Imagine.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I had an amazing Christmas this year. It was full of warm company, delicious food and beautiful sights and sounds. I think for people who are no longer kids, Christmas is more about nostalgia than anything else. And for someone who remembers everything, this certainly is a great time of the year for me :)

I remember the lights and the sounds of Christmas in Hong Kong.

I remember how excited I was just looking at the pile of presents under the Christmas tree when I was little. I remember sneakily opening a small corner of the presents before christmas day to take a peek.

I remember those yearly Christmas parties with the relatives where the adults played mah jong, the boys played nintendo and the girls played dress up. I remember my cousins telling me that it was her mom that puts presents in her stocking, not santa. I remember writing to Santa and receiving a typewritten generic reply.

I remember being in private school and learning about the birth of Jesus.

I remember walking in the snow and singing Christmas carols with Angel, Winnie and Corina.

I remember going sledding with my family and that one time, my dad's board went without him! I remember sliding down the slopes at Dougles Elementary School using garbage bags.

I remember building a snowman with Michelle.

I remember fooding w/ Johnny which is probably my most favourite thing about the holiday. We love our food! No joke!

I remember the awesome Hot Pot party Mel organized last Christmas.

And last but not least, this year's last minute small get-together at Lil's grandma's house where we all helped to prepare for the dinner (okay, it was take out but we made our own rice...which hardly anyone ate and Eugene washed the dishes!) and had a hilarious night of taboo!

Take Vic here for example.

Vic: Okay guys...the first syllable is "blank"-min Jassal
Crowd: Har!
Vic: Okay, err, the second syllable is the french word for butter.
Crowd: Beurre?
Vic: Okay, put them together now!
Crowd: Harbour!

I think that was the most creative one of the night ;P

I hope you all had a joyous Christmas filled with laughter and memorable moments. I sure did :)

(Please excuse my expression, I went for the wrong look :P This should be the cover of my Christmas Cards for next year!)

Pyschology & Canucks

Just one more to go and I'll be free! Had the PYSC333 exam this morning. I wrote and I wrote and I wrote for THREE STRAIGHT HOURS. Not one bit of exaggeration at all. But it went well. It was everything that I studied. (insert proud and relieved smile)

I really do enjoy psychology, but one think I dislike is the marking. I am sure they wanted to keep the 63-67% class average for a good reason, but it's a bit unsettling that they state on the course syllabus 8% of the class will fail before you even step into the lecture hall. Another thing I don't like is subjectivity. Maybe it's because I've taken mainly computational courses but I find that for essay writing courses, your mark depends on how much your prof likes what you say. On one of my psyc333 midterms, I was shocked to see that he gave me a 8.5/20. 8.5! So I went to talk to him and he re-read my paper. And then I got a B-. Maybe it was my effort to talk to him, I don't know. I just don't understand how that works.

You know the backup goalie for the UBC thunderbirds who was plucked from the library who was studying for his 8:00a.m. geography final that he will have the next morning who instead played the backup goalie for the Nucks the other day? (Whoa, a lot of who's there) Anyway, my coworker is actually in the same Geo class as him! And supposidly, he received a lot of attention during the final exam ;P Too bad he doesn't get excempt from writing it. Haha!

This holiday season is going to be awesome. I just know it :)

A Breather & Bus incident

Phew. So 3 finals down and 2 more to go. I don't think I've ever quite understood the meaning of cram until this year. I think altogether, Anh and I have spent a good 30+ hours the past 3 days studying for our cpsc finals. And I do mean studying as in with reviewing everything and doing practice problems (not like going to my grandma's empty house while she's on holiday with friends and watching movies kind of studying ;P)

If you know me, you know I am antisocial bus taker and like to take my buses alone. It's my alone time. To think, or so I think. Anyways, as I hopped on the bus for one of my many 8:30a.m. finals, there was an empty seat beside a 7.9/10 guy so I sat down. Hm, not bad! I thought. At around Fraser and 41st when we were approaching John Oliver Secondary School, he started to shift a little as if he was about to get off the bus. Oh no! I thought to myself. Damn Viv! Why are you such a pedophile! Stop checking out younger guys!

At this point, my bum was half off the seat in anticipation of him getting off...but he shifted back to his normal position again. So I asked,

V: Are you getting off here?
Anonymous 7.9 guy: Oh, nope.
V: (gives my usual half a smile)
A7.9G: So you studying for a final?
V: (pause feeling rather caught off guard) Uh yea..you?
A7.9G: Yea, me too. What's your final on?
V: On psychology...you?
A7.9G: For commerce.
-- feeling the need to say something ---
V: So um, what year are you in?
A7.9G: I'm in my last year...you?
V: I'm in my 3rd.
A7.9G: So are you majoring in psychology?
V: Oh no...I'm in cpsc...what about you?
A7.9G: I'm in microbi.
V: Oh (another half smile)

...and sadly I kinda ended it there 'cause well, truthfully, I don't know. Studying for 30+ hours interferes with your ability to talk. ;P

Well I'll end my entry here. So that's an update on my life!