Green Olive With A Red Top

DAP Golf Tournament

2006-09-16T02:18:00.000-04:00

UBC Sauder School of Business, Diploma in Accounting Program 1st Annual Golf Tournament

yup.....i entered myself in my first golf tournament........though the main purpose was to network network network with the CA's , CGA's, and CMA's that are going to be there.....and also it was only $50 for the first 32 students that registered...or else it will be $100..(yess..i was one of first 32 :D)..

Almost withdrew though, because my prof from Monday's class made today one of the makeup classes (since last monday was labour day)....but...couldn't resist golf and networking opportunities!

Since i've been back to Vancouver...didn't really play much golf...went to the driving range thrice and on the course once.......I think because of such long hiatus of not playing......i lost my swing.........it was horror when I shanked my first fairway wood shot (my usual best clubs too!) in the driving range..and made a LOUD BANG because the ball hit the ball dispensor for my stall.............yep......ever since that...i lost confidence...and i made the worse move possible----hitting a ball again right after....and yep---another SHANK!...ahh the forbidden S word in the golfing world.......then...i got freaked out..and didn't really continue to hit another fairway wood..and went back to my irons...which improved (thank goodness something went right)..

so after about a month of not touching a golf club (was busy)......i went to the driving range yesterday to prepare for the tourney........did my usualy iron shot routines....all good........then....i took out my 3 wood.....and yep..you guessed...SHANK!........HOLY MOLY!...I tried hitting it again (big mistake)...SHANK!...yup...i was freaking the heck out......it was either a shank...or the ball didn't go up in the air.......i could not hit the darn ball past 130 yard using my 3 wood!!!!!!!!.......OMG! and I tried everything that i can think of to fix my swing...but nothing worked!! I didn't get it!! fairway wood shots are usually my best shot!!!
so 3 buckets later.......nothing improved (except for irons)...instead.....i got a horrible blister on my right middle finger...for which the first layer of skin came off....and i twisted my hip........and my shoulders were all tensed and sore..NOT the best way to prepare for a tourney...

so the whole night i was freaking out...being really really nervous.....wished i didn't enter myself in the tournament...secretly wished the tournament would rained out....and truely believed that i was gonna SUCK.......

this morning...i woke up really sore...my raw skin on my finger was really hurting.....but i decided to stop by the driving range again and hit a bucket of balls..hopefully all of yesterday was just a nightmare....before i went..i read some of my old golf magazines..went on line and did some research about some drills and stuff.....went to the driving range.....and hit my fairway wood.....didn't shank...thank goodness.....i only did a 3/4 swing..thinking i should take baby steps at a time......couple of more shots...ball is getting in the air..woohoo!!!!....a couple more....ball is getting longer and straighter........then...SHANK!....omg, the devil is back......but this time...i sat down and rested after that.......got back up..and started the baby steps again.........finished the bucket hooking the drives the rest of the way.......thinking...oh well...at least its not a shank and it flew.......good enough...

got to McCleery Golf Club on SW Marine Drive...got my goodie bag (3 balls, some tees..and bunch of Accounting Firms sponsored pens/highlighters/playing cards/sunscreen/mint/gum/granola bar/food voucher for a sandwich/hot dog, drink and a chocolate bar..met my team members....one DAP student, one CGA (our team leader), and one KPMG recruiting manager (omg! am i suppose to play worse than her?)....but she was awesome!! she rented us golf carts too!!! wahahaha....

The tourney format was Texas Scramble....we were the first to tee off......no comment on my drive (it was NOT a shank at least tho)....but after my first tee jitters..i was pretty relaxed...i was able to joke around, asked lots of questions..and socialize.......some awesome moments during the round....my golf game picked up after 3 or 4 holes....made some crutial shots to help the team...my drive was coming along fine......it was a great round.....During the round...there was various men's/women's longest drive and closest to the pin holes too! oh during the round, my bandaid on my finger fell off...and i saw the 2nd layer of skin coming off..it was ..pretty gross

After the round, there were putting and chipping challenge....then we got to sit at the patio...enjoy some free drinks (alcohol included)...some snacks and networked more while we wait for the others to finish..

The reception dinner was good.....then it came to the time to annouce prizes and raffle draws.......though our team didn't win the top 3 team awards......I did won 2 individual awards...to my surprise...hee hee..

so..I am DAP 1st Annual Golf Tournament's Lady's Longest Drive Winner and Lady's Putting Challenge Winner..
AHAHAHAHAHAHA
the longest drive...hahaha...was due to the help of a cart path that bounced my ball nice and far..LOL....

anyways...the prizes were really good!! I got
2 full size nalgene bottles
1 sleeve of Nike golf balls
2 titelist golf balls with Saunder School of Business logo on it..
1 giant Wilson golf umbrella
1 golf towel
2 free admission to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden
1 free Day Pass to Vancouver Lookout
$75 gift certificate to Brix Restaurant (nice restaurant!) in downtown vancouver
$75 gift certificate to the McCleery Pro Shop

woo hoo!!!..the organizers told me that i got the best prizes...they said that the first place team prize only got free round of golf at UBC golf course and golf stuff..and stuffed animals :S..while the closest to the pin contest got stuffed animals and Deloitte backpack and golf stuff..

all in all...great day! (i even went to attend the last 30 min of my lecture after the dinner reception..yess...i'm a nerd)

will be back next year to defend my title!!! (Henry!!! you better be there!..)

kudos to DAP and DAP student club and the sponsors to make this event a success..i was REALLY surprised at how organized it is....

Long Time No Blog

2006-07-21T16:50:00.000-04:00

so..long time no blog ahh..
no time to blog la..so solly la...

*ahem* sorry...got my canto-accent back now that I'm back in Richmond... HA!

so...what has Ollie been up to since her departure from Toronto....

nothing..*sigh*

Went to UBC's DAP Accounting Career Workshop for two full days...the first thing they said was "Only 1/3 of you guys sitting here will become a CA"....geeze...great...thanks A LOT!~

Other than that..learned a lot....learned how to network...improved my interview skills and resume/cover letter...learned the difference between CA, CGA and CMA...and a little bit about how to write the CACEE forms....

But most importantly, got to network with tons and tons of CGA/CMA/CA professionals and companies and firms....so that was good..

hmm..what else have I done...

Started my first DAP class at UBC...commuting sucks......9:00am class means I get up at 6:30am...poo...fortunately, class is interesting enough so that I have yet fell asleep in class...wow..must be a personal record!

Taking Managing Information Systems...learning to use MS Access..buahahaha..already know how to use it thanks to my summer job last year at PricewaterhouseCoopers...go me......A+ here I come!

What else........
I think I saw more Toronto people than Vancouver ppl since Ive been back...thats...kinda sad.....well..not reallllyyyy true..but oh well :P Saw John, Jack and Dave...that was kinda cool...makes me kinda miss Toronto......I miss making weekly pocket money from other...j/k

Also went back to PwC and check out how my bosses are doing etc...brings back some good memories....felt like I never left..i miss the business professional atmosphere

What else.....
Saw Pirates of the Carribean II and The Devil Wears Prada..both great movies...highly recommended!!! <3 Depp and Streep

OH!..
Finally golfed at a course--Richmond Coutry Meadows (first time)...though only executive course...cause..I'm have no confidence with my drives right now after what happened when I went to the driving range for the first time in more than a year.....though my irons were pretty good...My uncle "lend" me his honma set....and WOW..soooo good...my iron shots were about 10-15 yards longer than when I used my own crappy RAM clubs.....muahaha....tho that kinda messed up my yardage play since I constantly over shooting the greens...arg
no comment on my short game (chip/pitch)..ie/ it bloooowwws

So...actually been quite busy...besides school...been taking on a side bookkeeping job and helping my mom with her new career....so been learning lots...which is good..
wish i have more social time tho :(

I have decided to take my DAP program over 2 years instead of 1....but I will be working part time as a bookkeeper....need to build up a good resume so I can get into a good CA firm when I apply next sept...it'll also give me time to make sure I get good grades...cause I think I'll burn out if i try to finish it in 1 year...

that's it for now..

as for my Europe Pictures...msg me if you want to see it..

Contiki Euro Grad Trip

2006-06-14T07:11:00.001-04:00

I'm back! And with a cold "Contiki Cough"! But yea, What-A-Trip! I had a blast! Saw soo much, met soo many great people, and had wayyy too much to drink.....*blush*

Let me start from the beginning..be prepared for a really really really long blog. Take your time, its okay...there's a lot to go over for my 2 week trip. Don't stop reading in the middle! Cause you might miss some awesome stuff that I did in the end!
Pictures to come later. Gotta sort through the 1000 picturs that I took..and resize it so I can upload it faster..

Went on a grad trip with a friend from May 28-June 12, 2006. We decided to do a Contiki trip because I heard so much good stuff about it. Its great since its only for 18-35 only, so most of the people there are recent graduates like me! No more travelling on tours with old people or families with little annoying kids!

It took us a while to decide on a tour as we had to factor in our schedule, price, places with visit etc. We ended up choosing a 12 Day tour called the European Horizon. It is a budget tour, meaning that we stayed in hostels and campsites (cabins) to minimize cost and maximize places to see. It apparently its the shortest tour they have that goes to the most location. Probably not such a good idea if you don't like sitting on the coach most of the time. But that was okay for us as we just wanted a taste of Europe, go to as many places as possible, decide which places we like, and then go there again in the future.

Anyways..

May 28- Depart Toronto
My Airline for the trip was Air Transat. Return flight was about $650 which was alright...other airlines are more expensive...so we opted for this smaller, chartered airline.

Let me just say this first. Never taking Air Transat again.

My flight was at like 9:45pm. Arrived at the gate, and they said that something wrong with some mechanical parts of the engine and they need to get a new plane. So the flight will be delayed for an hour and 45mins...AND, we had to change gate to all the way on the other side of the airport. Freakin was bored to death for that hour and 45 mins. Good thing I have my Sudoku and the latest Vanity issue because it has the oh-so-hot CNN's Anderson Cooper on it *drool* to keep me entertained. Anyways, I finally left Toronto just before midnight. The flight was about 6 hours.

May 29- Arrive in London, UK "LONDON BABY!"
Arrived at around noon at Gatwick Airport (Not Heathrow, the biggest one, partly the reason why the airfare was cheap). Freakin small crappy airport it is. I had to wait at the airport for 5 hours because I have to wait for my friend who's on another flight. So, I had to lug my luggage around (which by the way was huge and heavy even tho its only half full. Its my only luggage that's bigger than a carry on!! and the Frame is freakin heavy to begin with). Wondered around the shops for a while. Managed to cash a traveller's cheque when I got a drink so I have some British Pounds on me. Was so tempted to use internet at the airport. But boy, my friends weren't joking when they say to expect everything in London double the price of things in Canada! (My little bottle of juice was about 1.5 pounds...which is $3!!) Anyways, the internet was 1 pound for 10 lousy minutes. No way am I gonna pay $2 for 10 mins of internet......at least...not yet anyways :P So I continued to do my Sudoku's.

Oh yea..you can smoke in the airport. They have designated smoking rooms, but the room is not a room. Its just an area (an elevated stage with glass fencings up to my shoulder). And there are non-smoking seats right ouside the box. So you can still inhale strong second hand smoke if you are sitting at the non-smoking seats....freakin..useless smoking area.

Anyways, my friend finally arrived and we took a train (The Gatwick Express) to downtown London, and then took the Tube (London Underground) to our hostel (Astors Museum) for the night. More on the Tube later.

After checking in, we walked around the streets of London. Couldn't get used to fact that they drive on the other side of the street. Good thing they have painted signs on the ground at cross walks to tell you to "LOOK RIGHT" or "LOOK LEFT" instead of the opposites that i'm used to. OH, and some of their oldish buildings have a large door knob in the middle of the door that doesn't turn!

The hostel that I'm staying in was alright, except for the extremely sketchy screaky floors...and extremely hot showers. My gosh do they not have cold water to make the water warm?!?! Anyways, I guess I'm so spoiled by nice hotels that living in hostels was an interesting experience...my gosh even my Loretto rez was better! LOL. The people there were friendly tho.

May 30- Touring Around London
Forgot to mention that we arrived London early and will be staying in London for extra days after the tour to tour around London ourselves (Since our tour doesn't cover London, even though it starts and ends in London).

Anyways, woke up bright and early. First place we go...is off to Beckingham Palace (at 9:30am) to wait for the Changing of the Guard at 11:30am. After taking initial pictures of the guards in front of the palace, the palace itself and the surroundings...it got kinda bored....and we had to stay there for 2 hours to make sure we have a good spot to watch the changing of the guard. I actually didn't think changing of the guard would be special. I always thought that its just a couple of guards changing shifts, that's it. Boy was I wrong. Police were everywhere, on foot and horses when the time is near. Then you start hearing drum base coming from far away. Then you start seeing this parade of guards and guards marching band coming over from St. James Palace and other areas. They parade on the streets along with the music and finally entered the gates of the palace. Then there's this whole comomtion of routines etc inside the gates where they switch guards. Then the guards who were at the palace march out of the gates and parade to where ever they are suppose to guard next. This whole ceremony thing took almost an hour! Holy..and there's sooooo many tourists there watching this. They do this every day in the summer and every other day in the winter. Seriously what is the point. I really think all of this is just for show and for tourism. Apparently they do the same in Ottawa too.......weird..British..traditions..

After that, we checked out Westminister Abbey. The inside is much larger than the outside. I'm not big on religion, so basically all the churches/cathedrals are all the same to me. But this place is kinda cool. All the past famous royal people and some other famous historic people were buried right under the tourists feet, underneathe the floor of the building. Creepy. Then you got these tombs above ground with the a statue lying on the tomb where you see the statue's hand in praying position. You also get to see the Coronation chair..I thought that was kinda cool, even though its just a old wooden chair. I couldn't find Pricess Di and the Queen Mother's tomb tho....I thought they were buried there..but guess not..

After that, across the street, is the Parliment building with Big Ben, the gold/copper looking clock/bell tower. A quick picture with Big Ben and we are off to check out the London Eye, that big ferris wheel on the shores of the Thames River. We got tickets for the "flight" and had to wait in line for about 45mins before we can board. The flight was kinda cool. Get to see the whole London...took lots of pictures through the window. The whole flight was 30mins...which was a bit too long. It's one of those thing where once is enough. Wouldn't do it again. Costly too. The flight was about 13 pounds..which is $26 for a half hour ferris wheel ride. Blah.

Then we walked through Trafalgar Square along the river, took the Red double decker bus to Covent Garden where there's lots of shopping and where all the theatres are located. We puchased tickets to watch Les Miserables when we come back from the tour at Queen's Theater. Gotta expereince UK's famous West End Theatre shows!

We head back to our hostel and checked into the Royal National Hotel (included in our tour price) where we get to meet our tour mates along with our tour manager and driver at the Contiki meeting. Went through some stuff and we head back to our hotel to get ready for our 6am departure the next morning to officially begin our Contiki Experience! Woot!

May 31- Off to Amsterdam, The Netherlands!
After weighing our bags (had to be under 20kg), we loaded our bus and are off! Since its so early, most people slept right after we got on the bus. Took the ferry across the channel, saw the White Cliff at Dover on the ferry and then entered France. After the ferry, when everyone is finally awake and excited, is when our Tour Manager (TM) Glen started the introduction. BTW, our Driver's name is "Tyson with a T. Tyson. Like Mike Tyson". LOL. Glen had our names in a bag. And one by one, as our name got called, we had to go up to the front of the bus and introduce ourselves. Talk about where we are from and what we will be doing after Contiki. After we draw a name out of the bag, and we had to go sit at that person's chair. So in the end, everyone will be sitting at different seats so we can mingle with new people. Go me! The guy who ended up next to me is Mexican, don't know much English, took out his eye mask and went to sleep right away. okayyy...Good thing the guys behind me were nice enough to chat with me. LOL.

So..half of our 53 tour mates are either from South Africa or Austrailia. The other half consists those from Canada and US with one from Brazil and one from Mexico. Everyone is pretty cool. Except for 2 girls from Miami Florida *high pitch scream* "Spring Break Number Two! WooHoo" *roll eyes*. My gosh, those two girls are so loud the entire trip. Everywhere we go, everything we do, they both must go..in a loud pitchy party girl voice "OwOWWWWWWWwww" Everyone else rolls their eyes when they do that...lol.I think the one Canadian girl and the one south african girl who they befriend with on this tour gets annoyed too.

Anyways, we drove from France, past Belgium and into The Netherlands where we checked into a hostel/inn in Amsterdam!! We went on a boat cruise tour along with canals with all you can drink beer and wine. The scenary was beautiful. The group were partying it up with free drinks (well..not free...since we did pay for the tour)..and the cruise was blasting music along the canal. Too bad you can smoke on the cruise..cause the boat is an enclosed glass box! After the boat cruise, we checked out the Red Light District. That's right. I was at the Red Light District. Where all the "Coffee House" are *coughcough*, and the hookers and the naked girls standing behind the window in sex shops. Couldn't take any pictures cause Glen told us they would take our cameras away if we get caught. Anyways, some of us went to check out a Sex Show...and then went into "Coffee Houses" *coughcough*...lalala.

June 1- More of Amsterdam, then off to St. Goar/Rhine Valley, Germany
We get free time in the morning in Amsterdam. Glen took us to Gassan Diamonds to check out the Diamond exhibition. Then we have free time to check out whatever we want. Glen gave us a nice map of Amsterdam which showed us some attraction areas. Many of us decided to go check out the Anne Frank's House. We got there, but there was a huge line up, so we couldn't go in. Took pictures outside instead. Then we walked around Amsterdam, checked out the street scene, the markets and the shopping street. Saw a "Smart Shop" where they sell Magic Mushrooms. Went into a "Cafe" (a bar) and had some yummy Poffertjes, which is a plate of mini pancakes with butter and powdered sugar. Then, back on the bus, Glen treated us to some yummy Stroop Waffles. After a taste of Amsterdam, we are off to Germany!

The drive through Rhine Valley country side along with river was magnificent. Sooo beautiful. We arrived at St. Goar, a little town which is famous for a lot of things. More on this later. After dinner, we went off to a wine celler for some famous Rhine Valley wine tasting. We tasted 4 different shots of white wine. Each one is differ from when the grapes are harvested. The later the harvest, the sweeter the wine. We also got to try some of their expensive ice wine, which was delicious. So I bought a bottle..teehee....for my parents..of course :P

June 2- More of St. Goar, then off to Munich, Germany!
The morning we checked out the things that are famous in St. Goar. St. Goar is most famous for their beersteins, the cock-coo clocks, and teddy bears (where the first is made). Checked out their shops, bought some stuff...then we are off to Munich, Germany!

Because of the world cup, Munich was packed with tourists. We checked out the famous Glockenspeil, which is this old tradition city hall building with a clock on the top. Beneathe the clock is like cock-coo clock thingy with little statues of figures. Everyday at 5pm, the clock would sound, and the little figures would start moving along with music. Either doing dancing or sword fighting. The square in front of the building is also packed with tourists watching those figures move. Then we shopped around the place, checked out more churches....and then headed off to one of the best nights on tour for dinner. We went to a beerhall for 1L of beer and Pig Knuckles for dinner! It was awesome! The food was great, the beer was great, and the entertainment and performances were wonderful. Throughout the dinner, there's two old german guys dressed up in traditional german wear singing and playing instruments for us. From time to time, they would get everyone up, hold up our beer, and sing a prosting song (prost means cheers in German)...which goes something like this "I'm Prosting, I'm Prosting...*blahblahblah* I'm Prosting, I'm Prosting...*blah blah blah*...Eins, Zwei, Drei, Funf. PROST!". Then our group would do a prosting wave...where each table would get up and prost in a wave fashion...It was awesome. Then these german ladies in their german dress would come out and sing, dance and perform around our tables. then they would play the chicken dance song, and they grabbed some of the guys to dance with them. After everyone finished dinner, everyone would start getting up and dancing to the songs and stuff...or buy more beer (first one is "free"..additional ones cost 7 Euros)...It was such a fun night, it was great! Then Glen got drunk, and he rapped Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby on the bus on our way back to our hostel. It was hilarious. It's so great to have a fun and young (24) guy as our tour manager. I got the prosting song, prosting waves, and performances on video! At the hostel, there's a disco club underneathe which most of us headed afterwards. Good stuff...though I didn't stay long...haha

June 3- Off to Tyrol, Austria then Hofgarten, Austria
The morning we arrived at Tyrol, Austria, which again was a scenic drive along the country side. At Tyrol, half of us went to white river rafting while the other half got to walk around and look at the country side villages, the austrian alps and the river. It was beautiful. I didn't go white river rafting cause I can do that in BC. But that's okay, I got to enjoy the scenary and take lots of pictures! Besides, my big event is coming up in the afternoon!

then in the afternoon, we arrived at Hofgarten, Austria where our hostel is, in this little beautiful town in the middle of the alps. Needless to say, its magnificent. The afternoon have two concurrent events. Mountain bike ride on the alps...or....PARAGLIDING OVER THE AUSTRIAN ALPS. Obviously I pick the latter one, even though it costs more...but who cares! How many of you can say you paraglided over the Austrian Alps?! huh? huh? Only 10 of us went paragliding, and none of us regretted afterwards. Cause it was amazing. The view was breathtaking. And the tantum paragliding was sooo much fun! At the base, we each met our own tantem pilot. We got this gigantic bag that we have to carry, then we hopped on to a ski gondola to ride all the way to the top. On the way up, we had to sign our lives away on a piece of paper for company's insurance....that was a little freaky...but then it got scarier when I see how long the ride was and how high up we will be....then I got kinda nervous. Then I started to ask my instructor whether its 100% percent safe or not...and he just smiled and said "you'll be fine...I hope" *gulp*. At the top, we walked to an open sloping area. The instructors strapped us in and we had to carry this "seat" backpack. I don't know what's in it. I hope its a spare parachute...but the instructor said that its our "seat". Then the instuctors took out the parachute and lie across the field and got set up. Then we are strapped in with the instructor. One by one, the others ran off and flew away. I was standing there having butterflies.preparing myself to run fast. Cause one of the tourmate in front of us didn't run fast enough and fell..lol....anyways...when its my turn, my instructor counted down..and then "GO GO GO GO". I started running....or I thought I was running...My feet was moving..but it doesn't feel like i'm moving forward cause of the parachute drag slowing us down. Then the heel of my left shoe came off and I was like "oh crap! Please dont fall off please don't fall off". Before I know it, we were in the air..and my left shoe was dangling from my toe. I couldn't get it back on, so I had to squeeze my feet to make sure my shoe doesn't fall off. Anyways, the view from the top was wonderful. The flight was actually not scary at all.. i felt very comfortable and secured. I look down, I see other parachutes flying. Then one of them starting spinning out of control and is falling fast...and I was like OMG OMG OMG. Then, that parachute gained controlled again. Then, my instructor asked me if I like roller coasters. And I was like, heck yea! I love it!. Then he made a sharp turn and its my turn spinning really fast. It was so fast that I couldn't move my head. Its like a really really strong wind blowing my face. It was soooo much fun. Then I asked him to do it again without thinking about the consequence...nausea...LOL..As we get set for landing, we were flying above little houses..and I was like..I don't think we have enough air space to make it to the field...are we gonna land on the roof? My instructor just laughed, and told me to start running once we touch down. Just as we touched down..i started to run...or..I tried..but instead, I just fell on the ground...LOL....But yea, everyone said it was a blast, even though all of us were alittle bit dizzy...but it was totally worth it and I would definately do it again! The only thing that I was really mad at myself is that my camera battery went out just before our flight..I was sooo pissed off that I couldn't take any pictures while i'm flying! And I didn't ask for a photo package (where the instructor will carry a camera..) cause its expensive, and the sample pictures I saw are all close up pictures of ppl's nostrils while strapped in on the parachute..so I was like..no thanks. ARGG!! Which reminds me..I need to hunt down the person who did take pictures in the air...

Anyways, at dinner time, we had a yummy dinner..and guess who our servers were?..Glen and Tyson! They were dressed in Traditional Austrial clothing. Glen was a little boy...and Tyson was in a woman's clothing..it was hilarious!!

June 4- Off to Venice, Italy!
You know how you see these amazing places on TV or in the movies...you never really believe that those places existed as we are so used to the North American Scene. Well I was like that. When I see movies taking place in the european country side or in Venice...I never really truly believe that such place existed. Well seeing is believing...it was an eyeopener when we arrived in Venice. Our campsite/village is on the mainland we we had to take a small ferry across to Venice. As we approach, you just see all these old architecture and stuff..it was quite amazing (my gosh, i'm running out of adjectives...that or I need to sharpen up my vocabs). Then we got off the ferry, walked along the river...Glen gave us a quick tour, showed us the Bridge of Sighs, Dodges Palace, and St. Mark's Square. We also checked out a glass blowing demonstration and a Lace shop as Vence is famous for its hand made venetian lace. Glen talked about it on the bus, and since he's Austrailian. He kept on saying "Lice Shop. Venice is famous for its Venetian Lice" and I was like..what the heck? Lice? as in the little bug in your hair?..It wasn't until I asked my friend before I realized that its Lace. Then we told Glen about it and asked him to pronounce Lice, as in the bug. And he said, "Lice" with a bit of tongue manuvering...it was kinda funny. Then he started to murmur "you americans..Lace Lace..you americans" LOL> Then he gave us free time until our gondola ride. We walked around, took lots and lots of pictures, went to check out the market place, had some quick dinner and Gelato. Bought a bottle of wine, and hopped on to a gondola to enjoy our half hour ride along the canals. Our driver was funny. He whistled a little, sang alittle and chatted with us a little. Took lots of picture, but it's once again, one of those things where once is enough. Won't ever do it again. 20 Euros for a gondola ride. Its probably cheaper in Vegas. Then more free time after the ride before we had to catch a ferry back.

June 5- Off to Switzerland!
The drive up the mountain was windy (Not as in the blowing air..but meaning twist and turns) and we went thru many tunnels. According to Glen, Switzerland is a neutral country and have really strong military. Their tunnels are not straight to prevent enemy's from shooting straight and there are detnators in the tunnels controlled by the military. So.....not a good day on the bus as a couple of them puked....late night last night too i guess..lol..I didn't puke tho! go me! Our first stop was Lucerne where we saw this giant stone statue of a lion which is symbolic and tribute to the Swiss Army in the cliff. And saw this famous wooden bridge that I forgot the name of. Checked out a watch and swiss army knife shop where I got a Swiss Army Knife engraved with my name in clear blue and a Golf Tool :P. Then we are off to a village in the middle of the Swiss alps where we are staying tonight. It was beautiful. We were surrounded with mountains, trees and waterfall. Took lots of pictures. Funny how all the scenaries really all look the same...but just can't help ourselves from taking more and more pictures. Glen was right. He said that once we are in Switzerland, we would be taking pictures every 5 seconds. Which turned out to be true, especially the next day.

June 6- Off to Top of Europe!- Jungfrau Mountain, Switzerland
We took a train up the tallest mountain in Europe, with the highest train station in Europe and the highest post office in the world. The ride up was an hour and half. But once again, amazing scenary. It went from nice and green to beautiful and white.
Once we were up there, we checked out an Ice Palace, and went up to the top to check out the scenaries. Too bad it was a little foggy that day, so they said no dog sledding, ski/snowboarding and snowshoeing..which was a little bummer. But that's okay. I had fun anyways. It was especially nice to see all the South Africans and that one Brazilian playing in the snow since they have never seen snow before. They were soooo excited that they didn't mind getting wet or cold. It was funny yet nice to see. But yea..view was great...there was a glacier up there too...man...Now I understand why the Swiss Alps is so famous. Whistler is no comparison. Once we are back down to our village, we had a nice drink and play games sitting outside our cabins, in the mist of the mountains and the waterfall..underneathe the stars. I loved the mood.

June 7- Off to Paris, France!
Our last stop was Paris. After a long drive, we arrived in the evening. Glen gave us a quick night tour on the bus and showed us some of the key sights such as Notre Dame, Louvre, Where Napolean is buried, Arc de Triumphe, Champs Elysee's (the expensive famous shopping street) etc, and of course, the Eiffle Tower. There's just so much to see. And everyone on the bus was taking pictures. It was a little shaky on the bus so I gave up taking pictures (Since we will be seeing most of it tomorrow anyways)..I instead took videos..which was much better...Oh yea...quick note about the Arc de Triumphe. There's 12 streets merging towards this circle, and the traffic was crazy as there's like no lights. According to Glen, last year, on average, there's an accident every 6 mins. After he said that, everyone put on their seat belts (yes, there's seat belts on the bus..its the law) because we were about to enter the circle. Tyson almost hit a motorcycle...but after a lap around, we made it out! Then everyone on the bus was cheering and shouting "Tyson! Tyson!"

June 8- Day in Paris
Morning of Paris was not fun..I got really sick on the bus...not because of car sick..but something else...so I was not in the mood in the morning. When we arrived at the Eiffle Tower to get ready to take a group photo..I was not in the mood..and was glad that I didn't buy the group photo cause I looked really sick....but yea..after that...I felt better...and we all went up the Eiffle Tower. We could only go to the 2nd highest level since the top level was overcrowded. That's okay, the view was amazing none the less. Then I went across the Tower to take more photos. Get to see clearly the symmetry of Paris. Then I tracked down along the river, took many pictures on the way and headed to the Louvre. I did an art project in highschool on this, so I was extremely excited to see the Louvre. Once again, the symmetry is in effect, and there's an arc at the Louvre too. Standing under the arc, you can see far away, the Arc de Triumphe..I thought that was really cool. And if you stand under the Arc de Triumphe, you can see another ARc in the busniess district even further away from the Louvre. So basically there's three arcs in a line separated by a large distance. And there's no buildings or trees in the way of the three arcs too! I thought that's prettty neat. Took many pictures, went underneathe the glass pyramid. Too bad I don't have time to go in and check out the Mona Lisa as I want to check out some other sites too. But yea..1 day in Paris is definately not enough. Oh well. After the Louvre, I went to the Notre Dame. Seriously, all cathedrals look the same! Then after that, we went back to our campsite so we can change for our farewell dinner tonight. We went to this nice French restaurant with singing entertainment. We had White Wine with Black Current as a starter wine. Then a choice of Salad, Escargos, or French Onion Soup with Grilled Cheese as appetizer..I chose the Soup since I had Escargos the day before. The soup was amazing btw..so good!..The entre was a choice between steak, duck or fish. I had the duck...which tasted like chicken. Then we had a nice dessert cake which was good too. There's also a bottle of white wine and a bottle of red wine on our table. And the waiter was funny..I asked for some water cause their wine was super dry. And the waiter was like "no water, you got wine"...LOL...and he kept on giving us more wine!..We still had like half a bottle left for each type of wine and he gave us another bottle of each!! After we finished eating, I had to snug out a bottle of white wine for everyone cause we werent sure if we can take them home..LOL...(the others made me! I swear!)...After dinner, other went to check out a Caberet show...while the rest of us walked around the red light district of Paris. I didn't go check out the Caberet show..so I went with the rest. We finished the bottle of wine that we snuggled out on the streets...then headed for a pub for more drinking!..omg..I think I had a bottle and half of wine that night...it was crazy....and a lot of fun. But the wine was soooo dry...it made my throat really scratchy....which led to a cough the next morning.....:P

June 9- Back to London. Goodbye Contiki :(
Yea..and the cough turned into a cold. Good thing it was the last day of the tour. After saying goodbye to some of the people who are staying in Paris or leaving via Paris airport, the rest of us were off to London. On the way in France, we saw Summons, the famous battle ground and checked out Vimmy Ridge. For those history buffs, remember we learned about it in history in highschool. Its the site where Canadian won their greatest battle in world war I using Trench Warfare. We got to check out the trenches and see how the grounds are all shaped with tiny hills and bumps because of the bombs and stuff. It was quite cool. In addition, since Canadians saved the French, the French gave Vimmy Ridge to Canada as a thank you gesture. So for a short while, I was in Canada!

Once we were back to London...we had to say goodbye to many of the people that I befriended within these two weeks..It was kinda sad..but I got their contact info. Next time if I visit South Africa or Australia, I would have someone to guide me....lol..

I had an awesome time on Contiki. I would definately recommend to everyone between age 18-35 (yes..there are a couple of 35 years old..and they were hip and cool!)...I mean, backpacking on yourself is cool too..but if you don't want to plan everything or want to meet some new people, experience some unique culture at each location, party like crazy every night (you don't have to), definately check out Contiki. A lot of the events, like white water rafting, paragliding, beerhall dinner, farewell dinner, caberet etc are optional. So you don't have to do everything if its not for you. Instead, you can use that free time to check out the place even more. In addition, this tour is different than other tours that Ive been on because it give us free time. At each location, they'll give us a quick tour and then give us a map and let us off on our own. So you get to see places that you want to see...and don't have to follow the group around....and no more this "sleep on bus, pee off the bus" type of tour where they only give you 10-30mins at each stop which is mostly spent lining up for the washroom. If you don't like sitting on the bus all day...and want more time at each location, Contiki have like tons and tons and TONS of different tours to choose from...I happened to chose one that sees the most places in short amount of time. You can choose tours that are longer or are more confined in its locations. There are also superior tours if living in hostels and cabins are not your thing..but its obviously a little more pricy. Check out their website for more info..I would definately do this tour again in a few years. I would like to check out the Scandanevias (Sweden, Finland, Denmark) or the Mediterraneans (Greece, Turkey, Rome, etc)...so let me know if you are interested too!!
oh..and the bus is not bad at all..very comfy and modern. I actually didn't minded at all...which is a surprise..I think its cause now that I wear my Sea-Band..i no longer get car sick! In addition, the bus is always blasting music (when everyone's awake) and nice soft music like Jack Johnson when people are sleeping. Contiki also have a day song for each tour. Which is a song that we play every morning on the bus. Our day song was Holy Grail by Hunters and Collectors. Great Song. So every morning we will sing along to the song...then after the song...Glen always played Mr. Brightside by The Killers...so it became our unofficial day song. On the last day, when we knew it will be the last time playing it..Glen cranked up and everyone on the bus was rockin'...it was great!

June 10- Touring in London Part 2
We are staying at Pickwick Hall for the 3 extra nights we are staying in London. Today, we went to check out the Tower of London where we followed a Yeoman Warder Tour to learn about the towers and hear stories about executions and tortures etc happened long long ago. Saw the Crown Jewel, some crazy torturing devices and witnessed gun firing along the river because its Prince Philips 69th birthday (i think) that day...so that was kinda cool.. Then we checked out the London Bridge, before we head off to Covent Garden for shopping and waiting for Les Miserables to start.

the musical was amazing. The singing was beautiful and the songs were awesome. The rotating stage was really cool too. After that..I got obsessed..and yesterday I rented the 98 movie with Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman and Claire Danes so I can fully understand the story line.

June 11- British Museum
Today we check out the British Museum...Now I'm not big on museums. I don't like artifacts much..I prefer art galleries or art museums..especially more contemporary ones....but hey..I'm in London..gotta check out the British Museum. Well..many said that you need more than a day to go through the Museum. well..me and my friend finished in in less than 4 hours...LOL....So afterwards...we didn't know what to do...so decided to head back to our hostel and rest and pack....since i was still sick..

June 12- Bye Bye Europe, Hello Toronto
I have a 11:45am flight...so that means we have to leave our hostel at 8. We hulled our luggage to take the Tube...holy cow...I am not impressed..so many stairs in the tube...not wheel chair accessible at all...my arms were about to fall off...but I made it....After the train ride, we were back at the Gatwick Airport. Seemed like yesterday was only the first day I was there...yet Contiki felt such long ago. Anyways....you know how I said I will not take AirTransat again? well guess what. My flight got delayed..AGAIN!..This time for 45 mins. Reason? Cause the crew got stuck in traffic in downtown London. Funny how all the passengers arrived early and none of them were late..ARGGG...After a 7.5 hour flight..I was back in Toronto...ahh 2nd home sweet home. It was a great 2 week trip..but I was ready to go home...

Now...in a week, my mom and my sister will be coming over for my Convocation on June 22nd...then I will leave Toronto for good and head back Richmond....and start my DAP program in UBC July 1st...

sorry about this long post...but I figure its been such long time since my last post.....gotta make it up to it right?

Pictures to come later

Mt. Tremblant Ski Trip

2006-03-16T23:51:00.000-05:00

long time no blog...so a long one to make up for it!! There's pictures at the end!

Anyways, during the reading week (feb 23-26), Dave, Curtis, Ka Shek, Michelle and I had a road trip down to Quebec's Mount Tremblant (Canada's 2nd best ski resort, after Whistler/Blackhomb of course) for ski/snowboard. We rented a car, bought LOTS of food (thanks to the $1 sale at No Frills) and drove down to Montreal and then Mt. Tremblant. That's about 6 hours drive....thank gooodness I got my trusty no-carsick wrist band! We had an awesome time.

Thursday was basically a day full of driving....though it was prettty eventful. Let's see.....oh yea! We..correction, Curtis, got a speeding ticket for driving 120 on a freeway....now, NORMALLY police would let you go...BUT, the idiot that Curtis is (:P), did not decide to slow down...Cause at first, the police just sort of followed us...he didn't put on the siren or turn on the light...so we figured it was okay to drive at 120...so for about 5 to 10 minutes, the police was behind us the entire time, while we drove at 120. Dave thought it was funny and he pulled out the camcorder and started to film the police, but just then, the police turned on the light and pulled us over and gave us a ticket.....basically, the police said that because we were still driving at 120 even with the police right behind us, he just HAD to give us a ticket...or else he would have let us go if we had slowed down.....so yea...SLOW DOWN IF YOU SEE A POLICE!

We first stopped at downtown Montreal....semi-check out McGill campus...and just walked around...guess what! There's an Eaton's Centre in Montreal too! Anyways, after a short stop, we head to Mount Tremblant, which was suppose to be about one hour drive....except we got super lost and didn't get there until almost three hours later.....we blamed Map Quest for that.....we also spent a good half hour trying to find our lodge...the first one we stopped at..was apparently the wrong one...Cause when we asked the front desk, they were like "oh, your lodge is only 4 star....our lodge is 4 ++++++ stars"...o..kayy...

All of us stayed in one suite in Lodge de la Montagne...with fireplace, kitchen, couches and everything. AND its like one minute walk from the gondola! woot! After having lasagna and salad, we just checked out the village (even though its closed) and watched some movie.

The next day is ski/snowboard day!!! Now...I havn't really ski or snowboard since first year when I skied and snowboard for the first time at Blue Mountain (i know, so sad eh? Being from Vancouver and all)...ANYWAYS, I didn't want to embarass myself on this ski trip, so just a few days before, I went to Centennial PARK with James and Connie to practice skiing....holy freak...the first time going down that hill was heck scary! Though I did not fall at all!..Actually, that's not true...I fell on that stupid T-bar thingy that suppose to take us up the hill....got mud all over my jacket and I can't wash it off :cry:!!!! Anyways, back to Tremblant...after I got my skis...we took the 9minute gondola up to the very top.....and because I forgot my wrist band..i got gondola sick @_@!--!..Anyways, when we were on the very top...it was super duper cold and windy...holy freakin....did not help when I didn't have any goggles.....anyways, because its the first run..my friends were nice enough to accompany me (the lone beginner...oh why did I get myself into this the first place) down the green run.....HOLY FREAKING IT WAS FREAKIN SCARY!!! GREEN RUN MY ARSE! Not only could I not stop, but there are sooo many people...and since I havn't mastered turns...I just snowplow straight down......yelling and shouting "GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!" (almost bumped into a little girl too)......yea.......I think throughout that...my friends tried to stay far away from me....hahahaha.....and every once a while, when I finally stopped because the hill levelled off...takes me about 5 mins to mentally prepare myself before I start up again....But, I made it down safely.......but took us a good 45 mins....my favourite part of the track was....the flat part where u have to do the cross contry ski style...(sorry to my snowboarding friends..haha).....Anyways, I felt better after two or three more runs......but at least I didn't wipe out!! woot!! Go me!...well I DID fell....twice...but once was cause I got stuck in the snow (it was too fluffy and the snow got to deep), and then 2nd time was I tripped over my poles while standing.......other than that...I survived!! But, that day..I only went down the same green track five times...and I did not dare to try other green tracks...but hey, at least I improved from 45mins to only needing 15mins!

That night, me, Curtis and Ka Shek checked out the N'Ice Club...which is a club/bar entirely made out of ice! Even the shot glasses!! From our admission, we get a drink...I got some lychee vodka stuff..it was good! When we went at 12am..there was a DJ there...and quite a few ppl were dancing...it was pretty cool, and it wasn't that cold inside too!

The next day, I opt out ski/snowboard...I figured one day of putting my life on the line was enough.......so while the rest went to ski/snowboard their double black diamond runs...I walked around the village and shopped....(when I was up at whistler, I LOVED the village)....too bad Mt. Tremblant does not compare.......with about an hour left before I meet up with the rest of the group...I watched the olympics in the 4 +++ hotel's library...on a leather couch next to a big fireplace....Got to watch Apollo Anton Ohno win gold for USA in short track!! Woot! *heart*

That night, we drove back down to Montreal to stay one night...we checked into the Hilton...they had a really cool outdoor pool! We walked around...had a nice dinner.....while Curtis and Ka Shek checked out strip clubs..the rest of us went back to the hotel and slept...sooo tired.!! OH!! the hotel room was cool! There's a speaker on the ceiling of the washroom that's connected to the TV outside!! So you can listen to TV while you are in the washroom!! how cool is that!

On sunday, after a long walk to find a place to eat breakfast...we drove around Montreal, stopped by Eaton's again to shop..and ate "world famous poutin" at Ben's...apparently that place is super famous and they even deliver to celebrities via airplanes!! When we got there, it looked kinda shady and very old school diner like...with the old waiters dressed in tux...we ordered their poutine with bits of Montreal smoke meat on top...it was alllrriiighttt.....but I was never a poutin fan anyways.....after that...we drove back to Toronto.......had all you can eat hotpot....and sadly ended our trip :(

I had tons of fun tho~! And the entire trip didn't cost a lot either! Since all of us stayed in the same suite, we were able to afford more expensive and luxurious suites at Tremblant and in Montreal....we got discount for Hilton and for lift tickets...and we got food at the $1 sale in No Frills...we had tons of free mcflurry coupons...and we had walky talkies..so don't even need to spend long distance! so in the end, we spent less than some of the organized skip trips to Tremblant by all sorts of student societies..AND, we were there more days than they were...muahahahaha sucker!

wow..super long post..sorry...but now, picture time!

A View From The Top

At The Base Of The Runs

The N'Ice Club

Ka Shek, Dave and Michelle

The Upper Village

Dave & Maple Candy On Snow

Paranoma View From The Top (Photo Stitched)

Paranoma View From The Bottom (Photo Stitched)

Sorry about the size..you can click for a larger size..but all photos has been reduced to ease the upload...photo credit goes to Cutis and Me

Good Times, Thanks!

Brass Rail

2006-02-18T16:09:00.000-05:00

yep...that is indeed the name of the Strip Club in Downtown Toronto at Yonge and Charles. The strip club that's famous for its large display sign (see image below..don't worry, none of them are nude)...the strip club that many celebrity goes too (including Chad Michael Murray)...

yep, yesterday night, me and a bunch of friends (3 girls and 6 guys)...decided to go to the Brass Rail Tavern because us girls were curious :P It was definately an interesting experience.

Each stripper dances to three songs. First one is just a dance, no clothes removed...second song is when they remove either top or bottom piece...and the third song they remove all clothing..... There are various kinds of girls....skinny ones, some what chubby ones, flat chested, huge chested, older ones, african american, caucasian, and even oriental! The best one we saw that night was for sure the oriental one...her name was Dosha. She was awesome, and all of us agreed.... You see, every other stripper danced like they were bored and that stripping was just their job... I was bored watching them.... But Dosha, man...she was upbeat, she danced awesome, she was smiling, singing along to the songs, interacted with the audeinces, beautiful, and has a great body. She caught everyone's attention in the audience...yielding the most "WOOOOOOO's" ...

The strip club is dark with strobe lights, with waitresses (stripper wannabes), good looking bartenders and bouncers, a stripper on stage, and the other strippers in their panties on the floor interacting with the audiences.....the place was filled with guys...with odd female or two (who doesn't work there). Most of the guys there are old and ugly....and a few old Mainland chinese ppl that you can tell right away that they are probably math phDs...some younger guys by themselves are there too....Occasionally, you would see a stripper holding a guy's hand and walked off...it means that they are heading to a private room for a private lap dance...hehehe...

Curtis bought many of us drinks (the club is no cover, but we had to buy drinks..but holy..a Canadian beer costs $8.50)... throughout the whole night, we all wanted to chip in to buy a lapdance for Chris (standard $20).... when Curtis ordered one, Chris took off before we can say "lapdance"...so Neil took it..and went to a private room....... He came back with a huge smile on his face...hahahaha

Afterwards we had dinner across the street at Zyng...t'was good. It was a fun and interesting night....and afterwards, all of us girls agreed that we wouldn't mind going back again..

hahahaha

but yay! I popped my Strip Club cherry!..

Reading week! wooot! But have several assignments :(......but gonna go off to Montreal and Mount Tremblant next friday for a few days! woot! ..But need to learn how to ski fast....anyone got Skiing for Dummies that I can borrow?

New York and New Years

2006-01-03T20:08:00.000-05:00

alright..this is gonna be a long post....but it'll be full of photos...and I promise I'll post a picture of me without my face being blocked out by Pucca...hehe

anyways, most of you know that I did not go back to BC this winter...instead went on the ROCSAUT New York Trip with a few friends for three nights and four days......I had a blast since I havn't been to New York in more than five years...so I was really looking forward to this trip..especially to see Ground Zero...more on this later

Dec. 27th, 05
Woke up at like 4:30am to get ready to catch our tour bus in front of Con Hall at 7am. Freakin James C and Connie were late so we ended up sitting near the back of the bus...(bad for me since i get really bad bus sick. Good thing I had my trusty Sea Bands to help me). Anyways, day one was uneventful since the whole day was spent on the bus travelling down to New Jersey. Slept, watched Korean drama and Taiwanese "fun" talk shows until we arrived at Wellesley Inn (no relation to where i live now) in New Jersey. At night, played mahjiang......kicked ppl's butts...muahahaha...nah..not really :P...

bedmate was annoying as heck tho ....kept on taking my blanket and kicking me....and i was forced to sleep on the very edge of the bed because someone had to make some room for someone's gazillion stuff animals...

i had to share my bed with these two stupid creatures...Totoro is photographed in front of the lake in central park...and the ugly monkey is pictured in front of Ground Zero

Dec 28th, 05
Woke up bright and early.....earliest among my roomies......had yummy waffles topped with strawberry sauce for breakfast...yum...i like making my own waffles..

Anyways, our first stop in the Big Apple was Central Park....walked around, took some pictures, saw the Shakespearean statues and then headed off to the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Even tho I have been to NY before, I have never been to Central Park or the MET. So I was pretty excited.

A Group Photo Taken On A Bridge In Central Park...There..I didn't block out my face...so you can see me if you look very hard...

Metropolitan Museum of Art

I have been wanting to go to MET since GRADE SIX...for those who were in my grade 6 class...should remember a novel we read, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler. Till this day, it is still one of my favourite book because I was fascinated by the MET (where the book took place). Though I have not read the book since, I still remember many of the places that the novel mentioned.....and of course...just had to take pictures......Too bad that the museum is sooooo freakin big.....after carefully observing the first floor, we quickly walked through the second floor, and then gave up the third floor. Though we still had time, me, John, William, James S. decided to leave MET and walk around the streets instead.......

We wanted to find a cafe shop and sit...but who knew that every single freaking cafe shop was filled with ppl and we couldn't find a place to sit..........so we decided to take the subway down to Grand Central Station...where we took more pictures...but seriously, i think all the Main train station in the large cities look the same (Union Stations in Washington DC and Toronto)...but anyways.....then we walked...and saw a three level Micky D..and decided to finally go in and sat down....had to track all the way to the third floor to find a table...freakin......

Grand Central Station

New York Public Library

Then we walked down to NY Public Library...that's right..the same one that was featured in the movie The Day After Tomorrow. We got to go inside and take more photos....what an amazing place..............After that, we walked along 5th Ave to get back to the meeting place to meet with the rest of ROCSAUT peeps....on the way, in front of the Rockerfella Centre, and Saks 5th Ave...was PACKED with ppl....took us literally 10 mins to gain like 5 metre.....holy moly....

Sak's 5th Avenue...the snowfakes would also blink along with music blasted out of the building......

When we finally have the whole ROCSAUT group, we walked back to the Rockerfella Centre to take a group photo of the largest Christmas Tree in the World........

Group photo taken in front of the xmas tree at Rockerfeller Centre (Pucca wants to make an appearance..so..yea...i'm blocked)

There, another photo of me..with Yao Ming at the NBA Store on 5th Ave.

YOU'RE FIRED! At the Trump Tower on 5th Ave, where fired contestants walked out on the Apprentice

then...walked down to Empire State Building to begin the most dreadful part of the day. By the time we got there, it was around 7pm....after a full day of walking..EVERYONE's feet were hurting...NOT sore, but hurting like there's a bruise on the sole of the feet.....To make matter worse, we had to stand in line for an hour and half to get to the top of the building....that..was pretty painful...Once we were up there...i made a quick lap around the observatory deck...and then sat down against the window .......too tired to take any pictures....so i figure i'll just bum pictures off other ppl....hehehe

Empire State Building

Anyways, it was an amazing feeling once we were back to the hotel and got to lie on the bed....but of course, the gambling addict that I am....got up quickly when MahhJiangg was mentioned....hehehehe

Dec. 29th, 05
Ground Zero

Today the first stop was Ground Zero. Now, the previous day I have uploaded my photos onto Connie's crappular iMac....but when we got to Ground Zero, and I tried to take some pictures, for some reason, my memory card did not work..saying that it's not initialized...I couldn't even format it with my camera...now this have never happened to me before........AND WHY DOES IT HAVE TO HAPPEN WHEN I WAS AT GROUND ZERO.....and since it was raining that day...the group only spent like 5 measly minute at the site...so by the time I finally fixed my memory card (using James' camera to format the card)...we had to leave...I was..pretty upset.......since Ground Zero was the ONE place that I HAD to visit during this trip (yes, even before MET).....as 911 was an extremely big event that hit me.........so yea......after one or two quick pictures..i was forced to leave........

Wall Street

We walked down to Wall street...but I was not in the mood...took some pictures..but most of them turned out to be shaky...meh...been there already..so it was ok..

Then we got back to the bus..and I was calmer..........we then arrived at the Cruise dock...for a three hour cruise around the island and to see Statue of Liberty.....since I been on the cruise before, and seen the Statue.....and because it was raining and pretty pricy..I decided to skip the event....instead, I visited the near by Air and Sea Military Museum (Inside and on the Intrepid, an Aircraft Carrier that was hit by two Japanese Kamakazies during..WW..I(?) and survived.........it was pretty cool, though it's not an area that i'm particularly interested in...but it's still cool to see all the crazy combat planes....but the best part of that museum was this section devoted to the victims and the brave firefighters/police in the 911 incident.....:cry:

The 911 Display at the Museum

Deck of the Aircraft Carrier

After the cruise group finish, we were suppose to go to Soho...I never been to that place, and didn't know what it was...I have always thought Soho was a huge department store...but I think it's because I got mixed up between SoHo and SoGo (a large department store in Taiwan)....but anyways, I think because of traffic and time restraints, we didn't end up going to Soho...instead..we stopped by this.public market/mall place to shop...which had some pirate-like boats in front of the harbour.........the place also had some very nice views of the city line along the shore and the Brooklyn Bridge.........so got to take more night time pictures..so that was nice..

Group Photo In Front of the Cool Looking Boats at the Pier

Brooklyn Bridge Night Scene

Time Square

After that, we went to our final Big Apple desination...Time Square.....lots of police and construction there tho..but I think they were getting ready for New Years Countdown....took lots of pictures...shopped...got CONed into buying someone a christmas present.......and ate dinner at this Japanese fast food restaurant that SOMEONE recommended...but...it..was not that good...I think i prefer those Jap places in mall food courts better......

Oh look what i found at Time Square- A Restaurant Named After Me!! Though it was a little run down and...was somewhat empty :(

That basically concluded our trip to New York City

Dec. 30th, 05
Today is shopping day. We stopped by Woodbury Outlet Mall for four hours to shop till we drop...with only 8% tax..and stores displaying signs of 50-75% off....I thought I was going to empty out my wallet...but I knew I didn't really have much to buy....so I ended up only spending around 80 bucks......oh well....the mall was huge tho....it's an outdoor mall..so that was kinda cool...and the stores ranged fromt he regular Banana Republic, Nike, Addidas, to Puma, FCUK, Chanel, Lacoste..and even outlet stores for Gucci and Versace.....didn't know those super expensive brands would have an outlet stores too....that was cool...

after shopping..was another long bus ride back home to Toronto...arrived at Con Hall at 12am...said my goodbyes to all the old and new friends.....and stepped out of the bus...HOLY SMOKES...SO FREAKING COLD....

yup..so that concluded my trip....time went by fast..but i had a blast...thanks guys

Dec. 31st, 05
Woke up bright and early to accompany David, Wayne and Kevin (my highschool friends) to CN Tower......because they want to buy stuff....then, while we waited for Megan for lunch..we played Bridge at CN Tower (now that's something you don't do everyday)....i finally learned how to play bridge!! so that was fun..

Then went to Richtree/Marche at BCE place for lunch....heard so much about the place, but I have never been....so it was a pretty cool experience...

Me, Kevin, David and Wayne at Richtree- Mini RHS Reunion

After saying bye to the guys......I headed home and got ready to go meet some more ppl to go down to Niagara Falls for New Year Countdown..

We drove down to Niagara....and arrived there around 10:30pm......sooo many ppl there.......correction..soooo many drunk ppl there....anyways, we stood by the falls...and waited for the countdown...........but there wasn't any......well...there wasn't any verbal countdowns at least...all I saw was this light going up the Niagara tower or whatever the name is....

The Light Thingy Going Up The Tower With Ten Seconds To Go (It's NOT The CN Tower)

Jan. 1st, 2006 00:00:00
...and then it burst into fireworks...though due to thick fog..we couldn't see much...........then....at the lake....another set of fireworks started.....the view was much better...and everyone was cheering and celebrating....I took lots of pix......it was fun tho..

Fireworks at Niagara (Not the best picture of the fireworks..but its the only one where you can kind of see the Niagara falls off bottom right...and the sign...just to prove that I was at Niagara)

Then we tracked down to Casino Niagara............hanged around there for a couple of hours....lots of drunk ppl there that likes to hump random strangers..or give strangers high fives.....

I hugged a drunk stranger :S....he was cute tho...hehehe............Didn't get to gamble...but watched Joe turned two $25 chips into $225 in one round of roulette....what a lucky bastard...

Anyways, I think this post is long enough to last a couple of weeks

Happy New Year Everyone...May 2006 be even better than 2005!

Parties Galore

2005-12-25T22:05:00.000-05:00

so..final exams are finally done...found out what I got for anatomy....not..very...pretty.. :'(

anyways...lots of stuff happened over the last few weeks..so i'll just do a quick run down before I leave for New York

Friday 9th- UTBC End of The Year Dinner

Went to Kuni for all you can eat japanese....yum....lots of ppl showed up for such a short notice! it was awesome. Can't wait to get back on to the courts next year!

Friday 16th- John's Going Away Surprise Party

Thanks Mari, Xing, Kelsey, Jack for making us delicious dinner!!! Surprise party went great..i think...even though we were all stuck in Xing's bedroom....hahaha

we sang a song for John too!! modified lyric from Vitamin C's Graduation. But yea...I think most of us needed A LOT more practice....didn't..sound very well...haha oh well....I think John was pretty surprised...hope you like your badminton shoes!! Best of luck in Vancouver!! When I get back in the summer, we can meet up and play poker and badminton!!

oh yea...lots of messed up stuff went on that night....picture this: Four Men On a Double Bed. Nuff Said.

As per usual, no pics of me on this blog..sowie

Saturday 17th- Siuki's Xmas Shindig

yea.stupid siuki!! I still had an exam too!! But I wasted the entire day helping him make the turkey and cleaning up..and then had to help host the party.....blah......lots of ppl showed up..so that's good....Secret Santa was HILARIOUS!!!!...Cyrus! Hope you ENJOY the present that you got!! MUAHAHAHAHHAHA!! Oh, and movie charade was awesome too...played till like 3 or 4 am...crazy...so much for studying..

20lb beast.....all gone in less than an hour...Turkey Chinese style! Stuffed with Fried Rice

Our sad little christmas tree with no decorations...lol

Monday 19th- Sugar Cane Attack!

yea..james and connie bought an entire stick of sugar cane..and they showed up at my place unannounced because they want to eat it and mess up my apartment.......after a little bit of kung fu show down with the 7-foot sugar cane...we ate it...our jaws hurt in the end cause there's so much chewing....made a mess too...ARGGG

Wednesday 21st- BIOME End of the Term Pubnight at Madison Pub

Met lots of new ppl, so that was cool....Gary's back from California..so it was nice seeing him again....didn't drink since I couldn't stay long......oh well...it was funny watching certain ppl getting drunk tho!

Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th- Hot Pot!

yep! Some of the Richmond High Taiwanese Alumni gathered together to have hot pot at my place...since we got so much food...we decided to have hot pot again the next day...hahaha..oh..and made really yummy papaya milk smoothie with tapioca too!! yum!

and now....kevin and wayne are here in TO from VanCity...have to show them around tomorrow...and maybe i'll do a little bit of boxing day shopping too..but i have nothing to buy...hmm..

then...Tuesday...off to New York! Woot!

Merry Christmas everyone

Screwed

2005-12-04T13:25:00.000-05:00

ok, the words "STRIP POKER" on my msn is getting some raised eyebrows from some of my friends...so..that means, time to update!!

I was gonna make a strip poker 2 blog, complete with pictures, but school work got the best of me...so blame my courses!

yep..this coming two weeks is gonna me heck! It's probably gonna be my busiest week thru out my UT life...and..yet...i'm still here blogging *sigh*

Tuesday- ANA300 Written Exam 15% :Screwed:
- ZOO328 1250word Home Assignment 12% :done!:

Friday- ANA300 Practical Bell Ringer Exam 15% :Screwed:
- GGR451 Term Paper 40% (omg!!! Never have I had a project/essay worth that much) :Screwed:
- JFG475 Term Project 30% :Screwed:

NextTuesday- GGR343 Final Exam 35% :Screwed:
- ZOO375 Final Exam 50% (omg!! Never have I had a final exam worth that much) :Screwed:

Next Next Monday- ZOO328 Final Exam 40% :Screwed:

soooooo dead....so so sooooo dead..

and I'm not going back to Vancouver!!! so nothing to look forward to! Stupid mom doesn't want me to go back again...some parent eh?

oh well...perhaps I have New York to look forward to....Really want to see Ground Zero even though I know it's just a big hole....but since the last time I went to New York was a year before 911..and I went up the World Trade Centre......and seeing how the 911 event really gave me a big hit.....Ground Zero is a must see for me.. :( freakin..i wonder when they are going to build a memorial site for them.... I remember I designed one after the 911 incident....come on! it's been so long now..

boring post. Goodbye!

STRIP POKER

2005-11-18T17:02:00.000-05:00

Now that I got your attention... Comment darn it!

I learned over the last few weeks that some of you DO read my blog.....yet I don't see any comment..

so SHARE the love!! Comment!

My blog is feeling very lonely :(

ps...i hate snow

go Annika! screw Paula Creamer

Salsa-ing

2005-11-13T16:43:00.000-05:00

So...I got a midterm on wednesday, an essay due on tuesday, and a presentation on tuesday..

yet....i've done pretty much nothing (academic wise) over the weekend....*sigh*

First up, Friday- Kento Bento Mento's Birthday thingy!!! Went to Shoeless Joe's....met all his nerdy Engineering friends......seriously man..what's up with all the engineers..alll they talk about was school!!...i...felt...kinda left out (i was the ONLY non-engineering one there)......blah..anyways... because of that...didn't really feel like going clubbing at Level..oh well....Still very bummed that Kento didn't let me treat him to a drink.....but..i treated him to dinner instead.....though..still prefer to drink....cuz then i get to seem him "tipsy"....and..cuz its cheaper..hehe..nah..just joking.....hmm..just realized..I think I know Kento the longest in UT....I think...

Anyways, Happy Belated 21st Birthday Kento!!!!

Then, Saturday- Anna's Birthday thingy! Went to El Rancho Restaurant/Salsa Nighclub for dinner....didn't know more than half the people....but that's alrite..cuz most of the badminton peeps were there. Food was alright.....Most of us got the dinner + Salsa Lesson + Entry to Salsa Nightclub combo.......though we got jipped (jeeped? gipped?.blah)..cuz the lesson was suppose to be at 8pm..and we didn't know.....but we still ended up going to the night club instead.......yep...salsa-ing..was...interesting..i suppose.....I just like to watch.....dang..some couples were darn sexyyyy.....hahaha.....pretty cool atmosphere though!

Anyways, Happy 23rd Birthday Anna!~

By the time we got back..it was probably around 1am ish.....I was gonna study..but I got FORCED into playing some poker....was an up and down night...sucked out on peeps..but also got sucked out a lot...but at least I didnt lose any money this time...$4 profit was good enough...ended up sleeping at 6am.......oh man...

Now..must..study......so..much...reading........ARRGGGGGGG *ROAR*

alrite, some pictures..no pix of me :D

hehehe and lastly...some salsa dude's twisting move and sweaty back :D

ughhhhhhh

2005-11-05T18:20:00.000-05:00

man..

what am i doing......

i'm so bad this year

I was suppose to aim for a 4.0 this year................blahhhhhhhhh

but only two months have past..and ive already done a couple of things that would normally get me kicked out of the house if I was still in BC...

cig & alcohol doesn't mix...yes...i know i know..I should have known better......but look on the bright side...now that I finally tried it...I won't touch that stuff again..cuz i'm no longer curious....tho no comment about how many I had last night :S

still feeling a little bit uneasy now...

freakin

anyways..apparently i'm a denial drunk...whatever that means....how can you be classified as a type of drunk when you are not even drunk! I was only tipsy!!..I was aware of everything I did....and I didn't puke...and I didn't have a hangover..........though I did ACCIDENTALLY knocked coke all over the carpet and Ali's socks.....and I did ACCIDENTALLY wacked his back with my badminton racket when I was trying to play badminton indoors to prove that i wasn't drunk....and I did ACCIDENTALLY kicked a garbage can towards Steff's head....okay..that last bit wasn't an accident...I did that on purpose...which was something I would have done if was sober anyways...so meh

Anyways..yesterday's semi houseparty was fun......won't be doing that for a while tho...ugh..

didn't take many pictures....at least I didn't...but somehow I found out that I didn't recognize half the pictures on my camera...someone must have used it while i wasn't paying attention..

therefore..some of those pictures can't be shown...I don't think those people would want it published anyways...

so I'll just leave one picture up...because I'm in it!! yea i know! finally a picture of me!!! well..picture of my hand...

Pubnight Pictures!

2005-10-30T04:03:00.000-05:00

Alright..finally I got something to update about.
here are some of the pictures from Friday Pubnight. Fun stuff..playing badminton after a little teeny tiny weee bit tipsy was really fun too...wahahaha

As always, won't be seeing any pictures of me....I think I'm gonna bring my camera to all the events now...So I won't be in the pictures as much..hehe

*ugh...anyone know how to increase the width of my blog box...its too narrow..*

Anyways..

*The Following Content May Not Be Suitable For Some Readers. Reader Discretion Is Adviced*

oh yea..if u don't want certain pictures to be up, let me know asap.

Distractions

2005-10-13T23:58:00.000-04:00

Too much distractions!!

I don't feel like studying...or writing my essays.....

ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

AHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

*ROAR*

stupid TV, stupid hockey, stupid forums, stupid blogs, stupid msn, stupid internet, stupid badminton, stupid poker, stupid ppl, stupid shows.......if I fail, it's all you guys' fault! ARG!

anyways, happy 21th birthday Victor Picktor Micktor! A big happy bday wish all the way from Toronto, ON to Richmond, BC. Have a good one!

2005 Winter Term

2005-10-06T03:06:00.000-04:00

blah..long time no update..again....dunno why, blogging doesn't interest me as much as before now.
Anyways, I guess I should summarize what i'm taking this term and how they are so far..so here it goes!

ANA300Y- Human Anatomy and Histology
After taking ANA301 (Embryology) last year, anatomy definately takes on a new interest in me. I sacrificed other half year course and free fridays for this full year course. So it better be good. Heard lots and lots of good stuff about it. So far it's pretty good. The self directed labs arn't that bad either. Materials are definately interesting, and I'm glad it's not cell biology. Hopefully the bellringers and the written exams are good tho :) Need good marks this year!

ZOO328H- Developmental Biology I
Some similarities with Embryology class. Course is pretty good so far, except for the two German (?) profs. "Fork Embryos" = Frog embryos. The labs suck. Only because I can't dissect anything through a microscope!! Freakin. Not looking forward to the group presentation either.

ZOO375- Environmental Factors
The prof's teaching style is definately interesting. All he does is just talk and talk and talk. No slides, no writings. Talk talk talk, story time, talk talk talk. Sometimes it can make the 3 hour night lecture a big long bore. At least now he finished all his lecture materials. After the midterm next week, the rest of the term will all be taught by students in class. Where each student has to do a seminar on a topic of our choosing. The final exam will based on those seminar. Heard it's gonna be tough though..ugh.

GGR343- The Changing Geographies of China
Definately one of my fav courses so far. The prof is also one of my fav. I mean come on! She can speak and read Chinese!!!! (She's caucasian)! And a course on a subject that i can relate to definately helps. Too bad she's not gonna talk anything about Taiwan tho.

GGR451- Health and Place
This course is not bad. No exams! woot! 4 essays tho. Boo. Basically a medical/health geography course. Prof is awesome.

JFG475- Emergency Response System Planning
Joint course between forestry and geography. So must of the emergency response planning will be on forest fire prevention and how to predict forest fires using math and stats formulas. The math is fairly easy. The materials are okay. It would be nice if the prof can talk more about other emergency response system like ambulance and firetrucks.

All in all, this is probably the best course selections thru out my uni career. Definately helps that now I'm actually interested in them. I don't even really feel the urge of skipping!!! Definately a good sign. Havn't skipped yet!! Already more than a month in. New record! Woot! Must aim for 4.o this year. Go me!

okay, i'm done...

GO CANUCKS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting Friday

2005-09-24T14:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday...was interesting indeed...did a lot of firsts.....

In the morning I had my Anatomy Lab. Stumbled across the Anatomy Museum for the FIRST time....Got a NICE look at all sorts of preserved deady body and dead body parts. YUM-MY! What a great way to kick start the day!

Then I went home, surfed around the net. Caught up with Gilmore Girls and getting ready to go to Joe's Birthday dinner at Yummy BBQ. Then, Steff came home, along with Andrew, Ali and Neal, and a bag of booze. Asked me to drink, and so I did. Played Mario Kart, Mario Party and Super Smash Brother's during all that. Gradually, more people came. Nibs, J_____, Vince, Aravind, Maria, Rahil, Chris. More drinking. On the other hands, the people who were suppse to go to Joe's dinner arrived. John, Kevin..and Siuki who was already there. (So, two groups of people. BIOME and Badminton, both groups that I'm friends with).

So, within that two hours. I already had 2 shots of bailey's, 2 rum and coke, 2 screw drivers, 1 gin and tonic, and sips of hoeggarden here and there. (all with the Biome peeps). The Badminton peeps started to look at me funny. I WAS not the Olivia that they know.

To summarize quickly. The Biome peeps are the ppl drinking and playing gamecube. The Badminton peeps are in Siuki's room playing online poker, waiting to go to Joe's Dinner.

Then, Ali asked all of us to up to the balcony, where the outdoor hottub is. That was when I tried my FIRST puff of Cigar. One thing lead to another. I smoked my FIRST entire cigar. That cigar did NOT taste like Chocolate...but then I later found out that I wasn't smoking a Chocolate Cigar. It was a grape cigar that taste like arse.

6:30. Time to ditch the Biome peeps and go to Joe's dinner with the Badminton peeps. Before I left, I warned them to better clean up after I come back. I do NOT want to see vomit in my washroom.

So yea, with alcohol and cigar. I was getting p-r-e-t-t-y tipsy. Now I have to try and behave myself for Joe's party. Can't ruin the whole thing because I had a little to drink. Arrived at Yummy BBQ. Kay was already there. Followed by Xing, Anna, Kelsy, Jeff, Cyrus, and Mari. Jack was there too. Everyone is there, except Charlie and Joe. While we were waiting. I was...being un-Olivia-like...I should say. Don't think I made a good impression with some of the new people I met. haha. But I was fun, I would say. Wasn't annoying I hope. Food came, we ate, an hour later, Joe and Charlie finally showed up. I was sobering up, good thing. Don't think Joe knew.....hahaha....Happy 25th Birthday BTW.

After dinner, we initially wanted to go back to our place to do some poker, game cube and drinking....but yea, when we got back. There were more ppl there than before I left. Included, Sabina, Ann, Tary, Danny (More peeps showed up later at night, but I wasn't there. Heard it was wild tho). Ppl were on the floor passed out, others were still drinking and playing gamecube. So, the badminton peeps decided not to stay.

While we were in the lobby of the apartment, deciding what to do. A couple of the badminton peeps got trapped in the elevator for a good 10 mins. I thought that was kinda funny..So yea, we ended up deciding to go sing K. Hopped on to Joe's car. Went to Korean Town. Checked out three K places before deciding to stay at the last place we checked. $40/hour for a 20+ room. Is that cheap or expensive? (I have no idea since I'm a K-noob. Considering the previous 3 times I went, all I did was watch and pay.). That was my plan for the night too. Watch ppl sing, and pay for part of the price. Well, things did not go according to plan.

One thing I found out differently, was that before, people were singing for QUALITY. I think that kinda intimidated me to sing too, cuz heck, I cannot sing. But with around 15 ppl in a room. Guys were pretty much yelling and shouting out the song. Girls too! With some of the good o'l English classic K songs. I thought that was entertaining, so I joined in, on the side...(ie/ singing to myself, but not loud enough for everyone to hear). That was when, they started to push the mike in my face. I was like fine, so I punched in a song. Good thing I got Anna to back me up. :D
When my song came. I sang...yadda yadda yadda...yes..I finally SANG at K! my FIRST time!. Albeit, the mike was far from my mouth for everyone to hear me. But I still sang. so HA. Though through out the entire song, I had the song book blocking my face. Cuz I was shy, and I didn't want those Picture whores to take picture of me.

So after I popped my Karaoki Cherry (YES KENTO & STEFF, I KNOW WHAT POPPING CHERRIES MEAN). It got a lot easier. So I sang 2-3 more songs. hehehe. But yea. It was a fun K night. I think because there was a good mix of amazing singers and just random shouting singers. Also, it was a pretty multi-culture group. So we heard a good bit of Japanese, Korean, English, Mandarin, and Cantonese songs. Hehehe. And yea, through out that whole thing. I limited my alcohol consumption to 1 Carona. Tasty.

After K...where everyone shelled out $20 (OUCH) to pay for the booze and the time....so..$20/person. Even though we had around 15-16 ppl....wow..that's...expensive. But we were in there a long time. So I guess..

Then, we went to the nearby park to wait for our rides. Some of the girls were a little out of it..after..wat...2 bottles of drink?!?! That was funny, and made me feel a little better. Cuz at least I didn't get tipsy after 2 bottles of drink...hahaha..

Came back to apartment around 3:30am. Pretty surprised at the tidyness and the cleaness actually. So, I must say. Thank You, to those who cleaned the place. Although half of my toilet rolls were gone. (brought a 12 pack last week, only 6 left :( ). Found Aravind past out on the floor, and Ann on the Futon talking gibberish. And me, I went back to my room and slept.

No hangovers! woot! But then that's only because I drank early, and I didn't stay with the Biome peeps the entire night. So I think, I'm glad.

Fun day, none the less. Now, I should study.

Ingrown Toenail

2005-09-05T01:13:00.000-04:00

so...i get ingrown toenails a lot :( poo..

got another this past week....my 3rd toe on my left foot....and it hurts!! :'( Hurts soo much that i can't even touch it lightly...and can't put pressure on that feet....Can't really put a bandaid cause it keeps on cutting off my circulation of my toe...and if i don't wrap it tight, it falls off.

The past few days I didn't really touch it much. Just hydrogen peroxide and iodine (<3)..but today, I noticed lots of white stuff started to ooze out....so I figured I gotta do something.

I sorta disinfected my nail clipper a a nail scissor with hydrogen peroxide...wiped my toe clean...and started to dig my toe...Its hard to use the nail as a guide to lead me to the trouble spot cuz I already cut it too short from several days ago...

I use the nail clipper to really jammed it in to the side of the nail..fighting through the pain..and cut something..some nail, some flesh...I really don't know......its hard to see...but blood started to ooze out...wiped the blood, and continued on with my little operation...bit by bit...i cut something off...nail, and flesh, nail and flesh...to the point where almost half (vertical wise) of my toe nail is gone...and the flesh near that area is reduced. I finished it off with more hydrogen peroxide and iodine.....it felt a little better...but the toe still hurts if i apply a little pressure on it. So have to wait and see a day or two...if its a success..you can call me Dr. O :D

i would post up a pix...but I don't want to scare my readers...:P so yea..

back to normal stuff...Friday was suppose to be my last day of work, but my managers told me that they would like me to stay an extra week. I agreed, though I have asked tuesday off because I got lots of errands to do. They said no problem and that I deserve it..so yay! paid day off!

On Thursday, I got to go check out this golf tourney at Canada Place. Hundreds of business men were there.....so i guess its a business social...pretty amazing, free booze, bbq and gift bag. Got to watch people trying to hit a ball on to an island green about 180yards away on the water. 2 cars were parked on that island green. The person who get a hole-in-one will win a jaguar..and the closest person to the hole will get a land rover suv...it was an intersted experience..feel a little out of place because most of the ppl are are successful businessmen....OH..there are also some mid-20 ladies dressed in revealing clothings...my uncle told me that those girls are only there to pick up the rich businessmen...lol!!

one more week till i'm back to Toronto :(...and school starts...wow..Fouth Year...time sure flies huh!

Bald Fetish???

2005-08-24T00:51:00.001-04:00

I don't think I have a bald fetish.....or do I?

It's just so happens that the people that admire happens to be bald!! Not my fault!! Its not because they are bald that I like them!! BTW, I only like shaved bald. Not bald bald...BIG DIFF!

but, I'll let you judge for yourself..

Exhibit A- The Ever So Sexy, Lex Luther of Smallville (Michael Rosenbaum).
He's such an amazing action in Smallville...soo.....sexy......Lex is filthy rich, drives a porche, lives in a mansion...what's not to like!!

Exhibit B- Harlemm Lee (Gerry Woo), the Winner of Fame. His voice is heaven. Its a shame that Fame did a horrible horrible job of promoting his CD.......

Exhibit C- Ami James of the new TLC show, Miami Ink. Bad boy. yay! Not sure..there's something about him...that ...jumps out at me.....BTW, anyone watch this new show??? I have been following it since its premier...don't know why...but its really interesting....i guess I just like to see all the artwork, the interaction between the tattooists and the story behind each tattoo..it definately let me sees past the stereotype behind tattoos now..

Exhibit D- Jin, the Chinese rapper. Amazing rapper! Though he tries too hard tho..lol..

oh gosh.....4 baldies...I'm sure there's more..but I can't think right now....

okok..must redeem myself..

let me present you...Aidan Gillen...or better known as Lord Nelson Rathbone in Shanghai Knights (just so happened the movie was aired on TV couple days ago....so he's still fresh in my mind)

The uniform...the swords...the hair.....mmmmnnnnnnnnn (can't find ANY photos that shows the front! grr!)

Anyways...

my last day of work is next friday..the 2nd :( gonna miss it..:(
Have to give a power point presentation this friday in front of my managers.....about Mines and the Mining Process....yikes......have to be professional too...none of this university presentation crap....

got one free week before I got back to Toronto...since UBC starts on the 6th..I think I'm just gonna go and check out the atmosphere(cuz summer school there was sort of empty)...maybe check out a couple of classes..and hopefully bump into few familiar faces...all you UBC peeps...look for me on the UBC campus the first week of school! Most likely I will sport University of Toronto wear and backpack :P hehehe...

Long Weekend

2005-08-05T01:20:00.000-04:00

So, over the long weekend, I drove down to the States (finally! Cuz i finally got my passport renewed after it expired for more than a year). Anyways, we first went down to washington, and instead of taking the normal freeway route to Seatle, we went via Whidbey Island, which is this large-ish island in Puget Sound.
The scenary was really pretty. The entire drive was really pretty. There are also some little towns on the island which are interesting. One of them is kinda dutch themed with windmills and stuff. Ate at a local family diner there. Looks just like the movies, feels like it too. The funny thing to that place is that on each table, there's a panel that lists all the questions you can ask to your family to make some "family conversation". Qs like "what's the funniest thing that happened to you this week" etc. We had a good laugh at that.

Then we drove all the way past Seattle and Tacoma (passing by Boeing, which was really cool...they were building an Air France plane. Kinda ironic, since one of them caught on fire in Toronto earlier this week). Anyways, since we didn't book any hotels beforehand, we had a big trouble booking hotels on the road. We wanted to stay in Portland for the night, but we couldn't since literally every single hotels/motels/inns were booked. Apparently there were two large car race tourneys going on. So, using our "trusty" AAA tour book of Washington/Oregon, we found a town that's on the way to Portland, and decided to book a hotel there without knowing what to expect. Turned out the town only had like 15,000 people, and the place literally looks like Chino of OC. We were concerned, but what can we do. The hotel..was fully booked too with us grabing the last 2 rooms. And by the way, it was only 2 stars. Freakin.

The second day, we arrived at Portland. Our whole mindset for this trip was to go to factory outlets and Portland (no sales tax) and shop till we drop. Well, we did not do that. We ended up at this "US's largest outdoor market" thingy, that sold lots of arts, craft, jewlery, antiques etc. It was HUGE! Didn't buy anything tho. Later went to this fancy upper class mall. Not much to see too since all the stuff are way out of my league. Checked out Forever 21 tho, pretty cool. Oh, I love their transit! It's cool! its kinda like skytrain/streetcar combined, but on normal street level. And for the downtown centre, its fareless!!! however, being idiots that we were, we didn't read that until after we purchased 3 all day tickets (3.50 US each). Good thing some nice guys offered to buy our tickets for 2 bucks each. So..we lost 4.50US...grr..After the mall, we drove back up to Seattle. No trouble booking the hotel this time, but little did we know, the hotel ended up in the bad part of downtown. Though it was 3 stars, it was much crappier and scarier in the 2 star hotel we lived in. On the way, we also booked a restaurant cuz SOMEONE wanted steak. We looked at our "trusty" little AAA tourbook, and found a decent sounding 3 star place with prices $20 and up..which is..normal I guess. We were expecting something like The Keg. But nooooooo, boy were we wrong!

The place was extremely fancy, in a theater (not movie) style with live jazz piano performance. The host was in a Tux, and the waiters were all in very nice uniforms. This nice cozy environment all changed after we first glance the menu. Cheapest 8oz steak is like $40US. O.M.G. The most expensive dish was Lobster claws with a small fish fillet, for $105US. JEBUS! Though we decided to stay cuz we thought the food must be good! and its a good experience. We ordered steam clams and tomato salad for appetizer to share. We all ordered 8oz Filet Mignon (cuz it was the cheapest). Also ordered roasted portebella mushroom and asparagus on the side to share. 2 bottles of sparkling water, 2 shirley temples, 1 margarita. The margarita glass had a crack, we asked to exchange, and we never got it back. (didn't pay for it in the end tho). The steak came with bake potato which they proceed to add butter, chives（dah!), and cheese sauce without our permission. The stead was alrite, nothing special. Definately don't worth $40US. The potato was okay, some parts felt like its undercooked. The rest are meh. Good, but not good enough for the price. Good thing was that we were stuffed in the end, so no room for dessert. The bill? Very Ugly.

On monday, we just walked around the waterfront of Seattle and checked out their famous public market (huge). Then we drove back to Richmond. No stops at factory outlets at all. No shopping. I did get a coin purse made out of baby's socks tho. So cute!

wow..long post

Anyways, today I had my first official professional meeting (not those dinky ones in my manager's offices). The meeting was at 8am, and I got there at 7:30am just in case something went wrong with the bus. The meeting was held in a meeting room, and I was surrounded by 2 Partners, 1 Senior Manager, and 2 Managers of the SR&ED group. And there I was, the lone dinky summer associate :P. Meeting was interesting, it wasn't all business no fun tho. So that's good. Talked about 04-05 reviews and talked about 05-06 future etc. and how to beat out competitors. Learned quite a bit of sales skills that I'm sure will be beneficial in the future.

Work has been very good. I believe my managers are very pleased. So that's good. Had several lunch with several managers and partners. No associates tho...I hope the regular associates don't get too jealous of me since I kept on hanging out with the big leagues. Dont worry, after summer, I'm gone! Oh yea, had lunch yesterday with my 3 CA uncles, who were all trying to convince me to go into the accounting field. Become manager, and ask for transfer to China. Don't get married til early 30s, don't have kids unless you know you can handle the career too. omg.. o_O

ok need to sleep now,
I think this post is enough for another 2 weeks. See you then!

Print Connect

2005-07-18T23:09:00.000-04:00

One of the coolest thing I found during my experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers is this cool program called Print Connect.

It allows you to instantly install any printers located in your office, in other offieces in the province, and even in other offices in the country!

Say for example, you work at 3rd floor, but needed to go up to 8th floor for a meeting. So you bring your labtop to the meeting and typed up notes. Then the boss asked you to print a copy for everyone in the meeting. What do you do? You don't have a printer connected, you are only online in the company network. All you do is launch this program that is already installed in the computer. It takes you to a page of a floor plan of the floor you are currently on, and shows you all the printers on that floor. You just simply find the one closest to you, and press install, which takes <10 seconds. Voila!

Not only that, say you go on a buisness trip to Toronto. You arrive at the Toronto office and you needed to print something. You do the same thing, and because you are on the company network, it'll automatically detect which floor of which Toronto building you are on...and you just find the printer you want..and print!

AND! It can work like a fax too!!! Say you are at the Vancouve office, and need to send a document to 6th floor of Toronto office. You can launch the program, select the province/city/office/floor of where you want the document to print. Install the printer, and voila! Your collegue in Toronto will recieve it instantly! No more weird fax print! No more paying long distance charges! And since there are so many printers, you can always install another printer if the printer you usually use is busy or out of order!

This program also allows you to connect to the photocopiers!!

haha.i'm so weird...i get facinated by this little program about printers..lol here's a screenshot of the page you see when you launch the program. The little red dot is where I sit! Oh yea, needed to make a correction. I said I get my own cubicle before. Turned out that I was wrong. I get 1/4 of a large cubicle. The managers/sr managers/partners get their offices...while ths senior associates/associates/summer associates get cubicles. There are 4 person cubicles, 2 person cubicles and 1 person cubicles....not sure how they decide who get wat.....but the large 4 person cubicle is pretty spacious....doesn't bother me at all! I'll take a picture of it...soon

one last thing..i believe this program is developed specially for PwC! There are quite a bunch of pretty neat programs developed specially for PwC! That's why I had to take the 3 day technology training before I start. :) (click to enlarge)

Work Work Work

2005-07-13T23:24:00.001-04:00

been working 9hr/day lately....not sure why...doesn't mean I get paid more though, since I get salary pay....oh well.......I like what I do.....

So, I have been checking out many BC research and development companies...looking at their website and financial statements....and compiling them all together in Microsoft Access database. So far I finished 140 companies....in the biopharmaceutical, nutraceutical, food science, biotechnology, alternative energy, fuel cells, science & technology, machinery, transportation, contract research laboratories, forestry industries. I will finish the environmental industry tomorrow...and wait for the mining and chemical industry company list from the research centre in the company.

I think i'm working too fast....ha....my managers were surprised..and..couldn't think of something for me to do at that instance....hehe....I'm glad they are impressed..one of them even yellled out "You are hired!" haha
....must..make....everlasting...impression....and.....meet...lots...of...people....and...build...my...network....

haha..my uncle said I have to watch out...should work a little slower so I don't threaten the other workers....@_@....aha...geeze..why will they feel threatened?? I'm doing stuff that those ppl don't want to do...that's why companies hire summer students...lol..though I do think I'm doing a better job than those guys at the research centre......lol :D

I'm loving the business office environment...especially at a such large scale company.....i'm very grateful to have this opportunity. :)

I think i'm gonna be very busy soon. Apparently the SR&ED partner have a lot of other stuff planned for me to do. Stuff from other departments and even from other cities o_O...hmmm...

Well..bring it on!! Gotta absorb as much information as I can....this is one thing I like about this job. I am able to learn a lot of stuff, which will be useful for me in the future. Like learning to read a financial statement, learning income tax and the SR&ED practices.

I will take some pictures around the offices....soon....gotta show you guys the ultra cool coffee machine!!!!

anyone working downtown Vancouver??? Wanna go for lunch???
and all you UT peeps...if you are planning to drop LMP404, PLEASE let me know in advance!!!!!

YAY! Annika won the BEST FEMALE ATHLETE ESPY award!!! woot woot!!!!!

My Life Saver

2005-07-09T18:35:00.000-04:00

I get car/bus/sea sick extremely easy. I would get sick within 15 mins of car ride. Once I even got sick before the car had left the parkade @_@. I've tried many things, and none of them seemed to work. I tried taking nausea pills, chewing gum, sitting at the front seat, looking far outside etc. Nothing worked....Thus, everytime I go on a 30+min trip, I would sleep on the car. But even that, I still feel very uneasy afterwards. If I drink pop and milk and juice before/during my travel, it'll get even worse. The good thing is that I rarely throw up. So that's good...i think.

Well, all that is about to change. Now that I have to take the bus for 42mins each way to go to work 5 days a week, I was quite worried. Until one day, I read an article in a Chinese newspaper regarding motion sickness. The writer too get car sick very easily. But ever since his friend gave him a wrist band, the motion sickness stopped. The wrist band is to be worn during the travel. It has a large plastic bead on each of the wrist band. The wristband is then worn so that the bead is pressed against the inside of your wrist. This idea came from accupuncture/accupressure. When I first read the article, I didn't really believe it. I find it hard to believe that motion sickness can be cured by just wearing a cheap and ugly looking wrist band with a bead on it (even I can make one myself). But I decied to give it a try anyways.

I went to the local drug store (London Drugs), and found the item at the pharmacy department. There are several brands (Sea Bands, Travel Aid etc), but all of them looks the same. The wrist band even came in different colours. I chose red :D.

The first time I used it was during a ride to play golf that's an hour away. Amazingly, I didn't get car sick!!!! So now i wear it everytime i go to/from work!! I don't even feel a little bit dizzy!!! It is truly my life saver!!!! I have always avoided vacation travelling because I didn't want to go on long car/bus rides...but now I can!! thanks to 2 simple wristbands!!!

So if you suffer from motion sickness like I do, get yourself a set of wristbands from your local drug stores. Its about $12 I believe.

First Couple of Days at PricewaterhouseCoopers

2005-07-06T15:54:00.000-04:00

hmm, I think I'm gonna make this blog my summer blog, or until I'm back in Toronto at least.

So, a month after my interview in Toronto with PwC, I have finally started working at PricewaterhouseCoopers in downtown Vancouver. WooT!

For those who don't know, PwC is one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms in the world along with Deloitte & Touche, KPMG and Ernst & Young. This will be my first job at a company at this large scale, so I'm pretty excited.

I was overwhelmed with the professionalism with PwC and its staff.

I received my acceptance package via courier delivered to my house, in it contains my acceptance letter, some info on the company, benefits, banking information, background check forms etc.

anyways,

Day 1

July 4th (Happy Independence Day USA!!!) is my first day of work. When I arrived and report at the reception desk, the Human Resource guy came out and greet me and briefly showed me the staff room. He then took me to the training room next door for my orientation where I met another New Hire and recieved my welcome package. The morning orientaion consists of some powerpoint presentation and viewing a couple of cheesy yet funny videos.

Side note: I get my own cubicle!! and my own extention phone line!!! and my own PwC email address!! and my own Laptop that I can take home (but not keep)!!

In the afternoon, I began my technology e-training. Taking classes online along with other New Hires from Vancouver and Calgary. We were able to communicate online with microphone and headset and view slides and see demos by the instructors. This training will go on till wednesday afternoon. Basically, we learn how to use office equipments and all the specialty programs on the computer. It was quite intersting.

Day 2

Continued with my technology e-training. During lunch, I met my host and she took me out to lunch at a fairly fancy restaurant looking out the bay view where Canada Place is. I found out what I will most likely to do during my time at PwC, and she is probably my boss. Though during this lunch, I felt like this was another interview....gah!

Anyways, this is what I will probably be working on.
I am in the Scientific Research & Experimental Development Group in the Tax Department. I will be working on the environmental sector of SR&ED. Basically, research for environmental R&D companies to be potential clients to PwC. Write a summary report on those companies etc. This is probably the main thing, I'm sure there'll be other little projects I'll be doing.

Day 3

Last day of technology training! Though tomorrow I have to take another special class because I'm in the Tax Department. Therefore I probably won't actually start working until friday. Oh well, i get paid to learn how to use a computer, I ain't complaining!

lastly, waking up at 6am every morning sucks...commuting from Richmond to Downtown sucks. At least 98 B-Line is pretty fast....limited stops, and no need to transfer. So that's good. The whole commute takes 42mins....though I do like walking around downtown, dressed in business casual wear, wearing my ID tag, and carrying a laptop/case...i feel so important...lol

Blogger or Xanga

2005-06-17T00:57:00.000-04:00

hmm...actually I'm not sure if I'll change to blogger....Right now blogger is giving me so much trouble that I'm starting to get pissed off. Seems like blogger did not solve a lot of its old problems dated back to 2003, when I first ditched blogger...
grr...I guess I'll give it a while...maybe takes a little time to get used to...I think I still like xanga more though..

My New Blog

2005-06-16T23:12:00.000-04:00

I have abandoned my xanga, due to personal reasons. I also don't think I will post in my MSN space because it is too hard to use, especially since I am using firefox (which by the way, still rocks).

So I have decided to start a new blog. This time coming back to blogger. This will be my 4th blogger address. The first one can still be read at www.ollie2k2.blogspot.com I started it in first year, when online blogging was a big thing. I kept it for about a year until I switched to xanga (which I still prefers...especially with the subscription feature). Decided to come back to blogger because it seemed to change a lot since I abandoned it (due to the fact it was really hard to use back then). Thus, I decided to give blogger another try.

oh yea, as for my other 2 blogger accounts...one is private, and the other one is my unsuccessful attempt at a golf blog.