Monthly Archives: November 2012

32 things i did at ubc that you can totally do too : thing #6

Posted on by
Reply

THING #6: SAW THE UBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

A slightly fuzzy picture of the UBC Symphony Orchestra.

I had no idea that UBC had a Symphony Orchestra, but we do! A friend asked if I wanted to go see them play at the Chan Centre at absolutely none of my own expense and I thought it’d be a pretty great way to spend an evening. It was. I came out feeling incredibly cultured, and me and my friend did a little bit of frat boy spotting in the audience. Who’d have thought, right? We must have been doing the cool thing.

It was an incredible show. I know very little about music, especially classical music, but I enjoyed it a lot. And I came out feeling all kinds of cultural. Their next concert, while not free, is just $15 for students, and features the the UBC Choral Union.

I’ll be keeping an eye out to see if I can go see them again sometime soon. They were incredibly talented.

32 things i did at ubc that you can totally do too : thing #5

Posted on by
Reply

THING #5: HOPPED ON OVER THE BOARDER TO SEATTLE

The Seattle Skyline plus my face. (And my friend’s arm – oops!)

It takes just four hours to get from downtown Vancouver to downtown Seattle, and that’s only if it’s pretty busy at the boarder. And so why not do it? I know that for me, part of the appeal of Vancouver (and it is only a little part) is the opportunity for travel. And Seattle is so very very close! (And so very very cheap! My ticket down on Bolt Bus was only $15, and you can get them cheaper.)

The Original Starbucks (just about) plus my face (again). Look at that line!

Seattle is full of things to do even on a rainy day. Which, statistically, it’s likely to be. But we live in Vancouver, however temporarily. We are used to this, right? Some things I would recommend include checking out Pike Place Market, where you can find all kinds of fresh produce as well as some fantastic gifts and pretty things. It’s where the original Starbucks is located, too, though the lineup outside is insane.

After that, there’s the EMP – a museum for music, sci-fi and pop culture. Love Nirvana? There’s an exhibition on their influence on music. Sci-fi geek? There’s another exhibition on great influences in sci-fi. (Also, they have an awesome sci-fi gift shop. I bought a t-shirt with ‘Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!’ on it – anyone who can tell me what show it’s from is my new best friend.) I would highly recommend the EMP.

The Crab Pot, plus my friends’ faces and my own.

If you’re looking for somewhere to eat some fantastic Seattle seafood, I cannot recommend The Crab Pot highly enough. Man vs. Food went there once! It’s incredible. They dump a bucket of seafood in front of you, give you a small mallet, and let you have at it. (Or you can get a nice, safe salmon burger or a plate of ribs, but the seafood! Man!)

A rainy view from the Space Needle, plus my friends’ and my faces. Getting a bit pose-y, there.

Then there’s the Space Needle. It’s the icon of Seattle, and it’s such an oddly futuristic and yet stuck back in time kind of place. It’s very odd, but definitely must be experienced. You can go up it at night, too.

Seattle is an incredible place, and I am proud to say that I got myself across the American boarder without accidentally doing something wrong! All by myself! I am very proud, and I had a fantastic time.

nanowrimo: writing a novel in thirty days

Posted on by
Reply

National Novel Writing Month

November is a month for a lot of different challenges. There’s Movember, Goalvember, and the challenge of getting through the last four weeks of term. It’s a mad month. I already feel all over the place.

So guess what I did? I signed up for NaNoWriMo! Because I am in possession of a rational mind and I thought that would be a great idea in the (second) hardest month of the accademic year! You know what, though? I am gonna win this thing.

For everyone who hasn’t heard of it, NaNoWriMo stands for the National Novel Writing Month, which is a worldwide challenge held over the web by a charitable organisation called the Office of Letters and Light. The idea is to write a 50000 word novel in thirty days. It’s not easy. That amounts to about 1667 words per day, and that is every single day for the month of November. It is not for the faint of heart. (Says me, as though I’m doing some epic quest.)

In my experience, though, once you’ve tried it, it’s not something you give up trying until you win. This year will be my fourth attempt at it, and I’m hoping to last out the first week this time. But there are lots of reasons why someone might chose to put themselves through this. Maybe they want to cross writing a novel off their bucket list, or maybe they want to learn how to write without having time to second guess themselves. Maybe they want to finish a creative project for the first time. Maybe they’ve been doing it for so many years that a November is no longer a real month to them without writing an odd 50k.

In Totem we’ve got a group, run by the Totem Times, who are participating in NaNo. You’ll be able to see our weekly tallies in the commons block, too. And if you want to join in, well, you’re only a day behind! Why not try it? (I am currently a day behind, too, and I promise that it is possible to catch up.)

If you’re interested and you want more info, I’d recomend having a poke around the NaNo website. And, if you decide to participate, or you already are, there’s a special section of the site just for student NaNo participants and our very special issues.

So, wish me luck!