neck try to stand on end.
The final similarity between my apartment and Hong Kong is the random miscommunications that occur. One specific instance comes immediately to mind. I had gone to the gym one morning, and when I returned, I started chatting with Shuang. I told her in Chinese that I had gone to the gym, but I guess I said "gym" wrong. She proceeded to repeat the word back to me, then she kept saying something in Chinese that I couldn't understand. I kept replying, "I don't understand" in Chinese. After literally 2 minutes of this, she finally looks at me and says very slowly in Chinese, "I'm speaking English." That's when I realized that she had been spelling out, "G-Y-M" the entire time. I had been confused because the letter "G" sounds like the word "ji" in Mandarin. LOL. When I finally realized what was going on, I was laughing hysterically and embarrasedly. :)
Another amusing memory that they've brought back is of traveling in China. One of them, most likely Shunde, likes to hoark in the bathroom. The sound of it reminds me of walking the streets in mainland China. Part of me is vastly amused by this, even while the hairs on the back of my neck try to stand on end.
The final similarity between my apartment and Hong Kong is the random miscommunications that occur. One specific instance comes immediately to mind. I had gone to the gym one morning, and when I returned, I started chatting with Shuang. I told her in Chinese that I had gone to the gym, but I guess I said "gym" wrong. She proceeded to repeat the word back to me, then she kept saying something in Chinese that I couldn't understand. I kept replying, "I don't understand" in Chinese. After literally 2 minutes of this, she finally looks at me and says very slowly in Chinese, "I'm speaking English." That's when I realized that she had been spelling out, "G-Y-M" the entire time. I had been confused because the letter "G" sounds like the word "ji" in Mandarin. LOL. When I finally realized what was going on, I was laughing hysterically and embarrasedly. :)
Thursday, January 11, 2007
New everything
It seems as though yet another new term has begun. I'm enjoying my term so far. My new apartment is a lot nicer than my last one which makes a big difference. My landlady/landlord are from Wuhan China and they're so nice! They keep trying to talk in Chinese to me. I'm able to understand a lot of what they're saying, after I stop to think about it first. I'm also picking up a few new words, and relearning stuff I had forgotten. There's another guy living in the house, a second year who lives in the basement. He seems nice, but I rarely see him or talk to him. I probably couldn't pick him out of a crowd either.
My classes seem a lot duller than the ones last term. I'm taking a lot of required courses that I missed while off on co-op and while abroad. Therefore I'm taking the continuation of my Canadian History Senior Seminar, American History since 1877, Arts in the Humanities, and The Global South.
My history seminar seems really interesting so far. My prof for that course is also the Dean of Arts, and he's very enthusiastic about teaching us how to write a proper history paper. The course requires that we write a 25-30 page history paper using lots of primary sources, and give a 15 minute oral presentation of the paper. Yikes! That's not the difficult part though. The hard part of this course had already passed - choosing a topic! We were allowed to choose ANY topic we wanted from Canadian history. That seems easy enough, but how do you know what you can talk about for 30 pages???
I ended up choosing to write about the Suez Canal Crisis. I figured that was something I'd be interested in, it was international in scope and so on. However, after our second lecture meeting, I realized just how many primary sources (original documents from the event in question) the prof wanted, and I also realized that I didn't feel like reading through a bunch of old government documents on the topic! By the time the lecture was over, I had decided to switch my topic. I'm now going to write about the experience of Canadian prisoners of war in Hong Kong in 1941. Ha! Now there's a topic I'm interested in!
I don't have much to say about my American History class. So far it's pretty mundane. Essentially I can take anything I've learned about in Canadian history and substitute "America" for "Canada" and get it right. Let's face it, Americans did everything before we Canadians did, and earlier too! I proved this point in my first discussion class when I drew upon my knowledge of the Canadian reform movement and simply applied it to the American context we were talking about and got kudos from the prof. Ha ha. Little does he know...
I had been pretty worried about my Arts in the Humanities class. I've heard terrible things about it from all my friends who've taken it - they've said it's boring, useless, no one goes to lectures, etc. Essentially the course covers the topics of humanities in every major culture/age in history. (e.g. We've already moved from the Paleolithic period to the Egyptians to the Greeks.) While I'll admit that the course is dry and not presenting any amazing revelations, the prof is funny and enthusiastic about teaching us. (e.g. When discussing the unification of Egypt, the prof flashed a photo from the Scorpion King and mentioned the legends behind him. He also recited Egyptian love poetry for us.) Time will tell if this turns out to be the terrible class everyone has told me it is.
As for my final course, The Global South, I'm enjoying it, but having a hard time with it. The course is essentially an introduction to International Development with a focus on Kenya, China, and some South American country I can't remember. It's neat because we're learning the background as to how the world has become so screwed up. However, I'm having a hard time because the prof has a thick Russian accent and is very soft spoken... The accent isn't as much of a problem as the soft spoken part is. I'll be following the lecture easily, then suddenly I'll miss something she says and have a hard time getting back on track.
Okay, I guess this is a good enough summary of my life so far. Make sure you check out my "Holiday Summary" post below that I just put online. :) I'll add some more funny stories and a few more posts that aren't novel-length when I've had a rest. :)
My classes seem a lot duller than the ones last term. I'm taking a lot of required courses that I missed while off on co-op and while abroad. Therefore I'm taking the continuation of my Canadian History Senior Seminar, American History since 1877, Arts in the Humanities, and The Global South.
My history seminar seems really interesting so far. My prof for that course is also the Dean of Arts, and he's very enthusiastic about teaching us how to write a proper history paper. The course requires that we write a 25-30 page history paper using lots of primary sources, and give a 15 minute oral presentation of the paper. Yikes! That's not the difficult part though. The hard part of this course had already passed - choosing a topic! We were allowed to choose ANY topic we wanted from Canadian history. That seems easy enough, but how do you know what you can talk about for 30 pages???
I ended up choosing to write about the Suez Canal Crisis. I figured that was something I'd be interested in, it was international in scope and so on. However, after our second lecture meeting, I realized just how many primary sources (original documents from the event in question) the prof wanted, and I also realized that I didn't feel like reading through a bunch of old government documents on the topic! By the time the lecture was over, I had decided to switch my topic. I'm now going to write about the experience of Canadian prisoners of war in Hong Kong in 1941. Ha! Now there's a topic I'm interested in!
I don't have much to say about my American History class. So far it's pretty mundane. Essentially I can take anything I've learned about in Canadian history and substitute "America" for "Canada" and get it right. Let's face it, Americans did everything before we Canadians did, and earlier too! I proved this point in my first discussion class when I drew upon my knowledge of the Canadian reform movement and simply applied it to the American context we were talking about and got kudos from the prof. Ha ha. Little does he know...
I had been pretty worried about my Arts in the Humanities class. I've heard terrible things about it from all my friends who've taken it - they've said it's boring, useless, no one goes to lectures, etc. Essentially the course covers the topics of humanities in every major culture/age in history. (e.g. We've already moved from the Paleolithic period to the Egyptians to the Greeks.) While I'll admit that the course is dry and not presenting any amazing revelations, the prof is funny and enthusiastic about teaching us. (e.g. When discussing the unification of Egypt, the prof flashed a photo from the Scorpion King and mentioned the legends behind him. He also recited Egyptian love poetry for us.) Time will tell if this turns out to be the terrible class everyone has told me it is.
As for my final course, The Global South, I'm enjoying it, but having a hard time with it. The course is essentially an introduction to International Development with a focus on Kenya, China, and some South American country I can't remember. It's neat because we're learning the background as to how the world has become so screwed up. However, I'm having a hard time because the prof has a thick Russian accent and is very soft spoken... The accent isn't as much of a problem as the soft spoken part is. I'll be following the lecture easily, then suddenly I'll miss something she says and have a hard time getting back on track.
Okay, I guess this is a good enough summary of my life so far. Make sure you check out my "Holiday Summary" post below that I just put online. :) I'll add some more funny stories and a few more posts that aren't novel-length when I've had a rest. :)
Holiday Summary
Okay. I started this post back while I was ON vacation, now it's time to finish it!
It seems as though Christmas vacation hasnearly finished. I can't believe what a sloth I've been! (Well, it's not that surprising, but I do wonder how I haven't gone insane by doing nothing day after day.) I can't even tell you the highlights of my days because they've all blurred into one generic sense of deja vu. I get up around 10, sloth around my room, eat, talk with my parents, eat, play on computer, sleep.
Melanie was down for several days. We had a good time together - she can't do too much since she's on her crutches, so I would cater on her hand and foot. (Well, most of the time at least. There was an incident in Staples when she smacked me with her crutches which caused me to place her goods in the middle of the aisle and walk away. Tee hee - watching her try to hobble on her crutches and carry her purchases was amusing.) I also had to run around on Christmas eve and try to buy all her last minute gifts for mom and dad.
Christmas day itself was a lot of fun. Mel and Scott came over later in the morning to open presents (they had gone to Scott's nephews' first). I had to play "Santa" this year (Santa = the job of the person to hand gifts out). Normally Mel does this, but her knee made her incapacitated. I can't believe the amount of stuff I got this year. Maybe it seemed like more because I didn't get any gifts (except in the form of cash) last year, but I was happy. I got all the major things on my wishlist, and a few unexpected ones as well.
One gift that I gave to my parents made me stupidly pleased with myself. We're always joking that my parents' house is so cold, that penguins would shiver if they entered it. Therefore, we're always buying penguin themed Christmas decorations as jokes. Well, I found the most ADORABLE stuffed penguins! There's two penguins, hugging each, wrapped in the same scarf. They were so cute, I just had to buy them.
As mentioned, I can't remember what I did for the rest of the holidays... I went to see the James Bond movie again, as well as see The Holiday with my mom. That latter was very cute. :) I also did a lot of cooking. One of my Christmas gifts was a Thai cookbook, so I made a beef soup recipe from it (delicious), as well as a Lemongrass chicken recipe (very NOT delicious - it smelled like a cat had crawled into my marinade and died). I also did a lot of baking at the beginning of the holiday. Since my mom's a diabetic now, I didn't bake as much, but the one thing I'm proud of was my Polish apple cake! I had to wing the recipe while making it (e.g. one step called for melted the "Fleichsmanns butter," but it didn't indicate how much (since it's sold in two small tubs)... Turns out you should use both tubs, not one.)
I have to admit, by the time my vacation was over, I was happy to go back to school. I was actually getting bored of staying at home and watching TV/reading. I never thought I'd feel that way!
I ended up moving back to Waterloo on January 2nd, the day before classes began. My housemates were home and helped my dad and I to drag my stuff upstairs. I had been told when I agreed to live here, that I'd have my choice of twin or queen bed. I had chosen the twin bed... And when I got here, it turns out I was getting a queen! This posed a slight problem since I didn't have queen sheets - my sister had bought me twin sheets for Christmas. I ended up having to go to Walmart and buy a new set of sheets.
After a bit more shopping, my dad dropped me back off at my apartment to finish getting settled. I tried to make my bed using my new sheets... I couldn't fit them on the mattress! I stretched and stretched the sheets, but they would not fit! I double checked the packaging on the sheets and yes, it said it was for a Queen bed. After a few more struggles, I checked the label on the sheet itself - it said it was a twin! I went back and looked at the packaging... Some doorknob had messed up the packaging. On one side of the plastic it said the bedding was for a twin bed, but the other side said it was for a Queen. Doh!
I ended up hopping back on the bus to go return my sheets and buy an actual set of queen sheets. An hour later, I had returned home and was again putting the new sheets on my bed. Only now, the things were massive! My mattress was wallowing in the material! I finally had to get out a measuring tape and physically measure the mattress. It turns out that I have neither a twin nor a queen bed - I have a double! Doh! I was slightly bitter about all the time wasted searching for sheets.
It seems as though Christmas vacation has
Melanie was down for several days. We had a good time together - she can't do too much since she's on her crutches, so I would cater on her hand and foot. (Well, most of the time at least. There was an incident in Staples when she smacked me with her crutches which caused me to place her goods in the middle of the aisle and walk away. Tee hee - watching her try to hobble on her crutches and carry her purchases was amusing.) I also had to run around on Christmas eve and try to buy all her last minute gifts for mom and dad.
Christmas day itself was a lot of fun. Mel and Scott came over later in the morning to open presents (they had gone to Scott's nephews' first). I had to play "Santa" this year (Santa = the job of the person to hand gifts out). Normally Mel does this, but her knee made her incapacitated. I can't believe the amount of stuff I got this year. Maybe it seemed like more because I didn't get any gifts (except in the form of cash) last year, but I was happy. I got all the major things on my wishlist, and a few unexpected ones as well.
One gift that I gave to my parents made me stupidly pleased with myself. We're always joking that my parents' house is so cold, that penguins would shiver if they entered it. Therefore, we're always buying penguin themed Christmas decorations as jokes. Well, I found the most ADORABLE stuffed penguins! There's two penguins, hugging each, wrapped in the same scarf. They were so cute, I just had to buy them.
As mentioned, I can't remember what I did for the rest of the holidays... I went to see the James Bond movie again, as well as see The Holiday with my mom. That latter was very cute. :) I also did a lot of cooking. One of my Christmas gifts was a Thai cookbook, so I made a beef soup recipe from it (delicious), as well as a Lemongrass chicken recipe (very NOT delicious - it smelled like a cat had crawled into my marinade and died). I also did a lot of baking at the beginning of the holiday. Since my mom's a diabetic now, I didn't bake as much, but the one thing I'm proud of was my Polish apple cake! I had to wing the recipe while making it (e.g. one step called for melted the "Fleichsmanns butter," but it didn't indicate how much (since it's sold in two small tubs)... Turns out you should use both tubs, not one.)
I have to admit, by the time my vacation was over, I was happy to go back to school. I was actually getting bored of staying at home and watching TV/reading. I never thought I'd feel that way!
I ended up moving back to Waterloo on January 2nd, the day before classes began. My housemates were home and helped my dad and I to drag my stuff upstairs. I had been told when I agreed to live here, that I'd have my choice of twin or queen bed. I had chosen the twin bed... And when I got here, it turns out I was getting a queen! This posed a slight problem since I didn't have queen sheets - my sister had bought me twin sheets for Christmas. I ended up having to go to Walmart and buy a new set of sheets.
After a bit more shopping, my dad dropped me back off at my apartment to finish getting settled. I tried to make my bed using my new sheets... I couldn't fit them on the mattress! I stretched and stretched the sheets, but they would not fit! I double checked the packaging on the sheets and yes, it said it was for a Queen bed. After a few more struggles, I checked the label on the sheet itself - it said it was a twin! I went back and looked at the packaging... Some doorknob had messed up the packaging. On one side of the plastic it said the bedding was for a twin bed, but the other side said it was for a Queen. Doh!
I ended up hopping back on the bus to go return my sheets and buy an actual set of queen sheets. An hour later, I had returned home and was again putting the new sheets on my bed. Only now, the things were massive! My mattress was wallowing in the material! I finally had to get out a measuring tape and physically measure the mattress. It turns out that I have neither a twin nor a queen bed - I have a double! Doh! I was slightly bitter about all the time wasted searching for sheets.
Monday, January 08, 2007
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