two very important things that i'm waiting for:
1. Someone to finally email me and say "Miss Wong: Thank you for your interest in our firm. We are interested in meeting with you to further discuss your opportunities with us..."
2. Oct 9th so that I can finally write my LSAT and either give up on law school completely or know that I would at least be secure for the next 4 years with something to do
3. The next opportunity to travel
Showing posts with label travels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travels. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Death, Motivation
Recently, I've been thinking that a key factor of maturity (or at least, adulthood), is one's ability to handle death. My encounters with death are few and sparse - my grandfather when I was in grade 9 (by then I wasn't that close to him so I wasn't that upset but I actually felt bad because I was suppose to feel sad) and Dude (last year and I was really upset for a week). I think I still don't know what death really is or is like.
On a more positive thought, I've been extremely motivated ever since I came back from my month long vacation. So far, I've worked out 2 days out of 3 and studied 3 days out of 3. Instead of playing Sims, I've begun reading books that I've bought but never gotten around to reading. I've also cleaned my room and sent out 3 job applications.
Now if only someone would reply my job applications...
On a more positive thought, I've been extremely motivated ever since I came back from my month long vacation. So far, I've worked out 2 days out of 3 and studied 3 days out of 3. Instead of playing Sims, I've begun reading books that I've bought but never gotten around to reading. I've also cleaned my room and sent out 3 job applications.
Now if only someone would reply my job applications...
Thursday, June 17, 2010
SFU Convo
Today I attended Benny's SFU Convo (CONGRATULATIONS!) Although the warmth of the occasion did warm my heart, I was still shivering under the two shawls that I had wrapped around myself.
But thankfully, I am off tomorrow to the warm and sunny east coast!
But thankfully, I am off tomorrow to the warm and sunny east coast!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
you're poorer than you think
At least I am. Unemployment + one month vacations aren't really compatible. Admission tickets to the parks in Orlando (i.e. Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios...) already come to around $3xx. Plus plane tickets. Plus broadway tickets (at least I'm buying rush tickets...but still at least $40...). Plus shopping money (not mandatory, but good idea to bring some). Plus food.
But it's okay. Spending money is kinda fun haha.
Btw, Benny keeps imagining our cruise to be like those Corona commercials (i.e. lawn chairs on a beautiful, quiet, sunny, peaceful beach and a corona). I am more realistic. I imagine crowded, dirty, noisy, sticky hot beaches with nothing but bottled water that we bought for $5.
But it's okay. Spending money is kinda fun haha.
Btw, Benny keeps imagining our cruise to be like those Corona commercials (i.e. lawn chairs on a beautiful, quiet, sunny, peaceful beach and a corona). I am more realistic. I imagine crowded, dirty, noisy, sticky hot beaches with nothing but bottled water that we bought for $5.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Declaration of War
Dear germs,
I will not be intimidated by your congregating in my throat. I will not allow you to ruin my vacation plans. Now get out!
Thanks,
Kathy
I will not be intimidated by your congregating in my throat. I will not allow you to ruin my vacation plans. Now get out!
Thanks,
Kathy
Saturday, June 5, 2010
First Rejection and Gearing Up
I think I just got rejected by my first full-hearted attempt to get a job. I made it into the "top 10 candidates" pool but apparently if i made it into the top 5, they would notify me by end of Friday (which was almost 2 hours ago).
It's okay. I didn't expect it to be that easy.
In other matters...I am in full vacation preparation mode! 鄭少 and I have spent the past few weeks sporadically brainstorming what we want to do at each destination. Finally, we took yesterday morning to sit down and lay out what excursions to do at each port during the cruise. I've been searching for ways to cheap out at NYC food-wise, admission ticket-wise and shopping-wise (because we're not all Carrie Bradshaw's and can afford a pair of Manolo Blahniks at $500USD a pair). Ditto with Orlando.
And as I sit on my bed right now, covered by my down blanket (my dad says that we shouldn't put our winter clothes/blankets away until we've eaten 五月粽), I can't help but be slightly worried about the heat on the East coast. The other day my 三叔 called (the one who lives in NYC) and told us that they started turning on the a/c.
Whatever. If I could spend 5 hours walking around an extremely crowded Forbidden City in 32C temperature last year, I am basically invincible.
It's okay. I didn't expect it to be that easy.
In other matters...I am in full vacation preparation mode! 鄭少 and I have spent the past few weeks sporadically brainstorming what we want to do at each destination. Finally, we took yesterday morning to sit down and lay out what excursions to do at each port during the cruise. I've been searching for ways to cheap out at NYC food-wise, admission ticket-wise and shopping-wise (because we're not all Carrie Bradshaw's and can afford a pair of Manolo Blahniks at $500USD a pair). Ditto with Orlando.
And as I sit on my bed right now, covered by my down blanket (my dad says that we shouldn't put our winter clothes/blankets away until we've eaten 五月粽), I can't help but be slightly worried about the heat on the East coast. The other day my 三叔 called (the one who lives in NYC) and told us that they started turning on the a/c.
Whatever. If I could spend 5 hours walking around an extremely crowded Forbidden City in 32C temperature last year, I am basically invincible.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
no pain, no gain
And that goes for booking my flight to NYC with air miles too.
Because I've been flying to and around Asia so frequently in the past few years (YVR --> HKG x3 (06, 08, 09) and HKG --> NGB (09)), I only need to use $120 CDN to "buy" more airmiles in order to get a "free" ticket to NYC this summer.
Of course, since CX is technically only making $120 CDN off of me out of this transaction, there is no possible way that they will make it easy for me.
But again: no pain no gain. I've presevered through and defeated the site tech errors, the inconvenient flight times, the constantly-busy "24-hours help hotline", the pestering parents, the $100 Canadian airport tax and have now (I think) booked myself a vacation to NYC.
Because I've been flying to and around Asia so frequently in the past few years (YVR --> HKG x3 (06, 08, 09) and HKG --> NGB (09)), I only need to use $120 CDN to "buy" more airmiles in order to get a "free" ticket to NYC this summer.
Of course, since CX is technically only making $120 CDN off of me out of this transaction, there is no possible way that they will make it easy for me.
But again: no pain no gain. I've presevered through and defeated the site tech errors, the inconvenient flight times, the constantly-busy "24-hours help hotline", the pestering parents, the $100 Canadian airport tax and have now (I think) booked myself a vacation to NYC.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
好稍息
I now have definite traveling plans for this summer, thanks to my expiring Asia Miles.
No way am I letting those 26 000 points (aka 3 trips to HK in the past 4 years) going to waste without using them to go to more places.
Suddenly, graduation doesn't look too bad after all!
No way am I letting those 26 000 points (aka 3 trips to HK in the past 4 years) going to waste without using them to go to more places.
Suddenly, graduation doesn't look too bad after all!
Monday, January 11, 2010
new year's resolutions and 王貽興
i don't really have the habit of writing down new year's resolutions or even making them because 1. it seems like i forget about them quickly, 2. i probably never get around to trying to consciously achieving them, 3. i don't know when a goal is 'reasonable' and when it is 'too easy', 4. my goals seem to change every now and then and 5. i usually don't feel like confining myself to doing certain things for the rest of the year. I think I just make do with a nebulous idea of approximately what would be nice to accomplish this year and don't bother writing it down.
Any how, today was a no-ubc day and went out to get some stuff done that somehow all had some relations to my ambiguous webs of goals now that I think about it. Firstly, I went 'gym-shopping' (Fitness World turns out to be too expensive so I think I will go to the Port Moody Rec Centre...). I also dropped by the travel centre to find out if there's any where I can go for olympic break and picked up some information on Europe. I also went to TD and applied for my very first visa card (believe it or not). I've always postponed this because 1. just too lazy to drop by the bank for longer than 5 minutes and 2. i don't trust myself with plastic methods of payment. But i think I am now 'old enough' to be trusted with this mechanism and hopefully, when I do find a career (fingers crossed) this would not be too big of a problem.
I think that just about sums up a few of my goals this year.
Couple days ago, I was reading 明報 and read an article by 王貽興 about writing and composition. He says that writing and composition is not so much just about conveying information to others, but also about getting to know oneself more. He gave the example of 我的志願: writing about our future ambitions might not be able to help us figure out what we really want to do in the future because we always tend to stick with the cliches (doctors, teachers, lawyers...). He said that maybe if we went the reverse (i.e. write about what you don't what to do), we might be able to find out more about what we do what to do.
I thought that was a great idea, so from now on, I will try to include a small paragraph, whenever I can, of a job that i don't want to do and see if I can get a clearer picture of what I do want to be.
What I Don't Want To Be: Accountant.
I found this out when I was in grade 11 actually when I worked a student-work term at an accounting firm. I don't think I will be very excited about a job where I deal with numbers from 9-5 on a daily basis especially when it is so detail orientated. And I think, for me, I need to do something where I feel that it contributes to something...something that is important to humanity or at least to the general wellbeing of society. I need to feel accomplished and receive some sort of recognition about the contribution that I am making other than monetary reward (which I think accountants get a lot of). Accountants are important people no doubt but not in the sense where they are making tangible improvements to people's lives. Accounting is absolutely not the job for me.
Any how, today was a no-ubc day and went out to get some stuff done that somehow all had some relations to my ambiguous webs of goals now that I think about it. Firstly, I went 'gym-shopping' (Fitness World turns out to be too expensive so I think I will go to the Port Moody Rec Centre...). I also dropped by the travel centre to find out if there's any where I can go for olympic break and picked up some information on Europe. I also went to TD and applied for my very first visa card (believe it or not). I've always postponed this because 1. just too lazy to drop by the bank for longer than 5 minutes and 2. i don't trust myself with plastic methods of payment. But i think I am now 'old enough' to be trusted with this mechanism and hopefully, when I do find a career (fingers crossed) this would not be too big of a problem.
I think that just about sums up a few of my goals this year.
Couple days ago, I was reading 明報 and read an article by 王貽興 about writing and composition. He says that writing and composition is not so much just about conveying information to others, but also about getting to know oneself more. He gave the example of 我的志願: writing about our future ambitions might not be able to help us figure out what we really want to do in the future because we always tend to stick with the cliches (doctors, teachers, lawyers...). He said that maybe if we went the reverse (i.e. write about what you don't what to do), we might be able to find out more about what we do what to do.
I thought that was a great idea, so from now on, I will try to include a small paragraph, whenever I can, of a job that i don't want to do and see if I can get a clearer picture of what I do want to be.
What I Don't Want To Be: Accountant.
I found this out when I was in grade 11 actually when I worked a student-work term at an accounting firm. I don't think I will be very excited about a job where I deal with numbers from 9-5 on a daily basis especially when it is so detail orientated. And I think, for me, I need to do something where I feel that it contributes to something...something that is important to humanity or at least to the general wellbeing of society. I need to feel accomplished and receive some sort of recognition about the contribution that I am making other than monetary reward (which I think accountants get a lot of). Accountants are important people no doubt but not in the sense where they are making tangible improvements to people's lives. Accounting is absolutely not the job for me.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
21嵗
i used to get really excited about my birthday: dinners, gifts, 利是, friends, cakes. But to be honest, in recent years (perhaps the past 2 or 3 years?) i would get really upset about my birthday. Of course, I still enjoy the presents and the company, it's just that when i really sit down and think about it, I am not all too excited.
Birthdays sometime seem to serve as a reminder to me of the fact that I'm 'aging': that time is slowly slipping away and that I haven't done a lot of things that I think are worthwhile, that I have wasted a lot of time committed to things that don't really mean a lot in the long run, and that I am not where I want to be. Maybe I am paranoid, but time is so important to me. After all, this is suppose to be the prime, the time where everything happens and new experiences are everywhere and yet, in the past few birthdays, i have always felt that i've missed out on some things that are meant to be mine by now and all the while doing a whole bunch of things on the side that probably won't mean much ten years down the road. I've felt mediocre at best and I hated that word.
But this year, I feel differently. Maybe because in the past year (while I was 20 years old), I have finally done some things that I'm really pleased with and proud of myself for accomplishing: going to China, living independently for 6 months, traveling solo, meeting new people that are from different cultures, working a 9-5 job at a law firm (albeit only an internship but still, i finally got to fulfill my childhood fantasy of working at 中環), really finding out who I am. Of course, I am not completely satisfied yet (I have yet to join a full-scale musical production) but I know I am getting there somehow.
And this birthday, this 21st year of my life, I am challenging myself to make this year even better than my 20th. I know that as May rolls around and I graduate, nothing will look like what it had looked for the past four years or even for the past 17 years that I've been in school. Next year, as I sit here and write my blog to celebrate my 22nd birthday, I would not be anticipating my final grades like I am now. Maybe I will be working a 9-5 job. Maybe I will be filling out grad school applications. Maybe I will not be in Vancouver. Maybe I will be unemployed. Who knows. But if anything, this 20th year of my life has taught me that I should not be afraid of the unexpected, that i should be ready to make life more exciting.
Next year has to be as rewarding as this. Cheers to being 21.
Birthdays sometime seem to serve as a reminder to me of the fact that I'm 'aging': that time is slowly slipping away and that I haven't done a lot of things that I think are worthwhile, that I have wasted a lot of time committed to things that don't really mean a lot in the long run, and that I am not where I want to be. Maybe I am paranoid, but time is so important to me. After all, this is suppose to be the prime, the time where everything happens and new experiences are everywhere and yet, in the past few birthdays, i have always felt that i've missed out on some things that are meant to be mine by now and all the while doing a whole bunch of things on the side that probably won't mean much ten years down the road. I've felt mediocre at best and I hated that word.
But this year, I feel differently. Maybe because in the past year (while I was 20 years old), I have finally done some things that I'm really pleased with and proud of myself for accomplishing: going to China, living independently for 6 months, traveling solo, meeting new people that are from different cultures, working a 9-5 job at a law firm (albeit only an internship but still, i finally got to fulfill my childhood fantasy of working at 中環), really finding out who I am. Of course, I am not completely satisfied yet (I have yet to join a full-scale musical production) but I know I am getting there somehow.
And this birthday, this 21st year of my life, I am challenging myself to make this year even better than my 20th. I know that as May rolls around and I graduate, nothing will look like what it had looked for the past four years or even for the past 17 years that I've been in school. Next year, as I sit here and write my blog to celebrate my 22nd birthday, I would not be anticipating my final grades like I am now. Maybe I will be working a 9-5 job. Maybe I will be filling out grad school applications. Maybe I will not be in Vancouver. Maybe I will be unemployed. Who knows. But if anything, this 20th year of my life has taught me that I should not be afraid of the unexpected, that i should be ready to make life more exciting.
Next year has to be as rewarding as this. Cheers to being 21.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
偉大的祖國, 生日快樂 !
Looking at all the pictures and videos of Beijing's celebrations for the 60th birthday of Communist China makes me miss my China days a lot especially the folks in Beilun and the 3 weeks wandering around China. I just realized that I never posted any of my China trip photos here, so here they are, three months belated...
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
嫉妒
I really should do a better job of blogging more frequently. It's not that I don't enjoy writing here it's just that upon returning to Vancouver i find that I have a lot more things to do but none of them significant enough to warrant a few sentences here.
Chicago, or the little that I did manage to see of Chicago because we were always in the church we were serving at in Chinatown, seems like a place that I would like to go back again to explore and get to know. Museums, art galleries, aquariums, Lake Michigan, American-Italian food...hmmm! Hopefully somewhere in the future I can go back to Chicago and really see what this Windy City is like.
As the beginning of my last year at UBC slowly comes upon me, I continue to frantically stuff commitments and events into my already filled schedule - jobs, volunteering, church committees, GM events, goals.... I do enjoy doing this things, but already more than once I have been warned to "watch my time" (and it's not only my parents saying this). I have a sneaky feeling that this is my fear of losing time, opportunities and never finding my "true calling" creeping up on me again. Especially this coming year being the last of my university years and life as I've known it for the past 3 years and, really loosely speaking, ever since I was five, everything beyond April 2010 is as hazy as a bowl of miso soup (what a dumb analogy but its the best I can think up of right now).
On another note, as I twist and bend my schedule in an attempt to try new things out and find my true calling, some of the most important people in my live are heading out to other places in the world for long periods of time in search of their own new experiences and callings. Good luck and, when you've found your goal(s) in life, enlighten me too, please.
A bit of Chicago...
Chicago, or the little that I did manage to see of Chicago because we were always in the church we were serving at in Chinatown, seems like a place that I would like to go back again to explore and get to know. Museums, art galleries, aquariums, Lake Michigan, American-Italian food...hmmm! Hopefully somewhere in the future I can go back to Chicago and really see what this Windy City is like.
As the beginning of my last year at UBC slowly comes upon me, I continue to frantically stuff commitments and events into my already filled schedule - jobs, volunteering, church committees, GM events, goals.... I do enjoy doing this things, but already more than once I have been warned to "watch my time" (and it's not only my parents saying this). I have a sneaky feeling that this is my fear of losing time, opportunities and never finding my "true calling" creeping up on me again. Especially this coming year being the last of my university years and life as I've known it for the past 3 years and, really loosely speaking, ever since I was five, everything beyond April 2010 is as hazy as a bowl of miso soup (what a dumb analogy but its the best I can think up of right now).
On another note, as I twist and bend my schedule in an attempt to try new things out and find my true calling, some of the most important people in my live are heading out to other places in the world for long periods of time in search of their own new experiences and callings. Good luck and, when you've found your goal(s) in life, enlighten me too, please.
A bit of Chicago...
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Chicago Day 1
Woke up at 4am to catch the 6:30am flight to Chicago for my very first out-of-town trip with GM for the Easter Musical. At first I was worried that because I don't know the brothers and sisters in the team too well hence I will feel awkward or what not but thankfully everything turned out well.
Our United plane was delayed for 1 hour (something was wrong with the communications system) but we arrived in Chicago before 2pm local time (Chicago is 2 hours ahead of Vancouver). Finally got to meet the local church and the choir that will be serving with us. It was interesting to see everything finally fall together (I have only seen the musical once almost 9 years ago so I don't remember a thing).
Unfortunately, we didn't really get to venture out around Chicago today as we were mainly devoting our time to rehearsals. We did manage to have meals around Chinatown twice though (the church is situated in Chinatown) but compared to Vancouver Chinatown, Chicago Chinatown is a lot more "dead" - there weren't a lot of people walking around.
Tomorrow night will be our first performance. I am most concerned about messing up my lyrics.
Our United plane was delayed for 1 hour (something was wrong with the communications system) but we arrived in Chicago before 2pm local time (Chicago is 2 hours ahead of Vancouver). Finally got to meet the local church and the choir that will be serving with us. It was interesting to see everything finally fall together (I have only seen the musical once almost 9 years ago so I don't remember a thing).
Unfortunately, we didn't really get to venture out around Chicago today as we were mainly devoting our time to rehearsals. We did manage to have meals around Chinatown twice though (the church is situated in Chinatown) but compared to Vancouver Chinatown, Chicago Chinatown is a lot more "dead" - there weren't a lot of people walking around.
Tomorrow night will be our first performance. I am most concerned about messing up my lyrics.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
i got my blog back
After being deprived of my blog for almost two months (China decided that blogspot was not something that the Chinese public should be allowed to access), I finally got my blog back by arriving in Hong Kong (aka land of sweltering outdoor heat and full blast indoor a/c) two nights ago.
It was quite frustrating to have my blog blocked as I was traveling throughout China because that was when I had a lot of things to say and share. And it was a good way to remember the minor details of my three-week trip. But now, thanks to the Great Firewall, my Chinese experiences will be forgotten and I will not remember half of the things I saw, ate, heard and experienced by the time I return to Vancouver. So much for promoting the goodness of the Chinese and demolishing the prejudices that the outside world has against China. The only thing I will probably remember now is how I, firsthand, became the victim of the oppression of my right to free speech and blogging.
Whatever. At least I am back now.
It was quite frustrating to have my blog blocked as I was traveling throughout China because that was when I had a lot of things to say and share. And it was a good way to remember the minor details of my three-week trip. But now, thanks to the Great Firewall, my Chinese experiences will be forgotten and I will not remember half of the things I saw, ate, heard and experienced by the time I return to Vancouver. So much for promoting the goodness of the Chinese and demolishing the prejudices that the outside world has against China. The only thing I will probably remember now is how I, firsthand, became the victim of the oppression of my right to free speech and blogging.
Whatever. At least I am back now.
Friday, May 15, 2009
and somehow, I'm in Shanghai again.
A final little relax trip until finals hit in two weeks. To my credit, I brought my notes and textbook too so that I can study. And I actually DID study today. Went to Xintiandi on the 109 route bus (a mere 2RMB my friends) and bought an iced coffee (25RMB) and two croissants (11RMB each) and sat down to study, outdoors in the brilliant sun, surrounded by little chirping sparrows trying to eat some of my crumbs, for 2 hours.
The cafe that I was at is called Paul and comes directly from Paris. In fact, the last time I was there, the two Americans that I happened to found myself in a conversation with told me that the croissants in the Shanghai Paul were exactly the same as the ones they had in the Paris Paul. And honestly, the croissants were heavenly. Before, on my "best croissants" list, T&T croissants came in number 1 (it's sad when the best croissants I had were from a Chinese supermarket in Vancouver) but now, they're definitely Paul. I might consider buying half a dozen to bring with me when I leave Shanghai...
Currently listening: 小步舞曲 - 陳綺貞
The cafe that I was at is called Paul and comes directly from Paris. In fact, the last time I was there, the two Americans that I happened to found myself in a conversation with told me that the croissants in the Shanghai Paul were exactly the same as the ones they had in the Paris Paul. And honestly, the croissants were heavenly. Before, on my "best croissants" list, T&T croissants came in number 1 (it's sad when the best croissants I had were from a Chinese supermarket in Vancouver) but now, they're definitely Paul. I might consider buying half a dozen to bring with me when I leave Shanghai...
Currently listening: 小步舞曲 - 陳綺貞
Monday, May 4, 2009
Back in the BO
Yes after a one week absence from Ningbo, I am back to my daily grind of exchange, living-on-my-own life.
Both Nanjing and Shanghai were excellent and I took too many photos, went to too many places and ate too much food to post all of them here.
However, I will show you this:
On my supposedly 4 hour bus ride from Nanjing to Shanghai, the bus driver decided to overload the bus by having people sit in the aisle on little stools too. Extremely crowded, uncomfortable, stuff and dangerous.
That's the uglier part of China.
Currently listening: 今日 - 陳奕迅
Both Nanjing and Shanghai were excellent and I took too many photos, went to too many places and ate too much food to post all of them here.
However, I will show you this:
On my supposedly 4 hour bus ride from Nanjing to Shanghai, the bus driver decided to overload the bus by having people sit in the aisle on little stools too. Extremely crowded, uncomfortable, stuff and dangerous.
That's the uglier part of China.
Currently listening: 今日 - 陳奕迅
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
紹興一日游
When you go to Shaoxing (slightly more than one hour's worth of train ride West of Ningbo), you must:
感受江南的味道 (好像回到古裝片）...
坐船 (it's like Venice but in China)
讓書法家把你的名字寫成詩，然後寫在扇子上...
吃梅乾菜燒肉 （肥多十磅也值得）．．．
去看魯迅故居．．．
喝紹興老酒 (so good!)．
currently listening: I Need You - Alicia Keys
感受江南的味道 (好像回到古裝片）...
坐船 (it's like Venice but in China)
讓書法家把你的名字寫成詩，然後寫在扇子上...
吃梅乾菜燒肉 （肥多十磅也值得）．．．
去看魯迅故居．．．
喝紹興老酒 (so good!)．
currently listening: I Need You - Alicia Keys
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