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.
Selina on her new bed!
Yay!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
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..."
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..."
Sunday, September 19, 2010
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!
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!
Monday, September 13, 2010
"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...
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...
Sunday, September 12, 2010
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
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
Friday, September 10, 2010
"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."
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."
Sunday, September 5, 2010
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!
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!
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