Two weeks of silence on your blog apparently doesn’t go unnoticed…

I felt terrible not updating this blog but as luck would have it, just when I had wanted to: MIDTERMS.  I had failed to realize that putting off my blog post for one week would lead me into a midterm week, which was even more impossible.  So I recieved a friendly reminder in my e-mail inbox that I was, well, shying away from my duties as a Blog Squad member.  BUT NO MORE.  (That line always sounds epic no matter what context it’s in…).

SO.  As I haven’t been updating, I’ll post more regularly now, I sincerely promise.  One post daily until I catch up to all the things I need to say, then back to every couple days so I don’t do overkill because, honestly, how many of you would actually want to listen to me rant everyday? Everyone totally should though.

Today’s Topic: CLUBS

So on Club Days at the SUB I basically did what I’d done on Imagine Day–raid booths.  I now have, like, a billion pens and 4 fake moustaches, but I digress.  I joined a bunch of clubs, maybe too many, but I’m told that first years generally do that before realizing they’ve joined to many and stop going to all of them, especially when there are midterms.  If you’re curious, here are the clubs I’ve joined, maybe give me a holler if you see a quiet, mousy, short-haired girl in red converse sneakers in the corner: Japan Association, Video Game Developers Association, Hong Kong Student Association, Anime Club, Business Communications (Bizzcomm), Business Technology (Biztech), Swing Kids, and the Ubyssey (though it’s not a club, I did join it on Club Days).

Since I’m here mainly out of interest to become a Creative Writing major (if the idea of being homeless with a stereotypically useless BFA degree doesn’t scare me off first), I was hoping to spot a Creative Writing club.  Turns out there is one, though I didn’t see their booth (if they even had a booth)–they’re a Creative Writing Group that meets, ironically, at the exact hours I have my Creative Writing classes.  Well how the hell am I supposed to show up now?
That aside, I realized I wouldn’t be able to make it to everything.  Which is the first thing I’d like to point out: Don’t just join a billion things, think about what you have time for.  It costs money to join almost all the clubs, and as great as it is to meet people and get involved, don’t put too much on your plate–remember, there are still classes to keep up with.  Yeah, remember those? Apparently you’re paying like $5,000+ for those this year.  Wow.

Currently, I’m astonished by how many opportunities we have here! UBC’s just filled with possibilities, and I’m not just saying that cheesy line to please the UBC crowd–honestly, I’ve never been surrounded by so many chances to try new things at one time.
I never danced before, so I tried out Latin Dance Passion, ballroom dancing, and Swing Kids.  I never wrote for a school newspaper before, so I signed up to help the Features, News, and Culture sections at the Ubyssey (and thinking about drawing comics for them as well once I’ve built up enough courage or stopped procrastinating).  I was even stopped by the Aviation club who told me you’d get a chance to flying a friggin’ plane.  What the hell.  That’s both random and awesome.  I didn’t join because of my convenient fear of planes (yeah, like that will never bite me in the ass later when I want to travel) but it’s still amazing to think there’s an opportunity out there at the cost of just a membership fee.
I’ve been to an anime club icebreaker, and it was fun (although intense in a very nerdy way.  Picture a room filled with anime-savvy people screaming at each other during a hardcore trivia game.  Now picture me cringing in a seat feeling inadequate during all this).  I went to a Bizzcomm meeting as well (which I will try to respectfully say was nice, although it was quite obvious what Sauder kids thought of Arts students like me SHUNNED), and had a jolly good time at Swing Kids.  I also helped out at the Video Game Developer’s Booth on Club Days and apparently get a free T-Shirt later.  Awesome.  Not just that I made a friend (in my case that’s like an achievement, laugh it up), so you never know what you’ll get when you do something…

There’s a lot out there, though I’m already noticing I can’t make it for everything because there’s so much.  Hell, there are Blog Squad events that so far I haven’t been able to attend because EVERYTHING is happening at once.  For someone as innately shy as me I’m surprised by how much I’m doing outside of just studying or being a dork in my dorm and drawing cartoons all day.  And listening to Strauss.  Because… that’s what normal people do.
There should be an obscure hipster club.  And if it doesn’t form itself, I’ll make one and gather all the UBC hipsters together.  We can listen to indie music and watch The Room.  Classic.

-Alyssa

Coming Eventually Tomorrow: Classes (Sometimes you forget that classes are the main reason you’re here…)

EDIT: Scanner’s still broken, delayed this like 3 more days than I would have liked so the picture I drew for this one will be up… eventually.  That just seems to be my signature words right now, huh.