Cycling

So today I got chatting with a certain Dave Tse (some wedding brought in loads of Seattle people. Something like that). I remember back in first, second year, I'd constantly hear about all these big names in CCF. All the people who did loads for the fellowship. The people who stepped up. The people who took care of other people. Etc. Over the years, I've had the chance to meet some of them. Now, I think I can really say CCF never really changes.

I suppose we got chatting about the only thing that a 20 and a 27 year old Waterloo students could have in common: UWCCF. He shared a bit about his CCF experiences, I talked a bit about my own. Of how in his last years, the people of their year talk about the good old days and worry about where CCF is going (the new froshes of their graduation was the '08/'09s...you guys fill in the rest =P). At the end of first year, the fact that I was solidly in CCF was because of those same people that Dave's year worried about.

Haaa. At this point in time, I'm pretty sure I've done a "oh those were the good old days" routine at least one. And I've complained about CCF being doomed. And etc. Just like the people before me.

Dave mentioned that it was good to hear that CCF is still going strong. That the "paying forward" mentality lives on. That CCF is still a community. That people are still seeing the very best that CCF has to offer. That their work is still being carried out on the campus of the University of Waterloo. Encouragement from the good old days.

And so really, CCF never really grows up. People just continuously moves though it. One day, the people I still call my froshes will take our place. They'll be the ones lamenting about the good old days. Of how CCF is different now. Stress about all its issues. Fill all the niches because no one else would. And it goes on and on.

CCF lives on.

Applications

So I was figiting with this touchscreen monitor at work, getting it hooked up so the physicians can draw various colourful circles (in the profession, it's called segmentation) around left ventricles to apply Simpson's rule (ie reduce life into rectangles. Add up the rectangles. Simple guessimation at its best). This physician came into the room and started poking around with the MR software. Then he asked me about my background (and so we got into the whole "I'm a engineering student from Waterloo..." routine)...then he did something totally unexpected. He went to google, typed in "electromagnetic spectrum" (I cringed a little) then produced this EM spectrum graphic. Then he asked me to explain it to him. I was like...uhhhh...okay...

So I launched into a discussion about how E = hf...wave-particle duality...photoelectric effect...electron excitation in semiconductors...the Uncertainty principle...and all the other random EM and quantum physics I learned in high school (and forgotten) and university (seriously. quantum physics wasn't built for normal human consumption)...to me, EM physics was just a handful of facts. Something they taught at school. Not much more thoughts after that. But to this physicist, who's apparently never learned any of this (I suppose UK education system doesn't dab in the incomprehensible physics areas), it was like a new world opened. He was asking me questions that I had no answer for (how does one explain that light wavelengths isn't actually...physical?)...then it hit me.

Maybe it is just school mentality. But after a good three years of Waterloo education, I've realized that I've begun to treat physics, a field that I was once facinated with, has become just another topic. Another thing I need to learn. In fact...I've consistently perfered my electives (KIN160, PSYCH101, KIN255, BIOL273...and now pending SYDE573) over my core engineering courses...why? It's different. It's fresh. It's new. It's cool...

Campus Challenge 2008 was last weekend. It was alright. To the people who asked how it was, my typical reply was "good reflection time"...and it was. As I sat there, listening to the speakers rant and the Bible study (was totally hardcore. The sheer amount that Al Anderson knew was amazing), it reminded me to start reading again. But as I picked up my Bible...I realized that perhaps, just a little, I've applied to this same mentality. As we talked about Acts...Romans...the only thought was to pour out knowledge. Thus underlining the gap between theory and application.

I remember back in high school, I used to have non-nonsensical arguments with people applying for the Sciences. The argument was...without engineers, scientists are useless, as it is engineers that make their work meaningful (ie, taking the theories and making it practical). Ironic then, that an engineer would forget how to apply the practicality, the application that is Christian living.


On another note, here are my current identified perks at work:
- Half off on crutches (anyone broke their legs recently?)
- 99% of erasing my TTC metropass every time I step into the 1.5T magnet room... and no, I didn't actually do it. I almost did. Oops.
- Windows in my office. Windows!

Week report, Toronto

I've officially been in Toronto for a bit over a week now. All the paperwork at work is finally done, and I'm now an official employee of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Alot of random running in the first few days (In fact...I was at the NTCBC building four times in my first two days in Toronto...wasn't bad. I saw a few people from Calgary too, so that was rather amusing.

Face in the sea of faces
Once thing I noticed is that...it feels so much easier to "get lost in the crowd" here. Not that I always saw people I'm familiar with when I was in Waterloo, but I suppose the fact that there is simply more people here, in Toronto. I think that's why little acts of kindness stand out so much.

I was getting on this TTC bus...since it was the first time I was taking Bayview North, I asked the bus driver if this was the bus I wanted...he said it was, so I sat down, and promptly fell asleep. Shortly before Bayview Village (I told the bus driver I needed groceries, so was going to Loblaws), he woke me up (in between comments of how bad some Toronto drivers are -_-), then drove me to the closest entrance to Loblaws, even though everyone else got off and the driver's route technically ended 3 or 4 stops back. I suppose it's little acts like that ... keeps the city from feeling just like a sea of faces.

Names
So apparently I acquired the nickname of "Grasshopper" from NTCBC's Josiah (University) fellowship, due to my noob-ness at sushi rolling (hey...just cuz it was triangular...). I'm mildly amused at the fact that my list of names seems to grow, whereever I go. I suppose, for the sake of straightforward communication, me having such a common name =P.

Toronto "to visit" sites...
And so one of my housemate composed a "to visit" list for me when I'm in Toronto. Among it includes the Science Centre and the Toronto Zoo, as well as the habourside downtown. The weather is getting nicer. Maybe I'll rollerblade around one of these weekends...