Got my grades back... not so good...
I was expecting it, but hoping that they would be better. After all the hard work of the semester all I have to show is a set of decidedly mediocre grades. I suppose that they don't mean much because I never intended to do a PhD, but on a personal and emotional level it does not feel good to be behind the curve, no matter what curve that may be. On the other hand, the feeling is somewhat mitigaged by the improvement of the final grades over the midterms... now I just hope I can find some employers that I will like that don't pay too much attention to my academic record.
My final week in Vancouver was good. I managed to walk, eat Japanese food, go snowboarding and spend time with my family so I guess I accomplished everything I set out to. I regret not making more time for some of my friends. Carolynn in particular I would have liked to see more, but our scheduals made it such that our meeting kept being pushed back and then didn't happen at all. Similarly, I did not see Helena at all and I only had a quick lunch with Cameron. Apart from that, I am happy that I spent some quality time with many of my friends and I look forward to my next visit back.
Being back, I realised how much of my life is in Vancouver. It is really my home town and I hope to move back there some day... although that day might not be very soon.
A new semester has started and it is filled with possibility. There is the possibility that I will not mess it up as badly as I did the last one... but then it would not matter much anyway. I am tentitively taking four classes: Macro, Derivatives, Panel Data, and Policy. All of them are interesting in their own way and could potentially be useful, depending on the path I take after this program is over. At the very least, I like my elective classes and I am prepared for the workload that I will get from them. Even though I know all of this, I am having a problem getting back into the school mode. Perhaps it is because I had such a relaxing break, or because I am distracted by other things, or because I am discouraged by my results from last time... I suppose things will get better as time goes on and as the assignments come due. Now I just want to pass, find a job, and be done with all of this.
Speaking of jobs, I was in Ottawa last weekend interviewing for the Accelerated Economist Training Program (AETP). I think the interview went well, especially because one of the interviewers gave me his business card. That interviewer was very impressed with my China experience, which gives me hope that when I go on the job market in ernest, I will have an impressive background that people will want to have on their team...
Ottawa was fun. It turned out that a bunch of people from my program were going up at the same time to have interviews with Finance Canada so I took the train with them. We talked the whole way about the fun things that we did over the break and the things that were going on. In Ottawa I saw Ashely which was nice. I had just seen her in Vancouver, but now I was seeing her in her new adopted environment. She is really enjoying being in Ottawa, it really is a dream come true for her. We had some good times eating shwarma, going for a walk and drinking in the market. On Saturday morning I had dim sum with Bruno et al. It was nice to see the kids, and I always like dim sum... even though it is not as good as Vancouver. Fuliwah is so much smaller than I remember is as a child... but then so much in Ottawa is.
I think I have just about finished my work for Vincent. On balance, I don't think it was a particularly successful collaberation, but I hope it was at least somewhat useful to him. I am definately embarassed with how useless I was, but I think he understood my situation and engineered a face-saving exit for both of us. If he offers me a continuing role with the company, I would take it... but only for money and with defined responsibilities. I am just grateful for the face-saving resolution...
I have decided to continue my study of Chinese in Kingston. I have posted on a Chinese bulletin board asking for an experienced tutor. I hope I get a responce because I have been noticing that my oral Chinese is slipping, although thankfully my reading comprehention is holding up better. I think my medium term goal should be to read more easy newspaper articles and learn the characters I don't know.
I must be off now to meet someone...
I was expecting it, but hoping that they would be better. After all the hard work of the semester all I have to show is a set of decidedly mediocre grades. I suppose that they don't mean much because I never intended to do a PhD, but on a personal and emotional level it does not feel good to be behind the curve, no matter what curve that may be. On the other hand, the feeling is somewhat mitigaged by the improvement of the final grades over the midterms... now I just hope I can find some employers that I will like that don't pay too much attention to my academic record.
My final week in Vancouver was good. I managed to walk, eat Japanese food, go snowboarding and spend time with my family so I guess I accomplished everything I set out to. I regret not making more time for some of my friends. Carolynn in particular I would have liked to see more, but our scheduals made it such that our meeting kept being pushed back and then didn't happen at all. Similarly, I did not see Helena at all and I only had a quick lunch with Cameron. Apart from that, I am happy that I spent some quality time with many of my friends and I look forward to my next visit back.
Being back, I realised how much of my life is in Vancouver. It is really my home town and I hope to move back there some day... although that day might not be very soon.
A new semester has started and it is filled with possibility. There is the possibility that I will not mess it up as badly as I did the last one... but then it would not matter much anyway. I am tentitively taking four classes: Macro, Derivatives, Panel Data, and Policy. All of them are interesting in their own way and could potentially be useful, depending on the path I take after this program is over. At the very least, I like my elective classes and I am prepared for the workload that I will get from them. Even though I know all of this, I am having a problem getting back into the school mode. Perhaps it is because I had such a relaxing break, or because I am distracted by other things, or because I am discouraged by my results from last time... I suppose things will get better as time goes on and as the assignments come due. Now I just want to pass, find a job, and be done with all of this.
Speaking of jobs, I was in Ottawa last weekend interviewing for the Accelerated Economist Training Program (AETP). I think the interview went well, especially because one of the interviewers gave me his business card. That interviewer was very impressed with my China experience, which gives me hope that when I go on the job market in ernest, I will have an impressive background that people will want to have on their team...
Ottawa was fun. It turned out that a bunch of people from my program were going up at the same time to have interviews with Finance Canada so I took the train with them. We talked the whole way about the fun things that we did over the break and the things that were going on. In Ottawa I saw Ashely which was nice. I had just seen her in Vancouver, but now I was seeing her in her new adopted environment. She is really enjoying being in Ottawa, it really is a dream come true for her. We had some good times eating shwarma, going for a walk and drinking in the market. On Saturday morning I had dim sum with Bruno et al. It was nice to see the kids, and I always like dim sum... even though it is not as good as Vancouver. Fuliwah is so much smaller than I remember is as a child... but then so much in Ottawa is.
I think I have just about finished my work for Vincent. On balance, I don't think it was a particularly successful collaberation, but I hope it was at least somewhat useful to him. I am definately embarassed with how useless I was, but I think he understood my situation and engineered a face-saving exit for both of us. If he offers me a continuing role with the company, I would take it... but only for money and with defined responsibilities. I am just grateful for the face-saving resolution...
I have decided to continue my study of Chinese in Kingston. I have posted on a Chinese bulletin board asking for an experienced tutor. I hope I get a responce because I have been noticing that my oral Chinese is slipping, although thankfully my reading comprehention is holding up better. I think my medium term goal should be to read more easy newspaper articles and learn the characters I don't know.
I must be off now to meet someone...
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