March Madness

March is a terrible time of the year.

In the Commerce Program here at Queen's, this is when all the professors pile up a bunch of assignments, quizzes, and presentations.

This is also when March Hiring for COMSOC positions occur.

I've been caught up in the middle of it all.

Last night I conducted interviews for SIFE for about eight hours for our executive next year. While the last interview concluded at 12:30, the deliberations easily took us to 3AM.

One of the most valuable parts of being on the other side of the interview process is that you get to really learn what goes on in the mind of the interviewer. What kind of things do you look for in a resume, for example? What stands out about the candidates that succeed, and what prompts failure? What goes on inside the room during deliberations?

Now off to do a history essay. It'll take a large chunk of the next two days.

Earl Grey Tea

I hereby offer some tips to those who want to find spots in the library during Midterms.

1. Wake up early. Even at 9:30AM, there are still sufficient open spaces.
   
2. There are more places to go than just Stauffer.
3. If you see a bunch of people going upstairs, to potentially the same floor you're going to, use the elevator. It gives you an edge in this competitive world where demand for library seats always exceed supply (this is, however, a rather seasonal trend).
   
4. Have an Earl Grey tea by your side at all times.

Tea is really good for you. It gives you something meaningful to do while you study a subject like propensity to unionize. And it keeps you awake, and is less harmful than coffee. A bit of milk and sugar is good. This is slightly revolting against the Chinese side of my culture, where it's blasphemous to drink green tea with anything but the tea itself. But in Mongolian culture, milk tea is a typical morning drink. The ingredients are different though. And where I come from it's a nomadic, rather than an elitist Victorian tradition. Mongolian fighters drank milk tea before they went to battle.

That reminds me, I always double-cup my cups. This is part of a habit I developed working at McDonald's. Because McD's doesn't have these heat pads around the cup, so to avoid burning someone's hand, you always have to double cup hot beverages for customers. For some reason, I now do this for not only hot beverages, but for the cold ones as well. It can be a good habit when you fill half of your cup with ice. It gives the beverage more support.

But that gives me another dilemma. It's awkward chewing ice in the library. You're always wondering if you're annoying the people next to you. But cracking and grinding ice with your teeth can be sufficiently helpful when you're experiencing writer's block.

Happy studying.

P.S. Why can't we learn something useful in HR, like job design? Employee motivation? Managerial strategies?

Sifting Through a Global Microcosm

Toronto never fails to disappoint.

This bustling Canadian metropolis of over five million people (in the GTA, that is) is apparently home to more cultures than there are countries in the world. There's a vibrant Uruguayan and Ghanaian community here, and you don't even have to look that hard.

This weekend we were here for DECA, a business competition that I have only familiarized myself with very recently. Aside from our fashionably late punctuality, there were a few things that really stood out. For one, the entire conference was pretty much Brown or Asian. A white person is definitely an anomaly here.

In that sense, Toronto was an escape to a global microcosm, a journey that transcends national and cultural barriers, sifting through a demographic mosaic that works wonders if you only looked around.

The weekend was also a chance to go revisit the Korean barbecue restaurant that I visited less than a year ago. Carcinogens aside, it was one of the most fulfilling experiences one could ever desire. Remember to order kim-chi.

And of course, Kareoke. A place in Chinatown that in every way resembles the China that I left only a few months ago. We were in Suite 7. That's lucky only by Western Standards. I sang to such patriotic songs as 走进新时代 (Into a New Era) by Zhang Ye, songs that defined pop culture like 不得不爱 (Have to Love) by Wilber Pan, and classic western hits like "This Love" by Maroon 5. Quite a range.

On the way there I tried to read Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, it was a slightly nauseating experience (even now when I think about it) reading on a bus.

DECA U was held at the Sheraton hotel downtown, where you can get lost in the mismatch of elevators for 20 minutes before you arrive at your destination. Our room had a prominent view of Toronto City Hall as well as the skating rink nearby. Steven says this is a prime location for partying on New Years for Torontonians. I am inclined to make a case for the Travelodge on Circle Drive in Saskatoon. But that is a whole other story.