john.
i type, you read. simple as that.Archive for university
woo! more school-related ranting!
i am frustrated beyond belief with the student loan people right now.
here’s an idea, guys and girls: don’t misinform students, then treat them like fools when they come to you wondering why you haven’t sent their provincial loan to their university.
when i called them in december to make sure that there was nothing else for me to sign, mail, or do regarding my loan and the representative assured me that there was nothing and that everything was fine, i assumed everything was in order. then i go to look at my student account balance at school and i notice that my loan hasn’t been deposited. i call student accounts who tell me to contact the student loans people. this time i get a different loans representative who tells that i should have mailed them some kind of papers about two months ago that i have never even seen. thanks for telling me that now instead of in december.
it must be my fault, though. how could i be so dumb to think that “everything’s fine, there’s nothing left for you to do” actually meant “you still have papers to sign to get your money for school in january”?
end rant.
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hey, i’m not dead
so it’s been one month since my last post, but i have a good reason. life has basically been a whirlwind of events and i’ve been trying to keep my head in order through it all.
looking for roommates turned into me finally saying to myself, “screw it, look for a cheap bachelor apartment.” i did so, i found one, and i signed a lease last friday for a place that i’m really, really happy with. it’s a great price in a great location (roughly a minute walk away from campus), and i’m just happy to be done apartment hunting. i also cannot wait to move in once may comes around, not that i’m wishing away this semester, but it will just be pretty interesting to have my own place.
exams went well, although studying kicked my ass because i had to balance that an a busy work schedule. on top of that, i also pulled in some work at the al whittle theatre doing tech stuff, so that took up a considerable amount of my time for a bit. around the same time that i was getting my ducks in a row for christmas break, my car temporarily ate the shit-biscuit. my fuel pump went out, so the anticipated $600 or $700 that i would have to pay by the end of the month to have the damned thing inspected turned into a little over $1000. it goes into the shop tomorrow to have a front hub assembly done, as well as new brake pads put on, then after that i just have to fix a sil and i’m good to go.
things are working out nicely though, so i can’t complain. my work schedule is pretty decent for this week, and i went to a party at tubski’s last friday which ended up being really good aside from some randoms showing up and acting like turds. whatever, it’s a party, that kind of stuff happens.
jade isn’t coming down at the end of the month anymore. her visit is now rescheduled for sometime in february i do believe due to plane tickets costing so damn much this time of year
everything has just been really hectic and weird, but at the same time i’ve been enjoying myself. a little bit of financial stress right now means that things will soon be looking up in that respect, and it’s not like i won’t get some money for christmas. albeit, i wish that i hadn’t had to cough up $260 out of my $340 paycheque to cover car repairs; i also wish that unicef hadn’t made their monthly withdrawl from my account after i had to basically clean out my bank account for car repairs.
i’m going to go to bed now, though. i have to drop my car off at the mechanic’s at 8 am.
oh. i turned twenty on the 14th. it was a quiet birthday, although friday night made up for it. that is all.
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another update? wow.
so rhinoceros is back up and running again; the show re-opens tonight (wednesday) and runs until saturday just like last week. this will be followed by a cast party on saturday night along with celebrating danny’s 19th birthday and striking the set/lights/everything on sunday. thinking about free time after the show closes blows my mind, but the impending exams and papers due are a swift kick in the balls that follow the semi-carefree nights in the theatre doing the show.
my wisdom teeth are keeping me up… this is the second night this week and i’m going to say that i can’t wait for them to be yanked from my gum-line. no fooling there, infections can eat a big one.
wednesday is going to be pretty laid back, i’ve got to say; i have intro to production from 2:30 until 4, then my call for rhinoceros is at 6:30, so i will have a few hours free to do some more work (and possibly be ahead in my work/reading) and possibly grab some food. what was that? am i actually being productive? you know what that means, right? i’ve finally taken the reins and start working on my time-management; spectacular, i know.
new gas tank goes in the car soon, then i have to do any other repairs that may need to be done so that the car can pass inspection at the end of december; it’s going to be nice to have everything worked out in that respect.
tonight i was talking to amelia and she mentioned tree planting to me, which the more i think about it sounds like a really sweet deal… that would really kick-start my rent money fund and would be something good to fill up my time with for two months out of my four month summer break. i should look into it i guess, after all it would be one hell of an adventure.
i’m going to go to bed though, i popped some ibuprofin a while ago and i think it’s starting to kick in on my gum-aching
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whoa whoa whoa
where have i been? i know, it’s baffling.
life has really picked up steam in the past month or so, so i figure it was time that i update instead of spending wasted time on the internet lurking facebook or illegally downloading music… well, i could be doing german homework, but that can wait until remembrance day (which is tomorrow and means a day without classes).
so what’s going on in my life? well, acadia theatre’s production of “rhinoceros” is going on right now (november 5-8 and 12-15 in lower denton theatre), so i’ve been really busy with that; i’ve been on lighting crew and loving every second of it. i’m running a follow-spot in the show as well, so my nights are usually spent in the theatre doing stuff, and as of late doing the show. work at staples has kept me exceptionally busy in my off-time from school, and oh yeah, school is taking up a lot of my time. i’m loving it though and i’m really happy with what i’m doing right now.
saw feist at the metro centre with tubski last friday and i can honestly say that it was the best show that i’ve ever been to; it’s a well-known fact that i love feist, but she’s amazing live and i wish that she had played for hours. it was one of those shows that i never got tired of at any point, in fact, my only criticism would be that it was too damn short.
saw friends in sackville this weekend and that made me a happy boy considering that it’s been over a month since i’ve seen them (do you see a pattern? no blog updates, and no seeing friends outside of school for the same amount of time? yeah, thought so).
can’t really say that i’ve been doing much else… of course i’ve been doing the regular-thang when i have time off on the weekends, but that’s kind of expected of me i guess… not really, but it’s nice to kick back with a beer or two when i know i’ve got nowhere to be the next morning. basically, i’ve done a lot of random things, met a lot of interesting people, and had a lot of laughs this past month in my off-time and it’s been great.
things are good i’ve got to say… knock on wood. three cheers for smiling.
i’m going to go update other pages on this sucker… look around, i should have updates on every page.
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yo yo yo, i ain’t dead, son
so i’ve been keeping quite busy doing school work, working at staples, fighting sickness and sleeping when i can… i’m loving living in the new room, james (my new room mate) is wicked and i have a very nice view of trees and u-hall from my window. right now, i’m helping put together an underwear party for seminary house that’s going on saturday night, missing pubcrawl on friday night because of work that night and that morning but i’m sure i will survive.
right now life isn’t all that exciting, i’ve got to say… it’s just been a lot of reading (well, “reading parties” considering we’re constantly at tim hortons late at night doing classwork) and trying to upkeep personal hygiene when time allows me to do so… tubski came down on sunday night and we went to a free concert on campus (illscarlett, jimmy swift band, and others), and aside from that, i’ve just been doing the everyday stuff
anyway, i’ve got class in the morning. i’m going to head to bed.
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changes, oooh yeah
so i ended up dropping political science after all; i had some reservations about it afterward, well, i was just afraid that my loan may end up getting cut or something (i had asked around, but didn’t have offical confirmation from the loan people), but i called up the student loans people and they said it would be just fine, so all-in-all, i am very content with my decision
speaking of decisions, i’ve made some impacting decisions within the last few days as well… i switched my concentration from “acting and performance” to “production and design”; basically, i’ll still be getting a bachelor of arts degree in theatre, but just with a different concentration. so i have to buy a pair of steel-toed boots soon because my schooling is basically going to consist of learning set design/construction, lighting, sound, and a bunch more fun stuff. it’s going to be a challenge and i’m REALLY excited about the whole thing; i still love acting, but i think i’m going to be more successful and all-together happy by learning production.
another big decision was my decision to switch rooms in seminary house… they no longer had any singles open (the un-freezed rooms this morning at 8 am, so i was at the residence life building at 8 am when they opened, and the first two people in line got the two free singles in seminary… by the time i was halfway up the line, the only ones left were in crowell tower or roy jodrey (rojo), so i ended up coming back later and getting switched into a double with somebody else (their roommate had to get a single because their basketball coach requested that they do). i saw the room tonight and it’s HUGE; i mean, my friends always commented on how big my old room was (seminary has huge rooms… My old one was about ten feet wide, fifteen feet long and twelve feet high), and considering the specs i just gave, my new room is the same but about 20 feet wide. my new roommate seems great as well, so i am really excited about making the switch; things just weren’t working out between my old roommate and myself, so i decided to leave as early as possible.
i have a german quiz in the morning, and i’m going to rock the crap out of it.
but yeah, things are going really well… things are changing up at staples too, so this next month should be interesting to say the least.
i’m going to bed.
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i’m getting better…
so i figured i’d come home for the night just to kick back, enjoy some cable tv, home cooking, and all that jazz… also, i was expecting a call and had some reading to do, so i didn’t want to wake up thomas (my roommate). it’s pretty nice to be laying in my bed at home right now, watching spaceghost coast-to-coast while blogging, i’ve got to say.
classes are now in full-swing and it has been a lot of reading and note-taking so far; i’m really enjoying my theatre classes (my profs are brilliant), and even though becoming part of the acadia theatre company is a little bit overwhelming, i’m sure i’ll have a lot of fun and learn a crap-load.
currently, i’m considering dropping political science, though because i’m still working so a five course-load is a bit tricky especially while i’m still getting into the university groove. i’m enjoying the class, but i figure i’ll start light and pick up the credit next year or next semester, another perk is the i can get the money back for the textbooks and it would give me fridays off, but that’s not the reason i’m considering dropping the course. i don’t know, my thought process is always a little weird, but theatre and work are going to keep me really busy, so it may be nice to have a bit of extra time to get into the swing of things and take more time in my other courses. i’d still be considered a full-time student too, so there’s really nothing wrong with dropping the course as long as i do it ASAP so that i don’t get too into it
for the past day or so, i’ve had an underlying feeling on anxiety at just about all times… maybe it’s because i haven’t been resting as much as i should be, or maybe it’s something more; regardless, i need to catch up on important things such as sleep. this leads me to my next point…
i need to sleep. good night.
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hectic, hectic, hectic
i’m a crappy somehwat-addicted blogger, sorry for the lack of updates on my ever-so important life, things have been busy
… can you smell the ego through your computer screen?
i’m currently sitting in just us cafe taking the local coffee-drinkers and students trying to be classy; you could make a drinking game out of it, actually. picture it: take a shot every time you hear the word “sustainability”… it could be like a big buzz-word bingo game (that’s a bit of a dilbert reference, don’t hang me for that)
anyway, i’m a prick and living in residence is great; it’s natural to miss a few things about home (like my puppies), but all-in-all it is good and there are a lot of great people living around me… work has been pretty hectic because of all the students coming into town and the high-schoolers going back to school, but i’ve been surviving
just had political science clas which is reminding me quite a bit of the poli sci course i took in high school… i’m not complaining
on another note, i won the staples academic scholarship (i don’t remember if i mentioned that earlier), so i’m really excited about that, and i also now have all of my books which only came to a little under $400 (i don’t need a book for acting & performance OR german… i’m a happy, happy boy)
anyway, i should be heading out; my dorm room is calling
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more about my life
so monday morning and afternoon marks a mental meltdown (that was a completely planner alliteration, by the way) of sorts; waited in line at the student accounts office to find out that i had everything straightened away, but owed an extra $1400… well, actually, $481 after my external bursaries, so needless to say i wasn’t pleased. came home with a gut full of coffee basically freaking out talking to my parents, trying to figure out how i can pull $481 out of my ass in a week along with purchasing books. my father made a surprise call to the student accounts office and finds out that the reminaing balance could be put on a payment plan, so i went in today with copies of my bursary certificates and got everything worked out so that i have up until december 15th (the day after my 20th birthday) to pay off the $481.
last night was spent at courtney’s with people hanging out and having a few drinks, it was a pretty good time.
so now that i have all of my money stuff settled and all that i have left is packing and buying books, i can finally say that i am relaxed about going into university… yeah, i’m really, really pumped about it all
i forgot about how much i love red hot chili peppers, thank god i’ve rediscovered said love and have finally taken the time to listen to “stadium arcadium”… such a good album, i’ve got to say
i work in the morning basically as a runner during the presidents of staples canada and USA’s visit to the store, then i have a week off for packing, moving, and getting into my university/residence groove… i cannot wait for saturday to come, actually, i can’t wait for friday because that’s when it’s all starting. picking tubski up on friday night, running some errands, then he’s helping me move in the morning; good times shall be had.
i have to install office for mac this week, i also have to find a good anti-virus to use for acadia… ahhh, so expensive; speaking of expensive, i hope i have enough money for books. ah. i’m not going to stress, it’ll all work out.
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