Gloryfades.org

It’s been one of those weeks! I don’t know about your part of the world but spring has really come along this week. It’s been bouncing from April showers to cool, sunny days (like today!) all week and I am loving it. This winter has been TOO long and it so needs to go, lol. So I have several good pieces of news to mention:

1. I’m moving at the end of April! G and I found a place in Toronto and we’re finally taking the plunge by moving in together. It’s exhilarating and nerve-wracking all at once. I’m going from living at home to living with my boyfriend? I would have liked an adjustment period (i.e. living on my own for awhile to “test the waters”, so to speak), but it just doesn’t make sense to move out on my own for a year and then move again to another place with G. Plus, I think we can both handle the changes that will come through living together.

2. I’ve been accepted to Centennial College for the Book and Magazine Publishing programme! I have not decided whether I’ll be going yet, though, because I might have a job with a publishing house already … more details to come once I know things have been finalized.

3. I went to Philadelphia last weekend for a wedding and had a lot of fun. This was my first visit to a major American city and it was a blast! We saw the Liberty Bell, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Eastern State Penitentiary, just to name a few. You’re welcome to see the photo galleries here, here, and here.

So that’s been my life for the past little while. I have been way too busy for my own good and it’s likely not going to change in the next little while either. This week I also made the decision to cut down on my duties at TFL. You’ll likely see the posting soon but I’ll mention it here - I am giving up the FUC and Troubles role for the Movies category. These are the most time-consuming parts of the Movies category and I can feel my control slipping away as I let things build up and up before I update. I don’t want this category to get back-logged so the time has come to step down in that role. I still want to do applications, though, because I still find them a lot of fun! Sometimes you just gotta know when to fold ‘em, though.

I’m sitting in a lab at school, waiting for my next class. Figured since it’s really cold and I don’t want to walk over to the other building just yet I’d waste a bit of time by updating you all on my life!

My Reading Week was all in all a really relaxing seven days. I had full intentions of buckling down and getting lots and lots of work done but, being the eternal procrastinator that I am, that didn’t actually happen and, instead, I spent lots of time sleeping, catching up on my gossip via The Superficial and Go Fug Yourself, playing video games of all things (only when I have this much idle time do I start playing video games, lol) and just generally bumming around. For the first half of the week I felt really guilty and kept telling myself to start doing some work but around Wednesday I was resigned to the fact that I am indeed a procrastinator and no, this will never change. So I enjoyed the rest of my week of rest. I think that was for the best anyway since if I had spent the time feeling guilty and stressing out I would not have enjoyed myself at all AND I still would not have done any of the stuff I intended to do.

However, post-Reading Week was rough. That midterm that I had during my break? I received a 63% on it. It consisted of two parts: short answer and an essay question. When I wrote the exam I felt confident that I did well on it. However, when I got the results back the following Wednesday I found out I received 7 out of 18 on the essay portion! I was really pissed off because I knew I deserved more for the essay than I received and it totally didn’t correlate with the marks I received on the short answer which was 12 out of 12! I’m serious - I passed the first half but I FAILED the second half.

So, I’ve requested a remarking of that midterm. I’m not going to take that 63% lying down cause I don’t think I deserved it. As I was writing my request (because he required a request in writing) I compared my essay to his answer sheet and found that my answers were very similar to his and I only fudged two parts of it, one only partially. Hopefully he’ll give me a better grade. He was nice enough to let me write my midterm when I couldn’t make it to class and he and I had a nice chat today as we were walking out of the building together. I hate having to make a stink but I really feel it’s necessary.

Anyway, so that was the first bad news of my horrible, terrible, no good, very bad week. The second part came on Friday when I was supposed to present for my senior group project our current status. Mind you, there are six of us in this group. I’ve taken up the reigns in this group because no one else has and already it’s come around to bite me in the ass. Suffice it to say, I wasn’t able to make it to class due to weather and the fact that I didn’t hear my alarm clock at 5:30 (had to leave at 6:20 to get myself there on time!). I called up as soon as I could to let one of the girls know my situation and she told me she could handle it and suggested I go back to bed. Thinking everything was alright, I decided to heed her advice and did go back to sleep since I didn’t have class until 12 after that. When I got up I found frantic messages from her on my cell phone asking if I was coming. Basically, she didn’t tell the prof that I wasn’t coming (saying she didn’t want to get me into trouble) and he assumed that I was only late and I would arrive eventually. When I didn’t show up she had to present with the one other girl from our group that DID show up and they basically fumbled through it. Everything I was going to say was common knowledge that they knew. We discussed all of it the day before in our meeting and Alex assured me she had a handle of it. I’m infuriated that I was left to be a scapegoat because she didn’t tell him that I wasn’t coming and now I’m being held accountable for making our group look so ill-prepared. However, the rage has ebbed somewhat since Friday. I’m just concerned that this doesn’t bode well for the rest of the project! :S

On top of that, I fell on ice that day and have a big ol’ bruise on my knee because of it. I was ready to just sit there and cry my eyes out except my bum was getting wet.

However, this week has basically changed everything around. It’s funny how that happens, isn’t it? Friday I was too upset to be excited over this but I found out I was accepted to write the Border Officer Test for a job with immigration and border patrol for the summertime. Not only is this an excellent summer job cause of the cash money I’d be making but it gives me a chance to apply for internal jobs once I’m there! Woo! Furthermore, my marketing group’s paper is really well written and I’m really thankful that I lucked out with this group. They aren’t the most personable bunch, except our group leader who is an absolute sweetie, but they’re all a bunch of smart cookies, too! And continuing with marketing, I though I did really poorly on my midterm but I ended up with a 76%! It’s not great but it’s a lot better than the 55% I thought I was actually getting, lol. Finally, the one other midterm I got back I received an astounding 87% on. I think it’s safe to say that currently I’m kicking ass. This could all swing horribly to the wrong side of town but I’m hoping it doesn’t cause I’m really happy over this. So I’m going to stick with my seven courses even though there’s no turning back after this Friday (the last day to drop courses). I hope this is the right decision.

And the best thing to happen this week? I got a call from Chapters about an interview! I’ve wanted to work at Chapters since I could bloody well work. I’m SO excited over this interview!

I’m not bothering to futz with it tonight. It looks pretty and I’m sleepy so whatever!

Reading Week has officially begun today, although it didn’t really feel like it since I had a midterm this morning at 10am. I missed it on Wednesday because of snow so I took it in the boardroom of the Economics department (History of Economics for you curious folk) with another guy who apparently missed it. There was supposed to be three of us but the third person never showed. That sucks! The test was worth 30%. I guess s/he didn’t feel that 30% was worth coming out to Ryerson today. I certainly did. I think I did fairly well, as well. I knew everything that was on the test and wrote as much as I could, I guess that’s all I can really hope for.

All in all I think I’ve done fairly well thus far in the midterms. There haven’t been any that I have come out of feeling like I’ve totally bombed but I’m hesitant. I’m weary of feeling confident too early because it’s a fairly well-known superstition that the midterms you agonize the most over, you do the best on. Well, for the most part at least. I’ve had midterms where I knew I did poorly on and did, indeed, do very poorly on them.

Oi. I feel like I’m not making any sense. I’m probably not, so I apologize. This is all mostly verbal diahrrea that I’m enjoying writing. To be perfectly honest, I sort of didn’t do anything today. I was supposed to since I’ve only got six more days left in the week and several essays and two midterms following the break but it felt so nice to finally stop rushing around that I kind vegged all day. I know I shouldn’t do it again tomorrow so I’m going to set up a list for myself tonight. If I can get through that list I’ll be quite happy. I guess I should go do that now.

I should be in bed, I really should. 12:30am and I’m not asleep? I have class from 10 until 6 tomorrow night. I have a presentation AND a tutorial. I should be in bed. Oi.

I can’t stop listening to Chris Daughtry’s new single. I don’t even watch American Idol and I want to do this guy just from the sound of his voice. What can I say? I’m a sucker for Top 40. Does that make me a bad person? A sheep? Perhaps, but at least I’m a content sheep.

Ooh, now it’s Christina Aguilera’s new single. I’m totally listening to Top 40, what’s up with that? Where’s my Tiesto, I need to change this ….

There we go. Anyway, so I’m supposed to be in bed but I’m still winding down from my final shift at the Sev. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this but my store has been shut down by the Corporation since we’re not making a high enough profit. I’ve been moved to a store that’s up on the mountain. This makes it slightly more inconvenient to get to work now but at the very least I still have my part time job. I didn’t know until today that I was moved and not laid off. I guess it’s a good thing. To be honest, I’m so busy with school that I wouldn’t even be that upset if I was laid off. Of course, I would look for another job so this saves me some time. I should look for a new job anyway because this one’s pretty shit but I guess my focus really isn’t on anything that isn’t academic right now. I mean, I haven’t seen my boyfriend properly in ages, it seems. I do school work while at work, it’s insane. I’ve barely been on the Internet this past while too.

I guess it’s a good thing but I’m hoping this doesn’t lead to me totally crashing and burning. I’m aware that this momentum will more than likely stop eventually but I don’t want it to happen when I most need it (IE, when I’ve got essays due).

Tomorrow I’m going back to the gym and back to choir. I haven’t been to choir practice since school started and I don’t want to quit. I really have no excuse either. Two hours on Monday evenings, an hour after classes end, is not the end of the world. I need to suck it up and start going back because it’s fun and I get to learn songs I would otherwise never have had the chance to sing, damn it. So yes, I’m going back.

So what happens the day I decide I want to read Truman Capote’s book for the TBR Challenge? I have to return it to the library in three days, k-o-ing my chances of reading it. I could have powered through it if I wanted to and still returned it on time but I’ve got stuff I need to read for class. Oh wells, I guess I’ll just have to take it out again when I have more time.

Time is what I really need. I’ve written out my bus schedule on my dry-erase board so I don’t have to keep looking it up and it’s sort of depressing. I have to leave between 6:20 am and 8:40 am to get to classes on time during the week. That ain’t cool. However, I’m glad I have only one class on Thursdays. It makes the week marginally easier.

Man, I downloaded all of these old school metal rock songs for some inexplicable reason awhile ago. Iron Man by Ozzy Osbourne just started playing. I think I went crazy when I was on Limewire. I think I downloaded some Judas Priest as well. What the deuce?

Today and yesterday were both productive days. Yesterday I managed to haul ass to the library after my full day of classes and pick up some books for an essay I’m getting a head start on. The problem with writing an essay on the second Iraq War is finding objective material on the subject. McMaster has like seventy books on the subject but it’s tough when titles range from Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy to Bush in Babylon : the recolonisation of Iraq there’s not a lot of room for objectivity. I just need a coles notes version so I can start my research on some foundation, you know?

Today was also productive because I finally cleaned off my desk. Tada!

Okay, so it doesn’t look that much neater but it’s definitely better than before. Oh and that stack of books on the corner of the desk is my research material for the previously mentioned essay.

Anyway, it’s time for bed so I’m heading off. Good night, folks!

Life is moving along swimmingly. I’m getting back into the swing of things at school. Most of my days start at 8 or 9 in the morning which is hard to get used to following my break but I’m striving. With any luck I’ll do exceptionally well this semester (following last term’s trends) and life will look peachy keen for post-grad.

Anyway, I want to stop talking about school. School is not the only part of my life! Speaking of my real-life, I’ve added a link to the company of my brother-in-law’s brother to my website. It’s always nice to find other people that you know offline on the online world and I’ve heard that Insurcan is a really great service for life insurance in Canada, especially if you don’t want to deal with those nameless mega-corporations out there. So yeah, Insurcan is listed on the side of the page right above Google.

I want to talk books for a minute. I got the idea from a few friends on livejournal as well as this website to join the 2007 “To-Be-Read” Challenge!

I’m up to about 32 books on my to-be-read list which does not include the list of books I have on request at the library. In total we’re looking at around 73 books! That’s quite a list. If I can make a dent in that somehow I’ll totally go for it. So, the challenge is to choose twelve books from your to-be-read list and read one of them each month. Without further ado, here is my list:

1. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
2. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
3. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
5. Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart
6. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Moredecai Richler
7. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
8. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
9. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
10. I’m Not The New Me by Wendy McClure
11. The True Account by Howard Frank Mosher
12. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Honourable mentions: Don Quixote by Cervantes, Story of O by Pauline Réage, The Stranger by Albert Camus.

So I hope that will go well. I mean, it’s only 12 books. I’ve read more than that in the past six months so it should be quite easy.

Onto other news, a couple of days ago I came home to find some fun news waiting in my inbox. COTWWSB, that loveable group of weirdos and deviants, have bestowed upon me the presitgious Bonana Award!

It certainly made a rather tedious day end off on a high note so I thank you ladies and gents for the kind words and the spiffy award. Bono’s rep has increased tenfold in my books with this award (that and all that humanitarian stuff he does, I suppose …) and Bana’s just a swell guy too. You all rock!

I think it’s high time I finally wrote something down. Last week was stressful and it’s only promising to get worse, I fear. While I’m excited by the new semester I’m also sort of mind-boggled by how much work I have ahead of me. Everyone I’ve come into contact with for the past little while has already had their ear talked off regarding this but I’m still going to say it anyway - seven courses is a lot of work and I’m not sure whether I can handle all of this. Furthermore, OSAP fucking me over is also putting a bit of a damper on things. Normally, I’d have most of my books by now but I’ve only got two at the moment, one of which I still need to pay for. I’m trying to find a new job at school because the store is giving me one shift every two weeks which is frankly ridiculous. I’m relying heavily on my parents which I don’t like doing. I need money for books but I’m hesitant to say something because I feel guilty and … I don’t know, I just hate doing it. I feel like I’m stealing or something.

Ugh, I don’t honestly know why it’s making me depressed. It’s only a few more months and I will be done. I’ll finally get myself a full-time job and I’ll eventually pull myself out of this student-life mire that I’ve buried myself into these past four years. I tell you, getting an education really sucks!

What’s worse is that I’m also second-guessing my plans to leave university. Perhaps it’s just a silly mindfuck I’m playing on myself but I feel like these past four years have been … well, useless. I’m going to get out of university with a degree in Arts and Contemporary Studies with an emphasis in global studies (not even a proper major) and a minor in marketing and what will I do then? I could find myself doing data entry for the next two years in some corporate dungeon on Bay Street, wondering why I never chose to do something more. I chose global studies because I’m interested in international relations. Does the government even hire undergrads anymore? Is foreign service even an option when your degree is only slightly related to your dream job? Everyone says that you rarely find a job in the field that you studied. What if you want to, though?

It just feels like I’ve shot myself in the foot by not applying for grad school. Not that I could get in, that is. I mean, I’m just finally cleaning off the mess of my third year and I’ve barely been involved in anything at school. Plus, do I really want to spend another two years living at home? Not really. No, if I were even to think about a Masters it would definitely not be done from home. I am finished living here. I need to grow up and start doing things on my own.

I guess the bottom line is, I’m worried that I won’t be successful post-grad. I don’t want to have to live pay cheque to pay cheque because I didn’t go to business school or law school. So suffice it to say I am a little depressed over the impending future. I think I just need to go back to the Career Centre and really start looking at all of the possible career options I have.