These five years have been the most important part of my life per my years between 18 – 22 all used up for this one piece of paper and ring. And now is the time where I should panic and find jobs. But this is the beginning of a long journey as to what is done in these next few hours should you be panicing where to search for jobs. A few pointers by me:

1) Get all the information ready

Have your resume ready for deployment any time. A generic cover letter that focuses on all the career types you want to be affiliated with and variability of jobs is also a must. Mix and match different ones to ensure you have enough variety during your last minute cover letter submission.

If you have a portfolio, always update them with your most recent works. Paragraphs here and there describing your process is crucial to have the employers review the works you’ve done. Plus, it’ll also help you figure out how much design changes you’ve made with each entry over time.

Last but not least, have your friends edit your work. I’m sure after reviewing your essay, you’ll not be able to catch this error with the word ‘and’ in it. It’s also nice to have a separate pair of eyes to look over work. As recommended by Kira, have a technical writer who sort of is in the same field, then another one who’s skilled at writing, and a 3rd person to understand if the content makes sense.

2) Job searching

While your on-campus tool for job searching may be beneficial, understand it is not always the most successful. These are often considered grunt work. Those RIM jobs sure look disgusting now that RIM’s popularity fell due to service failures. An interview showed the CEO’s negativity with sharing the information. Then there’s grunt programming jobs, grunt project management job at high end companies. Yes pay, may be good, but what are the prospects with the company?

Guaranteed some jobs do look enticing, but for an obscure program like me, it’s not something easy to find.

3) Job searching+

Websites liek monster.ca, jobsearch.com or yahoo.com offer wide ranges of crap jobs. Interestingly enough, it was very easy to apply to the jobs and majority of them listed as ‘confidential company’

4) Job searching ++

Read the NEWSPAPER. I’m sure company names will pop up from time to time. I’ve applied to this job who recently worked at remodelling office space. There’s bound to be exciting jobs in the opinions section minus all the negativity provided by the editorial members. Go on FB and look at the crummy places your friends work at. I’m sure there’s lots of choices there.

Imprint is hiring an Editor-In-Chief (there, even word of mouth is possible). Sadly the position is almost due for applicants as it was advertised for over two months.

5) Go to GRAD School

Might be a little late now that the due dates are closing in, but if you have to escape with some work to do over the next few years, understand this might be the place to go. If you’ve got profs who you talk regularly and finds you “attractive” or “speaks freely about any subject”, chances are you can get away with any topic they’re providing.

Personal comments

/r/programming has raised an issue and a friend of mine raised this very interesting point over on social media:

Yes, Reddit is hating on Larry Smith. Should we go correct them? I don’t see the point. For the majority of people, his advice is actually useless crap. Larry had a targeted audience — the apathetic students at Waterloo — and for the people in that audience, it’s good advice. We’re a group with #firstworldproblems and #softwareproblems — we actually get to pick between jobs in an economy where others are still scraping by to get a chance to stab at those blood-sucking jobs he mentioned in the first minute. To suggest that it applies universally is complete and utter insanity.

Yes, Reddit is hating Larry Smith. There are also people who praise upon his intellectuality. His points raised is referring to all those who have good careers, not towards those with a bachelor’s degree. He may be pointing fingers at programmers, but then again, he has to point at everyone and anyone is a competitor against in the programming field. If it is under 50% like, then I will start to believe that he’s being regarded a man of dismal cause.

………The point is, if he wants to play this terrible game of being oblivious… I’ll be sure to be the one to raise this flag and promote it. My life may be ruined in the process, but at least I’ve achieved the cause that is coming true. If you’re going to be hurt in this process, let me know before hand so I don’t screw up your future career when I come up with the plan.

I also finally realized what 2nd world problems are. It’s when you are travelling to a location where the currency conversion is lower in ratio. So you have to pay more than you would normally have in your home country. So McD in Toronto is cheaper than McD in Vancouver~

And if you’re wondering what McD is:

It’s a lot better than actual McD where you buy food and sit~

The breakdown of the phrase can also seem to feel like this: GOD…

BLESS AMERICA

Actually, I’m not talking about the bombs they dropped on themselves…

… yeah, the ones elsewhere around the world. You know, the ones where other people are involved where Americans sigh a big relief on their heads on a job well coordinated.

But this isn’t the real article I want to focus on… The act of super imposing this statement, tackling on at the end of speeches, or words of thanks really demerit the calling for ‘God’. Unlike churches where you have to hear the word ‘God’ or then it’ll just ruin the original use. It’s when the same super hero goes out and does its signature move or stance during the final fight at the end of the episode… after 2,000th time, you’d get used to it and it’d be without much meaning… same here.

But this time it’s cute though…. so it must be new and exciting -_-”

Jeremy Lin syndrome…

I’m not hitting on Jeremy Lin here but just pointing out that a lot of people are talking about him. In particular Christian friend who mentions him. I happened to have stumbled onto the video featuring connotation with Christianity:

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhe3B1P98936U8j4U9

At the 6 minute mark of the video, he states the success was ‘Thanks to God’, without him it would have been difficult. Like any good samaritan, you would say something like this… but how he portrayed it was as if it was God who succumbed into providing him the strength… but it also meant that God made a significant punishment to the other teams… especially the Lakers when they lost to Mr. Asian superstar Yao Ming runner up Lin. It’s great he’s referring to God and his powers, but there are other ways of saying it so it doesn’t sound like “God Bless America”… in this case, it was more “God Bless Knicks”… -_-

An article from Fortune 500 on the topic of J. Lin which provided light into my usual suspicion. The article writes that he was studying business in Harvard and has bible studies following his basketball sessions. Those statements made me think twice about him. 1 is that I had whole heartedly thought that Lin was just an average jock who had only team spirit; good to know that he’s more than just that. Being Christian and spreading the word through basketball is a good idea; it made me recall my church and how ‘ping pong’ is lacking that spirit and trying to figure out why… gaming, for that matter should get some acknowledgement on some Christian stuff beside the whole ‘cleric’ class archetype… -_-/

2 is that Christians should celebrate that Mr. Lin is using full use of his power and promoting Christianity through this way, but it still doesn’t mean we should all stuff ourselves from others on Christianity. There’s a time and by blasting it in front of people faces makes it look like a blatant answer will not help with the conversion.

Update: Mr. Lin is one of those that fall under the politics of sports. His average size doesn’t make any mentions, but it is the fact he’s Asian and this race rarely sees any visibility in muscular sports such as basketball. This is one reason why it’s getting all the hype now that the facts are known that he is good and not because of his skin colour to be placed in the court to play~

The alternatives of use

Recently this came into my attention… the use of “God Bless America”, a comedic movie I wish I had not had my eyes on youtube/popular -_-;; Truly these 3 words turned from an adjournment to a sarcasm… forever scarring my life.

Even after watching this… the chuckling has brought me interest into watching the movie… even knowing it’s going to be bad.

On the topic of what’s happening tomorrow: Valentines Day… hope for all those who have a S.O. to have a blast of a time… 2 minutes, 4 hours, the whole day…. though the content of what you’re doing is questionable and you should keep it secret to you (I wouldn’t really want to know until the day after)~

And if you can’t think of anything to give your S.O. or others in general~ It’s in Cantonese tho~ but you can figure it out how to do it, ^_^

Here are some images as to the other decorations made by other departments:

Where's my drop box? CivE

Green Wall! EnvE

Trojan horse... software/ECE??

I’ve compiled a video of the events SYDE students partook in as we seem to have had the best floor each year (granted last year was still spectacular). I will post a video of the prep work that we did later. If the video doesn’t load, give it a bit more time (50 mins left). Fail again, I’ll private it on vimeo.

The night began with a festive all you can eat meal… with the exception that the food was too good, and my wisdom tooth have started protruding out from within the skin, every bite was both delicious… and painful.

The night was a rally of activity. From running around

Our design did not win any placement, but we got to experience how to effectively come up with alternatives to our design to make it better. The sensors to use and other features for opportunities.

The saddened hearts of our was not stopped by our opportunity of downtown shopping. The team went to the Bistro for crepes and made numerous memories of blatant sign advertising and anticipating actions leading to accidents, a great day of laughs ahead of us.

The evening was a debates final competition between Ryerson and Queens, and I have to admit… the topic was really well crafted!

Indeed, the Iron Ring may have been extremely important to society but, Sasha Harper pointed out, “The only time you get laid… is when you’re laid-off.” That quote took the crowds roaring with cheer at that last statement winning the team 1st place! A delight to listen to the creativity of these players put on in a 15 minute preparation period.

View from Ontario Place

The social event until 2AM was indeed a different turn of events. I had the privilege to stay with the executives of the University of Toronto engineering committee for their late night drinks in celebration (as the rest of UW stayed at the hotel partying). When returning to the hotel after the drinks, they opened the champaign bottle for the director of operations and this wonderful gentleman (in charge of senior design), took the opportunity to recite the letter in his very strong accent.

This marks the end of OEC2012, a blast of a failed time, but a lesson learned with no regrets. I made numerous new contacts and personal skills to improve on.

Comments on personal life prior to the event: Something strange has happened before my eyes once again. The day of calling reached me in very bizarre ways. On the Friday morning, I had intended to go to class at 9AM due to lack of sleeping hours to my surprise that the class was delayed due to power failure… the class returned to operational lights and ventilation at around 9:45AM and so the class was shortened until 10:20AM.

I skipped the beginning of ANTH 102 after being at Imprint to relax before attending OEC to find that returning home, ANTH 102 was studying class culture (of humans: 1%, bourgeois, etc) which I loved to hear about XD. I didn’t stay too long as I had to pack clothes. The bus ride to the event was quick (we missed all the traffic clogging when we left at 3:20PM on a Friday afternoon).

At night, there was delicious food served and the competition ran quite smoothly. This of course had nothing to do with our final product as the day after turned out to be more frantic than the rest of the event leading to our unsuccessful story. Still, great time shared with friends.

This person to the left was the one that convinced me to stay for the whole time. Before, I was consider going to stay for only the morning hours. But the time turned hectic when volunteers started leaving and the work didn’t look like it was getting done. Food sampling occurred in the middle of the stage area in between performances. There were lemons for distribution at the snacks table above and spring rolls in the centre where most of the people mostly gathered. Elderly and confused faced people seemed to have gotten the most out of the food tasting as they kept reentering lines for food~ XD

The typical dragon dances, martial arts and singing for those wondering what was happening.

This is the result of doing Kung Fu Rider on a cart filled with stuff after packing up~

My spoils for the volunteering: lunch, bakery bread x 2, dinner at Lemongrass and a bunch of friends ^_^ And a red pocket but converted to less than minimum wage… However, it is always the thought that counts. Onwards back to writing reports due this week.

And with that, Happy Chinese New Year~ Go eat dinner with family at home or with friends if you’re stuck in school.

Terrible articles on the Canadian University Press conference and the breakout of the Norovirus in the hotel. It was not the food, but something else prior to the dinner meal of the last day.

Because I have passion… I will continue to move on and be foolish~

My face is revealed to tell you I still exist to say 'Happy New Year' at a not new years party

Onwards to New Years of next year. This upcoming year, I am going to be taking the first step out of university doors and experience what the working life truly is. I’m going to really miss university since it is a source of learning, inspiration and experimentation.

With that set, here are my New Years Resolution for 2012:

- Get a job: This is a huge debate with me wanting to get a masters… and even now I’m still debating over which true masters program to get into. One day, however, in the distant/not so far away, I do want to teach as a professor in some university, probably on the topic of ‘innovation and practices of tomorrow’. If I had to reference someone who truly inspired me to teach something like this, there’s one and I’ve spammed his name enough so do some information digging.

- Never stop innovating: I’m sure by the time I leave university, many will say that I’m going to stop innovating. I myself already fear this, but the remedy of this is to write it down here! And maybe each year will have  different theme to it. So far, I’m doing general innovation as I’ve still got 4 of 12 months.

With that said, I can’t wait for the 4th year’s Iron Ring Stag happening in February~~ XD For those who do not know what’s happening in UW, make sure to attend any engineering wing on that day to see some miraculously wacky adventures roll for a few hours!

- Get a real life: This is going to be a bit more difficult than it will sound. Majority of the reason is because what I may find content I actually don’t know if it is enough or lacking. One thing is to be able to do more than what I can do but at the same time maintain what I already have. One event style to look forward to~

Some interesting in-between time (over the Christmas break):

New pair of glasses: My old pair that has two studs on my nose is finally gone… I’ve turned totally plastic (well, at least the face of the glasses)… yeah, now I have these almost Asian like thick rimed plastic glasses that makes my head look big…ger 8D

I actually got into speaking at a radio questionaire at AM1540 on December 30th at 4:30… the questions were hard and the speaker wasn’t that loud so I only got the first parts that I got briefed on… I couldn’t quite hear the latter questions but for me that was an experience well pursued for ^_^ $50 gift certificate at a restaurant.

Inception analysis that people did not catch onto.

I’m sure almost all the 2011 activities are logged on this blog that I don’t have to repeat them. Then again, you can claim I am lazy and therefore this blog is a horrendous place to be. However, currently I am working on my portfolio to submit for masters, so I am very busy…

At least there are people that I have to thank before I end this:

From me to you – having the confidence to do what had to be done within this time. It hurts that there’s still a lot more to do, but ended it due to time constraints. Guess there’s always a lingering feeling that once it’s gone, you miss it a lot. Or the things you started that abruptly end, but want it to continue at least to finish till the end.

Friends – I’m sure there’s been a lot that we all did, the good, the terrible, and the amazing adventures in between. Never going to forget you all. So here’s a breakdown:

Gaming Corner: What will I do when we disband Q_Q The plastic bags and mop on Kokiase’s window will always be my most cherished memory. I’m sure we will meet after we are disbanded, but the fact that I started it and the group grew overtime made me realize that there was an achievement to doing this in 2A~

Beling: You know who you two are! Constantly just cheering me up when I’m down… getting together knowing I was going to slow you down T_T I have to admit, leadership rocks, but making it cooperate and bring you to success by doing some of the grunt work is difficult T_T If we ever have another group project, I will dedicate more to writing the standards you are at since I know I am the one dragging rocks behind and am truly sorry.

High School Friends: Certainly getting together is fun… but there’s always something missing in all of it. Probably the social part that was so fun back in the day when all we did was play some simple games and spent the rest of the time chatting~ Now that there’s so much but the activities are quite active there’s really not much time to talk about it. BBT together sometime I take to get it out of the system.

CTRL-A: The other half that I don’t always get in much contact with except selected members. It’s always a pleasure to talk and have fun. Will look for ways to help this club grow in terms of numbers and have them stick. The more the merrier!

Imprint: The crew of those who string together from start to finish, the family who stay strong together, great times. Going to stay family one last time with me taking on a bigger role to end off my last term at Waterloo!

Generating social innovation is designed to look random, but actually is a process

That said, I will most likely be up again on New Years eve on my computer wishing you all Happy New Year like last year when I said I didn’t enjoy the feeling… at least this time I’ve got stuff to do rather than sitting on the computer screen being bored last year.

Hope you all have GREAT EXPERIENCE celebrating New Years that doesn’t include uploading awkward photos of yourself on Facebook so EVERYONE gets to see it… Or you can do just that since you know people will like them~

Parents bought me a jacket and it raised my utility a lot as I don’t actually have that many formal jackets on hand to wear. I’ll be wearing it during special weekend activities only though, as it is quite new I don’t want to get it wrinkled walking around wearing my backpack around it.

After a half day walking around Square One, the next destination was IKEA, looking for a sofa to replace the current one. On the site for sofas, the pressing machine to claim that it can withstand tens of thousands of loads is quite a boring sight to see now… it seems the machine has been modified to move less than it had a few years ago… maybe they’re going eco friendly and reducing electricity consumption.

On the pranking department, there were two things that caught my eye and really quickly. The first one had to do with annoying sounds. What ticks to get your attention? Alarms or timers… well… here’s a tray of them, all turned and counting down…

The second one is placing unsuspecting rodents in crowded areas drawing attention. I’m sure after seeing a bunch of these, you become familiar with them and not jump the next time you see a real one~ ^_^

The following day was a full day of GAMES~ The first one being a card game morning fanatical battles. The hard press notice is that once again I am incapable of using my own deck with bizarre edits, leading to my tournament downfall from a 2-0 followed by 2-3, 4th place finish. Partial reason for loss, no best 2 out of 3 in finals matches T_T

This is K-OS, the collectible card store which used to be at Pacific Mall now moved to this store here in Metro Square… it’s very quiet so this store actually is what’s causing all the buzz there. Bluemage took 3rd and is saving the store credit for later use~ That was the morning… and this is lunch~

NTS: Get Roasted Pork Next time... duck has bones T_T Also, Cyho is madly in love with his Air-tono chan (who apparently is female)

The afternoon was a night activity full of social games at Kira’s place… it all started with Mafia and the graceful town villagers. The 2nd game’s final shout ‘I’m the detective and Robo is the mafia’… then came SECRET SANTA.

You can’t doubt me when I can bring a gift, but don’t be so heart broken that what I bring isn’t worthy. I found a magnetic calendar on the front of Kira’s house and used it as the bait Christmas gift sitting behind mine. Something for people to poke fun of for three seconds at before making a final decision.

We followed Shippy’s rule of Secret Santa that everyone is drawn lots and numbered, the lower numbered person can pick a gift from under the tree or from someone else. However, they cannot pick a gift that is not theirs or the gift they just got stolen. There was great battle over the large and fancy looking gifts and truly an ingenious Secret Santa gift exchange idea.

After dinner at ‘Hot Wings’, the crew came back for some karaoke~ There weren’t many modern songs, but there was enough to have a fun time. Kira’s university friends all had to leave early due to having to drive back home in Toronto, but the rest of the high school friends stayed a bit longer to enjoy the limited karaoke songs.

A great two days of relaxation. From shopping to gaming, all has their balance. Now I have to get back to work and finish up my portfolio and thesis to submit for architecture masters program. I will not guarantee I will make it farther than just getting acceptance as I don’t want to depend on parents for support so I may opt out of there and find work for a few years… however, I can still work on my portfolio to present in my interviews of my various engineering experiences throughout the years at Waterloo.

Next item on my TO DO LIST: New Years~

Collecting useless equipment in Monster Hunter.. this makes my 5th ancient long sword and 4th ancient bow XD

This isn’t the only time when I feel at a loss of place for where I am. I’ve got quite a bit of work during the whole Christmas break so if I’m ever online, it’s probably because I’m slacking off when I shouldn’t be… T_T Two design projects to manage followed by a portfolio to work on… with anime to keep up to, times are only going to ramp up in usage. On top of that, just realized the past few days I’ve endorsed a pretty sizable fever. But probably by the time you read this it’d have subsided… hopefully… seemed not and continued through the whole week… bleh >_<

I do however have received recommendations to do while resting: listening to ‘classical music’. I’ve began with Baroque music so far and hearing a lot of parallels to modern remixes used in churches or music.

Un-Go went up in terms of how inspirational it was for me to find that it was more than just Conan… indeed it was all under one plot poised for a movie release of a stand alone story. The futuristic Vocaloid voice and the cover ups of cover ups disguised was a sight to see. It parallels the deepening of story alike Darker than Black, but not as deep or metaphorical as that series. The whole story behind the ‘defeated detective’ was wrapped up nicely with the reasons as to why he is the defeated detective and not just because Kaishou breaks through all the detective work before anyone else.

I’m still head over heels from this song (Lama – Fantasy). Next karaoke, anyone want to sing the female voice of this?

Guilty Crown blew my mind. In a sense that it will continue to go in a suspenseful direction. Yes, there’s always going to be wimpy Shinji (Evangelion reference) but that’s what makes this story even more exciting. It’s like giving candy to a baby who has no clue what to do with it~ That’s probably what I’m doing when it boils down to equivalent trade. Not knowing how much is given and having the clueless trying to really figure out who they are and what they can do with the ability. These are your own definitions of use and the following resultant endings to the show if you have taken enough thought.

[spoilers]

The whole talk about being crowned king but not knowing how to use the powers indeed makes you feel guilty. It’s like Emiya Shiro being protected all this time by a magical accessory and now having to use it and claim the world back to order. Shu must also do the same, it seems it was in her mother’s trait that he got the ability of the void genom to pull people’s chrystalized inner accessory, be it a weapon or shield. Also to ponder was that all those suffering from crystalization can see into others’ void accessory. Gai’s transfusion of blood from Inori was to ensure the slow down of Gai’s crystalization… pretty deep… Can’t wait for the movie as the 11th episode ended in a cliff hanger~

[end of spoilers]

Also to mention regarding Production IG is their animation style. 90% if why I partook interest in being a Production IG fanboy is because of their wild take on animation styles. From cel-shading to superlivemation, they certainly meet their part in trying to invent the next best animation style. Advertisements like in the opening of Eden of the East was my favourite since when it came out… only to be triumphed by the voids being pulled and the swirls of essence coming out of the chest area. It’s at times how the art blends with the story that actually makes it interesting… I do recommend Tachiguishi Retsuden as a watch, but more so Avalon than anything by Production IG.

I starred in a role for being a ‘gamer’ in a film course and I was also pleased to be recognized for 4 words that I said with great expression~

‘Oh God, BOSS FIGHT’. Delighted that acting can be real easy when you do what you like in it… I sort of stumbled on words at times so you can see me lag in terms of reply… but that could so be because I was so focused on playing I missed my lines… lol. I also realized a reason as to why I  have a gaping mouth when I play games. Perspiration is naturally done through the nose, but when something active such as playing video games requires more mental power than sitting and reading, the excess accelerated breathing would then be constituted through the mouth… have to find a way to breath more volume with less opening~

A Christmas present I got from a special someone was this pair of Monster Hunter chopsticks. Constantly I keep complaining that I have to use the crappy chopsticks at the local store, but I’ve finally got a pair to use and looks really nice. Have to encase it in tissue to prevent it from shaking but all is well with it! My gift for you still is being processed (like manufacturing/distribution) so it’ll take a while before it safely arrives.

Did not take a chance to take a picture with it at home >_< Will remember to take more with them as they are super kawaii~

Going down memory lane I found this in one of the kitchen cupboards. A bento box and cup set that I used to use when I was like 4. We stopped using it when we moved and found it not as useful. It also contained plastic polymers hazardous to health if consumed with warm to hot food.

Happy New Year to all, I’m sure you lot will have a lot to reflect on and do in the new year… each day is only as precious as it was used the minutes that just passed by.

As I was walking you began to walk in my footsteps… turning what was only an illusion into reality. Thanks for remaining as friends and I hope to be able to have our friendship grow as each day passes.

We then started discussing men doing these dances…

I’m a fan of Perfume simply for their dance synchronization compared to all the other groups. Plus it’s techno music which makes dancing really easy to cue.

It was then followed up by Old Men dancing to SNSD… Like Gee

And Mr. Taxi…

On other news:

TEDxUW was occurring on Saturday morning to afternoon starred Larry Smith as the last presenter. I had to watch the rest of the presenters, some well done while others had a theme but not well represented. He’s a great professor who teaches students on competing against the norm of society. His topic focus in the Ted Talks @ UW was on the difference between interest and passion.

On the same weekend, the ‘club that really likes anime’ card game crew was playing Weiss Schwarz… this was the mid way point with one particular member taking control of a winning streak~

In addition, we faced against London players and Median took victory. SohKai subbed in when Median had to get food and won his match without using any of his strategy~

How Cheap I can be!

I went to Sobeys (it’s slightly expensive but students get 10% discount on Tuesday) and here are killer items to make sure you get the bang for your poor wallet’s worth. The first is getting those deals that will score points on your grocery store cad.

The next item are any item that are cheap on the flyer. I found this case of pop for only ninety nine cents.

Also four weeks ago, I predicted Waterloo snowing… and it turned out right~ Even though it was not enough to have a snow fight, but it was still great to take pictures of~

Justin from environmental engineering requested his presence on this post to be known on my blog (he has a tumblr)… so my reply is ‘it shall be done’. Also to note, Justin’s program has a problem with quest validation, claiming none of their 4A term courses can be enrolled as their 3A courses were not completed. As a result, they had to request course override and ‘requirements override’… apparently it happens every year…

And you think they’ve got it fixed…