Right now I’m trying to find cost-effective ways to get to Ithaca, New York from Vancouver, Canada. After a lot of searching, the best we came up with was to drive down to Seattle, fly to Philadelphia, fly to Newark, then fly to the Ithaca airport. Oh my goodness! I guess small towns and their tiny airports do have drawbacks. But what the heck, I’ll be able to say I’ve been to half a dozen US cities now.

I will keep you guys updated on this little ol’ journey of mine.

I spent months dwelling on the issue and due to a series of wonderfully-timed events and opportunities, I decided to apply for transfer application to just a single US school. What’s with me and one-shot deals? I spent weeks perfecting my essay and days chasing after professors to get them to write me recommendation letters and give midterm grades. I did all of this in secret. Not a single one of my friends know. My PARENTS did not know. About a month ago, the only people who knew I applied for transfer was probably a handful of profs, a counsellor, the admissions committee, and the mailman.

This time it wasn’t randomly applying for the prestige, but rather, the result of intensive research into a program that matched my interests and aspirations perfectly. I remember that morning vividly, calling the Admissions Office trying to find my decision. When the lady on the other end replied, all I could say was “OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD”.

I have been accepted into Cornell University for Fall 2009 transfer!!

*Runs around the house in ecstasy* I will be studying a mixture of management, economics, government, and history at Industrial and Labor Relations!!! At this point I haven’t gotten a paper copy of my acceptance and financial aid yet, so I don’t know if I’ll be going. BUT OH, MY, GOD, five years of high school, two years of IB, a year of university, it wasn’t all in vain! The application process taught me so much about myself too I will really have to weigh all the commitments and leadership potential I have at my current school against a totally different path in the States. I hope to bring further good news.

P.S. - shhh, no one at my current school knows! They’ll kill me if they find out XD

I know a lot of you have disappeared off the charts due to RL and whatever, but come back, always come back to blogging. Because of my UBC blog, I introduced at least three of my friends to blogging already. I tell them it’s therapeutic and it absolutely is.

My plan for this summer is to take classes in the morning and work at UBC in the afternoon. 16 hours of Chinese and 19 hours of work, plus another 8 hours on the weekends. Not bad I’d say.

QOTW: What’s your summer plan like?

What did I learn from these camwhore sessions?

• The FLASH is a very good solution when one is too lazy to put on makeup, no face dear readers XD
• Need better camera and mirror and/or a BOY to take my pics … kidding!
• Too in love with a single pair of patent heels
• When I rearrange my office or get my room back I’ll have a better backdrop
• Oh and these have are accumulated from the past few months, not like I spent a whole day changing outfits, pfft.

QOTW: What’s your favourite piece of clothing in your closet?

On a somewhat unrelated note, the speech below placed first in my high school oratorical contest. Usually I wait at least 12 months before letting ANYONE read a speech in case I get to use it again.  This is quite a treat, compensation for not blogging for a while I guess. So just imagine Crystal dressed in full business formal attire, talking dramatically and gesticulating wildly in front of her peers and teachers.

 —  —  — Speech: Topic of Choice || Award: 1st Place High School || Apr 2008 —  —  — 

What I hope to shed some light and on today is an issue that has place innocent civilians like us in harm’s way for over half a century. We endure crowded conditions akin to that of sardine packing plants. We endure the loud drunken conversation of private school girls from the back. We endure the continuous wheezing coughs and sneezes coming from the gentleman next to us. We put our lives in the hands of a single man, who, coincidentally has horrible driving skills – why? Because we – we are the riders of public transportation.

For many of us, the process of busing is simple really. Every morning, you sprint to the bus stop and by Murphy’s Law, you miss the first bus by a hair. You spend the next half hour cursing under your breath. When you finally get on a bus, you find yourself without a seat and squeezed between two gigantic backpacks full of books. What are they teaching kids these days?! The Odyssey?! [note: my English teacher was in the audience and we just finished a painful unit on the Odyssey heheh] If they had buses in ancient Greece, Homer would never have finished his epic because he’d still be waiting for the 98 Athens B-Line [98 B-Line is the bus route running across Vancouver].

My parents have this philosophy that says, “the farther away we live from school, the more you will appreciate your learning experience”. The only thing I learned coming from the suburbs every morning was how to glare at someone until they stood up and gave me their seat. Taking the bus can be an enriching experience as we learn to interact with fellow human beings on close quarters while completely ignoring all concepts of “personal space”. Of course there are a few rules we should all observe to ensure the comfort and physical well being of our fellow passengers.

First of all, bringing a live fish on the bus is NOT a good idea. I SAT beside a lady who did that once, and when I got off the bus my friends asked why I went swimming in Steveston [fishing village nearby]. Next, to the band geeks, please arrange alternative transportation if you’re going to bring your trombone home! There actually is such thing as being “stuck between a trombone and a hard place” and trust me, it was not pleasant. Finally, and speaking from personal experience once again, if you know your friend has a history of eccentric and exhibitionist behavior, refrain from letting them get near the nice, straight, shiny poles on the bus. They can dance on their own time!

I have a dream that one day these passengers will rise up and live out the true meaning of their creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women should observe the rules of the bus”. I imagine a future where passengers and their fish, trombones, and shiny poles were happy together. As George Bush once said, “I know that the human being and the fish can coexist!” I imagine a future where seats are given to the elderly. I imagine a future where buses miraculously arrived on time. And lastly, I imagine a future where people didn’t spill coffee on me on the bus – because that was a really important speech that I was writing!

 —  —  — 

The end =)

Academics. I’m quite happy with my 4.21 GPA (on a 4.33 scale here at UBC) but I know I got lucky this term.  My deadly 70-something history mark won’t be released until end of the year and that’s gonna hurt, bad. Who says university isn’t easy?! I’m slacking off a lot in term 2 though… ahhhhhhhh. Rating: 8/10.

Social life. Holy crap, went out SO much over the winter break. And as soon as school started? ZILCH. Nothing. Became a total hermit with no friends. Will someone be my friend? This is pathetic. That happens in university I guess. Rating: 1/10.

Career. So apparently it’s already considered late to start applying for summer internships. Omfg stress. Oh and I quit one of my part time jobs! Hurrah. Rating: 7/10.

Love. There are basically no boys in my life. I’m slowly forgetting what it feels like to be in love/be loved. Another reason to move on campus next year? Rating: 3/10.

Health. Got hit with a nasty fever last week and am slowly recovering. Must start eating more than one meals a day. Keep forgetting. Rating: 3/10.

Total: 22/50 or 44%. I fail at life.

QOTW: How’s life?

Mum: Hey what exactly does “XD” mean?
Me: It’s face mother. You have to look at it sideways.
Mum: I don’t get it.
Me: Come here *types out XD*, see? The D is the mouth and the X are the eyes like this: ><
Mum: That’s stupid. I still don’t get it. What does LOL mean?
Me: *headdesk*

Mind you this was right after a Facebook conversation I had with my dad.

Dad: Why can’t I see the snowman photo I just took of you Crystal? On Facebook?
Me: Oh I don’t know, you’re on my limited profile?!
Dad: WHY? WHY DID YOU BLOCK ME? MY OWN DAUGHTER. WHY?!
Me: Uh…kidding *shifty eyes* … maybe you’re not logged in probably… *quickly changes privacy setting for one album* … refresh it now…
Dad: OH OKAY I see it!

They tried to get me to teach my grandma how to use the internet. I passed. I can’t decide whether or not my parents are “at-least-better-than-most-parents-who-fail-at-computer” or just complete lunatics from whom I inherited my DNA. I still proudly announce to all my friends that not one but BOTH of my parents have Facebook lol. Watch out everyone. In a few years I’ll be trying to convince my grandkids to let me reprogram their hovercrafts.

In other news, I finally got down to decorate one of the bare walls in my bedroom. Why should I miss out the whole decorate your dorm wall thing even if I live at home?! Behold, les photos.

BEFORE. Oh dreary white walls!

AFTER.

DETAILS. May I direct your attention to DANIEL RADCLIFFE IN EQUUS, and in the right corner CHUCK + BLAIR = LOVE.

Spreads from: ELLE Canada July, Vogue September, ELLE Canada September, Glamour December. It’s deliciously materialistic isn’t it?

Merry Christmas everyone!

There’s a bunch of us blogging for the University of British Columbia (the theme isn’t too sleek and professional, then again, UBC’s edgy like that XD)  in fact. The entire blogsquad of 10 or so people is going out for an awesome night of laser tag and sushi tonight =D But I digress. UBC was recently ranked the #34 top university in the world (Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge claimed top place, surprise surprise). To make it sound more important than it really is, you might be wondering what it’s like to blog for a world-class university, to be the tech-savvy face for all current freshmen as well as incoming highschool students?

Well to start, we use Wordpress and premade themes LOL. Aside from skimming over juicy details of alcoholic consumption and latenight m/o sessions (ew, gross), we pretty much have freedom in whatever we say. It’s so casual and awesome, I love it. I use the same conversational tone I always do. I’m free to rant and rave as I wish. Recently, one of my entries got featured in a New to UBC newsletters sent to all 6000 first year undergrads. THEY DIDN’T EVEN WARN ME *goes back to edit out all the grammar mistakes* Too bad we can’t put adsense blocks on the site to generate $$$ from all the clicks.

Now the reason I mentioned this is because it’s my excuse for the sparse updates on Ubiquitous since the start of the school year. I’M SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE ME.

P.S. - for those who still remember the university dilemma/drama from a few months back… Berkeley, I’m so over you. UBC’s my new love now =P

When you wasted five minutes of the class’s time on the proper way address the guest professor who was filling in for the day, I did not mind. We all like a little curiosity. However, when - a few minutes later - you waved your hand in the air again interrupting the prof’s lecture, you got my attention. Our prof nodded to give you the chance to speak, at which point you proceeded on a full-out rant on how useless you thought this course was, how you failed to understand its real-life applications, and how you believed the textbook “got nowhere” in its “vagueness” after six chapters. The prof decided to push back his lecture and open a little discussion.

Then, Anonymous Student, we heard about your “extensive experience in managing” others as well as a detailed, play-by-play description of some interview you participated in for a company.  Furthermore, you stated that you are not convinced that this course would help you in the future, and that it was “almost like psychology”, and that because it lacked the quantitative precisions of disciplines like calculus, accounting, and other courses in your “background”, it is unworthy of the attention of academia (I paraphrase of course, though I believe I put it more eloquently, hmm?)

Anonymous Student, there were more than fifty other students in the room plus a professor who had a Doctorate on the subject and is renowned for his expertise in the field.  Although you had every right to voice your concerns about the curriculum, I can’t help but think that during a LECTURE by a GUEST might not have been the best place to do it. I commend the said professor for giving you unlimited floor time to talk and for appreciating your challenging questions. Though for me personally, I think I got your point the FIRST THREE TIMES you made it.

I’m sure there were people in the room who agreed with parts of what you said. I FOR ONE would be willing to listen to you after class or in a small group setting with the professor during office hours. However, the manner in which you presented your displeasure was completely unprofessional, inconsiderate and disrespectful.

With your confident - though slightly verbose - speaking abilities, I have no doubt that you will have success in future meetings with clients and employers. However, I couldn’t help but notice how VERY ironic it was when you said that you believed you were a “good manager” and that the course’s material paled in comparison to the experience you got from the real world. If there was one person who needed to take this course on management and motivation, it would be you.

Regrettably yours,

Me.

University is just as I imagined (already knew the campus like the back of my hand because I came here too many times doing IB projects). So many IBers!

I’m in Sauder, the School of Business aka Faculty of Commerce and everyone is totally enthusiastic… maybe overly so. Classes are pretty easy, TREMENDOUSLY amount of reading though, yikes! Commuting to school and spending 2 hours on the bus every day really sucks, especially when I don’t have a seat.

Finding people around campus is also quite a challenge. Goodness, can’t wait to see the size of my phone bill this month with all the text-messaging charges. Gotta dash, commerce Tutorial in a few minutes!