The World, Engineered

I’ve made a mess of things…Why oh why oh why???

So after a long hiatus, i’m finally writing an update to my blog. My exams have finished 2 weeks ago but academically, this semester has been quite a disaster for me. I failed 2 courses, out of the 5 i took, only 4 of which had exams.

It was entirely my fault, as I had just skipped too many classes and neglected the 2 courses. It didn’t help that there weren’t any assignments so I just didn’t keep up with what was happening in class. The few days between exams were not enough time for me to catch up and plus there’s no study break, so I just died badly for the papers. Of course it didn’t help that the 2 courses had material that were the hardest to understand for any course I’ve taken so far.

The only consolation is that I managed to get 2 As this semester as well, after not getting a single one last semester. Quite polarizing results I have isn’t it? So the grades exactly averaged out to give me a C average for this semester. All things considered, I’d rather have gotten 2 As and 2 Fs over all Cs. Even though getting all Cs mean i pass all my courses and 2 Fs mean i have to repeat 2 of them, getting the 2 As show that at least I’m good at something. Furthermore, one of them was the design course, where we had to build a robot out of lego and program it. I had put in a lot of effort into that course so the A for that course was all the more satisfactory.

Anyway, with all the academic stuff finished for this year, I’m now working in the McGill Formula SAE team to build a race car for the Formula SAE competition that we’re entering next week in Detroit. After the past 2 weeks of slogging, today at about 1130pm, we fired up the engine of our car for the first time ever. The sweet, sweet sound of the engine has never made me happier (except maybe when i heard an F1 engine fire up for the first time in my life). Although there’s still a lot of work and testing to be done to finish up the car for competition, getting the engine to start takes a lot of pressure off everyone, as we know that at least the most important component of the car is working.

Looking forward to going to Detroit next week!

No, its not me…i’ll nvr get that kind of grades. It’s my sis. She just got back her A level results today. Perfect score! 5As and Distinction for H3. Damn…I thought i stood a good chance of beating her for A lvls. Haha…Turns out she’s too good. She completely trashed me for PSLE by more than 10 pts and skipped her O lvls so A levels was the last chance for me to get one back at her. On a more serious tone, I’m really happy for her! Now she’s one step closer to her dream of entering med school.

I, on the other hand, am all set to fail my test tomorrow, so much so that i’ve given up on studying to type this entry. Good thing its an optional test. I’m seriously getting tired of all the exams and studying. I feel like university is killing off my passion for engineering.

I went to New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Boston over Spring Break (or Reading Week since its still a bit too early to call it spring yet). Don’t really have much time to write about it as now i’ve plunged back into reality, with 3 projects to deal with and some upcoming exams. I’ll just post some photos in chronological order with some captions.

On the train to New York…

More to come…

I’m writing this post on a MacBook Air in the Apple Store at 5th Avenue in New York! It’s quite an experience using the Air to type. I really like the keyboard and the build quality. Multi-touch works quite well as well. If they port all of this to the MacBook Pro in the next update, i’ll be sorely tempted to get one…Haha…

Going over to Washington DC tomorrow. Quite excited about that as i’ll be visiting a city i’ve never been to before. Was in Philadelphia visiting Yexiang yesterday and half of the day before. Downtown Philly is quite a nice place although the area that UPenn is located in is quite tough. Just some time ago, Yexiang said there was a gun fight across from where he was staying. He thought it was just firecrackers! Lol…

Anyway i’m out of time now…Will post some pictures and other stuff when i’m back in Montreal. In the meantime, those who are having study break now, enjoy your 1 week break!

I love the feeling of walking on fresh, powdery snow. Every step i make gives a crisp and satisfying “crunch” beneath my feet.

Nothing beats walking alone outside at 2am on a weekday night with fresh snow all around and more snow gently floating down from above. The whole city is asleep and everything feels so quiet and peaceful, save for the crunch, crunch, crunch of my footsteps, making fresh imprints on the undisturbed layer of snow.

Doing that never fails to cheer me up and take away all the stress i have, even if just for the duration of time i spend outside.

The sight of pure, white, unblemished snow stretching out as far as the eye can see, covering all the greyness and dirtiness of the city, brings to mind how Jesus’ blood has covered all of our sins, leaving us pure and unblemished in God’s eyes. As i am reminded of that fact, my heart is filled with joy and thankfulness.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Here’s wishing everyone a happy Chinese new year! May the Lord bless you in the year of the rat!

There’s hardly any Chinese New Year atmosphere in Montreal. No decorations, no holidays, no red and gold everywhere. No family to have reunion dinner with, although the people i met up with for our “reunion dinner” made it a thoroughly enjoyable CNY eve.

This is my rather pathetic attempt to make things feel a bit more festive at my place: