August 25, 2010

End of term drinks

Cute pub that I LOVE in Ottawa. Great food and great beer. They have a beer bible with over a hundred beers to choose from. Pretty sweet.


The alleyway to the kitchen Is really charminggg


1. Learned that a 10 oz is nothing.
2. Really like harp (English beer) but drank almost all before I remembered to take this photo

end.

August 21, 2010

this made me so excited today..

i can't wait to go back to school

this is what i want to do


Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge:

By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little:

By the time you finish high school, you know a bit more:

With a bachelor's degree, you gain a specialty:

A master's degree deepens that specialty:

Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge:

Once you're at the boundary, you focus:

You push at the boundary for a few years:

Until one day, the boundary gives way:

And, that dent you've made is called a Ph.D.:

Of course, the world looks different to you now:

So, don't forget the bigger picture:

Keep pushing.

August 18, 2010

Double decker bus in Ottawa. What?! So much fun to ride













end.

August 10, 2010

home


I went home last weekend and to be honest, it was a little stressful.

It was a combination of:
  • cousins over from the states
  • many errands to do
  • presentation due on tuesday when i took monday off
and then there was the aspect that I wanted to spend time with family but I had so little time.

I've realized that home is a lot more special to me than I thought. In waterloo, I can come home for a relatively low cost with relatively no time wasted. It's close enough where a weekend is enough time to do whatever I want at home and go back to school late at night.

In Ottawa, however, a trip home takes half a day on Friday and half a day on Sunday. The ticket is $110 round trip and if your bus happens to break down and greyhound refuses to bring a new bus and you have to wait 2.5 hours for a tow truck... yea. doesn't seem worth it. But the moment I see my mom and dad, I have an urge to cry or get really excited to the point my voice shakes and sounds like I'm going to cry.


I have a friend who hails from a different province and is constantly away from home. I give her mad props. I have a couple of friends who's family is all the way in hong kong. I have no idea how they do it.

My conclusion: I cannot live more than 2 hours from home.

August 4, 2010

documentaries

so i've been watching a ton of documentaries in hope of "expanding my horizons."

I must say I'm learning a LOT from them and they're a lot of fun to watch. Documentaries have come a long way. From the boring literal documents to the narrative-like pieces of today, I think I'm learning to appreciate that these movies don't tell a story with a happy ending. The mere reality - happy or sad - make it that much more beautiful and heart warming or wrenching.

Born Into Brothels tells the story of a photographer trying to find a better life for the children of the brothels - the red light district. It's really sad because even with a possible solution, the way the society works won't let them leave. But there is hope!


I think if it wasn't for a couple of my friends asking tons of questions, I would have cried watching Tiger Spirit. I remember crying watching the trailer the first time i saw it. It's truly a reality that breaks my heart.



A movie that definitely shows that the moving picture can educate people, Food Inc is a shocking tale of the current state of our food industry. When I have a stable job and no tuition to pay, I am going to buy organic. I have given up ground food for good.



Still on my list
- bowling for columbine - the story of the columbine shooting and gun laws in the states
- Planet Bboy - bboying around the world
- spellbound - the spelling bee mania in the states (i think we need more programs like the states)
- murderball - stories of paralyzed people accomplishing great things
- enron: the smartest guys in the room
- man on wire - a man walking tight rope between the twin towers
- which way home - horrors of children riding trains to sneak into the states from mexico