Author: Gloria

Welcome to Gloria's blog! This is where I write about my day, my ideas, and my thoughts. I'm just a student from Burnaby that doesn't want to grow up, so I write a lot of informal posts here. Updated August 2021
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busy busy, but am i really

Hello again. All of a sudden it is October 2022 and I am in my second year of university. It still feels new, which is weird because I am doing pretty much the same things as last year. It shouldn’t feel this new to me yet it just does.

This semester I am taking 5 courses: 4 in-person and one distance learning course that is asynchronous and online. There is a lot of work but it is manageable for now. Studying time has definitely been impacted because of the number of courses I am taking. However, that is not the only reason. I am on the table tennis team again and I took on an executive position as the Marketing and Communications Officer (which I started doing this summer actually). I also got a very casual job on campus where I only work about 2 hours a week. The 2 hours are conveniently in between my classes, so I’m not wasting time commuting.

The main downsides of my arrangement this semester is that I come home pretty late at night and I am physically tired a lot of the time. Hopefully I can build my muscles back from table tennis soon. I had two practices this week for the first time and multiple muscles are sore. It is also midterm season! I had three midterms and two quizzes already in the past two weeks. I have a term paper due this week and a midterm next week. There is definitely a lot to keep track of.

Enough about school (although I will probably end up talking about it again later). October! My birthday month. To be honest, October has had a pretty good start to it for me. In early October, I went to a concert with my sister for an artist that we both listen to and enjoy. It was pretty fun but it was a more cozy type of concert with no seats. It’s currently mid-October and I have been pretty busy with school and table tennis. Something weird is that the weather has been consistently warm and dry, well into what we all expected was going to be the fall season. It hasn’t rained in ages and the sun is on full blast all the time.

I guess this is nice though. I am enjoying myself for now! Until next time

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endless patience

This is quite the summer I am having. I’ve been gaming and eating a lot. However, summer session for me has just begun so I have more to do. I could’ve been looking into the LSAT through the book I bought last month. I looked into it the first couple of days but then I got a bit lazy and decided to leave it for now. I have a paper due tomorrow and a term paper to prepare for after that.

These days I’ve been doing a lot of housework. My parents went to San Francisco for about a week and came back feeling unwell. They got COVID-19 and they stayed in their room for about ten days until they felt better and tested negative twice. My sister and I were pretty much on our own for about a month. I went out three times to get groceries and my brother’s library books. It was kind of fun to be able to do whatever we wanted to do whenever. It wasn’t that fun to spray and wipe down the bathroom that we shared with our parents while they were sick every night. My sister and I were mostly concerned about my brother getting sick because he has something similar to asthma.

Sometimes I wonder if I ever got sick. Like throughout the entire pandemic, I haven’t gotten sick at all. I haven’t even gotten a cold since 2019. I feel like the next time I get sick, I will be hit hard. So far, every time one of my family members get sick, I am the… main person to help out and yet I still do not get sick. Is this… youth? Just kidding. It’s probably related to how my immune system works and how often I exercise and go outside to expose myself to potential pathogens. Where was I going with this again? I just can’t tell if or when I get sick anymore.

It’s been a number of years since the pandemic began and it still feels new. I should have been prepared for my family members getting COVID-19, but I didn’t think that I could stay healthy even as we shared bathrooms and as I did COVID-positive dishes with disposable gloves and a mask on. What a time.

Some conclusions from the past few weeks:
1. I have some more confidence in cooking now.
2. I can handle at least two stressful events at one time.
3. I haven’t cried in a while. (I feel like it’s coming up soon)
4. I am probably more sympathetic than empathetic.
5. I do not know how to respond when people I care about are upset.

This past year, I learned a lot about my family and where I am situated within both sides. There’s not a whole lot for me, the second child of a youngest child and an only child, to do for either family. There’s nothing significant about my position. I’m not the oldest child, the youngest child, or a boy. There is no specific role for me to play other than a good kid.

Another thing that I have noticed this past year is the way I refer to myself in my thoughts and writing. I still believe that I am a child and that I am young enough to be underage. Of course, this is to be expected–I’m only 18. I’m still learning how to think like an adult. I’m still learning how to be like an adult. However, I don’t think there will be much of a difference between me now and me in 5-10 years.

Anyway, the conclusion is, what time I am having!

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the end of year one

Hello and welcome back to another life update brought to you by yours truly, Gloria. Summer break is well underway and I’ve gone to Toronto twice since I last wrote. I went to Toronto once at the end of the school term (early April) and then once near the end of finals season (late April). On the first trip, I went with my family to visit my sister for her thesis exhibition (for which I helped set up and take down) and we also visited my cousin who used to live with us a few years ago. It was a fun trip and Toronto was like a more extreme version of Vancouver, weather-wise. My second trip’s purpose was to help my sister pack all of her belongings and bring (her) them back to Burnaby. My mission was a success and I lifted a 65.5 lbs luggage a few times.

Now, my sister and I have been back for some time now and I feel like time is passing too quickly and that I have to be more active. I should look for part-time jobs or at least some volunteer opportunities. I have one opportunity for late August and I have one summer course in July/August, but other than that, there is nothing else for me to do. I should plan more things for me to do. I think I will apply for a few part-time jobs this summer so I can work throughout the year.

Anyway, I want to go over my first year of university and… reflect month-by-month. Just kidding, I’ll just split it into the two semesters.

Semester One: September-December 2021
I signed up for 5 courses but I dropped one after the first class so I ended up taking 4 courses for the first semester. I took a political science course, an anthropology course, a sociology course, and a mandatory writing course. I tried out and got on the table tennis team. I went to practices after classes and made a friend. I wrote papers and did midterms and final exams for the first time. My final marks were all above the class average! This gave me a self-esteem boost and told me that I could survive the first year at least. I don’t actually remember a lot about what I did. I remember getting lost on the first day, but I was only ten minutes late to two of my classes. By the second and third day, I was able to navigate the relevant areas of the campus. I really enjoyed the hybrid delivery of lectures for most of my courses. Most of the exams during this semester were online.

Semester Two: January-April 2022
I took a full course load this past semester (5 courses). I took another political science course, another sociology course, an archaeology course, a GRSJ (Gender, Race, and Social Justice) course, and a psychology course. The political science course, although interesting as it was new material to me, was boring to me. The professor was very nice and explained things very clearly and made lectures interesting but I just don’t think this area is for me. The exams during this time were mostly in person but there were a few that were online. My marks during this semester were pretty high and I got higher than the average in all my classes again. Pretty proud of my marks. I’m no genius, but I can get a B and occasionally some As.

Complete Overview:Β Summer Vacation Time 2022
As a result of doing pretty well during my first year of university, I feel like I deserve a bit of a break. There was a lot of adjusting, learning, stressing, planning, and cramming. At first, I stuck to what I knew in high school and studied for midterms and tests as they came in my direction (AKA around 2-3 days ahead of time, all the way until the day of the exam) and doing assignments as the deadlines approached. This… style of working worked for my first semester because I was taking 4 courses at the time. But when the second semester began, I had to account for all the material for 5 courses at the time. It really made me wonder how I survived high school with 8 concurrent courses (the work was easier but nontheless).

There was a brief period of time (around midterm season in the second semester) where I felt like I was really in a bad place. I had multiple large assignments due and there were some heavily-weighted midterms coming up. There was a lot of information for me to have memorized in those two weeks. My brain was a bit overwhelmed at the time so I decided to reorganize myself before it got worse. I ended up getting through those two weeks alright and then quickly reorganized myself over the weekend by actually using my planner and sticky notes and over the weekend, I caught up on small assignments. After that, and leading up to final exam season, I maintained that strategy and organized the coming week’s to-do list over the weekend and then followed it almost religiously. It worked pretty well and I got some good marks!

Anyway, over this summer I plan on looking over the LSAT and decide whether or not I want to take it next year. In addition to that, I will be coaching some table tennis at my local club to make some small bucks and in August I will have another short-term job with my school for first-yeat orientation day/week. I think I will get a part-time job within the next 365 days. Okay, that’s more like a goal. We all have to start somewhere!

With that, I will end this post here. I learned a lot this past school year and I hope my new learning strategy works next year with slightly higher-level courses. Until next time!

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not the greatest time

So this might not be the best time of day to be writing a blog post, but I’m already here. Good morning! Or afternoon or night, wherever you might be reading this from… geographically and time-wise.

I’m pretty swamped. Compared to last semester, I’m definitely more busy and tired. I’m also trying my best to space my assignments out, but due to travel plans, I’ve squished some together so I end up scheduling multiple things a day. There is also the self-brought pressure of wanting to do well in classes. Doing well will be defined as a B or up. However, if I end up getting a C+ in a class (something that I am prepared for… in one of my classes), it should be fine. Although it will impact my GPA, I am only in my first year. I should be able to make up for it in later years. Right!

The reason why I am so swamped this semester is probably because I am taking 5 courses instead of 4. Although this is only one more course than before, I have to memorize a lot of things for at least 3 of my classes. They are either term-based memorization or theory-based. Either way, there are constantly a lot of words swimming through my eyes and into my brain and probably back out because I can hardly remember.

I actually meant to write at least once a month, but… there are lots of things to be done. I have to do my taxes soon. I want to get to driving lessons, but I will probably have to postpone it my another year. I’ll get lessons first! That may occur this summer if the driving schools I’m looking at have an okay waitlist. Speaking of waitlists… I am waitlisted for a summer session course. I am also waitlisted for a job opportunity at my school, but it’s okay, I got an offer for a smaller role. I won’t be making a lot, but any money is nice! I’ve never had a job before… To be fair, this opportunity is more similar to a volunteer position, but it’s all-day and there’s a goo amount of training involved so it makes sense.

Anyhow, I am extremely tired and tomorrow is another long day. Bedtime for me then :))

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and ont(w)o 2022

Happy New Year! Despite having only three exams this past semester, I probably only did well on two of the three. I did my last one on a dreary Wednesday morning at 8:30 AM and it was open book. That made it a bit more comfortable but I was unable to form coherent sentences that early in the morning. This is especially difficult for this exam since it was an essay question. Aside from that… I received a final grade for my (mandatory) writing class. I got a B in the class! This is good news to me. A B mark is pretty good and I got above the class average so that makes my day. Another grade was released sometime yesterday and I got a B+! Made my day, although I only checked in the middle of the night (or early morning…). I did my best this semester but there are some study habits and writing skills that I can improve on. Of course, there is always space for improvement, even if I manage to get an A in any of my courses. I’m still waiting on two more classes to upload grades so I hope I’m ready. :]]

Now onto the main topic. Today is the first day of 2022! A lot happened last year: I got into universities, got scholarships, graduated from high school, survived a heat dome, survived intense rainstorms, completed the first semester of university, and most importantly, I survived the year without getting sick. Hopefully I (and my family) can continue to be healthy and avoid getting sick. Sometimes I wonder when this will all be over but at the same time, I can’t seem to remember what it was like before the pandemic. I distinctly remember my last day of school before the pandemic and some of my thoughts–I was inΒ  my high school’s yearbook room and was talking to one of my classmates about school going on an indefinite break after the Spring Break. We were making some predictions of what was going to happen in the next few weeks. Who knew it was going to go this far? Who knew that part of this upcoming semester was going to be fully online?

To be honest, I don’t have a preference yet, whether or not a class is in-person or online. It is fun to have in-person classes to see all the different people in my classes and people-watch, essentially. Online classes are a bit more convenient because I can sit in the library if I can’t make it to the classroom on time. Or, if the weather is bad, I can stay at home. Discussion classes probably work better in person. Considering how awkward the in-person session was, I think going online will only make it worse because it is even harder to pick up on social cues and when it would be a suitable time to talk without interrupting someone and it would prolong the silence and lead us nowhere.

Anyhow, I will be working on making this year better than the previous. There a few things that have to be done this year, including attending my sister’s graduation events, learning how to drive, finish year one and declare a major and minor (hopefully), and improving my studying skills. I have some new resolutions for 2022, so here we go:

    1. Make study plans and schedule out assignments.
    2. Learn how to drive.
    3. Keep track of finances.

Although some seem broad, I have more detailed notes to myself of how to achieve them. It’s good to set goals but it is also important to write down the steps to achieving them. At least for me πŸ™‚

This post was very difficult for me to complete and it took me a few weeks to write this so this post is a bit all over the place. I don’t know why it took me so long and so many tries to do this, but I guess I am taking this break a little too seriously. I’m going to be hanging out with a university friend tomorrow, which I’ve never done before. We are being cautious though and only sticking to local places so it’s relatively safe, pandemic-wise. Hope all will be well soon. Happy New Year!

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doing great

Without meaning to, it is already December. I meant to publish a post in September and October but I got a bit caught up in school. Since my last post in the summer, I have gotten used to my commute to university, familiarized myself with the buildings at my school that I need to know, got another scholarship, turned 18, got onto the university’s table tennis team, and went to a team dinner (for the first time). I also experienced my first midterm season and wrote my first few university term papers. Before I know it, there is only one more term paper for me to write and then it will be finals season!

I don’t know how I got here. Every month, I take a whole day off to wallow in my thoughts. It’s quite interesting. I have managed to make no progress on a specific issue for about a year and a half. I am still stuck on an issue from 18 months ago. Is a year not enough? Apparently not. While I may not be off the deep end, what is concerning to me is the number of times I think about it in a week. I feel like it’s a bit dumb. It’s annoying and I don’t know what to do about it. I think i may need another 18 months to figure it out.

Aside from a personal problem, I think I’m doing alright. I am passing my courses so far. I think so, and I hope so. I hope I will do well enough on my final exams so that I can achieve a solid B. I’m not gonna go for As, if I manage to do well enough to get an A, that would be great. If I don’t get an A, that’s fine too. As long as I pass this semester, it will be fine.

Jumping a bit back to the intro; it’s December! Which means Christmastime, gifts, snow (more like more rain actually), and lights. I don’t know what I’m going to be doing this year that will make it different from previous years. In fact, I’m pretty sure nothing will be different from previous years. It will just be a quiet family thing. It will all be fine and I will be okay and functioning. That is the hope. I hope all will be well.

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so here we are

Welcome back to my blog! It has been quite some time since my last post. Nothing much has happened but at the same time, a lot has occurred. Last time I wrote, I was still coming to terms with the fact that I was accepted into university. Now, I have chosen all my classes for the university that I will attend in September.

Another big change is that I am officially done high school. I was able to get above 90% in all of my courses this year so I’m really proud that I didn’t die halfway through or give up. I just find it amazing that I was able to power through the incredibly poorly-planned year. In every event that was planned, something went wrong or had to be adjusted to avoid a massive problem. I guess these types of things are inevitable and should be expected because anything can happen.

My leaving ceremony occurred in the middle of a massive record-breaking heat wave. The day before my ceremony, it was 42 degrees Celsius! It was a terrible experience and I hope it never happens again but with the rate of climate change and all that is not being done in the world, I will most likely experience something similar again in the near future. Anyway, it was 38 degrees during my ceremony. I still had to wear the robe and all and the teachers and admins were all very alert for any students or staff who may have been on the verge of heat stroke. While I waited in line, I was very sweaty and they asked me if I was okay and if I needed a drink of water. I declined but kept fanning myself with my certificate folder. I found that I got a plaque for a service award and two scholarships. One was from the school’s Parent Advisory Council and the other was from the photography studio that works with the school and for my work on the school’s yearbook. That was fun! These were monetary so it helps me for next year.

Speaking of next year, I cannot imagine myself in university. It doesn’t seem impossible and I think that I can do it. There are so many things to do on my own and there are so many things to keep track of. I have yet to do so many things. I need to get better at taking initiative and prioritizing things correctly in my life. That will require some more confidence and courage which will take time. I don’t really want to spend time trying to do that because I don’t know how to do it. Do I have to fake it ’til I make it? I’m not sure. Do I need to actually believe in myself? I don’t think I can. Either way, I’ll just go in blindly and hope for the best. That doesn’t sound like a good plan, haha. I will do my research, prepare for all scenarios, and then simply do my best. The worst possible outcome is… that I fail. Which then means that I will have to try again.

I think I am thinking myself in circles again. I will be okay this year. Anyhow! There is only one more full month left before I start panicking about physically going to university. I want to make plans with my old classmates but I am terribly too awkward to reach out. I promise I will soon. After I recover. From my second vaccination and pain from being a female. Great times.

Other than my transition into university, I hope the world is doing okay (based off of the news, it ain’t). The Olympics are a good distraction from world issues. Watching the Olympics reminds me that I should start training for table tennis try-outs at the university soon. There are only a few more months and I haven’t touched a racket in yet another year. I’m going to be terrible at it when I start again which only means that I will have to try again at all the skills and techniques. I guess everything in this post is about trying things again if it doesn’t work the first time. Here’s to attempt 3!

Happy End of July. Enjoy the summer. Eat good food! Have fun!

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an accomplishment

Actually, I have accomplished a few things this year already.

My most important accomplishments thus far are SFU and UBC offers. For some reason, I thought it would be difficult to get in but I was told that it is easier to get in than to graduate. This means that I should double (maintain?) my efforts in university. Anyways, I’m quite excited to get out of high school. I think I just really want to leave the environment with the same few people. Perhaps I just want to go to a new environment and meet new people to see what happens. I want to experience something new and I want to move on to the next part of my life.

My more minor accomplishments include: a great English mark, a wonderful Literature mark, a very high Human Geography mark, and a completed Yearbook cover. I also got bonus marks on a summer project I did for Biology. That made me feel good. I like praise. πŸ™‚

There have been some changes with how I am feeling with regards to AP exams. The AP Biology exam date was announced and I will only have 6 weeks of instructional time with the course before the exam. So, I either self-study beforehand or I don’t do it. I don’t think it’s worth it so I asked the office for a refund and it was done.

I find that I am always unsure. I am unsure about everything. I am not even sure if that sentence was necessary. However, I have been very decisive at school regarding the yearbook. I have a lot of complaints regarding yearbook. I have a lot on my mind these days. Why should people ‘put up’ with an uncomfortable situation? If something is making you uncomfortable, you should speak up and let others know. If something isn’t quite right, make it so that it is better. If something is out of your control, then do something that you have control over that will make yourself feel better. Why must people 忍 uncomfortable situations and environments?

So, recently I have been doing what makes me feel better about my situation. Although things may get awkward and uncomfortable at times, I face situations that I have to face and get them over with. I do things that make me feel better and things that will make things better in the long run. However, I get stuck in the process. Sometimes I don’t know how to make things better. I want things to get better but I don’t know what to do. Anyways, I am taking more initiative than I have before so I think this is a good start. I used to being quite passive so I think this is already a lot.

In other news (although still related to school, as that is the only thing going on, ever), spring break is coming up and there are three more months of high school. Spring break reminds me of what happened last year. How interesting… time passes so quickly. I have to do a project over the break, prepare for a deadline, study for an exam, and preview a course. I hope I do what I just mentioned. Last winter break, I did absolutely nothing. I will regulate myself better this time. 2 weeks is very short, after all.

For now, I will try my best to complete my job and make things better than they are right now. Until next time!

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20β†’21

Happy New Year. I hope this year brings happier times. As always, I am going to reflect on my resolutions, write about how 2020 went for me, and maybe even make new goals.

Last year, I made 3 resolutions. Let’s see how they’ve gone:

  1. Stay on task. Close other tabs when there is a deadline. Resist the urge to check the phone.
    • This is hard to measure, but I have done everything on time and I don’t think I’ve had any issues with getting an assignment completed. I may have procrastinated a few times, but I still left enough time for my work to be completed and to be of good quality.
  2. Exercise certain areas at least twice a week.
    • Why did I word this in this way? Basically, I think I meant that I wanted to stay in shape. Well, due to the pandemic, I stopped having practice every week and I stopped walking around at school. I’m still relatively in shape (I actually lost a bit of weight but I think that was all muscle mass) but of course, there are areas of improvement.
  3. Clean my room and desk regularly.
    • I actually did this one recently! I kept my desk clean most of the time. Last week, I moved all my stuff to my bedroom instead of where I was before. So everything is tidy as of right now.

Solid. I’ve done them all and I should continue to work hard to maintain these habits.

A lot happened in 2020. I did a lot of work last year. I did well in my grade 11 year so I’m very proud of myself. My first class of grade 12 also went by pretty well. I plan on continuing to do my best for my work and hopefully, I do not burn out or get super sad again. I like to watch dramas to stop worrying about stuff so I think I’ll be fine. I recently watched something really good with my sister so we will be okay for now. I applied to universities and for scholarships so I hope I hear back from them soon. I keep checking to see if they have finished with my application or something but I think I’m thinking too much about it. I should focus on finishing grade 12 first!

Anyway. It’s 2021, so that means I graduate high school this year. I should be able to get through that alright. I kind of want to go on a grad trip during the summer but who knows what the world will be like then. Who knows if anyone will want to go anywhere with me (other than a family trip, maybe having a friend trip will be fun, I don’t know). I will make some small goals for this year:

  1. Do well in the rest of my classes and do my best in every class.
  2. Focus on myself. Do what I want to do.
  3. Be tidy and keep being organized. Sleep and get up earlier.

That’s about it. I hope I make better memories this year and that I get through it well. Until next time!

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a very merry christmas

Happy Holidays! It’s Christmas, which means gifts and a feast. Christmas also takes place during the winter break, so I’ve been just chilling at home.

During the past month or so, I’ve completed my English course with a very high mark, finished part of the yearbook, and done well in my second course of the year. I feel like I’ve accomplished quite a bit. I also applied to universities and scholarships. So far, I’ve been rejected by a scholarship thing. It is one of the more competitive ones so I’m not surprised by this outcome. I would be more surprised if I was accepted.

Since it is Christmas, I should think more positively. My family and I got up at around 11am to open presents. That was pretty nice and fun because my brother was extremely pumped. He’s been pumped since… the beginning of December. Which is good, but he’s kind of annoying…

Anyway, I got a scarf, a tuque, some chocolates, a sweater, and a nice pen. Pretty solid stuff. πŸ™‚ Now I can smell the lamb shank my dad is making. Smells great. Merry Christmas!