Tag: life

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.

Contingent Contemplation: Re-watching Star Wars

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Ever feel like you were born too late?

Yes, I am talking about me not being able to feel all the hype that surrounded Star Wars way back then. Okay, maybe it was not too long ago, and there were more recent Star Wars films released, but what I am emphasizing on is the ones from the 1980s. I have watched these with my parents when I was younger, but re-watching them again this winter break made it clear to me: They are gold. Seriously, I am addicted and really sad that I cannot be there to get excited about its original release. Looking around, there is still lots of pieces of the Star Wars legacy that exist around me, but it is not the same. I really wish I could have been there.

So, moving on from what I cannot change, watching Star Wars again made me fall in love with Han Solo. With all movies, I usually fall in love with some actor or character and it happens that this time it is Han Solo. I thought I would like Luke more because he was one of the only characters I remembered from watching Star Wars all those years ago. However, Solo is just such a charming character (not to mention a badass) and I loved his relationship with Princess Leia. Again, too bad I cannot find many Han Solo fans around my age anywhere close by because I would definitely be rambling about him all day. Just like I do with a million other actors, such as Shia LaBeouf to name one. And of course, that is my segue into a slightly related topic. I also re-watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull just so I can see Harrison Ford. I have never paid much attention to him as my eyes are usually on Shia LaBeouf, but this time I kept my eyes glued on Harrison Ford. Amazingly (or not), I still see a lot of his Han Solo days in him and that delighted me lots. However, I still wish I could be a adoring fan girl who was obsessing over a 30 year old Harrison Ford. Being 18, I feel more appropriate obsessing over Han Solo instead of the current Harrison Ford.

I vaguely remember watching most of the Star Wars movies in my past but not enough to remember what it was really about, so it all seem a bit new to me. I did watch Star Wars in the way it is supposed to be seen (according to most people– and I definitely agree): IV, V, VI then I, II, III. Before starting my marathon, I honestly believed I would like the prequel a lot more because I was more used to modern films. However, after watching the fourth to the sixth ones, I was beginning to wonder if the prequel can live up to it. It did not in my opinion and I was slightly disappointed. Despite them being made with way less technology and had to make do with what they had back in the 1980s, George Lucas did a pretty good job at depicting an exciting galactic adventure in episodes IV-VI. At the same time, it was interesting to see the prequel, understand the circumstances for what followed and see how George Lucas directed films closer to my time. Now I want to read the books to get even more in depth…but, I am still not done reading Game of Thrones and my second term in university is about to start. Woes of a student.

While I was Boxing Day shopping today, I was on the lookout for Star Wars merchandise, namely Star Wars posters with Han Solo and Princess Leia. Of course, I failed miserably and only managed to find some posters with either the entire ensemble of all the Star Wars characters (which was pretty cool, but I did not feel like getting it) or ones that focused on Yoda (who is also really cool, but again, not what I was looking for). I also wanted this:

But the chances of me randomly finding that in a Vancouver shopping mall was definitely really low, so I gave up the search before it started. Okay, that is a lie because I went to custom t-shirt places just to check, but my suspicions came true. I also found moleskine Star Wars notebooks, but that was kind of boring. I guess if I wanted any good Star Wars merchandise, I would have to go online. Which I promptly did when I went home and found these:

Lightsaber chopsticks! I am asian so we eat with chopsticks everyday anyway! WANT WANT WANT!

Ugh I cannot believe I am getting into Star Wars now. I feel so behind…Oh well, at least I found something to do over my holiday. 🙂

-Karen

Tis the season to be jolly!: Part 2 (Legit Christmas dinner)

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So my friends decided that we needed to have a ‘legit’ Christmas dinner as we have not had one throughout the years. Yesterday was when it happened! To begin, my part in the preparations were really small, so many thanks to those who went a day early to prepare! And thank you Edna for letting us do it at your house! Everything was delicious and overall and it was really fun!

Neil carving the turkey 🙂

Legit dinner right there

The main part of the dinner consisted of all the regular Christmas food: Turkey, peas, corn, mashed potatoes…you know, traditional Christmas stuff. I do not think I have had such a ‘legit’ Christmas dinner for either a very long time, or never at all! Being asian, Christmas dinner always consisted of somehow incorporating rice or some other asian touch to the dinner! 😛 After dinner came dessert– and this is where I wished I saved more room in my stomach. There was three times as much desserts as there were for the main course! Butter tarts, pumpkin tarts, cupcakes, cookies, cheesecake, apple pie..the list goes on! But I was so full by the time dessert was out that I could only sample a bit of the overall selection!

Dessert!

After dinner we all headed out the the living room to watch Christmas movies and play some games. We had a gingerbread making contest! It was super fun and to make it more challenging, we had a 20 minute time limit. We were also only allowed to use one hand per person. Of course, these were pre-made gingerbread and we just had to assemble and decorate it. Connie and I reunited thebomb.com and David and William joined us. Although we did not win, it was still fun to build a gingerbread house (well, train really)! I haven’t built one in ages! I think the last time I did was almost six years ago!

You know I got serious when I tie up my hair and am not sitting down, being my usual lazy self.

Our gingerbread train!

After gingerbread house making, a majority of us decided to watch SAW. I could never stand gory films so I volunteered to leave the living room. 😛 Josh and I went to Edna’s room and we played our Game of Thrones card game. Eventually we heard our friends screaming and exclaiming as they watched people die on screen…and then some other friends started to trickle into the room as well. Yeah, talk about having a Christmasy atmosphere. Josh and I decided to block out the scary sounds and reactions and we turned up Christmas music on Josh’s MacBook. Safe and sound in Edna’s room ❤

It felt like the party ended too soon, but by the time we left, it was around 2:30 at night! I was not at all tired…until I got back home and the fatigue kicked in. It was awesome to get to see everyone again. After university started, it felt like all I was doing was no-lifing school! But, it finally felt like the old times when I could just go out whenever I wanted without having to worry about an upcoming midterm or project! In other words, it felt wonderful! Hope everyone else’s winter holiday is going swell as well! 🙂

Until my next post,

Karen

So close I can almost taste it! Gimmie the Gingerbread!

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I am all for early signs of Christmas. The stores are decorated, along with the malls, and then there’s the houses too. The cinemas are brining out new Christmas movies and schools choirs are learning their Christmas carols (this I know cause I hear my sister practicing random Christmas jingles around the house).

I know, a lot of people are like “IT’S NOT CHRISTMAS YET!”

But I really don’t mind. 🙂 I’ve always loved the fact that there are so many signs reminding you that Christmas is right around the corner! I think it is the one holiday I really look forward to, because everyone is in such good spirits.

I remember when I was young, my parents and I would walk around malls, and I always knew when Christmas was coming. The decorations are SO pretty! And then there’s also the random guy dressed up as Santa Clause in malls, and that’s fun too. And his elves sprinkled around the mall. Okay, yeah, people dressing up as Santa Clause and elves scare me a little…actually people dressed up as characters scare me. Except for the Disney Princesses at Disneyland!

Every year at Metrotown ❤

I really do not mind the early discounts from shops. I remember working at Stitches around Christmastime and happily helping old ladies choose presents for their granddaughters. It always amused me when they would look at me and proclaim I am shaped like their granddaughter, and promptly usher me to try on a certain jacket/sweater/shirt. It seemed like that they have been looking forward to shopping for their grandkids for the whole year! You should see all the time and effort they put into choosing the perfect gift!

Then there is also the people who rush in, grabbing last minute presents or just wanting to check ‘present buying’ off their list of things to do. And that is fine too. :3 I have often waited so long pondering what to get who I end up becoming one of those frantic gift shoppers.

But as a backtrack, after taking all these business courses, the festive mall environment has dimmed a bit for me. The early decorations are not put up because everyone is excited for Christmas, like myself. Boosting Christmas sales being the main objective here, the stores start their promoting extra early! Ahh, the loss of childhood innocence just keeps getting to me.

However, I want this to be a happy post, so back to the land of sugarplums and happiness! I am seeing loads of Christmas themed food! Here’s some Lindt chocolate that I bought after suffering from mild depression after my Economics Final. The white chocolate ones have tiny snowmen on them!!

Lindt Chocolate Balls :3

I still have yet to have a gingerbread cookie this year! I think out of everyone around me, I am the only one who actually likes gingerbread baked goods. All the more for me!

Then we got a package from our aunt in Hong Kong in the mail! She sent us a bunch of scarves that my sister, mom and I quickly claimed! Yay for overseas relatives!

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Bath and Body Works Candles!

So moving on to harmless weekend shopping? Firstly, this I have been meaning to do for quite a while, I bought Christmas candles from Bath & Body Works! I haveBath and Body Works Candles!wanted to buy their Evergreen candle for a long time, but I did not think I would be able to finish using their 3-wick candles. So I was at Richmond Center the other day when I saw that their smaller candles were buy one get on free!! Christmas savings 🙂

I grabbed a Cranberry Woods for the second one because the tangy, fresh smell of cranberries wakes me up.I also bought earmuffs. Okay, I guess I do not really need earmuffs, but I do live in Vancouver and it gets cold out. Very cold, for those of you who do not know.

And of course, my first picture beside a Christmas tree this year!

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At Richmond Center Mall!

I have my mom’s gift ready and just need to wrap it. I am not going to mention what it is here in case she reads this… I still have no idea what to get my Dad—a dilemma that occurs every year. My sister is also a tough one this because her birthday is always before Christmas, so I have already racked my brains for her and got her things I know she would have wanted… AND! I also have my secret Santa gift to consider, and since I drew a guy, it is going to make everything just that much harder. I never know what to get guys, whether it is for their birthday or Christmas. This paragraph shouts Corporate Santa everywhere. *cough*

But for now, as I go back to studying for my finals exams, let the 24 hour Christmas radio stations accompany me in my task…

 It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!… 

-Karen