I could have skipped my English class on Wednesday. Without wireless, I had nothing to do. Nicky (the Prof) covered what my TA talked about last week in regards to exam questions.

Towards the end of the lecture, however, she made some great points that I will echo here. Remember them when you’re sitting in the exam hall.

Health

• Maintain Posture: I’m guilty of this one most of all. I frequently ask my friends to politely remind me when I slouch (they seem to think poking is polite). So when you sit down in those uncomfortable chairs, sit in an upright position. If you hunch over, there isn’t enough oxygen flowing through the system (due to organ compression, my dad likes to remind me). That does’t mean you should lean the other way and slouch backwards in the chair either. People tend to fall asleep like that. Just remember, your brain needs oxygen to function. If you sit in a position that might restrict the passage of oxygen, you’re not going to be able to think very well.

• Eat: I have no problem with this one at all. That being said, there’s a few people I know who do not eat breakfast in the morning. Exam days should be an exception.Do the rest of us a favor and please eat something! Nothing makes us lose our train of thought more than hearing the sound of a person’s stomach growling from the other side of the room!

• Drink: No, not alcohol. That comes after the exam. It helps to keep water with you throughout the exam. If you’ve been atschool for a while, you’ll be like me and favor coffee (or some form of caffeine). Either of them are fine, but for cryin’ out loud keep the coffee lid on okay? I hate walking through sticky floors. It ruins my boots.

• Sleep: Sleep an hour early. Normally for me, that would be 2 AM. I’ll need to alter that come exam time. But honestly, sleep early. Coffee works wonders, but it is no substitute for sleep.

Courtesy

• Bring Kleenex: December exams suck because it’s the time of year when many students get sick. Our immune systems are usually on high alert, but sometimes those little buggers get through. Nothing sucks more than having to write an exam with a runny nose. It feels gross. I had to do that during my Crim exam and it was not fun at all.

• Liquid White Out Please: Nicky mentioned this one and I’m inclined to agree. This pisses me off, too. Don’t use white out where you have to shake it 5000 times to get it to function properly. Okay, so you made a mistake. We get the point. Use liquid white out please. Or even better: Cross it out with a pen!

• Turn Off Your Cellphones: I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard cell phones go off. Please turn it off. Don’t set it on vibrate. We can still hear it buzzing in your pocket. Your classmates want to be able to write the exam without any disruptions. Believe me when I say that vibrating cellphones can be heard from a distance. Do you know how quiet lecture halls are during an exam? They make tombs sound noisy.

The Exam

• Answer the Question: Know what the exam is asking you for specifically, especially if it’s an essay question. You don’t have time to list everything you know about the subject. If the question says to summarize the turning points conducted by the Allies during WW2, then do a summary (IE, America enters the war, ASW techniques, Chuck Norris). If it says compare and contrast Churchill and Hitler, it’s asking you to list similarities and differences. It took me 4 years to figure out what the heck those two words meant. Example would be the fact that both leaders were great speakers, but were polar opposites in terms of ideologies. Or something.

• Time Management: I can’t stress this part enough. Most exams have an indication of how much questions are worth. Allocate your time accordingly. Don’t spend a majority of your time working on questions that aren’t worth as much. For example, your exam composes of an essay question that’s worth 50%, short answer questions worth 35%, and multiple choice worth 15%. If you have 3 hours to work with, don’t spend half of your exam time on the multiple choice.

• Check Your Work: This relates to time management. Leave yourself a few minutes at the end of the exam to go through it mentally. I know that at this point you’re anxious to turn it in and be done with it. But you should at the very least check over the multiple choice and ensure that you did bubble all the answers in. I lost two marks because I left two questions blank when I told myself I was going to check it again after and guess.

• Educated Guess: So you’re truly stuck on this one multiple choice question. There’s four options to choose from and you’re not sure which one is correct. Usually you can figure out which answers are wrong. I find myself able to knock off two answers right off the bat because I know they’re the right answers to different questions. You are now left with two choices. This means you have a 50% chance of getting it right instead of a 3 in 4 chance of getting it wrong.

Classes conclude this week. Finals begin next week. This is the time of year where you can break or make the grades that you need. I know of a friend who did poorly in a mid term and came out the final guns blazing to score a B. Now there’s no way I can guarantee you an A. Only you can do that. But follow these steps and you’ll get a better shot at the grade that you want as well as not pissing off the people around you when you do it.

In my first year out of high school, I didn’t have a clue about what I wanted to do. Central had counsellors and programs to help people figure out what you wanted to do. But were they effective? No, not really. During grade 9 and 10, I thought for sure I was going into a career being surrounded by computers, gadgets, gizmos, and other tech. By the time I hit grade 12, everyone was convinced that I would end up in the information technology industry.

It Was Not To Be

Sometimes, all it takes is one class to completely derail your future. Ever since I took that fated distance education course on Java and programming, I knew that this was not an avenue that I wanted to pursue. It gave me a glimpse on what future University courses were like that involved programming. And they all involved math. Matt is not a mathematics man.

It was too late for me to change my SFU application faculties. When I signed up early, it was under the computing science or science faculties. Naturally, I was rejected from SFU. Talk about stupid mistakes. No one told me I could apply to SFU general as a fail safe. My parents didn’t know much. The friends I had were in the same boat as I was and had no clue either. Off I went to Kwantlen in my first year.

The first week I was there, I swallowed my pride and spoke to a counselor. Half my friends will tell you I’m stubborn. The other half are too nice and will say that I’m firm.

Mistake 1

I had to decide on a specific set of subjects. Specifically, I had to think about what I wanted to do as a career. What the hell, I thought. I decided I’d take a shot at business. All my friends were doing it and I did not want to get left behind either. I tried an accounting course and an economics course to get my feet wet.

At the end of the semester, I did an average job on the grades. More importantly I wasn’t happy. That’s when it hit me like Chris Pronger on Kesler after a goal. It dawned on me that I was going about school all wrong. My parents wanted me to go into business. My friends also encouraged me to go into business. Everyone saw a lot of opportunities in it for me. Yet I didn’t really care about functions, aggregates, supply, demand or any of that stuff. If you don’t care about what it is that you’re studying, you will never do well in life. Thankfully, it only took me a semester before I realized what I was doing wrong. I was taking business courses for all the wrong reasons. I was doing things that other people wanted me to do and that didn’t fly at all. It’s my life, I only have one shot at it, and I’m going to do things my way.

Redemption

In the spring semester, a dear friend of mine recommended me to try a Criminology course with him. On a side note, I encourage all of you to try this. The next time a friend asks you to try something, don’t ask why.

Ask why not?

I took courses: a History class and that Criminology class. I had not yet decided what I really wanted to do and I didn’t want to spend unnecessary amounts of money. Right away, there were some subtle changes that happened:

• I actually read the textbook
• Looked up crime stories on the web
• Actively participated in discussion
• Putting in a ton of effort
• Did not skip any classes
• More importantly, I was interested in what I was learning about

There are people I know right now who are in school being miserable because they hate what they’re doing. They’re learning what they don’t care about because it’s what others want them to do, not what they themselves want to do. I don’t believe in that. I’m not talking about breadth requirement courses. I have to take STATS and I hate it, but it’s a requirement. I’m talking about people going into majors and minors into subjects that they’re better off not being in. It’s a waste of money on courses. More importantly, it’s a waste of time.

The Bottom Line

If I could finalize everything in this post to one line, it’s to choose your own path in life. I don’t believe in fate or predetermined futures. To that end, don’t let others dictate or tell you what to do. If you want to be an engineer, go build bridges. If you want to be in the military, go blow them up. If you want to make money, be a stock broker or a businessman. You’re not 5 years old anymore. You’re old enough to make decisions and it’s time you did.

Me? I want to practice law (or enforce it).

How do you know your purpose in life?

Simple answer: You don’t! It’s a gut feeling that can happen like a premonition or it could take time to cultivate. You don’t have to follow in the footsteps of your parents or your friends. I tried my hand at business and had no business being in it. Don’t expect to keep up with high school friends in University. It’s impossible. I’m lucky if I even see them once a month. Your life is yours to live and it may as well be satisfying.

As I write this, I’m taking a break from finishing off my term paper. Isn’t that ironic? Taking a break from writing by… writing? But I want to maintain a rate of a post a day. Not to mention the fact that my brain is quite fried.

Throughout life, there will be doors that open in front and doors that close behind. Sometimes you step through them without realizing it. Other times you may look and miss it. Recognizing opportunity is an important life skill regardless of what trade you’re in.

The Story

Let me tell you a story that happened today.

I was heading home on the way from school. After showing the bus driver my fare, I promptly sat down near the back of the bus. To my surprise, a classmate of mine was also on that same bus. She is in my CRIM 104 tutorial and I couldn’t remember her name. We exchanged pleasantries but I decided to get up and sit next to her so we could talk comfortably.We started talking a bit more and I discovered that she was in her first year at SFU. No, she wasn’t majoring in Criminology but was considering minoring in it. Yes, she started on her term paper but encountered some difficulty with it because she has never written a paper like this before (further affirming my believe in this blog and what I’m trying to do). She said kind words about the presentation I gave two months ago and even remembered the questions that I asked the class for discussionary purposes.

At this point, transit cops showed up. Today was the first time I’ve ever seen them board a bus and checking fares. I usually see them on the sky train. My friend started to panic. She misplaced her U-Pass and it was still being mailed to her. She thought her student ID would be enough to hold up, and I assume the bus driver let her through. But I know the transit police would not be as kind. Turns out all she had to do was purchase a fare ticket. But she didn’t have any change! I checked my wallet, and all I had was 75 cents. Not enough to cover the rising costs of Translink. Curse me for not bringing enough change! At this point, I was already several stops past my bus stop and she decided to step off and call for a ride home rather than deal with the hassles of Translink.

But she didn’t have her phone with her!

Being the tech savvy geek I am, I offered her the use of my phone which she gladly accepted. Success! Parents on the way! We talked a bit more about school before we parted ways.

I took ten steps before I realized that I lost out on a key opportunity here. I missed out on a chance to partner up with a study buddy. I missed out on a chance to get to know someone. I missed out on a chance to offer direction in school where it can often be a scary place for first years. I missed out on a chance to explore a new friendship or a relationship even, but I know I’m not ready for that yet.

Sigh

So now you see. Here I had a classmate from school. I don’t have any idea what her name is and I completely missed a potential opportunity. With this week being the last day of classes and tutorials, it is very likely that I will never see her again. I failed to recognize this opportunity and capitalize on it.

But it’s not over yet…

You see, when she made the call on my phone, she didn’t wipe her number from my dialed calls list…

Remember, as one door closes another opens up. It’s up to you to walk through it.

Hi everyone!

This is your standard introductory post. I know some of you will find this hard to believe (but the rest of you won’t). I’ve decided after much deliberation to start another blog. I already invested a lot in a web host. I might as well get another domain and “expand my horizons” into topics that aren’t related to World of Warcraft.

Why Blog?

A better question is why not? It’s important to understand the difference between a blog and a normal website.

Wikipedia defines a blog as:

A website where entries are written… on a particular subject. A typical bloc combines text, images and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.

This allows me to write my own content on a consistent basis without having to plan everything out in advance. There will never be a final version of this blog because it is constantly evolving and changing. The look and feel of my blog may change from time to time (like this blue was originally yellow and gray hours ago), but the soul and essence will remain true to the usual mattisms. When I was in high school, I was an avid writer with an active. I would always write stories or plans or lists or some other weird shit. I was young and unorganized. I’ve grown older now and I’ve learned to channel my writability into something tangible and useful. I started with World of Warcraft at the end of August. I’m a lot more comfortable now with writing in general. At the time, I was lucky to generate even 50 hits a day. Now I have seen my traffic climb up at a rate that I never would have believed. I even have people who subscribe to it! Let’s see what I can do with material that isn’t solely focused on gaming.

Cool! So what are you about?

I am currently in University right now. I have a feeling that I may continue to be in school for a long time (the idea of a Ph.D or a Masters is enticing). After speaking to a few of my close friends, I was convinced to start a blog about how to survive in school. There are some people that I know of who have a hard time dealing with academic life after high school (or even in high school). I like to help and guide people and this is one of the ways that I can do it.

Here’s a few early topics that have come to mind:

• Giving effective presentations
• Writing papers to capture interest
• Studying smartly
• Maintaining and cultivating relationships
• Coping with stress
• Daily life
• Personal opinion
• Self improvement and personal growth
• …and more as ideas come to me

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve already had some pieces fleshed out and written. They just need some polish. I don’t know if I can keep up with a daily post (like I do on my WoW blog), but I can guarantee two well written and thought out posts every week.

Look, my end goal is to do well in school by writing about how I do well in school. I am sick and tired of C’s and D’s. I want to start achieving A’s and B’s. I’m one of the biggest slackers and procrastinators there is and I don’t want to do that anymore. Maybe along my journey I’ll be able to inspire other people to do the same thing. Frankly, if that guy over there munching on his pizza sized cookie can do it, then so can I!

If you like what you’re reading, I encourage you to subscribe in a reader of your choice. Alternatively, you can also subscribe by Email!