I was feeling quite stressed all day about this stupid TA situation. Then I drove an hour out to UBC to watch the hockey game with the boys. We ordered some food in and a pretty good contest on the ice. I met some new people, got to know them a little bit. Even though I don't live at SJC anymore, I feel like I've probably met as many new people as some current residents. I am well on my way to becoming the new Adrian Behennah.

I was feeling tired all day, so I left not long after the game ended. I stopped off at Lougheed Mall to get some groceries at Safeway and I'm home now. When I got in, I realized I was much less stressed than I was earlier in the day. I think it was good for me to get out, see my buddies, and not dwell on the situation. Ah, the power of good friends.

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I uncovered some bad news on Friday. I was not given a TA assignment for this term. Earlier in the week, I still had not heard from my department, so I e-mailed the prof I did TA work for last year. He did not respond all week. I started to make some calls on Friday.

First, though, some background is necessary to understand the situation. Last year I was a TA for APSC 150 for both terms. I know the prof who runs this course. I knew him well when I was in undergrad and he's continued to be a supportive figure in my graduate career. Profs have free reign over who they get as TAs for their courses. After the first term, I really enjoyed being a TA for APSC 150. I spoke to the prof and told him I'd like to return for the second term. He was nice enough to accept my request, and I was on-board for the second term. After the academic year ended, we had to put in our forms for TA assignments for this year, this was around the beginning of the summer. I again asked him if he would have me back. He responded it would be a pleasure to have me back. I took this as an indication he would make the necessary arrangements to have me back, just like he did last term.

Fast forward to August 2004. I am now working for an ESL program for incoming first-year engineering students. I am the program assistant. I am in contact with the very same prof because he's scheduled to give a lecture on APSC 150. These new students need to hear about this course, because it's core. Over e-mails we communicate about APSC 150. I even remember talking to him in person about APSC 150.

"Have any of the case studies been revised for this year?"

"Yes, we've taken two of the case studies out, and replaced them."

"I look forward to seeing them."

I even gave a lecture to the students about APSC 150 from a TA's perspective of the course. I told the students outright that I'd be a TA for APSC 150 this year and that they might get me as a TA.

So on Friday, I call the prof to see what has happened. He tells me he's already made the six TA assignments for APSC 150. My heart drops. I ask him how that has happened. He tells me six names came across his desk and he didn't even notice my name wasn't one of them. He said it didn't even cross his mind that I wanted to be a TA for APSC 150. I'm almost in a panic now, but I politely remind him of the e-mail that he sent that stated he'd love to have me back. He doesn't really have an answer for this, but he tells me to phone the admin assistant at the department who handles this stuff. I hang up and get her on the phone. I ask her why I didn't get an assignment for APSC 150. She nonchanlantly tells me I just didn't get one. I ask her if I got any assignments. In the same tone, she says I don't have any assignments. I have no work as a TA this term. I ask her how that is possible. She says there lots of applicants. She also tells me a critical piece of news. She sent out an e-mail to all the faculty members asking if they wanted anyone specific for their classes. I end my conversation with her.

I call back the prof. I explain to him what she had said to me. He admits that he did receive her e-mail about asking for specific students for classes. He tells me he just didn't respond to that e-mail. That is why he got six random names that didn't include me. I explain to him that I really depending on that TA position. Not because I wanted to pad my academic resume but because I need the money to pay for rent and put food on the table. I explain to him that unlike almost all engineering graduate students, I am not funded, that I pay for every cent of my education. He responds by saying he'll try to find me some money somewhere. He mentions doing some odd hours related to my summer job. I am not filled with confidence. My boss from my summer job mentioned something about doing one day a week during the term. That's peanuts compared to a legitimate TA posting.

Here is the financials behind this debacle. The TA posting for APSC 150 is worth approximately $3000 for the term, or just under $800 a month. There is no way working one day a month is going to come even close to that. Even if I worked a few hours a week for my old boss, it would be like comparing apples and oranges. TA wages are much higher than any random on-campus job.

Though it matters little now, I'm wondering if I should have explicitly said to the prof every day of freaking summer, "Even though I'm talking about APSC 150 everytime I communicate with you, you know I want to come back as a TA for that course right?" In fact, I now realize if I had bugged him day in and day out, this wouldn't have been a problem. I thought he knew though. I saw him several times in August. I asked him about the changes to the course. And this was just days before he had to make the TA assignments for APSC 150.

I am almost certain he didn't do this on purpose, but this casual slip of the mind has now wound up costing me about $3000 that I was depending on to survive. I feel powerless that some small clerical error, some simple mistake will kick me in the ass.

I guarantee you that whatever "make-up" provisions are made (and I highly doubt anyone will do this for me), it won't even come close to what I would have gotten as a TA.

This, however, isn't the end of the matter. I won't get into specifics but there are some legal avenues I am exploring. If you are or were a TA, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about based all the evidence I'm given so far.

I'll keep everyone posted.

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In news that will probably be stunning to you, I've discovered that commuting sucks donkey balls. What a huge pain in the ass. Case in point was today. I had a 2pm meeting on campus to wrap up some loose ends from when I worked for a professor this summer. I woke up this morning at 11:05am. As I looked at my watch, I realized that if I didn't jump out of bed immediately to get ready, I'd be late for my meeting. My meeting was still three hours away!!!

By the time I brushed my teeth, showered, got changed, grabbed a drink of water, ate half a croissant, and packed my bag, it was 12 noon. I was on a bus by 12:10pm. I finally got off the bus at UBC at 1:40pm. It took ten minutes to walk to the meeting and then used the remaining ten minutes to prepare. I was on the go from 11am essentially to get to a meeting for 2pm. Crazy.

If I was at SJC, I'd probably would have gamed until 1:45pm, put my game on pause, and headed off then.

I had dinner at SJC tonight, and there many, many new faces. I met a few people, they seem like good, decent folks, and I hope they represent SJC well. Of course, there are a few dorks every year, but it takes a while before they surface. After dinner, I walked over to the Thunderbird Residences with Patrick to see where my new apartment will be. It is in a sweet location. It is less than five minutes away from the engineering and computer science buildings. The Bread Garden is less than two minutes away. SJC is really close as well. Patrick and I were able to walk to my place, check out the outside, and then walk back within fifteen minutes. I am counting the days until September 20.

I got on a 99B bus at 8:30pm and did not return home until 10pm. When I got in the door, I just felt exhausted (still do). I didn't even do a lot today, nothing at all that required my brain. A meeting and dinner, that was it. Still, I feel drained, like the three hours on transit today just sucked the life out of me. I don't know how other people do it. I am not looking forward to next week when I actually have class.

I'm going to try to hold on until the 20th. The second day is almost over, that's 1/10 of my ordeal over. One day at a time... one day at a time...

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I was ready to make a big post, but then I ran out of time tonight. Instead, I'll write about my future educational plans. I've said for many months that I'd stop at the Masters level, but maybe I'd be willing to reconsider. This school might be interesting.

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If you're reading this, it means I have successfully returned to my parents' place after eating my last meal at St. John's College. We had seafood pie. It was actually pretty good. There was an odd mix of old and new residents, though tomorrow, there will be even more new ones. During the day, the housekeeping staff cleaned out my room after I checked out. After dinner, I returned to my room and found the door unlocked! I knocked and heard no one respond, so I opened the door. My room was in sparkling shape. I don't think I had seen it this clean since I first moved in. I lingered only briefly before I left my room once again.

As I expected, it took about an hour and a half to bus it back to my parents' place. There are boxes and bags everywhere. The good thing is that I don't have to unpack a lot of stuff. In twenty days, I will it to my new place at T-Bird.

So, I've got to take care of some stuff, and I'll probably run off to get some Wendy's soon. Take care!

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In a scant few hours, I will cease being a resident of St. John's College. Some 731 days, 480 dinners, and countless friendships later, I have reached the end of my time at the best graduate residence at UBC.

The last few days of packing and cleaning have brought forth some contrasts. On one hand, I feel like I just moved in yesterday, on the other hand, I think of all the people I've met and I realize how long I've been here. Some new residents have started to move in. They've told me about their first couple of days at the College. I'm in my last couple of days. Such contrast.

It goes without saying that the last two years have been the best of my life. It is not a coincidence for those two years, I lived at St. John's College. For most of my post-undergrad years, I lived a boring and stagnant life. I was not headed in the right direction. One of the best decisions of my life was to apply for grad school. Why? Because it allowed me to apply to live at St. John's College. I am so thankful for the Membership Committee for accepting me. Had I not been accepted, I'm not sure where I'd be right now. Living with my parents? Living in some lonely basement suite off-campus? What I do know is that I'd be less happy.

There are a lot of great things about SJC. Yes, the building is fairly new, the location is great, and your meals are cooked for you, but in the end, it is the people that mattered most to me.

In the two years I've stayed here, I cannot begin to count the number of people I've met. Each one of them had an interesting story to tell. Often though, it was the mindless conversations that were the most memorable. The ones where you're sitting at dinner talking about a Simpsons episode, sports, movies, or why women love bad boys. Sure, this wasn't rigorous academic discourse, but plain old random conversation. There were so many chances to interact as well. The dining hall was good, but so was the hallway. You'd stop and chat for five minutes and be on your way. There was also the benches in the courtyard. On the bus on the way to a movie. Dinner at a restaurant. Receptions before formal dinners. Waiting for your turn at bat during softball, and so on.

After all those months, I'm not sure if everyone understands how much that all meant to me. I feel so honoured that so many people were nice enough to let me know a little about themselves. That even if you spoke to me for only five minutes during dinner, I welcomed the experience.

I am almost overwhelmed when I try to think of all the people that I've crossed paths here at the College. I have this fear that I'll forget about people who should be unforgettable. I'm afraid that I'll forget the time someone bought a pitcher of beer and we all talked about Star Wars, and the list goes on. If I could, I'd keep all those memories forever.

My friend and fellow resident Patrick once remarked that living at SJC was like living at a country club. In many ways, he's right. It was so much fun to live here. We had a social support network unlike any I had seen. I could work two hours at my desk and then decide I wanted to interact with my friends. In five seconds I could be out in the hallway knocking on doors to stir up some trouble. The probability of goofing off was high, all the time. Imagine taking all your closest friends and putting them all in an apartment building with you. The amount of bonding that goes on here is unbelievable. There are friendships being forged that will last a lifetime. I do not possess the writing ability to express how much I care about the people here.

Patrick once said to a former resident, Adrian, that living at SJC was like a dream. He then wondered if there could be anything wrong with SJC. Adrian, who had moved out by then, had an answer. He said, "There's only one thing wrong with SJC. You eventually have to leave."

I knew what he was talking about back then, but it is painfully clear now. All things must come to an end, even the good, hell, the best things. I wouldn't have it any other way though. Better that I left wanting more, than me saying good riddance. Still, I leave with a heavy heart. The last two years have been intensely positive and who would blame me for feeling so. I am not the first person to have been touched by SJC, nor will I be the last. In the end, I am part of a much bigger cycle that has been in motion for years.

I wanted this post to be more elegant but it's late and I've been exhausted for two straight days, so I'll try to wrap this up.

I wish everyone I've met over the last two years could read this. I want to thank you for sharing your life with me. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules and interacting with me. Knowing each and every one of you was an honour I will try to never forget. I am a better person today because of all of you. You made my life better. No matter if we were friends for five months or five minutes, you made my life richer. I cannot even hope to repay the debt I owe everybody for what you've done for me. I can only offer you my friendship in return. In the end, I hope this will suffice.

I could write "thank you" until the sun rose, but it would still not equal the gratitude I feel in my heart. So, I will write it only once more... thank you everyone for all you've done for me.

For those who are moving on, I wish you good luck and hope we can stay in touch. For those who are staying, you know I'll be around and I hope we can continue our adventures. In any case, goodbye my good friends.

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I've just spent the last twenty minutes trying to clean my blinds and I've barely made any progress. I'm even using the preferred method with Swiffer dry cloths. Screw it. The checkout sheet says they'll take $5 off my damage deposit if I don't clean my blinds. They can have my $5, it's not worth my time.

I'm thinking about going to McDonald's.

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I'm almost done cleaning, well enough cleaning for tonight at least. I still need to do my blinds and windowsill. What a pain in the ass. Oh, and behind my fridge. Damn. Still, it shouldn't take too long. This room is almost inspectable now.

When I was cleaning today, I found my Mardi Gras beads from last summer. I took a gold coloured one and packed the rest away. I've had the gold string of beads around my neck all day. I call it my cleaning bling bling. People say it's a nice touch to the cleaning routine. Yo, you feel me?

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My back hurts. I'm almost done cleaning the bathroom. I've cleaned the shower and that surprising took less time than I had anticipated. I just sprayed on this crap and all the grime started to run down by itself. I splashed some water on the walls and it was shiny clean. I cleaned the sink, the mirror, and even the light fixture above the sink. Then I Swiffered the floor and I'm waiting for it to dry before I give it once over. I'm moving onto my countertop and sink in my little kitchen area next. The more I clean, the more annoyed I get at the SJC office staff.

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I have spent most of the weekend cleaning and packing. It is not a pleasant job. For reasons still unclear to me, SJC administration has told me and other outgoing residents that they might be inspecting our rooms either on Monday or Tuesday. Ok, Tuesday is fine since it's my last day anyways and I need to get out of there, but Monday? That's dumb.

How can they expect my room to be completely clean when on Monday, I still have boxes cluttering the room? Who has their room sparkly clean a full 24 hours before departure? Aseem told me he's not going to even try to get it clean for Monday, he'll get it done for Tuesday. I'm halfway done anyways, so I'm going to go finish the job. Idiot office people.

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