On The Mountain

January 2, 2010

I can't believe it's 2010 already! Happy New Year! (I know I'm late. Don't judge me!) We've been busy the past couple days, trying to settle back into our normal routine, getting ready to go back to school/work.

We had spent the last 4 days of 2009 up at Blue Mountain in Collingwood! Andrew's parents invited us to go up for a little ski trip.

We were all super excited, especially Nathan because this was his very first time skiing. I was a little skeptical at first because, I didn't mention in that other post, but his first time skating was pretty much a huge disaster. He was caught off-guard by the whole being unable to stand up on his own two feet, so he refused to do anything we asked him to.


I tried to be optimistic but at the back of my mind, I kept thinking, what if skiing turns out exactly like his first time skating?

But I was so wrong. His very first times going down the hill, Jay and I had walked him up the beginner's hill after the lifts were stopped. There was basically no one around so we just let him go and Andrew caught him at the bottom.

He was fantastic. He didn't flop over. His legs didn't turn into spaghetti. He didn't lean to one side. He didn't fall. It was perfect.


The next day, we signed him up for private lessons and they were so impressed by his ability to stand up on his skis and make pizza slices.

The rest of the week, we had him in ski camp. There were some times I stood there at the side, along with some other parents and I was so impressed by how Nathan was doing. I tried really hard not to compare, but really, Nathan was amazing and it was hard for me not to make it known that that superstar out there was my kid.


He was good. And he knew it.

Our last day there, he spent the afternoon on the beginners hill with Andrew. Eventually, he even worked up the courage to get on the lift and go down the easy hill!

He was going down well for the first half. Then he hit the drop. Then he dropped. He fell and got scared. We felt it was really important for us to make sure he ended with success. We knew he was capable of conquering the mountain but we brought him back to the magic carpet anyway so he could build up his confidence again, then we went back. And he was great.


It was such a magical way to end the year.

Learning Chinese

August 27, 2008

Although I hated every moment of being in Chinese school as a kid, there have been instances when I have regretted my inability to read (or even communicate) in Chinese. Most of the time, it's when I'm in Hong Kong. But this time, it's a little more important.

My yeh yeh (grandfather on my dad's side) passed away August 21 this year. We were lucky to see him a few more times this past year as we traveled back to Hong Kong a couple times. We're glad that Nathan got to meet his great-grandfather more than once. But it still doesn't help the fact that many of my relatives have written pieces about my grandfather all in Chinese and I can only read bits and pieces, not enough to have it make real sense. And now that I'm no longer living at home, it's a little harder to run to my parents every time I can't read a word (or sentence, or paragraph).

So now I've decided to take up Chinese again. It'll be a slow process but hopefully I'll keep at it long enough to actually develop better Chinese skills. Of course, my brilliant mind thought turning to Youtube would be a great idea. This is what my first search turned up with:



Maybe... not quite what I'm looking for.

Shake Hands With The President

June 11, 2008

I did it! I'm done!

Today, adorned with a black robe and blue hood that refused to stay on my shoulders, I walked across the stage, shook hands with the president of the university and walked out of the auditorium with my degree in my hands today.

And to add icing to the cake, the weather was absolutely beautiful and I got not one but two bouquets from my lovely friends and family. Did I mention that I've never gotten bouquets of flowers before? Yeah. It was special.

Drown Out The Noise

November 27, 2007

It's around that time again - crunch time, the homestretch. Whatever you want to call it, it's here. And it's around this time when everyone's wound up tight, anxious about exams and intolerant of mistakes and distractions. It is now when the walls seem too thin, people talk too loud, walks seem too long and campus study spaces are just too few.

I was catching up on some lectures the other night and one of them was Social Psychology and Health. Part of the lecture looked at stress and how different amounts of stress affect health. Studies have shown that a constant stress from a roommate (or someone you see everyday) has been found to have a much more detrimental effect on mental and physical health than a more profound, but transient stress. I didn't really believe it at first - how can something like an nagging roommate be more stressful than something like a loved one dying? I mean, most of the time you can just deal with those little annoying things and brush them aside, but losing a loved one isn't something you can just get over.

But apparently that's not the case. The constant stress breaks down our systems (makes sense - it's like a repetitive use injury almost). So get rid of all those little annoyances, people, or they'll get rid of you!

Social Loafing
June 27, 2007

One of the topics we covered in class today was social loafing. It's the tendency for people to do worse on simple tasks (such as, oh I don't know, staying awake in class) when they are in the presence of others and their individual performance cannot be evaluated (or can it?).

Fact: the tendency to loaf is stronger in men
Proof:



Don't you love a good class with real examples? What a pair of loafers!