Chuckang's 2007 Blog - 1y Law

Summer Reminiscence
Saturday, November 04, 2006

"I have liked remembering almost as much as I have liked living"

- William Maxwell

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.

Hehe, I thought I'd just throw that out for all you aspiring poets out there. It also hints at the topic of this post - hurrah for foreshadowing!

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

Hehe, I believe the photos are pretty self-explanatory. We spent most of our time in Seattle shopping in downtown, but we also visited the famous Seattle public market. We took a lot of photos around the surrounding area (it's a really nice view), and we also visited the first Starbucks ever! The two-for-one shot of Jer eating sushi was our dinner at Todai, an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant where you eat until you have migraines :D

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!

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

To think that I'd see a non-liberal government within my lifetime :)

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)

Song of the Moment

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  

It's Christmas time again Charlie Brown !
Saturday, December 10, 2005

Inbetween the mad rush to finish essays and study for finals, I managed to catch part of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on YTV. Man... it made me feel so nostalgic and old (^-^)!

When I was a kid, I thought the general theme of the movie was just watching Charlie Brown mess up his Christmas play and act like the ol' blockhead that we know and love. I totally missed Schluz's commentary on the 'commericalization of Christmas' that distracts us from the Christian meaning of the holiday (try getting away with a message like that these days !)

It's such an old cartoon, but when you think about it, the subtext of the movie is incredibly poignant and provocative in today's day and age. Poor ol' Charlie Brown, frustrated about the crappy little tree that he bought, cries out:

"Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

Linus stops sucking his thumb for a second (he even drops his blanket, *gasp*) and responds to Charlie Brown with a word for word reading of the nativity story in Luke 2. Just in case the audience didn't get it, he ends by calmly asserting: "that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown".

Posted byCharles Ang at 12:53 AM 0 comments  

Chronicles of a Boy and His Tiger
Thursday, October 20, 2005

Well I know how I am going to spend 100 bucks.




My favorite comic series of all time, Calvin and Hobbes, complete in one very cool hardcover collection. This sounds cheesy, but this silly comic strip had a big impact on me when I was growing up - it enriched my vocabulary, engaged my mind with Calvin's little philosophical inquiries (I love the commentaries that Watterson made on mass media), got me into drawing comic strips and cartoons, and literally defined "imagination" for me.

*Charles Trivia !*: In grade 6-7, I wrote and drew 4 issues of a comic book I entitled "The Magnificent Three", a spinoff of all of Calvin's alter-egos: Spaceman Spiff, Stupendous Man, and Trigger Bullet. Pretty geeky, but fond memories none the less.


Speaking of Geeky, I am also adding this book to my 'buy-from-Amazon' list:

Haha, this should make for a hilarious coffee table book: a Ph.D. in robotics wrote the book, mixing in actual useful scientific knowledge with good ol' British humor.

Excerpts from the book are already pretty funny, and the book has some pretty cool 'pop-art' illustrations that go along with its pearls of wisdom.

FIND A WEAPON

Your pathetic human hands are useless here. Choose a blunt or pointed instrument (serrated edges don’t work against metal or durable plastic). Even a simple crowbar can save your life – you can run away while the robot condescendingly bends it into a pretzel shape.

Hehe I think I am the only person who buys these kinds of things (^_^). In terms of what's new in my life... uh not much, essays and law school applications have kept me busy 24/7. Tomorrow I'm going with friends from my club to talk with people about religion and Christianity. I'm a bit nervous about that, but who knows: maybe I can miraculously transform into an extrovert? I think that would be definite prove of a God (^o^)

That's it for me - Best of Luck surviving Midterms :p

Posted byCharles Ang at 10:39 PM 1 comments  

A Bit of Art
Tuesday, October 04, 2005

I don't think I've posted any artwork in a really long time... I'm usually way too lazy to bother drawing any good quality sketches these days...

No color pics; just some sketches that I decided to scan in while I was browsing through my sketchbooks:


This first one is from first year; for some reason I decided to draw little avatars of characters from the books we read in Arts One. I think I drew them for a card we were gonna give to our professor, but we scratched the card in the end... i don't really remember why.





I drew this one fairly recently... It's my version of Cedric Diggory from The Goblet of Fire. Cedric was a minor character, but I liked him... highly skilled yet very modest and down-to-earth.

*Spoiler Warning*

It was a pretty big shock when he suddenly died in the book. The movie will definitely be good... definitely will be better than the first three movies I would think.

A set of posters came out recently and they look pretty cool - it ain't no kiddy stuff any more >:)

Posted byCharles Ang at 10:06 PM 1 comments  

Casa de Pipo

By the way, Pipo = me. I'm sure some of you remember that all my relatives call me by that name - dun ask me why though :p.
Anyway, I got around to taking a few photos of the townhouse my sister and I are living in:

The space might look bigger than it really is - The first floor is just essentially a large room that includes the front foyer, living room, the dining room, and kitchen (o_O). Of course, most of the furniture and fixtures that you see come from Ikea ^o^, although the coffee table and TV table come from a Chinese furniture store in Aberdeen Centre.

Most of the appliances (fridge, microwave, etc.) came with the place, and I picked out a LCD TV from Costco for a really good price - those Koreans can make a decent flatscreen. The kitchen hasn't been used a whole lot... my sister and I are only starting to learn how to cook some things. I've mostly been experimenting with the George Foreman grill, which I highly recommend for its versatility ^_^

Posted byCharles Ang at 12:00 AM 1 comments  

Wednesdays are cool now.
Monday, September 19, 2005

Every wednesday I have a 3 hour class in the afternoon. Sounds pretty crappy, but the class is on Japanese cinema - we watch a new Japanese movie every week, and have a short discussion afterwards.

In September, we're covering movies by Akira Kurosawa, who happens to be a mighty impressive cinematographer from the 1950s. Last week we started watching "Seven Samurai", a movie about a village of farmers who hire seven samurai to save their village from a group of bandits. It sounds like a simple plot, but the movie has a lot of depth to it, and it's got a healthy dose of comedic relief and samurai 'kewlness'.

Gorobei Katayama: You're good.

Heihachi Hayashida: Yeah, yeah. But I'm better at killing enemies.

Gorobei Katayama: Killed many?

Heihachi Hayashida: Well - it's impossible to kill 'em all, so I usually run away.

Gorobei Katayama: A splendid principle!

Heihachi Hayashida: Thank you.

Posted byCharles Ang at 8:02 PM 0 comments  

Comes around once a year
Saturday, September 10, 2005

It's that time of the year again.
















No, it isn't crazy hat day. It's my birthday - the big 2-1 to be exact.
I already had a nice little dinner party on my behalf last weekend at Kirin - it was short and sweet, just as I like it.



I got a good amount of hong bao (red pocket) money this year, so I should invest it properly... hmmm, ipod or xbox 360?
Hehe, well unfortunately I can't celebrate too much - the October 1st LSAT is creeping up, so it's back to practice drills for me :_(
Thanks to Eric for his anime birthday e-card - it was highly appropriate (^^)

Yui - Feel my soul ~acoustic version~

Posted byCharles Ang at 1:12 AM 3 comments  

Revise and Recap

I think this is chuckang.blogspot.com ver. 05 already.
Anyway, I switched providers, so any images that were on my shaw server are gone, gone, gone :p

It's been about a month since my last post (which is about average for me) - here are some things that have happened since then:

Finished my second summer school course (obviously >:P)

Wow, if I was smart I would've just gone to school in the summer.. I dunno if it's because profs give u more slack in intense courses, if my profs liked my writing, or if I was just really lucky, but I've gotten my highest mark ever in this course. Don't be a fool - take summer school.

Eight trips to Ikea, Four trips to Linens&Things, Three trips to Costco, and Two trips to Home Depot

In other words, I finished moving. The place is still missing a few things, but it's more or less shaped to our liking now; by 'our', I mean my sister and mom's liking... I just ordered a few coffee table books - a taschen architecture book, a book about business cards, and the book of exodus ala Brick (not u Eric... but Lego ^^). I'll post photos of the place later.

Family road trip to Portland (aka P-town) and Seattle (aka Emerald City)

At some tourist spot in Portland

At the Farmer's Market in Seattle

Eating @ Todai - buffet sushi and seafood >:)

The first Starbucks Evah !

At the Experience Music Project in Seattle... a pretty cool museum for American music

My sister and the crazy guitar... upside down pyramid thing....

I like Banana Republic.

Space Needle

The fish throwing guys!

Words of wisdom from KC

... and finally, the mandatory artsy shot (^o^)

Posted byCharles Ang at 12:22 AM 0 comments