Fashion upgrade

So I've set a goal for myself to look sexy this year.
Say hello to the new member of my wardrobe!

And here's me staring at some beer with my family.

19!

Heck yeah, it's my birthday! Say happy birthday to me!

Also my mom's birthday. Sucks that I'm out most of the day.

oh nooo

I met an old elementary school friend on the bus today.

We used to be in a 3 man nerd gang back in the day. We were allowed to skip math tests and play monopoly in the meantime because the teachers knew we were going to ace them anyways.

He has failed a math course and 2 physics courses. He is on academic probation. He doesn't even want an engineering degree and would prefer biology, but he thinks he'll fail that too.

How times have changed...   :(

human resources

When I was in the thick of animating, I was trying to join some official game modding groups, through Moddb.com, and there were a few things I realized. I was a decent budding animator. I was learning things fast. I was willing to sit in front of a computer all day making some character jump up and down or make a pair of hands reload some gun. For free.

There is a lot of talent out there, I realized - a thought that was reinforced as I visited other's profiles. They had similar wishes: to be a part of a group and make something. For free. If I wanted to make a game,  I wouldn't be able to do it myself, but there would be a heck of a lot of people who were willing to put in the serious effort to get one off the ground. Aspiring animators, texture artists who have been using Photoshop since they were 5, computer science students eager to learn and make their own code for something, sound artists playing around with FL Studio trying to make their own electronic productions...

I'll admit that when I was in high school I had a terrible thought of making a game "company" that took advantage of all these "free resources" - having wannabe developers sign a discrete contract that allows me to use their assets for profit-purposes, have them eagerly create their products, put them together and sell the game for a dirty profit with minimal development effort on my part. After all, why not? Many of these people wanted to be a part of something and feel respected and appreciated, and this would provide that. Resources are meant to be used, and there was a bunch of it waiting to be taken advantage of.

*shudder
dark thoughts o.o

ah shit

I was biking to Bridgeport yesterday, just minding my own business and enjoying the cool morning air, when all of a sudden my bladder felt like it was about to explode.

Ah shit. This happened last time, and it did not result in an enjoyable bus ride. My survival instincts kicked in: what are my options? There's a tree here, a bush here... there is an intersection nearby though... cars stopped by the red light will be wondering what that kid is doing over there. There's a blackberry bush there... those have thorns though.

Then I remembered that gas stations had washrooms, so I just rode my bike into one and continued on feeling fresh.

Which reminds me of some of my life philosophies:

Some things simply have a greater priority than everything else. 1) Doing number 1 and/or 2 before heading out and 2) Eating when you know you're going to get hungry. Whatever you're planning to do is just not worth it if you feel like you're going to be uncomfortable the whole time. It's probably better to go late, yes, even for exams.

Am I qualified to make such a statement? Heck yeah I am. 18 (almost 19 hell yeah!) years of life experience here with many stories of almost pissing myself and fainting from hunger.

Life stuff

So I've settled into uni life once again. Things are going smoothly, and I am not really running into any problems.

1) I ride my bike for an hour every day:

I ride for 30 minutes to and from Bridgeport every day. The ride is always great, with amazing scenery particularly during sunset. Great cardio, and and I feel energized and positive throughout the day. It'll suck once it starts raining though :(

2) I don't study at Irving:

In fact, I only go into Irving to take a piss in the washrooms. I hate that place. You can never find a seat anywhere unless you got buddies who are reserving them for you. People are everywhere. The air is like blankets. I need a study location with as few people around as possible, preferably private, but heck, I don't live on residence anymore.

-Compsci labs: I have no idea when they hold lab sessions, but when they don't, it's a fine place to sit around and finish off small bits of work while eating a snack or two.

-Marine Drive commonsblock: This place has two amazing study rooms that are rarely occupied by more than 5 people at a time, a massive chill lounge with comfy red sofas, and several small round tables for 2 that face the sunny outdoors. I have a great range of study environments to choose from, and so far they've all been absolutely quiet with no distractions from people walking in and out. I suspect this is because it's on the far far end of campus, and people would rather be within a 5 minute walking range from their classes. I got a bike on campus, but even if I walked, I would probably go here often.

-

One thing I'd like to do a bit more is talk to more people. Other than my friends that I visit weekly in their residences and sometimes run into in class, I really don't have an excuse to talk to new people. Oh, girl sitting next to me in compsci? Hi, what's up. My name is blah blah blah. Enjoying the class? Bye, sucks I'll never see you again (since the classes are so mofoing big).

Plus I usually go home straight away, cutting out chances to meet them through study groups (although I wouldn't go to them anyways, study groups suck).

Do I need to join a club or something? Bleh. I doubt I'd be wanting to get my social fix very often in a month or so when things really start to pick up. I'll set up a mirror on my table and talk to myself now.

First week of school!

I'd rate my first week of school an 8/10. Fairly fun week, and got to see a bunch of old friends - in fact, it was probably better than my first week in res from last year, even though I had a cool white roommate and went to an all ages AMS dance party with floormates.

I ended up staying late on campus Thursday, so I ended up scrambling to find a place to sleep. Thankfully, I had a friend living in some fancy 2 story house 5 minutes from Totem with spare beds that I could sleep in (one bed had some girl's period blood on it, gross). I woke up the next day feeling absolutely shitty, and it got worse throughout the day. When I visited my friend at Marine, my brain felt like it was about to cave in, so I took his Tylenol and slept on his bed for a good hour and a half. Skipped all classes that day. Ugh.


-BIKING!-

To bring myself back up after recovering, I decided to go for a bike ride to UBC from the south end of Richmond yesterday. No big deal, I thought, it's only 24km. Oh boy, I was in for a treat.

I recorded 6 short videos of me talking to myself (pretending to talk to an audience), so I could keep track of my location and time and eventually calculate my speed at each part of the trip. Here's one from on the Oak street bridge.
(lol at the thumbnail)

-35 minutes to get from home to Bridgeport, about the same time it takes by bus. Averaged 15km/h.
-Whopping 75 minutes to get from Bridgeport to UBC. Averaged a 12.5km/h (if I even calculated properly)

The numbers are a bit off because the distances and timing were a bit fuzzy, but the important bit is that it took 1 hour 50 minutes to complete the trip. Holy shizzles. In my defense, the hills by Pacific Spirit Park were absolutely killer.

The experience was amazing though, especially as my first long distance bike trip. Firstly, it felt like driving a car! I was pretty much cycling right beside fast moving cars,  had to follow street lights and signs (some I weren't sure about, was I supposed to stop by the red stop signs??), and give nearby cars turn signals using my left arm. Eventually, I got over my initial thoughts that the road was a dangerous place and just became a part of it.

Secondly, the sense of speed I had (when I wasn't pedalling uphill) was amazing - haven't felt that much adrenaline that since ziplining between mountains on Grouse. It was also quite dangerous, since my brakes weren't functioning perfectly and the tires were prone to skidding. I almost hit an Asian fob on the way through Aberdeen, but he looked like a douchebag and I almost with I hit him on the way.

I broke my bike's brakes as I was loading it onto the 99 later that day coming home. Great.



To do:

-Fix the damn brakes.
-Find a manageable way to bike to UBC. Probably bussing to Bridgeport and biking from there.
-If biking becomes a consistent method of transportation for me, invest in a road bike. My bike is categorized as a mountain bike, and is apparently inefficient on flat roads due to it's unnecessarily heavy mass, wide wheels, and suspension systems

September

Well finally the new school year has arrived.

I don't like being uncertain about things. I want all my events planned out well in advance, and I like to know exactly what's going to hit me. Unfortunately, the upcoming semester is shrouded in mystery. I have no idea what to expect. Will it be more or less the same as what I experienced first year? Will I get my ass handed to me on midterms and finals? Will I meet people who hate my guts for some reason? Who knows, but hell, the only thing I can do is just take it. Some things in life you just can't control.

Of course I want to do things outside of academics, but I gotta be realistic here. A 1.5 hour commute (maybe even 2 hours if I miss my goddamn 403 at Bridgeport at night) for each trip absolutely sucks. Why do I live on the south end of Richmond? I'll estimate that I can allocate a good 2 weekdays to doing 'fun' things at school. What will I do on those 2 days? I'm still in the process of deciding, but I'm thinking:

1) Toastmasters:
Sucks that the events are held so late on Wednesdays, so I'll have to get all my homework and lab prep done beforehand. I've only been to two meetings last year before I totally forgot about it, but I have a good idea of what to expect. Plus, I can be a full member now I will be 19 soon.

2) Swimming:
I didn't really take advantage of the free pool last year, probably because it was so darn far from Totem, but now that I don't have that excuse, I think I'll be heading in for a swim exactly once a week, for up to an hour at a time. I have a break from 3:30 to 5 on Tuesdays, so I'll squeeze it in there along with my dinner.
Jenn, maybe you can tell me how to build that insane swimming endurance you have??

Now as for studying, I will not have a lot of time at night to study. I'll be getting home at 5 on some days and 8 on other days. My classes generally start at noon or after, leaving me a bunch of free time in the mornings. I know my habits, and I am not productive in the mornings when it comes to academics.

2 solutions: I can try to change my slightly lazy morning habits, or I can just put in some non-academic thing to do in the mornings. I'm inclined to go with the latter, probably by hitting some weights. A buddy of mine wants to start going to the gym - a good thing, but I'm just a bit anxious about walking into a room with a bunch of veterans. In addition, I can also satisfy my gaming cravings. Borderlands 2 comes out in September, Assassins Creed comes out in October, and Halo 4 comes out in November - best to get them out of the way before my studying starts.

As for sleep, I think I'll push up my usual sleeping time from 10:30 to just before 11:30. I don't have a strong need to get up early in the morning, and I know from experience that my productivity levels spike after I eat dinner and shower, usually at around 7. It'd be best to keep the productivity streaks going rather than breaking them off early. Of course, my schedule would be a bit different when I'm sleeping over at friends' residences in my cozy sleeping bag (or in the dark compsci labs).

I wrote too much, and it's past bedtime.