The Official Trivo Blog

No longer F!rosh!

2009-05-18T13:22:00.002-04:00

So I passed first year of Engineering school. I don't care what you all say. I think its an accomplishment and I shall stick to that opinion regardless of anything anyone can ever say. Yes, I actually do feel that strongly about this. Its just that... you know how when you're referred to as "cream of the crop" in high school and then you hit first year of university and its like none of your previous accomplishments matter and you're mainly just struggling to get through. Yep, story of my life!

I have now left TO for the summer and am visiting family in the city of Lahore, Pakistan. From the -30 degrees I survived in TO, I figured a little bit of heat couldn't hurt. I'm a desert child after all, right? Lahore's summer is entirely different than the summer I've endured during my sweet childhood days in my hometown of Jeddah. For those of you unaware of it, there's an invention known as the Air Conditioner, which is greatly complemented by something called electricity. Where electricity is as cheap as it comes in Saudi - it pretty much loves to fluctuate throughout the day here in Lahore. Due to which the combination of humidity and heat can sometimes become unbearable leading to severe headaches that carry on through the night. OK, so that's an exaggeration. But I never get headaches and Lahore's turbulent electricity patterns invoke some seriously regular ones.

Its awfully strange to not have deadlines for projects and assignments and presentations. Something I have become quite accustomed to during my short time spent at U of T. Don't take me wrong though, you know its not like me to not have something to do at all times. I have taken over the Engineering student newspaper on campus for next year and I've pretty much been transitioning since I got the position. Its a pretty tough job, as can be implicated. Apart from that, there's the Mentorship Program for which I am the director. Super psyched to be doing that next year. Its gonna be soo cool!

For now, all I want to do is relax and try and not have my brain boiled out of my skull. Pretty direct aims, don't you think?

Till later!

xoxo

trivo_gurl

Seizing Opportunities

2009-03-29T14:02:00.002-04:00

Recently, I've been very apprehensive about the future. Just because I've taken so much on and now I'm afraid of making a decision I might regret. In the past few weeks, I've actually found my head to be quite a mess. And I don't know about you, but I find that very very distracting for my studies. A little clarification is all that's required at such a point.

So I'm a strong believe in fate. Everything that happens, happens for a reason and there's a whole string of events that are connected together to place you in the moment you are right now. Even if one little thing were to change in that course of events, you wouldn't be doing what you're doing right now, I wouldn't be typing this up maybe. The point is, this is how everything is meant to happen. As humans, we tend to think of ourselves as the controllers of the universe. Its ours to play with and destroy, is pretty much our motto. We usually forget that we're nothing, considering how little of our own lives we can control.

There are certain people that I tend to talk to when I can't set things right in my head. Recently however, all these people failed to set anything straight. I was just about ready to have a nervous breakdown when it happened. I had a nice, long chat with one of my profs - and that just did it. He didn't have to say anything specific, I didn't have to ask him any questions - the conversation just automatically steered onto the right topics at the right times and I came out of his office feeling completely clear in my head. It just happened that way. I didn't see it coming, I didn't have any control over it, I didn't even have control over how it happened - but it did. And if we could all learn to believe in the fact that if something is meant to be, it will be, I think we can all lead better lives with fewer stress-related health issues.

Speaking of seizing opportunities, they don't always have to be regarding something that directly affects you. In a forever interactive environment that we live in, we have the power to seize opportunities that have an effect on other people. Today, I was on the subway with a bunch of my friends and this guy comes up to us. He was scrawny, probably in his late 20s, wearing clothes that were 4 sizes too big for him - and he had an empty Tim Horton's cup in his hand. He casually walked up to us and asked for change. Due to some of the experiences my friends have previously had with weird people on the subway, all four of us decided to ignore this guy. He simply sat there, opposite us, and we avoided making any eye contact with him. Halfway through this ignoring thing, I realized that I do, in fact, have change in my bag. But did I "believe" him for what he was? That's often the case when we see people on the streets - asking for change. We always question their genuineness. This incident just made me wonder how many truly deserving people don't get any sympathy from us just because we think them to be "fake". Granted, there are a number of frauds out there, but what about the ones that aren't frauds? Have we ever thought what happens to them? Maybe if I would've given that change to him, he could've gotten something to eat, he could've slept better that night. But I chose not to. Why? I think it was the inner cynic in me that prevented it.

It's worth thinking about...

Follow the yellow brick road...what if my yellow is your red?

2009-02-07T01:20:00.002-05:00

Happiness is relative. People find happiness in the strangest of ways and in the tiniest of things. How do you define happiness? You don't. It differs from person to person. That's what makes it so special in the first place. It's something we all want, yet we don't all want the same thing!

When I was 5 years old, Chocolate was happiness. I had my whole life planned out around it. It wasn't a very good plan, of course. I was 5, you see. What I did know about my plan was:

a) I loved chocolate and planned to continue to love it just as much in the coming years
b) what I would eventually end up doing which would then give me eternal happiness

Now, the former was a given. As for the latter. I planned to open up a chocolate factory that would produce "Twix" - the carmel/biscuit chocolate bar by Mars Inc. Now don't ask me why I wanted to produce somebody else's candy bar instead of developing my own. Once I put up the factory, I would have individual "tunnels" leading out to all the houses of my 5 siblings. These tunnels would provide them with a lifetime of Twix supply, which would *obviously* provide them eternal happiness!

@ 10 years old happiness was getting the latest game station.

When I was 17, getting the perfect SAT score was happiness. Long way from Chocolate, don't you think?

Point is, happiness is relative. Its not only different for different people. Its also different at different stages in the same person's life. How does life get so complicated? How is it that we go from sand castles to sky scrapers in terms of what we want from life? Is it peer pressure? Is it society? We've all heard how we should find happiness in the smallest of things and that happiness can't be bought. Words are just so much easier to put out there than actual actions though.

Think about it though.
xoxo
trivo_gurl

All's well that ends well

2009-01-31T21:30:00.003-05:00

So does that mean when all's not well it doesn't end well either? 'Cause if that's the case, we can look forward to a crappy crappy year. As we can see, it didn't start out too well. There was the war on Palestine, the Tamil's situation in Sri Lanka, the economy crisis - everything's pretty much going down hill from here, if Shakespeare was right.

It didn't start out extremely well for me either. For one, I was "sick as a dog" as my doctor said, and refused to see a doctor until I actually started coughing up blood! Now, I can't go skiing 'cause my parents have forbade me to. I had a weekend pass to Mont Tremblant and I had to give it up. It's sad, I know. Back to how crappy the new year is probably going to be - as if 5 courses weren't enough, I have 6 this semester. Just what I needed!

We have this design course that we get divided into groups for. Now, each group gets a project. What I didn't now was that the work load of the project would be humongous this semester. New semester, new definition of "hard"! Like I said, crummy new year. Sadly enough, I'm team leader for the group. Which, in simple words means: I'm screwed for the rest of the semester. I was happy enough taking it on (not that it was my choice to begin with, but I didn't back off either) I just didn't know what I was doing. Now, I can't be chicken and run away from it!

So for this design course, we have a project where our client lives in Barrie. Which is roughly 2 hours from Toronto by bus. A long procedure preceded the actual trip which involved having to reschedule a Mechanics quiz. Which I now have to take coming Monday - which means I should be studying now - but what the hell? So we get to Barrie, have an hour to spare, reach where the map points us, turns out we have the wrong address. Just spiffy!

So we catch a cab and we go down a half hour from central Barrie to a road no one in Barrie knows of. We got a plain and simple "That's not in Barrie" from the cab company. Boy, did that freak us out! Anyhoo, so we get there (turns out it was in Barrie) and our project is to get the scoop - go back, and think of ways to improve the energy efficiency of the building. So we meet our client, who is a very nice, warm lady and she transfers us to some guy who gives us a tour of the building. Honestly, I've never seen a more energy efficient building. Now why would they do that?
A. It was a mistake.
B. It's a trick project.
Mind you, both the options are highly likely, since the client "moved" to another place in the province from her original address provided to us by the University. What sucks is, I have to report on it next week and get started on a plan as to how we should go about improving the energy efficiency of the most energy efficient building we've ever really seen!

And oh, Barrie was really cold. Like really really cold. When I got back to Toronto, I actually thought it was pretty warm - and that was when it was -18 in Toronto. Who knew a desert child like me would think -18 was warm? *sigh* how times have changed!

What's crummier about 2009 is how crappy its going to be for the automotive industry. Not that its not going to be so for all the other kijillion industries. Its just that I won't even bother going to the car show this year. Which breaks an 18 year old tradition (yes, my dad actually took me to motor shows as a baby too) - which is mighty sad if you ask me. Its not like I'm in any position to purchase one of the fancy things, its just that I really wish the rest of the world's population wasn't in such great debt so as to not be able to purchase delightfully expensive cars! 'Cause that means I don't get to see some great releases until the next year! Kiss goodbye to the Alfa Romeo and Camaro eye candy this year, carshow-goers. Its not happening!

There was a career fair at University for students looking for summer jobs. I won't be here in the summer, so it doesn't matter to me. I'm hopefully working for my dad this summer =) Yay, to summer all year round! Which reminds me, I watched "Body of Lies" when it was released and one of Russell Crowe's character's dialogs stuck in my head. He says to DiCaprio "Trust me, no one wants to live in the Middle East" Boy, is he wrong! I can't friggin' wait to get back!!

I'm not sure about you guys, but I didn't set any New Year's Resolutions for myself this year. It's probably because I never work hard enough on them anyway so it doesn't matter. One of last year's I actually did fulfill - getting into Uni!! ^_^
So I know I've been whining about how crappy this year is, now for some good stuff. I went to this mind-blowing presentation about Engineering Without Borders this Thursday. I honestly still haven't stopped thinking about it. Did you know that with the help of EWB, Canada has actually decided to untie all its aid by 2012-2013?? I sure as hell didn't. That just went to make me realize how completely confounded my brain has become thanks to the societal pressure we all face every day of our lives. Get a job, make money, spend money. That's our entire life in a nutshell - when it can be so much more! I felt like such a moron sitting there amongst all these people who knew - and I was the dumb one. I really haven't gotten used to that yet. I probably should though. There's so much that's waiting to be learned.

I have like 5 deadlines to meet in the next week. Feb 4 is officially deadline day for me right now. So I really should go.

Till next time,
adieus,
trivo_gurl

Terrorists - Hamas or Israel?

2009-01-10T16:08:00.005-05:00

All of us have been brainwashed. There's no denying that. We believe what the media tells us and find it hard to change our minds once they're set on certain things. I'm not one to dwell too deeply into politics, but I do recognize when something wrong is happening. Such as the war on Gaza.

What I cannot fathom is how the world can sit back and let this happen. If you've read more than just what the "big" media sources will tell you, you can tell who's wrong here: Palestine or Israel. One article that a friend posted a link to, caught my attention. Frankly, I'm surprised it was allowed to be published in NY times! Click here to view the article. It talks openly about what's really happening and leaves the reader to decide what's right and what's wrong. Definitely worth a read.

So this whole Palestine problem started right after the fall of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War. Palestine was the unfortunate territory that never really gained independence and has since then been involved in acts of violence with Israel. In the Resolution Act 181 (II) of 1947, the United Nations - in simple words - drew a line for the Israeli and Palestinian territories. Israel - clearly not OK with the deal - decided to send out troops and occupy 77% of the Palestinian territory. Isn't it so ironic that they still want the tiny bit of Gaza strip that's left over? And for the silliest reasons in the world! Israel claims that Hamas has "weapons of terror" that the Israeli army is trying to demolish - for world peace I'm guessing? When Egypt negotiated ceasefire, Israel broke it first and began attacks. This morning, Israeli air forces dropped leaflets down to residents of Gaza stating that they will be escalating military action.

Honestly? Nobody sees this. As angry as I am about the Arab countries not doing anything about this... none of the "bigger" forces are doing much either! Canada's claiming that Hamas is a terrorist, obviously not looking at the number of deaths since the outbreak of the war at the end of last year. Over 800 Palestinians are now dead, as opposed to a handful of Israeli soldiers. Why do you think that has happened? Who is the terrorist here, Hamas or Israel? How does nobody see this? What's wrong with the world that we live in? No one is ready to do anything to stop this massacre!

Its like the entire Jewish community of the world is adamant to seek revenge for the Holocaust! I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that nobody thinks the Holocaust to be fair in anyway. We all agree that it was an act of injustice and shouldn't have taken place, but why are the Jews taking it out on the Palestinians? As far as I can recall, Adolf Hitler was not Palestinian. Then why the animosity towards them? What did the Palestinians do to Israel to deserve this? Freedom of choice? Electing Hamas? Everything Israel is doing right now does not only violate everything in the Geneva Convention, it violates the Resolutions set forth by the United Nations, and pretty much every other basic right of humanity there is out there. How is it, despite the fact that Israel was to look after the welfare of the people of Gaza, that they are the very ones stopping food and medical aid to go across its border?

A Muslim's view of an Anglican Church

2008-12-25T12:04:00.004-05:00

*So this little piece right here is something I wrote over Christmas break '08. It just never got posted then so I'm not going to finish it, but ... w/e!*

Close to Belleville, the Canadian "Endora", is the even smaller town of Stirling. We have friends up in Stirling who live in an 1887 farm house. It has quaint little walls that are about double the width of regular walls. They own 40 goats, 4 ducks, 100 hens and other animals I lost track of. They're a very very nice couple. Very hospitable and very friendly indeed. We attended a community dinner not too long ago at the St. John's Anglican Church and that was hosted by the nice lady I'm talking about. Both, the husband and the wife are very involved with the church. The husband's a lay reader, the wife teaches at Sunday School. She's also a PhD student along with her farm responsibilities and church duties. Don't ask me how she manages everything, for I ain't got a clue! I consider myself the unluckiest of souls with my 30 hour week schedule in Engineering school... silly silly me...

Anyways, so the couple I'm talking about invited us to attend the Christmas Eve service taking place at their church. Since there isn't much to do anyway, and I honestly don't mind going to the church, as long as I'm not forced to do anything that I don't want to, we agreed. She picked us up from Belleville and we were on our way. Its quite a drive up to Stirling and since darkness falls a lot earlier than usual in the winter, we pretty much drove in the dark. I'm telling you folks, if M.Night Shyamalan asks for suggestions as to where he should shoot his next legendary movie, tell him "the area between Stirling and Belleville"!! That place could give anyone the spooks driving through like we did, in total darkness...

We reached the church around 5:30, received bulletins for the service, were greeted by several people who seemed to remember our "hijab-ed" selves from the Christmas dinner, and were handed candles. Thin, white, wax candles about 15 cm in length. Around the candle was a circular cardboard cut-out. The candles was poked through it. Now, I come from an Eastern background. We don't do candles. Apparently here in the West, they're big on candles! I realized the circular thing was to protect our hands from hot wax, but what were the candles for? Anyways, I thanked the people handing them out and went on to take my place in the pews. Now you can imagine what it must have looked like - a lady with a headscarf in a sea of people without headscarves. Its obvious enough in a faculty like my own, where there are quite a few Muslim students. Let alone a church! Boy, was I easily spottable!

I had so many questions in mind though. Nothing made sense to me: the Minister was a lady, what was the bread for? What was with the steel cup? Thankfully, the lady I've mentioned before chose to sit next to us. I pretty much bombarded her with questions and she tried her best to explain them to me. Now, for those of you who don't know me, I'm Muslim. And I try and practice it as much as possible. I wear the headscarf, I have pretty clear ideas of what's right and what's wrong in my religion and where everything stems from. I realize why most of the things about Christianity didn't make sense to me: it was the complete opposite of what I've grown up with. It would be the same if I tried explaining about Islam to someone who had gone to Sunday School all their lives.

Christmas Break!

2008-12-21T14:09:00.003-05:00

Yet again, I apologize for not keeping touch. I couldn't help it. I had five exams to sit starting from the very beginning of the exam period to the end. Thank God for that though, for I needed the break in the middle to study! As you can tell, I'm not one to study everday and so the breaks in the middle of all my exams are the only reason I'm still in university!

Anyways, so I caught a cold - due to eating ice chips according to my sister. I know better! I've been eating ice chips since a baby. If that were true, I'd always have a cold. Which is not really the case. My exams didn't go as well as I'd hoped. *fingers crossed* I'll pass! I would die if I failed first semester!

Things have been well... annoying lately... I kept thinking of signing in and writing something and I actually had so much to write about, I just never came online enough. I spent most of my time off lazing around in front of my laptop watching TV... great investment of my time, innit? I'll be lucky if I can remember half the things I wanna talk about on here.

I probably wanted to write summat about the weather. Its started snowing. Its getting brutal actually. A snow storm hit Toronto on the 19th of December. It was crazy! I looked outside the window early morning and all I could see was a white moving blur. VERY scary! Thankfully enough, I didn't have a paper that day. Most of my Engineering Science friends did though, and they had my sympathies. Poor kids had to walk across the worst areas of the storm to get to the University Campus. They should totally get sympathy points for that! So I dunno if I've mentioned this before, but my residence kicks all the students out for the winter break. Where all of em are supposed to go is the least of their concern. I understand where they're coming from, but that doesn't make any of this less unfair. A lot of the students at the residence are international students from as far away as Thailand, which is a 22 hour flight from Toronto. Makes the 16 hour flight I have to take to get home seem like nothing!

A friend of mine decided to leave res to live at a friend's on the 19th itself. I'm not sure if it was because he was sick of the food ('cause he hates it anyway) or because he just couldn't wait to get out of res (I wouldn't know why!) - but he braved the storm to get to another part of the city. And that brought on a whole load of bitter comments to his facebook page. It was almost funny seeing how mad he was at the weather!

Its like a whole new world for me. I come from a desert. Well, that's what Saudi Arabia is at its core. If it weren't for the ultra super hot weather there, you wouldn't be able to tell, for the city is very well developed indeed. Its just that I'm so not used to snow! I come over here and I see white in the air and I panic! Its not so bad now that I've gotten used to it. I actually like walking in the snow. Despite the fact that I'm extremely clumsy with it. Just the other day, my first day in the city of Belleville actually, I tried climbing over a snow mound to get to this cafe and instead sunk knee-deep in snow! Everyone got a big laugh out of it. I couldn't help laughing myself... I went under with my backpack slung over my shoulder and everything!

So I obviously forgot to write about the obvious. For winter break, our original plan was to go to Montreal, the famous city of the french province of Quebec. Plans changed every now and then until we settled on staying at friend's in Belleville for most of the time. We might head over to Oakville to visit another friend, but its all in the works right now. Belleville is a two-hour train ride from the city of Toronto (which I love, is what I've realized recently). For those of you who have watched "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" - the great movie starring the likes of Johnny Depp and Leo DiCaprio, Belleville is like the Canadian Endora. And I'm not even kidding. I'll upload pictures of the hoisted water tank and the lone roads with a lack of pedestrians. For those of you who haven't watched that movie, I strongly urge you to. Its pretty old, I believe it was release in 1993, but its still available in some parts of the world wide web. Surf The Channel for instance. Its really worth a watch! Really makes you appreciate how greatly gifted DiCaprio is!

To be fair, Belleville is not as depressing as the lone town of Endora. It definitely has a little more going on. There's taxi services, motels, cafes, bookstores, cinemas etc. We're visiting a friend who owns a cafe downtown. Its called the Organic Underground. Its a quaint little place with an atmosphere of its own. Its really cozy and warm and welcoming... has a nice feel to it... I'm sitting in it right now writing this blog entry. Last night, there was a 10-cake birthday party for people who missed their birthday parties in the year of 2008. It was really funny how they were all identical with names spelled wrong on all of em!! How hard is it to spell "Annie"?? Nevertheless, it was loads of fun.

Its snowing like crazy outside right now and I can't even think of going outside. To everyone else, its nothing! They're so used to it too! And I'm the idiot who starts shivering everytime the door opens. Oh well, I believe we've already established the fact that I'm a desert child, haven't we? This is probably the longest I've ever took to write one blog entry. I've been on and off for like four hours now. Did I mention I trekked my way over to the Organic Underground from my motel this afternoon? Yep, I stayed at a motel. How rockstar am I? At least I like to believe I trekked. The snow has just started so its still kinda powdery. You can go knee-deep without even falling in it like I did!

OU has closed down for the day today. Its a Sunday so everyone's taking it easy. My sister was actually hoping to catch "Yes Man" today at the theatre but nobody else was really up for it. We met a whole lot of really great people here. They were all new to me, my sister's actually met them before. They were all involved in a play called "My Name is Rachel Corrie" and I didn't go to see it 'cause well... I wasn't very interested. Plus I had a paper to write so... But I met them all yesterday at the 10-cake birthday party. They're all very very nice and I just had a blast talking to them all. I actually invited them over to the University campus for Godiva week. That would be awesome! More on Godiva week later...

Now that I think back, I really miss going to University everyday. Its just such a nice feeling to be part of a large community and I can't imagine life in Toronto without it. In Toronto's defense, I haven't really accustomed to the city as a resident yet. You'd think five months would be enough for that, but when you're doing two jobs and 30 hour weeks at school, there's little that you can do! I know I whined about how much I needed a break when University was on and I had to sit my exams, but right now all I wanna do is get to attend class again, meet my friends everyday... ahhh!!

So Godiva week huh? Its always advertised as being F!rosh week, but much better! This would be my first time, but if it really is as advertised then boy am I in for a ride! Read back to find out how amazing I thought F!rosh week was. If Godiva week goes as promised, you can expect a much more excited and hyper-active me, writing another blog as soon as its over! If we're lucky, it'll get published like my F!rosh blog! =P

What Godiva week is, is basically a week of fun and games before the students in the Engineering Faculty indulge themselves in their rigorous schedules that doesn't allow any room for entertainment. We have the F!rosh hardhat competition, which I haven't really got around to doing... I'm not sure if I'll enter. The craziest one wins and I don't know if mine'll be crazy enough. There's also the Chariot Races. They take place around the King's College Circle in front of University College. The annoying part is, the F!rosh chariot can't win. Its actually in the rules so its not even like we're incompetent... we're just not allowed to win. As crazy as that sounds!

I'm kinda sick of typing right now, so I think I'm just gonna stop and wait till I get more ideas of stuff to write. There'll be loads more, so be on the look out for later!!

Adieus,
trivo_gurl

And then there was... snow!

2008-11-19T15:23:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone!

So here I am, with my next post, which hasn't taken me too long! The reason: it started snowing today. So there were tiny flurries outside for a couple of days. But today, i.e. 19th November 2008 is when it actually started snowing. And its not too cold right now either, so I'm actually really pleased. When I stepped out of class today and saw it was snowing, I actually said "Oh cool, its snowing" - quite a change from my usual whining that follows anything concerned with snow!

Its actually quite pretty. This has to be my first concious snow, so its a big deal for me. What I'm happiest about is that I don't even have to wear my winter jacket! And the fact that everyone around me is wearing them, tells me that I won't die in this weather - seeing as how I was so worried about it before. So yeah, YAY for me!

I'm actually supposed to be working on my Materials lab right now, but I'm too lazy to go ask the questions, so I sent a friend to do so and she's not back yet, so I'm just going to wait, make good use of my ultra-super fast typing speed and of course write this in for you guys! I feel like my English skills are deteriorating though. Nothing flowery to put in... nothing that requires you to open a dictionary. Gone are the days when my English was so polished, you'd want a Webster's next to you while reading through it. *sigh* I'll just have to live with it I guess.

So exams are approaching, and I'm starting to feel a little scared now. They can't be easy. This is university. They have to be hard, and if I'm not on top of things, I'm screwed. Period. We're supposed to get our Linear Algebra test results today. And seeing as how I barely knew what I was doing during the test, I'm not too excited about getting them back. Much like the Mechanics quiz a couple of weeks ago. I remember coming back from it and telling a friend:

"I made these assumptions in the test, if they're correct, I'm good. If they're not, I'm screwed". He replied, "You don't know that. You'll get part marks: its Mechanics!" And I grumbled and carried on with my bad mood. I was actually pretty sure I'd screwed up bad. So you can imagine my surprise when I got the test back and had a 90 on it! This is university, this is supposed to be hard! If I think I did bad, am I not supposed to get marks that are worse than my expectations? At least that was what I was told! That doesn't mean I'm not excited like crazy about my marks - I still am. A friggin' 90% is pretty sweet when you're expecting a 10!! So yeah, Monday was pretty neat!

Hmm... what else? Did I mention it started snowing? 'Cause it did. It started snowing. And did I mention I didn't need my winter jacket to be in it? 'Cause I didn't. Right, fine. Now I'm pissing you off. I'm just floundering for stuff to write!! Oh yeah, twilight premieres in Tdot in 2 days!! I'm SOOO excited. I feel like I'm more excited about the popcorn though. The popcorn, if you've never tried them, at the Scotiabank Theatre Toronto (and there's only one, formerly known as Paramount) is crazy good! So if you're ever down there, try it! So my Friday's pretty packed. I'm working that day, so its going to be hectic. Good thing my classes end at 12 though!

I gotta run and do my readings now - yes, Engineers do readings. Engineers do freakin' everything. Its so annoying! I wish they'd let us off on some little thing at least. Oh well, guess its all part of life.

Till laterz then,

xoxo,
trivo gurl

Fall in Tdot

2008-11-15T23:51:00.003-05:00

So yeah, I know I haven't blogged in a while... sorry! I was a little busy trying to ensure I actually stay here after this term and not drop out! Its been pretty stressful. I've had to juggle a lot of things at once and it hasn't been very easy. Which is why I haven't had the time to come on here too often. I just realized my blog gets read more than I thought it does! Its really strange how random people can come across it like this. Its amazing how we completely undermine the "wide" in "world wide web"!

Anyways, mid terms are almost over. (read: ALMOST. Since they never really end till we hit the final exams - which is crazy, but oh well...) but there are a lot of assignments due in the coming weeks. I have a bridge to design for Civics. I'm not sure if I absolutely have to - but I'll do it anyway, since I'm already half way done. I also have to do an assignment for my design class. The requirements for which I haven't even had the chance to read through. Actually, I've had the chance to do it - I just haven't done it. I'm like the queen of procrastination - honestly! I have it bad.

There's a lot going on here in Tdot while I slave away at my academics. The cast of Twilight (if you haven't heard of this yet, you've lived under a rock for the past few months) was actually over at the MuchMusic studio here on Queen Street. A friend of mine told me how they were giving out wrist bands to people so they could come join the audience when the stars were there. She said the advert she saw was mighty small and that the event might actually be low-key. Boy, was she wrong! We walked down to Queen street on Tuesday, the 11th - and the line for getting those wristbands wrapped around the entire block. There must have been thousands of people over there. Some of which had actually camped out there. It was 5 degrees Celsius! Why would someone do that?? I get that they might really like Twilight - but c'mon! You gotta be serious here. High school kids skipped school and stood in line just to get a stupid wrist band so they could be just one of the thousand people in the crowd when the oh-so-gorgeous Robert Pattinson came.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't mind Rob Pattinson - he's just not someone I would camp outside in the cold for, you know? He's just a celebrity! We make celebrities out to be more than they actually are. They're normal people who happen to play characters on screen. So what? It could just as easily be ANYONE else! I've never understood the craziness associated with die-hard fans. Like that girl who broke into Brad Pitt's home, wore his clothes and hid in his bedroom or something - I mean - HONESLTY! What was she thinking? Why would she do that? What did she get out of it? A court order that told her to stay ... I dunno... like ten miles away from him at all times or something!!

So today was the actual interview at the Much Music studio that everyone stood outside in line for on Queen Street. Since we weren't crazy enough to wait in line and get the wristbands, we decided to just catch the interview on TV. It wasn't very good - I should tell you that beforehand. We just sat there and complained about how bad it was for the entire time that it was on actually. People waited another day in the rain just to get the good spots in the audience. And it wasn't just raining - it was pouring outside! The interview started off slow - and just never sped up. The host was terrible - I wouldn't be surprised if she loses her job after this. The stars weren't allowed to sit in one place for too long. They would keep getting up and going down - sitting in the rain - walking in the crowd. You get it, right? It was bad. During the interview they would have fans (all girls, I believe) ask the cast a question or something. Each and every girl mentioned how she'd stood out in the rain "just to see" Rob Pattinson. The sad part is: he didn't look like he cared. He didn't give a crap if so many people stood out there to see him. He was just sick of all the madness. You could see it on his face. He was ultimately creeped out. Wouldn't you, if random people just threw themselves at you and screamed whenever they saw you? I'd need therapy after something like that!

I know for a fact that if I were to stand outside and get drenched in the rain - it would be for a guy I was completely in love with - who actually loved me back - not for some darned celebrity who couldn't care less. I mean, honestly, where is everyone's dignity? Where did it go? How can you just throw yourself at someone like this? I get that Twilight is big, but nothing should be big enough to consume your life! I get, that coming from me, this is strange. What with my obsession phenomenon. But to be quite honest, it doesn't matter how obsessed I get with something - I would never ever go this crazy. I would never camp out in the cold like that!

Now that THAT'S out of my system...
I have a Rubik's cube match against my prof coming up at the end of the month. And its killing me. I've practiced a whole lot, but I still don't feel too ready. Its funny how much a Rubik's cube grabs attention in the crowd. Its become like my signature now. Everyone knows me as the Rubik's cube girl.
I can't even remember the number of people who've asked me
"Can you actually solve that".
My answer's always the same
"Why would I be carrying it if I couldn't solve it?"
The response to that is generally:
"What's your best time?"
The coolest part is, now I can say
"58 seconds" instead of "a minute" like before! So I've improved by 2 seconds!! ^_^
I've made quite a few friends this way too. Such an icebreaker!
Try it some time. Grab a Rubik's cube and go out with it - you'll know what I mean!
I take it with me in the subway as well - I pretty much entertain the entire compartment. Once this guy actually kept up with me as I walked, just to see what I was doing. How I know this is because he confessed it when I walked too quickly! Its pretty funny to watch. Its nice, clean, cheap entertainment - and its so much fun too! I love it. I don't know where I'd be without it. In fact, at work - I was about to forget it on my desk - when I suddenly realized the horror I was about to commit and turned back: I muttered "I would have died" - my supervisor heard and replied "Yes you would have! You have it bad, don't you?"
Oh yes I do...!

Winter's approaching, November's not too cold right now, but we're expecting it to get colder. I'm pretty excited about Winter vacations. I'm heading off to Montreal via Belleville. We might also head down to Mont Tremblant for a ski weekend. I've only ever virtual skied, so this should be interesting.

I'd love to stay and chat some more, but I really have to get to sleep - although I didn't do much today... much like yesterday... darn it! I'll just go and try to do moment of inertia right now then...

Till later people!

xoxo
trivo_gurl

Mid-terms!!

2008-10-17T00:26:00.003-04:00

So yeah, mid-terms are approaching, and there are so many submissions due in one week, its driving me crazy. So when people gasp everytime I mention Engineering, THIS is why... its because they know of the crazy work load that we go through. Its brutal, I tell ya! Totally unfair. "Brutal" -- thats such a Canadian thing to say! Ugh.

All the courses this semester are half year courses, which means good news: I won't have to study like crazy in the winter break! Which means I can actually go out there and get a job! =) I don't celebrate Christmas, and I'm being kicked out of residence for the winter - because apparently everyone goes away and "the entire place closes down" as I've been told. So I have to move out for like 3 weeks during the winter break. So I could really use a job... like as a seasonal staff - that'd be fun!

Oh and on a smaller note: THIS WEEK SUCKED! Except for today, which was fun, and tomorrow - which should be fun. Apart from these two days - and the Monday that we were off - it sucked! OK, so its not a week, its two days that were really bad. But they made up for everything else! They made up for EVERYTHING! Tuesday was the worst, 'cause I had those two tests and a submission I was ranting about last time. And then Wednesday I just... I dunno... I just kept saying the wrong things and doing the wrong things... and everything just came out wrong! I was talking to this kid in my class whom I don't really know - we just share a common interest - Rubik's cube. Anyways, so I don't like like this kid. I mean I think he's smart and he answers all the Civ questions in class - but thats about it! So I was just randomly talking to him... and then suddenly, out of nowhere, we approach the topic of languages. I ask him if he can speak this certain language and he says he can.
Me: "Wow" (what else was I supposed to say?)
Him: "C'mon, I'm sure you speak a second language too!"
Me: "I speak three languages"
Him: "Oh! Now you're just trying to make me look bad"
Me: "Oh I doubt anyone can make you look bad"
^ Did you read that? Can you believe I actually said that! I'm usually not this careless with words! How could I have been such a complete dolt! It just sounded so WRONG! For all the wrong reasons too. I mean, if I actually did like like him, maybe I wouldn't mind as much. But when I don't, I don't want him taking unnecessary hints or turning into an airhead. So I go on:
Me: "Oh er... don't go on being an airhead or anything"
Him: "For the last sentence, I wasn't listening"
Hah! Thanks for the reassurance, bud!

Damn it was a bad two-day week. Hated every second of it. I had like this horrible sinking feeling the entire time. My MSE test was like really really long. And I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but my MSE prof looks like Edward Norton. I've actually told him that too. Which is crazy, but I wanted to. So during the test, he comes up to me and he goes:
"How's it going?" *huge smile*
Me: "Bad"
Him: "But its so good!"
Me: [thinking: is he kidding??!] "NO!"
Him: "I'm sure you'll do just fine!" *goes away and leaves me to my work*
And then I couldn't concentrate on my test for like the next 5 minutes. Grr!!
So I walk out of the exam hall, angry and frustrated and in the heat of the moment, write him an email - which musta been either nasty or just out-of-league y - for he hasn't responded. And he usually does respond to emails... so I'm getting even more worried about being rude to him. Problem is, I can't even go back and re-read what I wrote, for my UTOR inbox doesn't record my outgoing mail. Which sucks... So yeah, I screwed up a perfect student-teacher relationship in one email. How typical of me. OK, so thats being melodramatic, he's a great guy, I'm sure he didn't take any offense. But its still wrong on my part. I'll just say a cheerful G'morning to him tomorrow and see how things go from there. If he's all surly and tight-lipped, I'll get it - and post it on here - with tears streaming down my face *sniff*

So yeah, bad bad week. Good news is, next week looks promising. The Engineering Society's Annual General Meeting is coming up and I have three votes in it, for I had two people fill out a proxy form so I could take their votes. Which rocks, 'cause it means more power to me! It also means getting to see all the neat people who are associated with the EngSoc. I so totally wanna work there someday...

The CN tower stairclimb is coming up too. If I don't go with the Skule team, I'll have to tag along with my residence group. Which is just as fine, for I couldn't care less - as long as I get a free T-shirt! I'll try and post pictures of it if I go.

Anyways, I have a lab report to finish, I hope to write back sooner rather than later.

Love,
trivo gurl

PS. Now I'm worried about the Draft we submitted. I was re-reading it... and I think I might have screwed up in places. YIKES!

The Stress Factor

2008-10-10T13:54:00.005-04:00

Two term tests and a submission due October 14th. I've never dreaded a Tuesday like this one ever before. Why we have two tests on the same day is beyond me - probably because they couldn't accommodate them in any other way. One of the downsides of being in such a huge university. Don't get me wrong - I love it. Absolutely.

Anyways, so the submission due is a team project and just because my team knows of the fact that I work as editor for a Lab Solutions company, I have to do all the proofreading. Which is fine I suppose, since I'm so used to it now, it shouldn't take me that long anyway.

And ooooh, I forgot to mention: my blog post titled "Frosh Week" got published in the Faculty newspaper!! It came out October 7th and I am SOOOO psyched about it. Its insane. I'm a Frosh, and one month into school and I have a publication in a University newspaper! Its soooo cool! It takes the entire back page of the newspaper. If I get a chance to scan it, I'll definitely put it up here. Just for fun. I couldn't stop showing it to everyone! Its not like this is the first time my work has been in print like this. Its actually the farthest thing from the first time. I've seen my name in print wayyyy too many times before. This just seems more exciting since its a University publication.

I just thought I'd quickly post in another update just to let you guys know that Engineering hasn't killed me... yet! I'm still alive and breathing, and what's more - its not even cold! I mean, I thought October was going to be freezing, I went out and bought a warm, fur-lined jacket from Aeropostale, only to find out that its not really that cold! It was in the beginning, when the mornings would be like 5 degrees Celsius. But since then, its increased to double digits. This morning it was 11! I wasn't cold at all. The funny part is, everyone around me is wearing fur-lined boots, sweaters, jackets - and they're locals! So its either that they feel very cold indeed (the question "why do they live in Canada, then?" pops to mind) or they don't feel the need to check their weather forecast everyone morning (like I do! =) )

Just the other day, I was watching this video that a friend of mine put up on facebook. Its kinda old so I'm sure most of you might have seen it, but for those who haven't:

It made me laugh SO hard! I couldn't stop thinking about how funny such a simple thing can be. Makes you wonder why people came up with dirty jokes, huh?

Speaking of "huh" I was just going through some of the stereotypes that Canadians are branded with and there was a picture online, of a T-shirt which said: "Why do Canadians say "Eh"? Because it sounds cooler than "Huh" "
^ That, in my opinion, is one of the lamest things I've ever come across. Not only is "eh" more annoying than "huh" it sounds stupider too! Just my opinion though... just saying... don't send me hate mail for this. I'm not putting Canadians down. I actually happen to think they're very nice. They're polite, they play Ice Hockey, a large percentage of them doesn't suffer from morbid obesity. They're completely anti-racism (at least I'd like to think so. All the ones I've come across have been like that) - so yeah, Canadians minus the "eh" that pops up every two seconds = Paradise! (not really, but you get what I'm trying to say...)

Going back to the original title of the post, on 14th October, the term tests are not even for the easier subjects... OK, so one of them is fairly easy, but the other one is NOT! And that means no Happy Thanksgiving weekend for moi! I have to sit down, and pore over books and books until I get all the facts and figures lined up. Not only is Linear Algebra confusing, its just so frustrating 'cause at the core - its as simple as anything. Its just made to look so complex it makes you wanna wish whoever invented died a terrible terrible death. So that's mean. Sue me.

The even more annoying part is, all these meager calculations that we're forced to go through - we're not really going to do them - ever! That is, we're never using these things. Unless of course we become Profs, or if we have to tutor our kids when they go to University. And I'm not sure if the chances of either of those are too high to be honest.

Have you ever experienced that feeling where you have so much to do and very little time and yet when you sit down to do something, you don't know where to begin? So much so that you log on to your blog just to clear your head. This has definitely happened with me! And I'm not quite sure if that's a good thing. Nowadays, what I'll do is: I'll solve my Rubik's cube to clear my head. I've actually gotten it down. I can do it in under two minutes!! I'm hoping to get better though! If you've ever been a cuber or are interested in cubing or are adept at solving a regular 3x3 Rubik's cube, you know what I'm talking about when I say: No matter who many times you've solved that thing, every time you solve it, it gives you a huge sense of accomplishment. It's amazing! I love it. Once I've gotten the time for this thing down, I'm going to go out there and buy myself a 4x4. Its such a brain-stimulating game - hats off to Erno Rubik for coming up with it! I totally owe him one for inventing it. Its such a confidence booster (if you know how to solve it that is). On the topic of Rubik's cubes, if any of you out there are newbies and would like to learn how to do it, I know how frustrating it is to try and find the right website to guide you. Everything looks really complicated and you want something fairly simple. I've gone through that, and my advice to you would be to check out: http://wrongway.org/cube/solve.html
Its a great application designed by the great Eric Dietz. He has a fantastic blog of his own, to check that out just go to http://www.wrongway.org/. Its really good! The solver itself is an ingenius application that really helps new cubers get the hang of it all. I forgot a lot of algorithms myself and this application really helped me get them all back together. A great big thank you to Eric Dietz!

I've a lot to do today, along with a HUGE Eid Dinner tonight, so I've got my hands full. However, it was great coming on here and talking about everything. It honestly does help to clear my head. That's new, isn't it? If you're having trouble focusing: start blogging!

Till next time,
xoxo
trivo gurl

Pricks and Cubes

2008-09-27T16:40:00.005-04:00

So where I come from - we have no pedestrians. OK, that's not true. But there aren't as many as down here in Toronto. And you might say that that's unhealthy and stuff like that, but when fuel is so cheap you could buy gallons of it every time and there are no taxes to worry about and when you have chauffeur driven cars - who needs to walk? Sounds great, dunnit? I know! Anyways, that's not what I'm getting at. I walk to University and it takes me about 20 minutes during rush hour in the morning. And well... I'm not very good at crossing roads - BIG surprise! So what my strategy is, I cross the road when someone else crosses the road. And by doing so, I basically entrust a complete and total stranger with my LIFE. I know that thought is supposed to freak me out, but it doesn't. It just amuses me. Enough to burst out laughing randomly on the road (yeah, I freaked everyone around me out... they musta thought I was crazy!). I just wanted to put this thought out there, hoping to amuse some of you guys.

Today, September 27th - for those of you who don't know - was volunteering day! And that, at the University of Toronto is called oUtreach. So today, I participated in oUtreach 2008. We basically sign up for a volunteering event of our choice, then we just show up at the Uni bright and early and get divided into groups. We then head out our separate ways. I picked a theme called "Young and Old" - so I got to work with 4 other people to help manage a Public Library's 40th birthday party. We had to deal with children there, for its a major Children's library. We first went out shopping - perfect for a bunch of girls, of course! So we headed down and got various snacks for the kids, drinks, plates, napkins, helium balloons, table cloths - all in under $40!! Dollar stores rock! ;)

And then we walked back in the same annoying, constant drizzle of a rain that didn't stop spraying in our faces despite our umbrellas to the Library. We had a girl on our team who really knew her way around. Considering my history of getting lost in big cities, I'm really glad she was with us! There was this large room in the library that is usually closed up, but they opened it for the birthday celebration. We had to come up with ideas on how to make it more fun for the kids, and so we divided up our stations. We had a reading corner, a birthday greeting corner, one for face painting, crafts and last but not least, the food corner. We pretty much spread out and tackled one area each. I got the cards corner. So I persuaded kids to write birthday greetings to the Library in appreciation of the services that it provides for them. Each birthday greeting, would then be cataloged and be on display for many more years to come.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. We had some spare time on our hands, 'cause we were a lot of people with not so much to set up for. So I sat around, browsed the net, tried reading some random books until it was 2pm and the birthday celebrations began. So I'm not going to lie, I like kids, I just don't know if I REALLY like them. So yeah, they're cute, the stuff they wear is cute, their size is cute - but I don't know if I'm a kid lover at heart. I get along really well with them, I actually act as a kid magnet at parties, but I don't know if I'd be OK working as a babysitter or something, y'know what I mean? Anyways, that's beside the point. I liked the kids that came in there. They were really adorable with their little tiny voices and the pointing and asking for food, the puppy dog eyes, the awe on their faces when I read them stories - it was cute. I hafta admit that. So we sang a very nice, synchronized Happy Birthday song for the Library and took tonnes of pictures, gave away cake, the snacks and all around threw a pretty mean birthday party - considering this was a public library. It was fun. I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I didn't get back in bed after 4 hours of sleep. Volunteering is something everyone should do once in a while. I feel like it really puts everything in perspective for you. You have a set time to NOT think about yourself. And that's essential to remain down-to-earth.

I got back from oUtreach two hours ago, and since I don't feel like studying right now ('cause I'm really hungry) and because I locked my Rubik's cube in the room across the hall - I'm blogging! =)

What else has gone down in the past couple of days, you ask? Well, we had another team meeting for the APS class. That was OK. I totally wasn't looking forward to it, but it gave me great confidence. My team is really encouraging. I've been going down for some more volunteering at the MSA and that's been swell. I got to meet a huge bunch of really nice people out there. I also got tickets to the huge Eid banquet here at my residence on the 10th of October. That should definitely be fun!

And ooh, I totally missed out on the best parts! Right before our Mechanics test last week, me and two of my friends walked from University back to my res in order to access the soft copy solutions manual I have on my computer (no I don't take my laptop to school. I actually like the use of my back and believe it to be essential for my living, thank you). When we got to the front desk we were pleasantly surprised by a very interesting accent. I recognized it in a jiffy. It was the same South African accent I met at dinner just the other day. He's a Frosh too, but he's in Actuarial Science - not my department. Nevertheless, his accent is totally mesmerizing. You should hear it, its amazing! <-- this is exactly what my friends said too, one of them actually went on to say "it was the most amazing things I've ever heard". I couldn't stop laughing at that one. Anyways, I told them I knew him and I remember him saying the other day at dinner: "Some people are such pricks! They talk to you over dinner, for an hour, and then don't remember your face the next day". So I actually expected him to turn around and say "Hi". So I waited. It never came. And I know that at this point maybe I should've said Hello, but my ego got in the way - BIG time. I know, drat that ego! Anyways, so he went off without acknowledging my presence and for some odd reason (*ahem* ego *ahem*) I got all pissed at him for that.

So what I did was, I used the services of Facebook to hunt him down and tell him off for it. And thats exactly what I did. You'll be surprised how much you can accomplish just by having access to Facebook at all times. Its like the whole world is out there waiting for you to find them. Unless of course they're paranoid - like some people I know, then they'd just have themselves disappear off of it completely. Crazy, I know. Where was I? Yeah, so I told the guy with the really cool accent that he was a prick. That's exactly what I said. And lo and behold, two days later, I see him peeking under the salad bar in the Dining Hall waving at me. So it worked! My evil plan. Eureka!

Erm... I wonder if I'm missing something out... I guess I can mention my Rubik's cube, since its sitting right in front of me - all solved out at this point. I used to be really good at it. Really REALLY good at it - when I first learned how to do it four years ago or so. As a kid, I believe I just messed up the 3x3x3. I remember doing a 2x2x2. That was easy. Four years later, I'm so rusty I get stuck on the third layer. Just like that. I get past the corner orientation and then I'm stuck. I hate it. It frustrates me! I didn't mean I hate the Rubik's cube. That would be a most horrible thing to say. I meant it frustrates me that I'm rusty. I love my Rubik's cube. I'm a true engineer, I go to bed with it...!! =P

Its getting late here, so I better hit the sack. I've been up since 6:30 in the morning, so I've been up for a straight 18. Bleh. Normal.

I hope I can write back soon,
Till laterz,
xoxo
Trivo_Gurl

University Life!

2008-09-19T22:00:00.003-04:00

You ever get that feeling where you remember something that you did that seemed OK to do at that point, but once you rethink it, it actually seems really dumb? I get that all the time! And then its SO difficult to get it outta my head! It doesn't even have to be something major, it could be just about anything. I feel so dumb once I think it over. My mind like freezes is it in video frame and replays it for me a number of times - like its rubbing it in! How I deal with it is probably not the greatest idea in the world, I just mope a lot and mentally beat myself up about it. Occasionally though, I'll talk it all out to whoever is unfortunate enough to be around me at the point.

So yeah, third week of class, and Engineering still doesn't scare me as much as it scares everyone else who looks at my timetable. "You have classes from 9 - 5? All the way? How do you manage? When do you eat? Don't you hate it already?" Its actually really funny every time I hear them say it. They have no idea what they're missing out on! I don't know about other Engineering faculties, but I pride myself on being in one of the funnest ones out there. I absolutely love all the people, my profs, the buildings, the EngSoc - the Engineering Society that sponsors clubs and heads everything. I just wish I had more time to actually be involved in everything that goes around, y'know? Like I wanna do so much more but I just can't!

For example, the Formula SAE team. Now for those of you who know me enough, you probably know that I'm a car freak. I understand that I probably won't know as much as the rest of the guys in the Formula SAE team, and it obviously doesn't help to know that I'm in a Faculty where there are like... hmm... 80% guys - but, I would really really really like to be a part of it. What the Formula SAE team does is, they design, build and race formula one race cars. Sounds cool, dunnit? I think so too! Except I haven't really been able to attend any of their meets yet. Its partially because they fall on times and days that clash with my heavy schedule - or that I'm intimidated! Its hard to admit, but I think I'm a little scared. I know that I know more about cars than your regular girl, but I also know that I know a lot less than your not-so-regular-car-maniac guy - which are the ones that go to it. In the midst of Ramadan, I also have to run to catch dinner at res - thus, narrowing down the times I actually am free.

My sister actually gave me some really great advice the other day. She said to leave some of the extra-curriculars for next year. She gets that I've settled in really well and it feels like I've lived in Tdot forever, when its only actually been just 2.5 weeks, but there is a lot on my plate - and I shouldn't really try and get into everything and then fail at keeping up. I get that. I just really wish I had enough time to DO everything! Like the EngSoc for example, I'm like dying to work there. I know I'm a first year and that I probably won't get elected for any position, but I'd do like anything they ask me to just to be able to work there. Its not like they have a really chic office I want access to, its just the prospect of working at THE EngSoc! I guess I'll have to wait till later though, I don't wanna screw up my academics in the process!

I know I haven't been posting in as much as I'd like to, so there's a lot of catching up to do on the past week. Hmm... well, there was the MIE Mentorship Program that just recently kicked off with their first meeting on Thursday. Here's how it works: 4 first years from either the Mech or the Indy major get paired up with two mentors, who are basically two upper year students: one from Mech, one from Indy. Mentors and Mentees then decide where to meet up and how and the mentees basically turn to their Mentors with any questions they have about school life or any other general advice. Thursday was such a trend, I first had my Engineering Design team grouping in my tutorial class - and I'm the only female in my group. And then with the Mentor/Mentee group - I just happen to be the only female in the group! That's probably one of the cons of coming into the Faculty of Engineering - there are a LOT more males than females. Go figure.

Anyways, all the guys in both my groups are actually pretty nice (so far), so I don't really mind. I actually think I was slightly mean to one of the guys in my Design team though. That's what I was talking about in the beginning of the post - you do something and then you rethink it and then it just sounds so WRONG! I killed myself over laughing at him. I'm pretty sure he didn't mind it, but it probably left a bad taste. Bleh! Fingers crossed he won't hold it against me for next time!

What else? Oh yeah, class! My favorite class so far, hands down, is the Materials Science class. I'm not entirely sure if I've talked about it before, but one of the reasons I like it so much is my prof: he looks like Ed Norton! I know, its distracting, but once we spotted the wedding band on his finger, we mellowed it down ;) J/k, we're not that bad! Nevertheless, he's a really nice teacher. He's also probably the youngest prof we have - which is saying something, since he has a PhD! Its so intimidating how all the Faculty has like PhDs and we're in the first year of our Undergrad. Sheesh!

First assignment submission was today actually, I think it went well. We have to submit our assignments through a web-based program called Turnitin.com, which basically checks for plagiarism. I've been told it'll pick up even four consecutive words that are the same as any other document, so yeah, thats scary - but its all part of the game. I crossed my fingers and "turned"itin.

I recently applied for a Call Centre Job here at my res, and they've called me for a training session next week. I'm really looking forward to it. Though I've heard its not that amazing, I've wanted to work in a Call Centre since forever - so I doubt I'll let it slip. I'm still working part-time in the editing position though. That work has no specific time, so a definite amount of salary is never guaranteed. Speaking of me being editor, I remember talking to my Engineering Design team on Thursday and something about editing must have come up, 'cause I found myself talking about my job. "I work as editor for a Lab Solutions company" - that was enough to gain 4 gasps from around the table. "You - what?!?" "How'd you pull that one off?" etc. etc. And I told them, a couple of times, how it just sounds a lot cooler than it actually is. The one response was "I don't care! I wouldn't mind having that on my resume!" Granted, it made me feel really good about myself, but I also didn't wanna come off as a super girl who somehow manages to do everything. 'Cause honestly, I'm as scared and clueless a the next person. However, my A levels grades were pretty good, coupled with the schedule I'm juggling right now, I don't want them getting all the wrong over-achiever ideas!

That's about all the interesting parts of what went down in the past week. Oh, and my F!rosh leader uploaded F!rosh week pictures on facebook, so if you're on my facebook, you can actually view them. I love him for doing that! After much deliberation, I added him to my facebook and it pretty much made my day when he confirmed the request. This is the complete opposite of what I was talking about beating myself up about something small - it works the other way around as well - the tiniest things just happen to make my day. Like my F!rosh leader accepting my friend request on facebook, or my uber cool Materials Science prof coming up and talking to me during tutorial - that was just THE highlight of my day. I couldn't stop smiling for days! It was nothing. Its not like I haven't talked to him before, it was just really nice to see how he came up to me out of the entire class and just talked for the sake of talking. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! LOL! Sorry, a little melodramatic there. Scratch that.

I guess thats about it. I will hopefully post some more stuff later, but I have a Statics test coming up and I don't wanna flunk, so yeah - till next time!

Cheers,
trivo_gurl

F!rosh week

2008-09-04T22:47:00.005-04:00

I don't know if any of you remember, but some of my latest updates have dealt with my dilemma as to whether I should attend F!rosh week or not. I remember saying I purchased the ticket, right after I listed reasons I shouldn't - but right now, I want to say this to every person who might be thinking of going to the University of Toronto: if you're an engineering student - DO F!ROSH! It honestly is the best week ever!

So we basically hit it off on the 2nd of September, printed out our tickets at FedEx Kinko's (which is right around the corner from me) and headed off to Con Hall. Approximately 1,300 first years were enrolled into the Engineering disicplines at the U of T St. George Campus. And these 1,300 people were divided into 14 groups named after the Greek alphabet. And I must say, no matter how mushy or cliched it sounds: that the group I was in was like the neatest, coolest, funnest little group ever. What was it, you may ask? Kappa. So on 2nd of September 2008 I was officially made a Kappa and according to our Frosh website, Kappa is Kommitment and Kappa is Kourage, and I honestly did enjoy every single nanosecond of the time I spent with my Frosh leaders, and everybody in my group. No, I did not go for the full body dye, but I did dye my arms and parts of my face. For those of you who don't know: purple dye signifies Skule Spirit. The more purple you are, the more spirited you are known to be!

We started off with cheers outside the ConHall on King's College Road and learned the Kappa cheer - something I couldn't get out of my head for days! I absolutely loved all of my Frosh leaders, from the Head leader, who reminded me of Casper the friendly ghost to all the helpers whom I cannot remember the names of - they might not know it, but they made me belong! Belong to a community I was apprehensive to approach. They made me feel like I was part of them, and that's saying something!

Proceeding into the ConHall, we were taught how to protect our hardhats from the evil Artsies, and we heard brief speeches from our Head of Frosh year, president of the Engineering Society and various other presitigious speakers that I'm honored to have sat there and heard. And I know what most of you might be thinking: she'll hate them all once school actually starts. Well, I have one thing to say to you all, I won't be starting school, since its officially known as "Skule" here at the Engineering faculty. And yes, I might hate it and pull all-nighters once in a while, but I will always feel very lucky to be part of such a diverse student body that brings together people from 160 different countries in the world.

F!rosh week took us from the beginning, starting with Campus Tours and Dye Stations (there was actually a kid in my group who dyed his teeth purple. You read that right: teeth!) to the picture session where all the students were sat on school grounds, our seating arrangements made to look like 1T2, since we're the class of 2012. No one knows how the picture turns out till we get the Skule book.

Speaking of Skule, we got our F!rosh kits when we entered ConHall. And it never really stopped surprising us! Included in it, were two T-shirts (one of which I was very quick to don), a USB storage device, keyring, water bottle, agendas, a copy of the Toike Oike (engineering student-run newspaper), and so much more! And I know it felt like such a huge amount when I was paying for it, but it was honestly worth it! Even if I starve for the next month or so due to financial deficiency, I will never regret paying that money for this oh-so-memorable week!

We then proceeded to parade around the streets of Downtown Toronto, blocked roads, jeered at the Ryerson students in their own campus, cheered random people on the streets and what not! Being in that parade was a lifetime experience, but I know I would love to be a spectator some day and look at a parade of engineering students dyed purple and wearing yellow T-shirts and hardhats walk around and stop traffic! We even went through the Eaton Center, got told off for being way too many people at one point and then chanted "Eaton Center sucks!" while we exited. The next part was probably the most fun I've ever really had. Accompanied by two newly-made friends, I exchanged my Merrel's for flip flops found in my Frosh kit and walked right into the Nathan Philips square's fountain. And although my flip flops broke and I don't even know where they are, I had the best time in a really long time as people doused me with cold water from head to toe. And yes, I probably couldn't breathe for a while, but it was all worth it! And when I walked into my residence, people stared at me like I was crazy since I was dripping from head to toe, they had no idea what they had missed out on. And all those times I thought about going back on my decision to pick engineering paid off. All of it. At that point in time, when I had donned my precious yellow hard hat, dyed myself purple and put on a fresh Frosh shirt, and paraded around with 1,300 students who looked just like me - I didn't wanna be part of any other faculty at any other university or city. I would gladly exchange a Harvard position for this very thing. Honestly...

Yesterday was the second day of F!rosh, and it landed us on the Yonge and Dundas "Scramble" intersection - as quoted by my adorable Head Frosh leader! We pretty much stuck around for 3 hours, asking people to donate money for a certain Children's foundation that our University supports. So there I was, hard hat in front, with my mouth bone-dry, persuading people to "spare some change" as "every little bit helps". We would go up to cars at the red traffic signal, ask for change, target all the posh cars and men in suits - all for one cause. Just being part of that group was such a bonding experience. Granted, this was the 2nd day we were with each other and I was still calling that kid in the white shirt in front of me "the purple-teeth kid", but we were all in this together and we were loving it. When the signal would go red, 6 of us would run and make a pyramid smack in the middle of the intersection. I wasn't one of those 6 ever, since I am mortally terrified of street cars and moving cars in general - so I have a very high level of respect for those kids who put their lives in danger doing this. It was done to gain the attention of the crowd and collect more donations than any other group on all the other major intersection in the GTA. We went to the extremes of strapping two of our group members to poles on the sidewalk and called them "the floating people" - you just had to be there to appreciate the level of funny that was! People gave hugs in exchange for donations and pretty much everything else. This whole process was known as the "Charity Buskerfest" and it honestly tested us to our limits. I was fasting, so I couldn't even replenish my body's water storage! Yep, quite a challenge, I know.

Everything I mentioned above doesn't do much to cover everything we did during Frosh week, but those are some of the highlights. If I were to talk about every event in detail, I'd go on forever! Anyways, so lectures started today and the Mechanics prof is already a favorite of most in my class at least! I'm just hoping to be able to keep up with everything I've committed to and skule. All I want is to be able to absorb all that I can without overdoing it and pass with flying colors!

Wish me luck!

xoxo,
trivo_gurl

Sandford Fleming

2008-08-26T23:41:00.001-04:00

Heyy!

Since I have some time on my hands and my sister isn't screaming at me, telling me to get off her laptop and stop using her limited internet usage MB's, I thought I'd post an update!

So, remember when I posted in a coupla hours ago and listed all those reasons I didn't wanna do F!rosh? Well... turns out, I'm doing it anyway! Who woulda known?? Here's how the twist came into play:

I went to the bldg that was supposed to host my lecture in it. And I guess my memory musta screwed up or something, 'cause instead of the number 8 I had the number 4 in my mind. So for fifteen minutes or so, I was looking around for the wrong bldg. That was until this other kid came along and he asked me where 1180 was. So I told him! It was right there! It was at that very moment that it hit me: I wanted to get to 1180 too! Not 1140! Big dumb idiot me!! So I followed him in. (He musta thought I'm such an idiot, but I couldn't care less honestly)

The workshop was fun, mainly 'cause it wasn't too brain power-consuming, and I got to meet two new girls! They were really nice and we've planned to meet up later during Frosh, so I'm pretty excited about that!! I'll try and have fun while trying to forget that I look hideous in yellow!! I'll try and read The Sicilian at a later date and erm... well, I'll make some money with a part time job or something. But that's that, I can't go back on it, I have the receipt and I have to go to Frosh. Bummer or what?

What else what else? Oh yeah! I met my mentor today! She's super nice and we had a lot of fun going around the city and stuff, so that was cool. I mean I was looking forward to it, so its a good thing it was fun. She had me meet all these really neat people and for the first time I actually felt kind of comfortable around people at university. Maybe everyone isn't as bad as I think they are! Maybe its kinda nice? Yeah, I know I have 60 hour weeks and stuff, but if it all comes with a big sense of accomplishment and great people then I don't mind! I'd rather have my nose in a book than get drunk at a night club any way!

That's pretty much it for today. My schedule's clear tomorrow, so I'll be heading to !ndigo for a day of book reading. ^_^

Love,

trivo_gurl

Toronto, baby!!

2008-08-26T16:37:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone!

Sorry I'm writing in so late. I know I'm such a lazy bum - but c'mon! Who abandons their blog like this? So yeah, its been a roller coaster this past month. I finally got my grades and guess what?? They WERE good enough! And I couldn't be more excited about them! So I hopped on a flight on the 20th of August and traveled for erm... like 22 hours to get to Toronto. I had a transit at Abu Dhabi you see.

So we reach Toronto and we're feeling daring - my sister and I - and we lug 3 extremely heavy suitcases all on our own all the way from the Pearson Int'l Airport, to our Residence! It was insane! We even got a free ride on the TTC since we didn't have change and we loaded the Rocket without the driver knowing about it. The free ride was probably the best part about those 4 hours between the time we landed and when we reached the residence.

I need to say one thing right now: I LOVE MY RESIDENCE! Its awesome. It couldn't be any more perfect - except maybe for the internet connection - but hey, its free! I can't really complain. The cooks are awesome so I find myself anticipating the dinner hours. I've been around the University campus about 5 times now, and have even gotten used to the way everyone pronounces "about" here. Its hilarious! I have to fight to keep myself from repeating after them.

University officially starts on the 4th of September, but since I've arrived earlier, I've chosen to look around and familiarize with my surroundings. So much has happened in such little time that I don't really know where to begin from. I can't help but laugh at myself when I look back and think how much time I had to while away. Now to get to studying! *shudder* I'm using the library computer right now, since the one back home... I mean residence w/e won't work. So yeah, I'm guilty as charged for using the Holy library computers for "recreational internet activities" as they put it.

I've opted out of F!rosh week due to self-explanatory reasons:
1) Money doesn't grow on trees for me
2) I don't feel like taking a walk down memory lane and chant stuff like I used to in kindergarten
3) I don't wanna paint myself purple
4) I look hideous in the color yellow
5) I'd rather stay at Residence and read "The Sicilian" ^_^

So yeah, no Frosh week for me. Which actually means more time to write! Unfortunately, I have none right now, I've a workshop in 15 minutes so I should really get going!

But it was nice writing about stuff to you guys, its always nice.

Till laterz,

Peace Out

And the day nears...

2008-08-03T17:48:00.000-04:00

It seems like only yesterday that I was phew-ing from end of the exam time period, and the graduation was drawing to a close. And now, its August and I wait nervously every second of the day for the results of my A levels exams to come. They're what decide whether I really get to go to where my heart aches to go at this point: University!

They say once I'm there I'll be screaming to let out from all the burden of studies they put on you. They may be right. But right now, I couldn't care less about the burden of anything they put on me - I just wanna get good enough grades to get in there first!

I haven't had internet connection for the longest time now. Which is precisely why I haven't blogged recently. Isn't it just downright funny how dependent we are on the net? A world network they call it. That's it! We can't live without access to this world network! Every time something like this happens, where I can't access the web or if I lose my cell phone, I just wonder how people before us lived without them and it all comes down to the one fact: we rely on wants such that they end up becoming our needs. To think that there were times when people travelled for days to get to places I can get to in 4 hours as their only mode of transport were animals. And when my driver was off duty I couldn't even think of how I would pass the day! So yeah... we're weird!

I was watching Vanilla Sky the other day. I just recently turned 18 so I'd never seen it before 'cause its rated R and yeah, you can call me a dweeb, but I actually do follow movie/game ratings. I waited four years to play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas! So in Vanilla Sky, there's this company that's called Life Extension. And I know when Vanilla Sky came out, it might have seemed like such a fictional thing to make. But in the present day, it really didn't seem like such fiction to me. With the advancements in technology I wouldn't be surprised if such a thing actually existed in a couple of years.

On the other hand however, since we're so bent on destroying this world, we might not even live to see the sun in the next two decades or so. This is due to a practice known as consumerism. I could give you a definition and explanation for it, but if you really wanna know what it is, I suggest you go to:
Story of Stuff
Its very nicely done!

I don't know how many of you out there are still following the fourth season of So You Think You Can Dance, but this has to be the worst season ever! Everyone who doesn't deserve to be in the finale got through while every great versatile dancer got booted. For all those who know and love Chelsie Hightower, the eighteen year old ballroom dancer, you'll agree when I say she deserved the final four position. I wish her all the best though. She was one of the most versatile female dancers to ever be on the show and I hope she reaches her goals in life. SYTYCD has become just another reality show now with nothing special. It all just comes down to who has the biggest fan base and that's just downright CRAPPY!

So yeah, sorry I had to end on a bitter note

Till later,
Toodles!

Food for thought

2008-07-13T18:37:00.000-04:00

OK, so I know I haven't blogged in a while. It feels like ages. I just had a lot to catch up on. Its awfully weird how little we think we've missed when we've been missing out on life as it is during our exam sessions! So getting back has been nothing less than an experience for me. I forgot how much I missed hanging out with my out-of-school friends, how much I love to socialize and eat out and go hunting for new restaurants in town! Its like a whole world I've missed out on in a few short months.

But there's also food for thought I've missed out on. I've missed out on how much my faith means to me. How blessed I am, how much I should be thankful for the things I have and how I should try and complain a lot less than I do! I believe its human nature to learn and forget instantly. Things that matter the most hit us like an epiphany at certain points in our life and slowly fade away with time. There are so many things that we try and remember and the many resolutions that we make that just dissolve with time! So we must keep reminding ourselves of the many duties that face us. Duties towards God and duties towards his creation. In today's world where faith is projected as nothing but a figment of man's imagination, its easy to sway with the crowd and forget our values. But staying connected to our roots is what makes us human. Looking around me, there is nothing that DOESN'T scream out the presence of one God. And thinking over it, I cannot relate to people who do not believe in God. Knowing and acknowledging God's presence is one of the foremost things a human being can do. We've taken everything for granted and we're bent on destroying it.

Changing tracks, there's another reason 24 hours seem little time for me these days. I've recently joined a health club. I learned swimming as a kid and since then, I haven't really been practicing it. So when I got to know of a place near my house where there's a health club with a swimming pool, I couldn't just NOT join in. And although it drains me of most of the energy I have with a-meal-a-day routine, I'm really glad I joined it. I'd forgotten how much fun swimming really is! And how low my fitness levels are from sitting around all these months, doing little more than just walking around the school campus.

You know how there are significant dates in your life at points? Your sister's wedding that you organized or the birth day of your first ever niece, or the day you graduated from high school - and you think about it and wonder if you'll ever forget those memorable days - whether the reason to remember them is good or bad? But then once the day has passed we forget them anyway? Well, I have a couple of upcoming dates like that and right now, I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to forget them. Worst part is I don't know yet if the reason for preserving them in memory is good or bad. My fate is in the hands of the Lord and I have totally submitted myself to him. He knows what's good for me and what's not and only He has the power to decide. I can only hope and pray that things turn out well and I reach goals He intends for me to reach. And "men of science" who do not believe in God can tell me that my future depends on how I did in my past, and my only answer will be that a prayer can move mountains and I have solid belief in that.

New obsessions...

2008-06-27T18:14:00.000-04:00

There's nothing that makes me giddier than getting over one obsession and moving on to another. Its like this whole other feeling that just fills you up and drives you nuts but you love it... 'cause it makes you feel just so great! For no particular reason...

So yeah, I think this here, right now might be the realization of the ending of an obsession. Exciting isn't it? Well, not for you guys - but for me it is. Its hell exciting. It moves me and instills this feeling inside of me that makes me wanna say "Ha! I told you it would pass!" to my idiot of a brain which thinks every one of them is going to end up being the sole purpose of my life. And to my body, which thinks that's where it has to go for me to live. Wrong! All wrong! This point here proves I'm human. It proves SO many things to me that it just makes me smile all over. I was never very expressive though, so the smiling kinda doesn't reach my face. But inside - I'm all smiles. Million dollar smiles that light up my heart!

Phew! Little melodramatic? *sarcasm intended* Wasn't THAT the understatement of the year? Hmm... happens every time. I just have never written about it before so this is my first. Whooppee!

Getting on to the main point. Yes. You got it. I'm over Travis Michael Wall. And although that name will probably make me smile every time I hear it for most if not the rest of my life, and his face will probably melt my insides every time I see it but at least I won't be watching him dance every freakin' second of my day! And THAT my friends, is called the end of an obsession. Its when you're not thinking about it every time you're thinking - its when you're not cursing your ISP for being too slow to let you get to the next episode of the show - its when you're over it. When you no longer find it to be the sole center of your world. THAT is the end of an obsession. Its a great feeling. And I'm sure most of you out there will agree with me. I like to believe that everyone is a little obsessive. Maybe not as obsessive as I am, but a little... and yeah, your obsessions might not happen as consecutively as mine - but I'm sure they happen. I'm sure that at one point in your life you look at someone or something so much that you get obsessed with it. And you live it and you breathe it and you take it in, all the way in... a little too much, so much that it gets to your head.

So anyways, as of now, I am no longer aspiring to be a professional dancer. Actually, I was never aspiring to be that. I've actually been aspiring to become an Industrial Engineer for some time now... but I used to think to myself that if it weren't for certain barriers in my life, I'd definitely pursue a career in dance. Not anymore! Professional dancing is not my fantasy alternative profession anymore! And THAT is a reason to be giddy! Honestly...

Now my obsessions basically catapult me into a severe state of anti-social behaviorism that tends to annoy the people around me i.e. my family. Its not that I don't care, its just that all those times I was told to get off the couch and study - this is my revenge! I mean, c'mon people! How many 18 year olds do you know who don't like to watch TV series with lots of eye candy?!?! =P I'm a teen! Deal with it already...!

OK, so on to my new obsession:
We already know I can be very lazy when it comes to new filmography. Referring to my last post, I watched a fascinating movie 19 YEARS after it was made! Yeah... so we know I'm not really on top of it. I can't be. My schedule doesn't allow it! So yeah... I er... I hadn't watched Grey's Anatomy before the end of my exams. There! Laugh at me! I know it started 3 years ago, I just kept stalling having to watch it 'cause I tend to get addicted! I am very very extra super ultra uber prone to addiction to TV series. I have to battle it out. I have to get out my will power and stick with it, y'know? Anyways, so I kept stalling it until about... erm... two days ago when I geared up and went into it head on. And I've just begun to realize that I'm already done with 2 seasons... and its been barely 2 days since I started. I'm already onto season 3. See what I mean? I'm a complete addict! Can you imagine what would've happened to my study schedule if I'd started with this DURING my school year? I'd probably be somewhere scrubbing floors for all I know!

Yeah. So that's my new obsession. Eye candy that does surgery. I can't get enough of it. And if you haven't watched Grey's Anatomy but heard of the dreamy Dr. Shepherd and think he's overrated - think AGAIN! He can NEVER be overrated. The man's perfect! Its insane, it really is.

I'm off now. Have a party to get to. Right after I finish the 9th episode of course. Gotta get back to that first.

Till laterz,

Toodles!!

My Left Foot

2008-06-24T10:40:00.000-04:00

Right... about the end of term fever... didn't happen! Been kinda bored lately. Have you noticed how every little simple thing seems THAT much more enjoyable when you're not supposed to be doing it is just plain boring once you have nothing to do? It's insane! Since my exams finished:
- Movies suddenly weren't so enjoyable
- Roller blading didn't hold that much of a fun element
- My laptop didn't seem as irresistible as it used to
- Shopping wasn't as exciting
etc. etc. etc.
Its enough to drive a person crazy!

Anyways, I was sitting around thinking about the above mentioned things when I came across a movie my sister had on my hard drive. Since I had nothing better to do, I put it on: It had Daniel Day-Lewis in it! Ooh what a surprise! Yeah, w/e... I shoulda expected that much - he's my sister's favorite actor. Not that I hate him or anything, I'm just not that big of a fan of his. I think he's a tremendous actor though.

So yeah, it started off and I wasn't sure how much I was going to enjoy it since it didn't seem like my type of a movie at all. I hadn't read up on it like I normally do before watching a movie so I had no idea what to expect. It starts with someone's left foot! I'm pretty sure its Daniel Day-Lewis's, since he's in it... he HAS to have the leading role!

It turns out to be a truly touching story of a cerebral palsy stricken child. This child - Christy Brown his name was - can only move and use his left foot. That's it. The rest of him is paralyzed. And he was born like that, the doctors told his mom that he was going to spend the rest of his life like that - "like a vegetable" they said. However, the tale moves on to show how talented Christy really is and how much his left foot is capable of. He ends up being a great painter (yep, he paints with his left foot) and an author of a book and is thus able to support a family.

After watching the movie, I checked up on it and it was made in 1989! A year before I was born! Wow... and I watched it like 19 years from when it was first made. To think that people like Christy Brown existed years before my birth (that they had even less amenities than me) and still got to where they were with what they had is nothing short of miraculous to me. And here I am, moping about stuff when God has given me full ability to move all my limbs...! Yeah... I felt really crappy about myself after watching the movie. But it was an amazing film to watch - honestly, if you haven't watched it yet go ahead and do 'cause its AWESOME!

EWW!!! GROSS!

2008-06-06T07:07:00.000-04:00

OK, so I know its still a little early for another post from me, but the most disgusting thing happened today:

I woke up at like 10:30am, I had to start studying for my Physics exam already, so I jumped out of bed, washed my face, brushed my teeth - the usual. Then, I got breakfast, sat in my usual spot - a carpet near the foot of my bed, right in front of my laptop. It's almost perfect, really! So I'm like sitting there, checking my mail and stuff, and I notice this tooth-like thing sitting next to my laptop. It was shaped like an elephant's tusk, except it was much much smaller. So I fingered it (ewwwwwww!!) and it was extremely soft and rubbery to the touch (I can't believe I'm writing this). I asked my half-asleep sister what I should do with this thing that looks like a tooth. She's like "Put it away" -- God knows what that meant!

So anyway, I took a pen and sort of pushed it off the carpet and onto the tiled floor and pretty much forgot about it.

In the next hour, I took a bath, did a pedicure, cut my nails etc etc. And then, I walk into my room and on the very carpet that I sit on (not exactly on the same spot where I SIT (heavens forbid), like at the corner of it) I spotted - OK, this is extremely gross - a bloody, broken lizard!

That's right! A freakin' lizard was lying dead on MY carpet!! Now, I don't know if you know this - but I am like crazy scared of lizards and all sorts of creepy crawlies at that. Really! And seeing that - this sort of shiver ran up my body and I pretty much ran out of the room screaming - much to the dismay of my older brother, who just got back from his business trip to England (and got me a Burberry Summer btw!!!)

At the end, my younger brother, armed with about 17 tissue papers, churned up his courage and picked up the (eewww!) pieces of the lizard - tail and all - and threw 'em away. God bless him.

So here I am, back in my spot. The sight of the lizard won't leave my head and will probably be haunting me for the next coupla days I'm sure. And just so you don't think I'm some sort of a blind person who couldn't spot a lizard on her carpet - my carpet kind of camouflaged it - its the same one my profile picture is taken against. That's my carpet, not a background! So yeah, it was pretty difficult to spot. Glad I did spot it when I did though, God knows what I would've done if I'd accidentally stepped on it! Perfectly DISGUSTING!!

Oh, you're probably wondering how the lizard got in there in the first place. Well, me and my younger brother (who's like my partner in crime, really) figured it was our cat, Snowball - pretty much my right hand man(cat, whatever). He has a knack of bringing dead stuff in the house, so we're pretty sure it was him. I love him to pieces, but if he ever does that again - he's facing a week in the kennel cab, I'm tellin' ya!

Till next time,

Stay lizard-free!

Mood: Unsure

2008-06-05T11:53:00.000-04:00

You know how we're always told to take the good with the bad in our lives? Here's mine in a nutshell:

The Bad: my Pure Math paper SUCKED. So bad, it was as good as just not attempting it at all! Yep, that's how bad it was, and I know I can come up here and talk about it now, but I couldn't on the 4th. I was just... really shocked at the fact that I did so terribly.
The Good: Pretty much everyone's sucked. I'm sure no one's sucked as bad as mine did, but I've been told they had a tough time - and that's a good thing because that means they'll have to pull down the percentile and that increases my chances of... well, not flunking really! At least its some good! I was raised to be grateful.

Apart from that, I had a Chemistry Practical exam today - which was actually pretty awesome! I'm not exactly my Chemistry teacher's favorite person - nor is she mine - and I guess a lot of people know that, but after coming out of the Chemistry Practical Lab - I wanted to hug her till she couldn't breathe!! It was AMAZING how good the practical went. I totally wasn't expecting it to go so well (refer to my earlier blog, read: "Chemistry - my Kryptonite") so yeah, I'm pretty psyched about that right now. So psyched in fact, that I don't feel like studying at all!

I know I do this a lot, but this is serious! My Physics Paper 4 is coming up on Monday, the 9th of June, and after that, its like consecutive papers till the 13th of June, which is gonna be extremely hectic! REALLY not looking forward to that...

So I was on TW-O and I ran into this video:

Although I've been following SYTYCD myself, despite the fact that I live no where near the US - makes you wanna thank God a million times for the internet - it still takes a while for me to download the latest episode. Now, we all know I love Travis. I think its pretty much an established fact now. But, remember when I mentioned how I was "over him"? Well... I just realized that... I'm not! A poster on the SYTYCD forums correctly put my thoughts into words: "Every time I think I can't possibly love [Travis] any more, he comes up and does something like THAT!" I mean, wow, it must take real guts to pull that off! There are rumors he's gay, so imagine him coming out and doing this and being so amazingly confident about it. Gah! I love him so much right now I could cry! Lol!!

Oh well, so its Travis Mania all over again... but there's other stuff going on that's pretty much keeping me from smiling from ear to ear - how I always do when I'm just giddy with joy about something. It's a pretty long story, you guys in for the ride? Here goes:
Nah! Forget about it! Sorry, I'd love to, but it is awfully long and I'm in no mood to write everything down at this point. My writing skills are already lacking at this point anyway, so it'd turn out to look like something absolutely dreadful in context and style at the SAME time!!

So yeah, now you know why my post is titled what it is - the good and the bad have just kind of jumbled up into one weird brownie mixture and I'm not sure if I want a piece of it.

Anyways, keep your chin up, be strong, pray I sail through my papers and get to University and... chill out.

Peace

Chemistry - my kryptonite

2008-06-02T14:23:00.000-04:00

So I suck at Chemistry. That's one more thing you know about me now! It never made sense to me, and the people who've taught me this unbearable subject have never been helped the fact that it's a horrible subject, if you know what I mean... I had Chemistry Papers 2 and 5 on the 30th of May. Paper 2 rocked. Paper 5 sucked. Its pretty much as simple as that. Before that I had Mechanics, which was awesome! *blows kisses to whoever made the exam paper*

Coming up, I have Math and the practicals! Exciting isn't it? Its not all its cracked up to be! All of you, who thought mixing chemicals would be fun - it's not! I'm honestly more worried about my Math paper than any of the practicals. I had a great Mechanics paper and I wanna keep the good thing goin', y'know?

Anyways, my laptop's keyboard starting lagging, so I'm sneaking in to use my sister's. Don't tell her that though, she'll freak! A normal, non-lagging keyboard feels SO good! I'd almost forgotten the feel of it - it's precious! I'm not sure why my keyboard's lagging though, I cleared out my RAM, the keyboard itself, increased its speed and everything - nothing seems to work! Maybe its all the downloading I do? Oh well, I'd take pretty much anything for that!! lol! j/k

So I've a Biology practical exam tomorrow and I'm not fazed at all! Hopefully, I'll do OK in Math. I'm hoping I do really well. God, please help me! I need to get into University! Speaking of University, I just found out that I'll be going in Residence before my term starts! Yay!! Really excited about that, I'll really have a chance to get to know my surroundings and get used to the ways and streets of the new city. I'm kinda going across the globe for my Bachelors, in case you didn't know. Yep, clean across the globe. 14 hours in the plane - ugh! Something I am totally NOT looking forward to! I hate air planes, btw. I hate air travel and I totally wish I could like invent a portal so we could all save on the jet-lag and the horrible gift of cramps that a couple of long flights can give you. Till I get to inventing that, you guys are just gonna have to suffer with air planes. Sorry peeps!

What else is new, you ask? Well, did anyone notice my new layout? Thanks to pyzam.com for that. I think it's awesome! Love the whole hot pink and black combination. Plus, its subtly girl-y without going over the top - just how I like it!

I'll be done by the 13th of June and then it's *drum roll* END OF TERM FEVER!! YAY!! Parties all 'round! Really looking forward to just chilling out with my friends. It should be fun... unless most of them are leaving the country before I am, in that case, I'll just have to make plans with my out-of-school friends.

Another thing on my post-exam to-do list is: Lose weight! Yep! Although everyone keeps telling me I'm not obese, I secretly think I am. I mean, I'm taller than the average girl in my area (I'm 5'7", if you have to know) and so, maybe the fat distributes itself really well, but I know I'm fat and that's all that matters when it comes to losing weight. I have tips from Mike Geary coming in every other week and they really help at times when I'm stuck or brooding about my stagnant weight loss.

Here's hoping I sail through my exams and get the results my University wants!

Till then,

XOXO

2 down.... SO many to go!

2008-05-22T17:13:00.000-04:00

I sat my first A Levels paper on 19th May. Physics Papers 2 and 5. Not the subject you can score perfectly on, but its my favorite science. And I'm just talking about likability of the subject, 'cause my grades peak the most at Biology, they pretty much stink at Physics to be honest. I love it though, it makes sense to me.
Anyways, so this year, the CIE center in my city is my school - which is great! Its very comforting, knowing you're on home ground, if you know what I mean. The school had to like really hurry up and finish up their auditorium because of being the CIE center - so I guess, we owe the CIE for our brand new, mega huge school auditorium! The same one under construction for like, I dunno, two years now?

From what I hear, people seem really impressed with the school and the campus, which is kind of surprising to me, 'cause well... I always underestimated it I suppose. I always thought it was too small, too sloppy, too unorganized. But, I like totally changed my mind once in the auditorium - that place is huge! It can seat like over 400 girls and then some! I mean... wow!!
Physics went alright, I actually knew what I was doing this time round, so it was great! Next paper... was Biology!

Here's a snippet of the conversation I had with the representative of my university:

Me: So I'm taking four A Levels and the admission offer just states grades for 3, which one are they leaving out?
URep: Which are the four subjects you're taking?
Me: Physics, Chemistry, Biology and -
URep: Oh. We don't care what you get in Biology.

Yep, as simple as that!
So you can imagine the amount of work and energy I would put into Biology this year: that's right! none!

So Biology was on the 22nd of May which is today, actually... or yesterday now that its after 12 my time. It was alright I suppose. Its all subjective, so you don't exactly know which part you might miss that they're actually looking for. I'm not crazed about it though, so I hope I just didn't flunk it. 'Cause as much as I don't care about what I get in it, I really don't think I wanna see a "U" on my A Level certificate! What would my grandkids think of me?!?

Now I have like a... 6 day gap till Chemistry and Mechanics on the 28th. I'm really hoping I do well on those two. Chemistry is my weakest area - I generally just ramble on through the paper with barely any clue of what its all about. Mechanics I'm pretty much OK with I suppose, despite the fact that I didn't do so awesome on my tests. My mock was pretty neat though, and I've practiced my butt off for Mechanics! Trust me, if I am to be an engineer, I need my math skills!!

I was supposed to be doing Physics today, since I totally forgot to make time for it in my schedule, and the structured questions paper coming up on the 9th of June, pretty much decides my overall grade - which matters like a GREAT deal to me!!
Instead, however, I came back home, watched a couple of SYTYCD episodes, moped over the fact that I can't get FOX on my network, and wished I could somehow watch the two-hour premiere airing today...! Life is so cruel!
All out of self-pity, I went to sleep. Not long after which my sister called in and rudely awakened me for one of her insane telephone conversations which revolved around stalkers, Celsius and Farenheit. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, 'cause it is!
I should have gone back to studying Physics now, but I pretty much ended up going on a joy ride with my siblings! OK, so it wasn't exactly a joy ride. See, we just got this new driver, and he doesn't know the ways around the city period. And he's supposed to be driving my kid brother to school, and we were supposed to go out and show him where it was! We got lost at least once, asked for directions at least thrice and when we finally got there, the driver wasn't sure he remembered it all the way from home! That took around an hour and a half.
Yeah, the day was a huge waste of my precious time!

So I came back home and decided to waste some more time, so I checked on updates on Travis Wall Online! Turns out he just gave an interview!
Check it out here. He's right. They're just dancers, we make too big a deal out of 'em!

OK, so I admit, I'm not so in love with him anymore! I think he's great, but not so much. I knew it would pass! I told you it would!
However, while we're still talking about him, check this really neat video of him in a club:

Cute isn't it?

Oh well, I kinda have to go now, my contact lenses are killing me, and I think I'm gonna call it a day and hit the sack(again)!

And the dance fever sets in...at the worst of times...!

2008-05-17T11:10:00.000-04:00

I can't say I've always been interested in dance. I can't say I've danced for most of my life, its just something I do when the fever grips me, or when something or rather, someone inspires me. My favorite dance style: Hip-hop.
Right close to some of the most important days of my life - mostly exams - however, I almost always end up getting addicted to something. This has happened every year at exam time, for the past three years now. I can't say I've suffered too much from it though, I've been extremely lucky most of the time. Unless you count last year, of course, when I totally screwed up!
Oh well, this time, the addiction is Dance! Yep, since I got to know about the hit FOX TV series "So You Think You Can Dance" I've fallen head over heels in love, with not as much with the show itself, but moreover with it's contestants. And get this - since I started watching it from Season 3, I've gone back and gotten myself tapes of the previous two seasons - and since then I've watched the entire second season about 50 times - without exaggeration!
Every year I promise myself I'm going to work harder, pay more attention to my studies, not get addicted to anything, not start watching new TV series, and yet every year something like this jumps out at me and envelopes me into the tightest grips of addiction there is. I've never tried marijuana, but I'm sure that if I did, it wouldn't be as addictive as this!
Honestly, when Ptolemy said "people will eventually get bored of staring at a box" he had NO idea!
So, right now, I'm two days away from my first GCE A level paper, the results of which decide whether I get into the University of my choice, and I'm stuck here, watching reruns of Season 2, drooling over Travis Wall, wishing I could move like Ivan Koumaev and actually thinking about taking contemporary dance classes!