Category: Grace and Gabriel

This category is about my siblings that are mentioned sometimes in my posts. I am a middle child; I have an older sister and a younger brother. My sister is good at telling stories (even when she was little) and my brother is good at being cute and annoying at the same time.

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a sweltering summer again

good afternoon everyone! i’m back again. it has been a number of months since May and i have a few updates to make. i finished my third year of university studies officially. i had signed up for two courses in the first summer term and now i’m done! the marks came out the other day and i got an A- in both classes, which i’m quite content with. as long as the mark is 80% or higher, i am happy. in other news, my father has completed changing the carpet flooring in our bedrooms into vinyl flooring and we have repainted two of the bedrooms (mine and my brother’s). my room has been painted into a light pink from its previous lavender-ish purple shade while my brother’s room is now a robin-bluish colour (his room was light yellow before). i also bought a new chair from IKEA and will be taking my old leather office chair apart because the seating is cracking. fun!

the weather these days is quite hot. i think it is a heat wave and it is only simmering down tomorrow. i’ve been meaning to go out to run an errand but it has been too hot to leave the house. i also have not taken my old chair apart because it is way too hot in my room. we have air conditioning in the living room now (since a major weather event a few years ago) and i refuse to leave the house if it is above 30 degrees outside. i’m truly spoiled by technology. the other day, my siblings and i got tired of playing mahjong because we had to shuffle and set up the game physically. we have been playing mahjong online these days and now we are pampered by the game technology’s ability to shuffle and organize our hands for us. to be honest, we weren’t actually tired–we were more bored because we were playing mahjong with only the three of us and it can get repetitive when we are the only ones playing. as we like to say, the more the merrier…

to switch the topic suddenly, i am having to plan for my future in more concrete terms these days. i am graduating next year and i need to figure some short-term career moves. “moves” as in Actions. i need to start taking some physical steps in order to get some real work experience and i also need to budget properly. i’ve been meaning to budget properly from the start of my degree, but as i am entering my final year i realize that that really hasn’t happened. i need to start getting my thoughts together. i feel a need to sort myself out and find my place in this world, even if it’s a small part.

for the rest of the summer, i will be looking at some part-time work to do in the next year or more, planning a visit to my grandfather, and preparing for my final year of university. great fun! well then, here’s to actually finding a part-time job and getting good grades next school term.

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HNY 2024

Happy New Year! We’ve made yet another revolution around the sun! Amazing stuff. Good job, Earth.

I guess now would be a good time to reflect on 2023 and make some more tangible goals for 2024. Lots of things happened in the past 365 days. I finished my second year of university, played a lot of table tennis in the States, did some summer school, worked a summer job, went to visit my grandpa for the first time in about six years, started my third year of university, and made some progress in my mental health after experiencing Quite The Dip. Here’s a list-form summary of my 2023:

    1. JAN: started collecting cute figurines for no reason other than to collect dust and make me mildly content with the cuteness, went on two dates, worked part-time during my second semester, went to Seattle to play table tennis. Overall mood: great time!
    2. FEB: did lots of table tennis-ing, friend outings, went to San Diego to play table tennis! Overall mood: lots of table tennis fun!
    3. MAR: watched lots of table tennis and continued practicing, fun sibling time, and Dad’s b-day! Overall mood: great!
    4. APR: even more table tennis, went to Round Rock, Texas for nationals, experienced true sleep deprivation, outing with Mom, brother’s b-day! Overall mood: happy and ended the school term with ease.
    5. MAY: summer break started, went on a date, played lots of games with my siblings, sticker collecting with friends, haircut and got a tea-coloured streak, started summer job + two courses, lots of outings with friends and siblings! Overall mood: sweaty but happy.
    6. JUN: continued summer job and courses, more sibling and friend outings, and my sister’s b-day! Overall mood: still very content… but also started thinking about the possibility of law school (so some self-caused pressure).
    7. JUL: night market outing with friends, brother took some table tennis lessons for fun, celebrated a friend’s b-day, and an IKEA outing with the family. Overall mood: fun times and bringing in some money (yay)!
    8. AUG: finishing up my summer courses and job, Pride Parade, more friend outings, visited my grandpa (!!!) with my mom and brother, played mahjong with my grandpa, and did the first donut sale of the season for the table tennis team. Overall mood: lots of feelings after visiting my grandpa (happy, sad, grateful, content, nostalgic, proud).
    9. SEP: talked a lot on the first day of school in order to advertise the table tennis team and almost lost my voice, ice cream outing with my siblings, got another short haircut, neighbour’s carport roof fell thanks to an Amazon truck, caught a cold, ran table tennis tryouts, went to a concert (!!), and watched movies with my sister. Overall mood: fun fun fun (at the cost of not organizing my school work).
    10. OCT:  Thanksgiving dinner was Great, turned 20, bought a bunny headband for my brother’s Halloween costume and a sheep headband for myself, went to many lectures, held table tennis practices, and went with my sister to take my brother and his friends out trick-or-treating. Overall mood: felt busy but content, feeling a slight downhill in terms of my brain.
    11. NOV: midterms, went to Oregon for table tennis (by train, which was a new experience), watched my brother play volleyball, more table tennis events, and a close family friend passed away. Overall mood: frustration at self and Select Others, and really struggled with keeping organized and motivated.
    12. DEC: warm weather for winter (so no snow, only rain or clouds), saw my family doctor and made Christmas lights and tree setting up, went to a funeral, had many deadlines for final papers extended, completed two final exams, Mom’s b-day, made gingerbread houses with my family, Christmas day was very fun and happy. Overall mood: went from very unmotivated and sad –> slightly motivated to finish everything, much more content after school ended and I spent more time with my family.

So I’ve done a lot in 2023. Up next in 2024: finish year three without losing my brain! I have a lot of life planning to do this year as I go into my fourth, and possibly final, year of university. Some big decisions coming up. For now, my New Year’s Resolutions will look like this:

    1. Spend up to 2 hours on Social Media a day.
    2. Read 2 books a term (outside of readings from classes)
    3. Write one blog post a month!

I also realized that I didn’t write last January! So I have no resolutions to look back on here. I guess surviving the year is already a win for me. Anyway, I hope this year will go by with more memorable and happy events! Until next time 🙂

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endless patience

This is quite the summer I am having. I’ve been gaming and eating a lot. However, summer session for me has just begun so I have more to do. I could’ve been looking into the LSAT through the book I bought last month. I looked into it the first couple of days but then I got a bit lazy and decided to leave it for now. I have a paper due tomorrow and a term paper to prepare for after that.

These days I’ve been doing a lot of housework. My parents went to San Francisco for about a week and came back feeling unwell. They got COVID-19 and they stayed in their room for about ten days until they felt better and tested negative twice. My sister and I were pretty much on our own for about a month. I went out three times to get groceries and my brother’s library books. It was kind of fun to be able to do whatever we wanted to do whenever. It wasn’t that fun to spray and wipe down the bathroom that we shared with our parents while they were sick every night. My sister and I were mostly concerned about my brother getting sick because he has something similar to asthma.

Sometimes I wonder if I ever got sick. Like throughout the entire pandemic, I haven’t gotten sick at all. I haven’t even gotten a cold since 2019. I feel like the next time I get sick, I will be hit hard. So far, every time one of my family members get sick, I am the… main person to help out and yet I still do not get sick. Is this… youth? Just kidding. It’s probably related to how my immune system works and how often I exercise and go outside to expose myself to potential pathogens. Where was I going with this again? I just can’t tell if or when I get sick anymore.

It’s been a number of years since the pandemic began and it still feels new. I should have been prepared for my family members getting COVID-19, but I didn’t think that I could stay healthy even as we shared bathrooms and as I did COVID-positive dishes with disposable gloves and a mask on. What a time.

Some conclusions from the past few weeks:
1. I have some more confidence in cooking now.
2. I can handle at least two stressful events at one time.
3. I haven’t cried in a while. (I feel like it’s coming up soon)
4. I am probably more sympathetic than empathetic.
5. I do not know how to respond when people I care about are upset.

This past year, I learned a lot about my family and where I am situated within both sides. There’s not a whole lot for me, the second child of a youngest child and an only child, to do for either family. There’s nothing significant about my position. I’m not the oldest child, the youngest child, or a boy. There is no specific role for me to play other than a good kid.

Another thing that I have noticed this past year is the way I refer to myself in my thoughts and writing. I still believe that I am a child and that I am young enough to be underage. Of course, this is to be expected–I’m only 18. I’m still learning how to think like an adult. I’m still learning how to be like an adult. However, I don’t think there will be much of a difference between me now and me in 5-10 years.

Anyway, the conclusion is, what time I am having!

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the end of year one

Hello and welcome back to another life update brought to you by yours truly, Gloria. Summer break is well underway and I’ve gone to Toronto twice since I last wrote. I went to Toronto once at the end of the school term (early April) and then once near the end of finals season (late April). On the first trip, I went with my family to visit my sister for her thesis exhibition (for which I helped set up and take down) and we also visited my cousin who used to live with us a few years ago. It was a fun trip and Toronto was like a more extreme version of Vancouver, weather-wise. My second trip’s purpose was to help my sister pack all of her belongings and bring (her) them back to Burnaby. My mission was a success and I lifted a 65.5 lbs luggage a few times.

Now, my sister and I have been back for some time now and I feel like time is passing too quickly and that I have to be more active. I should look for part-time jobs or at least some volunteer opportunities. I have one opportunity for late August and I have one summer course in July/August, but other than that, there is nothing else for me to do. I should plan more things for me to do. I think I will apply for a few part-time jobs this summer so I can work throughout the year.

Anyway, I want to go over my first year of university and… reflect month-by-month. Just kidding, I’ll just split it into the two semesters.

Semester One: September-December 2021
I signed up for 5 courses but I dropped one after the first class so I ended up taking 4 courses for the first semester. I took a political science course, an anthropology course, a sociology course, and a mandatory writing course. I tried out and got on the table tennis team. I went to practices after classes and made a friend. I wrote papers and did midterms and final exams for the first time. My final marks were all above the class average! This gave me a self-esteem boost and told me that I could survive the first year at least. I don’t actually remember a lot about what I did. I remember getting lost on the first day, but I was only ten minutes late to two of my classes. By the second and third day, I was able to navigate the relevant areas of the campus. I really enjoyed the hybrid delivery of lectures for most of my courses. Most of the exams during this semester were online.

Semester Two: January-April 2022
I took a full course load this past semester (5 courses). I took another political science course, another sociology course, an archaeology course, a GRSJ (Gender, Race, and Social Justice) course, and a psychology course. The political science course, although interesting as it was new material to me, was boring to me. The professor was very nice and explained things very clearly and made lectures interesting but I just don’t think this area is for me. The exams during this time were mostly in person but there were a few that were online. My marks during this semester were pretty high and I got higher than the average in all my classes again. Pretty proud of my marks. I’m no genius, but I can get a B and occasionally some As.

Complete Overview: Summer Vacation Time 2022
As a result of doing pretty well during my first year of university, I feel like I deserve a bit of a break. There was a lot of adjusting, learning, stressing, planning, and cramming. At first, I stuck to what I knew in high school and studied for midterms and tests as they came in my direction (AKA around 2-3 days ahead of time, all the way until the day of the exam) and doing assignments as the deadlines approached. This… style of working worked for my first semester because I was taking 4 courses at the time. But when the second semester began, I had to account for all the material for 5 courses at the time. It really made me wonder how I survived high school with 8 concurrent courses (the work was easier but nontheless).

There was a brief period of time (around midterm season in the second semester) where I felt like I was really in a bad place. I had multiple large assignments due and there were some heavily-weighted midterms coming up. There was a lot of information for me to have memorized in those two weeks. My brain was a bit overwhelmed at the time so I decided to reorganize myself before it got worse. I ended up getting through those two weeks alright and then quickly reorganized myself over the weekend by actually using my planner and sticky notes and over the weekend, I caught up on small assignments. After that, and leading up to final exam season, I maintained that strategy and organized the coming week’s to-do list over the weekend and then followed it almost religiously. It worked pretty well and I got some good marks!

Anyway, over this summer I plan on looking over the LSAT and decide whether or not I want to take it next year. In addition to that, I will be coaching some table tennis at my local club to make some small bucks and in August I will have another short-term job with my school for first-yeat orientation day/week. I think I will get a part-time job within the next 365 days. Okay, that’s more like a goal. We all have to start somewhere!

With that, I will end this post here. I learned a lot this past school year and I hope my new learning strategy works next year with slightly higher-level courses. Until next time!

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不请楚

It is November again. Term One of Grade Ten is already over. There is no time for me to yell anymore. I originally planned to yell about how school has just started and how everything is unnecessary. Well I’m here now.

Time makes me mad. Time makes me sad. It makes me sad most of the time. Why is it that time goes on? Why can’t it slow down and wait for me? I can’t seem to hold on to what is going on. Everything at school seems so temporary. Whatever happens, only lasts for a little while and then we all move on. We linger on each chapter for 2 to 3 weeks and then we flip the page.

Studying is difficult. I shove all the information into my notebook (and hopefully my brain) and then show up to school the next day and face the test paper with an empty head. The moment I look down on the paper and closer at the questions the evening before’s study session flows in and I fill in the answers. I don’t know how I do it but — “WOW GLORIA YOU GOT AN A! OF COURSE, YOU DID; YOU’RE SMART!!”

Can I leave now?

It appears that I have become more… mopey compared to the last time I wrote. Is it because I learned a lot in English this year? The only thing I haven’t gotten down properly is the formation of proper sentences. And the depth of writing that is usually required for assignments. I have lots more to work on. Like a lot.

Well then, until next time! Hopefully next time I write about more entertaining happenings. Goodnight!

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at last, the hurdle

I have absolutely zero ideas of what to do right now. I have three assessments next week. Thank god it is a long weekend because tomorrow is a Professional Day. Also, tomorrow is my parents’ 21st wedding anniversary. I feel like I should do something for that, but I’m not sure as to what. What do people usually do for anniversaries of this nature?

There is a project upcoming in my Science class and I think that I’m going to be doing it on diabetes, its effects on the human body, how we counter/control it, and the current research. Through this idea, I will create a report and potentially a website to better display my ideas. Hopefully, my teacher approves of it and I can do this well.

I have to write another essay in English. For my first essay, I got 4/6. As many people do when they get curious, they ask me for my mark, which I don’t care whether or not others know. So I tell them, and their response is usually, “Oh, of course,” like they expected that I would get good marks. I really hate when people assume that I am smart. I have to put in a lot of effort to get those marks, only to have others say that I was only putting forth minimal amounts of effort. I do get satisfactory or barely-passing marks. Sometimes when I barely pass something and others find out, they are so surprised and they blame the teacher with some really absurd excuse. Usually, it is not the teacher’s fault.

I think my teachers this year are okay. I mean, they are great at what they do, but some scare me slightly. Some are… weird, but then again who is not weird? It’s getting late and I should probably sleep. Well then, until the next time, and I might write something creative later on!

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don’t wanna play

Grade 10 has begun and I’m not quite sure as to what I am doing. I’ve finally completed a week, more like three days of school. My brother is in grade 2 and my sister is in her first year of university. Once again, I’m completely in the middle, not sure of what I’m doing. I mean, it totally makes sense that I’m in the middle, but I don’t really like it. I’m the middle child, the second in almost everything I do. Rarely am I first. Or last. Not that I really want to be in either of those positions, but sometimes I feel insignificant.

Anyhow. There has been no work assigned which is great. All I have been doing in my classes is listen to expectations, what types of work we will be doing later, and how certain things are marked in the course. I took my first notes of the year yesterday in Law, which I personally find interesting. The problem is that I wrote my notes in pencil, so I should go over them in ink and make them look nicer. And highlight certain things. There are a few vocab words. I should also think about what I’m gonna write for in an intro assignment I have in a class I have on Monday. I’m going to be pretty preoccupied with many things I am thinking about.

I didn’t write in August for many reasons. I was just finishing summer school. I was helping my sister pack. I was taking a rest by watching many TV shows, reading books (although it was a bit above my understanding), and slacking off. My family and I went to Whistler for a week and we went to the new suspension bridge near the top of the mountain. I ate a lot. I walked a lot. My sister at the end of August, and my brother always brings up how things were more fun with the three of us, not just the two of us. Which kind of hurts. Lol.

Anyway, I really don’t know much so don’t ask me too much. Hahaha. Until next time!

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for some reason, i forgot

Summer is in full swing. I have summer school in the morning; I take Social Studies 10 so I can take other Socials classes next year. When it is September, I will be in grade 10. That means only two more years until I will be doing what my sister is doing. She’s going to university this year! She’ll be moving out, which is strange, because we’ve been together for my entire life, sharing the same room, food, and toys. It will be strange if she isn’t here. It will be just my brother and me.

My brother! Will be in grade 2. Man, I remember grade 2. That year was my last year at my elementary school before I moved to another elementary school. I may have seemed to others that I didn’t care about moving, or rather, they thought that I enjoyed it. Actually, I cried. A bit. Over my two best friends. Now, one is kind of distant from what I remembered her to be like, while the other, I haven’t seen since. She moved too, I heard. Social interactions give me headaches sometimes.

I take an online course that has something due every day and I don’t like to get ahead, so I start it the day before it is due, then finish and hand it in on the day it is due. Which is kind of low-key procrastination. But I don’t have the motivation to do more than one assignment per day. I don’t wanna do it. Anyway. It is getting late, so until next time. Hopefully I don’t skip a month. 🙂

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dust particles

It has appeared that my sister is graduating. Her leaving ceremony was on the 24th and it has seemed to hit me just only now. Also there is less than a month left of school. Which also means my sister needs to prepare to go to university and I need to start summer school. That is a bit strange. Ahhh. When my sister goes to university, I will be the oldest, with Gabriel being the youngest, still. But there will only be the two of us until she either visits or comes back once she’s done; in like 4 years. Anyway, until next time!

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New Years Resolutions 2018

Happy New Year!! I hope 2017 left you with good memories and 2018 coming with many happy events.
As for the resolutions… these are made on the fly.

  1. I would like to improve my art. Like in any way possible.
  2. I would like to help out my parents more often.
  3. Less procrastination as I always say. But never happens.
  4. Dress warmer, so… less sick. And colds.
  5. Be more prepared (related to number 3)
  6. Watch movies. (Purely for my own entertainment.)
  7. Take care of skin. (fall less and lotion??)
  8. Practice and perhaps be more intense about table tennis!

And that is about it! Upcoming events include, my sister graduating, grade 10, my brother going into grade 2, and that’s all I am anticipating. Nothing less, and perhaps even more. I hope 2018 proves to be a better year than 2017, especially in world events.

Happy New Year!