Merry Christmas!

Christmas is my favourite time of the year because the little things people do – singing Christmas carols at the bus stop, voluntarily shovelling the sidewalk for one’s neighbours – make me smile. Or it could be the chocolates. Lots and lots of chocolates. On a random note, I just finished reading both The Tales of Beedle the Bard as well as the new PostSecret book (my friends have a wonderful knack of figuring out exactly what I want for Xmas/Bday, thanks!) I forgot to mention that I turned 18 amidst the exam season, jolly good!

Everyone’s probably enjoying xmas dinner, making long distance phone calls, watching holiday movies, or preparing to go to war Boxing Day and whatnot, so I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

QOTW: What presents did you get for Christmas?

My family followed the “tradition” of not getting each other anything, again.

Read 8 CommentsAdd a comment

10 Campus Fashion Trends – Fall/Winter ’08

One of the fun part of being on the UBC campus is to be surrounded by some of the best-dressed young people in the city. I would argue that Sauder kids are the snappiest dressers around (*holds up shield*), but we do have a rather unfair advantage over other faculties in our regular mandatory prancing-around-in-suits days. I hope to give you here a brief overview of some of the loveliest fashion trends at UBC right now, with a heavy leaning towards the ladies (sorry fellas!) As you can tell this post is long overdue. Oh and warning: image-heavy and slightly materialistic =D

#1 Classical chic – CARDIGANS

The weather’s getting cold – wasn’t yesterday minus 19 or something?! – and we really need something more than UBC hoodies to keep us warm. Cardigans keep out the chills without bulking you up. They come in a variety of lengths and colours so there are a lot of rooms to mix and match.


#2 Warm and fluffy – COLOURFUL SCARVES

Scarves can really add a splash of colour to an otherwise dark and dreary winter outfit. And with stalls in the SUB selling so many styles at cheap prices ($8-$15), it’s very tempting to snatch a few!

Continue reading →

Read 13 CommentsAdd a comment

We Interrupt Our Regular Programming

… to bring you this special message.

I just got the funniest email from the Sauder School of Business, parts of it are reproduced below. It’s titled COMM 299 Winter Term 2 – Assignment #1‏. Homework in university over the winter break?! Hmm… it’s an online assignment/survey type that takes 40 minutes, so I didn’t mind too much. Then I read the rest of the email.

For the second term of your Comm 299 class you will be learning all about how to figure out what you want in a career and how to land your dream job. It is a very rewarding and powerful part of the course. […] Developed at the Harvard School of Business, you will receive much personal value from this assignment. See below for details.

Assignment #1: CareerLeader online assessment (5%)

STEPS:

1. Pay the MANDATORY $17.50 (taxes included) fee online at [URL]
2. Take the online assessment using the following details at [URL]
3. Print out the “Narrative Report” and bring it to class during week of Jan. 12-16 […]

* The system is setup to ensure that you can take the assessment immediately even if you do not pay before taking the assessment. We recommend you pay before beginning the assessment to avoid forgetting. But you must pay nevertheless no later than March 31 at noon. Failure to do so will result in your grades being withheld resulting in a “0” grade for the course. [emphasis added]

Wait what?! It’s a 5% assignment, that requires payment, and if we don’t pay we fail the course?! Such a bright outlook for the future of business schools. So apparently the cost is there because the class taking the assignment is very large. This is ALMOST as a good as paying $45 for a piece of paper with a password on it so I can do my econ labs online.

P.S. – Lack of updates due to exam season. I’ll be done on Tuesday and will be back with a TON of uber awesome posts =D

UPDATE: You know what? I did get some great insight from this CareerLeader survey. My professor is a huge fan of this assessment so I thought, hey, there must be some merit to it eh? Although the results weren’t what I expected, it did open my worldview to other possible career options to complement my law school journey after undergraduate years. COMM 299 is slowly becoming one of my most enjoyable classes this term. But come on Sauder, couldn’t you subsidize this?!

Read 12 CommentsAdd a comment

Collusion

Dinnertime conversation at the Yu household.

Me: Hey Dad, did you know if you Google “Phoebe Yu” my blog will come up on the first page?
Dad: *puts down chopsticks* *walks over to computer and Googles* *stares in disbelief*

Dad: So do you have like a blog online where you keep your innermost thoughts?!
Me: uh… NO?!!! *shifty eyes*

Mum: How about you put some Chinese on one of your blogs and we can blog about UBC together!!
Me: AHH!! GET AWAY FROM ME!

Family, can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em. Also, Phoebe wishes everyone good luck on their exam revision (yes, REVISION, like what Hermione says in Harry Potter… )

Read 13 CommentsAdd a comment

Last Day of Classes?!

Wow, where has the time gone?! It seems only yesterday when we eager first years embarked on Frosh and started our university experience. Alas alas, time was inversely proportional to the amount of fun we had so now here we are, at the end of the term.

I had an unusually giddy day today. Despite all the workload (compsci assignment that required 30h+ of work anyone?) that sort of built up near the end, I had a huge grin plastered on my face throughout much of the day… probably because of the “insignificant” moments which made me cheerful.

Moment one. At the end of the Compsci 111 lecture this morning, everyone stood up and applauded while the professor tried to make his humble exit. Compsci was my favourite class this term (OB falls a close second) because the prof made it fun and inspirational, yes, inspirational. I didn’t know it was a tradition in university to clap at the end, nevertheless it was still more special than the other classes.

Moment two. Looking out the rain-splattered bus window and seeing fog descending upon Pacific Spirit Park… then later seeing distorted colours of pink and yellow – lights from the neon signs along Granville Street.

Moment three. I didn’t have to wait for more than two minutes for any of the SEVEN buses I took today. I also didn’t get splashed by any passing vehicles, which is a first. Hallelujah.

Read 5 CommentsAdd a comment