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General topics
While filling out forms to renew my Canadian status, I realized five years ago today (April 29, 2008) I became a Canadian permanent resident.
It sounds funny when someone has to renew a permanent status every five years, but I have learned and grown a lot from my years in Canada, for which I’m very thankful.
Kind of a big deal, but life moves on.
Success is a by-product of practicing the art of concentration and maintaining a spirit of hard work.
It is when you are beaten by life over and over again for no apparent reasons, every day, every breath and every heartbeat is a blessing.
It's been ten days Since we last met I've been missing you Like a thirsty pet I miss your smell I miss your taste I love the way you move When I hold your waist You aren't good for me That's what they say We have to be apart It's the only way I know we will meet again When life is more ideal Before that day comes Promise me you are not real
It makes me teary-eyed sometimes when I think of Anya.
After a long, dark and cold bike ride, I came home to this today:
Anya had made this tasty dinner for us. There were teriyaki unagi, tuna sashimi, green onion and soya sauce dipping sauce, sesame spinach, ginger garlic chicken wings, Japanese rice and Sir Perry cider. It was AMAZING! Of course Holly was innocently pretending she’s not interested in this yummy dinner at all.
Thank you, Anya. You’ve won the Best Wife of My Life award 🙂 xoxo!
Today is the first day of 2013. 2012 is officially over. The New Year’s party at Sarah and Derek’s new house was fun-tastic. We had a great time with great friends. It was a nice way to wrap up the year.
2012 was fruitful. We moved into our Crownwood house on February 29. Crownwood is my parents’ retirement home, but we are looking after it for them for now. Because of the space of Crownwood, Anya and I decided to host home stay students. I was once a home stay student and benefited plenty from the program. Giving back seems like a nice thing to do. Plus, I like learning new things from other cultures. Wael, Alex and Billy have all been awesome students. We’ve been very lucky.
I started my new position at the Ministry of Health as Performance Management Analyst on July 23. Working as a performance management analyst is very different from being an information analyst. I don’t need to do any programming any more. Instead, I need to analyze the data my previous branch produces and turn them into meaningful reports and diagrams. My director, Juanita, has also assigned me a research task on holistic health system monitoring and measurement. I’m hoping my masters thesis on systems thinking and integrated care will be helpful to my new job.
In the fitness department, I finally quit my group class instructor job at the Ian Stewart Complex. I still remember that it was Monday, December 3. I walked out of the ISC building after teaching my last TRX class. I felt sad. I have been working there since 2003 from a Strength Trainer to Personal Trainer to Group Fitness Instructor. I will miss that gym. It was my stomping ground as a fitness instructor. I chatted with Amy, my supervisor, about my situation and finally quit my job. Amy didn’t try to convince me this time. She knew I wanted an end to this career. Amy had convinced me to teach group fitness classes after I tried to quit as a personal trainer back in April. I saw the value in teaching fitness classes, so I agreed to take on the challenge. Spin classes and TRX circuit classes had been fun, but they are very time consuming and distracting to my study. I really need to focus on finishing my thesis.
Other things happened in 2012 that are worth mentioning are:
I’m excited about 2013. I hope I can achieve the following goals:
Bring it on, 2013!
I participated in the Movember fundraising event this year. Anya persuaded me to join Nathan’s team, Royal Moustache Part of Canada. I didn’t want to do the whole Movember thing. At the same time, I had never tried not shaving for a month, so I went with the mindset of “what do I have to lose” and gave it a try. I told myself I could always bail out if it didn’t work out.
My moustache came in different phases throughout the month. First, I had a patchy face for a week. The second week I had a goatee. I must admit I enjoyed having a goatee. The third week I shaved the chin hair and kept what it was called the Handle-bars or Fu Manchu. Whatever it was called; it was dirty. People on the bus had to look at me twice and slowly move away from me. I enjoyed the attention. With the Handle-bars, I went to a Movember party hosted by VSSC (Victoria Sport & Social Club). I play basketball in that league with my awesome Hammerheads teammates. To my surprise, I won the Best Mo Award at the party and took home some cool prices. Thanks to those who voted for me! Keelan Clemens did a great job being the organizer of the event. This last week of Movember, I got rid off the handle bars and kept a classic stache. By this point, my moustache has grown out more and been looking more distinct. People at work have been given me mixed reviews of my “new” look. Just for laughs; I enjoyed it, again. Today is the last day of Movember. I’m concluding my first Movember with this look:
It was fun for my first try out with Movember. I look forward to having a clean face again. I’m sure Anya is looking forward to that more than I do.
Not really surprising, but congrats USA at last.
I have been reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. In Book Two, Passage 4, Marcus wrote,
Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realize the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again.
This passage accompanied me mentally throughout the last weekend while Anya was out with friends on a Labour Day long weekend retreat. It was this passage that pushed me to focus on my thesis proposal whenever I wanted to play a bit of video game or stayed on Facebook a bit longer or simply found anything that could distract me from reading boring integrated care case studies. The weekend is over now, and I’ve finished editing my proposal. Thank you, Marcus.
I had lunch with Séamus today. We are both Pho lovers, so having our monthly Pho lunch has become a tradition. We talked about business, friends, kids, and then somehow our conversation arrived at genome sequencing. He was telling me how we can use genome sequencing to cure illnesses and diseases we were never able to in the past. It was fascinating! I felt like Séamus was from another planet or the future because I had no idea genetic studies have evolved so much. Then I realized genome sequencing can be used to promote preventative care. Yes, it’s quite expensive now. Based on the video below, genome sequencing is, and will be, becoming cheaper and more affordable. By November 2012, British Columbians will have a choice to upgrade their health care card to an integrated care card combining BC driver’s license and health care card. This is another step towards electronic patient health information, integrating demographic, clinical, and medical information, as well as faster and securer access to one’s health information online. I believe the care card project BC is working on will build a solid foundation for educating citizens and residents of this province how to appropriately manage their health information. Once a better understanding of one’s physical, mental, and social health, a true preventative care can be obtained and practiced. Once a prevention oriented lifestyle is amalgamated in our daily living, then we will be more willing to welcome advanced preventative tools like genome sequencing.