Goodbye, 2010 ♥

Happy New Year to all!!! It's 2011, and today's a special day: 1/1/11!!! :)

Let's recap 2010, shall we? I'm sure everyone agrees with me that it went by way too fast! First of all, I am so glad I had someone special this year and it's been wonderful to have someone beside me and there for me.. Thank you and I hope 2011 will be another great year for us!

Let's do a recap...

January

Spent time with a very special person, whom I grew more and more fond of, and had the most number of birthday meals ever (4! with different groups of people!).. It was a memorable birthday year, turning 22!

February

Olympic Games or the start of a very special journey, I can't decide which one is more life-changing.. Haha... It would be the first (and possibly last) time I'll ever have such an opportunity to see the Games very up close and with my own eyes.. And earn money while doing that! And it was a very wonky Valentine's Day, but I'm glad everything turned out great.. Also the year that V-Day coincided with the first day of Chinese New Year..

March/April

Went on with school, not much exciting things and exams were BLAH. Almost thought I was going to fail the course my favourite professor taught, was very relieved that my student life at UBC had ended on a graceful note.

May

The first time going to the Canadian Rockies, saw many beautiful natural sights, mountains, glaciers, lakes.. I HAVE TO GO BACK during the summer some day. It would also be a first vacation together for us, so it is especially sentimental.. Really wish I can go to explore more of inner BC's nature..


And of course, my graduation ceremony! It was drizzling a bit but it still turned out picture-perfect! It is a siginificant milestone in my life, isn't it?

June

Spent the sunny days going to many places around Vancouver, seeing more new sights and hidden gems in the city. Explored a lot, took a lot of pictures; this is just one of them. Many beautiful sunsets, endless blue skies, cotton white clouds...

July

Finally found a place I now call home, living with the best family anyone can ask for (3 young kids, and the cat above who sits in the flower box). I have a nice big room to put all my junk, and it screams LOCATION all over! Nice neighbourhood, 10 minutes to groceries, 10 minutes to UBC, direct bus to Downtown, I don't want to move out anymore!

August

Alone in Vancouver for a month, spending evenings on Skype. (Thank you technology!) On the bright side, time passed fast with my first full-time job, even though it was a temporary one. I settled well into it, tried not to make too many complaints and stay positive, ended staying there for 4 months instead of 4 weeks.

September

Baked a cake and celebrated a special 21st birthday for the special someone, it turned out semi-disastrous but still edible. Hey, it's the thought that counts right? :D

October

Not much happening, just regular work and date nights on some weeks. What a bore work turns you into huh! Actually lost my job for the long weekend and then they called me back. That was something. Oh, got a short short haircut too! Hello bangs again!

November

Got our first crazy Vancouver snowfall, ridiculously sub-zero weather for a couple days. It was sunny and snowy, too bad didn't get to play in the snow at all. But everyone was thankful when the snow was finally gone, as it was becoming quite a nuisance than a pretty sight.

December

The month for joy and festivities, and my job assignment ended. I try to stay positive and enjoy it as much as possible. Ate lots of good food, went to lots of good places, visited many Christmas sights in the city, met up with some friends. It was a great month!

My 2010 was the best year anyone can ask for, all I hope that 2011 will be even better or equally as good! :)

OMG, JOB!

After more than a month of job hunt, I have a JOB! It is not much, it is just data entry and sorts, and it's currently only a temporary thing for about a month, but nevertheless I am grateful for something to have come my way! Thank you for all those who have supported me and asked me not to give up~~ I will continue to need your support, so I hope for the best!!

PS. It is in Yaletown.. LOL funny to think that I've NEVER stepped foot in Yaletown during all my years in Vancouver.. Hmmm..

Summer ♥

Summer has been a great deal of fun..

Exploring all the places we've never been to, visiting tourist attractions in Vancouver, trip to the Canadian Rockies...

Cooking simple meals at home, eating out, buying groceries...

Countless strolls under the sunny blue skies on the beach, watching people enjoy the gorgeous weather in the warmth of the sun...

Hard work at househunting, finally found myself a place to move to at the end of this month.. Gigantic room, I like!

Today's the official start of summer season, HAPPY SUMMER everyone!!

Exam Update!

I cannot believe I haven't written in here for like 3 weeks!! It's been too long man~~ What have I been busy with eh?? End of school, and then exams.. Seriously, what HAVE I been up to??? Alrighty, some updates..

Exams were scheduled to be 19, 20, 20, 28 April, but I talked to Italian prof and managed to get myself to write the exam on 23 April so it won't clash on same day as transport econ (which was quite a disaster on its own already, yesterday..).

So, exam season, the very last of my university undergraduate career.. I feel like I should be a little more nervous, panicking a little more.. I'm taking it slightly easy now.. MUST. NOT. BE. COMPLACENT!!!

Speaking of last, I cannot believe my 4 years of undergraduate have passed by just like that! The last time I blinked, I was still a teenager!! I promise a proper reflection after exams, a look at all the wonderful memories UBC created for me, all the people that made it so memorable, the years of my life that my dad always claims to be the best in one's lifetime.. Now I realize what he says is true!! Seriously, university is the best time of your life.. ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN!!!

Looking forward to summer, weather's turning nice and warm. Flowers are blooming, the smell of rain brings springtime here and shoos winter away! I have so many things I want to do in summer that I cannot even begin to list them all!! First summer in Vancouver, whooooo!!! Anticipating the hot summer days to come! :)

So much I want to say, but I'll stop here for now. Stay tuned for after-exam updates! I cannot believe I am graduating in A MONTH!!!!!! Cap and gown, here I come!!

Simple Things ♥ ~~

Have been so busy to blog!!! I have one ECON paper to research and write, one ECON assignment to pull my hair out on (from all the annoying equations), one Italian quiz coming up, one ENGL group presentation today (which I spent not much time but a lot of brainpower on), and one ENGL final project (paper-like..), and a LING final exam in 2 weeks!!! Suddenly crushed by an avalanche of schoolwork..

But nevertheless, I just want to say one thing today:

能够为男朋友准备爱心便当其实是一件非常幸福的事 :)

♥ 幸福就是那么的简单~~

HYPER

Back to work, at the Paralympics!!!

I feel so happy now, even though my fingers on both hands are numb from opening beer cans all night.

Working feels so great, to see everyone in such great excitement, radiant smiles, Canada flags waving all around and tattooed on faces..

It's truly a once in a lifetime experience! Same goes for the Olympics as well, of course!

GO CANADA GO!

14 is the MAGIC number...

14 Gold Medals for Canada in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics...

It has been simply the most amazing 14 days of my entire life...

To: My Olympic Valentine

You are the sunshine in my life; you brighten every single moment when I'm with you.

When I'm not with you, the sun refuses to shine and the rain comes down, making everything gloomy. Today proved just that.

During this Winter Olympics, I've had so much fun. During this past 2 weeks, I have felt the adrenaline and happiness that athletes feel when they are competing in their sport. But I'm sure, we don't need to compete against anyone, because we are both winners already.

Because YOU have won the gold medal of my love. And I have won yours. That's more than anyone can ask for :)

The best thing about waking up from a dream, is to realize that it wasn't a dream to begin with.

: )

Totally Random

It suddenly hit me, that all my favourite figure skaters are going to be in Vancouver for the Olympics!!!

Evan Lysacek (USA), Brian Joubert (France), Stephane Lambiel (Switzerland).... OOOOOH!!! :D

Sadly, Jeffrey Buttle is NOT going to compete anymore... SO SADDDD!!!

And why don't they have the figure skating events at UBC? \-.-/

11 days to go!!!! Getting so pumped!!! :)

Wonderful Day

SO SO SO SO SO tempted to bake banana muffins right now!! Found a great recipe which looks so simple.. Okay, most muffin recipes are simple.. This one calls for 2 eggs instead of the usual 1, so maybe it will turn out more rich? I can't wait to try it!!!!!

Sadly, I have to do homework.... I better get through most of it now and so I can ask residual questions tomorrow.. Muffins have to wait...

On the bright side, what a great Vancouver mini adventure it was today!!! Collecting Olympic passes, looking at downtown Olympic decorations, riding on the Olympic Line streetcar, landing up on Granville Island~~~ :D

♥ Beautiful Vancouver ♥

♥ Vancouver ♥

Today is just another reason to LOVE♥ LOVE♥ LOVE♥ Vancouver..



Gorgeous sunny day, perfect weather. All bundled up nice and warm, walking along the stretch of Point Grey, alternating between looking out to the shores of West Vancouver, Stanley Park, Downtown, and looking at houses on the beach front...



Walked all the way from Macdonald Street, to Jericho Beach.. Very good walk, not even that cold. It was great to just have some fresh air, have some time alone, away from all the bustle.. Clear the mind, forget all thoughts, just taking in the cool winter air in the sunshine..



Love the clear blue skies, the clear waters, the panoramic view of the city.. The perfect reason to love this city more than I ever did..



The only thing missing? That someone special...

Merry Christmas! May the sunshine be with you! :)

Good Motivation!

My very hilarious professor (as depicted in my wonderful drawing)

Rie and I were doing research for the report, and we take turns sending him emails because we cannot find much information..

Here's his reply to me:

(SO FUNNY!)

Hi Nikki,
It seems that you guys are enjoying research. This is awesome. Really, I mean it.
I would definitely encourage you to collect data from other sources. If you can do that will be really great. I am very interested to see the results. Because, honestly, this is a learning process for me as well. I am looking forward to learn from all the reports from the students. So, I will really appreciate if you provide data from some other sources as well.

However, you may not get poverty data for Singapore at all. I remember something was mentioned about poverty data in Singapore in the miracle paper. As far as I remember it is not available for long enough time or something. Nevertheless, give it a shot. One big quality for a researcher is to use data in a way which is not very obvious. Using other social indicators' data if poverty data is missing, is a very good idea. You are thinking in a right track. I am impressed. Keep it up.
Best,

(name removed)

We have good motivation to keep doing this paper now! =)

With the money I make from working at Vanier, it practically offsets my eating expenses.. I've only spent a net total of $20+ on food this whole year! LOL.

I like. Must. Work. More!

$$$

Oh my god!! Another UBC award offer!! I love these emails!!

DEAN of Arts Scholarship
Scholarships totalling $6,600 have been endowed by alumni and friends of the Faculty of Arts for undergraduate students in the Faculty. The awards are made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Arts.

I am one of the lucky 10 people, cos I got 1/10 of that total amount!!! :)))

GOAL~~~!!!

Finally, it's time to reveal one of my goals that I have set out to attain this year.

I never really gave it much thought before since I always thought I would never be that good.

But after Term 1, it gave me a glimmer of hope, and in Term 2, I made a target point for myself and I worked as hard as I could. Sometimes I did slack off, but other times, especially around midterms, I spend so much time on studying I even I amaze myself and people around me.

Most of the results were released a few days after April 28, the last day of exams.. But only MV's course marks were not out. He is notorious for being slow.. After an agonizing wait of seven days, I finally received an offline message from Farooq telling me the marks were out.

And a few days after that, the title is official!

I made the Dean's List! Requirement was a sessional average of 85% and mine was 87%! To be precise, 87.8%! 0.2% more and I would get a nice number of 88%!!! Arrrrgh.

But nevertheless, my GOAL of making it to the Dean's List is ACHIEVED!!!!!! =))) Super happy.

FYI: Dean's List is something like Honour Roll..

Twitterrrr

OMG! I love Twitter!

I started following Anthony Sedlak on Twitter and I asked him a question and he replied me! TWICE!

FYI: Anthony is a celebrity chef from Vancouver. He's one of my FAVOURITE chefs on Food Network!

I'm practically on Cloud 9 now!! Haven't felt this giddy with happiness in a long time..

*_*

*waves to Anthony*

Rice crackers addiction

So addicted to these rice crackers right now. Cheap, accessible, crunchy and healthy!

My professor knows me by name and remembers my request for office hours and sends me an email on his own apologizing that he can't make it! This is one prof that I wouldn't like to whack on the head; can't say for sure about the others! ;)