In my spare time, i.e. whatever's leftover from engineering classes, homework, assignments, and projects, I like music, web development, graphics and multimedia design, photography, transporation vehicles, reading, writing and various recreational activities.
Music-wise, I've played the piano since I was at the age of four via the Royal Conservatory of Music, but stopped when I was in secondary school due to lack of time and interest. Within these few years, I've picked the hobby back up, as I play more modern songs, which I can relate more to; however, I still love the classics, especially the piano ones that are played on Classical 96.3 FM. I've also recorded myself playing a few of my favourites to youtube. I'm also recently getting into singing via karaoke, and that's also helping me to learn Chinese :D
Web development-wise, I've made static webpages ever since the AsianAvenue fad back in early high school, though that consisted mainly of font tags and background colours. At the start of university, I started a basic homepage via Netscape's Composer. With the help of the W3 Schools, I was able to get away from the WYSIWYG programs, and make more elegant pages like the one you see now. What I love about the W3C are the standards they set and promote, as pages would be a mess without their standards. With the advent of Macromedia/Adobe's Flash onto the world wide web, I'm now getting into flash animation and site design as I love vectors and lovely animations.
Photography-wise, I'm still new in this field, and am still discovering the elements that make an excellent photograph. One thing I have learned in my brief stint is that photography captures a particular moment in history, a moment that may never be captured ever again. With the widespread trend of online video, I feel that videos also capture such a feel, though photographs are distinct in that they leave the viewer to interpret themselves. I currently use a "triple-threat" of Sony's DSC-H2, DSC-P73, and W810i to capture life's most precious moments, and am looking to a DSLR camera sometime in the future for higher quality and more functions once I learn the elements of photography.
Transportation-wise, I've loved the JDM cars ever since late-elementary school. In particular, I love the Honda NSX Type-R, though unfortunately, it's stopped production; however, I suppose it must get with the times. Two memories that I'll cherish are the sound of Honda's F20C racing to 9000rpm and the Nissan Skyline GT-R34's RB26DETT blow-off valve/wastegate (I still don't know what the difference is) hiss and noises.
I also like transportation in the forms of buses and trains. Perhaps due to the fact that I've used public transporation since I was a child, via the TTC and YRT, I love riding buses and trains. My favourite bus is the Orion V, aka 05.501, especially the 1996/1997 ones that the TTC has, since they run on my home-route, 53 Steeles East. I'm anxious to see how the next-generation Orion VIIs will do on this route!
I love reading because authors are able to place such precision and detail in their writing; thus I find it two-fold: on the one hand, it's as if you're experiencing the adventure, and on the other hand, I awe at the their writing, as it's more akin bringing the story to life. The best way to describe it is that reading is like a pensieve from Harry Potter - past memories are vividly relived. In addition, reading allows me to gain insight to those before me, so I can learn or criticize their ways, and ultimately, that is part of my goal in life: to form an accurate world view on all around me and understand it. I am thankful to all my English and Philosophy teachers, especially Mr. Teddiman from Milliken Mills High School. If you attend this secondary school, make sure to take English with him - his classes are brilliant as he gives so much insight into literature by relating it to the world.
Writing-wise, one of the reasons I write is because it stores a momento of me, or whatever I'm writing about at that time, into a fixed location. That allows me to reflect back on that point for analysis, enjoyment, or whatever. As I wrote in the paragraph above, it's akin to a pensieve. One of my other goals in life is to write a satire like George Orwell and Aldous Huxley did with 1984/Animal Farm and Brave New World. The way they combined so many flaws in the world and were able to present it in one single, coherent package is simply mind-boggling. More importantly, it makes the readers reflect on their world and create change in the world. I find it even more interesting that themes and ideas that they criticized back then are present now as well. It's as if their understanding of the world then was so great that they understood how the future world would be as well. Looking forward to writing my magnum opus and memoir.
Recreation-wise, I'm mostly about tennis and going to the gym, as it allows me to step away from reality and just become mind and body, concentrating on improving physically. I find that it's a great stress reliever, and great for getting my mind off things.
So that's what I do in my off-time from university. I also like to volunteer and give back to the community. In the future, I look to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity as I not only want help get people warm homes to live in, but also to learn about building constructions. Being handy seems handy, and I'd like to learn it so I can do it properly.