MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

It's the Holiday Season!  Wish all ye faithful visitors a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year.

Exams are over now.  Hope all is great with you.

And in this happy season, please spare a thought for the less fortunate.  

Let's ALL be merry and at peace.

Chunski

 

View from my apartment

Does anyone from a 416 class remember this?

Does this brand sound familiar?

Well, it wasn't called Belmond at the time of the case.  But you may remember what it was.  Just thought you might get a kick out of it.  You can click on the link to read the full article...

 

Who Said Exams Aren't Fun?

I know, I know, I have been lazy and have not posted in quite a while.  If you actually noticed that (and that's all three of you, that is), my apologies.

So what gives?

Well, I've just been busy with studying.  Five finals, you know.  But it's been enjoyable.  Had three so far, and two to go.  They are pretty serious about finals here.  Let me give you some examples.

Last night I had a sociology final.  In the gym.  7-10 pm.  Tables are set 3 feet apart.  We had to put all our coats and backpacks and whatnot in the back of the room.  The only things allowed on the desk were pens and a bottle of water (or whisky).  You couldn't leave until at least one hour has passed.  And people could not enter the exam if they were more than 15 minutes late.  If you had to go to the bathroom, you have to wait for a proctor of the same gender to go with you.  And one person at a time.   Foreign students are not allowed to use dictionaries or electronic translators for the exam (after all, they are supposed to be tested for language proficiency before admitted, no?).  And the exam itself?  Worth 40% of the grades.

Well, I'm sure I didn't get an A+ on the final.  I just hope that I got a strong enough A to get my average to an A+.  Wish me luck.

And I thoroughly loved it!

On a somewhat unrelated note, I come to realize that I really really really love sociology.  Even thought about adding a major, or a minor, or even changing majors.  Well, so I did some investigation.  An Honours in Sociology requires 20 courses.  A major requires 14 courses plus a second major.  A minor requires 10 courses.  Well, I still want to do my history stuff, and all these requirements will make the degree much less fun for me.  So I guess I won't be taking a sociology option after all.  Or if I do, I'll have to switch from Honours History to Honours Sociology.  And that's a whole new Faculty (School).  So red tape.  Hmmmm.

I'l be done with exams by next week.   Then I'm off until January 7.  I wonder when grades are released.

This is great fun, folks.  I don't understand why people hate exams so much.  Honestly.  It's such a great way for me to integrate things I've learned throughout the semester.  Being "forced" to actually study a subject is a great way to learn, IMHO.   But then maybe that's just Chunski being Chunski.

What better on a Sunday when it's freezing rain outside?

Study, of course!

Today is 300 pages of Sociology, plus half a day of French.
I managed the 600-page quota yesterday, so I feel quite confident about today.

And here's another one of my faves...

Gotta love her.

More coffee, and carry on!

The last stretch

This is it.  One more week of classes, and then onto Finals.

Interesting, this, with so much reading to do.  Set up a study plan (I am nothing if not anal).  Have it all planned out till my last final this semester.  Five in all, stretching past mid-December.  So much fun!!!

Today's target:  600 pages for history.

Tomorrow:  300 pages for sociology, plus half the day for French.

Let's see how this goes for the weekend!  Or if my plan needs to be modified.


Grinding away at the readings.  Finishing my fifth cup of coffee, and listening to Summer singing in the background.  BTW, if you don't know who Summer is, have a listen.  And a great song, too!  What a voice!

 

One of the most socially meaningful tunes ever

Folks,
If you know me, you'll already why I feel this way.  It's called Streets of London, but you can replace London with any major city anywhere (Paris, New York, Toronto, you name it), and the same applies.  It's a sad state of humanity that this continues to exist in the 21st Century.

We should recognize just how lucky we are.  

Streets of London video

This is what I got

Hope it grows well!

Does anyone know what kind of plant this is?

Which should I pick?

Plant Night.  Which should I pick up and plant?  Decisions, decisions.

Everyone there was a girl, except me and this other guy.  Left very quickly in case they called security about some creepy old guy hanging around.

Let's see if the plant will survive...

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Girl commented in class:  "I hate capitalism."

Fair enough.  I might not go so far as to say "hate," but those of you who know me know I'm not a huge fan of it either.  Capitalism, unbridled, certainly causes a lot of harm.

I'm all for free speech, but only if the speech in question is hypocritical and uninformed.  Take this woman who espouses hatred towards capitalism, for example.

She wears a $1,000 Canada Goose down jacket.  Before she spoke up, she was talking to her friend about some spa over on the other side of town, where one could get a day pass and enjoy all the luxuries of a "nordic" experience.

Just goes to show that a university education does not obviate nonsense.

Can I just stay home today?

OMG, it's -26 windchill today!  It's not even December yet :(


On a more positive note, I still can't workout with my right arm, so I have a perfect excuse to not workout AT ALL!  This tackling of a stone wall business was a really bad idea...

Hey, I just realize that I only need to get a C on the final in anthropology to have an A in that class.  No pressure.  Haha.

Check out this news story this morning from the CBC:

Not as nice outside though

Good place to chill in between classes

Plate #2

Chunski trying out the 24/7 dining hall

Infiltrating the law school library...

Good to see that at least two people still talk to other people

Can't wait for real winter to come!

It's warmed up! Perfect for a bike ride. Nuts.

Catching Up

It's been a few days since my last post.  Here's a quick update on my uneventful last few days.  Went to a political science conference in Montreal (yes, political science.  Just don't ask how that happened).  Had my little fight with a stone wall (which I lost in a KO).  Spent six hours observing all kinds of humanity (and lesser beings) in a hospital.  Oh, yeah, got an A on my Horror exam.  Wrote a second Anthro midterm.  Finished the first draft of a sociology paper.   Observed a very nice Remembrance Day service in Montreal.  So, yeah, and lots of painkillers (what ARE those colours!).

Now we are all caught up.

Man, it's getting colder now.  Right now it's -10 Celcius (for those of you Farenheit fans, that's 10 F).  I am so tempted to drive to campus this morning, but then I realize, hell, if I give in now, what will I do when it's actually cold, like -30?  So I guess I will be walking.  But my poor face with all the cuts and abrasions won't like it much.  Maybe I need a mask!  A ski mask?  They might think I'm a bank robber though.

I have 2 days to decide if I should the Horror class.  That A sure made things more difficult.  There are just three weeks left.  Hmmmmmmm.

In Sociology we are dealing with ethnicity right now.  My kind of thing.  I don't remember where I heard about this (I've never seen the movie itself), but here's a clip from The Karate Kid which speaks volumes:

 Enjoy!

History TA

Well, I had my really quick meeting with my TA.   All of five minutes.

First she was surprised I even met with her, since I "got a really good grade on the paper."

That's beside the point, though.  No?

Anyway, I can confirm now that she has never heard of received view.  Ha!

And then she said something about it's always hard to write essays when "You're in first year.  You will get used to it," she said.  "I remember when I was in first year...."

Ok you got the gist.

My reaction I will leave to your imagination.

When an educated mind becomes constipated

I've been noticing this phenomenon among the college crowd.  Of course, I am merely looking at this from my own perspective, and I might be missing a lot of the nuances that only the young can understand.  Anyway...

Cultural Appropriation.

Okay, I get it.  I, too, think it's not a laughing matter for someone to say, dress up as an Indian Chief at Halloween, especially when one is not an Indigenous person.  Or, for that matter, for a black person to dress up as oh, I don't know, Charlie Chan?

I get it that it's offensive if someone takes my culture and treats it as a joke.  Us Klingons are mighty sensitive when it comes to such things.

But now on college campuses, you hear people say things like, "what right does some middle-aged white woman have to go and "study the culture" of some African tribe?  That's just colonialism and arrogance."

Come again?

Are we saying that only someone who's say, Japanese, can study Japanese culture, or history, or whatever the fuck it is that's Japanese?

And someone has to be a Klingon to study Klingon customs?

Seriously?

Here are a couple of problems I have with such nonsense.

First, it requires the researcher to be of a certain culture to study that culture.  Why?  Because only a person of culture X can actually understand culture X.  What the FUCK!

I am Chinese by descent.  If you REALLY know me, do you think I have some kind of unique and privileged insight into Chinese culture?  Or Chinese history.

By the way, artifacts can substantiate (through carbon dating) 4,000 years of Chinese culture.  I know, they keep saying 5,000, but the first 1,000 has no artifacts to back up. But that's another story.  Anyway, so how is anyone supposed to study any history prior to the 20th Century?

No one around today was born before 1900.  No?  Who gives a person born after 1900 the right to study and report and analysis what happened before 1900?  Is that not appropriation?

Anyone still around who was there when the Declaration of Independence was signed?  No?  That I guess we can't actually study that.

Fucking bullshit.

Second, are we implicitly suggesting then that all persons of culture X (However one defines that, by the way) are the same?  I mean, do all Klingons share the same insight and cultural appreciation of all other Klingons?  Because if they don't, then one Klingon's interpretation of some Klingon cultural nuance is no more valid that Snoopy's interpretation of it.

And if these fools who talk so loudly about it needing a Mohawk to study things Mohawk really analyzes what they are saying, they are actually saying that all Mohawks are the same.  And you know, I think that's infinitely worse, misinformed, ridiculous, CONSTIPATED, than cultural appropriation.

I just wish people would stop and think about what they are saying before they fucking say it.  MORONS!

A Nice Surprise and other things

You might recall I said I bombed my history midterm because I confused two different Acts?  

Well, we got our midterms back yesterday, and true enough, I lost that question completely.  But apparently I got 100% on everything else.  HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.   So, it didn't turn out so bad after all :)


On a different note, my sociology prof keeps trying to convince me to become a sociology major.  OR add a double major.  Or somehow do more sociology.

I looked into it.  Heck, even doing a MINOR in it requires 10 courses.  TEN!  I can't afford to give up that many opportunities to take other interesting things.  It's too bad, because I wouldn't mind doing at least a minor.  But ten courses?  Nah.  I still want to take classes like Witchcraft, Drugs, Shakespeare, etc etc.

Hmm, French quiz tonight.  I think I will make some French Toast for breakfast...

Decisions, decisions

Dear Reader,
If you're reading this, I'd like to get your input to help me with a decision.

As you may know, I am in this Horror Fiction course.  Well, it's really more a literature course (as in high brow convoluted literary stuff) that deals with stuff that don't horrify anyone.  Anyhow, I don't even mind that.  I can go with the flow and learn something different.  Not a problem there.

Now, this is a second year literature class.  In my humble opinion, it should involve literary analysis, thereby taking us into the interpretive paradigm.  The way the prof goes about it, though, is her way or the highway.  Her interpretation, apparently, is the only valid one.  So much for thought process.

That, to me, is the real horror of the course.

Take for example the recent mid term exam.  You'd think a literature class would have essay exams, in which you interpret, support, analysis, and so on.  No?  Instead, we had T/F, MC, and one word answer questions.  I mean, really?  You don't even get that in high school!

Let me give you an example.  One of the questions was:

The monster in XYZ story is a bird.  T/F

Hell, there WAS a bird.  But to me, the bird was no more than the manifestation of the person's psychological state.  So was the monster the bird?  Or was it something else?  How can this be a T/F question?

Another example:

In the story ABC, all the aristocrats are portrayed as heartless people who only cared about fashion.  T/F

What?  Unless the story explicitly say "these people are all heartless and only care about fashion," wouldn't whatever conclusion one draws be merely one's interpretation?  What, pray, is HEARTLESS?  How do you define it?

Do you understand my frustration?

I don't know how I did on the midterm.  Probably an A-, I hope.  Who knows.  But that's beside the point.  Do I really want to sit through the rest of this BS?  

I have even written the term paper already.  So if I withdraw now, it's all going to waste.

And grade-wise, I am doing fine, I think.

So there are pros and cons.  I don't need this credit for anything.  Dropping it now won't change anything, but will save me the anguish of sitting through this class, or preparing for the final.

Keeping the class will force me to endure a few more weeks of this intellectual hibernation, but I will likely get a semi-respectable grade out of it, and I can continue to say I never back down from a challenge.

Give me your thoughts?

Thanks!

Chunski

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn

When Chunski comes in contact with kinship stuff, Chunski needs lots of mushrooms to get through the day.
I simply have a bullet-proof mental block when it comes to kinship and crap like that.

For Once, I agree with Adam Smith...

"...to neglect persons of poor and mean condition...is...the greatest and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments."  (Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments)

Take that, Doug Ford.  If even Adam Smith, the fucking Invisible Hand guy, considers you an asshole, you've gotta be one.

If you have no idea who Doug Ford is, that's ok.  You probably had nothing to do with him becoming the new premier of Ontario, so you are perhaps not totally nuts.

Folks, in the upcoming holiday season, do heed Smith's words.  Be kind to your fellows.  Lend them a helping hand.  If we all give a shit, the world would be such a happier place. 

In other words, send Chunski some money.

How long does it take to return exams?

For anyone who's reading this, who's ever had me as a prof, you might recall that I ALWAYS return exams and assignments the next class day.  In more than 20 years of teaching, I made that a matter of policy.  And decency.

I took this wretched midterm two weeks ago now.  And so far no word as to when we will get it back or find out how we did.  It doesn't help that I KNOW I screwed it up too.  So the waiting goes on.  And the guy has TWO TAs for the course.  Hell.

On a different, but equally unsettling, matter, some guys in class kept calling me Sir.  Sigh.  Thanks for being polite and all that.  But on a day like today especially, when my knee hurts and my back aches, I really don't need to be reminded of my age.   Oh well.  I'll just think of myself as aged whisky.  😎

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

Watched this in class today. Pretty cool stuff.

https://youtu.be/cZ7LzE3u7Bw

Financial Illiteracy starts early

I think it's common knowledge that people can't write.  Nor can they spell.  Nor do they know the first thing about grammar.
But surely in our money-dependent world, you'd think we'd have SOME financial literacy skills?  Assuredly not.

Take this guy I know in class.  He's not a business major, so at least there's some consolation.  But he's doing some sort of international development thing.  You know, like helping third world countries become economically viable, that kind of stuff.

Somehow he thinks I know something about business things.  Hmm, can't think why.  Anyway, he sent me a desperate massage.  "Help!  I have this assignment due, and I have no idea what to do," he said. 

Well, he didn't exactly use those words.  But you get the point.

So, being the nice guy that I am, I asked him to show me what this crazy-ass problem was.

Here it goes:

Joe has $300 to spend.  He wants to buy some DVDs, which costs $10 each, and he also wants to buy some books, which costs $25 each.   If x is the number of DVDs he buys, and y is the number of books he buys, express his budgetary constraint in the form of an equation.

Part II.  If Joe decides to buy 10 books, how many DVDs can he buy?

OK, my friends.  That's basically the gist of it.  Something to that effect.

How could this become such a difficult task for my friend?  It didn't start at university.  This is something one should have picked up in fourth grade or something.  Seriously.  I did.  It's not his fault that he found this difficult.  It's the education system's fault.  It's the parents' fault.  Life is too easy for kids.

And in the end, they suffer the consequences.

I don't want this yet

I am really not ready to wake up to this yet.  I guess I should put away the shorts for the season.  Finally.  Sigh!

Coffee is in my blood

This is how much coffee ground in one day.... KICKING HORSE 454 Horsepower.  Try it!

Dinner anyone?

These babies are 18 oz each NY strips.  Yum!

Chunski on the war path

Just got a history paper back.  The fucking TA does not seem to know what "received view" means.  And she is in the phd program?
Fuck. I lost points because she is ignorant.  I don't mind losing points because she disagrees with content, or even style.  But when it's because she is a fucking illiterate, that really pisses me off.

Sigh.  I can go and yell at her, and I will win.  But I will also come across as an arrogant bastard (ok, so I am).  Damn moron!

Happy thoughts and Not so happy thoughts

Happy

On my way to campus this morning, a bus raced by.  Some distance behind, a girl, laden with a big backpack, struggled to run to the bus stop a good 500 ft away.

Run, run, I said under my breath.  Didn't think she would get there.

But the bus waited for her!  She's probably in even worse shape than me.  The 500 ft took her a while.  But the bus waited patiently for her.

It gave me a warm feeling that there are still nice people out there.

Not So Happy

It's hard to be among these kids.  Here are some things I would LOVE to say to them.

You don't begin a sentence with So for no reason.  The word is not a filler.

Why do you raise the last syllable if you're not asking a question?

Don't waltz into class half a fucking hour late.

Why say LIKE 15 times in one short sentence?  You are literate.  Show it.

Stop shaking your fucking leg.

It is would HAVE, not would of!

Lose those damn phones already.  Especially when you are driving or walking!  Fuck!

Studying studying studying

How cool is it to listen to Jenkins singing Angus Dei, drink some high-octane Sumatra, eat some garlic crackers, AND study at the same time!

Now, if there's whisky to fortify the coffee, it'd be so much better!

 

Is it Camelot?

Interesting idea for a course

http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/phofstra/MAT1374/index.html


What an interesting way to teach stats.  If not for the stupid group project (click on link for details), and if not for the inclusion of STUPID and RIDICULOUS game theory, I'd sign up for it!

Interesting Grade Distribution

This morning we got the results of Anthropology's first mid-term.  For a first year course, I am quite surprised by the grade distribution.  It looks like this:

Out of a class of 228,

32 F
19 D/D+
44 C/C+
57 B/B+
56 A-/A
20 A+

Well, still quite a lot of As (like a third of the total), but look at the Fs and Ds.  That's about a quarter of the class.  And the class average is kinda low for a first year class, no?


We found out how we did online.  This guy I know says to me, "It's actually easier than high school."  OK.  This comes AFTER he found out he got 52%.  AFTER.  So...something doesn't compute, no?

It will be interesting to see how the other classes will fare in the coming weeks.  Lots of mid terms coming.  Time to hit the books!

Getting my donuts

Half a dozen cinnamon,half a dozen coconut lime.  Freshly made.  So yummy....

Food trucks on campus!

Wish the food were free!  

Sorry for the quality of the picture.  Was in a bit of a rush going to class.  It's Comfort Food Festival at the university, apparently.  I guess with the midterms and stuff going on, people could use some comfort food.  If they are still there tomorrow, maybe I'll go check them out as well.

Nice place for a swim

Tree can't make up its mind yet

Gotta find long pants today

A bit on the cool side.

UO business school

What Hoover will look like after they built the gym!

Random thoughts at 6:30 AM

This was the time when I would be pulling into MY parking spot in Hoover.  The sky was beginning to lighten, and I looked forward to my fifth cup of coffee.

That was then, and this is now.  I'm 500 miles further north, and it's still pitch black out there.  And I'm still in the comfort of my apartment, only into my SECOND cup of java, glad to indoors while out there it's a relatively frigid 7 degrees C  (that's around 45 F).

I have a mid term in Anthropology coming up, as you may recall.  Well, I felt I should do some studying, but it's really hard!  I mean, studying, what's that?  It's not a lot of material (there are two midterms, which makes you wonder if they should actually be called MID terms...but that's another story.  The prof is an anthropologist.  Stats are probably alien to her).  Just five chapters and four or five articles.  Ok, here's the thing.  I have no idea what I'm supposed to do.  Seriously. 

Giving up on memorization because that's just not going to happen, I went through the book, my notes (I actually took notes!), the articles, the films..., and my head hurt.  An hour and a half later, I needed to stop.

So I decided to start my Horror Fiction term paper (it's due December 5).  Hey, I finished it!  It doesn't mean it's any good (Heavens know what an English term paper is supposed to look like.  Hope she's not looking for that 5-paragraph crap).  But it's in a drawer now.  I'll let it age a bit before editing and revisions.  It's 2,000 words of BS, but that's literature, right?

Now here's something I've never realized before.  See, my apartment is across from a park.  There's a baseball field (what the hell do you call it?  A field, a park, a pitch?) in the park, and often times some league or other hold matches in the evenings.

Well, weather's getting colder, and I think the league is about the end.  So for a couple of nights, no baseball games in the park.  I began to miss seeing the players out there.  I don't know them or anything, but it's good to see these people (grown ups, co-ed) having a ball (pardon the pun).

Then last night they were playing again.  Maybe it's the playoffs or something?  I don't know.  But they had become such a familiar sight that it felt like old friends visiting.  Strange, isn't it?  Or is a result of having too little coffee?

See how you like this line:   On the other side lurks the latent contradictions that belie what is apparent, the very contradictions that render unstable the foundational discourse of society.

That's from that paper I was writing.  I think it's great.  Haha.

MID TERM EXAMS

Oh no!  Mid term exams coming up fast and furious!

I have an anthropology mid term next week, and a couple weeks later, three others in two days.  Don't want to look beyond that for now.

Well, I don't really do much studying, if you know me.  At least not studying in the sense of cramming into memory all the definitions and vocab etc.  For all I know, that's what they look for, in which case I'm screwed.  But I can't change the way I am.

Today's anthro class (coming up in a couple of hours) will have some time for an exam review.  Have no idea what the review will be like.  Perhaps I'll know what kind of information I have to retain in my head.  Rote memorization, though, will be the death of me.

It's much harder than you think, going back to school as a 1st year undergrad.  So many things that are elementary to me, that seem second-nature or common sense, I now have to SHOW that I actually understand them as though they were earth-shattering ideas.  Let me give you an example.

A recent assignment for anthro illustrates this quite well.  We had to write a short little essay on some ethnographic study.  OK, before we go on, you should know that I have actually PUBLISHED ethnographic studies in peer-reviewed journals.  So it should be a piece of cake.  Or so I thought.

Well, I got a B+.  What?

I asked the TA, this very nice young person who graded my assignment, just what was "wrong" with it.  Her response?  "Well, you used the terms emic and etic, and you used ethnocentrism, but you didn't define them in your assignment, so I don't know that you actually understood them."

Or something to that effect.

Huh?  These things need defining?  OK.  To me, that's like saying "boil some water" needs definition.  You mean heat the water (H20) to 100 degrees celcius?

Live and learn.  It's my bad, actually.  I assumed too much.

I didn't really mind whatever grade I got.  They have their rubric, and I have to abide by that.  Now you understand why I don't assume I'll do well on the exams?  Haha, for all I know, I might even flunk, for being unable to regurgitate stuff.

That's all we need

Food Court in one of the academic buildings

If only the food were free..

TORNADOES HIT

The Ottawa/Gatineau area was hit by two tornadoes on Friday.  So far some 150,000 people are still without power.  Whole communities were destroyed, rendering thousands homeless in the blink of an eye.

I was very fortunate.  When the tornadoes hit, I was in my apartment working on a couple of papers, and didn't even realize the storm outside was of such mammoth proportions.  My area was lucky and didn't receive any of the extensive damages.

At moments like this, I am reminded of how lucky we are each day when we are unscathed.  I am okay not because of what I did.  It was not because of who I am.  I was plain lucky.  At a moment's notice, it could all change.  

We should be thankful for what we have, and enjoy it while it lasts.  And think of those who are less unfortunate.  They, too, are often just recipients of dumb luck (or misfortune).

 **********************

So I was reading some posts on a discussion page, when some people were trying to get together for a meeting (about a class).  Because of storm damage, the logistics were difficult.  One person remarked, "I hate this blackout."

Think of that.
 

Simple things in life

The bus ride from downtown took only 10 minutes or so.  I could have been updating Facebook or texting that whole time, like people do.  But the ride provided free entertainment that didn't even need data or wifi.  So I put on my observation hat and decided to watch people.

A lady had a baby on her lap.  She would cover her face with her hands, and the child would look perplexed.  What's mama?  What is this faceless creature in front of me!  Then the mother moved her hands away, and revealed her smiling face.  And the child broke out in joyous delight.  Then the mom covered her face again, and the child looked bewildered again.  And again, the child laughed with great joy when mom's face appeared again.  

The lady varied the game too.  Sometimes she would cover the child's face with her hands.  What happened, mama?  It's all dark and I can't see!  Then she removed her hands, and voila!, the child saw mother again.  What a smile the kid had!  Such genuine, innocent pleasure.

Other people watched the mother and child playing as well.  And they all a smile on their faces.  How could you not?

But it was such a simple game, no?  Didn't we all (at least most of us) play this as a child or as a parent?  It seems universal.  Joy is universal.  The innocence of a child is universal.  And we delight in simple, carefree, unadulterated happiness.

So what happened to us as we got older?  Why are we so hard to please?  Why do some of us become abject assholes?  Why do we morph into egomaniacs and demagogues?

"What a piece of work is man, How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, In form and moving how express and admirable.."   So wrote Shakespeare.  Hate to say it, Will old boy, but you are so wrong!  We're just idiots.  Self-centred, greedy, stupid, moronic, insatiable nut jobs.

So, speaking of nuts, it's a Friday.  Almost seven now.  In times past, Meat Loaf (or some other music) would be blasting away from my office.  The fragrance of Green Mountain Double Diamond would permeate the air.  And Tony (the nut man) Gabriel would be passing by my office on his way to print out yet another test to torture his students.  Sharon would be next door hoping to God I would turn down the music.  

Interesting how when something that happened as a matter of course stops happening, one begins to relish them and lament their passing.

As I lament the vanishing of simpler pleasures of childhood.  As I lament the wake of memories from the daily grind.

Perhaps it's fitting that I end this post with another one from Will.   "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought."

Way to go, Willy.

Technology

So we have a technology problem in the classroom.  Sounds familiar?

Seems like IT is not very effective EVERYWHERE.

But, and this is cool, the prof called IT and they were here in two minutes.

OTOH, can't fix the problem.  So now a longer delay.  Time to chill.  The (IT) guy even apologizes.  Nice of him.  He has to rush off and bring in a laptop.  So, more time to post.

I asked the prof if this will be on the mid term....  Funny guy.  She just laughed.

Exercise

I wonder if I should go running. 

Nah!

The STEM Complex

STEM is really given some oompf.  In fact, there is a thing called STEAM now, and the Arts are incorporated somehow.  I like that idea!

Taking the bus

There's a pretty efficient public transit system here in Ottawa.  The Light Rail, which was supposed to come onstream this November, is now pushed back to next year.  Regardless, the buses are plentiful and clean, and they do a really good job shipping people to and from their destinations.

I've taken the bus a few times in the last month.  The stops are typically every couple of blocks, so it's not hard to find one.  And each stop has a designated number.  If you text (or call) the bus scheduling number, and enter the stop number, they tell you when the next bus will arrive.  So you can plan ahead if you had marked down the number of the stop you want to use.  Pretty neat, eh?  And the cool thing is, the buses are generally right on time!

So anyway, it's good to get into air conditioning when it's hot outside.  Most of the time I just walk.  But last Saturday I was going to a play downtown, and I really didn't feel like walking there and back.  So, took the bus.  Ten minutes and I was there!  Same deal coming back.  Nice.

Some stops are designated for several lines.  So, for instance, a stop I was at the other day was for six different bus lines.  Result?  No line ups at all.  Instead, people just stand close to the stop, all looking out for the particular bus they are waiting for.  This creates chaos, no?  The saving grace, I guess, is that it's Canada, where people don't usually do the mob scene.  So when a bus arrives, people gather near the door, and patiently wait and board on a first come, first served basis.  Still, I can see how things can be when it's rush hour....

I love this bus pass I have as a student.  True, it's not really free.  It's covered by my university fees.  But it's also something I probably wouldn't get on my own.  So I am glad they do this.  Things might get interesting in the winter, though, when everyone is bundled up in six layers of winter coats and crap.  And all the melting snow and ice.  And salt.  We shall see.  

I do not look forward to my winter commutes to campus.  On the other hand, they could be rather interesting... 

Edit:  I was told (by my stupid son, no less) that I am absolutely not in touch with the real world.  Apparently, according to said off-spring, the text your arrival time stuff is standard feature on all bus systems...  OK, what the hell do I know?  They weren't when I used to take the bus!  Anyway, so, my bad.  I never professed to know EVERYTHING!  Just most everything.  :)
 

What to Expect

I know, I know.  I had taught for more than 20 years, so I should be quite conversant with university-level exams and stuff.  Still, most likely my profs don't see things the way I do.  Besides, we're talking about subjects that I have no formal experience in.  Seriously, what on earth do they test you on a mid-term on horror fiction?  And how much memorization do I need to muster in writing a history exam?  No clue.

Am I a bit nervous?  Yes and no.  If I actually want to keep that scholarship, I need to keep an A average.  That means work, no?  Hmmmm.

I have midterms coming up in a couple of weeks.  In Canada, it's pretty typical to have a midterm and a final as the main evaluative elements (in addition to paper, etc.).  The finals at UO have to be worth at least 40%.  WTF, right?  Imagine if my BA416 final were worth 40%, hahah.  Grown men and women would have cried.  Well, they did anyway, but that's another story for another day.

So far I've handed in one written assignment for anthropology.  For sure the turnaround time won't be what I delivered as a matter of course.  I am unique, I know.  Next class day turnaround?  Who does that, except Chunski, eh?  Anyway, I probably won't know how I did for a couple of weeks...

I've also done a written assignment for history, but it's not due until October 3, so right now it's just sitting in a drawer.  I also have a term paper for that class, and it's due towards end of November.  Started on it.  Hopefully I'll have it done by the end of this month.

French.  Now, that's giving me headaches.  I don't think I'm suited for that stuff.  We'll see.  But that is one course I am absolutely not comfortable with.  I'll see how I do this term, before deciding if I'll do the next course or take something else next semester.

The horror fiction class is okay.  Lots of mumble jumble about symbols and stuff.  But Chunski can BS with the best of them.  So I think I'll be okay.  And sociology?  It seems pretty innocuous so far.

Hey, I had an insight.  Well, I don't know if it's original.  But I was reading about the Acadians and how they were expelled etc etc.  I'm not going to get into that, but suffice it to say that these folks only wanted to survive, irrespective of who their overlords were.  They were French in heritage, but they no longer had any real loyalty to the French Crown.  They lived under English rule a lot, yet they were the "others" due to their language and religion etc.  So they were straddling both sides.  And their strategy to survive was to play both sides, to go with the flow and not to commit to anything.  That this strategy eventually ceased to serve them (after a century) is beside the point.  So what on earth is my so-called insight?

I think the Acadians were like the people of Hong Kong.  If you don't know much about the history and the people there, just sub Hong Kong for Acadia, English stays English, sub China for France, and there you have it.  I just hope their fate won't be the same as for the Acadians.

Overheard

On my way to class and heard this girl saying to a friend, "Honestly, if I get another sunburn, I'm gonna shoot somebody."

Student Perks

As American Express used to boast, "membership has its privileges."  Well, there are some pretty neat student perks about as well.  And you know me, I gladly take advantage of them.

Every Tuesday, at the supermarket near me, you get 10% off your purchase if you show your student ID.  Yup.  That's a good deal.  So if I were to buy a pound of coffee at $15 a pound, I get $1.50 off.  If I buy 10 pounds, I get $15 off.  If I buy 10,000 pounds, I get $15,000!  Cool beans!  Literally.

A couple other supermarkets even give that student discount on Tuesdays AND Thursdays.  Alas, they are not near where I live.

The other day I discovered there's a playhouse in town, and students get HALF off!  No kidding.  I bought a ticket.  I am paying $14 to see a play, and it's not that far from where I live.

The National Arts Centre, sort of like DC's Kennedy Center, gives students half price too.  But so far this year, I don't see a show I particularly want to go see.  Too bad.  Last year Diana Krall was there.  Wish she would return this year.  But no.

You also get deals at the major banks if you open student accounts with them.  But since I really hate the big banks, I am not taking them up on their offers.  As an aside, I do get Seniors Offers at a different bank, so that's pretty neat.

I wonder if you get student discounts at liquor stores.  Hmm....

I do student discounts at haircut places, but as you know, I use the Flowbee.  So that's moot.

Oh yeah, and there's the bus pass.  Even though the light rail is (again) delayed till 2019, I can get on any bus in the city and just ride.  Maybe one day I will just get on a random bus and explore the city!

Every student at UO is a member of the student association, and through them, everyone gets supplementary health coverage (on top of government health plan) for stuff like eye glasses, drugs, etc.  Maybe I should their funny mushrooms...

OK well, my coffee is done.  And it's time to get off my ass and get ready for school.  Till later!

 

Learning Crossroads

Where I have my horror fiction class.  Perhaps the sleek, modern design is a harbinger of more sinister motifs lurking behind our sanitized view of humanity...

Every morning on my way to campus

Is it Winter already?

This conversation took place in a history class a couple of days ago:


Professor was introducing himself and discussing the contents of the course.  "Any questions?" he asked innocently.

A hand rose from somewhere.

"Yes," he smiled.

"I want to know, since you are a white male, and that you seem to be quite patriotic (this is a Canadian History class), whether this will distort what we are learning," a voice proclaimed.

The prof paused a moment.  Was he expecting this?  I wasn't sure.  He replied, "Well, I try not to let my own personal feelings..."

He didn't get to finish.  The voice said, "What I mean is, you seem pretty imperialistic, and obviously privileged.  So this might give a biased view of history."

I observed this with great amusement and not a little resignation.  What would I say if I were the prof?  Of course the white part wouldn't stick.  But I can see how someone could have asked me in, say, a marketing class, "You are an older Asian guy, fat and ugly, full of himself, and hate advertising.  And you worked in oil and banking.  Won't your views be biased by who you are and so distort what we learn?"

Seriously, what would I say?  For those who had me in class, what do you think I would have said?  How would I have responded?

We all inform and are informed by our life experiences.  As Popeye said, "I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam."

The girl's question is inane.  Everything is subjective.  Everyone is biased by who and what she or he is.  DUH!  Even a Martian would be biased by its view of the universe.  By raising the question, she herself was biased by her snow-flakiness.

Education is a burdensome undertaking.  It is not about taking whatever you hear or read and memorizing it by rote.  Education is very personal.  The teacher facilitates.  Ultimately the learning is our own.  Not only in a possessive way, but also in what it is to the learner.  It's called HIGHER EDUCATION for a reason.  It's fine to be critical.  But there's also something called reality.  Touch down and feel the earth.  It's really there.

So yeah, I could look at this incident with a certain degree of amusement.  A few months ago I would not have been as amused.

Did I say snowflake?  Yeah well, I don't mind offending offensive people.

School Starts

This is my second week as an undergrad.  Well, my second time around, that is.  Even now, there is a lingering ambivalence about this whole adventure.  What on earth is a 62-year old with a PhD doing sitting in a class of 200+ people young enough to be my grandkids?    

Learning would be the lazy person's answer, I suppose.  And there's some truth to it.  I am learning things that I have never formally studied.  But I would be lying if I say I know nothing about some of these courses I'm enrolled in.

I have never taken a college-level course in anthropology or sociology.  That much is true.  But what is left unsaid is that I have actually published in academic journals and conferences in these fields.  I have never taken a college-level course in history, but I believe I have read upwards of 50+ history books.  And horror fiction?  Again, never took a college-level course in literature.  But I have had short stories published.  And even won prizes.  In horror fiction.

Well, there is French.  Never took that either.  I do have a bit of trepidation about that.  Language is not my strong suit.  But then, Ottawa is a pretty perfect place to learn French.  Most people here are bilingual.  In fact, I don't know if one can even get a service job without French.  I used to have a lot more sympathy for French Canadians and their place in Canada.  This sympathy has turned more into annoyance and impatience these days.  So, well, learning French is perhaps just that.  I mean, why the hell not, eh?

So where does that leave me?

I do believe that a formal course of studies is beneficial for someone like me.  Someone with a very regimented lifestyle, an organized way of viewing the world.  Randoming learning is fine, but it lacks direction.  Also, one runs the risk of picking all the wrong things to read.  Or, at least, unknowingly picking only a certain perspective, and ending up with a rather biased view of things.

Time will tell how I feel about this.  Or, perhaps, whether there may be other motivations for this adventure.  For now, I have an urge to be a serious learner -- something I didn't do as an undergrad.  So let's see how things go. 

This blog has no agenda.  No plan.  No outline.  It will be a reflection of whatever comes to mind.  I expect some will be observations.  Some will be my thoughts.  Some will be, well, purely random things.  If anyone is reading this, I hope I don't completely bore you.  If I do, tough shit. 

University of Ottawa

This place is a hell lot bigger than I thought.  Over 40,000 students in a campus of only 100 acres.  How's that for congestion?  If nothing else, it's vibrant.  The main thoroughfare of the campus is perpetually like rush hour in a major city.  Pretty crazy.  As I walk around campus (more on this walking crap later), I hear a cacophony of languages from all over.  A real life tower of Babel, don't you know.  I see people of all colours and races, all integrated (well, the Chinese seem mostly to keep to themselves, but hell, it's their loss) and life seems grand.  I love it.

Did I talk about walking?  OK, this is what's going on.  I live within "walking distance" of campus.  That means I've been walking to school everyday.  Today I put in almost 6 miles.  And that's pretty standard.  If you know me, that's about 6 miles more than normal. 

I've actually been quite impressed by U of O.  Maybe academically it's not a top-notch university.  It's ranked somewhere in the 200-250 range for universities worldwide.  So, it's no Cambridge.  But it's respectable.  This is not what impresses me, though.  The university has embarked on so many sustainability initiatives it's just jaw-dropping.

There's a 50-ft tall indoor plant wall, for air filtration.  In the social science building, the heat generated in the computer room is used to heat the building itself (and nearby buildings too).  UO has banned bottled water, and instead invested hundreds of thousand to install filtered water filling stations all over campus.  There is a food bank for students in need.  There is a free shop for people to donate clothing and other stuff, and students can get these things for free.  Re-use and Re-cycle.  And everyone on campus has a bus pass, so better to encourage public transit and not driving.  Bike repair stations dot the campus.  I don't bike, but hey, how cool is that, right? 

Ok, I'm not writing a brochure for UO.  So enough said.  Maybe more later if something new strikes me.

So that's the backdrop.  More later.