BT Files

» The random sampling of the mind of Brian Tang, on a semi-regular basis. Now 100% cheese-free!

Onward and upwards

Exam are over; school is complete; but the Brian-o-matic will remain at full alert since my work term at Microsoft begins on Monday. I can tell you that I will be putting in a lot more effort and time into these 8 months than I did the past 244, mainly because I there are only so many moments in my life that I believe have been turning points in what has been a rather boring and sequential existence. In fact, let me just outline my life to date:

1. First, I was born, then I was raised by my parents and grandparents. Not much of a turning point in here, but I suppose I was more of a human doing than a human being (Yes, I stole it from the Simpsons, so what, wanna fight about it?!?!). Of note was the birth of my younger sister... a rather insignificant moment, however. :P

2. Then I moved to Scarborough, where I developed my knowledge and skills through education and television. A lot of trial and error came into play, as my English skills were not that great (good ol' ESL program). I moved again shortly after grade 2, to a different part of Scarborough, where the next turning point occurred.

3. I went through puberty and got all ackward and stuff (although it can be argued that I go through this stage every other day, but I'll leave that story for another day).A few rather embarrassment moments involving the other sex (you know how when you like a girl and don't know what to do about it, so you end up teasing them and throwing stuff at them, and burning down their houses with some matches you found when rumbling through her garbage since you couldn't get a clear picture into her bedroom wind- er, you get the idea) certainly humbled me.

This is also where the benefits of friendship started to make sense for me. Other than having something to do at reccess time (man, how I miss 15 minute games of football), it also provided a base for homework assistance (my parents could not help, at no fault to themselves, but this contributed to a later point), as well as all the self-disclosure stuff I learned in Managerial Skills. Not everyone in my class (basically every year I was with the same 30 people, with a few newcomers and some leaving) was that nice, as I can remember quite a few moments where I was the definite one left out of the loop.

My first year of high school also occured in Scarborough... thank god I moved to Markham.

4. Yes, Markham. Er, not much to say, basically the same things happened only at a high school setting in a smaller house in a more sparsely inhabited area. My secondary education taught me much, especially in pure theory and social lessons.

However, my attitude towards education soured substantially, as I eventually reached my 5th year (for all you newbies, high school in Ontario entails 5 years before they decided to catch up with the rest of Canada). I just stopped caring a bit by bit, and with no negative consequences to my school performance, I stopped caring even more. In fact, the more I didn't care, the greater the rewards seem to be. The positive reinforcements of more things to talk about ("Yeah, I didn't go to Math. What did the teacher talk about?"), , and combined with my parents' declining attention paid to my grades (the only time they seemed to care was around then they thought it was exams period, and report cards), the education experience was no more to me then a forced necessity in this life, much like taking a dump - you don't enjoy doing it, but it's an evil that must be dealt with, hopefully in the shortest period of time with the least effort, because it's gonna hurt otherwise.

This is probably also where the information technology revolution really hit me, as it was my second computer and a broadband internet connection that really through me into doing crazy stuff like... oh I don't know, posting personal information about myself which will be used by secret government agents, terrorist groups, and yes, evil corporations and telemarketers to create a intensive profile about me of whether I am a national security threat, an excellent candidate for mass destruction, and if I would be interested in purchasing a subscription to the Toronto Star. Of note is Infantry, sigh, why'd it go P2P... grrr.

5. Next is university. Gee, education and moving seem to be the only important moments of my life. Anyway, getting accepted into UTSC was exciting, like all the other turning points, but it ends up that paying 14 grand a year (3 semesters) gets you "High School: Extended Edition". Although I must admit, I adore the content of many courses, I simply do not find experiencing the content appealling at the times which are set forth by some committie or department or whatever I am paying a good earned money (which I got from my time at Tim Hortons, another critical point in this time period, but I'll leave that for later) to pay for. Plus, the surge of adredaline from a massive cram session (which in university is substantially more intense from high school) is too tempting for me (come to think of it, that's pretty sick). And I still got 2 years left to go (minus one work term). Another 24 grand or so I'll have to earn or apply for... or beg, whichever is easier.

6. Microsoft - TBD (I'll have amply opportunity to update this through these next 8 months, and probably post some big-ass summary)

Damn I'm late. Off to the MESA year-end party. I just can't say no to free food. ;)