Argh!! I think that someone at the university must have long ago decided that no student should ever attempt to complete three subject POSts (program of study) in East Asian Studies (especially with a focus on Japanese studies), English, and History, and created course schedules accordingly. Sure, it seemed theoretically possible when I went through the old coursebook and planned out my university career, i.e. all the courses that I wanted to and/or would have to take to complete my desired East Asian Studies-English double major and history minor, but reality, in the form of this year's course timetable, has now shown me the folly of my idealism.
The best schedule that I can have if--a BIG if--I manage to get into my first choice courses and sections will go something like this:
Monday: 10am-12pm: Modern Standard Japanese (Language)
6pm-9pm: Introduction to Criminology
Tuesday: 10am-11am: History of Modern Japan
12:30pm-2pm: Modern Standard Japanese (Language)
2pm-6pm: Japanese Cinema
6pm-9pm: Major British Writers
Wednesday: No class (probably recovering from the nine and a half hours of class on Tuesday!)
Thursday: 10am-11am: History of Modern Japan
12:30pm-2pm: Modern Standard Japanese (Language)
Friday: No class ( I think I deserve a three day weekend!)
Alternatively I could get rid of Intro to Criminology, and the six hour gap between classes on Monday, and take Pre-Modern Japanese Cultural History for the first half of the year, and Japanese Culture and Modernity for the second half from 10am-12pm on Wednesday, but if I'm going to have to suffer through the aforementioned nine and a half hours of class on Tuesday, then there's no way I'd schedule classes for the next day, much less early (and anything before 11am is early for me) on Wednesday. Besides, it'd be highly inefficient to spread out seventeen hours of class over four days if, and there's a strong chance that I will, I have to commute. Especially since nine and a half of those hours would be on one day, and the other six and a half would be spread out over three days. It'd be such a waste of effort to spend two hours in transit, round trip, to attend two hours of class, three days a week.
See why I think it's a conspiracy? Honestly, that schedule is the best that I can do without sacrificing my principle of only taking classes that I'm actually interested in. Argh. I really have no idea why all the classes that I want to take seem to be scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays at conflicting times. Would it be too much to ask for some classes scheduled for early Monday afternoons? Or even Thursdays after 2pm? WHY?! WHY?! Why are the schedules all against me?!?!
Well, I didn't really do much today except for working on my page, so I don't have much to say. ^^;; I guess it's kind of ironic that recently I was looking through my archive thinking wow, I can't believe that I managed to write so much everyday. Low and behold, as soon as I thought that, well, today happened and I ran out of meaningful things to say. Murphy's law.
Anyway, I haven't totally finished the page so that's why I haven't linked it to the main page yet. I call it My Room. It's exactly what it sounds like, a page showing my room. Even though my otakuness isn't really apparent from my posts so far, I think that these pictures will make it crystal clear. ^_~ So, enjoy the sneak preview! The link won't be up on my main page until this weekend earliest.
Plugs for the Day: Residence Life: Hilarious! Even funnier and more relevant if, like me, you're living in res, or you've ever had the res experience! d+pad: Life in the game retail world. What could be more amusing than dealing with idiots every day? ^_~
P.S. - Sorry this is late. There were "server upgrades," a.k.a. scheduled downtime that I didn't take into account. ^^;; I'm going to be working tomorrow, well, later today, so hopefully I'll get some interesting material from that to make up for this "fluff" post.
At the end of a two lecture, after eleven pages of notes, there was applause. Certainly I have attended lectures that have been concluded with applause, however, it had less meaning then than it did tonight; usually it followed a guest or T.A. lecture, and as such was less to praise elocutionary brilliance or moving sentiments than to give credit for a worthy effort, or in gratefulness of a respite from the boredom that comes from listening to the same professor's voice for a cumulative amount of some fifty odd hours. As I said, though, tonight's applause was different.
Although it felt strange to be clapping at the end of an "ordinary" lecture, it also felt right because the message contained therein was so inspirational. During his first lecture, our professor, Prof. Bartlett stated that his one hope for the course was that it would enable us, the students to pick up our newspapers and to read the events described within them with a bit of an understanding of the background that led to them. He repeated this desire, after speaking about the changes taking place in Europe and in the world and what they would mean to our generation, and it made an impact on me, when it had not the first time round, because, after being inundated by the history of Europe for two hours every week for eight months, I could see the contrasts between the Europe of the past and the Europe of today. I could see how the seven hundred years of European history had been based on the idea of the nation state, how this nation state ideology led to war after disastrous war, and finally, how the break from this ideology had to happen for the sake of saving humanity. If it seems a lot of content for one quarter of a lecture, let me assure you that it was.
This "enlightenment" wasn't the result of that single lecture, as powerful and thought-provoking as it was, but rather, it was the result of an entire year's worth of education in the truest sense--and not just from the European History course either, my East Asian History course contributed a great deal to my willingness to question the concept of the nation state. Still, leaving that lecture I was reminded of my purpose in entering university: to learn.
After picking up the course calendar for next year I immediately began to worry about the choices I should make, not only for next year, but for my entire university career. Wanting to complete an English-East Asian Studies double major as well as a history minor, I started thinking about the sacrifices I would be willing to make in terms of taking courses as requirements rather than out of interest. The lecture tonight reminded me of all the times that I left a class discussion or lecture feeling energized and "enlightened," and most importantly it reminded me that university is not about the degree that you receive upon leaving it, but the mind broadening experiences, the education that you gain while in it.
The popular concept of love is very tragic; people seem to think that love is some sort of abstract feeling, an emotion beyond our control. Me? I think that definition is a cop-out. Describing love that way is simply a convenient means of avoiding the responsibility and commitment that love demands. As Joshua Harris, the author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, astutely pointed out, even the phrases that we use to describe romantic love reflect this desire to absolve ourselves of responsibility in love:
We describe the beginning of a passionate relationship as 'falling in love.' Or people say, 'We're madly in love with each other.' [ . . . ]
Why do we feel compelled to compare love to a pit or a mental disorder? What do these statements reveal about our attitudes towards love? I think we make these somewhat overstated analogies because they remove personal responsibility. If a person falls into a pit, what can she do about it? If an animal contracts rabies and runs foaming at the mouth and biting people, it can't really help its nasty behaviour because it has gone mad.
Does it sound a little absurd to discuss love in such terms? I think so. Yet we tend to express our experience of love in these ways. We think of love as something beyond our control and thus excuse ourselves from having to behave responsibly. [ . . . ] Yes, we know we behaved rashly. Yes, we know we might have hurt others in the process, but we couldn't help it. We were in love (63-64).
Not only does this type of logic absolve us of responsibility for actions made "in love," it also takes away the choice of love. Do people choose to fall into pits? Do dogs choose to get rabies and go mad? Of course not! These things simply happen, just like love. And if love is something that happens to you, then "falling out of love" is also just another sad but unavoidable circumstance. We see this all the time. I mean, do you think that more people get divorced for reasons like abuse or neglect, or because they simply "stopped loving each other"?
Love is a commitment and a choice, so just because the ooshy-gushy feeling part has passed doesn't mean that you can undo your choice or end your commitment. When you decide to love someone, you are committing yourself to that person; you are commiting yourself to be faithful and honest to that person. It means that you're willing to work through the hard times as well as to enjoy the good ones; it means that you will do your best to maintain your commitment as far as it is morally possible. And if you're not ready to make that kind of commitment, then you shouldn't play at love. It's fine to test out a relationship, to see if you're interested in making that commitment, but to start a "romance" without any intention of permanence is selfish and cruel. Whether we realize it or not, every relationship takes a bit of us and gives it to the other person involved. If we are careless with other people's hearts because we are only interested in the benefits, the comfort, the pleasure that we receive from relationships, then we will become thoughtless, callous people.
I have been such a person, and that is why I have chosen not to even look for a relationship right now, because I know that I am in no position to commit myself to another person when I need to be concentrating on my studies. Of course, it helps immensely that there aren't even any prospects on my horizon. =Þ
I've always wanted to be the type of person people would want to go to when they're feeling down. It hurts to see others suffering, especially friends and loved ones, and I wish I could do more to help ease the pain. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm really the type who inspires confidences. It's not, or so I hope, that I seem untrustworthy, it's just that, well, I guess I've always been kind of distant. Really, it's quite strange, but as much as I emphasize and sympathize with people, I can't actually take too much contact with them. ^^;; A social butterfly I am not. More often than not, after an intense period of socializing (at a party, casual get together, whatever), i need to have some quality alone time.
Anyway, the result of my anti-socialness, or so I would guess, is that I am quite incapable of dealing with anything but the most normal and routine of human emotions. Even on those rare opportunities that I am presented with to comfort someone, I totally flub it. ^^;; Once a very close friend of mine shared something with me and actually had to tell me that "most people would offer me a hug right around now." Of course, once that was said, the time for offering a comforting hug was ended. I felt so awful after that. It wasn't even a matter of my not being a particularly "huggy" person, it was simply that I had absolutely no clue how to act in such a situation! I can't find the right words, and I'm afraid of saying the wrong ones, so I usually end up saying very little or nothing at all and just nodding sympathetically.
Despite my total ineptness at comforting, however, a friend recently told me that my presence is enough. Ironically, that probably comforted me more than whatever meagre comfort I managed to provide my friend. Still, it was encouraging to know that sometimes your intentions are enough. Most of the time, in this world, it's only the end results that matter, and not the meaning behind it, but in this case, even though I failed to produce any meaningful, comforting words, my being there for my friend was enough, and I'm very thankful for that.
Just a warning, this is going to be a rant in its truest form. Please keep in mind that these are just my personal feelings, and they aren't meant to be an attack on any person or group of persons.
The smell of cigarette smoke is disgusting. I have no idea how people can stand it. The only thing that's worse than cigarette smoke is cigarette smoke combined with the sickeningly sweet smell of the perfume or cologne smokers use to try to cover up the awful odour. Really, it doesn't help at all, and, in fact, makes the smell even more noticeable and offensive.
Smoking indoors is another thing I'll never understand, especially when there are non-smokers around who are quite open in their distaste for the odour. Opening windows, lighting scented candles, and/or spraying the aforementioned perfumes or colognes really doesn't do much to get rid of the stench. Not only does the smell travel, it also lingers. A person reeking of smoke has only to step into a room for it to continue stinking for nine plus hours more. To me, smoking around non-smokers, especially indoors is a major sign of inconsideration and disrespect. Continuous exposure to such offensive odours can lead to headaches and nausea for the poor person who merely happens to be standing around.
Really, I've never had more respect for the governing bodies in Toronto than when they passed the bylaw to ban smoking from restaurants etc. that aren't specially licensed. I would fully support raising the taxes on cigarettes on the like if it would discourage people from smoking; it's unhealthy and it stinks.
