Filed under: Europe Trip, Generalness | Tags: Air France, Atheism, fears, life, Malcolm Gladwell, planes, Randomness, The Outliers, Thoughts, travel
Right, so my date of departure is fast approaching- this Friday night, in fact. As usual, I’m an ever-changing mix of nervousness and excitement. Not that I’m a nervous flier, per se, but planes and I don’t usually mix too well. I know this from a lot of experience, having spent the majority of my flights being an insomniac and/or throwing up and being ill. But then, I discovered Gravol. Besides my body’s rejection to airplanes, seeing movies with all those plane crashes make me just a taaaaad nervous, but I try not to think about these movies- my mantra is that fact about how you’re more likely to get in a car crash than have your plane crash.
Add to this rather chaotic brew of thoughts the recent section in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Outliers about Air France’s rather dismal record, and then you can guess what I was thinking about a couple of nights ago while trying to fall asleep. Counting sheep is apparently not enough for me. So thinking too much, led me to this rather interesting musing on how we atheists cope in situations such as these. It’s not like we can start praying to some God as soon as things start to go wrong. Regarding this aspect, I’ve been feeling awed at how it takes a lot of courage to be faithless, because it leaves us feeling rather vulnerable in situations where we cannot possibly exert any control- like being thousands of miles in the air in a plane that’s about to crash. Of course, I suppose it could also be argued that it takes just as much courage to be faithful in a world where there are so many people doubting the foundations of your faith. But I’m not trying to insult anyone; it’s just a random thought I had that I thought was quite interesting…
By the way, I asked my father the next morning and apparently it’s Air Canada we’re traveling on. XD
Filed under: Generalness | Tags: Europe, Generalness, graduation, IB, life, school, travel
So after nightmares galore, and nervous overthinking, and a lot of measured carelessness on my part, the day of IB results came…
And WOOT. I graduated! XD (Yeah, I was actually questioning this due to the disaster called Math Paper 1. Not that the other 2 papers went awesomely well, because they didn’t.) So all’s well that ends well and all that. At least now, two years of torture have some sort of meaning. Very little, but some sort of it, nevertheless. I’m also slightly proud of myself for it in the end. >_> Slightly. >:) It’s also quite nice to be part of an international group of students who have been tortured for a long time and emerged with a diploma, and (somewhat) mentally unscathed.
And to add more happiness to this mix, this blog will become a travel blog for a period of 3 weeks XD during my Europe Trip. Capitalized because I expect it to be AWESOME. > : )
Filed under: Generalness, Uncategorized | Tags: Boredom, Generalness, life, Summer
I have returned.
After months of silence due to exams and other such high-school-is-ending events.I’m also paranoid about upcoming IB grades, but let’s not talk about that. And now I am so very bored. It’s amazing how there are so many possibilities yet I can’t think of anything to do. Reading is the only thing I do regularly. I’ve been burning through Jodi Picoult’s stuff, which is just amazing. But I can’t, for some reason, bear to start another one right now.
Sigh. Summer is so awesome, isn’t it. XD
I started to listen to my old CD’s yesterday, while I was doing work, and I was just blown away by the nostalgia that I experienced.
The degree to which music is a part of our lives is just amazing, I think. I have a wide range in terms of taste, so music has always been a very important part of my life, as I’m sure it is to others too. And the feelings it can evoke are…just mind-blowing. It can express those feelings that cannot be expressed by words alone. Music makes me laugh and cry; it can make me fall asleep contentedly, or wake up and anticipate the day; it can relax me or invigorate me…so much capacity.
I was chuckling over the first thing I listened to (Pokemon 2000 soundtrack; no one laugh >: o) and so on- it was like I just started to relive memories…Even I was amazed at the various music I’ve collected over the years.
The music reminds me of days gone by, not even that long ago; the things I was crazy about. And I know what I listen to today will affect me as much as what I listened to then. : 3
I don’t know what I would do without music. <3
: D What I’m listening to now: You Found Me – The Fray (;__; makes me cry)
Filed under: Generalness | Tags: Control Freak, Europe, Friends, Generalness, Grad, Italy, me, Summer, Trip, Vacation
Yayyyy! My dream might actually come true : D
My family is planning to go to Europe this summer, since this is probably one of the most carefree summers in my young life : /
And my mother said something about how we might be able to stay in Italy a little while : D So I’m already making plans in my head. Hahaha. I wonder whatever happened to “It’s not safe”…
Meanwhile, I must also plan for a grad trip =___=. My friends have the habit of waiting for too long to make plans…secretly, they know I’m a control freak who must have some semblance of a plan and so I usually end up being the one to plan anything when we go out (unless it’s actually their birthday or something… in which case obviously they would decide)…I should be more laid back. But I can’t help it : o
In any case, this summer is looking promising.I shall make it as fun as possible
> : D
…of course there are still loads of exams to get through =_______=
Filed under: Generalness | Tags: admission, e-mail, Generalness, happy, Mcmaster, U of T, university
Two Uni acceptances today- one from U of T Scarborough and one from Mcmaster!
I’m so happy! ^_^ I was getting sort of depressed over the lack of university applications in conjunction with (and contributing to ) my growing feelings of inadequacy.
I also tend to check e-mail a bit obsessively these days. Which I find odd, considering I used to hate checking e-mail and would forsake my Gmail account for weeks at a time.
Now I must go back to doing work…Or trying to.
Filed under: Generalness | Tags: Amalfi Coast, family, First Class All the Way, IB, Italy, parents, procrastination, safety, school, travel
Yup. I’m a major idiot. Also a very sleep deprived idiot. It’s like a disease…or a drug? Hahaha. Whatever it is, its an addiction, and I would swear IB made it exponentially worse. My mother told me that apparently when I was younger and she was doing her ECE thing, I would always tell her not to do it at the last minute…look at me now. =__=
But, hey, at least the hellish nightmare we call math portfolios are done. My mom was looking at the 22 page horror this morning and was like “I can’t even begin to understand this…” : o
On a positive/dreamier note, I saw an episode of First Class All the Way this weekend (I think I’m actually starting to like that show, probably because I love travel) and I am now IN LOVE with the Amalfi Coast. I was already really really really wanting to go to Italy. Now it’s just passed the line of obsession..=__= which is sad because I probably won’t go there for a while…my dad just keeps saying “It’s not really safe.” (0_o)..Yeah. I don’t get it.
My parents have a skewed view of safety…for example, they let me go to…let’s see Quebec City when I was like 12 ish…Europe (France, Belgium, Netherlands, notably AMSTERDAM) when I was 15..yes these were school trips..but we spent a substantial amount of time by ourselves.. : )…but yeah. going with my family to another country “isn’t safe.” >_>
I hope I can go to Italy soon. : 3
Filed under: Generalness | Tags: Generalness, life, me, turbulent, universities
Nothing new. The title says it all.
Sometimes, everything is happening so fast, I feel like if I close my eyes I’ll miss it. It seems like I had my goals/life planned out, and then the time came when universities come calling…and my goals just sort of…fell apart. I started questioning everything, and even now, after I’ve applied, still am questioning. The speed of it all, just amazes me and scares me all at the same time. I hope though, that when I look back on this all, I won’t have too many important regrets, and many cherished memories : D.
It was interesting though, one of my friends, O, was talking about another friend, K, who doesn’t seem to be that stressed out about this whole transition in life process that is occurring, and she can’t imagine how he manages that. I started wondering, whether there’s a point in stressing about it…I’m pretty indecisive, so sometimes I think, yes because you might waste years doing something you don’t want to do. But sometimes I think, who cares about “wasted” years…surely every part of your life is worth living and there is no such thing as “wasted”…And then there’s my other friend, F, who…is a determinist…yet still tries to convince me to switch out of the sciences/humanities stream I seem to be starting upon.>_>
I would like to spend some time in the NEAR future, where I don’t have to worry about universities, graduating, EE, IB, etc. etc. etc….some day when my life isn’t turbulent…
Filed under: Generalness | Tags: bawww, gaaaaaah, Generalness, Jamie Oliver, sick, slumdog millionaire, Tamil Tigers, university, university application forms, weather
Soooo sick =___= I feel horrible *cryy* so I’m bawwwing.
This snow is driving me crazy. It’s still January, but don’t we deserve some sort of respite? >_<…It (the weather) was actually nice for a couple of days. Oddly, it was nice during exams, then promptly started snowing the day after my last exam…
What else is new?
University application forms…why are they so longgggg? : o But I suppose they’re helpful if they’re longer =0=…Some questions are so redundant though.
I saw Jamie Oliver on a cooking show wearing a shirt that stylishly said on the front ‘Tamil Tigers’. : / I was weirded out. They blurred it throughout the show though, which was sort of distracting…I don’t know why they just didn’t ask him to change. Speaking of which, that conflict has really begun to heat up for a while now…I think the rest of the world has finally started to notice…
On a more positive note!
Slumdog Millionaire has been Oscar-nommed! Not only that, two of its songs have been chosen for best song! That, I wasn’t really expecting because I didn’t think they would consider them…since they’re in Hindi. But they did! How cool is that : D I am so excited! XD
