The Polish Experience
In case you haven't heard the news, the Pole is back from the dainty Carribean finally. Naturally with Chris and I, things always are a little silly. After calling him shortly after getting up Monday morning, we planned what needed to be done.
After making our way to the GO station, we took the GO bus down to Union station. We took care of business first in the morning, the first thing being trying to get tickets for my father (and to be honest, myself) for the Simon and Garfunkel concert in TO. After finding out that my dad had the wrong info and ticket sales started at the box on Tuesday, we walked up to Old City Hall (near the Eaton Centre/Nathan Phillip Square for you non-city folk) to deal with another matter.
Apparantly, the Pole had to remedy his vehicle situation - he was owning the City of Toronto for a speeding ticket and had his license suspended. Well, 120 some-odd dollars lighter, the Pole was back in the good graces of the government and we headed off to campus (we walked) to take care of the last item of business - Taco Bell. As those that know can attest to, last year during exam time Chris and I ate at The Bell over 15 times in under 2 weeks. At first we spent 5 minutes looking over the nutritional information chart, then we just gave in and ordered the usual tasty things. =) Unfortunately, I will probably be having a lot less of that in the next little while - or so I am told by the Pole if I want to accept his tutelage.
That's right, I signed up for Polish Combat Training and "Polish Combat is what you're going to get." I'm not sure if I really like the sound of that coming from Chris but as long as it doesn't involve killing people I guess I'm okay with it. Today was my first session as the two of us went to Hart House (The Choice of Polish Combatants everywhere, not to be confused with the Athletic Center where Chinese Combat Training takes place). We worked on the shoulders including what is aptly termed the "I-don't-know" muscles (official Polish Combat terminology). It felt good afterward, I discovered that my left arm is pretty much pathetic compared to my right - no really, you'd laugh if you watched me try to do raising excercises with my two arms. *sigh* Well I believe the expression is, I guess I have my work cut out for me? Yeah.
After workout I had class so we parted ways but Polish day does not end there.... it never ends without something incredibly stupid...
Monday, September 29, 2003
So Why Do Taehcers Crae Aynawy?
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
So the nxet tmie yuor taehcer hssales you, tell tehm to go sing like a horse. (it's SO good! SO good! *grin*)
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
So the nxet tmie yuor taehcer hssales you, tell tehm to go sing like a horse. (it's SO good! SO good! *grin*)
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Henge!
(you'd have to watch Naruto to get that one - or know Japanese)
T'was a good day today - sun was out, few scattered clouds, nice breeze... more importantly though, no rain (Tuesday was horrible... spending hours downtown in wet socks is not fun at all). This was the week of first tutorials ("discusion" or "section" classes for you American students) for me and so far I have to say they have been pretty good. As I learned today, the instructor for one of my history courses is the professor himself. =P Fortunately, he seems to be a really cool guy in an older-gentleman-mocking-youth kind of way.
The other tutorial I had today turned out to be kind of strange. I arrived early, mostly because I had no class the 2 hours prior and sat myself near the centre of the table on the side. Also I had happened to have picked out a white office shirt and dark grey pants as my attire for the day. As my fellow students arrived and entered some of them gave me a look as they too sat down. For my part, I just looked up and then continued looking through the textbook and copying notes down into my notebook. 10 minutes into the class time everyone was there and all trying to find something to do (reading, writing, etc.). By about 15 minutes into the time period, one of the kids asked aloud, "So no one here is the TA right?" while looking at me. =P
It turned out that the actual TA couldn't find the room very well and was lost for a bit. I don't know, he seemed like a very knowledgeable TA - he tried to intimidate us a little with his knowledge. He kind of reminded me of the guy from Weezer though. Plastic dark frame glasses, and a bored laid-back sort of voice. Hmm...
(you'd have to watch Naruto to get that one - or know Japanese)
T'was a good day today - sun was out, few scattered clouds, nice breeze... more importantly though, no rain (Tuesday was horrible... spending hours downtown in wet socks is not fun at all). This was the week of first tutorials ("discusion" or "section" classes for you American students) for me and so far I have to say they have been pretty good. As I learned today, the instructor for one of my history courses is the professor himself. =P Fortunately, he seems to be a really cool guy in an older-gentleman-mocking-youth kind of way.
The other tutorial I had today turned out to be kind of strange. I arrived early, mostly because I had no class the 2 hours prior and sat myself near the centre of the table on the side. Also I had happened to have picked out a white office shirt and dark grey pants as my attire for the day. As my fellow students arrived and entered some of them gave me a look as they too sat down. For my part, I just looked up and then continued looking through the textbook and copying notes down into my notebook. 10 minutes into the class time everyone was there and all trying to find something to do (reading, writing, etc.). By about 15 minutes into the time period, one of the kids asked aloud, "So no one here is the TA right?" while looking at me. =P
It turned out that the actual TA couldn't find the room very well and was lost for a bit. I don't know, he seemed like a very knowledgeable TA - he tried to intimidate us a little with his knowledge. He kind of reminded me of the guy from Weezer though. Plastic dark frame glasses, and a bored laid-back sort of voice. Hmm...
Saturday, September 20, 2003
Argh! It's driving me nuts.
(crazy/silly Robinson kids)
Well week two is over and not much has changed. My schedule is very good except for one day, namely Wednesday.
Tutorial from 12 pm to 1 pm
Class from 4 to 5 pm
Tutorial from 8 to 9 pm <-- I only found out about this a couple days ago
Inefficiency at its best! Which means its the worst day for me! Taking into account that I have to commute at scheduled GO transit times which are an hour apart (as well me needing to get a ride to the GO station in the first place), I have to be up at 8 am and I get home at 10:30 pm. Bleh. Spending time at the library in between is pretty good still. Having spent a good deal of time in most/all of them now, I have to say the EJ Pratt at Vic is still one of the best ones to study at as well as best for computer/Internet access. Unfortunately, the 8-9 hours I have to kill is still too much even in such a nice resource centre.
I cast my vote for any candidate that will promise public student napping facilities...
(crazy/silly Robinson kids)
Well week two is over and not much has changed. My schedule is very good except for one day, namely Wednesday.
Tutorial from 12 pm to 1 pm
Class from 4 to 5 pm
Tutorial from 8 to 9 pm <-- I only found out about this a couple days ago
Inefficiency at its best! Which means its the worst day for me! Taking into account that I have to commute at scheduled GO transit times which are an hour apart (as well me needing to get a ride to the GO station in the first place), I have to be up at 8 am and I get home at 10:30 pm. Bleh. Spending time at the library in between is pretty good still. Having spent a good deal of time in most/all of them now, I have to say the EJ Pratt at Vic is still one of the best ones to study at as well as best for computer/Internet access. Unfortunately, the 8-9 hours I have to kill is still too much even in such a nice resource centre.
I cast my vote for any candidate that will promise public student napping facilities...
Friday, September 12, 2003
Ubiquitous Friends
Four days and I think I've done a pretty good job at maintaining some level of social interaction. The best part is that most of it was not by choice, they were just random encounters. *shrug* At least it keeps up the facade... =p
Of Markham District people I've met (in the order I met them from Monday to Friday): RL (heard his voice before I saw him), WS, JL, CC, DR, RZ
RJ people: Fahad, CM, SWH, LW (he wants to go out with you btw, he's disappointed at his lack of companionship)
Not bad eh? Yes I'm pretty impressed too... yes... *sigh* No time for a life unforunately, time to hit the books! (or rather, time for the books to hit me - why did I take 5 reading intensive courses?)
I'm an artsie, I'm an artsie, I'm an artsie... drinking beer.
But I'd rather be an artsie, than a f--king engineer.
- Vic Frosh
Four days and I think I've done a pretty good job at maintaining some level of social interaction. The best part is that most of it was not by choice, they were just random encounters. *shrug* At least it keeps up the facade... =p
Of Markham District people I've met (in the order I met them from Monday to Friday): RL (heard his voice before I saw him), WS, JL, CC, DR, RZ
RJ people: Fahad, CM, SWH, LW (he wants to go out with you btw, he's disappointed at his lack of companionship)
Not bad eh? Yes I'm pretty impressed too... yes... *sigh* No time for a life unforunately, time to hit the books! (or rather, time for the books to hit me - why did I take 5 reading intensive courses?)
I'm an artsie, I'm an artsie, I'm an artsie... drinking beer.
But I'd rather be an artsie, than a f--king engineer.
- Vic Frosh
Monday, September 08, 2003
Day One
...and what a day it was. I woke up at 10:30 am, and kicked around in my bed until around 11:15 (there is only so many times you can hit the snooze button until you realise that you aren't going to fall back into the nice slumber that you were in). I stumbled my way around the house, eventually cleaning up and getting dressed. After a small breakfast/lunch, I went to my computer and sat down, reading the news and then watching anime. Killing time until about 12:15, I decided that I should probably try and test out this commute business in the event it took an excruciating long time. Naturally between the slight detour on the YRT Route #1 Yonge bus that I don't recall existing before and the ages it seemingly took for the subway train to finally leave Finch station it WAS an excruciating long time before I got on campus. At around 1:45 pm I finally found myself in front of Hart House, greeted by two old friends Sango and Ray. For a moment it seemed nothing had changed much and it felt like year one again as the Loud One started yelling out vulgar rude comments and Wayne and I pretended not to know him.
Eventually Ray left us to our lunch and went to class (surprised, eh?), eventually returning with a friend. Since we all needed to go there anyway, our little group of four left Hart House and headed off to the UT Bookstore to purchase overpriced academic reading material. As we walked across King's Circle (less than 2 minutes away from Hart House), I noticed a very young looking student walking nearby. Suggesting loudly that the boy looked like he was in grade 9, I suggested that it would be weird that a fair amount of the kids we'd see would be 17 or 18, some even 16. Somehow, this discussion was enough of a reason for Raymond to charge at the young freshman and, when only about a foot away, demand his age. Needless to say, Raymond's friend quickly joined Wayne and I in looking and walking in the opposite direction. Truly nothing has changed, a monster he remains.
Despite also being able to meet with my friends Sing and Boulder after class, I still felt that the day was a waste overall. ~3 hours of commute, ~$8 spent, much sweat and tiring boredom all for what? 1 hour of class? *sigh* It's evident that I'm going to have to have extra willpower on Mondays to keep me from slacking... there's gotta be a better way...
...and what a day it was. I woke up at 10:30 am, and kicked around in my bed until around 11:15 (there is only so many times you can hit the snooze button until you realise that you aren't going to fall back into the nice slumber that you were in). I stumbled my way around the house, eventually cleaning up and getting dressed. After a small breakfast/lunch, I went to my computer and sat down, reading the news and then watching anime. Killing time until about 12:15, I decided that I should probably try and test out this commute business in the event it took an excruciating long time. Naturally between the slight detour on the YRT Route #1 Yonge bus that I don't recall existing before and the ages it seemingly took for the subway train to finally leave Finch station it WAS an excruciating long time before I got on campus. At around 1:45 pm I finally found myself in front of Hart House, greeted by two old friends Sango and Ray. For a moment it seemed nothing had changed much and it felt like year one again as the Loud One started yelling out vulgar rude comments and Wayne and I pretended not to know him.
Eventually Ray left us to our lunch and went to class (surprised, eh?), eventually returning with a friend. Since we all needed to go there anyway, our little group of four left Hart House and headed off to the UT Bookstore to purchase overpriced academic reading material. As we walked across King's Circle (less than 2 minutes away from Hart House), I noticed a very young looking student walking nearby. Suggesting loudly that the boy looked like he was in grade 9, I suggested that it would be weird that a fair amount of the kids we'd see would be 17 or 18, some even 16. Somehow, this discussion was enough of a reason for Raymond to charge at the young freshman and, when only about a foot away, demand his age. Needless to say, Raymond's friend quickly joined Wayne and I in looking and walking in the opposite direction. Truly nothing has changed, a monster he remains.
Despite also being able to meet with my friends Sing and Boulder after class, I still felt that the day was a waste overall. ~3 hours of commute, ~$8 spent, much sweat and tiring boredom all for what? 1 hour of class? *sigh* It's evident that I'm going to have to have extra willpower on Mondays to keep me from slacking... there's gotta be a better way...
Back for 2nds
Well, looks like school starts later today. First class at 4pm... American Politics! Actually I have no idea how good the class is; its probably not that great, but hopefully it's an easy class? Yeah, right. Also I need to look into some fun clubs/outside school activities. I know I'll probably be trying for Dragonboat once again this year. Anyone have any other ideas?
Good luck with the whole bunch of you guys starting University this week (or those that have already started last week) and if you're at UT, I'd BETTER see you around sometime. I just hope I can deal with this whole commuting thing - I've heard many bad things about it (stress, fatigue, annoyance, frustration, etc.) On that note, let it be stated that blogging will also once again occur more regularly now that there will be more time for me to slack off in the campus libraries (being the kinda of geek that doesn't like leaving school that I am). And I'll say it once here: I apologize for the poor (quantity of) summer updates (one of which I still have yet to finish!) If there was a "god of laziness" (Procrastus?) then I'm definitely his number one follower. Not a good god to pray to for a good school year unfortunately...
Ending remark: the word "exuberant" has the word "ex uber" in it... I'm such a geek.
Well, looks like school starts later today. First class at 4pm... American Politics! Actually I have no idea how good the class is; its probably not that great, but hopefully it's an easy class? Yeah, right. Also I need to look into some fun clubs/outside school activities. I know I'll probably be trying for Dragonboat once again this year. Anyone have any other ideas?
Good luck with the whole bunch of you guys starting University this week (or those that have already started last week) and if you're at UT, I'd BETTER see you around sometime. I just hope I can deal with this whole commuting thing - I've heard many bad things about it (stress, fatigue, annoyance, frustration, etc.) On that note, let it be stated that blogging will also once again occur more regularly now that there will be more time for me to slack off in the campus libraries (being the kinda of geek that doesn't like leaving school that I am). And I'll say it once here: I apologize for the poor (quantity of) summer updates (one of which I still have yet to finish!) If there was a "god of laziness" (Procrastus?) then I'm definitely his number one follower. Not a good god to pray to for a good school year unfortunately...
Ending remark: the word "exuberant" has the word "ex uber" in it... I'm such a geek.