Walking Tour

Today, my brother and I went for a long walk. From downtown Vancouver, along Robson (shopping a bit... eating ice cream!), to Stanley Park (around the Lost Lagoon, lots of ducks and even a swans), to Second beach (lots of joggers, as always) and then down on the sea-walk back to Granville, and then we ended up in Chapters.

By the end, my legs were a little tired, but I was glad that we spent the day outside. It was a bit chilly, left over from last night's snowfall. But this just made the air crisp and fresh. As a bonus, the sun was shining, and I felt like my whole body was trying to soak it up! I was also surprised to see how many people were out for a stroll, or jog, or walking their dog, on a Thursday at 3pm! All that fresh air made my cheeks rosy, and my breath deeper.

Since moving to Vancouver, I've really started to appreciate walking, just in itself. Not walking in order to get somewhere, just walking for the pleasure of it. My brother also recently noticed how pleasant walking could be without listening to music. We are the ipod generation after all. In meditation, we practice Aimless Wandering, and today, walking with my brother around downtown Vancouver felt a bit like that practice. We didn't have a destination, we didn't have anywhere to be... and so we could just be, in the present.

I think it's unhealthy to always be listening to something, to always have a distraction, in order to not be thinking. For instance, people often believe that when they are watching tv, they are doing nothing, but that's not true. When we watch tv, we are bombarded with information, so much information that we cannot be in tune with the information from our own body. But more on this some other time.

All you can eat

So yesterday, thanks to the generosity of our grandmother, my brother and I ventured out to a nice Japanese restaurant. We decided on the "all you can eat" option instead of the "bento", and in the end quite enjoyed our meal. We got to cook some meat ourselves, and pretty much tried one of everything from the menu (and had to hide some of the extra food so that we wouldn't get charged extra... ahem!), but ever since I've been thinking of the pros and cons. Let me know if you have any thoughts to add!

Pros:

• You get to eat a LOT
• You get to try many different kinds of sushi, many of which you wouldn't normally go for, and maybe discover a new favorite!
• It's fun, especially when you get to cook some of the stuff yourself!
• You sort of feel like a king (well, I do anyways)

Cons:

• It's more expensive, and you feel as though you have to get your money's worth, and so...
• You eat more than necessary, and as my brother pointed out, it gets a bit more painful towards the end
• With sushi, this isn't too problematic, but at a Chinese Buffet, you get stomach-aches from all that oil
• Your pants typically feel tighter afterwards
• You may end up eating stuff you don't really like

So 4 to 5, but weights are different... Maybe it's just because I'm not somebody who eats that much in general. Oh! I just had a thought: all you can eat desserts... now that's something I would go for!

Siblings

My little brother is visiting me for his reading week!! He arrived on Friday night, and we went to Victoria to visit our grandmother over the weekend... and I noticed that, though we have both grown a great deal this past year, (I moved across the country and am working on my master's, and he moved out of our dad's house, is living on his own for the first time, and starting his bachelors) some things don't change. I still order him around, and he still waits around, waiting, it seems (to me), to be ordered around!

Old habits die hard, especially those that start as soon as you're born, and encouraged by all around you for years! For instance, I always refer to him as my "little" brother, though he's my only sibling, is 6 feet tall, and will be turning 20 this year! (Now that's a scary thought!!) In many ways, we are equals, and we both know it, it's just our behaviour that's behind. Now that I've noticed this rote-behaviour, things must change! So, my goal for his visit (besides to have fun, of course!) will be to try to let go of old habits, so that we can enjoy a healthier relationship, that will hopefully be more fulfilling for us both!

Teeny, tiny flowers

Yup! You've guessed it! Spring is already here in Vancouver, can you believe it?? As most of you know, I'm not a huge flower fan, I can tell what the difference between a rose, a tulip, a lily, and a daisy... but that's about it! I don't go on and on about some gorgeous flower I saw that other day, and I'm allergic to pollen... Still, as I was walking to school today, I noticed that there were teeny, tiny little purple flowers on a bush! And after I noticed that... well then I saw little pink flowers on a tree (a cheery-blossom maybe?), and little white flowers that looked like tear-drops (aren't there flowers called tear-drops?), and also tiny little light green sprouts (I think those are from bulbs)!!! And it's only the middle of February, in Canada! 1 point for Vancouver! 

Another point for Vancouver: no rain since at least 2 weeks!!! (Of course, they are forecasting rain for the next week or so, exactly when my brother will be visiting...)

"Cut down on sugar"

Said K.L., my dentist...
...
...
!!!

Obviously, he doesn't know me: sugar is like air, how can I do that?? He has solid proof on his side: three fillings in as many weeks. I've never had any cavities before, but all that sugar seems to finally have caught up with me. It's apparently been wearing down my teeth little by little for the past decade, and now there's a price to pay.

Now wait... Isn't this one of those adulthood things?? I mean, as you get older, all types of things happen because of your self-indulgent youth, like cholesterol, or diabetes, or beer bellies, or arthritis, or debt, or bad marriages, and you have to deal with the consequences... but come on, I'm only 22! I'm hardly in the twilight of my existence (yes Chelsea, I did just use that expression!).

I remember when I was a kid, people always said that I'd someday grow out of my sweet tooth. I used to wonder why that was. I have always maintained that I'd never stop liking sweets, and I still do... but seems I'm to be overruled.

Well here it is, the moment we have all been waiting for: I must start to be aware of the incredible amounts of sugar I've been ingesting on a daily basis... and start to reduce. More on this is sure to come!

Coffee Shops

Every morning when I don't have class, I have to ask myself "Where will I actually do math today?" The answer isn't easy.

If I stay home, then I don't have to think about lunch, and I can stay in my pj's, and I have all my books close at hand, and access to the Internet. Of course, this means that e-mail and facebook are my constant companions, and lunch might turn into cooking 2 different meals and a desert, and then cleaning the kitchen, and by books, I mean fun novels as well as math textbooks...

If I go to school, this minimizes some distractions, but there's still the Internet, and then there are people too, and I go have tea, or take an hour long lunch break. Plus, that means that I have to get there and back, another 2 hours... so if I only have a 4 hour window, this isn't a good option (especially since it takes me a least a half hour in Irmacs before any math starts to get done).

Which brings me to coffee shops. For about a month now, this has been my solution to my procrastination problems. I only bring my laptop if it is strictly necessary to the work that needs to get done, so usually I don't have easy Internet access. There's good tea, and I sometimes meet interesting people. But, most of all, I get work done. Why? Well, there's really not much else to do! Granted, sometimes I look out the window, or stare at other people, imagining their lives, but I get bored of this within minutes... and there's nothing else to do but math, so it gets done! This working technique works especially well if I have an appointment to keep afterwards, like a yoga class, or supper plans: I get to the coffee shop 2-4 hours before said time, and though I'm bored after 1 hour, well, I'm stuck there! So instead of watching tv, or creeping somebody on Facebook (yes I do that, as does everybody else I know!), or whatever else, the only thing I have to pass the time is math!

Anyways, all this to say that today I wrote 3 pages of my first ever essay in math, on the transendence degree of field extensions (believe me, it is as gross as it sounds), in a lovely coffee place on Broadway and Kingsway, and I'm proud of myself! Slowly getting ready for that thesis... yikes!

The Office

I remember the day I learnt that I was to have an office... who knew that grad students had offices?? Well, to be honest, my office is really more a "shared work space", it's basically a big room with a lot of cubicles and no assigned desks, but since we are humans, everybody has their "favorite" desk. And, believe me, when somebody else is sitting at your seat, your whole day gets thrown off balance. Still! I think that being able to say "I'm going to the office" without gagging or giggling means I've taken one more step along the adulthood path.

Anyways, here I am on a Sunday afternoon, at the office. Scary. But it's actually quite nice here on the weekends. There's nobody, so the door isn't constantly opening (which means I'm not constantly looking to see who's coming in and out), and Irmacs (that's the name of my office) is actually quite nice. Half the walls are windows, and it's sunny today, which makes everything seem better! 

In case you were getting worried that I'm actually already an adult, here's the content of my locked cupboard in my office: Math textbooks, 2 pens, a bunch of papers (pretty standard), AND 5 types of tea (bagged black Earl Grey, loose leaf black Earl Grey, green Earl Grey with vanilla, Black-currant black tea, and Vanilla-Almond red tea), 2 bags of candy (food is prohibited here, but candy isn't food right?), a bag of dried bananas (rats don't eat that, right?), a cup, my gym clothes, a towel (?), a Ouareau sweatshirt, an extension cord, a few packs of sugar, and 3 empty plastic bags ... not the most professional thing.

Montreal vs. Vancouver

(Sorry to all of you that have received a letter from me in the past two weeks, you've already heard me blurb about this...)

Growing up in Montreal, I thought that it was the best city in the world. I mean, it's not too big, not too small, it's got an amazing variety of foods, cultures, and people. There's a metro, and there are bagels just around the corner. You can hike up the Mont-Royal, and get a view of the whole city, or you can drive for an hour and go snowboarding. There's live music every night, and you can walk home without being scared. In the summer, there's La Ronde, and the TamTams, and St-Jean-Baptiste in the Mile End. In the winter, I know it's bloody cold, but the sunny days are amazing!

When I moved to Vancouver, I had high standards; but after 5 months here, I must admit that Vancouver is definitely up to stuff! Now, don't get me wrong, Montreal is still the city of my heart, it's just that Vancouver is making itself a nice cozy spot there too. The best analogy I have been able to come up with is:

Montreal is my first love. (You can never quite forget it, and you compare all your subsequent loves to it, and you're over it... almost)

Vancouver is my new and current love.

This analogy works for me because Montreal is the city of my childhood, and "teenage-hood". When I go back there now, it's never for very long. So I always seem to end up in the same places, often with the same people. And I love it, but sometimes it makes me feel a bit stuck. Whereas, Vancouver is the city of my adulthood. I live alone. This means I must motivate myself; to go out, to meet up with friends, to eat out, to discover the city... And I think that self-motivation is one of the new "adult" traits I've discovered in myself since moving here. Also, my favorite "spots" are constantly changing, everything is very fluid, which makes me feel free. Everything is new, everything is gorgeous, everything is exciting, just like a new love!

More practically, things that I love about Vancouver:

• FOOD (fresh fruits, farmers markets, fresh fish, etc.)
• Nature
• Skytrain
• Culture
• My apartment
• Beaches
• Massive trees everywhere
• Bill and Eva (my great-uncle and aunt)
• Easy biking
• Green grass year round
• FOOD (as in restaurants, like Granville Island potato place, Naam, Pad Thai from that place on Commercial, Gelato by that other place on Commercial...)
• Aquarium
• Easy access to the ocean
• Stop-over city for all asia-bound destinations (lots of visitors!!)
• Clothing
• People that just met me can sometimes guess that I'm half-asian!

Perks of the commute

People keep asking me why I don't mind traveling an hour each way to school. Well besides getting to read, do a crossword, and knit, there's entertainment all around me.

Imagine this: I wake up in the morning, and decide to walk to the skytrain. Once outside, I can see the snow peaked mountains, which will be my view for the rest of the trek down to Commercial. Once there, I take the skytrain to school, which is up Burnaby mountain. Most mornings, since it's early, the mountain is still in the clouds, so at some point during the ride I get surrounded in fog, which is probably my favorite "nature state" after wind. And then, a miracle happens, once at the top of Burnaby mountain, we are above the clouds, and now I can see for miles in all directions. It's like being at the top of the world. It's the same feeling as the one I get when standing in the tundra, there's simply nothing there to obstruct the view, and the sky is huge. There are the rockies to one side (North, I think) but the rest is just sunshine, and the top of skyscrapers in the distance.

*School interlude*

Now it's time for the return journey: sunset. On the skytrain, I'm heading west, directly into the setting sun, which on a clear day turns the whole skyline pink, orange, purple, blue... The colors reflect off the skyscrapers (Vancouver is the glass-city after all!), and it's just breath-takingly beautiful. My way home takes time, so by the time I'm back to my house, the sky has turned that dark, dark, blue (my favorite color), and the moon is up and shining. There are only a few stars, unfortunately, but last Saturday, I'm sure I saw a shooting star!!

Jealous??

Ok, granted, it rains here, a lot. But still, days like these happen at least once a week. And yes, I know that the walk to Commercial is annoying when my bag is heavy, or I'm in a hurry... which is why I'm thinking of moving somewhere closer to a skytrain station. Still, I enjoy my hour with nature everyday.

Beginnings

So over the Christmas break, I was asked the same question time and time again:

"What are you going to do with a master's in math?"

And as I shrugged, I realized that this was no longer a sufficient answer. While I was an undergrad, a shrug seemed to satisfy most people. Now, I need a purpose, a dream job, or ambition of some kind... was there some sort of transition I wasn't aware of this summer? Do the four months separating an undergrad from a graduate matter that much? Well, I personally didn't think so, but others obviously did. So after a dozen of such encounters, I sat down and asked myself the dreaded question:

"What in the hell I am doing with my life?"

Needless to say, I wasn't much fun for the rest of the holidays. Well, though I haven't found an answer, and it's been over a month, I have come to a few important conclusions:

1. I don't want to do my phd in math, at least not for a few years.
2. I still have the travel bug, and must start planning around that.
3. I have committed myself to a master's and should do the work required of me as best I can.
and 4. To my great disbelief (and to those around me), I am actually starting to become an adult, which is what will hopefully hold this blog together.

So I still don't know what I'm going to do with my life, but it's a start!