I was on the 99 b-line today for the first time in a long time.  Eastbound.  When I got on the bus, there were these girls talk about phone plans and what kind of plans to get it.  Noticing their accents, subtle mention of AMS, I decided in my head that they were students that just moved into res or something.

Yes I’m judging like that.  But I can’t help it, it’s human tendency to categorize.

[side note] It seems everyone has a Blackberry these days!

There was one point where they seemed kind of lost, and I knew exactly how to get to where they wanted because that was where I was going.  I decided not to say anything.  I always find that adventures are way more fun if you get lost (in non threatening ways) and I didn’t want to “take that away” from them.

I’ve always enjoyed the idea of going to school somewhere else.  It’s like a way to experience a different world without worrying about getting working in a foreign place (because honestly, it seems just getting a job at home can be hard) or wanting to do something more productive than shopping and visiting monuments (not that it can’t be fun.)  Wanting to be in a new world is probably why I am aiming for international business, the only thing I am confident about pursuing at the moment.  But even then it seems to teeter a bit.

So new arrivals, if you’re reading, enjoy, explore.  I’ve lived here all my life and I still don’t think I’ve seen in all… which begs the question why do I still think that Vancouver can be boring to live in despite loving it?  Maybe it is because I am young and sheltered.  Year 2, here I come.  Time to grow up a little.

“The idea is to die young as late as possible.” – Ashley Montagu

Tonight!

Tomorrow night!

The night after that!

North east sky.

Nightfall till sunrise.

Enjoy =)

That’s right.  Free.

Free what?

…Does it matter?

Thought I’d share a listing of the free outdoor movie events that seem to be a sudden craze this summer.  (Why didn’t they have this before!)

Tonight!:
The Wizard of Oz at Holland Park (Surrey)

Aug 8:
Back to the Future at David Lam Park (Yaletown)

Aug 14:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs at Holland Park

Aug 19:
KJ: Music and Life at Civic Square (Burnaby Public Library at Metrotown)

Aug 21:
The Last Song at Holland Park

Aug 26:
Up at Civic Square

Aug 28:
How to Train Your Dragon at Holland Park

Another “free” activity I throughly enjoy (as often as yesterday): browsing Chapters.  That place is joy.  I know there’s also that other place called “the library” but the library doesn’t have a Starbucks, so Chapters 1 : Library 0.

Has anyone ever noticed the marine biology section of the library is a block of blue spines?  Now you know.

A friend once told me “school = life (for the next 4 years)”

That wasn’t the whole comment but that was part of it.  It was at a time when I was feeling down about no reason for school.  I’m just out to get a degree.  That’s it.   I am told that is what I will need to get by in this world, and I believe them.

School really ended up as  my life because in the summer, without school, i find my life extremely empty. And I hate it.

If you are thinking “hey Paulina, you can’t expect to waltz back in here MIA for a month without some filling in,”  I wish I could say I’ve been having some crazy party of a summer like Jordan, or saving the world like Mel and Erica, with plenty of stories but I haven’t and that’s exactly the problem.  Summer school, work, hang out, mope around.  That is what I have been up to.  With summer school long over, that just means more mope time.

I mope because I can’t find some greater purpose for my life.  What do I want to do?  Who do I want to be?  I don’t know, I was hoping something would just fall from a tree and I’d be like “THAT’S IT!”  But it doesn’t seem like it will happen.  I mope because I see people chasing their dreams and  grand adventures and I don’t have that.  I see school as a rung on a ladder for most people toward some grand goal.  So I’m just standing on some ladder to the sky.

Yesterday though I was thinking maybe I’ve been looking at it wrong.  Maybe life doesn’t have to be about having a great plan.  Maybe it’s fine to just casually make music, casually play sports, casually draw, casually watch tv, read, eat, just do little things in spurs of impulse or passion or laziness.  And that’s it.

Suddenly I’m reminded of this movie:

I worry that this is a self defense thing to make myself feel better about not having a great plan.  But hey, I’m alive and life is passing.  So at the least I’ll just do something.  Anything.

I hope I’m not the only one doing nothing productive ’cause that would make me feel bad! =P  Productive or not,  I hope everyone is having a happy summer.

My favorite time eating, hold-on-I’ll-do-my-homework-after-one-more-page (but that really means 20 more pages…at least) website these days is http://www.9gag.com/.

I suppose for some people their favorite may be this one.

What’s your distracting website of choice?

It was a normal summer morning today.  Woke up to the sound of a vibrating phone set at 10 am in hopes of fixing my summer hibernating ways.  Lay there for a bit.  Thought about my plans for another sunny day.  Lay there a little longer.  Got up, automatically turned on the computer like second nature.  Brush teeth and all that washroom jazz.  Checked out a video a friend told me to look at on Youtube.  Log onto MSN.

All was well.  Until I realized TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER SCHOOL.

From there it was stress all over.  Texting of people to double check if there was school.  Evaluating whether it would be worth it to go to the other section.  Decided that it would be.  Run downstairs.  Opened the wrong pot for my breakfast which was the pressure cooker pot.  Proceeded to burn myself with soup exploding out of pot.  Run upstairs.  Change.  Downstairs.  Eat.  Out the door.  Back in the door.  Ask for a ride to the skytrain.  The first day of school is never a pretty sight in many ways.

I don’t think I’ve completely recovered from the effects of studying for finals yet.  I’ve never studied that intensely in my life before.  My last exam was about a week and a half ago.  My past week has been saturated with so many non school related things that it feels like that short break was 3 weeks.  And it feels good.

I shall see you soon again summer ’10.  Like Thursday!  Since summer session  is awesome and I only have class two days a week.  (I hope it will be awesome…)

One more class for me and my first year is pretty much over.  Except the exams and summer session.  That part has yet to really begin.  But to feel all dramatic, the first year is over… almost.

Thoughts on my first year…

Best part: I learned a lot about myself this year.  There were some things I thought I knew how to do, like study, which it turns out I really didn’t.  Things I thought I couldn’t do, like talking to strangers, which I couldn’t but I wasn’t as bad as I thought I would be.  I learned that I have a lot to learn.

Second best part: new experience.  Just the fact that 1st year was something new made it fun.

Worst part: The fact that there are times where I have no life outside of commuting, studying and working/homeworking. Seriously, >80% of my waking hours.

My favorite class: English 112: Strategies for University Writing.  Strange right?  There’s something about English classes that have always drawn me in. Even if it’s a course like ENGL 112 that most students probably wouldn’t take if it weren’t required.

Most important (non academic) lesson: People are inspiring, and at UBC there are opportunities to come across so many different people.  Take time and soak in their stories.  Don’t underestimate what they may have to say.

If I could go back… I would tell myself to remember to read the syllabuses, study earlier, and because I would know to study earlier, go take part in more things.  I would also tell myself where the computer lounges are and to stop eating so much of those delicious Blue Chip Cookies.

Am I happy? I guess.  Not as solid of an answer as I’d like.  Grades? Not so happy.  Growing up?  Happy.

Notes to self:
– EXERCISE MORE
– Learn how to learn again not for the sake of a grade
– Make time for friends, for finding passions.
– EXERCISE MORE!!
– Find a way so that sacrifices in grades don’t have to be made for “having a life.”

@ Japanese oral exam, the teacher asked me

バンクーバのしちょうになったら、何にしますか？　(more or less)

“If you become the mayor of vancouver, what will you do? (about the things in town)”

After a minute of “i have no idea what you just said”…

スキーをしまうす。

“I’ll go skiing”

I was hoping しちょう was something else instead of “mayor” which didn’t even cross my mind.

The school year is already ending, and I still can’t remember that my english class is at 3 and not 4.  Which resulted in me scheduling my oral exam at the same time as my class.

What I’ve learned in university: having too many breaks make me confused about time.

Note to self: for next year, avoid putting only a single class between two breaks.

“Knoll”

aka the hill, the lump, the grassy thing with the tree on the top outside of the SUB.

It’s beautiful.  It was one of the first things that caught my attention when I went on campus for the first time.

It is the location for the new SUB building.  You can go vote for your favorite architect to design the building, examples of their work are on display in the SUB right now. *End plug.*

I’m all for a shiny new building (not that I’ll still be around when it’s done… or will I be?)  but just out of curiosity, how much of the student population hangs out in the SUB?  I used to be there like it was my second home during the 1st semester, but this semester it is just too out of the way.

Back to the Knoll, I have grown an attachment to it though I’ve only sat on it maybe a max 5 times and used it as a meet up/distance gauger of where my friends are maybe about 10 times.

“Hey where are you?  …Ok, I have no idea where that is.  How far is it from the hill thing?”

I think I will be sad to see it go.  One of the architects are offering options of what to do with the Knoll.  Build around it, build over it, build under it, move it up (I hope you can imagine that…).  There are detailed diagrams of this in the SUB.  Sorry I forgot to take a picture of it.

But here is the “suggestion box”

I agree.

Some stats:

There is one more week of school. I can’t believe how incredibly challenging this year has been…

Summer is 4 months long.  That is one third of a year. Am I the only one suprised and already wondering what I’m going to do so I don’t rot this summer?