I-Day

Age 18 – 19

After a summer abroad making the trip IYA has always dreamed of we came back and immediately worked on our hour-long documentary which we wanted to show to our friends (and secretly wanted CBC to air it during prime-time).

We would continue to run our vending machine and take a few more jobs from the English immersion school in Taiwan. However, we were beginning to thrist for new adventures and new avenues to explore. Remember… we were practicing to be managers right?

In grade ten, I joined student council as one of my “be a leader” initiatives. In grade eleven, I was assigned the job of media director, and I would go on the P.A. system and embarrass myself by saying stupid things in order to promote dances and what-not. By grade twelve, I figured it was time to seize the opportunity. I submitted the application to be student council president. Luckily for me, there is a fortunate rule of life called default. Nobody else wanted to be president so I was named President Wen of the 2004 ~ 2005 school year.

So I chose Queen’s University to study commerce. Why? Meh… it was far enough from home and had a good reputation in commerce. Up to this point, the longest I have ever been away from home was two months at a time. Going to university would double that. I was to say goodbye to my nerf gun collection, my beloved cat Thomas, and all the places I used to go. Again… I was to leave a small pond for a bigger one.

That summer, I spent my time on IYA’s second trip to China, where we backpacked for 10 days, travelling from Beijing to Shanghai. Also, my grandparents took me back to Japan (though this time a bit more tamed than when Andrew, Bryan, and I went). A new chapter in my life was about to begin again… how would I react? Would I crack and resort to mediocrity? Would I miss home? Would I get a girlfriend? Many questions plagued my mind all the way up to when my family and I boarded the red-eye flight out east to Toronto, Ontario, then later, Kingston, Ontario, where Queen’s University is situated.

The rest can be observed in other sections of this site… I’ll end this autobiography with saying that I am a person who has always tried to live by my own little bible (I actually have a little red journal!). Come what may, I have the confidence that failure will but teach me and that success will only make me wonder why I didn’t challenge myself further.

Previous: Read “Age 16-17: Be a Leader”

By graduation, I reflected upon my five years in high school with pride. I knew teachers, office staff, fellow students, and even the custodian all by name. Student Council posted record numbers in membership, money raised, dance tickets sold, initiatives started, etc. (as well as money spent to be honest…). The volleyball team that I played on came fourth in the province and I ranked fifth in the Fraser Valley Badminton Tournament. Our jazz bands had won awards from Idaho to Montreal and I even joined a choir that Andrew started (and had a solo in Amazing Grace).
Much of my time was also spent applying to scholarships. I didn’t want my parents to pay for my education and that was the easiest way I thought of doing it. I was honoured to be able to receive such awards as the “Top 20 Under 20″ national award, the “Millennium Award”, the “Canadian Merit Scholarship”, as well as numerous other accolades. Don’t take me as some miracle worker. I only received approximately 30% of scholarships I applied for. There’s a Chinese proverb that I love. It states: ‘Hard work will always make up for stupidity’. I know that others have more talent than I and that I need to work hard in order to even think of competing. It is with that principle that I believe I received many of the things I was awarded when I graduated.
I was not smarter… not by a long shot