Brave New World Revisited

Today I finally leave the SFU Towers Residence to a place of my own…well not quite...I am sharing with 5 other people but anything’s better than the Towers. No more having to spend 1350 dollars within 3 months, no more having to tolerate idiots who just have to sing in the hallways and in their room knowing that some people can hear them through the paper-thin walls and are annoyed by them, no more having to tolerate other idiots who bounce their basketballs on their doors as if they own the whole floor, no more drunkards who pull the fire alarm at midnight forcing everyone to stand in the freezing cold for 20 minutes waiting for the fire brigade to turn it off, no more irritating neighbors who can’t stop giggling, and no mo reliance on cafeteria food with rip-off prices. I actually spent the remaining amount of my 1350 dollar meal plan on chocolate milk and instant noodles because that was all that remained in the cafeteria. Oh well, at least now I have 2 weeks supply of chocolate milk.

As for the new place, the room is slightly larger but less practical. Less shelves, no heater and a desk like a monk’s cell. Still, it’s only temporary until I can find a better place. The bed is soft, like the cheap mattresses from my grandmother’s house. The only good thing I can say about it is the bathroom which is a major improvement over the previous one. I hope I am able to persuade the landlord to add some improvements to my room, like a heater and a bigger desk but the current environment should suffice for now. Cheers to the new room...and chocolate milk.

Spring Into Action

The set they set up (no pun intended). The very first scene they shot (I think) was a bunch of soldiers stepping out of a truck...now I understand just how much work film making is...
The helicopter doing the aerial filming...I'm guessing this scene would go into the opening credits...

At last winter's chill is almost over. It’s starting to rain more often now, so I’m taking that as a sign that spring is almost here, if not here already. In about 4 weeks time, the semester will end and I will finally move to a (rented) place of my own. Since my last entry, I have bought a new computer; it’s a Dell XPS M1530 and even though it wasn’t as powerful as my old Acer, it was certainly cheaper and of a much better quality. It was also considerable lighter, making it easier to carry around.

I have also applied for a transfer to UBC (University of British Columbia) mainly because it offers a better, more prestigious brand name, and it was a much better university overall in terms of quality and facilities. I do not have much hope that the transfer will be successful because I actually applied past the deadline but if it does, I can look forward to a better life over there. Interestingly, UBC still has the information from my last application, so I’m hoping the processing would not take very long.

I visited UBC for the first time some weeks ago for their Festiva Celebration. It was a weeklong celebration of international culture with performances and games. I only attended the last day of the event but even that blew me away. I knew SFU would never authorize such an event. Just watching the performances made me realize how much better UBC was compared to SFU. I would have put pictures up, but I forgot to bring my camera. I actually carry my camera with me every day but for some reason I forgot to bring it on that day, when I actually needed it. The International Office at UBC was more independent and less interested in making money, so unlike SFU. Furthermore, in UBC, the International Students have their own building called the International House where they can have club meetings and even cook their own food because it has a kitchen. In SFU, all the International Students get is a lousy lounge with a pool table and broken pool sticks, a few saggy sofas and no kitchen. The ‘lounge’ even has security cameras in it, ensuring that those who do choose to hang out in there have no privacy. I actually found out recently that it took years for SFU International to even provide the lounge and only after receiving tons of complaints from International Students.

Just a few days ago, there was a major flurry of activity because a movie was bring filmed at SFU. Actually only several scenes were going to be filmed here, but even so, everyone was curious. The movie was “The Day the Earth Stood Still” which was a remake of a movie made a long time ago. The set here at SFU was a military base- Linwood Military Academy. Quite a fitting choice of location considering the fact that SFU looks like a prison. On their first day of shooting, lots of people crowded around the set (probably hoping to catch a glimpse of Keanu Reeves who was supposed to be in the movie). Whether he was actually in that scene I never found out but I did take a couple of pictures. It was exciting to see the actors in military uniform and all the pseudo-military hardware being loaded on to the set. They even brought half tracks but sadly, no tanks.

That’s it for the end of winter, and judging by how late this entry is, the end of spring is also just round the corner.

Gone With the Wind

On Sunday, after months of struggling with a crappy Internet connection, my laptop finally gave up on itself. The hard drive died, along with all my data. It all started on Sunday morning.

After my connection failed, I rebooted the laptop to restore it as usual but to my surprise it took a really long time to shut down. When I restarted it, there was a blank black screen with the words UNABLE TO LOAD WINDOWS. I knew at that moment that it was all over. I searched my shelves for my Windows installation CD and popped it into the drive hoping this would solve the problem. Of course, it didn’t, in fact the screen did not even change. With an assignment due on Tuesday, I knew how important it was to get access to a computer, preferably my computer, so I headed for the library hoping to get the technician there to fix my laptop, or at least use the computers there. Unfortunately, it was snowing really badly and by the time I got to the library, they were closing it. It was only 1.30 and they were closing the library because of the snow. I rushed to the main campus hoping to find a computer lab that was open. None were. Finally, I decided to head for the other campus in Surrey where I could use the computer lab and/or find someone to fix mine. At the bus stop I waited for half an hour for the bus before someone came up to us at the bus stop telling us all buses have stopped coming because of the snow. So here I was trapped on the mountain with a broken computer.

As a last resort, I decided to ask a friend who was in the Computer Science Programme to have a look at my laptop. However, I did not have much hope. Just because someone is in Computer Science does not automatically mean he/she could fix computers. It’s like assuming all paramedics could perform surgery. Anyway, my friend looked at my computer, pressed a few buttons and concluded that the hard drive was definitely in bad shape. All I could do now was wait till Monday and get it checked at the computer store.

At 4 pm, the snow started to clear up. I decided to try for a bus once more. The only bus that actually came up to campus was the bus to Metrotown, a mall about 45 minutes away. I decided to take it because the mall has a computer store that might repair my laptop. Unfortunately for me, the bus moved extra slowly because of the snow. By the time I arrived at Metrotown, it was already dark. As the bus neared the station, I glanced at an electronic board outside the mall. SUNDAYS 11 AM – 6 PM. I looked at my watch- 5.30. Wonderful. I only have half an hour till the shops closed. I rushed into the nearest computer store but they told me they were closing already. So my trip here was wasted.

On Monday, I checked with the computer store on campus and they gave the final verdict- the hard drive was beyond repair. The only thing I could do, besides buy a new one was to contact Acer and get them to send me a replacement part. Seems like all my stuff is gone forever. Luckily there wasn’t anything really important on it but still…

Now there’s just the long wait till the replacements arrive, if they arrive. I have never really appreciated the library so much as I do now.

A Christmas Carol

For the recent Christmas celebration, I was fortunate to experience it with most of my extended family even my relatives from Singapore who came to Kuala Lumpur. As usual there was a splendid Christmas dinner which most of us (but me) helped to prepare and as usual, there were carols to be sung. I had never really paid much attention to Christmas carols before, but this year, my mom wanted me to prepare a selection of carols in MIDI format to be sung later on. After looking through the list of songs, I realized that many of them had little connection to the actual meaning of Christmas. In fact most of them had nothing to do with Christianity. I read the lyrics for ‘Frosty the Snowman’ for the first time (really) and found nothing in relation to Christmas. The song was about a magical snowman and him having fun before his time went out. Songs like ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Winter Wonderland’, and ‘Let it Snow’ are mostly about the season of winter which would be unfamiliar to us living in a tropical country like Malaysia. Perhaps those songs originated in Europe or America where Christmas was during the season of winter but the fact remains that such songs have totally influenced the meaning of Christmas. Most people associate Christmas with snow, Santa Claus and other commercialized features and some even forget why the holiday is significant in the first place. Of course, there are some carols that reflect the Christian meaning of Christmas like ‘Hark now hear the Angels sing’ but they are too few in comparison to the other ‘commercialized’ carols. Even in malls when they play carols for the pleasure of shoppers, how often is it that one hears the carol ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ compared to ‘Jingle Bell Rock’?

I was reminded of another holiday I experienced in Canada- Halloween. Last year was my first encounter with Halloween (which is sadly not celebrated in Malaysia) and I too found it disturbing because like Christmas, Halloween has become over-commercialized. People dress up in outrageous costumes and get drunk all night but how many people know the original reason for celebrating Halloween? It started out as the Celtic harvest festival Sam Hain and people used to believe that at that time, the boundaries between the living world and the spiritual world would weaken, hence all the dressing up was to frighten away evil spirits. I asked one of my friends if he knew how the name Halloween came about and he was clueless. For those of you who are also clueless, Halloween is a contraction of All Hallows (saints) Eve as it was on the eve of All Saints Day- November 1^st. The church intentionally chose that day as it was already familiar to the people as Sam Hain.

I would give a brief history for Christmas too, but I expect more people would know it better than All Hallows Eve. I certainly hope that when I return for 2008’s Christmas, there would be more emphasis on the Christian, rather than the commercial aspect.

Fire Down Below

Have you ever encountered the situation where the fire alarm goes off for an actual emergency, but you just ignore it thinking that it’s just another drill? A few weeks ago, the management decided to test the fire alarms in my block and prior to the test, they sent out emails telling all of us not to worry if sirens and lights would suddenly come on. For weeks I expected them to carry out the test but they never did, until 2 weeks ago. The alarms went off for no apparent reason but a voice over the intercom calmed us all down saying it’s just a test. Then last Monday, there was an actual fire in one of the floors below me. I was on my way back from doing laundry when suddenly the fire alarms went on. At first, I was surprised that they wanted to test the alarms twice in such a short span of time so I ignored it and went about cleaning my room. After a few moments, I noticed the absence of the voice over the intercom explaining the situation, so I stepped out of my room to have a look. Everyone was in the hallway looking as bewildered as I was.

Eventually we all got the idea that there was an actual fire somewhere in the building so we had to evacuate. I was still in doubt so I locked my room door and made sure my belongings were secure before leaving. We all had to take the stairs because that’s just standard fire escape procedure. Everyone was busy chatting away happily as if there was nothing to worry about (and indeed there was nothing to worry) and as we passed the third floor, we spotted the source of the fire. The third floor lounge was filled with smoke and the smell was awful, like burning plastic. Outside, the security guards gave the explanation. Someone tried to cook something in the microwave, the microwave caught fire, the food item caught fire, she threw it in the trash can and it caught fire and the sink eventually caught fire as well. Luckily, the fire was confined to the lounge area, so there really was nothing to worry. Perhaps they were worried about the hazards of the smoke that was rapidly spreading throughout the building.

All of us had to wait outside in the freezing cold for the firemen to arrive. Fortunately, they didn’t take too long to arrive and they were quite quick to assess the situation. It was quite exciting to see the firemen, in their heavy gear and gas masks and axes enter the building. I even thought they were going to use their hose and spray through the windows or something as one of their crew started unloading the hoses. Eventually, they fixed the situation (the hose was not needed...Awww…I wanted to see some spraying action) and we were all allowed to go back inside. Although this incident was just a minor issue, I would never again underestimate the importance of the fire alarm. Luckily my room is next to the fire escape so in the event of an actual fire, I can escape easily.

Crime and Punishment

Do not buy this laptop...ever

It amazes me to think how important the skill of rhetoric is. What the ancient Greeks learnt as rhetoric has today become the techniques of propaganda and persuasion. Recently, I am in need of good rhetorical skills because of a serious problem that I am suffering from. In an earlier entry, I spoke of having a bad Internet connection in my room. I even went as far as to blame the Internet Service Provider for its bad quality and accused them of intentionally refusing to help me. Eventually, after numerous attempts to acquire a refund from them, they did send a technician to check on my computer during the night, which was when the connection usually dies. It seems that the problem was not with the ISP, but with my laptop. The techie was unable to provide an accurate description of the problem, claiming that these issues were really hard to debug because they occurred so randomly. The best hope for me, he suggested, was to have the computer checked out at a computer hardware store and hopefully, someone there would be able to find out what the problem is. All that he could think of was that my Ethernet card (or whatever that is) is faulty or that there was a problem with the driver.

I tried to think how it was possible that I did not notice this problem earlier. I realized that when I got my laptop, I had been using the wireless at home, so there was no problem with the Internet. When I moved into campus, I had to plug in a cable to use the Internet, and that was when the problems started. This new problem was just the latest in a string of problems that I have been having with my laptop. I realize now what an awful mistake it was to buy an Acer laptop. First their graphics driver kept on crashing whenever I played Halo 2 (when I played Half Life 2, it occasionally crashed as well). Then I realized that if it went into sleep mode, I couldn’t wake it up. Whenever that happened, I was forced to shut it down prematurely, thereby causing further damage to the hard drive. Thus, I have reconfigured my settings so that it would never enter sleep mode, no matter how long it stays on. In addition, the microphone was not working, even though Windows said that the device was working perfectly. With all these problems getting me all worked up, I am not keen on paying anyone to fix them. As the nearest Acer service centre is all the way in Ottawa, I have no other choice but to go home and get it fixed there, and that’s where my rhetorical skills will have to be used. I need to convince those Acer guys that their laptop sucks, and that they owe me for all the trouble that it has given. No matter what, I am not going to pay for any repairs, even if I have to fiercely threaten them. Damn Acer…

With my finals approaching and all the term papers due, I really need my computer to work but now that I know the problem is with the computer, rather than the ISP, there is no one else that I can express my rage to. I just can’t wait to go home and get it fixed (hopefully, for free). Something else that I need to pick up in KL is lots of wrapping paper- the clear, transparent ones that we use to wrap books to protect them. For some reason, I just can’t find them here. Not a single bookstore sells them. As for winter, it has snowed a couple of times, but it’s not that cold yet. I’ll have to wait for next year to truly experience winter. In fact, I haven’t bought any thick winter jackets yet. The main reason is because I don’t like the way they look, all puffy and fat, but I also want to see how long I can last with the jackets that I currently have. Even if the temperature were to suddenly drop, I can always wear lots of layers.

The October Country

Knowing that I wouldn't smile if I posed for a photo, someone tried to secretly take one of me when I was laughing...not a good one as you can see...

At the Mexican restaurant. It was Marcus' birthday (the guy next to me), so we made him drink tequilas...as you can see, I don't smile in pictures

At the skytrain station on route to the Indian restaurant (I just can't remember the names of these restaurants), you can't see it from here, but Vancouver's public train system is soo much better that Malaysia's

My pumpkin in the dark...

The month of October has passed at last, and although my exams are definitely not over, I am given a temporary respite from the work (temporary being one or two days). Much has passed in the last month but I am now trying to avoid retelling my trips/ outings in favour of speaking my thoughts. Still, I would briefly touch upon certain events that I attended and enjoyed.

The end of October is marked by the arrival of Halloween. Sure, Halloween is a corruption of All Hallows Eve which is simply the eve of All Hallows (Saints) Day, but here in Vancouver (as in many parts of North America), it has become overly commercialized. Statistics (don’t ask me where I got them) show that pubs and bars earn more on Halloween than on Christmas. The streets were full of people in costumes, some creative, others just plain weird. I myself was too lazy to acquire a costume; otherwise there would be pictures of me wearing it here. On the Saturday before Halloween, I went to Playland, a local carnival that was celebrating Halloween with their annual Fright Nights event. I went with a few others from the International Club because they had discounted tickets. Anyway, the primary attractions were the Haunted Houses. There were 5 of them this year but due to the shortage of time, we only got to see 2 of them. This marked the first time I entered a professional haunted house- previous haunted houses I ‘visited’ were amateur ones. The quality that was put into the houses was astounding with really great makeup for the actors and lighting. Of course, no photographs were allowed inside. I also ate dinner at an Indian restaurant and a Mexican restaurant with other international students. Won’t spend too much time talking about them except to say that the Indian food was good, the Mexican food- bad! I ordered what sounded good on the menu but turned out to be a huge red pepper. It was super spicy and it was about the size of a rugby ball. Luckily I managed to eat the whole thing (mostly). The one event that I really enjoyed was pumpkin carving. I forgot to buy a pumpkin, so I had to share one with my friend Andy. Even though that was the first time we both carved a pumpkin, I must say that we didn’t do that bad of a job. I really like the snarling look that I drew for it.

Now I am going to rant about a problem that I have been suffering from since the day I moved in. Actually the problem got worse these last few weeks, and that is BAD internet connection at night. The problem with my dorm is that Internet service is wired, not wireless. That means to use the Internet in my room; I have to plug in a cable. During the day, the Internet is fine and smooth but at night…it disconnects like every 5 seconds. That is such a big problem because obviously I need to do work at night which is when I have no classes. However, you can imagine that getting thrown offline every 5 seconds is well…annoying to put it mildly. In fact the connection just died a second ago as I was composing this entry. I called the service providers and their lame excuse was that there were too many people using the Internet and that is why the connection is unstable. What? That is the most useless response I ever heard. Why am I getting charged the same amount as everyone else when I’m getting crappier service? I was really quite surprised that they didn’t even suggest that I try pressing certain buttons or some other stunt that might improve my situation but would probably not work. They just blatantly gave me that stupid excuse. At first I tried to ignore the problem but after finding out that the library closes at 10 pm and my room connection was as bad as ever, I really had enough. I sent the Residence Internet service providers threatening voice messages that clearly showed I was furious with them. I raised my voice more and more with each message to show my anger. Finally, when they didn’t seem to call me back, I lost my temper and sent one more message (yesterday in fact) where I yelled at the top of my voice. Of course my whole floor heard it and thought there was an insane shooter on the loose but after I assured everyone that it was just me, and that I was displeased with the Internet, the situation went back to normal. Nevertheless, my yelling did inform the person in charge of my floor to put in a maintenance request. I have yet to hear from them, and the Internet is still as bad as ever. Oh well, I am definitely getting a different Internet provider next year, and hopefully I can demand that my current provider reimburse me for the horrendous Internet quality that I have been having. I can go on about the other problems about my campus, but I think that deserves its own entry.