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November 2008
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Passed My Defense

Author: Ams
09 16th, 2008

I passed my defense today. I have to make some minor revisions and then I will be an official MA graduate. Hooray!



09 12th, 2008

I hate the new setup for Facebook. It sucks! Why did they even bother changing it? The previous layout was much simpler and user friendly. This one is more cluttered, disorganized and they have a lot of bugs to fix. I get more error pages than I properly loaded ones and the pages take longer to load on my account than other people’s for some reason (I tested it out with Jack’s). Seriously, it’s annoying!

My other rant is about the Medical Facility we have on campus. Well I had a doctor’s appointment a while ago about my medication and they gave me a call a week ago (at 8am!) wanting to schedule a follow-up appointment. Seriously, who calls a student at 8am? Fucktards. So I made an appointment (yesterday at 9:30) and I had to drive to Waterloo since I’ve moved home. So I left at 8am which should give me about an extra half hour. Well with morning traffic, getting stuck behind a slow moving truck on a one-lane road, and later being stuck in a traffic jam on the highway due to construction, I was cutting it close. So while I’m stuck in a traffic jam I call the office at 9:20 to let them know that I will be about 10 minutes late. Well they tell me that if I miss the appointment then they can’t do anything about it. I also had to pick up my medical files since I’m graduating so she told me I could just see the nurse for that without an appointment. Good since I would have been pissed that I drove all that way for nothing. So I get out of the traffic jam, park illegally on campus and run to the office only two minutes late and the receptionist tells me that I didn’t make my appointment. STUPID! So she tells me to take a seat and the nurse will see me shortly to give me my files. Ok, well the nurse comes, takes me to a room and leaves me there for five minutes before my doctor comes in for the follow-up. Umm…wtf? Apparently all they wanted to know was if my medication worked. It did. And that was the end of the check-up. Honestly, it did not even take two minutes. Useless twits! At least I got my files. =/

In other news, I have handed in my paper and I will be defending it next Tuesday. I hope it does well. I can either get a fail (doubt it), pass with major revisions, or a pass with minor revisions. I’m hoping for the minor revisions so that I can finish this paper and be done with it! I also have a list of people who want to read this paper. I’m a bit nervous about that. It’s one thing to have your paper read by other academics who are used to reading case studies, but those who aren’t trained to take things less personally sometimes overreact to observations that they see as normal but are being critiqued by an outsider. So…hopefully that goes over well. I can’t wait to graduate!



Living Alone

Author: Ams
08 4th, 2008

I think I mentioned previously that I’ve moved back to Waterloo until the end of August to work on my research. Well here I am living in my three-bedroom student apartment all alone. Ok that’s a lie - my hamster is with me too…and two house plants. But I’m pretty much alone since Tokki sleeps for the majority of my awake time and the plants are just plants. Jack came up this weekend and we hung out for a few days (long weekend) but other than that the place has been empty.

For the time I have been alone it has been weird getting into a pattern of living alone. Having people live with you definitely shapes your habits. For instance, when my two stupid roommates lived here with me I would try avoid going outside my room when I knew they were out there. Why? Because if I wasn’t asked really stupid questions I would get sucked into a socially awkward, brainless and/or ridiculously boring conversation. And then there is also the issues with rotting food. Personally, I like to avoid that.

Now that I’m here alone I’ve been wondering how to conduct myself. For instance, is it still inappropriate to not close the door when you’re on the can? Nobody is there so is it a big deal? Should I let my dishes pile up until I feel like washing them since I won’t be inconveniencing anyone? Can I take up all the room in the fridge without seeming like a hog? I know some of the answers might seem straight forward but since I’ve always had to share my space with other people, I have never had to question when such social norms are null. Null or nullified? Anyway, it’s weird. I took a piss with the door open…it felt so wrong.

P.S. Two blogs you should check out: our wedding blog & Stuff Korean Moms Like



Stupid Library

Author: Ams
07 31st, 2008

I checked my one e-mail that I don’t use very often and I found out that I had several books overdue from my school library. So I went to check my library account and found out that they have a HUGE fine against me and they have suspended my account. I distinctly remember renewing my books so that they will be due in September! And there is at least one book on that list that I had already given back at least a month ago. So now I have to go down there and settle this all out. I refuse to pay for their idiocy. =/

Btw, I had e-mailed them a couple of times before asking how I could change the contact e-mail for which they contact me by since I didn’t check that e-mail very often. They never replied. Seriously…idiots!

UPDATE:
So I went to the library to give some books back and pay my fine and I find out that the fine is WAY MORE than the fine listed online. ARGH! One book that was recalled had a fine of $25, which I managed to talk down a bit. Still, it was a lot. The rest of my books had a small fine each but there were a lot of them. This fine was from the time between their initial due date and the day I renewed them (6 days). So I really couldn’t justify refusing to pay since 1) it was my fault, and 2) if you don’t pay your fine the university won’t allow you to graduate. There are a lot of things over this year that could have prevented me from completing my program and graduating, and I refuse to let a stupid library fine be the reason. So I am now debt free and I can worry about other reasons why I won’t graduate on time. ARGH!

P.S. It is a REALLY nice day today. =D



Thunderstorms

Author: Ams
07 30th, 2008

I woke up to a full blown thurnderstorm this morning. I don’t think that has ever happened before. Normally I feel quite down when we have rainy weather, but this time I feel quite relaxed by it. We’ve gotten a lot more rain than usual this summer and it’s a nice change from the droughts we’ve been having over the past couple of years. I remember how everyone’s lawns would be yellow and crispy, and now they are green and lucious. So beautiful! I hope we have more summers like this. I’m sure all those people who have to actually go outside today are glaring at me. =P

I moved back to Waterloo today and plan on staying here until my lease is up at the end of August. I met up with one of my MA friends and we walked around the area for two and a half hours just catching up on things. It was nice to be able to do that again (being at home made me have a very limited social life). I’m partially happy to know that I’m ahead of so many others in our program with the progress of my research. But I’m still worried about not being able to graduate on time. I’m in a stage now where I can’t really do much and I need to wait on a couple of things before I can get cracking on analysis and writing. I’m trusting God and trying not to worry.