School always finds a way to screw you

Six years ago when I was in Grade 12 I received an award in high school. It was for a piece of art work that I made during art class, a hand-carved soap stone sculpture of a mother polar bear and her cub. For the award, I received $150 for the school to display my work for 5 years. Although it was one of my favourite pieces of art, it was on loan and knowing it would be in my possession later on, I felt comfortable with letting the school rent it. We had a custom 3-foot wooden stand made for the piece and it sat on top of a stone slab and was encased on a plexiglass box. Anyhow, a year past due, I went back to my school to pick it up. I saw a lot of teachers that taught while I was there and many that didn't. I didn't exactly say hi to many of them because, whoops, I forgot their names. I wish this post could be more about my visit back to my high school and the memories that I had there but instead this trip took a turn for the worst.

As I approached the place where my artwork stood for the last 6 years, I noticed something very strange. The stone slab was broken into two pieces and the sculpture was absent from the casing. I could see the darkened circles where the feet of the polar bears used to be glued down. I thought to myself, well maybe the head of the art department had it removed when she knew I was coming to pick it up. However, the broken slab was an ominous sight.

I waited for 20 minutes for this teacher meet me in the office and to help me dismantle my piece. Finally when she came, she says "Hi, you must be Lesley, sorry for keeping you. So show me where this art piece of yours is." What? You mean she doesn't even know what it is or where it was? Not good. So I take her to where my prized piece used to sit, just an empty box with some broken stone in it. And I said, "this is not my sculpture." Totally shocked as I realized that something was not right, I examined the box further, only to find that the plexiglass had been ripped from the stand, broken at the points where the screws used to secure it to the wood. Fuck. That looked way too easy.

There were about 3 janitors/carpenters hanging around the area when realization set in. Somebody stole my art work, something that took me hours to create and something I ultimately loved. All the past winners' pieces were hanging daintily on the walls, mostly paintings of people, looking pitifully at me as I was surrounded by strangers who couldn't console me. It didn't make me feel any better to know that the art teacher was oblivious to this award and that my work even existed despite a plaque on which my name was engraved was blatantly tacked to the wall above this stupid empty stand. One of the carpenters plucked the plaque from the wall to give to me and had the balls to say this "well the nice thing about the nails sticking out the back is that when you place it on a flat surface, the plaque can be propped up," to which I snapped "I HAVE NOTHING TO SHOW IT WITH!" Ok I felt like a bitch for taking it out on him, but I was really pissed. And then tears started to form.

Pretty soon it was a fountain coming out of my eyes. Grrrrrr! And I hate crying in public too!! The art teacher, who never taught me, did her best to make me feel better and to get to the bottom of this. And all this time I used to think she was a really mean person. Well finally she talks to the principal. He told her that it had been stolen a couple of years ago, which I don't think is true because I was there last year and I remember seeing it. But that's not the point. Why the hell did nobody do anything then? Why wasn't I contacted? The school has video cameras for god's sake!! Something is not right. Nobody cares. I'm really bitter about my old school. Screwing with me again. The only thing good that came out of it was my friends. I should have picked it up sooner.

Some people say I should take it as a compliment that they stole my sculpture. As in it was worth stealing. I think it might have been damaged though. That is no consolation, I will never get it back. I don't think I can be consoled.

Sure I can make a replica, but replicas are just that, not the original.

Only give responsibilities to people you trust. Only trust the people you love. Damn I am bitter.

Sunset

I'm getting picture crazy but I had to upload this one that I took on Sunday. The last 2 days we've had some really beautiful sunsets in the countryside. Despite the stinky manure, this view was all worth it.

Sunset 

Campus Hollywood

I had so much fun at work today. Granted the word "work" is highly overstated in it's influence on the fun. If you go to the UWO website or read the LFP you might have heard that UWO is the location for a movie set. The movie is called Codebreakers based on a true event that took place at West Point Military Academy in New York State in which a cheating scandal in the 1950s resulted in the dismissal of 90 cadets, many of whom were football players. And I mention that they were football players because this made-for-tv movie is airing on ESPN, a network in which I don't get on my cable TV. Over the last 2 days they were filming scenes behind Stevenson-Lawson, at the Med Sci loading docks, UC Hill (on which they flew an American flag) and Middlesex College.

Alfred and I took a "coffee break" and made an incidental detour around campus. We first went to Somerville where there appeared to be a wardrobe changing station. I truly felt sorry for the extras and actors who had to wear those wool uniforms + hat in the hot sun. Of course I brought along my camera and I took a picture from afar. One of the extras/fillers asked me if I wanted to come and take a picture with the soldiers so I said YES.

We talked to them for a little while. The guy 2nd from the right said he used to be in the military. I mostly talked with the guy standing right behind me to get the scoop on the movie and a bit about their careers. The fillers came from Toronto through several agencies and this guy said he did a lot of background work. They all seemed pretty happy to be there and I have to say that it was super cool to see all these people on campus.

Then we made a trip to UCC and took another detour to take a picture of an old bus.

As we walked down this way to see the bus, we saw the towards Middlesex was a large gathering of people and thought that they must be filming there.

We got closer and noticed they had rain-makers set up and were filming a walking scene in the rain. I took a pic and one of the crew mouthed "no flash" in a very friendly manner. Looking a little closer, one of the actors appeared to stand out and he looked more important than everyone else with an assistant following him around with a towel. It was ZTB, Zachary Ty Bryan from Home Improvement. I knew he was in the movie but never thought that I'd see him as the filming was only taking place over 2 days. Anyhow, he was all wet and took his shirt off just as I was going to take a picture but I didn't take it b/c I didn't want to exploit him like that hahaha. After the filming he started to walk right towards us as we stood on the grass. Some girl and guy asked him for his autograph although he appeared to be in a huge hurry and Zach was very gracious and gladly gave it. So I thought it was my opportunity to ask him for a pic and he willingly obliged. I shook his hand and introduced himself and he was super friendly and cordial. He said he was having a great time in London. Then his assistant took this really crappy picture of us.

Well honestly I was pretty happy for the rest of the day. It's the most excitement we've had on campus all summer. JTT was always my favourite on Home Improvement, but I think ZTB is climbing up there now.

The Weekend

Some terminology I picked up during the weekend while playing in Ancaster with the UWO team:
Stoption
Chuck 'er chair
Give her splinters
She means business
TLV (I had to include this one even though I don't know what it means yet)
Sac-yer-face

I must say although we didn't win much (one out of 4 games) I had a great time. We had 5 girls from the Western team including me play. I got to play lots of 2nd base, some LF. I definitely belong in the infield, my arm can't take too many of those long throws from the outfield. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. Only one more tournament to go in Brampton before I go to Malaysia!!!!!!!

PS I uploaded a picture from convocation to my previous post.

Bachelor of Medical Science Honours Physiology with Distinction *

My steering wheel was so hot last week that I had to wear mittens left in the car from the winter-time to drive home. Now this week I'm wearing long sleeves and sweaters.

How does Stevie Wonder watch a basketball game? He was singing at the Spurs/Pistons game and was sitting in the audience afterwards. I wonder if he knows what's going on or can comprehend the magnitude of their play. I'm not a huge NBA follower but I was looking up some players on the internet. I came across Dikembe Mutombo. That guy is still around? He's almost 40! He's quite the character. His real name is Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo and a son named Jean Jacques Dikembe Mutumbo Mplombo, Jr. He wanted to become a physician until a basketball coach at Georgetown University recruited him to the basketball team. He originated from Congo but soon became a superstar in his American University and get this, patented the phrase: "Who wants to sex Mutombo?" Bahahahahahahah!! He was literally the big man on campus. Size 22 feet.

On another topic. Yay we have won two games in a row (9-3 and 13-6)! But I'm still having a hitting slump. This happens every 2 or 3 years. I'll do really well, everything is good, my mechanics are sound and I am confident that I'll hit the ball. Now I can't even hit off of the slow pitchers. Granted I'm trying to change my technique. Like my coach says, if you change things, it'll get worse before it gets better. Please please get better!

Yesterday I convocated. It was a long ceremony as usual but I thought it kicked ass in most respects. Although the ceremony took over 2 hours, 3 if you include the waiting time beforehand, I sat beside a really nice guy who chatted with me the whole time. I'd never met him in my 4 years at UWO, his name was Connor and he was at least 6'5". It must have looked really funny with us walking up on stage together.

The speaker who received an honourary degree gave a pretty good speech, mostly directed to women and their increasing prominent and important role in society. She also spoke about her career as an advocate for animal models in science as well as her experiences such as WWII that set her on her path to UWO. When speaking about the dangers of correlation she gave this example: "98% of convicted felons are bread users. Is bread dangerous?" That's funny, my whole 4th year thesis was based on trying to make correlations. It's a good thing I'm not doing my Master's. Well I had a good time seeing everybody again. For some it might be the last time I see them, for others the last time in a while. I found out that Alex got into UofT as well. Others were on the waiting list still. Interestingly enough I received an offer of admission to Mac this morning before going to work. I thought that this was odd because I had already accepted the offer to Toronto. All Ontario schools communicate with each other and Mac should have known already that I am going to Toronto. Now I have to worry about whether my mail was sent out properly. But it does feel good to know I was also accepted there.

The only good advice comes when it is asked for. This quote came from someone who was offering advice unprompted as a way of saying you don't have to listen to me if you don't want to. Maybe I'm not used to receiving impromptu advice but I thought it was weird and the advice stranger. He congratulated me for getting in to UofT and said it was the right choice scholastically, but that I should be careful not to let other things get in the way of my career ie. only consider factors that are related to my career to make decisions. Then he started being vague. "Don't commit...keep your options open...experience new things and new people...learn from experience...nicest person in the world but...there are many fish in the sea...you are young...when I was young I was naive..." WTF?! I'm not sure what this conversation really was about. I didn't even really say much I was dumbfounded. I am still not certain what the punchline was. Then he said at some point "you can tell me later on that I was completely wrong and to 'go fuck yourself' but I had to tell you this." If I am interpreting his advice properly I think it might be the latter advice that I'll stick with. Anyhow, he made some sense and was telling me to be cautious. However can you not also learn from "mistakes" as well? Is it possible that I could already be happy? It's food for thought that I'm sure I'll be munching on for a long time, trying to figure out what the hell that was about.

There are good days, and then there are BAD days

A string of bad events. I had a ball game Tuesday and despite eating 3 times after getting home from lunch, I still had that hypoglycemic arm-tingle and light-headedness. By the time the game started, I wasn't feeling myself. By the 2nd inning, my face was burning up. I was having a fever in 30-degree weather! I wanted to keep playing so I just took some Tylenol Extra-Strength and kept going, although there were 3-minute strings where I kept daydreaming and not paying attention at all to the game. Anyhow, my mysterious fever went away later that night on its own.

On Tuesday night, I went upstairs to go to bed at around 2am. I seemed to have a lot of "to do's" and I couldn't get to sleep any earlier. I was all ready to sink into my bed and pass out but I found a nice little surprise on my bed. Rambu peed in it again! And it's not like I was speculating through smell this time, it was fresh and wet and right where I sleep. When cats pee on things I think that they are marking their territory or telling you (in their way) that they are not happy. But he is treated so well. Arrrrgh! So then I'm washing my sheets, which I had just cleaned that day, and Stain-Away-Windex-Febreze-ing my matress. By the time I finish 3am rolls around. I had to be up this morning at 6am to go to Toronto for my sister's convocation.

6am, I wake up, very very tired. I rushed to pack all my bags, get dressed and dry my hair. I had to pack clothing for fastball practices (times 2). In my hurry, I grabbed my necklace hoping to put it on in the car ride. Then we were out the door, first to my dad's office where I got the two quickest needles in my life. One tuberculosis test and 5 vials of blood taken. Then it was off to drop my car into a parking lot so that I would have a car after taking the greyhound back to London. Then we stop to get some breakfast at the Ingersoll Tim Horton's where 50-plus little kids having a field trip. So it took way too long to get our food. In fact, we ended up getting Wendy's for breakfast instead. When we got back on the highway, I realized that my necklace wasn't in my purse. I was so worried that I had lost it. It's probably one of the most sentimental items that I'm attached to.

10am, we enter downtown Toronto, well, we're 2 exits away from Bay St. Half an hour later, we get down to Bay and Wellesley! So my sister's late for her oath swear-in, and yes, we made her late, but we couldn't control the traffic. Then before the real ceremony, my sister realized she forgot the tickets for my parents. The U of T employees who were admitting people through the doors wouldn't make any exceptions for non-ticket holders. I got so irritated, I almost went violent on the girl giving out tickets who insisted that my parents had to wait for over an hour to see if there were any extra tickets after people went in. Jeez, I have to deal with that kind of thing for the next 4 years...at least I get to see the CN Tower every day. Long story short, they ended up getting in.

I took the bus home and walked to the station from campus. I was sunburned by the time I got there. And this lady was talking on her cell phone for most of the trip. Very annoying. Well after 2 practices (one I got hit in the back with the ball, the other was just pure anarchy), I come home and my necklace is sitting on the kitchen table. Ahhhh. The only relief of the day.

There really is no point in me telling you all this. It just seems like these things come in spurts, great big juicy spurts.

Dinner Talk

I just got back from dinner tonight with my sister's friend Charles and his family. We got to gossip about a certain somebody who interviewed me and asked me if I had seen the movie Legend which stars Tom Cruise. I looked up that movie tonight, it got a turkey rating and in the description, Tom is a "forest-lad" who tries to safe a unicorn in a fictional place called Light. haha. I was 4 when he made that movie. It occurred to me that I never have to write the MCATs again! If only I had done more SRAs (and liked them) at Montessori, I would have kicked ass in the Verbal section. SRAs are virtually identical to Verbal passages, but at a lower level.

It's interesting to hear some of the stories that my parents tell to strangers, even ones that you've never heard yourself or maybe can't remember.

For the record, so that I don't forget, here are some cool things that came up:
*Our family has a detailed pedigree dating back to the 1200's which must be added upon by each generation.
*Some descriptions of ancestors are so detailed, that they have the direction in which their tombstones were facing down to the degree
*My aunt was in medical school but her studies were interrupted by WWII and she never finished
*My sister is the first female doctor in the Mok family
*She is a 4th generation dr.
*Today is D-Day and I happened to be reading in my book today (Shake Hands with the Devil) the point where the author is discussing the events of the Rwandan war on June 6, the 50th anniversary of D-Day
*My grandma is 83 years old

Anything I'm missing Andi?

Animal Stories

I woke up this morning thoroughly disturbed. By the time I woke up, it was 10:30am, very late for work. After rushing out of bed, I realized that I had been having dreams that prevented me from waking up. Usually that's not a good sign. My dream involved birds. There were two beautiful birds, one white and one blue. Suddenly, they started attacking each other, pecking with their beaks and ripping each other's feathers out. I was mortified because they were being so vicious and bleeding from attacking each other. Apparently they were fighting over a female bird. I tried saving them, but to no avail. Well I'm sure a lot more happened, but that's most of what I remembered. When I woke up I felt like throwing up.

Maybe I was subconsciously reacting to the bad smell that was coming from my blanket. I think Rambu peed on my bed. As I was about to sleep, I turned my room fan on because it's soooo hot. Anyways, this putrid smell was wafting through the room periodically. I thought something was burning at first, but then realized it was coming from my own blanket. Then I saw the stain. Yech! Bad, bad cat! He knows how to use the litter, there's evidence all over my floor. I wonder why he peed on my bed. Ok, I did sleep in my bed that night, but on the other side of the bed, away from the pee stain. But I intend on washing my blanket today. It's a good thing that I saved the Febreze from my sister's place.

I saw Boris today at the lab. After a short hiatus, he's back. And there's a Mrs. Boris. Alfred says that there are some babies too. Boris was busy hehe.

Some people in the lab work with mice. Every so often, there are mice in our lab to be used for experimentation. I usually go into the animal room to look at the little guys. I think they're so cute and I'm grateful that I don't have to do experiments with animals. Sometimes there are more than 10 babies in one cage. So I was looking at the mice today, doing my usual "aww's" when to my horror I saw a little baby, still pink and eyes closed, half-eaten. Did you know mice eat their young???? What the hell? Then I looked closer and saw other animal parts, paws here, legs there. Soooo gross! I think my perception of mice has changed drastically.

A day to remember

Today is a good day, a great day! June 3, 2005. My sister played a cruel joke on me today. I had already woken up late for work and I was drying my hair getting ready to leave. She comes into the bathroom and puts a letter down on the counter. I was confused at first, it was a regular-sized envelope with a burgundy letterhead and I thought at first it was the Ottawa wait list letter in hard-copy that I had received through e-mail on Tuesday. Upon closer inspection, the letter was from Mac. Great, another rejection/waitlist. I was thrown off quite a bit because the mail never comes until after lunch hour and it was only 10:30 am. Just when I was feeling dejection and more anxiety, a millisecond later, she whips out this big brown envelope from behind her back with an excited look on her face. Again, a little confused, I had to take a closer look at the address in the left upper corner. YES!!! The stamp said University of Toronto.

The big brown envelope was more than 2 times bigger than the little Mac one. That's a good sign. So I kept up the suspense and opened the Mac letter first, great, another wait list. Yawn. Alright, time to tear open the Toronto envelope (with an inkling of knowing what my fate already). Yay me! I got into Toronto Med School! I hugged and picked up both my sister and my mom, literally. I was elated. And very much relieved.

I went to call my dad, and since I had been tricked, I decided to pull a fast one on my dad too. I told him that I got a letter from Mac and I was waitlisted. He says "oh, I'm sorry to hear that, it's ok", then of course I told him I also got a letter from Toronto and that I got in. "Yes! That made my day!" It was only 10:30am, the day was just beginning though hehe. My whole family was really happy for me and I owe them a lot for all of their support in getting me where I am today. Thank you.

I feel rejuvenated, it's like things seem so much clearer now. A weight has lifted off my shoulders. Even driving to school I was happy. I listened to that Tears for Fears song from the Donnie Darko soundtrack. I really like that song, and oddly I'll remember it for being the song I listened to the day I got into med school.

The wheels are already turning in my dad's head...so much to do, so little time...getting a place, moving, all the things I have to do here before I leave. Me on the other hand, I like to take things nice and relaxed. Now I really have to think about my roommate situation. What to do....

My grandma's coming tomorrow from Boston to stay with us for a month. I'm pretty happy to see her again. Now maybe I can make good on my goal of learning more Chinese. Then I can use it when I'm in Chinatown in Toronto!

Lots of random things

Well I'll revisit some events from the weekend because I left so abruptly when the little birdies left us. I was really hopeful that they would be flying away within a couple of days. I think I'm still traumatized after seeing them die. I actually cried and we buried them in our backyard. Just because I cried over birds doesn't mean that I can't be a doctor. I will just be more emotional than most.

A few quotes from the weekend:

Me: Mom if the egg is old, why don't you throw it out?
Mom: Don't order me what to do.

Andi (at her apartment): Are you thirsty?
Me: Yes, I'm really thirsty.
Andi: There's some stuff in the fridge. Get it yourself.

Geez, what a nice family I have hehe.

So I got my new passport picture done the other day. I was feeling really good about it because I had done up my hair and I was even wearing a new shirt. I know, I know...it's just a passport picture, and who sees what you wear in a passport picture? I know what I wore, that's all that matters. It's one of those pictures that is destined to be horrible, despite your efforts to look decent. Kind of like bad driver's licence pictures. I figured that the picture quality would be pretty good, it's on real film, but you don't get to smile. The picture lady also made me take off my lip gloss. I was sure she was just going to tell me to wash my face completely. When I went to pick it up a few hours later I was really disappointed. If I didn't look scary before, now I surely do. If that's what I always look like when I don't smile, I am sorry to the world that you have to look at that. Maybe with a little plastic surgery I can get a perma-smile. I also look like I'm 12 (younger than usual).

On Wednesday I had to complete an application for graduate studies, just in case I don't get into med school. Do I really want to do a Master's? Well, maybe not, even if I don't get into med school. I really do get self-fulfillment out of research but I'm not so sure I want to commit myself to 2 years of it, then apply to med school again. I hate writing applications. Some part of me feels really phony, trying to impress people. You've gotta do what you've gotta do. Essentially if everybody does it, it just becomes par for the course. Unless you have such strong convictions that you would rather not conform just on principle, and then you get nowhere.

The grad applications annoyingly coincided with the release of med school acceptances/rejections/waitlists. Well I found out that I was waitlisted at Ottawa on Tuesday, therefore I had to apply to grad school on Wednesday. SUCKS!!!!!! It doesn't look good. It's one of those courtesy "you're on the waiting list, but you're unlikely to get in because you suck" responses. Assholes, just tell me I'm rejected, I can't take the kick in the stomach like that. I have yet to hear from two more schools and I'm starting to get really anxious. Well I just heard that two of my classmates got into Ottawa, congratulations to them. Anyways, there was a lot of running around to get my transcripts, reference letters, written application and $30 application fee together. I hope that in the end, that work will all be for nothing if you know what I mean.

The Knights won the Memorial Cup on Sunday to cap off an amazing season. They only lost something like 2 home games all season and hold the record of 31 games unbeaten in the CHL. That's really impressive. I wonder what it would be like to be attending Saunders again, having the famous London Knights roaming the hallways. Back in the day, the Knights were very mediocre, just "those guys". They attended classes rarely, and if they did, were very anti-social with the rest of the population. It must be much different now that they are local and arguably national celebrities. I'll tell you one thing, the puck bunnies are probably out in full force as usual. Haha, it reminds me of the time Susan and I bought these Valentine's candy grams for a couple of the Knights in our OAC calculus class. I can't remember who they were, but we put this coded message on it kind of like a Jumble. They were trying so hard to guess who it was, never thinking that random people would send one. It was really funny to see the confused looks on their faces, and they never figured out what the message was (I think it was something like Asian Squared). Yeah we were weird. I'm not a stalker I swear.

Paul made out with a girl at Mezie's house! Sorry I just had to say that. I still think of Paul as this little boy, who squeals so cutely like a girl. Haha, little Paul is growing up.

I just experience a "nudge" on MSN 7.0. It scared the crap out of me! Making my eyes go all crazy, I thought that they were spasming and that I was losing focus. Silly tricks Boon. Like the time when you were using the cordless keyboard to screw around with me, typing in random things on the laptop. I seriously thought it was being hacked into. I know it wasn't an accident!

Oh, oh I got a homerun last night. Woohoo, first one in a couple of years. A drive over the centrefielder's head! Finally I made contact with the ball. It also helped that the girl bobbled the ball too. I had to stop at every base to make sure that the girl ahead of me was advancing. It must have looked like quite the debacle. We ended up losing the game though to North Blue (I'm guessing the score was 13-7). One really bad inning and we couldn't catch up. I'm sick of playing them. We've played them 3 out of our last 4 games.

Alright, well I think that's enough randomness for now.