I forgot to mention that I saw this video at the interviews day. I thought it was funny seeing some of my friends there. This is just for the Vancouver site; I couldn’t find the other 3 
LOL At the random guy lifting the backpack
What To Do With Your Life
The dreaded question: “So, what do you plan to do after university?”
I have to admit that I’m guilty of asking it myself; probably because I’m one of those annoying people who have an actual plan for their life after university. I attribute that fact to my childhood days in which I HAD to have a plan or else I couldn’t sleep at night (yes, as a ten year-old I had to have my life planned out). As a result I cycled through dozens of plans until I decided on the one I’m pursuing today. But, today is not about what my plan is, because that isn’t particularly relevant. What I want to talk about is how pretty much every twenty-something year old I’ve ever talked to (besides me) has no idea what they’re going to do with their lives.
I am here to tell you: it’s okay to not know right now. Pretty much no one does. (Again, me being the exception.) If you don’t believe me, go talk to your friends. I will bet you five bucks that they don’t have their lives planned out either.
Also: you don’t have to know even by the time you graduate. You can change your major a bajillion times, you can even go back to school after graduation if you discover your true passion later on. Plenty of people don’t find their “thing” until they’re forty or something. If that seems depressing to you, a) take heart in the fact that you aren’t the only one that’s unsure at the age of 20, b) be encouraged that your passion is in fact out there somewhere, and c) if that’s not enough just go try as much stuff as you possibly can to try and find that one thing that you love and want to spend your life doing. If you don’t go looking, you aren’t going to find anything.
I would like to present to you a story: the story of my mom (her career, that is). My mother graduated from high school a year early and completed a bachelor of business or whatever it is called at the University of Manitoba. She then went on to McMaster University and completed a BMA so that she could become an accountant. She had several accounting jobs but never stayed for more than two years because she just found the work so incredibly boring. Then she had me and my sisters and she stopped working for twelve years (in which she was a full-time mom). She enjoyed that time, but when I started junior high school she started studying library science at a local college. She started working at the city library at the bottom of the chain, which was boring at first. She moved up the ranks as she stayed there for several years, and she liked some branches she worked at more than others. Now, she is working at a couple of schools, as a librarian and also as an educational assistant for the band, theatre, and art departments. Pretty far from accounting – but she loves it! She gets hours she’s happy with, she has fun at her job, she loves her coworkers, and she gets Christmas and summers off, too. Took her a long time, but she found a job she loves.
It just goes to show that your university degree doesn’t necessarily define what the rest of your life will look like – and also that you’ll find the job you love if you keep on looking, even if you don’t know what it is right now.
Stress Management via Mindfulness
It’s true, I’ve written a lot about stress. However, over the past six weeks I’ve been involved in a Mindfulness Skills group/class-thing through Counselling Services in Brock Hall, and since doing that I’ve learned a lot of valuable skills for managing stress.
First of all, I’d like to talk a little bit about the group itself: everyone there is open minded, non-judgmental, and there for the same reason you are: to learn to deal with stress better. Confidentiality is expected from everyone, so I will be talking just from my own perspective and share with you some of the things I’ve learned. They’ve helped me a lot!
We all have our coping strategies, whether it’s to distract ourselves with TV or video games, taking time for ourselves by taking a walk or exercising, or chowing down on some comfort food. At some point, all of these things have made us feel better and less stressed out. But sometimes, those strategies don’t work; this is where mindfulness can be very handy.
What is mindfulness? Well, I can’t exactly condense six weekly of sessions into a blog post, but this is the gist of it: you pay attention to where your thoughts and emotions are, be present in the moment, and suspend judgment.
So for example, try holding a random object that has no particular meaning to you. Notice all of the details you can see and touch, focusing all your attention on that object. Your mind will wander; it was built to think after all. Just notice those thoughts and allow them to pass, and return your attention to your object, without judging yourself (berating yourself) for your mind wandering. Congratulations! You’ve just practiced mindfulness. By being totally present in just paying attention to details in your external surroundings, you can ground yourself when you start to feel overwhelmed and think with a clear head.
You can also focus on internal sensations. Imagine a circle of light is around the top of your head. Now pay attention to all the feelings in that part of your body, and as you imagine the band of light moving down towards your toes, focus just on the parts of your body that are in the range of the light. Notice any tightness in your muscles or anything your skin is touching. Or, you can focus on your breath, and how your ribcage will expand and contract as you breathe in and out.
These are two great ways of calming your mind when you start to feel your stress spinning your thoughts out of control. Another one following these principals that really helps calm me down when I start feeling stressed out or upset is called “5 4 3 2 1.” Basically, you name five things you can see, five things you can hear, and five things you can touch. Then four things you can see, four things you can hear, and four things you can touch. And so on until you reach one. If you’re feeling upset, it brings your attention away from that emotion what was causing the distress. When I’m done, I usually find that I can think a lot more clearly and the tension that builds in my chest releases.
Mindfulness can really be applied to anything. Basically it’s about being in the present, paying attention to details and your thoughts, and not judging. So let’s say you start stressing out because you got a bad grade on a test. First, you notice that your thoughts are starting to obsess over this grade. You think, huh, I’m pretty disappointed by that grade. My thoughts seem to really be thinking about that a lot. Maybe I’ll pay really close attention to my surroundings so I can calm down. Okay. Now I’ll look at it objectively: This is the mark that I got. I can’t change the past, but I can change how I react in the present so I can shape the future. I’ll accept this grade, and try to identify how I can do better for the next test.
Granted, this is all easier said than done. You have to practice at it. And to be honest, I’m not sure if I’m getting my point across! I am by no means an expert in this. If you are interested in mindfulness and/or want to get a handle on dealing with your stress, I strongly recommend checking out the Mindfulness Skills Group at Counselling Services in Brock Hall. There are way more aspects to this that I can’t really get to and way more exercises that they can give you.
Since attending the class, I’ve been able to deal with stressful situations a lot better: when I’m upset with someone, I can calm myself down. If I make a mistake at orchestra rehearsal, I can be objective about it and practice more for the next time rather than beating myself up for it. If I start getting overwhelmed and exaggerating the situation, I can bring myself back. This class was probably the best thing I did for myself this year.
The day has come
It’s currently 6:15AM. My interview’s in 3.75 hours. Don’t ask me why I woke up this early. I don’t even know why. I set my alarm to ring at 7:45 but my body decided to screw it and wake up a lot earlier.
I feel nervous. But excited. Talking to other people about difficult decisions, ethical and moralistic situations, and personal moments is something I like to do, but perhaps not in a very formal interview where it’s all high stakes and pressure. I think that last year I was a little too excited and perhaps came across as overly nervous and eager, which is not something they would look for in MMIs. You have to be, from what I understand, logically coherent, professional, and personable. I felt I was a little inexperienced back then.. Hopefully it’ll go different this year. I definitely kept that in mind ever since I started practicing with friends. They all gave me great feedback and I hope I’ve worked out all the things I could improve on for this.
Completing the MMIs is an art; the way people flourish their answers, dance around ideas, and express their utmost personal feelings towards others are all orchestrated together in a 7 minute performance. There’s so much going on and yet so much that could still be added. There are also some hidden criteria that interviewees are expected to fulfill which is why it’s always important to draw back to how this can relate to health care practitioner. Justice, autonomy, conflict resolution, cultural understanding, respect for diversity… these are just some of the things I could think of while doing some of the questions. Truth is being a physician requires more than just knowing what symptoms fit which disease and which disease can be cured or treated by this and that. It’s about developing a rapport and understand where people are coming from, whether they are your patients or your bosses. It’s about how to work in an environment where anything can happen and somehow be ready for it.
I’m looking forward to these interviews. They always say to “be yourself”. Well sometimes it’s not easy to. It’s quite a lot of work and high pressure, but having done it once before I think I can overcome my nervousness and just show the interviewers how I really am about these issues.
An Ode to Yoga
This post is not actually going to be an ode, because I am not a poet and I don’t really know what an ode is (I’m sure I will by the end of term though; I’m taking second-year poetry at the moment). I am, however, going to tell you why I love yoga so much:
- Building strength. Depending on what type of class you choose, some yoga classes can be really intense and build all sorts of muscles you didn’t you you had! And in a more relaxed environment instead of a a loud, bustling environment of a gym or sport. If you want an intense muscle workout try vinyasa or power yoga!
- Increasing flexibility. We tend to ignore our bodies. But really, do you think that hours hunched over a desk are good for you? Stretching and opening your body makes you feel good, less stressed out, and in less pain from sore muscles. (This part is especially good for me since I have chronic muscle pain in various areas.) If you want even more stretching, try a yin class! They hold stretching poses for 3-7 minutes.
- Time to focus on the present. Yoga incorporates a lot of elements of a technique called mindfulness (which I’m also learning about in my stress management class with Counselling Services – post on that to come). Basically, you get to set aside an hour and just focus on the present moment. Concentrate on your breath, on your muscles as they hold a pose. Stress can get us overwhelmed, but if you take some time to focus on the here and now, it can really calm you down and ground you. Not to mention, our lives can be pretty darn hectic and taking a moment to slow things down can really help your mental health.
Interested in trying yoga? I’d suggest starting out with a hatha class, as it’s more gentle and is a good way to start out. On campus, you can take a class with UBC REC, or try the UBC Yoga Club. REC classes average $80-$100 for one term for UBC students. The UBC Yoga Club charges $10 for a membership, and then all classes are drop-in and cost $2. I’ve done both, but this term I joined the Yoga Club and I like it way more because it costs less, there are more types of classes at more times, and if I have to miss one it’s no big deal since I haven’t already paid for it.
A month without Facebook
I was that dweeb who e-mailed your hotmail invitations to this new website called Facebook, in 2007. My decision to permanently leave Facebook for 2013, then, came as a surprise to many. “May I ask, why are you leaving?” was the number one final message my friends sent me when supplying me with their Gmail addresses, for my trek on over to email land.
The question should not be “why are you leaving?” but “what finally made you leave”? In my bag, I already took issue with its privacy (and corporate) concerns, time-wasting, inauthenticity, inefficacy as a political platform, narcissism, and so on. What finally made me leave was that, upon evaluation, I concluded that Facebook had not enriched my relationships or social life in a way in which e-mails and real life could not allow. Those friends I hung out with for a month on my trip abroad? It would be more meaningful for me to write them a long e-mail a couple times a year than watch their Saturday night photos roll in. Accepting a friendship request from an acquaintance from class, signalling a desire to maybe be on closer terms in real life? A smile on my part could have done just as well, if not better. Friends whom I chatted with near every day? One-liners on Facebook statuses will never stand up to extended conversation over coffee.
Anyway, the point of this blogpost is not to self-importantly expound upon my decision to opt out of this medium, but to share with you my experience of excessively hanging around the pointy edges of Gmail Inbox.
Lessons learned:
1. Facebook, no matter what we say about it being a beast (as Panopticon or soul-sucker), is not that big of a deal; it’s what you decide to do with your time on it, that like any other medium, makes the difference in your friendships (you can post links to pointless entertainment through either Facebook or email , just as you can post observations on love through either).
2. You will probably end up procrastinating anyway, if not on Facebook, then mid-guitar stroke; your eyes will gloss over and think of other, unimportant things.
3. People respond to e-mails much slower than to their Facebook messages.
4. You won’t really know what you ‘re missing out on Facebook if and until you hear about it through another medium…those few times might be shocking, but most of the time you are ignorant of your ignorance, so it’s not an issue.
5. You have to make modifications in your life to make new friends; smile more, take risks by explicitly asking people for their contact, go out more, and so on. At the end of a month without Facebook, I do think it would be easier, socially, to go back.
6. What I miss:
*Facebook events: I know for a fact that I have missed out on some good activist events and, while social events can be co-ordinated through e-mail, they are cumbersome.
*Facebook chat: as unreliable as this software was, it is the only socially acceptable means of instant talk available today. Indeed, I am writing this blogpost precisely because, exhibiting hermit-like tendencies today, I had an urge for chatting but no one to be with on demand.
7. Your relationships with a few close friends, and a few distant friends, will likely flourish. Your relationships with some of your acquaintances will probably suffer.
8. Sometimes you will look at your Twitter feed with such dissatisfaction.
Overall, it’s difficult. It does not surprise me that people always go back. I tend to abstain from a lot of common activities though (driving, shopping, beauty work, drinking, etc.) so I think I can handle being an outcast in yet another respect. I think. It helps that I permanently deleted, not merely deactivated, my account!
P.S. If you’re a friend seeing this and would like to be sent an e-mail occasionally, let me know at miriamsabz (@) gmail.com.
Course Evaluation: MUSC 119
MUSC 119: Music Technology.
Course Description: This course covers a lot of ground; you go from learning about the physics of sound and parts of the ear to how microphones work and making a website.
Textbook use: This course uses a course packet written by the prof, costing $40 (the $40 also covers headshots, a software liscence, and probably other things that I can’t remember). You have to get it. It contains all of the lecture notes and assignments, and if you miss a lecture it has all of the material covered in it as well.
Homework: Typically, there are two assignments per week which must be handed in at the music office, not in class. There is also usually a quiz every two weeks or so. Honestly, they are not hard! There isn’t very much material on them and the questions are very predictable, so if you so much as read over your notes beforehand you’ll be fine. I overheard a lot of people beforehand being nervous and after quizzes sounding really upset, but really, there’s no need to! Just actually study a little bit!
Professor: This course is taught by Dr. Bob Pritchard, known to his students as Dr. Bob. He is very friendly and marks fairly, and likes to tease his students. He makes a good prof for this first year course as he really walks you through everything, gives reminders, etc. (Not to mention is “dad speeches.”)
Class format: Two lectures per week, and one tutorial. He provides lecture notes and you fill them in as you follow along.
Additional comments: Material in this course can range from interesting to pretty boring, but it’s really not very hard. Just do some studying. Seriously, you’ll be fine. And you might even have fun.
Philip Pullman’s The Amber Spyglass
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Philip Pullman’s The Amber Spyglass is the third and final book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, following The Subtle Knife and The Golden Compass. Unfortunately, as part of a series, I don’t know how to effectively describe the book without giving away too much about the first ones.
Out of the three books, I think I can definitely say that I liked this one the best. I found it to explore the characters quite a bit more than the other books, and it had a more fascinating (and often faster moving) plot. I also liked the over-arching ideas in the book. I found the (fictional) look at authority, revolution, freedom, and eternity to be quite interesting.
The only thing about this book that stands out as not being particularly in my favour would be the ending. I found the ending to be abrupt and cheesy.
All-in-all, however, I did enjoy reading His Dark Materials and especially The Amber Spyglass. I found it to be a well rounded book with interesting characters, plot, and ideas. For fans of easy-to-read fiction, this would be a good series to check out!
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Shane Mac’s Stop With The BS
Stop With The BS by Shane Mac
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Shane Mac’s Stop With The BS was shared with me by Humaira. It is a book whose writing was started, completed, and taking place entirely on a series of train rides down the West coast.
I found the book to be a lot of ranting and preaching in the form of short, distinct essays. I found little in the book to be enlightening.
However, I gave it two stars because there were a couple of ideas that did get me thinking about different things. Again, these ideas weren’t particularly life changing, but they did get me to stop for a second to ponder (and I did write a couple of them down to revisit later when I have more time).
Anyhow, if you enjoy reading the musings of random people, or if you’re up for taking the risk of finding enlightenment in this book, check it out!
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Philip Pullman’s The Subtle Knife
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Philip Pullman’s The Subtle Knife is the second book in a trilogy, following The Golden Compass. Unfortunately, as part of a series, I don’t know how to effectively describe the book without giving away too much about the first one.
In any case, I felt that upon first starting this book, I didn’t feel like it was part of a sequel. It took me a while to understand how this book tied in to the previous book, and thus also it took a while for me to get into it.
But once I did get into it, I did find that I liked the story. I thought it was an interesting attempt at mixing science and fantasy/religion together. I found the plot to be usually fast moving, which I think is what I found most attractive about the book. The characters weren’t flat, but I can’t say I found them to be particularly interesting either.
Anyhow, I’m currently reading the third book, which brings me to the end of the trilogy! I’ll post about it soon!
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