January 8, 2012.

The world is not what it seems like.
I'm learning new things everyday.

I'm learning new things everyday.
The world is not what it seems like.

Tunnel Vision.

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Washington Metro.

December 31, 2012.

There is one thing I wish for the upcoming year:
I hope to keep embracing my true colour and not be afraid to expose it to others.

I know this would be the only way to make myself happy and live life to my full potential.

Museum of Modern Art.

City Air.

6th Avenue from 49th -  I always end up in this city for every Christmas holidays.

Northeast Corridor.

December 28, 2012.

Some of my favourite films include Martin Scorsese's The Departed (2006), Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008), and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan (2010).

Watching the first season of Dexter made me realized the common motif of those films: There is no distinctive boundary between good and evil; a person is bound to struggle through moral dilemma and project imperfection.

Dexter Morgan's effort to be normal and abide moral principles. Harvey Dent, the white knight of Gotham who eventually becomes a two-face. Undercover identity of the good cop and the bad cop. Nina's alteration followed by the unleash of her emotional control. These characters in the movies and TV show have shown the very human nature beneath their skin and intrigued my thoughts.

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In one of the episodes, Dexter says the following monologue, which I'm carefully guessing the founding idea of the show: "Everyone hides who they are at least some of the time. Sometimes you bury that part of yourself so deeply you have to be reminded it's even there at all. And Sometimes you just want to forget who you are altogether."

Dexter is unique own its way; It's funny. It's a thriller. It's dangerous.

Christmas

Rayban Wayfarer.

Hey- I've reached the point where I could spend that amount of money to get a pair of Rayban (:

At least I bought it from Amazon.com where the product was much cheaper and no tax was applied.

Philadelphia 30th Street Station.

Megabus.

Toronto to Philadelphia (22nd 7:45PM to 23rd 8:00AM)

Met a research student from Stuttgart who works in a bio lab of the university. 

Good things come when you least expect them. 

December 22, 2012.

All my exams are now over. Heading to Princeton, NJ tonight!

December 18, 2012.

Scattered thoughts. Muted feelings.

December 7, 2012.

Wrote my Chemistry final today. Came back home exhausted, with a bit of hope that I might have a whole evening to relax. Then, I found out that one of my friends from Korean elementary school added me to the facebook group for the graduation class of 2006.

It's such a weird thing- seeing all these familiar faces that are so different from what I last remember. Some of the wall posts show how most of them are still living in the same neighbourhood. This isn't so surprising as my family in Seoul still lives there.

Going through the members list, I was surprised to see how people changed over time (Here I am, still judging others by their facebook) and also what their most recent 'title' was. Although many of them still had their high school name, I couldn't help but noticing so many names of good, competitive universities in Korea and different part of the world; includes the ivy leagues and Northeastern liberal colleges. Yes, I have to admit that I became little jealous.

I don't know. It kind of made me wonder where I stand and what my life would've been like if I didn't leave Seoul or took any different path in the past. Is Toronto where I really wanted to be? My life has gone through so many abrupt and radical changes that I can't even guess the possible outcome of any of them, but the one I'm in. Jealousy is such a dangerous thing- it makes me feel like I have achieved absolutely nothing in my life. And I somehow believe in that tonight.


Alas. I hope tomorrow is a better day.

Avenue Road and Bloor Street.

Gallery of Gems and Minerals.

This place actually makes sense now. I couldn't believe how blinded I was from all these beauties (:

What's better than visiting Royal Ontario Museum with a friend with same interest? Thanks for its free admission program for university students on tuesdays, my friend and I spent nearly 2 hours going through this single gallery.

Coffee.

When I was young, I couldn't understand why people would pay to deal with the bitterness.

Now, I feel the people who start their day with morning dew from the coffeemakers.

EESB04 Discharge Measurement.

There is no fieldwork requirement for the Principles of Hydrology course, but our professor decided to take the class down to the valley during the last lecture. The goal was to gather streamflow data with a current-meter, and use them to calculate the discharge rate by using velocity-area method.

Tom, one of the technicians of the department, 

and Professor Mitchell, whom I had EESA01 and EESB04 with.

U.S. Geological Survey website gives a good explanation and a diagram on how the streamflow is measured: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/streamflow2.html The same method of cross-sectional discharge measurement has been applied to measure the velocity of the streamflow of Highland Creek. The calculation based on measurement has given us the value of 0.48 cubic meters per second, compared to the 0.39 cubic meters per second, the data from the Water Survey of Canada:

I wonder if there is another field like Geoscience- very fundamental in academic nature (what could be other than studying mother Earth?) and yet so practical and activity based. People in this field are the one that can truly take the benefits of spending their time in a lab/office and also get paid to do these extraordinary activities in the field. I wonder if this is something I've thought about when I was young.

New Phone.

I was anxiously waiting for the Nexus 4 to get restocked, then my friend gave me an offer I couldn't resist.

$340 for a mint conditioned- factory unlocked iPhone 4S 32gb. This seemed like a pretty good deal whatnot.

I've been using second-hand iPhone 3G since 2009 and desperately needed a new phone that functions (at least working home button or earphone jack- which didn't work since this spring). I also needed a new phone that stays fit in my pocket and be able to stick with me for long time. I guess this one will be my new partner for upcoming years.

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I was hoping to move away from the iPhone's high-end price and its oppressed iOS, but ironically I'm back to here. I hope I don't end up locking myself into the Apple Inc. ecosystem just like what this Guardian UK article is referring to. In the mean time, I'm enjoying what this little thing can offer- this thing can wirelessly sync this with the iTunes on my Macbook and send free iMessages to my friends!

Season's Greetings.

Distillery District.

I love Victorian architecture, good urban renewal projects, concept of live-work-play neighbourhood.

It was only matter of time to find out about the Distillery District beside the Don River. 

It's hard to believe how well these architectures from 1860s are preserved. The Gooderham and Worts Distillery, what used to be the largest distillery in the world has now became the new neighbourhood with high rise condos and places where artists, artisans, entrepreneurs, young professionals can come together. This isn't just another ground that has been restored to become a 'historical district' or 'pioneer village'. It's a work of planning that combined the memory of past time and the need of modern inhabitants. Such a neat place that makes you want to live in.

The Starry Night.

November 17, 2012.

- It still feels like September for me but I already saw Christmas decoration coming up in the mall. It must've been those time loops you go through while preparing and writing for midterms. Now that it's passing through mid-November time of the year, I can already see the first semester coming to an end and professors appealing (not begging) for a good course evaluation. It's still hard to believe that I will write a final exam in only 20 days though.

- Apparently my TD bank account has been automatically switched from Youth to a regular service as I turned 19. Thanks for the no-heads up, I got charged with extra $30 on debit transaction fee (I make a lot of small purchases i.e. coffee) and $10.95 of monthly fee in October.... Oh God Why. I personally think providing good plans for youths and university students is an easy way to get a life-long customer, but Toronto Dominion sees it otherwise. On the other side, it seems CIBC offers no monthly fee, no transaction limit plan for university students! Way to go, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce!

- I've been looking to get a new phone and I finally set my heart to the Google Nexus 4. It's an Android phone with top-notch techy specification. More importantly, it's a kind of phone that can be directly purchased from Google Store (and it's dirt cheap!) and doesn't require term contracts or need for overpriced data plans. Since I don't stay in one place for very long time, I figured this kind of phone with boundless freedom is what I need (Not in terms of contracts and country lock, but also about iOS too... yes, I'm looking at you iPhone). The only problem is that it got all sold out within 10 minutes on the release date and I need to wait a couple of more weeks.

- There is one big thing I learned from working in the office and talking with co-workers last summer: Although willing to work in the office at young age is good, I will never have this opportunity of having long summer breaks in the future- and I should take the advantage of when I can. So, I've been currently working on a plan to take a journey to this distant but fascinating country (I can't tell you where at the moment) with two great friends I met in the campus. It's hard to tell you now whether how much progress has been made for this project, but it will come in time.

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- 아직도 새 학기가 시작된지 얼마 안된거같은데 벌써 크리스장식들이 설치되고있는걸 보면 중간고사 기간동안 시간이 얼마나 빨리갔는지 알 수 있다. 중간고사는 방금 막 끝났는데 왜 기말이 20일밖에 안남은건지?

- 만19세가 되니깐 청소년으로 등록되어있던 은행계좌가 일반으로 전환되었다. 이 사실을 모른체 데빗카드로 계속 긁고다녔더니 무려 30불이나 수수료가 나오고 10.95불을 월 계좌 사용료로 내는 불상사가 발생하였다 아놔 ㅠ

- 새 핸드폰을 사려고 계속 찾아봐왔는데 넥서스4만큼 내 요구에 맞는게 없는거같다. 비싸지 않은가격에 성능은 아이폰5이랑 갤럭시S3와 동급이고 통신사/국가 언락되었다는 사실이 좋은거같다. 개인적인 사정상 한곳에 오랫동안 있지 못하는데 장기계약이 없는게 있는것보다 훨씬 편하다. 출시일날 10분안에 다팔리는바람에 2주정도 기다려야된다 ㅠ

- 작년 여름에 사무실에서 일하면서 느끼고 사람들과 대화하면서 알게된게있는데, 어렸을때 다양한 경험을 해야된다는것이다. 이 말을 듣고 요번여름은 다르게 보내고싶다는 생각을 해왔고 지금은 대학교 친구 2명과 한달동안 타지에서 여름을 보낼 구상을 하고있다. 아직 부모님과 얘기도 안했고 어느 나라인지도 밝히기가 좀 그렇지만, 곧 이 아이디어에 대해 진전이 있고 자세한 계획을 여기 적을 수 있을꺼같다.

Gooderham Building.

49 Wellington Street East - Also known as the Flatiron building of Toronto.

"The Gooderham Building is the focal point of one of Toronto's most iconic vistas: looking west down Front Street towards the building's prominent rounded cornder, framed on the sides b the heritage commerical blocks along Front Street, and with the skycrapers of the Financial District towering in the background."