The chances of a high school student eventually playing basketball in the NBA? About the same.

In fact, the chances of someone growing up and getting a job precisely like yours, whatever it is, are similarly slim. (Head of development at an ad agency, director of admissions for a great college… you get the idea). Every good gig is a long shot, but in the end, a lot of talented people get good gigs. The odds of being happy and productive and well compensated aren’t one in a million at all, because there are many good gigs down the road. The odds are only slim if you pick precisely one job.

Here’s the lesson: the ardent or insane pursuit of a particular goal is a good idea if the steps you take along the way also prep you for other outcomes, each almost as good (or better). If pushing through the Dip and bending the market to your will and shipping on time and doing important and scary work are all things you need to develop along the way, then it doesn’t really matter so much if you don’t make the goal you set out to reach.

On the other hand, if you live a life of privation and spend serious time and money on a dead end path with only one outcome, you’ve described a path likely to leave you broken and bitter. Does spending your teenage years (and your twenties) in a room practicing the violin teach you anything about being a violin teacher or a concert promoter or some other job associated with music? If your happiness depends on your draft pick or a single audition, that’s giving way too much power to someone else.

g’night! :0)  oh yeah, TWILIGHT TRAILER OUT LIKE….REALLY SOON!!

and michael cera’s new movie out today!  but it takes a bit longer in asia… oh well.

girl from China (PRC)’s Teresa.  She’s really nice but stands way too close and touches my thigh and forearm a lot. :0(

catherine, girl from hong kong, is also really nice, but doesn’t like to get into a roomies discussion when the prc, latvian girl, and i are all talking.

latvian girl is cute and nice (she has a total punk hairdo which all the hong kong girls are all like “SO COOOOOOL LA” )  and um she’s really quiet.

my family is so lame.  my dad called my phone, i missed the call.  i call him back, and he’s asking me the regular questions (how are you, how’s school) and then when i go like “can i talk to stephen? (my brother)” he’s like “i’m in the bedroom already.” and i’m like “scream his name, he’ll hear you”
“no, call his phone”
“you live in the same house”
“but i’m already in the bedroom”
“fine, get mom on the phone”
“call her phone.”

is this NORMAL?!

i’m honestly going to miss going to mass in mongkok. the quality of the masses are so much better than ma on shan.

my father’s afraid i’m going to become a nun. he needs to understand that it’s a blessing!!….not in disguise…heh.

i want to change my name, not legally.  but when i introduce myself.

i wish my grandparents were like that. i’ll be sure to be that kind of grandmother when i get older. :0) if i do intend to have children, of course…

update 01.07.08
HAPPY CANADA DAY!!! :0D

i don’t have jetlag, but my mind feels like it’s spinning.

i take back about whether vancouver being right for me.  it was nice to be back in the old routine in richmond of waking up early, eating breakfast, reading the news….etc.  it was just nice, but it felt a bit weird too.  i don’t know if i like routines or not, but i know i’m in one as of now.  it’s funny how i like what is familiar to me.  isn’t it limiting oneself though?  it’s hard to stop, but i’m learning something everyday as i drift further away from my habitual needs.  at the same time, i think the only thing that i try to keep constant is my relationship with my family, as for the rest “let the chips fall where they may”.

carpe diem!

on the plane, i watched a bunch of romantic comedies, along with the simpsons and family guy. and guess what? simpsons and family guy are no longer funny to me anymore. it’s shocking to me still.

after i got picked up from the airport, got a bunch of phonecalls and emails from friends, which was really nice. replied to most of them, and talked to a lot on phone. i received a phonecall from a friend, eugene, who i expected wouldn’t act much after hearing my arrival. he expectantly rings me up, and it was really nice. but really weird. he reminded me why i left richmond in the first place.

today, i woke up from the sound of the rain. i got a new sim card, stuck it in my phone, and rode in the car for some more to get to richmond centre. during that car ride, i was contemplating. it was so comforting seeing things (faces, places, names) i recognized, yet being back reminded me of the repulsiveness of the place. i don’t really know how to feel as these two emotions conflict one another and i feel a bit stuck.

i’m trying to ignore that feeling as i’ve only been here for two days, but one thing’s for sure: people work hard to get out of the lovely, but mundane city of richmond.

richmond is no longer the city for me, and the longing THOUGH I KNEW deep down, the longing to go back to see friends has not disappointed me, but amazed me as to what extent i worked to get out of this boring place by sacrificing the time to be with the most beautiful people in the world.

simply put: i’m not saying i’ve felt i was always better for richmond, but the thoughts, changes, and aspirations of mine do not fit with ideals of this lovely city.  i always felt a suspicion that richmond was not the place for me, and this visit has confirmed this.

however…..

universities have a lot more facilities, more majors, more options and choices, more opportunities and clubs, more people, bigger library, better professors possibly….

the major question i think i really need myself to answer is…
when i come out of an institution, do i want have a good experience…or when i come out of an institution, do i want a nice sounding degree from a nice sounding school?

i may be asking this question in a more biased form that i would prefer it to be because it sounds like “DUH EXPERIENCE”. well a college experience can’t exactly be quantified, only felt. a degree on the other hand, can be through examinations and junk. maybe i should be more optimistic, that universities will get an equal amount of experience and a nice sounding name? and i mean, universities CAN have low teacher to student ratios, it varies from one to another…

choosing a major at this age is not a wise choice at all, as it seems as though most things are set in stone. when most uni books tell that it’s not, don’t you feel like you’re kinda wasting your time if you switch major 3 or 4 times?! i feel like i do at least, because i’m a person who likes to choose something, and work towards it, not to have pitchfork paths which ultimately lead to a drug rehabilitation centre.

i talked to eric about my problem, and he seems to understand where i’m coming from because he’s thought about it for a long time too when he was applying to uni’s and colleges. at first he was just like “apply for uni’s, they get your parents off your back.” i explained to him about my inner struggle and he clicked immediately. he talked about the college and university thing PRECISELY to how i thought about them. it’s weird. two people thinking on the same level at the right time. well actually it’s not weird, it’s very comforting. it’s not like as though i’m alone with ten hundred university guides piled on the table. there’s someone who’s thought of all the problems and managed to get through this struggle with all limbs intact.

i’m honestly kinda scared of him leaving for the UK, since it means: less eric + less conversations = less happiness = less laughs= stressed joyce. :0( i should present this equation to him, he’ll probably laugh. oh well, i’m not going to dwell on it until he needs to leave.

we’re making sushi in july! why july? because chishio (alumni from li po chun from japan) will be in hong kong and he’s teaching eric and me make sushi. i’m supposed to bring canadian recipes so we can make something before that. he and stefan (another alumni, from slovakia) were making macedonian food yesterday. according to him, his ambition is to “invite everyone to [his] house to cook their national food”. i laughed so hard when he said that. i thought it was really cute. i told him it was a lifelong ambition and he laughed really hard too. :0)

i am ready for kanata. and some weerez, baby!

at the same time, i feel like that this subject suits me very well, and i will get a lot out of it once i’ve finished it.  okay i’m ready, watch it, boy!!

:0)

that was a procrastination post.  back to work.