The Life of Woo³

Well, Canada Day long weekend I came down with a bout of Herpes zoster, also known as “shingles”… on the face. It was/is a boatload of fun. Head-stabbing fun. In case you don’t know what shingles is, as I had no idea as well, it is latent chicken pox virus that resides in nerves throughout the body that randomly decides to go BAM “Let’s break the F out again!”. It can happen anywhere and only affects that one nerve. I got it in the trigeminal nerve of the face. Fun. Anyway, it started on Thursday/Friday and I went to a doctor on Sunday and he’s all like, “It’s a good thing you came in now because it’s very close to your ear and (because I mentioned my eye was twitching like mad) you definitely don’t want that spreading to your eye.”

So naturally I Google’d/Wiki’d things (he told me to! lol) and yeah, not very pleasant if I had let it just keep going. Basically it could affect my hearing and/or vision permanently - to an extent unknown since we caught it early. So really now all I have to deal with is unsightly blisters/sores on the left side of my face and the random feeling of a knife being plunged into my skull/ear. But thanks to good ol’ science, we have the miracle of drugs.

Speaking of which, twentyfive pills of generic 800mg acyclovir (anti-viral) is $95.20CDN. Yikes. Apparently it’s used to treat genital herpes (phew, I’d rather have shingles lol) and used in AIDS to prevent other Herpes family related things. Since I had Friday to Tuesday off, I only missed half a day of work.

That’s about all that’s different so far. In other news, very geeky news, Diablo III was announced and I am ecstatic (minus the fact that it probably won’t be released for awhile and that I will never have a computer that can play it). I played Diablo II for ages and actually have been playing it lately since the announcement.

It’s like old times, except this time I’m showering daily. lol

So I guess I should mention that I graduated last weekon the 11th. I’m glad I went to convocation even though it was so quick. It’s good to have some ‘closure’ I suppose - to sum up four years in a couple hours. Funny how convocation in University didn’t seem to be as big of a deal as high school graduation. I suppose the really important degree is still another four years away though. But now I have a fancy degree! No frame however…

It’s kind of interesting to think that now on forms I can put “University Degree” or whatnot under ‘highest level of education attained’ instead of ’some college/university’. If you’re curious, I now have a Bachelor of Science in Honours Biomedical Science with a Minor in Biology.

Anyway, off to a short shift at work.

Eric A. Woo, H. Bsc.

;)

So it has been awhile since I’ve updated this, but I should probably add something quick here.

In general not much new has happened. I turned 22 on May 21st, I’ve been working full time… and that’s about it. Occasional trips to Winnipeg, last one was to help Jessica’s brother move into a new apartment. Work is fine, the occasional crummy day but all in all good. The weather has been nice, a little bit of rain lately, but lots of sun. Tomorrow I go to the hospital public health unit to get my immunizations done… hopefully I need only a couple quick tests.

Tomorrow I also fly out to Waterloo and then on Wednesday Jessica and I will be attending convocation. I’m not really excited and I’m not really sure why. Oh well. Perhaps I will be later.

Anyway, off to work.

So looks like I’ll be going to Calgary for the weekend! It was quite the short notice decision but Jessica and I will be driving out bring my stuff I brought from Waterloo to Morden to its final destination. My dad was supposed to come out and pick it up but plans fell apart just yesterday so tomorrow we’re heading off. It’s a long weekend so logistically it’s the best time to go. At the same time, I can renew my driver’s licence before it expires on my birthday. So in the end it saves a lot of hassle when going to work at different times than Jessica and her dad, etc, etc.

It’ll be a really quick visit, not really sure what we have planned so far. Maybe West Edmonton Mall, maybe not… that would involve six hours of more driving so Chinook might just be good enough.

Anyway… I should finish packing and go to sleep! :S

So I guess Binks called me on not updating for awhile on his blog. Guess I should do that.

Jessica and I drove through the US from Waterloo to Morden, Manitoba with a stop at the Mall of America and some quick shopping in Grand Forks to make use of the $400 duty free. I can add three States to my ‘Places I’ve Been’ map. Just missing Ohio to surround the Great Lakes. All the junk that I planned to bring to Morden for my dad to pick up fit - and a little more. It was quite the tight car but it all fit better than expected.

So now I’m back in Morden and still haven’t quite unpacked yet. Not looking forward to work just because I’ve been so relaxed playing Wii all day. True ’summer vacation’ ends on Monday. Then I have to start getting up bright and early for work, but I suppose it will get me ready for school in August as well. My past two terms have had classes start pretty late in the day which has ruined my ‘getting up early’ routine in past terms.

All my marks are back and I did decently. I didn’t keep my ‘every term goes up or is the same’ pattern (just missed it by 0.6%) but I did pretty decently for not putting as much effort as when you have that ‘what are you going to do with the rest of your life’ fear behind you. Oh well. I can’t complain about getting all As!

Anyway, now to enjoy my last couple days of summer before work sets in.

I have finished my last exam at the University of Waterloo… well, on Friday. I am done completely, that is, until convocation in June. It feels kind of odd. I don’t think it will really hit me until I have to move to Chicago. On that note, I officially have a student ID number so that puts me in the system I suppose. With that, a ton of people are joining the Facebook group. Funny, it almost feels like the little group that existed earlier on before the influx is being ‘invaded’ by outsiders. The group had been pretty much the same size for awhile, but what do you expect with a class size of ~160. It’s always interesting to see new people - also ‘interesting’ to know who you’ll be spending the next 4ish years with (minus intern/externships).

So since Friday, I’ve been relaxing (too much, although that makes up for the four exams in a row) and packing. Packing is never a time of the year that makes my ‘top activities’ list. For one, I have too much friggin’ shit. Second, where the hell does it all go? This time around is different though since I’m not coming back here for school. The plan is to take a bunch with Jessica and I to Manitoba where my dad will come out and pick it up. The rest stays at Jessica’s place in Waterloo and my dad and I pick it up in August when we drive to Chicago. The real question is, will it fit? We’ll see. I’m looking forward to whittling my belongings down to a more manageable size when I head to Chicago. I really wish I could magically transport all my stuff home in an instant and just be able to pick and choose what to bring with me. Oh well.

In other news: I was hoping I’d have a little more NHL Playoff games to watch but unfortunately the Calgary Flames have been ousted from Round 1 again. I really thought they could at least make it to the second round this year. Here’s to next year… then again, with ICO’s quarter system I don’t know if I’ll be too busy to watch or not.

To those that know me, you may find this amusing. I went to the gym. Not once, but twice. Voluntarily. UW Fulltime students pay for it every term. I decide to go in my eighth and last term to get some of my money’s worth.

Well, I guess I should move/pack all the junk laying on my bed so I can sleep…

I guess I’m finally in the ‘exam mode’, although probably not as much as I would have been in other terms.

I am bored out of my skull studying for these exams, much more so than ever. I don’t know if it’s because this time around I don’t feel like I am going over notes I feel like I have never seen before, or if it’s just because I’ve already been accepted to optometry school and it doesn’t matter as much anymore. Either way all I can think about is relaxing and being done exams. I find anything and everything to distract myself with - from Facebook, random Googling, Battlestar (of course :P), and even looking up things like binders. Honestly, what the hell (but they are pretty cool binders… Axcess BestBuilt or KEBAergo if you’re curious). Naturally I came across them when I was bored and randomly Googling things about Battlestar Galactica.

I have an unhealthy obsession with that show. It’s consuming me. I can’t stress it enough, but I honestly think it’s the best written show on television. A powerful show about humanity with an unfortunately geeky sounding name (but so cool once you know the show lol). I’ll have to watch my DVDs as soon as exams are over while I pack up my stuff.

Changing the subject (as I talk far too much about Battlestar Galactica)… people that drag their feet are really annoying. I just honestly don’t see why they can’t hear the annoying scraping sounds as they walk through a quiet library. The strange thing is that so many people do it. It’s like everyone has problems coordinating muscle movements. Fuck. I bring this up now just because as annoying as it is any other time of the year, during exam time it becomes so much more annoying. Here’s an extra one: People that consistently keep their cellphones on max volume in the library - even after they have rung. The real kicker is when they start yelling into their phone having a handy-dandy conversation with who-the-fuck-cares.

I figure this post should be entertaining to some. I needed something to do to relieve my exam time boredom.

I’ve been feeling it a lot lately.

The term is winding down and all that is really left are final examinations. All I can seem to find myself doing is distracting myself. I have no drive - I have no looming doom to keep my ass in check anymore.

What frightens me is the fact that this might carry on next year or that I’ll become used to having time to slack off and not worry because, “there’s time to catch up”. This term I chose courses that aren’t necessarily easy but for sure are not the hard courses that some could be taking (mind you I got a lot of them out of the way earlier). I also have no labs to deal with. Next year, well, this Fall I will have the opposite. I will have more courses and labs all at once compared to any term of my post-secondary education.

My brain wants to relax but it’s two and a half weeks too early.

So I just ‘plugged’ myself back into the grid. At first I didn’t really care at all to participate in ‘Earth Hour’ as I thought it was pretty silly and that it probably doesn’t make a huge difference. Then I figured why not? It’s more so the message behind the action than it is actually ’saving electricity’. I figure I waste so much energy that it’s the least I can do, and at least I can look back and say I participated.

An hour goes by pretty quick, mind you I kept my computer on but ran off batteries. I looked outside and noticed a couple of lights on campus that are normally on were off. UW Place looked pretty dark - but it still does now. I was a little disappointed. I thought at least a couple of people in the towers would take part as Housing Services pushed it for awhile. I watched as 9:00 rolled by and I saw just one light come back on. Still no change now. I guess people just aren’t home at all.  Oh well…

It’s interesting to not have electricity for an hour. I don’t know what I would have done without batteries in my laptop (although I just barely made it through the hour without them dying :P). I had some battery powered candles that really didn’t help with the lighting, but it was better than nothing. It puts a different perspective voluntarily removing yourself from electricity. I guess it kind of makes me feel ‘good’ inside to not have just shrugged the event off. I guess it’s also kind of neat to think that at the same time, many others out there and possibly around the world are doing it too. I enjoyed the novelty in the situation perhaps, as my ‘unplugging’ has little to no effect as an individual.

Another ‘feeling good inside’ story: On Thursday I was in the Mackenzie King Village residence building waiting to talk to the Residence Life Coordinator for my residence extension. In the giant common area sat an MP3 player and headphones on a seat - absolutely no one around. To be honest - it was tempting to uh… well, you know, but I decided to hand it to the front desk. The day after it kind of dawned on me to think what the chances are that if someone else came across it that they would have just pocketed it. Or who’s to say the student behind the desk didn’t pocket it? I would at least hope that someone in a position like that wouldn’t do such a thing but you never know.

I like to look back and feel like I did the right thing and hope that I continue to do so; minor event or global event.

Sorry, that’s all I’ve had on my brain all day and I can’t get rid of it.

So the long weekend was quite relaxing. I played some video games I haven’t played in ages. It brought me back… felt good looking through crosshairs again. I also watched about eleven movies or so…

Oh! I am so stoked because I bought BATTLESTAR GALACTICA DVDs! Yes, I’m kind of a big geek, but honestly, it is an amazing show, even if you don’t like sci-fi. It’s frakking superb. I bought everything except Season 1… which the DVD guys that come to campus didn’t have. They told me they would have it by tomorrow and I’ve checked everyday since Monday. They must be sick of me. I sure hope they have it tomorrow. For those that know me, when I’m willing to buy something… I like it. I like it a lot… unless it was a sweet deal. On that note, the final season starts on the 4th! Tomorrow is an hour of pretty much teaser before the final season starts. I’ve never been so excited for a TV show before. :P

In school related news… I really need to start studying. I’ve lost all drive but I still want to do as best as I can this term. I’m so eager to be done.

That’s all…