How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Ah, Labour Day! The unofficial end of summer.

I used to approach the end of the summer/the beginning of the school year with such an optimistic attitude. This, unlike January 1, was my New Year's. I could make my new academic goals, get settled into a new schedule, make other, various resolutions (which, like most, usually went unfulfilled). But things are different this year. Uncomfortably different. Yes, I am returning to school, but I'm not exactly working towards anything. My first sixteen academic years had a natural following act. My last one did not. Now everything seems forced, wrong, unnatural. Again, part of this "growing up" thing.

I suppose this uneasy feeling I have about this autumn is really exacerbated by the fact that my summer hasn't got much to show for itself. Yes, I wrote the MCAT, but studying for it occupied more than half of my summer. Yes, I vacationed for about a week and a half, but it wasn't like I was vacationing from anything. I didn't get a job as soon as I got back, and frankly, I didn't really try that hard. I slept a lot. Tutored a little. That's about it.

[By the by, I got my MCAT score back. Not bad, not great. I smoked the written section, though... surprisingly.]

I didn't even complete half of my summer reading list! My over-ambition is to blame on that one, though. I did finish the books I really wanted to, those of course comprising the Harry Potter series. I re-read it annually, and I intend to continue the tradition even now that the series is complete. I ended the summer by reading The Passions of the Mind by Irving Stone. I'm about 75% into it, now, and its completion is my first task in the Fall Reading Challenge.

The last few lazy days of my summer have been spent watching a lot of sports. FUN FUN!!! Of course, the EPL started up a few weeks ago, which means that I can, once again, cheer for my Spurs!!! They have got off to a disappointing start, and just this past Saturday they settled for a disappointing draw against Fulham. Liverpool, who has squeaked into my Numer Two Favourite spot, has been on a bit of a roll, and that's without my dearest Gerrard. Torres is looking good-ish for them. Chelsea, whom I enjoy watching but don't exactly like, have been unstoppable for a while, thereby making their loss to Aston Villa on Sunday quite unreal. The CFL is also getting to the meaty portion of its season. Of course, all the Labour Day Classics were played this weekend. My hometown Esks got off to a good start today, but lost to the hated Stamps. The main focus of my sports-watching has been the US Open. My love for tennis is rather inexplicable. I don't every really remember getting into it. I just know that I used to hate watching it when I was younger because I had no idea how the scoring worked, or even how the lines on the court worked. Right now the men are into the fourth round, and I am currently watching my Dearest Roger Federer battle Feliciano Lopez. Federer.... drool..... what a man....

I suppose I have a full autumn schedule to look forward to, though. On top of my three classes (and one lab), I'll be working at one of the University's libraries five days a week. I also plan to take on as many tutoring jobs as possible. I am also volunteering with a course, setting up microscope slides for its lab each week, and there is the possibility that I might be able to help out with another course, too. I will be playing indoor soccer (finally! I love it more than outdoor), and I have signed up for an indoor cycling class to take place every Saturday until December. I plan on playing some soccer intramurals for the month of September as well.

Plus, MORE SPORTS ON TV!!! The NFL regular season starts next Sunday... the NHL season kicks off in about a month's time.... more EPL... more CFL... it's going to be grand.

I don't really know how to end this post with some clever or sage thought. So I won't.

Potpourri

Like the category on Jeopardy!, this post is a collection of odds and ends, a medley, if you will.

• I am working on my resolutions post. I resolve to finish it by year's end.
• Neil is re-blogging. That is, he once blogged, and then didn't, and now he's blogging once more. He has a way with words that is clever and funny and very enjoyable. Read it.
• The Oilers LOST AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! And again. And again. BAH! I want to cry. I am at a loss for words. It's ridiculous, almost. I have a feeling that a trade is going to happen soon-ish, one or more of our forwards (+draft picks,+prospects) for a defenseman. And HOW ABOUT THAT MISPLAY on Thursday night???? Dang. That eased the frustration, momentarily. Even if you don't follow hockey, watch that clip. You'll appreciate its hilarity. Patrik Stefan - remember that name.
• My new camera is on its way. Hip hip!
  
• My soccer game on Thursday night (at 10:15 - ludicrous) was a total bust. I am so out of shape. It's beyond laughable; it's just sad.
  
• The new and theoretically FINAL semester begins on Monday. According to my calculations, that is soon. I really really REALLY do not want to go back.
  

End transmission.

Oilers and Other Disappointments

I did not watch the last two games on account of having another engagement on Wednesday night, and not ordering the Pay Per View on Thursday. Accordingly, I have little more than the scorelines to tell me that something is wrong with my dearest Oilers, but I am going to just put some other speculations out on the table.

Our forward heirarchy, so to speak, is totally botched. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love that Hemsky, Sykora, and Thoresen are lighting it up. It just is slightly unsettling that our so-called top line is not really a top line when it boils down to it. It is almost equally unsettling that our third and fourth lines feature players that were once second-liners. I dunno, this may be slightly trivial, but it all just seems off-kilter to me.

What is also frustrating me is that once relied-upon mainstays are MIA. Granted, Stoll got two against the Ducks and Pisani finally cracked his goose egg Thursday, but these guys were featured prominently in that beautiful wonderful and glorious playoff run. What has taken them so long? Are they going to be patchy point-getters for the rest of the season? I think I am most disappointed with Torres. Not that I credit his "demotion" to bad play (Thoresen was looking pretty slick), but he should get his act together. From what I heard, he barely saw the ice by game's end on Thursday. I think he's just not playing his role as a grinder, a physical force. THAT is that the Oilers have been really missing - a true, physical presence. Winchester (or "Winchy" as I call him) kind of seems forced into that role due to his stature. He "fought" that Duck on Wednesday, but certainly looked green. I don't know, though, perhaps in due time he will fit into the role.

The polarized success of our special teams is a REALLY BIG PROBLEM. Our penalty kill is so good it's killing the opponents' penalties. That is to say that our power play licks ass. Needless to say that we are missing a Prongerian/Spacekian manning the point. Or maybe we shouldn't have FIVE FORWARDS ON THE ICE. What's the deal with that? Has it worked yet? Not that I've seen.

Remember that time in that Austin Powers movie where Austin lost his mojo? Maybe that's happened to Roloson. What was it on Wednesday - six goals on eighteen shots? Yipes. Markkanen wasn't much of a replacement, either. We'd better get that mojo back. I'll build a time machine and go to the past when Roloson was apparently cryogenically frozen, before his mojo was taken, and personally stand guard until I know the mojo is safe.

Maybe it was just that long homestand. Maybe it lulled the Oilers into a false sense of security - "We're unbeaten at home, we'll never see defeat!" Maybe we're actually the team that someone predicted to finished twelfth in the West. Maybe I'm just looking too far into things.

My other disappointments are these:

• My midterm on Tuesday night. I really should have studied for it a lot more than I did. But I was just so spent already. Hopefully everyone did as poorly as I think I did. And now I have the opporunity to hike up my cell biology boots and kill the next exam. I guess. Maybe.
• There is yet no news on my computer. The last I heard it was sent off to some centre and there is the possibility of motherboard problems......???? I really just wanted them to unmelt my power adaptor from inside it, give me a new one and send me on my merry way. When this whole melty thing happened, I really did not have the chance to back up any of my files. The power adaptor was obviously shot, and my battery ran out sooner than expected. This means my entire iTunes library, about a zillion pictures, and most importantly, the draft of my Lost post are all potentially gone forever.
• My indoor soccer season is about to commence. Normally this would be a good thing. But I have a distinctly uneasy feeling about this year. My team does not yet have a coach, nor a manager, the managerial tasks have been divided up amongst the team members, thereby increasing the chances of something being forgotten and whatnot, and only eight of the fifteen registered players showed up for our first practice. On top of that, fifteen players is not especially ideal. Each game you want to dress sixteen players - three forward lines, three defensive pairs, and a keeper. What's going to happen when people can't make games? We also have not set a practice day or days, nor do I think that everyone actually knows that our game schedule is indeed posted. Plus, this is all happening in French, a language with which I am not entirely comfortable, and that I have not practiced in months.
• I think I am getting sick. I suppose it's fortunate that it's happening after I have written the bulk of my midterms, but it's still rather unnecessary. I woke up barfy on Thursday morning, slept all Thursday afternoon, stayed up all Thursday night, and now I have a stuffed nose and sore throat.