I seem to be procrastinating worse and worse as my ‘academic career’ carries on, but hopefully I can just pull it off for the next 2 (and hopefully last 2) semesters.  It seems like I’ve been at college/university for so long (about 6 years) that I am never going to finish and move on with the next chapter in my life; and even though the end-point is quite near, it is difficult to realize.

This term seemed to go by at super speed.  I was registered in 3 courses, APBI 495 (Wildlife management and implications), PSYCH 306a (Animal behaviour), and BIO 306 (advanced ecology).  I was pretty excited for these courses due to them being all animal-related, but unfortunately did not enjoy them (with the exception of APBI 495) as much as I was hoping for.  I think the presentation of the material and structure of the classes had a large part to do with the slight underwhelming feeling I had, along with realizing that maybe ecology is just not for me.  APBI 495 however, was really a thought-provoking, eye-opening, and engaging course.  Admittedly, I missed one too many classes, which is a great loss for me, but I still feel like I got so much out of the course.  The course made me realize that I really had no idea what ‘wildlife management’ actually was and what it entails and how it is often carried out.  I did not realize just how much money and politics determines new laws or guidelines relating to wildlife, when one would hope that management plans would be based mainly on valid science, species ecology, natural history, guidelines from wildlife professionals etc., which is often not the case.  It is no wonder that so much of what is referred to as ‘wildlife management’ has proven to be a failure.  By the end of the course, I think that I am probably now opposed to most ‘wildlife management’.  Overall, I highly recommend this course and the professor (Tom Sullivan).

Summer is just around the corner, and so is summer school.  3 courses for me (FRST 231, calculus, and EOSC 315).   Calculus will be brutal I know, I’ve avoided it for years which also means I have not done math for quite some time, but hopefully having it be a go-at-your-pace independent study course, I may just get through it.