so 2021 is done

I feel like it’s more common for a university student in Vancouver to not have a driver’s license than to have one. My parents told me the longer I wait to get my driver’s license, the harder it would be, since learning how to drive at an older age was harder. But I don’t see a reason to learn how to drive, because taking the bus is easier in Vancouver than in Calgary and I don’t have access to a car.

But I guess now I’m in my early 20s? It still feels like I’m 16; kinda excited for the world but also kinda scared. These days it’s leaning more towards feeling more scared than excited.

I was excited to get back to you in person. I was even more excited when I got a TA offer for CPSC 110. I was even more excited to take my first biochemistry class and CPSC 213. But I took on too much this term. I was also involved with 3 side projects, one being part of the nwPlus team, another being part of the StarHacks team, and lastly one side project that I had to drop out of. I was tired every day, exhausted, and could barely focus. My sleep varied anywhere from 5 hours to 9, and I felt the effects of an inconsistent sleep schedule. I also felt like I didn’t have enough time to study, but let’s see if that’s true.

For reference, per credit, you should dedicate 2-3 hours of study time per week. Most of my courses were 3 credits, so I should be spending 9 hours per week. I had one 4 credit course, CPSC 213, and that course would expect around 12 hours per week of study. I’m choosing the upper bounds because I struggle with computer science and math courses.

Looking back on time spent per subject, it seems to me like I spent: - CPSC 213: 135 hrs total, 10.38 hrs/week - MATH 200: 129 hrs total, 9.92 hrs/week - CPSC 320: 110 hrs total, 8.46 hrs/week - BIOC 202: 91 hrs total, 7 hrs/week - MICB 306: 68 hrs total, 5.23 hrs/week

All data were calculated from September 7th to December 7th (13 weeks). I’m surprised that I did spend enough time on my CPSC and MATH courses, but I felt like I was always behind in them. On the contrary, I wasn’t spending nearly as much time in my BIOC and MICB courses, but I always felt like I knew what was happening and I never fell behind too badly in those courses. I guess this means I’m not studying very efficiently in my CPSC and MATH courses. That’s something I’m going to have to think about; how I can efficiently and effectively study in CPSC and MATH.

Working at Microsoft changed what I wanted to do after I graduated. I didn’t have the best time, (maybe I’ll write about it), and had some breakdowns that are related to how I felt about my experience at Microsoft. To keep it short and simple, I didn’t like the corporate world. Someone who helped me get through the time at Microsoft, and someone I look up to^[1], led to me reading this article^[2] and watching this video^[3]. Again, to put it short and sweet, there was someone on our team that required me to give a lot, and I broke down in the process. Even better (well actually worse), I interviewed to return to a health and tech-focused team at Microsoft, but was rejected because my project was lacking technically; since my project wasn’t technically challenging enough, the health team decided that I was lacking in technical skills, in comparison to other candidates. To say I was crushed at the time would be an understatement. Not only was I slightly embarrassed, but this meant if I took my return offer, I would have to work within the Teams organization (ew). I was left pretty soured by this experience.

Another aspect of just corporate in general (and maybe Garage Program-specific) was that I just felt like I was working on useless sh*t that would never see the day of light. I need to see my work make an impact, and I just felt like this project was something to keep the interns busy. Even worse, the entire project was done in JavaScript and C#, basically the last two programming languages I’d choose to work with.

What was pretty awesome was that I bonded and become close friends with two students from U of T, and we talk to this day about anything that comes to our mind. We also played a bunch of Overcooked during our internship 😳.

I think going to grad school for biochemistry, computer science or biomedical engineering would be cool, but my grades aren’t the best, so I’m not sure if that is the path I can take.

This year I kinda did something wild (for me). I dyed the inside parts of my hair blue and got my lobes double pierced. I’ve been thinking about making these changes for at least a year and telling my boyfriend about it every day. And when I got it done, I liked how it changed my look. Maybe I’ll dye my hair again?? But I had to sit for around 5 hours, and that was quite painful, so maybe I’ll dye my hair once a year.