Ubiquitous

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% [?]

In Cloud Nine

// January 23rd, 2008 // 12 Comments » // Personal, Quotables

Isn’t it odd when an unusually large number of people have their birthday on the same day? Yesterday was my dad’s birthday (along with a handful of classmates’) and my family went to dine at the highest revolving restaurant in downtown Vancouver, called Cloud Nine. Fortunately, we had the first clear day in the past few weeks and got a gorgeous view of Downtown Vancouver, the English Bay, and North Van. It spins quite slowly so the visitors won’t get dizzy - about an hour to go around 360 degrees. I was laughing at my mum because halfway through dinner, she thought she left her purse on the window ledge (only the inner ring spins, the centre and the windows stay still) and nearly had a heart attack. It was under the table, thank goodness .

Later mother dearest was commenting how the view from our own house isn’t bad either.

Mum: YES! I measured the other day, we have a 220 degree view from our balcony!
Me: Mum, you geometry nerd! [she's an architect LAWL]
Dad: Too bad it doesn’t revolve, maybe you can spin yourself…

My family amuses me. Next week, there are my six mock exams, and I have drawn up the schedules (which I’ll probably never follow but oh well!). Luckily - can one really call this *lucky* - we’re exempt from classes next week and get a note to go home tomorrow telling those IB Parents how their sons and/or daughters will be going through the first ring of hell before long.

IB Coordinator, this cool British Doctorate: You must take this note home to your parents. We don’t want you running around the corridors when you finish your mocks, because people tend to gather in the corridors while classes are still in session.
Me: ZOMG! HE SAYS “CORRIDOR” INSTEAD OF “HALLWAY” LIKE PEOPLE IN HARRY POTTER! *SQUEEE*
My friend: Uh… yes… Crystal…
Rest of class: *thinks* wtf is she on… *goes back to studying calculus*

Gotta love sudden outbursts!

Popularity: 3% [?]

New Year Activities

// January 9th, 2008 // 11 Comments » // Academic, Fashion, Personal, Wordless Wednesday

Baked: peanut butter oat bars (see recipe) I’m surprised at how much ingredients I had readily available at home.

Ate: Plain sushi and Californian rolls. Mum’s first attempt of making them was a complete success!

Bought: Hoodie from Garage (pics as close as possible), print dress from Costa Blanca, and brown belt from Suzy Cher. Call this my post-unable-to-get-anything-on-Boxing-day splurge. Don’t you hate it when after Boxing Day, only the Large and Xtra Large sizes are left?! What about us small people, grr!

Addicted to: HOUSE. Can’t believe it took me till now to settle down and watch it. Episodes of House interspersed with university application essays completely saved my sanity. Finished season one, woot!

Neglected: Solids of revolution in integral calculus, BAHHH!

And that’s what I’ve been doing so far in the New Year. Oh yea, speaking of calculus, yesterday I fell asleep as soon as I got home (6pm), napped for 5 hours, got up at midnight and did 2 hours of calculus, then went back to sleep . I forsee much more of this in my IB future.

P.S. - My minicity is born!

Popularity: 3% [?]

Bank Teller

// August 26th, 2007 // 7 Comments » // Personal, Quotables, Work/Volunteer

I’ve forgotten how exhausting it was working the 9-5 hours. I just got off from working at a bank as a CSR (customer service rep) for a whole week, as part of my career placement program. I loved the atmosphere at my bank; everyone was like this big happy family. Some of my colleagues were hilarious. We were in our group meeting on Wednesday morning and the branch manager introduced a new FSM (financial service manager) who would be joining us next week.

Manager (to everyone who were sitting in the office area): Hi guys, this is Todd
Todd (who was standing): Hello, nice to meet you all
Manager: Why don’t you grab a seat and we’ll start the meeting?
(Todd looks around for a seat)
A fellow CSR: Ooo you can sit on my lap!
Todd (momentarily shocked): Ummm…. no it’s okay, I’ve been happily married with two kids for seventeen years…
CSR: Oh. Well I’ve been married for twenty-one years with three sons!

I love my coworkers. The manager was chastizing the CSR the next day for scaring away employees before they even start work. Working at a bank, I learned that there’s absolutely no privacy nowadays with our advanced technology. All I need is your first, last name and city and I can get into your financial records for the last seven years. My mom was so freaked when I told her that I transferred the money I owed her from my account to her chequing account without even swiping a card or entering a pin.

I always thought that all bank tellers did was changing addresses and the administrative pizzazz, but apparently there are a LOT of older people who distrust 1) ATMs 2) Computers 3) Telephones and do ALL of their bill payment/cheque deposit/cash widrawals in person at the bank!

The back of ATM machines are also fascinating.

Let’s see what else happened… there were lots of coffee runs to the Starbucks down the street. My trainer bought a lemon meringue pie in one of the near by snack bars one afternoon and shared it with another teller, who consented that the crust tasted like soggy bread and the cream tasted like rubber (… she said something else too, I’ll leave that to the imagination). The owner of the bar came in to make a deposit in the afternoon and my trainer was like, “I have to make a complaint. Your lemon meringue pie was less than satisfactory”. And the next day, the same guy walked in, placed a fresh lemon meringue pie on the counter, gave us a broad smile, and walked out.

This pie was delicious.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Critiquing Restaurants

// August 2nd, 2007 // 16 Comments » // Personal, Work/Volunteer

You’re know what’s one of the best jobs around? Critiquing restaurants. My employer, who also happens to be one of my friend’s mom, runs an online directory for restaurants in British Columbia. In order to fill out the “About Us” blurbs on each of the restaurant pages, she takes employees down to the restaurant, interview the owner/manager, then ask for all the Specialties so she can take photos. And what do we do with that table-full of the most mouth-watering treats the restaurant can offer?

We eat it all for free, of course.

Well, maybe it’s not just eating. There are a lot of nodding, murmuring-consent, asking-for-ingredients etc. It’s still a great deal! We’re sure to receive the best and fastest service, as a long wait at the dinner table results in points taken off the Service section of our critique. Yesterday I went to a non-franchise restaurant on the other side of town and got treated to yummy butter chicken, classy jumbo prawns, lovely philly subs, and some delicious steak. The owner personally went to the kitchen to cook it for us, on top of the strawberry-mango cocktail he serves us.

The hours aren’t part of my job salary (that’ll be the day, get paid to have dinner for free o___O), but my friend’s mom said we could count it for “service hours”. Now I can get used to life like this!

Sidenote: added 5 textures for your convenience.

Popularity: 2% [?]