I think I've managed to contract my "final program year syndrome" again. For some reason, I always decide to get really active and involved during the last year of whatever program of study I'm in. It was the same in the last year of high school, where I thought it'd be cool to take 5 courses that have provincial exams (I lived in BC) ... plus it was my first year in Canada so it was already busy in that sense.

Then during my last year of undergrad at UBC, I suddenly decided to take up two on-campus jobs, while being the editor of a local magazine, and while TAing two different courses, all at the same time. Add to that my usual duties as the webmaster of the UBC Persian Club. It was a pretty busy year but I can't say it was terribly harder than the other years.

Now I'm doing it again, it's my last year of the masters program. I already have my research and thesis to work on which is getting more serious and exciting. I'm still contributing to the Varsity (eventhough they're calling me a mysoganist ! ;) ), I've applied for a part time design job at the Gerestein library which I think I'll get, and I've just been elected Graphics Editor for The Window, New College's monthly paper. Of course I'm TAing as well and I'm doing more freelance design than ever. Then there's my newly launched comic series, for which I have very high aspirations.

Hmmm, feels good tho. I'd much rather be this busy than have nothing to do. I just gotta start sleeping earlier so i can wake up sooner and make the most of my days.

there's all sorts of shit going on in the world, but sometimes smaller news goes unnoticed.

Take the small country of Swaziland for example. An 18 year old girl was gang-raped by a group of bus drivers, in broad daylight, while hundreds of people witnessed the incident. The reason? The bus drivers deemed her skirt was too short!!! (Warning: reader discretion advised)

Seriously, are these people or animals? *Note to self: do NOT visit Swaziland.

I was stranded in home due to unforeseen circuimstances one day last week. So I wasn't in the best of moods and decided to go out for a late screening of "Before Sunset", which I had seen good reviews from.

I never read any reviews before watching movies, but I check the ratings which usually give you a good indication of what to expect. Anyway, this was a brilliant movie and goes right into my short list of movie gems.

It didn't start too good though. There were a few conversation pieces early on that seemed as if the director is trying to enforce his particular philosophy on to you, through the thin veil of a conversation between two people.

I absolutely hate that. You might as well just interview the director sitting behind a desk and ask him for his philosophical opinions. For one thing, I don't learn my philosophy from movies. Even if the movie is to have a philosophical message, it has to be so subtle that you wouldn't even realize that it's trying to be philosophical, yet be affected by it subconsciously.

I hate it when they use the context of a conversation between to people to convery their message. No matter how good the acting is, it always turns out really fake, or that's how i feel about it anyway.

But thankfully, this movie didn't steer in that direction, and in the end those few conversation topics early on turned out to serve the purpose and plot of the movie really well.

I don't want to give anything away from the movie, but i would definitely recommend it. It's a sequel to "before sunrise", which I am yet to see!

I doubt if there is ANY other group in the university, let alone in the department, that would serve an exorbitant amount of beer on their on-campus beginning of term social.

I know I've said this before, but I'm extremely lucky and grateful to be in such an amazingly cool group. We have the best profs and the coolest and most hilarious and charming people and grads in the group. I've been to many other offices in our building and department, and I can't imagine spending even an hour in them.

By god the only thing that could make me break out into hysterical laughter like a maniac at almost 2 AM on a sunday night alone in the office while waiting for a simulation to be finished is this.

while u're at it, enjoy this one as well. i swear i'm almost pissing my pants watching this.

It's been a crazy few days. I moved to my new place over the weekend. So did my friend who was moving to his own place. So we were working on two fronts all weekend long, to get both places ready and do the moving and assembling and everything.

Now that it's over and I'm relatively settled in, I think I'm catching a cold, sore throat and the whole deal. And besides that I have to get on top of my work which I've fallen behind a little bit because of all the moving. And this Friday's my friend's brother's wedding to which I'm invited, I hope my cold doesn't get worse or anything.

I don't know man, this "groups" things in orkut, is sort of a sketchy subject for me. I mean some groups are ok, and I understand. Like the cities and neighbourhoods, or university groups. Those are stuff you feel a part of, and don't mind joining others in solidarity. Music bands and actors or movies are also ok I guess, you can actually get to know some bands you might not have heard about and that's always good.

But then there are other groups that I can't justify their existence for anything other than showing-off. Some of them are just plain stupid. Like "Guitarists", or "Pianists". I mean, other than flashing to the world that you play an instrument (which means you're part of an elite group of only you, and like a million other people) what's the point of joining such a group?

Or then there are these groups that have advanced topics. Like "Einstein's Relativity Theory". I don't think there's a single person in there that actually knows the details of Einstein's Relativity Theory. And what are you going to do there anyway ? Add something to the theory ? Discuss it in the forum ? What garbage!

There are also all these other sophisticated and advanced scientific groups that I see no purpose for. Surely, at such advanced level, there are more specialized and better resources and forums than a friend networking site such as Orkut!!!! So I see no point in them other than trying to convey a fake feeling of sophistication. If I want to research or learn something about Finite Element Methods, I go read a textbook, or search through the literature and specialized website. I definitely don't go to Orkut.

I think other groups for science enthusiasts are nice, like astronomy enthusiasts, or stuff like that. It could be a good forum to learn stuff at the beginner level, but not for the more advanced stuff.

So, there you have it. My current attitude towards groups.