(a^3+b^3)=(a+b)(a^2-ab+b^2)

Relatively, I am absolutely terrible at math.

Although I've known that for a while, that notion was reeeeeeally hammered into my conscious at Infinity Math's meeting. I knew all the methods used to solve all but 2 (those were uber long proving ones) problems, I just...would never think to apply them in that way xD

This is terrible because
A, in the short term, I have to write all the gr 12 contests this year. I'm essentially paying $12 for Euclid just so I can add "Participated in the Euclid Contest" to my resume for university. It'll be amazing if I get past the first question haha.
B, in the long term, I'm gonna become an engineer. Engineers need math like fishes need water "orz I shall somehow master enough math to get me to a management position so I can order the technicians around haha.

This is starting to sound really depressing, so I have come up with a plan of survival:
Frieeeeeeends, they are a bunch of really amazing people (at math) :]
Read the textbook by Christmas. I'll read all the examples so least I'll have an idea of how to approach a problem. Not gonna go as far as doing practice problems because my will power can never stretch that far "orz

I believe this is my first school related rant for this school year.

WTF MIKAEL ISN'T SUPPOSE TO DIEEEEEE T_T"

actually, I suppose he was. (The last few chapters has been bluntly pointing at it)
T_____T nooooooooo.


later edit:
;__;
Ares, Baroona and Mikael were *the* greatest, most awesome trio ever, nothing could stand up to them. Add in Icarus and they're invincible. It'll never be the same ;_;
I am tempted to say more, but that will spoil things. Go read it so I can rant some more T_T"

If Icarus ever dies, I will run to Janice's house crying. Her house is far.

L'oreal Warehouse Sale

I had high expectations for this, evident in my 27 item shopping list. (Un)luckily, I came home with much less.

Non face items:

Starting to care more about my hair, it's been neglected for too long xD

Middle hand cream was a surprise discovery, it smells reeeeeeeally nice. Only complaint is that it's a tad oily, which might turn into a pro since Toronto has harsh winters.

Misc make-up:

Back up for my dream matte powder, which true to it's name, stays maaaaaaaaatte. The shade selection was terrible, only had the lightest and darkest available.

Left HiP eyeshadow (Saucy 8180) is for Mel; right (Wicked 536) was originally mine, but I realized I had similar shades. Anyone interested in buying it off me (shrink wrap still on)?

Maybelline lip stuff:

With flash, left is colour sensational in Pink Petal and right is....most likely from the mineral line in Nude Shell.

swatches ;D

With flash as well.

Lastly, Lancome stuff:

Well discounted, not so well variety.

The brown eyeshadow (Ombre Mono shadow in Brown Mist) is awesome! Very pigmented and buttery soft. Although it says shimmer on the package, it appears pretty matte to me.

Swatches:

With flash,


without flash.

No more shopping until boxing day.
Unless of course I get into Arup for co-op and need pretty business cloth *u*

brunch: meaty tomato sauce

I am tempted to call it a bolognese sauce, but it's really a tomato sauce with too much meat and not enough tomatoes XD

Topped with leftover bok choy~

recipe adapted from CHG

Due to poor planning on my part, there was only 2 roma tomatoes leftover @_@ Tried to make up for it with tomato paste, ketchup and water. Turned out decent, the red wine vinegar added a nice depth. Next time, I would caramelize the onions some more and substitute the regular sugar with brown sugar.

Close up! :]

Not very quality cause the DSLR ran outta battery @_@ I'm surprised that the photos turned out very vibrant.

Got post for the L'oreal Warehouse scheduled for later tonight. T'was not as exciting as I hoped, but still a nice haul.

university fair adventures

...I was gonna type alot, but still not feeling the best. Will expand on this once I finish my work tmrw.

Highlights:
Cora's: food was pretty good. The french toast, butter bread, crepes (all the stratch haha) were delicious.
The fair itself: very very very very very very crowded. Bad air quality. It's as hard to find a rep to speak with as ever, and I always think of the good questions after I leave haha.

Found a really nice restaurant while walking back

dinner menu

Pretty expensive, though I guess that's a given since it's in the financial district. Should eat here for all the november/december birthdays combined haha.

遮雨也遮月光

Goes quite well with the late summer storm that has just past :]
I'd like someone to think about too haha.



曲：周杰伦 词：方文山

街灯下的橱窗 有一种落寞的温暖
图贴在玻璃上 画着你的模样
开着车漫无目的地转弯 不知要去哪个地方
凉却的电视墙 到底有谁在看白杨木影子被拉长 像我对你的思念总不完
原来我从未习惯 你已不在我身旁
街道的铁门被拉上 只剩转角霓虹灯还在闪
这城市 的小巷 雨下一整晚

RAP:
你撑把小纸伞 她音韵太婉转
唉~
雨落下雾茫茫 问天涯在何方 喔喔~
啊~午夜里 你深藏 偷偷偷 透过窗
烛台前 我们还在想
小扇板 画呀画
小纸伞 遮雨也遮月光

白杨木影子被拉长 像我对你的思念总不完
原来我从未习惯 你已不在我身旁
街道的铁门被拉上 只剩转角霓虹灯还在闪
这城市 的小巷 雨下一整晚

"$1 extra cause the mango is fresh"

...what does that imply about the fruits normally? @_@

Went to 168 for some bubble tea with Eva & co. David, her, and me are such shameless hungry people :] Together we ended up eating Mel's unwanted egg, potato and Kat's HUGEEEEE bowl of shaved ice. That thing was delicious with condensed milk~

Previous day was Fabricland (for brushroll), but somehow ended up having tea with Alex and Austin. Mmmm apple cider, do not drink through a cinnamon stick though ;P

No more going out afterschool though. The rest of the week shall be dedicated to nerdy clubs. Math Society tmrw, Infinity Math day after, and chem club on friday. Beyond Einstein is next week~ Two math and two science (plus engineering), gonna be funnnnn.

What other clubs? LC, WCC and CCSC (yay acronyms). My ambitions for next year include pres (or co-pres) of engineering, some sorta exec for either one of the science clubs, and some sorta exec for either WCC or CCSC.

Shall keep myself busy.

shooting fountain

Eaton looks quite amazing in this shot.
Clicky here for uncropped version @ flickr

other interesting articles:
it'd be so cool if I got to work on this during co-op
how awesome our habourfront would have been

via blogto.com

Please! Mr. Bear!

Second of more to come Korean web comic features. First one's Noblesse :]



Title: Please! Mr. Bear! (the bear that it refers to is not the one in the image above)
Author/Artist: Mk
Summary (via mangafox.com): After the ending of his last true love, a white-collar worker experiences the excruciating sorrow of parting. Walking around the empty city aimlessly and now living a prosaic life, how will he be able to put back the broken pieces of his heart and love again? A philosophical and heartwarming story about an emotion called "love"...

My Take:
A really cute story about looking on the bright side of things.

The main character is really easy to empathize with, and all the flashbacks make you sympathize with him as well. (I learned the difference between the two last year in english haha). I was silently cheering him on as he faces each increasingly empty day.

Art wise, it's beautiful :] The colours really match the mood of every individual panel, eg. hazy when he's remembering the "good old days". The gradients are gorgeous *u*

My only complaint is that the chapters on mangafox is a tad messed up. The pages repeat 3 times before it moves onto the next chapter. Not a big hassle as you can manually click on the chapters from the dropdown.

If you don't get a warm and fuzzy feeling after reading this story, you have no heart.

iPad

Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

this is uber creative.

knotted

Denim Dreams Knotty Multiple Strand Knot Scarf
Buy me that and I will love you (until I get a cooler scarf).

Or I can save 25USD and finish knitting my scarf that I started 3 years ago, in my defense, I don't have enough yarn to finish it.

Other things from the top of my head that I want to do if I did not have a limited lifespan&health does not deteriorate over time:

1. Learn ancient Chinese (sounds so darn fancy but to the point at the same time)
2. Learn Latin
3. Study all the different religions. This originates from all the awesome mangas that are based on religious characters.
4. Live in rural Europe
5. Live in the tropics
6. Learn to make pottery (a la Yamada in H&C)
7. Learn carpentry skills
8. Learn how to make perfumes
   
9. Go hunting, preferably with a rifle with an ornate handle
10. Own a winery

Shall cap it off at 10 since I should really be doing co-op work.

grande

I'm one of those people who love to plan what they're gonna do.

So my future cooking schedule will probably be this before I settle down with a family:

Weekends: BIG POT of something (most likely soup stock). Whatever freezes/keeps well (pasta sauce?). Some sweet baked goods (for morning and snacks).
Weekdays: veggie....grain of the day...quickest meat thing I can whip together.

the inspiration behind this post?
Making anything that takes more than an hour on weekday = "orz It wasn't very fun kneeling next to the stove fixing my co-op resume for 2 hours waiting for the minestrone soup to simmer.

On the bright side, I'll have a warm, hearty, healthy, tasty, filling lunch for the rest of the week.
trying hard to justify~

weekday lunch: chickpea salad

No brunch this week, so showcasing my lunch instead.
I would call this the chopping practice salad, everything needs to be diced haha. This would be ready in less than 10mins if you chop fast xD

No picture either...cause I'm not an obsessive food blogger yet, so here's one from CHG:

recipe from CHG as well :]

My personal adjustments included leaving out the pepper flakes (didn't have any), sauteing the pepper and doubling the amount of veggies (except for the onion). Tasted pretty good~ The dressing isn't overwhelming either :]

Some changes for next time would include the addition of some citrus zest and maybe subbing the raw/sauteed pepper with some roasted ones *u*

...
...
...

Rai starts to kick ass~

sig fig

Suppose I shall round up the first week of school too.

Day one (7th)
I wanted to speed up the adjustment of my sleep schedule, so I got up at....9? Did some stuff which I assume was preparing for school. Arrived to find that my locker has been stolen, nice Janice shared her's.

...then the days sorta blurred together. So I'll just give my impression of my classes.

Off to chem! Tang seems alright, got work on the first day haha. Much thanks to everyone that I bugged for the crossword :] Don't think I'll love this course, but won't be bad either.
Info Tech next, sitting next to Aida, bwhahahahahaaaaa. This will be hilarious ;D Nyugen said there will be a lot of presentations, good chance to practice speaking in this increasingly digitized world :] Also can't believe retailers charge $30 to put a stick of RAM in...
Lunch is as crowded as always. I can now hold a 2 tier of my bento box with one hand, accomplishment!
Phhhhhhysics. Caruana seems so silly haha, will be fun to learn physics from him. HE'S ON YOUTUBE! Learned some scientific notations, SI units, and dun dun dun....sig figs. I swear I will loose more marks cause my answers are too inaccurately accurate "orz
Math~ Eveeeeeeryone is in this class haha. M.Lee is mega nice too ^^

then we have the eighth.
Co-op: Let's just say that I can't wait to get out of school and into my placement :]
Lunch: with the cummer cast haha
Mech Design: it's tech, aka awesome~
(I noticed that the descriptions get shorter and shorter)
Eng: I thought I would dislike this course, but seems like I was wrong. I retyped what we discussed in the second class like 5 times, but none of them seemed "right", so I'll leave it as we have very interesting discussions XD



...
...
...
what do I want to be?
an optimist~

千年后 累世情深 还有谁在等

feeling particularly distant haha.

as much as I LOVE jay's songs, I don't really enjoy the MVs @_@"


繁华声 遁入空门 折煞了世人
梦偏冷 辗转一生 情债又几本
如你默认 生死枯等
枯等一圈 又一圈的 年轮

浮图塔 断了几层 断了谁的魂
痛直奔 一盏残灯 倾塌的山门
容我再等 历史转身
等酒香醇 等你弹 一曲古筝

雨纷纷 旧故里草木深
我听闻 你始终一个人
斑驳的城门 盘踞着老树根
石板上回荡的是 再等

雨纷纷 旧故里草木深
我听闻 你仍守着孤城
城郊牧笛声 落在那座野村
缘份落地生根是 我们

听青春 迎来笑声 羡煞许多人
那史册 温柔不肯 下笔都太很
烟花易冷 人事易分
而你在问 我是否还 认真

千年后 累世情深 还有谁在等
而青史 岂能不真 魏书洛阳城
如你在跟 前世过门
跟着红尘 跟随我 浪迹一生

雨纷纷 旧故里草木深
我听闻 你始终一个人
斑驳的城门 盘踞着老树根
石板上回荡的是 再等

雨纷纷 旧故里草木深
我听闻 你仍守着孤城
城郊牧笛声 落在那座野村
缘份落地生根是 我们

雨纷纷 旧故里草木深
我听闻 你始终一个人
斑驳的城门 盘踞着老树根
石板上回荡的是 再等
雨纷纷 雨纷纷 旧故里草木深
我听闻 我听闻 你仍守着孤城
城郊牧笛声 落在那座野村
缘份落地生根是 我们
缘份落地生根是 我们
伽蓝寺听雨声盼 永恒

503193600

In and Outs #6: first day of school

IN
Lack of sleep: especially if my co-op place is far... I can see myself dozing off on the ttc again @_@
Though we only had a half day today and late start tmrw, school's being considerate xD
Decent teachers: for day 2 at least. Awesome classmates too, math class will be sooooooo eventful.

OUT
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuummer T_T
and summer clothing: I love my cardigans and scarfs (a little too much perhaps), but shorts and sandals!

the list was originally longer, but I got distracted by The Big Bang Theory. So go watch that :]

edit: I remember now:
IN
HOUUUUUSE! on the 20th
and again, BIG BANG THEORY! on the 23rd~

brunch: cabbage rolls

Haven't had a brunch post in a while,



recipe via justbento.com

I want a stainless steel bento box T_T

snip

Webcam isn't terribly flattering, no make-up doesn't help either (Maybellin's dream matte powder is magical) @_@

the reference image (via rasysa.com):

Turned out barely barely alike, but I like it :]

BACK TO SHORT HAAAAIR. aka washing will be a bliss again *u*
Though I'd like to grow it out to collar bone length and curl the ends a bit.

Is Gatsby hair wax that good? Soompiers seem to swear by it o_o I'm terribly inadequate in knowledge about hair stuff haha.
If anyone's heading to Galleria, buy the green tub for me?

Oatmeal Crasin Muffins

food is the best comfort.
I'm surprised that I'm not an emotional eater haha.


Recipe via thekitchn

I made it without the cinnamon topping (it was morning, all is forgiven), so was a tad bland. Would be lovely with some jam?
Interesting to note that the recipe doesn't call for any butter, instead it uses olive oil. Wonderful for the times where you're a) looking for something tad healthier or b) just plain out of butter (this happens to me on regular occasions)

All set for breakfast for the week~

Asia haul!

mostly a cosmetics one xD


From left to right,
Japanese cherry blossom My Beauty Diary masks (3 more in the box)
Aloe MBD masks (5 more in the box)
Skinfood Salmon Dark Circle concealer (in 001)
clover hole puncher! <3
Missha Pearl bbcream

Isn't the packaging for the MBD masks sooooo pretty? *u* and the glass jar for the concealer?
I'm such a sucker for packaging, I'd buy something purely cause it looks gorgeous in the box.

much thanks to Janice and Jine!