Thursday 30 June 2016

Boo-Yah!!

Yippie!!
I finished my medical terminology course and obtained my certificate!!  The opportunities are endless now!
I know, you gotta go through the struggles to reach your end goal. But, it's just, in the moment of the struggles, everything seems so dim and so far in reach.
I will never let anybody knock me down, or push me down. I'm strong and steady like a mountain and can not be moved.

*Breaking news in the hockey world!
You guys probably have already heard of the recent trades that has happened.
Shea Weber for PK Subban?!
Is Nashville Predators crazy?!?!?! Shea Weber is so valuable! Not saying PK Subban isn't, but I mean come on, it's SHEA freaking WEBER!!
Oilers traded off Taylor Hall to New Jersey Devils, meh, no surprise. He's alright player.
Steven Stamkos has resigned with Tampa Bay Lightnings for 8 more years.... I was kind of hoping Canucks would have tried to snatch him up.. Oh well.. He belongs on Tampa, that is his team.
*

That's kind of it for now, I'll keep you guys posted on more!.. There will be more to come!

Just Be You

Wednesday 29 June 2016

Struggles

Everybody has a story, and there's always a part of everybody's story that remains untold, even to family and close friends/lovers.

Even though, that untold part of the story is embarrassing or regretful or painful memory, it's what ultimately shaped that person into who they are today. The struggles they faced, the ones they conquered and failed at, the moments they broke apart, the times they gave up, the hard moments in life and how they overcame it or how they dealt it is a reflection of them as a person.

I think about all I have been through in my life until this very moment. The times I failed, the times I gave up or wished to give up, the moments I broke down, and all the times I got back up and kept moving forward. Some stories I have shared with people, but there's some stories that hasn't been told , mostly because I don't even know how to put it into words.

Misunderstood at times, liked by some, disliked by some but hate no one.

Where am I going with this blog post? I'm not too sure myself, honestly. It's just one of those days where I feel defeated and wishing it was a possibility to give up. But I can't. I came too far, overcame so much to just give up now. (Thank goodness for the upcoming long weekend, I've been waiting for it)

To all the people out there who are facing some life's lemons and struggling in any way,  hang in there, because at the end of every rainfall is a rainbow.

Just Be You!

Thursday 23 June 2016

Achieve and Succeed

Typically someone at my age, (23 years old), would probably either be graduating from university or college, or currently in university or college and working a part time job. People around my age are really into partying, clubbing and staying out late.

At 23 years old, I am doing none of that. I actually decided not to attend university/college. For many different reasons. After graduating high school, I decided to take a year off. I had a very stressful time in high school all the way until graduation. So, I was in no mood to jump into school AGAIN, when I just got out of hell. At least it felt like hell. But as the year passed, I didn't know what I wanted to even study. I thought about accounting, maybe criminology (this was because of all the binge watching of Criminal Minds), possibly graphic design, or dental technician like my mom and my grandpa. And when I did apply, like I said in my previous post, something always went wrong. My plan in gr.11/gr.12 was to get into UBC or SFU and get into business/accounting. Then I'll graduate with an accounting degree and then I'll start working as an accountant somewhere. After that I'll take this accounting test (sorry, I forgot the name of it) and become a CFO. But, because I decided to transfer to a different school in a different city for my gr.12 year. My grade drastically suffered in my gr.12 year, which is of course, the most important year for your grades. I got rejected by UBC and SFU and so that first plan was out the window. My second plan, was to get into graphic design. I'm good at art, and I have a creative mind, graphic design could be the career for me. So I looked into different art institute and applied to one, LaSalle International Art College in Vancouver. But with my luck, or could be the heavens above giving me a sign, something went wrong. My first plan of getting into the IDEA program in Capilano, was out the window. Then my plan B was LaSalle. Graduate with a graphic design diploma/certificate from there then start working as a graphic designer or a story board artist. But the year I applied was just not a good year, I guess. LaSalle is known for a small classroom, so students have that one on one with the teacher guidance. The year I applied, they couldn't get enough students enrolled. Min classroom size is 5 students. They had 4 students that did apply and were interested but they were all international students and that year, there was a big issue going on with Visa and immigrations. They all got rejected entrance into Canada, which means I was the only student in that class that year, so they deferred me to Winter session. As the Winter session rolled around, same thing happened, couldn't get 4 more students enrolled. So I pulled out. I took it as heavens above telling me, this is not for me.

But all in the meanwhile I just kept working. My very first job was at the famous McDonalds back in high school. Then after graduating high school, worked part time at Michaels as a cashier. Then worked as a barista at a coffee shop, moved on to doing door to door fundraising for a short period of time. Honestly though, I learned a lot from that job and about myself. That was the pivoting point for me. It forced me to get out of my comfort zone and do something normally, I am not comfortable with. And gained more self confidence in myself and had no issues talking to strangers. I got a great opportunity to work as a receptionist/administrative assistant at a start up medical clinic. Which all snowballed into working at a property management company, and now at a hospital.
So, even though schooling never worked out for me, I guess it honestly didn't even matter. I still ended up with a great job, that pays really well, with medical and dental benefits and union job too, which means job security. Of course, working at Rogers Arena part time had a lot of perks as well. Got to meet great people, and of course the NHL players. I also got to meet Mark Donnelly, the guy who sings Oh Canada anthem at the arena. I met Hannah Bernard , the host for Canucks TV. I met John Shorthouse and John Garret, the Canucks commentators. I met Joey Kanward, the Canucks players interviewer/host. Ran into Trevor Linden once. And best of all finally got to meet my favourite NHL player, Roberto Luongo!!

I'm very thankful that, even though I choice to taken a different route then other people, I'm going down a successful path either way. I may be doing it my way, but it's working. It was always my dream plan, to skip paying $30,000-40,000 for college/university and instead work, and work my way up to the top. I value experience over a piece of paper that says: You Can Do It! A very expensive piece of paper for that matter.

Yeah, I didn't get the "college experience". I never been in a sorority, never been to a frat party. And yeah, I choose to stay home or work on a Friday night or Saturday night then go out and party and stay out late.

It was also a life goal of mine, to one way own my own place and not ever rent. And ladies and gents, that goal is very close to becoming a reality. By next year of Spring-Summer 2017, I will be purchasing my very own apartment. And not just any apartment. It will be a brand new apartment, (not yet built) so a pre-sale building. But when I do move in, it'll be brand spanking new.
It's one of my proudest accomplishments.
And no, I don't have rich parents or a rich family. I am not a trust fund kid. The money I have saved up is from working my ass off. It's from not spending my money on things I don't need. It's because I was cheap and stingy. Anything I did buy, it was on sale or it was at cheap places. I also got involved with investments through my bank and savings account and etc. Finding ways to make my hard earned money grow bigger. I put a lot of sweat and tears into working this hard.
Living in Lower Mainland isn't cheap. In any other city outside of the Lower Mainland, having just one full time job would be enough to live alone. But not in Vancouver. If you crunch your numbers, you need a part time job too. If you want to live comfortably, that is.

But either way, I am looking forward to becoming a first time home buyer! But until that day, I will still be working hard. My motto: I rather work then do nothing or play. I have plenty of time when I'm older to have fun, or travel. I don't need to do it now. While I'm young and have the energy, I'll work as much as I can so later on I won't need to as much.

To anybody out there, who didn't go to college/university for whatever reason. (can't afford it, or got rejected cause of your grades, or etc) I want to tell you, it's okay. You can still achieve and succeed. As long as you are confident in your abilities, and you really put your best foot forward and show that you can do anything that someone with a college certificate can. Don't ever doubt yourself, and how much you are capable of doing. When life closes a door on you, another door will open, sometimes it will take some time. Everybody's path in life is different, you don't need to take the same path everybody else is taking, just do you.

Just Be You!

Life Update and NHL Award Show!

Has anybody else also realized something about life?
That, no matter how much you plan something for your life, it just never goes the way you planned it? Or is it just me?
Every single time I try to plan something in my life, like a plan to reach a goal. Life just won't let me do everything on my list of plans. But I still end up reaching that goal in another way.
I should have learned from the past situations that all I need to do it let go, and leave it up to fate. But it's the human nature side of me, that fears the unknown and the future and rather like to plan and be prepared.
But none of my plans usually play out the way I want it to, and I just end up getting disappointed.
One of my plans right now is getting a part time job that gives me stable and steady set of hours on a weekly basis. Even though I love working at Rogers Arena, the hours are too unstable because it is month to month based off of events scheduled. I had an interview last week for a job that would have been perfect. The hours, the days, the location and the position. But I have yet to hear from them and I thought the interview went well. It was a stressful situation for me. Because that day, after working in the morning, I was heading to my interview, but that was also the day transit decided to give me a little hard time. My bus was 20 mins late, there was horrible traffic and an ambulance that blocked a very busy, one way, 2 lane street. And because I didn't want to be late for my interview, I got off at the stop after the street jam with the ambulance and ran 6-7 blocks to my interview. I made it just in time, which is also not my style because I like to be 10 mins early for interviews. Usually I am because I have excellent time management, but that faithful day, transit decided to be an asshole to me.
But I am sure, everything happens for a reason and that maybe there will be a better opportunity.

Another one of my plans were to get my medical terminology so I can apply to be a casual over at registration in the hospital and pick up overtime shifts. But only to find out because we work for the union, they really hate giving overtime and also shifts are based off of seniority list and that if they do offer overtime it will go to the most senior person first. And if I am already working full time hours then they won't even call me for casual shifts at registration because I already worked full time hours unless nobody else takes it and I am thee very final last resort. Ultimately meaning; not even worth going through the trouble. But I have already signed up for the medical terminology course online, and currently taking it. Either way, having it will be useful. The bright side of things are that, even though I am a casual at my current job, I have been getting full time hours since I got hired because we are so short staffed. And my supervisor was telling me, even if I applied to be a casual over at registration, I can't work the shifts until I get training and I can't get training because she needs me at our department, because there is a bunch of vacations coming up all the way until Dec 2016-Feb 2017 and I'm most likely needed full time till then. So another one of my plans busted.

But it's okay, I'm sure I'll find the perfect part time job to replace my current one.

Besides life, exciting event went down with the NHL Awards Show!
I know many hockey fans are not huge fanatics about the NHL Award show but I am a fan of anything hockey related!
Jagr won the Masterton Trophy!! Well deserved, and totally was rooting for him!
I'm also very happy to hear, he will be playing once again next season with the Florida Panthers. (fingers crossed that Florida Panthers will dominate the season and the playoffs next year and win that cup!!!)

Shea Weber won the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award! My favourite defensemen in the NHL!!

And our very own Vancouver Canucks captain, Henrik Sedin won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy. Henrik deserves it. For all that he and Daniel and their family give back to our city. The time that they give to charities and different non profit organizations. I don't know if there is another NHL captain out there that puts in that much time in giving back like Henrik Sedin does!

You guys know what I'm about to say next..... Vezina should have gone to Roberto Luongo!!! The goalies nominated this year are all great. But come on!!! Luongo at 37 years old, took the Florida Panthers to double overtime in game 5 and 6! Yeah, they lost to New York Islanders, but the effort he gave!! 4 shut outs this season, and made 51 saves out of 52 shots in one of the play off games in round 1. Of course someone like Holtby could do it too, but he's young. You have to consider age in this matter!! Still going to disagree with the Vezina going to Holtby, should have gone to Luongo!

And the NHL Foundation Player Award should have went to P.K Subban. He donated over a million dollars (I forgot exact amount) of his own money to the Children's Hospital in Montreal. Holy s***!! I don't know what Mark Giordano has done, but at least for this year's award, I strongly go by with P.K Subban.

On top of the award show, the Canucks have announced that they will be inducting player #6 to the Ring of Honour!!!!!! Anybody else making guess's to who it could be?! A retired Canucks player? Or an ex-Canucks player but still playing in the NHL?!
Some people are guessing it's Pavel Bure, or Mattias Ohlund. I haven't watched the Canucks play for a long time, only since 2010. But out of the list of potential nominees for the 6th spot, I am hoping it is Sami Salo. What he did during that 2010 playoffs, it was a true defense move from a real defensemen. Then to come back during 2011 to be there to help the team go as far as they could in the playoffs. He was one of our best defensemens! I was very sad when Canucks traded him. He had killer slap shots, he was good defensively and offensively.
I hope it is Sami Salo!!!

And a little inside sources have told me that, after Roberto Luongo officially retires from the NHL, the Vancouver Canucks are planning on retiring his #1 in Rogers Arena and inducting him in the Ring of Honour!!!!! =D Well, I damn hope so. After everything he has done for this city, in this city and for this country!! And besides the Sedins, Luongo was the other Canucks player that gave a lot of his time to charities and the community.

Anyways, I'll leave it at that!
Just Be You!

Sunday 19 June 2016

Stressed Out. (Phew)

The last few days has been very stressful, for me.
I have 9 months time period to earn/make certain amount of money to be able to achieve my main goal, in life. I'm very determined to achieve it.
But talking to a couple of professionals (keeping it vague, for now, more details to come later)
and crunching some numbers, one of the conclusions I came to was, I need to find a better part time job then the one I have at Rogers Arena. I love working there, and love my coworkers and everybody else thats works in that arena. But the hours are unstable, depending on the month and time of the year. So I'm currently in search of a new part time job, hopefully with similar pay as I was getting from working at Rogers Arena, but stable hours. (like, weekly: 28-32 hours).
I had an interview last week, for a part time job, which would be perfect. Location is perfect, hours are perfect, the amount of hours per week is perfect, and pay too. And I know I am more then qualified for that job. I thought the interview went well. But yet, no call from them. And it made me super anxious and stressed out the last week. Staring at my phone, pleading for them to call me.

On top of that, a coworker suggested, I apply to be a casual in registration, so I can pick up shifts over there and get overtime. But in order for me to be an employee at registration, I need my medical terminology. So on Thursday, I signed up for the online course and I have been going through it. I was hoping to get it all done by Monday. Of course, not having an idea to what the course would be like. I do need to get my medical terminology certificate quickly, because my manager and the supervisor at registration are both leaving for a different job/position after the end of June. Got to get it down and apply through them before they are gone. So that has been stressing me out.
I also forgot I had my uncle's wedding to attend to yesterday, so that totally delayed my studying time.

Ceremony for the wedding was outdoors, and it was raining and really cold yesterday. I was already in a stressed out and horrible mood. The weather didn't make it better. Thankfully, my uncle and his new wife seemed to be happy either way, rain or shine. Then the reception took WAY longer then I was anticipated it to. I didn't get home yesterday until 11pm. No time for studying. So I'm doing as much as I can today, at the moment. I am aiming to get it done by Tuesday (at the earliest) or Wednesday (at the latest).

On Friday, I had a little breakdown. A coworker snapped at me/verbally attacked me out of no where. And I was in no mood for an argument or fight. And I kept dismissing her/him. But, because I was mentally stressed out from all of what is on my plater, I had a break down, and asked my manager to put me in a different room to do my work. Letting her know, I don't want drama, and I'm not going to be in a room where drama is going to be started out of nothing. I'm too freaking old for high school related drama. Honestly.

So, I was in no mood to write a blog post on Thursday or Friday.
Hopefully this upcoming week will be better.

Just Be You!

Wednesday 15 June 2016

Let's Chat About Hockey!

You know my first official blog post is going to have to be about hockey!
Once in awhile I will still write about hockey.

The playoffs this year, is not what I expected at all. I predicted that the Florida Panthers will win round 1 against New York Islanders, advance to round 2 against Tampa Bay Lightning, win against the Lightning then advance to round 3 against the Pittsburgh Penguins (I saw them beating Washington Capitals), then lose to Penguins in round 3. So I did for see the Penguins possibly going to the finals. It was a toss up between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals. Honestly, was disappointed by the Capitals. They did so well in the regular season, while Penguins struggled a bit. Yet, it was the Penguins that had the drive and hunger for the cup that beat out the Capitals. But I never saw San Jose being in the finals. I would have thought it would have been Anaheim Ducks. I was just glad to see some new teams in the finals this time around. I got sick of seeing the LA Kings, Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks. Too repetitive. (lol)

-- Side Note: Yes I watched all the games in round 1 of Florida Panthers vs. New York Islanders. And yes I did cry when Florida Panthers lost in game 6 in double overtime. But I am hoping they will just do better next year!! --

The Vancouver Canucks, of course, had one of the worst seasons possible. I believe they came near bottom to last in the Western Conference standings. They made some questionable trades, with Kevin Bieksa. Rumours are that the Vancouver Canucks are looking to trade Dan Hamhuis, Radim Vrbata, Alex Edler and/or Chris Higgins. I agree with trading Alex Edler. He really has not been performing since 2011. I thought that the Vancouver Canucks should have traded Alex Edler long before Kevin Bieksa. As for Dan Hamhuis and Radim Vrbata, I say hold onto them for one more season. Chris Higgins, I would hate to see leave the team, but I see where the organization is coming from wanting to trade Chris Higgins.

I never would have thought, Phil Kessel, would do THAT well with the Pittsburgh Penguins. I honestly thought, Penguins made a bad decision taking him and the Toronto Maple Leafs should have hung onto him. But it all worked out for Kessel and the Penguins. But not so much for the Maple Leafs, yet again.

The news has already been out, one of the best NHL forwards, Pavel Datysuik from the Detroit Red Wings has decided to leave the NHL and go back to Russia to play for the Russian hockey team. He is one of my favourite forwards in the NHL, it is a sad to think I'll never get to see Pavel Datysuik play in the NHL again. He's getting close to his retirement age anyways, so it's better for him to finish those last 2-3 years off where he wants to.

Steven Stamkos is on the free agent list!!! Will Tampa Bay Lightning re-sign him? (That is the smart thing to do) or will they let another team swoop in and sign him?! I believe, Stamkos has said he would like to stay with Tampa Bay Lightning. But does anybody else want to see Stamkos play for a Canadian team?! Possibly Ottawa Senators along with Eric Karlsson. OR!! Vancouver Canucks?! But whoever does try to get him, would have to offer a lot on the table. He is one heck of a player!!

That's it for now.
Ms.HockeyTalk


Try This Again?

Awhile back, I used to write daily blogs. That had to suddenly stop for certain reasons I can not explain publicly on this kind of forum. Then I tried out youtube and blogging about hockey, which is one of my biggest love and passion. But when I got into it, I realized that takes a lot of your time up. Constantly keeping up with the NHL world, creating the video, editing the video, or writing a blog post that people will want to read.
Between the two blogs I had, which had more traffic? Of course the first one because it was about my life, in some sense. Who wants to read a blog post about my opinion on hockey, when it'll probably be very similar to many other hockey related articles out there.

I honestly, wouldn't say my life is very exciting. (Haha) I always could make it more exciting, if I truly wanted to, but that's not necessarily on the top of my priority list in life.
I truly miss blogging and writing, and I'm going to make more of an effort to do this on a daily, and keep it up.

Of course, since my very LAST blog post from my previous blog site, a lot has happened. Where do I even begin?
I got a great full time job, and a fun part time job. (For many different reasons, I am not going to add details or names and etc) But currently I'm searching for a different part time job. Hopefully same or similar pay per hour but more stable hours. Unfortunately with the current part time job I have, I enjoy it and love working there, but the hours are very unstable, month to month. I'll truly miss all the amazing people I met while working there. Everybody there are all-stars! But there comes a time, when you need to let go to let in something better.

This previous year, near the beginning (Jan 11, 2016) one of my biggest dreams/wish came true! For those who know who I am, you might have already guessed what that is. But for the new readers; I'll give a hint: it's related to hockey. *drum roll*
I met my favourite NHL player! Roberto Luongo!! And of course, I got my jersey signed by him as well. Not just any jersey, my Florida Panthers, #1 Roberto Luongo jersey! ^_^
And I was lucky enough to get a picture with him as well. Best day of my life! It has always been a dream of mine, since 2010 when I first started to watch hockey, and officially became a Roberto Luongo fan, to meet him and get his autograph and get a picture with him. It's like meeting a hollywood celebrity (for me at least).
How I was able to make that happen, I can't put too much details into it, but lets just say I made some tight connections, and I got lucky that Nick Bjugstad said yes to getting Luongo to come out for me.

Besides that, little minor things have happened here and there. Nothing I am going to post about yet, because it's not set in stone. (It's a long story, when it is set in stone, I'll tell you guys all about it!)

I kind of want to touch upon why this time around, I named my blog site: Inspire, Encourage, Motivate. It's something that people have told me over the years, when I tell them my life story (up until now) or when I tell them about all that I have accomplished and achieved. They told me it is inspiring and motivating. And they encouraged me to spread that to young people or older people out there who may be feeling like they are in a stump or lost. Honestly, if I do inspire, encourage and motivate other people, that's freaking awesome!

Being through hell and back. Through all the hardships, struggles, and challenges I had to face and overcome, I realized, if I could do it, anybody else out there can do. I understand those moments in life when you had a plan set out for yourself and it's not going according to your plan. And you feel frustrated, stuck, lost, confused and mad at the world and yourself. My best advice is; let it all out, even if it means you cry your heart out, you scream in the woods, or you hit those punching bags. Then next advice; let go of your "plans". Whatever plan that may be. Your 5 year plan, 10 year plan, your marriage plan, your career plan, etc. Let it go. Throw it all out the window. You can't plan out "life". Life is full of unknowns, ups and downs, twists and turns and will always throw those nasty curve balls at you when you least expect it. Go with the flow. That doesn't mean, sit on your couch all day and do nothing. What I mean by go with the flow is, go with the momentum of life. Whatever opportunity appears or comes your way, take a hold of it and go for it. Who knows where that could lead you? But biggest advice: NEVER. NEVER (never say never. hahaha.. ) Give Up!!
There has been plenty of times when I wanted to call it quits, and give up. The "Fuck It" mentality. But those are the moments you need to try harder, push harder, and stand your ground.

Ultimately, my blog posts will be partially about my life, and also sharing some stories, and how I became who I am today. (I'm nobody famous, but it's something to write about. heehee)

I'll write again soon, until then.
Just Be You!