Today marks the first day of the rest of my life. I was baptized into the Catholic Church by Father Michael during the beautiful Easter vigil. My family and friends were there to share this joyous day with me.

Words cannot fully describe what I am feeling right now. Happy, joyous, excited, ecstatic, at peace. God has blessed my life many times over, I hope I can live my life in a way to glorify His name.

Wow, 2008 was a blast wasn't it. It's been ages since we had snow in DECEMBER! It has to be global warming! We had to postpone our Christmas dinner, ate someone else's party turkey (also due snow related issues) on our makeup dinner on the 31st, and we might be able to get out tomorrow for our real makeup dinner because it is STILL snowing!

Anyways, my new year's resolutions:

1. Spend less money on coffee and food....and DVDs. Hahaha.
   
   Starbucks coffee is too expensive but 8 o'clock classes kill me. I might have those early classes for the entire next term though! O_o;
   
   Ah food. Most of my expenses go to food and coffee. Snacks that I should eat anyways. So I'll hoping to cut back on some of those expenses.
   
   DVDs I don't usually buy but this boxing day I bought a lot of $5 DVDs that I wouldn't have normally bought at Walmart. I could have saved those extra $5s and gotten me a Starbucks coffee! ;P
   
   
2. Graduate from UBC! I'm hoping to do this by May! I already have enough requirements for my CPSC degree! (Yay!) All that is left is 3 courses of MICB and I'm done! Then it is off to the work force with me!
   
   
3. Save $10,000 and increase my investment portfolio. So the stock market crashed and I lost an undisclosed amount of money. I'm pretty sure it will bounce back in time. I am starting the new year with setting up DRIPs for some of my stocks and going to try to contribute to them monthly through their SSP (Yay! No more high commissions for me!)
   
   
4. Exercise. Heheh always on the list. I'll try to do some Wii boxing at least once every two days. ;P
   

I've just spent my week's earnings on coffee. I have been participating in paid studies as a test subject recently to earn money. I earned $10 this week and spent most of it on 2 cups of Starbucks coffee. T_T I wanted to try the new holiday drink selections. I tried the Expresso Truffle today. I must try to refrain from spending on unnecessary things. Was it worth $4.04 and a burnt tongue?...probably not.

School actually started yesterday but I only had one class and first day usually is not that bad. I don't want to go to school anymore! I miss work. I just have to hang on for one more year...

The buses are so busy this year! Every time I get on I barely get on. This morning the 43 AND the 41 bus was completely full! I had to get on the next 41. I feel so sorry for the people at Kerrisdale because there was a huge crowd of people there but the bus was still full; nobody could get on. The buses get more full each year! I think it is because new people are going to UBC but the existing students don't graduate! (i.e. me lol) So it is good to plan out your degree and get out of there fast so that you don't have to use the bus anymore. I can't believe everyone is encouraging taking the bus (and I'm all for it; I take the bus to work) when there are not enough buses to take! You probably have to leave your home 1-3 hours ahead just to get to school on time depending on where you live. That's ridiculous! It's worse than the airport!

Another complaint I have is with UBC. They changed their PRS system again! What the heck?! They just changed it about 2 years ago! And now the bookstore has reached its quota on PRS buybacks. They said to come back January. >=( I know what school I'm not going to donate to.

Just came back from the Full Moon Evening Explorer kayaking tour at Deep Cove. It was pretty cool. The moon was breathtakingly beautiful. I had to resist the natural urge to howl or people would think I'm crazy. lol I know I'm crazy but I don't want strangers to know. =P The moon was pretty full but I'm not sure it was completely full.

It costs $55 for a single kayak and $40 for a double kayak (per person) from 8pm to 11pm. I doubled with Winnie. lol We forgot how to steer at the beginning heheh. But we bounced back quickly. Power strokes! I was so tired at the end I couldn't lift up my paddle over my head.

Besides the moon we saw bioluminescence in the water. It was so pretty like fairy dust. Beautiful.

Today while I was waiting for the bus, a group of old ladies came to the front and stood a little off to the side. Then slowly, and slowly, they nonchalantly budged in front of me.

I find it very amusing, albeit a little annoying, that they would think I won't notice them cut in front of me. They pretended they where in front of me all along! Hahaha.

They were old ladies - I forgive them.

Woot! I received my free 8GB Zune in the mail recently. This was part of Matchstick's word of mouth promotion and I was lucky enough to qualify! I was already considering getting it as it has FM radio which is a great plus!

The Zune is pretty sweet! It is so pretty. Even the box is nice. Haha. I can also transfer songs and pictures wirelessly between Zune users! Cool eh? I added all my pictures from my gallery onto it so I can show people.

I think I can download some games to play on it too. I'll have to experiment some more.

Now something for you guys:

As part of the promo, you all have a chance to win up to $500 in Amazon.com gift certificates!

Here's how:
Log on to ChatThreads.com and enter 102 986 0387 for the Conversation ID and you'll be entered to win a $500 Amazon.ca gift card! You can also tell your friends about it and give them the conversation ID if you talk about the Zune.

I so love it. So what do you guys think of the Zune?

Made my first profit selling stocks today. I made $651.66 since August 2007! Not really a lot when I think about it...

Hahaha I sold YLO.UN for profit of $20. Heheh. I was going to keep it because their dividend yield is 13%! But I was afraid it might still go down. And I also sold all my BMO stock only to find out it went up a little bit higher later in the day. =( Still I made a nice little profit so I can't complain. I just don't know if it going to go higher (4th consecutive day) or go down. It kind of plateaued midday but closed at 45.96.

The monthly income fund is killing me. I'm losing $384.24 as of today. I don't like mutual funds. The BMO monthly income fund was the first I bought when I got into investing. I was up 100+ before the market plummeted. =(

If only I don't have to pay commission fees. Just to buy and sell a stock costs $50 for me! Zecco is a company that offers 10 free trades per month, but I've read bad reviews about Zecco. But maybe I should give it a try?

I entered a contest at Dose.ca to win tickets to the screening of Hellboy 2 and won! There was some email trouble so they called me this morning to tell me that the screening was tonight and I have to pick up the tickets downtown! I had to leave work for an hour to bus down there to pick it up.

Overall, I liked the movie. It had its moments; it was funny and made me laugh at times. The thing I didn't like was that Hellboy looked a little fake in this sequel. Maybe they changed his eyes or his makeup or something. It just didn't sit well with me. I didn't like the kid in the beginning either - so fake. I don't think I can say anymore without spoiling it. And Liz's fire! I liked her blue fire in the first movie better. Now it is regular fire. That's so boring! =(

I do hope that they make another one. I like Hellboy. But from the looks of it I'm going to say it is highly likely.

I just found out that Skye the golden eagle at the Greater Vancouver Zoo has died today! Apparently she flew into the lion enclosure and three lionesses hunted her down.

This is so saddening. Golden eagles are my favourite birds. It is hard to believe she is gone. I was just there a month ago. Rest in peace, Skye. Rest in peace.

I bought my first stock today. Or rather I submitted an offer and I'll have to wait until the markets open to find out if they will buy it at that price for me. I'm buying 100 shares of BMO at 42.55 (hopefully). I only have enough money to buy 1 stock. LOL Well, we all have to start somewhere, I guess.

Ha! I got a 40 gallon aquarium today! My friend and my dad helped me bring it home. It is used so my dad is going to fix it up a bit before I can use it. It comes with a wooden stand. It is black so I think my dad is going to help me repaint it.

I'm planning to keep a pair of german rams, some neon tetras and ottos in there. It's going to be a planted tank too. I'm going to have to move my 10 gallon downstairs...If I can clean up down there.

I recently found out about a local fishkeeping site bcaquaria.com! There are so many people interested in fishkeeping! I didn't realize it was so popular! There's a store called Pets Beautiful near Dunbar Loop that sells fish and fish products and the owner is apparently very nice. I'll have to visit someday!

Hahah one of our neighbours have wireless internet set up but didn't encrypt it. There is a weak signal that my sis' connected her laptop to.

This is why it is important to properly set up your wireless connection! Some one can leech off bandwidth from you!

This year we had a white Christmas. It started to snow at about 11 in the morning on the 25th. So we just spent a quiet day at home as we had our Christmas dinner on Sunday already.

I was already eagerly awaiting boxing day...I slept early at 11:20. I fell asleep BUT woke up an hour later! Then I couldn't get back to sleep! So I just spent the night tossing and turning all the while thinking of what I'd get today. Hahahah!

I got up at 4:30am as Karen and I planned to be at the Metrotown BestBuy before 5:30. Our dad wasn't going to go this year but our mom made him come with us anyways! He dropped us off at BestBuy then lined up at Futureshop.

It was SO CROWDED! There were about 300+ people in front of us already. But we got everything we wanted. Hahah my credit card is going to blow up! We bought so many DVDs!

After we went to Lansdowne mall to for lunch and to check out the other BestBuy. It was SO crowded. It was so hard to find parking. There was this aggressive lady driver who STOLE our parking spot! Someone was leaving and we were in right spot to get the it. There was a car in front of us and SHE was in front of that. She had the audacity to reverse and wave at us to backup! >>>=( Stupid lady! Once you're past you can't claim the spot! The nerve!

Well, eventually we found a spot. We just ate at the food court since all the restaurants had lineups. Then Karen and I went off to BestBuy while our dad went to look for phones at Rogers and Fido stores. There wasn't anything much I wanted to buy anymore. It was still very busy there compared to Burnaby.

Heehee another productive boxing day. Tomorrow? Round two!

Hahaha I think it is fitting that I got a dog for a daemon.

The test said:

"Your profile reveals that you are: Flexible, spontaneous, modest, dependable and passive. You are therefore matched with the Whippet Daemon."

I got dragged to an Avril Lavigne concert yesterday in the middle of a BLIZZARD! Ok maybe it wasn't quite a blizzard but it was snowing pretty hard. I had to stand in Swangard Stadium for about 2 and a half hours. She was an hour late showing up.

My cousin was too short and couldn't see anything so I made her a snow pile to stand on! Hahaha. Everyone else started to copy me after that. Heeheehee. It was about 1 and a half feet high. The highest out of everyone's. Everyone probably thought I was crazy rolling snowballs around.

But I guess the concert was okay. My sister had gotten VIP tickets so she HAD to go. And my cousin also wanted to go therefore I had to go in order to watch over her since we had regular tickets.

We got some freebies though. $5 off coupons for BestBuy and Telus bags! The Telus bags are the best. They were also giving out little BestBuy flags (this concert was put together by BestBuy) but why would anyone want those?! It's just garbage. They should give out lanyards or something that people will keep and use.

I was freezing after the concert. We hopped over to the Starbucks at the corner and had mochas and hot chocolate. That Starbucks had such good business. It was SO crowded. Everyone wanted to warm up after standing in the snow for several hours.

After coffee , we took the bus to Bestbuy. I wanted to buy another nunchuck because my sister bought Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games on Friday and each of us needed a nunchuck to play 2 player.

Afterwards my aunt and uncle and parents went to Uncle Willy's for dinner. I don't know but for some reason my dad really wanted to go there. I thought there was nothing to eat there. But then I don't like buffets anyways.

Sigh. Another study day wasted.

I want to watch Enchanted so badly!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=21557772

"I've been dreaming OOFF" Heehee!

Too bad it comes out so close to the end of term. I'll probably busy with finishing up projects and assignments.

I got my wisdom teeth pulled today. I only have two top ones. I have no room for the bottom ones. These top ones are already growing out at an angle at the end.

Hurts. Can't eat anything but congee. Sucks because still I'm hungry.

I got the chance to go to Calgary today! Just for the day for an interview. lol I didn't get a lot of time to go anywhere though. I just spend one hour at the Chinook mall before I had to go back to the airport for my trip back to Vancouver. Not enough time to properly go shopping! =( Oh well. Next time.

I was so brave I actually talked with my cab driver and the passenger sitting next to me on the plane! Wahahahah! I would usually just avoid talking to people. I felt so proud of myself. lol

I don't have any photos because my sister gave me dead batteries. >=( She took all the good ones to her trip to Bamfield. Battery hog! I wanted to take some pictures of the rocky mountains they looked very nice.

I rearranged my aquarium (again) today. I actually went out and bought some driftwood and slate so that I could start aquascaping. So here is the result. The left is still a little bare...I'm waiting for my plants to grow first so that I can take some cuttings and filling in those bare spots.

I also bought some proper lighting and test kits. I found that I was using only a 3000K bulb. So I went to Home Depot and bought a 6500K compact fluorescent. It is way brighter! Maybe that is why all my plants were looking miserable. lol. This is costing me quite a little fortune...And still I want a 55 gallon.

I also have about 23 baby guppies O_o hence the small plastic tanks I'm floating in the corners. They are growing so fast!

Hehehe it seems this has become my aquarium blog...