Graduation May 2006

After 5 long years of university... I finally graduated with my bachelor's! I was happy to finally get it over with and the ceremony officially marked the end of my university life. It was strange at the same time to be done with school, but now I'll be moving on to something else in my life.


A full house at Chan Centre



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Finally graduated! Yay!



with mom



with Enej



with Anson



with Denny and Morris



with Ana



with the Chancellor and... I-still-don't-know-who-he-is... cool mase though

Peter Bakonyi Fencing World Cup June 9-11

Last weekend was the annual Peter Bakonyi Fencing World Cup, which took place in the War Memorial Gym at UBC. I didn't take any pictures myself, since they never turn out that nice, but below are some professional pictures, including some taken by the official FIE photographers:

FencingPhotos.com - Official FIE Photographer:
Faces & Fencers
Men's Individual Epee
Women's Individual Epee

Flickr:
Patrick Tam's Photos
Jacee Tan's Photos
Heather Maclaren's Photos

It was really exciting to see all the top Canadian fencers there and also many top fencers in the world. It's a little bit like meeting celebrities and it's a little unreal to think that these are the people who are best at this in the world!

I have to say the attendance at the competition is down from last year. I can't understand who thought charging public entrance for viewing was a good idea. It's not like fencing has the same popularity as hockey, and all it accomplishes is taking money out of the pockets of athlete's friends and family. It just doesn't make any sense. I guess maybe they couldn't get enough sponsors or funding or something? But I have to say charging for admission is counter productive to getting more public attention and exposure.

Unfortunately, none of the people I personally know made it past top 64; but on a more positive note, Jean-Pierre Seguin and Sherrain Schalm-McKay (who is the #1 ranked female epee fencer in the world right now) from Canada took bronze in men's epee and gold in women's epee, respectively.