Category: sports

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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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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: 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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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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New Year’s Resolutions 2020

Shall I go over last year’s resolutions? I think I did a review half-way through the year as well. So maybe I’ll go through the midway ones. Grey is the original resolution. Blue is the comment that I made in June. Black is me Right Now.

  1. Arrange work in a more organized way (actually follow a schedule!)
    I like to think that I have organized my work in relatively well order. However, I have placed myself in a hard position where assignments were slightly piling up and I was stressing myself out.
    I have begun to prioritize things. There’s no specific order. I think I still need to figure out a better system though. To keep my desk less cluttered.
  2. Be more outgoing! Maybe do some work experience this year…
    I did and am doing work experience. I also went outside more often with classmates. I made more friends this year. Very good!
    I went places with my friends in 2019. Fun! Became better friends with some people and learned how to talk in a better way to people.
  3. Try to… have more self-awareness?? Also be more aware of others and where I am among them.
    I seem to be too aware these days. I am too wary of myself ad my actions. Kind of tiring but it helps me understand others better. Others are also humans and have feelings and are unpredictable (as much as I’d like to predict other people…)
    I am more aware. And I have developed a voice that I use specifically when ordering things and talking to teachers.
  4. Draw, read, and write more often to keep the creative process ongoing.
    I drew throughout the year in art class and in English. I went to the library more often this year and read more books. I still have more books that I want to read. I also have many ideas for things to write about. I will get to them after summer vacation is fully in swing.
    In the first half of the year, I was more creative. In the second half, I was more occupied. I also did not take an art class. Will work on this one more.
  5. Put more effort towards friends. (For example: go out with them, help them, be more caring, talk to them more, etc.)
    I WENT OUT TODAY WITH FRIENDS. I realized that I am accidentally in many friend groups at once. Tiring as well… That’s not their fault, it’s my own for thinking too much probably.
    I have narrowed down my friend group. I don’t know if I really have any friends, but I think I have at least one.
  6. Be more mature (how vague…) and think more before acting. Think about the consequences, how my action can affect others, and how I feel.
    I think I think a lot more now. A lot more.
    Lots think. Yes.
  7. Improve handwriting. Printing. I don’t know, just more… good-looking.
    I completely forgot about this one and I actually think that my printing has gotten worse.
    My printing has gotten better, to be honest. More neat and… I don’t know, mature? 
  8. Exercise more. Go for runs, practise more table tennis (maybe arrange for more practices??), and do stretches and other exercises more regularly.
    I play table tennis for four hours at a time. I should do other exercises too.
    I still play a lot of table tennis.
  9. Plan ahead. Like… uh… Watch out for deadlines and get things done ahead of time so that I have time to look things over and get things done to the best of my ability.
    Kind of redundant to be honest. This one is like number 1. Still needs some work, just like everything else.
    Currently working on it.

Maybe I should make fewer resolutions. Perhaps I’ll go about growth in steps. Smaller steps.

  1. Stay on task. Close other tabs when there is a deadline. Resist the urge to check the phone.
  2. Exercise certain areas at least twice a week.
  3. Clean room and desk regularly.

That’s it. Start small I guess. 2020. We’ll see how it turns out.

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just another year – 2019

It has been another year. 2019 has come and gone. I feel that I have changed a lot this year. Not only in age but also in terms of my thinking. Many things occurred this year and different things are on my mind. I worry about more things. Hm. It has been an interesting year.

  1. January: I was still in grade ten. I was adjusting to the fact that I was in grade ten and 15 years old. I sent my sister had flown back in December and left during this month back to Toronto. I had skipped school that day to send her off with my dad. People cried. I didn’t, just a single tear that didn’t even fall 🙂 . School proceeded.
  2. February: Snow! It snowed a bit and school continued. Our table tennis team won third place in the provincial championship.
  3. March: Spring began. I got lots of allergies to the pollen and grass. My dad’s birthday! And spring break, where I went on lots of walks.
  4. April: More spring allergies. My brother turned 8! That’s how old I was when he was born. So weird. I am my brother’s age multiplied by two. My brother also did his First Communion. A day before his birthday.
  5. May: My sister finished her first year of university and came back for her summer vacation. My brother’s school held a fair and we went together.
  6. June: I was finishing up grade ten. I went outside on walks a lot with my sister and the family. My sister flew to Shanghai before us during this month. School finished up very well! I finally got a good report card (straight A). I did a provincial exam and got a very good mark.
  7. July: I went to the Richmond Night Market for the first time with friends. Now it seems sort of funny how some things turn out. I went to Shanghai around the end of the month. Lots of mosquitos. Very hot. Every day was a workout. Lots of restaurants. Lots of taxis. Lots of QR codes. Lots of worrying. Lots of practicing my Shanghainese and Mandarin.
  8. August: We went to Taipei for a week. This stay was extended by around three days because of some typhoons. We had to switch hotels once. I would like to visit Taipei another time. It’s a very nice and clean place to be. People are nice there too. We went back to Shanghai after and we celebrated my paternal grandfather’s 90th birthday. I got to wear a fancy purple dress. I organized a slideshow of pictures to play at the restaurant. I used my terrible Mandarin to communicate with a guy at the restaurant to help me set it up. I almost forgot I went to karaoke with my siblings and cousins. And we had hot pot with them. Lots of fun. On the last day, we had to visit my grandfather in the hospital. Lots of thinking was done.
  9. September: Slept lots until school started. Grade 11. Schedule was great. Except they messed up a class and didn’t fix it until I went to find them and still had to wait an hour for my counsellor to show up and get to me. My friends are in two of my classes. That’s nice. I get to see them every day. Which makes the class more fun! Sometime near the end of this month, I made some people unhappy and that has led to a more awkward relationship with them. I don’t know whose fault it is. I like to think it’s not mine.
  10. October: I turned 16! Fall. School was well underway. I started thinking about why I have friends. I cried once during this month. Weather turned a little bit depressing.
  11. November: Lots of tests and crying over procrastination. Lots of think-thank-thonk. Felt bad because my English mark was very low. Also, I don’t really understand my teacher. Oh well. That’s something to work on this year.
  12. December: Lots of studying went down to bring my math mark back up after being roasted by my teacher. Lots of studying in bio to make sure I wasn’t failing too badly. I’m not even failing any classes, yet I still fail myself a lot of the time. Haha. : )

And now, it’s 2020. One more year until high school graduation. By the end of this year, I will have to have made up my mind. I need to choose a university to go to. I need to choose a Thing that I want to do. But I still don’t know. : ) I guess I’ll figure it out later.

I hope this year is better. I hope this decade is better. I hope things get better. Somehow. I hope I get better. At stuff. : ) Happy New Year!

2020 . 0101

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mid-year reflection 2019

Just for fun, I will be reviewing my New Year’s Resolutions from January this year. Perhaps I might mope as well. Anyhow, I am going to reflect on this past year and look forward to this second half.

  1. Arrange work in a more organized way (actually follow a schedule!)
    I like to think that I have organized my work in relatively well order. However, I have placed myself in a hard position where assignments were slightly piling up and I was stressing myself out.     
  2. Be more outgoing! Maybe do some work experience this year…
    I did and am doing work experience. I also went outside more often with classmates. I made more friends this year. Very good!

  3. Try to… have more self-awareness?? Also be more aware of others and where I am among them.
    I seem to be too aware these days. I am too wary of myself ad my actions. Kind of tiring but it helps me understand others better. Others are also humans and have feelings and are unpredictable (as much as I’d like to predict other people…)

  4. Draw, read, and write more often to keep the creative process ongoing.
    I drew throughout the year in art class and in English. I went to the library more often this year and read more books. I still have more books that I want to read. I also have many ideas for things to write about. I will get to them after summer vacation is fully in swing.

  5. Put more effort towards friends. (For example: go out with them, help them, be more caring, talk to them more, etc.)
    I WENT OUT TODAY WITH FRIENDS. I realized that I am accidentally in many friend groups at once. Tiring as well… That’s not their fault, it’s my own for thinking too much probably.

  6. Be more mature (how vague…) and think more before acting. Think about the consequences, how my action can affect others, and how I feel.
    I think I think a lot more now. A lot more.

  7. Improve handwriting. Printing. I don’t know, just more… good-looking.
    I completely forgot about this one and I actually think that my printing has gotten worse.

  8. Exercise more. Go for runs, practise more table tennis (maybe arrange for more practices??), and do stretches and other exercises more regularly.
    I play table tennis for four hours at a time. I should do other exercises too.
  9. Plan ahead. Like… uh… Watch out for deadlines and get things done ahead of time so that I have time to look things over and get things done to the best of my ability.
    Kind of redundant to be honest. This one is like number 1. Still needs some work, just like everything else.

These days… I have been slacking off. I’ve also gone shopping, watching TV shows, eating, going to table tennis practice, listening to music, and playing various games on electronic devices. I’m having lots of fun. Catching up on my sleep. Still, I feel empty. School is the only thing that takes up my time and brain it appears. Very empty, I am. Anyhow. I might write something one day.

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what is on the other side?

I have neglected to write since the start of the year. I think I was… very distracted. By various things. I still am distracted. Some things that I have been occupied by are school, sports, TV dramas, movies, and music. Upon further analysis, it appears that school work and TV dramas are the main cause of this lack of presence on this blog.

School work. It appears that I always care more than I would like to. Especially for group projects. I hate having to make sure I am not being a burden. This is where I get frustrated; I act nice to those who become a burden to me. Why can’t I stand my ground? Why am I not resolute? Aside from an internal struggle with myself, I think I’m doing pretty well for the past two terms. There is one more term of grade 10. I can’t seem to wrap my head around that concept. I have 2 more years to go. Before I know it… it will be over. I’ll have to begin anew. I have to find a purpose in this society. Haha. That sounds funny. Not entirely sure why though.

It is Spring Break, which explains how I found the time to notice that it has been a while since I last posted. There are two more Spring Breaks after this one. There are many things I am going to have to do. I hope I don’t procrastinate. I have many things to do (does repeating this make me feel like I must complete all my homework?). I have to complete my Science Enrichment Project. I have to begin my English Portfolio. I have to read a book (and figure out what I am going to with it). I have to go to the dentist this week. I have to help a school sports team by being their manager (I’m not complaining, I think it will be fun or interesting). Hopefully, I can finish all that I listed just now.

I don’t know what to do now. I guess I’ll be OK. For now.

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2019 New Year’s Resolutions!!

It’s me again! I feel like I should go through last year’s resolutions just for fun. But I’m too lazy to do that. Haha. So I will go straight to the 2019 resolutions!

  1. Arrange work in a more organized way (actually follow a schedule!)
  2. Be more outgoing! Maybe do some work experience this year…
  3. Try to… have more self-awareness?? Also be more aware of others and where I am among them.
  4. Draw, read, and write more often to keep the creative process ongoing.
  5. Put more effort towards friends. (For example: go out with them, help them, be more caring, talk to them more, etc.)
  6. Be more mature (how vague…) and think more before acting. Think about the consequences, how my action can affect others, and how I feel.
  7. Improve handwriting. Printing. I don’t know, just more… good-looking.
  8. Exercise more. Go for runs, practise more table tennis (maybe arrange for more practices??), and do stretches and other exercises more regularly.
  9. Plan ahead. Like… uh… Watch out for deadlines and get things done ahead of time so that I have time to look things over and get things done to the best of my ability.

I feel like number eight might be a joke. But hey. Health.

I should probably write these down so I actually do these and not forget about these after a few days. Hmm. Well, it is late, so goodnight!

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todolists

It’s Spring Break! I also happen to have allergies and a cold, so I feel GREAT. I have made a To-Do List for over the Spring Break, so I hope it will be completed by the end. I have three projects, and a few personal objectives on the list. I made the list on Sticky Notes.

I didn’t write in most of February, aside from the first day, so I will recap. Most of February was relatively quiet and normal. On March 2nd and 3rd, it was the BCSSTTC. Which, un-abbreviated, is the British Columbia Secondary School Table Tennis Championships. I represented my school (of course) and we entered all three events available. There was the team event, doubles event, and the singles event. In the team event, my team placed second! In the doubles event, my partner and I placed third! So we received the corresponding medal for our results. A SILVER and a BRONZE! This is only my second time at these championships, so I’m still really excited. I’ll need to practice some more in order to achieve a gold, which I really hope is possible in my high school career. That really makes it sound too intense. Like some nerd.

I should really accomplish some of the tasks on my To-Do List. So, until next time!