(I mean, technically there is time to study in between those two papers, if and only if you sacrifice sleep for it, which I'm not going to. That's insane.)
My next exam is on the 13th. Lots of time in between right? Nah, I still have work to do. I think I'm doing a good job managing my time... I believe I need to fill in around 20 hours this week. One of the mornings would be used for exams... so I could either just go to work during the day, or I could just bring work back home... which I did this week.
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| Figure 67.1: Video editing is not my thing. |
I had an interesting conversation with my professor this week. It's kind of a "what's life after graduation" kind of conversation. This was when I visit him during his office hours, wanted to ask him questions, and then the topic kind of just transition to his life story of sorts. I never did got my questions answered.
Anyway, the professor has always been curious about my case. This Chinese boy who speaks fluent English, and yet can read and write Mandarin? So at first he's asking about my origin, and then my family's origin... and then it sort of went into his life story.
He asked if I wanted to do grad school, and I said not immediately no. Then he went like: "ahhhh.... but an bachelor's in statistics is hard to get a job..." In which I told him, yeah, I realised that. So now, my plan has kind of changed a bit. Now, I'm going to look for internships. I literally could not find anyone wanting to hire a fresh graduate in statistics around Canada or in Europe (Malaysia is not an option). I had the opportunity to talked to some of the people who've "made" it, and they all did internships before landing their first job, so I guess that's the plan now!
I told my professor that my end goal is to go to Europe. He asked why, what does Europe have that Canada doesn't have. Well, the first thing I went for is cheap telco rates. Oh man, apparently he have the same opinion as me. We spent the next few minutes just simply talking trash about how expensive it is here, and how his internet provider tried to sneakily increase his fee last month, only for him to call and dispute, and now it's back to the original price. Telco is too expensive here!
The other thing is the ease of mind in many aspects of life. One of the example I gave is healthcare and public education and the rest. He also went "Ooohhh!!! Yaaa!!" Then he told me about when the moment his daughter was born, he immediately start saving up money for her education. Then he told me how the money he saved up covers her daughter's university tuition fee just nicely, which means that those 18 years of savings were used up for the next 4 years. Huh. The professor encouraged me to do it though. To migrate elsewhere. Not because Canada sucks or anything, but it's more of: do what you want to do. As much as he loves to live in Canada, his love for it can't force me to stay here. He told me that I should do it soon, while I'm still young, don't wait till I'm 30 or 36, because by then it's too late. This is actually one of the thing I had in mind. I know I had this conversation with my dad. He told me to pretty much give up on my dream to Europe until I'm like...35 or something. His rationale is basically that: It's already tough for you to leave Malaysia to stay in Canada, it's going to be tougher for a 3rd degree migration. So stay in Canada, until it can be considered home, then go somewhere else. Unfortunately, I'm going with my professor for this one. For one thing, let's say... I met someone, and kind of settled down at whatever place I am right now. My dream is to go to Europe, and usually people settle down around their late 20s. Which means, if I were to still follow my dream and wanting to migrate to Europe, I have to either find someone insane enough to give up everything they have and follow me to Europe, or just give up on my dream completely and stay. I don't like that. The other train of thought is to NOT be tied down in anything, so that even in my late 20s, I could still migrate without carrying anything with me. That's also kind of sad, but hey... whatever...
Heh, just by typing that made me kind of depressed. Should I be a good boy and listen to my dad? Or should I pursue my dream, no matter how reckless it is? That's only question 1, picking either one would branch to further questions that I would rather not ask myself yet.
Anyway, my professor also told me that a few months ago, his father passed away, and his mother is now approaching 90. Oh yeah, my professor is from China, by the way. He said he's the youngest of 4 sons, and I believe the only one who got out of China. He told me that even until now, he still have regrets not attending his father's funeral, and not being there for his mother. He was so caught up with work that time (in his case, university), and the travel is so far away, that he felt it's not worth it at that time. Now, it's haunting him. This man, despite being here in the West for such a long time, he's still very much Chinese. Outside class, he always preach 道德, or "morals/ethics". I definitely understand him when he mentions about all these thing; he's also a huge fan of Confucianism, which is basically the moral way of living. It's hard to explain it, because if you're from the West, or have not grown up with this sort of culture, there would be this nuance lost in translation. Either way, the whole funeral thing really messed up his mojo, as he feels that it's going against what he believes, considering 孝顺父母(respect your parents) is like the first lesson in 道德. But yeah, I wonder what he'll think about my case. Since it's dad's wishes vs my dream eh?
Anyway, I've ranted to long enough. Maybe one of these days my parents will be notified of this post, and I'll get hell for it because it kind of paints my dad in a negative light. Na guys, it's just that I'm aware that migrating to Europe is a huge huge HUGE risk, and he knows that too, while staying in Canada is the safer option. He and I both know that I have friends here, I have connections here, I know the geography, I'm fluent in the language, etc. etc., as oppose to say, "Europe"; so it's only normal for a parent to be protective that way. But heck, you know me~
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| Figure 67.2: The joy of finally understanding a problem! |
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| Figure 67.3: My colleagues having a snowball flight, while I stay in the office and study ;___; |
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| Figure 67.4: Food is literally the easiest section I've done. I really learn through food huh? The next section though.... ngeh..... |
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