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.

A Lesson in Self-Sabotage

Having set out to study for the MCAT, I have come to realize how truly remarkable it is that I have made it this far in my academic career, especially with such success. Seriously, I am the most lazy person I know.

The MCAT is a pretty important exam, apparently. It'll hopefully be my ticket to medical school, ideally any one of my choosing. You'd think that this FACT would be all the motivation I'd need to study. As it turns out, it's not. Not yet, at least. I am finding it impossible to get in more than six hours a day of hardcore studying. I am more easily distracted than I can remember, and I am failing to retain any substantial amount of information. It has been too long since school ended for me to try to convince myself that I'm still coming down from a high-stress semester. And yet... and yet...

I even have these huge fears that my inadequate preparation for the MCAT will have its repercussions resonate throughout the remainder of my life. Say I score embarassingly low on the MCAT. It's so low that I can't even apply to med schools with the faintest glimmer of hope. Sure, I could fork over more money and write it again, hopefully as soon as possible, but let's say my shattered confidence sends me into some downward spiral. That'll leave me with a summer spent studying for nothing, unemployed, money-less. I'll go back to school in September, not working towards another degree, hopefully employed. I can't even apply to med schools for another year. I wouldn't even get in for at least another two years. I might as well have gone for my Masters. Or PhD, even. Or found a permanent job. But no, now I'll just be hopeless, likely accruing debt, not knowing where my life is headed.

Sure, I'm young. I've got time, so "they" say. But really, do I? Shouldn't I use my youth to my advantage? Get a leg up? Stay ahead of the curve? I think I should. Or do I? I don't even know anymore. And that scares me.

Best case scenario: I get my act together, study amazingly hard for the next seven weeks, score ridiculously well on the MCAT, apply to med schools come the fall, and get accepted (somewhere) for entrance in the fall of 2008. It seems too good to be possible, at the moment.

I fear my chances of acceptance are also hindered by the fact that I have little to no volunteer experience to speak of. I hadn't decided on trying for med until about three months ago. Up until that point, I thought I was going to stay in school forever, get a Masters and PhD. So, unlike other med school applicants, I haven't been volunteering at hospitals and other various establishments to pad my application with "good-heartedness." Thus, I'm banking on my high marks both in school and on the MCAT to get me in. This is probably too wishful.

Again, you'd think all this would be motivation enough. But it's not. So what am I to do? I have seven weeks left, seven weeks that are likely more busy life-wise than the past three. Wedding, my birthday, convocation, concerts, soccer, frisbee, preparations for my trip to Ottawa.... it's daunting, to say the least. I need a kick in the pants, probably literally.

And all this hardcoreness that needs to occur will seriously hurt, possibly obliterate, my chances of finishing my summer reading list. I've completed ten percent of my list in approximately twenty-five percent of my summer. Pathetic.

Books Completed:
On Natural Selection - Charles Darwin
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling (re-read, probably for the twelfth time)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling (re-read, also probably for the twelfth time)

Books to be Completed:
the remainder of the Harry Potter books (5) (all re-reads ranging from three to ten times, except the seventh, of course)
a famous "trilogy in five parts" - Douglas Adams (5) (all re-reads, for the second time)
A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket (13, but probably equates the two and a half, three books tops) *Don't judge me. I just want to see what it's all about.
Passions of the Mind - Irving Stone
The Alchemist - Paulo Coehlo
Life of Pi - Yann Martel (a re-read, for the fourth time)
1984 - George Orwell (a re-read, for the fourth time)
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Beatles Anthology (a partial re-read)

I like fiction. I can't seem to find a non-fiction subject that has really captured my interest to any great extent. I also like re-reading, apparently.

Anyway, I hardly need to point out that I shouldn't be blogging. It's only adding to my self-destructive plan, which is wholly unintentional yet highly inevitable.

Oivay!

You will have likely noticed that I have not blogged in nearly a month. This is because school has taken over my life, namely the lab reports. If I am not writing a lab report, I am cramming for an exam or reading a multitude of research papers. My Reading Week (February 19-23) will be spent READING!!! I have five midterms and six lab reports in the five weeks following Reading Week. They are, of course, not evenly spaced throughout those five weeks; rather, they are lumped, clumped, grouped, what have you. But it's not like I am really entitled to complain. I knew this was coming, and I have time. I just don't WANT to prepare. I don't WANT to hole up in the library for the entirety of my "freedom." I want to sleep and watch movies and DVDs and sports and plain ol' do NOTHING!!!

Since ALL of my time has been devoted to school, there is little else to report. Lost started up again after its extended hiatus. What's the deal with that anyway? Primetime TV shows have gathered such massive followings that they can afford not making new episodes for months without risking the loss of their viewers. And with the advent on TV on DVD, all that additional revenue means they can afford it even more. It makes sense, but it's dumb. Just show your show.

I got my first mobile phone. Well, it's actually not my first. I had one in the tenth grade for a few months, but no one else had one soI basically never used it. It's pretty useful, I suppose. I have only had it for a week, and a lot of my friends don't have my number yet, so I suppose I haven't exactly hit peak usage. But I pretty much love text messaging.

I have been thinking about extending my degree by at least another semester, taking a few courses that I wanted to take, but didn't get the chance to since I switched programs mid-degree and have been bogged down with requirements. This extension would also serve to help me prepare for.... applying to med school. Eeep. When I was young, I wanted to be a doctor. Then I wanted to be a lawyer. Then I wanted to be a researcher. And now I have come full circle and kind of want to be a doctor again. I think I could do it. And I know it would interest me beyond imagination. But.... I still don't know. Is it truly what I really want? It is my goal to figure that out over Reading Week, which also means I will have to work out my degree.... and scrap my application for graduation.... and register for some summer classes..... and somehow find some money to faciliate this extension. So much to think about. It's making me emo.

And speaking of emo... I know I generally wouldn't talk about this on a blog, but it's really bugging me. What the heck is up with males? Why are boys dumb? Do they know they are emitting mixed signals? Do they know that such mixed signals are ripping my figurative heart in two, nay, millions??? GAH! So, I am pretty much feeling foolish and heartbroken at the moment. Stupid boys.

Movies I've seen recently: Children of Men and Notes on a Scandal - see them both!
Movies I want to see: Apocalypto, The Departed, Babel, Flushed Away, Smokin' Aces, Stranger than Fiction
Music I've recently aquired - Children of Men Soundtrack (very eclectic; everyone's bound to like something on it; includes a beautiful rendition of "Ruby Tuesday"), MSTRKRFT, Hot Chip, Emily Loizeau, Snow Patrol, Justin Timberlake.
Music that I want to acquire: Thirteen Senses, Bloc Party

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS - JULY 21, 2007!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's it, essentially. I will blog one more time in the near future to explain what I would be like were I a hockey player, but thereafter, I should be expected to be MIA.

Bullet'd (Ow! My skin!)

This is my new blogging style. It saves me from forming proper paragraphs and, occasionally, proper sentences.

• School started up again on Monday. It is my goal to repeat the 4.0, though I think it will be considerably harder to do so this semester. While my courses are all thoroughly interesting and I am sure I am going to enjoy them, I know there is going to be a lot more work involved. I am already behind, and while you may not believe it (and I certainly can't believe it), it's true. I have chapters to read, papers to read, lab reports to write, calculations to finish, etc.. I don't think I have ever had a faster start to a semester. I might get around to reviewing each of my classes as my blogging tradition dictates, but we'll see.
• I saw Children of Men on Monday. It's excellent. Great. Interesting. Sobering. Disgusting. Heartbreaking. Frightening. It's just wonderful. I plan to see it again before it enters theatre-to-DVD limbo. I highly recommend seeing it.
• My new camera was delivered yesterday!!!!! It's beautiful. I didn't get around to naming my old camera, but I am certain that this new camera is more worthy of a name anyway. A good name. Any suggestions? I'll take and post some test pictures soon-ish.
  
• My glasses, which snapped in two right between the eyes about two months ago after I was struck in the face with a soccer ball, broke in two again. After the first incident, I krazy-glued them back together, and they were practically as good as new. I tried to do the same after the second incident, but quickly learned that my efforts were fruitless. So, I had to buy new glasses. It took me a while to decide on a pair (I didn't know that many frames existed), but I settled on a pair of Pumas (I didn't know Puma made optical frames). I shall have them some time next week.
• My Beloved Oilers are on a bit of an upswing [knock on wood]. Huzzah!
  
• This Saturday is the ultimate sports Saturday. Three EPL games in the morning followed by three hockey games on Hockey Day in Canada.
• I started my resolutions post, and then deleted it as I had already failed to comply with more than one of my resolutions. So I've basically settled for one easy, simple, no-hassle resolution: be better.

I will now return to a forgotten blogging sign-off.
Music: "Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows" - The Beatles (from the newest release Love)

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.

Bah. Humbug!

So, I haven't been blogging with the expected, increased frequency, but it's not like it matters because no one really reads it anyway. Nevertheless, some updates:

• I baked my cake and ate it, too! Last Friday morning I received my last final grade, delighted that it was an A+. I baked my cake that night. It turned out quite horrendously, ironically - if graded, it would have undoubtedly received an F. The cut was bad, the icing was worse. But in the end, it tasted delicious and served its purpose, and that's what really matters.
• Christmas came and went. I was pretty much none the wiser. I was neither excited nor festively primed for Christmas. My family abandoned our traditional large family dinner, thereby substantially reducing my yuletide potential to pretty much nothing. I have also been generally grumpy/not happy for reasons unknown (hormones, I suppose), and rather childish, in fact. I won't go into too many details to save me from looking like a totally juvenile prat that cares not for the so-called true meaning of the holidays and Christmas, but let's just say that I didn't get what I wanted while my spoiled (and I mean spoiled) youngest sister got EVERYTHING she wanted (including an iPod and a digital camera), and then some. I know, I'm a horrible person.
• My Beloved Oilers are frustrating me beyond belief, especially with the situation in the Northwest Division. They're 2-3-0 in their last five, which sucks. Their defense (both defensemen and defensive strategy) is crumbling, which sucks. Roloson has lost his mojo, yet again (and being hung out to dry by his defense itsn't helping, either), which sucks. I've actually watched more Calgary Lames' hockey than Oilers' hockey in the past while. It was nice to see them lose to San Jose and then Vancouver two nights in a row, though the Vancouver wins certainly convoluted the Northwest standings a little more. I'll stop here, because I really could go on forever.
• As always, I am worrying about my academic future. Not only am I not excited about the coming semester (though it will theoretically be my last for the time being), I have ZERO idea of what I will do afterwards. Sometime before I return to classes I will spend an entire day researching my options, which number many. I won't even go into it now to save me from the pain of indecision.
• I have been thinking about 2007 and some resolutions.... MANY resolutions. More on them later.
  

When Exam Hellfire Freezes Over

As I write this I am in my comfy jimjams and wrapped in a sleeping bag having just finished watching Little Miss Sunshine with my family (who loved it, as everyone should). I am content. Tired, but content.

Exams are finally over. OVER!!!!!! And while it feels nice (really nice), there is also this sense that it's not over. It was odd, the way I felt during this exam period. I put in a lot of hours of studying (i.e., on average, I'd say ten hours a day, though fourteen hours at school per day, at least), but I never felt especially ready for any exam. I never ever really felt that huge sense of relief upon completion of an exam, either. It's sort of like they just happened. And that was that.

My real objective for this whole semester was to be able to bake myself a cake shaped as a 4.0. This, of course, has that one stipulation stating that in order to bake the cake, I must obtain a 4.0 GPA (i.e., straight As, A+s, or a combination of the two). So far, so good. I have an inkling it's going to happen, and this pleases me immensely.

In celebration of the end of exams, I first purchased and watched Little Miss Sunshine, had an afternoon nap, and went to the Oilers game. Although they lost for the second time in a row to the Avalanche (grr), it was still a VERY exciting game. 7-6???? That's crazy. I probably wouldn't have felt as bad about the loss if some of those Avalanche goals were nicer. What was with Roli and that wrap-around thing? I think the best part, or parts, about the whole game were Hemsky's two SWEEEEEET assists on Sykora's goals. DANG! I was so utterly excited when Hemsky was back in the line-up last game because it meant that I was going to be able to see him play in real-time. And while his game started of poorly (down to the fourth line??), it finished brilliantly. He dangled it!!!! DANGLED IT!!!! It almost makes me want to cry with joy. Almost. I also got to hear, in real life, the song that's always played right before the Oilers first power play of the game. Whenever we're watching the game on TV, my sisters and I get all excited about it and dance to it. However, since I was by myself at the game last night without any alcohol to release my from my inhibitions, I sadly did not dance to it there.

Christmas is just in a few short days. I did not have many shopping obligations this year, so I pretty much finished it all in one day, with enough time to spare to see The Holiday. Don't see it if you're male. I'm not really feeling the yuletidiness at the moment... my family has yet to erect the tree and I don't even know if I have a huge turkey feast to look forward to. Plus I'm still recuperating from lame exams, so I feel mostly like sleeping all the time, not being festive and whatnot. Maybe I just have to put on the Christmas CDs, and watch Home Alone, The Santa Clause, and The Grinch to set things in the right direction.

I suspect that since I have all this free time on my hands that I will be blogging with increased frequency, but if, for some reason, I forget about it for a while, I wish everyone who reads this Happy Holidays!

Ugh

There remain just three days of classes before The Final Exam Hellfire breaks loose. This makes me nervous and grumpy, among other things. The next seventeen days are probably going to be the longest of the year. I will go to school and study for up to twelve (and maybe more) hours per day. I will consume inordinate amounts of caffeinated beverages. I will sleep as little as my body permits. I will write exams. Life will suck.

To add to this general misfortune, my Beloved Oilers probably won't bounce back from three straight losses. I'm sensing an extended slump. No Hemsky. No Smyth. And apparently no Roloson - mojo's MIA, again. I can only hope that by the time I'm done exams they will be back on form (I'm going to the game on the 19th...by myself).

Alas, this post is pretty pointless. Blogging for the sake of blogging.

Tschüss.

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.

I'm too young to be old.

I'm pretty sure that when I was in first year I had the capacity to stay up into the wee hours of the morning studying and whatnot, somehow wake up early to get to all my labs, and still remain comprehensible. Now I find that I am just always tired. If I am not in bed by 11:00, I will definitely feel it the next day. I'll find it difficult to form proper sentences. I will require a nap and/or coffee by noon. My sluggishness, of course, plays at that vicious cycle of being too tired to work, which causes you to fall behind, which in turn causes you to have to work harder and sleep less and become more tired and BLAAAAAH.

The past three weeks have been pretty much the worst of my university career. Yes, I have learned a lot, but at a great price. I'm at school twelve hours a day, sometimes seven days a week. I barely see my family or friends anymore. I feel guilty for taking time out of studying to eat dinner. I have increased my caffeine intake probably tenfold. I get roughly five hours of sleep a night. It's making me feel old and worn out and not happy. And do you know what comes to mind? The Pope in that movie The Agony and the Ecstasy: "When will you make an end?"

Luckily, I don't get Michelangelo's wishy-washy answer, "When I am finished." I know that I will have a midterm-free week and a bit in just five days. I am planning to sleep a lot, to watch TV, and to perhaps heal my academic wounds with a little retail therapy. I could even finish that Lost post.

In other news:

• Jasmine has updated her blog.
• The Oilers are playing poorly and winning!
• I'm trying out these new contact lenses. I haven't worn any in about three months, and I have become increasingly paranoid about contracting amoebic keratitis, which is associated with soft contact lens-wearers. I'm going the daily disposible route, considering I only wear them twice a week at most anyway.
  
• My computer has nearly lost the ability to have its battery charged - its adaptor doesn't seem to be able to plug into it properly, or at all even. And it makes these weird noises when I touch certain areas of the touchpad. And it smells funny - like burning dirt and plastic. And okra.
  

Sucktober and Hockey-ness

October 2004 was a definite Sucktober; it takes the cake in terms of suckiness.
October 2005 started as Rocktober, but progressively became a moderate Sucktober.
October 2006 is shaping up to be a throwback to 2004.

I am quite certain that I have never had such a difficult course load. Additionally, I am quite certain that I have never had such a crappy midterm schedule. Granted, I never have more than three in one week; they are just perpetual, never-ending, seemingly infinite. Plus, I have one at 8:00 in the morning the day after Turkey Monday. How? HOW? That's not fair. It's turkey time, not study time. It's really all making me feel quite disenchanted about school and my future and life in general. I spend all my time studying, it seems, and no time actually having fun or thinking of serious issues (like next April). Bah. BAH.

In other news, the NHL has commenced its regular season. Finally. I am elated. Overjoyed. I watched the Oilers' first two stints against the Flames. Their season-opener was rather impressive, I thought. In the off-season there was a whole hazy cloud of speculation about the new Oilers' potential, ranging from finishing twelfth in the West to finishing first in the Northwest. Now their depth and offensive talent are being praised. I'm not a psychic nor a true hockey pundit, so I'm not even going to give my prognosis. It's too early to tell anyway. Last year they won their first three, took a nose dive, and look where they ended up. I'm just going to cheer. And hope that Hemsky shoots more often. Good gracious! I think I have a super fan-crush on Hemsky. I get all fluttery when he's on the ice. And I love his line.... him and Sykora have got some crazy Czech wizardry going on there. With some of that Raffi thug business. I wish the Lupul-Horcoff-Smyth line would gel a little better. I feel Horcoff has not really been in it yet. He showed a flash of his brilliant speed on Saturday night, but he also made more than a few stupid passes in the neutral zone. And what's with that five-forward powerplay? Yipes. It's too gutsy for me at this stage of the game. It might work well if the powerplay started with an offensive zone faceoff and they had Horcoff or Stoll out there to win it. But all the times I have seen them try it they spent half the powerplay retrieving the puck from their zone or making bad passes at the offensive blue line. All in all, I have been very pleased, though, happy that they are back on the ice.

Also, since my dad is a mondo Habs fan, we watch as many Habs games as possible. The one on Friday night... golly! Those Sabres really brought it to them. Watch out for those Sabres. I think they are going to do very well. I'm glad Montreal got redemption against the Leafs on Saturday, though. Granted, they probably should have done it in regulation, but still. Plus, I hate the Leafs. Always have. Always will.

That was a little babbly/scrambly. I just get so excited about hockey.

I'm still working on the Lost post, though I fear its completion will not come until mid-November. At least by then I will be able to talk about the WEIRD new season. This series gives you question after question left unanswered, which is oddly really good. There is lots of room for speculation, which just intrigues you further. It's the only show, apart from The Amazing Race, that I can foresee watching with any real fidelity. Unfortunately, I just don't have much time for the remainder of shows I planned on watching.

Okay. Enough. Happy Turkey Weekend, my fellow Canadians.

I'm so hungry, I could ride a horse.

My internet at home has been especially fickle over the past week, so I haven't had the opportunity to blog. Yes, I could blog at school where there are many a'computer with unlimited internet access, but there is something about blogging at school that doesn't seem right to me. So, here are some mostly unrelated musings over the past week:

• I have finally finished watching the second season of Lost. Not that anyone besides Mr. Bergman will care, but I am currently composing my praise piece. I suspect it will be a lengthy post, and considering all the school crap I have to do, I'm not sure it will be done in time for the Season Three premiere. But I will try.
• Speaking of school, I still have not completely changed my attitude towards it all, but I think I am slowly getting into an academic groove. It helps that I have a weekly lab quiz for MMI. I have a particularly good feeling about this week, too. It's going to be productive. It has to be productive. I have my first midterm next week.
• That last bullet had some very short sentences. I'm not sure I like it.
• This whole boys-wearing-ultra-skinny-pants trend really isn't doing anything for me. It just makes their legs look too skinny, almost chicken-like. Most girls don't wear their pants that tightly.
  
• I am progressively getting more and more angsty about next May and what I will be doing. I persistently try my method of just not thinking about it, but its effectiveness is waning. Last Friday night I had a breakdown of sorts... alone... in my room. I cried, and then I slept. What the heck am I doing with my life?
• I have the feeling that there was something in particular that I wanted to say, but I've forgotten it.
  
• Oh, never mind. I remember. OILERS!!!! OCTOBER 5!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!! Also, this is a most beautiful alliance of two of my most favourite things in the world: Oilers and male attractiveness. Too good.
  
• My Spurs veritably SUCK this season. I watched them get waxed by Liverpool over the weekend. It especially sucked because I have somewhat of a soft spot for Liverpool (mainly Gerrard), and on some level it sort of felt nice to see them win. BLAH. I cannot wait until Berbatov and Lennon are back.
  
• I wish I were a wizard. Hogwarts-trained. Graduate of the House of Ravenclaw. Maybe even Head Girl. I'd work at St. Mungo's. And have loyal and heroic friends like Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Not that my real friends aren't loyal and heroic. They're just not wizards.
  

Hollaback, yo.

Update-O-Rama

Aaaaah.

Hmmm.

Sigh.

Frankly, there just isn't anything I need to report. School is tiring me out, even though I am putting all my efforts towards not co-operating with it. That is to say, I have been watching Season Two of Lost instead. It is my favourite show, if I haven't said that enough times, despite the fact that I haven't even seen the second season yet.

Uh.... I got to make and stain some blood smears in my MMI lab today. That was pretty cool. It made me realize that I really want to own a nice light microscope. I have one, but it's pretty cheap, designed for kids. And it has mirrors instead of a lamp. It's highest magnification is, like, 50X maybe. Probably not even that high. I don't know what I would look at with a fancy schmancy microscope, but I am sure I could find something. Oh, and now I know how to make blood smears....

I think I'm going to try something new. I will call it... Blog On Demand... because that what our world is about these days, right? Demands, gimme-gimmes? How about YOU tell ME what to blog about. And then I'll do it, provided it's not dumb.

If Only I Could Think of a Title That Would Accurately Represent My Dismay...

For all those unlucky readers that never saw my old blog, this post is part of a tradition of academic... academic... something academic. After attending each of my new classes once, I write my first impressions: what I think of the material, the lecturer(s), how hard I will have to work, if I like it or not, etc. It's really for my own good, and little good at that, considering I don't even provide a follow-up post halfway through the semester (maybe I should). But before I get to that, a few considerations.

Normally I would be excited about this post, excited in a good way. But I am not. I am excited in a bad way. I am excited in this bad way because I am not all that keen on returning to my studies. This is very unsettling. For the benefit of those that do not know me, I love school. Well, I used to, at least. School is what I would call "my element." I usually get excited about returning about the beginning of July, but this year I didn't, not one bit. I absolutely dreaded my return. I can't exactly pinpoint why I didn't want to come back, but I think it was a mixture of pressure (self-applied) and the feeling of impending doom. This is my last year of undergrad. It counts for a lot. It's full of my toughest courses to date. When I'm done, I will have to decide what to do all over again. It's "growing up," and, frankly, I am in no mood to do that.

So, hopefully, by the end of this academic year, I will have a Bachelor of Science with Specialization in Immunology and Infection. It is my goal to get a 4.0 GPA in at least one of the next two semesters, which all of my fellow mathemagicians know is mathemagically impossible unless I get an A in each of my classes (University of Alberta Grading System). So here are my jaded first impressions.

MMI 426: Medical Parasitology (follow link and scroll down for description)
I enrolled in this course because I took a rather surprising liking to my compulsory parasitism course (ZOOL 352). Plus, this one has a laboratory component where we get to isolate parasites from tissue (and excretory) samples, and look at live, cultured specimens. This was my first class of the year, and I was doubly nervous because it is my first 400-level course. It also has a small class-size, which means that (ugh) discussions are more likely to crop up. Although, due to the high information load, there may not be discussions.

The lecture turned out to be alright, however, it consisted mainly of a syllabus overview and my lecturer complaining about all the construction zones she had to drive through to get to the University. Perhaps the first little black mark on its record was the fact that, despite it being the first day of classes, I still had my lab that afternoon. So, feeling very unprepared, I scanned the lab manual (which is, in its entirety, over 200 pages long), and set off to the lab. It also didn't turn out as bad as it could have, but it still wasn't fun. We had mini-lecture on malaria (cool-ish), but were given about a zillion other handouts, and the remainder of the lab consisited of looking at twenty-odd malarial specimens under light microscopes and drawing scientific diagrams for each. We also had to calibrate our microscopes, which proved more difficult that it should have.

I don't mind the main lecturer. She's got a long, unpronounceable name and a cool hint of an eastern European accent. The lab supervisor is very soft-spoken, and she has a tendency to say "okay?" after any announcements she makes or instructions she gives. It's annoying. We have other lecturers and other lab supervisors, but we did not meet them today.

I worry that this course is going to be exceedingly time-consuming and difficult. There is a lot of memorization, and there is a lab quiz each week (and a presentation worth pretty much nothing at the end of the semester). The lab also has its own midterm and final, which is expected but not appreciated.

CELL 300: Advanced Cell Biology I
My degree is highly organized and designed to leave me specialized in immunology and infection. Go figure. As such, instead of being able to choose my options from the giant list of all the science courses, I get to pick from a pre-selected, limited list. This course was one of the few I would even consider taking. It has a counterpart in the next semester (CELL 301), and you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be taking it.

My last brush with eukaryotic cell biology was some time ago... the first semester of my second year. Since then I have been bombarded with larger-scale physiology and lots and lots of bacteriology. So, I can't say that I am in a cell biology groove that will make things easier. But, it doesn't seem TOO too bad. A lot of it looks like stuff I learned in my most recent biochemistry course (BIOCH 320) - protein synthesis, cell structure components, etc. And the first of two lecturers is very organized, and gives excellent sets of notes and supplementary materials. He's also set up a lot of review-type sessions, and there are only two, non-cumulative, equally-weighted exams. The class is rather large, too, so hopefully a good curve will result.

I fear that this course might take a back seat to the others, though. There are optional readings, and it's not something like IMIN 324 or IMIN 371 that are compulsory, and ultimately a little more important.

IMIN 324: Basic Virology
Mmmmm.... a whole course devoted to viruses. Tantalizing. Seriously. As much as I love bacteria (and I LOVE bacteria), I find viruses are pretty interesting, too. And despite having a mediocre lecturer for the virology section of my introductory immunology course (IMIN 200), I have an urge to learn more.

This class will have the most number of different lecturers out of all my classes. That's okay with me. I think. It'll be refreshing, at least. The course coordinator is named Dr. Smiley. Ironically, he's not that smiley. It's a situation akin to my first genetics professor, Dr. Good, who turned out to be among the worst teachers I've ever had.

I'm not exceedingly worried about the material. We had a bit of a preview lecture today and it seemed manageable. I think having an interest in the material will also help.

IMIN 371: Intermediate Immunology
I have a confession: I actually like immunology a lot less that I thought I would when I decided on this program. I still find it interesting, maybe just not that interesting. I'm moderately worried about this course, considering the tremendous effort it took to learn the basics of immunology in my introductory course. At least this time around I have a textbook to rely on, and more tutorial sessions. I can just imagine how convoluted things are going to get. See, our immune systems are VERY complex. I can just see myself two months from now getting all caught up in which cytokines do what, and which immunoglobulins are involved in different types of responses and stuff. Okay, maybe I am a little more than moderately worried.

MICRB 311: Microbial Physiology
Aha. Back to my beautiful and wonderful bacteria. I don't really know what to expect form this course. From what I have been told, it has recently been entirely reconstructed to include updated material and new topics, as well as a new system of evaluation. It also has two new professors. I took another microbiology course last semester, but it was basically a gene regulation course in the context of bacterial behaviour, so I don't know how much overlap I'm going to get. This new course likely also places a lot more emphasis on the biochemical aspects of bacterial functions, which means biochemical pathways are involved, which makes me want to die.

I really like the lecturers, though. One is my professor from my introductory microbiology course, and she reminds me of a really kind and cool aunt (not any of my aunts, just AN aunt). The other is new to the University, and he's from Argentina/Belgium/Switzerland. He's really funny.

This course has two equally weighted exams, just as in CELL 300, but, somehow, I don't think it's going to be to my advantage in this course. I think it's going to be tough, but highly interesting.

***

So, that's it. After only two days I am extremely tired, I have a lot of work to do, and I am accordingly very grumpy and frustrated, and I never really want to go back. Perhaps it would be difficult to get that impression from what I have just said about all these courses, but it's truly how I feel. Plus, I am not really all that excited about being around all those people again. There is some new breed of douchebag roaming campus now. Very off-putting. And my schedule kind of sucks (I have no breaks, but I am done by 12:30 on four of five days), and I fear that being done so early in the day will actually tempt me to waste more time than I should. When you're done early you think, "I have all the time in the world. I can afford to take just a little break..." But then that little break turns into a big break, and those big breaks add up. And then you're screwed.

But, it's all will power, I guess. I hope. Yeah, will power.....

Happy New Year!

There are no real rules as to when resolutions should be made, but tradition dictates that it's usually at the beginning of the calendar year. I, however, make them at the beginning of the academic year, September here in Canada. Without further ado, here is this year's edition.

Get better marks
My resolutions usually involve some sort of academic improvement, something I have been successful at only once in the past few years (and only trivially at that - the improvement from Year 2 to Year 3 will never show up on a transcript; Year 2's GPA and Year 3's GPA round up and down, respectively, to the same value). And not to toot my own horn, but I have entered a bracket where improvement is no easy task as there is little room to improve. Nevertheless, I'm still going to give it all I've got to edge myself closer to a celebration that will involve a cake shaped as a 4.0.

Watch less TV
This resolution may be a little less ambitious than it ought to be and the details will tell you why. See, I love TV. LOVE. IT. And I plan on watching my fair share of it this year, too. I love "reality" TV (more aptly named surreality TV), and with new cycles of my favourites just around the corner, how could I not watch them? I have the likes of America's Next Top Model, The Amazing Race, Survivor, and The Bachelor to look forward to. I also like the regular syndicates: the CSI series and Lost (perhaps my absolute favourite). Plus, there is a pile of Oilers games I plan to watch. See, my problem is that I am easily susceptible to watching more TV than I had set out to watch. One hour of Lost could suddenly turn into three hours of who knows what. So, my resolution is to just stick to what I plan to watch, no snowballing, no time wasting. That's about 10-11 hours a week, which averages out to less than two hours a day, which is reasonable, right? ... right?

Have fun
I'm not saying that I don't have fun, but I think that I should have some more. The past three years have been wrought with sporadic episodes of fun between lengths of anti-social studying. This is the last year of my undergrad. The Last. I'll never have another year like it, so I suppose I've got to make the best of it. Of course, I am not thinking of "partying" nightly (because that's really not how I roll anyway), but I just think spending a little less time worrying about marks and a little more time laughing and enjoying life could do me some good.

It turns out that I am not very good with resolutions, but I argue that resolution-making is like daydreaming: you have this little window of time during which, theoretically, anything can happen, with no consequences close enough to threaten. So why not flash that ambition about, why not test your imagination? There is always the possibility that something - anything - can come true.