"How to" Demo Idea - Oral Presentation

In yesterday's Oral Presentation class, we were assigned to write an outline for a "How to" demonstration. The first thought that came to my mind was "Oh! this is easy, I'll just do how to draw a stick person." Then I thought up something ingenious.

How to be Asian - exclusive information for non-Asians.  Or something like How to Speak Real Chinese (not that ching ching chong crap).

But then I thought it might not be appropriate for class and I wasn't sure if my instructor would like it, but she did say "bring your personality into your speech."

I also realized that I've been writing/talking a lot about being Asian in Comedy Writing class. I didn't want to do everything on about being Asian because most of my comedy writing revolves around me being Asian and my Asian family. And I think I've just written the word 'Asian' about 20 times now (maybe not that much).

Anyhow, I think I might go ahead with that idea because I think it'll be funny. Maybe I should coincide this act with my comedy writing. Hmm, or maybe I'll do something like how to be a couch potato. Ah! what to do, I don't know. Oh well, I'll think of something.

Kids being kids

Taking Winnipeg Transit home isn't always a bad thing, you get to observe your surroundings and get to know a lot of regulars on the bus, not intimately, but you know, just that they're there. My bus passes a lot of schools (as I'm sure many do) but two schools that I went to - junior high and high school. But every time the bus passes the schools, I get a flash back of memories, usually good, and some not so great.

So I'm sitting at the back of the bus - being quiet and minding my own business, until I see a swarm of high school students getting on the bus and they were the loud, chatty type. They piped down when they found their seats then silence.

Next stop: The junior high students, and they're even louder than the high school students. So I'm watching these kids, walk to the back of the bus then back to the front of the bus, back to the back and back to the front,to and fro and to and fro. And they're just giggling away.

The sound of the junior high students laughter and chatter immediately reminded of my junior high school field trips to the Manitoba of Man and Nature, or to Oak Hammock Marsh. When I finally realized, it's nice to see kids just being kids, not caring about the world and just being silly.

But heck, they were annoying to listen to. In that tiny moment I was so happy that I wasn't a kid anymore. But even then, I don't think I was so annoying.

My favourite things: Coupons, free stuff and food

As an everyday student on a budget, whenever I want to buy something for myself I always ask. "Do I really need it?" Which the answer is always no. But when I do want to buy something, I love to look for sales and discounts.

So I've never watched the TV show Extreme Couponing before but it's amazingly crazy how people can save so much money. And I thought I was a crazy coupon freak, no siree, not compared to some people. But during my spare time I like to surf the Internet for coupons and free stuff coupons.

Such as this one: Get a free Kashi bar - I love Kashi stuff, it's good for you and it tastes good!
and this one (for all you guys out there) free sample of Axe metal, just 'like' them on Facebook, and click on the Babe Bracket tab.

The tip is to create a separate email address for coupons and free stuff because they're most likely going to tell you to sign up for their mailing list.

Anyhow, happy couponing.

Stepping back through time

One thing's for sure is that I love my family, no matter how overbearing my parents can be sometimes, no matter how of many times my sister annoys me. I love them. I was watching TV one time and the commercial for ancestry.com came up. This sparked an interest in me. I wanted to know the reason for my grandfather's death. My dad never told me how he died. My sister and I just thought it was of old age. Boy, was I told different.

When I was 14, my mom told me to do the laundry and I shot back "Why don't you do it?" my mom got really upset, maybe even angry. She asked. "How dare you talk back like that?"

What was told me that day came as a shock to me and my sister. My mom explained the difficulties of my grandfather adjusting to life in the Western culture. In Chinese culture, you could say that the oldest amongst the family was the one who had the "power". So if you had an older brother, well you better listen to him. But apparently in my grandfather's eyes, his grandchildren were not listening to him and weren't doing "proper" Chinese etiquette. It seems as so my grandfather didn't understand or didn't like the fact that his grandchildren were Canadianized.

During the summer I was curious, I decided to go to The Archives of Manitoba building located in downtown and typed in my grandfather's name in the Winnipeg Free Press archives search. There I found my grandfather's obituary. It didn't provide me the information I really wanted to know but it was still something.

However, it's amazing what you can find about people you hardly know and suddenly emerge with massive amounts of information. Although I think it's also sort of creepy in a way, but intriguing at the same time to find information about your family.

Back to school blogging - and constant interruptions

So I have started college once again, the summer went by so quickly. I had an okay summer, I mostly worked in retail and caught up with some of my high school friends. I also had/having a double dose of my parents too.

As I'm trying to type this blog entry, I have probably been interrupted by my mom's yelling (her usual, "Come eat this, drink that," about fives times. (my parents are on holidays right now) I haven't gotten even one minute of silence to organize my thoughts for this blog entry.

Note to self: Do all homework/blog entries at school. (where I can get silence and a peace of mind)

But anyhow, from my obvervations, it's definitely been quite a roller coaster ride over the summer for a few of my friends. One is changing their career and moving into a different field, one is starting college again, one is moving away to an entirely different continent. It amazes me how time flies, as a little kid I always wished I as older. Now as an adult, I wish I was still a kid. It's funny how I watched everyone grow around me, my parents are older, my little cousins are older. It's weird when I think of it because I still remember my cousins when they were babies.

It's been almost eight years since then.

I can tell this school year is going to go by just as quick.
Who knows what's going to happen during my last year. But whatever it may be. I'm ready for it.