Hello world, I’m still alive! (Did you miss me?)

Work has been pretty alright lately. Well, it was until things start to go wrong and then it’s a bit of a headache to fix… I somehow became in charge of a task (it’s to do with printing), which I don’t mind, as it’s pretty mindless sometimes and easy to do. Then comes people losing the paperwork that I print out for them, and asking for reprints (constantly, at least once per day). So I went and confiscated all the paperwork from the production department and it’s now all neatly arranged in boxes in my boss’ office.  So it’s stressful, and people always leave it until about 15 minutes before I’m supposed to be done work to inform me that they’ve lost stuff and need it reprinted (they don’t have access to the only printer that can do some of the stuff, they also don’t get access to some programs…). Hello, overtime. It keeps me busy, for the most part, and I’ve been just going-going-going lately, when it comes to work. I hope it slows down soon (and even if it doesn’t, my last day is coming up very soon).

I am sort of ready for the start of school. Tuition has been paid (ouch), I bought more printer paper, some pens, a new Staedtler eraser, lined paper, a handful of coiled notebooks and duo-tangs (they were $0.09 each! – before tax). In terms of supplies, I still need to get textbooks (some of my classes still don’t list books, one of them has confirmed that there is no textbook assigned to the class – thank you, Introductory Oceanography! – one of them also lists four ‘required’ textbooks) – I’m waiting until I actually go to the classes to see if I need the textbook(s), if there are actually textbooks assigned, if older editions are okay and (drumroll) if there are textbooks in the reserved sections of the library. Poor student is poor, and poor student prefers to spend money on other things besides textbooks. I also need 3 lab manuals, but those are generally inexpensive (cheapest one I’ve bought so far was $5, most expensive was huge, high quality printing, binding and paper, at ~$70) and I won’t be able to get it until labs actually start (not during first week). I’m sure I’ll figure out new things that I need to get my hands on (off the top of my head right now, I know I need new scalpel blades and I’ll probably want to get a new calculator, or just new batteries). Oh, and I already bought a box of blue powder-free nitrile gloves for labs ($10 for 100 pairs, versus $1/pair in lab).

In other news, I got a new-to-me bed! I went from a double to a queen, someone in my family got a new bed, so I got their older one (which is a lot newer than my old bed, so I’ll take it) It’s so big, and makes me feel really small, heh.

So… What is new in your world? I’ve done some development on my new domains – haven’t gotten them up and running yet though! And I’ve got some other small projects and things that I want to get done before school starts up again – I have 3 more (full) terms left before I graduate (and apply and hopefully get accepted into a new program!).

I’m finally going into third year, yeah!

You are eligible for Winter Session 2010-2011 BSC Year 3 General Science in Life Science

If I had been ‘on time’ with everyone else who entered into university the same year as I did, I should be going into Year 4 instead. But honestly, right now it’s one of those ‘FFS, who cares!’ moments. I’m actually doing two concentrations (sort of like a major and a minor, but slightly different) – Life Science (a.k.a. Biology) and Earth & Ocean Sciences (a.k.a. Geography). Oh, yay! So when I’m done this degree, I’ll be the proud owner of a Bachelor of Science in Life Science and Earth and Ocean Sciences. It’s going to be the longest name ever on a degree, I’d think. Besides people who do like dual majors and dual minors, all in one go (and if you do that, I think you’re nuts).

I’m just waiting for my registration date to pop up now… Third years go third (fancy that) in terms of registration dates. It goes fourth years, first years, third years and second years. Which means that second years get totally ripped off (and it sucked last year when I had to stalk to get the classes that I wanted). It seems, so far, that I’m going to need to stalk to get the class that I want this year too… One of the classes that I desperately wanted is already full (boo). Here’s hoping for a decent chance at getting the classes that I want!

My educational plans currently consist of: completing my current BSc (Life Sciences + Earth & Ocean Sciences) by December 2011 (or May 2012, depending on how many classes I can get into this upcoming year!) and then doing another two years after that to graduate by May 2014 with a Bachelors of Science in Nursing – which is the ultimate goal. Which isn’t too bad, I’ll be 24 by then and it’ll be 7 years post-high school graduation with two BSc’s. Of course, this will also mean that I will have gone to school for 20 straight years. I’m trying really hard not to think about that part. I have the rest of my life to think about how I spent way too much money on two pieces of paper, after all! *removes tongue from cheek*

It sounds weird, when I think about it that way – that I will have been going to school of 20 years (with summers off, of course). But in the end, I think it will all be okay. I’m moving forward, not backwards, and I’ve learned a lot about myself since starting university. I’ve learned not to let the ‘little’ things get me down, I’ve learned that failing a midterm doesn’t mean I’m going to fail course (organic chemistry & calculus, I’m thinking of you!) and I’ve also learned that failing a course and retaking it does not mean that I’m too stupid to learn the material.

My failures are only as devastating as I make them out to be to myself. It was an incredibly expensive lesson for me to learn, but I learned it anyways.