March 31, 2003
wow the department of medical biophysics is really taking their sweet time making decisions on this job. i really thought that they just ignored me cause they didn't get my application or i didn't get the job, but i went to their website today and they updated today stating they are still making decisions. originally, they said that applicants would find out by March 1st! they pushed that back to march 24th. and now, they're just saying you'll find out as soon as possible.
well, things are winding down to exam time and my marks are pretty close to being set in stone. just have to survive one more month and then finally i get to relax. but i've got to tell myself to just work hard for one more month... just one more month. unfortunately, stupid warcraft 3 has been taking up some of my time. i stopped playing for a while and then now they have the beta expansion released and so that's sucking away some of my time. i went to see the get up kids on friday night, even though i've heard maybe 2 of their songs before actually going to the concert. i have to say it was a good concert and i don't regret going. couple notes about the concert: 1) i felt old at the concert. 2) i saw 1 current classmate, 2 high school classmates, and my prom date all at the concert. that made me feel less old. which was good. overall good times, and two thumbs up. | March 27, 2003
these are quotes from my sociocultural anthropology professor dr. hilary cunningham(i'm not making this up): first she says "i'm shifting my research into the field of MEDICAL anthropology" which is the study mostly of how genes/DNA and such effect culture and society. and then later in the lecture she says "DNA is found on 24 different chromosomes in human beings". sad sad sad. these are professors at uoft? and in case you haven't noticed. i don't like her.
i think it's time for another picture. don't you find it cool when you see pictures of your parents back when they were our age? well i do, and here's a picture of my dad during his university days in scotland (or was it england?) somewhere in the United Kingdom. =)  | March 26, 2003
still haven't heard from the department of biomedphysics about my job... they said sometime this week, i'm beginning to think they really didn't get my application...
if any of you are really my friends, you'll take me here for my birthday! =) | March 25, 2003
i really hope that my job in the future is both fulfilling and enjoyable. it's sad how many people do jobs that they really don't enjoy. most people will argue that they do their jobs to support their families, whom they love and care for, so their tediously repetitive job is actually worth it in the end. call me selfish, ambitious, unrealistic, but i want the best of both worlds. i want to be able to love to go to work everyday and still get paid to support my family. it's so difficult to find what job will make you happy though, especially when by university, you've already committed yourself so much to a particular field. my sister yvonne wanted to encourage me to get into media. i told her that i would love to be a sports caster, a news anchor, anything of that sort. she said i'd be a great new reporter and encouraged me to get into that in university. now that i'm halfway throgh university i sorta wonder if i made the right decision. should i have gone with the safe path?
my cousin, gary, for example, is someone i admire because he followed something her really wanted to do. he's in the media graphic arts program (something like that) at sheridan. his anime art is absolutely incredible. the stuff he draws and colours on his computer are stunning. imagine, he drew this from scratch. he loves what he does and it really shows. here's an example of his work. check out his website for more of his original work.  | March 23, 2003
i couldn't have said it any better. go to simon's blog to read up an excellent rant on friendship. even if you don't know him, it's worth your time to go and read. made me think about how many of these 'life-bettering' friends i have.
on another note, my friend eric just bought the new pokemon game for game boy. and although i know nothing about pokemon, he showed me the instruction booklet. and there was a line that said the following: "In Pokemon Sapphire (or Ruby), you can choose from either a boy or girl. No matter which one you choose, there is no difference in the story. However, it is recommended that you choose a character with the same gender as yours." don't you find that weird? that nintendo would suggest that you choose a character the same gender as yours? | March 20, 2003
i really can't stand violent protestors. all the anti-war protests around the world today are perfectly fine in my opinion, if you keep it peaceful. it seems as if many of these protests have become an excuse for hooligans to go out and cause trouble. on the news today i saw an american flag being burned, punches being thrown at police and an overall hate and negativity towards the united states. i hope these people realize that these methods will do NOTHING to stop the war. no matter how much you oppose the war, burning an american flag (i believe that was in ottawa) is just taking it too far. if you're concerned at all about the innocent victims of this war, the best way to help them is to pray for them, not to go out to the streets causing trouble.
i saw a couple interesting things in the subway today. first, at sheppard, the power went out for a full 2 seconds. trust me, it's weird being in a dark subway station, even if it's just for a couple seconds. i also saw a chinese girl carrying hockey equipment and a stick. i thought that was really cool. even though many people will say that a lot of girls play hockey now, chinese girls playing hockey is ultra rare. how many chinese girls do YOU know who play ice hockey? | March 19, 2003
do you know who's the man? dan. that's right, i'm talkin to you. you have it all together. no matter how much you deny it, you got brains and they're really shining through now in university. i'm a firm believer in karma, or 'what goes around comes around' and i think that because you're overall such a nice and generous guy, good things are happening to you in return. congrats on all your recent success.
so to news around the world. war time is looming. and somehow, i'm going to relate this to sports. apparently, the NCAA is thinking of rescheduling march madness because of the impending war. i really don't understand this. all the other sports are running a normal schedule. some say that ratings might be reduced because of the coverage of the war. this makes no sense in my opinion. every major news station is going to be covering the news, the one channel that has NCAA basketball will get killer ratings! better than all the other stations if anything. even though most people in north america have an opinion on the war, very few of us know anything about it. and unless it effects us directly (we know people who are there), most of us will go on with our daily lives as if nothing is different. sports should be a part of this general trend to keep things the same. here's a wicked pic of simon and wendy at the CNE. and if you look closely, you can even see me in the reflection taking the picture.  | March 17, 2003
i saw two good plays this weekend, both engineering musicals. one was skule nite (uoft engineering) and the other was the phantom of the MacEng musical (you guessed it, the MacEng musical). they're difficult to compare because of the different styles, but in the end, seeing steph up there dancing and singing up a storm gives the mac eng musical the slight edge. good job everyone!
my opinion on this war thing is pretty simple. i'm glad Canada has decided not to enter the war without the support of UN. i'm absolutely exhausted today and i can't understand why. i got a lot of sleep last night and i had a pretty relaxing day. even had time for a beer after school to chill. but i still feel as if i'm lacking some serious energy. but somehow i've gotta avoid from napping right now so that i don't find myself not being able to sleep tonight. sooo hard.... eyes closing.... | March 13, 2003
now that i'm home from a full day of classes, i have time to reflect upon my horrible day. a day where i partially broke an expensive piece of equipment in my lab. (long story). a day where my ego took a serious blow from the department of chemical engineering.
it's one of those days where i question what i'm working towards. i guess it's a good kick in the ass to tell me that nothing comes on a silver platter. no matter how much skill, intelligence, wit, creativity you have, hard work is the only sure way to get where you want to go. i never thought i'd be this upset over a simple thing like NSERC but i am. i guess i hate being rejected. it's an awful feeling. the worst thing is, even though something like this should motivate me to do better, work harder so that I can achieve everything that i want, all i want to do is loathe in misery. another bad part about not getting NSERC is when i have to compare myself to my classmates who did get it. and even though i shouldn't compare, i do and it just spawns unwarranted negativity. this whole situation just sucks. and i just want it to go away. |
so. i didn't get NSERC. i'm pretty shocked. apparently, i'm 'just on the oustide looking in'. the top 11 students in 1st, 2nd and 3rd year in chemeng get the 11 NSERC scholarships. and i didn't get it. forgive the repetitiveness. i'm shocked. i must have been like 13 or 14 or worse yet, 12. i..... i..... can't believe it.
| March 12, 2003
i'm scared. when you watch programs on the cbc that tell you that all of jordan is willing to be human bombs in order to defend iraq, you get scared. many of the middle easter coutries and their residents seem to have the same sentiment. 'i don't like hussein or iraq, but i hate the US even more'. this doesn't bode well for us, the friendly neighbours to the north. as the cliche goes, the third world war will be the last world war. and as much as the US claims to be targeting only the US, an attack on iraq is an attack on all of the middle east. on top of that, the US-led attack may go ahead without the approval of the security council. the whole world is against the US by the time all this is over, and against canada by association. things aren't looking good.
heh. i heard my friend from school today practically crying about the oilers giving up anson carter and niinima. (she's from edmonton). i feel bad for her and all oiler fans. it must suck to be poor. hahaha. j/k. i realize more and more that I really like photographs and that i really need to take more. i think people don't take enough photographs and many people come to regret it down the road. since i own a digital camera, there should be nothing stopping me from taking lots and lots of photos. so this is one of my new goals: to take more photos. on that note, how about another photo? here's one from where i worked this summer, uoft scarborough campus, science outreach. but you know that already. and if you didn't, then how exactly do i know you?  | March 11, 2003
whoa, crazy day in the nhl.
the leafs did pretty good acquiring gilmour and housley. if anything, it adds depth to the team giving more flexibility to the coaching staff. they've both shown that they can still play at this level too. i don't know what the oilers were thinking, giving up anson carter and janne niinama for isbister and dvorak. when you're making deals like that because of money, you know something's wrong. even calgary can afford to keep iginla for another year at 7 million. niinama and carter are excellent players who don't even get payed a whole lot. these deals make very little sense. ottawa picked up smolinski in a good deal that'll give them some more scoring up front. st. louis picked up valeri bure and chris osgood, which gives them a little bit of goaltending (albeit not great goaltending). detroit gave up their entire future for mathieu schneider in another questionable deal. i mean, schneider is good, but is he worth a 1st and 2nd rounder, along with two good prospects?? that's just about how much we gave up for nolan. that's my two cents on a couple of the deals today. don't have time to ramble on cause i have an organic midterm tomorrow. there are so many teams who are good enough to make the stanley cup finals this year. i'll give my bias opinion on who i think will meet in the finals: detroit and toronto. okay, maybe that's more of a dream final than a prediction. but it's very feasible that these two teams will meet, and how sweet it'll be if it actually happens. | March 10, 2003
i was thinkin about what photo to put up today. and i stumbled across this one that simon took. i think it's cool.
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i think goalies in the NHL get too much credit. coaches never blame a loss on the goalies, always on the poor defense or lack of back checking from the forwards. goalies are paid to stop pucks. even the hard ones. if all they did was make routine saves, then there's no reason to pay them over 5 million dollars a year. cujo's making what, 9 million? so is roy and brodeur. if i was paying my goalie that kind of money, routine saves should be a given. it's about time goalies were treated like the other players. take part of the blame for once. and i also think that if the goalie leaves the crease, he's fair game to be smacked into the boards.
on a leafs note, i've heard about a possible trade with the oilers for janne niinima (sp?). as i said on the board, if edmonton does this, they are CRAZY. i'd almost feel sorry for them and ask them to him back. almost... they're giving up a young, talented defensemen, who is already capable of playing 30 minutes a night. those players are really hard to find. on top of that, he has offensive skills too. trading him, especially since the oilers look like the can make the playoffs, would be just plain dumb. on the flip side though, if quinn was able to swing a deal for him without giving up much more than a tucker... the leafs would truely be ready for the playoff run. | March 09, 2003
sweetness.. glen wesley too.. not quite an aaron miller, but he comes at a cheaper price, which is definately good. i think we're almost set. another defensemen would be nice though. i'm soooo excited about the leafs post season. this is OUR year!
here's a couple nice photos i took of the new engineering building, built this past year, the Bahen Center. it's a fabulous building and its a refreshing break from all the old buildings us uoft engineers have to endure. cool eh?  
| March 06, 2003
my anthropology professor right now, dr. hilary cunningham, has got to be the worst professor ever. she is ruining what i thought would be an interesting subject (socio-cultural anthropology). she's one of those people who use absurdly long words just to show off her knowledge. i hate that. she spends half that class spewing out huge words, only to spend the other half explaining what those words mean. it would save us all time if she would just simplify her vocabularly. and you know she does it just to show off. she even managed to sneak in that she's a Yale graduate within the first 3 minutes of her first lecture. she also doesn't have a firm stance on anything. 'is race a biological phenomenon? or is it a cultural phenomenon? i like to think of it as a bio-cultural phenomenon.' give me a break! and there's something about her voice. its so draggy and demeaning. ughhhh.... i really dislike her. i have to say, i've had 2 female professors thus far, and they both of them have been absolutely horrible. coincidence? heh heh. maybe. they have similar traits too. it's as if they take lecture time to show off their educational credentials and intelligence. they're not there to teach the students anything.
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oh man. we got owen nolan. sweet. next target should be aaron miller from the kings and then i think we're set for the playoffs. i can't wait to see nolan in a leafs uniform. yay!
| March 05, 2003
good news! the department of biomedphyics hasn't sent out any notices yet, even though they were supposed to by March 1st. the notices will now be sent before march 24th, so there's still hope! excellent... i wrote a ridiculously hard heat transfer midterm this morning.
not a whole lot to say, so how bout a classic picture for everyone to see? this one's great because it looks like herb is just about to rape dustin. while dustin, is lying there, ready and excited for the whole thing to go down. oh yeah, for anyone who doesn't know, this is from wasaga beach, summer 2002.  | March 04, 2003
do you know who i kinda feel sorry for? Tony Blair. he's in such a tough spot right now. i think that he doesn't want to go to war anymore. especially since the rest of europe is against it and don't forget the fact that it's the WRONG thing to do. but he's already committed to Bush and he can't back out now. feeling pressure from the British government and the British public not to go to war, but at the same time feeling pressure from the United States to stay as their only ally, what's a guy to do? risk not getting re-elected or risk an international relations disaster. i guess it's kinda his fault for committing to the war so strongly from the start.
so i really need a job for this summer. the one job i applied for with the department of bio medphysics, hasn't responded to me, even though they said they'd reply to all applicants telling them if their elgible for a job. i got nothing, which leads me to believe they never got my application. damn. i was counting on this job. i really wanted it too... banking on NSERC now, if i don't get that, i don't know what I'll do. never felt the pressure of potentially not having a job. it really sucks. since i own a high priced digital camera, i might as well let you guys see some pics that i've taken and that you've never seen. here's a good one. 
| March 02, 2003
i really first heard about blogs this summer, even though apparently they've been around for a while. seemed kinda interesting at first but I was too lazy to actually go out and start doing it. i think the whole idea is kinda fun and i'm going to use this as a way of getting out all of my thoughts (i guess that's the purpose of this).
first things first. i wanna talk about my extreme laziness recently. i've considered myself pretty hardworking in university thus far, but recently, i haven't done anything. i know most people are going to say your idea of laziness is other people's idea of hard-working. this is very untrue. i really do everything last second and very half ass, i only need to survive this semester and i'll be refreshed for next september. the other thing is this pre-conception/ongoing joke, that because I'm a Ying, I'm going to do well in life. follow the footsteps of my surgeon and paediatrician sisters and of my smarter twin sister. yes, maybe i take for granted that i'm not stupid and i am capable of doing whatever i want, as long as i put my mind to it, but really, medicine seems like a far and distant goal. the more i think about it, the more i WANT to be a doctor. not for money, not for prestige, but just because i think it's something i would love to do. the more i want it, the more i think i can't get there. everyone tells me that because i have such high-achieving siblings, i can do it too. the more i hear it, the more i think that it's just not going to happen. i'm beginning to think that my work ethic is just not good enough. on that note, i will begin my sad attempt at studying for thermo. | |
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