Jasmine (Jimmy)

Watched the newly released movie "A Christmas Carol" in 3D. Like it very much. It's more like a Halloween movie with all those ghosts and spirits in it. :P But I really love the Christmas hymns. Feels like Christmas is just around the corner (Plus I watched the annual Christmas Parade in Toronto on TV yesterday, Santa is back in town!).

Just finished my M.Sc. presentation successfully! :D I'm gonna celebrate with my friends tonight! Almost there!

Moved back to loo on Monday. But will head to Mtl again for my M.Sc. presentation which will be held next Thursday. One thing after another, I'm just a couple of steps away from being done. A za a za fighting!

Submitted my thesis to the school and my department today! Finally! Big big congradzzzzz!!! :D Still got the presentation to do plus waiting for the feedback from the internal and external examiners. But anyways...still happy...dunno how to celebrate though. :P Bought a electric toothbrush for myself. :P And...when I submitted the thesis to the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies office, they gave me a pen with Mcgill University and a big "SUCCESS" on it. I found it was quite amusing. :P

Had a very nice Thxgiving long weekend, quite tiring though. :P Had a very nice sushi buffet for dinner on Saturday. Invited my friends Dani, Victor and Gary for Thxgiving dinner on Sunday. I made a roasted turkey, mushroom turkey gravy, salad and a pecan pie. Dani cooked fish, Gary fried beef with green peppers and Craig made mashed potatoes. :D Everyone liked the turkey and gravy I made, and they especially liked the pecan pie. It was my first time trying the pecan pie. :) I haven't met Dani and Victor for more than 2 yrs! It was so nice to meet and chatted with old friends again. :D And today had brunch at a very nice dim sum place.

Happy Mid-Autumn Fest to everyone!

Learned a bit of merengue, rumba and more salsa at my 3nd dancing classes. Got a really great partner this time. We both enjoyed the class, practised a lot and learned quite well.

Came to loo for career fair events. Talked to some representatives, collected some info, and ran into some old friends. Visited Barbara and Ophelia, had a great time and loved the dinner. :D

Thxgiving is coming. I'm planning to make turkey again this year. The dinner menu will be salad, rosemary roasted turkey, mushroom turkey gravy, mashed potatoes, maybe some boiled veggies and pecan pie. :D Will invite friends. :)

A couple of things:

Done my first aid training. The training was really nice. I've learned lots of useful things. I know how to give first aid professionally now. :)

Watched "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" in 3D. A very nice movie, especially in 3D. I think it's the best animation I've seen this year. Had lunch at Eggspectation after a long time. It was a great brunch. :)

Went to my 2nd dancing classes. Learned more new steps. :)

Decided to take the Latin dance and social dance classes at downtown campus. Yesterday's evening was the first time. Had great fun. Danced for three hours (cos two classes). Learned some basic steps of salsa, tango and bachata. I like the way the teacher teaches and I really enjoyed both the classes. Although it's kinda far to go all the way to downtown in the evening to take the classes, I still think it's good to do it once a week. :)

And I'm going to the first aid training tonight. It's actually tonight, tmr night and Sat for the whole day. Always wanted to learn first aid. :)

Finished the first draft of my thesis last night. Talked to my supervisor last Thursday. It felt like he suddenly changed his mind. My programs are still not converged yet. But he said we didn't have time to wait for it anymore and he wanted me to use whatever mid-way results that came out to finish up my thesis asap. He even asked about my job hunting and said I could start working in a month! Huge surprise. So I worked kinda hard for two days to add new stuff to my result and discussion part, revise the lit review, material and method and references part, finish the abstract, intro and conclusions part. Finally done! :) I didn't write a lot though. Personally I really don't like repeating the same thing again and again in different ways. I'm not good at it either. But I just realized that this was actually all thesis about. I talked to my friends who wrote or are still writing theses, and they all had the same kinda feelings. Anyway...I'm waiting for corrections now...hope I didn't do a too bad job. :P

And I also realized something...
I have a facebook kinda thingy but in Chinese. I write something there from time to time. I realized the differences between my writings in Chinese there and those in English here. I know I'm not good at writing, doesn't matter whether it's in Chinese or English. But the entries here are more boring, usually they are just lists of the stuff I've been doing lately. While for those entries in Chinese, although they are also about stuff I've been doing and I also tell the whole story in a very straight forward and simple way, I would add my thoughts, my feelings and my new discoveries along the way. So I actually like to go back and read them again sometimes and still feel that they are funny.

Finally, I got a big big teddy bear. Actually not yet...will get it when I graduate. :) But anyway...it's so big and it's so cute! I just love it! :D

Just to update...

On Sunday, my friend and I spent almost the whole day at Clifton Hill. We went to check the Hershey Store, Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Cafe, and Hard Rock cafe, visited Ripley's Believe It or Not, Movieland Wax Museum, FX Ride Theatre and Ghost Blasters Dark Ride and played some games with free tokens we got. :P Had great fun! We had dinner buffet at the top of the Skylon Tower, so expensive and it was not fallsview dining. :P But it was a nice experience and the indoor & outdoor observation decks on the top were so cool. :D We went to check the casino afterwards where I tried my luck for the first time and $5 was gone. :P It was fun though. :P :D

On Monday, we spent the whole day at Marineland! :D It is a great place to go! We watched the dolphins, walruses and sea lions show at the King Waldorf's Stadium, walruses at play and at feeding time at Aquarium Dome, killer whale splash & jump session at Friendship Cove and beluga whales at both Friendship Cove and Arctic Cove. We also pet Fallow Deer at the Deer Park and saw red deers, elk-wapiti, black bears and buffaloes. :D It was a great day! Highly recommend Marineland to everyone who is planning to visit Niagara Falls. Had sushi buffet and watched Julie and Julia on our way back home. Very touching and nice movie I should say with some lines in French and I'm so glad that I could understand a bit. :P

Arrived at the hotel at abt 9pm. Had a nice rest at the great swimming pool and hot tub. Saw the amazing night view of the falls. Went for a ride on Niagara SkyWheel and played Dinosaur mini golf. :D Had great fun! :D

Finally received my renewed study permit. It's the end of the summer now. Time flies. The new term is gonna start soon. I'm still working on my project and thesis. I'm not working that hard actually. I kinda spend more time thinking about what I wanna do in the future. After coming back from the east coast, I added a couple of temporary career options onto my dream list. I read one of my friends' blog in which his compared today's himself with the one who just arrived in Canada three years ago. Lots of things have changed, mainly the way he thinks and the way he looks at this world. To me the change is kinda in a sad way although he has accomplished a lot and I'm sure he is quite happy with his life now. I think most of the ppl will experience the same kinda change, at least when I look around, I could find the same kinda change in lots of the ppl I know who came abroad with me or after. But when I'm thinking abt myself, I don't see that much change in the past 4 years in me. Although I do feel that I've grown up a lot, I'm still that girl who stays optimistic, appreciates all the beautiful and cute things the nature has created, dreams a lot, loves sports, has many friends but always stays independent and be herself.

Back from the east coast on Wed. It's one of the best trips I have every had. I have been to so many places and have seen so many beautiful things during the 6 days. The summary of the route of the trip is as follows:



Day 1: Montreal - Rivière-du-Loup (Quebec) - Campellton (New Brunswick)
            Whales watching

Day 2: Campellton - Miramichi - Bouctouche - Shediac, Hopewell Cape - Moncton (New Brunswick)
            Status of Salmon (Campellton), Irving Eco Centre: La Dune de Bouctouche (Bouctouche), Status of Lobster (Shediac), Hopewell Rocks (Hopewell Cape)

Day 3: Moncton (NB) - Charlottetown - Cavendish - Summerside (Prince Edward Island) - Moncton (NB)
            Confederation Bridge, Charlottetown, Province House, Anne of Green Gables (Cavendish), Cavendish Beach

Day 4: Moncton (NB) - Peggy's Cove - Halifax - Dartmouth (Nova Scotia)
            The village of Peggy's Cove, Halifax Harbor Hopper Tour, Halifax Downtown

Day 5: Dartmouth - Halifax (Nova Scotia) - Moncton - Saint John (NB)
            Halifax Citadel, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic (Halifax), Magnetic Hill (Moncton), Reversing Falls (Saint John)

Day 6: Saint John - Fredericton - Hartland - Grand Falls (NB) - Montreal
            Fredericton City Hall, Hartland Covered Bridge Potato Chip Company, Hartland Covered Bridge, Grand Falls

My 6-day east coast trip will be as follows:

Day 1: Montreal - Whales watching - Campbellton
Day 2: Campbellton - Shediac - Rocks - Moncton
Day 3: Moncton - P.E.I. - Cavendish Beach
Day 4: P.E.I. - Peggy Cove - Halifax
Day 5: Halifax - St. John
Day 6: St. John - Fredericton - Montreal

I'm going to East Coast for a 6-day trip with my friends in mid Aug! :D We're going for whale watching, lobster dinner and all kinds of other activities! So excited! :D

I was listening to a song called Leo written and sung by a girl who competed in a Chinese talent show. The end of July and the beginning of August is Leo. Many ppl criticized her, but I like her music, very pure, simple and relaxing.

Not in a mood to study these days, dunno why. But I really need to resume writing my thesis...

Nice weather these days finally, but don't really feel like walking around.

Feel like going home, but still got lots of things to finish first plus renewing study permit and visa.

I like reading other ppl's blogs, usually my friends' friends' who I don't know. I found lots of ppl are good at writing in Chinese. I like those blogs with beautiful words and pics, a little bit here and there and each entry likes a small poem telling a story of life. I don't think I'll ever be able to do that. I can only write articles in a very simple and straightforward way.

I was watching a very popular Taiwanese show. They interviewed those celebrities and asked them abt how they lost weight. Very unhealthy life style and scary experience. 

I guess I kinda get tired of almost everything these days.

I wanna read four books suddenly: the Wind in the Willows, My Sister's Keeper, Charlotte's Web and Marley & Me. 

Came back on Wed actually. Need to study hard and try to finish my thesis. Had a great time these days having lunch together with my friends and talking to them again. Weekend is coming again. I still have two more Sundays to work, finally quit my parttime job. My CAQ was renewed, but I haven't received it yet. I still need to renew my study permit though.

Forgot to mention that last Sat, I went to watch Ice Age 3 with my friends. The movie was very funny. I love the baby mammoth and the sloth Sid. They are sooooo adorable! :D We had delicious Korean food after the movie and watched firework show in the evening, the one from Australia. It was amazing, lots of new types of fireworks that I had never seen before.

My housemate is flying back to Greece again today. He won't be back until the beginning of the coming fall term.

My conference is coming soon, actually starting this weekend. I'm gonna give a 15 min presentation next Tues. Hope everything will turn out good. :D

Actually I came back on July 2nd, but was busy with some random stuff. Anyway...

Had a great Canada Day at Ottawa. The weather was quite good actually. The morning started with the flag-raising ceremony on the Parliament Hill. The "Changing the guard" was a bit boring, although it was an interesting experience to see all those guards wearing big "hat". The RCMP musical ride afterward was just amazing! My friend and I then went to the Major's Hill Park and tried the Chicken Farmers of Canada's award-wining grilled chicken sandwich there. We were planning to go to the Agriculture Museum at the beginning. But then we figured maybe it would be nicer to just sit on the field, relax, listen to the concerts and enjoy the sunshine there. :) We went to the Canadian Museum of Civilization in the late afternoon. As always, I think it is a must-see place in Ottawa. We watched fireworks show in the late evening at the Major's Hill Park. It was a great spot where we were. And it was so good that everyone was sitting on the floor. Sometimes, it felt like the fireworks would fall right on us. :D

Got up at 6 this morning, took the carpool at 7 and arrived at Ottawa before 10. Walked to the hostel, was told that the check-in time was at 1pm, so put all my stuff in the locker, walked to the Parliament Hill with my friend. Went for the tour inside the center block for the 2nd time, so happy that we gotta see the House of Commons and the Senate this time! :D Had my fav BBQ hot dog again. Took the bus to the Canada Aviation Museum. The half-hour guide tour was really good. Otherwise, I would get super bored there cos I'm just not that into the aircraft. :P The weather was not that good, but luckily most of the time when we were walking outside, it was not raining. :) I'm kinda tired after a super long day. Tmr is going to be another exciting and long day. We're going to watch the Canada Day celebration at the Parliament Hill in the morning. After that, we plan to go to Canada Agriculture Museum and Canadian Museum of Civilization. Also, we're going to watch the firework show at 10pm. :D

I forgot whether I had mentioned in the previous entries that I went to watch the new Pixar animation "UP" on a Saturday morning. I really like the movie, especially the beginning part. I also love the Pixar short film showed before "UP", called "Partly Cloudy". It's a very funny and cute short animation.

Went to lots of places again last weekend: up to the Beaver Lake on Mont Royal, had smoke meat at Schwartz's, walked in the La Fontaine Park, had pho at China Town, and watched the first firework competition this summer on the Jacques Cartier Bridge above La Ronde. :D

Watched a very interesting Canadian television public service announcement produced by Concerned Children's Advertisers on TV. It can be seen on youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBfi8OEz0rA

P.S. Due to some complicated reasons, Kaushik and I broke up last weekend. We still remain close friends. Was very sad. :(

I went to Ottawa again today and got my new passport back! :D Went for the tour inside the Centre Block at the Parliament Hill for the 1st time! The tour was kinda short today cos the Senate and House of Commons chambers were in use, therefore we could not go into them. However, I did go up to the Peace Tower, go into the library and visit the Memorial Chamber. The library is stunning! So sad that we were not allowed to take pics in there, cos ppl were working. It was very nice to get to the top of the Peace Tower, where one can have the amazing view of the whole city. I took lots of pics and uploaded on facebook. :D

And another good news is that the paper in which I'm the third author got accepted! :D Tres contente! :D