Two more years seems so long

I graduated from high school more than three years ago. Yet I still have two years ago to graduate from my program, thanks to the year I took off. And at this moment graduate school may be a likely future for me. I think I want to get my masters in Psychology, though at this point I'm not entirely sure what area of psychology. I'm hoping my seminars will help me figure out what area I'm most interested in. But all this is drabble. With so much schooling left before me, it seems like I am still really waiting for life to "begin". College students haven't experienced real life yet. Sure you get to experience living away from home. But you haven't really experienced living on your own.

College students are still covered under most parental insurance policys. For some, mom and dad may still pay the college tuition. Even if they don't, you know you have mom and dad to fall back on in the hard times. You may go home for the summer. If you are living on campus you don't even have to worry about most of the bills being paid. Even if mom and dad aren't paying your way, Financial aid often will. So while the picture of the "starving college student" comes to mind, living off ramon and microwave dinners, the average college student in Canada comes from a middle class background, was raised in a middle class background and trully wants for nothing. For we all have our middle class homes to fall back on.

That is why its after you have graduated, gotten a job, and moved away from home for the first time that life truly begins.

A Valuable Lesson

So I learned a valuable lesson today. Because I write with the Office for Person's with Disabilities, my last test was late in being marked, so it wasn't available for Pickup yesterday. The marks weren't even available online yet.

This morning I logged in to check my marks before the last test tomorrow. I was very surprised to see that I had only gotten 5 marks out of 27! I was sitting there panicking. I was so upset because I didn't see how I could have written the test and gotten that low since I knew what I was doing.

So even as I was extremely upset, I thought to e-mail the TA saying I thought there might be mistake becuase UWace said I only got 5/27 which was extremely low and I didn't understand how I got that low becuase I knew what I was doing.

So I sat there feeling extremely upset for the next hour. Then I got an e-mail back from the TA. Turns out that somehow on the marks spreadsheet, the formula for calculating marks had been replaced by a 5. So that's what my mark went up as. Turns out I actually got 22.75/27.

So that mark is being corrected right now. The point of this story is that if you unsure or confused about something it never hurts to ask. Especially in the case of marks. Because mistakes do happen, and if you don't ask they may never be caught.

Apparently Sociology Bores Me

Clearly my mind is trying to tell me something. I can spend hours at a time studying for my Research Methods course even though it's not exactly the most interesting course in the world. But as soon as I start studying for Sociology somehow everything else in the world becomes more important.


I also predict that the short answer question I am struggling with will undoubtedly appear on the exam tomorrow. I mean there is already a 25 % chance that it will appear on the exam, and a murphy's law sort of situation undoubtedly makes it inevitable.

And for some reason right now I have a crazy urge to read a Criminal Minds fic... but since there are no good ones right now I may just have to right one. Don't know how tat works. But alas I must get back to studying since I have two exams tommorow and I really want to be ready and not have to spend all night studying. Becuase I still have to do a bunch of studying for my psychopathology class too.

Wish me luck.

Oh and yesterday I was studying for my psychopathology class with my friend and there was something about Tardiff Disconessia (no idea how you spell that). I was like "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. I know this one" and not only answered the question right (to be fair it was mutiple choice), but went on to explain how I knew what it was not from the textbook but from an episode of Criminal Minds. And then went into a rant explaining the Episode (Derailed). I think she may think I'm slightly crazy now.

Things you Should Have Done that you didn't do?

Have you ever regretted something you should have done but didn't do? I recently have. I was vacuuming on Monday and I always have to unplug the fridge so it doesn't come on when I am vacuuming and blow a fuse (yay for student housing). Well this time I forgot to plug it back in afterwards. I didn't even realize it was unplugged till a day and a half later when I wondered why the dip I had left in the fridge for 3 hours wasn't cold yet. I majorly regret this becuase the freezer thawed out and now I don't trust those microwave dinnres. Not that I could cook them anyways becuase cardboard containers don't do so well when they get wet. Just a fact.

Keeping On Track

I've noticed that one of the hardest things about University is keeping on top of things. There are always assignments to work on, readings to do, and if it's not this weeks assignments then there are always next weeks assignments, or just general studying to do. Whenever you have an idle moment, you are filled with the knowledge that there is something else you could be doing, something more productive. If you don't keep up with the reading, it's so easy to fall behind, and it's even easier to never catch up. Right now I have sort of fallen behind in my CS 251 readings. I keep meaning to catch up, but every time there is something more pressing to work on, some assignment to do, or cleaning to do, or a million other things. Fortunately I am not so far behind that it is impossible to catch up at this point. It will just require a little bit of effort is all. But last semester, I fell so far behind in history that I never really caught up. I didn't do some of the readings and just read the summaries before the test. This was reflected in a mark that was somewhat disappointing and lower then I expected. Then again, last semester in general was somewhat disappointing. It's also easy to underestimate your workload, and not give yourself enough time to complete your assignments. This can lead to either loss of sleep or just not doing the assignment period. Both of these are terrible habits to get into. Speaking of sleep, I think I need to catch up on some right now so catch you later

Unkept Promises

It seems that I always promise myself that I will keep up with my blog but I never do. And it's not simply that I have nothing to write about. I have several "notes", of stuff that could use some attention in the future. But I never seem to have time. Or else, when I do have time, I seem to forget about it. I never did edit the post about cool sites, though I will get around to that some day. I also have a post written out on scrap paper waiting to be typed up. It was because I had no access to my blog at the time. A lot of interesting things have happened this year. I got a new cell phone, along with one of those fab 5 plans. The most annoying part was trying to get things activated since none of it seemed to have been set up properly. I also had to spend many long hours arguing with my the company providing my DSL service, first to convince them there was something wrong, then to convince them not to keep sending it back to the central office, and then to actually get someone to come fix it. But it's fixed now. It's also been a new experience living on my own and cooking for myself since this is the first time I have ever lived truly on my own. But now I must go study for a test tommorow so I'll blog more later.

At Home a Failure but free

So I recently finished up my first year of university, ending with exams. I got my grades back and barely passed two of my courses. I also found out that I failed my calculus course.... badly. And I thought I would be done with calculus for good. Looks like I will have to retake it next semester because it's a requirement for my program.

However a great weight has been listed from my chest and I feel better then ever. Although just writing this post, and reminding me of my failures has brought down my mood.

Good News and Bad News

There is some good news and bad news today. The good news is that I think I was right in choosing History. My professor is really good at getting the information through and making the lecture come alive. The bad news is that I don't think I will be playing hockey this semester. We didn't manage to get our team organized in time. So no hockey for me. Unless I can find a team to join that it. I don't know if I would want to play with random people though.

What is the What

First of all, I have to say that the book on which this title is based is an amazing book. It's very deep but also sad as it tells the tale of one of the Sudanese lost boys. The collaboration between the other and the story teller, the one who experienced it all first hands, gives the book depth and meaning. I am only about half way through because of my return to university, but the book is so good. It is one of those books that flip flops in time and space, but in a clear way, directed by the characters thinking, and by his memories. But the book is not the entire reason for this post.

The book makes reference to an old tale where the Dinka people were asked by G_d if the wanted to trade the cows they had been given for the what. This made them ask "What is the What" and supposedly people are still asking that question. Now, after reading this in the story, I had to pause and think for a bit, and ask myself "What is the what". To me, the what is anything to do with the unknown. Or rather it is anything that makes you ask, "what," and anything that makes you take that leap of faith out of your comfort zone, in hopes of a better future. Many people take that leap every day when they leave their job to find a new one, move to a new city or even a new country, or just leave everything behind to start a new life, in hopes of a better future for their children.

I believe we are faced with the what nearly every day. There are always people asking us to step out of our comfort zone. For me, coming to university was a big what. When I applied to my program, I sort of decided without much reasons, what program I wanted to do, and what university I wanted to go to. I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to succeed here. When I start co-op in the summer, it may also be another what for me. Potentially I could end up working in a position in which I have to learn a new skill set for the job. I also could end up living away from home. That was part of the what of univeristy. Because I chose to go to a school out of my area, I ended up living away from home for the first time. And not only that, I was far enough away that I could not come home for weekends. But I knew that when I was coming here, but chose to come for all the benefits I thought it could offer me.

But these are just my opinions. So next time you are on a quiet street, ask yourself "What is the what". I would love to know what you come up with.

Home Again

So I am finally back home from university. I have officially finished my first semester of university. I am just hoping that I did well on my exams since I really have no idea. I didn't get much sleep before most of them. Luckily for me, I only had to write 4 exams since my psychology exam was optional.

Christmas vacation is only 2 and a half weeks. That is really not a long time. But that's okay because I am actually looking forward to my classes next semester. History especially should be interesting. Which is kind of funny since it was a course I chose after panicking because the elective I wanted was full and all the other ones I looked into were either full or did not fit into my reschedule. (And since I had already added my other classes there was nothing I could do about it. That whole week was a mess because I was so late in the enrollment period so my schedules did not turn out at all as I suspected). I am also slightly worried about buying books.

I got back early this morning and then didn't get much sleep. It took so long to get home because the roads were horrible. The driving conditions and rush hour traffic meant nearly to hours of going at a mere 20 km/hour.

It was especially boring because I had nothing to do. All my stuff was in the back, so there was nothing to do but listen to music. And not good music, very old, very bad music. I tried to sleep but it was so cold in the vehicle that I could not.

I met up with Mr. Rocko at our old high school to go back and visit with the random people there. I was only here for a couple of minutes before the school went into secure mode. We have been sitting here for half an hour while police officers do who knows what. It is so boring, especially since luch time is nearing.

Long Time No Speak

I don't think I have updated this blog since the first week of university, and now final exams for first semester are rapidly approaching. I have made it through the good times and the bad, good times being things like getting 98 % on a midterm exam, the bad things, those such as nearly failing an assignment or missing the bus to come back after visiting Mr. Rocko.

I have found university not all that bad, although a bit stressful at times. I do miss my home lots, and the things, like sleeping in my own bed where I control how much the window is open and when, to taking long hot baths. Nothing like that hear, only cramped shower stolls and the other day we even had 0 hot water. TM nearly froze taking her shower!

There seems that there is always lots to here, yet often not so much to do. There are lots of events and such going on and of course there are always assignments due or exams to study for, but it seems like whenever I am trying to relax there is nothing for me to do.

I have noticed some weird problems with the bandwith lately. I run through 100 mb quickly when before I barely used any and my bandwith is never full. I hope there is some time soon where no one is online so that it can fill back up. We keep going negative which is not cool because it could cause my port to be shut off. Anyways this has taken long enough.

Bored Stiff

The very first thing I learned about University is that is can be very boring. I'm not talking about the classes themselves, which can actually be quite interesting, but instead the endless amount of time between classes. It's' the time that keeps you from doing anything interesting or productive. You can't always work on assignments because if you start working on a tough problem you may miss you're next class. You can't do anything fun because there is never enough time.

The worst is when you have only and hour before class. You can't walk back to rez because it's 10 minutes there, and ten minutes back. When you add in the fact that you want to be 10 or 20 minutes early to some classes so that you get a seat, there is really no point to going back to rez. Instead you just have to hang around by you're next class and find some way to kill an hour.

Evenings aren't much better. You are either not working on assignments and board because everyone else is busy, or you are working on assignments and board because you are working on assignments. It's really a lose-lose situation. Still being board at home can be fought of with games and sports activities.

The boredom before class can sometimes be fought off with the use of a laptop, chatting with friends, surfing the net, especially if you use you're laptop for you're next class. This, however, assumes that you're friends are not in class or away from their computer. And even if you do use you're laptop, you run the risk that you're battery might run out in class, or rather that you're computer might start beeping to let you know that you have a low battery. All in all it's still not that good of a situation.

The break between classes can also be used to get important tasks done such as returning text books or buying supplies. This only works for the first couple of days though, because you end up finishing everything you need to do and then you can just sit.

Probably the most logical thing to do is to bring an assignment with you so that you can work on it outside of you're next class. People going into the classroom near you should be you`re signal that the class is about to start, and by working on you`re assignments, you do something productive. At least if you are struggling with an assignment the time might pass a little quicker.

Anyways, remember that when you`re going to university, prepared to be bored.

Note: All this is written after having attended each of my classes only one or to times

Double Note: The word class can also be substituted with the word lecture or the word tutorial

Triple note: The statement that the classes themselves are interesting does not mean that you will not be bored IN you're class

Quadruple note: This is the last one, I swear. The use of a laptop between classes assumes that you have wireless internet access in the buildings.

Thursday Update

So we are well into frosh week now. The highlight of Tuesday's math faculty activities was the tie ceremony where we got our Pink Ties, as well as our frosh kits. The frosh kits were filled with lots of cool things like cups and key chain flashlights, but the best thing of all had to be the Pink Tie.

Legend has it that one of the Profs who worked here when the faculty was newly opened would always where crazy ties to work. The favourite tie of the staff and students was the proffessor's Pink Tie. When the Prof retired, a giant pinnk tie was found on the side of the math building. Ever since, the faculty has adopted the pink tie as it's mascot/symbol. The origional pink tie was apparently stolen by someone and made it's way around other universities. When it became apparent that the tie was not coming back, the faculty got a new pink tie. That tie however was destroyed with paintballs by some egineering students. That was when the tie guard was established to guard the new pink tie during frosh week and since than nothing has happened to it.

Just a legend of course. The tie guard does more than just guard the tie. They also no where every group from every faculty is at any time during orientation week so that they can point first years in the right direction in case they get lost. Probably because the giant pink tie is easy to spot from nearly everywhere on campus. However, the main duty is to guard the tie.

Yesterday we went on a tour of the campus. It was pretty much useless because I will never remember those places anyways. After the tour we went and played games against other math teams. There were games like EarthBall and Soccer Frisby (playing soccer and frisby at the same time with two frisbies and two soccer balls). My team was undefeated in the activities but since we were also scored on enthousiasm and such, we did not win. The prize wasn't so good since it was just that you were allowed to stay overnight at the Tie Guard, and earn you're tie guard wings, supposedly an honor within the math faculty. In the evening we went to a mixer with the faculties of Math and Art. There were lots of things to do like a movie and board games center and a crazy record breakers activities for things like stacking golf balls. I met an engineer called RA in the games corner and watched part of a James Bond Movie.

Today I got to sleep in because this morning was the International Orientation. In the afternoon I will be writing the ELPE which you have to pass in order to continue in you're program.

Hello from University

After all this bitching and chatting it's finally over with. I've moved into residence and met my two new room mates. I've bet some people from my floor and the floor Don. It wasn't as hard as I thought to fit everything in except I think I might need a new power bar. More later after I get back from the floor meeting.

Later: So I am back from all the activities that accompany the first day of frosh weeik. We started off with an icebreaker activity where we all wrote something weird or interesting about ourselves on a piece of paper. We than stuck the piece of paper inside a blown up balloon and stuck the balloon in the middle of the circle. People than had to pop a balloon and than had to find the person who wrote the thing on your paper. Except some of the balloons popped by themselves so I didn`t have to pop one. We than ate pizza and drank water.

Afterwards we met up with the rest of our residence and went down to the green where we participated in a number of different icebreaking activities such as grouping the entire freshman population plus the senior assistants according to the month they were born in. I met so many new people in such a short period of time, it`s hard to remeber everyone.

After the group activities were over, we went back to our residence for the Rez Orientation opening ceremonies. We got to watch all the dons do a crazy dance and we heard a speach made by the guy the residence was named after. Afterwards we all went back to our Quads and ate ice cream in the courtyard.

Long Time

So, it's been a long time since I last posted on here. This summer I have prepared for university, visited Boston, and flown across the country for my cousins wedding. Today I had an interesting experience since I got my brand toshiba laptop. Yes, I got a toshiba even though Mr. Rocko told me repeatadly not to get one. My brother has never had any problem with his so I suppose it should be all right. To tell you the truth, it's a very different experience since I have been a Mac user all my life. And Vista is nothing like I have ever used before. The hardest thing by far to get used to though is typind on a laptop. I keep touching the touchpad by mistake so the cursor keeps jumping everywhere. Oh well, I'm sure I will get used to it soon.

Plants are not inanimate

So I was randomly singing one of the songs from Little Shop of Horrors yesterday. The "Feed Me" song. I really don't even know if that's the name of the song. But I realized that Seymour says "You're a plant, an inanimate object." Yet by definition, a plant is not an inanimate object since they are living organisms and even have some form of movement (research flowers that tilt into the sun). So in a way, the plant was right to say "Does this look inanimate to you." Creepy.

In other news, I went shoe shopping yesterday. I was looking for new shews to replace my old good shoes. I went to a discount shoes store since its the only place nearby. I originally tried looking for shoes in a 9 1/2 W but they were to big. In the end I had to go all the way down to a size 8. I ended up buying the most darling pair of black heals. They have about a two inch heel, are made of synthetic material, and have these adorable little bows on the front. You might say they look like they were made for little kids but honestly, what little kid wears high heels. Anyways their awesome but I have to wear them around the house before the gala. I don't wear heals to much so it will take some getting used to. I think I'll Post a picture later, since I don't have any pictures right now.

Today the yearbooks were handed out. They increased the price by $3 this year so that the year books could be printed in full color and I must say it was worth it. The photos look so much better in color. However they messed up on my grad writeup. They only printed like half of it. But at least they put the AV team picture in this year and I even got a picture in by myself. One where I am eating in the AV office. Mr. Rocko says that this is the first year they have gotten the name right, calling us the AV team instead of the tech crew. The only bad part is that, because of the timing, Jane is still in the picture even though she quit the team. That might make her think that she is still on the team.

Another bad thing is that we have to clean up the cage sometime soon. It is a disaster. I say leave it until after exams, when Craig and I have graduated. I don't get the point of Mr. Rocko taking the time to organize everything to his liking when he is about to graduate. If you think about it, it might be smarter to let the Orange Hat Boy organize the cage since he is going to be team lead next year. Speaking of OHB, B-rocker to Mr. Rocko that OHB has to set up the sound and lighting for the Athletics banquet all by himself (with supervision) to prove that he can do it. On the bright side, PHead seems to have accepted the fact that OHB will be team leader next year and he (PHead) won't. Although I suspect he is just biding his time to come up with a plan to take power. At the start of the year he tried to take power from Mr. Rocko, even going so far as to say "Do you mind if I sign this as Co team leader." For a guy who wants to go into the military, he sure seems to have a problem with authority. He wouldn't go up to his commander and say "Do you mind if I sign this as Commander Phead". Its just not right.

I don't know why I have been going on for so long. Probably because Mr. Rocko is working on English in the resource room so he is not here to continuously interrupt me. I still have another 45 minutes of spare though. If I had known that Mr. Rocko was working in resource this period, I would have gone home at lunch time.

With yearbooks always comes another thing, yearbook signings. I haven't gotten a lot of signatures since grade 9 but I think I will try to this year, seeing as how I am graduating. I will probably bring my yearbook to Band Practice this morning and get some of my fellow Band members to sign it. It's kind of sad to think about how fast these past four years have gone by. Or that I will be going of to University next year, 7 hours away from home. And that Mr. Rocko won't be an hours bus ride away because he got wait listed at the university he wanted to go to.

In other news, we had the cake auction last Friday I think. Mr. Rocko and I were the representatives for our class. Our class only raised like $11 so we only got one thing. Mr. Rocko was left bidding while I went to get a microphone from the cage and when I came back he told me that he had bid blindly on something. We later found out it was cupcakes. There were not enough for everyone so those who had contributed money got a whole cup cake and I got a whole cupcake because I was a class representative and everyone else had to make do with splitting cupcakes.

I am starting to get worried because I have to by a prom dress soon. I have not worn a dress since I was 12. I don't own any dresses and I have no idea where to go shopping for a prom dress. I don't even know what a prom dress looks like. Any hints would be appreciated.

I had a busy weekend because I had a lot of things to study for, including a biology test, a math test, and a math summative. I am also busy studying computer science since our written test is coming up soon. Basically that's everything in my life right now. How boring!

Post Secondary Obesity

What is a worse problem, second hand smoking or post secondary obesity. First of all, a lot of people suffer from obesity as children so to fix the problem you're really going to have to stop it at its source. Second of all, as Mr. Rocko pointed out, second hand smoke will kill you but who ever heard of someone dying from second hand fat. But apparently the health people of this city/province/country feel that post secondary obesity is a bigger problem than smoking and are transferring all of the expose funding there. These people have no idea what the hell they are doing. But I think we already new that from the health minister. They were talking about weather or not Medical Marijuana studies are a priority or not. Most teens would say yes but I have to say no, not really. There are plenty of other things out there that will kill you that need attention before medicinal marijuana.

Yay no work

So apparently I don't have to work tonight after all. Origionally we thought they were setting up in the Calf but B-rocker said today they were setting up movie night in a class room. I finally have a friday night of to myself. And since today is a day 1 and I have spare last period, I'll actually get to go home early today. On top of that I had a canceled class. Today is officially the best friday I have had in a while. The only think that could possibly make it better would be finding out that Mr. Rocko got accepted at the radio and television program at Ryerson. Awesome

Nerve Wracking Test

So I had a math test today. Most of the knowledge questions were really easy and easily finished. Some of the application questions were a little bit more challenge. I think I got most of them right although I may have messed up somewhere when solving one of my matrices. The tips was hard as hell though. I really hope I did well because I need to keep my mark up for the course since it's a required course for my university program and certain people think I should keep my admissions average above 85 % in order to keep the entrance scholarship I was offered. It bugs me that I had any trouble at all with the test since this is the easiest unit. I always seem to have problems with the matrices since I seem to miss the little details a lot. And the worst part was I had to write into lunch so that I missed most of my lunch period. And I have computer science next not spare. Not like I have much time to relax during spare anyways. Mr. Rocko and I always seem to have work to do during spare. We spend so much of our time doing tech work and not enough time relaxing or more importantly, for us university bound student's, doing homework. It sucks.

Tear Down, Uni, and Random Thoughts

So first of all I know I still have to post more on how the show went. And second off all the bad part about having our equipment permanetly in place for two months is that now we have to tear it all down. And believe me that is a lot of work. Considering the set up origionally took almost an hour. Defenitely something I'm not looking forward to. Even after Little Shop of Horrors is over, it's not really over.The universities are also starting to get to me. Yesterday I got a letter and a phone call from Queens, and I don't even want to go to Queen's. They are certainly annoying me. Mr. Rocko has yet to hear from the uni he wishes to attend even though they said he would hear by last week. They lied and acted bitchy when he called about it.
Now on to the random thoughts. I was thinking about time travel this morning because of something I saw on tv. In order for time travel to be possible, the past, present, and future would have to exsist silmoultaneously. However there is evidence to support that theory. One of these is being able to see the future. I'm not talking about the carnival show tell your future crap. I'm more talking when people see something that is going to happen in a dream. The type of thing where people often see the future without knowing their dreams will "come true" until they actually happen. In order for someone to be able to see an event that will come, the future must be happening at the same time as the present. But on the other hand, this very thing defies logic. Or perhaps it doesn't. Maybe when we see the future we are really jumping along to another part of our conciousness. I don't have time to explain what I mean now and I really think these are thoughts better left for another day.