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Releasing my inner geek!

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Just kidding, I do not think I am that big a geek. But I have my moments.

Anyway, my friends and I recently ordered a bunch of stuff from thinkgeek.com! I was super excited when the package arrived this morning because I have been wanting to get ahold of my…. LIGHTSABER CHOPSTICKS! I have been wanting these forever (well, a while anyway) but it took me a while to find them. I also got a lightsaber laser pointer, because you never know when that may come in handy.
It annoys me how my friend got a watch on the site for like $15 and my chopsticks were $13. But oh well! I will feel like Jedi while I eat dinner every night! Another complaint? Shipping fees to Canada. It always costs so dang much.

Extreme monkey-powered awesomeness enclosed 🙂

Goodies ^.^

Lightsaber chopsticks!!!!!!

Since we are on the topic, HBO released another Game of Thrones teaser! Cannot wait! My friends and I were thinking of doing a themed night for the premier! 🙂 I am currently on the fourth book and I am so slow… One of my new year’s resolutions was to stop feeling so guilty every time I pick up a novel instead of a textbook, and I have been doing pretty well. But it is still very hard to squeeze out time for reading. 😦 It also does not help that A Feast for Crows lack a lot of the characters I am used to from the previous books. But then again we get to see what is going on in Sunspear!

Moving on to a slightly less cheery note….
So the past few weeks has been pretty good work load wise, but I am NOT looking forward to the next two-three weeks. I am swamped with midterms, term papers and presentations! I found out I will be having my macro economics midterm, Chinese midterm and an in-class english essay all one the same day. Wonderful. But I have to say, this is already significantly better than last term. If only I have the self control and motivation to actually get my butt to work and start doing everything now I know my life will be a lot better off when the time comes. Sadly, I work best under pressure and although I am expecting stress, it just is not close enough yet to kick me into hyper work mode! I got to look into that and find ways to see how I can get over that whole only-working-under-pressure thing.

Ending this post off, has anyone SEEN the weather in Vancouver? It is beautiful! Not too cold, not too hot– in other words, perfect! So excited for spring!

-Karen

I really wish it snowed during Christmas instead..

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So if you are a Vancouverite, you have probably recently had to trudge through the snow like me. I wish it snowed back in December! I wonder if I have actually ever had a white Christmas…for all I know, I may have, but was to young to remember!

When I was younger, I loved the snow! And since coming back to Canada, I have not really seen snow that lasted for what was probably more than one day. For the past two years Vancouver was not high on the snow factor. I heard that the year before I came back, there was a huge snowstorm…kind of wish I was there to see it! But at the same time, the chilling winds that I am experience now is quite enough for me to retract that. It actually makes my eyes tear up from the cold when I walk between classes…it also does not help that my classes are a kilometre away from each other. I am truly amazed when I hitch my morning car rides from my dad and see bikers biking on the highway-like road towards UBC. *applause* Seriously!

So while I was going home yesterday, I was rushing to get back into the warm confines of my room and was walking pretty fast once I got off the bus. However, I saw something in the snow that made me smile: doggie paw prints! I actually gave a chuckle…so then I decided to take out my phone and take a picture of it. It really must have had some effect on me because I took off my mittens and let my hands endure the cold! I really wanted to capture the tracks. So I kept my eyes peeled at I walked the rest of the way home. Then I saw some bird tracks! These were adorable because there were little drag marks! I had no idea why that was so, but my mom told me it was cause the birds were short and their bellies dragged on the grounds as they walked through the snow. I do not know whether I should believe her or not because she tends to make up stuff to sound smart.

Paw prints everywhere 🙂 So cute!

Bird tracks with little drag marks!

I caught other interesting photos on my iPhone the rest of the way and at one point I found some fresh, untouched snow. I couldn’t resist so I left my own prints in the snow and took a picture of that too. Yeah, I know it is horrible to mess up the unmarked snow, especially when it was not yours to walk all over…but I was jealous of birds and dogs preserving their prints in the now! =P Then I came across another patch of clean snow so I wrote my name in it. Big mistake though because my fingers were cold to begin with. Digging them into the snow did not help. My fingers were so cold and went by the time I was done that my iPhone could not sense my fingers on the screen. =.=

My boot prints 🙂

Bad idea...

But anyway, I think it was a nice experience and when I finally got home, it got me thinking. I realized that although at times it may seem like things suck, but there is always something there to lift your mood–as long as you look for it and let it! So get out there and keep looking! Or if you have already found it, then relish in it! 🙂

-Karen

 

 

 

 

Come fly with me, let’s fly, let’s fly away! We serve hot Coke.

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I think a good way to get over depression is to laugh about it. Oh the irony. But anyway, I am in no way in actual depression, at least not yet. Last term things were a lot rougher. Anyway, I am a bit worried about where everything is headed. Again, I still do not really know what I want to do in my life future. As I typed that sentence, I realized I do not even know which road I am going to take in the near future… much less my life.

You know how in movies, the main character goes away to a far off country and there she finds herself. She then goes back home a changed person, with dreams, goals and direction. I have been contemplating going away for an exchange (even before getting into UBC I believe), since our faculty offers that option. I have not looked into the details of it, but from what I know, you can continue earning your credits while you are in your country of choice.

When I was still in high school I always wanted to choose Hong Kong as my exchange site because I have wanted to go to university there as well. My family also has an apartment there, so residence is taken care of. I will see all my old friends and family once again and things will be as they were, even if it is just for the duration of the exchange. But now that I feel lost, I feel pretty dumb for wanting to go to Hong Kong. I have already seen most of what Hong Kong has to offer and what I need are new experiences and something to (hopefully) open my eyes to a path I want to take and pursue. But where do I want to go? I am thinking somewhere in Europe, since I have had the least connections there. It will definitely be new, but seems so cliché. Everyone wants to go to Europe (unless if you are in/from Europe). Thinking about wanting to leave and find a dream seems like a thing out of a movie and as most movies are, I fear it is probably easier seen than done.

So how has my term been so far? First of all, I am not getting a gist of what the rest of the term will mostly likely be like just yet because I have only had a week of school. Believe me, it feels like it has been months, but somehow, it has only been a little more than a week. I can already feel the pressure of getting readings done on time. Reading one chapter of psychology takes me at least three hours on a good day. Reading ten chapters of A Storm of Swords (George R.R. Martin) takes a maximum of one hour. Probably less. Story of my life.

Asides from academic side of things, this week I went to the International Business Club: World Cities Night event! As always, it was fun to dress up. There were motivating and informative speeches made by keynote speakers, then some mingling and networking, all done in the quaint little restaurant Salam Bombay. The first speaker talked about the importance of self branding. It served as a really good reminder that whatever you decide to post online stays with you forever. Our speaker even went to quote Google’s CEO, saying that the young will have to change names to escape their cyber past, then moving on to joke that plastic surgery may be necessary with today’s face recognition technology. Scary, but very probable. So remember: whatever you post online can (and will, under certain circumstances) be linked back to you. Of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Your achievements may just as well be searched up!

World Cities Night! Have no idea what I was saying here...(credit)

We also got to meet Chris Chong, owner of Vancouver’s very own Butterbooth! It has always been fun, playing around in the photo booth at certain UBC events and what really caught my attention during the speech was how the business has expanded to Hong Kong! Being from Hong Kong, I can imagine all the difficulties that would have occurred with the expansion, and I really wanted to ask Chris more questions…sadly, there was only one of Chris, and loads of inquisitive people! Maybe another time!

The IB club basically took up the whole of Salam Bombay. I have never been to Salam Bombay on Burrard Street, but frequently to Shabusen (for All-you-can-eat sushi!), whose entrance is right across from it. The food was delicious and a new to me and I got a sample a variety of Indian cuisine. Yum! I was pretty full by the end of the night– always a good sign!

Bottomless Indian food! *drools* (credit)

The second weekend of my new term has begun! And you know what weekends mean…time to catch up on readings! The joys of university. 🙂

P.S: Okay, this is pretty random, but because I was really cold today and wanted to warm up, I went to look for something to drink. I really wanted a can of Coke, but it was cold because all our Cokes are in the fridge. So I decided to pour out the Coke into a cup and heated it up in the microwave. After taking it out, I added some lemon juice into it. I just want to say…best idea every for a cold day! It was super fizzy (not sure why though), warm (hot actually) and just nice overall! Hot coke for the win 🙂 Do not judge me.

Photo credits.

A new year, a new term…hopefully no oncoming apocalypse?

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So, as my second term in University begins, I guess this will be one of my last blog posts for a while! I remember last term when I desperately wanted to blog, but could not find time. I now understand I will probably have to sacrifice some things while concentrating on my studies. Those of you who knew me know what I was going through and it was effort enough to get to school without bursting into tears… great prospects for term 2.

Anyway, the new year has come and gone and I have made some resolutions. Hopefully I will keep them. Despite the possibility of that being low, it is still nice to have something to aim for! So here they are:

1) Take up reading again
Last term, another thing I sacrificed was reading. I love reading–always have, always will. I want to fit reading back into my life. Not forcefully of course, but I want myself to not feel so guilty when I sacrifice some time towards reading. Time will tell if I actually find it possible to find time for it though! Still have not lived through my timetable, so I do not know how hectic this school term will get!

2) Stop cussing like a sailor
Okay, I do not swear that much, but I can do better. I always hate it when I hear people talking and it seems like swear words has become a part of their everyday vocabulary. Is there really no other words you can find to describe whatever you are talking about?? So since it pisses me off so much, I think I should tone down my swearing as well. Maybe just noticing when I cuss will suffice for this resolution because I feel like I do not do it that often. 🙂

3) New Experiences
I usually am very skeptical when it comes to trying new things. I want myself to give things a chance before I say no. I know this is a vague resolution so I will have to work on how I will keep this in check!

4) Healthy Shiatzu
Link to what I mean when I say Shiatzu (please refer to no. 2) Haha! It is just that some of my friends asked me what that even means…
Anyway, I want to be a bit more healthy. But then again, this is probably one of my resolutions every year and look where it has gotten me… I just came back from all-you-can-eat at Fish on Rice. Followed by a not-very-healthy dose of frozen yogurt with loads of toppings.

One of my proudest achievements this winter vacation has been watching a lot of new movies. And by new movies, I mean movies that I have never watched before because they were all made before I was born. Watching them has been fascinating and I found it amazing what directors and producers managed to create with the limited technology and materials they had! Of course, my favourite film out of all the ones I watched had to be Star Wars. I also watched all the Indiana Jones movies. Okay, fine I watched a bunch of Harrison Ford movies okay? Yeah. But I am glad my obsession has lead me to discover so much more! This is like discovering and watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s all over again! Except I actually had time to find and watch more movies instead of just marvelling at one.
The more old movies I watched, the more I honestly feel like I was born in the wrong time. Of course, I should count my lucky stars as I live in a generation that did/does not have to worry about wars…well in a country that did not have to anyway. And there is also all this wonderful technology around me. But when I get absorbed in the movies, it all just blurs and makes me wish I can go back. I will not lie, I really do not have a huge appreciation for our modern entertainment…but do not get me wrong, there’s still plenty of talent. Just that it feels like talent back then was more raw and original? Yeah, something like that.You know there’s something going on in society when books like this exist
Anyway, it has been an enlightening break and I hope everyone is off to a great start this year! I really hope I can squeeze in blogging because I really do love it! But for now, I guess it is good-bye! Wish me luck on my new term!

-Karen