Thursday, May 04, 2006
Graduate Research Symposium
I attended the second annual Graduate Research Symposium today. I must say, this is my first time listening to all these research presentations. There were twelve speakers for the event, two of which were keynote speakers. The rest were graduate students competing in this event (I didn't realize it was actually a competition until my professor said that he was one of the judges).But the best speaker was the first keynote speaker, Dr. David Foot, who is a professor of economics at the University of Toronto, and the author of the best-selling book - "Boom, Bust and Echo". He was great. He had an absolutely good sense of humour. It was a well-delivered speech.
After that, I only managed to stay focused on two graduate research presentations. I don't know why. Perhaps, what some were talking about was too difficult to understand. They talked about fuel cells, roasting minerals, reaction mechanisms or those simulation models ... I was doo-deedly-dum after the 3rd or 4th presentation slide.
Then again, it was interesting ... something different. At least, I was not spending another day at the office pretending to do something. It's tough trying to find something to do. I'd rather have something challenging to do than sit around feeling lost. Today, I managed to chat with my professor. Met a few new people but I know I won't be seeing them again anytime soon. It was a good social event. Although I felt really small there. It felt like I wasn't knowledgable or experienced enough to be there. I wanted to ask questions about the students' research work, but somehow I find difficulty in trying to ask a good question. Maybe I bother too much about trying to ask a good question ... wanting to make an impression, you see. I shouldn't worry about it next time and just ask what I want to know. But it was difficult too because my colleague wasn't very interested in reading the posters. She was sort of just grading the posters, judging it by its looks and overall impression. I wanted to read those stuff. But oh well.
I have officially finished reading, "The Journal of Mortifying Moments". At first, I thought this book was just some silly chick story thing ... but I forced myself to read more of it (now that I have the time!). And it was actually pretty good. I got hooked onto it. I think my sister will like this book. If I am not mistaken, it's pretty similar to the Shopaholic series ... only this one has more of a Canadian touch to it. Most of the mortifying moments are pretty funny. I mean, imagine going out on a date with this really hot guy (it was him who asked her out too). I don't know how a girl friend can suggest such a stupid thing - use scotch-tape to reduce the appearance of wrinkles on your face ... And she ... absent-mindedly forgot to take it off. So imagine ... you're out on a date with a tape on your forehead. The guy was being really quiet and awkward the whole time, and she thought to herself, "What was wrong with this guy, he actually isn't that interesting at all!" But she went "SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" when her friend told her that he was actually very confused about the tape. That is such a disaster.
It's a simple read. I hate books with too much wordy description. I mean an apple is red or the sky is blue and ... heck it's an apple. You don't have to describe it with five sentences. If I read a page, and I don't understand what it's trying to say then I will close the book. End of story. That's probably why I am so picky with books. Anyway, the university bookstore had some stock clearance and a lot of books were discounted 75%. I bought three books, "The Blood Girls" by Meira Cook, "The House Tibet" by Georgia Savage, and "Sleep Demons" by Bill Hayes. I actually do enjoy reading a good book. And I am beginning to dislike splurging money on books because in four or five months, they will be on the discount rack. Just like the Journal of Mortifying Moments. I bought it for $27, and six months later ... it's selling for $7!! ARGHH!! I feel so stupid. So now, I will only buy books which are cheap. Yes, that is what I will do starting tomorrow.
