Daylight Time Savings Saves the Day

I wrote this entry weeks ago but things have been crazy busy lately and I haven't had time to update. Anyhow, here's a long overdue update.... I wish Daylight time savings were every week...

It's been such a long and dreary past couple of weeks. Midterms have been flying left and right. Let's begin from the last week of October. The first midterm that week was Math. It was difficult for me and I didn't do very well, but fortunately, since we're in graduate school, everything get scaled upwards hugely. The second midterm that week was "Econometrics" which was really a Statistics midterm because we haven't actually started Econometrics material yet. Everything we've done in the course so far, I've studied during my undergraduate degree. Needless to say, I did pretty alright on the midterm. I was kind of frustrated, though, because there was one integration question that I couldn't quite get. I couldn't figure out to complete a difficult square with about 6 different terms in it -- something I haven't really done since highschool. Anyway, it fortunately didn't affect my mark too badly.
That weekend was Halloween weekend. I had decided to have some people over at my place, but on Friday after I'd finished teaching my tutorials, I still didn't have a costume, so Zina, Peter, and I headed all the way to East London by bus and went to a Value Village, which - of course, had been and was being continuously raided
by a pack of hungry unprepared, costumeless wolves looking for a desperate disguise the weekend before Halloween. Of course I was among this pack when I arrived. Almost nothing worthy was available! I finally found this red velvet, long, not-all-too-flattering dress and decided I could pull off a Lady Macbeth from it. $10 later we were out of the store. Peter also bought a couple of items to dress as the March Hare from Alice in Wonderland. Zina was all set - her aunt made her a fancy Queen of Hearts dress (also from Alice in Wonderland - I guess I was third wheel...)
After that, we walked in the cold to a Dollar Giant and bought some Halloween décor for my place. Then we had dinner at a franchise restaurant whose name I can't remember but it was okay and then we finally got back when it was dark and cold. The next day was my party. I was pretty stressed, though, partially because I had to hostess a party and partially because I felt like there wasn't enough time to tend to Halloween as well as get through all my homework on time. Needless to say, I didn't get much homework done that day. I decorated with fake cobwebs and spiders and this banner of blood that made it look like the apartment upstairs (if there were an apartment upstairs) had gone on a murderous rampage and the blood was seeping through the ceiling and down my walls.
Hiro, who dressed as an eggplant, came over and we walked to the University because there was a Halloween "Dinner and Pre-drinking" party at the Grad club. Hiro got beeped at by cars all the way to the University because everyone loved his costume. I didn't even dress up to go to the Grad club because I wasn't in the mood - because I was stressed. We met Peter and Zina at the Grad Club, but the party was not very good. Hardly anyone was there and it wasn't very well prepared or organized or decorated or anything.
Then we walked back home to my place and it got better. More and more people kept showing up (I had invited everyone in my program as well as all our TA's (four of them) in second year PhD). I think the maximum we had in my place at the same time was ten people. Everyone liked the apartment, so I was more comfortable once the party got going. We watched The Hangover, which was stupid and funny, and everyone was drinking except me, who had just a glass of wine at the beginning of the party. The only problem was that the buzzer wasn't working so I kept having to go downstairs to let people in, and sometimes they didn't have a cell phone so they'd give me an approximate time of arrival before they left home. It all added to the fun, though. And the party was pretty good until it started getting late. One person started feeling sick so he was getting ready to go home, but just before he left there was a projectile vomiting incident. It wasn't horrible, but it started all of a sudden and a few drops of red wine throw-up got on my carpet. Fortunately a bunch of the guests helped me clean it all up. Slowly and one by one the guests started leaving except for Zina and our TA's (two of them showed up). They didn't leave until 4:30am! OMIGOSH! And it was only because I was falling asleep on the couch and eventually someone said, "I think Selina wants us to go now." And I answered with something along the lines of, "Yes, please leave."
I finally got to bed at around 5am and then woke up at around 8:30am or so the next morning to clean up my place and erase all evidence of last night's horrors (the "blood" on the walls, the stain and dirt on the carpet, the "cobwebs" and plastic spiders, etc. I was thoroughly exhausted and had to spend the rest of the day at school doing homework -- fortunately, so did everyone else. Worse, though, I got pretty sick that day. The next day - Monday - I had a headache and a head cold. It felt like there was so much pressure in my head, and that made it very difficult to study for the midterm that was coming up on Thursday (Microeconomics -- the teacher has a reputation of making tricky midterms for that course). On Tuesday, Daddy drove all the way from Toronto to London just to see me for the couple of hours I had off that day. We had an early dinner together and he brought me firewood for my fireplace. I'm so grateful for that firewood and for getting to see Daddy because now I can sit in front of the fireplace in the evenings with roaring fire - so romantic and beauteous! - and I needed a touch of home in my life that day. Unfortunately, though, it did make me miss home and my family a lot, and I did feel slightly upset and lonely. The remainder of Tuesday and Wednesday were spent semi-studying, semi-panicking about the midterm, but we had last year's midterm to study from, and it seemed pretty reasonable, so that helped me feel slightly less insecure about the midterm. Thursday came and went. The midterm was the worst exam I've ever written in my life.

The Calm before The Storm

After having written last Sunday, the remainder of the day was dedicated to solving a Microeconomics assignment and a brief break. On Sunday afternoon, Hiro, Zina, Youngmin (another of our cohort members) and I walked from our office out to Alumni Hall (another building on campus) and attended a performance of the University of Western Ontario's student symphony which featured its Concerto Competition winner, a talented pianist named Timothy. The concerto, Saint-Saëns's Piano Concerto No.2, was superb! The orchestra and pianist put on quite a virtuoso spectacle. It made the follicles on my freshly-shaven legs stand on end, and everyone threw themselves up into a roar of applause and a standing ovation at the closing bar. I was impressed. I was particularly impressed because where the concert was hosted was not at all impressive. Where at UVic such a concert would have been hosted at the University Auditorium, with a gigantic stage and scenic backdrop (an organ), this one was hosted in what seemed to be a huge gymnasium with a stage at the front. There were also rows of theatre-like seats kind of across the gymnasium floor from the stage (so the gym floor was sandwiched between the stage and the rows of theatre-like seats). The gym floor was covered with bright blue plastic - perhaps to prevent the chairs that had been set up there from scratching the gym floor. We sat in those chairs because they were closest to the orchestra and the piano. Then the background on the stage was also somewhat bizarre. It was a large number of greyish panels that were straight across the back and kind of curved into the stage at the sides. And from the ceiling of the stage hung different colors of cloths, like banners, in various widths of trapezoids. It was all very tacky and unappealing and nonsensical. To say the least, it was a strange juxtaposition to the classical and romantic music we were going to hear. Before the concert started I thought to myself that UWO puts emphasis on its sports, and so when it has to host an artistic performance, it just does so in its sports halls. This must be the case, but it doesn't mean its art is poor. The orchestra was in fact very good, and the pianist - he was great! The only thing I can critique was the last piece that the orchestra played. It was Brahms' fourth Symphony and perhaps quite a challenging piece for an orchestra that had likely only been preparing together a couple of months. The opening section of the first movement had some strange-sounding areas and I'm pretty sure the violins were a bit flat, but it got better as it went along and finished with a bang. Overall it was a perfect break from a heavy week (and weekend) of work.
The rest of the week went by calmly but with growing, bubbling nerves in our stomachs because this upcoming week has two midterms: "Economic Mathematics" and "Econometrics" (which is really Statistics and Mathematical Statistic Theory right now). The upcoming week was supposed to have three midterms but our Microeconomics professor told us that that if we all reached a consensus, we could have the midterm moved to one week later, and finally the consensus was reached. Phew!
I went to a beautiful concert on Wednesday evening, too. It was the "London Orchestra" concert that was held at St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral downtown. It was beautiful and the main reason I wanted to go was because the performance was to include Mozart's Piano Concerto No.23, possibly my favourite (I don't know them all yet...) but that piece was the weakest on the program... at least in my opinion. There was too much reverberation in the piano's notes (perhaps due to the pianist, perhaps due to the acoustics of the cathedral) and the second movement was played perhaps a hair too fast for my liking. Still it was a treat, and we got student-rate tickets. This time I went with Hiro, Peter, and we met Sunghoon there (more people from my program). We actually claimed a pew as the Economics pew (among the four of us). When we left that evening it was raining and the sky was a dark, cloudy pink, colour. It was very romantic and stunningly beautiful.
Thursday was a difficult day. Who knows why? Perhaps it was the full moon. Everyone was feeling down and out, and nerves were perhaps flying high. But it got better as the day went along... as it usually does. Also, scholarship applications are still due. I'm late on my SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) application now. I'm frustrated about these applications being mandatory, too, because there is just not enough time to put a reasonable amount of effort into them right now. Midterms and other dire tasks (such as (i) assignment completion and (ii) personal upkeep) take priority. I also have started having brief episodes of homesickness. London is very beautiful and for the most part people are nice, but customer service still appalls me with its lethargy, unnecessarily long waiting times, and the people's listlessness towards clients (and possibly towards life). I shouldn't be so all-encompassing with those statements. Some representatives have been sweet and energetic and helpful, but not many. Also, I miss Victoria's unique, full-of-character coffee shops, its authenticity. Oh! And lest I forget to mention the ocean's absence. I must admit, however, though, the river is equally tantalizing to me... if only it weren't kept at such a distance by the various and many traffic bridges that pass over it. There's really no way of safely being close enough to feel its energy. And of course I miss being close to everyone or anyone who is close to my heart. Don't get me wrong. My cohort here is wonderful and I am very grateful to be part of such a friendly and intelligent and altogether fantastic group, but all that does not entirely make up for being unmistakeably distant from those whom I love and the city that will always hold a precious place in my heart.
My next midterm (Math) is on Monday, so I have to go study for that now, but I hope you have enjoyed my brief and perhaps not all too informative but honest entry for another week.
Until next time...

Thanks to ye men who invented such technology as dishwashers, contraceptives, and especially laundry machines, all of which allowed us women to leave home, continue having empty wombs past twenty years of age, avoid scrubbing and wringing our hands' skin off, and most importantly: thank you for giving us the freedom and time to explore the depth of our minds' potentials...

This week has been somewhat of an oddity. Perhaps partially because Monday was off, perhaps because it falls approximately half-way through semester (so does the upcoming one), perhaps because the weather changed abruptly to the crisp chill one would expect of Autumn, or perhaps just because. Anyhow, this week has been tough, and not just for me alone - a lot of people in my program were feeling the same way. Alas! Perhaps long weekends are bad?!
So, let's see... not that much worth mentioning happened this week. I discovered that the hot-water dispenser near our office outside does not dispense free hot water. They charge us $1 (plus tax) for hot water, to which I gave the poor lady at cash a polite but disapproving lecture on how at my "old University we had hot water dispensers all over campus and it was always free..." to which she replied she felt everywhere charged for hot water and asked me where I was from. So I told her I was from Victoria and my old University was the University of Victoria. She was sweet enough but she still charged me for the hot water, which is appalling. Water should be a right and so should warmth. Our office in the basement of the Social Sciences Centre building is always very cold, and particularly in the afternoons. And somewhere on some contract we had to sign to get the office spaces we agreed not to bring kettles into the office. That's perhaps what should have been my first sign that that students get a lot of abuse here. But no, it didn't send off any warning signals. This weekend did. Not only do we have four assignments due every week (including this past week), and a week from tomorrow our week of 3 midterms begins, and it is mandatory to hand in Scholarship applications for the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (due this past Friday - I'll get to that) and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Scholarship (due this upcoming Friday), but this weekend was almost a complete homework-write-off -- thanks to my lovely University, UWO. On Friday I had to prepare materials for the undergraduate tutorials I teach, then I taught 3 tutorial sections in a row, 12:30-3:30pm. Finally, I had a brief break - during which time I went to the grad club and socialized for maybe an hour. At 6:30pm I had to start preparing for a proctoring/invigilating session I had from 7-9pm, which really lasted past 9pm because after the undergraduate students have finished their exams, the proctors have to collect them, do some counting jobs, and take them back up to the professors. The first twenty minutes of proctoring were eternal. All we do is sit there or walk around watching students to make sure they don't cheat, etc. Then we started the walkabouts checking student cards and collecting signatures, and it started slowly feeling less long from there onwards.
I finally got home to scarf down some leftovers for dinner at around 10pm. Then yesterday, Saturday, I had two more proctoring sessions. Each one takes up about 3 hours of your day. So there went 6 hours of my Saturday. Those sessions didn't feel as long as the first - thankfully - but the last session was a mess. The last session was for the "Principles of Micro" first year undergraduate students -- those are the ones I hold tutorials for. Of course I only hold tutorials for a very small subset of those students, and the ones I was proctoring for were a new mix, but the professor and whomever else was in charge of the organization did a very poor job. We were about eight exams too short, the professor noticed this and then disappeared. Then I started scrambling around other classrooms (after the time the students were supposed to have started) trying to find more exams. The poor undergraduate students were mostly being very patient and understanding of the situation, but what a disaster show for their first midterm as undergraduates at UWO. We found a couple more exams here and there - from other nearby classrooms that were also proctoring the same exam. But then we were still short a few exams and we were also short on Scan-Tron sheets (bubble sheets for filling in the multiple choice questions so they can be sent through a machine and marked automatically). Then, 9minutes past when we were supposed to begin, the professor comes in. By this time only one person was missing an actual exam (a real personality disorder type person, too). Plenty of people were still missing Scan-Trons though. The professor came in carrying a huge pile of newly-photocopied exams. But there were about 20 page 1's in a row followed by 20 page 2's etc. all the way to page 18 of the exam booklet. So we had to madly race through this giant pile of papers trying to collate the pages into one complete exam booklet for the one student. The professor told everyone they could begin, now 13 min. past the start time. I never though so much could go wrong in the first 13min. of a proctoring session. We ended up allowing the necessary students to write down the answers to their multiple choice questions on scrap paper while we still scrambled to find extra bubble sheets. Finally everything was sorted and we could relax and just sit and watch the undergraduates like what is supposed to be the bulk of our responsibilities. The guy who was the last to begin - the one I mentioned I thought had some sort of personality disorder - kept putting up his hand to ask me sassy questions. I forgot to mention he wore his dark, shady aviator sunglasses the whole time during the exam. First, when he was the only person without an exam he asked me, "Can I just leave now and get 70%?"
"No."
Later he was asking me about a multiple choice question and said, "Any of these answers could be true under the right circumstances," which was actually not correct according to the economic theory he had been taught. He went on into some examples and I couldn't really say anything because I couldn't tell him what was right or wrong, but I just told him that if he had a problem with the question he would have to take it up with the professor (who was not in the room at the time) later. Another while into the exam he goes, "Can I go have a smoke?"
"No."
He already wreaked of smoke. My goodness. He left the exam early, too. I feel bad for whomever is teaching his tutorial classes... if he ever shows up.
During that proctoring session I also had to escort one undergraduate student to the washroom. The poor guy had just started, and about twenty minutes in he put up his hand and was embarrassed to tell me so but said he really had to go. I was proctoring with one other graduate student (a girl in fourth year PhD Econ), so she stayed watching the other students while I left the room with the one student.
And that's about it.
Now today is going to be dedicated almost exclusively to getting all my assignments done. But oh let me tell you about another mishap that happened this week. It was Thursday evening and I thought I would do some laundry - the towels. I went to the laundry room on my floor but the better of the machines was being used so I went down one floor and chose a machine there, hoping it would be better than the vacant machine on my floor. Maybe there is one good machine per floor? After I'd put my coins in and started the machine, a lady comes by and says some of the machines haven't been working that well lately. I thought, oh well, mine seems to be fine. I came back the "26 minutes" later to discover the spin cycle was what wasn't working well on my machine. I had to spend over twenty minutes wringing out my water-absorbent towels, each weighing about an extra 10lbs in water. Not only that - I got totally soaked while I was doing so. I had dreamed about wrapping myself in warm towels coming out of the dryer before I'd started, but now that dream had turned into a damp nightmare of tiresome wringing and wringing and wringing... My hands started feeling raw from the repetitive motions and the overexposure to water. In the midst of frustration and fatigue, I learned to appreciate our mothers' mothers and all their mothers before, who must have had skin like leather and patience of a thousand Buddahs, who sacrificed -- or perhaps never even saw -- their personal potential, for the pure purpose of making and keeping their families and their families' families. And it made me so grateful for laundry machines. I would have never made it in that era. My arms are too weak and my patience too short.
There is a brief happy ending for me, though: After 25ish minutes of wringing and another 65min. of the dryer's work, I finally achieved the long sought dream of wrapping myself in warm towels, fresh out of the dryer... Mmmm...

Summer in October

The weather in London has completely changed since my last posting. Of course, after the day I bought my umbrella, the sun has come out and is smiling radiantly all day every day. The past three days have had highs above 23 degrees Celsius, which is essentially late-June weather in Victoria - on a good day! I've been walking around pleasantly warm in my t-shirts and sandals, whereas before that I was wearing my Victoria-winter coat. I should have brought out the shorts yesterday! Of course, though, I'm always afraid the weather will spite me if I make such a decision and the wind will start blowing and give me terrible goosebumps.
The scenery in London is becoming ever so beautiful, too. The trees have been changing to all shades of crimsons, scarlets, burnt oranges, lemon-cream-pie yellows, and everything in between! The other day it rained huge droplets - holding entire worlds within them - as I was walking home from school (of course my umbrella was at home). But it wasn't even cold, and the sun was shimmering through the clouds- getting ready to set itself to sleep for the evening, and there was a gigantic rainbow in the East, and it made me smile and sent my spirits so high, even though there was a midterm coming up in a couple of days... and my mascara was running down my face and sticking to my sunglasses. And every time it rains the river swells with joy and bubbles and accelerates and laughs gratefully - because (due to some dam issues related to the city's council decision) it is generally lower and slower than it likes to be. I think I forgot to tell you that the other day when I had just crossed over the river, I was walking well on the sidewalk and I almost stepped on a little frog! I then turned around to observe it and tried to make it jump by tickling it with a strand of weed, but it just budged lethargically. That was a bit of a disappointment because I was really hoping it would take a tremendous hop - my adrenaline was even starting to pick up - like those little origami frogs that leap when you press on their bums.
Alright, so here is the long and long overdue update...



So it was Tuesday night two weeks ago (almost to the day). We were at school in tutorials until around 7pm. We had finished all our assignments but during our 5-6pm tutorial we realized that the Math assignment we'd completed -- which was due the next day (Wednesday) at 10am -- was done improperly. Alas! So Zina invited me and Hiro (our friend who is also in the program and is from Japan) to her place to have some dinner and work on finishing the math assignment. We were quite productive and successful in finishing the corrected assignment within just a couple of hours. Then Hiro and I went to wait for the bus outside at around 9:45pm or so. It was dark out, and the busses don't come very often - maybe one every half hour around that time of night. Anyhow, we didn't miss the bus, but the bus missed us! We were waiting for about 10 minutes and then I guess the bus driver was excited that no one was on his bus so he was speeding home for the night and didn't even see us! We waved at him when he passed by (we were kind of just around a curve in the road so we only saw him when he was already speeding past us). Unbelievable. Seriously: more evidence that customer service in London is appallingly awful.
So Hiro and I walked back to the university and then he walked me home and caught his bus - good timing - back to his home. He was very gentlemanly and didn't even let me walk on the traffic side of the road the whole night... which I turned out to appreciate particularly when a car drove by and splashed us and he shielded me with his left side, and then another time we were on the other side of the road and he shielded me with his right side from another car splash. Thank goodness he was at least wearing a raincoat. It wasn't raining when we were walking home but it had been pouring earlier, hence the road puddles and the splashing. We were walking for over an hour, but the night was beautiful and the walk was refreshing.


At the end of that week I had to give a quiz to the undergraduate students I teach in my tutorials. Throughout the week I was becoming frustrated with students asking me all the time what would be on the tutorial quiz, which I had announced clearly and repeatedly the week before. It was obvious that a number of students weren't showing up to my tutorials and were still wanting to be able to be fully informed about the mandatory and graded quiz that was coming up. So after replying to one too many emails asking the same question, I posted an announcement on our "WebCT" website (where I can post notes, announcements, etc.; it works as a supplement to the classes). It read as follows:

This is the first and last quiz for which I have replied or will reply to emails asking about what will be covered for the upcoming quiz. I made these announcements in class last week and if you were not attentive or were absent, you will have to deal with the consequences of finding out from someone else.
My email has been bombarded with questions regarding quiz coverage, so I am posting here that the quiz will cover Chapter 2 and what we covered in tutorial last week. That includes topics such as PPF, productive/allocative efficiency, trade and specialization, opportunity costs, marginal cost, marginal benefit, normative vs. positive statements, factors leading to economic growth, etc.
Again, I repeat, this is the last time I will be doing such a favour to people who were inattentive or absent. It is your responsibility to make it to the tutorials and thus know what will be covered in the quizzes. No exceptions.
Thanks and see you all Friday.

(Note my fancy use of HTML in indenting that paragraph above).
Reading over that again I realize I may have been a little harsh. They are, after all, first year students for the most part, and have only been attending a post-secondary institution for a few weeks. Still, I do realize that I may come off as very lenient and kind and tolerant, because I am petite and female and smiley. I wanted to give at least a slight impression that I was no personal, assigned aid. I realize that for a lot of those no-show students, you give an centimeter and they'll take a kilometer (to speak in Canadian terms), so - as one of my friends in my program puts it - I'm starting to rule my tutorials "with an iron fist." Ha!


On Friday evening last week, a number of us went to the grad club again for drinks. A lot of people had a lot of homework to do, though, including studying for a midterm on Wednesday (5 days away at the time). I didn't drink - I only had a Coke. Somehow, though, I ended up staying late talking to the second year PhD students. In particular I was trying to get our Math Tutorial (taught by one of the 2nd year students) switched from Tuesday evenings to Thursday evenings because our math assignments are always due the morning after the evening of the math tutorial, and that is inconvenient - as you can probably tell from my story earlier in this same post.
Well as it turned out I was the last 1st year (PhD) left there. I told them I also had to go and get to my homework, but they talked me into staying longer and I hung out and ended up talking to Andrew for a while the first time for more than a few minutes. He is the only other person in the program who is from UVic and is in his 3rd year of PhD now. The students are all very friendly and entertaining to talk to.
Andrew is 26 and I'm 24, and one of the 2nd year students, Brandon, was only 22 (just turned 23 last weekend). He asked, "How come everyone in Victoria takes so long to finish undergrad? Is it really the drugs?"
Haha... that's our reputation apparently. And it's funny because - I'm not sure if I've told you this yet but forgive me if I'm repeating myself - anytime I smell weed around here I kind of smile being reminded of home. And even though I've never smoked weed in my life and I usually begrudge it when I'm home, but living in Ontario has emerged in me sincere BC pride, and that includes pride over our quality marijuana.


Last week's midterm increased tension because it was in Macroeconomics, which has the longest assignments of all and the professor has the reputation of writing midterms so long that there is not enough time to complete them. But I prepared for three days, went in with confidence, and at least completed the midterm. I haven't received the marks back yet but I think it went decently.
Then we have 4 days off this weekend. We didn't have to teach tutorials on Friday - which was a treat because preparing for tutorials always takes a significant amount of time. Thursday was a great treat because I went to watch Ballet Jörgen. My friend Alyssa whom I hadn't seen in over seven years and who now dances for the company got me a pair of complimentary tickets and so Zina and I went to see "An evening of Contemporary and Classical Works" at London's "Grand Theatre," which is a beautiful spectacle. The curtain matches the chairs and all are made of deep red, velvetty velour. And the walls are decorated with small fake candles with small lampshades. It might sound tacky but it was actually classy and warm. And the show was a delight! I actually knew four of the girls dancing in the company, and it made me reminisce of my past life as a dancer. Alyssa was wonderful! And I remembered our many times dancing together - we were often partnered together because we were always the shortest. All my other friends in the company were also a delight to watch. I was also glad to be able to watch the show and not long for my dance days. Yes it brought back sweet and great memories, but it also put my current life in perspective. I realized how different my life has become and how I'm happy with it, too... despite having to give up my past life of grand jetés and pirouettes and artistic expression set to music...
On Friday my friend Zina and I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner at Zina's bachelor apartment. There were seven of us and a 9lb turkey, and apple sauce and cranberry sauce, and bread-pudding-like stuffing, and salad! It was delicious and very fun. Since then I've been working hard on homework and a proposal for a scholarship application due this Friday... and that's what I have to get back to now, so I hope you've enjoyed the current update and I hope I can write more soon.
Until next time, Happy Thanksgiving.

"We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch." ~John F. Kennedy

I'm sorry. I don't have time to update right now. I'm working on finishing a HUGE Macroeconomics assignment as well as a math assignment. And Macro midterm is this Thursday. I do have updates but they will have to wait! My apologies! It's been a topsy-turvy week: up and down and round and round and enough algebra that I fear it may be coming out my eyes and ears...
I will, however, add that the temperature in London has dropped comparably to the fall of the stock market around this time in '08. This past week was lovely and temperate, and even reaching about 21 degrees Celsius on a day or two. Then October 1 was this Friday. That was still alright weather-wise, but that night the temperature fell - almost as if the weather had had an afterthought, "Oh! It's October! Time to be cold!" And BAM! the atmosphere dropped to about 50% of it's original temperature. I went out and bought gloves today and an umbrella...

“Better keep yourself clean and bright. You are the window through which you must see the world.” ~ George Bernard

This week was so full of leisurely entertainment! They don't call the University of Western Ontario the "Party University" for nothing, I've discovered. On Monday, as I told you, we had the New Graduate Students party. On Thursday we had the Economics Department Annual Fall party at a beautiful estate with a heritage house on it. Friday there is the weekly reunion at the grad club bar/pub, where a number of professors and graduate students from all years get together to talk about Economics and other things... This was the first week I'd been to that particular event, but the main person who runs it wasn't there that day (Friday), so it was really just a couple hours of happy hour with our colleagues. There was also a party I didn't attend on Wednesday - it had to do with the Chinese holiday that celebrates the beginning of fall, as I understand it, and the first full moon of Autumn.
Thursday's party was a beautiful experience. It was catered with alcohol included, needless to say there was more than one person who drank perhaps a little more than was necessary. I was not included in that group. The weather was wonderfully cooperative. It was warm but not too hot. Even after the sun had gone down and it was perfectly dark outside, the atmosphere was above 20 degrees Celsius. And after the yummy dinner and desserts and tea had all been served, a group of us stood outside on the steps of the house leading to the lush garden and laughed and bound our time... And only one or two of the mosquitoes was fortunate enough to leave their mark on me.
I must interject here, though, and assure you that all minutes not spent in leisure this week - of which there have been several as well - have been spent either in class, working feverishly on homework problems, or tending to some necessary activity for survival, such as making food, eating, or keeping up personal hygiene.


This morning I slept in until 8:30am, having worked all day yesterday on difficult and sometimes unnerving homework. Yesterday also, I had a window replaced in my living area because the sealant wasn't very good so there was a lot of condensation gathering on it all the time. This morning was cloudy and misty and foggy. Looking out my window it seemed only a few trees were emerging from an eerie mixture of shades of white. My living room windows cover almost an entire wall; they consist of three large windows, one mid-sized window - the one that was replaced - and four sliding, smaller windows. I noticed that the new window was clean and made all the other windows look so dusty and shaded! So before even having breakfast I got out a cleaning rag and wiped down and scrubbed all my windows. I cleared them from a black film that had been plaguing their lustre. And then, almost as if by cue or by gratitude or by some metaphysical smile that the universe had cast on me for completing this small but significant chore, the clouds began to part. Somehow the sky changed and revealed its vibrant blueness. The clouds turned from omnipotent tyrants to decorative poofs, and sun streamed in to my abode as though it were beaming with joy. It was glorious!

I invite you all to clean your windows and invite the world in.

Quello ch'io provo vi ridiro, E per me nuovo...

The sun is setting on the first day of week two of gradschool classes. Camaraderie has really started to flourish as we all pull each other up and up to finish the first week's set of four assignments - one per course: Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Math, and Econometrics. They have each been a struggle and pursuit, but - as we were told by our professors and some upper-level students - we have grown closer as a group. Several of us met at the university yesterday to go over questions to assignments and help each other understand different concepts, as well as comparing answers, etc., of course. Yesterday was therefore very productive - thank goodness! The weekend was definitely filled with a lot of gibberish math such as "epsilon-neighborhoods" and "metric spaces" and "there exists and epsilon such that..." as well as the abominable algebra of gammas and betas that made up the majority of our Macro assignment.
Then today we had a couple of classes, as usual, and then a five (out of 16~ish) of us got together in the computer lab to code and write up one of the answers to one of our assignment problems, as well as talk about more assignment problems... It was great - everyone is generally cheery and helpful and a genuinely lovely person... okay maybe not everyone... but a great percentage... Then there was a first-years' grad party at the grad club pub/lounge that I went to. I mingled with a number of 1st-year-grad-students from different faculties and departments. It was interesting, but I must admit I feel most at home with the like-minded nerds from the Econ department - even though they all come from different backgrounds too: math, physics, finance/MBAs,... We had this (stupid) icebreaker name where we were given the name of someone in the room and had to find that person and make a group with them. The game was poorly organized, though, because for every person we found we needed to find that person's person-to-find... they weren't closed groups, is what I'm trying to say. So once we had about five people in a group we were supposed to sit down, but then no one was really sure who was first to have found their group, who was second, etc. It was really messy and we were supposed to be competing for whom could go serve themselves from the buffet first, but people just stopped listening to the MC and went to serve themselves, myself included.
The entertainment was strangely selected. It was a beautiful girl who came from who knows where to sing two arias while we were having dinner. She sang the Habanera from Bizet's "Carmen" and Mozart's famous Figaro aria, "Voi che sapete." It was the oddest setting in which to hold such a classic and elegant performance. The guy in my group sitting across the table from me was laughing (I'm not sure if it was at the operatic performance or - more probable - at the juxtaposition of her voice with the our noisy, pub-like behaviour. A lot of people could not care less that she was singing or that she wasn't using a microphone. They kept chatting and drowning her out. She was a good singer, too. I felt for her, and I spited the unappreciative, disrespectful crowd of graduate students. You'd think since we are striving for a higher level of education we'd be more sensitive to finer things in life, but apparently rowdy socializing is more important...
Anyhow, now I'm home and I need to finish my math assignment. That is my update for tonight.
Oh! And in case you were wondering, the title today are a part of the lyrics from Mozart's Aria that the girl sang. They mean, "I'll tell you what I'm feeling, It is for me something new..."

Highlights of Week 1

This was the first week of actual Economics gradschool-level (i.e. non-review) classes. The schedule isn't bad, actually. Mon-Thurs we have class 10-11:30am, then lunch break, then class 1-2:30pm. On Mondays & Wednesdays it's Math & Econometrics; on Tuesdays and Thursdays it's Microeconomics & Macroeconomics. Then on Tuesday and Thursday evenings we have two tutorials : 5-6pm & 6-7pm, all of which were either cancelled or very short this past week.
So nerves are quivering a little more this week than they have been the past several weeks. I've survived without many scratches or bruises, though. There was one heart quaking occurrence this week, though. It happened so quickly... I was going in to one of the school's washrooms and I placed my lunch bag on a shelf in the washroom (outside the stalls), and as I was turning towards the stall I heard a rolling sound and looked back just in time to realize the bag wasn't well centered and my beautiful favourite mug that I'd painted with my dear and very distant friend - Andrew - was mid-air and on it's way to the hard floor and then in an uncountable number of pieces... And I froze in disbelief... I didn't know what to do, it's like I couldn't believe it! Well what else was there to do. There's not much more alarming and shocking to the heart than a treasured mug full of memories crashing and turning into loud shards right before your eyes... and that was my second such experience since my leaving Victoria (for experience #1 see my first entry, in August). I got out three long pieces of paper towel and wrapped up the shards carefully and gingerly. I've decided I'm going to make an art piece out of it to go on my all-too-bare walls... when I have the time... 3-D art...

We got an assignment from each of our classes for the week, and we were told we'd be getting one per class per week for almost every remaining week of the semester. So assignments here I come! Today a bunch of us are meeting at school to go over things, so that should be helpful.
What else? On Friday I had my first three tutorial classes. That means I stand in front of a class of about 25 undergraduate students at a time (3 times on Friday) for about 50min. each time and do examples and run discussions on topics they've covered in class. We'll see how things go. This week we graduate students were told we wouldn't have to cover any actual material in the first class. My first class was full of engineers taking Econ as an elective. Interestingly, the second tutorial class had hardly any engineers and a lot of varied people - lots of business students, same with the third class, which also included a few students from Vancouver (no conflict of interest, I promise, but it was soothing to know they came from close to my home home). So the first class was fine and I let them go early after getting each of them to introduce themselves and also introducing myself and my tutorial. The second class, however, was a completely different story. I got to the room early (because it was right beside the classroom of my first tutorial and I'd let them out early). And one of the girls - before we started - asked me a question about something in her notes. I couldn't exactly figure out what she was talking about (she had a thick accent and her notes were very incomplete because apparently the professor for whom I am a TA (teacher assistant) goes very fast). So a couple of minutes later someone showed me in the textbook what the notes were about and then I was able to figure it out. But then I got BOMBARDED with questions from the second group of students. Where the first group had been quiet and a little shy - nervous even, perhaps - the second was rowdy and chatty. The third group was somewhere in between.
I had worn heels on Friday in order to try and achieve authority through increased height. I'm not sure it was entirely effective, but it was effective in giving me terrible foot cramps and calf cramps. My friend Zina who takes all the same first year Econ classes with us but is actually doing a PhD in Finance (she's in the faculty of Business) invited me to the Faculty of Business grad students reception which started at 3 (just a bit before my last tutorial finished). I ended up having to sit on a ledge eating yummilicious food 'cause I couldn't bear the pain or fatigue of standing on my heels any longer. I met one professor who had just moved to London after having lived in Victoria for 3 years ~ that was very interesting! Also, I saw a guy I'd seen during that seminar of lectures on how to be a good TA (the lecture during which I had asked how to come up with a good discussion topic when you're trying to teach functions and graphs...) His name's Matt and he's from Germany. Zina and I started talking to him and he said he's going to let us know about a salsa dancing club that his friend runs at the university, so that could be fun... we'll see how much time we have to keep our noses out of books in the next little while.
I guess that's most of my highlights for this week... there's been many hours of grumbling over assignments, but I think most of them are on the verge of being done. Oh! I watched a movie last night: "Coco avant Chanel." It's okay. I wouldn't recommend it, not my favourite Audrey Tautou movie. Also, Blockbuster's is a frickin' ripoff. Movies are far too expensive to rent there and I spite them for it.
Alright that's all for now! Off I go to try and finish the last of my assignments!

"may my heart always be open to little/ birds who are the secrets of living..." ~e.e. cummings

may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know
and if men should not hear them men are old

may my mind stroll about hungry
and fearless and thirsty and supple
and even if it's sunday may i be wrong
for whenever men are right they are not young

and may myself do nothing usefully
and love yourself so more than truly
there's never been quite such a fool who could fail
pulling all the sky over him with one smile

~ e.e. cummings



I woke up this morning at 6am, before the sun arose from her golden chambers to ride her red and pink beams' chariot across the sky. I had been dreaming of my Mosta, my beloved lovebird who passed away just over two months ago now. It was so realistic in my dream: his character was perfect, his chirps and his neediness and his expression and his lovely yearning to be close to me - it was all there... and then someone in my head or in my dream or who knows what told me to accept that he was gone and that it was no longer the way it had been... And that basically hurt a lot and I figure that's perhaps why I woke up at 6am... missing my bird.
I would love to tell you that the positive thing about waking up so early is that I got to sit on my couch in front of my huge window, eating warm toast and drinking milked tea watching the sunrise... but dark blue clouds hid away the mistress sun, and I could only catch mere glimpses of her vibrant cloak from behind the fluffy smokiness of the foreground.
I walked to school listening to The Swan and thinking of my Mosta, and when I crossed the river on the overpass I stood leaning over the railing, looking down at the water and its wilderness. There are so many interesting birds here. There are at least two different types of yellow ones - I've mentioned this before without so much detail. Some are the colour of buttercups, others are more the light shade of a baby chick. None are quite the vibrant yellow that my Mosta was, but as I looked down at all the different types of birds living their little birdy lives by the river, I noticed each had a unique personality, and that is what makes them so precious! A few of them were standing on little stones that peeked out from the river's waters, and the birds would dip their beaks into the cool stream and then lift their heads on an angle to let the water drip down into their bodies. And again. And one little bird liked to displace the others. He would fly right on top of the stone where another would be standing, and that bird would have to fly away because there was not enough room for more than one, despite the small sizes. There were robins, too. They looked so large next to the other sparrows and yellow ones. And there may have been a pigeon. The pigeons here have finesse and a ladylike beauty. They're prim and poised... not like those fat, ungraceful ones that eat garbage off overpopulated city streets ~ although they too have their own unique allurement and charm.
One thing I've noticed about the birds here compared with in Victoria is the lack of crows. They simply aren't around, whereas in Victoria they abound! Interestingly enough, there are London seagulls, or, as I call them, far-from-the-sea-gulls. You might not believe it but a little part of me misses those black-feathered birds with their confident struts and their indifferent caws. And the swallows... possibly my favourites, with their fearlessness and their amazing speed and agility. They slice through the air with their sharp wings and they are so daring and free, and it seems to me they fly not just because they can but for the pure enjoyment of it.

Some day I'll fly with the birds...

What is in a name? Why call it "London"?

Yesterday, September 11th, 2010, marks one month since my arrival to London. The time seems to have passed by without too much a scrape or a spatter. It has been an expensive month and an exciting month, with lots of new and special experiences. I miss Victoria only minutely and only for specific things: The ocean, the rabbits at UVic, the organic hot chocolate from the Solstice Café, the uniqueness and amplitude of quaint little coffee shops and cafés in general, the customer service (atrocious here in London), and of course my dear friends and my beloved family.
This Saturday and Sunday were not so productive as had been my Friday -- perhaps it's because the bulk of my homework is done. I have to write a research proposal for a mandatory scholarship application. I dread those things because they're very big-picture and also the whole "scholarship application" turns it competitive. But after a few hours of struggling I got pretty excited about the possibilities of research. My research proposal's rough draft is now well developed and gratefully something that excites me, even if nothing will actually emerge from it...
Yesterday I felt cooped up in my apartment trying to write this proposal for so long, so I decided I had to find a good coffee shop where I could feel less isolated and treat myself to a specialty drink, too. I started looking for a coffee shop in London that was an easy bus ride away from my house and that had good reviews, but one I checked - called "Central Perk" like the coffee shop on "Friends" and which is cute because it's on Central Avenue - closed at 1:30pm on Saturdays (didn't open on Sundays). Then, online, there was a HUGE list of about 50+ Tim Horton's, not really the type of coffee place I was looking for... There's also a few William's Coffee Pubs which are perhaps comparable to Tim Hortons, perhaps worse since they serve Lipton teas... What a failure on the internet search!
So I decided to catch a bus downtown and search for a coffee shop for myself. I brought my laptop with me so I could write up my proposal and use the internet if need be. I ended up going to a café I'd been to with Daddy when he was here; it's called Coffee Culture. I ordered a chai latté and a Healthy Harvest muffin, both pretty good and spicy, but also too sweet. I sat in a comfy, red faux-leather chair next to a window that looked out onto a plain white wall that appeared to be under construction or renovation. The natural light was pleasant, though, and there was a little boy - probably only 2 years old - with a family in front of me: he was dancing to the quiet music of the café. It made me smile. And in that red chair was where I began to fall for my proposal, for the possibilities of research, for graduate studies...

I was at the café for a few hours. The flame had been lighted and I was feeding it. At around 6pm, though, I figured it was time to get home and get some dinner. I missed the bus by a few minutes, and I got caught in the rain! And it was beautiful, and I thought in this wet decor is when Canadian London must really resemble London, England... and perhaps that is where the name comes from... Then again, if that were the reason, perhaps they should have named Victoria London as well.

So this is it--my last night of calm for a long time, or at least that is what I am expecting. So I hope I will have a few minutes to write up little updates in the weeks to come, but just as a warning... I might not have as many or as long entries from now on. School does take a priority.
Thank you for reading! xoxo

"I'm not really a waitress"

This week was only three days long if we're counting the days I had to be at school. We had Monday (Labour Day) off and today was off for "Rest and Relaxation" before the beginning of our actual classes, instead of just the review classes we've been having these past three weeks. The days this week were long, though, and there was lots to do. Hump day just about finished me off!
Monday we had two hours' microeconomics class followed by two hours' break, followed by two more hours of microeconomics class (back-to-back, basically). Then we had a book discussion on what a book called "The Soulful Science," of course referring to Economics. I finished the book 3 weeks ago and so not a lot of things were fresh in my mind, but I did note how I did not appreciate the author (Diane Doyle, a female economist) when she semi-criticized the "difficult mathematics" involved in certain economic models and referred to these as "macho mathematics." She referred to them as such on two separate occasions, several pages apart, which suggests that there's something strongly masculine about involved calculations and/or mathematical theory. Of course, I said this to a group of 12 men. I was the only female around, so I added, "Well, I guess it is a male-dominated field... apparently..." (eyes shifting around the room). I got a couple of chuckles; I don't think they fully appreciated my disgust. I actually had to start the discussions because I randomly chose a spot in the room - we were seated (in chairs) in a circle in the faculty lounge. Of course I randomly chose the spot next to the professor who was beginning all the questions, so of course he turned to me every time he was passing on the question to us 1st-year-PhD students. After 1.5 hours of that, we all went down to the Grad Club to continue discussing economics and perhaps a little bit of the book. There we had free beer. Two of the profs sat next to me and ordered two pitchers for all of us (our group was only about half as big now that we'd moved to the grad club): one light, one darkish. The prof sitting next to me picked up my glass and asked, "Which would you like?" It's almost 6pm by this time and I hadn't had dinner. I said, "Whichever. I usually drink BC beer but..." and then the professor sitting next to him (who is my Macroeconomics professor) said, "Oh! This is BC beer - it's from the Okanogan. It was the darker beer. They poured me a glass and I got all nostalgic and - since I hadn't eaten anything since lunch - slightly drunk. It was a lot of fun, though. Everyone there is very passionate about Economics and was vocal about it, too. And I felt proud that here in Ontario -despite the rumours of there being frictions between the Eastern side of Canada and the Western side (particularly perhaps the West Coast), Ontario academics drink BC beer -straight from my home province!
What really made this week difficult for me was the Macroeconomics homework which I could barely get through. It was due Thursday, and on Wednesday I ended up having to approach my professor, who was indeed very helpful and even somewhat reassuring (despite his constant reminders to all of us 1st-years of how difficult this year is going to be for us due to our heavy workload). It was somewhat comforting that I'd gotten a bit further than I thought I had for one question, and another question was just a matter of knowing the algorithm of steps to follow, or at least knowing where to begin... but if only I'd known that before so many hours of staring from the question sheet back to my scribbles and scratches on my worksheet, and then back again...
I managed to get all my homework done, though - hoorah!
Wednesday and Thursday were TA (Teaching Assistant) Days. We sat in seminars where professors talked to us for 1-2 hours at a time about how to be good TA's for the undergraduate students, and how valuable we are to the university through these positions, and how to "Prepare! Prepare! Prepare!" for tutorials, and expectations we can have of the students, and expectations they can have of us, and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah! It was a colossal waste of time and terribly dull. I am pretty excited to start teaching tutorials to the students, though (that begins one week from today).
Last night (Thursday), after a full day of talking about responsibilities and details of being a TA, I arrived at home exhausted. I did manage to take a trip to the mall, though, and I bought a faux silk duvet cover at a very good price, and some delectable fleece sheets for my bed. I also bought myself a bar of chocolate, but that was a spontaneous self-indulgence. Then I rented a movie! I was in Blockbuster for about 45 min. trying to choose one, but I finally decided on one called, "A la folie, pas de tout," ~ a French movie, translated in English as, "He loves me, he loves me not..." the "crazy" part ("folie") in the French title is ever more perfect, though. It was a movie with Audrey Tautou, and though the first 40min. or so were weird and made me feel like maybe I should just not rent movies anymore, the rest of the movie turned it all into a masterpiece - so artistic and unique and perfect. It really was a piece of art unfolding as a movie. I highly recommend it to everyone and anyone.

Today was wonderfully successful and productive. I woke up early and went to the farmer's market in the parking lot of the mall next to my place. I bought some bell peppers and some apples. I came back home and did some more homework (Micro) and finished that, then I cleaned a bit, did some laundry, then I set off to the university to hand in my homework and buy some books. I bought all my books, even though I plan on ordering several of them online. Then I went to a pedicure I had booked. It was so lovely! I got a great student discount and the beautician gave me lots of time and my feet have never been treated so luxuriously before! And then I asked her to paint them this delicious, ripe red colour, pearly in its lustre. It was OPI. I asked her what the name of the colour was.
"I'm not really a waitress."

I love my father as the stars - he's a bright shining example and a happy twinkling in my heart. ~Terri Guillemets

So I guess I have a lot of updating to do.
Well, while my dad was here we drove to Toronto one afternoon to visit my sister Andrea and my nephew (her baby) Nathan. We sat on the patio outside and had a yummilicious dinner. The weather was perfect - warm and bright and not humid... The drive home was in the dark, but thankfully I had my laptop with me. I had to revise a paper I'd submitted to The Arbutus Review, and it had been reviewed and returned to me with critiques and comments. The revised version was due Monday (it was actually due Tuesday but I wanted to make sure I'd be done Monday... and this day I'm telling you about that we went to Toronto was Saturday). So, thanks to my beloved laptop, I sat in the car listening to Beatles music (from my laptop) and revising my paper, all the way home! I think if you really need to get some work done and you can do it on the road, sit in the passenger seat of a 2hr+ car ride in the middle of the night (so as not to have the outdoor view as a distraction), and do it on your laptop. On second thought, an empty room with maybe just a little bit of music but no windows or internet access would suffice, too... :)

Well when Daddy dropped me off at home that evening, he decided he would take the vacuum cleaner back to his hotel. Just in case you don't remember or haven't read earlier posts, the vacuum cleaner I mean is one that I'd bought from a lady - a mom at that - who had told me it worked excellently and to contact her if I ever needed anything, etc. Well, the vacuum didn't (and doesn't) work, and so I had emailed her right away (I didn't have her phone number), and she had emailed back saying they were going on vacation but that they would contact me when they got back. That was over a week before Daddy arrived, so I figured they were just not going to contact me and hope I'd give up on trying to contact them...
Anyhow, Daddy said he would inspect the vacuum when he got back to the hotel, which is on the opposite end of town (about 25min. drive away), and let me know if whatever was wrong with it was remediable. The next morning he called me and told me what was wrong with the vacuum: The bottom part of the attachment that is for carpets (with the roller) wasn't turning properly because of an elastic band that had snapped off and couldn't be snapped back on. He had had to take the vacuum apart. So he said I could still use all the other attachments but that one would have to be replaced. He was still at the hotel when he called and he said he'd be heading over to see me soon.
A little while after we hung up, I got a call from the vacuum lady. She told me I could return the vacuum and get my money back if I wanted, so I was very excited and arranged a tentative time frame for the exchange to occur. I tried to call Daddy to ask him to bring the vacuum but he'd already left. When he got to my apartment I asked him, "Do you have the vacuum?" and explained that I'd be able to return it and get my money back. He smiled in an oopsie-daisies sort of way and told me that he'd thrown out the bottom roller attachment that was broken... and told the cleaning lady to get rid of it for him. Well that was great... He also waltzed in with a new vacuum cleaner that he'd bought for me, but I rejected it because it was one of those big, heavy ones that are exhaustingly difficult to push around a carpeted floor and it had a big bag, which is also a disadvantage because then you not only keep all that dirt within your home, but you also have to replace it every few months, and that's added costs. Call me a princess, but I have strong reasoning behind my preferences.
So we had to go return that vacuum, and we got a bagless one which was only somewhat more expensive and so much better - thank you Daddy!! He also got me a printer -- thank you Daddy!!
So after we'd gotten some lunch downtown (very yummy!) we went back down to the hotel -- on the other side of town, as I've said -- to try and recover the piece of vacuum that had been discarded. Daddy ended up having to go plead to the cleaning ladies and got it out of the trash, covered in dust, so I could return it to get my cash back. Then we had to drive all the way back to my area of town (another 25-30min. in the heavy traffic of London) to return the vacuum to the lady. Then it took another long while just to find her address because she had two numbers (she lived in a kind of town-house-complex sort of thing) and I couldn't understand her directions properly! Anyhow, we finally got the vacuum back to her and she returned me the money, as planned. Success! What grief we had to go through, though. At least I don't have to figure out what to do with that non-working piece of plastic + suction technology anymore.
So that was basically it! My dad left early the next morning. We had a quick breakfast together and then he dropped me off at school. And now my home was just about entirely complete!
The rest of the week is basically as you can predict... classes, classes, classes, homework, homework, homework. I met my revised-paper submission deadline, and so if all goes well my past year's research in Statistics will be published in October for The Arbutus Review's (UVic's new interdisciplinary, online magazine) first volume!

This weekend I bought a few frames for putting up pictures that I've had lying around for too long (using my new computer I printed out a picture of me and Mosta- my beloved lovebird who passed away almost 2 months ago now). I also bought nails for putting them up on my all-too-bare walls. So then I got home, but I didn't have a hammer... Chelsea (my roommate) has one but she was away for the weekend. I was somewhat impatient about getting my pictures framed: The frameless walls were starting to look asylum-like. So I thought, "What can I use as a hammer?"
And voila! I spotted my hairbrush. So I went around my room hammering away at the nails and putting the pictures up, and I'm glad to say the hairbrush worked like a charm! My home is every day more homey!

Well, that is about all my news worth telling so far. School is still quite busy. I have a lot of homework. Thank goodness it's Labour Day weekend. I still have a lot of Macroeconomics homework to figure out, but I hope you've enjoyed the update! My apologies for having let so much time slip in between my entries lately. I hope even when the schooling gets very busy I can at least write a few lines!

And so the semester begins

Alas! It has been a busy week, and I haven't written in a week! I apologize. My review classes have kept me very occupied (math and probability/stats last week, some macro- and microeconomics this week). There are approximately 17 people in my class, 2 of which have yet to arrive to Canada ~ they're coming in from Korea. I think almost everyone - besides myself and one or two other people - has more than one degree. Master's in this, Master's in that (a lot of Math and some Engineering or Physics degrees), MBA, one even has a PhD in math already and is going for his second PhD, I suppose. I guess it's a very ambitious group, and I'm one of the youngest of the 1st-years in the program, but only by a few years I think. There are 3 girls, including me. There's one other one in the Economics degree with us, and the other girl is in Finance, but the 2 finance students have to take all the same core (1st year) courses with us. I've basically just made friends with the finance students and a little bit with some of the other ones. Everyone is very amiable. The professors, too, are a great bunch. They're relatively young - under 45 and many under 40 I would say. The math is hardly a review class - there is a lot of analysis-type material involved, which I'm not very used to, but after working through the problems and realizing I'm perhaps a little more apt than I give myself credit for, I felt better.
My roommate arrived on Wednesday, and it's been great to have her around. She's so cheerful and lovely, and the apartment is much less empty-feeling and lonely with her here.
There have been a few gatherings of the grad students and faculty from the Econ department recently. Last week we had a kind of inauguration dinner and drinks on Monday, and then a mini-golf afternoon (which I didn't go to), and a pizza party at a couple of the professors' house (they're married). It was fun! Chelsea (my roommate) and I picked up some colored chalk for the kids and we drew flowers and a bird on the pavement.
My father came to visit for the weekend: Friday-Monday (today). I'll have to write more later though, because it's bedtime! :) I promise next entry will be more detailed.
~Selina

My backpack's back!

On Friday night I got a call from Purolator telling me that a package for me had arrived. They asked me if I'd be available during the day on Monday so that they could drop it off.
"It depends what time on Monday," I said, "Because I have school that day."
The lady on the phone went on to tell me that any particular time could not be confirmed. "What about Tuesday?"
"Same thing..."
So anyhow she told me she could leave it at a receiving centre which is about a 2.5km walk west of where I live (bus only goes about 1km west on that road) for tomorrow, Saturday. Perfect. She gave me a tracking number and I was so excited to head out tomorrow to find my package of new or repaired backpack.
So Saturday came and in the late morning I headed west to find the backpack. I finally found the shopping area where it should have been and assumed it was in a Shopper's Drugmart because those typically tend to have Post-Office-like-businesses within. There wasn't one in that Shopper's though, but I had to go around within the store to get back out (one-way doors only), and apparently Shopper's was celebrating something so there was cake out in the middle of the store, so I had a yummilicious piece of cake and walked out.
The "PostNet" I was supposed to get to was only a one minute walk from the Shopper's, and there was one lady in front of me talking to a customer service rep when I got in. Another man came from the back in the typical-London-customer-service-with-no-energy-or-enthusiasm sort of way, and asked to help me out. I don't think he'd ever smiled in his life... and he was about 55 or over! From when I asked him what I was looking for he started looking all clueless. Then he started scooting in beside his coworker while she was on the phone to try and use her computer. She snapped at him, "Can you just wait?!"
So he walked away and went over to a different computer (I don't know why he didn't just try using that one the first time). Then he asks me for my tracking number and as it turns out... it's on the other end of town... waaaay south. And I look all perplexed and told him that I was told it'd be delivered "HERE, TODAY!" And he shrugs and tells in an ordinary what-can-I-tell-ya? sort of way. And then the other coworker, who was still on the phone calls my name and I turn around so confused because how would she even know my name? Anyhow, it turns out she was talking to that receiving centre (on the other side of town where my package was) and the mentioned me and wow! I just happened to be there at the exact time the lady from the other centre was talking to the lady from this centre.
Well it gets even better. I told them I didn't know how to get to the other centre and asked if I could get there by bus, but then the other customer in the store told me she would give me a ride because for a completely different reason, she had to go there too (she was missing some important information to send off some documents and so they could only do it from the main distribution centre... way down south... where my backpack had been mistakenly dropped off).
So we took the 25min (or so) drive down together. We talked about London and about Victoria and Vancouver. One of her daughters is moving to Vancouver in September. She was a very sweet lady.
We finally got there and I got my package and my backpack was inside - repaired - yay! And she got her documents mailed off. By this time it had started raining like crazy in London! My first rainy London experience! The lady was even sweet enough to drive me back to my own place - probably about 5-10min out of her way because she was from the North, too, but what a day! It was fantastic, and I didn't even get her name...
So my backpack's back! :) And I'm thrilled!
And that was the highlight of Saturday.

Weekend day #2: Sunday (yesterday)
My bed arrived at around 10:30am! Omigosh was I ecstatic! I couldn't stop smiling and belly-flopping on it! I was delirious with excitement! And then about 15 min. after the delivery guys had left, I got a phone call from the Bell cable guy, who was supposed to set up my cable that morning. He showed up twenty minutes later and I was still bouncy with excitement. But as soon as he stepped into my apartment he goes, "Uh oh..."
I was so surprised. I couldn't have the slightest idea of what could possibly be wrong with me apartment in the eyes of this cable-install personnel. "Uhoh?"
"Umm..." and he strode through my apartment past the living area and out to the deck. He spent about a minute or two on the deck looking around upwards, sideways, etc. Then he came back in with an uncomfortable and oopsie-daisies look on his face.
I returned him a questioning glance and asked him, "Is something wrong? Is there something wrong with my place?"
And he goes, "Ya, you're East facing. You can't receive a signal."
Omigosh! What? No signal? I can't have cable? So Bell can't serve anyone who is East facing only? Isn't that like 25% of the population? So many things were going through my mind! I was too shocked to be angry or upset, but I managed to put it all away to ask, "What are my options?"
He replied, "Honestly... Rogers," which, if you don't know, is their rival company.
What could I say? He left with an apology. I already have internet through Bell, though. What am I supposed to do now?
So I went back to the mall and returned the "All-In-One" kit that I'd required for TV cable installation. All-in-one my foot!!! And the guy who has been helping me almost every time I go in said, "Omigoodness! God just really doesn't want you to have TV!" (I can't remember if he actually said 'God' but it was something along those lines). So we laughed about it and that was good, but I'm definitely in a sticky spot now because I already have my internet with Bell, and my installation fee for that is non-refundable, but if I get only cable with Rogers, I have to pay an installation fee for that... whereas if I get cable+internet with Rogers then they waive the installation fees... I still haven't made a decision on what I'm going to do. I do prefer Bell over Rogers just due to past history and experience, but I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. I don't want to spend a single day more without internet either...
Alas alas alas!
Anyhow, I have to go to school now, so hopefully next time you hear from me you'll here all the wonderful news of how great my first day was! *knock on wood*

“Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.” ~ Henry Rollins

As I told you yesterday, I'd been feeling lonely since my familiar friend had to leave early the morning before last. The absence following his presence alerted me to how long I've been here already without familiar friends, without anyone ~ aside from, of course, the ephemeral visits of first my mother and then Matthew, and aside from also my brief encounter with Ayva. It has only been almost two weeks since my departure, but that is a long time without familiar faces when you come from a city where the next non-stranger is likely to be just across the street, just around the corner, or just getting off the bus... And for me those common findings were such the norm that I didn't even think anything of them, having grown up in the city for 19 years (The first 5-ish years being in Vancouver). Actually, to me sometimes the unlikeliness of going out without running into a non-stranger became irritating and a nuisance. But how quickly I have realized the loneliness that comes without the non-strangers at every stop, and mainly without the familiar friends to reach when spirits are perhaps flying a little lower than usual. I think yesterday was particularly difficult not only because my familiar friend had recently left but also because it was a Friday night. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the kind of person who has to go out every Friday night - or any night of the week for that matter, but I could almost feel London's energy and excitement growing for the coming weekend, and I didn't feel a part of it. Besides the fact that my every day is about as busy or non-busy as my last (there is currently no bell-curve-like shape to my levels of stress or responsibilities), who would I be celebrating a week's end with, when I know no one well enough?

Well let me let you know I found a solution to the problem of loneliness, perhaps even sadness in general. I must acknowledge and accredit here, though, a very beautiful person in my life who was my counselour throughout some particularly stressful times last year. I'm not sure how she would feel about my advertising her name freely on the internet. So I will just call her M (not because her name begins with an M but because with her first and last names combined, M is the mode of the letters - the most frequently occurring letter, for those not familiar with statistics jargon... although 'frequently occurring' may also be statistics lingo, I'm not sure). Anyhow, she always made me tell her of something feasible, realistic, and concrete that I could and would do for myself to show myself that I was taking care of me and that I was here for me. And maybe some people who read this would be laughing at the idea, but it frickin' works, if you take it seriously, and if you can find what that special something for yourself is at the time. For me last night... I gave myself a pretty fantastic date. We (myself and I) rented a movie, made dinner, bought a piece of chocolate cake for dessert, and drank wine. Deep, dark, red wine from Ontario (BC's tastes better to me, but I am adjusting). The movie was only mediocre. It was "Love in the Time of Cholera," and I've just finished the book a couple of months ago. The movie went all too quickly through important parts, cut out too much, and didn't give me the sense that years and years were passing by, which was critical to the storyline. Furthermore, the main actress who played Fermina hardly seemed to have aged, where as at some points Florentino seemed to have aged too much too soon. But moreover, the beauty of the book was not so much in the storyline itself but in the way Gabriel Grarcía Márquez writes, adds powerful subtleties, and makes you feel as though you are passing through the character's lives, feeling the extent of time and the lovers' emotions - happiness, pain, patience - for yourself. None of that was reflected in the movie. Despite all that, though, I had such a great evening! And by the time I was brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed, the feelings of loneliness weren't even a memory anymore, they had passed entirely.
So there you go, that is the cure to loneliness - company from your own heart.

Vacuums and visits and vroom-vrooms, oh my!

Wow I've really fallen off the writing wagon the past few days, haven't I? Well I sincerely apologize but I do have a few good excuses. One is that that I've been very busy still trying to get little pieces of my home together. In doing so I purchased a used vacuum advertised online. I wrote several emails back and forth with the seller, asking if it was good on carpets and double checking that it had an attachment for carpets. The seller kept assuring me that yes, it worked excellently on carpets and had the roller required for carpet vacuuming. Well they dropped the vacuum off on Tuesday and I was excited to be able to cross one more thing off my list. The lady was from Mexico and she spoke to me in Spanish. She said it was in perfect condition and the only reason she was getting rid of it was because her husband bought her a new one. She said, "If you have any problems just contact me."
I went upstairs with it and tried it and it worked well for about 2 min. but then every time I rolled the vacuum out and away from me (so it was on an angle instead of perpendicular), the motor would turn off and it wouldn't vacuum anything, and you can only attach the non-carpet attachments to the hose, it seems... so that means hard to reach places don't become any easier to reach and the non-carpet floor becomes a pain to do. And then I further realized that the cord-recoil button wasn't functioning either. I was pretty upset because she had assured me and reassured me so strongly about the functionality of the vacuum, and I believed her. And I started thinking how there should be a camaraderie between us Latin people and in particular Latin women, and how disappointing it was that there isn't... at least it didn't feel like there was any at that time. I wrote them an email right away (I didn't have their phone number, they only had mine and had called a couple of times but I don't have caller ID on my phone). I checked numerous times during the day for an email in my inbox, but to no avail.
The rest of that day was pretty crummy too mainly due to atrocious and inexcusable customer service. I got my cell phone exchanged because there were just things about the last one (a Samsung) that I couldn't get used to. Lines everywhere were so long, even though there were three people working at the phone kiosk!
Well I finally got a phone replacement - this one is a PINK Motorola, and the girl who sold me the first phone had mentioned it was available but I wanted to try the Samsung... and then when I came back the guy who worked there told me there was no other phone like the one I was looking for, and he said it with such certainty, but then I came back later and the girl I'd talked to before was there too and she straightened things out and I got my PINK PHONE :)
Then I went on to try and book an installation date for the cable through Bell. Omigosh I was waiting for over an hour while the representative took his sweet time and called some other higher-up representative or something... as it turns out, only a 2-year contract was available, not the 1-year contract I'd been promised when I bought the "All-in-one starter kit"... I don't want to go into it. Anyhow the bottom line is I got nowhere with them. It was kind of a nasty day, but then it got much better at night time because my dear friend Matthew drove up (10 hours?) to come see me (from Northeastern United States). I hadn't seen him in several months and it was so lovely to have someone dear and familiar nearby. We caught up until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore and me being such a good hostess couldn't even offer him anything better than a carpeted floor to sleep on. At least I also slept only on carpeted floor. The sofas are comfortable to sit upon, but they're not ideal for sleeping. I don't know if it's that they're not long enough or if the angle of the cushions just doesn't quite suit my sleeping position(s).
Fortunately it has cooled down substantially since my first days here. We spent Wednesday walking to campus, going to the "Next Door Grill" for lunch, doing laundry, reading, catching up, and indulging in leisure. It was such a beautiful day, too. It was sunny but not too hot, and a refreshing, soothing breeze was blessing the day. For all the malicious that had been the day before, this day was marvelous! I even got an email from the vacuum people saying that they were on holidays for a week but that they would help me out when they got back ~ and they tried to call but I missed it 'cause my ringer on my new phone was turned way down and I didn't notice. (So the vacuum ordeal is still not perfect but definitely an improvement over Tuesday's lack of replies and communication).
Matthew left yesterday (Thurs) morning, after I stuffed us both with pancakes - perhaps partially to make up for my hostess-faux-pas of making spend two nights sleeping on the floor.
I went back to Bell in the morning after he left and tried to talk to the employee who had specifically sold me internet and the all-in-one cable package together. I had to wait in line over half an hour (even though the store had only been open for about half an hour when I got there), and then he made a number of phone calls and it was in vain. Apparently last time he checked someone on the other end of the line (and it's true - I was there to witness it) told him yes, a one-year contract was available, but now it's only 2 years available. What a mess. Anyhow he was actually a good rep, but Bell as a whole came off as being embarrassingly disorganized and unprofessional in their methods of communication. I still don't know what I'm going to do about cable...
I then headed to campus to meet with one of my professors-to-be, pick up a welcome package, and rent a bicycle. The bicycle, it turns out, was a little to long for me, so I was slightly uncomfortable. It was also about half an inch too tall, so I had to fall onto my leg when I stopped instead of just putting it down, and it was heavy and butch. I rode it home just for practice and could feel the adrenaline building up and rushing through my veins even though it's not too scary a ride. I hadn't been on a bike in years! It was a great feeling, but exhausting and too much work. The other problem was that I didn't have a backpack (I can't remember if I told you but I had to mail it in to Burton to get it replaced or mended - we'll see which soon I hope). So I was riding somewhat lopsided and having to compensate for unequal distribution of weight due to my one-sided purse. I ended up returning the bike, managing to get my money back, and buying bus tickets instead.
Since then not too much has come up. I've been mildly acquiring a few more things required for the apartment, and I've been reading material for school because that starts up very soon! I'm looking forward to going to school and meeting new people because having Matthew here and then having him leave made me realize how much I miss live social contact with friends and people from my circle....

The other side of the tracks

My mother left today. She was to catch a plane from London to Toronto, and then, a while later, from Toronto to Victoria. I went with her to the airport - in our rental car, then I had to find some way of getting home because the first return bus I'd have to take to come home is only Mon-Fri. I ended up walking by the fields of chirping crickets, the tall grass, stepping carefully over the criss-crossing train tracks on the highway, and listening to the dirt road grumbling and mumbling along the highway. I was singing all the while - mostly The Beatles' songs like, "If I fell in love with you, would you promise to be true, and help me understand?..." and The Little Mermaid's "Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete? Wouldn't you think I'm the girl... the girl who has everything?..."
It was a beautiful 1 hour walk to the bus stop. Just as I got there, I got a phone call from Mom, "My flight's been delayed." It would now be leaving to Toronto about an hour later than scheduled, but it wasn't to be a problem because her plane from Toronto to Victoria didn't leave until still another hour or more from when she would now arrive.
I got to the bus stop just in time. The bus pulled up just as I arrived - I love it when that happens! It's almost worth missing the bus a couple of times just for that spectacular moment of feeling like it's just your day and you don't have to wait for the bus. Anyhow, just before getting home - two busses later - I got another call from my mother. Her flight had been canceled. She said she had to go find her luggage so she couldn't talk for long, and she'd figure out what she was going to be do and call me back. She asked me to text Bere (my sister) so she'd know not to pick her up at the airport.
At first I was shocked and upset for her that her flight had been canceled, but then I felt a sly sense of selfish excitement creep in, and I felt and inward smile at the thought of having my Mommy with me for at least another short while longer.
I went back up to my apartment and started making some food, enough for two, in case Mommy would be coming back tired and hungry. I didn't make anything special, just salad and some stir-fry. Eventually I heard from Mommy. It turns out they had sent her on a different plane, and the reverse of before passed through me: I felt relief for her and glad that she'd get her whole Sunday to relax and recover from the discomfort of taking a plane all the way across the country, but at the same time, where before there'd been an inward smile at hearing she'd be coming back, now there was an inward sigh at knowing she wouldn't be.
We had laughed a lot yesterday because we were looking for a store that someone had mentioned to us. We were heading North on a highway-like road by fields and lots of land used for who-knows-what (it was actually quite nearby to where I was walking near the airport today), and the lady who'd described the location of this store to us said, "It's just past the railroad tracks." So we passed the railroad tracks and saw no stores... nothing... and a few minutes past the railroad tracks we decided to turn around and go back towards the railroad tracks. We saw someone filling a tank with gas and pulled over to ask him if he'd heard of the store. He said, "Oh! Yes, it's just before the railroad tracks," (which made sense because we were now heading in the opposite direction, South. Again, we headed towards the railroad tracks, eyes peeled, and nothing! We headed North again, nothing. Mom asked some person at a car garage about the store and came back not understanding well his reply. We stopped at a sketchy bar with greasy, old, scruffy men who eyed me up and down as I went in to ask the employees for help (Mom said it was my turn to ask)- of course the employees were two fit, voluptuous women with long black hair and false eyelashes, low-cut cotton tops and smiles the size of grapefruits. Unfortunately, they were less help than anyone. After 10 min. of them flipping through their iTouch phone, they gave me the address of a store with a similar name but with a downtown address -nowhere near where we were. Mommy actually ended up getting out of the car and coming into the bar to find me because I had been there so long (waiting for the women to figure out how to search the internet) that she thought some creepy man might've kidnapped me. As we were leaving the bar, we asked yet another couple about where this random store was and they, too, said "Just before the railroad tracks -- you can't miss it!" It suddenly occurred to us - perhaps simultaneously - that there may have been more than one set of railroad tracks along this road we'd been ironing with our car's tires for the past 30 min. At last we arrived to the store to find its doors closed. They'd closed at 4:30pm, even before our excursion to try and find them. To further our defeat, when we peered through the window, we saw nothing of interest.
And that is the story of the other side of the tracks!

Alas, no day with mom has been unproductive or unsuccessful. On the contrary. When she arrived I had a bare apartment with no furniture and no plates even to eat off of. Now that she has gone, I have just about everything I need to live except for a bed and a vacuum.

God bless Moms :)

~Selina

"God could not be everywhere at once, and therefore He created Mothers [and Sisters]." ~ Jewish Proverb

Let me begin by filling you in on yesterday, as I could not get internet before I had to go to bed.  Yesterday was overall a somewhat futile day because I went on an excursion to try and find a bed.  I attempted to go to a mattress store, but the bus routes I'd have to take to get there were very tedious and somewhat complicated.  I felt like I could do it though, so I packed up my laptop (for good measure) and headed down one street, made the first transfer and got to the intersection I'd hoped I'd reach.  That's when the surprise came... as it turns out, Google Maps sometimes severely under-represents distances... so what seemed to be a ten minute walk on Google Maps was more like a 10 min. bus ride from that intersection where I'd been dropped off by the bus.  I tried to start walking the distance but it was ghastly hot out and no shade in sight.  Of course I didn't have any fluids with me, so after about 10 min. of walking, I gave up and turned around and had to return defeated to downtown (where I was supposed to take another transfer of busses to go home).  I decided not to go home, though, and instead I walked around the downtown area for a little while, and just as I was walking I noticed a familiar face walking towards me!  And I recognized Ayva as she came towards me! We were both so shocked! Ayva is a girl who used to dance at the same studio as I did when we were younger and we've taken class together at Ballet Vic a number of times, too.  Well, I can hardly explain to you how it feels to see a familiar face in the midst of foreign territory and loneliness, topped with whipped frustration from the city's less-than-ideal transit system, and smothered in sticky sweat from the all-too-hot air.  Ayva dances in Toronto, but she was visiting her cousin in London. We stood chatting for a few minutes and that basically turned my day completely around and I felt so much lighter and happier and effervescent  after having seen her :)

Now, about today... My mother arrived today, and we rented a car together!  I took three busses from my apartment just to meet her at the airport.  I feel very proud of myself for having pulled that together --  especially given  yesterday's embarrassing transit mishap and failure.  So we rented a car and caught up all morning.  Then we had an appointment in the afternoon to go see a lady's apartment who was getting rid of a BUNCH of stuff for free... all we needed was a way of getting it delivered.   So we were pretty excited to at least be able to find a few things to start with and for a great deal!  When we made it to the apartment, though, we started looking through the furnishings and the available items and it was all but sickening to the sight and smell.  This woman had been a long-time smoker and lived with cats. Furthermore, her items were old, old-fashioned, tacky, and of questionable quality.  She had actually had someone else showing the apartment's items to us (perhaps from shame?), but we still felt quite awkward as we did not know how to leave without seeming rude.  In the end we took just two items - a garbage bin and a standing lamp, both of which could be salvaged.  The lady had perhaps three or four items that were decent and I would have taken, but of course those were the three or four items of the entire apartment that she was not parting with.
I think we both felt a little let down and disappointed when we left that apartment because the lady who showed us the stuff had been very enthusiastic and had made it sound as though it were great stuff we'd be seeing, but alas... it was nothing of the sort.
So next we went to see some used-furniture stores.  Interestingly, there's about a whole 2 blocks somewhere on the outskirts of downtown or something, where there are stores beside stores beside stores of used clothing, used furniture, or some mixed combination of the two.  Omigosh was that ever a great sequel to our most recent horror.  Most of the people walking around outside those stores were... well... not well off and not very pleasant, unkept, filmy, and - excuse me but - downright grimy!
Oh! I must tell you that I saw a cheaply made, faux-hardwood dining set in a thrift store (a table and four chairs), scratched but otherwise in decent condition for $500! $500? What? For faux-hardwood (I guess they call that laminate when it's floors... do they call it 'laminate' when its furniture?)? Scratched? In a THRIFT store? We just walked straight out of that one.

I was starting to get very turned off by London when finally we entered a little jewel in the middle of the rough, and in the jewel was another little jewel... a dining set. Hardwood! Real hardwood. Oak with a walnut finish.  All antique-looking and a perfect size for my apartment. I wasn't sure about it  - probably due to how dispirited I'd become about all the sketchy furniture and crude people I'd seen already in such a short time period - but thankfully my mother talked me into getting it. We ordered delivery from the same lady in the store (her husband's job) and now I have a dining set which I love sitting - or perhaps a better phrase to use would be, "posing itself" - in my dining/kitchen area!  A treat!
We also managed to find a few other little filler-furnishings in another little decent store along those couple blocks of expensive-thrift madness.
This evening we found further triumph in the furniture finding process by finding someone within the building who was selling a number of items, including a couch. So I finally have somewhere comfortable to sit that is not the floor! :) Hence my picture today at the top of the blog.
We also somehow managed to go to Costco today and buy a BUNCH of stuff and also to a grocery store. Thanks to Mom my apartment now looks much more like a home, and my fridge is full and I am super well equipped. And so I am so grateful for my Mom, who came all the way here just to be my support system and an amazing one at that.
Also, I want to take a moment to thank my sister, who, despite her busy schedule of taking two condensed summer classes, found the time to paint me four beautiful works of art (which arrived in Mom's suitcase) in warm red and orange and yellow colours, which now brighten my apartment so beautifully. They are fiery and sun-like and I know I am especially going to appreciate them so much during the winter to come.
Family is wonderful, even from afar :)

“I kinda like it in my brand new place. I’m responsible for me, don’t leave my keys in the door, I don’t even put my towels on the floor any more…” ~ Jewel

Okay, let me just start from the end of last night because it a was a little bit humorous. There is a light on my deck.   It looks like an old English street light – it’s cute.  Anyhow, it was on last night when I got home from using internet at a Starbucks nearby. And it was around 9:45pm when I got home and showered, etc. and was wanting to go to bed. So I went around looking for the switch to turn it off… and then I realized oh! there are several switches in my apartment which seem to do nothing! I was so confused!! And the frickin’ light wasn’t turning off! I didn’t want to have to pay for electricity all night long for that one lamp and on and on and on until who knows when I’d find the switch that turned it off… so – *blush* – I called my landlord. As it turns out, the light on the deck is turned on (and off) automatically by the building every night; it goes out at around 11pm.  Then the mysterious switches:

See, the thing is that all the main lights in our apartment except for the ones in the washrooms (2) and one by the entrance are those that are attached to ceiling fans, and so you have to pull on the cord thing to turn them on.  SO the mysterious switches are for – if you want, you can turn the fan on and then use the switch to turn it off, or you can turn the fan and light on and use the switches to turn them on/off  (I guess when I was turning the switches on and off the fan was off and the light too, and so I had no idea what these futile switches were for).  It definitely sent my head for a spin though, trying to turn off that outside light and discovering several futile switches in my apartment.

I fell asleep at around 10pm last night and woke at around 5am this morning – not too bad, 7 hours of sleep.  I think I woke up though because my back was a bit sore.  The yoga mat was not bad considering it’s about half a centimeter in thickness, and it helps that our floors are carpeted, but I wasn’t quite all that comfortable compared with my bed at home.  So I woke up even before the sun was up! But the good thing was that I got to watch the sun rise at around 6am, which is very visible and beautiful both from our living area and my bedroom! Another plus for large windows.  Also, I’m supposed to be getting a lovely red sofa delivered this Friday, so I am very excited about that And my mother arrives tomorrow!  AND my landlord offered to bring me a little cot to sleep on, so I might just take him up on that offer today.  People in Canadian London seem very helpful so far. They must be used to foreigners coming from all parts of faraway places and not knowing how they’re going to make it through the first week of living in an empty place (let me let you know it consists of a lot of doing things on the floor – eating, sleeping, typing on a laptop…).  The person from Bell who sold me a bunch of deals here and there, and I was also interested in cable so another one of his coworkers said, “Why do you do [such-and-such] so she can have [this and that] free, too?”  Yay!
And then the girl who sold me the cell phone, she also goes to Western and she was super sweet.  Apparently she takes a certain type of business program at Western and doesn’t like Economics, but that’s a different subject.  And then there’s the people from whom I’m buying the sofa and they’re driving here like 25km to bring it to me and the lady told me her husband and son are experienced movers and so we won’t have to worry about hiring movers, they’ll just do it for us! And then the landlord also seems very caring about where I’m going to sleep and am I going to be comfortable, and so on. 

I don't know if it's just a cooler day today or if my human body just takes about 24 hours or one sleep (whichever comes first, perhaps) to adjust to a new atmosphere's temperature and water density in the air, but today I feel much less disturbed and distracted by the heat and humidity levels of this city.
:)
Good news.

I need to go buy hangers for the body of clothing seems to have exploded from each of my two suitcases on the floor of my apartment.  Poor articles seem to have been trying to escape when the apocalypse came and left them all wrinkled and weary and strewn this-way-and-that in their tracks.
More updates later...