Jungle Drum.

Emiliana Torrini - Jungle Drum (2009)

Hey, I'm in love. My fingers keep on clicking to the beating of my heart.

Hey, I can't stop my feet. Ebony and Ivory and dancing in the street.

Hey, it's 'cause of you. The world is in a crazy, hazy hue.

My heart is beating like a jungle drum- rukutumtumtumtum

My heart is beating like a jungle drum- rukutumtumtumtum

My heart is beating like a jungle druuumm- :D

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There is no division between a night and a day or a weekday and a weekend, but I'm still happy.

I really enjoy learning more and more each day and gaining expertise in the field of interest.

This, turns out to be, a really good privilege for being young and curious minded!

New friends, thoughts on future job, academic interest, courage, plans for summer, etc.

The brightness of this catchy tune reflects my beating heartbeats full of hope. 

Delissio Pizza.

This is my best 'I-don't-wanna-cook-tonight' meal option (along with a classic subway foot long).

So far, I've tried many flavours including 'Deluxe' ' Pepperoni' '4 Cheese' 'Spicy Chicken Supreme' 'Canadian' 'Bacon Cheeseburger' and 'Buffalo Chicken with Frank's RedHot Sauce'. Variety is the spices of life indeed (:

To be honest, I don't cook or spend much time on grocery shopping as I did in the first year. Considering the benefit of not having to spend so much time or effort on preparation, it's not such a bad option to eat on campus. Plus, it's instantly available on the spot and at least moderate food taste is guaranteed

냉동피자만큼 밥 해먹기 귀찮을때 가장 먹기 쉬운게 없는거같다. 더이상 기숙사에서 살지않으니깐 캠퍼스에 있을때도 집에오는것보다 그냥 사먹게되는 경우가 많아진거같다. 지금까지는 사먹는 가격이 비싸다고 느껴졌는데 딱히 요리 하는걸 즐기는게 아니면 (1학년때는 실제로 좋아했다) 시간절약을 위해 사먹는것도 나쁘지 않은것같다. 

October 20, 2012.

Past week has been days and nights of madness between assignments, midterms, and lectures.

Looking back now on this Saturday evening, I'm kind of surprised that I had the capacity go through them all (...I did break a sweat time to time though). This has been a wake-up call for the increasing amount of workload and need for time management.

Shivering while thinking about the chemistry midterm that I had only this afternoon, I'm just glad I can stay in my room watching an episode of the Episodes.

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이번주는 과제에, 중간고사에, 강의에, 모든것이 겹쳐서 밤낮으로 정신이 없었다.

다행히도 오늘 오후에 화학시험이 끝나서 지금은 쉴 수 있는데 시험이 쉽지 않아서 찝찝한 마음이 약간 남아있다. 미숙한 판단으로 열화학 (Thermochemistry) 부분 공부를 덜 했는데 하필 문제들이 거기서 많이나왔다- 아놔... 아무튼 늘어난 공부량과 시간관리의 중요성을 몸소 느끼게 해준 날들이였다.

최근에 보기 시작한 프로그램중에 BBC에서 하는 '에피소드'라는 시트콤이 있는데. 프렌즈에 나온 '멧 라블랑'이 주인공으로 나온다는 점과 영국 코미디 특유의 비꼬는듯함을(sarcasm) 잘 표현한거같아서 흥미롭게 보고있다.

October 18, 2012.

New poster on the wall: 'Keep Calm and Carry On'

This poster has become well known on internet/design communities in recent years but apparently its history goes back to the year of 1939, before the imminence of the war. It was originally designed by the British Ministry of Information to raise the morale of the British public in the event of a Nazi invasion.

As the Economist puts it, "(the poster) taps directly into the country's mythic image of itself: unshowily brave and just a little stiff, brewing tea as the bombs fall."

I intentionally posted it on the door, so that it constantly reminds me of the message as I walk out to the world. 

160 College Street.

Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto

 One of the coolest architecture spots on the campus

October 17, 2012.

Continuous days of late night studying and early morning coffee.
아침 커피로 시작되서 밤늦게까지 공부하는 날들의 연속.

American Football.

Montreal Alouettes (24) at Toronto Argonauts (12)

Canadian Football League game at the Rogers Centre

Have no ideas about the sports + A free ticket and a shirt form the varsity team promotion. 

Football seemed like a very male-oriented sports- cheerleaders, buffs, tackle, chase, etc

Bloor-Danforth Line.

It's a bit unfortunate how old these infrastructures in Toronto are

and how all of them have same ill-looking, greenish platforms with minimized facilities.

I'm so afraid to stand in front of the yellow line when the train rushes in- I'm not even kidding!

Union Subway Station Construction.

Moat level entrance from the Union Station to the Union Subway Station. 

"Union Station is the busiest passenger transportation facility in Canada, serving approximately 250,000 passengers each day. By adding a second subway platform and expanding the concourse to include a single TTC fare-paid area and pedestrian by-pass routes, the TTC will reduce overcrowding and improve passenger circulation.

The Union Station Second Subway Platform and Concourse Improvements Project is one of Waterfront Toronto's (WT) priority projects. The Toronto Transit Commission is the proponent of this project and has managed the planning, design and now the construction of the project."

Argo (2012).

Yeah it's been a while since I've seen a movie in a theatre, but this one somehow got my attention like the way King's Speech did to me back in 2010. As today marks the second day of its opening, I couldn't resist not seeing it- and what a fantastic film it turned out to be!

Putting all the impression into one sentence: Argo was a flawless historical film with tight-knit screen play and impressive cinematography. Although most viewers probably knew how the story was going to end in the end (Since it was based on a real historical event), the director Ben Affleck did such a great job on sending the viewers into the world of late 1970s and put them right in the middle of the tension of Iranian revolution.

I've been always interested in Ben Affleck's work since 'the Town' and this film allowed me to see his potential to bring fresh perspective on real life events- finally something beyond of Boston or street crime. His idea beneath the Iranian embassy hostage crisis, Carter administration, and big-shot hollywood have came visually vivid and thought intriguing manner.

Argo was an excellent film overall. I won't be surprise if this movie gets nominated for the upcoming 85th Academy Award. "Argo Fu** Yourself"- I will never forget this quote from the movie.

Fall Into Nature.

A family walk along the Nassagaweya Canyon- Crawford Lake Conservation Area

Part of the Niagara Escarpment with its distinct dolostone landscape

Thanksgiving Dinner.

Home away from home- thanksgiving dinner with my aunt's family in Guelph, ON

Moosehead Lager.

Brewed and Bottled by Moosehead Breweries Limited, 

Canada's Oldest Independent Brewery located in Saint John, New Brunswick

Someone should've had really warned me that it's not sane to carry 28 bottles of beer...

...but 5 bucks off the regular price seems like a too good deal to be missed. 

Cheltenham Badlands.

Some geologists and ecologists now believe that we have entered the new geological era called 'Anthroposcene'- due to the human activities causing significant impact on the Earth's ecosystem. It is no doubt that human are the major cause to alter the environment; Canals can be built in few years where as rivers takes hundreds to be formed and the new land can be easily created by relocating debris into an ocean.

This location is not really an exotic scenery of nature, but rather the evidence of detrimental anthropogenic influence on nature. In the pre-1930s era, this land used to be part of a farm that grows crops. However, too much usage of synthetic fertilizer has caused the positive feedback of soil erosion and underlying Queenston shale has been exposed. The formation is red in colour due to exessive iron oxide deposits.

일부 지질학자들과 생태학자들은 인간이 지구 생태계에 미치는 영향이 증가함에 따라 새로운 지질연대기에 들어섰다고 생각한다. 몇백년이 걸리던 강의 생성과정은 인간의 힘으로 의해 몇달안으로 사라질 수 있고, 기계의 힘을 빌려 물이없는 육지에 수로를 낼 수 도 있다. 인간은, 경제적 필요성이 존재하면 바다를 간척해서 새로운 땅도 만들어낼 수 있는, 신적인 능력을 가졌다.

사진에 보이는 모습은 자연의 이국적이고 경의로운 모습과는 다소 거리가 먼, 인간의 무분별한 생태계 개발의 결과물이다. 이 곳은 원래 농작물을 기르던 농장이였으나 지나친 화학농약의 사용으로 인해 토양침식을 가속하였고 퀸스턴 셰일층이 노출되었다. 이 지층이 유난히 빨간색인 이유는 산화철(iron oxide)이 공기와 닿아 화학반응을 이르키기 때문이다. 

Bruce Peninsula National Park.

Coast of Georgian Bay- Tobermory, Ontario.

One of the core sites of the UNESCO's Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Reserve.

Look at these straight-cut joints of dolostones and the clear- emerald colour of the lake.

I've never thought there could be such a place in Ontario.

MS Chi-Cheemaun.

Aboard MS Chi-Cheemaun (meaning 'big canoe' in Ojibwe language)

 Heading South Baymouth from Tobermory through the edge of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.

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This particular scenery reminded me of the paint called 'To Prince Edward Island' by a Canadian wartime painter Alex Colville. I remember just standing infront of this work hanging in the National Gallery of Canada and stayed in awe for its unique colour contrast and composition. 

Espanola, Ontario.

Looking for the sedimentary intrusion at the Clear Lake.

There ain't no major like Environmental Geoscience (:

Parry Sound, Ontario.

 
The first night of the field trip was spent at the Comfort Inn just outside of the Parry Sound, Ontario- a small, beautiful township with population of 6,000. When the dusk of the night started to set, A group friends and I walked into a 5 Pin Bowling place called Georgian Lane.

Being in, perhaps, one of the few stores in the town that were opened in that evening was definitely a new thing for me. There were several groups of locals- variety of age groups- enjoying bowling on a saturday night. On the next lane to ours, there was a family with a teenaged daughter. On the couples of lane next to ours, there was a young boy playing bowl with the store clerk. On the farthest lane from ours, there was a group of three girls in their early 20s. With old pop music on the background, everything I see came so different and fresh in this place; maybe it was because I lived in cities through all of my life.

The best part was when I went to get two bottles of beers for myself and a friend. It was my first time to make a choice of drink in a bar and show my ID to proudly prove my age of majority. When the store clerk of the bowling alley checked my ID and realized that I've become 19 not so long ago, she just gave me free- 'on the house' drinks (:

Pancake Island.

[N 45.340613°  W 80.294270°]

3 hours drive towards North of Toronto.

Inhabited island of the Georgian bay, Ontario.

Around a billion years ago, these metamorphic rocks were the bottom portion of some 20 kilometre high Grenville Mountains (In other words, there was a mountain range higher than Himalayans in this very spot!). The formation of Grenville Orogeny was driven by the tectonic collision between northern part of Southern America and the Eastern part North America. Erosion of the mountain range has occurred ever since its creation (Mesoproterozoic; 1600Ma-1000Ma) and now their deep roots are exposed at surface due to isostatic rebound- and provides important key to understand the geologic past.

믿기 힘들겠지만 약 10억년전, 사진에 보이는 변성암들은 해발 2만미터 상당의 그랜빌 산맥의 최저층을 구성하고있었던 암석들이다 (이는 히말라야 최고봉 에베레스트산의 고도 7천미터를 훨씬 넘는 산맥이 바로 이곳에 존재하고있었음을 말한다). 그랜빌 산맥의 조산과정은 현재 남아메리카의 북쪽지방에 포함된 판과 북아메리카의 동부지방이 포함된 판이 함께 충돌하면서 생겨났다. 산맥의 침식은 생성된 시기 (중원생대; 16억- 10억년전) 부터 시작되어 현재는 그 높은 산맥의 흔적은 사라지고 지각평행을 통해 지상으로 올라온 그 뿌리만이 남아있으나- 쉽게 접근할 수 없는 산의 최저층 암석들이 지상에 노출되어 있기때문에 지질학적인 가치가 높다.