Author: Lindsay Mackas-Burns

Categories
Academic Residence Life Uncategorized

Haters of smooth peanut butter UNITE!

Tip of the Post:

Never, ever put smooth peanut butter on something hot.

This is why:

This morning, like any other morning, I walked to the cafeteria with a pre-bought bagel in hand (from Shoppers… they were expensive at $4.00 for 6, but not as astronomical as in the caf) and, upon arrival, stuck it in the toaster and went to grab a banana (woot!) and a coffee (not so woot!) while I waited. I was feeling pretty hungry, so I thought I would deviate from my usual choice of cream cheese for a cheaper, more protein packed package of peanut butter. Wow. That alliteration was unintended.

ANYWAYS!

I bought everything ($2.12, not bad) and walked back over the the toaster and spread my peanut butter. When I was done, I squished the bagel together and dropped off my dirty knife at the conveyor belt, bagel in my left hand and mocha in my right. It smelled so good I couldn’t resist taking a bite.

HORRORS, as I did so, a huge stream of liquid peanut spewed from the bagel and dripped onto my pants, my sweater, the floor, my shoes… I was so startled that I kind of jumped and screamed and succeeded in spilling my overly-full mocha (I want the most for my money, okay?) onto my shirt and pants. And then it KEPT dripping all over the place so I started to run down the stairs so get outside and, literally, streamlines of peanut butter were flying in my wake. I didn’t even put that much on! I swear, it was regenerating just to spite me. I was laughing and trying to salvage some of my breakfast while I was running… I’m pretty sure people thought I was crazy. In fact, I’m sure of it because as I sped by I heard a guy question my sanity (without a lack of profane terms).

And then I had 7 minutes to get across campus to my math class. Miracle of miracles, I made it.

Other than that, I’ve been pretty happy with myself when getting stuff done for school. I feel like I’ve figured it out. Yesterday and Monday I cleared a huge pile of work and now I have all of today and tomorrow to study just for my physics midterm. I need the time badly, too.

Speaking of physics, I need to get going if I’m going to make it to my lecture on time.

Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Lindsay

Categories
Academic Recreation Spirituality Uncategorized Wellness

This ____ is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s!

Tip of the Post:

Feeling blue (or, at least, not a sunny shade of yellow)? Did you know that bananas are the ultimate cure to your physical and mental ailments? I didn’t until today. Today, a couple of kind nursing students set up an informative booth on – take a guess – bananas in the Vanier commonsblock. Not only do bananas individually contain enough glucose to fuel a 90-minute workout, but they have also been scientifically proven to be the best post-drinking miracle food and to contain chemicals that combat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Being a person who suffers from SAD in those long winter months, I’ll definitely be investing in some bananas in the near future. So. Feeling crappy?

Eat a banana.

Click here for more banana facts.

Anyways, after visiting with the wonderful banana ladies, I went for a run down to Wreck Beach. It’s not far from The top of the stairs isn’t far from Vanier. For those of you who have ventured down to the nudie beach, you’re familiar with the ridiculously numerous (and steep) stairs that lead you down there. It’s annoying if you just want to relax in the sun, but a great workout otherwise. It was my first time down there in the daytime and, consequently, my first time experiencing the incredible nudity of it all. Bananas abound.

I even saw naked volleyball while I was running around.

It’s funny though – I felt out of place feeling fully clothed. But no worries, mum, I was good. I just kept jogging on my merry way, enjoying the… scenery. And I managed to run all the way back up the stairs, even though I nearly collided with a 60 year-old man on his way down. Needless to say, he wasted no time stripping down after passing the “Clothing Is Optional Beyond This Point” sign. It was pretty amusing.

So I’m feeling alive again. Exercise > mochas when you’re trying to wake up your brain. Plus, if you take a jog before a 1.5 hour Chem lecture instead of chugging a sugary cup of coffee, chances are you won’t be plagued with trying to ignore Lake Superior filling up your bladder after only 20 minutes of discussing the importance of H-Bonds. I’m sure I missed out on a lot of the more riveting points of that lecture due to the discomfort caused by my caffeine fix.

Oh, I had my first Math 110 class today. Y’know, the 8:00 am one? Yeah. We counted apples.

No joke. My prof drew a diagram like this:

He tied it into the classification of the number systems, though. He’s a really nice guy, I can tell. Even though it’s early, I enjoy the class. And hey, if I go to the class everyday for the rest of the year, my friends say I might even start learning division by December.

Awesome. Sounds like my kind of calculus.

All those naked people have piqued my appetite. I’ma go eat now.

Lindsay

PS. I apologize for the pointless pictures. I got really excited when I figured out how to insert them.

Categories
Involvement/Leadership Recreation

I’m so sick of bad movies.

Tip of the Post:

Don’t watch The Hot Chick at 11:30 pm on a school night. In fact, don’t watch it at all. It’s a terrible movie, no matter how great your company is.

So lots has been going on for me. I took the plunge and dropped Math 180, picking up Math 110 instead. It’s the same differential calculus, but it meets everyday (all year long) and reviews stuff from Grade 12. My dad says university just isn’t university without an 8:00 am class. I guess I’ll be getting the full first year experience, getting up at 7:00. Everyday. For a year.

But it’s really important to make these decisions sometimes. I need to understand this stuff and build on it in years to come. I’m relieved now that it’s over and done with. No more crying in the library :).

I’m on two teams for Longboat this weekend: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Tigers (KU 3rd floor) and Blog Squad Rocks The Boat. My only hope is that when BOTH teams make it to the finals, they won’t be matched up against each other.

I’m also getting my feet wet in the lake of university leadership. I’m the SUS (Science Undergraduate Society) representative for the Killam Teaching Award Committee, which means I’ll be dropping in on random science lectures throughout the year to judge professors who have been nominated for being amazing. If you know any great science profs, nominate them! But don’t choose someone boring. That would be a mean joke that I would be the victim of.

As a side note, I have a gap between my front teeth for the first time in my life. It’s bizzare.

– Linds

Categories
Academic Faculty Uncategorized

Remember when I said Asha is cool?

Tip of the Post:

If you want to have a laugh, read on…

I’m in English 110, which, as I have come to realize, is a course based on studying complicated pieces of literature. Being a science gal (though I do love writing and reading), some of the stuff is a bit hard for me to comprehend and can be really frustrating at times.

For example: Emily Dickinson. As far as I know, she was a recluse who hung around home all day and wrote thousands of poems that she never intended to be published. So. Was she a profound person? Or just crazy? I mean, some of her work is brilliant. It’s just that sometimes I find it really hard to squeeze meaning from certain things she says, i.e.

“Because He knows — and

Do not You —

And We know not —

Enough for Us

The Wisdom it be so”

(excerpt from an untitled poem [480] by Emily Dickinson)

According to Asha, the speaker behind this stanza “is like Yoda after having a stoke”. I agree. And best of all, I got a huge laugh out of the whole thing and really feel a lot better about analyzing profound (or not so much) sayings by famous people. Thanks bud šŸ™‚

And so Now my

Friends

I must say — adieu — to

go and

read — More

pOems.

– nLdsyai

Categories
Advice for Newcomers Commuting Wellness

3 Things.

Wow. I went home (to good ol’ Victoria) this weekend for a visit/ortho appointment. I made three important observations while I was there, the first of which was kind of sad: my old room doesn’t feel like home to me anymore… I felt a little bit out of place in the house I’ve lived in for 6 years. And I’m not used to residence yet either. Don’t get me wrong – I love it here, and I’m having the time of my life meeting people and getting to know different cultures and ideas. But I feel in between homes – I can’t give either place that title at the moment.

The second observation was more useful. And it just so happens to be -drumroll–

The Tip of the Post!

Unless you have incredible luck with BC Transportation Services (like me), an uncanny ability to get all shiny-eyed at ticket booth operators (like me), and a mother who is willing to drive like a bat out of hell just because she loves you (like me), don’t expect to make the 9:00 am ferry if you leave downtown Victoria at 8:15 am. It’s just not gonna work out for ya. That aside, if you’re ever lost in Vancouver and need to get back to UBC, look for a 98 B-Line. They come ALL the time and will likely get you to a stop that comes straight here.

The last observation was one of those discoveries you make after three hours of traveling in solitude, when you start thinking about the human condition and all that fluffy stuff.

Anyways. It all started when I was waiting for a bus…

I had been standing up for about 45 minutes so far, all the while having being angrily jostled from side to side by people who hated the size of my backpack (hey, I had calc to do on the weekend). I was relieved to finally get off the bus and have a chance to sit down. I noticed a couple of empty seats next to an elderly lady, so I took one, smiling at her as I sat down. And guess what? She just stared right back at me and immediately stood and, grabbing all her groceries, marched over to the nearest lamppost.

She stood there for 10 minutes until the next bus came. Instead of sitting next to me.

I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t hurt my feelings. But then I realized I almost acted the same way.

When I was on the ferry, I decided to sit outside and listen to music for awhile. I love ocean air. Anyways, a scruffy-looking guy with a lot of gray hair came and sat next to me.

“I can’t let you have this bench ALL to yourself, you know,” he said. “Is that your natural hair color? It’s lovely.”

I was creeped out. I’ll admit it.

“Hey you know if I’m bugging you, you can just tell me to shut up.”

“Oh… you’re not. I’m just tired.” And I was, but it wasn’t really the whole story.

“Yeah. That’s what the last person said.”

And then it hit me. This poor guy had already been rejected based only on his appearance (because since when do you shaft someone just for saying hello?). And I was about to do the same, even though just a couple hours earlier I had felt so hurt that someone had done it to me. It was broad daylight, with tons of people on deck. I could get up and leave if he turned out to be creepy.

So I took out my headphones and just talked to him. I found out that he works in marine construction and that he was heading to Pender Island to help his daughter build a house. I told him about my dog, Caly, who I was really excited to see. Then we talked about Australian Shepards, the ocean, biology, and trades vs university degrees. And you know what?

It was nice. He wasn’t creepy at all. I’m really glad that I broke out of the whole “beware-of-everyone” thing that plagues North America. I think we should all take more time to consider the situation when someone we’ve never met approaches us. If you’re in a safe place, give them a chance: you never know what you might learn. Think about how it feels when someone judges you unfairly. Lame, right?

That is all,

Lindsay

Categories
Advice for Newcomers Residence Life Uncategorized

Hey, you know what’s NOT funny?

Tip of the Post:

For those of you worrying about university being a place where you have to mature and learn how to manage adulthood: don’t. Apparently, it’s still an incredibly funny and widely accepted action to pull the fire alarm at 2:00 in the morning.

To the person who helped me and the rest of KU realize this, thanks. The lesson was well worth the loss of two hours of sleep. šŸ˜€

– Lindsay

Categories
Faculty Involvement/Leadership Residence Life Uncategorized

September 6: Brosh/Firthday.

Tip of the Post:

If you’re a Science student and have forgotten our amazing cheer, here it is:

3.14159, we are Science – we’re so fine.

Physics, Bio, Chemistry: you can’t handle our degree!

SCI-ENCE! U-B-C!!!

My Frosh was absolutely incredible. Imagine – 200 people (excluding our leaders, some of whom were sporting some very nice underwear over their clothes in a fit of faculty pride) running around campus and downtown Vancouver for ten hours and dancing up a storm on a private boat cruise near Vancouver – dessert included. I can’t believe how much fun I had yesterday! Frosh events have so much potential to be epic, and I wasn’t disappointed in any way! How could I have been? I got to participate in: a milk chug (dyedĀ  blue, of course, for the faculty); a spontaneous water balloon fight; a scavenger hunt set in downtown Vancouver that asked for things such as a bottle filled with my group’s spit, a blue slinky, photo evidence of being piggybacked by a cop, a xerox of somebody’s face, sneaky paparazzi photos of celebrity look-alikes; and many more (incredibly bizarre) things. Anyways, I think the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) and UBC’s Faculty of Science (as well as all the amazing volunteers) deserve a HUGE thanks for donating so much of their time and amazing ideas to the day.

So THANKS!!!!!!!!

All that aside, yesterday was also my 18th birthday. Like Frosh, it was about as close to perfect as it could get. I had cake on the boat cruise, and on the way home my Frosher/fellow Froshees were sweet enough to sing to me. My inbox and Facebook wall were full of birthday wishes. And, to top it all off, I arrived home at 12:30 – dead tired – to a decorated door that was quite “phalic” as my RA described it, but full of love all the same. To Kayla, Nikki, Nicholas, Eileen, John, Lucy, Jason, Emily, Aron, and Riley: thank you so much. I thought that having a birthday so quickly after leaving home would be really sad… I guess it just goes to show that you never know when so much kindness and caring are going to hit you. Be prepared – it’s a touching moment. Anyways, to EVERYONE who made September 6/2008 the day it was, thanks. I can’t say it enough.

I can’t imagine a better way to have finally reached adulthood.

LOVE,

Lindsay

ps. Check out photo documentation of my door: Birthday Door <3, More Birthday Door <3

Categories
Advice for Newcomers Residence Life

Wow. I need a cold shower (not).

Tip of the Post:

I took my first shower today (on campus, I mean). I’m pretty sure I was the first to do so this morning because it was COLD! And not just for five seconds or anything. The water takes about 10 minutes to heat up! Anyways, I found a way of speeding things up a bit: turn the tap to cold and then hot repeatedly. You get these bursts of hot water that last a split second longer each time. If you just leave it on hot, it stays cold. Weird, eh?

So much for being freaked about university! I love it here! I’m looking out my window right now (which, incidentally, is on Korea-UBC’s third floor) and I have this pretty view of two Doug Firs and some rhododendrons. It reminds me of the forest back home. And my room is finally finished – perhaps a little over decorated, but comforting all the same. And I love the sense of community here! If you keep your door propped open, someone will always come by for a chat. It’s really nice, especially since I’m used to living out in the boonies and never, ever, EVER seeing my friends.

It’s Imagine Day tomorrow, and then classes start on the 3rd. It’ll be weird to actually have to apply myself again… I feel like I’m at summer camp.

That is all.

– Linds

Categories
Advice for Newcomers

My advice could probably use a disclaimer… Oh! Hi!

Tip of the Week (and by week I mean current post):

When you cleanse your room of all the debris of your childhood, donā€™t listen to your parents; you should definitely procrastinate until the last week before you leave. Unless of course youā€™re like me and havenā€™t cleaned up in seven months. Then you should probably get ā€˜er done. I mean, I donā€™t want any of you to be crying, thigh deep in old finger paintings and mismatched socks, the night before your plane/train/ferry leaves. But itā€™s really depressing to decide what is coming with you and what is taking a short trip to the dumpster (or the local Sally Ann). In the corner of my room, Iā€™ve got a small pile of stuff that Iā€™m bringing over to Van including – but not limited to – all my Harry Potter novels, a wall hanging from Spain, a cuckoo clock, and a crumpled ā€œGive Peace a Chanceā€ poster.

So let your summer be a break for you. Donā€™t worry about leaving until The Day is close. Hereā€™s some of what I did:

1. Killer road trip with my friends up the Island. I donā€™t get away from my parents much because I live in the boonies, so it was an excellent chance to practice a bit of independence and hang out with my besties for a final farewell. Thanks Kelsey, Alistair, Ken, Rye Bread, and Asha (whoā€™s coming to UBC too ā€“ you should all be excited) for planning and executing our adventure. Best of luck for all of you (not that you need it).

2. Volunteered at Science Venture. Kids + Science = great fun.

3. Practiced driving for 60 hours. I really want my N.

4. Went to SkaFest and saw Current Swell again. AMAZING BAND.

And now that my relaxing summer is coming to an end, Iā€™m getting excited for the next phase of my life. Iā€™m soon to be an active member of the KU Tigers, the Blog Squad, and UBCā€™s Faculty of Science. Sweet.

Canā€™t wait to meet you people.

Lindsay

PS. If youā€™re nervous, donā€™t feel alone. It hasnā€™t hit me yet, but a severe stomach cramping, palm moistening, tears inducing case of the butterflies is in the mail as we speak.

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