Ubiquitous

She’s Alive!

// April 26th, 2009 // 7 Comments » // Academic, Personal

Has it been two months, really, two months since my last post?! Goodness gracious. I just finished two weeks of exams and am done the first year of university! It flew by so fast it’s unbelievable. Seems like only yesterday I was a timid freshman stepping into frosh and looking at the older kids with a certain fear in my eyes.

I know a lot of you have disappeared off the charts due to RL and whatever, but come back, always come back to blogging. Because of my UBC blog, I introduced at least three of my friends to blogging already. I tell them it’s therapeutic and it absolutely is.

My plan for this summer is to take classes in the morning and work at UBC in the afternoon. 16 hours of Chinese and 19 hours of work, plus another 8 hours on the weekends. Not bad I’d say.

QOTW: What’s your summer plan like?

Popularity: 9% [?]

OMFG I’M DONE IB!

// May 21st, 2008 // 19 Comments » // Academic, Personal, Quotables

These are the words I never thought I would get to say.

As of 11 AM this morning, I am finished with the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (last exam was Physics HL Paper 3).

I am now sorting through THREE years’ worth of IB related papers, chucking most out, chuckling at a few.

Our TOK teacher warned us how anti-climactic IB could be, the moment we’ve all been waiting for tends to come without satisfaction, but rather, with emptiness.  While waiting for my Career Prep teacher for some final form signatures today, I had nice chats with people I’ve come to known in the past few years but never REALLY got to know. One of them wailed to me, “I’VE BEEN SO BORED SINCE MY LAST EXAM, sitting in front of the TV watching reruns of reruns, trying to figure out what I used to like to do!” See the thing with IB is, the work never ever ends until the program is finished. For the past three years we’ve become accustomed to having fun by procrastinating - the mere avoidance of work. But at the back of our heads, we always knew that there is some IB assignment to start, IB essay to hand in, IB oral commentary to prepare for.

As much as we hated it, it was hard not to let this Program, this community, take over our lives. In a few years time, or even months… I’m pretty sure I’m gonna look back and happily reminisce how, hmm what’s the word, “fulfilling” IB was. Now the familiarity of daily cramming, late night rants, and tear-stained essays have all but vanished without a trace, I feel like I’m starting another life.

There are no better friends than the ones you make while you are suffering together.

Let the new journey begin.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Alive and Kicking

// May 9th, 2008 // 21 Comments » // Academic

I’m totally amazed by the fact that I’m sitting on my bed write now typing on a (OMG moment #1) laptop that’s (#2) Macbook with (#3) wireless Internet. My parents have been putting off getting me a laptop for university, so my aunt and uncle went ahead to get me a Macbook. I’ve been a PC person since the 1990s, so it’s taking me a while to get used to Macs and laptops in general. Needless to say, they’re a breath of fresh air!

This week I’ve learned so much about taking exams. I finished IB English HL Paper 1, History SL  P1P2, Math HL P1P2, Chemistry SL P1P2, and just got home from Paper 3. That’s eight bloody papers in one week, what a headache! Anyway, I’ve compiled a list of things one should and should not do during/before exams (from experience haha). 

Rule #1 - Do not be late for an exam (stating the obvious). I was a few minutes behind schedule for the chemistry paper today because I was OUTSIDE the gym/exam room memorizing last minute equations, along with half a dozen other people. Our IB Coordinator came out and went, “WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?! GET IN HERE!” (in a posh British accent of course, being British and all that). We went inside and it was slightly unnerving having 90 pairs of eyes on us. This wasn’t so bad as a paper yesterday, where this guy showed up two minutes late. IB rule dictates that if a student is more than fifteen minutes late for an exam, he/she does not get the Diploma and has to wait till November to take the exam again. Yikes!

Rule #2 - Mutilating gummy bears is a great stress reliever in the middle of the exam. For some reason our school is being very generous by allowing us to bring “unwrapped, non-sticky, non-crunchy candy” to the exam. The Coordinator said it was in case we needed a “sugar boost” (hmm… he must’ve had experience with kids crashing from too many allnighters). I’ve gone through half a box of sour gummy bears already, they’re great!

Rule #3 - Guard your food from sneaky invigilators at all times, otherwise you’ll notice your English teacher loitering around your desk and just as you hit a panic moment about probability density functions there will be a great probability that your gummy bears are slowly disappearing. (I kid)

Rule #4 - Thou shalt always look at the backside of the last page. One of my friends walked out of the chem paper today going “OMFG I FLIPPED OVER THE LAST PAGE AT THE LAST TWO MINUTES AND THERE WAS A WHOLE PAGE OF QUESTIONS =OO” Haha we’re horrible test-takers, can’t you tell? 

Rule #5 - For God’s sakes don’t GRUNT LOUDLY, BURP REPETITIVELY, and SHAKE THE TABLE INCESSANTLY unless you want the wrath of the person on the other side of the divider. If I don’t get a 7 for chemistry I’m blaming the annoying idiot sitting beside me who kept tapping his foot and producing foreign noises from his body parts -.-

Rule #49385798 (for the entire list, buy my book when I’m wealthy and famous as the result of an enriching International Baccalaureate education) - do NOT under any circumstance knock over your open water bottle over your recently-finished, pristinely-written-with-black-ink history essay and SMUDGE half the words. Thank god I had an instinct to bring kleenex and paper towels and had them in the corner of my desk. I managed to dry my essay (on Stalin’s industrialization) before everything turned into a black blob (much like Stalin’s mustache). I don’t think my friends will ever stop laughing at me for that incident.

I will now be catching up on all the sleep I missed this week.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Tuition Woes

// April 6th, 2008 // 35 Comments » // Academic, QOTW

It’s official, one more month until the dreaded May IB exams. I have 8 exams in the first week, 3 in the second, and 5 in the last week. Then I’m hopping on a flight to China =D

So if I die from the internet, you know why.

Also, I decided that I will be attending Berkeley next year (go bears!). I saved this as a draft yesterday, and it’s surprising how quickly opinions can change. Right now, I’ve hit some kind of rut in regards to my future and in particular, my post-secondary education. I really don’t know what to do. Tuition and living expenses at UC Berkeley costs over US$40 000. Let me break it down for you.

COSTS AND EXPENSES

• Housing for a year: $10 999 (Cheapest possible as I will be living in a triple, which basically is three people squeezed into a room meant for two to save money, a basic meal point plan is included)
• Registration and fees: $8 384
• Non-resident tuition: $19 620 (this one’s a killer)
  
• Books and supplies: $1 000 (they gave an estimate of $1200, but if I buy all second-hand, I might cut it down a bit)
• Personal expenses: $800 (again, this is almost half of their estimate, I think I can manage if I keep clothes buying and eating out to a minimum)
• Transportation, Medical, Miscellaneous: $700 (I’m trying to see if my current insurance covers the U.S.)

——————–
TOTAL: US $41 503 per school year

STUDENT RESOURCES

• Maximum parental contribution: US$10 000/year (this means emptying out their retirement savings, and putting the $200 000 they owe on the apartment and the car on hold)
• Estimated summer earnings: $2 800 (working at average $10/h full time for two months, minus tax)
• Estimated school year earnings: $2 000 (working at average $12/h 4h/week for seven months)
• High school scholarship: $1 000
• Pending Bank of Montreal Student Loan: $10 000 (this is their max, I doubt I’ll get all of it)
• Pending BC Government Student Aid: $5 000 (this is also their max, haven’t seen any one get it yet)
• Relatives’ contributions: 3500 Chinese Yuan –> $500

——————–
TOTAL: US $31 300 for the first year only

STILL NEED: $10 203*

*Assuming the impossibility of no extra expenses. In my second year, the university will provide some financial aid but the bank interests will go up, aack. My parents’ contributions will be cut by half and I’ll probably work two jobs in the summer.

To fill that void, I have been applying to every single scholarship I can get my hand-on (hate the fact that most of them either say “American citizens only” or “will be attending Canadian institution”). I’ve also started writing letters to local businesses and other banks/boards/anything-with-a-mailing-address in the hope of securing some - any - donations. Berkeley has been sort of a dream school and it’d be devastating if I miss this opportunity due to financial struggles. In addition, I’m very conflicted between my aspirations and placing such a heavy burden on my parents.

My friend (who’s going to USC and came within a hair of winning their scholarship, but didn’t) and I came up with the following ideas to get some funds:

1. LEGALIZED CHILD PORN - any takers? Yes yes? Now hiring actors. Hot people only =D
2. A Facebook application that takes the world by storm, hoo-hah!
3. Bank robbery - acceptance offer could be rescinded on criminal record, never mind
4. Selling CDs of the film my friend made in IB Film at $5 each - he sold 4 copies already, only 7996 more to go!

Some of them still need a little bit of fine-tuning XD. In the mean time, I have two questions/requests to ask of you dear readers.

QOTW: can you think of more ways to pay for costly university tuitions?

And see that little orange box in the sidebar that says “Donate”? Any amount, no matter how small and how big, will be greatly appreciated. The donor’s name and any other info you like posted will be permanently posted on my site. A heart-felt thank you from me to you!

UPDATE

• Thank you Momo for the first donation ever! Everyone go give her some love =D
• I now have a progress bar in the sidebar, documenting my progress.  Amounts added include online earnings (not part-time jobs or anything mentioned in resources), additional scholarships, and donations.

Popularity: 5% [?]

CRAM CRAM CRAM

// January 17th, 2008 // 11 Comments » // Academic, Quotables, World for the Week

Ah, so the dreaded IB Mock Exam season is upon us. So are the English Oral Exams. So are a bizallion other things. A lot of people are going out of their minds right now walking around dazed holding a thick package of Yeats poems in one hand, and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in the other. Basically, the Oral Exam is a mandatory External Assessment. We’re given 18 poems (Yeats and Heaney), 1 novel (Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf), 1 memoir (Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje) and 1 play (Julius Caesar, choices depend on the school). During the exam, we randomly draw a 30-50 line package from the available 80 or so choices, get 20 minutes to prepare notes, and then have 15 minutes to analyze the passage and answer questions. Everything is taped on a cassette and sent to the IB Headquarters in Switzerland. Since I’m in Higher Level English, we’re expected to do about 200% more than the Standard Level people in terms of materials to be covered and depth of analysis. What a pain in the ass. I’m presenting tomorrow at 2:50 pm. DON’T GIVE ME JULIUS CAESAR OR ONE OF HEANEY’S OBSCURE POEMS. THANK YOU.

Has anyone seen the new Macbook Air? I don’t care about its functions and whatnot since I rarely buy Apple products, but look-wise, it’s stunning.

And isn’t the slipcover just adorable?

Haha yes, I’m all into the aesthetics and design!

Here’s how my next few weeks look.
Fri. Jan 18 - English Orals, Physics Test, 2 Labs Due, French Performance
Sun. Jan 20 - Youth Parliament Cabinet Meeting
Mon. Jan 21 - History Paper 1 Due
Wed. Jan 23 - Math HL Test on Solids of Revolution (Calculus)
Fri. Jan 25 - NO SCHOOL, STUDY!!
Mon. Jan 28 - University Alumni Interview AHH!
Tue. Jan 29 - Math HL Mock Exam, History SL Mock Exam
Wed. Jan 30 - English HL Mock Exam, French SL Mock Exam
Thur. Jan 31 - Chemistry SL Mock Exam
Fri. Feb 1 - Physics HL Mock Exam, Math Portfolio Assignment (Wow, in one week, about 80% of our term mark is decided!)

Surprisingly I haven’t been over-the-top stressed. Other stressed people are keeping me sane. And to finish off with a quotation…

Math HL Teacher: —–, you’re sleeping in my class again. Did your girlfriend keep you up last night?! *roars of laughter*
Student: *quietly to self* No, I was having a Menage A Trois with Yeats, Mrs. Dalloway, and Julius Caesar.

Ahh… gotta love math class!

Popularity: 3% [?]