Yukon Jay - 小祥

Been a good week

Hey Jen, did you catch Alias tonight? Awesome episode!! I was lost a few times since I just started watching the show this season. There's so much I've missed during the first two seasons and now all the events are confusing me.

So it has been a good week. I got my coffee production paper back and received a B+. I am quite happy with that. For this class I'm only 2% shy of an A... so hopefully I can make up for it on my oil paper and the final exam. That oil paper though.... so much reading... *sighs* Speaking of oil, today NBC News reported how Californians are complaing how expensive gas is (about $2.40). Well, other countries pay much more like Britain ($5.05), Norway ($4.54), and Canada ($3.23). Californians are also driving SUVs and trucks... no wonder gas is expensive!! So now the BC government wants to drill for offshore oil, which is why I'm doing this assignment. I think we should all boycott the big cars and drive small ones like the Potters... problem solved.

Canucks and the Stars

I had the opportunity to watch the most anticipated hockey game of the week, Dallas Stars visiting the Vancouver Canucks Saturday night. What made it particularly important is the fact that only 5 games remain in the regular season and both teams are sitting at 4th and 5th place with only 1 pt differential.

So if the playoffs started today, Dallas would face Vancouver in the first round. That would be a major problem for me!! Because I'm so loyal to my Stars, you will find a Stars bumper sticker on the back of my car. And because hockey is religion in this country, I would be the object of cynicism everytime I drive... it probably wouldn't be long till someone breaks into the car or spray paint it .

So for the remaiming 5 games or so.... I'm hoping Dallas would climb up to at least 3rd place surpassing the slumping Avalanche, thus avoiding the 5th place Canucks in the first round. And if they do meet in the playoffs... well let's just say I'll be taking the bus more often. There's no way I'm taking the sticker off. The sacrifices I make for my hockey team.

By the way, it was great to see Mike Modano again... =)

End of another week

It is Friday, the end of another week, and that means 7 more days of school till the summer, not counting exams. =)

That's all I have to say for now.

Offshore oil and gas exploration

This morning I was printing the 2 online articles I have to read before writing my comparative media analysis on offshore oil and gas exploration. Well the first article is 82 pages and the 2nd one I have an option of reading a 121 page report or 51 pages... so I decided to read the 51 page report as any smart student would do.

To add to the headache of reading all that, as I was printing, the ink on the papers wouldn't dry!! So during the whole printing process I had to lay out all the pages right after it was printed... it's like babysitting a printer.

So the first article is "Oil and Water Don't Mix" written by an environmentalist. 2nd one is "British Columbia Offshore Hydrocarbon Development", a government report. Two conflicting parties... why can't we all just get along so then I wouldn't have to do all this reading??

Exhausted

I don't know why but haven't been able to sleep the past 3 weeks. It started as being busy with papers but after that, I still manage to get up early for no reason. Can't seem to go to bed early either. I must be still stressed... oh well... I wasn't lucky enough to get a spring break like some people.

So I've got my oral exam tomorrow. Just finished writing a summary of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in Chinese... now I have to memorize it and say it for the oral. After that the prof will test my reading skills and then an one on one dialogue.

Right now just feeling soo tired... can't muster up enough energy to review. Only 2 weeks left of school....

Jay

New pictures

Beata has me addicted to the show Alias... I think I want to be a CIA agent now. I get to travel to various different countries, work undercover, connive people to defect, and start a rebellion... CIA AGENTS CAN DO ANYTHING!! What's not to like?

Well, I finally have the pics from the fieldtrip to Little Tokyo. Keep in mind a lot of the buildings are old and abandoned. In Canada after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, the Japanese community, including the Canadian born Japanese, were relocated to the east of the Rockies. They were treated much worse than the Japanese in the United States. Canada even declared war on Japan an hour earlier than the Americans did.... After the war, the Canadian government refused to allow the Japanese to return to Vancouver and west of the Rockies, hence why most of these buildings were abandoned. Many Japanese ended up being sent back to Japan, including Canadian born citizens. Sad part of our history...

Jay

Being paranoid

I never knew there were disadvantages to having projects and papers done early, as in few weeks before school ends... because now all I keep thinking about is exams!! With all this free time, that's all I've been thinking about and I'm getting paranoid and stressed...

Well, it looks like I wont be getting my surgery this year. Let's see if I can explain this without confusing people. Originally, the plan was for me to have the surgery before I start doing my co-op... however, because I've been waiting FOREVER, it hinders my chance of getting co-op. We have to register for co-op 2 semesters before we actually start working. So if the surgery is not gonna happen till this fall, then that means I register.... say during the fall and dont work till next summer.... still following me? If I register that late, then I will already have too many credits and can't get in. So after talking to the director again today... I'm signed up for co-op and I will be working spring of 2005, exactly 2 semesters after this one. As for surgery, meh..... I've been active by jogging... only thing I can't do is play basketball but that's alright. I will postpone it till next year after my first working round of co-op. Anybody lost?

Jay

Guns and Chinese

Yes, this is me holding a rifle (forget what type) with my friend Beata Saturday night. She decided she should learn how to shoot incase she ever needed to in self defence, and I thought maybe I should do the same incase I need to defend myself when I'm travelling in some wartorn developing country like last summer in Laos. So I introduced my friend Jason to her. Jason is in the army reserve and collects rifles as a hobby. They ended up going to a shooting range on Sunday while I was at UBC all day (shall explain why later). Dont plan on having a new hobby with guns... well unless I decide to start a revolution and declare North Vancouver independent and rename it to Jayville.

So Sunday while they were shooting, I went to a Chinese speech contest at UBC for a friend who was in the final round. I was amazed how good some of the contestants were. The speech had to be about how Chinese has influenced their lives. There were 6 different groups based on different skill levels. I had a somewhat difficult time figuring out what some of the advanced students were saying because they were so advanced... they were in their 4th year of Chinese studies. As for the group with native speakers... I gave up trying to figure out what they were saying after the first minute. It is not a surprise they retain the language simply because there's a huge Chinese ethnic enclave that exists in Vancouver... I mean Vancovuer is often called Hongcouver.

As most of you know, even though Chinese is my mother tongue, I'm not all that fluent. I pretty much lost interest in learning it after moving to North America at the age of 8 and never had the desire to learn until 2 years ago. I remember when my parents were teaching me Chinese in Texas and kept saying one day when I grow up, I will want to learn it. I hate to admit it but they were right. Right now I'm only in my 2nd and final year. What impressed me the most was the number of Caucasians that were interested in Chinese. It is nice to know there are North Americans that are interested in learning it other than Spanish, French, or German.

Speaking of Chinese speeches... my version of the speech contest would be my one on one oral exam with my prof in 2 weeks. I have to write a 5 min summary of a Chinese movie we watched... that is if I remember the movie.

Jay

Old friend

So I worked Friday night and Margaret made an unexpected visit. It has been a long long time since we hung out. We talked for a bit and the whole time I was amazed how good she looked. Maybe it was her pretty face, blonde hair and blue eyes. Beata has always said I was a sucker for blondes. It was at that moment I came to realize that most of my friends are quite attractive... the thought has never occurred to me. -_- Oh well. I now know what Jason was talking about.

In the end I told her to call me simply because I dont have her number anymore. That plan didn't work at all and it backfired. She immediately told me to call her instead as if she was reading my mind the whole time. Then I got real embarrassed and admitted I didn't have her number, then she proceeded to giving me the 3rd degree and made sure I felt bad about it... making me feel much worse. *sighs*

So I have the pictures from the Chinatown fieldtrip posted... nothing too exciting, most of them are just old buildings from the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Jay

The coming of summer

Normally university students, such as myself, welcome the coming of summer and the passing of term papers, however, the passing of term papers this week is a depressing reminder of the upcoming boring summer that I will have to endure in a few weeks. I have cancelled my plans to go backpacking in Iran and China/Tibet. I feel like my wings have been clipped.

So now I need to find another job and try to work full time for the summer... the prospect of working 40 hrs/week making near minimum wage is demeaning and unfullfilling. I prefer to be doing something relating to what I'm studying at school. For example environmental projects and humanitarian aid in developing countries. That or continue to go to school. I've looked at several student internships offered by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the United Nations but all require lengthy commitments, which is impossible for me at the moment.

My instincts tell me I should stay home for the summer, I do not know why. If I am to travel, it must be in Canada or the US, again I do not know why. So we shall see... if I am to remain home for most of the summer, hopefully I will find a job that will interest me.

For the moment, I will enjoy my last assignment for my REM class which is to discuss offshore oil and gas exploration. I first must read articles from the environmentalists' perspective as well as the government's view.

Jay

Blah here too

So I am almost done here with my other research paper.... only a few more lines, but what should be written I ask myself... these last few lines seems like an eternity.

Jay

1 down, 1 more to go

So glad the weekend is over. Spent Saturday night, all day Sunday, and this morning writing the 15 page history paper on the itnernment of Japanese-Canadians in WWII. And it is now finally finished. =) Now I get to start on my other paper also due this week.

Well, nothing exciting going on here.... a little exhausted but that's normal at this time of the year. Only one month left till summer.....

Jay

Books

All these books in my room are driving me crazy. I'm not the type to be messy but last few days the floor has been covered with books... books that will help me get As on my papers.

So far this semester has been nothing but surprises, received an A on my life-cycle analysis and yesterday I got 97% on my chinese midterm! 好可怕. I know... not very Jay like. This is my 4th Chinese class and have never gotten an A before.... never bothered with studying that much until now. Why did I study so much this time? Well I think it was because I've noticed this class is much much harder and I was very scared....... I need to be intimidated more often.

I've been putting in extra effort for these papers, hopefully it will pay off..... just like studying did for the midterm. As for the books.... I stack them up but somehow I always manage to knock them down again.... so I give up.

This weekend will be time well spent writing papers....

再见
Jay

Tiring day

Well, had a long long day today. I had my classes from morning till 4:30 and didnt really get home till 5. What made it tiring was that I forgot my lunch at home... so I was "starving" and tired. Once I got home, had a quick meal and then headed off to the library for 3 hrs..... still working on that coffee paper for my REM (Resource & Environmental Management) class.

I think that's enough studying for today.... time to get lazy and do nothing, or should I could go downstairs and see what my friends are up to.....

Jay

My new tenants

Let's see if I can do it right this time...

So this pic was taken mid February when Geoff and Mindy came over to sign the contract for the basement suite. As you can see, Geoff was being a goofball with my dog while Mindy was doing all the work. I still don't think Geoff knows what it said in the contract.... it's alright, not like I'll suddenly change the terms of the contract... hehe. Tonight will be their first night here.

So I must get going now... going to school to work on my paper. I'm assessing social and environmental impacts of sun coffee plantations. But first, I have to know more about free trade and third world debt.... what fun.