think tank

September 26th - Great people are born on this day. lol.

2007-03-03T02:24:00.000-05:00

Your Birthdate: September 26

You lucked out the the skills to succeed in almost any arena.
Put you in almost any business or classroom, and you'll rise to the top.
You're driven and intense, but you also know when to kick back and cooperate.
Your ability to adapt to almost any situation is part of what's going to make you a success.

Your strength: Your attention to detail

Your weakness: You can be a little too proud of your successes

Your power color: Turquoise

Your power symbol: Arrow pointing up

Your power month: August

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Not your year...

2007-01-29T18:26:00.000-05:00

In addition to being an enjoyable song by the Weepies, it looks like the title for this particular entry is also indicative of the fate for my various sports teams. [Note: I do not play on any sports teams, I have no athletic prowess whatsoever so this comment is in reference of the teams that I cheer for.] This fate became evident to me as my newly adopted Patriots blew a big lead to the Colts. What's worse was the fact that I procrastinated the numerous days previous to last Sunday and had a paper to finish before Monday at noon. Needless to say I was in no mood. However, the good news? I now have no emotional stake in the Super Bowl game and can enjoy it for the sake of its status as a huge sporting spectacle! It's the small victories people. Remember my new push for positivity? =P

Maybe next year Tom.

Typically, I've become engrossed with yet another sporting league/organization. So what on earth am I supposed to do with my Sundays now? Read?! Pfft. I'm saved by the fact that college ball is heating up in anticipation of March Madness.

My life can be summed up the following way:
Eat. Sleep. Sports. ....Oh yeah, and that pesky thing called school.

And there it was...

2007-01-25T13:45:00.000-05:00

An A, in all its beauty. The very last mark to be released and in Property no less. Property is a class that I all but stopped reading for and absolutely hated. But guess what's moved up in my books? ;)

There was a more unpleasant grade on my transcript but that's ok. It was only worth 25% and a great mark considering that I used the wrong burden of proof to answer a question that asked if the prosecution could secure a "committal" and not a "conviction". I guess I learned my lesson though - read carefully!!

Now I just need to get accepted to go on exchange and to get a job...

You think it could never happen to you...

2007-01-17T21:37:00.000-05:00

So by now you're probably curious and being the good friends that you are (if you're reading this blog you are) you may be concerned for my safety and well-being. Well, today was the beginning of the release of marks from the first semester.

Everyone tells you that Bs are good in law school and when they say that, you nod politely, thinking in the back of your head that you can and will be the exception - that you will be the one to get that elusive A. Afterall, As are what you've been getting your entire life and you've been in the company of intellectual people before so you can do it once again. Well I'm sad to report that the two courses that have been reported - among my "better" classes - I have 2 B+s. o.O; I'm disappointed but trying to put on a brave face because people do get lower marks and are happy with them. But they're not me. And these are the better ones...it's all downhill from here.

Here's my horoscope for today:

You are coming face to face with challenges that you would rather run away from and you are coping remarkably well. Although it is not yet evident, a process of liberation has been launched that will gather pace with the next new moon.

Liberation...there'd better be an A in my escape route.

Techniques in "How to put a class to sleep" (aka Advanced Dispute Resolution)

2007-01-08T18:57:00.000-05:00

So it's January (way to state the obvious, right?) and Ottawa has dedicated this month to one, mandatory class for first years - Advanced Dispute Resolution (ADR). It's 4 hours of mental torture and agony. I feel like I'm back in kindergarten except for the fact that in kindergarten, I was allowed to go to the bathroom. It's seriously no wonder that they take attendance 3 times per class because we'd all bail if they didn't...but maybe they're doing this to make sure that we still have a pulse (in which case, it may not be such a bad idea after all). While I appreciate having the day free after 12:30pm to do as I please, the 8:30am start times are killing me.

I've also found that I'm really good at wasting time. This is a skill that I have almost perfected, but alas it's not exactly something to write home about or put on one's resume. Anyways, as if MSN and Facebook, combined with all the television that I watch already weren't enough, I decided to start watching the one sport that I've never bothered to learn about - football. Guess how I've been spending my weekends lately? That's right, watching football. Yesterday, I looked up at my clock after the Giants-Eagles game and was absolutely horrified by the fact that it read 8pm! Where had my day gone? But don't cry any tears for me. I'm quite enjoying it. I've decided that I quite like Tom Brady and as such, am rooting for the Patriots. We'll see if any of the teams I root for have a shot this year. In the year of the NHL labour dispute (because we can never count on my Leafs to win, they haven't in 40 years) the teams I adopted as my own all won their respective Championships. Last year was a different story, if I liked you, you lost. Hopefully this is not the case this year but we'll see.

Anyways, I think I'm going to work out the ill effects of this morning's class with some television. Hopefully that will wake me up so that I can do it all again tomorrow. Joy [note sarcasm]

What will 2007 bring?

2007-01-02T23:57:00.000-05:00

I read my horoscope daily. Just a tip for those of you out there looking for a good one: check out the Toronto Star. It's eery sometimes. I've always wanted to go see a psychic and get my future told. I'm not one for surprises and I've always been the first to say that patience is not a virtue that I possess. That said, I have no idea what the future has in store. I'm just along for the ride and my fingers are crossed that everything works out in the end and that things happen for a reason.

Here's what my horoscope says:

You've been carrying too many responsibilities. It's been a challenging time, clouded by the sense of having to grind away without respite. The promise of much gain has fallen short of expectations. Then again, perhaps those expectations were too high, or perhaps they were the expectations of someone near and dear who's been driving you on like a donkey. Your ideal has been beyond reach. Even so, it has been a most productive time, providing new reserves of strength, tenacity and endurance. Be honest and admit there have been some glorious moments. They will provide the boost to blow away all woes. In 2007, you will make constructive changes to your inner and outer world, and also enjoy a glimpse of the perfect life. Allow your philosophical and reflective nature to blossom. Greater freedom and greater wisdom will reward your efforts. A redress regarding an unjust financial arrangement is in the cards.

Doesn't give me much in terms of direction. But it doesn't sound negative so that's a good thing. Come on guys, let's take a glass half-full perspective here.

So it's a new year. A "blank slate" if you will. Time to be ambitious and bold and declare that I will do this or accomplish that. It's been done before (i.e. every previous year) but what the heck, some things in life we do out of habit and making New Year's resolutions is one of them. With that said, here are mine:

1. Get in shape. (this is there every year, I haven't seen any improvement)
2. Remember to take time out to do the things I enjoy and have fun. Life can't be all about studying.
3. Live for the present and not for the future.
4. Spend more time outside of my room.
5. Spend less time on MSN. (yeah, again, not likely)
6. Don't concern myself with other people's business.
7. Keep up with my readings. (another thing that's not likely to happen)
8. Learn how to cook.
9. Do something entirely new. (I have issues with risk in that I dislike it)
10. Stop dwelling on past regrets and what ifs. (a harder task that you would think)
11. Work on lowering my fear of failure. (this is pretty entrenched fear so I'm seriously doubtful about this one)
12. Go on vacation or indulge myself in some other manner.

I think that's it. I'm sure I'll get a big hearty laugh out of this list this time next year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Note to 2007: You'd better be a good one ;)

2006: The Year in Review

2006-12-27T22:13:00.000-05:00

2006 marked a year of change and will go down as one of the more eventful set of 365 days that I have experienced thus far.

Academics have always been at the forefront of my life. Four years ago I was jumping at the chance for something new, to leave high school. And then, when I got to Schulich, there were many times where I wanted to take the express lane and get to graduation. Ironically, somewhere along the way things changed, as they do have a habit of doing in life, and I decided that I wasn't quite done with academia just yet. I quite enjoyed being an overage dependant, having 4 months off for summer holidays and living in a "bubble", sheltered from the realities of the working world and what it really means to be a productive member of society. To make a long story short, I decided to extend my stay in institutional life and signed up for a three year stint at the University of Ottawa in pursuit of a law degree.

As such, 2006 marked the year that I finally moved out of Hotel Mom & Dad and started having to do chores and fend for myself all the while being forced to actually do readings for the first time in my life. Gone were the days where I could function on "logic". It's true what they say, payback's a bitch. It's challenging and ridiculously frustrating at times when judgments seem to make absolutely no sense and they seem to be written in a foreign language, regardless of how much the text resembles the English language. But I think I'm finally getting into the groove of things (hopefully anyways, with the blip so far being the Crim exam which I still can't quite get over). I've got a great bunch of friends in law school (both at UO and elsewhere) that I bond and complain with over case briefs, summaries, case comments and 100% finals. Misery loves company LOL!

In the process of moving on from Schulich and graduating from business school, there are things, and more accurately, people missing in my life. Gone are the days where I get to hang out in the Marketplace and here the numerous and wildly entertainment exploits from the weekend's festivities or garb about the latest in celebrity gossip with my gals. I've been really fortunate in my life to be in the company of and befriend so many tremendous people. Cheers to the 2006 BBA class at Schulich, you guys made the past 4 years one hell of an amazing ride. But hey, it's true what they say about networking so we'll always be just a business rolodex flip away.

2006 wasn't all about school either. Some people go backpacking in Europe while others enjoy the sun and sand (among other things) in tropical destinations like Cuba. Me? I've always liked being different so I made a return trip to the Happiest Place on Earth for my grad trip. I'm happy to report that Mickey and the gang are still in great spirits and the main mouse hasn't aged a bit since the last I saw him! I also got the chance to revisit my favourite academic institution and the place that I would *almost* give a limb to go to (although it might actually cost a limb to go there), Harvard. In case anyone is wondering, I totally realized this year that as nice as it is to go on vacation, there's really no place like home. Toronto, I'm sorry that I took you for granted all these years. This is especially true when you're not on a real "vacation" and you're just away for school. This is especially true if that place is Ottawa, home of those blasted Senators! Oh yeah, I also took in a Leafs-Habs game last month with a glorious 5-1 result!

All in all, 2006 was a great year. But the challenge is out for 2007 to top it!

A Boston Drive-by

2006-07-24T00:24:00.000-04:00

I’m not a seasoned traveler by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I haven’t left the continent. The furthest I’ve been from home is to Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, a trip that I have done twice. I’m a person who enjoys routine and predictability which is why I’m pretty sure that something like backpacking that requires flying by the seat of your pants isn’t really my thing, and it’s probably also why I seem to like to visit the same places multiple times. This brings me to my latest outing to Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts. (By the way, I’m rather proud of the fact that I can spell Massachusetts.)

My first visit to Boston occurred when I was seven years old. It was by way of visits to Albany and Cape Cod on one of those Chinese bus tours. All I can really remember about it was the fact that I really enjoyed myself the feel of the city. I also fell in love with Harvard at that time and purchased a t-shirt adorned with Snoopy and Woodstock waving Harvard flags, a t-shirt that I have outgrown what seems like eons ago. Not having visited since then, I have had no Harvard representation among my closet full of hoodies.

In case anyone is wondering, I never did apply to Harvard. I got lazy during the later years of my high school career and didn’t really think that I could have been able to handle their tuition fees, not to mention the fact that getting admitted is no easy task. Do I regret not taking the SATs and at least giving it a shot? Yes, definitely. This unfortunately will go down as one of my life’s regrets. But there’s no real point in dwelling on it (or so I’m told). I’m not one to pass up the opportunity to go and visit my favourite campus so I put it on highest priority of things to do while in Boston.

I’m a multi-tasker. Always have been. Even for things such background noise while at work, I’m not content to just listen to the radio I have come to find a nice combination of my favourite mp3s and the ESPN radio online stream. So this trip was not just one for pleasure, my family took its first ever family vacation via a nine hour drive from Toronto to Boston to drop my brother off for Tufts University’s Adventures in Veterinary Medicine camp in at the Veterinary Medicine campus in North Grafton, about an hour outside of Boston. It’s a bold vacation really if you consider the fact that my dad never goes on vacation and my family has never been on a vacation together, the four of us. My brother is the one who vacations most often, followed by me. I’ve gone on vacation twice with my mother, which is probably the total number of times that she’s been on vacation period. My dad is a vacation virgin so we all got a laugh when he didn’t know how the hotel coffee maker worked and thought that the ice bucket was a mini garbage can.

The car ride to Boston was long and rather arduous considering that it was pouring rain for virtually all of passage through New York state. My mother’s a very conservative driver and whole-heartedly believes in keeping a very safe distance away from the car in front of you so that made for some really tense moments in the car since my dad is and always has been a pretty aggressive driver. Let’s just say that I’d much prefer flying. That coupled with the fact that Boston is one hell of a confusing place to drive in. The streets of Toronto are much simpler as they generally run straight north to south or east to west. We would never have made it there without our recently purchased GPS system. But driving there, it’s pretty much the I-90 all the way there. I wonder how long that highway took to construct because it’s one long ass highway.

We checked into our hotel at 3:30pm and immediately headed out to Harvard Square. We stayed at the Doubletree Boston Bayside hotel. I’ve come to find that through my two stays at hotels within the Hilton family that their beds are really comfortable for hotel beds. The Doubletree comes recommended by me. It’s a decent hotel for its price and proximity to Boston and public transit, which is about a four minute walk away. Unlike Toronto, which again has simplistic subway lines that run straight in both directions for the most part, Boston’s “T” system has four lines that run diagonally. It’s really convenient and cheap (only $1.25) but it really shows its age. In this respect the TTC is better. However, the TTC could learn from the T with its “Arriving at” and “Destination” displays within the subway cars. It was bizarre though. We were on the Orange line at Downtown Crossing looking to go to State station but the announcer said that the particular train that we were on was headed straight from Downtown Crossing to Forest Hill. Well that wouldn’t have been good for us. But even though they announced it, it took them a good three minutes before they opened the doors to let those who didn’t want to go to Forest Hill off. But a nice guy who looked like a better version of Casey Affleck directed us where to go. Bostonians are very nice. I saw them get up for older people on the subway and make random chatter with fellow commuters. The pace seemed slower and more calm compared to Toronto where people are seemingly in their own worlds, plugged into electronic devices who generally pay no mind to one another unless one party pisses another off. I got more of a communal feeling. Also, all of the buildings look like they’re straight off some Hollywood set. There’s a lot of history and an antique-y feel about the place. They also have really nice pedestrian count-downs so you know how long you have before the lights change.

Right, so Harvard. It still looks exactly how I remember it. Beautiful. That’s what Universities should look like. Not like the concrete monstrosity that I attended for four years. And it comes complete with majestic pillars (of which I am a big fan). The library is absolutely ginormous (try finding that word in one of the dictionaries in there). They’ve got to house every book ever published there it’s that huge. Oh yeah, I also picked up a crimson Harvard hoodie while I was there. If I can’t wear my Toronto Maple Leafs hoodie while I’m in Ottawa, I’ll wear my Harvard hoodie. I guess I just like to be different. =P

That's me in front of Harvard Hall

Nice try Ryan, gotta put in more than 10% effort to get access to the ginormous library!

We also went to Quincy Market, grabbed some clam chowder and my brother took some pictures in front of some Cheers memorabilia and then it was back to the hotel. The next day, my parents woke us up ridiculously early and we watched I-Robot (no commercials even though it wasn’t pay-per-view) and then it was off to Worcester and the residences at Assumption College where my brother is staying for two weeks. The dorms are much nicer than the ones at Queens (the only dorms I’ve seen) and could double as a hotel it’s that clean and new. And then it was another nine hours homeward bound (see what I mean by Boston Drive-by?) during which I had plenty of time to whip up this blog entry…aren’t you glad? =)

I can't go anywhere without my regular dose of sports-related items

I can’t believe we’ve got to do this trip once again in two weeks when we go to pick Ryan up, although we may not stop off in Boston again that time. After that, hopefully someone or something gives me a reason to go visit again.

New digs.

2006-07-19T00:04:00.000-04:00

Ever the procrastinator, I didn't manage to go about looking for a place to live in Ottawa until very recently. For someone who loves and craves control this lack of planning is unnerving.

Anyways, the search was on. Of course, I had no idea how to go about starting to look for rentals. I've always happily resided at Hotel Mom & Dad where I have been sheltered, clothed, fed, and provided with access to cable television and high speed Internet access. It also didn't help that my roommate lived pretty much the same life.

Right. My roommate. Many of you will be surprised at how progressive and liberal my parents are being letting me live with a guy. Yep, that's right. My roommate is a friend from Schulich actually who is also going to be studying law in Ottawa. Now, we're not tight or anything. And although I've known him since first year many of our conversations occured while passing through the different wings of the building and went something like this:

Eli: "Adeline, how about those Leafs?"
Me: "Shut up Eli! I don't want to talk about it."

LOL. Well it's fine. The Leafs depress me anyway and I've found a free web stream of ESPN so I think I'll be watching a lot of college basketball this year. We're both huge sports fans and who knows, there may be a road trip or two in our future seeing as how he has his own car and he doesn't mind driving long distances. We've also worked out our required television days. And while One Tree Hill is on during his required slot of 9pm on Wednesday nights (Lost), it's ok because I've resigned myself to the fact that One Tree Hill will forever be a show that I need to download in order to watch.

But seriously, could I have gotten a better roommate?!

So I came up with a list of available places found via the Ottawa U off-campus housing boards, Craigslist and the local newspaper. I put Eli in charge of calling and making appointments to view the different properties. And then it was panic time because after calling on the Friday before our intended trip to Ottawa that Sunday, we were only able to get one appointment. Regardless, we both realized that we needed to go up there to take a look around. Another friend, Warren, who lives in Ottawa suggested that we just walk around the area where we want to live and look for rental signs. Apparently, there were a lot of them. He didn't let me down. There were indeed a lot of signs, although a lot of them were owned by property management companies that, you guessed it, are closed on the weekends. However, we managed to see two additional places, at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Place #1: Not too bad. Although at that time, we had no point of comparison. It seemed nice enough although one room was significantly smaller than the other but there were ways around that and we discussed making the living room area one of our rooms and making the smaller room into the living room. Definitely was something that we were considering. The bathtub was a basin though (one of those tubs that you see falling through the floor in older movies) and the contraption that was designed to hold up the shower head frightened me but other than that, the place wasn't all that day.

Place #2: A dump. Seriously, I would rather have died than have lived there. Having to do readings is a fact that is depressing enough but living in that hole? That probably would have sent me crying all the way back to Toronto.

Place #3: Out of our initial price range but there was no harm in seeing it anyway. It turned out to be the place that we're going to be calling home for the next year. It's spacious with a gorgeous living room area complete with large bay window. The rooms are big and it came with our own laundry area so there would be no need to lug our clothes a few blocks during winter time to get them washed. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures and Troy, our landlord took down the pictures that he had in the online posting before I got a chance to save them. No fear though, I will be posting pictures as soon as I get settled.

So it looks like this Ottawa thing is really going to happen. I now have a place and a spacious one at that. Wow. I guess this really will be the year of personal growth...coupled with some starvation seeing as how neither of us knows how to cook. o_O;

So if anyone has some furniture that they don't need, be sure to let me know before I head on over to the student furnishing depot (aka Ikea).

Grad Trip 2006. Destination: Walt Disney World Florida

2006-07-03T02:39:00.000-04:00

I was a TA for one of my third year professors this past semester. Before I completed the last of my duties and collected that beautiful pay cheque (TA-ing is the best job I have ever had since I was an anonymous marker, shielded from questions from the firing squad, and it paid me a fabulous hourly wage) the issue of graduation trips came up in passing conversation. I told him that I was going to Disney World. He looked at me incredulously and replied, “You’re going to Disney World?! People go to Cuba to get drunk and have random sex and you’re going to Disney World?!”

Most people go backpacking across Europe when they finish school as a last hurrah before they are forced to own up to the responsibilities that come along with adulthood (i.e. working full-time and moving out of the room that you have had reserved for you at Hotel Mom & Dad for the past twenty odd years). Others do indeed make the trip to Cuba or other tropical locales to experience things and then never speak of them upon their return. But I’m not most people. I’m still very much a kid. A naïve kid who has an adequate combination of book and street smarts but lives in a bubble for the most part.

Personally I don’t know what can beat a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth. I’m all about and for being happy…after all, who isn’t?! You can also travel the world in a day at Epcot and don’t need to put up with seedy hostels. And it doesn’t hurt that the trip is affordable, costing just over $1000 (not including food and souvenirs) for six nights. I’m going to be a poor law student next year, eating the same bowl noodles and microwave dinners for eight months, in order to be able to make payment on rent and tuition, so going overseas was beyond my price range. I also like my amenities so I don’t know how well I’d do backpacking. Hopefully one day I’ll have enough in my back account to experience Europe firsthand, in style. In the meantime, hitting up the pavilions at Epcot will do just fine.

I haven’t been to Disney World, which to clarify is in Orlando, Florida, in 12 years. The last time I went I was even more naïve and idealistic and I traveled in the company of my mother (which was nice because I didn’t have to worry about paying for anything). As much as I love my mother, going on vacation with friends is a lot of fun. I’ve mentioned in a previous entry about the headache that was planning this vacation but in the end it was worth the headache. I had a great time and honestly, two months later am still suffering from withdrawal. Can I go back, please?

Anyways, after such a long intro, here’s a “brief” synopsis of Adeline’s Grad Trip 2006, Destination: Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida.

Day 1 – Monday, April 24th, 2006.

The big day has finally arrived. I’ve been talking to my buddy Jason, a Disney World regular, about this trip for weeks and the anticipation has been building. I’ve gone through the links that he’s sent and done some research. I have promised him that my thrill seeking self will go on the Tower of Terror, even if it’s the only “thrill” ride that I go on.

Much like those commercials that Disney runs, I was too excited to sleep. Actually, it was a combination of excitement and anxiety (for fear of not waking up on time and encountering difficulties going through customs on only my birth certificate and driver’s license). So I was up bright and early and my mom drove to Steph’s house to pick up both her and Jackie (my traveling buddies for this particular trip). Canada Customs tells you to arrive at the airport three hours before your flight is scheduled to depart and I wanted to minimize the time my mom had to be stuck in rush-hour traffic back from the airport so we left bright and early and got there really early. As if a sign of good things to come when we arrive at the Westjet counter to check-in, Jackie is approached by the check-in attendant. It turns out that they were high school friends *starts to sing It’s A Small World After All* and through this connection, we scored prime seats on the plane with ample leg room. Yay us!

The flight itself was pleasantly uneventful. I called for dibs on the window seat and let me tell you the view is simply amazing. It’s a whole other perspective and seemingly, a whole other world. I’m still nervous when I fly though. There’s something to be said about the security that one feels when they’re on solid ground. With no in-flight movie, I kept myself entertained with satellite television and the spectacular view of the clouds and the southern United States outside my window. Let the picture taking commence. This was taken somewhere over Georgia. You can start to see the beaches and I knew that warmer weather was fast approaching.

Needless to say, I wasn’t very well prepared for how hot it would be in Orlando when we landed. With our impeccable timing, we caught a heat wave and man was it hot, especially for late April! It’s okay, sweat is a good thing, burns calories. By the time we got settled at the Pop Century Hotel (the cheapest Disney resort) and refueled with some grub it was already 3:30pm. With half the day gone already, we decided to head to MGM Studios seeing as that was the park with Extended Magic Hours (3 extra hours that the park is open to resort guests) that day. Looks like I’d have to make good on my promise to Jason on day one…I wasn’t ready for that yet. I needed to work my way up to it and had hoped to put off MGM until day three. Oh well, there’s no time like the present, as they say.

We indulged our photo-happy selves as soon as we arrived on our way to amassing a rather large photo tally at the end of the six days with Jackie having taken 5 rolls of film while Steph and I took around 450 digital photos each. We missed the shows (e.g., Indiana Jones) since we got to the park so late but we went for drawing lessons where we learned to draw Donald (they turned out pretty well), saw the Muppet 3D movie, went on the StarWars simulator ride…and oh yeah, went on the Tower of Terror among other things.

I actually really needed to go to the bathroom right around the time that we approached the Tower of Terror but never ended up going. Thankfully everything was fine. It was only a 15 minute wait to get on the ride so we headed on in. In my head, I was thinking of ways to get out of this. When I went 12 years ago, I looked at the Tower and said to my mom, “there’s no way that I’m going on that” and I didn’t. But we must all conquer our fears right so I had to be brave. Besides, I promised. We met a very nice family from Oshawa who were ahead of us in line. It’s funny because we later learned that they stayed at our hotel and we bumped into them again on the morning of day two as well. I had my Canada t-shirt from the Olympics in Athens so they asked if we were Canadian. Actually, I was a walking Canadian billboard pretty much every day with my Federal government issued baseball cap shading me from the sun. They had been on the ride before and gave us a few insights about what we would be encountering when we got there. We’d be falling 13 stories in an elevator that much I knew and quivered at the thought of. But I did it. I didn’t back out. I actually went on. It was an adrenaline rush; let’s just say that. Knowing what I know now about the ride, I don’t know if I could bring myself to go on it again but I’m glad I did it, at least once. The thing is that you know you’re going to be plummeting 13 stories so when you get to the top and get the chance to pause and peer out at a view of the park you’re anticipating the drop. I clutched the handles on my seat for dear life and then it happen. They dropped us. I thought that was it. But no, we went all the way back up only to drop again and this happened for another 2 or 3 times. I was just willing it to end. The only thoughts in my mind at the time were, “when is this ever going to end?” and “will this ever end?” When it finally did, I let out a big sigh of relief and was perhaps more thankful to be on solid ground then when we landed earlier that day. They take pictures of you as well while you’re on the ride, and then try to sell it to you for $20+. We ended up not purchasing our picture but I was in the front row and I can tell you that I had a look of utter panic on my face and you could see my tonsils, my mouth was open so wide. Meanwhile, you could see Jackie and Steph laughing (LAUGHING!!!) in the picture. Grr.

We returned back to the hotel, grabbed a late dinner and I flipped through the channels to find ESPN, ESPN News, ESPN2 and the WB. I was in heaven. I was bunking with Jackie that night and among the three of us we didn’t sleep a wink all that night. It’s always hard to sleep in a foreign bed your first night and that, among other things, led us to be three very tired people the next day.

Day 2 – Tuesday, April 25th, 2006.

What’s a little lack of sleep when the next stop on your tour of Disney World is the Magic Kingdom? Sure, none of us was overly energetic since getting up before noon is pretty much an anomaly when you’re not in school or going to work but you’re at Walt Friggin’ Disney World! Everything is larger than life and buzzing with energy and enthusiasm and you can’t help but become energized at that. Who needs caffeine? LOL.

It didn’t take us all that long to find our main man…or should we say, our main mouse. A trip to his house yielded to his discovery in the judges’ tent area where I guess Mickey grades pumpkins and other crops. So there you go. On Day 2, even if we didn’t see any other characters for the rest of the trip, we could go home happy because we got a picture with Mickey!

Now, the buzz that being at the Magic Kingdom gives you isn’t quite enough for your poor tired legs so after going on a bunch of rides, taking pictures of things that I’d like to buy but frankly don’t need and am not willing to overpay for, staying for Cinderellabration (a new musical number about how Cinderella became a princess) and the daily character parade, we hopped on the monorail out of there to give our legs a much needed reprieve.

On my first trip to Disney World I stayed at the top-of-the-line Grand Floridian resort. This time I went in the opposite direction but I took this opportunity to introduce Steph and Jackie to the monorail system and we stopped off at the Floridian to check out the grounds. It’s gorgeous there after all, that’s something that hasn’t changed.

We each had one restaurant option for the duration of the trip. Mine was easy and as soon as I heard of its existence, I knew that that was my pick. So we were off to the ESPN Club on the Boardwalk for dinner that evening. It’s quite a trek to get out there. We ended up taking the boat out to the Boardwalk. As we were approaching the restaurant, there it was. A giant sized billboard of JJ Redick decorating the side of the restaurant. I knew there was a reason I loved ESPN. But seriously, not only did they have a JJ billboard, they also have each and every sports game that evening playing somewhere within the restaurant. The area where we sat had something like 16 TVs put together to form one GIANT TV that broadcasted an NBA playoff game with a hockey and baseball game on the side. Oh yeah, the food there is good and affordable. The ESPN Club is heaven on Earth for a sports fan and it’s only appropriate that it’s located in the Happiest Place on Earth. If it was up to me, I would have gone there for dinner most nights and I can see why Jason and his family go there every night for dinner.

Day 3 – Wednesday, April 26th, 2006.

Yet another scorcher. We spent this day at the Animal Kingdom, the newest of the four theme parks inside Walt Disney World. It’s also home to the newest ride at Disney – Everest. But I saw that incline and I had no inclination of going on it. But I encouraged Jackie and Steph to take it for a spin. I was more than happy to sit and wait. However, we were all turned off by the wait time for that ride – 70 minutes. So off we went. We did wait 40 minutes in the sweltering heat for the Kilimanjaro Safari where we saw a lion, elephants, giraffes, hippos, alligators and other animals that a) I do not remember and b) can’t identify by name. To cool off we went on the Kali River Rapids. It’s guaranteed to get you wet. Thankfully for us, we weren’t the people who got absolutely soaked from head to toe. Poor girl should have known better than to wear all white when going on a water ride. But I did get sufficiently soaked. To dry off and rest our legs, we bought a delicious lemon-ice drink that came with an adorable and sturdy Pluto straw-spoon (great souvenir!) and sat down at some tables. Now, Walt Disney World has millions of visitors each year and it was packed at the park when we were there so it’s unlikely for people to meet unless they have pre-arranged something. So it was funny when we saw Khalida and Judy (friends from Schulich who left 2 days after we did) at the park. Talk about good timing.

Oh yeah, we also watched a performance of the Lion King, saw a 4D Bug’s Life movie and caught up with Winnie the Pooh and friends for some pictures.

When I booked this trip in March I didn’t think much of the fact that I would be missing some of my regularly scheduled television programming. For instance, my time at ESPN prevented me from seeing Gilmore Girls. However, in light of the fact that for the first time in my life I actually had the ability to see One Tree Hill when it aired, I made it abundantly clear that my Wednesday night plans revolved around being my hotel room in time for the show at 8pm. I didn’t require company but at the end of yet another long and extremely hot day in the sun all three of us settled down in our room for pizza and One Tree Hill. Back to that timing thing, Judy and Khalida paid us a visit in our hotel room during my episode so I missed a sufficient amount of it. Enough to vex me some at least. In the end, Steph joined Judy and Khalida for an evening at Pleasure Island that may or may not have included drinking and clubbing-type activities. Meanwhile, Jackie and I bonded over some television and a game between the Heat and the Cavaliers.

It’s funny because before we left I was worried about whether or not I would have anything to talk about with Jackie. I didn’t know her outside of class where she normally was very quiet and reserved. But it turns out that we’re both basketball fans (her on the NBA side and me on the NCAA side) and we both watch way too much television. So we chatted up a storm over the course of the trip and have become really good friends. We had lots in the way of bonding time over those six days and because we were bunk mates for the entire trip.

Day 4 – Thursday, April 27th, 2006.

Our first (and in the case of Jackie and me, only) foray outside of Disney grounds took place on day four as we traveled to nearby Universal Studios. Since I’m not much of a thrill ride person and because the others aren’t either, we went to the Movie side of the park. On the whole, I would say that Disney tops Universal any day but we did go on a bunch of simulator rides, one of which – Back to the Future – made me and Jackie really ill. Man that was a bumpy ride. We weren’t sure where Steph had disappeared to at the time but Jackie and I got our picture taken with SpongeBob SquarePants and all three of us got a picture taken together with 3 of the characters from Madagascar.

Jackie exercised her dining option that day with a late lunch at NBA City (see, Jackie is totally my kind of gal!). Maybe it was because I was super hungry but those burgers were absolutely delicious and the fact that we got to see some NBA highlight reel actions/moves and watch a rerun of the previous night’s game didn’t hurt either.

As we went through the park rather quickly, we were back home in time for the OC and other 9pm programming. I don’t remember where Steph went off to with Judy and Khalida but Jackie and I had another night in and we watched the fireworks display at Epcot from our hotel balcony.

Day 5 – Friday, April 28th, 2006.

By Friday we had hit up three of the four Disney theme parks with only Epcot to go so that was our destination for day five. Epcot had been my favourite park twelve years ago and it still holds this title today. Epcot is a massive park with both rides and pavilions representing countries from around the world. We woke up a little late that day and decided to head over and go on a tour of the world before we hit the rides figuring that there would be fewer people at the park later in the day and that since Epcot had Extra Magic Hours that day we’d just go on the rides after the park closed to non-resort guests. This turned out to be a little bit of a mistake but we’ll into that in more detail a little later.

Where else can you say that you went around the world in a day? Not even a day actually, more like 6 hours. I got to experience some of the highlights of some popular tourist destinations and without jet lag or expensive flights. LOL. I know it’s not the same but it’s not bad either. I seriously don’t think that I’d do very well backpacking around Europe. I’m a homebody. I love my television, my Internet and my amenities. Hell, I’m in Florida and I’m missing my bed at home and I’d only been gone five days so you can only imagine how bad it’d get if I went on an extended trip. By the way, seeing as how it was really hot that day as well the cold water from the water fountain in front of where else, Canada was absolutely blissful.

After we finished our tour of the world, we hit up some rides. We lined up for Test Track, a ride that is supposed to simulate the testing of cars at General Motors testing facilities and that also includes racing around a steeply-banked loop at speeds approaching 65mph. The thing is that I wanted it to go FASTER. I loved the ride. It was easily among my top three rides. However, our thought that there would be fewer people on the rides in the evening was incorrect. We had to wait 40 minutes to get on this ride. By the time we were done it was time for the fireworks and the closing of the park for regular patrons. The fireworks were amazing and well orchestrated with musical score. But I’ve always been easily impressed by stuff like this especially considering that my parents used to take me driving around the neighbourhood staring at the light displays at Christmas time and I would always have my mouth wide open in utter and complete awe. We quickly hurried off to get on Soarin right after the fireworks ended. When we first went to try to get on Soarin the estimated wait time was 110 minutes!!! That’s ridiculous. This time around we encountered a wait time of 40 minutes. We had no choice and I wasn’t leaving Florida until I had been on this ride so we were going to stick it out. And it was well worth the wait. I have heard nothing but good things about Soarin and my dentist has told me on numerous occasions that it’s the best ride at Disney. She’s right. It’s an amazing ride and I wish I had the opportunity to go on it a few more times but our timing wasn’t the greatest since Disney was packed for all of the days we were there. Anyways, on Soarin you are gliding 40 feet in the air as you soar above breathtaking views of California. To end off the evening we went to engage in some Turtle Talk with Crush from Finding Nemo. Dude, it was totally bogus. LOL.

Somewhere along the way, amidst all the rides and our worldly travels (and a very late afternoon lunch) we didn’t get a chance to eat dinner. The dining area at the Pop Century closes at midnight and we got off the bus back to our resort at 11:58pm upon which the three of us made a mad dash for some food before it closed up. Thankfully we just made it in time to the one eatery that was still open. Man, we cut it close.

Day 6 – Saturday, April 29th, 2006.

It was our very last day at Disney World as our plan would be leaving at 7am on Sunday. We had been to all the parks so today would be a “free day” spent going to things that we missed on previous occasions or to go on rides that we enjoyed for a second time. Steph had had it with the theme parks and opted to go out for a day of outlet mall shopping with Judy and Khalida. In other words, she kind of ditched Jackie and I. But that’s fine. To each their own. Jackie and I decided to go back and see some shows at MGM, like Indiana Jones, and go back to Epcot to pick up souvenirs and go on Test Track and Soarin again. We had plans to meet up with Steph, Judy and Khalida later that evening at Downtown Disney for dinner. After all, Steph had still yet to exercise her dining option and today was our last night.

Everything seemed to work out for Jackie and I that day. If we were going on an elevator, the doors seemed to open for us. When we went to catch the bus for MGM, the bus was waiting for us at the dock in front of our hotel and there just happened to be two seats remaining. It was really one of those days. It seemed like nothing could go wrong. It was super.

We caught Indiana Jones at MGM and went to see this Drew Carey thing as well. You know, it’s almost as though with every video presentation at Disney, you get sprayed in the audience. You come to expect it and this time we got hosed with water. LOL. Beware I tell you. After that we took some pictures and said goodbye to MGM.

There was a Garden Expo going on at Epcot and I still hadn’t gotten my mom anything yet as a souvenir and seeing as how she loves gardening I wanted to pick something up for her there. There was a rock that I had eyed that said Welcome and had a picture of Mickey on it. We actually discovered a whole Garden Expo store that we hadn’t seen the day before and there we discovered not only the welcome rock but also the limited edition stamps that the US postal office had issued to celebrate one of the Disney anniversaries. On a side note, doesn’t it seem like there is always a celebration at Disney, every year? Anyways, we left to go on the rides before making these purchases because the rock was heavy and I didn’t feel like lugging it around all day.

And since the day was going so well for us it was only natural that Test Track would feel faster than it did the night before. I could go on that ride all day! As for Soarin, the wait time for the ride was 70 minutes and while the ride was great, I just didn’t feel like waiting for that long to go on it again so went on Living with the Land instead which was a boat ride that took us on a tour of the Disney greenhouses and very cool crops being grown without soil. After that we went for a quick tour around the aquarium and then it was back to the Garden Expo to pick up the rock and the collectable stamps before heading back to the hotel.

On our way out of the Garden Expo I spotted a sign that said that the Disney characters would be there posing for pictures until 5pm. It was 4:35 at that point and I figured, why not? We went in and found Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Chip and Dale and Geppetto and got some great photos out of it. I’m so glad that we made the decision to go in and grab some last minute pictures.

After that it was back to the hotel to drop off our stuff, and then head out to Downtown Disney for dinner. We eventually went to Wolfgang Puck Express and that became Steph’s dining choice by default. It was a delicious meal that was very affordable as well. I would definitely recommend it to those of you the next time you’re at Disney World. Of course, the patio could use some better lighting since I’m not sure if I ate any flies/bugs along with my delicious chicken dinner.

Day 7 – Sunday, April 30th, 2006.

Packing for our return to Toronto was interesting. My mother’s Welcome rock took up exactly half of my suitcase so it was a challenge to get all my clothes and other items back into the limited space remaining. But I managed just fine. It took me a while though and many tries. The Magical Express that Disney provides to transport us from the hotel to the airport was scheduled to arrive at 4:15am to pick us up and I didn’t finish packing until 1am and frankly, didn’t sleep more than one hour that day.

Even though I was homesick and couldn’t wait to get into my own bed because I had feared hitting or rolling onto Jackie in my sleep all week, it was bittersweet to leave Orlando. I had a great time and left with many memories and pictures. It was exactly what I needed – a vacation from reality. In the real world I have responsibilities, bills to pay, marks to earn. At Disney World the only responsibility I had was to have fun and to enjoy myself. It’s the Happiest Place on Earth for a reason. Bye Disney, I’ll miss you.

When I landed in Toronto, everything looked so foreign. In the six days that I had been away, I seemingly forgot what my house, my room, my neighbourhood looked like. Everything seemed so dull and so un-Disney like. Disney really is a world of its own. Everything is brighter, bigger, and bolder there so it was an adjustment upon my initial return. Another thing that sucked was the fact that I started work the very next day so there was no transition period for me to get back into reality. But like I said, two months later I’m still suffering from Disney withdrawal. I want to go back so badly. Someone take me!!!

So that’s the whole trip wrap-up. Very “brief” don’t you think? LOL. Orlando has to be one of my favourite places in the world. It’s home to Mickey Mouse…and oh yeah, JJ Redick ;) I hope to go back soon. You can never have too much Disney magic in your life.

It's really over.

2006-06-16T18:54:00.000-04:00

So a lot has happened in between my previous post and this one. I promise that I'll fill in the gaps soon enough (or whenever my muse permits). However, I figured that I should get the details of Convocation out there before I forget and it becomes another thing on the ever growing to do list.

I can't believe it. It's actually over. I'm actually done done with Schulich. As in unless I go to do my MBA there in a handful of years time I will never have to set foot in that building again. Or rather, I will never have the occasion to set foot in that building again. The moment that I experience at 12:30pm today was one that I had been waiting for since the day I arrived at Schulich. I had started the countdown four years ago and now that has stopped. I'm done.

As I write the word "done" I'm not sure how to feel. I'm a mixture of emotions. I'm elated to have finished a chapter of my life and capped it off with my best academic showing at the post-secondary level thus far. I'm thankful that I got the chance to study with and under accomplished professors who have each taught me valuable lessons. Some times these lessons weren't of the academic nature but regardless of how I view them as professors, they all taught me something about life, about people, about what life and work is like outside of the confines of institutional learning. Most of all, I'm in awe of my fellow classmates who have inspired me, challenged me, and pushed me to be better, to do better.

Four years ago, I was jumping at the chance to start something new. I wanted to leave the "small pond" mentality of high school. The walls seemed suffocating in that last year and I was just going through the motions, aching for the chance to burst out of those doors for the very last time. I was ready to put Dr. Norman Bethune C.I. behind me, as just another stop in my life's journey. The biggest draw to a new school, a school where I would only know two other people, was the fact that I would be forced to meet new people and make new friends.

Ironically, I spent much of my first year as a recluse, kind of off on my own. That's out of character for those of you who know me, as is the emotional breakdown that I had four days into my undergraduate career. That was the first of a handful of times that I wanted to throw in the towel and quit. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I didn't make friends but I didn't embrace the University experience either. I resisted the change. For those of you who had Christine Oliver, I was stuck in the "neutral zone". I didn't even attend frosh week. Schulich holds a buddy dinner to welcome the incoming class prior to frosh week. One of the activities during this dinner is to come up with a cheer for your group (which is, as with most of our initial group projects at Schulich, randomly assigned). For whatever reason, I decided to be attentive and then I saw "it". It's pretty infamous around Schulich and is kind of a story for the ages. It might seem like it's a myth but it's true, I (very unfortunately) saw it with my own two eyes. The "it" that I'm referring to is the act of Will Lumb masturbating on stage. It was then that I decided that I wouldn't spend any more time than absolutely necessary with my peers, at least not until I absolutely had to. In case anyone is wondering, people do not shake Will's hand to this day. After all, we don't know where it's been...

When we moved to the new (and still yet to be totally finished) Schulich building my reclusive ways changed. Secluded on the outskirts of campus, the Schulich building housed virtually all of my classes. I left the building to venture to the rest of the York campus, once or at most twice a week. The rest of the time, I spent hanging out in the Marketplace. The design of the building requires that people walk through the Marketplace to get anywhere in the school. As a result, you see everyone there and it's a social hub. We're business students and time is money (oh yeah, and we're generally pretty lazy) so we rarely get off our butts to go to York. We live in the Schulich building so we see each other a lot. Eventually, Schulich wasn't much different from high school - I would walk down the hall to greetings and chatter with acquaintances who quickly became friends.

My decision to go to Schulich above all the other business schools in Canada is one that has not let me down. I wanted to leave the high school "small pond" mentality but going from high school to a close knit and relatively small program of around 300 strong worked out extremely well for me. I know or have come in contact with virtually everyone in the program at some point or other in my 4 years of study and I was able to establish personal relationships with professors. I'm more than just a number.

I'm fortunate to have been in the company of and befriended so many of these tremendous people in the past four years. They have helped to keep me from veering off course. They have inspired me. They have been there with words of encouragement and support at the most opportune of times. And it's in the past 2 months where I haven't had the opportunity to see them on a regular basis and I know that I won't be able to see them as often as I would like from here on out that I have realized how truly special the experience has been. I'm going to miss them, dearly.

Sitting there today surrounded by familiar faces as we carried on snarky conversations during the Convocation ceremony I was reminded once again of what will be missing come September. But I'm not leaving the institutional setting. I will still get that. I'm still a student. I'll make new friends I'm sure but I hope that I'll be able to keep in touch with people who have shared this Schulich experience with me. I'm not going to kid myself though. Keeping in touch is hard. Just ask some of my high school friends. Many have gone missing and my relationships with others have just kind of drifted with neither party making a concerted effort to hang on. I'm hoping that this time things will be different. I know that being a part of each other's network, especially in the business world, is a must. I'm not deluding myself though, it'll be hard and only time will tell.

So a few last thoughts about the actual convocation. First off, when did they ever show us how to hood ourselves?! Thankfully, our 4 years did teach us enough problem solving skills that we were able to figure it out. Secondly, totally didn't understand or hear much/any of Dean Horvath's speech (that accent is really really thick!). Also, I looked ridiculous in grad hat. A big thanks to Dan for helping me put that thing on and for the side chatter during the loooooong ceremony. So I finally found my mom after the ceremony, took some pictures around the York campus and picked my diploma and got it framed. By the time that I made it back to Schulich to grab some things to eat, everything was gone! Man, we're a bunch of rampant and hungry people! And I'm sad that I didn't get pictures with everyone I wanted to get pictures with. *sigh* Oh well, nothing I can do about that now. Guess I'll have to rely on the images engrained in my mind. Oh yeah, I can't forget my excitment over the fact that they pronounced my name correctly!!!! I was so excited that I didn't even remember to listen to see if they mentioned that I graduated with Distinction!

I know that I've quoted it before on this blog but it's so applicable and true that I'm going to do so again.

"Whatever happens, you can handle wins or losses, but the quality of people you're dealing with determines the experience, and I've had a hell of an experience with these guys." - Mike Krzyzewski

Cheers to the 2006 BBA class at the Schulich School of Business. You guys made it one hell of a ride. Keep in touch! Now let those alumni donation requests trickle into my mail box. The joys of graduation.

Before I sign off I'm going to leave you with a few pictures from today.

Until next time...

The follow-up.

2006-04-07T21:07:00.000-04:00

So after all was said and done, I got a call last Thursday from the people at Octagon. Turns out that I did do a good job and that I had impressed them. I was told that I would have gotten the job had it not been for the fact that the Managing Director decided to extend the contract of the co-op student they have currently on staff so that that person would just continue part-time into the summer. So they saved a few bucks. And after all that stress...

Good to know that my French isn't all *that* bad.

March Madness.

2006-03-26T20:15:00.000-05:00

So it's been over a month since my last post There are also something like 12 days left until I'm done with Schulich...forever! Things are quickly sneaking up on me, including major term projects that have yet to be started. I'll get through that somehow...

So let's see. A lot of things have happened since February. I'll run through a couple of them.

1. I booked my grad trip to Walt Disney World. Planning this trip proved to be quite a headache. Here's one of my greatest pet peeves: when people invite themselves to other people's parties (and I use the term party loosely). I had planned on going on this trip with 3 of my closest/best friends. When two of them had other trips (and a typically limited bank account), I was content to go with just my one friend. She, however was on a mission to save a few bucks, a move that ultimately came at the expense of my sanity for a few days and a couple of hours of sleep. So here's what happened. Apparently she had gone around her classes inviting people to this trip and touted that "the more the merrier". Of course, she wasn't the one planning the thing so of course it was all merry for her. In the end there came out to potentially 9 people who were interested in coming of which I was friends with 2 of the 9 with one person that I couldn't even match a name with their face. 9 isn't a multiple of 4 (which is the number of people per room). Eventually, it was wittled away to 6 and then 5. Ok, so 5 is a manageable number and I was ready to pull the trigger on the booking. The next snag was the fact that there were only four seats remaining on the flight. There was a point that evening that I thought that the trip just wouldn't happen and I kinda wished I had shut up about it and just gone with my cousins. In the end, the trip is happening for me and two others starting on April 24th and for the remaining two on April 26th. I guess it all worked out in the end but never again. Never.

2. The TTC treated me like shit and made a big stink about needing the last week of August off to move into Ottawa for law school. So I'm out one summer job. Oh well, it wasn't worth the grief and aggrevation anyway. So a professor hooked me up with a contact of his that works at the Blue Jays who had then forwarded my resume to this sports marketing company called Octagon. I was contacted by email shortly afterwards for an interview. I got the job description and it was almost like a dream come true. It was very close to my dream job. There was a part in the description that said must be bilingual. But a lot of companies do that so I didn't think too much of it. That was, until I received the confirmation email that told me that the latter half of the interview would be conducted en francais! Umm...I haven't used my French in five years!! Hell if I remember anything. So that led to a major freakout and an evening where I tried to stuff as much French in my head as possible. My goal for the interview was to walk out of it with some semblence of dignity left. I think I did that. I understood all of her questions and gave her answers, albeit they were lame answers, but they were answers nonetheless.
The moral to this story? Take the fact that you did French in high school and have conversational French off your resume if you haven't used it in five years!!!

3. It's my favourite time of year - March Madness. I fell in love with March Madness last year and it has quickly become the thing that I look the most forward to each year. March Madness also coincides with madness at school but the NCAA version is so much more enjoyable. Last year I played brackets on ESPN and finished in the 95th percentile out of approximately 5 million people who played (a stat that I for sure won't top this year). But this year, I adopted a team and quickly learned to regret the fact that out of laziness in my OAC year, I didn't take the SATs. I think I definitely missed out. I would have been a good Cameron Crazy! The same day that I found out about the job interview in French, my team - Duke (for those of you who didn't get the earlier Cameron Crazy reference) lost. Is this not the saddest picture?

So I'm a big JJ Redick fan...

And that brings us up to right now and I'm currently avoiding working on my Skill Application for a professor who we shall only call "Big Bertha!"

I guess I'll conclude this particular entry by quoting Coach K (very appropriate considering what I said in point 3), who very eloquently summed up my feelings about the group members that I've had this academic year.

"Whatever happens, you can handle wins or losses, but the quality of people you're dealing with determines the experience, and I've had a hell of an experience with these guys." - Coach K.

I couldn't have said it better myself. There are so many people that I'm going to miss in a mere 12 days. Life just won't be as fun without them...thank God for MSN.

Love this article.

2006-02-14T21:54:00.000-05:00

Credit goes to the New York Times

Applications to Law Schools Are Declining

By JONATHAN D. GLATER

Published: February 9, 2006

Has law school lost its appeal?

Last year, for the first time since the 1997-98 admission cycle, the number of applicants to law school declined, by 4.6 percent, and so far this year, the number has declined by 9.5 percent.

With falling numbers even among the top schools, admissions officers and career counselors say they are not sure what is causing the drop. They suggested that in an improving economy, college students may prefer jobs to law school, or that rising undergraduate debt loads have discouraged some students from borrowing still more to pay for a law degree.

It may be that a surge in popularity a few years ago has, perversely, led to the current decline in interest in law schools, said David E. Kelley, creator and producer of the television show "Boston Legal" and himself a lawyer. "The more lawyers there are, the more people are out there to encourage others not to go to law school," Mr. Kelley said.

He added: "I personally still have a very glamorous view of the law. But maybe that's because I'm out of it, and I get to write about what I would like the practice of law to be."

At Columbia, 8,020 would-be lawyers applied to start law school last fall, compared with 8,355 a year earlier. At New York University School of Law, the number fell to 7,872 from 8,220. At Stanford, the numbers fell to 4,863 from 5,040. At Harvard Law School, the numbers fell to 7,127 from 7,386.

At Yale Law School, however, there were just five fewer applicants last year, a drop to 3,778, from 3,783.

"You've got to expect those cycles to happen, whether that's tied to the latest hit TV show" or some other factor, said Marshall Tracht, vice dean at Hofstra University School of Law, which has seen a slight decline.

"There are some people who go to law school because they don't know what else to do," Mr. Tracht said, "and there are a lot of other people who are really committed to going to law school because of what they want to accomplish with their lives."

The drop may also be a correction to numbers that had soared a few years ago, Mr. Tracht and several law school admissions officers said. In the 2003-4 admission cycle, the number of applicants hit 100,600, according to the Law School Admission Council. The biggest increase occurred in the 2001-2 admission cycle, in the wake of the dot-com bust.

The number of applicants — 95,800 in the 2004-5 admission cycle — is still far greater than it was 10 years ago, when about 75,000 people applied. At this point in the current admission cycle, the numbers have fallen to 60,397 from more than 66,000 at this time last year.

James Calvi, a professor at West Texas A&M University and chairman of the Prelaw Advisors National Council, said fewer people may be applying to law school because more are applying to medical school.

"That is the running joke among prelaw advisers," he said. "There might be a grain of truth, if applications to medical school are up."

Medical school applications rose in 2005, to 37,364 from 35,735 the previous year, according to data collected by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The Graduate Management Admission Council, which administers the entrance examination for business schools, does not gather data on applications directly, but it reports that in the past three years, more than half of two-year M.B.A. programs had declines in applicants.

Ursula Olender, associate director of career services at Dartmouth College, said that students are "borrowing more money for undergraduate school, and law school is certainly quite expensive."

She added: "Before you take on that kind of debt, it's going to be really important that that's what you want to do."

James Langerud, an associate dean at Grinnell College, said some students might go to law school later.

"When times are good, and there are other things to do for a few years, I think they do" those other things, he said, "and then they go."

Not exactly what I expected.

2006-02-08T15:22:00.000-05:00

So you would think that announcing your acceptance into law school would be greated with excitment, offers of congratulations, and a general sense of positivity. On the whole, that's the experience that I've gotten with a few exceptions.

I received the following responses:

"Why? Don't you want to work and start earning some money?"
"Oh Adeline, why would you do that? It's so much work. You should just become a teacher. Or you could find a job earning 30-40K a year, it's enough."
"Ottawa, that's really far away. Will you be able to make it out on your own?"

Hey, I'm nervous/anxious/scared enough about moving to a new city and embarking on a three-year course that will see me having to memorize volumes of cases, etc. And it's not like Ottawa is all that far from Toronto. It's about a 5 hour drive. They still have technological devices (i.e. the Internet and the phone!). I'm not the first person in my extended family to be going away for school, so it's not like moving away from home has never been done before! Ugh! People, you just can't win. There are 3 professions that are widely accepted by Chinese parents - doctor, accountant and oh yes...lawyer! See? It's there people! Where's your spirit?!

And the world spins madly on.

2006-02-02T00:30:00.000-05:00

Incidently, the title of this post corresponds to a song by The Weepies which is folky sounding but I love it. It's Wednesday night and Wednesday nights = One Tree Hill and One Tree Hill = new music. I'll always say it, but now I'll commit this thought to print, One Tree Hill has an amazing music department.

So it's been a whole year since I last wrote and even more surprisingly things have happened since that time.

The future, that simple world conjures so many feelings.

Feelings of happiness at having accomplished one of my life long goals. Going to University and earn a degree. Check.

Feelings of regret at having not done better that I did (not that I did all that poorly). Of certain decisions that were made and certain actions that remain untaken.

Feelings of pride at having survived and having met and established great friendships that I hope will last a lifetime.

Feelings of fear over the unknown. Where will we all end up? Will we fulfil all of our dreams? Where will we be in 5 years? 10 years?

This last question - where will we be in 5 years - I've actually turned into an activity that a few of my friends and I are working on. I was inspired by my favourite TV show and the movie A Walk to Remember and devised a questionnaire that allows the person filling it out to evaluate where they want to be and through this identification of life goals and hopes and dreams, devise a plan to attain it. I just finished filling mine out this evening and I'm dying to see what the others have written. But we won't be revisiting these answers for another 5 years. Patience is still not a virtue that I possess which definitely doesn't make this easy.

One of my life goals is to attain an Ivy League education. The comment about regret over actions not taken is directed towards my laziness and thus, failure to take the SATs. If I had taken them and done well on them, who knows where I would be right now. The only caveat is that I wouldn't have met all these great people at Schulich and met some of my best friends. So it's a give and take. Life is all about what-ifs, I must learn to not dwell on it. So, school is ending in a few months. But I have happy news. The girl without a plan now has a plan. I checked Infoweb on Monday morning (as I do everyday, several times daily) and the message finally changed. For those of you who don't know, Infoweb is the University of Ottawa's application tracking system. Anyways, the message changed on Monday. It now featured the word admit. So guess what? I'm going to Ottawa in September and will have a new home for the next three years. That's a huge change. As soon as I found out the news that I was accepted, a wave of relief washed over me with happiness mixed in. And now, I'm scared shitless. I guess it's true what they say, life is one big adventure. I'll just go with the flow. And I know that I didn't say it in my personal statement but I'll say it now, I love the University of Ottawa (and I really do, if for nothing else but the fact that they were willing to take a chance on me). Come visit! I'm up to watching a few Leafs vs. Sens games...let's hope that the Leafs get better so that they make the scoresheet during those games.

While I will likely become the newest student at the University of Ottawa, I still yearn to go to the States and go to an Ivy League school. I seriously don't think that I'll be done with my education until I do that. At this point, I think that even a summer course would suffice and satisfy my desire for this. So I think I'm going to give it a go for the MBA. I don't care that Schulich (my home school) is the 18th ranked business school in the world and that my MBA would only take me 8 months as opposed to 16 and that Schulich is the cheapest MBA school in Canada. Nope, it's still not the dream. Schulich? I've been there and done that for my BBA. So what does that mean? I guess that means that I want to be a student for life. How will I finance all this? I have no clue. I have to actually work sometime to pay off all these debts.

I don't know if I'm ready for this big change. All my friends are going out into the world and becoming productive members of society. They will have positive cash flows whereas my cash flows will equal -$20K per year for the next 3 years. Regardless, law school is a means to an end. See? I do have a plan!!!

Christmas card writing machine!

2005-12-14T23:52:00.000-05:00

So I'm free from the depths of Schulich for exactly three weeks. But that doesn't mean that I'm free of work. I'm now knee deep in Christmas card writing. Does anyone else find it insane that I have more then 36 Christmas/holiday notes to write to friends?! To save on postage, most of these will come in electronic form. Chances are, if you're reading this blog, you can expect one in your inbox shortly =)

Well, what do you know?

2005-12-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

You Should Get a JD (Juris Doctor)

You're logical, driven, and ruthless.
You'd make a mighty fine lawyer.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

I've got to get shutter happy.

2005-11-22T00:08:00.000-05:00

As per usual, I got bored of reading from a textbook without bolded text and pictures (the author should be shot!!) so I decided to click around a stumbled upon some people's "spaces" on MSN. I'm kind of upset that I don't have many (if any at all) pictures of my friends. I've got to get cracking on that and pronto! T-5 months until graduation. Eep.

Pride.

2005-11-04T22:45:00.000-05:00

This week ended off on a good note. My Brand Management prof handed back our Social Responsibility papers yesterday. The mark distribution was put up on the board and overall the class did really well. But I'm sure that I wasn't the only person in the room with their fingers crossed that it was my group that got the sole A+. Lucky for me, it was. =) Save for one member in this group this group ranks as one of the best groups I have ever been in. Definitely a far cry from the horrors of my first ever group four years ago.

On the bus ride home, Kal and I were talking about the issue of pride (see, I wasn't being totally random or boastful with that story). I had mentioned that I was proud of our group. She was happy, although not proud. Apparently we didn't really have to work all that hard on the project and thus, the element of pride was just not present, in her opinion. Nevertheless, I'm proud. Regardless of how much work we had to put in, this is an A+. A+ is an A+. Enough said.

A high school friend of mine mentioned that she was proud of me. I guess that pride was because of the fact that I have managed to somehow survive three and a half years at Schulich. In April I will be leaving the school with a little less money and a lot less sanity. But I've gained a lot as well.

Friends. They're ever so important. And I've made some really fantastic ones. Sure, we don't spend much time with each other outside of school (although having the club means that we go out to sporting events quite often so that's a lot of fun) but we have great memories all the same. Memories and war stories. We will all leave Schulich this year bonded eternally by our tales/war stories of last minute group work, leachers, professors from hell, prayers for bell curves, and near emotional/mental breakdowns. I guess that's probably the only reason why I don't want to graduate. I know that regardless of what we say, getting together and staying in touch will be mighty difficult, especially with people working 100+ hours a week. So we'll just have to make sure that we take the time out of trying to pass and eek by this year and have some fun.

To all the graduates, especially those from Schulich, I'm proud. Very proud of us.

Because I'm bored.

2005-10-31T18:03:00.000-05:00

1. First grade teacher's name: Mrs. Richards

2. Last person you kissed: Hmm...

3. Last word you said: "I don't know."

4. Last song you sang: "Heaven Forbid" by the Fray.

5. Last person you hugged: My mom.

6. Last thing you laughed at: The fact that Stripperobics girl is coming to my club's guest speaker presentation.

7. What's in your CD player: CD player? What's that? My mp3 player is filled with lovely songs though.

8. What socks are you wearing: White sports socks

9. What's under your bed: Dust bunnies and my magazine box.

10. Current status: Very single.

11. Current taste: DQ Blizzard ice cream cake

12. Current hair style: "Combed-once-out-of-bed" -> my own personal style.

13. Current clothes: "Play Hard" Nike t-shirt and Leaf sweatpants.

14. Current Job: Confused student.

15. Current longing: To figure out what I'm doing with my life.

16. Current desktop picture: Jared Padalecki & Jensen Ackles. Gotta love those Winchester boys. :D

17. Current worry: Tomorrow's Tourism midterm.

18. Current hate: School and studying.

19. Story behind your username: Addy's the short form of my name.

20. Current favorite article of clothing: Hoodies.

21. Favorite physical feature(s) of the opposite sex: Smile.

22. Last CD that you bought: Don't buy CDs. I exclusively download.

23. Favorite place to be: Asleep.

24. Least favorite place: In class.

25. Time you wake up in the morning: 6am on school days, 10am on non-school days.

26. If you could play a new instrument, what would it be: Guitar

27. Current favorite word/saying: Shit.

29. Favorite Movies: Garden State.

30. Favorite Song: Varies by day. Currently "Over My Head" by the Fray holds that distinction.

31. One person from your past you wish you could go back and talk to: My grandfather.

32. Favorite day: Any day without school.

33. Where do you want to go: Paris.

34. What is your career going to be: Ha! That's the million dollar question. If someone can figure it out, please let me know.

35. What kind of car will you have: A Beemer of some sort.

36. A random lyric: "Everyone knows I'm in over my head."

37. Eye Color: Dark brown.

38. Hair Color: Black.

39. Righty or Lefty: Righty.

40. Zodiac Sign: Libra.

41.Innie or Outtie: Innie.

42. Your heritage: 100% Chinese.

43. The shoes you wore today: Nikes.

44. Your hair: Is messy, as usual.

45. Your weakness: My desire to eat more ice cream cake.

46. Your fears: Failure and the unknown.

47. Your most recent secret? My future plans...

48. Your thoughts first waking up: "Ugh." and "I don't want to study."

49. The first feature you notice in the opposite sex: The elements that comprise the face.

50. Your bedtime: Late. The later the better.

51. Your most missed companion: Kath. She's got to stop studying!

52. Your perfect pizza: Hawaiian.

53. Sweet and Chewy or Salty and Crunchy: Both.

54. Single or group dates: Single.

55. Dogs or Cats: Dogs.

56. Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Nestea.

57. Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate

58. Cappuccino or Coffe: A Green Tea Frappachino please :)

59. Smoke: No way.

60. Curse: Yep. Especially when school is in session. It just pours right out there.

61. Sing: In the privacy of my own home...always :)

62. Take a shower everyday: Yes.

63. Have a crush: Yes...celebrities, as usual.

64. Think you've been in love: Nope.

65. Want to go to college: Not unless it's an American one. I'm already in my last year of Undergrad, shouldn't I be looking for a way out?!

66. Do you want more than what you got: Certainty.

67. Want to get married: Yes.

68. Type w/ your fingers on the right keys: Yep. 99% in Keyboarding, thank you very much.

69. Think you're attractive: Not usually.

70. Think you're a health freak: Definitely not. Should be though.

71. Get along with your parents: Sure. I guess you could say that.

72. Play an instrument: Yes, although the piano and I haven't been in touch lately.

IN THE PAST 3 months:

73. Drank: Nope. Don't care for it thanks.

74. Smoke: No.

75. Done a drug: No.

76. Made Out: No. Still single.

77. Go on a date: No. Know anyone?

78. Eaten an entire box of Oreos: Not lately...but I could go for some right about now. Mmm....transfats.

79. Eaten sushi: Yes.

80. Been dumped: No. Can't be dumped if you've never gone out.

81. Made homemade cookies: No.

82. Been in love: No.

83. Gone skinny dipping: No.

84. Dyed your hair: No

85. Stolen anything: No

HAVE YOU EVER..

86. Had too much to drink: No :)

87. Been caught cheating: No.

88. Been called a tease: No.

89. Gotten beaten up: No.

90. Changed who you were to fit in: Probably, to some degree.

91. Cried at something beautiful: Yes.

92. Spent too much money on something you didnt need? I think I'm pretty good with my finances.

93. Cried when someone died: Yes.

RANDOM

94. Pick your future bridesmaids: Absolutely no clue. Haven't I mentioned that I want to elope?

95. Where will you be in 5 years? Happy, hopefully. Finished school. Good paying job that I enjoy. Married. Thinking about children.

96. What are important qualities in a friendship/relationship? Trust. Caring. Love. Kindness. Honesty.

97. Favorite website: The Rivercourt.

98. Ideal vacation: Anywhere away from school.

99. Ever wanted to just drop off the face of the earth? How about now?

100. Quote to live by: My favourite quote.

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. They will tell you no, a thousand times no, until all the no’s become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. And you will tell them yes." - Nike

Rehashing the BCG experience.

2005-10-19T16:16:00.000-04:00

The fact that I got my rejection call from the HR lady and that I had to prompt her to provide feedback (which she gave seemingly begrudingly) didn't sit all that well with me at last week so I emailed one of the interviewers to say thanks and see if he was up to giving me some feedback on the process.

He emailed me back on Monday, by which time I had sufficiently recovered from the situation. But he gave me his cell phone number and told me to call and that he'd be happy to discuss this with me so I felt obligated to call. Rehashing the interview experience in my head, I picked out many opportunities where I could have done better or used a better example and leading up to actually calling him, I wasn't sure if I wanted to hear all of this uttered aloud by some else. But I asked and he consented so I called.

See, if I had received my rejection call from him, I would have been perfectly happy. I received areas of improvement but contrasted with my experience with the HR person, I got some positive aspects as well. I need a little boost to the ego. I did well on his case, I got the key insights but I let him lead me too much. I apparently needed to take more charge over where the case was going, and hence, the lack of structure comment. Apparently he wouldn't hesistate to put me in front of a client on my first day because I have enough poise for that and apparently, the behavioural component of the interview went well. I guess that's another reason why I'm not really scared of my next interview because chances are, whoever is willing to give me one, will be asking behavioural and not case questions. [no, I'm not bitter towards consumer packaged goods companies]

He also explained the interview process for me. Every recruiting season, BCG interviews somewhere in the neighbour of a hundred University students across Canada and then ranks us based on how we did on the interview overall, with particular emphasis on the case component. They then call back a handful of applicants for second round interviews (4, 45 minute case interviews). Well I know that they even reject Yale law graduates who have worked on Wall Street so that's fine. Somewhere on that list of Canadian University undergraduates that were deemed potential candidates for BCG, you'll find my name. I'm proud of that. =)

The girl without a plan.

2005-10-17T23:54:00.000-04:00

Whenever family or casual acquaintances find out that I'm in my last year of undergrad the conversation invariably turns to "so what do you have planned career wise?". All the heads turn and their eyes become fixated on me.

Right now, all I can say is "we'll see". And so they prod further.
What did you specialize in? Marketing and organizational behaviour
Have you had any job interviews? Yes, one with Boston Consulting but I didn't get called back for a second round.
Do you have any more interviews lined up? No. Not right now.
Are you still looking around and applying? Not at this very moment. School is kinda busy.

I'm sure that right now to a lot of people I'm the girl without a plan. I'm sure that someone of them are chuckling deep down because I'm a girl without a plan. Truth is, I think and hope that I've got something going on.

I do.

I just can't let everyone in on it yet.

Me, being my random self.

2005-10-15T23:01:00.000-04:00

Being random. Why not? I know I am and there's no shame to it. I can change a topic as fast as the next person (if not faster).

Mel and I went to Elizabethtown last night. I forgot how much I enjoy hanging out with my friends in person. I don't do it nearly enough. Intellectually stimulating conversations usually occur over the net, I'm sad to say. Although the lively conversations we have about Gilmore Girls and other teen shows in the Sports Management Society office are absolutely fabulous. [See, that was random.] I've always enjoyed the underlying themes of life in movies like Garden State and Elizabethtown. They make you think. I would wager that Garden State was a deeper movie. And while this movie had Orlando Bloom going for it, the annoyance/pest that is Kirsten Dunst didn't do it any favours.

Life lessons I've learned so far through watching these two movies:

It's better to feel pain, than to feel nothing at all because if you feel something...anything, that means that you're alive.
Why do you put things off in life thinking that there's going to be a tomorrow. There may not be. Live each to its fullest.
Spend time with loved ones. Appreciate their quirks and nuances. Those are likely the reasons why you love them.
Explore the infinite abyss that is life.
Fail. Fail big. And then let your failures shape you and make you stronger. [It's kind of a "grin-and-bear-it" technique]

Pretty deep huh? I'm rather proud of myself.

It also got me to thinking about the soundtrack of life. I think it exists. I love music enough to not be able to live without it. My life, my work, is all conducted with my songs of the moment playing in the background. I wonder if each song selection means something...

Oh yeah, my beloved Leafs have won two games in a row. Other than the pile of projects/assignments that are seemingly expanding on my desk as we speak, I would wager that life is pretty good right now.

PS: Special props go out to Jade. I'm as upbeat and optimistic right now because of you =)

The place I trust

2005-10-15T07:24:00.000-04:00

So this is a follow-up to yesterday's horoscope.

There actually is an aspect of my life that I can trust - the fact that I have some of the best friends in the world.

Thanks guys, love ya!

Fogs of uncertainty

2005-10-14T10:47:00.000-04:00

My horoscope today:

If there is still a fog of uncertainty hanging over a certain area of your life, focus on the aspect you can trust. Make that your priority and the rest will fall into place.

Thing is, there's actually no aspect of my life that I can "trust" right about now. Everything is still under a foggy haze. I don't know if I'll be entering the workforce or *gasp* continuing with my studies. I never thought that I would ever say this but I don't think I'm ready to assume all the responsibilities of being totally grown up and not classified as a "dependent". I happen to quite enjoy living at hotel Mom & Dad.

BCG: Game over.

2005-10-13T19:22:00.000-04:00

Just as I suspected.

One week after the fact, I get an message from my friend Jade alerting me to the fact that BCG is calling. We already know the end result by the fact that we've waiting this long for a callback. If you make it to second round, the notification is received within 24 hours. An hour (and many false alarms) later, I get my call. But I don't get one of the interviewers like Jade. I get the HR lady. Who always seemed rather cold to me to begin with, very unlike the actually consultants.

She tells me that "although you're a strong candidate, unfortunately we cannot bring your application forward to the second round". Nothing earthshattering. But I was told that I would get tips about areas of weakness and strength. There's a few seconds of silence. Hmm...doesn't seem like she's giving up this information voluntarily and I don't know if I'll have another chance like this so I prod her. "Would it be possible for you to provide me with areas where I could improve for the future?"

First off was lack of structure. While I am able to key insights my thought process is a bit more random than they would like. Ok, I knew that one was coming. She continues. Apparently the conclusions that I drew were a bit more narrow than they would have liked. I'm iffy about this. I thought you wanted an answer. I gave one. Ok, moving on. And my quantitative section was mixed. Yeah, that's true. I was much stronger in my math with Jacquie than Rob although the case with Rob went better overall.

But I'm still incredibly confused. Why did I get a call from Julie? Why not Jacquie or Rob? Julie was less apt to say positive things.

Hmm...I need to get to the bottom of this. But I still really want to work for them. But with this new knowledge, I'm going consulting firm hunting.

Boston Consulting Group: Round One

2005-10-10T01:43:00.000-04:00

Had my very first interview of the recruiting season on Thursday and it was a doozy. But getting that first interview signalled to me that I didn't need to tinker with my resume or cover letter again, at least not for the time being. Hey, if my application package is good enough for the Boston Consulting Group, it should be good enough for other companies.

I don't know how many of you have had consulting interviews before but it's not your typical behavioural interview session. Yes, behavioural questions do play a part but the kicker is the interactive case that you have to work through. These cases are usually things that you can't Google the answer for and are recent projects that the interviewer has worked on. The interview itself is made up of 2, back-to-back 45 minute sessions.

So how'd I get to this point you ask. Well Boston Consulting isn't an accounting firm, that much is clear from its name, and they recruit at Schulich? Apparently. They just started doing this last year. You don't make the initial contact. They select people from the Graduating Class Resume Book and send out an email to attend an information session. After that, you send in your cover letter, resume and transcript and wait to hear back from them.

I have no clue how I ended up being one of eight interviewees. Going into the interview with absolutely no expectations and with no formal interview help from the Career Centre (useless bastards), I wasn't nervous. Scared of what lay ahead, but not nervous. For me, this interview was more about getting practice and experience. Not to say that I didn't give it my best shot.

So all in all, if they were hiring someone they thought they'd get along with, I'd have a shot. But since the case weighs heavily on their decision and mine wasn't very structured, I'm not expecting anything but a phone call to alert me of my inadequacies.

I was extremely impressed with the people who make up BCG though. They're extremely intelligent, accomplished and friendly. So different from what I'm used to at the TTC.

Now I know how great consulting can be and I think I want it.

Waiting for that phone call, good or bad...

It's been a while.

2005-10-04T11:45:00.000-04:00

I know I've been neglecting this blog for the longest time. I blame life. Actually no, I blame Schulich. But this is my horoscope for today. Once things calm down a bit I'll explain why this is as funny as it is. But for now, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Just as a watched pot never boils, a seed won't grow any faster by staring at it. Paying too much attention to a certain process is delaying its growth. You've done all you can do.

Perspective

2005-08-10T00:33:00.000-04:00

There are moments in one’s life when things are put into perspective. These moments generally serve to define us in some way and their effects are sustained within one’s memory. Sadly, these moments are not usually of the joyous variety. But regardless of the pain, shock, and/or trauma that these moments bring in their wake I have full faith that they are another one of life’s lessons, which together comprise the fabric of life and living. You’re frankly not alive if you don’t feel, be it happiness or pain.

Okay, so now you’ve got to be wondering where that paragraph came from. It’s not my usual witty banter (at least that’s how I like to think of my mailers). Well it’s no secret that Monday mornings suck. They always have and they likely always will. There was nothing particular or different from other Mondays on the 8th of August 2005. I woke up, got prepped for the day, had my fifteen minutes of Internet time and then headed downstairs to through my stuff together for work and eat breakfast. As always, my mother drops me off at Kelvin Grove and Steeles and I cross the street and wait for the bus. While waiting for the light to change, I see an express bus pass me by…as always. But I’m not in a hurry to get to work (I budget my time accordingly) and I see several buses on the horizon. Upon getting on the bus, I hit the jackpot – a seat. I sit myself down and continue to listen to my mp3 player oblivious to the world. I know that it’s a matter of minutes before I commence my “power nap”.

It would be mere seconds before I was awakened from my slumber by a loud thud and the ensuring screams and biblical recitations by my fellow commuters. In light of recent events, my initial thought was that the thud was somehow tied to a shooting. I turned around in my seat to look out the window and found something equally disturbing – a woman lying in a clump by the median, her shoes still lying in the crosswalk area, a distraught driver and the stunned and semi-hysterical reactions of those on the bus.

I am no medical doctor. I have not taken science classes for four years but I do watch my fair share of medical dramas (yes, television is the ultimate educator) and I know that you don’t move victims of traumas such as these. This was a concept that I had to relay to the passengers on the bus. But sitting there, waiting for the ambulance to come, I could only feel three things – sick, numb and the thumping of my heart within my chest cavity. I didn’t see the accident happen (something that I’m very thankful for) but I did hear it. So I was unable to piece together what happened exactly, whether she was jaywalking to catch the bus that I was on or whether the taxi driver ran the red and hit her. Investigators are apparently still unsure (I talked to the policeman this morning when he was asking for more witnesses) but they’re fairly sure and it’s been reported that it was the former and not that latter. This brings a bit more ease in my heart for sure. Had it been the latter you must realize that I crossed that exact same crosswalk a mere four minutes before she did. Granted, there was no way that I would have missed that light since I was the one that pushed the button for it to change but yeah…

It was a tragedy and an unnecessary loss of someone with a lot of potential who had a lot to live for. I have since found out much about her because the world is really a small place and so is the business world.

So I guess what I learned Monday morning was that in spite of the fact that North American society demands that life be led at an incredibly fast pace, there are some things that cannot and should not be rushed. I’m ashamed to think of all the times that I’ve jaywalked and thus, gambled with my own life. I’ve always hated being late. But here’s something to remember, it’s much better to be late than to not show up at all.

Be safe.

Rewind Please

2005-07-31T01:30:00.000-04:00

I looked up at my calendar today and as is the case each and every summer, I have seemingly made it through yet another month without so much as a blink of an eye. Ok, that last part clearly isn’t true but you get the idea. I haven’t quite been having what one could classify as “fun” so the saying that “time flies when you’re having fun” doesn’t apply. I think that the reality is that if you’re on vacation from your normal or predominant life routine – being a University student, in my case – then time tends not to wait around for you.

I can’t say that all that much has happened over the last month or so. I’m still a minion – commonly also referred to as a summer student – floundering about in the public sector; skills left to rot. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have stuff ongoing outside of work. Although my computer illiterate co-worker says that going online every day is an indication of one’s lack of a social life, I beg to differ. Everyone’s work schedules are so different and so hectic that the Internet is sometimes the only way we can socialize.

Speaking of work, we (the summer students) have come up with nicknames for the cast of characters. I suppose that the nicknames are telling of the people to who they belong. I feel as though I work under the scrutiny of prying eyes coming from each and every direction, eyes lead by the ever-patrolling “Hitler” and his new accomplice, the “Terrorist”. Mind you, all these nicknames are converted into their Chinese equivalent. Speaking of Chinese, mine has vastly improved. The fact that all the summer students in my department are Chinese and that we each equally despise the conditions under which we work has led me to sometimes forget to speak in English while at work. I’ve also been taught what Fiona has declared as “Chinese 101”. Essentially, I can now name a few (probably around five) Chinese pop stars. Yay me!

In order to cope with the frustrations associated with working under Hitler and the Terrorist, I have taken to reading The Art of War. Fabulous book. I don’t think I can take my strategic plan all the way to the pinnacle though. That would require that I break a few laws…so I’m working on a toned down version. Wish me well as I do battle with what Dubya would call “evil doers”.

Helped the economy out a little bit this past month by frequenting not one, but two Summerlicious participants – Truffles at the Four Seasons Hotel and the Urban Restaurant. As good of a deal as a $35 (not including tax and tip) three-course meal is at a place like the Four Seasons Hotel, my wallet was not particularly thrilled. In fact, I think my Mastercard is resisting my attempts to swipe it. It’s getting harder and harder to pull out from my wallet. LOL.

Keeping me busy is the Presidency of the Schulich Sports Management Society. Prior to last week I had the sinking feeling that this club thing was all too simple. Could it be that the only thing I had to do was organize the events, sans the filing of administrative and bureaucratic papers? Ha. Of course not. Evidently, I have to try to come up with 25 nominations (including original signatures) in the midst of summer in addition to various other submissions. Not to mention there’s still the actual task of getting guest speakers and organizing events. On that note, does anyone know of any notable members of the sports management committee that they think might be interested in coming in to speak? Or have any further comments/suggestions to offer? I’m always ready to entertain new ideas.

I’m going to relieve you from reading any more (yes, I also know that it’s summer vacation – a time away from course kits and readings galore…readings that I have a penchant not to do) but before I do, if everyone could visit the following link and vote for Kathleen’s doggie Ellie. http://gallery.telusmobility.com/lpicture.asp?id=7954 She’s really too cute for words as you can see by the picture. Apparently, we would not want to have it on our heads to deprive Ellie of an iPod Photo. LOL. Sure Kath, it’s Ellie that wants the iPod!

Savour every last moment of the summer, after all, it only comes around once a year and depending on whether we’re going to try to be consummate students for life or take the plunge into the working world, this may be our very last four-month summer vacation. *Sniff* And don’t forget to keep cool. I know that I definitely didn’t sign up for this sweltering heat. I live in Canada for heaven’s sake; the land of ice and snow.

Just What The Doctor Ordered

2005-06-11T19:20:00.000-04:00

So it's a bit overdue.

Sick of the monotony of everyday life? Don’t see the point of dragging yourself out of bed? Are the hands of the clock seemingly stuck? Well, have no fear, Dr. Lee is here with a diagnosis, and perhaps more importantly, a cure for all your ails.

Go on vacation.

For months, my Yahoo Astrology horoscope has eluded to a getaway, a trip, a vacation. And ordinarily, considering that I have not set foot beyond the boundaries of the Greater Toronto Area, I would just dismiss the notion. But for once, the good doctor decided to heed her own advice, and the will of the stars.

Apparently, I wasn’t alone. My cousin Maggie was equally eager to wander beyond the expanse known as the GTA so she took the initiative to sign us up for Jacco Tours’ New York City shopping tour. No sightseeing tour for me. Let’s not sugar coat the trip and call it anything other than what it was – it was all about the shopping. And so it was that armed with my trusty pictureless birth certificate, adequate amounts of spending money and a sufficiently large duffle bag (to put all the purchases in), I ventured across the divide and onto foreign turf.

While the trip itself lasted for only three days, being on a bus for upwards of eight hours to get to your destination and then to have that repeated on the return trip makes the trip feel like an eternity. And oddly enough, when I got back to town, it was almost surreal, as though the trip never happened at all. As though it was merely a figment of my imagination…but I have the receipts to prove that I was indeed there.

But it truly was an experience. I got to live and breathe all that is New York City, if only for a few hours. And I can tell you that of all the places I’ve been (and the list is rather short), Times Square is among my most favourite. I guess one of the things about working at a monotonous and repetitive summer job is that it eats away at your soul. It takes away from your optimism and your vigour and zest for life and living. Sounds dramatic, I know, but it’s really not that far from the truth. Anyway, I doubt that there’s anywhere in the world that comes close to New York City, and in particular Time Square, in terms of the energy it exudes. The energy there is so palpable that it’s able to awaken and invigorate even the most drained of souls.

I did the touristy-type things and purchased souvenirs to commemorate the experience – a shirt from MTV and a t-shirt from ESPN. I regret not getting this Apprentice-type t-shirt from the NBC store. Next time…

Needless to say, 5 hours in NYC is a severely inadequate time to take in the city. They really weren’t kidding when they say that NYC is the city that never sleeps. I can’t get over how much is going on at one time. In small doses (i.e. vacations) I think it’s the perfect remedy for a case of the blues, however, I could never imagine living there. One’s life shouldn’t always move at the speed of a New York minute. So here’s my suggestion for an ideal life pace at which to move: in between a New York minute and a public service minute. LOL.

In stark contrast to the bustle of the big city, the rest of the trip was comprised of time spent in massive outlet malls/complexes. These monstrous buildings are located in the middle of absolutely nowhere, surrounded by pastures and grazing cattle. Maggie and shopped until we dropped, literally. But we managed to keep a good check on our expenses, the fact that the sales weren’t dirt cheap and that the things that were on sale weren’t really to our tastes helped on that front. There were people on our bus who did take full advantage of the shopping tour though, bringing bags full of goods back into the country. We got a kick out of the fact that most of their purchases were things that we saw in the stores, pointed at, and tried to stiffen our laughter. Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. These people were very professional about their shopping experience, keeping in constant contact with one another via their set of walkie-talkies. Now, that’s hard-core!

I got exactly what I wanted out of the trip – distance from home. But by the end of the three days, and as much as I enjoyed NYC, I longed to be back at home, in the comfort of my own bed (although the beds at the Hilton were very comfy) and with my wireless Internet connection. I’m an Internet junkie. My fingers started to twitch after three days with absolutely no Internet – the telltale sign of an addict. And the time staring at the miles upon miles of greenery – trees and grass – that line the highway, I longed to go back to civilization. With my separation from everyday life, I began to miss it. So when the CN tower and the skyscrapers that paint the Toronto skyline came back into view, I felt my heart beat a little faster – I was home.

And then it was back to reality first thing Tuesday morning. It’s amazing how long weekends always pass you by faster than the run-of-the-mill weekend. A New York minute…and what a great minute it was.

The Ones Left Behind

2005-05-18T23:38:00.000-04:00

*Sigh*

Being ever the disgruntled employee I must start off this post by saying I hate my job.

I feel like I'm being left behind. All my friends, my best friend especially, are off doing important things. Things that they would be proud writing home about. Things that interest them in some way, shape or form, or that will be beneficial to them going forward, be it for their resume or otherwise.

And here I am paying invoices at the TTC. Sure, I can take some solace in the fact that if it wasn't for my keen and quick ability to enter data into a computer system, some of my friends and their colleagues wouldn't be able to make it into work. Sure. But I'm not passionate about my work. It doesn't really help my resume since this is sadly summer number three doing this exact same thing.

I need a change. I need to breakaway. I need to feel important again.

People say that we were put on this earth for a reason. I would like to think that mine is more than this. Am I being melodramatic? Probably. I'm only 21, you say. I have my whole life ahead of me. I guess experiences like this serve as an impotis to do well in school and to be more than this. Be better than this.

I never thought that I was extraordinary. Never really aimed to be. I don't think I'm ordinary either. I don't want to be. Can't some employer just recognize that I'm somewhat "special" and give me a shot?

I like planning. I have back-up plans galore.

Planning is not the problem.

Execution is.

Are you who you want to be?

2005-05-12T23:31:00.000-04:00

My life is kind of a mess right now. For someone who loves control and plans, I'm beside myself in the fact that I have no idea where I'm going and where I'll finally end up. I'm standing at the crossroads and extremely confused as to which path I should select.

But that's a story for another day. Another post.

For now, I shall leave you with lyrics to a fabulous song. For those of us (and I believe that there are many of us) who are unsure as to where we're going and even more importantly, who we are I am suggesting a listen to Switchfoot's This Is Your Life.

Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
Yesterday is a promise that you've broken
Don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes
This is your life and today is all you've got now
Yeah, and today is all you'll ever have
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

Yesterday is a kid in the corner
Yesterday is dead and over

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes

This is your life are you who you want to be
This is your life are you who you want to be

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

And you had everything to lose

Quickly downhill

2005-05-01T15:37:00.000-04:00

It started off as a week full of so much hope and promise...but as with many things, don't blink because you'll miss it. By Friday I was a broken shell of myself. I was someone I hadn't been in 3 years, not since the first week of University. I had hoped that those dark times would never come upon me, but reality hit, and hit hard.

The beginning of the week ushered in good news. My final exam wasn't horrific enough to squander my "A" in Management Science and there was the possibility of me marking for the Prof next year for that class, if I remember to remind him in December.

My horoscope for Monday, April 25th read like this:

You're still thinking nonstop about how to get the heck out of whatever financial/work-related situation you're in by turning your hobby into your career. Well, do your homework. In just a few weeks, you could be ready.

And then I got an email from an actual person at Nike telling me to reapply for a posting once it was modified.

The two previous items combined for a swelling of hope in my deflated heart. Maybe I would finally get my release from the evil, soul-sucking grasps of the TTC.

Also on Monday, the people at the ad agency where I've been interning asked me about my future plans, one hinted at the possibility of SFP hiring for the summer, another spoke of contacts that she had in the States (Chicago more specifically) that she would be more than willing to provide.

Things were definitely looking up on the job front.

Tuesday through Thursday went by without a hitch. Nothing new, nothing old, just the same old story.

Then came Friday.

Both of my breakdowns have come on Fridays. So maybe the TGIF saying doesn't really apply to me.

By Friday, the job horizon looked the same as it did in weeks prior - the TTC was beckoning in a manner similar to the Sauron's Eye in the Lord of the Rings. It was drawing me nearer and I was powerless to stop it. So I called to see exactly how bad things were going to be. I had anticipated very strict monitoring of external communications (ie. emails to friends, surfing the Internet), what I found out was much worse.

Turns out that my supervisor, Darren (a fabulous supervisor and all-around cool guy) is going away on a project for FIFTEEN months. That's a VERY long time. A very long time for anyone to be stuck with Victoria, his anal-retentive, back-stabbing assistant supervisor. If you look to the 3rd floor of TTC headquarters there's a chance that there will be a mass exodus of employees jumping out of the window (yes, she's that bad).

To make matters worse, I don't know what I'm doing once I get there. They have a transitional worker helping out Stan (something another summer student usually did) and they hired a temporary worker to do the ticket refunds (something I assumed that I was doing). No one is on vacation yet so it's not like I'm doing their invoices for them. I also have no where to sit, the transitional worker and the temporary worker are occupying the two of the three cubicles we held last year and the last cubicle now houses a microwave.

In summary, I'm in a job I hate, making less than I'm worth, without a desk, phone, computer and things to do!!!!!!

I'm going to beg Darren to take me wherever he's going.

Needless to say, I'm depressed. I feel as though poor planning and lack of luck has ruined my professional life. In an attempt to ease the pain/bleeding, I have re-modified my resume and am continuing to apply for stuff.

What I need now more than ever is an American husband. I need the citizenship. I'm in the WRONG country for the type of work I want to do and the industry I want to be in. Anyone know of any good prospects for me?

Oh yeah, and the omnimous horoscope for Friday read like this:

If there is something you really don't like, you have several choices. You can try to change it, you can try to get away from it, or you can learn, somehow, to live with it. The last method may not be especially attractive, but it is possible and may have many hidden benefits.

After reading that, I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, so I started balling. So much so that I forgot to call Muchmusic for wristbands to see Chad Michael Murray. And that just about gives you an indication of my current state of mind.

Not good. Not good at all.

Sports Fanatic

2005-04-20T22:07:00.000-04:00

I love chick flicks. My cousin and I went on a whim to see Fever Pitch today. That movie is the combination of my two of my favourite things - a good romanatic story and sports. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Just for the record, I would NEVER have a problem if my boyfriend was a fanatical follower of a sports team that I too, enjoyed. If he had seasons tickets to the Leafs, I would pester him to go to as many games as possible with him. I'm guilty of my of the stuff that Jimmy Fallon's character Ben does in the movie. I really do schedule myself around hockey...or at least I used to when there was hockey being played. For the record, I watched all but 3 televised Leaf games last year. Sadly, they were ALL losses to the Flyers. I do bitch when we have dinners to go to on game nights. Don't people know?! LOL.

I need to get the fan ban version of Fever Pitch. So if someone knows where I can do that, please let me know.

I found my new favourite quotation. My new motto to live by:

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." - Nike Inc.

Headache

2005-04-19T14:51:00.000-04:00

So I was uber productive yesterday and I think that I've got my parts of the write-up complete for the Disney project.

I don't think the same can be said for my group members. I know for a fact that one of them is getting hammered tonight. Not exactly the type of dedication that warms one's heart. Bah!

But even though I'm done, I have the unsettling feeling that this is just the beginning for me. I think I'll get saddled with doing the write-up for the recommendations. After all, people who possess passion are obviously too busy being passionate to be productive...right?

Why do I have to care so much about my marks?! WHY?!

The Roadblock

2005-04-17T17:49:00.000-04:00

Even though I've been finished final examinations since April 7th at 5pm, I haven't been fully freed for summer. The only thing that stands in my way at this point? Well, it's a pretty big blockade. DISNEY.

I worked on a consulting project for them that involved doing some marketing research on their current levels of brand equity in the Canadian marketplace with a group of classmates for our Marketing Research course. (Did that sentence sound like a bunch of mumbo jumbo? That's ok. If it sounds impressive, all the better. I'll include it on my resume ;)) Anyway, this also happens to be the group with deluded members, abrasive members, lazy members who value going to a fashion show more than doing something for a school mark. People who believe that if you don't hold your dream job, it's not because of lack of luck but solely because of your lack of Passion. Bullshit. Anyway, this project is STILL not done.

I'm working on my parts of the write-up. Needless to say it's not going well. I'm still sore from shooting hoops yesterday. I have that "I'm getting sick" feeling. My muscles ache and my brain is unwilling to produce any relevant thoughts for the write-up.

This is what I'm going to be doing ALL week. Joy! [note sarcasm]

Timing

2005-04-15T23:55:00.000-04:00

I love getting off work early, in effect allowing myself to beat the rush hour traffic.

However, as a reminder for those people who take the 53E home, avoid being around Bayview around 3pm. That's when the Catholic kids get off school. My goodness are there a lot of them. And my goodness are they rude, obnoxious and loud. I can't even catnap in peace and quiet and regardless of how loudly I turn up the volume on my mp3 player, it's not enough to drown out the incessent sounding of their rants about boys, girls, sex, sex, sex...did I mention sex?

There's really something to be said about the Catholic school system. It's like they repress their students to the point where they think about sex every waking second of the day. It doesn't help that near that bus stop there is one all boys school and one all girls school. Get over it people! Girl, meet guy. Guy, meet girl. Now that they've met, can they please pipe down?!

Left in its wake

2005-04-15T16:54:00.000-04:00

I finished up the inventory system I was working on rather early today so I got to leave early. Ordinarily I would hop on the first train home, but the weather is nice and I was dressed in comfortable shoes so I opted for a stroll down my favourite street, Bloor.

In case anyone is wondering, no I didn't see anyone famous. Never really do even though I have trolled around those places rather often and the stars are flocking into Hollywood North.

Didn't find anything at the Gap. Next stop on my walk was Roots. In the wake of the NHL strike, NHL merchandise has remained plentiful and on the shelves. Playoffs would have started up this week. But alas, everything about the game remains on ice. However, this has translated in sales on Leaf related merchandise. So I bought myself 2 Leaf shirts. Decent price, why not? Now I have an abundance of Leaf related paraphernalia. Hopefully I'll get a chance to wear it sometime...

The more distressing thing is this next admission...I think I may like NCAA basketball more than the NHL. *gasp*. It's true. I don't think I've ever seen something so exciting. It's such a shame that I don't go to a Division 1 school. Then I could sport their paraphernalia. In the style of UofT, Wake Forest actually has a t-shirt featuring "Basic Math". It has their team mascot (the Demon Deacon) and then a ">" Duke's team mascot (the Blue Devil). Excellent stuff.

I should stop buying Leaf gear. I need more Team Canada stuff so that's next on the list...

Totally overrated

2005-04-14T22:54:00.000-04:00

Experience. It's invalueable and we should do anything to earn it. This is true. However, these experiences are often attained at no cost to the employer. Lucky them.

I'm currently interning at one of Canada's largest Brand Management companies. This is a fabulous opportunity. I'm learning a lot by observing industry experts in their element and sitting in on internal meetings and the like. This is, however, wreaking havoc on my sleeping patterns (the early wake-ups) and not being particularly helpful to my bank account.

I'm glad that I enjoy what I'm doing (this will not occur come May when I go back to being a minion for the TTC) but I miss the biweekly paycheques. It's what we live for as employees. So that said, regardless of how monotonous and frustrating working at the TTC is, there is one large advantage - it pays. And seeing as how the seed has been planted in my head of a very nice graduate degree from an American University, well, I need to start saving...BIG TIME.

The moral? Find a job you like and that replenishes your bank account biweekly. [Note to self: follow own advice]

Destination: Procrastination

2005-04-14T21:23:00.000-04:00

I always wanted a blog and technically I've had this one for a while. But since I'm in a giving mood, I've decided to give one to myself.

So what should I be doing instead of posting? Working on my Disney consulting project. It's technically due sometime in the next two weeks but oh well. I don't think it'll get done before the 25th. Not when you have group members who are deluded enough to think that they can be in charge while doing none of the work themselves. Not in my world. That pushes Addy to go into dictator mode. This is something that should definitely be avoided.

But procrastination is fun. I'm going to continue watching a rerun of ER and rereading a fanfic that I've read countless times before. At this point, I'd rather do anything but work.

Father, it has been one week since I've done work....

Let's see how long I can keep this up before the guilt sets in