Life · WSET Diploma

WSET Diploma – Section 1 – Week 1

WSET Diploma - Section 1 - Week 1I can’t believe I’m saying this, but finally. It’s been the same length of a human pregnancy since I’ve completed the WSET Advanced Certification, and I’m super stoked to be diving right into the WSET Diploma, even though some people pretty much consider it death. Pre-prepping for this through this past semester of university was tricky and hellish.

(First, the shitty details that don’t matter: the windows are behind us instead of beside us so I can’t gaze and doze off: both good and bad. For a lack of another good detail I’m just going to go ahead and say the lighting is good. Gotta assess that colour.)

What’s cool is that there are only about 10 of us in the room.… read more

Life · Tasting

2013 Vancouver International Wine Festival

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Wine festivals. Picture a huge room with a high ceiling and huge windows; women either embrace Old World Pinot Noir in style with subtly classic and fashionable outfits, or New World Pinot Noir – upfront fruit with upfront skin. Ninety percent of men are straight up masculine Cabernet Sauvignon being done up in a suit and tie; a small percentage of laid-back Carmenères put a smile on my face, whether they be clad in a sweater and jeans or all plaid everything. I’m somewhere in the middle like a Pinotage: a cardigan the colour of its juice (purple – close enough) with notes of leather (Doc Martens).

Needless to say, there were many events like wine minglers and seminars, but I only had time to go to one of the big trade tasting days, where, upon being surrounded by uptight suits and dresses, really just made me want to Harlem Shake with everyone in the room which would probably replace being born as the record for the messiest 30 seconds of my life.… read more

Life

2013 Term 2 Week 8 – “Catching up”.

Reading break. Can’t say it was particularly productive as I thought it should’ve been, and instead, my budgeting app decided to colour everything red because I spent too much this month.

What I planned to do:
– Catch up on all school readings! Complete notes, sample problem sets, and previously undone worksheets.
– Hang out.

What I actually did:
– Memorized all 61 Châteaux of the 1855 Bordeaux Médoc Classification including respective growths and communes.
– Hung out.

Saturday and Sunday were full of work and the self-promise of getting started on readings at the very least. That totally didn’t happen, and the waterfall of deferring work had begun.

On Monday, I hung out with co-workers at the Alibi Room for their 400th beer list; subsequently hung out at the Punisher’s place for a crappy beer marathon, classy food, and Cards Against Humanity.… read more

Life

2013 Term 2 Week 7 – Finally sort of.

The last push until reading break, which will pass by just as fast as any other week. But hey – no school, and guilt-free no school at that. I can already see my study plans failing miserably. OH WELL.

This week was chock-full of meetings and classic school avoidance, so reading break will be a combination of me relaxing (procrastinating) and catching up on things to prep myself for the crappy latter half of this semester, which will mainly involve me begging my BIOL 210 to let me write my exam on another date. I have my first WSET Diploma class on that day! Legitimately sucky.

Monday was BC’s first Family Day, and I spent it with co-workers since two of us were leaving for other things.… read more

Life

2013 Term 2 Week 6 – Hitting a wall (of Jenga)

Last week was great – I essentially attended all classes and did my assignment for the next Monday’s genetics tutorial (a non-good copy at least) and I really had no excuse for not completing this same goal, but for some reason I just decided that my bed was more important. Sunday’s alcohol might have had something to do with it, but we were really craving greasy veggie dogs and cheap beer from the Rumpus Room and so we couldn’t help it. I also lost 11 out of 12 Jenga games and it’s a wonder why I haven’t broken more bottles at the wine shop. I have a count going. One of my nicknames is “Unnecessary Josh”.

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I’m reaching that hilariously bad point where I’m behind enough in school work that learning new material is almost useless, and busy enough that learning the old stuff is almost distracting and makes me feel uneasy about how behind I am.… read more

Life

2013 Term 2 Week 5 – Midterm season and painful shoes

My goal this week was to attend all my classes. I ended up skipping genetics tutorial again (oopsies) to buy (legitimately important) things. But I attended everything else! That’s something!

The Doc Martens I ordered came in on Monday. Hilariously painful at first, just like listening to that one friend tell the shittiest jokes over and over again, but now they’re quite fine, like punching him in the face.

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BIOL 210 – Vascular Plants
Roots and Shoots! So much terminology. So many processes. Midterm next Wednesday. Scared.

Lab was cool(er) than usual. I forgot that my lab partner and I planted sunflower seeds at the beginning of the course, and three out of the four seeds germinated and grew to a considerable height.… read more

Life

2013 Term 2 Week 4 – FNH 330 is a total joke

Last week ended off nicely. 5 of us went to the Sandbar on Granville Island for Dine Out Vancouver and then we went clubbing afterwards which was high-energy yet somehow boring and bordering on chore-like as the night went on. I’m definitely not a club-goer: glancing at awkward guys who dance like they’re hailing cabs and saving my female friends from over-friendly chaps aren’t really my favourite things, but if I have to go a club, I’d at least like to dance 1) drunk; 2) oblivious to anyone around me but my friends; and 3) to guilt-free Top 40 music (hey: time and place, right?) which I didn’t even get: the music was shitty(/shittier) and I knew little to none of the music.… read more

Life

2013 Term 2 Week 3 – Pinot Gris after Pinot Gris after Pinot Gris after Pinot Gris

BIOL 210 – Vascular Plants
Favourite class. We learned about tissue systems and the cells that comprise them. Sclereids, for example, sometimes make up sclerenchyma tissues which provide support and flexibility in vines.

I’m also sure my lab partner hates me. I can hardly section plants to save my life, and I tripped on a chair on the way back to my desk from the demo potato and I instinctively yelled “YOLO”. I hate myself.

BIOL 234 – Fundamentals of Genetics
Mitosis, meiosis, Mendel, and the fear of God instilled into my soul from hoping that my crappy cell division drawings wouldn’t be selected to be displayed on the projector only to be corrected by the prof, complete with humiliating collective questions to the class (“does this cell look right to everyone?”).… read more

Life

2013 Term 2 Week 2 – Delphinidins, mutations, pressure, and lychee

2nd week of school was cool too. Started off the week with a leftover final exam, which was fine but a total chore – two-sided sheet of notes allowed and exam questions given ahead of time so I’m really complaining about nothing. The future will perhaps be filled with robots but I find the theory-based path interesting yet slightly dull and too open. I can drink wine now and I can see plants around me. Practicality and hands-on stuff makes things so much easier to study.

Robots are cool BUT IN BIOLOGY YOU GET TO PLANT THINGS AND TAKE THEM HOME

BIOL 210 – Vascular Plants
So good! We learned more about plant cells. Most interesting to me were pigments, like anthocyanins and betalains.  … read more

Life

2013 Term 2 Week 1 – OMG COURSE OUTLINES <3

The first class of any course is arguably exciting. I love course outlines and seeing what we get to learn. Of course, I’ll complain halfway through, fall to my knees, and ask God what the hell possessed me to take these courses. For now, though, they’re all pretty cool.

BIOL 210 – Vascular Plants
It’s only two classes in so far and I realized how much I LOVE PLANTS. OH MY GOD. We haven’t done much so far – maybe brushed up on basic plant cell parts and discussed why plants are important (Wine, duh). Main topics including basic terminology and sporic meiosis. Awesome.

BIOL 234 – Fundamentals of Genetics
This class in contrast is intimidating. Likewise, a brief refresher on some terminology and history.… read more