Final Thoughts Approaching 2007

So, it New Year Eve. I should be doing something special, no? Not exactly. I inhis Best Western hotel, in Creswell, Oregon. Good way to countdown, I know. I currently on the courtesy computer located in the lobby. Originally, I was planning on writing a lengthy year-end post, but since I have people waiting for their daily dose of the Internet, I gotta make this quick.

If youe for some reason, itching for a year-end post, Il pre-bore you with the fact that I definitely going to write a academic year end post, just because I have nothing better to do. Sad? Very.

This year, has its ups and downs. I still, to an extent, yearn for my grade twelve life back at Point Grey; it seems so much easier there? If you haven heard, I had a pretty crappy final exam period. I mean, I passed and all, but the marks aren where I need them to be. Thanks to math (differential calculus). I regret dropping AP Calculus, even though it was taught by Letty? Seriously, first-term math really screwed me over. I did more math homework than all my other courses combined by a long shot. Just because I did it, doesn mean I understood it. So there you have it. I suck at calculus.

So, I have some regrets this year. In terms of academics, I regret dropping AP Calc, and I regret slacking off, and I regret going to my MATH 180 class. Yes, the class is totally pointless. It similar being in Carmichael class: don listen, do your own thing, and youl do exceptionally better than everyone else. Unfortunately, I was too scared to try this strategy?

In terms of social-life, I regretoo much. Il just leave it at that.

Well, happy new year! I shall enjoy counting down in my tiny hotel room.  (Don't have the rescources to do my usual HTML/CSS to indent and justify the text...)

An Update...(Finally)

Well, I finally back, after numerous months of inactivity and dust collection. I guess I going to write somethinghnteresting, I suppose.

Employment

As you might or might not know, I currently employed at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown (NO, it NOT an actual factory), aset this line chef. I was originally hired as kitchen service, where I would restock stuff around the kitchen and also restock bar glasses at the bar (obviously). The main duty of this position, is taking the stuff from the exit ramp of the dishwasher (using water at 80慢), stacking in, and moving it. So pretty much, lots of running around with heavy and hot stuff, with steam rising into your face obscuring your vision. Oh, did I mention that I pretty much have no grip with my shoes? Yeah, fun stuff.

So, after being promoted with a rare 50?raise (it usually a 25?raise, after 3-6 months with improved speed), I thought that my days of handling hot stuff would be over. I was totally wrong. If I stand at a particular point, the deep fryers are in front of me, and yes, the oil is hot. Overtop the deep fryers, are the overhead ovens which are also damn hot. Since I tallt not exactly a comfortable feeling? Behind me, is the hot water pasta ooker?(the pasta is actually precooked, and just reheated), where you would stick some pasta holders (think a Nalgene bottle with holes around it) with pasta (obviously) into the water running at 200慚 (~93慢), and then remove it, and put it in a plate/platter/bowl/give it to them, depending on the order. Now, what makes this particularly interesting, is that the grill in the water supporting the pasta holders is a bit slanted, which means that some pasta holders go underneath the water line (usually the rim stays above it).

When we encounter the ?strong>dinner rush? many orders fly out at once, and there only so many microwaves, deep fryers, spots in the overhead oven, and spots in the pasta cooker. So, when the line chefs call for ?strong>22 big?(meaning 22 large servings of spaghetti), and then a bunch of other pastas followed by a whole slur of stuff to go into the deep fryers and microwaves/ovens, youe pretty screwed.

Making Caesar salads sounds easy, but it not, especially when the machine printing the bill at the salad station keeps printing when you already have to fill that order of 20 Caesar salads that just came out a few seconds ago. The worse Ie seen, was 44 Caesar salads on the bill at once. Oh, the joy.

Academics

Following the stereotypical Asian route, I doing Science at UBC. Now, if it weren for the 10-12 hour weekly math assignments, based on material that was aught?/strong> in the lectures, I should be doing fairly well. Unfortunately, I do have 10-12 hour weekly math assignments. I swear, I spend more time on math homework per week, then all of the other assignments I do for all my other courses combined for two weeks. So, it not surprising that I 3 chapters behind in BIOL 112, nth pages behind in the novels required in ENGL 111...and etcetera for all the other courses I have.

For those of you who want some insight into UBC. Well, there are a lot of squirrels?/p>

Massive Wishlist

I have this big stuff-to-buy list this year (not like I had one in the previous years?, which I'll probably pick up (does that make sense...grammatically?) around Boxing Day:

My current desktop has a crappy video card. My mom needs a computer to replace her Pentium III (LOL). Sohy not build myself a new system, with a newly released Core 2 Duo and a GeForce 8800, and give my current one to my mom? Win-win situation =)

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 ~$300
• Corsair XMS2 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 (DDR2-800) ~$350
• eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS ~$550
• Apevia X-CRUISER (Black) ~$100
• 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 2 x ~$130 (~$260)
• LG GSA-H22N DVD+RW (Black) ~$40
• ASUS P5B Deluxe / WiFi-AP ~$250
• Some Power Supply ~$50

Now, the total comes to ~$1900, which is $400 more than my previous system. This is pretty much due to the high-end video card I planning to buy, since I never had a good history with buying mid-range video cards (got a ATI 9600 XT, and after a mere two years, it pretty much useless?. So, the 8800 GTS has good value for the long run. Oh, and I might be getting the E6300 (-$50) instead, I need to figure out which is better to accommodate memory timings and for overclockingr hell, I might the E6600, with the larger cache (+$100?. Wel see.

Now, since the laser printer I got for free is starting to crap out on me, I need a new one:

• Samsung ML-2010 ~$100

The headphones Ie been using to listen to music (or game =P) at night, recently crapped out on me too. Perhaps it has something to do with rolling over the extra long cord on an hourly basis for the past few years?

• Sony MDRG42LP Traditional Stereo Headphones ~$25

I also in need of a new wardrobe, seeing that Ie been wearing practically the same things for the pastive years @.@. Not sure how to estimate this, but I guessing this will run me in the nth hundreds of dollars, or specifically:

• Clothes-to-replace-the-stuff-Ie-been-wearing-for-the-past-five-years ~$250 (probably an underestimate?

Now, I don absolutely need a new digital camera, but Ie been itching for one. I probably not going to get this yet; I don see any shops carrying this model at the moment (and it ridiculously expensive as of now too):

• Sony DSC-T50B ~$600

Note: I by no means implying that you should buy these things for me (although, I won explicitly stop you from doing so), I just having fun listing the items I need to buy and checking the grand total with my bank-account balancehich may turn negative?/strong>

Faster computer: $1900
Buying clothes to cover ugliness: $250
Replacing crapped up made in China electronics withore made in China electronics: $125
Looking at your credit card statement: Priceless.

Closing

It really un?/strong>, to spend the days before, on, and after, your birthday studying for final exams. I 18 tomorrow. So yes?strong>I canotuff now.

Currently Reading Jarhead : A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles By Anthony Swofford see related

Procrastinator at Work

Well, it been a while since my last update, and Ie been poked a few times to update. So, you know what that means! Yep, this post is going to be rated ?/SPAN>, for ?/STRONG>Ridiculously Long? Lots of ground to cover in this post =)

Someone told me on Friday, that they have at least one test per day for the next two weeks.  Obviously, I said that was pretty harsh, and questioned how that was possible.  Anyways, I get home and open my student planner/agenda.  Turns out I have a test everyday for the next two weeks too.  Oh joy.

Upon realizing that I pretty screwed for the AP Chemistry exam on WEDNESDAY, I did what some other desperate AP Chem student did; I went out and bought an AP Chemistry study guide from Chapters.  The Richmond Chapters is farther than the Burnaby (Metropolis) and Oakridge Centre (they have a Chapters there?) locations, but going to the one in Richmond means going on the highway.  Also, it much easier (less likely to get caught and less dangerous) speeding on the highway that it is on regular streets, so logically, going on the highway to the Richmond location is much faster.  Not that I speed or anything xD.  Seeing that Il be only using this study guide for two days?strong>All hail return policies!

Oh, and if you were able to read AND understand my previous two posts, then youe either able to comprehend higher-level English, or youe able to read through my wordiness.  t probably the latter.

Speaking of wordiness, I pretty sure that how I screwed up my scholarship application.  Yes, singular, because I too lazy to apply to anymore -.-

Gahh, that 0.50% is pissing me off to this day.  Because of it, I had to spend my weekend (last weekend) filling out the supplemental application form for UBC Science (BBAroader Based Admission).  Had to revise my paragraphs/essays so MULTIPLE times, because my friend said it was ?strong>wordy as hell?   need to get in to UBC Sci don want to go to UBC Arts >.<?/p>

I think Telus knows that I have tests for the next two weeks, because whenever my connection is unstable (read: crapped up), I would call to complain and not only get it fixed, but argue for a discount.  So, they know I don have the time to call now, and theye messing with my net.  Those bastards!

Currently Reading How to Prepare for the AP Chemistry 3rd Edition By Neil Jesperson see related