I have moved this blog to http://www.jasoninvancouver.tumblr.com

Why?
Let’s see. I woke up today, packed my calculus textbook, trekked to The Boulevard for some coffee, scheduled a IB Club meeting with Khalil, and decided to isolate myself for the rest of the day in Irving. Of course, like most UBC students, my final exams start in 10 days. Boring stuff.

But in the last 24 hours, Blake Federick has managed to embarrass UBC and the entire student body, abuse the power entrusted to him as AMS President, and work with Pivot Legal Society to submit a complain to the United Nations complaining that the Canadian and BC Governments have broken human right laws by overcharging student tuitions.
Seriously, what does he expect the UN to do?

Assistant: Commissioner Pillay!
Pillay: What is it, Jean?
Assistant: I have a letter for you, madam.
Pillay: Well, I’m a little busy at the moment. After all, I am the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Assistant: But it’s urgent.
Pillay: Can’t it go through the mail pile like all the—
Assistant: No, it can’t wait.
Pillay: Why?
Assistant: It’s from Canada.
Pillay: Close the door now.
Assistant: What do I tell the delegation from Haiti?
Pillay: I don’t know. Tell them we’re breaking for lunch. Just lock the door.
Assistant: Yes madam.
Pillay: *begins reading*
Assistant: What is it about?
Pillay: It’s about rising tuition at Canadian universities.
Assistant: No.
Pillay: It seems that students who pay some of the lowest tuition fees in the developed world will now have to pay significantly more.
Assistant: That’s horrendous and totally deserving of our attention!
Pillay: It’s a good thing this guy Frederick came to us.
Assistant: Why didn’t he contact us earlier?
Pillay: People act desperately during humanitarian crises.
Assistant: What are we going to do?
Pillay: You know that guy I was going to assign to our research group on development in Somalia?
Assistant: Roberto?
Pillay: I’m putting him on this.
Assistant: Good idea.
Pillay: And you know those funds that we were going to direct into the Rwanda group? Send them into Canada research.
Assistant: Yes, madam.
Pillay: *starts tearing up*
Assistant: What is it Commissioner Pillay?
Pillay: Oh, it’s this story they attached near the end about a poor boy named Tristan. Apparently, despite working part-time and receiving grants, he still accrued $42,000 in debt while completing his second bachelor’s degree at UBC.
Assistant: Those bastards.
Pillay: I can’t finish reading this.
Assistant: Commissioner Pillay?
Pillay: Yes Jean?
Assistant: I have a suggestion.
Pillay: What is it?
Assistant: We should send this to the Security Council.
Pillay: This is why I hired you, Jean.
Assistant: What kinds of sanctions should we propose.
Pillay: I don’t care. Sanction everything.
Assistant: Good idea, madam. This is Nobel Peace Prize material.
- Taken off the Terry Website

Of course, Blake Federick’s life has always been very interesting. From the disqualification last year, to his appeal, and re-election, to the whole UBC farm saga, underground bus loop joke, and now the United Nations. The AMS has scheduled an emergency meeting today at 5pm to discuss whether Blake Federick and Tim Chu, VP External should be impeach. Federick and Chu replied in a statement today that nether of them will be able to attend the hearing “due to prior commitments”

I can’t think of any prior commitments that can be more important than answering to your student body and clearing your name. Obviously, they are trying to buy time and I expect heads to roll by next week. Alex Monegro, who is the current IB Club President, should be given the job, if he still wants it, and would be my original choice for President if I was allowed to vote last year.

However, I am disappointed that two other executives Tom Dvorak and Johannes Rebane might be forced to resign as they might have co-signed the contract with Pivot. I believe that there has been a lot of political fighting and games in the AMS before this saga and Dvorak and Rebane might be the causalities of this war. I spoke to Rebane during Frosh and we talked about the health care system in Norway and the United States. He seems to be very intelligent, willing to listen to the opinions of others and take positive action on sketchy issues. I also know that he is the role model of many first year commerce students so many will be disappointed to see him go. However, regardless of what qualities Rebane might have, we might see a overhaul of the AMS executives this term.

Aside from all these drama, my finals are coming so I should probably be focusing on my calculus textbook that has been closed for a while. But if you are still clueless as to what is going on, the UBC Insider gives a pretty good overview on what is going on. Also, the Ubyssey will be covering the emergency meeting live from 4.30pm.

Who said UBC was boring?

Left: My Math 104 Professor, Scott Sitar   Right: Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. Enough said.

Someone reminded me today that I own a blog and that it was pretty funny. But this blog isn’t meant to be funny. It’s meant to document my experiences and feelings as I go through university. One day, when my son/daughter comes to me and asks, “Dad, what was University like for you?” I want to be able to tell him/her:

“There’s a time and place for everything, and that’s called college. Read Dad’s blog, and you can do everything that Dad did. But not more”.

So my child, as you go off to university, here’s what your father did in his first two months of university.

1. Meet great people
2. Won his first Beer Pong Competition
3. Puked all over the bus loop.
4. Passed out in the toilet for 4 hours, forcing his roommates to go downstairs to pee.
5. Did naughty things in his dorm.
6. Lost $200 at the casino
7. Pissed on the library building
8. Went to a nude beach and saw old penises and old boobs.
9. Caked a friend and had a food fight in the SUB

Now my child, everything listed above may be good and well, but there’s 5 important things I want you to remember.

1. Study hard, study smart and don’t sleep before 2am.
2. Create relationships and maintain them. Be nice to people and care for them.
3. Be involved in school or get a job. Don’t just stay in your room and study everyday.
4. If there is someone that cares for you, aka your parents (me) or your boyfriend/girlfriend, make sure you call them. It’s easy to ignore someone because you are busy. Don’t do it.
5. Have fun.

I feel really blessed to have met so many wonderful people, and also able to reignite old friendships. I want to thank some people off the top of my head.

Old Friends
Terry – For being a true bro.
Carolyn – For being my late night food buddy and friend
Johnson – For walking me home on his birthday

New Friends
Tim – For being the kind of friend my parents always hoped I had.
Vincent – I know I always have someone I can hang out and have lunch with.
Amanda/Alina – What would I do without the two of you?
Mona – You have been absolutely amazing. I know we talk shit to each other all the time, but I’m so grateful to have you as a friend and a bro. (I’m going to end this here before it turns homo)
Benson – For being my first Canadian friend and helping me to fit into UBC by introducing his friends to me.

Roommates
Kevin, Jared, Ivo, Kulvir, Bradley. Wouldn’t choose to stay with anyone else. Awesome people.

1. The listed prices here does not includes tax.

2. Tip only if the restaurant does not include service charge.

3. You end up with a huge bag of change everyday.

4. There are many hobos on the streets you can give your change too.

5. You get pissed that you gave all your change to the hobos because the buses only accept change and not notes.

6. 7-11 sells stacks of 10 transport tickets at a discounted price so you not only get a discount, but the hobos can also have your change.

7. UBC Carding Office is very quiet before the booklists are released. They actually allowed me to retake my photo 4 times.

8. Downtown has amazing Japanese food. Research Kintaro Ramen, Gyoza King, Guu is Guuud and Japadog.

9. Eating 5 Japadogs in 2 days make you feel sick.

10. Granville Island Beer is actually pretty good.

11. Police in Vancouver are very friendly. I meet an officer in E. Hastings who basically said, “Welcome to Vancouver. We have cocaine, heroin, weed, marijuana and prostitutes. I hope you enjoy Vancouver.”

12. Never take a policeman’s advice and walk 10 blocks into E. Hastings just to find dim sum for lunch.

13. The Macdonalds here have the Canadian Maple Leaf logo on them.

14. A bottle of mineral water costs $2 in 7-11. 12 bottles of mineral water costs $2 in T & T Supermarket.

15. BMO is actually pronouced B-MO.

16. TD Canada Trust has the best service. BMO has the best student banking plans. The rest are turds.

17. The Richmond Night Market has the best Yang Rou Chuan’er I’ve eaten. However, it costs $1 per stick. In China, its $1 for 15 sticks.

18. Always follow up with your seller on saveonbooks.com. Some of them have no self-respect and will not follow through on a verbal agreement because he “thought that you don’t want the book anymore”.

19. Canada has two busty blondes making out and asking you to visit whosyourdaddy.com on TV.

20. You can get a 2.5CC car here with a V6 Engine for $1000.

I’m leaving Singapore in four hours for the long awaited flight to Vancouver. Yet, I feel extremely calm. I am not worried about traveling alone. I am not disgusted that I can’t brush my teeth for the next twenty hours and I am not psych by the beautiful mountains and seas that await me in Vancouver (yet).

Instead, I almost wish I wasn’t leaving so soon. No matter how much I profess my distaste of life in Singapore, it just struck me that the last two years wasn’t so bad after all. I feel really blessed to have been able to spend time with my family, make new friends, and reacquaint with old friends. Hence, it’s with a little sorrow that I wasn’t able to have proper goodbyes with everyone of them. The people around me are the ones that has brought so much meaning and joy, and if I haven’t said it yet, “Thank you! I will miss you.”

So here’s the challenge. No matter how busy you are, always take some time out and remind the people around you that you love them. Because when a sense of calmness overwhelms you, and the crazy dies down, it probably means that its five in the morning and you will be starting a new chapter of your life in four hours.

You see, in the same way that Rebecca Bloomwood from Confessions of a Shopaholic gets her bolt of thrill from fashion shopping, I’ve developed a thrill for discovering new internet forums, travel reviews and random student blogs from UBC. Its an addiction that doesn’t go away. For example:

First, you stay up all night trying to decide what electives you want to take in college. Psychology? Family Studies? What in the world is Ophthalmology? OMG, they have Midwifery. Thats so awesome. Looking at the introductory course, “Birth and Its Meaning”. Ahh…(Bolt of thrill number 1)

Second, you navigate the Citizenship and Immigration Canadian (CIC) website trying desperately to fill up all the forms you require to apply for your study permit. Okay, I’m going to need this form, that form, oh, a bank draft, and hmm, some photographs of myself…hey, i look pretty good there. Right, my letter of acceptance. Where is my letter of acceptance? There it is! “Congratulations, you’ve been admitted to UBC”. *Takes the letter and grins at oneself stupidly* Heh heh heh heh heh…(Bolt of thrill number 2)

Third, you visit Lonely Planet Online and Frommers Online to find out everything you can about Vancouver. From the weather, to the location, to the beautiful snow-capped mountains and the vast deep blue oceans, you are mesmerized. Unable to wait 5 more months, you run to the local Tim Hortons, and soak in Canadian doughnuts and coffee. Suddenly, you realize how sad this whole picture is. But the coffee, and the pictures, and Vancouver, and 5 more months. Mmhmmm…(Bolt of thrill number 3)

Fourth, you eeeeeekkk. Now for all the readers who were fortunate not to go through what the International Baccalaureate (IB) call, an Extended Essay or EE. Let me explain. The Extended Essay is a 4000 word research thesis that is part of the requirements of an IB Diploma. Naturally, it causes students a lot of grief and teachers often hear their students exclaim “EEeeek” near the deadline. Now, even though some teachers would like to think we are passionate about the EE, I like to think it is the dying cries of a overly caffeinated student as he/she makes the last feeble attempt to write another word.

In this scenario though, instead of eeeeeking in agony, we eeeeek in delight. You see, this is because you just found Rate My Professors.com which allows you to see reviews and ratings for all your professors in college. Now isn’t that just too exciting. (Super Bolt of thrill number 4)

Slowly but surely, the research on UBC overpowers your life. You don’t socialize anymore. Your friends leave you. Your body loses the sleep it so desperately needs. You have no life. You grow disillusional. Your body turns yellow. Then grey. Then you look at the UBC logo and give a contented smile, “my precious” – you sigh. You turn into:

Gollum

Luckily for me, I do have a life. I just watched Coldplay Live In Singapore last week and I’ll also be going to watch Oasis this Sunday. Definitely will upload some photos and videos.

Going to college is exciting, but when you are 2o, you know there are so much more to life than that and every moment should be lived to the fullest. It’s easy to be overly excited about college but never forget that there are good things around you too that needs to be nurtured and enjoyed.

I learned that today, and I hope that every anxious high school student out there in June will learn that too.

I sit down with my tiny mug of espresso and watch the people walk past. French-canadians, english (?) canadians, richmond asians, ice hockey players, random hobos…Ahh life is good. From my bag, I dish out my COMM 292 Organizational Behavior textbook and start reading chapter 1. No more IB, no more Army. Mr. Cannon was correct. “Welcome to the rest of your life, gentlemen”.

UBC gave me my acceptance letter into Sauder Business School on 16 January 2009. I already knew I was accepted so the excitement has died down somewhat. However, everytime I think about going to UBC and Vancouver, I do get a smile on my face. Everything seems so perfect! I do know to be realistic though and know that there will be parts of my experience in Vancouver that I will love, and some that I will hate. There will also be no unicorns and rainbows dancing in the sky.

On the other hand, I would love to have a talking japadog. Especially one that says, “You know you want me”. Its kind of sexy, don’t you think?