Category Archives: Wellness

Intro To Summer 101

I still have a blog, but everything’s different. First year is done and I’m living at home now. It feels weird going from the enclosed personalization of my dorm room to the open, nostalgia-inducing comfort zone of my childhood. But the size is the main difference. I feel like I’ve moved from the vault at a credit union to the vault at Fort Knox. One thing I won’t miss is the hallway. Every time I left my room, I’d stare down the long row of doors that is Nootka’s 4th floor and all I’d think of is The Shining. For some reason, when I walked down that corridor, I could swear that two twins were going appear in blood-stained shirts and torment me, saying such terrifying things as,

“Did you hear that Radiohead broke up?”

or

“Apparently M. Night Shyamalan is going to direct a sequel to The Shawshank Redemption.”

Wow, frightening stuff. One thing I’m very grateful for is that at home I’m given nutrition. A frightening realization I made within my first month in rez was that I was in charge of my own health. I always feared that, left to my own decisions, I’d eat myself into Jabba The Hutt, totally disregarding iron requirements, necessary vitamins, food pyramids, and other colour-coded nutritional information. So it became a chore to identify what was good for me and what was bad. Helpful hint: anything in bright packaging with a grammar-disregarding “z” is usually astonishingly bad for you. For example, I’m pretty sure cheezies, chicken wyngz, and sugar stikz are not part of a balanced meal. Anyway, I had to think of that stuff. And while it was one of many experiences that will prepare me for the rest of my mature life blah blah blah, there’s nothing like having mom there to give me what I need, like a Secret Service slipping the President some avocado because “I need the potassium.” Of course, I do sound a bit conceited relating myself to the President, but, who cares, it’s summer.

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Late Night with Evan Brow

A consistent theme, as of late, has been myself scouring the depths of night to complete my work, or even to start my work. There’s just something alluring, and oddly addictive, about the night, like that curry dinner you know you shouldn’t eat, but you eat it anyway, and then an hour later you’re writhing on the ground thinking,

“Well, it’s not like I didn’t see that coming.”

That’s what constantly staying up late is like. I know it’s bad for me, I know I’ll pay the price, but I do it anyway. Why? Well, the internet basically beckons me over, singing,

“♫ Let me show you the world ♫”

“♫ Reddit, Facebook, and YouTube ♫”

I’m disappointed in you if you didn’t get that reference. But it is kind of cool being up late. I feel like Tom Hanks in Cast Away. I don’t know what my “Wilson” would be. Maybe my “The Usual Suspects” poster? Maybe my dining hall sandwich wrappings? We’ll see. That’s for Future Evan to deal with. Geez, that guy sure is going to be stressed. Although, he has become a superhero by this point. Super Evan, wielding the ability to defuse awkward situations, a superpower sought after by all.

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Ugh.

So, I’m sick again. Anyone have an ice cream sandwich? Ah, a subtle reference to a past post. How “Lost” of me.

I was sick in October, and that was a game changer. First time being sick alone and all. This time’s different though. I know how to operate. I know what to stock up on. I know what curled up position on the bed shields the light the best. That said, it still sucks. It drains my energy into a black hole. Whatever creativity I had been cultivating is now roadkill, crushed by the Hummer of flu season. I even hate the word. Flu. It looks gross. I mean, it ends with a u. Not many nice things end with a u.

But regardless, I have it. Sandwiches don’t taste as crisp as they used to, orange juice stings the throat, and all things salty are chapping my lips like never before. Truly a nightmare for your typical North American student.

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Nothing But Smooth Sailing

Last exam today. Yes, I’m the sucker who has an exam on the 20th, but I’m feeling less stress and more a feeling of,

“Tuesday! Tuesday! Tuesday! One day left for DECEMBER EXAM MADNESS!”

That needed to be read in a monster truck rally voice. Otherwise, I just sound like a crazy lunatic with caps lock, which is now mostly for angry people on the internet.

The storm is over for me, its rough waves of sleep-deprivation countered with caffeine overdose a thing of the past. I feel smug eating an apple now, content that I have the time to enjoy a juicy piece of fruit, not crouched over my laptop, much like a troll would, separating my candy stockpile into sour and sweet, the sole organization I’d use for nights of sporadic cramming with the occasional maniacal epiphany that doesn’t make much sense in a rational morning. I’ve lost the “exam posture” too, that hunched stance on a leaned-back chair, paired with a scowl saying, “none of this makes sense and I have to prove it does in two days.”

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The Eye of the Storm

You know that feeling at a restaurant when you see your food leave the kitchen and there’s that gap in time before it gets to your table? It’s an odd feeling, right? All you can think of is,

“That’s my food! That’s it! I SHALL BE EATING THAT!”

But your brain has to correct itself and go,

“Woah there cowboy. It’s not here yet. Just sit tight and act cool. Pretend to look at the martini collection or something.”

So you end up just sitting there looking anywhere but the server’s eyes, waiting for the last second to turn and be startled with joy at the arrived meal, as if eye contact would ruin the taste.

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Dan Mangan in Vancouver

One of my favourite parts of Vancouver is its rich musical roots. Only a city with a diversified pool of talent like ours could produce Michael Bublé and Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan and Mark Donnelly. And if you don’t know who Mark Donnelly is, watch a Canucks game. His voice will take your mind off the fact that we’ve never won a cup. So it was a huge treat when I discovered Dan Mangan, a nestled Canadian treasure hidden in the troves of Vancouver humbleness. Dan and his album “Nice, Nice, Very Nice” changed my perception of Vancouver music. He was at the musical stage of producing brilliant music, minus the mainstream, stadium-frequenting presence. He had the perfect setting for an indie, hipster musician with a dab of arrogance, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Dan was your friend who made it big. Dan was the guy who loved words, guitar and the tickled feeling in his throat when he sang just that much harder. In four words, Dan was a delight.

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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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Adventures in the Dining Hall

Going into residence, I had preconceptions about the whole “dining experience.” I imagined intimidating women in hairnets serving out helpings of beef slop, veggie slop and surprise slop, which would just be a beef and veggie slop blend. I hate giving in to clichés, but there was a part of my brain that truly believed that’s how it would be. It’s also the part that tries convincing me Pop-Tarts are somewhat healthy and that walking to the fourth floor burns off routinely eaten pie.

Walking into the hall was a grand experience. There was no slop! There was pita bread, stir-fry, chicken skewers and roast beef. Oh how I love roast beef. I went straight for it. It was love at first smell. The succulent gravy, the lightly pink middle, the potent tang of that outer layer. I relished as the server carved the mighty roast, struggling, still fighting with it to slice out a serving of my favourite meat. She dipped the geometrically pleasing ladle in the gravy tub and poured sweet victory over my roast. I topped it off with some cauliflower and a strip of garlic bread to produce a meal worthy of a king. King of England, King of Floors, King of Late Night, any King. The food is great. What it lacks in love it makes up in quantity. Enough of anything trumps love eventually, especially when anything involves gravy.

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So Much Walking

Now, I could talk to you about classes, prepare you for the barrage of post-secondary academic turmoil. I could incite wisdom upon thy mind to be a better student and a better citizen. I could do that, but I’d much rather focus on something far more trivial, walking.

Think you’ll fall victim to the Freshman 15? Not if you’re an Arts student at Totem who likes baby carrots. So much walking. My exercise used to be getting up…and that’s it. So for someone who has to walk across campus and back every day, I both dread and treasure the experience. I dread it when it’s 8:46 am, my kettle won’t work and the shower is feeling quite cynical, or to put it un-pretentiously, cold. So damn cold. Seriously, did someone need all the hot water for a steam-powered car? That would suggest an Engineer. I’ll look into that. Although, I like walking when it’s a good morning, like in Disney sit-coms, which as we all know stands for Disney Situational Commercialization. There, I’m being all political and edgy. Deal with it establishment! It’s all the Man, man. Take your [insert political adjective] [insert political noun] out of [insert stupid cause, like domestic abuse against vegetables or petitioning for more cat-sitters].

Hey, I’m just the messenger, the incredibly confusing messenger who’s supposed to be taking about walking.

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