Exams :-(

http://xkcd.com is a really cute site for nerds. Someone kept typing it in the UWDC++ chat.

I know I haven't updated in a long time. I've had a continuous stream of assignments followed by midterms, which led into finals. I have so much to update, but not enough time or energy!!

I'm so tired of exams and studying for them and I just had my very first of many to come for the years ahead. AFM101 (Accounting & Financial Management) is done. I've lowered my standards and all I ask is to pass...

I just want it all to be over with and to go home for the holidays. *sigh*

All Black

What I'm Listening to: All Black by Good Charlotte. I didn't like Good Charlotte before, but some of their songs are rather catchy. (MediaFire won't let me upload the mp3 right now, so check back later)

It's been a rather long day today. I didn't have time to have anything for breakfast because I spent all my time on getting dressed for class. It helps to explain why I seem to have lost weight recently, especially since I've been following a strict popcorn and cereal with soy diet. The exact reason why I am restricting myself like this is rather complicated (i.e. I don't really know).

In accordance with the title of this post, pretty much everything I'm wearing is all black, except for maybe some silver accents. My nails, boots, eye makeup, lace gloves, dangling earrings, wrist cuff, rings, new phone (I'll make a post about that sometime), both jackets, sunglasses, stockings, boots, the stripes on my shirt, Emporio Armani watch - all black. I get very much annoyed when I get a run in my stockings, doesn't matter what kind. I finally found one in good condition this morning (that's why it took me so much time) and guess what? By lunch break, I got a run along my left leg. I'm not sure how it happened. Last time, the zipper on my boots got caught on my fishnets and I couldn't come up with any feasible way to fix it, so I was rather disheartened. Today, I decided I would layer them and neither of the flaws would be very visible and I'm happy to say that my plan worked fairly well :]

I'm not sure why the quality of these photos are so poor, but I will look into it and try to adjust the settings. The "House Mom", Mary, who is in charge of cleaning our building was hanging around and that made me really nervous, as you can see from the strange expression on my face...

My brother picked out the silk stripped shirt when he was home for Thanksgiving weekend, I had bought the blazer for DECA competitions but I've had the pleated skirt for quite a while now, but I didn't really have the audacity to wear it. I got it at a store for little girls...just making up for lost time...

I bought the lacey gloves and the pyramid-studded cuff yesterday at Ardene's at Conestoga Mall and it counted as one of the 3 for $10 items. I am wearing the chrome spinner ring and the four-leaf clover one at this moment. I forgot to take a picture of all my earrings, but they're not very exciting, so maybe next time.

It's gloomy and rainy outside today, but I wore my sunglasses because I'm trying to be optimistic ^^
I was wearing that star pendant and chain this morning, but when I got to Davis Centre just before Economics, I saw that there were some local vendors and took a look at what they had to offer.


I managed to bargain the price for the two pins and the ring to $45 altogether.


I was wearing the chrome star cocktail ring this morning and it had occurred to me that I do not own a diamond ring - yet. I've been playing with the idea of getting a brilliant diamond-cut ring for the past few days and I told my mom about this one night when I called home. Keep in mind: my father was asleep on the couch during this conversation on speaker phone...

Me: You know what's completely off-topic and just occurred to me?
My Mom: What?
Me: I want a massive diamond ring.
My Mom: Real or fake?
(Before I got a chance to reply)
My Dad: Plastic...
Me: Isn't he asleep?
My Mom: I think so, looks like it.
Me: So he's talking in his sleep?
My Mom: I don't know if he's actually awake, but we shouldn't talk about him anymore when we think he's asleep...

The next day, my mom called to tell me that she bought me a Russian diamond four-leaf clover pendant. I promised my mom that we'd go shopping for diamond rings this weekend and I'd buy one for her. We don't need some guy to get them for us XD

I am really, really looking forward to the weekend :]

"Wine" & Cheese

Sherri, the Don of my building, is hosting a "wine" (most of the people in this building are underage) & cheese night. We were invited to dress up, but I was pretty much the only one who put any effort into it at all. I never miss an occasion to dress nicely :]

I have to go submit my assignment now and it's about 3 degrees Celsius outside right now, but it feels so much colder, so I'm going to have to change out and switch shoes or risk a very embarrassing fall on the slippery wet ground. And yet another bruise...

(Sorry about the poor posture and lighting, that assignment was some seriously back-breaking work. The other pictures are even worse).

Halloween at E3

For this month's East Cup, we had to decorate our lounge for Halloween. I dressed up a bit as the undead, but my camera is out of batteries, which also explains the lack of posts. Luckily, Simon took pictures of the pumpkin I carved. Unfortunately, we didn't win because E4 went all out, so we tied for second place. I ended up stabbing it with forks, knives and scissors, but they're not included in this picture. I also added red paint to its innards for a more grisly effect. I forgot to take off my watch, so it got a bit wet, but it still works.

UW Style (or lack of)

I took these pictures in the full length mirror in the washroom here at residence this morning before I put on makeup because I forgot. I started editing them during Accounting, then I got to Economics and tried to upload them, but blogger was having some kind of problem, and I had to wait until after Algebra and Calculus to get back to writing this post. I have an Algebra midterm tonight at 7-8:15PM and I really should be studying but I'm taking time out right now because I just got out of class.

Hmm, my face looks really round in those pictures. I think it's the collar that does it. :(

I got the top half of my outfit during the shopping expedition my brother and I went during Thanksgiving weekend and we had a blast. The white shirt was $30, the white blazer was $40-45 or something like that and the vest was just $20 less 10% with my SPC card, so about $18. I made a post on the skirt last time and it was purchased as part of a combo, so I can't really say how much it was. I've been waiting for an opportunity to wear my fishnets. I 'm a bit annoyed that the zipper on my boots got caught on the other leg while I was walking and so there's a hole, but I'm not too upset because I don't think it cost me very much at all. They'll be on sale again this year after Halloween. XD

I would have worn different boots, but I had four classes today and involved a fair bit of rushing around, so these were my safest bet. No PUMA shoes for this occasion. I need to buy proper semi-formal dress shoes. Without really high heels. Not PUMA. Not running shoes. Not long boots, because I already have several pairs. Short ones would be okay.

In general, people here at UW dress rather poorly, in my humble opinion. They can't be bothered to switch out of their pajamas before getting to class. That is, if they bother going at all. It shouldn't be that difficult! Even if they don't go to class, a lot of these people don't even have the decency to dress properly when wandering around in public, across campus.

My Algebra teacher asked me if my shirt was uncomfortable because the collar seemed really high. I don't know, I don't mind it too much. I think it might have been in comparison to what everyone else was wearing, or rather, the baggy clothes he was wearing.

The following is an excerpt from the conversation I had with Gregory during Economics class today. I hate that class...

Gregory: "[UW is] dork central. There are more guys who at least try than girls. Any Asian girl who can't get an Asian boyfriend easily without trying can get a dork white guy, so nobody tries. And for dorks, fashion is only about getting in a relationship. Then the track pants come out."

That's a very accurate description of how things are around here.

Village 1 - E3 Single Room

Single Room

• single bed and mattress
• closet, vanity & dresser
• desk, desk lamp & chair
• bookshelves & waste basket
• active telephone line
• ResNet (high speed Internet) connection
• cable-ready (each student must make their own arrangements with a local cable company once they arrive)
• approximate room measurements
  3.0 x 2.9 metres

This is a three-dimensional diagram of a Village 1 single room. The bed is placed next to the door with the desk and bookshelf next to it on the side wall. On the back wall, there are two closets with a dresser and vanity area in the middle. Beside that is the window. The far side wall is covered in cork board.

There are actually a number of configurations. Does anyone else find that their three-dimensional diagram...lacks a third dimension?

Here are some quick facts about Village 1:

• single, double and interconnecting rooms for 1379 residents
• 4 quads (North, South, East and West) with 6 to 8 houses in each quad
• each house has 50-60 students and one don
• each house is connected to at least one other house by an elevated walkway.
  
• houses contain 3-4 floors of approximately 16 students per floor.
• for first-year students in the fall and a mix of first-year and upper-year students in winter and spring
• on-site cafeteria and required meal plan

I'll be living on the First Floor in the Third House of the East Quad. With the purchase of the minimum required meal plan of $1580, I'll be getting a discount of 50% off most food purchases made at UW Food Services eateries, because the fixed overhead cost of $790 for operating UW Food Services eateries is deducted from the cost of my meal plan. I'll also save up to an additional 14% because most UW Food Services purchases are ORST (Ontario Retail Sales Tax) and GST (Goods & Services Tax) exempt. However, ORST and GST may apply when purchasing some confectionery and non-food items. The fixed overhead deduction is applied towards utilities, updating and renovating UW Food Services facilities, offering flexible operating hours, facility rental, ensuring a variety of menu items to meet different dining lifestyles, labour costs, and providing conveniently located eateries. The fixed overhead cost deduction works out to be about $7.50 each day of the term.

After all the trouble I went through to upload my own photographs, I just noticed that they had a "Village 1 Virtual Tour" with Java that I never bothered looking at. Since I'm already almost finished, I'm just going to leave this post as is and you can have a look at their cluttered example if you'd like.

"The oldest of the UW residences, Village 1 offers an ideal combination of privacy and community living to first-year and upper-year students. V1 is a traditional style residence with a large community centre and on-site cafeteria. It is located near the north-west corner of campus with Mackenzie King Village and Ron Eydt Village.

V1 was designed to help students meet their academic and personal goals. It is a traditional style residence with single, double, and interconnecting rooms arranged in "houses" of 50-60 students. The on-site cafeteria and location on ring road mean that you can spend more time studying or socializing and less time preparing meals or walking to class."

I didn't take too many pictures of the large community centre because it has a fairly generic cafeteria that wasn't open and a recreational area that was missing its pool table for some reason. I took a picture of the laundry room behind the windows, while standing where the pool table should have been. I believe their machines are paid through the swipe of a WatCard and a deduction from the deposited Flexible Dollars.


I finally managed to bring my lazy self to upload the pictures I took on Saturday to provide a better idea of what a typical single room would look like. I only realized when I got home that these pictures really aren't very good because I had to take them quickly after waiting for people to get out of the way. All the items included on their list are italicized.

The desk and its corresponding chair in this room is next to the door and under the aforementioned desk lamp. It's also in front of the active telephone line and ResNet (high speed Internet) connection.

They failed to mention that I was actually getting, not one, but two lamps - one around my desk and one over my head while I sleep.


This is the included single bed and rock hard mattress. I don't think the way that the corner of that bookshelf would be directly over a person's head is very good feng shui, but the positioning varies every so slightly from room to room, so it depends on my particular room.


This is the closet, vanity and dresser promised. At least the mirror isn't facing the bed.


Here's a better picture of the door from the first photo. It has a little bar over which towels may be draped to dry...
...After taking a shower in the shared washroom on the floor. In case you're as worried as my parents are, "most houses are co-ed but each floor is single sex". They keep asking me about that because they claim that my brother's floor was coed...and so was the washroom. I doubt that, but I don't have the best recollection of his residence which I visited once about four years ago, so I won't argue.


Here are a couple of photos of other rooms. They're all largely the same.

We're looking to find somewhere convenient to put a mini fridge. Since I'm going to be moving in and out twice, we're probably going to rent one instead of buying my own. The one I think I'd choose is something like $75 for one term or $90 for two and includes services/repairs. It would probably cost roughly $100 to buy one, but we'd rather not have to deal with the hassle of trying to move it with our sedan.


This is how it looked outside. If you look closely, I was trying to take a picture of what appeared to be a groundhog. I was in a rush and I was deleting photos at home and I think I got rid of the better ones on accident, but you can see a grey-ish blob if you look really carefully.





In contrast, this is where I would have been living if I had started school last Fall:

All Mackenzie King Village suites come fully-furnished and include:

• 4 bedrooms - each with:
• single bed and mattress
• desk, desk lamp & chair
• dresser & closet
• bookshelves & wastebasket,
• ResNet (high speed Internet) connection
• active telephone line
• cable-ready (each student must make their own arrangements with a local cable company once they arrive)
• living room (live cable outlet, 2 chairs, loveseat & end tables)
• kitchen (table with 4 chairs, fridge & stove)
• 2 full washrooms
• 2 storage closets

This is an extensive three-dimensional diagram of an MKV suite. The suite is split into two sections with two bedrooms on each side. Each side has its own bathroom and storage closet. The living room, kitchen and entrance are placed between the two sections.

Cleaning and Maintenance

All residents at Mackenzie King are responsible for the day to day cleaning and maintenance of their suite. Early in the term, suitemates should delegate cleaning tasks and set up a mutually agreed upon cleaning schedule. Monthly inspections will be conducted by UW staff (prior notice given), to ensure an acceptable level of cleanliness is met.

A Morbid Anniversary

That's what Mike called it. Francis said it gave him nightmares. That was the beginning of a whole series of events, including the development of a number of friendships, particularly the ones formed with Grant and A.

It's been a full year. A rather busy and stressful one, the opposite of what it 'should' have been.

Most people didn't notice that I changed my birth date on Facebook, which is reasonable because I wouldn't have known if someone else had done that. I wasn't conscious yet at this time last year, in either time zone.

Around May/June 2006, a lot of people had already changed their school/network on Facebook to the university they were going to attend in the fall. I thought that was somewhat...I don't know how to describe it - shameless? bold? I just didn't think that it was 'correct' that people were claiming to be in university when they hadn't graduated from high school yet. Who knows if they would? Either way, that's how I felt about it, so I decided against doing that as I wanted to be precise about my status information. Sometimes I wonder if I had quickly entered 'University of Waterloo' as my school, that's where I would be right now by some twist of fate.

On the other hand, I still haven't changed it this year because I don't believe anything is 'certain' anymore. If someone had asked me where I would be right now and how sure I was of my answer, I would have said UW with about 99% certainty (1% reserved for some freak accident). It would be an understatement to say that a lot has changed since then.

Last year, I had planned on being 4-stream, meaning at school for the Fall 2006 term (the four months from September to December), at work for Winter 2007 (January to April) and back at school from May through August. That way, I would be on-stream with everyone I knew. I had also wanted to be living at Mackenzie King Village, in an apartment-style suite with three or four other girls. This year, I had wanted to be in 8-stream, but I still got 4-stream and I'll be off-stream with all my friends, so I'll never meet them regularly at school. I don't think I know anyone with this streaming.

I'm told that there were more students who accepted UW's offer of admission than they had anticipated, so there's a bit of a shortage in residences. I'm glad I submitted a request for a single room instead of waiting and hoping that I'll get my choice through their "random lottery." I picked Village 1, because it's the only residence with completely single rooms. No, I don't want to live in a suite with a "single room" but still have to live with other people. I hate to say it, but I don't think I can deal with that right now.

I went to UW's Student Life 101 on Saturday and had a hard time concentrating to their presentations, so I don't remember much of anything that was said. I bought my textbooks, but I think there might be a problem with the Calculus one. On the sheet, MATH 135 is supposed to require a 6th edition textbook and it warned not to look in the used bookstore because it's a new edition, but they had stacks upon stacks of 5th editions even in their new bookstore. I wasn't paying very close attention, because I didn't realize that it wasn't a 6th edition one until I got home. I thought it looked strangely like the one Puiyan used at UWO and gave me because she heard that it was going to be out of date. I don't think it's my fault, because those were the ones they had set out for this very common course, so a lot of people must have purchased it. I am certainly not going to take this problem up with the department, because I'd like to continue using Puiyan's textbook, study guide and solutions manual. The new package I bought, which costs about $108, has what appears to be the same textbook split into two volumes, in addition to a solutions manual for a non-existent study guide. Very strange. I'm going to keep it for now and hope that it's too late for them to correct their mistake, then refund my package by September 28th.

Aside from picking up all of the textbooks except the one for BUS111W because WLU wasn't open on Saturday, I visited my residence. My particular room wasn't open, but they did have a sample one that would be pretty much identical to mine. I took photos, but they weren't very good, so here's the illustration:

Single room – 3.0 m x 2.9 m

• 1 single bed and mattress
• 1 closet with built-in dresser and mirror
• 1 desk, desk lamp, and chair
• 1 bookshelf
• 1 wastebasket
• 1 active telephone line
• 1 ResNet high-speed Internet connection

The room is quite nice, much better than my brother's at McGill. Of course, his school is much older, but his room is at the top of a large hill and quite a distance away from where he was taking his classes. My dad made a lot of comments about how all of the non-single rooms would be really nice - if you were living with good friends. Sure, but not the case for me.

A lot of people were surprised that I got this room and said I was very lucky. I've heard many times that "There's no such thing as luck unless it's the lottery. When it comes to your life, luck is when preparation meets opportunity." That's especially true in this case. I wasn't in the lottery with everyone else ;)