Jan 12, 2020

School Blues

It started sometime in October, in the grey and rainy Vancouver days. Nothing was as exciting or glamorous as I thought it would’ve been. I thought it would be so cool to live together with my friend, and have a kitchen to cook my own meals. And even cooler was my computer engineering major—I was like a hacker working away on my computer, and also an electrical engineer, wiring up circuits on the breadboard. Yet I wasn’t expecting such a seemingly glorious road to be so rough.

Dec 21, 2019

At Christmas Time

Dec 19, 2019

Dear Computer Engineering,

A breakup letter to my past-love, Computer Engineering. To my dearest Computer Engineering (CPEN). I’m sorry that we didn’t work out in the end. I don’t regret meeting you, and will always treasure the time that we spent together. But we have different ambitions, so I cannot stay with you.

Aug 30, 2019

Reflecting Upon First Year

Even though I lost the first year engineering student body election, and got rejected from all the design teams that I applied to, I learned that the biggest failure of all was not trying. Also includes how I managed my time, my new outlook on education, extracurriculars activities and my thoughts going forwards.

Aug 26, 2019

What Does Success Look Like?

My 5-year plan: get an internship at a big tech company, go on exchange, be part of student council, and join a design team. On the surface, those seem like good goals, but I couldn’t help but feel unsettled. What was the purpose of it all? Was it so I could be the one that other parents praised as an example for their own kids? More importantly, did these goals come from me, or were they just a product of the society I lived in, of the intersection of a time and a place?

Aug 20, 2019

Studying Effectively To Ace Your Courses

In this post, I share some of my studying advice gathered from my university year.

Aug 15, 2019

Why I Plan To Study Less

As I sat there with a stiff neck bending over my notes, trying to memorize and review all the material for my final exam tomorrow, I begin to wonder, how much studying is enough? In 1 term, we take 5-6 courses, each with 1-2 midterms and 1 final exam: 16 exams. One year = 2 terms: 32 exams. Over the course of a 4 year undergraduate degree, we’ve taken roughly...

Aug 5, 2019

UBC Engineering First Year: A Complete Timeline

First year university had its ups and downs, but in retrospect, I had a pretty great time. Here is my experience summed up in a narrative timeline.

Jul 16, 2019

My Summer Job as a Grocery Store Cashier

Yeah I really hated that job. Maybe what I learned will be useful in the future, but the job itself was very boring, tiring and time-consuming. If there were one thing I could tell my gr 10/11/12 self, it would be to get a job sooner and gain some experience. Also, can I just say that it is the best feeling in the world to be using your own hard earned money?

Mar 2, 2019

APSC 101 Autonomous Claw

Building an automated claw in first year engineering at UBC for APSC 101: Of swinging parts and unpredictable things