David Sidoo & the U.S. College Admissions Bribery Scandal

This story really gets under my skin. I have a hard time listening to it or keeping up with its developments because it’s so infuriating. Growing up poor, the most important goal I constructed for myself in my late twenties was to get my education. To be able to prove to myself, the socioeconomic hurdles I face, even to those who doubted me and attested I wouldn’t be able to—that even I can get a higher-level education. That relying on my determination, the tools at my disposal and the incredibly …

How To Study Effectively

Came across this excellent tutorial about how to read academic textbooks more effectively. I’m going to be giving this a shot because I personally suffer from having to read and read (and read) something over again until it clicks. Here are the steps in case you don’t have the time to watch the entire video: Flip through each page of the chapter you need to study. Read the end-of-the-chapter quiz Read the bold print (titles, subtitles, headings, definitions) Read the 1st & last sentence of each paragraph on each page …

Russ Lacate’s Weather Guarantee (News1130)

Edit: This project is deprecated. I gave up trying to participate in it as my schedule got busier. (November 2020) I have cobbled together a simple tracker to use for Russ Lacate‘s Weather Guarantee contest from News1130 and figure maybe some people on the internet could make use of it as well. Setting up an old Ubuntu laptop running 24/7, I have crontab running an mPlayer command to record during the exact times when Russ announces if he’s missed his prediction for the previous weekday. The link will hopefully make it easier for …

ECON 302 (Simon Fraser University—SFU)

I have just completed one of the most challenging Economics courses I’ve ever taken in my undergraduate academic career. Shih-En Lu is an brilliant Harvard-educated professor who has a great and straightforward style that really appealed to me. My PhD-student tutor this semester told me in passing that he was a Harvard-educated game theorist which I found to be impressive. Judging from the introductory lecture as well as from what I’ve heard from those in the economics community at SFU, Prof. Lu has a reputation for being brilliant but that …

A New Interest: Technical Drawings

I recently had to create a technical drawing during an application process. Having no experience in drafting or any type of work in this vein, this is what I came up with. I’m rather proud of it! It made me think I would love to create some more technical drawings in the future. Nothing fancy. Adobe Illustrator is what I used to put this together. If you have experience in technical drawings, how would you improve on this? I’d love to hear from you!

Visionary

I finally took the time to figure out some more of After Effects this weekend (thanks Lynda). I’m really glad, because it gave me the keys I needed to finally completing the final vision of my Elon Musk low poly vector design I put together in Illustrator last month. I’m pretty happy with the final product, which you can see below. Let me know what you think in the comment section!   Tools used: Adobe Illustrator CC 2017, Adobe After Effects 2017 Here’s a link to my Instagram copy. Follow …

KFA Multimedia Art Contest

I submitted a little essay and one of my final projects from the Introduction to Oil Painting class that I took (a few months ago) for this year’s multimedia art contest held by the Kwantlen Faculty Association. I was going up against some very talented (and dedicated) artists. Surprisingly, I ended up winning an alumni award. The prize came with a little bit of money and it came right at a time when it was direly needed. So thank you for that one, Universe (and discerning judges :). Below is …

A Luna Cat

The original idea for this was for it to be a pastie. I had this vision in my mind but it ended up not looking as menacing as I first thought it would be. People who are into Sailor Moon seem to really dig it, so I just threw it together behind the dark gradient. I can probably have stickers made up if anybody expresses interest.

There is a Fentanyl Epidemic in British Columbia

What can anyone who isn’t directly affected by this tragic epidemic do? There were 922 deaths from illicit drugs. It looks like the weekends are the most heated for first responders; Saturdays being the busiest days and it seems like the numbers on those weekends has increased by about 20% yearly. This isn’t a new insight but it’s evident that these deaths are happening indoors and happening when there isn’t anybody to respond to an overdose. It is important to note that Fentanyl wasn’t the cause of each death, but …