Hi everyone,
You might’ve noticed that I’ve been posting quite frequently lately. Yeah… I’ve been kind of sort of needing a source of “productive” distraction. I’ve had an amazingly productive last couple of weeks (work wise), and been on my full efficiency mode for a bit too long — and now I’m overwhelmed. lol
Then I remembered that if I learned anything from the dreadful period of the comprehensive exams, it’s that stressing out (to the point of freaking out) doesn’t do you any good, unless you have just the right amount of stress to keep you focused and healthily efficient.
So I decided to go for a run for the first time in a while. Wasn’t it raining this morning? Sure, but it’s Vancouver. Whatever. It ended up being a very refreshing run around the campus followed by the realization that “Hey, I could do this every morning” (I’m kidding. Every other morning seems closer to practical). The weather is warm enough that you won’t be too tempted to go back to bed after stepping out the door. And the campus is going through a very rapid transition between seasons, and bringing that awesome Vancouver spring scenery at its full speed.
It’s hard to complain about residence prices on campus (yes, they raised it by 2% again this year, yikes!) when you can walk out the door and right away be greeted by an abundance of good jogging routes with fresh and clean air from the trees of the Pacific Spirit Park and the waves of the ocean, far far away from streets filled with the sound of cars passing by. And today, running up and down the main mall (distance: a tad bit shy of 3km from the Thunderbird Cres. to Rose Garden and back) I was greeted by all the cherry blossoms that have bloomed and starting to decorate the streets. Beautiful…!
For those of you stressing out over final projects that are likely to be due in a week or two from now, upcoming final exams, plus catching up with your thesis work, plus paper deadlines, plus a conference to attend in between, plus a couple of side project that you really care about (yeah.. I’m overwhelmed), then why not take a few minutes, put on your running gears, and take a jog around the campus? It might just remind you how awesome it is to be in grad school at such a beautiful university. Well, and chances are, I might just run into you there. 😛