Category: Academic

Categories
Academic Miscellaneous

#018: Time management. Say WHAT?!?!

Currently listening to: “My Freeze Ray” – Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

“With my freeze ray I will stop the world
With my freeze ray I will find the time…”

Firstly, I hope everyone’s had a superb Thanksgiving weekend! In other news, that song [see above] is hilarious, so go listen to it. I promise you much chuckling and further YouTubing in search of the rest of the Dr. Horrible videos.

Secondly, I could definitely use that freeze ray. (“Stop the world…I wanna get on!” – The Producers reference, ha. But I digress.) Amidst terrible planning, an absolute lack of an attention span (as you must’ve noticed) and NO ability whatsoever to stick to a plan, I am finding myself with three days to the in-class paper for Arts One (Plato’s Republic, how delightful!), and four days to the Psych 100 midterm. Of course, in true Mary style, I’ve barely done any preparation for either (and will probably end up sliding through with a sheer stroke of luck and some subtle wordplay, thus giving me no incentive to actually study, the vicious cycle never ends). Must get on that…soon…good grief, will the procrastination never end? Honestly, girl, get a grip. On the bright side, the Arts One paper (Medea) is completed, though I doubt the legitimacy (and general prettiness) of the cover page. Gave it my best shot- I’ve no regrets. At least until we get them back…ha.

Thirdly, the “say WHAT” in the title of this entry is a tribute to a friend who defined, to a foreign student learning English, the term as “an expression used to follow up any ridiculous or crazy statement”. Most excellent indeed, though I can’t quite fathom for the life of me how frequently that phrase might come in handy.

Off to bed…before 2 a.m.! Mad props.

Categories
Academic

#016: Thoughts on school things

Currently listening to: “What Became Of The Likely Lads” – The Libertines

(whaaa, Mary’s actually blogging about school-related things?!?!?!? I KNOW!)

After actually getting back my first Arts One essay today, I’ve realized that 1. everyone has been entirely serious when they advise us not to take the abysmal first grade too personally, 2. the barrage of essays really will not end (my current one on Medea can just go drown itself in the Styx), and 3. this is after all, university, and I oughtn’t expect the work or grades to be like high school (where any slip-shod piece of rubbish writing passed for proper work).

Aussi, je me sens vraiment très déçu car j’ai fait tant d’erreurs stupides pendant l’examen de mi-semestre. Après avoir regardé l’examen corrigé, sérieusement, j’aurais pu faire mieux. La prochaine fois! Une autre examen avec un note comme ça? Jamais!

On the up-side, Thanksgiving long weekend!

Categories
Academic

#014: And so…

Currently listening to: “My Alcoholic Friends” – The Dresden Dolls

…let Round Two of the Arts One essay-writing begin.
I will keep you posted on the progress of this doubtlessly scintillating activity.

In other news, I have figured out how to play Viva la Vida on the guitar.

Life is good…
except someone has stolen my Green Party lawn sign!

hey, it’s October!

Categories
Academic Miscellaneous

#011: Of essays and elections

Currently listening to: “Ho Ma Jolie” – Les Trois Accords

So as of yesterday, I’ve completed my first Arts One essay.
A wave of apprehension (furry green sock-wearing, nail-biting, grapefruit juice-spilling, etc) is taking over as I await next week’s tutorial and the necessity of reading said essay aloud.

Now that we’ve got that proclamation out of the way, presenting…CANADIAN ELECTION COMMENTS AVEC MARY.
[Disclaimer: The subsequent expressed views are the expressed opinion of this writer, and do not represent the views of the University of British Columbia.]

Firstly, the Conservative-Liberal competition has taken a turn towards the extremely childish. Mostly on the Conservative side. After all the hoopla surrounding notaleader.ca, I decided to take a look and form my own opinion about it. (Goodness knows the media’s been all over it; it’s time I actually read through it…) Now I’m neither a Liberal nor a Conservative, so with a most neutral perspective, I approached with caution, and found a shambles of a website dedicated to the sole purpose of personally attacking Stéphane Dion. No, not attacks on Liberal principles or campaign platforms, but rather, a full-blown attack on his competence. Complete with little Flash animations, pop-ups and such. Now forgive me if I’m wrong, but all this slanderous back-biting seems terribly immature. The initial (and well, current) purpose may have been to waylay the Liberals, but the fact that they have stooped to such an extent to distract from the focus point simply reflects doubly poorly on the Tories.

Secondly, statements like the following are not useful when I’m deciding who to vote for.
“The Bloc talks a lot about child care. But what can they actually do other than talk? With the BLOC, we can’t achieve anything.” – The Conservative Party, on childcare
On the other hand, the NDP doesn’t even mention the Bloc, or the Green Party.

Thirdly, despite the fact that the Bloc Québécois serves absolutely no purpose for 70% of the country, they do have some of the more entertaining and creative campaign ads- including a singalong and a music video. (The songs from the 2005 election were better, though.)

Fourthly, may I just point out how much I love the layout and design of the Green Party website.

Fifthly, I intend on attending as many political rallies as possible (the schedule seems rather unrelenting at the moment), just to get a better first-hand view of everything up close and personal, rather than simply from the papers/news/websites. It shall be interesting, to say the least.

Now that I’ve rambled quite enough, I’ll be off.
Ta for now.

Categories
Academic Careers / Work Student Life

#009: Short update!

Currently listening to: “There’s A Fine, Fine Line” – Avenue Q

BUSY LIKE A BUSY THING ON BUSY DAY!

1. The Arts One essay, while seemingly straightforward and unassuming, has proven to be absolutely rubbish to write. Comparing the gods in the Iliad and Ramayana is absolutely riveting stuff. Of course, it is (only) the first (of many more to come), and I trust the process will get less painful as time progresses.

2. Work has been absolutely insane; oh, the stories I could tell of strange women adamantly refusing to leave the store after closing time, elderly men in the music section hovering for two hours, and teenagers barging in to use the facilities with one minute to closing…

3. Dreadfully tired. Must keep writing (see point 1).

4. Clubs/societies-wise, I’ve been to a couple of Ubyssey meetings, and I must say I’m really enjoying the casual but work-y atmosphere. I’ve my first Culture piece published in this issue, which is really quite exciting. In other news, the highlight of my week is definitely Le Club Francais, but what else is new?

5. Recommend me good music! It shall keep me going like the little train that did! (I like musical theatre, disco pop, Euro-house, tragic ballads, classical, Quebecois, and………I trust your taste.)

In the words of Spring Awakening,
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah!

Cheers,
M.

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