Two down, two to go

The only thing about exam season I don't like is that I don't really get much studying done. Let's look at some examples, or actually, what I did for the first two exams I wrote already:

Psych 100 on Wednesday - read all my notes, did some questions in the study guide the day before the exam. I was hoping the study guide would do me some good, and it did, considering I found I could answer more than "Name" on the scantron sheet without having to guess. But multiple choice is a doozy for such a course that apparently used to be a full year and got "promoted" to being a half course with the same content - i.e. learning twice as fast, which is something I haven't or don't hope to master.

Poli Sci 103 on Friday - reread the entire text, went over my notes - which didn't amount to much, just in-class slide notes for 80% of the time - and went over them again. This was the night before - I will define "The night before" as from 4PM the day before to 2AM the day of, with multiple breaks inbetween lasting 15 to 30 minutes. Come exam day, it was a 3 hour exam full of writing - the most B.S.'ing I've had to do in a long time; writing essays in an hour isn't exactly one of my fortes so I pretty much skipped anything conventional about essays. I did that last test and I didn't get penalized for it. I love getting away with things. I'll admit, it all made sense after I finished studying, because I didn't pay attention in class for the most part. Content is interesting indeed, but I'm no longer interested in politics.


Upcoming matches:

Me vs History 109, or remember 1000 years of European History (the course says something like 1300-1945, but we all know history doesn't happen in a bubble, so it rounds up and down to around 1000CE - Sept 10, 2001). Tuesday! TUESDAY! TUESDAY! 2-5PM, more exam writing, but I like history, so this won't feel much of a chore ... as long as I start studying, considering I already skipped Friday afternoon (yeah right) and all of Saturday (because it's Saturday regardless).

Me vs. Organic Chem/Chem 138: Thursday Morning. This sounds like fun because I already did another chem exam for the first half (CHM139), but numbers aside, this is pretty much all concepts. My cousin argues this is harder and number crunching is easier, but he loaths physics because it is both conceptual and number crunching at once. Good thing I pulled out of Grade 12 physics when I had (the first week). Chem though, it's not too tough - even though I didn't do exceptionally well on the previous tests, I don't really want to worry since it's the same process I've done before for quite a while. I won't worry. At least not yet.

Maybe I really should start studying.

Easily Distracted

First off, I'd like to offer my deepest condolences to everyone in the Blacksburg, Virginia area and all the students of Virginia Tech, from one student to another.

I say this out of sincerity, not to fit into the norm or sound repetitive or to make a point, something witty or sardonic. It was a tragedy, and it would be less than human to do otherwise, but some people have found these tragedies make perfect situations to forward their political agendas.

I'll say it now, F--- politics. Nothing good comes out of it without something bad along with it.



Okay, so now that that's settled, let's proceed on a lighter tone, or, the usual around here.

Obviously, I didn't expect any comments from my last post because noone ever actually comments, it's exam season for universities, and frankly, that was a pretty crappy title.

On the subject of exam season, from reading various MSN names, it seems everyone who doesn't go to U of T seems to be almost rid of the curse they call exams. So, I expect comments (not really) considering everyone else will be done. Myself? They start on the week of the 23rd (next week), 2 that week, 2 the week after. But then, what am I doing here, I may ask? While you're at it, ask why you're here. Hit that "Next Blog" button if I'm really giving off some strange vibe (it's not my B.O., I just had a shower).

Easily distracted, I am. First exam is on Wednesday next week, then the next on Friday, Tuesday and Thursday, and what do I have to show for it? Well, I'm writing this? Maybe practice? Other than that, I've been doing anything other than studying, even when I'm bored in and out of my skull, I really want to find something other than start the studying process. I'll never be free considering I'll be in perpetual learning this summer. Summer courses sound fun until you find out you're doing twice the amount of work in half the amount of time. Yippie?

Honestly, I have no idea what I'm more afraid of this time of year, learning (or in some cases, re-learning) all that information, containing it in my brain to write down into something coherent in 3 hours, or having to do that with regular washroom breaks due to coffee and Frutopia.

Let's just hope I don't get distracted again ... oh, a pink kite ... wait, at 3:30 in the morning? The insomnia must be wearing off. Let's hope I don't get distracted to write another one of these. For all our sakes.

Untitled

So, another Tuesday afternoon, and that would mean another wasted day due to evening classes. Fortunately, this is the last week of classes, and even more fortunate for me that I have nothing good to do, so I thought I’d scribble down this week’s ramblings and schizophrenic thoughts down for the whole wide (web) world to ignore. I actually couldn’t think of a title, maybe because I have no work left to do, so I’m letting my mind relax too hard and my organizational skills have been taken out to the woods and shot, Old Yeller style. So, in my nerdom, I do what Windows does, call it untitled until you give it a name. But I’ll leave it as such.

I’m also on campus, so I’m typing this on Word, because, although I don’t give 3/8ths a damn what anyone thinks of me, I don’t want to look pretentious, and have people walk by only to say “What a(n) [expletive].”, because I know you know, I don’t need to hear it from you; so it’s only a matter of a quick copy and paste, and I look as if I’m busy. Not that you needed to know.

Here’s a funny thing I do when I write this, I essentially devote all attention to the task at hand, and that’s probably the only time I actually do it. So well, in fact, I may forget what I was going to write if I don’t stop and slap myself across the face. (Truth: I do in fact, do this) I don’t write this down because I can do this all from memory. At least I think I can. But the fact is, if it’s worth remembering, I’ll remember it. At least when I look back when I’m 246 (yes, I’ll last that long, and that is if I haven’t stopped writing for no one, the fun of it all), I’ll remember what I need to remember, just maybe reinforced in words than in fuzzy memory.

Okay, let’s move on.

First off, Hockey is over in Toronto. Hockey-mecca has hockey end prematurely, for the second year in a row now, because we didn’t make the playoffs. If you’re a Senators’ fan (you know who you are), don’t you dare rub it in. You’re just lucky we’re not there to completely annihilate you when we get to you guys anyways. Consider your team lucky. Very lucky. Lucky indeed. And I hope Pittsburgh kicks your butt. That being said, “Go Canucks” … at least until they get eliminated.

Summer school is going to be interesting, because I need to think of what to do for summer school. No, don’t get started on “Kelvin, you need a job you stupid hippie”, I know that for a fact, and I’ll get … right … on it. (That means I won’t) I won’t even try to rationalize why I don’t have a job yet, because anything I say is purely irrational. Anyways, back to summer school: Four more months stuck on campus, but less time spent in classes, because no sane person (and me) would do anything close to a full course load. Not under that hot summer sun. In those hot, humid sweaty conditions. So damn hot, and distracting, and that’s just the heat.

New tangent – summer, and why I don’t really like it. Sure, holidays and all that, but first, I’ll be stuck in summer school (for my own ‘benefit’, I suppose), and not only is the heat and humidity distracting (I’m not a summer person, you may have guessed). I’m more a winter person; I like the cold, or just the cool, as long as it’s dry as well (and dry heat is slightly more tolerable). And the ladies? I like them all year around (I’d better), but I prefer them in the winter than in the summer. In the summer, they wear next to nothing, and as much as I like that, I like it when they wear more. Layers, bulk, hoods, fur boots, that kind of stuff. Maybe I really am mentally ill, can you name any other male on this planet that would admit the same, picking puffy winter coats and sweaters over low cut spaghetti straps, short skirts and thongs sticking out of jeans? I didn’t think so.

Quick sidenote though, women do crazy things. I won’t list them all; this’ll be short, just some things I’ve remembered. I’ve actually walked downwind of someone who had perfume that smelled like cookie dough, or playdoh (or something similar). Now that’s strange considering it’s usually some fruit scent or weird, yet pleasant aroma. Second, I’ve seen someone, … how do I describe this … applying mascara on the subway. I don’t know what leads some women to do this but I won’t even put something with an even more blunt of a point near my eyes in any moving vehicle. And I wear glasses too.

Anyways, I’ve taken quite a shine (that really doesn’t sound right, so I’ll use it) to playing SimCity again. I’ve never played the first one, but I’ve spent (or wasted) a few good years playing SimCity 2000 and 3000, and now I’m moving onto 4. Funny enough, SimCity 4 is, well, 4 years old, but still has a pretty large online community that seems pretty friendly. Guess it pays when you don’t play with violent games; everyone seems so helpful all of a sudden. I’ve seen people put together some amazing looking cities, and I’m having fun losing a good amount of my time (before crunch time) playing. Who knows, maybe I’ll eventually do something successful one day, even if it’s just in a video game. I don’t have any desire to start going into urban planning, but who knows? I sure don’t, but it’d be pretty funny to see me help start planning the layout of the city. It’d be a total disaster.

And then we reach crunch week. I don’t have anything fun to say or anything to use against me here, but if you’re reading this (again, probably not, but I’d like to entertain that thought – that may have rhymed without my knowledge), you’re either not busy enough, or you’re done, and with that, I curse your schedule for being much better than mine. And if you’re not taking summer school, you’d better be earning good money, because it’s likely I won’t be.

See you after the dust settles.

The Oncoming Storm

What is The Oncoming Storm? Why did I capitalize it? Is it something famous? Maybe. It has one meaning, but through habit that they teach you to do in school since forever now, there's bound to be more than one meaning for something, whether you can find an actual connection or not. Ah, the beauty of English class. And I shall deliver, if only out of habit. See, school is good for you.

Saturday, March 31st is when the next season of Doctor Who airs. He is this Oncoming Storm you've been hearing about last paragraph. If you don't know what Doctor Who is, in a nutshell, it's a British Sci-Fi series about a guy with 13 lives that travels time and space with human companions in a spaceship diguised as a police box, and yes, it's bigger on the inside. Even his pockets. It's been going on since 1963, yep, that's right, before we were born. Granted, I'm not British, nor do I have BBC One, but I have my ways to watch it some time after they do. I mean, it is the Internet.

Oliver, if you're reading this, I've given you about a week's notice. You should be watching this, studying in London and all. You want to fit in? Watch Doctor Who. You'll probably fit in more than trying to "fake" British by using words like "bruvva" and "oi" - in fact, stop acting like a chav in general. Yes, that's right, stop acting like a chav.

On that note, I myself am also technically British. I was born in Hong Kong before China got it back, so wouldn't that mean I'm technically British?

More "oncoming storms" ... yes, I have two tests next week. It's crunch time again, and just imagine I'll tell you how much I don't study. Because I hate repeating myself. I hate repeating myself. I just hate it. Repeating myself. Oh, how I hate repeating myself.


Off on another tangent and to a more interesting topic: Glasses.

I recently got another "upgrade". By upgrade it means I still have my original eyes, just new glasses. Rather than be some ol' plain jane, I decided to pick a different style. No, just a tad more riskier, not horn-rimmed or anything. Semi-rimmed! I would've liked alternating rims on top and below for each side, but, like I said, nothing too risky. Yet.


So, care to see my new coke bottles? No? Yes? It doesn't matter, it's not the circus freakshow. I give you the World premiere of my face on the Internet in ... a long time. If you already know what I look like, it's not much of a big surpise. I put a nice simple Before/After picture to get your minds in order in case you're nuttier than I am. And without futher ado:







OH MY GOSH THE RIMS WHERE HAVE THEY GONE? (Well, half of them at least)

And yes, personal hygene out the window; that is, I always forget to shave. Oh, and I'm hideous, so I don't have to worry about any stalkers. If they only knew...





Another funny incident about glasses though (scroll down if you really can't stand my face, I even gave you the extra blank space for that, aren't I nice, at least?) happened just this Thursday. On the streetcar on the way to class, I was standing beside this ... let's just put it this way, he was probably weirder than me on some levels. He was wearing glasses, but he wasn't at the same time. He was, how shall I put it, wearing just the frames. Yes, no actual lenses, so that must mean either contacts or he's faking intelligence. But not that, because his frames were purple. And plastic. How did I know he didn't have any lenses? Well, there was no reflection or distortion if you looked at them. And how did I stare long enough to deduce that? He was on the phone... which is also strange, who do you talk to during the morning commute, now that is a mystery.

Dial 61 For Murder

Strangely enough, or rather, not really, since it is me we're talking about, I fall into a minority? Minority there too, yes. But 61 and change on an organic chem test. This is the minority. The majority apparently, through some quick scanning of test scores, falls somewhere from 20-40%. Of course, I'm somewhat disappointed with a 61%, not because I'm super-duper yellow in any case that I only believe in numbers between 9x10 and 10x10, but it could've been better. I can only imagine how many people nearly committed suicide on getting their tests back, though. An amusing thought at times. At least I beat the average, which was an appalling 59.6%, but since I beat it, I am technically above average, so take that.

I'm not a real conversationalist (considering the amount I type each time you visit when I decide to expel something new out of my mind - where do I make up this crap anyways? I don't know.), but through just sheer force of sitting there and listening to what other people have to say while I do nothing else (strange I don't have a girlfriend right? She could complain to me all day and I'd just listen and actually listen... unless hockey's on. Then she needs to shut up.) I've concluded that the professors at U of T are here to screw us over. The chem test was pretty fair, except for the part where the test questions are extremely disproportionate to the work they give you. And the quizes too. Man, the quizes I get are such jokes, you should be stoned for not getting near-perfect or perfect on those things. The homework - I swear to you, I did so much of the homework to prep for the first test - and this is weeks before the test - because I didn't do that last semester and I paid for it. So I expect my dues for being so diligent. 61% is apparently my reward. Sheesh.

Let's put it into perspective. Let's take grade 2 math (or something). The quizes practically ask "Jimmy, what's 1+1?" and the textbook questions range from questions of "Jimmy, what's 2+3?" or "Jimmy, what's 3x3?" The test then asks "Jimmy, derive this using first principles: [huge equation]". Sounds fair, no?


Next? Ah yes. Just last week I proved the expression "third time's the charm" false. Again. No, not with those girls sitting in Psych 100, I didn't get rejected 3 times ... yet. It's R-R-R-R-R-Roll-up-the-Rim season again in Canadianistan (and laughing at those who can't R-R-R-R-R-Roll their tongues), and this is when I pay just under 1.50$ in a vain attempt for a bigger return. Yes, I can read, chances are 1 of 9, but I simply don't care. Not even a free doughnut, which isn't even breaking even. Well, at least I get a hot chocolate out of it -- THAT'S RIGHT, I don't drink coffee. I'm probably insane enough to keep me afloat through the wee hours of the night (i.e. right now), so the sugar is enough for me. And the chocolate. Don't even get me started with chocolate, I swear I seemed to have adopted some strange relation to chocolate, as if I were a female, but only with chocolate. It seems like it's the disability I have to live with. Wonder if I can get those handicap spots?


On my two final papers I have to do. One is due today, Monday, the other, tomorrow, or Tuesday. Well, I finished my history paper and proved my TA wrong. Who needs to have all this time to take notes, and sort through all your information, and outline. I did all my research in 5 days over 3 weeks (i.e. Every Sunday that I'd remember, and the occasional Saturday). Paper was written in less than 12 hours, but only because I had so much fun doing it, and getting distracted from writing it. And because I have to hand in everything, and multiple pointless rough drafts makes your paper look better. So I proved my TA wrong. At least until she proves me wrong by marking it. Pray it's not a 61. At least we had fun discussing the movie 300, history on film, then a bunch of other crazy thing during tutorial.

PoliSci, oh jeez, what can I say - I'd drop the course if it wasn't too late and I'd get a 0. And it's an evening class. So it looks like it's going to be like being violated by your cellmate, just take it, because you'll be out soon. The paper I have to write is 2200 words based on a limited number of sources. So that means I'll have to do what I did last Poli Sci paper ago, go on a quoting spree. I'll spare no paragraphs just to fill up word count limits. Asking for two 10-page papers in a first year course sounds like a insurmountable amount of work to me, even if this is probably the biggest BS course you could ever have. Family Guy last night got it right - people who sit in coffeehouses and type on their laptops (and discuss politics - my addition) look like real idiots. Especially ones who write blogs on politics.

I think I'll stop trying to be anti-politics. We all have agendas, don't we? Some of us are just more ambitious than others, and I go on the low end of that scale. Otherwise I'll turn this into another political blog, and those are boring, and I'd rather not have that anytime EVER here, because those are a dime a dozen on the Internet nowadays.

So, now that I've finished sounding bitter and everything, where does that put me on my other paper? Nowhere. I haven't started. It's due in ... well, maybe 30 hours. But that's not enough time if you subtract sleep, commute, eating, factor in the amount of lazy I can pull off in one day, plus the fact that there's only a slight grade reduction for handing it in late. It's about 5% a day at most. Before the end of the week. I hope. Wow, I wish I got deals that good. I mean, there's no way I can hand it in, or even make sense of it in less of a day. I'll try, I mean it, but I won't make any promises, cause that's not how I roll unless you are extremely attractive. For starters.

So why am I wasting my time writing pointlessness when I could be learning? Gods, it's 3:40AM at this sentence (the day before - yes, I even come back and look over my draft before I let you all read it - commence gasping), and I already finished a paper, I think I deserve a break, even if I did waste Friday and Saturday telling myself to start.


And on that note, I'm tired. Of alot of things.

Excuses

Well, I've done it again.

This week was Reading Week, or as I like to call it, early March Break.

Here's the problem. A whole week off. Let's skip past the plesantries and formalities where I complain about everything I usually complain about, because I think I've repeated myself enough times to not get any point across. Straight to the point - well, there wasn't one, at least not for me. You could say I'm lazy, or too relaxed, or maybe I had a lobotomy just recently. If you can't be damned to remember anything I have to say (something I'm probably better at than you, ha!), let's recap what I have coming into the week of February 26th:

1) Organic chem test on Tuesday
2) Organic chem lab report due, prelab due Thursday
3) History research paper, due mid March
4) PoliSci paper, due mid March (heck, the day after #3)

Okay, now let's make some context. Here's how my Reading Week broke down:

The Friday before - I picked up, maybe, 8 books from Robarts (the biggest Arts library at UofT) to pull as much information out for my history paper that I'd do during Reading Week.
Monday: Didn't get anything done, but I'd like to think I tried. For about 5 minutes, then I told myself I'd start on Tuesday. Still too 'fresh' from the weekend.
Tuesday: Did nothing. Told myself Wednesday would be a good time to start working. Harder.
Wednesday: I totally forgot about doing any work.
Thursday: realized the impending doom if I didn't study, or do any research if I didn't start now. But I didn't do it anyways.
Friday: See Thursday, but multiply impending doom by 8 and put it to the power of your shoe size.
Saturday: Told myself I have to start now. START NOW DAMNIT. I didn't start.
Sunday: As I'm writing this, it's Sunday, 2:50AM, because I had better things to distract me during the day. For about 7 days now. And what am I doing ... writing this entry! Just to prove I'm easily distracted and I just can't be damned to do any work.


Next on the agenda of - well I don't have an agenda; I write this ad lib. Almost always. So what's on my head right now? Oh yes, I remember now.

If you haven't noticed, I finally caved in to pressure (okay, not really, but pretend I did), and I signed up to FaceBook. At the moment, I pretty much have no friends, so it's pretty indicative of how all 19 years of my life have been. So, for anyone who's willing to make me a friend on the basis that I knew you from somewhere, go right ahead. It's all a friend contest anyways, that FaceBook is. It's consoling to know people I knew from high school, I can still find some way of contacting them if I feel like creeping them out. That being said, I just have FaceBook there for the sake of it, at least for now. At least I won't look weird if someone asks me if I have a FaceBook and awkwardly answer 'No'.

Lastly, a strange rant which makes me feel like I understand something. What I did during my Reading Week was spend all Tuesday catching up with The Office (the U.S. one, not the British one). I personally prefer watching TV shows, well, on the TV instead of on my computer, even if I can get episodes after they air with commericals edited out. Or maybe I just need a more comfy seat and a bigger monitor to change my opinion. That being said, catching up with a half-hour show isn't too hard (about 22 minutes each episode). What gets hard is trying to marathon a drama series more than a season which are full-hour episodes (about 45 minutes). Honestly, if I had a month without naggy parents (i.e., all the free time in the world), enough hard drive space, or even enough money to buy the box sets, I would love to catch up (i.e. start from the beginning) and watch Gilmour Girls. Don't ask why or how, but I would really like to if there weren't 6 or 7 seasons to trek through. It just caught me when I watched a few episodes. Don't mistake, I still like my share of door kicking, gunfights and explosions.

Maybe that's why people give me funny looks when I tell them I watch Desperate Housewives. It's not particularily too soap opera-y, and mostly tries to stay in the comedy end, so it does a good job of keeping me hooked.

Lastly, some good news for a show I thought was cancelled, Six Degrees, is coming back on the air starting at the end of March. The reason it took almost a half-year break is because noone seems to want to watch it. It's not like 24 with the explosions, gunfights, or probably anything virtually appealing to most people, but I guess I fit into that strange niche. Anyways, the idea of the show, boiled down, is about six New Yorkers that somehow influence each other every day, either directly or indirectly - based on the theory of six degrees of seperation. Doesn't sound at all interesting, but I encourage you to watch it, it's absolutely delightful (for lack of a better word) to see how things work out amongst the characters. I dunno, maybe I'm just strange, because most of you (out of a maximum of probably 12 people who might actually read this) will scoff at my opinion (not the first time) and continue on. But, it's just relaxing to watch something fairly grounded but with a twist to it. If you have any doubts, J.J. Abrams is part of the production, - if you're a Lost fan (I, myself, gave up halfway into the 2nd season), you would know who that is, and you should show your support by watching Six Degrees when it airs again.

Well, I'm reaching the end of my ad-libbed blogmorgrification you would otherwise identify as a blog entry, and for me, that is where the fun ends and reality takes hold again. Apart from doing this, it seems some like some divine being set my life to the 'totally screwed' setting and is just letting it run. And I wouldn't doubt if it's been like that since day 1. How do I make up for a week of not doing any work? Because unless someone has a time machine, I'm definately screwed.

Loneliness, Valentine's Day, Coincidence?

Well, it's that time of year again. Like every other holiday, people say that, don't they? For about 99% of the people that spend most of their time on the Internet, this is yet another day to show that they're lonely bums. And, obviously, you assume I'm part of that group. Assume all you like. Of course, most of them will dismiss the idea of being lonely on Valentine's Day anyways (yes, that's what we're talking about, if you just tuned in).

Unfortunately, trying to find someone to spend Valentine's Day with isn't as simple as spamming "LFG" in the shout channel until someone says yes. If you actually understood that and you weren't born with a penis (under normal circumstances) and relatively easy on the eyes (I'll be the judge of that myself), be sure to look me up. If you did not get that without looking up LFG on urbandictionary.com (the first definition), then I hate to say it, you're probably out of my league. Not as an insult to your person, but I don't think women can just sit there and listen to what men (I use that term loosely to include those that spend all your time playing World of WarCraft - luckily I don't - take note of that) have to say and try to block us out; I know we can, effortlessly, I might add, but I doubt you would be able to stand us talking about our "uber gear" or about our Blackrock Spire raids went so well and discuss how we should've been "main tank" with our skill build. You'd be bored to death. I would be too. Okay, that's my nerd paragraph done. Good Gods, I thought I'd never be able to finish that.

I actually have much to say about loneliness, or I could just be mistaken and am being misled. Maybe a I should somehow, through my vast knowledge of all things technical-like, keep track of the number of people who bother to waste their time and bandwidth coming here to read what I have to say (i.e. incoherent babbling). Unless the small handful of people who do are busy this time of the year (myself included, though I make myself to appear otherwise), I'm just typing for the sake of either to satiate my insomnia or for the sake of giving myself the illusion of feeling I have any real reason and meaning in the Information Age by doing this, even if I am relegated to the fringes of the Internet in comparison to ... about everyone else.

Or maybe I'm just snappy because noone comments anymore, even though I said I didn't give half of a quarter of a damn if you did or didn't. Well, maybe I care, maybe I don't. But it seems like I proved reverse psychology wrong this time.



Reading Week starts next week, so maybe I'll find more time to say nothing, but in multiple paragraphs as usual. To noone, of course.