Monthly Archives: October 2011

To Be Sick At University

I was sick last week, in the middle of personal midterm hysteria and the deceivingly challenging quest to craft a university paper. Imagine a knight set out to defeat the fierce dragon of responsibility, using the often-nonexistent sword of productivity. Now imagine that knight is sick. Totally changes the story, doesn’t it? Frodo wasn’t sick. Luke Skywalker wasn’t sick. Yet, I was. And it’s a total change to be sick in university.

In high school, people missed days. They commit to the day when they make the decision to go to school. They confide to the story of it all, because that’s what high school is, a story. The cliques, the clubs, the grade hierarchy. It was one big plotline. It’s the reason no one wanted to go in when they missed their morning classes. It would be like starting Lost in season 4. It just wouldn’t make sense.

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What I Am Thankful For

And as Thanksgiving officially comes to a close, the glorious statutory holiday spent mostly digesting, I find myself looking back and forwards, side to side at my life. What am I thankful for? Who has gotten me here? And what was in that cranberry sauce? Seriously, 4 cups crushed cranberries shouldn’t taste like the love of Will and Rose, Forrest and Jenny, even the yellow fish from Finding Nemo and his bubbles. It was that delicious. But as the edible love of Sunday breezed into the bloated orangutan-like aura of Monday, I feel thoughts more of reflection than glazed ham, a rare occurrence for me. And I’m thinking of UBC, my life, and how everything has changed. So with that in mind, please enjoy what I’m thankful for:

I’m thankful for my room. Nothing beats a hard night of studying like the unkempt bed I strive to keep cluttered. Residence life gives people the right to be messy, and I love it. Owning a mess is a liberating feeling.

I’m thankful for the dining hall. Nowhere else could I have lamb, apple pie, soft-serve ice cream and a spicy chicken burger all in one meal. Also, nowhere else do lines go so quickly. I love swiping my UBCcard. I feel like Bill Gates buying a yacht, just putting another transaction on the card of destiny, the one card to rule them all.

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