Due to the restructuring of UBC Blog Squad, I will no longer be posting here. I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse of my life.  I find Blog Squad to be best enjoyed on an aggregate level.  You can take a look at what the 1st years are up to on https://blogs.ubc.ca/blogsquad/

A new blog project I am starting up can be found at http://doodlebooktravels.wordpress.com

It is a blog about travelling.  Perhaps other things as well.

By the way, if you are curious about that summer to-do list of mine, it went pretty well.

1. Dyed my hair something out of the ordinary.  Pink.  An item off the bucket list!
2. Master parallel parking: I have my N but I still can’t really do this  I didn’t end up driving much.
3. Drove on the highway. I ended up going to Surrey.  It wasn’t planned but I randomly found out about an aurora borealis so I went on a midnight picnic.  Lying in a parking lot in sleeping bags with my friends waiting for the lights was an unforgettable adventure.
4. Wrote an instrumental track. You can check it out here.
5. Went on a short distance trip to Seattle
6. Watched a band play live, maybe an indie show would be cool
7. Watched the new Batman movie.  We tried to marathon it. What a day that was.
8. Watched the new Spiderman movie. For the first time in my life I went to the theaters alone and it was surprisingly enjoyable!
9. Watched two movies on my IMDB watchlist: The Help and The Artist.  I recommend both!
10. Travel to Japan!  It happened after all! See my new blog to see what’s up.
11. Went hiking.  I actually did this twice.  Once on the Grouse Grind (my first time ever) and then in Lynn Canyon.  Both commutable locations.  If you are deciding between the two, I’d say go big, go for the Grouse Grind! Here’s some pictures of what you’d be missing at Lynn Canyon:

    

12. Play basketball Never happened =(
13. Made a creative contribution at work! I got to design a new menu!
14. Read a book.  The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.  It wasn’t a life changing book for me personally but it was not bad.  A short read about a girl in her undergrad.  I would tell you more but I’ll let you have the option of jumping into an abyss.
15. Then read another book
16. Learn to read and write 100 Chinese characters Unfortunately, my Chinese studying stopped at about 50.
17. Lose 5 pounds, or alternative: get fit I’ve lost some weight in Japan from all the walking/sightseeing but probably not 5 pounds worth. I should find an IKEA and weight myself there.

So good luck with whatever it is you’re doing.  Chances are, you are a UBC student, so I guess I’ll just say “see you around.”

The semester is coming to a close and I can firmly say that third year is my favorite year at UBC so far. First year was that exciting new start, that slowly turned into “what did I get myself into?” Personally, university was more lonely than I thought it would be, all those isolated study hours in the dungeon… Second year started off as a “ok, lets not make the same mistakes this year” kind of year.  By the end of second year, my thoughts were more along the lines of “I really hope this ride gets better.”  It does.  It did.

This is why I think third year is a good year:

1. Declared major.  Meaning more classes that truly explore the stuff you like, less of those where you can’t remember why you’re taking it… oh yeah because you had to. (Actually, some of those turned out to be very useful.)

2.  No more surprises.  One year to settle down, one year to get used to it.  Third year is where you know what to expect and have hopefully set up a good system for yourself.  The course loads are heavier, but from what I’ve seen the people grew more than the course load.

3. Eligibility for exchange and co-op.  It’s a change in the routine that is still productive.  Exchange is probably why I look so favorably on this year of my life.  I didn’t choose to take co-op but I know for some, it’s what they were looking forward to when they came into university and third year is where it finally happens.

4. You’re not the smartest kid anymore… and it’s fine.  I’m sure you’ve heard it before: “you might have been the smartest kid in your high school, but when you get into university you certainly don’t feel that way.”  In some case you might still be that smart kid.  If you’re not, you might have had a lot self-questioning moments.  In third year, it kind of passes.  You’ll have more opportunities to shine in ways you couldn’t before.  Ways that work with your strengths.  You could be failing something, but you’re not stupid.

There are some reasons why third year is not so awesome though:

1. You’re old.  Face it, you’re old.  You are now in the older half of the undergrads.  For those who entered UBC at 18 or 19, you are now 20 or 21.  And that is a scary thought sometimes.  On the plus side, you can now have a good time in Vegas.

2. “This time next year… I might be unemployed…” or still hanging on to that part time job.  At the end of an awesome third year, this thought may drift into your head like a rain cloud or come raging through like a hailstorm in April, Vancouver style.  A good number of us hope that our university degrees will land us something nice when we graduate.  That “final exam” is coming into sight.  Or for those who are unsure, “should I graduate in 4 years or 5? …Maybe I could do graduate school”

To those of you who are in third year and are planning on graduating next year: This could be the LAST summer vacation of your LIFE!  What are you doing with it?

Reason: I suddenly feel very thankful for something about school and needed to share.

I’ve been having a bad week.  Midterm stress, realizing I have an increasingly stop-breathing-ly-harmful fear of public speaking, haven’t played sports in a month and I’m somewhat malnourished.

So amidst this anxiety at 1 am of a Monday while writing up my assignment for advertising class I suddenly realized, that for the first time in university, I was writing for a business class.  Not just some executive summary or a few paragraphs for a part I was responsible for in a group project.  This is a “legit” 3 page single spaced analysis of a print ad (and the chance to create an original print ad =D.)  Somehow getting to write makes me elated.  Arts students may be saying “you crazy fool! Be grateful you don’t have to write these 1928397 page/word/sentence essays!”

I’ve had to write in university before (phil, psyc, eng) but not very seriously for Sauder.  I am on exchange so I could be misguided but 3rd year is a long ways away from 1st and 2nd year.  It feels like I have finally arrived at university instead of standing in the doorway trying to stay awake.

Last night I went on a sporadic adventure to Wreck Beach for the first time.  Luckily my friend sort of knew where he was going and had an iPhone sporting Google Maps and the Light app (which is a bright white screen that functions as a flashlight.)

In case anyone was wondering, despite being a nude beach, the number of nude people around at 1 am was 0.  Or perhaps they were there but other than the 2 campfires scattered on the shore it was PITCH BLACK.  Which is why it is a great place to star gaze!  It was a long, dark and at times scary way from where we parked to the beach, and wild life (rats) were about, but when I stepped on the the sand and looked up at what was always there but could never see, it was worth it.

We parked all the way over by Hampton Place because it was the only place we knew where we could park for free.  Does anyone know of any closer ones? (SW Marine Dr is known for free parking but it says no parking between 11 pm – 6 am =/)

If you always wondered what the night sky looks like less some of the light pollution but don’t have the means to make it out to Abbotsford, consider Wreck Beach.  Just remember to bring a flash light!!  The stairs down are steep and are not lit at all.

Perseid meteor shower peaks this year on August 12/13.  There is a full moon out but brighter streaks can be still be seen in the suburban sky.  Hopefully the clouds will stay away.

Remember when Rabi would post up photos of UBC and we’d guess where the picture is from? Ok, I have one.

I bet every student at UBC has been in this building, it’s just a matter of getting this view.

I don’t mean for the Canucks. I mean for blogging about the riot.

Actually, this psycho analysis of the causes for the event pretty much sums up everything I want to say: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/737263-vancouver-riot-psychology-not-hooligans-is-responsibile-for-the-chaos?fb_ref=article_headline&fb_source=profile_oneline

I’m sorry but I hate it when I hear how people say that our city should be ashamed.  Man, I love this city! Not that rioting is ok or that it is anything we should be proud of, it was just the human reaction.

If you are into psychology and social phenomena (or can’t get straight in your mind why the hell things like WWII could occur with only one man at the helm… not that the article explains that but it did help me a little in figure it out.)

In other news, I got accepted to my 4th choice of exchange! (Yes, 4th.) ‘Till next time…

So you’ve heard of team buying right? aka “Groupon” and related sites

In case you haven’t, basically it is a “deal” that you buy online through a team buying site such as www.groupon.com where every day a different local business offers min 50% off from the regular price on a deal of some sort.  That’s right broke college kids like me, 50%. Minimum.  The only catch, you need a credit card to purchase.  Seriously, that is the only catch.  Unless someone has a bad experience they would like to share.

I’m beginning to feel like a commercial but honestly, it’s so cool I just have to share.

At work today I caught word of a new Groupon type thing launching tomorrow called Groupon Now!  Basically, you state your location (or let your phone find out where you are for you through an app)  and it will pull up deals that are running in your area sorted by category.  Unlike normal Groupons, there are multiple deals running on the same day.  Not only that, they may be time sensitive to the time of day the deals are active.

So you don’t really get too much flexibility for choosing when you get to use your deal, but it sounds pretty fun to explore the random stuff the city has to offer when it is all conveniently in a map-like application.

www.groupon.com/now

I swear this is not a commercial, it just looks so fun!

Here are some more team buying sites in case you were interested =) Please share if you know some good ones!

www.socialshopper.com
www.swarmjam.com
www.wagjag.com
www.livingsocial.com

Side note: you know what else is tomorrow?  A day that will go down in history.  Go Canucks go.

Back from a short vacation in New York…  first thing I do after arriving home at 3 am?  Check my marks haha.

Surprisingly, I did better than I thought.

2nd year was much harder than 1st year and my marks reflect that.  Strangely though, I mentioned it before, I feel very chill and almost apathetic when it came to studying and putting in any extra effort.  I think I’ve reached that point where I have accepted that I am not going to score in the top percentiles anymore, so why not just enjoy the other joys of life more and settle.

*Steve Job’s commencement speech pops into head: DON’T SETTLE!*

I think I’m still recovering from that “you’re no longer one of the smart kids” blow.  Sometimes I find myself pushing the limits of the minimum amount I need to study and still get above my minimum standard.  What happened to the me that chased ideals instead of heading backwards to my minimums?

I did it back in high school too, just not with my grades.  I did it with my wake up times.  How late can I wake up and still make it to school on time?  Then everyday I would wake up later and later until the day I was late.  Then I realized that showing up late wasn’t a big deal and my new limit became how late can I be before the teachers start caring.

Thank god for summer vacation.  I don’t want these mind sets anymore.

Still the best part of University: I feel like I’m growing up faster than ever before.  (which I probably would anyway but “University” is the title of this chapter of my life)

UBC LipDub. If you haven’t seen it, well get a move on.  If you have, watch it again.  Every view contributes donations to the Make a Wish Foundation!

The epicness of this video, the whole fact that this video is all over my Facebook feed and the fact I’m seeing all this love for our community makes up for waking up at 9 am on a Saturday morning to dance in a rain poncho.

Okay fine, getting to see Marianas Trench for a brief second already made up for it. =P

I hope my remaining years at UBC will have moments like this again.  I passed by the launch party today at Robson square and I was planning to stay for a song or two, but there was that feeling of community hovering in the air.  It drew me in and I stayed out in the cold for two hours.  I hate it when people are all up in each other’s face with UBC/SCHOOL PRIDE and I can’t say that this video made me gain pride for being a Thunderbird (although I must admit I did chant that day.)  However, the video made me, for once, feel that we’re not just separate segments of people who happen to gather at the same 993 acres of land every week.

(Did anyone else notice the product placement for the Compass Translink cards at the end? =( good by old UPass system)