My parents, my dad especially, are TV drama addicts. Every so often, they get DVDs full of dramas from Asia, with a Cantonese dub and watch it for rather long periods of time.

Most recently, they watched the 2005 Japanese drama 女王の教室 (Jyoou no Kyoushitsu/The Queen’s Classroom), an eleven episode series talking about a sixth-grade teacher who is generally referred to as the teacher from hell. While watching only a very little bit of the series, mainly the introduction, a bit of the middle, the ending, and some of the specials which talk about the teacher’s past, one thing really struck me, especially from the specials: children these days are really sheltered from the world around them.

(Spoilers follow, but if you want to watch the series, you can go here and start off your torrents. I would recommend watching the eleven episodes first before the two specials)

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Wednesday was OpFair 2007, put together by both the Engineering and Computing Science Student Societies, where over 20 high tech companies in the local area, had booths set up to look for potential employees. As most of these places are also looking for co-ops, I just had to go out and see just what’s available. Going through most of the booths, I began to worry a bit as most places will be making use of C++. I will most likely need to spend some time making use of good old g++ and some good website to self-teach myself C++ from my light-to-moderate knowledge of C.

But the companies there are quite interesting. I certainly didn’t know that Sophos had an office in Vancouver until walking around. Computer security is interesting and doing virus research through reverse engineering viruses to see what they do and how to make fixes is even more interesting. Unfortunately, I only have interest, not experience, in the area, which is quite disappointing for myself.

Then there’s IBM. Having gone to their information session a week or so earlier, it would be a nice place to apply for. Knowing people already there (well, one really), is a big plus already.

Orbital Technologies does some contract work and such. The variety of jobs you might be doing sounds intriguing enough for me to want to apply and try it out. At least you’ll never get bored as what you’ll be working on changes in between projects.

There’s other companies there as well, but these three were the ones that interested me the most during OpFair. Other companies there that I would probably be interested in working for include Business Objects, Telus, and Electronic Arts.

But yes, I really need to take some time to go and do some things with C++ and reverse engineer some stuff. Thankfully, I don’t really need to look around to find things that I can reverse without getting into trouble. I just need time..

Which brings me to the next thing. Time. I just feel like I have way too many things to do. My parents kind of made me think about this when they gave me a good long talk, in which I felt irritated simply because it’s things I’ve heard before and am trying to change myself out of, including wasting time and time management and all that other crap. Let’s see now..

There’s school, work, Scouts, two websites, and WCCCLC promotions (which will include the website, not accounted for in previous count). I do feel like I have lots to do, but then again, I cannot really focus on one thing at a time these days, simply because I’m worrying about something else. I feel that I should drop some responsibilities, but there are some things holding me back:

• School: too high on priority list – cannot drop
• Work: also pretty high on priority list, mainly for the work experience that is involved with it
• Scouts: Several things holding me back on this one. 1) Attachment to the group, since I’ve been in the group for about 10 years.. 2) Guilt over if I leave, what will happen to the group? It’s growing these days and they say they might just start a Beaver Colony next year..
• Website 1 (99th SFX Scouts): I’m the only person working on this, so I can’t really do that..
• Website 2 (Pacific Coast Council): I’m part of a team of people doing this, but I value the work that we put into it, so nope..
• WCCCLC: it’s a great event and I would like to encourage others to go, as well as get more experience out of it, so nope..
• Gaming: my stress relief and what times turns into when I lose focus, although these days it’s mainly Minesweeper (in the form of Mines, part of the GNOME package) and Battle for Wesnoth.

So yeah, lots of things to do, lots of things to worry about simply because I care too much, which leads to a general inability to focus on things that really should be done. But what can I do?

I guess what I could do is hurry the 99th SFX Scouts website such that it’s complete, then I don’t need to do much for it anymore, leaving more time for other things.

But will it work? Will I be able to balance out my time between all these duties without breaking down? What will I drop?

I don’t know. I’ll need to think it through.

Remember the Y2K bug?

While walking home, it somehow occurred to me that since timestamps are stored as 32-bit integers, what happens if it goes on for too long and overflows? (See Unix time article on Wikipedia for more info)

Turns out I wasn’t the first to think of this.

It took me so long, but I’m finally beginning to go towards getting some co-op experience. The intake takes place this week. After taking a good look at some of the paperwork, I really want to kick myself now. I really do.Why? Because I’m stupid, lazy, naive, and full of regret.

Here I am in what pretty much is considered my fourth year and I am finally going to attempt getting into the co-op program. Why am I starting so late in my undergraduate career, you may ask.

I got into CS from high school on guarenteed placement, which is essentially I get in if I get my GPA high enough. Getting fully into the CS program took a bit over two years. If only I studied harder and better and cared more about my marks instead of going on with a slacker attitude, only then would I have gotten into the program sooner.

So finally, after getting into the program, I didn’t start going towards co-op right away simply because of them saying on their website that you need to maintain a GPA of 2.5 or better to be in good standing with the co-op program.

I finally take Bridging Onlne I (BOL I ) six months after declaring my major, a pre-requisite pass/fail course for co-op to help you think of how to apply skills you have now into your resumes and such. But still, I did not go on and do all the intake stuff that I can do after completing BOL I. Yes, my GPA still was not good enough.

But then, just last semester, people were saying that co-op doesn’t care about the GPA anymore. Yet I still did not take action. My excuse was simply “I’m too busy.”

But was I really? Most of my time was spent doing jack squat, playing games, watching anime, reading manga, and other things; procrastinating in general to avoid all the things that I should be doing like schoolwork, study, and tasks related to things I volunteer for, like Scouts. That all just led to the constant mediocre marks that make me kind of disappointed with myself, considering I actually did alright in the world of academics before university. But high school was never that hard to begin with.

But yeah, back to apply for CS co-op. Turns out after this semester, I will have 96 credit hours out of 120 credit hours complete my degree. Somehow, I need to fit in four work terms into this somehow with the conditions that I must adhere to:

• Each work term must be followed by a school term.
• I cannot have two consecutive summer work terms.
• I cannot end my degree with a work term.

So that will be tricky to fit the bill to say the least. But I guess it could work somehow, but I will need to be very lucky to get it all to fit.

Considering how I take 3 courses each semester these days, which on average means 9 credit hours per semester, I can actually squeeze four semesters in between now and my graduation. This means if I do get a summer work term, that means I can do the alternation between school and work.

However, from what I hear, the best co-op terms are the 8 month ones. And then, I am still considering doing Coop in Japan as well.

One of the things that has lingered on my mind is getting a minor. Maybe I should make up my mind and go for a minor to extend my degree time. But what? CRIM was pretty fun. CMNS was too. PSYC.. I can see it being interesting, but I burnt out last semester, so it didn’t really leave too big of an impression on myself.

Oh the choices.

I have lots to think about if I am going to fit in a co-op education with my degree. If only I could start it all over again, then maybe I would have made the right decisions and be a better student.

Cleaning my room yesterday, I found some notes on things involving monies that I was supposed to have done some time ago (ie. November 2006).

Oh boy.

Now if I could only find the receipts that need to be given….

Happy New Year!

Looking back at the past year, and the years before it, there are many areas that I can improve myself on. Giving it some thought, I’m putting forward for myself the following New Year’s resolutions.

• Be more confident in myself and my abilities
• Do more exercise
• Be more neat around the house
• Avoid freaking out over the little things
• Normalize my sleep
• Quit slacking off

This would most likely be the first time I actually made some New Year’s resolutions. However, I’m looking at it more as goal setting for the new year. If there’s anything that the current leadership team approach in Scouts has taught me, it’s setting goals and paths to achieve these goals.

With the first item on the list, I will believe in myself more and quit second-guessing my choices. Since our very recent semi-annual leadership conference with Scouts, people have pointed out that I lack confidence. Thinking about it a bit after, I see their point.

I never seem to be able to make my own decisions without other people’s help. I seek their advice and all, which is fair. However, in the end, I most likely end up leaning towards what they say is the best decision, without weighing in what I believe in on the matter.

At times when I am absolutely sure of myself, if I am questioned, the second thoughts start. Of course, you can say that I think objectively because I would think of the different choices I have available. However, the fact remains that my final opinion is based on what most people say is the best, not what I believe is best. It is by far the biggest weakness in my character.

Item number two is simple enough. I should probably go pick up swimming again, since I dropped it near the beginning of my time in university. I could use the exercise.

Well, as I am typing this, my room is quite messy. Not exactly messy when compared to some other people, but yeah. I have papers lying down on the floor, textbooks on the floor, clothes not in the dresser.. the list goes on. I can take a proactive approach to cleaning that all up. As for other areas of the house, say the bathroom, I will take some time once a month to clean.

There have been times over the past year when something small gets the best of me, especially when it comes to being in an organizational role for stuff, such as Frosh Week or Scout camps. I found myself in panic mode for some very little things. As an example, on the day before our Scout group’s Group Camp, which I was Camp Chief for, I neglected to note that we need a food permit or something and I started to freak out. I quickly emailed the guy who was in charge of food for said camp and told him my bad news. Stupid thing about that? After freaking out about it for a few hours, I finally smartened up and called the campsite and asked – turns out we only need FoodSafe.

Sure, freaking out gets me doing stuff, and generally stuff in the right direction, but it isn’t exactly the wisest choices. Frankly, all what I need to do is be more calm about things and think with a clear head in all situations. It’ll take some time, but it should work out in the end.

And on sleep. Right now, it’s almost 3 in the morning. Why am I still up? Obviously, my sleeping schedule’s gone out of wack. And what’s my action plan to get it all better? Referring to some stuff I’ve learned in PSYC 100 last semester regarding sleep, as well as a document from my mom’s workplace regarding hints on getting a good night’s sleep, I should go to sleep and wake up at the same times. My goal times of choice? 11 PM to sleep and 7 AM to wake up. Of course, this does not happen overnight, so it will take some time to get on.

The very last thing on this list is going to be difficult to say the least. I find myself wasting so much time these days and not being able to focus. Perhaps it’s the whole lack of sleep thing starting from about Chirstmas till now that’s causing it, but truth be told, I haven’t exactly been the best when it comes to focus. Unless the task I am doing is extremely interesting to me, my mind will drift off and go towards something else in a short time after.

Back in second year (or was it third?), I ran into a friend of mine from elementary school on the route to school. He’s always been a smart student, even up till now, whereas I kind of drift off after high school. His tactic is to brainwash himself into thinking that activity X (where X is something that may be boring, like studying) is fun.

I think I’ll try that out for once.

So yeah. A hefty list of resolutions that aren’t just random things I resolve doing, but I will actually get done sometime this year.

What’s your new year’s resolutions?

Christmas. What’s it all about?

Personally, thinking about this very question irritates me. Simply because of how our society works these days, Christmas is an extremely materialistic event that seems extremely forced. Honestly, it all seems quite fake.

Why do I think that? To answer that question, I ask you to answer this question: Why do people need to be all nice and happy and cheerful and generous during ONE time of the year? Why can’t they be like that throughout the entire year?

And when we all try to go out and be extremely generous with the gifts and stuff, the businesses make big bucks; hence the “extremely materialistic event” bit.

However, when you think back to the real reason why Christmas is celebrated (if you don’t know, the answer’s below), we all do have a reason to be happy.

But back to the main question. What’s Christmas all about? Is it about giving and receiving gifts? Is it about Santa Claus? Is it all about family get-togethers? Is it all about being able to make a crapload of money?

No. Why Christmas exists is is because it celebrates the birth of Jesus, who came down and died on the Cross for our sins.

Now I’m not exactly saying that we should all be just not having fun or not giving gifts not do all that other Christmas-y stuff (besides celebrating the birth of Christ), but rather, remember within us why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

Unfortunately, most people (myself included) forget the true meaning of Christmas. Let me share an email I got from my mom. I believe it nails the point home, especially if you are Christian like myself.

Something to think about? Definitely.

Especially if you’re Christian.

So yes, I repeat myself from my last post. Merry Christmas! And don’t forget the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate it!