Yeah so this happened:
I’m not sure whether I should be embarrassed or proud.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
To Go Alone
Doing something alone can be scary and sometimes not terribly fun (or so we think), and often times it can discourage us from doing something at all. This past weekend, I had my heart set on going to Victoria but none of my friends wanted to go with me. I hummed and hawed for nearly two weeks prior: to go or not to go, that was the question!
In the end, I decided to go by myself. After all, I’m only here for four years and I’m going to make the most of that time and see the surrounding areas and explore! And man, am I ever glad I went. It was definitely an exciting adventure: I took a ferry and booked a hotel by myself for the very first time. I feel like a grown up. (I’m pretty proud of myself.)
My hands don’t want me to type much more, so here’s a video of my trip from the video blog I do with my friends:
Don’t be scared to do what you want just because no one else is going with you!
Filed under Uncategorized
Harp Covers
This is just a little project I’ve been working on for the last couple of months. I’ve been arranging popular music for the harp, and then recording it and putting it on YouTube. (So far I seem to be on a bit of a Zelda kick…)
My YouTube channel is here, and here’s my latest video:
(How do I have time for this? I don’t know! Probably by not practicing enough for band rehearsals…)
Filed under Uncategorized
Need a Job? Work on Campus
Are you looking for a part time job for during the school year? The bad news: so is everyone else. The good news: UBC has tons of opportunities for employment for students, so your chances of being employed aren’t actually that bad.
Work Study/Work Learn
Work Study and Work Learn is a program run by Career Services that “supports and subsidizes meaningful work experiences on campus.” “Work Study” is the program name for domestic students, whereas “Work Learn” is the program name for international students. It’s pretty much the same thing; international students, just make sure you have a valid Study Permit and Social Insurance Number. All Vancouver campus students currently enrolled in courses at UBC and with a valid UBC student number.
Hours are 10 or less per week, and pay is generally pretty darn good. Jobs offered can range from lab assistants to research assistants to working in various UBC departments or libraries. The goal of these programs is to give students professional experience, in many cases in the field of their study.
Most Work Study/Work Learn positions were posted last week, but more will continue to be posted until mid-September. Be sure to apply soon, as positions are often filled before the final application date has passed.
Work on Campus Week
This week there will be a recruitment fair in Brock Hall, 1874 East Mall. Drop by between 11:00 am and 3:00 pm on the following days to meet employers on campus. Remember to bring your resume!
Monday, August 27th – AMS Food and Beverage
Tuesday, August 28th – Parking & Access Control
Wednesday, August 29th – AMS Retail
Thursday, August 30th – Annual Giving
(Annual Giving is a call centre that calls alumni and asks for donations.)
For more information, visit Careers Online.
Don’t forget, there are plenty of other job opportunities post on Careers Online throughout the year, so take a look at those too.
You can also apply to work for UBC Food Services or the UBC Aquatic Centre or the many independent businesses on campus, such as Save On Foods and Shoppers Drug Mart.
Happy Hunting! (Bet you thought I wasn’t going to mention there are only 8 days til school starts, didn’t you!)
Filed under Campus Life, Suite Life, Uncategorized, Wellness
Cleaning Tricks
After spending three days cleaning my butt off (with a lot of help from my mom), I have definitely picked up a few tricks about cleaning. If you’ll be living on your own this year, in an apartment or suite-style residence, hopefully these will come in handy for you.
- Clean as you go: if you wipe up that spill right after it happens, you aren’t going to have to deal with icky dried on stains later. Trust me, dried on stuff is waaaaay harder to clean off. Make a mess and clean it up right away and your cleaning life is going to be so much easier.
- Tilex is surprisingly good at cutting through grease, such as you might find sticking to you cupboards and walls in the kitchen. It’s also perfect for anything you don’t want to get scratched.
- Vim is very good at getting out stains, as well as in the bathtub and sink, but it can scratch more sensitive surfaces such as a glass shower door.
- Pine-Sol is a good multi-purpose cleaner that is also safe for wood, painted surfaces, tile, and marble.
- Wipe up water: after a shower, wipe down the walls with a sponge or squeegee and dry the area around a sink faucet after use to prevent mildew and soap scum buildup and water stains.
- Water will often get the job done. So before you pile on the chemicals, try it with just water first.
- After you wash, dry. Leaving your surfaces wet can damage them.
- When washing windows or mirrors, wipe in circles. For whatever reason this won’t leave streaks.
More tips? Please share!
Filed under Uncategorized
Ice Cream Lock
One thing you may not know about living in residence is that the convenience stores in the commons blocks sell the. Most. Delicious. Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. You go in there at the end of a long day, think to yourself, Awww yeah, time for some fantastic ice cream. You eat maybe a quarter of it, maybe half, and then you put the rest of it into your floor freezer.
But as you go to sleep that night, you are bothered by thoughts of paranoia: What if someone breaks into my scrumptious half-pint of Ben and Jerry’s while I’m sleeping? To suffer such a loss is a hardship, indeed.
Well, friends, if this is you, here’s something that may help you out: the Ben and Jerry’s Pint Lock. Your nights of worry are over.
Filed under Residence, Uncategorized
KONY 2012
Okay, a final edit. Kony 2012, the campaign by Invisible Children posted a video a few days ago and it went viral. Here’s the original video:
As a reaction, this tumblr post was created in an attempt to educate people further about the situation in Uganda and regarding Joseph Kony and the Invisible Children organization: visiblechildren.tumblr.com.
So yes, just by watching the video you can tell there are some serious issues with bias and propaganda, but I still say that the campaign has raised awareness. Maybe not full awareness from the video, but many people are looking into the issue past the KONY video, and awareness is a good thing.
Filed under Uncategorized
Delayed Flights and Break Over
At the moment, I am sitting in an airport waiting to get on the plane which will bring me back to UBC. I should be boarding right now, but my flight got delayed by nearly an hour due to the large amounts of snow Winnipeg has received over the last week.
Some of you may be thinking, ew, snow for reading week?! Well, I rather enjoyed it. If Winnipeg didn’t have snow at this time of year, I would be seriously concerned. Also I got to make a really cute snowman today :) That being said, I’m really looking forward to Vancouver’s mild temperatures.
I wish reading week wasn’t over, but it’s been a great one. I didn’t have much homework (mwahahaha!), I had some quality time with my friends and family, I got a little bit of sleep, got rid of my stress from the last month and a half, and my parents decided to foster a sweet little one-eyed kitty for part of the week. I don’t wanna go back to class, but when you think about it, there’s only about a month of classes left. And then, SUMMER! (You have no idea how excited I am for flip flops and sundresses…)
In the meantime, though, I am waiting for a plane…
Filed under Uncategorized
Ah, spring is in the air!
I have to wonder if Vancouverites feel the same way, but to me this weather is just heavenly. A week of sunshine after nasty grey rain, and temperatures ten degrees above zero, this is spring, and I am loving it! Coming from Winnipeg, this is great. Back home it’s still the middle of winter right now, and on the first day of spring in March it’s easy to get your hopes up, but.. it’s still pretty much winter. The snow is usually not completely melted until the middle of April, so once I finish exams and head home in May I’ll arrive at just the right time for a hot and sunny prairie summer, just the way I like’em.
In the mean time, I don’t know if there’s anything as liberating as switching back to your lighter jacket from your winter one, wearing a skirt instead of jeans for once, wearing open shoes (if it’s too hard to tell, I really like wearing spring clothing). There is something about spring mornings when you feel the sun on your face and breathe in the crisp air – it’s a little chilly, but not cold. It’s uplifting. And magical.
I love spring!
Filed under Uncategorized
Stop SOPA Day
Starting at 5 a.m. January 18th, it is Stop SOPA Day.
“The bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to seek court orders against websites outside U.S. jurisdiction accused of infringing on copyrights, or of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement.[4] After delivering a court order, the U.S. Attorney General could require US-directed Internet service providers, ad networks, and payment processors to suspend doing business with sites found to infringe on federal criminal intellectual property laws.” – Wikipedia
To explain in laymen’s terms:
“Okay, here’s a general idea of why SOPA is bad. There are other reasons too, keep in mind. Let’s say Bobby uploads copyrighted content owned by Abby to YouTube. If Abby notices this and alerts YouTube, YouTube is legally obligated to take down what Bobby uploaded. This is fine. However, under SOPA, let’s say Bobby uploads copyrighted material to YouTube. Then law enforcement officials are allowed to shut down ALL of YouTube for the single video Bobby uploaded. This means that YouTube would have to check everything any user does before they upload it for the public to see. It’s impossible for one site to check everything any user does to make sure it doesn’t infringe on any copyright, so sites supported by user generated content would have to essentially shut down. Site like YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, Vimeo, Flickr, etc. would be dead. So now you are no longer a sheep and justifiably outraged! There’s a whole host of other reasons it’s bad. Note that they’re also trying to pass PIPA which is very similar and also needs to be shut down.” – Ted Eaton, a facebook friend of mine
I believe that this bill if passed would set society back about fifteen years. At least.
Filed under Uncategorized
That's me! I'm a fourth year, introverted, Winnipeg-hailing, blog-writing, cookie-eating, harp-playing, yoga-doing, blanket-knitting music student at UBC. I'm always trekking around campus in my Pumas and massive black backpack, and if you spot me, come say hi! It would be nice to know someone actually reads these things!
