Decisions and Gr 10/11 Memories

I dropped the internship. Actually, I dropped it almost a month ago now. I guess it could be compared to someone waiting for rain in a drought--if I kept waiting I would've only been disappointed more. Right now though, I'm not too disappointed because now I can go to SYC. If this taught me anything it taught me that cover letters are really hard to write sincerely and lead to hundreds of distractions for maybe 4 hours until you finally finish writing it, and that when you want something, you may have to sacrifice something else because we can't always have what we want. Actually, that lesson is a little old; I'm sure even 10 years olds know it. Still, I don't feel regretful that I let the opportunity pass because I know it's not the end of the line. When I started working towards getting that internship the only thing in my mind was to get ahead, soar higher than everyone else and reach my dream before it was even ripe enough for me to pick. That was wrong. I'm still young and so I should take things slowly, because i know in the end I'll still end up in a good place. There's no point in wasting my childhood wishing I could just grow up already. Sure high schools' not the best thing ever but I should still enjoy it.

Therefore, to lighten the mood I shall reminisce of my few favourite moments (or regretful moments) in grade 11 now that the school year has passed.

• Ordering pizza delivery from pizza 73 to the school. Twice.
• Accidentally skipping English to go eat Dim sum
• Going up to check my mark on the circulatory/blood and immunity unit test and seeing the numbers 102%
• Creating my molecular dog with an atom building kit in Chemistry
• My first 100% in math on my own in the quadratics/polynomials cumulative exam
• Going up to check my mark in math and seeing a 99.7%
• Filming the Stalking bear in underwear video for comm tech
• Filming for 'The Lottery Ticket' for English
• Attending the June Awards ceremony for the first time and getting 2 certificates (Eng 20-1 and comm tech 20)
• finally being able to mix chemicals in the pH and indicator lab
• Getting unknown pH solution on my ear
• Spilling fake urine with 'nephritis' on my hand during a bio lab
• The heart and rat dissection
• Using a cash register for the first time in the cafeteria
• Serving wrestling coaches food after school
• Vandalizing my social teacher's belongings with Hello Kitty stickers

I guess when I think back to these happy times (some even mischievous), grade 11 was a year worth living through. I don't regret anything and I'm happy with where I am right now. 

This makes me wonder what my best memories of grade 10 were, and I don't have a very good impression of that year so this may be hard.

• Sneaking food in the computer lab during science and hiding an orange in my pocket
• Our best volleyball game in gym class with Rachel, Danny... I don't think Vivian was there...hm...someone's missing. oh well; it was the best game in a while with a lot of cheering. oh right, Zarah was there.
• Badminton with Rachel
• Running the loop. 4 times; and beating my record each time.
• Social dance with Vivian, Rachel, Danny, Zarah, and 3 other people, making up a random dance.
• Stabbing a poster paper with scissors while my social teacher was talking, thus making her believe hat I am incapable of handling scissors
• Poke wars in design studies, and watching SS501 and Super Junior on Youtube instead of animating my Mokona
• Making my Sungmin shirt in comm tech
• Secret Santa
• Tammy's birthday
• Pretending to be Korean in math class
• 85 - Minh knows what I mean.
• Being the class clown in info pro and researching Pokemon

I guess grade 10 wasn't as bad as it was thought to be.

Internship Update [5]

June is nearing and there's still not another job offer. I know that life has it's ups and downs and I guess with this; I'm heading for the down. It's not that I completely lost hope... it's that I had an opportunity and I took it for granted, but I don't want to regret the decision I made. I e-mailed her again yesterday and she told me there were no new job offers. I was kind of afraid to hear that, but I needed to hear it. I guess, it's okay if I don't get into this program. What did I have to lose, right? I'm still happy though that i gave myself this opportunity. I guess this is the heavens telling me that I'm not ready to put on more stress. There's a lot of things I need to focus on now, and though I really feel like I could have handled this internship it doesn't seem it it'll happen. Thank you everyone who supported me, and I'm sorry for disappointing you all. If I don't get a job offer, if I don't get an interview, if I don't get accepted, I'm sorry. I really hate to be the one to disappoint people. I think disappointing people is one of the worst feelings I have to ever deal with and so I always try to do everything to prevent it but there are just times when I can't. I'm not superhuman, and so I'm bound to disappoint people once in a while right? I just want to say that even if I don't get this, this isn't the end of the line for me. Tomorrow June, and my last days for a chance are nearing. i don't want to live even a fraction of my summer with regret. Somehow even before this all started I had a feeling that this win-win situation may just land me in the unlikely lose. The days for SYC registration are nearing the end as well. I don't know how much longer to wait, and so i might just wait past it only to realize that it's too late. I might wait to find out there's nothing for me out there, and it'd be too late to sign up. Still, will I be able to find some meaning during that month of summer? With no internship, no SYC, I need to find something to make it still worthwhile so that I won't regret. I really, really, don't want to regret.

Job Offers

So it turns out in my lifetime so far I declined 2 job offers. I never thought this would be happening and there's still the fear of losing the 2 chances I've gotten but I don't want this to be a decision I regret. It was clear that when I received the phone call it was a choice, and with the choice I had the responsibility of making the decision. I thought it over thoroughly, and even discussed it with a few friends and decided to decline.

If choices were easy to make, they wouldn't be choices. when they're 50/50 think it over carefully and choose one, then work hard to make that 50% into 100% so you won't regret anything.

I would like to thank Dream High for teaching me this, because this is what I did and this is how I think before making any big decision.  I still want to thank those 2 employers for considering me and I'm really grateful that they did. I don't want to be someone who takes these opportunities for granted or be greedy for self convenience so I hope that they'll find suitable interns to take those positions. Still, in the end whatever happens I'll trust it to God and if in the end I don't get a third job offer, then i'll accept it. Sometimes you get second chances, but rarely in life will you get a third. I don't want to be a pessimist so whatever happens I hope that I can go through with it with a smile on my face and confidently say that at least I thought it over carefully before seeing what I rejected.

Internship Update [4]

It's been a while since applications were sent in and it turns out out of everyone in my school I was the last person to be notified about an interview. It seems like the popular job offer going around is a office lab aid. I found out I had a job offer from a nursing home and in a way I'm kind of glad it was so far away we had to decline because I don't know how comfortable I'd be around senior citizens. I remember fighting my dilemma of choosing between this internship and SYC this summer and I decided that I still had next year for SYC--this internship was a one time thing. This means I really need to work for it, and I really need to try my best. It means i really need to show that I want it and work hard to prove that I can do it. We had a mock interview today during lunch and I can't say I did so well. Thank goodness it was a mock interview and I pray that I'll be able to do better when the real one comes. I need to be confident with the first impression I give off and I'm not good at them but I need to try. People can tell when you're being sincere and when you're being superficial, so I want to be able to answer all the questions earnestly with the best of my ability. I got a phone call after school today from a representative of Careers the Next Generation telling me that there was an offer as a office lab aid at the Foothills Hospital and wondered if it would be a convenient location for me. As of now I'm not sure because I still have to search bus routes but if I were to turn it down I'd be scared that there would be no other offer. I really hoped for something in the nutrition field to be honest but I'm not disappointed with this because every little thing will give me experience. Experience was what I wanted the most so I am confident that I'd be able to do my work with a smile. Maybe I will be able to talk to a few nutritionists there and possible have a job shadow? That's probably just wishful thinking now but it would be a great opportunity. As for now... I need to get cracking on bus routes along with my social homework. i knew we were going to have to cram everything this month thanks for my teacher spending 3 months on the French Revolution. Grade 11 is ending soon and I'm always through, so cheers to the upcoming summer and I hope that it'll be just as productive and thrilling.

Internship Update [3]

I'm not really in the mood for the professional blog right now so i'll just type this out plain, simple, and straightforward. Today while I was in foods the job coordinator came to look for me and told me to see her afterschool. When I went she listed out the things I needed to fix up in my resume and cover letter; nothing major. I felt relieved because if I had to make major changes I would just feel overwhlemed. She told me that out of my whole school I was the only one who had all my stuff together for the internship and that she has really high hopes for me to be accepted. She said she'd be shocked if they didn't accept me, but she didn't want to get my hopes too high. After all, I'm still competing with 500 students in the city. Today I decided to walk home from school instead of taking the bus because the weather was nice, the sky was clear. Overall I just wanted some quiet time to be thankful for this opportunity whether I make it or not. I have a good chance, and for that I'm thankful. I was just overall thankful today for everything; my friends, family, the weather, my grades, education, health, every single thing. It was just one of those good days. To all those who really believe in me and support me through everything; simply, thank you!

Internship Update [2]

I went and talked to my job coordinator again, and as usual, she was extremely bipolar. she starts off by tellign me the chances are higher this year for people to be accepted in the program, and then she crushes the atmosphere by saying I'm probably not going to be offered aspot though so I should go talk to employers. She gives me no sense of direction as to where to go or who to ask, she only restricted me from going to hospitals. I'm only in high school and I've never searched for a job before, so you'd think as a teacher she'd be more helpful? She gave me a thick booklet for a required course we have to take if we get accepted into the internship but I'm not going to work on it until it's for certain because of all the other schoolwork I'm currently piled with. As of now I don't feel comfortable talking to employers, considering I don't even know what to say so I'm just going to leave my chances to the program. If I'm in then great, if I'm not then, well, so much for a head start to my future. i'm only in grade 11, sometimes I feel like I'm pushing at too fast of a pace for me instead of enjoying my youth. Once I'm done high school it's pretty much the end of pure fun and games, because everything is going to be competitive. If I'm granted the opportunity to enter this internship then great, if not then, well, it's just life telling me I'm not ready. If I don't even feel ready enough to go up to employers and ask for a position then I won't take it hard if I'm not accepted. I'm in grade 11, I'm not at the end of the line. I have a feeling i'll be able to do great things in my life. Life doesn't go smoothly, there's ups and downs and so this opportunity still has a chance to be and up or a down.

Professional Foods

Since I decided to pursue nutrition, it only made sense that I take a foods course, right? I actually really needed something to fill my extra course slot, and really thought that Professional Foods would be something I could get through in highschool. I decided though, that next year rather than finishing Foods I'd take Psychology 20 and 30. After making this decision I never wanted to second guess; it's too late to change my mind anyway, but when I walked into Foods class today my teacher offered me a "job" to help out afterschool on Wednesday and Thursday for a staff interview thing (new teachers coming in) and cater for wrestling. I didn't accept because he added in the fact that I would get paid, I accepted because I want to take every opportunity I can to become more experienced in the real world. It doesn't matter how relevant it is, because it's still taking every opportunity I can to ultimately work my way towards my goal. i'm really thankful to my teacher for choosing me though I'm not sure why. I noticed during the hands on cooking I'd be the one who made most mistakes, get lost looking for something, feel frustrated for not understanding the recipe but at the end of the class I still feel accomplished for learning something, trying something new, and the mistakes I made I know I'd never make again. This should be relevant to health and nutrition, right? I think of this as my last opportunity in this field of work in high school because after grade 11, I'll be off to psychology to pursue my second interest. At least I'll know that I gave hands on cooking a try, because it's better than assuming that I can't do it.

Option Switch

A while ago I already made the decision to pursue a psychology minor, but having not been able to take psychology this year I felt like I wasn't caught up. Right now I'm taking foods and it really isn't something I enjoy or feel passionate about. There were many times I wanted to quit something, but I don't like to think of myself as a quitter and when I do quit something it's after much thought. After deciding not to drop communication technology next year (which took one whole year to confirm my final choice), I've decided to drop foods 20 and 30 for psychology 20 and 30. It might seem unreasonable right now for someone who wants a nutrition major but hands on cooking is something I know for sure that I have no talent in. For now, in school, I just want to focus on desk work and psychology may teach me more than foods will; at least criteria I will remember and find fascinating. I decided this after thinking for a long time, probably over four months and I learned that if choices were easy, they wouldn't be choices. When one side is at 100%, there's nothing to choose from. For me right now, psychology and foods are both 50/50 and I need to choose one and turn that 50% into 100% and work hard to prove that it was the right choice. Now I'm finalizing that I want psychology over foods, and after registration in a few weeks there won't be any going back. I hope I can make this decision the right choice for me in the end. Either way; no spare for me next year!

Internship Update [1]

I finally managed to get my resume, cover letter, attendance report, transcript and application form together and headed to see my school's job coordinator today. She told me that she was going to start promoting the internship to my school in a few months and was confused at why I had the form in the first place. I don't know why but I did feel intimidated by her; but I tried my best not to show it. She glanced at my application and said, "You do realize that you have to write up a resume and cover letter, right?"  and I told her I already had it done and it was in the folder. She flipped to my resume and frowned, which made me panic. I spent a lot of time revising my resume and even had help from my essay tutor, but I guess it didn't meet the standards of my school. She said, "You didn't take CALM yet, did you?" as she bit her lip. I replied with, "Not yet." She told me that the sequencing in my resume needed work and I didn't tailor it well enough for the health positon that I was looking for. Disappointed, I knew that she would give me another chance to make my resume better when she told me she would hold meeting regarding this internship at noon hours later on. She did not mention when. I still felt determined because of the fact that I was trying in the first place. More disappointment fell upon me when she said that this year there were less spots open for applicants in hospitals and other clinics, and if they couldn't provide a job I'd have to go look for one myself. She said that they will probably only accept 50 applicants out of an anticipated 500, me being one of the 500 that really needed to work hard to stand out. That gives me a 10% chance of being placed by the internship program, but I can only pray that the 10% is in my favor because I only realized how limited my social network regarding the health department was. She told me to consider dentistry or optometry, but my mind wasn't so opened to those fields. I wanted to go into nutrition at best but this really isn't my time to be picky. Something is always better than nothing. She told me not to worry too much and that she'd try her best to help me out because it was her job to, and that my resume wasn't too bad. Who knows what she thought of my cover letter? I can only say that when I wrote that cover letter, it really came from the heart, though I had to take out certain things that my tutor found unecessary, I really wrote it in a way that would express my thoughts. Whether I get a job or not, I don't want to doll up my resume and cover letter to make me appear as someone I'm not because if anything, at least I could still claim that I was honest with myself and with my potential employer. To be honest I'm really nervous about this because having no other job alternatives to turn to, all I can count on is to get into one of those 50 open slots. I pray that I'll get lucky in life, but even if I don't get in I won't give up. I'm in grade 11, and being rejected from a health internship is far from the end of the line. I actually do believe in myself and I know i'll make it somewhere, someday, somehow. The how will unravel itself to mee soon, I hope. This was juse one small and early step that I took to reaching my career goal. It wouldn't be much of a goal if I just gave up at the sight of adversity, would it? But I'll stop with the negativity because until it's confirmed, I'll never know. Through life I've learned that even if the chance is small, it's still possible. In my case, a 10% chance is already something to be grateful for. I really have to thank some people now for supporting me from the day I mentioned the internship to them.

Veronica - My best friend for informing me about it in the first place and having such high hopes for me. Sometimes I think she's more confident me than I am in myself, but I really hope that I don't disappoint. I also wish her well with this internship too. Unnie, Hwaiting!

Wanda - My essay tutor who guided me through writing my resume and cover letter and giving me so many useful materials and templates to refer to.

Irene - My English tutor for 5 years who started out as my preschool teacher back when I was a kid for immediately supporting me with this and giving me background information about the work field as well as reassuring me of my capabilities.

Daniel - My brother for pushing me to do my best and strive further than I imagined. He helped me show myself that I could surpass my own limitations, and immediately supported me when I chose this career path consideirng how unrealistic my past choices were. He also plays a huge part in guiding me through literally everything, but that's what older siblings do. Hehe.

Ms. Murphy - My biology 20 teacher who helped me to really see that with hard work I could be academically amazing. Of course, not the best, but I was happy when she wrote that I was her top bio 20 student on my teacher references. She was a great teacher to me, so for having a 92% in Biology as a final mark, I have to really thank you.

Ms. Ogeer - My Chemistry 20 teacher who was my second teacher reference for this internship. She was an outstanding teacher to me as well, and for getting a final mark of 90% I have only her to thank. I really appreciated her thought out comments and support throughout my last semester.

Eunice - For being my close but far role model who is pursuing a similar career path than me. She's obviously further down the road than I am so in a way I feel like an apprentice to her sometimes but I'm so glad that she's always willing to share her experiences/knowledge with me, because it makes me feel less lost in the bigger world outside of highschool.

2010~2011 Semester 1 Report Card

I received my transcript yesterday but my report card was handed to me today! I'm really happy with the results!

Chemistry - 90% [1% drop]
Biology - 92% [2% drop]
English - 90% [1% drop]

I'm really happy with these marks which gave me an average of 91% because this is one of the highest report cards I've ever gotten after the final exams. I think my average was 94% in term one but that was without finals so it was easier, but to have been able to maintain a 90 after finals is really shocking and pleasant at the same time. I could have sworn I did worse on my English. My guess is that spending 1 hr memorizing the poem that I would use as my literature for direct referencing helped me out. For Chemistry, I guess I could have expected something similar, possibly 88% or 89% but I'm really glad to have kept a 90! I even got the highest mark in my Chem class, and highest final mark in my class. In biology I don't know if I expected more or not because I've studied hardest for this subject and was certain I didn't get over 5 questions wrong. I might've done bad on my lab exam, but either way I'm satisfied with a 92% Actually, I'm pretty happy about it. I don't care if I have the highest mark or not because this in itself is an accomplishment for me! I hope I can continue to work this hard in Social Studies and Math starting today!

Resumes and Cover Letters

I've never actually applied for a job before, so I have extremely limited experience with writing resumes and cover letters. Thankfully my tutors, especially my essay tutor was able to give me very helpful tips and guidelines that really helped me when I had to write these two things. For the health internship, I'm required to write a resume and cover letter, and this being the first of both that I've ever done I'm not sure how confident I am with them. I'm still pretty young and regarding my work life, I'm quite limited. There are a lot of fields where I need to develop more skills, but as of now I think I'm okay. I think that my cover letter really shows what kind of person I am as well as how I think. I've been told that when writing these two things, you have to choose your words carefully and write out the qualities you believe will be beneficial to the job you are applying for. The thing is, when doing this, people tend to exaggerate or give themselves skills that they cannot live up to. When I wrote my essay and cover letter I kept it as realistic as possible. I'm human and I make mistakes; I don't want to appear as some flawless prodigy who will be perfect at everything I do. I strongly believe that honesty is best, so rather than writing a long list of skills that would make me appear as someone who is over the top, in the end, I only want to portray who I am and not who I wish I was or am still trying to be. I can only state the things I can guarantee of myself, and be open to developign more skills when I do. The cover letter was more of a struggle for me to write, probably because it's more personal and really took me 2 hours but in the end I feel good about it. I'm thankful to everyone who read my resume and cove rletter over and gave me feed back, because every little comment helps me. I hope that in the future writing these won't feel so intimidating, but the challenge of it was quite entertaining.

Expiration Dates

This is some research I compiled to assist my church with our food hamper service. We had a little issue regarding distributing food past it's expiration date so I was asked to conduct some research based on general safety of various foods that are past their expiration date.

Expiration Dates on Various Foods

General:
· Do not risk feeding children, pregnant women, people with low immunity food that is past expiration date.
· If stamp says “Use by” then do not use after the date
· “Best before” does not mean it will become harmful soon after the date
· When mould is noticeable before best before date, it is dangerous (possibility of bacteria already present and multiplying)
· After expiration date, food will not carry as much nutritional value but can still be edible
· Sense of smell plays important role in identifying edibility
Bread:
· Expiry date indicates when bread will stay fresh until.
· Is non edible when too stale or significant amounts of mould is formed
· freezing bread lengthens duration of edibility NOT refrigerating
· Mould on bread is not hazardous; can just be cut off
· Last 2-7 days after purchase.
Cream cheese:
· Has short storage life
· Ideally consumed before best before date
· Sniff test to check if still good
· Freezing changes texture
· When mould appears, it affects entire cheese
· Taste changes when mould spreads
· Small amounts of mould can be trimmed off
· If unopened and kept in fridge, can last a few months
· Cook/freeze by 1 or 2 weeks if unopened
· Should be eaten 3-4 days after opening or will be vulnerable to carry listeria
Crackers:
· Are still edible but will taste stale
Canadian Food Inspection Agency states: Food should not be eaten if the expiration date has passed. They should be discarded. This is quite skeptical because expiry dates are only a guideline and have a wide margin of when food should be tossed out.

Charts shown in this site are quite helpful:
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Nutrition-Health-Food-Labeling-646/food-expiration-dates.aspx
Bibliography:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/concen/tipcon/date.shtml
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/oct2006/db20061002_959305.htm
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/37475
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/45367
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090708113144AAWvoWC

Dietary Internship

I've decided to apply for an internship in the health department that's only available to grade 11 students and will accept only 100 people. It sounded like an amazing opportunity to get familiar with the field of studies I want to go into in the future, and so I want to take every opportunity to enhance my understanding of it. I don't know how I'll feel if I don't get accepted, besides I have to hand in a resume, cover letter, and a whole lot of other things. I never applied for a job before and even an interview is going to scare me to death but I know I'll have to do this eventually, so i might as well at least try not. I'll never know what will happen if I never try so I'm opening up myself for opportunities such as this. I've been working on my resume for weeks now with my essay tutor helping me and guiding me, and I haven't even began my cover letter. All of this feels so overwhelming but I believe it will be worth it in the end. I also think that if I do get accepted, this would be a completely new and interesting experience for me. I want to know what it would be like to really work hands on in the health field. I know I'd make mistakes, but I will learn from them so that when I'm actually getting a job in university I won't make those amateur mistakes. I want to start now when there's less to lose, and this is one big step towards achieving my goal. I'm scared and nervous to the point where I don't even know what to do next but I hope this will all work out in the end somehow. It's better to feel lost now than in five years when I'm applying for a legit job. While working on my resume I discovered that there's still a lot more to figure out about myself. 2010 was a year where I depicted all my flaws and things I had to improve about myself but what about my good qualities? I guess this year will be when I discover them.

Gr 11 Sem 1 + Study Tips

Today, I completed my last final exam which was for Biology 20! I feel really confident about this one and I checked it over thoroughly catching my mistakes so I'm really anticipating a good mark. My 18 pages of studying didn't go to waste!! I'm so happy. One semester of extreme hard work is paying off, so I'm hoping for the best in semester 2 as well. Social Studies and Math is next; definitely not my strong points but i'll try my best. I have to say I already miss my science classes. If only I can feel this confident next year for my diplomas? I'll be working hard for sure! I feel really accomplished because I actually pulled through this whole semester with a mindset that I would put school as a priority and really work hard and be determined. It takes a lot to set that goal to begin with, and even more effort to not stray from that. I hope all my friends can feel just as confident with their final exams and upcoming ones! As for me, for now, I'm free to enjoy exam break finally! Let's hope my average turns out good. i'm not so confident in English but it already passed so I hope it doesn't drop my marks too badly. I'm excited for my report card! (I always am) I can finally stop to take a breather. I'm relieved.

Studying Tips:
I know it takes a long time to figure out a studying style that works for yourself, and if you haven't found one yet then maybe my studying habits can help you. Everyone has their own way of studying, so maybe some of my studying strategies will work for you guys.
1) Re-writing crucial notes and pieces of information even if you're sure that you'll remember it, re-write it just in case! While you're writing about it, your brain is also processing it. I prefer writing things out by hand because I don't memorize as well if I type.
2) Whenever you're having your own free time to think such as on the bus to school, repeat the things you learned the day before or stuff you need yo remember for an upcoming test in your head. Reteach the criteria to yourself in your head to ensure that you understand it. To fully understand something, you have to be able to teach it.
3) Actually do all the review questions that the teacher assigns even though it won't be for marks or homework checks. This ensures and tests your understanding of a lesson because even if you think you understand something, you might not. Why take the chance? Just do it. This also allows for further understanding, by using other sources such as your textbook you can be absorbing other information that the teacher never mentions.
4) I'm not sure if this is easy, common sense, or necessary, but when shown a diagram or labelled illustration/photograph, I like to memorize it's appearance as well as labels. On tests, you're often given labelling questions especially in biology so it doesn't hurt to memorize this. Plus, pictures will often be re-used.
5) Your friends will find this extremely annoying (I know mine did and still do), but when given the chance in conversations, bring out some of your knowledge that you gained from a class and teach a friend or relative. For example, while learning about the respiratory system I diagnosed my best friend with Chronic Bronchitis. I addressed this to her and she remembered her doctor telling her that she had it, and I told her the technicalities of this respiratory disorder. People will call you a nerd for this but does it matter? It feels nice to feel smart. Also, bringing school knowledge to situations outside of the school atmosphere enhances memory. Have you noticed that you remember what your friends gossip about more than what your teacher tells you? You also remember what you tell your friends. If you tell your friends about school, then you'll be more likely to remember!
6) Do not procrastinate. I may be a hypocrite at times but my procrastination never goes to last minute. When you cram your brain has less time to process information, and the things you remember due to cramming will leave you right after the test. Yes, I used to be a crammer. If you study days before a test, the information stays with you.

Those are all the tips I can think of right now, but if I come up with more I'll list them out.

Study, study, study!

Yes, studying has somewhat become my life now. It's a little tragic, but this is the amount of effort I'm putting in. I know making grade 11 look good will affect my chances in grade 12, even just a little, so it never hurts to start early. Of course, studying is boring, but I don't really mind anymore. I've heard so many scary stories about how frustrating or intimidating university is, and I'll never know for myself until I get there but I can at least prepare myself. I'm not much of a procrastinator anymore, and I'm really relieved for that.

Here's a little peek as to what my studying lair looks like. Unfortunately, I don't have a desk. Yes, that's so horrible for my back.

Have to have some brain food. I was studying the excretory system! (That's not awkward at all..)

Final exams for semester one of Grade 11 are pretty much here, so there's no more time to slack off. Let's see how well I do!

Introduction

As if now, January 4, 2011, I'm in grade 11 with a burning determination to fulfill my dream as either a Dietician or a Psychologist. This blog is new, and as a lot of my relatives or close friends would know, I've been aiming hard for this goal for over a year now but here I'll keep my steps towards my goals updated. Originally, I was aiming to enter the University of Alberta after graduating grade 12 into the faculty of food and nutrition, and then switching second year into the nutrition major to fulfill my goal to be a dietician. Just recently, I've decided that nutrition is not my only interest in life, and that I want to pursue psychology as well. People have suggested that I should aim for a double major of nutrition and psychology, and as of now, that's what my goal is. I know it seems really early, with me being in only grade 11, but time passes quickly and before I know it, I'll be applying for university with high hopes of getting accepted. Of course I'm scared and confused, and I don't know everything I need to as of now. What I do know for sure is that I cannot choose what I'm more interested in; nutrition or psychology, and that there is no doubt that University of Alberta is where I'd like to be in one and a half years. I'm really thankful for all the support that I'm receiving from my family, after having my previous (less realistic) dreams rejected, and as well as constant support from my close friends who will always give me the guidance and encouragement that I need to feel confident in what I want to do with my life.

Choosing a career to pursue was difficult for me and before settling with nutrition and psychology, I considered a variety of occupations such as an elementary school teacher, a dentist, a lawyer, a professional video editor or director, and much, much more. I really have to thank my Language Arts tutor who had been supporting me from the very beginning (since I was in preschool!), and it's thanks to her that I became opened to the idea of incorporating nutrition into my future. My mom played a huge part in forcing me to come up with a career that I could pursue and be passionate about, so having been able to know what I want to go into when I graduate so early in my life would be mostly thanks to her. When I think of the ideal career, I see it as a job that one can wake up to everyday with a smile on their face, knowing that everything they do will be able to help someone else in whatever aspect of their life, because the feeling of helping and giving is unmatchable. A career should not be something that you dread, because it would not be something you're passionate about or want to spend the rest of your life doing. Money, I realized, plays a major role in people's decisions on their careers but I've been told many times that when you pursue something you know you can be passionate about and enjoy, money will follow. By choosing these career paths, I'm not aiming for a high salary, or to become rich. I know that by pursuing nutrition and psychology, I would be able to help others. I want to be able to share my knowledge for the benefit of other people, not only the ones close to me, and so I pray with all my heart that I can be successful in this.

Dreaming isn't enough to reach your goals, because wanting it without doing anything to get it is useless. Grade 11 was a real eye opener to me, because I've decided to really take into consideration what my priorities are and take academics more seriously than I ever had thus far. I proved to myself that I could achieve greater than my expectations if I tried harder and put all my focus and determination into pursuing it. I can say truthfully that I do take my future extremely seriously. I want to show everyone that I'm not hoping for my future to come to me without trying, and so I'm willing to take any opportunities I can to fulfill this wish. This wish of mine, to become successful in nutrition and psychology, is not an empty wish and I will prove it with my actions. I will use this blog to update the steps I take from now until my goal is reached, so if you're interested, please press follow!

Thank you for reading this lengthy introduction, and I want everyone to know that I'm grateful towards everyone who believes in me. It's alright if I'm looked down on right now because I am still young, but age does not put limitations on one's capability of reaching success.

-Esther L.