Surfing the Net (ReBoot-style)

I finally have internet back! Do you have any idea how long I'm going to spend on Youtube today? I'm a loser, but it's been months, I deserve it.

Switching It Up!

Change of plans, I'm moving! No, not back in with "the parents" though that was a possibility when I started stressing financially, but I've come to the conclusion that moving back in with them is not really an option anymore. Too much freedom and I couldn't give that up, even if it did mean financial freedom.

I'm moving out just for a laugh. This will be my 25th move in my life and I'm not even close to that age! I need to switch it up, I love my roommates, they've been my friends since highschool but I guess it's hard to live with friends sometimes, right? So to solve this issue I gave my notice for August 1st, found an amazing place and am moving in with another friend.

'Cause that makes sense. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Calling In

I forgot it was Monday and had to call work to cancel the shift I picked up a couple of hours earlier. While talking to my boss I became distracted and said, "I can't work the shift I picked up because the mermaids are coming for dinner tonight." I'm pretty sure my boss thinks I'm on drugs ...

It'll Cost How Much?! (FLOSS YOUR TEETH!)

I had planned to save up money this summer. It was going to be great. I'd have my credit card paid off by September (so that way I'd have my entire OSAP loan to myself) with even a couple of hundred already in the bank and in my R.R.S.P's.

I made a financial plan, I was keeping up with it, it was going to work. Then I went to the dentist. I have four wisdom teeth that need to be removed. Needless to say my financial plan didn't expeect this and is now resting in the garbage bin.

Don't we have a plan for being students? Now that I'm over 18 years old I'm no longer under my parent's benefits so there has to be some sort of break for us that don't get coverage from work.

I also kind of don't want to be put to sleep. They did that to my dog once and he never woke up ...

Summer '09

I hate making choices that determine how my summer is going to play out ... especially if those choices have to be made within a few hours.

Thank You! (Forgot My Password!)

Thank you so much to everyone who voted my blog for "Best NU Moment." To say I was stoked when I saw the message would be an understatement. I went straight for my cell and texted everyone who goes to Nip.

The lack of updates? Did I figure that since I managed to fill the requirements of the blog contest that I was finished? I'll be honest, yes and no. I'd hoped to make a few more entries during exam time but I forgot my password to the blog! I was going to do the password recovery option, but everytime I went to go for it, I became less interested in writing a blog at that particular moment.

I'm not sure if I'll be updating this much anymore as I'm not sure how many other Nip Bloggers will be sticking around, I'll have to keep my eyes posted. We'll see how it plays out from here and I still have a few ideas for some blogs so keep coming back!

Also, if there are a few of you who follow this blog that are not apart of the contest or are even going to the same university and you have a blog of your own, please add the link to your blog in the comment section and I'll make sure to add you and check for updates every once in awhile!

But again, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I definitely appreciate the fact that you guys voted for my blog and I can't thank you enough!

Take care, everyone!

Caught In A Mousetrap

Anyone who has been up to the university in the last while has probably seen the posters for "The Mousetrap." It's a production put on by Students On Stage, their second one this year.

The first production was "The Girl In The Mirror" which was an awesome play, though I'm partly biased. It was a story of a girl who had tried to commit suicide and the affect on people connected with her. The second one, the play I saw last night was "The Mousetrap." It was extremely entertaining. The actress playing Paravicini was halarious and I LOVED Mrs. Boyle. The play is a murder-mystery (think of Clue, the boardgame) where you have to figure out the murderer.

If anyone is up at the university around 2pm today (and you happen to read this before then) you should go see it.

One Of Those Moments

Ever have one of those moments when you think you know someone in the hall so you shout out their name, but it wasn't actually them? Well, have you ever mistaken them for a good friend and jumped them to the ground?

My apologies to the guy I ran up behind and tackled to the ground, it was personal, just not to you.

In other news, I hate deadlines.

Getting Up & Going

I want to runaway.

Before you get any thoughts of this sounding remotely troubled, stay with me here. I want to just get up and go, take whatever money I have and just go to another city for a few months without a plan. Without telling anyone until I've left and only to let them know that I'm okay once I got there, while staying away from the specifics of where I am. I want to be lost, on my own and surviving without anything material except what I really need.

I know, this sounds unoriginal in the sense that I'm sure everyone gets this feeling. But what if you actually get enough guts to do it? After exams I have no real responsibility for the summer. Why not just take off for two or three months to see if I can do it? To see what would happen?

I miss living on my own in a foreign country. Away from everything and everyday being something new. I've done it before so I know I could do it.

I'm going to do it again, if not in the next few months then soon. After all, we only have the summer before returning back to university, let's not waste it!

I'm A Bad Blogger

My lack of updates is horrifying considering I'm an English Major.

Mid-terms are over and returned. I'm happy with the results which eases the stress of finals but doesn't do anything for the essays which are a constant annoyance. I realized why I'd always leave it to the last minute, it's because then I would spend days arguing in my head over a thesis and would just write one! I'd worry over completion rather than quality and in the end I'd then go and fix it up with the remaining days (or hours) I had left to turn it in. Now that I've started weeks in advance it like a drawn out torture.

Life on my own isn't bad, I'm already just about two months in and I still have my head above water, though I'll have to pick up shifts soon to earn extra cash. The only hard part is that even though I'm thankful to have moved out of my family's house and experience a new kind of freedom, it can be very lonely. I wasn't expecting it, if only for the fact that I have two roommates and I enjoy the quiet when I'm not partying. The problem is that my two roommates have chosen to hook up which leaves an awkward situation for me. It seems like now they have this bond that is hard to break into and I'm not really sure I want to break into it. It's something they share and all day long when we're all together, they're together and I'm just the third person tagging along, even if the event is organized by me.

Getting away from that, spring is almost here! I can't wait until I can just go outside on the porch and laze about in the sun or even go jogging again. I'm almost always trapped inside unless I can find someone to have snow fights with (and trust me, they're hard to find) I'll also be happy when my extra-curriculars will be finished for the year. Not to complain but I'm ready to just relax! This year has gone by fast though ...

1st Year vs. 2nd Year

I'm coming close to the end of my second year and in a moment of reflection at the bus stop a few days ago I've come to a conclusion, my 2nd year was a lot better than my first.


First year was stressful. I didn't know how to write a well organized paper in MLA format (it's still hit or miss at times, haha!) Not a lot (if any) of my friends were going to Nipissing and everywhere I looked people clung to groups of people they knew. Making a friend took serious effort. I managed though and the friends I made in first year became people I could see myself keeping in touch for life. They become more than those people you know and talk to in the halls and never really make plans outside of lectures.


Second year, you're more relaxed. The best way I can describe it is by comparing it to high school. Being a grade nine in a school you knew nobody compared to being in grade 11 where you're completely relaxed with little stress. You know people, professors and places. You have a non-committed routine where you do what you want without worrying about the unknown of university.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed first year, but I'm told that first year is the year most people drop out of school. I can understand why but if you can make it into your second year, you're pretty much set.

I'm here!

My last entry was January 28th?!

REALLY?!

It's been really busy the last couple of weeks. I just got out of uni at 11:30pm tonight (and it's Sunday - the day before Reading Week!) I want to say next year I won't be involved as much with extra-currics, focus more on my studies but it probably won't turn out that way.

I had an amazing time in Pennsylvania last weekend with NUSA (Nipissing University Student Amabassadors) The conference was a blast, the experience for a first-time travel to the States was memorable and the people I met were hilarious! The downside? I returned with a nasty infection. Non-contagious, just a fluke that it settled by my heart. Not serious anymore though! I was hospitalized, released and given these huge horse pills that I have to take 3 times a day.

It's all part of the experience I guess.

I've also been hardcore into "Your mom" jokes recently.

Just thought I'd update.

Playing A Game

I find myself playing the "anywhere but here" game. I could be so many places ...

An Unfriendly Reminder

I received the annual reminder from OSAP today of how much my student loan has climbed, along with an estimate of what my monthly payments will look like once the time comes to repay.

Damn.

I had better get a good job after university or I'll be moving back in with my parents!

Construction at Nip U

Sometimes I wish I were a first year so I'd have never known about the hallway leading from the cafeteria to the H-Wing. I miss it.

Passionate of being passionate? (Self-analysis warning!)

*A warning, this entry contains elements of self-analysis (meaning it may be very boring if you're not me)

I have a slight problem. I've been questioning some issues I'm having and trying to determine what's wrong here.

The best way I can explain it is by comparing myself with the Duke Orsino from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In it he is obsessed with Olivia, a Countess. He seemingly ignores his responsibilities and duties of his title for this woman (no, my dilemma I face is not over someone else) See, it turns out he was in love with the idea of love.

I like to think I'm passionate over school but lately it's not enough. I'm currently studying the Victorian novels in my British Literature lecture, a subject I should be thrilled about focusing on! Am I? Not so much. The lectures are interesting, my professor is extremely knowledgeable and gives insights that make the novels more intriguing.

But I'm not feeling it like I want to.

Am I passionate about being passionate? Is that a problem? I know I love the Victorians (I'm a nerd like that) but what happens when you're not enjoying something you love? Sure, life complications outside of school have been more distracting lately, but I always thought I could fall back on what I really enjoy to cheer me up.

These seem like harmless questions on the surface but when I start to dig deeper in this self-analysis I wondering if I even should be in school at the moment. I don't want to go to lectures for a good grade, I want to go to be passionate about literature. If I'm not at the moment should I take a year off, or will this pass?

Shakespeare lectures, however, are AMAZING. But one three credit course can't be the tie-breaker in an important decision. I was thinking of repeating second year. Can you repeat a course even if you already have the credit? I know it's not the greatest way to spend money but if it helps to become passionate again it might be worth it.

A Couple

When I was a kid and I first discovered that "a couple" meant two, I disagreed. I agreed "a few" equals to three, a single object was one, but "a couple" wasn't two.

It still bothers me. In my head "a couple" is four. Two groups of two. That's a couple. I know, it doesn't work in the sense that when two people get together they're referred to as a couple, two people. I've heard the arguments and I still don't agree.

I also disagreed with the way my grade one teacher spelt "apple" one time and we fought over it until she realized that she was actually wrong! Maybe that screwed me up, the fact that it's proof that when I think I'm right, I usually am. I'm usually not by the way, but at this age I thought I was quite often. This was around the time that I learnt "a couple" was referred to as two, so I was probably in that mindset and haven't been able to shrug the stubbornness of the topic off.

If it gives me credit, I agree that it's universally accepted that "a couple" equals two, I just don't agree.

Diseased

Somebody infected me recently. I don't know who. It could have been the faceless cough in my Shakespeare lecture. It could have been someone sniffling for an hour in the OSAP line. It could very well have been a professor. Either way, I'm not impressed.

I'm feeling much better now though. I woke up this morning with a horrible headache and a sore throat which led to a hacking cough. I thought I was going to cough up a lung! Either way, I wasn't going to miss lecture today. I figured I could suppress the cough for an hour.

The thing is, when you don't want to cough, it's all you think about. You don't want to be that person who is hacking for the entire lecture. I refuse to be that person. So, when the tickle in the back of my throat urged a cough, I thought I'd let a small one out, unnoticed. It worked. But that cough only allowed for another tickle to arise much fast. I wasn't going to let it out. I held my breath and swallowed.

When you cough, you exhale. I had held my breath for a bit over a minute before the urge became too powerful to ignore and before I could stop it I coughed. Well, it was like a cough. I had to breathe in the same time I coughed so what came out, not only hurt but made a pretty disgusting sound. It was sort of like letting a large breath out underwater.

So this is my open apology to my fellow students in my lecture. I know only a few people around me heard it and politely ignored it, but I apologize for being "that person"

67/228 - Evelyn Waugh 'A Handful of Dust'

The Last Day Of Winter Break

Guess where I am! That's right, sitting in my bedroom in my new apartment which doesn't include the parentals.

Okay, I'm done with the move blogging now, I'm sure the lead to it would have been more exciting if you were ... me. I'd put up picture but I won't post picture of where I live on a site which anyone can view.

Onto something new. I've been getting a lot of questions of what my New Year's Resolutions are for this year and I can't really answer them. When I was younger I was taught not to do it since resolutions at the new year are most likey doomed to fail and that's been my perspective ever since. Instead, I was taught to pick a random day (eg. Sept 27th) to kick a bad habit. As for trying to accomplish a goal I was always told to "smarten up" since I should be doing that all year.

If I ever have children, I think I'll encourage a resolution from them at the beginning of every year, even though I'll be the hypocrite and not do it myself. Yes, resolutions on the new year are doomed to fail if only because they are made out of a random urge to better oneself on a whim of the cateloged date and not given much sincerity after the weeks have passed, but it's good to at least try and commit "some" effort to bettering yourself before the urge has passed.

Damn, now I have to think of a title for this blog.

22/228 - Evelyn Waugh 'A Handful of Dust'