An Exciting Future

There exists a question that everybody must ask themselves one day;

 

 

“What do I want to be when I grow up?”

 

 

This is a question I have struggled to answer for many, many years, and I know I’m not alone. Even now, I can’t be completely sure whether I won’t spontaneously change my mind, leaving me in a rush to change all my courses last-minute and waste some money applying to programs in universities. Then again, we can never be 100% sure with ourselves, either.

 

But after so, so many years, I’ve finally decided.

 

 

My dream career is Software Engineering.

 

Just the thought of it gets me riled up. I guess it all started after I watched the movie The Social Network, a documentary on the origin and creator(s) of Facebook. I can’t really explain it, but I always get this feeling of awe seeing programmers and engineers at work. There’s something about the way they can solve any problem, develop any kind of software, type at the speed of light, and most importantly, how they are just so intelligent. It just makes me think: 

“Wow. I wish I could be as cool and as smart as them.”

So I thought to myself, if I can’t choose between programming or engineering, why not both? And so, my dream to become a software engineer bloomed.

 

Luckily for me, the demand for them is high with the ever-growing use of technology in businesses. However, that’s not the reason why I chose to pursue this career. It was only a very tiny factor in my decision. If anything, its importance to me was so small, so nano-sized that it was basically non-existent.

 

I’ve always been interested in technology ever since I was a kid. I guess it must have rubbed off on me from my dad, who works for Rogers as a technician. Spoiler alert: I’ve been a gamer ever since the first day I could hold a remote controller. The main reason why I am planning on becoming a software engineer is because that’s what I’m interested in. That’s right. Not for the money. Not because my parents are forcing me to. Because it is my passion.

 

A wise man once said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

 

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

 

I strongly believe in this, and was thinking of this quote the entire time I was mulling over future careers. Another ingenious quote from the man known as Steve Jobs is: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

 

With that thinking came the questions: What am I interested in? What do I love?

 

My career choices have changed drastically over the years, going from Dentist (an occupation my father continues to push me towards) to Vet to Programmer to Doctor to Astronaut to Lawyer (yet another job my father pushes me towards) until finally I decided on Engineering: Software Engineering.

 

Since a big part of software engineering is coding (obviously), I’ve taken the first step to learn the basics. I decided to take Computer Science all the way through high school, and am currently learning the C and Python programming languages. I enjoy it very much! There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing the working results of your program after putting so much time and effort into it.

 

My ultimate goal is to one day work for Google; ambitious, right? It might be a far-off fantasy right now, but I believe that by taking small steps forward everyday, little by little, that ultimate dream may one day be within my reach.

 

 

Thanks for reading! What’s your dream career? Feel free to comment below.

 

Every Dog Needs a Boy

“If a boy can adopt a dog, I see no reason why a dog cannot adopt a boy.”

 

So this past weekend, my sister and I had plans to see Divergent on opening day (which was amazing by the way; I may even do a future blog post on it), and she ended up coming home to visit.

I guess we felt inclined to do something fun, since she doesn’t come home that often, so we thought: “Why not go see another movie?” After very little thought, we casually decided on Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

The outing was completely unplanned, but let’s be honest; the best of them are.

With our popcorn and drinks, we entered the theatre with little to no idea what we were even watching.

 

“Bring your doggy bag.” Haha! Get it? ‘Doggy’ bag? :p

 

To our pleasant surprise, we both enjoyed it very much; probably even more than all the kids. I can honestly say that we laughed harder and more often than all of them. I personally gave it a five-star rating on Flixster. You can get more info here:

 

 

Mr. Peabody & Sherman is truly an all-ages film. It contains the usual crude humour you would expect from a kids movie – with all the fart and butt jokes and such – yet has a wittier side to it that adults, but not kids, would understand.

I remember one joke in the movie that was discreetly, yet so blatantly sexual. Being the immature young adults that we are, my sister and I were the only ones dying of laughter in the silent theatre. Meanwhile, the kids just sat there, completely ignorant of the inappropriateness of the moment, and the parents too mature to laugh.

Jokes aside, Mr. Peabody & Sherman was also aesthetically pleasing. The animation was fantastic! Though I wouldn’t expect any less from the creators of How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek, and Madagascar. Not to mention one of the directors of The Lion King.

Wow. This movie was set up for success from the very start.

Anyway, moving on to the plot. I have to say, I really liked how they took real events from history and added a new, creative, and easy-to-understand twist to them. It was also especially original of them to show how the characters’ actions in the past affected the little (or big) details of the future. But I’ll let you see for yourself what I mean by that.

And the characters. They were so ingeniously planned and created. They were so full of personality, and there was something to love about all of them. For me, it was Mr. Peabody who instantly stole the spot of ‘favourite character’. He basically had everything; charisma, wit, athleticism, and most of all, intelligence. There was nothing he couldn’t do. On top of all that, he was the ‘good guy’, and an adorable little dog at that. What’s not to love?

Writing this review, I almost want to go see the movie in theatres again, just for laughs. The ticket for this five-star film was worth every penny.

With a witty joke at every corner, there’s never a dull moment in Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

The Game Called Life

No, I don’t mean THAT game.

Game: A competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules. (Dictionary.com)

Looking at this definition, you could almost classify life itself as a game, in its own right.

It is true that life is a competition. People compete over things everyday. All living things, not just humans, compete over resources, mates, and so much more, all to try and survive in this harsh world.

Moving on, while chance is a huge factor in life, it’s not really something you can control. However, skill and endurance are, and though I hate to say it, if you lack either of those things, it’ll be a struggle to survive.

Now for the rules. In our world, those would translate to the laws. One of the ways that reality strays from the “dictionary definition” is the fact that not all people play by the rules.

So that brings me to what I’m going to be writing about today.

Play or be played.

The very phrase makes me cringe.

So let me get this straight; if I want to just sit around and mind my own business, or refuse to “play”, people are just going to manipulate and take advantage of me? As if my faith in humanity hasn’t already been trampled on.

This saying applies more to the business world than anywhere else. From day one, business students are taught that if they want to get anywhere in life, they’re going to have to put themselves before others.

But I don’t believe that.

I think that with enough work and dedication, you can still be successful – even without having to cut someone else’s throat out. (Figuratively, figuratively)

So those are my thoughts. What about yours? Feel free to comment below. Thanks for reading!

YEAR 2154

Elysium.

Elysium, a perfect world reserved only for those who can afford it.

This movie takes place in a dystopian future, where Earth has been utterly ruined after years of abuse from humans. Another man-made world in space, named Elysium after the “paradise in hell” from Greek mythology, separates the wealthy from the poor. As the name implies, Elysium is basically a perfect world, with technology so advanced that cancer patients can be treated within seconds. On the other hand, the barren Earth is filled with slums, with no laws to restrain the criminals that run rampant. In the middle of all this is Max Da Costa (Matt Damon), a man whose lifetime wish is to one day go to Elysium.

Get some more info or watch the trailer here, if you like.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535108/?ref_=ttmd_md_nm

I’m going to keep this spoiler-free as possible, so worry not and read on!

Now, while the trailer and plot may seem exciting, I would have to say the movie is less-than-stellar. It’s dull at times, and I felt nothing between the protagonist and his romantic interest. It starts off moderately interesting, until the storywriters just had to ruin it and create a trigger that causes the once reasonable-minded main character to become suicidal. Yikes. It’s a little difficult to sympathize with a character when their actions are totally reckless and don’t even seem beneficial in the slightest.

Wonder how they attached that machine to his body? I’ll tell you this; it wasn’t exactly pleasant to watch.

 

 

To be completely honest, I had no idea that this movie was rated “R” before I watched it. You can probably guess what happens next. About thirty minutes into the movie, I was greeted by the delightful image of a person’s body exploding in all directions; yes, blood, guts, and all.

Gross.

Somehow, after much screaming and eye-closing, I managed to make it past all the gory scenes to the end, which I found was surprisingly satisfying. It was enough to wrap things up nicely

But hey; don’t get me wrong. The movie wasn’t awful. There were still some scenes worth watching, and the action scenes were pretty intense. But overall, I thought that the execution was sloppy, and could have been pulled off a little better.

The Verdict: 3/5

While its unique sci-fi setting and story both have potential, the producers of Elysium  just couldn’t tap into it to make it achieve the five-star rating it deserved. If you care more about action and gore than plot, it may be worth to take a look at. However, in my opinion, Matt Damon makes a better Jason Bourne than a Max Da Costa.