Visitor in town

I almost forgot, my friend Adrian is visiting me today because it's reading week for Dalhousie students. He flew back for the week (which was cut short due to the massive snow storm in the east coast) and we're going to hang out tonight! Haven't seen him since Christmas, so it should be fun tonight.

Music/DJ versus Bar/Club Patrons

Why do they insist on playing music that cannot be danced to, or one genre of music for an extended period of time? I went to the Bomber last night, and the line-up was almost out the door. Waited for about half an hour to get in, and of course, Murphy's Law would apply here: The DJ would only play good music when you are in the line. Once inside, the DJ will decide to play music that does not suit your taste at all. All in all, it was a decent night out. Met up with some people and had a couple of drinks. I also bumped into one of the co-ops who worked at the same company I worked for a few terms later.

Reading Week (more like Days)

Just because I don't belong to the biggest faculty on campus, I only get two days for my supposed "Reading Week".. or "Spring Break" as the Americans would call it. Trust me, I didn't do much reading either. I spent two days grocery shopping, hanging out with friends, and generally take a break from the hectic school life I've had for the past month and a half. Some plans changed, but I have learned that when life shoves an entire lemon tree in my face, I just need to chop the tree down so it won't block my way. Or something like that. :P

Thanks to those who spent an excessive amount of time with me. Yes I'm annoying, boring, and pretty much a waste of time.. But for those who stuck with my whining, thank you, you know who you are. I'm sorry if I caused any inconveniences during my stay in Toronto.

Day After the Madness

Now that I'm still sober (more on that later), let me try to summarize what I did yesterday. Dressed up in a purple shirt, small (and I mean really small) red tie, and a pair of aqua hospital trousers, I went to the BOAT racing location at 6:30am in the morning, had a couple of beers and watched some class members race. It was so packed in the house! After which we all walked to have our Champagne Breakfast - which I helped cook the night before. Lots of pancakes, waffles, crepes, and of course, orange juice + champagne.

Around 9:00am I went with a couple of classmates to harrass and interrupt classes. I tagged along with the electrical engineering class and went all over the place - classes, the E&CE department office, labs, you name it. At one tutorial we actually sat down and asked the TA many questions.. somebody offered one first year student a shot in the class.. all in all, it was a pretty insane experience.

Joined my classmates in the engineering pub on campus for a couple more drinks, and counted down to the official IRS counter in the pub. Drank a little more before heading home to change into proper attire (shirt and tie) for the official iron ring ceremony. It was actually quite inspirational! It really reaffirms my 'calling' as an engineer, but I won't get into that now.

The actual party was something that you can only experience but not described. It is beyond anything I have witnessed before - semi-naked (actually, more naked than semi-naked) people running around and dancing.. drunkness and the smell of alcohol fills the entire club. The best part of all - I got to touch THE TOOL, our engineering mascot. Only 'ringed' engineers can touch THE TOOL! It was a proud moment (despite the pushing and shoving around) for me!

.. and now let me end it with some rather cliché comments..

"The Fellowship of the Ring - One Ring to rule them all!"

Now you may all groan and moan on that weak attempt at humour.

More Ring Day Activity

I got my ring! Now off to IRS to par-tay it up..

I'm not half as intoxicated as I thought I would be.. which might not be a bad thing. Ring time in 1.5 hours.

How Many Days Till IRS?

ZERO DAYS TILL IRS!!

Yes, I'm off to all the festivities. Will update when sober. Haha. (Yes, I'm drowning my sadness in alcohol. There is no need to mention that.)

V-Day?! Meh..

Today is the first time I have spent Valentine's Day in a more somber mood than usual. Having a midterm on Monday doesn't help that much.. thankfully I have some friends to study with - even though they have their respective partners that they should be spending the day with.

At least I made somebody happy today.. just today..

Happy Valentine's Day to me.

Friday the 13th

I almost forgot today is the infamous "Friday the Thirteenth".. ahh, it feels like the entire two week has been "Friday the thirteenth". Sucks to be me.

Fed Night

It was a pretty good night, except I felt quite sick at the end after downing several shots within half an hour. I must have had at least 8 or 9 drinks last night - cheap $2.50 drinks before 11:00pm! Thank goodness I got there early, although some people have commented that "we got there and missed the rush" when the dance floor was completely empty. Aren't we glad that we didn't have to stand in the cold for the line-up?

Thanks to those who came out to party with me.. even though I know most people were really tired from midterm week and all. I really appreciate the effort to keep me company (and stop me from thinking too much). Oh, and thanks for the cookie & Vanilla-bean Latté too!

The Ring

No, I'm not talking about the remake of that Japanese horror movie. Of course, I'm still talking about the Iron Ring that I'll be receiving next week. Many people wonder what's the deal with the ring.. It's just an iron (actually stainless steel now) ring that is worn on the little finger. I suppose that it is something that I have been looking forward to since entering this field of study, and feel that I definitely deserve a reminder of the pain I went through. My loyal readers would have endured through many of my late-night ramblings, incoherent speeches, and disgruntled commentaries about my experiences through the past few years. This is not to say that people in other faculties don't deserve to be reminded of their pain, nor is engineering *so much harder* than other disciplines. All I'm saying is that I am proud of what I have accomplished, and what better is to remind myself of my accomplishments and humility (I'll get to that in a second) by wearing a ring on my hand that will constantly remind me of that?

Now that we have gotten that cleared up, I shall expand a bit on the humility that I spoke off earlier. One thing that I have learned through my university career is that I don't know anything except for the fact that I know nothing. Entering university made me realize that the big illusion in high school where I thought I figured out the world is completely false, it almost shattered my dreams! Now I truly understand why there exist a need for post-graduate studies, and even post-doctoral studies. The truth of the matter is, we simply don't know half as much as we thought we knew. I really admire people in graduate studies - they have the passion and the intelligence to pursue pure knowledge, something I cannot say about myself. So this newly discovered humility shall be carried through the rest of my life, and again, the ring is going to remind me of that every time it clicks with the table as I work.

How Many Days Till ...

SEVEN DAYS UNTIL IRS!!!!!

So being a graduating engineering student in Canada, we are permitted to participate in the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer. It is more afffectionately known as the Iron Ring Ceremony (IRC). This ceremony dates all the way back to 1922, and the ritual has been carried on ever since. It is during this ceremony that we receive the Iron Ring to be wore on the little finger of our working hand. The ring symbolizes the pride in the engineering profession, as well as a reminder to us of our humility. Both the ritual and the ring itself is copyrighted in Canada and the US, so those US schools can't copy us. :D

After the ceremony, there will be a big party.. the Iron Ring Stag (IRS). I can't wait until IRS.. it is the one single event that I have been waiting for my entire undergraduate career. It'll be fun to party with my entire graduating class one last time before we finally part from each other, after five years of working and playing together.

Why am I mentioning all of this? I got my finger sized today for the ring. It was very exciting - to feel the ring on my little finger for the first time. I guess I'll elaborate more in the next couple of days..

Gratitude

Thanks.. Even through this difficult time, I have friends that care and support me (even through the most unconventional ways that touched my heart). I really don't mean to depress others, and if I start making people sad, I think I'll just go hide in a corner and deal with the issues myself. There's no point for the entire room to be depressed because I am.

Despite all the sickness that overcame everybody this weekend, we still did what I wanted to do (which nobody else really did).. You guys are making me feel bad about me taking up so much of your time! Thanks people..

Living Like a Zombie

I have not been getting enough sleep, not eating properly, and not thinking in the right frame of mind. Doesn't help that midterm season is looming, and my life is passing by at about 100 km/h. Somehow this rehashes familiar feelings.. Seems that I'm back where I started.. All over again.

My life is an irony in itself. It began as an irony, it's been living as an irony. I wouldn't be surprised that it will also end in an irony.

1525..

Just want to remember.

Version 2.0?!

CNN.com - Engineering geek names son version 2.0 - Feb. 1, 2004

What kind of person names their son Version 2.0? What kind of wife allows her husband to do something like that!?

The kid is going to have a rough school life..