Mr. Christie Jr.

When I think about what my home life will be like in the future, I must admit it's all still very blurry. I can't picture what job I'll be doing, where I'll be living, or who I'll be living with, if anyone at all; the only thing I AM sure about is that I plan to enjoy life. I also know that I would really like to raise my own kid, whether it's my own or even adopted. Anyways, before I get onto the main meat of this post, let me go through the motions of some updates--academic, and non-academic.

So, I just started my study term this week. I'm taking 6 courses and 1 lab:

BIOL 373 (online) - Human Physiology 2: I took the BIOL 273 course last summer online as well...and with the same prof too. Shouldn't be too bad, except all the lectures are only in audio form--they used to come with a powerpoint visual. This makes it a bit harder to focus and it takes longer for me to listen and formulate my own notes on the spot, but oh well. It's definitely the preferrable alternative to sitting in a boring biology lectures 2-3 times a week; somehow I never seem to absorb anything biology-related that I hear in lecture. Too boring.

ECON 102 - Macroeconomics: WAH! I missed my first class because they changed the room last-minute due to building construction. Now it's in a dark, stuffy physics room...makes me sleepy, and the overly redundant/obvious course content doesn't help either.

ENGL 108M - Youth and Adolescence: The books on the course outline are:
-James Joyce: Portrait of a young man (or something along those lines)
-Neil Gaiman: The Graveyard Book
-5th Business - by somebody I forget
-Persepolis Marjand Satrapi (?)
+other short stories (e.g. Freudian-inspired psychoanalysis of Little Red Riding Hood, Gertrude Talks by Margaret Atwood)

Sorry, avid readers, I probably butchered all those titles/authors, but you have some idea of what I mean. Again, I apologize for being too lazy to even confirm the names on my books right here in my room or to even google them for that matter. By all means, condemn me, gossip, criticize--whatever makes you feel better.

Anyways, I'm so excited for this course! It's been almost 3 years since I took an English course! Oh, if you're wondering how that's possible:
1. I don't take English courses in my uni program.
2. I boycotted English at my school for summer school and online courses because I kept getting the same crappy teacher. Yes, it made a SIGNIFICANT difference, if you're wondering.

MATH 128 - Calculus 2 for Scientists: So, I did my best to avoid this course by going into Science and Business (Biology specialization) JUST to avoid this course and physics. As you can tell, I ended up taking both nightmares anyway -_-" Not that I was ever good at math, but now I'm SUPER rusty cuz I haven't taken MATH 127 since Fall 2008. To top off this never-ending mound of good news, my prof is boring, doesn't really teach, goes pretty fast, and calls on the entire class sequentially to answer questions. I still haven't been called on, but I try to seat myself farthest from the seat where I think she will start calling on students. I think I'm too terrified of being called on to focus on the actual content. As if I didn't already have enough trouble with Math.

Interesting fact: I almost didn't get into university because of the vectors unit in math. I needed to maintain a 75 in Math, and I started off the term with a 66 from this unit. Oh, the trauma.

PHYS 112 - Physics 2 + lab: My prof makes stupid analogies and keeps poor notes. Recall: This is my second physics course in my life, but I'm not too discouraged YET, since I did decently in 111. :) *Gasp WAS THAT OPTIMISM?

PSYCH 101 - Intro to Psychology: Boring so far, definitely overrated. Why do people like going into psychology again? It seems just like a bunch of data collection...very reminiscent of stats/data...who in their right mind would want to study this unless you have a very "special" mind indeed...

So, that's this term in a furry chestnut shell. I'm not really sure what to expect, but I guess it's about time I revived my dismal study habits.

NB. For anyone who feels like performing the social convention of asking how my courses went last term: I somehow ended up doing okay on my lab and course. Then again, when you don't study and prepare yourself to receive a 60, anything looks good right?

As for the non-academic updates, I truly made some great friends at my co-op term, as mentioned in my earlier post (in good co-ompany): Brian, Cathy, Cynthia, Devon, Justina, Kyle, Matt, Qi, and Sirisopha. I really doubt we'll ever be able to enjoy the same friendship as before, but I have learned to expect this cyclical rotation of friends. It's just a way of life.

Not to overruse my annoyingly recurring transition word, but "SOOOOoooooo"...

onto the main "meat", as promised.

What plans do I have in store for Christie Jr.? Well, from my own life and personal preferences, I think I already have some ideas of how I will raise my child.

1. First of all, you may ask, "Is there a gender preference? If not, how would my approach differ?" I think I would prefer a girl, despite all the times where I sincerely wished that I was a boy. Let me explain my reasoning. Well, I think that boys are already tough and have a certain extent of self-confidence and esteem; thus a girl would benefit more from my version of parenting. I see myself doing the female gender some good--not saying that I would create a tomboy or a "butch feminist" (I know Alex enjoys that phrase), but definitely not a ditz/fob/[insert other derogatory classification] :) I'd like to raise a girl to be emotionally tougher and more practical/realistic, both traits that many girls (especially asian ones) today seriously lack and this bothers me, naturally. For a boy, my parenting would more or less be the same, but it would definitely make the job easier.

2. I feel really useless being monolingual, and I would like to spare my child this inconvenience. I will travel around the world with my child at an early age and temporarily settle in different areas, in hopes that they will pick up other languages. Of course this depends on what income I end up making, but at the very least, I will send them to Korean school from a very young age and eventually a French immersion program in elementary and secondary school.

3. I will read lots of books with my child from a very young age. Almost every person I know who read a lot of books from a young age has strong English writing and reading comprehension skills--both extremely valuable skills no matter what career they end up pursuing.

4. I will provide my child with at least cable TV. I think it's an important social and cosmopolitan-ic learning tool. Also, by providing them with sufficient access to a TV from a young age, the novelty and excitement associated with cable TV will hopefully wear off by their mid-adolescent years at the latest.

5. No physical discipline. Ironic coming from me eh? Personally, I think this method might work for a dog or hamster, but humans can be reasoned with. If they can't, physical messaging cannot be any clearer than what is said in words.

6. Keep lectures short. Before I approach my child about a serious issue, I think it would be more effective to just emphasize the main points. If you go on and on about your complaints, it becomes a nag to your kid and they tune you out, and you eventually lose their respect, and they start to get annoyed whenever it looks like you're getting into one of your 'talks', and whether you realize it or not, all your talks are pretty much saying the same things anyway, and this is just filler text; I can't believe you are reading it...blah, blah, blah, etc.

7. Provide the sex talk. I know my parents didn't tell me anything about sex. Maybe they were too scared or embarrassed to talk about it to me, but it made sex somewhat intriguing. I also ended up asking my best friends to share their views and personal experiences on puberty. Essentially, I received the notorious sex talk secondhand, with possible stretching of the truth here and there. You would want your kids to get the story right the first time, or do you?--bringing me to my next plan of action...

8. I don't want to be one of those parents that lazily makes up an answer to a 'complex' question. Unless there is some life-threatening piece of knowledge that I don't want my kids to know, I would like to tell them the right thing the first time, or at least as much as they are willing to hear. Otherwise, I'd have to sit down with them once they hit a mature enough age and essentially "revise" all the half-truths I told them when they were younger. Of course, there is also the chance that some of these half-truths will never be corrected in time to save them from some embarrassing conversation with their friends or a cute boy/girl later on in the future. I'd like to spare my child this inconvenience as well.

9. I want to teach my kid the underlying principle of my life: marginal utility>marginal cost, otherwise no purchase. Basically, only invest time in something, if you are getting more out of it than it is costing you...whether it's enjoyment, service, convenience, pleasure, self-satisfaction, etc. Don't just buy something because it's cheap. Don't just get something because everyone else is. Really evaluate what something means to you. I'm not trying to be a snobby capitalist in this point; it can apply to helping others as well. You should only help others if you are really interested in helping them out--as opposed to being afraid of what they/others will think if you don't help them out (i.e. doing the right thing for the wrong reasons). Only if you follow this rule, will you be satisfied with anything that you invest in, my child.

10. Live in the now. Something my English prof said today really struck me...something along the lines of how our society currently encourages everyone to be constantly setting themselves up for the future rather than reflecting on the past or even stopping to enjoy the present. Take time now to enjoy your youth and adolescence before it's too late and you have later regrets. However, while still being slightly realistic and conscious of the future, I would ensure I emphasize to my child the importance of getting job experience, over more frivolous extracurricular activities such as piano lessons or art classes.