Adventures of Grace Tang

This year has been really rewarding for me, but also tremendously tough. I have definitely gone through my share of struggles and difficulties, but one thing that has helped keep me positive and sane (apart from exercise and good friends) is writing. Rarely, a particular problem will concern me so much that I cannot think properly or get over it, and the issue consumes my mind. When this occurs and I have no one to talk to at the time, I feel as if I may implode. At times like these, I write down my thoughts in the computer and talk my way through what is happening, in the same way I would had I been speaking to a therapist or friend. It is amazing effective writing has been to solving personal problems. Additionally, one thing I've done this year is write letters to myself. On Valentine's day I wrote myself an encouraging love letter of sorts (despite having a significant other), and a birthday letter when I turned another year older in March. Looking back and re reading w...

Recently, I was introduced to the book David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell. The story really opened my eyes, and despite only reading a few chapter in, the contents have greatly changed my perspectives.  Essentially, Gladwell's novel is one in which he discusses why society always perceives the so called "underdogs" to be at a disadvantage and are surprised when they come out on top. The world believes David's win to be a miracle when it fact it should not have been a surprise (I won't spoil the book for those who have not read it yet). One central idea to the David and Goliath is that we often think in a very fixed way, and believe in one set way of doing things, or one set of rules when it is easy to find a solution that could be out of the box. Reading the novel made me think of one of the most profound things that occurred to me as a young student in history class. Now, I realize the lessons I learned from the incident can be applied to life and society at...

Sometimes, it takes one mistake to keep you on your toes, and my mistake cost me $7 dollars, not too bad considering I'll be more careful in future. I recently joined a group called "Free and For Sale" at my school. Having always ignored the posts for goods, I decided to take a leap yesterday and purchase something. On the page, I found a blue button up shirt that I liked and it was advertised as L. I like to wear an oversized button up shirt above a tank top, so I decided to purchase the item. I messaged the girl selling and we arranged for me to pick up the shirt today at 2:45. She took a long time to arrive but eventually I paid her $7 dollars for the shirt, which was folded, stuffed it into my backpack and went back home. Imagine my surprise when I got home and saw the shirt for the first time! It was L yes, but not a normal adult large, it was a kid sized large shirt. And worst of all, it didn't fit me! Since I'd only purchased the item 30 minutes ago, ...

I have to say, that although I've received plenty of bad gifts, I've never received a gift that has delighted me or impressed me as much as the ones I opened this year. With the trend today of gift cards, cash, and vouchers, people don't think before getting someone a present, these gifts are "safe" but not memorable. I don't remember who got me the chapters gift card... This year, someone gave me truly special gifts. Ones that took thought, and time, and energy, and affection to create. It makes me think that giving is not about the amount of $ on a gift card. It's about the heart that went into a gift. I wish everyone Happy Holidays! I'll be in Miami, Mexico, Mahogany Bay and the Cayman Islands for the next little while on a well deserved break. I wish you all the best in the New Year! :)

Let's get down to studying, to defeat exams Why are there 13 chapters, I don't know any of them? It's the longest course I've ever took, and I can bet before I'm done, I will have wasted hours having fun. There are 2 days left now, and I'm getting scared First I'll have to facebook, cruise the net, eat pears Before I review I'll doodle make art, and I'll even watch a show now there's 30 hours, let's go! I'm never gonna be done on time say goodbye to all those good marks if I don't do well I'd better not tell my parents These organism names are so long Better start intensely cramming Now I really wish that I had photographic memory procrastinate, I really just wanna take a break Procrastinate now I only have one more day procrastinate I hope that I'll be okay But I'm sure with a will, there's a way! Time is racing toward me till exams arrive Once I find my confidence, I just may survive The gy...

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”  ---- John Steinbeck “Winter is not a season, it's an occupation.”  -----Sinclair Lewis “Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.”  ----Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince “Winter changes into stone the water of heaven and the heart of man.”  ----Victor Hugo Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius. ----Pietro Aretino

This week is the last week of the term for me. I can't believe that I'll be done exams in less than 3 weeks! It's a bittersweet moment, I feel as if I'm on the cusp of great changes. Things will be so different once I start working next term. Growing up and becoming a real adult isn't an easy thing to accept all at once. Not surprisingly, my ability to pay attention in class has been deteriorating... yet, a part of me doesn't want all of this to end. I feel torn, as if I'm trying to stay put and run far away all at once. One thing is for certain, I need a break! Hopefully after travelling to Mexico in December, I'll feel more refreshed and invigorated. Maybe seeing new places and new cultures will boost my energy and optimism as I rocket towards my future. As I grow and develop as a person, I'm starting to look hard at my future and plan for where I want to be in 5 years, 10 years. Setting goals for my future, thinking of steps to take so I can g...

As I walked through the flurries, worries whirling in my head, like the weather all around me thoughts in turmoil conflicting emotions A snowflake landed on my eyelash. I looked up and saw all of the white crystals dancing in the wind and remembered, that no two snowflakes are alike ever. Just as no two humans will ever be truly alike ever. We're like the snowflakes, I thought. Flying through life, dancing in the wind. Sometimes we're happy, and fly up high, sometimes we're down and drift towards the earth sometimes we're indecisive, spinning out of control, confused, scared sometimes we're calm, peaceful, letting the wind take us away, away Everything happens for a reason, I thought,  it's comforting to know we're all unique, no one will ever be like me, I'm the only one of my kind, and that's a comforting thought. Sometimes, I just need to think of those snowflakes and I smile. Those snow...

I exhale and the fog rises up into the mysterious darkness that is the night sky Snowflakes flash twinkle for an instant crystals swirling in the wind As I hold your hand under the streetlights

Yesterday was one of the most exciting days and suspenseful in my life! I am finally, thankfully, joyously employed!!! So the ranks came out on Friday, and I did not get any job offers. I did get a rank for Ernst and Young which was my first choice. This means that I wasn't their first choice, but I may be their second or third choice. However, I knew the girl who got the offer, she had 5 offers in total and told me that she wouldn't be accepting the job. So, crossing my fingers, I ranked the job I wanted as number one and hoped for the best. The final match came out yesterday at 4 pm. I had been excited and worried all day. Time passed, 4:10, then 4:20 rolled around, and nothing. I checked on Jobmine, it said the position had already been filled. Dreading the worst, I contacted a friend who had gotten an offer. She told me that she got her confirmation e-mail for her job at 3:50. I knew it. I didn't get an offer. The disappointment washed over me like a tidal wave. My fr...

Remember how I was sad in my last post because I didn't get an interview at the place I worked really hard for? Well it turns out they had a different position and gave me an interview! That's the good news.  After the past weekend of intense studying, I started to get really nervous for interviews this week. At Waterloo, when signing up for an interview slot, you can see the who the other interviewees are. I know many of my fellow peers who are also being interviewed for my position, and I started getting really nervous as self doubt began to plague me. The other interviewees are all so talented, bright and friendly, what if I'm not good enough? I was talking to a good friend of mine today who has the same pre-interview event and really wants to go to the same company but in a different position. She genuinely loved the firm and really wants the job, and I think the job would be perfect for her. But her competition is really tough. When I questioned her on how she f...

As I've mentioned in previous posts, Co-op season is here for me, and I knew that I'd get rejections. After all, finding a job is hard. But so far, I've been pretty lucky in my endeavours. Most of my rejections I've taken well, it didn't bother me that I got rejected from 8 places before finally getting my first interview. However, today, I got rejected to the one job that I really wanted, the one job I put so much effort into. Despite knowing that things may not always work out, this particular rejection still hurts.  Disappointment is something we all have to deal with in our lives. As they say, "Life's not fair", "you win some and you lose some". Even knowing that, I guess some disappointments hit harder than others.    But I have to admit that in the co-op hunt, everyone is working hard, everyone is putting their best effort in. Just because I tried really hard, it doesn't mean that I'm guaranteed an interview. Also, I should b...

As the school year is progressing, things are really starting to pile up. I'm balancing my enormous amount of school work with friends, a relationship, clubs I'm involved in and co-op. Despite the seemingly overwhelming commitments right now, I am having the time of my life! As I was going in to a restaurant to eat yesterday, I ran into one of my good friends and his mom. He was telling her how I was doing so well in school, and he told me how I seemed to do so well with such little effort. When I heard him, I laughed. There aren't many things I can say with high certainty, but one thing life has taught me is that the amount of work put into something is usually proportional to the result of that effort. From first hand experience in first year, I know that when I studied hard for something, I almost always did better than when I slacked off. This applies to real life too! Everyone in university is intelligent, but some people do better because they work harder! It may ...

Today was an extraordinary day for me! I had the pleasure of flying to the CN tower by plane today, and it was like nothing I'd ever seen before! Sure, I've flown to other countries by plane before, but I'd never actually FLOWN one. Also, the purpose of the trip was to sight see, and I never realized that Canada was so beautiful! Our plane was a 4 seater; I'm not exactly sure what the model and type is. But I got to wear earphones and talk over the radio. There are a lot of checks and procedures that must be followed before a flight, and the weather is really important to fly a plane. We had to stay under the clouds so we waited until the skies cleared up. But the wait was definitely worth it! It was really fascinating to see how the pilot and dispatchers communicated with each other over the course of the flight! Since Toronto is so popular and has a busy airport, we often had to change altitude to accommodate the other aircrafts. For the most part, we stayed b...

My own experiences struggling to understand organic chemistry can be compared to the Duke of Wellington was struggling to defeat Napoleon (notice how both theses events happened in Waterloo). Since I am in the biotechnology chartered accountancy program here at Waterloo, I am required to take the dreaded CHE 266, organic chemistry. Now, according to most news items and student feedback, organic chemistry is consistently ranked as the Top 10 Hardest Courses in University, and usually #1. That does not help my confidence level, nor does it help that on the first day my professor told us less than 20% of students pass the course with an 80% and 15% of students fail. First class was overwhelming, I had enormous chemical names thrown in my face left and right. The professor practically danced over all of the points, saying "just review this on your own". Yeah right. But now that second class has passed, I've studied a lot, and the prof talks more slowly, I'm not so t...

Hello friends! Many people have been asking me to write about my university program, biotechnology chartered accountancy. Now, the normal reaction when I tell others what I'm studying is "huh?". I know it seems strange to combine science with accounting, but this field of science and business has been becoming more and more popular and sought after. The reason I chose to go into the field of study is because I wanted to leave my options open. I really wanted to do my chartered accounting designation but was also considering medical school when going into university, so this seemed like a good option. Currently there are only 11 students in my year and getting into the program was not easy. The requirements for my program was "individual selection from the mid nineties" in terms of average, which is the highest requirement to get into Waterloo University. I'm very passionate about both science and accounting, and I love all my courses. However, my progr...

As the famous John Muir once said, "To the lover of wilderness, Alaska is one of the most wonderful countries in the word." And he is absolutely correct. My experiences in Alaska is almost too great for words, and now I understand why people who have trekked the pristine lands before me have never forgotten the experience. My trip was first by cruise then by land tour. On our sea days, we visited many ports of call in Alaska. The first was Keitchikan, and we saw lots of wildlife there including eagles, black bears, salmon, and seals. We also visited the largest collection of authentic totem poles in the world! Next we hit Juneau, the capital of Keitchikan. My favourite part of the region was the Mendenhall Glaciers and Nugget Falls. Of course, I also enjoyed watching the spawning sockeye salmon swimming in the glacial waters. It's amazing how fast the glaciers are retreating, since the falls were covered by the glaciers only 15 years ago! Skagway was the ...

Vancouver is one of those places that I've heard about so many times but never visited... until now. The city has always held so much fascination for me, and just over 3 weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful seaside city. I have to say that Stanley park is one of my favourite attractions in the city. With a beautiful oceanside view of the city skyline, the park is full of people jogging, walking, or biking. I really get a feel of what Vancouver is like just by walking along the gorgeous seawall. Of course, at low tides, you can meet some interesting creatures :) Another very fun place to explore is the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. Offering a magnificent view of the leafy rain forests, the park has many interesting trails, bridges, cliff walks and even tree top trails to walk through!  Capilano Park was quite educational too! I learned so much about birds of prey and the types of plant life present by listening to speakers and reading the ...

About 3 weeks ago, I travelled to Vancouver and Victoria before heading up north to Alaska. On my trip, I encountered many interesting people and visited some stunning places. One of my favourite places in BC was the Butchart Gardens in Victoria. Now I've seen some pretty beautiful gardens in my life: Versailles, the botanical gardens in Niagara Falls, and very pretty neighbourhood ones, but man, this place was definitely the most unforgettable. The whole estate is a feast for the senses. Annuals and perennials alike burst with colour and life, competing for attention. There are also many different styles of gardens too, including Japanese, Rose, Italian, etc. What's also really great about the park are the Umbrellas! It was raining lightly when we arrived and we could look great and stay dry! Looking at the beautiful plant life in the place, I'm astounded by the work that clever gardeners and landscapers have done, it's definitely not easy to keep ...

Hey! Long time no write! So I am finally back on home soil, and I know it's been a while since I've last written but there was no internet at sea. My trip to Alaska was FANTASTIC, and I'll be writing some future blogs about my adventures there! But I have to say, I am glad to be back. My summer has flown by so quickly. Now I'm into my second year of Biotechnology Chartered Accountancy. I thought I'd be able to have some down time to relax before school, but unfortunately, all of the orientation events here have kept me busy! I haven't had a single free day since moving in 3 days ago. But being a science orientation leader here at Waterloo has been so much fun and very rewarding. It's always great to see the bright young faces of the new students, and I really enjoy helping them settle into the school. Of course, problems always pop up. Lunch was hectic; I had to multitask and help communicate the problems with serving the food the organizers. Thank goodn...