échappée

Dear crazy old man in Toronto,

Don’t try to tell me that cell phones cause ethylene gas to be emitted into the air and that due to cell phones, oxygen levels have dropped from 30% to 17%. Both statements are WRONG. Ethylene gas is what makes your food ripen and is produced by the plants themselves. Oxygen levels are at around 21% and have been for some time.

Dear wife of aforementioned crazy old man,

Don’t just stand there pretending not to notice while your husband verbally abuses teenagers for using their cellphones. Have you no shame? Pull him away so he doesn’t make a scene in public, and then take him back to his nursing home.

Lessons of the day: 1. if you really love someone, don’t let him/her do anything stupid in public. 2. check your facts.

I wish I had the guts to say this to you on the bus the other day, but since I’m not one to yell at people in public, here is what I would have said had I had the courage. Although you only talked to me for a brief fifteen minutes (actually, you mostly talked and I listened), I’ve already formed a strong opinion of you, and here’s why:

In the fifteen minutes that I’ve known you, you managed to insult almost every immigrant there ever was. That’s including your family, sir. 

You told me that you don’t think immigrants with decent jobs (doctor, lawyer, and engineer were the examples you listed…) in their native country should be recognized for their education, ranking, etc. once they move to a new country… because “[your] kids need those jobs”. I understand your way of thinking as a worried father in this economy, but that is probably the most close-minded thing that anyone has ever directly said to me. Let me break this down for you:

1. “My kids need those jobs” is not a good reason for anything. Who is to say that your kids deserve a certain job more than someone else? -especially if they have already been licensed and practicing in their native country? In most places around the world, a job is something you fight for and earn, not something that gets handed to you just because you were born in this country.

2. Having an immigrant who is already licensed in their field become licensed to practice in Canada does NOT diminish your child’s chances of getting into post-graduate professional schools. It’s not like people who are already doctors will go back to medical school and fill up those precious spots. 

3. Your logic does not work both ways: if your child, for some reason, decided to immigrate to another country and could not become easily re-certified and obtain a job, wouldn’t you be upset and worried for them? Wouldn’t you think that’s it’s UNFAIR because they are actually qualified? I don’t know you very well, but I’ll bet you wouldn’t tell your kids to stop stealing someone else’s job. 

4. Unless you are native American (and even they came from Siberia), you descended from someone who immigrated to Canada. That means your ancestor had to have gotten a job somehow, so stop being so selfish. Face it, the world was built upon immigration and that will never change. 

Now, take your hand and place it in front of you, 30cm away from your face, and swiftly bring it closer until it makes painful contact with your cheek. 

I descaled a fish for the first time today…it felt a little inhumane but mostly intrusive to see the fish in its naked scale-less glory.

Here’s a tutorial video from eHow for anyone who’s really interested (go outside). 

If you ARE actually watching the link, I would just like to say that he has the most atrociously dyed hair that I’ve seen on a man (J.T.’s frosted tips were also atrocious but awesome at the same time). 

PROTIP: Just use a big knife. No need to waste money on a commercial descaler.

I guess maybe people have started wondering if I’ve fallen through a crack in the Earth (ha…like you could get rid of me). The truth is, I’ve been busy eating and gathering energy for world domination (read: working 5 days a week so I don’t go broke). 

Here’s something that I randomly thought to make one day that’s not only incredibly delicious and nomzy but also really healthy.  So if you’re like me and you don’t exercise much, don’t worry, this won’t make you fat. 

Step 1: Get fruit that you like to nomz and chop it up into pieces that fit into your mouth. 

Read more →

Another dreary day in London. I’m putting off studying. People are being loud outside my room. I just want this weekend to be over. 

So what else is new?

This is the absolute worst time of the year. To name only a few things:

• Midterms are following you around like that annoying kid with no friends who can’t be ditched. (If you’re thinking “I’ve never met anyone like that in my life” … it’s you.)
• The substantial amount of snow in London is melting and making puddles everywhere, leaving unsuspecting students like myself to be splashed on days where we decide to ditch the sweats and put on something cute. 
  I just want some nice weather so I don’t have to look like an eskimo because of my gigantic parka! Is that too much to ask for?! 
  
  
•  There is absolutely nothing going on right now. Nothing. The most exciting thing I’ve done this week was go see The Fighter, which incidentally was a very good film and I recommend seeing it!

On a more positive note, only 2 more months of living in residence! Some of my friends have said that they’ll miss living here, but honestly, I’ll be delighted once I leave and move into the new townhouse!

Home for reading week! It’s been more relaxing than school because I guess I’m not in the studying environment anymore; however, I’ve been studying like no tomorrow because I return to 3 freaking midterms. 

*deep breaths*

On top of that, I’ve been helping out my mom with some bookkeeping stuff at the place that she works…

That said, it was great to be home; I miss all the little things that I never noticed before and have always taken for granted:

• Having enough chair space to swivel around and not hit anything/anyone
• Having a comfortable chair
• A bathtub big enough to do more than just spin in circles
• Always having yummy food in the fridge
• HAVING AN OVEN (yay freshly baked cookies!)
• Parents nagging about everything (okay, I didn’t miss that nearly as much as the other stuff… but still)
• Peace and quiet

Visiting my high school teachers was pretty fun today too! To be honest, I miss high school a lot more than I’ll admit. It was so relaxed, and I had the best teachers who actually took the time to make sure their students understood the lessons to the best of their abilities. Some of the best memories that I’ve had also took place in that building, so it was pretty nostalgic for me to go back today. 

Needless to say, with 3 more days of reading week, I’m going to enjoy it as best as I can!

Now… back to chemistry practice problems…