Summer Reminiscence
Saturday, November 04, 2006
I actually find the opening quote a bit too extreme, but I am too pressed for time these days to find a better quote... Anyway, I thought I'd post some photos from my summer, like I always seem to do on this blog (^-^).
First of all, a blog template note: I realize now that the template I 'borrowed' and altered does not allow me to see the names behind comments. In other words, I can't see who commented on my last post or this post either, so if you could remember to put your name IN the comment itself, that'd be great :)
Anyways, I just downloaded Picasa2, so I've been tinkering with it a little in my spare time. I was pretty impressed with how easy it was to make decent looking photo collages - you just pick the photos you want and click 'create'. Google is definitely gonna take over the world one of these days...
The first collage is made from photos of my Mediterranean Cruise in August. Places we hit included Italy, Portugal, Monaco, Spain, France and England. I'd have to say my favorite city was Barcelona, Spain, because of the shopping and the architecture of the city. Of course, the most exciting point of the trip was when I got the acceptance e-mail from UVic :)
The second collage is of my newest cousin (that makes 15), who has probably tripled the number of hits for my uncle's blog. Everyone calls her 'boo', although her real name is Matia Chen. It's so easy to call her 'boo', but I'm sure she'll want a new nickname once she becomes a little more cognizant. My baby shower gift was the ipod onesie she's wearing in one of the photos - Steve Jobs should be quick to realize the marketing potential of a chubby little Chinese baby (^___^).
Well that's all for now - it's time to start going into overdrive if I'm to survive until December (o__O).
Posted byCharles Ang at 4:38 PM 2 comments
“Justice? -- You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law.”
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Kudos to the novelist William Gaddis for the heading for this post. Try not to read into it too deeply, you'll only end up depressed (^_^)
So I guess I haven't updated this thing for almost half a year... My excuse is that I was just too lazy in the summer, and as for September and October, I've actually been pretty busy :p. Most of you already know that I got accepted into UVic law in August, but in case you were wondering what law school (in Victoria) is like, here are some quick 'factoids':
- Law school is three years of schooling plus one year of articling
- The 1st year class in UVic Law is about 100 students
- The average age of a 1y student this year is 26
- All 1st years follow a Standardized class schedule, which is 6 full year courses and 1 half year course.
- Most courses just have a lot of readings with one big final and a 'no-hurt' midterm (only counts if your midterm mark is higher than your final mark)
- Surprisingly enough, each course has only two 1.5-hour classes per WEEK. I actually get fridays off!
- Uvic Law school environment is pretty lax
- Law Profs are NOT like the ones shown in 'legally blonde'. They aren't really mean at first but nicer as the movie goes along - they're just nice in general (mine are anyway)
- In law school, you're more motivated to do your readings and participate in class discussions - i've probably done more reading in two months than i did in my entire 4th year (^_^)
One thing you realize really early on is the dual nature of law: a balance between legal formalism and personal judgments, and a balance between consistency and flexibility. In any area of law, there is always a counter argument to your argument, a retort to that counter argument, and so on and so on...
It is really interesting stuff, but right now, there doesn't seem to be a lot of ground to stand on in the world of law - I've been told that it will start to make more sense sometime in the middle of second year (a prof told me that too, lol).
So far, I'm enjoying the whole experience of law school, but then again, I haven't taken any exams yet... exams ruin everything >:(
Anyway, drop me a line, but don't ask for legal advice just yet (^_^).
Posted byCharles Ang at 2:46 PM 3 comments
Seattle 2006
Friday, May 12, 2006
Hail to the Peerless City, Metropolis of the west,
The gateway to the Orient,
Whom grandeur hath caressed!
Her men and women active, proud,
Seattle build sublime,
And greater far than ancient Rome,
The matchless for all time.
Sorry for the very long break between posting - I didn't have the energy to dual post on both blogger and xanga the last few months (I am characteristically a very lazy blogger). Anyway, exams have been over for a while already, and I have been enjoying a rather decadent summer break :D
My cousin Joy came to visit us for a couple weeks, and we all went to Seattle for a few days with Tiff and Jer, on our first parent-free vacation! Sightseeing is way more fun when you aren't forced to take mandatory family shots all the time, hehehe.... Neverthess, we still took a lot of photos :p
The protest picture is kind of out-of-place, but we saw a HUGE parade of people going through the streets on May 1st, in response to the nation-wide protest against immigration laws. That was actually pretty cool, it was like seeing history in the making :p
That's all I feel like posting right now... hopefully I will be able to head back to Calgary for a decent portion of the summer, so I can catch up with the Calgary folk :D. Until then, have a relaxing and productive summer!
Posted byCharles Ang at 9:29 AM 0 comments
The other kind of Project
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
I believe this is blogger style #10. Blogger templates just makes it too easy to keep changing things up (^_^)
Anyway, as most of you guys know, I have been planning on going to a project with Campus Crusade to some *cough* asian country. Danny, Scott, Sheridan and Wong graciously wrote me a reference for it :p
One thing that I never considered was that all of these projects start at the beginning of May, overlapping with my graduation ceremony. I really wanted to go with Crusade, but I'm having a tough time figuring out how to handle this conflict. More details can be found on my xanga, which I have resurrected as a blog for the CRU blogring. I'd appreciate your prayers, as I have no idea what I'm going to do until my summer plans get more cleared up :(
Thanks!
Posted byCharles Ang at 4:02 PM 0 comments
The 2004 Collection.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Hmm, I've been meaning to make this post for a while now - a trip down memory lane, so to speak.
The summer of 2004 (also known as the Summer of Laziness and Unemployment) was mostly spent on improving my HTML and drawing skills. I spent alot of time designing an art website for some reason (d'oh!), and I also mass produced a bunch of photo websites. Most of em are down already (amazingly, my artwebsite hasn't been erased by my uncle yet), but I have most of the html and photos stored in my special "PROJECTS" folder.
Here's a brief archive of these so-called projects:
Project Bailar
Project Birthday
Project Char-Uzu
Project Frenzy
Project Rally
Project Logos
= Amazing Calgary Guys + 2004 Olympics
Yah, I have a thing for cool codenames (^___^)
For those who remember, the Car Rally site actually was pretty cool; it popped up as a new window and had a lot of tables, but I wrote that one directly (no practice html), so it doesn't work anymore :(
Hehe so I just felt like making all of you Calgarians nostalgic about 2004 :D
I still have all the photos from each website if you didn't save em to your hard drive yourself.
Other than that, I guess I'd better get back to studying for my midterms (o_O) !
Posted byCharles Ang at 8:24 PM 0 comments
Nostalgia in Five days
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Another reading week in Calgary, and another week of fun memories (and no reading)!
In order to recap my visit back home for those who weren't there (*cough*Waterloo*cough*), I decided to copy how Wired magazine designs their monthly calendars.
So without further ado...
- 10th - Took WestJet back home to Calgary. Leather seats + Live satellite TV = why the heck do I keep flying Air Canada ??
- 11th - Last minute get-together at my house. 2 hours of hoopla devolved into mindless fun where we made up clues for each other to act out. Yet another night where things kept going downhill hehehe...
- 12th -Went to the new First Alliance Church; had Laksa for dinner (mmm.... malaysian/singaporean)
- 13th -Actually studied (o_O), and played floor hockey with the guys at night. The guys then filled out a reference form for me; i'll admit they said good things about me, except when it got to the question "How does the applicant relate to members of the opposite sex?" (>_<) - grrr....
- 14th - Spent valentine's day studying (w00t!!), and eventually dropped in on the guy's bible study. Good conversations sparsed with my usual lame jokes :D
- 15th - Finally tried out the Xbox 360 @ Sheridan's. Perfect Dark Zero was pretty cool, but Geometry Wars was surprisingly addictive. Went out for sushi for Jeremy's birthday, and later had a 'mini-strath-reunion' with Vanessa.
- 16th -Watched Team Canada own Germany :D. It was sad that I had to leave Calgary so early, but I'm glad I avoided that crazy -39 weather!
That's all I have time to post for now. I'll update later after my conference with Campus Crusade (and after my midterms too !). Thanks for hanging out with me Calgarians, I'll make sure to head back sometime in the summer :D
Posted byCharles Ang at 10:24 PM 0 comments
The Mindless Poster
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Hehe, I found this article from Wired quite amusing. The author has a rather nonsensical sense of humor, but its entertaining nonetheless.
Here's my paraphrasing of the article:
Four Foolproof Tips to help you fake an intelligent opinion on Message Boards
- The One-Issue Poster
You may not have an opinion about the current issue, but everyone has an opinion about something, whether it's international trade, domestic education or the way cakes in the grocery store look really good but taste like frosted teddy bear fur. Luckily, everything is connected on some tenuous level, so there's no reason to talk about things you don't care about.
The easiest approach is to blame a current or former politician for everything that goes wrong. But even if there's no conceivable connection, you can always take the digression express: "The war between Belgium and Finland only adds chaos to a world already torn by the lack of good delivery pizza in the East Bay."
- The Enigma
Don't want to take a stand on a controversial issue, but are dying to contribute to the conversation anyway? Just share a single, vaguely pertinent fact. Context-free data is to an online discussion as raw meat is to a cage full of starving Rottweilers and indignant vegetarians. Say you're looking at an article about gun control. Just pop in and say, "Over 10,000 unarmed people are shot to death by criminals each year."
Are you in favor of gun control or against it? You're not saying, but people on both sides will leap to the attack. You'll be the belle of the brawl. By the way, I just made that statistic up. You can go ahead and make up your statistics, too. It just gives people more to argue about.
- The In-Joker
At any given moment, approximately 400 catch phrases are circulating on the web. You don't need any actual wit to adopt one. Even if you're not up on the latest gags, you can always fall back on these standbys: "I, for one, welcome our new (subject of article) overlords." "Needs more cowbell." Or simply "Pwned!"
This serves two purposes. First, it establishes you as a hipster and wry lover of textual hi-jinks. Secondly, these jokes sometimes appear to the casual observer to be making a keen satirical point.
Note: "All your base are belong to us" is a tempting catch phrase, but resist. This phrase will mark you as dated and out of touch, at least until November 2008, when the phrase will become meta-ironically hip.
- The Cynic
This is one of the easiest techniques, and one of the most powerful. Just remember this handy phrase: "What did you expect?" Did the president get caught trading endangered tiger skins for high-grade heroin? "What did you expect? Politicians are all corrupt." Did tornadoes grind Topeka into a fine, wheat-scented powder? "What did you expect? It's in the middle of tornado country." Did alien amphibians descend upon Canada and devour everyone amid bilingual pleas for mercy? "Come on, there are 100 billion stars in the galaxy. Did you really expect that not one of them would be home to carnivorous toad-people?"
You can pick just one of these techniques, or cycle through all of them. Either way, you'll have something to add to any subject, no matter how esoteric, complex or boring. Enjoy.
Posted byCharles Ang at 8:54 PM 0 comments
Go For the Gold!
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Hehe, look what I found in London Drugs, of all places :p
It's a cool model/figurine of Martin Brodeur, in his 2004 Team Canada jersey (i guess since its 2004, its from the World Cup of Hockey). I picked it up for really cheap, and my sister got some Jarome Iginla figurine... whatever... (bahahaha >:D ).
Flames Vs. Canucks animosity aside, Olympic Hockey is gonna be awesome (^o^) ! Team Canada plays Italy first (can't think of a single italian player), and watching int'l hockey is always fun - the bigger rink size is sure to make our fastest players stand out.
I hope I don't have any essays or exams during that time (o_O)... I know that I always have finals around playoff time, but I don't wanna miss any olympic hockey - I'll be 25 the next time Team Canada plays!
Anyways, here's hoping Brodeur will be solid the whole way through, and we won't lose any more D-men to injuries. Go Canada :D !
Posted byCharles Ang at 11:25 PM 0 comments
The new face of Canada
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
So now that we have the "friendly giant" as our new PM, it's time to see what he can do with the restrictions that come with a minority government. Most likely he will have to ally with the NDP on larger legislation issues, but it'll be interesting to see how well he plays his cards.
I'm pretty skeptical about any talk of sweeping changes in a minority gov't, but I am definitely looking forward to seeing what the new torie cabinet will look like. Don't be surprised to find Stockwell Day, or Mr. Calgary himself, Jason Kenney, taking up some spots (nothing high-profile though).
Next week, UBC is going to have a panel on discussing the new government, which I will definitely try to attend. I'll update this post if I pick up anything interesting :D
This post may very well be the only product of my political science degree, hahahaha (^o^)
*Addendum: Based on statistics and probability (this government has the fewest seats for a minority government EVER; torie minority governments are notorious for short lifespans), it will be Steven Harper's negotiation skills that will determine whether or not his government lasts more than 15-18 months. Good luck Mr. Harper - I think you're going to need it (o_O)
Mobile - Montreal Calling
Posted byCharles Ang at 4:38 PM 0 comments
What happened to January ?!
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Term Two just seems to be gearing up, but its almost the end of January already!
Anyway, after finally finding out the information about the Campus Crusade retreat in February, I will be able to come back to Calgary for most of the week (Feb 10-16th i think?). Unfortunately, most of you Calgary people still have class then, but I'm sure we'll be able to meet for a night or two.
After msn'ing with Danny the other day, I'm sure there is much to discuss:
Charuzu : me --> defected to the CANUCKS
but thats old news
:D
Tipster : Terrible news
Charuzu : hahaha
Tipster : You do own a Flames jersey
Charuzu : AND a Canucks jersey
Tipster : So you're a two timer
Charuzu : no
i believe the official term is
'bandwagoner'
lol
Anyways, I'll try to organize with you guys a little earlier this time... I have a feeling we're all going to end up in Sheridan's house again :p
There's actually a lot going on this week with UBC Crusade - there's an outreach playing off of the election (with two choices - God exists or God doesn't exist). I guess the point of this more 'publicity-ish' kind of outreach is to make the club known to those who are seeking. It's also supposed to get people thinking about spiritual things, but quite frankly, I find that a lot of university students are already deadset on defending their position on 'spiritual things'. My hope is that we'll find more people who will join the bible studies - the small student-to-student studies are definitely the most effective tool that CCC offers (imo).
Well, I look forward to catching up with all the Calgarians in a few weeks, except for mr.waterloo :p
Posted byCharles Ang at 11:15 PM 4 comments
Ringing it in
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Well, "新年快乐 !", as they like to say.
I took absolutely no photos in the Philippines (it was rather uneventful), so I just found some atypical anime new years art to pretty up the post (^-^).
I think they are tearing down one of the Buchanan buildings or something, because most of my classes are in this remedial building - that is far, far, away from my townhouse. I might try to switch one of my courses just because I don't want to walk that far at 8:30 in the morning.
This is my final term for my polisci degree, and it's pretty anti-climatic. Actually, my marks for this term don't seem to matter all that much - most law schools just take up to 4th year 1st term in calculating the gpa. I'll still try to finish well though, if not for consistency, then for my pride as a... uh.. political scientist :p
Where exactly I will end up going this year is the biggest unknown right now - if everything manages to go right for me, I can hopefully get into one of my choice law schools. In one aspect, I really don't want to move again (i've moved every single year since 2001), but I have to consider what is the best course of action, which will undoubtedly cause loads of worries. Maybe by this time next year, all of these worries will seem trite and ironic in light of the work I am going to have to do in Law School (-____-).
Heh, I'm sounding pretty pessimistic, but I'm actually looking forward to figuring out this next big step in my life. I guess it's time to figure out what this whole 'growing up' thing is all about. Until then, it's more walking, reading, and studying for the next few months
Posted byCharles Ang at 3:39 PM 1 comments
