Temporary Move for the New Semester

I've decided to move back to my mom's house on Vancouver Island for the next semester. I decided to do it because I had the opportunity to take all online courses through UBC, and in effect, it would not put me behind at all in the progress of my degree. So by moving back home, I'm saving about $4000 over the course of the four months on rent alone. The reason it's so expensive is that all the real estate close to UBC is very expensive, so the rent prices reflect what is considered to be the more desirable neighborhoods. The place I was living at for the past year and a half was a cheaper place for rent, but it was quite far from UBC, so I was planning on moving ASAP. I don't really do well with the long commutes everyday. My place was about a 35 minute bus ride to UBC.

I am coming back to Vancouver in January because I am registered in some really cool classes, which are all 'in-person' classes. So I will most definitely be back in January, barring some major financial obstacles. I think this will be a good change for me as well, since I need something new and refreshing after my breakup. Don't get me wrong, I love Vancouver and my future is definitely in Vancouver, but after doing the grind of school for a year and a half straight, it's good to go home and recharge. I mean most students do go home during the summer of each year anyways, so I figured I was due to go back home for a few months. I'm also really looking forward to my time because I can spend time with my friends and my mom. My friends from the island and I have been having so much fun together in the past little while, and I just love hanging out with them.

It won't be all fun and games though, because most of my day will still consist of studying and working out. I haven't totally decided on how many online courses I will take this semester, but I am definitely taking five courses in January. Also, I'm increasing my workouts. I'm going to more than double my cardio. I'm increasing it from 40 minutes to 2 hours of cardio a day. I'll also be doing more weight training. And if the weather is good, I'll be playing lots of tennis too.

On the schedule today, I'm going to be contacting all the gyms in town to see how much a membership is. I did a bunch of errands this morning, as I just moved back to Vancouver Island yesterday. All in all, I'm very happy with my decision, and I'm wishing luck to everyone who is starting their semester next week, as I'm really looking forward to my next 4 months in my hometown. I will miss Vancouver, but I know that I will be back there soon enough.

T-minus 10 days, Midterm Mark, and No More Sluggishness

My final exam for my biopsych course is just over 10 days. My exam is not until 6pm at night on the 18th, but I'm not counting the day of just because I might try to get all my studying done before then. I will probably keep studying right until an hour or two before though, but the ideal thing would be to finish all of my studying the night before (from weeks of studying). The exam is not cumulative so that is nice, but for this course it just means the questions will be more in depth, so it's not really easier.

I got 74% on my last midterm for biopsych. I think my mark was a bit lower because I ran out of time for my long answer essay questions and I also made a few mistakes on them. I am going to go over my exam and make sure it's marked right because there was one section that I thought I got a perfect mark on but I didn't. If I do well on the next exam I could get above 80% in the course, which would allow me to use this course as a prerequisite for UBC graduate school. I also have an opportunity to get a bonus mark, so that will help. If I get 100% on the next exam I could get bumped up to 85% in the course, which would be an A. I'd be happy with that considering how tricky the exams are for this class. Every person I've known who took this class (which is a lot for some reason) have said the exams are tricky. And this class has a low 'easiness' rating on the ratemyprof website.

I'm also trying to finish two of my online courses, and the exams for those classes will be upcoming, but I'm not sure exactly when. If I finish those by mid September, I'm thinking I'll take another online class through TRU so I can work on it over the Christmas Break. The reason is that I need all the classes I can get to get my admissions average above the cutoff for UBC medical school. It'll be hard because I'll still have quite a few failed classes, but I'll definitely be applying once I'm over the cutoff, even if I'm only .5 percent over the cutoff.

I've noticed that I feel a lot more full of energy now. In the past two years I used to have this sluggishness that would persist throughout the day until the evening. I still did above average in my courses and I would exercise once in a while, but overall I just didn't have the energy to go very hard in all aspects of life. It very well could have been a physical thing from my medication, but it may have turned into a mental thing. There is a strong body-mind connection that can't be ignored, especially given my mental health history. I could always think clearly, but the fatigue was persistent, and it would hamper my progress and consistency in both school and exercise/activities. The good news is that I don't get this anymore. I can study hard for hours and exercise hard for hours. It may be the effects from exercising, particularly being able to exercise harder so maybe the typical effects are more pronounced. In any case, I'm definitely not going to stop this pace I'm doing for exercising because I don't want to go back to feeling fatigued. I think if I didn't have the fatigue I could have done much better on the courses I passed. I won't be seeking any sort of academic concession, just because I don't know if it would be a strong enough case. But I'm more willing to take my 80% average over the past year and a bit than have to start all over. I think that was a good start and I'm only going to do better this summer and this upcoming winter. Whenever I talk to people they always say that my days are so busy, and it's true that I have been going at quite a frantic pace. There are always lots of things I have to do, as any successful student knows. But it's not a chore for me. I actually enjoy it. It makes the odd time you relax that much more sweet as well. But I do prefer to be busy and accomplishing things as well. Basically I like to work hard and still have fun too. I think that is a good balance I've finally achieved.

Love, Success, and Jada Pinkett

Im not that into celebrity culture or tabloids, but when I heard that Will Smith and Jada Pinkett were getting a divorce, I was shocked and a bit upset. The reason is, for anyone that doesn't know, from what anyone can tell, Will  and Jada's marriage seems like such a successful marriage. You can really tell they love each other a lot and it just seems like a perfect marriage. They just seem so happy together.

Also as a 90's child, I grew up watching The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and that was one of my favourite shows when I was young. I also think most of Will Smith's movies are good too. Will Smith just has that movie-star persona. Aside from him being easily one of the highest grossing, biggest names in Hollywood, I respect him just as much for how he makes such a strong effort to love his wife. There are YouTube videos of Will Smith talking about being successful and how to achieve great success. When you hear these, you can tell that Will's fame and success were no accident. He just oozes success. So while I obviously don't know Will or Jada personally, I have a feeling that just as Will puts in a maximal amount of effort into his career, he puts the same maximal effort into his relationship with Jada. It is pretty inspiring now that I'm reflecting on it, because in every way it seems to be paying off. Will doesn't just love her, he has a passion for her. It also helps that Jada seems pretty awesome too.

So when I heard about the divorce, one of the things that went through my mind was that if Will Smith and Jada Pinkett's marriage can't last, what chance does any normal person have of a successful marriage. It may have been a bit dramatic of me to think, but the divorce along with my own breakup I went through made me inclined to think that love is dead, to a degree. Obviously my own breakup made me think pessimistically in this way. It turns out that Will and Jada aren't getting a divorce and the original report was false. I think even if they were getting divorced - as a man, Will Smith is a great example of a man doing everything to foster a thriving relationship. When I get back into a relationship, I'm going to make sure that I'm passionate about the relationship and putting in a maximal effort to achieve consistent happiness.