Category Archives: Residence Life

A strange phenomenon

For the last couple of months, I’ve been the most annoying wretch and complained about my heater to anyone within a few metres’ range when the mood struck me, regardless of what they wanted. Poor them. I’m sorry.

The problem was not that my heater didn’t work at all — it gave off heat, but there didn’t seem to be any difference in temperature after 25’C. 35’C felt exactly the same. Actually, that wasn’t the problem either, since I don’t need to live in 35’C temperature: the problem was that my room was sanely warm in the daytime, and then cold at night. I woke up shivering more often than not, and hoped that turning up the thermostat would help. (Getting extra blankets didn’t have much effect, unfortunately. The extra weight also hampered my nightly tossing and turning, so I woke up exhausted.)

I put in a work order last week — couldn’t hurt, whatever the consequences — and the man who came to look it over said that it might be burning itself out and suggested putting it at 20’C instead.

Maybe it’s too soon to say as it hasn’t snowed again since last weekend, but it does seem to be working and I don’t wake up cold every morning anymore.

Yay for goody bags!

I have firmly decided that the Vanier caf staff are some of the nicest people around.

When I was grabbing lunch yesterday, they asked if I had got a goody bag. “A goody bag?” I repeated, bemused. They asked me for my name and residence, and then promptly placed a large, brown paper bag in my arms. “It’s for your studying!”

Chocolate, chips/crisps, an orange fruit that is either an orange, a mandarin or a tangerine, and a can of Coke (which I gave to someone else because I don’t drink soft drinks) — when they don’t have to give us anything at all! I’m not sure if this is a UBC Food Catering thing or if it’s limited to Vanier and/or Totem, but at any rate, I’m grateful for it.

Apply for housing NOW

As part of my break from writing one of my papers tonight, I decided to swim around the UBC Housing website and think about where I might want to live next year just for fun.

Turns out it’s not quite as leisurely as I thought.

If you want housing next year and you are a current student at UBC, apply now for the lottery system. Yes, you have to pay $50 and submit an application now just to be considered for a place in housing. Entering the lottery does not mean that you are guarenteed a spot in housing — it means exactly what it says. Regardless, if you do not want to be homeless next year, apply now. The deadline is February 1st, but we all know how we procrastinate. (Plus we go around asking who is wanting to live where. Ask now.)

The lottery apparently opened on November 1. What I want to know is: how come there hasn’t been anything about it? I had the impression that the lottery would open later on in the year, like March or April, because after all, it’s a computer that does the juggling. No posters, no information whatsoever — I just happened to stumble upon it because I was looking for it out of curiousity.

My only other question is how a person might be able to room with friends if they wanted to live in one of the shared residences, such as Ritsumeikan, Gage, or Fairview. There is nothing on the online application that I have seen that has this option, yet I hear of people living with their friends all the time. How is this done?

Ah-ha, my friend just pointed me to the ever-helpful FAQs:

“Those selected in the lottery can ask to live together, and we will do our best to accommodate those requests. Please note, each roommate’s application must show the identical rankings for residence area preferences.”

So if you are interested in living with your friends, remember to rank everything exactly the same. And preferably, now.

Winter wonder

I’m just taking a scheduled break from my own blog plans to say how much I love this weather we’re having. (After writing my last post, I also realised I didn’t know what order the other posts should be, so this is a great excuse to put that off.)

It was raining hard around two yesterday afternoon, as I’m sure everyone who had to go out knew. It was wonderful. For once the rain was pouring down in torrents instead of that indecisive drizzle we’ve been having for so long. I like a sky that can make up its mind. Dribbles are not my thing.

Then while we were discussing Frankenstein in English, the rain turned into what looked like torn-up pieces of paper, and that was my first snow.

It disappeared by the time I came out of class but icy flakes were falling again around dinner-time and splattering all over my hoodie, before melting away a few minutes after I stepped inside a warmer building. By the time I came out from dinner, there were tiny piles of soggy ice on the ground. At first I hadn’t a clue what it was, and as I said to my friend, I was wondering why there were suddenly so many dead leaves lying around.

So I danced my way through the slush, or whatever it is (I don’t know snow lingo), to get to the SUB (Student Union Building) for my ballroom class. My feet were frozen and my shoes wet through and through from jumping from dry spot to dry spot or just wading right through the pools and pools of wet, and the most delightful part of it all is when you get to go home and take a steaming hot shower to warm yourself right up.

And today the sun is shining like there’s no tomorrow and the sky is a blue blue cloudless blue, so everyone can be happy now (and not just me!).

I will hate it if there is a power outage like the one people say they had last year. No hot water and electricity? Sad face.

Lastly, there is a little tree next to the main entrance of my house that is growing furry little buds. I don’t know what it is called — I remember reading a children’s tale about kittens’ tails for the name of this particular tree. But the buds are grey and if you touch them, they are fuzzy!

Lost: A Golden Puppy

There was a golden dog spotted running to and fro outside the commonsblock near the main lawn of Vanier at around twenty to two this afternoon. It took me a few moments to realize that it wasn’t with anyone; it kept running back and forth looking for its owner, disappearing one way and then coming back. I saw it disappear in the direction of KU and the main road beyond, but it didn’t reappear. I went that way and hunted for it for a while, but had to go to class. I mentioned it at the front desk, but I don’t know if anything has been done about it, especially if it might never have come back

It was a very young dog, I think. I don’t really know that much about dogs, but it looked more like a puppy than a grown dog. It had tags around its neck and no leash, although it had some kind of harness strapped around it. It was just about knee-high, I think, and perhaps a metre or so in length. It was golden, and its name is Goldie. I couldn’t find a number before it ran away again.

If anyone sees a stray golden puppy around, please look for a number and see if you can give the owner a call! The dog looked so well-loved and cared-for, I think the owner must be very distressed about it being gone. The dog seemed so lost and scared, looking for its owner too.