Author Archives: Matthew Lin

Terry Fox the Legend Who Ran

Posted on by

(Flickr / Cactus Forest)

With the annual Terry Fox Run being literally around the corner (September 14), now is as good of a time as any to remind everyone about what it is he ran for and the hope that it brought. 

What is it that Terry ran for? In March of 1977, Terry was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (a form of cancer that often starts near the knee) and the only solution was to amputate his leg 15cm above the knee. During his time undergoing treatment in the cancer ward, he witnessed many sufferings, and he couldn’t bring himself to ignore them. 

It was with this resolve that he would set out on a marathon across Canada in hopes of raising money for cancer research, and that marathon it would be named the Marathon of Hope. 

https://x.com/TerryFoxCanada/status/1886800965975605602

To Terry, it wasn’t about fame, it was about making a change and funding a cure for all cancers. The Marathon of Hope, a marathon across Canada starting in Newfoundland and Labrador all the way across to British Columbia. 

On April 12, 1980, Terry dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean and began his trek across the land. Every day he would get started early in the morning at 4:30am and often end at 7pm. Terry ran nearly 42 kilometres every day. From Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. No matter if it was rain, or shine, snow or storm, he would run. 

Terry Fox stopped in over 400 schools, towns, and cities where he spoke about why he was running. 

However, the Marathon was not meant to be. 

On September 1st, Terry was forced to stop. Cancer appeared in his lungs. But even when Terry was stuck in the hospital bed, he kept fighting, he continued to raise awareness on cancer, on the importance of donating to cancer research, and the importance of never giving up.  

Terry over the course of the Marathon of Hope had manage to raise over $24.17 million in cancer research. And thanks to Terry efforts, he had raised awareness of cancer and lit a flame in the hearts of all Canadians. Starting a new tradition, the Terry Fox Run takes place in September.  

The Terry Fox Run is now in its 45th year of running. 

If you want to know more about the Terry Fox Run or Terry Fox himself, I highly recommend going to https://terryfox.org/ as I skipped a lot of details. 

And with that I hope you learned something and maybe even decide to contribute to the cause. 

 

Written by: Matthew Lin 

Contact: mlin114@my.bcit.ca 

The Invisalign Experience

Posted on by

(Flickr)

Have you ever thought about getting Invisalign to fix up your teeth, or maybe you had braces and were wondering how they differ from Invisalign. 

Well, you’ve come to the right place. I’ll be laying out my experience with Invisalign from the good, the bad, and the uncomfortable. 

For context at the time of writing this article I’ve had my Invisalign for about 28 weeks or just over half a year now. Here are my teeth at the start. 

(Flickr)

 

They’re incredibly misaligned and jutting out in extreme angles. And my bottom row is missing a tooth for some reason unbeknownst to me. 

The good. While I’m still nowhere near done with the treatment, I can already visually see the improvement my teeth are much straighter than before and neat. 

(Flickr)

 

Another good thing is that I was forced to really get used to flossing my teeth and really cleaning them. 

I will be completely honest I never flossed before getting my Invisalign, never felt like I needed to. However, now I feel like if I don’t floss my teeth are disgusting, and after flossing for the first few times my gums stopped bleeding. 

 

The bad. Having to have the Invisalign in for around 22 hours, this leaves you either ~2 hours to eat your meals every day, or you must eat with your Invisalign on resulting in rushing through your meal or having to experience the worse feeling of all time. Chewing with the Invisalign on is the most miserable feeling, it just feels so wrong like chewing with gum stuck to your teeth. Furthermore, if you chew something hard like a potato chip you can end up scratching up the Invisalign’s surface and once it’s not smooth you can’t help but to keep feeling it the rough surface inside your mouth, which your now stuck with for the rest of the time on that tray. 

Speaking of swapping trays, for me I had to change trays every 2 weeks and the first few days after swapping HURTS so much, it makes me not feel like doing anything for the day. 

However, after the first few days it is fine, you don’t really feel it, although I will say for the first few weeks it will feel extremely weird having a foreign object in your mouth, effectively just having bigger teeth that feel like smooth plastic. 

Lastly, the worst of them all, having to really clean your teeth. Having to spend lots of time cleaning your teeth by really getting in there and making sure that your teeth are clean otherwise, you’ll end up with a cavity. 

In conclusion, Invisalign is a test, a test on your discipline on maintaining your teeth’s cleanliness, keeping the trays on, and a test of your mentality to not give in to the intrusive thoughts. 

 

Written by: Matthew Lin 

Contact: mlin114@my.bcit.ca 

Labubu. Where? What? Why? How?

Posted on by

(Flickr)

If you’re like me and you live under a rock. You might be questioning the sudden rise to fame Labubus have experienced.

In this article I’m going to do a deep dive into Labubus to attempt to find out these four questions.

Where? What? Why? And how?

So, what is a Labubu? If you’ve managed to come this far without knowing at least visually what a Labubu is then congratulations, you live under a heavier rock then I do.

A Labubu is a line of collectible toy plush featuring the character “Labubu” a monster with sharp teeth, rabbit ears, and scruffy exterior. A design that can only be described as ugly cute.

(Unsplashed / David Kristianto)

Now where did this terrifyingly monstrous marketable plush come from? It all began back in the 2015 as a character designed by Kasing Lung as part of the “monsters” figurines collection produced by How2Works.

Following a collaboration with PopMart the toy would go on to gain further recognition before finally the event that skyrocketed the popularity through the roof.

In April of 2024, Lisa a member of the K pop group Blackpink was spotted with a Labubu keychain on her bag. This incident sparked the “Labubu Mania” we see today.

EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK, Labubu. Randomly shopping in the mall, Labubu. Taking a stroll around your neighborhood, Labubu. There is no escape you open Instagram, Labubu. Labubu had taken over the world but, how?

Many factors contribute to the success of Labubus ranging from simple marketing tactics to celebrity endorsements. The more I investigated it the more interesting it became as a case study for marketing. I won’t bore you with the details, however it is truly interesting if you like that kind of stuff.

So, how is it so popular. Well, the biggest factor being the celebrity endorsement, it brought Labubus onto a global scale, being loved by a global superstar certainly helps spread the word.

However, saying that just celebrity endorsement did all the work would be discourteous to the marketing magic that were deployed to popularize them.

First, Labubus are created in limited supply, once one is gone it’s gone for good, this instills people with the fear of missing out or FOMO. This is a very common strategy and works to prey on peoples fear of missing out as the name suggests.

Second, Labubus come in surprise boxes. If you don’t know what a surprise box is, it is a concept where products you buy come in a box which prevents you from knowing which specific one you got which in a way can be seen as gambling. What this does is tricks our monkey brains into feeling dopamine when we succeed or feeling the need to try again when we fail. Regardless of result it makes you more invested into the product and ensures it stays in your mind.

And with that, I hope you have a better understanding of the global phenomenon known as Labubu.

 

Written By: Matthew Lin

Contact: mlin114@my.bcit.ca