HOLY CRAP!

This seems straight out of a movie. Is this the work of a criminal mastermind?

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AW CINNAMON AND GRAVY!!!

The miracle of modern transportation is that you wake up one day in one locale and the next day wake up in a totally different one. This was the situation that I found myself in this morning.

No longer in the French Quarter, I was woke up on campus. I got dressed, ate some breakfast, and headed out to run some errands. Almost immediately as I left SJC I could tell the campus was much more alive. There were people everywhere, mostly it seemed, first-year students. They crowded the sidewalks, they got in my way, and they were loud. It got worse as I approached the Student Union Building. The calm which had been my pleasant summer on campus had been disturbed by the influx of younger students.

The SUB was jam-packed with newbies and their entourages, ie. their parents or other newbies. The line-up for pizza at Pie 'R Squared was out the door by a mile. I had to go the SUB to send off a mail before I got on the bus to do some off-campus stuff. I had to use one of the public terminals.

These computers are really close together. I sent my mail and I know I shouldn't have done this, but I kinda stealthily peered over to the screen to my left. The dude to my left was young looking, probably not more than 18 years old. He was sending mail using AOL webmail. That should have been my first sign this guy was trouble. I quickly scanned some sentences in his text box. Here's what I read:

"Well, here I am in 'beautiful' Vancouver. Everyone keeps calling it 'beautiful'."

"Overall Canada is pretty shitty"

"I already miss the Chicago skyline"

When I read that, I wanted to turn to him and say, "Look, I don't know who the hell is forcing you to be here, but if you don't like it here, get the fuck out of my country. Go back to Chicago and your fucking 'beautiful' skyline."

Of course, I didn't say that. Why? Because he's young, he probably hasn't even been at UBC for more than a week, classes haven't started, and he doesn't know a damn thing about university life. He's probably homesick and misses familiarity, even though this is most likely the greatest adventure he'll go on for quite a long time. I thought it was quite Canadian of me to keep my comments to myself.

His comments though, embody what I dislike about first-year (and some undergrads) the most. They're immature, quick to judge, tempestous, impatient, and egotistical. The idea is though, that university will change these people into smarter, more mature, and more thoughtful individuals.

A year from now, I'd like to see where Mr. Chicago is. What will he think of UBC then? I sincerely hope he will have found the year to be a superb learning experience. If he still thinks Canada is "shitty", he'll find someway to make it back to his beloved Chicago, and maybe my wait for pizza will be one less person.

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BACK

Yeah, I'm back at UBC now. My flight got delayed... twice! Once going to Dallas and then my flight going to Vancouver from Dallas got delayed.

I didn't get back on campus until nearly 1am. My room is a mess. Not only have I unpacked my crap from the trip, my father stocked up on Cosco stuff while I was gone. He brought it to the airport. So along with a half million Mardi Gras beads, I have cases of water and Coke lying about my place.

I need a shower in a really bad way and I'm getting hungry. I have nothing to eat though but Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

Fear not, I will recap my trip is installments, but I really need to take care of some things right now.

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SEE YOU IN A BIT

Sorry about not posting in a while. I got caught up in a whole combination of things: my last day at work, deciding on this new TA offer, organizing a farewell dinner, finalizing a stag, saying goodbye to some departing SJC people, and packing for New Orleans.

Friday was my last day at work. I haven't had a "last day" at work since March of 2002. This most recent last day was fairly easy-going at first. I generally did some housekeeping things and tied up loose ends. Then near the end, there was a flurry of activities as I raced to finish some tasks.

The three women I worked with gave me two cards and some chocolate. It was a nice touch. It didn't really dawn on me that I was leaving until I was out the door of the building. I started June 16th and finished August 22nd. It went by in a flash. I am really thankful for having the job. I'm not sure what I would have done without it. Now I can pay for tuition in September.

As for the TA offer, I'm still not sure what the hell I'll do. I'm almost inperceptibly leaning towards taking it because it's the difference between not having tuition next term and having it. I've talked to some people about it and they've both said they think I can do it and not kill myself. It's essentially an extra three hours of supervising a lab a week. However, there's also time to be taken for marking and preparing for the lab. I hope I find some time on the plane to find a resolution.

In other news, the summer has definitely signalled its end. As if almost on cue, the weather has turned colder. Even in the sun now, I don't feel as warm. The cloud cover this weekend only punctuates the point. Another sign that summer will soon end are the increased throngs of people on campus. Last week, I was at the bookstore. Already, there were eager first-years with parents in tow, buying up books for their classes. I'm pretty sure some of them even bought their books for the entire year. They will soon learn buying textbooks from the bookstore is a last resort and should be only done for the semester that is coming up next.

After I went to the bookstore, I went to the CIBC in the Village. As I stepped up to the ATM machines, I saw a bank employee helping a guy activate his bank card. Standing faithfully next to him was his mother. I gather this was his first "university bank account". I could almost see the Mom beam with pride. That was me a long, long time ago.

I've been talking with some other grad students, we are lamenting the start of the school year. All the undergrads come back and clog up the campus. They're everywhere, lining for this, lining up for that, it's almost impossible to get lunch on campus in a decent amount of time the first two weeks of September. The funny thing is, the crowds always seem to dissipate somehow. By October, the lines won't be gone totally, but it's somewhat bearable.

I can now see why summer time is the best time for a grad student. The campus is deserted and the weather is nice. I was told in May that it's really nice at SJC in the summer. It's easy-going, light, and carefree (well, for the most part). They were right.

Alright, that's it for now. I'll be back with at least one more post before I take off for New Orleans.

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